Hey everyone! Here's chapter 7! Hope you enjoy it!
Ambiguous Cake: Thank you! I wish the chapters were longer, but I struggle with that for some reason. It's one of the main things I wish to improve on. Glad you're enjoying the story! And thank you! I'll work on that! I didn't even realize I was doing that haha, but I will try my best to change that in the future chapters :)
DarkDremora4: Thank you! I know this story is a bit out of the ordinary like you said with the M rating and darker themes and all, but I hope it still works out well. I've always had a liking for darker themes in stories, and the themes that are touched upon in this story are ones that are important to me to spread awareness about. And I really like that! I think I'll try to add that into this story. Thanks for the suggestion! Don't worry, I'm a sucker for BBRae too haha :)
Thank you for reading!
Have a nice day!
- Hunter :)
"This is the Gym," Cyborg said as the team entered the room. The four teens were showing Garfield around the tower, and it was taking a while as the tower was quite large. "This is one of the places where we do training exercises, as well as just work out."
"There's a lot in here," Garfield commented, stunned by just how much machinery was packed into this room.
"We have a large variety of exercise and endurance equipment," Robin stated. "We need to keep in peak shape in order to perform our jobs well."
The team exited the Gym, heading down to the hallway to see more rooms. The tour was heading towards two hours at this point, but they were almost done. Garfield had already been exposed to the Main Ops room, as well as the Kitchen and Living Room, and he had just seen where the teen's bedrooms were. More investigative places such as the Evidence Room and Interrogation Room had been pointed out to him, but were not explored. At the end of the hall was the much-anticipated Game Room.
"And here," Cyborg said, his face beaming with excitement towards the room, "is the Game Room!"
The team entered the room, with both Cyborg and Garfield's faces lighting up at the sights before them. The room was filled with different types of games, including pinball, basketball, shooting games, and others of the like. There was also a large cabinet that held board games and card games, but these were not used nearly as often as the other games.
"Whoa," Garfield exclaimed, gasping at the vast variety of games.
"Garfield, do you wish to look through the games?" Starfire asked.
The boy went up to the cabinet slowly, inspecting its' contents. A brightly colored game on the third shelf caught his eye. He reached up to grab the game, but was too short to reach it.
"Here, I got it," Cyborg said. He reached up to grab the game, but when he grabbed it, he realized too late that he didn't have a good grip on it. As soon as the box left the shelf, the bottom half separated from the top, spilling its' contents on the ground with a loud crash, startling the teens.
Garfield let out a small squeal before clumsily transforming into a small bird. The transformation lasted a few seconds before he transformed back into human form, falling to the ground and landing on his back. "Ow…," Garfield muttered as he hit the ground. The teens automatically went to his aid, with Cyborg and Starfire helping the boy up.
"You okay?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Garfield responded once he was back up on his feet.
"What happened?" Robin asked him, confused as to why he transformed so suddenly. Garfield looked to the ground, obviously embarrassed at what just occurred.
"The game. When it fell, the noise scared me. Sometimes when I get scared, I change, but I can't really control it," he said quietly, his cheeks growing red and hot.
Cyborg laid his hand gently on the boy's shoulder, causing him to flinch slightly. Cyborg removed his hand after softly patting his shoulder.
"It is normal to not have full control over your powers, especially at such a young age," Starfire reassured Garfield, but the boy still felt self-conscious.
"It can take a while before you begin to master your powers, and even then, there is still much to learn," Raven added.
"So you don't think it's weird, or wrong?" Garfield asked shyly. "The others thought the changes were a curse."
"The others?" Robin asked, intrigued by the information that Garfield was providing.
"Back home. My friends, and the other tribesmen. They thought I was cursed when it happened. The only people to accept it were...," he trailed off momentarily, as if in a moment of thought, "were my parents."
"We do not think it's weird or wrong. There is nothing wrong with having these powers. It just makes you different, and that is a good thing," Starfire bent down to Garfield's height, looking at him in the face.
He briefly made eye contact, but quickly looked away at the floor. There was a sadness in the boy's eyes. When he said nothing more, Starfire stood back up.
"How about we continue this tour of the tower?" she smiled softly at Garfield, and he nodded. While Starfire asked him this, Raven used her powers to put the pieces back in the box, to which she set back softly on a table.
When they left the Game Room, they gathered in the hallway. "Where to next?" Robin asked Cyborg, who was the one primarily leading the tour.
Garfield was standing next to Raven as the teens discussed where to go next. He was growing used to the dark girl, and something about her actually made him feel at peace. She had a subtle scent to her, one that only he could sense due to his impeccable sense of smell; it was the smell of lavender fields and fragrant flowers, and it calmed him down.
Cyborg thought for a moment, going over in his head where they've been to already. "Hmm… I guess the only thing left is the basement," he stated.
The team headed towards the elevator at the end of the hallway, all squeezing in so they could start their descent. Once they arrived, the elevator doors opened, revealing a dark, grey hallway. They walked into the hallway, entering the door that lead to the basement. The team stood on the basement stairwell, peering into the large, dark room before them.
"This is the basement. Probably not a place you want to hang out in. It's easy to get lost in here if you're unfamiliar with it, and it's pretty boring," Cyborg told Garfield, who just looked into the expanse of the basement, nodding. The team headed out of the basement, back into the hallway and towards the elevator. "Well, I guess that brings this tour to an end! How'd you like it?" Cyborg asked Garfield, who had remained quiet ever since leaving the Game Room.
"It was cool. It's really big here," he responded. The boy seemed distant, as if he was lost in thought. The team stuffed themselves back into the elevator, and headed back up to Main Ops.
