Ok, here's the next chapter. I think that this might be my favorite scene to write so far. Thank you to those who left reviews, and to those of you who didn't, I would love to hear from you. Anyway, enough talk, read!! And hopefully, enjoy!! -krt
Disclaimer in chapter 1
Chapter 2: Welcome
Titan's Tower wasn't really a tower anymore. According to my research, the place had been toppled a few to many times to risk building an actual tower any more. It was still perched on the island, but the new building was only about 3 stories high, but boasted of some rather impressive underground areas. The famous T was still in view, standing boldly out as black paint on the front of the gray structure.
I considered my options. I could try to sneak in, but this time I knew that at least one person would be there and on monitor duty, so it would be very difficult. Not to mention that I wasn't familiar with the security. Not that that would stop me if I really needed to get in, but it made it quite a job. Plus, I'd have to get wet, and although I'm a very good swimmer, my pride protested against meeting my old friends dripping wet. Oracle could let them know who I was and they'd let me in, but I knew that this early in the morning she was sleeping off her long night of work and I didn't want to wake her for something like this. That left the straightforward approach.
That decided, I parked my bike in some shrubbery and walked up to the small building that was obviously where you could contact the Titans. The door was unlocked and the small room inside contained only a retina scanner and a call box. No use even trying the scanner, my retina patterns were not in their database and I didn't see any reason to add them to it. My options being depleted, I pushed the call button and waited to see what the response would be.
A voice that I immediately recognized as Cassie's spoke from the speaker. "Please face the camera and state your name and business."
The name part was a little difficult, they wouldn't recognize my real name, and I wasn't really Robin anymore. I compromised, turning towards the camera and speaking clearly. "Rob." I wondered if that would be enough to snag her memory.
Obviously not. "Last name and business, please."
I sighed, she was taking all the fun out of this. I pulled a little domino mask from my pocket and perched it on my nose, holding it there with one finger. It hardly even fit anymore. "Does this help? I just wanted to visit some old friends."
"AL? Oh MY gosh..."
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the Draper thing. I winced, wondering why I couldn't have come up with a name that didn't instantly conjure thoughts of the Chipmunks. Then I felt the very weird feeling of my body dissolving into nothing... crud, I hate transporters.
It's a tactical thing. Mostly. I do have to admit that transporters make me slightly queasy, but the big problem with the things is that they are limited. You have to arrive in a certain area, and I hate that since all the bad guys have to do is find that area, point a gun at it and wait. With this in mind, the second that I materialized in what was obviously the Titan's transporter bay, I was moving with the express idea of getting away from that tube. My bo's were in hand without conscious thought, and I moved to the other side of the room before I did anything else. Cassie literally flew into the room, dressed in the red Wonder Girl costume and wearing her hair blonde and short. She faced the transporter with a look of puzzlement on her face, obviously wondering where I was.
I took a step away from the wall. "Y'know, you really should warn ..." My comment was cut short as I suddenly found myself dangling about a foot and a half off the ground. Cassie was hugging me, which I didn't really mind, considering, but she was also crying, and I did care about that. "Hey, what's the matter?"
Cassie put me down, blushing a little. "Sorry." She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. "It is you, isn't it? Oh my gosh. We thought that you were dead."
"WHAT?" Of all the possible reactions, that had not been one I'd expected. Anger, yeah. Happiness, hopefully. 'Where the heck did you go?' definitely. But, 'we thought you were dead?' That was a little strange. I looked at Cassie with a questioning look on my face.
She shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "Well, you disappeared so suddenly, and the only information that we could get was from Nightwing. When we asked him he just looked really p.o.'d and said that you were out of the business. So, we were skeptical and Impulse got up the nerve to contact Oracle about it, and all she told us was that she couldn't tell us where you were or how to contact you. She seemed really sad about it."
The light came on inside my head. "So, you concluded that something had happened that made Nightwing mad, and Oracle sad, and meanwhile you couldn't find me or contact me." No wonder they'd thought I'd died. The clan didn't share any info with anybody. I wondered who else thought I was dead.
Cassie continued, "We also heard around the grapevine that Batman was in one heck of a bad mood. The entire JLA was walking around on tiptoes, peeking over their shoulders and into all dark shadows all the time. GL was close to a mental breakdown." She giggled. "We thought something had happened to you, but to protect your identity, we weren't even invited to the funeral. Oh my gosh! I've gotta tell the others." She flew out of the room, a huge grin on her face.
I followed at a slightly more sedate pace, although I ended up jogging in order to catch up with her. "What are you going to tell them?"
She stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Oh, I never even thought. Do you want everyone to know?"
"Yeah, I'd like to see everyone again. At least the Young Justice group, anyway. I don't really even know any of the other Titans. Well, other than Roy."
"Just Kon and Bart at first then. And speaking of Roy, Lian's around here somewhere, but she probably won't know you." Cassie led the way into the monitoring room, where she moved over to a bank of computers and pressed a couple of buttons. "There, I notified them to come when they got a chance." Suddenly she looked at me with widening eyes. "You heard about..."
I lowered my head and winced. "Yes, I heard about Secret. I just hope she's happier now."
"I really think that she is. Y'know," Cassie smiled with nostalgia, "She was right. She said that she knew you weren't dead. She always thought that you'd come back one of these days. We all gave up, but she never did." We shared a sad smile as we both remembered our friend and what she'd meant to us.
Our melancholy moment was interrupted by a blur. A very familiar blur, one that suddenly stopped right by Cassie and formed the shape of a tall young man. "What's up?" Impulse was still dressed in his distinctive white costume, but he'd changed the mask since I'd seen him last. The goggles had been exchanged for regular eye shields. He suddenly turned towards me and gave me the once over. No sign of recognition there. "New boyfriend you want us to approve?" He gave Cassie a wide grin, obviously expecting to hear an affirmative reply.
Cassie smirked at me and stated, "No, Impulse, I can't believe that you don't recognize him." She conveniently forgot the fact that she hadn't recognized me at first either.
"Well, who is he?" Bart looked rather impatient, and started tapping his foot at super-speed. I wondered if this was why none of the floors had carpet. It would be quite the fire hazard. "Just because I should know who he is doesn't mean that I do. You should know that."
I kept a poker face as Cassie continued to tease the speedster. "Guess. And no super-speed either, you know I can't keep up."
"Your brother?"
"I don't even have a brother."
"Is he one of the stars on that show you watch all the time?" Cassie just snorted and shook her head. "Ummmm... I know! A new recruit?"
"Nope."
Several minutes later, Bart was on his sixth or seventh guess, all of which I was enjoying greatly. Cassie was encouraging Bart to try one last time. "Come on, you're supposed to be fast and all, try and figure out who he is."
"Rob?" I turned and Kon stood in the doorway, openmouthed and staring at me like I was a ghost. He still looked the same, just a little older. Hmm, they must have figured out a way to make him age normally.
Impulse heard and whirled, his face suddenly matching his costume. "Rob?"
Cassie grinned and threw her arms open wide. "Yes! It's Rob. Or Al. He's ok. He's back!"
I half-grinned at my friends, one of whom was ecstatic and the other two who were going through some serious shock. "Hi, guys." I took a step towards them. And felt myself being dragged into the air for the second time in one morning.
Kon about broke my ribs with a hug, and then realized what he was doing and put me down hurriedly, backing off a couple of feet. "You're ok. Rob, my man, it is so good to see you. Where the heck have you been?"
I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by, "OHMYGAWSH!He'salive, he'salive.Wherewereyou?WhydidyouleaveandwhendidyougetbackandIthoughtyouweredead..."
This looked liked it was going to go on for quite some time, so I winked at Cassie and Kon and gave Bart one of my better 'bat' glares. He gulped and shut up, grinning at me once he got over his shock. I had to smile as Kon whispered to Cassie, "It really must be him. Only he could make Bart quit when he goes off like that."
My smile became a grin as Cassie whispered back, "It's nice to know some things are still the same."
It's nice to know that my friends are still the same.
More coming soon...
Disclaimer in chapter 1
Chapter 2: Welcome
Titan's Tower wasn't really a tower anymore. According to my research, the place had been toppled a few to many times to risk building an actual tower any more. It was still perched on the island, but the new building was only about 3 stories high, but boasted of some rather impressive underground areas. The famous T was still in view, standing boldly out as black paint on the front of the gray structure.
I considered my options. I could try to sneak in, but this time I knew that at least one person would be there and on monitor duty, so it would be very difficult. Not to mention that I wasn't familiar with the security. Not that that would stop me if I really needed to get in, but it made it quite a job. Plus, I'd have to get wet, and although I'm a very good swimmer, my pride protested against meeting my old friends dripping wet. Oracle could let them know who I was and they'd let me in, but I knew that this early in the morning she was sleeping off her long night of work and I didn't want to wake her for something like this. That left the straightforward approach.
That decided, I parked my bike in some shrubbery and walked up to the small building that was obviously where you could contact the Titans. The door was unlocked and the small room inside contained only a retina scanner and a call box. No use even trying the scanner, my retina patterns were not in their database and I didn't see any reason to add them to it. My options being depleted, I pushed the call button and waited to see what the response would be.
A voice that I immediately recognized as Cassie's spoke from the speaker. "Please face the camera and state your name and business."
The name part was a little difficult, they wouldn't recognize my real name, and I wasn't really Robin anymore. I compromised, turning towards the camera and speaking clearly. "Rob." I wondered if that would be enough to snag her memory.
Obviously not. "Last name and business, please."
I sighed, she was taking all the fun out of this. I pulled a little domino mask from my pocket and perched it on my nose, holding it there with one finger. It hardly even fit anymore. "Does this help? I just wanted to visit some old friends."
"AL? Oh MY gosh..."
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the Draper thing. I winced, wondering why I couldn't have come up with a name that didn't instantly conjure thoughts of the Chipmunks. Then I felt the very weird feeling of my body dissolving into nothing... crud, I hate transporters.
It's a tactical thing. Mostly. I do have to admit that transporters make me slightly queasy, but the big problem with the things is that they are limited. You have to arrive in a certain area, and I hate that since all the bad guys have to do is find that area, point a gun at it and wait. With this in mind, the second that I materialized in what was obviously the Titan's transporter bay, I was moving with the express idea of getting away from that tube. My bo's were in hand without conscious thought, and I moved to the other side of the room before I did anything else. Cassie literally flew into the room, dressed in the red Wonder Girl costume and wearing her hair blonde and short. She faced the transporter with a look of puzzlement on her face, obviously wondering where I was.
I took a step away from the wall. "Y'know, you really should warn ..." My comment was cut short as I suddenly found myself dangling about a foot and a half off the ground. Cassie was hugging me, which I didn't really mind, considering, but she was also crying, and I did care about that. "Hey, what's the matter?"
Cassie put me down, blushing a little. "Sorry." She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. "It is you, isn't it? Oh my gosh. We thought that you were dead."
"WHAT?" Of all the possible reactions, that had not been one I'd expected. Anger, yeah. Happiness, hopefully. 'Where the heck did you go?' definitely. But, 'we thought you were dead?' That was a little strange. I looked at Cassie with a questioning look on my face.
She shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "Well, you disappeared so suddenly, and the only information that we could get was from Nightwing. When we asked him he just looked really p.o.'d and said that you were out of the business. So, we were skeptical and Impulse got up the nerve to contact Oracle about it, and all she told us was that she couldn't tell us where you were or how to contact you. She seemed really sad about it."
The light came on inside my head. "So, you concluded that something had happened that made Nightwing mad, and Oracle sad, and meanwhile you couldn't find me or contact me." No wonder they'd thought I'd died. The clan didn't share any info with anybody. I wondered who else thought I was dead.
Cassie continued, "We also heard around the grapevine that Batman was in one heck of a bad mood. The entire JLA was walking around on tiptoes, peeking over their shoulders and into all dark shadows all the time. GL was close to a mental breakdown." She giggled. "We thought something had happened to you, but to protect your identity, we weren't even invited to the funeral. Oh my gosh! I've gotta tell the others." She flew out of the room, a huge grin on her face.
I followed at a slightly more sedate pace, although I ended up jogging in order to catch up with her. "What are you going to tell them?"
She stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Oh, I never even thought. Do you want everyone to know?"
"Yeah, I'd like to see everyone again. At least the Young Justice group, anyway. I don't really even know any of the other Titans. Well, other than Roy."
"Just Kon and Bart at first then. And speaking of Roy, Lian's around here somewhere, but she probably won't know you." Cassie led the way into the monitoring room, where she moved over to a bank of computers and pressed a couple of buttons. "There, I notified them to come when they got a chance." Suddenly she looked at me with widening eyes. "You heard about..."
I lowered my head and winced. "Yes, I heard about Secret. I just hope she's happier now."
"I really think that she is. Y'know," Cassie smiled with nostalgia, "She was right. She said that she knew you weren't dead. She always thought that you'd come back one of these days. We all gave up, but she never did." We shared a sad smile as we both remembered our friend and what she'd meant to us.
Our melancholy moment was interrupted by a blur. A very familiar blur, one that suddenly stopped right by Cassie and formed the shape of a tall young man. "What's up?" Impulse was still dressed in his distinctive white costume, but he'd changed the mask since I'd seen him last. The goggles had been exchanged for regular eye shields. He suddenly turned towards me and gave me the once over. No sign of recognition there. "New boyfriend you want us to approve?" He gave Cassie a wide grin, obviously expecting to hear an affirmative reply.
Cassie smirked at me and stated, "No, Impulse, I can't believe that you don't recognize him." She conveniently forgot the fact that she hadn't recognized me at first either.
"Well, who is he?" Bart looked rather impatient, and started tapping his foot at super-speed. I wondered if this was why none of the floors had carpet. It would be quite the fire hazard. "Just because I should know who he is doesn't mean that I do. You should know that."
I kept a poker face as Cassie continued to tease the speedster. "Guess. And no super-speed either, you know I can't keep up."
"Your brother?"
"I don't even have a brother."
"Is he one of the stars on that show you watch all the time?" Cassie just snorted and shook her head. "Ummmm... I know! A new recruit?"
"Nope."
Several minutes later, Bart was on his sixth or seventh guess, all of which I was enjoying greatly. Cassie was encouraging Bart to try one last time. "Come on, you're supposed to be fast and all, try and figure out who he is."
"Rob?" I turned and Kon stood in the doorway, openmouthed and staring at me like I was a ghost. He still looked the same, just a little older. Hmm, they must have figured out a way to make him age normally.
Impulse heard and whirled, his face suddenly matching his costume. "Rob?"
Cassie grinned and threw her arms open wide. "Yes! It's Rob. Or Al. He's ok. He's back!"
I half-grinned at my friends, one of whom was ecstatic and the other two who were going through some serious shock. "Hi, guys." I took a step towards them. And felt myself being dragged into the air for the second time in one morning.
Kon about broke my ribs with a hug, and then realized what he was doing and put me down hurriedly, backing off a couple of feet. "You're ok. Rob, my man, it is so good to see you. Where the heck have you been?"
I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by, "OHMYGAWSH!He'salive, he'salive.Wherewereyou?WhydidyouleaveandwhendidyougetbackandIthoughtyouweredead..."
This looked liked it was going to go on for quite some time, so I winked at Cassie and Kon and gave Bart one of my better 'bat' glares. He gulped and shut up, grinning at me once he got over his shock. I had to smile as Kon whispered to Cassie, "It really must be him. Only he could make Bart quit when he goes off like that."
My smile became a grin as Cassie whispered back, "It's nice to know some things are still the same."
It's nice to know that my friends are still the same.
More coming soon...