Author' Notes: Still with me? Cool. Chapter One is here. Once again, I plead shamelessly to please review, especially with any criticisms you might have. I'd like to write the best story I possibly can.
By the way, a HUGE shout out to my first EVER reviews: Rowlingfan217, Fading into Darkness, Waterangel117, Starlight, Dark Fire Fox, basest-8, and Fanfic Gurl. Thanks a lot. The fact that you took the time to say something after that measly little chapter really means a lot.
In response to one of the reviewers, I do realize that Teen Titans is, at its heart, a cartoon. I just suck at humor. I will try to throw in the odd joke every now and then to keep things light, but no promises.
Disclaimer: I don't have any affiliation with the Teen Titans or their creators. I'm making no money off of this, I'm simply a slightly obsessed fan.
Quote(s) of the Update:
"Now remember, James. First impression is very important."
-Miss Spider speaking with James. James and the Giant Peach
"France is a country?!?!"
-Little brother (gotta love siblings…we argued about this for, like, an hour)
Teen Titans: Origins
Chapter 1: First Impressions
The capsule opened…slowly. Painfully slowly. Perhaps it would have been easier on all of them if it had just snapped open. But no, it opened inch by inch…and at about seven feet long that was several inches. This gave everyone ample time to wonder what sort of hideous monster they had been delivered. Everyone in the room was tense. They all stood at ready, Raven with her arms raised, ready to cast any of the spells in her expansive repertoire. Cyborg stood with his cannon extended, slightly behind Robin, who had his staff out in a guard. Beast Boy was already in a Tyrannosaurus form, ready to make an extra lunch out of anyone who was ready to get too frisky.
Finally, the thick, white gas dissipated around the pod. Robin inched forward and slowly peered over the edge and saw the form of a girl, with fire red hair, and two…spots on her forehead? She was tall, with a slender body. He couldn't help but notice the rags she wore, a black suit that hung loose on her frame, the same crimson bird they had seen emblazoned on the pod was on the chest of the suit. It, as was much of the suit, was tattered with holes. He deduced that she must have been wearing it for sometime…she was a prisoner perhaps? No way to really know.
She was stirring now…mumbling some words he really didn't understand.
Suddenly, snapped awake, her upper body pulling itself upward. She had this panicked, slightly frenzied look in her eyes as she looked around the confines of her pod before her eyes came to rest on the boy in front of her.
Her eyes were the first thing he noticed about her. They were a deep emerald green, deeper than he had even seen before. Even after seeing them for only a few seconds, he realized how easy it could be to just become lost looking into her eyes. She was perspiring lightly on her brow and breathing heavily, despite the fact that she had just woken up. Taking in all of her, she was indisputably beautiful, gorgeous even, regardless of the frayed clothing she currently wore. He stood there for a few more seconds before he collapsed his staff, figuring if she was going to attack, she would have already.
He dropped it before slowly raising his hands in a show of peace as well to prove he was unarmed,. "Who are you?" he asked.
She looked at him, eyes displaying confusion, before responding, "Dreina? Kad'ra lasiek kah poon?"
He mentally slapped himself. There were over 200 languages on Earth alone, how could someone from outer space possibly understand English? He shook his head, looking apologetic "I'm sorry…I don't understand…"
She looked slightly crestfallen at the fact that he didn't understand her words. Robin reached down toward his hand and slipped off his glove, never breaking eye contact from the strange girl. He reached with his hand, extending five fingers, showing his palm.
At this, she responded most unexpectedly. Her eyes narrowed, the emerald globes that looked so beautiful and inviting before now looking very dangerous. She backed up in her pod before speaking with a cold edge in her voice that wasn't there at first before and pointing at him, "Esta kaSha! Thaliona da slarrk wa! Ya soina harresk esta tiasko ya o Quel'Thal. Na o Xai! Ya soina!"
Startled by her sudden change in demeanor, he backed up a step. The other Titans started moving forward before Robin held out his hand to them and spoke in his leader voice, "No wait! She hasn't seen you yet! We don't know how she'll react to seeing all of us!" He glanced at Beast Boy in his T-Rex form. "Especially you."
Beast Boy glanced down at himself, as if he had forgotten that he was currently inhabiting the form of the most ferocious predator in the history of Earth, albeit a little smaller so that he could fit inside the tower. Oh yeah…Oops. He snorted indignantly before taking a couple steps back.
He looked at them imploringly, "Look just give me a sec, ok?"
Raven and Cyborg looked at each other, neither of them relishing the thought of losing their leader. Raven shrugged and moved backwards. Cyborg sighed in resignation, nodding at him to continue.
Robin turned his attention back to the girl in the pod, who was still looking at him with distrust. He spoke to her softly. "Look, we're not gonna hurt you. We just wanna know who you are."
She looked at him suspiciously, her eyes while not looking at him with the obvious loathing he saw seconds ago, were still wary. She pointed at him again, "Esta na Thaloina?"
He assumed she was talking about him. He shook his head, "No…uh…" He scratched the back of his head, as if wondering where to start. He straightened up before pointing to himself several times. "Me," he said, looking at her for comprehension.
Still wary, she nodded her head in understanding.
He nodded, relieved he could at least point at himself without offending her. He pointed at his own chest again, "Me," he shook his head and waved his arms in front of him, "No Thaliona." He waited while this information sunk in. When she nodded, he pointed at himself again, "Robin."
She looked at him as if he understood. She pointed at him, "R-Robin?"
He smiled and nodded. He pointed to himself again, "Robin."
She smiled as well, also glad that they finally understood something. She pointed at herself, "Koriand'r Nova'alai Skeio Centerra a le Baiso a Tamaran."
The smile on Robin's face disappeared. Damn, that's a long name. "Oh…" He grimaced behind his mask, he already knew he was going to butcher it. He pointed at her, before trying to attempt her name….feebly. "Koranda… uh, Ander? Noi vala…"
She held up her hand, giggling. She must have decided to have mercy on him regarding her name. Still with a smile on her face, she pointed to herself again, all traces of mistrust gone, "Kory."
He smiled, shoulders sagging in relief. She giggled lightly again and he chuckled with her.
Behind him, the other Titans smiled, glad something went right amongst the exchange between Fearless Leader and Alien Stranger. Cyborg let his cannon revert back to his hand and Raven lowered her arms, letting the black energy dissipate from them. Beast Boy had not remembered, unfortunately, that he was still a carnivorous dinosaur with foot-long teeth.
Robin, still smiling, pointed to her again and spoke, this time with much less dread, "Kory."
She smiled, nodded, and pointed at him, "Robin."
He liked her voice already. It was strangely and soft and comforting. It reminded him of his mother when she sang him lullabies when he was younger. He offered her his ungloved hand again, and this time, she accepted it.
As he helped her up, her legs wobbled a bit. He reached out with his other hand to help steady her as she regained her balance. She smiled at him in gratitude while she got her feet back. She then looked upwards and noticed the other members of the room. When her eyes found Raven, the sorceress met them with a rare grin before she bowed her head slightly. Cyborg greeted her with a big cheesy smile and a wave that brought a smile to the young extraterrestrial's face. When she saw the huge hulking green mass that was currently Beast Boy, that smile vanished, her jaw dropped, and a look of fear graced her features.
Beast Boy, completely oblivious to the effect he had on the girl attempted to smile, which did little to alleviate her fears as he exposed all of his razor sharp teeth. The smile he tried to add seemed to give him a predatory smirk, like a cat gets when he has a mouse cornered with nowhere to go.
"Ahhh!!!" Her hands suddenly glowed with a green light before she launched twin bolts at the giant dinosaur. Beast Boy, totally not expecting laser beams to be fired at him (after all, he was just trying to be friendly) could do little more than watch in amazement as the bolts hit him in the chest. He growled loudly as he flew back and crashed into a wall on the other side of the room.
As he picked himself up, Raven watched in surprise as the girl took off, heading towards Beast Boy to inflict more damage on the "monster." For someone who seemed so frail, she packed a punch. She also noticed that Beast Boy hadn't recovered from her first shot, and that more shots like the ones he just took could leave him out of commission for weeks. Then, she re-thought it, That might not be so bad actually… Her meditation would go a lot more smoothly if she didn't have the human jungle crawling around her all the time. She decided letting an alien lay into him for a simple misunderstanding would be cruel, even by her standards. Her eyes turned black and she raised her arms in the air. As energies swept around her, her purple cloak flew up as if caught in a gust of wind.
A moment before Kory's fist came crashing into Beast Boy's unsuspecting skull, a black shield incased her and she found herself surrounded by a black sphere. Her fist crashed into the shell, but it did little more than budge. She whipped her head around, trapped. She charged her hands again and starting slamming bolts in all directions in rapid secession against the sphere.
Raven grimaced at the impact of the fist, and soon found herself struggling to keep her shell erected as Kory's energy blasts began slamming against it. She redoubled her efforts, not having expected this much of a fight from the girl, even after witnessing her blow on of the most ferocious creatures that ever lived clear across the room. Eventually, Kory's blasts slowed as she grew more tired.
Beast Boy had, by now, finally come out of his dazed state and had sense enough to perhaps take on a less menacing form. As soon as he changed however, the effects of the green bolts that struck him came back and he started rubbing his chest, "Ow… it burns…" he muttered weekly.
Kory had momentarily forgotten about the monster she was "defending" herself from as she concentrated all of her efforts on getting out of the shell. She tired quickly though after firing about 12 bolts. Her blasts grew weaker and weaker before her energy simply gave out and she collapsed on her knees inside the bubble. She did retain enough energy to keep her hands alight with green energy.
Robin and Cyborg quickly made their way to the sphere and tried to get the attention of the now exhausted girl. Robin lightly knocked on the shell and Kory lifted her head. Cyborg waved his finger in an "uh uh uh" motion before pointing to the green boy currently clutching his chest. She looked at the changeling in shock before glancing around the room, making sure the monster with the obscenely large teeth was truly gone. She met Robin's masked eyes once more, who looked at her with an almost pleading look. She stared into his face for a few seconds before nodding in an unspoken agreement as she lower her head and let the energy fade out of her hands. At this he looked at Raven and nodded, who looked all too happy to release the hold she had around her.
As the shell faded, Cyborg stepped forward to catch her before she hit the ground. She looked up at his face before smiling lightly, then promptly passing out.
The room fell into silence. Robin reached out a hand and helped Beast Boy to his feet.
Raven took a few steps towards Cyborg until she was next to him, getting a good look at Kory for the first time. "I was expecting something…different…" she said in her usual monotone.
Robin nodded, " I think we all did."
Beast Boy grinned up at Cyborg, "Guess you were wrong about the 40 eyes and tentacles, huh?"
Cy smiled, "Yup. But I was on the money 'bout the shooting lasers, right?" he responded cheekily, nudging toward the marks on his chest.
"Hey! Those things hurt, man! Oh, and by the way," he said looking towards Raven sheepishly, " thanks for the shell. I-"
She held up a hand, stopping him mid-sentence. She turned that hand and offer it to him, "Stop crawling on me while I'm meditating and we'll call it even."
He looked at her before looking at her outstretched hand, and then he turned to look at her again. She honestly tried to looked serious, but she couldn't help the barely noticeable smirk that snuck its way onto her face. He broke out into a grin at seeing this and shook her hand firmly. "Deal."
She nodded, and then retracted her hand.
"So, ah. I guess we need at do something' bout sleeping beauty here…" Cyborg commented, gesturing to the bundle in his arms.
Robin caught on, "Uh…take her to the infirmary and, start up the diagnostic equipment. Raven, you go through your street clothes and see if you can find something for her to wear. You'll have to change her. We'll hafta contact the Justice League eventually if they don't already know about her, but for now let's just make her feel at home, ok?"
Cyborg and Raven nodded, and went off about their assigned duties.
"Well, hey." Beast Boy asked. "Whad'a we do?"
Robin sighed and swept an arm towards the debris left by the pod's landing and Beast Boy's journey into the wall, "Clean up," he said.
Beast Boy groaned, and looked around, wondering where to start before he saw the remnants of his beloved GameStation, crushed under the pod, "No!" he squeaked. He dropped to his knees and crawled over to where the corpse of his machine lay. He gathered the pieces in his hands and hugged them to his chest, tears in his eyes. "Oh my precious," he spoke mournfully, "you were too beautiful for this world…"
Robin near gagged, "Come'on, BB. Let's get to work."
As the Titans got down to business, whatever that may have been, it was impossible not to notice the sense of camaraderie and amity that was in the air. At realizing this, Robin shook his head in wonder. An alien ship crashing into their living room worked a lot better in getting them to bond than pizza ever did.
Kory awoke in a large room in a soft white bed. The room was a metallic blue and as she looked around, she noticed that there were five other beds in it, exactly like hers. The room was a lit only with the sunlight that filtered in through the window.
She rolled her neck, getting rid of the kinks, and stretched herself out. How long had she been out? She sat there, still looking at her surroundings, and idly weighed her options in her head. She could, of course, leave. She really didn't want to be found. That was for sure. But then again, she knew nothing about where she was. That and the fact that she obviously didn't speak the native language posed a problem.
She quickly tossed out that idea, deciding she would just have to stay here. She couldn't find a valid reason not to that didn't stem out of paranoia. They had given her a place to sleep. And new clothing, she noticed looking down at herself. She saw the rags she wore earlier and eyed them with distaste. She picked up the pile of clothing before placing them between her hands. She quickly charged her hands and passed green bolts back and forth through the clothing until they had been vaporized.
She nodded to herself in satisfaction before flinging the covers off of her and swinging her legs out of the bed. When her feet hit the cold floor, she smacked her forehead, with a "d'oh!" expression on her face. The only footwear she had were in the pile she had just vaporized. She would just have to do without for now.
She walked around the bed and over the large wooden doors. She looked to the left and right of the doors and saw a light switch. She flipped it and jumped in surprise as the room became a little brighter from the lights over head. She looked at them, surprised, before turning back to the light switch. She flipped it again and the lights extinguished. She then rapidly flipped the light switch, watching in wonder as the lights over head flickered on and off, on and off. She flipped them one last time, turning them off, and turned back to the door.
She put a hand to her chin and fingered her bottom lip in contemplation. "Hmm…" Her eyes caught the door knobs and snapped her fingers, comprehension dawning on her. She pushed the left door knob and waited. When nothing happened, her head cocked to the sided and her eyes displayed confusion, "Huh?" She pushed the other one. Nothing. She pushed both of them at the same time. Still nothing. She sighed in frustration, tapping her foot and rested her hands on her hips. How was she going to figure out where she was when she couldn't figure out how to get out of the damn room? She glared at the door, as if blaming it for the fact she was stuck before she turned her attention to the knobs again.
Shrugging, she grabbed the left one and pulled hard. Much to her surprise, the knob ripped straight out of the socket. She looked at the apparatus in her hand and glanced at the door and gasped when she saw the hole that was where the knob should have been. She blushed and tried to stick the knob back into its spot. The knob looked dilapidated, obviously broken, but it would have to do. She hoped no one noticed.
She grabbed the one on the right and tugged and fiddled with it until she got a lucky twist in and the knob turned. Her eyes widened and she smiled, glad she had finally conquered the door. She pulled lightly and peeked her head out into the carpeted hallway. She hopped onto it, glad be off the cold floor in the other room. She lightly closed the door behind her. Luckily, she was at the end of the hallway, so there was only one way she could go.
She padded her way down the hall, walking slowly as she was in no real hurry. She was however hungry, and she was hoping that that scent in the air was something edible. Following her nose, she kept walking, hoping to find some sustenance in this strange land, also hoping that there weren't any doors on the way.
End Chapter One
That's it for now. R&R!
Till Next Time
Light Hawk Sentinel