a/n) Ok so I did something with formatting that FFN did NOT like at all and as a result is ate about 4-5 sentences and squished two paragraphs together O.o; I uploaded it twice. So I apologize for that, thanks to the people who said things looked odd/didn't make sense. I've read this so many times I didn't see any errors when I loaded it up.
Since someone asked: I got mark and Marie from titanstower dot com and from uhh issue 12 or something where they were showing a flashback of BB being bitten by a green monkey. (Issue 12 being of teen titans the current series out now, not the class old comic :) )
Chapter 3
Cyborg opened the door and strode inside. "Honey, I'm home!" he called jovially.
"Cyborg, to whom are you speaking?" Star asked as she floated by the tall teen's shoulder.
The metallic Titan laughed. "It's just an expression Star," he explained. "Hey I know!" he snapped and a light bulb turned on over his head. "Why don't you greet Robin that way sometime?"
"Really?"
"Yeah!" the cybernetic teen grinned.
"Ok! I shall do that the next time I return home!" The Tamaranian flew ahead into the tower. Raven shook her head.
"That was evil," she commented.
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed without a hint of repentance or regret.
"Robin is going to flip" Beast Boy added with a chuckle. Cy shrugged; there was no denying his genius.
"You really shouldn't use Starfire's naivety like that," the dark girl pointed out. Again Cyborg gave a carefree shrug.
"That won't make it any less amusing to watch when Robin gets back, does it?" he asked to innocently.
"That's true," Raven and Beast Boy answered at once. They gave one another a look then shrugged it off.
"Uhm." The teens froze, having forgotten the Drs Logan.
"Come on up," Beast Boy invited, feeling far more confident than he had been feeling earlier that morning.
"You still aren't out of getting razzed about your name, man" Cyborg whispered just as they entered the elevator. The green Titan's ears drooped. Cyborg smirked silently. The elevator doors opened onto the top floor and Starfire flew out, executing a few lazy spirals as she went.
"So, uh this is home." Beast Boy trotted down the steps towards the large couch. His parents followed almost cautiously. "This is the living room I guess. We hang here when we're not training. So...can I get you anything?"
Their shook their heads, "No."
"Oh, well, uhm. Hey! I'm gonna go grab something from my room and then maybe I'll give you the five cent tour. I'll be right back, ok?" they nodded. Beast Boy ran back up the steps and headed toward his room. He had some news clippings and pictures of the team he wanted to show his parents in a box there. Black energy in the shape of a raven's talons grabbed him and sucked him through the wall as he passed Star's room.
"Eek!" He was dropped unceremoniously to the floor. "Geez. Warn a guy, will you?" He stood and faced his three friends. "What?"
"Dude?!" It was both question and exclamation and summed up his and the others' feelings in one word, rather well.
Beast Boy sighed and clapped a hand over his eyes, "I knew this was going to be a mess." He peered between his fingers. Star had her hand raised, plainly wishing to ask a question. "Star?"
"I could not help but notice; your parents are not green,"
Cyborg chuckled, "I always though Martians were supposed to be green,"
"My parents are not Martians," Beast Boy glared.
"They may as well be. Dude, they don't know who Superman is." Cy shook his head.
"How long have they lived in Africa anyway?" Raven asked.
"Africa? Where is that?"
"Who said anything about Africa?"
Beast Boy held up his hands as if to try to physically stop the questions. "Let me explain ok?"
"Yes, please." Starfire looked pensive.
"OK, I'm surprised that they don't even know who Superman is, but maybe I shouldn't be. My parents have spent most of my life in Africa. They both work with genetics; Mom mostly with plants, Dad with animals. They research cross species diseases and exotic cures and stuff like that. Usually they work in the middle of the jungle so they're pretty much cut off from the rest of the world."
"I'll say,"
"But they are not green?"
"He'll explain if you two refrain from commenting."
"Thanks, Raven. Mom and Dad are also pretty obsessive, so even if they'd been working in Gotham they probably wouldn't know a lot of what's going on." He shook his head and continued "Anyway, when I was really young they were researching in Upper Lamumba and they had me with them. I got sick with one of those rare cross-species diseases,"
"How ironic," Raven dead-panned. Beast Boy arched a brow as if to say 'now who's commenting?' but continued.
"Yeah. Anyway, I was cured, but uh, I ended up green." He chuckled, thinking back on his parents' complete clueless-ness. "I knew they were out of touch but I didn't know how out they were. Ask them anything about their research and they'll give you the up to date play by play of everyone in their fields, but ask them anything in current events and they don't have much of a clue." He frowned, "actually, they don't seem to have any clue."
"That's putting it mildly." Cyborg couldn't believe anyone could be that cut off from current events. Heck, Superman wasn't all that current.
"No wonder you didn't have much hope that they'd heard of us," Raven commented.
"They knew about your ability to become animals though, did they not?"
"Yep," Beast Boy answered Starfire. The alien girl frowned again.
"Then I am not sure I understand why they would not take interest in the activities of other super powered beings on your world. There seem to be quite a number. And surely they know people such as myself have come to Earth? Is it not true that "Alien Invasions" by people with strange powers is frequently a topic of movies and television?" Star made little quote marks with her fingers. "Surely they would not have missed global reaction to the first visitors from other planets?"
"Superman is Kryptonian Star, and he's been living here for years. They apparently missed him completely," Raven pointed out. Star nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes I suppose that is the truth. But why have they not kept themselves informed of others who have powers, Beast Boy?"
"Yeah, B, what's with that?"
"Well," He scratched the back of his head, "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt."
"I am confused,"
"I'll explain later, Star," Raven told the alien girl. Starfire nodded. "They need to get over that denial. It is pointless to deny the truth."
"I know! You don't have to tell me!"
"But why, dawg? I mean you're powers are kinda cool. What's wrong?" He grew serious and the others could see a flash of anger in his organic eye. "They aren't ashamed or anything, are they?"
"No! No, no. They're not ashamed of me. But they blame themselves for bringing me along with them and causing it in the first place. They have no idea why things happened they way they did or why I can do what I can. They're scientists and that bothers them," he shrugged, "So they sort of just...ignore my powers like you'd ignore I dunno," he thought for a moment, "a giant mole on someone's face or a big scar or something I guess."
"They do not seek the answer as to why you can become so many animals?"
"You know, you'd think that as science geeks they would? They haven't though. Anyway, getting back on topic, they sent me back here to go to school when I was a bit older. They wanted me out of harms way or something,"
"Ha! And you went and became a superhero!" Cyborg laughed. "Oh that's great! Now there is some irony for you."
"Heh, yeah. Anyway I wanted to show them some pictures and stuff." He headed for the door, somewhat worried about leaving his parents alone for such a long time.
"Oh! May I show them my book of scraps?" Starfire asked. She clasped her hands together, eyes shining with hope.
"Uhm, sure."
"Oh wonderful! I shall complete the final few pages and show it!"
"I'm going to go play some video games. If your Pop wants to see the garage I'd be glad to show him around. Take him for a spin in the T-car even."
"Thanks Cy," Beast Boy smiled and headed down the hall towards his room.
"I knew you were overreacting,"
"Ack! Raven! Stop sneaking up on me!" Beast Boy clutched his chest and gasped dramatically. Raven looked at him evenly and he dropped the act.
"Think they'll adjust?" She asked. He nodded absently as he entered his room. The empath followed. Beast Boy opened a drawer in his desk and began rummaging around.
"Yeah." He answered after a moment. He withdrew a large shoebox held together with duct tape and a rubber band to keep the lid on. He snagged a few pictures off his desk and book shelf and tucked them under his arm. "Well, I hope so. This is actually kinda weird." Raven followed. "The whole not knowing thing? That's just...odd." He was now used to people knowing and accepting the idea of superheroes. "When I came over here for the first time, I remember being amazed by the idea of superheroes. I guess I kinda forgot that. But I assumed Mom and Dad knew about it."
"It's...weird, but whatever. They say that 7% of the country doesn't know who the current president is at any given time," Raven commented.
"Yeah. Lamumba isn't exactly Metropolis or Gotham. No real need for super-powered beings there." He stopped mid-stride, suddenly remembering a picture of the full team he'd left tacked on his bulletin board. "Forgot something," he explained and darted back the way he'd come. Raven watched him go for a moment then continued down the hall.
Raven reentered the main room and spotted Cyborg and Starfire huddled around Beast Boy's mother, looking intently at something. Cyborg wore the sort of grin Raven usually saw just before he was about to give Beast Boy a hard time. Starfire wore a look of pure glee. Raven couldn't see what they were looking at and was too far away to hear the explanation. Curious, she took a step into the room only to stop when she realized her book was missing from where she'd placed it on the counter before. Dr. Mark Logan was idly flipping through the pages. A ripple of annoyance touched the girl's calm as her eyes glowed white from under the shadow of her hood. The book glowed black and then flew across the room to her waiting hand. Raven ignored the surprised look on Dr. Logan's face as she quickly looked the book over and tucked it under one arm. 'Well, they're related,' Raven thought, 'They both get into my things and annoy me. This will not be a pleasant visit if they have the same sense of humor,'
"What's that? It was interesting."
"The book of Azar," Raven replied coldly. It was the possession that meant the most to her and she did not like people thumbing through casually it for a bit of light reading.
"Rae!" Cyborg called from the couch, "You gotta see this!" he was waving a set of old Polaroid's around. "BB's baby pictures!" he cackled in the sort of evil glee reserved for teasing one's friends. Raven arched a brow, why would see what to see pictures of Beast Boy as a toddler; he acted as if he had the maturity level of one often enough. Choosing to refrain from commenting she wandered over.
"This is Gar first learning to walk," His mother explained causing Star to squeal over the picture. The door opened then admitting Beast Boy. He took one look, saw the pictures, Cyborg and Star and immediately knew what was going on.
"I hate my life," he muttered.
"Friend Beast Boy! You were most adorable as a small child."
"Thanks, Star," he answered in a monotone.
"Awww look! It's little Garfield and a fwuffy teddy bear," Cyborg cooed.
"That's Mr. Snuggles," his mother supplied, so her son's utter mortification.
"It is a most precious stuffed animal," Starfire agreed. Cyborg seemed to be having a fit trying not to laugh.
"Excusemegottagocheckonsomkething," the teen said before rushing out of the room at a speed even the Flash would have found quick. A muffled laugh was just audible from the other side of the door.
"Do you have to show pictures?" Beast Boy whined.
"Oh, Garfield," His mother shook her head. An exclamation of 'Garfield! Bwahah!' could be heard from down the hall. The green teen frowned. Sighing, his mother collected the pictures, with a promise to show the rest later. Raven drifted off to one side of the room and opened the book of Azar.
'Like heck you will,' Beast Boy thought to himself. 'not if I can help it.'
"What's in the box?" His dad asked.
"What? Oh! Yeah! These are a bunch of news clips on us and a bunch of pictures of the team. Though you might to see 'em."
"Well, let's see then," His dad took a place on the couch. Beast Boy cleared off the table and began pulling slightly wrinkled bits of news paper out.
"Uh let's see...this is us fighting Plasmus,"
"How did you get pictures?" his dad asked. The photo showed the team mid-battle in a warehouse of some sort.
"Security cameras I think. I dunno. It was in the paper."
"He's ugly," his mother commented. Across the room Raven smirked. It was something of a running joke between the team just how progressively uglier Plasmus seemed to become.
"And this is us fighting him again and this is cinderblock, and those are the HIVE kids."
A shadow fell across Raven's open book, blocking her light. "Star," Raven greeted.
"Perhaps," Star said in a low voice, "we should let Beast Boy and his parents be for awhile? I also think perhaps we should collect Cyborg and entreat him to do the same." Raven closed the book and stood. The two left the room silently as Beast Boy was trying to explain who Slade was.
"I got the feeling that our friend was displeased," Starfire said after the door had closed behind them. Raven pulled back her hood and stopped in the hall, waiting for Star to continue. "He did not seem happy that his mother was showing us pictures of his youth."
"No," Raven agreed.
"Of all of you I think I may know the most about your background Raven," Star said thoughtfully. "We shared much when we switched bodies. I thank you for trusting me with so much of your history." Raven blinked, the only outward sign of surprise. She inclined her head, acknowledging the thanks. "I know very little about the others which is why I was so eager to see the pictures. Robin has no family except the Batman. Friend Cyborg was in an accident and is now partially mechanical. But I knew very little of Beast Boy's past until a little while ago. I fear I am a bad friend," she concluded morosely.
"No, you're not," Raven assured her after a moment. "You accept them even though you don't know everything about them. Would you change your opinion if you did know?"
"Of course not!" Raven smiled slightly and let the statement speak for itself. "I suppose you are right," Star admitted after thinking her friend's words over.
"Besides," Raven continued, "I think having an...unusual and somewhat unknown background comes with being people like us."
" 'Super-heroes' is the term I believe?"
Raven had never been comfortable with that particular appellation, but nodded anyway. "Besides," she said wryly, "You haven't exactly been forward about yourself, princess." Starfire made a little sound of distress, green eyes going wide and looking around the hall wildly. "Relax," Raven said.
"I do not wish to be treated differently," Star insisted.
"I won't say anything," Raven assured her, continuing down the hall, "It's not my story to tell." She rapped lightly on Cyborg's door. The teen opened it, and upon seeing his female teammates instead of Beast Boy looking for vengeance, his evil grin softened a bit.
"Ladies," he greeted.
"Lay off Beast Boy for a bit," Raven said in a tone that brooked no argument.
"Yes friend, in the interest of peace in our home please do not aggravate Beast boy further right now. He is doing the...bonding thing? Yes?"
Raven nodded. "He's telling his parents all about being on the team."
"Ok, ok, I'll lay off...for awhile," Cyborg conceded. Raven nodded and walked off. Star smiled brightly and floated after her. The mechanical teen sighed and headed off towards the Garage to give the T-car its weekly tune-up and polish. Raven reached her door and realized Star was still hovering behind her. The empath could feel waves of uncertainty emanating from the alien girl. Raven closed her eyes and sighed. 'At least I've already meditated today and I don't really have anything else planned,' she thought to herself.
"Want to come in?" Raven asked. The Tameranian princess clasped her hands together in delight at the invitation into Raven's personal domain and nodded.
"Oh yes, if it would not be too much of an inconvenience. I fear if I am left of my own I may be tempted to return to the common room and see more pictures Beast Boy does not wish for me to see." Raven opened her door and stepped aside to let Starfire pass, wondering all the while how the girl could say so much in a single breath. Of course Starfire could also simply fly out of the planet's atmosphere and travel between worlds faster than the speed of light without protection from the vacuum of space, so perhaps it wasn't that astounding.
"Do you think Robin will ever take me to meet the Batman?" Starfire opened Raven's curtains to let the sunlight in then perched on the edge of the bed near the foot. "He said I could not accompany him this time, but would ask if I could in the future." Raven shrugged and sat on the opposite end of the bed.
"It's possible," she said, "I'm not sure what Batman wanted with Robin this time."
"I offered to assist, but Robin said I could not help." Raven nodded slowly. She had the sneaking suspicion that Robin wasn't going back to Gotham to be Robin. He was going back to Wayne Manor to be Dick Grayson. The empath only knew the truth because she'd had a very clear premonition upon meeting Robin. In the vision she'd seen the truth of their identities. Robin, in customary Robin style, had completely flipped out and sworn her to silence she'd already intended to keep.
"Do you know about Robin's past?" Starfire asked when the silence had dragged on for a while. Raven nodded hesitantly.
"A little. I had a vision when I met him. It involved his past. I promised not to say anything."
"I understand," Star said. Of all the titans Raven could be the most trusted with a secret.
"So..." Raven said when silence had reigned again. If Star had nothing else to talk about, maybe she could meditate more before the Logan's left and Cyborg and Beast Boy resumed their constant banter.
"I am slightly confused by Beast Boy's parents." Star frowned again. She supposed she could understand a little of Beast Boy's apparent embarrassment; her parents did embarrassing things as well, though the sharing of pictures was not one such thing.
"Truthfully?" Raven replied candidly, "So am I. But they explain his behavior almost entirely."
"Please explain,"
"Beast Boy loves attention."
"This is true," Star said with a sly grin. Raven shared the smirk for a moment.
"His parents think they did something horrible to him."
"But he has been given a wonderful gift!"
"He thinks that way too. He may be annoying but he likes helping people. His parents think they've done something horrible to him though."
"Ah! I understand! He perhaps seeks to be the center of attention because his parents do not acknowledge his abilities fully."
Raven nodded. For all her innocence, Star wasn't stupid; she just didn't think in cynical terms as Raven and to a small extent the other Titans did. "Exactly. To them he's still the little kid who got sick and had to be saved."
a/n)Thanks! Oh. Wow. I have never received so many reviews on a single chapter of a fic EVER. I love you people! dances around happily, pink cape swishing cookies for everyone! :D
Thank you –deep breath- Spandexmonkey, defafaeth Mechqua, scorpio serpent, scoodoo58, clouded dragon, Angel-star727, eevee-shadows, calisto, beastfire, 002, pink hooligan, Wild Spirit of Darkness, Sweet Nymph, The-Shapshifting-Sweethe, amber, ARainy, Starfiretheinvincible, Lovely White Violets, drowningthoughts, cradlerobber-speedo-kun,
Tigerhelix- Yeah. I figure they're almost Robin!obsessive. and they've been in the middle of a Jungle for the better part of at least the last 15 years or so. I know people just like this :P
ThessalyD- well, some. But honestly not much more than what's in the show. Well maybe a tiny bit more. I don't want to pair up all the characters (well, yeah I do :P) there will be slight raebb robstar but no declarations of love or sudden realizations that they are deeply in love with anyone or stuff.
Slayergirl1362 – whew! Glad you liked the reactions. Kinda felt I went out on limb there, but that them completely not knowing anything would be the most amusing. Yeah they don't get out much. Hoped you liked the raven bits in this chap. Rae and Star tapped me on the shoulder and said "we want a conversation" well, raven kinda just glared and Star did all the talking but you know ;) the half-demon bit cometh Bwahahahahahaha
Blowfish the Monkey Tamer- heh not realy idiots so much as they're just UBERgeeks who never leave their work and are sort of spacey-smarties to begin with.
Instant Coffe (x2!) :D dude, thanks for the huge props. I try hard to keep 'em IC (even as I take huge liberties with backstory! Mwahaha) Homework is Teh Suck. You have my condolences. School starts back up for me Tuesday (bwahah no classes on Mondays! I rule!) Yeah the Logan's did start to become fairly dursleyish heee. They're not as mean though. Got the names from titanstower and uhh the comic I got the other day. Mark and marie? Geh. I don't particularly like those names but eh, what are ya gonna do? I just thank X'hal they didn't give cartoon Raven comic Raven's earrings xx
Keystone- :D Ive been watching JLU so I really wanted to write in Bruce happy you liked that exchange and the cy-bb ones as well. Thank you for reading!
Katergator – well I was usually one of the ones with the wips, and when you're one of the ones whipping you don't dare step out of line ; but they were fantastic at telling me when things were lame and correcting my abysmal punctuation as well as telling me what rocked. Yeah fic writing has helped my writing immensely, unfortunately none of my college papers were for creative writing classes (they were usually quite boring :P ) I think it will help with grad-school (yes I am that old :P ) Glad you liked the story! Hope you stick around!
Bob-chan- sorry for another long wait for updates. Hmmmm yesssss. Been pondering star-meets-Bats (usually when sitting in traffic or other such boring places) I have a few ideas and I'll work it in somehow. It's too funny of an idea not to do.
Daemonstrueform- Wednesday? O.o? well, glad you like the fic :D
ppTeenBubbles- uhm well I don't know if this is before or after Terra. I haven't decided ;;; but I kinda suspect it's after. Sorry I am not bringing Terra back. I'm not a Terra hater (cartoon terra was really, really freakey. She was great!) but I'm not bringing her back. That's been done by a lot of people and its not something I planned on writing. There are bbrae hits if you see them, but I'm not planning on shoving it down everyone's throats,l so feel free to ignore them. They are friends and everyone is a close teammate so you cannot ignore that because you hate rae/bb.
Carrot the LuvMachine - :D thanks! Again I'm glad people seem to like BB's folks. Hope you liked the update!!
Whew! Dang. Like I said, the most reviews on a chapter EVER. I have a novel length fic (not in TT) and the total reviews is like 80-something over 8 chapters (and 75,000 words, xx must.finish.fic.eventually)
Thanks!!!!!!