Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, Halo, BlackHawk, SureFire, Oakley, H&K, or Armalite. I do own Kirae Nakase and Burokaji Corp. Thanks to ScarletAngel68, KingDonut, and SanoZero for getting me this far. Thanks to ClockworkSoldier and Jess for my first positive reviews. If I start talking about guns and you don't understand, feel free to skim over it. But please pay attention to everything else.
Layer of Darkness
Ch.2 "Place for my Head" (Linkin Park song title) or:
-Titan's Tower-
-Next morning-
9:13AM, Sunday, Titans Tower infirmary
Kirae awoke the next day at about oh-nine-hundred. Not early as usual, but considering the damage he'd taken, that was damn good time to wake up. He remained oblivious to his surroundings as he carefully tried to remember his wounds. His eyes moved from his wristwatch to his exposed chest, where four evenly spaced bandages with dark patches were wrapped around him. Last Kirae had remembered, his injuries were four three-inch deep stabs to the chest, and three nasty, but superficial gashes on his right arm. But he felt like he was in much better shape than that right now. His eyes began to travel around the room, but Kirae didn't really take in anything, as he was still visualizing his personal damage.
The room, or at least this section of the infirmary, had enough space for two standard hospital beds, with plenty of space for medical equipment. Kirae was glad to see that he was only hooked up to a life signs monitor, with no respirator stuck down his throat. Faint gray light filtered in through the half-open vertical blinds. Kirae was thankful for the heavily overcast sky, not wanting to struggle with bright sunlight today, because though he didn't feel much pain, he did feel very fuzzy and light-headed. He hoped that he wasn't doped up on painkillers, because he really wanted to get up and properly introduce himself. Speaking of which...
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and sat up. He saw that he still had his trousers on, but his top and boots were gone. It seemed like they had sponged the blood and sweat off his torso pretty good, but he still definately needed a shower. Kirae bent forward a little to feel how far the pain went. What he felt was pretty severe, but his fine-tuned body awareness told him that the stab wounds in his abdomen were only about an inch deep now. But how was that possible? Kirae trusted his senses, and the other visible signs. The cuts on his arm were already mere scars, and the bruises on his abdomen were only about two inches across each. Kirae analyzed the evidence in his mind, carefully filtering it through what he had studied about puncture wounds. He checked the date on his watch to be sure, yet for some unexplained reason, he indeed did have advanced healing. The two slits in his lungs were fully closed up, and had even smaller bruises. Kirae's left lung did feel a little raw, but he couldn't feel any fluid trapped inside. Though Kirae had known his injuries were severe last night, he knew he would survive because there weren't any organs or arteries hit.
"Well, cool then!" he speaks aloud. 'Yeah, I'll have to take it easy, but at least I'm not bed-ridden. Just seal the cuts with C.A. and shower up. That is, after I say thanks.'
Kirae was stripping off the life-signs sensors when the door to the right of his bed slid open. Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy rushed in, much surprised to see Kirae sitting awake. He looked up at the group that was frozen at the door, also pausing with a slight shock.
Robin recovered first, then Beast Boy and Cyborg. Kirae sighed, giving his head a rub in an attempt to clear out the fuzzies. He looked to Robin for the first words.
"Well, uh, good to see you up." Robin began, regaining his composure.. "This is Beast Boy, Cyborg, and I'm Robin. Should I call you Nakase?" Robin asked, after motioning to the other Titans behind him.
"Nah, my first name's Kirae, and I guess I don't have any superhero name." Kirae responded. He was feeling a little edgy, being that his conversational skills just weren't very sharp, and he really wasn't used to meeting new people.
"Ok, Kirae, so what did you come to us for?" Robin asked, neutrally.
The answer came quickly to Kirae, and he only had to gather his thoughts for a second before explaining.
"I've been picking up some strange abilities lately. Abilities that I don't know what to do with, like what you saw last night. I can tell I'm tapping some sort of supernatural energy, but I don't know any details. I think I can help you."
"So you think you belong with us?" Cyborg asked, with his typical loud and clear voice, seeming to agree. Kirae nodded as he continued.
"It was about three months ago when I found out that I was something unique. My eyes changed color when I fought against a creature that attacked a good friend of mine. I swear that it seemed human, but my friend, who's Tae Kwon Do is almost as fast as mine, couldn't even faze the thing. When I fought it, we caused all kinds of heavy damage to the area. Holes in brick walls, nearly knocked over streetlights. And I just can't explain how it disappeared, gone without a trace."
"I came to Jump City to meet someone that was supposed to know the answers. But after two months of slinking around in the dark, I decided I didn't believe him. So I packed up my gear and moved out. He told me I should see the Teen Titans, and I was giving myself one night to think it over, trying to learn something for myself, when that wolf came bolting at me like a bat from hell. It felt like I had some sort of radar sixth sense, there was this familiar ringing in my ears that seems to point out when something is more than it seems. And that red and black wolf really didn't seem to be the natural thing to see in a crowded city."
"Gee, what gave you that idea?" mused Beast Boy. Cyborg slapped him in the back of the head, but they both got serious and quieted.
"I knew I was outmatched, and fled here immediately. So I'm sorry for showing up without any warning, and I'm sorry for breaching your tunnel. I, eh, hope I'm not intruding?" Kirae finished, and looked up to see the entire team standing before him, with Starfire and Raven having entered while he spoke.
Robin stepped forward, extending his gloved hand. "You had a few impressive moves last night. You can stay, and we'll talk about the team later."
Kirae gladly accepted it, standing. Robin broke away, then motioned to the two girls in the back. "Here's Raven and Starfire-" he began to say, then realized that Kirae was about to have the best -or worst- hug of his life. Robin, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast boy all winced as a purple streak shot out at Kirae before they even had a chance to restrain the cheerful Tamarainian.
"New friend Kirae Nakase! I must welcome you to Jump City and our home, the Titans Tower!"
Poor Kirae was crushed into a twisted shape, with his head facing the roof, and his long legs were curled, not touching the ground. Starfire's sudden outburst caught him completely by surprise, and all he could see was hallucinated stars on the white roof. His midsection where the remaining wounds were, was in a state beyond pain.
"Surely, a joyus occasion such as this deserves a traditional Tamaranian celebration..."
The other Titans finally peeled her off him, and Cyborg quickly talked her into a more 'traditional American greeting'. Kirae dropped back onto the bed, looking like a shriveled, dead cockroach with his limbs stuck in the air. After twitching a few times, his body puffed back up, and he snapped into a sitting position. He wheezed a few times, kneeding his face to try and get some feeling back.
Kirae got to his feet, and found he could barely stand. His legs were weak and tense, and his feet were sore, but not blistered. Score another one for good preparation. Thorough stretching and good boot socks had kept him from being a complete wreck.
Kirae's curiosity wanted to look at their gear in detail, but that examination would have to wait. He shook Beast Boy's hand, then Cyborg, and finally Raven. The stars didn't clear from Kirae's senses until he reached Raven, and the familiar ringing in his ears returned. He paused for a second, verifying.
"You use some direct form of magic, don't you?"
Raven replied calmly, "Yeah. I'm a witch."
That one nearly floored Kirae. But he let the magnitude of what she'd just said go over his head, and asked the logical next question.
"Soooo... Did you do some healing magic on me? I'm almost back to a hundred percent already!"
"Hardly." She responded. "I could barely get you past the first phase of healing. You did the rest."
Kirae strode back to the bed and sat on the edge. "I guess I'm becoming physically stronger too. Sweet."
'I'm talking too much... I need a break.'
"Soooo... Can I get a shower in? I feel good enough to be on my feet now. Then maybe we can continue?"
"Oh yeah! Hey, let me hook ya up, I'll show ya downstairs." volunteered Cyborg.
They all dispersed, with Kirae following Cyborg downstairs to the bathroom after picking up his massive backpack/duffelbag, boots, and battle gear from under the hospital bed.
"Dude, I can't believe you can even walk right now, after last night. You got pummeled!" Cyborg commented as the elevator descended.
"I can't either, but I'm still another day away from one hundred percent recovery. Feel kinda sick too." Kirae said as he leaned heavily against the elevator's railing.
Cyborg showed Kirae to the second-floor bathroom, next to the exercise room.
"There's another one upstairs where our rooms are too. We'll get to that later. Just head down to the first floor when you're done. There are clean towels in the closet in there." Cyborg left Kirae at the door, and returned to the elevator. Kirae entered to black and white tiled bathroom.
He stripped off the bandages and sealed the last two wounds shut with Cyanoacrylate, stuffed his dirty clothes into yet another compartment of his pack, then pulled his showering items from his pack and stepped into the rejuvinating stream of hot water, literally shedding a layer of grime, grit, blood, and sweat. He came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later, having worked some of the knots out of his muscles with heat, feeling nearly like a fresh new man, but still just a little light-headed. He wore a black Under Armor T-shirt, another set of black BDU trousers that tucked into his tactical boots for maximum bagginess, and a thick battle belt. His hair was spiked up, though his haircut was distinct with it's short sides, and somewhat short hair.
He wore his sleeveless white Aramid armor vest over the T-shirt, leaving the black sleeves showing, also tucked in. He'd cleaned the blood from it, thought there was nothing he could do about the four slits of battle damage. The Aramid vest itself was a single piece of thick, laminated white Aramid, secured with black plastic snap buckles on the outside. It overlapped itself in the front by about two inches. The vest was cut with a split extended bottom that reached to Kirae's thighs for maximum protection, and a standard crew neck. It tapered slightly to Kirae's form, wider at the shoulders and slimmer at the waist, where it then split, allowing mobility. The vest had undoubtedly saved his life, by resisting the stabbing force, and preventing the werewolf's claws from tearing him in half.
Kirae brought his huge pack back downstairs with him, meeting all the Titans in the kitchen/dining room, choosing a random seat along the rectangular stainless-steel table, between Starfire and Cyborg, directly across from Robin. Kirae dropped his gear in a pile behind the table, and with his muscles in such a strange balance of soreness and relaxation, plopped into his seat, slouching unprofessionally. He tried to pick himself up, but still couldn't sit totally proper. He compromised, resting slightly on the table edge for support, finally at least looking like he was trying to have manners. But it was apparent enough to the others how drained he was. 'Pheeewww man. And speaking of drained...'
Before anything important started, Kire interjected. "Excuse me, can I get something to drink first?"
"Yeah, anything in the fridge is open game." Declared Robin.
Kirae slinked off to the refrigerator, opening the door to see... 'WHAT THE FRAG! OH MAN THAT'S FRAGGING GROSS! WHAT-HOW-WHY-WHAT?'
"Wha wha wha!" Kirae muttered unintelligbly as he pointed inside the fridge, looking at the Titans. There were huge gobs of blue fungus in different shapes, not to mention the jello-like green blobs with other substances suspended in them. He didn't really notice the large quantity of mustard also in the fridge.
"Oh. Yeah. Don't worry about that stuff, it's Star's, and it usually won't make you sick." Robin explained.
Kirae recovered, finding a 62 ounce jug of orange Powerade. 'SCORE!' He snatched the prize greedily, holding it over the door.
"Does anyone else want some of this? 'Cuz I'm totally drained..."
Cyborg waved him off. "Naw man, go ahead!" Cyborg then turned to the living room to yell at Beast Boy.
"HEY! Get your happy little A.D.D. butt off the GameStation, and GET - IN - HERE!"
Beast Boy reluctantly paused his game, setting down the control pad as if introducing newbies was a regular pain.
During this commotion, Kirae looked to Robin. "Glass?"
Robin directed him, and Kirae proceeded to rapidly gulp down several glasses of chilled, citrus-flavored, electrolyte-replacing, liquid goodness. He almost emptied the entire jug on the spot. He would have been hungry if his stomach wasn't so full of liquid at the moment. Kirae brought the nearly empty jug to the table and refilled his glass, drank half, and refilled it again.
"We're going to give you a quick orientation of the Tower, and go over your basic responsiblities. There's over thirty stories, but most of them aren't in use." Robin began, as he stood and motioned to the hall.
The group moved to the edge of sight of the main room while Robin gave a brief description of what was fairly obvious anyway. They used the elevator to quickly visit each floor of notice, finally reaching the top floor where the personal areas were. The rest of the team was following simply for the sake of having a presence, with Robin performing admirably as a guide.
"You can take any empty room you want, just whatever suits you." Robin explained.
"That only leaves the garage and the roof unvisited, but we can get to that later. You can go check out your room and get settled in for a while. Catch you at noon for lunch." Robin dismissed, and the Titans immediately scattered into the typical gloom and shadows of the dim upper levels. Kirae found a room with a view to his liking near Starfire's and Cyborg's. It was on the outside edge, with a window that overlooked both the city and the open ocean to either side.
Kirae plunked down and began unloading his packwhich contained enough weapons and ordnance to supply a small SWAT team, though was cleverly packed to accomodate precious little space in his pack. There was also a collection of tactical gear, medical and maintenence supplies, martial arts training gear, a powerful laptop computer and microprinter, sleeping roll, and finally, his two-week wardrobe. He'd practically lived out of his backpack for about two months now.
He'd explained a lot about himself on the way up to the top floor, mostly concerning the circumstances that allowed a fifteen-year old to live so independently.
'I was homeschooled, which gave me a lot of extra time during the day if I applied myself. I started Taekwondo at seven, not that I could have been any good, but it certaintly gave me a focus. I've kinda developed a presence in the area of martial arts, so I have an under-the-table job with Burokaji Corporation, which is the parent company of a lot of military-supply-type companies, like BlackHawk, Armalite, and SureFire. When I come up with a good piece of gear, I sell them the patent and in addition they let me keep the prototypes. It's like being sponsored.'
'So how did you end up here?' They'd asked.
'I'm already done with my high school-level education. I was going to do some college prep and take it easy for about a year, but then... There was that fight I told you about. I've practically got a job that's paying on a car I can't drive yet, and my parents have seen what's happened. They think the same thing I do... That if it takes a pilgrimage, then that's what I'll do.'
'So I came to Jump to meet another... cell, if you will. A guy I was refered to that should actually know something. And I wasn't disappointed. There's an underworld, but I haven't uncovered enough of it to know what is going on. After two months of investigations with my mentor here in Jump, he refered me to you guys. That was just two days ago.'
It was slightly vague, but Kirae had an idea that is was better not to mention that he had actually 'killed' a few creatures that may have been in some part human. Like the previous night, they usually left no trace.
And then later, there had been when he mentioned where -exactly- he was from.
'Steel City!' They gaped.
Cyborg spoke up. 'Yeah, we've been there before, alright. 'Surprised you didn't catch on to Brother Blood when we were there a few months ago. Man, I guess Titans East isn't too popular.' He seemed to be a little disappointed with those words.
The climate of Kirae's hometown explained why he owned an extremely expensive HVM suit. HVM was the most technologically advanced cold and wet-weather gear currently produced. Kirae's suit was a black set of parka and overtrousers made by Oakley - a well-known eyewear manufacturer that also had clothing and footwear lines.
Fortunately, the Titan's hadn't seen any of Kirae's firearms yet. From the merceanary-like loadouts that some of the supernaturals 'left behind', Kirae had scavenged a choice armory. Kirae didn't know why some vampires and werewolves hade been in posession of military-grade explosives, but aimed to find out.
Laid out on the floor was a huge all-black semi-automatic with pump-action-backup H&K M3 Super 90 12-gauge shotgun in Urban Sniper's Weapon Platform configuration. With takedown punch and accuracy equal to any rifle, but less likely to over-penetrate through walls and cause accidental casualties, the scope-mounted shotgun was Kirae's longarm of choice in the city.
This would be mated with a pair of Glock 18c's, which were full-size pistols modified into firing full-auto. The Glocks had extended magazines that protruded from the grips by three inches, and had tiny AimPoint anti-parallax reflex scopes mounted in place of the rear sights.
There was also a compact H&K MP5 SD6 silenced submachine gun, and its big brother, or perhaps cousin, the fullsize H&K G33 automatic battle rifle. They both used the same internal operating system that dramatically dropped the effects of felt recoil, or 'kick'. Finally, a hard hitting all-black Kimber 1911-model .45 caliber pistol with competition-type adjustable sights, and an outrageously overpowered Desert Eagle pistol firing .50 caliber Action Express magnum.
Kirae also had twelve pounds of scavenged Semtex putty-explosive remaining, with plenty of radio and time-delay detonators. While the pile of explosives may have seemed inherently dangerious, without detonators it was quite safe. The detonators were safe and secure in a bulletproof paperback-novel-sized case.
Kirea briefly considered his new room's layout before getting settled in. The walls and ceiling were a mottled pattern of dark grey, and the floor was covered with industrial grade black carpet. Directly across from the door was the outside wall, with a huge double side-sliding storm-paned window with vertical blinds. The window covered the left half of the twenty foot wall. Close to the window on the left wall was a wide, brushed aluminum desk with a plush black office chair. A set of three giant aluminum wall lockers covered most of the fifteen foot right-hand wall, pushed towards the outside wall. Pushed into the corner where the lockers left a gap, was the foot of Kirae's brushed aluminum rail frame double-bunk bed. It was aligned with the long edge against the doorway wall, with the head towards the doorway. There was no closet, but Kirae preferred the lockers anyway. Inside one of the lockers he found a collapsible nylon mesh shelving system that hung from the clothing rack. It seemed to be designed to fit a pair of shoes on each shelf; it was about a foot wide, as tall as the locker, and about two feet deep.
Kirae immediately put his weapons and gear into the first locker. Kirae placed his pistols, tasers, sheaves of throwing knives, explosive components, and submachine gun on the shelves, and set the longarms on the bottom. The collection of various utility pouches, gadgets, and his first-aid kit, also went into the shelves. He hung his weighty tactical vest on a couple of hangers, leaving the empty thigh holsters and satchels of line and chain attached to it, and padlocked the locker shut. He mentally labeled this 'The Response Locker'.
Next, he moved his laptop computer and printer to the desk, and placed nearly everything else he owned in the second locker, including his clothes after he got them hung up. He activated his computer's Hibernation Mode and connected a power supply. He rolled onto the bottom bunk of his bed, and lounged on his back for a moment, with his ankles crossed and his arms folded behind his head. His body immediately relaxed, and Kirae felt drowsy.
'All I need to do is decorate. I'll probably give myself another day off of working out, till I feel better. 'Tsa about another hour and a half till noon, -yawn- might as well take a nap...'
He yawned and stretched, then set his watch alarm an hour and a half ahead. He rolled over, embraced the cool pillow, and allowed the soothing sound of light rain outside to lull him to sleep, still wearing his boots and armor.
Later, downstairs...
Robin was trying to remember where he kept the extra Teen Titan communicators. And in the living room...
"NO! No way B! That ain't happening! You can't just assume Kirae's gonna like tofu because he's Japanese!" Cyborg's voice spilled out in his trademark fashion, like a continous-fire verbal assault.
"Yeah, well what makes you think he's a cheeseburger person?" returned Beast Boy.
"Oh come on! EVERYBODY is a cheeseburger person -except- you. I'm trying to welcome him, and your move could seem like the opposite." After thinking a second, Cyborg finished in resignation. "But I can't really grill outside today anyway, so just let him find something himself."
"Right." Beast Boy confirmed, and the two returned to their cooperative game of Halo 2. 'Legendary' difficulty gave even these 'legendary' gamaholics a challenge.
When Kirae finally showed up downstairs, the rain was coming in stronger. He was only half awake, but his eye's shade of brown had improved to a lighter, brighter shade, though still nowhere near orange. The team had gathered downstairs, and Kirae began to wonder if they always liked to take meals together. He began scrounging for something to eat, and turned to Beast Boy, who was cooking tofu on the stove.
"Dude, got any Ramen?"
"Like, noodles?" BB absent-mindedly questioned.
"Yeah man, I'm half Japanese. I love ramen noodles!" Kirae's eccentric tone betrayed his drowsiness.
BB directed him, and Kirae proceeded to start some water on the stove.
"Kirae, d'ja want to try some of my tofu burgers?" Beast Boy solicited.
"I could have really gone for a cheeseburger" Kirae began, interupted by a loud 'Booyah!' from the living room.
"But a tofu burger would be great," he finished gratefully.
Kirae found a massively oversized ceramic mug large enough to cook a pack of ramen in, and brought this, what was left of the orange Powerade, and BB's tofu burger to the kitchen table on a tray. Now that he was mostly rehydrated, he was feeling pretty ravenous. Kirae found that a tofu burger on a whole-wheat bun tasted pretty good when dipped in a strong beef-flavor ramen broth.
Midway through his meal he decided to move to the living room to be closer to the window, just because he loved the rain that much. He finished, and returned to the kitchen to clean up. He came back to the living room to find Robin standing pointedly before the other Titans again.
"I need to give you this, now that you're on our team." Robin said, extending his left hand, showing Kirae a small, somewhat circular yellow and black device. Kirae walked up to him with dignity, and recieved the item in his left hand, shaking with his right.
"That's your communicator, your locator, and your badge." Robin said. Then he smiled, and stepped aside.
Beast Boy held out a unicycle, Cyborg pulled a pink tutu from behind the couch, and Raven held out a rubber chicken from under her cloak.
"Ya need to get initiated!" proclaimed Cyborg, almost accusingly.
