"I'm sorry about that, sir," Robin apologized, nearly shouting over the music. Batman nodded.
"I'm sure there's a good reason. One that would probably baffle and confuse anyone you told. I understand," he replied. Robin smirked. His eyes drifted to where Raven was dancing with Tim.
"He's good," Robin noted. Batman considered him for a moment then nodded.
"He should be. Alfred and I taught him everything he knows." He paused and looked at Robin again. "Richard. What did you do to your hair?" His tone gave away no hint of surprise or anger. Robin hastily ran his hand through his hair.
"What do you mean?" he stammered.
"I mean, your hair is purple."
"You can see it?"
"You were trying to hide it?" Robin let out a heavy sigh.
"It's… complicated…"
"Oh?"
"Raven and I are dating."
"And she asked you to dye your hair? I find that hard to believe." Still his tone did not betray his true feelings.
"She wouldn't do that!" Robin breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. "This is naturally… well… supernaturally would be better, I guess…"
"I think I understand what you're talking about." Robin looked up.
"You do?"
"Is it permanent?" Batman asked.
"Yes." Robin replied guiltily.
"Robin, it's fine. I sent you here because I felt you were ready for this kind of responsibility. I am obligated to have faith that you're making sound decisions." Robin nodded. Batman placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed it fondly. "I'm proud of you, Richard. Although, I don't know about your parties," he said, indicating the empty Heineken bottle.
"I have no idea how that got here." Robin replied with a helpless shrug. "So, how's the Justice league?"
"They're fine. I think Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern are here." Batman said, looking around for his friends. Robin immediately spotted The Flash, Superman, and the Green Lantern, due to them being surrounded by fans. Wonder Woman was over by snack table.
"Do you ever go back to Gotham?" Robin asked.
"Whenever I get the chance. Barbara and Tim take care of things while I'm at the Watchtower. She misses you."
"Yeah… I miss her, too."
"But, now you have Raven."
"Right."
"She's seems nice. I never thought you the type for Goths."
"She's not Goth per se. She just doesn't show her emotions because they control her powers. Recently, she's been more emotional; laughing and smiling more often, she cried because of a book she was reading. That was strange… She's not a drama queen, but she's not an ice queen, either… Y'know what I mean?" Batman nodded in understanding.
TT
Cain opened his eyes and looked around. The stench of Slade's corpse struck his nose and almost threw him off of his bed. He stood and walked to the door and pressed his ear against it. Silence. He opened the door to find the hallway empty and stepped out. Before he was all the way through the door, however, Slade's voice stopped him.
"Where are you going?" he asked. Cain turned to him and scrunched up his face.
"Out."
"Your brother will find out and bring you back. Forcefully or otherwise."
"Let him try." Cain twitched his head and Slade slumped over where he sat. "Filthy corpse," he mumbled as he walked out. He had decided to leave on foot, because using his powers would alert his siblings of his actions. He stopped first at Robin's room, entered and searched for something to disguise himself. He found a large leather coat and donned it and departed. He made his way stealthily down the hall, dodging into the shadows as the occasional wanderer made his or her own way down the hall. He looked tentatively into the living room and found the others preoccupied; Robin spoke with a large, foreboding man wearing a pointy-eared mask while Raven danced with another boy dressed similarly to Robin. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Terra were playing a game of some sort. Cain smirked as he blended into the crowd and made his way to the elevator. The constant dinging of the elevator provided him with a simple means of escape. The elevator door opened and revealed the reception area and the large front door. Cain stepped out and made his way to the door. When he was almost there he noticed a movement in the shadows and stopped to examine the spot. He found nothing and moved on. Once outside, he boarded the ferry that was taking guests to and from the island and smirked at his victory.
TT
Abel cracked an eye open and set his legs on the floor. He opened his door and walked out. He stepped into the room across from it as Cain walked by. Abel stepped out and followed his brother to Robin's room, where he disappeared for about five minutes. Abel walked by casually and rounded a corner and waited. Cain walked by the hallway he had turned, wearing a long black coat. Abel immediately knew what he was planning and looked for a ventilation shaft. He lifted the vent cover and dropped down into the vent. He walked in a crouch until he came to a drop. Abel stepped off the edge and fell until it came to an end, stopping himself with his powers. He walked until he came to the reception area. He opened the vent just as Cain walked by and hurried away as he walked over to investigate. Abel stepped out of his hiding spot as Cain walked away and followed him onto the boat. Abel veered off to the left while Cain continued forward.
TT
"This is getting out of hand!" Robin shouted to Raven.
"The ferry just left… we'll have to wait until it gets back."
"Damn it. I found out who brought the alcohol."
"Oh?"
"Some Goth kid. Found him passed out in the bathroom." Raven nodded.
"I'm gonna go check on Abel and Cain. Make sure they aren't getting into any trouble."
TT
Cain breathed in the salty air and felt a pang of homesickness. He leaned over the rail and watched as the dock got closer and closer. When the ferry reached the dock, Cain mingled with the crowd and stepped off the boat. Standing on the sidewalk, watching as people came and went, he realized something; he had no idea where he was.
"Damn it."
Cain looked up and down the street and started walking to the right. After fifteen minutes of walking, he came across something that caught his interest. It was a bank, and it was being robbed. Cain stepped in and examined the situation. The citizens were all lying face down on the ground while the robbers gathered up large amounts of green paper. Cain recognized the paper as currency, and knew what the criminals were doing. Though he didn't personally care for the outcome, he knew that he would be punished if Abel or Raven found out he had let this transgression continue. The culprits were a trio of teenagers; a large hairy, a short one in a green bodysuit of some sort, and a pink-haired, pale-skinned girl in a black and pink dress. She was the most beautiful girl Cain had ever seen, and she looked exactly like someone he knew.
"Stop," he commanded. The three of them stopped and stared at him. The pink-haired girl's eyes lit up when she saw him.
"Abel. How nice of you to join us," she said and walked over to him. She placed his hands on his chest and smiled at him, "Finally left those stinking Titans?" she placed her hands on his chest and Cain felt his heart start to beat faster.
"Take your hands off of me wench," he slapped her hands away and she recoiled, "do not mistake me for my worthless brother." Cain had meant this to be scathing. The girl, however, was only invigorated by this new information.
"There's two of you? That should make for an interesting night!" Cain cocked an eyebrow and removed her hands from his chest again.
"As inviting as that is," he paused to process what he had just said. He shook his head slightly and released the girl's hands, "your actions are deplorable and must come to an end." Jinx cocked her own eyebrow and smiled.
"How about this; we'll drop everything and leave, if you promise to go out with me." Behind her, her accomplices stared at the two of them. The short one dropped his bags and ran up behind her.
"Jinx, what are you doing?" he shouted in the most annoying voice Cain had ever heard, "You're gonna give up all this loot for some guy you just met?" Jinx waved her hand and he went flying into the vault. Cain's eyes widened and stared at the girl. She stared back at him.
"Well?" Cain considered her for a moment. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but he knew that if he got them to stop what they were doing, he would be on good terms with his siblings and would hopefully be allowed some more freedom.
"Very well." Jinx smiled and turned to the large hairy one.
"Pen and paper." The large boy hurried to the booth and retrieved a pad and pen. He handed them to Jinx and stepped back. Jinx scribbled something on the front page and tore it off. She handed it to Cain. "Pick me up there on Saturday at, say… noon." Cain took the paper and looked at it. It was number and name. Cain nodded and put it in his coat pocket. Jinx snapped her fingers and the large boy obediently walked out. The short one climbed out of the vault muttering. Cain caught a bit of what he was saying; "Razzle Frazzle pretty-boy" and "Cake sniffin' witch", whatever that meant. Cain stopped him and lifted him up. The boy started squirming and cursing.
"Put me down you snot-nosed scuzbag!" Cain raised his eyebrows and turned him upside down and started shaking him. Three bags as large as he was fell out of the neck of his suit and Cain was baffled as to how he managed to fit them in there. Cain released him and he landed on the floor in a heap. Out of the corner of his eye, Cain noticed the large one trying to tiptoe out of the building. Cain reached out and lifted him up with his powers. Four bags fell from his person and Cain racked his brain trying to figure out how it was possible.
"Shame on you, Gizmo! And you, Mammoth!" Jinx exclaimed accusingly. Cain looked at her and narrowed his eyes. She smiled and tugged on her collar. "We can do a strip search if you want." Cain twitched his hand and a bag fell to the floor from underneath her skirt. "Damn, you're good! This doesn't change anything, does it?" she asked hopefully.
"I will consider it." Jinx pouted and lifted Gizmo by the back of his neck and walked out. Mammoth followed helplessly and left Cain standing in the middle of the building with stunned civilians. "Go about your business." As he turned to leave he heard them clapping. He turned around and stared at them in confusion. He shrugged and walked out.
TT
Abel leaned against the outside wall of the bank, listening to everything going on inside. He hid in the shadows as Jinx walked by carrying a cursing Gizmo by the neck and Mammoth following closely. He heard applause inside the bank and leaned forward to peak into the window. Cain stood there as the civilians applauded, unsure of what to do. Cain decided he would bow once or twice and departed. Cain rounded the corner and leaned against the wall next to him.
"I know you were following me."
"I know you knew. And I know you knew I knew."
"What?"
"Never mind. Do you have any idea what you just got yourself into?"
"No. What is this 'H.I.V.E.'? And 'Saturday', what is that?"
"Saturday is in two days. And the 'hive' is an acronym. I have no idea what it stands for. It's a school that those three attend."
"And 'go out'? What does that mean?" Abel smiled.
"It's a date." Cain stared at him blankly. "You know… go out to a movie, go to dinner, something like that. You, little brother, are on your way to having a girlfriend, though you could have picked someone better." Cain leaned his head against the wall and sighed. "Something wrong?"
"I cannot believe I have forgotten until now… there was a chambermaid in Zynthos, a human… we had been having an affair for three years."
"Three years! You're fifteen!" Abel exclaimed.
"And? What's so wrong about that? Isn't Starfire seventeen?"
"Yes, but you said you were having an affair. That usually involves sex."
"You mean intercourse? There was plenty of that."
"We're gonna have to straighten some things out, you and me. Why did you just now bring this up?"
"That girl… Jinx, looks exactly like Tarisin…" Abel felt a wave of sadness from his brother and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Something bad happened." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Father found out and had her executed." Cain's sadness turned into anger and he kicked a street lamp, bending it; people nearby stopped to stare. Abel repaired the damage and led his brother away from the scene.
"C'mon, we'll get some ice cream or something."
"Ice cream?" Cain asked after wiping at his eyes.
"You'll love it."
TT
"AAAAAARRRRRGH!"
"I guess I should've warned you about that part." Cain clutched at his head and pounded his fist into the table. "Stop it. You're making a scene."
"What the cruxid is this?" he shouted.
"It's brain freeze. That tends to happen when you try to stuff a whole spoonful of ice cream down your throat. Don't worry," Abel paused to take a bite out of his cone, "it's not actually your brain freezing over. It's just the nerves in the roof of your mouth overreacting to the cold of the ice cream." Abel popped the remainder of his cone in his mouth and watched as his brother tried to ignore the sensation in his head. After a while he stopped writhing and breathed heavily. He pushed the remainder of his ice cream away and Abel picked up the spoon and started on it.
"That… was worse than the punishment for theft in Zynthos…"
"And that is?"
"They cut off your fingers one by one. Then they cut off your hands." Abel stared at him.
"Wow… here it's a heavy fine and maybe a year or so in prison…"
"Prison?"
"Yeah, you know. Usually a nine-by-nine cell you share with some guy namedFrank that wants to be your 'special friend'." Cain stared at him. "Just hope you don't have to go there. I don't think the other inmates would be able to handle you."
"Was that a compliment?" Cain asked. Abel shrugged and stuck his spoon in his mouth.
"If you say so." Cain shrugged and looked around the food court. There were many food shops with names that did not make sense to Cain. 'Krispy Kreme', for example. Not only was it spelled wrong, it was an oxymoron. As far as Cain knew, cream cannot be crispy, unless it's been sitting out for a week. And 'Panda Express'. What the cruxid is a panda? And does that place serve them as a delicacy? Cain continued to look around until he saw a dark room with a large glowing sign over it that read, 'Arcade'.
"What is that?" Abel looked over his shoulder and smiled.
"I'll show you." Abel stood and walked to the room. Cain stood and followed. The room contained large boxes with many sticks and buttons, even a few which had strangely shaped objects attached to them. Cain stepped up to one in particular that read 'Time Crisis 2'. Cain picked up the blue object and turned to Abel.
"What is the purpose of this?" Abel leaned forward and put two coins in each slot and picked up the red object.
"It's a light gun. Point at the people shooting at you and pull the trigger. Here, aim at the sign that shows two people and shoot." Cain did so and Abel did like wise. The screen showed a large building and then a room with a woman in it. Cain's finger twitched and she suddenly disappeared and was replaced by two men entering a hallway.
"What did I do?"
"You skipped the cut scene. It's fine, it wasn't really important, anyway. Here we go. By the way, in order to shoot, you need to hold that pedal down, and to reload release and then press it again." He turned back to the screen and began pulling the trigger. Two of the men disappeared from the screen. Cain took aim and pulled the trigger. The remaining enemies disappeared in a matter of seconds. A man in a black suit appeared and began shooting at them with a machine gun. Cain and Abel began firing at him and he eventually ran away. The word 'wait' appeared on the screen and there characters began moving toward the window. They exited the window and the screen went blank. There were groans from the other people in the room as the power went out.
"What happened?" Cain asked. Abel looked around and frowned.
"Power outage," he stated, "it might be Overload. C'mon, let's see if we can find him." Abel stuck the light gun in its sheath and walked away. Cain followed suit. Once outside Abel raised his hand and the room was suddenly filled with light. "Nobody panic! My brother and I will handle this!" he shouted. The people started cheering and clapping. Abel muttered something and the lights came back on. "Let's go."
TT
"What the hell?" Raven said from her position on the couch. The party was over, all the guests were gone, and everything was cleaned up. Raven had gone to her room and gotten a book and decided to read.Just when she thought she would have some peaceful quiet time to readthe lights decided to flicker and die. Raven walked to the computer console as the emergency power kicked in. she pulled up the schematics of the city and showed that there had been a mass power outage.
"What's up?" Robin asked as he entered the living room.
"Power outage; this has Overload written all over it. Where is everyone?"
"Asleep. I was in the gym."
"Hmm. Cain and Abel are in the area. I'm sure they can take of it."
"What are they doing out?"
"Bonding. That's what Abel said anyway. I'm going to bed, care to join me?"
"It would be my pleasure." With melodramatic regality, he offered his arm and held his hand out toward the hallway. Raven decided to play along and linked her arm in his. "Your room or mine?"
"We never seem to go in your room."
"As her majesty commands. Anything you want tonight."
"Still got those handcuffs?" Robin smiled and led her to his room.
"I'm sure I've got a few lying around somewhere."
TT
The power plant was empty. It seemed that way, anyway. Cain and Abel cautiously walked through the plant, searching every corner. There was an explosion in another room and they glanced at each other and nodded. They closed their eyes andmelted intoblack shadows of themselves and ran silently through the walls until they came across the room that was the source of the explosion. They peeked into the room and saw there was no one inside. They walked in and made themselves tangible again and searched for the catalyst. Cain noticed something on the floor and picked it up. He held the black card up to his brother.
"That's Overload. It looks he… well… overloaded," Abel said and took Overload from his brother. He stuck the card in his shirt pocket and turned toward the door. "C'mon, let's go."
"Wait. That's it? He causes the lights to go off and then destroys himself? There has to be more to it than that." As he said this, a large creature loomed up behind him and growled. Cain raised his eyebrows at his brother andleapt into the air and kicked the creature in the face. The creature snarled and retreated a bit and took up a defensive posture. Cain started after it but was stopped by Abel. "What are you doing?"
"It's afraid. I can see it in its eyes. It thinks we're a threat."
"Are we not?" Cain protested.
"Not, if we don't need to be. If you're going to live with us, you'll need to learn when it is and isn't necessary to fight." Cain sighed.
"I will try, brother."
"You will?"
"How much choice do I have?"
"True. Now, help me convinceit not to try and kill us."
"Very well."
I need reviews! Well, technically I don't, but it's nice to know what you think. The next chapter won't come until I recieve at least five reviews. Reviewing won't affect whether or not I continue. I'll continue the story, but I won't post until I recieve five reviews for the most recent chapter. It's the thought the counts, right? Of course it is. Now, review... please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top? That's as far as I go. I have to protect what little dignity I possess.