Chapter 2
Cyborg cracked his neck and looked down at the young woman on the medical table before him. Her face was calm, even in her current unstable state. Every muscle on her body was well tuned, but still very smooth, even her hands. And after how Keevor had spoken of her, he was expecting either a tall, Viking like woman, or a small woman with a heck of an attitude. From how little he'd seen of her in movement, she was a balanced blend of both.
Hooking the last of the IV wires up, he walked through the sliding doors. Waiting outside was the group, most staring worriedly at Keevor who was sitting on the bench with is face in his free hand, his other in a sling to allow the wound in his shoulder to heal. The Atraforn glanced up at Cyborg. His normally pale face seemed to have lost all color entirely and the blue veins were easily visible underneath. The pale moonlight through the window behind him was no help either. "Is she going so be alright?" he asked feebly.
Cyborg nodded, remembering the anger that had flickered behind Keevor's eyes the he had been asked to leave. "Her vitals are steady. The sudden pull from her two year sleep probably just acted a great deal like jetlag. Her brain is trying to catch up with her body."
The alien relaxed visibly. "Thank goodness."
Robin looked at him. "What are you going to do when she wakes up?"
Keevor flinched, as though the idea was painful. "I'm not sure. I left a lot behind. Hurt a lot of people -mentally, not physically-" he added quickly seeing their looks, "Other than my intermediate family, no one really understood why I wanted to search for her."
"Why?" Robin pried gently, confused by the unreadable look on the new comers face.
Keevor looked at the ground. "While my people are just, we have little need for the outside world. So my sister was often," he paused trying to find the right word, "Looked down upon for her different origins. There was little need for an idealist in a world where the main goal is collect information, not generate it."
"But," spoke Starfire, her voice barely above a whisper, "Why? Why would the not want your sisters ideas because of her place of birth? Were they not for the benefit of the Atraforn planet?"
He nodded. "But they required change. While our people have a shield around the planet, there is no defense other than that. Her logical thinking spoke out against it, said we were weak against any attackers, but she was drowned out by the fanatical peace lovers."
"It's not like there's is nothing wrong with peace?" Raven questioned darkly.
Keevor looked up at her, his eyes slightly wide. Now that the pressure had passed, he was becoming hard to read. "Of course not. But to the point of ignorance is imbecilic."
Cyborg nodded. "We have five layers of security here, and I'm still working on making it better."
"They became angry when they found out Nevaka was teaching my family how to fight with weapons. They saw it as treason." He barely got the last sentence out through everyone talking at once.
"She what?"
"She looks not like a warrior!"
"She's barely got enough muscle mass to lift and average size sword, let alone a lance!"
"How did she learn all that when she was stuck on your planet!"
"What do you mean treason?" asked Raven coldly. This question cut through the thick air like a razor.
Keevor flinched under her stare. "Such actions are considered a threat to peace, and hence -treason."
Raven stared at him. "So, in other words, they didn't want you to go after her because she was basically a traitor in their eyes?" He nodded. "So how did you come to here?"
"My parents owned their own library, Lady from Azarath." He smile gently when the pale skinned girl took her turn to have her eyes widened slightly. "It earned a great deal of money and they allowed me to take one of their ships and go look for her."
"Will they allow you to go back to the place of your birth?" Starfire murmured.
"Even if they did... I don't want to force that on my family again. There are several planets kind to aliens. Perhaps I will ask where Nevaka would like to go."
Robin looked around the group. Even Raven seemed to have grown slightly fond of their odd friend, despite her hidden distrust of his story. But Nevaka...she was a different story. While Robin saw no problem with the older teen joining the group, the strange girl seemed to make Raven uneasy, and they knew nothing of the way she looked at things. "Perhaps," the leader spoke, choosing his words carefully, "The people here will come to accept her as she heals."
Keevor grinned. "You are very good with words." Robin looked slightly ashamed, but his new friend just shook his head. "I understand. But I should warn you now, Nevaka is a bit different. She likes to confuse people to see what their reaction will be just so she knows what makes them think. She will not push you to tell her things that will make you uncomfortable, but any attempt to figure her out will only result in her twisting it to her advantage. Don't give her a reason to mistrust you, while she is accepting at first, betray that trust and you could not ask for a more cunning person to fight with. While you think you are learning about her, she will be finishing your sentences by the end of the week."
"She sounds..." BeastBoy couldn't find a word to describe it.
The pale youth just laughed lightly. "Don't get me wrong, once she understands you, nothing but you could turn her thoughts to harming you, even in just a prank. Her words are sharp in anger, but her smile is genuine." He smiled slightly. "I have no doubt that she'll get along with you all very well soon." He yawned.
Robin seemed to relax. "Alright, let's get you to bed and rest that arm." He turned to look at Raven. "Would you please take him to one of the rooms near yours. They're the closest to the medical room."
Raven nodded and looked at Keevor. "Follow me," she said and led the way down a hall. Once they others began to go their separate ways she asked, "What kind of room do you want?"
"One with little light would be nice."
The cloaked girl stopped and gave him an odd look. "I would have never had guessed that."
"Well," he smiled, looking tired for the first time, "I was a bit stressed from traveling. Now that the adrenaline is gone, I need time to think, and that can only be done in a quiet, dark place."
"Consider me impressed. You never struck me as the creepy kind."
The Atraforn just laughed. "My people are librarians! If there's no one creepier than a librarian, I wouldn't be surprised."
Raven's eyes softened as she opened a door only a few down from her own. The room was of medium size. The few lights that glowed were from dim lamps and random candles. The shades on the walls -when they weren't covered with dark steel shelves, tables, or odd dressers- were dark shades of blue. The metal framed bed was covered in forest green sheets. The carpet was gray and matched the ceiling and furniture.
Keevor, walking around the room, turned with a wide smile to the cloaked teen in the door way. "It's perfect."
"I figured this would be a good room for you if you ended up staying."
"Yes," he agreed with a vigorous nod. "The shelves are would hold books of any size. And the desk that slides out of them is perfect for memorizing quickly."
"Before I leave you to your sleep, can I ask you one thing?" questioned Raven gliding up to him.
"Shoot," Keevor said, his smile becoming slightly mugged by relief and battle fatigue.
"What was your sisters first words when she met you?"
The smile faded from the youth's face as he looked the girl from Azarath directly in the face. " 'I'm sorry'," he whispered. As he spoke to explain the girls perplexed look, she could see images in the back of her mind.
"She was around two when mother found her, yet she easily kept up with me in wits -a common trait in her kind I'm told- but I spoke little to her when my parents brought her in. She never talked." A picture of a young form of Nevaka ran through Raven's mind. She had an indifferent look about her as she sat at a diner table with Keevor and what she thought to be his parents. His mother smiling. His father flinty in appearance.
"I was an only child and part of me felt like I wanted to kill her out of jealousy from the attention she drew from my mother. It only grew when they adopted her." Another memory: Nevaka sitting at a desk with and elegant woman with silvery hair and purple eyes leaning over her -a proud smile as she looked down on her new daughter's sketching.
"She hugged my mother one day and... I said some things when we were alone later on that were very cruel. I hit her when she didn't reply. She just smiled warmly after I struck her, ignoring the blood trickling from her mouth and started crying softly. All she said was 'I'm sorry' over and over." Nevaka sat in what appeared to be a moonlit forest just after a rain. Despite a large hand print on the side of her quickly swelling features, she was smiling sadly as tears wheeled down her cheeks. The pain in her eyes when she opened them was so great it made Raven choke.
"I wanted to die." Keevor grimaced, pained both by the surprised face staring at him through purple eyes and the memories floating in his mind. "I never looked at her differently -like the rest of my world wanted me too- after that, and I never hit her again unless we were training. For the longest time... she only spoke to me. I could never figure out why." An image of his sister in a tree, laughing at her older brother innocently with the sun reflecting off her hair as she threw the best fruit she could find at his confused features came by. "I never forgave myself either, though she never mentions it." He looked anguished and looked away. "May I rest now?"
The female teen looked at Keevor sadly. She stood and walked away, stopping at the door as it slid open. "So coming after her was repentance?
"No... she's my little sister. And I love her more than my own life."
Raven nodded, pulling up her hood and walked out, door closing behind her. She was finally satisfied with his explanation and convinced that -despite his looks- he was nothing like the dragon that had hurt.
When she got to her room though, she smiled warmly. What an odd man. That was such an odd gift, allowing me to see into his soul like that. Yet, I think I'm going to be very sad if he leaves. If only because he doesn't hide too much behind words and riddles.
---------------------------
He was alone. I had an eerie ring to it. Then again, Robin liked being able to think by himself. Perhaps that is why he got along with Raven a bit more than the others. But being alone with these thought was the opposite of what he had planed. Thinking often leads you to what you least want to face. Odd how that works.
He did not want to think poorly of his new temporally teammate, but he still kept drifting back to that. Keevor was just plain suspicious in appearance, yet his motives and words were genuine, and he had to think before answering their bombarding questions, so it wasn't like he had a story memorized for them. Yet, it still worried him having a possible threat- no, two possible threats in the Tower while his friends were peacefully asleep.
He felt like he could trust Keevor with his life. Heck, he even wanted to be close friends with the Atraforn. But that was what worried him.
Why am I getting so attached so quickly? His mind flew to Terra and Malchior and it rejected his thoughts of immediate friendship instantly.
His brow furrowed further as his train of though continued on such things.
So it was no surprise when he jumped at a kind voice.
"Robin...are the...'nerves' getting to you?" asked Starfire.
The martial arts master stared at her, "Yeah, I guess they are."
"May I... join you?"
"Of course," he said with a genuine smile.
They sat in silence. Much longer than Robin had expected Starfire to keep. It was comforting in an eerie sort of way as the moon slowly shifted away from the great room.
"Robin?" the Tamaranian whispered. It took a moment for Robin to sense the worry in her voice.
"What's wrong, Star?"
"The girl... Nevaka... what if she is not the person Keevor was led to believe. What if she wakes up and places one of the 'bombs' or tries to attack friend Keevor for ruining her perfectly evil plan? I do not want to think like this Robin, it scares me." Starfire gave an involuntary shudder.
"It's alright, it only means that you care for us. It's not a bad thing." He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"But it deprives me of the sleep! I can't stand the thought. I woke up screaming..." she stopped but Robin could tell she had more to say. "But, I can't push her away, not after seeing her treated like an a mere animal."
The youth next to her heaved a sigh, "I understand, Star, believe me I understand."
The girl turned to look a him and smiled weakly, "Thanks, Robin."
"No prob-" he stopped, surprised by the head of silky red hair flowing off his shoulder. Robin smiled and placed an arm around her shoulders. "...lem," he finished quietly.
----------------------
Cyborg grumbled as he worked on his car, a metal mask over his face. At least that he knew he could fix. "Oh, so that's what's wrong with ya!" he grinned, fixing the last broken piece and sliding out from underneath the vehicle. The young man stopped stiff when he heard the door slide shut quietly. None of the Titans would be in the garage that late. He got to his feet quickly and looked around. Nothing. With a cautious movement he picked up the wax and began to polish his car.
Slowly, he began to think he was just paranoid. There were no more sounds and his scanners indicated that no one of human size was there. Cyborg began to hum as he worked.
An alarm went off in his head. Something was moving quickly at his head. The android turned around just in time to keep the large pipe from hitting his head.
Standing before him, dressed in bandages and a crisp white sheet was Nevaka holding a large hunk of metal that would be way to heavy for a normal person to carry around.
"Whoah! Calm d-"
"Save it for someone how gives a crud!" she stated fiercely in a still hoarse voice as she somehow managed to pull her makeshift weapon out of Cyborg's strong grip and swing swiftly at his head again. He ducked causing her to bring it back around and swing in a perfect vertical line.
Suddenly, he was very glad that his body reacted the way it did, otherwise he'd be brainless. With a sharp movement, he bent the bar and thrust it out of her hands, grabbing Nevaka's wrists and holding her off the ground as best he could. This woman was tall!
Her eyes were manly gold, but unlike before there was a lot more gray than green.
"Darnit! He improved his darn robots!" the Mechian growled, trying to kick him without seriously harming herself. Wasn't gonna happen any time soon.
"Robot!" Cyborg cries indignantly. "I'm no robot!"
"Well, excuse me, Mr. Metal Face!" She was tired. Her body was beginning to wear out already.
"Listen if you'd just calm down-"
"So you can put me back in a tank? Heck no!"
"Listen! I don't work for-" but she swung her feet upward in a show of sheer skill and kicked the mask off that the android had forgot he had been wearing.
Nevaka's eyes went wide. "Woah... robot on steroids."
"I'M NOT A ROBOT!"
The Mechian blinked. "Dr. Phonit.." she made a gagging noise, "Does have other human test subjects, the monster."
"Your optimism is highly appreciated," Cyborg grumbled.
"So how many did it take before he got one to look natural?"
He nearly beamed at the comment, "Why thank y- HE DIDN'T MAKE ME!"
She blinked again, vibrant green taking over the steel in her irises. "Do I... know you?"
'Yes! You're brother requested our help."
"In which I promptly berated him for once I was free, I hope?"
"...yes?" He was thoroughly confused.
"Good. One less thing fore me to have to do."
"Dare I venture why?"
"I told him not to come, the dimwit. Who knows how many times the idiot nearly got himself in... did you guys say two years?"
"Yep."
"In two years. My guess would be about four times a month."
'That would be ninety-six times."
Nevaka raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "So...your a Cyborg?"
"Yep." He fought to keep the groan out of his voice. He knew what was next.
"What's your name?"
Well, at least she accepted him as a living being to a degree. "Cyborg."
"Fitting," she said without missing a beat.
"..."
"Such naming is common on Atraforn."
Realizing that her native tongue probably wasn't English, he began,
"... a lot of people name their kids after things, but not-"
"-Literate." she cut in. "Really, it is."
"So what's yours translate into?"
Nevaka gave a wispy smile. "Abandoned."
"That's... nice."
"Better than Anian."
Cyborg gave her a puzzled look.
"Mechian. It would get very confusing. There are outsiders quite often from Mecha."
"I see."
"Um...sorry about the... pole. Thing."
"No damage, no worries. Life moves on."
"You sure?" her voice was starting to come back. It was nothing special, but it was a pleasant relief from the constant peppy, dark, serious, and joking tones about him. Not that he minded, it was just nice to have another option on his ears.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Then...um, could you let me down?"
With a sudden blush, Cyborg realized that he still had her arms pinned above her head. With a strained chuckle, he dropped her wrists and jumped back.
His blush only increased when she smoothed out the bed sheet she was wearing as a dress. She looked up him and blinked, quickly becoming a signal that she was thinking, "Sorry. I never thought about the dress of this planet. Where are we?"
"Earth," he stated too quickly as she sat on a rail.
"Well... this was common at one point in several places, but... this climate is too cold and that was an awful long time ago to count as proper dress now." Her eyes trailed off as she began thinking, a scholars mind quickly shining though them.
"I'm sure Starfire can help you find something tomor-" he stopped himself and sighed. It was already past six a.m. Where had all the time went. Then again, they hadn't got back until late. "Today."
"Your planet has twenty-four hour days, correct?"
"Yep," he said, grabbing a can of white paint to do patch up jobs before breakfast. He didn't have time to finish waxing.
"What do you all eat for breakfast and when?"
"Are you hungry?" he smirked, not looking up from his work.
"A little. I honestly don't know if my body could hold solid food quite yet. I'm trying to see how things work around here. Call me nosy."
"More like you like to know how things work so to use them to your best advantage."
"You make it sound like I'm evil."
"Nah, your bro. just warned us..." he stopped, realizing he probably just earned Keevor a good yelling session. "Don't tell Key I told ya." He dropped his brush. You could have fried an egg on his head.
"Sure thing. Would you like me to get that for you?"
"I got it," he grumbled, reaching into the gears.
Slowly, the tool floated out of the circuits in front of his face. Swiping it out of the air he turned and faced her. "Did you do that?"
"Yep. If you had to stick your hand all the way in there, you would have hand to tighten everything up again."
"I... didn't know."
"It's nothing remarkable. I can't create metal, and I can't shift it from its made form without ramming something into it. Just move it."
"It 's great! I'd be able to get things done twice as fast if I could just do that."
"Until you do it in public and everyone stares at you like your a loon."
"Wouldn't bother me. They already do that. Take it Atraforns don't approve."
"Bingo," Nevaka said dryly, the sound of her sliding off her seat reaching his ears.
"Is there a reason your hair is identical to Keevor's?"
'The shade is natural. The cut is a family thing. When member hits four-teen they are expected to take in the hail style of the family. It's an easy way to identify someone and tradition. Honestly I'm surprised my captors didn't cut it off.
"Can I make breakfast?" she asked suddenly. It was obvious that the adopted Atraforn wasn't comfortable with this subject.
"Sure thing," he replied without thinking. Then Starfire's tastes shadowed his memory. "I should show you what we eat here though."
"That would be nice," she said.
When he turned and faced her, she was smiling. And in a bed sheet. "After we get you some clothes."
Nevaka just laughed an odd laugh that seemed to have a metallic ring. It was kind on the ears.
