A Broken Birth
Chapter Five : All We Really Need Is Time
Two months pass...
Have you ever had one of those dark, rainy days where you don't want to do anything but sleep? Well today was one of those gloomy days and the Titans hoped that no criminal or villian would surface themselves. Of course it was just wishful thinking because Plasmus chose that day to break loose and attack science labs. Starfire flipped open her commuicator and tried to page Kaleah, a habit that she picked up after Kaleah left. They all hoped that someday Kaleah would respond and tell them she was coming back.
They came in on Plasmus drinking a barrel of chemical waste and holding another barrel of acids. What ever happened to plain old sewage water? As soon as he emptied the first barrel, he threw it at the Titans.
" By adding water, " Cyborg said while he sprayed Plasmus with water, " you can neutrelize an acid, or atleast raise it's pH value. "
Plasmus looked no different covered in water. His goey arm stretched out and flicked Cyborg out a window. He picked up another container of waste and drank. Who knows what he drank but he grew so much that he crashed through the ceiling. Robin thew some exploding balls that only seemed to tickle the blob. His arms flailed about, breaking down the ceiling, also giving himself more room to move around. The cold rain poured down on the unspirited teens, only making this job more of a drag.
" This is going to be one very long day. " Raven grumbled as she generated a shield around herself.
A bolt of lightning, out of pure luck, struck down on Plasmus, creating a giant gaping hole down his head. It did seem to cause him some pain but he just sloshed back to normal. Cyborg was saying something about how that bolt didn't seem too natural when Plasmus presented him with a glob of muck. Just nasty. Starfire was bombarding Plasmus with green energy when he shot muck again, but this time the gunk hardened. Starfire struggled for a moment before breaking free.
" Oh man, a new attack for the bad guys while we have nothing up our sleeves. " Beast Boy groaned.
Suddenly, another intense flash nicked Plasmus right in the gut. This time, Cyborg was positive this wasn't just luck. He looked up in the direction of the lightning and caught sight of a white figure. The white dot dove down from the dark sky, aiming directly at Plasmus. Closer and closer it got and just when it looked like it would crash into the ground, it shot up in a spiral around the criminal. Streaks and flecks of red and white swirled around Plasmus like a tornado, mixing with his grimey outer appearance.
" I know it's not just me when I say that those colors are extremely familiar. " Cyborg grinned.
Though he may be a mutant, Plasmus was a lot smarter than Cinderblock and Overload. He had adjusted his eyes to the tornado's speed, and with a snap of his wrist, he knocked down whatever that was causing the tornado.
" Ugh, and I thought seeing Adonis in his underwear was gross. " Kaleah moaned as she flicked off the Plasmus residue. When she got up, all the rest slide off, revealing a long white coat.
" What are you wearing, and why? " BB remarked.
Now the real work began. Everyone was jumping, twirling, flipping, doing anything in their power to evade the flying muck. Kaleah tried to explain while she was doing a cartwheel. " Even though water conducts electricity, too much can short it out. " She flew up, away from the commotion. " So if I get soaked in water, it'll short out all my powers-even flight and super-strength. " A squirt of Plasmus' new attack glued and hardened itself on Kaleah's arms, pinning her to the wall.
Robin came to her aid with a Bird-A-Rang and began to chip at the rock-like material. Kaleah, who was misted with rain, didn't have enough power to break out and Starfire was busy at the time. Kaleah opened her mouth to tell him she'd get out but he looked so determined, so heart-set on getting her out that she couldn't bring herself to say it. He had lopped off more than half when Kaleah ripped her arm away from the wall. Together, they began to work on her other arm, and lightning wasn't working too well.
" Okay, let's go. " Robin instructed as the last chunk fell off.
Now it was Raven and Beast Boy who were molded together by Plasmus. Starfire was distracting Plasmus while Cyborg tried to unearth the other two. Kaleah could feel her powers slipping away slowly and knew they'd better wrap up. Robin was tossing bunches of disks that sunk into Plasmus' skin. She didn't know what they would do but she charged them up, causing a massive explosion. Sadly, it did nothing but blow him to pieces that snaked back together. A huge gust of wind blew off Kaleah's hood, splattering her face with rain. In a last effort, before being completely soaked, she flew up til she was atleast 5 feet away from Plasmus' head, and struck him with both red and white powers.
" Just hit him with what you've got. " Cyborg said, firing his cannons at Plasmus too.
Starfire continued with her Starbolts, Robin with his energy disks, but BB and Rae were still stuck. All the attacks mixed into one, making another firework explosion. Kaleah looked down afterwards, and lying among the purple goo, was a sleeping man. She began to cheer for their victory while spinning around like a ballerina in the rain. In her happiness, she forgot about what happened when she got soaking wet. She let loose some interestingly colorful words and phrases as she began to fall.
" Gotcha. " Kaleah opened her eyes and shut her mouth to realized that Robin had caught her, saving her from becoming one with the ground.
" Thank the lords! Who knows what could've happened if you hadn't caught me. " Kaleah grinned, hopped out of his arms, hoping to get a high five from Cyborg.
But she couldn't something, more like someone, locked onto her arm and whirled her around. The next thing she knew, Robin had his arms encircled around her waist, his lips pressed up against her own. An atonished expression found it's way onto Kaleah's face. Her arms hung limply at her sides; her head still trying to compute what just happened. A gasp from the vicinity of Starfire finished the equation; she tried to pry away from Robin but it only caused him to tighten his grip.
" Robin we shouldn't...Starfire and...The rain... " Kaleah uttered fragments of what she wanted to say.
In the months where Kaleah was gone, Robin found that a lot of things reminded him of her. When Cyborg was playing one of his online battle games, he could imagine Kaleah grumbling over the fact that she lost. He would see one of Raven's old magic books on the table, and vision Kaleah reading it as a way to understand Raven some more. If Silkie writhed by, he could hear her voice, trying to teach the poor mutant a trick.
" I'm not letting go, " Robin said sternly. " and I don't plan to. I like you, I like you a lot. "
Suddenly, Robin was torn away from Kaleah by Cyborg, leaving her in the rain, in a daze. Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy surrounded the Boy Wonder.
" Dude, what's going on? " Beast Boy thrust his arms into the air in question.
" What're you kissing Kaleah for? " Cyborg said before Robin could answer Beast Boy.
" Star's a great girl, I know that, but she's not the girl for me. " This was Robin's flat response; no more questions asked.
Kaleah stood in the exact spot, in the middle of the intersection, where Robin had left her. Starfire was on the brink of crying, her eyes brimmed with tears. Robin wasn't the reason, it was Kaleah. Never in her life would she think it was her friend who took Robin from her. Starfire stormed up to Kaleah and asked, well more like demandedm " How long? How long has this treachery gone on? "
The green luminensce of Starfire's eyes brought back Kaleah's focus.
" Star what're...? "
" How long? "
" I've like Robin for a long time but I swear it was one-sided. " Kaleah cried in defense. " I've never done anything under-handed; this was the entire reason why I left! Star I -- "
The alien raised a green fist to Kaleah's face. " On Tamaran, this situation would be dealt with severely. You are deemed vlsalurck and sentenced to rot in the dungeons. "
" This isn't Tamaran. Just stop, you've got this all wrong! " Kaleah shouted, making a very clear point.
Starfire's fist disappeared, her eyes returning to normal. " You are right, this is not Tamaran. " she sighed.
" Starfire, I swear on what's left of my life, that I did nothing to take away Robin. I left to avoid this kind of problem. You're my friend and I'd never do that to you. "
The Tamaranian princess smiled.
--
Kaleah was back and staying as a permanent member of the Titans. Everyone was excited, knowing she chose to spend her last days with them, especially Robin. But after the moment with Starfire, Kaleah began to act as if she was no longer interested in Robin. Cyborg, who had always been like an older brother to Star, was mad at Robin at first, but forgave him eventually. They supported Robin but Kaleah ignored every move he tried to make. He was pretty obvious -he wasn't purposely making himself obvious, he was just bad at this stuff- but Kaleah acted as if she didn't like him anymore. The Boy Wonder was about to die of frustration and Starfire couldn't help but feel like this was her fault.
" Kaleah, may I ask you a question? "
" Uh, sure Starfire. "
" If you like Robin, why are you avoiding him? Can you not see he is very hurt? " Starfire asked innocently.
" I... "
Starfire didn't wait for Kaleah to give an answer and left. The questions haunted Kaleah throughout the day, and long into the night. She was so disturbed that she couldn't sleep. It was about midnight when Kaleah thew a jacket over her pj's, a red T-Shirt and white basketball shorts, and flew out into the living room. When the doors opened automatically, bright light filled Kaleah's eyes, making her squint. She could hear the T.V on, but the volume was very low. It sounded like some cheesy microwave commercial was playing, and when her sight returned, it was confirmed.
" You can't sleep either? " asked Robin, who was sitting on the couch.
" Uh-huh, Starfire can say somethings that just won't leave you alone. " Kaleah sighed as she took a seat next to Robin. " What're you watching? "
" Some horror flick called, ' In the Dead of Night '. " Robin replied.
" Sounds good, mind if I watch too? " Kaleah sounded so thrilled.
That question kind of stunned Robin. This was probably the longest they've been in the same room together, and the longest conversation they've shared after her return. Robin popped some popcorn and Kaleah got the soda. The movie started out in a normal city where everything seemed peaceful. Then again, that's how all the movies start out, then something goes horribly wrong and mass chaos breaks out. This was an extremely blood and gory movie, meaning that Kaleah spent most of the movie with her face glued to Robin's arm.
" Was there a point to watching this when you weren't even looking most of the time? " Robin laughed as they rolled the credits.
Kaleah's tense body loosened up and relaxed when she knew it was all over. She sighed, " The point was because I couldn't sleep and after watching that I'm not going to fall asleep anytime tonight. "
" I'll stay with you. "