Black Rose, Green Grass
Chap. 1
Family Ties
The room was huge, spanning close to four hundred feet in diameter. Buried underneath Titans Tower, deep in the bedrock of the island, there was plenty of room for it to stretch out. The walls seemed to stretch upwards for miles, and they were just as wide. All around there were machines and devices that in any other place, used by any other beings, would have been strange. The walls themselves were pure gray steel all around, with no decoration that made them seem 'homey.' And it was a good thing too. Any kind of decoration would have been torn or smashed to bits within a few weeks. For this room was the most important in the entire Tower; that's why it was buried so deep, so no one could find it. It was here that the Teen Titans and WILDB.R.A.T.S did their daily training. In fact, I think that they might be there now. Shall we take a look?
Robin stared at the three boards of wood in front of him. Each one was held up and locked down by a series of rising fixtures, each slightly higher then the other. Slowly, Robin began to concentrate on his task. As his mind cleared, he crouched down lower and lower, until he was almost sitting on the ground. He extended his arm out, hand in a chopping position, mind almost ready. Suddenly, with a yell, Robin leapt forward, flipping in the air over the boards. In less then a second, he was on the other side of the fixture, the boards seemingly untouched. The boy wonder turned around and waited for the moment to come. Sure enough, the boards suddenly split apart in the middle, one by one. Robin smiled at his efforts. "Nice one Rob." A voice said from behind him. Robin turned and nodded at Neuron, as the young speedster began his target practice. The exercise he'd set up himself tested both his electrical powers and his hand-eye coordination. It was basically a carnival 'shoot-em up' game, but Neuron had rigged it up so that the targets flew by so fast even Robin couldn't hit them with his Birdarangs. Yet this made no difference to the speedster. As the targets raced by in a blur, he zipped back and forth across the floor, blasting each one with an electrical bolt. The target wall began to smoke from the explosions, as the floor smoked from Neuron's rapid movement.
As Robin watched and began to reset his board device, the other heroes continued their own training. Cyborg and Starfire stood in the back, spotting each other with weights. Of course, the weights weighed close to a ton, but it didn't really make much difference to the machine-man or the alien. Beast Boy was working with Heatstrike and Polar, as both BRATS would attempt to either freeze or burn the young shape shifter. Beast Boy managed to avoid the attacks, but he was limited in his forms to small mammals. He considered a test of his forms to be able to dodge the blasts for so long. Polar and Heatstrike just enjoyed getting their daily frustrations at the green one out at his expense. Meanwhile, Bartman and the Scarlet Whimpernel were testing each other's powers of hearing and agility. Whimpernel was blindfolded, attempting to use his advanced hearing to listen for the footsteps of his leader. Bartman, meanwhile, was attempting to gain a clear shot by silently moving around on the crevices of the wall. However, it didn't seem to be working, as Whimpernel would every so often let out a burst of sound that came closer and closer to hitting his leader. Yet none of the noise seemed to bother one member of the team. Raven sat silently, her body hovering above the floor, as she concentrated on the egg in front of her. Slowly it began to rise into the air, as Raven's power over it began to increase. The empath's face tensed, as she attempted to keep the pressure just right.
Finally, in the room's center, the most normal training was going on, oddly by the most unnatural beings. The center of the training room was made up of a large set of mats, laid in a square pattern. Yet it seemed those mats would get pushed into a new pattern every few seconds as Brett, bat-Elemental of Shadow and Sara, fox-Elemental of Light, continued to pound each other. The two of them had spent centuries refining their external powers, so they didn't need too much work there. However, they were always eager to improve their physical ability and they could do that best with each other. Of course, the fact they were married added a bit of spice to it for them. This was quite evident when Brett suddenly broke from the hold Sara held him in and reversed it into a full nelson. Breathing his wife's hair in deep, he said, "You give up yet?" "Hmm… naw." Sara replied. With that, she pushed up with her legs, then slid through Brett's open ones, dragging Brett with her. The bat was flipped over into a sit-down, and it was there that Sara applied the nelson to him. "What about you?" she asked. Brett's answer was to fall back, trap Sara's head in his legs, then he flipped forward, tossing her from him and breaking the hold. But Sara twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet, just as Brett nipped up to his feet. The two stood there, staring at each other, with sweat pouring down their bodies. "God, I love this." Brett panted out. "Me too." Sara said. "Why don't we go finish it?" "Dear, there are children present." "I know. That's why we have a bedroom." "Ever notice how this always finishes up there?"
"Must you guys talk about this while I'm here?" said a voice from behind them. "You know Rae, you shouldn't be that disturbed. A lot of parents don't show this much love for each other after ten years, and we still do at five hundred." "Great, but do I have to hear about it Dad?" Raven asked, as she placed the egg back down. Despite her tone, Raven had a smile on her face. It always happened lately, now that Trigon was gone. Without that dark cloud in her life, Raven was beginning to open up. She would go out with the others now, instead of staying inside all the time. She was trying different activities she hadn't had time for before, like the bass guitar lessons from Sara. Raven even laughed once in a while. But what really made her smile was whenever she called Brett and Sara Mom and Dad. It had been difficult in the first month, sweet words that kept getting stuck in her throat. Now, three months after the adoption had made everything official, Raven had no trouble with the words and they always made her happy at how far they'd come.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Beast Boy was closest so he picked it up. "Hello?" he said. After a moment, he nodded and said, "Hey Brett, it's for you." "Ah, it must be the others." The bat said as he made his way over to the phone. "How are you guys doing with that?" Raven asked. "Pretty well actually." Sara said. "Just about all of them have heard and they really want to meet you. And they're thrilled about the ceremony." As if to confirm it, Brett said, "All right, that's great Mike. I'll see you in two weeks. Don't worry, she'll be thrilled to meet you. OK see you then." With that, he hung up and turned around. "Mike's finally got some time off from the job." "Thank God. What about Greg and Alex?" Sara asked. "Actually, it turns out that they all met up and they're working together over in Ohio. Some place called Amity…. Something. But they'll be here in time." "What are they like anyway?" Raven asked. "Oh the guys are great. Mike's the funniest bastard you've ever met, and Greg comes pretty close. Alex, well, he's more of a talker and he's not too good at it, but you'll like him anyway." "Well, after what you've told me about all these guys, I just hope that I can stand up." "Raven, trust me. After we initiate you, your uncles will love you."