It's About Falling
Chapter Two: Titan's Tower
"You got rescued by Nightwing?" Kori asked at breakfast the next morning. "You have such an imagination, sweetheart," she said fondly.
"I didn't imagine it, Mom," Mar'i insisted. "He saved me."
"You watch too many movies," her mother said lightly. She gathered a stack of dished sticky with syrup and placed them in the sink. Kori fought back tears. Richard and Cyborg had taught her how to cook when she was around 17, having grown tired of her puddings of happiness. She recalled fondly how everyone had enjoyed the first meal she'd made by herself, spaghetti.
"It's perfect, Star, and I grew up with a gourmet chef," Robin had assured her with his "Just-for-Kori" smile.
"Mom?" Mar'i probed, staring. It was obvious she had been trying to communicate for several minutes.
"Yes?" Kori answered quickly.
"Can I go downtown for awhile?" Mar'i inquired casually. "I'll be back by mid-afternoon."
"I don't see why not," Kori replied, brow furrowed in thought. "Yes, that's fine with me."
Kori disappeared into her bedroom and came back holding a twenty dollar bill. "Buy lunch when you get hungry. But be careful, honey. There are many people who wouldn't hesitate to do something horrible to a pretty girl like you."
"Thanks Mom," Mar'i said, feeling a bit guilty as she accepted the money. She hadn't been expecting this. "I'll be going in a minute."
"Have fun, baby," Kori murmured, hugging Mari close.
"I'll look both ways before I cross the street," Mar'i assured her, smiling.
She ran a brush through her hair again, making certain the snarls have been combed out thoroughly. She wore simply a black T-shirt with a Batman logo and jeans embroidered with tiny purple and black stars.
'I hope he likes me,' Mar'i thought. She snatched up her miniature backpack and stowed her money in the secret pocket.
"Bye Mom!"
Mar'i let herself out and, a bit nervously, ran down the steps to the street.
It was only nine o'clock on Sunday morning, so Jump City was still fairly quiet. A few cars whizzed by her as she began her walk to the bus stop.
It was a five minute wait until the right bus arrived. Mar'i stepped up, deposited her 35 cents and chose a seat at the back.
"Where are you going, dear?" an older woman asked, smiling at the young girl.
"I'm visiting the city. I want to see the Tower."
"Oh, yes. I went there myself once. There are tours of the island itself, and I even got to see them out training. Lovely people, they are. But of course the leader and the pretty redhead have left, haven't they?" the lady rambled.
'Indeed,' Mar'i thought. She politely thanked the lady and got off the bus.
"You can do this," Mar'i told herself confidently.
She approached the little dock where the little tourist ferries were moored. Sea spray stung Mar'i's midnight blue eyes, the same as her father's.
"We're closed, miss," a wizened old sailor snapped curtly, hobbling up to her. "But for a small fee I can take you to the island."
"How much?" Mar'i asked suspiciously.
"Like I say, not much. Five dollars, and o' course, a tip, if you please."
"Do you have change?"
The sailor laughed. "Old Charlie's playing with ya, girl! It would be against everything me old ma ever taught me to charge a pretty girl like yourself."
Mar'i sighed in relief. "Thank you, sir," she chirped.
Charlie snorted. "None of this 'sir' little miss. Just Charlie. Come 'ere, girl, my boat is this way."
Mar'i got into Charlie's tiny sailboat, shivering. She wished she had worn more than a T-shirt.
"'Ere ya go, girl. Old Titan's Tower. I hope ya find whatever it is you're looking for."
'My father,' she wanted to tell him. "Thank you again, Charlie," she said, smiling.
Charlie saluted and turned his boat around.
Taking a deep breath, Mar'i faced the giant T looming in front of her.
"You're Robin and Starfire's child," she told herself. "You can handle anything."
Mar'i strode up to the Tower and knocked at the door.
TT
Richard poured himself his third cup of coffee and frowned as he stirred in sugar. He couldn't get that little girl out of his mind.
"Could I really be a father?" he asked himself for the hundredth time. "There was that night with my Kori…and I never even saw her again after I fell asleep. I know I've wished a thousand times over that she hadn't left until I made that offer for her to come with me or that I'd said something first…"
He took a sip of the scalding drink and added more cream. "Much better," he murmured to himself. "Why would she keep a baby from me?"
TT
Mar'i was greeted by a tall green man with a little girl slung over one shoulder, giggling hysterically.
"Yes?" he asked impatiently. "Be quiet, Rella, Daddy is talking."
"I-I'm looking for my father," Mar'i stammered.
"He's not here," the man replied shortly.
"How do you know?" Mar'i challenged. She was exasperated.
"BB?" asked a deeper voice. There was clanging on the stairs behind the green man. "Who is it? If it's those Girl Scouts, we don't want cookies!"
"Dude!" Beast Boy squawked. "Some kid is here looking for her dad."
"Her dad?" another voice queried, this one more light and feminine. "I want to see her!"
A woman even taller than Beast Boy wearing a yellow and black shirt appeared in the doorway. She had a kind face, Mar'i thought, with warm chestnut colored eyes.
"See! Her father isn't here," Beast Boy proclaimed.
"You idiot," Bumblebee chided him. "This is obviously Richard's child. What's your name, honey?" she probed, addressing Mar'i.
"Mar'i," Mar'i answered, feeling more at ease.
Both Beast Boy and the metal man's mouths hung open. "She is Richard's kid," the metal one agreed. "I'm your uncle Cyborg," he announced. "And this green idiot is your Uncle Beast Boy and his daughter Arella."
"There'll be time for all that later, Sparky," the woman said dismissively. "Ignore these morons, sweetie. Come upstairs OK?"
Mar'i nodded and followed Bumblebee up the staircase and into the main room, the Operations Center.
"Wow," Mar'i breathed.
"Karen?" drawled a monotonous voice. "Who was at the door?"
Karen Stone squealed. "Look, Raven!"
The woman called Raven stood. She wore a white cloak over a white leotard with a decorative belt hanging on her hips at an odd angle.
"Oh…my…God," she said slowly. She floated over to where Mari and Karen stood and took Mari by the shoulders. "This is Robin's kid," Raven stated.
"No, really? Of course this is Robin's kid."
"Who's your mother?" Raven wanted to know.
Mar'i panicked. "She doesn't know I'm here!"
Raven and Karen exchanged glances. "Oh?" they asked in unison.
Karen moved Mar'i out of Raven's grip. "We'll call your dad if you call your mom, hon," she said reasonably. "We can't have her worried."
"She'll make me go home."
"Don't worry about it," Karen responded. "It'll be taken care of."
Raven brought a cordless phone over to the girl. "What's her name?" she asked again, but Karen frowned and snatched the phone away.
"Call your mother."
Mar'i shrugged and shaking, took the phone and dialed.
Kori's cheerful voice answered on the first ring. "Anders-Grayson residence!" she chirped.
"Mom, it's me," Mar'i said quietly.
"Honey? What's wrong? Do you need me to come get you?"
"N-no," Mar'i spluttered. "You'll never guess where I'm at."
"Where?" Kori demanded.
"Titan's Tower," Mar'i squeaked.
Kori sighed. "Mar'i you didn't."
"I just want to know my dad!" Mar'i screamed.
Vic, who had rejoined the girls a minute before, gently extracted the phone from Mar'i.
"Hi-" he began, attempting to calm the woman who was now sobbing on the other side of the phone.
"V-Vic?" Kori asked in a frightened whisper.
"Kori?"
Karen stared at Mar'i in shock. "Kori is your mother?"
"Uh-huh." Mari nodded.
"OK, Kori, I understand. OK, we'll see you then."
He hung up. "You didn't tell us Kori was your mom."
Mar'i lowered her gaze.
"Anyway, she says she'll be here to get you in twenty minutes."
Raven had taken the phone from Vic and was dialing.
"It's OK, Mar'i, I'm calling your dad."
TT
Richard was kicking the stuffing out of his battered punching bag when the phone rang.
He grabbed a towel and patted his sweaty neck dry. "Talk to me," he said playfully.
'Where did that come from?'
"Stop being an idiot and get over here."
"Raven?"
"Who else?" she growled.
"What's up?" Richard asked.
"Come and see. Oh, be here in twenty minutes."
TT
The six were interrupted fifteen minutes later by someone ringing the bell in several times in quick succession.
"My mom," Mar'i muttered darkly.
Raven and Karen went to answer and Arella shyly moved closer to Mar'i on the couch. "I don't want you to leave, Mar'i," she piped up. "You're cool."
Mar'i smiled at the child. "Thanks. You're pretty cool, too."
Arella giggled again. She was more like her father: happy-go-lucky.
"Your mother's here," Karen announced, trudging up the stairs into the main room again.
Kori was livid. "You're in a ton of trouble, young lady. You asked to go downtown, not to see Titan's Tower!"
"I just want to meet my dad!"
"He changed his name, you know, after you left," Raven drawled. "He's Nightwing now."
"Nightwing?" Mar'i questioned incredulously. "He's my dad?"
Kori glared daggers at Raven, but the other woman was unfazed.
"It doesn't matter; Mar'i and I are going home," Kori snapped curtly.
Mar'i cautiously approached her mother and then threw her arms around Kori's figure, still trembling with fury.
"Please, Mama?" Mar'i asked with childlike innocence, tugging on Kori's slender hand, just as she'd done when she was a little girl.
"No," Kori said firmly.
"Kori?" a new voice joined the others. They all turned to see a tall man dressed in a black and blue uniform. "Wait a minute…you're the girl from last night," Nightwing realized slowly.
Mar'i let go of her mother and ran to him. Instinct told him to pick her up and he did so, still wondering why. "I'm home Daddy," she promised. "I'm home."
Hehehe…what will happen next?
Love,
Queenie