Chapter 2 Fly

The Titans were just beginning a practice session. Raven was lifting stone cylinders the size of busses with her mind and launching them like missiles into the sky. Upon their descent, they were blasted into debris by Cyborg. The debris was used as practice for Robin, who launched himself from piece to piece in quick seccession, trying to stay off the ground. Beast Boy was switching from creature to creature in order to avoid the falling rocks.

"Friends!" Sunfire cried; coming over the bluff that separated the outdoor training area from the rest of the island. The others stopped to look at him. He was grinning from ear to ear, and after a moment, they realized what was causing this joy, Sunfire was nearly a foot off of the ground, and soon shot into the air, doing a loop-de-loop on his way up, and a powerful dive that he pulled out of just seconds before hitting the ground.

"You can fly?" Robin asked, a little in awe as Sunfire landed before them.

"Dude!" BeastBoy exclaimed, his jaw hanging open a little.

"How'd you do that man? What happened?" Cyborg asked, trying to be logical about the whole thing, but even his mechanical brain was having issues processing what he was hearing. Raven just stood stoically, her face blank.

Sunfire beamed at all of them before returning to the air for another round of aerial tricks. When he returned to his teammates, he remained hovering, lying down in midair, resting his head on his hand.

"Galfore explained that in order for Tameranian men to fly, they must feel protective about someone or thing. I feel most protective about—"

"The team, we know." Robin cut in before he could finish a smile growing on his face. "So, I think you're going to need a new uniform."

Sunfire sighed, was upset about being interrupted, but did not have the heart to correct Robin when he was obviously focused on something else. "I suppose, though I am still unable to use starbolts, I shall have to rely on close quarters combat."

"You still could bench press the tower though, it won't be bad." Cyborg said.

"This is true."

"Well, just tell us what you want your new outfit to be, and I'll have the new replicloner make it for you." He said. Even without being empathic, Sunfire could tell that he was just dying to try out his newest creation. He smiled before taking to the sky again, and rose higher than he had been in a long time. He flew as high as the tallest building in the city, and then launched himself towards his protectorate, becoming nothing more than a lime green streak of light to the onlookers who still roamed the street at ten o'clock in the evening. The feeling of the wind ruffling his hair and whistling in his ears brought back the feeling of unbridled joy that before had allowed him to fly, and he brought his hands up his body, thrusting them out before him as the great Superman was want to do. He rushed along, breaching the sound barrier and those below covered their ears as they heard the sonic booms above them.

The next morning, an elated Sunfire was making breakfast in the kitchen when a face appeared on the Ops Center's television/window. It appeared to be a delivery man with the mail. Sunfire decided not to wake his friends needlessly and shut off the stove burner so that he could answer the door. He flew at breakneck speed down the hall and landed at the atrium of the tower. The large door recognized his movement and opened almost silently.

"Good morning carrier of mail!" He said politely to the man, who seemed a little unsure as to whether or not to hand him the delivery.

"Good morning sir, um… I have the Titans' mail…" He gestured to the large sack of letters behind him.

"Thank you." Sunfire said, he swept the large bag over his shoulder effortlessly and took the morning paper that the mailman held out to him. And then disappeared inside, the door sliding back into place and locking electronically.

He brought the mail back to the ops center and put the bag down unceremoniously on the coffee table, and then set the paper at Robin's customary seat at the kitchen table. His pancake mix sat on the counter, and he turned the burner back on just as Raven entered the room.
"Good morning, friend Raven. I trust you slorvaxed well?"

"I slept fine," then, in an uncharacteristic show curiosity she added, "You?"

"I did not slorvax," he said happily, "I flew to Japan and back, there is some tea for you in the cupboard, I trust that you like it."

"You brought me tea? From Japan"

"Indeed."

"Why?"

"Because it is thanks to you that I can fly aagain. I would not have thought to contact Galfore in my distress."

"Oh." They lapsed into silence for a moment before Raven spoke again. "Why are you not wearing a shirt?"

"The shirt fell apart due to the speeds at which I was traveling. The material was not as durable as that of my former uniform." Raven had no response to that. Instead she studied her friend with an artist's gaze. His shoulders were broad, but not so much that it looked abnormal, and he had the build of a martial artist, heavily muscled chest and arms, but his abdomen had just the hint of the classic six-pack. The major difference that Raven could see was that, while most men's bodies had at least some hair, Sunfire's was completely smooth. The only imperfection was a small mark to the far left of Sunfire's chest, in a slightly darker shade of orange.

"I'll be on the roof." Raven said, and then vanished in a cloud of black smoke.

Almost two hours later, at six o'clock, the other titans shuffled into the living area of the tower and found Sunfire lying on the sofa, with his head hanging off of the edge, and shirtless. On the kitchen table there was a large platter of pancakes that actually appeared to be edible, and Sunfire had taken the liberty of setting out plates and freshly cut fruit. Beastboy's seat had strawberries, Cyborg's peaches, and Robin's had a bottle of syrup. He had even taken the time to sort the fan mail into piles according by name.

"He's in a good mood." Robin remarked offhandedly as he picked up the paper. The headline caused him to chuckle:

New Titan in Town

Below the title was the picture that a crazed fan had shot the day before, it was of both of them talking quietly to each other, Sunfire appearing to be whispering in her ear.

"Have you guys heard about the new Titan yet?" He asked calmly.

"Dude, it's still us five…" His eyes lit up after a moment, "Oh…"

"Should we tell him that the tabloids are already after him?"

"No man, but Raven should know. She's the one they would hound about who the 'new-guy' is." Cyborg said aloud, though it seemed as though he was talking more to himself.

"I'll tell her." Robin said as Cyborg and Beast Boy began to devour the pancakes that had been set out for them.

"mmmbnn, mmsss mmdaatmmn." Beast Boy tried to say around the strawberries and pancake in his mouth.

"And I'll tell her when she's done meditating."

"Tell me what?" Raven said as she re-entered the ops center and went over the cupboard to get some of the tea Sunfire had purchased for her. As she set the kettle to boil, she looked over her shoulder, eyebrow quirked, demanding a response.

"The press thinks that Sunfire is a new titan, and because he was first seen with you, they'll be hammering you for the details."

"Whatever." She said as she levitated a mug down from the top shelf, "Why am I supposed to care?"

"Um… paparazzi are annoying?" Beastboy chimed in.

Raven said nothing, but continued to stand and wait for her tea to boil. Despite her calm outward appearance, Cyborg could almost feel the animosity radiating off of her, and decided to take his leave while he still was able.

"I…'m gonna just head to the garage. T-car needs a new booster."

"Uh… I'm gonna give you a hand, and a tentacle." Beastboy nearly ran out of the room after him. Robin stayed long enough to put the dishes in the sink before he too left the room to do "Robin-things." While she waited for the water to boil, Raven glanced over the article about she and Sunfire, apparently they had thought that the books he had bought were for her, and that they were romantically involved. Raven snorted at the absurdity.

The kettle began to squeal, signifying that her water was ready, she concentrated for a moment and turned off the burner, and the levitated the kettle to pour the water into the polka-dotted mug she had chosen. On the sofa, Sunfire groaned in his sleep and turned onto his side, facing into the back of the couch. Glancing over, Raven found that he had set up the mail for them, and decided to read hers. One letter was written on black stationary an in silver pen. The writer was a twelve year old girl who had been feeling depressed because she felt like she had no friends. Her sadness reached a cord deep inside of the empathic sorceress, and it seemed as though a visit may actually be in order.

The rest of the morning passed quietly, with each of the titans going about their business in the tower. Sunfire had designed a costume that covered most of his body. He had chosen to recreate the color that had been his previous costume, but this now was only shown on the upper body, with a form fitting shirt that was sleeveless, his neck still had a metal collar, but the metal was heavier and was open in the front to help facilitate airflow during the heat of battle, though it retained the green gem that Sunfire had had embedded in the original, only now it rested almost on his chest as opposed to the hollow of his throat. He now also had shoulder guards made of the same sturdy silver metal. His gauntlets also got an upgrade, and were now the sturdier material of his neck guard. His forearms featured raised rectangles that deflected enemy projectiles and doubled as shock absorbers for energy based attacks. These rectangles were covered in the same purple color as his shirt. Around his waist was a silver belt that contained several compartments, much like Robin's, and was fastened by a tamperproof buckle hidden inside another green gem.

Moving farther down his body, Sunfire had done away with the skirt that had once graced him, now, he wore leggings that were of the same material as Robin's but were a gunmetal color as opposed to traffic- green. On his thighs were metal plates for extra protection, and he now wore boots that came to just below his knee, in the same fashion as his gauntlets, his knees were covered by guards that were made of the same metal that Cyborg's exoskeleton was produced with.

All in all, Sunfire thought as it hissed coming out of the replicloner, it should do nicely, while still feeling comfortable. (1)

He walked with pride into the ops center at noon, wearing his new costume and making a last minute adjustment on the buckle for his glove. His hair had been tied into a relaxed tail behind him, though he still had loose sections by each ear. When he entered, he flew onto the coffee table and struck a pose, hands on both hips, with his chin jutting out a little.

"Well, is it… frigid?"

The others, besides Raven of course, all laughed.

"Dude! Sweet digs!" Beastboy said as he calmed down from the momentary hilarity.

"Yeah, great look. It should be perfect for you." This comment came from Robin, who was already looking forward to beating up some villains with Sunfire again. Cyborg merely nodded with satisfaction that the 'cloner worked to his expectations. Raven looked up only momentarily from her large tome before returning once again to the world within its pages. Robin and Beastboy spoke for a few moments with Sunfire about what the materials were and the idea behind the uniform, then the alarm sounded and they all dashed over to the computer console to determine just where they were needed.

"Titans, Jump Municipal Bank, GO!" Robin cried, and for the first time in almost four weeks, Sunfire joined his teammates in the chase.

A.N: I apologize for the incessant delay for this chapter. Truly. I just got a job at the local Wal-Mart, and have been working my little bum off for 35 hours a week, on top of working at the auction gallery which was my first job. But, for 8.20 an hour, I'll take it.

On an up note, V for Vendetta comes out soon! OMFG! I LOVE that movie! (I love it so much I just used chat-speak, ugh) so I'm definitely going to blow some money on that. I hope to get the third chapter up soon, which of course will resolve the bank issue posed at the very end of this chapter. Until then.

1. Description taken from dA, specifically Turin-the-Forsaken's take on a GB'd Starfire. The link is in my profile, or it should be in a moment.