Chap. 3
Other Sides
"So we'll meet in the library tonight at six and work on this thing?" Martin asked, as he leaned back in his chair. "It's called a project, and that is the plan." Rivers said. "Man you need to loosen up." Bart said, as he ran his hand through his hair. "Even I don't worry about English this much." "I just want a good grade." Rivers said defensively. "Yeah, but you want a good grade in everything. Otherwise you can't make Mom give you the 'smart little boy' speech." Lisa quipped, poking her brother in the side. "Hey, at least I didn't get thrown off the softball team for beating up an umpire with my catcher's mask!" Rivers shot back.
"They seem interesting." Katie said, as Lisa almost leapt across the table to kick the crap out of Rivers. Thankfully, Bart managed to hold her back. "Well, no more then anyone else in this school." Martin answered. Running his hands across his face to pull back his dreads, he caught Katie looking at them. "What?" he asked, stopping what he was doing. "It's just.. well a weird coloring for your hair." Katie said. At that, Martin looked down at the floor, like he was embarrassed. "What's wrong? I mean you put that color in your hair, you must've thought it was cool." Katie said, unsure of what she had said that offended him.
"It's not coloring." Martin muttered under his breath. "What?" Katie asked. "It's my natural hair, ok?" Martin snapped. "My mom's hair is naturally pink, she never really told me why. But now I've got these streaks in here." Martin looked back at the floor, clearly embarrassed to be talking about it. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was embarrassing for you." Katie said, trying to apologize. "It's ok. I just used to get teased about it a lot and it's still kind of touchy for me." Martin explained. "I kinda know something about it." Katie said. Leaning in close, she pulled back her hair, giving Martin a full view of her ears. "So that explains the elf-cracks." Martin said, as he looked on. "Yeah." Katie said, letting her hair fall back into place. "I don't know why it's a bad thing." Said a voice from behind them.
Both turned and saw that the others had been listening to their little conversation. Rivers said, "You know, I used to get made fun of because of my skin. I was always this tan color, so people used to ask if one of my real parents was black." "Yeah, and they used to ask if I was really a boy with long hair." Lisa added. "Well considering you almost crippled that kid in football…" Rivers added, but Bart quickly elbowed him. "They used to say I was trying to be Shakespeare, cause I'm in this class already." The young boy added.
"Um, is the point where we all realize how much we're all social misfits and have a big, Breakfast Club-type moment?" Martin asked. Before anyone could answer, Gover yelled, "OK time's up, everybody back to your seats!" As the groups began to disperse, Katie turned to Rivers and asked, "Um, you saw my ears then?", in a voice that suggested she was trying to hide how much she cared about it. "Yeah. Frankly, I think you should let 'em out more often. They make you look really cute." Rivers answered, as he walked back to his seat. Katie stood still for a moment, then quickly walked back to her seat and buried her face in her book, before anyone could see how badly she was blushing.
4:00
The school day was almost over. The kids would be coming home soon. I hope that Rivers was able to present that history report as well as he'd hoped. Kory hoped, as she finished typing up her own report. Kory was a fashion critic for Cosmo and had been one for almost five years. It had taken her a long time after her first career to settle on this new one, that she enjoyed almost as much as that first. Still, there had been hardships. After the kids had been born, Kory had found it difficult to balance work and being a mother. Thankfully, at that point, her work had become one of the focal points of the magazine, which allowed her some pull on what she wanted. She still went to fashion shows to see the new designs, but now she could write up her papers at home and send them in to the magazine that way. Of course, sometimes Kory wished she could stay at home all the time, given some of the god-awful fashions she had been forced to see. Especially that last one. What kind of Klor-Back Varbler Nelk would think up those dresses? She thought as she finished her essay and sent it into the magazine.
At that point, the door slammed open and a cry of "Mom, we're home!" echoed through the house. "What have I told you about slamming doors around here?" Kory yelled, as she got up from the table. But as she got up, she accidentally jostled the holo-emitter on her dress's belt, revealing her golden skin as the holo-image faded. Quickly, she flipped the switch and regained her human image, just as her children walked in.
"Sorry Mom, I forgot." Lisa muttered as she walked into the kitchen and got a glass of milk. "I told you so." Rivers said, as he kissed his mother hello. "How was your day?" Kory asked. "Pretty good. I got through my history report with a A." "Very good Rivers! That's my smart little Bung-gorf." Kory said happily. "Uhh. Mom, when are you gonna stop calling us that?" Lisa asked, wiping the milk from her face. "I thought I was only to stop it in public." Kory answered coyly. "And I believe I have. Did you deliver that note to your coach?" "Yeah, but he still wants me to go see somebody about what happened." "I still do not understand how you got so angry." Kory said to her daughter. "I don't know. One minute the guy knocked the ball out of my hand and the next, I'm standing over the ump with my mask." "Well, your father said he was going to talk to you about it, so I'll let him take care of it."
"Is Dad coming home tonight?" Lisa asked. "No, they needed him to stay late and help with some paperwork." Kory replied. "Again? I swear, he's at the office all the time now. He never comes home." Lisa muttered angrily. "You know that's not fair. Your father is a chief executive at WayneCorp. He has to work very hard now. Besides, he always makes time when it counts. He went to every one of your games and ceremonies. Now come on, I need your help with dinner." With that, Lisa and Rivers went to the cupboard and began taking out the plates for the table. "Oh yeah, Lise and I are going to have to go to the library tonight for school, Mom." Rivers said, as he put the plates down on the table. "Oh?" "Yeah, Mr. Gover put us in a group to do an project, and we have to meet with them to starting working on it." "All right, just be home before eight." "Mom, the library closes at seven-thirty, I don't think that'll be a problem." Lisa said, as she began to put out the silverware.
5:00
"So who's in this group son?" Victor asked his son, as the family dug into the triple meat spaghetti. "Some kids I've seen around. I don't really know 'em to well." Martin answered, as he ate. "The Grayson and Logan kids. I think I told you about Bart, the boy genius." "Wait, the Graysons?" asked Jes, her purple eyes wide. "Yeah why?" Martina asked. "Those are your Uncle Dick's kids. You played with them when you were a toddler." "The Logans too." Victor commented. "How are they doing now?"
"They seem ok." Martin answered. "But Lisa seems a bit too quick on the trigger." "Sounds just like her father at that age." Jes said. "He always had a quick temper." "Yeah. Rivers and Bart seem ok, but Riv's a bit nerdy. Katie's nice. I like her." "Like her how, son?" Vic joked, poking his son from across the table. "I don't know, I just met her." Martin answered. "But man, she really got embarrassed today. Thank God I don't have a little brother." The discussion went on like that throughout dinner, cleaning the table, and almost to five-fifty.
"Hey Marty, it's getting late, you should be on your way." Vic said, taking a look up at the clock. "Huh? Oh right, bye guys." Martin said, as he grabbed his backpack and ran out the door. When he was far enough from the house, Jes turned to her husband and said, "Who would have figured?" "Yeah Rob and Star's kids were one thing, but Raven and BB's? That's too weird." "It's a good thing that Slade's not around anymore. This would be perfect for him." Jes said, as she washed the dishes. "That's a little grim, isn't it?" Vic asked, as he began to dry. "Well, I did know his mind the best out of all of us." "True Jinxy, very true. But you're not on his side anymore." said Vic teasingly. Sighing good-naturedly, she said, "Don't you have a car to fix?" "Naw, I fixed all the cars in the shop today." "I know." "Wait, what do you mean? What's wrong with my baby?" "Oh, I think I spilled something in the back while I was loading groceries today." Sound could not have moved as fast as Vic then, as he raced for the garage. "Works every time." Jinx said smiling.
6:10
"Where are they?" Lisa asked for almost the millionth time, as she sat on the bench outside the library. "Calm down, they're only ten minutes late." Rivers said. "Yeah, but it's ten minutes more we have to spend on this project." "Look, if I get you something to beat the crap out of, will that make you happy?" "Why don't I just settle for you?" Lisa snapped, as she raised a fist to her brother. But then, they heard the sound of footsteps running towards them. The siblings turned to see the figure of Martin running towards them. "Sorry I'm late." He panted. "Dinner ran long." "That's ok. Now if Katie and Bart would show up." Rivers said.
Then as if by magic, there was the sound of people walking down the sidewalk and a young voice yelling, "Hey I can walk you know!" "I'm guessing that's them." Lisa said, as the last two group members walked up. "Come on Bart, we spent enough time at home already because of your video games." Katie snapped, as she hurried her little brother along. "Well, I wouldn't have started playing if you hadn't taken so long picking out what to wear." Bart rebutted. He did have a point there. Katie was dressed far better then she had been at school. She now wore a much longer skirt, which reached down to her sandaled feet. She also wore a much nicer looking shirt that resembled pure silk. There was a light spray of make-up on her face, though she still let her hair hang down. "Have a date we didn't know about?" Lisa asked. "No, I just felt like dressing like this." Katie replied. "I think you look cool." Rivers said. "Thanks." Katie said, smiling. "Uh, can we please get to work on this thing now? Before I die of sugar poisoning?" Martin asked.
"Sure, let's go." Said Lisa getting up from the bench. They started to go into the library, but stopped when they realized that Bart was not with them. The group turned, to find him staring across the bay across the street from the library. "What are you doing?" Martin asked. "Huh? Oh just looking at the Tower." Bart answered. "I like to sometimes." He explained as the others joined him. Even after twenty years, the sight of Titans Tower was still impressive. It stood alone, as though the legacy it contained was too impressive to be left to the city alone. In a way that was true, since no one had been inside it since the Teen Titans and WILDB.R.A.T.S had left it almost twenty years ago. On that day, Cyborg had encoded the Tower with one last security code before he locked it up for good. Only he knew it, and none of the Titans had been seen in years, not since the fall of Slade and the drastic crime reduction that had followed.
"Every wonder what it was like?" Bart asked suddenly. "What what was like?" Rivers asked. "Being in that Tower, being a Titan." "It sounded pretty cool." Lisa admitted. "They kicked a lot of bad guy butt in their day." "Yeah but they suffered a lot too." Katie argued. "Terra, Trigon… it wasn't easy." "But it was cool." Bart argued. "Think of the legacy they left behind." "That Tower does have a lot of history." Rivers agreed. "Oh come on." Martin said. "All that Tower is now is a college dare. I hear all the local universities dare their freshman to try to swim across the bay and get inside. Now come on, we've got a project to do."
They walked on then, ignoring the sight of the Tower. A pity that they had, because something interesting was truly happening on the isle that night, even if they could not properly see it. A figure was making his way to the far eastern side of the island, where it began to divulge into a series of lower crevices and outcroppings. The crevices twisted and turned, but it made no difference to him. He pressed on, mindless of the rocks and sea-spray, as though he was seeking a great treasure. In a way he was, because there was something hidden on that part of the island. It was there that the Titans and B.R.A.T.S had long ago constructed a hidden shrine to someone that they both had cared about.
That shrine now stood in front of the figure. Slowly, he looked up at it. The shrine was a statue of a young girl, her arms outstretched and her hair wild. Below it lay a plaque that read simply, TERRA. A TEEN TITAN. A TRUE FRIEND. The figure looked up at it, as though he was unsure that it was real. It was an odd sight to see, especially given this being. For he was dressed in the same ragged clothes that his gold and black companions had worn. The only difference was that his costume was dark brown, the color of the earth around him. But little seemed to matter to him, except the figure in front of him. For he knew the truth of this statue; that it served not only as a memorial, but also as a coffin.
The figure climbed up to the statue and ran his hand over its cheek tenderly, caressing it as though it were flesh. He sighed then and looked up to the heavens, as if for guidance. Then he turned back to the statue and placed his hands upon the face. Placing his head down, he stared at the earth below him. Suddenly, the island began to shake, as though it were in the grips of an earthquake. The figure kept his grip, seeming unable to let go. The earth around him began to glow, as did his hands. As the shaking increased, the glow became brighter. Then, the glow from his hands began to pour into the stone statue.
The sounds of stone cracking could be heard, and then, a gasp for air, filling lungs that had not tasted of it for almost two decade. As the last of the stone fell away and the shaking stopped, the girl inside fell into the figure's arms. As she looked up, her eyes seeing for the first time since her stone hibernation began, she saw into the figure's face, unmasked and unhidden. She also saw the tears fall from his eyes as he wept.