Chap. 15

Understanding

"They're coming back." Lisa said, as she looked out into the distance. "Good. How do they look?" asked Eddie, in his standard gruff voice. "I think we might have some injured." The girl responded. "Crap. Well, let's get down there and take a look." The dog replied, as he leapt off the control panel and began to move over to the approaching heroes. The others quickly followed. "Well, I suppose training is cancelled now?" Martin asked, as they approached. "We'll see." Sara responded, as she looked over the scratches and dents on the boy's steel body. "Grampa! What happened?" Bart asked in horror, seeing the wound on Brett's chest. Even though it was still healing, it was quite fearsome to see as it covered most of the bat's chest. "I had a run-in with a plasma cannon. But only one of us is still around, thanks to Rivers here." The bat said, in a voice that was much abated from the early, intense pain of the wound. In fact, as the group watched, the wound began to heal faster and faster, until it finally vanished. The fur grew back almost instantly, and within seconds, it looked as though the wound had never been there.

"Whoa." Bart said, in awe at the sight. "You should've seen him back in the dungeon of Atraxk." Eddie said. "He re-grew both his arms and his entire small intestine." "Cool, yet something I never want to picture." Lisa said, her face curling in slight disgust at the thought. "Hopefully, I won't have to do something like that for awhile." Brett said, as he gently eased off of Terra's supportive arm. "But right now. I think we need to get to the med-lab and get Martin checked out." "I don't know. I think I'm feeling better." Martin said, as he took a tentative step forward. But the second he put pressure on it, he stumbled and would have fallen, if Rivers and Eddie had not grabbed him. "I'm not so sure." Sara said. "Come on, I already called your dad and told him to ready the med-lab."

Indeed, Cyborg had the lab primed and ready when the group entered. Luckily, the Titans had been sure to update their medical facilities with all the latest technology. As they laid Martin down on a table, Cyborg pressed a few buttons and brought down a large scanner, which shone it's light down on the boy. As the device did it's work, Cy asked, "What the hell are you guys doing out there?" "Cy it was an accident." Terra said. "An accident? My son is laying on the table with a near-broken leg, and you call it an accident?" "Look, we set up that course ourselves." Eddie said. "We tested it out and it worked fine. It's not our fault that that twenty year old circuitry blew after that."

"Well maybe if you had thought to check it again before setting kids loose in it." "Oh I'm sorry, I thought that you built to last." Eddie snapped back. That did it. Cyborg pushed the controls away and shot his steel fist towards the dog's face. But Eddie simply pushed it away, and drew up his own fists, eager for a fight. And perhaps they would have, if Katie had not stepped between them. "Come on, you want to do this now?" she yelled at both of them. It didn't matter that they were heroes, well over her age and experience. She took both of them down with only a few words. "You honestly want to get into a brawl now, while someone's lying on a table in pain? Jesus Christ, I thought that you got smarter as you got older! Instead you two are acting like five-year-olds. Why don't you get Martin some help, then get into a pissing match?" Cy and Eddie looked at the angry teenager who had just put them in their place, then looked at each other. "She's right." Cy said. "I guess so." Eddie said. "I know you wouldn't have put them in danger knowingly." "And I guess twenty years will rot anything." "Sorry." Both said at once, too proud to say much else.

"Well now that's over." Sara said, as she walked over to Martin. Placing her hand on the boy's injured body, she closed her eyes and channeled her powers into healing him. Within minutes, the dents and scratches had evened out and his steel body looked brand new. "How does that feel?" she asked as Martin got up. "Much better, thanks." He replied, as he changed his body back to normal. "Why didn't you do that before?" he asked. "We needed to know what was wrong with you first." Sara replied. "Well, I guess we should figure out the next move." Brett said. "I think we could fix the machine, with a little help." Eddie said, with a look at Cyborg. "How long?" Brett asked. "I can only make a guess, but probably about forty minutes." Cy said. "OK then, we'll take a rest for that long and meet back outside then. In the meantime, I think I'd better change out of this thing." He said, gesturing to his ruined clothes. "Good idea. I think cartoons are on now." Bart said, as he headed out. "We need to do something about him." Martin said, shaking his head as he followed the others out.

As the group made their way out of the room, Eddie and Cyborg headed down to the exit, to start work on the obstacle course. Sara turned to join them, but then felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Katie standing by. "Something up?" she asked. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Katie asked. "About what?" Sara asked, turning to face the girl. Katie took a look around, making sure they were alone, then said, "It's about Brett." Quickly, she told the fox the story of what happened on the course. When she finished, Sara gave a wistful shake of her head. "Just what I would figure from him." "He's done this before?" Katie asked. "Brett has a harder time dealing with his problems then most people.A lot fo times, he can't talk about somethingso he'll demonstrate what he wants to say. So if he jumped in front of that cannon to save you, he wants to talk about making amends." "What should I do then?" Katie asked. "Go talk to him. That's what he wants you to do. I know you're mad at him, but he'll just keep it up till you do speak with him." "Why can't he just say this himself?" "He's a man. That fact alone makes him impossible to deal with." Katie smiled at that. "Do you really think it would do any good?" "I think you should try it. Brett really does care about you. That's why he's been acting this way; because it actually pains him to think about you guys getting hurt." "I guess I didn't think of it that way. Thanks, Grandma." She said as she left to find Brett's room.

Katie looked up at the door, wondering why she was doing this. When she had begun the day, she had wanted to never speak to her grandfather again. She had hated him for his uncaring ways, and his thoughtless action towards her. She still felt that way. So why was she standing in front of his room, about to knock on the door and try to understand him? Because he hurt himself to save you. A voice said inside her head. But Katie didn't know if that was the truth. He needed all of them to stop Slade; he could've just done it to protect his weapons. Yet, she remembered the words he had said on the course; I felt like I had something to prove. He looked right at her when he'd say them. Was it his way of offering apology? His way of saying that he really did care? Katie didn't know; she had spent too little time with her grandfather to know his ways. She could just walk away now, and never find out; let him sink in his guilt for a lifetime. Let her anger color her impression of him forever. That's what Trigon would do. That's what Slade would do. Are you really like them? Katie shook her head. She may be her mother's daughter, but she knew who she was. She was not like them, or anyone else like them. Raising up her hand, she knocked on the door thrice. He answered almost instantly, "Come in." The door slid open, and Katie walked inside the room.

But what she saw was totally different then what she had expected. A dark cave had probably best suited her idea of Brett's tastes. But instead, she walked inside a lightly colored room, which seemed to radiate warmth and invitation. The walls were colored dark aqua blue, the floor white carpet. The walls were decorated with posters of Bruce Springsteen, U2, The Distillers, Joan Jett, and about ten other musicians. In the left-hand corner of the room, there was a large, black piano and a set of keyboards; standing by the side were four guitars, two acoustic and two electric, and an electric bass. A few amps were scattered by the back wall. A large clothes dresser stood by them. A king-size bed lay by the right wall, and it was here that the only odd things were in place. One was the matching mannequin on either side of the bed, one of which was dressed in the now tattered black and gray rags of the Nightstalker; sword strapped to it's back. The other was the figure of Brett, sitting cross-legged on the bed, looking as though he had been waiting.

"Nice room." Katie said simply, as she looked around in wonder. "Thanks. We didn't really change much since we left.' Brett said. He was now barefoot, dressed in jeans and a red-and-white T-shirt with a strange symbol on it; something like a cross between a circle and three triangles. It gave him a much more approachable appearance, one that Katie was a little taken aback by. Seeing a being so alien to her in way that made him frankly, seem human, was a bit strange. She stood by quietly, a little unsure of where to start. "Where'd you get that?" she finally asked, pointing at the shirt. "Made it, in memory of a good friend. He wore this symbol all the time, so after he left, I made it in his memory. " He answered. "Really? You know how to do that?" she asked. "I've learned a few tricks over the centuries." The bat replied. "I could show you if you want." "Maybe later. I didn't really come in here for that." "I know." Brett said, as he uncrossed his legs and hung them over the bed.

"What happened out there today?" she asked, as she walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. "Why did you do that?" "You were in danger. I had to help you." The bat said simply. "Not that. Why did you take the blast? You could've just yelled out a warning, or knocked us out of its way. Why did you sacrifice yourself like that?" Brett looked at her then, and replied, "Because I knew I would survive. And I guess I figured it would be a step in the right direction." "Towards what?" "You know the answer. To proving that I do care about you guys. I know I haven't done a lot to show that to you and I want that to change."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Katie, I know that I just came into your life with a lot of secrets and some crazy demands. But I don't want to be just that. I don't want you to think of me as some guy who just trained you and then disappeared. I want to be a part of your life, like family should. I don't have a lot of that. I only have my brothers, Sara, your mom and…. Dad, you, and Bart. I don't want any of you to hate me, because I don't know how I would accept it. Can we please try to start over?"

Katie heard the words, and though her face didn't change, her heart and mind were keyed up. Hearing those words made her feel guilt about her anger, as well as a sense of realization. For his appearance and powers, and all his mystique, Brett really was human. He just wanted the things everyone did; to be loved, and love in return. "Do you promise that you'll stop being so cold?" Katie asked. "Swear to God." The bat replied, placing his hand over his heart. "Then, there is one more thing…" "Yes?" "I heard from Mom that you know a lot about history?" "Yeah. I always thought it was interesting. Plus I've lived through a few eras." "Cool. Anyway, do you think you could, oh I don't know, do some work in my history class for me?" "Gee, like all of it?" the bat asked, with a smile on his face. "No, just some papers, and worksheets, and…" "Nice try." Brett said. "I know, but I really do hate it." "Just like your dad. Well, I won't do it for you, but I'll try to give you a hand ok?" "Sounds good." Katie said, as they got up from the bed and walked to the door. As they got to it, Katie said, "I didn't say this before, and I think I need to. Thanks for what you did today, … Grampa." She left through the door before Brett could say anything. The bat stood there silent, a surprised look on his face. Then a huge smile broke over it, and he followed her out.