Chap. 21

Parents' Meeting

After that, I think we can guess what happened. The crowd was in joyous disbelief at seeing a new breed of Titans and some returning heroes. But more important then that, the group found itself marked by the news crews that had come to report on the robbery. Not that they could be blamed; after all, the return of the Titans is a story that every reporter in the world would want to get on celluloid. But it was not one that the new heroes were prepared for. The Titans felt trapped almost instantly. The love of a crowd can be dealt with, but not the empty love of a camera lens or a microphone. But thankfully, some of the group had faced down demons, monsters, and vicious psychopaths. A few reporters just didn't seem too bad. Lightweaver, Terra, and Nightstalker, being the returning heroes, quickly stepped up and tried to calm the crowd. "Listen! We'll talk if you just calm down! Please, let us speak!" Lightweaver implored, holding out her hands in an effort to calm the masses. Somehow, it seemed to work, as the crowd almost instantly hushed. "That's better." The fox said, as behind her, 'Quake's huge, angry, stone face returned to normal.

"Do you guys want to speak?" 'Stalker whispered to the young heroes. The response was a unanimous shake of the head no. "Probably not a bad idea." The bat agreed. Turning back to the crowd, the bat, looking every inch a seasoned warrior in his armor began to speak in a booming voice. "Listen, people of Jump City!" he cried, his voice reaching every corner of the street. "We have only two things to say. First, that yes we are the Titans. Secondly, …. WE'RE BACK!" That got tremendous applause. "Always knows how to milk it." Groundquake whispered. "Yeah, but he does it well, doesn't he?" Lightweaver asked. Of course, Nightstalker didn't have much response on the matter, since he had to deal with the reporters that began to surge forward. "Nightstalker, why'd you come back now?" one of them asked. "Where did these new Titans come from?" asked another. "Who are they?" "One at a time please!" the bat pleaded. "I can't answer your first two questions, but I can answer the last one. Allow me to present the new Titans." He said, gesturing for the kids, Terra, and Groundquake to come to forth. One by one, he introduced them to the crowd, although they were more then a little nervous because of it. Except for Quake, he was just miffed at being introduced as Nighstalker's 'little brother.' But none were more nervous then Terra. After all, most of these people would be likely to remember her past. But as she came to the front, the crowd cheered just as hard as they had for the other Titans. For her part, Terra waved back enthusiastically. "Now then, we have other matters to deal with." 'Stalker said, coming to the front again. "However, I want to say this to all of you and the criminals that are seeing this right now. Jump City officially has its guardians back. Get ready for it."

As the crowd applauded one last time, the bat gave nodded to his wife. "Let's go home." Lightweaver said, as the group was suddenly encased in light and then vanished.

A split-second later, there was a flash of light inside Titans Tower and the group reappeared. "Man, I don't know how Mom and Dad gave that up." Sunblaze said. But before anyone could say anything, Robin's voice said, "Actually, after ten years, it gets easier." The group whipped around, to see the old Titans standing by the door. "How'd you guys get here?" Martin said, as he changed back to normal. "I made a few calls after you guys left." Cyborg left. "OK, but how do you know how we did?" Bart asked. "You guys made the news." Beast Boy replied. "And I have to say, it was a shock Dad." Raven said pointedly. "I didn't expect to see my kids in the line of fire after only a month and a half of training."

At that, Brett quickly began to defend himself. "Rae, I didn't send them out alone, ok? And I think they did pretty damn well on their own, don't you?" "You want to know what I really think?" Raven said, anger beginning to cloud her face. "I totally agree." "Yeah, well they're gonna have to do this soon and I don't need you coddling them every time…" "Brett." Terra said. "What? I was just…. Oh wait… I just made a fool of myself didn't I?" the bat realized. "Actually, I think our daughter made a fool of you." Sara said. "I taught her well." The fox added, as both mother and daughter smiled. "So.. you guys aren't mad?" Bart asked. "Maybe a little bit, but you guys handled yourselves quite well out there." Robin said. "And Brett's right, you will have to do this on your own, and better you start against Mumbo with your teachers behind you then alone against Slade." "Well, that's good to hear." Eddie said. "The last thing I want to have to do is watch a bonehead argument over this crap. Now then, I think there is one question that we need to answer." The dog paused for a moment, and then said, "Do you guys want to stay for celebratory beer or what?" "Sounds good to me." Martin said. "Nice try." Jinx said. As the group made their way to the fridge, Robin asked Brett, "Just like the old days, eh?" "More or less." The bat agreed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. After all, your training can never make Lisa as good as me."

"Actually, I'd like to talk to you two about that." Brett said. "Do you think we could step outside for a moment?" "Of course." Starfire said, as she and Robin followed the bat to the outside. Once there, Brett quickly shut the door. "What did you guys see on that news report?" he asked. "Well, you and the kids fighting Mumbo. But I take it there was something we didn't see?" Robin asked. "Apparently they decided that airing footage of Lisa threatening to carve Mumbo's face up was too much for the six o'clock news." The bat said. "What?" Star cried in surprise. "It's true. I found her threatening to send Mumbo back to jail with a T carved into his face as a warning. I was lucky I could stop her in time." "It looks like its time I give that girl a real talk." Robin said angrily, as he moved back to the door. But before he could even grasp the knob, Brett grabbed his arm. "I don't think that's what we need here." The bat said.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked, as Brett loosened his grip. "Look Rob, she's got a temper, I think we'll all agree on that." Both parents nodded, so the bat continued. "If you guys haven't been able to control it in thirteen years, you're not going to do it in a month and a half." "So then you plan to do it?" Star asked. But the bat shook his head. "I could probably do it with more time, but we don't have it. What she needs now, is someone that she can respect, and I'll be honest, fear. She respects you two, the others, and me but that won't mean shit once that battle-lust comes up. Someone she fears can cut through it, make her stay focused and use her anger the right way." Both mother and father nodded in agreement. "Do you have anyone in mind?" Star asked. But the bat's response was to silently stare at Robin.

Thankfully, the former boy wonder got it immediately. "Oh, that's what you want." He said suddenly. "Do you think you can get it to work?" Brett asked. "It might take a few days to set up, but I think it can happen." "Good, but I want to come with you. I am still her teacher, I want to see how this works." "You know how things are with this." Robin said. "But you know I can be trusted." Brett said. Robin seemed to think a minute more then said, "OK, I'll see if it will work." Robin said. "It has too." Brett said. "If it doesn't, I don't know if I can take her out into the field again." You really think it's that bad?" Starfire asked. "Star, this thing is a real danger. Today she tried to carve up somebody's face. I'm worried about what she might do next. When she gets angry, she totally focuses on it and nothing else. That's when people make mistakes. And in this job, those kinds of mistakes can mean lives. She needs to understand that, and I'm afraid if we don't deal with it, she'll learn it first hand." Star paled a bit at that. "If that is really what you think." The bat nodded. "I'll start setting it up tomorrow." Robin said. "Good. I was going to give them off because of the battle then anyway, so you can tell her about the new training.." Brett said. "Just be sure that you don't tell her exactly what this is. If she knows, she'll be able to deal with the fear." Robin nodded, and the three off them walked back inside.