Chap. 26

Locker Room Conversations

"Hey, are we there yet?" Bart asked for at least the fifth time, as the New Titans made their way down the next flight of stairs. Since Sara had teasingly announced a reward for their efforts, she had led them through the majority of the Tower on their way to that surprise. Most of the group had been patient, but Bart, being the youngest, lacked that patience; in fact, it was possible that he did not understand the meaning of the word. After the first two sets of stairs he had begun complaining that it was too far away. After the third, he said he was too tired to go on. After three more sets, he had begged for someone to carry him. And all the while, Sara's only words had been that they were getting closer. That, and continually telling Martin to take his sonic cannon away from Bart's head.

"OK guys, we're here." Sara finally said, as the group reached the doorway to the garage. "Thank you God." Bart said, as he all but melted into a puddle in his exhaustion. "Wait a minute, why are we at the garage?" Katie asked. "Because the surprise is in there." Terra answered. "Is my dad involved in this?" Martin asked suddenly. "You could say that." Sara answered. Upon hearing those words, Martin instantly let out a moan. "What's wrong?" Terra asked. "Whenever my dad says he has a surprise and it leads to the garage, it means he wants me to help him rebuild something. We're gonna be up to our necks in grease in about five minutes." "Maybe you're wrong." Katie said somewhat frantically, having absolutely no interest on working on a huge automobile at the moment. In fact, she had no interest in it at any moment in time, since the one time she tried to help her father and almost sliced off his fingers. "Please God, not that." She prayed, as Sara, shaking her head in amusement, opened the door.

The New Titans entered the room and were instantly assaulted by the smell of oil and car parts. "I see Dad hasn't changed his habits in twenty years." Martin noticed as he looked at the half-eaten sandwich next to a random car part. "What do you mean?" Bart asked, having suddenly regained his strength. "Let's just say we've made a lot of trips to the dentist over the years." Martin answered. "Oh." Bart replied. Looking around the garage, the young boy yelled out, "Hey Mr. Stone, where's this surprise?" "Over here." came Cyborg's voice from the other side of the garage. The group quickly moved over to the spot, their curiosity overpowering their fear of automotive work. But when they finally found Cyborg, they froze in utter shock. Cyborg stood there with a huge smile on his grease-covered face and a big wrench in his hand. Next to him, fully restored, rebuilt, and re-anything else you can think of, was perhaps the greatest automobile of all time…."Is that the T-Car?" Martin asked as he trembled in amazement. "What do you think?" Terra asked, as she moved over to the sleek car. "I've been working on it for the last few days, trying to get all the wires working again." Cyborg explained, as Martin, Sara, Katie, and Bart came and looked it over. "After security, this was my most important project. You can't be the Titans without a sweet ride." Cyborg went on to explain how he rebuilt the car, using the most advanced tech that the world had to offer. However, his speech was completely thrown to the wind a second later when Martin asked a simple, but all-important question- "Who gets to drive it?" The second that was out of his mouth, Sara and Terra burst into laughter. "Like father like son." Terra said between her chuckles. Cyborg gave a bemused smile then said, "Well, actually, you are Marty." At that, Cyborg had the distinct pleasure of watching his son's head shoot up and splatter drool all over the floor.

"Yes Martin it's yours. I talked this over with the Elementals and your mother, and we think you're the best qualified." Cyborg explained. "You've always loved cars, so you'll have a lot of knowledge of how it works. I've shown you some of the basics of driving. Plus, you've really matured since this whole thing began and after what happened today, you definitely earned something." He would have continued, but then Katie put her hand up. "Um, maybe I'm crazy, but how is a thirteen year old going to drive?" "Hey, I'm fourteen!" Martin shot back. "Actually Katie, I did some work with Brett on this. He helped me duplicate the driving system for the BRAT-Mobile, and that was easy enough for a ten-year old to drive. Martin shouldn't have a problem with it." "Well, I guess that makes sense then." Katie said, as Martin began to jump around in utter joy. "No it doesn't!" Bart yelled out. "Why can't I drive?" This question was routinely ignored by everyone. "So son, you wanna take it out for a spin?" Cyborg said as he held out the keys. A split-second later, they were gone and Martin was behind the wheel. "I think you'd better go with him." Sara said. "Good idea." Cyborg said, as he opened the passenger side door and hopped in. Seconds later, the engine ignited and the T-Car shot out of the garage doorway. However, the door was still down. "We're gonna have to fix that." Sara said, as the dust cleared and a large, car shaped hole could be seen in the door. "Indeed. You guys can get started, I'm gonna get changed." Katie said, as she vanished into a black portal. "Smart kid." Terra said. "Can't take after her dad." Sara replied. But before they could start on the door, Rivers suddenly flew down from the doorway. "Man, I wish I had asked where you guys went. I've been flying around this Tower for fifteen minutes. Do you guys know where Katie is?" he asked as he looked around. "Actually you just missed her." Terra said. "I think she went up to her room." "But that's on the top… oh hell." Rivers muttered, as he turned and flew back through the doorway. "I'm guessing you talked to Eddie?" Sara asked, as she turned to the young earthmover. Terra nodded. "Then this should be interesting." Sara replied.

Meanwhile, in another, secluded room of the Tower, a pool of black energy suddenly appeared on the ground. As it grew large enough, Katie suddenly rose up through it. Once she had fully emerged, the portal vanished. Stepping forward, Katie moved over to the duffel bag by the circular bed in the center of the room. "Mom definitely liked her comfort." Katie said, as she walked by the large bed. Of course, she'd thought that every time she'd seen that bed since Brett had assigned her this room. The bat had foreseen that the New Titans couldn't spend all their time together while they were in the Tower or they'd kill each other. Therefore he'd assigned each of them their own private room within the Tower to spend time alone in. And in a stroke of either genius or laziness, he had assigned them their parents' old rooms, which still contained a lot of the furniture from those days. Of course, some were luckier then others in room assignment. Bart's room was still a nuclear disaster from when Beast Boy had messed it up. Not that it's too different from his room at home. Katie thought as she opened the bag and pulled out her regular clothes. But I still want to know what Starfire was thinking with her room. The look on River's face when he saw that thing on her wall……

Katie paused a minute then, her hands twisting her clothes. Rivers….. oh stop it, it wasn't like that. He just wanted to save the others. A voice in her mind said. But then why did it hurt so much? Said another. Maybe if you told him? Said another. But at that, Katie swiftly shook her head. Putting the clothes on the bed, she undid her cloak and began to pull off her boots. "I have got to stop thinking about this." Katie muttered. "He didn't say that he didn't love me or anything. I mean, he doesn't even know that I do like him." And he never will if you don't tell him. Said one of the voices. But what if he says no? replied another. "Besides, he might make the first move." Katie said, as she moved her hands to pull off her leotard. As she slipped out of it, she continued speaking. "Besides, I don't know what to say anyway." It might help if you tried. A voice said. "And then I'll look like an idiot." Katie shot back, as she reached for her clothes. But Katie had been so involved with her one-sided conversation that she hadn't paid attention to some important details; specifically the door opening and closing behind her and a certain flying boy in search of her finally finding her, only to be stunned into silence by his discovery. However that shock was not enough to prevent him from making a shocked "uhhh" sound. And Katie's inner thoughts were not strong enough to prevent from hearing it. Eyes wide, she whipped around to see Rivers standing in front of the door, eyes wide as saucers. Yet her eyes became even bigger a second later when she realized that she was standing in front of him in only her panties and tiny training bra.

For a split-second, the shock overpowered both of them. Then Rivers, always the greater thinker, realized what was going on and threw his forearm over his eyes. "I didn't see anything!" he cried out, as he tried to move out of the room. However, moving backwards with your eyes covered never leads to anything good. Rivers' foot moved back, and then stepped on a small statue that Raven had left behind. Unprepared for it, he stumbled back, hit the wall, and then fell to the ground, arm over his eyes the whole time. "Rivers!" Katie cried out, as she grabbed a shirt and all but rammed her head and arms into it. Grasping a pair of jeans, she attempted to put them on and get to Rivers at the same time. But this too leads to trouble, as Katie hopped across the room with only leg in the jeans and another trying to force it's way in. When she got within a few feet of Rivers, her balance finally gave out and she fell forward landing on him with a thud. Rivers let out a grunt from the impact, as Katie's face went crimson with embarrassment. "Are you ok?" she asked, hoping that he couldn't see her face. "Yeah, the floor broke my fall." He gasped. "And I guess you broke mine." Katie said sheepishly, as she moved off him. "Sorry." "It's ok." Rivers said, as he got to his feet. "I guess I should have knocked first." "No, no, I should've locked it." Katie said, as she buttoned the jeans and got to her feet.

"It doesn't really matter anyway." Rivers said. "I've already got one apology to make and I should probably make another." "Apology for what else?" Katie asked. "I'm sorry for how I acted after Terra pulled me out of the fire. I was angry and I took it out on you." "Rivers it's ok. I know you didn't mean it, and besides you were worried about the others." "I know, but I should've realized that you were just trying to help me and that since I was the only one who was outside it made sense. Besides, Martin and Bart would've probably wanted you to heal me anyway. Instead I just got angry instead of making the logical choice and letting you heal me first. I hate when I do that and I hate when I hurt my friends." "Well, I appreciate hearing that Rivers. What made you say all this?" "Well, I realized how hurt you looked after what I said. That and Eddie made it pretty clear that I'd hurt you. But I think he's a little delusional though." "What do you mean?" Katie asked. "He gave this crazy story that you liked me, and that was why you were so distraught. Pretty funny huh?" "Yeah, um, hilarious." Katie said nervously. "I didn't get it either. But either way, are we cool?" "Sure." Katie said, giving a small smile. "Good. I think you're a great friend and I don't ever want to think that I hurt you." Rivers said, as he moved to leave the room. Katie was quiet a second, then said, "Hey Rivers?" "Yeah?" he asked, pausing at the door. "Um, could you not, well, tell anyone what happened in here?" "Don't worry about." He replied, as he walked out. But once the door shut behind him, Rivers closed his eyes and a small smile grew on his lips; a smile that said even though he'd never say anything about what happened, he'd always remember it.