Hope you like it so far! I enjoyed writing this next chapter, I must say. I just hope you enjoy reading it... Heh... (Sweatdrop)
Edit: Sorry if you're getting the alert twice, but it doesn't seem to have been sent out the first time... Hmm.
"Ghagh-!" Beast Boy yelped, throwing himself backwards from the capsule as the others gave him looks of surprise. He pointed a shaking finger at it. "It looked at me!!!"
"…Beast Boy, how can it look at you? It's a tube of smoke." Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um… Hah! How can it fight us, it's a tube of smoke(?!)" He shot back, grinning up at her.
"Enough." Said Robin, looking back at the capsule. He narrowed his eyes at it, but all he could see was swirling mist. "Are you sure it looked at you?" He added, glancing at Beast Boy.
"Positive!"
"Hmm…" he mused, looking back to the capsule. "(Could it…? It's worth a shot…)…hello?" He said to the tube.
Silence. The others exchanged looks of puzzlement.
"Hello?" he repeated, feeling slightly foolish.
Silence.
"If there's anything in there that can understand me, could you please answer?"
"Um… Rob?" Cyborg whispered, leaning in and talking behind a raised hand. "(You're creepin' us out…)"
"(…hello?)" A thin, wavering voice replied from somewhere in the tube. Robin's eyes widened as Cyborg did a double take.
"Hello?" Robin said quietly, leaning in to look more closely at the tube.
It remained silent, the mist swirling under the thick plastic.
Robin glanced up and back towards the fight sight. The clean up crews were finished removing the larger pieces of rubble, but were casting curious glances towards the group.
"Let's get it back to the tower to check it out." Cyborg suggested, slightly creeped out by the talking fog-bank. Robin nodded in agreement.
Half an hour later, after helping out a bit with the clean up, they sat round a table, minus Cyborg, the canister in the middle, in silence. It lasted about a minute, until Beast Boy, glancing from side to side, said "Well?"
"Well what?" Robin replied, not taking his eyes off the tank.
"Why are we sat here lookin' at this thing?"
"Guarding it."
"Guarding-!? What's it gonna do? Go 'wschhhhhh' at us?"
"Do you want that thing to go monster on us again?" Raven spoke up, raising an eyebrow at Beast Boy. He hesitated, glancing back to the tank again, a worried look on his face, before finally sitting back down again, folding his arm in a huff. "I thought so."
"But, why are we not simply returning the cylinder to the severe-looking major?" Starfire asked, glancing at Robin. "Surely his research facility would not want to waste time whilst we keep this here?"
"I've had a word with the Major," He replied, narrowing his eyes to slits as he thought the canister wobbled slightly. "And… (No, I thought not…) he's willing to let us examine it, but only for 12 more hours, and then we 'must' return it to them." He sat back, folding his arms. "Also, he doesn't like us."
"What?"
"The Major. He doesn't like us."
"He has told you this?" Starfire frowned, remembering his rudeness to her beforehand.
"He didn't need to, I can tell. He hates depending on anyone younger than himself. Did you see the way he shouted at the private during the initial contact? And his eye twitched when he admitted needing us. Classic signs of dislike." He glanced up as the double doors slid open and Cyborg walked in, a small bunged test-tube clenched in his massive hand.
"Nothin'." He said simply, walking over to the table and placing the gas-filled test tube on the tabletop.
"…what? What do you mean, nothing?" Robin asks, frowning in confusion.
"Nothing. There's nothing odd about the gas at all. It's just average air with a few bits of dust in it. Inert. Lifeless." He summed up, frowning at the test tube.
"(…that's because it's away from the source…)" Somebody said. Robin looked to Cyborg. Cyborg, frowning, looked to Robin. Everyone else looked at everyone else. No-one had said anything about a 'source'.
"Um… Fellows…?" Starfire murmured, staring wide-eyed at the canister. They looked back at it, only for their jaws to drop off their faces in astonishment.
Leant up against the inside of the glass, barely 12 inches high, with streaks of opaque gas surrounding her, was a girl. She looked up at them, arms wrapped around her knees, her shoulder-length, dirty-blonde hair hung loosely framing her face. Her tan-coloured trench-coat served to cover both the upper portion of her body, but was also long enough to cover her white jumpsuit-ed lower half if needed. She lifted a hand up and wiggled her fingers at them, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly into a sad smile.
"It doesn't have any life because I'm not in contact with it…"
"(Duuuuuuuude…)" Beast Boy gasped, leaning in so far his breath misted the plastic. She winced slightly, leaning away from him.
"Um… would you mind not doing that? I'm not a bug, you know."
"Oh, sorry…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"So…" The girl asked, looking up at them slightly fearfully. "What're you going to do to me?"
"Well…" Robin started, the first to get over the initial shock, leaning in slightly. "We were going to hand you over to the D.E.O, -"
"WHAT?!?" She shrieked loudly, whipping round and staring at Robin, quivering in terror. "You're working with them?!? Oh no! Oh, please don't give me to them! Please!!" she begged, tears brimming in her eyes, banging her fists on the plastic. "You have to let me out! You can't give me to them!! I don't know what they've told you, but you've got to let me out!"
"Whoa, calm down!" Robin replied, leaning away again at this sudden outburst. "I said we were going to hand you over, but they never said anything about you being- well, you, so we'll have to rethink the situation. Okay?" He added quietly, trying to calm the girl down.
She stared at him; open mouthed, breathing heavily as she took the new information in. After a second or two, she sat back on her heels, taking slow breaths, wiping her cheeks.
"(S-sorry…)" she stuttered, glancing around. "(I-I just… I can't go back there…)"
"Please, tell us," Starfire asked gently, concern on her face. "Why does the 'deo' trouble you so?" She drooped her head, looking away.
"(I've been in one of their compounds for 16 years… They kept me in an airtight room and 'observed' me, as they called it. That's all I've ever known. That, and they wanted to know how to replicate my powers…) At first, I thought there was no way out, so I never attempted an escape, but as I grew older, I realized that my room wasn't so airtight, so I kept sneaking out without them knowing."
"That's when I learnt that I wasn't the only one with powers there…There were lots of us… At least a hundred, mostly kids, but a few adults, all scared and sad, and being… tested… I… I saw a few of them being… It was… They… (…just bad…)" She shivered as she spoke.
"Unfortunately, they found out that I knew… they said I knew too much… they were going to send me to the WABE, where subjects… disappear to… Worse things happen there… They said that no one can find out what I know… I gave them my word I wouldn't tell, but they…"
"…please…" she said quietly, looking up at them without moving her head, a defeated tone in her voice. "…they'll do… (Bad things…)" The Titans looked up and at each other, waiting for one to speak.
"(What d'you think?)" Robin asked them, glancing to Starfire to start round the table.
"(She does seem sincere in her need for our assistance, and the 'deo' did not tell us the full nature of her… Also, she did not hurt us when we battled her…)"
"(Y'know, I'm not so sure guys… Hey, don't get me wrong!)" Beast Boy added, holding a warning finger up. "(She's nice and all, but didn't that Major guy tell us that the monster we were after could change shape?)"
"(For once, I'll have to agree with him.)" Raven said, nodding her head. "(She seems fine, but there's no definite proof of her story. If the gas creature we were told about is smart enough to escape the D.E.O, isn't there a chance…?)"
"(I think her story's clean.)" Cyborg finished. "(She did explain why the sample we took was just air. And on that, did you guys see any of the D.E.O guys do any precaution work? No evacuation, no environment suits- there was somethin' they weren't tellin' us.)"
"(I'm with Cyborg; there's no proof that she wanted to hurt us, was there?)" Robin surmised. "(Alright, I say we-)" he froze mid-sentence, looking at the canister. "Where'd she go…?" The others glanced down to see an empty canister in the middle of the table. They hurriedly got to their feet and frantically looked around for any sign of her.
"(Over here…)" They looked towards the couch in unison to see her sat on the edge of the back, gently swinging her legs back and forth, looking at them sadly through her fringe, whisps of opaque gas gently swirling round her.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Looks like you tube wasn't completely airtight, huh?" Beast Boy joked, elbowing Cyborg in the side. He replied with a smack round the back of the head.
"…you could have escaped at any time, couldn't you?" Robin said slowly. She nodded as they came towards her.
"Then why didn't you?"
"I… I wanted you to trust me… to believe me…" She glanced up at Robin and Starfire took a seat next to her. "I… I really need your help… and… a-and I need some friends… I'm… I'm sorry for… Y'know, attacking you earlier, but… I was scared…"
"Do not fret." Starfire said sympathetically, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You are- eep!" She started slightly as her hand slid right through her. "Erm… You are with us now…"
"At least for the time being…" Raven hesitantly reminded them, nodding towards the clock, which showed less than an hour until the return of the canister.
"Don't worry; we'll figure something out…" Robin promised, frowning to himself. "D'you have any idea what they might do…?"
"(I know exactly what they're planning…)" She said quietly, a slight quiver of fear in her voice. "They always threatened me with it in case I ever thought of escaping beforehand… Wh-when you turn me over to them… they'll say that he's mixing me with oxygen to calm me down… but…" She hesitated, bottom lip quivering. After breathing a steady breath, she forced herself to continue. "…but it'll really be potassium chloride… it'll r-render me…" She hung her head and mumbled the last word.
"(Render you what…?)" Starfire asked quietly, dreading the answer.
"(…inert…)"
"(Um… Inert?)" Beast Boy asked tentatively, glancing around.
"(She means… dead.)" Raven replied out of the corner of her mouth.
"(I-I… I can't…)" She whispered, tears welling in her eyes. Her voice choked as they rolled down her face, and she quickly hid her face in her hands, crying in despair.
"(Hey, hey… calm down…)" Robin said softly, taking her by her upper arm. "(Listen, we're-?!)" He cut off as his hand passed straight through her.
"Guys, this is gettin' serious." Cyborg said, glancing towards the clock again. "We can't hand her over to them, they're just gonna… Y'know…"
"But we can't keep her here- The D.E.O'll come looking for her, and probably try and arrest us in the bundle." Raven frowned, looking to Robin. "So… what do we do?"
The others turned to look at Robin as well, expectantly. Robin remained silent, frowning to himself, and then glanced at the weeping girl beside him. She lowered her hands slightly to look up at him, her eyes red from crying, sniffing slightly. He looked at the floor in front of his feet, mumbling to himself for a few seconds, before looking up.
"Alright… I've got an idea…"
XD Got you interested...?