"Can we keep her?"
"What? No, what the heck is wrong with you!"
"Hey, no swatting, man!" Beastboy dived out of the path of the hand that swept at his temple, whilst he peered down at the girl laden with blankets on the sofa. Her fingers curled into the blankets desperately, tugging them closer as she slept, as if in need for a lifeline. Her body twisted with broken cries, as she lived in a nightmare in the walls of her mind.
On the opposite end of the sofa, Cyborg dropped heavily into the pillows that littered the space around it, with Beastboy falling into the beanbag as they surveyed the sleeping girl. A twisted, metal brow over a reddened eye lifted as she gave another sharp cry, the nightmares in her head baring their teeth once more. "D'ya think she's got a name?"
Beastboy's curiosity piqued at the notion, and he turned to her from his seat. Leaning forward, he sat his chin onto his closed fists, eyes squinting as if her name was written somewhere across her face in small letters that he couldn't see from where he sat. After a moment, he gave a sharp shrug, turning towards Cyborg who had stood up from his seat to turn on the games station. The game rolled across the screen and Cyborg dropped into his seat beside him, passing him a controller. "I dunno, I think she looks like a Janice. Maybe a Beatrice."
A snort escaped Cyborg as the music from the racing game pulsed through his skin. "Janice? Beatrice? Nah man, she's probably something like a Cleo or Rhea."
They lapsed into trash talk as the game started, forgetting about their previous conversation as the music built and so did their screaming match. After about ten minutes of the throb of music that moved the tower with a beat, a loud slam sounded behind the two. Ceasing their trash talk, they found Raven floating angrily at the doors, practically strangling a book in her hands.
"I am trying to read, so would you turn down your game?" her voice was calm, unnaturally so, despite her usually bored tone, but her teeth were clenched tightly. Beastboy burst out laughing, and hooked a thumb back towards the screen behind them, as Cyborg started the game up again.
"Turn this down? No way, Rae – that rhymes – this game has the best beats of like, the century!" Giving her a wide grin, Beastboy completely dismissed her plea, and started to play again. Raven, felt a vein throb in her forehead and gnashed her teeth together, as if to calm the raging anger she felt build up in her veins. Reigning in her emotions, a skill she had long since mastered, she muttered her familiar chant beneath her breath.
The game suddenly switched off, eliciting a cry of outrage from the two, before their eyes widened in horror. The game station turned dark with Raven's powers surrounding it, before it was lifted into the air and thrown to the ground, the plastic splintering into a mess of wires and sparks on the floor in front of them.
Before her, Beastboy and Cyborg stood and screeched, Cyborg staring in distress, whilst Beastboy raced forwards and collected the broken hardware into his arms, mouth agape. He turned to Raven, who didn't bat an eyelid at his words. "You monster!"
"Finally, some peace and quiet."
Behind her, Raven felt someone's presence and instantly knew it was Robin arriving from sparring in the gym below. Silently, he took in the sight of Cyborg staring in complete shock at the broken game station in Beastboy's arms, complaining about the expense whilst Beastboy cursed Raven for the broken game. Beside him, Raven calmed and the book in her hands shimmered with her powers around it, opening of its own command as she moved to block out Beastboy's complaints. But as she turned to leave the room, Robin's hand blocked her eye line of the words that were scrawled across the page before her. With an exaggerated sigh, she turned towards him with an expectant gaze. "What?"
"Why'd you do that, Raven?"
"Because, it's annoying when your furniture is practically dancing, and you can't even hear your own thoughts!"
"Still, that doesn't give you any right to -" the conversation delved into a heated argument, a crescendo of yelling and unadulterated anger filling the room with a tense atmosphere. Raven waved her book madly, threatening to hit Robin on accident, who shuffled out of the way of her book. Cyborg and Beastboy argued loudly about who had achieved the highest score before Raven had practically 'slaughtered' the game station in front of them.
No-one noticed however, when the doors slid open, Starfire's emerald eyes turned wide at the sight of her friends. Desperation clawed at her chest at the sight. Her arms were full of shopping bags, and in her need to gather air from the straining weight, she dropped them. "MY FRIENDS!"
All arguing ceased and faded into silence, turning to Starfire with frightened eyes, as they knew of the anger that could emanate from her. Shuffling away, as if the girl would – and could – shoot them with her blasts, they turned their heads down, except Raven who merely nodded her head, the most someone would ever get out of Raven usually. A chorus of "sorry Starfire," emanated from the group, but the girl still held slight anger. "I come back from the mall of shopping with gifts, and you are doing the shouting with each other again!"
Suddenly, her composure shifted, and everyone was reminded of the Tamaranean princess she had once been, had once held the weight of a crown on her head. She had not forgotten the teachings of her heritage and neither had her friends. "Besides, I believe that you have awoken our friend."
Confusion settled into the group before realization dawned, and they turned, to find terrified brown eyes stare up at them over the curve of the dark sofa. A soft gasp pulled from her lips as they found her, fingers curled deeply into the back of the sofa that they threatened to tear it. Down the side of her face, her gash had been bandaged with three slices of white, medical tape.
"You're awake!" Beastboy's loud boom of excitement startled the girl, as she jumped back and into the large, open space behind her. She scrambled back, staring in horror at the group. Beastboy, however, flinched at the sight, preparing to spurt out an apology before Cyborg's hand clamped around his mouth in an iron vice.
Starfire floated towards her, and approached her as if she were a cornered animal. The girl backed up towards the wall of the platform, and gave a short, terrified gasp of air. Her fingers searched for purchase, and her chest heaved as Starfire approached, unsure whether she'd harm her in any way or not. Starfire lifted a smile to her features.
"Hello, new friend. My name is Starfire, may I know yours?" The girl's head tilted, confusion clouding her dark eyes at the mention. Her mouth moved, but struggled to form words. Cotton wool seemed to clog her throat, forcing any sound that she tried to convey back down her throat.
"Uh, Star, I don't think she wants to tell you."
Turning swiftly, Starfire sent Cyborg a glare that spoke words when her mouth didn't, and Cyborg's own mouth snapped closed at the sight. He would never admit it, but the small girl in front of him could bring him to his knees. Literally.
Starfire swivelled back to the girl, and placed her hands upwards as she balanced on her toes, opting for the sign of peace. She noticed how the younger's breath seemed to even at the offering. "It is alright, new friend. You are safe here, and my friends do not do the shouting often. Do you have a name?"
The girl blinked, her eyes watching her steadily, searching for any ticks or twitches that her mind, long ago, had learnt to search for among strangers. Memories forced their way through the barriers that she had built, to clog entrances to her otherwise barren mind of thoughts, and she felt her fingers twitch as she remembered. But, the slight terror that had crawled under her skin seems to shift the cotton, and the words slip in broken verbs.
"Ex-Exp..." she rocks forwards, as if the words will somehow increase if she shifts the cotton out of the way fully. "Exper..."
"Esper? Is that your name?" Starfire questions, seemingly glad to have pulled a response from the girl that had remained so quiet. Behind her, incredulous looks were shared as the others curled in, interested on the young girl.
The girl sighed, turning to Starfire once more as her arms wrapped around her bent knees like a coil, as if sheltering her body from the world. "...Experiment 622017."
Stunned gazes turned towards the girl, with matted hair and bloodshot eyes. Beastboy gave a short gasp and clutched his hands together over his mouth, and felt Cyborg flinch behind him. He briefly knew what it was like to be stuck with needles. If possible, the girl curls further in on herself, like a ball, and starts to shiver violently. Everyone knows it isn't from the cold.
Starfire, unbeknownst to what the term means, moves to congratulate the girl on the bravery she had displayed in telling them her name, but a hand on her arm pauses all movement of her body. Turning, she finds Robin, staring down at her.
"Starfire, I think it's best that she rests now."
"But, Robin -"
"Now, Starfire," he prods, giving a half-hearted gentle tug at her arm, sternness filtering into his words. Starfire stares at him in bewilderment, before turning to the girl with a soft smile, and peeling away from her. They leave her, noticing that she crawls back onto and under the thick blankets once they leave the room.
They congregate into a circle just outside the door, and the first to speak is Raven, who crosses her arms and speaks blankly. "Well, now we know how she got her powers."
Across from her, Cyborg runs a hand tiredly over his face at the confession. "God, poor kid," he mutters, wondering how on earth he never saw the signs. Though, granted, the signs are only shown when someone is awake, but he was still horrified. The bloodshot eyes, the miniscule scars that he had seen cross her collarbones and further when he was patching up her gash. He flinched as a thought passed briefly across his mind. "She looks so young; she can't be older than fourteen."
"I do not understand, what is the matter?" Starfire hovers close at Robin's side, a few stray fingers curling around his upper arm to steady herself beside him. Robin sighs.
"She was an experiment Starfire, which means people, experimented on her. They...hurt her," anger flashes across his veins and what could have possibly happened to her, and how long she may have suffered. Before anyone can speak, he cuts in. "Maybe that's why that robot was after her, maybe not, but we need to find out, and she isn't in any shape to say so now – she's staying here."