They're quiet when they stumble through the doors, clutching whatever battle scars are left from the fight like trophies raged across their skin. Starfire had fallen against Robin's shoulder from exhaustion, causing the boy to hold her close to his chest as she lost consciousness. The others stayed silent as they stagger over the threshold, unable to broach the subject.
As soon as the group had made their way into the car to travel home after the encounter with the two boys, Esper had curled in on herself, pressing her head into her knees and flattening herself against the door, leaving a space big enough for a small child to perch themselves between them. Her eyes had glazed over as her mind locked itself away, trying to sort through the haphazard files of memories. On the other side of the car, Raven clutched her book beneath her cape.
The tower was calm when they arrived, thankfully, as Robin strode forwards to put the comatose redhead in her room for the rest of the night. The others retired to their own bedrooms, the first to throw herself into her room being the mute brunette.
Beastboy gnawed at his bottom lip, flinching as he heard the violent thump of the sliding door close. His fingers twiddled anxiously, looking from his feet to the closed door, now covered in pictures and large letters that spelt out 'Esper,' courtesy of Starfire.
He moved to walk away and fall into his own bed when he felt a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. Turning, a masked face looked down at him, his smile grim. "You should talk to her, she listens to you. I'll be in the operation room if you need me."
When he sends the elder a nod, and he walks away and around the corner, Beastboy gulps in the air. Unsure how to broach the subject, he clenches his hands and gives a faint rhythmic thump of his knuckles against the metal door. "Esper?" he calls out hopefully, eyes averting themselves to the ground. All that answers him is the smiling picture of Starfire and Esper on her door.
Sighing when he receives no answer, his forehead finds the cool metal of the door. It's soothing to the touch, and it calms the nervous jitters that gather beneath his skin. "Esp, c'mon, it's me. Beastboy. Look I...I'm really sorry that your day was ruined, and that your family is trying to kill us and you don't know what's going on but...that's okay. It may be totally weird and freaky how this has turned out, but you gotta talk to someone, at least."
He waits, and waits, until he can hear footsteps slowly scuffle towards the door, and the sudden pull of it startles him as he topples. He only catches himself on the door frame, and his jaw clenches at the sight of red ringed eyes. Her bottom lip is split once more, her habit of biting her bottom lip to stifle her cries becoming dangerous. The scar from the first time he saw her fades beneath red cheeks, but determination strikes her words, despite the quiver in her skin. "I can't crumble, not now."
Without hesitation, the changeling gathers the girl into his arms, pressing her head beside his. Her hands fold against his chest, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip once more to stop the sob ringing out. But she shakes against him, and he holds her even tighter, pressing his head into the crook of her neck. "It's okay if you want too, though."
The tender moment is split though, when a shout ricochets off the wall, and a dark shape skids around the corner, heading towards the main room, hands slamming down onto the ground to keep themselves from falling into a heap against the carpeted floor. Both teenagers ready themselves, Beastboy clenching his hands and standing slightly over the girl, despite the willpower she exudes. But neither can strike, as Cyborg flies around the corner, a hook flying from a compartment in one of his large metal fingers.
It curls around the waist of the intruder, and it snaps them towards the floor. Raven slides out of her room once more, angered at having been interrupted from her much-needed relaxation, and throws up her hood. The body on the floor writhes as it's dragged into the operation room.
Robin stands as tall as a mountain when Cyborg pulls the thrashing body across the floor, until he tosses him like a ragdoll at the leader's feet. "Found him digging in the Titans' computer just before you came. He's with Slade."
But the masked teenager isn't listening, as he lowers himself to his haunches and grinds out, "it's not a he." A slight gasp is heard when his hand slides over the mask that adorns the figures face, and snaps it off. Electrical sparks spit upwards, and he tosses the mask away, as if it's dirt beneath his fingernails. A post-it note is stuck to the clockwork of the robot, and Robin stands and turns to the large computer, and static fills the room.
The image is grainy at first, but it suddenly flickers to life. A man, over six feet, stands relaxed in front of a camera, that flickers and jumps like static. Though his body language reads relaxed, his arms are clasped behind his back, an air of professionalism surrounding him. The mask over his features is mixed, with black and orange with one outlined eye hole on the rusted orange sector. His outfit is black, with metal guards and a utility belt winding around his waist; his chuckle is low before he speaks.
"You're a smart boy, Robin," the voice is as smooth as butter, low and rumbling like an earthquake in his chest. Esper feels her body shake. "You always were, and by now, you will have most likely decoded that this is a pre-recorded message. I believe you met with some acquaintances of mine tonight, who have already informed me of your encounter."
"Is he in the computer?"
Cyborg looks up from where his hands glide across the keyboard. "No, it's just a disk. He's not digging for anything."
The man continues. "They have also informed me, that you have something of mine. An...experiment, if you'll say."
He chuckles afterwards, as if the notion is humorous, and Esper feels her body start to unfold in fury, as she suddenly feels the teeth of the monsters beneath flesh and bones bite not at her, but with her in her vehemence.
"I must warn you though, it is a danger. The droid I sent was only meant to detain and bring it back to its residence under the watchful eye of medical officials, when it attacked and destroyed it. The power it holds is limitless, so I am warning you, Robin, that if you continue to harbour it, you are putting yourself at risk."
The worrying tone that strikes the man's words makes her skin crawl. The fire builds in her veins as every word he speaks grates on her body. This man was the one that subjected her to years of torture, years of neglect and imprisonment.
His head tilts, a fake act of innocence. No one is fooled. "So, I am proposing a deal – return Prodigy to me, at midnight tomorrow night on the docks and I shall never return to Jump city, as I will already have gathered what I need."
The anger didn't stem from how she remembered the brush of a scalpel or when she had curled so far into herself she feared she was lost beneath her clothes. The anger stemmed from his reluctance to at least gratify her with at least a 'her.' She was not an 'it.'
"Oh, and Prodigy?" she can already hear the sickly sweet smile that licks at his lips behind the mask of black and orange rust. "Be a good girl."
As soon as the image fades and only a thin grey line runs across the screen, the girl feels heat lick at her fingers, as soft as the blankets her friends had given her. Her arm is thrown back, ready to aim at the screen where he had once laughed when he had said she was an experiment.
But when she tightens her jaw and flicks her wrist to fling the bolt of energy towards the screen, she hits an invisible wall. Turning back, her wrist is suspended in the air, black energy surrounding it. Tears prick her dark eyes as she tries to pull it from her grasp, begging Raven to release it. The violet haired girl only stares back at her, with a hand raised. When she scolds her with only the use of her name, Esper freezes and drops her hands, defeated.
But she doesn't crumble like bricks on a building. She holds herself together, with twigs and spider webs across her skin. Slowly, she fixes the pieces of her back together again, thread by broken thread. "I can't be weak."
Her voice is hardly above a whisper, but everyone hears it. Beastboy has to resist tugging her into another hug, knowing she'll never forgive him for it. She wants to be strong. She has to be.
"Esper, I think it will be best you get some sleep."
"No," her voice is as rough as sandpaper, and she folds her hands around her biceps, as if to remind herself she is still stood there; she is still standing.
For once, the boy wonder isn't a leader. "Esper, really, you need –"
Her head shakes, short tangled locks flying in a dizzying halo. But once again, her throat pauses and chokes on the words that rise up defiantly. But the silence that dwells is enough, and Robin places a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.
"I know it's hard, but you have to understand," he mutters, trying to catch her gaze, to enforce the words that he grinds out, "it's dangerous for you. We are going, you are staying."
His tone fights for this conversation to be final, to be stopped until tomorrow morning over the breakfast table, but her gaze turns upwards and he blinks in shock. The girl that hid away behind her knees at every bump in the night has disappeared from behind dark lashes. In her place, is someone with a sharp tongue and eyes that seem to blaze with a sort of rebelliousness that he's never seen in her gaze. He's almost shocked.
"And you need to understand, I have to do this," she pulls back, curling her arms around herself tighter, as if scared once she lets go, the pieces will crack and she'll crumble, just like always. She retreats towards the door, voice low against the thrum of her throat. "I have to do this, I want to do this."