When the dust settles, and the morning peaks over the corner of the tower, they're already alert and awake, the tallest of the six hunched over as he taps at a metal wrist on the semi-circle couch. Beside him, the lithe changeling plays anxiously on a videogame, though his attention is diverted to the brunette that sits between them, cross-legged and staring towards the large screen. She doesn't seem to see the pixelated fighters.
Further down, the violet haired enchantress is curled up against the arm of the chair, eyes casting over the scrawled words of a book, but her gaze keeps darting upwards, into the blank face of the small girl. Behind her, Starfire flutters vividly, dancing around the room to gather things for a recipe, though she doesn't hum like usual, Cyborg and Beastboy don't scream at each other. The silence is deafening to the ear.
Suddenly, a loud clatter cracks the silence like a gunshot. Beastboy's controller lies on the floor, and his jaw sets angrily. "Okay, I'm wigging out," he cries, standing suddenly and turning to stare down his friends, "what the heck are we gonna do about this dude? We haven't strategized or nothing!"
Raven peeks over the rim of her book. "Don't you mean 'anything'?"
"Yeah, and that!"
The girl rolls her eyes, but nonetheless, doesn't retreat back into her book. Cyborg, however, shrugs his shoulders, fingers still tweaking in the electronics in his arm. "Look BB, I know the feeling. But we gotta wait for Robin to tell us what's happening. We have the rest of the day, anyways."
"Yes, and Robin will convey what he believes is best for us when the time is on the dot," pitches in Starfire, sinking into the seat between Raven and Esper, both of which who are no longer watching the changeling in his complaints. Beastboy deflates, though he still clenches his fingers.
As if on cue, Robin glides through the doors, alerting his friends, who all stand to greet him in eagerness to find out the strategy. His gaze wavers over them until he lands on Esper, and the slightest twist of his upper lips is the only indication to any emotion.
"Dude?" questions Beastboy hopefully, as he perches himself on the curve of the couch, his legs dangling over the side like an enthusiastic child.
The elder crosses his arms as he surveys his team; his friends. "We all know what's happening tonight at midnight," he steps forwards, and levels his gaze with optimistic brown eyes, "and if you're determined to join us, we need to get you ready. Cyborg, is there any way we can help her to at least get a little restraint on her powers by tonight?"
The mood in the room lifts like a weight, and Esper feels a thankful smile twitch across her lips. Cyborg, though unsure, sports a smile of his own as he answers the leader, and Robin nods, instructing the others to dutifully ready themselves for midnight. With a furious fist pump, Beastboy sped off towards his room, Cyborg sweeping close behind to return to the garage. Raven was quick to her feet to go to her room and meditate.
Starfire fluttered forwards towards the two, an elated smile adorning her pretty features, causing the usually serious-faced teenager's features to soften at the sight. Her fingers delicately take hold of Esper's arm, already tugging her forwards. "Oh, it shall be such a joy to assist you in mastering your powers, friend-Esper! I believe you shall be of natural experience in a short time."
The brunette smiles as she's tugged down the hallway, Robin following close behind the two as they twist and turn down hallways. She soon finds herself in a room she's never been in, with punching bags hanging from the ceiling like swinging bodies, weights piled like mountains in the corner. A wide open space occupies a corner of the room, where Starfire glides over eagerly, and stands with her back facing Esper. The lights are low in the training room, and Starfire's back straightens as Esper slides into the light. "Your training shall begin now."
She only has a moment to cock her head to the side before a battle cry erupts behind her, and Esper dives out of the path of a steel-toed shoe headed straight for the back of her head. A strangled cry escapes her as she dives out of the path, only to throw back her left arm as a green star bolt glides past, piercing the floor and throwing up smoke in its wake. Her mouth stutters open, trying to form words as her mind falls into panic mode, but she bites down on the terror that builds in her throat as the boy swings around fluidly, with all the grace of a dancer, and shoves his arm towards her stomach.
With little experience, the girl arches her stomach away, bouncing back on her toes and staring at him, befuddled. But his expression gives no indication to beneath the skin and he dives forwards, his fist ramming into her shoulder painfully. She swallows the cry.
Starfire glides delicately behind her, aiming with her star bolts and Esper dives backwards, falling onto her back and rolling into a crouched position on the tips of her toes. Where she once stood, the smooth wood-panelling is charred.
She's suddenly swept off her feet, with no time to roll once more, and she lands painfully onto her shoulders, a groan pulling from her lips, as she can feel the skin begin to bruise beneath her clothes. She flinches when Robin rises from the crouch he'd dropped himself into, having swept one foot along the floor and thrown her off of her toes. He stands over her, and she only takes his hand when he sends her an apologetic smile.
"Sorry Esp, we had to calculate your reaction time to different attacks," he answers, and she notices that it's the first time he's addressed her by the nickname. Pride sinks into her, momentarily blinding the slight burn beneath her skin. Starfire lands beside him, hands clasped before her and he turns to the girl, tossing a smile in her direction. "Star, I think you can take it from here?"
"I shall enjoy doing so, thank you, Robin," she answers, letting the boy wonder fly out the door. The redhead turns to Esper, her lips curled happily into a smile as she grasps her shoulders, bringing her closer as she hovers, the joy of spending time with the girl overwhelming her.
Suddenly, her hands disappeared and an inquisitive look passed over the alien girl's features. Her head tilts; silken locks the colour of blood slipping over the curve of her shoulder blade. Her arms crossed over her chest, one hand resting across her jaw as she scrutinized the girl. Esper felt an itch of anxiousness, her weight dipping from toe-to-toe, hip-to-hip under the green-eyed gaze.
"May I inquire how you obtain your powers? I believe your own are similar to mine, created by emotion," she enquiries, her own hand facing palm up, towards the dusted ceiling, when a ball of green energy erupts in the palm of her hand. It dances up, spitting flames from its twisted body, before dispersing amongst her fingers and the light vanishes. Esper blinks, finding herself somehow entranced slightly by the ball of energy.
When she nods to confirm Starfire's accusations of her powers, the teenager steps back, hovering slightly above the ground. "But, you have trouble controlling them, do you not?" Another nod.
A sad smile curls across her cheeks, as she lowers herself back down to the ground to grasp her shoulders gently, fingers folding around the thin plane of her shoulders. Somehow, she feels a slight heaviness on them, as if the world still pushes onto Esper's body. "It is because you have not been introduced to feeling emotions that can awaken your powers, am I correct in this?"
When she claps her hands in excitement after Esper answers with another nod, the girl jumps. Suddenly, the fire in the alien girl fires back up, an inferno beneath Tamaranean skin. "Oh, this shall be such fun! First, you need to collect your power inside of yourself, at the middle of your torso, feel it curl into every muscle of your body, and to release your energy bolts, you must feel righteous fury towards your target. However, if you are like me, than you can take flight, but that is..."
The day carries on slowly, and as the tower descends into chaos to get ready for the twilight mission at the docks, whilst Esper remains in the training room, with intervals between the two titans, Starfire and Robin, in agility and power. Slowly, the restraint creeps up on her, as well as the overhang of midnight, the bloated moon hanging above her as she sends a sharp red bolt of energy into the chest of a practice dummy. It cracks into a kaleidoscope of mesh and leather.
As she pulls back to send another into the leg of another training dummy, a figure in a cloak leans against the door and knocks against the wall. Halfway through her swing, Esper turns and tosses the empath a tight-lipped smile. She knows exactly why she's here.
Raven tosses her head back, her hood shifting slightly to show the grim downward turn of lips. "It's time to go. Cyborg is gonna set you up with minimal weaponry, but you should probably go get dressed now."
The brunette nods, casting her gaze down at the flimsy t-shirt and sweatpants, before moving to walk past the girl. But a hand wraps around her arm, and after years of feeling cold fingers, she still flinches under her touch.
Raven notices, but her lips on the matter stay closed. Dark eyes glaze over her, wondering when the short brunette replaced her skin with bricks. "You know, you don't have to do this to prove anything to anyone."
Esper smiles at her, but the quirk of her lips doesn't reach the chocolate hues. Her fingers pat against Raven's in a rhythm that reminded her of a fibonochi sequence. One, one, three, five. Her brow lowered, and she realized that Esper had learnt something to become closer to her, something only Raven would know. This was her way, without words, to say, 'don't worry, we'll be okay.' When she left, Raven found a small smile etched onto her lips.
When Esper joins her friends in the main room, her breath catches in her throat. Cyborg is hunched over, welding something into his sonic cannon that creates the metal device in his arm to look even more threatening. Around his torso, is a belt, much like Robin's, with various gadgets and hooks woven into the metal belt and across his thigh, a belt zigzags around it with smoke pellets hanging from the pegs. Starfire stands to the side, adjusting a strap that coincides with a warrior outfit that she's briefly seen when sent into closets, perhaps an old outfit from her time spent on Tamaran. They're the only two with any sort of armour besides Esper, whilst Beastboy's voice takes on a tone of a wolf's whine, asking about his own sort of armour for the mission to his leader. She feels happiness, for once in her life, settle in her chest; she feels warm.
They stand when she walks through and Robin clasps her on the shoulder, unwavering certainty in her. She smiles back at him and collects her breathing, trying to remind herself that she can still breathe. Later, perhaps she won't be breathing at all.
"Tonight, we settle this. Though I still don't think it's a good idea," with an arched brow from the brunette, he chuckles, "but, I can't stop you. Alright, Titans, let's go."
Beastboy whoops loudly, throwing both hands into the air before promptly gripping Esper's and tugging her after him. The girl chuckles and lets him drag her towards the car, where she slides in after him, with Robin and Cyborg in the front.
But suddenly, as soon as the car lurches forwards, with both Starfire and Raven overhead, the atmosphere changes and any illusion of humour is swept beneath tires that burn against the road. Robin starts to rattle off defensive and offensive manoeuvres, Beastboy continues to try to plaster jokes into the conversation and Esper sits quietly, a feeling of dread crawling through the muscle of her abdomen. She soon feels fear clutch at her with frozen fingers, shocking her back into reality.
She was going into a fight; a battle. She briefly wondered if she'd come home, wondered if she'd find herself beneath the covers of her own bed tonight, sound asleep against pillows too soft to be hers and too big for her head. She curls her hands into her chest, and feels the power radiate beneath them and thrum through her. Her heart beats between a clockwork of ribs and muscles and cells, yet all she can feel is the supremacy that resides beneath her skin.
When the car shudders to a halt, and she can hear the thump of the two girls landing either side of the sleek vehicle, her breath picks up and a panic attack threatens her. Not now, please not now.
Suddenly, as the doors open and the air rushes around her ankles, she feels something curl around her shoulders. An arm, draped in metal shoulder guards and long purple sleeves curls her in briefly to a lime green neck. She smiles into Beastboy's chest, happy for his company.
"We'll be okay, Esp, I promise," his voice eerily borders on serious, a tone she's never heard entwined between his words. His mouth presses to the crown of her head, and though it's brief, she swears, he kisses her mess of dark curls. "We'll be okay."
Nodding, she follows after him, clutching his hand like it's a lifeline and as something beeps on Robin's belt and strides forwards, towards the only warehouse with flickering lamplights. Outside, two large shapes stand by either side of the door, and a soft sigh leaks between the spaces of Robin's teeth. His fingers dig down into his belt and retract the retractable staff.
"Knew this wouldn't be easy, Cyborg, get ready with those upgrades," orders the leader, before gesturing his hand to his friends for them to follow alongside him in a crouch. Once the rest of the team, with the absence of Cyborg, get to the other end of the crates that overshadow them, both Robin and Cyborg share a look, and with a cry, Robin launches them over the crates. Behind them, in a sprint, Esper can feel the butterfly wings scrape against her stomach.
They're quick, with a bang and a punch, sending the Slade bots rocketing backwards, thrown into the wall, causing a spittle of electricity to shoot up where their heads had once been. Beastboy grins proudly as he morphs back from a tiger, spitting out a metal leg. Beside him, Cyborg powers down his sonic blaster and turns to Raven. "Where there's two, there's two hundred more."
It's a silent request, and Raven nods, her eyes slotting shut and she chants under her breath. When she opens them, her eyes are pure white. "There's ten above the doors, in the rafters and five in the back. He's there, but we're gonna have to blast the door down."
When Starfire smiles in ecstatic joy, she readied herself and the star bolt pierces the flimsy door, sending it off its hinges back into the warehouse. Smoke wafts from the explosion and as they battle through the thick wall of smoulder, they find Raven was right.
A metal foot is sent into Raven's shoulder, and she growls as her hand wraps around the ankle and pulls, the robotic leg pulling slightly out of the socket, but the metal man doesn't seem to notice. It desperately threw a punch towards her jaw, but she makes minimal work of him, the sorceress only having to raise her hand to throw him back into a clutch of boxes. Her brow lowers and she swoops down to capture another
Beside her, Robin sends the butt of the metal bo staff into a titanium stomach with a roar, and plants his foot into a steel hip. It sends the droid spiralling out of his way in a clatter of wires and bent metal. When it's done, and they step through the thick column of depleting smoke and Slade stands, with iron-wrought shoulders and one seeing eye, he swears that the man smiles under his mask.
"Very good Robin, I'm almost impressed," he answers, and the only other sound in the room is the ragged breathing of the titans, as Beastboy huffs against Cyborg's shoulder and the elder overshadows the cowering brunette behind him, hand wound tightly over her small torso. He pulls her closer when she shudders as Slade's gaze slithers over her. "Oh look, you also brought a gift."
Robin's jaw clenches. "She's not for you."
Behind the curved metal mask, Slade tuts. "Pity."
Suddenly, a whirr fills the air, turning into a crescendo that cracks the silence around them. Bewildered looks are sent towards each other, eyes only slipping off of Slade for a moment, as the man stands like a statue. Then, Cyborg yelps as his feet start to slide against the floor, as if a fierce wind is pushing him back, and he's pulled into the air. His body slams against a wooden board above the blasted door, and metal chains wind around his torso. The chains groan against the strength he exudes trying to push past them.
One-by-one, each titan is swept from the floor and thrown back against the top portion of the door, and a metal cord wraps around them. Esper is only quick enough to grab two of Starfire's fingers before the redhead is tossed back against the wall. The five titans strain against the wall, like the weight of the world has plastered itself against their chests.
Then, the five droids that had stood behind Slade, as tall as mountains and just as strong, leap forwards, capturing Esper by surprise as a punch is sent into her jaw. She crumbles like a city on fire, the bricks cascading around her and she suffocates beneath the smoke as a steel-toed boot bruises her ribs. She splutters as she scrambles upwards.
In the wake of the sudden beating sent to the shocked brunette, Slade chuckles, noticing how the titans fight more furiously once the five droids attack their friend. "It is pointless to struggle, Titans," he calls out, only capturing the masked leader's angered attention, "it only makes it harder, and you know I don't like to watch you struggle. Besides, you'd never be able to help her anyway."
Turning back, he watches how Esper dives backwards, narrowly dodging a foot to the ribs once more but she's thrown back into a chrome chest, and a punch to the stomach sends the air shooting out of her. But the small part of training that she had received, taught her to push back against the cold metal and kick her legs up into the others chest. She pushes against the chest and the droid is sent flying backwards, skimming past another. Though it stands, a slight spark of victory ignites in her veins like fuel and it pushes her forwards.
When it comes back again, she does the exact same move, but instead, uses his body as a launch pad and finds the air taking wing beneath her. She revels in the one moment of soft flight before her feet find the ground and the anger clutches at her veins. Her knee jerks up, into the small of the droids back and it staggers forwards, freeing her arms from over its shoulders. She smiles when she hears the encouragement of her friends, but she worries her lip between her teeth as the droids fall back on her and she tastes blood. In shock, her hands clasp together as they loom over her, like black shadows. The explosion erupts in the room, a small dome of red energy that blinds everyone. It disappears as quick as it came, and it folds back into her chest like a paper plane. Her hands clasp over her chest, her breathing escalated as she sits in a circle of rubbles and burnt metal. She looks like she's breathing, but instead she suffocates.
She only rests for a moment before she is up once more, and twisting on the toes of her feet, hands clenched as her gaze connects with Slade's. She gulps down the air as her dark eyes turn red.
The man slides forwards with a casual step, all bated breath and iron fingers clutched behind his back. Esper is small against his overwhelming height, but her back straightens and she stands tall. But her body shakes when he speaks.
"Hello, Prodigy," he answers, loud enough for her to hear until he is six feet in front of her, and his head tilts, feigning an innocent she knows he doesn't hold. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"
She doesn't speak; she only narrows her eyes as she swallows the strain of her powers, as she restrains it under her skin. He shows no remorse, no guilt for the scars that litter both her mind and body. For some reason, she finds herself glad of that. There is no man, only a monster.
He is patronizing as he speaks. "I must say, I'm quite disappointed in you. You hold insurmountable power, that I've just seen, yet you contain it, deep inside yourself. You waste it, on things such like droids that can easily be replaced," his head tilts towards her, his tone is anything but playful. He baits her, like a cat with a string, "like your brothers."
Her attention, if possible, is even more gained by this. Her body flickers, her armour cracks, and the sight of the painfully innocent little girl can be seen through the nail-thin splits in her skin, confusion and worry clouding her eyes. Despite all the wrong they've done for this man, she still remembers the two boys that helped her grab hold of her sanity. For that, for them, she speaks. "Where are they?"
Chuckling, Slade steps forwards and she steps back. The air is cold around him, and her skin is far to blazing hot to be cooled down now as she repeats the question. He doesn't answer her. "Do you want to know how you attained your powers, prodigy?"
"No."
"I am not just inclined to the Titans; your friends," he answers, watching as the energy around her fists swirls angrier around them, a whirlpool of gulped emotions. "There are many others who I've gone up against, and from them all, I have collected a tiny piece of them. I have collected thousands to help me, and you were the only one who said 'no' to me."
When his stance shifts and he crouches, and his iron nails fold into fists before him, she chokes on her words. She hadn't been prepared for this; she hadn't been told he'd challenge her. As he leaps forwards, she realizes he doesn't like being told 'no.'
She doesn't have time to clutch her hands together, as if she'll fall to the floor and pray for mercy to any God that'll hear her, but rather to unleash the power he's placed on her. She doesn't have time as his fist lands into her jaw, and the world blurs around her. Pain splinters into her skull and her friends cries of 'get up, get up!' and 'stop it!' fade to static in her eardrums. The blood pulses loudly beneath the palms of her hands, and for that, she's grateful.
But as he sweeps her off her feet and kicks her away like a doll, she finds blood forcing its way out of her mouth and groaning into the concrete. But still, the blood pulses, and still, she is grateful.
"Who created you!?" he screams as his hand digs into the scruff of her neck, as he holds her by the back of her shirt on her knees, to soon switch to her hair, to hold her gaze to his. When she doesn't answer him, he seeps fury. Her silence is a blessing.
She falls back as he laughs, when her back slumps against the ground. He picks her up and throws her into boxes, and the ache throbs beneath her skin as her head rattles. She's never been strong, so why should she stand a chance now?
When he grabs her by her ankle and holds her up, she only sways. The strength is sapped from her muscles and she can feel the blood pool against her shirt. Somewhere between the static, she can hear Starfire screaming for her. "Oh, it has been keeping you up at night, hasn't it?" he questions, though she doesn't answer. She never will. "I can see, I can see that you're so angry, but you can't show it. You want to know why it was you, why you were the only one able to escape, but you can't show your anger. Because you're weak. But I have the answers. I know where the labs are, I know why your parents got rid of you. I sent the robot, I made you."
"N-No," she stutters, and her leg kicks weakly against his shoulder, nothing that could harm him. His wrist tightens on her ankle and she yelps as she feels something crack between his fingers. Feels pain crawl up her skin and tears blind her eyes when she opens them. When she does, she can see Beastboy rapidly shifting from animal to animal, trying to break through the metal cord. She can see Raven and Starfire blasting at their restraints as Cyborg and Robin saw and kick and claw. They're desperate, and so is she.
He drops her and strides forwards, seemingly forgetting about his project as he looks up to the struggling Titans. She can feel the kiss of fire against her skin, and she knows that if this doesn't end soon, they'll be buried beneath the blistered bricks. "You act as if you are not confined to your past, Prodigy. But I'll give you a lesson to remind you – I made you, I am your past. Your brothers are gone, scattered around the world. You have no future because I am your future."
As she feels the weight sit on her, the weight of loss, she somehow pushes against it. Something, deep in the rutted and broken curves of her ribs and lungs and heart ignites a hidden strength. The tears dry in her eyes as she remembers the nights in her cells, how she remembers as she broke through the walls of the laboratory. She remembers the feeling of the sun and the wind and water on her skin, and somehow, this fuels her.
Slade aims a gun towards Robin, in the middle of his friends. They stare in horror as he cocks the gun, readying it to destroy the five heroes, one by one. But behind him, Esper lifts herself onto her knees, then onto one foot, the other tentatively pressing against the floor.
"I am not Prodigy," she mutters in the crackle of the fire, and halfway through Slade's words. He turns, and she can feel the shock radiate from him. The energy around her fingers ignites and her eyes turn blood red, only trained on Slade. "I am a part of my past, but it...it does n-not define me. You do not define me."
When her hands clasp together, and a ball of red energy catches fire between her fingers, she notices how Slade scrambles backwards and away from her. A snap can be heard in the background, and she watches as how a remote is pulled from Slade's hands, wrapped in the coil of a green rattlesnake's tail. Beastboy presses the button and the five titans drop. Above, something splinters as she releases the star bolt towards Slade.
The next few moments are quick. The red energy barrels into the masked villain's chest and he's sent out of the warehouse. But the fire coils around them quickly and she vaguely hears Robin call for them to run before the warehouse falls down. But her feet are ice against the concrete, as the fire pulls her back. As it seems to try to devour her. This is her doing, this is her fault and she presses her fingers into her hair.
But a hand grasps hers in the middle of the smoke, and bright green eyes stare down at her, worry and concern curled behind the lime green irises. He coughs into his fist as he tugs on her. "C'mon Esp, we gotta go," he screams at her, begging desperately. But she stays rooted to the spot, tears falling down her cheeks as she whispers sorry, sorry, sorry.
However, Beastboy doesn't listen and he rears back, folding his hands over her shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eye. Determination strikes his features under the glare of the crackling tongues of fire. "I lost Terra, I'm not losing you too!"
Somehow, that loosens the hold the ice has on her feet, and he pulls her out of the fire's embrace, through the cloud of smoke and into a huddle on the pavement.