A/N: Hi peoples
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans
Cyborg sat back on the couch, settling his feet on the shoe-scuffed coffee table. He turned on the relaxing, mind-numbing, television. Unfortunately, a certain someone (at this point, he had slid a glare over to where Robin was sitting at the table, angrily trying to scrape some sort of green gunk out of his weapons) had left the news was on and the Ferris Wheel was just being shown.
When his glaring failed to impose either Robin or the television, Cyobrg turned it off and listened to the grumbles of his companions. Apparently, thinking back on it, all the Titans had seen teenagers working the rides. Once the rides had started, they had each seen the workers be joined by other teenagers. Hearing the news about the teenagers, Cyborg had the itching feeling he should ask Kale about this, but he did not want to see her again, not after the insulted look she had given him.
"Awww man. Do you know how long it's going to take me to get this out of my hair?" Beast Boy whined loudly. He had been the only one not on an actual ride. Instead, a cotton-candy server (of course, he was a teenager) had been serving him. Somehow, Beast Body had been convinced into his rat form and had gone into the cotton candy mixture. Needless to say, he was unable to extract himself.
"Shut up, Beast Boy. We have other things to think about, man., Cyborg said irritably. This was getting to be a habit, this getting riled at any little thing after seeing Kale.
"Yeah. Like why a bunch of teenagers are out to get us," Raven appeared next to them Cyborg and Beast Boy, her silent walking serving her well. Her eyes and cape glowed for a moment, and all the soot that had been the result of an 'accidental' roller coaster accident seemed to burn itself away.
After a few minutes, Cyborg caught her staring at him so intensely that he felt like he had to glare back at her. "What?" he snapped.
"You have that face on. That face when you want to say something, but you're not sure if you should." Raven replied emotionlessly, as if she did not care too much whether or not he disclosed what was going on in his minds.
Robin, who was wringing out his cape from a capsized boat and an eventual collapse of the Tunnel of Love (needless to say, a certain red-haired alien was doing likewise), looked up from his task. "What's up Cyborg? Are you all right? Do you know who did this to us?" he asked in his usual I'm-going-to-crack-these-criminals voice that Cyborg found really exasperating at the moment.
"Yeah… sort of ," Cyborg muttered after a moment of hesitation.
"So…?" Robin asked impatiently.
Cyborg stood up. His mind rattled with things said and unsaid that evening and he needed some time to think. "I'll go out on a lead in the morning."
Robin, surprisingly, caught on to Cyborg's exhaustion and said quietly, "I think that's a good idea. Titans, get some rest. We'll do some extra chores and get some paperwork done that we're behind on tomorrow."
This was met with a groan, but the Titans slunk off to bed, each dreading the next morning for the chores to come. Some more than others.
Cyborg awoke early the next morning and set out of the Tower for the long journey to Jump City's East Side Orphanage. He did not put any music on; he needed silence to mentally prepare himself for what he was going to say to Kale to get her to talk to him.
He arrived at the orphanage. This time, he covered the car with a tarp, just in case some of the teenagers from last night or the last time he had been there paid an unexpected visit to the orphanage. Before he knocked on the door, Cyborg noticed that from the last time he had been there, another bar (though the first was halfway down the street) and much more glass from the same window had been knocked onto the pavement. Shrugging, he grabbed the brass knocker and hit it against the door once before it opened.
An old, small nun stood there before him. "Do you have business here?" she asked brusquely.
"Yeah, I'm here to see…"
"If you're here to see the boys, then I'll assure you you'll not be able to see them they're both in trouble for what you all did last night," she interrupted.
"No, I'm here to see… wait, last night? You mean at the Illusion Festival?" Cyobrg asked, focusing more on the old woman.
The nun fumbled in her robes until she found a pair of thick glasses. She blinked twice before her wrinkled face broke out into a smile, "Hey, you're one of those do-gooders, the Teen Titans. Let me say I think you guys are wonderfu…"
"Think, lady. Did one of your kids have something to do with last night?" Cyborg demanded impatiently.
The nun's eye widened and she let out a small squeak. She hurried behind the huge door and Cyborg heard it locking. A section of the door slid open, so Cyborg could only see the woman's thin lips. "Sorry, sir. Kale's told me not to let you in."
"What! Why?" The door slid closed.
Muttering oaths under his breath, Cyborg went back to his car. He was relieved to find that the car had not been discovered. He obviously would not be able to talk to Kale here, but perhaps he could find out where her usual haunts were, so he might be able to corner her somewhere in the city. He drove faster than he should have and ran a few lights. He was lucky the cops were busy somewhere else in the city.
Cyborg stopped at the library. He asked the librarian if Kale had come in lately.
"Sorry, sir, Miss Kale hasn't come in, but you're not the only one looking for her." The middle-aged woman behind the counter smiled pleasantly.
"What do you mean?" he asked. As far as he knew, Kale was teaching five days a week and grading papers the rest of the time.
"Oh, I don't know. Some fat kid. You, know, kids are getting bigger and bigger these days, but he was a porker," the woman waved her pink-tipped fake nails arily.
"What else did he look like?" Cyborg was partly disgusted by his almost immediate clinginess, but he reasoned that it was perfectly logical to want to make sure no one was stalking his new friend.
"Um…. Orange-red hair, trench coat, goes into rants about himself…" The woman doddered on.
"That's Control Freak," Cyborg announced confidently.
"Oh, that's his name. I always get so embarrassed when people talk to me and I don't know their name like this one time with my aunt's cousin's nephew….."
Cyborg left the woman talking about people he didn't know. He got into his car despairingly. He realized he had been calling Kale 'friend' and had only known her for two days and thought that because he hadn't heard about things beside school and the library, he thought she did nothing else. Besides going to fairs.
The girl in question at the moment was having a very difficult time. She ran the streets, her eyes wide open, looking for a boy with brown hair and a bright red shirt, Jack, and a boy with black hair dressed completely in black, Hal.
She had brought Jack and Hal out to talk to them and buy them lunch. They had seemed very upset that she was taking them out. Now, after she had tried to talk to them, they had disappeared through the bathroom window. Kale stopped and closed her eyes, looking for clues as to what had happened.
"Hal, go get Jack. We're going out," Kale had called from beneath the spiraling staircase.
When the two came downstairs, Hal had said, "Miss Kale, really, we don't want to go out. We have chores and then we want to take a rest."
"Yeah… so Kale, leave us alone," Jack had added.
He refused to call Kale by the formal and traditional 'miss' because she was seventeen and he was eighteen. In fact, he showed her very little respect at all. Of course, like all children, he was welcome at the orphanage until he got on his feet.
"No, boys, I want you to come with me." Kale said, smiling nicely. She had used the voice she had picked up from the nuns.
An hour later, they were in a Chinese restaurant, the boys not eating what they ordered and she not having ordered at all. The boys were sending anxious glances at the clock.
"So, boys. I was the fair last night," Kale had started slowly. She noticed Hal jumped in his seat. "I was on the Ferris Wheel with Adelaide and little Tommy when it fell over."
This time it was not only Hal who jumped.
"There are a lot of misguided people in this world, doing things to hurt others, to fix what is wrong just for the people around them," she continued. "What they don't realize is that they are hurting the very people they are trying to protect."
"Maybe the people thought that it was the only way," Jack muttered.
Kale looked at him. "Yes," she said slowly. "Those who have given up are doing these things, and last night it was close. But the Teen Titans are still there. They are still going to fight those who are greedy. And the ones who are trying to stop that need to realize that just because they are sad, or angry," Kale caught Jack's eye, "doesn't mean they should give in to the manipulative ones. In fact, it should be a reason to try and fix the problem. And if they can't, they should try to make it better."
"I gotta go to the bathroom," Jack said, quickly.
"You are excused," Kale said, picking up her tea cup and tipping it as if taking a long drought. As Jack left, he gave Hal a look neither of them knew Kale caught.
After a few minutes, Kale, becoming impatient and knowing completely what was happening said, "I wonder what's taking him so long."
Hal stood. "I'll go and check on him," he said loudly.
When Hal's back had disappeared behind the door, Kale signaled the waitress. "Hey, we're done here. Here's the money. By the way, does your men's bathroom have a window?"
The waitress looked surprised. "Why, yes, we do."
Kale dumped the money on the table and got outside in time to see the boys run down the street. Kale ran slowly after them. She wanted to see the other boys that had a hand in last night.
Now after following them for a half hour, Kale had lost sight of the boys, despite the brightness of Jack's shirt. It was more crowded now that the schools and work had let out.
Sighing in frustration, she went down an alley to escape the noise and confusion. She saw a rusty fire escape. An idea forming in her head, she climbed up the escape faster than she thought she could and much faster than the old man on the street that had seen her thought possible.
When she was on the roof, she saw the boys running. She ran to the edge of the building. For a brief moment, she wondered what to do next. The fact that she was loosing the boys made the decision for her. Summoning her courage and reminding herself that she had done more the night before, she jumped to the next building. Smiling at her success, she did this again and again, all the while thanking the human race for their need to pack buildings in anywhere they could.
Finally, she could go no farther. The building below her was just too far and she knew her limits. When she despaired at the thought of wasting time climbing down, she saw that her charges had stopped. They were conversing with another boy, and then the trio went inside the short building that was too far for her to jump.
Kale found another fire escape and almost flew down it. She walked by the windows until she caught sight of the boys. Besides her boys, nearly ten young men were inside. Suddenly, some silent signal brought them all down a flight of step visible in the corner.
Kale scowled. She wondered where they were going. She had to know! This was much more than just some boys meeting to get together to goof off. Her eyes flew to the ground. There had to be a basement window somewhere.
She followed the side of the building until she saw, farther along the side, there was a small window. Peering through it, she saw even more boys and girls (though the latter certainly lacking) in this room. Among them, she saw Control Freak standing next to a throne-like chair. On the chair itself, a man she had known and made friends with before he had left her behind and had turned to… a less than favorable path, was Jonathan, Q. Rancrid.
Now known as Johnny Rancid.
A/N: Review. Review. Review! Review! Review!