"I will have, my boy. I will have you"
TT
It was nearly a week after Abel's initiation, and he still had not forgiven them. At least, he put on that façade; the truth is he had never been happier, although it didn't show much. Raven knew he had no grudge against them, and she figured everyone else knew, too. Raven had partially accepted her feelings for Robin and resolved to speak to him about them… eventually. Robin also planned to do the same thing. Eventually.
"So, you've got to be able to do some things Raven and Starfire can't," Beast Boy said, out of the Blue. This almost caught everyone off guard, but they had been thinking the same thing; they just never got around to asking.
"Hmm… actually now that you mention, there is," Abel responded, "Dark Bolts," he stated as if they all knew what he was talking about.
"Oh," Beast Boy drew out, "Huh?"
"Dark Bolts. I combine my demon powers with my star bolts. It's considerably more powerful and faster, I'm sure I'll get a chance to show you guys sometime"
"Why not right now?" Robin asked, "I mean, we never did show you our obstacle course"
"Sounds like fun"
TT
Outside the Tower, they had arrived at the obstacle course. Abel looked over the barren stretch of land incredulously.
"Well, I hope I don't trip on anything," he said in his monotone. The Titans realized, not too long ago, that he only spoke in a monotone when saying something sarcastic or ironic. Robin pushed a button on the control panel in front of him.
"Let's hope not," he said with a smirk, "Whenever you're ready," Abel turned toward the sea, when the ground started to shake violently. Walls shot out of the ground, surrounding him in a large room thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and twenty feet high. Abel looked at Robin to see him, along with the other Titans, behind a pane of glass; by the looks of the glare of the sun. Abel turned when a blast narrowly missed him. He studied the robot; it looked like the ones Slade had, except for a steel blue spot instead of an orange one. Abel launched a star bolt at it and it melted in seconds. Abel looked at Robin with a 'you're-gonna-have-to-do-better-than-that' look.
Robin pressed another button and more blue-spotted Slade-bots appeared, along with larger versions. Abel's jaw dropped, but he didn't hesitate. He launched a barrage of silver star bolts at the droids, but when the smoke cleared, he saw he had only destroyed three out of nine of the small ones, and the large ones were left unscathed. Abel smirked; Robin asked for a demonstration. He sure as hell was going to get a demonstration. His right hand glowed silver and his left, black. He brought his hands close to together and made a motion like he was making a snowball. When the black and silver had blended into one ball, he drew his right hand back and jumped into the air, helping himself up with his powers. He then leaned back so he was parallel to the ground; he started spinning, and gaining speed. When he became a blur with a black and silver disc in orbit, he released it and it flew toward the machines with immeasurable speed. When it landed it bored through the robot it struck first then collided with the ground and detonated, when the smoke cleared, the Titans saw the robots had been destroyed, along the back half of the room. Abel stopped spinning and turned to the Titans behind him with an eyebrow raised. The Titans had looks of amazement, and Raven looked rather proud of her little brother. Beast Boy said something that Abel couldn't hear, but he could make out the movement of his lips: 'Dudes, I think we need a new obstacle course'
TT
Back in the Tower Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy had resumed their game from before Abel's demonstration. Abel had declined the offer to join, saying he needed to meditate. Beast Boy gave Raven a 'you-two-really-are-related' look, who responded with a 'keep-it-up-and-I'll-stick-that-controller-somewhere-bad' look. She would never do it, but it convinced Beast Boy. Raven followed her brother out onto the roof, when she got there she saw him in his upside down position.
"Why do you do that?" she asked, apparently he hadn't heard her walk out, because he fell from his position and landed on his back, "Sorry"
"I have no idea," he said honestly, "It just sort of happens when I meditate"
"Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all," Raven walked next to Abel and sat down; he sat down next to her. They faced the edge of the Tower and began chanting together.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos"
After about a minute, they started to drift upward, but continued their mantra, taking no notice.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos"
Raven had never felt so relaxed, so at peace, before. She felt light as feather, and noted that she was, in fact light as a feather; she also noticed she didn't need to concentrate as hard as she used to. They had been "on" the roof for another forty-five minutes, when the alarm sounded. Robin ran out of the stairway and was amazed to see the siblings floating ten feet in the air.
"Uh… trouble," he said hesitantly, not wanting to startle them lest they fall and hurt themselves. Instead they slowly opened their eyes and didn't seem surprised to see that Robin looked considerably shorter.
"What's up?" Abel asked, as if this were a common occurrence.
"Plasmus," Robin said regaining himself. The next comment, however, unnerved him and perhaps turned him on.
"Lead on, Wonder Boy," Raven said stretching and grinning teasingly at him. Robin led the way down the stairs, to the elevator, and to the garage where the others waited.
"Dude, what's up with Raven?" Beast Boy asked, being the first to notice Raven with a bounce in her step, "She's all bouncy!" in response Raven did the one thing no one thought she was capable of. She giggled. Abel had an impossibly big smile. Beast boy and Cyborg stepped back a little; still having vivid memories of their trip into Raven's mind. Even Starfire got worried when Raven giggled.
"They can explain later," said Robin, always ready to save the day; even from awkward moments such as this, "We have to stop Plasmus,"
They left the Tower; Raven, Abel, Beast Boy and Starfire taking to the air; Cyborg in the T-car and Robin on his R-cycle. Over the com-link, Robin explained that Plasmus was harassing citizens at the mall. Raven and Abel put on a burst of speed and left Starfire and Beast Boy in the proverbial dust. Raven was amazed at how much stronger she felt. She looked back to see Starfire and Beast Boy becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. She could tell that Beast Boy was baffled by her sudden show of power and emotion, even in his pterodactyl form. She looked at her brother flying next to her, who was smiling like a child. He looked at her and she would have smiled back, just as widely, had she not been smiling already. He laughed and sped up more, challenging her to a race. She accepted the challenge and the two of them arrived at the mall long before the others.
TT
Robin was only half paying attention to what he doing; barreling down the road at 150 mph. He was caught up in his thoughts about Raven and Abel. Mostly Raven.
'She giggled! Didn't chuckle, didn't laugh! Giggled! And what she said on the roof? "Lead on, Wonder Boy" she called me "Wonder Boy"! Not "Boy Wonder", "Wonder Boy" and I find my self not caring. I know would have throttled anyone else. But not Raven. She's special… and I'm on the wrong side of the road,' that last thought was a little out of place and brought Robin back to his speeding motorcycle, "Crap!" He quickly swerved back to the other lane and tried to focus, but was interrupted when he suddenly got a blast of wind from above; he looked up to see Raven and Abel racing to the mall, not just to get there in a hurry, but racing each other.
TT
When the two siblings arrived at the mall, they didn't hesitate. There was no time to wait for the others, they were too far away and it looked like Plasmus had yet to do any real damage, so they decided to try and stop before he did. Raven had explained to Abel what Plasmus was and how he was only human when he was asleep. They set out looking for Plasmus and found him easily enough, what with his being huge and purple. He was making his way to the bathroom with the intention of devouring the contents of the plumbing. Abel got a little sick when he saw this. Raven engulfed a few trash cans and hurled them at the big purple blob, where they got lodged. Abel got over his nausea and followed suit, firing his star bolts. The silver balls of energy blew Plasmus apart, but the pieces that were blown off, re-grew or reattached to the gooey mass.
"You never said he could do that!" said to his sister with annoyance.
"Watch out, he can regenerate," she reminded him as she began another barrage. Abel shook his head and continued on. It wasn't long until the other Titans arrived and joined the battle. Abel got too close to Plasmus and was engulfed in the "enormous booger"; as Beast Boy described him. The Titans were forced to take caution, lest they harm Abel in the process. After an hour of berating the enormous booger, they finally managed to knock him unconscious. As his body shrank back to normal size Abel was finally freed of his foul-tasting prison. He looked down at his once white shirt, which is now completely purple.
"I never really liked this shirt anyway," he said monotonously. He turned to the unconscious form, "Thanks, you gave me a good reason to get rid of it" he said, but obviously got no response other than a loud snore. He walked up to his sister.
"Anywhere to shop?" he asked retaining his monotone. Raven would have decked him where he stood, but she was too tired from the fight. She decided to get him back verbally.
"None that I can see"
The sarcasm and irony were completely lost on Beast Boy, who shouted, "Hello! We're in the shopping mall!" Raven and Abel looked at him with looks of mock realization. He backed down, realizing the joke. Tuning him out, Raven handed her brother a twenty dollar bill.
"Go nuts. We can handle this," waving at the mess of purple glue.
"You spoil me, sis," he said as he turned to leave. Starfire was watching him with interest.
'Friend Abel is quite attractive, when covered with the "Plasmus goop",' she thought. She wasn't sure where the thought came from or why she was thinking it, but she didn't dwell on it. She went to help the others clean up and repair the section of the mall.
TT
As Abel walked out of the store with a new shirt; a black version of his old one, he noticed the Titans had left. He decided he would stay here awhile, and do some exploring. He left a message on the others' communicators, and set out on his expedition. He walked aimlessly around,looking intobook stores, toy stores, video game stores, and clothing stores. He paid particular attention to a shop that had some pretty dark objects. It contained spell books, some ingredients, and statuettes. This was one of the few he entered; he had no intention of buying anything, especially since all the money he had was change from the twenty Raven had given him.
'Besides, all this stuff is bogus,' he thought walking into the dimly lit shop, it had a strange scent to it. 'This is awfully familiar'. He proceeded into the store, glancing at things on the shelves and occasionally stopping to look at something closely, or squat to look at something on the bottom shelves.
"Looking for anything in particular?"
Abel turned at the voice; he had forgotten that shops usually came with clerks. The girl was a little pale, her hair was blonde with blood-red highlights; her shirt was black with a bloody "A" on it, the symbol for anarchy, and she had on black eye shadow and a few too many piercings. She was your stereotypical goth.
"No, thanks" he replied. The girl popped her bubblegum. She looked him up and down.
"Let me know if you need anything," she said, and slowly licked her lips. Abel raised his eyebrow.
"Okay" he said hesitantly, not sure what to make of the gesture. He walked around the small shop, occasionally glancing at the desk to see the clerk still watching him. It wasn't the attention that bothered him, it was the fact that she looked like she was nineteen or in her early twenties. He was only fourteen for God's sake!
'I wonder if Boy Wonder has to put up with this kind of thing,' he thought as he walked out of the shop. He glanced back to see the girl look a little disappointed. 'I don't envy him,' he added as an afterthought. On his way to the food court he also noticed a few heads turn in his direction, even if the bodies had another arm around them. 'Holy Crap! This place is the hormone capital of the world! Some of these people shouldn't even have those kinds of thoughts!' he arrived at the food court, and went to a place serving Italian food. He got his food and set out to find a table; somewhere secluded and in the shadows. Before he could find his sanctuary, however, he felt a sting on his butt. He looked back to see a girl, about Raven's age, hanging out with her friends. They were giggling like girls, as they turned out to be; the girl that had made the move on him winked. Abel nervously smiled back and continued walking. He was inches away from his haven when it happened again. He turned and saw a woman in her forties; she was smiling and licking her lips. This unnerved and completely scared the crap out of Abel. He rushed to the entrance of the mall, when he was outside he teleported back to the Tower.
He must have been panting when he arrived at the living room, because everyone looked at him. Starfire was first to speak, rushing to his side.
"Friend Abel, what has transpired?"
"Yeah dude, you look like you were trying to escape a mob of girls"
"You don't know the half of it!" he said as his breathing leveled out. He noticed Raven had a knowing smile, but dismissed it, thinking she was just enjoying his torment. "I was walking around the mall, and every; every, female in there was staring at me."
"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Cyborg stated suspiciously.
"Yeah man, I'd kill to have girls give that kind of attention," Beast Boy added with disbelief.
"You would have to, man," before Beast Boy could do anything, Abel interrupted.
"That's fine and all. I don't mind the attention, it's just that some of these girls were married or had boyfriends. Some that were close enough pinched me! I looked into their eyes. There was no shame! Only lust!" then he noticed Raven was grinning like Christmas had come early. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," he said with so much venom in his voice, he could have made his father cower.
"Actually, I am. And I think I know what's going on," her smile got, if possible, wider. The Titans were scared. Very scared.
"Care to enlighten me?"
"It's your blood. The mix of Tamaranian blood and demon blood causes you to attract the attention of the opposite sex when you hit puberty." No one noticed Starfire blush. "You're not the first with this mixture of blood."
"Who else?"
"I don't know who else, but I know you're not the first," Raven seemed to expect him to know this. "The hormonal spell has no affect on Tamaranians or siblings, of course," she added when she noticed Starfire shying away. Starfire looked at her with a look of relief.
"When does this phenomenon come to an end?" she asked innocently.
"You never know," Raven responded, "It could end tomorrow, next week, or right now."
"Great. I'm going to get something to eat," we walked to the kitchen. 'Had Starfire been blushing?'