me no ownee...
Chapter 5 Zephyr
A word of kindness is seldom spoken in vain.
(Information chapter)
"So, the wind heals you?" Robin's voice breaks the awkward silence.
"Yes."
Zephyr sits on the edge of the Titan's couch in their 'living room,' the Titans standing around her. Starfire leans over the back of the couch, curiously studying the girl with her green eyes. Cyborg sits a couple of cushions away from her, arm draped over the back of the couch, eyes trained on the girl with a calculating light. Beast Boy stands in front of her, actually it's more like crouches in front of her, changing into different cute and fuzzy animals as Zephyr watches him with a small smile. Robin and Raven stand by the window, Raven's gaze lingering on the rising moon and Robin's on the downward tilt of the white head of wind-blown hair.
"I understand now what your grandmother meant when she said there'd be consequences if we took you to the hospital."
"Well she certainly knows me well, doesn't she?" Zephyr looks up from a kitten Beast Boy and meets the Titan leader's gaze, in a softer voice: "That was nothing though."
Robin nods as though this confirmed a suspicion, "The wind gets stronger the more serious the injury." The girl nods.
"And likewise the smaller the wound the gentler the wind."
Robin's hand goes to his chin as he mulls over the consequences of such a skill.
"Have you destroyed a lot of objects because of this ability?" Starfire tilts her head in a genuine curiosity.
"I don't think so, but the couple that I know I have were very…large, I guess." Her eyes fall back to trace the contours of her folded hands lying in her lap.
"Can you control your gift?" Robin walks over to stand a few feet away from the girl, his face flat and devoid of any emotion.
"Yes… most of the time. As you saw I can't control it when I'm unconscious or injured, that's something it does itself, and when I am injured there is generally an amount of time between when it heals me and when I first gain the injury. I also tend to loose control of it when I'm upset," Zephyr looks up and gestures to Raven's back, "it's kind of like hers in that respect, other than that it generally does what I want it to"
A flashing red light and the blaring of the alarm greets the end of her words and the Titans exchange quick glances before turning all of their gazes back to the white haired girl.
"It's Johnny Rancid down by the museum." Raven re-enters the room to the surprise of the group, they hadn't noticed she was gone.
"Alright, Titans go!" Halfway to the door Robin turns back to the girl still sitting on the couch watching them, "Room 554 at the hospital." Without waiting for a reaction he disappears through the door. She looks around slowly her mind in a whirl.
"Grandma." Her whispered voice echoes through the quiet room. Standing up she walks swiftly to the stairs she found the last time she was here. Taking them two at a time she soon reaches the door, pushing it open she breaks into a run. Without stopping or slowing down she leaps off the top of titans tower. Free falling Zephyr spreads her arms wide and, being caught by the wind, sours like a falcon. Flying high enough that people can't see who she is she flies towards the hospital. Landing in an alley cluttered with garbage and grime a block away she spares a look at her dirty and torn appearance. With a shrug at fate Zephyr bursts into motion, feet sprinting the block to the hospital.//
"What a long day..." the nurse sitting at the receiving desk mutters to herself as she looks at the clock for the fifth time in the last twenty minutes. Her hands busily arrange the various pens scattered across the desk into a rectangular design.
"Hey Joann, when're you off?" Joann looks up from her design and into the handsome face of her crush, Mark. She sighs.
"In fifteen minutes and thirty two seconds."
"That soon, huh? I get off in a half-"
His words cut off as a very dirty and desperate looking white haired girl bursts through the front doors in a run. Skidding to a stop at the counter she leans over it and asks in a very wheezy voice, "Miriam McGagan wheeze can I see her? gasp"
"I'm sorry sweetheart but visiting hours are over." Joann looks at the bedraggled girl in pity, momentarily forgetting her boredom. Mark looks the teenager up and down, his mouth curving in a half grin.
"Please gasp she's my heave only family. wheeze" The girls voice ups a notch in her desperation as her eyes fill with frustrated tears. She blinks trying to keep them from falling. Joann gazes at her, mind reeling. The only sound made by the heavy breathing of the distraught girl.
"Oh just let her go already." Both girls' gazes shoot to the man leaning nonchalantly against the counter.
"Mark?" Joann asks in uncertainty, surprised by her friend's strange actions, usually he's one to follow the rules to the letter. He shrugs off her surprise.
"We can just say she's Mrs. McGagan's over-night visitor." The girl's eyes go wide in relief.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" The girl then does something that surprises both the nurse and the doctor. She throws both arms around the neck of the man and gives him a fierce hug, "What room is she in?" She releases the blushing man and turns back to the wide-eyed woman.
"Uh…" Regaining her composure she types something into the computer before looking back up at the girl, "She's in room 554. I'm assuming you'll be able to get there without assistance?" The woman's voice seems to have gone down in temperature.
"Oh yes. Thank you very much." A smile cutting across her face the girl sprints off to the elevators. Both the man and woman's gazes follow her, the nurses decidedly colder than the doctor's.
"Nice girl." Mark turns back to face his friend to be assaulted by a glare that could kill. //
"Grandma?" Voice in a whisper Zephyr pushes the door open and pokes her head into the hospital room. No answer. Walking as quietly as possible she moves into the room and over to the nearest bed. Not getting to close lest the person be awake she peaks at the person sleeping there. The face is painfully familiar despite the bruises forming and the cuts, a few of which have stitches holding them shut. An I.V. tube runs from her arm as her heart monitor beeps in a steady rhythm, "Oh grandma." she sinks into the chair next to her grandmother's bed and holds her head in her hands. Sucking in a deep breath she squeezes her eyes shut trying not to cry. When she entered the hospital she found herself assaulted by worry and desperation making her acting more real than it should have been.
"Grandma, I'm sorry." She whispers to the air.
"For what, love?" Zephyr's head pops up, eyes meeting the tired gaze of Miriam McGegan.
"Grandma? Are you okay? How serious are your injuries?" She leans forward in the need for her fears to be smoothed away. Her grandmother smiles and closes her eyes.
"I'll be fine, the good doctor say's I was very lucky." She releases a quiet chuckle before opening her eyes again and looking up into the worried face of her granddaughter. Zephyr leans back in her chair with a relieved sigh and a slight smile. The smile fades slightly as her mind races over some things she can't put straight.
"Grandma, how did he get a hold of you?" the smile on her grandmother's face diminishes. "I was painting that picture for you, tien eun, when he burst into our house and grabbed me! He ruined my picture, and our front door, that... that skeerda!" closing her eyes her grandma pauses to take a deep breath, calming herself, "Then he carried me to an empty warehouse where a voice I have never heard told me he was to use me to drag someone into the open. Then he told that doch creature to take me to the school. As the creature carried me from the warehouse I felt somethig hit my back and then everything… everything went… dark." "That could be what made you invisible." Zephyr's voice comes out in an almost whisper as she ponders out loud. She waits for a reply. The only sound comes from the ticking of the clock on the wall and the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.
"Grandma?" She leans over her grandmother's still form to see closed eyes and feel warm breath. Giving an affectionate smile she looks down on the face of her guardian and only friend. "Grandma, I'll be back tomorrow, okay?" Zephyr stands up and tiptoes to the one window. Peeking out it she looks down to see a very quiet empty street, except for the ambulances that pull up periodically. Moving her gaze from the road she examines the window frame with her eyes and her hands. Pushing warm air into the cracks of the frame she manages to loosen the window and pry it out. Window in hand she pulls herself into the now present hole and looking down takes a deep breath. Slowly she hangs one foot out of the window and, concentrating, forms a solid barrier from the air. Testing it cautiously she slowly puts the other foot out and on the barrier before pushing herself completely from the window.
She stands suspended there for a moment when the barrier gives and she finds herself falling feet first through the air and straight for the solid cement ground growing ever closer, a short "Yip!" escapes her lips and her eyes snap shut. Her mind and her senses reach out for anything to stop her downward plunge. Suddenly she jerks in the air, her momentum stopped. Opening her eyes she looks down to see the ground three stories away, luckily the people rushing into the hospital are so absorbed in their work none bother to look up at the noise she had made. Breathing a sigh of relief she reorients herself and flies up to the empty and open window to place the frame and glass back in its original place, throwing a tendril of strong wind against the window to press it firmly shut her body blowing back with the force. Throwing a casual look down she turns and soars away from the hospital and the people sleeping there. //
Zephyr sours through the bedroom window that she always just happens to keep open and into her fairly monotone room. Landing with not as much grace as a girl of any age would wish she more-or-less skids across the plain brown-carpeted floor, and with a faint "Ooph!" right into the firmly closed door.
"Well that was stupid." Rubbing her ringing head she walks over to a small closet and pushes open the sliding doors. Inside is a various assortment of normal everyday clothes hanging from bent hangers. Nothing special. Pushing those aside she steps into the narrow space now open and with both palms presses against the solid wood wall in the back of her closet. She continues to lean until she hears a faint click. Without letting up the pressure she slides her palms to the left with a faint smile. The now loose panel slides easily with her hands, revealing a hiding place severely lacking on the secret lair department. Instead of a staircase leading to a large underground hideout filled with the trophies of defeated enemies and a huge computer meant for tracking anyone you wish, there is placed in the middle of the wall a little space that can only be described as a nook, spanning three feet high two feet wide and a foot deep.
Lying neatly folded and yet still crammed in it are a blue piece of fabric, a winged metal helmet, and a few other flat pieces of silvery fabric-looking things. Grabbing the group of items with one hand, she slides the panel closed with the other. Using more force than she intended it practically flies shut with a loud BANG! Startled, Zephyr jumps clean out of the closet and lands crouched, one fist up in defense, a ball of wind swirling around it. Feeling silly she unclenches her hand and, swiftly grabbing the bundle that she dropped in surprise, stands up.
With a speed that any girl or guy would envy she swiftly changes into her blue costume and puts her hair up in a stylized hairdo in less than five minutes. Helmet tucked under her arm she walks to the window and peeks out. Seeing a decidedly lack of human movement she nods satisfied and, tossing her helmet on, dives out the window. //
Johnny Rancid by the museum. They probably already have him in police custody but I might as well check. Flying low enough that she is just above the roofs of the tall buildings. As Zephyr swiftly approaches the sounds of a long sustaining battle meets her ears.
"Maybe they will need my help after all." She mutters to herself, the corner of her mouth lifting in a half smile filled with faintly concealed glee.
Alighting on the top of the closest building she crouches in the darkness of the night and takes a curious look down. On the street below her the Titans are engaged in a battle of strength vs. pure titanium monstrosity. A giant bulldog robot jumps around the street, revealing a speed almost ridiculous for it's size and sure weight. The titans struggle to keep from being squashed by its bulk and keep Johnny Rancid from making a smooth getaway, though why he would leave his dog is incomprehensible to any person of sense.
Feeling the time is right Zephyr steps up onto the edge of the roof, ready to jump to their aid. A faint gurgle of a shriek gently blows past her ears, pulling her from her intent. Where did that come from? Half turning away from the fight taking place below her she lifts one hand to her covered ear and concentrates on listening for the sounds of a struggle in the opposite direction than the titans.
As she concentrates all other sounds fade into the back of her mind and she can hear it. The faint sounds that are caused by a futile struggle of one who knows it's hopeless but refuse to give up anyway. The screams that reach her ears sound almost human but there's…something that seems off, almost animalistic in it's intensity. With a running jump she launches herself into the air once more and moving her head side to side as though trying to catch an elusive radio wave tracks the sounds to their source.
The source ends up being concentrated in a small back alley of back alleys. A place where even had someone been desirous to stop what was happening they probably wouldn't be able to find the place to do so. Zephyr would have missed it if not for a pigeon deciding at that moment to attempt to dive-bomb her. Barely managing to miss being skewered by the homicidal pigeon Zephyr twirls twenty feet down. Throwing hands toward the ground she manages to stop her downward plunge. The result of this has her facing the ground with her eyes wide open clearly taking in the show of human cruelty taking place twenty more feet below Zephyr's halted form. Below her in a fairly remote alley a brown haired boy lies curled into a ball trying to protect himself from the rain of sticks that are crashing relentlessly against him again and again. The source of these items is present in the form of a group of teenage boys sneering down at the helpless boy as they beat him mercilessly. One boy on the sidelines lifts a hand.
"That's enough." Immediately they stop beating him and straighten to their full height. The boy on the ground pulls himself into an even tighter ball, hiding his face from sight.
"Why are you doing this to me?" a muffled voice floats from the curled figure.
"Because you're a freak." The boy who raised his hand walks over to the boy and looks down his nose at him, "and I can't stand freaks."
"I'm not hurting anyone. Please leave me alone." The boy's voice cracks as he wraps his arms around his brown head of hair.
"Your very existence is enough to hurt people." The standing boy's eyes grow hard and his sneer fades, "And I'm going to be the one to make sure that doesn't happen." He turns from the boy and walks towards his group.
As though taking a queue from their head honcho the group converges on the cowering kid once more, sticks raised and sneers firmly in place. As the sticks fall towards the boy he tenses up, as though preparing himself for more pain. But the sticks never make contact with his bruised and battered body. Cautiously he peaks through his arms and to his shock sees his assailants thrown to the ground, their eyes wide in fear as they look up into the sky.
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