Stranger from the Sky: Chapter 2
Things Change….
I don't own the Teen Titans
Athena and Omega splashed into the water in the bay outside, with Athena driving Omega down, ever down to the sea floor. {{What are you doing!?}} he asked through Link.
{{Killing you,}} she replied, and, through the Link, he could feel the force of her hatred. He defended himself as best he could, but Athena was just as well trained and nearly as powerful as he was. There was a distinct possibility, he thought, that she just might succeed.
The water in the bay boiled from the violence of their actions. He fought free and made for the surface. Best to take this into the upper atmosphere, where no innocents would be harmed, he thought. She pursued him, faster that any bullet, never letting up. {{Now stop that!}}
{{I will…when you are dead.}} There was no trace of compromise in her mental voice.
For every move she made, he made a countermove. He didn't know what was going on, why she so wanted to kill him, but he wasn't about to let that happen. But he could only do so much without going on the offensive…..
…..and Raven's soul-self suddenly enveloped Athena like a shroud. Athena struggled; she wasn't from Earth, or even from Earth's universe, so Raven's magic was only partially effective. But finally, the alien woman gave out, collapsing into unconsciousness. Omega caught her and brought her back to the Tower.
There was a monstrous hole in the Tower where the two of them had crashed out; Robin looked at it and sighed. Good thing they had good insurance. "Well," he said, "I think it safe to say this was unexpected."
When Athena came to, she found herself bound by some strange bonds. Normal matter, no matter how strong, would've normally posed no problem for her, but these proved to be immovable. It wasn't hard to guess what they were: some sort of bands encased in time-stasis fields. No matter how strong she was, she would be unable to break these bonds. Her eyes and formet were covered, too. Evidently, they knew about her vision and energy powers. And something was inhibiting her ability to phase through matter.
"You awake?" said a voice.
"Yes, Robin. I am awake."
"We'd like an explanation for your behavior. Why did you attack Omega like you did?"
"Because he must die."
"But why must he die?"
"He is a betrayer! A traitor to our people! He deliberately engineered the deaths of many Lords! He practically destroyed our entire civilization, on our world, single-handedly! His death is required! Can you not see that? Has he lied to you, blinded you to the truth about him?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he save your life?"
"That is unimportant."
"No, it's not. You were to be executed for an accident, something you couldn't help. He saved you, didn't he?"
"By reproducing the exact same event that led to my conviction in the first place, only he did it deliberately! If I deserved death for my part in an accident, how much more would he deserve it for what he did?"
"But did you deserve death?"
"The Lords stated that I did."
"But was it right?"
"I do not know that word. At least not used in that context."
Robin sighed. This had loooooong day written aaaaaalllll over it.
Back in Omega's room, Omega sat on the reinforced bed the others had provided for him. Someone signaled for entrance. "Come in," he replied.
Kitten walked in. "Well," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "at least I guess I don't have to be worried anymore about you two hooking up anytime soon." It didn't work; if anything, he looked more miserable.
She came over and sat by him, rubbing his back soothingly. "Omega…talk to me. Tell me what happened, why she hates you so. C'mon, tell me."
"I honestly do not know, exactly. I'll admit: what she says is true: I did directly cause the deaths of many of the Lords. It was a time of war, as had become the norm in our entire universe, and resources on the planet where we were, were dwindling down to the point where the Lords had enough to sustain only themselves. The rest of the populace—it was a conquered planet, not our home world—were literally starving, with all resources going to the Lords, ostensibly to feed everyone, but….."
"But that's not the way it worked out, was it?" she finished for him, softly. How well she knew how such things went. The rulers lived in luxury, while the common people suffered. It was a pattern as old as consciousness itself, she guessed. Some things, apparently, were universal. Transuniversal, even.
"And she is right. I did directly kill many of the Lords, whom we were genetically programmed to obey. You remember me telling you my kind were genetically programmed, conditioned to obey? Such concepts as 'right' and 'wrong' just didn't exist for us.
"So she is correct in calling me a traitor, a betrayer. I did betray the rulers whom we were supposed to obey. She must feel I deserve death for that." He paused. "But the last time we parted company, it—it was not like this. We might've had different political views, I suppose you'd call them, but…" Another pause. "Of course, you do understand, you are only hearing what you would call my side of the story."
"Your side's all I care about hearing. Besides. Didn't you save her life? Shouldn't that count for something."
"Not if she believes she deserved death. And the Lords saw to it that she did. That she does."
"She must not believe it very much. She hasn't tried to kill herself."
"Yet."
Kitten laid her head on his shoulder, her blond hair falling over his shoulder, trying for a comforting gesture. "Omega, look. She was your friend. Now, for some reason, something's changed about her. You can't change that. People are what they are, and sometimes, for whatever reason, they change. But you have other friends, friends who'll stick by you no matter what. So who cares about her, anyway? Let her, let her go kill herself, if she really believes she deserved to die. Just don't even think about her." Even as she said it, she knew it wouldn't really do any good. "Say. Weren't we kinda interrupted at something just a few minutes ago?" That oughtta take his mind off Athena. She ran her hands across his chest…..
….and right on cue, his communicator beeped. "Oh, not again!" But it was Robin.
"Omega. I need you to come down to the holding area, right now. It's important."
Warily, Omega entered the room, with Kitten right behind him. Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg were standing off to the side.
Athena was sitting up on the table, her bonds released. She got up and slowly approached Omega. She was fully six feet tall to his six-four, so she was able to look him more or less straight in the eye. "The one called Robin has explained some things to me. Things are different here; I must come to accept that.
"So I will not kill you, nor will I endeavor to. That is in the past.
"But what is not in the past is that you are, and remain, a traitor to all I believed in. You cannot be trusted, not by me. I wish nothing to do with you. You keep your distance from me, and I will be positively ecstatic to reciprocate. Understood?"
He lowered his head. "I understand. I will of course respect your wishes."
"Good." And she turned away, but muttered under her breath, just loud enough for all the assembled Titans to hear: "For I despise you."
…
Later, in Omega's room, Kitten was again sitting by him on the bed. She could tell he was hurt, more deeply than he'd ever been. "You kinda liked her, didn't you? I mean, as in liked her liked her, didn't you?"
He sighed. "Perhaps I entertained certain…fantasies. We didn't have the custom, the practice, or whatever you wish to call it, of romantic or sexual involvement, so…I suppose my fantasies were just of us being together, someway. But they were only fantasies; I see that now."
"Well, like I said, forget her. You've got better. And remember, we've got some unfinished business here…"
"Kitten, I hope you'll understand when I say I don't believe I could….do that…right now. It's just…..I'm….." He ran out of words.
The old Kitten would've reacted harshly. But this new version found herself understanding. She nodded, there against his shoulder. "Okay. I understand. You're not ready. Tell you what. Just lie down here with me, okay? No sex, just the two of us being together, okay?"
"I-*"
"And I won't take no for an answer. So c'mon. Lie back down here." And he lay back down on his bed, while she snuggled in close to him, half-lying across him. Then she looked up, took his face in her hands, and kissed him, a fully sensuous kiss. "And, just so's you know: if you change your mind about the sex thing, I'm right here. Okay?"
"I….Okay,Kitten. And, and thank you."
She snuggled in even closer, a lop-sided smile on her lips, her tail curling around his lower legs. Omega was the one person she didn't have to worry about accidently stinging. "Yeah, you better thank me, Mr. Superior Life Form. And," and here her voice softened, "while we're at it: thank you, too."
Her last thought, before sleep overtook her, was that apparently just being invulnerable didn't mean you couldn't be hurt.
It must be rough, she thought, when dreams die like this.
To be continued….