Stranger from the Sky: Chapter 4

Mistakes

The following day: apparently the humans had a custom called "breakfast," during which they refueled in their own inefficient manner, and exchanged information regarding the day's planned activities, and events that had transpired. Athena hadn't planned on eating, of course, but she noticed that Omega did, sitting alongside Kitten, consuming a plate of something called scrambled eggs. That gave her a bit of a start at first, but then her senses determined that they were only animal eggs. Apparently some kind of avian eggs. Osirans didn't have much sense of smell, but from what she could smell, it seemed, what was the word? Oh, yes: palatable. Meaning pleasing to the palate. On Osira, such words were barely known, except in medical usage. The ones known as Cyborg and Haywire seemed to be in charge of preparing food for the rest, though the traitor's consort assisted, as did the one known as Starfire. Soon everybody was eating, while Robin detailed the day's news and plans.

Cyborg silently placed a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, and biscuits down in front of her, along with an instrument she knew to be a fork, an implement for transferring food from the plate to one's mouth. Normally, she would simply absorb the biomass through her hands, but she felt that she may as well make the attempt to fit in, especially after her disastrous performance yesterday, and so, after carefully observing the others, attempted to eat in the same manner as the rest of them. Hm. These "eggs" actually tasted quite good. She could get used to this.

"Alright," Robin began, "We haven't heard from the HIVE Five for a while, so it's safe to say we need to be on the lookout for them. Last I heard, Kyd Wykkyd broke them out of jail, pretty much like we expected. Cinderblock is still in custody, and Plasmus is safely asleep at S.T.A.R. labs. The only one we haven't heard from is Overload. Everybody be on your guard for electrical power-related issues.

"And we haven't heard from Slade in a while. That worries me."

"Uh, Robin?" The traitor's consort spoke up. "I, uh, don't think you'll need to worry too much about Slade anymore."

"Oh? Why not?"

She looked down. "I'll have to tell you in private. It's…sorta one'a those 'long stories'."

Robin was silent for a while. Then, "Very well. But immediately after breakfast, I'll need that report. Okay?" The consort nodded, clearly uncomfortable, Athena noticed, and wondered why.

"Alright then. We pair up. Of course, Terra and Gar have another rehearsal today, so we'll have to make time for that. But in the meantime, Raven, you and Hank-'scuse me, I mean, Haywire—take the east side. Starfire and I will take the north. Cyborg, you and Angelique take the west side. You okay with that, Angelique?" Angelique nodded, reluctantly. He knew she'd rather be with Kitten, but, in this case, he had a special plan for them, one he'd already gone over with Angelique. "And Devil Cat, you and Omega take the south side." He paused. "Athena. You go with them."

Everybody sat in stunned silence. Then Athena spoke up. "Did you not say that I was to keep my distance from the trai—from Omega? How does this arrangement correlate with that?"

"You are to keep your distance. I want you to observe him in action, see how he interacts with the people here, especially lawbreakers. Take no action of your own. Consider this a training session." He saw her look, as well as Omega's and Kitten's. "Athena. There is nobody on this planet better able to teach you how to act here, on this world. You are to observe him, and learn from his actions." She was just about to speak up when he continued. "Besides, keeping an eye on him fits in perfectly with your own private agenda, now, doesn't it?"

Athena closed her mouth. He had her there. And logically, he was right. The trai—that is to say, Omega—had adjusted to this world, at least to some degree. She could learn a lot from him.

And, just coincidently, make sure he didn't hurt anyone, or engage in some nefarious scheme or activity.

….

Walking down the hallway, Kitten whispered to Omega. "I think this is a bad idea, 'Mega."

"You needn't whisper, Devil Cat," he responded in a normal tone of voice. Athena was a full twenty yards behind them. "She can hear every word you say."

Kitten glanced at the alien girl behind them. "Well, I do," she said, normally,
"I don't think this is gonna work out."

He shrugged. "We can but try."

…

Back in the kitchenette/breakfast room/conference room, Angelique had cornered Robin. "Uh, Mister Robin?"

"Yes, Angelique?"

"I, uh, kinda know somebody who'd like to come along with us."

"Really? Who?"

Angelique shuffled her feet, something she always did when was nervous. "Well, it's Missy. You know, she helped us out on Apokolips. I think she'd like to join the Titans."

"Missy? I thought she was with Typhon."

"Well, she is, but she comes and goes. And, and, well, she and I, well, we kinda got to be friends. Couldn't she be a Titan, too?"

Robin sat down and considered. "Look, Angelique. Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but the truth is, you're both really too young to be Teen Titans. I'm bending the rules by letting you be a part of the team. But the fact remains that, no matter how powerful the both of you are, you're still minors in the eyes of the law. And there are child labor laws to consider. So I don't really think this is all a very good idea…."

And Angelique dropped her head just so, pooching out her lower lip, trembling it ever so slightly, and letting a single tear fall from her eye…..

Robin rolled his eyes. He recognized an irresistible force when he saw one. "Tell you what. I'll speak with Batman. Maybe we can arrange something like a, a Titans trainee program or something. That wouldn't hurt anything, and you both could be in that. How does that sound?"

She threw her arms around him, "Oh, Mr. Robin! You're the greatest!" And then she shot out the door.

Yep, thought Robin with a sigh. Little finger, wrapped around. That was him all over.

…

Athena followed Omega and his conso—make that Devil Cat—at what she considered a safe distance. In two instances, the two of them foiled what she'd learned was called a "street mugging," apprehending the criminals involved, curiously without harming them, and summoning the local constabulary to remove said criminals to some sort of holding area. Again she wondered why such beings were allowed to live. They'd only cause more trouble.

(But then, hadn't she caused trouble? On more than one occasion?)

And she wondered why they were so gentle with these lawbreakers. Logically, given the fragility of the human form, the most efficient way to cause them to cease their antisocial activities would've been to have simply broken the major bones in their arms and legs. That would certainly prevent them from any more such behavior and effectively immobilize them for the human authorities to deal with at their leisure, while leaving the lawbreakers alive, which, for some reason, seemed to be important. But that was apparently not the way things were done here, although she couldn't fathom why. She just had to accept it.

On another occasion, one of the humans' automobiles malfunctioned, its brakes failing, sending the vehicle out of control into a busy intersection. It impacted with another car coming from the other direction. The driver of the second car was unharmed, having been able to swerve in time to avoid more damage, but the malfunctioning vehicle was slammed across the street, and flipped over on its side. A fire started towards the rear of the car; the driver was frantically trying to get out, but the doors appeared to be stuck.

Omega simply phased the woman through the car door, and set her down across the street. He then lifted the entire car and heaved it into the nearby river. Then he walked over to the woman, who was still hyperventilating, even with Devil Cat trying to calm her down. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but the fire was getting too close to your fuel tank. The car was about to explode."

"That's….that's al—alright," she gasped. "Thank you, oh, thank you! I, I was sure I was dead!" The female threw her arms around him and kissed him (another term she'd learned from Raven's book), all the while her as her optical sensors continued to leak fluids at a steady rate. Curiously, rather than exhibiting the jealousy Raven's book had spoken of, Devil Cat smiled and seemed to understand.

"You are quite welcome. If you should need any sort of statement from me for your insurance, you can contact me at Titans' Tower. I'll be glad to help. And I'll retrieve the vehicle, should they so require it. Now. Do you have someone who needs to be informed of this?" She could recognize the logic of what he was doing: he was getting the human to focus on the future rather than ruminate upon her recent life-threatening event.

Most of this ("someone" or, as she'd heard it called, "husband," "spouse," "wife," "significant other," and so forth) made no sense to Athena, but she understood enough to know that Omega was making a conscious effort to reassure the human, who'd just undergone a potentially life-threatening event. She guessed that humans, improperly conditioned (or, more accurately, not conditioned at all) probably found such events difficult to deal with properly. So that was….the correct action to be taken. She'd have to take note of that, and attempt to incorporate it into her own dealings with humans.

Afterwards, the two took a break from their rounds for the human phenomenon known as lunch. They did not ask Athena to join them, and she wouldn't have, anyway. Such would not have been in keeping with Robin's orders to remain at a distance from Omega. So she simply observed them from across the street.

But simply observing him and his little human consort (and what did he see in her, anyway? For that matter, what did she see in him? They were clearly two disparate species…) became boring after a while, so she expanded her senses, particularly her sense of hearing, trying take in the sounds of the city, to learn more about its inhabitants and their—to her—strange customs and laws. From what she could see of the city, it was badly in need of a massive cleaning and recycling program

She could focus her hearing on any one part of the city. There was one part, not far away, a largish structure where many humans dwelled in even worse conditions than those in her immediate vicinity. From one of those domiciles, she heard a female scream, and begin the peculiar human activity called crying, an activity indicative of distress.

Omega and Devil Cat had apparently not heard this, for they continued to eat and exchange the sonic vibrations known as conversation. A curious Athena slipped around a corner and went to investigate.

She knew she was violating Robin's orders to take no action, but she was interested in knowing what could have caused the woman to react so. She found herself at a large, somewhat rundown tenement building. Flying up to the apartment from where the sounds of distress were coming from, she phased through the door, into the room, where a large, dark-skinned woman was weeping uncontrollably.

Athena was nonplussed. She really didn't know how to deal with this sort of situation, and wondered if she should summon Omega via Link. But such was her hatred of the traitor that she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

The woman noticed her, and, surprised, stopped. "Who're you?"

"I am called Athena. I heard you making sounds of distress. Is something wrong?"

"Y-yes! It's my daughter….she's been kidnapped!"

Athena thought. If this "daughter" (human offspring) had been truly "kidnapped" (taken by force to some presumably unknown destination), then asking the woman where she could be would be somewhat pointless. Instead she said, "Please remain as calm as you can. I will help. Do you have an article of clothing your daughter wore often?"

"Y-yes." The woman went into another room and returned with a threadbare child's sweater. "Here. She—she always wore this to school…"

Athena examined the sweater. Her senses took in and recorded what some human scientists often referred to as the kirlian aura associated with the immature human. She returned the sweater to the woman. "I will find her." And, with that, she phased out the door, following the trail down the stairs, out into the street, where, apparently, the child had gotten into a vehicle of some sort. While she couldn't track the child's aura while she was in the car, she could track the car itself. It led to an even seedier tenement, where the child's aura re-emerged and went up the stairs into a very run-down apartment.

Athena phased through the door, surprising a middle-aged, rather unkempt man wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. The girl's aura was all over him. "What-get outta here!"

Athena hit him in the jaw just hard enough to knock him completely across the room into the far wall, pulling her punch enough to avoid killing him outright, just as she'd seen Omega do. The man's head snapped back, and he lost consciousness long before he hit the wall, and slid to the floor in a senseless heap. She followed the child's aura into the bedroom, where she found the girl tied to the bedpost, bound and gagged, clearly terrified. "Do not fear. I will let no harm befall you." Standard warrior reassurances for captives in the process of being liberated. She easily snapped the bonds and led the girl out into the main room.

By now, the man had regained consciousness, and came at Athena with a baseball bat. Athena allowed him to strike her with it. The bat broke in half; the man looked at the remaining piece in his hand, stupidly, as if somehow expecting it to regrow so he could use it again. Then, when that didn't happen, he began to shout. "Get outta here! You don't have a search warrant! I know my rights! I—*"

Athena grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him close to her face. He really didn't smell as though personal hygiene had been of utmost importance to him. But then, Athena had to admit, most humans had a rather odd, distinctive odor, anyway. "Are you right handed, or left handed?" She asked, in a purely conversational tone of voice. She'd learned that this right-handed, left-handed tendency was a human trait; Osirans, of course, were ambidextrous. It was much more efficient that way.

Surprised, the man stammered. "Uh, uh, r-right handed…w-why?"

"I merely wished to know," she said, in the same tone of voice, her eyes glowing with palpable heat, "which arm you'd prefer to lose, should you continue to irritate me."

"You—you wouldn't!" Then he saw the look on her face, the increasing glow in her eyes, and gulped audibly. "Okay! Okay! I give! I surrender!"

….

The human authorities arrived soon, shortly after Omega and Devil Cat did. Omega took one look at the scene, and nodded approvingly. Devil Cat was attempting to soothe the child, and with some limited success. This made little sense to Athena; the matter was resolved, and resolved in a positive, helpful manner. Why should the child continue to be in distress? Everything was alright now.

Then the child's mother arrived, and there was a tearful reunion. The mother of the human offspring approached Athena. "Oh, thank you, thank you, whoever you are!"

"Good work, Athena," remarked Omega. She took no notice of this whatsoever, turning away from him. His approval, of course, meant nothing to her. He meant nothing to her.

It was time for the rehearsal of the two humans known as Beast Boy and Terra. Of course, the whole proceedings made little sense to Athena; apparently this was some sort of ceremony where the two pledged their allegiance to one another, preparatory to this reproductive activity that she'd been studying. Athena still could simply not get over the idea of someone, a female, actually allowing a male to insert his body part into her, inseminating her with that which was needed to produce an immature human who would then grow within her body, and then, when a certain level of maturity had been reached, go through the process of expelling it. The whole process sounded painful, inefficient, dangerous, and totally unnecessary. Why not simply grow human young in artificial containers, decanting them at the appropriate time, and begin the process of education and conditioning? It made so much more sense. Yet this completely biological approach appeared to be exactly what these two intended to do, and, if her interpretations of human expressions were correct, they were actually looking forward to it.

Humans were strange.

Back at Titans Tower, during the evening refueling practice, the others dissected Athena's actions. While all agreed that she had performed satisfactorily, excellently even, Robin interjected that Athena probably should have dialed 911 prior to making her move, and left the line open while she rescued the girl, for what was called "legal purposes," whatever those were. While it was true that she had acted in an entirely appropriate manner—there being no time to wait for the authorities—he nonetheless stressed certain procedures and protocols it would be best to follow, if possible. She took note of these for future reference. So overall, she'd done well. "However," she said, "I must point out that I did disobey orders, and took action on my own. This was not in keeping with your orders, Robin. I stand prepared to accept whatever punitive measures you deem appropriate."

"Well, Athena, there's a saying here on Earth: 'All's well that ends well.' You might've technically disobeyed orders—perhaps we may need to discuss that at some time—but the fact remains that, aside from a few minor details, you did the right thing. No one can fault you for that." "His mouth quirked, in an expression Athena was coming to associate with what humans called "dry humor." "I think we can overlook some minor non-adherences to exact protocol this time."

So Athena was feeling a bit of pride at her actions. Here, she, a stranger on this world, had apparently, as the expression went, "lucked out," that is to say, done the correct thing, even though she hadn't been sure. Perhaps she was learning.

But if they only had proper conditioning on this world, she'd already know what the right thing to do was. It all just seemed very inefficient.

But something else had been bothering her for some time now, which, what with the recent activity, this rehearsal, and her studies into human sexuality, human love, had been nagging her. Perhaps someone in the group would know the answer. "Robin. I realize that this is off the topic of conversation, but it has been puzzling me for some time now. If I may ask, what is the primary difference, besides, of course, the overt mechanical one, between a vaginal orgasm and a clitoral one?"

Conversation came to a dead halt. People even stopped moving. "Uh, Athena? One, that's not really a proper topic of conversation for the dinner table, or any other group—well, most groups-, and two, where did you come by this information, that you could even ask this question?"

"I was advised to study up on the human concept of 'love', and found the dictionary inadequate for this procedure. But there was a book in Raven's room that detailed the physical aspects of love and what is apparently called 'making love,' or 'having sex' in great detail. You see," and here she produced the book, "it is quite detailed, with photographs and illustrations….."

"YOU UTTER BITCH!"Raven exploded. "You went into my room and stole my book!? And that book, of all things?!" Raven was visibly shaking, and more livid than they'd ever seen her. She was almost as red in the face as Kitten, the difference being she now had four eyes rather her normal two. Both Hank and Beast Boy lunged at her, even as she was about to lunge at Athena. It took the combined efforts of both of them, plus Starfire, to keep her from physically and magically attacking the confused alien woman. Kitten finally had to sting her, to keep her from unleashing her soul-self on everybody in the room. Even that was only partially successful, given the state of her fury. She remained semi-conscious, in a somewhat narcotized state, and Garfield and Hank finally ended up dragging her away from the table, down the hallway towards her room. All the while, Garfield was doing his best to soothe her, with her feet dragging on the floor as they carried her between them: "C'mon, Rae. Like I've always said, it's just a book. Nothing to be embarrassed about. We'll get it back and, and, we'll have a long talk with Robin. It won't happen again. Look. Believe me: it'll be okay, okay? It'll all work out, just calm down, that's right, it'll be alright, you'll see…." They passed out of earshot of the humans in the dining hall.

A very bewildered Athena turned to Robin. "Did I….do something I should not have?"