"Who are they?" questioned an astounded Beastboy. After hearing the pair of yells, it had not been difficult for the Titans to find the source of the commotion. Upon seeing the monstrous scorpion pursuing and attacking a blonde girl and a strange crystal creature, the team had prepared to intervene. But now, it was clear that the mystery duo had not needed their assistance. The two had looked up in the team's direction upon hearing Cyborg's surprised remark.
The blonde girl was the first to react. With a mere gesture the girl used her power to elevate the earth beneath her feet to carry herself up to the ledge the Titans were standing upon. "What?" said the geomancer as she confidently strode off of her lift and onto the ledge. "Haven't you guys seen a superhero before?" The Titans had been staring back at her in astonishment. It was not everyday that they encountered someone who demonstrated immense power just after appearing to be the defenseless victim.
The team leader was the first to step forward. "I'm—"
"ROBIN!" At that moment, the crystal creature had made its own arrival on a lift created from the crystals that it grew from its arms. "Long time no see!" it exclaimed as it joyfully leapt onto the ledge.
Robin was taken aback. "Do I know you—" Before he could finish his question, Robin spotted the hourglass symbol on the creature's chest. He had seen that symbol before. "Lance?"
Everyone looked between Robin and the crystal creature wide-eyed. "Y-you know a Titan?" asked an astounded Terra as she pointed between the two.
"You know a ten-foot tall walking talking rock?" Raven asked Robin quizzically.
The crystal creature made to speak. "Actually," The hourglass symbol on the crystal creature's chest began flashing red and emitted a loud beeping sound. The crystal creature vanished in a flash of red light, revealing its true form: an adolescent human male. "I'm closer to being five feet tall."
"I met him when we first fought the H.I.V.E," Robin explained to his shocked teammates.
"Wow," Lance scratched the back of his head in his excitement. "Guess I traveled in a one big circle…" He said under his breath.
"It's so cool to meet you guys!" Terra had gotten over her shock of Lance's acquaintance and decided to join the conversation. "I'm Terra," She looked to the rest of the Titans. "And you're Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, and—"
"BOYBEAST!" The green changeling panicked the moment Terra turned to him. "I-I mean Bassboot!" He gave a defeated groan before changing into a turtle so that he could retreat into his shell from sheer embarrassment.
"Beastboy?" Lance and Terra chimed simultaneously. Beastboy sheepishly reverted back to his human form, looking at Terra with a blush on his face.
Terra gave Beastboy a small wave. "Hi."
Beastboy gave a tremendous giddy shriek in response before going weak at the knees and tipping over. Even an idiot could have seen what was occurring.
"Curiosity abounds!" Starfire excitedly flew up to Lance and Terra. "Please, where do you two come from? How did you get here? What are your favorite colors? Do you two wish to be my friends?"
Lance and Terra were at a loss for words for a few moments as the redheaded alien floated an inch away from their faces. "Um…" Terra was the first one to recover. "Earth."
"We walked," Lance replied feebly, his eyes still wide in astonishment from Starfire's enthusiasm.
"Mine's red," Terra answered Starfire's third question.
"S-so's mine…and…"
"Sure."
"Can't see why not."
It was a nanosecond later that Lance and Terra realized that they had put their physical well-beings at stake. In a flash, Starfire had pulled the two into a hug with inhuman strength. "HELLO, NEW FRIENDS!" chirped the Tamaranean.
XXX
Unbeknownst to the group, a shadowy ledge existed above them. In these shadows, a lean and muscular figure remained hidden as it looked down at the scene below. "Don't get too attached to them, my young friends," whispered a deep monotone voice. "I saw them first…"
XXX
"And after we took out the giant gerbils, he sent that giant scorpion thing at us, we busted out, and well, here we are," Lance then took a sip from his glass of water. He was currently at Titans Tower, seated across from Robin at the dinner table. The Titans had kindly invited him and Terra into their home, and the two were making themselves comfortable. Lance had been catching up with Robin by recounting the recent encounter with Dr. Animo. Meanwhile, Terra was being given a personal tour of the tower by Beastboy, Starfire, and Cyborg.
"So I guess we don't have to worry about Animo?" asked Robin, wondering if Lance and Terra's episode had ensured that there would be no further reports of mutated creatures roaming around the place.
"Not after the way we left the place," Lance chuckled to himself as he took another quenching swallow of water. It was not everyday that he could enjoy a simple glass of water like this. His recent ventures in the wasteland had not permitted him to appreciate such a luxury so casually.
Robin noticed this; the way Lance was enjoying a simple glass of water with such gusto. He peered closer. Come to think of it, Lance also appeared more haggard than when they had first met in that sewer system. What had Lance and Terra said about themselves? Something about going where the wind took them? Translation: they were drifters who had no place to go or a reliable source for necessities. A loud thump on the living room couch only confirmed Robin's suspicions. Terra, after returning from her tour, had just collapsed onto the piece of furniture and had fallen fast asleep. Like Lance, she had also shown signs of having experienced physical hardships, even devouring entire platefuls of Starfire's homemade glorg without second thought. Beastboy, Starfire, and Cyborg continued to hover over the girl with immense interest.
"Um," Lance fiddled his fingers around his glass. "Thanks for letting us stay for the night."
Cyborg looked up. "Anytime."
Beastboy shrugged. "You did save our butts that other time. It's the least we can do."
"And for that," chipped Starfire, "I shall recite for you the poem of gratitude, all 6000 verse—"
"Have you and Terra thought about staying?" Robin decided to pop the question to spare them all from the poem.
Lance did a double take. "Staying? As in actually living—"
"It is not as if the two of you have a place to call your home," added a concerned Starfire.
"You could stay here with us!" exclaimed Beastboy.
"You would make great additions to the team." added Cyborg.
Lance nearly fell out of his chair. "Wh-what? Y-you're serious?" Living with the Titans was one thing, but actually being part of their team carrying out missions was quite another. "W-we've only been here for—"
"Lance, I've seen you in action before. Today, we all saw a little more of that action, " Robin gave Lance a serious look, "You just might have what it takes," He looked between Lance and the sleeping form on the couch, "Both of you."
Lance sank into his seat from the degree of the situation.
"How about this?" proposed Robin, "You two can train with us tomorrow, we'll see how it goes, and all of us can make a decision from there."
Terra's sleeping form suddenly tensed.
XXX
Hours later, in the dead of the night, Lance found himself sitting again at the kitchen table, unable to sleep. Sure he once had to sleep with the threat of being ambushed, but this…
Soft footsteps coming from down the hall broke Lance out of his train of thought. He turned to the source of the noise and was able to make out a slim figure that was approaching the living room couch, carrying a small bundle of some kind. Lance could make out a pair of pointed ears.
"Hey, Terra," Beastboy's whisper carried itself towards the kitchen, "I-I thought you might want an extra blanket…" He paused upon reaching the couch and then turned his head about before he spotted Lance at the kitchen table. "Oh, uh," The green changeling shifted nervously for some reason, "You're still up?"
Lance shrugged. "Guess I had a lot on my mind."
"Well, it's not everyday you get offered a spot on the team," said Beastboy in agreement. He walked towards the kitchen table and sat across from Lance.
"It's not that I'm worried about not being able to do anything," admitted Lance, "Believe me, I can hold my own in a fight. I-I guess, I'm just not too sure whether or not I can do this kind of job."
"It's easy," stated Beastboy, "You just go around the city, follow a few orders, stomp a few bad guys, and then," Beastboy leaned back in his chair, "It's nothing but free cable and all the tofu you can eat!"
Lance let out a small chuckle. "The last part sounds pretty nice, but there's still the first part. I've…never really been that much of a superhero, or part of a team like this." Come to think about it, the only time he had gone into action was when he was trying to save himself from getting shredded, crushed, or vaporized by the alien droids. Whenever he had fought on another's behalf, it had been because the danger they were in had been brought by him. He had merely been taking responsibility for the threats.
"Oh, come on," laughed Beastboy, "I still remember that day you first showed up. You were that, big bug thing right?" Beastboy laughed at the memory, "You totally slimed Jinx!"
Lance's posture straightened a little bit. "Yeah…I did," he said slowly. Beastboy had unknowingly reminded him of something. On his first day in Jump City, he had rushed towards the sight of the action without actually knowing the precise cause of the commotion. He had assumed that it had been the alien droids that had been following him. He had gone because to him, doing nothing would have meant that any destruction caused by the droids would have been on his head. However, it had not been the droids that day. In fact, the H.I.V.E students had nothing to do with him. Yet, he had intervened anyway and even saved a few lives in the process. He had even fought side by side with Robin and succeeded. Hadn't he shown qualities fitting a Titan? He could have just left the Titans to their fate at the hands of the H.I.V.E. Then there was that night Starfire was being pursued by that robotic whatever-it-was. That time he knew from the beginning that the situation had nothing to do with him, and yet he had still done his part to intervene. Why had he gone into action that time? Did all this mean he was Titan material?
"Dude, you ok?" puzzled Beastboy, "You're kinda spacing out on me here."
"Hm? Oh, I'm fine." Lance was brought out of his train of thought for a second time.
"Maybe, you should get some sleep," suggested the green changeling.
"Yeah, guess I should," Lance got up from his seat and stretched. He was about to return to the spare bed that had been provided for him when he thought of something. "Oh, if you're looking for Terra, she went out. She said she wasn't going to go beyond the tower's base."
Beastboy blushed and grinned sheepishly, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "Th-thanks…" he burbled. With that, Beastboy shuffled off to find Terra. Lance then made his way to the former storage room that contained the futon that had been set up for him. He chuckled to himself under his breath. Lance had been here for less then a day and it was clear even to him that Beastboy was head-over-heels for his traveling partner. The Titan had now become even goofier than usual. Lance continued feeling his way down the dark corridors, shaking his head in amusement at Beastboy's behavior.
As Lance opened a door and stepped into the room, he thought how fortunate it was that nothing as embarrassing as that would ever happen to him. He stopped dead in his tracks after coming to a very disturbing conclusion. First, an odd odor had filled his nostrils. From what Lance could make of it, it smelled like…some sort of…incense. Second, he didn't remember his makeshift bedroom being filled with so many oddly shaped items. Even if Lance had enough light to see clearly he doubted that he could tell what they were. However, staring at the objects somehow made Lance feel like he was in a Halloween store.
This could only mean one thing: he had entered the wrong room on the account of the dark obscuring his senses and due to his inexperience with the tower corridors. A sinking feeling was in Lance's stomach. He may not have been a resident, but as an admirer of the Titans, Lance could still add two and two together.
"No one enters my room…"