21. Lost and Noir
"Cyborg? Where did you put my laptop?"
"I left it with the pile of stuff by your room," the android said, turning around from the window. He did a double-take, "Hey, what are you doing on your feet?"
"Walking…," Robin griped. He teetered and tottered across the Main Room from the couch where he had spent the last few days recovering from sickness. "I need to…go over reports….from Control Freak's imprisonment…and the incident at the Westhaven Opera House…"
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Cyborg shrugged. "If I were you, I wouldn't be shuffling about so soon. You're liable to break your skull with as dizzy as you've been lately. And when that happens, don't look at me for help. I've done my time."
"Oh give me a break, Cyborg," Robin shook his head and leaned against a wall for balance. "Starfire and Raven are already out and about. As team leader, there's no reason for me to be bedridden still."
"Couch-ridden is more like it," Beast Boy smirked from where he perched on the kitchen counter and enjoyed tofu toast.
"Starfire and Raven aren't mere humans," Cyborg said. "They have ways of getting around illnesses."
"Gee, thanks," Robin said. "If you'll excuse me, I've got work to do."
"You are excused," Cyborg waved and walked over to the t.v.
Robin headed for the elevator doors. They opened right as he reached them. Starfire floated face-to-face with the Boy Wonder.
"Robin…you are recovering?"
"Um….," the costumed hero sweatdropped. He stood up as straight as he could and flexed his arms. "Yup! Back to normal, Star! I'm fit as a fiddle!"
The Tamaranian blinked. "I see…..but…"
"I have to go downstairs now," Robin walked firmly into the elevator.
"…how does the structural integrity of a string instrument predict the healthiness of an individual?"
WHAM!!
Robin tripped, fell chest forward, and wheezed out a few coughs. He took a deep breath and sat on his knees, holding his aching head. "Ugh…never mind…the strings just broke."
Starfire gasped and helped him to his feet. "You are not well!!!"
"I'm fine…," Robin groaned.
"Cyborg! How could you let him walk around when he is not well?!"
"Don't look at me, Star," the android replied, sitting in front of the t.v. with a remote in his hand. "Can't argue with a leader's orders. Lord knows I've done all I could for him. You all, too."
"Thanks…," Raven said dryly from another couch. She dug her nose into her book with fervor.
"I knew from the instant that I also became sick that you would need extra care," Starfire said, guiding Robin back to the couch. "I shall thusly provide blankets and the medicine and—"
"Starfire!" Robin stood back up on wobbly legs. "It's allright! You've done more than enough! Cyborg too! And after you and Raven have gotten sick yourselves, I'd say you deserve no more than a break!"
"But you are obviously still unwell!" the Tamaranian insisted.
"I'm fine. And I'll prove it!" Robin was about to head back for the elevator when a dish of white material was held out before his eyemask's gaze.
"Tofu omelet?" Beast Boy inquired.
Robin twitched, turn green, and ran to the nearest wastebasket.
Beast Boy couldn't contain his chuckles.
"That…," Raven uttered, "…was cruel."
"Yeah, well, now we know he's really sick!"
Starfire floated over. "Robin? Are you 'up the chucking cookies' again?"
Robin stood up, moaned, and said: "No…I'm sleeping on the couch."
"Understood," Starfire helped him. "I shall watch over you for the extent of the day."
"Nurse Starfire," Cyborg turned around and gestured. "What about your other task?"
"Pardon me?"
"It's laundry day, Starfire," Beast Boy remarked from the kitchen. "And you're always the one volunteering!"
"I am sorry, friend. But today I must be indisposed."
"I feel so lucky…," Robin monotonously mumbled.
"GASP!!" Beast Boy nearly toppled over. "My precious monogrammed socks! How will they ever get clean?!"
"Simple…," Raven said from her book. "Someone else must do the laundry."
"It's a surprise we don't each take care of ourselves," Robin said.
"I am more than happy to supply my friends with my Tamaranian talents in textile cleaning," Starfire remarked. "But at the moment, our leader is in need of greater attention."
Robin blushed. "Don't go spreading it around…"
"You know what I think?" Cyborg smirked. "Clothes are overrated." He flexed a titanium arm. "I merely polish myself once a week and I'm good to go."
"Dude….you know that you're saying you're 'naked', right?" Beast Boy said.
"And just what happens to your jumpsuit every time you turn into a T-Rex or a gorilla?" Cyborg retorted.
"Simple! Why, the outfit turns…..it goes……..," Beast Boy blinked, sat silent, then blushed.
"This isn't helping us decide who does the laundry this week," Raven muttered.
"Someone volunteer," Robin groaned.
Cyborg chuckled. "I've done enough work this week, my friend. I'm out."
"Go around the circle," Raven said.
"Don't look at me!" Beast Boy squeaked. "Last time I did everybody's laundry, we had green underwear for a month."
"Yeah…we're still wondering how that happened," Robin said.
Suddenly, I stood up from the window seat.
Half the room looked at me.
I raised a hand and smiled.
"You are willing to go through this undertaking?" Starfire asked.
"Oh yeah…let the noob do the work. Ha HA!" laughed Cyborg.
"Lucky Noir…," Raven mumbled. "I'm glad things are settled."
"The basket is in the third floor hallway, two doors down from the elevator," Starfire said. "I put them there, planning on going into the cellar to finish the week's load."
I nodded.
"Take the basket to the laundry machines in the cellar's sublevel. The door marked 'B' should lead you into the laundry room."
"Star, why not just show him the way down there?" Robin asked, coughing.
"Dude…Noir should know his way around those dark places. Right, man?"
I raised a finger and was about to gesture--
"He's fine for the job," Raven muttered. "Can we talk about something else now? Better yet, can we not talk at all? I'm trying to read."
Cyborg flipped the channel to wrestling.
An artery in Raven's temple pulsed visibly. "Very funny…."
"Heheheheheh," the android chuckled.
"Good luck, my friend," Starfire smiled. "And do be gracious with the bleach. It is most harrowing."
I gave her a strange glance and headed off towards the elevator to do the job.
As I left…
"I feel somewhat awkward having a boy do our laundry," Raven muttered.
"Why is that, Raven?" Starfire asked.
A pause.
"Never mind."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Since I was doing laundry myself, I thought I might contribute to the load. I went to my room, stripped to a t-shirt and gym shorts, and put my daily outfits into the basket before heading off for the door marked 'B' as Starfire had instructed. The cold cellar floor stung against my bare feet. I adjusted my shades and held the basket to my side as I looked from door to door. I was still fairly new to this place…this Tower. Though I didn't try to admit it much.
Let's see now……
The doors lined up before me and were marked 'B-21a', 'B-17c', 'B-9f'.
I blinked.
Crap……which one is it, Starfire?
I continued walking down the cellar hallway. The shadowed interior was ten times brighter to my black eyes. Sometimes night appears like day to me. When the sun's out and the clouds are gone, life is positively blinding. That's why I requested a room of my own so deep in the belly of the Tower. And that's why I felt so comfortable here.
Well, almost comfortable.
Which damn door is it??
I retraced my steps and stood at the door closest to the stairs that led me down into this corridor to begin with.
Something tells me it's probably the first door Starfire would come to. She seems like someone to avoid complications, bless her heart.
I stepped up to the door and gave it a good look. It was an automatic, sliding door. I pressed a panel on the side. There was a whirring sound. I sat for a while, tapped my bare toes against the floor, and eventually pressed the panel again.
It whirred for a split second, shuddered, and opened.
"……."
Okay…
I walked through, clutching the basket to my side, and allowed the door to slam shut behind me.
On the opposite side of the hallway that I exited—unseen to my eyes—was a door marked simply 'B'.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Say, Cy."
"Yeah, B.B.?"
"Did you ever get the air conditioning matrix of the Tower fixed?"
"Uh…yeah, man…like…days ago."
"Then turn it on!" Beast Boy wiped his brow. "It's positively sweltering in here!"
"In a minute," Cyborg droned, flipping a channel.
Beast Boy frowned. He folded his arms. "Either you turn it on now, dude, or I start using a litter box by your room again."
"Ahem…," Cyborg stood up, walked over to the computer, and punched in the necessary keyboard sequence. "There. Happy?"
"Ecstatic," Beast Boy smirked.
"That explains my 'fever'," Robin coughed.
Starfire giggled.
Raven rolled her eyes.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The turbines of the Tower's immense A/C system went into work. Ventilation ducks filled with cool air. An electronic matrix formed by thousands of circuits and criss-crossing wires went into work; regulating the distribution of cool air and making sure there was equal treatment to the entirety of the Tower.
But, admittedly, the system was an old system. And old systems made mistakes. An age-old error in the electrical circuitry mistook the signals for the A/C unit for a call towards the Tower's anti-flood defense system. To make a long story short, a spark or two in the wirings flew. Lights flickered on two or three levels, and random doors locked up and sealed themselves water-tight.
Among the doors that locked up were a couple of innocent, barely used passages in the 'B' section of the cellar's sublevel floor…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I whistled to myself as I walked down a pitch black hallway. I held the basket of the Titans' laundry to my side. My bare feet padded against the cold metal floor.
It wasn't until halfway through my trek that I realized how dark the place was indeed. As is obvious, a pitch black room is not pitch black to me. I can see in almost any environment where light barely manages to present itself. But though I was unhindered in my path through the cellar hallway, it occurred to me that this was the normal lighting situation of the corridor. And it certainly couldn't have been a regular laundry spot for Starfire, a girl who attributes the absence of light as the sign of daily End Times.
She must have a light switch as soon as she walks through the door. If I want to do the laundry like she does, I should probably retrace every step she takes.
So I turned around and walked back toward the door through which I entered. After half a minute, I had returned, and I scanned the nearby walls for a light switch.
Hmm……funny……there doesn't seem to be a switch of any kind.
I kept looking, searching, scanning.
Perhaps on the other side of the door? Before entering the hallway?
I pressed on the door panel.
Nothing. No whirring. No budging. No action on the door at all.
What the…?
I pressed and pulled on the door with my free hand.
It wouldn't move.
"……."
I paused and thought.
"…..."
You know what…I think I got lost. It can't be this door. Maybe it's another one that I walked in through…
So I went down another corridor, looking for the entrance that I took…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"This, Robin, is Tamaranian Glork Juice. Only on rare occasions is it ever administered to members of my planet, for its medicinal properties are—as humans would call it—'top of the notch'."
"Uh huh….is it edible, Starfire---?"
"Throughout history, Glork Juice has proved its worthiness on the battlefields, in the royal courts, and on interstellar voyages of the galactic conquistadors!"
"Um….Starfire—"
"Thousands of lives saved by this supernatural quaff! It is the bane of ill-being, a salvation for all with puffy eyes and bloated—"
"Is it edible?!?!"
"……it does not enter through the mouth, Robin."
"…………"
"Robin?"
"Cyborg…h-how about some more of your cough syrup instead?"
"Uh uh! No way, man. You're liable to get drunk off of that stuff by now!"
"And…?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I whistled my way down the dark corridors, scanning my left side for that elusive door.
The laundry basket was starting to get a little bit heavy now. But I readjusted my grip of it and just mentally told myself that—in a matter of seconds—I would find my way to the room in no time.
And then, to my left, a corridor opened that stretched off into pitch blackness.
I stopped in my tracks.
"……."
Um………how can a hallway go in that direction? Isn't there another hallway blocking it?
I turned around.
I must have walked too far. I'll retrace my…
The path behind me forked off in three, mysterious directions.
………steps.
I confusedly looked at all my avenues, scratched my head, and walked through the one on the right.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Cyborg jumped up in his seat.
"Oooh! I love this show! You know, the guy they chose to play as Odo was so freakin' old to begin with. But he's such a badass! It's like…I dunno…they set up his character with such a mysterious past that you know he must have tanned quite a few backsides with his Bajoran phaser and whatnot. Er…what I'm saying it, he's tough because we assume in the past that he was tough, but now he's tough as well because of his past…or his past makes his present tough, and they're both tough in and of themselves. It's like an absolute of…um….toughness, ya know. But you have to be tough to work on a space station with the Dominion and Cardassia breathing down your backs from both sides. Boy did that sound dirty. Hey! Look! He's about to morph into something. Can't you see?"
Raven glared. "I see you being disassembled…piece by piece…with a screwdriver dipped in hydrochloric acid…"
"…………………………but can't you see how tough he is?"
The dark girl growled and attempted to return peacefully to her book.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I walked out of the corridor and found myself in a junction of five hallways.
Crap!
I spun around. Tried to find which was 'north' in my head. And rushed down that avenue.
I came to a dead end.
What the……a dead end?! What are these hallways for?!
I spun around and returned to the junction, but everything looked different. That is…..I forgot which hallway I took to enter that place to begin with.
Craaaap!
I nearly dropped the laundry basket.
I spun around, found a hallway, and rushed down it.
When I reemerged…….I was in the junction again.
Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap CRAP!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Hey! Have you guys seen the syrup?!"
"Don't you ever get full, B.B.?!"
"Don't you ever put the syrup back up, Cy?!"
Cyborg rolled his eyes.
Beast Boy rolled his eyes.
Raven…
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Starfire gasped.
Robin shot up into a sitting position in the couch.
Cyborg stood up and clenched his fists as an alarm went off and filled the t.v. monitor with the flashing words: "Robbery! District 32!"
"Titans! Trouble!" Robin jumped onto the floor.
Beast Boy plugged his ears. "You think?!"
Robin dizzily dashed over to a computer console and typed away. The screen brought up the latest security camera footage from a downtown bank. An armed robbery was indeed in progress.
"Well well well," Raven closed her book and smirked. "What have we here?"
"Cancellation of Sick Day," Robin frowned. He spun around. "Let's move!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I froze with a gasp.
My ear craned upwards.
The faint echo of the Titan Tower's alarm warbled down the metal structures around me and came to my attention.
A crime in progress?!
I looked for the nearest door I could find.
I dropped the basket and dashed over to the frame.
I jammed my hand against the door panel.
It wouldn't budge.
I shoved against the door itself.
No good.
I gritted my teeth and stood before the door. My eyes closed. My hands relaxed. I meditated and summoned the energies of Construction and Destruction to produce an equilibrium in the form of murk. I spread smoke down towards the floor and against the door frame. I let the murk pour down between the floor and the door and searched for a pocket to travel through. An exit. A passageway.
But there was none.
The door is……water tight!
My black eyes opened and I gasped.
I can't get out and join my friends!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Robin had gotten suited up. Cyborg was already downstairs with Raven, taking the T-Car.
Starfire slipped on the last of her boots and glanced over at the leader. "Are you sure you are up to this, Robin?"
"I have no choice, Star. I'm not going to sit back while thugs threaten the citizens of this city. We live in this Tower to protect. Not to sit idly by."
"If you would allow, I'll fight by your side to assure your safety," Starfire smiled.
Robin smirked back, "I assume the same is true every day. For both you and me."
"Hey! Have any of you guys seen Noir?" Beast Boy inquired as he ran over to a window and opened it to the outside air.
"I have not," Starfire said. "Where could he be?"
"It makes no difference," Robin said. "We've gotta move. If he's late, then he's late. We must get to that bank…NOW!"
"On it," Beast Boy turned into a green falcon and flew away.
Starfire sailed out the window after him.
Robin punched open a door panel and slid down the pole to where his Cycle waited for him down below.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
WHAM!
I took a breath.
I kicked the door.
WHAM!
I took another breath.
I kicked the door again.
WHAM!!!
I stood back, bent over, and panted.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
VROOOOOM!!!!
Robin's cycle screeched against asphalt and zoomed over the bridge towards the mainland. He soon caught up with Cyborg and Raven in the T-Car, with Starfire and Beast Boy soaring overhead.
Together, the five heroes made a B-Line for the city.
To the rescue.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Deep down in the dark corridor of the Tower's cellar, an innocent door sat within its frame.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
A pitter patter.
A shuffling.
A series of steps.
A series of poundings.
A series of stomps.
Then--
WOOOOOSH!!!
WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ran and jumpkicked into the door, but fell back with as much force as I applied.
WHUMP!!
"!!!!"
I tumbled and slid to a stop on the cold metal ground.
My body ached for a second and then sighed.
I sat up and rubbed my leg, wincing.
…………crap.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
An alarm shook out of the bank as its automatic doors flew open and out ran three armed robbers with bags of stolen currency and their fare share of curse words.
They headed directly towards a rusted minivan and were just about to dive in through the side, sliding door when a blue-and-white titanium car skidded to a stop in front of them.
Cyborg jumped out.
Raven levitated overhead.
Beast Boy and Starfire landed on the other side of the villainous trio.
Finally, Robin road up on his cycle, tossed off his helmet, and jump-flipped to a stand in the center of the offense.
"Hi there…we've come to deposit you into jail."
"Your puns are just about as lousy as they rumor in prison," spat one of the three robbers.
"You seriously weren't expecting to get away without us coming to the rescue, right?" Beast Boy said.
"Actually," the leader of the robbers smirked. "We were expecting it. NOW!"
On cue, all three robbers ripped apart their 'stolen money bags', revealing heated laser rifles which they aimed directly at the five heroes.
Beast Boy's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding m—"
ZAAAAAAP!!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I sat on the floor, staring at my feet.
Silence.
I leaned back and sighed.
More silence.
I wanted to hit myself…for in lying down, I exposed the most of my body possible to the freezingly cold floor.
I shot up with a jolt, winced, and rubbed my shivering arms.
There's got to be a warmer place down here……if not a way out……
I picked up the laundry basket, got up on my feet, and wandered off blindly through a corridor.
Why would this place be………sectioned off like this? And those doors……why are they sealed so?
I went around a bend, another corner, then down a straightaway.
I squinted through my shades…readjusted them…then sighed.
Eh…what's the point.
I whipped my shades off and dropped them in the basket and went on, eyes black and exposed.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
ZAAAP!!
ZAP!!
ZAAAAAAP!!!!
Robin backflipped a few times, dodging each blast.
Raven flew by, forming obsidian shields with which to deflect the crooks' lasers.
In an open moment, Cyborg charged forward, growling, and swung a fist at one of the three robbers.
The robber fell back—literally—to avoid the punch.
Another knelt, aimed, and shot Cyborg square in the back.
The blow sent the android careening into the front of a dumpster with a SMASH!
Starfire dove down, shouted in righteous fury, and unleashed wave after wave of starbolts.
The two standing robbers fired expertly, deflecting the Tamaranian's blasts in mid air and then aiming at her.
She gasped and dashed to the side.
Beast Boy charged up as a rhino and knocked the rusted van in the street towards the three.
The robbers jumped out of the way, regained their composure, and kept shooting.
Robin backflipped one last shot before getting disoriented by his edgy health and teetering over.
Before a robber could blast him, Starfire flew by and snatched him to safety.
He looked up at her.
She smiled down.
He gave a thumb's up.
…and they slammed into a window.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I stopped.
I heard a pattering sound.
I looked around a corner.
No one.
Nothing.
I crept forward, holding the basket close.
The pattering increased.
I came around a final bend.
I took a breath.
I stepped forward and looked with my solid black eyes.
There was something in the corner. Exploding softly.
I walked forward and discovered a puddle of water. A stream was trickling down from a metal ceiling high above.
I smirked sarcastically and leaned against a nearby water.
No longer am I in the bowels of the Tower. I just stepped into the bladder.
The chill reached me again.
I shivered and shuffled over towards the wall where I put the basket down and slumped against the wall. Hugging myself. Rubbing my shoulders.
My teeth clattered, forming sound. It was eerie coming from me.
I sighed and looked down at my shivering feet.
God, my feet are cold.
I glanced over at the puddle of water. At my feet. Then back at the water.
I shrugged, walked over, and stuck my toe in.
Imagine if polar bears could piss…
I jerked away, wincing all over.
Smart move there……
A chill ran laps up and down my body.
I could almost see my breath.
The first thing I get cold……it comes in waves. I can't stop it. My mind's made up on being cold…
I was in no desire to get sick. So I looked around for a solution. And…duh…there the basket lay. I rummaged through it till I found a pair of socks. Robin's. There was a noticeable size difference, but it would have to do. I slipped them on. It was a snug fit, but it worked.
But it didn't help smooth out the goosebumps on my legs.
I shivered some more as I rummaged through the clothes, tossing away anything remotely non-male-Teen-Titanish. There were a pair of pants or two belonging to Robin and Beast Boy, but none could possibly fit my height. For a second there I wished Cyborg actually did wear clothes. I wouldn't mind a slight bagginess if he had a pair of jeans or something for me to borrow. At the bottom of the pile, I noticed a relatively large, blue article. At first, I thought it was a blanket. But when I pulled it out and blinked my black eyes, it turned out to obviously be a robe. Raven's robe.
What the hell…nobody's gonna see me. And I'm as cold as Jimmy Hoffa.
I wrapped the blue article over my shoulders and hunched down. Yes, the robe was short on me, but it covered my arms at least—and my lower body too if I sat. Gradually, the warmth came and scared the majority of the cold away. My shivering subsided and I breathed a little easier.
I took a look at my surroundings. The room was oddly large and spacious compared to the rest of the corridors I had been in. It struck me funny, and I assumed that this place must have originally been built to house supplies or computer stations or something of a forgotten necessity.
I had always thought it but never saw proof until then that the Teen Titans' Tower was a large and mysterious place. Many man hours went into its creation, and whenever you have a congregation of men coming together as one, there are more and more ideas lost to the finite mind.
Silence.
I waited in the darkness, listening to the light pattering of the water drops.
I wonder if they're safe without me?
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"WHOAH!!"
Beast Boy flew back from a laser blast and landed smack in Cyborg's chest.
OOF!!
"Watch where you're being tossed, man!"
"Hey! I'm doing my best—YIKES!"
Cyborg dropped Beast Boy, jumped up on the van, and shot down with his laser rifle.
The three robbers combined their weapons, focusing on Cyborg's blast and drawing it back.
The robotic hero gritted his teeth and added power from his reserves. His laser energy crept closer to their position. And then all three robbers increased their frequencies at once, instantly shoving back Cyborg's laser and impacting his rifle-arm.
BAM!!!
He fell back with a grunt.
Raven crept up, chanted, and released three telekinetic bicycles from a nearby rack at them. "Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos!"
The robbers blew the bikes apart into burning aluminum.
Robin leapt in from the side, tripped one robber, and whipped out two birdarangs which he flung through the laser rifle barrels of the remaining duo.
Unarmed, the two criminals dropped their triggers and tried to flee. They were nabbed by a green octopus who grabbed their ankles and wouldn't let go. Cyborg wandered over and handcuffed them.
In the meantime, the grounded robber—the leader—ran up from his prone position and dashed down an alleyway.
Robin would have pursued, but he was suddenly out of wind.
"Ugh…maybe I do need some more cough syrup," he wheezed.
But Starfire wasn't slacking. She soared after the suspect, hoisted him up by the shoulder, and hung him by his jacket on a flagpole over the street.
"Hey! Lemme down! I'm afraid of heights!"
Starfire smiled cutely and waved. "I am afraid your fear is realized!" And she hovered down towards the rest of the Titans. "We are victorious. Have the local authorities been notified?"
"Already on it," Cyborg smiled, pointing at his communicator.
Raven added black energy to the handcuffs and ankles of the two grounded robbers, making sure they wouldn't run away.
Beast Boy turned back into an elf and stretched. "Awwwww yeah. All in a day's work. We showed them, didn't we?"
"Most of us, at least," Raven droned.
"Where is Noir?" inquired Starfire.
"Why don't I ask him?" Robin said, glaring. He swiftly pulled out his communicator, cleared his throat, and talked into it. "Noir. Come in. Do you respond?"
Pause.
"Noir, come in. This is Robin. Do you read me?"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
In my room, my communicator rested on a bedside table next to other belongings I had set aside to do laundry.
"Noir? Come in! Please. This is Robin. Can you respond? Over."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Um….dude…the guy's mute," Beast Boy exclaimed. "How's he going to respond?"
"Whenever I call him, he taps the receiver using morse code," Robin said. "If he was able to get this message, he would be sending me a signal by now."
"But he is not," Starfire said.
"What's up with him?" Beast Boy remarked. "It's not like Noir to leave us short of a team member……..is it?"
Robin frowned and pocketed the communicator. "I'd say it's time we found out. As soon as we can, we're heading back to the Tower."
"Right."
"Understood."
Robin cleared his throat and wheezed. "God, I hate Mondays."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I stood up, held the robe tight to myself, and shuffled on socks across the chamber.
My black eyes had caught something. Indeed, even I needed time to adjust to the darkness.
I stumbled upon an overturned, rusted cabinet of sorts. I brought my hands out from under the robe and fiddled with the handle of one drawer. It took a bit of straining, but I managed to yank the thing open. A bunch of papers poured out from inside. I stared at them, blinking.
I was in the shadows of the Tower's bowels. Hidden and lost from my comrades. And in this abyss of a lonely existence, I just stumbled upon a bunch of written material.
I'm such a sucker for cryptic, hidden information. I couldn't help it. I picked up the folders, shuffled them, and opened the first one I could find.
A photo fell out and into my hand.
I gave it a once over with my gaze.
A photo of the Tower in mid construction. I flipped the photo over and saw scribbles of some sort. The handwriting was hard to make out, but on the very bottom I saw a signature.
It read: "Dr. Silas Stone."
------
Earth movers and cranes were caring out a crater. In the very center of the impression, the first pylons of a foundation for a remarkable tower were being planted. Hundreds of workers overlooked the successful completion of the site.
The director of the feat was none other than Dr. Silas Stone, an African American scientist of great prominence. He stood, proudly overlooking the work at hand. In the bright sunlight he heard a giggling sound and turned to face his wife and toddler son.
The mother smiled at her spouse and handed the son into his loving arms. The man propped the smiling son on his shoulders, nuzzled his fuzzy head, and pointed off towards the work being done.
"It's the way of the future, Victor," Silas said. "A spire of pure metal. A titanium tower. If all works out right, it'll be a sentry outpost for law enforcement around the world. A sign of peace and justice. Just you wait and see."
The little boy gurgled a smile and reached out towards the structure gradually blocking the horizon…
------
I blinked.
I put the photo away and flipped through a few others that showed the progress of the Tower. It was confusing. I loved it all the more.
I literally pulled the drawer out of the cabinet, walked back over by the basket and trickling water, and peaked into the next folder.
There was a series of newspaper clippings. All were faded and yellow, and I recognized the headline's fonts as that of the Gotham Enquirer.
One clipping was at the front. It was dated three years ago and read: 'Nubile CrimeFighter spotted with Batman'. I flipped over to the next page: 'Second Robin Suspected In Action'.
Curious, I read further.
------
"I'm going to tell you one last time, lady! Get the damn money out of that drawer and dish it over. NOW!"
"I-I-I can't! The register's jammed!" a clerk stuttered from behind the counter of a convenience store.
"I hate to stain reasonably good money," a greasy crook cocked his revolver and aimed at her skull, smiling. "But I'll do what I have to."
CRASH!!!!!
A lean body with a yellow cape sailed in through the front glass display and sailed into the robber's chest.
"OOF!!"
The man stumbled to the side.
The boyish figure gritted his teeth behind an eyemask and leapt with an uppercut that struck the thug's chin. No sooner, the hero grabbed the cretin's arms and swung him out the hole in the glass and into the streets of Gotham City.
"UGH!!" the robber winced, then slowly got up, rubbing his head.
"Don't…move…," the Boy Wonder commanded with a pointed finger.
The thug stood up and raised his gun. "You're gonna pay for that, punk—"
A gloved hand gripped his shoulder and forced him around. The thug's eyes widened as he looked up at a shadowed figure against a red, Gotham sky.
"Robin said stay," the shadow said, and punched the robber out cold in the face.
SMACK!!
------
I narrowed my black eyes.
I glanced at all the folders in my grasp.
Silence ensued as my mind wandered.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Cyborg was the first to step into the Main Room.
"Noir??" He looked around and called out again. "Noir??? Hey…tall dark and darker?! Where're you at??"
"He's not here…," Raven said and found her seat and book again like no excursion had taken place.
"Perhaps he is asleep?" Starfire remarked. "Or caught in some important duty of a research nature. After all, we did just get through with two major endeavors of crime fighting and—"
"I'm using the intercom," Robin said, wandering over to the computer console. He punched in a code and spoke into a mic that echoed his voice throughout the Tower.
"Noir, report to the Main Room. On the double."
Starfire blinked. "Or maybe that could work."
"Dude…what's with the truck show announcer impression?" Beast Boy moaned, rubbing his sensitive ears. "If that doesn't bring Noir running, nothing will."
"I'm giving him a minute or two," Robin said, folding his arms. "Though, for some reason, I doubt he'll show."
Everyone glanced at Robin curiously, save for Raven.
She stared silently at her novel.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I opened a folder that was significantly blacker than the others.
There was barely any cohesion of information amongst the mangled documents and awkward photographs contained within.
Save for a picture of a teddy bear, tattered and singed at the edges.
I turned it over and found a series of scribbles in red. The memoirs of a horrid communion.
------
"Ooberoth lassiter matarnakae…," the shrouded mass chanted. In the center of the warehouse where they encircled with bound hands was a rune carved into the earth. Possessions of an unknown child were gathered in the center, drenched in a mysterious red liquid. A teddy bear. A summer frock. A wreath of flowers. A hairband.
Torches flickered in the wind coming in through the windows as the crowd continued their chant.
"Klaatitide numeraatacad. Azarath dysrathon zinthos. Trigon ooberoth lassiter matarnakae."
Slowly, the rune started to glow. But before it could pick up any magnitude, a blue figure floated down; bathed in moon and torchlight.
"These proceedings must stop," she said firmly.
The crowd stared at her. They waved their torches in defiance. The chanting continued.
"Trigon ooberoth lassiter matarnakae…"
"CEASE!!" the blue figure shook. "You do not know what you are doing!"
"TRIGON OOBEROTH LASSITER MATARNAKAE!!"
"So be it…," she muttered. She held her fingers together. Her eyes glowed. The blue cloak around her turned momentarily into a bright, blinding white as she droned and then shouted: "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!!"
A pulsing wave of obsidian bubbled out from her, knocking over people, torches, and the items littering the rune. Everything formed a congealed wave of debris that flew off into the corner of the warehouse, blinding everything in sight.
------
I blinked.
Water trickled into the pond beyond me.
It sounded louder than before.
I clung Raven's robe to myself and took a deep breath, chasing away the shivers.
An awkward scent caught my nose.
I paused.
I inhaled again.
The fragrance was all around me.
Raven's robe was all around me.
Don't get any ideas, Noir…
I closed the folder and thumbed through the next one.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Beast Boy lifted the covers of my bed and looked under.
"Well…he's not there," he said, facing the others. "At least we know he's not a slacker."
Robin scratched his chin silently as the other Titans wandered around my room.
"I have never been in his room before," Starfire remarked. "Everything is so…..dark."
"Not bad, really," Raven remarked.
"We all know that Noir doesn't handle light too well," Cyborg said. "Too much exposure blinds him temporarily. Any more, and he could be permanently damaged."
"I always thought it was a ruse myself till I saw them peepers in person," Beast Boy said. "I tell you what…it's great to have creepy people on our side, for once."
Raven stared at him.
"What??"
"He is elsewhere in the Tower, perhaps?" Starfire asked.
"I agree," Robin nodded. "Let's go and search for him. Split up and branch out! Meet back in the Main Room at sixteen hundred hours."
"Hoo boy…," Cyborg moaned and shrugged his shoulders. "It's hide and seek ghost style." He bumped his head into a lantern. "OW! Dammit!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I pulled out an envelope, stared at it strangely with my black eyes, and sniffed it.
Beyond the mildew was a faint scent of tofu.
I smiled ever so slightly and opened the package.
What I found was a cast photo of a canceled t.v. show that I barely remembered. It wasn't until I found the text at the bottom right that I was reminded of the syndicate: 'Space Trek 2022'. I squinted my black eyes in thought, attempting to deduct a connection. And then my sight happened upon a green figure at the far right of the cast photo. And I gasped…humored.
It was him.
Son of a gun……it WAS him.
------
"Tork! We need your assistance!" a suave actor in a captain's uniform commanded as he stood against an alien set.
A green bird flew down and morphed into an elf-like humanoid in an ensign uniform. "Aye, sir."
"Scan for residual traces of our enemy with the atomic resonator. There's more at play here than your sense of smell can locate."
"On it sir," 'Tork' replied and held out a blinking prop which he waved about the fake scenery. "I'm picking up low levels of radiation at the mouths of the nearby caves. Unless I'm mistaken, our pursuers may be upon us—"
"CUT!!!"
A bell rang.
The actors sighed and acted casual.
The boom mic rose and the cameras retracted as an irate director walked up to a very confused 'Tork'.
"Mr. Logan, just *what* are you doing?"
"Uh….," the green elf gulped. "Sc-Scanning for radiation?"
"How come your atomic resonator is upside down, then?!"
Garfield looked down at the prop in his hand. "It is?"
"Rrrrrgh," the director swiped it out of his grasp and marched back off set. "Take five! We'll continue the scene on the Gliyork homeworld in a little bit. Gotta get a few things *straight* with the 'science officers'," he added with a glare.
Garfield
sighed and walked off to a shadowed corner of the set. He
leaned against a chair and glanced at a newspaper lying on the
floor.
"I'm too young for this…," he mumbled. "I've gotta be made for greater things…"
The front page of the newspaper showed a blurred snapshot of two Gotham City heroes in action.
------
The elevators to the main room opened, and in walked Beast Boy.
Robin was already there.
"Any sign of him?"
"Not a shadow," Beast Boy said. "No pun intended."
"Hmmmm….all the others have been contacting me through the intercom and saying the same thing," Robin remarked.
"It's like he totally disappeared!"
"I had every reason to believe we wouldn't find him…even if we searched the Tower."
"How did you know that?"
Robin lifted my communicator. "I found this on his bedside table when we went into his room."
"Dude….," Beast Boy quietly remarked, taking the communicator and looking it over. "M-Maybe he just took it off for a moment?"
"When do you ever separate yourself from YOUR communicator?" Robin inquired.
"When I'm taking a shower….or dead…," Beast Boy winced.
"No need to be that morose," Robin said. "Not yet. The fact that Noir doesn't have that on him makes this whole situation more complicated."
The elevator doors opened again, and in walked the other three Titans.
"We've looked everywhere," Raven said.
Starfire nodded, "Noir is nowhere to be found."
"I even checked the training areas outside," Cyborg gestured. "Ya know how he likes to meditate alone a lot."
"If he's nowhere in the Tower or on the island…," Beast Boy thought aloud.
Robin finished, "Then he must be somewhere in the City."
"In good hands, we hope," Cyborg nodded.
Starfire looked aside.
Raven was quiet.
"We're gonna find him. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Robin said. "Noir must learn that he can't simply run off like that. Especially in the middle of a call to action."
"But what if there were circumstances beyond his control?" Starfire remarked. "What if somebody has—"
"We'll think about that later," Robin coughed. "God, how I hate being under the weather."
"Should just the four of us go—?"
"No, Beast Boy. I'm part of this search as much as the rest of you. I'll scout out the heart of Downtown. I know my way around those alleyways. Starfire, Beast Boy, take the West Side. Cyborg and Raven, drive by the docks."
"How come you and I are always being paired up these days?" Cyborg smirked at Raven.
The dark girl rolled her eyes and walked off. "I'll take shotgun…," she sarcastically droned.
"Keep in radio contact. Let's move!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I sat casually on the metal floor. I had the documents and files and photographs fanned out before me. I tried assembling them in some sort of order. All of Robin's material were in one pile, Raven's in another, Cyborg's in another, and the same with Beast Boy's. But Starfire's was one I could not locate for some reason. It then occurred to me that she was the latest addition to the troupe, and the contents of this underground chamber were old at best. I sat back and thought to myself, scanning all the documents available.
I realized there were two folders left untouched. I reached and picked up the first of the two and perused the contents within.
I smirked.
Jackpot.
I shook the folder and out fell a heavy disc of metal. It spun loudly on the floor, echoing in a metallic fashion.
I grabbed it before it completed its vibrations and flipped it over and over before my black eyes. I raised an eyebrow.
The metal surface consisted of circles upon circles of irregular lines and indentations. As chaotic as it first seemed, there was an obvious sense of order. A structure. A language.
Tamaranian.
It never struck me before as odd to share the same roof as an alien female. An alien anything, for that matter. But something about sitting there and holding an actual, extraterrestrial object in my hand practically mesmerized me. Again, I'm a sucker for cryptic stuff. There was no way in heck I'd be able to decipher it. So, as disheartening as it was, I didn't even try.
I placed the metal object back into the folder and set it in a brand new, stand-alone pile. I opened the final folder and looked within. What I saw surprised me at first, but then I found reason for elation.
A map……
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Starfire flew over the suburbs, scanning the streets and lawns for any sign of a sunglass-wearing friend. There was an abundance of concern and worry in her green eyes; something just about as common as her knack for pleasant expression. At one point or another, a group of young elementary school girls looked up from their gathering place in a driveway, saw their Titan hero, and waved cheerfully.
Starfire couldn't resist. She smiled and waved down at them. She wished them joy, as she wished everyone joy. Even if her alien head was full of more stressful concerns.
She resumed soaring off and scanning the residences below.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Over a commercial plaza, a green falcon flew. Expert, bird eyes helped Beast Boy in measuring every angle and degree of the urban landscape beneath him. If Noir was to be found, Beast Boy would certainly get the job done.
Nearly an hour had passed of this mid-flight observation, and not a single sign of the missing Titan.
Beast Boy knew more than anyone else—without having to brag—that such a thing was not a good sign.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I studied the map before me.
It included schematics which I had never seen before. Geometrically placed corridors, criss crossing, maze-like.
No doubt…it was a guide to where I was.
But of what good was it? I recalled trying all the doors that the map said were there. Not only were they locked, but they were sealed water-tight for some reason. There was no way I could teleport via smoke through any of them. I was stuck within the passageways. And without Myrkblade, all I could do with my powers was bang my head against the walls and go nowhere.
I flipped over to a duplicate map. It was different only in that it showed electrical circuitry and its placement throughout the underground storage rooms (for that's what they were, 'storage rooms'). Nothing interested me until I took notice of a heavy concentration of wiring illustrated to have been in a large chamber much like the one I was sitting in then.
I studied the map, honed some of my skills of spatial awareness, and deduced that it would only take me three hallways of walking to reach the location.
I got up, held the robe close, and let the map guide me.
I had every reason to believe that there was something of extreme interest where I was headed……
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Raven opened a metal door loudly using obsidian telekinesis. She walked forward and stared lethargically into the open interior of a rusted, abandoned warehouse. She sighed, floated into it, and called out: "Noir?!?!"
Echoes.
Silence.
"Noir, are you in here?!"
Echoes.
Silence.
Raven rolled her eyes and proceeded to the next industrial structure, intending to do the same thing again. As it was for the last hour and a half, each place she tried was absent of her and the Titans' missing comrade. The East side of town consisted of many run-down structures of post-industrial gloom. Hardly a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. But Raven wasn't one to complain.
Seriously, she wasn't.
Seriously…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Cyborg coasted by the shipyards. He leaned out the window of his T-Car and squinted at the freighters and tankers that he ambled past. A combination of X-Ray and InfraRed scanning searched for signs of life and cross-referenced them with Noir's bio-electric signature.
No luck.
"Well, Noir…at least you got me to take my baby out for a spin," he muttered and drove off to scan the next row of boats. "Though if I find you, it's your head that's gonna start spinning. Robin's not too happy, that's for sure."
He ambled on a bit more.
"Aaaaugh! Now look what you've done! You got me talking to myself too!"
"HEY!"
"AACK!" SCRREEECH! "Man! Get out of the road! Can't you see I'm doing hero business?!"
HONK! HONK!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I stumbled up to the end of a corridor. I looked down at the sheet of paper. I looked back up at the wall.
I pocketed the paper away in the robe and slowly approached what appeared to be a dilapidated mainframe, complete with dusty keyboards and grimy monitor screens. I knelt down and examined the console. The entire system looked forsaken beyond repair…and that's when I noticed that the power button was switched off.
Oh what the hell?
I flipped it.
There was a loud clicking noise, and eventually the archaic behemoth of code and plastic hummed to life. A flickering monitor glared at me with growing vitality. The brightness it generated filled the room and stabbed into my unguarded eyes. I shielded my face, crept forward, and blindly fingered the brightness knob. I lowered the intensity of the monitor's display until it was comfortable for me to read legibly.
I operated the keyboard with more or less sufficiency and brought up the first program I could find. It was a word processor with a journal entry of sorts dating back to a year and a half ago.
"Titan Entry. November 11. 2002.
"On a routine patrol of the wilderness south of the Bay, we encountered a being whose powers are so strong and yet whose heart is so noble that I'm almost tempted to increase our ranks. Though this individual is unlike any previously encountered. Her origins extend beyond the boundaries of my own comprehension…and Earth's too, as a matter of fact."
------
"Are you closing in on that signal yet, Robin?"
"Almost, Cyborg," the Boy Wonder said, trekking through underbrush in mountainside forest. He spoke into his communicator and paid attention the beeping signals on his watch. "Whatever it is, it's emitting a frequency way stronger than anything I've ever encountered. This sucker could broadcast data to anyone in the world. Even beyond, I bet."
"Do you suppose some terrorist group is trying to create a drop zone of some sort?"
"No need for conclusions just yet," Robin remarked. "I don't see what anyone would want to do way out here in the middle of nowhere—hold on."
"What is it?"
"I think I see something. I'll catch you later."
He closed his communicator and parted through a few branches and came upon a small lake in the middle of a clearing. A waterfall of miniature proportion trickled down a mountainside and ended in a crystal blue pond. In the middle of the waters, there rested a blinking beacon of sorts. A bright tail blinked a hot-pink strobe that reflected off of Robin's scrutinizing eyemask.
"Hmmm….not of this earth…," he whipped out his rod and stepped cautiously forward. He held his watch up, which blinked madly. "Definitely the target." He squinted at it. "Can't be a bomb…unless the technology's superior. It's just a signaler of sorts. Like……like……an interstellar lighthouse---"
FWOOOOOOSH!!!
Pine needles and grass shook.
Robin looked up, did a double-take, and leapt towards the ground. "AAAH!!"
SPLASH!!!!!!
An obelisk of sorts slammed into the pond, sending water splashing everywhere and thoroughly washing the trees.
Robin stood up, sputtering, and shook the moisture out of his hair. He gritted his teeth and glared at the receding waters. "Could have rung the doorbell first…"
He was silenced as the obelisk cracked open with a HISSSSSS!!! And a feminine figure was revealed standing within the interstellar sarcophagus.
Robin blinked and took a step forward, staring hard.
A girl stood in the middle of the pond. In a split second, bright emerald eyes flashed open and she stepped out towards the first biped in sight—Robin.
The Boy Wonder cleared his throat and held his staff behind his back so as not to look threatening.
A thin, red-haired……humanoid extraterrestrial smiled brightly, folded her hands together, and spoke: "Konnichiwa!"
Robin stared.
"…….Bonjour?"
Robin blinked.
"……Hello?"
Robin jumped. "Um…h-hey there."
"Ah! Of course, English!" the alien girl cleared her throat, smiled wide….and flicked Robin off. "Greetings and good tidings from Tamaran!"
"………," Robin sweatdropped.
The Tamaranian continued brandishing her middle finger at the Boy Wonder, a proud look on her face. When there was less than happy a reaction over time, she cocked her sweet head to the side and remarked: "I'm sorry, is this not the proper greeting for occupants of the NorthWest Hemisphere?"
"Ummm…," Robin scratched his neck.
"Interstellar probes constantly observe your people gracing each other with the middle finger in their four-wheeled-automatons. It seemed only appropriate to greet you in such a fashion. Oh! I know! I am forgetting the special wording! I apologize. Ahem. 'Move that fat of the ass vehicular transportation out of my lane of movement, you illegitimate mother f—'"
"Ummmmm," Robin butted in. "Hi. I-I'm Robin. No need for…erm……...the 'special' earth greetings. Just a handshake will do."
The alien girl brought her hand down. "A hand……shake?"
"Yeah," He simpered. "It doesn't hurt. Here, I'll start." He extended his gloved wrist out. "Now you do the same."
She tentatively did so.
"Other hand," he chuckled.
She reached her other hand out and he gently clasped onto it and shook it up and down.
The girl gasped, "It's warm! Quite a warm species you are!"
Robin didn't know why, but he blushed. "Erm…we do our best, I suppose."
"This is a much happier greeting than the lonely extension of the finger and the constant verbal reprimand of illegitimate childbirth," she stated. "Oh, of all the things I might learn now that I am walking this planet in person. Dear Earthling Robin, it is glorious to meet you!" She giggled and shook his hand vigorously….thusly rocking his entire body.
"Whoah!! Okay! Take it easy!" Robin was lifted off his boots a few times and eventually stumbled out of the girl's handshake. He rubbed his wrist and cleared his throat. "Ahem…..you seem to be….quite powerful."
"Hmm?" she cocked her head to the side.
"I mean to say….only Cyborg can lift me like that."
"Cy….borg?"
"A good friend of mine," Robin smiled. "Along with two others. We were searching this area out for a strong signal of sorts. I think it's coming out of that very same lake that you landed in."
"You mean the Tamaranian interstellar guidance post?"
"Huh?"
"I have been assigned towards the monitoring and study of this planet," the girl said, her hands clasped together innocently. "For months I have been observing every facet of this location through probes and satellites. Today is the big day of my actual landing. Though Earth is apparently no stranger to alien visitation, I thought it best to make the effort of finding facts out on a first name basis. One can never truly know the glory of another's habitat without seeing it with her own eyes, after all."
"I suppose not," Robin remarked. "We're glad to have you here. As long as……"
"My intentions are purely diplomatic," the girl insisted. "I hope to spread word of Tamaran's benevolence and joyous embrace of Earth and all its culture during my stay here. That is……if I am to find a place to stay."
"You know…my friends and I may just be the help you need," Robin said in a friendly way. "That is…if we were allowed to learn more about you and your…gifts…"
The girl gasped and cupped her hands together. "Truly?! Oh, glorious!" She pounced and hugged the stuffings out of Robin.
"What……," he wheezed, "…is your name?"
She smiled against his shoulder and replied:
-------
"Starfire?"
"Yes, Robin?"
The Boy Wonder spoke into the communicator from atop a building in downtown. "Any luck?"
"Negative. Beast Boy and I have been unsuccessful in locating Noir's present location."
"Yeah…the same can be said of Cyborg and Raven," Robin sniffed. "They answered with similar results. We might have to resort to desperate means."
"Like what, Robin?"
"I'll get back to you on that, Star. Tell Beast Boy to regroup with me and the rest of the team near the Marketplace in Downtown. You too."
"Affirmative. Over and out."
Robin pocketed the communicator and sighed off towards the sunset. Red sky bathed the urban sprawl before him.
A huge haystack…and Noir was the needle.
Robin took deep breaths, the wind kicking against him and making his cape flare. He didn't realize it, but he was still under the weather. The pressing issues of the day and the call of the search had distracted him, or so he felt.
Sunlight glinted off of windows and car roofs and man-make lakes throughout the synthetic landscape that stretched below the caped crusader.
Robin did something rare. He sat down. He leaned his chin to his knees and hugged his legs to his chest.
He so wanted to be angry at his missing comrade. But as much as he tried, he couldn't help but feel like a hypocrite. The shades…the silence…the dark stature. It was all nothing more than a negative photograph of himself, or so he felt. Parallels and duplicates. Yet contrasting all the same.
So very confusing…and yet so very calming.
It hurt all the more each time he remembered how unsuccessful the search was going.
"Dammit, Noir…," Robin breathed. "Why do you have to be so mysterious?"
His voice flew out from his lips, got knocked back by the wind, and struck his own ears.
He sighed depressingly, stood up, fired off a grappling hook, and swung away.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I swiftly opened another document…a much older one. I rubbed my chin and thought and read the contents, curious.
"Titan Entry. June 13. 2002."
"It was not a hard decision. I knew, for once, that my mentor would be proud of me. The challenge now is just to find the right materials to put the plan into action. As it stands, there is only the charisma of me and my dark partner to rely on. I hope it is enough to carry us through. But regardless of our intent, what we need the most is…more people."
------
"I do not know when. I do not even know how. What I do know is that…whatever plans we make…I will be a liability. There is a hidden danger deep inside of me. It is only a matter of time before the evil of Trigon is realized. It is my destiny to deal with this demonic burden seeded deep within. Making trustworthy friends—only to threaten them in the end—is not something I desire at all. I need………help…"
"And you shall have it, Raven," Robin reached over and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Even he was amazed she didn't shake him off. "Friends are there to help you not realize your fears. The whole point of having teammates is not threatening people, but learning how to be helped and thus help others. I won't let anything terrible happen to you, you got me? Trigon or whoever…we have something going here. Something powerful. Something fresh. This world is getting crowded and paranoid fast, and it needs heroes. It needs fuller ranks of elite crime fighters. And you and I…we're gonna found something never before attempted. A circle of young heroes whose only connection is a desire for good. Age will no longer be a boundary, just a thirst for justice. And a willingness to learn."
"Heh……you're quite the motivational speaker………leader."
"………now don't go drawing conclusions."
"Robin, you'll be leader. Deal with it."
"Fine……fine…"
"So……where do we go first?"
"Metropolis," Robin said. "I hear rumors of a young crime fighter there. A young man who's crossed through death itself to emerge as a hybrid of human ingenuity and mechanical wonder. The newspapers call him 'Cyborg'."
"Woowee……we're gonna have some rust bucket be the first to join our ranks?"
"He may prove more useful than brain or brawn. Rumor has it that his father built a huge tower long ago. A tower made out of pure titanium. To this day, such a structure is waiting for the right funding to make it a citadel for law enforcement."
"And even if we get this 'Cyborg' and his daddy's Tower on our side……where will these 'funds' of yours come from?"
"Let's say I know people in high places……"
"………please tell me you didn't just wink."
"Come on, Raven.
We've got a dream to realize…"
------
"Okay, here's what I propose," Cyborg said as he spread a complex map of the city across the hood of the T-Car and pointed. "A systematic search of the city quadrants. We'll scan every building from head to toe, then plant a beacon in the street to mark where we've been. If we all do this in equally distributed locations within the city, we might be able to pull off a full scan in…four days."
"Four days?!" Beast Boy pulled at his hairs. "Dude, you know what could happen to Noir in that time?!"
"What are you babbling about…?" Raven droned.
"Don't you see?! Noir's been kidnapped! It has to be the truth!"
"Eek!" Starfire gasped. "That is a most unpleasant thought!"
"We can't ignore all possibilities," Robin said. The waning sunset cast shadows across his face. "Cyborg…do we have enough beacons to follow your proposal?"
"That's the only problem. I'd have to construct some more. But it'd take only a little bit of time. The rest of y'all can plan out how to go about the city."
"Hey," Beast Boy pointed. "What about the sewers?"
"…."
"…."
"…."
"Well…crap!" Cyborg dropped grip of the map, letting it slide to the asphalt. "I didn't even think of that!"
"Why?" Starfire asked. "Is that a bad thing?"
"It's going to take for freakin' ever! That's the bad thing!"
"You seemed so enthused about it a minute ago!" Beast Boy cackled.
"Shut up! Like much good you've been doing."
"Me?!?!"
"Enough…," Raven frowned, her eyes set. "We must remain calm. Noir will be found. It is just a matter of time—"
"Listen to you!" Cyborg pointed. "Miss Optimist all of the sudden! Why'd you wait out till now to give us hope, huh?! Got a soft spot for a teammate all of the sudden?!"
Raven's eyes glowed bright gray and her hair twirled. "Watch…your…words…"
"Dudes…just….back off," Beast Boy said softly. "Please…stop fighting…"
"Don't tell me what to do or not d—"
CLANK!!!
Robin got everyone's attention with a strike of his rod to the asphalt beneath them.
"Everyone…just….j-just….," he stuttered frustratingly, shook, lowered his head, and sighed. "Look, people….way back when the Titans were founded….I believed in something. I believed that anything could be accomplished if I just found the right comrades to assist me in this nightmarish fight against the forces of urban evil. I'm about the same height and stature as I was back when Raven and I started searching for everyone, but I certainly feel a heck of a lot older. If there's something I've learned, it's that I can never find perfection in accumulating a noble lot of people such as yourselves. In fact, I found something better. I found a family. A family that I could trust if my own damn life depended on it. I know what was true yesterday is true right now. Go on, Cyborg, be angry because you feel like you let Noir down. Raven, go ahead and be snappish because you're concerned about a teammate and won't admit it. Beast Boy…carry on with your anxiety and need for closure. God knows I want this day to end. But I can't just tell you all to shut up and expect it all to turn better. I chose your for your imperfections as much as I did for your talents. Cuz I trust that in all of this craziness—there's a family of people who care about each other more than to just give up. And Noir's part of this family now. We're all struggling and straining this very moment because we're having a hard time accepting the straggling member into our flock. This may not be the first time he'll disappear on us. But we'll be thankful for it in the end nonetheless. For it's what makes the whole 'family' stronger. And knowing that, I look forward toward waking tomorrow morning as a better, more wholesome person. Noir or no Noir."
Silence.
Robin took a breath and sighed forth, "I….I-I guess that's all I needed to say. I'm not feeling to great today. Still got coughs and such. If you all want…you can take five or something. Then we can see what needs to be done about combing the city."
With that, the Boy Wonder retracted his staff and slowly wandered off.
Cyborg stared down at the T-Car, clenching his fists. He looked up at Raven.
There was melancholy on her face, but she braved the chance to share eye-contact with Cyborg and a mutual nod of heads.
Beast Boy turned around and leaned against the vehicle, hiding his emotional face in the most masculine way.
Starfire looked at everyone, looked after Robin, and decided to follow the Boy Wonder.
Robin sat by a fountain in the middle of the marketplace. He stared up at the evening sky…awaiting the stars that would eventually come with twilight.
The Tamaranian Girl sat down beside him.
Silence.
"I….I almost feel like Noir is still with us," Starfire said.
Robin inhaled. "Why's that, Star?"
"…I doubt that his words—if he could manage words—would be any different from your own just now."
The team leader slowly looked over and stared at her.
The alien girl smiled bravely. "You are both so alike. But I know one difference."
"Hmm?"
"If Noir is the infant of this…'family' of ours….you are most certainly the 'father'."
"Oh…please," Robin chuckled.
Starfire placed her hand on his arm. "And I am very proud of you for that."
He looked at her.
She smiled back.
He grinned, blushed, and looked off towards the evening sky again. With a sigh, he said: "Starfire…you are the truest friend I've ever had."
"I must ask you something, Robin."
"Anything."
"Who is the 'mother' in this case?"
Robin chuckled. He winked at her from behind his eyemask. "I dunno, but I'm looking for a candidate."
She giggled and gently leaned her head on his shoulder.
He wrapped an arm around her—a little surprised at the casualness of the act—and sat still.
A few seconds past.
The fountain trickled.
The citylights began to blink into existence across the horizon.
"Starfire?"
"Yes Robin?"
"Thank you for taking care of me the last few days."
"You're welcome, Robin."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Wait a second…how is this computer still operational?
I looked at the tangled mess of monitors, input devices, and mainframes. I looked around for wires. An outlet?
I whipped out the map and studied the schematics for the wiring again.
Something's missing here. If I'm right……
I glanced up at the wall. But for once, the darkness was fighting me.
I forcibly picked up the monitor, swiveled it around to face the wall, and grinned.
Yeeha!! There it be!!
A cable traveled up a frame along the wall…and into a hole in the chamber's ceiling.
I looked at the schematics again and smiled all the more.
Where there's wiring, there's a need for a power source. The power source is up on the central level of the Tower. To get to the power source, the wiring has to travel up. And wherever the wiring travels, there is space. And where there is space, there is room for mass—of some sort—to travel.
With an idea in mind, I sprung into action. I dashed into the waterlogged corridor to extract my shades and return…
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
The Titans returned to the Tower. They went over city maps. They looked at computer diagrams. They studied Cyborg's beacons and considered Beast Boy's reconnaissance talents and tried to fix together all possible avenues of application. A list of escaped convicts was cross-referenced with suspicious activity within the ickiest places in the city. Then reports filed by the police were discovered for any hints of a nabbed Titan. Throughout the process, papers were dragged everywhere and computer monitors flickered and voices rang back and forth and people got frustrated and happy and angry and tired and restless all the same.
Like a family.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Okay…
I took a deep breath and flexed my limbs under Raven's cloak.
I stared up at the wall.
My fists clenched.
Murk warbled through my limbs.
My shaded eyes traveled up the cable and towards the hole that I knew was in the ceiling.
I inhaled.
I exhaled.
Construction and Destruction formed an equilibrium.
Smoke traveled up my legs and around my torso.
My eyes blurred with murk.
I'm ready……
I took one bold step towards the wall….and slipped.
"WHUMP!!"
UGH! Damn socks………hang on!
I sat on my rump, whipped the slippery articles of clothing off, and stood coldly on bare feet.
Okay……let's try this again.
I lowered my black eyes. Meditated. Reclaimed the murk energy. And once again faced the cable.
I took one step…two steps…and bolted.
I ran at the wall.
Grunt!
I ran up the wall.
Hold breath.
I blurred into smoke. I slithered with murk up the tiny corridor. I wrapped around the cable. I leapt. I dove. I danced around air molecules. Up. Up. Up. Warmer. Warmer. Warmer. The cable snaked into the stratosphere for all I cared, and every separated atom of my existence strained with the effort to propel my essence upwards when suddenly the universe opened wide around me with a fresh breath of air conditioning and I was home free.
FLASH!!
It took one and a half whole seconds. I had teleported up seven floors and into the heart of the Tower.
Safe.
I collapsed on the floor, gasped for breath, turned over, and relaxed.
I chuckled breathlessly, gripped my head, and smiled over how stupid I was.
But I did it. I circumnavigated the water tight doors.
What time is it? Jeez……I hope the others are okay. I heard alarms.
I walked up, dusted my hands off, and exited the automatic door and into the adjacent hallway.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Elevator doors opened, and I was walking into the Main Room…tentatively.
The place was dark. Night had fallen outside. Starlight settled down on the carpet as I padded over and looked for signs of life.
I whistled.
No response.
Then I got a good look at the place.
The tables…the counters…the couches…they were all cluttered with police reports, city maps, and other various, urban schematics. The huge t.v. screen was split into a dozen P.I.P.'s of my personal bio and more city schematics.
And then….there was everybody. Totally exhausted. Sound asleep. Beast Boy snored, his body lying lengthwise on a counter in the kitchen area besides a couple of midnight tofu snacks. Cyborg was at a booth in front of a table spread over with newspapers, upon which he was obviously working on the meatball construction of various little beacons. Robin and Starfire snoozed back to back on a couch, their laps covered with police reports. And then there was Raven, sitting cross legged on the floor and leaning her head ungracefully on her arms across a low-lying table.
I smiled. I fingered the robe around me. I walked over and gently spread it over the sleeping Raven's back. Right where it should be. I walked over, took a blanket that an ill Robin had been using earlier that week, and laid it over the laps of the Boy Wonder and the Tamaranian. I also managed to carry a sleeping Beast Boy over to the more comfortable booth seat besides Cyborg. And for the android, I took a beacon or two out of his hands and leaned him back comfortably against his seat. He stirred momentarily and went back to snoring.
That done and said, I switched off the monitors and the lights and walked back to the elevator.
I paused for a moment, turned around, and folded my arms.
And smiled.
I've got so much to learn yet about my family.
I walked back, turned one monitor back on with low volume, and casually watched an old sitcom through the night.
I would be there for when they woke up in the morning.