These Black Eyes

by P0ST

The ongoing adventures and experiences of the Teen Titans, as witnessed through the eyes of a silent newcomer.

99. Those Black Eyes part 1

99. Those Black Eyes part 1

"Ahhh…my latest masterpiece…"

"Okay…that's really obsessive of you. I mean…we're all part of a club and all…but is that really necessary?"

"It's called a creative application of one's love."

"Love??"

"One of these days…I'm going to meet Robin…and I'm going to make him mine."

"Hehehe……that's gonna happen soon."

"Right…"

"I'm serious! He'd drop dead for me. Lord knows I'd drop dead for him."

"Ever heard of fantasies, Tiffany? Stick to them. They'll make you much happier than real life will."

"Listen to you, Janice. You're one true friend. Pfft!! Like…can't you see I'm desperate here?? Pass the glue, Hope."

"Here you go."

"Thanks."

"Don't think that you can make yourself appear any less pathetic by admitting to desperation, Tiffany. How many letters have you sent to the Tower?"

"Er……I……"

"Hehehe! She's sent in four, at least! I know! I helped her postmark them!"

"Shhh!! Shut up, Hope! Like…you promised not to say anything!!"

"Tiffany, you realize that they never really answer that stuff in person, right?"

"That's exactly what I was trying to tell her! They get people in the Tower to scan through them and stuff."

"That's where you're wrong, Hope! You too, Janice! Only the Titans live in the Tower! All six of them!"

"Point being……?"

"It's so cool! Just six teenagers running the show in that super huge building of theirs! And fighting crime to boot! Like…if I could go out on my own at my age, I wouldn't spend time chasing crooks all around the City! That's a little too boring, you know what I mean? They've got guts! That's what the Titans have got! Just a little fan mail won't scare them!"

"Just a little?"

"Tiffany…you put lipstick on and kiss the letters before sending them to Robin."

"Yes……well……"

"And you perfume them too—"

"Okay, HOPE! Let's hear all about your own obsession before you continue to blast mine!"

"What do you mean?"

"How's the Beast Boy Rocks Message Board going online?"

"Oh……that…hehe………one hundred and fifty two members."

"And climbing?"

"Yup. We've got this really popular role playing section of the forum. Nearly fifty posts a day! We've got this really cool endless story in full swing. Nearly twenty members portraying real and made-up characters."

"And just who do you role-play as?"

"Well……um………'B-Beast Girl'."

"Oh my gawd……hahahaha!!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Beast Girl?? Boy, that's original."

"Hey! Shut up! She has a really cool background story!"

"Do tell…"

"Really! She's this girl from South America who had experiments done on her and the only way that she can live is after being taken to the Tower and sharing an injection of Beast Boy's plasma so that she too can become animals or elves and avoid being human. Cuz…ya know…being human is what kills someone with the powers of Beast Boy."

"Uhhhh……"

"Okay."

"I…I-I try to give Beast Girl a low profile in the role playing story. There're so many other characters to balance and—"

"None as good as the Webmistress' Mary Sue, I bet!"

"Hey! She's not a Mary Sue!"

"Hehehe! She sure issssss!"

"Grrrrr."

"I think it's really cute, Hope. Really. I've read your fics before…I bet your RPing would be just as good."

"Thanks, Janice. It means a lot, really."

"I think you should just cheer up and keep it going as it is. You've got a great following for your writing after setting up that Beast Boy message board and all, right?"

"I……er……"

"Ahem…well, good luck is all I can say."

"And how's your fanfic going, Janice? I heard you've started on another one."

"Ah yes. The latest in my series of Starfire and Raven slash."

"Like…ew!"

"Ah, those. I read one of the ones you sent me, Janice……and I haven't gotten arrested."

"How can you write stuff like that? I mean…it doesn't even make any sense!"

"It sure as Hell does! Don't you see? Raven and Starfire…the only girl Titans…completely opposite types of powers and personalities…forced to endure the immature egotism of the males………They have no alternative BUT to flock into each other's arms and weather the burden of their disassembled lives!"

"Yeah…b-but…the slash part?"

"Well, no reason for them to be bored."

"Ewwwwwwww."

"I think it's cute………in a frightening way."

"Heheheh…yeah. What do you think, Lisa?"

"………"

"Uhm……hello? Earth to Lisa?"

I was interrupted from shading in an eye with a dark pencil. I immediately closed my writing pad and looked up. I was a bit confuzzled…

"Uh……y-yeah?" I uttered.

Janiced looked straight at me. A tall and narrow girl as always, with black Cher hair that angled her neck better than a spine ever could. "Off in Picasso world again?" she smirked at me.

"Pfft…I wish," I opened the sketch pad and began shading the eye again. I was a bit embarrassed, so I kept the paper out of sight of my friends. It was early morning. Ten to fifteen minutes till the warning bell of first period at West City High. The first week of school. Sophomore year was feeling stale. But at least I had these girls to remind me how ludicrous last year was…and how ludicrous the future can be. "This is the sort of stuff that keeps me awake," I said. I momentarily raised my writing hand to move a dangling lock of brown hair up and over my right ear. "Not to mention sane."

"You're sketching a Titan, aren't you?" Janice smirked.

"What of it?"

"You're almost as bad as Tiffany over there."

I momentarily glanced over at Tiffany. The blonde thing that was my closest link to 'normal' society. A pink laden creature with curls, Tiffany was busily hunched over her edge of the picnic table…where she was gluing together her latest in colorful Robin collages. Newspaper prints, magazine photos, and computer printouts flocked together to create a casserole of testosterone with colors of red, green, and yellow mingling with black. The girl cooed and dreamily sighed…almost oblivious of my sudden awareness.

"There's a major difference between her and I," I droned. I looked at Janice. "I'm an artist."

"Ah…that you are," Janice winked.

Hope giggled. "We're all so helpless."

"Glad for it."

"Need more glue, Tiffany?"

"I think I need a shower break."

"Okay…someone woke up on the wrong side of the pituitary glands this morning."

"How're you doing, Hope?" I asked across the table.

"Thanks for asking, Lisa. I'm quite fine. You?"

I managed a short-lived smirk and returned to my shading.

Hope was a little angel. And I do mean 'little'. She looked more like a middle schooler than a sophomore in high school. I think she went through some sort of eating disorder when she hit puberty. I don't know how else to explain her tiny frame that contrasts with her explosion of auburn hair. But she was a sweet thing. And creative too. And did I mention she loved Beast Boy?

"Where're you gonna put that vomit piece of yours this time, Tiffany?"

"In the sleeve of my notebook."

"But you already have your four notebooks completely full of Robin stuff."

"Then I'll get another notebook!"

"What's the point in getting another notebook?!"

"Fine! Like……I'll get another class!"

"Pfft…whatever," Janice rolled her eyes. She smirked at me. "It's like kicking a stone."

"Are we all still on for tonight?" Hope asked.

"Hell yeah!" Janice grinned wide. "Seven O'Clock at my place!"

"Will your stepparents be at home? They didn't seem so happy last time."

"Nah, they don't care. They just get angry about little things without meaning to. You're all gonna come, right?"

"I will," Hope smiled. "Can I b-borrow your computer once so I can check on e-mail?"

"Sure thing, girl."

"I wanna see if any of my fellow RPers have responded to my latest string in the story."

Tiffany sighed dreamily while cupping her hands and looking all over the collage. "Oh Robin……you are the door that turns my knob……"

"Er……"

"How about you, Tiffany?"

"Hmmm?" the blonde cooed at the collage.

"Are you coming??"

"And how!"

"…………"

"…………"

"…………I mean to the club meeting at my place tonight, you hornball!"

"Oh! Um……s-sure!"

"Sheesh, I swear to God," Janice shook her head. "How about you, Lisa?"

I looked up from my masterpiece. "S-Sure. I've got nothing else to do."

Janice chuckled deeply. "Surely that's not the only reason you're coming?! Cuz you're bored?"

I stared at her. I was deadpan.

"Okaaaay," Janice slid out of from under the table and stood up. "If you'll all excuse me, I've got an English class to snooze through, and I can't be late." She hoisted her backpack up and sauntered off. "Ta ta, estrogen. See ya tonight."

"See ya, Janice."

"Bye, Janice."

"Later."

The girl walked off.

"Rghhh," I mumbled like a dying locomotive and put my sketchpad away. "I'm too bored to not be bored. Come, Hope. Let's go to Chemistry already."

"Isn't that rather redundant? We've got enough chemistry with Tiffany here! Well…potentially…"

"Leave me alone with my Robin…"

"Whatever, Sister."

West City High is a rich school. Or that is to say, a bunch of prep kids fornicate their imaginations, sports cars, and fashion statements all across the campus. I knew I hated it when I was born. I was born because my mother was asleep when I was conceived. Or at least that's what she told me. I suppose enough blows to the head with a boyfriend's fist would put me to sleep too. That 'boyfriend' was my dad. He had already ditched my Mom a year or two before she died of some sort of aneurism. Probably from all the blows she took from day one in her bummed life. Somehow I fell into the arms of a sister I didn't even know I had. She had some money……well…enough for an apartment in the West side of the City nice enough that there were no yelling voices or domestic wargames through the neighboring walls. I entered what turned out to be a pretty-okay life feeling all the piles of shit that made up this thing called 'me'. Which makes it absolutely ridiculous what I'm doing in a public school full of so many preppy kids to begin with.

So, naturally I felt left out. I hung around by myself a lot. I turned to sketching. Sketching is a bitterly beautiful thing. You don't like the world? Boom. You draw your own. You can sorta exhaust your maternal instincts by being an artist. Sketch a kid…an unborn fetus…anything you want. You invent your own future. Then you paste it up on the wall and—viola! Everything real is fantastic and everything fantastic is real. There's no need for a family. I'll be an old maid at age sixty if I can help it. As long as I can still draw. That's all that matters. That's all that really matters.

But to humor myself, I joined this club. It's a Teen Titans' Club. Who the Hell knows why I decided to do something as stupid as deign to be part of a fangirl…clique thing. But that's just it. It's an innocent cliques. Full of people just about as moronic and shitty inside as myself. Well, maybe not Tiffany. She's just a dumb blonde. But we all love her.

It was Janice that got me into the group. She invited me to one of the meetings….back when the fanclub had more groups in it. All girls, of course. Janice wouldn't have it anyway else. The first night I attended, I figured I was just her pity friend. And then I realized Janice was flirting with me. But that's all right. I don't swing that way…but then again, I don't swing the other way either. All I do is draw. So when I was propositioned into attending the club another night, I said 'sure'. I never really paid attention at first. I just went through my drawing pad while everyone else yakked off. But then I grew genuinely interested. Ironically, the club thinned down to a total of four girls. But that's all right. I couldn't imagine partaking in anything bigger. A person like me who already feels small doesn't need to feel smaller.

Why do I like the Titans? Why do I think about them night and day? I suppose it's only natural in this City. If I was in Metropolis, I'd be thinking of Blueboy all the time. But that's not the case. I'm just going with the flow…as long as the flow deals with six teenagers who chase down criminals with wild abandon. And they've gotten darker as of late. Which I know Janice loves.

And I do too……

So I became a fangirl. So I'm pathetic. So I'm twice as shitty as I was when I started going to this high school. But it's cool. I'm dark. I'm very dark. I can live with the shadows of my head…or whatever you'd find in one of Hope's poems. There's not much else in my life that thrills me. Besides drawing of course. But I suppose things are blending. Blending like all the colors of the sun…only absorbed.

Black.

"Don't forget to write your findings down! Everything you see! Your observations! It's all a part of the experiment! Failing to be detailed will result in one of five points deducted!"

I grumbled: "An awful lot of damn work for measuring the volume of a turd."

"Shhh…," Hope hissed quietly while eyeing the water level inside a tiny vial.

I sighed and wrote a few meaningless words on the sheet. I paused. Beside it I drew the Teen Titans logo.

My lips curved ever so slightly.

"Must…get this……exactly right…," Hope stammered while scribbling away on her sheet. We were 'lab buddies' in the middle of Chemistry class. At our school, periods lasted nearly an hour and a half each. It was Hell.

"You work too hard, girl," I muttered.

"Not all of us are kosher with just a 'C'."

"'B'," I corrected. "Besides, I'd be kosher as long as all of this was actually relevant to my future."

"Well, it's relevant to mine. I wanna be a Science major."

"You have my condolences."

"And just what do you want to pursue, Lisa?"

I smirked. "I want to be a bounty hunter. I get to punch people's faces in without asking."

"Ooooh…Miss badass," she giggled. Scribbling with her Hello Kitty pen on the lab clipboard besides the vials.

God, I loved Hope.

"Blah…"

"You really bored, Lisa?"

"I'm just thinking………"

"About what?"

"Do the Titans have homework?"

"I don't even think they go to school."

"Oh…like that's really fair and shit."

"Seriously! I bet they all cram in between crime fighting."

"With what? Textbooks on tape?"

"I don't think it's that simple."

"They're probably all child geniuses and stuff."

"Cyborg could probably store stuff in that electronic brain of his."

A beat.

I scratched my chin.

"But…what if they did go to school?"

"You mean……"

"As alternate identities!"

"Robin could pull that off. Maybe Beast Boy too. If he had skin paint."

"Cyborg and Raven?"

"I dunno……the titanium and chakra stone would be a dead giveaway."

"Maybe they're in this class right now and we don't know it, Hope!" I performed a mock gasp.

She giggled. "Please, you're distracting me."

"Come on…you'd love to have a seat next to Beast Boy, wouldn't you?"

"Not as much as Tiffany would love a seat next to Robin. Heck, she'd take his seat at the same time."

"Ugh."

"What?"

"Just thinking about that one fic Janice sent me," I blushed and looked at my petite friend. "Ya know…the one in which Starfire and Raven end up going to school and—"

"—they do it in the broom closet. Yeah. I know. And I'm traumatized."

"I like Janice's writing style………it's just……"

"I wonder if the Titans read her stuff," Hope smirked. "Janice posts that stuff on the Net, ya know."

"Ooh…what if Beast Boy's an active member of your fan club?"

Hope blushed furiously. "That would be……………nice."

I smirked. "I bet." I liked it when Hope was happy. I liked it when all of my acquaintances were happy. Lord knows it was good for them. Myself…that's another matter.

Janice and I sat across from each other in a table at the library. We were from different classes…but ironically researching at the same time. The day was nearly halfway over. And we were more or less focused on our assignments at hand………with an emphasis on the 'less'.

"So here is what I think…," Janice smirked at the pages in her encyclopedia.

"Hmmm?" I uttered. I sketched Raven's chakra stone on the corner of my periodical. It was vandalism. So what? "Go on. I'm listening."

"The reason why there are so many fangirls online obsessing over a possible love relationship between Robin and Starfire is simply the sadistic whim of karma!"

"Meaning……"

"Starfire and Raven are destined for each other. It's more than obvious."

"Janice……you should write for the tabloids."

"I'm serious! What other pair of people in the Tower could benefit the most from an intimate relationship?"

"Hmmm………I dunno……Cyborg and Beast Boy?"

"……………………wow………I never thought of that."

"Pffft!! I was just kidding!"

"You kid with great wisdom!! I'm gonna write a Cyborg-Beast Boy fic when I get home. Just you wait and see!"

"Will Beast Boy be slitting his wrist and chanting depressing poetry like in your last story with Raven—"

"Hey! I was going through a phase!"

"So were your readers," I rubbed my temple and shaded in the chakra stone. "Don't you get creeped out by writing that shit?"

"You try it someday. It'll vent emotions."

"What? Slitting my wrists?"

"Writing, silly girl!"

"Pfft…I already have a hobby."

"And that is?"

I smirked and lifted a pencil.

"I see." A beat. Janice leaned forward with a smile. "It's great to see you grin. If even slightly, Lisa."

"How do you mean?"

"You've been so……quiet lately. And glum. Like the weight of the world is on your shoulders or some puppy died in your womb or something. You get where I'm coming from?"

"No………thankfully."

"I'm just……concerned about you, Lisa."

I felt her fingers on my writing wrist. But they were cool and inviting…not warm and demanding.

I looked up and saw a concerned look on her face.

"Your eyes lately are glazed. Lifeless. Like you've seen something die in front of you each morning upon waking up."

I sighed. "If my eyes are glazed…it matters little. They're my eyes…not anyone else's."

"Nobodies placing any bets, girl," Janice smiled slightly and leaned back. "I just hope you're not living in depressville without telling anyone."

"I grew up with my own fair share of crap, Janice," I muttered. I folded my arms. "Besides…it could be worst. I could be Alan Merrington over there."

"Huh?" Janice turned and looked across the library. "Ah. Good Goddess alive…don't they ever let up on him?"

The two of us stared as a small, brown-haired, martyr of a young boy was being heckled by a bunch of tragically familiar jocks from the nearby hallway. The boy—the 'Alan' in question—tried his futile best to perform his Algebra studies. But between the chuckle-filled shove to the back or the stealing of an important notebook off the tabletop, he was having very little success. Regardless of the oppression, he remained deadpan and calm throughout. I knew his patience was the thing of depression.

The hissing 'shhhh' of the library dispassionately quieted the jocks, who merely shrugged, laughed, and tossed Alan's books every which way on their way out of the library.

"Is it just me…," Janice smirked sadistically, "…or does life choose its scum pawns at random? Hahahaha…"

I stared at him silently. I sighed.

I noticed Alan Merrington on the first day at West City High. And perhaps it's unfair that I ever became…fixated with him. I was merely taken back by his depressing state of existence, rather than the person he was himself. Which is just as well. I was never truly infatuated with him or anything. At least……I don't think I was.

I have this thing for obsessing with people who are either depressed or dark. And since Alan wasn't the latter, I started thinking about him for the former. Hell, I even dreamed about him. He became my nightmares. Some poor sap of a kid who only tried to conform intellectually with the world, and all that was ever returned to him was a laugh or a knuckle sandwich.

Alan wasn't so much of a nerd as he was……well……the scapegoat for the world's cumulative dark energies. I suppose that is the best way to sum it up. He didn't have any friends. And he didn't seem to want to try and have any.

I started talking to him that summer. We both were volunteering at a police department for scholarships. I never told him about the times I saw him being tormented by bullies and whatnot in the hallways. But I suppose it wouldn't have made a difference if I had. He was a shell of a person now. If Janice wanted to talk about people with glazed looks in their eyes…she should have rethought it through in her head and focused in on Alan. Hell, maybe if some other girl took it upon herself to obsess over the poor boy…I wouldn't be so………occupied.

It gave me things to sketch about. More surreality. More pretend. More pretend……

"Hey, Alan."

"Hmmm?" the boy looked up from his locker. He was shorter than me. "Oh…hi Lisa." His voice sounded so full of disappointment. But it was normal. "How are you today?"

"You seemed to have your hands full in the library earlier. You okay?"

"Huh? Oh………that. You were there?"

"Kinda sorta. I was studying with Janice across the way."

"Janice??"

"You know…the girl with the dark hair? Always dresses in black?"

"Oh right. The lesbian."

"Well……she's actually sorta freelance lesbian. But…yeah. Close enough."

"How's the Titans club going?"

"Oh……the usual. Just four of us these days."

"No kidding?"

"Yeah……numbers dwindle."

"What ever happened to that Heather girl?"

"Heather? Oh……I slit her throat, gutted her, and stuffed her in my closet," I joked blandly.

"I see," he nodded and stuffed his backpack with study materials. "Fascinating."

That was why I liked Alan…I guess. He could take a baseball bat to the head and shrug it off like Commander Spock.

"Look…," I gestured, "…you wanna walk home together? We're only a block apart."

He sighed. "I don't need a chaperone."

"Not a chaperone. For crying out loud…I just want someone to share my shadow on the way home. These streets get positively nasty this time of year. I bet you'd benefit from a walking buddy yourself, Alan."

"Yeah…I suppose. Two days ago, some punks on bicycles kicked me into the curb."

"Is that why your elbow's bruised?"

"No. That was Walter Paige in first period gym class."

"Alan…why the Hell do you let these kids pick on you so?"

He shrugged. "It happens." He closed his locker with a bit of force: the only hint of his inner frustration. "I'm not one to dictate fate."

"But you can always talk back."

"I never talk back. I talk with," he said. "As rare as it is…I'll talk to people who talk to me. Not talk against or about me."

"Want to talk about nothing while we walk?"

"Sure."

I've walked with Alan before. It was no biggie. We were a lot alike. Or so I thought at the time.

"I can understand why you girls like the Titans so much…," Alan rambled as we trodded down the sidewalk. Mid afternoon traffic roared past us. Pigeons hovered around awnings and businessmen and women filed in and out of hotel fronts of the City buildings towering above us. "Four of the Titans are guys. And supposedly handsome guys. It must be lucky to be a fangirl in this day and age."

I shrugged while walking. "That's not the way it works for Janice—"

"But the others. That blonde and the midget."

I smirked slightly. "Tiffany likes Robin and the midget—Hope—likes Beast Boy. Yes. It happens."

"Who do you like?"

"First off," I redirected, "…what about you?"

"I'm not much of a Titans fan."

"But surely Starfire and Raven are to die for."

Alan shrugged. "I guess."

I glanced at him sideways.

"It doesn't really matter anyways."

"Does it hurt to have an imagination?" I asked.

"Sometimes."

I winced.

"I hear some of you write and some of you draw."

"I draw," I nodded. "Hope and Janice writes."

"And Tiffany?"

"She does other stuff with her fingers. Hardly creative."

"But not all of us have to be creative," Alan said. "And not all of us have to like the Titans. They're just…lucky people is all. I'm sure some of us can obsess over them and find ways to distract ourselves from our own lives. But that's all the heroes are good for when they're not stopping crime. Distraction. Fantasy."

I took a deep breath. Everything Alan said, I believed in. But he was so destitute a soul that he would actually speak it out loud. All I could ever do with life was stare dispassionately at it and draw colors that didn't exist.

"But if I had to choose……um………Supergirl?" Alan's eyes squinted.

"Um……she's not a Titan."

"She isn't?"

"Nope."

"Well…screw it then," he grunted. "She'd might as well be."

"You sound so down, Alan. Do you always get this despondent when we talk about girls?"

"Perhaps."

I glanced at him curiously. "You are……um………ya know……"

"I like girls, Lisa," he grumbled. "Just……don't have time for them."

"Don't be shitting me. Of course you do."

"No, I don't," he emphasized. "School takes up too much of my time."

"With what? Head-In-Toilet-Bowl 101?"

"That isn't funny……"

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I just don't see why you let those punks constantly take advantage of you."

"Life is all about being taken advantage," Alan said. "The whole point of existence is learning to be humbled."

I thought about my mother. I wanted to punch something. The nearest person was Alan. So I restrained myself for later…

"It's a hot day," Alan wiped the sweat from his brow.

I glanced at the familiar building front coming up to our right.

"Wanna step up to my place momentarily?"

"What for?"

"I got lemonade," I said. "It may be Fall soon, but it's still hot."

"Pavement ocean will do that."

"So how about it?"

"Well……I suppose I'm in no hurry this afternoon."

"Good…maybe you could go cruising for girls right away."

"Up to your apartment we go…," Alan grumbled and walked in through the entrance.

I opened the door with my key and walked in.

Alan trailed me.

"Is your sister in?" he asked.

"Nah, she's working."

"What's her job?"

"She's a waitress by day."

"And by night?"

"An even sexier waitress."

"Heh. Lovely."

"Naw, I'm just kidding," I closed the door behind us. It was a good apartment. And when I say 'good', I mean two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, and an awkwardly large living room. There were two wide windows leading to a fire escape. We were on the eighth floor of the building. Beyond the edge of the adjacent building, one could look out and see a piece of the Bay. It was……'good'. "I was just trying to get a reaction of you, Alan."

"Well it didn't' work."

"Didn't think it would. Lemonade?"

"Yeah, sure."

I shuffled over into the kitchen and poured the two of us a glass. Homemade lemonade. The best stuff. I was glad Alan could trust me. "My sister does urban real estate," I said as I handed him his glass and picked up my backpack again. "She keeps telling me that some day she'll be investing in the really bigass, rich skyrises and earning enough for us to move to Westhaven or something."

"Do you look forward to that?"

"I look forward to a day when one can get a buzz off of lemonade."

"I see. Fine."

I sipped from my glass, hoisted my backpack, and headed for my room. "Follow me. I wanna show you something."

"Whatever." He sipped some. "I never got to ask you. Who's your favorite Titan?"

I opened the door. One window was dimly lighting my room, but not enough. So I flipped on a bulb overhead in the ceiling.

"Guess." I uttered.

-click-

Alan blinked.

The wall of my room stretched besides the bed was covered from ceiling to knee-level with sketches. Black and white pieces of art that I had carefully shaded and constructed by hand. Some were in anime style, some in classic western comic art style, but most were the most accurate and flattering portraits I could muster.

And they were all of one Titan in particular……

"Ah…," Alan sipped from his glass some. "I should have guessed."

"Yeah……I'm a dark freak."

"So……did the fact that he once was a bad guy phase you at all?"

I tossed the backpack onto my bed with a fwomp! "No." I folded my arms and observed the dozens of Noirs splayed across the wall like a shrine. "Besides…Robin was once a 'bad guy', and all the girls still swoon over him."

"Touche'," Alan nodded. "I hear all the girls swoon over this new guy too. Decided to join the flock."

"I don't see him in that manner," I said. I fingered the edge of one printout I had neglected to sticker down to the wall like all the others. "It's rather complicated……I guess. Noir just seems so……so……"

"Depressed?"

I looked at Alan.

Alan looked back.

"He………smiles……ya know," I remarked. "Ever seen photos taken at public gatherings?"

"I guess it's just that he doesn't talk and he wears shades all the time."

"It's like he's keeping a secret," I murmured…staring at the multiple images like a psychedelic fly's eye.

"Wait……crap…," Alan suddenly uttered. "You drew all of these?!"

"Um……duh."

"I'm sorry, Lisa. I didn't realize," he gulped. "They're certainly………beautiful."

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah. Must have taken you forever."

I shrugged. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the sketch I had worked on at the picnic table that morning.

"I work whenever I'm not busy breathing and stuff. It keeps me sane."

I can only imagine.

"This is my latest work," I taped it on the wall above my bed alongside all the other sketches. "I don't know whether to be proud or scared."

Alan leaned forward curiously.

"Hey……Noir's sunglasses are off."

"Yup," I nodded.

"And his eyes………they're…"

"Black," I pointed at the dark shading I applied across the entire optics. "Solid……black……"

"I thought that was only a rumor."

"There's this one photo on the Internet," I said. "Supposedly it was taken by one of the police officers who was there the night Viper bit the dust."

"Ah yeah…the old desalination plant."

"It's a little grainy…but it shows Noir without his shades off."

"Is it his secret identity?"

"I have no idea," I twirled a lock of brown hair besides my ear and stared at my creation. "But it certainly……intrigues me."

"I can only imagine."

"How'd those eyes get that way. Does it hurt him to have black eyes? Are they useful in some manner that makes them equally a curse?"

"I suppose only he could tell……and yet still," Alan pointed. "The guy can't talk."

I nodded. "Yeah……sad that."

"I see you draw the scar on his neck well in all of these pics," Alan said. "Any news camera could catch that a mile away."

"Is it just me…or is the latest Titan to join the team the most……badass and mysterious?"

"I still have my chips betting on Robin in that department."

"Fine by me. Just don't develop a crush on him."

"Why…cuz that'd make me gay?"

"No…cuz it'd make you cliché."

"And who do you have a crush on, Lisa?" Alan suddenly asked.

I bit my lip and twirled my hair more.

"Robin or Noir?"

I breathed. Relaxed. Then said: "Noir, of course."

"Of course?"

I gestured stupidly at all of the sketches.

"Need you say more……," he mused.

"Nope," I shook my head. "Noir is……fantasy and fantasy alone."

"All the way to the black eyes."

"I'll admit that there's reality in that," I said. "And I intend to find out more."

"How?"

"Hell if I know," I sighed. "All I'll ever do is draw more."

"Yeah, I suppose."

A beat.

"Well…now it's time I kick you out," I gestured for Alan to follow me back into the atrium.

He stumbled along. "Have I offended you already?"

"Hardly," I reply. "I'm just late for a very important date."

"With who-----ohhhhhhhh right."

I almost smiled.

The door opened.

Janice hopped out with a Frankenstein's Monster mask.

"Rrrrraugh!! Hello, glazed one!! Now give me your braaaaaaaain!!"

I stood in the apartment doorway, rolling one of my eyes.

"Hey there. Where's your girlfriend, Janice?"

Janice ripped the mask off and frowned. "Can't you take a joke?"

"I thought I just made one," I countered.

"That's cruel!"

"What, that your boyfriend would be Frankenstein's monster?"

"No, that I'd have a boyfriend period!" Janice then smirked and motioned. "Come on in!"

I shuffled into her apartment. It was a loft on the very top of a building three blocks down from mine. Still in the same district. She led me up the ever-so-familiar stairs that opened to the rooftop of the fifteenth story. We walked across the stretch of roof under a glow of amber sunset as a crystalline, rooftop greenhouse rested before us. Warm and inviting.

"What's that satchel you got there on your hip?" Janice asked.

"Oh. Sketches. I made some fanart per request of you morons."

"Hehehehe……lovely. The girls are gonna dig them, I just know it!"

"Are they here already—"

"Yup! And now you! Club ready and assembled!"

Janice opened the glass door to the greenhouse. Under the shade of hanging plants and foliage, a picnic blanket stretched out and there sat the beautifully wilted forms of Tiffany and Hope. They looked up, bright and bushy-tailed that early evening.

Janice spread her arms out. "Ta to the daaaa!!"

Hope giggled. "Why, Miss Starfire! What strange clothes you're wearing!"

"All the more to eat you with, my dear," Janice winked. She gestured at me. "Have a seat, toots. Fangirl patheticness shall commence…but first lemme go grab some Pepsi for the stagnant road."

"Be back soon, pilgrim," I droned. I shuffled over and gave the two girls a mediocre gaze of glazed serenity. "So…Beach Blanket Bingo and Annette's not invited?"

"Well…the bean bag chairs were kinda yucky from last time," Hope blushed.

"I liked them!" Tiffany beamed. She was hugging a Robin plushie to her chest. Heh. "So what if Janice's dog slobbered all over them??"

Hope shuddered. "Ew. I hate dog. Dog is evil."

I smirked. I loved Hope. "You should get a cat, Hope."

"Eviler. They claw your eyes out."

"You know…for a girl who likes Beast Boy so much," Tiffany winked. "You sure are fickle with your animals."

"It's not the same thing."

"Tell that to your fantasies."

"I don't have any fantasies…"

"Sure you don't," Tiffany stuck her tongue out. "I'm the sane one. At least I know Robin wouldn't spontaneously turn into a wolf in the middle of—"

"SODA!!" Janice bounded back in. "I only had diet, that okay?"

"Like…whatever," Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Nutrasweet doesn't bother me."

"I'll give it a shot," Hope said, reaching out as Janice handed her and I one.

I flipped the can open and took a sip. "So…what's the first order of business?"

"Fan art! Fan art!" Hope chanted.

"Uh uh uh," Janice waved her finger. "Opening ceremony."

"Egads…," Tiffany grumbled. I don't even know why we do this still…"

"Come on! It's tradition!"

"Well, allright. Who wants to start?"

"I will!" Hope cheered. The nutrasweet must have already been kicking in.

"Take it up, girl."

Hope stood up, cleared her throat, and held her hand up. "All Titan admirers of the Titan Loft Club commune."

"Aye."

Everyone collectively chanted in more or less passion.

"We members of the Titan Loft Club do hereby solemnly swear this week as every other week to support the Titans in their vigilantism and spread the word of their good deeds far and wide. So be it."

"Gawd, that's corny," Tiffany grunted.

"So what?" Janice smirked. "It builds character."

Hope giggled.

"Allright then…fan art," I droned. I pulled a sheet or two out and handed them to Tiffany and Hope respectfully. "Hope you like it, Tiffany."

She was already drooling. "Oh…..dear Robin….where'd you get those abs….?"

"Eeek!" Hope remarked. "What type of picture did you make her?"

I stared. "Robin's body-building in the gym. Sorry, Tiff, I got sorta lazy with the background. I don't honestly know what the Titans' training room looks like…."

"Who cares about a background….," Tiffany murmured.

"How do you like yours, Hope?" Janice asked.

"It's great!" the girl smiled.

"Can I see?"

Hope hoisted the picture I drew up. One of the rare times I used color pencil. All six Titans were posing on a street corner. But there was a seventh member. It was Hope's physical description of 'Beast Girl', and I decided to take up the challenge and actually sketch her. She stood next to Beast Boy, of course. Her skin and hair were green—like his—but her hair was done in a long, braided ponytail like Hope told me she had always wanted it. I had fun doing her outfit…which looked like something stolen out of a cross-breed between Power Rangers and Tomb Raider. Don't ask.

"She's so cute!" Hope remarked, pointing at 'Beast Girl'.

"Gee, I wonder who Lisa drew inspiration from?" Janice remarked.

"Yeah…I wonder," I murmured.

"Seriously…she's awesome, Lisa," Hope said. "Thank you."

"I was hoping you'd like it." I then cleared my throat and looked at Janice, "Janice…sorry, but…I'm still working on yours."

"Oh, that's okay."

"I'm about halfway through it though. I'm having a hard time figuring out what Raven's wrist looks like….before I even start to draw blood coming out from it."

"It shouldn't be hard," Janice smirked. "Pale skin meets scarlet river."

"Ick," Tiffany mumbled.

"Hey…you gotta love the angsty and gothic nature of passion!" Janice grinned. "Wouldn't you love a vampire Robin for once, Tiff?"

"His teeth are good for smiling. And that's it."

"Robin smiling?" Hope giggled.

"Oh hush! He'd smile for me."

I tried not to laugh at that.

"So!" Hope jumped. "I had an interesting e-mail from one of my forum members tonight!"

"Oh really?"

"Do tell."

"Okay…he said that he heard from a website that they're coming out with an animated t.v. show."

"And animated t.v. show?"

"About the Titans."

"No way!"

"Whose permission would they have to get for that?"

"Beats me. The Titans' legend is pretty much public domain, I think."

"What I wonder is…how're they gonna speculate on the inside of the Tower and the secrets of the identities and whatnot? I mean…ARE they going to speculate at all?"

"I'm sure some creative license can be used."

"Who're they using for the art department?"

"They should hire Lisa."

"Hehehe…yeah! That'd be great!"

I rolled my eyes. "Not gonna happen. Not in this lifetime."

"Why not?"

"Best not to put one's hopes up for stuff like that. I draw because I'm as obsessive as you kids."

"Kids?! I'm the oldest one here, toots!"

"We all know that, Janice…."

"And that brings up another thing. How do you make a cartoon show about the Titans?"

"Uhhhhh—"

"With all the battles with Slade, Viper, Wyldecarde—you think that'd be too violent for a kid's show!"

I cleared my throat.

Janice chuckled. "My bad…Miss dark-lover over here."

"Thank you very much."

"Oye…what do you see in that Noir dude anyways?" Tiffany hugged her Robin plushie closer. "He's so….freaky."

"He's hot," Hope interjected.

Tiffany nodded. "Yeah…well…..hehe…."

"With all that long hair, what's he trying to do?" Janice remarked. "I think he's flirting with the wrong crowd!"

"He's not flirting with anyone," I droned. "All he does…is do his job."

"You mean…fight crime."

"Yes…but I think it's more complicated than that."

"How so?"

I leaned back, sighed, and thought aloud: "Noir is….not your typical superhero. We all know that, right?"

"Right."

"Right!"

I continued: "Plus…he joined the Titans really late into the timeline of the fighting team. Right?"

"Uh huh….."

"On top of that, his actions and his silence and his way of kicking ass and everything comes together---"

"What are you getting at, Lisa?"

I folded my arms. "Noir is….very alone." A beat. "And hiding something."

"Something….something bad?"

I smirked ever so slightly. "I think he's proven already he has very little to hide that's dangerous to his teammates."

"You mean the whole Wyldecarde thing?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Robin had to do that too to defeat Slade. You remember that, right Tiff?"

"Gawd, yes," Tiffany nearly fainted with her swoon. "Robin was so hot in that dark jumpsuit…"

I tried to ignore that.

"You like Noir, don't you?" Janice eyed me, amused.

"Well…yeah," I nodded. A beat. "Not that I'd toss my underwear at him if he were to appear." I glared at Tiffany.

Tiffany glared back.

"Everyone has their quirks," Hope simpered.

"Do you ever…draw him?" Tiffany asked.

My lips curved. That was the most fateful question of that evening.

I pulled out something I had prepared. The sketch I had showed Alan earlier. I held it up for the girls to see.

"Ooooooooh."

"Wow….."

"Freaky…."

"It's not freaky, Janice!" I retorted. "It's based on fact!"

"You think his eyes look like that?"

"I know they do!"

"Like….did you see a photograph?"

I bit my lip. "Kinda sorta. It's mainly based on eyewitness testimony."

"Why do you suppose he has eyes like that?"

"Was he born with them?"

"Man…they'd freak me out."

"Why's that, Tiff?"

"Just look at them! God didn't make those! Heh…if he saved me from a bunch of crooks in the middle of a dark alley, I wouldn't know who to be scared of most!"

"He ain't Robin—"

"You can say that again! He ain't Robin! Whatever eyes Robin has, they've got to be angelic for sure!"

"Hehehe…when Beast Boy turns into an animal, they often say his eyes turn gray. But black? Brrrrr…hehehe."

"I hope he doesn't hit on Raven any. A boy with peepers that scary, he'd see right through her and Starfire! Hahaha!"

The three companions of mine giggled and chattered on. And slowly the sketch wilted from my grasp. I gazed at it longingly and sighed. Who was I to think I could understand something I wasn't sure was….sure?

The rest of the evening we talked about Cyborg's T-Car, the implications of Raven and Starfire on the gay community (which I thought was exaggerated), rumors about Raven and…um…demon stuff, and then we had a long and outstanding argument/debate thingy about what type of underwear the guy Titans wear. It got evened out between boxers and briefs until Janice stepped in and won it over to boxers….though most of us seriously doubted that Raven and Starfire wore boxers. Then Janice insisted that she once found (and lost) a pair of boxers that just had to have fallen out of Raven's room in the Tower and that it had the blood stains on it with her DNA. Then Tiffany said that was the grossest thing she had ever heard and Janice replied by emphasizing that it was blood from Raven's nightly wrist-purging because of her angsty life and around that time I nearly fell asleep, so I asked to go home early.

"How can you be asleep with your eyes wide open as they are?" Janice smirked on the way out the door with me.

"I'm tired in the head. Not in the sockets," I mumbled.

"I swear…I haven't seen you blinked those depressed peepers all night."

"Good night, Janice."

"Heheh…until later, Lisa."

When I got home, my sister was already in. She was talking on the phone in her bedroom. The T.V. was left on.

'Citizens of the Western District have been advised to stay calm and keep their loved ones indoors while police continue their investigation as to the runaway suspect Ferdinand Creed, otherwise known by his mutant alias 'Fang'. He escaped from prison earlier today and has been declared a potential threat to security in all areas of the—'

-Click-

I turned the t.v. off and headed into my room.

My mind wandered……

Fang?

Sounds like a job for the Teen Titans………heh.

Go get 'em, Tigers.

I was tired that evening. I gathered my bedclothes and headed straight into the bathroom. I left the main light out. Only the nightlight besides the sink was on. I always showered in the 'dark'. It helped me think my way through Obsession Land.

I leaned on the sink and faced the mirror.

That same glazed look. The depressed stare that nobody understood or tried to. And—I couldn't help but think—that perhaps Alan understood. His face sang it like a Blues guitar. It haunted me in my dreams more than the Titans ever did.

I just remembered I had laundry to do before showering.

I sighed.

Nonchalantly as always, I opened a drawer beneath the sink and pulled two things out. The first was a plastic case with a puddle of sanitary fluid. I reached a hand up to my left eye and swiftly pulled it out. I placed my glass eye in the case. I then reached into the drawer and pulled out my eyepatch. The one I slept with every night. Covering my missing optic from childbirth, I glanced back up at the mirror.

And, yes, I saw myself. But I also saw my bored self trying to remain sanity at school, on the way home, and at Janice's for the club meeting. Everyone but me—it seemed—was afraid of Noir. Sure, it was easy to love Robin for his good looks and bravery…or Beast Boy with his kind nature and perseverance……or any of the other Titans for their debonair or beauty. But why did people have to see nothing but scariness in Noir?

I saw nothing but good in him. His darkness. His frightening aura.

Nothing but good……

Right?

I sighed at myself.

I had to distract my mind. Keep myself focused on more important things. School. College scholarships. Community service.

I thought of Alan…and I thought of the Lisa he knew. And I saw the 'assassin' staring back at me in the mirror.

Who am I kidding? Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll see Noir some day and we'll strike up a conversation. Badasses could walk in pairs, after all.

I stumbled my way out of the bathroom door and to the laundry machines set up in the kitchen closet.

Dark hair appeared. Straight. Slick. Running down the neck.

"I don't know what to say about Alan. He's like one in a million of hard-luck cases out there. Hell, even I'm one. So what' s the point in pitying him?"

A pale neck. A pale face. Dark eyebrows. An air of sickly menace.

"Well…maybe it's not exactly 'pity' as it is something else. What exactly? I'm not sure. I feel bad for Alan. And yet, I feel 'with' him. You know what I mean? Like we're in the same boat. Not always the same seas…but both at risk of being tipped over. I guess that's why I think about him so much. And……it's not like I've ever put myself out on a limb to rescue him for pity's sake……"

A slender nose. Firm, set lips. A slightly angular chin. A touch of cheekbones.

"I don't think of Alan ALL the time, of course. He's a sweet kid…in his bitterly sullen way, that is. But if I was to get to know someone………like REALLY get to know someone……it'd be someone who truly understands pain. Someone who deals with hurt instead of trying to strive past it. Cuz being hurt is a part of life. Whether you're good or bad. Good or bad……"

A tight bandanna. An opened collar. The touch of camouflage beneath the neck.

"I can't stop thinking about you. Pfft……I feel as bad as Tiffany. But unlike her…I actually think about my infatuation. And unlike you……I have to admit……though you probably know it already……I've hated you. I've hated you so much. And yet……"

Lids. Lashes. Eyes. Black eyes. Black, black, black eyes. My pencils came to a stop and I looked at the face.

"……I would do anything to understand. Why they are like that."

I traced a finger around one of the two freshly drawn optics.

"Did you get them……the same way I lost one of mine?"

Silence.

I sighed.

I was sitting in bed with the covers halfway up.

I closed the drawing notebook, slid it closed in my bedside table drawer, and flipped out the lights.

Moonlight kissed its way through my window as I turned over in bed and laid my eyepatched head to rest.

Sighing……………

It was nearly half an hour till midnight when I heard the thumping.

I stirred in bed and slowly sat up, rubbing my one right eye. I squinted and looked across the bedroom.

Pale sketches of a black eyed swordsman rested on the wall. The white of the paper reflected in the moonlight.

And at once…they all blinked.

I gasped.

Something was clamoring up the fire escape.

The clanking followed loosely behind the shadow…as if the thing was moving faster than sound.

CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!!!

I bit my lip.

A beat.

I kicked the covers off me.

I slipped out of bed in my pjs.

I reached under the bed.

I pulled out a baseball bat.

I slowly……slowly……approached the window.

I parted the curtain slightly.

I looked out onto the naked fire escape.

The moonlight was positively blinding.

Stabbing……into my one eye.

I took a breath.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!!

Something dark streaked past my window.

I let out a shriek and limped backwards, holding a wobbling baseball bat out at arm's reach.

Trembling.

Silence.

I swallowed a large gulp.

I stepped forward again.

I peered upwards through the top of the window frame the best I could.

Something was happening on the rooftop………

Somehow, the fear dwindled. The darkness of the night enveloped me. Curiosity rose up out of the ground and I was moving out of my bedroom and into the living room where the one large window would let me escape……

Out onto the fire escape.

A cold, late August wind was kicking at my chocolate brown hair.

I came up the last platform of the fire escape. One hand gripped a railing. The other held my baseball bat.

Still wearing my eyepatch, I spun around and looked at the City Streets below me.

My right eye narrowed.

I could have positively sworn I saw……Starfire?

I blinked.

Starfire!

A green streak of energy in a female form rocketed down the street beneath me. Trailing behind were the T-Car and the R-Cycle. And I could have sworn I saw a green falcon as part of the group. At some coordinated point, the four distinct groups of travelers split and headed down four separate paths at an intersection. Branching out.

"Searching the City……," I murmured into the wind.

I brushed a dangling strand of hair out from my eye and took a breath. I turned around. Facing the rooftop. The wide and darkly lit rooftop.

With a brave breath, I hoisted myself up by the railing of the fire escape and slowly padded barefoot across the rooftop. The world felt cold in my PJ pants and long-sleeved shirt. With……er……Princess Jasmine on them. Gawd…why'd my sister have to shop at the Disney Store???

I was about halfway across the rooftop when I realized I had no idea what the Hell I was looking for. And when it occurred to me that there was something—or someone—out in this area that the Titans were more than likely looking for, I started to feel shivers run up and down my frame.

I bit my lip and stumbled backwards. A stairwell jutted up out of the rooftop. I figured that I could take the stairs down to my apartment's floor and knock on the front door for my sis to let me in. I'd have to explain the Disney pajamas and baseball bat to her later.

As I marched towards the stairwell, a cold amber light flickered on before me.

I gasped and nearly fell in my step. The fuse must have been dirty. The light strained to stay on.

I sighed with a touch of relief and sauntered forward.

And that's when the huge shadow of an eight-legged freak appeared in the light.

I gasped.

I looked up.

FWOOOSH!!!!

Something with flailing limbs.

I stumbled back, but was caught by a pair of strong, human arms around my shoulders.

Human???

I looked straight up and dropped my jaw at the sight of an arachnid face perched upon a human body.

The mandibles twitched and drooled as some ghastly voice muttered: "Stay right where you are!!"

"Daaah!! Walking shitstain!!" I raised my bat to strike his face….thorax…the hell was that thing??

CLAMP!!!

Two jaggedy arachnid legs came down from his……neck?……and clamped over the bat.

I grunted, jerking.

He shoved me with his human arms.

"Aaaugh! Oof!" I landed hard on my butt. I winced.

It was Fang. And Fang was sinister. He walked on two human legs and tossed the bat away with a few spider limbs while glaring down at me with his multiple eyes.

"Where did you come from, just now??"

"What's it to you, circus rag?!"

SWOOOSH-GRIP!!!!

I gasped for breath.

I was lifted harshly in the air by four spider toes poking into my neck from all sides.

The multiple eyes of Fang narrowed. "You…are…a…witness!"

"To what??" I wheezed. "Charlotte's Harem?! I live here!!"

"Not any longer…," he glared.

He started carrying me over towards the edge of the rooftop. The light from the stairwell flickered like a strobe behind him. Glaring off the stray hairs jutting out of his spider butt behind his neck.

"You know why I was sent to prison?" he snarled. "Because I always lose control. I lose control of my composure. I lose control of my temper. And I lose control of my grip."

That said, he prepared to toss me down seventeen stories with a single lunge of his legs.

I gritted my teeth and sweat coldly…

"As much as I'd enjoy sucking the juices out of you for strength in getting out of town. I need you as bait," he uttered. "The Titans are looking for me. And it'd be just my luck to snatch one up in my web. I WILL have revenge for being in the slammer!!"

Just then, the stairwell light died. A shadow was perched atop the structure. A pair of sunglasses glinted the moonlight like wolf eyes.

I gasped.

SWOOOOOOSH!!!!

The shadow streaked over.

CHIIIIING!!!!

Sparks flew and a wooden sword appeared out of nowhere.

CL-CLANK!!!!!

Two spider limbs were knocked away and freed from me.

"RAAAUGH!!" Fang growled.

I gasped for breath.

The spider freak dropped me, spun around, and raised his limbs threatening at the shadow.

But the shadow was gone.

"The Hell??" Fang remarked. Then he groaned. "Oh crap…not THAT Titan!!"

Something appeared beside me.

I wanted to shriek—but felt a cold metal hand over my lips. Then a flesh hand took me by the shoulder and swiftly moved me towards the center of the rooftop and away from the monster. I looked at my savior. I saw a pair of glossy lenses looking back. A fountain of black hair and---

I gasped.

SWOOOOSH!!!!

The shadow let go of me and instantly pounced upon the spider mutant.

SLASH!!!!

A wooden sword swam through the moonlight.

SLIIINK!!!

"AUGH!!!"

Fang spun around, his legs flung at the Titan in a twirl.

The Titan ducked, rolled across the ground, and came up with a leaping uppercut of his sword.

CLANK!!!

Fang blocked, pushed the Titan back with his spider legs, and opened his mandibles wide.

SPLORT!!!!!

A stream of web fluid flew at the Titan.

A raise of the sword caused the fluid to split. And the Titan was stabbing into the villain.

As the two struggled, I panted and looked across the rooftop.

I found my bat.

I ran over, slid, scooped it up, and dashed in to assist.

As I charged the rear of the beast, I saw deposits of webbing across the rooftop. The Titan had his boot stuck in the fluid and was struggling to get loose. Fang lifted his four spider limbs to poke the boy to death.

I held my breath, swung the bat up, and brought it down hard on the arachnid abdomen.

WHAP!!!

"OW!!!" Fang shouted lamely. Two legs shot back and swept my feet out from under me.

I fell hard to the ground. My bat rolled a foot or two away.

Fang spun about. His mandibles quivered angrily. "How about I give you a new airhole, bitch?!" He stabbed his sharpest spider toe down at me.

I winced.

SWIIIISH!!!!

CLANK!!!

A wooden sword was suddenly blocking the stab.

I gasped.

The Titan now stood before me. One of his boots was missing. He struggled to hold the beast back. A metal hand reached down towards a communicator on his side.

"No you don't!!!!" Fang shouted. He swung his human fist across the hero's cheek.

SMACK!!!!

CLACK!!!

A pair of black-as-night shades flew off over the roof's edge.

The boy spun clumsily towards the stairwell. His eyes blurring black…

………and it was exactly then and there that the light flickered back on.

FLASH!!!!!

"!!!!!!!" the Titan exhaled and gripped his face tightly.

I gasped.

He spun around, his eyes clenched shut. His mouth tense with pain.

ZAP!!!!

A magical bolt of energy flew from Fang's mandibles and struck the Titan dead-center.

The boy twitched once…twice…then became as still as a statue. His arms in a catatonic pose. Stiff as a board.

"HA!!!!" Fang flexed his limbs and hungrily twitched his mandibles. "You are a newbie after all!!! Heheheh…I think I'll suck your blood out and spit it out as ink for the Titans' ransom letter!!!

SWOOOOOOOSH!!!

"Huh?!" Fang looked over.

A baseball bat flew at his skull like a missile.

SMACK!!!!

"OOF!!!" he shouted as the projectile sent him flying back and plummeting directly over the edge.

I ran over and looked down the dark alleyway.

CLUMP!!!!

Sound reverberations rose up and announced the thunderous impact of Fang's mutated body with the ground far below. He seemed out cold…but judging from what I've heard and read on the news…the freak would be up and at it in mere seconds.

I panted and spun around.

The Titan's body was frozen still in place……and then started to teeter.

I gasped and ran over in time to grab him. I grunted and used all of my strength to hold him in place.

"Hey!!" I hissed. "Pssst! Hey!!"

No response.

His eyes were clenched shut.

His lips pursed immortally.

His limbs unmoving.

I bit my lip. I snaked a finger up and felt his pulse. I sighed with relief.

He was still alive.

"Rrrrghhh!!" a grumbling sound emanated from down below in the avenue.

I gasped. "You're…you're paralyzed! He'll tear you apart if he comes up here again and you're like this!!"

A beat.

I looked around for solutions. I took a deep breath.

"Lisa……what are you getting yourself into???"

It felt like an eternity, but it was only five or six minutes later.

Summoning all of my strength, I managed to drag the boardlike body of the Titan down the fire escape and to the level of my apartment. I could hear Fang coming to life from down below. Searching around. Starting to climb……

I wiped sweat from my brow and tried to drag the Titan's body down one last flight of stairs.

CL-CL-CL-CLANK!!!!

His one boot and one sock clattered down the metal steps.

His body all but collapsed on top of me outside my window. The unmistakable yellow roundness of the Titan's communicator fell free from his fatigues and fell loosely to the distant alleyway floor below.

"Shit!!" I winced. A beat. I took a deep breath, gripped his shoulders, grunted, and pulled him towards the open window. I needed more anchorage……so with a touch of hesitancy, I pulled at his long black hair and practically yanked him in with me into the living room.

CLUMP!!! TH-THWUMP!!

We collapsed together over a couch, against a coffee table, and onto the floor.

"………………ow," I grunted.

I jumped up, scurried over to the window, pivoted his lower body down onto the couch, slammed the window shut, and pulled the windows closed.

I then rushed over and knelt on the floor besides the paralyzed Titan's body. Panting. Watching the window.

Silence……………

"……………………"

Silence……………………

………

…………

……………a shuffle.

An echo.

I bit my lip.

I saw a freaky shadow against the alleyway walls creeping up. Like multiple limbs……

"Crud……," I whispered. "Crud crud crud crud crud……"

I looked at the window……then at the body. I sensed a thin breath coming out of the boy's nostrils and against my arm.

"Gotta get you somewhere where you can't easily be seen."

"Nnnnnghhhh!!! And……stay………in………there!!"

I finished shoving the Titan up on his feet into my closet.

"S-Sorry about the smell. Too much leather………ahem."

I shut the door on him.

"I'll let you out soon! I promise!" I exclaimed. A beat. I wrung my hands and sweat. "Hopefully th-that paralysis thing will wear off." I shook my head. "Just hang on!!"

I ran to my bedroom door and considered sneaking past the living room window to tell my sister……when I stopped myself.

No……what good would my sister do? She'd call the police or something and draw attention. And surely Fang would watch the police come, follow them to this apartment, and nab the Titan away for his 'revenge' or whatever. A bunch of policemen are no match for a mutant like that!

And there was no way I could contact the Titans. Even if I tried……Fang was circling that apartment just about now—I bet—and he'd find me and follow me down and……do lord knows what.

I leaned against the wall. Squinting with my one eye. Thinking………

A beat.

I glanced over at the dozens of sketches of Noir. The irony of it all.

I gasped.

"I know!"

I rushed over to the phone. I dialed a number.

I waited.

"………………"

After a couple of rings, there was a response on the other end.

'H-Hello?'

"J-Janice??"

'Lisa???'

"Janice! Thank goodness you answered! Look, I'm in a real pinch."

'Lisa……it's like…midnight. What's going on?'

"Did any of the girls spend the night?"

'Funny you should ask that…yeah…Both Hope and Tiffany. They were gonna ride in to school with me in the morning.'

"Do me a favor. Wake them up. Play carpool. Come over to my place……now."

'What?!'

"Just do it, Janice! Trust me! I……I-I need your help?"

'What for?! What's going on??'

I gulped.

I looked over at the closet.

I hugged the phone's receiver nervously to my cheek.

"You'll never guessed who just dropped on by……"