117. Everyone Loves a Sleeping Bird
In a dark room, a lone metal table sat under the dim glow of a white light. A two mirror rested against one wall of the small interior, reflecting the emptiness contained within. There was a door on either side...cold and metal like the table itself.
After an interminable period of silence, the door on the right side opened.
CREEEAK!!!
Two gray-dressed guards marched in. They ushered a petite figure between them. A figure with dainty, pale wrists shackled in handcuffs and her pink hair drawn back in a ponytail. With her head hung and eyes firm...a sullen Jinx was guided to the table. A chair was dragged over from the corner by a guard...who gestured towards it. The girl sat down. Not saying a word. Not even sighing.
A beat.
The two guards stood in a corner on either side of the room behind the table. They waited.
".............," Jinx sat silently.
The handle of the door on the opposite side turned.
Light poured in momentarily...blocked by a short, thin shadow crossing the rays and shuffling into the room. The door closed behind.
Click!!
Jinx dazedly looked up. Her cat-eyes were thin. Her lips taut.
Beast Boy slowly shuffled over to the table. He paused...staring at her.
"........," Jinx quietly looked away.
A beat.
Beast Boy slowly opened his mouth and spoke: "Ya know....how long have you been here in prison? Two months now??"
"................."
"I've talked with the chief Warden. He says the guards only report perfect conduct from you. Not once have you shouted or acted out of order. You've not caused a disturbance inside or outside of your cell. You haven't tried escaping. I don't think you've even used your powers....not once in all this time."
"................."
"And....well....Robin did some research for me. And he says that---before when you were with HIVE---your wreckless behavior while in custody was well over two hundred percent greater than anything you do now."
A beat.
Beast Boy paced a bit and continued: "What that all boils down to is....you're not the bad little girl you used to be, Jinx. Yes....I know that---by working with Slade---you've settled yourself for at least thirty years in this place, and even that's an iffy grace period. But....in spite of whatever little hope you have of getting out of here because of the things you've done....you practically live like an angel. Or better yet...a statue."
Beast Boy stopped. He walked over and leaned against the table, facing the sitting girl at eye-level.
"You've changed. And I think you know that too. And seeing that the last time you ever spoke or said anything was back in the day when we were all fighting each other....then maybe now that one of the Titans is standing before you and stuff....you'll start talking again? You'll maybe start....I dunno....explaining just....just what your wishes are now that you've gotten yourself here?"
"............," Jinx stared through the table.
"Jinx.......," Beast Boy leaned his head to the side. "....none of the other Titans would come here. I think....I think they're afraid of you. I know they won't admit it. Heh....Raven would rather kill people then admit fear. But...when we think of you, we think of Slade now. You're no longer the punk girl who fought us just because she was part of HIVE. You remind us of what it means to feel pain....betrayal....and....and evil. But I know that there's more to it than that. The Titans....all of us....we've been blinded before. We know what it's like to be so obsessed with pain that we try to push the cause of it far away like smelly garbage. Heh...you even helped us with that when Noir was framed for all our bad luck and stuff. But...I know that we weren't the only ones hurt by Slade. Slade hurt you a lot, Jinx. I think....no....I know that it's because of him that you're here. It's because of Slade and all the evil things he did that you're stuck in this place for the rest of your foreseeable life. It's not the first time he's ever ruined a young girl's life....."
"It's not me that you're here for....," Jinx bitterly muttered. Her cat eyes burned through the table. "You and the Titans are merely overseeing the transfer of another crook...."
"..............," Beast Boy stared at her.
"Why don't you go and help them......," she droned. "I'm not here for one of your personal....'field trips'...."
"Jinx.....," Beast Boy leaned over further and spoke quietly....gently.... "Your sisters.....Slade had to have been lying about them. Won't you give the Titans a chance to help you? We have the resources! We can track them down with your help! We can—"
Jinx's head flashed up at him with glowing eyes of furious pink. "I said leave me alone!!!"
Her wrists glowed hot pink in the shackles.
The guards marched up to the rear of her chair, tasers ready.
Beast Boy held up a hand.
Silence.....
Jinx fumed....and slowly the pink fury died away. She took a deep breath and frowned down at the tabletop again.
"..........," Beast Boy sighed. He slowly turned and marched towards the door. "Guess I'll...ya know...try again in another two months."
The door opened....closed...and the room was silent again.
Jinx sat at her table. Her lungs heaved. Eventually, she bit her lip and hid her wet eyes in shackled palms.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"Allright!! Bring 'em out!" a warden hollered through a doorway leading into a glass chamber in another wing of the prison. He turned and faced us. "You kids ready?"
"Ready," Robin nodded.
"Well prepared," Starfire added.
".....we're not 'kids'," Raven droned.
The warden stepped back.
A shadow appeared in the doorway.
Robin held his metal staff out.
Raven and Starfire floated in the middle of the prison hallway.
Cyborg and I stood side by side besides a huge, plastic cart for special prisoner transport. He fingered the trigger to his sonic cannon. I held Myrkblade by my side...cautiously....
The shadows in the doorway increased, and four guards emerged. In between them was none other than Fang in orange prison garb. He walked on human feet. His human wrists were shackled heavily. His four 'spider limbs' were stretched up above his head and all bound together by a single steel ring. As if that wasn't enough, a 'muzzle' of sort was firmly planted over his fangs and mandibles. Beady, arachnid eyes blinked in freakish multiplicity across his dimpled, spider head.
Starfire shuddered with clattering teeth...visibly disturbed.
Raven concentrated. Her violet eyes were a solid glow of gray. She held a meditative hand out...ready to fling any sort of telekinetic power at the unruly prisoner if anything out of the ordinary were to happen.
"Gawd....," Cyborg muttered in a whispering breath aside to me. "...with that many feet, it'd be only natural to lose some socks in the wash!"
I snickered breathily.
The four guards led Fang towards the plastic transport. The beastly villain was to be escorted to Metropolis for a court case regarding a museum theft five years previous. With the history of Fang's escapism, the new chief warden felt it necessary to ask for special help during the moving process. None of us could blame him.
"No sudden moves.....," Robin muttered.
Finally, the guards brought Fang to the transport and prepared to shut the translucent door behind him.
"Well....," the warden walked over and stood amongst us. He smiled and planted his hands against his hips. "...that was certainly anticlimactic! The creep didn't even bother talking his mandibles off this time!"
"Yeah....," Fang suddenly growled, muffled. "....cuz if I did, the words from my lips would be 'DEATH TO THE TITANS!!!!!'"
CRACK!!!!!!!
The metal ring broke as the villain somehow got his limbs free.
Starfire gasped.
I grit my teeth.
THWAP!!! SMACK!!! WHAM!!!
"WAAAH!!!"
"AAAAUGH!!!"
"AAACK!!"
The guards around Fang cried out as his arachnid limbs tossed them against the walls of the room. The spider-person brought his mutated arms about and snapped off the muzzle. He reared his ugly head and showed his fangs. "RAAAAAUGH!!!!!"
"Titans!!" Robin twirled his staff and charged. "GO---"
WHAM!!!!
Fang suddenly rushed over and headbutted the Boy Wonder. "OOF!!"
CHHIIIING!! I swung Myrkblade at him in a charge--
THWACK!!!
He uppercutted me with a hooked foot, slamming me against a wall. WHUMP!!!
"Okay, pal!!" Cyborg shouted and aimed his sonic cannon. "Migraine for you!!!"
ZAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!
Fang dove out of the way from the blast, which sent cracks running rivers up a wall.
Starfire bit her lip and flung a flurry of starbolts. FLASH!!! FLASH!!! FL-FLASH!!!
Fang's legs scurried and he hopped each green blast before climbing onto the ceiling with his spider legs, grabbing Starfire by the shoulders with his human feet, and literally flinging her straight into Cyborg.
"EEEEK!!!!"
WHUMP!!!
"DAAH!!"
Four Titans lay on the floor, groaning.
THWUMP!!!
The spider-freak landed to the floor. It turned and faced the warden.
The man in question stumbled backwards...trembling....teeth chattering....
"Yessssss....heheheh....," Fang's mandibles glistened as he skittered over and leered above the man. "You.....I think I'll be sucking your bowels in through a straw tonight!!"
The warden flinched.
Fang hissed and dove at him.
"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!"
FLASH!!!!
Fang floated in a mid-air bubble of obsidian. "Awwww shoot."
SWOOOOOSH-WHAM!!!!
He was flung by telekinesis into a nearby wall.
Raven floated before him, frowning. Her eyes glowing bright and gray. "One of these days, somebody should squash you..."
"You think you punk kids are enough to stop me?!?!" Fang convulsed with as many of his limbs as he could manage. "I've broken out of this pathetic glass jar of a prison dozens of times and I'll do it again if I have to!! You damn Titans think you're so cool......ONE OF THESE DAYS, I'M GONNA BE EATING YOUR HEARTS OUT---"
Stomp-Stomp-Stomp-Stomp-Stomp!!!! WHAM!!!
A green rhino charged in from the hallway and slammed its massive horn into the mutant's prone body.
Raven let go of her energy field as Fang's body ragdolled into the plastic container.
WHUMP!!
"OOF!!!"
The guards got up to their feet—a little dizzy—and quickly managed to shut and lock the door behind the creep.
"RRRRAAAAAUGH!!!" Fang angrily shook and banged his way around the transparent cube on wheels, shouting in rage.
The warden wiped the sweat off his brow as Cyborg and I stood up beside him. "Taser 'em."
ZAAAP!!!
"DAAH!! JEEZ!!" Fang winced. His multiple eyes narrowed and he stood still...growling like a caged animal. But slightly sedated.
"Sorry I was late," Beast Boy said, brushing himself off in elf form. "Got a little jinxed."
"You should have been here earlier," Raven droned.
"You missed me that much?" he grinned.
"Hardly...."
Robin straightened his cape and helped Starfire to her feet. "Well....mental note. Expect anything when dealing with Fang. No matter how little the circumstance."
"I wasted that sonic blast for nothing!" Cyborg pouted. "Sheesh...you turn into a mutant arachnid punk and you think you can walk on water or something."
"Hey!!" Fang pounded on the side of the transport. "I was born this way---"
ZAAAP!!
"DAAH!! Okay!! Okay!!" He grumbled.
I glanced his way.
He glanced my way. His mandibles flared threateningly.
I stuck my tongue out, grinned, and sheathed Myrkblade. CHHHING!!!
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
"My...weren't you cool about Fang and everything, Noir?" Beast Boy mused as the six of us walked out of the Prison and towards the T-Car. The sun had just finished setting. Stars started to form in the night's sky.
I shrugged, smirking.
"I think Noir considers himself king of the spiders since that one on one battle they had beneath that apartment building," Cyborg said. "Y'all remember that?"
"Heheh....yeah," Robin nodded.
Raven said: "I also remember that—just thirty minutes ago—Noir was the second to be slammed to the ground when Fang nearly escaped."
I sweatdropped.
"I stand corrected, Rae," Cyborg winked down at her. They were walking side by side, actually. "You were the coolest of us all just then."
"Dude...she's ALWAYS the coolest of us all!" Beast Boy rolled his emerald eyes.
"It comes with meditation," Raven numbly said. "Momentarily occurrences of shock fail to fluster me."
"Is that a boast?" Cyborg asked.
"It's a fact."
"Suuuuure it is."
"........"
"Ahem.....moving on."
"Brrrrrrrr!!!" Starfire hugged herself while walking along and clenched her teeth nervously. "I do not enjoy fighting the one called 'Fang'! I do not enjoy fighting him at all!"
"Why not, Star?" Robin asked.
"He is far too dark and hairy and possessive of multiple, jagged legs."
Robin raised an eyebrow above his eyemask. "You're arachnophobic, Star?"
"Eh???" she looked at him. Her green eyes blinked. "I am afraid I have not yet acquainted myself with that term."
"It means afraid of creepy crawlies!" Beast Boy hopped. "Mainly spiders."
"ONLY spiders, actually," Raven said.
"Why, thank youuuuuu Mrs. Wizard!!!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Once you've fought one monstrous freak, you've fought them all," Robin said. "I'm surprised that—as many planets and alien creatures you've encountered and had to defend yourself against—you choose a spider-human hybrid of all things to be freaked out by."
"It is not so much 'being the freaked of the out' by Fang's ilk....," Starfire stammered. "It is difficult to explain. Why must such exquisite creatures on Terra Firma be so....so....."
"Squirmy?" Beast Boy asked, smiling.
Starfire shivered again.
Robin placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We're going back to the Tower now. You can get a good night's sleep and forget all about spiders and their multiple eyes and hairy fangs and twitching legs and—"
I coughed.
Robin and Starfire looked my way, curiously.
"What's that, Noir?" the Boy Wonder asked.
"He says 'shut up'," Cyborg shivered.
Beast Boy giggled.
We got inside the T-Car...and drove off.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
I couldn't sleep that night.
I could tell just by guessing that it had to have been eleven thirty or so in the evening and no amount of tossing or turning could wear me out enough to finally black out. Everytime my dark eyes closed and encased myself in blackness, I envisioned all sorts of squirmy legs running all over me and under the covers of my bed. And....no....it didn't help that I was wearing a sleeping mask for my sensitive eyes and couldn't see even a fraction of light with my lids open anyways.
At some point, I finally became a man about it and....gave up. I tossed my eyemask off and sat on the edge of my bed. Frustrated....exhausted....but insomniac.
I sighed.
I picked my shades up off my bedside table. In a white bedshirt and gray shorts, sauntered through the darkness to the door of my underground room. Once outside in the dimly let, metal 'cellar' of the Tower...I put my shades on and scaled the stairs to the first floor.
Why am I getting déjà vu???
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SCHWISSH!!!
I walked out into the Main Room.
I paused.
"Ah jeez...you too?" Cyborg asked. He sat in one of the kitchen booths to the side. He was typing on a laptop wired to.....himself. "It must be an epidemic, man."
I blinked under my shades. I hand-signed to him.
He replied from long distance while typing. "Heh....even I get the willies from time to time. Man....why doesn't any other villain do this to us?? It's always Fang. Always that spider creep. You can never get a good night's sleep after dealing with his sort. Pfft. Unlucky heroes, us. I guess. Hey....mind grabbing me a Dr. Pepper from the fridge?"
I smirked. I shuffled over towards the kitchen and grabbed myself one too. I walked back.
"Sit down, man. I'm lonely here."
I sat across from him and slid his bottle across the counter for him.
He caught it and unscrewed the cap.
So did I.
We both drank as precisely the same moment.
Caffeine at midnight......not like we're sleeping much anyhow......
He finished his sip and exhaled. He continued typing and spoke nonchalantly while doing so. "I don't see why I have to be afraid of spiders, to be honest. Even if the most poisonous black widow was to slide down and bite me in the neck or something, my synthetic enzymes would resist the venom thanks to the overhaul of my immune system since my operation. It's the same story with snakes and....er...I dunno....lionfish and other 'no touchie' stuff. No point in pumping venom into a body that's more metal than it is blood. Eh?"
I gulped some Dr. P down and hand-signed.
He glanced up from his laptop just enough to read. He smirked. "Man, shut up!!! I still have to breathe, dawg! So yeah....knock out gas still affects me!"
I smirked.
"Though....to be honest....all Mad Mod had to really do that one night was just fart in our general direction and I'd be down for the count."
I rolled my black eyes. I sipped some more.
A beat.
I looked at Cyborg.
He continued typing. ".................." He stopped. "..............." He looked at me.
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
Another beat.....
"I bet you're wondering what I'm doing....aren't you?"
I slowly nodded.
He bit his lip....hesitated...then smiled. "Just.....er....a hobby of mine, man..."
'Hobby??' I mouthed.
"Yeah......pretty much....."
I craned my neck to see his screen.
He defensively pivoted the laptop so I couldn't see. "Hey!! Who said you could peak??"
I raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, I chuckled breathily and did a 'shame on you' gesture with a metal and flesh forefinger.
"Huh?! N-No!! It's nothing like that, man!!"
I chuckled some more.
"Fine!! FINE!! I'll tell you what it is!" the android Titan barked. A beat. He bit his lip and sweatdropped. He cleared his throat. "It's a....er.....m-my latest fanfic...."
I raised an eyebrow.
"It's lame, I know! Worst way to waste my time. But I can't help it. I'm addicted."
I nodded. A beat. I hand-signed: 'What's a fanfic?'
His human eye bugged. "Erm....eheheh....n-never mind."
I smiled and leaned forward...genuinely interested.
"It's...I....that.....argh....Star Wars. Okay?! Star Wars!!" he shook his head and chuckled at himself like some insane jester. "I think all the prequels suck. So I decided to....erm...write my own."
I mouthed: 'Really??'
"Yeah. The way I think they should have gone."
I leaned my head to the side. I look at the labtop. I look at him. Silently. Curious.
"Okay...for one," Cyborg suddenly and emphatically spoke with a raised finger. "There ain't gonna be no sissy-ass little munchkin Vader. I'm sorry, kid Anakin. But you gotta go. I'd make the young Vader....I dunno...older and more badass as a dark lord should be. And he should be black too!"
I blinked.
"Hey!! James Earl Jones did his freakin' voice, man!"
I nodded, smiling.
"So anyways....black Vader.......heh.....yeah, he grows up on Tatooine. But he doesn't take part in any lame-ass pod race or something. Nope. He hunts Sand People!"
I leaned my chin on my hand, listening.
"Right. He's a mercenary! Sand People killed off his parents when he was just a toddler. So he's already imbued with the Dark Side. He's not some goody-goody-two-shoes that turns evil. The evil's always been in him. Kinda like real life..........right?"
I raised a finger to say something--
"Anyways. Things start heating up when a ship full of Sith crashlands on Tatooine, and Vader goes there to investigate. The Sith ask him for help in fighting the Jedi of the Republic, who's scouring the desert planet to capture the Sith. Vader agrees...but he turns on the Sith and—like—kills off their master in the Force. So he becomes the new master now, get it?"
I nodded.
"It'd be perfect! Vader's a dark lord from the get go! And when he fights Darth Fett---Boba Fett's a Sith in my fic," he interjected with a wink.
I shrugged.
"---Vader gets his body chopped to bits by the bad dude. So he has to get all of these mechanical enhancements to complete the limbs and organs that he's lost so that the series can have a tie in to the cybernetic mask that he wears all the time and---" A beat. Cyborg's voice lingered. He looked at me.
I looked patiently back at him.
"You don't think I'm doing a self-insertion, do you?" he whispered.
I give him a wyrd look.
"Ya know....tons of fanfiction writers do it....," Cyborg sweatdropped. "They put too much of....er.....th-themselves into........the body of the work."
I smiled and politely shook my head no.
"You don't think so?"
I shook my head some more.
"You're not just saying that to make me feel good?"
I frown.
"Okay!! Okay!!" he chuckled and leaned back. He rested his titanium arms behind his back and smiled. Proud. "Ah man...fifty pages and counting. I swear...this thing will be an epic by the time I post it."
I mouthed: 'Post??'
"Er....on the Internet, of course. That's the whole point of fanfiction, ya know?"
I nodded.
He looked at me curiously. He smiled. "I bet you'd make a great writer, Noir."
I pointed myself incredulously....then with a humored grin I shook my head.
"Sure you would!! You write to Wonder Woman all the time."
I rolled my black eyes.
"You could just do it for fun! Fanfiction....like me." A beat. He leaned forward. "Name at least one show, movie, or cartoon show you really like...."
I scratched my head.
A beat.
I hand-signed.
Cyborg blinked. "MASH???"
I blushed. I nodded.
"..............I liked the crossdresser on that show."
SCHWIIISH!!!!
Cyborg and I looked over at the elevator. And we were hard-pressed to visually locate someone.
"Uh.....hello?" Cyborg uttered.
Silence.
I sipped some Dr. Pepper. I swallowed. I lowered my shades and peered over the lenses with naked optics. Still, I couldn't see anyone.
Cyborg could. He planted a finger to his left forehead. The red light of his synthetic eye blinked as infra-red kicked in. He smiled. "It's okay, Star. You can come out. There're no spiders here."
There was an adorable, muffled murmur. Then an amber-skinned teenager in her pajamas sauntered out one barefoot at a time, hugging a Tamaranian glork plushie to her chest. She bit her lip and quickly covered the distance between the far side of the Main Room and our booth with one, sweeping glide. She plopped herself down and curled next to Cyborg, trembling.
"Your earth spiders....they are all the more terrifying to envision in the absence of a great multitude of solar or synthetic light.....," she breathed.
"Awwww," Cyborg smiled and hugged an arm around her shoulder. "Don't fret, Star! Seriously...spiders aren't that bad. Nothing to be frightened over!"
"Th-Then for what reason are the two of you sitting here, so awake?"
Cyborg bit his lip.
I cleared my throat.
"Erm....," Cyborg uttered. "We uh.....needed Dr. Pepper."
"Doctor.....of the P-Pepper??" Starfire's blinking eyes looked at the bottle. "It is a distracting elixir, yes?"
"Well...'distracting' in that it could keep you wired and awake and far from having to fall asleep and experience arachnid visions in your sleep---"
"Eep! Then I desire some of that healing quaff! As soon as legitimately possible!......P-Please?"
Cyborg chuckled. "Sure thing. We've got plenty to share, Star." He started to get up.
I waved him down and got up for her.
"Ah...well thanks, Noir."
I shrugged. I teleported up and over the kitchen counter with a blur of smoke. Reached into the fridge. Grabbed another bottle. And teleported back.
I handed Starfire a bottle.
"Drink your troubles away...," Cyborg mused, chuckling. He started typing away again.
"Gladly....I thank you very much," Starfire bowed her head.....and bit over the bottle-cap. CLANK! "Owie...."
"Um...no, Starfire. That's not how you drink a bottle of soda—"
"Do you not pour it into a 'glass' first?" Starfire winced, rubbing her jaw.
"Just drink from the bottle, Star. It's okay. That's what they're made for at that size."
"I will not be punished for applying my cranial orifice to the instrument---?!?!"
"Just drink it!! Damn....," Cyborg chuckled.
I smiled.
Starfire simpered, unscrewed the bottle, and took a sip. She swallowed. Blinked. And shook all over.
"Now what?"
"The bubbles are always so unique to get used to," the girl managed a giggle...calming down some. She still hugged the glork plushie to her side as she held the bottle in the other hand. "I remember when Blackfire first planned her trip here to visit me—before the treachery of course—she seemed so intent on ingesting one of these carbonated beverages."
"I'm glad to hear that soda is Terra Firma's one major cuisine of the cosmos," Cyborg said, typing. "As long as we have something to be proud of."
"Earthlings have so many things to be proud of!" Starfire exclaimed. "Your culture is so full of richness and diversity! Of brave souls in the past and philosophes carving a better future for civilizations to follow in spite of their bleak mortality and—"
"Starfire??"
"Y-Yes, Cyborg?"
"You're almost spilling your soda."
"Eeek!!" Starfire carefully balanced the bottle. "Doctor of the Pepper, I do apologize!!"
I giggled breathily.
The Tamaranian girl looked at me curiously. "Noir, greetings."
I waved.
"You are also.......forced awake by recent events?" she blushed.
I hesitantly nodded. I scratched my head. I gestured.
Cyborg glanced up just long enough to read: "He says 'some things a shower and a good sleep can't fix'."
"I suppose not," Starfire nodded. A beat. She sipped some more soda, she spoke: "I am amazed that I do not possess random, unpleasant images of Slade or Killer Moth in my sleep. But this one miscreant of mutant nature with whom we often entangle with is most......disturbing."
"I suppose it's an instinctive thing," Cyborg leaned back on his arms and stared at his glowing masterpiece momentarily. "No matter what planet you're from, you've evolved from one thing or another so as to be ultra-sensitive to tiny bugs with fangs." A beat. He looked at us and grinned. "Or God just made us with an 'Ick Meter'."
Starfire giggled. She lifted the jar triumphantly. "I do believe this beverage is accomplishing its said goal of Peppering me!"
"Well good for you. For a second there, I almost thought I said something funny," Cyborg mockingly pouted.
"Eeep! By all means, Cyborg! You are most amusing! Do accept my sincere apologies!" Starfire smiled pleasantly and hugged him strongly. "Heeeee!! It is so very pleasant to possess insomniac friends such as yourselves!"
"Daah! Star, watch it!! You're almost spilling syrup on my disk drives!!"
"M-My the bad....," she withdrew.
I leaned back in my chair and sighed. My mind wandered.
"You seem distracted, Noir....," Starfire uttered.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I hand-signed simply.
"He just wishes he could sleep."
"Awww. I know, let us do something to distract ourselves from.....erm.....unpleasant organisms in Creation!"
"Like what?"
A third voice in our midst uttered: "How about a game of Twister?"
Starfire jumped, clutching her plushie. She blinked. She looked at Cyborg: "Did you—"
"No," Cyborg glanced up. "Knock it off, Beast Boy. We know you're here."
Starfire and I looked up.
A green bat perched upside down on the ceiling flapped itself upright and hovered down before squatting in elf form on the edge of the kitchen counter.
Beast Boy yawned cutely in his PJs and leaned a tired face against his chin. "Hiya, folks. How's the weather."
"Beast Boy! You have joined us! How ironic, concerning the great deal of exhaustion on your face."
"I know, Star. It's torture. No matter how pooped I am, I just can't sleep."
"Because of Fang, right?" Cyborg asked.
Beast Boy blinked. He hesitated. He then spoke: "Y-Yeah....because of Fang. That's it."
I looked at him...curious.
"Grab a Dr. Pepper and join the party," Cyborg grunted, trying to concentrate where he was at. "The more the merrier....or something."
"Yeah...sure thing, dude," Beast Boy yawned. He blinked. "Where's it at?"
"The fridge."
"Where in the fridge? You practically fill the thing to the brim with sandwiches you never eat!"
"Nuh uh, little man!! I swear, your tofu practically overflows on two counters!"
"Self-inflicted wound, dude! I can take it!"
"Argh....Noir, will you please show him where the last of the 'carbonated beverage' bottles are?" Cyborg muttered.
Starfire giggled....sipping some more.
Hoo boy......
I slowly sauntered up and hopped over the counter this time. I opened the fridge and rummaged around for the last bottle.
Beast Boy swiveled around and dangled his legs on the side of the counter facing me.
"Hey, Noir."
I waved blindly at him.
"Crazy day, huh? Usually, a trip to the Prison is a boring one but....heh....not this evening, huh? Craaaaazy day...."
I could tell he was lingering. When I pulled the Dr. Pepper out and handed it to him, I made sure to stare at his face for a few seconds....ten....fifteen....
He was halfway through his second sip when he finally looked back at me and recognized the fact that I was 'staring'. And...just like always...he gave in. They almost always gave in.
Works like a charm.
"Okay....so it's not Fang, dude," he spoke in a hushed voice as if Cyborg and Starfire weren't allowed to listen in on us. "It's something else. I could go to sleep at anytime. But....I-I just don't feel right, ya know?"
I leaned my head to the side. Curious. Listening....
"I....had that talk with Jinx....like I told everyone I would," Beast Boy sighed. A beat. He sipped again, wiped his mouth with a sleeve, and continued: "I know it may sound crazy, but I feel sorry for her. You think that sounds crazy?"
I merely shrugged.
"Slade....he screwed her head up really bad. Him and that Dagger creep. And now Jinx is nothing but some really bitter soul locked up in prison for practically the rest of her life. It just doesn't seem fair, ya know? Like....Like maybe everyone should have given her a second chance. She was only manipulated...."
I bit my lip. I tried not to show it away.
But Beast Boy saw it.
"Yeah....I-I know....," he sighed. "She h-hurt you most of all, didn't she, Noir?" He looked at me with concern and sympathy. "She beat you up senseless and made you look bad in front of us, didn't she?"
I looked aside.
"Er....s-sorry, dude," he sweatdropped. "Not trying to open up old wounds or anything. Not you...not me....not anyone."
I leaned my head to the side.
He simpered. "I'm really pathetic, that's all. Pfft...I don't have a crush on Jinx or anything.....but.....I-I think I kinda liken her unto Terra in my head. Ya know? A girl with a tough life...called in by Slade...made to do bad things...."
"......," I look towards the floor.
So does the changeling. "Only.....where Terra is pretty much as g-gone as Slade and Dagger are....Jinx is still here. She's still alive. She still....has some sort of hope in life yet, despite everything. Cuz she's alive, you know?" He glanced up at me. "And....I-I tried reaching to her today. I thought that maybe since we crossed paths back at Westhaven, she'd be willing to open up to me or something. But there's no use. She's so....so full of loss and hate right now. I don't think even her sisters could reach her right now....er....if those sisters of hers truly were real."
I bit my lip.
"Well....heh....," he lifted the Dr. Pepper up as if to say 'cheers' and smiled like the changeling of old. "At least we got you and Robin back, huh? N-Not that you were ever really apprentices of Slade and all....but you sure did look badass wearing his style of outfit. Heheheheh."
I smiled for the heck of it.
FLAAAASH!!!
A black portal emerged from the nearby wall.
A startled Beast Boy spit out his mouthful of Dr. Pepper and sputtered. "Raven!! Sheesh! Don't burst in on us like that!!"
The dark girl solidified from her wall-phasing. She was dressed in her blue robe...as always. She gave all of us—Beast Boy most of all—a dejected look...barely blinking.
"Hi....."
She ruffled over towards a cabinet and pulled out a teacup and saucer.
"Ah....so the game's afoot....," Cyborg types without looking. He smirks. "Or in this case, the game's atentacle."
"Nice to see you too, Cyborg," Raven droned.
"Raven! It is pleasant to see you," a Peppered Starfire hiccups. "Do you join us in order to escape the nightly visions of spiders and—"
"Herbal tea....," Raven grunted. "It is a craving of mine..."
"Raven?! Craving?!" Cyborg mused. "Beep! Beep! Cyborg does not compute!"
"Compute what you like. I need herbal tea. There is no other reason as to why I am presently awake."
"Wow, Raven," Beast Boy sipped and smirked. "Even I lie better than you do."
Raven paused in acquiring her mixings for tea. She glared over at the changeling. "Would you like to put your tongue to the test? As a matter of fact...would you like to put your tongue in a bottle of formaldehyde?"
"Ahem," Beast Boy coughed and hid behind his bottle of soda. "Boy do you love your tea, Raven."
She smiled ever so slightly—I swear—and resumed her task.
"Training tomorrow," Cyborg said.
I blinked. I looked over his way.
"I hear Robin wants two of us to have a sparring session," the android grinned evilly. "I wonder who should it be this time."
"It's been a while since you and I went at it!" Beast Boy said.
"You still recovering from the bruises?"
The changeling momentarily turned into an aardvark to stick his tongue out.
"I have yet to be 'sparred' against Robin," Starfire blinked. "I wonder why the two of us have not been assigned to such training yet?"
"Gee....I wonder why...," Cyborg's human eye trailed and he hid a smirk.
Beast Boy giggled.
Starfire's green eyes narrowed. "Eh????"
"Ahem...nothing."
I sensed Raven to my right.
"???" I glanced at her.
".......," she stared directly at me. A beat. "You're in my way...."
I mouthed 'oh' and moved so that the petite sorceress could have access to the drawer with teaspoons. I scratch the back of my neck bashfully.
"Whoever is up for training tomorrow....," Raven began, "...I seriously doubt any one of us could properly guestimate. It is all Robin's prerogative."
"Whatever that means...."
"It means that he wants to surprise us, B.B."
"Thank you, Cy, analytical guru of the century."
"You're welcome."
"It would be nice to learn ahead of time," Starfire said. "I would greatly need to exercise in the morning in such an event."
"You should exercise regardless," Raven interjected, stirring a small cup of tea. "I always meditate each morning just in case....."
"Yeah...Buddha could come down from the Promised Land and try to wail on our asses with nunchaka!"
"Yeah!! Ha ha ha!" Cyborg raised a hand.
Beast Boy high-fived it and giggled.
Raven groaned.
I shrugged, smirking.
SCHWISSH!!!
The elevator doors opened again.
Starfire stood up straight, dropping the glork plushie and happily cupping her hands together. "Robin!!"
"And the night is officially crucified....," Cyborg muttered while typing. He smirked.
"Allright! Robin! Just the person we were wanting to hear from!" Beast Boy waved at the dark-haired boy.
".............," Robin stood limply in front of the elevator doors. He had on a white tank-top shirt and black slacks. "His hair was tossed and his eyemasked looked a little crooked from sleep. "..........."
"Robin...if I-I may be so bold as to inquire whom you desire to engage in 'the spar' with each other tomorrow?" Starfire asked.
"..................." Robin leaned back and forth.
"...........R-Robin?" Starfire blinked.
One hobbling step....two.....Robin shifted forward on dizzy legs. He seemed really out of it. Zombielike.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Heh....," Beast Boy smirked. He whispered to Cyborg and Starfire. "Not in a good mood. Testosterone and insomnia...not a good mix."
"How would you know, little man?"
"Grrrrr."
Robin limped past us.
"Robin," Starfire smiled pleasantly and watched him come closer. "If I could spare a second of.......y-your..................time....." She blinked.
Robin passed us.
He bumped into a table.
He dizzily leaned back and forward. He muttered something incoherent. He walked around the table.
"................," Raven quietly watched from behind the teacup as she sipped.
Cyborg peered up from his laptop writing.
The Boy Wonder wandered over towards the shelves beneath the huge monitor. He started pulling out DVD cases and stacking them up one on top of the other on the coffee table. "Nnnghhh," he muttered under his breath. "Every zone....e-every zone occupied....mnnnngrhhh....."
Once ten cases were stacked on top of each other, he turned around and shuffled towards the other side of the room.
"Uhm.......," Beast Boy held up a finger. "R-Robin??"
"Nnnghh....," the boy literally walked over a couch and gently hobbled down the other side. "I danced....Lucky Charms Holocaust....mmmm....."
"............" All of us sweatdropped.
Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged glances. They grinned wide. SWOOOSH!! They rushed over and stepped backwards in front of the hobbling Robin.
"Dude...is he doing what I think he's doing?"
Cyborg waved a titanium hand in front of Robin's eyemask.
No effect. The Boy Wonder kept hobbling across the room.
"Holy crap, man!! He's doing it!! He's sleep walking!!"
"Dude!! Hehehehehe! That's too rich!!"
"We gotta wake him, man—"
"No! Wait! Let's see what he does next!!"
"Shhhhhh!!"
"Snkkkk—hehehe!"
I watched from the kitchen unit, unbelieving.
Robin shuffled across the Main Room. With his eyemask blinding...there was no practical way of telling if his lids were opened or not. Thus—as far as any of us were concerned—he practically looked fully awake in his awkwardness.
He bumped into a computer console on the right side of the room.
"Nnngh....," he shook his head. He reached a hand across the counter and moved a tiny, invisible object. "...checkmate..."
"Hehehehehehe!!"
"Duuuuude....hahahaha!!"
"Shhh!! Watch what he does next..."
Robin turned around. He walked some more. He bumped into a table. He gritted his teeth. "Darn it.....smurfs....take care of it, Alfred.....mmmm.....Plasmus again......" He continued walking.
A humored Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged glances.
"Who's Alfred?!?!?"
"And PLEASE tell me he's not having some hot dream about Plasmus or something."
"Ewww....man!!"
"Hehehe!"
"I think you should wake him up," Raven droned. She sipped some more tea and added: "He wouldn't like it if you all let him say too much in his sleep. It could be a giveaway to his secret identity."
"Nah, Rae! We're not that mean."
"Aren't you finding this the least humorous, Raven?! I mean come on....he's SLEEP WALKING!!"
"The Boy Slumber!"
"Hahaha! Dude, that's awesome!!"
"Heheheheh!!"
"Not humorous in the least.....," Raven said. "........................." She twitched.
I held a hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh.
"Robin is.......diseased????" Starfire asked, hands clasped together in worry.
"No, Starfire," Raven side-glanced. "He's a somnambulist."
"Huh???"
"It's a Terran condition. Commonly called 'sleep walking'."
"Sleep walking???"
"Uh huh."
Starfire gasped. She looked Robin's way dramatically. "Do you mean to say that---even though our Robin is walking and talking—he is actually in a state of sleeping and perhaps REM???"
"That's the way it works for humans. Yup."
A beat.
"............," Starfire beamed. "That is sooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuute!!"
SWOOOOSH!!
The Tamaranian girl floated over and hovered in front of Robin with a big grin on her face. She waved. "Greetings to you, walking automaton of the unconscious Robin!"
The Boy Wonder paused, teetering. His nostrils flared. Sniff!! Sniff!!
THWUMP!!!
"EEK!!" Starfire went wide-eyed as Robin spontaneously and explosively hugged her.
"Starfirrrrrrrrrrre shiny hairrrrrrrrrr," Robin practically gushed in an unearthly voice.
Cyborg and Beast Boy went bug-eyed.
"PFFFFTTTTTT!!!!"
I jumped as Raven next to me practically spit out a mouthful of tea. She coughed, cleared her throat, and wiped her mouth with her sleeve before hastily turning around and dropping the cup and saucer into the dishwasher. "That's it. I'm going back to bed."
I smiled crookedly.
Starfire awkwardly blushed a firestorm and tried to disentangle herself from Robin's embrace, but he merely hugged her closer and in a betrayingly childish manner the unconscious Boy Wonder nuzzled his face into her shoulder. "Mmmmm....starbolt at Slade....pronto....."
"Slade's dead, Robin," Beast Boy tried hiding a chuckle as Raven walked off towards the elevator.
"Hug her harder, Robin!" Cyborg hissed.
Beast Boy elbowed him.
"What?! Heheheh!!"
"Hehehehe!!"
"This is certainly not a situation that you two are h-helping!" Starfire wheezed. Her face was beet read as she tried getting Robin loose once more. "R-Robin....I must insist that you return to b-bed at once where there are......erm......less organic things to hug in such a delusional state!"
"Nnghh.....no belly buttons on Tamarack...."
"Tamaran," Starfire corrected.
A beat.
She blinked and lifted the top of her pajamas just far enough to glance at her midriff...and she bluffed subconsciously. Biting her lip, she looked at us. "Friends....will you not assist me? I fear for Robin's....Robin's.....I fear for his....."
"Ego," Raven filled in from the far side of the room.
Cyborg turned and looked at her. "Yo...I thought I said you were leaving?"
"Huh? Oh....uhm....of c-course I was.....j-just leaving.......ahem.....," she turned and 'left' again.
Cyborg shook his head, smiling.
Starfire whimpered.
I hand-signed something mischievously at the other boys.
Cyborg read: "'Looks like the tables have turned'."
"Erg??" Starfire blinked at me helplessly. "What do you mean by that, Noir?"
I whistled innocently and sauntered towards the stairs.
Cyborg and Beast Boy joined me.
"Come on, dawgs....let's do some Xbox till we drop dead of exhaustion."
"Sounds like a plan, pal."
I nodded.
"But....wh-what of Robin?! What am I to do with him?"
The Boy Wonder draped on her shoulder. "All the....nnghh....all the little penguins..."
"And what of all his little penguins?!?!"
"Hey, if you want to wake him up...all you need to do is shake him or make a loud noise!!" Cyborg said from the elevator. "Ciao!"
The doors closed and the three of us descended.
Starfire stood with Robin in her grasp. She bit her lip. She looked at him.
He quieted down and simply lay against her...snoozing. He could fall at any second.
The Tamaranian girl took a breath. She reached a hand to his head to shake him awake......
........
She stopped.
She stared at him. His tossed hair. His usually hard-edged features soft and relaxed....
"................," she smiled gently. "Ah....'to the purgatory with it'...."
She floated him over to the couch and gently laid him out. She sat on a chair across the way, leaned her chin on her hand, and simply watched him slumber......smiling.
It was a hobby that she was enjoying more and more.
So much so...that all memories of an eight-legged villain gradually left her head...and she was out cold much like him in under a half hour.