It was cold and dark, the sort of soul crushing black that madmen write about in their own blood on the walls of their dark little cells, places where only delusions are their constant companions, for some this sort of mind numbing terror is overwhelming, to Raven it was as familiar as her own hand or arm, to Beastboy this was the darkness within the soul of his dearest friend, to Lunatic it was a hand full of heart beats of mind twisting horror that reminded him of the first time he met a dragon and stared into those inhuman unfathomable golden eyes and his reaction was much the same now as it was then, he screamed himself hoarse within those few moments, and then it was all over and he was hurdling towards the ground, instinct and ungodly reflexes allowed him to turn his shoulder into the fall, rolling to his feet and staggering two jerky steps towards a well lit living room where he lost hold of the tasty sandwich he had just recently consumed.
Raven watched as their would be teammate lost his lunch all over their couch, Beastboy stared in shock from her shoulder, she could feel nausea filling his tiny body but admirably he resisted, pride keeping his natural reaction in check, as the other's in the living room winced and cried out in disgust, all save Starfire who loosed a cry of outrage and flew at the violently ill form of Lunatic, her bone shattering blow flung the retching teen across the room and through the big screen T.V. that dominated the wall across from the couch, the explosion of glass and the sharp crackle of shorting electronics mixed with the squawk of Beastboy and the pained wail of Cyborg. "Oh its on now orange girl" growled Lunatic from the shattered remains of the television, as a second explosion of plastic and glass showered the living room in more debris and, like a cannon shot, Lunatic tackled the green eyed alien girl out of the air, covered in cuts and burns his hair smoldering and howling a battle cry as his fist collided with the side of the Tamaranian's skull sending the pair of the to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs Starfire screaming her fury and annoyance in her own tongue as she tried to crush the armored figure grappling her, finally the other Titans stepped in separating the battling pair, Starfire resting in the arms of Robin and a fuming Lunatic held in the steely embrace of Cyborg.
"Not exactly the best introduction" mused Lunatic unarmed and unarmored wearing a charcoal grey jogging suit having freshly showered and enjoyed a short healing trance to patch himself up he examined the walls and floor of his little cell ,small best described it twelve paces in each direction a single rather comfortable cot, no blankets, no spare clothes, no games, no books, nothing to pass the time, he sighed and flopped down on the bunk staring up at the ceiling with a dejected frown.
Robin and the other Titans sat calmly in the briefing room, the silence was deafening, Cyborg cast his glance about the room taking in Starfire as she fumed literally burning the table with her gaze smoke curling towards the ceiling, Raven sat stoic and impassive, beside her Beastboy fidgeted nervously his unease with the tension in the room plain for all to see, Robin sat beside Starfire leaning slightly away from the fuming alien girl, Victor sighed "sooooo what are we going to do with the kid? I mean aside from the property damage thing and evading arrest he hasn't actually done anything wrong, no criminal record, heck no record of any kind, not to sound harsh the kids nobody" Starfire's fists hammered the table with shattering force rocking the entirety of it "We should incarcerate the florbag nah grub immediately he is unstable and a coward he will be a detriment to our.. us! I have seen his like before they are unstable and violent he will betray us!" Robin winced as Star's rant ended and the tall alien girl hovered in the air fists encased in brilliant emerald energy panting with barely restrained fury.
"Whoa is he like part of some super secret intergalactic invasion plan to take over the universe and fill it full of people with silver disks on their head that control their every action?" Beastboy gushed, Starfire's fury did not abate she did however become quiet as she murmured "I do not wish to talk about it" Robin sighed unhappily at this drumming his fingers on the table top a moment before casting a slightly nervous gaze at the quietly brooding alien "Star aside from the man in our holding cell your the only one who really knows anything about this, isn't there something you can share?" Starfire scrubbed her eyes and sighed softly "the metal plates in his head mark the location of the magnets within his brain, these magnets stimulate portions of the brain into hyperactivity producing several chemicals in the brain and body in quantities that the body is not normally supposed to possess this grants increased strength, speed, and endurance but at a reduced life expectancy, eventually, between the chemical imbalance, and the effects of the magnets within the brain, it invariably drives the warrior mad" Starfire exhaled gustily after the rather lengthy explanation, the rest of the titans stared at her for a moment before robin piped up "that was remarkably specific Star how did you come by this particular bit of information?" the other waited with rapt curiosity as Starfire seemed to grow more and more uncomfortable finally with her head bowed she muttered "I cannot speak of it, it is the business of Tamaran and I am sworn to secrecy, I am sorry friends".
The frustration and disappointment that clouded the room tasted of sour milk and vaguely like cinnamon, she frowned slightly at that shaking her head slowly as to ward off the cloying feel of it, she could feel Beastboy's hardening resolve as he made ready to blurt out his opinion, her hand slid over to his under the table interlacing their fingers a moment before squeezing gently in encouragement as he cleared his throat, "not to put a kink in Star's uh detailed explanation but doesn't that mean he might not be crazy yet lets get a head shrinker in here and find out, we might be able to you know save him from... y'know himself" That gave the group further pause until Starfire murmured almost sadly "I have been told the process is irreversible, once the magnets are in place removing them is too risky to the subject in question, even so the damage is already done". "Either way" sighed Robin "the only thing we have on him is evading arrest and some property damage issues the longest we can detain him is six months and who knows what might happen in that time if we choose to keep him contained" Beastboy and Raven both stood up at that "duuude six months in prison! the punishment soo does not fit the crime" Raven Continued in Beastboy's stead "from his point of view what would you do if you and your idiot friends were attacked in the middle of a parking lot? He's obviously not from this world if what Star says is accurate, are we going to arrest and incarcerate him because he was unaware of the rules?" Cyborg watched his fellow titans argue back and forth for a few moments as their leader attempted to regain order finally he got to his feet and made for the door, "Uh Cy what are you doing?" Cyborg spared the group a glance before shrugging "I'm gonna go talk to him if he wants to be a titan i say we give him a chance, if not we lock him up for six months seems simple to me"
Within his cell Thomas (Lunatic) had started doing push ups, figuring the physical strain would help occupy his time, now a normal man might prop his feet up on the bunk to challenge himself with the sharper angle adding greater strain with each push, a particularly strong man might brave this exercise using one arm at a time switching between them with each upward thrust, for Thomas this was deemed beneath his ability, so it was that the Titans found him balanced with his bare feet in the air lifting himself with one hand, "Neat" said Beastboy watching the spectacle with interest as Lunatic strained for a moment sweat dripping to the floor as his nose just brushed the plate metal under his right hand, "I've seen my boy Robin do the same thing seems the guy got gypped if all he wanted to be was marine tough" sighed Cyborg sadly "he coulda spent a year working out or something why shorten his life span and go craz..." it was at this point that Lunatic sprang under the power of his right arm upwards until his feet slammed into the ceiling eight feet above him, immediately he switched arms and caught himself with his left hand groaning for a moment as he struggled to balance his entire body on the single appendage, soon he was level lowering himself once again readying to spring upwards, "guess he has a bit of an edge on ya Robby boy" giggled Beastboy earning a nudge from Raven who hid a smile, Lunatic Rolled to his feet and marched over to the glass separating him from the Titans "I can hear you guys in there" he sing songed cupping his hands around his face and pressing against the mirrored surface to try and get a better look at his wardens.
Startled at his sudden declaration for but a moment Robin keyed up the intercom "Lunatic, was it? My name is Robin leader of the Teen Titans we have decided to give you a shot if your interested, its on a trial basis unfortunately and if it doesn't work out you'll have to serve out your sentence for the property damage and evading the authorities, do you agree with this offer?" Lunatic sagged at the "serve out your sentence" bit but nodded reluctantly "I'm not much cut out for the villain thing figured I'd try the hero thing, dad always said i had an honest streak, so you guys gonna put a tracking collar on me that'll blow my head off if i get out of hand?" Robin arched a brow and keyed the comm again "uh well no we kinda thought we'd show you to your temporary quarters and maybe go for pizza" Lunatic cheered cart wheeling about his cell excitedly all but bouncing off the walls as Cyborg chuckling opened the cell door, offering Lunatic his gear back, which Luney eagerly accepted, leaping out of the itchy jogging suit right there and starting to pull on his fatigues happily humming amidst the cries of startled embarrassment, Raven's eyes shot to the floor as Starfire clapped her hands over her eyes, Robin looked unimpressed but remained silent, Beatboy cackled at the girls reaction, Cyborg sighed "ya coulda waited until you got to your room man" Lunatic wriggling into his shirt shrugged "puh-leez nothing you haven't seen before I'm sure".
In short order Lunatic had laced up his boots and buckled on every scrap of armor with a happy sigh, with the reassuring weight held close to his body once more he felt a world better "pizza!, pizza!, pizza!" he sang as he charged into the common room with Cyborg trailing after him, "about your weapons.." began Robin with a slight frown "we don't much care for guns here were in the business of saving lives even the lives of villains, shooting people is NOT an acceptable measure for apprehending them" Lunatic arched a brow as he snatched his rifle from the masked teen, before him "This is a Northern Gunn Brand particle beam rifle, where I'm from you use these things to take out tanks and power armor I'm not going to start shooting every idiot I come across, sides my gun only holds ten shots now and takes forever to recharge, I'm only going to use this thing in an emergency, prefer my fists anyway, well and my knife...which is busted again" Lunatic sighed unhappily at this. "Want me to take a look at it for ya" offered Cyborg helpfully holding out his broad metallic hand "would you? thanks!" said an almost pathetically grateful Lunatic, as Cyborg took the knife from the shorter boy and wandering off to his room called back "I'll meet you guys at the pizza parlor, go on ahead I wanna take a look at this thing" with that Robin grinned "alright gang lets move out.
Having to ride behind the masked teen proved to be uncomfortable for both parties, and it was a welcome relief when Lunatic leapt off and started running along side, "so how fast can you run?" shouted Robin over the whine of his R-cycle" Luney replied in kind "I can keep a steady forty miles an hour for about half an hour, I can double that in a pinch but not for very long" as they neared the pizza parlor, Lunatic vaulted onto the balcony nearly overturning a table as he landed causing the patrons to shout startled protests at his flashy entrance "eheheh sorry folks I've got a real urge for pizza and it cannot be denied!" bogarding the largest table by plopping himself into a seat to await his new teammates, he didn't have long to wait as Starfire was first to arrive, trying to put forth an effort to be friendly she smiled tentatively at him her nervousness apparent even to the fidgeting armored boy in front of her, Lunatic smiled back equally as nervous, "man this is awkward" he chuckled to his table/team mate, she hummed her agreement as Beastboy and Raven arrived, Robin was last bringing the waiter in tow, settling into his seat beside Starfire, "so what'll it be?" asked the waiter as her pulled out his note pad and awaited the order of the city's protectors.