Tales of the Teen Titans: Unstoppable, Part 1: Shadows of the Empire, chapter 10: Confessions

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The other Titans left on the cruise the next day. Omega saw them off at the boat dock. Robin was talking, giving the Osiran last minute instructions. "And you've got our cell numbers, right? Remember, we're only a phone call away. Starfire and Raven can both get here in record time, if needed, and the rest of us won't be far behind." He paused, trying to think of anything he hadn't covered. "Any questions?"

"No, Robin, I believe you've explained everything in sufficient detail. I have your numbers, plus the Justice League's, should anything requiring their attention arise. I will not use them except as a last resort. So, please, all of you: go on and have fun."

"We hate that you can't come…."

"Please." He held up his hand. "I am not so thoroughly enculturated that I really see the attraction in traveling on a watercraft, anyway. Perhaps later on, I will be. But for now, it really would be wasted on me. Please. All of you: have a good time. I will do my best to make sure the city is still here when you get back." And he smiled to show he was joking.

Later events would prove that, whatever other gifts the ancient Osiran gene-masters had granted him, precognition was not among them.

….

"Honey? You down there?" Killer Moth was standing at the top of the stairs leading to his basement workshop.

"Yeah, Dad. C'mon down, I wanna show you something." She'd taken to staying in the basement a lot, lately.

When he got down there, she hefted something that looked rather like an automobile's timing light. "Take a look, Dad. Isn't it great?"

"I'm sure it is. Er, what is it?"

"I'll show you." She got up and pointed the device at a darts target on the far wall. Pressed the firing button. Silently, a wobbly red dot appeared on the target, followed immediately by a humming sound, a faint luminescence in the air from the end of the device to the target, and….

…there was a crackling sound as ice began forming almost instantly over the colorful cork target. It completely froze over in a matter of seconds, the icicles draping down almost to the ground. Killer Moth stared in astonishment. "A freeze ray? You invented a freeze ray? Honey, that's….remarkable. I thought only Captain Cold had one of those! Or, or Mr. Freeze."

"It might not work on the same principle. What it does is, it interferes with the binding force that holds electrons in their lower valence bond orbits, and kicks 'em free, while simultaneously producing a condition of space that acts like a superconductor of electricity. Thus, the atoms lose electrons, and therefore energy, 'cause, y'know, electrons are energy, and thus heat. Since it only affects the lower orbiting electrons, the outer electron shell remains intact, so the object's physical and chemical properties are unchanged. It just loses energy and freezes. Plus, it absorbs the kicked-off electrons into the gun, so the gun recharges itself every time it's used. Pretty cool, huh? Uh, I mean, no pun intended, but, oh, you know what I mean.

"The hard part was to get it to do that only at the focus of the beam. If it acted on any matter in front of the gun, anything in the path of the beam, it'd freeze the water vapor right in front of the gun's muzzle, and you'd have ice plugging up the front end of your weapon. So the laser range-finder I built into it is designed to focus the effect of the beam only on the target." She paused, rubbing the back of her neck, frowning at the gun in her hand. "I've been up working on this all night. It's not perfect, though. I gotta add a setting so that I can manually focus it on some point in the air between the gun and the target, so I can produce an ice shield or something like that. But that's just tweaking." Back and forth went her tail, restlessly. "Plus, it has another useful side effect I didn't exactly foresee: at extreme low power, it still produces that superconduction effect without the freezing part, so I can use that to temporarily disable any electrical or electromagnetic-based machine, as well as recharging it from almost any source." She handed him the gun to look over.

He turned it over and over, admiringly. It showed signs of hasty, amateur construction, true, but not too many. It wouldn't take much to iron those out, and he could easily see her as doing it. "It's a fantastic achievement, honey. You came up with this, all by yourself?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Why? The principle's obvious enough."

"You'd be surprised." He handed it back to her. "What are you going to do with it?"

Kitten smiled disturbingly, showing her now slightly-more-noticeable-than-before canines. "When I find the sunofabitch who did this to me, I'm gonna freeze his nuts off."

If you're ever captured, don't let them give you to the women.

…..

Omega prowled the empty corridors of Titans' Tower, altogether too aware of the silence, the stillness. It was usually a bustling place, what with Garfield and Terra's pranks, Raven's outrage over said pranks (especially when they were played on her, which was frequently), Cyborg's latest insane invention that nobody particularly cared about but him, Starfire's off-the-wall (literally) exuberance over pretty much everything, and Robin's….resignation to the madhouse that they all called home. Even Hank, one of the newest members, could usually be counted on to start some sort of low-level commotion, just by being Hank. If nothing else, he cooked. Omega found he missed the odor of food wafting in from the kitchen area, even though Osiran warriors didn't have to eat in the same fashion as humans, and didn't have the same sense of smell as humans did. Still, it was the familiarity of the thing that he missed. Face it, Omega, you're lonely.

And speaking of loneliness…..

He passed by his room, which had so recently housed Kitten and himself. He didn't exactly sigh, but he grew just a bit nostalgic for those times. Still, this was the way it should be, and, yes, would be. At that time, she'd needed him, and he was there for her. That was the way things were supposed to be. One was supposed to help one's friends. But once she adjusted to her new self, she'd no longer need him. And then, she'd be truly gone from his life. He found it a bit….unsettling how much this depressed him.

Could he be falling in love with her? He truly didn't know. A stranger to the world of emotions and the relationships they create, he wasn't completely certain just precisely what love was. Was it this wanting to be around her feeling? Was it the memories? Something more? Or a combination of things?

Well. It really didn't matter if he understood it or not.

…..

Back in her room, Kitten prepared for bed, brushing her hair in her nightly ritual, one thing, at least, that hadn't changed over the past few days. She could barely see the glimmer of Titans' Tower, from her window, but, seeing that, she thought of him, and wondered how he was doing.

Now, Kitten, her reflection in the mirror scolded her, shaking a reflection of her finger at her, you know better than to start that. If you're gonna be a kick-ass supervillain, you can't afford any emotional attachments. Especially not with heroes. All that does is set you up for pain, when the one you love has to arrest you. Or leaves you. Like your mom did.

"She didn't leave me! She died!" Kitten blurted out aloud at her accusatory reflection in the mirror, "She couldn't help that!"

Sure, tell yourself that, if it makes you feel better. But, no matter how you look at it, death is the ultimate goodbye, and you know it. Whether willingly or not, she did leave you. And the result's been pain ever since. Not just yours. Your Dad's, too. Maybe more so in his case; he actually knew her. You don't even have any memories of her, and you still miss her.

Kitten paused, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." After a moment, she slid open her desk drawer, and drew out a small photo album. Turned to a certain frequently-turned-to page. There; there was her father, before his mutation into a humanoid moth, with his arm around a striking blonde haired, blue eyed beauty. They seemed to be at some sort of outdoor function, maybe a picnic or carnival or something. She looked closely at the picture of the woman, recognizing some of her own key features in her. No, there was no mistaking the relation. She sure was beautiful.

What had they been doing? She wondered, gazing at the picture. And when was this picture made? What year? Who'd been holding the camera? Wherever it was, whatever they'd been doing, she looked so happy. The photo was, at least, in color, and appeared to've been taken sometime around autumn, if the leaves on the trees in the background were any indication. But there were no other clues that she could see. Sighing, she gazed at the picture of the mother she'd never know smiling out at a daughter not yet conceived. What was she like?

You know the smart thing to do is to have no love in your life at all, her reflection continued. Be as cold-hearted as you can be. Yeah, I know, there's your Dad. Okay. You can't help that. But he won't be around forever, and you gotta plan for your future. A future alone. It's better that way. Less painful all around. Besides. You know anybody you let into your heart will just be somebody your enemies can use against you. And don't think for a moment that they'd hesitate for a second to do just that.

She glanced over at her cell. He was there, just on the other end of it…she fought with herself. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but he gave up a cruise just for me. He saved me, and my Dad, not just once, but twice. He took care of me when nobody else would've. Surely, I can do something. I just gotta be careful, an' not get too involved with him. After all, he is an alien, anyway. And she dialed his number. "Hey, 'Mega. What's up?"

…

Far out on the edge of the solar system, a ship dropped out of warp drive. It had come from much farther away than any conventional warp drive could manage, however; this was only the final leg of its journey.

A cloaked figure stood behind the Captain's chair. "Captain Steppenwulf? What have you to report?"

Steppenwulf hesitated. He really didn't like the one behind him (in all fairness, nobody did), and really didn't have anything more to report than he'd had two hours ago, when the same one had made the same request. "No significant change, Lord DeSaad. We still have picked up no indication of the harvest ship that was supposed to deliver our 'package' to us."

"Are you sure? What do your scans reveal?" DeSaad didn't like hearing reports containing no useful information. And DeSaad had a habit of sharing his dislikes with others, particularly those who brought him such reports. Frequently. Painfully. For them, at least.

Steppenwulf proffered a memory cube to the cloaked figure behind him. "We basically have no new information. Yes, the ship was launched, and all indications were, with the package on board. But it was either intercepted or….ran into some sort of technical difficulties, and thus never made it to the intercept point. There is simply nothing else to report. It is as if the ship simply vanished."

"Unacceptable. Telemetry?"

"All normal until the moment of disappearance, as you've seen. Then, nothing. I can only surmise some sort of catastrophic systems-wide failure."

DeSaad chewed on a fingernail. "I do not build devices to fail, Captain. Conduct a thorough scan of this whole area. Search for any anomaly, no matter how small. We must find that ship. Its cargo is…beyond price." Which was usually DeSaad-speak for, the consequences of not finding it would be equally unimaginable. Not that Steppenwulf was truly worried; he answered to a higher authority.

But his political invulnerability did not extend to his hapless crew. Steppenwulf sighed, inaudibly, turning to the slight figure behind him. "We, of course, will carry out your orders, milord, but do remember we cannot create what you desire from nothing. If there is nothing to be found, then that is exactly what will be found. Even our dread Lord must reconcile himself to that fact." A subtle reminder, on his part, that they both answered to the same Master.

"Yes, yes, of course." DeSaad made a dismissive gesture. He was tired of these games. He simply wanted his living weapon. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

The message had been received, not long ago, that the weapon was ready and had been shipped, all according to pre-programmed plan. So that begged the question: where was it? "The check's in the mail" wasn't an answer DeSaad was prepared to accept. No, not at all. "Perhaps, if you can find nothing else, it might be productive to investigate the domicile where the weapon was prepared. Perhaps the trail can be picked up there. I'll send the coordinates to your navigator." And he left the bridge.

…..

The Gordanian battle cruiser also dropped out of warp, but on the other side of the sun. On its command bridge, Lord Trogaar pondered his next move.

He still wanted the escaped Tameranean, the one called, in the human tongue, Starfire, but that was not of prime significance right now. That was more a matter of personal honor: she'd escaped his grasp once before, and he didn't like being seen as someone who permitted that sort of nonsense to go unpunished.

But matters had changed somewhat. The shift in the governance of the planet Tameran had meant that Starfire's recapture was no longer a matter of immediate political necessity. No, now it was just….a loose end to tie up. Someday. A personal issue. No real hurry. Not while there were other, more valuable prizes to contend for.

Rumor had it that someone, some very powerful one or ones, had been using Earth and its human population for an experiment in genetics. Rumor went further to say that such experiments had led to the creation of a very powerful metahuman indeed. Perhaps more than one.

And, to add spice to the mixture, there was no indication that said human weapon(s?) had been delivered to those responsible for their creation. Which meant….. "Navigator? How far are we from Sol Three's current position?"

"Thirty-six point one decons, Lord Trogaar. We can be there within two ooons, if we run at full speed."

"That close? My compliments on your skill. No, don't run us at full speed. Let's take our time, and remember to practice stealth. Keep in mind, we may not be the only ones here. And we certainly don't wish to alert the humans to our presence, until, of course, it's too late." He stood up from his command chair. "Initiate a full sensor sweep, level one, of the star system, utilizing passive sensors first. You know the procedure. I don't want our arrival here announced to anybody just yet. Now," he paused, turning toward the lift, "I'm going down to my quarters. Keep me posted on any and all developments."

"Sir! Yes, sir!"

…..

Kitten flew across the bay on her flying platform, another little something she'd cobbled together. It was actually inspired by the Air Hogs toy, in that it was a square platform, levitated and propelled by a series of high-speed, heavy-duty lifting fans, one in each corner, rotatable by 360 degrees. The difference being, however, this one was much bigger, a lot more heavy-duty, and the platform sported a contoured plexiglass windscreen around the control panel, shielding the person riding it. It wasn't all that fast, but it got her around. As an afterthought, she'd enshrouded the fans in a couple of layers of high-tensile strength, bullet-proof ultra fine wire mesh, both to keep bugs and birds out, and to prevent any outside source from interfering with her mode of transportation.

He'd said the other Titans had already left. That suited her just fine. Although they'd been nice enough to her while she was there, she still couldn't see them as actual friends, especially as she'd determined her life's career to be on the wrong side of the law from them. Omega was, well….different. Who knows? She thought to herself, smiling naughtily, Maybe I can "persuade" him to join me over on the dark side of the Force. Although she really didn't believe that, it was a nice fantasy.

She landed on the helipad on top of the Tower, where he was waiting for her. As she jumped down from her hovercraft, she could tell he was impressed. "Like it? I just kinda threw it together in my spare time."

"It's really nice, Kitten. I'm impressed. You came up with that on your own?"

"It's not totally original," she said, walking up to him. She'd put on a black faux leather outfit that left large swatches of her skin bare, almost like a bathing suit, as well as her incredibly long legs. And tail. She was actually beginning to get sorta used to that tail… The whole outfit looked sexy as hell on her. "There's this kids' toy that works on the same principle. So I can't take total credit for it. But yeah, it works, once I ironed out the details." She came up to him, put her arms around him, and kissed him. He seemed a little surprised. Why? "So what's been goin' on?"

"Well, as I told you, the others left to go on their cruise. I hate that you and your Dad had to miss it…."

"S'okay. Tell you what: let's put that on our 'to-do' list for later. Maybe…maybe just you and me. How does that sound?"

"Quite nice, actually. I'd…enjoy that."

"Omega? Could we…I mean, let's go down to your room. I've—I've got some things I feel like I need to say, and I don't like blabbing all my personal stuff right out here in the open."

Once there, she went over and sat on his bed, and motioned for him to come do likewise. She still had fond memories of his body lying next to hers, as she slept, watching over her, and just plain being there; it had been such a cozy feeling…. "Omega. Look. I know I hurt you. I can't even say I didn't mean to, 'cause at the time, I guess I did. Or at least, I didn't care, one way or the other. But," and here she looked down at her hands, fumbling for the words, "once I got to know you, it….well, things …..kinda changed." She fell silent.

"Changed? Changed how?"

She sighed. "I dunno. I guess I started to care about you. I mean, like, really care about you. It went beyond just needing you; it was, it was, I guess the fact that you didn't have to do any of those things for us that you did, but you did 'em anyway. It was that, you seemed to care about us. To actually care. About…about me." And here she again lowered her eyes. "Nobody's ever really cared about me just for me before, without expecting something in return, if you know what I mean, 'cept maybe my Dad. So, so it was, like, a new experience for me. I, I found myself….starting to have feelings about you. Now I know," she began, hastily, "that you were just doing your job, and it was nothing personal, an' all that, but, but, I guess what I'm saying is….I…..developed feelings for you that I've just never had for anyone before. Now please don't start laughing; it was hard enough just saying all that just now. I, I just felt like I had to say it." And she looked away, so she wouldn't have to see the expression of hilarity that just had to be forming on his face right then. She got up, her face even redder than normal. "I guess I've made enough of a fool of myself for one night. But I felt like I had to say this; why, I'm not really sure. So I'll…I'll just go now."

At the door, she felt his arms go around her from behind, gently. Turning around, she saw the tender look in his eyes. "Kitten. I wasn't going to laugh. I would never laugh at you. Ever. I…found myself feeling much the same way, about you. Now I freely admit, I don't necessarily know what love is, having never experienced it before. On Osira, the Lords told us what to feel; we didn't have to deal with our own emotions. I was like a person born blind; how would you describe the color blue to such a person? But, if I had to guess, I'd say that's exactly what I'm feeling towards you now.

"I believe I love you, Kitten. Could you….would you…have me?"

She gaped. "Would I have you? Omega, have you forgotten who you're dealing with here? Me. The bad girl. The, the selfish girl. The spoiled rotten girl. I'm the one who used you. I'm the one you shouldn't be caught dead with. I'm the one you should hate. I'd, I'd be, like, a really bad influence on you. Bad with a capital 'B'." Whereupon he drew her even closer and kissed her, one of the first times he'd ever actually initiated a kiss. And what a kiss! Where'd he learn to kiss like that? Flustered, she said, "I'd, I'd be nothing but trouble for you!" And he kissed her again. "I'll, I'll just end up dragging you down! Before, before you know it, even your own friends won't have anything to do with you!" Again a kiss answered her. Her breathing began to come in shallow hitches. "Are—are you gonna, gonna keep on doing that?" she whispered, breathlessly.

"Until I get the answer I want, yes."

To be continued….

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