Chapter III: The City

The day slowly drifted on without meaning or purpose, the Titans had little to do. As of late, it seemed, things had grown quiet and crime was handled by the local police force. For hours, the Titans lazed about in their massive metal and glass tower. Seth sat in his room, the shades drawn, the overhead lights off. He was sitting on his bed, thinking, the only light in the room filtering through the cracks between the shades. Flashes and images of violence and bloodshed and horrible things horrible enough to be almost beyond imagination burned in his minds eye. They were things that he had seen down the years of his short life, things caused by...him. Seth looked up sharply as he heard a few light knocks, almost taps, on his door.

"Enter." he said. The door slid open and Seth screwed up his eyes against the harsh, unforgiving light that spilled in through the hallway. Starfire stood within the frame of the door, blocking some of the light but not enough. She had a hesitant look on her face, but she stood firm and eventually got to saying what she had come to say.

"We're all heading out into the city for a little bit of relaxation, and were wondering if you wished to join us." Starfire explained.

"What about your duties to crime stopping?" Seth replied, turning to look at her.

"Well, things have seemed to quiet down and if anything arises we will be able to deal with it whenever it does so." Seth considered this and finally decided to go with his so called teammates. He needed to study them, learn their strengths and weaknesses; just in case. Seth had learned to trust no one, he barely trusted himself. Finally, he nodded to Starfire and went about collecting his things. He pulled on his trenchcoat, settled the two Berrettas into their respective places within the coat, then he slid his knife into the sheath. Complete in his persona, Seth walked out of his room and into the brightly lit corridor. As Starfire began to walk down the hallway, he followed her in silence. Seth could feel Starfire's tenseness, her nervousness of being in his presence. It was funny, because from what he had come to learn, Starfire was always bright and cheery, and just a little to trusting. A bad thing to have, trust. It could break you, it could betray you, it could kill you. Seth and Starfire stepped into the elevator and as Starfire pushed the button, it began to move silently down to the ground floor. After a long, silent moment it finally arrived there. The doors slid open to reveal a short corridor which ended in the main entrance.

The others had gathered there, waiting. Sunlight poured in through the windows, giving the hallway a comfortable glow of warmth and light. Seth wished he could appreciate such a sight, but such things were lost to him. He had seen things that were to terrible, to horrible; an it had stained his soul. Starfire moved forward towards the group as Seth lingered back, he could hear Robin and Starfire talking softly.

"Why did you even bother with him?" Robin asked in hushed tones.

"Because, he is a new member of the team and we must learn get along." Starfire replied in a voice just as quiet as Robin.

"Either he learns how to fit in, or I'll personally kick his ass."

"Please Robin, there is no need for violence among ourselves. There are enough people out there that would gladly, how do you say, 'kick our ass' without us doing it to each other."

"Like you could." Seth said suddenly, Robin and Starfire suddenly turned to look at him. Robin gave Seth a defiant look but faltered as he saw something in Seth's eyes. The leader of the team had seen it before in many criminals eyes, the look of a man with nothing left to lose, the look of a man who was not afraid to die; they were the most dangerous of all. He finally about faced and headed out of the door, the others eventually went after him and Seth followed. The door slid shut behind him as he came out into the sunlight, the Titan Tower was on the coast of an ocean or lake, Seth did not know which. The entrance was facing away from the hundred foot drop into the waters; towards the city. Seth checked his watch, it was somewhere around four in the afternoon. Clouds drifted lazily thousands of feet overhead, casting thin shadows over a variety of places. Other then that it was a blue sky that stretched endlessly with a big, yellow sun in the center of it all. The Titans began to walk across the great grass field towards the single paved road that led up the garage that was on the right side of the tower. Seth studied them all as he walked behind them.

Starfire and Robin were talking about something or other, some meaningless inane subject that had absolutely no value. Cyborg was walking just a little to the left of him, Seth could sense the beginning of depression in him...perhaps he was not as bad as the other two. Seth sensed real depression, not just this 'I'm sad' crap; but a really deep, down sadness that reached into the pit of one's soul. Raven was the only potential ally among any of them, the only one possibly worthy of Seth's respect. She repressed her emotions, if only because she had too. There had never been a significant other in Seth's life; hell, there had never been anyone in Seth's life. Anyone who even remotely knew him was scared of him, it was a different kind of respect; one that Seth had grown to like. Seth greatly liked it when people were nervous around him or scared of him, they were the only acceptable things in his life besides hate and anger. He knew nothing of fear, love and happiness were a mystery to him. Seth realized that his thoughts were drifting and silently snapped back to attention, he had his hands shoved into his pockets and he was slightly hunched over. They had reached the end of the paved roadway and now were entering the city.

Great skyscrapers dominated Seth's view, they reached up into the heavens, belonging to huge corporations and businesses. Smaller buildings of various types were in-between the skyscrapers, the little things that helped make up the general population of the city. Houses, stores, bars, restaurants, places that distracted people from the reality of the situation of the planet. The situation was, if the dark being from Grant City had survived, that every single person on this planet was fucked; plain and simple. Seth shoved that thought aside, he was almost sure that he had destroyed Natas. Seth looked up as he sensed that the others had stopped, they indeed had. Since his birth, Seth had been bred for battle, he lived for combat. He trusted his senses more then anything else. They had all gathered outside of a small pizza shop with a second floor where there were tables and chairs with umbrellas over them set up. Seth wondered why they were not going in when he realized that someone was approaching the team. Seth seethed inwardly as he knew who it was; he recognized the Media when he saw it. The person did not have a cameraman following them around, but he had a pad of paper and a pencil with him; ready for an interview.

"Robin! Robin! A word?" he asked, Robin put on a big smile, despite the fact that there was no camera,

"Sure." he said in a friendly voice.

"Rumor has it that Beast Boy has left the team, is it true?" the reporter asked.

"Yes it is." Robin replied.

"Why?"

"Personal reasons, I'm not a liberty to say."

"Oh, and who has replaced him?"

"Seth Obsidian." Robin replied, everyone turned to look at Seth, who stood about five feet away from the others back on the sidewalk.

"Do you have anything to say?" the reporter asked, stepping forward toward Seth. Even as he did so, he faltered, seeing a strange, dangerous thing in Seth's eyes. "Um...okay, I'll get back to you later on that. Uh, thanks for your time everyone, I've got to go now." The reporter turned and retreated with all the dignity that he could.

"You know, you're going to have to learn how to talk to the media, we are rather famous around here." Robin said.

"I don't have to do anything." Seth replied.

"Whatever, we'll deal with this later." Robin turned and stalked into the pizza place, the others followed him. Something like a smile came across Seth's face, he did so love messing with other people.