Robin was waking up from a good night rest at 8 am when his alarm went off. In fact, he was feeling so good that he said to himself,
"Yep, something tells me this is going to be a great morning!" After putting on his clothes and pouring himself a bowl of cereal and milk, he went to sit down and watch some tv which was already on, playing some cartoon series called Yonder Over Wander. "Good morning." He said to whoever was next to him.
"Good morning." An unfamiliar voice replied back. Robin straightened up and saw an unfamiliar young teenage girl next to him, having blonde hip length hair, a black t-shirt, yellow short shorts, and finally brown gloves and boots. After slowly placing his cereal bowl down on the table, he leaned in real close. Deliberately, uncomfortably close, making her lean away from him but couldn't escape his gaze. Even when she tried scooting away he just scooted closer until she was at the couch end and Robin came closer still until their foreheads touched.
"Who are you and what are you doing in the tower unannounced?" He asked in a low and grumbly voice. The girl looked very uncomfortable from her uneasy frown and sweat being secreted from her forehead.
"B-Beast Boy brought me here."
"A likely story. Beast Boy would've told me he'd be bringing a guest. Now, who. Are. You?" He asked again, more menacingly.
"B-Beast Boy?!" She called out, getting seriously freaked out from the titan leader.
"Yo Terra, what's going-Robin, get your face away from her face!" The green teen called out as he pried the Boy Wonder away from this girl named Terra. "She my friend, dude!"
"So she's telling the truth you brought her here?" He asked his fellow titan.
"I indeed I did. In fact, for your information, we're boy and girlfriend, Robin." He emphasized his name harshly and he tried putting an arm over Terra's shoulders, but was too short, so he settled for caressing her waist.
"Yeah, you got to believe us. You told me he'd be cool, Beast Boy." Terra uttered, still nervous from his steely stare. Robin dropped the low and rumbly tone, but he still looked skeptical.
"If that's the case, then why haven't you told us about her at all beforehand, and why let her in the tower without telling the others or me?"
"She just nervous around new people. Check it as I explain via flashback montage." Beast Boy made rippling noises while waving his hands as everything rippled back to two weeks ago. "It happened just after we beat Cinderblock. We were pretty beat, and all of you went back to the tower while I wanted to chill in the city. That's when I met the most beautiful girl in the city. Turns out that she's a wanderer, having fled her... let's just say bad family. She tried to be a hero, but-" The montage was stopped like a cassette tape when Terra spoke up.
"Beast Boy! don't talk about my... problems. I only trust you so far."
"Sorry. Fast forwarding..." Images of what happened zoomed by, including an inexplicable picture of a tall, muscular Beast Boy holding up a sword while Terra raised a rock for him to lean on while lightning and dragons filled the red clouded sky, until he got to the positive stuff. "She liked my sense of humor, I thought her ability to manipulate earth and rocks were super cool, and we just hit things off with our likes and stuff. She was nervous of meeting you all but overtime I convinced her to come over for a visit. I was going to introduce her to you all but then Robin came and... oh, here we are right now in this montage." With more rippling noises and hand waving, Beast Boy dissolved the montage. Robin was still skeptical, but Starfire, Cyborg and Raven seemed intrigued as they ate breakfast while watching the montage.
"Oh, curiosity abound!" Stafire said as she floated to the girl. "Where do you come from, how did you get here, what is your favorite color and would you be my friend?" Terra's eyes darted all over, unable to look the alien titan in the eyes, but was able to answer,
"Far away, walked, red and yes?" Starfire gasped.
"Hello new friend!" She hugged Terra strongly, accidently causing her pain.
"Yes, thank you. Put me down please." She groaned. The Tamaranean complied.
"Tell us, what have you been doing, on the road?" Cyborg asked.
"Meet people, see places, stop a villain here or there, my life's always changing." She then looked away while her right hand covered her left elbow. "Even if it's scary and stuff.
"Where do you even sleep?" Robin inquired, now genuinely curious about her.
"Caves. I crush up rock into sand and sleep on it. I never have money for even one star motels." She answered a little hesitantly.
"Unacceptable!" Starfire protested. "I cannot permit my new friend to slumber in a cave of darkness. What if there is the bear of brown or black or grizzly in there?"
"I have a flashlight."
"Please, you must stay with us as our new friend." Getting really nervous again, Terra got off the couch and was heading for the elevator.
"No, I couldn't possibly intrude-"
"None of the sense." Starfire persisted as she flew in the way of her escape.
"We got plenty of room. Let's get you a room, little lady." Cyborg tried to help as well as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"W-wait! T-too much!" Trying to get around the titans, she tripped over due to her boots snagging on each other, and she fell onto the ground, where she lay there crying in a fetal position. The titans had no idea what to make of this except for Beast Boy as he came to the rescue.
"Guys, give her space! She has an anxiety disorder. Come on Terra, you can have my room until you feel better." He walked the sobbing girl away, leaving the titans unsure of this.
"I did not mean to overwhelm her." Starfire bemoaned, sad that she upset her new friend.
"None of us did Star. I should've seen the signs." Robin reassured, now feeling slightly guilty for giving her such a prolonged stink eye.
"Give her time. We'll wait before apologizing. And not all at once." Raven made clear.
Beast Boy was comforting Terra, whom was beginning to calm down but was still highly emotional.
"Are... are your friends always this... up close and personal?" Terra asked through her sniffs.
"It depends on the circumstance. We don't treat everybody the same. I probably should've told Robin first and Starfire's just really friendly. Sometimes too friendly if she's excited. I think you'll like Raven though. She's very calm and stoic. Heck, those who don't know her would say she's cold and has no emotions." He explained.
"That must be... hard for her."
"You would think so, but she doesn't care about what most people think."
"She doesn't?" She questioned, interested by that.
"Nope. The only opinions she cared about was ours, because we're family. We have our scuffles, but we stand with each other. No matter what."
"So... they were just trying to extend their family friendliness?"
"Yeah. They were just too strong in their approach. I'm sure they'll want to apologize and treat you properly this time... if you give them a chance." Terra looked down at the floor for a moment before nodding once.
"Okay. They were just being nice after all. I shouldn't turn down their hospitality since you live with them." Beast Boy smiled, and she returned it.
The titans were watching a crime tv show called Villainous Minds while waiting for Beast Boy. When they heard footsteps, they turned to see Beast Boy and Terra reenter the living room.
"So, you guys have something to say to Terra?"
"Yeah uh, sorry Terra. About our behavior and stuff." Cyborg went first.
"If I had known you were easily anxious, I would not have invaded your spacious bubble." Starfire added.
"In my defense, I wasn't told before hand we'd have a guest." Robin started with. "But I also apologize for my behavior. We do want you to be comfortable here. Is there anything you'd like or would you rather want to leave? We understand if you don't want to be here anymore."
"Do you... have anything to eat?"
"Oh yeah we do! Get your taste buds ready, because you're mouth's going to experience a roller coaster of flavor when we're done!" Cyborg proclaimed as he and Beast Boy dressed up as chefs.
"Let us make you the most delicious meal you 'ave ever eat'n." The shapeshifter said in a bad French accent.
"I'll make the sandwich!" Robin called as he also dived into the kitchen with the rest of the boys. Terra sat down in between Raven and Starfire.
"So, you can manipulate earth. How does that work for you?" The sorceress asked for conversation sake.
"I have tons of experience honing my powers. That's what happens when you've traveled halfway across the US." Terra answered, growing comfortable.
"How interesting. Tell us, what have you experienced in your travels?" The alien girl asked, making sure not to overwhelm Terra again.
"Well, I saw the Gemini Giant, which looks like a green spaceman, a really large rocking chair, the Blue Whale of Catoosa, which is a building, mind you and not an actual blue whale, a leaning water tower, a Cadillac ranch, I took a wrong turn in Albuquerque, a trading post for jackrabbits and finally here."
"Glorious! It sounds like you traveled a lot!" Starfire remarked with sparkles in her eyes.
"Yeah, it's been a long road for me, but I have no regrets leaving home." Terra stated while turning grumpy for a second, blowing a piece of hair from her eyes.
"We all have a troubled past." Raven said, sympathizing with her. "But we have a great present." Giving her a small smile, the run away girl returned it when Beast Boy yelled,
"Lunch is ready!"
"Oh boy I'm starving!" Terra cheered as she shot out of the couch to get all the tasty food.
It as if 'starving' was an understatement. Sandwich, salad, homemade pizza, even an entire pineapple, Terra ate it all with a gusto until she made a gargantuan burp that rang throughout the whole floor. All the titans except for Starfire were shocked and somewhat disgusted. Even Cyborg wasn't like this at his hungriest. And when she took a bath afterwards, the tub was filled with mud, much to the confusion of Cyborg and Beast Boy. Throughout the whole day, Terra somehow went from a nervous wreck to like she also lived there, especially taking a nap on the couch listening to music in a tape recorder in a bathrobe while her clothes being washed, which rubbed Raven the wrong way.
"She seems... comfortable." She said to the others observing with her.
"Yeah, this is better than I thought!" Beast Boy sighed with glee. "Despite the rough start, she's so calm and serene. She's only like that when I'm around when we got to know each other."
"Raven, do you know how long she's been traveling?" Robin asked his teammate.
"I don't know about time, but she's certainly come a long way. She mentioned seeing the Gemini Giant, which is in mid-Illinois."
"And to think she's crashes in caves." Cyborg commented with sad sympathy.
"Hey, why don't we let her live here? Make her a titan, eh?" The green shapeshifter suggested.
"Yes!" The Tamaranean cheered, but Raven shot her down.
"Wait, she says she has her powers greatly trained, but we don't know the extent, or her history. Something doesn't seem right."
"We'll ask her tomorrow. For now, let's just give her rest and space." The titan leader decided.
Later that night, while Terra was sleeping for real on the couch, she was mumbling something to herself, worry and conflict in her voice until she woke up, and her eye brows burrowed with ambiguous intent. Getting up, and putting on her regular clothes, she walked into a hallway just as Raven entered the living room for some late night tea when she caught catching sight of her boots. Intrigued, she followed, and thanks to her floating ability, silently. Looking past the hallway edge, she saw Terra enter the pantry room and closing the door. Getting near, she listened carefully as she heard a few phone beeps, a few seconds of silence before the mysterious girl said,
"I've made it into the Titan's Tower. It took a while but it was easy. Beast Boy was like clay in my hands." A few seconds passed before she continued. "They think I'm that whiny, neurotic girl. But you know I'm nothing like her." Raven's eyes narrowed that she was some sort of spy trying to infiltrate the titans. She had to warn them. "Just give me a few more days. I should be able to enter their ranks, and steal all their data." Having heard all that she needed, Raven went back, plotting on how to expose Terra. "I will. Fine." Closing her phone, the girl exited the pantry and returned to the bed, and continued to sleep.
The titans were doing their training routine, with Cyborg going first and getting through it in 2:17. Robin nodded in approval.
"Alright, not bad. Terra, mind showing us what you have?" Being put under the spot like that, the girl started to sweat and looked away from everyone.
"I uh... I don't know. That stuff looks like it could actually... hurt. I fought bad guys, but I always just trapped them under a bunch of rocks. I never... did an obstacle course."
"Don't worry. I'll just set the volume to level 2 so that it's not that hard and challenging, though I'll increase the difficulty if you think it's too easy." The titan leader reassured. Terra gave a small smile in appreciation.
"I believe you can do it. It's just practice is all." Beast Boy added in his words, which gave her more confidence.
"Thanks. I... guess I could just give it a shot." Taking some deep breaths, she went down onto the field and took up a defensive stance.
"Alright, let's see what you've got. Counting down." 10 seconds before the simulation starts. Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy were cheering her one. Terra's smile, at least for the moment went from nervous to confident. When the simulation began, two lasers popped up from the ground, shooting in slow and predictable patterns. Terra's eyes and hands glowed yellow as she raised up a rock shield to block them before pushing the barricade at them, destroying them both. When two giant metallic fists popped up from the ground, Terra summoned more power as she pushed her hands forward, creating two stone hands and arms from the ground to her sides to catch the fists that were going to smash her. Looking around to see the dropping gates open up, she grinned as the metahuman slammed her fists into the ground, causing the ground and soil to coat her arms in quite a thick layer before pulling her arms away, bringing out more earth from the ground to have blocky four and a half foot long stone arms glowing with yellow energy. Concentrating more to break the ground she was standing on to create a floating platform, she zoomed through the obstacle. Terra easily went through the first, had to duck under the second, used an arm to block the third, and just barely passed the fourth before the fifth closed on her. Closing her eyes and tensing her jaw, the stone arms she was equipped with started to compact and become smaller while the hands morphed into sharp cones. Jumping off her floating rock, the meta human with a fearsome shout pierced the wall, tearing it apart for her to step through, and tap them on the ground to discard them, freeing her arms. Many turrets popped up from distant rocks and started shooting at the girl with disks, but she crossed her arms, compelling the gravel around her to cover her body in armor, protecting her from the projectiles. Running toward them while also raising earth pillars with each step to gain altitude, and when she was too high the the turret's range, the meta human jumped over them swiped her legs to the sides, repelling the rocks around her arms down like ballistic rain, greatly damaging them. Landing on her feet, Terra's armor fell away and she dusted herself while blowing her hair out of her face. Closing her eyes again and taking a deep breath, her eyes opened with no yellow glow and looked around to see what she has done.
"Whoa." She whispered to herself. The three titans cheering for her were dumbfounded with their eyes as wide as dinner plates. Within seconds, they started praising her for a job well done.
"Magnificent success!" Starfire cheered.
"Wow, you rock! That was incredible, Terra!" Beast Boy followed. Terra smiled as she leapt and gave him a hug, which he melted into.
"Thank you. Your encouragement helped me." Robin came up to her, nodding with a grin.
"That was some creative and powerful usage of earth manipulation there. I'm impressed."
"Really?" She asked with widened eyes and a hopeful smile.
"Yeah, perhaps you can handle level three or fou-" Alarms went off on each of the titan's persons, prompting Terra to ask,
"Uh, what's with the beeping?"
"It's the Hive Five. You've managed well in a level two control setting. Let's see what you can do in a level eight mission."
"E-eight?!" The girl questioned anxiously. "I-I don't know. That's four times the danger! And I've only fought one bad guy at a time that was easier than this training session!" She placed her hands on her forehead. "I-I can't do it!"
"Whoa, Terra! It's okay." Beast Boy came to her side, hugging her into his body. "You don't have to if you don't want to. We've taken them before. Go and have a relaxing day. We won't be too long." Nodding without being to look Beast Boy in the eye, she ran away from the group, trying to restrain her tears.
"Robin, there's something I need to tell you." Raven tried to tell Robin.
"Not now. After the mission when we have time. Titans, GO!" The five teens ran towards their way of getting to Jump City, while Terra was sulking towards the front door of the tower, tears dripping from her face. She stopped just as she was about to enter the tower when the girl saw herself in the reflection.
"Why-why do I always do this?" She talked to herself, her voice full of sadness and frustration. "I try to m-make fri-friends in the cit-cities, and wh-when something happens, I either r-run away or just make things wo-worse. I-I..." Falling to her knees and bending forward until her head touched the ground, the metahuman sobbed to herself, clutching to her arms as her crying came out in full force, until it steadily slowed down to a stop and looked up to her reflection again, one eye visible. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. You need to stop running. There's no more room for weakness." Her eye glowed yellow.
The Hive Five were robbing another bank, carrying bags of cash to the back of their bee themed monster truck, when the roar of an engine alerted them to something approaching. Looking down the street, they saw the T-Car come to a stop, and the Teen Titans come out.
"The Titans! Come on, like we rehearsed!" Gizmo told the others.
"Better return those deposits, because we're going to check you in back to jail!" Cyborg boasted as he went in, blasting with his sonic cannon. Jinx smiled as she ran ahead, dodging, jumping and cartwheeling the blue attacks until they were face to face. The metallic teen tried to punch her, but the metahuman leapt over the attacking arm, using her arms to push off of it while imparting some of her energy into him. Landing on her feet, Jinx didn't turn around when Cyborg tried to turn around and blast her, only for his arm to fall off from the centrifugal force, along with his entire body coming apart, his head yelping in surprise.
"What was that, Tin Man? Seems like you'll need a refund for faulty screws and bolts." The pink haired girl burned back.
"Cy! I've got you buddy!" Beast Boy declared as he ran forward, turning into a T-Rex to ensure Jinx backed off, but while she went away, Billy Numerous took charge as he multiplied at an exponential rate, going from one man to dozens as he formed a humanoid golem of himself, rivaling the T-rex in height. With an excited holler, the Billy Golem threw a punch that took the shapeshifter by surprise, sending him to the ground.
"Ow! Hey Billy, it hurts to just punch something like that!" The fist full of clones complained.
"Sorry Billy, but these the titans we're talking about!" The head Billy responded.
"Starfire, break him apart!" Robin ordered. The Tamaranean nodded as she flew forward, firing a barrage of starbolts that pushed the golem back, but was too preoccupied doing that to notice Mammoth climbed up onto a building and waited until she took part, and jumped so that he grabbed her head mid-fall, and smashed the alien warrior into the ground, before proceeding to repeatedly jump stomp onto her with sadistic glee. "No! Get away from her!" Taking a birdarang out, he threw it at Mammoth, only for a green force field to surround the leader, with the projectile getting stuck in the sphere, detonating with Robin in it.
"No!" Raven cried out as the force field turned off to show Robin on the ground with burnt holes in his clothes and covered in burn marks. The sorceress looked in the direction of the trap and saw See-More, readjusting his ocular weapon from behind a telephone pole. Her anger slowly growing, the half-demon's eyes turned white and floated before saying in a menacing voice, "You'll pay. Azarath Metrione Zinth-AUGH!" Raven was blasted in the back by a pink burst of energy, Jinx blowing her index finger like a gun. This didn't knock Raven out, but now it was both the metahuman witch and the multi-powered cyclops. With Cyborg dismantled, Beast Boy distracted by the Billy Golem, Starfire being stomped like a stubborn car trunk, Robin incapacitated, and Raven fighting two of his teammates, Gizmo chuckled evilly as he used four spider like robot legs to get the rest of the cash near the truck into it, closed the door and got into the truck.
"It's time to defeat those snot-munchers once and for all!" Using a remote control to rev up the monster truck and arm all of its weapons which appeared onto the outside, he laughed maliciously as he drove toward the titans, prepared to finish them off when he was literally stonewalled as the street curled inward in his direction, stopping the truck. Everybody that was still fighting stopped to witness the action. The seat belt protected the young prodigy, so he flew out on his jetpack, utterly baffled by this.
"How the crud did this happen?!"
"Me." A voice answered him. He turned only to get punched in the face by a rock covered fist, owned by Terra. Once both were on the ground, the metahuman walked to the unconscious kid and ripped off his mechanical backpack. "Pack it in, kid. You're in the wrong playground."
"Whoa, don't worry, boss! I got you!" Splitting himself into two golems within seconds, the first continued fighting Beast Boy while the other tried to overwhelm Terra with its size and power, but the girl was having none of it as her eyes and hand glowed before she clenched her fists and crossed her arms, causing the two building walls the Billy golem was in between to close in on it. They tried to hold the walls back, but Terra's will was stronger as all but one close was destroyed by the walls flattening the golem into nothingness. The walls then crumpled without Terra's influence. "Whew, neatly got pancaked." Billy said to himself looking at the destruction before turning to the girl. "You got power, I'll admit, but how wide can you expand that?" Splitting himself up into a circle around her, they believed they had the upper-hand again, but she only smirked.
"How wide? Anywhere touching the earth." Drawing her arms in, pillars erupted behind all the clones, hitting them all in the back. This resulted in them all crying out in pain as they flew to where she stood, only for her to fly out of the way with a floating rock, leaving a large hole for them to fall into before Terra let the rock fall, crushing the clones. Seeing the Billy Golem fighting the green dinosaur, Terra shouted, "Beast Boy, get away!" Hearing this, the bruised shapeshifter ran in the other direction. Sweating, the metahuman exerted more effort with a swift rise of her arms, creating a mountain out of the street, causing the Billy Golem to become unsettled and fall apart with a lot of startled clones. Once all of them were at the bottom of the artificial mountain, Terra gave a powerful yell as she swept her arms away in a downward direction, causing the mountain to break and fall apart, burying the many panicking Billy Numerous in a rockslide. Panting, she placed her hands on her knees, slightly sweating and shaking somewhat. Growing annoyed with her interruptions, Mammoth stopped repeatedly jump stomping on Starfire as he started walking to the newcomer.
"Nice tricks girly, but you can't beat me with rocks. I smash rock!" With a roar, the large metahuman charged with his arms extended with the intent to grab and crush her. Terra was able to push out her hand so that a giant hand from the street became a flip trap. Not only did it stop his momentum, the hand kept up its flipping trajectory in which it pushed Mammoth down onto his back, trapping him under an earth hand. Before he could use his super strength to rip the fingers off, Terra swiped her arms right and left so that two more hands from the street covered the first, completely robbing him the chance to move.
"Smash your way out of that." She responded coolly. Noticing the team going down, along with Beast Boy assisting Starfire from her wooziness, Jinx snarled as she ordered See-more,
"We're beaten! We need to retreat!" Disengaging from Raven the two remaining Hive started to run. The sorceress was just about to use her magic to stop them when Terra flew overhead with a stone platform. Simply raising a finger, the blonde raised a quarter inch high wall that tripped up the fleeing villains. When they landed on their knees and hands, the part of the street they were touching soon covered their hands and feet, effectively immobilizing them.
"Don't worry, I got this." See-more assured as he was going to blast the rocky restraints when the back of his head was kicked by the falling blonde, using his head as a landing platform. This forced his face into the ground, shattering his eye lens. Jinx getting a up and close of Terra asked her,
"Who are you?" With a smug smile, she stooped down to the villain's level, placing a hand on the street.
"Just a girl who rocked your world." Her hand tearing some earth away from the street, she slapped an earth hand over Jinx's mouth, rendering her mute for the time being except for muffles. Standing up, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again, the yellow glow in her eyes gone. Before she could completely take in what she did, Beast Boy assisting Starfire with an arm draped around his shoulders cheered,
"Whoa dude, you totally kicked butt! You were awesome!"
"Yes. While I was quite out of it from the heavy Mammoth stomping me, I am highly impressed with the results I currently see." Starfire added.
"Hey Rave, can you put me back together?" Cyborg asked his fellow teammate. Her eyes glowing white, they metallic titan was reassembled back to complete shape. "Thanks. And I agree. That was some phenomenal quick thinking and creativeness."
"Oh, uh... thanks." She responded, backing away somewhat as to not be surrounded again. Seeing this, they backed away by looking to Raven tending to Robin's wounds. He's woken up by now, and waited until it was his turn. "Oh, are you alright?" Terra asked the titan leader.
"Yeah, just a little roughed up. Looking around, it seems that you're more powerful then you let on. Would you like to join the Teen Titans?" Feeling a mixed sensation of both pride yet anxiety, she mumbled as she looked away and fumbled with her fingers,
"R-really? You'd really want me to be on your team?" Beast Boy came up to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Don't worry Terra. You'll never be alone. We'll eat pizza and fight crime with you all the way."
"Definitely." Starfire added.
"Of course." Cyborg said.
"You'll have my support." Robin said last. Raven didn't say anything, but she did nod her head once. All of this support gave Terra she hasn't felt in about a year and a half; hope for a good future.
"Well, if you think I'll be a good addition, then count me in." Everybody cheered as they welcomed their new member on the team, except for Raven. She'd have to bide her time considering the circumstances, but sooner or later, she'll expose Terra for the mole she was.
A/N: Sorry that it's been so long. The last couple of weeks have... not been great to say the least. I've been really bummed out. But now I'm good enough to continue writing. Anyway, turns out this is a two part, or even three part if it's long enough, chapter thing. I know it has elements from the original series of her debut episode, but I couldn't think of anything else, and sometimes you can't beat the classics. So, what do you think of how I portrayed Terra so far? I talked with someone who has anxiety disorder since I believe that's what she partially had in the original series, and I wanted to portray that accurately. She said I was very accurate. Let me know about Terra in the reviews below.