Hello again, to anyone who reads this thank you and please enjoy. If your have any criticism or words of advice as I am new to this platform and writing in general please comment below I would love to hear from you and as always Teen Titans and the DC Universe is property of Warner Brothers, the only thing I own is me. Enjoy.
Chapter 2: Moving In
It had been a couple days since the Gordonian invasion shook Jump City and nearly eviscerated its inhabitants, the young heroes had taken up residence in a hotel located near the middle of the city. It was Monday morning when Beast Boy found himself trying to wake up a rock. "Get upppp," Beast Boy groaned shaking Tyler's bed, seeming to have no effect on the sleeping teen just them Beast Boy got a mischievous smile, grabbing the ice bucket that contained near frozen water, tip-toeing over to his bedside he held the bucket above him his smile growing even wider, "dump that on me and I'll beat you with the bucket," Beast Boy heard Tyler groggily say his smile immediately leaving his face as he put down the bucket. "So you are up," Beast Boy said as Tyler sat up stretching with a yawn. "You are a really heavy sleeper," Beast Boy commented as Tyler started to get dressed, "And you snore," Tyler grunted still half asleep, tripping over himself as he tried to pull up the new sweatpants Robin had got him as his old clothes were just a little worn. "I hate this," he mumbled from the floor, "Come on, Robin called a meeting," Beast Boy said trying to move his new teammate, "have it without me," he grunted Beast Boy dragging him by the arm, giving up with a sigh, Beast Boy tried his last move, "they have free breakfast," he whispered Tyler disappearing with a gust of wind, "you should have started with that," he called out from the end of the hallway practically sprinting to the stairs.
It was true, Robin had called their first "official" team meeting, while the six heroes had decided that they wanted to become a team, actually becoming one turned out to be easier said than done, luckily for them they had stopped an alien invasion that threatened to destroy the very city they were residing in and so the mayor had invited a representative of the team to meet with him realizing that the city needed a special group to defend them from threats that the cities police force just couldn't handle and anything else that threatened the people in his city. After meeting with the mayor, Robin had asked all of them to meet in the lobby in the morning. It was here that Tyler found himself in line for the breakfast buffet seriously considering fighting off the people in front of him, after patiently waiting and filling up four plates with mostly bacon he walked over to see his teammates sitting at a table eating together. Pulling off his balancing act he took a seat beside Raven who gave the young teen an incredulous look, "are you going to eat all of that?" she asked as the others noticed him sitting in front of his pile of bacon, "yes I am," he said greedily rubbing his hands together, Beast Boy giving him a disdainful look as he sat in front of his plate of fruits and vegetables causing Tyler to roll his eyes before reaching over and grabbing one of his apples, "there happy," he said slowly peeling off the sticker seeming to only infuriate the changeling more. "Before we start eating," Robin said all of his teammates eyes turning to him, "we have some things to discuss," he finished , Tyler getting teary eyed as he eyed his mountain of food, getting straight to the point Robin started, "The mayor wants us to become the cities protectors," this news causing the group to share excited looks as Robin continued, "However we need to prove we can be effective so he has given us a... challenge of sorts," Robin paused noticing Tyler trying to eat as quietly as he could, being caught Tyler rolled his eyes throwing the bacon back in the pile that he had already made a dent in, "The mayor has challenged us to reduce the cities crime rate by ten percent in a week, if we do this than we will become the cities defenders. Any questions?" he finished the five teens looking at each other in agreement the same excitement in their eyes, Robin panning over his new teammates seeing their eager faces "good lets get to work."
Robin had laid it all out after breakfast, since there were six of them they would take shifts patrolling the city, paired up with different people each time so as to get used to each other. Since it was their first day Robin volunteered to take the first shift with Starfire eagerly asking to accompany him and after laying out the rest of the shifts he and their new alien friend were gone. Since he didn't have to patrol for a couple hours Tyler decided to head out to the pool for a little bit before heading back up to his room choosing not to go out in favor of lying in his bed. After some time had passed Robin and Star had returned, Starfire kept regaling about how she had stopped a car jacker, of course she had almost destroyed the car but Robin had suggested to leave that part out. Heading out Tyler's first patrol was with Cyborg who had suggested that they head downtown where crime would be more frequent. Arriving downtown the cyborg next to the teen was an interesting sight as the bionic man was catching stares from the locals making the hulking teen a little self aware. Noticing this the young teen attempted to comfort the cyborg, "don't worry about these guys, most of them are so drunk they can't see straight," he said waving them off, "how do you know," Cyborg mumbled missing his clothes as he hadn't really left the hotel since the invasion and therefore had not been seen to much, "I know most of these guys," he said simply as they strolled through the slums, "You do?" Cyborg asked confused, "oh yeah, I use to live here," he replied, a look of pity crossing the bionic teen's face as he looked at the dilapidated buildings and the sidewalk that was lined with homeless. "You lived here?" he asked again still confused, "Yeah," Tyler said before turning into his shadow form instantly getting stares of his own, "Before I met you guys I lived out here," he said gesturing to the many people out on the streets as he floated in front of the cyborg, "You don't believe me?" the shadowy teen asked as he looked at his teammates reaction, "I didn't say anything," Cyborg replied honestly believing him, after seeing how he looked when he first met him it made sense. "Carl," Tyler said returning to his regular form stopping in front of an older gentleman who was fast asleep, "CARL," he yelled waking up the man, "Who, what, where," he stuttered before noticing the two in front of him, "Oh...Tyler is that you?" he asked focusing his eyes, "Hey old timer," Tyler said with a grin before helping the old man up, "Oh Tyler, my boy how are you?" the old man asked embracing the young hero, "I'm doing good, how about you?" he replied separating the old man, "I'm doing fine, but you," Carl paused pointing at Tyler with a smile, "I saw you fighting off those aliens," he added causing a smile to creep onto Tyler's face, "Please, they weren't any worse than the people out here," he said with a laugh, "Oh, Carl I brought you something," Tyler added pulling off his new jacket, handing it to the old man, "Oh, I can't take that," the old man refused causing the teen to roll his eyes, "Well I don't need it, you know I have warm blood," he smiled insisting he take the jacket. "Thank you my boy," the old man said taking the jacket with a smile, "who is your friend?" he asked looking up at the hulking bionic teen, "This is Cyborg, my teammate," Tyler said wrapping her arm around Cy's shoulder, "he took out like forty aliens," he added with a smile, Tyler's praise and the old man's smile making Cyborg feel better. "Well Carl, we'll leave you alone," Tyler said before walking away, waving to the old man, Cyborg quickly following him.
"Was that your dad?" Cyborg asked catching up to his shadowy teammate that was currently floating upside down, a snicker escaping Tyler's lips before he responded, "no, that's just a guy I know," "huh" was Cyborg's only reply, "like I told Raven, it doesn't hurt to have some friends," a hidden grin on the floating's teens face, before both of the heroes turned hearing the sound of police sirens coming towards them, seeing a car speed past with officers quick in pursuit the two looked at each other, "I'll follow you cut him off," Tyler said before pointing right down an alley, "go that way I'll move them to you," he said before flying after the criminals, Cy heading down the alley before jumping over the wall. Coming up behind the criminals he could see there were more cop cars in pursuit as the criminals had opened fire forcing the police to back off a bit, flying down going underneath the car he phased through its floor, in the two back seats were the armed ones, a driver in the front sitting eyes frantic and fearful as he kept glancing back at the cops, in silent horror only he could see a dark shadow emerge into the car, before he could say anything he turned into a boy unlatching one of the car doors and throwing one of the men out the other turning and firing at him only for the bullets to pass through shadow, when he had to reload the shadow did the same thing kicking the criminal out the open door. The driver panicking swerved to the right the boy phasing through the car as it hit a tight turn, grunting in frustration he went back in pursuit hoping he could catch back up, as started to get closer he could see a police barricade up ahead the driver flooring it, intent on ramming the line of cars, panicking he phased through the door before returning to his human form trying to wrench the wheel from the driver's hands only to send the car into a barrel roll directly at the barricade, bracing for impact the officers tried to shield themselves before they heard the grind of metal and a loud grunt as they opened their eyes to see Cyborg in front of them stopping the car in it's tracks just like he had done with the bus. His feet digging into the asphalt as the car finally came to a stop, the driver slumped over the wheel as Tyler had turned into shadow form on impact going harmlessly through the front of the car.
"Thank you if you hadn't stepped in when you did...well lets just say you two saved a lot of people today," an officer said to the two as they cuffed the driver and threw him into the back of a car with the other two, "not a problem," Tyler said with a grin, "though he did most of the work," he commented pointing to his bionic teammate, "Well thank you again..." the officer trailed off not knowing either of their names, "Cyborg," the metal teen said looking at the officer, "and I'm Tyler," the former shadow added shaking the officer's hand, the three interrupted before they could continue as the sound of distant gunfire could be heard, "well officer, I guess we'll see you soon," Tyler said as he transformed into his shadow form, flying off towards the gunfire, Cyborg following on foot.
After a couple more hours an exhausted Tyler and Cyborg returned to the hotel, collapsing on the couch breathing heavily, "why...do they...always run?" Tyler asked in between breaths, "I don't...know," Cyborg replied also gasping. The two stayed like this for a couple more minutes until their teammates discovered them Star and Beast Boy wanting every detail as they were eager to hear about what they had done. After Star had left him alone with Beast Boy leaving for night patrol with Raven, Tyler went up to bed knowing he had morning patrol the next day.
When the next day came, Tyler woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm clock that he had set to max volume, dragging himself out of bed as Beast Boy came into the room stumbling into bed and falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Walking downstairs half-asleep he was surprised to find Starfire already down there and wide awake waiting for him and once he saw him she practically dragged him outside eager to start much to Tyler's dismay. Walking out the two immediately took the skies figuring a birds eye view would help, as the sun rose over the city bathing it in light the two began looking out amongst the city trying to spot anything. After around an hour of this with no results the young alien looked to her teammate, "Are you okay friend Tyler you have not said anything all day," Star asked with a concerned look, had it not been so early Tyler would have found her concern a little sweet, "I'm fine, Starfire I'm just not a morning person," he groaned still trying to wake up, "Morning...person? I do not know what this is," Starfire asked confused as it was morning and he was a person, looking over at his alien friend Tyler sighed, this had been a very normal occurrence since he met her she didn't know a thing about anything relative to Earth, "No Starfire it just means that your a little extra tired in the morning and take longer to wake up," he said as he landed on a tall skyscraper overlooking the city his friend following suit, "So does this mean you are extra tired now?" Star asked confused, "Yes, extremely, Tyler replied rubbing his eyes. "You know what Starfire how about this," he started with a yawn, "every time you ask me a question I get to ask you one," he finished kind of curious to learn from the alien. "Okay," she replied with bubbly enthusiasm. "Well since you asked me one, its my turn," he said, thinking of something to ask, "what did you do on Tamaran?" he asked since Starfire had told them were she was from but not really what she was, "I am the princess," Star replied in a simple tone causing the young teen to freeze, "are you serious?" he asked shocked, receiving a nod from the alien girl. "Do I like have to bow? Do I call you your highness?" he asked incredulously, earning himself a giggle from the Tamaranean princess, "no, friend Tyler you may still call me Star," she replied, the shadowy teen too overloaded to speak as he just stood there silent, before the two could continue the sound of an alarm from the bottom of the tower alerted them.
Flying down to the base of the tower the two spotted five men running down an alley, the doors of the bank on the first floor broken, putting two and two together they both took off after them not taking long to catch up to them with Star landing in front of them cutting them off, turning to go back the way they came they saw a shadow waving at them, "hi guys," he quipped looking down at the duffel bags stuffed full of cash, "We'll need back," he said the five pulling out their guns in response, "guys," he moaned before they opened fire, the bullets passing harmlessly through them while Star on the other hand rose in the air her hands glowing green as she unleashed a barrage of starbolts blasting the criminals away before cracking one of their jaws with a haymaker. "Well you could have saved some for me," Tyler complained sarcastically looking around as the sound of five collective groans could be heard, "I am sorry," Star apologized as the police caught up to them, "don't be," Tyler said as he started dragging the bags of money towards the officers, "I'm just glad I'm not them," he said with a smile.
This was what happened for the rest of the day, Tyler really felt like he was there just to supervise as Star stopped criminals pretty quickly leaving him with almost nothing to do. When their shift was over they went back to the hotel, Tyler looking forward to taking a nice afternoon nap still remembering how early he had to wake up. Walking into the hotel they saw Raven and Robin heading out for the next patrol with Cyborg and Beast Boy not to be seen, Tyler guessed still asleep or at least in their rooms. "Friend Tyler," Star said breaking his sleepy train of thought, "may I ask you another question?" she asked, "Sure," Tyler replied still shocked at what he had told him earlier, "When you turn into shadow...how do you talk?" she asked curiously looking at him, "you have no mouth," she commented, "Uhhhhh," was the teens only answer he hadn't ever really thought about it it just happened, "I... don't know," he finally replied with a shrug, "I don't know a lot about my powers, all I really know is they work," he simply said confusing the girl even more. "Well its my turn now," he said thinking of a question, he thought of something, "why did you kiss Robin?" he asked teasingly, the girl blushing slightly before answering, "On my planet to learn a language we exchange physical touch," she replied shyly her blush intensifying slightly, A smile on his face Tyler said, "Don't tell Robin," pausing trying to think of an excuse, "it is rude to discuss these matters on Earth," lying a bit as to not spoil it for Robin, "oh, okay friend Tyler," Star replied with the smile she always seemed to have, "thank you your highness," he replied giving a bow to the Tamaranean once again giggling at his reaction.
The next day Tyler woke up around mid-day after his morning patrol with Starfire he took a long nap, he had been doing a lot of sleeping over the past couple days. His teammates had found it a bit strange he was basically only sleeping when he wasn't on patrol in truth he hadn't slept in a bed like this in years though he chose to keep that to himself. Pretty soon night came and with that Cyborg and Beast Boy came back from patrol, overhearing Beast Boy telling another bad joke as Robin and him left the hotel. Grappling up to a rooftop to get a better vantage point Tyler following floating up next to him as both stood looking up to see the lights of city seeming to go on forever. While he had been able to talk to his new friends before they had to go actually stop something it didn't seem like that would happen this time as the police radio Robin had tapped into picked up a home invasion in one of the apartments in the north side of the city. Flying over with Robin keeping up on foot the two arrived landing on an apartment across from the one they were targeting, pulling out his binoculars Robin searched the building before stopping on a window, pointing towards it, Tyler understood responding with a nod. Devising a plan Tyler would phase into the room and see how many there were and where they were located and then regroup with Robin before going in through the window.
Phasing through the wall Tyler couldn't see much of anything because it was almost pitch black where he entered his eyes quickly adjusting he could make out four figures going through the place looking for anything valuable, hearing muffled cries from a room down the hallway he guessed that's where they tied up the people who lived there. Phasing back through the wall and kneeling beside Robin he told him what he saw, telling him they needed to get the hostage out first they improvised the plan a bit. Tyler phased back through the wall before floating through to the kitchen where he took a deep breath before letting out a long whistle, the four robbers immediately going towards the noise, pistols in hand going around them he went to the bedroom where he already saw Robin untying the woman on the ground, taking her outside and down the fire escape Tyler went back into the main room the four men still looking through the kitchen for the noise they heard. Going over towards the kitchen he floated right behind one of the goons before changing back into his human form wrapping his fingers around one of the pans in the kitchen, striking the one in front of him before changing back the other three firing right where he was the bullets going through. Panic in their eyes Tyler bent down turning to human form kicking away the gun the others firing where he had kicked it, at that exact moment Robin dropped down from the ceiling in the middle of them, making short work of them, the cops then kicked down the door only to see the two teens standing over the four unconscious bodies. After talking with the cops for a couple minutes the two left grappling back up to one of the nearby buildings the shadow following him.
"Nice job," Robin commented as Tyler turned back to his human body, "You did most of the work," he responded looking over at the Boy Wonder, after a moment of silence Tyler asked something, "Was this like a normal thing with Batman?" Robin didn't look at him still staring out at the rooftops, "Yeah it was," he finally said, "No wonder your so good at this," Tyler commented before looking down at the police on the street below as Robin looked over at his young teammate, "have you ever done that before?" he asked, "Well no... but I'm pretty sure the only other one who has is Beast Boy," he said looking back at Robin, "This is new to me," he commented as he turned to shadow form floating in front of the building, "But don't worry sir," he said flashing the same salute Beast Boy had given Robin when they first met, "I'm a fast learner," he finished before falling down and through the street, Robin rolling his eyes with a grin on his face as he grappled over to the next building.
After a couple hours of intense night patrol Tyler and Robin returned to the hotel, just before the sun rose, Tyler really to tired to notice his two teammates leave for morning patrol. "You did good out there," Robin said praising the young hero, Tyler yawning in response before heading towards the stairs to go to bed, "Hey Robin," he said turning to his leader, "why did you leave?" a confused look on Robin's face as Tyler clarified, "Batman I mean," he said stretching, "Oh," Robin paused before continuing, "It was just...time to leave," he finished hearing how weird it sounded out loud but he couldn't phrase it any differently, "Well congrats, now your stuck with me," Tyler replied sarcastically, a small smile on Robin's face as he said, "go to bed," waving off the young teen, "whatever you say boss," Tyler yelled out as he went up the stairs.
The same day Tyler found himself getting woken up by Beast Boy again since he and him had afternoon patrol, off of his near six hours of sleep Tyler headed out on patrol with Beast Boy. Choosing immediately to take to the sky, with Tyler in his shadow form and Beast Boy as an eagle, surveying the city the two couldn't find much of anything choosing to land on one of the streets, "You think were just blind?" Tyler asked looking over at his green teammate, earning a shrug from Beast Boy. Not sure of what to do they started walking going nowhere in particular, "Soooo... how have patrols gone?" Tyler asked trying to break the silence, "Good, I stopped a car thief," he said in a bragging tone a snicker escaping Tyler's lips before he responded, "So did I," he paused, "and I've done a lot more than that," he said mockingly leaning over the changeling, "So have I," Beast Boy said challenging his teammate, backing off Tyler began stroking his chin before it seemed like he got an idea, "how about this," he started peaking the changelings interest, "lets see who's a better crimefighter," he said looking down at his teammate, "okay...," Beast boy responded before pausing, "but if I win you have to eat nothing but vegetables for a week," he said sick of seeing Tyler eating almost nothing but meat, like a carnivore, Tyler shuddered thinking of what he had seen Beast Boy eat before a smile crept onto his face, "alright... but when I win you have to sleep with a mask on for a week," he said sick of Beast Boy's snoring, "deal," Beast Boy sticking out his hand, Tyler shaking it, confident, "whoever has the most criminals arrested wins," Tyler said before turning into his shadow form, "go," he said quickly before flying away, Beast Boy grunting in annoyance before taking flight.
For the rest of the day Tyler was a madman he almost couldn't keep track of how many he helped put away but he had seen Beast Boy a couple times, he was going just as fast as him. As the day went on he noticed the sun was almost setting meaning that time was almost up, flying around frantically looking for anything he spotted something, a man was holding someone at knife point, flying down towards it he almost didn't see the green tiger approaching the same mugger, racing towards the mugger the two collided with Tyler turning into his human form to tackle the man, tumbling together into the wall, "what are you doing?" Tyler asked in disbelief and a bit of anger, "I was stopping that mugger," Beast Boy almost yelled pointing to the man who was now running away down the street, "HEY!" they both called out, scrambling off each other they gave chase, turning to a cheetah Beast Boy zipped past, Tyler grunting in frustration as he turned to his shadow form flying as fast as he could. After a couple seconds the two caught up to him tackling him to the ground, both holding one of his arms they pulled trying to wrench the criminal from the other, "what's the matter short stuff, are you that far behind," Tyler said mockingly, Beast Boy snarling in response, "I did better than you," the changeling shot back. Right as he finished the police showed up the officer stepping out to see the two young heroes arguing over the now unconscious criminal, snapping at the heroes they both promptly let go shutting up as the officer put the mugger in the back of his car before driving off, not wanting to deal with the two young teens. As soon as he left Beast Boy turned to his teammate, "that counts as mine," he said quickly, "no it's mine," Tyler shot back, "how many do you get?" Beast Boy asked a sinister smile on his lips knowing he had to have won, already picturing Tyler miserably eating his food, "forty-eight," Tyler said confidently arms crossed, Beast Boy's face immediately fell, "that's how many I got," he said in disbelief, his teammates confident look also disappearing. There was silence between the two for a moment, "we tied?" they both said in disbelief, "so we both lost?" Tyler asked disappointed, "or we both won," Beast Boy said his smile returning, "no, nononononono," Tyler quickly said but at dinner that night he sat down with his team a look of unimaginable fury on his face as Beast Boy smugly placed his food in front of him his teammates looking at the two a little cautiously. "enjoy," Beast Boy said his smug smile still on his face, taking a deep breath he looked down at a carrot, sighing and taking a bite, at least had a nice quiet night ahead of him.
Waking up the next day after a nice quiet night, he smiled seeing the mask by Beast Boy's bed thinking that maybe eating vegetables was worth it. Making his way downstairs he surprisingly found his team in the lobby as the morning patrol had just came back. Joining them just as the afternoon patrol was heading out, today was the last day of duo patrols as Robin said after this they would be heading out in trio's to better cut down on the crime rate just in case they hadn't hit their quota yet. Today he had night patrol with Raven so he had some time to kill. Spending most of his time around the hotel and the pool night seemed to come quickly, heading out the two headed to the warehouse district as Robin had informed them that there seemed to be a lot of activity there last night. Landing on one of the warehouse rooftop they looked out over to a group of people near a truck, looking over at them neither of them moved keeping both eyes on them, "there not doing anything," Raven whispered leaning over slightly to her teammate, "That's cause their waiting for something," Tyler whispered back, "how do you know?" Raven asked a bit doubtful, Tyler paused before responding, "I-I know these guys their waiting for drug shipments to unload," he finished, Raven giving a doubtful look, "There not my friends alright," he said a bit defensive, "just look," he said pointing out to the water as a fishing boat pulled up alongside them. "how was the catch?" one of the goons asked as some people came off the boat loading fishing crates full to the brim with fish into the truck. "There just fish," Raven whispered looking over at Tyler who wasn't there anymore, panicking she looked out at the truck to see a shadow next to it stepping in for a moment before retreating in his human form quietly returning to Raven with a fish in hand. "Why did you do that?" she asked in a angered whisper, "to prove to you-" he paused as he opened up the fish with his hand, expecting fish guts and blood Raven turned away disgusted only to hear Tyler, "that I'm not crazy," he finished holding a sealed container of white powder that he had pulled out from the fish.
After easily dealing with the smugglers who were distracted by a shadow, Raven disabled the truck and boat rendering them useless, the police arrived a little while after to take them away, "We've been trying to figure out how they keep getting in," an officer said looking over at a fish crate, "now we know," he finished, "not a problem," Tyler responded, "and officer this isn't the only place they do it," he said relaying other spots he had previously heard about, thanking him the officer got into his car, he and the others leaving the two teens standing by the shore. "So that went well, don't you think?" Tyler asked Raven as they watched the police disappear around the corner, Raven nodding slightly in response, "how did you know?" she asked curious, "you live in a place long enough... you pick up on stuff," he said picking up a pebble chucking it into the water, "how long have you lived here?" she asked, Tyler staying silent for a moment as he watched the water for a moment trying to hear the splash, "my whole life," he said simply squatting down looking for a bigger rock, "what about you? Where are you from?" he asked still looking for a rock, only hearing silence as the mage didn't answer, finally finding one he stood up chucking it, hearing the splash he stood there satisfied, "you know its okay not to answer," he said looking back at her seeing her with her hood pulled up covering her face in shadow, "sorry for prying," he said apologetically, the mage doing nothing, "I saw you like reading, any recommendations?" he asked always seeing her with book in hand when she wasn't eating or on patrol, "you like to read?" Raven asked from behind her hood breaking her silence, "I do, the library never let me in though," he said glad he finally got a response, "why?" Raven asked not being able to think of a logical reason behind his statement, "You know I was homeless a couple days ago" he said with a small grin, "they thought I was gonna try to sleep there or something," he finished with the grin still on his face, Raven didn't say anything though this time it was more of shock, "I'm sorry," she finally said, Tyler only shrugging, "It's fine," he replied throwing another rock, this time however there were two as one as big as a boulder sailed way past his. With an exaggerated turn he saw Raven behind him hood down and a ghost of a smile on her face, returning her smile he laughed, "not bad, though mine still went farther," Raven rolling her eyes though the smile stayed on her face.
The patrol after that was just as intense as the others they had been on, covering an entire city with two people was pretty difficult. Arriving back at the hotel hours later the two walked through the doors just as the sun was rising, the next patrol had already head out, "I'm glad we get three people the next couple of days," Tyler said stretching his back, only for Raven to portal away, "Raven? Where did she-" he said before one of her portals opened up right where she had been, coming out of it Raven was holding out something to him, "What are you doing?" Tyler asked confused as he looked at the book in her hands, "You said you wanted my recommendations, this is one of them," she said still holding the book out, "oh," he said reaching and taking it, opening the front page, "Thanks," he said with a smile looking up to see that Raven was already gone, still with a smile on his face he went upstairs and laid on his bed turning the page and beginning the story.
After reading for what felt like hours, Tyler had passed out, falling asleep with the open book on his chest. Opening his eyes he looked around the room, it was late out, the afternoon soon casting a haze over the city, placing the book on the nightstand to his right he woke up Beast Boy, he had to admit the quiet nights were well worth thehorrible food his green teammate made him eat. Making there way downstairs the two weren't surprised to see Star already there excitedly waiting to go, the previous patrol had already returned. Heading out the three took to the skies, Beast Boy transforming into a green hawk as he flew with the alien and the shadow.
It wasn't long before the green changeling had spotted something with his enhanced eyesight, diving down rocketing towards the ground, his two teammates following him, their eyes widening in shock as they got closer, the burning building coming into view. Landing on the street, the three saw lines of firefighters desperately trying to put out the blaze, most of the water evaporating before it touched the building, cries for help ringing out, the people inside running out of time. Not wasting a moment Beast Boy and Star burst through the door, their teammate going to the higher levels to try to find the survivors, running to the stairs they opened the door to see a fiery inferno causing Beast Boy to stumble back, not being able to withstand the heat as Star flew up trying to find her other teammate and the survivors he had hopefully gathered, as Beast Boy composed himself he turned to hear screams from down the hall, running towards them, the smoke heavy, almost blinding him forcing him to try to cover his mouth and nose. Turning into a room his eyes darting around desperately as he finally saw a little girl in the bathtub hugging a stuffed bear, terrified. Scooping her up in his arms he sprinted back down the hall, stopping suddenly as the building groaned the door collapsing sealing them in, "Oh no," he said panicking as he held the girl close to him trying to shield her from the heat, looking around the inferno roaring around him he could only think of one way out, "Don't let go," he yelled to the girl, clinging on to him for dear life as the changeling sprinted at the collapsed doorway.
As Star floated to the ground a woman in her arms, Tyler floating down beside her, landing on the ground the girl left her arms sprinting over to the two children, embracing as the two teammates looked at each other, "that's everyone," Tyler said before a panicked look came over him, his eyes darting around, "Star, where is Beast Boy?" he asked not seeing the short greenette, "he could not go up the stairs," she said her eyes turning to the burning building, "oh no," Tyler said looking at the building as it groaned, the fire seeming to finally win as the building collapsed, dust and heat blanketing all those close enough to see, "Beast Boy!" Star cried out, the two blinded by the dust and ash. squinting trying to see anything the two stopped seeing a figure in the ash as Beast Boy stumbled into view holding a little girl in his arms, "Beast Boy!" Star cried this time in pure joy and relief as she wrapped her teammate in a bone crushing hug, the teen covered in soot and ash was gasping for air pleading for his alien teammate to release him, "Star I can't breathe," he gasped out, the girl finally letting go as his other counterpart walked up beside him, "try not to bring the building down next time," he said patting his head a small grin on his face, Beast Boy rolling his eyes as he looked out to see the little girl run up to her mom, running into her arms as the two cried tears of joy, a smile on his face as Tyler started hitting his clothes trying to dust them off, groaning as he started to see the burns in them.
The rest of the day was pretty eventful, highlighted by Star accidently sending a robber into the stratosphere and Tyler almost giving another one a heart attack with a boo. Even though they had been patrolling for almost twelve hours the time seemed to fly by, it seemed more like a game with Beast Boy and Star. As the sun began to rise, the three began to make their way back to the hotel, Tyler challenging the two to a race before suddenly rocketing past them the two following suit as they tried to cut into his head start. Star and Tyler were neck and neck as the hotel was rapidly approaching, Beast Boy had earlier disappeared into the clouds but that's not what the two were focused on now as they pushed themselves to go faster, Star slightly passing him before a shadow appeared over the two glancing up the saw a green falcon streaking down towards the hotel, the three not slowing down as they barreled into the lobby. Finally coming to a stop the three were all laughs as they untangled themselves, Tyler slightly panting as Star helped him up, "you two... are really fast," he said in-between gasps for air hands on his knees, a smug looking Beast Boy patting Tyler's head as the taller teen glanced up a smile still on his face, "better luck next time," Beast Boy said making Tyler roll his eyes as he stood up. After sitting around in the lobby seeing their teammates go off on patrol, the three went up to bed the long patrol finally seeming to hit them.
Waking up early to the sound of the screeching alarm clock which Tyler was pretty sure could wake up the whole hotel if he left in on for long enough, groggily opening up his eyes to the afternoon sun, Beast Boy was also woken up by the alarm clock. This time Star was waiting outside their room, the seemingly unwavering smile on her face as the three made there way downstairs, this was the last patrol of the week after this they would know if they would become a team or not. Leaving the hotel the three once again took to the skies, the day was pretty slow but when the sun set after a couple hours the city seemed to come alive, the three scrambling to keep up with the spiking crime rate, after flying and dashing across the city, the three splitting up to better cover the city. After a couple hours the three would regroup running into each other as they each followed a convoy of vans that cut through city traffic, the three following them to the cities outskirts, pulling into an abandoned parking lot they stopped in front of a group of heavily armed men in white outfits. Hovering high enough to be out of sight the three watched as multiple figures stepped out of the vans, another figure being shoved out of the vehicle, yelling at both groups as he was shoved towards the figures in white, one of the white-clad individuals handing over a briefcase. Star and Beast Boy watched with wide eyes as Beast Boy turned to his teammate, "what are they doing?" he asked, confused at Tyler's relaxed expression, "its an exchange," he replied simply, watching intently as an armored truck pulled up behind the white figures the handcuffed criminal being forced into the back, "those are prison guards," he said pointing to the white figures, then to the building in the mountains, "that's the prison," he said simply, "who are they?" Star asked, pointing to the figures getting back into their vans, "those... are bounty hunters," Tyler responded pausing for a moment as the vans drove off back to the city, the three landing down in the parking lot. "I've never actually seen one of those," Tyler said to himself as he kneeled down and swept his fingers over the gravel, "how did you know that?" Beast Boy asked, giving the taller teen a confused look, "you two just moved here," he said with a pause as he stood up, "I've been here a while," he finished the three turning to look over the lit up city skyline, "do you believe we have done enough?" Star asked breaking the momentarily silence, "we better have," Tyler grumbled, "I can't room with you for much longer," he followed jutting his thumb towards the green changeling. "the feeling is more than mutual," Beast Boy grumbled back, crossing his arms in annoyance.
A couple more hours had passed and the sun was close to rising on the horizon, the three had stayed out a bit late trying to lower the crime rate just a little more, but as the sun began to rise the three flew over to the island in the bay landing down on the still intact Gordonian structure. Sitting down on its edge, looking out across the horizon as the sun kissed the sky bathing it in red and yellow light, the three sitting in silence as they watched the sun fully rise coming over the horizon, the sky becoming blue and the city lights extinguishing. "So Star, how are you enjoying Earth so far?" Tyler asked turning to his alien friend, "It is most wonderous," Star replied with her trademark smile, "that's too bad cuase if we failed then you might have too..." he trailed off seeing his teammates smile leave her face, replaced with watering eyes making him immediately stop talking, "nono, Star its a joke," he said trying to undo the damage he had caused, "a j-joke," she replied a whimper interrupting her response, "don't worry I'm sure we did enough," he said trying to reassure her, "that joke was not funny," she replied wiping her eyes, "well they can't all be winners," Beast Boy said patting Tyler's back a smile on his face, Tyler slowly turning his head giving his green teammate a death glare, "I'm sorry Star, don't worry okay, I say dumb things sometimes," he said still trying to reassure the Tamaranean, "is this a joke?" she asked warily still wiping her eyes, "no, I promise," he said, finally seeming to reassure the princess as she relaxed looking back over the ocean, "Your jokes are not funny like Beast Boys," Star said still a little hurt, "no, Star don't encourage him, NO," he shrieked as Beast Boy crawled on him repeating Star's words over and over taunting him as Tyler only groaned and phased through the top of the structure. The whole situation and Tyler's reaction seemed to cheer up the Tamareanean as she giggled looking at Beast Boy's triumphant look, "Star, you know I share a room with him right?" Tyler asked as Beast Boy continued to taunt him, "I am sorry friend Tyler," Star replied though the smile she held was a bit of a smirk, "uh huh," he replied as he hovered above them, "so are we still racing back?" Tyler asked the two, who glanced at each other before back at him and without uttering a single word the two took off towards the city, Beast Boy back in his falcon form, a grunt escaping the shadow as he sped off after them.
Later that day Robin was called into a meeting with the mayor, to discuss their results. The whole team sat worried in the lobby, all of them glancing at the door when it opened hoping it was Robin back with some good news. Eventually after what seemed like hours the team saw the trademark green and red of Robin's suit walk through the doorway, the whole team surrounding him in a blink, only Raven staying seated as she calmly put down her book, everyone stood silently their hopeful eyes locked onto Robin as he spoke, "we needed to lower the cities crime rate by ten percent..." he started trailing off as he looked around at his team, even Raven had come over to join them, "we lowered it by fifteen," he finished the team silent as looked at each other, "so, we did it?" Tyler asked looking at his leader, "we did it," he responded with a smile. The team erupted in cheers as Star began dishing out her bone crushing hugs, Raven tried to hide her ghost of a smile but even she was trying to contain herself, Tyler who was trying to remain composed phased through to the roof where he began cheering on his own before returning to his new, official team.
A couple weeks had passed as the team had continued to live in the hotel, but today they would get to move in to their new base. The Titans as they were now called on the recommendation of the mayor were approved by the city as the construction on their new base had begun, choosing the island in the bay where the Gordonian structure lay, the city got to work, with donations from Wayne enterprises speeding up the process significantly. Robin and Cyborg where the most involved in its construction, overseeing it as they knew what their new team needed, however the other members were involved as well pitching in their own ideas. The team had continued to do their best from the hotel but were very eager to move into their new home.
Today was finally the day as the team stood on the island the newly constructed "Titans Tower," standing above them, "woah," Tyler said in awe as Cyborg led them into an elevator. Stepping into the elevator the team watched as they began to rise up almost being on level with the skyscrapers in the city, after a minute or two the elevator came to a stop, the door opening as Robin led them into a dark room that suddenly lit up as the six teens stepped into it, "we figured we'd start at the top," Robin said as he and Cyborg began walking forward, they followed as Robin showed them the main operations room complete with giant screens and control panels, a huge couch in the middle of the room and a kitchen next to it as the four teens looked around in awe as they were seeing their home for the first time. Walking around the place they looked around the massive space, Cyborg personally showing them every inch of the kitchen as Tyler and Beast Boy's mouths watered, continuing Robin took them to a hallway that seemed to extend for a mile, "those are the rooms right," Tyler said, obviously very excited, "those are some of them," Robin replied, "the others are down there," Cyborg said pointing behind the group as an almost identical looking hallway extended the other way, "but lets save those to the end," Cyborg finished as he continued the tour. Leading them to the lower levels, showing them the gym complete with a sparring arena, and the basement that was a little too creepy for Tyler's taste, along with the infirmary and two bathrooms one for the girls and one for the boys, also taking them up to the roof that provided a beautiful view of the city complete with a basketball and volleyball court, but it seemed like the whole team wasn't really able to pay attention, as they were just impatient to see there rooms. The Tower was incredible but Tyler was just restless almost jumping up and down as Cyborg and Robin finally led them to their rooms, with Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy on the left side of the tower, overlooking the city and Raven, Starfire and Tyler on the right side overlooking the ocean, Tyler was a little disappointed that he only had girls around him but he would not be close to Beast Boy and he made that very clear to Robin.
As soon as Robin said they could explore their rooms Tyler sprinted past them all, barreling past them as he threw open his door, the sunlight blinding him for a moment before his eyes adjusted. Looking out over his room, the sunlight from his full length windows bathing the room in light, to the right of him was a bed that was slightly sunken into the wall, with black sheets and blue pillows, hardwood floors underneath his feet as he walked into his bathroom, which was to the right of his bed, walking in there were marble floors, complete with a walk in shower and a sink with a mirror above it and a toilet to the left with towel racks to the right, across from his bed and bathroom was his closet that wasn't very full considering he only had one pair of clothes at the moment. The wall facing the ocean was composed of nothing but windows and a balcony outside of it the sliding glass door the only way to access it, giving the shadow a nice view. To the left of his closet was a bookshelf he had personally requested, the only book on it the one Raven had lent him. Now actually jumping up and down in excitement he flopped down on his bed, sinking into it with a sigh, he closed his eyes face down in comfort letting himself slip away. After a few moments he woke up to a knock on the door, turning his head to see Starfire in his doorway, "are you enjoying your room?" she asked a smile on her face as she watched her teammate hug one of his pillows as he closed his eyes again, "very much," he said with a sigh, Star stepped inside the room looking around the darker grey walls seeming to absorb the light from the window wall. "You have a very nice room," Star said stopping at the foot of Tyler's bed, "Thanks," he said almost in a whisper as he felt his alien teammate sit down next to him, pushing himself up with a groan he took a seat next to Star the two looking out through his window taking in the view before they glanced out into the hallway the sound of their excited teammates echoing through the halls, with a smile Starfire dragged her teammate out to the hall to show him her room.
After Star had given him a tour of her room that had a circular-shaped bed with reddish sheets and matching curtains with violet walls he had finally managed to tear himself from her and decided to further explore the tower himself, looking around the places that Robin and Cyborg had already shown them and discovering a laundry room a floor below the rooms and an empty room that Robin mentioned would be their evidence room to stow anything important and worth keeping and at the ground level he looked around the garage that Cyborg had shown them earlier peeking at Robin's R-cycle that seemed to just radiate speed, making his way back upstairs Tyler went to check in on his teammates and also to see their rooms. Knocking on Cyborg's doorframe as he peeked through the open doorframe, he caught Cyborg's attention, looking around Cyborg had a lot of electronics, the room colored his grey and blue as Tyler looked straight ahead seeing a massive trophy case against the wall, full of shining trophies, one he swore was his size, Cyborg then wrapped a hand around his shoulders telling him stories about every single trophy and every photograph on his wall though he did skip some of them before Tyler pointed at what looked like a massive computer table, "what is that?" he asked circling it seeing a massive charger connected to it, "that's my bed," Cyborg responded walking up beside him, "looks...comfortable," Tyler said sarcastically getting back pain from just looking at the thing, "I need to recharge every night," Cyborg said grabbing the cable and placing it against his back, a part of his metallic skin opening up to reveal a charging port, "ohhhhh," Tyler said, like a kid who had just grasped addition, "does it feel weird?" he asked as he stared at the opening on Cyborg's back, "you get used to it," Cyborg said simply shrugging, "hey," Tyler called out as he stood in the hallway, "just... be careful with that one I don't have a spare charger," he said attempting to make a joke, Cyborg rolling his eyes as a smirk formed on his face, "you'll give Beast Boy a run for his money at this pace," he said sarcastically, "Star already said I'm not as funny," Tyler said with a huff as he left the doorway, hearing Cyborg's laughter from his room as he opened up the door to Beast Boy's room, immediately shutting it as the smell hit him like a wave and the sight of the assorted pieces of what he hoped were trash on the floor almost made him throw up, "are you coming in?" Beast Boy asked from inside, "We just got here," Tyler cried out backing away from the door, "how is it that dirty?" he asked in bewilderment as he ran away from the room sticking his head out of the nearest window as he tried to catch his breath. From the quick glance he got, Beast Boy had a bunk bed with purple sheets and green walls and he assumed there were windows in there as light was coming in. "Why does he have a bunk bed?" he thought out loud as he peered into Robin's room that had filing cabinets and bookcases everywhere, and where they weren't there was nothing, no decorations just white walls and brown wood, there was a bed tucked away with blue sheets in the corner as Robin sat in the middle a filing cabinet next to him and a open box on the other side as Robin was organizing his paperwork, "Do you need... any help?" Tyler asked as he walked into the room, Robin peering up from the papers in his hand, "no thanks," he replied before lowering the papers, "how's your room?" he asked walking up to his teammate, "I like it," Tyler replied looking at the pile of papers around the room, "you know you were the only one who insisted on a personal bathroom," Robin commented a bit curious as to why, "I am never, sharing a bathroom again," he said making a fist with his hand, "I've seen things, no mortal should see," he whispered brining his hand up across the sky, Robin just looking at him before his eyes went down to his clothes, "did you already ruin those?" he asked pointing down at the torn and holey clothes, "no, these are in...great condition," Tyler said trying to cover up the tears with his hand, Robin rolling his eyes, "we have got to get you a suit," he said not really wanting him to go through an outfit every week, Tyler sighed before nodding, "fine, but I get to help design it," he said pointing a finger at his leader, Robin nodding in agreement. "Thanks for giving me more to do boss," Tyler said giving a mock salute as he started backing out of the room Robin crossing his arms, "I'll be sure to make the best suit ever" he said sarcastically as he still held the salute, stepping out of the doorway and heading back across the main operations room, he had one more room to visit.
Knocking on the door, he stood still for a second waiting for a response only to hear nothing, knocking on the door again he pressed his ear against the door trying to hear if there was anyone inside, "Raven are you alive?" he asked only to still hear nothing. After a couple more moments the door suddenly opened a crack, Raven peering through to see Tyler in front of her, "What do you want," she asked in a monotone voice her expressionless face looking up at the taller teen, "I just wanted to see your room," Tyler said with a grin, Raven almost immediately moving to close her door but it was stopped as she looked down to see Tyler's foot stopping it, "ow," he said simply, Raven sighing and looking at her teammate, "okay but I do actually have something to give you," Tyler said not moving his foot to Raven's annoyance, "what?" she asked wanting to end the conversation as quickly as possible, "wait here," Tyler said before he disappeared from the door frame, stepping across the hall into his room and returning with an item in hand, "book," he said thrusting the tome through the door, "you finished?" Raven asked a bit surprised, "yep," Tyler said wiggling the book in the opening, at this Raven sighed before opening her door fully, Tyler falling to the ground as he landed face first. Groaning on the floor he promptly got up, looking around the room as Raven took the book from him, the room was dark, Tyler squinted trying to see before his eyes adjusted, taking a step forward he could see a circular bed in the center of the room, a trunk at the foot of it, the bed had purple sheets and looked perfectly crafted decoration inlayed in the wood, the rest of the room seemed to be bookshelves as the room was full of them and other mystical artifacts laying on the shelves, like a pair of comedy and tragedy mask on the shelf that he found himself staring at. Snapping out of it he saw Raven standing in front of him holding another book, "here," she said holding the book out in front of her, Tyler reaching out and taking it, it was definitely larger than the one he had just read, "thanks," he said before he took another glance around the room, "love the room," he said as he walked back out into the hallway, "you do?" Raven said almost sounding confused like she hadn't expected that answer, "yeah, I mean its a little dark but it's definitely the most exciting," Tyler said simply before retreating back into his room standing in his doorway, "bye Raven," he said with an enthusiastic childlike wave before closing his door, Raven pausing for a second looking at the doorway across from hers before she too closed her door.
Closing the door behind him, Tyler sighed in satisfaction placing the new book from Raven on his bookshelf before stepping outside to his balcony, the wind blowing through his hair as the salty mist filled his senses. Taking a deep breath he looked out over the city the sun reflecting its beams of light off of the massive skyscrapers, "cool," he said finally letting the events of the past month hit him as he finally looked back at everything, "I'm a superhero," he whispered to himself a smile on his lips before he became shadow taking to the skies as he headed towards the city.