Chapter 3 ~ Journey to the Mall of Shopping
"Okay, okay, okay! I got one!"
Gar twisted to the side, gesturing excitedly, grinning at the two girls sitting next to him in the back seat, his familiar face looking somehow very odd without its normal green tint. "Why are ducks so funny?"
He paused dramatically, eyebrows raised.
Kori watched him with rapt attention, confusion clear on her face as she hung on his every word, completely lost.
Raven sat trapped in the center seat between the two of them, her arms tucked in tight, trying to make herself as small as possible.
"Because they're always quackin' jokes!" He flung one hand out and grinned, waiting for the applause.
Victor laughed weakly from the front seat, shaking his head, and Dick groaned, trying to focus on driving. He flicked his eyes up to the rear-view mirror and caught Raven's glare, her gaze threatening to bore straight through the glass, and looked back down quickly, unable to keep the smile completely off of his face.
"Pull over," she said darkly to him, "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Oh, I see—" Kori leaned forward into Raven's side, staring across her to Gar with excitement, red-orange hair tumbling down from behind her shoulders. The silver chain of her necklace hung around her neck, the enormous green gemstone tucked under her pink tank top, hiding her natural appearance beneath the glamour it carried. "It is humorous because ducks lack the large brain capacity necessary for the telling of jokes!"
She giggled, the bright sound filling the car with light.
"Actually, Star," Dick chuckled, pulling his eyes away from her in the mirror, "it just wasn't funny..."
"Hey!" Garfield's face immediately dropped into a pout as he turned to Victor and Dick in the front seats.
"Because Garfield lacks the large brain capacity required for telling jokes," Raven muttered.
"Hey—"
Victor burst into laughter, his massive shoulders curving forwards into the dashboard as Gar turned to Raven in mock indignation. The girl glared back at him, and Kori's giggles intensified, her hand clapping over her mouth to try to muffle them.
Gar threw his hands up in defeat as best he could in the tight confines of the back seat, his eyes sparkling. "Ugh, you guys have no sense of humor!"
"I don't know, Green-Bean," Vic said, still laughing, "I think Raven's hilarious."
Gar stuck his tongue out at him, completely missing the tiny smile that flickered across Raven's face. "Okay, okay, how about this one—"
Everyone except Kori groaned. Raven buried her face in her hands.
"Why did the aardvark cross the road?"
Raven snapped her head back up and twisted to the side, leaning in to put her face right in his. "To beat up the idiot telling jokes about him," she snapped. "Now, would you please shut up!"
Gar blinked, his mouth snapping closed.
The two boys in the front devolved into another fit of laughter. Raven flushed, sitting back in her seat to stare straight ahead, her jaw clenched.
Gar eyed her from the side, one sharp tooth poking out past his upper lip in a small smile.
Koriand'r glanced between the two of them, following the exchange, then turned hopelessly to the front seat, shaking her head in absolute bewilderment at the unfamiliar words. "Please…an…aardvark?" she asked carefully. "This is…some form of duck?"
"No—Star—" Dick shook his head, trying to stop his laughter as he brought the car to a stop at the turn for the parking garage. "It's a—oh never mind. It's a stupid joke."
They started moving forward again, then lurched abruptly to a stop as Dick slammed on the brakes.
The change in momentum threw the three occupants of the backseat forwards with yelps of alarm, Victor bracing himself quickly against the dash, as a car cut through the intersection in front of them, nearly clipping their fender.
"Hey! Watch it!" Victor yelled. He gestured angrily at the other car, his movements pointless behind the dark tint of the windshield. "I just waxed her!"
"You do realize it's my car, right?" Dick muttered, shaking his head as he pulled carefully into the intersection again, making the turn into the garage.
Raven shoved Garfield's arm off of her in the backseat, glaring at him as shadows flickered through the darkened interior. He scooted back into his side with a sheepish grin.
Victor frowned back at Dick, rubbing his hand over the pristine dashboard as if soothing a small child. "Yeah, well, she shouldn't be," he grumbled, "not with the level of neglect you give her—it's criminal."
Dick rolled his eyes.
He pulled smoothly into a shadowed parking spot near the back of the mostly empty garage and turned off the car, the low purr of the engine cutting out as he pulled the keys out of the ignition.
Anticipation thrummed to life in the confined space, the air pulsing with the frantic beat of sudden excitement.
"All right dudes, let's go, let's go!" Gar chirped, lunging for the door handle.
"Wait—hold on—" Dick turned towards the center console between him and Vic, popping open the leather compartment with a smile— "Vic and I have been working on something for you guys—"
He took out three shiny, black, hand-sized rectangular objects and twisted around in his seat, holding them out towards the back-seat occupants.
"Fully encrypted phones," Victor said proudly, leaning around to face them too, the seat creaking in protest at his movement. "Designed 'em myself. They're linked to the Tower servers and practically indestructible—equipped with state of the art security, emergency tracking beacons, the whole thing."
He held up his arm to them and pushed back the sleeve of his sweatshirt. The computer built into his forearm popped open, the perfect edges of the metal panel cutting out a chunk of the illusory skin and revealing the cybernetic prosthetic embedded beneath. "And they're linked directly to my circuits, so I can interface with them too."
"Sweet!" Garfield snatched one, tapping at the button on the front.
The device immediately lit up with a blue glow, the light casting his face into stark relief as he blinked down at it in surprise, then beeped, the screen unlocking.
"Identification," intoned a soft, monotone voice, "Titans-zero-four-BeastBoy."
"Whoooa!" Garfield's face split into an ecstatic grin, his energy bursting through the interior of the car in an explosion of brilliant, bubbling excitement. He cradled the phone in his hands like it was made of solid gold, bright warmth glowing to life in his chest, and looked back up at Dick, eyes wide.
"So this is like—official?"
"It's official," Dick nodded back with a grin.
The boy grinned back, sharp teeth on full display, clutching the phone to his chest.
Koriand'r took hers excitedly, and the screen lit up with the same blue light as she touched it, the computerized voice issuing out again from the second device, "Identification: Titans-zero-five-StarFire."
"Fascinating," she breathed, staring intently at the illuminated screen as she examined it from every angle.
Raven quickly took the last one with a scowl, the purple in her eyes a shade darker than usual, her skin prickling all over with the other's emotions, trying to keep the shadows building around her from following her movement. She jammed it into her hoodie pocket, the fabric muffling the sound of the activation sequence, before glaring back up at the others.
"Great. Can we go now?"
Gar laughed, bouncing excitedly up and down in his seat, another swell of bright energy filling the car. He threw open his door with a whoop, nearly spilling onto the pavement in his enthusiasm as his long legs tangled together.
Kori let out a squeak of excitement, flinging open her door and jumping out after him, and Victor followed with a low chuckle, the car rocking as his heavy body lifted off of the frame.
Dick scrambled out after them, face pulled in concern.
Leaving Raven alone in the car.
She breathed out a sigh, letting her head fall back against the soft leather of the backseat, her eyes closing. She took another deep, even breath, the space around her slowly calming again, trying to still the nervous fluttering in her stomach.
Attention brushed softly against her skin, and she opened her eyes, looking up.
Victor stood watching her from outside the door Gar had just left, the sleeve of his sweatshirt rolled back down and his massive arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the car. He raised one eyebrow in amusement.
"Super excited, huh?"
"How could you tell." She gave him a dark look, then scooted out of the back seat, letting him shut the door behind her.
"Come on, it's gonna be great."
"Says you."
"Yeah, says the guy that hasn't been able to walk around in public without people openly gawking at him for almost four years."
He cast a sidelong glance at the other side of the parking lot aisle as he spoke, at a middle-aged woman passing them in the other direction, her arms full of shopping bags as she walked back to her car.
She paid them absolutely no attention.
He grinned back down at Raven, both eyes crinkling, then jerked his chin up towards the others ahead of them, heading for the pair of huge silver and glass double doors that led into the building. "And it's been even longer for BB."
"I know," she said softly. Almost too low for him to hear.
"He told you?" Vic looked down at her, his surprise zinging lightly through the space between them. Then he registered the wince on her face, realizing how she had gotten the information. "Oh—sorry…that still takes some getting used to."
"It's okay," she muttered, "I shouldn't have said anything."
"Well, it's not like it's a secret…" He shook his head, then glanced back at her. "But—this is kind of a big deal, Rae. For both of us."
She nodded mutely, trying to rein in her nerves, not saying anything as she and Vic caught up to the rest of the group at the entrance.
Dick put his hand out in front of Kori, stopping her from entering the building as the doors slid open automatically at their approach. "Feet on the ground, Star," he reminded her firmly.
She nodded, her smile radiant even with her otherworldly glow hidden beneath the spell, and he stepped back reluctantly, letting her and Gar charge inside.
"This is a horrible idea," he muttered as Vic passed him.
"Better or worse than taking on a spaceship full of giant, angry, high-tech aliens?" Vic shot back, a laugh in his deep voice.
Dick shook his head with a grimace. "You know, I'm really not sure."
The doors opened into a bright, vaulted corridor, the floor tiled in shimmering white marble. Small shops and restaurants lined each wall, several large, vibrantly green potted plants stationed at regular intervals between them. The entrance connected to the main atrium of the mall up ahead, a steady flow of people passing in small groups across the large archway, the gentle hum of distant voices drifting through the air over the bland music.
Kori stared around in absolute wonder, her head snapping back and forth as she tried to take in everything at once. Garfield planted himself by her side, enthusiastically pointing out every little detail in a running commentary, his smile threatening to split his face in two.
With every step forward, a muffled sort of pressure started pushing against Raven's skin, building in the air, the humming energy from the mass of people she could sense up ahead growing louder and louder. She tugged the hood of her sweatshirt up, ducking her head, and focused on breathing, deep and slow, repeating the words of her meditation mantra over and over in her head on an endless loop.
The noise quieted as she focused inwards, the pressure easing off slightly.
A young couple turned down into the entranceway, walking in the opposite direction towards the parking garage. The man cast a casual glance over their group, the woman focused on her phone as she walked, and his eyes widened, landing on Koriand'r.
Dick moved up on Kori's other side, pointedly ignoring the man's reaction, and tugged gently on the alien's wrist to get her attention. "Guys, I know you're excited," he hissed at her and Gar, "but try not to look like you've never been inside a mall before."
"Oops, sorry," Gar grinned back at him, and Kori tried to school her face into a more neutral expression.
Raven flinched back as the couple passed them, moving slightly so that Victor's bulk blocked her from view.
A prickle danced over the skin at the back of his neck, a tiny shiver walking its way up his spine. He turned, slowing his steps as he looked at the girl beside him.
"Hey, you okay?" He stooped down to peer at her face, partially hidden beneath the shadows of her hood—shadows too dark to be completely natural—and she grimaced.
"It's just…a lot of people," she said weakly. "Dealing with the emotions of the four of you is hard enough…"
His stomach gave a little twist, a strange flicker of nerves that weren't his running through his body.
"Oh shit, yeah." He dragged a hand over his scalp, fingers scratching against the soft layer of dark hair growing in on the right side of his head—Raven's illusion mimicking it on the other side—and cast a glance up at the crowded interior of the mall as they walked closer and closer. "I didn't think about that."
He considered her for a moment, watching her flinch away as another, larger group of people walked past. "Physical proximity makes it worse, right?"
She nodded.
"Well, then we'll stay with you, keep anyone from getting too close." He smiled down at her, his brown eyes filled with nothing but warmth, puffing out his chest. "I can be your personal bodyguard, and then you can give everyone that special murder glare that you do so well, and really scare 'em off."
She glared up at him.
He pointed at her face, smiling brightly, "Hey, that's the one! You got it!"
She rolled her eyes with a quiet groan, but drifted in closer to his side as they emerged into the main atrium of the mall.
Kori sucked in an amazed breath, looking up at the glass ceiling far above them in wonder. Sunlight streamed into the building, glittering motes of dust dancing through the air, the huge open walkway in the center ringed by shops and restaurants on two levels, the second-floor extending out in wide glass-paneled balcony above them. "It is like a palace!" she breathed.
"Ooh, Kori," Gar pointed to the brightly painted front of a small restaurant on their right as they joined the light flow of traffic, "Corn dogs, you'll like those!"
"Corn dogs?" Kori turned towards the shop front as another group of people swarmed past them, talking loudly in animated voices.
Raven shied away from them, tucking herself even deeper into her hoodie, arms crossed tight over her chest, trying to disappear into Victor's shadow.
"Hey, Tour-guide Barbie," Vic reached out ahead of him to smack Garfield lightly on the shoulder. He grabbed the boy's shoulder, pulling him back and speaking softly, "Let Dick handle the princess, you're with me and Rae."
Gar glanced back, and saw Raven pressed in close behind Vic, the shadows on the marble tiles beneath their feet distorting into ominous shapes as they stretched out around her, and immediately understood. He casually adjusted his gait, falling back to Raven's other side, bracketing her between him and Victor as they walked.
"They make pet dogs out of corn?" Kori asked in confusion, looking around as Gar moved back, hair bouncing with every step. "For what purpose?"
"What? No, they're food." Dick answered her.
Kori stopped in her tracks, forcing them all to come to a halt as well, the flow of people splitting around them, and stared at Gar and then Dick in absolute horror. "You eat dogs? But—they are—"
"No!" Gar laughed. "No—they're called corn dogs, but they aren't actually made of dogs—I mean, I'm not even sure they're made of real meat," he muttered, making a face. "But—you're supposed to eat them with mustard, so you can put shit-tons on and nobody will look at you funny!"
"Oh…" She eyed the restaurant, still looking unsure.
A group of skinny pre-teen boys, too young to be out of school this early on a weekday, stood clustered in front of the corn dog counter. One in the back turned to glance at them as they passed by and completely froze. His jaw dropped, eyes going wide as saucers beneath his glasses as he caught sight of Kori. He nudged his friend, still gaping, and then the whole group was standing there staring at her open-mouthed.
Dick narrowed his eyes at them, giving his best Bruce-esque scowl, and the boys hastily closed their mouths, turning back towards the counter before anyone else noticed their behavior and joined in.
"Hey, easy on the kids, Dickie," Victor chuckled. Garfield snorted, his eyes dancing as he caught the look on Dick's face.
"Let's just keep moving," Dick said, trying to herd Kori back into motion so they could pass the store. "We can stop for food later."
"Oh my god," the high voice of the kid that had first noticed Kori reached them over the drone of the crowd. He gestured frantically over his shoulder. "Did you see that girl? That was like the hottest girl I've ever seen."
The entire group turned to peek back at Kori again.
She froze, a deer in headlights, and looked quickly down at herself, eyes raking over her skin to confirm the glamour was still in place. She shot the boys another startled look, then turned back to Dick in alarm. "But I am not!" she whispered to him frantically. "I have not raised the temperature at all, I have been very careful!"
Victor and Garfield caught each other's eyes over the top of Raven's hood, both of them fighting not to laugh.
"No, Star—it doesn't mean—shit." A faint flush rose in Dick's cheeks. "They aren't talking about the temperature, they're talking about…you…" Dick gestured at her helplessly.
She looked over her body again quickly, concerned.
"'Hot' is a compliment," Victor explained, barely keeping his voice even. "It means they think you're attractive."
"Oh." Kori immediately relaxed. She turned back to the group of young boys still gawking at her from in front of the corn dog counter, smiling, and gave them a cheery wave, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. "Thank you!" she called.
The one in front turned bright red, his hand raising in a slight, reflexive wave before he turned around and ducked his head in complete embarrassment.
"I've created a monster," Dick muttered. "Okay—come on, keep walking." He took her arms, tugging her along to get her past the store.
Garfield laughed, twisting to the side to avoid a group moving past as they all followed, and his shoulder bumped into Raven's. She stumbled, nearly tripping over her own feet, the lights in the store front next to them flickering.
"Sorry—" He quickly grabbed her shoulder to steady her.
She jerked away, a shiver lancing up his arm from the contact, and he immediately let go.
"I'm fine," she muttered. She ducked her head back down, her mouth moving silently as she walked, eyes fixed on the floor.
Gar squinted at her for a moment.
His eyebrows shot up, and a quick flash of a grin flitted across his face, vanishing just as fast. He switched his attention back to Victor, leaning in towards him, his body moving dangerously into Raven's space, and pointed across in front of her up at the other boy.
"For your information, Tin-man," he said cheerfully, "I've seen that movie, and I take that as a complement, because Tour-guide Barbie is bad-ass. And—" he grinned saucily, batting his eyelashes, leaning in further until his shoulder brushed against Raven's again— "hot pink would look fantastic on my skin-tone."
The words broke through her concentration, the mental barriers she had been working so hard to keep up crumbling. And suddenly, all she could see was an image of Gar, his stupid grin on his face, his green skin clashing spectacularly against a hot pink uniform.
She blinked, finally looking up, the absolute absurdity of the mental picture cutting through the emotional onslaught bombarding at her from every angle, giving her a brief, shocked moment of silence.
Gar caught her eyes, grinning slyly.
"Oh, well then you're in luck!" Vic said evilly. "We can go pick out your new uniform right now!" He pushed on Gar's shoulder, making him skip a step, then pointed out across the mall, to a glass storefront on the other side filled with a line of mannequins—all in dresses of various shades of bright pink.
Kori gasped, drawing Dick to a stop as she caught sight of the dresses, her hand closed tight on his wrist. She turned towards him with a pleading, desperate look in her eyes. "We can go shopping, yes?"
"Uh—"
"What. Is. That."
Garfield's sharp voice cut across Dick's stammering response, his eyes locked on a spot across the mall.
He stared past the display that Victor had gestured to, to the huge store that formed the endcap of the central atrium—it's giant, dark archway encrusted in a riotous display of glowing neon shapes in every color imaginable.
"Oh my god—"
"—They have an arcade!" Gar turned to gape at Victor, both of them finishing the sentence together, their eyes lighting up with maniacal glee.
The brilliant sunburst of their excitement shot through Raven, her skin zinging with energy, and she clenched down on the power that flared in response within her, keeping it from bursting free.
"Come on Rae!" Gar reached out and grabbed her hand, yanking her into motion.
She yelped, her focus so centered inward that she couldn't do anything but frantically try not to fall on her face as the boys charged forward through the crowd towards the neon-covered front of the arcade, Gar towing her along behind him.
"Wait—" Dick moved to follow them, but Kori pulled him in the opposite direction, dragging him towards the clothing store.
"Stay together!" he shouted desperately, causing the people around them to turn and stare.
Vic just laughed over his shoulder. "Yeesh—okay mom!"