Wrong Conclusions
Chapter two: Bewildered Birds
"Hey...Where are Starfire and Beast Boy?" Robin asked as he stepped into the living room well past noon. Cyborg was sitting on the couch and playing a one-player video game, and Robin had heard Raven meditating in her room on his way there.
"I think BB's still asleep. I haven't heard a word from the little green dude all day; I think he's still tired from fighting himself. Took me a few seconds to whoop his evil self's butt, though- Hey-!" Cyborg continuously pressed down on the 'X' button, barely flipping out of the way and then steering his virtual car in time to continue.
Robin blinked for a moment from behind his mask, more confused. Beast Boy usually would have been long awake and talking about their fight by now. It wasn't like him. Well, he was probably was just very tired, just as Cyborg had suggested. It had been an excruciatingly long fight, even by Teen Titan standards. "What about Starfire? She wasn't in her room."
"I think she's practicing?" Cyborg muttered, only half paying attention to his worried leader, not taking his eyes off the game.
"Practicing?" Robin echoed, bemused.
"You know. Training. She's in the training hall downstairs, working with that new program I installed a while ago. I dunno what's gotten into her, but I guess it's just her way of celebratin' or somethin'," Cyborg shrugged. It wasn't like he'd asked her for any details.
"What? We spent all yesterday fighting, and now she's fighting, again? She's never done that before..." Robin glanced worriedly towards the staircase which led to the training hall, wondering what was wrong with the girl. Did she feel sick? Had something one of the other boys said hurt her feelings? Had Trigon hurt her, and now the she was merely trying to find a way to escape the pain without worrying the others?
Starfire never told anyone when she was feeling badly, and when she felt badly was always the time she trained for no apparent reason. Most of those times, though, all Robin had to do was merely walk in and ask what was wrong, and she had told him everything. It had always been obvious whenever Starfire was upset; she always missed and never clapped or cheered whenever she did something correctly. Not to mention, the fake, weak excuse for a smile she had always tried to adorn in those situations.
"I'm going to go see what's wrong," Robin muttered, beginning to jog towards the staircase.
"Nothing's wrong, man! I know that look she gets, and she doesn't have it. Star's just...training," Cyborg told Robin, not bothering to take his eyes off of his video game. True, he knew that something was different with Starfire, but the Tamaranian seemed happy enough, so Cyborg wasn't about to get involved in her business.
Robin paused for a moment, considering what Cyborg said. And then he shrugged it off without a second thought. "I'm still going to check for myself." And with that, the Boy Wonder vanished from the living room.
Cyborg sighed but said nothing. He wasn't about to worry his circuits over those two. Whatever their deal was, it was between Robin and Starfire. Unless Cyborg ever did anything to specifically upset one of them, he decided to stay uninvolved. As long as it didn't cause problems during missions, he'd let them figure their own stuff out.
The machine-human hybrid was just about to finish off the level when a strangely perky, gothic voice caused him to jump up in surprise. "'Morning, heh."
"GAH-!" Cyborg dropped his game controller as he jumped, causing his virtual vehicle to crash into the dinosaur in front of it. After a moment of light fury, Cyborg sighed, letting it slide. As though that didn't happen millions of times a day anyway. He merely picked the controller up off of the ground and looked up to see Raven's lightly worried face. It was hard to catch, but Cyborg had known her long enough to tell. She was back to her black leotard and blue cape and hood, just like the day before, only the hood was still down on her shoulders and not casting that eerie shadow over her face.
"My, don't you sound happy today," Cyborg taunted with a smirk, causing Raven's breathing to steady a bit in relief that he wasn't angry with her.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She asked in her monotone voice, allowing her purple eyes to scan her surroundings. She could feel Starfire's energy below her, and she had heard Robin merely moments ago, but she felt nothing from Beast Boy. "It's really empty in here." She pointed out, unable to force herself to outright ask if Cyborg had seen the Changeling that day.
"Star's training, and her little boyfriend's gone down to see if she's okay. I haven't seen BB all day, though. I figure he's still sleeping. I never saw him leave his room."
"All day?" Raven repeated, sounding rather uninterested, but her eyes drifted towards the hall in which Starfire's and Beast Boy's rooms were located. No matter how she strained her senses, she couldn't feel any form of pulse or aura from him. "I can't feel him. I know he's lazy and everything, but I don't think even HE is capable of completely stopping his heartbeat for that long."
Cyborg let out a small laugh, starting his game over again. "Maybe he left before we woke up to go tell his story to all the girls that'll listen. He probably used the window and just turned into some bird. You know how he can get after we whoop a butt that big."
Raven found herself feeling the lightest twinge of annoyance but calmed down quickly enough. She didn't need to control her emotions quite as much as she used to, for she had nothing to fear from her father, but her powers were still not under total control, and she didn't want to risk accidentally breaking a piece of Cyborg off. "...Probably," was all she said before pulling her hood over her head and casting a dark shadow over her face. She walked towards the kitchen without another word, ready to prepare herself a nice cup of herbal tea.
Though the volume was up rather high and Cyborg's game was far from silent, Raven heard nothing more than her own, slightly agitated thoughts as she set the teapot on the stove. It's only been one day and Beast Boy's already off trying to show off to girls? He's only going to make himself look like a total fool by telling one of his ridiculous jokes.
Raven used her powers to over-shadow a cup on a high shelf and cause it to float towards her. Her thoughts, though, didn't cease. He nearly kills himself, and he doesn't even bother to stay at the Tower right after all existence was almost wiped out? Augh. He's probably over-exaggerating the story for a bunch of simpletons right this moment. THEY weren't the ones that risked the necks to try and keep him and the others safe...!
Raven heard a faint tinkling sound and looked up to find the cup which had been floating towards her beginning to crack. Raven let out a deep breath and caught the cup, relaxing her powers. She took another deep breath to clear her mind and began thinking more logically than emotionally.
What does it matter? Beast Boy always does this. Why should I care, anyway? I shouldn't. With that, Raven walked over to a pot of now-hot herbal tea and began to pour some of the liquid into her cup. She did everything very calmly and very placidly, as was typical of her. But as she sipped on her tea, she got the sudden urge to go to her room and use a spell to pin-point Beast Boy's location... Just to make sure he was alright, and her father hadn't planned something a little extra as a goodbye present.
Raven set the half-empty cup down and began walking back to her room, leaving Cyborg to his gaming.
Meanwhile, when Robin had reached the bottom of the staircase, and he was met with Starfire's cries of rage, followed by the sounds of object after object being shattered. As much as he begged it not to do so, Robin's heart began pounding. It was pumping blood faster and faster through his system because of the sudden bursts of worry. It was practically an instinct at that point, an instinct which Robin usually didn't notice. Whenever he heard Starfire shout in such a manner, Robin always wanted to make sure Starfire was alright, but usually, he couldn't. He knew she was strong - a lot stronger than he was - and he knew that she could stand up to a lot of damage. But something about Starfire was also strangely delicate, and it had Robin constantly fighting the urge to try and protect her.
Of course, he could never have told her that. Oh, god, no. That... that would involve talking about his feelings, and Robin wasn't good at that. It had been hard enough to tell Starfire he thought it was 'cool she was, like, the strongest girl ever' all those days ago.
Augh. Robin still kicked himself in the head whenever he thought of the reaction he had had. He was usually so cool, so calm, but Starfire managed to make him jumpy at the mere mention of the word 'girlfriend'. And it hadn't even been Starfire who had mentioned it! It had been Cyborg mentioning that word around Starfire which had sent the Boy Wonder off.
In truth, part of the reason Robin had never said anything was because he wasn't quite SURE about how he felt about Starfire. Sure, he wanted to protect her. Yes, he thought she was pretty, and he liked most of the things she did, but, those were like brother-sister feelings, weren't they? He felt angry whenever other boys hit on her, but that was because he didn't want her hurt - that was all. Really!
Robin shook his head violently, freeing his mind of all such thoughts. Starfire was mad, and he needed to find out why. She needed to be happy to fly, and they needed her to fly in case they had a mission. That was it.
With that thought in mind, Robin opened the door to the training hall, giving a timid little "Starfire?" as he did so.
His eyes widened in surprise from behind his mask when he saw what was going on. Starfire was floating up in the air with her eyes blazing a bright, acidic green, shattering thin plate after thin plate as it flew into the air for her. Her aim was amazing; clearly much better than it had been up to this point. After all, Starfire wasn't exactly known for her stellar aim - she always tended to miss about ten star-bolts and only maybe connect by the eleventh. But at this moment, Starfire was hitting plate after plate, only missing five or six times in total as she did so.
She let out a cry every time she hit a plate, obviously not hearing Robin's voice over the sound of the shattering. Robin stood for a moment, watching her in surprise. She looked totally brutal, and yet, she was hovering in the air, which meant she was still relatively happy.
"Training Mode: Off," Robin finally said, causing the machine sending the plates to suddenly shut down.
"Huh?" The rage in Starfire's eyes faded quickly, and she floated gently to the ground with a mildly confused expression on her face. She blinked for a moment, but then turned, smiling as she saw Robin standing there and looking oddly nervous. "Oh, greetings, friend Robin!" She said cheerfully, clapping her hands together.
Robin flinched a bit, but he decided to let it slide. She hadn't called him 'friend' Robin in quite a while. "What're you doing training, Star? We just spent all of yesterday fighting. I mean, we saved the world. Isn't that worth a little break...?"
"Oh, I am well aware of our astounding victory, but the battle with the Trigon also gave me the realization that I must train more vigorously. The whole universe was almost thrown into evil, and I was able to do but a very little to help the side of good. I have decided to focus more on training myself, in the case that another bad, bad man appears to threaten my friends."
Robin smiled a bit as she finished her explanation, fighting down the urge to laugh. Starfire really had a pure heart, even if she did express her ideas in the strangest ways he had ever heard. "Well, if you're sure," he said, walking up closer to her. After all, he understood wanting to get better at combat. "But you should still take a small break, Star. I mean, I know better than anyone what being uptight can get you... We can start the usual Combat Practice again in a few days, but for now, we should just be glad we're all alright."
"Well, if you believe so should be done," Starfire sighed in defeat, allowing the glow on her hands to completely dissipate. "I still have much further to go to improve myself."
Robin smiled at her dedication, but his eyes widened a moment later, when he started to take notice of the room. "How long've you been training, anyway?" he asked, looking at the huge amount of shattered plates. The pile of ones hit with the first shot was much, much larger than the other ones, that had gotten further away.
"Three, perhaps four hours?" Starfire said nonchalantly, not entirely positive herself. She tilted her head as she noticed Robin's eyes widen in shock and felt herself grow a bit red in the face. "I am aware that my progress is rather slow and disconcerting, but I am sure that I shall improve if I merely clear my mind of all disturbances."
"Slow?" Robin found himself a bit taken aback by her suggestion. "Star, you've improved more today than you have in over a year of training with me." He laughed a bit, scratching his head. Robin felt rather ashamed that he had not trained Starfire in such a way before. It suddenly felt as though he had been wasting her talents. "I still don't get it, though. What's brought on this sudden...change?" he looked at her worriedly, hoping his mask caused him to mostly look relaxed instead. It didn't.
Starfire went quiet for a bit, fighting back to urge to tell him of everything she had decided the night before. After a moment, she merely smiled sweetly, and hovered back into the air, using the thought of Robin being happy with Raven. "Oh, I have merely decided to rid myself of a few deliberations which have been plaguing my mind. It has allowed me to access my highest potential, friend Robin, so I will be able to deliver larger cans of the butt whoop, worthy of my position in the Teen Titans."
"I'm impressed," Robin admitted. "This is really going to help us out, Starfire. We need to keep getting better and better, now that Slade's on the loose again. But - why don't we go get lunch, now, while Beast Boy's not in the kitchen finishing off the rest of the fridge, yet?"
Starfire giggled a bit. "That idea is simply glorious," she said, floating towards the door, ahead of Robin.
Robin chuckled lightly as he watched her float gleefully. But something about what she had said earlier still bothered him. 'Deliberations'? Something had been bothering Starfire up to that point, and he hadn't noticed? How could Trigon's defeat have calmed her down like this? None of them had known about Raven's father before Slade had shown them the mark of Skath...
With a small sigh, Robin followed her, deciding not to push his luck. Starfire was happy, Raven was alive and well, and his team was still together and stronger than ever. He wasn't about to ruin everything by prying into Starfire's personal business.
As Raven traced her jewel over a map of the city, and Robin and Starfire began speaking pleasantly about why Starfire found the taste of mustard so strangely pleasing, the Tower's alarm went off. Red lights blared in every room of the Tower, and a loud buzzing sound was heard in all rooms. "There's something Downtown," Cyborg said, seeing the police report and map on the TV screen, which had shut off his game automatically. "It's some new guy, really pale, a cape, nobody caught his name. We need to hurry," Cyborg turned around, seeing Robin already putting his motorcycle helmet on, and Starfire already halfway out the door with Raven right beside her. Something in that picture was missing, but Robin was already on it.
"Beast Boy! Where are you?" Robin shouted into his communicator, seeing Beast Boy's face appear for only a moment. The pointy-eared teen looked very flustered and annoyed by Robin's disturbance as he appeared on the screen.
"Listen, dude, this ISN'T THE TIME!" Beast Boy shouted, but yelped, leaning out of frame the next second. Quite suddenly, the screen went fuzzy and Cyborg lost the signal before he could even pinpoint the location of their missing team member.
"'Isn't the time'? Beast boy! BEAST BOY!" Robin shouted angrily, getting no response. What could have been more important!? Augh, that was just like Beast boy, never having his priorities straight!
"So, what do we do?" Cyborg asked, glancing at Robin. Starfire and Raven both looked to their leader as well.
"We ignore it for now, but Beast Boy's getting it once we find him! We need to focus on this guy Downtown. Titans, go!" Robin jammed his communicator into his belt and led the way out the door, the other three Teen Titans following quickly after. Everything that had been bothering any of the Titans was pushed quickly aside and replaced with a worry for their city's well-being.
Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Robin, Cyborg, Silkie, and pretty much everything but the plot at hand belongs to © D. C. Comics/Cartoon Network/Kids WB
As said, I'm updating the chapters. So this one's now done as well.
