The Titans #1

Changes

By

N.R. Christian

Two weeks since the disastrous camping vacation on random island #375 in the pacific. Two weeks since they had come home to find one of their members gone. Kory Anders, widely known as Starfire, had received an emergency transmission from her brother. She was needed. While a Titan to her heart, first and foremost she was the princess of a people who had requested her aid.

And that wasn't the only one who had taken a leave in the interim. Damage, who had been brought into the fold by Arsenal, had requested a personal leave of absence. The details of which no one was exactly made privy to save Roy himself, but the other Titans agreed to leave well enough alone and let the archer handle it.

It had been strangely quiet otherwise. No need to go off and save the world. Nothing threatening at their doorstep. Though it was almost as if it was the calm before the storm. The air had been cleared of tensions that had been riding high before Gargoyle's attack. The creature's limbo antics had brought to the surface many things that had been left unsaid and festering, and other things that may have been best if left alone.

The gentle waves of the ocean crashed against the shores of Titans Island in a steady cadence that was music all its own. Sweeping in and out over the sands, the afternoon sun shone across the surface and broke into a thousand prisms, highlighting each delicate spray of water in stark relief.

A small girl sat on the beach, her almond shaped eyes scrutinizing the proper spot to scoop up the most suitable sand, just wet enough to hold its shape in her pale. She carefully packed it to the brim in her efforts to build a makeshift version of the tower that loomed like a giant guardian in the background. It was fashioned in the form of the letter 'T', standing tall and strong, though the true base of operations for its members lay safely underground.

As Lian Harper was happily at play, the adults who watched over her were perhaps a little less content. Roy Harper sat with his legs drawn up, leaning so that his elbows rested comfortably on his knees even as he watched his daughter with a smile that was all fatherly pride.

Occasionally, his dark hunter green eyes would slide sideways to the woman who sat beside him. Dark-haired and beautiful, most men would not wonder that his gaze continually strayed to Donna Troy. Though it wasn't admiration that drew his attention just now, but more trepidation. He shifted in place, clearing his throat. Something, anything, to break the silence that had settled between them.

A silence that was far from comfortable.

"So, Wonder Chick...." Roy smiled that easy grin that had more than once gotten the archer his own way. "How 'bout them Mets?"

Donna turned, sapphire eyes reflecting a slight bit of confusion as she regarded the red head. And then she laughed as she stretched out her legs comfortably. "By Rhea, Roy - what on earth are you talking about?"

The archer grinned again, scratching the back of his head, "I don't know. I just - well, you've been so quiet. I guess someone had to make the first move."

"I thought we were long past that part," Donna quipped lightly; a none too veiled reference to their relationship, as it had existed the last few weeks. Something the rest of the team had only been privy too recently.

If Roy Harper had been another man, he may have actually blushed. As it was, he just smiled, and scratched the back of his head with a bit more attention. "Heh. Yeah, well...umm, you know me," he grinned again.

Then again, silence.

The ocean waves continued to lap up to the shores, Lian packed more and more sand, trying to build the length of her Titans Tower that was beginning to go a bit crooked.

"Listen, Roy - "

"Look, Donna - "

They both stopped. Blue met green in their gazes before the pair started laughing, the sound drawing the attention of the little girl for a moment before she turned back to her intricate operations with the concentration only a child can truly have at that age. It was a long moment before they stopped, but when they did it was as if some of the invisible barrier between them had been broken down.

Donna smiled and lifted a hand, brushing stray strands of midnight hair from her face, "How about you go first."

"No, no - lady's first, Wonder Babe."

"One more Wonder Babe out of you and its going to be man first into the harbor," she threatened with a smile, though it took any possible sting out of her words at the running joke between them. She released a soft breath, drawing her legs into a comfortable cross-legged position, facing the scarlet archer. "Roy, I have to ask you something...."

"Anything."

"Its about Cheshire."

"Best two out of three?"

Wally West, the Flash to most of the known world, sat across from the World's Greatest Detective...well, one of the World's Greatest, just give him some time. His eyes looked into the opaque mask of Nightwing as they sat among the computers that made up one of the central rooms of the Titans base and was like a second home to Dick Grayson...or more of a third or fourth depending on how one looked at it.

They leaned in close, their forehead almost bumping together, their hands carefully positioned in front of each other, fist over palm. "Okay," Dick began, his expression betraying nothing save the small smile that crossed his lips. "One...two...three...GO!"

The two men eyed each other as they slapped their fists down into their palms, revealing their chosen weapons. Wally held up his palm that supported his right hand, two fingers extended with a smile. It was a smile that faded when he saw that Dick's palm held the original fist still.

"Rock crushes scissors, I win."

"Aww, man." Wally sat back, defeated as he shook his head, folding his arms. "You have to had cheated. You used some secret Bat-technique to read my mind, or anticipate my moves, right?"

Dick smiled, stretching his hands behind his head as he just grinned. "Nope. And you get stuck with watch duty tonight."

"It's not fair, you know. I had overnight duty yesterday at the JLA watchtower. "

"I feel for you," Nightwing smirked. "And how many 'micro naps' have you had since then?"

Wally sat for a moment, his emerald eyes narrowing in consideration. "I don't know...a few dozen?" He grinned. The speedster knew he was more fortunate than most. His connection to that force which granted all the speedsters their power was strong in him, so much so that it sustained him like a battery. A blink of his eyes, and he could be fully rested. No muss. No fuss.

"The rest of us just have to get by on what we can," Nightwing said. He stretched once more and then scooted his chair to slide up to one of the computer consoles, bringing up the duty roster to make the proper adjustments. And even as he did so, he could feel his friend's gaze on him. He finished making the adjustments and turned, arching an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing." Wally turned his gaze away quickly, his eyes immediately going to the small table across the room.

"No," Nightwing interjected. "Something. So...what?"

"Do you think we did the right thing, Dick?"

A frown creased Grayson's forehead, the opaque slits of his mask narrowed as he regarded the Flash. His mind turned, and he could almost pick out the meaning beneath the question that was seemingly out of the blue. "I don't know what you mean."

"Yeah, you do," Wally stood up; never one to sit for too long, always on the go unless required to do otherwise. "Look at us. Kory's gone. The Tamaranians needed her. Jesse's gone. She couldn't really divide things between dedicating so much time to a team and running Quickstart Industries - "

"That's not quite true," Dick interrupted. "Jesse thought we were too disorganized and chaotic, like -"

"A family. Yeah, I know. I already spoke with her." Wally took the floor again, pacing and animated as before. "The truth of the matter is that we all come with a nice set of baggage. But of everyone here, we've got a lot more on our plates. You've got Bludhaven to worry about, and being a cop, and leading a team - I've got the JLA, Keystone, a wife...maybe we're in over our heads."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed again before his face settled into the neutrality that often signaled his thoughts were running in circles that were gathering facts, piecing them together, and making everything fit into a final analysis. "What exactly are you saying, Wally?"

"I don't know," the speedster stopped his pacing, looking squarely back at his friend. "Maybe we should just forget about that stupid bet we made before and really think about it...do we still want to be Titans?"

Toni Monetti carefully crept down the stairs that led to the sub-marine entry of the Titans Tower. She looked around the area, not really guessing what brought her down there in the first place, but she knew this was the most likely spot to find the one she was looking for....

"Garth? You down here?" She took another few steps until she came to stand on the 'ground' floor which was only a couple of feet above the water level of the exit bay. "Garth?" She took another step, and another, and - " WHOA!"

Toni slid as her boot lost its purchase in a puddle of water, her balance thrown off as she started to crash to the floor. A yank on her arm and the girl was pulled upright again, eyes wide, short of breath. "Argent," the voice was a familiar one. "You have to be careful down here, you could've hurt yourself."

Garth stood clad in the red and black jumpsuit that was his normal wear about the tower. His violet eyes regarded Toni carefully, making sure she had her footing again before he released her. "So, what's up? I was just on my way home to see my wife and son."

Toni blushed; her bluish-white skin taking on a strange hue as she nervously brushed a hand through short, curly hair. "I...umm, well, I was wondering if you had a minute. I kinda needed to talk to someone."

The Atlantean paused, nodding his head as he looked around for a likely place to sit down. He and Toni had never exactly been close. Her incarnation of the 'Teen Titans' having been a few years removed from the one he had been an original member of. Though a couple of weeks prior, they had taken advantage of the chance to change that fact.

After a disastrous team meeting and everyone having converged on Donna at once, Garth found himself sitting on the docks talking to Toni about the things that had been on his mind. His family. The team. His place on it. He'd come to terms with a few things, and for the better. The least he could do was return the favor.

"Sure," he said. Garth moved to sit on the edge of the aqua entry bay, his feet dangling in the water. Toni sat down, adopting a modified sitting position, her legs folded to the side, her body supported by her hand on the floor.

When she didn't speak up right away, Garth just sat there. He figured she'd speak up soon enough. But as the minutes ticked by, he grew more and more painfully aware that Dolphin was going to take his head off for being late. "So, umm...Toni, you wanted to talk?"

"Oh, yeah." The girl blushed again and straightened herself into a more upright sitting position rather than reclining. "I...well, I just needed someone to talk to about everything that's been going on. Its like things just keep happening around here, if it's not one thing, then it's another...."

Garth smiled, but it held little humor. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Toni shook her head, dark curls bounced around her face. "I don't know that you really do, Garth. You're a part of all of this weirdness. It all seems pretty par for the course for you. Just look at everybody. I mean, when it comes to being Titans, there's no one better. Maybe that's why my team didn't work out so hot."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Toni. You've really grown up over the last -"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She shrugged and looked to the Atlantean. "I know a lot of people see me as some spoiled little girl with way too much time and money on her hands. There was a time I never thought beyond my last shopping spree."

Garth nodded, "And now...?"

"Now, I know there's a lot more I have to do. That I need to think about others more than myself for a change." Silence. "That maybe I need to help Grant."

"Cheshire, huh?" Roy Harper couldn't have done a better job of looking like a deer caught in headlights. Maybe he'd expected Donna to bring up his opinions on stocks and bonds. Tips for giving your hair extra body. More archery lessons. But the subject of Cheshire was one he had preferred to leave untouched.

The international assassin known was the mother of his daughter, Lian. Though they had separated before Roy even know the girl existed, he found out shortly after her birth and knew he wasn't going to make yet another mistake in his life by letting it go. Striking up a relationship with perhaps the most feared terrorist in the world had never been the smartest move he'd made, but Roy was always getting into trouble thinking more with his heart...or other things...rather than his head.

"Roy?"

"Huh?" Arsenal looked up again and try as he might, he was pretty sure the smile he gave to the woman beside him served more to make him look like a guilty child than confident and sure. "Oh, yeah. Sure. What did ya wanna know?"

Donna's sapphire eyes locked onto Roy's gaze. Their 'relationship' as it stood wasn't one that had seemed clearer since the camping trip. Roy was her friend, someone she'd known since they were both kids. There was a decade of history behind them. Most any of the Titans could read each other's thoughts and feelings like flipping through an open book. It was the kind of comfort that came from years of depending on one another for their very lives.

But just now, and for awhile now, Donna Troy felt like at least one Titan was a complete mystery to her.

"I want to know - I need to know how you feel about Cheshire."

And there it was. The question that had been underlining almost everything around them since they had taken things beyond their friendship. Beyond just Troia and Arsenal, and back to Donna and Roy.

"You just cut right to it, doncha Wonder Ba - er, Donna." Roy looked out to the child who still played, packing her sand so that her lopsided 'T' was becoming more evident. "She's the mother of my child, D. I know when we were fighting Tartarus; it looked pretty bad - " Perhaps more than a little bad. Arsenal had almost deserted his team in the middle of a firefight to get Cheshire to help. When they needed him most, he'd come that close to dropping the ball. But he didn't. "I couldn't look my daughter in the eye if I'd done nothing. You can understand that, right?"

"Yes, Roy. I can." And really, she could. A child was perhaps the strongest bond two people could share. Even in the face of her own painful divorce from Terry Long, Donna couldn't cut herself off from her feelings. Through the custody battles and everything that had been thrown at her. She'd been through the myriad of emotions. Anger. Hurt. Depression.

When Terry, her son, and stepdaughter had died in a car accident only a few months ago, it was as if everything she'd managed to get past was opened anew. And again, there was the anger. The hurt. The depression. And the feelings that had all been there when they were married. For all the ups and downs they'd had, she'd cared for him too deeply to just forget.

"Hey." Roy touched a hand to Donna's cheek, seeing the sadness there as she turned away. That same hand dropped to her chin, lifting her face so that he could meet her eyes. "I care about you, Donna. Maybe that hasn't always been clear since we - well, when we - "

Donna smiled, "Right."

Roy Harper wasn't usually someone who minced words, let alone was at loss for them. But everyone had his or her moments. He answered the bright smile with one of his own, holding her eyes with his even as his expression shifted, becoming more veiled. "Anyway, like I said - I care about you, Donna. The question is...how do you feel about me?"

Victor Stone sat within the New York offices of S.T.A.R. Labs. His golden hued arms crossed over his chest, still marking him as every bit of his codename: Cyborg. He was looking over some computer print outs, helping Sarah out a bit around the place. Anything to avoid the Titans right now. He just wasn't yet in the mood to face them.

"Still hiding out I see."

Victor turned to see Dr. Sarah Charles standing in the doorway. Her smile was as bright as it always was, and he remembered when that same smiled had made his heart skip every time he saw it. Problem was, it still did. "I thought you were going out to dinner...."

Sarah shrugged, "Change of plans. DeShaun had to check on some samples and I wanted to grab the print outs to look over later."

"They're here. All in a neat little pile." Victor stood, the light of the computer monitor gleaming off his metallic form. "I'll...just grab some coffee in the lounge."

"Vic, wait a second." Sarah's hand touched his arm, feeling the strangely solid exterior of the omegadrome that she knew was also pliable beyond anything else she'd ever observed. "I think we should talk."

Cyborg arched a golden eyebrow, stopping in his tracks. "About what?" He stood, expectant. Waiting.

"You and your friends."

"Oh." The flash of disappointment he felt stung at him for a long moment before he nodded. "The only friend I have is off in California doing his thing. Probably filming another movie or something."

"I'm not just talking about Gar, Victor. And I think you know it." Dr. Charles was a smart woman. A respected scientist and researcher, there was no point in her playing dumb, and she wasn't about to let Victor do it either.

"If you mean my 'jailers', then you're mistaken."

"No, Victor," Sarah folded her arms, dark eyes boring into the face of a man she'd seen through as many changes in his life as anyone. Someone she cared for and still considered a dear friend. "Your friends. The Titans. They risked everything: Their lives, their families, and the world to save you. You. Victor Stone."

"And then they betrayed me." Cyborg frowned, feeling the anger well within him again. "I thought I had my life back again, and it just turns out my place on the team was a lie." After the last team meeting of the Titans, Victor had wanted to leave and go his own way. It was then that Nightwing let him know in no uncertain terms that it wasn't an option.

After Vic had nearly destroyed the world in a lonesome rage that required all the Titans and the JLA to thwart, decisions had been made behind closed doors. While it wasn't entirely his fault, bonded with the Omegadrome, Cyborg was a dangerous commodity. One that needed to be watched.

"No. Then they went out on a limb for you. Again." Sarah leaned against the wall, knowing as hard it was to say, that it was even harder for Vic to hear. "What do you think would have happened to you if the Titans hadn't stepped up to vouch for you? To say that you were important enough to them, that you mattered enough that they didn't want you locked away somewhere, put in some freezer or worse?"

Cyborg halted in his pacing and Sarah saw her chance to press on.

"I know you, Vic. I know what happened wasn't your fault. The Titans know the same thing. But what about the rest of the world? The JLA? They can only go on the facts. The Titans aren't your jailers, your pity committee, or your betrayers. They went through hell to save you, to protect you even now...."

Still, Victor said nothing.

He turned as he felt a light touch on his arm. Sarah looked up at him, and there was a determination there, coupled with all the concern she held for him. "Are you really going to be the one to betray that, Victor?"

Nightwing sat staring at his friend. He took a deep breath, almost not sure he understood correctly, but he knew that he had. Wally was the one who had convinced Dick Grayson to join the team he had led in his childhood. They had even made a side bet. Whichever one of them actually left the team first, owed the other ten bucks.

It was in part a jest. But over time, it had taken on a life almost of its own. And usually not for the better.

"Do we really want to be Titans?" It was a question he hadn't really considered, not in a way put so straightforward as that. He'd seen it more as an obligation. A favor. This was the team he was a founding member of, it wasn't something he could easily turn his back on. These were his friends. They'd known him as Robin. They knew him as Nightwing, and they knew him as Dick Grayson. As much as Bruce, Alfred, Barbara, and now even Tim - they were his family.

Wally West watched Dick's face carefully. He could almost guess what was going through his mind, because it was something that had gone through his own. "I feel like in a lot of ways, I brought you into this and now you think you're here because you have to be. But that's not true."

"Explain."

"All right," Wally West kicked back, putting his feet up comfortably on the edge of the computer consoles. "Dick - you're a work-a-holic. Nothing wrong with it, we all love you for it. But because of that, you approached this thing all wrong."

Grayson arched an eyebrow, "All right. I'll bite. How did I approach it all wrong?"

"You see it as another obligation, right?" He didn't wait for Dick to answer, he knew the answer already. "You see it as just another thing you're supposed to do. Wash the dishes, clean the toilet, lead the Titans, buy new bat-underwear... " Wally grinned.

Nightwing nodded. He'd never thought of it in such concrete terms, at least not on such a conscious level. "Maybe - maybe you're right."

"I know I'm right, buddy." Wally sat up straight again, dropping his legs to the floor. "But maybe its something you should seriously think about it. This team was never about the things it needed. We're not the JLA. A tailor made machine that functions at peak efficiency. It runs a different way. It runs with different people. Once upon a time, we were just a bunch of sidekicks who needed an escape. We lived under the shadows of our mentors and we couldn't grow. We couldn't be our own people. And now ...we've come a long way since then."

"Yeah. We have." Dick was lost in though for a moment as he considered. "And what about you? You did say 'we' before, are you staying with the Titans?"

Wally stood, pulling his mask up and over his face. "Oh, I already made my decision. So maybe you should think about it. But don't wonder if the Titans still need you...think about whether or not you still need the Titans."

Nightwing's gaze lifted, but the only thing they laid eyes on was the lightning red trail that followed in the speedster's wake.

"Wow." Garth scratched the mark that scarred his forehead. "Grant, huh?"

"Yeah," Toni blushed slightly. "He's my friend, Garth. You, Roy, Nightwing, and the others - you were a team long before now. You were friends. You're there for each other. If there's anything I've learned from being around you guys, it's that friendship is important."

Garth nodded, a beleaguered smile touched his lips and he shrugged. "It is. Sometimes it seems like its more trouble than it's worth. We fight a lot, and not just against supervillains. We get caught up in personal things. And then we try to go off and occasionally save the world...."

"Together." Toni sighed, leaning her chin onto her hand. "Always together. You guys have a pretty good thing. And I'm really glad I got to be a part of it. You guys had a lot of people looking to join up, and you picked me."

"You can be a part of that, Toni. You are a part of it."

Toni grinned, "Yeah, maybe I am. But what kind of Titan would I be if I let my friend down when he needed me the most?"

"Toni," Garth placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, a smile lighting up his face that extended to the dark violet of his eyes. "I think you really have grown up. More than maybe you realize."

"Yeah. Maybe I have."

Donna Troy blinked.

She was a bit startled as she looked at Roy now. What she saw in his face was perhaps the last thing she ever expected. Arsenal was his father's son, his father as in Oliver Queen. Roy was always smooth around the ladies, more or less. He had an undeniable charm. A charisma that when he put his mind to it, usually got him what he wanted. And often times got him into more trouble than he could shake a bow at.

But now there wasn't any of the Roy Harper bravado. His quirky smile was unsure. His eyes were calm, but expectant. And what else she saw there, made her turn away. Unable to meet that gaze. "Roy, you know how I feel - "

"No, actually, I don't." He shrugged, "I thought I did. But then when we were on that island a couple of weeks ago, I found out that maybe I didn't know as much as I thought I did."

"Roy, I don't understand -"

" 'I think you're a swell guy, Roy. I just don't think you're the guy for me.' " Arsenal paraphrased, biting it back through his teeth. She'd come to check on him in the middle of the jungle, the monsoon had just begun. The rain was pouring, they were trying to find their way out when they began to argue. He'd tried to tell himself, since then, that it was just Gargoyle. That it had been the monster just messing with their heads. Their emotions.

But nearly everything else that was hashed over had been thoughts and feelings roiling beneath the surface. So, maybe her words were truer than he wanted to admit until now.

Donna sat in silence before she looked up to Roy again. He deserved an explanation. He needed one. And she didn't have the right to deny it to him. "Its true, Roy. But - " She held up a hand, not wanting him to say a word or even move until she was finished. " - hear me out. You know everything that's happened. The stuff with Dark Angel. After Wally seemed to bring me back from the brink of universal oblivion, I was confused. I could barely remember my past, I could hardly think about my future.

"Then, I was afraid. I was afraid I didn't know myself anymore. That maybe my life was a lie, a fabrication, a distant memory of someone else. It's taken some time, a lot of soul searching, and then I remembered something. When I was a little girl with the Titans of Myth, they taught me truths about the universe. One of which is that it abhors a vacuum. It's been a long process, but I'm getting myself back Roy. A little bit every day. I'm remembering things, I'm understanding things, and I'm realizing things."

"Like the fact you don't really want to be with me." Roy shook his head and stood. So much for a peaceful afternoon watching his daughter at play. "You don't have to say anything else. I get the picture. It was good while it lasted, but - you have your life back. You don't need me anymore. But don't worry; I won't be a problem for you. I'm a big boy, I can take it." He turned to walk toward his daughter, wondering if he would manage to salvage the rest of his day.

"Roy Harper, Jr." Donna shifted in the sand, standing up in much the same motion as Arsenal. Her expression showed every bit of the exasperation reflected in her voice. She reached out, grabbing his arm to turn him around. Without a word, she pulled him back toward her. She couldn't help but laugh at the startled expression on his face. "Do you know what happens when you make assumptions?"

He gave her that familiar lopsided smile, letting his arms go around her waist. "I don't know...does this have anything to do with me being an ass? Because I do it pretty well and its kinda hard for me to avoid. Instinct. Habit. You know how it is."

Donna grinned, shaking her head once more. "Why don't you just shut up and kiss me?"

"Now that, I think I can do...."

Nightfall.

Darkness came to Titan's Island as it did to the rest of the east coast. And even as the night deepened and the full moon rose over the waters that surrounded them, the quiet day turned into a quiet midnight. The Witching Hour.

The Flash sat back at the computer console, a cola in hand, watching the various screens and monitors that lit up the otherwise total darkness of the room. CNN. MSNBC. News Watch. Security camera views. And even ESPN...for the more sports inclined.

He hummed to himself, tapping out a light beat that was all Wally's own. "Home...home on the range...where the deer - right, yeah, the deer and antelope play...."

~Hear...me.... ~

Wally stopped. In the minor hubbub and buzz of the room he frowned, then shook his head. "Where seldom is heard...."

~Please...can you hear me.... ~

Now that time, he knew he heard something. It was almost vaguely familiar. He turned down the controls on the monitors. Silence. "Hello...?" He stood up, looking around the room, green eyes slightly spooked, and more than cautious. "All right, West. Now you're hearing things. Linda is going to have you committed before - wait, am I talking to myself?"

~Wally...help me...~

A form appeared before the speedster. White and iridescent. It was tall and almost too bright to look at directly. At least at first. He blinked once, clearing his vision. After a moment the form became clearer, in the shape of a bird.

A bright burst of light blinded him and when he could see again...the spirit form had disappeared and in its place was a woman, cloaked in indigo. "Wally West...please...."

The Flash moved with a quickness that only one born of the speed force could command, catching the form of the woman as she collapsed, sinking into unconsciousness in his arms. "...Raven?"

Next Issue: A distress call in the middle of the night? An old friend in need of aid? This sure is getting to be a habit...join us for issue #2 of -- the Titans.