Keep up the faith. Conner's your number one job. Call Bruce when he wakes up. Easy words for someone who's walking away from all his problems. Dick had left and so had Temi and Kory. Two teenagers were supposed to keep the place together and wait for the team to change their minds and return. If that ever happened.
The first was went by smoothly. Things were bland without the apartment being crowded. Privacy became a thing again. Gar had served them an energizing breakfast and lunch, Dianna had stuck with a warm, calming meal for the evening. They'd kept active, following Dick's daily training method to stay fit. Also, Conner was doing good. Dianna had gone to check on him and took the opening to appreciate his silent company as she read a novel.
When the alarm had buzzed at seven in the morning the next day, neither of them awakened. Gar had rushed into her room two hours later, fretted they'd jinxed their mission to keep the Titans alive. That day they had brunch, then a shorter period of practice, free time, loads of coffee, and a nap. Nothing felt worth staying awake for, except for reading yet another title to their unconscious inmate.
The third day was inaugurated with one mug of coffee to her bed ( bless Gar's hardworking ass ), then a second one as she listened to her friend plot their day; only hearing his voice was driving her insane. Was that an actual thing? Jack Torrance would agree. Fuck, wrong example.
"Listen, Gar," Dianna disrupted him, sipping the last of her dark brown liquid. He blinked at her, willing to hear any opinion. "Why do we need to follow a routine? We have the place to ourselves, no one to stop us from doing anything we want." A smirk sneaked to her face, cherishing one thing she used to love that was ripped away the moment she joined the Titans, and dying, too. "We could throw a party."
"Yeah, with all the friends we made since we got here─ Oh, wait."
She rolled her eyes, letting out a frustrated laugh. He was no fun and inexperienced, for sure. Dianna couldn't relate, being best friends with the rich kids at school had its social perks. "Parties don't have to be with friends."
"So you'd rather be drunk around a bunch of strangers?" Gar questioned, enlightening something she'd never considered. At least not all the way through. He appeared content when her grin sank. "Doesn't sound safe to me."
Head tilting to the side, she realized all the danger she'd put herself through all those years. Underage drinking was the least of her problems but she hadn't known it then. "Huh, no, it doesn't. Why didn't I think of that, like, ever?"
"So, routine it is?"
Dianna scrunched her nose, disgusted by the idea of keeping up with the teachings. The adults were gone, and though it upset her, she tried seeing the positive side. No one could force her to do anything. Not even Gar. She opened her mouth to tell him so.
The bell ringed. They couldn't pretend they weren't thrilled to see the team come back. Was it Kory? Maybe Temi, after she received her message that Dick left. They elbowed each other out of the way, hoping to be the first to welcome them back.
At the sight of the woman waiting, Dianna paused, her entire world slowing down.
On the other side of the screen stood the most incredible person she had known in her life. It wasn't Temi nor Kory, as much as she adored them. Brown hair cascaded on her shoulders, encircling her oval face, agreeing with her dark eyes. She hadn't grown much, not like Donna or Dick, her youthful beam lurked under her serious face.
What the fuck was she doing here?
Dianna captured Garfield's shirt, yanking him back. She cornered him against the wall, just out of the device's sight. She could feel tears in the rim of her eyes. "Gar, that's my sister. Marge." Fuck. It was real. He glanced at the screen with recognition. "You have to shrug her off. She doesn't know about me. She can't know about me."
A second ring swelled the quiet home. Damn, she couldn't wait two minutes. Gar turned to Dianna, scared of the mission set before him. "What am I supposed to tell her?"
"She's probably here for Temi," she blurted. It was the only possibility. To her, both Dianna and Zach were dead. Temi was her sole living friend. "Tell her she's out of town and she won't be back for a couple of days, that she should call her. You think you can do it?" Gar nodded. Marge sounded the bell a third time. Dianna raced out of the room, too agitated to think straight.
She soon found herself in the infirmary, grasping her book and crashing the door shut with her back. Her ear urged to the door, trying to hear Garfield's excuses. "No, she isn't here. She left two days ago. Don't know where." A long pause as Marge took her chance to talk. Dianna couldn't hear her. Shit.
"Hi." The voice came from behind her, Dianna turned too fast, binding her feet and plummeting into the ground. "Are you okay?" He sounded sweeter than he appeared. She gawked at the boy and bobbed her head. "Your heart is beating fast. Are we in danger?"
So innocent. Child-like. Getting back on her feet, she began explaining their situation. "No, we aren't in danger. I was just trying to avoid someone, don't worry." Conner slowly nodded, gazing around the place and striving to stand up. "Careful there, you don't have any clothes. Please, don't flash me."
"'Flash me'?" His stomach grumbles in the silence.
Dianna couldn't help but chuckle at his oblivious nature. It seemed like Eve hadn't taught him everything ( not that she saw it as negative, since he was never supposed to make it out of the labs ). "It means that I don't want to see your junk. Your private parts?"
"Okay." He drew the sheets over his lower region, respecting her request. His eyes sauntered around, investigating his surroundings. "I have another question. How did I get here?"
"You don't remember?"
Conner locked his eyes, seeking the answers in the depths of his disoriented mind. "I remember feeling really sick, and hearing a lot of voices, and then it was like I was on fire, and then. . ." His eyes opened and a smile grew on his features. He dived off the bed. Dianna exclaimed a curse and looked away. Ashamed apologies came from the boy, as well as the rustling of the sheets. "Is Eve here?"
Dianna peeked through the nook of her eyes, verifying he was safe to watch. Conner had wrapped the white beddings on his waist. "She was. She helped us heal you. Well, it was her, Kory and Temi. Maybe you remember them?"
"Not really─"
The door swung open, slamming against the wall. "Your sister is insistent. No offense, she's kind of annoying." Gar blinks at the boy sitting in the bed. He looks at her, then back at Conner. It happens twice before it penetrates his mind. "Woah, he's awake!"
"Yeah, no shit." Dianna folded her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow to challenge his current intellect. Conner grabbed his stomach, glancing at her, wordlessly asking to be fed. "He's also naked and hungry. We treat the dog better."
Gar flashed a short smile, dropping his head and scratching below his hair. "I'll get him clothes. You feed him." He took a step outside, then reversed. He delivered her a small piece of paper. "Your sister left this. She's staying in town for the week, so we'll have to be careful."
Dianna peeked inside the note, reading Marge's handwriting. It was her phone number. Biting on her lip, she saved it in her pocket. This was the closest she had been to her sister in the past ten years. Fucking amazing.
She walked out and began preparing a giant meal for their guest; he could have anything from cereal, sandwiches, leftover pizza, Coke. It was all set for him to devour. Maybe even try for the first time. Thinking a second time, she loaded the soda back into the fridge for another day.
The boys joined Dianna in the kitchen, taking a seat across from her. She looked at Conner, pitying the choices Gar had taken. Nothing was more basic than a white shirt and sweatpants. They'd already fucked up the first life lesson: style.
Conner scooped up the box of cereal, digging his hand in and chunking whatever amount he caught. Gar eyed his actions, reaching for a large bowl and a spoon. He took the box, dumped the contents in, added some milk, and passed it to the starving boy.
The content smile on his face vanished as he took in the gargantuan windows that framed the city. "What is this place?" Conner asked as he pushed a spoonful into his mouth.
"Titans Tower," Garfield glorified the report, glowing at his own words. Conner continued to chomp of the cereal, unmindful of the significance of their spot. "Yeah, I guess that might sound a little weird with no context. The Titans are a group of people like you, basically. Heroes."
Dianna hissed, preparing to launch some harmful words: the truth. Were they heroes if they used innocent people to weaken their foes? Did heroes put kids in the line of fire? Who determined which actions were condoned noble and which vicious? "You might want to rethink that definition."
Gar ignored her comment, though Conner hadn't. He tempted the boy's mind away from discrediting the Titans' potential. "Hey, you're Superman's son, right?"
"And Lex Luthor's." Conner agreed.
"Yeah, well, no one's perfect," Gar laughed his counterpoint away, wrapping one arm around the boy's shoulder. He believed in his potential to reassemble the team with his alien contributions. "See, we all have powers and special abilities. We choose to help people."
Conner swallowed excitedly, remembering something. "Eve said it's okay for me, to help people," he spoke, food still in his mouth. Gulping more, he continued. "I remember that."
"Okay, that's good," Gar exclaimed. He was keen on attracting Conner into the team, as if some boy could bring them all together. Their anger wouldn't leave in three days when they found out about their new variant of Superman. "Uh, give me one minute. There's someone I got to call. Dianna, stay with him."
She shrugged at him. Where else would she go? It wasn't like there was anything more entertaining in the Tower than Conner's cluelessness. "Send Bruce my cordial greetings," she called after him. Gar flipped her off and rushed out.
From the same hall the green-haired boy passed, came a faint bark. Conner's white pup sprinted into the room, going straight to the boy. Dianna took a step out of his way, watching as they rejoined. He sank to his knees and began playing with him. A pleasant view. "Krypto, buddy! Hi."
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
With a pursued subject and a legally deceased person, detouring San Francisco sounded like an excellent idea. For Garfield only. Dianna had to throw a hood over, hiding her face for extreme occasions whilst maintaining an eye on Conner, who was too jittery in this new context.
Gar's enthusiasm was not bettering their situation. Everything Dick had taught them escaped his memory. He didn't pay attention to his surroundings, mainly because no one was looking for him. "So think of all of this like one big, totally immersive, three-dimensional, interactive, multi-player video game." His hands spread across the wind, wrapping the entire city like a screen. He then patted Conner on the chest. "And you're Player One. Your job is to make sure that everyone stays safe and no one gets hurt."
"Is that what the Titans do?"
Dianna laughed, happily answering his inquiry. They had to balance both positive and negative things about the team, tell the truth. "Nope, only the original Titans. We were locked in the Tower all day. Like Rapunzel, sounds familiar?" Conner hummed in acknowledgment. "Yeah, we talked about how real-life experience would be like."
"Once the team is back together again, I think we'll get it." Gar walked ahead of them, turning over to face them, striding assuredly backward. "I know this sounds crazy, but once the team knows you're awake and can see what you can do, they'll be back in a hurry."
Conner paused to gawk at the plaza before them; the people enjoying the day, eating, and chatting. He seemed overwhelmed by, well, everything. Dianna squeezed his arm, getting back his attention, sparing him a potential headache. Maybe San Francisco wasn't the best city to introduce him to civilization. He smiled down at her, appreciating her extra care.
"So, who are the bad guys?" Conner asked, stopping to study a seller's cart.
Dianna dragged him away, entertaining him with simpler stuff than exchange theory. "There's a long list of those. But given your─" she motioned to his face, "I'd say you're fine. You have it easy. Just watch out for muggers, not that you'd have a problem with those, given your strength and the bulletproof business."
"Why do I have it easy?" He asked out of pure interest. The world must felt inciting to his green spirit.
Gar stepped up to push the conversation along. He wanted to continue recruiting the boy but Conner wasn't interested in the Titans then, wanting to know them and everything else; like a normal person. "Well, uh, certain people have privilege over others. It's how society was programmed."
"Who are your bad guys?"
"Racists," Dianna blurted. From there, the rest popped, unfortunately, too easy. "Historians. Classicists. Men, in my case." She glanced at Conner to find him nodding along with her list, recording them in his mind. "Oh, and the police."
He halted at that. Dianna and Gar stayed with him, worried they might've given too much information for the day. She was about to offer going back when he spoke. "I thought the police were good."
"Yeah, they aren't," she admitted with a sigh. Her fingers pulled on the hood, shining some light on her eyes as she gazed at Conner. He didn't seem too moved by the news and that wasn't a good thing. They had to be cautious with their every word. His mind was still malleable. "We hate them─ Well, I hate them. They took me my step-mom, so. . ."
Conner rested a heavy palm on her shoulder. "If they took your mom, then I hate them, too!"
Dianna could only smile. She'd fucked up but also hadn't fucked up, at the same time. Yes, she'd accidentally turned him against the police and he was too thrilled about it. But she had turned him against the police, which was a good thing, converted him into an ally. She looked at Garfield, reading his expression to decide if her act was good. He wasn't even paying attention.
"So, what are your powers?"
Gar chuckled, suddenly ashamed to recognize a skill he loved. "It's kind of weird but I can turn into a tiger."
Conner lets out an excited laugh, Gar joined as his eyes went wide in wonder. Dianna grinned at the pair and their spontaneous surprise. "No way," the boy exclaimed between funny hiccups. "What's a tiger?"
"Oh." Gar glances at her with distress. How come he didn't know what a tiger was? She gave the green flag, making Garfield hop on the spot. "Now's not the best time but. . ." He struggled for a few seconds, breaths ragged, gradually shifting into snarls. His face morphed into a tiger's, roaring once before shrinking back to normal. He began laughing at the boy's expression.
"Whoa! That's awesome!" Conner was stunned by both his magic and finding out what a freaking tiger was. He spun towards Dianna, unable to hold back his content. "What about you?"
"I can fire-bend. Here, watch it." She shot out her hand, palm facing up. Her eyes were glued to his profile, wanting to see as his face grew vivid. With a single thought, a blaze kindled over her skin, dancing at her will. Folding her fingers around it, she smothered it.
Conner remained staring at her hand, hypnotized by her spell. But his trance soon fell when a cry echoed across the plaza. A man was calling for help, someone was hurting him. Conner raced to the source, leading them towards the street. Two cops were cuffing down a man, crushing his body against the vehicle.
Dianna cussed and reached for her phone, ready to record. In that split second, Conner had dashed toward the struggle, protecting the man from the brute hands that held him down. Garfield tried to warn him, but the boy did not quit. Backup arrived, immediately firing at a disoriented Conner. The bullets bounced on his chest, making him enraged. He ripped a car's door and hurled it at the officers.
The restrained man hurried past them, terrified of the scene behind him. Maybe he was doing the right thing, running away. Dianna took a step back. If they realized they were with Conner things wouldn't be pretty for them. She grasped Garfield and drew him away. They had to leave the boy behind. "Let's get out of here. We fucked up."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
TOMORROW WE HAVE A NEW EPISODE!!! IM SO READY✨✨