Perci walked over to where the other teen titans were. Cyborg was helping Tram with his submarine, Raven was levitating reading a book, and Starfire was sat on the ground watching Cyborg and Tram work. Perci sat herself on the cold ground between Raven and Starfire.
Perci's skin on her thigh separated revealing the tangle of roots that was under the surface. She carefully reached her hand inside and pulled out a brand new deck of cards. A small thorn came out of her finger as she cut the plastic wrap. Starfire's eyes wandered over to Perci as she opened the pack placing the jokers next to her. Perci split the deck before bending each half of cards to make them easier to shuffle.
Perci smiled softly as she felt Star's gaze on her. "Wanna play?" She asked. Starfire gave a happy nod and giggle. "Yes, I very much so would!" She said and Perci returned the soft giggle as she turned to face her friend. "Have you played any card games before?" "I have not. How do you play?" Star asked softly as she watched Perci skillfully shuffle the cards. "There are lots of different games we can play. My personal favorites are bullshit-" Perci said only for Starfire to gasp. "Your favorites are not the bullshit, Perci! They are very important!" Star said making Perci giggle as she shook her head no.
"No, that's just the name of one of the games." Perci explained and Starfire blushed. "O-oh...what other game of cards do you enjoy?" "There's bullshit, go fish, poker, black Jack, Egyptian rat slap-" "Don't forget about war." Both girls looked up to see Robin standing next to both girls. "Mind if I join?" He asked and Starfire quickly grabbed his arm pulling him to sit.
"I haven't played war in years." Perci said as she shuffled the cards again. "Why would they name a game of cards the war?" Starfire asked and both teens shrugged their shoulders. "I'm not really sure." Robin said watching as Perci shuffled the cards using a bridge method. "I still don't get how you do that." Robin said making Perci smirk. "Wow, the boy wonder, master of multiple martial arts, still can't shuffle cards." Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask but he still had a smile on his face.
"Do you want to watch us play a few rounds so we can explain the rules to you better, Star?" Perci asked and Starfire nodded before moving closer to Robin. "Deal me in already so I can win." Robin said with a smirk and Perci rolled her eyes. "We playing like old times?" She asked as she started to deal out the cards. "After last time? Thanks, but I'll pass." Robin said as Perci shrugged her shoulders. "Your loss wonder boy."
Perci finished dealing out the cards and both teens grabbed their stack. Perci quickly straightened her cards out before shuffling her stack a couple more times. Robin on the other hand took his time getting his half of the deck ready. Both teens quickly explained the rules to Starfire as they started playing.
"This game is honestly based on luck. Unless you play with Robin." Perci said sending a smirk to her opponent. "What does she mean Robin?" Starfire asked as she looked over his shoulder. "Robin likes to cheat at this game." "I don't cheat." Robin said trying to defend himself making Perci laugh.
"Oh, yeah, sure you don't, Robin." Perci said as she collected the cards in front of them. "Don't listen to her, Star. I don't cheat." Robin said and Perci rolled her eyes. "I've literally caught you cheating multiple times!" "That was years ago, Perci." Robin said with a soft laugh at her outburst. "I do not understand. Why would you do the cheating, Robin?" "Yeah, wonder boy. Why would you do the cheating?" Perci asked with a smirk as Robin collected the cards in the center. "I didn't cheat, but if I did I'm sure I had my reasons." Robin said smirking back at the girl.
Perci rolled her eyes when both players placed down kings. Robin and Perci both stared down at the King of spades and the King of hearts between them. "You sure you don't want to play with our old rules?" Perci asked and Robin gave her a smile. "If I win this one you admit I never cheated." Robin said as he held a cocky grin. "If I win you admit you used to cheat." Perci said with a smirk as she extended her hand out to the hero in front of her. Robin shook her hand sealing their deal.
Starfire watched as both teens placed three cards face down. Robin's were placed neatly next to each other while Perci's were in one unorganized pile. Both teens placed one last card face down next to the ones they originally placed down. "How you normally play you place the cards face down and the last one you flip over. Winner takes all of the cards. When Robin and I play we tend to switch up the rules a little bit." Perci explained and Starfire nodded doing her best to understand the game.
"Do you want to go first?" Robin asked and Perci shook her head no. "You can go first." She said. Robin flipped the card over revealing a seven of clubs. "Your turn." Robin said and Perci reached down flipping hers over. A red nine of hearts appeared and Perci smirked. "Read it and weep, bird brain." There was a moment of silence when Robin looked up at Perci. "Take the cards." "What?!" Perci and Starfire both said loudly. "Take the cards? You'd rather let me have a better chance at wining than admit you cheated?" Perci asked rather surprised before she shrugged her shoulders. "You know the rules, you don't wanna do it I get your arm." Perci said and Robin sighed.
"I did cheat, but I had my reasons." Robin said looking at the cards he could've lost and putting them back into his deck. "Why did you cheat?"Perci asked as she collected hers. "What were your reasons for cheating?" Perci asked and Robin sent her a smirk. "An explanation wasn't part of our deal." "You said this game was about luck. How could you manage to cheat, Robin?" Starfire asked when Perci answered. "Wonder boy likes to count cards." Perci said while she reshuffled her half of the deck.
"Count cards?" Star asked confused and Perci nodded while her and Robin continued their game. "As much as I hate to feed his ever growing ego, Robin is actually extremely smart and calculated with just about every move he makes." Perci explained as Robin collected the cards between them.
"Whether it be while fighting with his team or playing unnecessary card games he's always thinking of a plan. With this game, specifically, he keeps track of the cards played and what exactly is in his opponents hand. Typically when you receive cards you burn them to the bottom of your deck, like Robin has been doing." Perci said nodding her head over to Robin who was in fact placing the cards at the bottom of his deck. Robin raised a brow at Perci as she continued to explain.
"When you burn them they create a pattern. Sure you add and lose cards sometimes but the face cards are less likely to change. You keep track of those and the general area they are in for the deck and you can throw the game by placing your own cards in different spots in your deck." Perci said as she lost another card to Robin. "How did you figure it out?" Robin asked genuinely curious.
"A few weeks after you showed me how to play I got someone else to play it with me." She said with a shrug of her shoulders as she collected her cards. "What caught my attention was how fewer times we'd have to do the actual war part. I expressed that I was confused and they said that whoever I was playing might've been cheating. They offered to tell me how they thought you were doing it, but I wanted to figure it out for myself. A few of our meetups later and I asked them to teach me how to officially shuffle cards." Perci said as both teens placed down fives. Both teens placed three cards face down before getting ready to flip a fourth one over. "Miraculously, whenever we played there was a significantly less amount of this." Perci said as Robin flipped over his three cards. The teen smiled as she collected one of Robin's jacks and a few number cards.
"How long have you and Robin known each other?" Starfire asked Perci as she knew Robin wouldn't answer her. Both teens looked at Star before Robin and Perci looked at each other. "U-um...I'd say a good few years." Perci said and Starfire let out a soft 'oh' as she expected more from the girl. "Sorry, Stars, you're not getting much from me about that stuff." She said with a shrug as Robin collected her cards. "But Robin will not tell us." Star said with a pout.
"I understand that you and the rest of the Titans are itching to figure this out. I might tell you one day, but I don't plan on doing that any time soon." Perci said as she shuffled her cards again. "Our pasts do bump into each other, but it's hardly any of your concerns. I don't mind if Robin shares things here and there that don't really have any menial value. But I believe I speak for both of us when I say there's things you shouldn't know." She said as Robin placed down another card looking up at her.
"There's some baggage that comes with knowing people for so long. Fear, respect, anger, and a few other things that get mixed in. It's different for everyone. With that, I would never undermine Robin. We might not exactly get along and our views and morals are rather spread out along the spectrum, and as much as I hate to say it, there was a time where I held great respect for Robin." Perci said catching Robin's attention even more.
"That was a long time ago...I don't have the same level of respect as I do now, but I still respect him nonetheless. He went out of his way to make a team of teenage superheroes. I'm not sure if this was his original intention, but I see it as a way for people with super human capabilities to relate to each other. They all learn from each other and learn to coexist. While I wanted nothing to do with this team, I wouldn't do anything to harm anyone in it without good reason let alone undermine Robin like that." Perci explained giving her half of the deck a shuffle before handing it over to Starfire. "Here you can play with my deck." She said before standing up walking over to Cyborg and Tram asking if they needed any help.
Not long after, Perci walked between the areas where the other Titans were waiting for the submarine to be finished. Robin watched as she grabbed the now dry leaf from the rocks as she threw it over herself. "Sub's ready to go!" Cyborg said as he gave his friends a large thumbs up with a smile.
The group of teens all filed into the submarine and Robin and Starfire gave their thanks to Tram. The group quickly got moving as they submerged into the water. "We have this death trap up and running again, but how are we going to find Beast Boy and Aqualad?" Perci asked into her headset. Her legs were crossed in her seat as she looked around her making sure no water was getting in.
"Beast Boy has his communicator on him. We just have to follow the signal." Robin said and Perci nodded. "Locked onto Beast's location. According to the sonar we have to go deeper." Cyborg said and the team didn't waste anytime as they dove deeper into the sea.
The group of teens quickly made it to a large sentiment of rock. The group was looking around trying to spot their friend. "Over there!" Perci said as she looked at what seemed to be a large cave system. "It looks like that's an entrance to some caves." She said. "Good eye, Perci!" Robin said and Cyborg steered the craft over to the cave opening.
The group watched as Beast Boy and Aqualad swam out of the cave entrance. "Now, Cyborg!" Robin directed. A hard blast hit the rocks causing a cave in. "Yes!" Robin yelled into the headset. "Cool." Raven said at the size of the blast. "Victory!" Starfire said holding up a peace sign. "Woo!" Perci cheered happy that they were finally going to go back to the surface. "Boo-yah! Seismic blasters worked like a charm! Nice repair job, Tram!" Cyborg cheered.
Perci looked out the window and saw Aqualad and Beast Boy not far from the cave entrance. Aqualad noticed the girls soft smile and gave her one back with a small wave. The same purple flowers appeared on her cheeks as she waved back. Her other hand plucking the flowers that had started to grow.
All of the Teens were at the soft beach next to Titan Tower. "Consider yourself an honorary Teen Titan!" Robin announced while handing Aqualad a titans communicator. Beast Boy stood next to Aqualad and Perci stood next to him. Raven and Starfire were both still fawning over Aqualad with hearts eyes and dark blushes.
"We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks." Robin said giving Aqualad a smile and he returned it. "Right back at you. It's good to know there's people up here I can trust." Aqualad said. "And it's good to know there's folks down there who can fix a hyper jet." Cyborg said to Tram who excitedly spoke in his own language before they fist bumped.
"Bye Raven, Starfire." Aqualad said giving both girls a smile as the drooled over him. "It was nice to meet you." Raven said calmly while Starfire pushed closer to Aqualad. "Oh, very, very, very nice!" Starfire said only for Aqualad to jump back from both girls.
A soft laugh caught his attention as he turned to see Perci laughing. "You both got a little something on your faces." She said with a giggle as she referred to the drool reaching down the two girls chins. Aqualad stared at her for a moment before the green hero nudged him towards her.
"It was nice working with you, Perci." Aqualad said with a soft smile and the girl looked up to him. "U-uh, yeah, you too!" She said with a smile as she held her hand out for him. He shook her hand and everyone noticed the lavender petals crawling through Perci's skin.
"Strong grip you got there." He awkwardly complimented and she let out a soft giggle. "Thanks. You should see me arm wrestle." She said jokingly. Her eyes caught sight of the purple rose growing on her hand as she quickly pulled it away.
"U-um...I'm technically not supposed to this." Perci said as she reached into her pocket that met the side of her body. Her hand pulled out a black sealed envelope. Perci held the letter out to Aqualad with a soft smile. "A friend of mine runs a super teen hangout place. I find myself there a lot, you should swim by sometime." Perci said with a smile and Aqualad smiled as he took the envelope. "I definitely will." He said before turning to Beast Boy.
"What can I say, dude? You're the best." Beast Boy said to Aqualad. "Nah, you're the best." He said smiling next to Beast Boy. "Yeah, you're right." Beast Boy said starting to stretch. "And if you ever want me to prove it, I'm always up for a race." Beast said while Aqualad ruffled the green hero's hair. "Just try to keep up." Both teens were suddenly running away starting their race.
"Perci." The remaining Titans turned to see Robin handing Perci something. The teen looked down into her hand to see the familiar communicator. "Robin-" She was about to rant when he interrupted her. "I know what your answer is. I know it might not seem like it, but I respect your decision. You could even say I have a lot of respect for you, Perci." He said giving her a smile she thought she'd never see again.
"If you ever change your mind, you are always welcome to come back to the Teen Titans. I know it might not make a difference, but I'd like us to be friends again." Robin said with the same smile. Perci's eyes looked down at the device in her hand as multiple different thoughts ran through her head. She glanced up at Robin and the roses on her cheeks had gone back into her skin. "There are still things that I need to take care of. I won't drag your team into my issues and I expect you not to drag me into yours." Perci said refusing to acknowledge what Robin had said about their friendship. She didn't believe it was the place or time for that discussion yet.
"I understand." Robin said and Perci held the communicator out for him to take. "Keep it with you. Just in case you need to contact any of us." Robin said with a soft smile only having good intentions.
Perci wasn't buying it as she glared at him. "And let you have my location at any time? That's some amount of respect you have for me, Robin. How stupid do you think I am?" Perci asked as she shoved the device into Robin's chest hard. "I just-" Robin said trying to explain himself when Perci started to walk away. "You just what, Robin? Want to keep tabs on me? Make sure I'm staying out of trouble?" Perci said before turning away from the teens with a tsk.
Her back was towards the others as the ground started shaking. A tunnel made of large vines and roots made itself visible to the girl. "It's good to see you haven't changed one bit, Robin." Perci said before jumping down into the hole she'd made. "Perci, wait!" Robin tried to call out, but the hole had closed right behind her. He was too late.