Teen Titans In The Field (3)

Awkward Phone Call

Phone . . .

Hagfish sat in a sterile room as Charlie answered the phone, a prison guard watching over the camera's and recording devices that monitored the landline telephone. He breathed a long ragged breath as Charlie answered on the other end with a simply "Heya. I'm here."

"Hey kid." He grumbled, slumping against the table, it buckled under the man's weight but didn't give. "Hey, I didn't catch you at a bad time did I?"

I sighed back, shook my head, and felt my feet still idly shuffle through the waiting line. With none of my friends present, and a need to hear the phone I slumped back into mostly human form. "Nah. Waiting in line for a book signing. I got time, so... They let you make a call? Things must be lookin up!"

"Yeah, yeah. Wait, a book signin? You inta books now kid? Who-sit for?" I chuckled, pointing to my phone as he talked to make sure the other people in the line knew what was happening. "The old man doesn't think I read!" I joked, casually, "Hag, I read all the time, just mostly comics. Some villain is signing copies of her comic!"

"Oh, aah! Right, Comics!" Hagfish called back, "That's better, ya had me worried there Car-.. kid!" He corrected the sentence, swapping out Charlie's name for something that wouldn't be on the record. "Don't go nerd, bookies and nerds are what gets people like us, where I is now!" Hagfish looked around, waved at the guard. "But yeah, the court case is goin' ahead. I'm locked down tight so nobody can gets to me before the trial. All things being, I tell em about the drugs and my time with the Seven and a Half Men, all my charges will be dropped!"

It was my turn to breathe a sigh of relief, mussing my hair I fidgeted, grinning. This was awesome news, sort-of. "That's great, and you know when you'll be out? I gotta fix up the place afore ya come back!"

"As I hear it, you ain't even been livin there late? How's it goin at superhero school!" I shuffled more as the line moved.

"Yeah, you know. I don't belong here anymore I belonged at the other school. I'm not good at the thinking part. But there was..." I thought over the moment during the evacuation. The conversation with Wonder Woman had left me feeling hot, and shaken. "The woman mentoring me, she said I think like a hero. Like I have potential. Everyone else though just think's of me as a villain!" I grumbled, my shape writhed a little in response to my emotions and I felt teeth growing in. Stopping for a moment, I counted to five like Wonder Woman had taught me, calmed myself.

In his cell, Hagfish nodded, looking at the table. Smiled, and looked at the ceiling, then relaxed, completely with a huge grin on his face. "Kid, if you can get out of the villain life-style I think you could be anything you wanted!" he crowed, eyes closed and trying to act tougher than he felt. "You got somethin alright. Goodness knows you're better than me, I saw you took your Pa's work name? Doing something good with it?"

"That's the plan." Charlie responded casually, the line had actually moved some distance between the breaks of conversation.

"Hey, in there. You're time's almost up. There was something important you needed to say, say it now." The voice of the guard ran over the phone-line, reminding both of them this wasn't a private call. They tensed.

"Yeah, okay. Speakin o' that, I know you won't want ta, but your Grandpa has a visit day comin' up. At the super-max. With me in jail and Leviathan out, I was wonderin' if ya could take around a care package!"  Hagfish didn't see the visceral reaction Charlie had, going from almost human to almost full shark in a few seconds as his body tensed. My teeth grew out too fast for my mouth, piercing my lip and stinging, for a second I almost threw the phone, stamped my foot, I resisted the urge to spit. The would would heal as I transformed back, but it was an urge. Blood in my mouth, my own yes but my brain was clouding over.

Breathe. Breathe, I tried to focus, counting my breaths.

"Kid?" Hagfish called over the line.

"The old man has ..." I began, "He's sick. Twisted." I was getting control again.

"Yeah. But he's family. As he say's what ya gonna do when there's Blood in the Water." Hagfish was also tense, under his hand the metal table bucked from pressure, but he stopped as soon as he noticed. "Family looks after family, never asked you to like him. Don't even need to stay long, just make sure he gets his meds and shit." the older villain responded. "Think ya can?"

I looked around, in the heat of the conversation I had almost made it to the front of the waiting line. Bright lights, colourful music, bustling people who had no idea of what I was talking about, or how I felt right now. Everything moved around me. I stepped out of the line, picking a direction and wondering amongst the throng, looking. I needed to get out of my head.

"Yeah, Yeah. I can drop of the old man's meds. I'll be okay!" I intoned, without feeling.

A moment passed, and I wondered if the line had hung up. It hadn't, "Remember kid. Remember what I said. You're better than us. You go find your hero friends, they'll remind you. It's not who you is that matters, it's who you want to be!"

I smiled, it was a good idea. I'd look for the group. "Thanks. You take care uncle. Hope ta see you out soon!"

"You too, luv ya kid!" And the line hung up.