Teen Titans In The Field (3)

Blood

Charlie Kimichi

"Better than I have been!" I replied casually, doing my best to meet his eye. Honestly, I was mostly glad he remembered my name, "Got suspended from school, still officially on the team. Gonna hopefully play my way through college. Made new friends!" I nodded to Kara.

"This is Linda, she's like, a martial arts expert or something but she's also been tutoring me. Asked her along as a friend!" Kara waved her response, giving her best grin.

"Your grandpa is creepy, no offence. He doesn't blink." I sighed, at her observation, then laughed. Grandfather laughed too.

"Don't NEED to blink, blinkin' wastes water. They don't like me gettin too much water." He laughed it off, puffing his smoke, then took a long, deep sniff of the air. "She Alien?"

Kara visibly shifted in her seat, yeah I probably should have told her about this. "He can smell your blood, anyone's. His powers are that, blood control and the usual monster transformations my family all have."

"Yeah." Kara did her best not to be nervous, "I'm an alien. Something of it?" When grandpa shrugged, she relaxed.

"Too many Aliens these days, I know we haven't had many new ones since the Disaster. Not a, Hero are ya." The old man spat the word 'hero' as if it were a swear word. I shrugged, unwilling to lie to him.

"Wouldn't be able to tell you one way or another." I said, which was true.

"Now, you listen, young blood, I've seen the news. You've been hanging 'round with them!" the man threw the remainder of his joint on the floor, stamping on it with a bare foot. "No good will come of that, ya hear. You're my blood, my people! If that young half-blood hadn't kicked us out-a our kingdom you would be Royalty. So don't listen ta them, they's all crooked and evil! And some day-"

"Yeah, Yeah! I get it!" I cut him off, trying to avoid the possible fallout. "They made me do a turn in service with them to keep me out-a jail!" I insisted.

"GOOD!" It was pretty much a yell, followed by an actual spit on the floor. "Should'a done a turn in jail honestly, would toughen you up! But learn from them, turn their lessons against them! Think about your future kid, don't let them turn you soft!"

As my grandfather started yelling I watched him, but also supergirl out the corner of my eye. I was surprised to see her coil up a little, pulling in her hands to her lap, legs together and body a mix of apologetic and nervous.

"YEAH, WHATEVER!" I yelled back, both of us were talking with our hands at this point and I'd gotten to my feet. "I Know, I'm not Tough enough, I know I'll never be but that's Enough. I'm here to see how YOU are! Cause God knows why, but we worry bout you! Kay? So how are you."

That got a hesitation, and slowly the old man unfolded from his chair, with my arms wide, demanding an answer. He stood and carefully pulled me into a hug.

"Better than I was." was the reply I got, as slowly the old man started beefing up, transforming himself to give me a tighter squeeze. I started beefing up as well, both of our skins turning gray and our faces and bodies becoming muscled and toned. As the guards around us levelled and cocked their weapons at the old-man's back, we stopped, added some back patting and he rumbled what he thought of as a compliment.

"Remember kid, whatever you do with your body, whatever name you take. You are first and foremost my blood. I ain't gonna let you go quietly in this world. If you go anywhere, you roar. And when there's blood in the water, you'll know you're a true warrior!"

The hug broke, and idly I noticed Kara had dealt with the guards. Both of their guns were now pointing directly in the air, and they struggled to move them. Everything around us was still, waiting to see if they would have to attack and the turret mounts were all pointed at Grandfather's back.

We sat again, letting the guards relax but Kara stayed standing for a bit. We talked, idle stuff. I told him about my rugby matches, that the hero's had been teaching me to fight, and my grades in school. He listened and nodded, only talking occasionally. Once our time was up I left.

It was exhausting. I felt haggard by the time we reached the end of the dome.

I didn't realise it was showing until Kara put a hand on my back, giving it a ginger pat. I looked over and she mouthed, "Relax". Oh, right, I hadn't transformed all the way back. I tried to relax, feeling my body slowly shift back.

As we reached the edge of the dome, at the storage locker where we'd left our devices, I heard the sound of classic heavy metal. It took me a second to realise, "Is That my Phone!?" we sped up, I missed the call before we got there, and we weren't allowed to access or use our tech until after we left the dome. Apparently I'd forgotten to turn it off, and nobody had picked that up?

Huh.

When we got outside, with Supergirl standing in the air behind me to look at my screen, I called Robin back. One ring, Two, and answer! "AAA! Charlie! Good, you're out? Did the visit go well cause we got a dispatch order I need to hand you!"

I was momentarily stunned by the rapid-fire questions, Kara answering in my stead; "Carybdis is Scary A.F. Super impressive, seems like the best combination of nice grandpa and everybody's worst nightmare!"

I raised my eyebrows, "He's good, we got some good chattin' done. What's this about dispatch?"

"It looks like the jobs the Inscrutable Machine warned us about are going off. We've got three crime-scenes and we're heading north. Supergirl, can you fly yourself and Charlie here?" A map appeared on the screen, overall state map with an x, then a closer map indicating a building!

"Aye-Aye Captain! All aboard the Kryptonian Express!" Before doing anything else, Kara sidled up beside me, giving me another back pat. "Let's prove our worth, hey?" she looked at me as she said it, and I nodded back. Breathed, shook myself out mentally. "No prob, boss. We're on our way. Will let you know how things go!" As I climbed into the deathtrap of a carrier, Supergirl literally walked up the air, onto the top where the support frame was and lifted us into the air.