The Titan Trials

Chapter 13: Bioluminescence? Is that all?

I wake up from the whole ordeal laying down in some kind of bed with bandages hands and a horrible migraine. I try to hoist myself up to better grasp my surroundings, but a wave of dizziness comes over me and I have to lay back down. "Crap... I went unconscious with my contacts in..." Is the only petty worry I can think about. But I can't feel my colour changing miracles in my eyes, so I stop worrying. Colour changing miracles... this migraine is effecting my judgement. I stare back up at a clearer white ceiling and sigh.

Wait... clearer? What...?

"Hey, she's awake!" Nightwing exclaims as he walks into my room.

"Hey, yeah I guess." I reply weakly. Nightwing adjusts something on a console so I can better see him and our surroundings. "Where am I?"

"You're in the Watchtower Infirmary." Nightwing replies, "You're in a special observation room in the infirmary though. Isolated from everyone else."

"Wh-why? What happened? Why do I have bandages on my hands?"

"All in good time, Kristin. We'll explain when the other Titans have arrived."

"At least tell me how long I've been out."

"At least 3 days." Nightwing leaves the room.

Aw, hell. Three days! What a setback! That means 26 days until the wings pull out of the Circe-zone and we have to attack, training or none. I don't know what Donna was trying to accomplish attacking us while training like that, much less how she did while in the middle of the Magic Wing of the Watchtower!

I also notice that my vision is cured somehow and I no longer require glasses or contacts. Everything I see is in crystal-clear, HD vision. Nice. While I find this very convenient, I still want to know how this happened.

Nightwing returns into the room with the rest of the Titans in tow. They gather around my hospital bed with concerned faces. "The attack by Donna was a real setback." Nightwing sighs. "Put us back three days. I'm just glad no one got permanently injured." Uh, hello? How about my bandaged hands?

"Yeah, but it seems like Kristin's powers have finally shown up." Cyborg grins.

"Just as I said they may." Raven nods.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt you, but WHAT???" I exclaim. "You need to explain this all to me because... I barely remember a thing."

"Oh, right." Nightwing returns his focus back to me. "Well... what do you remember?"

"Well, I remember the attack." I say, carefully placing my words. "And I remember that the other three were already knocked out when I got there. I remember me challenging Donna, and Donna accepting... no wait, she threatened me first. Ah, then as we started fighting it got fuzzy."

"Well, we'll tell you what you missed. But first, we have to show you something." Raven tells me. She turns to Cyborg. "Cyborg, do the thing."

Cyborg rubs his cybernetic hands together and then reaches into his metal eye socket, retrieving it. "My cybernetic eye can serve as a nano recorder. We captured the footage of both the fights yesterday for a time like this." He informs me. I nod, and as Cyborg places the eye on the side table beside me, a holoprojection appears above it. What happens next shocks me whole heartedly.

From my prospective, the match with Alexander went... quite well. From my prospective, my overanalysis and strategizing was my only superpower. But from this prospective, there were other details that I clearly missed from my perspective. From my perspective, the match seemed to last quite a few minutes. From this perspective, however seemed to end in a matter of seconds. I watched the flashing images as I could slowly feel my jaw hit the floor. Metaphorically speaking of course; I don't have super flexibility.

"So now you see the beginning of your new powers!" Starfire exclaims excitedly. She's always so enthused.

"However you see, as you advanced through the race, you became faster and faster at what you were doing." Raven explains. "When you were fighting Donna Troy and you resisted that fuzzy feeling, you were breaking the barrier that would separate your stronger powers."

"Which are...?" I urge them to continue.

"Scientifically speaking," Cyborg continues, "Bioluminescence, phosphorescence, you know."

"No, I don't." I give him a look. I barely remember those terms from my grade ten light and optics sciences unit.

"Simply put, you can currently create and give off light from your hands." Nightwing explains more clearly. "Soon, we hope that it will transform into a stronger power, photokinesis."

"Photo what now?"

"You'll be able to create, control, and manipulate light." Nightwing says.

"Oh. Cool." I nod, somewhat understanding. "But what are the bandages for? Did my bioluminescence hurt my hands?"

"Not really." Starfire says. "You just can't control it yet, so your hands are bandaged so you don't hurt anyone with your light."

"We were thinking of sending you to Hal and John for a day or so, so you could learn to control it." Nightwing ponders. "Well, Hal anyway. John Stewart is currently on Oa to find reinforcements for the Brainiac invasion."

"That might just be a good idea." Cyborg wonders. "But how do we know that Hal won't take her back to Oa to become one of them?"

"That's a risk we have to be willing to take." Nightwing states. "If all else, we can ask Hal to train her inside the Watchtower only."

"What do you think, Kristin? Wanna be trained by a Green Lantern for a bit?" Starfire asks me.

"Sure." I state. "Who else to be trained by than another light user? Let's do it!"