30 Days of Demonfire

Jealousy

I like spending time at Titans Tower.

Damian and I still have to be kind of careful, because not everyone knows about us. Aqualad, Plastic Lad, Menagerie, Wyld, Cyberion, Black Canary, Darkstar—none of them know. Red Arrow and Abuse do, though, and sometimes it's just the four of us and we can hang out like a normal couple.

This isn't one of those weekends, though. It's me, Robin, Superboy, Red Arrow, Zatara, and Aqualad. The training program at the Tower isn't like the one at Firewall. It's a virtual program, which causes less accidental harm to whoever's training and less damage to the system. If Bruce didn't have the funds for droids that self-repaired overnight, we'd probably use something like it.

We get to take turns programming it. I hate it when Damian programs it, because he chooses impossible scenarios. Cerdian usually chooses water-scenarios, which I also hate. Lian chooses things that look they're from first-person shooter games. Zatara puts us in gladiator-type arenas most of the time. I usually end up choosing something post-apocalyptic—don't ask me why, the program comes from your subconscious.

Chris, apparently, chooses space. Which is great for me, because I can breathe unaided in space. Damian doesn't like it, because it means the rest of the team has to work on non-combat skills, like piloting or navigation. Or lasers or whatever weapons are equipped on Chris's dream-ship, but those aren't as fun as punching someone in the face, I guess.

Aqualad is running nav, Zatara's piloting while Lian and I guess Damian are gonna shoot at things. The simulation gives us a few minutes to run reconnaissance before the action starts up. That's kind of wasted in a space scenario. It's not like we can explore all of space. So Chris and I are hanging out while Damian paces, because he doesn't like the few minutes of calm before everything starts.

"So," Chris begins nervously. He's never done one of these before. "You die in these things, right?"

"Yeah," I tell him. "It's not a big deal. You just wake up back at the Tower. Depending how bad your death is, you might get nauseous. But it's painless."

He nods and relaxes a little. "I didn't know Tamaraneans could breathe in space," he says conversationally.

"Yep." And then, because he still looks nervous, I say, "Anything you can do, I can do better."

He grins at me. "No you can't."

"Yes I can," I answer, and I light my eyes glow pink.

"Heat vision?" Chris asks, interested. He knows a lot about space and other races of aliens, but not about Tamaraneans. Not many other star systems know about Vega. It goes back to the whole Green Lantern Corps and Psions thing.

"Starbolts," I tell him.

"Mine's heat vision." He pauses and then he says, "You know, I have X-ray vision, too."

Oops. That got flirty kinda fast. I frown and raise my eyebrows at him, but before anything else happens, Damian steps between us.

"Here," he says tersely, and he thrusts his palm into the air, offering Chris and earpiece to help us stay connected once the two of us eventually leave the ship like I'm sure we're going to have to. Then he turns to me, his cape swishing around his ankles, and he says, "Grayson." Then he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear and puts mine in for me.

I furrow my brow at him. I'm not sure what his problem is, but if it is what I think it is, it's ridiculous.

"Robin," I say, but before I get any further, red lights flash in the ship.

"Proximity detectors," Aqualad announces. "I guess that's your cue," he says to me and Chris.

I look back at Damian, but he just nods at me and sits in the seat opposite Lian to work the weapons.