Award Winning Tear-Jerker! (Open)

Vene watched as Riley turned away and stared at a poster on the wall. After a moment or two he turned again to talk to her, and said he should go. He began to leave, and Vene spoke up.
"Wait! Don't go. I don't know where in the city we are. You seem to know this place like the back of your hand. Do you think you could help me find my apartment from here...?"
She actually did know where to go, but she was scared the guys from before would show up again and overpower her. Or she would lose control again. That tended to happen.

"I mean, its not like you can go back to the movie. Right?"

Riley smirked at Vene's comment. Now it's like they didn't just almost die. He shrugged and continued around the corner, allowing room for the girl to walk beside them. He was probably going to come back with a team to deal with Bruce and his gang tomorrow anyways."So, where are you staying?"

He decided to not say anything about being a Titan even though it seemed like it was incredibly obvious. Riley didn't come to the theater to be a superhero, he came to relax for once.

He saw the outline of some trees that bordered the park and smirked. It seemed like he only really talked to people when it was in the middle of the night...he needed to stop sleeping in...

"Oh, really? Murakami High?" Riley said, surprised. "Yeah, I think I know exactly what you are talking about. I'm actually going to be going into be senior year there. Not too bad right?"

He started walking through the park, barely looking were he was going because he had the place just about memorized between walking through it while he was growing up, and since the Titan's East Tower used to be around where he was.

"So, Vene...I know that you seem to have just taken what happened as fact very easily, so I'm assuming you are around meta-humans quite often..." he began, speaking quite frankly. "...but...well...what happened to you, that made you...well...the way you are...?"

He didn't want to be rude if it was kind of a touchy subject, but, he was sort of interested. I mean, it is kind of surprising to meet a random girl, get jumped by some mutants and find out that the girl shoots acid from her hands...maybe it was just Riley, but he wasn't really used to just accepting that nearly anyone could have some insane powers that could kill him...

As Vene and Riley walked down the street, Riley said he went to Murakami. She was actually about to tell him why she didn't go, but he had asked how she got her powers. Slowly, memories of her tragic past flowed back into her mind. Her parents' screams, her house slowly collapsing as its' very foundation eroded, her crazed running through the streets...She clenched her fists, trying to push out the memories. Sighing, she looked at Riley.

"Well, it's a sad story really...A few years ago, about a week after my thirteenth birthday, something inside me just...snapped. I somehow got...powers, but I couldn't control them, or myself. My mind sort of..detached itself, and instinct took over. I watched myself kill my own parents. My instinct told me to run. So, I did. And that's how I'm here, standing next to you today."

She looked away, having explained thoroughly. "That's why I'm so nervous around people. I'm afraid that I'll lose control, like I did years ago...So, uh, you're a Titan, right? Scope?" she asked, quickly changing the subject to something else. She honestly didn't want to talk anymore about how she had become a meta-human, and she hoped Riley would understand.

Riley's eyes widened at Vene's story as they passed by the new statues commemorating all the work that the Titans have done. "Wow...I'm really sorry for all you've been through, Vene...I'm sure I'd never be able to understand..." he said awkwardly. Riley never really knew how to console people...

He leaned up against the statue, trying to pose exactly like his marble replica after Vene's next question. He was the last figure to the right side. His sculpture wasn't one of the most dominant ones because, well to be frank, he hasn't been a very dominant Titan, yet. So, When Riley heard that Vene realized that he was Scope, he was a little nervous that she would be disappointed on which Titan she got to meet. "Um...is it that obvious?..." he asked nervously. He would still really like to have a normal life outside of the Titans but, if the word got out, then his normal friends might treat him different...his brother, in the city could be in danger...

"Yeah...please don't tell anyone about that...please...?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

Scope then turned and continued to walk through the park, now at a more quickened and nervous pace. He still didn't know what kind of person Vene really was. He felt like she really didn't want to hurt people, but, it seemed like, sometimes, she couldn't control it, for some unknown reason.

"Anyway, the past isn't what defines us...at least I don't think it should..." he began, surprised that he was about to actually have a profound thought. "Huh...it's kind of funny actually...when we think of ourselves, we usually think of our future...like what we are capable of, y'know? But, when other people think of us...they judge us on what we did...not on what we are capable of...and that's just not right...don't worry...no matter what you did in the past...don't let that define your future..." he finished it off with a smile and placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to be comforting.

"Anyhow..." Riley began, letting go of Vene, "...what are you doing around town if I haven't seen you at Murakami?"

If this girl knew a way to go through life without school, well, it probably wasn't all that bad. Sure, there were certain classes that Riley could actually stay awake in, but, if you caught him in the middle of Math class, it would be rare to find him conscious.

He continued to stride down the trail that had led through the park when, suddenly, the trees began to grow more sparse and eventually, they were right back into the city scene. It was getting pretty dark outside and basically the only light illuminating the streets were now the streetlamps. The apartment complexes seemed to range from very nice and well put together to basically abandoned with no warning.

Finally, they arrived to the quiet, empty high school. It was a stark contrast between now and what it would be like twelve hours from now, with hundreds of students running around the grounds, shuffling to get inside and out of the cool air.

"Alright...so..." Riley began staring across the street at the line of unassuming apartments, "Which one's yours?"

Riley nodded after Vene motioned towards her apartment. He then realized that this was where they'd leave each other...what was he supposed to do...they had almost lost their lives together...and they told each other secrets that few others knew. Riley blushed a little while he scratched the back of his head, awkwardly.

"Um...well...it was nice to meet you..." he said nervously. He really had no idea what he was supposed to do at this point...

"Um...I'll see you around, I guess...?"

"Oh! Um, I have an idea! " he said, taking out his cellphone. "Do, you have a phone number?"

He opened his contact list and typed in Vene, waiting for her answer to type in her contact information. What? He had a right to be a regular teenaged boy, too, didn't he? And he sorta liked Vene, so far...although he probably wouldn't admit it...maybe if he was taking a break from saving the world sometime, he could see if they could actually catch a good movie together.

Riley grabbed the paper and smiled, "Yeah, I'll do that!" he said happily. He turned and waved while he began to make his way down the street and towards the tower. Once he was past seeing range, he dashed down a dark alley and ran up the wall a short ways, then grabbed the ladder to climb up a fire escape. He then jumped across that fire escape onto a clothesline and then onto the rooftops of the apartment complex.

As fast as he could, he jumped from the gaps between each building, every once in a while having to drop to the ground since there wasn't enough room to jump, but, he kept climbing back to the rooftops to avoid grabbing any attention, whether it was up another fire escape, or sometimes jumping from a parked car. It was in this way that Riley had grown accustomed to moving because he had learned to protect himself, pulling all nighters with JaK, because, well, he was a Titan.

Riley had always assumed that, since he chose the life of a Titan, he was sort of abandoning the life of a normal person, but, maybe some things could still be normal. Who's to say that meta-humans were so out of the ordinary anyways?

As Riley finally arrived at the Titan's new super tower, he couldn't help but smile. Things were finally working out for him...things were finally 'normal'...