Call me a liar Chapter 4

4. Adjustments

Helena had not taken the news well.  Beast Boy had put her into a guest room, and let her cry herself out.  He was still adjusting to her being here, being alive.

Not that he was unhappy with it, far from it.  It had been just after the death of his parents that he had gotten the letter.  She had been deployed, and was MIA, presumed dead.  For a few years, since no body had been found, he had hoped she would show up, but Mento had taught him to be more realistic, to grieve and move on.  And now she was here.

How did she survive?  Where had she been all this time?  Why hadn't she come for him sooner?  His mind was full of so many questions, but he would wait to ask them.

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Cyborg was working in the garage, trying to get control of his thoughts.  Yes, Helena was smoking hot.  Yes, she was a marine sniper, which by definition made her rough and tumble.  And yes, she hadn't shown any shock or squeamishness regarding his half metal body.  But she was BB's big sister, and best friends didn't flirt with each other's sisters!

Then again, he thought of Raven as a little sister, and he KNEW BB had feelings for her.  It was so obvious he was surprised he and the others hadn't staged an intervention by now...or at least a match-making attempt.  Then again, it was Raven...

Not that there was anything wrong with Raven!  Far from it.  SHe just...didn't seem like the type to go for romance...especially not with someone like BB.

Then again...there was that time with Malchior...and afterwards, he did see Raven hug BB before throwing that Stankball when they parted.  And Raven got pretty intensely protective of the Grass Stain when she thought someone was trying to kill him.  And there was how she reacted when he laughed about her skirmish with Helena.  And Helena had intervened there...

So maybe there was something there after all.  And if BB was gonna pursue Raven...maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he asked Helena out.  I mean, she was closer to his age group then most of the girls he knew.  He was 24 after all.

No wait!  Someone who was like a sister is one thing, but Helena was BB's own flesh and blood.  But she was...

Cyborg proceeded to bang his head aainst a wall.

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Starfire sat in her room, wondering what was going on.  Her friends were behaving strangely.  Cyborg had looked at Helena the way he normally looked at a huge piece of meat or his T-car...but the emotion was different.  Raven had reacted so strongly to Beast Boy's behavior.  And Robin...

Ever since Helena had arrived, Robin had seemed...down.  She could not understand his depression, and wished she could help him.  But all he did was withdraw to his room and look at old newspaper clippings showing a circus troop - 'The Flying Greysons' - and sigh sadly.

And then there was Helena herself.  Her combat reaction...even though she had only human strength, she would have been readily welcomed as a Tamaranean warrior.  In hand-to-hand ground combat, she could probably give Blackfire a run for he money, if she had that saying right.  But at the same time...when she saw the expression on Beast Boy's face when she had asked about their parents, she had looked so...vulnerable.

Starfire cuddled Silkie, hoping for a way to help her friends.

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Robin looked at the picture, sighing sadly.  It wasnt fair of him to be jealous of Beast Boy's luck, having some of his family return to him, but...he was.

He also began to identify a bit with Beast Boy.  He had known the changeling was raised by the Doom Patrol, but he had never wondered before what that meant about the green teen's own family.  Now he realized...Beast Boy must be an orphan, just like he was.

*Maybe Raven's right,* he thought, staring at the image.  *Maybe I am too hard on him.*  He glanced towards another picture, a happier one.  It was the one taken when they had left Tokyo.  *After all...we are family now.*

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Raven sat in her room, meditating.  Unfortunately, appearances to the contrary, she was not alone.  A rather lively discussion was going on in her head.

*Wh did we act like that towards Beast Boy?* Happy asked.  *It hurt him so.*

*He turned against us!* Rage proclaimed.  *He took her side, and laughed at us!*

*SHe's his sister!* Affection stated.  *And he thought she had been dead for years!  We can forgive him that.*

*Besides, he was right.*  That was Brave.  *We took on a trained marine sniper as if they were an ordinary crook.  Of course we got our ass handed to us.  Might be interesting to take her on in a fair fight, though.*

*This is all irrelevant.*  Knowledge spoke with authority.  *There is a new variable in our lives: this Helena, Beast Boy's older sister.  She is most likely going to be invited to stay with us in the tower.  We will need to adjust our behavior to take her into account.*

*She...seemed nice,* Timid spoke up.

*SHe smashed us in the face!* Rage roared.

*DON'T YELL AT TIMID!* Happy shouted back.

*She was a hot bitch, that's for sure.*

*Shut up, Rude.  We did not ask for your input.*

*All of you, shut up!*  Raven wished she had a headache medicine that worked for these arguements, but even her herbal tea didn't help that.

*The best plan of action would probably be to get to know her better,* Wisdom said, smoothing things over.  *However we feel about her, she will have a big effect on Beast Boy's behavior, and we should try to make a good impression on her.*

*Why?* Raven asked, surly.

The silence in her head was profound as he emotions were obviously looking at her like she was crazy.

*You can't still be in denial,* Rage said.  *I could have sworn you would have accepted it by now.  I have.*

* I have no idea what you're talking about,* Raven said, stopping her meditation.  She ignored the echoing shout of *Liar!* from all her emotions.

She decided to take a nap.

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Helena finally cried herself out.  It was a lot to take in.  After a decade just trying to get back home, finding out her parents were dead the entire time had been...hard to accept.

Wiping away the last of her tears, she looked at the rest of the issue.  Her baby brother was all grown up...and a superhero, from the sound of it.  She was impressed.  She never knew the sprout had it in him.

And this team he had, his friends...they were a job and a half!  A cyborg, an ex-sidekick, an alien princess, and a half demon!  The kid sure knew how to pick winners.  And with the way he looked after the dark girl...it seemed there was something going on there.

She had read the team's disposition towards her.  They probably intended to ask her to stay with them.  While she didn't have her own place, she didn't want to freeload.  She couldn't really join the team, since she doubted if she could keep up with them in crime fighting.  Besides, they fought to subdue...and she had been trained to kill.

But then again, with how easily she had subdued Raven, and caught Starfire by surprise...maybe she could be their combat instructor.  If they fought supervillains as often as Garfield - no, she should call him Beast Boy now - claimed, they could use it.  She had a few tricks up her sleeves, and that Robin fellow looked like he was always eager to learn something new.

And Cyborg...he seemed nice.  And she had noticed the way he had looked at her, not that she was surprised.  Every man in her unit had looked at her that way after the incident with the showers.  Although she had never pursued a romantic relationship before, Cyborg seemed...different.  And she didn't mean physically.

Well, one thing was sure.  They'd have questions for her, and she needed to answer them.  Reaching into her pack, she pulled out her journal.  Shed kept a written record of these past ten years, mostly because she had trouble believing her own memories.