The Amazing Movie Night

[Elenaphant]

It really sucked that he'd be watching The Amazing Spiderman sequal alone. Normally, he could count on his green buddy to be there, but everyone had stuff to do. Robin was doing Robin things, Raven was doing Raven things... Starfire was doing Starfire things... He was even hoping that one of the newer crew would be there but time was running out and gosh darn it, he was going to watch this movie alone or not! So, the lonely half-bot bought his ticket in advance, and just as the hour was approaching...

Trouble.

“Aaaaagh!” Cyborg growled in frustration and clamped the steering wheel with his big hands. Seriously?! Why now? Why him?! He made a sharp turn and sped down the street.

SOME TIME LATER

“I'm missing the trailers!” he lamented as he parked the T-car, nearly forgot to turn on the security, clutched his somewhat-worn ticked and ran toward the large AMC doors. He could only watch movies at that theatre, because they provided the large, lazy-boy seats one had to reserve in advance. Those seats were great for the regular folk, but necessary for the massive Titan. He barely fit into the regular, standard seats at other theatres and after a fiasco where he got up and the once bolted to the floor seat came up with him, he vowed never again.

The trade off was that it just had to be one of the farther theatres from the tower. Well, he couldn't trade his body so he'd have to make do. He was so antsy as the worker took her time ripping the ticket. At least there wasn't a line at the concession. A movie wasn't a movie without popcorn and a massive drink, ooh and some candy on the side. He got the gummy berries, mmm, and a hot dog. So, tray full of food in hand, he quickly slipped into the large doors.

It was PACKED. Here came the embarrassing part. As people were all settled in watching the first five minutes, he was trying to shimmy his way through to get to his seat. It was almost impossible, and needless to say people weren't happy with him. “So sorry,” he'd apologize. “Pardon me.” “Excuse me—really, I'm sorry about this...”

He finally settled, throwing an apologetic smile to his left and to his right. There was a kid beside him who must have been ten years old, who immediately, against the behest of his parents, had to exclaim about sitting next to a real hero! The other person was a cute blonde girl; so he took a chance that maybe she'd be nice enough to fill him in.

“Um—hi, sorry, but ah...did I miss much?”

Empathy

[Empathy]

Lisa had a plan. It was a grand plan, worthy of an evil mastermind. Completely novel, unheard of in the circle of villains. The blonde girl grinned as she payed for her movie ticket, heading towards room three right after receiving the slip of paper. Using her twin sister cover story, she would infiltrate the ranks of the teen titans. Definitely never done before. Unique scheme the titans were sure to not expect. It was fail-proof.

Lisa just needed to learn how to behave like a hero. And keep multiple identities straight. Entering the room, Lisa noticed it was already dark. The movie hadn't started yet but people were hushing each other as the first commercials started running. Sighing, Lisa scanned the room for a spot. It was packed. Why are superhero movies so popular? She was here for research. This movie was serious business to her. She ought to be given the best seat of the room. Eventually Lisa found what was probably the second-worst seat in the room. The only consolation prize was the seat next to her was worse, with some tall guy right in front of it. As a vertically challenged individual, Lisa had to avoid these kind of seats.

The commercials came and went, and then the movie started. The first scene reintroduced Spidey as he joked and fought his way against the Sandman. Lisa took mental notes to make bad jokes. That made her think of two of the male titans. She giggled. This distracted her enough to not notice the big man sitting down next to her halfway through the opening scene. Once she recovered however, the large guy turned around and asked her what he had missed. A quick glance turned into a longer stare as Lisa recognized Cyborg. "Ah. Not much. Spidey just cracked a few jokes while exchanging punches with the bad guy." She thought this through for a moment, then recalled why the two were fighting. "Sandman just wanted to borrow some money from the bank when Peter showed up." The tall guy in front of Cy -who turned out to be a woman- looked at the pair disapprovingly before hushing them. Lisa just looked at the woman. Now she felt like talking just to spite her.

"So, time off for the titans?"

[Elenaphant]

She stared at him for a bit, but not unkindly, so he was at ease as he waited for her response if he even got any. To his pleasure, she did oblige him with an explanation, and now the fight scene made sense. “Ah,” he said, nodding, darting his eyes from her to the motion picture. The woman who had turned toward him had been on the side of his, well, not ear. The friendly neighbourhood movie-goer was also whispering on that side, so he had to strain to exclusively listen to her from his good ear. It was one of the pitfalls of his bionic body.

“Thanks,” he said with a grin, the real-life superhero turning his head to look down at the much smaller girl whom he had no suspicion of whatsoever.

He thought that would be the extent of their conversation, but then she surprised him by posing him a question. He blinked once, then his face lit up and he surpressed a chuckle. “That's the reason I was late,” he confided, and paused when there was a loud BANG on screen as as a car flipped over. Oh come on, Micheal Bay esque action scenes so early in the movie? That was going to look bad in the press. Headline: 'Spiderman unable to thwart massive destruction'. Or something like that, he wasn't a journalist. “I got called for trouble... us heroes rarely get time off. Even now I'm still on standby.”

He'd show her his communicator to make a point, but there was a small feast of snacks on his lap in an overflowing tray. Realizing she didn't really have anything, he thought it considerate to offer. “Hey, you want some popcorn or candy?”

[Empathy]

Lisa clapped her hands together in delight as the car was flipped over onscreen. Spiderman was now sling-shooting said car onto the bad guy. The Golem would take that with ease. Not that it stopped the sandman for very long. Just a few seconds later and he was ready again to pound on the superhero. Her attention turned again to the titan as he answered her question. "Are you running in a lot of trouble these days?" Her Golem was the cause of some ruckus, but not that much. And maybe her 'good' persona could be helpful to the titans.

"Popcorn!" Lisa had already finished her small portion during the trailers. An action she quickly regretted. The little girl gladly accepted Cyborgs offer. "Is it salted or sweet?" Lisa had heard that in Europe they only had sweet popcorn. Silly Europeans. "Oooh." Her eyes were turned towards the screen again as another big explosion happened. Just as Spidey had finally beaten the villain too. "Of course, another villain is there to rescue his pal." That never happened in real life. Being villain was a very solitary and cut-throat activity. You couldn't count on any of your peers, trust any other person sharing your morals. Especially when you were a 14 year old girl.

[Elenaphant]

Cy was glad to share, and grinned widely when she took it with some enthusiasm. Then she asked him if it was salted or sweet, which made him raise his eyebrow for a second, then shake his head. "Sweet's more for carnie's," he said, referring to standard carnival faire food like caramel popcorn, or what have you. For the movies, only buttered, and salted, freshly popped popcorn would do... the sweets were in the candy.

He tried to situate the tray of food between them without blocking the armrest, but as it was the best thing to do was just move the popcorn toward her edge of the tray and habitually nudge it closer to offer. The real action, as always, was on the screen anyways. At her comment about villainous pals he scoffed, sharing in her skepticism even though he's seen it--albiet rarely. "It really sucks that just when you think you're done..." he muttered, leaning slightly toward her to share in this heroic insider perspective. "Out comes 'nother one. It's never expected." Since it was so rare and all; though maybe that was the advantage that villains had when they schemed in their secret lairs. Still, he never expected any kind of 'friendship' to last, and as soon as one villain's neck was on the line they were quick to abandon their so-called friends.

It was part of the advantage operating as a team rather than a solo act; they tended to outnumber the baddies either way.

So Spidey started with the second barrage, which obviously made him quite late for his new job and classes--oh the whimsy. That was when Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey appeared on screen to chastise their hero for his tardy behaviour. "Dude just single handedly took care of two notorious villains and it's blah blah you're late. Gah, women..." Then it struck him who he was talking--erm, whispering to--and he quickly reiterated, "that is, you know, women in the movies, not you know, actual women because...you know..."

Maybe it was better to cut his losses there. He cleared his throat and focused on the screen.

[Empathy]

Lisa was munching happily at Cyborg's sweets as Gwen lectured the young hero on his duties. When the hero made his comment, she turned her head around. The scene was turning all romantic -and appropriately less luminous- making it harder to read the titan's face. His next sentences more than made up for this lack of body language however, as the big man stumbled upon his words to apologize to her. At some point he fell silent, having dug his own grave and successfully closed the coffin door too. Lisa just smiled before turning her attention to the screen as well.

A flashback scene reminded the viewer of the death of Gwen's father. Lisa was silent during the entire scene. When it ended, her eyes lingered on Gwen. Her face was strong, determined. "How would I react if dad died?" A rare exercise in empathy. To Lisa, pleasing her daddy was paramount. How would she do that if he was gone? Who would be there to push her, to encourage her to improve the abilities of the little puppeteer? "Do you have parents?" Lisa asked Cy. She wasn't sure, him being a cyborg and everything. Maybe his mom was a super-computer or something. "And are any of them related to Glados?" Clearly a relevant and sensible question.

[Elenaphant]

They were caught up in watching, and when Gwen's flashback to her dad came up, Cyborg found himself thinking of his own dad. It was his mom that passed away, and every time he thought of her he had a weird lump in his throat. His situations with his parents was complicated, to say the least. A big part of him was still angry with them, for what they put him through as a kid... but it was because of that, that he was able to do what he did every day. He just wished... things went differently. Cyborg was surprised when the girl, whose name he realized he didn't know, questioned something along the lines of his own thoughts.

He looked down at her, his expression belying his surprise, but unintentionally winced at her inquiry. "Well--" when she mentioned GLaDOS the awkward expression wiped away. "Pffft." It broke some of the tension, and he managed to grin. "No, but geez--when I think about my past, it was kind of like having GLaDOS as a mother."

Wait, if she knew that reference, then that meant she was a Portal fan! He loved that game, maybe because of the chords it struck with him, but it was a fun game... even if it was ridiculously easy for him to solve the puzzles, the story and physics of the game was just... it could make him cry. "My dad's still around... I'm better with my granparents, really."

He didn't know why he was talking about this, in a movie theatre, with this stranger that asked questions people didn't normally bring up like that. It was just the last time he had talked to someone about his family, it had also been a socially awkward girl, who was convinced she could hear his mom from beyond the grave. It had been a disturbing, intriguing, and emotional experience for him.

He turned his attention back to the movie, not really knowing what to say.

After a little more, the big scene happened. The moment that he had been waiting for; the moment that made comic book history. Gwen Stacey, falling off the building, and Spiderman catches her. Except, the forces acting upon her as she was suddenly yanked to a stop echoed the old saying, 'It's not the fall that kills you, but the sudden stop.'

He felt bad thinking that this was probably the most exciting moment in the movie.

[Empathy]

For a moment, Lisa regretted adding the Glados question. Cyborg avoided answering her first question by grinning to her second one. The rest of the answer left Lisa tilting her head in a confused way. "What do you mean?" But this thought threa was quickly pushed aside when Lisa realized something wonderful. Cyborg can maybe make a GladOS! Not that the Golem needed an AI to function. The very first version didn't even have any electronics at all. But how cool would it be to have an AI helping her out, pointing at incoming projectiles and such? Lisa grinned, while trying to find the best way to formulate her request. "Does that mean... you could program an AI? You could make GladOS for my home pc?"

Lisa bounced on her seat when the Titan finally returned to her previous question and mentioned his family. So his mother died? Assuming he had one. Lisa was still suspicious about the tinman's true origin. "What do they do?" The nice thing about being a child was that asking those kind of questions felt natural. He'd probably draw the line at the same point as if an adult asked those personal questions, but Lisa was banking on the fact that he wouldn't suspect her. Lisa made sure to wear her most innocent face for the rest of the movie.

As one of the younger people in the crowd -and not a fan of superheroes anyway- Lisa didn't know about Spiderman canon. The big scene came as a complete surprise to her. She gasped when Gwen fell, and tiny tears rolled off her cheeks when Peter Parker caught her. "Is she... is she going to be ok?" Lisa was not sobbing. Sure, she was holding tears back and talking all weird. But Cyborg wouldn't notice that, right? He'd focus on answering her question? Lisa needed to know. This whole supervillain killing people was becoming too personal otherwise. She needed support and someone telling her everything was fine after all.

[Elenaphant]

Since she was just a kid, and a stranger too, he did find it easier to open himself up if even a little. Still, he didn't quite elaborate for her, and thankfully she was just as distracted as he was about GLaDOS. He thought about her question with a rub of his metal chin. "I dunno, could I?" he pondered aloud. "I guess... though I don't know that you'd want that on your PC--she seems kind of like a bully," he chided.

Then it went back to him, and for a moment he wasn't sure who 'they' referred to--his parents, his grandparents? "Um, developers," he said vaguely. That'd be a long story and he couldn't get into it with the action happening on the screen.

Gwen Stacey fell, and he was for a moment too engaged to notice what was going on beside him. He watched Peter Parker's emotional reaction, and then he heard it. Is she...is she going to be okay? "Huh?" He snapped out of the movie-watching zone and glanced beside him, and was startled when he saw she was crying. Aw, shoot. He looked about uncertainly. Now that he thought about it, where were her parents? Were they gunna pick her up after the movie--was she watching this alone? That meant it fell to him to try to comfort her. "Um... no, see, Peter he..." how to explain this to a little girl... "Spiderman didn't catch her right, so it snapped her spine and--"

Good one, Cyborg. He winced. He didn't really have to explain that people didn't recover from that, because it was showing her funeral. "It happens, you know, villains do bad things and people get hurt. Gwen was unfortunately one of them. It's why we need heroes, see, but it's okay--she's not real. She's just a character so don't cry..."

[Empathy]

Teary puppy eyes turned towards Cyborg as he fumbled around words to explain Gwen's death. "So she is?" Lisa didn't even have to finish her question. The next scene all but removed any lingering doubts. The hero had failed to save his beloved. The girl on the verge of sobbing remained quiet for the next five minutes, too busy holding back her tears to say anything more. But as the funeral scene ended, Lisa wiped away the last drops of salty water from her cheeks. "You say it isn't real. So in real life, nobody dies?" It was a silly question to ask. Lisa should know better. But the movie director had done his job well, removing the distance the little villain usually felt towards her victims.

The movie drew near to a conclusion. "Really?" Lisa exclaimed. "I bet it'll end on some kind of cliffhanger. At least we know there will be a sequel." And indeed, while the villain's plan was ultimately foiled, the movie ended without addressing half its plotlines. Before most of the viewers knew it, the credits were scrolling down. Lisa fumed a moment, angry at the movie director, both for wrecking her nerves earlier and now for the annoying cliff hanger. "I guess we'll have to wait a couple of months to find out what happened with the sinister six." She looked at Cyborg, an idea illuminating her face. "Hey, do you want to watch it together next time? I might even get tickets for the premiere." If Lisa recalled correctly, it was supposed to take place in Jump city. Hollywood wasn't too far away, after all. And where best to screen a teen superhero movie than in the home town of the Teen Titans?

Lisa was about to get up when the credits ended and the teaser clip for the sequel started. "Oh, I had forgotten about that." A character in the shade ominously announced to six outlines, "You probably wonder why I all brought you here." One by one, the outlines came to the light, revealing a villain Peter Parker had fought in this or the previous movie. "Because it is time to kill the spider."

[Elenaphant]

He had no idea that when he was rushing to see this movie, he'd end up having to explain something as heavy as death to a little girl. "That's...not quite what I meant..." he said carefully, because that wasn't quite the right thing to teach somebody. People did die; that's why it was important to be careful, and treasure moments, and it would do no good to pretend as if death didn't exist, but it seemed as if she knew this. He could tell from the way she looked when she asked.

Telling her not to get upset because it was a fictional character was a mistake; which he wasn't sure how to backtrack. "I'm just saying... it's okay to get upset over a character, but remembering she's a character and not a real person can make it easier.... I just don't want to see a sweet little girl like you cry," he admitted.

At least the movie helped distract her from the whole death thing, by being a complete letdown with the ending. It was entirely a sequel hook; not resolving the big conflict and some other, minor things that he wanted to gripe about. "Oh, come on!" he said, slightly disappointed when the credits rolled, but what was done was done. "Yeah, it seems so," he agreed with a sigh, but then looked over when she made her proposal.

"I'll definitely be watching it on the premiere, unless something comes up," he said with a smile. "Never know when a hero might be needed." He really, really hoped some jerk didn't pull something during that time. "I'd be happy to see you there. Don't you wanna invite your friends, or maybe your parents..?"

[Empathy]

Cyborg went out of his way to explain death to the little girl. Lisa, now with a mostly dry face, just remained silent as the Titan found his words. An annoyed 'hush' came from in front of them. Lisa shot a black look in the general direction. Then she turned towards the big Titan. "Thanks." 'Sweet' wasn't a compliment the young villainess heard very often. Her father's scientists tended to prefer the terms 'annoying', 'entitled' and 'tantrum-princess'. "I feel better now." It wasn't as if Lisa wanted to kill people. She didn't revel in pain, like the green Goblin. No, she just had objectives, like Peter Parker. And sometimes, fulfilling those objectives lead to accidents. Spiderman had killed Norman Osborne. "Cyborg. How far would you go to catch a villain?" Lisa asked. "Would you let Gwen drop if you could catch Slade?" There was a note of fear in the girl's voice.

The movie ended. People were getting up and leaving when Lisa made her proposal. Cyborg confirmed he was coming to the premiere too. He then asked Lisa bout her family and friends. "My parents are always busy, especially my daddy." Too busy to even watch her tapes, even when he ordered the mission in the first place. How was she supposed to impress him? "But friends. Friends from the academy could be fun." Lisa's friends all came from Kingston, as she basically split her life between her puppets and her school. "I actually met Rumble the other day at school. I didn't know the titans needed to go to school! Isn't that kinda lame for you guys?" She poked, Cyborg, trying to gauge the quality of his metallic arm. "Shouldn't you guys already know algebra and all that crap? Do you even need it?" Lisa definitely didn't need it. Other people could take care of these kinds of things for her. "Oh, and don't forget you promised me an AI!"

[Elenaphant]

Yeah, taking her friends would be a lot more fun, and he'd hate to accidentally stand anyone up if the villain world conspired against him seeing the premiere. He sympathized with the 'always busy' sentiment, but didn't comment further. Victor Stone avoided talking about his parents if he could. It just brought up bad feelings and he wasn't ready to show that to a stranger, even one he hit off with pretty well. Though, it seemed the small-world principle applied when he mentioned an alias he knew.

Then, he gave a big chuckle. "Some of us still got to. Being heroes doesn't get you a get out of a highschool diploma free card. That said, I'm already way ahead of the game." The work was far too easy for him and he whizzed past the other kids in no time flat when he attended, skipping grades and outperforming his peers. That diploma came easy. "It comes in handy in my line of work, but not everyone needs to solve for x in order to do their job as a hero. We've all got out roles... but don't take that as an excuse to drop out and become a vigilante."

He gave her a pointed look. He would not be blamed for encouraging civilians to give up education for crime fighting. Though, promising an A.I based off of a video game villain probably wasn't the smartest idea. "I don't recall promising you that, but we'll see if I'll have something special for you when we meet again. If you'll be at the premiere, fingers crossed I'll be there too."

The communicator beeped, which meant he'd probably have to get going. At least it waited until the end of the movie. "That's my cue to leave. It was nice meeting you--" he stopped himself when he realized he didn't know her name. "Sorry, I just realized I never asked for your name."

[Empathy]

"Elizabeth." The little girl replied, "Elizabeth Smith." She looked at the communicator with child-like curiosity. "Oh, and don't worry. My daddy would never forgive me if I did that." She wasn't sure about the dropping out of school part, but he'd definitely did not think highly of super-heroing. It wasn't a very lucrative business. Lisa gave Cybrog a big smile. That was a pleasant chat. All in all, the little villain found herself actually liking all the titans she had met so far: Speedy, Rumble and Cyborg. Maybe not Raven, but then in her mind she was a lot like Robin. Lisa didn't want to meet Robin. "And I look forward to seeing you at the premiere!" She edged a bit closer before whispering, "You should bring Rumble with you. She's cute." He poked her, "And don't bring Robin, he'd ruin things."

And with that conspiratory note, Lisa ran off, "See ya Cyboooorg!"