[color=6ecff6]"I trust you about as far as I can throw you."[/color]

Isaac quipped as Rhea put her hand on his cheek. The act was probably meant to keep Sentinel calm, but all the gesture really managed was making Isaac's cheeks flush. Holdings hands was one thing. The whole 'caressing your face' part? That was another thing entirely. Like, slow down girl. The world isn't ending any time soon. Isaac returned the smile in an effort to hide his discomfort at her touch. He supposed this was his fault, grasping at her hands like he did. Gotta live with the consequences, Isaac guessed. 'Course, things became much more heated when she kissed him on the forehead. Moving very fast, indeed! Luckily the shows of affection soon passed as Rhea went to work fixing Isaac's newest battle scars. He tried to pay attention as she explained how her powers worked. Isaac really did. But there was something bothering him. A tingling at the back of his neck. An itching at his mind. An intuition, warning him of...Something. Sentinel didn't know what. But the feeling was eerily similar to what he felt the day his mother had died. A warning from a higher power, perhaps? Isaac decided to investigate as best he could.

He opened his ears up first, fine tuning his hearing to detect even the slightest sounds within the tower. Music. An accelerated heartbeat. Who's was it? Isaac listened to the frequency more carefully. That was definitely Sandstorm's ticker going off. Heh, he must be watching Ariel flirt with Evan.

Footsteps. A door opened. Where was Accelerate heading off to?

Justin was talking to himself. Sentinel quickly blocked Thermo's self-chiding out. He knew what it was like to need a moment to yourself. Heck, Sentinel had come up to his room for just that. Isaac made a note to himself to talk to Justin more; maybe they had something in common.

Another door just opened. Now who could that be? Sentinel looked behind him and downwards, activating his X-Ray vision. Simone was coming in. Where'd she been? Probably out for a smoke. That girl was going to ruin her lungs if she wasn't careful. Whatever. Isaac shouldn't be worrying about her health, when she didn't worry about anyone else's.

Sentinel turned his attention back to Rhea. He'd observed everyone's actions within the tower in the span of about two or three words. Super senses definitely had their uses. Isaac could do and see whatever he wanted, and no one could stop it. No one would even know. Quite a bit of power over everyone else, if you really thought about it. Sentinel was nearly omnipresent when it came to things inside and around the tower. Sentinel saw all. He heard all. Sadly, he also smelled all. Heh. Maybe everyone should invest in lead lined underwear.

[color=6ecff6]"Oh, no. You're fine. There isn't much that can gross me out. Having you inside me is a nice sentiment."[/color] By Rao, that sounded better in Isaac's head. Maybe she wouldn't notice. That's not what Isaac meant at [i]all.[/i]

Never stop holding his- Oh. They're still holding hands. Isaac barely even noticed. Was that a problem? That was probably a problem. [color=6ecff6]"Beautiful, huh? That's a new one."[/color] Grant had heard plenty about his scars. Most of the time, people thought they made him even scarier. Or more of a badass. But beautiful? That was definitely new. She probably had some deep insight into her comment. Yep, there it was. Isaac mulled over what she meant between each word. With his enhanced mind and reflexes, the young Kryptonian had more time than he knew what to do with. What were merely seconds for other people were like minutes to Isaac. He'd gotten used to the time gaps almost as soon as he had his powers (probably a side effect of how they were applied) but it was still a bit strange. So much time to think. Thinking wasn't always a good thing; especially not for Isaac. He usually ended up digging himself into an emotional sink hole, making things worse with assumption after assumption.

Ha. Strong. Sentinel was far from strong. He might be able to bench press an aircraft carrier, but he was the farthest anyone had ever been from strong. His mind was like a raging storm, never truly calmed. He overreacted to everything. He held on to his past, everything that had gone wrong in his life, and let it fester and boil inside. All that was wrong with the world was what fueled Sentinel's rage. That one, powerful emotion overshadowing all of Isaac's other feelings. He knew happiness, but he rarely found it when all he could see around him made him so angry. Isaac was emotionally weak. Prone to random spouts of explosive anger. He could barely control himself. Physically, he was even weaker. Bench pressing an aircraft carrier? Child's play. Superman has moved planets. Running at mach 2? The Flash perceives things in less than an attosecond. An attosecond! That's the amount of time it takes light to travel the length of a single molecule. And he can see that. Who is Sentinel, standing next to these...These gods? He was nothing. A speck of dust. A single grain of sand. History would not long remember the Teen Titan Superboy wannabe, who spent his life brooding on a rooftop.

Rhea's laughter broke up Isaac's internal brooding session.

[color=aba000] "I also have me own scars and I guess ye be seein' them soon."[/color]

Huh?! Di- Is- She- W- But- I- Uhhhh. Uhhhhh. Okay, what in the name of all that is good and holy is she talking about? Is she going to take off her shirt to-

[color=aba000]"Not all scars ar' on da flesh, y'know?"[/color]

Oh. [color=6ecff6][i]I'm an idiot.[/i][/color]

[color=aba000]"But, I wud just like to say dat...  I'm really happy fer yer trust in me.  I know it ain't easy to tell yer story to a woman in bloodstained robes who had carried a tray of earl grey and, to add to that, invaded your privacy.  But, know that I am grateful... for everything." [/color] Rhea grinned, exhaling a large amount of air.  [color=aba000]"Yer a good person, Sentinel.  Dun let anyone be tellin' ya otherwise."[/color]

D'wahhhhh. How sweet. Totally, completely and utterly wrong, but sweet. Rhea...such innocent. Such confidence in a total stranger. She was a better friend than Sentinel deserved. He's not a good person, and he knows that. Isaac's a bloodthirtsty, hate-filled psychopath who's accepted his role in society. He's going to kill all the world's Bizzaros, Jokers and Lex Luthors. Sentinel wouldn't stop, either, until every last murderer and villain was dead. Rhea definitely deserved someone better than a raging vigilante. She needed a real hero. Someone like Microbat or Accelerate or Sandstorm. People who would care about her, who would protect her with their lives. Not Sentinel. Sentinel was meant for something else. Love wasn't on the agenda.

[color=6ecff6]"Uh, yeah. Thanks. Anyway, I'll continue my little story."[/color]

[color=6ecff6]"Right, well. Dad used to beat me. I don't want to get into the gory details, but some of these scars? He gave me those before I had my powers. My tenth birthday, I was sleeping over at Uncle Nelson's mansion. When dad came by to pick me up, he couldn't walk straight. So I knew things would be bad. I was sitting in the window sill when he drove up in his old pick up truck. I saw him stumbling toward the front door when I saw this bright light shooting across the sky. I'd heard that people liked to wish on falling stars. That...That they were magic. I was a stupid little kid, so I decided to make a wish. I wanted to fix my life. Bring back my mom. Save my dad from himself. When I was ten, my absolute favorite superhero was Superman. I thought he could do anything! So I looked at that star..."[/color] Sentinel look down at Rhea, smiling from ear to ear. His eyes shined with passion as he looked down at her. [color=6ecff6]"And I asked to be like Superman."[/color]

Isaac's elation dissipated as he continued to tell his story. But an inkling of that joy, that love, was still there. [color=6ecff6]"I confronted my dad that night. I felt invincible. I told him that he needed to stop drinking. That he needed to stop being such a jackass. I wanted my dad back. I wanted the man who raised me, who vowed to love me until the end of days, to return. Then he punched me in the face.[/color]" Sentinel laughed. [color=6ecff6]"He broke his wrist just hitting me."[/color]

[color=6ecff6]"I gave up on my dad right then, and left. He couldn't stop me. I was Superman! Nobody could stop me! I took all of my things and packed them into a bag and left. I wandered around the United States for a while, using my powers to help people. When I found myself in Coast City, I met my first Justice Leaguer. The Green Lantern. He introduced me to Superman after I told him my story. The rest is history, I guess."[/color]

Isaac sighed. It was nice to get that all off his chest again. He'd told a couple of people, but never anyone as close to his age as Rhea. It was nice to have someone in the tower that he could confide in, even if it didn't last.

[color=6ecff6]"Hey Rhea?"[/color] Isaac asked after a moment of silence. [color=6ecff6]"If you ever need to talk, you can come to me. This was nice. It's been awhile since I've felt this good."[/color] Sentinel took a deep breath before closing his eyes and lying down. Content. There's that word again. It seemed to be cropping up a lot during this conversation.

The rapid sound of feet approaching the tower entered Sentinel's super-ears. Accelerate was back, it would seem. He sounded heavier. What'd Rufus bring back with him? A body bag? No, too light to be a person. A subtle sniff from Isaac's nose answered told him that Rufus had brought pizza. Mmmm. Isaac had always loved pizza. Sentinel didn't need to eat, but he was physically capable. And food tasted pretty good. In all actuality, he could probably eat as much as he wanted with no repercussions. Sentinel didn't need to go to the bathroom since his body would convert all of the pizza into extra energy; even the stuff that would be deemed useless to a human being.

[color=6ecff6]"Hey, Rhea? You hungry?"[/color] a mischievous smile crossed his face as he asked her. A  moment later, the intercom went off as Accelerate called an emergency meeting in the kitchen. Then Isaac disappeared. A flurry of wind kicked up the bed sheets as Isaac raced up stairs to the dining area. He briefly appeared, shirtless, in front of the rest of the titans. He reached for the pizza before facepalming. [color=6ecff6]"Ugh, how rude."[/color] Isaac chided himself aloud as he disappeared down the stairs and into the dorm area. He reappeared next to Rhea. Scooping the healer up in his arms, he left for the kitchen again. He arrived in just a moment, setting Cell down in the midst of everyone else. Isaac briefly realized he was acting a bit out of character. But, he was feeling particularly happy tonight. For the first time since he met the titans, actually.

Sentinel dug into the pepperoni, mushroom and olive pizza. He grabbed himself a slice before taking a seat on the counter. He took a single bite, swallowing in one gulp.[color=7ea7d8] "Someone's at the door."[/color] He commented. A second later the doorbell rang. [color=6ecff6]"They're gone now."[/color] These enhanced senses were the bomb. The pizza was pretty good, too.

A cardboard box sat outside the tower door. A note, written in plain English was tapped to the top of the box:

[quote=Supergirl] Superman asked me to pick up Sentinel's costume so he could fix it at the Fortress later. He's dealing with flooding in South America at the moment, so he's kind of busy. I had two and a half seconds, so I decided to sew it back together and deliver it myself! PS: I took a slice of the sausage while you were all busy. Faster Than Light, ya know? Take care.

With love, [/quote]