Author's Note: Hello! It has been a while since I have written anything, and this is no exception. I wrote this about a year or so ago and finally decided to upload it. This is just me testing out an OC of mine in this universe. I have a lot of plans for him. I hope you all enjoy this quick little adventure. I look forward to your comments.
Our Night Off
by Anime Apothecary
An orange glow is cast over the entire city as the sun settles slightly over the horizon. The day is slowly turning to night, and the home of the Teen Titans will be engulfed in darkness within the next hour. The waves are starting to crash on the small island as black storm clouds out at sea head toward the city. The sound of thunder rolls over the ocean as lightning flashes in the clouds. With the sun setting and a storm coming, it will not be a peaceful night for man nor beast, or even titan.
The doors the main room of the tower opened to reveal Raven in a hooded sweater and jeans. A few seconds after the doors had closed behind her, Reload came through in his normal black shirt and cargo pants, his gun belt around his waist. A smirk was plastered on his face.
"I can't believe that you did that!" Reload followed Raven into the main room of the tower.
"Let me get this straight." Raven started. "You can't believe that I would avoid going out for pizza with the rest of the team? You can't believe that I wouldn't want to put up with Beast Boy's bad jokes, Cyborg's constant harassing of said jokester, Robin's constant drooling over Starfire, and Starfire using the word 'friends' over and over, and that they would be doing this till all hours of the night? You can't believe that?" Raven looked him with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, you have a point there."
"Plus, I knew Robin wouldn't allow only one person to stay here while the others were away…"
"And you knew that I, being the nice guy that I am, would offer to stay. Oh man, you're good." He smiled and shook his head.
"Yeah, I think we'll just stick with nice." She said sarcastically as she started toward the chess board that was set up in the corner. "Now shut up and make the first move."
"I thought you'd never ask." Reload grinned.
Before he was able to start, there was a knocking on the window next to them. Reload was up and had both his handguns drawn and cocked in the blink of an eye. Raven just sat there and slowly looked up at him.
"Do you think someone who was going to attack us would knock first?" Raven said.
"Sorry. My reflexes got the best of me again." He holstered his weapons. "It's Conner. I think we should open the window for him."
"If we have to…" Raven sighed and opened the window. "Welcome to Casa Del what do you want?"
"Thanks for the warm welcome beautiful." Conner flew in and landed on the floor. Raven rolled her eyes and headed toward the kitchen to make some tea to help with the headache that just flew in.
"Hey Conner." Reload offered a handshake. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?"
Conner brushed past him and walked over to Raven. "Actually, I need Raven's help."
Reload could hear the groan from across the room and followed him over to the kitchen area.
"I could really use your help." Conner said to Raven's back. "I've recently got some information on where Metallo is hiding. He's playing some playboy on a cruse ship about a mile out into the ocean. I need you to sense him out so that I can get the element of surprise." Raven continued to make tea.
"Do you want me to come along to help out? I really don't mind" Reload said.
Conner turned to him and said quite rudely, "Can you fly?"
"Well no, but…"
"Then shut up." Conner interrupted. "Me and Raven need to fly out now to get there before the storm starts. We don't need you to…"
"Fine!" This time Raven interrupted Conner. "I'll go. Just give us a minute."
"Whoa!" Raven grabbed Reload by the arm and dragged him back over toward the window.
"I'm going to indulge this idiot's ego for as little time as possible. I don't want him getting any ideas that haven't already died of loneliness."
"Why are you even doing it? It's so… not you."
"Perks of the job." Sarcasm dripped from her words.
"You're going to cause as much problems for him as possible, aren't you?"
"As if you had to ask."
"You know Robin will be pissed if he finds out that you left me alone in the tower."
Raven dismissed his comment with a wave. "You know he only did that because he didn't want me to be alone."
"Fine, if he comes back I'll just say you are in your room or something." Reload starts to walk away, but turns back. "Do you even trust what Conner is saying?"
"I don't know. It's not like I can read his mind."
"But you can. Well, at least you can tell if he's lying."
"No, I can't read him."
"And you trust him?"
"I trust you, don't I, and I can't read you."
"Yeah, but I gained that skill from years of practice. A jock like him couldn't learn a new word if it wasn't pasted on the shirt of some busty blonde."
"Touché." She looks at him questioningly. "And what about his telekinetic field?"
Reload smacked himself in the forehead. "Dammit, I knew I forgot something."
Raven put her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay." Raven said condescendingly. "Well, I'm off to save the world. Yippee…" Raven and Reload walked back to Conner. He looked up at them and smiled as if he wasn't able to hear a thing they said with his super human hearing.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Let's get this over with." Raven flew toward the window and waited for Conner to fly out past her. She looked back to Reload. "My tea better be made by the time I get back or I'll be forced to hurt you."
With those parting words, Raven flew out and followed Conner out to sea.
"Why do you hang out with that loser? I bet he doesn't even know how to make you happy."
"He does… by knowing when to shut up." Raven growled.
They flew out farther into the ocean, keeping close to the water. The skies grew blacker and the thunder louder. About five minutes later, Raven notice Conner flying closer to her. She moved away but he just tried even harder after that.
"What are you doing?" She yelled to him over the wind.
Conner just put his hand up to his ear and mouthed the word "what". Rolling her eyes she moved closer to him and said, "Why are you trying to get closer to me?" As she was saying this she realized she had done what he had wanted and started to fly away.
He waved at her and got back her attention before she could move away. "So I could do this!" Conner turned and aimed a punch at her face.
Raven was barely able to get a black barrier up in time to block him. There was so much force behind it that she went flying back. She recovered quickly from the blow, but even quicker from his betrayal. "You better explain yourself, and fast." Raven built power up in her hands to show she wasn't messing around.
"Stupid witch. I don't have to explain anything to you. I just have to kill you!"
As he rushed toward her, ready to deal her another blow, there was a flash of lightning and Raven was able to see through Conner's skin. Underneath was a skeletal like structure that reflected back the light from the lightning. She was only able to see this for a second before she had to block him. When she used her barrier again, he hit it hard enough to send a recoil through her skull and she blacked out for a moment. She recovered just before hitting the water.
"I wasn't being led to Metallo. He is Metallo. I've got to get back to the tower. He's too strong for me to handle, and there's nothing to throw at him out here."
"Come here little birdie so I can pluck out your feathers!" He chased after Raven and was quickly catching up.
Raven looked behind her and threw out her hand to put a black portal in front of him. He was transported straight into the ocean. She didn't stop to see if it worked or not, but flew even faster back to the tower.
The dark clouds thinned as she flew toward safety. The tower was silhouetted against the setting sun and Raven knew that there she would get the backup she needed. Teleporting anything was draining, and having to out fly a kryptonite powered robot was not helping. Luckily, land was just a few seconds away.
"Don't run away!" Metallo yelled out. "I just want to kill you!" He was speeding downward toward her back, feet first.
Because Metallo was mocking her before his attacks, Raven was able to put up another ebony shield to protect her spine. The force blew right through it and she was sent down to the side of the Tower. Re-mastering her flight, she landed with a roll and ended up on her feet.
Raven's arm hung loosely and her legs shook with the strain of standing. With the constant breaking of her barrier, her powers and mind were feeling weak. She looked up to see Metallo, the Conner hologram now solidly held, floating a couple dozen feet in front of her, albeit a little fuzzy as her eyes tried to focus. She tried her best to look tough and able, but she was listening for help to come.
"Well, little girl, it's been a treat playing with you, but I've had my fill. Plus, we wouldn't want your little friend to see me smash in your skull!" He lunged at her.
Right before his blow landed, she saw black. She blinked and realized that it wasn't the darkness that death brought, but the back of a black shirt.
Reload had blocked Metallo's punch by crossing both his arms and taking the punch in the center. His arms barely trembled as he glared at a surprised Conner.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Reload kicked Metallo in the chest just enough to send him a couple feet away. "Have you gone insane?"
Metallo shook off the surprised look on his face and took on the guise of Conner again. "What are you talking about man? We're just having fun."
Reload turned around gently and sat Raven on the ground. Raven tried to tell him that it was Metallo, but couldn't focus.
"Just rest Raven. It'll be alright." He stood back up and started walking over toward Metallo.
"I was just a joke dude. I didn't mean any harm." Conner's form but up his hands in a 'don't blame me' fashion. Reload still proceeded toward him. "Come on man."
Reload grabbed him by his shirt. "You better have a good reason for acting like this, and don't give me that 'I'm just joking' crap."
A second passed in silence. Then Metallo took a swing right at his head. Reload caught it.
"Seriously?" Reload asked with concern. "I know you're not that much of a jerk to do this."
The storm clouds slowly rolled in and as Reload finished his statement, clouds covered up what was left of the sun. Without the sun, Reload's arm began to shake as it got harder to hold back the insistent arm.
"That's right." Conner's voice said in realization. "You can't do so well without sun light. That's going to make this that much more fun." He took his other arm and pushed Reload away from him.
Thunder rolled, lightning flashed, and the Connor facade dimmed to show the metal man beneath. Reload's eyes grew wide and he went for his guns. One word came from him, but it was interrupted by Metallo's oncoming attack.
"Sh-" Reload dodged to the right and rolled. He unloaded a couple .50 caliber rounds at Metallo. Each round made a clang as it bounced off of the metal skeleton below the hologram. At this, Reload jumped back, got on one knee, reloaded, and aimed at his opponent.
"Hey kid, no matter what you got in there, it ain't going to do a damn thing." Metallo banged on his chest to emphasize his point.
There seemed to be no movement from Reload, but a second later there were two loud reports and Metallo was grabbing his face and spewing out profanities.
"Your eyes may be tuff," Reload began. "But I bet that still hurt." Taking advantage of his opponent's temporary blindness, Reload went to grab Raven and get her to a safer place. Before he got there, Metallo had some how recovered and was in front of him.
"What do you think I am? Some kind of chump? I made sure that my eyes could withstand a tank before anything else. Now, I'm going to break every bone in your body you son of a-"
Reload shoved the end of one dessert eagle into Metallo's mouth and unloaded. This had little to no effect on him as he just spat out every one of the rounds onto the ground, and in response threw Reload on the ground right next to a recovering Raven.
"I hope you like your team mate well done." The holographic eyes of Conner and the electronic ones of Metallo started to glow red. Reload rolled over and used his back to protect Raven.
Raven chose that moment to become fully conscious. She opened her eyes to see Reload's face right above her. Then, behind his back, there was a bright red light and Reload's face clenched in pain. The light disappeared and Reload rolled off of her and landed on his side. She could see smoke coming off of his back.
"Well, that was useless of him. Now he's dead and has no chance of saving you. Let's make sure his sacrifice was in vain."
Raven was only able to watch as her mind tried to gather up its strength for even the smallest of shields, but the shock of seeing Reload take a full optic blast was making it hard for her to concentrate. She knew he wasn't dead; his chest still move as he took ragged breaths. His nano-machines were taking their time to repair his cells now that the sun had been covered by the storm clouds. Metallo's eyes grew brighter and brighter getting ready for the final attack.
"I don't think so you piece of scrap!" Coming from Metallo's side was the real Conner. He slammed his fist straight across the metal man's face. Being unprepared for the blow, Metallo was sent flying several feet away.
"Don't worry Raven. I'll take care of that hunk of junk." Conner smiled at Raven and gave her a wink. "You should take your injured friend to safety. I don't want him to get anymore hurt then he already is. He should learn to handle himself before he tries to take on the bad guys"
Before Raven had a chance to roll her eyes, Conner was cast in a green glow. He fell to his knees and started to spasm.
"I see you're still as forgetful as usual." Metallo walked toward the small group. His chest was open and his kryptonite core was aimed right at Conner. "Who knew that I would be able to get three supers when I was only after one? What a great day to be me." He was now standing right over Conner.
Metallo turned to see that the titan he thought he had taken down was barely sitting up, with his gun pointed right at Metallo's chest. Before he could do anything, one shot rang out and the kryptonite core exploded into a million pieces.
"Dammit!" Metallo yelled. "I really wanted to take you jerks out, but I'll leave that for another time." He flew off and left the weakened hero's to themselves.
Raven used her recovered powers to throw all the little peaces of the alien rock out in to the ocean. Then while Conner recovered on his own, she started to heal Reload's burned back. The sun having set behind the storm clouds, she would have to get him to the medical ward in the tower to stabilize him until the sun rose again. Then she heard Conner stand up.
"Hell, I keep forgetting he has that thing." Conner turned to Raven. "I guess you're glad that I just happened to be in the neighborhood."
"Yes, thank you, but you should leave now." The irritation and exhaustion was evident in her voice.
"You sure you don't want me to-"
"LEAVE!" There was a giant black wall put up between them. Conner, taking the hint, flew off.
The wall disappeared and Raven leaned over and took Reload's arm over her shoulder and tried to pick him up.
"Did I miss anything?" Reload said as he stood up and leaned into Raven for support.
"Not much. Just the real Conner showing up and being completely useless, and you taking out Metallo while still out like a light. That's all."
"That's all?" He smiled and shook his head. "Where'd he go?"
"Metallo ran and I sent the other one away. I've had my fill of looking at him for the day."
Raven and Reload made it inside and up to the medical ward. There was rain slamming up against the window.
Raven laid him on of the beds and made sure to make him comfortable before going about the procedure wrapping and taking care of his slowly healing burn.
"You should call the others to tell them what happened."
"I don't think so. You're not getting out of spending time with me that easily." Reload laughed a little as Raven finished dressing his wound, and then she started to leave the room. "I'll be right back."
Raven left and came back a minute later with the chess board and all the pieces. She reset the game and gently sat the board on his lap.
"Now shut up and make your move."
They both played for a little while. Before Raven could claim victory though, Reload had fallen asleep. She smiled and moved the board off the bed. She left the room and came back with her book and started to read.
It wouldn't be until the next morning when Cyborg would come into the ward to see Reload asleep in the bed and Raven sitting next to him and sleeping with her head in his lap, book forgotten.
END