Boogeymen II: Teenage Wasteland
"On Hallowe'en the old ghosts come about us, and they speak to some, to others they are dumb."
Hallowe'en, Eleanor Farjean
Part 1: Alteration
It's different on the other end.
Or so Robin thought as he stood there in the darkness, waiting.
We just thought we'd have some fun on Halloween. Watch a few cheesy horror films and have a time of it. And then it happened.
It invaded our home, our lives, our existence. Creatures of fiction became terrible reality.
We drove them back in the end, but something Starfire said stuck with me. On that night, through no fault of our own, we opened a door to another place. Did we close the door and seal it…or just close it?
You would think the answer was obvious…
And yet here we are on Halloween again…
And we find ourselves…"Activating now!"
And the room Robin was in flooded with light, as the entire T-Tower lit up like a Christmas tree, though since the sun hadn't fully set yet it wasn't that obvious.
"Emergency backup BACKUP generators are online and hooked up and ready to go if god forbid history repeats itself on THIS October 31st." Cyborg said as he came out from behind a mass of machinery.
Robin nodded.
"Good. Though technically it was October 30th last year." He said.
"Don't jinx us man…" Cyborg complained.
"Not my intention." Rob replied.
What happened was a fluke…maybe. But fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice…doesn't happen.
It's different on the other end of the knowledge spectrum.
Indeed.
"Scalpel, you can put that down for dinner." Savior said.
"No!" Nigel Hastings, aka Scalpel protested as he clutched the very large chair leg he had held in one hand.
"You can keep the stick at your side, but holding it at the table is rude."
"You guys can tolerate rudeness for one evening then!" Scalpel said, refusing to let go of his stick. Savior half sighed and half chuckled to himself, and continued to eat the spaghetti that was his dinner. Scalpel tried to do the same while holding onto his makeshift club, without much success. The other two people at the table, Beast Boy and Sophie, giggled in amusement.
"Scalpel, really, that's not necessary." Savior finally said again.
"I'm not letting go of my stick!"
"Is he usually like this?" Savior asked Beast Boy.
"Tonight's a special night. Special as in potentially very very bad. Last time we barely survived, THIS time we're not getting caught with our pants down." Beast Boy said.
"Indeed." Raven said, as she appeared out of the shadows. "I have magicked and charmed this place seven ways from Sunday. If you even look at a wall the wrong way, something bad will happen to you."
"Good!" Scalpel said, though he still refused to let go of his stick.
It was Halloween night, and the first in a break in tradition for the Titans. Normally, they would have spent the night to themselves.
The previous year had changed all that.
This year, the Teen Titans had thrown their bridge to the mainland up and decorated it for Halloween, and positioned several Titans (at the moment Starfire, Terra, and Gauntlet) at the end to give the kids candy. And if anyone decided to attack them, they would find out the hard way that the decorations concealed the fact the bridge was armed to the teeth with non-lethal weaponry, as was the entire Tower. Anyone who wanted to spoil their night was going to regret it, BIG TIME.
ANYONE.
Though you wouldn't think anyone believed that they were prepared, the way Scalpel and Beast Boy were eating, as Robin walked in.
"Ok we…Scalpel why are you holding a chair leg?"
"I sent my weapons away to get duplicated in case one broke, and of course they delay returning them until Halloween is past! So I have to make due with my stick!"
"…Ok. Well, we've checked all the systems. Everything is closed, sealed, locked up, and backed up. This building is as secure and protected as technology can make it." Robin said.
"Same on the magical and mystic front." Raven said.
"And everyone has at LEAST one gun." Robin added. "Except Scalpel, due to the whole thing about his species being vulnerable to guns."
"I have my stick!"
"Really Scalpel, put that down." Sophie said.
"No!"
"Scalpel…" Sophie said as she tried to take the chair leg from her boyfriend.
"No!"
Sophie bonked Scalpel lightly on the nose with her spoon, and the alien let go of his chair leg to mockingly hold his nose, as Sophie swiped away his weapon and ran. Showing a scary amount of grace and agility, Scalpel leapt up on the table and leapt after his girlfriend, all without upsetting or even disturbing a single dish.
"Well that was impressive." Beast Boy commented as Scalpel left the room.
"Most impressive." Savior said. "Really though, I wonder…"
And then Savior's fork dipped as a powerful wince crossed his features, and he placed a hand to his head as all the Titans looked at him.
"Savior?"
"Tired…" Savior replied.
"Here, we have a room for you. Come on." Robin said, as he helped Savior up and out of the kitchen, taking him to a small cool room with a soft bed nearby. "You can rest here, out of sight."
"Thank you, but it's not that bad…" Savior said as he sat down. "I'm not used to doing this for so long…but give me an hour or two and I'll be fresh as possible…which will certainly be useful if this inanity you spoke of somehow happens again…I mean…it's too weird even for me!"
Robin made an amused, dismissive noise.
"Weirdness is part of our life…'Savior'."
Savior's face was melting, his long white hair vanishing into his head, his white clothes shifting into a grey full body suit, his hair becoming black and thin, and his features androgynous. With several seconds, Savior was completely gone.
"So is being prepared. Which is why you're here for us, putting up the appearance of Savior still being here, while he's off on his undercover mission. And we appreciate it, Dopplegang Man." Robin continued.
"Appreciation is all fine and good. I just want to make sure I get paid." Dopplegang Man said, Noel's dark eloquent tone replaced by a dry, cool voice.
"You'll get paid. This is hard on you and effort should be rewarded."
"Then I'll keep putting it forth." Dopplegang Man said, as he sipped from a water bottle. A second later, Cyborg entered the room.
"You doing ok Doppleman?"
"Dopplegang." Dopplegang Man corrected. "Yes I am fine, just a little weary. Though since I heard that the last time you attempted this tactic you used a robot double, I question why you couldn't do so again. Could you not effectively duplicate your Savior with technology?"
"That I could do. The problem was that I couldn't load much in the way of speech in the verbal program, and N-Savior's got a habit of talking, and a lot. I figured it would look suspicious. It was just easier to spread a rumor he'd been injured and hence were looking after the Tower, and make sure that it had veracity with an actual Savior being observed."
"I still don't much like it." Raven said as she shifted into the room (Dopplegang Man, though he said nothing, had a clear look on his face that said "What, is EVERYONE going to visit me?"). "This tactic was risky the first time we did it. Let alone doing it again."
"Yeah Rae, it is, and normally I wouldn't have gone for it, even with Savior's argument of them never expecting us of doing the same trick twice. But when Blood stole all my tech and turned himself into a ripoff of me, he also inherited all the ways my tech can be exploited. The difference is, his ego blinds him a lot more then mine does." Cyborg said, as he pointed at his head. "With the chip I created that the Shimmer inserted into Savior's head, every attempt Blood makes to read his mind or control him will be diverted into a computer program that will project the information of Savior's cover story or give Blood the false impression that he is brainwashing him, including making him see Savior's eyes glowing. That lets Savior walk in through the front door, be accepted without suspicion, and get the information he needs. And we need to find out about this big new super base the Hive is supposedly working on. We had enough trouble with the OLD ones: a fancy new one could cause us all sorts of headaches unless we get some advance info. And I know Savior can get it."
"Because he won't be distracted like you?" Raven said, the pleasant sarcasm holding just the tiniest undertone of true nastiness. Cyborg let it slide.
"Yes, no, whatever. In any case, he's in, he's inserted, and he'll get us our info. And while he is, Doppledude will make sure everything thinks Savior is right where he should be."
"DOPPLEGANG MAN." Dopplegang Man said with some irritation.
"He knows. He's just messing with you." Robin said, smirking.
"I know. I still don't appreciate it." Dopplegang Man said: apparently he didn't have much of a sense of humor. "But if you would like my two cents, I do not think you need to worry Miss Raven. The one I mimic, the way you speak of him, I am certain he will do well, and speaking as a veteran of undercover assignments, that is really saying something. In any case, I'd say his chances of failure are better then of this event you're all on your toes over happening."
"Look man, don't start. You weren't there." Cyborg said, as Raven departed through the shadows again.
"Maybe not, but look at it from my perspective. I mean…horror movies coming to life, you being subjected to some kind of strange rules, you all losing your abilities just to make you vulnerable…it sounds like a bad horror story written by some talentless hack."
"Maybe, but that's what happened. But not this year. This year, things are going to be different." Cyborg said.
"If you say so. I still say you're all bonkers. But you're not paying me for my opinion. I'd like to rest now." Dopplegang Man said as he lay down on the bed. Robin and Cyborg nodded and left the shapeshifter to rest.
Robin was a little surprised to find Starfire in the hallway. Taking a silent cue, Cyborg said something about checking the security systems for the fifth time and departed.
"Hey Star. What's up?"
"The children are beginning to arrive, which is good: I feared that Rob and Tara would eat all the candy beforehand…" Starfire said, though her voice lacked her usual good cheer. Robin picked up on it immediately.
"What's wrong Star?"
"The sun is beginning to fully set…night is coming…"
"Starfire, we have done everything in our power to make sure nothing happens, and god forbid if it does, we'll be ready."
"I still feel a deep sense of unease Robin."
"I know Star. But look at all the evidence. Control Freak's remote is gone. The only things that'll be finding it again are the deepest denizens of hell. The security system is working perfectly: no exposed panels, no glitches, nothing. We have gone through the whole Tower: there is not a single horror film on the premise. The ones we own, Gar has put in a storage facility clear across town, and we've even cut the TV cable for the night so we can't see any on the television. And even if after all of THAT, they make a try…well, they're gonna regret it." Robin said, as he patted his fully loaded utility belt.
"I suppose Robin…I know this place is protected…what I wonder about is…other places."
"Other places."
"We opened a door last year Robin. We may not have meant to, but we did. If we could…why couldn't someone else?"
"Well Star…we can't be everywhere at once. But like I said, last year was a unique situation. Heck, on top of all that other stuff, tonight's perfectly clear, not a cloud in the sky, let alone a thunderstorm. Nearest rain's fifty miles away. Star, I swear to you, we have done everything we can, on top of what our plane of existence has." Robin said. "Really, what place could possibly duplicate what happened last year?"
Brother Blood's eyes blazed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SCHOOL!"
(Blood rains down on the screen, forming words)
LEGEND MAKER PRESENTS…
A LEGENDARY JEDI PRODUCTION…
(Many blades slash through the background, and the flesh forms out more words)
BOOGEYMEN II:
TEENAGE WASTELAND
LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR
(Blood explodes, covering the screen)
Writer's Note To New Readers: The following story utilizes the HIVE I have shown in my story Sins of Youth, which features many new HIVE members created by me and also by the author Jedi-And. You don't HAVE to read it to understand this story…but it will help.
And speaking of blood exploding, Brother Blood was still doing just that, albeit in a far less visceral way.
"I am not running a school to indulge the teenage need for fornication Miss Foster!"
Blood and another person, a young woman, sat in a large, well furnished office. The furnishings were the best part of the place: The walls were rather decayed with age, plaster clinging on to dear life, while everything else in the room itself was quite high tech, even though said high tech wasn't up to any of the bases the HIVE had had before. Brother Blood, freshly escaped from prison and once again the leader to the HIVE, sat in the big chair behind the large curved yellow desk, while on the other side in one of the two small wooden chairs was the fiery teacher just mentioned, Danielle Foster, also known as Scorcher. A pyrokinetic with a polite southern manner and an old fashioned dressing sense including wearing a petticoat, she was the leader of a group of metas called the Elementals, five women who each possessed a power relating to an element. Scorcher had joined the Hive for her own personal reasons, her fellow Elementals following suit, and at the moment she was a teacher in the Hive mostly because she was far too powerful and learned to be a student. Indeed, the only reason Blood had any control over her at all was the knowledge he possessed that she dearly wanted.
Even though he sometimes wondered if he had any control at all.
"Every school is there to indulge such things." Scorcher replied offhandedly with a smile. Blood didn't return it.
"MISS FOSTER, I will admit that perhaps some advice should be offered so the little ragamuffins don't start breeding like rabbits, but you spent a lesson in which you should have been teaching how to properly disable various levels of authorities instead talking about how to get someone into bed as quickly and efficiently as possible, and that is A DIFFERENT MATTER! I don't want you spending the entirety of one of my lessons on it!"
"Oh lighten up Blood. It was just one lesson."
"ONE LESSON! Do you have any idea how much you are ENCOURAGING the little bastards?" Blood bellowed, as he pulled out a remote control and turned to the nearby wall on which a collection of screens were piled upon each other to form a large mosaic. Pictures immediately popped up on the screens of many of the areas in this, the temporary HIVE base (Which was once an abandoned old high-school, so old it actually had a tall clock tower, and abandoned for years for being way too out of the way and too run down to rebuild before Blood moved in with his students, minions, and robot helpers to fix it up as best as possible while he waited for his massive airship to be finished. They had actually built onto the old structure so much it was nearly three times as big as before, and a good chunk of those areas had been cleaned up, his office notwithstanding), and he proceeded to highlight a few scenes.
The first were two figures, One was a woman, with electric yellow hair in the general shape of an upside down lightning bolt with a strand or two of wavy hair over her face, wearing a tight yellow and black t-shirt and tight shorts over excessively toned, very long, very strong legs. She was kind of cute in a bubbly sort of way. She was attached to another figure by the hips: A slightly taller Greek-looking man, with slicked back black hair that flowed into outward spikes, wearing a blue and silver costume with what seemed to be streamers hanging from his limbs and belt lines. He too was also attached to her 'by the hips', his closer arm on her spare hip while her arm was around his back. This was the (somewhat unpredictable) couple of Zippy and Hermes, the former being the yellow young female, and one of the Elementals, and the latter being the streamer-wearing male. They were the speedsters of the Hive; one could move at the speed of lightning and the other could tap into the Speed Force. They were a couple, for the moment. They were known for going steady, in their pattern anyway; break up, steady, break up, steady, on, off, on, off. When they were off, casual observers could have sworn they hated each other, though at the moment they were on. I suppose one could say they really did like each other; it was just that they sometimes lost patience with their respective partner, as both were used to being fast. It was the reason they dated in the first place, as everyone else was too slow for their tastes. Though at the moment they were walking at a normal pace, meandering around the corridors.
Blood highlighted another screen, which was of the current cafeteria as dinner was served. Some of the men were hitting on another of the Elementals. She was a tall amazon of a woman with a supermodel figure, wearing a short dress going from her oh-so ample breasts and down to her high thigh region in a pale, pastel pink. Long light blonde hair streamed down from her head, which wore a picture perfect face, with beautiful eyes and full lips. Her only fault was that her skin was a near white silver metallic colour, probably because it WAS metal. But it still moved like flesh, and it felt like flesh, though it was much stronger like metal. She was looking around to find a place to sit as she carried a tray of food, walking in a way that could only be described as the style of a catwalk girl. Every male Meta who was warm blooded and straight turned and noticed her, and as soon as the men noticed she was looking for a place to sit, they all offered a place for her to sit down. She eventually sat down next to a group of men, consisting of a black haired Spanish 'pretty boy' known as the 'sexiest' man on campus, a slightly geeky young adult in a HIVE robe, a man in a long coat with mild dreadlocks and lots of leather straps, and a man in a metal bee suit. Also known as Progeny, Rhinoceros Beetle, Flay and Buzz Bomb, four newer students. They were just four of five though: the last student was even newer. He was a pure jock type, over six feet tall with broad shoulders and thick legs, a square jaw with a chin possessing a slight dimple, wide cheekbones, baby blue eyes, and long blonde hair tied into a ponytail at the moment. He wore a golden skintight costume with circuit running through it and large gray boots, and the reason for his large frame was quickly apparent, as his arms, shoulders, and chest were covered with an elaborate mechanical chassis, like a half completed robotic suit, incredibly thick metal gauntlets covering both his hands and forearms, gauntlets loaded with tech. Despite the heavy looking and awkward machinery, the student moved with relatively no effort, though at the moment all he was doing was staring at the ravishing metal girl.
She smiled to everyone around her, then yawned and stretched, although this wasn't intentional, as she had had a late night. Nonetheless she still offered a good view to all the men in front of her, who had all become infatuated, to varying degrees, with her plentiful bosom.
"Could someone pass the salt?" She asked after she had finished.
Five hands all shot forward offering salt, and she laughed. She had them around her little finger, even if she didn't want them. All she did do was offer a slight smile as she took a sip from her mug. Well, she was Platinum Blonde, and whatever she did, whether it was smashing or seducing, she was always damn good at it.
Blood turned to Scorcher, who just stared and chuckled to herself.
"You think this is good?"
"Apart from how good it would be for later on in life, when your brain isn't overflowing with hormones, I also taught it to them so they could seduce and distract heroes, but this scene seems a good thing as well."
"How so?"
"Well now you can breed soldiers I suppose." She continued to laugh.
"Not funny Miss Foster."
"I didn't actually mean it to be." Scorcher said as she calmed down.
"I don't need my students to be 'pre-occupied' if you see what I mean. The ones that have fought the Titans have always lost, and I don't want history repeating itself with the latest batch! And if they are going to win, they cannot be focused so much on coition!" Blood snapped…and then got a wicked grin on his face. "Though Lucinda will be pleased once she gets back from her trip. She's always looking for something new to experiment on."
The way the color drained out of Scorcher's face was victory enough for Blood.
"Speaking of something new, I have to go and interview a potential new student. He calls himself Control Freak. He kept blabbing on about himself being a techno-sorcerer and a master of all reality…from what I was able to gather through his ego stroking he said his special power was a gadget he made." Blood continued, getting up from his large chair. "So you can go for now, but don't think our debate on this debauchery is over. We WILL continue to discuss this later."
Scorcher gave a somewhat condescending nod in reply as she followed him out, but he noticed it and stopped at the door. "I mean it Miss Foster. If one of them skips class to play 'backseat of a Desoto' I'm taking it out of you."
"Do they even make Desoto's any more? Or is that showing your age?"
A vein throbbed on the still organic side of Blood's head.
"What would be closer to your age group? A Delorian perhaps?" He asked through gritted teeth.
"Shucks, Delorians aren't even in my age group, I only came into existence in the 80's."
"Unless you are over 50, I'm not sure you have a right to complain about your age." Blood replied.
"Yeah, but I'm older than these kids. And that's besides the point. You're all cross; this gonna spill over? You're not going to ruin their party tonight are you?" The southerner asked. Blood just grumbled some as he continued to hold onto the door, in mid exit.
"Are you?"
Silence.
"Downtime and reaction is important Blood, no matter what your success/failure rate is. They've been planning and looking forward to this. And y'all catch more flies with honey then with vinegar."
"All right, all right. I will not interfere or censor your precious party. Auuggh, why do I put up with you?"
"The fact I could melt your head doesn't spring to mind?"
And so the two of the highest-ranking members of the HIVE at that time left the Principal's office, which had a slip of paper on the door labeled 'Headmaster'. The room was quiet, all except for the monitors that had been left on and playing.
Now we move in to one of the screens, as the camera follows the young Miss Zippy and young Master Hermes. We pass through the monitor, through the camera and arrive as the proverbial fly on the wall as the two love birds walked and talked.
Or in Hermes' case, walked and groped.
"Ezhno." A fast voice said, a fast voice that strained to speak slowly as the owner's amber face flushed with embarrassment. You could tell it wasn't an act, as she was using the Hive member's real name, while Hermes traced and explored her lines with his hand, even as she tried to push him away. But because she had him around the waist, and he had hold of her in general, they didn't actually separate.
"You're… embarrassing. Me." She spoke slowly, but it was obvious that it was a strain.
"Come on, we're attached at the hip for the moment, and seeing as we are then one person I'm allowed to take some liberties with my body."
"AndI'msuposedtobethefasttalker?" She taunted, slipping back in to her usual overclocked record tone.
"Slow down, slow down." He joked.
"Whatdoyoumeanslowdownyouhategoingslowyoudespiseityoutellmetoslowdownyourhypocriteyououghttabeslowerinalotofthings…!"
"I'm fast where it counts." Hermes said, lavishly wiggling his eyebrows, and before Zippy could reply he pinched her butt and then was gone before she could retaliate. She made an annoyed noise under her breath. They were both fast, but Zippy's speed was natural and therefore, limited. Her max speed was a rough 900 miles an hour. Hermes, endowed with the extradimensional energies of the Speed Force, could go at 1000 miles a SECOND. And while other Speed Force users (The Flash being the primary one) could go much much faster, that was still more then enough to always leave Zippy in the dust.
Well that's what HE thought…
And since Hermes could go so fast, he was able to make his trip in a short amount of time, to say the least, as he ran around and through the makeshift base, past the wing for the dormitory and the storage rooms for a variety of things, past the old clock tower the school had and through the many different obstacle courses and training rooms next to and around it, past old boiler rooms and over bridges strung over rooms filled with larger parts for the ship, and more storage rooms and the other dormitory wing before he arrived at the cafeteria, where he zipped in, got the best food he could (even if it wasn't his), and left before anyone could say anything.
"Hey! My Mars Bar!" Progeny yelled. "What the hell!"
"Shouldn't eat so much candy anyway. You'll run to fat." Flay said from his position perched on the edge of a bench, his eyes narrowed and a whip in his hand.
A book flew through the air.
A loud buzzing suddenly sounded off as Flay snapped up his whip, the weapon coursing with some kind of electrical energy, and lashed out, moving so fast no one could see the individual moves.
The book fell in four neat pieces in front of Flay.
"Hahahahaha! Awesome!" Said a black teen wearing a green and white outfit and a large helmet on his head whose distinguishing feature was the large mechanical eye in the center of his forehead. His name was Seemore, and he had thrown the book, with Flay's knowledge, because he wanted to see just how good he was at his whips. Flay hadn't let him down yet. "Ha ha! I thought I had a good eye, but that's something else!"
"The best are remembered." Flay said, coiling the whip around his arm.
"Do it again! Do it again!"
"Oui, oui!" Platinum Blonde agreed: she liked showmanship as much as any girl.
"Well find something for be to do it with." Flay said.
"Do it later." Said a new voice, as a new figure passed by the table. This teen was also black, and wore a patchwork costume and snarled, tangled hairstyle that made it seem like he was horribly disorganized, when he was anything but. His name was Juryrig, and he was another new Hive member who was on track to be the head graduate of the latest class. As a result he'd begun to try and act like a leader where he could.
Which was harder then it sounded in a cafeteria full of rambunctious teenagers with superpowers and/or high tech.
Juryrig's power was a unique form of telekinesis that allowed him to assemble inanimate objects into new shapes to form weapons, tools, creatures, or whatever he could come up with. At the moment he was commanding a giant hand made of old wood pieces and pillows, which was holding one end of a large crate that he was, through the hand, carrying through the room. The other end of the crate was being held by a tall, massive girl made completely out of stone: Rocko, another Elemental. While the crate wasn't heavy, it was awkward, and hence Juryrig didn't want people throwing stuff in his path or otherwise disrupting it.
"Awwww!" Seemore groused.
"Just wait until we get these damn flashlights into the nearest storage area and you can start fucking around again." Juryrig said. "We need to be careful: one of those giant laser lense thingies that are going to be on the new bases' main guns is in there and we can't risk cracking it! Blood will have our hides! Arturo, you're in the way: could you move please?" Juryrig said, speaking to Progeny and using his real name.
"But of course." Progeny replied.
And then his head fell off.
Followed by his arms and legs.
They didn't fall far though, as his now limbless and headless torso floated up, the fallen bits floating and swirling around him. This was Progeny's power, a strange ability labeled "psychic surgery", a name most likely stolen from a TV show. Progeny could break his body apart without any ill effects: he could throw his arm at you, remove his eye and look behind him, remove his jaw and bite you, or all of the above and more. His body was protected via some kind of shield when he was in that state, which kept his innards inside and working and somehow kept his limbs from dying from blood loss and also allowed the minor hovering ability, so as a result Progeny could literally break himself down into dozens of pieces and fly through the air and attack. It was a disturbing and rather disgusting power, but despite that fact it hadn't stopped Progeny from being the No 1 ladykiller on campus. Probably because he was a handsome and charming bastard, disgusting power aside.
Progeny swirl-floated over and under the crate and reformed on the other end.
"Was that really necessary?" Juryrig asked.
"Perhaps." Progeny said, as he tossed off his forearm with a loud popping noise. It returned holding his food tray. "Perhaps not." He said, as his arm reattached, and with that he moved on. Juryrig shook his head and continued moving the crate of flashlights with Rocko.
Nearby, Wilby Tierney, aka Rhinoceros Beetle, spit out his drink.
"You killed your best friend?"
"Just friend small fry. No best in it." The newest Hive member, Flense, said, as he held out an arm. From his apparatus, twin metal tendrils shot out, small metal tentacles that might have had Doctor Octopus considering a lawsuit if he existed in this universe, tentacles that retrieved an apple from his tray.
"But why?"
"He and I were both up for the same football scholarship. There could be only one. So I cut his brakes. He chose to drive the car. I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for my snooping mother." Flense said. From the tendrils, long thin blades shot out, and began to peel the apple.
"But…but…"
"Stop looking at me like that wiener. That's life. Either you grab the brass ring or someone else will. You want it, you get it, no matter the cost. We were put on this Earth with free will and the desire to get ahead: we should not be condemned for how we choose to use this. I wanted that scholarship, I got it. If it hadn't been for my damn mom finding the brake schematics and figuring it on I'd probably be in the NFL. But she put me on the run. Well, I landed on my feet." Flense said, as he finished peeling the apple, one long strand of skin on the table.
"…And that got you that?" Wilby asked.
"Yep. Ran a fair distance, changed my name, found my size could hurt people in more then one way, hired myself out, broke a few legs, ran into some supergeek weenies who were probably your cousins, they wanted to have a test subject for their new Steel and Connect…no wait, Kini…Kini-Kinetics, that's it, Interface for Nerve…nerve something, Nerve System, Nerve of the guy, something. S.K.I.N. They liked me, they put it on me, they asked me to get more money for their research, I robbed a few banks, got bored, killed them, and went on my way. Eventually I found this place. I already learned a lot on how to use this gear on my own, but this school will teach me the rest. And once I do, the world is my…my…well, something good!"
"But…did you really have to kill them?" Wilby asked.
"You been listening?" Flense said, and then three large blades snapped out of one of his metal tentacles. "You either get what you want in this world, or you get. Out of. MY WAY."
The blades slashed through the apple.
And Wilby, feeling very disturbed, got up and left the table with his meal. Flense snorted.
"Pussy." He said, as he laid his perfectly sliced apple on his tray and began eating it slice by slice.
Wilby hurried past another table at which three people were sitting at, all very different in looks. One was a redheaded teenage girl in a dark blue purple costume: her name was Shimmer. She could transmute elements and compounds, and also happened to be Mammoth's younger sister. The second girl looked like a younger and cuter Poison Ivy: light green skin, hair made out of flower petals, costume that was composed of various plants, albeit far more covering ones then the seductive Miss Isley usually wore. She was Floral, the last of the Elementals, and she could control all plants (except trees, and if you asked her why she yelled at you, so most people learned not to ask).
And the last was a very new Hive student: he had join at roughly the same time Flense had. He was a rather streamlined young man, dressed completely in black with a few hints of gray. He wore black boots that had a slight topping of dark gray fur, black pants, a black armored shirt, black gloves, and a black and gray belt covered with pouches and packs. On his forearms were metallic and plastic gauntlets, but while Flense's were huge, this teen's armament were small and streamlined like their wielder. What he looked like was a complete mystery, for the teen wore a black helmet that completely covered his head. The face was composed of dark mirrored glass, one-way: the teen could see out but no one could see in. On the side of the helmet were darkish-silver attachments that looked like long ears, Spock on steroids. Finally, the shoulders of the costume had flared black material pointing up and out like feathers, from which long trails of willowy black material streamed down from, reaching roughly the figure's waist and making it look like he had wings when he leapt through the air.
His name was Nightwalker, and that was pretty much all the Hive knew about him. While Flense hadn't been too forthcoming with details of his life (All the Hive knew was he claimed his real name was Oz: whether that was first, last, middle, nick, or even his name at all was unknown), Nightwalker had revealed absolutely nothing, not even his face. He always seemed to time his showers and bathroom trips so that no one saw him with his helmet off. Even now, when eating, the helmet glass that concealed his features was only raised high enough to show a slight hint of his mouth, and with the shadows around the helmet even that was hard to make out. And while he did talk, it wasn't very often, and the helmet often muffled his voice, reducing it to a dry, arid tone that some found a bit unnerving. Most of the students figured he was either arrogant or working way too hard on his impression of the man who had clearly inspired his costume, and decided to just ignore him unless they no longer felt the need to.
Floral didn't pay him much mind: she had her own problem.
"This isn't funny!" She said, looking at her tray, which consisted of a lone hot dog bun.
"Really? What's the joke?" Shimmer asked, as Nightwalker sipped from a juice box.
"People seem to confuse the fact that I am made of plants with the fact that some people think it's healthy to just eat plants, the murderers!"
"I don't…ahhh, right. The Simpsons joke with the piss poor vegetarian alternative meal." Shimmer said. "Why didn't you notice until now though Rose?"
"I didn't! I had a hot dog in this and cookies! Now I don't!"
"Hermes again, the annoying bugger." Shimmer said. Normally, she was very shy, but in the presence of the similarly shy Floral and the silent Nightwalker, her normal moods were less then they usually would be.
Floral hmmmpphed at her stolen meal, and then looked at Nightwalker. "Did you see anything?"
Nightwalker just shook his head.
Back at the other table, Juryrig and Rocko entered the cafeteria again and sat down at the table they had passed by earlier.
"Ok, knock yourself out." Juryrig told Seemore, essentially giving him permission to resume playing the whip game with Flay.
"Ok! Heh, found a real challenge for you this time Simon!" Seemore said, using Flay's real name.
"Oh? What?"
"This!" Seemore said, holding up a crowbar. "I followed Julian (Juryrig) and Lorant (Rocko) to the storage room and was seized by inspiration! Can you slice and dice this?"
"I'll need my best whip and some room." Flay said as he hopped up and reached for his belt, even as he withdrew a metallic handle. A quick hand gesture extracted something from his coat and inserted it in the handle, and then a long golden strand of energy sprang from the handle and coiled down to the floor, where it sizzled.
"All right Flay, let's see just how damn good you are!" Seemore said, and hurled the crowbar at Flay like a spear.
A golden blur of power slashed through the air, and then a hand snapped up and caught the crowbar, as Flay grabbed it in mid air.
He turned it upright.
And then the hook end of the crowbar slid off, revealing a sharp spike.
"Cut it and saved my life. Impressed?" Flay asked. Seemore just stared.
"…Man, I can't believe my eye." Seemore said, as the table gave Flay light applause as he turned off his energy whip.
"No more tricks for now Seemore. Those energy packets are hard to make." Flay said, sitting down. Not knowing what to do with his new metal toothpick, he left it on a nearby bench.
"Nice work. You use those whips for other things?" Flense asked.
"What?"
"Oh come on, surely…"
Whatever Flense might have said was cut off as Gizmo suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"SEE IT AND WEEP, SNOTHEADS!" He said as he slammed down a large piece of rolled out paper on the table.
Everyone stared at it.
"…Gizmo, what the hell is this?" Juryrig asked.
"This is my proof that you all suck and I'm great!"
"Oh really. How about you answer my question?"
"This is the blueprint of the device I have completed in the basement. Everyone told me I could not build a machine off a vague comic book reference, but I proved those pitsniffers wrong! This is my Intrinsic Field Remover!"
"Quoi?" Platinum Blonde said.
"It's a machine that removes intrinsic fields!"
"What in the fuck are gin-gin-gin…and tonic fields?" Flense asked.
"What, don't you have a brain?"
"Aren't you still a virgin?"
"What the crud does that have to do with anything! Shut up! You're distracting me! What matters is that I built it!"
"Great. So what is it?"
"An Intrinsic Field Remover!"
"Well what does it do?"
Gizmo started to explain in technospeak so complicated he might as well have been talking in Swahili.
"Gizmo." Rocko finally interrupted. "How about…you just tell us…in layman's terms…in a sentence."
"Fine. It removes objects' intrinsic fields. If you bothered to listen to me, you would understand that this causes their utter disintegration."
"…So you built a more complicated way to kill people?" Flense said.
"Complicated smoblacated! They said I couldn't, and I did! And I'll test it for all of you if you'll accompany me downstairs to the sub-basement! Rocko, you can be my guinea pig!"
"What?"
"You're not alive! You're some weird spirit animating a bunch of stones! I could vape you and you'd just have to go make a new body, so why don't you act useful for a change and…"
Rocko's fist slammed down in front of Gizmo, the loud noise startling the cafeteria into silence.
"I do not…miss twice." Rocko said, as she removed her fist from the table, large dents in the metal structure, and sat down again.
"…Got it." Gizmo said. "I…think I'll get some food." He said quickly, and flew off.
He flew past Progeny and another new Hive student who tended to keep to herself, due to the fact that she was being trained as a spy rather then a fighter. She was a rather thin girl with brown hair pulled behind her in a high ponytail and a thin but wholesome face, dressed in a Hive robe. At the moment she was staring at her plate, blushing, mostly due to the fact that Progeny had sat down next to her and revealed he had heard a very embarrassing piece of information about her regarding him. Specifically, he was who she wanted.
"Now Melanie…that is your real name right?"
"Yes." Melanie said quietly.
"Right. Melanie, we may be considered teenagers' in age, but that does not mean we cannot make adult decisions. And sometimes adults decide that a little fling can just be that…a fling…"
Melanie said nothing, even as she blushed more furiously then before.
"However…while I am not arrogant…I must admit I have…preferences…but you…you are in luck. I know what your power is. You can change your shape and face."
"Oh come on!" Dopplegang Man complained from his bed. "Using the same power twice in one chapter? What kind of a hack is writing this anyway!"
"Now I know…this is hard for you…takes a long time…hence why you're being trained for espionage rather then combat…but Melanie…or Looker, if I may call you by your code name, may I?"
"…Yes." Melanie said.
"Melanie…you by yourself are…quite pretty…but I…well…let's just say…my tastes run to the tall…the statuesque…and the blonde. And since you can do that…well…let's just say that if you find the time and effort to put yourself in my preferred way…it'd be easier…if you still want to go through with it. The choice is yours. I'll be waiting. I'm sure you'll make the right one." Progeny said, as he hopped up from his seat and strolled away.
"Smooth bastard." Shimmer muttered from her seat.
"How can anyone possibly fall for that nonsense?" Floral asked. Nightwalker shrugged.
"As far as I've heard, he's not violent or a rapist. Baran learned that when he warned him not to go near me: Arturo said he only dances with the willing. Though I must admit, he may not realize how much he leads the dance…" Shimmer said.
There was a sudden commotion in the kitchen, and then suddenly the doors opened violently.
"…id cat!" Came a loud yell, and then a chef in dirty white clothes with a large knife came running out of the doors, chasing what was revealed to be a small black cat with white paws, which was running for its life. "YOU'VE EATEN MY CHICKEN FOR THE LAST TIME! I'm going to use your insides to make a new tennis racket…!"
And then the chef's feet went out from under him, and he flew into the air and landed on his back with a yell and a groan.
"Don't threaten my kitty." Shimmer said, as she knelt up from where she had run over to the path the chef was following and turned the immediate surface of the ground into soap. The kitten ran into her arms.
"It's ok Mittens…that nasty old man won't hurt you…" Shimmer cooed to her pet as she headed out of the cafeteria. "But why are you looking for food…sigh…Llarenes..."
"Never a dull moment." Floral remarked to Nightwalker…who didn't reply. "Hey! Can you even talk?"
Nightwalker didn't reply. Floral facevaulted.
Wilby's noise crinkled at the musty smell that was prevalent in at the new table he was sitting at. The cafeteria that the Hive was eating in at the moment was not the abandoned school's original cafeteria: that had been across the 'campus', and had apparently been left with more then a few perishable items lying around. The result was the place stank like hell and the Hive had swiftly found they could not, would not eat there. They had retreated back to some old classrooms, knocked down the walls, put in a kitchen there, and turned it into the new cafeteria. The only remnants that remained of the original was the best of the tables and benches the Hive had salvaged when they were originally building the new cafeteria and found that eating standing up was a pain, tables and benches that had mostly been gotten rid of later for better ones. Only two of the old sets remained, and most didn't sit at them unless they had to (why they hadn't been replaced as well, Wilby didn't know. Considering massive reconstruction wasn't difficult, even with the effort being put forth to build the new base, mainly thanks to nanotech and a Hive member that could produces hundreds of clones of himself), but Wilby felt sitting at the old table with its musty smell and softer, semi rotten in parts wood was better then sitting at a table with a stone cold killer…
At least until the juice box hit him in the back of the head.
Braying laughter accompanied it, as Wilby grimaced and glanced behind him. Speaking of Billy Numerous, whose clones were responsible for a good chunk of the repairs and modifications, there he was, laughing like an idiot, all four of him (Billy's training of his talent had found he was more comfortable in several bodies then in just one, and he only assumed one form if he had to). Sitting at the table, sharing his laughter, in considerably quieter ways, were Mammoth and the one Wilby was sure had thrown the box: Cord Radfory, aka Sabotage. A red haired teen in a military themed outfit, Sabotage had the power to manipulate probability in the actions of organic beings, similar to Jinx's hexes, but while Jinx's hex blasts did some complicated magical/mental arrangement that resulted in her bad luck powers causing things to (generally) explode, Sabotage's basically made people screw up, no matter what they were doing. He was also an asshole and a bully.
Wilby felt the brief urge to activate his power and go after him, but that urge was immediately defeated by the inevitable result. Trying to ignore him, Wilby turned back to his food. He waited about twenty-five seconds and, having decided they'd had enough, started opening his pudding.
Whatever the second object was, it was considerably heavier, as it slammed against Wilby's head, and caused him to knock over his pudding cup, spilling it on the tray and his hand. Wilby growled under his breath as the tables full of jackasses laughed again.
Floral was talking with Flay, who had moved over to their table because Seemore wouldn't quit pestering him for more whip tricks, and hence she wasn't looking at Nightwalker.
Hence the loud snap as he slid his helmet down startled her. She glanced at the teen, and she could tell that even with the concealment he wasn't happy.
Wilby was trying to clean his hand when another empty juice box hit him on the shoulder, followed by more laughter. Screw this. He'd rather sit with a killer who didn't much care for him then a bunch of assholes who cared too much in terms of bothering him, as he picked up his tray and started leaving…
The spot on the floor should have been far too small and inconsequential to matter, unless someone stepped on it with the exact amount of pressure and at the right angle. But in this case, (bad) luck was in the cards, as Wilby stepped on it and slipped, flying up and landing painfully on his back while his food fell through the air. If Wilby could be thankful for anything, it was the fact that his losing of his balance had caused him to violently throw his arms backwards and hence his food away from him. Such a thing was rather beyond his caring though, as he violently banged his head on the floor.
The table of jerks laughed again, by now having gotten the attention of most of the Hive, as Billy Numerous patted Sabotage on the back.
"Always good for a spot of 'tertainment!" Billy said in his hillbilly dialect.
"Heh, let's finish it with a bang." Sabotage said, as he procured one last juice box. "This one outta make a real big splash!"
By which Sabotage meant he'd manipulate Wilby's probability so that the juice box split on his head, as he raised it up, loosely clutched between his thumb and fore and ring finger, as he readied his toss as Wilby tried to get up.
And then the juice box exploded in his hand. Sabotage squawked as the fruit liquid instead splattered him.
"What in tarnation!" Billy said as drops of juice splashed on his 'sungoggles', even as another Billy turned around to scan the cafeteria…
It didn't take him long to find Nightwalker standing up, one of his gauntlets expanded open into a small barrel that was still aimed at Sabotage, even as the redhead wiped his face.
"Hey Cord! That darn polecat just interfered in your own particular dis-tra-bu-tion of your refreshment!" Billy said, as Sabotage found Nightwalker with his own eyes, glaring daggers at him.
"You fucking bastard! I'll show you what happens to those who fuck with me, dick…" Sabotage yelled as he went around the table.
Nightwalker's movement was so quick Sabotage couldn't kick in his probability powers, as the black clad teen leapt up on the table and bounced and flipped across the several tables separating the two, doing a one handed forward flip leap off the land one and landing in front of Sabotage before he could react in time, as the redhead found the same barrel that had issued the projectile pressed up against his chin.
"Go ahead. Use your powers to make it backfire." Nightwalker said in his cold tone. "Make my orb launcher malfunction. At worst it'll cost me a hand. It'll cost you your face. With today's tech I can always get a new hand. But they haven't discovered the technique to perfectly replace one's countenance yet. Though you could use one anyway. So go ahead asshole. Make my day."
Sabotage's eyes blazed.
And then a large hand made of wood and pillows was shoving itself between the two.
"Ok, break it up." Juryrig said as he walked up to the separated teens. "Cord, sit the fuck down and stop making trouble. You too Nightwalker. We don't need shit from you on top of his."
"You shit…" Sabotage began, but before he could finish the hand turned and shoved him against the bench of the table he was sitting at.
"I'll choose not to interpret that as a racist slur Cord, or else you'd have every table in this room stacked on your shit disturbing ass. Now BACK down or get PUT down."
Sabotage's eyes didn't calm, but he sat down anyway, tugging at his bandana.
"You all right?" Flay asked as he came over to help Wilby up.
"Yeah…yeah…" Wilby said, though he still seemed a little dizzy.
"You shouldn't take that shit. With your power, you could leave him a smear on the ground in one blow."
"I'd never get that blow off. He'd screw me up. And even if I could somehow hurt him…wouldn't matter. He'd just do something back later, except twenty times nastier. You can't beat someone who enjoys being an asshole Simon." Wilby said sadly.
"Don't be so sure…"
"ATEEEN-HUT!" A voice boomed through the room, and everyone stopped talking at the oh so well named Private Hive strolled through the door, continuing to blast away in Drill Sergeant. "Listen up ladies! Blood has given me the orders of how you will engage in your merriment tonight! These are your orders! You will-AHHHHH!" Private Hive yelled as he was suddenly barraged with debris, ranging from napkins to bits of food. "BEHAVE YOU PUKES!"
"Oh shut up and go back to kissing Blood's ass, Leonard!" Progeny cat-called, and tossed an empty juice box at Hive, who had by now retrieved his shield from somewhere and was hiding behind it.
"YOU MAGGOTS WILL LISTEN! Blood's orders are his orders! He decides you are worth the sweat off his brow and testicles to train and prepare, and you WILL listen, you…hey! Hey! Stop it Julian! You're supposed to set an example!" Hive yelled as Juryrig's hand flew over, one finger extended, that hit the shield and began pressing on it, shoving Hive back out of the room.
"Exactly." Juryrig replied.
"Go dig up Kubrick and blow him, you Emery wannabe!" Sabotage added as Hive was ejected.
"Ok people, before he comes back we better get started in case Blood tries to cut us off." Juryrig said. "Gizmo you had something you wanted to say?"
"Yeah! Listen up pitlickers! If you don't care for films and instead care for a buttkicking, I've got a video game setup in the room next to the main entertainment room that will blow your minds! So come one, come all, so I can knock you all down!" Gizmo crowed, flying around the room as he spoke and then leaving out the door.
"…Right. Anyway, the main setup is in the usual spot, food, movies, you know!" Juryrig said. Everyone went 'Hurrah!" in some way and began getting up to leave.
"Hey! Hermes! Since you stole our food, you can clean up!" Juryrig tossed over his shoulder as he left the room.
"Geez Buzz, that's your sixth coke in an hour! Stop before you force all the blood out of your veins!" Flay told the armored teen with the bee suit motif and the explosives expertise called Buzz Bomb, who was chugging back a familiar red can.
"Forget it! I don't even want my brain to even CONSIDER sleep tonight! Not if I want to figure out Gizmo's patterns so I can finally kill the bastard!" Buzz Bomb said, as he produced another Coke from somewhere and began chugging it down.
"Geez, no wonder you always suffer from insomnia." Flay muttered.
"If I'm awake, they can't get me!"
"No one is trying to get you Buzz."
"See! It's working!"
She kept packing, and she didn't know why.
Llarenes Morath, aka Jinx, stood and stared at the two large metal/plastic suitcases that she had constantly been filling with clothes and her personal items on her bed. She'd done it again. She'd suddenly felt the need to go through all her stuff, select what she needed, practice packing it, use different arrangements, different items…and suddenly realize she didn't need to pack. At first she'd made the excuse that Blood might be moving them at any time and she wanted to be ready and not leave anything important behind, but as the weeks had dragged on and the time period on which the new base was to be completed remained far off, she began to realize that she was just fooling herself.
She kept packing because she wanted to be ready to leave quickly at any opportunity.
And why else would she be considering leaving, if not for…
No. It was stupid. It was just a silly fling. He'd betrayed her, her and her whole school, she didn't…
"Llarenes!" Came a sudden voice, and then Selinda Flinders, aka Shimmer, her roommate, stepped into the room, holding her cat Mittens. "You forgot to feed Mittens again! He had to go looking for food! You know Blood hates it when he wanders around: if he keeps doing it Blood will just zap him and then I won't have a pet any more! You promised to help look after him Llarenes! What gives!"
"…I…" Llarenes said, as Shimmer glanced behind and at the suitcases.
"Oh god, are we on this kick again? What, are you trying to set a world record Llarenes?"
"…I don't…I just…"
"Yeah I know. You really have no idea." Shimmer said, as she put Mittens down and found his food, which he promptly attacked as she poured it. "Jinx, I don't want to have to put a big sign on our wall that says "FEED MITTENS'. I know you're smarter then that. But really…pull your head out of the clouds!"
"…Sorry Selinda. I…you're right. I need to get off this." Stop fooling myself that that stupid crush could be anything but. Nothing like something I would have to give my whole life up for. Nothing at all…
"Well, ok then. You do that. They're starting the party: you may want to go there and have some fun in case that sorehead Blood changes his mind." Shimmer said, as she checked Mittens' water and litter box. Satisfied, she started leaving the room. "See you there Jinx."
"Yeah…" Jinx said, not looking at her roommate as she left. Instead she stared at her packed suitcases…and then suddenly feeling very foolish, she opened them up and began frantically unpacking, as if the suitcases could talk and would tell everyone about her unspoken reasons for packing.
She was in…
"Hey Pinky! You decent?" Came an annoying voice at the door, and then Gizmo strolled in before Jinx could have covered herself if she had been indecent. Jinx wasn't exactly thrilled by this.
"MIKRON! What are you DOING!" She yelled.
"Hey calm down! Was just telling you if you don't want to watch movies you can come play games. Even if you don't want to play me, I got a bunch of survival horror stuff, stuff appropriate for the night, you know? And don't call me Mikron. My name is Gizmo."
"Then don't barge into my room!"
"Why? I saw that picture that was distributed on the network." Gizmo said, and wiggled his eyebrows. His intention in the gesture was supposed to convey the joking way between friends, but apparently he had injected too much lasciviousness into it as Jinx's eyes began to glow.
"THAT WAS A PHOTOSHOP! GET OUT! GET OUT! OR I'LL SEND YOU OUT FEET FIRST!" Jinx yelled as she began throwing rolled up socks at Gizmo, who fled the room.
"Even so, it was one fine blend." Gizmo said, sticking his head back into sight around the door.
A box of tissues nailed him right between the eyes, and Gizmo yelled and was driven off, mockingly holding his head in pain.
Jinx sighed and resumed unpacking. She had to get out of this mindset. Or at least devolve into another. Maybe the party would help.
Hermes had been near enough to hear Juryrig's order to clean up: he'd done so within two seconds. Now he was leaning in the hallway, eating a Mars Bar and trying to slow down his speed addled brain enough so he could decide if he wanted to go back to Zippy and see if she'd forgive him or just avoid it altogether. When you were as fast as him, running away was sometimes the best option: distance helped appease more then most people realized. Usually.
"Aha! Thereyouare!"
Hermes looked up as Zippy strolled down the hallway and stopped in front of him, hands on hips.
"Thoughtyoucouldgetawayhuh? Pervert!"
"And you love it." Hermes says.
"Timeandaplace! Anndletmetellyou…"
"Sal…please. I like speed but not in the voice if possible." Hermes said, as he finished the Mars Bar off and threw the wrapper on the floor. Zippy glowered at him.
"…Fine. You think that because you're faster then me you have the advantage…but I think that you're wrong, and I can prove it." Zippy said, straining over the simple sentence like it was the world's greatest tongue twister (which was, according to some sources, 'The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.' Try saying it ONCE fast, or even slow).
"Oh really?"
"Yes! I challenge you to a race, same speed: 500 miles an hour! Through this complex! It won't be a matter of speed, but how well you can use the speed. First one from here to the main right security room wins!" Zippy said, and began gasping like she was out of breath. "Understand?"
"…Yes. You're on." Hermes said.
"Allright! NowI'llshowyouyoudegeneratethatyoumayhavethespeedbutIhaveitbetter!"
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Hermes said, as he stood next to Zippy.
"Andtrynottorunintoanyone!"
"Please."
"Oksmartass! ReadysetGO!"
And a second later all that was left in the hallway was the wind.
"I don't see why they don't listen to me." Private Hive sulked in the main entertainment room, from the table he was sitting at, dejectedly eating chips.
"You have to understand Hive, leading is all about the carrot and the stick. Because Blood gives you orders, you think just using the stick will do. It doesn't work. Trust me." Scorcher said, as she ate another barbecued chip. The main entertainment area was festooned with Halloween decorations, including two very creepy scarecrows, and filled with all manners of junk food: candy, chips, pastries, soft drinks, and such, enough sugar to fuel a thousand fanbrats.
Unfortunately, the Hive students had spent so long getting junk food that they had neglected the horror film renting, and as a result a lot of the stuff that had been on the list was already out. After much searching and arguing, the group had finally settled on a fair number of films…and now they were arguing on what order to show them in.
"Come on! It's in the title!" Progeny said.
"What taste do you have? You wanted to rent Barn of the Blood Illma!"
"That's better then Troll II! There aren't even any trolls in it!"
"We couldn't get DeadAlive because of you either! My choice should go first!"
"Screw you…"
"ENOUGH!" Juryrig yelled. "I am writing all the names on a piece of paper and then picking them out of a hat! You have a problem? Go play with Gizmo!" Juryrig said, as he began writing the names of all the films down. The various Hive members sulked, but accepted it as they began pulling out couches and setting up the various TV's.
Jinx walked in mostly unnoticed and headed for the food, where Floral was pigging out on brownies.
"Hey Jinx! Missed you at dinner!"
"You look like you missed dinner." Jinx replied, looking over the table, which was covered with food and a few cameras: Jinx assumed for snapping pictures of the night. The old kind that used film, she noticed, which wasn't all that strange except that it seemed like everyone was going digital these days.
"I did! Hermes stole my food, left me a hot dog bun! So I fed it to Sash and came here to make up for it." Floral said. The Sash she was referring to was her pet, a plant that looked like a cross between a large red rose and a piranha plant from Super Mario Brothers. Which could talk a bit. It creeped most of the Hive out.
"Move." Came a voice, and then metal tendrils shot around the two women and grabbed a bowl of chips, taking the whole thing as the tentacles slid across Jinx and Floral, making them both shudder before they got angry.
"Hey! You could have asked politely!" Jinx yelled at Flense as he brought the bowl to him.
"Could." Flense replied, and flopped on a nearby couch as he began stuffing handfuls of chips into his gaping maw.
"Be polite Oz. Those people might be in charge of saving your life one day." Juryrig said.
"I doubt that." Flense said, chip crumbs spraying from his mouth. "I have me."
And then apparently deciding that where he was lying wasn't good enough, Flense got up and headed for another couch, which happened to be occupied by Rocko.
"Move over Rocky!"
"That's Rock-o." Rocko replied.
"I don't care if it's Moon Rock, your ass is covering that whole couch and I want a place to sit!" Flense said, as he tried to shove Rocko off the couch.
"You do?" Rocko said.
Her hand was clamped around Flense's head before he knew it, as Rocko lifted him up and dropped him off the edge of the sofa.
"Hope you're comfortable." Rocko said.
"Hey Wilby! Make your ass useful and help plug this up there!" Gizmo said, holding a large plug towards the teen.
"All right." Wilby said, as he got up. He concentrated, and then with a growling roar his power activated, as he nearly quadrupled in size and muscle mass as a gray armor costume folded out during the transformation and appeared on his body. He wasn't called Rhinoceros Beetle for nothing: this form possessed the strength of one, letting Wilby lift 850 times his own weight. Which was a lot. The downside was that strongmen usually commanded some kind of endurance or invulnerability to go along with their strength. Wilby had none: his huge muscled form was as vulnerable to pain as his normal body. Which is why he hadn't wanted to pick a fight with Sabotage: Sabotage was a martial arts expert who knew how to hurt people, and liked doing it.
At least it made him tall enough to put the plug in the out of the way setup Gizmo had done (Gizmo was fiddling with something else that he apparently needed to, otherwise he would have just flown up and inserted the plug himself, Wilby assumed). Gizmo yelled in triumph as the last of the computers he had set up came on (Gizmo had spent most of the day setting up the room, which was now filled with computers, TV's and systems to play games).
"All right! The night has started!" Gizmo said, as he hopped into a seat.
"Hey Giz." Flay said as he entered the room. "This place is well insulated right? Because a thunderstorm just broke outside. It's pouring."
"No worries! No water will be dripping on any cables! Come one, come all!"
"Your ass is grass Gizmo!" Buzz Bomb said as he flew over to a chair…that he couldn't sit in due to the mechanical bee abdomen jutting from his back. He settled for standing. Flay headed over and sat down too, and Mammoth, who had come because Shimmer wanted to play games and he wanted to keep an eye on her, took another spot. Besides him, Wilby saw that Shimmer was playing on one of the sole consoles and the mysterious Nightwalker was playing on another. Well maybe Gizmo would bug them if Gizmo wanted to change opponents so he would have different people to beat on. He sighed and resumed his own game.
Several Hive drones, aka the generic soldiers that guarded the base, nearly fell over as Hermes and Zippy blasted past them, the wind almost knocking them down. Zippy yelled sorry, but they never heard her: she was going too fast.
They ran past the game and movie rooms, not paying attention to who was inside, as the games room played and the movie room, having finally settled everything, was mostly sitting down as people put movies in (Jinx was still by the table, trying to decide what to eat).
And across the base…Brother Blood had a headache.
First of all, Control Freak either had really bad genes or he was a lot older then he claimed to be. Secondly, he was fat, unpleasant to look at, and unpleasant to smell as well. Thirdly, he loved to hear his own voice. Mostly in regards to how great he and his accomplishments were. When Blood had tried to mind control him to shut him up, he had found Control Freak had woven some kind of blocking spell: technosorcerer indeed. Blood growled within: his cyborgization was supposed to have IMPROVED his mental abilities, not weakened them!
So he'd been forced to listen as he tried to get Control Freak to demonstrate his remote, which Blood was definitely interested in, ff only for a distraction weapon: hard to keep someone from robbing a bank when a car was trying to eat you! And so on.
He'd tried walking with the annoying nerd to try and dull the pain, but eventually he'd ended up in one of the security rooms at the right end of the base and found he had nowhere else to go. Not to mention the room wasn't finished being fully repaired yet and hence had an unpleasant odor.
Enough. He'd cut to the chase.
"And then lemme tell you, I…" Control Freak was saying.
"All right, all right! That is all fine and good Mr., uh, Freak, but if you want to join my school, it can't be based entirely on past accomplishments!" Especially since a good many of them involved having our rears handed to us by those blasted Titans. "Why don't you show me just what that remote can do?"
"Sure!" Control Freak said, and snorted in the disgusting liquid way that spoke of lack of tact. Blood felt ill, and wondered how many Tylenol he was going to need to take tonight.
And the race went on…
And the thunderstorm grew in power…
Blood's pain was briefly alleviated by Control Freak showing that indeed, his remote could bring things to life.
Said pain returned when the newly enlivened items, including a chair, attacked Blood, as Control Freak, er, freaked and began rapidly pressing buttons to try and stop them. Blood stopped them first with a few quick energy blasts.
"Uh heh! Sorry! I'm so used to just having this thing set up so I'm protected I forgot they'd decide you were the target…" Control Freak nervously chuckled, as Blood pulled splinters out of his arm and glowered at the unpleasant man. "Don't worry though, it won't happen again!"
"Oh no, it won't…"
Hermes and Zippy entered the last leg of the race, a long straightaway that ended in the final room, when Hermes decided to cheat.
"HEY! NOMORESPEED!" Zippy yelled as Hermes suddenly broke away from her: the whole race had pretty much been them neck-and-neck. Well, if that was how he wanted to play, she could play it as well! There wasn't much room, she'd throw her throttle wide open and pass him before he could cross into the threshold she couldn't…
And she did, as electricity crackled on her and grew and grew, as her elemental powers came to the front…
And went farther then she planned, as she passed Hermes…and transformed into a lightning bolt.
That flew past Blood and Control Freak as they jumped in surprise and slammed into the computer mainframe Blood and Control Freak had been in front of.
It reacted about as well as one could expect.
And by that I mean it exploded.
Blood and Control Freak recoiled as the whole mainframe went to pieces, spraying them with debris, as behind them Hermes stopped on a dime and gaped at exactly what Zippy had inadvertently done. What on earth was the master doing in this room?
And…what would he do to Hermes when he found out he was partly responsible?
Hermes ran through his options and decided that Zippy was relatively protected with Scorcher watching over her. Blood couldn't do much to Zippy without risking her wrath, the knowledge he held for her or not. But Hermes had no such protection.
So it would be best if Blood never saw him.
He'd make it up to Zippy later.
And a moment later he was gone, out of sight and out of the Hive makeshift base, running off through the rain (while going so fast he could literally 'run between the raindrops' as the old saying went). He figured he'd head to Gotham: he'd be safer there then in Blood's crosshairs.
"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Blood screamed as the computer console continued exploding, even as a bolt of lightning shot out of a nearby plug in the hallway and reformed into Zippy, her face filled with worry.
"Oops." She said…and then realized she was alone. "Hermes?"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS SCHOOL! CAN IT NOT STAY TOGETHER ON ME!" Blood bellowed, the wrath that he had been planning to direct at Control Freak now transformed into wrath at pretty much everything.
His reaction mirrored the storm, as Control Freak watched him explode in rage…
"NOTHING GOES RIGHT ANY MORE! THE TITANS WIN! I GO INTO DEBT BEYOND BELIEF TO MAKE A PROPER BASE! I LIVE IN THIS HELLHOLE AND DEAL WITH ALL THIS DISOBEDIANT, PERVERTED BRATS AND I GET ABSOLUTELY NO RESPECT AT ALL! I AM TELLING YOU, I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! THIS IS MY WORLD! I AM ITS LORD AND MASTER! NOTHING IS SUPERIOR TO ME HERE!"
And the bolt of lightning, this time from the clouds, lanced down from the heavens and struck the clock tower, the electricity coursing through the base…
And erupting from the shattered computer station. And it had one goal.
Control Freak.
The poor bugger never even got a chance to scream, as the electricity struck him and he was frozen to the spot, caught in the grip of unimaginable power as he shuddered and spasmed. Blood, his rant stopped dead, took a step away and watched in amazement as the power surged on him, as smoke began rising from his body, a horrid stench filling the room, as his remote sparked and the energy crackling on him suddenly turned red…
Control Freak burst into flame.
And the energy, now a furious crimson, flew back from the burning, disintegrating Control Freak and at Blood, who yelled in surprise and held out a hand to form a shield.
He got one up at the last second, as the energy pressed against him and then diverted away, one stream flowing back into the wrecked computer apparatus…and the other arcing up towards the ceiling, slamming into it and carving a path of destruction across and through it…
Zippy screamed as sparks erupted from the whole room, recoiling away…
And then a groaning, cracking noise filled Blood's ears, and he looked up as he dispersed the shield.
As the ceiling, already in bad shape, not repaired, and holding up a lot of school, broke apart.
"Oh no." Blood said.
And then the rubble was crashing down, burying him below unbelievable weight.
And in his chair, Gizmo leapt up.
"YOU IDIOT BARAN! YOU KICKED THE MASTER OFF SWITCH!"
"Hey, I didn't know it was there!" Mammoth yelled back, all the computers screens having gone black because Mammoth had inadvertently turned off Gizmo's whole setup.
"That's no excuse you crud…"
The power exploded through the room, and while the computers were turned off they were still plugged in, resulting in all of them exploding at once. Everyone at the computers was too busy being thrown back from the sudden happening to see the beams of red power lance out and strike the game consoles that the others had been playing at, and even as they recoiled as well the systems and TVs exploded in turn.
"What the heck is that racket…" Scorcher said, as she turned her head…
And then the whole entertainment room went crazy as well, as the TV screens went to static and then suddenly exploded, red power arcing and dancing between the machines and shooting across the room. Jinx screamed and fell back as the refreshment table exploded from one stray bolt.
The power danced around the room a few seconds more, then concentrated and exploded again, blowing everyone over.
And then all the lights went out.
The whole Hive was plunged into darkness.
And in the darkness, a voice spoke.
"Ohhhhhhh…NOW WHAT?"
To Be Continued