Virtually every character in this project belongs to DC Comics in some way or another.
To be honest, I stopped watching the Teen Titans cartoon after they "killed" Slade, so I'm picking up after there. This story starts about two months after Slade and Terra died, and continues in my own timeline from there on. Hope you enjoy.
"You've caused so much trouble, and I can't even punish you for it. At least I can destroy you."
Terra raised her hand, and the statue, a pale imitation of her if ever there was one, shattered. Sadly, she got no thrill out of the destruction. She'd just avenged her master, but felt nothing. She hadn't even killed her clone, just destroyed a monument to her. Bowing her head, she contemplated her lack of emotion for a minute before one of the others with her spoke up.
"When are we going to start the revenge thing? I mean, I didn't sign up just to watch you blow stuff up. I want to blow stuff up too."
They didn't understand, none of them. But Terra didn't need zealots. All she needed was bodies, and the foursome she'd recruited certainly counted as that, if nothing else. She shook her head, clearing it of all distracting thoughts. She needed to be focused to pull this off. Turning, she faced her recruits. One was short and bald, clad in a green jumpsuit and carrying a metal backpack. Two of them, a large boy and a girl, looked very similar both physically and in costume, which made sense, seeing as they were brother and sister. The last was simply a freak, with a massive spider in place of his head. None of them were exactly geniuses, but each had their place.
"All right. Gizmo, Shimmer, I need you to come with me. Mammoth, Fang, there's someone else that knows about us. You two make sure she can't tell our enemies anything they don't already know. Any means necessary, understand?"
"Sweet. I can taste victory already."
Fang and Mammoth went one way while Shimmer, Gizmo and Terra went the other. Terra grinned. Soon, everyone else that had messed with her master would pay. All in due time.
Teen Titans
Fearsome
"Look, it's just that you shouldn't do that. This isn't Tamaran."
"But, I did not know he was only joking. He seemed serious."
"Yeah, but still, humans can't take that kind of punishment like you can, Star."
"You can."
"I'm diff-"
A shriek split the night air, and both Starfire and Cyborg stopped their conversation. Members of the Teen Titans, they'd had pretty few problems in the last couple of months; the disappearance of Slade had shut down most criminal activities in Jump City, and the entire team had been getting pretty bored. The two of them rushed down the alleyway the scream had come from, not knowing how soon they would be longing for boredom again.
The two of them found themselves staring down two old enemies, both standing over a huddled form. Mammoth, a massive young man, was staring down at the form, not paying any attention to his surroundings. The other, the spider-headed thug named Fang, was more attentive, and began slapping Mammoth on the shoulder.
"Dude, dude, dude! Titans!"
Mammoth turned, and his jaw almost dropped when he saw the duo at the other end of the alley. Grunting, he charged towards them. By unspoken agreement, Starfire rocketed at Fang, while Cyborg counter-charged Mammoth. The two bigger fighters clashed, while Starfire tried getting a clean shot at Fang without hitting his victim. Raising her arms, she readied a powerful blast of energy. As she brought her hands down to throw it, Fang shot a glob of webbing at her, sticking her hands together and setting off her starbolt right in her face. She managed to recover before she hit the ground, and redirected her efforts to removing Fang and Mammoth's victim from the scene, grabbing her by the waist and taking her on top of the nearest building. Cyborg saw none of this; he was trying to get some information out of Mammoth while they fought.
"Come on, man. Slade's done, and the rest of your kind have run off. What are you and ugly over there still doing here?"
"Wouldn't you like to kn-uff!"
Mammoth was knocked off his feet by one of Cyborg's punches. Staggering back, he found himself staring down the business end of his foe's sonic cannon. Fang, who was trying unsuccessfully to get Starfire down off the roof, jumped down, landing next to his partner-in-crime. Both of them pulled small devices off of matching belts, pressing the slight indentation on one end. Cyborg realized what they were doing, but only too late; the teleporters had activated, and Fang and Mammoth were gone before he could do anything about it.
"Cyborg? What are we to be doing with her?"
"The girl? We take her to a hospital."
"But . . . she would not likely stay there all that long. She is . . . an unwelcome person."
"What do you mean, Star? It's not like she's-"
Cyborg's words were cut off when Starfire brought the damsel in distress down to the street. She was very familiar, even though neither of them had seen her in a while. In fact, the last time they'd seen her, she'd broken into Titans Tower with Mammoth and Gizmo on an errand for Slade. Right now, though, Jinx didn't have a friend in the world, as evidenced by one of her former comrades beating the tar out of her in the street. The two Titans looked at each other. Neither wanted to be the one to say it, and neither had to; they both knew that, in order for Jinx to get treatment without immediately going to jail, they would have to take her to the Tower.
"Robin's not going to like this."
"I don't like it, but I don't see that you had any other choice. She might have valuable information, and we'd never get it out of her if she went to jail."
Robin was sitting in the main room of Titans Tower, looking over at Cyborg and Starfire. The two of them had contacted him as soon as they had saved Jinx, telling him what had happened. There had been a bit of an argument, until Cyborg had hinted that Jinx might have information on the last few super-criminals hiding in Jump City; at that point, Robin had practically jumped at the chance to get her there. Raven was in the medical room, using her powers to slowly fix Jinx's wounds. The last member of the team, Beast Boy, was nowhere to be found, and wasn't yet aware that an old enemy was holed up in the tower. The only thing to do now was to wait for Jinx to heal enough to answer their questions. Starfire asked the question that all three of them had been thinking.
"What if she does not wish to answer our questions? What if she attacks us?"
"What if who attacks us?"
All three of them turned to see green-skinned Beast Boy bound into the room. Jumping the back of the couch, he plopped down next to Robin. It took a second for him to realize that he was the only one smiling. It quickly faded.
"Dudes, did someone die or something?"
"We have someone in the tower that we think might be able to help us. She was-"
"She!? Is it Terra? Is she back?"
Robin looked to Starfire and Cyborg before shaking his head slowly. More than any of them, Beast Boy wanted Terra to be restored to life. With Robin's denial of his guess, his smile faded, drooping into a sad frown. Starfire put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and stormed out of the room. Starfire made a move to go after him, but Robin put an arm out to stop her.
"Leave him alone. He needs it."
"But . . . he needs a friend, someone to comfort him-"
"What he needs is for someone to get it through his thick skull that Terra's not coming back. We've tried everything, both my science and Raven's magic, and nothing's worked, even when we mixed the two. It just can't be done."
"And if we tell him that, he might snap. He loved Terra, and I don't know if he can take the idea of her being gone for good."
"This is not right. Does he not have a right to know this? If he finds out we hid this from him, he might do worse than if we simply tell him."
"Starfire, in this case, honesty is not the best policy. Beast Boy-"
"Isn't the issue right now. I've healed her as much as I can, and she should be talking within the next few hours."
The three Titans turned to the last member of the team. Raven's face was even more grim than usual; as the team's mystic, she had more reason to dislike Jinx than any other member of the team. In fact, it had taken most of Robin's cunning to convince her to help Jinx in the first place. She didn't show it, but the whole time she'd been in the medical room, she'd been trying not to smother Jinx with a pillow. As soon as Jinx spilled her information, if she had any, Raven was going to make a case for taking her to jail and leaving her there. Despite her emotionless face, something in her body language must have given her intentions away, because Robin felt the need to say something about it.
"Before you say anything, just remember that I almost did the same thing to you, when we first met."
Raven stiffened. She and Robin never talked about that first encounter, before she'd managed to get her dark side under control. She'd run wild, and in the end, Robin had asked something to help him stop her. The two of them had worked to get her emotions in the state they were today, and she had helped Robin form the Titans, but it was an unspoken agreement that they were not to speak of that time in her past. Fury shot through her mind for a second, but she tamped it down immediately. If she lost control again . . .
"I'm going to keep an eye on her. The rest of you, it's late. Try and get some rest, and I'll tell you anything she told me in the morning."
Robin went for the medical center, and the others scattered for their separate rooms, not knowing how the night would unfold.
"And you're sure they didn't change the codes?"
"They know my master's dead, and they think I'm dead too. Our whole base was destroyed, so they think there's no reason to change the codes. Tell that little creep to hurry up."
"Boss lady says-"
"I heard her. Crud-munching-"
"You know you sound like a little brat when you talk like that, right? I mean, you're, what, 15? Stop talking like a kid, or I'll whip up some way to shut you up permanently."
Gizmo muttered something under his breath, all of a sudden afraid to say it out loud. Shimmer was crazy, and with her big brother backing her up, she had no reason to control it. His big worry was that she'd flip out on him if he didn't get the door open fast enough for her. That worry went unrealized this time as, about a few seconds after he thought it, the lock disengaged. Shimmer strode purposefully through the door, with Gizmo tailing after her.
"So, what are we supposed to do, anyway?"
"Remove as many power players as possible. Raven's probably the most dangerous; we never got a good read on her when she let her emotions go, so I'm not entirely sure of the limits of her powers. Starfire's next, both because of her power and the fact that it'll drive Robin ballistic. Then Cyborg, Robin and Beast Boy, in that order."
"Cool. Think I'll try and grab a souvenir while I'm at it-"
"No. This isn't some kind of game. We have to strike hard and fast, so no grandstanding. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. Control freak."
This last was said after Shimmer turned off the communicator she'd been talking into. She really wanted to bring something home with her from Titans Tower, and no one, not even the slightly scary blond chick that had convinced her to leave the HIVE, was going to stop her. The only question was, what to take? She really wanted a utility belt like Robin's, but had no idea what kind of traps he'd have put into it after the few times it had been stolen. She couldn't think of anything else she could possibly want that was unique to a particular Titan, but she was certain she could find something, given ti-
"You're not from around here, are you?"
Shimmer drew back. She'd been so distracted by the thought of stealing something that she'd almost run right into Raven. The hero drew back, raising her hands. Shadows started forming around them, and Shimmer realized she had only one chance. Grabbing a handful of the smoke bombs in her belt, she threw them at Raven, concentrating on their contents very carefully.
"Azarath Metrio-ack-ack!"
While chanting her magic words, Raven had inhaled a lungful of the smoke Shimmer had doctored to be a little acidic. Now, she was coughing up blood as the gas tore through her lungs. She dropped to the ground, still coughing. Shimmer rolled her over on her side, and decided she'd found a souvenir. Unclipping the gemmed belt Raven wore, she fitted it around her own waist. A little big, but wearable. She turned around, finding Gizmo staring at her, aghast.
"What? Does it not match the rest of my outfit?"
"You . . . you just . . . that was awesome!"
"Sure. Now, let's get moving. Four more to go, dontcha know."
The two young super-villains were roaming the halls when they heard a movement from up ahead. Ducking in through one of the doors, they peeked around to find Cyborg walking down, carrying a massive sandwich. Gizmo grinned and gestured for Shimmer to let him take this one. Stepping out into the hallway, he fired a small rod out of his backpack. It hit Cyborg, and immediately began downloading several viruses into his system. They'd expected his reaction to be a simple falling down, but he surprised them; he shouted loud enough to wake the dead. Immediately, lights came on and voices sounded. Shimmer reached for her teleporter, but was knocked on the ground before she could activate it. Rolling around, she found herself staring into Starfire's green-on-green eyes. Starfire looked furious. Shimmer responded by willing the air around herself and Gizmo solid, forming a nigh-indestructible barrier between them and Starfire. Grinning like a demon, she activated her teleporter, vanishing from the Tower in the space between seconds.
"You have WHO in the med center!? And it never occurred to you that she might be a plant for Gizmo and his psycho girlfriend?"
Beast Boy was a little upset. Two of his best friends had been hurt pretty badly, and he was just now learning that a super-villain was being housed in the Tower. He hated the fact that the rest of the team had hidden this from him. Robin tried, unsuccessfully, to talk him down.
"She was unconscious the whole time. There's no way-"
"There's plenty of ways she could have been helping them! I mean, how much do you really know about magic? How much do any of us know, for that matter? And because you just had to get information from her, Cyborg and Raven are hurt!"
"Calm down. They'll be all right-"
"You're not the only member of this team, you know? The rest of us are here too, and you should try getting some opinions before you make your decisions."
"Fine. I was wrong. Next time, I'll get your input. For now, though, we have to see if she can help us. Agreed?"
Beast Boy nodded, too upset to speak. He followed Robin into the med center; if Jinx saw a show of force, she probably wouldn't get any ideas about trying to fight her way out. Secretly, though, he hoped she would try, just so he could take out some of his frustration out on her. As he walked through, he tried not to look at Raven, who was breathing through an oxygen mask. The damage the acid gas had done to her had been horrific, and it would take even her healing powers a while to fix all the damage. Cyborg wasn't there, opting to remain plugged into his computer while he tried to remove Gizmo's viruses. The part that scared him was that the duo had known exactly how to remove his teammates from the line-up. Even he had to admit that Jinx wouldn't have that kind of knowledge. Whoever had put them up to this had someone on the inside, or used to. He pushed those thoughts out of his head, trying not to be distracted when he and Robin worked Jinx over. He couldn't be of any help if his mind wasn't focused. Robin sat down on the bed next to Jinx and began his questioning.
"Do you know where you are right now?"
"Y-yeah, but . . . why am I here? I thought you guys hated me."
"I'll ask the questions. Why were Fang and Mammoth attacking you?"
"I didn't want to join their team. After you guys kicked us out of here, I realized that I didn't want to spend my life on the run. I ran away from the HIVE, and tried to make my own way, but . . . they found me. Shimmer and some girl came to me and asked if I wanted payback. I thought something wasn't right, so I turned them down. Next thing I know, Mammoth and – Fang, you said? – came after me. I thought they were going to kill me, but-"
"Shimmer?"
"Mammoth's kid sister. She can change the chemical makeup of pretty much anything. She's also a Grade-A psycho. I take it she's the one that did the number on her?"
She pointed at Raven, and Robin nodded.
"Figures. But, if she wanted to kill her, she'd have done it. Whoever's in charge scares Shimmer to death, or she'd've killed without a second's hesitation."
"This girl that was with Shimmer, who was she?"
"I'd never seen her before, but I guess she was in charge of those two. She did all the talking."
"What did she look like?"
"Blond with long hair, wearing some kind of armor. She kept talking about how you guys took someone away from her, and she was going to make you pay for it. She seemed pretty upset about it."
Robin waved Beast Boy over with him, away from Jinx. Beast Boy was the first one to speak.
"It's not her."
"It sounds like her."
"It's not. Terra was one of us, a Titan. And besides, she's frozen, remember?"
"She betrayed us. And she was the only other person who knew the codes to get into the Tower-"
"Terra wouldn't do this! I know she wouldn't!"
"Um . . . do you think I could see a picture of this Terra? I don't mean to intrude or eavesdrop, but you were yelling, and I couldn't help but overhear."
"We can show you her, if you feel up to travel."
"No!"
"I think so. Just give me a few minutes to get used to walking again, and then you can show me."
Beast Boy dropped to his knees, struck dumb by the sight of Terra shattered all over the ground. Starfire and Robin immediately took up defensive positions next to each other, while Jinx took her own stance apart from them. Slowly, she edged over towards the wreckage of the statue, but stopped when a voice sounded from overhead.
"Yes, it's me, or at least as close as the Titans have ever known."
All four super beings recognized that voice, although none but Jinx had heard it sound as harsh as it did now. Five large rocks descended from above, each carrying a different villain. Mammoth, Shimmer, Gizmo and Fang got off theirs immediately, while Terra remained on hers, glaring murder at Robin. Beast Boy perked up immediately when he saw Terra.
"You're . . . you're okay-"
The head of the shattered statue smashed him in the face before he could say another word. Robin's hands immediately shot for his utility belt, but a pillar of stone shot him into the air before he could get anything. Terra lifted into the air after him, and the other four super-villains looked to each other for a second before rushing Beast Boy, Jinx and Starfire. Robin saw only the beginning of this, as the earth on the ceiling of the cavern wrapped around him, pinning him there. Terra floated up in front of him, still looking furious.
"What happened to you? I thought you changed-"
"Don't talk to me like you ever knew me. The Terra you knew was a clone, a backup in case anything happened to me. Somehow she got loose, and Slade tried to rein her in."
"Fine. But, if Slade had you, why did he need me?"
"I was supposed to be your right hand, your enforcer when you took over protecting the city from him. He thought you would be the best replacement."
"He wasn't protecting the city! He tried to take it over-"
"As a last resort after you snubbed his offers to train you! Have you ever asked yourself why guys like Mumbo Jumbo and Overload never unleashed their full potential? Mumbo could easily erase you Titans from existence with a few words. Overload could take over the city's computer networks in seconds. They never tried because they were terrified of what Slade would do to them if they did! Slade kept this city together in ways you could never imagine, and now he's gone, all thanks to you!"
"And the goon squad down there?"
"The Fearsome Five were supposed to destroy you while you slept. If we can wipe you out, then maybe the organizations looking to move in here will think twice."
"Other organizations? What are you talking about? What other organizations?"
"If I do this right, you'll never need to know who they are. Goodbye Robin. Can't say I'll miss you much."
Robin dropped like a brick once the ceiling let go of him. Flailing for his belt, he found it cased in rock. Terra knew him all too well, and had figured he would be dead without his utility belt. He still had one trick she'd never found out about, though. Grabbing the edges of his cape, he activated the charged fibers in his gloves. The current sparked through his cape, which formed into a rigid glider wing. He flew a short distance before Terra tried bringing the ceiling down on him. Disengaging the glider, he hopped from one rock to the next, riding them to the ground. When he got there, he took quick stock of what was going on.
Beast Boy was, in the form of a mountain gorilla, taking Cyborg's place as tank, holding Mammoth in place away from the rest of the team. Starfire was rocketing around the cave, trailed by Gizmo, who was using the jet in his backpack to chase her. Jinx was facing off with Fang, who was taunting her.
"Go ahead, try those little 'hex blades', or whatever you call them now. They didn't work last time, and they won't wor-"
Jinx didn't use a bladed blast, but a concussive one instead, knocking Fang into Shimmer, who had been sneaking around to turn the air around Starfire to rock. The two of them bounced along the ground for a few seconds before coming to a stop. As they tried to stand up, Shimmer gave Fang a not-so-subtle kick. He responded by shooting a glob of webbing at her hand, sticking the little gas bomb she'd pulled out into her palm. The gas spurted out, burning her hand. Her scream drew Mammoth's attention immediately; the large metahuman knocked Beast Boy aside and rushed his spider-headed ally in a blind fury. Robin looked over at Jinx, impressed.
"How did you-"
"I know them. Shimmer's petty and vindictive, and Mammoth's overprotective. I just had to get someone on his side to hit her, and both get taken out."
A wail sounded from above, and both watched Gizmo come crashing down, one of the wings on his jetpack broken off. He came down on Mammoth's head, dazing both of them. All of a sudden, Fang found himself alone against Jinx and the Titans. Before he could make his next move (probably a retreat), a wall of stone rose up between the two groups. Terra dropped down onto it. She didn't look angry anymore, but instead very sad.
"Fine, you win. Congratulations on proving to the world that Slade's organization has been beaten. Have fun when the other groups move in. We're leaving."
Dropping down to the other side of the wall, Terra and the rest of the Fearsome Five trudged off. Robin thought about pursuing for a second, but decided against it. They were beaten enough. Besides, if what Terra said was true, the team had more important things to worry about.
Jinx sat on the beach, staring out over the ocean. She didn't want to leave; her time with the Titans had shone her what kinds of good she could do to make up for her previous life choices. The problem was, she knew the team wouldn't trust her. She couldn't blame them for that; she'd caused them a lot of trouble before. Standing up, she turned, hoping to find a way off the island before anyone saw her leaving. She hadn't gotten very far when Robin found her.
"Hey. Got a minute?"
"No. I should get going. You know, get out of your hair before-"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. You did pretty well against the Fearsome Five, and we could use someone that can think like our enemies, especially if what Terra said was true about-"
Jinx threw her arms around Robin's neck. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she belonged somewhere, a feeling she'd never felt during her time in the HIVE. Pulling back, she grinned at him.
"I take it that's a yes?"
"It is. And just so you know, you have one of the worst sales pitches ever."
"You know, you're not the first person to tell me that."
"Who was the first?"
"Well, it's a long story . . . "
Hi, Feral2k here. I haven't done this before, but with this project, I've decided to put a mini-commentary at the end of each chapter to explain some of the stuff I've done and the reasons why. To be honest, I'm starting it with this story so I can have some defense prepared for the Terra fans who will inevitably flame me for making her evil again. Well, here goes.
Terra and the Fearsome Five
I needed someone to give the Titans a heads-up for what's coming, and Terra felt like the natural choice for that. She's the only one that was close enough to Slade to know this sort of stuff and still be able to relate to the Titans. Invariably, though, she had to hate them. If she had just appeared and given them the information, it would have seemed too pat, and I didn't want that. Also, I wanted to give Slade's dealings with the team more meaning than they had. He needed a reason for wanting to train Robin, and successor seemed like the best choice for this. It's important to note that, while Terra refers to her heroic version as a clone, I haven't decided which one is/was the real Terra. This will eventually be answered, but I think I'll have fun torturing Beast Boy with this question for a while.
We have a motive, now we need a means. While Terra would be a threat to each member of the team individually, we've already seen that, working together, they can take her with no problem. She needed minions, someone she could teach the Titans' tactics to that would use that knowledge to its most advantageous end. She needed something more than Slade's robots. She needed more than behemoths like Cinderblock and Overload; Plasmus has his own loyalties, which will be revealed later. In the end, Mammoth and Gizmo were naturals. I considered Jinx for a few seconds, but decided she would work better with the Titans than against them. I brought Shimmer in, mostly because I was always bummed that she never showed up or was even referenced in the show. Fang was a last-minute call, mostly because I couldn't figure out how to get Blackfire in the role of follower. In the end, he worked better than she ever could; his powers were more useful than Blackfire's. The assault on the Tower provides the perfect opportunity to show off Shimmer's deadly possibilities, and Raven was the easiest for her to hit, seeing as she needs to breathe to use her powers. Plus, Raven would have shut down the Fearsome Five way too quickly. In all, the roster came out pretty rounded, and they worked out perfectly. Don't count them out just yet.
Jinx
Like I said, Jinx was going to stay a bad guy when I started this. I started writing when I realized that someone had to get the message of Slade's right-hand girl building up a villain team. Jinx was the only villain that fit; Shimmer was too unknown (and too psychotic to serve with the good guys), and none of the other three would agree to switching sides. Plus, it gave the team another mystic, which they are going to need by the time this story plays out. Jinx's villainous past will definitely bring up a few stories and, even when she's not the main character, will keep the other members of the team on their toes. Plenty of opportunities there.
What's next for our heroes? Three distinct organizations trying to take over their beloved Jump City, that's what! The Scions of Darkness, Blood Syndicate and Brotherhood of Evil all have designs on the city now that Slade's gone, and the Titans are caught in the middle of their war. Hope to see you back here when the next chapter hits!