"I-I'm not quite sure I know what you mean." The young girl stammered, a light blush across her cheeks as she stared down at her feet. Her taller male companion smirked and placed a finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. The girl's sun kissed hair fell away from her face to reveal blue eyes, a striking icy color.
"I think you know exactly what I mean." He murmured. The girl's eyes widened and she was frozen, staring into his face. "Find him and bring him to me, it's not so hard."
The girl swallowed hard and nodded her head. The boy chuckled and patted her like a pet before she was momentarily blinded and he disappeared into the night, leaving the girl alone on the dimly lit city street at midnight. Immediately following the boy's departure the girl's entire demeanor changed. She let out an exasperated breath of air and put an aggravated hand on her hip. Then, with a snap of her finger, she too was gone.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
In Jump City, Titans Tower to be exact, five superhero friends sat around silently, a defeated air about them.
"I can't believe we got our butts kicked by those Hive jerks again." Beast Boy finally broke the silence. Robin and Raven immediately glowered at him, Cyborg rolled his eyes, and Starfire looked down at her feet shamefully. Silence settled over them again. Beast Boy pouted at his failed attempt at conversation and slouched back into the couch with his arms crossed.
After a few minutes Robin spoke up. "There was something different about them this time." He said carefully. Prior to speaking he had obviously been in deep thought and he now had the full attention of his team. Raven nodded her head as if she had come to the same conclusion and Robin went into his explanation.
"For one thing they didn't say anything. Usually we can't get that brat, Gizmo, to shut up, but he didn't say a word the entire time. And Jinx, she always tries to get in your head and make you mad. It's as if they weren't in control of themselves. We know that the Hive Academy has a history of brainwashing their students, but this was beyond anything we've seen them do before. They didn't only have new minds, they had new strengths and powers."
"Like they were robots." Beast Boy said in a mechanical voice, moving his arms in jerky motions and shuffling around the room. Cyborg narrowed his human eye and smacked Beast boy on the back of the head so that he fell forward onto his face.
"Enough!" Robin snapped. Everyone was quiet as the boy wonder walked over to the window that overlooked the entire city. His spine was stiff and his arms were crossed. His teammates recognized Robin's universal sign of 'do not disturb me' and began to disperse to leave him alone with his thoughts.
"I have much of the 'catching up' to do with my new Earthly reading device." Starfire said with a broad grin, proud of her newfound skill of reading. No one bothered to tell the Tamaranian girl that it was called a book since she was already soaring from the room.
"Whatever." Came Raven's indifferent statement, as she strode out of the room as well. Cyborg opened the panel in his robotic arm and began tinkering with something. He headed towards the garage mumbling some sort of explanation that Beast Boy didn't quite catch. The changeling stood alone for a second before breaking the silence in the huge room that he and Robin stood on different sides of.
"It wasn't them, Robin." Robin looked a Beast Boy over his shoulder, his mask drawn down in look of confusion.
"Beast Boy what are you talking about?" Robin asked. Beast Boy wasn't known for his brilliant ideas and observations, but it was clear to Robin by the tone of his friend's voice that Beast Boy was serious.
"They didn't… smell like themselves." Beast Boy said, scrunching up his nose for emphasis. Robin sighed impatiently. He had actually almost expected an intelligent response.
"Thanks Beast Boy, I'll keep that in mind." Robin said, dismissing the green boy. Beast Boy's ears drooped and his entire face fell. He knew Robin was only trying to appease him and didn't really believe a word he said. Robin already had his back turned again, so Beast Boy shuffled over to the pantry for some snacks. If Robin wanted to do his thinking alone, fine! Beast Boy was grabbing some brain food then heading to his room for some thinking of his own! He could imagine it now, solving a mystery that the boy wonder couldn't. Then, the next time he had something to say, people would actually listen.
A smirk found its way onto Beast Boy's face and he thrust the cupboard open with a newfound confidence. The sight that met him made him droop again. The Titans were all out of food.
"Uh Robin?" Beast Boy called uncertainly. He had already interrupted Robin once. "I'm gonna run out to the store." No response. "Do you, uh, need anything?" Beast Boy added. There was silence and Beast Boy nodded to himself bitterly. "Yeah, that's okay, I wasn't gonna buy you anything anyways…"
The changeling pouted all the way down the hall, down the stairs, through the garage (where Cyborg didn't even notice him), and out of the tower. Once he was out Beast Boy morphed into a hawk and arrived at the store in a matter of minutes. But he wouldn't return home for several hours.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Licorice, Root Beer, Marshmallows, Bubble Gum…" Beast Boy rifled through his cart as he ticked off the 'brain food' items on his shopping list. He moved things out of the way to make sure he had everything. When he couldn't find the can of cheese he was positive he bought he stuck his head into the mess of junk looking for it.
"Where is that damn-" Beast Boy walked toward the cash register until something blocked his path and he was abruptly pushed backwards. Only when he stood up did he realize that it was a someone that had stopped him.
"Oh wow! I'm sorry, are you okay? Damn cheese…" Beast Boy muttered to himself as he rushed over to the girl he had hit. He had obviously slammed into her from behind, as she was sprawled out, face down on the floor having been caught off guard by him and his cavity on wheels. Beast Boy held the girl by her upper arm and helped her onto knees. He let the stranger go and sat back to assess the physical damage he may have caused. He seemed to need to do that a lot.
The girl had yet to lift her head and Beast Boy had a sinking feeling that she had broken her nose or something when she fell, but when she looked up it was strikingly not the case. Beast Boy felt his heart stop beating in his green chest.
The victim of his klutziness was a sight to behold. She had sandy blonde hair, tousled a bit from being thrown to the ground, but long and glossy nonetheless. She was wearing a simple blue v-neck shirt, faded denim shorts with black tights underneath, and brown leather lace-up ankle boots. She had a button nose and full lips, but that wasn't what caught his attention.
He immediately found himself drawn in by her icy, piercing blue eyes.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Once Beast Boy had finally picked his jaw up off of the ground he stuck his arm out to the girl in an awkward and jerky fashion. The girl's eyes widened when she found Beast Boy's arm thrust inches from her face. Slowly she looked him up and down, in a calculating fashion. Something seemed to click in her mind and her eyes came into focus. The stranger took Beast Boy's outstretched hand with a lazy grin.
"I'm so sorry I hit you! My name is-"
"Beast Boy?" The girl interrupted. Beast Boy blushed and the girl giggled, tilting her head to the side cutely so that her long hair swayed.
"Uh… yeah." Beast Boy stated dumbly. The girl jumped onto her feet and pulled the stunned hero up after her, still holding his hand.
"I'm Madison." She stated in a lively manner. Beast Boy just nodded his head some more and stared into her eyes. On the thin layer of reality her eyes were something special. Deep and entrancing and nice to look at. But if Beast Boy could see beyond all that and read her true intentions, he would have been smart to either run or kill her on the spot.