Disclaimer: I don't own much: a huge pile of notebooks, some pens, a few people floating around in my head, some disks, and my Japanese flashcards. Do you see "Teen Titans" in there anywhere? Didn't think so.
Rory: Here's the first chapter of "Greener on the Other Side," my post-Thicker Than Water masterpiece. It should be pretty good, actually, so I recommend you read it.
Secretarial crap:
Again, don't own Teen Titans.
Dedicated to the wonderful kids in my freshman class. If they read it, they may know why.
This story takes place after Sisters, Thicker Than Water, Oh Brother, and the Lake Huron Monster, respectively. While you don't necessarily need to read these stories, you should know the general basics.
Some OCs are in here that you may not know if you're a first-timer. Sierra is Terra's sister, hence the name. Starfire's family includes her brother Darkfire and her cousin Saffire. Beast Boy has a cousin named Andy or Claw who may pop up. Wasp is Bumble Bee's brother, and he's with Titans East. The only other person is Hydra, a French Atlantean (don't ask).
: Deep breath : Okay. Now read this.
A pair of thin blonde girls huddled in the shadows outside a plain, two-story house on the outskirts of a small Florida town. They looked quite a bit alike, except for their eyes: one's were light brown, the other's blue. The girl with blue eyes pulled a round, yellow device from her pocket and pressed a button.
"Terra to base. Terra to base. Robin, do you read me?"
The smooth voice came in the girl's earpiece. "Reading you loud and clear, Terra."
She nodded, although he couldn't see her. "I'm sick of this stakeout, Robin. Can we enter the building or not?"
"Not yet," he said. "We're almost done evacuating the hospital. On my say-so, enter and apprehend."
Next to her, Sierra grumbled something in incoherent Markovian about stupid bird boys. Terra stifled a giggle and sighed into the communicator, "Fine."
She resettled to the ground, annoyed at the leader for denying her demolition privilege. Silently, she pulled the specially designed, computerized goggles over her eyes and pressed a button. With a quiet click, the goggles turned into binocular lenses.
"Sierra, I've got a visual," she informed her sister. "He's in the living room. And he seems to be – er – never mind, I don't really feel like describing this display of male disgustingness." Terra was bright pink, turning away from the window.
Her sister rolled her eyes. "Right. I'll look." When she did, Slade had finished with whatever it was Terra hadn't particularly liked and had begun something new. "Tara!"
She moved closer, peering into the window as well. "What the – what's he doing? It almost looks like – "
" – A bomb!" Sierra sucked in a quick breath. "Oh, no."
Terra whipped out her communicator quickly. "Robin! I really hope you're done rallying the hospital folks!"
His voice came crackling over the transmitter. "What? No, we're not. Just the Children's Services kids in for checkups left. Why? Did something come up?"
"Uh, yeah," she said. "He's sorta got a little thing we like to call a bomb!"
"Oh, crap," he said. "Well – just go in there and do what you have to do."
Five miles away, Robin clicked his communicator shut, shaking a bit. Starfire floated over, concerned. "Robin? What news did Terra have?"
He looked up, straight into her eyes. "Slade – has a bomb."
Swallowing, Starfire replied edgily, "We must get the sick people away from here. There are not too many left. Darkfire took the ICU patients with cousin Saffire and friend Speedy."
Robin seemed to be calculating something. "You say there aren't too many left. Who's still here?"
She thought, glancing back at the hospital building. "Raven has just arrived on the roof," she said. "Friends Cyborg and Beast Boy are still inside. Bumble Bee and Mas y Menos are taking some of the healthy-making people to another place. And us."
Sighing, Robin made a quick decision. "Take Raven and head over to City Hall. I'll help Beast Boy and Cyborg round up the remaining kids."
"But – " She dropped her train of thought at the look her boyfriend was giving her. "I will find Raven," she said, a bit meekly, and flew off.
"Good luck," he said softly, then ran towards the building.
He found the other two boys on the ground floor of the hospital. They were, to put it lightly, swamped. Ten toddlers were crying and screaming, running away from Cyborg, who was trying to coax them out but only succeeded in scaring them further. Beast Boy managed to get some nine- and ten-year-olds to sit somewhat quietly on the floor, but many more were just hanging around. He noticed Robin at the door.
"Dude," he said. "HELP!"
With his help, Beast Boy and Cyborg managed to get thirty-four kids rounded up and out to the waiting rescue squad of Wildebeest, Hotspot, and Claw. Then, they returned inside at Robin's insistence.
"There could be some kids left," he said, dragging them back in. The other two shuddered as they felt a slight tremor. They didn't want to think about what Terra may be doing to Slade at the moment.
The corridors of the hospital were dim, lit through thick windowpanes by the glow of the setting sun. Beast Boy wrinkled his nose. His strong sense of smell picked up lingering traces of chemicals and medicine. He hated these sorts of places, but it was an emergency. Who was he to deny help to the citizens of a city in need?
"I'm not sure if anyone's here, Robin," Cyborg said. "I'm not picking anything up on my scanners."
He nodded, but told Cyborg to "keep going." Robin seemed tense, almost as though he was thinking of something horrible that he was afraid of. Cyborg considered the things the boy had gone through, and decided that he was entitled to paranoia.
"Wait, I'm getting something," he said, stopping. "But you aren't going to like this."
Turning to his friend, Robin looked puzzled. "What?"
"There's a heat signature of a person about BB's size, but it's two floors below ground."
Meanwhile, the 'heat signature' shifted. She was very tired, and completely terrified. Her parents had died the week before, and she was in for the official checkup so she could be adopted. Sao Rai Lang had always been terrified of doctors and hospitals, especially after her parents' car accident, but this put the icing on the cake.
Shivering, Sao hopped from the stool she'd been perching on and sat on the floor. The doctor who had been checking her had gotten a call and abruptly left the room – locking it behind him. She couldn't get out, even if she wanted to – and she wanted that desperately. The power had gone out an hour ago, and Sao had been left in the complete darkness.
I hate the dark, she thought, quivering.
Then the quakes started. They began small, then grew. Shockingly, the girl was completely convinced that they would split the ground.
Although she was thirteen years old, Sao was very tiny. She was three inches under five feet tall and barely tipped the scales at eight-seven pounds. Her black, shiny hair was fixed in two ponytails and went down almost to the floor. The children's service lady, Miss Smith, had said she could get it cut after her doctor's appointment as a treat. Sao had always wanted short hair.
She sighed. "Why am I thinking about stupid stuff?" she asked the darkness plainly. "I always do this. I think about the stupidest stuff when I'm scared." Then, she grinned, although no one was there to see her. "Or I talk to myself."
Then she heard a sound. It sounded like scuffling. Carefully, Sao moved to the now fading crack that marked the door and pressed her head against it. She wasn't going crazy; there were voices out there!
Shrinking from the door, she wondered vaguely what to do. Surely they had to be good people – but what if they weren't? What if these people where horrible? Looters, maybe? She ducked against something, now nearly frozen in fear.
"Hello?"
Her breathing quickened. They knew she was in there!
"Get back!" the deep voice commanded.
There was a scratching sort of noise, and then what sounded like thunder. As it grew closer, the door suddenly burst into splinters. Screaming, Sao clung even harder to the thing next to her.
A light shone in her eyes when she opened them, and a small shape was crouched next to her. "Hey, are you all right?" a young voice asked.
She trembled. "Leave me alone!" she whimpered. "I – I'm scared. Go away!"
The source of the light, a tall, squarish sort of boy, looked over his shoulder. "We need to get moving."
The figure near Sao – which seemed male – bobbed its head. "Sorry, but I don't have a choice, he told her, then picked her up.
Apparently, this was the wrong thing to do. She bit him, terrified as she was. Yelling, he dropped her, and Sao looked up at the person who was trying to kidnap her. His eyes were green. Heck, he was green. She just simply stared at him.
I just bit a Teen Titan.
He picked her up once more and started running towards the hall. Suddenly, a huge tremor rocked the earth. Sao expected it to last a few seconds like the last one, but it dragged on, longer and longer, and it seemed to be picking up in power.
The taller figure – Cyborg, Sao realized – cursed. "Hit the decks!" he yelled, flipping open his arm. "Robin! We've got the girl! But – Robin? ROBIN!"
"Dude, forget it!" Beast Boy yelled, setting Sao on the ground. "Just get on the floor!"
The three ducked as the earthquake trembled and raged. Robin skidded into the hallway, diving towards Cyborg. "Are you all right?" he yelled over the shake.
His friend nodded. "God! I hope Terra and Sierra let up a bit soon!"
There was a scream, then everything was still. Slowly, the three Titans stood, Robin swearing as he examined his green tights, Beast Boy nursing his ripped-open arm. Robin sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God everyone's all right."
From the ground came a whimper, and they noticed that for once Robin was wrong.
Not everyone was all right.
Terra pulled herself from the ruins of Slade's house. The battle had gone horribly wrong, and she and her sister were both injured, bleeding, and wiped out. Sierra was pinned down under a rock. "T-Tara," she whispered. "Are you all right?"
She nodded. "You aren't." She lifted a hand to elevate the rock, but her sister stopped her.
"DON'T!" she gasped. "You're worn out as it is! You push yourself any harder, and you'll turn again!"
Realizing that she was right, Terra lowered her hand. "Fine. I'll do it the old-fashioned way." She dragged herself over and pushed the rock off. Then, she collapsed, breathing heavily. "I – don't feel so good."
Sierra nodded, sitting up with a groan.
Something shifted some rocks nearby, and they twisted around, both completely helpless. Starfire stood on a rock with her brother behind her. "Terra," she said, "Where is Slade?"
Terra shook her head. "He's gone," she whispered. "He got away."
The girl tensed, then sighed. "All right. We will take you back to the Titans."
"Oh my God," Beast Boy said.
The girl they'd been trying to save was lying under a rock, looking like a broken doll. There was a huge gash in her side, stretching from her arm to her hip, and she was bleeding profusely. The three boys knelt by her.
Robin started tearing off what remained of his tights. Beast Boy gave him a quite disgusted look. "We have to stop her bleeding," he explained, ignoring the fact that he was bleeding from both legs and arms plus a head wound. He got the green stuff into strips and wrapped it around the girl's torso, binding her bleeding injury. Nodding, Beast Boy, the only undamaged member of the team, started ripping off his sleeves. Between the two of them, they managed to get the girl covered.
Cyborg pulled a dog tag from around her neck. "Dude, I thought these things went out after Vietnam," he commented. "Says her name's Sao Lang, blood type AB negative."
Robin nodded a bit. "She needs a blood transfusion," he said. "Now. She'll die if she doesn't get some in her system." He sat down dizzily. "I've got – type O – "
"You are not donating blood in your condition," Cyborg scolded. "You'll die, and we'll all be worse off."
Behind the mask, his eyes narrowed. "Who will?"
Simultaneously, they turned to Beast Boy. He gave then a creeped-out look back. "What are you lookin' at me for?" he asked. Then he realized. "No," he said, flat-out. "I can't give her my blood! Do you know – "
"Do I know that this girl will die if she doesn't get blood soon? Yes, I do," Cyborg said. "Do I know that if Robin gives blood, there's a pretty good chance he'll die too? Yeah, I do. Do I know that I don't have blood? YES, I DO!"
Robin gave him a regretful look. "You have to, Beast Boy," he said. "It's the only way."
Beast Boy gave his friends a very distrustful look. They didn't realize what they could be doing. "Fine. Get the needle ready."
Rory: Hmm. What could come of this? No good, I tell you!
So I'll post again Tuesday. Enjoy this somewhat short chapter while you can!