Bruce Wayne: Crime lord, rich as can be. Age 43.
Slade Wilson: Bruce Wayne's partner, criminal genius. Age 37.
Richard/Dick Grayson: Bruce Wayne's most trusted thug. Age 21.
Victor Stone: Richard Grayson's best friend and fellow thug. Age 22.
Garfield Logan: The resident rat, dishing out secrets for the right price. Age 20.
Kori Anders: An extremely polite hooker. Good friends with Richard and Victor. Age 21.
Raven Roth: Practically lives at Bruce Wayne's bar. A very moody alcoholic. Age 21.
So, there's how it goes. Hope you all enjoy. Read on. Oh, and you may noticed that I've dropped the notice of putting whose view it's in. Just decided to become a little more professional…
I do not own Teen Titans.
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Illegal Lives
Chapter 1: Acquire The Goods
"You know those things will kill you, right?" Victor said in disgust. His best friend, Richard Grayson, just back in America from his trip to Japan, had just lit a cigarette.
"Yeah, I do, thank you very much, captain obvious," Richard replied without the faintest hint of really caring what Victor had to say.
"Just makin' sure. I thought you quit though?" Victor questioned. He distinctly remembered Richard saying that he was giving up smoking when he left a month earlier.
"Oh, I did, but that lasted about two days. The second I got to Japan I was breaking out another pack." Richard put the cigarette in his mouth and turned on the car. He put it into drive and backed out of the parking space they were in. "And since when do you care about my health?" He asked Victor.
"You're my best friend, man, of course I care. I just thought that you had a little more will power than this," Victor replied with a smirk. Richard shook his head and drove out of the parking lot, mumbling something that sounded strangely like "you're an ass."
Richard drove down the road quickly, going a little too much over the limit. It didn't really matter though, they had the cops paid off. Half the city was theirs. The other half was up for grabs. Their only seemed to be one crime lord doing anything, other than Bruce Wayne of course, and that was someone that went by the initials 'DS'. It was unknown who they truly were, but both Bruce and Slade regarded the mystery man, or woman, as a threat.
"It's not an easy addiction to break, and considering I've been doing it since my family died, I doubt I'm about to stop all these years later." Richard turned a corner sharply, ignoring the pedestrian that was attempting to cross the street safely.
"I'm not gonna judge ya. After all, we both remember my gambling addiction. I'm just saying, try not to do it so much. I don't want you to die on me" Victor said with an innocent smile. Richard gave him a guilt ridden look, then growled and tossed his cancer stick out the window.
"You might be the only person who could get me to put out one of those," Richard grumbled.
"What about Bruce?" Victor asked curiously.
"What about him?"
"Oh, c'mon. Everyone and their brother knows that Bruce scares the hell out of you. Hell, he's always scared you, or at least for the seven years I've known you." Victor tilted his head to the side and smiled.
"You think that old man scares me? Please, as if. Maybe when I was younger and just getting into his business, but not anymore." Richard's voice was a little shaky and he was avoiding looking in Victor's general direction.
"You need to learn how to lie better," Victor said.
"And you need to learn how to shut up," Richard shot back rudely. A twinge of anger shot through Victor.
"Hey," Victor leaned over near his friend. "Don't be such a dick, Dick." Victor put an emphasis on Richard's "other" name. He hated to be called Dick.
"I told you not to fucking call me that," Richard said. He stopped at a red light abruptly and turned in his seat. "I don't call you Vic, so you'd better not call me Dick." Victor laughed slightly. That much was true. They had a silent agreement not to call each other by any nicknames that the other hated.
"Alright, alright." Victor saw the light up above turn green, and he glanced down at a piece of paper next to him on the seat. "You're gonna wanna merge on right here for about five miles," He said, pointing out exit 53 to Richard, and his friend slid smoothly into the merging lane.
Richard glanced down at the paper that Victor was holding, trying to read some of the words. It had just occurred to him that he wasn't too clear on what their assignment was. He wasn't exactly the best listener when it came to Bruce Wayne talking. 'Too many lectures' He thought to himself as he got onto the highway fully.
"Shouldn't be too hard of a job. We're supposed to head to this house over on First and Third Avenue, where there are a group of teens staying," Victor answered.
Richard scratched his head. "And why are these kids so important to Bruce?" He asked.
"Hm… Bruce says that they managed to get into his mansion and steal something crucial. He just wants it back from these three, who called themselves 'The H.I.V.E.' and are apparently moving up in the crime business." Victor scanned the rest of the paper for anything else.
"Well, who are these kids and what the hell are we supposed to do with them once we get this so-called 'crucial' item back?" Richard asked impatiently.
"Stop calling them kids, they're all nineteen, it's not like you're much older," Victor replied. Richard sometimes got on his nerves with his attitude. "And Bruce never mentioned killing them or anything, so I guess it won't matter."
"And how about some background info on them?" Richard fired off another one.
"Three teens, no known names. It's like they just appeared out of the blue. Alls we have are some aliases. There's a large one, goes by Mammoth, who's apparently the brawn. Then there's Gizmo, some short hacker guy, who's supposed to be the brains. And-" Richard hit a pothole, interrupting him. "And there is a girl who goes by the name Jinx. Logan really didn't get much about-"
"Logan got this information? Shit, I should have known. Bruce has some creepy obsession with that little fucker, and thanks to that, Logan has some damn obsession with us. Why the hell are we even going on something that kid said after what happened before Japan?" Richard spat out. Victor shrugged.
"He made one mistake in two years of informing, big deal. We both got out alive anyways, didn't we?" Victor struggled to hide his anger. Truth be told, he was still mad at Logan for giving them some bad information; information that got Roy, another employee, shot. Rumor had it that Slade personally gave Logan a beating for that slip-up.
"Yeah, well, if you die, don't say I didn't warn you." Richard put on a signal and zoomed across several lanes of traffic before comfortably slipping into the merge off lane. They were only a few minutes away now.
"The guns in the trunk?" Victor asked, looking back behind them as if he could see through the seats. Richard cleared his throat, tapping Victor on the shoulder and pointing at the glove box.
"Should be two fully loaded guns in there." Richard glanced down at the directions, then turned down a street shortly after. Victor opened the glove box and looked around at the neighborhood.
"Shitty place," Victor said to Richard, who nodded.
"If you want to lay low, hiding out in a place like this isn't such a bad idea. Crappy housing is a small price to pay if it keeps you hidden." Richard shrugged after a curious glance from Victor, who proceeded to open the glove box.
"Five-seven…" He said under his breath. Victor took out a gun, made sure it was fully loaded, and then put it on the dashboard as Richard stopped the car outside a small house. Then he grabbed his own gun, making sure that it was loaded as well, and sat back in his seat.
"Let's just get this package and go. I've only been back from Japan for a little bit, haven't even had time to settle back into the apartment. I just wanted to relax a little, have a beer, watch some normal Tv, but no! Bruce just had to send me on another assignment." Richard gritted his, parking the car and then turning it off. He opened his door and got out, Victor following suit.
"Maybe you shouldn't have gotten into the business if you weren't prepared to do these jobs randomly. I mean, considering that Bruce took you in when you were just a kid, you'd think that you'd be a little grateful and do this stuff without question," Victor lectured.
"I am grateful, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to bitch and moan. I showed up for the job, and I think that's enough alone. I'm only going in with you to watch your back," Richard said. Victor grinned.
"Thanks a lot. Now let's get this over with." Victor's grin faded as him and Richard slammed their doors shut, and they walked around to the back door casually, trying not to attract attention to themselves.
"One, two, three," Richard whispered. Victor and him both jumped in front of the door, kicking it with all their might and bashing it open. The door hit the wall inside with a bang, and the two friends peered inside at three people sitting in the living room. They walked in slowly.
"Hey, what the hell is this?" The large one, obviously Mammoth, growled from the couch. Another one, short and bald, Gizmo, jumped up from a chair near the television that was on.
"Have a seat," Richard said, shoving Gizmo back into the chair, who promptly toppled over. Mammoth took a large step towards Richard, who lifted his gun and pointed it at the gigantic person towering over him. "Have a seat," He repeated firmly. Mammoth sat down, grumbling quietly.
"Call the girl out here," Victor said to Gizmo. He looked behind him into a dark back room, then shrugged.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Gizmo replied. He was a good liar, and had they not known that there was a girl actually living with them, Victor might have believed him. But that wasn't the case.
"Call the girl, now. Call Jinx," Victor ordered, showing that he knew the girl's name even.
Gizmo frowned, then turned his head back and bellowed, "Jinx, get out here!"
Richard and Victor took their eyes off of those in front of them to look at a half-awake girl walking out of the back bedroom. Her arms were raised in the air as she yawned.
"What's going on?" She asked sleepily. Jinx rubbed her eyes with both hands before opening them fully and staring straight at Victor. "Who are they?" She said quickly.
"Some guys, just burst in here and started ordering us around. If they didn't have those guns though…" Mammoth let his threat trail off with a piercing look from Richard, who was back to watching the other two. Victor, however, was still looking at Jinx.
She was shockingly pretty, definitely not the type of girl you'd expect to be hanging out with the two punks nearest him. She was wearing a black tank top that looked a little too small for her. Her bottom half consisted of a black skirt, and Victor could see part of what looked like black and purple striped stockings. She had long, bright pink hair, but it did nothing to distract him from her face, which was extremely pale.
"Sit down," Richard ordered, nodding at a spot on the couch next to Mammoth. Victor shook his head to get back to his senses, taking his eyes off of Jinx and focusing on the entire group as she took a seat.
"You guys just gonna gawk all day, or do you plan on telling us why you're here?" Gizmo spat out rudely. Richard and Victor both stared at him curiously. Consider that he was staring two guys with guns in the face, he sure was straight forward.
"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one?" Victor questioned. When Gizmo gave him a confused look, he continued. "We're here for something you stole. Our employer, Mr. Wayne, is looking to retrieve an item, a briefcase, and I'm sure that you have it here. Now, let's make this easy. Go and get the case," Victor finished calmly, watching as Gizmo looked at his friends for support.
"Are you deaf? He said to go get the case. Get it, or we can resort to doing this the hard way," Richard said. He brought his gun to head level, and Gizmo shot out of his chair and into the back room. He returned a moment later, carrying a black briefcase shakily. He stood back near the kitchen, unmoving.
"We can't give this to you, he'll kill us," Gizmo told them. "Jinx, Mammoth, help me out here…" He pleaded.
"He's right," Jinx said to Mammoth. She turned to them. "This isn't something we can just give back. I mean, DS will kill-"
"DS? You work for that guy? Who is he?" Richard spoke quickly, urgently. Victor knew that Richard was dying to know who DS was just as much as Bruce. But there was no answer, just a shrug from Jinx.
"We never got to see him, only spoke over the phone. He told us to steal that, then lay low and hold it for a while. We're supposed to get a huge payoff for this, and he said that there would be more jobs. But…" Jinx went silent.
"But what?" Victor asked quickly.
"He said he'd kill us if we screwed this up. He said that he doesn't want Wayne getting it back, cause he doesn't deserve it," Gizmo answered.
"Just get out," Mammoth roared, standing up from the couch. Richard fired a shot off into the air, bits of ceiling falling down from above slowly. Mammoth slowly backed down into his seat once again.
"I don't care what you have to say. Whether you three live or die does not matter to me, as long as I have the case. Now… give it to me, or I start shooting." Richard pointed his gun at Gizmo.
Victor could feel his heart pumping rapidly in his chest. Richard could normally be a nice guy, but when he was on a job, he was ruthless. He had a reputation in Jump. It wasn't as big of one as say, Bruce Wayne or Slade Wilson, but for a common thug, he was pretty well known. Victor forced a grin when Richard smirked at him.
"I'm not gonna die from you two punks." Mammoth shot up from the couch and charged at Richard, knocking his gun out of his hand and pushing him against the wall. Victor started to aim his gun towards the behemoth, but Jinx kicked the gun away from him. Gizmo stood back in the kitchen, frozen in fear.
"Little help here!" Richard yelled. Mammoth had him shoved against the wall and Richard was doing his best to not get crushed.
Victor dodged around Jinx, who was now wielding a knife, and grabbed his gun. He shoved her aside when she came at him, aiming wildly and firing a shot towards Mammoth, who got hit in the shoulder and fell forward in pain. Richard used that moment to shove him off.
"Don't point that at him!" Jinx yelled as Victor pointed his gun at Mammoth's back. She sliced the air, forcing Victor to fall back into a wall. A shot fired into the air as Jinx's arms flailed about, trying to hit Victor. He grabbed onto to both of her arms and looked behind her to see a smirking Richard stepping over Mammoth, who was on the ground in an increasingly growing pool of blood.
"Hey," Richard whispered. He had gotten next to Jinx and had the gun up against her temple. Jinx's eyes widened only for a moment, then Richard pulled the trigger, her head snapping to the side. Victor let go of her in shock, and the girl fell down to the ground.
"You didn't have to do that," Victor said angrily. Richard just frowned, shrugging.
A loud thump brought them back to reality. Gizmo had tripped over Mammoth's corpse, but he got up quickly and ran out the door. Victor scooped up his gun, then sprinted after him. Him and Richard reached the door quickly, and they both saw that Gizmo was halfway down the driveway.
"Out of my way," Richard mumbled under his breath. He took aim, closing one eye and firing a split second later. A strangled cry escaped from Gizmo's throat as he fell to the ground. Richard walked up and kicked him onto his back. "You should have just given us the case," He said, then fired a trio of shots into Gizmo's chest.
Victor sighed, watching while Richard kicked Gizmo into a clump of bushed and picked the briefcase off from the ground. A crowd was watching as they both climbed into the car. Richard tossed the case into the backseat, then started the car and floored it out of the neighborhood. Victor gave him a disgusted look.
"What?' Richard asked.
"You know what… you didn't have to kill them all, there was no point to it," Victor said in a bored tone. They had gone through this many times before.
"Oh, c'mon. That girl might have cut your throat if I didn't shoot her, and that other gun was gonna tear me to pieces, and I couldn't just let that short one get away. You should be glad… This way, you don't have any guilt on you." Richard talked as if he actually believed that he was doing Victor a favor.
"Just… drive." Victor turned his head to look out the window, silently trying to forget the faces of the people Richard had just killed.
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I felt a little iffy on this one. Didn't seem like such a bad chapter. Had some action, had some talking. A well mix. Things will liven up, and next chapter, you'll get to meet some more of the characters. You know, I usually think out the plot entirely before I start the story, but I haven't got a clue as to what I'm going to do with this one. Oh well, at least I have ideas for the next chapter.
Next chapter: Richard and Victor travel to Bruce Wayne's bar, where they discover that two fellow employees have died on two different assignments. Is someone knocking off members of Bruce Wayne's crew?
"It's a cat, just a cat."
-SinFire