The rain pattered on the ceiling of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. It seemed to have been storming everyday lately, but then again, who was even keeping track of days in this new world?
It had been six months after Mojo Jojo and Slade had created their Kill Klan that had wiped out almost a third of the world's population. They're army was ruthless and cruel, bringing tragic ends to many of the world's greatest heroes.
But there Robin stood…at the front door of Foster's.
He had survived six months along with his team, the Teen Titans, and their own army that had built up called the Hope Alliance. The Hope Alliance was made up of some of the world's greatest heroes. Together, they had saved survivors from impending doom outside and brought them back to Foster's. Now they are watchmen who look over the house and fend it off from any intruders such as the Skyrunners.
The Skyrunners were a breed of super-intelligent robots created by the devious Gizmo to help bring an end to the resistance against the Kill Klan. Naturally, people didn't respond well to a villain organization taking over the world, so the Skyrunners existed to make sure anyone who didn't follow their rules was terminated.
The Hope Alliance had dozens of encounters with the Skyrunners and had even lost a few members at their hands, but they had also learned that they were not completely indestructible as Gizmo tried to make them be. On one mission, Bubbles had used her supersonic scream to short-circuit a Skyrunner and made it self-destruct.
Robin still had hope for the future. He had to keep hoping, it might not be tangible, but it's all he had.
So he stood at the front door and waited for another mission that he could go out on and get away from the thoughts…the thoughts about his best friends dying…or even himself dying.
The only thing keeping him from killing off the Kill Klan was himself and the many awful thoughts he had about the possibly outcome of the war. If he could just stop thinking, he would be better off.
So he'll just keep staring…
Mandy kept a close eye on the watchmen. She was in charge of the upstairs group of watchmen. Maybe it was because of her glare that had so much fury, people knew not to cross her path or upset her in any way. Mandy had always used her intimidation as an asset.
She started to think of the old days when it was just her, her neighbor Billy, and their friend from the underworld, Grimm. The three had been so close.
When the war broke out between the Hope Alliance and the Kill Klan (or the HA and the KK as people usually referred to them as), one of the Teen Titans, Raven, had travelled to find Grimm and use him as an ally. He had no other choice but to take Billy, Mandy, and their friend Irwin and follow her back to safety. On the way, they had lost Irwin to a Skyrunner who was trying to kill Raven and Grimm. Now it was just them three left.
They had all gone off in separate directions; however, Grimm normally went out on important missions to defeat Skyrunners or fight members of the KK, Mandy ran the upstairs watchmen and spent most of her days not even bothering leaving her post, and Billy did what Billy did best; destroy everything he touched.
In some ways, Mandy did miss the old days, but now she could use her powers of manipulation and intimidation to her advantage even more.
"DiDi, what's the report?" Mandy asked in her usual monotonous voice.
"The skies are really cloudy and stormy so it's hard to see, but from what I can tell there is no threat detected. Can I go get some juice please?" DiDi replied.
DiDi was the young inventor kid's annoying sister. Mandy had to fight every day not to punch her in the face. She was loud, intrusive, annoying, and very extreme about everything.
"No DiDi, no juice until your shift is over."
"Well how long is that?"
"Another hour," Mandy replied as her anger boiled.
"But I'm thirsty!" DiDi insisted.
"I'm on it," Nigel said as he kissed Mandy on the head and went off to fetch some juice for DiDi.
Shortly after Mandy had moved into the house, she met a guy named Nigel. He was bald and had abnormally large glasses, but he went on all the missions and was a very valued member of the HA. This made Mandy immediately respect him. After a while of talking, the two had started dating. Three months later and they were still going strong. A lot of people might not approve of a ten year old and a thirteen year old romance, but Mandy wasn't any average ten year old, and this was the apocalypse. She might as well get as many life experiences out of it while she can.
She checked all five of her watchmen one more time before going back to reading her book. DiDi was playing with a mouse toy meant for a dog, Fred and Daphne were doing as they should, Kuki was trying to act as if she were paying attention, but was more focused on Wallabee who was walking down the hall. Finally, Duncan was more focused than any of them, as normal. Mandy looked down at her book, but was really thinking about Nigel.
Frankie and Mac were in the kitchen making dinner for the house. It had close to one hundred people living in it, which meant a lot of food. Frankie hated to admit it, but Herriman definitely made a good investment when he bought basically a whole grocery store at the beginning of the war. After feeding these people for six months, they had still barely made a dent in the stash.
Another thing Frankie hated to admit was that she actually missed Herriman. At the start of the war, he lost his life during the invasion of the Skyrunners who were sent to Foster's after the KK had heard about the Teen Titans considering it to be their new Base of Operations.
Many more had died in that fight to keep Foster's safe. Frankie, of course, didn't fight as she had to look over the smaller imaginary friends and keep them all in order. Together, she, Mac, and Wilt had kept all of the friends safe while Madame Foster led the fight outside.
Many friends lost their lives in the fight, one of the hardest to accept was Eduardo. He had died by saving Madame Foster from a laser beam aimed at her by one of the Skyrunners. He might have been one of the most easily frightened and pathetic beasts Frankie knew, but he died a hero.
"Frankie, I think it's stirred enough," Mac said as he pulled on her jacket. "You okay?"
Frankie had zoned out and who knows how long she had been stirring the cake batter. "Sorry Mac, just thinking."
"Frankie…do you think we'll make it out of here alive?" Mac asked in a innocent eight year old tone.
"I can't predict the future, Mac…all I know is I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you and the gang safe," Frankie responded as she put her hand on his shoulder.
She had already lost one member of the gang in Eduardo, but she couldn't let anything happen to Coco, Wilt, Mac, or Bloo.
Duchess barged through the door and walked over to Frankie.
"When is dinner going to be finished, I can feel my stomach starting to eat all my other internal organs," she asked with a sneer.
"Soon Duchess, soon," Frankie responded as she rolled her eyes.
"I'll start serving dinner while you finish the dessert, okay?" Mac said as he started picking up plates filled with food.
"Sounds good, bud."
Starfire started leading members of the house into the dining hall. She saw Robin and ran over to him. "I'm suddenly not that hungry."
The two started to make out and Starfire slid her hand down Robin's chest. He stopped her and pulled away.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"There's another mission…I have to recruit the team," he answered, looking at the ground and avoiding eye contact with Starfire.
"Great…another few days of worry for me."
"You don't have to worry, Star," Robin whispered as he hugged her.
"You've seen what can happen to people. I know you're this super invincible hero, but that doesn't mean you're immortal…let me go on this mission with you," she insisted.
"No Star, no," he said quickly and sternly.
"You can't control my actions Robin…I want to go and help the alliance…so please let me go."
"If you get hurt or something happens-"
"Then it will be my own fault for stepping up. I'm accepting the possible consequences, Robin," Starfire said as she kissed his cheek. "And I'm ready to face them head-on."
Starfire walked past Robin and took her seat near the head of the table. Robin soon followed and stood up at the head chair. Everyone immediately silenced and looked right at him. Starfire noticed the amount of empty seats at the table. At the beginning of the war, several people had to sit on the floor, and now there were around twenty empty chairs. She wondered how many there would be at the end of the war.
"It's time again to recruit for another mission. General Skarr and Jinx are going to be raiding a town only forty miles away. They have to be stopped and if possible, killed. They will of course have a fleet of Skyrunners with them so we need a rather large group. We need some magic to fight off Jinx's sorcery, so Raven and Grimm, if you don't mind going?" Robin asked.
"Of course not," said Raven softly a few seats down.
"I'll go and bring Kuki this time, but we would also like to check on Abby," Nigel declared.
Back at the beginning of the war they needed someone to act as a spy and get information on the KK. Abby volunteered and now only visits the house every so often. She was the one who had given Robin the information on Jinx and Skarr's raid.
"I'll go and bring Kevin with me," said Ben Tennyson.
"We have magic, fighters, and alien strength, now we just need a few more soldiers," said Robin. "I'm just going to choose Fred, Blossom, Johnny, Beast Boy, and Bloo will you guys come?" No one denied going. "Alright, we shall leave at dawn. This is a big mission guys and a very dangerous and important one, so brace yourselves. Now let the feast commence," Robin finished as he stepped down from his chair.
"Bloo, please be careful tomorrow," said Mac as he put an arm around his best friend.
"Well duh! Besides, this mission will help me learn more about my hidden powers!"Bloo exclaimed.
"Bloo, I already told you, you don't have any hidden powers," Mac said as he facepalmed.
"Riiiiiight," said Bloo sarcastically.
"Freddie, I hate it when you're on these missions," Daphne said as she took Fred's hand.
"I promise I'll be careful Daph."
The two started to make out and Shaggy and Scooby both scooted down a chair to get away from them.
"Can't you two get a room?" Shaggy exclaimed.
"Yeah!" said Bridgette as she turns back to Geoff and starts making out with him.
Robin looked around the room and saw people kissing and talking and laughing. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, trying to avoid the thoughts about tomorrow's mission and the worry they had for their friends and loved ones. Robin would be extremely surprised if they didn't lose a life on this mission. It was a major one.
He looked over at Starfire and couldn't stop thinking about what he would do if he lost her. He would go crazy without her, she was his rock.
There he went again…thinking…
