Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, Amy Lee, Tripp, James Bond, i-Pod, or Hawaii!
Summary: You go to the airport and get on a plane. Simple as that. No worries. . . right?
"Airport Troubles"
It was dark outside. So dark you could only see with the aids of the lampposts on the sides of the road and the occasional faint glow through a house window. The night was at its climax, with just a few hours before dawn on a Sunday morning. This was the time when any normal teenager would have gotten in bed not so long ago, but not a certain five teenagers. They were just getting up.
"Why do we have to get up so early again?" Mumbled a half-asleep (now normal-colored) changeling as he meandered his own path in the garage to the T-Car.
"Because we have a flight in precisely two hours and," Richard paused at loading luggage into the T-Car and glanced down at his watch, "thirty-eight minutes."
Rachel walked into the garage with her black and blue duffel bag and matching suitcase. She had her now-black hair in a ponytail at the nape of her neck with some loose strands making way to her delicate face. She was wearing a tight black Amy Lee t-shirt with black pinstripe Tripp pants that laced up on the sides and had several buckles. The three boys just looked at her. "Okay, so I am in civvies. So what? Now, would you stop drooling and help me with my luggage?"
Out of the three boys, Richard snapped out of his stupor first and walked over to Rachel's luggage to carefully place it in the T-Car. "So, Rae?" He asked as the other two boys were clearly still recovering from the sight of the Gothic beauty.
"Yeah, Wonder Bread?"
Richard smiled at one of the nicknames Rachel had for him. "Why did you dye your hair?" She looked at him with a what-do-you-think look upon her face. "Okay, stupid question. Not many people have purple hair, I gotcha."
"Alas! Yet another brilliant conclusion from our own Robin, Boy Wonder." Rachel retorted at her team leader as she made her way to the front seat of the T-Car. Richard gave her a hurt look, "Salt in the wound, Rachel. Salt in the wound."
"Trouble in paradise, already?" Gar, as awake as he could get for four in the morning, mocked the husband-wife fight the two dark birds were having. Apparently, he wasn't awake enough to realize that was a bad idea.
"Beast Boy!" Not only Richard and Rachel, but also Vic, united in yelling at Gar who seemed unfazed by it all. "The name is Logan. Gar Logan." He did the classic 'James Bond' imitation. The group just looked away from him being his own cheesy self.
"Glorious!" The group of four looked to the doorway where stood Starfire, or Kori, as she graced them with her usual ever-cheery presence. "We have all gathered together for the tripping to the Hay-Wirey" The other four stood there for a moment, perplexed.
"Um. . . Kori. I think you mean we are taking a trip to Hawaii." Vic told her as he walked over to take her luggage. "Oh, Kori," Vic said as an afterthought, "you need to stop flying when we get to the airport. It would look suspicious if someone 'normal' was flying."
"Oh." Kori dropped to the ground as she walked back through the doorway. The four looked from one to another wondering if they had offended her in some way by telling her she could not fly for a week. "Friend Cy—, I mean Vic! I require your assistance." Maybe not.
"What do you need help with, Kori?" Vic walked back over to the doorway where Kori was with a definite problem.
"How do I fit my bed through the door without damaging the wall?" Kori asked Vic with curious green eyes.
"Uh, Kori. You don't need to bring your bed. They will have a bed there for you to sleep in." He patiently explained to her.
"Oh! Thank you, Friend Vic." She smiled brightly and walked over to her other teammates and best friends by the T-Car. Vic locked up the Tower and punched in the security code. "Boo-yah! And that starts the beginning of a vacation fit for the Titans!" With Vic and Rachel in the front seats, he turned on the T-Car. Gar got in behind Vic, since he had the shortest legs, and almost immediately fell asleep against the car door and drooled. Kori got the right seat behind Rachel because she wanted to watch the scenery as it went by, leaving Richard in the middle, listening to his i-Pod.
They drove to the airport in silence besides the faint rock music from Richard's earphones and snoring from Gar. They were all concentrating on different things, but they all shared the same excitement. Even if it was more in some than others.
"Boo-yah! Jump Airport, here we are!" Vic yelled excitedly as he parked his beloved T-Car and ushered everyone out so they could grab their luggage and get in the airport. On the walk from the parking garage to the airport entrance Rachel and Vic got to talking. "So. . . Vic?"
"Yeah, Rae?" He looked over to his 'little sister'.
"How do you plan on getting through security? I don't think that hologram ring can stop metal detectors from doing their jobs. And what about Gar's hologram ring? Won't he have to take it off?" Rachel was not just curious, but concerned about how well the start of their vacation would go.
"Oh, don't worry. Rich and me got that covered." Vic gave her a big grin which only made her worry more. What were they up to?
They walked through the automatic doors of the airport and went over to the line to get through security because Richard, being the over analyst, had already checked them in online. They had less than two hours before their flight left, and with the line in front of them, they seriously didn't think they would make it. "Forty-eight. . . forty-nine. . . fifty. . . fifty-one. . ." Gar tried counting the number of people in line, but finally decided he didn't want to know how many people were before them.
"We decided on the big flight, again, because. . .?" Rachel asked in general with arms partially outstretched while looking up.
"Because, babe, I'm on it." A random guy with black shaggy hair, thick black eyeliner, and a bad-boy grin came up to her. He was not much taller than her, maybe 5'6", and was wearing all black.
Rachel walked up to Richard with the boy in black walking directly behind her, "We decided on the big flight, again, why. . .?" Richard noticed the boy seductively looking at Rachel and could also see her eye twitching. He knew it wouldn't be long before her powers would be unleashed somehow, unless he put stop to it soon.
Richard decided to shake Rachel's makeup-wearing admirer and could only hope that Rachel wouldn't maim him for what he was about to do. "Listen, Rae," Richard said as he stood next to her and casually wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "We decided on the big flight because it has more luxuries such as bigger, cushier seats in first class, make that two very close seats for us to get comfortable in," he flirtatiously winked at her, "and better bathrooms and service. I thought that was important for a eight hour flight. It'll be good. You'll enjoy it. I'll make sure of it." At this point, the goth boy took the not-so-subtle hint, kicked at the floor, and trudged away with his hands in his pockets.
"Listen to me, Dick;" Rachel grabbed him by the collar, "you better not be cuddling next to me during the flight. . . or else."
"Or else what?" Richard asked, pressing his luck, and ungripped her hand from his collared shirt.
"Or else all your hair gel will magically disappear and the entire state of Hawaii will be out indefinitely." Rachel said menacingly with narrowed eyes.
Richard gulped at the horror. "I get the picture."
"Finally!" Gar said as they made it up to security.
"License." The female police officer said more monotonously than Rachel could ever manage and lazily held out her hand to Gar. He handed her the boarding pass and then fished in his wallet for more than a few moments leaving the officer more vexed than before. "Do you even have a license?" She asked.
Finally, Gar, in his lethargic state, pulled out his license. Well, actually it was his student ID. The police officer looked at it and frowned more if at all possible. "Mister Garfield, if that even is your name," she said a little testily as she glared at the changeling, "I suggest you give me your real identification now or else I'm going to have to lock you up and hold you for questioning."
"Why?" Gar asked slowly like he would fall asleep at any moment. "What's wrong with my ID?"
The woman took no time to answer. "You're green in this picture."
That woke up the beast right away, "Oh!" Gar said as he tried not to look like he was panicking. "That's my old ID. Why don't you check my passport." He laughed nervously and pulled out the green document and the woman signed his boarding pass. "Clear," she once more used her monotonous voice.
Gar, against his better judgement, replied under his breath, "Man, you must really hate your job."
"Haha, very funny, Gar. Now move on." Robin gave him a not-so-small shove to move him on before the woman changed her mind. Before they knew it, it was time for them to go through security and Rachel was getting more nervous by the moment. Would their cover be blown? Would Vic and Richard do something so crazy the five of them would end up in jail? Would they miss their flight to Hawaii?
A male security cop was taking charge at the security checkpoint. "Put all carry-ons, jackets, shoes, and other metal items in their appropriate bins." Richard went first and took off his shoes, watch, and wallet to put them in a bin to go through the machine. He took out his boarding pass and tried not to grin as he waited for showtime. "Man, it's kinda dark in here." Vic said as he walked up to Richard.
"Yeah, I wonder if they'll fix that light above the scanner." He said in return.
Gar was lagging a bit and it was worrying his two male teammates. They all had to be in position or else it wouldn't work out! Gar was still sorting out his belongings. He had a hard time in such dim lighting. But then the light above him suddenly turned on very brightly. "Do not put items in your shoes." An authoritative male voice bellowed. Gar looked up as if God was talking to him.
"Lord, are you talking to me?" He asked in awe.
"Yes, sir. I mean you." Replied the voice.
Gar gulped and hurriedly un-stuffed his shoes as the light went out again. He put it on the conveyor belt to go through the scanner. "Thank you, sir." The male security officer said in his deep booming voice as he got in line to go through the metal detector.
Now it was Richard's turn to go through the metal detector. He walked up with his hands in his pockets while whistling. However, before he could step through, the security agent stopped him. "Sir, keep your hands out of your pockets as you step through." Perfect, he thought. Everything was going according to plan. As he took his hands out of his pockets, he flipped a small microchip onto the side of the metal detector and walked through.
"Okay, you're clear. Next!" So Vic in all his metallic-ness walked through.
Nothing happened.
"Next!" The cop said, so Gar went through with his hologram ring on and everything.
Nothing happened.
Good, thought Richard, that should take care of the three of us. The device will stop draining the power and will become fully operational in a couple of seconds.
Rachel went through and the metal detector did not go off. That just left. . .
Beep beep beep beep beep!
. . .Kori.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we're going to have to take you aside and frisk— I mean, pat you down." Two very overweight male security officers looked her over and nodded at each other. "Ma'am, please stand on this mat with your feet apart and your arms out."
"Aw, great." Richard said softly to Vic. "Kori just had to get picked." However, he was not allowed to fret for long. "Sir. I said, SIR." A female police officer (who had seen more than her share of donuts) pulled Richard to the side and was talking to him very firmly. "Gels are not allowed in a carry on. You may have up to one quart-sized air-sealed bag, but you have, um, five cans of hair gel in here."
Richard laughed nervously. He forgot about that rule.
The security agent rolled her eyes. "How long are you going to be gone exactly?"
Richard gulped and would not make eye contact as he said in a small voice: "Five nights."
"So, let me get this clear," she looked disbelievingly at him, "you're telling me you need one super-sized can of hair gel per day?"
Richard panicked. And then did what he always did when in a sticky situation. He flashed his sexy grin at her and hoped his masculinity would do the rest. It was one thing he learned that worked where money would not. It was something his foster father Bruce Wayne had taught him.
The pupil had learned well. "Well, I don't usually do this," the female cop blushed, "but I'll let you keep them." Richard was about to thank her when she spoke again. "Well, under one condition."
Knowing that this particular woman could be swayed with a little bit of charm, Richard continued. "And what would that be, my fair lady?"
She blushed again and started playing with her brown hair. "We swap phone numbers."
Richard blinked several times. "Pardon?"
Then the woman took charge. "Gimme your phone number or I confiscate all the hair gel!"
"Right away!" Richard quickly scribbled a phone number on the back of a sheet of paper and handed it to her before she could leap upon him as a tiger does its prey. Then he walked away.
After overhearing all of this and trying not to laugh at the hilarity of it all; Rachel stood next to him and asked, "You didn't really give her your phone number, right?"
Gar walked up to the two birds after overhearing this conversation with his oversensitive elf ears. "Nah," Richard said and tried not to smile at what he did, "I gave her Gar's."
"Dude, not cool!" Gar said in protest. But was silenced by the look Rachel was giving him. It sent shivers down his spine and he could almost hear her evil laughter as he imagined her torturing him later.
"Eep!" They heard as a certain orange alien freaked off to the corner. The next thing they knew, they were dodging green starbolts left and right!
"Kori, we gotta go!" Vic hurriedly pulled her off to the side and the five of them ran towards their gate.
"Wait!" Said the two overweight male police officers. "You are arrested for carrying. . . some sort of weapon that I cannot identify. . . and for not letting us finish frisking you!" They ran as fast as they could in hot pursuit after the five Titans. Correction, they were running as fast as their bulk would allow and were very hot and sweaty. So, the five of our teen heroes gained much ground on them.
"This is the final call for flight 2118 to Honolulu, Hawaii." Said a woman's voice on the intercom. "I repeat. This is the final call for flight 2118 to Honolulu, Hawaii."
"We better hurry!" Richard said in his team leader voice as they ran. "Titans, go!"
Rachel immediately spoke her mantra and transported them in a bundle of dark energy to their respective bathrooms in the terminal. They rushed out of the bathrooms, regrouped, and ran to the last gate in the terminal. They rushed to the desk in their gate. "Miss," Richard rasped to the lady at the ramp as he tried to catch his breath, "did we make it?"
"You're here for flight 2118?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry, but we over booked." She said sweetly. "We only have two seats left and there's five of you."
Robin looked at the others. "I hate to do this, but it seems we're at a dilemma." They all nodded as their team leader looked around and very seriously said:
"Rock paper scissors?"
—Fin—
A/N: So, who do you think makes it?
Aw, man, I had so much fun with this one. I travel a lot, so it was good to laugh about it a bit.
Signed,
Her Sappiness