Megan Fraud walked up to the bank entrance, and smiled. All around her,
normal everyday people walked along, doing their everyday business and
paying no attention to the blond haired teenage girl who stood, motionless
among the moving masses of people. She was analyzing the local bank, and
was now just about done. She was now sure that she could pull it off.
She hurried over to a nearby dumpster and looked around to make sure no one was looking. Then she closed her eyes, and activated her powers.
The transformation was near-instantaneous. Her features morphed and twisted, and her clothes took on different shapes and colors and textures.
She emerged from behind the dumpster a few seconds later, looking nothing like she had when she'd hid behind it in the first place. Her features were now distinctly male, her hair was black, and a mask covered her eyes. Her build was male as well, and her attire had been radically altered. She now wore a green, short-sleeved bodysuit and green gloves. A red, titanium Klvar reinforced vest went over it, containing an emblem with a white R in a black circle on the left side. Black boots, a black cape, and a yellow utility belt completed the ensemble.
She was a perfect look-alike of the Teen Titan, Robin.
She walked back over to the bank, this time, commanding a lot more attention. After all, it wasn't every day people got see Robin, the famous teen superhero. She pushed open the doors and strode confidently in.
A worker in the bank looked up, a grin on her face. The smile disappeared when 'Robin' pulled out a Heckler &Koch Mp-5 and let a couple bursts upward, tearing the ceiling lights into sparking shreds. 'Robin' then leveled the gun at the attendant. "Hey guys," he said. It was a perfect imitation of Robin's voice. "If you would be so kind as to give me all your valuables, as well as everything in the bank's vaults, I'd be much obliged, and so would you if you don't like dealing with really bloody and graphically violent scenes." 'He' chuckled and then fired the gun once more into the air. "Move!"
***
"I can't find the remote!"
It was a typical outburst that could be heard daily at Teen Titans HQ, and it belonged to the Titan known as Cyborg, who was presently trying to locate the 'cursed' remote, as he considered it. It seemed that every day, the remote to the only television the Teen Titans owned would go inexplicably missing, and take hours to find.
Cyborg ignored the look that Robin and Starfire gave him from their perch on the couch. A look that basically said, 'shut up will ya! We're trying to semi-flirt with each other here'. He also ignored Beast Boy's shout of protest as he effortlessly picked up the couch that the green-skinned animorph happened to be sitting on. He looked at the ground where the couch had been. Still no remote.
"Why do you not buy a universal remote?" Starfire asked innocently. Robin tells me that they can work on any of your human television sets."
"I would," Cyborg grumbled, letting the couch drop back to the floor, ":but I'm flat broke."
Raven, the last member of the team, descended the stairs just then, looking dark and foreboding as usual. "If you are seeking the remote, I suggest you look on top of the TV."
Cyborg's head did a one-eighty. There it was, the precious remote sitting gloriously atop the television. Cyborg reached out and his mechanical arm extended the extra four feet need to reach it, bringing it back to him. "Thanks Raven," he said, hopping onto the couch that sat right in front of the television. "Now, lets see what's on."
Cyborg flipped through the channels, passing an old sitcom, some country music videos, a biography of Bill Cosby-
"Oooh," Starfire exultedall of the sudden. "That's you Robin."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "On TV?"
"Yes."
Cyborg, who's interest was also piqued surfed the channels until he found what Starfire had been referring to. Sure enough, on the local news station Robin's face sat on the upper left hand corner of the screen while below, recent footage was playing.
" . . .Witnesses say that Robin pulled out a handgun, fired it into the air, and then demanded that they give him all of their possessions. He then subsequently threw a bomb at the back wall, and darted out through the resulting hole." The reporter's voice droned on with a reminder that what the viewers were seeing below was footage that the bank's hidden cameras had taken only a few moments ago. Sure enough, it showed the Boy Wonder firing a handgun into the air and the pointing it at the terrified bank customers.
All of the Titans were shocked, their jaws hanging somewhere around their waistline. Of all of them, Robin was probably the most surprised. What he was seeing just wasn't possible. He had never even been inside a bank, much less robbed one. And he'd been right here in the Teen Titans Headquarters chatting with Starfire at the time when he'd allegedly committed the crime.
When the reporter started talking about how a massive manhunt was going underway to locate the fugitive criminal, Cyborg turned the set off. "What the heck," he muttered.
"I sense that something is not right," Raven ominously stated.
"Well duh," piped up Beast Boy. "They're saying Robin's a criminal, and that he robbed a bank when we know he was sitting right here with us."
"This is very troubling," said Starfire. If one didn't know better, they'd say she was on the verge of tears.
The only one yet to make a comment was Robin, so everyone turned to him. He seemed to be deep in thought.
"Well," said Cyborg, "whaddya think is goin' on?"
Robin shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I know I didn't just rob a bank, but according to the news, there's witnesses who saw someone whom they at least thought was Robin steal a lot of money. The guy on the bank's hidden camera footage looks just like me."
"But it cannot be you," Starfire stubbornly insisted, putting a hand on Robin's arm. "Someone is framing you."
"If the news station can be trusted, there is a manhunt taking place to locate you, Robin," Raven began, "it won't take them long to come pounding on our door."
"I know, I know." Robin stood rose to his feet. "Cyborg, I want you to record anything on the news relating to my alleged bank robbery. Beast Boy, Raven, monitor our surveillance systems. I want you to let me know if any police helicopters or boats approach the island. Starfire, I need you to fly me over to the mainland. I want to see the crime scene for myself, and if I'm lucky, maybe I'll find some guy wandering around who looks like me and has a couple thousand stolen dollars on him."
Cyborg rummaged through one of the manifold cabinets to find a blank tape, while Raven and Beast Boy went over to the video room, where they could access all of the footage from the multiple dozens of surveillance cameras that surrounded the tiny island that housed the Teen Titans' T-shaped Headquarters.
Starfire followed Robin up to the roof , floating up into the air. "Robin, I'm so sorry about you being set up-" she started to say.
"No need to be sorry," said Robin, all business-like now. "What we need to do is find out what happened and stop whoever it was that really did it."
Starfire nodded, her face still rather mournful. "Yeah, of course.' She floated over behind Robin, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and lifting them both into the air. It was a maneuver that they'd practiced before, so both Robin and Starfire were able to manage positions that weren't too uncomfortable.
"Are you ready?" asked Starfire.
"Born ready."
"What?" Starfire, being rather new to Earth, had yet to learn some of the human phrases' meanings.
"Never mind. Just start flying. Stay at around sixty miles per hour, and land us on the rooftop of a building that's relatively close to the bank."
"What if someone spots you?"
"They won't." Robin would have preferred total darkness as opposed to the current waning daylight. Total darkness would have been ideal, since Robin was well accustomed to operating in the dark of the night thanks to his adventures with Batman, and it would severely lessen the chances of him and Starfire being spotted.
He felt that familiar light-headed sensation as his feet left the ground. He looked up at Starfire at the exact same instant that she happened to look down at him. She gave him a reassuring smile, and then looked ahead, as they zoomed towards the city.
She hurried over to a nearby dumpster and looked around to make sure no one was looking. Then she closed her eyes, and activated her powers.
The transformation was near-instantaneous. Her features morphed and twisted, and her clothes took on different shapes and colors and textures.
She emerged from behind the dumpster a few seconds later, looking nothing like she had when she'd hid behind it in the first place. Her features were now distinctly male, her hair was black, and a mask covered her eyes. Her build was male as well, and her attire had been radically altered. She now wore a green, short-sleeved bodysuit and green gloves. A red, titanium Klvar reinforced vest went over it, containing an emblem with a white R in a black circle on the left side. Black boots, a black cape, and a yellow utility belt completed the ensemble.
She was a perfect look-alike of the Teen Titan, Robin.
She walked back over to the bank, this time, commanding a lot more attention. After all, it wasn't every day people got see Robin, the famous teen superhero. She pushed open the doors and strode confidently in.
A worker in the bank looked up, a grin on her face. The smile disappeared when 'Robin' pulled out a Heckler &Koch Mp-5 and let a couple bursts upward, tearing the ceiling lights into sparking shreds. 'Robin' then leveled the gun at the attendant. "Hey guys," he said. It was a perfect imitation of Robin's voice. "If you would be so kind as to give me all your valuables, as well as everything in the bank's vaults, I'd be much obliged, and so would you if you don't like dealing with really bloody and graphically violent scenes." 'He' chuckled and then fired the gun once more into the air. "Move!"
***
"I can't find the remote!"
It was a typical outburst that could be heard daily at Teen Titans HQ, and it belonged to the Titan known as Cyborg, who was presently trying to locate the 'cursed' remote, as he considered it. It seemed that every day, the remote to the only television the Teen Titans owned would go inexplicably missing, and take hours to find.
Cyborg ignored the look that Robin and Starfire gave him from their perch on the couch. A look that basically said, 'shut up will ya! We're trying to semi-flirt with each other here'. He also ignored Beast Boy's shout of protest as he effortlessly picked up the couch that the green-skinned animorph happened to be sitting on. He looked at the ground where the couch had been. Still no remote.
"Why do you not buy a universal remote?" Starfire asked innocently. Robin tells me that they can work on any of your human television sets."
"I would," Cyborg grumbled, letting the couch drop back to the floor, ":but I'm flat broke."
Raven, the last member of the team, descended the stairs just then, looking dark and foreboding as usual. "If you are seeking the remote, I suggest you look on top of the TV."
Cyborg's head did a one-eighty. There it was, the precious remote sitting gloriously atop the television. Cyborg reached out and his mechanical arm extended the extra four feet need to reach it, bringing it back to him. "Thanks Raven," he said, hopping onto the couch that sat right in front of the television. "Now, lets see what's on."
Cyborg flipped through the channels, passing an old sitcom, some country music videos, a biography of Bill Cosby-
"Oooh," Starfire exultedall of the sudden. "That's you Robin."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "On TV?"
"Yes."
Cyborg, who's interest was also piqued surfed the channels until he found what Starfire had been referring to. Sure enough, on the local news station Robin's face sat on the upper left hand corner of the screen while below, recent footage was playing.
" . . .Witnesses say that Robin pulled out a handgun, fired it into the air, and then demanded that they give him all of their possessions. He then subsequently threw a bomb at the back wall, and darted out through the resulting hole." The reporter's voice droned on with a reminder that what the viewers were seeing below was footage that the bank's hidden cameras had taken only a few moments ago. Sure enough, it showed the Boy Wonder firing a handgun into the air and the pointing it at the terrified bank customers.
All of the Titans were shocked, their jaws hanging somewhere around their waistline. Of all of them, Robin was probably the most surprised. What he was seeing just wasn't possible. He had never even been inside a bank, much less robbed one. And he'd been right here in the Teen Titans Headquarters chatting with Starfire at the time when he'd allegedly committed the crime.
When the reporter started talking about how a massive manhunt was going underway to locate the fugitive criminal, Cyborg turned the set off. "What the heck," he muttered.
"I sense that something is not right," Raven ominously stated.
"Well duh," piped up Beast Boy. "They're saying Robin's a criminal, and that he robbed a bank when we know he was sitting right here with us."
"This is very troubling," said Starfire. If one didn't know better, they'd say she was on the verge of tears.
The only one yet to make a comment was Robin, so everyone turned to him. He seemed to be deep in thought.
"Well," said Cyborg, "whaddya think is goin' on?"
Robin shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I know I didn't just rob a bank, but according to the news, there's witnesses who saw someone whom they at least thought was Robin steal a lot of money. The guy on the bank's hidden camera footage looks just like me."
"But it cannot be you," Starfire stubbornly insisted, putting a hand on Robin's arm. "Someone is framing you."
"If the news station can be trusted, there is a manhunt taking place to locate you, Robin," Raven began, "it won't take them long to come pounding on our door."
"I know, I know." Robin stood rose to his feet. "Cyborg, I want you to record anything on the news relating to my alleged bank robbery. Beast Boy, Raven, monitor our surveillance systems. I want you to let me know if any police helicopters or boats approach the island. Starfire, I need you to fly me over to the mainland. I want to see the crime scene for myself, and if I'm lucky, maybe I'll find some guy wandering around who looks like me and has a couple thousand stolen dollars on him."
Cyborg rummaged through one of the manifold cabinets to find a blank tape, while Raven and Beast Boy went over to the video room, where they could access all of the footage from the multiple dozens of surveillance cameras that surrounded the tiny island that housed the Teen Titans' T-shaped Headquarters.
Starfire followed Robin up to the roof , floating up into the air. "Robin, I'm so sorry about you being set up-" she started to say.
"No need to be sorry," said Robin, all business-like now. "What we need to do is find out what happened and stop whoever it was that really did it."
Starfire nodded, her face still rather mournful. "Yeah, of course.' She floated over behind Robin, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and lifting them both into the air. It was a maneuver that they'd practiced before, so both Robin and Starfire were able to manage positions that weren't too uncomfortable.
"Are you ready?" asked Starfire.
"Born ready."
"What?" Starfire, being rather new to Earth, had yet to learn some of the human phrases' meanings.
"Never mind. Just start flying. Stay at around sixty miles per hour, and land us on the rooftop of a building that's relatively close to the bank."
"What if someone spots you?"
"They won't." Robin would have preferred total darkness as opposed to the current waning daylight. Total darkness would have been ideal, since Robin was well accustomed to operating in the dark of the night thanks to his adventures with Batman, and it would severely lessen the chances of him and Starfire being spotted.
He felt that familiar light-headed sensation as his feet left the ground. He looked up at Starfire at the exact same instant that she happened to look down at him. She gave him a reassuring smile, and then looked ahead, as they zoomed towards the city.