Ricochet

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Chapter 1: Beast Boy

I was the first one who spotted him, that first day.

Terra got the northern half of the city and I got the half south of Benny's place. We'd swap, just to keep it interesting, dividing the territory one way or the other, but that day there wasn't a whole lot goin' on. It was mid-afternoon, high summer, and you could've fried an egg on any sidewalk in town. I'd taken the form of a needletail swift, just riding the updrafts as I flicked around a couple hundred meters up, keeping an eye on the pedestrian traffic below. I knew I could be at street level in four seconds flat if I had to.

The first inkling I had that something might be 'off' was when I caught the sound of screeching tires coming from few blocks east. I zipped over that way and scanned the area, but didn't come up with anything right away.

Then I heard another long tire-screech, and that one ended in a brief crunchy sound. It was only maybe a block away and I got there as soon as I could. It wasn't much more than a fender-bender – the driver skidded sideways into an empty bus stop kiosk – and nobody was hurt. I found a couple that'd seen what went down and they told me this guy just jumped right into traffic. The girl also said that the car doing the skidding looked like he'd been about to run a red light. Her fella confirmed that, and said he'd just been pointing at the about-to-happen accident when the jumper landed on the car.

I had to blink at that one. "Dude … on the car?"

"Serious, Beast Boy! He bounced off the hood and landed all the way over on the sidewalk."

"That's right!" the girl added, "And he ran off that way!" She pointed south.

"Thanks, guys." I morphed into a deerhound and took off.

Not having any clue what his scent was like, I picked a sight-hound, 'cause I figured I could catch up to him real soon (deerhounds are freakin' fast) and I didn't wanna startle him. I mean, come on, what's it gonna do to your heart rate if you notice a cheetah on your tail, right?

It wasn't more than two blocks when I caught sight of someone running up ahead. And I do mean running! He musta been clockin' thirty klicks, so instantly I knew I had a metahuman on my … uh … paws. I jumped into the air and morphed into a peregrine falcon, and a few seconds later I was on his six.

Falcons have amazing eyesight. They have to, if they want to be successful predators. So I could see lots of detail. The runner was male, maybe 170 centimeters, dark-skinned with short dark hair – couldn't tell if he was African-American or East Indian or what – and very heavily muscled. I mean, the guy had on sweat pants and a mesh tank top, so you could see how ripped he was, and damn if he didn't look photoshopped! I could tell he was running about as hard as he could go, and he looked real determined to get somewhere. I decided to follow and see what was up.

Two blocks later he hung a left, bouncing off a light pole, and before many seconds had passed we were in a residential part of town. Jump City does that. You gotta wonder about the zoning laws around here. Anyway, he kept straight for three blocks and then zigged right. He was slowing down some, I could tell, and looked like he was breathin' real hard. But he kept going.

Halfway down the next block there was this guy standing on the sidewalk, staring at the house in front of him. Mr. Running Guy came right up to him and stopped and said, "Hey, you!"

It startled the man, who jerked around and … he was holding a gun.

Remember what I said about a falcon's eyes? I could see that the weapon was a semi-automatic pistol, a Sig Sauer P226. (Hey, just because I don't use guns myself doesn't mean I don't think they're cool. Besides, it's good to know what you're up against in a street fight.)

The man didn't hesitate at all. He suddenly had the pistol up to ready position and popped off two shots just as fast as the trigger would act.

Running Guy didn't even have time to duck. He took both shots, center- torso, and …

... and ...

… and didn't fall. He didn't jerk or take a step back or even twitch.

Pistol Guy's eyes got really big, and he unloaded the remaining eight rounds in the magazine in less than two seconds, and every slug hit Running Guy. I got over my shock about halfway through the barrage, and streaked downward. My intention was to morph into something relatively large and barrel into Pistol Guy and knock him down, but I didn't get the chance.

Okay, once again, recall what I said about my vision in falcon form. Falcons are flawless at detecting movement and change; the reigning experts at 'what's wrong with this picture?' types of situations. So the fact that Running Guy had started to glow did not escape me.

I just didn't have time to do anything about it.

Faster than an eye-blink, Running Guy stepped forward and swung his clasped fists up into Pistol Guy's midsection like a sledgehammer, and Pistol Guy shot upward … right into me, and right when I was changing into a kangaroo. We tumbled together and when we hit the ground, Pistol Guy was on top of me.

Things sort of grayed out for a bit. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and I reverted to my human base-form. But Pistol Guy was a good bit bigger than I am, at least a hundred or maybe a hundred and ten kilos, and I was sort of stuck. As soon as my head quit ringing and I could concentrate, I morphed into a bear and stood, and that shook off Pistol Guy. I looked around, but Running Guy was nowhere to be seen. There were, however, a whole bunch of folks from the neighborhood peeking out of their houses. That Sig was pretty loud.

I yelled to one of them to call 911, and checked on Pistol Guy. He was out cold, but breathing.

A shadow fell across me and I looked up to see the frightened eyes of a woman in her (I would guess) late twenties. She whispered, "Beast Boy?"

Standing, I gave her a salute. "At your service, ma'am."

"Did … did you stop him? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Putting two and two together, I asked, "Do you know him?"

She nodded. "That's my ex. James." She went around to his other side and used a foot to push the Sig away a couple of meters. "I got a restraining order against him."

That gave me a chill. "Recently?"

Another nod. "Three weeks. But he didn't show up for his probation appointment last week, and yesterday somebody called twice but didn't say anything and then hung up." She stepped up to me and gave me a quick hug. "Thank you for stopping him."

"Ah … um … heh. You're welcome an' stuff, but, uh, I didn't technically stop him. There was another guy. He beat me to it."

"Oh." She looked around. "Where is he?"

My eyes narrowed as I considered the situation. "That's a real good question, ma'am." I knew Robin would have a thing or two to say about my technique later, but I couldn't worry about that just yet. Then I picked up the sound of approaching sirens. "Ma'am, he's …"

"Jennifer."

"… Beg pardon?"

"Jennifer Smith. I like Jennifer better than 'ma'am'. That makes me feel old."

"Sorry. Jennifer, then. It looks like the police are just about here, and he doesn't have his gun now, so …"

"He'll have another."

"Oh?"

"He always carries at least two."

Stooping, I did a quick search, and turned up another pistol, a J-frame revolver in his pocket. Holding it gingerly, I decided to wait for the police. "Thanks for mentioning that. Although, really, I think he'll be out for a while. That other guy hit him really hard."

"Good."

Some three minutes later, after a short explanation to the officers, I took to the skies again. This Running Guy had a very firm grip on my attention.

See, while waiting for the police, I noticed a few things. Pistol Guy's brass casings were mostly on the sidewalk and street near where he'd been standing. But the slugs? The storm of lead that should have punched a slew of holes in Running Guy? Yeah, they were in a small, scattered group right on the cement right in front of where he'd been standing when they hit him. And every single one was in perfect condition. I mean, they looked ready to go into a reloader.

Yeah. Running Guy definitely intrigued me. I spent the rest of the day looking for him, but didn't turn up a trace.

And I was right. Robin wasn't happy with me.

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A/N: I love my Muse. Really I do. But she Just Won't Leave Me Alone with the plot bunnies!

So. This will be five chapters and an Epilogue, with impressions of Running Guy from each of the Titans. Stay tuned, O Faithful Ones!

Next Chapter: Robin.