Chapter Two: For Real, And Then Some
One Week Later...
The Titans were still out of town, fighting a group called Brotherhood of Evil. Robin asked me to watch over the city until the Titans East arrived later today. I even got a communicator and a temporary room at the Tower. I hadn't meet the Titans East before this day, neither had I heard of them. I didn't know what they looked like or their names, save for one; The leader Bumble Bee. I would be introduced to the rest later.
I hadn't found much more about Jinx's where abouts, but its only been a week. Though I hoped to see her soon, I missed her. And knowing I was in the same city as her made me miss her more. On the other hand I really hadn't been searching either, what with helping protect the city while the Titans were away.
Speaking of protecting the city; I was stopping a bank heist right now.
"And now for the opening act-I will make this money disappear!"
"Mumbo Jumbo! Why am I not surprized?" I interrupted him as he shoved bags of money in his hat.
"Charm! Do you like magic?" He put his hat back on and gave me a wicked grin. Oh boy.
"No, I prefer luck!" My eyes glowed a vibrant purple, but nothing happened, just as it should. A smile split my face, I knew I had done something to my benefit, not his. For my luck.
"Well, since you're my only audience attendee, pick a card! Any card!" He flung his cards at me, but they fell immediately to the ground. I realized that these were his normal set, not his magic ones. Mumbo looked embarrassed.
"Wrong set," He announced with chagrin. He shook his hangs trying to find something, a few bouquets, an anchor, a snake, and a pair of doves fell out of his sleeves onto the ground. "I seem to have misplaced my cards. He He."
"My lucky day," I retorted with a giggle. A noisy airplane flew above, but it didn't sound normal. I glanced at the blue ship and realized that it was the Titans East. I'd catch up with them later, they knew I was City-sitting. I looked at Mumbo, or where he was. He ran down the street, a trail of flowers had planted themselves where he stepped, also my luck. Not even two minutes of following did I stumble upon a confused Mumbo. He was wrapped in a street lamp that came alive and acted like a snake.
It was rather easy to get him away from the snake/lamp/thing. as soon as I removed his hat everything went back to normal. Not even a fight on my part as I cuffed him and brought him to the police car to be arrested. The only thing I didn't like about being the hero was having to fill out police reports and then reports for the Titans too. The report took me all of five minutes and then another few minutes spent riding my motorcycle back to the Tower.
I parked my bike in the garage next to Robins bike and walked up to the commons room to meet the rest of the team. Upon entering, I saw: Bumble Bee typing on a computer, A guy whole looked like a Robin wanna-be self absorbed in his reflection in the window, a small tornado making up two small twin speedsters who were sweeping, and a black-haired guy fixing the sink.
"You're here for ten minutes and you manage to break a sink?!" I put my hands on my hips and looked disappointed, but really I was amused.
"We had a problem with Control Freak," Bumble Bee informed me.
"He's not even on the bad guy list," The Robin wanna-be complained. He was kind of cute.
"Hm. Hey I didn't catch your names," I chirped.
"I'm Mas!"
"I'm Menos!"
The small boys shouted and ran to me in super-speed, they shook both hands at the same time. Mas had a plus on his chest and menos had a minus on his. then they went back to sweeping.
"They usually speak Spanish, Control Freak did... something, I'm not sure what yet. I'm Aqualad, by the way." The black haired boy said from underneath the sink. He looked up at me and I realized his eyes were solid black, probably had magic properties.
"Hey, I'm Speedy." I realized now that he was an archer, his bow was in his hands and a quiver of endless arrows hung over his back.
"Cool. I'm Charm." I said enthusiastically. All of the sudden Silkie jumped out from one of the couch coushins into Mas and Menos' arms.
"Control Freak zapped out on the fight. Who does that?" Speedy spoke to Bumble Bee.
"We'll find him, somehow,"Bumble Bee reassured him. Speedy didn't have time to answer him because Cyborg appeared on the screen with a jacket and beanie. Apparently they were now up north.
"The tower sencers detected weapons fired. Everything okay?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, we were just dealing with Control-" Aqualad was pushed to the ground by Bumble Bee.
"Controlling Silkie. She was eating everything! She must've ate through a sencer!" She turned to Silkie,"Bad Silkie!" Bumble Bee lied quickly, it was obvious, but Cyborg was fooled. I rolled my eyes.
"Well, Starfire left plenty of food for him and Charm's been feeding him." An explosion could be seen behind him,"Uh-oh, I gotta go!" The screen went black.
"WHY'D YOU DO THAT?" Aqualad yelled, he was just getting off the ground.
"BECAUSE THEY'RE TRUSTING US TO PROTECT THE CITY!" Bumble Bee returned,"Do you want them to think we're in over our heads with some second-rate bad guy who didn't even make the list?" She held up the list and pointed to it as emphasis.
"We need to get more info on Control Freak-" The alarms blarred. We were out the door and into the garage at once. Cyborg had a second T-car for them while they were here. I jumped on my bike, and revved the engine.
"Race ya there!" Speedy shouted out the driver's seat window, He was going to annoy me. I saw Bumble Bee scold him from the passenger seat as I put my helmet on. Before he could blink my sped out of the garage and through the under water tunnel that lead to the street. Both the T-car and my Black 2010 Ducati Hupermotard 796 raced and weaved through the cars. I reached the bank right after Mas and Menos did, then the car pulled up. They stepped out, and I took off my helmet.
"Oh come on!? I just stopped Mumbo from robbing a bank! The one down the road from this one!" I whined.
"Awe, is the lil' princess being overworked?" Speedy teased. Seriously this guy was asking for a broken jaw, and I didn't mind giving him one.
"Keep talking and I might just give you bad luck!" Funny, because I didn't give bad luck, it's only bad luck if it's good luck for someone.
"Nock it off guys!" Aqualad snapped.
"Alright, let's do this." Bumble Bee cheered. The doors exploded and an old lady came out and walked towards us.
"Don't go in there, wait for the Titans!" She warned.
"We are Titans," I chimed. We barged inside to see Ande LeBlanc. That wierd french guy who looks like a mime, dressed in white and grey.
"DROP IT!"
"Hugh! Who is going to make me?" Andre LeBlanc said in his thick french accent, he stretched like he was doing the Egyptian dance. Then he ran our way. Speedy gestured for Bumble Bee to go first so she flew and kicked him in the face, followed by a few punches. The rest of us just stood watching Bumble Bee throw leBlanc around like a rag doll. It was quite entertaining too. LeBlanc was flung onto his back and quickly got up, he pulled out three sticks of dynamite and threw them our way. Before we could react, Speedy sent three arrows at the sticks, just cutting the stems of so they wouldn't explode. LeBlanc instantly turned and ran out the exit, he didn't make it far down the road when a huge wave of water stopped him, I assumed from Aqualad. We handed him over to the police.
"I thought with the Titans gone I had a shot..." He whimpered.
"We are Titans," Mas called after him.
"It's true," Menos backed him up.
"I'd feel better if Control freak were behind bars too, lets get back and-" Aqualad was interrupted by Bumble Bee's communicator. She flipped it open and looked over a map. They nodded and split up, leaving me alone without a job. I opened the car door and pressed a few buttons, the car sped off on autopilot towards home. Speedy came running back to me just before I got on my bike.
"Do you want to come with me?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.
"Uh, why not," I shrugged, "I'm driving the bike though."
"but, but?" He begged. Pathetic.
"No. My bike, my rules," I told him smugly. I Threw a leg over and waved him over, he hopped on back.
"I only have one helmet, here," I held it out for him.
"What about you? What if something bad happens?" He hesitated on taking the helmet from me, but eventually did.
"I'm good luck, bad was never an option." I winked and flashed a playful grin. He was nervous, he tried to hide it but it didn't work. "Hold on tight!" He gripped at my weighst and as the bike jumped forward his eyes widened. We arrived at the park minutes later, I let the engine die and I glanced at Speedy, he took the helmet off and handed it to me.
"You drive like a crazy person!" He laughed and hopped off.
"Who said I was sane?" I retorted with a smirk and got off the bike. "So why are we at the park?"
"A cat stuck in a tree, Uh, over there," He pointed at a little kid calling for his animal to come down.
"Wow, really? No bad guy to stop? Just a cat?" I asked irritated as we walked towards the situation.
"You look like a cat!" He chortled as we walked over to where a small boy was calling for his cat. Speedy drew his bow and arrow before I could stop him.
"Are you crazy?! You cou..." ignoring me, Speedy shot his arrow hitting the branch and the white puff-ball landed in his hands, he handed it back to the kid.
"Thank you Robin, I like your other costume better," The kid said honestly. Speedy fumed while I laughed.
"I'm not Robin, I'm Speedy," The two just stared at each other for a second then Speedy turned towards the bike again.
"You know," I said as soon as we were out of earshot of anybody, "When I first saw you I thought you were a Robin wanna-be too." Speedy grumbled something about Robin looking stupid and he himself was gorgeous. So narcissistic.
"Oh come on, laugh. Smile." I frowned at his seething form, "Seriously, relax."
We reached the bike and a wicked smile crossed his lips and he looked at me. Not good. Before I could react, he hopped on the bike and grabbed my arm, pulling me onto it as well. I scrambled with my grip as he revved the engine to life and took off through the crowded streets of the city. The helmet was left on the side of the road somewhere, on the inside I was cursing myself for letting him surprise me like that. I heard a faint noise of ringing and realized it was my communicator. I flipped it open to see Bumble Bee, she was calm until she saw my emotional mixture between fear and anger.
"Hey, uh, you okay?" She quirked an eyebrow. I fumbled between holding on to Speedy, which he was probably enjoying, and holding the communicator.
"Speedy is driving! Not by my choice!" I felt silent laughter shake Speedys body. I hugged him tighter as we whipped through cars as they honked angrily at us. The wind was blowing my hair every which way, indefinably tangling it.
"Speedy don't kill her!" She growelled, "Anyways, we're all at the pizza joint Robin said was their favorite, wanna come?"
"Yo, Speedy! We're getting pizza, you don't have a choice. Hey, ugh, don't turn so fast!" I closed the communicator and managed to hold on for dear life with one hand as the other put it away.
A few streets and crashed averted, we arrived at the pizza place, Bumble Bee and the rest of the team was there before us and had just ordered pepperoni pizza. Everybodys' face was glum, besides Speedy and I, and lacked enthusiasm when the pizza was placed on the table. We all picked up a piece and I wondered why no one was eating.
"I take it you guys didn't have a good day?" I asked as I nibbled on the pizza.
"They don't think we are Titans," Menos grumbled.
"No body even knows who we are," Speedy agreed,"This kid today called me Robin."
"So what if the kid didn't know your name? Let it go Robin," Aqualad elbowed Speedy playfully and took a bite of pizza. Speedy got irritated. But our attention was drawn to the tv screen on the wall of the pizzeria. A man was being interviewed by the news.
"... And before I knew it, I was surrounded by dolphins and some guy in a unitard pulled me out of the water..."
"Some guy in a unitard?!" Aqualad glared at the screen.
"Let it go, unitard guy," Speedy mocked with a smirk.
"We're here to protect the city, not for the recognition. And there's still a villain on the loose so-" Bumble Bee was interrupted by the sound of Control freak on the tv screen, probably hacked into the network provider.
"Greeting Titans' East!" He boomed, "Your evil nemesis is back!"
"Looks like he found us," Speedy grumbled.
"That's right, I'm back! And this time I have master-minded the New Ultimate Titans Challenge!"
"Bring it on," Bumble Bee dared. Without a seconds notice, we were zapped to a room with a spotlight on us. We were all jumbled in a pile on the floor.
"Where are we?" Mas asked.
"I don't like the looks of this," Menos added.
"Welcome Titans East," Our attention was drawn to the manias screens Control Freak projected himself on, "After a much analysis I have created a series of events redesigned to challenge your specific powers. If you succeed, you will have proven your worth as Titans." We all got up as he spoke and flanked a furious Bumble Bee on either, each of us curious and glaring at the couch potatoes. He continued, "Failure will mean that the city the real Titans trusted you to protect will be destroyed." He laughed then continued again, "Oh? Didn't I mention the New Ultimate Titans Challenge will be televised so that everyone can watch your defeat!" We zapped out of the room. I didn't see anyone else with me, but I was in the basement of Jump City Hospital. The TV on the wall showed a picture of each of my teammates in action then some stats as Control Freak announced all our missions.
"...And finally Charm, the sorceress whose' good luck means bad for her enemies. Charm, your challenge is to diffuse the seven bombs in the Hospital in five minutes," I started racing away, "Without powers. And, all the staff is locked up, so nobody can evacuate." it felt like I got electrocuted for a moment, and my powers didn't work after, I cursed under my breath.
I ran to the first bomb I saw, it was strapped to the Hospital power supply. Oh goody, I thought sourly. Without powers, I have to defuse this thing by cutting a wire, which one was it again? Red or Blue? Why is there a yellow wire?
"CRAP!" I nearly yelled. Okay, in movies they always cut the red wire then blue, then I guess if it doesn't disarm cut the yellow. Sounds good to me. But I don't have wire cutters or clippers! And no powers! Looks like I'll have to bite my way through, this is going to hurt. I grab the red wire and tried to yank it free, it worked. Then I pulled the blue, but the timer sped up. I had a panic attack. Yellow wire! I pulled it free as well and the bomb disarmed.
"Okay on to the next one," I spotted it on the stairwell and quickly disarmed it. The bombs were one after the other throughout the Hospital. By the time I had six of the seven bombs disarmed, I had thirty seconds left. The last bomb was in the maternity wing of the Hospital, right next to a bunch of sleeping babies. I ran up to it ready to yank the wires, but only one problem, this one didn't have wires. I wanted to scream, but I would make up the babies if I did. I quickly looked around for anything to smash it with. On the wall was a fire extinguisher, I didn't think twice about smashing the glass and then ramming it into the bomb, which was now at sixteen seconds. Three hits later, the timer faltered then shut off. I was relieved, until I realized I had woken the babies up. The nurses who were locked in the room beside me glared at me.
"Sorry," I mumbled, my cheeks turned red.
I ran out to rejoin my team at the center of town, a crowd of cheering people had gathered around us when we regrouped. Then the screen came to life again.
"You guys were so cool!" Control Freak said, then zapped himself in front of us. "I mean, I didn't think you could pull it off, but you did!" This guy was an idiot.
"I can't believe the bad guy just zapped himself in front of us," Speedy stated. Control Freak came to his senses and started to back away while pulling out his remote. The twin speedsters grabbed the remote before he could do anything, he looked at his hand where his remote had been in defeat. "Uh-oh." He mumbled. Bumble Bee placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her.
"Your 'Ultimate Challenge' has been cancelled," She smirked, before knocking him out with a single punch to the face. The JCPD SWAT team arrived and took him away in a straight jacket, but he got the mask off as they were loading him in their truck.
"Alright Titans East, now that I know what your capable of, I'm gonna make things even harder for you! I'll be back!"
"Hasta la vista Control Freak!" The twins called after hin, with Menos waving his remote in the air. Then Bumble Bee communicator rang, she opened it up to Cyborg, still in winter clothes.
"I got reports of missiles, explosive devised,"He paused as if in disbelief, "And a mechanical shark?"
"Don't worry Sparky, we got everything under control," She said confidently.
"Great, I knew you could handle it. Looks like we're gonna be gone for a while, mind staying longer?" Bumble Bee glanced at the rest of us and smiled.
"Nah, this place is beginning to feel like home." She ended the call.
"I don't know about you guys, but I about died from a heart attach trieing to defuse the bombs in the Hospital," I laughed.
"Lets go home, we deserve it," Aqualad said, everybody agreed.
I'm so sorry that took a heck of a lot longer than it should have. I have plenty of excuses, like finals and babysitting and my computer resetting and not saving data, but that doesn't make it up to you guys. So I hope this long chapter makes up for it somewhat.
I have good news and bad news.
Bad news= I'm going to be hiding under a rock so I can hide from assassins after that update took so long.
Good news= I'm halfway done with chapter three! So another update coming soon!
I had to through in that piece of Mumbo Jumbo, he's one of my favorite screw-up villains like Doctor Light.
So onward! Review! Tell me how you liked this chapter! Tell me how you hated it! Tell me anything as long as I get feedback! Thank you!
I love you all! If you review...
