Three days later.
Red Hood slept. And in his sleep he saw a black abyss. Just a simple black abyss. And in the depths of the black abyss he could make out the shape of some winged animal. A bird? No, the animal had no feathers.
The faint image of the animal beat it's leathery wings back and forth and continued to fly towards Red Hood, yet it did not get any closer. The animal did not come any closer no matter how hard it flapped it's wings.
And suddenly, there was a giggle. Then a chuckle. It developed into a good hardy laugh. Then too a full belly laugh. A deep gut wrenching laughter. An uncontrollable hysterical laughter. It never ended. The laugh continued, growing louder until it was all anyone could ever hear.
All Red Hood could hear in his sleep was the never-ending laughter. And he couldn't look away from the strange animal just barely peeking out of the shadows, trying desperately to fly to him. He found himself longing for the creature, wishing for it to come.
The laughter continued, and it was all Red Hood could take.
"AGH!", waking from his subtle nightmare, Red Hood jackknifed out of bed. Breathing heavily, his Kris knife clutched tightly in his grip, he stared at the wall until he calmed down.
That dream again.
Once he had calmed his nerves, Red Hood set his knife aside on his nightstand and resolved to get out of bed. He had a lot of work to get done before tonight.
But first, a good work out and maybe some breakfast.
-Under The Hood-
Later that day.
Starfire gently hummed to herself as she hovered high in the air with a bucket of water in one hand and a wet rag in the other. She was cleaning the outside of the windows of Titans Tower. It wasn't a job that needed to be done often, but she was glad to help.
She waved her wet rag over the glass, and was somewhat displeased at how stubborn one particular spot on the glass was being. "Hmm…" She scrubbed harder and harder. But the spot was still there. So she scrubbed some more.
Inside the Tower, each other Titan went about his or her duties in cleaning the tower. Cyborg was vacuuming, and when needed lifted up something heavy to clean under it. Beast Boy flew around the tower, taking different animal shapes as he carried around the duster in his mouth. Raven stood in the kitchen and used her powers to clean and wash dishes all around her. And Robin polished whatever needed special attention. Starfire was still scrubbing that stubborn spot and was becoming less patient with it.
Beast Boy flew into the main living room in the form of a large bird, caring the duster in his beak. Then he transformed into his human form, landed on the ground, and grabbed the duster out of his mouth. "Eck! Man… Dust tastes so nasty."
"Then don't eat it.", Raven said as a casserole dish floated past her and was immediately attacked by flying wet sponges.
Cyborg held the couch up in hand and vacuumed under it with the other, he had been cleaning all of Titan Tower in a similar fashion.
Robin was carefully cleaning the computer consoles. He had a miniature can of compressed air to blow away bits of dust caught inside a keyboard. He glanced up and saw Starfire in front of him on the other side of the thick glass. She was still scrubbing away at that spot.
A beeping noise came from Cyborg's arm, and he set down the couch carefully then turned off the vacuum. He examined the display on his wrist and said, "We got work elsewhere, guys."
"What is it?", Robin said, changing into full crime-fighter mode and turning away from Starfire, although he did glance back.
"There's a disturbance down at the South side docks. Old H.I.V.E. members were spotted.", Cyborg explained.
Raven slowly set every dish and item in the kitchen on a counter top. "Get Starfire. Let's go."
Robin turned around and knocked on the glass to get Starfire's attention. Once he had the girl's attention, he pointed to his communicator, and then slammed his right fist into his left open palm.
Hero time.
Starfire nodded.
"Let's go. We'll meet her outside.", Robin said.
Following his lead, the rest of the Titans followed him in running out of the room.
Starfire gave one last quick scrub at the spot, which was still there afterwards. Starfire was unamused to say the least. "Stupid spot!" Then she attacked the spot with a low powered blast of energy from her eyes that vaporized the spot away.
With the window finally spotless, Starfire smiled widely and giggled a little. Then she flew off with her bucket and rag to meet the other Titans and save the day.
-Under The Hood-
Nothing.
Each of the Titans regrouped at Pier 18 after having split up.
"Find anything?", Robin asked.
"I got nothing.", Cyborg said.
"Ditto.", Raven said.
"My search for any suspicious enemies was unsuccessful as well.", Starfire explained.
"Yeah, what she said.", Beast Boy said.
"I don't get it.", Cyborg said. "The computer picked up police transmissions about H.I.V.E. members at this location. But I don't see anybody."
"Could it have been a false alarm?", Starfire asked.
"Possible. It does happen from time to time. But this police transmission seemed pretty legit.", Cyborg said.
Above them, on the rooftop of a warehouse, Red Hood perched himself with a miniature set of binoculars. He watched the Titans through the binoculars, and between the expressions on their face, they're body language, and what lips he could see well enough to read, he gathered that they're wild goose chase had gone as planned.
It had been easier to then he thought to lure them out here. All he had to do was point a few fake transmissions on the police frequencies specifically at the Tower with a directional transmitter, so no one else could hear it, and just wait for them to show.
Now came both the tricky and the entertaining part. All the pieces were in place, so all he had to do was follow his plan.
Red Hood put away his binoculars and stood strait, looming over the teenage heroes.
"What's the point of any of the old H.I.V.E. members coming here anyway?", Raven asked. "There's nothing to steal or do here."
Starfire gasped. "Friends! Perhaps they would like to steal this!" She held up a giant anchor that was as large as she was.
"Uh… Starfire, that's an anchor.", Robin informed her.
Red Hood was getting a little annoyed and was wondering how long it would take these clueless kids to notice his silhouette on the rooftop.
Raven watched with a sort of quiet amusement as her teammates tried to explain to Starfire the purpose of a ship's anchor. Then she spotted Hood on the rooftop of the adjacent warehouse. "There!", she shouted.
About time., Red Hood thought.
Just as the other Titans turned to look, Red Hood turned around and ran, allowing the Titans only a glance at the suspicious figure. Red Hood ran across that rooftop, and reached the end of it just as the Titans emerged from the other side.
Hood jumped off the rooftop, and landed on another adjacent one only one story down. He rolled with his landing and kept going.
"I see him!", Starfire shouted as she carried Cyborg in the air above and ahead of the rest of the Titans.
"Who is he?", Robin, who was giving pursuit on his own two feet, shouted to them.
"Don't know.", Cyborg said back. "Some dude in a leather jacket and a red head."
Robin jumped to the next rooftop and landed into a roll. Beast Boy swooped down in the form of a hawk, and Raven followed like a missile in a blue cloak.
"He's fast.", Raven noted as she caught up to Robin.
Red Hood jumped to another rooftop and over an alley with a single jump, and grabbed a ladder leading to another story of that buildings rooftop. He quickly climbed up as the Titans approached.
Cyborg raised his arm and fired a grapnel cable, but it just barely missed Hood as he climbed up and disappeared over the next rooftop.
"Lift.", Robin said to Raven as he held up his grapnel gun. Raven gained altitude and suddenly Robin's grapnel gun was wrapped in her black energy. She lifted Robin higher as he held on to the grapnel, essentially carrying Robin and saving him the hassle of the jump.
Red Hood finally reached the end of this rooftop, and jumped over the side.
The Titans, hot on his heels, hovered in mid air over the edge of the rooftop and watched just as Red Hood fell threw a skylight in a warehouse just below and disappeared in the thick darkness inside.
"Titans! Follow him!", Robin ordered.
Inside it was pitch black. Robin, aided by his grapnel gun, landed first on the cold hard floor of the warehouse that Red Hood had disappeared in and put away his grapnel. Then the rest of the team flew in through the broken skylight. Starfire set Cyborg on the ground as the rest of the team looked into the shadows.
"Uh… Can someone turn on some lights please!", Beast Boy said after he turned back into human form.
And then suddenly the lights came on. Construction style halogen work lights lit ever corner of the warehouse as they stood against walls and atop catwalks.
The Titans all squinted their eyes as they adjusted to the light and took fighting stances, ready for anything. They saw that the old large warehouse had a few crates scattered around. And ahead of them, standing calmly on the cold floor, was Red Hood.
"Hey.", he said.
"Who are you?", Robin demanded, still not sure whether or not classify Red Hood as friend or foe.
"Name's Red Hood. You'll be hearing about me a lot from now on, so I thought I'd introduce myself now, and save us all the awkward formality of name cards.", he said.
After a short pause in the conversation, Starfire spoke up and said, "So… You are a villain, yes?"
"I'm sure they'll say so.", Hood answered.
"Well whoever you are, if you're looking for trouble, you came to the right place.", Cyborg said.
"Glad to hear.", Red Hood said. Then he held up a small detonator grasped in his grip, and pressed the red button with his thumb.
Suddenly small hidden charges in the floor around the Titans went off, spreading nothing more then smoke and thick gas around them. Then before Robin could utter his first command to the team, Red Hood descended through the gas and drop kicked Raven in the stomach and sent her rolling on the floor.
When outnumbered… He stood, spun, and hit Robin in the chest with a spin heel kick. Always attack the most powerful and the leaders first.
Beast Boy transformed into a pterodactyl and beat his massive wings to spread the smoke away.
In the dissipating cloud of gas, Red Hood saw the glow of Cyborg's sonic cannon and Starfire's hands. He darted to Cyborg just as the half-mechanical Titan fired.
Red Hood leaned to the side as the blast glanced over his shoulder. Cyborg fired again and Red Hood jumped over blast. Then Hood landed next to Cyborg, grabbed his cannon and pushed it upwards and away from.
"Hey!", Cyborg protested.
Then Hood let go and darted away.
"Get back here!", Cyborg said as he took aim with his sonic cannon arm again. But what he didn't know was when Hood grabbed the cannon; he planted a miniature grenade on it. As soon as the cannon charged to fire, the grenade exploded. "Agh!", Cyborg clutched at his arm and examined the blast damage. The grenade had not totally destroyed his arm, but it was far too damaged for the sonic blaster to fire. "Oh… YOU DID NOT JUST DO WHAT I THINK YOU JUST DID!", Cyborg yelled.
By that time Beast Boy had flown in the form of a Frigate Bird over Red Hood. Then he changed from the fast flying bird and into the form of a triceratops, landing in front of Red Hood.
Beast Boy then charged forward with his three devastating horns aimed at Red Hood. But Hood only jumped up and landed on Beast Boy's triceratops head, holding onto to horns to steady himself.
Beast Boy thrashed his head about to shake Hood off, but Hood was staying put and held onto the horns tighter.
Starfire circled above and contemplated firing, but feared hitting her green friend.
"Yippee-Ki-Yay.", Red Hood said as he removed a few darts from his belt and stabbed them into the side of Beast Boy's head, injecting tranquilizer from the dart's internal reservoir and into the changeling's blood.
Hood jumped off Beast Boy's head just as the green Titan thrashed about trying to remove the darts. Then he changed back into a human with the darts sticking out of his head just behind his ears. He stood woozy and tripped over his own two feet.
"Beast Boy!", Starfire yelled.
"Get Hood. I'll help him.", Raven, having recovered from the kick, said as she flew past Starfire. Raven flew to Beast Boy and removed the darts with her powers, then attempted to use her healing powers to cure Beast Boy of whatever poison or tranquilizer Hood injected into him.
Starfire fired starbolts at Red Hood and flew towards him. Hood narrowly dodge them then threw a few small round spheres towards her. The round spheres exploded and sent green gas and blinding powders into Starfire's face.
Before Red Hood could make another move, Robin kicked him hard from behind and sent the new villain to the floor. Hood quickly rolled and recovered as Robin attacked with another kick. Hood jumped up over the kick and almost made contact with Robin's head with a kick of his own.
He landed then jumped back.
Robin withdrew his staff from his belt and extended it. "I don't know who you are… But you made a big mistake tonight."
"Is that so?" Red Hood reached into his jacket.
Robin lunched forward and swung his staff wide. Red Hood lunched forward and swung his arm out of his jacket with the knife in hand.
Slash!
The two had now switched places somewhat, their backs turned to each other, and were both quiet as half of Robin's staff landed on the ground after Hood had slashed it off.
Robin blinked a few times and realized that the knife was no ordinary knife.
Hood threw a freeze-bomb at Robin's feet and it detonated, encasing Robin's legs in thick ice.
Robin quickly took out a bird-a-rang and attempted to chip away at the ice as Red Hood ran off to fight other opponents.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven ascended high in the air and suddenly a few of the many crates in the warehouse was wrapped in black energy and propelled towards Red Hood like missiles.
Red Hood ran near the wall of the warehouse; running, diving, and rolling to avoid crates which exploded into splinters as they hit the wall. After Raven had run out of crates to throw, Red Hood quickly climbed a latter up to the catwalks above, where he continued to run.
Raven rose into the air and she held out her hands as parts of the catwalk were suddenly engulfed in black energy. Red Hood had to kick it into high gear and run as she uprooted and tore apart the catwalk behind him, destruction nipping at Hood's heels.
Soon Hood was running towards the part of the catwalk that was just over Raven, and he jumped onto the railing as she completely tossed aside a huge section of the catwalk with her powers. He jumped off the railing and fell feet first towards her.
Reacting quickly, Raven swung her arm up and formed part of a black bubble to shield her. And sure enough Red Hood landed feet first with a loud stomp on her energy shield. Then he dived forward and behind her, where she was exposed because the bubble had only protected in front and above her.
Raven turned her head with wide eyes just as Red Hood threw some round capsules in mid-fall. The capsules impacted against the inside of her energy bubble, just in front of her, and released thick and powerful knock-out gas.
She lost consciousness instantly and fell, her energy bubble fading like a forgotten memory.
While both her and Hood fell, he reached into his jacket with his left hand and withdrew a grapnel gun designed in a pistol shape. He fired and the grapnel anchored to the ceiling. Then he caught Raven by the end of her cloak just as the line went taunt, and he swung with the grapnel pistol in his left hand and Raven's limp body hanging by her cloak from his other hand.
Cyborg helped Beast Boy up off the ground as the green changeling recovered from the affects of Hood's darts.
"You okay, man?", Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine just as soon as- AGH!", he said then screamed.
Raven's unconscious form impaled Beast Boy. Then immediately afterwards Red Hood swung into Cyborg, hitting the half-mechanical Titan with both feet. Then Hood kicked off of and away from Cyborg's chest and flipped backwards in the air. All three Titans involved fell to the ground and Hood landed on his feet.
Red Hood retracted his line, put away his grapnel pistol in his jacket, and turned around to spot his next opponent.
That's when Starfire hit him with twin blasts from her bright green eyes, and sent Red Hood soaring across the warehouse. The jacket-clad man rolled across the floor of the warehouse and then skidded to a slow stop near a wall.
Red Hood tried to get up, but then grabbed his sides in pain and fell to his knees, moaning and doubling over.
Starfire flew up, bright green balls of energy in her hands, and hovered just over Red Hood. "Are you… Are you hurt?", she said, honestly concerned for the well being of her enemy.
Red Hood didn't reply, but sunk closer to the ground with a gritty moan of agony.
Starfire powered down and the starbolts in her hands disappeared. She slowly glided closer to him, her big green eyes filled with concern.
Red Hood looked up from his doubled over position and stared at her. "Gotcha."
Before she could make sense of this, he sprung his trap.
He quickly straitened up and aimed a miniature net-launcher clutched tightly in his hand at her. He withdrew it from his belt while he pretended to double over in pain.
She gasped and he fired.
Starfire was wrapped in a net made of thin, flexible, and strong metal cables. She yelped shortly as a powerful electric charge from the net surged into her. When the short but powerful charge died, she fell unconscious to the ground with a thump.
"Starfire!", Robin yelled as he broke the last of the ice around his feet away.
Springing to his feet, Red Hood put away his net-launcher, picked up Starfire, and threw her over his shoulder. The turned on his heel and ran for the large closed doors at the entrance of the warehouse.
Robin, finally free of the ice around his cold feet, took off like a torpedo and ran after Hood.
But Red Hood stopped just before the doors and faced Robin. "Sorry, show's over.", he said as he pulled a detonator out of his jacket. He pressed the red button on the detonator.
Suddenly, two crates on the catwalks, near the wall and directly above Hood, came to life. The lids popped up and a machine gun rose from within, lifted then held up by mechanical and hydraulics mechanisms. The computer-guided guns targeted each of the remaining Titans, and opened fire.
Luckily, the guns were loaded with rubber pegs instead of bullet; a non-lethal, but certainly a painful deterrent.
Robin stopped cold in his tracks and held up his cape to protect him. His cape caught the pegs and shook as it absorbed the force of each impact.
Cyborg quickly turned his back to the guns and protected Beast Boy and the sleeping Raven behind his metal bulk. The rubber pegs bounced harmlessly off his chassis but prevented him from moving.
The guns continued to repeatedly fire, unleashing a never ending hailstorm that held each of the Teen Titans hostage.
"Starfire!", Robin yelled as he peeked out from his cape for just a moment.
Red Hood had already opened the large warehouse doors and proceeded to run out with Starfire over his shoulder like a piece of luggage.
"Starfire!", he yelled again as he withdrew a birdarang. He took another quick glance at the automatic machine guns, then threw the birdarang.
It flew and arched towards one of the guns, and hit it's barrel. The gun swung, still firing, and fired upon the other gun. The second gun was soon unable to accurately target the Titans with a constant barrage of rubber pegs hitting it.
Robin quickly withdrew two explosive disks from his belt and threw one at each gun.
The disks hit the guns and exploded, destroying the automated weapons.
Robin quickly threw his cape back behind him, scattering scores of rubber pegs on the ground, and continued his pursuit of Red Hood and Starfire.
Outside the warehouse, Red Hood had just placed Starfire securely in the back of a van and closed the back doors. Having already heard the explosion of his automated guns, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Robin emerge from the warehouse and run towards him.
"Persistent!", Red Hood exclaimed, perhaps admiring a worthy opponent. He held up a second detonator with a long antenna, and pressed the red button on that detonator too.
Suddenly a parked beat up car on one side, and a dumpster on the other side, were engulfed in a blast as bombs planted under them exploded.
Robin skidded to a stop and shielded himself with his cape from the twin blasts as the remains of the car and the dumpster were scattered, their flames rising and blocking off Robin's chase with a literal wall of fire.
Hood allowed himself a moment of smug satisfaction because the twin explosions had worked to block him off perfectly. But that wouldn't hold him long so he rushed into the driver seat of the van, and sped off.
The flames burned high. Accelerants must have been used to ensure a strong firewall.
But that was of no concern to Robin. He jumped through the sold wall of fire, the cape wrapped around his arms and head to protect him from the fire.
Once he landed, he tossed his cape back behind him. His eyes were narrow and his teeth were gritted. But the only sign left of Red Hood was the faint sound of screeching tires off in the distance. And soon that sound was gone too.
Robin stared onwards at nothing in particular. His only movement was the rise and fall of his chest from his heavy breathing.
Soon Beast Boy, in the form of a large pterodactyl, carried Cyborg with his talons over the wall of fire. In Cyborg's one good arm he safely held Raven. Beast Boy flew down and set Cyborg next to Robin, releasing his talon's grip on Cyborg's shoulders. Then Beast Boy changed back to his human form and landed next to Cyborg.
"Where's Starfire? What happened?", Cyborg asked.
Robin turn around. "Hood got away with her! We have to find her! Raven!"
"Still out cold.", Cyborg said as he adjusted his grip on the unconscious girl. "She'll be out for a while." He paused, his voice in its calm yet serious tone. "She can't help us right now."
"Beast Boy! Track them!", Robin ordered.
Beast Boy nodded and changed into a bloodhound. But just as he took a single sniff of the air, he yelped and whined. He changed back into his human form and held his ears. "Ow ow ow ow!"
"What is it?", Robin demanded.
Cyborg looked at the cracked display on his damaged arm. "Some kinda high-pitched frequency. Only dogs and other animals can hear it. BB, and every other dog near by, is gonna have a headache."
Robin's eyes widened a little. "What about her communicator?"
Cyborg looked back to the display on his arm as he attempted to track the signal from Starfire's communicator. "No good, either. I think it's being jammed somehow."
"Beast Boy? Can't you fly and spot them from above?"
Beast Boy moaned at the idea and he continued to hold his sore ears.
"Robin…", Cyborg began. "By now, they're long gone."
Robin was quiet for a moment. Only the sound the gentle crackle of the flames behind them burning could be heard.
Red Hood had thought of everything.
Everything.
And now he had Starfire.
-Under The Hood-
It was quiet, dark, and cold. But Starfire rested on the metal floor anyway. Eventually, she stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes.
Then she quickly sat up with a gasp.
She was in a large energy cage of some sort; a wall of energy with a light blue tint ran around the outside of the cage. Only a mere four bars, spread evenly around the circular prison, connected the cage's roof above her to the floor below her.
The large circular cage was on one side of an old room with wooden floors and fading plain wallpaper. On the other side of the room were two tables with various instruments and tools cluttered about. Between the two tables was a closed door. The only window in the room was closed and shutters blinded out any light or sign of the outside world. An old lamp or two provided a faint light to illuminate the room.
Starfire wasted no time. Her first reaction was to reach for her communicator, but found to her startle that it was gone. Then she spotted it, partially disassembled, on one of the tables that were cluttered with tools and parts.
She sprung to her feet and hurled a starbolt strait at the energy wall, but the only reaction was a slash of green light from the dissipating bolt. She stood back and unleashed a barrage of starbolts aimed at the same section of wall, one bolt after enough in rapid succession and she gave a short yell of effort with each starbolt she threw. But the wall of light blue energy stood as strong as ever, so her eyes glowed bright green and she fired a constant beam of pure energy from her eyes.
"Hey. Hey!"
Hearing the voice, she stopped her futile attack and turned to the source of the voice.
Red Hood was standing in the threshold of the now open door, leaning against the doorframe with his arms casually crossed. She hadn't even heard him enter.
"Don't bother. That cage will actually absorb all the starbolts you throw at it and use them to power itself. Cool huh?" He stood strait, uncrossed his arms, and walked over to her. "Oh, and don't try to overload it with energy or something like that. I've got bleed off systems on that cage for energy overloads."
"You! You are the Red Hood we fought in the warehouse!"
"And the lady wins a prize.", he said. "Yeah, that's me."
"Why have you imprisoned me?", she demanded, her glowing eyes slowly powered down but her temper didn't. "What are you going to do?"
"Isn't it obvious?", he said as he walked over to a table with tools cluttered over it. He picked up a thin pen-like device and turned back to her with the device at his eye level. He activated the device and it sparked at its tip. The arches of electricity faintly lit the face of his red metal mask menacingly. "I'm going to see what makes you tick…"
"Eep!"
Red Hood chuckled. "I'm kidding." He laughed to himself as he poked the sparking end of the device to demonstrate its harmlessness. He tossed it carelessly back onto the table.
She blinked a few times in mild confusion.
"Don't you just hate it when that happens? Whenever a bad guy catches you, the first thing he tries to do is experiment on you or make you his girlfriend." He gasped in a mocking manner. "Or worse yet… Leave you alone in an elaborate death trap!"
"So… You are not going to eat my glorfkas and dissect my third stomach so you may hang it on your wall?", she asked innocently.
Red Hood raised one eyebrow wide and looked at her strangely. After a moment, he shrugged it off. "Aliens…", he muttered to himself. "No, I'm not going to do… Um… What you just said."
"Then why have you imprisoned me? What do you plan to do with me?"
"Sell you."
She didn't react at first, only blinked a few times. "I believe the phrase I should say is… What?"
Red Hood laughed to himself and leaned against the other table.
"What do you mean?", she asked again as she gently rose into the air and floated mere inches over the cage's cold metal floor.
"Think about it. You're a Teen Titan. You got enemies. Rich enemies. Connected enemies. And I'm sure anyone of them would pay pretty handsomely to have you in their hands. See where I'm going with this?"
"You intend to sell me to one of my enemies?", she asked.
"Well, more accurately, I'm auctioning you off to whichever enemy has the biggest wallet."
Starfire was a quiet for a moment.
"Now pipe down for a minuet, will ya?", he said as he picked up a phone. The phone was connected to a laptop computer and various electronic devoices via a snake's nest of cluttered wires. "I gotta make a call."
-Under The Hood-
"Sir?", Mr. Li asked Black Mask.
"Yes?" Black Mask sat at his desk in his office, placed discretely in some tall office building somewhere in Jump City. A large window was directly behind and beheld a brilliant view of Jump City's fellow skyscrapers.
"Remember that bad penny I mentioned to you?", he said while holding a cell phone. One hand covered the phones mic to prevent the caller from hearing.
"Which one?"
"The South Side one."
"Yeah. What about him?"
"He's on the phone."
1 minuet and 36 seconds later.
"YOU'VE GOT WHO LOCKED UP WHERE!", Black Mask shouted into the phone, that Mr. Li handed him, as he jumped out of his chair and stood.
Red Hood was on the other line, and back in the room where Starfire was kept prisoner, he continued to lean against a table. It perplexed Starfire how his posture and demeanor could be so nonchalant when talking to the biggest crime lord in Jump City.
"You heard me.", Red Hood said. "And try not to yell, will ya? Remember this is a ten-way call. Me and eight other people on the line would like to keep our hearing."
"Got that right.", Aquista said. He was the only major crime lord left who did not pay up to Black Mask in some way. He ran his own little piece of independent territory in Jump City's North side.
Six of the other seven criminals on the phone ran their own territory but paid their tribute to Black Mask. The seventh paid to Aquista. They all agreed with Red Hood and Aquista about Black Mask's volume, but didn't speak.
"Alright, alright. Fine.", Black Mask said as he sat back in his office chair. "So… You captured Starfire, huh?"
"That's right.", Red Hood answered.
"How are we supposed to know you're telling the truth?", one of Black Mask's lieutenants asked.
"You want proof?", Red Hood asked as he looked at Starfire, who was practically boiling over with aggravation in her cage. "I'll give ya proof." He held up the phone and pointed the receiver in Starfire's direction. "Say hello, Starfire."
"YOU ARE ALL A HERD OF GEYPHORIAN NARN-NARKS!", she yelled. Then she proceeded to yell more alien curses in such a loud and high pitched tone that it seemed to her listens as one loud annoying squeal.
Aquista winced in pain at the sound of it. Black Mask held the phone far away from his head. Red Hood covered one side of his metal mask over his ear as if that would protect his eardrums. Everyone else on the phone had similar reactions of pain and discomfort.
Finally when Starfire had finished, she stood and gently exhaled and inhaled to return her breath to her. It was somewhat surprising to see the sweetest of the Titans so angry. But then again, it wasn't so surprising when you consider that she met the Teen Titans because she was almost sold off by a bunch of reptilian aliens. She probably wasn't thrilled with the concept of being sold.
Red Hood waited a moment before he let go of his ear and put the phone back up to his face. "Need more proof?"
They all shouted "No!" or some other phrase to that effect.
"No! No, that's okay. We believe ya.", Black Mask said as he massaged his sinuses just above his nose. "Look, let's keep this simple… Red Hood was it?"
"Yeah.", Hood replied.
"How much do you want for her?"
"Black Mask… Or should I call you Mr. Mask? What about Blackie?"
Black Mask kept his lack of amusement in check. "Black Mask will be fine, thank you.", he said dryly.
"Right. Listen, Black Mask, there's a reason I called you and everyone else here on the phone.", Red Hood began. "I'm putting her on auction. And you're all invited."
"Hood, I'll give you five hundred thousand to drop the auction and hand her over right now.", Aquista offered.
"Cram it, Aquista. Hood, I'll give you six hundred thousand.", Black Mask said.
"Six fifty.", Aquista replied.
"Seven. And I don't use your tongue as a neck tie.", Black Mask said.
The other crime lords on the phone began adding their comments and bid their amounts.
"Hey! Hey, people!", Red Hood shouted till he had gotten everyone's attention. "The auction is tomorrow. Got that? Tomorrow. Not now."
"Forget that.", Black Mask said. "I'm not going to waist my time by standing around with a bunch of brain donors and organ sacks."
"Ya know, Mask, that's not a very good start to a potential business relationship.", Hood told him.
"Yeah? Well I have anger management issues. I abate the urge by hitting people who annoy me.", Mask told him.
"Fair enough.", Hood admitted. "But you're still coming to the auction along with everyone else. If you want her that is."
"What's the point?", Aquista asked. "Me and Black Mask are the only people in this city who don't pay up to someone. Oh, and you, Hood. Either me or Mask will win."
"Yeah, I'll win.", Black Mask added quickly.
Aquista ignored that. "So why invite everyone else here?", he asked Red Hood.
"Because three's a crowd, but ten's a party.", Red Hood said. "Bottom line: The auction is tomorrow. In person. Got a problem with that, then don't come.
"Alright. When and where?", another crime lord asked him.
"I'll call all of you again tomorrow with a time and location. So keep your check books ready and your good shoes polished."
"Fine.", Black Mask asked grumblingly.
"Agreed.", Aquista said, taking pride in the fact the he was obviously more civil then Black Mask.
The rest of the crime lords agreed.
"Great. I'll see all you gentlemen tomorrow. Till then, good night and happy bidding." Red Hood hung up the phone.
The rest of the crime lords all hung up as well one at a time.
Red Hood felt like patting himself on the back; that went considerably well. He turned around and glanced at Starfire.
She gave him a distinct "Humph!" and turned away from him, still floating inches over the cold metal floor.
"What's your problem?"
She didn't answer.
"Come on. You're not gonna give me the silent treatment, are ya?", Hood asked, suppressing a slight chuckle or two to himself.
"If you must know…", she said as she looked at him over her shoulder. "I am saddened by what seems to be my fate, and I am concerned for my friends.", she said with an angry look, and then turned away from him again. "Something you most likely do not have many of…", she muttered to herself.
Red Hood was silent for a moment and leaned on the table again.
She didn't move.
"I lied, ya know."
She looked over her shoulder again. "Excuse me?" She was still angry and it could be heard in her voice.
"I lied.", he simply stated. "I'm not really gonna sell you."
She stared at him questioning, then she turned around and faced him as her anger gave way to inquisitiveness. "Then why did you tell them that you were going to auction me off?"
"Because I wanted them to think I would."
Her only reaction was to blink. "You… Continue to perplex me."
"Look, here's the deal." He stepped forward to her. "I start to auction you off. I take the winner's money. And just before I can hand you over, your cage 'malfunctions' and you magically escape. Who knows, maybe the rest of the Titans will show up around then too. I run off with the money and you and your friends get to capture the city's worst crime lords all at once." He threw up his arms. "Everbody wins!", he exclaimed. "Oh, except for the bad guys. But they never win."
"So… You actually do not intend to sell me at all?", her anger had ebbed away and was now replaced with curiousness and hope.
"No."
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Scout's honor." He paused. "Um, that means, yes.", he explained. "You'll be free to go. And catch all the bad guys you want too. Promise."
"Excellent! I am not to be bartered!", she exclaimed in joy and jumped higher in the air. Then she proceeded to spin around in the air like a spinning top with her legs pulled up in childlike glee. She even giggled.
It almost amazed Red Hood how innocent and easily pleased the affectionate girl was. He laughed to himself.
"Wait…" She stopped spinning and faced him while floating in the air. "Why did you not tell me this before? Why did you have me believe I was doomed to be sold to my enemies?", she asked.
"I needed you to give a convincing performance. Good job on the phone back there, by the way."
She chuckled weakly and rubbed the back of her head. "Um… Yes. Then…", she paused. "I apologize for my temper earlier…"
"No big deal."
"Please, can you release me from this cage now?" She poked at the energy wall, which painfully sparked and she withdrew her finger.
"Sorry, babe. Can't do that."
"But why not?", she said with a slight pout that would melt anyone's heart.
Almost anyone. "Because then you might try to run off on me.", Red Hood answered.
"What if I were to promise I would not?", she asked hopefully.
"Sorry, still to risky."
"Could I at least call my friends and let them know I have come to no harm?"
"Can't let ya do that either. No way to contact them without letting them know where we are or ruining the plan."
She nodded slowly but sadly. "Yes… I understand."
"Relax. You'll see them tomorrow. Promise.", he said, trying to comfort his hostage.
"You do?"
"Yeah. Now I'm going to bed before things get too mushy around here. At this rate we'll be singing Koom Bye Ya", he said. "You hungry? Because I got a TV dinner or two if you want it."
"No thank you. I have not the appetite."
"Suit yourself.", he shrugged. "There's a sleeping bag behind you, by the way."
Starfire looked behind her and noticed the rolled up sleeping bag she hadn't noticed. "Oh. Thank you."
"Sure." He turned and walked to the door. "Night.", he said over his shoulder.
"Good night.", she said.
He flicked a switch on the wall, and the lamps turned off and left her in the cozy darkness of night.
She waited for a moment and listened, but heard nothing.
Then she unrolled her sleeping bag and laid upside down on it.
It took her a while to fall asleep, but eventually she shut her weary green eyes… And fell fast asleep.
………………………………………………………………………………...
Author's Note: Well, that ended up being longer then I expected. I'll try to keep the chapters a tad shorter from now on. The keyword there is "try".
