CH1
I've changed a bit over the years since…Sam. I've gotten taller, now I'm almost six feet tall. My hair is a bit longer, and just as unruly. I wear black T shirts now, with designs and logos as often as not. I wear black jeans with combat boots. Sam. When I'm sad I wear a white shirt and blue jeans, plus red converse. I always wear a watch and no matter what I feel I wear the ring Sam thought said 'wes'. On a chain on my neck. Sam. I've gotten more powerful, more control of my powers, new powers, and I've gotten muscled from all my training and working out. It shows. I get plenty of date offers, but I turn them down. I tattooed my old logo onto my chest, on the left side. Sam. It's a Friday and I'm sitting here, nine pm strumming a guitar. I'm pretty awesome at it. Some chick walked in and asked if I could help her tune her new electric guitar, so I get up on stage and strummed for a bit, then when I have it tweaked just right I break out into the solo from Comfortably Numb, and damn straight I'm rocking a pink hello kitty guitar. All the bad asses are.
"Here you go miss…"
"My name's Shelly." She says, batting her lashes at me, ah so young, so innocent. She hold something out to me on a piece of paper "And this is my number if you ever want to…" she leaves the sentence open and smiles at me biting her lip. I smile back as I spot something, glowing green across the street, and see two figures emerge, one large and furry and the other with a flaming ponytail.
"Shelly, I would love to but-"
"Hey Dipstick!" everyone looks up at her, some for only a moment, some longer, some actually go and greet her as she makes her way to me, some run the hell away. She's popular in my shop...mostly.
"But I don't think she'd like that. Hey Ember, you're early."
"I was bored, Kitty told me about this one thing she and Johnny did that-"
"Woah, Em, you're scarring some of my only innocent clientele here!" Ember looks to Shelly and her friend.
"Who're these chicks?"
"This is Shelly and her friend, uh-"
"Michelle." Her friend interjected.
"Same name? I know all about that." I said as I thought about Dani. She's technically two or three right about now, but she's somewhere around fifteen, sixteen, somewhere in there. "Anyway, Shelly and Michelle asked me to tune their guitar. You just missed a chance to make everyone skwee like fan-girls for you."
"Whatever. I don't need them," she gleaned in close and grabbed my shirt "as long as I can make you scream. All. Night. Long." She kissed me hard on the mouth and then pushed me away "And from what Kitty told me about-"
"Ember!"
"What?" she asks irate.
"We already scarred everyone when you insisted we use my place last month, I don't think we need to scar anyone else."
"But wasn't it fun seeing everyone blush at you?" I thought about it. I smiled.
"Well yeah, but next time we're going to your place, or my other place." I said, hinting at my lair in the ghost zone. Yeah, I have a lair, so what?
"No way are we doing it in your lair, the light and dark scheme there is seriously freaky, it messes with perspectives too much, that would be bad normally but with you, who styles their house after freaking ESCHER, it takes me for fucking ever to go anywhere in your lair if I even can go anywhere. And I swear, that place changes on you." she actually shivered a bit.
"It does, but I find it calming, plus, have you ever thrown a bouncy ball in there? It is so much fun to watch." I laughed when she shook her head at me.
"Excuse me," they both looked at the speaker, Michelle "but are you two dating?" Danny rolled his eyes and Ember laughed at the girl.
"Me? Date this dipstick? As if, just because he's the best lay I ever got don't mean I wanna date him."
"The best huh? Didn't know you liked me so much Ems."
"Shut up babypop, or I'll get the handcuffs." the girls' faces went red.
"That's not exactly a deterrent you know." both girls were blushing hard now.
"Now look who's scarring the innocent little fan girls."
"Y'know Ember, ya gotta stop doing this, wait until no one's around or something."
"If I do we would be moaning, not talking." I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"You are so damn obstinate. Fine, but tomorrow we're going to talk about this."
"Whatever, do you even-" there was a green streak across the sky that captured everyone's attention.
*ZSHWOOOOO...POOM!*
Whatever the hell it was crashed. Hard. I could feel the tremors from here. She looked at me.
"You're gunna go investigate aren't you?"
"You know me so well, HEY EMILY!" a red head of hair pops over the upstairs railing.
"Yeah boss?"
"I'm going out for a bit, if I'm not back in half an hour close up for me would you?"
"Yeah sure. Hey Ember." she waved at Ember and got a head nod. That was more than most people got, Ember likes her.
"You gunna tag along Ember? I mean your time doesn't start until eleven and its barely nine fifteen." She thought about it.
"Nah, I'm gunna hang out with my girl upstairs."
"Okay, got my cell, later." I kissed her cheek on my way to the back.
"Hopeless Romantic!" she called after me.
"Rocker Bitch!" I called back. We have a unique relationship. I went into the back room, the one made specifically for me, and changed into my ghost form. My hair is still white and my eyes green but everything else I've changed. I wear black fingerless gloves and combat boots, black Kevlar pants and a Kevlar shirt. I got tired of my clothes getting destroyed, so I asked Vlad to buy something tougher. He got me Kevlar clothing, that looks like regular clothing, apparently they have that now. Who knew? I have a light tactical vest I sometimes wear but not a lot, and a belt of small throwing knives. On my left hip I have a cylindrical piece of wood about six inches long and on my right thigh I have a Kabar (kay-bar) holster and a small spare knife. All black of course, I don't want to be seen too much. When I get angry my hair catches fire and my eyes go red. Like him. So I try to keep calm.
I go intangible and invisible, fly out the roof and become solid, but still invisible. I look to the smoke rising in the middle of the city. Well, that wasn't too hard to find. I fly over and watch what's going on. Some orange chick in battle armor with glowing green eyes just got knocked aside by a green ram that turns into a short green kid in a black and purple getup. And is that Robin? What the hell? They talk for a second before dodging. The orange chick threw a bus at them. Wow, stronger than she looks, a big guy in a grey hoodie catches the bus and sets it down, and apparently so is he.
"YO! WHO'S BEEN MESSING UP MY NEIGHBORHOOD?" the big guy shouts out. I fly down closer and notice a blue cloaked figure looking in my direction, slightly alarmed. The green kid speaks up.
"She started it!" the orange girl beats her hands on the ground and the high tech cuffs she's wearing fall off. She starts shooting green energy blasts from her hands. Oh joy. She fires at everything and the other three take cover behind a bus, I go intangible. When she stops to rest the three charge at her but a black energy screen stops them. A shadow rises from the ground and turns into the blue robe I saw earlier. Okay, what the hell, is there something in the water here? Are they handing out super powers at parties? I mean seriously, what gives? The cloak speaks, it's a girl.
"Maybe, fighting isn't the answer." smart girl. The shield comes down and Robin goes to the orange girl. She shout's something at him that no one understands and he holds his hands up, the universal sign for 'I'm not doing anything', and he pulls out a lock pick and sets to work. Her cuffs fall off. He starts to talk.
"Good, now maybe we caMMMMMPH!" wow, ten seconds and she's kissing him, the girl moves fast. She was kissing him for a looong time. She shoves him back and her eyes stop glowing.
"If you wish not to be destroyed then you will leave me ALONE!" orange chick flies off, coming within inches of me. I look at where she flew off to for a minute, then back to the other four. They look more interesting, but they're leaving. The green kid, Beastboy Robin says, tries to talk to Robin, but gets turned away, he looks at the grey girl who turns away, then he goes to the big dude and starts annoying him. The big guy flips out.
"THERE! TAKE A GOOD LONG LOOK! I had an accident and now I'm a monster alright, a CYBORG!"
"Cyborg? Cooooooooooool, you're like Robotman 2.0!"
"...You're a weird little dude, you know that?"
"Ahaha, you called me dude." The cyborg walks away "Alright, so, see you later right dude? Dude? Dude?" A shadow covers the city "DUUUUDE!" I look up to see what caused it and whadda ya know, a giant space ship. Any other day I would be surprised, but with the way things have been going today, not so much. It stops above an island I sometimes visit and shoots down a giant machine of some kind. A light flashes and there is a hologram of a giant alien standing there.
"People of earth, we come to your planet hunting an escaped prisoner, a very dangerous prisoner. Do not interfere and we will leave your city with only minimal damage. But if you assist her, your destruction will be absolute." the image fades. I land on a nearby roof and get out my cell. I dial Ember.
"What's up babypop?"
"Can you stay at my store and kick anyone's ass who makes trouble? Specifically if they look big and lizard-like."
"You sure know how to show a girl a good time."
"Yeah, that's me. Oh, and can you also keep the customers inside and protect them until I call?"
"..."
"Ember?"
"Fine, but you owe me."
"Deal." I hang up. and fly back over the group. They're talking again, Robin to the girl.
"You in?"
"I'm not really the hero type, trust me, if you knew what I really am, you wouldn't want me around." interesting. He puts a hand on her shoulder and turns her around.
"I know enough." she smiles at that, small, but there. I fly closer and her face turns panicked. "What's wrong?"
"There!" she point to me and everyone looks. "Who are you? Show yourself!" Well, no point hiding now. I let myself fade into view and land in front of three shocked faces and one freaked out one. I walk towards her and Robin gets in may way, pointing a staff at me, didn't that break?
"Who are you!" I keep walking, phasing right through him and the other two who try to grab me. The girl puts a shield in front of herself and I touch it. It stops me. I teleport to the other side, leaving barely a wisp of green smoke behind, and the girl gasps. I look at her up close. She's not a ghost.
"How did you know I was there?"
"You radiate death and power, you wear them like a cloak, and wield them as a sword. Who are you?"
"Who are you?" I shoot back. A hand grabs my shoulder and pins me to the ground. I phase through it and come back up behind him, the cyborg. "That's not nice."
"The lady asked you a question." he got back up on his feet.
"You can call me..." I cock my head, not Phantom obviously, he died a long time ago, I smile "Thanatos." her eyes widen and then narrow.
"You are not a god. You're powerful, but not that powerful."
"True," I point at Robin "but he's not a bird, it's just a name, and I think it fits. So, what's your name?" she stops for a second
"Raven." I chuckle
"And yet you're not a bird either."
"Alright, then Death,"
"Thanatos."
"Who is the god of death."
"Whatever."
"Why are you here Thanatos?"
"Same as everyone else, I heard a boom and came to see what happened." Beastboy got up close and examined me.
"You don't look like death. You look alive. Where's your scythe and your cloak and stuff?" I roll my eyes and turn to Raven.
"Mind if I borrow this? Thanks." I say and before she can say anything I phase her cloak off. Then I do something I've been experimenting with for a while, I turn all of my clothes and myself, except for my bones, invisible, then I put on the cloak and grab the piece of wood at my hip. When I pour energy into it it grows into a full sized scythe with a two and a half foot blade. I look at Beastboy and cock my head. In my creepiest voice I ask him "Good enough Beastboy?" He's trembling now
"Y-y-y-yeah." I fade back to normal
"Good." Raven tears her cloak off of me and puts it back on as I let my scythe shrink back into a piece of wood at my hip.
"Yo, how'd you do that?" I look at a freaked out big guy
"Selective invisibility, check it out." I hold up my hand an make different fingers disappear and then make it look like I have a hole in my hand. I let the bones, then the ectoplasm, then the muscles and veins and tendons come back into view, then the skin and the glove.
"You going to be any trouble?" asked the big guy. I rolled my eyes.
"Please, I was just curious. Just like the rest of you. I saw the whole thing, I wasn't even going to interfere unless it got out of hand, but you had it under control."
"You call this under control?" he pointed to the general destruction, explosions, flames, craters and near to collapsed buildings around us. I shrug.
"I've seen worse." I had but he scoffed at my claim. "No ones dead are they...who are you?"
"Vict...Cyborg, call me Cyborg." I nod
"Okay, nobody is dead Cyborg. So yes, it is under control. All this can be replaced, the people can't."
"Can't argue with that. You gunna help us?" I looked at my watch-nine forty two
"Sure, I got an hour to kill."
"You got a date or something?" he was annoyed with me
"Or something." I replied cryptically
"Not going to be much of an event if the city is destroyed is it?"
"We're going to her place, or my second house, either way, they're both in another dimension so I think I'm good." Everyone's eyes went up and Raven stepped forward
"You travel Dimensions?" she asked
"Only from here to the 'Land of the Dead'. I'm sure I could go to others but I'm not interested. Although sometimes I surf through time."
"Surf through time? As in Time travel? And Land of the Dead?" asked Beastboy then "You're dating a dead chick?"
"Not dating, seeing. And I take offense to prejudice against dead things, I'm dead too ya'know." Cyborg crossed his arms
"Uh-huh, ignoring that."
"What's the difference between seeing and dating?" asked Beastboy
"One is all lovey-dovey and you always hang out, with us we have lots of sex and hang out." they all looked at me "What? She's hot." Cyborg twitched
"TMI man. Waaaay too much information." I sighed
"Let's just go."
623623623
We pulled our selves back into the alley. Robin spoke
"Where going to need a way to track her."
"She's nearby." We look at Raven and she explains "I can sense things." Beastboy said
"I'll see if I can pick up her scent." then he morphed into a bloodhound. Cyborg rolled up his sleeve to reveal glowing blue tech.
"There's a sonic analyzer built into my arm, if she's around I'll hear it." Beast Boy morphed back human
"I got her trail!" he went bloodhound again
"And I can hear her heart beat." We all followed Beastboy to a movie theater with a glowing ragged hole in the wall. Inside, the orange girl was devouring everything. Beastboy spoke up as we watched to see how much she could eat. The answer was 'a lot'
"Uh those taste better without the wrappers." She turned around and her hands were suddenly full of glowing green energy. Robin held up his hands
"It's ok, were friends remember?"
The girl kept the energy up and asked, "Friends? Why? For what purpose did you free me?"
"Just trying to be nice."
"Nice? We do not have this word on my planet. The closest thing we have is 'Ruthak'. Weak." Cyborg pointed at her.
"Well around here nice means nice, and if you want us to keep being nice, you better explain why the lizard king took you prisoner." She dropped her hands and stopped glowing, hands and eyes. Always a plus.
"Not prisoner. I am, prize. The Gordanians deliver me to the citadel, to live out my days as their servant." Raven asked the girl
"Aaand the citadels are?" she looked up
"Not nice." Robin, hands down, approached her
"Then you're not going with them, not if I have anything to say about it."
"Um, don't you mean we?" Beastboy asked. The wall blew in and forced us back
"SEIZE HER!" shouted a lizard. The leader lizard maybe? They all looked the same. They charged us. We fought back. Dodging them, punching, kicking, throwing, breaking, I saw some energy beams and manipulation going on. I stuck to hand to hand combat, I didn't need to blast them yet, and this was the most fun I'd had since...Ember's last visit. Most fun fighting since that time I pranked Walker. That was fun. Eventually the alien chick got's knocked through the wall and flew up, continuing the fight there. She gets knocked down. I'm about to help her when another lizard crashes into the one above her. We both look and see Robin. She smiles. Cyborg is grappling. He gets tripped and flips back, right into about thirty laser blasts. The smoke clears and I see what he looks like. Damn. Robo-cop and Terminator got competition. They keep blasting him, then a green pterodactyl swoops down and gets him out of the fray. A lamp post covered in dark energy swats the ones that just shot at Cyborg out of the air. They retreat into the sky.
"I believe your expression is 'thanks'." says orange girl. Should probably ask her name. Oh well, haven't spoken to her, so it doesn't matter.
"Oh man," I look at Cyborg "my suit!"
"So? You look way cooler without it!" Cyborg looms over the little green dude
"Yeah, like I'm taking fashion advice from the guy in the goofy mask."
"Goofy? My mask is cool. Isn't it? Raven? Dead dude?" we shake our heads "What about my secret identity?" I laugh
"What secret identity?" Raven steps forward
"You don't have a secret Identity. You're green." he tries to come up with an answer, but gives up and takes off his mask.
"This isn't over," Robin says "now that we interfered…" the alien continued
"Trogar will strike harder, it is only a matter of-" and then of course the holo-thingie turned back on.
"Fools! The Earth scum were warned and your insolence will be punished. Your city shall be destroyed!" all was silent...then
"Great." Raven was going to be fun. I could tell.
"Sarcasm much?" The ship hovered over the city and a giant orange cannon powered up "Oooh, particle beam. Goodie. That is going to take a lot of energy to block." Everyone started to argue, orange-y saying it was Robin's fault, him saying it was hers, Beastboy saying Cyborg talked him into it and Cyborg denying hit.
"SHUT UP!"
"QUIET!" Raven and I yell at the same time. We looked at each other, then she turned back to the group, which was staring at her, the quiet one. She was nervous again "Hi."
"I vote we blow it up."
"Sure," Robin said "and we get there how?"
"I can get us there." we looked at the quiet voice that said it, Raven, again. "Uh, just, get close together," we looked at each other and got close to her "and..." her eyes opened, glowing white, and a blackness enveloped us. When it dropped I looked around, we were on the alien ship.
"Nifty."
"Ugh," Beastboy "that dark energy stuff gives me the-" he saw Raven "I mean...it's cool!" I raised an eyebrow at him
"You're a terrible liar you know." we began to file out, except Raven, I went back to her. "You coming or are you going to sulk more?"
"I don't exactly fit in."
"So don't try to." she looked doubtful. *sigh* I pointed to the leaving forms "Look, ninja, half metal, green, alien," I pointed to myself "dead. You fit in just fine." She smiled. We burst into the main control room and a bigger lizard declaired
"The earthlings shall learn. It takes more than six juvenile heroes to defy the mighty lord Trogar!" Robin pointed and declared
"We're not six heroes, we're one team!" Everyone got ready for the two sides to clash. I cracked my knuckles.
"Hey guys, you take out the big bady, I got all the minions." Cyborg looked at me.
"Dude, there's like forty of them!" I hold out my hands, and from each finger comes an ecto-blast. Ten different aliens get blown back. Everyone looks at me
"Not a problem."
"CHAAARGE!" screams Trogar. the others look at me again.
"You sure?" I create a giant green shield to stop them and look at him
"Yes." they still doubted me? I sighed and create four duplicates. The five of me all turn to him and in one voice ask
"Happy now?"
"Uhhh." I drop the shield and blast half of them aside and freeze the other half solid. I beat all of the minions to the floor, then I combine my five selves and tell them
"Your turn." They attack Trogar. I phase through the him and start destroying machines. Hel-lo misplaced aggression. I look over and they're losing. Cyborg gets knocked down and his arm comes apart for a second. Robin notices.
"Can you re-wire that into some sort of weapon?"
"I can try." he replies. I look over at Raven, supporting a hurt Beastboy, as two more guards come in and corner them. Raven looks up.
"Get. Away. From my friends. Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" Everything went haywire, and blew up. The ship actually crashed, wow, she's powerful. Crash landing was more powerful. When everything clears Trogar is still standing. Great. I power up an ecto-blast, extra strong, just for him, when a blue blast knocked him out. I look at the source. Cyborg. His hand looks like a mini canon. Guess he managed to re-wire it.
"Okay," he said "I'm only going to say this one time...Booyah."
623623623
Later, on the Island Raven said
"That's quite a view."
"Yeah," Cyborg agreed, "Someone should build a house here." Beastboy joked
"Yeah, if you like beaches and sunshine." Raven chuckled once
"You know, you're kind of funny." His eyes shone
"You think I'm funny? I know some jokes!" Her face gets panicked and I laugh at her. Poor fool. I turn and the alien girl is here in...a...a purple mini-skirt? I look again, it's what she was wearing before, just, without the plate mail.
"Please, I look, nice?"
"I still don't know your name." said Robin
"In your language it would be Star...fire."
"Welcome to Earth Starfire." I collapsed onto a rock, sitting with my elbows on my knees, my chin on my hands.
"Why can't anyone have a normal name? Like, Garfield, or Rachael, Victor or Richard?" The people around me collectively paled, except for Starfire. "What?" I asked them.
"How did you-" Cyborg clamped a hand over Robins mouth and the other three spoke at once.
"Nothing!"
"Nothing!"
"That's not my name!"
"...Okay, you be freaks without me, I'm just gunna sit here." Starfire walked to the group.
"Thank you all for your bravery and help. I wish to ask permission to remain here, where the people are most strange...but also most kind." Raven smiled a bit.
"You don't need our permission." Robin, now un-clamped, added
"But if you want our friendship, you've got it." Cyborg looked at me before turning to the group.
"I guess we could all use some new friends." Beastboy nodded
"Besides we made a pretty good team." Robin looked at Cyborg and nodded
"I thought we might want to keep in touch, so Cyborg and I designed these." He held out five yellow circles, with an antennae and grips on the side. and each member of the group took one, Robin now held two.
"I made them out of my own circuits." Said Cyborg, then he looked at me."Yo man, getcha ass over here, you're a part of this as much as anyone."
"Actually," I get up, dust myself off, and walk over to him "I quit 'hero'-ing a long time ago, and I'm not eager to pick it up again." I cross my arms at him.
"Then why did you help us?" he shoots back. I raised an eyebrow at him and uncross my arms. I held up my left hand, palm up
"Having my house and all of my possessions destroyed by a giant ass particle weapon," right hand up "Stop said particle weapon and not have to take up residency in my other dimension. I don't know about you but I like option B." Robin comes over and hold a circle out to me.
"Take one Thanatos, so when there's trouble, you know who to call." I roll my eyes and snatch it
"Whatever. What time is it? I have to get back by eleven." I check my watch "Crap. Im forty minutes late." They look at me as I open up my cell and dial a number. It picks up. "Uh, hey."
"You're late." the voice was deadly calm.
"Uh yeah, I know I'm late, but I had to stop a giant particle weapon from destroying the city, and mainly the shop. Which you were in, so I uh, saved you I guess?" I get questioning glances.
"Where are you?" Still calm. Crap.
"You know that Island when you bet I couldn't do it in broad daylight? Well the ship crashed just off its shore an-"
"I'm coming to you. Don't move Dipstick."
"NO! YOU DON'T HAVE TO-*beep*...crap." I turn to the five others "No matter what happens, don't attack her, please?" they're about to question me when all of a sudden a swirl of turquoise flame materializes from nowhere and Ember emerges. Ember lands on the beach and marches up to me, leaving footprints of Turquoise flame behind. "Hey."
"Don't you 'Hey' me! You stuck me protecting a bunch of dipsticks while you went off galavanting and..." she seemed to notice the company for the first time. "Who the hell are these dwebes?"
"I am Starfi-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever chickie-poo." she turns back to me. "While you went off galavanting and fighting galactic badasses! I wanted to beat them up too! And what's worse was that you did it on MY time!"
"Listen, Ember-" she pulled her guitar around "Crap."
"Crap is right! You don't 'Listen Ember' me!" She struck a power cord and sent me flying back into the surf. I come back up and stand in front of her, phasing the water off in one big wet 'shplop'
"I guess I deserved that."
"Damn straight you did." Beastboy stepped forward
"Is this the dead chick? She doesn't look dead." Ember glared at him and he hid behind Cyborg.
"You tellin' them about me?" she asked
"Only that I had to be back before eleven, they asked if I had a date, I said no and then I explained about our 'relationship' or whatever the hell we have."
"Whatever. Take me home you moron. I swear, dead or alive, boys are all the same."
"Y'all two ain't dead." the two resident dead people looked at the Cyborg who had just spoken.
"Excuse you?"
"Y'all ain't dead, you're walking and talking and breathing, y'all ain't dead."
"He's a believe it when I see it kinda guy." I tell her
"Oh." she says "Hold my guitar dipstick." I hold it. "Hey Tin Man!" she pulls aside her shirt, to show a knife wound going through her chest and into her heart. "This look alive to you?" She put his hand on her neck "You feel a pulse? See your fingers moving?" she was quiet and he didn't. No one did. No one spoke. "Didn't think so. I'm dead." she points to me "He's dead, and we're about to have lots and lots of dead s-"
"EMBER! Dear god, have some restraint!" The five others were looking at us. "I can't stand you some times."
"Feeling's mutual dipstick. Home. Now."
"Yeah, whatever." I hold up my hand, a ball of green energy hovering there before I send it out from me, and expand it. Once its a good ways away and and tall enough to walk through, I stop it, and concentrate. There's a flash of light and a rush of sounds. Screams, whooshing, roars, cries, laughter, pleas for help, voices, everywhere, the portal is open.
"One dimensional portal, ready to go." she gets on her guitar and flies through, surfing the sound waves. I turn to the five teens on the beach. "Later, I guess." they wave to me and I look at them for a moment.
"HEY DIPSTICK!"
"That's my cue. Bye." I step through the portal to the ghost zone and it closes behind me. I can feel the stupid yellow communicator sitting in my pocket as I fly after Ember. All in all, not a bad day. At the very least I have something to talk about tomorrow.