A/N: Finished at ONE IN THE MORNING.
...
BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS KEPT WRITING THEMSELVES.
...
And I let them ;p hee...
~0~
~story title~
"Justification"
~chapter 2 title~
"Enter the Third Angle"
~0~
A glowing black shadow phased through the cieling of a tall, dark room and fell in a studder. It turned about like a bird in a sack trying to figure out why it's wings wouldn't splay. The shadow finally gave up and withdrew from two frazzled girls to swoop around beneath them in efforts to cushion their landing. They had landed unharmed, but it did nothing to perk their attitudes.
Since the red substance had struck them as Starfire had been tackling Raven, the two ended up glued together in an unforgiving position.
Starfire's left upper arm was unable to move as it was strapped firmly around Raven's waist. Her shoulders were securely tied to Raven at the middle of the pale girl's back, right below the bottom-rib, Starfire's head forced to either remain hidden behind her friend or to poke around under Raven's right arm, being so diagonally angled that the left side wasn't an option. Due to where limbs were moving at the time of the attack, the red-head's right wrist was stuck to the other's left wrist. Lastly, Starfire's right leg was thoroughly wrapped up against Raven's own.
Starfire's left forearm, her right arm except her wrist, head, and her entire left leg were free to move about.
The caped girl struggled with her patience more than their confinements as her comerade used these unfettered body parts to jerk about in attempt to regain her freedom.
"Starfire, can you stop moving long enough for me to think...?"
Which was how they evaded the recycle bin on the plane above. Raven had said Starfire's name to quiet the girl so she herself could focus on the spell that brought them safely through the roof and into the building's top floor.
"Can you not pass us through the red goo as you had passed us through the floor?" Starfire asked.
"Xinothium doesn't work that way..." Raven gently spat, as annoyed as Starfire was at their situation.
"Must we fight this way as well? How will I aim my attacks? How will you maneuver your powers? Our friends will not call us 'Rae-fire' for the rest of our lives, will they?-!"
"We're not going to be this way for the rest of our lives, just until we get back to the tower." That seemed to calm the high-strung alien girl who was forced to crouch behind her. "But we are going to have to try to fight this way," she sighed in defeat. She would rather be called 'Rae-Fire'... but not by much.
The figure in the corner had been working long into the night, but that location was suddenly disadvantageous. The only efficient option now was to calmly stride from the room before the girls could notice. The situation hadn't yet come far enough for the youths to be able to see who was manipulating them. Not if the operation was going to be a success. And it would be.
The girl's voices echoed through the halls clearly. The figure continued down those dark halls as if having heard nothing. "... -And we have been through much worse, yes?"
"Yeah... but nothing quite so... CLOSE."
"Agreed. ... You are going to lock yourself in your room for a longer time than usual after this, aren't you?"
~1~
Keeping an eye out for any wild-eyed teens, the tall male slipped through the shadows of the next building, no small feat considering that he was a hulk in his own right. It was when he turned to inspect the source of a sound behind him that a Titan rounded the corner ahead and ricoched off his massive chest. The scrawny form caught itself against the wall, it's eyes wild indeed. A scratchy voice eeked out,
"Cyborg?"
The hulk blinked, replying,
"Beast Boy, what are you doing over here? Where's Robin?"
Beast Boy was too hyper to be serious when he answered his question,
"Oh-yeah-there was this vat of some freaky-colored water we fell in-"
"-I can smell it-" Cyborg chimmed in before his green friend could continue rambling,
"-and it got Red X's red junk off'a me. Robin took off after Red X when I was getting the red stuff off-but you'll never guess what I found!" his voice peaking in excitement. "Something of unbearable value-!" the tone went down to a stern level of inclemence.
"A... way to wash the xinothium composition off faster-(preferably without the smell)?" knowing that was probably not the discovery at all, by the boy's overly-whimsical demeanor.
"... something we totally need at Titan Tower (besides xinothi-wash)-ta-DAH!" poised in Beast Boy's silvery grip, shoved out to Cyborg's disgruntled face, was the banana manget. "Dude, we HAVE to have this! This is THE cliche of all cliches! Can you believe the luck? Every refrigerator should have a-" with a metal-on-metal 'ping', Cyborg flicked it out of Beast Boy's fingers and off the side of the roof. Glaring after it, he muttered,
"that better be the last one, too..!" audibly to himself, quickly continuing on his way. The scrawny Titan followed, looking back in a small frown at his lost treasure.
"And... how many magnet-fights have you had tonight-?" Beast Boy asked. "The magne-t-ing energy isn't going to frizz up my hair, is it?" his lack of the most basic of scientific knowledge showing clearly as he stumbled with the word.
~2~
Though his descent upon the next roof was as graceful as a swan into water, his red vest heaved with the efforts of the chase and his jet-black hair was starting to dampen with sweat. Robin had been busy tonight. Red X was more trouble than usual and that's saying something because they don't normally see him at all for long periods of time. Their last encounter was only a short while ago when he was breaking into an elite databank that required he access the hard drive directly. In person. The strange thing was... how did Red X get the passcodes to the mainframe? They reached him shortly after he had arrived, and he hadn't time to do any hack-work or play guessing games with the names of employee's cats.
Looking around the roof again before feeling it safe to stand and quietly stalk about for his prey, many thoughts raced through his head. This lab... why this lab...? Their xinothium stash, supposedly legal, was more difficult to reach than the other current carrier of the unstable chemical... yet here Red X was, almost blasting the ozone to the moon by messing with the equilibrium in trying to break into the lab's deeper levels. Whoever decided to make the security systems of that place so closely connected to a self-destruct mechanism was going to do serious time after Robin completed the investigation of this stunt. Simply having a self-destruct feature was not approved for that laboratory, and was beyond illegal to say the least.
As he was thinking back to the passcodes again, he heard a voice from the landing below his own. His current rooftop was half-fenced with chain-link sections topped with barbed wire, a concrete shed on each of the four corners. Considering how the chatter traveled, he could step up to the fence before him and simply look, but he would be seen also. Instead of giving himself away, he stepped back and circled around the landing. His senses on their toes, he slid across the surface of the walls to peek through the chain-link fence. From the sound of the voice, he knew that if he took this angle he would be looking at the back of the one speaking. Out of the line of sight.
He looked down at two of his teammates plodding along.
"So, what-now you're a banana-hater, too?" the incessant metamorph prodded. The half-metal hulk spat back, "How many times do I hafta say I don' wanna talk about it before it gets through your thick tofu-brain that I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT-?-!" raising his voice, but not quite yelling.
Robin decided to stay our of that one. Volume like that scares off the trout and you'll never catch a thing. The fish Robin was tracking had finally gotten in over his head and had to be reeled in before he accidentally blew a hole in the planet the size of Texas.
Being careful not to alert his friends, he bowed off the other side of the building, an apology on his lips for his comerades. In the end, Red X was his responsibility. He wouldn't keep his team from lending their talents, but if he had the chance, it was the only real justice that he bring the thief down personally.
Alone, he made the Red X suit. Alone, he betrayed his allies. Alone, he guarded that which remained of his grave choices, that it may ever hurt those allies again. And it won't. Even as someone stole it and made use of it's every tick, he would never allow it to harm them again.
It was something that Robin told himself each time they encountered Red X. This time, he had the chance to legitimately separate himself from those dear to him and take responsibility for his creation.
~3~
The moon swam in and out of the clouds now, swiping the buildings with the occasional cleansing glow. All levels of the grounds were kept tidy, in accordance with the health code. That is, the places that the adolescents hadn't yet crashed through.
The smoke and clouds pulled the gloom away from the building holding the caped boy as he serveyed the area. He thought he saw someone traveling the alley below just a second before, a large someone, but it was empty when his gaze darted back in double-take. He heard voices nearby and didn't care who they belonged to. They were all in pursuit of him, so they were all to be avoided. In quickly proceeding to the opposite ledge, he was in ear-shot long enough to make out the thin scratchy voice from the deep one with the slangy accent. The topic of their conversation left him with an immature giggle in his throat.
His movements were sleek as a bird and proved to be blind as a bat when he crashed headlong into a obstacle that had flown right into his path. That path being airborn well between two buildings was the truly inconvenient apsect of it. There was a shout, an animal screech, and the violent rustling of cloth in the air as the struggling mass fell, grunting in agitation of various tones. Suddenly, the obstacle halted and Red X found himself dangling well above the trash receptacle that he had expected would break his fall. Being vertically reversed, he had to tilt his head down in order to look to the sky, to that which had slammed into him and was now holding onto his left ankle. An orange skinned, green-eyed face blinked down at him from around the blue folds.
"You are not Robin-?" she said in the confusion of a half-question, her scarlet hair pouring around her head and down her arm.
"Now let's see what she's won-!" tossing a flash bomb in her face. She barely had time to gasp when it went off, leaving spots in her eyes. Sqeezing the green orbs shut and shaking her head vigorously, she finds that Red X's ankle is no longer in her tiny fist. In his place, there is a small gleaming red 'x'. Like an nervous animal, she whips her gaze about to see Red X port-in on the ledge of the building across from where she hung.
He gazed the length of the Titan team, from Starfire up to Raven who was being held by a green octopus, who's tentacles were wrapped around Cyborg, bracing himself on the concrete edge.
Upon seeing Red X, Cyborg's face contorts through three different emotions, ending on firm resolve.
"Yea, I see ya, dont go thinkin' I fergot about YOU! Some things are more important, yo..." Cyborg said, mustering confidence. The team's safety comes first. Red X stated to turn,
"All the more reason to work alone, tin man. Every 'Dorothy' ends up in the deep!"
"You just go an' get yer head start in. Yer gonna need it!" grinning at the thief as he left them there. Red X wondered why the alien girl failed to fly them from their fragile position, but she seemed eager to avoid being noiced by her teammates for some reason...
Raven struggled with her hood as best she could with one hand, her other arm being stretched up against it's will. After finally getting her face free, she looked up to gare at her most recent restraint. Beast Boy's silent eyes looked at her over the green coils wrapped around her arm. She dreaded the marks those suction cups were going to leave on her, the real agrivation being boy's teasing of it later.
Cyborg looked around for anything he could use to help him, the four of them stuck hanging like one big Christmas ornament. He noted a shadow movement someplace, fluid like a person, but his gaze had been so hectic that he had no idea if it had been on the ground below or at a closer, more dangerous, angle. He could simply let go knowing they would be able to land safely, they weren't children after all. But they were unaware of why there had been an evacuation and any number of dangerous factors could easily be in the vicinity of such an unstable laboratory. The liquid Beast Boy fell in was a good example. They were going to have to do medical tests on him when they got back to the tower. The kid had a bad reaction to chemicals once before...When the 'ornament' below began to move, Cyborg feared a strong gust would blow them all off the roof and started to panic, though he hadn't felt any breeze. He would have to try and swing them all onto the roof in one swoo-but it was Raven causing the motion as she had placed a black energy disc beneath them and elevated it safely to be level with Cyborg. Starfire remained hidden by Raven's cloak, the boys unaware she was even among them. "Girl, you gave me a heart-attack!" Cyborg gently scolded. He smiled, "glad you're safe." Adding, after a pause, "an' smellin' like yerself."
"Huh?" but then she caught a whiff of the octopus and proceeded to glare at the ill-mannered tentacle still on her arm. Beast Boy jumped with a start and returned to humanoid form, gingerly attempting to drop her disgruntled limb if not for one remaining suction cup on her hand that didn't seem to want to morph back. She used a fragment of her power to encase her hand and let the energy pulse off her to snap Beast Boy's clingy finger like a rubber band. With a tiny painful squeek, he pulled his hand back, hitting himself in the face and giving his nose a throb to rival the one in his finger.
"Red X kinda had us in a spot. He may not have just left, if ya know what I mean..." Cyborg hinted, peering about for that random shadow again. Raven levitated to get a look around from higher up. "Don't go too far up! Won't do no good makin' a target outta yerself!" as he kept a look out around them. Beast Boy did the same, circling Cyborg and holding his nose. "Seems clear. We can't afford to stand around any..." his solemn train of thought derailed by the flash of moonlight reflecting off some metal next to his head. Looking closer, Cyborg noticed Starfire's left boot peaking out from below Raven's cape.
"Uhhh... Raven-? You and Star tradin' clothes now?" he pulled at the purple cloth covering the achiles tendon of the stray foot.
"Really? It's about time you mixed it up!" Beast Boy said, comfortably flopping onto a barrel next to his black friend. Raven turns to face them and through the billowing blue cape they see Starfire's tearry eyes inflated by her personal drama, "Please do not call us 'Star-ven'!" she whimpered.
"uhh... wasnt... going to?" Cyborg flapped out, unsure of quite what to say to the borderline hyterical alien girl. "... you have something against my clothes...?" Raven glared down at them with a pout. Cyborg brought his hands up in defense,
"don't look at me! IBeast Boy/I said it! I like blue!" indicating his own azure mechanical components. Suddenly, the green one didn't feel so talkative.
"Er-um... just maybe-something... brighter-?"
"I'm not a... 'rainbow'... person..." Raven looked away, still pouting some.
"We noticed." That unified statement caused her glare to grit over them in an obvious facial twitch.
Beast Boy panicked in that drama-ridden head of his,
"ah-er-LOOK, Red X!" choosing a random direction behind Raven to point across the rooftops and-in time to see the blurry shadow of a fleeing individual leap from their neighboring building to the next over.
"It's him, all right!" Cyborg readied his cannon, preparing to cover Raven and Starfire who were in motion already.
"Hey, it really is...!" Beast Boy uttered in shock at his accidental detection.
"Let's go!" Glowing black shadows quickly creeped up the barrel under the him and it lifted as he transformed into a dark green falcon, following his friends along with the barrel.
The girls quickly flew in the direction they had seen him flee, but they ended up seeing another figure in a completely different area.
"How did he...?" Raven started.
"Perhaps he used the powers of the suit to move under our detection?" Starfire offered.
"Or it could be Robin... either way, that's where we're going!"
Starfire nodded with a concurring grunt, and they moved in pursuit of the running shadow.
Cyborg and Beast Boy quickly realized they had lost their female comerades somewhere... but having no clue how that had happened. The girls had been right in front of them...
"No way we lost them!" Cyborg huffed. "Man...! All we can do is keep after Red X! Can't lose 'em now!" The green bird nodded, keeping pace. And an eye out for any familiar faces, be it friend or foe.
A few buildings over, both boys were beginning to tire when Cyborg's sensors went off and he signaled his feathered partner in a specific direction. They split and went around either side of the medical greenhouse in front of them to converge on their prey. They both paused in shock as they saw it was Robin in their clutches. The green tiger and mechanical man sheepishly withdraw from their leader's throat, a heavy sweatdrop above them both.
"Well... nice to see you guys are on the ball-!" Robin grumbled.
They all stood up, before the subbordinates could apologize, however, multiple green blasts damaged the greenhouse walls and black energy encased the now-lose glass panes and metal, all of it whipping straight to Robin's stiff form, encircling him mercilessly.
Beast Boy had turned into a turtle, hiding in his shell, which Cyborg held as he darted back in a cringe, neither one looking like the definition of a "titan" from legends.
Robin glared at them over the sharp jagged pieces floating steadily near his vitals.
Beasy Boy turned humanoid to join Cyborg in the hands-up denfese,
"Not us!"
Suddenly, the weapons making the disgruntled hero wonder when his last tetanus shot had been dropped to the ground with heavy clattering.
Raven's voice drifted into earshot,
"So, it was you after all...!"
Robin got a good eyeful of mismatched body parts floating his way and gave it a queer look, blatting out, "... ... ... Raven?" who let out an exhausted sigh.
Bring on Red X, make her fight alone even, just don't ever make her to deal with this topic ever again...
"No! It is your Raven and Starfire together, but...!" Starfire exclaimed, popping her head out from behind the long mantle and trailing off to start chewing nervously on the rim of the sapphire robe.
"Uh... but-?" Robin asked, both confused and impatient, and seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with the distraught girl. He turned his gaze to the more collected one. "And... what's wrong with her? Besides the xinothium...?"
Raven paused at her question, loathing their situation ever more.
"... She's afraid you're going to call us 'Straven'..."
With her eyes again big and full of tears, Starfire nodded. Raven snapped her clothing out of the alien's mouth. Robin held a very straight and forboding face, his tone matching,
"I will never do that. You have my word." It was just too rediculous a thing to engage in, combining people's names that way.
Starfire's whole face lit up, Raven sharing her relief in a less visible way.
"You don't know how much that-" Raven was cut off when she was violently hurled straight at her equally blindsided commander, her left arm flinging around him in a hug that her right arm wasn't as compelled to complete. Starfire grinned from ear-to-ear, completely unaware of her embrace having almost cracked Robin's skull into Raven's shoulder.
"It's... not...um..." Raven stammered in a half-whisper. Robin gave her a sympathetic smile,
"I understand."
"... Thank you."
Not being someone to express affection, Raven sought to give them their privacy by turning as far to her left as she could. Robin's smile widened at her 'normal Raven' behavior and hugged them both. Raven's only response was to pull her hood up in time to hide her blush, one corner of her mouth twitching in a grateful smile.
She wanted to be close to her friends, but her emotions have always terrified her. On a deeper level, she enjoyed the embrace. She would never let herself indulge, however. Not even in her mind. After all, the mind was the most dangerous place.
They were only half-parted when another voice decided to drift in...
"How precious. Shame that nothing ever lasts in this world, isn't it, Robin?" The all-too-familiar voice, as usual, carried the heavy tone of a sadistic smirk behind the dark mask.
"Oh, of ALL people-!" Cyborg buffed.
"Slade...!" Beast Boy growled out the name that everyone else's mind had gasped but been unable to speak. Robin immediately began barking,
"Beast Boy, take Raven and Starfire to wash off the xinothium-then get back here! Cyborg..." he trailed in emotional exhaustion, an effect Slade always had on him.
"...Got it." Robin looked to him as a green falcon led the girls away. Cyborg had his canon ready and charged. His face was as grim as Robin felt, but held a friendly 'I got your back' smile that Robin really needed at that moment.
But no mere facial expression was going to save them from Slade.
They hadn't caugh him of guard. He had come out to approach them. Meaning he had plans.
~0~
~end chapter; to be continued~
~next chapter title~
"Number Three Takes the Lead"
~0~
A/N: I liked this chapter, but it kinda droned on... the "not being able to find each other" thing started to wear on my nerves, so after this, I'm gonna hafta think of a way to fix that problem... it's not like they really CANT find each other, they have tracking devices in each of their comm pieces, but the whole "choosing to separate and fumbling around becase of it" is getting old... not real old, it could go on for a few more chapters, but then even a brain-dead-monkey could tell it's gotten tacky. as it is, I'm sensitive to the tackiness here and I say it's old already. gonna stop, at least in the present context...
favie scene: when Raven and Starfire attacked Robin by accident.
but yes! please review and let me know of the tackiness and your opinion of it!
(the cast of Teen Titans cannot comment here as they are properly restrained at the moment...)
-Slade~coming up behind: "You didn't think trapping me in those confines would hold me, did you? Don't tell me you failed to think ahead... they're my creations. I know how to get out of them."
-Hal~sweating: "um..." ^^;
