A/N: Well this took a while to come out, now didn't it? Lol yeah, I've had been really busy with the moving process so I didn't have that much time to write, plus when I was in a secure place for a good while(and still am), I just didn't feel much like writing.
It had been a month since Nightwing's departure, and his promises of contacting the team hadn't quite been met yet. He wasn't answering his communicator, and while Arsenal suggested to give him some space since he was probably busy with Gotham's much more vicious villains, it didn't stop either Kori or Gar from worrying.
Starfire instantly assumed the worst when he hadn't answered her call a day after his leaving, and while Beast Boy had initially found the Tamaranean's worry somewhat amusing, he soon joined her in the anxious feeling for their former leader. Barbara had called the Titans a week later however and informed them the move was going fine, it was just that Dick was very busy in making sure his 'headquarters' was perfect, while also kicking bad guy butt.
That didn't change the fact that Nightwing hadn't contacted them once and wasn't returning any of their calls, even just to say he was busy. It wasn't that much of a surprise, considering how self-isolating he could be while living with the four of them, so of course he'd be even more distance several cities away with more villains to fight.
Speaking of villains, there were a disappointing lack of any on Jump City. Just run of the mill criminals that more often than not surrendered the second the Teen Titans showed up. Even Control Freak, possibly the weakest of all the villains, had moved over to Steel City, and according to talks with Bee, he had been burnt more than twice already by their new member in Hot Spot.
Isaiah had expressed in the past that he preferred to work alone and didn't like taking orders, but in the few talks Beast Boy's had with the Titans East, it seemed like he was enjoying himself, though Tempest had contributed it to the fact that it was the 'ever so dreamy' Karen giving the orders, which promptly earned him a scorching that even burnt past Garth's watery shield which was a clear indicator for the changeling to not mess with Hot Spot the next time they met. If his flames could burn past its natural weakness in water? Geez.
Escaping from his thoughts, Beast Boy looked around him. It was the Main Ops room, the changeling was sat in the dining area, a plate of waffles in front of him along with a glass of orange juice. Also sitting at the dining table was Arsenal and Cyborg, while Raven elected to drink her tea in the living area and Starfire was nowhere to be seen.
Ever since Dick's departure, she had been the resident oversleeper, usually getting up at noon and only seeming awake an hour later. It was a difficult task, but her cheerfulness was slowly returning, that enchanted laugh of hers becoming louder and louder with each day and her shining smile grew wider. But even she tried her hardest to not let it on or let anyone see, he could still hear her letting out her sorrow in her room. A few nights she even spent them in Robin's old room, which was now Arsenal's.
Thankfully, Roy was understanding of Kori's grieving, and would elect to either work overtime when he caught the Tamaranean in his bed or just crash out on the couch with an 80s romantic flick playing on the TV. Arsenal in general was a good addition to the team, he usually had a few good jokes under his sleeve, had fun stories to tell, and yet could still bring that serious edge that the team needed when Raven was too bored with the world to whip the others into shape.
"And then, as I was lining up my shot with my shock arrows, jackass Wally ran right in front of Steamroller and gave him the weakest punch I think I've ever seen. Lucky for him I am the greatest marksman around and I shot that block-for-brains down or else he would've been flattened like a pancake!" Arsenal continued his story of a time Kid Flash worked with Titans East to take down a team of Steamroller and Johnny Rancid, and judging by the contents of the story, the young speedster acted as little more than a distraction.
Cyborg let out a hardy chuckle, gulping down the rest of his dairy milk. "And of Mr. Rancid?" He asked, to which Roy rolled his eyes. "That shmuck. Kept calling me a stupid little kid and all these lame insults while just riding around in circles on his dumb little motorcycle." That comment earned a small giggle from Beast Boy. "Definitely sounds like him."
"Which made it all the more satisfying when Mas y Mentos gave him a double uppercut right on that cube jaw of his. Must suck when two little dweebs gave him a shot that probably still has him seeing stars to this day." Arsenal finished his story with a laugh, before munching down on his bacon.
"Ah, Mas and Mentos, how are they doing?" A gentle voice interrupted the boys' conversation and Gar turned around to see a rather sleepy looking Starfire walk through the corridor. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was in all sorts of disrepair, causing a small frown to cross his face before he quickly turned to gulp down some of his soy milk. It only made Kori even sadder when she saw the others feel bad for her, feeling as though she is a liability to the team, which of course wasn't true.
Roy and Victor had managed to master their poker face when around Star, giving her wide smiles and managing to hold conversation with her without even seeming to notice just how pitiful she looked, which only Beast Boy wonder if he was the only one to notice, let alone care, about her wellbeing.
"They've been growing more and more by the second. Pretty sure they're up to Cy's waist at this point, and Mentos is even beginning to have a bit of stubble on his chin. Better watch out, Star, they're getting rather handsome." Arsenal answered, finishing his sentence with a waggle of his eyebrows, managing to earn a giggle out of the Tamaranean. "They should come and visit soon, I miss their cute little faces and funny accents."
However, Starfire's small showing of happiness was interrupted as the Tower's alarm alerted everyone, scaring the hell out of Beast Boy and causing him to spill his juice all over his shirt. "Damnit, this was my favorite top!" He said with a pout, pulling on his top to show the extent of the damage.
"Maybe this'll cheer you up then, seems like we got some trouble downtown." Raven's deadpan voice was spoke from where she sat at the computer, thin fingers tapping away at the keyboard. "And not just any trouble, looks like we got an actual threat on our hands."
While it was selfish of Garfield, the news actually did cheer him up. He missed fighting some superpowered baddies and while they posed a huge threat to the public, they were so much more entertaining to battle. "Got a name?" Cyborg called, walking over to where the empath sat.
"Well, when I said actual threat, I was saying it in comparison to the typical robbers we usually get." She snarked, "It's Doctor Light. How he of all the Brotherhood got himself unfrozen I don't know, but he's at the Bank Of Perez right now."
"Alright, that's good enough for me!" Beast Boy exclaimed and went to run out of the Tower, only to get caught by the metallic hand of his leader and earning a one-eyed glare from him. "Slow down, Grass Stain. You know I like to do this." Victor spoke down to the changeling, who let out a disgruntled sigh.
"Titans-" "Go!" Arsenal interrupted Cyborg, already bounding out of the Tower, and amusingly, Raven and Starfire followed, leaving Beast Boy and Cyborg behind. Gar couldn't control his laughter at the horrified look on his leader's face, giving him a pat on the chest before running off after the three, leaving only the half-robot to grumble angrily as he reluctantly followed.
Getting downtown wasn't much of a problem, as three out of the five Titans could fly, and one of those three, Starfire, was carrying Arsenal while Beast Boy could hear the screeching sound of the T-Car's wheels dragging along the road after a sharp turn.
However, it seemed that the mad 'genius' was very eager to greet the team, as Beast Boy had swerve out of the way of a yellow beam shot his way. "Woah, I think he missed us!" He squaked over towards Raven, who simply gave him a scowl before bringing up a dark forcefield as a blast was aimed her way this time.
"Teen Titans, oh how I missed you!" That sinister voice of the villain called out from the street, bags of cash and gems at his feet. "See, told ya." Gar laughed towards the empath, before dive bombing himself down in the direction of the evil scientist.
Quickly flying from right to left in order to dodge several beams of light fired at him, the hawk then transformed into a gorilla, fists raised in preparation for a mighty smash. But a lack of maneuverability made the changeling an easy target for another shot of magnetic power, which hit its mark directly on the chest of the shape-shifted ape, sending him crashing into a nearby building.
The deafening sound of rubber halting against hot asphalt then greeted Beast Boy after a good shaking of his head and a wipedown of any rubble that landed on him. "I know you're eager, BB, but come on." Cyborg's nagging voice then earned a small chuckle from the mutant, who got up and greeted his leader with a toothy grin. "Aw, but it's just Doctor Doofus. How bad can it be?"
"How about we don't find out?" Arsenal spoke down to the changeling in a condescending manner, gloved hands reaching back to retrieve his golden-colored bow after Starfire dropped him down onto the sidewalk, Raven not far behind.
"Now… Doctor-" Victor had turned to confront the villain, but another blast forced the cybernetic leader to jump back to dodge the attack. "Titans, go! A-23!" He then shouted, before his trusty right arm transformed into his signature sonic cannon, shooting a ringed blue blast towards Doctor Light who reflected the shot with a glittering shield.
"Weird, he's usually good for a villainous dialogue." Garfield let out a final comment before shifting into a hawk and flying back into the air, joined by Starfire. Despite the lack of superpowered bad guys until now, the team had still practiced battle formations, one of which being 'A-23', which involved Cyborg being a frontline of sort, getting up close and personal while Beast Boy and Starfire traveled the sky for divebomb and projectile attacks, and Raven and Arsenal stayed grounded, shooting projectiles as well.
Back when Nightwing was still apart of the team, such callouts and names didn't need to be used since they had all spent so much time together and formations and attack orders could be signaled with a subtle hand motion or just assumed based on the situation. But with Roy now on the team, while he wasn't a slouch in hand-to-hand combat, he was definitely no Dick Grayson, thus a lot of the old formations didn't work as well as with him. Thus, new plans needed to be made, a lot of which put Cyborg in hand-to-hand combat.
And surprisingly, Doctor Light was holding his own against the much larger opponent. Usually, the mad genius was defeated the second someone like Robin or Starfire got within striking range of him, but in this case, he was blocking and dodging Victor's punches and kicks well, as well as dishing out his own light-based attacks.
While it was slightly amusing to see his friend get worked by what many considered to be a C-level villain at best, Beast boy still had a job to do, and thus he swooped down, talons outstretched to leave a nasty gash on the face of the lunatic.
Except, the push-over for a villian that Beast Boy just wasn't that. Holding off Cyborg with one glowing arm, his other hand was used to fire a blinding blast in the direction of the changeling. The hawk managed to swerve to avoid the bolt hitting him head-on, however searing pain ran throughout his wing, forcing him to dive down and collapse onto the hot road in human form.
"Haha, is this the best you sputtering Titans have to offer?" That annoying voice mocked the team as Garfield looked over towards his right arm, seeing the hideous wound left on it, scarlet blood running down it from an open wound, the green skin surrounding the gash a charred black, causing the mutant to gag at the sight. "And they wonder why I hate meat."
A pained grunt of his cybernetic friend brought Beast Boy's eyes upward, only to see the massive man be tossed aside by the doctor like he was a feather, crashing into Raven across the street. "Hm, let's see how you like it well-done!" Doctor Light laughed, his double blasters on his shoulders glowing so bright that it forced the teen to shield his eyes in an attempt to not be blinded, though that was the least of his troubles right now.
"You will not cook my friend!" Starfire's shout, followed by a masculine grunt told Gar it was ok to open up his eyes, seeing the strong Tamaranean lift up the black-decked villain up into the sky, eyes and hands glowing that bright green that usually meant the end of the battle for her enemies.
"You alright, bozo?" Roy's voice brought more irritation than relief that an ally has come over to him, hoping it would've been Raven if anybody, but really, the changeling wasn't in a position to complain given his arm was almost shot off its socket. "Eh… could be better." Beast Boy then lifted up his other hand, blocking Arsenal's face from his view. "There we go, much better."
A snort of annoyance and amusement came out of the archer's nose, but before he could make a back-handed comment, the shriek of their Tamaranean companion returned their attention to the culprit at hand rather than their own back-handed comments. A flash of light, bright enough to rival the sun followed the scream, and Beast Boy could just make out the image of Starfire flying... or rather falling down out of the sky, followed by a yellow beam looking to engulf her.
Despite the flesh wound that sent searing pain through his arm, Beast Boy knew he couldn't just watch his friend be incinerated and shot up into the air as a velociraptor, eyes on the orange colored woman. He didn't know exactly how he was going to get both her and him out of the way of that light beam in time, but really, Gar didn't much care. He wasn't much, if at all a strategist, preferring to rely on his unending ego and will rather than any smarts he may or may not have.
And as he got closer, Garfield realized that SOMEONE was going to have to take the blast. Maybe if he had Kid Flash's speed, he could get him and Kori out of danger at the same time, but even he wouldn't brag about having that sort of power. Sucking in a final breath, he used his jurassic wings to wrap around the dazed Starfire and turn his back towards Dr. Light's blast of light, shielding his alien friend from danger the best he could
Excuriating pain shot through Beast Boy's body as he felt the beam make contact with his spine, forcing him to change back into his human form after his strength dwindled almost completely. The impact of the beam managed to change the two's path, from instead of hitting the road, the changeling could only just make out the roof of a building they were heading towards before his eyes couldn't stay open for any longer and he could only hear the crashing impact of them crashing onto and through the structure.
Falling through several stories, eventually their crash finally ended, and Beast Boy groaned as he could feel blood oozing, not only from his arm now, but down his back and his legs. A screeching sound was the only thing he could hear as he fought to remain conscious, using all of his strength to open up his eyelids to look down at Starfire who he tried to save. And thankfully, he couldn't find much wounds on her, except for a burn mark on her chest and a scratch across her cheek. Must be that Tamaranean durability..
"Star...?" Garfield managed to cough out, lifting a weak and cut-up hand to rub some of the dust off of her face, her eyes still shut and her body unmoving. A few seconds passed, and he repeated himself, panic beginning to run through him before eventually, the beautiful shine of Koriandr's emerald green eyes graced him and a fragile smile crossed his face. "BB..?"
Before he could even answer her mumble, he felt something squeeze his back and press him against Starfire. He thought maybe it was some debris but the touch was... nurturing in a way. Beast Boy knew he couldn't move out of it, holding him in place like an anaconda's coil, but he didn't want to move out of it, it was refreshing. And the feeling of fingers rubbing over his cut up back made him realize that it was one of Starfire's famous hugs, except... he could breath. His eyes didn't feel like they were going to pop out of his sockets because of her unrelenting love. Soft wasn't the word to describe it, since she had him trapped nice and good, but... perhaps 'Passionate'. She for sure has no shortage on that.
"I got you.." He whispered to her, his smile hurting his jaw, but he couldn't find himself stopping it, even if he wanted to as his chin rested above her shoulder and his eyes slowly shut, giving into the nagging darkness that was beginning to envelop his eyes, the heated embrace with his companion comforting him enough to know that everything was going to be just fine...
Hope you guys enjoyed, please do leave feedback/reviews if you have anything to say! Sorry it took how many months to get out, hopefully Chapter 2 won't take as long.