Chapter 2: Fire and Ice
Tic… Toc…. Tic…. Toc…. The sound continued to repeat itself over and over throughout the silent tower. Each of the Titans all slept soundly, not a care in the world now that the Brotherhood of Evil was disbanded. All except for Beast Boy, whose thoughts moved at one hundred miles an hour as he struggled to silence his worries, which were all focused on Terra. "My tests came back inconclusive. BB, there was nothing to find. Maybe that wasn't Terra you saw, or maybe it is but I don't think so at this point. I don't see how she would have been able to come back to life. Maybe her statue broke or someone stole it and the "Terra" you saw was a long lost relative. Maybe it was a robot like the Slade you ran into at the amusement park turned out to be." Beast Boy replayed Cyborg's words in his head yet again, knowing none of them were the case this time. This time Terra lost her memories, and that's just what it was. Beast boy didn't know how or why, but he just knew that was the case.
"Terra!" Beast Boy tried to yell for her, but he found his voice suddenly didn't word. He tried yet again, to no avail. The changeling watched in horror as the blonde girl in the orange and black clothing slipped away from her. She glided on rock, controlled by her powers, into the center of the lava as another large shake knocked everyone else to their knees. He tried to reach for her desperately, wanting to tell her she couldn't sacrifice her life, but found he could not move. All Beast boy could do was watch in sad horror as she began to turn to stone. He knew, at that point, he would never see her again…
Beast boy's nightmare ended suddenly as he woke with a start, heart racing and sweat dripping down his brow. He had fallen asleep, he realized, but only for about 45 minutes. With a frustrated sigh he ripped the covers off and swung his feet over the side. There would be no sleeping tonight, so why even try. After slipping on a simple shirt, Beast boy left his room as well as the tower, and morphed into a large hawk. While in this form Beast Boy relied even more heavily on his animal instincts than he usually would, finding it relaxing not to think as he enjoyed the relaxation of flight. He flew like this for nearly a half hour before noticing something was off. The city below him suddenly seemed eeiry, like something just wasn't right. The large predator took a sharp turn, circling back from an instinct to avoid danger, but the human in Beast Boy made him turn once more, to face it head on. With the precise eyes of the large bird, Beast Boy spotted four men hunting down another man. Gang activity, he must have been in part of town. It occurred to Beast Boy, that while he had been so focused on the free feeling of his flight, he hadn't paid a single ounce of attention to where he was going.
The bird sounded a warning cry that caused every man below him to turn their heads, they each knew better than it normal for such a predator to be in these parts. Common sense, however, was a trait they clearly lacked as they turned their attention back on the task at present. Beast Boy swopped low then, diving at one of their heads in final warning. This warning spooked the men, causing them to turn their back on their target and focus their eyes on the sky. "Damn it Jim, let's call this off! I've got a bad feeling about this." The other men scolded the man who spoke up, and continued to look overhead. Beast Boy had taken to the shadows, now in the form of a very large panther, and sounded another warning growl to the men, this time spooking their target and sending him off. "Their goes our heads now, thanks to you Marvin! We're all screwed now!" One man shouted at his friend angrily, though they didn't move from their spot and shouts continued to grow. Jumping from his position, Beast Boy landed without a sound, and silently stalked his prey until he was less than a few yards away and caught their attention. The men stood, frozen in fear. They knew better than for it to be normal for a cat like that to be in these parts. Beast Boy growled again, this time advancing on the men before him. Chaos broke out and the next thing he knew, fire arms were pulled out and shots fired on him. As the bullets approached, Beast Boy shifted forms into a small but quick rodent. This sparked even more pandemonium amongst the men, and before they knew it Beast Boy was upon them, now in his human for but with animalistic features. "Run now. Don't ever come back. And stay away from him or I will know." His voice was deep and gruff, completely out of characteristic for him. Beast Boy didn't know it, but his mental state was beginning to effect his shifting as well as her personality. The men fled the scene, leaving small puddles in their wake. Taking the form of the hawk, Beast Boy flew quickly back to the tower.
"The day is one of quite gloriousness! The sun is shining ever so brightly and the air is so warm! Friends we must go out and have one of those picnics again!" Starfire's enthusiasm rang through the room, and everyone stared at her.
"Ya know Star, sometimes I forget how much of a morning person you are." Cy sat on the couch, using the television as a computer as he ran information over, doing research on crime rates and recent gang activities to fill time. Since the battle with the Brotherhood of Evil, things had really quieted down, and Cyborg and Robin were starting to grow restless. Beast Boy walked in the room, looking like hell, and sat at the table not even bothering to get the mountain of food he normally would. Raven peeked an eye open from her meditation, and raised an eye brow.
"What's with you?" She asked in a slightly annoyed voice. Her concentration was broken by his sulking. Beast boy simply played it off as the lack of sleep, and Raven knew best not to push, nor did she care all that much.
"Look at this, guys." Cyborg pulled up a video he had found on a news channel. The reporter stood amongst shipping crates as he spoke of a gang assassination that was interrupted by a strange animal that witnesses struggled to describe. The gang members, now in custody and under mental evaluation, had been hired to assassinate the head of a rival gang's young son, age sixteen. The son is now in protective custody and a police investigation as to the wild animal is now underway. The reporter grew silent as the video came to an end. Cyborg shut the computer off and the television showed a view of water, as if it were now a window. Each team member's eyes fell on Beast Boy, immediately knowing it was him.
"Explain." Robin's voice was clearly riddled with anger and frustration.
"Why should I? What's so wrong with stopping a murder?" Beast Boy clearly felt alienated, and reacted defensively.
"You acted without thinking! Without back up and alone! What if they had guns? We work as a team, not as vigilantes. If you had seen something you call it in! You know better than-"Robin was interrupted by Beast Boy, now angry.
"If I had waited for back up that kid would be dead! I didn't do anything wrong." Beast Boy was visibly angry. He didn't see how he was in the ground, though he did admit he acted without thinking, but waiting for the rest of the team would have meant the kid's blood on his hands.
"It doesn't matter. We are a team, and we act as one, fight as one. We do not go on solo missions, we do not act without thinking." Robin stood up, putting his clenched hands on the table as he spoke through his teeth.
"Enough!" Raven shouted at her team members who seemed to be losing control of their emotions. "Beast Boy fought alone and he shouldn't have but now it's done and over and there is nothing you can do to change it. He got lucky. End of story."
Before anyone else could react to her outburst, the tower's alarm went off.
"Titans, trouble!"
Screams sounded downtown as crowds of people ran through the streets, fleeing their attackers. Two men dressed in red and purple costumes were wreaking havoc on the city. Behind them was a wake of destruction, some burning buildings, over turned cars, frozen windows, all the works. One of the attacks launched fire at another building, while the other froze everything in his path. The pair laughed as more buildings caught fire and windows shattered from the cold.
"You two really need a better sense of humor!" Robin's voice came from above them, and looking up the two criminals found the Teen Titans perched on a low-rise building off to their right. An attack mixed with fire and ice launched at the Titans, throwing the team in action. "Titans, go!" Robin's usual catchphrase didn't even register with the Titans, as they had already begun their assault of Starbolts, cannon fire, hexes, and explosives. One of the attackers used his ice to create a make shift shield until it melted under the heat from Starfire and Cyborg's attacks. A screech over head was followed by a large mammoth falling on the two attackers, pinning them down. The mammoth's eyes widened as the one with fire abilities warmed himself up under the mammoth's feet, burning the bottom of his feet. Beas Boy transformed into a bird form and flew off, dodging an attack of ice balls.
Having Beast Boy's back, Starfire launched cover fire at the two attackers, hitting them with enough successive starbolts to cause smoke to rise. The team stopped and waited for the smoke to disappear. When it did, it revealed that the two attackers had vanished. The team joined each other in the middle of the street with frowns on their face. "Well that was easy." Raven frowned, something seeming off.
Behind them, two laughs were heard before they were once again assaulted with a mixture of ice and fire attacks. Starfire and Raven were imprisoned in ice while Cyborg and Robin where hit with fire attacks. Beast Boy flew high to avoid the attacks while Starfire and Raven melted themselves out and Robin protected himself and his teammate with his cape, which seemed to be fire resistant, but eventually caught fire. Cyborg attacked from behind his friend, ceasing the onslaught of fire as his friend worked to put himself out. Robin ran then, coming up with a quick but sloppy plan. Just as the fire enemy was about to attack he jumped, landing on his back and causing him to fall. As the fire enemy fell, his attack hit his friend, putting out his ice and rendering him powerless.
"Azarath Matrion Zinthos!" A black orb swallowed the remaining attacker, trapping him in fireproof containment.
In a matter of minutes the Titans handed the assailants over to the police and returned home to their tower.
A/N: So this chapter I struggled with a little more, but as I've almost completely finished plotting this story now it should get better. I do plan on this being a shorter story since I'm not good with doing all kinds of fillers or fluff. In the next chapter you'll see Terra, so that'l get things moving along.
Thanks for reading! A review would be much appreciated. Xo!
