The medical bay of the Titans North Tower was alive with activity, mainly because Kid Flash was busy, dashing around checking various medical instruments. As the team's best healer, he'd had them spread out like this due to an inability to keep still unless it was an absolute certainty.
"How is she?" Argent questioned, being the team leader.
"Like she said, her body temp was way below normal, as if she'd been in deep freeze," Kid Flash explained, pausing when Argent shivered a little, no doubt remembering her own experience. "Apart from that, she's basically what you see. A human being with the wings of a dragon and Jinx's interest in outfits," he added, going back to dashing between instruments.
"Right. Well, unless Mr Freeze has left Gotham, we could be dealing with a new cryokinetic. I'll get on the comm to Robin and let Boy Wonder know," Argent muttered, leaving the speedster to his work.
As Argent wandered the halls, she mentally went through where everyone else was. As it was now morning, Jinx had decided to disappear for a shopping trip, Hot Spot was out on patrol and Herald was running through city surveillance footage, trying to find their new guest or her attacker.
Upon arriving in the main room, the monitor flickered to life, an image of the Titans Central main room appearing with an unknown person standing looking at the screen.
"You've reached Titans Central. Robin is out on patrol and asked me to take messages," the boy sighed, his cerulean eyes as bright as a clear sky while two wings were wide open, one of them being in a sling.
"And you are?" Argent questioned, taking note of similarities between the new guy and their visitor.
"Skyfire. Dragon winged elemental. And you would be Argent of Titans North. I did a little research on other Titan teams before you called. Why did you call, by the way?" Skyfire asked, crossing his arms.
"We had an unexpected visitor and may have a potential new cryokinetic foe. You wouldn't happen to know anyone with black and dark pink wings, would you?" Argent asked, bringing up a feed from the medical bay.
"By the shadows of Makuta, that's Cynder! She and I were friends when we were younger. Her real name is Cynthia Adams, but I always called her Cynder….is she okay?" Skyfire practically yelled, now leaning on the console.
"She crashed into the main room last night with a lower than normal body temperature. Other than that, she's fine. What can you tell us about her?" Argent asked, a piece of paper in hand and pen in the other.
"Well, she was like a dark reflection of me in terms of powers. While I can manipulate the elements of nature, she can manipulate the elements of disaster. Those powers are shadows, poison, fear, rage and convexity," Skyfire began explaining, pausing for a moment.
"What's convexity?" Argent asked, looking up from her piece of paper.
"Convexity is the energy that's used to separate a dimension trapping a demon from our dimension. If used in an attack, each hit causes the body of whoever it hit to deteriorate for a short time, as if they'd been taking a lot of alcohol or smoking for years. It wears off after a few hours, and it's generally non-lethal unless used on a demon," Skyfire explained, pausing for breath.
"Are all her powers non-lethal?" Argent asked, worrying about the effects of control over poison.
"An ability to control poison means it slowly shuts the body down, paralysing the body for a few hours. Rage means she can turn her foes on each other, but not to a point where they'd kill each other. Fear just means they see and hear their worst fears around them. Shadows just let her become a shadowy mist," he added, turning round as Robin walked in.
"Argent? What's this about? Something wrong?" Robin began asking, looking between the monitor and Skyfire.
"I'll explain. Argent has to go and welcome a new guest," Skyfire interjected, gesturing to the med bay feed before the connection cut. Armed with her new information, Argent left for the med bay, setting the paper down for later.
In minutes, she'd arrived, Kid Flash still checking over medical instruments while Cynder was sitting up, watching the speedster work.
"He has a girlfriend, just to warn you," Argent sighed, the girl's emerald gaze now on her. Kid Flash paused, acknowledging his leader while blushing, before reading back over some findings. "Is your name Cynder?" she continued, noticing the girl's slight look of surprise.
"How do you know that name? Is Skylar here?" Cynder asked, gripping the bed cover with sharp nails.
"No, he's over in Jump City with Titans Central. I was just talking to him about you, and was wondering if you'd like to join the team," Argent said calmly, watching as the gothic girl pondered for a moment.
"I guess, if Skylar's a member, I might as well join. That is if you don't mind my powers," Cynder mumbled, her head hanging as though shamed.
"Don't worry, we won't mind, right Bolt?" Argent grinned, giggling at the glare Kid Flash gave her.
The smell of breakfast wasn't normally enough to wake Herald straight away. That being said, the aroma that drifted into his room was enough to wake him instantly. He was practically floating towards the main room, quickly finding the source of the smell.
Standing at the oven was Cynder, her black hair tied back as she flipped a pancake into the air, catching it again like a professional, her bright green eyes spotting Herald sitting there, ready to eat. Six plates piled with at least nine pancakes sat next to the oven, a tenth landing on one plate without the chef even needing to look.
"All yours. Doubt it'll require your horn to make it vanish," she chuckled, pouring syrup over the pancakes before giving them to him. She almost burst out laughing at how quickly he tucked in, turning back to make another pancake as Hot Spot walked in.
"Wow, you didn't have to make us breakfast. Not that I'm complaining or anything," Hot Spot sighed contentedly, sitting beside his teammate.
"Well, you guys pretty much welcomed me straight away so I thought I'd say thank you," Cynder winked, flipping the pancake she was currently preparing.
"Any plans for today?" Herald asked, finishing his fifth pancake before speaking.
"Jinx offered to take me shopping as long as I helped her find this jacket and top. Not even here twenty four hours and already someone wants to have my hero costume," she laughed, the pancake landing on Hot Spot's plate.
The city of London was busy as the two darker members of Titans North wandered its streets, looking out for clothing stores.
"So, where did you live before coming to London?" Jinx asked, watching as Cynder glanced into store windows.
"I used to live in Washington D.C. It was there that I met Skylar Firewell. He was like the perfect friend for me; fun enough to be around but strong enough that no-one really bothered us. Then he moved away when we were ten, but he sent postcards until about a year ago. I'd actually left home to try looking for him, but got as far as London before I was attacked," Cynder explained, looking into another shop window.
"Interesting. You and Skylar closer than friends?" Jinx teased, trying to hide her laughter when the winged girl glared at her.
"We were like brother and sister, not boyfriend and girlfriend," Cynder retorted, walking ahead just as something hit the wall where she'd just been standing.
"What in the….?" Jinx shouted, looking up to see a girl with spiked dark cyan hair, bright cyan eyes, scarred, pale cyan skin, a bright cyan top under a black coat, black trousers with cyan flames, cyan high heeled boots and black gloves. On her back were large bird wings with cyan, dark cyan and black feathers, while in her hands were twin pistols, one pointed at Jinx and another at Cynder.
"You're going to pay for your crimes, dragon winged wretch!" the girl yelled, firing at Cynder with icy bullets. Jinx rolled away as the gun pointed at her fired, a magenta energy wave narrowly missing the winged cryokinetic. She watched as Cynder somersaulted away, taking flight before landing a kick to the girl's chest, knocking her down to street level.
"What crimes? I've been a law abiding citizen for sixteen years of my life, going on seventeen," Cynder sighed, out of breath from the surprise attack.
"Don't pretend you don't know. You'll pay for your crimes back at home! Now die by the guns of Black Ice!" the girl screamed, firing her pistols like machine guns as Cynder took flight, barrel rolling out of the bullets' path.
With Black Ice's attention on Cynder, Jinx ran at her, firing a wave of hex energy at the guns, this time hitting her targets, causing them both to freeze. Before she could get closer, Black Ice caused ice stalagmites to rise from the ground, almost skewering the enchantress, before a piercing scream shattered them.
"I wouldn't try anything more if I were you. Not unless you want to be paralysed," Cynder growled, sickly green mist dancing around her hand, aiming it at the cryokinetic.
"This isn't over witch! You won't survive long when apprentice and master fight together," Black Ice snarled cryptically, high in the sky with one beat of her mighty wings. The two Titans could only watch, Jinx unable to fly and Cynder's wings now with several holes in the membrane.
