Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. I only own my OC, John Smith
"Half a million dollars. Do you find the offer tempting, Mr. Wraith?"
I leaned closer to the screen, my face hidden under my scarf.
"Go on." I said. "Enlighten me."
The young woman on the other end of the line leaned back casually in her chair, toying with a strand of her brown hair. The resolution of the video feed was low, but I could tell that she was quite striking. A horrible suspicion started forming in the back of my mind.
"My name is Leslie Connors. I work for STAR labs."
"Hmm." I mused. "Genetics, bio-engineering and cybernetics, is that correct?"
She smiled. "Exactly. Although, lately, we have focused our research to the field of genetics."
"I see." I sighed. "Let me guess. Genetic experiment got horribly wrong? Some terrible creature loose inside your facilities. Please tell me it isn't so…"
She laughed. "No, Mr. Wraith. STAR labs' experiments do not go…'horribly wrong'. Ever. And even if they did, we are quite capable of dealing with the situation ourselves. Our security is the best one could imagine…"
My suspicions were confirmed. She was a P.R. person. Oh God. I hate dealing with them…
"The problem is quite a different one, Mr. Wraith."
"Go on…" I urged her.
She fidgeted in her seat. Clearly, she was uncomfortable. Her job was not to announce bad news.
"Our prototype genome synthesizer was stolen a week ago. Our security is baffled."
"So, they're not that good, eh?" I couldn't help but say. "Sorry. What is a 'genome synthesizer'?"
"It's a device for building DNA chains from scratch." Connors explained. "One uses a computer to design a gene, or even a whole DNA chain, and then the synthesizer takes over, building it using nanobots. Then, the DNA is implanted inside a cell, usually a zygote, and…"
"It's a machine for playing God." I cut her off. "You design new life-forms, right?"
"Yes." she admitted. "But only for research purposes."
I snorted. Not anymore, you don't!
"So, would you like me to recover it?" I asked.
"Yes, please."
I pondered this for a moment. "You said your security was baffled. How's that?"
"Well, the synthesizer is locked, everyday, in a top-security vault. You need three codes to open it, one of which is computed randomly each time by a computer. But when we opened the vault, last Thursday…"
"…no synthesizer." I finished for her. "Right. It's an inside job, clear as daylight."
"No, it isn't." she countered. "We are certain of that. Absolutely certain. Don't ask."
"Any signs of a break-in?" I asked, puzzled. This was sounding more and more like a Sherlock Holmes novel.
"None. The synthesizer should still be there."
"How big is it?" I asked. She had to look the answer up in a piece of paper she had next to her. Clearly a P.R. person.
"Ten inches, by twelve inches, by fifteen inches. It weights sixty pounds."
"Pretty small."
"Yes."
I sighed. It was obvious.
"You got a teleporter there, Miss Connors."
Her face fell. "You suspect supervillain involvement?"
"Absolutely." I replied. "I know of two villains who could've pulled this one off: Kid Wykkid and Red-X. Sounds like the latter; industrial espionage is more like his style."
"Oh dear." She sounded like a housewife, standing over her broken-down washing machine.
"Yes." I agreed. "I'll see what I can find out. I'll call you in a few days. And, Miss Connors, do me a favor."
"Yes?"
"When I call back, I don't want to see your pretty face. I'd like to see the ugly face of your senior security officer. Understand?"
Raven is a caring person.
She doesn't show it, true. But under that 'ice queen' façade, lies a girl-no, that is wrong, a woman-, who wouldn't dream of hurting another person. Except if that person bugs the hell out of her. Or annoys her. Or invades her privacy. Or…
…OK, I pass. But what I mean is that Raven would never break a promise.
This is why I was worried and not annoyed when she stood me up.
The 'Tokugawa' teahouse never enjoyed much clientele, but I had yet to enter Okoro-san's kitchen and not find him furiously pounding herbs and tea leaves, even when he only had to entertain a pair of customers. This time was no exception.
"Ah, John-san!" he mumbled absent-mindedly as I walked in. "Is she here yet?"
"No." I answered. "She's half an hour late now. And she's not answering her communicator. I wonder…"
"She'll be here, John-san. Don't worry." He poured the ground leaves into small bamboo tubes with quick, practiced movements and piled cups, tubes and assorted paraphernalia on a tray.
"Do you have a TV I could use?" I asked him, my voice carrying more than a hint of worry. "I mean if anything has happened, the reporters will have found out 'till now, won't they?"
"Of course, John-san." he replied, nodding towards a small 14-inch TV screen, buried under a pile of newspapers, in a corner of the room. "But please, keep the volume down. The walls are paper thin, after all."
He left the kitchen, balancing the heavy tray like an expert, and I turned the TV on, flipping through the channels.
"Ve vill now cook some eggs du chef…"
Click
"Hasta la vista, Baby!"
Click
"…Lexcorp's stocks have gone up…"
Click
"Where the Titans are now engaging a villain. The fight has been going on for some time and neither the Titans nor the villain seem to be winning. On the spot is Carmen Hoff, who will now give us the latest news. Carmen, are you there?"
I turned the volume just a bit up. Just a bit. Shit. Where have they gotten themselves into this time?
"Yes, Jane, I'm here." Carmen was wearing a helmet and bullet-proof vest, and the whole shot behind her was filled with smoke and flying debris. Whoever it was the Titans were fighting, he definitely could pack a punch.
"This is Carmen Hoff, reporting from the Jump City Archaeology Museum, where the Teen Titans have been fighting the villain known as…" she consulted a clipboard "…Red-X for the last fifteen minutes or so. Sources report that Red-X was attempting to steal a valuable Mali figurine from the Museum."
"What about civilians in the area?" asked Jane, an obviously fake worried look plastered on her face.
"Well, Red-X is a well-known thief, but he rarely uses more than absolutely necessary violence. He has never harmed a civilian until now. Still, he frequently uses explosives, so the police are estimating damage to buildings at the least. In order to minimize the danger, the police have set up barricades…"
I was no longer listening. I was already on my bike, pushing the engine to its limits.
The police had barricaded every street close to the Museum, within a three-block radius. I could only curse, breaking hard, jumping off my bike and hitting the ground running.
Fifteen energy rifles were raised and aimed at my head with an ominous click-click and whine. JCPD used stun rifles, but even two stun shots, let alone fifteen, could cause serious harm. I had no intention of testing SHROUD's resistance to energy bolts. I stopped and raised my hands.
A sergeant left the barricade and walked up to me. I could barely discern his eyes under his visor, but his mouth curled into a sneer when he approached.
"Who're you?" he asked. "Some sort of Titan wannabe? Get lost, let the pros handle this."
"I'm gonna reach into my pocket." I growled. "I'm gonna show you some ID. OK?"
He shrugged. "Go ahead."
I pulled out my wallet and tossed it over to him, along with a small spell. His mind was open like…like something very open. It was pathetic, really. He opened the wallet and his eyes glazed over.
"I am Major Saunders, NSA." I barked. "Special Super-villain Counter Force. Do I qualify as a 'pro', sergeant?"
The cop pulled a salute that would bring a tear of pride in any drill sergeant's eye. He was slightly sweating already.
"Sir, yes sir! Sorry sir. I didn't know sir."
"It's OK, sergeant." I said, already moving. "Get back to work."
GRAVE kicked in, and my inner ear went haywire. I felt like throwing up, but held on. Shit; I'll never get used to this.
Street to first story; first story to roof; roof to next building. A series of jumps brought me to a high vantage point, from where I had a bird's-eye-view of the Museum gardens. Smoke and flying debris were hiding the fight, but I could still see flashes of green light erupt randomly through the cloud of smoke. The Titans were still fighting. I was not too late.
I brought GRAVE up to full power and jumped; down through the smoke, down, SHROUD billowing behind me like a small parachute, down, almost blind, down, right in the middle of the fight.
In fact, right on top of Cyborg.
"Ouch!"
"Hey! What the…?"
"Get off me!"
"Get your foot off my face!"
"As soon as you get that sonic blaster off mine!"
We somehow got disentangled from each other, and rolled apart, just in time to avoid a short hail of X-shuriken that came our way. Cyborg dove to one side, demonstrating surprising agility, while I raised my arm, polarized SHROUD and let the shuriken glance off the adamantium armor. Thanks, E
I checked the battlefield. Robin was out, hanging upside down from a tree, suspended by what seemed to be his own grapnel rope. Beast Boy was trading blows with X. Starfire and Rave were stuck in a blackened tree trunk, held there by what seemed to be a giant sticky red X. And Cyborg…
Uh-oh…
I turned and looked right down the glowing barrel of a sonic blaster.
Oooops..
"Who are you?" snapped Cyborg. "I know your voice."
I sighed and slowly lowered my scarf, revealing my face.
"Hello, Robocop."
"Smith." growled Cyborg. "Long time, no see."
"Missed me?"
"Like a f-ing cold. What are you up to this time? Working with X, are you?"
"No." I risked a look over at the fight. Beast Boy was getting his butt handed to him. "I'm trying to help you."
He snorted.
"Yeah right. Pull the other one."
"Listen, Tin Man, don't believe me if you don't want to." I snapped. "The fact is that, if you want to keep me out of this, you'll have to stay there, focused, your blaster aimed at my face. And if your attention wavers, even for a moment, I'll move. And you know I am very hard to hit while moving. Can you do that?"
"I can do that."
"You can do that?" I sneered. "Won't you try to help your friends? They need you, I think."
"They'll be fine."
Beast Boy sailed over our heads, a look of stunned surprise on his gorilla face.
"Will they?" I laughed.
Cyborg glanced over at Red-X, who was striding towards the girls.
"Can I trust you?" he asked.
"Hell no!" I answered with a chuckle. "But you don't have much of a choice. If I'm to free Raven and Starfire, I'll need some cover fire."
Cyborg's sonic cannon turned and fired. Once…twice…and I was off, half-running, half-jumping, covering the distance in a flash.
I reached the struggling girls. I pulled out a knife to cut their bonds deactivating GRAVE as I did, and wavering a bit on the spot, re-acquiring a sense of direction. The sky is up. The ground is down. Starfire's eyes are glowing green. Why are they…?
I was blasted off my feet by Starfire's eye-lasers, flew a good five feet and landed hard on my back.
"Ouch." I moaned, rolling to my side and clutching my bruised chest, right where the beams had hit me. "Gad. Ouch. Ow."
"Starfire!" I heard Raven's trademark growl. "Don't ever do that again!"
"But, friend Raven, this unknown person had a knife and was attempting to…"
"To free you!" I growled and crawled up to them, my blade slicing through whatever material the X was made of. Raven reached down and pulled me up, pressing her hand on my chest. Blue, healing energy shone 'round her fist and I felt the pain go away.
"Thanks." I coughed and straightened up. "Need help?"
"Not really, but you can join us, if you want." Raven replied and tried to wrap the tattered remains of what once was a cloak around her in a dignified way.
"I see." I said. "What's the situation?"
"He fights…weird." she replied. "X is a thief, not a fighter. He usually grabs and runs. This time…he fights. He could've run a dozen times now. He didn't. I don't get it."
"Well, why don't you use your powers to grab his suit, or something? Bind him?" I asked, sending a wave of fear towards X, who was dodging Cyborg's blows. The villain didn't flinch. I was baffled.
"Psychic dampeners." she answered. "Robin created that suit, and installed them so that I couldn't sense him. No psychic or magic powers work on X or his suit."
"Great…" I moaned. "Do you have some sort…?"
"Please…" a piping voice interrupted and I groaned. "…friend Raven, do you know this person? Is he a friend?"
Starfire flew circles around me, curiously poking at my coat, my hair and my arms. She was making me dizzy.
"Yes…" Raven answered. "I guess…you could say he's a friend. Will you stop that, Starfire?"
"A friend? Oh, glorious! Will you be my friend too?" The alien beamed her dazzling smile not two inches away from my face. I retreated, panicking.
"Sure…sure…just…"
"Marvelous!"
Death hug. Oh dear. It hurts just to think back to it. Starfire can hug like an angry mountain gorilla. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't speak, I couldn't think…
Get her off, get her off, get her off…Air! Help!
"STARFIRE!" growled Raven and air returned in my lungs, in great, glorious gasps. Thank you. Oh THANK you…
"When are you going to remember?" raged Raven and Starfire backed away nervously. "NO hugs! Someday you're going to hurt somebody real bad…"
"It's OK…" I managed. "Don't…"
"Hem, hem…"
Red-X crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side, obviously amused. Behind him, Cyborg was down, sparks flying from every circuit in his body. X winked at Starfire.
"How come you never hug me that way, cutie?" he joked and turned to me. "Who're you?"
"If I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing this scarf?" I asked and reached for my knives.
He chuckled. "True. How true. Doesn't matter." He cast a critical eye over SHROUD. "What's with all the white?"
"What's with all the black?" I countered, riled as hell.
"SHUT UP!" howled Raven next to me and we all jumped. "Both of you! You!" she growled and pointed at X, looking a lot like a Fury from an old fairy tale. "You ruined my cloak!"
For the first time I looked at her cloak. Even though it was burned and torn, there was no mistaking the silky fabric.
"The cloak?!" I half-gasped, half-growled. "You…burned that cloak?"
"Calm down!" X backed off nervously. "One would think you had bought the damn thing…"
Silence.
"No!" he said, a trace of laughter in his voice. "Really? I don't believe it!"
"You'd better…" I growled and unsheathed both my blades.
"Please…" Starfire asked. "I don't understand. Friend Raven, did this strange person buy you clothes? But you do not allow us to buy clothes for you! How…?"
"Starfire…" Raven hissed, her eyes boring holes into X. "…shut up!"
She motioned and blackness flowed from her hands to a nearby trashcan, the remains of a bench and a large rock. A flick of her wrist sent the objects flying towards Red-X, who did his best to dodge, jumping over the first, ducking so that the second flew over his head and blasting the third to bits with an explosive shuriken. He charged Raven, blades extending from his wrists and she took off, hovering a few feet off the ground, out of his reach.
As X sailed by, his wristblades hitting nothing but air, I spun around and slammed the hilt of a knife on the back of his head. He tripped with a moan and fell on all fours.
"Get up, skull-face." I taunted him. "I haven't started on you yet."
He got to his feet with a twirling acrobatic turn that left me speechless. His wristblades glowed bright red.
"Bring it on, snowflake." he countered and charged.
We were evenly matched. I used my powers to hone my reflexes to superhuman levels, cutting my reaction time to millionths of a second, but he was much better trained. Lady Shiva had tutored me in an extremely spartan martial art she had developed: the Viper style, all quick jabs and legwork, meant to disorient the opponent and trip him or cripple him within three moves at the most. It was a perfect style for fighting groups of enemies, but against a single opponent of X's caliber, my martial arts training was found severely lacking. I went after him with three-move flurries of blows and he dodged them all, dancing around me like an acrobat, his xynothium-enhanced blades occasionally meeting my amorphous steel ones with such force that sparks would fly.
We danced around each other for quite a while; both of us always on the move, black and white blurs of motion. Our weapons sliced the air so fast they seemed unreal; but the blades were real enough. Deadly enough.
We broke off, both panting heavily, eyes locked on each other, wary of the opponent's move. He'll try for a leg swipe. Then he'll go for my head. Or he might try to flank me. What if…
His eyes widened, looking at something behind me.
Starfire seemed to come out of nowhere. She whizzed past me, like a rocket, rammed X off his feet and slammed him down with enough force to rock the ground and raise a cloud of dust and debris. I winced. Ouch.
The alien was rising now, her fists alight with green energy, her green eyes scanning the cloud of dust. An X-shuriken whizzed out of the smoke and Starfire barely managed to avoid it. The dust settled, revealing Red-X. He was panting heavily, but he was still standing, squaring his shoulders defiantly.
He's still fighting?!
"She can't hold him for long." Raven said, landing beside me, a tone of urgency in her voice. "He's beaten her before. Go get Robin loose. He's the only one who might know how to beat this guy. He designed the suit after all."
"OK." I said reluctantly. "Be careful."
"I'm not the one who should be careful." she snapped and her eyes glowed a fierce white. Hundreds of small pebbles rose in the air, encased in her black aura.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
Every pebble screamed towards X like horizontal hail, knocking him off his feet, pummeling him to the ground. He flailed around madly, trying to ward off the stones that buzzed next to him like angry bees, but to no avail.
I love to see Raven play, but I knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. A levitation spell of that complexity would drain her very quickly; so I ran over to Robin as fast as I could. He was hanging off a tree looking like a multi-colored fruit. A very foul-mouthed one at that.
"Get me down!" he growled as soon as I approached.
"OK, OK!" I sighed, exasperated. "Patience, damnit! Hang on a second…"
He groaned.
"Cornier than Beast Boy's jokes." he protested. "Just cut the damn rope!"
"You think this is easy?" I growled, my blades slowly sawing through Robin's grapnel rope. "What is this thing made of, anyway? Titanium?"
"STARFIRE!" Robin's voice was full of fear and agony. I looked back towards the fight.
The alien whizzed through the air, cart wheeling out of control and knocked me off the tree. We hit the ground like two sacks of potatoes and I groaned at the thought of the bruises I would have tomorrow morning. I rolled to the side, moaning and saw that Starfire was unconscious. Great. What about…?
An explosion.
A scream of pain.
Raven.
How X managed to knock through her defenses, I had no idea, yet there he was, standing triumphantly over her, his wristblades retracting into his gloves. I could see that she was unconscious and bleeding all down her legs and then X leaned down and touched her there, right on her wounds and I snapped.
…Kill you…
I got off the ground in an awkward, GRAVE-assisted running jump, rose high above X and then deactivated GRAVE and fell on him like a rock. He didn't see me coming.
"Ooof!"
We rolled and I recovered, while X was still trying to find out where the attack had come from. I scrabbled over to Raven and saw that she would probably be all right; the bleeding was stopping already, her powers healing her, even though she was unconscious.
"She'll be OK." came X's taunting voice from behind me. "I'm a thief, after all, not a murderer."
I whirled around, my knives leaving their sheaths…
And a small bomb exploded, not three feet form my face.
I rolled on the ground like a broken puppet.
Ow. Hurts…Pain…It's been awhile, John.
"Stay down, Snowflake. Don't force my hand…"
I got up again, driven by pure hatred, since I was running low on adrenaline. Kill you anyway…
Another bomb. This time it exploded farther away, but the shockwave still lifted me off my feet.
You're getting your ass kicked, John. Maybe a tactical retreat would be in order…?
No.
Raven was here, not twenty feet away. I couldn't run. Fight. No other options.
I need a weapon
The thought was clear, unlike the hazy, pain-filled ones that were coursing through my mind, more instinct than though, really. It helped me snap back to reality and search. I had been looking up till now. Not searching.
A rock? No. His body armor would protect him.
X moved closer, his hand reaching into his utility belt.
A broken branch? No. Ditto.
I needed time to think. My power raced to my mind, honing my reflexes and thought processes, pouring grease into the machinery of my brain.
Broken glass? No. A trashcan? No. The bench, over there? No.
He was very close now.
No time! I need more time!
More power coursed through my body; time was almost frozen now, yet still X came slowly closer and I had nothing to defend myself with.
A flock of birds rose from a rooftop behind X, scared by the explosions.
Birds.
Yes
It was more than a thought, more than a decision or a choice. It was a certainty. My weapon was there, no doubt about it. I only had to reach out like this…
My power exploded like a nova. On its own. It had never done that before. Tendrils of magic blasted from my body like ethereal rockets, each of them taking with it a part of my consciousness. I broke apart, my self fading, changing, becoming something…else. I was John Smith. I mustn't forget!…I was John Smith!...I was…John…I…was…
I was…
flock
Flying. Wings pumping. Air whistling. Being. Not as a creature, but as a whole. Individual birds…they were to me like a single fish is to the swarm, like a single cell is to a body. They…were…
I am John Smith.
Yes.
That is my name.
But the air is cool, the birds are hungry, the flock is flying, the wind is changing…
Irrelevant. I am John Smith. Why am I here?
The flock is restless. Explosions.
I remember…
…X
…I'll kill you yet, you bastard.
I looked down, through the eyes of the Flock, a thousand minds feeding my own with images, sounds, smells. I saw X bending over the white-clad figure that used to be my body. I saw him jump, surprised.
You think I'm dead, skull-face? I'm not. I know that I'm not. My power still comes from my body. I can feel it. It feeds me. It keeps me going.
What if it runs dry?
I don't want to know.
The flock descended.
The black-clad figure looked up in alarm at the sound of the doves' screeching and cawing. No dove should make such a noise. It was…unnatural.
The first doves rammed into him like winged torpedoes. They knocked the wind off him, spun him around, went for his eyes, scratched his suit, flapped their wings like furies, all the time screeching their dreadful caw.
X cried out, tried to reach into his utility belt for a weapon, any weapon, but only got a handful of feathers.
And still, more birds came. Their sheer weight forced the villain to his knees. Then he collapsed. His hand twitched, once, reaching for his belt buckle. And then he was gone, with a sigh, and a short blast of electric static, his teleportation device taking him out of harm's way.
Gone…It's over.
I am John Smith.
The flock rose in the air like a cloud, the thrill of victory propelling it upwards like rocket fuel. It was a new experience for the doves. They had never defeated somebody before. What a feeling! And all because of…
I am John…
…of the mind…? What mind…?
I am…
The new mind! What new mind…? There is no mind…Was there a mind?
…I…
Blackness.
The flock settled on a rooftop. The birds were hungry. The air was cool. The wind was changing.
A/N: Here we go again! A HUGE chapter for my standards. I hope this satisfies any action-junkies out there :-)
This was a tribute to Hitchcock :-D
Thanks for the reviews, everyone!
Ghostalker, (grins. Just grins.)
Xaleria: O.o Wow! A walking thesaurus…
VV: There you go. Hope you like…
Poison's Ivy: lol. Wow. I got a girl to hyperventilate. I'm a better writer than I think. ;-)
Next update in a week or so. Full schedule, people, sorry. It's gonna be a smaller chapter.
