Chapter 04 Cover Blown
Things did not start out well as planned when the Titans busied themselves to prepare meeting Bruce Wayne at the city hall in the afternoon. Cyborg and Beast Boy were at each other's throats once again that Terra, Starfire and Raven were watching them throw pots and pans at each other. Though Starfire could only float around to try and diffuse the tension, the other girls were already glaring at them since they haven't eaten breakfast yet, which should have been on the table two hours earlier before the hostilities began.
Robin entered the common room in time to see the bout between Cyborg and Beast Boy. His temple throbbed in irritation as he steps in the middle of the fight and places his hands on the two.
"I'm not in the mood to know what the hell is going on, but I suggest we better get moving." His voice was darker and more menacing that the two Titans shuddered as they felt his hands like they were dipped in ice.
Terra and Starfire busied themselves in the kitchen as Raven sat on the stool sipping her usual herbal tea. Robin sat between Cyborg and Beast Boy, who are still frozen in fear as they could almost feel the monster brewing inside Robin. The minutes seem like hours for Cyborg and Beast Boy when the phone suddenly rang. The two made a dash for it, glad to get away from Robin when they stopped dead on their tracks when it was Robin himself who answered the phone.
"Dude," Beast Boy nudged Cyborg on his human arm as he whispered, "how did he do that?"
"I dunno, man, but it's giving me the creeps more than what happened to us in Raven's mirror way back."
"I heard that." Raven mumbled and gave them an evil eye that both men blanched.
"It's time, Titans." Robin announced as he placed the receiver back on the cradle.
Robin was the first to go to the underground garage as the rest of the team watched him disappear to the corner.
"Whuf's eadding 'im?" Terra spoke with her mouth full of waffles.
"Perhaps it was the 'sour grapes' that he ate yesterday?" Terra answered with a look of concern in her eyes.
Cyborg has managed to snap out of his stupor as he sighed.
"C'mon, gang, let's just follow him for now."
Raven was the last in the group as her mind was filled with thoughts of Robin and the unprecedented emotion that was brewing inside. In her mind, a conclusion of today's meeting with Bruce Wayne is a huge clue itself but Robin, like herself, rarely talk about the past to others.
Large groups of people continue to gather in front of the city hall, as the deputy mayor standing near the podium continued to give out last-minute instructions to those in charge of publicity, security and the regular staffers. It was the biggest thing that was happening, as the prince of Gotham was due to arrive in a few minutes. Inside the city hall, the mayor was rehearsing some lines on a piece of paper he was holding as the make-up artist was doing some last minute touches to make him look presentable. In the middle of the lobby, the Teen Titans are already present.
"Dude! This is totally cool!" Beast Boy was giddy with excitement. "One of the richest men in Gotham City!"
"What's so great about that?" Terra stares quizzically at Beast Boy, and weird thoughts began to well up inside her head for his sanity, not to mention his 'orientation'.
"Don't you get it, Terra?" His eyes bulging and bloodshot that caused Terra to back away in shock. "He's like the real-life Santa Claus out there! And maybe he'll give us a reward or something like the brand new GameStation Virtua 4D MAX where each unit is 'reserved upon request' only!" The Titans noticed that Beast Boy was drooling a waterfall off his mouth and creating a puddle around him and his eyes twitched uncontrollably.
Raven rolled her eyes as she was actually scolding herself to even listen to Beast Boy and his electronic junk. The only escape through this madness is to actually levitate some two feet off the marble floor as she crossed her legs, chanting her mantra. Her meditation didn't last for two minutes when the deputy mayor clears his throat to catch the Titan's attention.
"I can see that everybody's excited. We have word that Mr. Wayne will be arriving in a few minutes so you all will meet him here first and then present you with him outside."
Murmurs between the Titans and other people within the area broke out, as Beast Boy remained as rigid as a stone statue, his thoughts still with the newest gaming console to ever hit the market.
"Is there anything you should warn us about something once we meet Mr. Wayne?" Raven spoke as she approached the deputy mayor at the same time glaring at Beast Boy, worried that everything will come crashing down all because of him alone.
"Nothing to worry about!" The young man swelled with pride as he lifted his arm across his chest. "A philanthropist like Mr. Wayne is no stranger when it comes to heroes like you. I mean, Batman lives in his city, right?"
The Titans were a bit surprised with this information as they all turned their eyes on Robin and knew about Batman's partner in crime fighting. He could only turn away when the deputy mayor places a hand over his left ear where an earphone is inserted. He nods a bit and a wide grin was slowly carving his face.
"Everyone get ready, Bruce Wayne has entered the building!"
The deputy mayor walked in a hurried pace towards the double doors where a large crowd of people was slowly approaching. At the very center of the group is a tall and handsome man in his late twenties wearing an expensive suit and a smile that is worth a billion bucks. Walking on his left is Wayne Enterprises' CEO Lucius Fox and on his right is his secretary Barbara Gordon, a rather attractive young woman with red hair and emerald eyes behind her glasses as she wears a sultry smile on her face. Standing right behind Bruce Wayne is the head servant Alfred Pennyworth.
The mayor was practically all smiles today, knowing that this would earn him another term in office as he passed the Titans and even his deputy mayor as if they were not there and approached Bruce Wayne.
"Mr. Wayne! I am most honored that you took an interest to grace my city with your presence." The mayor shook Bruce's hand vigorously as Bruce smiled a rather strained one. He could almost imagine the mayor might even do a curtsey if he wanted to.
"Uh, I'm quite honored and would like to thank you for welcoming me to your city." Bruce said.
"Anyway, we are about to start the program in a few moments, so I will go out first and address the people." The mayor instructed as he steps out of the main lobby and towards the front. The cheer of the people can be heard even behind the closed doors.
Bruce took this time to turn to the young people he has heard so much about as he kept his eye on the leader of the group.
"So you must be the Teen Titans! I have heard so much about you." Bruce beamed. "I had the pleasure of meeting Batman on rare occasions and never seem to stop talking about you and the adventures you both shared."
We welcome you to our city, Mr. Wayne." Robin began and shook Bruce's hand, and rather hard. Bruce ignored this and turned his attention to the rest of the Titans.
"Ah, don't worry and I do know all of you." He first turned to the Tamaranian Princess. "I believe your name is Starfire, am I correct? They tell me you have the physical strength of twenty men and the power that rivals a thousand, but they never told me how beautiful you look. Maybe I should have them fired for not telling me that." Bruce chuckled as well as Lucius and Barbara.
Starfire was rather overwhelmed as she began to mumble gibberish and her face blushed as red as her hair. Bruce could only chuckle as he shook her hand.
"The big man of the team, Cyborg." Bruce said as he walked next to Cyborg. "I've heard a bit about your father's research some time ago, though all I could say that you are still blessed because he gave up his life to save you from his fate."
"Thank you, Mr. Wayne." Cyborg said as he shook his hand.
"Maybe one of these days I could have my best researchers to find a cure for you and hopefully you can live a normal life." Bruce added. Then he turns his sights on Terra.
"Terra, isn't it?" Bruce bowed a bit and shook her hand. "The girl who can shake the world. You'd give rock and roll a run for its money knowing you can liven up a city in a good way."
"And the ever mysterious yet lovely Raven. I can understand what you are going through since I'm an orphan myself, but you should always remember to take life to the fullest and never forget you have friends that can be your family."
"It was nice meeting you." Raven gave her rarest smile to Bruce. Last but not the least, Bruce averted his attention to Beast Boy, who looked like he was about to crumble in any minute.
"The boy with a thousand transformation and the funny one, right?" Bruce asked.
"Sometimes, Mr. Wayne." Raven drawled.
"By the way, I have a little something for you." Bruce nods to Alfred, which he approached Beast Boy with a large gift-wrapped box. Beast Boy accepted the gift and tore open the wrapping, revealing inside the object of his passion as he started to make some strange caveman-like noises.
"NOWAY!IT'STHEGAMESTATIONVIRTUA4DMAX!" Beast Boy's eyes were on the verge of popping at the sight of the logo. The rest of the Titans, except Starfire who was practically overjoyed, rolled their eyes and thought they'll die of embarrassment.
"My people tell me that you like video games. And since Wayne Enterprises are also involved in consumer electronics, I thought you should have this." Then Bruce cupped Beast Boy's ear and whispered. "And that's actually the newer and improved one, which the critics claimed about the flaws of the current model."
At that point, Beast Boy fainted.
Outside, the mayor has given his speech and the main show is about to begin.
"And I wish to welcome you, the Prince of Gotham, Bruce Wayne! And with him is your very own, the Teen Titans!"
"That's our cue." Bruce announced as he straightened the lapels of his suit and exited the door with his hands raised towards the crowd. Robin and the rest of the Titans followed, with Terra tugging at the unconscious Beast Boy by his ankle towards the outside.
"Mr. Wayne, as mayor of Jump City, I present to you the key to the city for blessing us with an opportunity to help our people." The mayor then handed over a large brass key inside a frame as Bruce took it and shook the mayor's hand. Then the mayor stepped aside as Bruce raised the key to the people before giving his speech.
"I thank you people of Jump City for this warm welcome." Bruce began. "My father, though he is a Wayne, believe that the way to help people is to be with them, and not because he's a Wayne. As a doctor, this was his way of repaying the city despite of the tragic event and still would stand against poverty with everything he had. Every city may have its problems, and to face it alone is not a good way of solving it. With the expansion of the new Wayne Enterprises Motor Division, I can help realize my father's dream in providing jobs not just for Gotham, or Jump City, but for the whole country."
It was the loudest cheer than what the mayor received as hundreds of camera flashes took every angle of Bruce's being and the crowd felt like they were celebrating Independence Day.
"I thank you all and may God bless…"
A nearby explosion interrupted Bruce's final part of his speech when the crowd became restless and turned towards the source of the disturbance. About a block away, a giant humanoid with a grayish body made of stone began tearing down buildings and smashing cars as the crowd dispersed in a frenzied panic. Robin and the others watched as Cinderblock appeared at the intersection and roared towards the crowd.
"TITANS, MOVE!" Robin yelled as he aimed his grappling hook to the nearest structure and was lifted away.
"Oh man!" groaned the now conscious Beast Boy as he handed his new GameStation to Alfred. "I'll be back for it, dude!"
Security personnel began to crowd around Bruce Wayne and his company inside the building and towards the back alley where Bruce's limousine was on standby. Once Bruce boarded the car, the driver, which is Alfred sped off towards safety.
"What is that thing?" Barbara asked as she watches from the window.
"I think he's called Cinderblock." Bruce turned towards Alfred "Take us to a nice quiet place."
"Bruce, I think we should let Robin and his team handle this." Lucius pleaded in a rather exasperated manner and happens to know Bruce's alter ego.
"Not me, Lucius." Bruce grinned as he shifts his eyes towards Barbara.
"Leave it to me." Barbara announced as she groped the leather under her seat until she found what felt like a button. The seat begins to incline revealing a partition behind her as it slid her inside the trunk. In a few seconds, the trunk popped open within an isolated area of Jump City, followed by a sharp hissing of the grappling hook. A shadow shot out of the trunk and was swinging back to where the Titans were battling Cinderblock.
"Now to the real business." Bruce announced as Alfred left the curb and towards his vacation house in a posh part of Jump City.
'I assume you don't mean what Gordon was talking about when he gave you that card, right?" Lucius eyed Bruce rather sternly, but his lips curved to a knowing smile.
Bruce grinned as he held in his hand a battered playing card, and at the face of the card was the picture of a joker.
"Look out!" Terra shouted as she hovered away when Cinderblock threw a truck at her direction, only to be caught by Raven's powers before the truck to do any more damage once it crashes on the people.
"This guy's really getting on my nerves!" Cyborg grunts as he fires his sonic cannon while being backed up by a barrage of starbolts from Starfire. Cinderblock was taking the brunt of heavy fire, but only to continue fueling his rage as he charges on. Police and SWAT were already in position, creating a perimeter around the battlefield in case Cinderblock decides to escape.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted towards a wrecking ball, snapping up the chain from the machine and spun it around like a morning star. The ball connected hard against Cinderblock's block head. Just when she was about to declare victory, Cinderblock's arm grabbed the chain and began flailing the ball towards the Titans.
"Oh, great." Raven groaned and smacked her forehead.
"We have no time for worrying about stupid mistakes!" Robin reminded the group, jumping away from being crushed by the ball. "We just have to get Cinderblock to release the ball!"
Robin reaches for one of his birdarangs and flings it towards the chain, hopeful that one of the links has weakened. The projectile connects hard with the chain, but only managed to graze part of it and a second shot should do the trick. As Cinderblock spun the ball around increasing its deadly momentum. A second shot was thrown, but it was not from Robin. The chain snapped in two and the ball was thrown off towards the sky. Thinking that the chain in his hand is as deadly, Cinderblock begins to spin the chain around and charged towards the Titans, only to have the descending ten-ton metal ball crushing his head. Cinderblock staggers, a huge crack marred across his face before falling with a satisfied crash followed by a slight tremor.
The Titans were rather shocked at the aftermath of today's battle. Looming over the pacified rock monster, Robin begins searching for what was left of that second shot. Judging by the second serration of the chain, he checked the small patch of grass in a nearby parking area and picked up the projectile responsible for today's victory. It was shaped like a bat, although much smaller and a little smoother on the top edges.
"I figured that the second shot would help." A female voice came out of nowhere as the rest of Titans searched around. High in the sky, a shadow was slowly making its descent and landed in front of the group. Her costume hugged her body tight, if not rather proudly as it showed off her figure that was second to none. She was as tall as Raven at around five-foot-seven, but not as gangly as Starfire, and her eyes behind the cowl gave her a sinister look even if it did look rather luscious. The eastern winds picked up her cape and snapped gracefully as she walked towards Robin.
"I was in town and figured you needed some help with that overgrown boulder. For someone with slightly slow hands you look as hot as ever." Batgirl said as she kept a rather seductive look on Robin as she wrapped her arms around his neck and appeared like she was about to give him a kiss. Cyborg and Beast Boy could only ogle and drool at this costumed beauty. Terra staring sternly at Beast Boy and was in fits, Raven staring rather blankly and Starfire on a verge of tears at the sight of Robin with another woman.
Next Chapter:
Things get mighty interesting once Batgirl starts bunking in on Titans Tower. Though Cyborg and Beast Boy gives her the red carpet treatment, a certain alien princess starts to act out of her usual behavior, followed by an earth psychic,and soon a dark mistress. It's going to be an all out war between the females, enough to distract Robin from what is about to unfold with the Joker around.