Legends Never Die
By Talitha the Little Girl
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, though the OCs are mine.
Clones: Humans or Animals?
The frisbee whizzed through the air, and the white disc was caught by a hand. Will laughed as he spun around, releasing the frisbee, and watched it zoom over Rich's head. Rich ran after it, but Danielle leapt and caught it before he could. She quickly flickered it in the direction of Logan, who reached out to grab it… but Rich caught it before the disc reached Logan!
Their laughter and hollers carried over the wind to Caity, who was sitting under a nearby tree. She had tired of the game – really, they could hardly expect her to play for hours nonstop – and elected to rest for a few minutes before rejoining. She stood up, brushing the dried grass off her shorts, and she paused upon hearing angry voices.
"…stupid wimp. Whattya thinkin'? That's right, a n- can't think, y' idiot…"
Caity jumped, frightened, when the group of teenagers nearby howled and threw fists at each other. The girl ran over towards her fellow clones, and they all stared, dumbstruck, at the fighting mob. Foul language drifted over, and their eyes widened. Mama never let them say the bad words – every time those words was spoken on the holovision, she would change the channel.
Danielle whispered, "I don't like it here… I'm hungry, let's go home for lunch." Her foster sister and brothers nodded and they all swiftly walked towards the gate, but the mob had spread out, and was blocking the route. The clones paused, and then turned towards the fence. Clambering over it, they ended up in the alley next to Mama's house.
Sure enough, they could hear a cheery voice in the kitchen humming as they deactivated their hologram bracelets. Logan grinned. "Hi, Mama! We're hungry! Is lunch ready?" The old woman chuckled.
"O'course! Jest sit down, yer lunch's almost ready! Y'all eatin' hot dogs an' chips, perfect fer this summer day!" Mama winked at them as she filled six glasses with water. "C'mere, Danielle, help yer Mama out."
Once they had settled the food on the coffee table and begun devouring the lunch, Mama asked, "Whassup? Y'all lookin' down."
The clones glanced at each other before Rich answered, "In the park… some teens called each other really bad names, and they started fighting." Mama clucked her tongue, shaking her head.
Will piped up, "What's a 'n-'?"
The woman startled, dropping the hot dog onto her lap. "What? Where'd y'all hear that word? Never say it again!" The teenagers leaned back, shocked at the tone. Mama sighed. "That's a nasty word… don't be goin' 'round sayin' it, especially you, Will. Y'all hear me?"
They nodded, and Caity asked, "But why?"
Mama let loose another long-winded sigh as she placed her lunch on the plate on the coffee table and folded her hands in her lap. "It's a bad word fer blacks, y'see."
Their blank faces told her all she needed to know. "I haven't taught y'all about skin color yet? It be a big issue even still today… some people jest refuse ter change," she explained, "Long time ago, about five, six hundred years ago, the whites – that's people with skin like yer, Rich – enslaved the blacks – people with skin like me an' Will." Mama paused, rubbing her face. "Well, the country split into two an' went ta war with each other. The north won, an' the slaves were freed, but they still were bein' treated badly. 'Bout a hundred years later, the blacks finally got first-class citizenship along with the whites, an' soon that happened ter the brownies, reddies, an' yellowies."
The five teenagers blinked, still confused. Mama nodded. "Mark's yellow, y'see. Lucy's white like you, Rich. Scientists found out that we all one race, but some people jest won't change their thinkin'. Some thought that we're different races, but that's silly. Some people jest like an excuse ta hate somebody if they be different."
The woman sighed. "That's why y'all gotta wear yer bracelets. Y'all don't look normal, an' it's not jest yer skins. Rich… ya got white eyes. Nobody got white eyes, it ain't been heard o' before. Will, yer hair be dark green an' Logan got green skin… that ain't normal. Danielle an' Caity… yer got those jewels in yer heads, an' y'all don't have pupils in yer eyes!" Mama pointed at her eyes. "Pupils be small black dots, here, y'see? Caity don't even have irises! That's colored circles, see?" Mama paused as Danielle opened her mouth.
"But, Mama, people have green and blue eyes! Right?" The woman nodded.
"Yes, but not like yer. Yer be blue irises with green scleras… sclera, that's the white part o' the eye, y'see, though fer you, y' scleras are green. Caity, dearie, ya got three eyes – never heard of somebody with more than two!" The girl looked troubled, and Mama continued, "The funny thing is, yer third eye ain't in the middle of yer head like one would think, but on yer left side, above yer other eye," Mama tapped her temple, "An' I never seen red eyes! Yes, yer right eye be green, but ya don't have pupils an' irises, an' that's why people would be mean ter ya. People would hurt y'all because y'all don't look like everybody else."
Mama sat back in her recliner as she gazed at her foster children. "That why y'all wear yer bracelets, so you can look like normal people, an' they won't hurt y'all." The clones looked worried. "I'm so sorry, dearies."
Rich looked up at the sound Mama's gentle voice. "Does… does that mean Danielle and Caity are… yellow? Their skin color is a little like Mark's." The woman chuckled.
"Oh, no, they ain't yellow! Never seen their skin tone before… mebbe they be a new color… goldies!"
Logan hopped up. "And – and – I-I'm a greenie!" Mama smiled fondly at him.
"That right, dearie. Yer a greenie!"
"…I've been busy hacking my way into the Human Genetic Engineering department's files," Mark spoke into the receiver, "And I found out that it was a private laboratory under the Central Park, not a government one like the news led us to believe."
Mama's voice floated out of the phone. "Thank ya, Mark. That's interestin'." Mark frowned; his former foster mother didn't seem too happy.
"Mama, did something happen?" The woman sighed.
"I hadda explain ter the kiddies that they look different."
"Oh." That explained a lot, Mark thought. Mama must have taken it hard. "Mama…" She cut him off, continuing as if she hadn't heard him.
"Oh, their faces! They looked so sad when I told 'em that their eyes an' skins an' faces were different! Especially the girls…" Her voice shook; Mark opened his mouth, but she added, "It's not fair, Markie. They can't help lookin' the way they do, an' they gotta be careful because they're clones an' different." She ended in a forlorn note.
"Mama, don't worry about it. Everything will turn out all right – it always does," Mark was pleased to hear her agree in a happier voice, and he remembered the reason he had called. "Oh yes, Mama, as I said, I was hacking into files, and I stumbled across a firewall, but I did manage to find out some interesting information about our clones."
"Oh? What's that?" Mama sounded interested.
"Well, you know their identification numbers –"
"NT-37, CB-91, CB-104, SR-110, an' SR-112," Mama rattled off. Mark nodded, even though Mama couldn't see him through the phone.
"That's right. I discovered whose the DNA sources belonged to," Mark swallowed; his palms had suddenly became sweaty. "N stands for Nightwing, T for Troia, C for Cyborg, B for Beast Boy, S for Starfire, and R for Raven."
Mark waited; Mama didn't say anything. A long moment stretched before Mama replied, "They're the first Teen Titans, aren't they, Mark?"
"That's right, Mama."
"But who was Nightwing an' Troia? Never heard of 'em before."
Mark cleared his throat. "You have, Mama. You see, not many people realize that Nightwing was, in fact, Robin I. Troia was Wonder Girl I – they both changed their codenames, but the news continued to call them Robin I and Wonder Girl I, so even after their deaths, they were still known as Robin I and Wonder Girl I instead of Nightwing and Troia."
Another long, silent moment. Mama finally spoke, "I see. Titans clones, eh?" She chuckled. "Who'd've thought? Me fosterin' Titans clones!"
Mark smiled. "Yes, who would've thought."
"Markie, that be a secret. O'course, Lucy can know, but don't be tellin' it ter anybody else, an' that includes the clones. Let me handle that," Mama's voice was stubborn, so Mark knew it would be fruitless to argue. "I gotta go, Lucy's here ta pick up the kiddies an' take 'em ter the mall. When are ya comin' ta visit?"
Mark chuckled. "Soon, Mama, I promise. Have a good day."
"Yer day be good, too!" He could hear the smile in her voice as she hung up.
Mark sighed. "Clones of Titans…"
"Thank goodness the tower's still in commission," The man in the white-and-magenta bodysuit commented, "Otherwise where'd we go?" The large man in navy-and-teal suit nodded as his telepathic voice blasted out:
"I don't even wanna think 'bout that. Let's check the records, they oughta have somethin' 'bout the disappearance an', mebbe, the murders." The first man nodded as they opened the creaking door leading to the surveillance center. The woman trailed behind them, gazing at the thick layer of dust on the floor and the maze of webs that clung to the walls.
"Hey, Jon? Could you start the computer up? It won't recognize me," The man moved aside as Jonathon moved forward. He typed in several keys, and frowned.
"It ain't recongizin' me, either, Jay. Lemme try somethin'," He typed in a few more things, and let out a small telepathic 'aha!' "Ha, looks like I've still got my touch. Here ya go, speedie."
Jay rolled his eyes at Jonathon, muttering, "You know perfectly well that my superhero name is not 'speedie,' it's 'Rapid,'" As he moved forward to the monitor. The woman shook her head – they're such nerds, as always. Or was it dorks? English never had been her strong suit. Oh, dear, the dust… she glanced at the two men and smirked. Her immense feathery wings unfurled and she flapped hard, sending the dust up in a storm.
"Hey! Hey! Not funny, lady! Stop that!" Jay hollered, and the woman's wings stilled themselves. The dust lazily drifted down, covering the trio.
"My apologizes… but the dust was so… dirty." Jay's face smacked into his palm, groaning as Jonathon chuckled, if not slightly sarcastically.
"Nice one, cutie. Funny, really funny."
The woman nodded. "It is my duty," She solemnly said, and opened her mouth to add more, but Jay held up his hand, halting her.
"Hey, shh. I just got the security system up, better be quiet while the tower checks us over." All three stood in silence until the monitor beeped,
"Kzzt – Three presences: Jay Allen, Rapid; Jonathon Miller, Psy; and Hansika Sarin, Healer. Confirmed Titans. Access allowed. – kzztt!"
"Good ol' tower, still hasn't lost its touch," Jay smiled as he patted the wall beside him. Jonathon shook his head.
"Y'know as well as I do that computers don't die, they jest lose their power. Always easy ter get 'em up an' runnin' again." The woman, presumably Hansika, spoke up:
"Forgive me, but is the tower not three hundred years old? Machines do die at an old age," She shot a quizzical glance at the two men. Jonathon cleared his throat.
"Yes, that's true, but don't forget, sweetie, the tower's computer's always bein' updated! Well, while the Titans were still 'round, that is. So right now, it's only thirty years outdated, easy ter fix an' still runnin' fine!" Hansika answered with an "ahh," as Jay returned to typing on the keyboard.
"Hmm. That's weird." His two friends turned their attention to him, and Jay continued, "There's nothing – and I mean nothing – about the disappearances of the Titans. Look, here's the records – 'October 12, 2279… Rapid, Psy, and Healer have disappeared. We are searching for them,' and here's the latest one; 'October 23, 2279… Titans all over the world have been disappearing. We are searching for them. Tigra disappeared today, along with Cozma. Beware the –' … That's where it ends."
Sobering silence emerged supreme as the three superheroes said nothing, staring forlornly at the monitor. "Then… we need to solve the mystery on our own," Hansika softly spoke, gazing at her two companions. They glanced at each other before nodding solemnly.
"I-I'm afraid I don't understand, s-sire," An elderly scientist choked out, quavering in unison with his colleagues. The figure in the purple cloak that was widely recognized as the trademark of the HIVE spat out,
"The HIVE have been… unsuccessful in locating the clones still, and this is greatly hampering our plans, even more so with the appearance of three superheroes who claim to be Teen Titans, so the HIVE have decided to go ahead with our back-up plan; tell me, what of those imperfect clones?"
The scientist paled. "Th-the imperfect clones? Oh! Most of them have died, as you know, s-sire, however several survived, but they're so unstable, we're destroying them –" The cloaked man cut him off.
"The HIVE has uses for those clones. Hand them over immediately."
The man argued, "Beg your apologizes, sire, but that is not possible. The clones are highly unstable; at best, they would only last a few weeks before they –"
"The HIVE is aware of that. Hand them over."
The man hesitated. His colleagues all began muttering amongst themselves. "…As you wish, sire. We will fetch the clones BN- 66, CN-5, CS-54, CR-70, NR-130, SB-47, and SN-23."
"And BR-13?"
The group of the scientists shared nervous glances. The spokesman cleared his throat. "Ah... you know the history behind BR-13; we would... prefer that he is left alone."
The robed man shook his head. "No. We will use BR-13 as well. You may choose to peacefully surrender the clone, or we will force your hand."
The scientist spokesman scowled, however he nodded jerkily.
The figure nodded. "Excellent." The scientists hurried out of the room, obviously dreading any prolonged time with this man. After they all had gone, he whispered to himself, "Those thrice-damned Titans will join their brethren among the dead, and the HIVE will finally have those five clones in the palm of its hand!"
"Look! Baby cats!" Danielle squealed as she grabbed Caity's arm and pointed with the other hand at the mewling kittens. Lucy grinned.
"Tha's kittens. Yah, they're cute." Lucy picked up one from the cage, cradling it in her arms. "C'mere, it's a-ok ta pet it, jest be careful." She was showing the two thrilled girls how to pet it gently when the boys discovered the puppies.
"Baby dogs!"
"Tha's puppies."
"Oooh, Lucy, could you call Mama and ask her if we could keep one?" Logan had run up to Lucy, peering up at her hopefully.
The redheaded woman chuckled, "Nah, Momma ain't a big pet person. Sure ain't a cat person!"
Danielle blinked at Lucy and asked the dreaded question that every child had asked at least a million times in their lives: "Why?"
"Ah don't know. Ah think it's git sumthin' ter do with the neighbors' cat. Tha' cat's evil. Mighty old, too. When Ah wuz a foster kid, that cat used ter beat us up, especially Mark. Ah'm sure surprised it's still 'round, Ah'd sure hoped it'd kicked off ages ago." Lucy looked down at the purring tabby furball in her arms. "Tha' kitten's mighty cute, though. Still, Momma never gonna let y'all have pets. She's too old fer tha'."
Logan pouted as he returned to his foster brothers who were playing with the happily yipping puppies. Danielle had returned to the kitten cage and picked up a grey-blue kitten. Caity continued to pet the tabby in Lucy's arm. The shop keeper hurried forward, clearly intent on shooing the teenagers away from the kittens and puppies. Why some shop keepers are like that, Lucy would never know. Wasn't the point of open cages to invite the customers to handle the animals and decide whether to buy them? Lucy decided to take the kids out before the peeved man could reach them. "Boys an' gals, put the kittens an' puppies back in their cages, an' let's go look at the rest o' the mall."
They did so after some prodding, and once they left the pet store, Will whined, "What about food? I'm hungry." Lucy chortled.
"Tha's right! Ah'm mighty hungry, too, an' Ah didn't notice! C'mon, Ah'll lead y'all ter the food court. Whatcha want? There's burgers, hot dogs, fries, deli sandwiches, pizza, pasta, an' Chinese." The woman glanced behind her at the clones' puzzled expression, and grinned good-naturedly. "Momma ain't fed y'all Chinese yet? Oho, it sure is good! Ah'll take y'all there fer lunch, it's mah treat."
When they arrived at the food court, Lucy sent the teenagers out with the all-important job: securing tables for eating. "Ah'll be there soon with yer food! Don't fret, jest be patient!"
Rich swiftly found two empty tables, and as they all sat down – after the auto-cleaning laser machine set upon the tables cleaned the filthy surfaces in a literal flash – a boy around Rich's age swaggered towards them. "Yo! Homies, y'all seen those animals 'round? If ya help me find those beasts, mebbe I'll remember y'all an' give ya a small part of the reward!"
The five clones blinked at him in confusion. Will mustered up enough courage to speak up. "…What?" The smug teenager rolled his eyes as he tugged at his impressively baggy pants.
"Those beasts! Ain't y'all seen the news? Says those animals are here in the city, 'round this location. I'm gonna catch 'em an' turn 'em in an' get rich! Y'all hear me? I'll be the one t' catch them! Keep an eye out on the news fer Tommy Hazard, tha's me!" Sneering slightly, he strutted away, zeroing in the next table full of children he could intimidate. The teenagers glanced at each other just as Lucy came up, arms laden with meals.
"Who wuz tha'? Ah sure don't like how he looks. What'd he say t' y'all?" Lucy frowned as she sat down, pulling a strand of red hair towards her mouth and chewing on it.
Logan turned his innocent eyes upon Lucy as he dutifully answered, "He said his name was Tommy Hazard."
Danielle hastened to add: "He said he's going to catch the animals on the news and get rich. He told us that if we helped him to catch the animals, he'll give us a small part of the reward." Danielle frowned as she continued, "But what did he mean? Are there animals that escaped from somewhere?"
Lucy's green eyes flashed angrily as she spat out the strand of hair and snapped, "Tha's not yer buziness! Go on, eat up! When y'all done, we're leavin' this place!" When the surprised clones started on their lunch, she muttered darkly to herself, "If tha' purty boy comes over again, Ah'll tell him ter kiss mah purty ass!"
However, she immediately regretted her words when Caity, who was next to her, piped up: "What does 'ass' mean?"
This was going to be tough to explain to Mama.
True to her word, Lucy escorted the teenagers out of the mall when they finished their lunch – they had loved the Chinese food, especially the fortune cookies. Lucy had laughed hysterically at her clearly questionable fortune, which proclaimed that she would find a fine woman before the end of the week. Naturally, immediately afterwards she had to tactfully steer clear from the awkward situation of explaining to the clones what was so funny about her "finding a foxy-hot chick."
"Hmm, where mah car be? This parkin' lot's so big! Ah always git lost…" Lucy clucked, a habit she picked up from Mama, as the group scanned the horizon of the seemingly endless parking lot. "Oho! There it is! Follow me, kiddies!" As soon as they reached her car, Lucy unlocked it with the clicker and commanded, "Hop in, an' don't forget ter belt up!"
Soon they were in the air, zooming towards the magnetic tunnel. Lucy kept her eyes steadfast on the nearly-invisible road as she softly spoke, "Ah'm sorry 'bout snappin' at y'all back there." They all immediately assured her that it was fine. "No, it ain't fine!"
Lucy sighed heavily. "Ah suppose Ah better explain…" She whispered to herself, "Hope Momma won't be too upset," before speaking out loud. "Y'all see… tha' boy wuz talkin' 'bout the reward on the news. Ever notice how Momma always changes the channel when the news folks talk 'bout rewards?"
The teenagers nodded, but Will had the good sense to realize that Lucy couldn't glance behind while she was driving, and answered with an "uh-huh." The redhead swallowed before she continued, her tone bitter.
"Tha's because there's a reward fer catchin' y'all." Gasps rang out from behind her, and Lucy fought the urge to close her eyes, as she still needed them to watch the road. "Y'see… many people think clones are… animals." She spat out the word. "It's 'cause clones ain't born from women, but made in test tubes, an' all o' them come out lookin' freaky. Ain't bin a normal-lookin' clone yet. Usually, when the folks on the holovision are talkin' 'bout clones, they call 'em animals, creatures, an' beasts an' the like. As such, clones are viewed as property, an' they're so expensive, tha's why there's a huge reward fer catchin' y'all. Tha's why Ah don't wanna stay any longer in the mall, if some wimp's lookin' fer y'all!"
"I… I don't understand? We're animals?" Danielle whispered, her eyes full of tears. Lucy's throat tightened.
"No, y' ain't. But people think y' are," she finished softly as she took the final turn towards Mama's house. "Ah'm sorry."
Silence overtook the group as the car sped towards the exit to Mama's house.
"Mama, are we really animals?" Those were the first words out of Logan's mouth as soon as the elderly woman came out to greet the teenagers, who were still getting out Lucy's car. She halted, shocked.
Lucy sighed. "Back at the mall, this punk came up an' asked 'em ter help him catch the… 'animals,'" Lucy looked as though she had tasted something foul. "An' Ah decided ta cut the evenin' short an' take 'em back home. On the way, Ah explained ter 'em that some people…" She trailed off, and Mama, understanding the unspoken words, hurried forward to hug Logan tightly.
"Dearie, lissen ta me. Yer not an animal, none of y'all are!" The final words were directed at the four other teenagers, who all looked equally troubled as Logan did. "Thank ya, Lucy."
The redheaded woman nodded as she turned back to her car; however, the words Caity spoke made her cringe.
"Mama, what does 'ass' mean?"
Author's Note: Yes, Lucy is a potty-mouth.
Again, I have several points which I would like to cover: firstly, cats. I grew up with cats, and while I never failed to win a cat's heart (given time), some of my friends doesn't have the same magic touch with cats. Therefore, I saw first-handed how mean cats could be. Besides, mean cats never get old.
Next, race and racism. I only brought it up to use it as a stepping-stone to the topic of clones and "naturally-born" human beings. Even three centuries in the future, they still have not perfected the art of cloning (there's just something affecting the clones which they haven't managed to discover yet); it's very obvious who are clones and who are not (which is why Mama got those hologram bracelets for her kids, so they could fly under the radar). Furthermore, there is a raging debate over the humanhood of the clones, and whether they possessed souls. Half of the population believed them to be equally humans, despite being created in a test tube rather than growing in the womb. The other half claimed that since they intentionally created and grew the clones - like plants - they ought be allowed to use the clones for whether they wish.
In the meanwhile... I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please read on, my dear readers!