Chapter 4: The Right Thing?
Beast Boy looked out over Jump City from atop one of the skyscrapers near Midtown, in turmoil. He had killed someone.
Sure, the Doom Patrol wasn't against killing someone if it came to that, and Mento had drilled that into his head, but it didn't make the first time any easier.
"Sometimes it is necessary to kill someone Garfield. But that doesn't make you a villain unless it is your first choice." Rita had told him one day after Mento's lesson, the young changeling looking down.
"But killing is bad." He responded, pulling a piece of grass from the ground and rolling it between gloved fingers.
"No, it isn't. People will decide who you are, hero or villain, no matter if you kill or not. Think about Batman and how everyone is scared of him despite knowing he doesn't kill. We're heroes. And we stop bad guys from ever hurting innocents ever again."
He smiled bittersweetly as he recalled Rita, the memory of the kind woman that had almost been a mother to him tainted by what the Brain had done to the Doom Patrol. His first real family after his parents died were murdered.
But she was right. The Titans were sticklers for 'thou shalt not kill', and they were in the Tower not saving anyone. He had killed one person already, and he had saved plenty of lives at the Park. If he hadn't Consumed Commander Walter, who knows how many would have died.
Hearing a cry for help from the East part of town, designated the 'Yellow Zone' by BlackWatch, he focused his biomass and leaped. He was doing the right thing, no matter what the Titans thought.
Starfire felt sick. She had seen the Infected outside, and now she had evidence that Beast Boy had become one through and through, absorbing those monsters and retreating from BlackWatch.
A small part of her admired the changeling and how he was willing to stick to what he thought was right despite them shunning him. It reminded her of her people, always willing to do what must be done no matter what the other races thought of them.
But another part, the one that she fought to keep in control since she had met her friends, was horribly upset that he had left them and decided to fight himself.
She missed his horrible jokes, his forcing himself to eat her cooking (She could tell that he didn't like it, but she greatly appreciated the effort he put forward), and how he always tried to involve everyone with his misadventures.
Had she done the right thing siding with Boyfriend Robin?
Raven was incensed. Robin didn't seem to see the issue with the ultimatum he had pushed onto Beast Boy, or how it hardly made sense.
She remembered the Beast Incident, and how Robin had outright threatened Beast Boy with jail because of an assumption, when really Adonis was to blame. She had seen the footage, there was no way to mistake he had been protective of her.
But that didn't matter. Right now Beast Boy was out doing what must be done to save their city, and she was inside the Tower, letting the automated defenses deal with any Infected that came close.
Unlike the other Titans, she knew that killing may be necessary to save the lives of innocents. That may have been her demonic heritage speaking to her, or it was just that she saw things in shades of grey rather than black and white like heroes were wont to do.
Hold on Beast Boy. She thought, looking out her unusually opened window to see Jump City burning. If any of us can do it, you can.
Cyborg felt betrayed. He had hoped Beast Boy would see reason and surrender to BlackWatch, but now he realized the changeling would fight tooth and nail to stop this Mercer guy, even if it meant becoming a villain.
He hated turning his back on BB, but it was easier to do this and hope that his best friend survived this and made himself scarce from Jump, or the remaining four Titans would have to hunt him down.
But Rob knew what he was doing, and Cyborg would follow him, even if he didn't like the vibes he got from this whole thing.
This was the right thing, he knew it, he just regretted that it meant BB got the short end of the stick yet again.
Robin sighed and rubbed his eyes through his domino mask. Ever since Gentek bought out STAR, things had gone horribly wrong. The files on the Titans have been hacked, BlackWatch had taken over their city and isolated them to their island, and their was a goddamn terrorist out there using a bio-weapon to create a zombie apocalypse.
As if that wasn't bad enough, one of his teammates was becoming a villain. One that seemed to be growing stronger every minute he was out there, killing people and absorbing their strengths.
Gentek and BlackWatch knew what they were doing, they helped stop the first outbreak in New York after all. He finished his report to Gotham and sent it off, rubbing the bags beneath his eyes as he opened up two new files in the villain database: Alex Mercer and Beast Boy AKA Garfield Mark Logan.
As much as it pained him, he knew it was the right thing to do. Batman hadn't trained a fool.
Tara sat at the desk in her hotel room, an unopened textbook showing she had yet to work on any of her homework, despite it laying there for over an hour. She was worried about Beast Boy, playing with the communicator she had been given for the second time.
He had said he can't rely on the Titans, and she saw what went down at the park. Whatever had been done to him he had become way more powerful, enough to take on three quadruped monsters at once, but he was still alone. And that was something she couldn't let happen.
She looked to the closet, her blue eyes conflicted as she finally rose from her seat, placing the communicator down and opening it, revealing something she hadn't thought about in over a year: cargo shorts, a black shirt with a yellow T including a yellow circle surrounding it, oversized gloves, blue goggles, and a pair of combat boots.
She had done the right thing, but now it was time for something else to be right.
Jinx realized the city was going to shit, it didn't take a genius. Zombie things running through the streets, a black ops organization running the place, gangs picking on the vulnerable populace, and the only Titan who wasn't locked in their Tower letting this happen was Beast Boy, and judging by the footage she had seen, he wasn't even himself anymore.
"He needs help." She realized, making Gizmo look at her with a raised eyebrow, tinkering with yet another of his machines.
"What do ya mean Jinx?" The toddler-like mechanic asked, raising up his goggles to focus on the hex witch.
Ever since the whole mess with the Brotherhood of Evil and Jinx joining the side of good, things have been tense between the ex Hive-Five. They were no longer villains, and Jinx herself was an Honorary Titan, but they were more neutral at this point. The Titans no longer hunted them and they didn't commit any crimes, but they didn't stop anything from happening.
"Beast Boy. He's the only one trying to do anything in Jump, the others are just staying in Titan's Tower letting us burn."
Gizmo sighed. Ever since Kid Flash, Jinx had grown a conscious, even if she was fine being passive for a while, she would occasionally want to go out and do the right thing. Mammoth would on occasion want to go out and rob a bank again, and Billy Numerous was with him on that. Kyd Wykkyd and Gizmo himself were more neutral, and would talk the other three out of fighting for either side.
"Jinx, even if we wanted to help, which I'm on the fence about, why would he accept our help? If he's not working with his friends maybe he's gone rogue or solo. He may even attack us if we show ourselves." Gizmo tried to be the voice of reason, having matured some since they stopped being criminals. One of only a few things that had changed, he realized, as Mammoth and Billy argued about whose turn it was on the TV.
"True, but look at what's going on out there. Zombies, black ops, nothing is right out there, and the idiot is taking on everything by himself. I can't just sit by anymore Gizmo. I have to help him." Her purple slitted eyes were shining with determination, and the short technician could tell he wouldn't dissuade her.
"Fine. Go ahead and help the genius so he doesn't get killed. I'll stay here with Kyd and make sure Mammoth and Billy don't cause you two anymore trouble than you already will have." The hex sorceress smiled at Gizmo and nodded in acceptance, grabbing her Titans communicator and heading out of their safehouse.
It was time to do the right thing yet again.
She knew how the thing thought. When Gentek moved to Jump City, she hacked as many files from the city as she could, eventually digging up the files from the Teen Titans database. Her eyes flitted over each member of the team, as well as the villains, trying to find the person ZEUS would choose for his 'game'. She looked over them all, all their powers, their psych profiles, everything she could find and downloading it all to her hard drive before she was locked out of the system.
Robin, the leader, was human, no matter if he trained under the Batman. ZEUS wouldn't have any interest in putting him in the game just yet.
Cyborg was mostly synthetic, his body mainly inorganic, and there wasn't enough of him for BlackLight to spread naturally.
Starfire was an alien, and the virus was bound to impact her differently than anyone else. But that could cost him a huge amount of powers if he didn't test it first, and he wouldn't risk losing all that power.
Same with Raven, except the second female Titan was an isolationist, and may not breed destruction like ZEUS desired.
But she zoomed in on the last one, finding just who BlackLight would infect. ZEUS wouldn't be able to resist the idea of someone who can already shapeshift learning a whole new way to turn his body into a weapon. Breaking a pacifist, and forcing a vegan to Consume people. It was cruel, but that was who he had become.
She had to find a way to contact and help Beast Boy, but first she had to get into contact with him somehow.
It was time to do the right thing and put down the monster that had once been Alex.
Hey everyone, welcome to Perspective Jump. It offers a brief glimpse into the heads of some important characters, and shows the beginning of what will be a three front war, with BlackWatch, BB, and Mercer as the heads. Hope you all enjoy!