What is UP y'all? Cortexin is BACK and ready for action! I have rested the past few days, re-adjusting to life in civilization. The past two weeks have been flipping amazing. Hiking and camping in the New Mexican backcountry in the biggest youth camp in the world is fantastic! I cannot describe how awesome Philmont is. Seriously. Just read about it. I climbed a mountain, I saw the real night sky for the first time (because seeing it in the city just doesn't cut it), and I bonded with some really awesome people. It's an experience that I will NEVER forget for as long as I exist as [subject name here]. The mountain I climbed is Mount Baldy (so named due to its bald appearance), which rises over 12,000 feet above sea level. That's pretty far up for someone who's lived in [subject hometown here], which is only about 600 feet above sea level. But enough is enough—you guys have been patiently waiting for more to this story. So without any further ado (whatever ado is), here is the next installation of Henry's Saga—I Mean Story.


NOTE: This occurs chronologically after chapter 5.

When we last saw Henry, it was about to be waffle time…

"Before you start, Cyborg, I have an idea," Henry said, walking to Cyborg. What if you put chocolate chips in the waffle batter?" Cyborg stopped moving.

"Chocolate chips?" The cyborg thought aloud. "IN the waffles? That might work…"

And it did work. Cyborg cursed himself for not thinking of this sooner—how could he not have? Chocolate and waffles were some of the best things in the world (not above his precious T-Car, of course), and he hadn't had the idea of putting them together! Of course, his stomach didn't care whose idea it had been. All it knew was that chocolate chips plus waffles equals good. Syrup was also an interesting variable in the equation, making the end result delicious. Cyborg was not alone in his rapid consumption of the breakfast treats. Henry had nearly devoured as many as Cyborg had, and was gaining on him in terms of sheer amount eaten. Each had nearly eaten 20 waffles when Starfire came down, floating.

"Good morning, friends!" she greeted cheerfully. Robin muttered a 'morning, Star,' as he tried to grab a waffle before it was ripped into by either Henry or Cyborg. Luckily for the Boy Wonder, the two waffle fiends were also busy saying good morning to Starfire. Robin snatched a waffle from both of them, and grinned as he started into one. Starfire looked at the scene. "Friend Cyborg, why do the waffles have small brown spots in them?"

"They're chocolate chips," offered Henry, as Cyborg had already begun another one. "Have one," and he put a waffle onto a plate. Starfire collected it, and picked up the plate. When the Titans later recounted what happened after she tasted the first waffle, it would be in hushed tones…

Robin: "The waffles disappeared into seemingly thin air…"

Cyborg: "She took a waffle out of my throat!"

Henry: "Her jaw unhinged like a snake…"

Raven: "I felt a wave of disturbance from the dining area…"

Beast Boy: "Dude! It was so cool!"

Cyborg: "You weren't even awake at the time!"

Starfire (eyes glowing): "WAFFLES!"

It was something that would terrify the Titans for weeks to come. At the present, however, a green glow dashed through the kitchen, and in its wake waffles disappeared. Waffles disappeared before they even came out of the waffle iron. When Starfire re-appeared, the area around her mouth was smeared with chocolate, and she held her hand above her mouth. Opening it to huge proportions, she dropped in several more waffles. After a moment of chewing and swallowing, Starfire looked at the stunned Robin, Henry, and Cyborg.

"What?" she giggled. Then came a shockwave not unlike a nuclear blast. Windows shattered as Starfire's burp traveled outwards. Up on the roof of the Tower, Raven collapsed as she lost focus. Beast Boy's sensitive ears detected it milliseconds before the full force struck him, and instantly changed into something small before he awoke. "Excuse me," the alien apologized. A dark portal opened, and out stepped Raven.

"What… happened?" she asked, looking for any threats.

"You don't want to know," Henry said quickly, still staring Starfire. Moments later, Beast Boy bounded into the room, appearing as a green wolf. He turned back into himself.

"Dudes, that was a twelve out of ten! Who did it?" he asked, grinning. Slowly, the three who were present pointed at Starfire. "Star? Awesome! Gimme five!" he said as he raised his hand for the gesture. Starfire returned it, confused.

"Twelve out of ten? Is that not an impossible number due to the fact that—" started the alien princess, but Robin interrupted, finally out of his burp-stupor.

"It's a rating, Star. He's rating your burp," Robin explained.

"It's something immature he does," Raven continued. Just then, the alarms went off, and the map of Jump City appeared instantly. Henry and the Titans ran to it, noticing where the attack—attacks, in this case—were happening. He nearly laughed when he saw the place at the center of the trouble.

"The corner of Stan Street and Lee Avenue," Robin muttered.

"What's there?" asked Henry, still trying not to laugh.

"A comic book store, a jewelry store, basically a bunch of stores," Cyborg said, noticing Henry. I'll ask him later, he thought.

"Titans, GO!" instructed Robin, and out the window they went.

"Raven, do the thing you did last time!" called Henry, not wanting to be left behind. Wordlessly, the empath replied by creating Henry's stand.

"Let's try not to make a habit of this," she murmured to herself. A minute later the six teens landed in the middle of what was an all-out break-in. All of the stores in the immediate vicinity had broken into, with shattered pieces of glass everywhere. What was most noticeable, however, was the fact that there were several men at each store, working in an assembly line of sorts to move stolen items to a large truck. Near the truck stood a dark-haired man, with what looked like a green hood or hat, except it looked… gooey. Slimy. Maybe even alive. Then he turned around—away from the Titans and Henry—and they saw something horrible. The 'hood' was actually the top of what it would look like if you took a bear pelt, turned it into a green slime, and then stuck on the back of a person. It was like it was controlling the man like a puppet, except that it was on him.

"Eeewww…" complained Beast Boy, "It's all nasty and green!"

"Beast Boy, you're green," deadpanned Raven.

"So? That doesn't mean I like other green things—" started the changeling, when the dark-haired man with green slime turned towards them. He grinned.

"Ahh…. Titans," the man announced. His voice was sharp, and sent shivers down Henry's spine. It sounded like ice breaking under your foot when you went on the pond that you weren't supposed to be on. It sounded like the door creaking even though it couldn't because you locked it, and you were home alone. It sounded like that thing that went bump in the night, and it was coming closer. Yes, his voice sounded like many things. To Robin, the voice had a hint of Slade. Starfire heard the taunting of her sister Blackfire. Raven caught the undertones of Trigon, and for a moment, fear flashed through her. Beast Boy would swear that the thing speaking sounded like his uncle. Cyborg tensed when he thought he heard Brother Blood's calling*. Henry wouldn't realize who—or what—he recognized in the voice until much later. But at the time, the heroes froze, partially in fear, partially in shock. The man chuckled.

"Glad to see you could come join me today. But I'm so sorry, I'm busy. You'll have to reschedule your appointment," taunted the enemy. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have… other matters to attend to." With that, the man raised his hand, and out shot three green globs. Each then grew into a shape similar to that of a person, and they charged at the teens.

"Titans, GO!" shouted Robin for the second time that day. "Star, with me. Cyborg and Beast Boy, you two get one. Raven, you can get the third one." With that said, he threw birdarangs at the glob. It absorbed them, with seemingly no affect. Starfire rose into the air, and threw several starbolts at the creature. It sizzled where they hit, but still the thing advanced. Meanwhile, Beast Boy had tried several different ways of smashing the goo. First was rhinoceros charge, which ended in the glop splitting in two, then merging back together. Then he slashed at it with a lion's paw, to no avail. Finally, he grabbed it with pteranodon feet and dropped it from high in the air. It splattered on the ground, but slowly pulled itself back together.

"Cy, man, do something!" cried the green teen as he avoided the blobby green thing's lunge. The cyborg responded by turning his arm into his signature sonic cannon.

"Booyah!" he exclaimed, shooting a blue streak of sonic energy at the creature. After a few seconds, Cyborg stopped, confident that he had beaten it. Burnt black, the thing stopped moving. But a moment later, a green crack appeared in the black form, and the creature poured out of it, quickly turning back into a humanoid shape. The black shell left behind crumbled into dust. Until now, Raven had been merely avoiding her opponent, instead watching her teammates try and fight them, to learn any weaknesses. So far, there were none. Finally, she decided to throw a few of her own black discs of energy. They sliced through the thing's arm, but it quickly returned to its body by attaching to the leg and moving back to its original position.

That was definitely weird, though Henry from the side. Robin hadn't told him to do anything yet, but he didn't want to just sit there. After watching the Titans try and fight the things, Henry concluded that part of the solution was to split the things apart. Granted, he knew the others had figured that out by now, but still, knowing that much was better than knowing nothing. Perhaps if they destroyed them when the pieces were smaller? That gave him an idea.

"Raven!" he called, running towards her and the green thing. " Blast it when I say to!"

"Why?" she called back, questioning why he was telling her what to do.

"Because I have an idea!" Henry yelled in return. "Just trust me!" Then he turned to face the green humanoid thing. "Hey, slimy! Come here!" The thing turned his way, and charged. Henry got into a stance he believed would give him as much air as possible. Five years in choir would finally come into use outside of singing Born This Way or Zing dem Herrn**. He knew breathing. In went the air, and when the thing was about to be within arm distance, Henry let out a mighty shout, pushing his head forward and swinging his arms back. "FUS RO DAH!" The sound wave reverberated outwards as a shockwave much stronger than that of Starfire's belch that morning. Visible compressions of the air came out in rings from around Henry's mouth, blasting the green glob into a billion droplets of goo. Raven flew sideways to avoid the shockwaves, which continued onward for the length of a football field before finally dissipating. Henry buckled to a knee, holding himself up with the opposite arm. Raven flew over and landed near him, putting a hand on his back.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice filled with slightly more concern than usual. Which is to say, not a lot. Had it been Beast Boy… well, she might have eventually gone over to him, but chances were that she would take her sweet time to get there. Henry, however, was still a stranger. A stranger with powers. Powers she didn't quite yet know, so she was uncertain as to whether or not they would kill him in the process of using him.

"Yeah," he replied, "Blast it!" he said weakly, pointing towards the pieces. They had begun to come back together, forming little balls of goo rolling towards a center spot.

"No you don't!" exclaimed the empathy, sending out a blast from her hand. The pieces vaporized instantly, leaving nothing but a small reddish crystal in its place. She called it over to her by surrounding it in black energy, and it floated into her hand. The moment she touched it, she felt immense power radiating from it. There was an odd feeling behind it—the feeling of age, of eternity. Raven dropped it when she saw Henry fall. A quick check-over lead Raven to determine that he had fallen unconscious. That would be it for now, so she flew over to Robin and Starfire. Cyborg and Beast Boy had seen—and heard—Henry's display, and so decided that it was a good idea. The changeling transformed into horse and turned about, kicking the head of the goo-thing. Part of it splattered, but it was enough. Cyborg blasted it with his arm cannon again, and vaporized the body and head in one blast. Another crystal dropped down in its place. Robin had taken his bo staff and swung it at the thing's midsection, slicing through. Raven grabbed hold of the top half and lifted it with her powers, as Starfire blasted the bottom with a burst of starbolts. Raven then proceeded to rip apart the top half, each piece disappearing.

"Woo-hoo! We did it!" cheered Beast Boy, jumping in place.

"We're not done yet," Robin pointed out, motioning to the groups of men who had stopped moving things into the truck. They had started running in all sorts of directions, but all ran away from the Titans. Cries of "let's get out of here!" and "oh crap!" were heard from all over. "Get them!" ordered Robin, but the only one close enough was being held by Cyborg. He struggled as the Titan held him with one hand. Robin ran over to him.

"Who are you working for?" he demanded. The criminal coughed.

"His name… his name is—" he started, but a dart suddenly appeared on his neck. The Titans looked over to where it had come from—the truck. The green-backed man from before sat in the driver's seat.

"Goodbye for now, Titans," he called out. "Perhaps we'll meet again…" The truck started moving, but suddenly disappeared in a flash of light similar in color to that of the crystals. The man in Cyborg's hand went limp, but was still breathing. Raven flew over, carrying Henry on a plate of energy.

"How's Henry?" Robin asked, looking at the unconscious teen.

"Fine. He passed out after his little… shout, and so it will be a while before he comes to." Just then, the Jump City police arrived on the scene. An officer stepped out of one of the cars and approached the group of teens.

"What happened?" asked the cop in gruff voice. He was short, slightly overweight, and balding. Looking at him, you'd expect a box of donuts in his car.

"Some green globby thing had a bunch of his henchmen break in here. We're not sure what for," Robin quickly explained. "This is one of them—" he motioned to the man in Cyborg's arms "—and we're not sure what happened to him. Take him to the hospital. Let us know when he wakes up."

"Will do," replied the police officer, taking him into his own arms. Struggling, he carried him back to the police vehicle. The Titans looked around, seeing the damaged shops. Various comic books, pieces of jewelry, and furniture lay in the street among other items. Beast Boy got a gleam in his eye.

"Hey Cyborg," the green teen started to say. "What do you say we, ahem, inspect the comic book store? You know, for evidence?" He started to slowly walk over there with Cyborg in tow, but Raven grabbed the back of his outfit.

"No."

"Fine," the changeling replied, sighing. Then Robin spoke up.

"Looks like our work here is done. Let's get back to the Tower," he instructed. Starfire flew over and grabbed Robin, and Beast Boy grabbed Cyborg's shoulders with his feet. Raven looked over at the laying form of Henry. She let out a sigh. She did not want to constantly carry Henry around, especially if he kept up this habit of knocking himself out. Don't worry, Raven, she told herself as she scooped up Henry, one arm behind his back and one under his knees, he won't be here too long. Once Robin and Cyborg figure where to put him, you'll never have to deal with this guy again. Putting it like that, it almost put
Henry in a villainous light. She brushed off the thoughts as she flew into the air. Hopefully, none of Jump City's stupid reporters would snag a picture of this. That was about the last thing she needed. Of course, unknown to Raven at the time, that very thing was happening. The worst in Jump City, Nellie McDull was renowned for her horrible articles. Not that they were badly-written, it's just that she always wrote about something nobody cared about. The number of lost shoes in Jump, the economics of the candle industry, and whether or not organic bananas were more radioactive than normal bananas. She didn't have a choice, though. Her boss was practically deaf, dumb, and blind in the sense that he ignored her please for better stories. But, it paid the bills and kept the fridge mostly filled, so Nellie stuck with it. Seeing Raven now, however, got her thinking.

I knew it was smart to buy that camera, she thought, snapping several photos of Raven picking up and carrying the new hero. Once she got a few more, she would take them to work. Seeing as though the news—both the Jump City Times and the major news channel, Channel 7—were run by JCN Inc., she could get a chance to go big in both places at the same time. Meanwhile, Raven was flying back to the tower, carrying Henry, when her Emoticlones spoke up. You know, Raven, you still don't know why he's here. Knowledge spoke-thought. You still haven't beaten him up! added Brave. He seems nice… Timid put in timidly (shocker, right?). Of course, Happy added the remark that made Raven fluster. He's pretty cute! Luckily, the others were in front of Raven. The empath silenced her inner voices with SHUT. UP. She needed to focus on flying, and not dropping Henry. While she didn't necessarily like or dislike him, she doubted killing him was a good idea. And it's not like heroes were allowed to do that anyway. Goodness gracious, Raven, what is WRONG with you today? She asked herself, thinking of her recent thoughts.

When all the Titans were in the Tower, Raven placed Henry on the couch. Robin had called the Titans to his evidence room, and when they were all present, he shut the door.

"Alright, there's something we need to talk about before I look into today's criminal," he began. "As you know, we have recently had a new person drop into our lives."

"Literally," Beast Boy added, before shushing so Robin could continue.

"Henry has an unusual set of powers, which we are still figuring out. We don't know much about him, but with conversations with him and samples of his blood, we do know this: Henry comes from somewhere else. He claims an alternate universe, where we are nothing but cartoon characters. His blood test doesn't match anyone else that's registered, and no government has any records of him. Ever. So either he's telling the truth, or he's really, really good at removing traces of himself." The remaining Titans looked at him with surprise—they each knew some of what Robin had told them, but nobody had known all of it. For a moment, it was silent. Then Beast Boy spoke up.

"There's no way I'm a cartoon character! At least make me some sort of comic book star!"

"Yeah!" agreed Cyborg. "Maybe even be a video game character. That's be cool." Robin smacked his face with his hand.

"Guys, focus. That's not the point. The point is that we now have a powerful person out there, and we're going to need some more help in taking them down. We can't call Titans East or the other Honorary Titans, because they all have places to guard as well. I guess what I'm trying to ask is—how do you guys feel about Henry joining us?" Immediately, there were two squeals of joy. Unsurprisingly, it was Beast Boy and Starfire.

"This is most glorious!" cried out the alien.

"Awesome, dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Quiet, guys!" Cyborg hushed. "We don't wanna wake him. This is… kinda secret. But I agree that it's smart to boost our firepower." The Titans turned to Raven.

"As much as we need the help—which isn't a whole lot—we need to remember the last time we had someone join our team. Terra almost destroyed Jump City, and she worked for Slade."

"She was just confused!" an emotional Beast Boy argued. "She didn't know any better, and she couldn't control her powers that mmph!" Cyborg put a hand over the green teen's mouth.

"You are correct, friend Raven," Starfire admitted, floating down to the ground. "We must be the careful with picking someone new." Beast Boy turned into a dog and moved, then turned back into his normal self.

"I'm also saying that Henry is different. He came from another freaking universe, and he doesn't have anywhere to go," he said calmly, despite still having a trace of wetness in the corners of his eyes. "If not for help, then I say we let him stay to be nice. He's a friend, to me if no one else." Here he crossed his arms. Raven stood speechless for a moment.

"That… was actually well-put, Beast Boy. I'm surprised you had the cognitive function to realize that." Raven said, instantly realizing that she may have been a little harsh with the whole "cognitive function" part. Luckily, he could only reply with 'cogni-whaa?', so she didn't feel too bad.

"So it looks like nobody is extremely against the idea," Robin noted, shifting in his stance. "I think the best plan is to wait a few days before making a final decision." The others nodded in approval. "Good, then we're agreed. You can all go now. I'm going to look more into our mysterious opponent today."

As the Titans left Robin's evidence room, Raven looked over at the unconscious form of Henry. She walked over to him, and place a hand on his wrist, trying to sense for any injuries from the fight. Of course, that was the moment that Henry regained consciousness. Seeing his opportunity to say something stupid, he took it.

"Geez Raven, if you wanted to hold hands, you shoulda just said something to me," he grinned. Raven immediately removed her hand and walked away.

"Boys," she muttered to herself. It was time for some meditation on the roof. It was going to be a long day, and it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet.


Elsewhere in Jump, the villain from earlier sat in the bar, looking at what he had stolen: furniture, as every evil needed a private lair, and it needed to be comfortable. Jewelry, as he needed something to promise the goons. And the comic books? Well, he'd need some inspiration. But now, it was time to plan. There was going to be a LOT of planning. He chuckled. If only Slade were still around. It would have been fun, watching the Titans pin everything on him. That'd make his plan easier—but the good things in life weren't easy to get.


There you are! A bit longer—actually, I think this is the longest chapter yet! I hope you've enjoyed it. Let me know in a review, or PM. If there's anything you think should happen, also suggest it! I'm always open to new ideas. I'm glad to be back, and you guys can expect updates at least once a week! Well, I'll try to. I'm busy, but you guys and this story have a special place in my hearts! And I do mean that. It's very fulfilling to see people out there in the world, enjoying my work. Thanks especially to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited the story so far, and thanks to those who will. Seeing those numbers go up increases my will and urge to write more, although I'm not going to not write if they don't. I write for the entertainment of myself, and I'm glad to have you all on board with me. So see you all next chapter, and have a fan-freaking-tastic day!

Cortexin

EDIT: Added line breaks.