Chapter 7: They Unite
I usually post two chapters a month. It's a good thing I was still able to by posting (and writing) this on the last day of the month. Enjoy!
Washington, D.C.
A few things might come to mind when the name of this city is heard. One of those things most likely being our setting for this chapter: The White House. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The official residence and principal workplace of "the big guy".
Inside, we see a middle-aged man in a grey suit. He is at a large-desk in a large room, attending to some late-night important-looking paperwork. He yawns and stretches before looking at a clock on the right of him. It is 12:45 am.
The man sighs, "Just a few more." He reaches for another document, but right before he lands his pen on the paper, the door at the end of the room creaks open. From behind the door, a large man in a black suit and sunglasses appears. The man in black addresses the man in grey.
"Mr. President,..." The man in black begins. "...we need you to take a look at something."
Mr. President (the man in grey) groans while leaving his desk. "This had better be important."
"Believe me, sir. It is."
He follows the man in black out the room and down a long hallway. They turn a few corners before reaching their destination. A big room filled with more men in black suits. There is a large flat-screen TV on the wall, just above a fireplace.
On the TV, the news is on. A reporter is standing a few feet away from an alien spacecraft. Underneath her is a banner that reads: UFO In Downtown. "Just moments ago, the large UFO that stands behind me crash-landed in the very spot it lies. Witnesses were told to evacuate the area, but those who stuck around got a glimpse of The Boy Wonder of Gotham City. One of these witnesses actually caught some action on their phone." It cuts to a video of when Robin flew out of the convenience store. "In the footage, we see Robin engaging in combat with a...well, what looks like a pink and green streak of light. It's hard to tell." It then cuts to an interview with two teenagers.
"I tellin' ya, man." The tall hairy one says. "Aliens! Like in that one movie! Alien!"
"Actually,…" the short pimple-faced one says, waving a comic book in his hand. "The likeness of alien life is better depicted in Invasion #1: The Alien Alliance. In which several alien races band together to destr-"
"No one wants to hear about your bullcrap nerd stories!"
The two begin to argue before it cuts back to the reporter.
"So, what do you think? An alien invasion? Are there more on the way? We'll keep you updated..."
A worried look grows on the president's face. The men in black stare at him for what feels like an eternity before one of them asks: "What are your orders, Mr. President?"
The president wipes the sweat off his forehead before replying. "Gentlemen,... I don't want to start any conflict with life from another world if we don't have to. We have to go at this peacefully. We will kindly ask it to leave our planet. No one has to get hurt. It will be like it never even happened."
"And what if the alien does not decide to co-operate?" One of the men in black asks. "What if it plans on attacking our home? An invasion. We can't risk it."
"...Now, I know that there is that chance, but we can't just go to war with it. You heard the reporter. 'Are there more on the way?' And if there are, who knows how powerful they could be. They might be able to wipe out the entire planet!"
"That is exactly why we should strike before they strike first."
"No, we have to believe in peace before...any other options. Look, we'll send out some troops. They'll convince the alien to leave, and if it refuses and is considered an enemy, we'll do it your way."
"Which is what we'll most likely have to come to."
The president shakes his head. He pulls out his phone from his pocket. "General?"
"Yes, Mr. President?"
"I have a job for you and your men."
"Is it serious?"
"… Let's hope it won't have to be..."
…...He's still falling.
"AHHHH!" Robin yells. "Wait! I'm an idiot!" He suddenly realizes that he can put his cape to good use. He quickly grabs the bottom corners of his cape and extends it out. This causes Robin to glide. He tries to land himself somewhere safe on the ground. He ends up landing on the roof of a car, leaving a huge dent in it in the process. "Oops."
Robin turns his head to see Koriand'r, eyes glowing a bright and illuminating green, slowly approaching him. She closes her eyes for a brief moment before unleashing her green eye beams upon Robin's direction. Robin leaps from the car right before the beam strikes the car, causing it to explode. He lands on another car, to which Koriand'r aims her beams to. Robin jumps from car-to-car, avoiding explosion-after-explosion. Unfortunately, the alien's eye beams catch up to The Boy Wonder. The explosion sends Robin flying before thudding to the ground. He struggles to get up, but he is too jacked up. Robin turns his head to see the large fire that the explosion caused.
Is she...? He wonders. Before he can finish his thought, out of the fire emerges the alien, her eyes still illuminating a shiny green. Okay... She's fireproof... unfortunately.
She's a couple of feet away from Robin when she extends her right arm and her hand shines a the same shiny green eyes as her eyes. Robin knows another star-bolt about to be headed his way, but he's too weak to do anything about it. Just as the star-bolt is about to be launched from Koriand'r's hand, something happens that will require me to type a sentence that I never thought I would type in my lifetime.
A large green bull appears out of nowhere and rams into the angry alien.
This sends her flying and shocks Robin, who is still on the ground with a dazed look in his eyes. He becomes even more bewildered when the green bull turns to stare at him for a few moments before shape-shifting into... a strange-looking green boy in black and purple.
"AW, YEAH!" The green boy wails. "Did you see that? I mean, she was like 'I'm gonna kill you!', and you were all like 'Ahh! Oh, No! Imma die now!', but then, I came in like 'POOM! HOME RUN! OUTTA HERE!' That had to be like, what? Five? Six miles?"
Quite a distance away, a city bus drives down the street before it shakes and a crash on the roof is heard. Koriand'r had landed on top of the bus and rolled off, landing on the street behind the bus. The passengers shout and wonder.
Meanwhile, the green boy continues to speak "…That had to have broken a few bones. Maybe a couple of ribs. I mean, I was gonna turn into a goat, but my gut told me to just go with the bull-"
As he rambles on, Robin just stays on the ground with widened eyes. Holy crap! It's him! The green kid! The green kid from the dream! First, the witch. Then, the alien. Now, him! "Uhh... excuse me?" Robin interrupts.
"Oh, my bad. Once the mouth starts runnin', ya can't turn it off, ya know?" He stretches a hand out, which Robin grabs and is pulled to his feet. "The name's Beast Boy." Beast Boy says. "Or BB, or Double B, or just B or...Single B. Whatever. Names aren't important, am I right?"
"Yeah, Sure. Uh, listen. Have we..." Robin says as he dusts his suit off.
"You don't have to tell me who you are. I know exactly who you are. You're Robin! The Boy Wonder! The big bat's right-hand man!"
"Yeah, I know. Hey, listen. Have..."
"I remember the first time I saw you. You were stoppin' a bank robbery. You were kicking henchmen butt that day. Whose were they again? Ugly-Face? Half-Guy? I forget."
"Have we met before?"
"Huh? Oh, Yeah! Well, not exactly. You mean face-to-face like this? No, but I have seen you. From a distance."
"But, I've never seen you?"
"Uh, no."
So, another coincidence. Robin thinks as he stares in the direction of where Koriand'r was sent flying.
"Follow me." He walks towards that direction, and Beast Boy follows.
"WOW! The Robin is making me his sidekick. I'm the world's first sidekick's sidekick!"
"What? Wait a minute. I didn't say anything about..."
"Come on, Boss! Let's get her!" Beast Boy shape-shifts into a bird, still retaining his skin color, and flies ahead of Robin.
"Don't call me Boss!"
The driver of the recently crashed-into bus steps out of it to see what had hit his bus. His passengers wait in the bus for whatever is to come. The bus driver approaches the bus' behind and sees the alien lying on the ground. She finally comes to and get herself off of the ground, her eyes glowing green. The bus driver, startled and terrified, runs away, leaving his passengers with the alien. Upon, seeing this, they scream and shout.
Robin and Beast Boy approach the bus and spot Koriand'r behind it.
"There she is!" Robin shouts.
Koriand'r notices the Boy Wonder and a green flying creature coming her way. She looks at the bus and gets an idea. Quickly, she lifts the bus up off of the ground and over her head, causing the passengers to scream and shout even more. She then proceeds to toss the entire bus towards her attackers. Beast Boy flies out of the way while Robin jumps out of the bus' way.
The bus is now flying a good distance away and towards a building. The passengers are now scream and shouting more than they ever had before. The bus is just seconds away from crashing into the building, but something happens. Or rather, someone.
"HAAAAH!" KSSSSH! Tssss.
Someone stopped the bus. The large man in the grey hoodie and grey sweatpants had came out of nowhere and caught the front of the bus with his own two hands. He then proceeds to sit it down on the road. Robin and Beast Boy see this from a distance.
"Whoa." Beast Boy says now in his regular form. He is then struck by a star-bolt. Robin turns to see more coming his way.
The passengers exit the bus, but not before taking a glance at their rescuer. What they see is a glowing red eye staring from under the hoodie. They flee the bus with still fast-beating hearts.
"...You're welcome." The man in the hoodie says. He then turns his head to see a green flashes of light coming from up the street.
"Please pull over to the sides. I repeat, please pull over to the sides." A soldier holding a megaphone booms.
The cars driving on the Jump City Bay Bridge are now making way for dozens of military vehicles and tanks. Soldiers inside of them grow more nervous as they get closer to their destination. They had been told by the general that an extra-terrestrial being is waiting for them in the city of Jump. In all their years in the army, nothing had prepared them for this. A jeep leading the vehicles carries the general. At the end of the bridge leading to the city stands the mayor. The jeep stops next to the mayor, and he approaches it.
"General," the mayor begins, "it's about time you and your men got here!"
"Better late than never, mayor." The general responds. "Where is this damn alien?"
"The citizens have been spotting it all over the city. Last time I was updated, the last sighting was on Wolfman Avenue."
The general turns his head to the soldier driving the jeep. "Soldier, Wolfman Avenue, and step on it!"
"Yes, sir!"
Robin is circling Koriand'r as star-bolts are flung at him. This serves as a distraction so that Beast Boy can morph into a snake and wrap around Koriand'r. She struggles to free her arms from the snake's grip. Freedom takes only a few seconds to earn. However, freedom is followed by pain, as a swift strike to the stomach from a street light sends her flying into a car. This was given by the large boy with the red eye.
"Yo!" He speaks, "Who's here messin' up my neighborhood?!"
The alien regains its strength and runs towards the new attacker with a fist. Quickly, he grabs a mailbox to shield himself with, but the punch goes right through it. The boy thuds to the ground as the alien prepares to finish the trio off. Star-bolts are the weapon of choice.
They fly everywhere. Robin, Beast Boy and the third evade them by ducking behind cars, jumping through the windows of nearby shops, and turning into a fly to zip past them. They strike cars, buildings, billboards, newspaper stands, the road, the sidewalk, windows, etc.. If it weren't for the following interruption, the entire block would've been rubble within a minute.
Suddenly, from the road between Koriand'r and her targets, emerges the "witch", A.K.A. Raven.
"ENOUGH!" Raven shouts.
She holds her arm towards incoming star-bolts, causing them to stop in mid-air. She closes her hand to make them disappear. She then turns her arm to Koriand'r and crates a dark field of energy around Koriand'r's hands, pulling them together like handcuffs. She struggles to break free but no luck.
Raven speaks again but in the same alien language as Koriand'r's. It translates to this:
"Cease this pointless violence. They are not the enemy. They are allies."
Koriand'r speaks, also in the alien language, "Spare me your trickery! Do you take me for a fool? They made the first strike. I was defending myself. They have done nothing to prove to me that they are of good intent or that they come in peace."
"Maybe not now, but soon they will."
"And why should I trust you and your words? You are a stranger and so are they."
"Because you've got no other choice. Nobody else to turn to. You'll be all alone on this planet. No one to guide you. To show you the ways of it."
"...I'd much rather take my chances."
Beast Boy emerges from behind a demolished car next to Robin.
"What are they saying?" The shape-shifter asks. "Ya think they're talking about me?" He smiles.
"Not likely." Robin states. A frown replaces Beast Boy's smile.
Suddenly, bright lights flood the area. Army vehicles emerge from the darkness and surround the group in a circle. Helicopters loom overhead, shining the lights down upon the scene. A news helicopter flies nearby with a cameraman at work. He zooms his camera in at the scene.
"Aw, man! Come on, Victor." The large red-eyed boy says to himself, hiding in a nearby shop. "Why'd ya have to save the bus? Could've just walked away. But, nooooo. Had to be Superman!"
The general steps out of his jeep and stands on the roof of it with a megaphone at hand. He speaks through it.
"YOU THERE! ALIEN!" He booms as he points at Koriand'r. "THIS IS THE UNITED STATES ARMY! AS OF THIS MOMENT, WE COME IN PEACE! WE WILL CONTINUE TO COME IN PEACE IF YOU WOULD KINDLY TAKE YOUR LITTLE SPACESHIP AND FLY BACK TO WHATEVER PLANET YA CAME FROM! PLEASE COMPLY WITH OUR COMMANDS! FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN THE TERMINATION OF OUR PEACE!" Koriand'r looks at the general and then turns her head to view the surrounding troops. She then proceeds to face Robin's direction. She walks toward him. "STEP AWAY FROM THE BOY!" Beast Boy yelps and hides behind the car again. She picks Robin of the ground by his collar. "WE WILL SHOOT! LET GO OF THE BOY NOW, ALIEN!"
Robin closes his eyes, preparing for whatever horrible thing she was going to do to him. She does something, it isn't really a horrible thing. She pulls him up to her face and locks her lips with his. The General, the troops, and the rest stare in confusion. Weren't they just fighting a second ago? The news cameraman catches this.
"Here we see the Boy Wonder and the alien in a...romantic embrace?" The cameraman is also confused.
"Oh, my God!" Beast Boy yells. "SHE'S SUCKING HIS ORGANS OUT THROUGH HIS MOUTH!"
A few seconds pass before Koriand'r's lips leave Robin's and she pushes him back to the ground.
She speaks, but this time, in English. "If you wish to continue your existence, you will leave me alone." And with that, she flies into the night sky, nearly hitting one the army helicopters. The general, still dumbfounded due to what had just happened, pulls out a phone.
"Mr. President? We are not sure if the alien is complying."
"Search the city. Make sure it's alien-free."
"Roger that." He then turns to his men. "All right, troops! We got to spread out! Search the city! Find the alien!"
"Sir," The general's jeep driver begins. "What about those kids?"
"We'll have to..." The general turns his head to face the teens, only to see them gone. "...Forget them. They aren't important. What's important is the alien. Let's roll, sergeant!"
End of Chapter 7