Review Reply Time!
Weirdo: It's all good and thanks.
The Virus: True. And you can try to infect me, I have virus protection.
Warlord: It will be interesting. Do me a favor and check your spelling and grammar next time though, ok?
coldblue: Thanks! Try and get an account if you can, I can see that you have a lot to say about the story and I'd like to discuss it further. I didn't say that Blackfire was out; I said that she was EXTREMELY unlikely. But not out. As for your questions, no the Order is completely OC. Yes he will get more powers, eventually. Yes, the Titans will be stronger than they are canon but it will take a while.
Guest: As a guest I don't think you can but go ahead and try!
Guest (The other one): Argent? Not really familiar with her to tell you the truth. I'll look her up and get back with you.
coldblue: If there's no other choice, yes he will. Yes he will. I have many plans. And yes. That's all I'm telling you.
Sparxthehdgehog: So that's what that is. I can't make any promises about keeping it DC. Line break gags… will make a comeback in the next non-serious "Silly" chapter that I have but for now it'll be short and sweet.
Currently for lead is "Be happy and read" with 12 votes and "Be angry but give the story a chance" at 10 votes. In third is "Not feel one way or another" with six votes and last is "Be furious and stop reading or reviewing" with five votes (I was hoping "Be furious" wouldn't get any votes at all but oh well, I'm sorry that there is the chance that I will lose five readers )
Keep in mind that the poll doesn't decide if a harem will happen. It's just the easiest way to see and keep track of what others think about the idea. In the end, whether or not a harem happens has yet to be decided and will be determined by a combination of the poll results, how the story develops, and by my own feelings on the subject (Which are subject to change constantly. If you feel you can convince me for or against a harem in a way that doesn't sound insulting then I invite you to try and do so.)
I apologize to all that I may have offended in relation to the harem idea, be it by posting in a chapter or review replies. I also apologize to all that I have not offended. Please be patient. I will get to you shortly. (^-^)
There's been some editing in the other 9 chapters. Nothing much, just some things here or there. Check it out if you want.
Another thing: There is a reference to something not DC or Marvel or OC in this chapter The first two people to tell me what that reference is and where it is in the chapter get's to submit their very own Original Character which will make an appearance in the next chapter! I need name, possible nicknames, age, appearance, powers (If any, they don't have to have any powers), education, back story, and anything else about them. Keep in mind that any details about the characters that you don't fill in will be filled by me.
See chapter one for the disclaimer. (Why does almost every author do a disclaimer? By the title of this site alone, it clarifies that everything on here is fiction, made by fans for their reading enjoyment. Plus, to date I've never heard of an author on here making money from their writings so way?)
On with the show!
Chapter 10
The two weeks went by quickly and before anybody knew it the tower was, for the most part, finished. It still had to be furnished but that could be done easily enough. The entire team had gathered on the roof to watch the sunrise together, an unofficial ceremony they partook in to mark the first day as a true team.
It had been a tough two weeks. Long brutal patrols, then coming home and going to rest and try to get used to the idea that you now had five other people to deal with and get used to on a regular basis. Orpheus learned the hard way just how long it took Robin to gel and fix his hair into spikes in the morning. (And on a related note, Robin learned that taking too long in the bath room for any reason equals all the water suddenly going icy cold) Everybody learned, especially Beastboy, that when Raven told you to leave her alone, it meant leave her the hell alone right now or suffer the consequences. Other than that, they got along fairly well. Except, of course, when they were deciding what to get to eat. That, however, was a story for another time.
At the end of the week, it turned out that, together, they managed to lower the crime rate by 15%. Apparently that was a big accomplishment, as, according to Robin, Batman only managed to lower it 8% when he was just starting out, adding another 4% when Robin joined him.
"I think the biggest thing is our numbers" Robin had said when he got the rally. "Six heroes are a lot more than two. Plus, there's the fact that I'm heading it, giving the team a connection to Batman, however strained. His presence in Gotham is the reason that the only criminals that are still in or operating in Gotham are the utterly insane ones."
As the sun rose over the horizon, there was a feeling of peace. It was that special time, a time where everybody was just waking up. There were no fires, no crimes. Not even the sounds of horns honking, tires screeching, people yelling or other sounds associated with city life. Just the sound of the waves crashing against the shore of their small island and the whistle of the wind. As they stood there on the roof, observing all this, a small smile shared on their faces and a feeling of content spread among them. Absolute peace.
Then a large, drawn out, wet sounding, farting sound emanated from one of them. "Dude!" Cyborg exclaimed, pinching his nose, an action that was mimicked by all the other Titan's, save Beastboy, who blushed and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand as the other's edged away from him and the smell.
Orpheus groaned. "My god man, what the hell did you eat?" Beastboy blush deepened as he mumbled something under his breath that sound suspiciously like "beans".
After everyone was far enough away from the smell (And Beastboy) where they couldn't smell it anymore, and after the sun had finished rising, Robin nodded, having decided what they were going to do for the day.
"Ok then, only thing left to do is finish up with tower and we'll be done for now" Robin stated, more to himself than the others.
"Aw, come on!" Beastboy whined. "I thought we were finished! Haven't we done enough already?" And it was true. On the second to the last day of the week, a virus had made its way onto one of the robots and, from there, spread like wild fire onto all the others. The program itself was designed to turn the robots into killer robots. Fortunately, due to the virus's earthly origin and the robots alien technology, it was nowhere near as effective as it should have been. Instead of turning them into killer robots, it caused erratic behavior in the robots and made a change in their digital blueprints of what to build.
Unfortunately, nobody noticed the changes until almost too late. Fortunately, Cyborg did notice. He shutdown the robots, being unable to be sure that the virus was off of it completely and unable to find out where it came. The damage was done but, with a rather unique change in the original design and taking Cyborg off of patrol permanently to work on the tower alongside whoever wasn't on patrol or sleeping, the tower was finished on time and the design was made to work anyway. Now, instead of a regular shaped tower, they now had a tower shaped like a T. (AN 1)
"It looks better than your original design anyway, trust me." Robin assured the half metal teen when Cyborg told him the story. "Although it's deeply disturbing that someone was able to put a virus on there in untraceably. Or that someone had a motive to this early in the game."
They had actually been forced to work throughout the night in order to finish on time. Apparently, Robin went back to the Mayor at some point in the week and told him the same thing Cyborg told him and it "would look very bad if we failed to meet a deadline we ourselves set". Which meant that they had to ensure that the tower was finished on time.
With everybody working together, it wasn't that bad. Starfire was able to carry most of anything that they needed to use without help, Raven was able to use her magic as a 'bonder' of sorts, able to seal together the cracks in different parts of the building just like a welding torch, only more effective in that her method left fewer marks. Cyborg was handling the things that took knowledge to do, such as the plumbing and electricity, among other things. The rest of the team wasn't as useful, Orpheus being subjected to moving around the things that were heavy enough that Robin couldn't carry them but so light that it was a waste of time for anyone much stronger to move it, Beastboy doing the same thing. Robin just moved what he could and coordinated the rest of them.
It was a good thing that the only thing that the robots hadn't finished before going haywire was the roof; otherwise it would've taken them another week. Now the only thing that had to be finished was the interior of the tower itself, as the plumbing, electricity was finished. Furniture, painting, interior decorations, and things like that.
"Should take about three days, five at the most, if everybody pitches in and we hurry." Robin said to them.
"What about patrol?" Orpheus asked. Cyborg smirked.
"The police gave me access to their police dispatcher and 911 lines as well as, along with several others, access to their cameras and microphones, among other things. I wrote a program to monitor all these, as well as a few that didn't give me access, and set it to be able to recognize when someone was breaking the law, who's breaking the law if there in the criminal or meta-human database, where they were doing it, and the police, for whatever reason, wasn't responding to it." Cyborg held his arm up for them to see. "As soon as it happens, my program will see it and send me an alarm about it."
"It's a start, but it doesn't beat actually being there in the first place." Robin said, grimacing.
"And am I right in guessing that it's still not completely effective?" Orpheus asked, turning his head to look at Cyborg, who frowned at the secret halfa. Even thought Orpheus had, for the most part, answered all of his questions, there was still something about the enigmatic teen that was a bit… disturbing.
*Flashback*
Two figures stood as still as statues on the edge of a rooftop, the sun behind them blinding anybody on the ground who attempted to figure out who they were. If you were on eye level, you'd see that the two were none other than Cyborg and Orpheus.
It was the first time that the two of them were on patrol together, as most of the time Cyborg was either working on the tower, or paired with Beastboy. The two had stopped for a break, mostly because it was harder on Cyborg to jump from rooftops than it was on Orpheus, being that he was lifting a lot more weight with each jump than Orpheus was.
"So Orpheus…" Began Cyborg in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had settled over the pair. In an attempt to create conversation, he had asked Orpheus about his parent's line of work. Unfortunately for Cyborg, the first thing that came out of his mouth after Orpheus answered his question was "Ghosts don't exist". This marked the start of an argument that lasted several minutes, Orpheus spouting out experiment after experiment done by somebody named "Fenton", each of which supposedly proved that ghosts existed, and Cyborg citing reasons why they didn't prove anything, which greatly angered Orpheus.
At last Orpheus realized that no matter what he said, Cyborg simply refused to believe that ghosts existed. (AN 2) Thus he stopped trying to convince him and started the awkward silence that was between them. Now Cyborg was getting a little uncomfortable with the silence and sought something to get the grey cloaked hero into conversation.
"Can I ask you a question?" Cyborg said after call out the black haired teen. He received a cautious nod in response. Sighing, he remained quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase his question in a way that stood the least chance in offending his teammate before deciding to just come out with it.
"Why are your vitals so different from any other humans?" Cyborg asked as bluntly as possible.
Orpheus raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Cyborg frowned, trying to find what words he could best put it in to ensure that he understood, then decided to just tell him anyways.
"First off, your core temperature is WAY too low. Seriously, if you weren't walking around looking completely healthy and everything, I'd think you were half dead or something from hypothermia" When he 'half dead' he failed to notice the slightly nervous expression that appeared on Orpheus's face. Cyborg continued anyway. "Second is your heartbeat. It's beating faster than it should. A lot faster. As in borderline heart attack fast. What makes that really bad is that you're not even breathing on the level that would be normal for someone of your size, much less to keep up on the level that your heart is breathing. But…"
He paused for a second to see Orpheus's reaction. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. Cyborg decided to continue on anyways. "The most surprising thing is that you actually give off your own energy signature." This time he caught a surprised look. Satisfied, Cyborg continued. "Granted, it's very faint, but it's there. The surprising thing is that, for some reason, my sensors are telling me that it's being suppressed, although I can't think of how or why. I don't suppose you could explain any of that?"
Orpheus remained silent for a moment. Then, in a slow cautious tone, he began to speak. "What you said about my heart and breathing and everything I actually had no idea about. Good to know though. The lower core temperature thing, I kind of had an idea about that part when I realized that the cold didn't affect me as much anymore. As for then energy signature thing, I kind of guessed about that part too, given my own talent with energy manipulation." To emphasize the point, he lit up his hand green for a few seconds, causing his energy signature to spike in relation to it. When he let the green energy fade from his hand and he didn't elaborate further, Cyborg remained silent for a second, thinking over what he said, then realized something.
"What about the whole 'suppressed' thing?" As soon as he asked he knew he had made a mistake as Orpheus frown deepened and he had a feeling that, if he could see them, he would feel like Orpheus eyes were narrowing at him. The uneasily silence returned, except that it was twice as stifling as before. It seemed like that they would just sit there forever and Cyborg was about to just tell Orpheus to forget it until he spoke. "Because I'm holding back."
Cyborg frowned. "Holding back on what, your powers?" When he received a nod, he frowned again. He knew that it would probably be a big mistake to ask why but he couldn't stop himself. "Why?"
Orpheus looked away, as if ashamed. In a voice barely above a whisper, he answered. "Because my full power is dangerous."
"For you or the people around you?"
"For everybody."
*End Flashback*
They hadn't moved again until their patrol was over. They didn't speak again until the next day. And they just now made eye contact. It wasn't that they hated each other, just uncomfortable. Orpheus was wondering why he told Cyborg all that and hoping that he forgot about the Fenton experiments. It wouldn't do for Cyborg to look them up, realize that he had more information than was publically available, see that the Fenton's had a son and put two and two together. But he was more worried about what Cyborg would do with the information that his full power was dangerous.
"There's always room for improvement, I suppose." Cyborg had said as neutrally as possible. Honesty, he was a little unnerved that someone could have powers that hurt not only them but everybody around them. 'From the look on his face after he told me, he didn't mean to tell me either. Wonder why he did. What should I do? I don't think I should keep this to myself, but I just can't go telling secrets to anybody that wants to know.'
While Cyborg was pondering what to do, he barely noticed that Robin began speaking again.
"That may be, but it'll have to do for now. Right now, we need to focus on finishing the tower." Robin said, pausing to make sure that they were all paying attention, slapping Beastboy on the back of the head when he found him day dreaming.
"Ow! Dude, what the hell?" Beastboy complained, rubbing the back of his head. "Why'd you hit me on the back of the head?"
"Got your attention, didn't it?" Robin smirked. "Beside, slapping the front is just embarrassing. Back is a wakeup call."
"Something Batman taught you?" Orpheus questioned Robin, both of them ignoring Beastboy's cry of outrage. The boy wonder in question nodded.
"Yeah, he told me he learned it from seeing the technique used by some federal agent he worked with on a case this one time. Said that the agent used it to keep his subordinates in line and focused." Robin seemed to be reminiscing for a moment before he shook his head, getting back to the topic. "Anyway, back to the topic at hand. You'll be responsible for handling your own bedrooms, and Orpheus? You will be responsible for anything you need for your lab on top of everything else."
From seemingly out of nowhere, he produced a detailed list of assignments. The plan was for each person to get the paint, furniture, and anything else that would be needed for each room and put it in the room that it would be needed. Then Beastboy would turn into an octopus and use his many arms to help whoever was assigned that room with painting and any other decorations. Later, after the paint dried, Robin and Cyborg would go back to arrange the furniture as well as do anything else that needed to be done and the room would be done. Apparently the tower was divided up so that each person had more than a few rooms to do.
"This is gonna take a while so we better get started." Robin said. "We need to have everything done by the end of the day, so if you feel like you can't get your part done in time, don't hesitate to ask for help."
We interrupt this story to give you this line break. Wait, reread this line a few times, and then continue reading. Have a great day.
Orpheus rubbed his shoulders, grimacing. An equally sore Robin sitting on the couch opposite him. They were the only ones in the room, as Cyborg had retired to recharge his batteries, Starfire and Beastboy were sleeping, and Raven was on the roof, meditating, even though night had already fallen.
It had quite literally taken all day and well into the night to finish but they were done. Robin had already preordered all the furniture, paint, and anything else they needed so the only thing they needed to do was get from the various warehouses and stores from around the city, move it to the room it would go in, paint and arrange everything, and they would be done.
The only room that wasn't complete was Orpheus's lab, and that was just because most of the materials, and chemical's he needed to get started with building his parent's inventions had a lot of legal red tape to go through first if he wanted to obtain it legally. 'And I sure as hell don't want to attract any attention obtaining them illegally.' Orpheus thought bitterly as he got up from the couch, mumbled a "good bye" to Robin, who nodded, getting up himself. Heading to their respective rooms, Robin nodded to him before going into his room. Orpheus sighed in exhaustion before going into his own room.
After the door slid closed behind him, he channeled some ectoplasmic energy to his hood and goggles, the hood falling down and the goggles loosening to slide down around his neck. He looked around his room, pleased with the amount of work he managed to get done in one day. His room had grey painted walls with a green trim. His bed was in the far right corner of the room, with small nightstands with a lamps sitting on both sides. The bed was in the shape of a circle, with deep blue covers, with a green inside, complete with white pillows that, ironically, had green little ghosts on them with red eyes. 'The others were certainly weirded out when they saw me carry those pillow covers in.' Orpheus thought with a chuckle. The ceiling was decorated with stars in the form of constellations, with little model rockets hanging from the ceiling. On the right when entering the room there was a door that lead to his bathroom, next to it was his closet and dresser, closet hidden in an indent in the wall which was covered by a black curtain.
A full body mirror was mounted in the front right corner of the room, perpendicular to the door to his bathroom. On the left was a bookcase, half full of books that he's picked out. Next to that was a desk, complete with a desktop computer, drawers, and a chair. The wall opposite the door was all glass; albeit very thick and bullet resistant glass. On the right side of his desk, hidden in the wall and impossible to find unless you could become intangible and knew where it was, were a few switches. The first would cause the glass to darken and undarken, turning the glass into a one sided mirror and back into a regular window with a switch. One would cause the glass to slide away, leaving the wall open. Another would slide a screen up over the opening. The last would cause a metal plate to slide down over the window.
The shrinking chest that Nick had given him now contained items of a more personal nature to him and was hidden in a secret compartment underneath his bed.
Going to his closet, he pulled the curtain and took out an oversized grey hoodie and matching sweat pants. He carried it into the bathroom with him, shutting the door behind him. Walking in on the white tile floor, he set his sleeping clothes on the counter. He emptied his pockets out, putting the Titan communicator, his wallet, and a pack of gum, along with a few other miscellaneous, on the counter.
Stripping down until he was wearing nothing except his Wes ring that was around his neck on the same chain as his DP locket chain and Time medallion, he put his entire costume, save his shoes, belt, and goggles which he also put on the counter, into a dirty clothes hamper.
He looked at himself, face twisting into a scowl that was mixed with a grimace as he surveyed the amount of scars that he had gained over the years. Some were from his career as a hero, from wounds sustained in combat. Others were from the after effects of living with two inventors, from accidents and the like. But now almost all of them were from the GIW. They were different from the others, like the one that started at his shoulders and went down diagonally, uniting at his chest and then continued going down, creating a Y shape.
He used to not mind the scars. They were like a record book, in his eyes, kept on his very skin. Like a small circular burn scar on his hand from that time that he accidentally shot himself with a low power laser. Or a small, almost invisible, cut on his arm from that time he'd been playing in the lab and cut his arm on a sharp piece of metal. They reminded him of a different time. A carefree time. When he didn't have to worry about keeping all his limbs visible and tangible or when playing in the lab could lead to a ghost detecting device going off around him.
Even after he got his ghost powers, he didn't hate the scars he gained ghost fighting. They too, were records. They were records of battles. Battles won, battles lost, either way, it was experience gained. With each one it showed that he was getting better, stronger. Never making the same mistake twice, constantly getting better with his powers. They were almost, in a strange sense of the word, trophies.
No more. Now they were mostly permanent reminders of what he had lost. The scars that he couldn't remember getting were reminders that his mind was still incomplete. The scars he could remember were records of agonizing pain that should've killed him. An interesting fact was that, when he healed, his scar tissue was stronger than it should have been. More resistant to any future damage. Broken bones were the same way. 'I guess that old saying is true, for me at least.'
"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." He said quietly as he looked at his chest, now a mass of scars.
He took a long, hot shower, the steaming water hitting his skin doing wonders for his sore muscles. Drying himself off with a towel, he dressed himself in the hoodie and sweat pants, grabbed his goggles, belt, and shoes, putting his communicator and all the other stuff on the counter in the bathroom in his pocket and walked out of the bathroom, clean, dry, and barefoot.
He put the belt, goggles, and shoes in the closet, and then re-emptied out his pockets, this time putting everything on the dresser. Walking over to the window, he stood there, hands crossed over his chest as he looked out over the city.
Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. He tensed discreetly, only to relax when he heard a voice call out that he recognized.
"Nice room." Nick said, walking up to stand beside him.
"Thanks." Danny replied, turning to look at him. "Just finished it today. But I don't think you came here to compliment me on my decorating skills."
"Why are you always so straight to the point?" Nick complained. "Getting a taste for a little theatrics can be a powerful tool. Look at Batman. Every criminal in Gotham shakes in fear whenever they put that Bat signal in the sky, hoping it isn't them their calling Batman to take care of."
Danny sighed. "I know a ghost who's so into having a 'symbol' he refuses to use his telekinesis on anything that isn't a box. Another one who insisted on shouting out his entire plan before attacking. Both of them were never a real threat." He looked back at the window. "I think I'll do without the theatrics for now."
"True enough." Nick said, glancing at him. "Then again, your right." He walked away from the window. When Danny turned to see where he had gone, he was sitting at his desk. "I've taken the liberty of fine tuning the security on your computer. Your cybernetic friend will be hard pressed to get anything from it now."
"Did you see those pictures of that symbol I took with the goggles?" Danny questioned, receiving a nod.
"I put them on a flash drive along with the pictures of those men in armor. What's that symbol from?"
"A group that calls themselves 'The Order'." Danny replied. "I don't suppose that I could convince you to look into it for me, could I?" He asked rhetorically.
"I'll see what I can do." Nick said casually, and then he reached into his pocket, producing a small rectangular metal case, just a little bit bigger than the Titan communicator, and tossed it to Danny. He was surprised, but he caught it anyway. "What's this?"
"I'm a busy man." Nick began. "I can't stay in the area here just to help you out in case you need it and nor can I spar an agent to do so in my place. That is a special communicator, with a direct line to my agency."
Danny turned it over, feeling where there were places one could connect various different objects as well as more than a few buttons. Flipping it open, he found a video screen on one side and a touch screen on the other side. He raised an eyebrow at Nick.
"You can use it to communicate, but it can also send files and pictures, make untraceable telephone calls, and a host of other things." Nick said. "This is the best I can do for now, I'm afraid."
"It'll do." Danny replied, putting the special communicator right next to his Titan communicator on the dresser. "Is there anything you can do regarding me getting the stuff I need to make some ghost hunting gear?"
Nick shrugged. "I can make sure that they put a rush on the paperwork but anything more will look suspicious."
"Good enough, I suppose." Danny conceded. Walking over to the wall, he made his hand intangible, flipping a switch hidden inside the wall, causing the glass to slide away. Pointing to the opening in the wall, he looked Nick straight in the eyes. "I'm dead tired now, so I need you to get the hell out."
'Is it just me, or does this kid have mood swings like crazy?' Nick thought, pressing a button on the watch on his wrist. A jet black helicopter flew up from out of nowhere, the bottom of it leveling with the floor as a door opened up. Nick smirked at him as he stepped into. The helicopter began to rise as Nick waved goodbye and closed the door to the helicopter.
Danny just shook his head as the helicopter disappeared. He flipped a switch in the wall, causing the window to slide closed. Collapsing on the bed, his last thoughts before going to sleep were 'Things are looking up.'
**Dream/Nightmare/Flashback**
Danny was curled up in the corner, hands holding his legs against his chest, and head resting on his knees. He found that the best way to speed up the healing process after they cut him up was to put pressure on the spot that they cut, and move as little as possible so that most of his energy could go to healing. Sleeping was best but whenever he looked like he was nodding off, they would flash the lights to wake them up. When he started to get used to it they would send a few agents in to knock him around to make sure he couldn't sleep.
Right now he was in a quiet period. The small bits of time between torture sessions that they gave him so that he could heal, somewhat, so that the next torture session wouldn't actually kill him. It taxed his superhuman healing to the very limit, but it was effective. It allowed them to keep him on or near the brink of full death almost constantly, only letting up when it seemed like he was about to die and, if he made them angry, sometimes not even then.
A quiet period meant a few things. One, it could end at any time. And when it ended, it was almost certainly time for another torture session. Two, it meant that they had a new gauntlet of poisons to try on him, usually administered in food that was more poison than food. Or three, they had a new range of experiments/torture techniques that carried with them a higher risk of death than normal and they wanted him to be near full health before they tried it on him. After all, if he died, the he would most likely reform in the Ghost Zone, a place that was beyond their reach. Of course, there was a good chance that, thanks to his unique physical makeup, that he would just reform a little ways away from his body and the torture would continue.
But the GIW were of the opinion that he would reform in the Ghost Zone, and that was the sole reason that saved him from the GIW more….deadly experiments. The thought that they were holding back was something that he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life.
'I can't take this.' Danny thought.' Not anymore. If I stay here, it'll kill me.' It was in that exact instant that he decided that he couldn't wait for his parents to come back. He had heard that his parents had gotten away in their jet when they tried to free him. 'The only ones' He thought bitterly. He had heard nothing about Tucker's or Jazz's fate. They were probably dead. Sam didn't get away.
She remained because she wanted to. She remained to become his main torturer. His former love became a torturer's assistant. She turned up the dial whenever their method was electricity. She held the knife when they were carving him up, under the guidance of a physician. It truly was a messed up world when his high school sweetheart had to have a GIW doctor look over her shoulder to make sure that she didn't kill him in her enthusiasm to prove her loyalty to them.
But then…it wasn't her fault. And he knew why. Out of all the things that the GIW have done, what they did to Sam would be, in his eyes and in the eyes of many others, their greatest crime.
He couldn't stay here any longer. Already, he could literally feel his already fragile consciousness breaking slowly. The barrier between reality and fantasy was breaking down. He had to escape before it shattered completely.
**End Dream/Nightmare/Flashback**
Danny woke up in a sweat, panting. It was a good thing that, while Cyborg wasn't looking, he had made his room sound proof so that he didn't wake anyone up if he ending up screaming at some point in the night.
He could still hear what was going on outside his room strangely. He knew that for sure when he heard the alarms going off and the red light above the door began to flash on and off. 'Time to go to work I guess.' He grumbled, annoyed that he probably wouldn't get much of a chance to eat breakfast because some villain couldn't wait until noon to start their 'master plan'.
1001 Way To Die: Misunderstanding this Line Break XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Orpheus strolled out of his room purposely and into the Main Operations room, as it said on the door or, simply, the Ops room. Robin, Raven, and Starfire were already there, and Cyborg dragged in a half-asleep Beastboy a few moments after he entered.
Robin was typing in the main computer, with Starfire and Raven standing on either side of him. Cyborg had set a now sleeping Beastboy down on the ground and was now poking him with a stick in an attempt to rouse him. Orpheus just stood off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest, observing the scene silently. 'So…this is my team? From the outside looking in we don't look like much but then again, underestimation is a grave mistake, one my enemies made often.'
"Titans, somebody named Cinderblock is breaking into the prison. Let's go!" Robin called, running out the door, the rest of the Titans trailing behind him with a fully awake Beastboy.
When they were outside the tower, Robin was prepared to jump into the bay, remembering that the tunnels that they were going to build to connect the city to them so that people who couldn't fly didn't have to swim or take a boat there weren't finished, and swim to shore only to get picked up by the undersides of his arms at the last minute and lifted off into the air. Looking up, he saw that it was Starfire who had picked him up. She flashed him a dazzling smile. "Please, Friend Robin, while I am still mostly unfamiliar with Earth's environment, will this way not be faster?"
A little miffed that he hadn't thought of that, he nodded.
Beastboy looked at Cyborg. Cyborg looked at Beastboy. Beastboy turned into Pteranodon. He flapped his wings and held out his claws toward Cyborg. Cyborg sighed, and then nodded, raising his arms. Beastboy grabbed onto Cyborg's arms with his claws and easily lifted the metal man into the air and after the shrinking dot in the sky that was Starfire and Robin.
Orpheus turned to see that Raven was looking at him. He smiled sheepishly, one hand going to rub the back of his head. "Uh, Raven? I don't suppose you'd mind…uh…" He trailed off, not sure how to ask in light of the glare he was receiving. Raven started to fly up after the rest of the team, causing Orpheus to sigh. "Guess I get to swim."
He started forward, about to jump into bay, until he began rising, causing him to let out a yell of surprise and began thrashing his arms and legs in an attempt to free himself as the ground got farther and farther away.
"Do you want to fall from here?" Raven said, her usual emotionless voice expressing deep seated annoyance as he suddenly realized he was next to her in the air, both of them flying a little ways behind the others.
"Stop thrashing, you're making it harder to keep a hold of you." She chastened. He looked at her, realizing that her eyes were glowing white. Looking at himself, he realized that he was covered in an aura of black energy. He relaxed, straightening his arms and legs out as if he were standing. If Raven noticed, she didn't say anything, but he did notice that they did speed up considerably.
They traveled like that for quite little while, the prison being on the opposite side of the city from the tower. They made great time though, coming to be just above the prison as the rock monster known as Cinderblock busted through one of the walls of the inner part of the prison, stopping when the guards opened fire on him with some kind of laser weapons.
Robin pointed to the main compound. "That's where he's headed. Orpheus, can you get us in there discreetly so that we can get ambush him?" Orpheus just gave him a look that said 'Bitch Please!'
"Set everybody down on the far side of the compound." Orpheus commanded. After touching down, he nodded to himself. "Everybody hold hands." After they complied, he turned himself and the rest of the team both intangible and invisible, walking straight through the wall just as Cinderblock stomped in the room. He dropped the intangibility but held the invisibility.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to feeling like that." Mumbled Cyborg.
"Ditto." Beastboy said, looking queasy. (That is, if he was visible) Starfire nodded invisibly in agreement as Robin hushed them.
Cinderblock made it halfway across the room before Robin signaled him to drop both the intangibility and invisibly. Loudly, Beastboy announced their presence. "Ya know Cinderblock; normally villains try to break out of prison!"
"And I can think of six good reasons why you wouldn't want to break in!" Robin declared, jumping down to be on the same level as Cinderblock
"One!" Robin yelled when he hit the floor.
Starfire flew down to the floor, landing in a combat stance, hands lit up with energy. "Two!"
Beastboy turned into a tiger and dropped down to the floor, changing back with a determined look on his face. "Three!"
Raven flew down, cloak billowing about her. She held up four fingers. "Four."
Cyborg jumped down, punching the ground and landing in a crouch before going to his full height. "Five!"
Orpheus dropped his invisibility as slowly as possible, arms crossed over his chest, an impassive look on his face. "Six."
"No matter how you do the math…" Robin said, narrowing his eyes. "It all adds up to you going down. So are you going to come quietly…?"
"Or is this going to get loud?!" Cyborg finished for him.
Orpheus gave a borderline insane grin. "Please choose 'loud'. It's a hell of a lot more fun!"
Cinderblock answered with an angry yell, charging forward.
"Titan's go!" Robin yelled as a battle cry, running forward. Jumping into the air, he used Cinderblock's chest as a jumping board, sending Cinderblock stumbling back and straight in a powerful starbolt from Starfire.
Reeling from it, he sent a titanic punch at Orpheus only to be intercepted by Cyborg jumping over him and meeting the rock monster's punch with one of his own.
Activating the shocking knuckles in his gloves, he let loose on the stone villain, sending flurry punches straight into his torso, and each blow sent him skidding back a little. Orpheus smirked; about to end it with a kick to villain's chin when it went wrong. For him at least. For Cinderblock, it was going better than it was a few minutes when he was getting punched.
Cinderblock managed to catch one of his punches, enclosing his entire fist in his stone hand. The rocky villain gave him an evil grin. Fortunately, he didn't have the brains to think to crush his hand and most of his arm in his grip. Unfortunately, he did have the motive to lift him up in the air.
"Hey!" Orpheus yelled, using his feet to push against Cinderblock's chest in an attempt to free himself. "Let me go!" Turning intangible and invisible, he watched with satisfaction as Cinderblock looked around, confused at where is quarry had gone and completely forgetting about his other opponents. That is, until Raven used her magic to rip up a piece of concrete and launch it at the stone man's back, the concrete breaking apart on impact.
Cinderblock roared, charging toward the blue clad sorceress, who flew up and out of his reach. He swiped at her in frustration, seemingly unable to comprehend that she was out of reach, only to get slammed by a green T Rex and sent flying.
Beastboy, as a T Rex, roared and charged Cinderblock a second time. Cinderblock punched his head, sending him flying back and almost crushing Raven. Luckily, he turned back human before impact, settling for sending them both to the ground. Getting up, Beastboy chuckled nervously at Raven carefully blank expression. "Uhhh… watch out for falling dinosaurs?" He joked. Raven just blowed a strand of hair out of her face, radiating annoyance. "I'm going to leave you alone now."
As one, Robin and Cyborg charged at Cinderblock, only to get knocked back by a swipe from Cinderblock. Starfire let off a few close range starbolts directly in his face. Angered, Cinderblock reached out and managed to grab the friendly Tameranan. He brought the redhead close to his face, smirking. In that moment, you could almost feel pity from the other Titan's.
Starfire gave Cinderblock a sugar sweet smile. "I am most sorry to disappoint." Her eyes began to glow a bright green. "But I am stronger than I look." She nailed Cinderblock in the chest with her leg as hard as she could; forcing him to let her go and sending him stumbling back.
Capitalizing on Cinderblock's current lack of balance, Robin jumped on Cinderblock's back, hooking his arms around the villain's neck. Cinderblock roared, thrashing around, but, unfortunately for Cinderblock, his arms were too short to reach his back to rip Robin off. "Thrashing only makes me hold tighter!"
Cinderblock let out another roar, this time ripping one of the metal supports on the wall out. Robin jumped off Cinderblock's back just as the unintelligent rock man hit himself over the head with the metal support beam so hard that made a dent the size of his head on it.
"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Cyborg declared, ripping off another metal support. Cyborg and Cinderblock clashed support beams, swinging the heavy metal beams like batons, sparks flying where they collided from the sheer strength behind the blows. The two dueled this way for several seconds but in the end it was a contest of strength, of which Cinderblock had Cyborg only just beat. One blow from the rock monster sent Cyborg stumbling back, another sent him flying away.
Cinderblock turned toward where Starfire and Raven were floating. He started forward, beam still in hand, but a quick starbolt from Starfire melted it. Cinderblock dropped it. Turning he began to run toward the far side of the room, where he had been heading in the first place.
'Odd, he seems too stupid to suddenly be frightened. Does he have a time limit or something?' Were the thoughts of Orpheus as he backed off, curious as to where the villain was going. 'With my aura sensing I could just tail him. Breaking a certain person out seems a little too smart of him. He's got to be working under somebody's instructions.'
"Wanna give this guy the sonic boom?" He recognized the voice as Robin's. He knew what it was he was talking about. The sonic boom was an idea that they had after Robin took the time to describe his arsenal to them. It wasn't that exciting and they had all fallen asleep by the end of it. Cyborg had managed to stay awake long enough to see Robin's exploding disks. This had hatched the idea for the sonic boom, which was basically setting off an exploding disk with Cyborg's sonic cannon. They found a junkyard and made enough time to practice it a few times. They pulled it off a few times, but the concerning thing was that they messed up just as many times as they got it right.
Cyborg grinned as he turned his arm into a cannon. "I got the sonic if you got the boom." Turning, Cyborg called out "Yo rockhead!"
Cinderblock turned to look at them. Simultaneously, they ran forward, and then jumped off the nearby walls. There movements were graceful, almost like watching a dance. Elegant, yet efficient, and, from what he could see, almost completely in sync. Then everything went to hell.
From his angle, standing next to Raven, a few feet away from where Starfire and Beastboy were standing, he couldn't see properly what happened. Later he would find out from Robin and later Cyborg that someone's foot wasn't in the right place. Who that was, differed with who you asked. Bottom line was that they began spinning in mid air, throwing both of them off with the unexpected motion. They ended with both of them slamming against opposite walls, Cyborg's cannon going off to hit Starfire and Beastboy, sending them flying away. Robin's exploding disk, already prepped to go 'boom', went flying, incidentally land at the feet of Raven and Orpheus. In the seconds between it flying to them and it exploding, he managed to get a hold of Raven's shoulder, turning them both intangible. Despite this, the flash still blinded them, even though Orpheus was wearing shaded goggles.
When his vision returned, Cinderblock was gone. He could see the others were just getting to their feet. Looking past them, he saw that Cinderblock had apparently didn't believe in doors, choosing instead to knock holes through a wall and the wall behind it and so on, stopping once he reached a corridor, apparently electing to go down it. The big problem was that, he busted right in the middle of prison cells. The inmates, apparently, thought that this was their perfect chance to escape, completely ignoring the fact that the Titan's were between them and the exit. After all, to them, they were just kids…right?
Robin just sighed. He was already sore and tired from the fight with Cinderblock and he knew that the rest of the team wasn't much better. "Titan's go." He said lamely, lack most if not all the energy from before.
THIS IS THE LAST IDEA THAT I HAVE FOR A LINE BREAK (NOT!)
Two guys in orange prison jump suits were running. "Look, there's the exit!" One of them yelled, excited. "I think we're going to make it!" The other one yelled. Suddenly, a ghost ray hit them both in the back, sending them to the ground groaning. They managed to prop themselves up on their elbows, looking up just in time to see their exit get covered by the doors, covered in black energy, flying into place.
"You thought wrong." Said a calm voice as something picked them both up by the back of their jump suits and carried the two all the way back to their new cell, their old one rendered unusable via the gigantic hole in the wall. After depositing the two in their new cell, Orpheus walked up to where the rest of the group was standing.
"Jailbreak?" Beastboy scoffed. "I don't see any jailbreak!"
"None of us would've seen one if Cyborg hadn't messed up!" Robin declared, eyes narrowed and looking away in anger.
"Me? I messed up nothing! You got in my way!" Cyborg countered, getting in Robin's face.
"You were too far forward, and Cinderblock got away because of it!" Robin screamed back, vein pulsing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Orpheus was laughing his ass off at the guard's expressions. Guards, along with policemen and a multitude of others, were well informed of both the Titan's special privileges and their abilities. So they knew that they would be little more than cannon fodder if a fight broke out between two of the Titan's.
"YOU SAYING THIS IS MY FAULT?!"
"YOU WANT ME TO SAY IT AGAIN?!" The two were in each other's face, metaphorical lightning bolts flying between their eyes.
"Stop! No more mean talking!" Starfire said, using her superior strength to push the both of them away from each other.
"Yeah, if you two are going to fight, we need time to sell tickets." Beastboy said, earning a nod from Orpheus.
"Your right! We need to have time to pop the popcorn, grab the candy, and get the soda's…" Orpheus shook his head. "There's a lot that we have to do before you two can even think about fighting. So chill!"
"Cinderblock escaped." Raven said bluntly. "No amount of yelling will change that. So stop screaming your heads off like idiots and let's go home."
'Huh, she already refers to the tower as home.' Orpheus thought. What he said was "Actually, there was something that was bothering me about Cinderblock…" When both Cyborg and Robin just snorted and started walking in the opposite direction, he sighed. "Guess it can wait until later."
"Loser/Jerk." Each of them mumbled near simultaneously, only for both of them to hear what the other. Turning around and getting back in the other's face they said, again almost simultaneously "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"YOU GOT A PROBLEM TINMAN?!"
"YEAH, IT'S FOUR FEET TALL AND SMELLS LIKE CHEAP HAIR GEL!"
"WELL YOU'RE AN OVERSIZED CLUTZ AND YOUR FEET SMELL LIKE MOTOR OIL!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Each of them turned to look at a steaming Orpheus.
Orpheus took a deep breath to calm down. "Look, Cinderblock got away. Nothing we can do can change that. And fighting each other will certainly ensure that the next bad guy gets away too. The only thing we can do now is figure out what Cinderblock was after here, figure out where he went, and make sure that we all get better so that next time we fight him, we win."
"Wait a minute, what the hell do you mean we?" Beastboy said, suddenly materializing right in his face. "It was them who made the mistake that let Cinderblock get away, not us!"
"What's that supposed to mean Beastboy?!" Cyborg and Robin said simultaneously.
"I mean that we all have areas that we could improve in, Beastboy!" Orpheus but in, trying to stop another argument.
"Yeah, like not getting caught by a slow as hell rock head." Robin comment snidely. Orpheus rounded on him, patience wearing thin.
"What's that supposed to mean Birdie-boy?" Said Orpheus, his voice showing barely concealed anger.
"Oh, I think you know exactly what it's supposed Orpheus!" Countered Robin.
"At least I got myself free without help!"
"Why are you getting on him when you're the one who let him get away?!" Cyborg said, getting himself back into the argument.
"I'M THE ONE…?!" This devolved into a shouting match, involving Cyborg, Robin, and Orpheus.
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I'M ON THIS TEAM!" Cyborg yelled.
"ME NEITHER!" Orpheus agreed.
"I QUIT!" They said as one, before stalking away, out the door, and out of sight.
Robin stared ahead impassively. "Dude, what did we just do…?" Beastboy mumbled, looking down.
Raven said nothing, but, on the far side of the room, a line of lights were engulfed in black energy and broken into a million pieces.
Starfire looked teary eyed. She started forward to Robin but the boy-wonder just waved her off.
Still looking down, Robin said in a quiet voice "Forget it. Who knows? Maybe we're better off without them."
End Chapter
Hurray for longest chapter written yet (Even if it did take me a while)
Author Note 1: Let's face it. I don't know much about architecture but I'm pretty sure that a T isn't the best shape to make a tower in. So, I made it into a mistake.
Author Note 2: Can anyone else see a rude awakening coming for Cyborg?
Question: If, for some reason, Danny should get turned into an animal, what animal should it be? (It can't be a monkey, tiger, bear, or rabbit (I'm open to argument on it being a rabbit)
Poll will be closed in a few chapters. If you haven't voted already, please do so.
Either way, REVIEW!