Danny tried to take slow deep breaths, but somehow, they came out as sharp gasps as he paced around the room.
"How….when…..why?" Was all he could stutter out. The Titans had just left the building, but the fear that they had instilled in the teens still lingered.
"Danny, you have to calm down." Sam said, although panic could be heard in her voice.
"Calm down? How can I calm down when the Teen Titans now know that we're in Jump, which by the way, means that they are officially the third group that wants to capture us!" Danny screamed.
Sam forcefully grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
"Danny! You have to stay calm. Freaking out about this isn't going to help us!" She tried to convince him. That seemed to reach him as he took a deep breath and sighed.
"How did this even happen? How did they find out?" Jazz wondered out loud.
"They must have seen more than we thought when we fought those villains." Danny sighed, knowing that it was partially his fault. He should have never let Robin see his face. He should have been more careful.
"Well, we have to do something. You heard them, they're going to come back, and something tells me we aren't going to be able to evade them forever. They were getting close to us, even when Danny was invisible." Tucker said.
"So...now what do we do? They're getting close." Jazz asked.
Sam glanced at the group and smirked.
Danny's eyes widened as he realized what she was planning. "No way. Absolutely not! NO!" He shouted.
Jump City Costume Shop
"How did she convince us to do this?"
Danny snarled at the group as they milled around the store. Thankfully, the costume shop was open 24 hours, god knows why, but they weren't complaining, well...Danny was.
He hated this plan. He hated all villains, and now he had to become one?! Nothing about this seemed to work for him. But he knew that it was the only way to get the Titans off of their tracks, at least for a little while. Also, Sam had promised that they wouldn't actually commit any crimes, well, at least, any BIG crimes. Maybe a couple misdemeanors and annoyances, but nothing really...criminal. They didn't need anymore crimes to add to their ever-growing list of charges. Besides, Danny had to admit that it was the best plan at the time. But that didn't mean he had to like it.
"I don't know, but I don't like it." Tucker grumbled with his arms crossed.
"Oh, stop complaining and pick out some masks while I find us some clothes." Sam sighed. Tucker glared at her. "What's wrong with what we're wearing?" He asked.
Sam rolled her eyes at him. "Just pick out a mask." She snarled as she walked over to the costumes, to find uniforms for them.
Danny shook us head at their argument and turned towards the back wall of the store that held a multitude of different masks. He scanned the wall, gazing intently at each and every mask, inspecting each one, trying to see if there was one that matched him.
Jazz grabbed one off of the wall. It was white. etched with thin copper swirls. It was only a half mask, with the right side of her face still exposed, except for the skin under her eye, which was covered by the mask. Small copper crystals surrounded one of the eyes, giving a small "pop" of color to the white mask. She placed it on her face and turned to us. Even with it only being a half mask, she was still unrecognizable. Danny nodded, signifying that it suited her. She took it off and smiled, walking to where Sam was, going to try to help her pick something for them to wear.
Tucker then grabbed another one of the masks. It was also a half mask, but it was gold and decorated fully with wires and circuits of the same color, if not, darker. The whole appearance of the decorations on the mask gave it a sort of "Techno" feel, perfect for Tucker. He sighed. "Well, might as well be a handsome criminal." He smirked at Danny.
The boy snickered at his friends words, just as his eyes landed on a mask that seemed to be perfect for him. It was a full-face mask, except for where it ended short on the bottom, leaving exposed his mouth and chin. It was split down the middle, separating into two colors, an eerie silver and a jet black with small swirls of bright green. He smiled at the mask and took it. He followed Tucker over to where Sam was, but not before he reached back and grabbed a mask that seemed to be perfect for her. Once they reached the girls, they had four outfits in their hands, but they held them close to their bodies, making it impossible for the boys to see.
Sam turned her head to look at him and he handed her the mask. It was a simple mask that only covered her eyes. It was a smokey black with tips that stretched over the sides of her face, converting into feathers, making it look like the ends of the mask were the wings of a raven, even the part of the mask that ended on the bridge of her nose seemed to end with a small point, like a bird's beak. Down the middle of the mask were four small purple crystals. She smiled and gently took it from his hands.
"I think we have everything we need." She said proudly.
"You guys better not make us look like dorks!" Tucker sneered as he folded his arms. "If i'm going to cover up this face, I better at least be wearing something to make up for it." He snapped grumpily.
They couldn't do anything but laugh, making him angrier.
Once they had paid for their things,including some other items they might need for their endeavors, stopping by a gas station, buying some more food, cards, and a small portable radio to listen in on the police scanner and current news, they quickly headed back to the factory, not wanting to be out in the open for long periods of time, now that the Titans were on high alert. As soon as they arrived, it was probably around 2'o clock in the morning, but they decided to get some sleep, considering it had preciously been interrupted by the unwanted visitors.
"So...tomorrow night, we'll make ourselves known." Danny said, yawning in the middle of his statement, causing the others to yawn as well, earning Danny playful glares.
Sam only nodded as she slowly drifted off to sleep, quickly followed by the others.
After they woke, the day went by slowly. Mostly, the group discussed what their plan of action would be, while lazily playing with the pack of cards that Tucker had stashed away.
"So, as soon as a villain shows their face sometime after dark, we'll show up, take them down, and wait for the Titans to show. They'll probably go all We're taking you in for questioning...blah...blah...blah...taking you down, even though we have no evidence of you doing anything wrong..! You know, like all superheroes lately." Danny sneered, the others agreeing.
"Seriously, what is with all of these superheroes jumping to conclusions? I mean, the government isn't always right! They do LIE!" Jazz yelled while the others nodded.
"Hey, I just thought of something." Danny said. "If the Titans find out that we're causing trouble, won't it just look worse for us?" He asked.
"Well, then we won't get caught." Tucker smirked as he laughed, slamming a card down on the pavement, much to Danny's frustration.
"Yeah, that is true. If we're caught by them, then the whole "we're innocent" card will fall out. They won't trust a single word out of our mouths." Jazz fretted
"So we WON"T GET CAUGHT!"Tucker shouted, waving his arms dramatically. Danny sighed and glanced out the window, there conversation had started around lunchtime, and now that the sun was setting, they still hadn't stopped.
Sam shook her head, suddenly stopping and staring straight ahead. Danny looked at her. "Uh...Sam, you okay?" He asked.
"Hello? Earth to Sam!" Tucker shouted as he waved a hand in front of her face. She blinked her eyes and turned toward the group. "I just thought of something. We don't have any names. We can't exactly call each other by our first names while we're out there." She said. Danny's eyes widened. "Of course!" He said.
"So what do we call ourselves?" Jazz asked. She opened her mouth, only to be cut off by Sam. "If you say Ghost Getters #'s 1, 2, 3, and 4, I am going to come over there!" She growled. Jazz smiled nervously and shut her mouth. "Okay, so what do you have planned?" Danny asked. She thought about it. "Well..."
Titans Tower
Robin stared at the screen with a deep scowl on his face. They had checked all of the locations, but they hadn't found anything. The closest they came was that abandoned factory, and he knew there was sometind deeper there, but he couldn't figure out what. If it really was just a couple of homeless kids, then Robin had no business messing with them. But if it really was the Spectral Suspects, then Robin had to keep a close eye on that building.
A knock on his door threw him from his thoughts. It opened to reveal Starfire. "What is it, Star?" Robin asked, eyes still glued to the screen.
"I was wondering if you would care to join us in the partaking of a movie." She asked with a smile.
"Can't I have to keep working. They're out there somewhere." Robin said, he would have said more, but he was interrupted when Starfire placed a hand on his shoulder and made him look up.
"Robin, please. I am worried. You are falling back into your old tendencies. I fear you are becoming obsessed with finding The Suspects of Specters. Please, I demand you take a break. Please. For me." She pleaded, giving him the 'puppy eyes' for added affect. Robin looked like he wanted to argue, but he just sighed and nodded his head. Starfire let out a squeak of joy and roughly grabbed his arms, dragging him towards the living room, his feet creating streams of smoke as they were dragged across the floor at an incredible speed.
"Dude, you guys made it!" Beastboy cheered as Robin was dropped onto the couch by an over-excited alien. She then flew down and took a seat next to a now sore Robin. Cyborg sat on his other side, popcorn, soda and an assortment of other candies in his arms. Raven sat at the end of the couch, a book in hand and a scowl on her face at being dragged out of her room to watch the movie. She sent a red-eyed glare at Beastboy, who rubbed the back of his neck and wheeled to the front of the room, facing the couch.
"Okay, tonight's special feature is a pick between the horrors of Bloody Terror and the action packed goodness that is Racing Against Time!" Beastboy said, holding up the two movies.
"Uhh..haven't we already had enough experiences with horror movies?" Robin asked, remembering the last horror movie the team had watched.
Beastboy thought about it and made his choice, throwing out the other movie in the process. "Action movie it is!" He yelled, throwing the movie into the receiver and jumping into the couch next to Starfire. The screen was starting to load when suddenly, the screen started to blink a bright red as it flickered to a breaking news broadcast. Beastboy groaned and slunk down onto the floor. Starfire gasped, Robin and Cyborg bolted upright, and Raven placed her book down.
"We are here live, in Downtown Jump, where a heated battle is underway. The Hive are at it again, and this time, they seem to be battling new opponents." The reporter said as the camera moved to cover the scene.
The Hive members were locked in a heated battle with four strangers, unable to be clearly seen in the live feed. "Whoa, who the heck are those people?" Beastboy asked as he stared at the screen. "I don't know. But it doesn't matter. We don't need any crazy vigilantes in the city, especially if their destroying Jump and endangering the citizens. Titans Go!" Robin yelled, jumping into action.
Downtown Jump City
Danny sighed as he dropped Jinx onto the ground, a fresh layer of ice around her arms and hands, stopping her from blasting him.
"Man, we've only been here for three days and these guys are already the most annoying thing here." He snarled as he watched Sam and Jazz once again take down Mammoth. "Well, apart from the Titans." Tucker said as Gizmo fell to the ground, once again, a victim to Tuckers incredible hacking skills. "Seriously, dude. You need to upgrade your equipment." He sneered as he walked over to the others.
"Got to say, Sam. You guys really know how to pick clothes." Tucker said, looking down at them again.
Danny's outfit matched his. Black pants tucked into steel toed, black boots, along with a dark gray shirt and black leather jackets, along with their masks.
The girls wore something similar, only instead of pants, they wore skirts that stretched to the middle of their thighs, underneath them were dark grey tights that were also tucked into higher up black boots that stretched to their knees. Their dark gray shirts were also covered by shorter leather jackets that stopped at their ribs. That, accompanied with their masks, they looked formidable.
Apart from Danny, they were all equipped with weapons.
Each of them still had their wrist rays, but now, Tucker had the Fenton Wrangler, a glowing whip with a strong metal handle that he had clipped to the side of his belt.
Sam had a version of the Ghost Gauntlets, but a smaller, more compact version that slipped onto her hands like a pair of normal metal gloves that increased her strength and allowed bolts of energy to course through her finger tips.
Jazz had the ecto-staff. A metal staff with glowing green tips that passed energy through it, shocking whatever it hit with ecto energy. She twirled it in her hands and pressed a button on the side, shrinking it into a metal stick and clipped in onto her belt. Danny was just using his ice powers, considering it was probably the least know power of his, lesser known than his ectoplasmic energy ray, which the Titans would probably recognize in a heartbeat, especially if they had been studying recent fight clips.
"So, now what?" Tucker asked as he stared at the defeated villains.
"Now you go to jail!" A new voice yelled. They turned to see the Titans in a defensive stance.
"Man, you guys took forever!" Danny yelled. "Yeah, I thought you guys WANTED to take the bad guys down." Tucker sneered. "Well so far, you're doing a pretty lousy job." Sam snapped.
Robin narrowed his eyes. "Who the heck are you guys?!" He asked. The other titans seemed just as confused at the newcomers arrival.
"Who are we? Wouldn't you like to know?" Sam smirked
"Well, we've been seen in many places." Jazz stated.
"Driven out from everywhere we go..." Tucker continued.
"We are now The Forgotten Faces." Danny finished.
Cyborg smirked. "How long did it take you to come up with that? Five minutes?"
"Seven, thank you very much! And I thought it was pretty good." Sam said crossing her arms.
"Besides, at least we can always keep our name. You guys DO plan on staying a team forever, right? Well then, what happens when you're thirty-something? You can't exactly call yourselves the TEEN Titans. That'd just be weird." Danny laughed.
Beastboy flattened his ears. "He does make a good point." He whimpered.
"So, what are your individual names? You do have names right." Cyborg sneered.
"Of course we have names, Bolts for Brains!" Jazz snapped.
She gestured to herself. "I'm Copper.
"This is Gold..." She pointed to Tucker.
"...Selenium..." She pointed to Sam.
"And Arsenic." She pointed to Danny, who pointed his fingers at the female titans, clicking his tongue in the process.
"Those aren't your real names!"Robin snapped.
Sam rolled her eyes. "Right, we're just going to give you our real names. Would you like our address and social security numbers as well, or better yet, why don't we just give you all our personal information! Man you really are dull as dirt." She laughed.
"Enough! We're taking you into custody!" Robin yelled, gripping his staff tighter.
"Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try!" Tucker sneered.
"Hoping you'd say that." Raven said as her hands lit up with energy.
The group glared at Tucker, who laughed nervously.
"Titans, Go!"
Robin leapt forwards, knocking Danny to the ground. Before the others had a chance to react, the other titans had leapt into action.
The fight began,
Robin swung his staff down onto the boy, who twisted on the ground, barely missing the staff. He swung his legs forward, knocking Robin to the ground. As he tried to stand, Danny placed a hand to the ground, freezing it over. Robin yelled out in surprise as the ground under him became slippery and cold. He crashed onto his side and tried to retain his balance, to no avail. Danny laughed as the Boy Wonder slipped and slid on the ground, which only made him angrier. He reached into his belt and grabbed three bird-a-rangs. He flung his arm out and threw them in Danny's direction. He gasped and felt himself be thrown backwards as they exploded, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Robin finally managed to escape from the cold patch of ground and stand up straight on the hard road. He shuffled his feet and readied himself just as Danny flew at his, grabbing his shoulders and jumping over him. Before Robin could even turn around, Danny had frozen his feet to the ground, causing Robin to fall forward, catching himself on his hands before he face planted into the ground. He grabbed his staff and started whacking the ice around his feet. Danny took this opportunity to go check on the others.
But before he could even get a few feet away, Raven appeared in front of him and sent a shot of black magic at his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Sam faced Starfire, who flew a few feet off of the ground, with glowing green eyes and a matching set of hands. The light faded however when Starfire looked at the masked girl.
"Please, I do not wish to harm you." She pleaded with the girl. "Then leave us alone!" Sam yelled back, a hint of hesitation inside her.
"I'm afraid we cannot do that." Starfire said. "Then I'm afraid we have to fight." Sam said as she powered up the gloves. Starfire sighed, then flew at the girl. Sam was ready for this and grabbed her shoulders as she flew by and threw her to the ground. Starfire yelped as she fell, not prepared for the forward defense. She powered up her starbolts and shot a continuous stream at the girl, who expertly dodged them with flips and turns. In turn, she shot at Star with he gloves. She flew in the air, avoiding the shots as her eyes then glowed green and she fired a shot at the girl's feet. Sam didn't expect this and flew backwards into the ground.
Starfire gasped, not wishing to hurt the girl too much, only to feel electricity course through her body as the girl grabbed onto her leg with the gloves. She let out a squeak as she flew up into the air, out of reach from the girl and charged up her hands again, flying down at the girl, who caught her outstretched hands. They then proceeded to engage in a battle of strength as they pushed each other back and forth. Starfire's strength greatly rivaled hers however, even with the gloves and she felt herself being pushed back slowly.
Tucker faced off against Cyborg.
"Come on, man. We don't want to hurt you." The teen said.
"Really, that's not what it looks like to me." Tucker sneered as he pulled out the whip. Cyborg narrowed his eye and charges the boy, who surprisingly side-stepped him and threw his whip out, wrapping itself around the cyborg, pulling him back to the ground. He raised his arm as best he could and pointed a sonic cannon at the masked teen. Tucker yelped and dropped the whip, running out of range of the large gun. Cyborg sighed and wiggled free of the whip, only to feel a tingling sensation go up his spine, or what was left of his spine. He turned his head to see that his systems were being hacked.
"What?! Yo! Whose hacking into my systems?! Nobody can hack into my systems!" He screamed as a metal polisher appeared out of his shoulder and started to rub against his face. "Then you haven't met me!" Tucker laughed. Cyborg turned his head to see the boy had pulled out a shiny PDA and was tapping commands into it with a grey stylus. Cyborg growled and pointed his cannon at the boy, who gulped and jumped to the side just as it fires, narrowly missing him. He crouched on the ground and growled at the boy. "Fine, let's have some fun!" He yelled as he pressed a button on his PDA. cyborg gulped as he felt his body tingling.
Jazz swung the staff, hitting the gorilla in the chest, knocking him backwards, transforming him back into Beastboy.
"Dude! That thing hurts!" He yelled as he rubbed his chest.
"That's the point, idiot!" Jazz growled as she placed one end of the staff o the ground and propelled herself upwards, raising her leg as she did so, hitting the boy in the shoulder, knocking him back. When he got up again, he was int eh form of a Tiger. Jazz gripped the staff tighter as he charged and jumped over him as he went, forcefully poking the stick down onto his back, making him roar out in pain at the shock. He reverted back into his human form and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Jeez, you're mean!" He whined as he rubbed his back. Jazz twirled the staff and roughly placed one end on the ground as she held onto the other end.
"It's a good thing you're pretty!" He yelled. Jazz merely rolled her eyes. Suddenly, he turned into an octopus and wrapped a tentacle around her waist. She screamed and squirmed in his grasp. He closed his eyes in joy, only to let out a cry of shock as Jazz kicked him in the face. He instantly dropped her and she went crashing to the ground. She groaned and pushed herself up as Beastboy whimpered and held his nose. She growled and grasped the staff as they charged each other.
Danny shot a blast of cold out of his hand, hitting Raven in the shoulder, sending her crashing to the ground. Before Danny could even respond, he felt a searing pain in the base of his spine as he let out a scream and fell to the ground. He turned and saw Robin smirking at him, staff in hand, with the tip sparking with electricity. Danny surged forward, faster than Robin expected, and grabbed the staff. The two of them had a mini tug of war, as they fought for the staff. Suddenly, Danny felt ice crawling across the staff and smiled as the staff froze to Robin's hands, much to the boys shock.
"Azarath Matrion Zinthos!"
Suddenly, Danny felt his body be enveloped by black magic as Raven lifted him up into the air. "Gotcha" She said, knowing that the boy wouldn't be able to break free, no matter how much he squirmed. Danny felt fear rising in his chest as he realized that he couldn't break free. Raven brought the boy down to the ground as she and Robin stalked up to him. Robin narrowed his eyes and reached for his mask.
"D-Arsenic!" Sam yelled as she saw the scene unfold. She raised her arm and shot a green beam from the ray on her wrist, hitting Raven in the side, causing her to knock into Robin, sending both teens crashing to the ground. The energy around Danny evaporated and he ran over to Sam, who was being cornered by Starfire. He raised his hands, shooting a blast of ice, hitting Starfire in the legs, sending her plummeting to the ground, but not before Danny caught her arms and gently placed her on the ground, much to her confusion, both of them knowing that a fall from that height would have seriously hurt.
"T-Gold, Copper, time to go!" He said as his friends turned towards him. They finished off what they were doing and ran to him, quickly followed by the Titan they were fighting. Raven and Robin had now jumped to their feet and ran over to them as well. The five Titans surrounded the four masked teens in a semi-circle, their backs blocked by a tall wall.
Danny faced the titans with narrowed eyes, the others protectively behind him. Robin narrowed his eyes at the stance that he boy was taking. Protective. His fists clenched. "Well, this was fun. But we really have to go." Danny said as he turned his head to Jazz. She nodded and threw something down on the ground. The air was then covered with grey smoke. When it cleared, Robin growled and stomped out of the alley, followed by his team mates.
The Forgotten Faces were gone.
Don't ask why I names them after elements in the periodic table, cause I don't know either. Maybe it's because we just finished learning about them in school and I thought some of them would make pretty cool names.
Also, sorry for the stupid name (The Forgotten Faces). Couldn't really think of anything that sounded good, considering they all wore masks, so I added something with the word "faces". Don't JUDGE!
Next chapter should be out soon.
P.S.- what do you know? I guess this chapter wasn't so delayed after all. Yay for me! (and you guys are probably happy as well.)
:)
