"Ro-----bin! Do something with your woman!" - Beast Boy
The Holly Is A Lonely Hunter…Owait
October 4th
Afternoon
While wearing the suit and mask, he was no longer Jonny. He was Maverick. His suit seemed to be a mix between Slade's own and the garb of the training robots. He wore metal, gauntleted gloves and a curved shoulder bracer on his left side. His cowled mask was cloth and, also unlike Slade's, it was cut horizontally instead of vertically into orange and black. There were two white eye slits and the mouth was completely open. There was a metal 'S' over his heart and in the center of his belt. His bodysuit was orange and black and his combat boots were metal tipped. On his belt, instead of his traditional lasso, was a black, coiled grappling hook.
Kelly, now called Artemis in her uniform, was dressed very differently. Her eye mask was red and pointed up sharply on either side of her face. She wore a leather-plated skirt that was short in the front and long in the back, half boots and a sleeveless, black and orange breastplate. She also had a length of cord tied around each of her upper arms and held a stringed, silver bow nearly as tall as she was. Bolted into the body of the bow was a metal cable linked to the end of a single steel arrow that clamped conveniently down the middle of her breastplate and pointed at her belly button.
Slade, as was his custom, sat on the raised foyer and watched them with a single, analytical eye. Maverick and Artemis stood back to back as twenty or more of the orange and black training robots surrounded them.
"Remember, you are the Undergrounders." Slade told them. "A team. A unit. A family. You must think each other's thoughts and trust each other completely to succeed. You can only rely on each other. No one else." He paused to let that sink in. "Now begin!"
The training robots came to life and Maverick and Artemis leaped into action. Artemis drew her bow, notched the arrow and shot at the nearest robot. The metal arrow flew through the air and metal cable whistled behind it. The arrow impaled the robot. Even as he looked down at the projectile protruding from his chest, Artemis yanked hard on the cable. The robot flew through the air towards her super-powered fist.
BAM!
The robot was reduced to spare parts. Meanwhile, Maverick held out his hands and sang.
Lightning started flashing
Thunder started crashing
Ooooh…white lightning!
Electricity streaked from his hands to one of the robots, causing him to shake violently and blow up. Two robots next to him flinched and covered themselves from the concussion of the explosion.
The rest of the robots charged in. Artemis snapped her bow onto her back and held up her fists. Maverick hummed and held a flaming fire sword in his hands.
A robot jumped at Artemis, his hands laced over his head into one giant fist. Kelly caught the attack, grit her teeth and ripped both of its arms off. She kicked the armless robot in the chest, knocking him back into others. Then she threw the sparking arms at two more advancing combatants.
Maverick meltingly cleaved a robot in half from head to pelvis with his hot sword and then flew up on a current of wind before the others could converge on him. Up above their heads, he crunched the fire sword into a fireball and flung it down at the tightly packed group below.
PHOMB!
From his vantage point in the air, Maverick saw two robots diving at Artemis' unprotected back.
"Kel-" He stopped himself. "Artemis! Watch out!"
"Stop!" Slade called. The battle froze as the robots stopped and stood in place. Maverick floated back to the ground and pulled off his mask.
"That was my fault, wasn't it?" Jonny asked shamefacedly.
"Artemis' blindside is your responsibility." Slade said. "You have to protect her, just as she must protect you. Next time I won't stop it from happening."
Jonny couldn't look Artemis in the eye.
"Sorry." He muttered.
Artemis smiled reassuringly at him.
"That's why we're training, right?"
Jonny nodded, took a deep breath and slipped his mask back on.
Slade snapped his fingers.
"Restart!"
TTTTTTTTTT
Dr. Pytor Raskov and Gemini called her Project 22 but, in her mind, she was still Trish Greinke. Despite all their efforts, they still hadn't taken away her sense of self…not yet, anyway. But she was almost…almost…willing to give that up just to avoid a single trip to Research Room Two.
"You knew this was coming." Dr. Raskov told her. Again he led her down a Gemini hallway with light blue Gemini Guardsmen watching her every move. "You should have known better than to disrespect me in the training room yesterday."
"I think you disrespected yourself." Trish said. "I hope you had a change of pants."
"Cute." Dr. Raskov stated flatly. "I'm curious to see just how long this jocularity of yours persists. Research Room Two always seems to sober you."
Trish tried to swallow down the lump in her throat to no avail and her blood suddenly ran cold. Her chest tightened into a clamp and her stomach felt like it was filled with lead. From the moment she threw the severed tentacle arm at the window of the observation deck, Trish knew this would happen. Still, she hoped against hope that Dr. Raskov would show some kind of mercy to her.
She should have known better.
"You said you don't get personal with your test subjects." Trish tried to persuade him. "You don't get much more personal than revenge, right?"
Dr. Raskov looked over his shoulder at her, seemingly amused.
"Is that what you think this is? Revenge?" He smiled thinly. "No, this is nothing of the sort! The very first thing you must do when experimenting on lab rats is to teach them not to bite. You will respect me."
Trish said nothing. She tried to walk tall and face her fate bravely. But the closer they came to the room and the more familiar the surroundings became, she began to lose her nerve. Her pace slowed and the Gemini Guardsmen had to urge her along.
"Oh? Is something wrong?" Dr. Raskov asked slimily without abating his pace.
Trish wanted to lash out at him. Call him every name under the sun. Attack him, kick him…rip out his throat. But she couldn't. The fear paralyzed her and her will broke.
"I'm sorry!" She blurted out, her eyes filling with tears. "I didn't mean it! I won't ever do it again!"
Dr. Raskov stopped the little procession and turned around. He moved aside one of the Gemini Guardsmen so he could look her in the face. Trish was a good four inches taller than him, but the doctor stood and smirked as if he were ten feet tall.
"You're sorry, are you?" He smirked.
"Yes, I'm sorry! I'll do anything, okay? Just don't make me go in that room!"
Dr. Raskov's smirked broadened.
"Anything, hm? Then beg for me."
"W-what?"
"Beg me." Dr. Raskov repeated. "Get on your knees and beg me not to do it."
Trish's heart screamed no, but her body screamed yes. She hated herself for it, but she fell down to her hands and knees. She stared down at the floor and refused to look up in her shame.
"I beg you." She whispered. "Don't make me go in that room."
"What was that?"
"P-please! Don't put me in the machine!"
"I think you mean it." Dr. Raskov said through his thick accent. "That's too bad. Guards! Bring her!"
Trish raised her head.
"What are you-" The Gemini Guardsmen roughly picked her up. She struggled, but the robots held her tight. "You!" She raged. "You son of a bitch! You bastard!"
Dr. Raskov ignored her and the Gemini Guardsmen dragged her, kicking and screaming, to Research Room Two.
TTTTTTTTTT
Robin immediately put his quest to contact Maryse Gemini on hold when Cyborg called ahead over the communicator line. He and Starfire left his room and met the rest of the group in Cyborg's lab. When they got there, Cyborg was pouring over three different computer readouts as Raven looked on. Beast Boy himself was hooked up to a dozen different machines at once, covered with suction cups and a metal mask over his nose and mouth was connected to a long tube.
"Whoa." Robin blinked and did a double take.
"Tell me about it." Raven said.
Beast Boy didn't look like Beast Boy anymore. His skin was a healthy, rosy white, his eyes were blue and his shaggy hair was blonde. Even his facial structure had become leaner, losing that look of feralness it had possessed before, and his ears were smooth and round.
"Beast Boy?" Starfire gasped. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, Starfire." Beast Boy stressed irritably, his voice muffled behind the mask. He turned his head to Raven. "If you stare at me any harder you're gonna burn a hole through my brain."
Raven raised her hood.
"…I assumed you were always different. I never knew you were normal."
"It's a long story." Beast Boy said. "That I'll tell you if Cyborg would get this stuff off me!"
"We have to check you, B.B." Cyborg said. "We have no idea what else that stuff might have done to you."
"But I feel fine!"
Cyborg typed.
"You might feel fine." He said. "But you don't look fine." He stopped typing. He paused. "Okay…so you look fine, too. But you know what I mean!"
Robin folded his arms and curiously looked over Cyborg's metal shoulder at the computer monitors. He eyed the wavy lines monitoring Beast Boy's heartbeat and blood pressure, among other things.
"What 'stuff' are we talking about?" Robin asked.
"I sent it to Dr. Sarah Charles down at Star Labs to get it analyzed." Cyborg said. "I get the feeling I'm gonna have my hands full with examining Beast Boy."
"It was some kind of green, toxic waste crud!" Beast Boy said beneath his mask. "And the barrels had Gemini on them!"
Robin's face hardened.
"Somehow I'm not surprised." He stated.
Meanwhile, a wide-eyed Starfire had been inching closer and closer to Beast Boy. She giggled when he noticed her and, somehow, it made the formerly green changeling wary.
"Beast Boy!" Starfire exclaimed. "You are adorable!" She reached out and nearly pinched his cheek off.
"Starfire!" Beast Boy moaned. "I need my face in one piece!"
"My apologies, friend, but I cannot help myself. You are just so cute! Is he not cute, Raven?"
"Absolutely resplendent." She said hollowly.
"Yes! Heheheh!" Starfire pinched him again.
"Ro-----bin!" Beast Boy whined. "Do something with your woman!"
Cyborg snickered.
"Sorry, Beast Boy." Robin said. "You'll have to live with it. I need to go torture myself again by waiting on hold."
Starfire giggled and reached for Beast Boy again.
TTTTTTTTTT
The despair of being forced into jumping off a cliff is horribly mind numbing. Trish fought back only because there were no other options available. She knew she couldn't win. The massive pain that awaited her was inevitable. She screamed and raged and let out an endless epithet of vile words. She knew the moment the string of harsh words stopped she would break down and cry. She didn't want to give Dr. Raskov the satisfaction of witnessing it.
The Gemini Guardsmen thrust Trish in to the machine. It was a solid block of steel, with a hollow molding of her body shape. Trish was put into the molding and strapped down. Across from her was an identical sheet of steel with the same molding. The sight of it squashed all hope for Trish. She clenched her eyes shut and wished it all away.
"Let's begin." Dr. Raskov said.
There was a whirring motor and, inch by inch, the two sheets of steel moved together. Trish kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to see. She didn't want to see. She didn't want to see.
Her eyes popped open. The two sheets were inches apart.
She screamed and, finally out of sight, she let out a sniveling sob.
The steel came together. It was like being suffocated and buried and alive and crushed to death, all at the same time. Every inch of Trish's body was compressed, harder and harder. She could no longer open her mouth to scream. Her tears had nowhere to go.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. PAIN.
It was everything. Nothing else mattered but her nerve endings howling at the slow torture.
Trish wanted to die. She didn't care anymore. She just wanted it to stop.
And then it did. Her overloaded brain shut down from the pain, thrusting her into blissful, merciful oblivion.
TTTTTTTTTT
The Hunter Detective Agency was nestled in a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Downtown. The lease was more affordable because it was in an older part of the city, but it was close enough to Uptown for Jump City's higher class citizens to seek out the agency's services without fear.
The Agency itself was a small hole in the wall. Behind a plate glass window that read 'Hunter Detective Agency' with a bullseye superimposed on it was a tiny lobby with just enough room for a secretary desk and a few scattered waiting chairs. Sitting at the desk was a young man, bespectacled and with a cowlick in his brown hair that refused to stay down no matter what he did to it.
Upstairs was an office just as small where a woman in her early twenties lounged in a soft, swivel chair with her feet propped up on the desk. Her hair was long and blonde, pouring out in a conservative braid from beneath a burgundy fedora. She wore a long trench coat of the same color, a knee-length black skirt, a white buttoned dress shirt, silver-rimmed eyeglasses and high black boots. With bored playfulness, she balled up a piece of paper, aimed and shot it basketball-style into the waste bin across the room.
"Nice shot, Holly." Commissioner Walker said as he walked in. "It's nice to see you're keeping busy."
"Business is good enough." She said defensively. "You just caught me on a slow day."
"Right…"
The intercom on the desk buzzed and the secretary's voice came through electronically.
"Ms, Walker! Someone just barged up the stairs to see you! I tried to stop him but-"
"I know." Holly replied irritably. "What would I ever do without you?"
"I don't think-"
"It was sarcastically rhetorical!" Holly grated in to the speaker and then slammed her hand down to turn it off. She looked up at Walker. "What are you doing here?" She demanded.
"I thought I'd come by and check out the place." Walker said. "I see you used your mother's maiden name."
"How observant of you, dad." Holly said dryly. "Maybe you should be a detective, too!"
"Yeah, yeah." The commissioner grumbled. "You're as sassy as ever. I get it." He reached into his jacket for his cigarettes.
"There's no smoking in here." Holly told him coolly.
"What? You're shittin' me!"
"Nope." Holly said. "I figure if I deprive you of nicotine, you'll hurry up and get to the point."
Walker's brow creased, deepening the wrinkles on his weather-beaten face, but then he let it pass.
"I thought I'd throw a case your way." He said instead. "It'll be better than stalking some rich guy and taking photos of him playing hide the salami with his tennis instructor…or whatever."
"Don't act like you're giving me a pity job." Holly said. "You wouldn't ask me for help unless you really needed it."
"You're too damn smart for your own good." Walker mumbled. "I need you to find out everything you can about Maryse Gemini and Gemini Industries. You got sources and contacts that I don't have access to. Send me everything you find."
"My resources are a little too low class to know anything about one of the biggest businesses…and most successfully businesswoman…in the world." Holly pointed out.
"I think you'd be surprised."
"Fine." Holly accepted. "Fifty dollars an hour. I'll fax you anything I find out. Now go away."
"It was nice seeing you again, Holly." Walker said.
Holly pretended not to hear. She flipped on the intercom.
"Jonathon!" She said through the speaker to the secretary. "Make yourself useful and bring me a double crème latte." She paused and added with a whisper: "With sprinkles."
But Commissioner Walker was already gone.
TTTTTTTTTT
Starfire finally grew tired of pinching Beast Boy's rosy cheeks and Raven had retreated to meditate or read a book or whatever it was she did when she was alone. She didn't offer that information when she left. So Cyborg and Beast Boy were alone in the lab when the full body scan drew to a close. Beast Boy fidgeted against all the wires connected to him, his blue eyes darting back and forth like a caged animal.
"Are we done yet?" He asked for the millionth time behind the metal breathing mask.
"Just a few more seconds, BB." Cyborg said. He typed and typed and typed…
Beast Boy sighed and watched him. He opened his mouth again-
"There!" Cyborg hit one last key. "All done."
"Wooooooooooo!" Beast Boy cheered. He ripped off his mask and literally leapt out of the suction cups and wires. "Finally! Freedom!"
Beast Boy looked around, stretched and hopped in place, just because he could. Then he went behind Cyborg and peered over his shoulder at the three computer monitors.
"So?" He prodded. "Am I gonna live?"
"The body scan and my diagnostics say you're fine." Cyborg said.
"See?" Beast Boy crowed. "I told you I was fine-"
"Except," Cyborg went on pointedly. "You seem to have a higher than normal leukocyte count."
"Luke-o-wut-os?"
"White blood cells." Cyborg said. "They're what fight off any infections that get in your body."
"So, like, I'm less likely to get sick, too?" Beast Boy said. "That's not just fine. It's like…double fine!"
"I think you're gonna be okay." Cyborg said. "But it's not that simple. If your white blood cell count gets too high, you could develop an auto-immune disease."
Beast Boy cocked a quizzical blonde eyebrow.
"Your leukocytes could start attacking healthy cells instead of infections." Cyborg stood up and smiled. "No big deal, though. We just need to keep an eye on it, that's all."
"Hey, Cyborg." Beast Boy said, suddenly curious.
"Yo?"
"Do you like the new me or the old me better?" He asked.
"You liked the metal me better than the holographic image of Stone, right? When I went undercover into Hive?"
"Yep." Beast Boy nodded. "You're just not as cool as a normal person."
"I like the green you better." Cyborg said. "Besides, I'm gonna miss calling you grass-stain. Now let's go to the kitchen and get some lunch. I'm starving!"
"I'll catch up in a second." Beast Boy said. Then he paused. "And don't get your meat anywhere near my tofu!" He called after him.
Now alone in the lab, Beast Boy sat down at Cyborg's work station and shut off one of the glowing computer monitors. He looked into the resulting dark glass to see his reflection.
Beast Boy had been green since he was nine years old. He'd had years to deal with it and come to terms with it. In fact, sometimes he enjoyed being different and the center of everyone's attention. But now he suddenly didn't have to. He wondered if this was how Terra felt, coming free of the rock with full control of her powers. For the first time in her life, Terra was capable of being normal and having a normal existence.
Beast Boy reached out and touched his reflection on the computer screen.
Maybe she had the right idea…