Chapter eleven: Connection
Titans Tower was now buzzing with activity again as all the titans were awake. Robin and Cyborg were with Jason, monitoring and studying his abilities as Jason put on a display of dancing electricity and showed off all he had learned. He was now able to magnetize metals and pull them to himself and pull electricity from objects, or power up ones without. He was learning very quickly how to control himself.
"This is great, check this out." Jason said.
He threw a couple streams of electricity nearly to the other side of the room and pulled a weight bar from the bench to himself.
"That's impressive." Robin said with a smile.
"Yeah, and your vitals look great. Though you may want to be careful, you are losing your charge pretty quickly. You don't have an infinite supply of power after all." Cyborg said.
"Yeah but check this out," Jason said as he sent another stream to a nearby wall, "I can take the power from the building to charge myself up. I technically have an unlimited supply of power."
"Just be careful with it so we don't have.."
"Yeah yeah, I know. It's not like I can forget. I'm being careful after all. The only thing is, I have to remember to empty myself of energy before I go to bed so something doesn't happen while I sleep."
"I'm glad you're thinking about it. Now we just need a way for you to store your energy when it builds up."
"I think we got some car batteries in the garage that he could charge up." Cyborg said.
"Sounds good, just don't go overboard with your powers alright? You could still pretty easily shut off the power to the tower." Robin said.
"Alright, I'll be careful."
"Ya know, with your powers, you could make a pretty good team mate. Whata ya say, wanna be a Teen Titan?"
Jason was thrilled at the idea of being a hero, but didn't think he could do it. Despite the powers he wielded, he still wasn't physically fit and probably would do more harm than good. Even so, if Robin offered, he was probably already aware of the drawbacks.
"Really, yeah, that'd be great! Not sure how useful I'd be right now though." Jason said excitedly.
"Don't worry about it. We will train you proper and get you to hero status in no time." Robin said.
"First things first though, you can't be a super hero without a secret identity. You'll need something to cover your face up as well I think. In fact, I may just have any idea for that."
Robin walked off, leaving Cyborg and Jason in the dark.
"Uhhh ok." Jason said, a bit confused.
"Well I guess that means I get to help you make a name for yourself." Cyborg said, "How about Jolt?"
"No, that sounds like a name you give to a pet. Besides, I think it's taken already."
"Hmmm how about… Jump Start, that's a good name right?"
"No, that sounds a bit cheesy, and doesn't quite fit right."
The two thought about it for a moment, then Jason had it.
"Spark! I'm going with Spark. Not only doesn't fit with my powers, but it's easily turned into Sparks or Sparky. Anyway, it's available I'm sure if nothing else."
"Spark? Alright if that's what you want. Seem a bit bland to me, but it is your name so, Spark it is!" Cyborg said.
After the decision was made, Cyborg and Jason made their way back to the living room to announce Jason's new title and status. Cyborg made an announcement from his arm communicator the intercom for everyone to meat up in the living room. When they got there, everyone's attention was Cyborg and Jason. This made Jason very uneasy.
"Listen up everyone, we got a new member to the team. Introduce yourself." Cyborg said, shoving Jason forward.
"Well, like he said, Robin has asked me to join you guys as a titan. With that, my new secret identity is, Spark."
Everyone remained silent, and merely stared at Jason. Jason became even more uncomfortable.
"Spark? That's what we'll be calling you?" Beastboy said, "How about Supercharge, or Megawatt, or Volto the Supercharged Megawatt?"
"I think it's a wonderful name!" Starfire cheered, "I shall make a congratulatory dish from my home world to celebrate!"
"Grats, and welcome to the team!" Terra said.
"Yippee" was all Raven said.
"Hold on there star, we don't want to kill him with your evil food now, I'LL make the celebratory meal!" Cyborg said as he rushed over to the kitchen.
"Ok ok, Spark. Welcome to the team." Beastboy said as he walked over to shake Jason's hand.
Robin entered the room a moment later carrying a piece of metal.
"Here, try this on." he said as he handed the formed piece of metal to Jason.
"What is this?" Jason asked as he held up to inspect it.
"It's an alien metal. I was given that on my birthday a few years back. It really cool because it can almost turn invisible when you shock it. Try it out."
Jason sent a small electric charge between his hands and through the metal. To his amazement, the metal seemed to have disappeared.
"Whoa nice, but how does this help with protecting my identity if you can just see through it anyway?"
"This isn't the mask you'll be wearing yet. I've got some modifications to do to it. Trust me though, you'll like it."
For the next half an hour, everyone sat around and chatted while they waited for the food to get ready. Robin was telling stories about the titan's exploits and adventures. Cyborg and Beastboy were each trying to be the center of attention and made sure to glorify themselves every time they came up in the stories. Starfire listened intently to Robin as if being read a bedtime story. Terra was forming the metal to fit Jason's face better, then joined in with her own versions of the stories. Raven sat off to the side, almost ignoring everyone while she read her book.
After everyone ate, they all went their separate ways. Robin took the mask to add his modifications, Beastboy and Cyborg continued arguing about who was better in the stories, Terra and Starfire were watching the Discovery channel on the TV., and Raven remained at her seat, reading her book. Jason felt compelled to thank her. He walked over and sat beside her.
"Thanks" Jason said.
Raven's eyes left the page for only a second to look at Jason.
"For what?" Raven asked as she went back to reading.
"I'm not sure what you did, if anything, but I feel like I wouldn't have gotten control of my powers without your help, so thanks."
"You're welcome." Raven replied softly.
"Maybe we could meditate together again sometime?"
"If you're trying to ask me out on a date, it's not going to happen." Raven said as if she heard this a thousand times before.
"Well, I guess that was eventually going to happen," Jason now had a small smirk on his face, "but that's not what I meant. I understand though. I'll leave you to your book."
"Meditation would be nice." Raven said quickly as Jason got out of his seat.
Jason smiled and walked to the girls on the couch. He knew already that Raven would find him when next she wanted company. He sat down heavily, and the two girls seemed completely oblivious to his presence. On the TV., there were slugs crawling up a tree with the narrator describing every detail.
"Good show?" Jason asked, trying to break the silence. It didn't work however.
"Um, banana slugs, huge buggers. I've not seen one myself, but my brothers would talk about them a lot."
Still no reaction.
"Either of you two have any siblings?" Jason asked.
This caused Terra to look at him.
"All of my family is beneath the earth. I don't see them very often, but they are still there." Terra said, trying not to open any fresh wounds of Jason's, but also to be polite.
"Ah, well I'm sure they're doing alright then." Jason said.
"Well, anyone want…" Jason was cut off to the sound of the alarm going off again. Robin rushed into the room.
"Titans, Hive 5 are back. Spark, follow me." Robin said as he tossed the unfinished mask to Jason.
Everyone was up and moving with Jason struggling to keep up. He quickly put on his mask and sent a charge into it so he could see. To his amazement, a heads up display came up that was showing the names of everyone he looked at and their "status". He tried to ignore this for the time being while he made his way to the t-car. Everyone who could fly was doing so, leaving Cyborg, Robin, and Jason to be driven to their destination. Jason took this time to familiarize himself with the new mask.
"Whoa, how does this work?" Jason asked.
"It's not finished yet, but you can shock certain parts of it to get different effects. For now, you only have the HUD you are seeing now, and night vision. I wouldn't suggest trying that right now." Robin replied.
The ride was a bit long. Jason was trying out the mask and seeing just how much he could do with it. When he shocked a certain part, it would cause the system to give details on whatever he was looking at. How it did it, Jason did not know, but if this was the unfinished version, he couldn't wait to get the entire thing.
Soon enough, they arrived at their destination. Just as the report said, the Hive 5 were here, robbing a bank. Cyborg parked the car and the titans scrambled out. Overhead, Raven, Starfire, and Terra floated with Beastboy now on the ground, ready to transform.
"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled, and everyone charged their opponents.
Jason had no idea what he was doing, but followed in anyway. When all the fighting commenced, he looked around frantically for someone to shock. In all the smoke and explosions however, it was difficult to discern friend from foe. That was alleviated however when one of the came charging for Jason.
"Oh look, fresh meat!" the giant man chanted as he charged head first at Jason.
Jason was a bit shaken and fumbled his powers, causing his mask to go haywire. Just before the big man plowed him over, a large boulder smashed the man off to the side. Terra flew up to Jason.
"Spark, are you alright?" Terra called.
"Yeah, just trying to get used to this mask." Jason said.
"Well heads up, he's coming back!"
The large man easily picked up the boulder and threw it back at Terra. Jason and Terra narrowly dodge it, and recovered only to see another of the bad guys behind the big man.
"There's another one, I'll get the small one, you get the big guy!" Jason called to Terra as he raced past the charging behemoth.
Terra continued throwing rocks at the man, but it seemed to do nothing. Next, she raised the ground beneath his feet, lifting him high into the air. The man was now stuck on a pedestal, unable to move without falling.
Jason was now facing the small boy with metallic legs sprouting from his backpack.
"Another moron to join the cause huh? Well what do you do, sneeze on people?" the little boy taunted.
Jason was now getting the hang of his mask. The functions were working properly and it displayed the name and some details of this small kid in front of him. It read, "Gizmo; uses technology to fight. Weakness; his backpack." As he finished reading, Gizmo threw a small metal object toward Jason. Jason backed away as a small explosion went off in front of him. Before he knew if, Gizmo had pounced on him with the metallic legs pinning him to the ground.
"Huh, guess your only ability is die without a fight!" Gizmo taunted as he pushed a button on the remote he held.
Jason focused as fast as he could, and sent a charge up through the legs, shocking Gizmo and his pack.
"EEeeeehaaaaahhhh!" Gizmo screamed as he shook from the violent shock.
Gizmo fell over unconscious, with his pack smoking heavily. Jason got to his feet and brushed himself off.
"Phew, that was easy!" Jason said.
The fight continued with the remainder of the Hive 5 tangling with the titans. Jason was struggling to decide where he should go. He started to take a step as a large explosion went off at the bank. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked. The Hive 5 took the advantage and knocked the titans around some more, and then took off. Jason ran after them. As he gave chase, all the bad guys split up in different directions. Jason quickly picked one, and proceeded to give chase.
After rounding numerous corners, Jason was to winded to continue. He stopped to catch his breath as he watched the villain disappear around another corner. Jason thought about how he could catch him. He wasn't able to keep up like this, but he did know a way. He ran to some wires that ran down the side of the building he was next to and held his hand to it. From there, he dematerialized himself, and flew through the wires toward where he last saw his suspect. When he saw him, he jumped out of the wires, gave him a quick shock, and then went back to where he had left his clothes lay.
After he got dressed, Jason rushed back to where he'd left the man. The black man lay on the ground, struggling to move. Beside him lay the bag of money he'd been carrying. Jason tried to get information on this man, but his mask was saying, "No information available".
"You're under arrest. I suggest you give up, or I'm going to shock you again." Jason said.
"Police brutality." the man said as he lay on the ground.
"I'm not the police." Jason retorted.
With no way to actually apprehend this man, and no idea what to do next anyway, Jason remained poised where he was, hoping the titans would find him. To aid them, Jason let a large stream of electricity lose to a nearby power line that jumped to an antenna, then to the sky.
While Jason was busy, the man pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit it. Without warning, Jason was thrown back as a jet of flames hit him square in the chest. Jason gripped his chest as it felt as though he were on fire. The man got up, grabbed his bag, and ran off again with Jason in close pursuit.
As they ran, the robber turned around every so often and shot a stream of flames toward Jason, pushing him further away.
"Come on, just give up!" Jason yelled as he prepared to send another jolt of electricity to the man.
When the two rounded the next corner, Jason was relieved to see that the titans were here. Cyborg had the man in cuffs.
"Careful, he makes fireballs!" Jason cried.
"I give up already!" the man said.
"Good job Jason. Lets take him back to the tower and see what he knows.
Everyone made their way back to the tower with their culprit in hand.