The Second Curse: A TT Fanfic-CHAPTER 10
A/N: This is Chapter 10 of my OC Teen Titans Fanfic, The Second Curse. If you have not done so, please read the Prologue first, and then the chapters that precede this one. Note: there is no First Curse; this is not a sequel to anything. Hope you enjoy! : )
PS. I can't believe it! I've officially made it to the ten-chapter mark! Thank you to all the readers who continue to put up with my slow updates, technical difficulties, and general errors; you all rock! Now, these next few chapters may read as sort of…off. That's because I'll probably be rushing them, at least a little bit. I just need to get through a few more details before I can FINALLY start getting to the good stuff! Keep reading! : )
The next several days went by in a blur. It was now well into May and final exams were fast approaching. Sabbath couldn't believe she was almost halfway through High School already! It was a scary thought, though not scarier than having to go through days and days of redundant review with her classmates. As she had begun to suspect when she first transferred to that school, the other students there weren't the brightest (and that was putting it nicely).
It was another boring Wednesday, and her fourth period math class was now on day three of reviewing previous chapters in preparation for the final exam. Unfortunately, it seemed her classmates were no better off than they were a week ago, no one seeming capable of grasping even the most basic of concepts. Yet the teacher, Mr. Parker, would repeat himself, time after time, in a futile attempt to make them understand. Sabbath, however, still had yet to find herself at all challenged by the class. By this point it was just downright painful.
Trying to block out the monotonous teacher, Sabbath rested her head in her hand and traced patterns on her desk with her fingers. She hadn't even bothered to take out her notebook, having left her backpack at her feet along with her purse.
*BZZZT…BZZZZT* *KSSSHHHHH…KSSH!* "Jane, you there?" *KSSH!*
Sabbath jumped. Her purse had suddenly started buzzing and crackling with static. And had it just said her name?
"Ms. Hellingsworth!" Mr. Parker called out angrily, not giving Sabbath any more time to think about the strange noises. Apparently, she wasn't the only person who'd heard them. "That had better not be a cellphone I hear! You know quite well that cellphones are to be turned off during school hours!"
The static noises came again, and again her purse whispered her name. Suddenly, Sabbath knew it wasn't her cellphone. It was the Titan communicator Beast Boy had given her; and it was going off in class! Beast Boy had told her she'd only be called if the Titans needed her help, and helping them totally topped geometry any day. But she needed to think of something to say, fast!
"Um, right, sorry Mr. Parker," she replied, a half-formed lie springing to her lips. "And normally, my phone would be off at all times. But, um, my aunt is really sick. She was admitted to the hospital last night with chest pains, and my mom told me to keep my phone on incase my aunt's condition changed. She'd only call if it was an emergency! Please let me take this call Mr. Parker, sir. It's very important." Lies, lies, lies. Sabbath was mildly ashamed of herself, but saving the city from God-knows-what seemed a lot more important than sitting in a class review she didn't need.
Mr. Parker gave her an angry look, but nonetheless replied, "Well, alright. Family emergencies take precedence, I suppose. But you'll be missing vital review information! I expect nothing less than an 'A' from you on this final!"
"Of course, sir," she said, almost making herself gag with how fake she was being. "And I promise this won't take too long. Thank you!" she said, grabbing her purse and dashing out of the room before Mr. Parker could change his mind.
"At least take the hall pass, Hellingsworth!" he yelled after her, any hint of sympathy now replaced with frustration.
Sabbath reached back into the classroom and grabbed the pass off it's hook by the light switch before turning and running back out. Jogging quickly and quietly down the hallway, she found her way to the nearest exit and stepped outside, not wanting her conversation to echo throughout the halls and give her away. As soon as she was outside, Sabbath let the door slam shut behind her and sat down on the school's back steps, dropping the hall pass next to her.
Reaching into her still buzzing and hissing purse, Sabbath pulled out the yellow device and pushed the flashing button on the side. It instantly popped open and revealed a frazzled-looking Beast Boy on it's round screen. "Jane!" he cried. "Finally! What took you so long?" he asked.
"I was in the middle of math class!" she exclaimed. "You're lucky I got out alive to take this call. Now, what's going on?"
"Control Freak's taken over Cook's Electronics department store! Usually he's not that hard to take down, but this time's different! He's got-"
"Wait! Wait. What?" Sabbath interrupted, having no clue what the green boy was talking about. "Slow down. What's a 'Control Freak'?"
Best Boy ducked, making the screen go blurry for a moment. Was that a...battery that had just lunged itself at him? "There's no time to explain," he replied, jumping back in frame. "Just get down here as fast as you can!" then he paused, seeming to remember something. "Um, you know where Cook's is, right?"
"Yeah, I think so," Sabbath replied, remembering the electronics store in town where she'd bought her mini iHome.
"Great! Get here as fast as you can, ok? Beast Boy out!" he said, giving a really cheesy salute before the signal cut off, returning to plain static.
Sabbath sighed as she snapped the communicator shut and stuffed it back in her purse. The Titans had the worst timing! Did they expect her to just cut school? Could she actually get away with it? Who knew how long it would take her to fight off "Control Freak." Thinking back to her shopping trip, Sabbath also realized it would probably take her half an hour to get to Cook's on foot from school, and there was no way she was flying there. She was just beginning to wonder what the city bus' schedule was in this part of town when she spotted the school's bike rack next to the stairs she was sitting on. She didn't own a bicycle, but she knew how to ride one. Luckily, it seemed that not all of the bikes in the rack were locked up. She could get to Cook's a lot quicker on a bike than if she just took off running, not to mention running would use up energy she'd probably need if this guy was putting up as much of a fight as Beast Boy said.
Sabbath stood up, grabbed the hall pass and stuffed it in her purse. Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she then marched down the steps towards the bicycle rack. She decided to borrow one of the bikes, promising herself she'd return it before it was missed. She thought of it almost like how a cop can take a citizen's car in an emergency. Grabbing the first unlocked bike she saw, Sabbath jumped on it and took off at high speed towards town.
Just as she'd hoped, using the bicycle got her to Cook's in ten minutes instead of thirty. Screeching to a halt in front of the electronics store, Sabbath leaned the bike against the nearest light post before running inside. It seemed vacant; there were no people inside at all, at least not that Sabbath could see from the front, although the store itself looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Cook's was a lot bigger than she remembered it being, but then again she'd been in a hurry and hadn't exactly been taking in all the details. Now she saw that there was a staircase in the back of the store, leading up to "Home Entertainment" and down to "Clearance/Discounts". The store had high ceilings like a warehouse, so Sabbath hadn't even thought of the place having more than one floor.
Jogging towards the stairs, Sabbath wondered where the Titans and "Control Freak" had gone. A loud crash and thud from upstairs answered her question. Dropping her purse as she ran up the stairs, Sabbath emerged on the landing to an incredible sight.
Amidst all the debris and damaged home entertainment equipment, Robin, Starfire, and a dinosaur-Beast Boy were fighting various floating electronic devices that seemed to be under the control of a ridiculously obese man with crazy orange hair and a spooky-looking remote. And…was he wearing a wetsuit? Well, that was an odd sight (and painful, the wetsuit was way too small!). Cyborg and Raven, however, were nowhere to be seen.
"Jane!" Beast Boy called out, momentarily resuming his human form and looking over his shoulder to call out to her. Unfortunately, in doing so he let his guard down and the retractable extension cord he'd been fighting took the opening, striking the green shape shifter across the chest and shocking him with electricity. Beast Boy cried out in pain, clutching his chest as he fell to his knees.
"Beast Boy!" Sabbath yelled, rushing to his side. However, she didn't have time to worry about him, as his calling her name had caused the villain to notice her presence.
"No way!" the fat guy gasped in surprise, turning his gaze and weird remote towards her. He aimed the remote directly at her, or so it seemed, and clicked a button. For a moment, Sabbath was confused because nothing happened. Then, several cords and wires grabbed her from behind, winding themselves around her body like bandages around a mummy, leaving just her head exposed. The wires picked her up off the ground and brought her right up to Control Freak, where they again placed her feet on the ground, holding her down.
"Jane! Watch out!" Robin yelled as he and Starfire deserted their opponents and ran towards Sabbath.
"Ah! Not so fast, Titans!" the fat villain yelled to them. After quickly zapping them with his remote, the ugly man then returned his focus to Sabbath. Robin and Starfire, however, appeared paralyzed by a bluish-white electricity that fully engulfed their bodies. Starfire was frozen in mid-air, while Robin was frozen mid-run. Their electrical opponents now turned to watch Sabbath's demise.
"What did you do to my friends?" Sabbath demanded, yelling in the villain's round, zit-covered face. The wires and cords wrapped around her body didn't allow her to move much, but from what she could see out of the corner of her eyes, Starfire and Robin were completely immobilized, and Beast Boy still hadn't gotten up (though Sabbath could see he was still breathing).
"Ah, the elusive, mysterious 'New Titan.' Jane, was it? Aren't you supposed to have wings?" he asked, ignoring her question. Sabbath didn't respond. "This is so cool!" he continued, a sudden gleefulness in his tone. "I must be the first super villain you've ever fought!"
Sabbath was now really confused. Was this guy a villain or a fan-boy? "Um, who are you? And how do you know about me?" she couldn't help asking.
"Who am I?" he raged, all gleefulness gone. Sabbath sensed a monologue coming on. "I am Control Freak! Master of reality! I control the horizontal! I control the vertical! I am your worst nightmare come to life!"
"Uh-huh…" Sabbath replied, thinking his name really was fitting. "But how do you know who I am?" she asked again.
"Not only did I read that article on you in the paper, but you're all over the Titan fan forums!" And YouTube! Only no one knows your full name or anything, you're like a huge mystery! It's so cool to be the first super villain to fight you!"
Sabbath flinched, hating to hear about how popular she'd become, even if it was only on the internet. Good thing that press photo didn't show her face, although she didn't know if any of her supposed YouTube videos did. She hoped they were all too blurry or too far away to get decent shots. Cellphones didn't have good cameras, right? And if this guy really had done so much research, how could he miss the fact that she'd fried Plasmus?
But none of that mattered right now. She had more pressing matters to deal with, namely the power cords slowly constricting tighter and tighter around her body. With her hands pressed up against her sides like that, she didn't dare start a fire; she'd end up hurting herself (or at least her clothes) more than anything else. Looking up at the ceiling, she saw the sprinkler system overhead and considered bursting a main pipe.
"Don't even think about it!" control Freak said, seeming to have read her mind. "Sure, water would shut down normal technology, but since that last fight where Robin blew the sprinkler system and defeated me, I've modified my remote to make everything under my control waterproof! Things not under my control, however, would just be destroyed."
"So, you planned for water, did you?" she asked. "That explains the wetsuit…"
"Yep!" he replied, sounding cocky, like he thought he was invincible now. "That, and it looks really cool."
Sabbath didn't even bother correcting him on that last bit, figuring it wouldn't do any good. But hell, if water couldn't shut down his machines and she couldn't start a fire, then what? There was no natural material here except the concrete in the floors, but she didn't want to bring the whole building down. Since Control Freak was so close to her, any sort of cyclone or vacuum she created around him would end up hurting her, too. She could break open the sprinklers overhead and destroy all the other machines on the floor so Control Freak couldn't use them, but Sabbath estimated that would be hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of damage. Plus, there'd still be the matter of the machines already under his control, and hadn't he hinted at the remote being waterproof, too? Meanwhile, as ideas continued to spin frantically through Sabbath's mind, the cords were wrapping ever tighter around her body.
"Guess I only have one option, then," she replied. A puzzled look crawled onto Control Freak's face, destroying the cocky expression that had been there seconds before. 'Just hope I can do it without killing him,' she thought to herself. She assumed the Titans had a strict no-killing rule, being good guys and all. But control would be harder to keep since she couldn't use her hands.
Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Sabbath focused on the humidity in the air; how every breath a person released in the room contained gaseous water, and how despite the large fans on the ceiling, the room was really warm and muggy. She thought of the fact that most of the human body itself was composed of water, and therefore should be easy to control.
Trying to connect with her powers over water as best she could, Sabbath then visualized all the water in the air condensing, forming a large sphere of liquid around Control Freak's head. She couldn't use her hands to direct the condensation of the water, so she was depending entirely on the power of her mind, knowing deep down that water was her weak spot. But if she could just do it fast, before he noticed, hopefully she wouldn't have to move it too much.
Fog was beginning to form around the villain's head, though he took no notice. He was too busy spewing some nonsense and directing the wires and cords to slowly squeeze the life out of her. Sabbath flinched at their bite, but kept her focus on the task at hand.
Suddenly, a wobbly orb of water formed around Control Freak's head. Panicked, he dropped his remote and reached up with both hands to swat at the water. Sweat broke out across Sabbath's forehead, but she didn't stop. Control Freak tried running away from the orb after discovering his hands were of no use, but it followed him, keeping firmly planted on his shoulders. Sabbath's head started to hurt, and the cords wrapped ever tighter, but she kept it up. Soon, Control Freak fell to his knees, the lack of oxygen finally starting to get to him.
'Just a little more!' Sabbath thought, forcing herself to not let go just yet. Control Freak's breath bubbled up out of the sphere, and the expression of panic on his face escalated to sheer horror mixed with desperation. Then, finally, his eyes slid closed and he collapsed to the ground. When his face hit the floor, Sabbath evaporated the water orb with a gasp, only then realizing she'd been holding her breath. Even though it had only taken her about a minute and a half to take down Control Freak, it had taken more effort than she'd expected.
However, despite the fact that the villain was now unconscious, his machines were still fully functional and, seeing the defeat of their master, were now turning their electrical fury towards Sabbath. Control Freak's remote was on the ground at her feet where he'd dropped it. The wires and cords wrapping around her body didn't show any signs of letting go, but they weren't so tight yet that she couldn't move at all. She couldn't move her legs independently, but she could still jump. Bending her kneed, Sabbath jumped up in the air and landed directly on Control Freak's remote. It took a couple tries, but she was finally able to break it into pieces. As soon as the remote was destroyed, all the wires around her went limp and the angry, floating machines heading her way fell lifeless to the floor. Robin and Starfire could move again, and Sabbath saw Beast Boy slowly walking towards them (she hadn't even seen him get up).
Sabbath squirmed out of the coil of wires and cords and kicked them aside. At first she'd thought the Titans were coming to make sure she was alright, but surprisingly enough they were heading towards Control Freak's limp body.
Starfire hung back, a worried look on her face as she silently gazed down at the villain, her hands covering her mouth. Robin knelt next to him and checked for his pulse.
"Dude, what'd you do?" Beast Boy asked Sabbath, and for once there was no sense of humor or general cheer in his voice. Sabbath didn't reply. She didn't think she'd killed him, but would it really have been a huge loss to anyone if she had?
"He's alive," Robin said, standing and turning to face Sabbath, "just unconscious." He sounded disapproving.
"Then why are you all so upset?" Sabbath demanded, looking around at the disturbed expressions they each wore. Why should Robin be mad? Had he wanted the man dead or something?
"Jane," he replied, seeming alarmed that she didn't understand. "That was really dangerous, you almost killed him!"
"I knew what I was doing!" she cried defensively. "If I wanted him dead, he'd be dead by now. I just wanted to knock him out so I could get his remote. He had me tied up, and I didn't see any of you coming to the rescue. Plus he'd already taken out Cyborg and Raven. What else could I have done? I was out of options!" True, she hadn't been %100 positive he wouldn't die, but she had been pretty sure he'd just pass out.
None of the Titans seemed to have an answer to that. All Robin would say was, "Control Freak short-circuited Cyborg's systems when we were in the basement. He couldn't reset himself on his own, so Raven had to take him back to the Tower."
Sabbath didn't really know what to say to that, though she somehow felt she'd just lost the argument. Still, the more childish side of her didn't want to let the Boy Wonder get the last word, so she said, "Whatever. Look, I was in class when you guys called me. If I don't get back before the end of the day, whoever I borrowed that bicycle out front from is going to be really mad."
With that, Sabbath turned to storm out of the room. However, she then realized that she didn't want to ruin the relationship she'd managed to garner with the Titans, so she stopped when she reached the stairs. Not having the guts to look them in the eye, she didn't turn around and instead kept her gaze glued to the floor. With a sigh, she quietly added over her shoulder, "Look, I'm sorry about Control Freak. I panicked and lost my better judgment. I didn't know what else to do. But I would NEVER let anyone get really hurt; neither a villain, a citizen, nor a Titan. Like you said, he's just unconscious, which was exactly what I had planned. He'll be perfectly fine.
And if you ever want my help again –though at this point I doubt you will-, it doesn't matter what time it is; I'll respond day or night. I'd rather be saving this city than sitting in some classroom doing math or sitting at home doing homework or chores any day. And to be honest, I don't even remember the last time I made real friends, or even real acquaintances. I don't want one error of judgment on my part to screw things up."
After a minute of unbearable silence, Sabbath heard footsteps heading towards her. She couldn't tell who's they were, but she didn't have the guts to turn around and face whoever it was. However, she recognized the gloved hand that suddenly rested on her shoulder as Beast Boy's.
"It's alright," he told her. "At first, it looked like you'd actually killed him, which would've been way too extreme, especially for such a low-level villain as Control Freak. But I know you'd never kill anyone. Plus, like you said, there were no other options, and you didn't really kill him, or even hurt him that much." Then he continued in a whisper, "Good thing Raven's not here, though. She'd tear you apart. She's big on the whole "responsibility" thing; even more than Robin. Just remember: most bad guys aren't monsters, they're people. Bad people, yeah, but people just the same."
Sabbath smiled, thankful that Beast Boy understood her. She was used to no one understanding her, so this was rare. Tears of happiness threatened as she turned to face the green boy and replied, "Thanks, Beast Boy. And you're right. Next time I'll try to go easier on the bad guys."
He returned her smile and, keeping his hand on her shoulder, walked her back to where Robin and Starfire still stood with control Freak's unconscious body.
"So…now what?" Sabbath asked, the room suddenly too quiet for her to take.
"Now, we turn him over to the police, and he goes back to prison," Robin replied, kneeling down to slap a pair of high-tech cuffs on the villain. Where had those come from? Sabbath shook her head, deciding to let it go.
Before another brief-yet-awkward silence could flood the room, Sabbath continued, "So, do you guys need me for that? Or…" she trailed off, not wanting to just walk out, but not knowing how to be excused. If she didn't get back to school soon, the school day would be over and someone would be bike-less. The last thing she needed was to be labeled a thief.
"Nah, you're all set," beast Boy said, dropping his hand from her shoulder. "All that's left now is the boring part. You have to go back to school now, right?"
"Unfortunately," she replied, not sounding at all enthusiastic about the thought of returning to school. Every class was doing pointless review now, and she really didn't feel like going through any more of that today. To be honest, she felt pretty tired. Not totally wiped out, but a nap would be nice. That water trick had taken a lot more out of her than it should have; she was really out of shape where her water powers were concerned. "If I don't bring that bike back before it's missed, I'll be in big trouble," she continued, hating the fact that it was the truth.
"Thanks for your help today; we'll be in touch," Robin called to her, ever professional, as she turned to leave.
"Agreed, much gratitude!" Starfire added. "And it was glorious to see you again! Perhaps we will meet again soon?"
"Sure thing!" Sabbath called back, a smile now on her face as she waved good-bye to the Titans before descending the stairs. Grabbing her purse from the landing where she'd dropped it, she then ran down the stairs two at a time. One of the few remaining clocks in the store informed her that there was less than an hour left of the school day. 'Crap!' she thought to herself. Bursting through the front doors, she hopped on the borrowed bicycle and pedaled as fast as she could back towards the high school.
She screeched to a sand-spraying stop by the back steps, ditched the bike at the bike rack where she'd found it, and ran into the school. She nearly took out a few shocked students as soon as she burst through the doors. The hallway was totally packed. For a moment, Sabbath stood there, too stunned and confused to even offer apologies to the people she'd crashed into. They simply gave her dirty looks, flung a few insults, and kept walking. Why were there so many students in the hall? School couldn't be out already, could it?
After a moment of confusion, Sabbath's brain started functioning again as she realized that of course the hall would be crowded. Glancing at a nearby clock hung above the lockers, Sabbath saw that it was time for 8th period. Somehow, between almost being strangled by animated electronics, almost killing some villain, and probably breaking a land speed record on her way back, she'd forgotten her daily schedule. All she'd been thinking was that she had to get the bike back before anyone noticed. People continued to shoot her strange looks as the crowed thinned. She realized then how disheveled she must look.
Just then, the warning bell sounded, breaking Sabbath's train of thought. Right. She had about a minute to get to her last class of the day. Music. All she had to do was head down to the music room, get through the last 45 minutes of the day, and pretend she'd been there all day and that nothing was out of the ordinary.
As she entered the music room, Sabbath started to fall back into her normal routine. She automatically headed towards the instrument storage room to retrieve her guitar. She'd made a habit of dropping it off their in the mornings so she didn't have to carry it around all day. And, sure enough, it stood there in its case in the corner, propped against the wall waiting for her exactly where she'd left it. She smiled as she unzipped the case and wrapped her hand around the smooth, wooden instrument. She still wasn't that good at playing it, but somehow even just holding it seemed to relax her. Playing always cleared her mind, making her forget everything else but the notes on the page and the music she was making, even if it wasn't perfect.
The music teacher was having the class review for the final, just like all the other teachers, but review in music class mainly meant practicing older songs and concepts. Sabbath was still a little behind the rest of the class, having only been with them for about a month and a half. But still, when she wasn't able to play songs with them, she enjoyed just watching, because she knew what they were all feeling. She imagined they felt what she did, only stronger since they could all play a lot better. She knew they must feel the bliss that music brought, the satisfaction of making written notes come alive for all to hear, and the unique euphoria of playing in harmony with one another. When the whole class played a song together, each instrument contributed its own sound, yet somehow each sound meshed perfectly with those of other instruments. It was true harmony. Even if she couldn't play all the songs with them, Sabbath still liked to close her eyes and tune in to that feeling. She knew how great music surely made them feel, just as it did her, and knowing they all shared that common feeling at one time or another made her feel that, for once, she fit in perfectly with everyone around her.
As the class simultaneously turned to the page of their workbook that the teacher had instructed, Sabbath smiled as she saw a familiar song. The teacher had told them all to flip to one of the first songs in the book, Bach's 'Minuet in G'. It was one of the first song's she'd learned, so by now she could play her part with the rest of the class. As Sabbath started plucking out the first notes in sync with the rest of the class, she couldn't help the smile that slipped onto her face. As she played through the familiar song, Sabbath listened to all the other instruments around her, each contributing their own instrument's pieces to the whole of the song. It sounded wonderful. Sabbath enjoyed the blissful bond she felt with all the other students, all the while trying her very best to ignore the feeling in her heart telling her to enjoy it while it lasted, for it would be over and dead before she knew it.