A/N: This is actually the rewritten version of chapter 25. I read all the reviews, and many of them addressed this chapter, so I decided to rewrite it. Hopefully, it's better than the original was.
Jump City's Museum of Rocks and Minerals was one of the city's many tourist sites. It was especially popular for the past few days since it had acquired a giant, one billion-dollar statue of the solar system, made entirely of the purest silver. The Silver Solar System, or Triple S.
Needless to say, the display was heavily guarded. Besides being enclosed by bulletproof glass, it had several cameras trained on it (with no blindspots), motion and heat sensors, and two guards standing beside it, 24/7.
That made it a thief's ultimate challenge.
After a few more days, Starfire had decided that the team needed a short day-trip out of the Tower, where they spent most of their time during the day. Of course, the day-trip meant shopping.
Julia, somehow, had been roped into the mess. Starfire had eagerly asked her to come, and under the pressuring gaze of all the Titans, the Asian girl had reluctantly agreed.
Which was how she found herself sitting in the T-Car, gazing out of the window. It was not a comfortable experience - she was squashed between the door and an enthusiastic Starfire, not to mention trying not to squish Beast Boy, who was sitting on the floor of the car as a small dog.
Raven was sitting on the other side of Starfire, evenly staring ahead and inching away whenever Starfire looked happy enough to give someone a hug. Robin was sitting in the front passenger seat, twiddling with the radio controls as Cyborg told him off for it.
All in all, a less-than-pleasant drive.
And as they were about to see, it would get worse.
In the blink of an eye, several things happened in quick succession.
First, the Teen Titans' communicators went off, filling the T-Car with the tune that now made Julia cringe, remembering the last time that she'd heard it in the car. A second later, there was an almighty BOOM! up ahead and to their left, and the double doors to the Jump City Museum of Rocks and Minerals exploded outwards.
The T-Car continued to speed forward, to Robin's dismay.
"Stop the car!" he ordered, already unbuckling his seat belt and getting ready to jump out of his seat.
However, the vehicle kept going. Cyborg struggled with the brakes, slamming his foot down until the pedal was against the floor.
"Well, I can't, man, because it won't stop!" he yelled back, restraining a few swear words. Robin whipped his head around to look at the half-robot teen.
"WHAT?!"
It was a nightmare. The T-Car actually sped up, zooming past the pedestrians, who screamed and threw themselves out of the way. Cyborg stomped on the brakes, but to no avail, as Robin struggled with the car door, which wouldn't open. Starfire grabbed the dog-form Beast Boy, who was frantically trying to find some space to turn into his regular self. Julia, her eyes wide, didn't make a sound.
Raven raised one hand, her eyes glowing white.
"Azarath, Metrion, Xinthos!"
The T-Car was immersed in her black power, edged in white. But despite her control over the car, it didn't change its course. Scowling, the empath shook her head.
"I can't control it," she told the others, her voice strained. "There's something else, or someone else, that's controlling the car, and it won't-"
Julia leapt forward, grabbing the back of Robin's seat.
"Buckle your seatbelt," she commanded, her voice fierce. "Right now!"
Startled by the intensity of Julia's voice, Robin glanced backwards at her, bewildered.
"What-"
The Asian girl just pointed wordlessly through the windshield. Ahead of them was the Jump City Pizza Parlor, looking suddenly hard and unforgiving as they hurtled straight towards the solid cement pole that kept the deck upright.
Seized by the sudden urgency, Robin gripped the buckle and yanked it out of its socket. But the seatbelt, resilient to sudden jerks of power, stayed put. Struggling, the Boy Wonder tugged at the belt. It didn't move.
Julia grabbed the seatbelt from behind.
"Let me do it," she told Robin tersely, who let go immediately, again stunned by the authority in her voice.
The Asian girl let the seatbelt go slack for a moment, then slowly drew it out, her fingers shaking. This time, the belt slid out of the socket smoothly. Stretching it out far enough, Julia handed the metal buckle to Robin, who quickly clipped it into place.
Not a moment too soon.
With a sound that resounded in everyone's ears, the T-Car smashed right into the cement pole, causing the structure to buckle from the force. The front of the car crumpled inwards as all six of its occupants were heaved forward, straight into the white airbags that appeared at their front and sides.
For a long moment, nobody moved. There was complete silence, except for the ominous cracking noises as the broken pole began to shift downwards, breaks in the cement spreading outwards.
"Titans, report!" Robin pulled himself from his airbag, coughing heavily. The other Titans, all of them covered in particles of cement and looking winded, rose, coughing roughly. Julia winced as she leaned back in the seat, feeling lances of pain shoot from her ribs.
There was an answering bark from the dog Beast Boy.
"I'm good."
"I will be satisfactory."
"Fine."
"As good as someone who has bruised ribs can be."
At Julia's last statement, Robin turned slightly to look at her, causing himself to flinch from discomfort.
"Bruised ribs?" he asked sharply. "Are you sure?"
Julia glared at him with all the anger she could muster. Which, at that point, wasn't that much. Agony was more of her feeling at the moment.
"Do I need to hand you an X-ray scan?" she retorted, cringing again as her ribs protested. She held a hand to her torso. "Stop making me talk. It hurts."
Raven inched over, one power-filled hand raised.
"Hold still," she ordered, then held one hand over Julia's ribs. Immediately, the pain eased, and Julia leaned back again, looking relieved.
"Anyone else injured?" Robin asked, looking around at his team. They shook their heads.
"Aside from some bruises that'll last forever, nope," Cyborg replied, shrugging. "Nothing broken, fractured, or anything else like that."
"Good," Robin said, looking reassured. "Then - what is it, Beast Boy?"
Beast Boy, who was still a small green terrier at the moment, was barking his head off towards the sky. Without any room to change back, he'd stayed as a dog for the time being.
Starfire followed Beast Boy's gaze.
"I believe he wants us to look at-"
The alien abruptly caught her breath as she, and the others, saw exactly what Beast Boy had been looking at: the pizza parlor's balcony, which was sliding slowly downwards, pointed straight at the T-Car.
With a grate of cement, the pole holding up the balcony collapsed fully, breaking inwards from the blow from the T-Car, and the strain of holding up the leaning balcony. It plummeted down, the tip diving at the car.
With incredible speed, Cyborg sprang up from his seat. Arms above his head and braced, he caught one side of the balcony. The force jolted him backwards and almost caused the teen to lose his balance.
Following suit, Starfire flew up and gripped the point of the balcony, using her superhuman strength to hold the structure away from the car once more. It groaned in protest, debris falling around them alarmingly.
"Out of the car!" Robin bellowed, unbuckling himself swiftly and flinging himself through the shattered hole that was the car windshield. Raven, Beast Boy, and Julia needed no second warning - a few seconds later, and Cyborg was the only one standing in the wreck of the T-Car, while Starfire hovered in the air above.
Raven whirled around, facing the direction from which they'd come from.
"Cyborg, get-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the half-metal teen was wrenched backwards, yelling, from his position, and thrown backwards onto the ground. A second later, the same invisible force yanked him from the ground and propelled him into the brick wall of the pizza parlor, which dented inwards from the force.
Robin leaped towards his teammate, and was nearly bowled over as Cyborg was heaved away from the brick wall, and into the metal wall of the bank across the street.
Meanwhile, Starfire screwed up her face in concentration as she struggled to keep the balcony from falling to the ground. As a few tables slid towards her, however, she began to be pushed backwards from the force.
The other Titans watched in horror as everything went from bad to worse. Cyborg was constantly being hurled everywhere, hitting the road, the buildings, and things on the street alternately. Starfire was fighting a losing battle against the force of gravity.
Raising one hand, Raven summoned her power as she followed Cyborg's movements.
"Azarath, Metrion, Xinthos!"
Cyborg was immersed in the empath's black power, but continued to crash into the buildings. Raven scowled again, her hand closing into a fist.
"It's not work-"
Suddenly, with a scream, Starfire was jerked away from the balcony and lobbed backwards, just as Cyborg had been. This time, however, the metal collar that was part of her upper costume, and her metal belt, seemed to be dragging her along.
"Starfire!"
Robin leaped towards Starfire, who had just smashed against a lamppost, but jumped back as the alien almost collided with him as she was launched towards a mailbox on the opposite side of the street.
Starfire's hands clutched her silver collar, attempting to wrest it off somehow, but it stuck tight to her, as well as the belt around her waist.
"Jeez. This was easier than I thought."
A young woman in her early twenties strode towards the scene, looking highly amused at the chaos in front of her. Strangely enough, Jump City's new Silver Solar System was bobbing behind her in midair, as if it were a puppy following an owner.
The woman widened her gray eyes as Robin threw a few exploding discs in her direction. The discs, however, changed direction in midair and zoomed towards their owner, forcing Robin to jump out of the way as they exploded.
"You superheroes," the woman sighed, smoothing back platinum blond, almost silver, hair pulled into a tight ponytail. "So dependent on metal. Lucky for me."
Her eyes flicked towards Robin, who had dove at her. The Boy Wonder was wrenched back in mid-leap, and pinned against the nearest building wall. He attempted to move his arms and legs, but found his metal-edged shoes and the metal lockpicks in his gloves holding him back. A second later, strips of metal from the T-Car cuffed Robin's wrists and ankles against the building.
The silver-haired woman snapped her fingers, and Cyborg and Starfire were pinned against their own separate buildings, unable to move.
"Azarath, Metrion-"
"Spare me the magic crap."
Turning her head to stare at Raven, the woman raised one eyebrow. "It gets old, Raven. Really fast."
Before the empath could say another word, she was hoisted off the ground and hurled into a nearby mailbox, which had molded itself into a sheet of thick metal. As Raven hit the metal, it engulfed her and formed into a seamless square metal box. There was the sound of banging inside, but nothing happened.
"That's right, Raven," the woman replied loftily. "Try getting out of that one. You probably noticed that your powers are useless against my metal control."
The woman turned away from Raven's cage just in time to be hit in the side by a very angry rhino Beast Boy, who barreled into her, throwing her back ten feet. The changeling resumed his human form, fists on his hips as he glared at the metal-wielder.
"Dude, never mess with the Beast Boy. I will-"
His short speech was abruptly cut off as his silver belt yanked him from his feet and into a hovering metal semi-circle right behind him, which enveloped the youth quickly, forming the shape of a sphere.
From inside, there was the sound of Beast Boy changing, perhaps into a large animal, then a "OW!" and a thud as he painfully hit the sides of the metal sphere.
The woman rose from the ground slowly, her gray eyes narrowed with distaste.
"I don't even know why you have him on the team," she told Robin, who was still struggling against the wall. "He's far too young and naïve for your kind of job. Not to mention impulsive and unreliable."
Taking a deep breath, the woman straightened the crisp gray collar of her costume, which included a gray top, cut sharply against her figure and following the length of her arms, and just as crisp black pants, tucked into gray combat boots.
"Who are you?"
Despite the fact that he was struggling against an unseen force, Robin sounded strangely calm. The woman, turning to face him, raised her eyebrows.
"I was wondering when you'd ask me that. I'm Silver."
Then she smiled coldly.
"And that makes all the Titans," she mused, surveying her work with a cool eye. "Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy…" She glanced around with satisfaction. "And the Triple S is mine. Perfect."
Silver turned around-
-just in time to receive a head-on blast of lightning. The force of the attack threw the woman backwards, causing her to land hard on the concrete a few feet away. Wincing, Silver looked up to see Julia standing solidly in front of her, right hand extended and sparking with mini lightning bolts.
"This is probably the part where I have to say something witty, right?" Julia commented to no one in particular. As her opponent got to her feet, the Asian girl sent another bolt of lightning from her outstretched fingers.
This time, Silver raised one hand, and one of the T-Car's metal doors was ripped off its hinges (to Cyborg's whimper) and flew in front of the woman. The metal shielded Silver from the onslaught of electricity, and absorbed the electrons from Julia's grasp. When the door touched the ground, the lightning flowed out of the metal and into the earth.
Gasping, Julia disconnected the flow of lightning from her hand, preventing the electricity from being drained out of her. She scowled at Silver, knowing full well that her lightning powers were useless in this situation. If she shot any electricity, Silver would merely use metal to conduct the electrons and displace them.
Silver returned Julia's scowl with a smug smile.
"Lightning. How quaint."
Raising her right arm, she held her hand out, palm up, and twitched her index finger in a kind of beckoning.
In a trice, Julia was heaved off her feet, her metal arm guards, belt buckle, and earrings responding to Silver's summons. The girl's earrings, straining with the pull, cut against her ear lobes, causing them to bleed.
Unable to remove her belt, arm guards, or earrings, Julia was hurled into a glass building, whose windows shattered from the impact. Before the Asian girl could pick herself up from the shard-laden floor, she was dragged through the gaping hole and thrown onto the sidewalk. A second later, she was crashing into an ATM.
Julia never even stood a chance. Even as anger and frustration gripped her, she didn't even have the chance to get to her feet and counterattack. No amount of powers or martial arts could help her when Silver was throwing her everywhere like a rag doll.
"Why do you do this?"
That was Starfire's distressed voice, coming from somewhere above and behind her. Julia was lying on the ground in front of the pinned Titans, taking a brief respite.
Silver calmly strode towards the Asian girl, her eyes never leaving her crumpled form.
"Why not?" the criminal replied simply, raising one delicate eyebrow. "I-"
Suddenly, a pair of green lasers connected with Silver's torso, hurling her into a car on the opposite side of the street. The woman had barely enough time to recover and dodge Starfire's eye beams again.
One hand extended, Silver brought a sewer lid in front of her to shield herself. Gritting her teeth, the woman kept the metal from shattering from the sheer force of the twin lasers.
"You already got the Triple S!" Cyborg shouted, still struggling in vain. "Why beat up another person?"
No longer able to continue holding off Starfire's eye beams, Silver dropped the sewer lid and dodged the next laser burst. Ducking and running, the thief kept talking.
"See, what you Titans don't realize is that thieves aren't limited to stealing." The woman threw a mailbox in front of her, which promptly exploded from Starfire's laser eyes. As letters fluttered through the air, Silver took advantage of the momentary confusion. "Thieves are entitled to their own fun, too." Yanking a lamp post from its position, the thief swung it like a baseball bat.
Julia, who was struggling to her feet, was caught around the middle by the metal pole. It struck her in the torso, throwing her down the street. Winded, the teen fought to breathe as her head swam.
"Julia!"
The Asian girl dimly heard her name being shouted. She squinted, her vision blurry, and briefly saw a black, red, and white blur on the roof of a nearby building.
Red X?
"Julia, get up! You can do it!"
Oh. That was Robin's voice.
But how could she get up and fight when she couldn't even use her powers against Silver? When she had barely enough time to stand?
Silver was walking towards her again, that infuriatingly smug smile on her lips. How could someone take pleasure from hurting a helpless person?
A moment later, Silver was launched into the air as Starfire's eye beams hit her squarely in the torso. The thief was cast through a shop's front window, sending glass flying everywhere.
Climbing to her knees, Julia saw, from the corner of her eyes, something black flying at her. The girl turned just in time to be struck by the white-edged figure, shaped like a bird - Raven's soul self.
It was just like before. Julia struggled against Raven, who was determinedly trying to take over.
Let me take control. The empath's mind-voice was fainter than usual. The lack of air inside the metal box was getting to her.
No! Julia snapped, hurriedly shielding her memories from view. Get out of my mind!
But even when she was suffocating, Raven's mind power was far stronger than Julia's.
You're the only one left who has a chance at defeating Silver, Raven told Julia coldly. I can use your powers to do that, even if you can't.
Raven was right, of course. Even if Julia knew the choice was a logical one, she didn't want the empath taking over. With her superior mind power, she could easily see all of Julia's memories, including the secret ones involving Damien as Red X.
But truthfully, Julia wouldn't be able to stop Raven even if she wanted to.
Fine. Grudgingly, Julia ceased fighting.
Instantly, the Asian girl felt her mind being shoved aside as Raven took full control. Although they both could see and feel what was happening, only Raven could direct Julia's body and powers.
As Silver used a car to deflect Starfire's laser eyes, Raven/Julia got to her feet, summoning lightning in one hand. Raising that hand, she shot a barrage of lightning bolts at Silver, who, taken off-guard, was thrown a few feet down the street.
"Why, you little-!"
As before, Julia's arm guards, belt buckle, and earrings tugged her in another direction. However, this time Raven/Julia slammed into a sparking lightning shield, which had just appeared in front of her, halting her from moving any further.
Silver quickly got over her surprise. Raising one hand, she levitated a nearby motorcycle and hurled it in Raven/Julia's direction.
With her left hand, Raven/Julia seized a gust of wind and shoved it towards the motorcycle, forcing it to change direction and slam into Silver, who hit the ground a few feet back.
Before the woman could recover, Raven/Julia created a rope of lightning in her right hand. Using it like a whip, she whipped it towards Silver, who screamed in pain as the electric rope lashed at her, wrapping itself around her and painfully shocking her.
Let me take it from here, Julia thought firmly. Raven, whose mind-presence was fading as her body ran out of oxygen, silently left Julia's body and returned to her own.
In control once again, Julia tore off her earrings, arm guards, and belt before Silver could use them to control her again. Grimacing as her aching body protested, she began running towards the woman. When she was within a few feet of the thief, the Asian girl threw herself at her.
Silver had barely used a piece of metal from the motorcycle to channel the lightning away, when Julia tackled her. The two of them crashed to the ground, Silver trying to defend herself against Julia's punches.
A second later, Julia's head jerked forwards as the T-Car's steering wheel hit her in the back of the head. Taking advantage of the moment, Silver rolled away, and sprang to her feet, drawing back a fist.
Blinking to clear her vision, Julia whipped out one leg, knocking Silver's knees out from under her. As the woman fell forwards, the Asian girl seized Silver's wrist and twisted it to the side, then behind her back.
Silver cried out, flailing out with her other fist and catching her opponent in the side. Cringing but never lessening her hold, Julia expertly pinned the thief to the ground, holding her wrist in an awkward - but painful - position, the wrist twisted and bending against her arm. The side of Silver's face was pressed against the ground, her other arm out of reach of Julia.
Fiercely, the Asian girl bent the woman's wrist towards her arm, making Silver yell in pain.
"Let them go," Julia snapped, breathing hard. "Let them go, or I swear I'll break your wrist." As Silver struggled against her, the girl added, "And if you try to get away, or use your powers to throw something at me, I will break your wrist. Any agony to me is your agony."
Slowly, as if thinking this over, Silver went still. The Titans, however, stayed pinned against the wall by her powers.
Eyes cold, Julia bent the woman's wrist a bit more.
Gasping, Silver gritted her teeth. "All right, all right!"
A second later, Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire fell to the ground. They got to their feet as the metal box imprisoning Raven, and the metal sphere holding Beast Boy, melted away. The empath and the changeling rose, and joined the other Titans, who were making their way around the debris, towards Julia, who still had Silver pinned.
Silver looked furious through her agony.
"You'll pay for this, girl," she snapped, wincing as Julia tightened her grip. "One day, I'll-"
Contemptuously, Julia bent Silver's wrist even further, silencing the woman. Then she bent over the failed thief, her mouth closer to the woman's ear so that the Titans couldn't hear her.
"I know a good thief from a bad one," the Asian girl hissed, her voice cold. "And trust me, you're not a good one. Sadism doesn't make you a thief. It makes you a villain."
Straightening, she looked up as the Titans came to her side. Cyborg was already on his communicator, calling the police over to the scene. In minutes, they would be there to clean up the mess, and take away Silver.
Robin was there first. Kneeling next to Julia, he glanced down at Silver before looking into Julia's face.
"You ok?" he asked, scanning her quickly for injuries. "You had it pretty bad, there."
Julia nodded, not taking her eyes off Silver.
"I'm fine," she replied, not meeting his eyes. The intense fury that had just consumed her had disappeared, leaving her drained. Her grip on Silver was just as firm, however.
The Boy Wonder gave a snort of derision as the sound of sirens reached their ears. A second later, several police trucks came into view, slamming to a halt in front of them. With speed coming from experience, workers began clearing up the damage. A few policemen led Silver away, hard plastic cuffs around her bruised wrists.
"Need any help?" One of the policemen paused, looking down at Julia. The girl merely shook her head, sitting back on her heels.
"I'm fine," she repeated, ignoring Robin's second snort of derision. Raven glided over, a little unsteady, as the policeman shrugged and walked away. The lack of air in the cage had almost suffocated Raven, as well as Beast Boy.
"You're not fine," the empath informed Julia flatly, kneeling next to her. "You've got gashes all over, especially at the back of your head, and a ton of bruises." As Julia winced, holding one hand to her torso, Raven added, "And your ribs are probably cracked."
Gritting her teeth, the Asian girl went still as the empath began to heal her.
"It could've been worse," she pointed out, flinching as her body healed. "If Raven hadn't possessed me, I'd probably have all my bones broken by now."
Raven shook her head.
"You're welcome," she replied evenly. "Still, it wasn't entirely me." At Julia's confused look, the empath explained, "You have the potential to do all of that. You just didn't know how to, and didn't know when to."
"And the end was all yours," Robin added, arms folded. His features were thoughtful, almost wary.
Beast Boy shook his head in admiration. He, Starfire, and Cyborg, had come over to the others after giving some statements to the police.
"Dude, you were awesome out there. Seriously."
Julia smiled wryly at the changeling.
"Besides the fact that I got beat up and Raven was controlling me - thanks. I got a little carried away-"
"Everyone does, once in awhile," Cyborg interrupted, smiling kindly. "Wasn't your fault."
Starfire clasped her hands, beaming.
"You did an excellent job, Julia," she assured her brightly. "We would not have survived had it not been for you."
As the other Titans nodded, seconding this, Julia reddened.
"I wasn't-" she began to say, but stopped. She couldn't let them think that she didn't want them to survive. "I wasn't trying to be a big hero or anything," she amended, looking down. For some reason, she especially didn't want to see Robin's expression.
The Boy Wonder put a hand on her shoulder, startling her. Robin met her eyes resolutely, his face serious.
"Julia. What matters is that you fought for us, even when it seemed we'd all lost. All of this-" he gestured around them "-proves that you deserve to be acknowledged for it."
At this, Julia's mind flew into a panic. Was he about to make her a Teen Titan? She couldn't be a Titan - she was really a thief. She couldn't be both.
What would Damien say?
"I don't-"
"I think you deserve to come with us on our missions," Robin told her firmly. "And you're allowed to go freely into the city whenever you want. You could even…leave the Tower, if you want, although we'd like you to stay. You've proved that you're trustworthy."
Julia's words caught in her throat, and she closed her mouth, stunned. Going on the Titans' missions? Freedom to leave the Tower? It was certainly better than being a Titan. But this was more than she'd expected. They trusted her.
Robin trusted her.
And she could leave all of this behind. Right now, right here. She could go home, and forget all of this. All of them.
But go home to what? To an angry Damien, convinced that she was a Titan-lover, as good as one? He'd be sure to hear about this. He wouldn't want her back, surely. And she felt at home at the Tower as much as at her own apartment.
And they trusted her. Robin trusted her.
Julia met Robin's eyes.
"I'll go on your missions. I'm not about to leave you."
It was a phrase she'd come to doubt later.
A/N: Probably not the best rewritten piece. I might have left some loopholes, because I completely redid the fight part of the chapter, then pieced it together with the beginning and the end. Still, I hope I fixed the problem of Julia's Mary-Sue-ness.