Joe Lawyer
People might wonder how he got the finished product without years of R&D so he's not going to just put the finished product straight onto the shelves. But by having Cyborg claim to the be the inventor people won't question it because he's a genius and has already invented stuff.
I already stated that social networking exists in this DC universe so it's to late to invest in it. But there are others things he can do make his fortune grow. Once his company has enough money he can start up new projects and use the profits to fund his operations.
Yeah his girls are going to need some snuggle time before they cheer up.
DC Gothic – Justice League
Grass Skirts And Coconut Bras. Part 2.
Hawaii – April 2003
It always amazed me how often I could get away with wearing all black. Even when I was surrounded by guys in Hawaiian shirts and girls wearing bits of dead plants, and little more, no one commented on the fact that I had on my boots, my black jeans, and a black t-shirt. I'd forgone the coat due the heat, but still I should really looked out of place, but I somehow didn't. At some point I had mastered the art of not standing out in a crowd.
"I feel like such a girl" Ray complained, as one of the locals put a lot colourful flowers around her neck.
Given that Raven was wearing a white skirt and a blue flowery tank top, complete with sandals, I thought she already looked like a girl so why the flower leis bothered her I hadn't a clue.
"Come on babes, it's traditional" I said encouraging her "it's a gesture of affection to get one of those and it's very rude to refuse".
Well they handed them out at the airport, but we'd portalled in.
"Don't call me babes" Raven replied "I don't like it".
In her hair, she had dozens of tiny flowers, which Blackfire had somehow convinced Raven to wear, so this was not about the extra decoration.
"What would you prefer?" I asked "Honeybunny, cupcake, sexy butt?"
All were fine choices.
"How about Raven" she said to me "I can put up with you calling me Ray, but don't give me any more nicknames".
I smiled at this point I could so wind her up right now, and I fully intended to as she ruining the mood. She had to be punished.
"How about I call you Metrion?" I suggested "It's a bit formal, but if it's makes you happy".
Raven was not going to put up with me using her real name any more than I would.
"I want to be your Snuggle Bunny" Ray then declared.
Apparently it was possible for me to go Heaven because there was no way the real Raven would ask that. Clearly his was an after life of some sort, it would it explain why the Hula girls were topless.
"Snuggle Bunny" I said, while trying to sound neutral "that's what you want to be called".
Raven gave me a look that made me think that I might be on verge of breaking her heart if I said the wrong thing, but I knew it was an act. She wanted to wind me up.
"You like to snuggle with me, don't you?" she asked.
"Yes" I answered very quickly "it is a delight to snuggle with you".
Seemed like a good answer to me and this was proven when Raven stepped in front of me while facing away, and put my arms around her waist. Her mood had shifted so quickly I felt a little dizzy.
"Aren't the flowers so beautiful?" Blackfire said with giggle, placing more flowers into her own hair.
Something was up with her. I'd have to find out what it was. She wasn't horny any more and when I'd last seen her that state of being had pretty much been her entire existence.
"And what are you going to call me?" the alien princess then asked.
I had to wonder if they'd both somehow gotten drunk, or maybe they were finally de-stressing.
"Oh you're a princess" I told "You're my princess".
"Awww" was her reply "that's sweet"
Yep there was something off with Blackfire, she didn't normally approve of me acting mushy.
"I'll take baby girl" said Karen from behind me.
Well that had been predictable
"So no one wants snickerdoodle or pookie?" I asked.
That got a round of negatives.
"No imagination" I grumbled in a joking way.
Since I had three girlfriends who were happy to take their clothes upon command, topless dancing girls didn't told my attention, even though it was very tasteful topless dance, and I spent my time looking at my girlfriends who were sort of a harem.
Blackfire was wearing a flowing pink dress, with white floral decorations on it with white sandals. Which very different from what she normally wore and since she had her holoring on she looked more human than normal but to me it made little different.
Galatea still had her bikini on, and she was using some a blanket made of a light and mostly transparent material as a skirt. She didn't get cold like other people and had little modesty when around other people, and none at all when at home. Not that is was ever a bad thing in my view as long as certain things were only show in private.
By now the moon had long since replaced the sun in the sky, but it was still rather warm out and the party had only just started. We could be here for hours I realised.
"I'm gonna get some food." Beast Boy said as he walked past "any of you guys wanna join me?"
Given that he hadn't had much to eat at dinner I didn't blame him for wanting to pig out. They did have a lot of fruit here and it looked very fresh and tasty.
"I'll go with you." Raven said, rather surprisingly.
As she did Blackfire took her place without delay only she put my hands on her stomach and then asked me something.
"If I told you something important would you freak out and make a big scene?" she questioned of me.
Now I knew something was up with her. She liked to speak her mind, she didn't beat around the bush.
"I achieved a measure of inner peace" was my answer.
In the sense that I could control my rage, and that I didn't let the little things bother me any more. So she have to say something really overwhelming to make me react badly in public.
(Line Break)
Hawaii – April 2003
Raven and Beast Boy (who was also passing for a normal human thanks to a holoring) headed to a table, where tons of food was laid out.
"So...enjoying yourself?" Beast Boy said, placing food on his plate.
"It doesn't suck" Raven said, a friendly smile playing at her lips.
"Are you gonna dance?" Beast Boy said, as Raven filled her plate.
Some of the younger women, who were also on vacation were giving it ago, the results were a mixed success.
"Bugger that" Raven said
That got her an odd look from other former Teen Titan and Ray spent a moment wondering if that whole body swap incident had some infected her with some Britishness.
"It'll be fun! And you get to wear those cool grass skirts!" Beast Boy replied "Blackfire's gonna try later on".
"All the more reason not to." said Raven.
As she took a seat at a table. She then noticed that Terra was absent and assumed that the blonde was giving her boyfriend a chance to reconnect with his old team.
"I can't wait for tomorrow." Beast Boy said, grinning like an idiot.
"Why?" Raven asked.
"Cuz we're going to a volcano!" he said excitedly "by helicopter!".
Considering that they could both fly if they wanted to the attraction of riding in a copter was lost on the purple haired woman.
"You and Cyborg are going" Raven stated rather than asked.
It did sound like a boy's things.
"Everyone's going" Beast Boy corrected.
"Oh really? And who decided this?" Raven asked
The answer surprised her.
"Democracy" said BB
So she'd been dragged into this by people voting.
"A Volcano could be interesting." Raven decided
"FUCKING HELL!"
Raven jumped a little in her seat and then realised that Blackfire had finally gotten around to mentioning the whole pregnancy thing.
Private Beach – Hawaii – April 2003
I'd taken my socks and shoes off so I could stand on the beach and let the waves tickle my feet, however I was trying to ignore the sensation and focus on mental exercise that allowed me to sense people's power levels.
Right now I could sense a strong person heading my way, in fact she was right behind me.
"Hey, princess" I greeted as Blacidire landed behind me.
Sensing her wasn't hard she took energy from the sun and the sun had it's own ki, which meant that if her power was ever expressed in visible light she'd glow. Galatea's energy was like that only many times more intense. If her power could be seen she'd blind people on sight. I could also sense Raven as she had quite a lot of energy running through her body, but her power was magical so it felt different.
"There you are" Fire said as she moved to stand next to me "I was worried you might run away again".
To be fair I had done that once, but that wasn't my style these days it was just that for her it hadn't been that long ago.
"Nah, no worries" I assured my pregnant girlfriend "I just needed to calm down a little".
My training under Goku hadn't prepared for the shock of becoming a father, and the fact that the baby was going to be heir to Starfire's throne had made things a thousand times more complicated.
"I'm sorry but the heir to the throne has to be born in wedlock" Blackfire told me as she moved in front of me "That's just how it works".
That was the other big issue.
"I don't want kids" I said "they cause trouble".
Arella hadn't even born yet, and wouldn't be for decades, but she was already messing my life up. Which was an achievement really.
"But you knew I was in heat" Blackfire said while giving me one of the looks all men dread seeing on a woman's face "You had to know why".
I did indeed know why certain animals went into heat. But I hadn't expected this to led to her getting pregnant. Just being horny and fertile didn't change the fact she was a different species.
"Well yeah" I replied "but you didn't say you were trying to get pregnant".
In fact she hadn't warned me at all, however that was not her fault as she might have if I'd been around for her to talk to before she built herself a cocoon and taken a long nap for a few weeks.
"I didn't think it needed saying" Blackfire said to me "It's kinda obvious that I picked you to mate with".
At this point I was starting to wonder how many fit alien babes would want to make little hybrids with me in my possibly very long life time. Kara had wanted to have by babies despite how unlikely it was I could get her pregnant. We could have planned to adopt but she had wanted to breed, and in a thousand years she still would. When she found out Blackfire had gotten a baby first then I just knew I'd be blamed.
"You won't get so lucky next year" the alien princess then added "I won't go into heat again for a long time. But we can still have a very sexy honeymoon. That I'll be nice".
There was a slight problem with all this.
"No we won't" I informed her "I mean I can't. I have an arranged marriage already".
One was one to many in my view and crossing Ra's al Ghul could be very dangerous, not just for me but for the people I cared about.
"Oh that doesn't matter" Blackfire said "Our marriage wouldn't be recognised on Earth. And it's not like you'd have to raise the little brat. The kid will just go into hiding like Wildfire".
That did not soothe me. In fact it worried me more. Wildfire was a nice kid but the prince had issues.
"There will be no wedding" I firmly stated "and no child of mine is going to be hidden away".
This turned out to be the wrong thing to say.
"So you're breaking up with me!" a panicked Blackfire said "but you can't I'm pregnant. We have to get married".
Somehow I'd stopped myself from going crazy but Fire had no such luck. She got onto her knees and started crying not caring that she was getting soaked by the sea water. I picked out a few words she managed to say and one of them was war.
"War?" I asked "What war?".
Blackfire managed to calm down a little so she could explain. This took a while as she kept having to blow her nose on the skirt she was wearing. It was not an attractive sight.
"I'm pregnant with the heir to the throne".
Well naturally there would be a line of succession, like in royal families on Earth, but from what I understood things weren't as simple for Blackfire's people as they were for mine. Unlike back home the heir didn't have to be the eldest child of the current monarch, it could be a younger sibling if the queen or king had no children of their own. On Tamaran things were even complex as the heir was chosen by the current ruler and it could be any member of their family, including nieces and nephews. It didn't have the oldest sibling or eldest child.
Wildfire didn't want to be the heir, I knew that, and Blackfire couldn't be Grand Ruler which left Starfire without a successor. That was never a good thing for a monarch. Star might be able to force her little brother to play the role, but once he had a niece or a nephew she'd have no reason to make him do that and he would kick up a fuss and maybe even reject the role entirely leaving Starfire with no heir at all. So if Blackfire and I went back to Earth with our child that could led to war because we'd have the only remaining heir or heiress on the wrong planet. It might even happen if I refused to get married as the baby couldn't be heir to the throne if she or he was born out of wedlock.
"I can't believe your sister would start a war" I said to Blackfire "I mean I really, really can't imagine her doing something like that".
The strange thing was that the last time I'd seen here Starfire hadn't mentioned that this might happen. However she had know about Ace making Blackfire attracted to me, so she must have known this could happen. Yet she hadn't warned me.
"She wouldn't" Blackfire agreed "but that doesn't mean she can't be pressured into it by her supporters, and she can't refuse the throne again so she needs an heir".
I'd forgotten that Starfire had once done that. She'd given the throne to someone and he'd been the regent for a while. However he was dead now and maybe she didn't trust anyone else to rule her people. Also with a strong monarchy with a clear line succession then there could even be civil war..
"I should have used a condom" I moaned.
Doing so would have prevented a lot of problems, or I could have just stayed single after Kara left. That might have been for the best.
"I wouldn't have let you" Blackfire then said "I was in heat, and the pheromones are really hard to resist".
That was ironic. I'd spent a lot of time worrying about messing with people's head using pheromones and I'd never considered that it would be me getting influenced by them.
"I really wish we'd left Earth" Blackfire then lamented "We could have gotten away from all this".
Think about it, there are thousands of worlds out there. Places that have never heard of Earth or of Tamaran. No one would know who we are.
I replayed those words a few times in my head. Blackfire had tempted me into leaving the planet and I'd not realised why she had wanted to leave so badly. Now I understood, she'd known this would happen sooner or later and had wanted to escape but also she didn't want to leave me so she'd tried to get me to leave Earth. Although her idea of becoming bounty hunters wouldn't have worked out once the fact she was pregnant had become known to me.
"Suddenly Red-X doesn't seem so important" I muttered.
Of course my reasons for not leaving the mud ball I called home were still valid, but now things were out of my hands.
"Okay so we get married" I said, giving in "and we live on Tamaran".
Well there could be worse places to live.
"Oh you don't have to stay" Blackfire told me as she decided that we were better off lying on the bed "I don't plan on hanging around after I push the kid out. Starfire can handle the rest".
That didn't sit well with me, but again I didn't see what choice I had. Anything I did to stop Starfire from having the heir she wanted would led to badness. Even if we ran away now people would come after us, and none of them scared me more than Raven. No doubt my other lovers would be a bit tiffed at me if I did run away.
Plus Galatea would be more than a wee bit annoyed too as I'd promised her that she and I could start doing the 'dance with no pants' once Blackfire stopped being in heat.
"So there's no way out of this" I realised.
I had to get married and give up the kid. It was the only thing I could do.
"Sorry, handsome, you can't escape your doom" said Blackfire "and you still marry Raven so it might all work out".
I could see this causing more problems, but I could only handle on issue at a time. When I got home I would have to make a list and that meant dealing with a few people.
"We can worry about when he get home" I told my girlfriend "until then your still under orders to have fun".
Unless she was going to give birth in a matter of days this really was something we had to deal with now.
"Yah know I'm not in heat any more" my princess was now saying "but that doesn't mean I don't still want sex and if you want me to have fun then I'm gonna need your help".
Subtly thy name was not Blackfire.
"We could find some quiet" she then suggested.
Well it had been a while since she and I had done the nasty. Months in fact and it wasn't as if it make things worse.
"I'll go get a blanket" I said.
I'd brought one in case something like this happened.
"And were on your private beach so I'll just naked" the princess said "I got all wet, and not in the way you like. Met me by those palm trees".
Now that sounded like a plan.