Yes, yes, I'm back. Sure one could easily describe me as worst-writer-ever-because-she-never-updates. But in my (poor) defense, I've had such a block with this story. And especially because it's nearing the end, I don't want to write something that just turns people off.
A lot has been happening, but I think it's all for a reason, and it's helped me write, I believe...I mean, we are who we are because of what we experience, and I think I touched up a little upon that in this chapter.
BUT! I don't want to be all sentimental and boring...therefore, because I take forever and ever to update, let me just give you a summary of what has happened; The Titan's main tower was hacked, so Wally ran to LA to inform them all. The Titan's return to their HQ to find it under attack-electronically. They have no control over the tower and Robin breaks the computers in effort to stop the hacking-and it works. Cy, BB, and John head to the 'Security Room' during this to try to find out what's happening, but Cy leads them to some storage closet so that he doesn't expose the real Security Room to John, who has been established as the leak (a while ago...). Cy uploads false information and intelligence to an old computer and tells John he and BB need to get something, so guard the computer [which would have access to the Tower's entire networking]. John does and BB and Cy head to the real Security Room. Then, uh-oh, the power goes out. They couldn't control any electronic/technical aspect of their tower before, and they're now in complete darkness. Long story short, Cy and BB decide to head back to the Main Ops Room, where Jinx, KF, Star, & Robin are, when they run into John. The three of them act like none of them know what's going on, and they enter the Main Ops Room, where the other Titans attack John on arrival [they had decided they couldn't risk him threatening the team anymore]. BB flips out, despite his previous revelation that John IS bad, and tells them to stop. Everybody freezes, stunned by BB's outburst, and John 'tasers' BB and escapes as a gnat. Everybody is frustrated as BB passes out, and Robin orders Cy & Raven to take him to the medical wing, in hopes that Cy can boot up some machines and Rae can heal BB. They oblige and Jinx basically demands that Robin decides if BB is fit to partake in the mission and if he can handle it. Robin is forced to decide and BB wakes up. He sees Cy & Rae but wonders where John went. We're then left with BB discovering that he let John escape. And during all this, the other Titan teams get a 'distress call' and agree to meet up at the Titans' HQ the next day, so today is the day before the next day, get it?
Woo~ Now, on to the next chapter...!
PS: I know there's probably going to be some grammar/spelling error but it's 12:30AM and I don't feel like going through this with a fine-tooth comb and just want to get this out there. I mean, I did it on Word so I don't think there are any major errors. *Sigh* Please look pass the errors and enjooooooy the chapter!
A blue changeling clutched his side. With one eye closed in pain and teeth ground together, he slid himself further back and against a wall. His breathing was ragged but he was able to silence it enough to hide.
The darkness successfully engulfed the blue changeling, only showing his glinting eyes in the silent tower.
"Damn..." He hissed to himself, adjusting his position. "That fly escape idea was on the spur of the moment—definitely not my best."
He sighed. This whole plan was becoming a big screw up in his eyes. His baby brother had his life carved out and was undoubtedly happy. How touching.
"Shit, I almost forgot about Raven's empathy. She'll find me in no time." John growled before sighing again.
John looked around, his eyes narrowed. How much of a fool did he come across as? Did they really think he was that stupid? Didn't he drop enough damn clues? Make enough slip-ups?
"Doesn't matter, anyway," He muttered. "If I pull through this shit, I'll get paid. Hn, but then what? I was never very materialistic, was I?"
He smirked at his own situation. He leaned back against the wall, looking up into the nothingness. He couldn't even remember why he took the stupid gig in the first place. No, that was a lie, he remembered. He remembered everything.
"Look, maybe Raven can track him down, right?" Cyborg looked to Raven hopefully.
After a moment of silence following the revelation of John escaping, Cyborg took the initiative to get things back on track.
Beast-Boy sat on the medical cot with his knees hauled up and hugged against his chest. His green ears drooped and hung limp at the sides of his head. His chin rested upon his knees and his eyes were downcast.
Raven glanced away from Cyborg. "I…can't." She answered. "I haven't meditated in a while. I'm kind of foggy."
Okay, so it wasn't a complete lie. She couldn't track down John, but only because all she could sense was Beast-Boy's misery. Why did he have to act so modest! She wouldn't have minded an outraged Beast-Boy, angered at his own actions or something. But this quiet, humble, constantly apologizing Beast-Boy was bothering her. It was making her worry for and be concerned for and pity him and feel sympathetic. That was not Raven's thing.
"What!" Cyborg cried, before composing himself. "I mean…are you sure?"
Raven kept her eyes on the ground before gulping. "I…I can try." She resolved.
"Alright, then let's get going. BB's back and everyone else is in the Main Ops room. Once we get back there, we can get modify our plan and get moving." Cyborg said.
"You're surprisingly optimistic." Beast-Boy scowled.
Cyborg blinked. "What?"
"I mean…how come you guys haven't jumped on me yet! This is really eating me up! Not only did I run away and cause a boat load of shit, but I just let our prime suspect and lead escape! Am I that much of a freaking screw-up!" Beast-Boy growled, his eyes narrowing as he did.
"We already went over this BB." Cyborg said seriously. "We're your friends, whether you like it or not, we ain't gonna ditch you."
Raven watched them. This Beast-Boy made her feel more comfortable, which she realized was wrong. She shouldn't be comfortable when he was angry and awkward when he was upset. She growled to herself, but watched Beast-Boy nonetheless. Maybe it was because this Beast-Boy was loud, something that was shared with his usual personality. It didn't make her feel bad when she made remarks or comments.
"Friends? Do you know how many times I screwed you guys over? I'm horrible—"
"Fine, if you're going to be that way, look at it like this; we're teammates. That means friends or not, we're there to fight side by side and have each other's backs." Cyborg clarified. "I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not happy about what you did, but I can't change it, and it's something I can live with. So let's move on and get going."
Beast-Boy glanced to Raven. His previous shame and awkwardness around her had gone as he eyed her, but he still had a certain gentleness about him. "Do you agree with him?"
Raven looked at him sternly, before nodding slightly. "Yes."
Beast-Boy sighed. "Alright."
"So we shall…split up?" Starfire asked, looking at a dejected Robin.
Said hero nodded. "John could be anywhere. This tower is meant to keep things both out and in. Their lockdown works both ways."
Jinx crossed her arms. "This tower is also huge. Splitting up is one thing, but do we know who's going where?" She asked.
The tower was desolate and quiet, void of its usual bright energy.
Robin sighed. "I know this tower like the back of my hand. KF should be able to take the most floors with his speed. I want Jinx and Starfire together, though. You saw John still pretty capable even after taking our beating."
"But, what about you, Robin?" Starfire asked.
Jinx watched him, at first upset by her being paired with the alien girl. However, after Robin pointed out how well John took their blows, she clamped her mouth shut.
"Don't worry about me." Robin said grimly.
He turned around, his cape swishing behind him as he looked out at the city he vowed to protect. He had bigger fish to fry. He needed to get his priorities straight. He mentally reviewed his immediate teammates.
First was Starfire, who stood there with him, looking out to the same city he did. But even though she looked at the same thing, did she see what he saw? Her innocence was what made her a little slower to grasp certain things than the others—it was harder for her to come to terms with certain things. But it was what made her a great leader. In a sense, her innocence made her quite black and white. You were either good or bad. If you were gray, your circumstances would push you into the borders of black or white.
But that was just it. She related to Beast-Boy because of Blackfire. Robin could see it plain as day. Just because every believed he was blind to love doesn't mean he was blinded by love, too. Her decisiveness was impacted by this, because she knew that as bad as John was, he was family—to Beast-Boy at least. She'd never hurt Blackfire intentionally if she didn't have to. She didn't expect Beast-Boy to intentionally hurt John if he could help it, either.
Therefore, Starfire couldn't offer anything but insight on this.
And Robin didn't need insight.
Second was Raven, the only other female in his immediate team. As apathetic as Raven was, she was the most empathetic; her, the apathetic empathetic—the irony. Although Robin cared for her too—as he did with all his teammates—he knew she was a mess at the moment. He didn't mean to think of her and judge her so harshly, but he knew how she worked. Or, he had a very keen, good grasp on how her mind functioned, at the very least. The entire 'fling,' if you will, with John unscrewed a few screws, and the whole thing with Beast-Boy left her a little fragile.
Even if Robin wanted to hope her anger and rage at being betrayed by John—you know, like the wrath of a woman scorned—he couldn't. That thought was immediately shut down by the fact that she had to keep her emotions under check at all times. Period. End of story.
So, Raven could only offer her powers—just as anyone else.
And as appreciated and useful as her powers were, they weren't what Robin was looking for.
Next was Beast-Boy, one of the bigger players in this entire thing. Beast-Boy potentially knew John inside and out. They grew up together, clearly, as they were brothers. But could Robin rely solely on that? He knew of Beast-Boy's past; as a child, Garfield contracted Sakutia by being bitten by a green monkey, but then was saved by his parents, who used an untested serum on him. The serum has the unintended effect of turning his skin and hair green and granted him the ability to metamorphose into any animal of his choice. His parents later died in a boating accident, which, to this day, Beast-Boy believes he could have prevented. After he is saved from two kidnappers that beat him and force him to use his powers to help them in their crimes, Beast-Boy was left under the care of a court-appointed guardian, the despicable Nicholas Galtry. As Beast-Boy entered his teens, Galtry realized that his embezzlement from the estate would be exposed when Beast-Boy reached maturity and took control of his inheritance, so he plotted to kill Beast-Boy. The various villains he hired to kill Beast-Boy were impeded by the Doom Patrol. DP member Rita and her husband, DP associate Steve Dayton, eventually exposed his embezzling to the courts and adopted Beast-Boy themselves. In the interim, he allied himself with the superhero team, wearing one of their uniforms (with the addition of a full-head purple mask) and took the name Beast Boy. Of course, after all that, he became a Titan. [1]
Robin scowled, thinking of all his friend had been through. The best part was that Robin hadn't even suffered that much and he wasn't as care-free as Beast-Boy. Beast-Boy acted like nothing fazed him or troubled him, and aside from Raven, may have had the most troubling past of them all.
But now, with his brother as his opponent—which led Robin to wonder how John and Gar were separated in the first place—could Beast-Boy's happy-go-lucky attitude help them, or would it hurt them? They all saw how Beast-Boy stopped them from ending John's status as a threat right then and there. Beast-Boy was compassionate, which was always admirable…
But again, Robin wasn't looking for compassion.
Finally, Robin's mind reached his last teammate; Cyborg. The most technologically advanced member of their team, Cyborg seemed to understand John's plans. Cyborg was also very rational. While Robin liked to tell himself he was level-headed and in control, he was more stubborn and more inclined to lose him temper. Cyborg was the most logical and calm member they had, and he knew how to let loose.
As far as Robin was concerned, the little team within the team consisted of Raven, Beast-Boy, and Cyborg. While Beast-Boy and Raven were a part of the team, the brain behind it was Cyborg. Of course, none of this was meant to degrade the brains of Raven and Beast-Boy, however, the fact that every piece of evidence was given to be analyzed by Cyborg easily appointed him the so-called leader of the team. The necklace, notes, communicator…all of it was analyzed by Cyborg.
That meant Cyborg had the most knowledge. He knew the most and was therefore the most likely to be able to piece everything together…or at least provide Robin with the information to.
Thus, Robin found was he was looking for—and Cyborg could offer it.
"Well, are we getting to it?" A voice interrupted Robin from his thoughts.
He turned to see Jinx standing impatiently.
"Jinx is right. We do not have much time." Starfire said, floating over towards Jinx.
"I know. Kid, you take the entire bottom half of the tower. I know you can do it." Robin told KF, who looked ecstatic to be assigned such a task.
"You can count on me!" Kid Flash nodded, determined.
"Alright, Star, Jinx, you two take the rest." Robin said.
Both girls immediately looked at him, confused.
"Wait…what? We're taking the rest?" Jinx asked. "As far as this world is concerned, two halves make a whole. Yet, as I'm sure you can see, there are three teams, me and Starfire, you, and Kid Flash." Jinx held up her fingers as she listed the teams.
"I know." Robin said.
"Then—"
"Look, you guys have to trust me. There's something I need to do." Robin said dismissively.
After a short silence, the other three nodded. "Fine."
Robin walked forward, eying all of them. "Good, then you know what to do. Titans…go."
The three titans took off after sending their leader a worried look. They all knew Robin and how he was Mr. Macho, and they hoped he wasn't going in over his head.
"To-morr-ow, the oth-er Ti-tans should a-rrive at the Ti-tan Head-quart-ers." The mechanical, robotic voice said, his eyes watching a screen filled with images of multiple heroes.
"Yes, they will." agreed the Dark Man, his red eye glowing. "Might I ask how you plan on executing your plan to annihilate them all?" His human lazily glanced at his partner.
The robotic one turned to face the dark one. "Have we not dis-cussed such mat-ters?"
The Dark Man scoffed. "Well, according to my sources, there are already seven Titans in the tower. Yet, I feel you underestimate them," His thoughts flashed to a certain blue 'cyborg' on the team, "I've gained quite a bit of information on the team. They've improved since the last…encounter."
"What are you try-ing to say?" The robotic one asked.
"Why, I'm not trying to say anything." The Dark Man responded. "Only, might I observe that you seem to be interested in a particular Titan?"
The robotic one paused. "The change-ling proved to ov-er-come us last time."
The Dark Man raised an eyebrow. "Yes, he did. However, by utilizing his own brother against him, you successfully helped weaken the team."
"That is cor-rect. But you seem quite ob-sessed with a-noth-er Ti-tan."
"Obsessed, you call it? No, I am merely interested in him. You see, I'd stolen his blueprints and, as you can see, molded myself into a greater half-mechanical-half-human form. Nonetheless, the boy managed to retrieve the blueprints. Of course, that is no problem for my photographic memory; however, he has since updated his technology, advancing it. I only wish to be up to par."
"I do not com-pre-hend why you do not a-ppre-ci-ate your hu-man form."
"You don't need to. Though, I will say it's not that I'm unappreciative, it's more so that I'm interested in evolving into something better. Soon, I will be," He paused, seeming to remember whom he was talking to. "Well…time will tell."
And as successful as the two masterminds were at crippling the Titans, their partnership was mutilated the moment it began—revenge its foundation and greed and corruption at its core.
Alright, alright, I know it's not THAT long, but I hope it's satisfying...I'm sick and tired and sleepy and yawn. Lol.
Okay, so as for the '[1]' in there, I got the part from As a child...the name Beast-Boy from Wikipedia, my ultra-reliable force. Don't shoot me if it doesn't agree with what you know, please. Bottom line, since this is about Beast-Boy, I gave a short summary of his life...so far.
In summary, John is injured and in hiding (somewhere in the Tower). I'll be honest, I'm iffy on the whole BB's reaction part, or in general, the entire medical wing scene with Cy, BB, and Rae. I wanted to put a little more of their thoughts in the chapter rather than zip-lining through what's happening. While it didn't give us much info, I hoped it just showed how they're...coping... As happy-go-lucky as BB is, he has to feel SOME remorse, but because he is happy-go-lucky, it was a little difficult for me to express him with such negative feelings, if you're following. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know~~~~ Anyway, moving on, back in the Main Ops Room, the other 4 plan for what's to come. Robin basically starts to feel (or what I was trying to get across) like he needs to do something more. After contemplating, he decides to seek out Cyborg so that he can come to some sort of conclusion. Aaaand, as for the 'robotic one' and 'Dark Man,' well, they're sitting back and watching, all while making sure they end up the sole victor of this all. (And as for the 'Dark Man's' photographic memory, that was from Wiki, too. Please tell me you know who they are or have some idea.
Well, that's it for now! Getting back on track with this! Please review with thoughts, comments, questions, or concerns! TTFN. (Tigger...) (-_-")