Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
ROBYN
In hindsight, I suppose we should've anticipated this. Rose did see us coming, so of course she had time to get her monster. We didn't expect the creature to break through the roof though, so we aren't entirely to blame.
Of course, Brianna would tell me that I should be prepared for anything, and that excuses don't make the situation any better. With that in mind, we need a plan. The goal is to get the controller from Rose, but the monster will easily beat us if we ignore it.
With Crow's magic out, we don't have shields to protect us this time around, so we need to make good use of the tunnels around us to avoid the monster.
"Titans…" I whisper, staring down the monster and keeping Rose in the corner of my vision. "Scatter on my command."
Crow is the only one who openly nods; the others show their acknowledgement in other, more subtle, ways.
"Ternion, attack!" Rose commands, pointing at us. The monster roars and drops into the sewers in front of her, electricity crackling off it's body.
"Scatter!" I yell, dashing into a nearby side-tunnel. I catch a glimpse of my teammates doing the same before they're out of my view. "Alright, now I just need to single out Rose and find that controller, and if I can't, then someone else should be able to."
The smell of ozone suddenly cuts through the stink of the sewers, and my hair stands on end. Not wasting a second, I drop to the floor. A bolt of lighting flies straight over my head, singeing my hair in the process.
"Fuck." I pick myself up and dive for the nearest tunnel, putting myself out of Ternion's line of fire for the moment. "Guess I'm the target. I'll have to play distraction then and hope the others can take Rose."
Sadly, my cape can't protect me from lightning; keeping on the move is my only defense right now. I weave in and out of tunnels, making sure to change direction whenever I can. I can hear Ternion stomping along behind me, but the noise is growing quieter. Ternion must not be that quick.
"Surprise."
I'm suddenly laid flat by a staff to the face, which, by the way, is rather painful. It's only through training that I have the sense of mind to roll out of the way the second I hit the ground. It's instinct, drilled in by hours of training.
Rose watches me with amusement as I leap to my feet. "Not very alert, are you?"
I just grunt, pulling out my own staff. I really don't care to banter with her right now. I just want this to be over so I can actually get a good night's sleep for once. I'm a bit worried that I'm alone with Rose and Ternion is right on my tail, so hopefully my teammates are close and notice in time to help. I also have a massive headache thanks to getting hit in the head, so that's not fun (and by that I mean it's painful).
Rose doesn't sympathize, and keeps up the pressure with constant, calculated swings. My head throbs in time with my blocks, and I struggle to stay calm. The villainess steadily beats me back, forcing me to lose ground and pushing me towards the approaching Ternion.
Rose's fighting style reminds me of Batwoman's: persistent and unforgiving. Get the drop on your enemy and don't let up until they stop moving (be it unconsciousness or being captured). Problem is, I was never able to beat Batwoman, so the chance of me one-upping Rose is slim.
"Higher!" Star's voice has never been so welcome. The orange boy rockets into the tunnel, and Rose instantly abandons the fight, booking it towards Ternion. When Star makes to pursue, Rose slams down smoke pellets, blocking our views for the few precious seconds needed to slip out of sight.
"Thanks Star." I sigh. "Now if I can just find Crow he can heal my headache… or not, because he can't use magic; damnit."
"Should we attempt to pursue her?" Star asks.
"No point, she'll be with Ternion again." I sigh, rubbing my head. "Let's find the others first, then we'll think of something."
KID FLASH
"You're taking all the fun out of this!" The magician complains, tossing yet another bomb at me. "Just let me hit once, please?"
"That sorta defeats the purpose of dodging." I say, smiling as I sidestep the projectile. "Besides, I'm certainly enjoying myself." That's a lie of course; I am not at all happy to be fighting a bunch of random villains during a blackout in the dead of night; but she doesn't need to know that.
"I promise not to kill you!" The turquoise-skinned lady offers, pulling out another bomb. "Blow up now? Pretty please…?"
"Look lady, as much as I'm enjoying this, I need to go." I point off to the city's center. "I'm gonna wrap this up, okay?"
"B-But wait, I still have a routine to go through!" The magician whines.
I ignore her, and follow through with my promise. Using my superpower, which is superspeed if the name didn't tip you off, I zip forward and grab the lady's collar, and use it to throw her against the nearest wall. In the time it takes her to figure out what just happened, I've already dashed into the nearest houses and procured some rope, which I use to tie her to the stop sign at the end of the street.
"I'm not out of tricks!" The magician cries, trying to aim her wand at me with her hands tied to her sides. Rather than put up with her gibberish, I just snap the flimsy piece of wood before she can make a move.
"Now you be good. I'll send the police to get you when this is over." I sigh. "See ya."
"Wait! Waaaaait…!" Her voice fades as I dash away. This is a bit ridiculous actually, she's the second supervillain I've had to fight today, and the fiftieth villain if you count all the thugs I've taken down.
Right now I actually want to find the Titans. Good ol' Robbie should have a plan, or at least be working on one, and I can help. It's better than just running around stopping whatever villains I find; I mean, probably. The plan might be 'you take area X', but whatever, a plan is a plan.
A short run around ('short' as a relative term of course) actually leads me right to the Titans. Well, one of them anyways, and she keeps very strange company.
The Titan in question is 'Changeling' if the media hasn't been misleading me, and she's even more stunning in person than she is in pictures. I thought for sure photoshop was used to make her look better, but nope, not at all. Being perfectly honest though, she looks a bit unearthly. It's actually kinda intimidating, eerie even.
There's also a guy with slicked-back pink hair and a fedora (stylish, I like it), a girl who's half black-widow and should probably be wearing a bit more than she is, another girl with large muscles and some cool-looking gauntlets, a smaller girl with a sweet backpack and sleek armor, and lastly, a rather normal-looking guy riding on the spider girl's abdomen.
Right, should probably introduce myself rather than standing around watching them.
"Hey there, hi!" I call, running up in front of the group, startling the majority of them (except the spider girl, who barely reacts). "Yo, hello, greetings and all that jazz; I'm Kid Flash, fastest kid alive! You're Changeling right? Titan? You in charge here? 'Course you are, how can I help?"
The green girl stares blankly for a moment, processing my rapid-fire stream of words. Eventually, she responds "Kid Flash hmm? The name itself doesn't ring a bell, but if you're anything like the normal Flash then you'll be a big help."
"You bet!" I say cheerily. "Just tell me where you need me!" (Incidentally, Changeling's voice matches her appearance: sexy as hell, and kinda intimidating)
Yeah, I don't think it would be wrong to say I'm a bit in awe of this girl; she's distracting me just by being around. Get it together KF.
"Scout on ahead, see if you can't find any police." Changeling says, waving a hand off to her left. "We'll spread out and look as well, but you'll be much more effective than us."
"Aye aye captain!" I salute, flashing a cheeky grin. "Just lean on me, I've got energy to spare!"
"Well get going then," she smiles, "don't keep me waiting."
That smile sends a shiver down my spine. "I'm off!"
CYBORG
I hope the others can see without light. Me and Crow are fine (because Crow followed me when we split up) but the others don't have a safe way to get light.
Of course, they probably have bigger problems. I can hear Ternion off in the distance, and we haven't found Rose, so that means Rob and Star are probably dealing with them right now, and we should get over to help ASAP.
The lights on my cannon flicker as I try to hold it steady. "Come on," I whisper to Crow, beckoning with my free hand. He nods and quietly shuffles along behind me, still clutching his last birdarang.
We walk slowly down the tunnels, following the sounds of Ternion's giant footsteps. As we get closer, the echoes make it harder to determine the direction we need to move. I'm worried we're going to go around a corner and come face-to-face with the monster. We're trying to find Rose, and assuming she'll be in the same general area as Ternion, so we need to be sneaky… which I'm terrible at, being large and metal.
I peer around a corner, and immediately pull my head back, flicking my light off as I do so. Ternion is right there. His back is turned to us though, and I can hear someone, Rose, speaking to him.
"You stay here and root out the Titans." Rose orders in a harsh whisper. "If you don't find them in five minutes, come find me."
Ternion gives a low growl, and stomps off in the opposite direction from us. It occurs to me, that we have an opportunity here. Rose is alone; if we can get the jump on her, we can take her down before she can react.
Crow already seems to have anticipated this, as he has pulled his hood fully over his face, obscuring his pale skin and almost completely masking him in the shadows. I'm a lot more obvious, even with my lights off, so I stand right around the corner, ready to punch the villainess as soon as she comes in range.
To Rose's credit, she's much more quiet than than everyone else. It's just that Ternion masked Crow and mine's approach, so we essentially got a silent approach and got to spy on her without her knowledge.
And so, when Rose walks around the corner, I lash out with a metal fist, nailing her right in the face (mask, whatever). Rose staggers, but when it looks like she's about to regain her balance Crow joins in, shooting his birdarang and also hitting her in the face.
When Rose falls I don't waste a second. I leap forward, pinning her to the floor. The villainess is strong, but even she is no match for my mechanical strength. I flip her over and firmly pin her hands to her back.
"Search her pockets." I nod to Crow. "Watch the legs, she might kick."
"What are you two hoping to find?" Rose asks sardonically. "Some heroes, you jumped me like hitmen."
"Honor has no place in crime fighting." I say flatly, watching as Crow searches her. He frowns and shakes his head, showing that he hasn't found anything.
I purse my lips, thinking. Where could Rose have the gem that's not her pockets…?
Oh, of course.
"I'd apologize if this were someone else, but fuck you." I grunt. Keeping her arms pinned with one hand, I use the other to tear off Rose's armor. I'm quickly rewarded when a small red gem falls out, clattering to the stone floor. "Crow, go stop Ternion."
"R-Right!" He stammers. The little boy picks up the gem and dashes off down the tunnel.
"Now me and you." I say, hauling Rose to her feet, "are going to join them. I'm sure Robyn will have a few choice words for you."
"You children don't understand the good I was doing." Rose hisses. "You're halting the progression of women!"
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." I mutter, forcing her to march in front of me. "I'll be glad when you're out of our hands…"
HEX
We're assembling quite the group here. First that speedy chick, now an entire squad of policemen. You should have seen their faces when they saw us HIVE members waltz in with Changeling leading us.
Turns out that the green gal doesn't really have the best leadership skills though. She seems to have a hard time knowing what to do with everyone she now has at her disposal. I guess she didn't have a plan coming into this beyond: 'find help'.
Luckily, I'm there to help. It comes to the point where I am basically running the show on her authority. I already lead a team after all, so this is just a big larger scale of the same thing. All about that resource management.
See, the goal is to clear the city right? Cops can't handle a supervillain on their own, neither can a single HIVE member (except maybe Arachne). Here's the thing though, the JCPD have one thing the villains and us HIVE don't: cars. They ain't as fast as Kid Flash, but they still work. So the plan is basically to have some cops and KF act as scouts, while a single cop and their car stay back with two HIVE members or Changeling and move them about whenever the scouts find something to fight. This way, we can have four strike teams to sweep the city at a time while making sure we aren't spread too thin.
If that didn't make sense then… uh… think of the scouts as cameras and the strike teams as a guard. If the cameras spot something, a guard goes and fights it. Except the cameras can move too in this case.
Yeah, so, that's the plan. The teams are: Gizmo and Mammoth, Arachne (and Conan technically. He refused to be left out, but we all know he won't be much help here), Changeling on her own, with me and Kid Flash (who doubles as a scout) as the last group. The police will fan out in a spiral from our current point, so we should catch as many people as possible while still maintaining some speed.
Yeah, so, that's a thing. I'm just awesome I guess, or maybe everyone else just doesn't know how to manage other people. That's concerning considering 'everyone else' includes quite a few police officers and a superhero.
Whatever, I just hope Kid Flash can hold her own. I don't want to stumble upon Mumbo or something and be left to fend for myself. The other squads have already encountered some resistance, so I should be getting a call soon enough if our enemies are that common.
It also occurs to me that we have no idea how many people we'll be fighting tonight. I hope the Titans finish up soon, or that we find other help.
The radio in my hand crackles to life,"we've found someone, in the crossroads of Meadow Avenue and Sapphire Street," the voice says.
"Be there in a flash!" Kid Flash's voice is directly beside me, and I nearly jump out of my skin. "C'mon slowpoke!"
I'm promptly swept off my feet by the speedster, who runs us at breakneck speed to our destination. If I had to guess, less than five seconds have elapsed.
"A little warning next time." I grunt as she puts me down. "You're also stronger than you look."
"Or you're just really light." She responds offhandedly, already looking for the threat. She lights upon an unnaturally tall form peering into one of the stores. The scant moonlight gleans off her head and shoulders, showing red armor. "There they are, let's get 'em!" Kid Flash cries, instantly dashing forward.
"Too much sugar." I decide, running after the girl. "Like the enthusiasm though. My group is a rather dour bunch, so the change of pace is appreciated." I blink. "Change of pace; pun."
"Fight me!" Kid Flash says bluntly, stopping just behind the figure. No preamble, no checking if that's actually the villain, nothing. Just 'fight me'. Geeze, this girl...
"You think to challenge Adonis?" A female voice says in a low, hoarse tone. They turn around, giving us a good view of their massive suit of armor. "Are you sure you want to try that Skinny?" She sneers down at Kid Flash.
"Yeah, we do." I call, sauntering up next to the speedster and casually leaning on her, which draws a surprised blink from her. "Hell, 'Skinny' here could probably kick your butt all on her own."
I actually have no idea if that's true, but I don't like stuck up people like this jerk. I'm more than happy to mock her sorry ass even if I have no idea if I'm right. By the way, the casual leaning is just to show confidence. Mocking people doesn't work very well if you look indifferent.
"I'd like to see her try." Adonis snarls, cracking her knuckles. "C'mon Skinny, let's go a round!"
I glance of at Kid Flash, silently asking her if she's. To my surprise, she's smiling wildly.
"Hell yeah, bring it on!" She yells, punching the air rapidly; her hands easily blur from the speed.
Shrugging, I take several steps back. I'm fine with watching, this way I can see if my squadmate is actually any good. I'll jump in if anything goes wrong though.
"Call it Hex!" Kid Flash chirps, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Adonis nods agreement, lowering herself into a wrestler's stance.
"Go." I say instantly, not giving a warning.
If I was expecting a drawn-out fight I would have been sorely disappointed. In less than two seconds the fight is over, with Adonis lying eagle-spread on the floor with her suit disassembled all around her. Kid Flash stands with one leg on her back, casually tossing a screwdriver in her left hand.
"Calling me skinny?" She quips, eyeing Adonis' extremely gangly frame.
I blink once, twice; surprised. "Where did she get the screwdriver? Know what, I don't care. That was really cool." Returning back to the mission, I wave over the police officers who had been watching from down the street. They walk in and slap handcuffs on the girl and escort her back to the car while me and Kid Flash watch.
"So…" I say after a moment. "That was rather impressive."
"Hey, fastest kid alive. Besides, it was her fault for having a suit kept together by screws." The speedster grins. "I assume that's good enough for you, right?"
That also catches me off guard. "Eh- what?"
"You were assessing me." Kid Flash says pointedly, though she doesn't seem offended. "Making sure I wouldn't be a liability. That was definitely good enough."
"Right on all points." I admit, a bit sheepish. "Can't be too cautious."
"Well I have the same doubts." Kid Flash says bluntly. "So you try and take the next one solo."
I frown. "Hey now, not all villains are going to be as easy as that screwball."
She waves off my protest. "I'll step in to help if things get bad, and I'm just asking you to try. I know most villains are more dangerous than her, I'm a veteran crime-fighter."
"Uhh…" I stall. "I really don't want to do this."
"Hey!" Kid Flash pouts, cheeks puffing up a bit. "I trusted you a minute ago with Adonis."
"She got me there…" I wince. "I guess she's a hero though, so I should be in good hands." Reluctantly, I nod. "Fine…"
"Right, great, let's kick ass!" The speedster cheers.
I just shake my head and move over to the policemen; though I'm hiding a smile as I do so. This girl is really good apparently, and she's peppy and kinda cute. It's also nice to see someone else who uses my logic… even if it's against (kinda, not really) me.
Oh, just as an aside, I think I have a crush. Yeah, that's a thing. Never telling the others about this by the way. I mean, there's basically no chance we'll be on the same side again so acting on this would be a bad idea. I'll forget about it quickly enough after this is over anyways, so it's not a big deal.
Whatever. With Kid Flash's help, we should be able to clear the city quickly. Let's get cracking.
Does that count as an anti-climax? I mean, they did accomplish what they intended to, and more or less in the way they intended. What is it with me and anti-climaxes? I seem incapable of writing a proper conclusion. Meh, as long as it works.
A person: Yeah, Changeling is the most likely to break the mold and do something else. Remember, no one has actually seen Crow breath fire. As far as they know, he can't fight without magic. Yes, actually, he is good at throwing darts. He actually has a ton of miscellaneous skills that he just hasn't show off. Cyborg is the lonely one, so she knows the least. Poor Cy.
mayvicbot: Yeah… I guess that should have occurred to them (and me) beforehand. For Crow, who knows? Probably though, 'cause I still want to show him doing something awesome before the arc ends.
Origami Stars: No, I'm sure that's exactly what Robyn was thing ;D
Hey, whatever works right? I mean, it's not like she doesn't have plenty of extras.
Who knows? (and by that I mean: probably) Only his magic comes from, well, magic. The rest is all biological. His fire breath and immortality? That's all biological. Granted, being half-demon does often lead to an individual having magic powers, but the magic is separate and doesn't really interact with other half-demon traits.
Blah, so yeah. Probably faster.
