Author's note: I decided to insert some Halloween into this chapter, if only because we have to have some of that this year somewhere.
Earth-92131
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, New York
Jubilee's bedroom was dark, with the only light coming from the digital clock she had on her dresser. The time was 2:21 AM. She had only been asleep for less than three hours before waking up to see the time. She was silent because she didn't want to wake up the still sleeping young man lying next to her. Neal Shaara has only recently become Thunderbird, one of the newest members of the evil fighting mutant team famously known as the X-Men. That he had become Jubilation Lee's regular lover was an even more recent development, but it was far from famous. Only a few of the other members of the group knew of their late night trysts. Jubilee softly sighed as she nuzzled up against Thunderbird. It had only been a relatively short time ago that this relationship truly blossomed, and she still wished it had been under better circumstances.
"Sin-Eater…" she faintly glowered.
This wasn't enough for her. No matter how wonderful it felt to do these things, it didn't make her feel any better. A person Jubilee cared about was gone forever and the swine responsible was still out there. Somewhere. The search for Sin-Eater conducted by Colossus and Spider-Man had turned up nothing and there had been no more killings that fit his modus operandi since then. The Rangers down in Texas had recently called in after one of them, Red Wolf, thought he had found a lead, but it went nowhere. Shooting Star, another member of the Rangers, had actually personally called Jubilee to apologize for giving her false hope. It had given her a new friend to call on occasion at least, though she had resisted naming herself Stargirl alluded Jubilee.
"Maybe we could go on a trip there and hang out with her." Jubilee said hushedly to herself with a soft grin. "We could go on a double date. She has to have somebody who'd jump at the chance, considering her looks."
There was a knock on the door out of the blue. Jubilee got out of her bed. She was thankful that she had taken the time to take a bath and get redressed after she and Neal had their fill for the evening. The knocking continued and Jubilee swung open the door so they'd stop, revealing a young man close to her own age, who had shaggy brown hair and a soul patch. He was in sweatpants and an undershirt. It was Julio, another recent addition to the team. He went by Rictor on missions.
"Julio!" Jubilee shrieked.
She slammed the door before he could say anything and ran over to a blanket she had left on her chair earlier. She tossed it over the still sleeping Thunderbird and then ran back to the door, opening it again with a sheepish grin on her face. Julio Richter simply looked confused. He didn't know about her and Neal.
"Uhhhh...you 'kay?" he asked.
"I...wasn't decent! That's all." Jubilee fibbed.
"Oh." the young mutant from Mexico blushed. "Well, nothing I would've wanted to see anyway."
"Good. So...what's up that's made you come knock on my door before it's even three o'clock?" Jubilee asked.
"Pensarás que estoy loco…" Rictor murmured to himself, clearly rethinking coming to Jubilee at this hour.
"Come on, Rictor." Jubilee said, crossing her arms. "Don't be cute."
"Alright, alright; I found something strange outside. It was a turtle." Rictor finally revealed. "At first."
Rictor led Jubilee outside, where it was still very dark, requiring the former to use a flashlight. He pointed the light towards a tree where a figure was rustling around in the high up branches, partially hidden by the turning Autumn leaves. If it hadn't been that time of year it may have hid his bright green skin and hair completely. He noticed the two and revealed his face.
"Who the heck is this?" Jubilee wondered. "How'd he get here?"
The figure jumped out of the tree and landed in front of the two.
"I got that covered, dude. I'm Changeling." the green skinned stranger said. "As for how I got here, it's kind of a crazy story…"
Earth-261080
Titans Tower
The Halloween spirit was alive and well in Jump City. Even though the day had yet to come, one couldn't go anywhere without seeing some indicator that it was the season of trick-or-treating, spoopy decorations, costume parties, and monster movies. Even Titans Tower itself was part of this. About a couple days earlier, Kid Flash had bought just short of a hundred pumpkins, drew smiling faces drawn on all of them in black marker, and placed them all around the building, both inside and out. He had insisted it had been his fiancé's idea, but Jinx had denied having any prior knowledge regarding his stunt. It didn't really bother any of the Titans though, since it was right in time for their own Halloween costume party. Changeling had been excited to see what his teammates were dressing up as for the party and, upon seeing it was almost time for it to start, ran to the tower's large living area to see what they were. He opened the doors with a huge grin, only to be rather let down by what he saw.
"Dudes, you have to be kidding me." Changeling groaned.
Before him stood the four other members of the Titans, who were all in their apparent costumes; Nightwing looked like his typical self, but had a red plastic mask shaped like a fish instead of his normal mask, with similar eye holes in the middle. Starfire was dressed in a huge costume designed to look like a piece of her favorite brand of bubblegum, Königreich, in a pink wrapper. Cyborg was wearing a green cartoon Tyrannosaurus rex costume with his head and limbs poking out of holes in the front. Lastly, Raven was wearing a diaper over her regular clothes.
"I'm a baby." Raven said dryly. "Goo goo or something. I don't care."
"Look at these." Nightwing said as he pointed at his fish mask. "I'm a red herring. Get it?"
"I am the gum of the company called Königreich. It is very pink and can be chewed to make a bubble." Starfire explained as if the others had never seen her have the actual gum before.
"I'm a T-Rex. Well, I'm the inaccurate pop culture version you see in cartoons. You get the idea." Cyborg chuckled.
Changeling slapped his face in frustration.
"Guys, you aren't scary at all!" Changeling complained. "I might as well just turn into a turtle for the whole party to fit in with you!"
"Yes! Yes!" Starfire clapped.
"Yeah, that's a great idea. You should be a turtle for the party." Nightwing grinned.
Raven flew up to Changeling and glared at him with black glowing eyes, cutting off his attempt to object.
"I put on a diaper for this stupid party. I have to do that, you have to be a turtle." Raven growled.
"I didn't tell you to put on that diaper. You're free to show off your hips instead in something else." Changeling smirked.
Raven's eyes returned to normal and she blushed, a little bit embarrassed by his comment before returning to her usual demeanor.
"Well...it's too late now." Raven countered. "I sense some of our teammates who could make it for this already at the door."
"C'mon now, Changeling, show us your turtle power." Cyborg demanded.
Changeling sighed and shrunk down, turning into a small turtle. It's not like he had any better ideas. Starfire picked him up and placed him on the counter.
"Much hoorays! The partying shall be done in a pleasing way of frivolity!" Starfire smiled. "I will do a welcoming for whoever comes to do the festivities with us!"
Starfire flew out of the room to head down towards the front entrance to Titans Tower. Cyborg smiled at Nightwing.
"So, does that bubblegum costume 'do it' for you?" Cyborg asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It took years for our first real kiss in Tokyo to happen, so I've learned that patience is a virtue." Nightwing smirked.
"I don't like it when you talk about this stuff. I'm going to the bathroom." Raven said flatly.
Changeling wanted to joke that she could just go in her diaper, but decided changing back to his normal form wasn't worth invoking Raven's wrath. After she left, Cyborg and Nightwing both got calls on their T-Communicators. Nightwing answered and Kole's face appeared on it, with Gnarrk standing behind her.
"Hi, Robin...er...Nightwing, I mean." Kole smiled awkwardly. "We have the latest report you wanted."
Cyborg answered his own, revealing Sarah's face. He had convinced the others to let Sarah have one so he could let her know when he had to miss a date.
"Hey, dinosaur!" Sarah greeted. "Sorry I can't come tonight."
"It's cool." Cyborg smiled. "You promised your cousin you'd go with her on her trip. I get it."
Nightwing began to walk out of the room, not even bothering to look back.
"Guys, I'm going to go over the report with Kole and Gnarrk. I'll be back in a couple minutes." Nightwing said as he left the room.
"That's fine!" Cyborg said before looking back at Sarah on his device. "So where are you now?"
"Metropolis." Sarah answered. "We're already at the room we're renting and she's going out to dinner with her friend."
"Wait, why didn't you go with them?" Cyborg asked.
"I thought I'd show you something. Something I need to be alone for." Sarah smiled. "If you have time."
Cyborg grinned but then noticed Changeling on the counter, still in turtle form.
"Hey, I forgot something in my room." Cyborg lied as he dashed for the door. "I'll be back soon!"
Changeling sighed. Or at least well as he could as a turtle. He started to wish he could just skip the party altogether if it was going to be like this. Then the lights cut out. The sound of three young children then began to echo throughout the living area.
"Hahahahaha!" they went.
Changeling was confused. He wasn't sure what was going on. He thought it might've just been something set up for the party, like a preset recording for a game or prank. It would have certainly been in the spirit of the season. Except, the laughter kept going on and on. The lights flickered wildly, but didn't come back on fully. Changeling looked around and started to see small shadows appear briefly as the lights flickered on and off. Just as he was about to turn back to normal, a small hand grabbed him and tossed him into a sack full of candy. The lights turned back on in full, allowing him to look up to see three children; a boy in a red devil mask and costume, another boy, this one in a smiling skeleton mask and costume, and a girl in a witch mask and costume, who was the one holding the back. All of the three children laughed hysterically as they stared into the bag. Changeling tried to change back, but something was stopping him. Something that felt almost magical. He figured it must've been the bag, or the candy, or even just these three kids. If that's what they even were. He quickly assumed the three must have been homo magi, like Zatanna from the Justice League. He wasn't quite right, but he couldn't have known that.
"Kidnap the superhero, put him in a bag! Bring him to the evil guy so he'll get mighty glad!" the three children sang in unison.
He hoped singing wasn't their day job. The witch-masked girl closed up the bag, trapping him inside. The last thing he heard other than the laughter of the children was a scream that sounded like that of Starfire, then the smashing of glass. After that everything was a blur.
Earth-92131
The yard of Xavier's Home for Gifted Youngsters
"...so after the kids threw me in the bag, I was stuck as a turtle. Next thing I know I woke up here, in your yard, still as a turtle." Changeling finished his account of things. "My best guess that they used magic to transport me here or something."
"Why were you outside anyway, Julio?" Jubilee asked.
"Does that really matter?" Julio asked. "Seriously, let's focus on the green guy who can turn into a zoo!"
"Good point." Jubilee shrugged before turning to their sort-of guest. "So...you're part of a team called the Titans? Never heard of them."
"I've never heard of you X-Men either." Changeling said. "Wait...I think this might be an alternate universe to me!"
"Alternate universe? What gives you that idea?" Rictor asked.
"Funny thing, but it's the smell, dude." Changeling answered. "A while back a guy called Spider-Man showed up at my bud Cyborg's first attempt to get married. He said he was from another universe and, well, it smells like he was here recently."
"He was." Jubilee confirmed. "Crazy that you can tell though."
"It comes and goes." Changeling smiled. "Turning into dogs and whatnot almost every day has its advantages."
"Since when can Spider-Man travel to alternate Earths?" Rictor wondered aloud.
"He can't on his own. He has a friend or somebody else who can pull that off though. He told us about her." Jubilee explained.
"Great, I just hope my friends are okay while I'm here then." Changeling.
He looked up at the sky, hoping for the best.
Earth-261080
Titans Tower
"Who are you?" Nightwing asked.
He was sitting at a table across from the three masked children. Though they had proven to be hard to catch, the Titans did manage to do it. Granted, it took the Titans practically all night to finally find and restrain them all, but that was still much better than letting the trio who made Changeling disappear get away. The interrogation had only just begun.
"Ha! You think we'd just spill the beans like that?" the witch-masked girl mockingly asked back.
"You're stupid!" the skeleton masked boy laughed.
"Yeah, we ain't telling you anything!" the devil masked boy shouted.
The other present Titans we're watching this all through a window of one way glass. Naturally, they had all shed their costumes long ago, when it proved that the party planning had been for naught. Nevertheless, Hot Spot and Red Arrow, who had both come to attend the costume party, remained, determined to help Nightwing, Starfire, Raven and Cyborg.
"This isn't off to a good start." Red Arrow grumbled, pressing his clenched fist to the glass.
"Nightwing can surely accomplish his goal, Red Arrow." Starfire smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I am sure we shall find Bea...Changeling very soon."
Raven was next to them, but turned away from the glass. This made what she felt the need to say seem rather sudden.
"There's something about them." Raven observed. "Those kids are from another realm of some kind. I can feel it."
"Doesn't explain why they wanted Changeling." Cyborg said grimly.
Hot Spot noticed the sullen expression on Cyborg's face. He placed his right hand on Cyborg's left in an attempt to comfort him, but he pulled away.
"Sorry." Hot Spot sighed. "I just thought…"
"It isn't you, bro." Cyborg sighed. "It's just that...I kind of blame myself for this. I left him alone."
"Hey, don't be like that. You had no way of knowing something would happen. It'll be okay." Hot Spot said, smiling softly.
Suddenly, there was a blast of light from the interrogation room. The window shattered into bits that littered the floor. One left a cut on Red Arrow's left cheek. Everyone looked in shock into the room. Nightwing had been knocked back against a wall, his expression one of bafflement.
"They just vanished during that!" Nightwing gasped.
"Magic. I knew it." Raven stated.
Earth-92131
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Peter had been confused to wake up to calls from the X-Men telling him he needed to come see them, but he figured it had to be important, so he had complied. He, Mary Jane, and baby May decided to take his car to go see them and figure out what was going on. It helped that both had the day off from work. The last thing he had been expecting though, was the presence of Changeling, who had greeted them alongside Jubilee, Rictor, Thunderbird, and Nightcrawler. He had only met him once before after all. Nevertheless, Peter decided to just listen to Changeling and Jubilee explain everything. Mary Jane even let Rictor hold May while Peter was hearing them out.
"Geen!" May giggled, pointing at Changeling.
"Oh, you're so cute. " Rictor said to the baby. "Don't you agree, Neal?"
"Yes, she's beautiful." Neal said. "Thank you for bringing her, Mrs. Watson-Parker."
"Thanks, and please, call me MJ." Mary Jane beamed.
Nightcrawler made goofy faces for May that made her giggle more. Yup, all three of these X-Men certainly loved babies and there was nothing wrong with that. They were all actually quite excited for Colossus and Kitty's child to be born.
"So...that's that." Changeling said as he finished explaining things to Peter. "Sure, I don't know how they did it, but that's what happened."
"I can't say I've ever heard of anyone like those three kids before, but...I believe you." Peter said to him. "I'd be happy to help. Not that I like dealing with Web, but still. Trust me, she's almost always watching. Which has been a bit creepy at times, but whatever."
Peter cleared his throat a bit and then, to the surprise of the others around him, began to yell out for Madam Web.
"Madam Web! Hey, Madam Web! Do you hear me?! Web! Web! Hey! Madam Web! I know you hear me! Hey, Madam Web!" he yelled out.
"Eb." May said, trying to repeat her daddy.
To make a long story short, Madam Web finally appeared after several minutes of Peter's yelling. She looked rather annoyed.
"Oh, so now you want to see me, Mr. Parker?" Web sarcastically asked. "I'll have you know that I have had a lot going on. It takes a lot of time to figure out who I'll be…"
She then noticed Changeling, causing her to fall silent. This silence was broken by the ringing of Peter's cellphone. Realizing that it was interrupting the moment, he turned it off. He doubted it was anything important.
"Ah. I now see why you felt I was needed." Madam Web uttered, now calmer and more like her usual self.
She motioned for Changeling to come towards her, which he did, albeit nervously.
"Freaky how she just appeared out of nowhere." Rictor whispered.
"Eh, I do similar things every day." Nightcrawler whispered back.
"Quiet." Thunderbird hissed.
Jubilee rolled her eyes and then simply watched and listened as Changeling explained his predicament as best he could. Web nodded repeatedly until he finished.
"Ah, I know of these children." Madam Web sighed. "Their names are Lock, Shock, and Barrel and they come from a strange place called Halloween Town. I don't know why they bothered you, young man, but I can easily send you back home."
"Thank you!" Changeling replied with a smile.
He began shaking her hand, which kind of threw her off.
"Wait…there's a universe called Halloween Town?" Changeling asked, perplexed.
"Not exactly. It is more of another land that can be accessed through a number of Earths." Madam Web explained, taking her hand back. "It isn't even the only one of its kind. Do not fret over such things for now. I'll drop you off back in your universe and then get back to work."
She looked over at Peter, who sheepishly grinned at her. Perhaps this would teach him to appreciate her role in his life at least a little more in times to come. Madam Web summoned a swirling portal. Changeling waved goodbye to everyone before both he and Web entered it.
Earth-261080
The interrogation room
The portal opened up right above Nightwing, who was still on the floor of the interrogation room. Changeling fell out of the portal right on top of him. This understandably surprised everyone, but it was a welcome surprise to be sure. They all leapt into the interrogation room through the busted window, gathering around the two.
"It's Changeling!" Red Arrow exclaimed.
"You're back!" Cyborg laughed, hugging Changeling and lifting him off of Nightwing.
"What happened?" Starfire asked.
"Where did you go?" Hot Spot asked.
"Give me a moment to breathe, dudes!" Changeling smiled as Cyborg set him down. "I'll tell you all about it."
It was a happy moment. One that felt like a miracle had just happened. To a degree, one had. Up in the corner of the room though was a small camera, naked to even Cyborg's robotic eye. All of the smiles and everything else were being watched. The Tower has many of these cameras planted there all throughout the night. Under his mask, Slade smiled as he watched it all from his cavernous lair while lounging on a large ornate chair. Next to him stood a woman in shadow.
"I can't believe your plan actually worked." she said, her voice hoarse and ragged.
"Of course it worked, my old foe. Unconventional agents are far from a guarantee of failure." a slightly Slade responded, barely taking it as an insult.
"You've changed, Slade." the woman stated. "There were easier ways to distract them while you had their home bugged."
"You got a problem with us?!" Lock snapped.
The odd little trio had just appeared in the lair as if out of nowhere. Neither Slade nor the hidden woman seemed to be all that surprised. All three jumped around like rabbits all around.
"Did we scare you? I like to think that we did!" Barrel laughed.
"That was so much fun!" Shock blazoned. "I don't know why you wanted us to do that, but I liked it!"
Slade got up and joined his fingers together. Yes, Lock, Shock, and Barrel had served him well. Nevertheless, he wasn't exactly fond of the unruly children interrupting his meeting.
"Good then, but I'm done with you three now." Slade stated.
The three stopped bouncing about the cavern and looked at him, looking almost sad. Almost.
"It is time for you to return to where you came here from." Slade said to them. "Don't take it personally. Understand that this is mostly because I don't need the Titans tracing you back to me."
"Ahem." the shadow covered woman coughed.
"Us. I meant us." Slade corrected himself. "Now…"
Slade reached down and picked up a lantern he had sitting by his chair.
"...it is time to say farewell. Perhaps I shall see you again one day." he finished.
He held the lantern up and a burst of energy cane out of it, striking Lock, Shock, and Barrel. They screamed as they were transported away. Just like that, they were gone, and Slade set down the lantern back by his chair. He wouldn't be calling on them again. He had meant what he said about not wanting his costume enemies to be able to trace them back to him. Plus, if they spent more time looking for them with no avail, it worked better for his plot anyway. Besides, the masked menace figured it was best to send them back to where they had come from. If Slade Wilson was the type to make quips he would say one about how they'd be out of season soon. He pressed his gloved hand to the screen before him, gazing at the Titans as they all exited the room they had been talking in, before the feed changed to show them enter the hallway.
"Happy Halloween, children." Slade vocalized. "I'll be making sure that you won't live to enjoy another."
In the shadows, the woman turned away from Slade. Her eyes glowed red.
Earth-92131
Kyoto, Japan
Logan didn't always like going on solo missions, but this one had been going well so far. The Hand agents he had come to Kyoto to fight had proved to be easy enough for him to defeat the previous day. The problem was that they kept coming back, over and over. Like a lot of people, he had quickly grown bored with the Hand. They were not even half as impressive as they thought they were. Logan was kind of disappointed in that. What he did like though was the downtime. Sitting back in an old chair in a cheap hotel with even cheaper beer didn't sound like much, but Logan enjoyed the simplicity in it all. It helped that the woman staying two rooms down from him was really easy on the eyes. One thing troubled him though as he finished his drink.
"Hhhmmm, none of the others have tried to get in touch with me for a while." Logan said to himself.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Logan got up and went to answer it. He opened the door to see a handsome, fit looking East Asian man with greying temples. He was wearing a loose button down shirt, jeans, and sandals and was holding a package wrapped in brown paper under his right arm.
"Hi, is the sign inaccurate or this really Room 156?" the man asked in an extremely polite tone.
"Yeah, that's the number they told me this was." Logan answered him. "What is it?"
The man held up the paper bag to him and smiled.
"This was delivered to my room by mistake. You see, I'm staying in room 56." the man explained.
"Really? Well, thanks then." Logan said, taking the package. "Hey, you sound American; are you a tourist like me?"
"Yes, I am." the man confirmed. "Nice to meet you. The name's Stanley. Stanley Kao."
Surprise! I felt it was high time I advance these two plots a little. Why not continue both together before they diverge?
Some notes:
- I had some of Jubilee's thoughts about Shooting Star of the Rangers reflect how much her design resembles some versions of DC's Stargirl. I mentioned the Rangers because I wanted to mention some lesser known heroes. They have the same lineup as they originally did in the comics, plus Living Lightning.
- I think I thought of using Rictor because of being introduced to the character in the film Logan. Obviously, he has a history more like the comics' here.
- The Titans' costumes are references to other roles their actors have voiced; Hynden Walch voiced Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time, Scott Menville voiced Red Herring in A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Tara Strong voiced Dil Pickles in Rugrats, Khary Payton voiced Grimlock in the Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon, and Greg Cipes voiced Michelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show that started in 2012.
- I had Changeling meet the X-Men due to Morph from the series being renamed to Morph from Changeling due to the DC hero's prominence at the time. Kind a wink to that.
- Some may wonder why I added Nightmare Before Christmas to the multiverse. I...have no answer. It just came to me. Haha.
- Lock, Shock, and Barrel vanishing from the interrogation room was a reference to Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, where Saico-Tek also seemingly did that (though he had melted himself away with water).
- Who's the woman working with Slade? Why is Sin-Eater in Japan? Both will be answered. Eventually that is.
Even though the world is still crazy and things can be really sad in all this, I hope everybody reading this has a nice Halloween. It is what we make it.