End of the arc! As said in the previous chapter, we'll open with the other two teams (Well, Omen and Bumblebee followed by Robin) before hitting Christmas and the lead up to the next arc.
It's funny, by the time the first chapter to the next arc is posted, it'll be the day after Christmas, whereas this chapter's gonna end during Christmas. But you're reading this now, so I didn't hold the chapter back. Who knows, maybe a future chapter will be posted around that time; it'll definitely be more festive than this one.
I'd also like to mention that my X-Men story A Sinister Past (The new title), is also being overhauled. At the time of writing (8/12/2020), I've finished the first chapter's overhaul and am more than halfway through the second chapter. There's gonna be more in-depth news for that story later.
Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!
Blood of a God
Omen and Bumblebee
Omen quickly runs to cover behind a table covered with technological devices, Bumblebee currently stands on her shoulder, hanging on to Omen's cloak. Bumblebee's wings begin to flutter as she carefully flies atop Omen's head and peaks over the table.
"He's absorbed in his work," Bumblebee relays. "Don't know if he even knows we're here."
"We still need to be careful," Omen thinks. "Think you can get closer?"
Bumblebee mentally scoffs. "I know I can."
Bumblebee jumps off of Omen's head and flies over to another table, hiding behind what looks like a drone and peeks over at Gizmo. Once she makes sure he isn't looking, she flies closer, standing on the shoulder of a robot and using its head as cover.
As she approaches from the right, Omen dashes from cover to cover on the left. She stops behind a pillar, in front of a shutdown robot. From her cover, Omen gets a good look at Gizmo, she notices the green technological lines travelling across his face.
Her brow furrows as Gizmo continues to work on his project, his headphones still in. "Hey, Bumblebee," Omen begins. "Gizmo didn't have green lines across his face last time, did he?"
As Bumblebee flies to the table Gizmo works on, Omen feels her confusion. "No?" Bumblebee's thoughts become silent as she readies her stinger. "I'll knock him out with one good hit though."
As the stinger charges, Gizmo's device on the table suddenly comes to life and shoots a green ball at Bumblebee. Before she can react, it hits her, and the ball grows into a bubble that surrounds Bumblebee and floats in the air.
Gizmo laughs as he watches Bumblebee float around helplessly in the bubble. "Wow! You heroes sure are dumb! Did you really think I didn't know you were there?" He taunts before looking in Omen's direction. "Or you?"
The robot behind her activates and reaches out, wrapping Omen in a bear hug and lifting her off her feet. The robot's arms crush her abdomen and torso, which doesn't let her concentrate her powers.
Omen kicks and tries to escape from the robot's grasp, but its strength makes her actions futile. Omen eventually stops her actions and glares at Gizmo from behind her hood. "Hooray, you caught us. What's up with your marks?"
Gizmo smirks and leans back in his seat. Just before he answers, he pokes the bubble away, and Bumblebee shouts at him in response. The little technopath just smirks before focusing on Omen again.
"Oh, you know, just a power upgrade. That's all," he answers. "Wanna know what my powers are?"
Omen blinks in surprise. 'He can't be serious,' she thinks.
"Come ooon, guess," Gizmo pushes. His markings then glow, and the robot's arms tighten, leading to Omen groaning out in pain. Gizmo's playful look then becomes serious. "Guess."
Omen takes some deep breaths and flinches before glaring at him. "I don't know…technopathy?"
Gizmo smiles and sits back. "Ding, ding, ding! First try!"
'Oh my God, he's serious,' Omen deadpans.
The green bubble floats closer and bounces off of Gizmo's head. Looking inside, the two look to see Bumblebee slamming her shoulder into it, controlling where it flies. "When I get out of here, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
Bumblebee then attempts to grow, but the bubble glows green as she hits the barrier of it. "The hell!?"
Gizmo laughs like a little gremlin. "Oh, that bubble absorbs kinetic energy," he then turns to Omen. "Oh, and don't even try to mess with my head. I've got some really strong psi-shields."
"You really are arrogant," Omen comments. "I mean, who else would tell us all their gear and powers?"
Gizmo shrugs and gets up, his marks glow again as the drone on the table floats next to him. "Is it really arrogance if I'm just that good?"
Bumblebee's bubble bounces off the back of Gizmo's head. "Pride comes before the fall, Jerkass! And man, it's gonna be one hell of a fall."
Gizmo growls as his marks glow again. A cable shoots from the drone and grabs the bubble before pulling it into the drone. Bumblebee shouts in surprise as her bubble is taken to the center of the drone, locked in place.
"Will you cut that out!" Gizmo shouts at Bumblebee.
In response, she flips him off.
Gizmo sighs deeply before turning to Omen. "Tell your friend to-" the whole room shakes violently. "Whoa!"
During the shaking, the robot—who's arms weren't complete—loses its grip on the telepath, freeing Omen. She rubs her chest to soothe the pain before rolling away, using her telekinesis to keep her cloak away.
"Catch her you damned wastes of resources! She's got a freaking cloak!" Gizmo shouts, his face turning red as his anger increases.
Bumblebee smirks. "I thought they worked under your control. What's that say about you?"
Gizmo turns around to glare at her. "Shut up!"
One of the robots is thrown by Omen's telekinesis and clips Gizmo. It also slams into the drone holding Bumblebee. Once it crashes, the bubble pops, freeing Bumblebee and letting her fly free.
"Oh, your gonna regret holding me in that," she threatens as she cracks her knuckles. Her fists glow yellow as her stingers activate.
Gizmo growls before stumbling as another earthquake goes off. "The hell is that!?"
The earpieces of Omen and Bumblebee activate. "Hey, this is Robin. I just wanna say: it's pretty hard hacking their tech when I gotta fight back cultists and deal with a magnitude twenty earthquake! What the hell's going on!?"
"Sorry, that's me," Apex apologizes. "Mammoth got a power boost. He's a lot stronger and tougher than when you guys fought him."
"Yeah!" Kid Flash shouts. "This Billy Numerous guy just used Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu! He could only make three last time!"
Omen lifts the other robot up and throws it at the now rising drone before replying. "The same can be said for Gizmo. He doesn't even use his gauntlet to control his tech anymore. I think he's a technopath. It's possible they've all gotten increases to their powers."
"I think you're right, Omen. Zee, watch out!" Wonder Girl shouts. She's silent for a moment before continuing. "Jinx's spells are far more powerful than last time."
"Robin, find out what you can about their power boost. I gotta go, Mammoth really doesn't know how to stay down," Apex says before leaving the call.
"Okay! I've had enough!" Gizmo shouts before his jetpack activates. The technopath takes flight in the massive room and aims his open hand downwards, the lines on his skin glowing brightly.
In response, the two robots from before stand back up. The drone sputters a bit before taking back to the air. Spider bots, small robots, and a large, half-built robot, all activate and march towards the two heroines.
Gizmo laughs as he watches the two slowly back up to the doors to the room. "Not so confident now, are you?"
As Gizmo laughs again, Bumblebee growls in annoyance. "I'm gonna shoot him in the throat. That laugh's so damn annoying," she threatens.
"You got that right," Omen agrees. "I'll keep Gizmo and the robots busy, you shut them down."
Bumblebee nods before shrinking down and shooting forward, heading for the damaged drone first.
Thanks to her small size, she's able to easily fly inside due to the damaged parts and shoot rapid stinger blasts at the exposed wiring and technology that makes up the drone. Due to her attacks, the robot veers out of control and flies towards the large robot. Bumblebee manages to fly out of it just before it explodes against the large robot's face.
Omen ducks as the first robot she threw attempts to hit her with a right hook. While rising up, she holds it in a telekinetic grasp and swings it around, hitting many of the pillars in the room before throwing it at the other, similar robot.
Omen flies away as some spider bots jump at her previous position, though, a few manage to land on her leg and quickly crawl up her body. The telepath slaps at the spiders, trying to knock them off, but while she's doing this, Gizmo shoots her with a taser. Omen's body locks up as she cries out in pain, the electricity arcing through her body before she falls to the ground.
"Omen!" Bumblebee tries to assist her, but the large robots massive, complete hand stops her and nearly grabs her.
"Omen! You okay?" Bumblebee thinks as she enters one of the smaller robots and tears the wires inside apart.
The spider bots crawling all over Omen are knocked back by a telekinetic force from Omen. The telepath slowly sits up and pulls the taser bolt out of her leg and rubs the wound. "I'm starting to hate this gremlin."
One of the robots suddenly reaches down and grabs Omen by the neck, choking her as it slowly lifts her up off her feet. Its grip tightens as she tries to telekinetically push it away, taking away her focus.
Bumblebee notices this and flies over, but just before she can reach the robot, Gizmo shoots more of the compact bubbles at her. Bumblebee manages to dodge them and shoot the robot's arm at the elbow with an extra powerful stinger blast, which manages to cut the robot's arm in half.
Omen falls to the ground and gently rubs her throat and coughs as air returns to her lungs.
Bumblebee shoulder charges the robot, but just before she makes contact, she grows to normal size. The kinetic force from her growth adds strength to the attack, sending the robot flying back into a wall and shutting it down.
"Big robot!" Omen shouts.
She telekinetically pushes Bumblebee away and flies backwards as the large robot slams its fist into the ground where the two just were, many of the spider bots are crushed by the attack.
The robot shifts its focus to Omen as Gizmo fires more compact bubbles at Bumblebee. "Quit moving already!" The technopath shouts in frustration.
"I'd rather not!" Bumblebee shouts back as she flies between two bubbles and shoots a spider bot with a stinger blast. "Omen, please tell me you have a plan."
Omen holds the large robot's fist back before lifting a table and slamming it into the robot's upper body. "Hold a moment," everything shakes violently, nearly knocking the robot over on top of Omen. "Jesus! Apex! The hell's going on!?"
"Can't talk!" Apex quickly replies.
The ground behind Omen breaks apart as the wing of a jet flies through it and continues upwards. The fighting pauses as the three (and the robots) look up at the jet wing continues upwards. They then look down the hole and Gizmo creates a holographic screen; on it they see the evolved Mammoth and Apex hitting each other with powerful attacks.
"Hey, I've been wondering. What's Mammoth got against Apex?" Gizmo asks.
"I've actually been wondering about that too," Bumblebee says.
Omen looks at the two before shrugging. "Isn't it obvious? Mammoth hates the fact that Apex beat him last time they fought. So, he sees this as his chance to prove he's stronger," Omen looks at their battle again. "Why's he only using his strength though? Apex has so many more powers."
"Whatever! Robots! Kill!" Gizmo shouts as he resumes shooting at Bumblebee. This time, two arms appear over his shoulders from his jetpack, little guns at the end of them.
As Omen resumes dodging the attacks, she has an idea. "Bumblebee! Plan!"
"Tell me please!" Bumblebee replies as she hits Gizmo in the head with a quick stinger blast. "Gotcha!"
When Bumblebee hit Gizmo in the head, the few spider bots left, and the large robot began to spaz out for a moment before he recovered.
"It'll take more than that!" Gizmo shouts. Two more drones fly next to him and chase Bumblebee around the room.
"These robots are all controlled by Gizmo, right? I mean, when you shot him in the head the robots went haywire for a moment," Omen begins.
"So, what's the pla- WHOA!" Bumblebee shouts as a taser bolt narrowly misses her tiny form. "That would've been baaad."
"The plan is for you to get in real close, take out his tech and hit him with all the stinger blasts you can," Omen strategizes.
"And the robots should shut down?" Bumblebee wonders as she flies closer to Gizmo, ready to go through with the plan.
Omen lifts some rocks from the jet wings sudden rise and throws them at the large robot and the spider bots. She manages to crush the spider bots left and leaves large dents in the large one. "Yeah. But just in case that doesn't work, I have an idea."
"What's your plan?" Bumblebee inquires as she reaches Gizmo and enters his jetpack.
"Hey! Get out of there!" The technopath shouts as he futilely reaches back for her.
Omen smirks as she flies around the large robot, occasionally hitting it with forceful pushes—all towards the hole in the ground.
As the large robot is pushed, Bumblebee finds what looks to be the power source for Gizmo's jetpack. Smirking, the tiny hero charges up a powerful stinger blast.
"Boom."
Bumblebee shoots the power source. And to add to the damage, she grows back to normal size while inside the jetpack.
The reaction's instantaneous. Gizmo and Bumblebee begin to fall down, the former's concentration now lost. Because of his loss of concentration, the remaining robots all go haywire, and Omen uses this to her advantage by hitting the large robot down the hole, which takes down the other robots with it.
"You've got incoming, Daichi!" Omen warns.
"No, I've got ammo," he corrects. "Thanks, Omen."
Omen looks down to see Apex fly up quickly, grab what remains of the biggest robot, and fly down and smack Mammoth away with it.
She smiles and turns around to see Bumblebee holding Gizmo in a headlock. The technopath tries to fight out of her grasp. "Let me go! Let me go, dammit!"
Omen just glares at him and her eyes glow green. The feedback hits her hard, but Omen stands her ground and continues to glare, ignoring the blood trickling down her nose. "Shut up already."
Gizmo's eyes roll up and he falls unconscious.
Omen takes a deep breath as she stumbles back and holds her head. With her left hand, she lowers her facemask and wipes away the blood dripping from her nostril. "Damn."
Bumblebee drops Gizmo and walks up to Omen. "Whoa, you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, just- man, that was so not worth it," Omen replies as she brings her mask back up.
Bumblebee looks down at Gizmo. "I thought you said he had a psi-shield."
"He did. I managed to break through it," Omen boasts. "Come on, let's go join Robin."
Bumblebee nods and the two run out of the room to join their leader.
Robin
The Boy Wonder seemingly teleports from shadow to shadow as he avoids any cultist in his way. None even knowing he's there, even with the bright colors he wears.
From behind a pillar, standing in the shadows, Robin looks at the main computer in the room—a massive screen takes up almost an entire wall. Reminds him of the Batcomputer, actually. Three cultists are currently on it, one typing, two others watching the screens.
"Reports of intruders within the complex," the one on the left says.
"Shimmer reports that Speedy and Starfire are chasing her. She also reports that Mammoth and Apex are fighting in the training ground," the one on the right says.
The one in the middle growls and tries to look through the cameras. Robin smirks as the looped footage keeps playing. "Can't find them anywhere, dammit! But if Speedy, Starfire, and Apex are here, then the Teen Titans can't be far behind."
The one on the left pulls a microphone to him and presses the button beside it. "All personnel, the Teen Titans are within the complex. Repeat, the Teen Titans are within the complex. Do not let any of them in the main control room. And make sure none of them are even in the same room as Brother Blood."
Robin smirks, a little too late for the main control room part. 'But who the hell's Brother Blood?'
The room shakes violently. Robin nearly falls over and reveals his position but quickly recovers and holds onto the pillar tightly, ready for another quake.
The cultists weren't so lucky. The three fall over and land atop each other, once the shaking stops they struggle for a moment to detangle themselves before getting up and looking through the cameras. The main screen then shows Apex and Mammoth hitting each other with powerful blows, each one followed by loud booms.
The one in the middle turns to the other two. "Go, get as many heavy weapons as you can. If those two continue, Brother Blood won't be happy."
The two nod before running out of the room, leaving Robin with the cultist on the computer. The Boy Wonder smirks before running out of the shadows and jumping on the cultist's back, putting him in a chokehold. Once the cultist is knocked out, Robin slowly puts him down and drags him into the shadow behind the pillar.
'Man, these are some conveniently dark shadows,' he thinks.
A quake far larger than the ones before it goes off. Robin quickly pulls out his grappling hook and shoots it into the roof of the room, he then lifts up his feet to avoid the tremors.
Robin then walks over to the computer and turns off the cameras. The Boy Wonder then exits the application and looks through the files present on the computer.
"Okay, let's see what we have here…" he whispers. "Cult of Kobra, League of Assassins (shit), and other assorted evil sounding groups. Lovely."
The door suddenly opens, and a few armed cultists enter the room. "Hey, the ground in the training room kindaaa…"
The six cultists pause as they see Robin slowly turn around to look at them. "Hi," Robin waves.
"Get him!"
Robin quickly drops a smoke pellet and uses his grappling hook to get a better position, overlooking the room as the cultists cough and wave the smoke away. While on the wall, Robin gets out three birdarangs and prepares to throw them at three of his enemies, but just as he does, the building shakes again, throwing off his aim, leading to the birdarangs missing completely.
The cultists follow the path of the birdarangs to find Robin on the wall above them. One of them activates her earpiece. "We've got an intruder in the monitor room! It's Robin! Send reinforcements!"
'Dammit,' Robin thinks as he swings from pillar to pillar, the cultists lose his position. 'Gotta stop anymore reinforcements from coming in otherwise it'll be an endless stream of these guys.'
The door opens, and six more cultist enter the room. The twelve then sweep the room high and low, looking for the Boy Wonder. Said acrobat curses in his head before getting four birdarangs in his hand. 'I can take on eight. I'm sure of it.'
Robin throws the four weapons, hitting the cultists in their heads or necks, knocking the four out instantly. The remaining eight look up and shine their flashlights in his direction, before they can shoot, he throws down two smoke bombs and activates the infrared in his mask.
Robin then jumps down and lands on one of the coughing cultists; once he's down, Robin stomps on his head to knock him out before leaping away from a wild swing.
"Where the hell is he!?" One of them shouts.
"No idea!" Another replies.
"Well that's helpful!"
"Shut u-AGH!"
Robin interrupts him with a taser shot. Suddenly, an arm wraps around his neck and a hand holds his arm back. "I have him!" A cultist shouts in excitement.
Another cultist slowly walks over and unsheathes his sword. "Keep him still, I don't want to stab the both of you."
The cultist holding Robin tightens his grip around the young man's neck, while the other one draws their sword back, ready to stab the hero. The sword then comes forward, but another quake happens, and throws everyone off balance, letting Robin break free.
Robin rubs his neck as he rolls away to see the smoke beginning to clear, it's still thick, but eventually it will be gone. 'Gotta be faster,' he thinks.
Robin grabs some foam bombs from his belt and throws them at three cultists standing together. Once the bombs explode, the three are trapped together by quickly hardening foam. Robin then runs back into the smoke and jumps up and kicks another in the face, knocking his mask askew. He then goes for a palm strike to the throat, but the room shakes yet again, throwing his attack off.
Robin growls in annoyance before activating his comms. "Hey, this is Robin. I just wanna say: it's pretty hard hacking their tech when I gotta fight back cultists and deal with a magnitude twenty earthquake! What the hell's going on!?"
The others reply, with Apex mentioning Mammoth's power upgrade, Omen then brings up Gizmo's. 'So, they've all been enhanced,' Robin thinks as the communicator turns off. He then ducks a punch and uppercuts the cultist before backflipping and kicking another enemy away.
Robin then tilts out of the way of a downward swipe from a blade and elbows the shoulder of his attacker, sending the blade flying away and nearly breaking the cultist's arm. 'Six down, two to go.'
One of the cultists has two short swords, one in each hand, the other has a golden blade with a red line running down the center. The smoke eventually clears entirely, which lets the two see Robin.
The one with the sword points the tip of the blade at the Boy Wonder. "You will regret invading our home, boy. Brother Blood doesn't like intruders."
"He's correct," the other agrees as he crosses the short swords over his chest. "In fact, you should let us kill you now, we'll be doing you a favor."
"Trust us, you do not want to draw Brother Blood's ire," the one with the sword adds.
Robin hums and draws an assortment of birdarangs. "Hmmm, I'd rather trust my friends. See, they're kicking the Hive Five's asses right now, and I'm about to kick yours. Whatever your Brother Blood has in store, we can deal with it."
Short Swords sighs and shakes his head. "The folly of youth. Don't say we didn't warn you."
Sword then runs forward, Short Swords right behind him, and horizontally cuts at Robin. The acrobat flips up and lands on the sword, he then quickly places a birdarang on the blade and leaps away. The weapon beeps three times before a flash of light goes off, blinding the two. Robin then runs forward and kicks Sword away before leaping on Short Sword's shoulders.
"You're blind!" Robin shouts before grabbing his cape and putting it around Short Swords' face.
Short Swords struggles and waves his blades around, trying to cut Robin. Most attacks miss, but a few manage to get the young hero on the arms, leaving gashes on the limbs. Robin then places another birdarang on Short Swords' chest, he then leaps off and knees Sword in the face before rolling away. The birdarang on Short Swords explodes into a high-pitched screech, disorienting the two again.
"CUT THAT OUT, BOY!" Swords shouts.
"HA! Cut! Get it? 'Cause you have swords! You can't…hear… Whatever," Robin shrugs and tosses two foam birdarangs at their chests, trapping the two in foam prisons. With all the cultists down, Robin quickly flips to the door and locks it just before more cultists enter, he then pumps his right fist but hisses in pain as it agitates the cuts.
"That was stupid," he whispers to himself. Robin then walks over to the computer and resumes hacking.
Thanks to the Hive Five's jet, Robin's able to hack the data quickly. Most of it regards locations of bases all over the world, others focus on spells and weaponry to work on. But there's one Robin finds most interesting.
A file on parents and adopted fourteen-year-old girls all over the world.
"The hell…?" Robin whispers. He begins to download the data and activates his commlink. "Guys, I've found some really interesting stuff on this computer."
"Can you download it and tell us later?" Apex asks.
"Already on it," Robin says.
"Hey, if you're done, think you can help us? Kid and I are kind of having some trouble," Aqualad says.
"Omen and I are on our way," Bumblebee says.
"We're still busy with Shimmer," Speedy says.
"Apex, Zatanna, and I are busy with Mammoth and Jinx," Wonder Girl informs. The sound of combat overtakes the communication, followed by shaking that Robin feels. "It might take some time."
The download finishes, and Robin quickly finds a nearby ventilation shaft to crawl through thanks to the map he just downloaded. "Speedy, Starfire, I'm on my way to you guys. Everyone else, stay on your toes."
Robin gets a multitude of affirmatives before crawling into the vent, ready to assist his friends.
Speedy and Starfire
The Tamaranean Princess barely avoids a swing from the electric sword before flying back and shooting star bolts at Shimmer. The enhanced metahuman uses her glass sword to protect herself, it also manages to barely reflect the star bolt downwards, surprising all three.
"Huh, that happened," Shimmer says.
Speedy nocks a fire arrow and shoots it at Shimmer while she's focused on the scorched ground below her. The arrow hits, and her armor quickly catches on fire. As Shimmer fights to get rid of the flames, Starfire swoops down and kicks her back, sending Shimmer skimming along the floor.
Shimmer quickly grabs some dirt and throws it onto the fire, the dirt transforms into water and douses the flames. The metahuman then slowly sits up and glares at the two, particularly at Speedy. "You're so damn de-"
Robin falls from the roof and lands on top of her.
Robin looks down at Shimmer as he stands on her before looking at the two. "Hey guys!" He then flips off as Shimmer's swords try to cut into him. As he flips, Robin throws down a smoke bomb and hides away into the corners of the room.
As Shimmer coughs the smoke away, Starfire aims her fist into the cloud and shoots concussive star bolts from both fists into the cloud. Shimmer manages to block the first one thanks to pure luck, the second one does hit her in the side though, sending her flying out of the cloud and into the wall behind her.
As she recovers, Speedy fires two net arrows, pinning her to the wall. To make matters worse, Robin throws to ice bombs at her hands, pinning them down as he falls from the shadows and kicks her head on the way down, knocking her out.
"And that's why you wear a helmet, kids," he quips.
"But none of us wear helmets," Starfire says with a tilt of her head. "Should we from now on?"
Robin lightly chuckles as he walks up to her. "It's a joke, Star."
She looks down and thinks it over before nodding with a smile. "Ah, I understand it now! Good joke, Robin!"
The Boy Wonder blushes and scratches his cheek with a finger. "Oh, well you know-"
"We're wasting time," Speedy interrupts. "Shimmer and Gizmo are down, we're not sure about Billy Numerous, and Apex has yet to beat Mammoth."
"Wonder Girl and Zatanna haven't beat Jinx yet, either," Robin says.
"What of Aqualad and Kid Flash?" Starfire asks, worried for her friends. "Should we not assist them with Omen and Bumblebee?"
Robin smirks. "Doesn't really matter where we go, I made sure of that."
"How?" Speedy asks.
"When I was on their computer, I made a call. We've got one hell of a cavalry coming in," Robin says.
"How long 'til your "cavalry" arrives?" Speedy asks as the three exit the room.
Robin looks at the watch on his holographic screen. "Fifteen minutes max," the ground shakes again. "Come on! I'll take us to WG, Zee, and A!"
The three run down the hallway, intent on helping their friends.
Aqualad and Kid Flash
"Dammit! This is getting annoying!" Aqualad shouts in frustration as he narrowly avoids the blade of a White Cell assassin.
"On that, we agree," Brother Blood says from his position atop the staircase. "White Cells! Why can't you kill two children?"
That seems to spur them on. The one fighting Aqualad increases the speed of its attacks, getting in a few hits that leave scratches on the Atlantean's face. Aqualad pushes the Cell back and creates his own water blade. The two circle each other and watch the others body language.
"Give up now and you won't regret working with this asshole," Aqualad warns.
"I will gladly give my life for Brother Blood, Atlantean. Do you know anything about loyalty?" The White Cell counters.
Aqualad nods. "Actually, I do. Well, let's test it then. My loyalty to my people and my friends, against yours to your cult and leader."
"Yes, let's," the White Cell agrees.
The two charge forward and clash their blades. Thanks to his natural build, Aqualad is able to push the White Cell's sword back, forcing the assassin to take steps back to keep his balance. But before he can do more, the White Cell quickly sidesteps out of the struggle and kicks Aqualad away.
The White Cell then runs forward and swings his blade upwards, narrowly missing Aqualad's face. The Atlantean then pushes the White Cell away with his shoulder and attempts to stab the foot of his opponent, but the White Cell backflips away, kicking Aqualad in the face for good measure.
Aqualad rubs his face as he and his opponent circle each other again. "You're fast. Stronger than normal people, too."
"A reward for our devotion. Brother Blood increased our physical capabilities, so we may better serve him and achieve his goals," the White Cell explains.
"So, you're living weapons. Okay," Aqualad replies.
The two run at each other again, this time, the White Cell slides under Aqualad's attack and cuts at the Atlantean's back. Thanks to the composition of the blade, it manages to leave a mark on Aqualad's back.
Aqualad growls in annoyance before turning around and bringing his sword down at the White Cell. As expected, the assassin dodges it, right into Aqualad's trap. The Atlantean grabs the White Cell by the leg and swings him around before throwing him into the stone wall, taking the assassin out for a moment. His mask is also knocked off of his face.
"You were good. But I'm better," Aqualad taunts. He prepares a spell to trap the White Cell with water, but the assassin's head suddenly shoots up and the White Cell runs forward and jumps over Aqualad, kicking the Atlantean in the back once he lands.
"May have spoke to soon," Aqualad whispers as he and the White Cell fight again.
While the two fight, Kid Flash finds himself attacked by the other three. The three White Cells move at their max speed to even keep up with the speedster—all attacking Kid Flash from three different sides to keep him pinned.
Kid Flash barely avoids a blade to the neck before quickly headbutting the White Cell in front of him, he then ducks to avoid a punch and jumps back a little to dodge a kick. The White Cells are on him like a pack of ravenous dogs almost immediately.
"What the hell! Come on you guys, why not come at me one at a time? Trust me, it'll be way better than this," Kid Flash says as he runs behind a White Cell and elbows him in the back into the other two. "I mean, why have three on me and one on Aqualad? He's stronger than me."
"Thank you!" Aqualad shouts as he and his opponent lock blades again before destroying a stone next to them.
"Our lord wants to study your bodies, yours in particular," one of the White Cells answers as they get up and slowly circle the speedster like a pack of sharks.
"Oh, great. I need an adult," Kid Flash quips.
The White Cell behind him raises his blade. "I am an adult."
The three move in and completely surround Kid Flash, ready to strike him down with a coordinated attack. Normally, Kid Flash would run away, but instead he takes a deep breath and focuses.
The White Cells swing down, they then look up, surprised to see Kid Flash still in the center, but they're even more surprised to see that the swords have done nothing to him, and that his body looks to be vibrating.
Kid Flash smirks and looks down at one of the White Cells. "This is gonna hurt," he then reaches down and puts his hand into the White Cell's shoulder.
The reaction is immediate. The White Cell screams in pain as his molecules are forcibly vibrated by Kid Flash's, and not only that, some bolts of electricity arc from Kid Flash's molecules to the Cell's, increasing the pain tremendously.
Kid Flash takes his hand out and looks at it with an arched brow. "Interesting. It seems, phasing through people causes pain and great discomfort. Good to know."
The White Cell behind Kid Flash roars and attempts to cut off his head, but the speedster quickly turns around and swipes his hand through the blade, cutting it in half. As the White Cell looks at the other half of his blade, Kid Flash stops vibrating and uppercuts the White Cell away.
"Shoryuken!" Kid Flash shouts.
The White Cell is sent flying by the uppercut, but as soon as he hits the ground, he slowly gets up. The other White Cell then attacks Kid Flash and attempts multiple swipes at the speedster, a few closer than others.
As Kid Flash is busy, the one who had his arm injured slowly brings his uninjured arm up to his commlink. "Brother Blood is still in the complex. I repeat, Brother Blood is still in the complex."
It takes some time for a reply, but once it comes, the White Cell hears combat and shouting in the background. "Get him out, now! The Teen Titans have called in assistance! We'll hold them off as long as we can, but-" the communication is then cutoff.
But it's more than enough for the White Cell. As the two heroes are busy, he slowly walks towards his leader. "Brother Blood, the Teen Titans have called in reinforcements."
Brother Blood looks at the White Cell with an emotionless face. "So they have," he walks towards the waiting submarine as the heroes and the other White Cells are occupied.
"We will stand here and buy you some time," the White Cell says with a nod.
"I would not have it any other way," Brother Blood says. "What of the data? The girl?"
The White Cell activates his commlink. "The data? Was it deleted when the Teen Titans invaded?"
All he gets in return is silence. The White Cell looks at Brother Blood.
Brother Blood understands the look and takes some deep, calming breaths. "I see… This may lead to more run-ins with these children. Very well. Cover my escape," Brother Blood then enters the submarine and it shortly leaves.
The White Cell nods before taking a deep breath and drawing two sai. He then turns around and sees Aqualad and Kid Flash staring him down. But they aren't the only ones, Omen and Bumblebee are here as well. But there's more.
The first is an older, but still muscular man wearing red boots, blue pants and a red shirt with blue sides and a yellow lightning bolt coming up from the left side up to the right shoulder. He also wears a Hermes-like helmet on his head.
The second is an extremely muscular young man wearing a mainly navy-blue suit with a yellow chest and some red squares just below the yellow and on his bracers. He has a red radioactive symbol on his chest and wears a navy-blue mask that covers everything but his blue eyes.
The third is another young man, wearing a primarily black reinforced suit with yellow boots, a red belt with an hourglass symbol in the center. The top half of his suit is still black, with two yellow lines on each side of his chest and fingerless gloves with three red chevrons on each. He wears a yellow cape connected to a yellow hood and has a black cowl over his face. Around his neck is a necklace with a small hourglass in the center.
Kid Flash smirks and walks in front of the older man. "Mr. Assassin Cultist, I'd like for you to meet the first Flash," Flash tips his helmet in greeting. "Damage," Damage's fists glow with radioactive energy. "And Hourman."
"If you're like the other assassins we've fought in the past, you won't give up until we kick your ass, right?" Hourman cracks his knuckles. "Please don't give up."
Omen's eyes glow and Bumblebee shrinks as she prepares stinger blasts, Aqualad cracks his knuckles, and both speedsters look ready to run.
The White Cell slowly draws his blade.
"Oh, hell yeah!" Hourman and Damage shout.
The White Cell is taken out almost immediately.
Apex, Wonder Girl, and Zatanna
I dodge Mammoth's punch and then kick him hard in the face, sending the brute flying back into a clothesline from Wonder Girl. Mammoth then slowly gets up as he breathes heavily and glares at me. Damn, it's like he has a single-minded hatred for me. We can work with that.
Mammoth roars and runs towards me, completely unaware of Wonder Girl flying right behind him.
As he nears me, I quickly fly next to Wonder Girl, and thanks to his size and momentum, Mammoth is forced to keep on running. Wonder Girl and I watch as he runs through the wall, leaving a massive hole.
"He really wants to prove his strength, doesn't he?" Wonder Girl asks.
"Yeah, too bad he'll fail again," I say. I then look over to see Zatanna holding a strong defense, but Jinx doesn't give her the chance to attack. "Think you can help Zatanna? I can deal with Mammoth."
Wonder Girl looks at me for a moment before nodding and flying over to help our mage friend.
Mammoth slowly marches back into the room, glaring at me the entire time. He then clenches both fists before raising them up high and then bringing them down. We all see this coming and take flight. Well, almost all of us, Jinx doesn't and falls down flat on her back.
"Mammoth! If you don't cut that shit out, I swear-" Jinx is interrupted by magic bolts from Zatanna and Wonder Girl punching her shield, the two now putting Jinx on the defensive.
I fly forward and hit Mammoth with an energy infused right hook, this time with even more strength behind the hit. The enhanced metahuman's head twists to the side as he fights to keep his balance. I push the attack with another punch, this one to his kidney. Mammoth reacts badly to that hit and coughs up some blood before falling to his knees.
Can't let him recover.
I grab him by the hair and uppercut his face, sending him flying up towards the roof, but before he can reach it, I fly above and stomp both feet on his back, sending him flying down to the ground.
Man, I should've done this earlier, stopped holding back. Then again, part of it is because of my training, of the many lessons beat into my head "Never show your true power from the start," was one the Evolutionary made sure I understood as early as possible.
It's a good thing I'm not using my full power though, otherwise this place wouldn't survive, but I can't hold back too much, otherwise the fight will drag on. Or continue to, at least.
While on the ground, Mammoth tears out a chunk of it and throws it up at me. I quickly destroy it, but Mammoth uses the cover to jump up and grab me, he then positions me below him as we fall back to the ground.
Before we hit, I fire a powerful blast of explosive energy from my mouth, sending Mammoth flying away and releasing me from his grasp.
A fist of magic slams into my side, sending me bouncing along the ground and slamming through a few bookcases still standing. I shake my head to see Jinx's shield now has four arms, one attacking Zatanna, one attacking Wonder Girl, one attacking me, and the last on defense.
"If he can't handle you, then I'll take all three of you on!" Jinx shouts.
"C'mon, Jinx, you could barely handle the two of us!" Zatanna replies. "Elttirb dnuorg!"
The floor beneath Jinx breaks apart, sending the mage girl falling through, but the arms quickly stretch out and dig into the roof of the library. As that happens, Mammoth comes back and charges at me with his head down and shoulder out.
Okay, more power's needed for this.
I take a deep breath and relax my muscles before clenching my fists and glaring at Mammoth. "You two may want to find cover!" I warn Wonder Girl and Zee. Zatanna quickly puts up a shield as I fly towards Mammoth and hit him with an uppercut.
The shockwave rips the paneling off of the walls in the room, anything left standing is knocked over, and the glass in the room shatters. The floor above me breaks apart due to the force of my punch and continues on until I see the night sky. Zatanna's shield holds but she looks to be barely standing. Mammoth is sent flying away, blood flying out of his mouth as he lands hard on the ground.
He groans and some smoke billows from his body. Yeah, he isn't getting up anytime soon.
As everything gets quiet, Jinx slowly rises up from her bubble. Her eyes widen in surprise before she sneers at Mammoth's body. "Should've known, brute strength is nothing compared to magic. I can take all three of you on!"
"What about all ten of us?"
We turn to see Robin, Starfire, and Speedy run into the room, with four others.
The first is an old man with blond hair. He wears black boots, green pants, a red shirt with a yellow circle on his chest and a different Green Lantern on his chest. He wears a purple cape with a green inside and a purple domino mask. On his left middle finger is a green ring with fire-like energy flickering off of it.
The second is another old man wearing an all-black, reinforced suit with white bandages going from his forearms to his knuckles. His mask looks cat-like and shows the lower half of his face, which shows his five-o-clock shadow.
The third's a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She wears yellow boots and shorts with a red short-sleeved shirt with a semi-circle on her chest with three wings on either side. She also has yellow gloves and a black cowl like Kid Flash's.
The fourth is another young woman, also with blonde hair and blue eyes, though her hair's cut short. She wears blue boots and gloves and a white, long-sleeved leotard with a red cape over one shoulder and a very famous chest window that shows off her infamous chest.
"So, Jinx, think you can take on the first Green Lantern, Wildcat, Jesse Quick, and Power Girl?" Zatanna taunts.
Jinx looks at all ten of us before sighing and powering down her magic. "I'm strong, but I'm not stupid," she then sways before falling over, unconscious.
"Uh… What?" Wildcat asks.
"She was given an intense power boost, but because her body wasn't used to the sudden increase it had to shut down and preserve itself," Zatanna explains. "She actually held out a lot longer than expected."
"Cool," Jesse then lightly kicks Mammoth's leg. "What about this thing?"
"Oh, that's Mammoth. Has an unhealthy amount of hate for Apex," Wonder Girl answers.
Power Girl sighs and shakes her head as she puts her hand on my shoulder. "Well, looks like you've found your rival, dear cousin."
"Great," I dryly mutter. "You coming over for Christmas? Martha was asking about you."
"Yeah, sorry about that. Just that running a business and being a superhero can be a pain sometimes. Especially when you have to keep an eye on relics," she pointedly looks at Wildcat and Green Lantern.
Green Lantern shakes his head with a chuckle before creating a cage construct around Mammoth and Jinx. "I seem to remember taking out most of those cultists earlier."
"Your memories failing you, Alan, I took out the most," Wildcat says as the two exit the library and continue their argument.
As they leave, Wonder Girl turns to Jesse and Power Girl. "How'd you guys get here? And are the others here?"
"Robin called us. Though, we didn't need all of us here, so Sandman, Dr. Mid-Nite, Citizen Steel, and Atom-Smasher are still at the base," Jesse answers.
"Hey, guys!" Kid Flash says excitedly over the communicator. "You'll never guess who's here!"
Zatanna smirks. "Is it the Justice Society?"
"I- huh? How'd you know?" He asks.
"Power Girl and Jesse Quick are with us. Wildcat and Green Lantern just left with Mammoth and Jinx," Zee answers.
"We should head to the entrance, we can converse there," I suggest.
"All right, follow the leader, kiddos!" Robin says as he marches out of the library.
Jesse leans towards Wonder Girl. "I may be wrong, but isn't he the youngest one here?"
Wonder Girl smirks. "Yup."
It takes a bit of maneuvering thanks to the state of the complex after our arrival (mainly because of my fight with Mammoth), but eventually we find ourselves standing with the others, our two Javelins behind us.
Wally, who took the mask of a White Cell assassin (whatever the hell that is) as the souvenir of this adventure. Right now, he spends almost the entire time flirting with Power Girl, she decides to play along and it's rather funny to watch.
"Sooo, what's it like being the hottest millionaire out there?" Wally asks with no shame as he leans on the Javelin. Jay looks at him with an arched brow and shakes his head.
"Oh, I wouldn't know, I'm not Bruce Wayne," Karen answers nonchalantly. "You should ask him or Diana, they'd give you better answers."
"I wasn't talking about Bruce," Wally continues.
Karen leans over to me. "Watch this," Karen whispers. "Wally, my eyes are up here."
The speedster's face becomes almost as red as his hair as he looks waaay up, like, above Karen's head up. "Whoa! Whoa! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! Please don't kill me!"
Donna sighs and grabs Wally by the back of his suit. "Sorry about that. I'll make sure Wally writes you a one-thousand-word apology that has actual meaning as soon as possible," she then lowers the ramp of the Javelin and pushes him inside. "Come on, perv."
"I'm not a perv!" He shouts as he, Donna, our Karen, Roy, and Lilith enter the Javelin.
"Did he really look there?" I ask.
Damage takes off his mask, revealing a handsome young man with brown hair and blue eyes. Huh, guess his face hasn't been scarred yet. "No, Karen just loves to play that prank on people. For a Kryptonian, she's pretty sadistic with her jokes."
"Hey, if I got it, may as well use it," Karen says. "I think we should get going now. Dai, I'll come over for as long as I can, tell Ma and Pa that?"
I nod. "You got it."
She smiles and hugs me before heading into their Javelin. Before he follows, Mr. Grant looks at me and Kory. "No training this week you two, enjoy your first Christmas on Earth."
"Thank you, Mr. Grant," we both say.
He just sighs. "What did I say?"
"Thank you, Ted," we correct.
The JSA then enters their Javelin and they fly away, the Hive Five locked up with power dampening collars in the back of their jet as they head over to Belle Reve. Just hope Mammoth and Shimmer don't break out again.
As the rest of us Teen Titans enter our Javelin, Garth lightly punches my shoulder to get my attention. "So, how'd things go with your new rival? We sure as hell felt it."
"Yeah, sorry about that," I apologize. "He was a lot stronger than expected. I shouldn't have held back from the start."
I hear Roy begin to speak, but Donna gives him a look and he begrudgingly closes his mouth.
"So, you were going all out at the end?" Zatanna asks as I begin the flight back to San Francisco.
I shake my head. "No. If I had gone all out the base would've been destroyed."
The others look at me in awe as we fly back, Wally's the first to break the silence as he deactivates the stealth tech and lowers his cowl. "Man, now I really wanna see how strong you are."
Donna smirks and looks at him. "I wanna see that apology letter."
Wally groans in his seat. "Come on, Donna! We just got in the Javelin!"
"Still wanna see it~" Donna says in a sing-song voice.
"What I wanna know is how your guys' fights went," Lilith says, changing the subject and getting a thankful nod from Wally.
That seems to be enough for the others. Donna quickly begins to tell the story of her and Zatanna's fight with Jinx. Which leads to everyone else telling their stories.
I smile slightly and continue the flight back to Titans Tower.
Titans Tower
Donna
Daichi lands the Javelin in our bay, once the jet powers down, Roy immediately gets up and walks out of the jet. The others don't seem to notice, and all get up and follow him to the elevator, though Daichi stays at the back of the group, a small smile on his face.
As the others walk by, I wait until he stands next to me and hold his hands. "What's up?" He asks.
I give him a concerned look before slowly bringing my hand up and cupping his cheek. There was a deep gash there earlier, bleeding profusely too, and now it's gone. His healing factor's a special power, but dangerous too.
"Donna?" He asks. "You okay?"
How do I bring up Roy? According to Dai, their talk at Ollie's cabin didn't work out, and the way Roy's been during the flight proves nothing good's gonna happen. I'll find a way to bring it up later, now I'll focus on something else.
"Yeah, it's just- Daichi, do you not care about yourself?" I ask.
His eyes widen a little as he takes a step back. "W-what?"
"I mean, yes, you're practically invincible and have a very effective healing factor, but I feel like you use that to excuse your recklessness," I explain. "The Gordanian ship, Dr. Light's device. You keep putting yourself in harm's way, using your healing factor as an excuse."
"Donna, that's what a hero does," he replies.
"And if your healing factor doesn't work?" I ask.
He shrugs. "Energy shield. But Donna, this isn't what you wanna talk about, is it?"
"What makes you say that?" I ask. Please tell me he didn't just read my mind.
"Well, for one, you're a horrible liar. Your heartrate picked up and you can't look me in the eyes right now. That and you don't seem so steadfast. For as long as I've known you, everything you said, you said with pure conviction," he tucks some hair behind my ear. "What's wrong?"
"…Roy," I say. "He won't listen to you, and we were lucky now, but in the future his hate's gonna get someone hurt or killed, but he's too stubborn to listen to you!" I sigh and rest my head on Daichi's shoulder. "The hell are we supposed to do?"
"We don't do anything," I look up and give Daichi a confused look. "He's angry with me for a number of things, but me and you is what he's most angry about. So, you talk to him, you're the one he was after, you're the only one he'll listen to."
I stare up at Daichi and blink in confusion a little before dropping my head on his shoulder again. "I'm an idiot."
"No, you're not," he assures.
I smile before leaning up and kissing him. "But you're a genius. See you in a bit!" I quickly fly out and head towards the elevator, not even waiting for Daichi as I go up to the top floor.
The elevator doors open, and I find the others all over the place, Lilith and Garth in the kitchen, the former putting band-aids on her boyfriend's cuts, Karen and Kory watching TV to get a breather, Wally putting that mask on the souvenir shelf, and Zatanna getting something to drink from the fridge.
Garth is the first to notice me. "Debrief in ten minutes. Where's Daichi?"
"Still in the hangar," I answer. I look around and he isn't in sight. "Where's Roy?"
Garth arches a brow but shrugs. "Not in his room, so where else could he be?"
"Gym, got it. Thanks, Garth," I say as I head back to the elevator.
The doors open to show Daichi inside, he walks out just as I walk in. "Not here?"
"He's in the gym," I say.
Daichi nods as the doors close and I head down to Roy's location. The doors open and I walk out to find Roy firing arrow after arrow into multiple targets, not taking the time to breathe. All shots hit the bullseye, but some are more centered then others, showing just how out of it he really is.
"Roy," I softly say.
He pauses as he reaches for another arrow and slowly turns around to face me. "Donna. What're you doing here?"
I look him in the eyes and stand my ground. "I'm here to talk to you. About what's going on lately."
"Oh, so Daichi can't do this himself then?" Roy sneers.
"You aren't listening to him!" I shout, surprising Roy and having him take a step back. I calm down and continue with a softer voice, "Roy, you need to understand, I'm with Daichi now, it was my choice, you can't be mad at him for something I chose."
"But why him? I've known you for years and you've never once looked at me the way you do him," Roy softly says.
Gods, Donna, how did you never notice this before? "You wanna know something, Roy? When I first met you, I had the biggest crush on you," his head shoots up and I can see the hope in his eyes. The same hope I'm about to crush. "Then I got to know you, and that crush faded away. Now you're one of my best friends, and I don't want to lose you just because I'm with someone else."
The light in his eyes dims as he looks away. Gods, I'm evil. "What did you feel when you first met Daichi?"
"It's hard to explain," I admit. "From the get-go he intrigued me—the peak of humanity who wasn't even born on humankind's home world? That'd get anyone's attention. But then I got to know him as a person, and my feelings for him grew. Fast."
"So, you love him?" Roy quietly says.
That's…
Yeah.
Yeah, I do.
I nod and look Roy in the eyes, completely serious. "Yes, I love him. And I don't care what anyone else says. I intend to be with him for as long as possible. But I still want you to be my friend. I want you and Daichi to be friends."
"Kind of hard to be friends with the guy who stole the girl you love," Roy whispers bitterly.
I walk forward and put my hands on Roy's shoulders. "Roy, I love you, but not the way you want me to. But I bet there's a girl out there who'll love you with all her heart, and when you meet her, you'll forget all about this."
"You sure?" Roy asks.
I nod and pull him into a hug. He hugs me back tightly. "I'm sure. Now come on, the others are probably waiting for us."
Roy and I head over to the elevator. I feel a weight lifted off of my chest as I smile a little. That really helped me realize some things, but one most importantly:
I love Daichi Akiyama.
Smallville
Christmas Day
Daichi
"What's in here?" I ask as I hold the long, rectangular present in my hands. I try to use my x-ray vision, but it doesn't work. "You lead-lined it?"
"Daichi!" Donna slaps my shoulder. "You're not supposed to know what it is until after you open it."
"Right. Where'd you get the lead anyway?" I ask.
"We gave her some," Jonathan says. "We buy a lot of lead around this time of year," he explains at the curious glances.
Right now, we're at the Kent Farm, the Teen Titans, Karen, Bruce, Diana, Helena, and the unborn Wayne are here as well as Iris, Barry, their twins Henry and Dawn, Oliver, Dinah, Connor, Arthur, Mera, and their princess, Andy, and J'onn's here as well.
"Well, you gonna open it?" Wally asks impatiently.
"You gonna give Karen that letter?" I counter. Wally blushes in embarrassment as Karen laughs into her hand. I put the box down and tear off the wrapping, revealing a black and white electric guitar underneath. "Whoa."
"During our date at the mall I noticed you looking at it. But I bought you a better model. Hope you're good with that," Donna says.
"Donna, I'm great with this!" I say as I look over the box.
"Oh, hell," Barry whispers.
"What?" Wally asks.
Barry sighs and goes outside with J'onn, the two then come back in with a few boxes.
Wally gets up and uses his superspeed to unwrap them all at basically the same time. "Duuude! I got a drum kit!"
Dick, Garth, Roy, and I all stand next to Wally and look at his drums. "Nice," Dick compliments.
Wally looks at me with a smile. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
I shrug. "Yeah, why not?"
Wally pumps his fist. "Hell yeah! The Brave and the Bold!"
"I didn't agree to tha-"
"We are gonna be so famous, bro!" Wally interrupts as he puts an arm around my shoulder and forces me closer to him. "Think about it, me and you, two twins, separated at birth, reunited by their love of music and are now travelling the world, sharing their talents with everyone!"
When we did the whole thing to find out my age Earth-wise, we found out I was born on the same day as Wally, November 11th, 1994. Which happens to be my birthday before I became Daichi, just six years earlier. I'm a few hours older than Wally though.
"Wally, no one would even believe we're twins," I reason. "It'd be hard to even say we're fraternal twins."
"But who'd really care?" Wally says. He then continues with his fantasy.
As that happens, the others continue to give each other gifts. Iris then gives a gift to Wally, which lets me go and get my gift for Donna.
I stand behind her as she and Diana talk, her older sister notices me and smiles before stepping away to talk with Lois about their upcoming children, who'll be born a week apart, Lois' first then Diana's. Wild.
I hold the box out in front of me with a nervous smile. "I hope you'll like it."
"Daichi, any gift from you I'll love," she says as she takes the box out of my hands.
Donna tears off the wrapping and gasps as she looks at the box with a careful eye. "Holy shit. You really bought it…"
"Uh, yeah. On that same date I noticed you looking at it, and there was you complaining about your current camera beginning to fail you, so I bought this one," I smile a little. "Merry Christmas."
Donna hugs me tightly and kisses my cheek. "Merry Christmas, Daichi."
She then pulls out of the hug and looks over my shoulder, she has a big smile on her face as she slowly backs away.
I turn around to see Clark and Lois in front of me, a simple folder in their hands. Knowing Lois, I don't even risk x-ray vision, she'd find a way to punish me for it. "What's this?" I ask.
"Oh, you know, just something Clark and I have been thinking about for a while now," Lois shrugs.
"And we thought, why not now, with all of our friends and family here and on Christmas no less. Here, Daichi," Clark gives me the folder.
I notice the others watching as I slowly take the folder and open it. Whoa, what?
Dick looks over my shoulder as he drinks his eggnog. His eyes widen and he nearly coughs up his drink all over the folder and my shirt. "Whoa, bro…"
Garth and Roy look over my other shoulder. "Huh. Congrats, man!" The former says.
"What? What is it?" Iris asks as she tries to keep Henry from running around, what with there being a fireplace currently being burning right now.
Iris is a redhaired woman with green eyes and some freckles along the bridge of her nose, which really helps show her relation with her nephew Wally. She wears brown boots, blue jeans, and a green and white coat.
"It's adoption papers," I answer as I turn it around to show the others.
Pretty much everyone but the Kents, Karen Starr, Bruce, Diana, and Donna look surprised.
I look at my girlfriend with a raised brow. "You knew."
"When Martha, Lois, and I went to the store," she explains. "So, what do you say?"
I look back at it before looking back up at Lois and Clark. I nod with a smile. "Yeah, let's do it."
There're some cheers as Lois and Clark pull me into a hug and Lois kisses me on the cheek.
One hell of a Christmas present.
A few hours later and the guests start to leave, with Bruce, Diana, Helena, Dick, Donna, Kory, Oliver, Dinah, Connor, and Roy being the last ones.
As Marth- Ma, gives them some food to take home, I notice Roy standing next to the stairs, watching as Helena plays with Jon for a bit before she has to leave.
I put my guitar down and run to my room in Titans Tower before coming back and standing in front of Roy. I nod to the door and the two of us head to the porch. "What's this?" He asks.
"It's my present to you. And a peace offering," I answer. "I know you had a thing for Donna way before I came into the picture, but I'm not sorry about us dating. I've never been happier in my entire life. But you shouldn't worry, there's-"
"Someone for me too, I know. Donna said the same thing," he then rummages through his coat pocket and pulls a small rectangular object, wrapped up. "Here's my peace offering then."
The two of us swap presents and remove the wrappings. "Huh, I've always wanted to read this," I comment as I look at Sun Tzu's Art of War.
"Yeah, Dinah said that'd be a great present for you, what with your tactical mind and all," he then looks over the golden bow in his hands. "What's so special about this bow?"
"It's an Orin Sun Bow. They're capable of piercing almost anything and creating their own arrows with the power of the sun. Though I wouldn't use it too much, they take a decade to recharge if they run out completely," I warn.
"Damn," Roy presses a button and the bow folds, now small enough to fit in his massive coat pocket. "Thanks, for that. And sorry about being an asshole for these past few months," he holds a hand out. "We cool?"
I shake his hand. "We cool."
"Aww, look at them being friends again," we turn to see the guests waiting at the door with smiles on most of their faces. Oliver being the one who spoke up. "You see that Connor? Try to make friends with everyone, okay?"
Connor looks up at his dad and nods. "Okay!"
"Well, we're out. See you later, Kent," Roy says with a small smile as he walks with his family.
"See you later, Harper," I wave as they get in their car and begin the long drive to Star City.
"We should go too. We've been out of Gotham for too long," Bruce, with Helena currently on his back, says. "Thank you for having us."
"It's no problem, dear. You all have a safe trip!" Ma says as they begin to leave.
Before she goes with them, Donna kisses me deeply. "I love you, Daichi Akiyama-Kent."
My heart skips a beat.
Definitely didn't expect that, but it sounds so right.
I smile and caress her cheek. "I love you too, Donna Troy. See you later."
She smiles before walking over with the others, I smile and watch as they drive away.
"Pretty big day for you, huh?" Cl- Dad says as he leans on the wooden railing next to me.
"Yeah, pretty big. So, what's next on the agenda, Dad?" I ask.
"Next we enjoy the day. We'll get to finalizing the adoption as soon as possible and then you can officially be a Kent," he puts a hand on my shoulder with a large smile. "Now let's spend some time with the family."
I smile and follow him inside.
Today's a great day.
Unknown Location
Brother Blood's submarine pulls up in the complex, once he steps out, he is immediately attended to by multiple cultists.
"Brother Blood," the one on his right begins with a bow. "We have found her."
Brother Blood smirks as he and the cultists exit the hangar and walks through massive doors, on the other side is a large number of cultists of many ranks, from recruits to White Cell assassins.
They all get up and bow deeply as Brother Blood walks to the center of the room. Once their leader stands on the podium in the center, he raises his hands high.
"Brothers, sisters, today is a day of triumphs and defeats. Today, our planned metahuman strike force, the Hive Five, failed, but something even greater has arrived. For we have found the Daughter of Trigon, in Detroit, Michigan. Rachel Roth, has been found!" Brother Blood announces.
The crowd cheers and Brother Blood smirks as he turns around and heads through the doors behind him.
"Today is a great day."
Battle of the Teams Arc, complete; Nevermore Arc, commence.
Woo! This last chapter took a bit to write, but it's finally done!
The third arc's complete and soon it's time to introduce one of the more well-known Titans, Raven! This arc was fun to write though—introducing two new members to the Teen Titans and writing a sub-plot over your everyday superhero problem. And the whole thing with the Kent's is finally revealed! Now it might seem quick for Daichi to call Lois and Clark "Mom and Dad", but Daichi never had any good role models while in space, and more that'll be revealed throughout the story.
Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time, you beautiful people!