A/N:
Damn Eris, back at it with the reviews! Here we go!
She's probably thinking many things about him. He probably knows about his biological condition, but I'll probably not bring that into play. There will be no hidden clones, and he will most likely stay in his green form.
Most importantly, you will find out about his telekinesis in a later chapter. For now, keep on guessing.
anonymus: Thanks, glad to hear that! And I may keep writing, but I'm not sure yet. (wink wink)
Ginngersnapps: Glad to see you're back! It's great to hear that you thought my story was worth checking in on. You are absolutely welcome!
Cheers, Annonm!
Chapter 40:
"So tell me, Mister Shiftling, where do you think these 'daddy issues' of yours originated?"
Shiftling, who was leaning farther back in his seat than most people would, looked around the room as he tried to find a way to answer the question. Originally this meeting with the facility's psychiatrist was originally planned for after lunch, but a bit of bad luck had forced him to reschedule the meeting to between lunch and breakfast.
"I'd guess from my adoptive father. See, he was never really the warm and caring father one would expect of someone of his... caliber. More so, he was more concerned with his job than he was with me and his wife. After a while, those tend to leave imprints on you."
"I think I see. It says here that you were part of the Doom Patrol. Would you say you have received any debilitating mental health issues from your work, namely post traumatic stress disorder or anxiety?"
"Absolutely. To this day I can't bear the thought of being bossed around by an absolute prick." The green teen knew there was more to this meeting than simply diagnosing his potential symptoms of disorders. If he had to guess, Icicle was having this "Hugo" fellow scoop around for any triggers or weaknesses that could be used against him. Not that he was planning on discussing those; the only reason he spoke so lightly of his parental issues was to avoid revealing just how impactive they could be on him.
"I wasn't exactly expecting that kind of answer, but you would know better than I would," Strange replied with an adjustment of his glasses. He was starting to wonder just how immature his patient was.
"Well, it's been real Doc, but I do believe our time for today is up. Should we schedule our next appointment now or wait a little?"
"Given you will be released in about a week, I do not see any point in scheduling another meeting. But nevertheless, take care and feel free to see another therapist should you find the need," the doctor advised. When the green teen was out of the room he released a sigh of frustration. A full half hour had been wasted. Not once did Shiftling show any extreme emotional response to normally sensitive topics. Even worse, Hugo still had no idea whether or not Icicle could trust the runt.
"Hey man, how'd it go?" Icicle Junior asked upon his cellmate's arrival to the eating area. The green teen sat down with his tray and ended up across from his cellmate and a few seats away from Brick, who shot him a few nasty looks.
"Fine, I suppose. He mostly went through the normal routines, like 'When did this issue start making an appearance' and 'Do you think so-and-so has to do with this-and-that?' It was just a waste of time, in my opinion," the green teen replied with a spoonful of mashed potatoes.
"Alright you kids, time for a family meeting," the red man grunted. He and the two teenagers stood up and made their way to the exercise area where Icicle and Bulldozer were already conversing with Frost and Mr. Freeze.
"Hey gramps, ready to bust out of the nursing home?" Shiftling called out just loud enough for the group to hear.
"Kid, I will make your life a living hell if you don't shut up and listen. Got that?"
Shiftling nodded and gave a mock salute.
"Is it really a good idea to have this kid on the team?" Mr. Freeze asked.
"Well, everybody in the compound was going to get in on the action one way or another, so it doesn't really matter whether or not he knows ahead of time," Junior replied.
"Enough of this. Listen up everybody, because we're only going through this once," the big man started.
"First we need to create a diversion. If Freeze and I get into a fight, one of us will be taken to Waller's office. From there we can move on to phase two. Once we take Waller prisoner, Junior will take Tommy Terror and Shiftling to disable to collars. From there it's just a matter of keeping the guards on the defensive."
"If you can get that done, I'll take Waller and Strange to a cell and leave them under the supervision of a less useful pawn. Ojo should be good enough. From there, Junior and Bulldozer will work on breaking apart the walls that separate us from the girls. Then, it's just a matter of breaking down the front door. Meanwhile, Greeny here can do some recon and try to find a way out and break his way in. Slowly we'll chisel away from both sides and bring down Belle Reve's reputation. Any questions?" the leader asked.
"What's the plan for if something goes wrong. Like, the main control room has a backup system or there's a Leaguer nearby?" the green teen asked.
"If that's the case we'll send a squad to deal with them. If that's not enough, then we do as much damage inside as possible."
After that there were no questions, so everyone disbanded and went their own ways.
"You know, it's pretty smart of you guys to discuss that in the middle of the exercise area. It's like 'They wouldn't be dumb enough to talk about something like that in the open.'."
"That's exactly what my father thought. Hiding in plain sight, right?"
The two had recently been returned to the cell, and Shiftling was waiting until the occupant of the above bunk finally went to sleep so he could contact Waller. Keeping his cover was easier than he initially expected, but he kept his guard up because letting it down could be dangerous. About an hour later the guards passed by on their routine checks to make sure the inmates were at least in their cells.
"Hey Waller, got a big update, so you might want to get a pen and paper ready," Shiftling telepathically advised. Once again Amanda was taken off guard, but quickly recovered.
"You know I have to ask where you got these psychic abilities from," the woman stated.
"Sorry, no can do. Anyway, the plan is for Icicle and Freeze to get into a fight to get into your office. You'll be taken prisoner with Strange while me, Icicle Junior and Tommy Terror shut down the collars. From there it's just destruction and mayhem."
"And you? Do you have any other roles?" the warden asked.
"Actually, the big man wanted me to find ways outside. I was thinking if you install a back-up system you could have the collars re-activate themselves. Or have a few extra guards with you at all times," Shiftling suggested.
"No, we need to let them do this. When it fails it will prove that Belle Reve is still the most secure facility in the world," Amanda retorted. Her confidence almost made Shiftling gag.
"If you insist, but there's only so much I'll be able to do, so you better have your own backup for when things hit the fan," Shiftling warned, then cut the telepathic connection.
This was not going to go well with that attitude of hers.
The day of the big event slowly but surely came around the corner, and Shiftling did everything he could to keep his cover while filling in Amanda with new updates. Her confidence never wavered, and he would have given her points for that if it wasn't so damn annoying.
"Today's the day. You ready?" Junior asked. The two had awoken earlier than usual to go over the plans again before the guards made their rounds.
"Yep. Just play cool," the green teen replied. "Pun not intended, by the way," he offered.
"Dude, I totally would've accepted that pun. But good to know."
As planned, the guards took the usual route when leading the inmates to the eating area for lunch.
"Waller, you sure you didn't make any last-minute preparations?" the teen asked.
"I have made a few, but they're none of your concern, as you will find out soon enough," the woman replied.
What she meant by that, he had no idea. All he knew was it didn't sound terribly great, but it also didn't sound too awful. Only time would tell.
Icicle Junior and Shiftling each grabbed a tray and received their potatoes and veggies for lunch.
"Hey Junior, get over here!" Icicle demanded from across the room. All according to plan.
"Yeah pa?"
"You gonna eat that?" the man asked, which was code for "It's almost time."
"Yes, I'm pretty hungry."
"Okay, I'll just get another helping in ten." Ten minutes until crap got real in Belle Reve.
"Good. See you," Junior offered as the two departed. As expected, Mr. Freeze got into a fake argument with Icicle and slapped the man hard enough to send him to the ground. Two and a half seconds later he began seizing as the collar around his neck shocked him.
"C'mon, you've just scheduled a date with the warden," one of the guards threatened.
"Never a boring day here," the other mumbled.
Barely five minutes later a stereotypical lockdown alarm blared to life.
"That's our cue," Junior stated. He, Shiftling, and Tommy Terror rushed to the control room. There were a lot of buttons, but the big red one seemed obvious enough.
"Got it," Shiftling said with a press. The glowing lights around Tommy's and Junior's necks faded, and all three used various methods to remove the metal.
"That feels so much better," the icy teen said. His body slowly morphed into a icy shell.
Sounds of destruction and rampaging inmates rang throughout the facility.
"Man, and I though heavy metal was bad," Shiftling joked before taking the form of a cheetah. With the powerful legs he ran to the vents he had been assigned to and climbed in as an ant. There were many paths to take, so he took one at random and sped as fast as he could, now in the form of a mouse.
Through some of the vents he caught sight of guards trying to defend themselves against the superpowered attackers, with many getting knocked out or thrown out of his field of vision. He marched on, finding a few possible paths, but all of which were overly small.
The green mouse came upon another vent, and looking down he saw the Icicles and Freeze switching between freezing the walls and having Blockbuster and Bulldozer smash the sections.
"Faster! The longer it takes the more likely it is for something to go wrong!" the old man ordered.
'Speaking of...' Shiftling thought to himself before returning to the control room. A green mouse inside the ventilation was hard to spot amidst the hectic turn of events, so the trip was relatively uneventful.
"Hey Waller, how do I turn the collars back on?"
"There's a panel called 'Speakers'. It's the backup controls in disguise. Just press the flashing green button twice, then flip the switch labeled 'Set Max'." Amanda ordered. Given the lack of authority in her voice, something had gone wrong with her plans. Shiftling went through the quick procedure, and the sounds in the halls were replaced with shouts of anger and confusion.
"Well, let's see how the party's going," the green teen told himself, then stepped outside into the halls. Most of the inmates still had their collars on, and those that had already removed theirs were too busy trying to get out to help anyone else.
"What's going on?" Shiftling asked in a worried tone once he got back to Icicle.
"Something's reactivated the collars. We have to break down the walls now!" Icicle replied full of desperation.
"Have anyone not helping move aside. I'm going to try something," the green teen ordered, then stepped far enough back to get a good running start. With a clear path he turned into a cheetah and ran at the wall. With seconds to spare he leapt into the air and morphed into an ankylosaur. The walls shuddered with the impact as the formed crater nearly doubled in size.
"Keep it up kid. We'll be out of here in no time."
Shiftling was preparing to give it another try when he was lifted into the air by an invisible force and thrown across the hall.
"Sorry everyone, but this breakout's cancelled." One of the girls who had been watching nearby stepped forward. Her hand was still raised, suggesting she was the one that had stopped the green teen.
"What are you doing?" several of the inmates demanded. The girl's form changed like water sloshing inside a container as her skin tone took on a dark green shade.
'Well, I'll be damned,' Shiftling said to himself. So that was Waller's plan.
"Hello Shiftling, it's been a while." M'gann greeted.
"Sure has. I take it you're not alone?"
"Nope." another familiar voice replied. Another "inmate" stood beside the Martian and tore off a mask.
"So, Waller brought in the big guns, huh?"
"Doesn't matter. There's only two of you and a dozen of us," Icicle threatened.
"Make that three," Shiftling corrected, taking a spot with the other two.
"Traitor," the man growled. His hands clenched into fists, and his eyes could bore through steel.
"Sorry man, but I've gotta do what I've gotta do."
"Get them," the man ordered, and all the villains that had gotten their collars off in time attacked the three.
They fought well, but it was becoming clear that the fight was not on their side. Bulldozer alone could take on Superboy, leaving the M'gann and Shiftling to deal with everyone else.
"I cannot believe you used me like that!" Junior shouted as he fired an ice blast at the green teen. He dodged it in the form of a bird and landed in the shape of a gorilla.
The two traded swings between assaults from the other inmates.
"To be fair, you are a nice guy. It wasn't overly pleasant."
The two were interrupted by Brick trying to body slam the green changeling, only for the target to dodge at the last second.
"We really should have brought the others," M'gann complained. She had used her powers to grow another set of arms to fend off the attacks, and was met with almost acceptable success.
"Guys, I have an idea, but I need to get away for a little bit," Shiftling declared, then ran down the hall. He ducked into the first empty room and altered his genetics into a form he had not yet used. For a brief second his physical appearance changed, but returned to normal soon after.
The immense power took him by surprise, and may have knocked him out had he not had a similar experience with the Tamaranean form.
"Here goes nothing."
The green teen jumped out of the room and tackled the prisoners that had pursued him. Both were taken down by suddenly enlarged fists to the jaws. On his way back to where he had left Superboy and M'gann he ran into five more inmates, each of whom was put out of commission with various means.
When he turned a corner, Superboy flew by and almost into him before crashing into a wall.
"Thanks for leaving. What'd you need to do?" he questioned. Bulldozer thundered towards the two, anger and malicious intent in his eyes.
Shiftling's left hand rose and flicked to the side. In response, the behemoth was thrown into the nearby wall without even being touched.
"How did-"
"Get up and I'll explain later," Shiftling ordered, cutting off the question. The two joined the fray again, and fought with renewed vigor. Many of the inmates had started to flee, but the stronger few stayed to fight.
Bulldozer came for another rush at Superboy, but was intercepted by... well, Shiftling, but with spikes along his back and a second set of arms. He also had a tail that ended in a scorpion-like stinger and large, razor-sharp canines. Two arms caught and held Bulldozer's fists while the new set of arms and the tail proceeded to punch and slash the large villain.
After a thorough beating, the villain fell into a lump on the ground. The green creature turned to the remaining inmates, who either fled or cowered at the thing staring them down.
"Seriously, what the hell?" Superboy demanded.
"He can't be..." M'gann muttered in shock. The changeling's shape returned to the form the two knew in a manner very similar to M'gann's shapeshifting.
"Wow, Martians are badass," Shiftling said in awe.
A/N: Kind of another awkward ending, but whatever. Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review and have a good day!