Note: Quad tanker, really big truck for carrying liquids or gases that I would crash in less than two seconds. How the heck do people drive those things?
The Awakening
Jinx opened eyes that were filled with terror. Hands trembling, the pink-haired girl pushed at the flimsy, sweat-soaked blanket that covered her.
Today is the day, the villainess thought, petrified with fear, filled with soul-destroying dread. Today is the day the world ends, probably. She looked around the office she'd claimed as her room. The couch did double duty as a bed, but now it was clammy and wet, having been soaked with the sweat of absolute terror, of vivid and dark nightmares. Today we open the gate to Trigon, Jinx silently screamed, driven to hysteria by the thought. What are we? Insane? Briefly she considered killing the boy who'd orchestrated it all, Beast Boy. Then she shook her head and pulled the blanket back over her head. I agreed to it, she told herself, no longer understanding just why she'd accepted the bargain. Power wasn't worth the risk. Power wasn't worth ending the world.
The woman thrust the blanket back down, trying to understand the boy who had come up with the plan, wondering what drove him. Was he insane? If so, then what am I for agreeing? She shivered, drawing the damp blanket close around her. The frightened girl looked around the room, needing the company of others, to not be alone in what were probably her last moments. Violently she threw the blanket aside and stood, deciding that she could at least find the answer to one of her many questions, the one that'd nagged at her for so long.
Beast Boy slept peacefully and awoke filled with anticipation. There were things no hero would ever consider. They lived lives bounded by self-imposed rules. That he understood. If there were no heroes then villains would tear the world apart. It would end, and he loved the world. He loved its people and he loved its creatures. Filled with death it was also filled with life. For one to exist you had to have the other. He accepted that. He had to. And he accepted that there was great risk in what they would do today, but saw also the potential for great reward. That was the way of life. It was also a risk no hero would take; it required a villain for that.
The boy briefly grinned, showing his fangs. One had to accept death, but that didn't mean one had to walk quietly into the night, that you didn't bare your teeth and howl in defiance when it came for you. That death would eventually win was inevitable - but you didn't have to make it easy.
Comfortable and warm, the shapeshifter peered through the darkness with his sensitive eyes, watching as a spider spun a web. It was beautiful. Maybe I'll sleep in, the boy mused contentedly. Or perhaps I can play one last prank. Then the door, which he'd locked, opened.
Connie, once known as the Keeper of Knowledge by her people, opened her eyes to peer into the darkness. For a moment she considered rising from the blanket where she slept to open the bookstore. To what purpose? she asked herself. Surely I'm allowed one day's rest in all the years I've been here. Her eyes swept over the store while she unconsciously twisted the Ring of Azar she wore on her left ring finger. Then she smiled. it was fun, not work. Few were the customers, but many were the books. She licked her lips, almost drooling as she recalled long peaceful days of reading, only rarely interrupted by annoying humans. And, just as important, there'd been plenty to eat. Frowning, the woman rose from her blanket, fangs now bared with the need to sate her hunger.
Resisting the urge to hunt, to feast, the dark-haired girl folded up the blanket she'd slept on and carefully placed it on a shelf. Still controlling the hunger that demanded warm, bloody flesh, Connie moved around the store, making sure it was secure. It was her territory, a territory her instincts demanded she protect. Finding all was well, she finally turned and headed to the checkout counter where she sat. With pale nimble fingers, she unlocked a cabinet and took out a black plastic bag. For a few seconds the girl wondered if she should warm it, to make it taste more natural. Licking her lips, drooling, the hunger took her and she shredded the bag to get at the flesh inside.
Good, she sighed with her strong teeth ripping apart the cold but insanely delicious flesh. Briefly the girl looked at the pale chunk of meat, frowning a little. From the painted fingernails and the lack of muscle tone she guessed the bloody arm came from a girl, probably no more than twenty years of age. With her pointed teeth she tore a strip of skin free and slurped it down, reveling in the taste of the high-calorie treat. Then she tore the painted fingernail from one of the fingers before she bit the digit off, smiling as she crunched it, turning fragile bones to powder with her powerful jaws.
Half-an-hour later, done with her grisly meal, the girl walked over to the bathroom and flushed the fingernails, all painted a nice pink, down the toilet. As far as she was concerned, it was bad enough eating the chemicals people put in their bodies, let alone the ones they used on their fingernails. As the nails swirling around and disappeared from view, Connie frowned, considering the possibility that it might have been her last meal, that before night's end Trigon might rule the world. With a shrug she turned away to brush her teeth.
The morning necessities taken care of the girl then flicked on a light that still left the store pitch black and sat at the counter where she took the time to floss before picking up a book. Life was good, she thought with a smile. Come what may, I had fun. How many of my people could say that?
Silent and still, Trigon stood in his domain, pondering the foolishness of mortals who understood not the nature of eternity. For a few trifling trinkets they bargained away their lives, and in the end he stood over them all, triumphant as any immortal must be over mere insects. So, one world would be reborn and one would die. To the insects this was fair, this was balance. Yet he who could see into perpetuity saw the truth. In the end both worlds died. For freedom he would give the insects their trinkets, watch them cherish those insignificant things, then he would take it all away and rejoice in their suffering.
The demon let his gaze roam over the red, molten rock of his domain. When first he'd been placed here, trapped by those he should've had absolute power over, the rock had been red, but certainly not molten. Instead, in the years that he'd been here the power from his body had soaked into the very fabric of this dimension, creating heat and radiation. Nothing but a demon or god could survive here for long. Even those wouldn't want to. And soon he wouldn't have to. The deal had been made and the pawns set into motion.
Bored with the waiting, Trigon looked down at the rock that ran like water and raised his right hand. From the heat there rose the shape of heads, then necks and torsos. Eventually thirteen cursed people stood before him. Trigon smiled and listened to their screams as the heat melted their flesh. Though few of the insects knew it, even he found delight in creation, in making life. It was a wondrous thing, so long as those creations knew only unceasing suffering. The massive being tilted his head, licking his lips as the thirteen sobbed, cringing away from the heat, never finding refuge. Then he smiled, knowing what delicious treat would come next, the betrayal. Those thirteen, though their flesh melted, would not die from the mere heat. No, they would live forever - if not for one thing. The incarnation of evil watched as to escape the relentless torment of this domain one damned creature turned on another and threw it down so he could stand on its corpse, to try to climb above the heat. Then that one was thrown down, creating an even higher pile of bodies in a futile hope of rising above the pain, the eternal suffering. Soon there was only a single creature left. Moaning in hellish torment from both its wounds and the heat, it lay atop the corpses of its fellows. Then it died.
In this domain he'd created whole civilizations and watched them at play, offering them some minor recluse from the torment if only they did unspeakable deeds.
Raven awoke screaming, thrashing against the strong arms that held her.
"Honey?" Bumblebee sobbed in fear. "What's wrong?"
Raven froze, listening to the voice that pleaded and begged, asking her what was wrong and beseeching her to please be okay. "Bee?" she whispered, throat in agony from her outburst. Opening her weary violet eyes the girl saw the concerned expression of her lover, the woman she'd decided to spend the rest of her life with. Splattered on that face were hints of blood which, puzzled, she touched with a finger. "Bee?" she said again.
"Raven," Bumblebee said, relieved. The dark-skinned woman lowered her head onto the breast of the half-demon girl and sobbed.
"Sorry. I was having a bad dream," Raven said, gently stroking Bee's dark and ever so soft hair. "Sorry." She closed her eyes, holding the woman tight. "Do you know what day is coming soon?" she asked.
Bumblebee thought for several seconds and shook her head.
Raven gave a small laugh. "Some times you're as bad as a guy," she said, only half joking.
"Hey," Bumblebee said, voice still scared. "I can't know what you don't tell me? And you were screaming so hard you were spraying blood." Her arms tighten around her soulmate.
"Tomorrow I'll be twenty," Raven whispered, throat in agony. "One more year and I'll be able to drink." She froze, pondering that. "Does anyone really obey that law?" she asked.
"No one that I know of," Bee answered. "I started when I was sixteen, so did Kid Flash, but I don't recommend that. I think that's why he ended up like he did."
"With the tongue of a sex robot stuck down his throat?" Raven wondered.
Bumblebee gave a small fake laugh. "That too," she said. "Maybe if he had a few more brain cells he wouldn't be wandering around dragging that IV."
"The misadventures of youth," Raven said, still stroking the woman's hair, comforting her. "Trigon will come for Robin today," she said.
"You sure?" Bumblebee raised her head to look down at the girl?
"I am." Raven sat up and smiled. "My birthdays are usually pretty hectic," she explained. "This one will be too. I saw it in a dream, a nightmare. Team Idiot is coming." She paused. "And a demon from Trigon's hell."
More Valuable than Gold
Beast Boy studied the pink-haired girl, gulping nervously. It was the day the world was going to end and he, Beast Boy, was no longer a virgin. Still, he wasn't sure how to react. While he knew the morning's incident was nothing more than a one night stand to the girl, he was finding it hard to go about things as normal. Always he kept looking at the woman, wondering and thinking, recalling. Blushing, he looked away.
Work and play don't mix, Jinx noted, fully aware of the boy's stare and confusion. But she'd answered the question of what the boy's penis looked like fully erect. Bigger than Kid Flash's, but smaller than the man she'd met at the bar. On the other hand, the boy who claimed to have been a virgin had more skill than anyone could have expected and the pleasant glow of sex still infused her, helping banish the nightmares. If was as if he had an innate knowledge of how a woman's body worked, and he'd put that knowledge to good use. But how it would interfere with team dynamics worried her. This was the one day they couldn't afford to mess up.
'It's a major industry for the city," Beast Boy said, focusing his thoughts on the job at hand. "Not a big profit, but they don't run it as such. If they even come close to breaking even they consider it a good year."
Jinx nodded, eyes on the bank just a hundred feet up the road. But this bank held something that had far more value than gold. Despite this, security was weak, almost nonexistent. Sure there were thousands of security cameras and a network of computers and people monitoring the place, but in terms of actual people there were just a dozen or so guards. It would be a cakewalk, or so she desperately hoped. If things went wrong they were severely screwed, and not in a good way. Not in the delicious and ever so fun way she had been that morning. For that, assuming the world didn't end, she might even go back for seconds.
Jinx glanced over at the boy. "Bad as it might be to drop this right now, it's still an option."
Beast Boy shook his head and smiled at the woman. "Come on. If this works you'll be a legend."
"If it fails we're risking something way worse than death. Trigon can make us immortal. Imagine that, an eternity spent in whatever hell that guy can dream up."
Beast Boy nodded, thinking. "Take out the Titan's first," he asked, "or attack the bank?"
"The bank," Jinx answered with all the confident a good leader could when things were crazy. "You're right in that they won't risk leaving the tower today. They'll keep their forces concentrated around Robin. If we take him, then they won't be tied down there, meaning they could show up here."
The shapeshifter nodded. "You know, this all started out as a joke to prank Robin, then I got to talking with the girl at the bookstore. That's where it all took off."
"No," Jinx corrected the boy. "Here's where it all takes off."
Billy Numerous walked up to the transport truck they were in and opened the door. "I can take two loads,' he said, eyes beaming at the chance to drive one of the largest trucks in the world. "And I got guys for ten more." He shook his head and grinned. "Cost us a million dollar deposit for the trucks and wages. I charged the rest to the Titans. They still haven't canceled your Titan credit card."
"You'll drive one truck," Jinx countered, glaring at the man. "One and one only."
"But . . . ." Billy glared, ready to fight to the death.
"One," Jinx said, eyes boring into those of her partner and underling, forcing him to look aside. "If you have ten drivers then that means we can handle ten loads with one driver in spare if something goes wrong." She shook her head. "Imagine what would happen if you were to get too far from a clone? They get absorbed if more than a few hundred feet away. It would be a disaster that could kill thousands. And it would mess up the entire job." She gave the man a sympathetic smile. "Is it worth the risk?"
Billy shook his own head. "No," he admitted, looking downcast. "I've done enough driving to know things can go wrong. A blowout and it's game over. The truck would crash."
Jinx nodded. "Are the men ready?"
"They are," Billy replied. "Aside from being confused, that is. And I did check all of their driving records. Not even a ticket amongst them."
"Good. Let's go." Jinx turned the key and the engine roared to life.
Speed was of the essence. They had not only to get the job done before any of the Titans showed up, assuming they did. But also before the police or any of the media did. There could be no mistakes. And there could be no holding back. Beast Boy hopped into the mouth of a Billy clone as a tapeworm and soon there were in excess of two hundred of the Billy clones and the Beast Boy clones. The four-hundred man army moved out.
The bank had twenty guards that went down without a single incident of note. The shapeshifter army, linked by a hive mind, moved undetected through the building setting up position. Then, as one, they moved, attacking all guards simultaneously. One second they were alert, the next all twenty were sound asleep, having been hit from behind by a gorilla. Next were the workers. There were many more of those, in excess of a hundred, but the army swarmed through the building, moving as hummingbirds, attacking from behind as gorillas. Less than twenty seconds after the guards dropped the building was declared clear and Billy Numerous entered in force.
To keep callers from getting suspicious Jinx made her way around the bank, hitting every power and telephone line she could see. Sparked flew and the building was easily cut off from the rest of world. Job done, the woman hurried back to the headquarters, the transport truck they were using. There she organized the armada of quad trucks required for the job. With the bank necessarily situated in an area that saw high traffic, it was easy to have the massive tanker trucks line up with two abreast. On their sides were dire warnings of radiation, ensuring the doom of any area where one met with an accident or deliberate obstruction.
"Done," the girl told the single Billy Numerous and Beast Boy who sat in the truck with her.
"I'm sure the cameras went down before I had to swarm to handle the workers," Beast Boy said.
"Good." Even if necessary, the girl didn't want everyone to know how many people were in her army.
It was pure luck that the largest bank of its sort was in Jump City. Equipped to distribute the precious resource around the world, needing to be absolutely sure of quality least it cause a worldwide disaster that could easily kill hundreds of thousands, the material was meticulously scanned by more than two-hundred scanners and stored in tamper-proof, vacuum-sealed, twenty-liter containers. The powerful clones easily took the containers two at a time, marched to the waiting trucks, and tore them open to pour the rich material into one of the tanker trucks. As each was filled the trucks moved out, opening up a space for the one behind it.
"Incredible," Jinx said, awed by the unity of her army, by the speed and efficiency at which they worked. "A week ago I would've said this was impossible."
Each quad tanker could carry a hundred-and-fifty-thousand liters and there were ten of them. In a little under an hour, Team Idiot pulled out with one-and-a-half million liters of the precious and vital loot they'd come for. There had been no sign of the police or the Titans, nor the media. A complete success.
In less than an hour they arrived at the deserted park where Connie, the bookstore girl, was busy carving intricated symbols into solid rock with little more than her fingernails.
Reunion
Raven didn't bother walking over to the attractive red-haired alien. Instead, too impatient, she teleported. "Starfire," she said, holding the woman in a grip that made even the super-strong woman flinch.
"Raven." Starfire returned the hug with interest. For a whole minute the half-demon girl was held, face pale, legs kicking, a full foot off the ground. "How have you been?" Starfire asked, putting her friend down.
"Good," Raven managed to gasp, smiling happily. "A few ups and downs, but things are working themselves out. At least they were until now. You?"
"I have drowned my rage in a ritual I have dubbed 'the drinking of the mustard,'" the woman replied, smiling back. "I have known for years it wasn't to be. That I should have ended it and sought true love."
Raven nodded. "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it."
"Tamereans always repay their debts. But even so, I would have come." The woman pulled Raven in for another hug. "We must save Beast Boy and prevent Trigon from harming you." She shrugged. "Though if it helps, I am willing to be the one to feed Robin to the beast."
Raven smirked, her fear vanishing with the knowledge that the bonds between her and her family still endured. "Did Cyborg tell you what happened to Robin?" she asked. "About his little gender bender incident?"
Starfire looked confused. "Gender bender? I have never heard this earth term before."
Raven pointed across the room and Starfire turned to see another girl staring at her.
"Hello, Starfire," Robin said. "It good to see you're okay."
Starfire stared. "Who are you?" she asked, baffled. "Are you one of Robin's fiances?"
"That is Robin," Raven explained, smirking. "While he won't be cheating on any more women, you'd still best be careful. She's man crazy and will steal any guys you get."
Starfire stared. Then she picked Robin up by the hair and examined her closely, easily twisting and pulling the girl around as she wanted. Finally, holding the woman up by a single leg, she tossed her ex-boyfriend over her shoulder to fly twenty-feet across the room to slam into a wall. "Interesting," she said. "So if we kill her Trigon can't get free?"
"Let's not go down that route," Raven suggested, watching as a rather battered Robin picked herself up.
A seedy-looking guy with slicked-back hair, dressed in a black-and-blue unitard, approached Starfire with a welcoming smile, package in his hands. "It's good to see you again, Starfire," Aqualad said, holding out the package. "Here's a gift to celebrate your return."
"A gift?" Starfire's eyes lit up, literally. With a smile of gratitude she took the box from the handsome man and tore into it.
"It's hard to decide what to get for a woman who has a whole planet at her command," Aqualad said, looking shy. "Beast Boy suggested it when we last talked."
"Mmmm." Starfire twisted the lid off a bottle and poke a finger in. "Mmmmm." She sucked the mustard off her finger, creating a stir in the room. The men to hide unwanted erections. The women in anger. "It's mustard but I don't recognize the brand," Starfire said, replacing the lid. She returned the jar to the box which boasted sixteen bottles in all.
"T-that one was Monkey Roasted Light Beer Mustard," Aqualad said, studdering a little. "I asked and was guaranteed no actual monkeys were used. Since you like mustard Beast Bo . . . err, I thought you might want to try some of the more exotic brands."
"It is delicious," Starfire said, beaming happily back at the boy. "A most wonderful gift."
"When did you last talk to Beast Boy?" Raven inquired. "He didn't prank you and get his mind twisted in a knot as a result?"
"It was just after . . . ." Aqualad let his eyes slide over towards Starfire. "He was most helpful, I think."
"Ah." Raven sighed, hopes dashed that the Beast Boy and Aqualad might've fought. That Beast Boy's behavior might be explained by a justified reaction on Aqualad's part.
"Welcome back, Princess Starfire," Speedy said, bowing to the orange-skinned woman. He took her hand and kissed it.
A boy with yellow and red skin approached the group. "Welcome back, Starfire," Hot Spot said, smiling brightly. "How's Silkie doing?"
"Silkie is good," Starfire replied, beaming at the boy who'd remember her pet. "He does get into trouble a lot, but everyone at the palace loves him. He's so adorable that my cook mistook him for a Trug-Hak and tried to cook him."
Raven hid her smirk. knowing that with Robin out of the way Starfire would have all the male attention she could handle. Across the room she saw Argent was pouting a little, envy in her eyes. Raven looked towards Robin, expecting to see the girl lusting after one of the new guys. Instead, to her shock, she saw the girl was covertly eyeing Cyborg with a worried expression.
Robin turned and jumped up on a table. "Okay people," she said, confident voice carrying over the quiet chatter. "First I would like to thank you all for coming here. We need you. I need you." She glanced around the room, meeting everyone's eyes. "We can guess that Trigon will attack within thirty-six hours. We need to be ready."
"I'm the leader this time around," Raven said, wrapping the girl in dark energy.
Robin met the woman's stare, not backing down. "Let's have a little competition," she casually suggested. "It'll decide who's best to lead."
"You'll take orders if you lose?" Raven asked. "If so, what's the competition?"
"I will," Robin assured the half-demon girl. "It's this. We each state what our first command would be and the crowd chooses. I'll even let you go first."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Okay. My first command would be for you to get into the vault that was built for me last time Trigon attacked."
"Mine would be to tell people to be in top shape and act like their lives depend on it," Robin said. "While Beast Boy's like a brother to me, we tend to underestimate him since his powers aren't the best suited for being a hero who tries not to hurt anyone." Her eyes met those of Raven. "I would mention how just a short while ago he defeated the combined might of Vixen, Hawkgirl, Batman, and the Flash. And suggest we use masks to filter out any attempt he might have to do the same with us. It's not as good as a full suit of bio-hazard gear, but it's the best we can do."
Raven frowned, cringing as little as she considered the answer. By a single vote the crowd came down on Robin's side. Raven had reluctantly cast that deciding vote.
Robin again glanced confidently around the room. "With our numbers we're sure of victory, but a day ago I'm would've been just as sure that Beast Boy couldn't take down any of those four. We have to take into consideration that Beast Boy has shown skills he's never had before - such as the ability to use the form of diseases and the power to become at least sixteen animals at the same time. For all we know we might go down without a fight due to a bad case of the stomach flu, or we might have to fight sixteen Beast Boys."
Raven nodded, recalling the fight with Grodd and the sixteen cheetahs. Giving the Titans the full picture was best to cut down on over-confidence.
"I will enter the vault," Robin said. "That will leave the nine of you to fight. I suggest a mask and then stay together as one group. Cyborg will stay alert and give warning when Beast Boy enters the building.
"Actually," Cyborg said. "He's here."
Robin raced for the vault and pulled it shut while the team grabbed masks.
"Hey Starfire," a familiar voice said, sounding happy. "Good to see you're back. We really missed you. I'll wait until you put that box away. Wouldn't want that mustard to go to waste."
"Beast Boy?" Starfire replied. "Why are you doing this?"
"All part of the plan," the boy replied. "I'm sure you'll be told about it."
Plan? Raven wondered, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Her empathy said he was in the room, but it was like there were a lot of him in lots of different places. The girl frowned.
"And if things go wrong I guess I better wish you a happy birthday now. Happy Birthday, Raven."
"Thanks," the girl replied, still searching.
Defeat of Team Idiot and Aqualad's Noble Sacrifice
"Do you think you can beat all of us?" Aqualad asked, trying to figure out where his foe was. His telepathy said the room, but the signal was strange and distorted.
"Yes," came the confident reply. "It's not like I'm alone. Billy and Jinx are here as well. "
The door to the room burst open and Billy walked in followed by Jinx.
"I like your hair," Jinx said, pausing for a second to glance at Starfire. "I bet it drives the guys wild. It's good that you're back. I missed you as well."
"Thanks," Starfire said, smiling as she touched her red locks.
"Anyway, sorry, but enough chatting. Attack." The voice of Jinx rang clear and strong.
Cyborg rushed at Billy, hoping to take him down before he spawned clones. He was too late and his punch rang with the sound of metal on metal. "Huh?" he stared at the villain.
"I got an upgrade," Billy told the man. "Body armor thanks to Beast Boy." He struck back, sending the Cybernetic teen flying.
Beast Boy, one of him, became a bird that, unseen, pecked at the IV Kid Flash was still dragging around. The shapeshifter shook his head, wondering how long it would be before the boy got free of that tongue. Then he disappeared from view.
Speedy shot an arrow at the Billy clones, creating a sticky substance that held three of them to the floor. For a short while the doorway was blocked, slowing down the approaching army. He went under when a gorilla appeared behind him and slugged him just as he was focused on shooting a second arrow. The gorilla then disappeared as green and orange and crimson energy bolts ripped through where he'd been.
Cyborg rubbed his chin, noting that Billy also wore a gauntlet on his right fist. One made of titanium. Oh man, he groaned. This is going to hurt. Standing, he rushed back into the fray.
Argent took up residence in a corner and went to work with bolts of energy. She'd downed eight of the Billy clone when the green fist of a gorilla swung at her. She casually blocked it with an energy barrier and struck back. Moving with unnatural speed, mind humming with the vigor of a humming bird, the gorilla dodged the counter attack and vanished from view.
By Azarath, he's fast, Raven silently cursed. Why is he so much faster?
"Where the heck are you?" Bumblebee demanded, moving in an exotic dance around the room, randomly swinging with her stingers. It was the girl's hope the boy was merely invisible.
"Here," Beast Boy replied, appearing as a porcupine just below her foot. He then disappeared.
"Ah, damn it," Bumblebee cursed savagely, recalling how Vixen had been similarly treated. A Titan, knowing they had to win this fight, the woman merely swore again as she put her right foot down and used it, driving the quills entirely through the foot. While she was distracted, brief as it was, a green fist hit her from behind and she went down.
Hot Stuff was standing in the center of a fire, unsure of how to attack. The shapeshifter was rapidly appearing and disappearing while close to his allies, rendering him impotent. Frowning, he burned two Billy clones.
To ensure she wasn't taken by surprise again, Argent had created a barrier that went from floor to ceiling. She had two fists embedded in the shield and was frenetically tearing through the Billy clones with bright-crimson bolts of energy.
Several of the Beast Boy clones frowned. With Jinx wanting to keep the Titans's confused as to his true power, he'd been ordered to use as few clones as possible. But with the way Argent was ripping through Billy . . . .
Raven sent her soul energy at Jinx, frowning as she did so. Here she couldn't fly and there were more than enough objects around for the pink-haired sorceress to curse. It wasn't a good place to fight. The frown deepened as her foe dodged between two Billy Clones, then catapulted over them to cast four hexes in as little time as it took to blink. Above Raven a solid, two-hundred-pound block of concrete shattered, raining debris down on her. To her side another did the same with the debris shooting from the wall at high speed. A third, below her this time, did the same. Assaulted on three sides, stumbling as her foot fell into the hole, the half-demon reflectively created a sphere of dark energy.
The shapeshifter grinned. Jinx had deliberately cast one of the hexes towards the wall beside Argent, breaking a tiny section of it, leaving a hole he could enter. Hurrying, crossing the room as a super-powered shrew he reached the wall and jumped as a flea. Inside the small space between wall and barrier, unable to become a gorilla, he once again used the form of a porcupine, jumping up to ensure he got as many quills into the girl as possible. The battle came to a halt.
Hot Spot stared, swallowing. "Holy fuck," was all he said.
"Beast Boy," Raven said, uttering the words disbelievingly. Her face was white and she clenched her legs together.
"Be nice if I could do that to Gordanians," Starfire said. But she too was a few shades too pale.
Aqualad was on his knees, overwhelmed with the mental impact of Argent's silent scream.
"How about we just surrender?" Kid Flash asked, dead serious.
"I'm glad I'm titanium," Cyborg gulped. "Oh man. That has to hurt."
Jinx froze for a few seconds. "A little overboard, Beast Boy," she said, white as a ghost. She too clenched her legs together.
Argent felt the pain, knew the shapeshifter had reached her somehow, yet for a few seconds the goth girl only stood still. Then she looked down and went white. Then she fainted.
"Sorry," Beast Boy said, also in shock. He'd been inside the barrier with the girl and had wanted to distract her enough to ensure she didn't take down any more Billy clones. He'd used the form of an African Crested Porcupine which, at over three feet and sixty pounds, was massively bigger than his usual choice. And he'd jumped, but inside the barrier there hadn't been many places for him to go . . . . He'd jumped, being between the girl's feet, directly up into her crotch, burying his nose deep into her . . . . The boy gulped. He'd left a trail of a thousand quills up her legs, and had buried at least several hundred of them more than eight inches into the poor girl's pubes. Given how far in his nose had gone, there were probably dozens of quills actually inside her vagina. All barbed and all that would hurt like Hades when pulled out.
"Sorry," the boy said again. "If she wants, she can have all my tofu from the fridge."
"That went bad ages ago," Cyborg whispered.
"Oh."
Jinx shook her head. "Okay people, we are villains after all. But be more careful from now on." She raised her hands and sent four hexes at Kid Flash. With his IV empty the boy failed to evade and dropped like a stone to the floor. "Trust me," Jinx said. "Better hexes than quills from Quill Man."
"Hey," Beast Boy shouted gleefully. "Finally a name that uses man."
"I'm sure she meant boy," Raven said, once again focusing on battle. Embedded in a dark shield, she sent her power roaring out in a massive wave at Jinx. She was sure of victory when a giant crocodile appeared and violently thrashed its tail against her magic. Immediately the woman tried to collapse her magic around the creature, to pin it. It disappeared even as another appeared several feet closer, also lashing with its tail. Her bubble of dark energy collapsed, and she sank to the ground, taken out by the psychic backlash and the four concrete blocks Jinx cursed around her. Those two work pretty well together, was the half-demon's final thought before darkness took her.
Hot, Beast Boy mentally hissed, having taken massive burns on two of his clones.
"Raven," Cyborg called out.
"She's alive and okay," Aqualad assured the man. "Just unconscious." The boy focused and the floor, to the annoyance of Hot Spot, was covered in an inch of water. Confusion reigned in the eyes of Aqualad as he gazed into the chaos. His telepathy said Beast Boy was all around them, walls, floor, and ceiling. But he couldn't pin anything down. The aquamancer shook his head and focused solely on the water, trying to sense unseen movement in it. Other than the hiss of water meeting Hot Spot's fire there was nothing. At least nothing that created enough of a disturbance for him to track. The frustrated boy raised his left hand and the water gathered around him, creating a swirling shield that blocked several attacks from Jinx.
It was a rather battered Cyborg that rose from the damp floor to face the Billy army for perhaps the tenth time. Without Argent to cut them down the clones were swarming, now entering the room in force. Hot Spot and Starfire were still attacking them, but there appeared to be hundreds of the strong, determined villain. And with a partial suit of body armor the grinning man was now decidedly tougher to handle. Raising his sonic cannon, the cybernetic Titan let loose.
Starfire, unable to see Beast Boy, had focused on sending volleys of star bolts at the Billy clones. Three of them charged her, carrying her to the ground. The clone directly above her smiled.
"Hi cutie," the friendly clone said, smiling. "I hear you're single."
The red-headed alien pumped her super-powerful knee into the man's groin, sending him flying across the room to hit head first into the concrete wall. The clone vanished.
"Sorry," the girl said as her hands grabbed the skulls of the other two clones. "I prefer my men to have a little more substance." Skull met skull, and the clones cease to be. He seemed nice, though, the orange-skinned girl thought, standing up. More star bolts erupted from her hands.
Hot Spot, resembling a living flame, relentlessly blasted bolts of orange fire into the swarming mass of jolly Billy clones. Unsure of what exactly the clones were, and what the flames would do to the man, the cautious boy kept the power of his attacks at less than full power. Also, as the fight progressed, he was finding he had to work hard at not going NOVA and harming everyone. Frowning, knowing he wasn't clearing the battlefield of villains as fast as he might've, Hot Spot tried to up the rate at which the flames flew from his fingertips. He did take some relief in knowing a porcupine wasn't likely to attack something made of fire.
On the ceiling, Beast Boy became a pigeon that pooped. Soon the room was filled with smell of burning feces while Hot Spot, unaffected by the attack that was meant to blind him, tossed a blast of fire upward.
As a humming bird the Beast Boy clone avoided the fire and the star bolts that followed it. Moving fast, the shapeshifter hid behind Starfire, using her as a shield against Hot Spot. When the woman twisted to follow him, he flew between her legs, casually noting the eye-blinding bright red of her panties. Robin's a bird brain, the bird thought just before it hurled itself at Hot Spot, becoming a two-ton turtle just before impact. What would've been a lethal blow to a normal man merely dazed Hot Spot. Unfortunately for the boy, it was enough time for Jinx to rain a series of hexes on the stone walls and ceiling around him; he collapsed to the floor, unconscious with his flames fading. A few more well-placed hexes ensured he would remain that way.
The turtle, also briefly dazed from the impact as well as the high-velocity debris Jinx's hexes had caused, was slow to flee. A series of star bolts stuck its shell, almost rendering it unconscious. Then a shell of water engulfed it.
"Got you," Aqualad said triumphantly.
Aqualad, a skilled and powerful aquamancer, studied the ball of water, frowning when the shapeshifter vanished. Though he could sense something still inside the trap, and was sure the boy was now safely contained, he could also sense dozens of somethings that felt like the shapeshifter all around him. "You're stuck in there," the boy stated, forcing confidence into the words while he manipulated the flow of water to do just that. "You can't get out so no use hiding."
Starfire, distracted for the brief second her attention was focused solely on Beast Boy, was tackled by two clones that she failed to immediately shake off. Two hexes hit her square in the back, causing the rattled girl to drop to her knees. Shaking her head, coming to her senses, she immediately threw the two against a wall, though not before one said, "call me," and shoved a slip of paper down her blouse.
Jinx focused all her attention on the orange-skinned woman, depending on Billy to shield her. Having recovered her strength in the time it took the woman to shake off the two clones she cast a double burst of hexes, causing her foe to drop back to the floor. Rushing, forcing her power to work overtime, she shattered more than a dozen concrete blocks around Starfire in a single instance. Then she fired her power in a continuous stream of pink magic directly at the still conscious and struggling woman. It took several seconds, but in the end Starfire stopped moving. "Holy crap," Jinx though, dropping to her own knees, exhausted from the effort. "She can really take it."
Cyborg, seeing the attack on Starfire had tried to rush Jinx, only to be blocked by five of the few remaining Billy clones. They overwhelmed him, sending him crashing to the floor. Surrounded and overpowered, the cybernetic man slipped into unconsciousness.
Aqualad, also seeing the orange-skinned beauty go down had sent a wave of water at the sorceress. To his bewilderment and horror, the sphere of water he maintained was suddenly filled with a mass of flesh that sought to destroy the trap. The pressure on the startled boy's mind was immense and he instinctively tried to maintain the trap until dark realization struck him. If the trap held, Beast Boy would be crushed. Then, just as he was about to drop the spherical barrier, it burst, dropping a badly managed Beast Boy to the floor in the shape of a great Blue Whale that filled the room. Then the whale disappeared.
Jinx struggled back to her feet and faced the aquamancer, gratefully noting that he was the last enemy left standing. Her hexes disappeared against a shield of water. The girl frowned and took a step back. Hexes against water was usually a losing proposition. At least when the water was commanded by a skilled water-magic user.
Billy sent a dozen clones against the aquamancer only to get swept back. Fortunately, while it protected the Titan, it also left all the Billy clones unharmed.
Aqualad, frantic with worry over Beast Boy, placed his back against the vault door that protected Robin and summoned the most powerful shield of water he could. It would stop the girl's hexes while there weren't enough of the Billy clones to seriously challenge him. Briefly, he scanned the room, hoping he hadn't killed the shape shifter.
"He's okay," Jinx said, weaving on her feet, drained from the massive abuse of her magic.
"I'm sure he was badly hurt. He crushed his own flesh to escape that trap." Aqualad said, praying the girl would listen to reason. "We got to find him. Help him." Then, to his disbelief, an unharmed and totally naked Beast Boy appeared just feet in front of him.
"Hi Aquaman," he said, willing to call his foe by a decent name that didn't include lad, or Azarath forbid, boy. "How the gift go? She seemed happy with it, but I'm not telepathic, so . . . ." He shrugged., smiling.
Aqualad blinked. "Okay, I think. I didn't probe her."
The shapeshifter nodded. "That's noble of you," he admitted. "To be honest, if I had that sort of power I would probably abuse the heck out of it."
"Are you okay?" The aquamancer once again looked the naked boy over for wounds, and once again failed to find any.
"Been better."
"How bad?" Jinx wondered.
"Over half," the boy replied with a grim grin.
Jinx blinked, frowning. The attack had had two prongs, two attackers. Beast Boy had come in with over three-dozen clones. One was to attack while the others hid to take his place when the attacking clone fell. She was the other attacker who was to take down enemies with her hexes while Billy shielded her. It'd worked, yet they'd never expected Beast Boy to lose half his clones. The power he had was borrowed and the psychic shock must be taking a horrible toll on the poor boy.
"Being small is dangerous," Beast Boy explained. "A misdirected star bolt or wisp of fire and it's game over."
"Oh." The girl continued to frown. "Can you make it?"
Beast Boy nodded and, all business, turned back to Aqualad. "Only two to go. Him and Robin. I'll be fine." He glanced at the fallen Titans." Better drug them now and tow them outside. Getting through that shield is going to take a bit of effort."
"Drug?" Aqualad said, demanding an answer. "They're your friends. How can you drug them?"
"For their safety," Jinx answered for the shapeshifter. "It's just a sedative to keep them out of the way for a while." Kneeling the woman began to carefully administer the potent drug to each of the slumbering Titans, being sure to take into account their body mass and the effect their powers might have on the drug. "Done," she said less than three minutes later.
Panicked, Aqualad tried to consider his options and found them lacking. Watching he saw the woman finish injecting his friends with Triton knew what, and then drag them outside. He remained where he was, keeping the barrier to the vault in place.
"Now let's get serious," the naked shapeshifter said. Becoming a thirty-foot crocodile, he thrashed his massive tail against Aqualad's barrier of water. After twenty strikes that left his tail aching and bleeding, he stopped. "Not getting through that way."
Jinx nodded. The barrier might be merely water, but it was a three-foot depth of magic water. Idly she hexed several of the concrete blocks around the shield, but the water absorbed and slowed any debris that might've hit the aquamancer. At the end the surface was unblemished. Directly against the shield itself the hexes merely vanished.
"Give it up," Aqualad said. "Call an ambulance for Argent and treat the other Titans."
"Can't do," Beast Boy replied, studying the shield. He looked at Jink. "Any ideas?"
"No pleasant ones," the sorceress replied, looking in sympathy at Aqualad. "At least not for him."
The aquamancer studied his enemies. "Now, don't be too hasty," he pleaded.
"You dropping the barrier?" Jinx asked.
"No."
"Then it sucks to be you," the girl answered. "Bring it in," she called out and a Billy clone marched in the room holding a small transparent bag.
Aqualad blinked. "Is that . . . ."
"It is," Jinx said. "Give it up now or little Jimmy the shrimp here goes to the big blue ocean in the sky." She held her hand against the bag which held a tiny shrimp.
"Monster," the aquamancer cried, face white with tears of rage running down his cheeks.
"Your choice," Jinx said, shaking the bag. "Of course to me he's just another bite at those fancy parties I never got invited to. I wonder what they taste like."
"Stop." Aqualad was trembling, as was the barrier of water he still held in place. "Stop it. Please."
Jinx licked her lips, drooling. "You ever eat shrimp?" she asked.
"Course not," Aqualad screamed in outrage, in shock. "Would you eat a person?"
"I would," the girl replied without hesitation.
Aqualad stared. "You would?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because . . . ." The boy had no words to explain something so basic.
Jinx opened the bag and, taking a small bottle from her pocket, fed the fish a small pill. "It has five minutes to live," she said coldly.
Aqualad sobbed. Still, despite his love for the poor and soon to be dead shrimp, he knew his duty was to the Titans. He held the barrier in place.
"Frig," Jinx viciously snarled, exasperated. She flung the dying shrimp at the barrier. "Take it and watch it die, idiot," she screamed in pure fury at the man, face turning blood red, teeth bared.
Triumphant, Aqualad brought the fish through the barrier into his hand. He would heal it and the dire hostage situation would be over. He would maintain the barrier and . . . . The man frowned. "It isn't poisoned," he said.
"No, but you are," Jinx said, watching as the boy raised a hand to claw at his throat. "Sucks to be you, hero."
The aquamancer felt his knees start to buckle and his breathing became ragged. Through the barrier of perfect, crystal-clear water he saw the smile of victory on the face of his inhuman and cruel foe. Then he fell forward, crashing to the floor as did his impervious barrier.
"You were right," the pink-haired girl mused, watching a frog hop from Aqualad's throat. "He was the toughest foe." She studied the boy when he returned to human form and found herself smiling. Like her he understood that when people started to feel they ceased to think. The aquamancer had clearly been brilliant; at least until emotion had compelled him to bring his own defeat through his incredibly powerful defenses. If he'd stopped to think he would've realized there was a sea louse hidden in the mouth of the shrimp, and that Beast boy had been nowhere to be seen in the room.
"He's okay," Beast Boy said, placing the shrimp in a pool of water.
"Aqualad or the shrimp?" Jinx wondered.
"Both."
The battered gang of villains wearily turned to stare at the vault door. It'd been built to withstand any attack Trigon could throw at it. With a shrug Jinx raised her left hand and threw a single hex at the door. It opened.
"Anticlimactic," Beast boy muttered.
"Very," Jinx agreed. "Get ready. One more hero to take down."
Having watched the battle, Robin was ready. She was in position, satchel of explosive discs in her right hand, when the door opened. Without hesitation she swiped the hand in front of her, sending the entire contents of the bag flying. Twenty-three disc soared through the air to find new homes on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. As one they exploded.
Beast Boy staggered, nearly dropping to the floor as nearly all his remaining clones vanished to be reabsorbed by the whole.
"Crap," Jinx muttered, sending hexes into the vault. Behind her the remaining fourteen Billy clones raised their fists.
An instant later the dazed Beast Boy clone was covered in a layer of frost which collapsed to the ground, psychic shock having destroyed the remains of the Beast Boy army.
Panicked, a desperate Jinx rolled backwards, raising her hands to cast hexes. She was savagely tossed to the ground when the hexes erupted as soon as they left her hands, having run into a dense cloud of gummy bear candy tossed by Girl Wonder. For a brief moment the girl laid on the floor, too dazed and tired to move.
Robin, moving with eye-blinding speed, turned on the Billy clones, deftly wielding a bo-staff with a skill few could match. Brutally smashed in the throat, the Billy clones ceased to be in fountains of sparks. In less than three brief seconds the Billy army, like the Beast Boy army, was no more.
Staff whirling with its edges sparking with a potent electrical charge, the defeater of Team Idiot turned on Jinx. The staff was less than an inch from her throat when a pale hand grabbed it in a grip that mocked steel. Robin, reacting with a speed no other mere human could ever hope to match, kicked at her new foe. it was like hitting a block of solid granite.
"So much trouble for one little girl," Connie said, whipping the staff out of the girl's hand. It was brought back to rest gently on Robin's head, sending her to the ground.
Jink blinked, breathing hard.
"The runes are ready," Connie said. "I came to see what was taking you so long." The girl turned away, leaving the job of dragging Robin to the transport truck to Jinx.
"Girl?" Jinx asked, pushing herself off the floor. "We came after Robin, a boy."
"Don't know, don't care," Connie said, pausing in the doorway. "All I know is that's the Titan of Lust." She pointed at Robin. "Bring her to the circle. All hail Lord Trigon."
"All hail Lord Trigon," Jinx obediently replied without hesitation.