Chapter 14: Facing the Masses
"Where did this creature come from?" a reporter was asking Robin.
Robin sighed. He had hid it better, but the way his fellows had felt about dealing with the media was overwhelming him. He wondered what kind of person it took to try and compress the reality of a situation down into a ten-second sound byte.
"We do not know. It attacked us suddenly and without warning, but agents are going over its path in order to find out just where this Aberration creature came from…"
Everyone was screaming questions at him again. Robin winced at the noise.
"Robin, why did this creature decide to attack you?" another reporter was asking.
"We attacked IT first. It was eating people." Robin said, stating the answer like he was speaking to a child.
"MR. Robin." Said a particularly oily looking man. "The creature has escaped, and in the process of your failed capture you have caused millions of dollars in property damage, as well as having a few people killed. How do you respond to this?"
"What. Huh? I…?" Robin stammered, and then suddenly he was shoved away as Savior pushed him aside.
"Savior? What are you…?" Robin said before all the reporters started shouting again. All individual words were lost in a mass roar, a bay for blood, for stories that were not so much the truth as was the truth the public would like to believe.
Savior stared in disgust at the screaming reporters, and then he responded with his own yell. However, since the microphones amplified his voice, he managed to out-blast the reporters.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE!??!?!?!?"
The feedback slammed into the ears of the people around the podium, making them recoil. The reporters fell silent, but Savior was just getting started.
"We, through hard work and good fortune and sometimes through BAD fortune, have become greater then the average man. We try to use our talents for the common good of mankind. We put our lives on the line in service to you. It is our honor and our privilege and we gladly bear the burden and the curse of the life we have chosen, and yet YOU, you SCUM, DARE blame us for this! We saved hundreds of lives, and yet you harp on the few lives we could not save and the THINGS you built that we damaged in pursuit of the greater good. You blame us for not being omnipotent! WE ARE HUMANS! WE ARE NOT GODS! HOW DARE YOU! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!"
Savior's rant was cut off as Robin and Cyborg managed to drag him away from the mike, but the reporters had been whipped up even more and were now screaming all sorts of new questions.
"We are sorry, Savior nearly got eaten by Aberration and he's a bit upset." Beast Boy lied as he got over to the mike.
"SCUM! LIARS! BLOOD-SUCKING LEECHES!" Savior was still screaming. Starfire flew over to help control Savior's thrashing.
"Sorry Noel, we gotta do this." Robin whispered, and pinched a nerve on Savior's neck. The hero's rage was swallowed by darkness.
Some time later, Noel came to and found himself lying on the couch. He sat up, rubbing his neck, to find Robin, his mask off, sitting there on a nearby chair.
"Tim." Noel said.
"Hey Noel. Nice outburst. The media are having a field day, making all sorts of suggestions, exaggerations, half-truths, and outright lies. One suggested you and I were fighting over Kory and I did this to embarrass you! You just fed the fire, Noel." Tim said sadly.
"I knew I would, but it had to be said. I hate those vultures, so desperate for their "stories". Life would be so much better without them." Noel muttered, adjusting his jacket.
"It's not just that Noel." Tim said. "Over these past several weeks, I've noticed…not just I…you've just been so ANGRY." Tim said.
"Not really." Noel lied.
"Oh yes you have. Remember the rapist we caught a few weeks ago?"
Noel remember all too well. The police were chasing a suspect on foot, and the Titans, heading home after dealing with another problem, aided them. Noel had found the man first. He hadn't actually hurt him, but he had picked him up and started throwing him around with The Shimmer like a toy, catching him just before he would have hit a wall or the ground and throwing him again. He had played with the rapist for nearly five minutes before the Titans had found him, and by then the man had passed out with fear, having also wet his pants. When Robin had asked if that had really been necessary, Savior had replied "Yes" and tossed the sex offender in a dumpster.
"You try and keep it hidden, but it keeps coming out. We're a team Noel. What's wrong?"
"I'm PMSing. Nothing." Noel said.
"It's Raven, isn't it?"
Noel glared at Tim.
"Starfire told me about the little…"incident" on Valentine's Day, and her suggestion. From the way you two have been acting since then, well…I guess it didn't go well." Robin said. When they weren't dealing with something that involved cooperation, Noel and Raven had been doing their best to avoid each other. No more morning talks, no more shared tea, nothing. It was like it had been turned off like a switch.
Except such things could not just be turned off.
"I really don't want to be psychoanalyzed." Noel said.
"And I'm not qualified for that. But Noel, I can sense you have strong feelings for her, and it's carrying over into your work. Maybe…"
"No. I am not taking a break. I am not going away. I am not on drugs or drinking or anything like that Robin. I can handle Raven. Besides, I don't really think you can understand my pain."
"Try me."
"NO! Your situation is completely wrong! Look at you and Kory! You're surprising me in your restraint, but since you got together you've been fawning all over each other. Stolen kisses here, stealing off by yourselves there…it just makes me sick in a way I wish it didn't." Noel said.
"Noel…"
"Go away please. I want to be alone."
"Noel please…it's better to talk…"
"I don't WANT to talk. PLEASE leave me alone. I'll be fine. I can handle it. And I won't let it affect my work." Noel said, and fell silent.
Robin tried to start up a conversation again, but Noel ignored him.
In the end he left.
"YOU ARE CHEATING!" Victor roared.
"You're just mad because you suck." Impulse said. Victor was playing one controller, and Impulse was playing three. And all three of the cars he was using were making Victor's life miserable.
"You say that again and we'll see if you can outrun my fist!" Victor yelled.
"Most likely I can." Impulse replied, and then won the race. Victor lunged at him, but by the time his brain had finished making the command that would have started the motion Impulse was already out of the room, leaving only a wind gust in his wake.
A few seconds later he zipped into the room Robin had left Noel in to see how the new guy was. Noel was sitting, reading a book.
"Heyo! You're called Savior right? Man, isn't that…"
"Don't. Just please don't." Noel said.
"Whatcha reading? Oh, good book! The ending kicks!" Impulse said, as in a second he took the book away, read it, and gave it back to Noel before he realized it had left his hands. Noel looked at Impulse.
"Useful power you've got there."
"Indeed, well gotta go!" Impulse said and ran out of the room. Like his namesake, the second he felt an impulse to do something he did it.
Noel was left alone again, trying to read his book and stewing in his feelings and the way they hurt him.
Impulse found Robin at his computer.
"HEY!" he said as he dashed up to Robin's side. Robin almost brained him with his staff. Or the air where Impulse had been, anyway.
"Watch it!" Impulse chided. Robin smirked.
"Still as irreverent as ever, Bart."
"Hey, don't use my name Tim! There could be spies!" Impulse, aka Bart Allen, said as he covered Robin's mouth. "Now wacha doing?"
"The ever torturous task that is called checking my e-mail." Robin said.
"What's so bad about that?"
"Watch. Look at this. "Dear Robin! If you had your hands chopped off at the wrists and couldn't replace them with prosthetic hands, what would you replace them with?" What kind of a question is that?"
"Can I answer it?"
"Why?"
"Why not?" Impulse asked, and then in a second Robin was out of his chair and Impulse was in it.
"Dear writer! I must think of this for a minute! Ah, I know! One hand would definitely have…a bucket on it!" Impulse said/typed.
"A BUCKET?" Robin said.
"Yeah! That way I could always have…a bucket! For…dumping oatmeal on stuff…and washing my hair…or just dropping the occasional beats…and I could also sit on it when I got tired." Impulse said/typed. "And the other hand would definitely be…a bullhorn! That way everyone could always hear whatever important things I had to say!" Impulse said.
"Like what?" Robin asked.
"Uh…like…"I am still awesome!"…"Seriously!" That kinda stuff." Impulse suggested.
"Uh yeah…well it's original. I was expecting you to pick something like guitars and laser guns…" Robin said.
"Yeah I…aw man! Why didn't I pick guitars and laser guns?" Impulse said. Robin facevaulted.
"I mean, geez, bullhorn? Like having a bucket for a hand is gonna get you any chicks…what was I thinking…" Impulse said as he erased the email and wrote new stuff down. "Next one!"
"What does it say?"
"Robin, please tell us all how Batman is in bed…"
"DELETED!" Robin yelled, leaning over and pressing the appropriate button.
"Are they STILL on that kick?"
"As long as there is a Batman and Robin, it will always be there. What's next?"
"Here we go once again with the e-mail! Let us hope it will be from a female!" Impulse chanted, and called up the next one. "Aw man! Not from a female. Well, ok. "Dear Robin. Can you draw a dragon? I want to see your skills of an artist." Um…ok…"
"Delete it."
"No no let's answer it! We can draw a dragon! That's easy! Watch and learn! I make drawing FUN!" Impulse said as he zipped off and returned with some paper and a pencil.
"To begin, we draw an S. For a snake…or a dragon…er, whatever." Impulse said as he did what he had said. "Next, we draw a different S…and then for the head, put a top mark on a long V. Then we draw some legs…" Impulse said as he began drawing muscular legs on the S. "Throw in a couple of arms…and then…uh wait a minute…I think I need to start over. Thing doesn't look…natural." Impulse said, and got another piece of paper.
"Ok, starting again, same thing: S, more different S, close it up real good at the top for his head, and then, using CONSUMATE V's, give him teeth, spines, and angry eyebrows. And then you can add smoke or fire…and maybe some wings…if he's a wing-a-ling dragon…" Impulse said as he continued drawing. Robin sighed good-naturedly: Impulse was really getting into it. Maybe HE should have the email address.
"And you know, let's put one of those beefy arms back on him for good measure. That looks really good…coming out of the back of his neck there…" Impulse said as he drew the arm on the dragon. "Now all he needs is a name!"
"Don't look at me." Robin said.
"Ah, I know. "Trogdor the Burninator"! Oh yeah! Check out all his majesty!" Impulse said, brandishing his picture. "Where's the scanner?"
"I don't have one." Robin said.
"What? Oh well, we still have TROGDOR! So very magnificent!" Impulse said, as he finally got out of the chair. Robin got back in and deleted the e-mail.
Badly-played music suddenly came from the door, and Robin looked over.
Impulse had found a keyboard and was playing it.
"What are you doing?"
"Trogdor deserves a song! Let's play!" Impulse said, and began singing. "TROGDOOOOOOOOR! TROGDOOOOOOOOOOOR! Trogdor was a man!" Impulse sang.
"I thought he was a dragon?" Robin said.
"Meh…he was…a dragon-man! Er…maybe he was just a dragon…but he was still TROGDOOOOOOOOR!" Impulse sang. "TROGDOOOOOOOR!"
"Go away Bart." Robin said.
"BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE! BURNINATING THE PEASENTS!" Impulse sang as he zipped off, still playing the keyboard. "And then burninating all the people…and then all the COTTAGES! YEAH! ALL THE COTTAGES! AND THE TROGDAR COMES IN THE NIIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTT!"
Impulse finished the song, and the realized he had run into the lounge, stopped, and loudly sung the last line. Now Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire were staring at him like he had three heads.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh." Impulse said, and then took off.
"So tell me Impulse, Wonder Woman or Black Canary?" Beast Boy said. It was a little later and Impulse had returned to the lounge. Savior had come along a bit earlier and was reading a book again. Raven and Starfire were each doing something that the boys didn't know about. Robin was still at his email, making him the only male Titan missing.
"Do you ask that to EVERYONE?" Savior said.
"Pretty much!"
'Wonder Woman, definitely!" Impulse said, and made a gesture around his chest that indicated large breasts and chuckled like teenage boys did.
"You ARE aware that even if you DID get her in…well, an intimate way, she would probably crush you with her legs. She's nearly as strong as Superman." Savior commented.
"Aw man Noel, don't be such a wet blanket! We're just fooling around! Loosen up! It's ok for you to talk about these things! I mean, she does have great boobs! And what a great…" Beast Boy said.
Raven walked in.
"Strategy Alexander used at that battle! He really was a genius at war!" Beast Boy said, abruptly switching conversations topics. The men would have been confused had he just done it, but they knew damn well why he had. Raven didn't give them a glance as she walked past them and out.
"Yeah, she does a fair booty, but you know who REALLY has back?" Cyborg said, continuing the conversation. "Thunder of the Outsiders! Man, I'd love to tap that and just ride…"
Starfire walked in.
"A Shetland pony! I heard they have such a smooth back and they rarely bounce…" Cyborg switched. Starfire walked past them and left, busy with her own task.
"What do you like Noel?" Impulse asked.
Dark, gothic, and…"Actually I always found Asians exotic in my own way." Noel said, figuring he may as well start talking like them or they would keep bugging him. "Those eyes…plus, there's just something about a grown woman in a white schoolgirl outfit…call me a hentai if you will but no one screams quite like a Japanese…"
Raven walked into the room again.
"Kamikaze strategy! They would crash into boats in order to destroy them…man the Japanese are always strange in some way…" Savior said as Raven walked out again. "Guys, do we have to keep talking about this?"
"You have anything better to talk about?" Beast Boy said.
"What about Aberration? We still have no idea where it, he, she, whatever went, or just what the creature is capable of!"
"Yeah, that thing was a pain. I always hated things that healed." Impulse said, getting up. "I mean, it's annoying enough to fight a monster, but man if a monster isn't bad enough you have to fight one…" Impulse said.
Raven walked back in.
"WITH BREASTS THE SIZE OF WATERMELONS!" Impulse yelled.
Raven stopped dead.
All the other males stared at Impulse.
Impulse stood there for a second and then sweatdropped.
"Ooops, instead of switching from a sexual conversation to a normal one I switched a normal one to a sexual one." Impulse muttered.
Raven glared at Impulse, and seemed ready to say something when Robin walked in.
"Titans, Impulse, we have something."
Some time later, all the Titans and Impulse had gathered at the main computer. Batman's stern face regarded the group. He was a great source of info, but he damn sure made the others uncomfortable.
"I found out where that creature came from, as best I could." Batman said.
"What happened?" Robin asked.
"All we have at the moment is some eyewitness reports and the preliminary results from STAR Labs, but I'd say it tells what will turn out to be the correct tale." Batman said.
"Which is?" Beast Boy asked. Batman glared at him. Beast Boy looked sheepish and then turned into one.
"The building the creature you dubbed "Aberration" emerged from Tessla Labs, a new company. Apparently they had a little incident here this morning. It involved a scientist called Anton Hansen. From what I've gathered in the little time I've had, he suffered from depression, and I believe he may have also been a masochist…."
"Did we really need to know that?" Impulse said. Batman glared at him, but Impulse had already zipped away so he wouldn't catch Batman's gaze.
"Anton apparently was dumped last night by his girlfriend. From what I've heard, this caused him to become suicidal. But, I suspect, from the possibility he may have been a masochist, that simply jumping out the window wasn't enough. He went to work the next day, locked himself in his lab, and started injecting chemicals into himself."
"Like what?"
"We're not sure. I think even he didn't know. He just wanted to die. God knows what he stuck in his veins before he could no longer do it. But he didn't die. Instead he turned into…that."
"And broke out. And then we met him." Robin said.
"Aberration ate a good many of the employees before he broke out, which is why he grew so large. He apparently needs substance in order to survive, though as you saw, his ever changing nature can allow him to eat different things."
"What about the heat thing?"
"Haven't been fully explored yet. The STAR technicians, from what I've heard, are absolutely dumbfounded by what Anton's cells have become due to the chemical mixture he pumped into himself. Whatever it was, the cells are in constant mutation. Even if left docile. They're just so damaged they have to keep changing in order to survive, and it appears that nothing, at the moment, is beyond their capacity to become. The possibilities are extremely dangerous though."
Robin knew it. Aberration, if left unchecked, could very well mutate its cells into a lethal virus, or a super-intelligent creature that could do god knows what, or maybe it could grow so large if it mutated and found a proper food source that it could trample the city. The horrors were endless.
"What do you suggest Batman?" Robin asked.
"Find it. And destroy it. There's nothing left of the man. His identity has long since been erased from the seething mass his cells have become. He's nothing but a dangerous pile of possibilities now. I'll send more information as I get it. Feel free to ask for aid if it becomes necessary. Batman out." The Dark Knight said, and then he was gone.
"Nice guy." Cyborg said.
"Ok Titans, you heard him. We need to think of a plan. Everyone into the lounge. We'll brainstorm a course of action. You want to stay Impulse?"
"That thing tried to get me too you know."
"Ok then, then you go get food."
"WHAT? What am I, your caterer?"
"No, but you're also not a Titan. So there." Robin said, smirking.
"Rassar frassin…" Impulse cursed under his breath as he dashed out.
The group headed for the table they usually spoke at and sat down.
"Ok guys, what do we do?"
"Cold." Raven, Cyborg, and Savior all said at nearly the same time. They looked at each other, and then the men let Raven speak.
"It likes heat. Therefore it will most likely hate the cold. Cold slows stuff down. It kills cells or makes them go dormant. Therefore, I say we use those freezing discs you have, Robin, in order to defeat it."
"Providing we can find it. It could stay in the sewers for weeks." Cyborg said.
"Maybe we should send Speed-Boy down there. He could probably search all the territory in what, three minutes?" Beast Boy pointed out.
"Too risky. There's all sorts of pitfalls and rotten floors and all sorts of things that super speed can't protect your from. I wouldn't want to do that to Impulse." Robin said.
"Something I noticed…" Savior said. "After being hit with all the Starbolts Kory threw, the thing figured out how to make it's own. Its cells may be able to adapt whatever is damaging it into a weapon. I think that if we go hunting for it, we should bring firearms."
"Why?"
"If we have to fight it again, we may as well use normal means instead of our powers first. If we just use our powers, it could adapt to them and then we'd be up sh…er, a creek." Savior said.
"It's a good idea Noel, but I don't know if it's practical." Robin said.
"My skill in firearms are about as good as your ability to pick movies." Starfire said.
"Ah come on! Are we still on this? Aliens was pretty good, wasn't it?"
"That was scary!" Starfire said.
"But in a good way!" Robin added.
"Can we discuss films later? We need to deal with Aberration." Raven said.
"You have any ideas Raven?" Savior asked. Robin was surprised to not hear a trace of bitterness in Savior's voice. I'll give Noel one thing: he's all business when business is the issue.
"Not at the moment, but I was wondering…"
"Hey guys!" Impulse said as he suddenly appeared.
"Wow that WAS quick Impulse, even for…hey, where's our food?" Robin chided.
"Guys, be serious. I noticed something outside. A weird discoloration of the grass. I thought it looked weird, so I speed dug…someone melted a hole at the base of your tower."
"A hole? How big?"
Impulse made a shape about the size of a large beachball with his arms. The Titans looked at each other.
"It found us." Beast Boy said.
"Worse." Savior said. "It's in the Tower."
Uh oh. Well, in the next chapter, I will pay tribute to Aliens, and the Titans will find out just where their spot on the food chain is…