Chapter 20: GUPI

Writer's Note: No, the title of this chapter is not "Guppy". It's an acronym, the letters each mean something. It's up to you to figure out what, but the answer will be revealed at the end of the chapter. Now let's begin. Also, SR, from middle of contemplation scene.

"'I'll be judge, I'll be jury' said cunning old Fury
I'll try the whole cause and condemn you to death."

Lewis Carroll

"You sure you can find him?" GL asked Raven as he flew beside her. The Titans had been combing the city for the past hour, hunting for Savior. So far no good, but by the look in their eyes, he had a feeling they'd hunt all night and into the next one if they had too.

"Yes." Raven said. It was all she needed to say in the end too.

So the Titans flew and ran on, following Raven as she hunted for traces of Noel's unique signature.

Oddly, in the end it wasn't that that ended the hunt. It was the scream.

It tore up from the alleyways from seemingly underneath the Titans, though in reality it was some distance away. The Titans froze as they heard it, and then they swiveled and looked at Raven. She had stopped, searching even as her senses registered that someone was in trouble.

"It's him." She said.

The Titans took off in the direction of the scream, running or flying as fast as they could, leaping over a bar called the "Tragedy, Man" and into the alleyway behind it.

What they found sank any remaining hopes the Titans may have had.

There was another body in the alleyway, and while they couldn't see her face, the Titans could see that she had dark hair, and that her neck had suffered severe damage. But that was not the damning thing.

For kneeling over her, one hand on her neck, was Noel Collins.

Savior heard the Titans before he saw them, and, his eyes open in surprise and shock, he looked up as they landed or floated down in front of him.

"Guys? How did…?"

Cyborg was the first to react, as anger, awoken in him via Noel's deeds, his lies, and his betrayal, finally overwhelmed his belief that Noel could possibly be innocent. Now even that was gone.

"YOU BASTARD!" Cyborg yelled, and hit Savior with a full charged sonic cannon blast, blowing him out of the alleyway and across the street. Savior slammed into the opposing wall, his impact lessened (but not much) by the Shimmer.

"What the hell…" Savior sputtered, not believing what had just happened..

"You know what the hell."

Savior turned as Raven appeared beside him, her eyes as cold as ice.

"Raven what's…"

Raven threw some trash cans at Noel. The Shimmer didn't block those, as they slammed into his gut and face, throwing him backwards.

"How could you do this, Noel? How could you let yourself become this?" Raven said, her anger fading briefly as sadness overwhelmed her.

"Raven, what are you talking about…"

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME! I KNOW! ABOVE ALL ELSE, I KNOW!" Raven screamed, and nailed Savior with a telepathic bolt, sending him crashing up against the wall again.

"Argggghhhh…have you guys lost your mind?" Savior gasped as he tried to get up.

"No. You have."

Beast Boy rammed into Savior as a bull and slammed him into a wall, before turning into gorilla and throwing him across the street. He bounced off a car and rolled into the sidewalk, groaning.

"They must be being controlled…" Savior said to himself as he tried to get up.

"No."

The word was followed by the distinct sound of Robin's staff extending, and Savior looked up before Robin brought the staff across his face, knocking him up against a wall again.

Savior rolled away from the next strike and blocked Robin's jumping kick with the Shimmer.

"What the hell are you doing!" Savior yelled.

"You know. Or maybe you don't. But believe me Noel, this hurts us a lot more then you. Oh wait no, no it doesn't." Robin said.

And the Starbolts exploded against Savior's back, throwing him forward as Robin spun and hit a giant home-run swing that threw Noel back up against the wall so hard it nearly collapsed. Savior hit the ground and lay there, moaning.

The Titans assembled before their former comrade as he tried to get up.

"What…did I…" Savior groaned, blood dripping from his nose and a split lip.

"You betrayed us Noel. You're no better then your father. No, you're worse." Starfire said coldly. Savior looked up, trying to find some sense, but all he saw was his teammates glaring at him with a look that said they would stomp him into the concrete if given half the chance.

He tried to get up anyway.

A sonic blast, Starbolt, telepathic slam, and Birdarang blew him through the wall and collapsed it on him.

"Enough. I got him." Green Lantern said as he flew over. He had let the Titans do what they had to. It was time to take their comrade away. A green beam shot from his ring and into the rubble, and a few seconds later Savior rose out of it encased in a green ball of energy. He hit it a few times, trying to get out.

"What are you doing guys! What's happening!" Savior said, sounding as if he was on the verge of tears. He looked at the people he had called his teammates and again found nothing but cold rage.

"You're going where you belong now Noel. Enjoy it. You're getting EXACTLY what you deserve." Raven said, and turned away. The Titans followed her lead, turning their backs to Noel and leaving him in the bubble.

"Consider your Titans membership revoked." Robin said, and then he too left Noel. He could hear Noel yelling and banging on the bubble that he was imprisoned in, but he ignored him. He had nothing left to say.

"You want him anywhere?" Green Lantern asked Robin.

"Dump him in the nearest prison that had metahuman holding capacities. I'll make sure they get a reason to hold him." Robin said, and then he hopped up to the nearest roof and was gone.

"If this is a joke it's not funny!" Savior was yelling, banging on the bubble. Green Lantern shook the prison to knock the regained fight out of Savior. He lay on the floor of the bubble and groaned.

"Hey, look on the bright side buddy. Your needs for the rest of your life will be paid for by the government." Green Lantern said, and flew off with his prisoner.

Robin wished that could be the end. But he knew it wasn't. They may have caught Noel, but now they would have to find forensic evidence and testify in court and all sorts of rigmarole that Robin hated. But he doubted he could get twelve superheroes to take time out of their busy lives to truly serve as the "jury of Noel's peers" that he was afforded by the constitution, and he knew that twelve normal people would have hard time swallowing the idea that Noel was guilty because a half-demon sorceress read his taint on a corpse.

But he'd do it. Betrayal was terrible, but it could also not be tolerated.

"Robin…" Starfire said as she flew beside him. "Why did Noel do this?"

"Star?"

"I still can barely accept that he did this…but WHY? My sister…she was hurt by bad people…but Noel…even with Raven…he was such a kind man! He truly believed in helping people weaker then him! I sensed it! I KNEW it! How could all that be a lie? How could Noel really be a killer?" Starfire asked, her eyes filled with that sad confusion that Robin reckoned was like that of a dog being put to sleep because a family couldn't afford to keep him anymore.

And really, how could he explain how deviant the human mind could be, and how well some people could hide the terrible things they did? Ted Bundy was said by nearly everyone to be a charming, handsome man who no one sensed any danger from (which probably aided greatly in his quest to murder women, all 40+ he was suspected of). Jeffery Dahmer wasn't suspected in the least until neighbors began complaining of the terrible smell coming from his apartment. John Wayne Gacy was a clown at children's parties, a man everyone in the neighborhood liked and trusted. No one would have ever expected him of being capable of his crimes. But he did commit them, and willingly.

Indeed, perhaps being a "superhero" was what made these notions anathema to Starfire, and indeed Robin and all his friends. Villains they fought in these guises tended to be so obvious in their wickedness you half expected them to suddenly grow a mustache to twirl or start singing about how they had to pay the rent. Costumes and special powers tended to suggest a distinct lack of needing to be subtle. And after a few heated battles with these people, battles in which your life was in danger, you tended to forget that true evil was quite capable of hiding behind a smile, even the smile of a man thought to be good, a man who would pat you on the back before they stuck the knife in.

In the end, Robin could give no explanation to Starfire, but three words came to mind.

Et tu, Savior?

Green Lantern had been flying for about 40 seconds when his com link buzzed.

"Lantern."

"Lantern, we have a problem. We may have to deal with the White Martians again." Batman's stern voice said on the other end of the link.

"WHAT? I thought they were all locked up in the Phantom Zone!"

"We were wrong. We need you immediately, return to the Watchtower at once."

"Bats I have a prisoner…"

"Lantern we need you NOW. Leave him here, we can hold him until the problem is solved."

"Ok ok, I'm on my way. Lantern out." Green Lantern said. "Hey Savior! Guess what! You're getting a rare treat! You'll get to be held in the first-class storage facilities of the Watchtower until you can be properly charged."

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"Right, and all prisons are filled with innocent men." Green Lantern replied, as he changed course and headed for the Watchtower.

Robin couldn't recall a time when the T-Tower was so quiet. With all the Titans there, anyway.

They had walked in as quiet as mice. And now they were standing there, staring at each other. The anger that had fueled their previous actions was long gone, replaced only with all the messier, harder to deal with feelings awoken by Noel's betrayal and their taking him down. They could very well be dealing with them for weeks.

Raven could be dealing with them forever.

Had Noel just flipped his lid, she might have been able to understand. Raised by a loveless father and a weak, broken mother whom his father treated like dirt, she could see Noel snapping and taking his rage out on people when his quests for love were thrown back in his face. But the fact that she was a catalyst…

The burning was back, but she gave no indication of the pain within her. The pain of what Noel had become due, at least somewhat, of the feelings he had developed for her, and the darker possibility that despite all her efforts that…

The Titans might have stood there for hours, not knowing what to do or say, if they hadn't heard it.

Up on the top floors.

Someone was screaming.

"I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE. Why don't you turn that ring into a polygraph and use it instead of accusing me!" Savior yelled as Green Lantern hustled him into the holding cells.

"Look buddy, I was there. Your taint was on that body. She sensed it. You committed those crimes. Take my advice: the sooner you admit it and seek help, the better."

"I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE!" Savior roared.

"Yeah, keep yelling that. I'm sure that'll make your friends forgive the way you betrayed them and us all. I thought you had potential, Noel. But I guess in the end you were just too weak."

"You mean like Hal Jordan?" Savior snapped back.

Kyle Rayner surprised Savior and himself by rearing back and decking him, knocking Savior backwards into the cell. Green Lantern sealed the door behind him.

"Hal may have lost his way, but he remembered the path in the end. But I doubt you ever will, if you ever were on it in the first place, murderer." Green Lantern spat, and left. He had bigger problems then a psychotic rejected whiner.

Blood trickling from his nose again, Noel sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees.

A screen flickered on in the wall he was facing. A TV. Guess it was automatic. Had to keep prisoners entertained. Or torture them by forcing them to watch Daytime TV, who knew.

Noel stared dully at the screen. A commercial for soap was ending, and just to really rub it in, a commercial for CollinsCorp came on, hucking their so called "charity ball". Noel found himself staring into the face of his father, as he effortlessly lied on how he cared and other people should too by coming to his ball and spending large amounts of money. Most of which would go into Maxwell Collins' pocket. Ah, the wonders of book-cooking.

It figured. His mother was gone. His friends had accused him of murder and beat him up, leaving him in the dirt. Green Lantern had called him a disgrace to all superheroes. And yet his father was still out there, chugging away, not caring a whit about anyone, not even his absent, hurting son, while he made millions on other people's back for no other reason then to have it.

Noel hung his head, the voices of the TV fading to a dull buzz. He wanted to feel angry, or sad, or anything. But he had nothing left.

In the end, he really was his father's son. Hated, alone, and empty.

Noel sat there for a while. He didn't know how long.

Then the TV abruptly turned off, and Noel looked up. He wasn't surprised to see who it was.

Batman looked at the sitting teenager, his mask reducing his eyes to emotionless white slits. He could be looking at Noel in desire for all he knew (hell maybe the constant jokes about his supposed homosexuality were true), his eyes would betray nothing.

"Well, so the Dark Knight cometh. Here to accuse me and heap scorn on me too? Come on, you know you want to." Savior said bitterly.

"Blaming others for your own crimes will not change anything." Batman said, his voice even and toneless, betraying no emotion as always.

"So why ARE you here then? Come to tell me on how I had potential and I pissed it all away? Man, you always looked down on humans as lesser for being unable to control the very things that made them human, but even YOU in the end have failed your own tests. So go ahead and judge me, I don't care any more." Savior said, turning away and staring at the wall.

"Explain."

Savior's eyebrow arched, and he turned around.

"Excuse me?"

"You claim I failed. Please explain." Batman said, as casually if he was asking for the weather.

"You don't know? YOU MUST! Come on Batman, you're supposedly the greatest detective in the world! Your brain is so razor sharp it's somehow dull! Yet you stand there and say I did it! Whatever happened to…"

"Your unique signature was found on the latest body, as well as the body the Titans examined."

"Would that stand up in a court? Come on Batman, in this world, you would, and you, above all else YOU, should NEVER take that at face vault. You believe in due rights for criminals?"

"Yes."

"Then come over here, look me in the eye, and TELL ME YOU KNOW I DID IT."

Batman stood there, staring.

Savior glared back.

Then Batman stepped up to the bars, seemingly without a care, but Noel knew he had all his senses primed and ready to detect even the slightest hint of an attack. Good thing he wasn't planning to attack him. Instead, he stepped up to the bars and looked into Batman's dead gaze.

"Did you kill those women?" Batman asked.

"NO."

For a few seconds they stared into each other's eyes.

"Now tell me I'm guilty."

Batman said nothing. Instead, he turned and walked away.

"That's right, run you coward! Just sit there and judge like all the others! You may be looked apon as something more, but in the end you're just all too human!" Savior yelled after Batman. Batman didn't give him a glance as he left.

If Batman had turned the TV off, he thankfully didn't turn it back on. Noel would have surely smashed the glass.

Nothing even really repeats in nature.

Those were the thoughts that ran through Robin's head as he ran up the stairs towards the scream that had sounded through the tower. Lightning never struck twice, and all that, but the basic idea was that nature could never really stick to an absolute set pattern. There were always variables. You could throw seeds in a billion places and they may only sprout in one, and the next time in all, and the next in 376, 986, 542 places only. Never really the same.

Which is why, in the back of his head, something nagged at Robin. Whoever had screamed before had screamed again, twice more, since they had heard the first one.

And while Robin's active mind was occupied with running up the stairs to help the screamer, part of it in the back was hinting that something was a tad off.

It wasn't so sure, but it sounded like each scream was the same. No variables. Just the same scream repeated again and again.

Which was impossible. Humans could TRY, but they couldn't make the EXACT same sound over and over. They lacked the vocal control.

But that was just the lesser worry. The stronger one, however, was buried deep in Robin's mind, a thought speaking so quietly that Robin probably couldn't have heard it without a superhero effort, a dancing bit of knowledge staying just out of the reach of his conscious mind.

The idea that…

The scream…

He had…

Heard it…before…

Savior heard them before he saw them talking amongst themselves. He recognized Green Lantern's voice, and another he thought sounded familiar but couldn't place. He guessed the Justice League had handled the White Martians.

"Give it to him anyway…" the unknown voice was saying as they walked in.

It was Green Lantern, all right, but he was in the back of the group. The second was Batman, silent as always. And Noel finally placed the third voice as the green-skinned human-esque alien with the blue and red costume came into view.

"Martian Manhunter?" Savior said in some confusion.

"You claim your innocence. Fine. Since you were once one of us, we're giving you a chance, once and for all, to prove it. Let Manhunter read your mind." Green Lantern said. "Though I don't agree with it."

"Lantern, when we stop giving any and all humans, no matter how foul the deeds they have commited, equal rights, we are no better then them. That is, among other things, why your race is not damned." Manhunter said in a calm tone. "Noel Collins, I will read your mind, but be warned, there is no way to hide the truth. If you did kill those women, I will know, and your guilt will be absolute and inescapable."

There was a pause.

"Do it." Savior said.

Manhunter reached through the bars, placing one of his hands lightly on Noel's forehead, and his eyes took on a very slight glow.

Batman and Green Lantern watched silently. For 40 seconds no one said anything or moved.

Finally, Manhunter took his hand away as the glow faded.

"He speaks the truth."

Green Lantern's eyes widened.

"WHAT?"

"I searched every crevice and corner of his mind. This child has committed no murders. He does not even have the capacity to kill in cold blood. All he has is an anger born from a terrible sadness. He is innocent, as he claims. Let him out."

Green Lantern pressed the switch that opened the bars, and Savior stepped out.

"But…wait a sec…what…"

"25,875,927 to 1." Batman said suddenly.

The three other men (well, two men and one Martian) turned to Batman, and Savior realized that once Manhunter had declared that Noel spoke the truth he had turned away and went over to a computer, where he had typed in some commands and waited.

"What?" Green Lantern said.

"The exact reason is still unknown, but the theory is that Noel's abilities derive from a beneficial mutation of his nervous system that happened when an unknown element in a kind of white paint combined with the nerve toxin SXZ-12, a weapon designed to kill by causing uncontrollable, harmful mutations. Such things to come out of such a dangerous weapon require great odds. The exact amount of paint, where it was on Noel, where he was standing, how much of the chemical was absorbed by skin, by breathing, if his sweat or saliva or other emissions from the body diluted it in any way, so many factors. I estimated that such an event that occurred had an odds ratio of 6,086,426 to 1, that 1 being Noel. It was such a high number I didn't bother calculating…other ratios."

"So what's the other…" Green Lantern said, and then knew.

"Raven said she read my talent on those bodies, which is why they were so sure I was guilty." Savior said.

"But if your memories show no killings, yet your taint was on the body…" Manhunter continued.

"There's another." Batman finished.

The Titans stopped when they finally heard the other noise from the scream. That, and saw what they saw.

A chair was facing away from them. All they could see was the arm, clad in some kind of long coat, the hand in a black leather fingerless glove, holding it above their head.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Whirrrrrrrrr.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Whirrrrrrrrr.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"It was a tape recording." Robin thought out loud.

"Bonza, kid. Give the man a prize."

The voice that spoke had a clear accent (Robin later placed it as Australian) as the arm tossed the tape recorder aside. The chair spun around.

"As the saying goes, g'day mates."

Robin never saw what attacked them, indeed, none of them did. The only thing that saved them was the fact that the sudden realization that there was a stranger in the Tower meant potential danger, and they were on their guard.

It saved them, as they all went backwards to avoid the attack and then went out through the window behind them to avoid the follow up attack, reacting only to dodge the attack that was coming so quickly they didn't even see it. Starfire caught Robin as he fell, and Cyborg was not hurt by the fall as he landed on his feet at the base of the tower. A moment later the rest of the Titans joined him

"Who the hell was THAT?" Beast Boy exclaimed as he turned back from the eagle he had become.

"He's coming!" Raven called as the man appeared at the window above them.

"Get ready Titans!" Robin said.

The man leapt down, his long red jacket trailing behind him as he fell. He landed, the impact driving him to his knees.

"I guess it's time for my coming out party. Look, the clowns are here already." The man said as he rose up.

Under his long red jacket he wore black pants (looked like leather as well), a red shirt, and his previously mentioned black gloves. He also wore snakeskin boots with spurs on the back, but that wasn't the most noteworthy thing about him. What was really noticeable was his hair, blood-red and standing straight up in dangerous looking spikes (actually, instead of straight up, they in more of a swept-back style, kind of like Sonic the Hedgehog). That, and the scorpion tattoo on his neck, the painted stinger curling up so that the barbed point was on his cheek. He grinned and cracked his knuckles.

"So, are you going to make a move or just looked at me cockeyed?" the red haired man said.

"Guys…" Raven said in horror. The Titans looked at her.

"I…I'm…it's Noel. What I read…from Noel…I'm reading from him. The Shimmer." Raven said.

As the thought came to the Titans, the red-haired man laughed and put it in words.

"Man, I thought framing your cobber would be hard. Turned out to be as simple as my ol' cheese thought I was. But I'm not. And mates, don't be calling this the Shimmer." The red haired man said, as he held up his palm.

A red strand of energy leapt from it, twirling out and lashing around him. He laughed as the Titans goggled at him. This was going to be fun.

"This, blokes, is the Grimmer." He said, giving a name to his particular talent. "I'm not really one for giving names to things, hard yacka, know what I mean? But after seeing your pansy friend and hearing his name for his wimpy line, well, you'd have to be a drongo not to think of it."

"You killed those women." Robin said.

"And you made us think our friend did it! How dare you! WHY?" Starfire yelled.

"Because it was fun."

The Titans gaped at the man with the talent like Noel's. He chuckled.

"Name's Jack Djinn, mates. But you can call me to what I like to do to the pretty birdies. I am Asphyxiation."

Jack raised his hand, as the Grimmer uncoiled from around him.

"Now, how about we have ourselves a good barney, now?"

And then he attacked.

So, lemme guess, some of you are about to write "I KNEW it wasn't Noel!"

Well, how many of you can actually claim that, and how many are using the hindsight bias? In any case, I would like to thank the ones that swallowed the bait, hook line and sinker. Good to know I can trick people. That's not an insult, it's a useful literary skill.

So, what does GUPI stand for?

Why, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, of course.

Which is what the Titans believed, and it's going to cost them, as Noel's evil doppelganger is about to show them some special Australian hospitality…

To be Continued