6.
Nocturne heard Daimen's heavy footfalls on the metal ground, but didn't turn to look at him. "Dear old Ozzy... he told you to do this, didn't he?" she stated coldly, ensuring he knew that there was no question implicit. She sat on the edge of one of the catwalks above the main floor of the warehouse, smiling to herself. 'I wonder how big my hand would be if he were literally wrapped round my little finger?' she thought smugly to herself.
"I'm sorry," he said simply, almost begrudging her the apology. "I do trust you."
"No, hon. You trust my plan, not me. My brain, not my instincts. I don't even need my telepathy for that. You still think I'm going to turn on you, and I'm just wondering if it's worth being in business with someone who's always going to be viewing me as the enemy. Even my motives should give you a hint. We are both set against the Triquetra, aren't we? A very wise man once told me, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It looks like I'll be able to prove to him that wisdom is highly over-rated." She spoke sadly, still not turning to him, not trusting herself not to grin like a maniac when she saw the look she imagined would mar his features.
"You're right. I- I understand what you're saying, Noc-"
"If you can't trust my skills and abilities... Or is that the problem? Is it my powers? The way you can't touch me?"
"It gets so frustrating... I trust you Noc... I trust you. But never make me regret it. Promise?" Her fingers curved over the edge of the catwalk, two of them only just crossing each other.
"I promise." She turned slightly, managing to dull her smile to a thin-lipped grimace, and stretched out her gloved hand to his and allowing him to help her out. "Don't make me regret that... Now let's get going, or else our mutual enemy will be there before us."
"Off already, Miss Kitka?" asked the Penguin, gently pressing his lips to her other glove in his customary gentleman's manner. "Good luck"
"Ah, but there's no such thing as luck, Ozzy," Nocturne replied, not missing a beat or a step as she continued to walk. "Now remember, you absolutely must stay here until one of us calls. Then head over to GCPD headquarters and meet us there."
"Keep your luck, you might just need it, Cobblepot. You just never know!" Daimen called back over Nocturne's wicked laugh.
Only ten minutes later, the heroes had reached the dock opposite the miniature offshore island of rock that housed Stonegate Maximum Security Prison. Without a word, Raven levitated the car down to the pebbly shore beneath the jetty, disguising it in the shadows. With their combined powers, the party travelled through the air to the almost monumental edifice, finding that even for them the shadow of the intimidating structure held a considerable amount of fear.
Raven dropped her form out of the sky, fading into the building's exterior wall and using the dark matter she exuded to leave a gap in the barricade for the others. Blue Moon entered first, darting back and forth at the speed of light, close enough to invisible to the naked eye to get through. Human eyes could hardly notice the little green spider that skittered along the walls at an erratic jerky place, and the other senses of most of the inmates could never pick up the slight rumble in the earth as Terra began to tunnel, blocking the path behind her so hopefully noone would notice her unorthodox arrival. And to be quite frank, nobody knew where Venom and Speedy were until the Beast Boy spider began to weave a web between the two, and only just missed being crushed. The hole in the wall sealed as quickly as it had appeared, leaving only a dark river running along the corners of the hallways, deepening the shadows to something darker than the absence of light.
Thanks to the plans they had stolen from Nocturne, it was easy to find the way to the isolation chambers. However, had the corridors leading to it been manned with sentries, rather than the guards who sat comfortably on a permanent break in the rooms along each hall, they would have been blown when one of the Titan's communicators bleeped sharply. "Sorry," growled Raven. "It's mine... What the hell do you want?" she whispered to Robin on the other end, still not materializing out of her almost-fluid form.
"I was just wondering if you knew about the strikes all over Gotham. It's all over the news, lackeys connected with the Penguin carrying out minor crimes simultaneously..." Stony silence once again enveloped the hallway for a long moment.
"Bye Robin." Raven snapped her communicator closed sharply, and they fell back into silence until Blue Moon managed to voice what they were all thinking with one word.
"Shit!" she groaned quietly. "Teleka didn't write that note. This was their plan, to distract us here and then-!"
"No, Blue. Something doesn't add up there. Why go to all that trouble at the Mars Building, the Iceberg Lounge, Teleka," Venom reasoned seriously. "I still think you were right. It's a double bluff. We are supposed to be here."
"Terra was the one who said the other night, that the Penguin's protecting Noc and Daimen," continued Speedy, making another vain attempt to swat Beast Boy from his shoulder. "This is just another failsafe to distract us from the real plan. Never thought I'd say this, but Blue, you were right all along."
"So we keep going? We're in Stonegate Prison for all the wrong reasons. We can't stay here to have some kind of strategy meeting," Raven stated coldly, a whip-like section of the darkness swatting the Spider crawling all over her into the opposite wall.
"That was so cold!" Beast Boy exclaimed in his tiny, thin voice, still not even audible to the others as he slid down the wall.
"You're right. All of you. We keep moving, I'm making an executive decision for once in my life." Blue said rather proudly. "The night is young, if this does turn out to be a false lead, we have plenty of time to get out into the city."
"You're right. The night is young, hon." Blue found she didn't even have to turn to find out who had spoke behind her.
"You people have the greatest appearing act I've seen in a long time. Maybe when you get out of this place you could take that to the stage," she sighed, not bothering to whisper any more, knowing somehow that this wouldn't come quietly.
"We know what you want, you know what we want. You'll get her back if you just go out there and take care of the Penguin's goons. We don't really need him anyway." Daimen spoke with grave solemnity, as matter-of-fact as if they were discussing the weather. Just as she was about to turn, Blue Moon looked cautiously to the rest of the group, urging them to follow her lead.
"No. Telly wouldn't have wanted us to sacrifice this city for her sake. She'd go through us for a shortcut to Australia, so I'm not going to bother."
"We tried to reason with you. You can't say otherwise. But we did make a promise. Do it, Noc." He didn't even turn to her until she refused. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he thought, appealing to her telepathy.
'It's fading out. I'll need to absorb from her again, more thoroughly. She using the remnants of her abilities to call her powers back," she thought back, ignoring his angry glance. "All in good time, hon. I wouldn't do it in front of them."
"It's not like they're going to be focused on you anyway, Noc," he growled, moving towards the team as Nocturne began to back away. 'You get set up. We'll talk about this later.'
'I read you, hon. Sorry about this...' she thought back, turning and hovering down the corridor.
'Later...' Daimen advanced towards the party again, glowing. Blue Moon noticed Raven's shadow sliding after Nocturne.
"Raven, leave her a minute. Let's take this one down."
"You sound almost confident, Blue Moon," Daimen said quietly, advancing on her as she stood at the front of the group like the leader she temporarily was. "After all the times you've lost out, you'd think you'd have learned by now."
"Just ask Telly, I never was the quick one. But I know something about Noc that you don't," she said, causing him to swing for her head, but ducking at the last minute at light-speed. Daimen cried out as something caught him in the back of the neck. It had felt like the relative sting of one of Speedy's energy arrows, but when he spun, he couldn't see him anywhere. Something bit into his arm, and immediately a deep green began to run up the vein, but Venom mysteriously had disappeared as well. The black tendrils of the liquid Raven began to twine up around his body, choking him. The Beast Boy Spider scurried to the ceiling, dropping down as he morphed into a tyrannosaurus and aiming for Daimen's head. Raven pulled out just in time, but with inhuman strength, Daimen reached up and tossed the T-Rex down the hall.
"Is that it?" he laughed, sending ripples of dark energy in all directions, highlighting the edges of Venom and Speedy as it crackled away from the electricity of their suits. Their outlines appeared bright white negatives in the darkness.
"Telly's not going to like this..." Venom mumbled, looking at the ruined suit before ducking another swing from Daimen. But his opponent moved to quickly, dropping to the ground and sweep-kicking him to the floor, knocking all the air from Venom's lungs with a well-placed boot. He sensed Blue Moon attempting to run into him from behind, hoping her speed would be enough to tackle him, but as with Beast Boy the night before, he quietly sidestepped, allowing her to run on into Speedy. She barrelled over him, rolling backwards into the wall and landing head to head with him.
"Christ, Blue! You'd think after Beast Boy falling for that, you might have realized rushing this guy isn't going to work, and is probably going to cause me a couple of broken ribs!"
"Sorry. Looks like Raven and BB are up anyways. This is just the kinda time where you want Terra to burst through the ground under his feet, isn't it? That would be just perfect..." She sat in silence for a moment, as though waiting for it to happen. "But nothing's ever perfect in this town..." Right at that moment, the ground began to crack slightly. "You're joking me?" But when the slim, blonde figure pulled through the floor, she was about three feet behind Daimen. "You missed! You silly cow! You missed! I almost got my perfect movie moment and you missed!" Terra glanced at her in confusion as the floor sealed beneath her, except for one shard of the stone that flew through the air towards Daimen, slamming straight into his back, doubling him backwards painfully and tossing him through the air.
"What'd I miss?" she quipped with a smile. Daimen was about to get up and finish his fight when he felt the familiar tickle of Nocturne's telepathy in his head. 'I'm ready. Bring them here,' she said. Even from the voice of her mind he could tell she was smiling broadly, more than ready to finish this now and get on with their task.
"If you ever want to see Teleka again before she dies, you'll follow," he rasped coldly, still winded from the fall as he fazed in and out, luring them further into the complex, leading them to the isolation chambers where Nocturne was quietly waiting in the wings. "Is it all set up?"
"Have I ever let you down, hon?"
"Is it all set up?" he replied coldly. She smiled at him with a brief, fake pout and nodded.
"I need you just there. Over the metal circle. That way it'll be easier to manipulate them into place. All six are here, aren't they? I picked up Terra making an entrance." He moved into position and she nodded again, satisfied. "I just want you to know... I'm sorry about earlier. I had no idea her mind was so strong. Am I forgiven? You did make a promise," she reminded him with a sleek grin.
"So did you..." he faltered, smiling slightly as he gave in to her charm. "I still trust you."
"Good to know," she giggled, converting her bracelet into a miniature crossbow once again and hunching behind a control panel to take aim. "Are they coming?" she sighed impatiently.
"They'll be here any second. Are you ready? You've got all six cells set up?"
"Yes, hon. Stop worrying. Oh and by the way... Good Luck," she smirked. He didn't quite know what she meant, but smiled back anyway, just as Blue Moon and her army stampeded into the room.
"Noc, go! What are you waiting for?"
"I hasn't worked, they're not in the right places... but you are, hon."
"What do you mean?" Suddenly Daimen found he couldn't move, pinned in one place above the metal circle. "Noc, what is this? Noc!"
"Nope. Guess again." She smiled, but her English accent seemed to have evaporated into American with a slight Irish lilt.
"What?" He asked in confusion, glaring at her from behind the telekinetic field. "What the hell is going on here?"
"I told you I knew something about her you didn't!" Blue Moon shouted triumphantly. She and Nocturne were the only ones in the room who weren't utterly confused. "It was simple really. Even though I only figured it out ten minutes ago."
"Yeah, it took you longer than I thought it would. I dropped enough hints!"
"You know I'm not the detective in the group. Anyway, get on with this so we can rub his nose in it."
"You're right, you're right I'm procrastinating," Noc giggled, raising her arm sideways and shooting a single bolt expertly into a panel on the wall. A cylindrical screen of reinforced glass replaced her telekinesis field and began to slowly fill with green liquid. "Congratulations Daimen, in five minutes you will the newest maximum security inmate of Stonegate Prison. And Ozzy'll only be down the hall!"
She pulled out a small silver cellphone and flipped it open, her English accent returning.
"Ozzy? Head on over to GCPD now. Yes I know it was fast. Your men around town managed to distract our resident superheroes. I love you too. Get going, Cobblepot." She ended the call and dialled, the other voice taking over. "Heya, comis.? Yeah, it's good to hear from you too. Listen, the Penguin's on his way to GCPD, arrest him for conspiracy to take over the city, money laundering and... What was the other one...? Oh yeah, collaboration with wanted criminals. I drop the evidence by on my way home. Give me an hour or so. Okay, talk to you then." She hung up and turned to the team. "Have you worked it out now?" They stared blankly for a moment before shaking their heads in unison, Venom and Speedy now visible with the suits switched off. Nocturne sighed and glanced at Daimen's tank, almost half-full as he crashed continuously against it, but made no headway as it filled up to his chest.
"Noc, what the hell! I trusted you, why are you doing this to me, Nocturne?"
"Because I'm not Nocturne, hon. Blue, help me get this thing off." A moment or two later, the person before them still looked somehow like Nocturne, but held a blonde wig in one hand, shaking out her red and black-streaked tresses. Suddenly, everything made sense to the team. She slid off her gloves, revealing her claw-like nails and rolled up her sleeve to uncover the faded Slade scar.
"Teleka?" they cried loudly. Confusion didn't even seem to cover their emotions.
"Took you lot long enough!" Blue cackled, starting to explain as Teleka turned to face Daimen. The liquid in the containment cells was starting to take effect, paralysing his muscles painlessly.
"You couldn't have... Not for so... No... You tricked me!" he shouted in confusion, muffled by the glass. She clapped sarcastically with a cackle.
"I'm amazed you didn't have me figured. There were so many times I thought you knew. I guess I was giving you a little too much credit in the IQ department, huh? I believe it was the Penguin who told you that you needed my brains to pull it off. Guess what? You're not going to pull it off. But you were a pleasure to work with if it's any consolation."
"B-but the powers..."
"Are my own. I can't steal other people's powers. I'm not cursed. I can touch other people's skin. Just not yours. Some dirt just doesn't scrub off, y'know?" His face twisted in an ugly snarl of hate, just as the liquids reached it, freezing the glare there perpetually. Immediately Teleka sighed in relief, fanning herself madly with her hands as she dropped to the floor. Most of the team had the jist of the situation and came to sit beside her, but Beast Boy was having trouble understanding, and Blue Moon was trying to clarify the idea.
Teleka sank back against the floor, laughing hysterically. "Thank God! I was so sick of the accent, and the purple. The purple was really annoying and the wig... the blonde... oh I think I'm going to cry! I'm sorry, it wasn't actually planned! Please don't kill me!" She raised her arms as a kind of shield from the attacks she was sure were coming.
"Telly, we're not going to hurt you," Speedy laughed, lifting her from the floor in his arms. She screamed playfully for him to put her down, and louder when he dropped her. Luckily Venom was there to break her fall.
"Let's go home and you can explain everything, and then I might understand why any of us would want to kill you," he said slowly, helping her to her feet while she was still hysterical.
"Okay!" she giggled. "But I have to drop this off to Commissioner Gordon first." She pulled a black file from her purple backpack. "This ought to put the Penguin in here for a long time!" she said happily. "How's your shoulder by the way? That was a mistake.
An hour later, the seven of them were sprawled around the living room, patiently waiting for a full explanation.
"Okay, I'll start at the beginning. Okay, three days before I left, I was out on patrol, and I heard about Kasnia's latest missile crisis, so I did a little investigation. I found out the whole thing had been sparked off by one man, who was Daimen. Later I found out that he was here in Gotham, and that he was planning the same thing for us, on a much larger scale. Venom, you were out with Raven, and Blue was supposed to be here, but wasn't, and she didn't answer to her phone or communicator. So I was on my own with this and all I knew was that I had to stop it..."
"Funny story there actually, true story-" Blue Moon said, trying to explain her absence hurriedly. "I called for a pizza, but it didn't come and - "
"Blue, it's okay, it doesn't matter. Now, I knew going after this guy as just Teleka was suicide on my own, so I had to think up a plan and I remember someone telling me once that the easiest way to a bad guy is another bad guy. And I remembered I used to be a bad guy! And I remembered that one of my past alter egos owed lots of favours. So, I went back to one of the aliases I used as Cat-Girl, Natalia Kitka, and I took Nocturne as a new moniker..."
"Cool name, by the way, meant to say that to you, dude," Beast Boy complemented, giving Teleka the chance to take a much-needed breath.
"Thank you. So when I found Daimen, I told him why cause havoc, when you can own the city? And I made the whole plan up as I went along from the people we've fought before, but he bought it. Now when it all kicked off, I was going to let you in on it, so that everything would work out a little easier. But then he hit the million-dollar question: what about the heroes? So I decided to kidnap me... Does that make sense?"
"Only just," Terra quipped, trying to follow Teleka's mile-a-minute explanation.
"That's good. SO he was going for it, and I decided to go whole-hog and implicate an old ally from my past as well, Oswald Cobblepot a.k.a the Penguin. He was like a bonus in case you were mad at me, or in case the commissioner found out and I was screwed. Anyways, I decided to help you work it out, since I looked so different. So I started dropping hints, like letting you get the papers, leaving the message, crashing Selina Kyle's party, never actually fighting you, etcetera etcetera..."
"Um, hello?" Venom said, looking slightly out raged as he pointed to his bandaged shoulder. "You call that not fighting?"
Teleka floundered for a second, "... Well, I'd call it more disabling, but I've already apologized, and I'm going to keep apologizing. Can you forgive me?"
"Not until you've fixed the other car. What do you call ripping off the roof?"
"Blue was always nagging me for a convertible. It was kind of another hint. And it was also me getting carried away. Anyways, after that point in the story, I think you know the rest. I'm sorry," she said meekly, lying back on one of the couches.
"You single-handedly prevented the Gotham Missile Crisis. You stopped us turning into Kasnia. Don't be sorry," Raven stated coolly.
"You don't hate me for staging my own kidnapping and almost taking over the city?"
"We don't hate you, and you wouldn't have gone that far and you know it, Tel." Blue Moon moved over beside her, wrapping her arm around her friends shoulder. "In fact it was nice to get a break from you," she laughed.
"Blue, you were panicking the next morning," Venom deadpanned, wiping the smile off her face but drawing raucous laughter from everyone else in the room.
"So I'm still loved? I can stay here in my own home?" Teleka asked melodramatically, wincing when Blue clipped her over the head sharply.
"Well, if we keep you after finding out you were Cat-Girl and after finding out you stole my mother's necklace, we can keep you after a three-day return to that in order to save the bloody city, you doughnut!"
Later on, Teleka emerged from her room looking more like herself again now that Nocturne's make-up had been washed away by the gentle spray of a hot shower and her clothes were once again her customary red and black. As she looked around the rest of her third of Headquarters, checking nothing had been tampered with, she could just make out the padding footsteps of someone following her. She sidestepped into the room she used when she needed to get away from the other two, a simple space with only a sofa and a stereo system. She stopped at the end of the sofa and turned to face her stalker, giggling like a schoolgirl. "The suits work then?"
"Like a charm, Einstein." Teleka reached out to where she knew the switch would be and flicked the suit off, revealing Speedy standing in front of her, more than toe-to-toe. He reached out and pushed her backwards onto the sofa, landing beside her, beaming. "Listen. Before I forget, I just want to ask you something, and I don't want you to be mad, 'cause it's a perfectly honest question but-"
"Nocturne and Daimen? No. How could I? I'd never have been able to live with myself..." she told him seriously, and he didn't need Blue Moon's powers to know she was telling the truth. "I told him she couldn't touch his skin, or else his powers would be gone, and she'd be in control of his mind. 'My... my powers are a curse, Daimen...'" she said returning to her Nocturne accent and giving an Oscar-winning performance.
"Nice move... I thought I hadn't seen you in three days... really it was you I was ranting about..."
"Speedy? Shut up already," she smiled softly, leaning in to kiss him.
"Now, do you recognise me!?" Teleka exclaimed exuberantly, an hour later as she strolled into the common room again. "So come on! What'd I miss inside three days?"