Author's Note: First I'd like to say a big thank you to the people who took the time to read the first story, any newcomers to Titans Reborn would be advised to read the first story but its not absolutely unintelligable without it. Secondly I'd like to say sorry to all the fans of the first story for taking so bloody long writing the second one, leaving you on a cliffhanger as well. I hope this is worth the wait, I took a lot of time writing this to make sure it was perfect as now I've got regular readers I'm not about to disappoint you. As always please read and review, feel free to e-mail me on and for more Titans stuff that I've done look at my website www.anotherworld.gq.nu and enjoy!
Titans Reborn
Story Two: Contracts
Raven was not an easy sleeper. Not normally anyway, now she was in a comfortable deep sleep in Kid Flash's arms. That however was about to change, her dreams turned ink black as flashes of future history shot through her brain. There was death, betrayal, emotion, new Titans, and a burning effigy that used to be Titans Tower. The last image she saw was Robin perched on a rooftop, all in black with a large blue bird on his chest. Raven startled awake breathing heavily and darted her eyes around the room, checking to see whether everything was still okay.
"Bad dreams honey?" Kid Flash asked sleepily.
"Maybe more than that…"
Grant Wilson sat strapped to a huge metal chair in the only spot of light in the whole room. Walking around him he could hear footsteps, expensive shoes clickety-clacking on the cold stone floor. He was starting to sweat profusely, wondering whether he'd made the wrong decision, wondering who these H.I.V.E people were and what had possessed them to take up their offer. He looked back on the moment now, he'd always been a petty thief but he aspired to be like his father. He was sleeping rough in Boston at the time, and it was raining. He heard the same footsteps and a man in a black suit and tie stepped into view from the shadows, he was bald and a little portly so Grant reasoned he was either police or some sort of preacher. He introduced himself as Agent Higgins, and made the offer. Enormous power for one small favour, how could Grant not take him up on it?
A voice came out from the darkness followed by a tall man with curly grey hair, "I suppose that Higgins explained our offer to you?"
"You power me up in exchange for doing your little mission, yeah," Grant replied, "how powered up am I going to get?"
"We'll be giving you a few cybernetic enhancements," the man said calmly as he stepped up to stand next to Grant, "we're tripling your natural strength and quickening your reflexes, and we're opening up a hundred percent of your brain to give you a tactical advantage."
"Is it going to hurt?" Grant asked nervously.
"My dear boy," the tall man reached out a hand and ruffled Grant's hair, "more than you can even comprehend," the Jackal turned away and walked out of the spotlight, "begin the treatment."
The screams of pain from the energy coursing through Grant Wilson filled the room, so deafeningly loud that nobody heard Jackal whispering to himself.
"Two birds with one stone, I'll be rid of Slade and the Titans for good."
Superboy set down lightly at the apartment he shared with Clark Kent and Lois Lane, strolling slowly and thoughtfully into the lounge he flopped down on the sofa next to Lois. He was scratching his chin in a pose that simply forced somebody to talk to him.
"What's up Kon?" Lois asked, "you look thoughtful."
"Its nothing really," Superboy lied, "I just overheard something today that bothered me, that's all."
"Oh really, like what?"
"That I'm just Superboy, I don't have a normal life," Superboy replied, "it's a bit weird being cloned I didn't really have time for a childhood, high school and whatever, and now biologically I'm going to be twenty this year. It just dawned on me."
"Hey, technically you're a toddler so twenty isn't so bad," Lois said with a slight giggle.
"Come on Lois, I'm not joking," Superboy replied.
"So how about you get a job?" Lois said more seriously, "now Jimmy's left the planet we could do with a new young photographer, and its not like you'd have any shortage of opportunities to photograph the news when you and Clark are in it most of the time."
"But I don't even have a name," Superboy put his head in his hands, "if I got a job I'd need to get birth certificates and social security numbers and all the things I'll never have," Superboy stood up and walked back to the balcony, preparing to take off, "maybe I should just be happy just being Superboy."
"Wait!" Lois shouted rushing up to stop him from flying off, Superboy turned to face her with a forlorn look, "Connor Kent, Clark's cousin staying with us because your mother's sick."
"Kon-El, Connor Kent," Superboy smiled warmly, "I see where you're coming from, but we're going to need a little more than that to fool people into thinking I'm more than half human."
Lois rushed out of the lounge and into the bedroom in a hurry returning with something hidden behind her back, "Close your eyes," she said and Superboy complied before feeling slight pressure on his ears and the bridge of his nose, "presto!"
Superboy opened his eyes to see his reflection in the large mirror on the chimney breast, a pair of old-fashioned circular glasses now perched upon his face. He raised an eyebrow and turned to Lois, "Oh come on, this'll never work."
"Fooled me for years," Lois replied, "welcome to your new life Connor."
Gar Logan, also known as the Teen Titan beast Boy, was sat at a round table under a parasol in his favourite pizza place with a stunning young blonde girl named Terra. They were sharing a large cheese feast with extra sweet corn, Gar was vegetarian and this was the only pizza he ever had. If he ever booked a table there the manager would cook his pizza ready for when he arrived.
"This place is great," Terra said in between mouthfuls of pizza, "I also find it highly amusing that with the triangular patio, red parasols and yellow paving this garden looks like a pizza fro the air."
"Yeah," Gar replied, slightly distracted by the beauty of the girl sat opposite him, "so you got any plans for the afternoon?"
"Why?"
"I thought you might like to come get a tour of Titans Tower today," Gar replied, "but if you're busy then we could rain check it, the Tower's not going anywhere."
"Well I was going to go sort out someplace to live today, shame really," Gar sighed and his face visibly drooped, "I'll have to call the landlord and tell him I got a better offer," she said with a smile.
Gar's face lit up like a small boy at Christmas, "Really? You're not joking?"
"No of course not," Terra leaned in a little closer to Gar so their faces were only a few inches apart, "I like you BB and I'd love to see your room, you've got a double right?" Terra asked suggestively as she leaned in a little closer and closed her eyes, gar could feel her breath on his suddenly very dry lips. He closed his eyes and leant forward just a little, as their lips touched for but a fleeting moment the Earth moved. Literally.
A sort of inhuman battle scream erupted from the origin of the Earth shaking, Gar whipped around away from a shocked Terra and threw off his street clothes to reveal his costume underneath. Beast Boy leapt over the wall of the pizzeria shouting back to Terra as he went, "Stay here, I'll handle this."
In the middle of the street stood a man encased in several plates of armour that looked like they were hewn from solid rock, all that could be seen of him was his hands and his disturbingly clear blue eyes. Around him the road was rippled and cracked as though huge amounts of energy had been expelled from him, probably what had caused the Earth to move beast Boy concluded.
"I have come for the runaway," the Stone Man addressed Beast Boy, "I would not harm you green one, but I know you are harbouring her."
"I think you got the wrong guy pal," Beast Boy smirked as he studied his opponent, "but your costume is all wrong, Sly Stallone was Rocky for like five movies but that outfit's a little over the top don't you think."
"This armour is a symbol of my power," Stone Man replied angrily, "I will not allow it to be mocked," he said throwing his arms in the air, suddenly a tidal wave of asphalt bent in Beast Boy's direction moving extremely fast. A cloud of dust and stone debris flew up from Beast Boy's position and under his helmet Stone Man smiled. He spoke quietly to himself, "in doing away with the green one I may have added to my burden, he was my clue to the whereabouts of the runaway…"
Suddenly the unnoticed green flea on Stone Man's shoulder transformed into a very noticeable green ape who whipped off the Stone Man's rock helmet, "Getting a little ahead of yourself aren't you?" it said in Beast Boy's voice before transforming into a huge gorilla and swinging a haymaker at the Stone Man's unprotected head.
The Stone Man flew back but was caught by a stone hand that rose from the ground and lowered to standing again before roaring in anger and thrusting his hands in Beast Boy's direction. Huge chunks of rock and asphalt and stone flew at Beast Boy in what seemed an unending stream, Beast Boy morphed into a large turtle and cowered safely inside his shell waiting for the barrage to end. Suddenly one of Stone Man's larger rock projectiles turned on its master and went straight for his head, knocking him to the ground unmoving.
Beast boy transformed back into his costumed human form and stepped cautiously towards the prone Stone Man, "is he okay?" Terra asked nervously from behind him, having crept up when she saw Stone Man go down.
"I don't know, if he's still alive he probably won't be for too long," Beast Boy turned to her from his position knelt next to him, "I can't find a pulse."
"What about you? Are you hurt, you were so amazing out there," terra said knelling by his side and draping her arm around his shoulders in a tight hug.
"Not really," Beast Boy said extracting himself from her tight grip to a looser more affectionate one, "he had me pinned, if his powers had gone crazy he'd probably have beaten me eventually."
"Lucky break huh?"
"For us," beast Boy replied looking back at the very pale face of the Stone Man, "but certainly not for him. I wonder who the runaway he was talking about is, he said I knew how to find them…"
"Lets not worry about that for now," Terra said changing the subject quickly, "now where were we?" Terra leaned in and kissed Beast Boy properly this time and the Earth moved for him on a much more spiritual than literal level.
Starfire tapped on the closed window of the apartment Donna Troy shared with Terry Long, "Donna, I would very much like to speak to you about Robin. Can I come in?"
No answer.
Starfire tapped again slightly more insistently before pressing her ear to the glass and concentrating her alien senses on the sounds coming from the apartment. A small sound reached her ears, the only one coming from inside. Muffled sobs. Starfire glided back a couple of feet to ponder then made a rash decision and used her star-bolts to burn through the lock on the window and glide in. She followed the sounds to the closed bathroom door and tapped on this again before slowly opening it.
"Go away Star!" Donna shouted half-heartedly between sobs.
Starfire opened the doorway enough to poke her head around and saw the positive pregnancy test embedded in the wall, "Is everything okay Donna? Are you hurt? Why is there a plastic stick embedded in the wall? Why are you crying? What's going on here?"
"I'm pregnant Star," Donna wiped her eyes, further smearing her makeup, "I'd just decided I was going to break the engagement with Terry when I realise I'm late and that my throwing up may have been a sign."
"Pregnant? As in, with child?" Starfire asked with her brows furrowed.
"Yes," Donna replied, "I have a proverbial 'bun' in the oven."
"Is it nearly done?"
"No Star on Earth pregnancy lasts nine months."
"I meant the bun," Starfire replied, "I'm quite hungry. But enough of my stomach, this is great news. In all the Earth films I have watched motherhood is very important, we shall have to tell everyone. There are many things to organise, and many little booties to knit…"
"No Star." Donna said slowly and coldly, "I don't want anyone else to know yet, I'm going to wait for the right time to tell them okay?"
"Okay," Starfire smiled, "I shall keep your secret, hard as it may be, in the spirit of being girlfriends."
Donna smiled slightly for a moment at Starfire's pronunciation, then remembered the truly terrible mess she'd gotten herself into and the smile faded. She began to sob once more and Starfire came and sat next to her resting Donna's head on her shoulder.
AN: Hope you enjoyed that one, if you did or didn't let me know by reviewing and I might just write more, I'm being subtle here. Stay tuned for the next chapter in a short while...
