Chapter 5: Come TogetherRevised August 2004: the beginning half of the chapter stayed pretty much the same, but I did add several new parts in the second half after 'Al' smacks BB with a tray of food. Also look for additional bits in the Raven part and the Cyborg part.
In the midst of a dark alley somewhere in the city, something strange was brewing, and evil was convening. Through the obscurity of the shadows, a man stood waiting with his hands placed nonchalantly in his pockets. He tapped his foot for a bit and pulled out one of those old, gold watches-the ones used for hypnotizing people and rang his fingers along the chain. They were late. He tightened his grasp on the watch as he looked around. Well, it should have been of no surprise to him. After all, they were all usually very late and a large jailbreak and a few months of hiding in obscurity wouldn't really change any of their characters. And besides, he had chosen an opportune area for the meeting- one of those dark alleyways in the impoverished area of the city that people avoided and spoke about in whispered tones even in the daytime.
"Hey Boss, gee why would you choose a meeting in such a run down place-took me hours to find. I thought you'd have finer taste." Apparently, one of the men the "Boss" had been waiting for had arrived.
He sighed in exasperation; even in times like these the other man could still be hopelessly foolish. "I do have better tastes, but as you'd probably noticed, we all have been on the run for the last few months. And one of us, has already been captured."
"One of us, captured? Who?" This time a woman spoke, and she was followed by several others who began arriving and wondering just which one of them had been recaptured. "Oh, man! I hope it isn't…" "Who is it?" "What the heck? No way!" "Should we even be meeting…"
"Silence!" The Boss bellowed out. "It's incompetent moments like these that'll get all of us back into jail. And we are meeting tonight not because of the capture but because we need to amend those plans we made earlier."
"But Boss, if I may inquire, who was captured?" A man with a crisp British accent asked.
"Professor XL."
"Oh phew, good it was only him. The guy is a fool anyhow, I don't even know why we accepted him onto our league of the best and the most sinister criminals."
"Well" the Boss was growing impatient. "If we would stay on topic here, we cannot commence our plans until later…"
"But Boss, why? You'd said for sure we'd be doing that whole city the first of next month."
"The plans have changed. The authorities, believe it or not, are smarter than they appear. They got on the Professor XL and though he may not be the strongest nor the brightest of us, they're still alert and vigilant. The time is still too soon…far too soon and we shall…"
"Wait FIVE more minutes for my veggie burger! You've got to be kidding me!" Beast Boy yelled in frustration. Things were definitely not going his way tonight. To start things off, he thought he'd be on stage by now, doing another one of his scheduled comedic gigs at The Misfits. However, surprisingly, there was a rather large crowd tonight, including his group of friends and mostly his friends' friends and their friends; they were hoping for a rambunctious party. He was looking forward to having a large audience for the first time and since his friends were there to support him, he did feel a lot better and a lot less nervous than he was at previous gigs, but haplessly, the store had decided to cancel his show today.
"Hey kid, there's far too many customers here right now…we've never had this many customers in the store and well, to put it simply, please just don't do your show tonight. We need these customers to stay open and well profit somewhat and well, we don't need you scaring away all those people with your jokes."
"Gee thanks a lot." He muttered at the thought of the memory. "Yep. Just the amount of encouragement I need to feel a ton lot better."
To continue on with his rather rotten night, Terra wasn't paying much attention to him. She was spending a good deal of time with Mammoth, the former high school wresting champ and Al (Aqua lad), the school's, obviously, former champion swim team captain to "catch up." BB tried to keep a close eye on them and his nostrils flared a deep shade of red as he watched Terra giggle excitedly as Al finished telling a joke about the old times.
Ok, come on, don't get too mad…it was probably just a great joke and well if she's talking to other guys, then I'll talk to other girls too. And so, he proceeded to another table where there was a table of a few giddy blonds drinking soda…they looked slightly familiar though…
"Hey ladies! What's cookin'?" He gave one of the blonds a telltale wink and leaned closer to the table. "Uh…nothing that involves you. Hey aren't you that immature Beast Boy from high school?" One of the girls rolled her eyes and said the things in such a tone that he wanted to leave the table as quickly as possible, but no, he had to be a gentleman and answer the question.
"Um…how did you know my name?"
"Periwinkle Patty? Remember me now? My hair was curlier then but I really don't appreciate guys (like you) who take my cheerleading outfit, display it ostentatiously to the whole school pretending to act like a ditzy cheerleader and then rip the skirt!" Patty sneered at the poor, green-skinned boy (who had started backing away from the table) and was turning all sorts of very violent shades of red.
"Uh actually…um no…. that isn't my name. I thought you said some other name…like Crest Boy" And with that he sped across the restaurant, back to his table.
And to top things off, when he had tried to get some vegetarian food to cheer himself up, the restaurant was taking a very good long time.
"Yea, so am I getting served anytime tonight?" He asked sarcastically. He didn't care that he was impolite. He was starving and the store didn't seem like it was going to give him his food soon. His girlfriend looked positively infatuated with other guys. And to top it all off, the store had openly derided his comedic skills. Sure he knew he wasn't that great, but honestly, he could use just a tad bit of encouragement.
"Oh, yes sir, of course you will. It's just really hard to catch and kill all those vegetables for that veggie burger, if that's all right with you, Mr. Vegetarian?" The cashier promptly responded.
The poor, miserable Beast Boy had just about given up on having any sort of a semi-good time at all. He scanned the room again; he was of course searching for her. Hmph! She certainly looked like she was having a good time laughing with Mammoth. Where had fish boy gone? And yet, strangely, he had just noticed that they were looking in his direction, seemingly pointing at him. Terra looked slightly guilty and embarrassed, while Mammoth punched the table while attempting to seemingly hold in laughter. What the heck? And where was Al? Nope, BB definitely wasn't having any sort of good feelings at the moment. He turned around slowly and suddenly, Wham, he felt a tray of some sticky substance smash into his face…yuck. After he wiped out a bit of the mystery food off his face, he found Al laughing hysterically in front of him. Oh, he was stupid not to have expected something like this to happen…it happened all the time anyhow in high school.
And for BB, that was the last straw. Tonight was supposed to be his night- the night when all these people at The Misfits would know that he could be funny, but everything had just been ruined. He was humiliated, and making fun of what he ate was a big "no, no" as this point.
And suddenly, all the frustration and anger that had been building up in him just exploded. "What the heck is you deal? Is everyone here out to get me or something? Is today like 'come, let's make Beast Boy go utterly insane by humiliating him' day? Is that what today is?" He looked around the restaurant, suddenly bewildered. Why was everyone suddenly silent? Oh no, he hadn't said, no scratch that, yelled all that out loud, had he?
He scanned the room and watched people's reactions. There was a brief silence-the calm before the storm, and a sudden plethora of loud chatter mixed in with laughter. "Yea, dude, that's what today is!" "What a weirdo!" "Yea, people like that really shouldn't be allowed in here." Oh crud, he had really messed up this time, making the entire restaurant think he was insane or something, but it didn't matter anyhow. Everything was just terrible. He heard some distant footsteps rushing over to him. Yea, it was Terra, running towards him probably to apologize or something, but he really just didn't want to see her at this point. The damage had been done and as she approached him, he just quickly walked away, but maybe, perhaps a bit too quickly, for he tripped on something slippery on the floor and feel to the ground.
"Ouch," he muttered, but it really didn't seem to matter that he was now sprawled on the ground. He would get up-eventually. Slightly dazed, he turned in the direction where he had heard Terra's footsteps. Terra had bit her lip and looked rather embarrassed and ashamed as what she had done. For a moment, the blond girl looked so pitiful that he just wanted to run up to her and comfort her. She probably hadn't meant for the guys to play that trick on him…in fact, she probably wasn't involved in Al's trick at all. It was just another one of Al's ploys to get him mad at her, and to heck with the former swimmer, he was not going to fall for it. As he attempted to get up, he suddenly saw an apologetic (were his eyes failing him?) Al standing next to her.
"Terra, sorry, I didn't mean to insult him. We (Mammoth and I) just thought it would be a harmless little prank to play on him, just like the old days, you know, cuz Beast Boy got us a lot in the good old days."
Terra, however, shook her head. "I thought you guys would be more mature, and don't apologize to me, apologize to him. He looks really upset…I should go help him up." She began to approach him. Yes! Terra, that's my girl. In your face Al…Beast Boy smirked slightly and pretended to be mortally hurt from his fall as Terra got closer.
Suddenly, Al put a hand on Terra's shoulder. "Hey Terra, wait a second…well I'm not sure if this is a good time to tell you about what Beast Boy was saying about you earlier…" Beast Boy narrowed his eyes at Al…what the heck was he talking about? Well, whatever it was, Terra trusts me enough not to believe a word out of that filthy gossiper's mouth.
To Beast Boy's surprise, though, Terra stopped, and looked at him, appearing slightly upset? She's believing him…no, just slight doubt, she'll see through his lies once he starts talking.
"I'm sorry, Terra. Is this a bad time?" Al asked, feigning concern.
"No…Al. It's a perfect time. So what did my boyfriend say about me?" She glared at Beast Boy as he shook his hands, gesturing that he had no idea what Al was talking about.
"Well, earlier, he told me that he was going to be telling some blond jokes and that his source of inspiration was you." Al said in lower tones, though his words were still loud enough to reach Beast Boy. The jerk…why I ought to…
"Terra, look, I swear, I never said anything like that about you. Why would I? You're the sweetest girl I know and…" He looked into her cerulean eyes, trying to get to her, but she didn't seem to be buying it. "BB, you know what I hate more than people talking about me behind my back? Liars." She glared daggers at him and turned away, looking very hurt as an eager Al ran after her to comfort him.
"Terra, it's ok you know. Us guys can be so inconsiderate and cruel at times. Don't feel bad about it…. besides, come on, it's Beast Boy. When I saw you here with him today, I wondered and I still wonder what you really see in the guy." Al began consoling the girl as Beast Boy almost growled in anger and tried again to get up to defend his honor.
"He was really loyal, sweet, trustworthy…or so I thought." Terra sighed as she continued walking away.
"Heh, look on the bright side, at least you know now that he has some sort of backbone. I mean, real men, would not be described only as "loyal, sweet, and trustworthy." Those adjectives are only used to describe boy scouts or Great Danes, and in Beast Boy's case, I would probably assume the later…" The nerve of the guy to…
Terra however shook her head slightly. "Thanks for trying Al, but I just need some time alone."
Dejected, BB fell to the floor again. Man, everything just keeps going further and further downhill…
And then, to his surprise, he saw a hand extended out toward his. "Sir, are you all right? Do you require some assistance in getting up?"
"Uh…just leave me on the floor. I think I'm better off here anyhow…" BB muttered. Anyhow, he was kind of getting used to lying on the floor. Maybe if he stayed down here the whole night, things could perhaps start getting slightly better…
"I do not wish to intrude upon your decision, but I believe that it is better if I help you up. I fear that you will be trampled upon by people in this restaurant. And from what I have heard about such an experience, it is rather unpleasant…"
And with that, Raven watched as her happy-go-lucky, ever naïve best friend help the poor, insane greenly tinted young man off the floor. Well, it was amazing how she and Star had grown to become best friends after that encounter in consequently, this restaurant, a few months ago- after all, they had very little, if anything in common. Star loved bright colors of any sort and was a headstrong optimist, while Raven clearly was not. And yet, something had just made their relationship click. Maybe they just balanced each other out- Star with her numerous questions and Raven with her sarcastic remarks.
Yes, Raven had clearly warned her about hurting strangers, especially in this city and after that encounter with the 'blind' man. Star had tried to help the poor beggar lying in the middle of the sidewalk with large sunglasses on ("Raven, he looks as if he were in serious need of assistance"), but as she tried to help the man up, the man began to vehemently try to stay on the ground. In the struggle, his "blind man glasses" came off, and long behold, everyone realized that the beggar had either miraculously been cured of his blindness in that instant or that the man had been faking his situation. Of course, everyone realized that it was the later when a long string of rather unpleasant words were hurled at Star.) Starfire, however, would not be daunted in her quest to help those in need.
Raven sighed as she saw her lead the green boy head over towards their table. "Come join us in some repast. My treat." Oh great, now he was heading over here and would probably make Star spend a great sum of money on him for food. People were just not to be trusted blindly as Star often did.
"Uh, it's all right. I'm supposed to get my veggie burger soon."
"Are you sure, stranger who I do not know the name of?" She asked innocently.
"Yea, I'm sure. And I do have a name, it's Beast Boy." Well at least he had some morals since he wasn't taking food (yet), Raven thought to herself.
"Oh, pleased to meet you Beast Boy. And here is my best friend in all of this wonderful earth, Raven."
"Hey." She muttered.
"Hey to you too Miss Sunshine. You sure look like you smile a lot. Uh…you know I've always had a question for you Goth types. (At this, Raven cocked a menacing eyebrow, though it probably wasn't as threatening as she had intended for the boy had continued talking.) It's really random, but I've had a really long and bad night…so do all you Goths burn in the sun or can you tan? And if you tan, do you have to wear lots of white powder or something to maintain the Gothicness? " Thus, began a rather long night for Raven.
"Come on Cyborg, it'll be fun. No worries, I've chosen a place where there definitely won't be a lot of people and besides you need to get out more. I mean when's the last time that you went out in public?"
"Well Robin, I actually went into public this morning for work like I do every other morning."
"No, I mean gone out for entertainment purposes, to have fun you know. Look, people won't be worried by your robot body and besides you're wearing a trench coat so no one will see."
"But…"
"Come on."
And thus, Cyborg was dragged (literally) by his friend, Robin through the city as the day faded away and the lights of the city lit up. It wasn't that he hated going out, he actually enjoyed going places and having fun; however, he always dreaded those comments, the stares that people would give him whenever he went anywhere. He just felt physically isolated from everyone and was dreading their night out.
Cyborg and Robin, after their encounter that morning, had grown into close friend-best buds. They were a team at Bruce Wayne incorporated and profits were just going up for their company. And they did have a lot in common. They liked similar past times like sports and such and both of them could relate to having a father (of some sorts) who just wasn't there for them all the time. Cyborg was very glad indeed to have such a good friend as Robin, but somehow, among others, he just always felt isolated. Sure, he made friends rather easily, but he always just felt alone- awkward, the metal man among normal people. No one ever asked why he was in the condition, but he was convinced that it was embedded in the backs of their minds whenever they saw him.
"And we're here." Robin announced when they reached a rather full restaurant with the name "The Misfits" in neon lights hanging over the store.
"There definitely won't be a lot of people here eh?" He asked his friend sarcastically.
"Hm…that is strange, thought there wouldn't be, but come on, it doesn't matter that much does it? Besides, I'm hungry." And with that Robin headed into the store. Cyborg sighed and followed his friend; he really wasn't looking forward to this. He liked avoiding as much contact with people who he would probably never have to deal with again because they would just judge him on their first impressions and that was usually not pleasant.
"Hey Cy, looks like all the tables are taken up." Robin scanned the room for a bit and shook his head.
"Well, I guess we could just wait for one to empty then…"
"Hey, wait, look that table over there…they seem to be willing to share their table." Robin observed as the waitress pointed towards a table with two girls and a green-skinned guy. The redhead at the table had seen them wandering around without a table and began motioning with a welcoming smile from the duo to join their table. And so Cyborg, once again reluctantly followed his friend into the depths of the restaurant.
"Robin, uh, how about not. There're girls over there and I don't want them freaking…"
"They or one of them invited us over. I'm sure they'll be ok with it. Stop worrying…try to have some fun" He said with a smirk. "What are you, afraid of getting cooties?"
"Why you…of course not!"
"Well then, come on."
And so Cyborg stopped complaining and as they walked towards the table, little did he know that this would begin, as well as for the others, a very important chapter in their lives…when our little misfits meet each other and well, you shall just see…
Paraphrased from the first Pink Panther movie. Yes, they're old movies, but absolutely hilarious. Check them out when you get a chance to.
Hm…after the revisions, I think this chapter did turn out slightly better. More revisions to come such as an extension of the R/S scene in the next chapter…so, sorry, but Chapter 8's posting will be slightly delayed.
A.N.: This chapter was terrible, I know and I'm sorry. Some of the things like BB's troubles just seemed too contrived and well I just kind of rushed through the end part. Sorry for the not-up-to-bat chapter and I guess I may want to rewrite it…. change the way that BB meets the girls and the whole Cyborg part. I just wanted to post this ASAP because I haven't updated this story for a long time and I didn't want you guys to think that I abandoned it. Anyhow, I do have some bad news as well, I don't think that I'll be able to update this story until at least mid May. AP exams are coming up and I really need to study.
I guess I was trying to see how many reviews I could squeeze out of people by not updating and just by leaving my story out there and I guess I've left it just out there for too long…I had to go back and read through what I wrote before I could start this chapter. Well, for this chapter, I decided to take things nice and slowly. Usually, I just write all I can for a chapter and then update with the little that I have, but this time, I decided to wait until I leave off at a satisfactory point and after this chapter, I promise you, things will be moving a lot quicker. And as always, please review! Reviews are very much appreciated and well do check out some of my other fics as well.
And sigh, I wish I wasn't so effusive with my writing-constantly jumping from idea to idea. According to my stats, I've archived 29,300 words already, which would be a very good length for a fic, but I'm too jumpy and so yea…
Oh and please, can anyone think of some really venomous villains for the story (doesn't have to be from TT). So far, all the villain cameos requested well weren't that sadistic. I was/am hoping for the names/descriptions of more evil ones, well, on the level of Slade.
Next Chapter: Chapter 6 (no title yet) but we'll be jumping 6 months ahead and well, it'll mostly focus on Raven and Beast Boy and what's been going on with their lives…or just maybe, I'll make the next chapter on Robin and Starfire because Beast Boy certainly did get his share of the spotlight in this chapter.
Ok, and finally, I'm going to respond to some of the reviews I've accumulated over the last few chapters. I didn't do this before as to not make readers feel isolated in not being included in the list of reviews (so review please if you want to be included) or to cause excessive scrolling and non-story related items in the fic, but whenever I read stories, it always makes me feel good when I see that the author has responded to my reviews. So from not on, if I don't get too lazy, I'll respond to reviews every chapter.
To All: Thanks for reviewing; it's great encouragement for me to keep writing and many apologies for not updating sooner. School and life have just been really hectic lately and will continue to grow more hectic for me as those AP exams and other standardized tests pop up, so again, very sorry.
Terra Nova: Um…well I really don't want to give away the future plot of the story, but you shall see in time what happens and well, there'll be a bit more positive Terra/BB interaction in the next chapter.
Diana-Jae: Star/Robin interaction will come in time…I'm guessing probably sometime in Chapter 7 or maybe Chapter 6. Oh and you're story rocks my socks. It's great that you put them in high school and have incorporated many of the characters in so many different ways.
Flyingpiggies: Your story is very much creative, the girls being in a Miss Gotham fashion show? I haven't seen that one done yet and it's a very cool plot line. And you totally do deserve all the attention in terms of reviews that your story's getting.
Cybertoy00: Well, I'm not familiar with that villain, I don't watch KND, but I did put him in there in the beginning for a bit, hope that's enough!
Raven-4ever-Thanks for the ideas and I'm sorry that you don't like Wonder Woman in this story or having Cyborg's mother alive. I am not familiar with the comics and they are minor characters in the story-the titans will still be the primary focus. And as for Terra, you shall just see…
RobinRox- Put Sarah in here? Um, well I'll try to incorporate her, but I have other romance story line plans for Cyborg. Oh I did mention her (after reading your review) though in another one of my stories, Love Bites (one shot).
Alys/Sage of Story-Thanks for the awesome review; I just love getting reviews from you. They're always so long and in depth and you're one of the best writers in this section, if not the very best. I hope you write another story soon! "Bring me to life" was really just a beautiful story and it truly made me believe in the whole BB/R relationship. And thanks for providing me with the titan names for that other story.
Willow182-Thanks for the advertisement and cool song fic!
SSTAG: Well the story's going to focus mainly on the 5 original titans but Terra will appear in many of the chapters.
"Person" (I'm sure you have a real name), lil washu, Momentum, lizzy0888, Brie, BunnyKat, Heaven's Coin, Burned Fighter, Sanity-Stealing-Lawn Gnome (very cool/interesting pen name lol), Sailor Flower1- Thanks for the positive comments. I'm glad that I'm writing a story that you were looking for/enjoy. Hope this chapter was satisfactory (I tried to make it semi-longer).
Showstopper: Once again, I'm sorry that I'm such a slow updater.
Ocdsugar, Well-Well, Black Squirrel Productions, DaJollyMan, Nightling, BraveRaven, Cosmoluver, Woodelf193, mia, Obsessive and Hyper, niceguy586, skyhooper, Ryan, "someone" (I'm sure you have a real name too), amskitty214, and Jeeto (my 1st reviewer!): Well I don't suppose any of you are reading this fic anymore (sniff), but well thanks for the earlier reviews. Black Squirrel Productions and Jeeto, your reviews were especially helpful in the development of the plot and spelling items and well you do have good reason not continuing to read b/c I didn't update for a very long time. And (I'm probably just writing this to no one) I hope that you'll start reading/reviewing my story again.
Wow, a lot of responses lol.