Author's Note: Sorry this took so long-I had a major episode of writers block for a while. O.K., I know that the last chapter was pretty boring. In this chapter, I'll attempt to make it more interesting, and add an intsy-teensy clue to my long-thought-out-but-by-no-means-complete-in-my-head relationship. See if you can guess who my character will start liking.
And now, on with the story!
Chapter 3: The Test
It was exactly 3 p.m. the next day when Henry Wells stepped through the fireplace into Titans Tower. He had with him his wand (of course), his broom (just a cleansweep 8-he'd bought it used but in nonetheless good condition), and a paper for his new friends to sign that would allow him to stay-he'd worked out a nice arrangement with the Minister. He was surprised, however, to walk into an empty room. It was quiet as a tomb, and some red lights were gently flashing on and off. Everyone was gone. So, Henry went looking for them.
"Hello? Is anybody home?" he called throughout the entire building, but to no avail. He decided to go outside. He wandered around for a while before finding the entrance hall. However, he couldn't get out, as the doors were locked tight. He looked over to the electronic display, but you may as well asked him to read hieroglyphics than figure out what to do with it. Pulling out his wand, Henry sighed and said "Alohomora". The doors glowed golden for a second, then opened.
Henry walked out onto the island. The view of the city was amazing, and there was a fresh sea breeze blowing in from the ocean. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash from within the city. A large cloud of dust rose on the horizon. Deciding to investigate, Henry mounted his broom and kicked off.
Robin motioned for Starfire to drop him onto Cinderblock's shoulders with a flick of his wrist, landing with the grace of a cat and proceeding to hit him violently upside the head with his quarterstaff many times. Momentarily dazed, Cinderblock quickly recovered and threw Robin down to the ground, and was about to stomp on him when a flurry of green starbolts hit him hard in the back. Yelling with rage, Cinderblock turned and started swatting at Starfire as though she were a fly. She was too quick for him though, and continued to shoot beams of energy out of her eyes as she dodged his clumsy blows. Explosive bird-a-rangs hit his ankles, causing the big boulder to jump up and down in pain, in turn making surrounding buildings sway precariously. The two of them were making slow but steady progress. Down the street, however, it was a different story.
Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were busy battling Plasmus. Raven was hurling city buses, cars, stoplights, and just about anything else she could think of into the great purple blob of ooze. Unfortunately, however, Plasmus either made holes in himself so that the object passed right through, or it just dissolved in his acidic slime.
Beast Boy morphed into a triceratops and charged Plasmus, but he shot out coils of slime, wrapping himself around Beast Boy's torso. He then threw him three blocks; Beast Boy's yell slowly fading into the distance.
Cyborg was shooting his sonic cannon rapidly at the monster, but all he succeeded in doing was burning the sludge so that it created the most nauseating smell. Finally, he hit one of Plasmus' eyes, making it burst. The monster gave an earsplitting screech, making Raven loose her concentration and drop the stretch limo she was preparing to throw five stories to the ground. Cyborg was showered in green goop. "Eewww!" he shouted while trying to get the muck off himself before it ate into his circuits.
Raven still had her eyes squinted shut and was wiggling her little finger in her ear, trying to get the ringing out so she could concentrate. She looked up for a moment, and saw to her horror that Plasmus' arms were rapidly shooting out towards her. She tried to fly out of the way, but it was too late. He grabbed her with his slimy hands, and licked his lips with his oozing purple tongue. He was about to devour her. "Not if I have any say in the matter!" thought Raven. Regaining concentration, her eyes glowed white, and began to say her magic words.
"Azerath, Metreon, Zin-" she was cut off by two cries of "Diffindo!" in quick succession. The arm of the creature had been cut, and Plasmus again shrieked in pain. She was falling to the ground that was less than two stories below. She squinted and braced for impact. Suddenly, she was grabbed round the waist and pulled from the purple mass. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was being carried by a figure in a dark green robe with blond hair. He was flying somewhat erratically, trying to hold her in one hand, and control the broom and hold his wand with the other. She scowled and said "Let go of me." flatly, yet threateningly.
Not looking at her for fear of loosing control of the unbalanced broomstick, he said incredulously "Have you lost your marbles? This is a ten-story drop! You'd fall to your dea-"
She cut him off, her voice now dangerously commanding.
"I can fly, remember? Now drop me!"
"Oh, er, right." He said, realizing how he was holding her, and blushing slightly. "As you wish." He released her, and she flew back towards the monster to launch another attack. Henry, however, just sat on his broom, trying to decide what spell to use. 'A basic stunning spell would obviously have no effect-it's too big-burn it maybe? No the toxic fumes would kill everyone in the city. How's about an explosion?'
"Hey! You up there! Make yourself useful and help us!" shouted Cyborg, while retreating down the street.
"Oh alright alright! Don't get your panties in a bunch!" he shouted back. Settling on the spell he had in his head at that moment, he started to twirl his wand around his head, like a cowboy with a lasso, faster and faster, until small white flashes began to pop with every revolution. Soon, it was a continuous white ring, like a halo, around his head.
"Delendo!" (A/N: Latin for "I destroy", I think) he cried out as he cast his wand and left hand out in front of him at the same time, and a huge blast of white light came out of his wand, blinding all four of them. There was another deafening screech, a loud explosion, and when they regained their sight, they were covered in purple gloop, along with the whole of the city block, from the sewer drains to the tops of the skyscrapers.
"Disgusting. I am so going to need a shower when we get back." Said Raven in monotone, while picking a particularly large blob out of her hair.
"You'll need a shower?" said Beast Boy, who had by now returned, "Look at me! I'll be smelling this stuff for a week!" indeed, he was positively covered in the goo to the point that you could not see where he was speaking from.
"Get it off! Get it off!" shouted Cyborg, while dancing around in a frenzy trying to remove all the goo before it damaged him.
Henry lifted the sleeve of his robe, and looked at where the acidic gooze had burnt holes through the fabric. "Interesting" he muttered as he landed and dismounted his broom. Then, he took it off, held it at arms length, and said "Scorgify-reparo." His robe was wiped clean of the ooze and the threads re-wove themselves in an instant. He then looked to the other three-Raven, who was picking at her hair, Cyborg, who was still dancing, and Beast Boy, who was struggling to escape from the suffocating mass of purple goop. He waved his wand, and the stuff disappeared.
"Uh, thanks" said Cyborg looking at his mechanical palms, wondering where it had all gone.
"Don't mention it" said Henry as he tucked his wand away in his robe.
"What happened here?" said Robin, who rounded the corner with Starfire in tow, and was stopped dead in his tracks by the scale of the mess in front of him.
"The Delendere Spell" said Henry, leaning against his broom. "We were being beaten pretty badly, and I decided to put a stop to it."
"I'll say." Said Robin, still gazing upwards at the sheer volume of gooze. "So, how about we let the city clean up this mess and go for pizza. The police have Cinderblock."
"I'm in." said Beast Boy and Cyborg together. Then turning to each other, they began yelling in each others' faces.
"Meat lovers!"
"Vegetarian deluxe!"
"No fake crap! I want sausage."
"Well why don't you cook me while you're at it, tin man!"
"You'd look better oven roasted, grass stain!"
They traded insults with such fury that Starfire was afraid it would get physical, and felt the need to step in to stop them.
"Friends! Such combativeness cannot continue between you! You must cease such behavior immediately or you will begin to drift apart!" she sounded genuinely worried, but the two of them just ignored her.
"And that means I don't like your stinkin' Tofu either!"
"Well, you couldn't have made it any more obvious! And don't even get me started on how many animals are killed because of your appetite man!"
Henry leaned over to Robin. "Are they always like this?"
"You should see them when it comes to video games. This is nothing." He then walked up to Starfire and pulled her back from holding the two, letting them continue to make offensive gestures to each other and yell in each others' face.
Robin and Starfire walked away towards the pizza restaurant, Raven followed, muttering "morons" beneath her breath. Henry just sighed, mounted his broom again, and followed the other three at a walking pace, leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy alone in the middle of the ooze-covered street. When they realized they were alone, however, they chased after the others.
"Finished being immature babies yet?" said Raven when the two of them caught up to the group.
"Well it's not my fault that he has to have his disgusting tofu garbage!"
"Dude! It's not garbage! It's healthy, and it tastes great."
"Tastes great my hat! That has to be some of the vilest stuff I've ever put in my mouth."
They descended into squabbles again. That was it. Henry had had enough. He pulled out his wand and raised it to them. When they saw this everyone stopped dead. Quick as a flash Raven projected a screen of black energy in front of the two, who had stopped fighting and were looking at Henry incredulously. Starfire gasped and said "What are you doing, friend Henry?!"
"What are you all looking at me like that for? All I was going to do is shut these two six year olds up with a silencer curse." He scanned their faces realized what they were thinking, and dropped his wand to his side. "Oh my. You thought, you thought that I was going to hurt them, didn't you?"
"We don't entirely trust you yet." Explained Robin. "We've been betrayed before, and don't want it to happen again."
"Er, sorry, then" he said as he put his wand slowly back into his robes. "So, er, how about that pizza?" he said tentatively.
After a conversation with the press, two regular pizzas, one piled with sausage and pepperoni, one pale white tofu pizza, and plenty of soda, the group returned to the island. Robin went over to the obstacle course control console, aided by Cyborg. The other three just watched. Henry straddled his broom on the starting point, wand out, and ready to kick off.
"You have five minutes to complete the course." Said Robin "3...2...1...go."
There was a loud "boop!", and Henry kicked off the ground and sped onto the course.
First, a dozen machine guns popped out of the ground and began spewing bullets at him. With one cry of "Protego!" however, they reversed on themselves and shredded the guns to bits.
Next, there was a long series of doors, all open. 'This is too easy.' Henry thought as he flew over the barren rocks towards the doors, at a brisk but not exactly fast pace. Then, just as he was going under it, the door began to close rapidly. He flew out of the way just in time as it went crashing into the dust behind him. It was like a domino effect, the first door having triggered the closings of all the others. He leaned low on his broomstick, determined to get every last ounce of speed that the old thing could offer. But it was not enough. He had cleared four of the five doors, when Robin tapped a command into the panel. "Let's see how fast he gets on without flying" he said.
Henry was almost out of the way of the fifth door, but not quite. The door slammed down faster than the others due to Robin's intervention, taking the rear end of the broom (and therefore Henry) with it. It cleanly cut the broom right behind Henry's rear, chopping off all the bristles, making it worthless as a flying machine.
Henry tossed the remaining part of the handle away, swore, made sure his butt was still there, and took the time to shake his fist at Robin and Cyborg, who merely smirked. He then ran into the final four parts of the course.
More gun-like canons reared up seemingly out of nowhere. Henry prepared to cast another shield charm, but was caught offguard when flames instead erupted towards him.
"Aquos Projectalis!" he cried at the last second, the flames barely a yard from his face, and a torrent of water erupted from the end of his wand and pushed the flames back. The flame-throwers charged for another shot, but Henry was too quick, sending stunning spells into each one. They smoked a bit and drooped, overloaded by the magic.
Continuing on at a full run, he noticed two slots open up in the rock face. Two dozen robotic flying drones came whizzing out towards him, and when they were within range in all of about three seconds, began to fire energy-bolts at him.
'Let's try a little transfiguration.' Henry thought to himself. He cast a shield charm that reversed the fire of the first dozen or so of them, but they dodged the shots.
'Uh-oh' Henry thought as they opened fire again. With one more quick call of "Protego!", he dove behind a boulder, feeling it shudder from the impact of the energy pulses. As each of the drones flew overhead, he waved his wand, turning it into a harmless fly. Peeking around the corner to make sure that there were no more of them waiting for him, he stood and began running again.
He came to a small, flat place on a cliff overlooking the bay. Just as he was about to run through, doors opened in the ground, and a small army of androids rose to the surface. Their heads snapped up as they were activated by Cyborg, pulled their weapons, and were about to fire when Henry cried "Stupefy!", blowing the arm off one and deactivating it. Henry could now see that wires, servos, and tubes were what made the things up. 'Ah! They are electric!' he thought, and was about to cast a spell to get rid of them, when they opened fire. Dissaperating with a BANG!, he apperated behind them. As they turned to fire on him, he shouted "Dynamo Electrosis!". A fork of lightning shot from the tip of his wand, first hitting one of the robots, and then arcing to each of the others. Some robots' heads were blown off, others lost all their limbs, and still others just fell to the ground. All of them were broken. Henry, for his part, had all of his hair standing on end.
Now he came to a round clearing. Beyond this, he could see the finish line. 'It's too easy.' He thought to himself as he edged slowly into the area, wand out and ready for anything. Suddenly, the earth shook, and another door opened in the earth. A massive, one-eyed robot with five arms, three legs, and a squarish body rose to the surface. The eye seemed to be getting brighter, and at the last minute Henry realized it was a weapon, and cast a shield charm just as the beam erupted from the machine. The blast was so intense it overwhelmed the magic, knocking Henry off his feet. Scrambling to his feat, he just managed to get out of the way before one of the mechanical feet plowed into the earth not 6 inches from him. He cast a flurry of stunning spells, but they just bounced off of it. 'He's difficult for a muggle contraption.' Thought Henry as he dodged another blast. This continued for a minute or so, neither of them getting an edge.
"Dynamo Electrosis!" he called. The robot went limp for a second from the shock, but then came back on line. It started attacking again, though this time they were less well coordinated, and clumsier.
"Dammit, he fried out the video monitors and the remote control system." Said Cyborg, who had been feverishly controlling the robot from the command station for the past minute or so. His video game skills made him really good at this part of the test, especially considering it was he that built the robot, and Robin let him take over. "Nothing left to do but put it into auto mode. I swear, he'll be in for it if he bangs up my baby too badly."
"Look!" shouted Robin while pointing to the battle. Henry, eyes screwed up in concentration, had his wand out in front of him and had lifted the robot off the ground. Then he jerked his wand up and down, slamming the robot into the ground again and again.
"My baby! Oh no!" exclaimed Cyborg, pulling at his face.
Henry released the robot, letting it crash to the ground again. He was surprised when it made a feeble attempt to stand up again. 'That's it! I'm done with this thing!' he thought, and began to twirl his wand above his head, white flashes beginning to pop. The thing's eye began to glow...
There was another blinding white flash, and as Cyborg opened his eyes, a piece of circuit board came shooting out of the sky and wedged itself in the control panel, not three inches from his hand.
"My baby..." was all he could say.
When the dust cleared, Henry saw the large scorch mark left on the earth where the spell had hit the robot. Gears, wires, and hydraulic fluid were raining from the sky. Then, he heard two short beeps announcing that he only had ten seconds left. Sprinting, he crossed the finish line just in time. He collapsed to his knees, panting. Most of it had been easy, but that last part was difficult as hell! The levitation spell especially took a lot out of him, the concentration needed to lift something that big. Plus, it was four o'clock, and his body, still on British time, was telling him that it was about 10. He tried to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but winced when his robe touched his skin. The damn machine had burned him. Ah well, nothing a potion couldn't fix.
He looked up to see the group of them coming down from the control console, Cyborg looking very agitated. He pulled himself to his feet, and put his wand away. His robes were dirty, but he paid it no notice. As he approached, Robin pulled out something small, yellow, and circular and put it in Henry's hand. It was yellow, with a black cover, and a "T" on it. It beeped a catchy-sounding tune. Robin then spoke.
"Welcome to the team."