Pa7adox: Amazing chapter as always only real issue I had was the watchman reference and the fact they got it. Considering the watchmen are part of DC but just another timeline/Dimension.
Re: Um, no, the bulk of the DCAU takes place on Earth-12. The whole Watchmen crossover happened on one of the New 52 Earths after the then-most-recent "Crisis Event", and even then, the Watchmen Earth was still separate from the DCU Earth, it was only some of the characters that crossed over. And even then only for a brief period of time before they all went home and everyone forgot about that whole mess…
(Guest): I don't think it matters if one guy doesn't have a talisman
They could just swap talismans as needed they just need to be real stealthy
Maybe give robin the speed talisman or the invisibility for harrowing stealth ops
Would be hilarious to see beast boy use the pig talisman as a fly and ragdoll cinder block
Re: The fly thing actually might be possible, since Beast Boy's clothes all "go somewhere" when he transforms. Though other versions of BB have a costume made of "unstable molecules" like the Fantastic Four, and those are the versions where he can't have pockets for aforementioned reason…
(Xcelsior): Alottttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt of Robin bashing lately Nazo. Before, (in One of Four and earlier part of this Saga) Robin and Ventus have had a conflict of ideology and a lack of trust on Robin's side of things. But Robin's just become the guy that everybody hates and gangs up on for basically no reason? To the point there's factions dividing the Titans, half of which have a crush on Ventus and ally behind him because of it.
[This message has been truncated due to length.]
Re: The "factions" within the Teen Titans are because of the ethicacy of what happened to Ravager; the whole, "rig a heart to explosives to fool BioMon tech and blow her to kingdom come" bit. And I mean, they're teenagers. When the hell do teenagers always get along when there's more than one in the same room. Especially the male teenagers.
As for what happened to Ventus, the answer is- "He grew up." As the stakes were raised, he had to take on more responsibility, and stop running from "himself"; from responsibility. If he didn't assume a leadership role (as far as the day-to-day of Titans Tower were concerned), Terra would've gotten "rolled over", and he feels responsible for what happened to her, so he had to "take a stand".
The additions to the team were a creative choice.
As for Raven, there'll be an off-shot on AO3 to help remedy that, as well as give "catharsis" for those that are emotionally invested in what happens to a bunch of fictional characters I've woven or re-branded into the Earth-12 universe. That people actually care what happens to them, especially where an OC is concerned, is incredibly flattering.
As for the recent string of crossovers… I mean, Eugene's "Portal Remote" and the whole "Extradimensional Imp" thing made it too good to pass up. Though admittedly, there shouldn't be too much crossover shenanigans until after the events of Season 3, if any.
As for the Talismans, they're tools, but the actual call to use them won't be too frequently as long as nothing outside their "Weight Class" shows up. I mean, using Talisman power on someone like Dr. Light would just be overkill. If an enemy of the Justice League shows up, the Teen Titans might need a bit more "stopping power".
As for Wintergreen… He's the guy who TRAINED Deathstroke. Just gonna let you chew on that for a hot minute…
Also, the Dog Talisman is Immortality, not Healing, the distinction is very clear, and even then, it came up after. Plus, Rorek had found contentment in how Malchior was finally "bested" when it couldn't have been done in his original lifetime, and there's nothing wrong with letting an old sorcerer go onto their eternal reward. Like what happened with Kent Nelson in Young Justice. And forcing someone to stay alive for one's own self-satisfaction… Do I really need to go in the ethicacy of that?
OOF! What a doozie.
Moving on!
. . .
P.S.
The AO3 off-shot for my Teen Titans series is named Ride the Wind, and now that I actually have a posted work on Archive of Our Own, you should be able to find it under the PenName NewMystery356 as was previously advertised.
I only have the Prologue up right now, but I hope to add more to it very soon.
Moving on for real now!
*TEEN TITANS*
"Guys… What the hell are you doing?" Robin asked as he found Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Control Fr-… Eugene… hooking up the latter's remote into the Danger Room's controls.
"We're constructing an adapter so we can use the reality-warping power of Eugene's remote through the Danger Room in a more-controlled manner," Beast Boy recited before rolling down his sleeve.
"First matchup's going to be Cyborg versus Adam Smasher~!" Eugene said excitedly, he and Beast Boy doing a high-five before getting back to work. Which was mostly BB handing Eugene the tools he asked for.
"Who the hell is 'Adam Smasher'?" Robin asked.
"Full-borg, 96% cybernetic conversion," Cyborg answered as he worked on the Danger Room's controls and programming. "A human brain only takes up 2% full body mass and, well… You can probably see why I'd take issue with that."
"And why pray-tell, would you even care about this?"
"Because BB asked the age-old question."
"Who would win in a fight," Eugene grinned as he adjusted the 'muzzle' clamped to his remote's 'mouth', before working the rigging on the underside.
"Hey, speaking of which, doesn't making this thing make you Rick-level smart?" Beast Boy asked pointing at the remote.
"What do you mean?"
"Uh, I MEAN…! You can go into parallel universe inside the TV! How is that anything other than what Rick & Morty do?"
" . . . OH! Oh, I see your confusion," Eugene nodded. "Okay, see, I didn't make all of this," he said tapping his signature implement. "Sure, I 3D printed the chassis and rigged up some of the buttons, but the hardware on the inside is from space."
"Um… Did you say space?" Robin blinked.
"Yeah. See, it all started when I was coming home from ComiCon…"
"Because of course it did," Robin muttered.
"There I was, driving through the countryside when WHOOSH! Shooting star lands in a cornfield! So, I go down and investigate, and when I get there… Alien computers! Two of them, all… mashed together like a head-on collision, pling-ing and plong-ing at eachother. Seemed a waste to leave them there, so I took 'em home, did a little tweaking, some testing, took out my chuuni-fantasy notebook from high school… And the rest, as they say, is history."
"You rigged alien computers from space… into a remote?"
"Well, what would you have done with them? Last I checked, 'Star Labs' and 'security' aren't exactly used in the same sentence; or paragraph; or even book for that matter," Eugene huffed, since even he knew that the stuff they were working on either always got stolen, or got up and took itself out for 'walkies' all on their own. "And honestly, I'm surprised no-one thought to ask sooner. I mean, did you really think I made 100% of this myself?"
"Um…" Cyborg hummed.
"Wow, guys, I'm flattered and all, but I'm not that smart."
"Wait, what did you even go to school for then?" Beast Boy asked.
"Electrical engineering, with a minor in computer programming."
"And your mom was just cool with you being…"
"An 'enthusiast'?" Eugene asked with a raised brow. "Please, first thing I did once I got the remote running was steal the suitcase from 'Deal or No Deal'. Once I had rent taken care of for pretty much… ever, she was cool with me hopping off to the big city."
"And you decided to become a supervillain because…?" Robin groused.
"Look at me? Would anyone have taken me seriously if I applied for the Teen Titans or the Justice League?" he asked gesturing to his rotund body type.
"I mean… If you did your ninja kung-fu space-training-montage first…" Cyborg groused, Eugene pondering on this before slapping his forehead.
"Well, I guess hindsight is 20-20…" Beast Boy hummed.
"And you're sure this isn't going to be something you'll play with once before getting tired of…?" Robin asked, Beast Boy handing him a To-Do List. "So… Cyborg's going to fight a 'Bad Ending' version of himself, Beast Boy wants to join the fight against Thanos' army at the end of Avengers: Endgame, and Starfire wants to join the Rebel Alliance on their Death Star Run…" the Boy Wonder said reading off some of the items. "With how-much you're cooperating, I assume you want something out of this?"
"Well, I mean… if I want to use a simulator, I guess I'd want to go through the Lord of the Rings trilogy," Eugene shrugged. "I mean, it's a lot of walking even with the boat and the horse rides, and I could probably do the same amount on a treadmill eventually… but it isn't very engaging."
"Which is why Vent green-lit the idea," Beast Boy hummed.
"Yeah, and speaking of which… I haven't seen him all day," Robin hummed.
"Oh, didn't you get his note?" Beast Boy blinked. "He took Terra and Blackfire out on a road trip to get his car worked on."
"Couldn't he get his car worked on here?" Robin asked turning to Cyborg.
"Oh believe me, I offered, but he doesn't want all of our vehicles working on the same Operating System. That, and, he's made his own contacts, so it's more of a joint project than my passion project with my baby," the cyborg explained. *Thump* "Alright, that should just about do it. Eugene, how's it looking on your end?"
"Adapter's all set and ready to go. All that's left is to take it on its maiden voyage," Eugene hummed as he set his remote in a 3D printed slot on the control panel before slapping a clear plastic case over the top and thumbing a latch. "Former villainy aside, this is going to be totally fucking epic~"
"If it even works," Robin huffed.
"Hey, I gave all of you the runaround in 'TV Land'," Eugene hummed before Robin shot him a look. "Er… anyway… Cyborg, you got a choice of location in mind?"
"The Training Room from Street Fighter V," Cyborg answered as he stepped into the elevator.
"Street Fighter V training room… and cueing up Adam Smasher from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners… Got it," Eugene hummed as he got to work on the console, the Remote's buttons shimmering and energy visibly flowing into the control panels as the Danger Room transformed into a white cubical space with incremental measurements noted out in gray lines, a pair of red lines splitting it into quarters vertically and laterally.
Cyborg, stepping into the room a minute later, eyed a crimson bolt of lightning coming down from the holo projector before striking the synthoid standing at the far end of the room. The dust clearing, revealed a terrifying mechanical humanoid. Their primarily-black body composed of military-grade armor, hydraulics, pneumatics, and artificial muscle fibers, a missile pod protruding from their shoulder. The only sign that Adam Smasher was at any point human, was that the upper half of his head above his jaw had pale human-like skin, but divided down the middle with implant lines, and with double retinal prostheses and other lesser implants.
True to form, Adam Smasher was something out of one of Cyborg's worst nightmares, and even Robin could understand why.
"Oh? And who are you supposed to be? The Thorton of chrome junkies?" the full-borg taunted. "Got a little something on your face."
"Least my face isn't made of TechLeather," Cyborg said cracking his knuckles.
Adam Smasher responded by deploying his missile pod, Cyborg acting in kind and filling the center of the stage with smoke before Adam Smasher rushed him.
"HRAAAH!"
Fist meeting fist, to Robin's shock, Adam Smasher held firm.
"Smasher might not be all-robot, but I think he'd give Atlas a run for his money," Beast Boy hummed as Cyborg and Smasher went into a flurry of blows after Cyborg smacked his Mk. 31 HMG out of his hands.
*TEEN TITANS*
Meanwhile, as Cyborg was combatting the personification of his worst nightmare…
"Sooo… Vent just left you here?" Raven inquired as Kitten brusquely channel surfed.
"We drew straws. I lost," she answered frankly.
"Hrmmm…" Raven huffed, angrily flipping a page.
"Oh, but don't worry, we drew for you in abstentia!" Kitten waved off. "There was a one-in-four of you getting drawn solo, and since we were drawing for two… At least half of us would've gotten left behind."
"And he just up and left?"
"He tried telling Robin about his plans, but he kept getting brushed off 'cause of the whole Brother Blood thing."
"Yeah, that sounds like him…"
" . . . Hey Raven, can I ask you something?"
"You might as well."
"Why did Venty change?"
" . . . I don't follow."
"Well, I mean, he used to be this happy-go-lucky guy who was 'flying buddies' with Starfire, hence the saucy fanart~" she giggled before schooling himself. "But now he's rubbing shoulders with the Justice League, blowing yandere fangirls to pieces on the freeway, taking on space armadas in a starfighter, going all Avatar State on a separate armada, not necessarily in that order…"
" . . . He'd been running from himself for a long time. Being Slade's apprentice, I think once that ship reached port of call, he… was ashamed of that. He played 'The Fool', shirked responsibility onto everyone else by convincing us he didn't have it in him to take command… but throughout his 'journey', he's had to take more and more onto his shoulders to safeguard what was important to him. I don't know if he's become 'The World' quite yet, or if he's going to get even more powerful and influential in the future…but I think a part of living in your own place, going to work, paying rent… That's all part and parcel for growing up, stepping away from Chaos toward Order."
"Wow… That's really profound…" Kitten hummed. "Thinking back on it, that shallow 'valley girl' thing… After high school, none of that would've mattered, and if I'd gone to college like a normal girl… It'd have been a longer road, but I would've had to become true to myself eventually."
"Well, you did turn out to be an anime and video game nerd like Beast Boy~" Raven chuckled. "And to think that the first time we met, you were worried about having a date for the dance. And now here you are, a Teen Titan in the ballpark with Green Lanterns."
"Yeah… I'm just glad I didn't turn into a complete loony like Star Sapphire," she said looking down at her violet ring, her Love connecting her to Vincent and allowing her to feel his presence, even if he wasn't physically present. "It still feels a bit unreal at times."
"Give it a couple months. You'll get used to it."
"Mmhmmm…" Kitten hummed, the two enjoying the white noise of the TV and Raven sipping at her tea. "So when're you going to jump Venty's bones?"
*SPI-TOOOOO!*
*TEEN TITANS*
"Ahhhhhh… Now this is the life~" Blackfire sighed from the back seat of the impound lot convertible as Ventus drove them cross-country, east to west.
"Couldn't you fly there faster than this? While carrying the car and the two of us on your back?" Terra asked.
"Yes, but sometimes a girl enjoys being pampered~ Letting other people do the flying for you."
"I'd think for a 'space renegade', this would be a bit of a step down."
"Oh it is, believe me… But even a step down has its upsides~" she grinned turning lidded eyes to her chauffeur, ribbons of silver light spilling from his eyes. "What's he been doing all this time, anyway?"
"Training. He's been making an 'envelope' of air around us to reduce drag and increase gas mileage. Course, once that engine gets replaced with whatever sci-fi gizmo he had shipped out to his 'guy' gets installed…"
"Still, don't we make for an odd pair. Usually it's you and Raven, or you and Starfire, or even you and Kitten. This is probably the first time we've hung out."
"Well, you are the newest addition to the team… and apart from Raven and Starfire, the rest of us girls were all former-villains."
"And Vent's pure stubbornness dragged us 'into the light', kicking and screaming," Blackfire shrugged as she looked out at the horizon. "You know, I still can't get over how-beautiful this planet of yours is. I guess I just always took for granted what a world would look like before orbital bombardment…"
"Honestly, with how-many times we've been invaded, I'm surprised Earth still looks this good," Ventus sighed as he dropped his aerokinesis, rubbing at the bridge of his nose as the wind whipped their hair. "I mean, there was that thing with 'Brainwashed Superman', Brainiac, the Imperium, the Thanagarians, Apokolips again, the Gordanians…"
"And yet people on your planet can still deny the existence of alien life?" Blackfire blinked.
"Yeah… People are kinda dumb…" Terra sighed. "I mean, we treat 'human-like' intelligence as this whole big thing… but humans are still really fucking stupid…"
"Hey Terr, you have your driver's license?"
"I have a learner's permit… though Slade made sure I knew how to drive as a just-in-case."
"Next rest-stop, I need to take a power nap. You mind taking over?"
*TEEN TITANS*
Elsewhile, back in the Danger Room…
"Eugene…"
"Yeah…"
"I appreciate that you didn't sicc anything really dangerous on us…" Robin said as he and the others stared gob-smacked at the aftermath of Cyborg's fight against Adam Smasher.
The "Street Fighter V Training Room" had been torn to shreds, resembling the surface of the moon; at least until the hologram simulator failed completely and turned it back into the circular silver room's base form. Scattered about were machine parts from both combatants, an arm apiece from each, but in the end, though Adam Smasher was equipped with the best military-grade weapons, armor, and implants of the late-21st century, it was Cyborg that managed to eke out the win. As he stood over his fallen foe, armor components damaged or ripped out wholesale, the organic half of his face bruised while his retinal prosthesis had been punched out of his head and landed somewhere in the room, though he looked like he'd been through a Mortal Kombat tournament, he stood tall and proud.
"Is this… pain? I'd forgotten the sensation."
" . . . Booyah," Cyborg said as he extended his arm. Instead of his Sonic Cannon however, to Robin's surprise, it was a Thermal Blaster that folded out, the lance of energy taking Adam Smasher's head off, the hard-light hologram body rezzing out and then flickering away altogether to reveal a headless Synthoid.
"Hey uh… Cyborg? You okay down there?"
A part of him wanted to ask where if not how he'd gotten the schematics for the Thermal Blaster that Slade had had him steal what felt like an eternity ago… But remembering it was exactly that sort of tactless conduct that had driven a wedge between him and the formerly-free-spirited wind-wielder, as well as Terra, Robin changed tack to what was truly important in that moment.
"Yeah… I'm fine…" Cyborg said picking up his arm. "That was strangely… cathartic. Even more than when I fought Atlas."
"Yes, exactly!" Eugene spoke up. "Er, I mean…" he stammered as Robin shot him a look. "You uh… You want some help picking up your pieces?"
"Nah, I'm good. I have plenty of spares. I'll recycle the rest of it later."
"Ah, cool. Great fight by the way," Eugene nodded, happy that Beast Boy had set the whole thing to record.
"So uh, Eugene…" Beast Boy spoke up. "You mind if I join you for that hike through Middle Earth?" he inquired. "Seeing all that… maybe I should work up to Endgame, you know…?"
"Oh, totally. I totally understand," the former supervillain nodded. "Hey, Robin, you want me to cue up anything?"
" . . . You have any data on Slade in there?"
"Let's see…" he hummed, gesturing Beast Boy over to the controls. "The Justice League must've left this data package in there, though I'm not sure how-similar it'll be to the Slade that you fought."
"Call it 'closure'…" the Boy Wonder answered. "I can update it with my own notes as we go."
*TEEN TITANS*
"So, I have to ask," Blackfire hummed as Terra sat across from her at a roadside diner hours later, Ventus making a pit stop while their food was cooking. "What's with the corrective eyewear?"
"W-What do you mean?" Terra gulped, her hair pulled into a messy bun and a pair of coke bottle spectacles on her face.
"You know. Why the d-i-s-g-u-i-s-e?" she spelled lowly as another customer walked by them.
"I… My rep's still pretty bad…" Terra conceded. "On-planet I mean. No-one knows what you did after that one time you were seen 'hanging out with the Teen Titans'."
"If that's the case, why do they still call me Kori's 'Evil Twin' on the fan site?"
"It's a thematic color thing," Terra shrugged. "They probably think that's your archetype without really knowing it's your archetype."
"Huh. I guess you backwater sinkhole planet-dwellers are smarter than we give you credit for," the exotic-looking woman shrugged.
"That… still leaves us pretty dumb…" Terra conceded, remembering her own poor decision-making.
"Hey girls, I'm back."
"Ven."/"Vincent."
"I'm gonna hit up the jukebox. You got any requests?"
"Whatever's fine for you," Terra shrugged.
"I have no preferences," Blackfire shrugged.
A minute of flipping through the settings, and "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry was playing.
"Well isn't that poignant," Blackfire shrugged.
"I wonder why he went with that song," Terra hummed.
" . . . I wound up hitting random," the wind-wielder replied as he sat down.
"Ah, and here I thought you were trying to tell us something~" Blackfire said playfully batting a paw at him.
" . . . What do you think the others are up to?" Terra inquired, sitting a little closer to him.
*TEEN TITANS*
"AGAIN!" Robin shouted at the control room as the hardlight frame of Deathstroke fizzled out around its Synthoid scaffold.
"Robin… You've been replaying that sim for the past six hours… Don't you think it's time to take a break?"
"Don't talk to me about taking a break from electronics, EUGEEENE!" Robin raged as a large Roomba-like robot dragged the battered Synthoid away.
"Wow, this is a side of him the fanbase does not know about…"
"Tell me about it…" Beast Boy sighed as he rolled his eyes. "What does the fanbase think he's like?"
"Oh, you know; Rule 34," the former Control Freak shrugged.
"Hah, nice," Beast Boy chuckled. " . . . Who with?"
"Do you really want me to tell you? You can't un-hear some of these pairings," Eugene said as he hit the green button again, a shudder going through him as a replacement Synthoid pulled a "He-Man" and turned into Deathstroke.
"Ha~ Shows what you know. Raven brain-bleaches us all the time!" the changeling grinned. " . . . I think…" he said after a pause. "She might've just been fucking with us when she said she brain-bleached us…?"
"Isn't that… a grievous misuse of her powers?" Eugene blinked.
"Yeah, well, what's the point of having a sonic cannon in your arm if you can't use it to make milkshakes?" Beast Boy questioned as Robin and "Synth-stroke" fought to the death. "No, but seriously, we have got to get this guy laid. His stress levels should not be that high…" he said eyeing Robin's biometrics.
"Maybe it stems from a sense of unfulfillment in his professional life?" Eugene speculated, speaking from personal experience. "I mean, Ventus kinda un-alive'd Deathstroke before he could "catch" the guy, Brother Blood got away, and then there was that huge thing with Slade's yandere fangirl-"
"She was his daughter, actually."
"For real?! I just thought she took Deathstroke cosplay too far…"
"Yeah, that weirded the hell out of me too," Beast Boy shrugged. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Ventus rigging his old heart up to life support so he could trick Ravager's BioMon into thinking he was in an ambulance before blowing her up; was that… bad…?"
"Why? Wasn't the whole thing a bit of a dry split in here?"
"Well, yeah, but… my old Doom Patrol commander, Mento… I feel like if he were here, he'd have given Vent a pat on the back and ruffled his hair affectionately for what he considers 'affirmative action against an enemy combatant'."
"Oof, daddy issues?"
"Yeah… What about yours?"
"Mine left my mom after I passed on playing sports."
"Ooh. Ouch," the changeling winced. " . . . You know, it's weird how Vent's open-mindedness has been paying off. I mean, he hasn't reformed everyone, but…"
"Maybe that's Robin's problem?" Eugene asked as Robin fought Slade in a bo staff battle. "Maybe fighting nothing but the mentally ill and the poor in Gotham made him too… mentally inflexible for anywhere else?"
"I mean… Gotham basically is the Dark Souls of the hero world…"
*TEEN TITANS*
A couple days later…
"Really? They call it the 'Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude'~?" Blackfire chuckled as she and Terra were chauffeured into Dakota, California. Metahuman activity must've been in a lull, because they didn't get attacked once on the way in.
"Well, we can't all have private apartment buildings with beachfront property in all directions," Terra shrugged. "And you're sure you don't want Cy to work on your car instead?"
"Like I said on the road, I don't want all of our vehicles getting hacked at the same time by the same villain because they're all on the same OS," Ventus sighed. "Why do you think I never let Cy touch my Javelin?" he said plucking his T-Comm from the cupholder and signaling, the garage door on the side of the abandoned gas station opening up and granting entry.
"Security protocols engaged."
"Whoa!" Terra yelped as she felt her neck-hairs stand out.
"Don't worry about it. Just a security shield the Justice League gave us," a blond-haired teen in white and green-accented sports gear grinned.
"Hey Vent, what's happening?" a black teen with dreadlocks in black and blue with gold accents grinned.
"Oh, you know, cross country road trip for the best mechanic on the west coast," Ventus grinned meeting his raised hand before bumping shoulders. "These are my travelling companions, Blackfire and Terra."
"Terra? The infamous Terra?" Static blinked.
"How infamous…?" Terra questioned awkwardly.
"Enough," Gear shrugged. "Anyway, I got those parts you sent over. So this is your ride?"
"Yep. Swiped her from an impound lot before auction," Ventus chuckled as Gear took measurements and started doing mental gymnastics. "So, think you can pimp my ride?"
"Ha, fo' shizzle!" the bling grinned, Static chuckling good-naturedly as he pulled a toolbox their way with an electric surge.
*TEEN TITANS*
"So you're a legit space princess, like out of dad's old Star Trek movies?" Static asked as Ventus and Gear worked under the T-Con.
"Well, I was before I was deposed and exiled," Blackfire shrugged.
"Ooh, harsh."
"Eh, it isn't that bad~" the Tamaranean purred as Ventus rolled on his belly to reach for something, his round, muscular butt waggling enticingly.
"Really? I thought he and Raven were a-"
"Ugh, not at the speed she's going," Blackfire shrugged. "Honestly, I can't wait for the H-Plan to get off the ground. It'd certainly make things more-interesting back home; you know what I'm talking about. Right, right?" she grinned, ribbing him.
"Ah, something like that," the electrokinetic replied. "So, uh, Terra. How're things on the east coast?"
"Complicated. We almost had this huge schism after Slade's yandere fangirl got blown up," the blond replied.
"It was a huge mess. She literally ripped his heart out. Well not literally-literally, but he did need it replaced," Blackfire shrugged.
"Huh. That explains why his electrical aura was off."
"His what?"
"Every human has a unique electrical aura that I can make visible. I don't really have a lot of call to use this trick, but…" Static said as he generated a ball of power between his hands, the shadows in the room stretching outwards. Gear and Ventus crawling out from under the car, saw that everyone in the garage now had globulous lava lamp-like auras of energy fluctuating around them; Static's own was a vivid purple, Gear's was a fluorescent green, Blackfire's was a sunny orange, Terra's a metallic bronze, and Ventus' was silver with a tinge of black spilling out of his chest. "That's one high-end prosthetic if it gives off its own electrical aura. Even Toyman's genetically-perfect replicant couldn't pull that off."
"Really? A bionic implant? That's so cool," Gear grinned. "So, who'd you have do your retrofit?"
"Hey, hold up. I don't need you going full Borg on me."
"Ah-hah! I knew you were watching Star Trek behind my back!"
"My pops made me!" Static blushed.
"Soooo… You said something about the Justice League, earlier?" Terra interrupted.
"Oh yeah, we helped them out against Brainiac a while back. Saved the whole world. No big deal," Gear chuckled.
"Didn't you get possessed for the whole thing?" Static smirked.
"Hey, I still snuck out that Exploit," the blond huffed. "But anyway, what about you, Vent? I hear you're in the big leagues."
"The reserve leagues more like," Ventus sighed. "Though part of it's from rehabilitating troublemakers like these two," he grinned shaking Blackfire and Terra's shoulders.
"Speaking of troublemakers… You got any cute girls around here, or is it just the two of you, alooooone~" Blackfire grinned, Static and Gear sputtering for a moment before they schooled themselves. "Not that I'm judging-"
"I'm sure they know some nice girls out-of-costume," Ventus cut in. "Kom'andr, don't you dare alienate-"
"Hah."
"-the guy working on my car!" the wind-wielder hissed.
"Guys, it's cool. It's cool. We actually do have a female teammate… on speed dial," Static conceded.
"Ouch," Blackfire winced.
"SO…! What-all were you going to install in Ven's car?" Terra cut in.
"Oh, you would not believe the crazy ideas this guy came up with," Gear chuckled. "And I gotta say, it's nice having a rich sponsor for a change. Way better than fishing in a junkyard for scraps."
*TEEN TITANS*
"Man, we really shaved on the way back with those Back to the Future retrofits," Terra chuckled as the three of them pulled back into Jump's city limits. The car looked more or less the same apart from the white racing stripes and metallic overcoat, but underneath…
"Yeah, it was a nice vacation, but now it's back to work!" Ventus whooped.
"Yeah, speaking of which…" Blackfire said pointing upward as a shadow rolled over them.
"What the fuuuuuck…?!" Ventus cried as Mothra with mange flew by overhead.
"Beast Boy?" Blackfire groused.
"Beast Boy," Terra sighed.
"Oh, okay, so I was on-the-mark with that one," the former dictator nodded.
"Well, the city is still standing, so the others must be doing something right…" Ventus hummed as he keyed a command into the new dash, the reversed homing beacon to the T-Car pinging and giving off the optimal route.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Hey guys, why does Mothra have mange?"
"Vent! You're back, man!" Cy whooped as the T-Con pulled up alongside.
"The things were almost too much of the quiet without you around," Starfire beamed, though her usual exuberance had.
"This is almost 'too quiet'?" Ventus asked as he and the others hopped out of the car. "So, what do you think of my wheels?"
"Classic black with a metallic overtone and some racing stripes. Nice," Cy said looking over the brunette's "baby". "What kind of upgrades did you get? OH! Please tell me you-"
"Um, yeah, great to have you back and all, but we've kinda got a bigger problem on our hands," Robin said pointing up to the giant moth that was wrecking the city.
"Beast Boy! What did you do?!" Terra shrieked.
"What? Why did you assume this is my fault?" the changeling asked.
"Because mishaps like these usually are," Ventus replied, causing the changeling to sulk. "Since no-one else is ribbing him, I'm guessing it isn't BB's fault this time around. So, did Mr. Walker relapse or what?"
"Nope. It was Kitten's crazy ex-boyfriend," Raven shrugged. "Turns out you can learn a lot about genetics on internet courses."
"Silky was not always like that. When he first came into my care, he was just a little bumgorf the size of a bread loaf," Starfire said rocking an imaginary baby in her arms.
"Ah, so then you're just waiting on Mr. Walker to make a 'shrinking formula' or something?" Terra asked rolling her wrist.
" . . . "
"You guys didn't think to ask him, did you?" Blackfire asked.
"I… thought we could get by without colluding with criminals…" Robin sighed.
"What kind of bullshit is that?! Law enforcement colludes with criminals all the time! Haven't you ever heard of Turning State's Evidence!?"
"And now it's Vent's turn to be furious…" Cyborg hummed as the wind-wielder ripped into the Boy Wonder.
"Friends! Please! Can we not grow past this to defeat the Rekmas?" Starfire pleaded earnestly as she hugged the two of them into her bosom.
"Kori, this is like two male Grisnek's clashing horns during spawning season. They aren't always going to get along," Blackfire sighed.
" . . . Did you just compare us to space-cats?" Ventus blinked.
"Grisnek are cats?" Robin asked.
"Cat analogues."
"Hold on, I thought the Tamaraneans were feline-descendent."
"Yes, and Grisnek are to Tamaranians what monkeys are to us."
"Could we please focus?" Kitten cried pointing to her currently-handsome ex-boyfriend riding "Mothra with mange" through the city.
"I'll get Killer Moth on the line, see if there's some kind of nerve agent or something he can use," Ventus hummed.
"No," Robin cut in. "I… That's something I need to do. You stay here and deal with Fang, or at the least push 'Mothra' over there out of the city."
"You sure you can keep a cool head without pissing off the guy whose expertise we need?" Ventus asked quirking a brow.
"I'll go with him," Raven said peeling some pink slime out of her cloak. "Ready to get back to work?"
"Aren't I always?" Ventus grinned, he and Raven trading five as they passed one another, Raven warping Robin away while Ventus took to the skies.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Hey there, Fangy-poo~"
"YOU!" the ex-spider-headed villain snarled.
"Yo, what's up?" Ventus asked from atop Silky's back, a rolled-up newspaper in his hand.
"You're about to find out!" Fang snarled as he drew out a plasma whip and sent it out, Ventus air-stepping back like Akuma from Street Fighter, the gigantified Silky yowling in pain as the plasma whip struck him instead.
"Quiet, you!"
"You do know that's animal cruelty, right?"
"What about me?! You took my powers!"
"Hey, I'd have thought you'd appreciate the widening of the dating pool."
"You turned me into a powerless nobody!"
" . . . Once again; dating pool."
"HRRAAAAAGH!"
*TEEN TITANS*
"Boy Wonder. I'm honestly surprised you're the one who came here to 'deal'. From what I understand, you prefer the status quo to remain… unchanged…" Killer Moth hummed across the partition in the visitor's room, fingers steepled together.
"Yes, well, Ventus was otherwise… preoccupied," Robin grumbled. "Regarding the situation-"
"You mean Mothra with mange?"
"Where did you get that?!" Robin demanded as Mr. Walker held up a smartphone with the news running.
"Ventus and my daughter made a deal with the warden. A way to help with my rehabilitation since I've been a model prisoner," Mr. Walker said looking back at the screen, the smartphone looking absolutely tiny in his clawed hands. "Were you not made aware?"
"No… I wasn't…!" the Boy Wonder bit out.
"Well, not like you care about rehabilitation. You'd be out of a job otherwise," Killer Moth waved dismissively without looking up from the screen.
"Mr. Walker, if we could please get back on topic," Raven spoke up. "Regarding Beast Boy and Starfire's… pet-"
"Larva M-Three-Nineteen…" Killer Moth hummed in interruption, the two blinking in confusion. "A little hard to recognize him through the gigantism, but that's undeniably one of my M-Three series moths."
"You can tell the difference?"
"The darker markings on the abdomen and wings help, even if the camera does add a few pounds~" the incarcerated supervillain chuckled. "I don't know what that Fang boy did to M-Three-Nineteen, and honestly, I'm surprised he found a functional workaround for the self-destruct."
"Um… The what?" Robin blinked.
"The self-destruct. For in case they get too-big that they threaten the local biosphere," Killer Moth said as though he were explaining single-digit math to children. "Why do you think I went with lots of small moths instead of a few 'kaiju'?" he asked making air quotes.
"You considered those moths we fought 'small'?" Raven inquired thinking back on their first meeting.
"In context," Mr. Walker shrugged. "Also, bigger heads make room for bigger brains and higher brain functions which makes them harder to control in the long-term; and I've heard enough horror stories about mad scientists getting eaten by their own creations to learn from those shitshows."
"And… if Fang didn't actually work around the self-destruct… what would happen?"
"A large chemical thermal explosion when its metabolic rate reaches a critical juncture inside an insulated exoskeleton. Why do you-"
*BA-KROOOOOOOM!* the smartphone suddenly blared as Larva M-Three-Nineteen suddenly exploded.
" . . . What exactly have you been feeding him?" Mr. Walker asked as though giant kaiju self-destructing was normal in his line of work.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Titans! Status report! Status report!" Robin shouted as he and Raven warped back to the others, who at the moment were shaking pink moth-slime off their bodies.
"Well, we found Johnny," Star-Girl said pointing to the mech-making motorcycle punk, his wrists clad in violet crystalline manacles.
"What happened to the others?" Raven asked.
"While Ventus was distracting Fang with some smack-talk, Starfire and her sister used the leash to drag Silky toward the least-populated area of the city," Cyborg continued. "When Silky started bubbling up like a science fair project, Fang made his getaway while Vent shielded the city underneath with a barrier."
"And… Star…?" Robin asked peering past them to see Starfire on her knees in front of a massive slime-covered ribcage.
"She's taking the loss of her 'bumgorf' pretty hard," Ventus said dabbing his bleeding nose with a cloth.
Before more comment could be passed, an infantile cry cut through the gloom. Starfire letting out a gasp, instead of a human baby that had failed to evacuate, what she had found instead after digging through the slime was-
"*GASP!* Silkie! Oh, hello, my little bumgorf!" she cried merrily.
"Sooo… he molted…?" Raven blinked.
"Maybe it was something he ate?" Blackfire blinked as she smelled the pink-colored slime on her hair.
"Hold on, I thought bugs didn't have endoskeletons," Terra said eyeing the towering ribcage in front of them.
"Well, Star was feeding him alien berries the past day or so…" Cyborg shrugged as Starfire carried the de-kaiju'd Silkie up to Robin, giving him her most plaintive smile, her eyes asking whether or not she could keep him.
"Don't look at me. I've been out for the last week. I'll let you have this one," Ventus waved off as the Boy Wonder looked his way.
" . . . Alright. He can stay," Robin nodded after a moment, Starfire letting out a- "Yay!" -in merry exuberance. "As long as you don't give him any more alien food."
"But… I do not know what else to feed him," Starfire answered bashfully.
Before Beast Boy, Silkie's original caretaker, could speak on the matter, Silkie suddenly squirmed out of Starfire's arms and wriggled over to his own former corpse. Then, to the others' horror, Silkie began eating it. To further compound that horror, Starfire began partaking as well.
"Oh, it tastes just like zorka berries!" the alien princess gasped, taking large handfuls of the stuff and going to town.
"Um… Shouldn't we maybe try to stop her?" Terra blinked.
"Stuff's gotta get cleaned up somehow," Raven shrugged.
"Ah, reminds me of home," Blackfire hummed nostalgically.
*TEEN TITANS*
While Starfire and Silkie were cleaning the latter's… leftovers… Ventus, Terra, and Blackfire were briefed on what had happened to the team while they were gone for the week.
"Ah hah, I'm sorry. Did you just say werewolf?" Ventus blinked as the Titans sat together at the Pizza corner.
"It was closer to a sasquatch…" Beast Boy muttered. "Chemical spills from medical runoff and animal shapeshifting… Not a good mix."
"And this 'Adonis' guy was…?" Terra blinked.
"Some wannabee with 'Tiny Dick Syndrome' in hotrod-themed power armor," Cyborg shrugged.
"Huh. Well that's… fairly common in space, actually," Blackfire shrugged.
"So did you go back to being all-vegan?" Terra inquired.
"Er, not exactly. See, after I got the antidote, not only did I still have a craving for meat, I also started experiencing certain… allergies…"
" . . . Hold up, are you saying you're allergic to tofu?" Ventus blinked.
" . . . Kinda sorta."
"Oh, well, welcome to the club," the wind-wielder shrugged. "But hey, once you get some meat on your bones, maybe you really can start calling yourself 'Beast Man'."
"Yeah, well, I'm not going 'full cannibal' or anything like that; I'm just… going to be a little selective about the meat that I eat…" Beast Boy conceeded.
"Just as long as you do not act like 'one-hundred percent of a phallus', as little Kori would say," Blackfire hummed aloud.
"Ah, don't worry. The chemical imbalances in my brain are all gone," Beast Boy said holding up his hands.
"At least he didn't go into town acting like that. Could've really hurt his brand," Kitten hummed.
"I'm still confused, though. Why did Adonis turn into a sasquatch?" Blackfire questioned.
"That… was never really ascertained," Robin conceded. "And I… The others helped me realize that I don't have to solve every mystery in the world."
"Like why Adonis also kept his clothes on when he transformed?" Terra asked. "Because that part of the story confused the hell out of me."
"Yeah. That, and, Beast Boy being the one to stop Adonis… It helped me realize that just because I'm the field commander, it doesn't mean I have to be the one to solve all of our problems. With all that's happened… I might've been projecting my insecurities onto those around me."
"Well, going solo after being Batman's sidekick would be a hard act to follow," Terra hummed, Robin nodding begrudgingly.
"Okay, so that was day two after I left. What happened the rest of the week?" Ventus asked.
"Well… There was that thing with the possessed pie," Robin hummed.
"I'm sorry, the what now?" Terra blinked.
"Well, it all started when Cyborg brought home a pie that did not come from a reputable dealer," Raven began.
*Past*
"The power of Christ compels you!" Wintergreen raged as he stabbed a large crucifix into the eye socket of a motherly lady in red, pink, and white, her homely appearance turning horrid and hag-like, his attack breaking the magic spell on the other Titans.
"You are not my mother!"
"Yeah, get some, bitch!"
*Present*
"I still feel like Wintergreen was worried about job security," Cyborg chuckled.
"I get how Starfire shrugged off the pie-based mind control, what with her extra stomachs, but how did Kitten break free?" Ventus asked.
"She tried to use love against a Star Sapphire. That was a big mistake," Kitten said holding up her ring, burning brightly with indignant fury.
"I liked the part where little Kori took a rolling pin to your heads. I'll have to give her a pat on the back for that," Blackfire beamed.
"Still, I'd have thought that Robin's biggest fan wouldn't dig another reality-warper on her turf," Terra hummed.
"Oh, Mae-Eye got to Kcid way before the rest of us," Robin hummed, remembering the shock he got when he found the Fifth Dimensional Imp tripping out on mind-controlling pie in the pantry after everything was said and done.
"So what'd you do with the pie after sealing Mae-Eye back into it?" Ventus asked.
"Oh, we handed it off to the Hive Five~" Robin grinned.
"Oh, so you get on my case about possibly killing Slade's yandere fangirl daughter, but it's alright for you to kill people vicariously with satanic pie?" Ventus growled.
"Technically, Mae-Eye wasn't Judaic. All research pointed towards her being a concentration of unrequited motherly love. Or something," Raven clarified.
"And also, Jinx's magic backfired on Mae-Eye anyway," Robin countered.
"Oh, so you just had the Five do your dirty work for you," Ventus huffed.
"Geez, I just can't win with you, can I?" Robin huffed.
"Is the pie gone for good, or do we still need to worry about ginger bread kaiju down the road?" Terra asked.
"I'm more-curious about how that happened," Blackfire hummed pointing over to the mess.
"Oof, that's one hell of a story…" Robin conceded.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Okay… Remind me again how Kitten tamed Johnny's dog?" Terra blinked.
"And how did Silkie escape Wintergreen's notice for so long?" Blackfire inquired.
"Hey, even robot dogs want to be loved," Kitten shrugged. "And thank god Power Rings have a cleaning feature, 'cause you do not want to get motor oil dog slobber in your hair."
"As for Silkie… When was the last time you ever went in Beast Boy's room?" Raven asked in turn.
"Neat. And, fair," Blackfire conceded.
"You know, if you'd just come to me first, I would've backed you on this," Ventus hummed the changeling's way.
"Yeah, I realize that now…!" Beast Boy groaned, palming his forehead. "And to make matters worse, Starfire up and replaced me…!"
"Do you wanna go down there and eat kaiju giblets with Silkie?" Raven asked jabbing a thumb over her shoulder.
"Er, maybe not…" Beast Boy shrugged.
"What were you feeding Silkie anyway?" Ventus asked. "He didn't go kaiju on you before."
"Well, turns out he likes leftovers after a go-around in the ol' food processor," Beast Boy said scratching his head. "Not so much the solid foods."
"I liked the part where little Kori preyed on the others' ignorance~" Blackfire grinned. "Gorp Gorp, the Festival of Berating Drapery… Man, off-worlders really will believe anything~"
"Still, glad I could leave the city for a week and not find it burned to the ground when I got back," Ventus nodded.
"I'm not that bad…" Robin grumbled, a few of the others shooting him a look. "Still, without you around, I've had time to realize that our work is a bit more-nuanced than I originally thought."
"Well, the Justice League hasn't come down on me yet, so I must be doing something right," the wind-wielder shrugged as he bit into his pizza. "Any news on Brother Blood?"
"Not yet," Robin conceded. "I'm… waiting on status updates from Bumblebee and the others."
"Ah, good to know you can relegate once in a while. And here I thought you'd spent all week sitting in front of your conspiracy wall."
" . . . "
"That's totally what you did, didn't you."
"Not all the time."
"Well, nice to know Robin didn't pull a total 180," Kitten shrugged, watching with morbid fascination as Starfire and Silkie ate their wight (and then some) in 'kaiju giblets'.
*TEEN TITANS*
Author's Note:
The backstory for Control Freak's remote is something that Spaceman and I concocted. Because let's be real, if he were smart-enough to make a "Portal Remote" from scratch… he'd probably be a lot richer. Him using fragments of a (passively-implied) Mother and Father Box just make the most sense, contextually.