Flashing Lights and Sounds
By Jedi-and
Disclaimer: I do not own TT, nor do I own Mr. Noel Collins or Robert Candide but I DO own my own characters.
Authors note: I will post this notice again just in case you didn't read it last time! I have adjusted Scalpel's age from 16, 17 this year to the age of 17, 18 this year. In English he is one year older now, just because I preferred that age bracket for him. Hey, I'm an author, I can work on whims if I so desire.
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Chapter 18: Humanity Wrecker.
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Now, just as we jumped from the Titans to Nigel in the previous chapters, we shall jump once more from Nigel to the Titans as they attempt, with whatever degree of success, which is usually little or no, to get ready for whatever dinner engagement they had planned. Using a well-known camera angle, we pan through the Titans' tower, and look in on each one, in deep anticipation on what they were or were not going to do that evening.
The first vi... I mean person on our tour is a man, a tall broad man, mostly made up of metal.
"I already told you Gar, we are not seeing Gore Mutants Part VIII again." He said in a slightly forceful tone. "It was bad enough the first time."
"Come on! That bit with the huge monster tentacle on the edge of the boat rocked! Where they tried to run from it but the boat overturned and the monster thing ate them all! I have never been so freaked!"
Just so you know, Gore Mutants part VIII was the latest horror flick out. To the average horror newcomer, it was pretty scary. However, more seasoned horror fans, much like the lads here, had mixed opinions. It tried to combine the suspense horror of most "large-animal-is-mad-at-us" thrillers with the blood and guts filled fun of most slasher movies. Unfortunately, it only made Cyborg bored, as the kill count was more preposterous than Battle Royal 2: Requiem in which over three fourths of the cast had been killed within literally the first fifteen minutes. In the first Battle Royale, the people lasted for at least half an hour.
Beast Boy, on the other hand, found it a wonderful movie, good fun and realistic. Victor tried to point out that it had the worst costume and make up design since pantomime and the Jack Frost movies, but he wouldn't have any of it.
"Well, if we're not going to watch Gore Mutants, what ARE we going to watch?"
"Anything but a chick-flick is okay by me."
The third spoke to this particular wheel, er, spoke up: it happened to be Robert 'Back By Popular Demand' Candide. Rob also had mixed feelings about the movie, but he would rather see anything than nothing at all. He remembered the time where he and his fellows had argued so much and for so long that they couldn't buy any tickets to anything anyway as they had missed the last showing of all the films. On the other hand, that had allowed them to see some of the truly BIZARRE stuff that came on some of their obscure cable channels late at night…
As the arguments continued, we move away from the gents and up to the bedroom part of Titans Tower, coming across Noel and Raven, getting ready to go out.
"I was never one for clothing knowledge." Raven stated, looking through her somewhat small collection of items in order to find the one she needed. She had a couple of nice dresses for very formal occasions, in comparison to Starfire, who had a whole walk in wardrobe full of dresses, gowns and matching scarves. Hell, she had a FEW walk in wardrobes, one for each occasion: summer, winter, action and formal. No wonder her shopping bill was almost doubled most of the Titans.
Most men think that women take too long to get dressed. It's not the getting dressed that does this; it's the deciding on what she is going to wear that takes the longest amount of time. Noel, the white-clothed Titan, was already done with his clothing ritual. What he wore wasn't really important; he was too preoccupied watching his other half get dressed. Well not watching. When a person helps a young woman get ready, it isn't a spectator sport. You have to participate when required. Don't get me wrong however, some guys I know spend just as long doing their hair as women. Noel remembered that Gar once asked him five times in a night if he thought his hair looked good or not. Each time the answer was yes, until the last one where he replied no. He was then bombarded with a string of questions on why and how Gar's hair had changed since the last time, which was exactly in no way at all. He didn't quite understand why everyone brought his or her problems to him, maybe it was because he seemed level headed and wise, or maybe he is the only one who wouldn't do or say anything too harsh about it. Or too stupid, like Rob's solutions.
"You'll look good in anything." He simply replied, stretching out across the bed in which he was relaxing upon. She raised a brow and continued to browse.
"I'm not so sure."
Noel laughed, though there was the slight undertone of a groan, and stretched again.
"Rave on McDuff, Rave on." He quoted. Raven poked her tongue out lightly in an almost comical style and continued to look.
And Noel proved to not have much patience for the whole thing, as after five minutes Noel got up, walked over casually and grabbed a random dress. It was a soft blue with a halter-top front and light gold trimming around the edges. Enough to be seen, but not so much as to make it look tacky. The dress was long and had a split up the side going up and stopping just before the hips.
"Here, take this one, and just so you know I don't think it makes your bum look big." He said, this time being the one who slyly poked his tongue at her before she snatched it away and walked behind a separating panel. This was one thing, despite not making much sense, Noel understood. Even though they have seen each other... how shall we say, privately before and while in this state shared certain intimacies, she still had her dignity to uphold and therefore Noel could understand why it was important to have a separating screen in the way while she changed.
"It's been a while since I tried this one on..." Raven thought out loud..
"Hon, you haven't put on an ounce since the last physical..." Noel replied, as he folded his arms and sat on the edge of their bed, looking in the other direction.
"True." She fastened the clip on the back of the neck and made sure everything was okay before adorning the rest of the attire. She breathed in, just in case, and carried on. There was a brief silence before he spoke again.
"So who was this woman Nigel was with? You gave your report and then you bolted for the shower." He commented to try and break the silence as she changed and he got bored again.
"I knew that Beast Boy was going for the shower next, and I dislike having showers after him." She replied softly and matter-of-factly.
"Though it's better than after Nigel. Most of the time it's blood in there. Or the time Cyborg used one of the normal showers due to the fact that his special personal one was on the fritz. Ugh, oil and a lot of static shocks. Bad all around."
"I suppose." Raven fluffed her hair a little to make sure it was okay. She pondered if she should try it up, and then she dismissed such ideas and thinking. She was starting to turn into Tara.
"The woman." Noel reminded her.
"Ah yes, the woman was a local undertaker. From what I gathered from our short encounter, she took in Nigel for a night or so, but then she somehow lost her home."
"An undertaker? Undertaker…." Noel said he got up, walking around a bit to try and job his synapses. He did this for a few seconds, then he paused and his memory kicked in.
"Was it the short plump one that did Latrisha's funeral?" He questioned, looking back over at the screen to see if Raven was ready, leaning on one hand and trying to peek around.
"Yes, her. I didn't think she was that bad." Raven said as she looked around the scene's edge and shooed Noel back in order to finish so they could catch their reservation. "But yes, her. I could sense she had a lot of kindness despite her sad outer appearance, I could tell that she was pleased that Nigel was with her."
Noel nodded along in the way of the impatient as glanced at his watch.
"I'll be done in a minute."
He looked up, slightly confused.
"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you..." Raven said as she came out from behind the screen and showed off the dress.
"See? I told you you'd look beautiful." Noel said. She blushed slightly and looked away before she got back on topic.
"Scalpel made a condition for his return."
This shocked Noel, and then his eyes both looked to the extreme left as they reacted to his brain, as he tried to figure out what that condition might be. Nigel wouldn't make a condition unless it was beneficial to someone in some way, and it wasn't going to be for his benefit then who... then it struck him.
"The Undertaker isn't coming to stay is she?" He asked, rather deadpan, his face a perfect picture of being unimpressed.
"She knows a recipe for a very nice Spanish omelette." Raven laughed as Noel slapped his forehead. That was the last thing he needed. Three Titans were off, with one returning some when, and the other returning who knew when, if he returned at all (indeed, Savior had heard through the grapevine that Tim had returned to Gotham, and then his father had found out he was Robin and Tim had actually resigned from the role to appease his father's worry that he would be hurt. Batman had picked out a new Robin, a young woman named Stephanie Brown who had been a Gotham vigilante called Spoiler, but apparently she hadn't been able to cut the mustard and Batman had cut her loose. Almost immediately afterward though, some kind of gigantic mess had erupted in Gotham as something sparked off a GIGANTIC gang war, and Tim had returned to the Robin identity to help with the problem. Not to mention there was another big brouhaha brewing in the superhero community: recently Sue Dibny, the wife of Ralph Dibny, aka the Elongated Man, had been murdered, and though the Titans hadn't gotten any details, some nasty rumours had come their way on what was going on, and how it may or may not involve some VERY nasty skeletons in people's closets. Well, the problem seemed to focus on the adult superheroes, hopefully it wouldn't touch his team…) and now a civilian in his home. What next? An ant infestation? Leaking pipes? Zombies? Movies come alive? Losing their powers at the worst possible time? (And yes that was a shameless, shameless plug of Legend Maker's Halloween fic Boogeymen, bad Jedi.)
"Are you trying to kill me with stress?"
"Maybe."
"Why are you my girlfriend again?"
"Because I'm the only one who actually understands your warped and dark little mind, mortal." She patronized, patting his head and playing with his hair. He just took her hand and marched out the door, dragging her behind him. They would have to make double time if they wanted to make their reservation.
The pair marched right past Terra, who was listening to some very loud headphones and bopping her head to the beat of power rock ballads. She took off her headphones as Savior started to speak to her.
"What?"
"Nigel will be coming home soon! Make sure you don't lock him out." He shouted again.
"What does he look like?" She replied. She still had not seen any photos of the young man, as his file had been removed from the computer and any other photos had either been torn up or hidden in the hopes of avoiding being torn up and then subsequently forgotten or lost.
"You'll know him..." Noel replied succinctly before closing the door and heading down to the carpool.
"Bad choice of dress Rae, makes your butt look big..." Terra laughed as she placed her headphones back upon her blonde head and bopped her way towards the kitchen. She couldn't hear the 'Damn you Tara Markov!!!!!!!' shouted very loudly from Noel several floors down as Raven started to wonder if she should go get changed or not. She doesn't need to be in the same room to sense things after all. Hell if she pushed herself she probably could read minds in another area code!
But that's another story.
Soon enough, the lads passed her as she re-emerged from the kitchen, carrying a glass of milk and a handful of cookies. She would have liked more of those cookies for herself, but unfortunately the boys, Victor and Gar, had grabbed them earlier and blamed it on Rob.
"So you don't want to come with us then?" Rob asked.
"Nah, I just need a quiet night in, that's all." She replied, nodding. "But thanks for the offer. Oh and bring back some cookies!" She said as she lightly hit them on the head with her magazine that she had recovered from said kitchen. It seems she was reading it at breakfast this morning and forgot to take it with her. From personal experience I tend to find that anything I read while eating breakfast inevitably ends up having a random Co-Co pop splattered across the page with a trail of milk following it as if it was trying to escape. Luckily Terra was more awake in the mornings than most people and so her magazine didn't sustain collateral damage. Mostly.
"Alright your loss. We're on the other end of the Titan com if you need us." Vic said as he waved goodnight, as he and his fellows left, leaving Terra the sole remaining Titan inside the tower at that time.
The place to herself... What was she going to do first?
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Well, whatever she was going to do, she wasn't expecting the return of their doctor. He made his way up to the door of his former home and paused.
"Like returning home?" His associate asked. Sophie was standing there smiling, one hand on his shoulder while the other carried a cloth bag that had all the things she could salvage from her home. Her brother had indeed started to move out everything to their parents' house in an attempt to draw her home. However, their parents were away that day on a business trip or late rehearsals, so Sophie snuck home, grabbed as much stuff as she could, and snuck back out, telling their butler not to say a thing to the master of the house.
She hadn't gotten much: just a few shirts, a few jackets, just clothes stuff really. All her other stuff she could either replace or sneak home to get later. The bag was an older one; however it suited her because it looked like it was made out of funeral material.
"More like returning to a place I'm not sure I'm welcome." He replied, placing his clawed hand on the scanner. It scanned him and bleeped open. Either they still had his handprint in the computer or they still haven't fixed the problem that anyone with a handprint could get in. If they hadn't fixed that problem, Noel would go insane.
As they made their way inside slowly he flicked the switch into the dim lit hallway. The light flickered on... then blew.
"Ecalk." He said to himself in his native tongue before continuing on in all the same with Sophie following slowly behind him, each step a cautious one. The computer flicked on its night vision to try and capture the ghoul who had just appeared inside the tower.
Apparently, it didn't recognize this ghoul as ITS ghoul, as the alarms sounded loudly as the auto defences prepped themselves. Obviously, he wasn't a part of the system's "okays". Noel was going to have a field day with whoever had supposedly fixed the system.
"Eep!" Sophie called as she ducked for cover.
"Security override: Scalpel – 332!" He shouted, in hopes it would work.
It, of course, didn't.
The computer let rip with all manners of machine guns, lasers, ninja stars and anything else that could act as a projectile weapon. Nigel ducked and dived, trying to think of another plan. If he couldn't get a security override it meant he was wiped from the main computer, however he may still be on the medical computer.
"Medical Override: Scalpel 192!"
Surprise surprise, it worked: The whole system shut itself down and the weapons folded away back into the wall. He sighed in relief. Walking over to what was now a little worried Sophie, he leaned on the chair she was hiding under and smiled.
"You can stop your hiding activity now." He stated, leaning a little more to see her better.
"Are you sure?" She asked, poking her head out lightly and looking around a little.
While he spent the next few minutes trying to convince her that she was going to be okay, Terra on the other had had a much different feeling.
As she was the only one in the tower, she decided to take it easy and relax, sprawled across the sofa while listening to her music, snacking and reading. Multitasking. In a semantic way anyway
She had lifted a cookie when she noticed that the main screen was flashing red with the words 'Intruder' all over it. Her pupils dilated and she dropped the cookie, even though her hand stayed were it was, floating effortlessly in front of her mouth. She, as mentioned, had heard about the events brewing around Sue Dibny's murder, and one of the rumours was that some villain had gotten his hands on information he should NOT have and was stalking superheroes in their homes…
She dashed up to the computer, each thought in her head suddenly focussed towards trying to figure out the problem. Pressing all the buttons she could on the keypad, she found the right one which gave a vid-link.
There was unfortunately no sound, because if she had sound she would have heard Nigel ask if Sophie was okay, but there wasn't, so all she saw was some form of monster walk towards an unsuspecting victim. The little girl in Terra kicked in, looking around for something, anything to hide behind. Her first official Titan mission with Aberration hadn't exactly left her with a good mindset towards things that did not look human.
Then the Titan in her kicked in. She ran out of the room to try and see if she could help the lady in the video before it was too late. She didn't even think of using her communicator.
As she got down to the greeting hall, she noted it was dim-lit and more eerie than she liked in a situation. Just one of the things against her: she was facing an unknown attacker who may or may not have killed the woman in the video capture and she was on her own in the tower.
She caught a glimpse of the creature that had been in the video. However, she didn't make any noise like her instincts told her to, no, she just reeled back behind a wall and opened up her communicator.
Nigel's head twitched around slightly as his ears perked up. He had heard the communicator. Like most mechanical things, there was a slight snapping noise when it opened, and he had caught it.
"What's wrong?" Sophie asked as he started to stand, trying to pinpoint the minute click that the com-links give off. He closed his eyes and listened for a moment or two.
Breathing. Short, sharp breathes. It was a young woman, the variations in the air and the fact the breathing seemed higher pitched indicated as such. He then heard a few bleeps and his head snapped around to exactly where Terra was. He knew her general location, but those last few bleeps pinpointed her completely and eliminated any possibility that it was an echo of an empty room.
"Stay here." He told Sophie, as she found that in her fear she'd squeezed herself under a chair that was really too small for her and was now struggling to untangle herself from. Nigel slowly walked in Terra's direction, each clawed step cushioned by the soft carpet that the Titans had placed in their hallway. It would have made more sense to have something that was easily washable so they would wash away any muck and grime, however they thought ahead and made the carpet red just in case something was to happen. You know exactly what I mean. They had been attacked in their greeting hall before you know.
Silence.
For a moment nothing seemed to happen, as if the silence was effecting time. And then Terra felt it. A breath on her neck.
Spinning to see, she stumbled backwards, her eyes filling with fear at the creature that was behind her. Some form of monster that managed to creep through the shadows at her. If she was more rational or in a brighter corridor (damn you Aberration), she might have seen or otherwise noticed the claw marks in the walls and ceilings where he had climbed them to get behind her.
Nigel was going to speak, however this new foe extended her arms outwards and they started to glow a yellowish colour. He raised a brow at them. Did they make projectiles like Starbolts? Was it in order to see him better? Or...
The last option came into play as Terra shook the ground under him, throwing him around a little. The monster started to fall off balance, and this was the time she needed to make a break for it. She dashed past the man/creature/thing/general not one of us and ran up the stairs and towards the living room. If she could activate the security code in time, she might be able to get some extra firepower. But first she has to make it up the stairs alive.
Nigel, on the other hand, could do nothing but watch the assailant run. His balance thrown off, he had to straighten himself out first before he could even see what she had thrown at him by mistake. He couldn't see what it was exactly because of the aforementioned lack of lighting, however he knew something flew.
Sophie knew exactly where it was. She could sense things, where they were in the dark. It isn't sonar, as she couldn't pinpoint everything, but let us call it a useful side effect of her…gift. She slowly crawled over to the thing the female had dropped/thrown in a panic, closing her eyes now and again to try and find it that way.
Her hand brushed against a small object, rounded and about the size of a palm, a perfect circle with an extra bit on the top. She opened her eyes and looked down. She could vaguely make out a T shape on the front and because of the ambient light from the surrounding areas, she could tell it was a warmer colour, probably yellow or orange. She looked over to shout to Scalpel about her find, but before she could even get her mouth in the right shape to make an S sound, she closed her mouth and blinked.
He had wandered off.
Terra reached the lounge in a panic, her breathing heavy as she rushed over to the computer. Each second counted as she started to punch in random keys, trying to find one that unleashed some of the biggest guns in the tower. Nothing worked. Fumbling through the pockets on her belt furiously, she tried to find a code, something. She wished she'd paid attention to when Noel and Tim were laying down the security specifics instead of trying to solve that damn Rubik's cube…
And then she remembered.
'If you need us, we're on the other end of the communicator.'
Of course. Alone she was vulnerable, but with her friends she was part of a well oiled machine that could take care of any monster, as she went to her back pocket to take out her Titan-com.
Her ryes stretched wide as she realized when she had thrown out her hands to disrupt the intruder, she accidentally threw the communicator away. She cursed herself, trying to find something, anything to help her. Then she thought back to her training, or what she had paid attention to. Robin had told her that whenever the Titan's security system was set off, all the Titan communicators went off simultaneously, so all she had to do was press the alert button on the console in front of the giant TV, and she would be saved. But which button was it again?
Scalpel took his time while chasing after her. He had learned that sometimes a foe would try and draw you into a trap by running away, letting people chase after them and then turning around and launching an attack. He didn't want her to pull a surprise like that, so he took it carefully, making each step as cautiously as the last. He also didn't want to set off one of the many traps the Tower had to offer. After the whole business with Myth, oh that seemed like an age ago, each floor had its own sets of traps that could be activated just by pressing one small button UNDER the console in the lounge. And before you ask why it's under, having it on the top was a fool's errand. Noel went crazy at the fact there was such a doom button anyway. One button that controls all the defence systems in the entire tower was just asking for trouble. If someone had known about said button, they could easily use the tower against its owners. Noel had talked about taking it out but Robin seemed adamant that it stayed in.
He wondered where his, now renewed, team-mates were. It was strange that they would leave the tower so undefended. Maybe Tim's departure had affected the judgement of the others. Then again, they were young adults and anything could effect their judgement. Hell, in Rob and Gar's case the right shade of wallpaper could affect their judgement.
Terra scrambled around the control panel. Each button looked dull and lifeless, and she needed to find it.
"It's got to be the red one!" She shouted, searching for colours rather than anything else. This logic was based on that, in most movies, a big red button always controlled any gadgets that caused remarkable damage. Other coloured buttons did other things, however it was always the big red ones for things like defence lasers or self destruct systems. She remembered the rebuilding of Titan Tower and how they decide to change the self-destruct for the tower from a big red button on the control panel to a switch on the main computer. Two keys were needed, plus an access code or optic scan. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) Terra didn't have the clearance to use it. Only the first Five Titans did, everyone else would have to wait a few years, including Noel. She also remembered they reused that red button as Beast Boy had found it in the rubbish. (He wanted a better door button). She had been thinking along this tangent for a while before she realised something. Why would such an important button be placed on top of the consol?
Scalpel had managed to track the girl down to the lounge area; he could still hear breathing as it slowed down, taking each breath more easily, almost relaxed, as it carried the soft words of 'Found you' to Nigel. Unsure of what this meant, he continued on. Maybe she had pulled up a picture of him on the cameras that were stationed throughout the tower, but when he looked over at said camera in this corridor, it was facing the other way and not panning. That didn't seem good. Just to be safe, he pulled his glaive. But if he wasn't caught on the cameras, then what...
His eyes widened at the whole tower almost clicked at once, revealing machine guns, tasers, lasers, phasers, mazers, anything that ended with aser, more weapons than what had been in the giant greeting room, all in this one little corridor. His ears drooped and wondered who the hell designed all this...
"Oops..." Terra said, her mouth wide as lights started to flash and sirens wailed. "I think that may be overkill."
The entire tower started to explode in noise as gun after gun fired. People in Metropolis would have probably heard at least a little noise. Perhaps that is exaggeration, but Jump City definitely heard it!
Terra started to back up from the console as it folded itself up and sank into the floor. This time it was her eyes that went wide as she quickly fell to her knees and tried to claw at the gap in which the controls had descended. This had turned from self-defence into utter madness; she would end up annihilating herself and the guy who came in…
Something burst through the doors behind her, wearing a tatty, and somewhat tacky (in her opinion) red suit. He had grey skin and large pointed ears and claws. He looked behind him and then forward once more, staring straight at her. He shouted something to her but she couldn't respond, she was just looking up in pure fear, her rational mind awash in primal adrenaline. Keeping his back to the door, hoping it won't give way under the constant barrage of sonic cannon fire and heavy wall-mounted machineguns, he started to approach her, taking small steps to start with, and then a little faster. Terra started to panic again as she tried to press the access codes on another, still there terminal to get back into the console. All she got were continual bleeps in that patronizing denial tone. Then she realized her personal space had been breached, as she jumped back a little from where Nigel was standing next to her. She hadn't heard his last few steps, he had seemed to appear out of thin air. Fortunately for her, aid came in the form of a new piece of defence. Down from the roof came a Proton cannon, the one taken from the original T-Car. It had been strapped to the roof to use in case anything went wrong, as it aquired a lock on the threat.
Scalpel cursed, and as he yelled loudly as pain shot through his body. What made it doubly worse is that not only had he been blasted backwards by the cannon, he was also thrown out the window (dammit, that was Noel's shtick…). Shards of glass continued to rip his already tattered clothing, his suit now a mess of scraps and shreds that hung from his frame. After a moment or two in pain, floating effortlessly in agony, he landed.
Hard.
And proceeded to curse at the blonde girl in his native tongue. It seems he learned quite a few profanities while being in the military, but then again an entire sentence could be a word long swear in comparison to our language.
Terra looked down upon him as he started to stand up. Unsure what else to do, she fired off a tidal wave of mud and dirt, in the vain hopes that it might actually keep him down, or at least knock him down. Unable to do anything else, Scalpel ran, and ran. He didn't have enough time to grab his Halberd-like weapon, which had been thrown away and landed in the ground. Terra jumped down, freefalling until she landed onto her trademark generic rock that she liked to fly on and followed the wave, controlling it and manoeuvring him towards the obstacle course, hoping that that might slow him down. She was so deep in concentration that she didn't notice a loud group of squeaks and shrieks behind her.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Sophie said as she materialized behind Terra and grabbed hold of her shoulder. She had flown up to the roof top in the hopes that she'd be okay, but when she saw Scalpel blown out of the window and a blonde lady following she was able to recognize both of them. Having lived in Jump City for a good while, she knew all of the Titans, and she could recognize Terra from a way away just because she was the only blonde haired rock-rider in the city. The undertaker put two and two together and deduced they didn't recognize each other as Titans.
Regrettably, even Terra had a battle state of mind and quickly whipped her around and yanked Sophie's arm behind her, putting pressure on her shoulder.
"Who the hell are you?!" Terra shouted. Sophie, after being man handled by the brute who worked for her brother, decided that if she was going to be here she needed to step up and actually carry some form of weapon with her. Nothing lethal and no way as harsh as Nigel's glaive, but something to defend herself with, like the tazer she pulled from her jacket. She had never been the most battle ready person; she would be completely useless in a real battle situation and she didn't know how to even use the tazer, but maybe just the sight of it charging up would be enough to scare Terra into letting go, then Sophie could get the hell out of there without too much damage. She obviously hadn't been thinking of trying to talk to Terra so she just wanted to get out of there, with the hope that her powers would work one more time.
Terra did indeed let go because of the self defence tool, and doing what came first in her panic-stricken mind, she spun the young undertaker to push her off the rock as she was swooping down low. What she hadn't counted on was that the Undertaker shot forward with her free hand and grabbed Terra's arm while being pushed.
Let me do the maths for you. Sophie has a rounder figure, she stands roughly five foot three inches in height and weighed roughly one hundred and fifty pounds, give or take ten to twenty pounds. Terra stood in at five foot one inches (we assume) and weighed roughly seventy five pounds in weight. This meant that Sophie was taller, and heavier than the near anorexic Terra and hence, Terra was yanked with her when Sophie fell off the rock. Sophie landed flat on her back when she hit the ground, but Terra rolled a little before finally coming to stop, flat on her face.
"Ow!" Sophie said, as she sat up and started to rub her lower back, each part of it aching slightly, as she tried standing all, hunched over in pain. Placing both of her gloved hands on her lower back, she stretched out, trying to put her spine back into place. A loud crunch happened, as she gave off a small, almost comical tear with an expression that looked like a smile gone wrong with pain. It could only be described as 'Yes it hurt as much as it sounded'.
"Did that hurt?" Nigel asked, wandering over, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head after being slammed into one of those large metallic doors they had on the course by a mud wave.
"Yeah, it did rather." She said, still hurting and a little hunched over. He smiled softly and had one brow raised before he finished wandering over behind her.
"Let me take a look at…"
Scalpel was cut off from his sentence as his peripheral vision picked up something large and dirt coloured.
"DOWN!" He yelled as he pushed her to the floor and dove out the way, finally picking up his fallen glaive as he continued to roll before dashing behind Terra, her head snapping round to follow him but her feet unable to keep up with the movement, causing her to fall. With his glaive extended he jumped up, his features dark and his glaive pointed down at her, perfectly lined up and deadly quick, just like when he locked onto Starfire when he first met the Titans.
And just like then, Scalpel was blasted out of the air by a sonic cannon shot and pushed out into the water. Sophie's eyes went wide as she ran towards the bay to help, but a rocky hand shot from the floor and around her, tripping her and catching her, holding her above the island. She struggled against it but it was of no use as it had her tight. Terra laughed a bit, in the way of a person who is satisfied with what they had done, and jot much appreciating the woman for what she had done, she started to squeeze down upon her…until white ropes came from a black portal in the ground and dragged her away with a yelp. The rock hand stayed there, however the pressure was no longer hurting her. Terra appeared on the other side of the portal nearby and right into the very angry faces of Raven, who still had a glass of red wine in her fingers, and Savior, who was still eating some of the complimentary bread rolls.
"H-hey guys." Terra laughed sheepishly, upside down and watching the others pour back to the island. Behind her was another flash of activity as Beast Boy shot out to sea and retrieved Scalpel before he drowned, as the alien shouted and thrashed around. Nigel was dropped next to the young couple, wet and mad as his medium length blue hair now flopped down over his eyes and his claws dripped. Raven quickly threw up a shield as he shook himself dry, almost like a dog would. Everyone, save Raven and Noel, became the victim of said drying.
"We came back when all hell broke loose." Cyborg stated, his cannon turning back into his arm, looking unimpressed. He wasn't happy: they had gotten to a really good part in the film when their communicators went off, and had booed out of the movie.
"Thanks guys, now we can bust this freak an'..." Terra started, struggling to get out of the Shimmer trap. There was a pause, as the strands didn't seem to loosen. It wasn't like it was done by accident, it almost seemed the strands didn't want to move, let alone let Terra go.
"What are you talking about?" Savior asked as he finished his bread. He looked around and noticed the devastation that was wrought by their little scuffle and thanked god that they were both on the same side, as facing either of them in a fight might be a problem. They looked around for a moment or two before seeing the state of Nigel's clothing.
"Oh." He simply stated, doing his own quick mental math. "Well obviously something has gone amiss here. Terra, I would like you to meet the newest addition to our team, Scalpel." He said, gesturing towards the wet young man, who parted his hair with his claws before trying to brush it back to get it out of his eyes, grinning his own sheepish smile.
"THAT'S Scalpel?!" She yelled, as she was finally let go from her Shimmer prison. She walked towards him, taking each step a little cautiously in case he lashed out. "Can we trust him?" She asked Cyborg, completely ignoring tact and the fact the alien was right in front of him.
"I wasn't the person who initiated the first assault." He stated, folding his arms. This, alas made his hair flop over his eyes again.
"We can trust him." Cyborg replied. There was a pause. Terra slowly reached out with one hand, shakily at first. Scalpel took it and shook lightly.
"Aww, isn't it beautiful! Now get up there and clean up your mess!" Cyborg finished off, bellowing somewhat, albeit in a fun tone.
"H-help?" A soft voice came from behind the Titans as they turned to see Sophie, still in the grip of the monstrous earth hand. Terra looked a little shocked and undid the construct, causing the civilian to fall to the ground once again. She coughed slightly before Nigel offered her a hand and she got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Thank-you." She breathed a sigh of relief and straightened herself out.
"So who are you anyway?" Beast Boy asked as she blushed somewhat and replied. The others listened intently; mixed emotions coming across their faces. Could she be trusted? After all, Nigel, bless his cotton socks (if he wore any, which he didn't, socks and clawed feet did not mix well) was naive and hence a little too trusting of others, but this Sophie seemed alright. Still, did this situation come about due to the goodness of her heart? Or was it just that she wanted to get inside Titans Tower?
"Well I don't really know about you staying. What do you guys think?" Beast Boy asked, looking over at his companions. They all shrugged.
"Well..." Savior started; his hand at his chin in thought before a deep voice from behind cut him off. He turned slightly to see Cyborg there, looking quite serious.
"I think she should stay." He simply stated, no ifs, no ands and no buts, just that she should stay. Sophie nodded a thank-you quietly, as the others just seemed to go with it. Without Robin, despite what had been happening over the last few months, they couldn't even make the simplest decisions anymore without trouble. Savior quickly stepped up as the temporary leader, though it wasn't official yet, and he tended to defer to Cyborg as he was one of the original five Titans. Robin's regime may have been harsh, but at least decisions where made and made quickly.
"After a full medical and a decent night sleep, we'll talk more about it in the morning. There is a spare room near the middle of the tower." Savior stated, somewhat exhausted. Raven shrugged and wandered to the tower, her wine now finished. She'd return the glass tomorrow.
And with that the Titans headed back to the tower, with Sophie in tow.
As a man grinned on a nearby rooftop across the bay, as he watched through a telescope. A row of straight teeth shone through.
"Perfect."
--------------------------------------
The morning came; the sun arose from its resting place beneath the horizon and sat, waiting for time to catch up with it. The birds were awake on the trees, and in the tower all the Titans all slept in. It was a Sunday after all.
Each Titan sleeps differently, personalities reflected in their slumber. Gar Logan was sprawled sporadically over his bed sheets, while his best friend Victor was asleep at attention, perfectly still and rigid on the Frankenstein meets motor pool-like bed. The couple of Raven and Noel both slept relatively still, Noel's arm over Raven's body as if he was protecting her. Raven slept in an almost a mix of the fetal position and the recovery position, her knees tucked up slightly to her chest with her arms bent so her hands were under the pillow. Tim and Kory's rooms was empty, for understandable reasons. Nigel slept with his hands on his torso, almost looking like he was dead, also quite still (probably tired because of the injuries) while Terra was the opposite in both movement and pride as she was on her front, her face planted into the pillow with her rear in the air, her quilt thrown onto the floor so her bright yellow pyjama's were for all the world to see. If one of the Titans had been around, they probably would have worried she would suffocate.
But their guest, she couldn't sleep, and so on a light and breezy Sunday morning, roughly nine o'clock in the morning, she pottered around. Tidying up, putting things away and basically general… well… pottering. Is that even a word?
The first of the Titans emerged from their dorms to see Sophie, happily wandering around with headphones on. Cyborg had woken up earlier than normal, just because he did. Did you ever get that feeling where you had wanted to sleep in, yet for some unknown reason you just wake up? There is no noise, nor commotion that wakes you, you just wake up and can't, no matter how hard you try, get back to sleep.
"What are you doing?"
Sophie turned with a dust cloth and the CD rack in her hands. Her turn was sharp and fast, as she wasn't sure of who was speaking to her.
"Um..." She looked away somewhat, an ever so slight blush on her features. Not one that a would be lover would have, but one that someone who's been caught in the act might have. A very particular type of embarrassment that meant she could only shrug and look away.
"You don't need to prove your right to be here." Cyborg sat down as she placed the CD rack back in its rightful place and removed the headphones. "You took in Scalpel when he was in a rough spot and we, ever so quickly, are returning the favour." He finished, sipping some coffee that was on the table. "Good brew."
"Thanks." There was a slight pause. Even if we don't realize it, there are always slight pauses. Waiting for an elevator, or a subway train, to finally stop and for those doors to open. There always seems to be a pause, nothing major, just a pause to remind us that it is about time to do something, something that seems to be slightly out of time with the world's metronome.
"So... why did you say I should stay?" Sophie asked. She would usually be shy and quiet around those she didn't know, but Cyborg seemed all right.
"I knew of your character." He simply stated. "A few years ago, you helped a family I knew, I knew very well. You helped with one of the most difficult periods they will ever have to go through, and at no profit what so ever on your end. You know what I'm talking about?"
She nodded.
"So I looked you up, I looked at some of your history. I couldn't live with it if you doing such a thing for favours or blackmail. I had to know. I found out more about you. You worked for all sorts of people, charity work most of the time. Children's charities, Soup kitchens, even blood donating." The man/machine let out a breath. "Your record has just been one long bout of kindness. I felt bad, looking through the records, looking for something that would prove to me that you did it for something, some hidden agenda but... nothing. I even asked some of the people you worked with. They said you never wanted anything, you just did it. An all round good Samaritan. For the longest time I wouldn't believe it but after you took in Nigel I started to have doubts and reliefs. On the one hand you took him in because he was cold, on the other hand you could have taken him in because you needed help scaring your brother."
Sophie sighed lightly, her hand clenched lightly upon the table.
"I didn't want him to help me. I just wanted him to realize that his work wasn't in vain." She stated softly. "I've seen how hard he worked, in the papers, on the news. They were always complaining that the Titans had destroyed something in order to stop a madman, and there you were, fighting hard to stay alive and harder to make sure no one but yourselves got hurt. You were all completely selfless and then I saw him. Injured and out in the cold of night. I couldn't do anything else BUT bring him in." Her hand clenched a little bit tighter. "It isn't right, after all the work he did for us for him to be cast aside like an old shoe. As for the other things, I did them because I'm fed up of the way some people treat other people." She sighed inwardly. "The way my family treat other people."
She took a deep breath before she explained herself.
"As you probably know, my name is Sophie Mathews, and many know that I am part of the Mathews family, owners of a very large and profitable business. Also, a movie star is part of our family, meaning that not only are my family rich, they were filthy rich and loved it." Most people would have said this with a kind of a gloat or at least very smug, but Sophie was neither. She wasn't happy at all. Her whole cheery outer image had dimmed somewhat at the mention of the millions that lined the BATHTUBS at her original, mansion like home. Now I think about it, the Like in that sentence wasn't really needed as it was literally a mansion.
"So when the opportunity came around to donate to charity, I asked them if they would. It was a good cause, people donating money to help children with special needs. I showed them the TV show they had, they had lots of cash but they needed more, so I asked. I was just told not to be stupid. They didn't even want to know about anything else. So when I was old enough I started to work for charities and things to try and make up for what my family refused to do. They were greedy and selfish, and I didn't like that. To them it seemed normal, but I felt differently. I could never be a super hero, I don't have the knowledge or powers, but I knew I could do my little part, ya know?"
"I'm sorry." Cyborg said, lightly. Not only had he been wrong, he had been completely wrong. Sophie had never wanted anything in return. There was no atria motive, and there was no secret plot or ploy. All he had succeeded in doing was insulting a young, honest woman, who only ever wanted to help people. There were so few of those people in the world, to the point where no one is ever given the benefit of the doubt that they are one. He was going to apologize again, but it took him too long to take his large metallic foot out of his mouth as she was getting up to leave.
"I know." She stated solemnly before turning to leave. "It's hard to believe in the world we live in today that someone can be nice."
The only thought in the back of her mind was a simple one, maybe she should stop being nice? Everything she seemed to do, everyone assumed it was for a different purpose, some darker underlying reason. She wasn't a selfish person, she just wanted to help, but even super heroes were judging her. She just shrugged it off, as usual. Whenever she did anything, people rarely greeted her with words such as 'Thank you' or 'You good Samaritan', but more like 'So what ya want?'.
Cyborg had left the room by this point in time, and she was there, as she pressed her hand up against the window. It's gloved surface protected her hand from the early morning chill, as the light fibres spread on the glass, her hand almost seeming to look out onto the city.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, pondering lightly.
"Maybe I should just give it up, and follow the rest of my family."
"You just gonna stand there all day?" A voice from behind her sounded. She jerked upwards a little and turned slowly. Terra was standing there, coming towards her. "Have you seen something outside?"
"No."
"All right then."
"Do you always think you're under attack?" Sophie asked.
"Whatever." Terra replied. She shrugged and made her way from the window. Sophie turned back…and then she caught a glint. Her eyes tried to pinpoint the glint.
"Hey, Terra."
"I'm not listening to your moping." She called back.
"Terra!"
"Not going to listen."
Sophie growled under her breath and looked at the table. There was a can on it that had been crushed lightly after its contents had been drunk. Picking it up, she threw it.
The can, minus content, hit Terra square on the back of her head. After stumbling forward a little, the thinner girl spun, daggers for eyes.
"What was THAT for?!" She bellowed, marching back over. She would have rolled up her sleeves, if she had any.
"Look!" The brunette called, pointing out the window, back to where the glint was first seen.
"Don't change the subject!" Terra yelled back. Knowing that she wasn't really going to solve this, she used what strength she had and yanked Terra over to the window with a quick yelp. Once again her gloved hand pointed out of the window.
"I don't see..."
There was another glint.
And before anything else could really be said an explosion happened, shocking the two girls a little. Everyone at that point woke up, even the deep sleeping Nigel as he bolted upright and out of his bed, as did most of the tower. Within a few seconds everyone was up in the lounge, uploading all the computerized data on the view screen. What they saw was something that could only be described in one way and one way alone, a shared statement, in several languages
"What the f...".
Upon the screen was something, something absolutely monstrous. The outer body shape was of a huge being, a monstrous creature with what looked like two arms, two legs and two insect like legs marching down the road, each step as thundering as the last. It was at least as tall as a two-story building, and as large in general size as a few oil tankers stacked up, not the small ones, the big huge ones. Each appendage was veins covered, in the way of creatures with immense muscle, each powerful looking as the last.
And at the centre of it all, a teenaged girl with long, beautiful hair, a shimmer blonde, her body moulded into the creature, a gag in her mouth. The skin of her frame had crawled over parts of her body, essentially making her a part of the abomination. Some of the Titans moved back. What ever it was, it wasn't the child any more.
"Ok. This can't mean ANYTHING good. Titans, take it down. Save the girl, IF possible." Savior shouted, quite coldly. It's true that the creature was a person, even if they didn't realize it, but his first priority was for the safety of the people down there, and at this moment, the 'thing' was ripping up a street he particularly liked. It had a café on it that did a really nice coffee.
"I SAID TITANS, GO!"
The old battle cry did it, as they turned and sprinted out the door. Sophie waited behind as the door shut.
Not five seconds later Raven was back in the room.
"Scalpel may have given you his trust on an open platter; however you will have to earn mine, and we're not leaving you here alone and we're too short on members to leave one behind, so suit up and follow us." Raven said, as she tossed her a mask that had been one of Robin's spares. Robin had had a load of masks made; unfortunately some were in the wrong colours. The one that was thrown to Sophie was a light purple one. It landed by her feet and she picked it up. Putting two and two together, she quickly shook her head violently.
"B-but I'm not a Titan! My powers don't even work right!"
"They are not for you to wear in battle; they are to protect your identity just in case you have to use your powers to run from the scene. The last thing we want is for you to suddenly be attacked on the way back to the tower because someone recognized you. If you are going to live here, your secret identity will have to remain intact."
"Um... You don't have a secret identity." Sophie pointed out, softly, before looking at the mask again.
"And you don't have powers that work, so if we will stop nit picking..." She turned. "Besides, you're staying on a roof top."
"Then why can't I stay here?"
"Because I said so." Raven turned and glared at the undertaker, who stepped back a little. "You'll find a com-link has been woven into your jacket. This communicator will be removed when you leave Titan Tower. It will allow us to hear what you are saying, and it will allow us to hear you. You will also find a little ear piece so you can hear us, so don't try anything or we WILL know."
"Why do I feel like a criminal?"
"Because until we know otherwise, you and any other civilian who enter these premises are classed as potential criminals. So you would do well to remember your guest manners Miss Mathews."
And so they left, all of them.
But, despite their doubts about her, they really should have left Sophie behind, as she was the least of their problems. Not five minutes after they had left the tower, the doors opened once more to another figure, silhouetted by the light behind him and the dark, bulb less hallway.
"Anyone home?" He asked, marching in with a group of people behind him, all of them seeming to be in robes and armour.
Then the main doors closed again, and all was dark once more.
We rejoin the Titans as they arrive at the scene. Sophie was placed upon a high roof, courtesy of young Miss Raven, while the rest of the Titans formed a row in front of the abomination.
"What the hell are you?" Beast Boy demanded with a growl in his throat and both eyes set upon the face, which lifted itself up to stare back. A makeup-covered eyelid opened to show there was no eye, just a red, bloody mass that trickled down her powdered cheek. On closer inspection, her whole face was done in make up, and the marvellously lengthy blonde hair was dyed. As she spoke, a hiss came from her, her lungs trying to keep up with her newly made body. Once the blood had finished being "cried" out, it hit the ground and congealed almost instantly. A blood shot eye now stared at them, almost pleading but also with a deepened revulsion, almost for what they had done to her, for what humanity had done to her. It replied briefly, and succinctly.
"Vanity."
A pause.
"Great. Just when you think you've seen it all, we get attacked by one of the seven deadly sins." Raven commented.
And then, with horrifying speed, one of the gigantic legs was lancing down on at.
"Emphasis on DEADLY!" Savior yelled as all the Titans dove away, the limb crashing down where they were, spraying concrete and smacking the Titans with a shock wave that was more appropriate for an explosion, as they were tossed around like rag dolls…
Jedi: Once again, I have left you on somewhat of a cliffhanger. I know, bad me, bad me.
Nigel: Bad you indeed!
Jedi: I have enough characters turning against me, I don't need you to start also... ¬¬ Anyway, the next chapter should be up sooner… ish… maybe… hopefully?