Teen Titans: Half-Life
Chapter 16: Dealing with it...
It had been a week since Knives had left for unknown reasons. Since then things had pretty much settled into a regular pattern of constant reconstruction of the Titan Tower's interior, and city wide search for the HIVE's hidden headquarters. Overall, two weeks had passed since all of them had returned from Raven's Mind.
Two weeks, and yet none of them talked about it. It was even more unsettling since Beast Boy wasn't bragging about it. Normally after a successful mission, BB went on boasting about his role in the whole affair, usually exaggerating it's importance 10-fold. But in this case, he avoided the topic just as strongly as the others had.
By now the discomfort was starting to wear off. There hadn't been any major crimes committed in this time as well. A welcomed change of pace, gave them more time to settle back in, and for Raven to heal from her wounds; of which she had. Overall, things were back to normal, no worse for wear and the whole affair might as well not have happened at all.
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On the first day of the forth week, repairs to the tower were finished, and so far the search for the HIVE had turned up nothing. So it was now that Cyborg decided that it was time to do something of which he both dreaded and had been putting off for weeks now.
Beast checked the clock for the twelfth time; five minutes passed six it said, and Beast Boy was getting restless. It was normally around this time that he and Cyborg engaged in their ritual beat-the-crap-out-of-each-other video game brawl. But so far Cyborg was a no-show loser. BB waited for another minute, his legs twitching in anticipation, but still Cyborg didn't grace him with his presence. Finally, after a rather unwholesome 7 minutes of pure waiting agony, BB decided it was time to collect one rogue metal man, and force him to get his butt kicked at a video game of the utmost violence.
The search didn't take long, thanks to the fact that Cyborg was right inside his own room. He also wasn't alone, or at least, that's what BB thought when he first entered the room. Turns out the 'people' BB had seen turned out to be two human sized stacks of paper. Cyborg was seated between the two stacks while typing away at his wall mounted computer terminal. BB came round a pile to take a peak at what Cyborg was doing. What BB saw made his head nearly split in a sudden migrane. Numbers, numbers, and more numbers criss-crossed the screen in odd places.
"Hey Cyborg, what are you doing?" BB asked after the pain softened to a dull throb.
"Paying the bills." Came the stern reply, almost a bit too quickly.
"Bills?" BB asked almost sounding bewildered, "Since when did we start getting bills?"
"Man, we've always been getting bills, you just never see them since I'm the one who always has to take care of them."
"But this many?" BB indicated the two large piles.
"This one," Cyborg pointed to a pile on his left, which stood as tall as Starfire, "is for all the repairs and utilities for the tower." Cyborg pulled a sheet off of the top of the pile. "This is the electricity bill," he pulled another sheet off, "payments for wall panels and insulation," another sheet, "and this bill is for a new fridge. So on and so forth."
"And this one?" BB looked up at the second pile, which must've been as tall as Cyborg.
"Well, back in the battle with Money, Raven went crazy and very efficiently wiped out half a city block. That pile is all the bills from the J.C.U.D.B."
"Bless you?"
"No! the Jump City Urban Development Bureau. Seems they're very pissed off at us for all the damage Raven caused."
"But that wasn't her fault! Didn't you tell them that!"
"Oh yeaaahh, right. You tell that bunch of penny-pinching pencil-necks that Raven was only controlled by an alternate entity that crossed light years in an interstellar gate that beamed right into her head, because her demon of a father is a bad parent. See if they'll believe you."
For a moment BB stood silent before Cyborg. His mouth hanging open, with one finger pointed up as if he was about to make a point. He even went as far as to reach for the telephone mounted on the wall next to Cyborg's computer. But in the end, BB bowed his head in defeat.
"Besides," Cyborg continued, "They didn't charge us for the damage done by Money to the two banks he pillaged."
"I guess that's something."
"It's a start, yes. But you haven't spent the whole morning having to listen to telephone abuse."
"Well dude, are we going to play our game or what?" BB was getting impatient again.
"Sorry BB, I gotta finish this up. I've been putting it off far too long."
"Couldn't it wait a little longer, like until after the game?"
"No."
"Come on Dude!"
"I said no!" Now it was Cyborg's turn to get impatient. Beast Boy's stubbornness was a part of it, but more importantly were the numbers playing across Cyborgs screen. If he was right, and he always made sure he was when it came to the budget, then they were all in some very deep trouble.
"We might have to sell the games, BB."
"Huh? Did you just suggest that we..."
"Yes I did!" Cyborg was near shouting now. "Look at this!" he pointed to the screen in front of him.
"No thanks dude, last time that happened my head nearly popped off my shoulders." BB shielded his eyes as if he was protecting them from a bright light.
Just as Cyborg was about to explain the problem, the whooshing sound of a door opening was then followed by Robin's steady footsteps.
"Cyborg, How are things coming?" Robin asked in his no-nonsense tone, appearing to take little notice of the two giant stacks of bills.
"Not good Rob," Cyborg typed a few commands into the terminal.
The screen turned black for a split second before a line graph orientated itself on the screen. The graph representing the budget over the last couple of months; on the left the line enjoyed a comfortable position high above the red line, indicating zero money, until it crossed a certain date, 4 weeks ago. After that the green line make a violent, almost straight plummet downwards, passed the red line and disappeared off the bottom of the screen. Cyborg was actually afraid to see just how far the line had gone off the screen. Instead he just settled for a digital readout of just how far they'd gone into debt. BB avoided it like one does staring into the sun, while Robin's lower jaw became good friends with the floor.
"That much!" Robin nearly shouted in disbelief, his eyes now bulging out of their sockets. "That could take years to pay off!"
"Actually," Cyborg said regaining his composure, and typed a few more commands into the computer, which pulled up a brand new set of numbers. "If we really try to spend as little a possible, we could be out of debt in 6 months."
"As little as possible?" BB asked.
"Which means," Cyborg finished, "nothing but bread and water and turning off all electrics, including video games."
"Ah man! What about my tofu burgers?" Whined a now depressed Beast Boy.
"Or," Robin suggested, "We could get part time work."
"That's even worst!" BB held his arms up in a defensive position, "I do not do the W word.... I got a note from my mother."
With that, almost as if on cue, the alarm went off, signaling a crime in progress. But they all remained in their spots; it had been so long since it had gone off, they had almost forgotten about it. But eventually Robin's brain started working again.
"Teen Titans Go!" That got everyone moving.
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Elsewhere in Jump City, the Teen Titans weren't the only ones suffering from financial difficulties. Inside an abandoned warehouse in one of Jump City's seedier areas, a short human female with jet-black hair and silver eyes, wearing a pair of black capree pants with a black sash in the belt loops, with a black t-shirt showing off a white skull and cross bones, rode down the cargo lift into the recesses, below the surface. Lights peaked briefly between the wire mesh of the lift doors as it slowly went down the 3 subterranean levels.
As far as condemned and abandoned warehoused went, this one was something of a find. From the outside it looked extremely run down and dirty, and even on the inside it was mostly true as well, yet if one was to travel to the underground levels, it became apparent that someone had lived here before. They'd repaired the internal electrical wiring, the elevators and even made the bottom most level livable.
The elevator came to a sudden rest at the bottom of the shaft, the mesh doors opening quickly after. The girl stepped off into an empty corridor, the overhead lamp giving off a bleak illumination. Right in front of the lift was a sheet metal door, with a plaque reading, "Home, Sweet Home," hanging from it. Underneath the plaque, written in black spray paint, was the name Alexis.
While the lights and elevator worked, not so for the doors. Next to the door was a self made crank mechanism. Turning of the crank in a clockwise fashion opened the sliding door. This being done, she entered the single office sized room and closed the door from the same crank mechanism which was also accessible from the inside of the room. Dull gun-metal gray reflected her mood.
Her last forage for food had met with limited success. Removing her backpack, which was also engraved with the name Alexis, in gold paint, she removed the contents of the bag and groaned in displeasure. A single loaf of white bread, now squashed beyond recognition, and a bag of peanuts was all it contained besides an extra change of clothes. She signed heavily, another night where'd she go hungry. But still her recent find of this new home gave her hope as to her future. Not only was it a good hiding place, but also provided most basic needs, shelter, water, and TV. There was actually a decent sized TV in here as well. True it only played in black and white ever since the color tubes blew, but she had managed to hook up a cable connection and could now watch Cartoon Network anytime she wanted.
The kitchen sink, which was not only bolted and welded to the wall, but also had a garden hose connecting it to a water pipe was where she got her water supply, True it tasted funky, but again, it was free. Pouring herself a glass of brown tinted H2O, she settled down on a worn and torn sofa, with cushions that didn't match, to enjoy her meager meal.
Reaching for the remote she turned the TV on, a new program leapt onto the screen. A reporter started babbling to the camera about some criminal activity happening somewhere near the city docks.
"We have confirmation that the Teen Titans are on the scene and have engaged the criminal in battle." An explosion erupted in the background, the reporter whipped around, obviously started.
The Teen Titans, Alexis blamed them for her current paltry provisions. True she choose to live here on her own free will, but ever since they had destroyed half a city block, people had actually been loosing confidence in their ability to handle crime. As a result the police deemed it necessary to increase their ranks, and security agencies took advantage of this by hiring out their employees to more clients. The Teen Titans had no interest in a small time food thief like herself, but since their screw up it had become much harder for her to avoid all the increased security.
On the other hand she respected the Titans for what they did. She once had entertained thoughts about asking them for membership, but they surly wouldn't want anything to do with a lowly thief such as herself. But even they once had lived in a place such as this. Directing her gaze to a computer terminal, long since stripped of any useful hardware, the Teen Titans logo, a Yellow T set inside a black circle was painted just above it. The colors had faded with the passage of time and much of the paint was peeling off.
She had thought of removing it completely, but decided not too. Mostly because it served as a reminder that even though she had to steal for a living, she could still help those in need.
She became aware of the door mechanism turning almost before it had indeed started to turn. Someone was coming in and she was not expecting visitors. Indeed, apart from herself, and providing the Titans had not forgotten, she was the only one who knew about this hidden level. Jumping to her feet, she checked her pocket to make sure that her stun gun was still there. Crouching down below the couch she peeked around the side and waited for who ever was coming to show their ugly mug, so she could beat the snot out of it.
The crank turned once, then twice and the door slowly opened up. Alexis ducked back behind the couch and waited for the intruder to get close enough. Footsteps entered the room and stopped shortly after crossing the border of her territory. She waited, a few moments passed; she started to break into a nervous sweat, slowly pulling the stun gun from her pocket.
"I know your there." A boy spoke from the doorway. He knew she was here? How? In her rush for a hiding space she hadn't noticed that the light from the television cast her shadow against the wall. She cursed, leapt to her feet and using the couch as a stepping-stone, launched herself off of it in the direction of the intruder. The intruder, probably anticipated the attack and leaped backwards just in time to avoid being electrocuted.
"This is my territory and your not allowed in!" Alexis shouted defensively, raising her gun for another lunge.
The boy's right hand rested atop a sheathed sword, his left foot slid back, ready to draw at any moment. Alexis suddenly had second thoughts about charging him again.
"I didn't know anyone was living here." He said in an apologetic tone, which didn't fit the deadly position he was standing in. His emerald eyes locked with hers and they stood in silence.
"What's your name?" Alexis broke the stalemate.
"If you tell me your name." He answered.
"Fair enough, I'm Alexis Riel and this is my home. Your not welcome here."
"My name is Knives and I used to live here."
"Are you a Teen Titan" she took a few small steps back. Then she noticed the communicator on his belt that bore the Teen Titans symbol. Knives followed her gaze and covered the radio with his free hand, trying to hide it.
"Not really," he said, "But I am friends with them."
Again Alexis cursed, this was not good. The Titans must've sent their ally to capture her. Well she wouldn't go down without a fight. Continuing to hold the stun gun in one hand, she held out her free hand while starting to concentrate on the air surrounding her. Knives backed up slightly as Alexis silver eyes suddenly became a chilling blue. Unexpectedly the temperature started to drop rapidly, his breath suddenly visible, and ice was forming on the ground surrounding Alexis.
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Sorry for the delay, plot management was a real problem. I finally managed to see the episode 'betrothed' and unfortunately the little space ship they had, forced me to re-evaluate my story. I had a big plot device to supply them with a space vehicle to reach a far off place like Tamaran, but they already have one so my original plan wouldn't work until a later date. So all that had to be rewritten which took a while to balance. I hate plot-holes.
Alexis Riel is copyright Kathleen, also known as X-Raven-X on and is one of two winners in the contest that I had hosted. Congratulations on Winning Kathleen. The other winner is Lachwen with her own original character, I won't spoil any surprises, but her character will be making an appearance at a later date, so watch out for it.
Thanks again for reading