Disclaimer: DC Comics owns all rights to the characters within. They are used without permission and not meant to infringe on copyrights or meant to generate income.
Tragedies of the Past, chapter 6
The play went well, and Conner was relieved. He was less than relieved when he found that a recording of the play (edited to remove all references to Smallville High) turned up at Titan's Tower. Despite his protests and threats to destroy every screen in the Tower, the Titans watched the play. Wonder Girl did not take some scenes well.
"Who's this tramp that got the role of Juliet?" she asked. "Why'd she throw herself at you?"
"That's another guy, Cassie," Conner explained. "It's an all-male cast."
"You can't expect me to believe that someone with that figure and chest is a guy!"
"Looked like a girl to me," Bart chimed in.
"Gotta agree with you there," Gar said. "She was hot!"
"Back me up on that," Conner appealed to Tim. "You're a trained observer! You could tell it was a guy, right?"
"Somebody's who's really good at disguises could pull it off," he replied. "But, I don't think that someone in high school could do it. I'm almost positive that it's a girl."
"I can't believe you don't believe me," Conner complained.
"I can't believe you and some girl kissed like that," Cassie accused.
"This is your fault, you know," Conner told the screen.
Max looked unruffled. "I'm sure you have a good explanation for that."
"If you weren't so convincing, they would have believed me."
"I'm not sure how to respond to that."
"Wonder Girl's giving me the cold shoulder. Kid Flash is asking how many girls are in my little black book. Robin's trying not to laugh. Beast Boy's asking for your phone number."
"Do you know how the tape got there?"
"I'm certain it's Superman who brought it here. It wouldn't occur to him that they'd react this way."
Max paused. "I'll come and fix things."
He turned off the communication channel and went to the JLA member on monitor duty.
"I need to take care of something with the Titans," he explained. "I'll just spend the rest of the weekend there."
"Are you sure?" the Flash asked. "I don't think they'll be that happy to see you."
"No, they won't, but it's necessary."
Max went to his assigned quarters and took out his Juliet costume. He had originally intended to teleport it into Earth's orbit and let it burn up in re-entry, but it looked as if he'd be wearing it one last time. He changed into it, applied the makeup, and telekinetically did his hair into the elaborate braids that he had worn for the performance. He then used the teleporter to go to Titan's Tower along with a bag containing his change of clothes.
The Titans were surprised at the presence of 'Juliet.'
Max flung his arms out and said in his Juliet voice, "Ah, Superboy!"
Conner was struck speechless by this, not believing this was happening.
Robin turned on Superboy. "You told her you were Superboy? I can't believe you did that!"
"It is a pleasure to meet you all," 'Juliet' continued.
"What are you doing here?" Wonder Girl asked with disdain clearly showing in her voice.
"Superboy told me that there was some confusion over our relationship. I have come to clear it up. We are close, but not romantically involved."
"You want me to get some target practice with her?" Speedy asked Cassie.
'Juliet' laughed. "You are so funny."
Beast Boy sidled up to 'her.' "I'm Garfield Logan. You may have seen me in the movies."
"Right now, I'm a little hot. You must have a pool here."
Gar smiled. "Of course we do! Let me show you there."
Everyone followed to the pool. 'Juliet' shook 'her' hair free.
"Do you have a swimsuit in your bag?" Kid Flash asked.
"There's no need for one," 'Juliet' said as 'she' started to untie 'her' dress.
"You can't be serious," Wonder Girl began as the dress slipped to the floor. "You are serious."
Max, keeping his back to the Titans, dove in the pool.
"Did she just go in topless?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah," Robin said.
"You're all going to have to turn around," Speedy informed the men.
"There's no need for that," Conner said. "He's had his fun with everyone."
"That's right," Max said in his normal voice after he surfaced. "It wasn't so much fun as it was making a point."
The rest of the Titans stared at Max. The makeup had washed off, and the dirty water was being telekinetically contained in a globe that deposited itself in a trash bag. Max had undone his hair and was treading water in a brief swimsuit, clearly not a woman.
"Match!" Robin exclaimed.
Match got out of the pool and telekinetically shed the water from his body. He went to his duffle bag and began getting dressed.
"Since you doubted Superboy's word, this was the most efficient way to convince everyone of the truth," he calmly explained. "I don't believe there are any doubts now?"
"You did this because you wanted to trick us, didn't you?" Wonder girl accused. "You wanted us to look dumb, didn't you?"
"Those were not my motives," he replied.
"I sense no amusement or deception from him," Raven intoned.
"What are you going to do now?" Robin demanded. "When are you leaving?"
"I'm here for the rest of the weekend," Match answered, looking unruffled by Robin's hostility. "I'll stay out of your way."
"Why don't you put your bag in my room?" Conner suggested, looking to stop any more conflict. "I'll take you there."
Match nodded in acquiescence.
After they left, Speedy asked, "Who's Match and why are you guys angry at him?"
Kid Flash answered, "He's Superboy's clone. He impersonated him a while ago and tried to get us in trouble with everyone."
"Well, that sucks," Speedy said. "Why's he walking around instead of being in jail?"
"He's supposed to have reformed," Robin answered. "Batman doesn't trust him. Neither do I."
"You didn't have to do that," Conner said.
"It convinced them," Max said. "It was an efficient way to do it."
"You could have thought of a way that didn't get them angry at you. It looks to have incited things."
"I misjudged. I thought it would be considered amusing."
Conner stared at him. "You were trying to be funny? Who are you and what did you do with my brother?"
"I'm not that bad."
"Your timing could be better. Your judgment...it could have been better too. Maybe you should have started with jokes back home."
Max dropped his bag in Conner's room.
"I think I'll get rid of this," he said, indicating his long hair.
"So he's just wandering out there?" Wonder Girl asked.
"He's just getting a haircut," Conner said tartly. "It's not like there's anything really dangerous about getting a haircut."
"The point is that he's not being watched," Robin said.
"I don't watch him when he cooks. He has yet to poison me. I trust him."
"Match cooks?" Kid Flash asked. "Is he any good?"
"Yeah, he is."
The Titans were startled when a crash sounded from the entrance to the tower. They rushed there to find Devastation, Prometheus, and Merlyn there.
"Titans, take them-" Robin began before a blur streaked by him, knocking him out.
Inertia stood over him, having revealed himself.
"Follow the plan," he said with a sinister grin.
The villains charged to meet the Titans.
Max stepped out of the barber's with much shorter hair. It wasn't quite as short as Conner's, but it no longer fell to his waist.
As he was walking down the street, his super hearing activated. Since he had previous experience with it, he was able to dampen it down.
However, before he did that, he caught a voice saying, "We've beaten the Titans! Restrain them and then-"
Max tried to catch the conversation again, but couldn't. He could pick up on Conner's heartbeat and it was weaker. He frowned. It appeared likely that someone had attacked the Titans.
Max went into a deserted alley and changed into costume. He wore the shirt that Martha had designed with khaki cargo pants. He wished he had a way to call for backup, but he didn't have a communication device. He flew to Titan's Tower and tried to hear what was happening. Match couldn't make out what was being said but could make out four voices. He also got a vague approximation of where the Titans were. He wished his powers were fully back; he was only up to about twenty-five percent of his previous capacity. He lightly glided to the roof and began disabling the security system to enter undetected.
Superboy was getting angry. It was bad enough that he had been ganged up on by Devastation and Prometheus, but being shackled to the wall by some device that prevented him from using his powers was intolerable.
He and the other Titans heard a noise at the air duct grate and looked at it. The grate worked its way off, and Match dropped out of it. He looked paler than normal and was shaking slightly.
"Your air ducts need to be larger," he told them.
"Match!" Superboy exclaimed. "Be careful, there are-"
"Tell me after I set you free," he said, going over to the shackles. "These don't look too complicated; I should be able to open them fairly easily."
"That is, unless you're interrupted," a voice from the door said.
Match turned to see Devastation there.
"Who are you supposed to be?" she asked, eyeing Match. "Superboy Blue?"
Match answered with force beams. They knocked her back a bit, but Devastation didn't look like they affected her that much.
"That wasn't very nice of you," she said with a nasty grin. "I'll have to punish you for that."
She lunged for Match, but he dodged out of the way. A few more of Devastation's punches were met with either dodges or blocks. Unfortunately, the noise drew out the other villains.
"Get him!" Devastation shouted.
Inertia charged, but Match was already launching himself off the ground. Prometheus swung his club at Match and knocked him down. Merlyn fired an arrow at him, but Match stopped it with a telekinetic shield.
Match dug into his pockets and pulled out dozens of little pieces of cord, paperclips, or pieces of cloth. He used his powers to animate all of them to harry and annoy the villains. They slapped at and brushed away the debris for a few minutes before Devastation slammed Match against the wall.
"Did you really think those things could stop us?" she demanded.
"They served their purpose," Match replied calmly.
"What was that?"
"They bought me time."
The four villains suddenly became aware that the Titans were free.
"Get 'em!" Robin ordered.
Without the element of surprise or preparation, the villains were quickly overwhelmed by the Teen Titans.
After the villains had been turned over to the DEO for incarceration, Robin turned to Match and asked, "How'd you get us free?"
Match looked around the room where the Titans had been held captive. He telekinetically brought a few items to his hand before showing them to Robin. They were a set of lockpicks.
"I was buying time while working on your locks," he explained. "My animating the little trinkets to harry they took attention away from the lockpicks. It was a little difficult to keep all of those items in motion, but I wasn't at full power and couldn't defeat them by myself."
"Thank you for your help," Robin said reluctantly. "We couldn't have stopped them without you."
Match nodded, and Superboy smiled. It wasn't acceptance, but it was a start.
Seine was remarkably free of tension when he went to see Rhine. He was usually worried about disappointing the elderly man, but not today.
Rhine noticed this different mood. "I take it that you have good news?"
"We have a positive sighting," Seine reported. "The footage is being transmitted to my panel now."
Seine and Rhine watched the footage. It was of Match going to assist the Titans. The two smiled.
Rhine turned to Seine. "Dark Reflection appears to have been a success. Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"You should be able to get Danube's assistance now. She'll take care of our loose end."
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Apologies to Titans fans if my portrayal of them isn't very sympathetic. It's a story mainly through the eyes of Match and Superboy, and many of the Titans don't have a very high opinion of the former (for good reasons).
Any and all comments welcome!