Tides of Change: Chapter Six
Expected twists.
And because you were all so kind, a bonus chapter!
Yes, I'm sure you're all so ecstatic.
Flash. Flick. Flash. Flick.
"Summer camp! Hah! Where do they come up with these things?"
"I don't know, I don't care. Let's just hurry up and get this over with."
Swish. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.
"Ooh, jumpy aren't we?"
Clatter. Clink.
"Yes, I'm jumpy. We've just loaded in a hundred kids that if we're lucky, maybe ONE TENTH actually posses an X-gene. We are going to cut them open with knifes to find out, and if they by some cosmic irony that they do, we get to poke around inside them to find out what their abilities are. Then, we get to sew them back up, hit 'em with some kind of super healing go and mess around with their heads! What am I supposed to feel like, Carl?"
Clap.
"Lets find out, shall we?"
"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Titans! Trouble!"
"No, really?" Cyborg grumbled as he managed to pry himself from his bed. All at once the color of his body went from a dark blue glimmer to a sky colored glow. He stepped out into the hall just in time to hear muffled cruses from Beast Boys room as the shape shifter tried to untangle himself from his sheets.
With a whoosh, Starfire floated out of her room, her hair some what mussed from doing what most other people would be at this hour. Sleeping.
"What time is it anyway?" Beast Boy grumbled. Not even batting an eye when Raven materialized though a wall. Four out of Five Titans stood waiting for their leader.
"Two. Thirty." Raven said, her voice containing venom.
"I am sure Friend Robin had a most... exceptionable explanation for awakening us in such a hurry." Starfire said, looking doubtful as the words came out of her mouth.
"Yeah, well, all I can say is that he'd better. My hair doesn't do itself you know!" Beast boy pointed at his hair, which truthfully didn't look much different.
"You do your hair?" Raven asked. "I thought you just woke up like that."
"Hey!" BB fumed.
Cyborg chuckled, "She's right B, I thought the same thing."
Starfire cocked her head to the side as she watched her friends playfully pick on Beast Boy. She had long ago learned that the Changeling held grudges, and besides, she did not like to partake in the teasing. Footsteps alerted her to the fact that Robin was coming. He stood at the edge of the hall, one eyebrow raised behind his mask as he watched his team bicker.
"Um, guys?" he said.
They stopped. Their leader stood looking at them, his head cocked to one side. He was still in his uniform, making Starfire wonder if he had slept at all.
"What's wrong Rob?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, what could possibly be so important to wake us up at two in the morning?" Beast Boy asked.
"Two. Thirty." Raven corrected.
Beast Boy gave her a dirty look that sailed though the air and crashed on the near impregnable wall of Ravens scowl.
"Terra."
The first thing Terra noticed about her new location is that nobody cared. This had advantages and disadvantages.
You're crippled? Nobody cared. You lived with chickens and frequently sang Moonlight Sonata in polish? Nobody cared. You weren't aloud in the state of Kansas? No body cared. You where a girl with massive Geomancing powers who, until recently, was encased in solidified lava? I say again, Nobody cared.
This was exactly why Tornado had brought them there in the first place.
The town was fairly large. Just big enough that you couldn't know everyone by name, but small enough to be ignored by the rest of the world. It had a movie theater, a pizza place, some restaurants, a large arcade, a swimming pool, and several conveniently abandoned apartment buildings. Plus, it seemed to have unusual things happen on a daily basis so one scrawny Teenager with two weird looking dogs was the least of their worries.
Last night, after Tornado had finished that weird little story, they had just decided to bunk down right there in the alley. The next morning presented challenges, namely clothes that didn't scream 'Evil!' at the top of it's lungs.
Terra held her breath as she looked in the dumpster. Nothing even remotely clothes like was in there. She rubbed her eyes again, trying to clear her vision as the stench stung her eyes. Over on the other side of the alley, she could hear Twister snuffling around in a garbage pan for much the same thing. Tornado had run off earlier, saying he had to go check up on something and left the pup with her. She didn't mind though, Twister reminded her of her brother, Bryon, back in Markovia. She slammed the lid back down, gulping in air that didn't smell like three year old potatoes.
"Nothing in there." she said. "I don't think there's anything in this whole alley!"
"I beg to differ Terra."
She spun around. Blocking her only escape out of the alley where two large yellow robots that vaguely reminded her of Cyborg, and what looked like a man in a bathrobe. She blinked.
"Okay, I'll bite. Who are and why are you in your bathrobe?" she said, getting down into a fighting stance. If Slade had taught her anything, it was to trust no-one. She readied her powers.
The man gave her a cocky smile. "Well well well." he said, "Looks like you haven't forgotten what your old master taught you, well done!" he leaned down, like she was a small child, "You get an A for effort dear, but I'm afraid that's it." He straightened up and turned to look at the robots. "Drones! Get her!"
The robots, or Drones, flashed into action. Literally. One second they where at the end of the alley, the other they where looming over Terra. She looked up at them. Her first reaction was shock, and then the hero part of her personality took over.
"Alright guys, ever heard of personal space?" she asked. The Drones seemed to look confused. Terra brought her hands up slightly, to the level of her knees and cocked an eyebrow. "No? Well, HERES A CRASH COURSE!"
She slammed her hands down, creating a small but potent earthquake. The Drones stumbled a bit under the unexpected assault, but quickly found their footing. Terra's eyes threatened to roll back in her head from the effort, and let the quake stop itself. She started panting heavily from the power-play, her body not really up to it after being encased in stone. Drone number one advanced towards her, thinking that she had worn her self out with the temper tantrum. Wrong.
Terra's eyes glowed a brilliant yellow, blinding her for a second as her power took control. She stood up shakily, swaying from side to side as she temporarily forgot how to work a human body, and growled at them.
"Not enough?" she hissed. Her hands clenched into fists as she readied her next attack. "Well, we'll just have to try that again, won't we?"
Why she was referring to herself in plural, she never knew, but she did know she had taken down Raven when the dark girl was intent on killing Terra, and if she could do that, these Cyborg-wanna-bee's where no match for her. She brought her fists up, screamed like a banshee and let all Hell break loose.
The bricks in that made up the sides of the alley twisted and came out of their mortar, collapsing the abandoned buildings on either side of her. The now-free pieces of ancient rubble orbited around her as she sought more fire power. Drone 1, undaunted, was still coming at her. She raised her mouth in a sneer at him,feeling the practically endless power for the soil beneath her pour into her body. She her hands out in front of her, and the bricks followed the curve of her arms, slamming into the metal torso in front of her. The bricks dented and obliterated the body, going though like needles into fabric and tearing the back wide open.
Drone one was pushed back by the onslaught, nearly crashing into the old geezer in the former alleys entrance. How he managed to dodge it was a mystery, but she didn't have time to dwell on it as the second one approached. Her hands where glowing with the golden aura that was her powers manifest now, signaling to anyone with a brain that she was ticked and not going to take it anymore. Unfortunately, though main frame pf the Drones make up could plan, evade and even make strategies, it didn't have the common sense God gave a turnip.
It ran towards the Girl, evading the bricks she threw at it and raising an arm, determined to punch her out. Terra's smile grew wider as it pounded along the pavement.
"That's right you dumb Ape, come and get the defenseless little girly..." she purred, narrowing her eyes in the anticipation of the slaughter. "Come and get me come and get me come and get me..."
The robot ate up the last of the ground separating them. Terra threw her head back and yelled, her hands following the lash. Drone 2 was right on top of her when the concrete that had been so stable the moment before, rose up like a wave and rolled around it, entangling the mammoth machine in yards and yards of heavy rock. She grabbed hold of the roll with her powers, her hands clenched like they where holding a baton, and spun around. The roll followed after her, gaining speed and velocity as she whipped it around in a large circle. When it had become a blur she abruptly let go, flinging the thing as far away as she could get it.
That left no-one but her, the cowering Twister, the dead Drone and the Bathrobe.
Terra's head was leaning against her chest at an odd angle, tilted up so that she could see the man in the bathrobe. She was panting through an open, sadistically smiling mouth, her eyes and arms still glowing. Her heavy ragged breathing was the only sound in the area, until Bathrobe Boy started clapping.
Terra's head cocked to one side like a confused animal, the smile still there.
"Well done my dear, very well done." the Man in the white and gold bathrobe said, "But those, I'm afraid, where only the warm-up session." With a flourish, the bathrobe was gone, revealing a red and black suit that reminded her vaguely of a kimono. He crouched in a traditional martial arts stance, one hand out in front of the other. Terra's grin got wider. So the rich boy wanted to play?
She crouched down in the stance the Slade, the kumquat, had taught her, but before she could do anything a dirty yellow blur race arched over her head and onto Bathrobes chest. Terra's eyes stopped glowing.
"Twister!" she shouted. She started to get up to try and help the pup.
Bathrobe slapped at the whirlwind of fur and teeth, trying to get the irate puppy off of him, but Twister dodged the attacks, snapping and biting at anything he could reach. As bathrobe went faster, finally there was only one place Twister could bite. And, with a heavy heart, he did.
Bathrobes eyes got big as a small whimper escaped his lips. While he was distracted, twister yelled at Terra.
"Go! I'll hold him off!"
And with out knowing why, she did.
No matter who you are, (Or what you are,) or where you're from, ever culture has some sort of dance style. Some just hop around to the tunes of a flute, (or the Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts of Tralls squeals and roars,) some opt for the complicated hip motions to hypnotizing music, and still other decide to go for the gusto and wear heavy shoes and do a jig to a bagpipe. (Or the Lufarian Pig-flapper. Whatever floats your boat.)
But no one could have known it would eventually lead to cheer leading. Kim had decided that the best way to get through today would be to pretend yesterday had never happened. So far so good.
She clapped her hands, "Alright guys! Good job today! We still need to practice on the last one, but we can come back to it later. See you on Monday!"
The girls, and Ron, relaxed and started towards the bathrooms. Kim stood impatiently in the middle of the room, trying to spot a black-haired head over the others. When she saw her quarry, the hunter dashed over to her, waving one hand in the air to get her attention.
"Elizabeth! Can I talk to you for a minute?" She said.
The girl turned. "Oh hi Kim." she said nonchalantly, brushing a strip of raven hair over her shoulder. "What can I do for you?"
Kim sighed and looked around. The gym was empty, and only the still swinging door could testify that there had been anyone else.
"Okay, I totally don't know how to say this, but, uh, could you sign me up for chess club?"
Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up. "Your kidding." she said, "How long have you known?"
Kim toyed with her hair. "Since yesterday. I kinda punched a hole in the wall."
"O-Kay then." Elizabeth said, "Just swing by today at three. I smooth things over with the guys."
Kim smiled. "Thanks."
Elizabeth nodded. "Hey, anything for a fellow mutie."
When Kim was out the door, Elizabeth took something out of her backpack. A big enough to fit in her hand, bright yellow and six-sided thing.
"Headmaster, I think I've found something you might like..." She said as she flipped the light off. For a moment, her eyes glowed red.
"Rose-brote? Zita wake up!"
Her head jerked up as her father shook her awake.
"Gah!" Zita's head jerked up. She looked around.
Her Dad was standing over her, a slightly worried expression on his face. She looked around. Same house, same room, same flatulent dog... phew!
"Oh, hi Dad." She said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess I dozed off."
Mr. Flores gave her a look. "Okay honey. Anyway, I'm home, and the subs are getting cold. Let's eat!"
"Alright! I'm starving!" Before he knew what hit him Zita had rushed past him and was in the kitchen, She grabbed one of the cylinders and was at the table by the time he got through the door. He gingerly sat down and picked up a sub.
"You must be really hungry." He said, "The last time I saw you move that fast there was a sale on Beanie Baby's down at the mall."
Zita made a face at him and continued to chow down. A few minutes later the foot-long sub was gone. Along with half a bag of potato chips and three cans of soda. As she got up with her trash, her Dad stopped her with a question.
"Zita, is there anything you want to tell me?" He said.
Zita opened the shiny lid of the foot-operated trashcan, depositing the waste from the meal into it. She turned around to face her father, the pain in her feet flaring up suddenly. She tried to keep her face under control.
"Like what, Dad?" She asked. Deciding that shuffling her feet might help relive the pain. Unfortunately all it did was make her look guilty.
"Like weird, um, stuff showing up or anything?" It was obvious the Mr. Flores was uncomfortable about the subject.
Zita stared at him blankly for a few moments. Then she finally came out with the thought that had been bouncing around in her head for a while.
"Shouldn't Mom be giving me this talk?" She asked.
"I should have let her," he muttered. "Look, Zita, do you, err, have you, um, noticed something, well, different about your, your self lately?" he said.
Zita's thoughts strayed treacherously to the long line of bumps along her back. Her thoughts wrestled with each other, but it all lead to the same thing.
"No... not really." She looked around, trying desperately to not meet her father's eyes. The ceiling, table, chairs, floor, and clock proved to be uninteresting. "Um, I've got homework I've got to get done, I'll, uh, see you in the morning."
He waved her off. When he heard her door close, he pulled out his cell phone. Ignoring several messages from his store, (1) he flipped it open and dialed.
He sighed as he pulled it to his ear. "They aren't gonna be happy about this."
(1) Reading something like 'help' 'help NOW' 'I really mean it, help' and 'how do you dislodge a co-worker from the T.V?'
Yes! Finally some indication of PLOT! The lifeblood of any story! The roads signs on the road of literacy! The-
Kim: She snapped!
Zita: I knew it! Pay up!
Terra: Great, I just lost twenty bucks because AnimationLasi decided to nuts!
Oh shut up! Anyway, I apologize for the lack of Misfit goodness, but I promise there in the next chapter! Next, We have more changes! Those include the infamous Misfits, Some snakes in the grass, Pranks, and furtherer indication that the writer actually has some sort of idea for this thing! So, you know where to find me!
Jamie: Aaaaaaannnnnnnd, Cameras off!
Okay people, lets start rehearsing! Mirage, your on in the next chapter, go find X and figure out some sort of costumes.
A teenage girl with bright red skin bounces with joy.
Mirage: Goodie! Shopping trip!
And don't break anything this time! Titans, the Misfits are feigning appendicitis, go track 'em down. Forge, get to work on the lighting, and SOMEBODY dislodge Ron from the ceiling!
Jamie: Wait, the little green DOES mean it's off, right?
Okay! Next time Mammoth works the cameras!