Tides of Change Chapter Ten.

Midnight Run

Disclaimer: I own nothing. YOU HEAR ME? NOTHING!

In this chapter we are going to have a cameo (As in, he'll only be getting one or two parts and have no real bearing on the story, and not like the Starr family, who's cameo has turned into an obsession.) by a rather famous Diskworld character. If you don't know what Diskworld is, Look up a book by Terry Pratchett, I recommend either 'Lords and Ladies', 'Carpe Jugulem' 'Hogfather' or 'Soul Music'. But if can find anything by him just pick it up, because there all self explanatory. The Character is someone everyone meets eventually, and he's in pretty much all of the books.

Mrs. Rockwhiler blinked in the unexpected coolness.

ARE YOU A MRS. CYNTHEA ABIGALE ROCKWHILER? A voice inquired behind her.

Mrs. Rockwhiler, or rather, Cynthea, turned to look at the tall imposing figure behind her. Who ever he was he had obiously pulled her out of the fire just in time. He was covered from head to foot in a long black robe, and carried a large blue glowing scythe-

Oh.

"So, that's it?" she said, "A smarmy little git in a Matrix-esque coat did me in? I was a Navy SEAL for Gods sake!"

Death shrugged. HE CAUGHT YOU BY SURPRISE. IT WOULD SURPRISE ME TO, IF SOMEONE JUMPED OUT OF MY TOASTER. He paused a moment, WELL, MORE METIPHORICLY THAN REALISTICLY, YOU REALIZE.

Cynthea nodded, "Oh yes. Oh course." she said. Then, "Look, before you do whatever it is you have to do, can you tell me something?"

Death's robins egg blue eyes flickered for a minute, signaling that he was blinking. I SUPPOSE.

"Will... will Bonnie be okay?" She asked, "Please, I have to know."

Death considered the spirit in front of him for a long time.

SHE... WILL HAVE DIFFICULTIES. He said, BUT YES. SHE WILL EVENTUALLY BE OKAY. SHE WILL HAVE MANY FRIENDS TO STAND BESIDE HER.

The former Mrs. Rockwhiler sagged with relieve.

"As long as my Bon-Bon has someone to look after her, She'll be okay." She straightened up. "Right, Mr. Death, let's get it over with. There's someone I've been wanting to see for a long, long time."

"And this is the Garden."

Paige and Betsy had been elected to show Skids around while Rogue tried to talk Amara down. It probably wasn't the best idea to be outside, considering the small group of protesters and Magma's powers, but Orono had insisted, saying that the flowers might not be there tomorrow with the way the inhabitants of the Mansion behaved on a day to day basis. Skids looked around with a smile on her face. She hadn't seen the outside for almost two months, and Storms well watered garden was a welcomed reprieve. Paige had jumped at the chance to have some sort of control or responsibility around the house, and Betsy was there to keep her honest.

"Miss Orono is very protective of her flowers." Paige said, giggling, "Once, when Shipwreck tried to make nice to her, he picked some of her Iris. He still smells like Posies."

Skids blinked. Earlier on the two had explained about the Misfits, and in particular Shipwrecks infatuation with Storm. The way Betsy, a relative new comer, described it, it sounded like Storm returned the feelings. Unfortunately, due to the constant short comings of Shipwreck, she was having trouble showing it.

"Of course, there's less desirable things one could smell like." Betsy said in her English accent, "A skunk cocktail for example."

"Pardon?" Skids said.

Betsy shook her head, laughing quietly. "Let's just say that while you have some very interesting little escapades here at the mansion, they are rather pale compared to what Brian and I used to do when we got bored."

Paige grinned, "You'll have to tell us sometime." she said.

Betsy smirked, "Perhaps." She turned back to the task at hand, "Over there is the Gazebo where Rogue pushed her mother down a cliff." she said.

Skids recoiled in horror, "She what?"

"Oh don't worry." Paige waved a hand, "Turns out that it was just stone residue left over from an ancient teleporter."

"O-kay. Whatever." Skids said. This place was nuts, there was no denying that. Zombies, Vampire wanna-bee's, someone that looked like a demon, another person that looked like an angel, travelers from a different dimension had apparently shown up to wreck havoc a week ago, and all this was considered normal! At least they where willing to help though.

"Hey, here's an Idea, why don't you tell us more about yourself?" Betsy said, "I mean, you've been here nearly an hour and we only know that you escaped from some sort of lab."

"Wasn't a lab." Skids said as the walked along, "They didn't experiment on us. Well, on most of us anyway. Some of us didn't have all of our powers yet, and some of the Meta's needed to be 'Reactivated', as Brother Blood called it."

"Brother Blood?" Paige said, "The big evil goon you kept talkin' about name is Brother Blood?"

"Uh... yes?" Skids said in a small voice.

"Brother Bloody stupid is more like it." Betsy snorted, "What kind of a brain dead porcupine thinks a name like Brother Blood is going to strike fear into the heart of his foes?"

"It worked well enough on us." Skids said, "You try running for your life from him and not taking him seriously. He can get inside your head, break you apart piece by piece, and then jump on them. That's how he got me." She shuddered.

Betsy bit her lip and Paige put her arm around the other girls shoulders. "'S gonna be okay Skids." she said, "We're gonna take down that pompous piece of cow crud, and then you'll be the one jumping."

"These Boots where made for walking eh?" Betsy said. "Lovely metaphor Paige. Now come on, we still have to show you the beach."

The two girls ran ahead of Skids, giggling and motioning her to follow.

"There's a beach?" Skids asked, dazed.

Althea Mara Delgato (1) had almost never been so worried. Yes, Lance had had attacks before, and yes he usually pulled through them, but this one had been... different somehow. Earth powers and Water powers are by far the most compatible of any other type of elemental powers. It made sense, earthquakes effect water, and vice versa. She had felt something to, just not as adamantly as Lance had. While they had no interest in each other THAT way, they did seem to understand the other better than anyone else. Besides, she was his leader, she was supposed to look after him. She sat out in the hall, slumped down on the chair.

"Sweety?"

Todd cautiously stepped closer to the love of his life. Althea looked up blankly. Todd sighed and sat down beside her, putting an arm over her shoulder.

"You know he's gonna be okay, right?" he finally asked, "He woke up a few minutes ago, been rambling like an idiot ever since."

He chuckled, "Then again, Kitty's in there with him. Ya can hardly blame the guy."

"Is he gonna be okay?" she asked in a choked voice.

"Hey, your man ain't no liar girl!" he said, "I just told ye's he's gonna be okay! Jeez!" he dropped his head down on her lap, staring up at her with his yellow eyes, he grinned, "Doncha listen?"

Althea smiled and playfully pushed his head off of her lap. Todd always knew how to cheer her up, that was one of the many reasons she loved him.

"Come on, let's go see him." She stood up, and Todd managed to pull himself off the floor to follow. Outside the door Wanda and Freddy where standing guard. As Althea and Todd came into view, Wanda and Freddy pulled a mock salute. Althea stood at attention and saluted back.

"Password?" Freddy asked.

"Bite me." Todd replied in all sincerity.

"Correct. Welcome Todd and Al." Freddy stepped aside to allow the two in. Tabby pushed past her on the way out.

"Hi Al! Bye Al!" She said, running off down the hall.

"What's the hurry?" Todd asked. Wanda bit her lip.

"Amara's going through the same thing as Lance, Lina went to go get Lifeline, again, and Angelica's trying to help." Lifeline had been to the mansion to check in on Lance, and had left right after he determined that he was going to be okay. Apparently there was some sort of crisis back at the pit involving Coffee and Seaweed.

Althea didn't hear the conversation as she walked over to the bed.

"Hey Lance! Hey Stripperella."(2) She said.

Kitty's eyes narrowed and Lance suddenly got very red. He had finally been allowed to shift position and was now sitting up, with a shirt on thankfully. Althea pulled up a chair, straddling it in a manner that usually made Todd make odd little squeaking sounds.

She tapped her head, "You okay now?" She said, "Or are we gonna have to set up Coyote traps?"

"A little to late for that sweetheart!" Beside Lance, invisible to all but him, a silver Coyote hung in the air. Lance was doing his best to ignore him, but it was getting difficult.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm fine Al, really." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep from screaming at the Coyote, who was now dancing around and singing 'The Hedgehog Song'.(3)

"But a hedgehog can never be bug-"

"SHUT! UP!" Before anyone could stop him, Lance had leapt out of bed and tackled the figment to the ground. To an ignorant and unimaginative person it looked like he was grappling with air, and loosing.

"Aww... wassa matter? No appreciation for classic folksong- not the tail! NOT THE TAIL!"

Lance rolled into the hall and down a flight of stairs, passing Penny on the way. Penance looked up from her shoe, did Shaker just roll by with a Coyote?

Jynx poked her head out into the dim hallway. All clear so far.

"Come on He-Who-Insists-That-There's-A-Mutant-Auction-In-The-Basement, the coast is clear." She said, walking out.

"I'm coming Oh-She-Of-Little-Faith." Ace said, following the pink-haired sorceress into the hall.

Jynx stopped and tapped her bare foot on the yellow tiles. Seeing as Ace had no pressing need to be manhandled by Robots again, she had decided to forgo her huge boots. Ace led the way, although occasionally Jynx had to correct him. They walked in silence for a long time, except for when they past Mammoths room and heard the sounds of a Monty Python fest and had to snicker. Mammoth had an insatiable apatite for comedy, and the Lumberjack song was enough to tide him over until he could gorge.

The only real close call was when they passed Manta's room. Manta was a little older than Jynx, and have the Titan Ravens powers. He and a girl named Devastation where practically joined at the hip. Without even thinking Jynx grabbed Ace and pushed him against the wall, covering his mouth with one hand.

Please work please work please work...

Manta shook his head, trying to rid it of the phantom thoughts. He sincerely hoped that whoever was having trouble with their tests would pass, He didn't need the mental complaints at four in the morning. He created a protal under his feet and slipped off to the kitchen.

Jynx breathed out.

"Mph!"

She turned back to Ace, who was giving her a look somewhere between a death glare and a thank you. She took her hand off of his mouth and backed away, her face suddenly very red.

"Sorry." She muttered, "Reflex reaction."

Ace nodded, "Understandable. I've got this thing, where if I fall from more than like, five feet I'll flip around. Ya know like a cat." He snickered, "Guess you could say I'm a real 'wild thing' huh?"

Jynx rolled her eyes. "You think your so impressive." she said.

Ace put on a look of false hurt, "I am so impressive!" he said.

"You wish." Jynx chuckled, "Which way now Mr. Impressive?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. "And you'd better decide quick, Manta's into light snacks."

Ace sniffed the air, trying to trace his own scent. Finally he pointed down the hall and to the left.

"Should be just down there." He said, "How you talked me into this I'll never know." He trotted down the hall.

"Me? Talk you into something? As if Neko-Shonen." She followed him at a slight jog, feeling her feet slap against the tiles.

Ace looked back at her over his shoulder, "What'd you call me?" he asked.

"Cat-boy." She said, "My Mom taught me Japanese." She looked at her companion, "You speak any second languages?"

Ace shrugged, "I can understand a good portion of Japanese, so I knew what you said before. It just got me by surprise. I know a little French-"

"Mammoth knows that." Jynx said conversationally, "Sorry, you where saying?"

Ace shrugged, "'S okay." he said, "That's about all I know anyway. Except for the language of Rock, o' course." he said, they where drawling nearer, "I play Electric Guitar, you do any instruments?"

"Not really." Jynx said, "I can sorta bang a tune out on a drum, but the monks at my temple taught me more to sing than anything."

"Really? Hey, if we ever get out of here maybe you could belt out some tunes for me." He said, grinning wildly. "Then we can start a band! Call it the Incredible Ace and Jynx! A&J for short."

Jynx had to smile, "And I suppose that it's merely coincidence that your names first, hmm?"

Ace snickered, "What can I say? I'm irresistible."

Ace was hard to get mad at. Really, almost impossibly hard. Unless of course he wanted you to. This, coupled with the fact that he was sorta cute, made him the ultimate ladies man. And while Jynx didn't want to get together with him, the two had bonded in a record time of one half-hour. Little did either of them know it, but they where destined to be friends for very long, weird lives.

They approached then end of the hall, still gibbering about nonsense, and stopped at a door. Ace bowed.

"After you." He said.

Jynx rolled her eyes, "Surprisingly noble for someone who runs into girls at rooms in the middle of the night." she said, walking past him.

"Hey, I was desperate!" He said, "Besides, it's not like I tried anything!"

"So you keep insisting." Jynx smirked, "Come on Neko-Shonen, let's see this prison of yours."

The doors opened into a huge room with a hiss. The room was empty, save for a few hundred Drones and an irate Brother Blood. Jynx's eyes widened in shock. On the other side of the room, past a open door, was a long line of cells, full to the brim with soon-to-be slaves.

"I told you!" Ace said in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up and run." Jynx said as the Drones aimed at them.

"There was a moose! Liked to drink his juice! There was a moose!"

"STOP SINGING!"

Beast Boy glared at the back of his leaders head. Robin had just gotten off the phone with Bumblebee and was know fighting along Cyborg in 'Attack of the Radio Active Turkeys Two: The game.' Raven was reading a book (Which, while the title read War and Peace, it was actually that wholly remarkable book, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.) and Starfire had rounded up her pet Silkie and was trying to make a cake in the kitchen. Silkie was a giant moth Larva, mutated by a mad scientist who's basement stood in place of a lab. Silkie was quite a sight, but Starfire loved him dearly and at one time almost impaled Raven with a Spork because of him. When she had introduced her beloved companion to Todd, the boy had merely patted the thing on the head and said, 'Nice Larva'. Todd had been zoning out ever since he had got to the tower. When Starfire had asked him about it he said he had a mild head ache, nothing major. He was currently seated next to Raven, watching the TV with little or no interest.

"So once your other team gets here, we can go get Jenny-Lynn, right?" He asked.

"After we find out where she is, yes." Raven said.

"Two Tsp's." Starfire read. She looked up from the book, "Friend Robin? What is a 'Tsp'?"

"Two teaspoons." Raven said from the sofa, "It's two Teaspoons Star."

Starfires brow wrinkled. Just when she thought she had finally gotten the hang of the English language, someone threw THIS at her. She turned back to the cook-book, her slightly orange finger tracing the path of the words. Flour butter sugar salt milk... they had all of these, except for the salt. Starfire bit her lip and flew over to the cupboard, moving the various spices around in the vain search for the tall cylindrical one. After awhile she gave up and just grabbed the thing closest to hand, a small bottle with the words, 'Weapon of Mass-Destruction Hot Sauce. May cause cancer in small rodents.'. She pulled it out with out a thought.

"One half Tsp of Salt." She said, pouring the chunky sauce into the measuring spoon. "Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in large bowl." Bending down, she grabbed the largest metal bowl she could find. Using both hands and a small amount of strength, she managed to unearth the large bowl, placing it on the counter with a dull thud. Picking up the hot-sauce filled spoon and hovering a little, she dumped it in. It was about two seconds before it hit bottom. She added the other ingredients. She read the recipe again. How did one 'Sift' things together? After a few moments of contemplation, she took her rolling pin and flattened the various powders and one liquid. She turned back to the cook-book just in time to miss it start to bubble sickeningly.

"In mixing bowl, beat butter, milk, and vanilla." Star poured the said ingredients into a different bowl, and then picked up her pet Silkie, who had been trying to enjoy her shoes in peace. She held him out at arms length. Always overjoyed to see his 'Mother' Silkie's multitudinous stumpy legs wiggled happily. Starfire giggled, "Hello Silkie! Could you please be doing a favor for your K'norfka?" Silkie squealed, "Glorious!"

She set her pet down on the counter, it's beige and pink back wiggling. Grabbing a wooden spoon from the counter, Starfire presented it to her pet. Silkie gripped it between four of it's front legs. It stood up, steadily supported on it's back legs. Starfire patted him on the head and read the cook-book again. "Silkie, please be slowly beating these into the dry ingredients." She read, pouring the things into a smaller bowl to aid her pet. "Beat for 2 minutes please Silkie." She said.

The jumbo-sized maggot complied, moving the wooden instrument in a slow circle within the bowl. Starfire turned back to the cook-book.

"Grease a Nine by Thirteen by two pan, and pour batter into it." She read. Starfire blinked. Grease? Wasn't that the name of that movie Beast Boy liked so much? She retrieved a pan from the cupboard. She looked at it.

"Um... Go greased lightning?" She said hesitantly. The pan did nothing. Perhaps if she sang more? She cleared her throat, holding the pan away from her like a dancing partner. How did that song go? Ah, yes...


"Go, Greased Lightning! You are burning up the quarter mile!" She sang in a high voice, twirling the pan around, "Greased Lightning, go Greased Lightning!"

Meanwhile, Silkie was starting to have trouble controlling the spoon. The mixture was very thick, due to a rather unforeseen side effect that Hot Sauce had on raw Eggs, and hard to stir. While Silkie may have looked like a Beanie Baby reject, he was in fact comprised mostly of muscle and he had put his heart and soul into stirring the batter for his 'K'norfka', and thus the spoon was gaining momentum. At first it hadn't really mattered, just a slight tug that helped the mutated moth grub keep stirring, but once the spoon had gathered momentum, it wasn't to eager to let it go.


Starfire continued to dance with the pan, completely oblivious to her pets plight. "Go Greased Lightning! You are coasting through the heat lap trails! Greased Lightning, go Greased Lightning, You are supreme!" She whirled faster, completely drowning out the squeals of her beloved Silkie.

When the spoon had started to slowly pull Silkie with it, he didn't notice. When it had taken him half-way around the bowl and showed no intention of stopping, then he started to become worried. The spoon sped up and the world started to spin. Silkie did what was customary among his kind and whimpered for his mother.

Unfortunately, his mother was currently boogieing down with a cake pan. "The chickens will be creaming!" she sang, horrible mangling the line and drawing closer to a patch of batter that had escaped the bowl.

Silkie gave up whimpering and went into full out panic mode, screaming shrilly as the bowl continued to speed up. He was now a tan and pink blur hovering around the bowl as Starfire danced by.

"For Greased Lightning! Go go go go go go go go- AH!" Starfires foot found contact with the batter, sticking her purple boot to it like glue and pulling the world out from under her. She toppled to the ground as Silkie reached a new decibel on the sound scale. The pan clattered and rolled away from her slightly. She waited for her brain to come back before asking, "Friend Robin? Do you think that the pan is sufficiently 'Greased'?"

"Sure thing Star." Robin said, "ALRIGHT! LEVEL THIRTY SEVEN! WHO DA MEN!" He said, holding his hand out to Cyborg.

Cyborg laughed and gave his friend a high five, "We da men!"

"And yet, this will mean absolutely nothing to you when you get older." Raven said.

They stared at her, Cyborgs eye twitching slightly. In the kitchen, Starfire had finally pried her foot off the floor, taking a good chunk of linoleum with it. She hobbled over to the counter where Silkie was still learning how to fly. The batter was now a compact ball in the middle, quickly breaking off relations with gravity and starting to levitate. Starfire, with no thought, grabbed the side of the bowl. Silkie flew off of it and landed, still screaming, on Raven. For a second the Gothic Girl panicked (Thinking, coincidentally, that it was the Ravenous Bur-Blatter beast of Trall) and accidentally cause Robins controller to explode. This cause Robin's character to die a nasty death at the hand of one of Gobblors Guards. Robin, in a small fit of rage, brought his fist down on the edge of his Bo-staff and caused it to go spinning off through the air. It hit Beast Boy on the head, and for some reason he morphed into a frog out of self defense, accidentally hitting the power button on the X-box with his tongue and turning it off. Cyborg freaked out and dove for the game console, trying to somehow save his game before it shut down, and activated the security system by stepping on the remote. Four laser turrets popped out of the walls, peppering the room with red plasma and incinerating the carpet at the same time. One stray shot hit the batter, which Starfire had dumped into the pan, and it instantly mutated. It turned bright red, bubbled worriedly and subsequently sprouted a pair of waffle butterfly wings. It was also cooked in under a minute. Starfire stared at her friends, who where either Croaking, screaming '42' at the top of their lungs, or sobbing for their lost game. She turned to the cake, which had stopped bubbling and looked blindly back at her. She looked at the picture in the book, which was of a beautiful fudge cake with frosting all over it. She looked back at her cake, which was just... odd.

She poked it. It feigned innocence and didn't move. She shrugged and put it on the counter, why look a gift Loobarian Beast in the mouth? She was sure that Titans East could eat it and live, the team she was part of had. She turned back to the group, which (Apart from Robin and Cyborg,) had settled down and gotten back to their lives, mostly. Beast Boy was stumbling around, his eyes practically spirals after the knock on the head, and Raven was still muttering something about Mice, the number 42, and chronically depressed robots. Cyborg was bawling like a baby and pounding his fist on the floor, while Robin just sulked in a corner, greatly different then usual.

This, of course, was the exact moment that Titans East chose to arrive.

Bumblebee came into the room, her head in her hands and Speedy in a stretcher. Aqualad had a smirk on his face, and Mas and Menos contrived to hide a can of sliced pairs behind their collective backs. The second they saw Starfire, their eyes got big.

"Allí ella es!" Menos breathed, staring at the girl. Starfire stared blankly back, not wanting to move in case it urged him into a charge. "Los godess más allá de las estrellas!"

"Conseguí la primera demanda!" Mas shouted, dropping the can behind his back and raising his hand into the air.

Menos eyes got huge, "Usted theif¡Usted no ¡Gané ese juego de tarjeta!" He screeched, diving at his brother.

"Pruébelo respiración del burro!" Mas growled, throwing a punch. (4)

"KNOCK IT OFF YOU LITTLE DEMONS! OR I'LL CHOP OF YOUR NOSES AND FEED 'EM TO THE CAT!"

Bumblebee whirled around, her face a mask of anger and sleep deprivation. Her two buns where frazzled from loading her teammates into the car, her outfit was torn, and her wings, though indestructible, where defiantly going to be sore in the morning. The last thing she needed was a super fast versions of Beast Boy squabbling. If she had been in Anime, she would be pictured with flames behind her and razor sharp teeth. The twins cowered.

"Perdónenos! Nosotros repent!" They said, zipping over and bowing down before her, "Somos gusanos! Somos gusanos!" They howled.

Bumblebee drew herself up. "You are forgiven." She said regally.

The twins looked up, and grabbed her legs. "Viva la Bumblebee!" they said, and went to go and try and find Starfire. Who had grabbed her pet and vacated the area long ago.

Bumblebee watched the red and white flash run off. "Those two will be the death of me." She muttered. A short scream from the direction of Speedy's stretcher caused her to turn around, "If those two don't do it first! Speedy! How did you get out of the straight jacket! Aqualad, let go of his neck and let him answer!" She ran over and began to administer punches. Todd looked at them. He had somehow managed to emerge unscathed from the chain reaction earlier, diving underneath a table without a second thought. He watched as Bumblebee pried her teammates apart.

"Oh yes." He said, "Now we can really get down to business."

To Be Continued...

(1) Red Witch, does Althea even have a middle name? I'm just guessing here, so if it's wrong and you have a different one in mind, let me know and I'll change this.

(2) Yet another thrilling tale that the author would like nothing better than to disclose, but unfortunately AL values life to much.

(3) The Hedgehog song is from Diskworld, and although you never see the lyrics, it is a great amount of fun. I was going to have someone somewhere sing the hedgehog song, and the Coyote seemed to be the best candidate.

What they are saying goes rather like this. "There she is! The godess from beyond the stars!" "I've got first dibs!" "You liar! I won that card game!" "Prove it donkey breath!"