Chapter 4: A Case of the H.I.V.E's
Writer's Note: Co-written with the author Jedi-And.
The police cars that had passed the Jackal were more a symbolic gesture then anything. Much like Metroville, the Jump City Police Department had long ago come to an understanding that there were some things that would be far more beneficial for them to stay out of. Hence, the cars were more to assign a perimeter, get people out of the line of fire, and keep out rubberneckers then to actually apprehend anyone. True, there were times when the police helped the Titans, and the Titans made sure they gave plenty of credit to the normal men and women who protected Jump City from the smaller but no less important crimes. In any case, the police knew their jobs, and they went about them.
At Jump City 1st National Bank, it was pretty much the usual for them as well. One could ask why banks in Jump City bothered hiring security at all, but the truth was not every robbery attempt required the Teen Titans' aid. Being the biggest target, the 1st National had strong security and better then usual guards (no fat donut eaters here). But in this case it hadn't mattered: the only thing that had alerted the outside world to trouble was the silent alarm that had been triggered as three teenagers waltzed their way through the building, walking past unconscious guards, cashiers, and customers. There was no sign of a struggle though: the cataleptic state that had claimed all the humans within the bank had not been caused by blows but by what appeared to be some kind of pollen. What made the scene even stranger was there were several holes in the ground that led into tunnels in the dirt below the bank. You almost expected to see Bugs Bunny robbing the place.
The human element dealt with, the three teenagers found they weren't on easy street yet, as they now had to deal with the non-human element.
"Any ideas on how to crack this DAMN SAFE?" A young black man asked. He stood roughly six feet tall with an athletic build, albeit one that wasn't helping him at the moment as he frantically tried to rip open the vault door in a rather comical fashion. His outfit would have been comical for those who had not seen his power, as he was quite disheveled looking. His shirt was made up of a patchwork design, pieces of clashing material sown thickly together, his left sleeve going down to the wrist while the right one stopped at mid arm, compensated by one green and yellow glove on his right hand. His trousers, as was his shirt, seemed to be a myriad of primary, secondary and metallic colors. On his left foot was a brand new training shoe like one would have in sports, and on the other was a big old clunky boot, like the kind a labor worker would have. His hair, like his outfit, was a mess of black dreads that looked like they hadn't been brushed in over three years, maybe not even washed for a few.
"Please don't get angry." A short, petite looking woman said, trying to pull him off the door. She looked normal enough, if you discounted the fact that she seemed to be made of plants. Her hair was composed of petals, going from fully bloomed flowers to just buds on the tips of her shoulder length locks. Her skin was light green and her outfit consisted of a cape made of two large, long pink flower petals that faded into white at the end, alongside a light shirt with a gold leaf motif and a skin-tight dark green leotard that went from her neck to her ankles, with a black swimsuit-like piece over the top of that but under the shirt in black that covered most of her neck. Finally, a pair of small boots that almost looked out of place with the rest of the costume, as they were somewhat bulky, completed her outfit.
"I wouldn't get so angry if it wasn't for this blasted door!" The patchwork kid yelled, banging a fist against it one last time before giving up with a huff. "Hmmmm. I do have trouble with nailed down stuff, but maybe…"
Heavy footsteps came from behind him, each one giving off a metallic clang.
"Let me have a try." Said the last of the teens, a light French accent clear in her speaking. She was a tall, beautifully sexy individual with a prize winning face, long light blonde hair and a figure that would have felt right at home on a cheerleading squad, being the classic super hero hourglass with the wasp-like waist and wide shoulders and hips. The only thing that marred the 'reflection of perfection' on this six foot high Amazon was the fact her skin was a near-white silver which shone in the sun like a highly polished surface. She wore a pastel pink dress that went from her overdeveloped chest down to the high thigh region, the look complimented by the knee high boots that she wore.
She walked to the seam in the door, stared at the small gap for a moment, and then pulled back her arm, the muscles going from lightly toned to well defined in one tense movement, before her clenched fist shot forward and smashed into the gap. Unlike a human fist, which would have broken on contact, the vault door gave instead, as the edge buckled inward a bit to create a gap, a loud metallic clang echoing through the bank. It seemed her skin wasn't as soft as it looked: it may have reflected light like rigid metal but it still looked and acted like skin: there were no apparent holes or gaps that would expose it for a suit or covering of some kind. Indeed, the metal didn't seem to affect her flexibility at all, as she placed her two delicate hands in the hole, and now with leverage she dug her fingers into the metal and strained backwards. A horrible metallic shriek filled the bank as she yanked the door open, and then just to drive the point home, she grabbed the edge of the door and ripped it straight off its hinges.
The room was silent.
"Was that really necessary?" The small plant like woman asked. The blonde just shrugged and flicked out her long hair.
"I 'unno." She replied, dropping the large steel/titanium door which probably weighed at least several tons like it was a cardboard box, before she turned to the now open door. Her eyes widened, a look of pure amazement covering her features, as inside the vault was more money than she could have ever imagined. Ideas of what she could do with it filled her head: she could get so many new things, including possibly a better costume. She clasped her hands together, making a metallic clang. "Tres magnific."
"CHA-CHING!" The black teen shouted as he dashed into the vault and began opening all the boxes, security deposit boxes, and doors.
"WOW!" The small woman exclaimed, as she followed the black teen in, as the metal amazon also, almost skipping, made her way into the vault, with a wide smile and a heavy metallic cacophony, mostly caused by the sound echoing around the small enclosed space inside the vault. Indeed, it was so loud it made the black male teen pause in his looting.
"Ow!" He said, clutching at his ears. "Hey! Heavy! Quit it with the noise or you'll have half the JLA down here because they can hear it from their Watchtower!" He bellowed.
"Actually, they can't hear her because they are in space, and sound doesn't travel in space because there's no air…" The small one stated, but her reasoning was clearly not getting through, only the original comment was, if the look of hurt on the face of the silver woman was any indication, as she turned, hands on hips.
"Are you calling me fat? Hybride!" She snapped, as she walked over and got right up into the black teen's face, or right up over his face as she was at least three inches taller than him. "Appelez-moi graisse encore! Je vous ferai..."
"Yes! No! Um…damn! Just quit it and grab the loot!" He yelled back, and the French speaking metal girl decided that was a good point, as the group once again started to grab the money, doing this for twenty seconds before they decided that they'd tempted fate enough and it was time to go. However, they allowed themselves the indulgence of shouting out "YAHOO!" as they threw a whole load of thousand dollar bills up into the air and danced in them like they were rain.
"Oh if only I had my umbrella!" The silver woman said, before she lifted up several of the heavy bags now filled with her ill gotten booty, or as Alan Alder aka Hawkeye Pierce said in a MASH episode, ill booten gotty.
"This way please, sir and madam." The smaller one stated as they all turned to leave through the hole where a vault door had once stood "Our transportation will be ready momentarily."
The small girl smiled and turned…
A lashing white energy whip snapped down on the floor next to her, making her jump back with a yelp.
"Your train has been cancelled." Savior said, calling his tendril back to him as his teammates spread out around him, Cyborg at his side. When he'd heard there had been three perpetrators, he'd been expecting a different group, and instead he and his team found themselves fully armed and fully prepared…and against three different teenagers. Indeed, they'd been so busy quickly and silently removing all the unconscious people inside the bank that they hadn't even realized that the voices coming from the vault didn't match up with what they had expected.
"Looks like we have some new kids on the block!" Beast Boy said as he looked the three up and down a little.
"Let's make their careers even shorter then that group." Cyborg replied.
There was a slight pause as the three bank robbers backed up a little and the Titans moved forward. The air seemed to still around them.
They stood there, silent.
"Psst, this is your cue to introduce yourself." Gauntlet said.
"Oh. Right." The metallic woman nodded before coughing. "Uh…um…Jules?"
The black teen took that as a cue.
"So, the Teen Titans. Well, you may be the Titans, but I say you have never had to face a force like us before!" Their messy haired leader shouted, pointing upwards. "We are the latest, greatest villains to come out of the HIVE academy since the Troika!" He posed with his hands both open. "Juryrig!"
"Platinum Blonde!" The silver faced blonde shouted, her arms holding up the moneybags.
"Floral." The green woman in the leotard said in a more quiet tone, holding up a small flower as the pose finished and a load of petals exploded behind the three.
"AND WE ARE…"
A sonic cannon blast caught Platinum Blonde in her ample chest and sent her flying backwards even as a lashing Shimmer strand caught both Floral and Juryrig and sent them right after her, the group crashing into a pile of moneybags at the back of the vault and sending an explosion of bills through the air.
"Stupid enough to stand still and make a big scene while expecting us to do the same." Savior said.
"Hey! I wanted to hear their name! It's a tradition!" Gauntlet protested.
"Tradition bites." Savior replied.
"I'll tell you our name!" Juryrig yelled as he tried to get up. "It's…uh…uh….UH…um…"
And then Juryrig stepped on some loose money: that combined with the angle caused his foot to slip and for him to fall down again, bumping into Floral and knocking the small girl down as well, the collapse almost pulling down Platinum Blonde as well, though she did manage to keep her feet.
"You don't actually have a name for your group do you?" Terra asked, causing the villains to look at one another for support in a state of confusion.
"We got called out in full force for this?" Cyborg asked, rubbing the robotic side of his head. "I swear, the POLICE could have dealt with these amateurs..."
"I'll show you amateurs!" Platinum Blonde yelled as she charged, moving faster then Cyborg would have expected as she built up enough speed out of her heavy body to gut check the man-machine, forcing him back a little to the surprise of the relaxed Titans, who hadn't expected her to attack the Titans solo. They scattered as Cyborg locked his feet and stopped the charge, struggling with Platinum Blonde.
"I think we found their tanker!" Gauntlet shouted as the Titans quickly surrounded the struggle. For those who don't know, a Tanker was a term for someone who had the strength and defense to run into the middle of any and all kinds of fights and hold their own; usually it would be the big, strong person on the group. Cyborg was the tanker for the Titans, as his armor plating offered the protection he needed to come out on top. Indeed, most teams needed a tanker to help even things out a little and to act as a shield for long ranged heroes who had weaker defenses or close combat heroes who couldn't take hits well…but getting back to the action.
"Gauntlet, Scalpel, take care of stupid rookie." Savior ordered, pointing at the still struggling Cyborg and Platinum Blonde. "Beast Boy, Terra, let's deal with the smarter rookies."
"Let's wrap this up and go get some pizza!" Gauntlet said to Scalpel, who nodded and snapped out his glaive.
And at that point a whole load of micro missiles came shooting at the jokester of the Titans, forcing him to throw up his Gauntlet shield at the last moment, though the shockwave caused the others to stop Savior's ordered attack in surprise.
"Hey snot buckets! Aren't we forgetting something?" A short kid with a very annoying voice called from the door. "In the HIVE we work as a team!"
"And if you mess with some of us..." A lady's voice spoke softly, before it was cut off by a deeper, harsher tone.
"You mess with a lot more than you bargained for! So let the newbies go!" Said the final, gruff voice, and then a loud sound of cracking knuckles filled the air as the Titans turned and looked at the door.
"Troika as backup. My my, an actual sign of tactical thinking. Then again, I suppose miracles do happen." Savior said.
"I was wondering when the real fight was going to start." Scalpel replied, lifting up his glaive. "New orders?"
"Chew bubble gum and kick ass."
"I don't have any bubble gum."
"Exactly." Savior said, as he snapped out the Shimmer as the two charged into battle. The Troika took after their example and charged as well.
"LET'S GET READY TO RRUUUUUMMMBBBLLLEEEEE!" Gauntlet shouted as the groups collided, the Troika slamming into the Titans even as the new HIVE members finally got to their feet and charged into the fray.
Utter carnage followed, as tables, desks, chairs, stair banisters and mortgage advertisements became casualties from the events that swiftly spiraled down into a bloody free for all. It was a manic battle, as the bank wasn't exactly built to accommodate a fight with twelve super-powered people, especially considering the size of some of the combatants, and within a minute it had spilled out onto the street, the whole right side of the bank exploding as Mammoth was thrown out, swiftly followed by Scalpel as he dove out of the bank at the colossus, tackling him down to the ground. Mammoth wasn't TOO stupid however: in close with all his sharp parts Scalpel had a distinctive advantage, and he swiftly lifted the alien up and threw up high into the air and away from him, causing the alien to come crashing down hard upon the roof of a nearby car, losing his glaive in the process.
Scalpel growled and rolled off the car and onto his feet, as he reached down and picked up the vehicle, hoisting it above his head, as he aimed and 'fired' the automobile at Mammoth, who was showing the reason he was only not TOO stupid as he was just walking away thinking he had gotten rid of the alien.
"Hey!" Scalpel shouted, and like most villains, Mammoth turned around. Why? I don't know. It's a villain thing I guess, and as soon as Mammoth followed the rule he received a car straight into his face, sending him once again flying into the side of the bank stairs before he stopped, the car (still with him due to the momentum) falling onto his large form.
"We are not finished yet!" Scalpel shouted as he jumped through the air and onto the car, once again buckling the thin piece of metal that was the roof as he tried to stomp Mammoth into the ground. With a roar, Mammoth used his strength to flip the car up onto its back, Scalpel along for the ride as he slammed into the ground, the car on top of him. Mammoth smirked and lifted the car up to slam it down upon the alien again…before Scalpel lashed out with his hand and grabbed the giant's ankle, yanking his leg up and throwing Mammoth up into the air with the greatest of ease before he spun up, and, while balancing on his hands, thrust out a leg into Mammoth's back and kicked him into and through one of the bank's outside pillars. However, throwing Mammoth like this made the giant lose his grip on the car, and as Scalpel did a final spin and placed his feet on the ground, it fell upon the doctor…
Who buckled under it, and then stopped and slowly stood up with it, the car balanced on his back as if he and his larger adversary were playing a dangerous game of hot potato but with a diesel engine.
Inside however was no less frantic: hell it was probably more so as reducing the combatants inside the bank from 12 to 10 hadn't really done much in the way of alleviating the chaos.
Metallic ringing bangs sounded through part of the room, as Platinum Blonde was having what could only be described as a fistfight of the gods with Cyborg, who wasn't doing as well as he would have liked. They were both made of metal, but Cyborg's was in a locked, inflexible state, while Platinum's Blonde was more fluid ala the T-1000, hence Cyborg couldn't really tell if his blows were doing any real damage while the dents that had appeared on his chest and arms told a different story to his foe. And she was faster then him, as she ducked under a right hook and slammed her fist into his gut, and while Cyborg couldn't really have his wind knocked out of him like a human the force was still enough to double him over onto Platinum Blonde's shoulder, as the girl, with a wicked laugh, shifted her weight as she grabbed Cyborg and then hurled him up to the first floor of the bank, which had been designed as an open plan and hence looked down on the ground floor via a balcony. Flexing her legs, she leapt up after him…and made a mistake as she forget how much she weighed. Because of said weight, the already damaged by Cyborg's landing on them floorboards gave way when the metallic woman landed on them as well, causing them to tumble back down to the ground floor and putting some distance between them, which allowed Cyborg to call out his advantage, his weapons, tipping the battle over to him.
You would think the others might have gone to help tip the balance of this battle of the tankers to their favor, but they were busy with their own fights, as Beast Boy, alongside Terra, had surrounded the poor small teenager called Floral, who had backed herself into a corner out of fear. It was, after all, her first mission, and she was still a little nervous, her mind a jumble.
"FLORAL! PLAN A!" Juryrig shouted to her. Despite her nervousness, her mind instantly seized onto the words, and she held out her un-gloved hands as they started to call to the earth. The ground began to shake beneath the Titans…
Which didn't seem to impress Beast Boy and Terra much. Indeed, Terra just tutted in an blasé manner, extending one of her own hands as her eyes glowed yellow.
"Ground manipulation powers? That's all fine and good child, but please. I am a master Geokinetic. When it comes to controlling the earth, anything you can do I can do better. To sum it up, you won't beat me." Terra said in a cocky tone, as she called to the earth to stop shaking.
To put what response she got in layman's terms, the earth basically said back in a confused tone "I am not doing anything."
"Terra?" Beast Boy said, as a look of shock came over her face, as she finally put the earth's response and the girl's name together, as the ground continued to shake…
"I-I don't control the earth; I control the force that causes the earth to tremble!"
Vines shot from the floor and lashed around, vicious green whips as nasty as any human constructed weapon. Beast Boy changed into a hawk and flew above the thin plants, trying to get high enough to avoid contact, but unfortunately they were faster as they managed to catch and wrap around him before throwing him to the floor. Terra, caught off guard by her arrogance, did the first thing that came to mind as she threw up a shield of stone from the floor and dirt from underneath it around her to protect her until she could think…another bad move, considering her foe, and Floral noticed this. She commanded her plants to act, and the vine shifted and changed, coiling around themselves as they changed from thin whip lengths to something more like tentacles, leaping out and entangling themselves in and around Terra's shield as they started to crush it. Grunting, Terra raised her hands and tried to force the rock cocoon outwards in the hopes it would hold, but it didn't work, as it continued to close around her, liana after liana, a certain type of vine, continuing to emerge and warp around the rock.
Floral looked upon her work, her confidence seemingly starting to emerge, to the point where she even managed a small laugh.
"Y-you see? Plants cause the rocks to fall apart! To corrode and break!" She taunted. She was still backing up though: her outward appearance of fearlessness betrayed by her unconscious actions, as she was still rather scared of what was happening…
And that in turn screwed her up just like it had Terra, as just before her plants could crush Terra inside her own little prison or swat the getting up Beast Boy, she tripped over something and every plant in the room broke away from her attack and shot over to her to catch her fall, which they did, just barely.
Terra quickly shattered the rock sphere that had nearly been her tomb and fired the shards of stone off towards Floral, who quickly aped her move and put up a plant shield on which the rocks broke against. However, unlike Terra's stalwart guard, this move seemed to make the plants screech in pain.
"I'm so sorry!" Floral said, getting up as she appeared to try to rub the plant to make it feel better. "After we've done this we can go back home, and rest, you'll see." Yep, she was definitely talking to the plants.
"They can't hear you, ya know." Beast Boy commented in between transformations.
Wrong thing to say, as Floral's soft, scared gaze did a complete 180 and turned into a visage of pure anger aimed at the geokinetic and the changeling.
"What would you know? You're just an animal! A creature that hurts things! Part of the earth who just tries to harm plants by not giving them the nutrients they need!"
"What? Hurt? Dude, uh, dette, I'm a vegetarian!" Beast Boy protested, breaking out his usual line of why he wouldn't harm certain things.
The problem was, she wasn't talking about people but plants. In other words, he'd just said the MOTHER of all wrong things to say.
"MURDERER!" Floral bellowed, as her plants reared back and fired out at such speed the two teens couldn't mount a defense, the thick green tentacles slamming into the pair. "You sick, twisted man!" She shouted, more wall climbing based plants shooting from the ground to attack the two.
"You're calling him sick?" Terra asked/gasped incredulously, trying to get free and not succeeded as the plants lashed out and pinned her to a wall.
"Yes! I call him what he is, because all he ever does is try to harm plants! Plants are something we all need! But he claims he has a better code of ethics because he doesn't eat animals, when all they do is harm us!"
"Us?" Beast Boy said disbelievingly.
"Yes! You're all out to destroy us! But we won't let you! We will destroy you first! All my brothers and sisters will rip this planet apart!" Floral shrieked, the mild mannered young villain having seemingly been replaced, her voice usurped by something much older, much darker, much more vengeful. The spirit of the flowers speaking in her head seemed to only strengthen her resolve and belief that humans were not the kind animals she thought they once were.
"Well at least she hasn't complained about cutting down the rainforest yet." Beast Boy said, ever the jokester.
"Trees deserve all they get! They are conscious of your deeds and they are happy! HAPPY! They know you cut them down but they think you need them! They refuse to believe that you humans cut them down for fun sometimes!" Floral yelled.
"Ok kid, can you please say something that actually MAKES SENSE?" Terra asked.
"SILENCE!" Floral screamed, and she threw the young pair away, the two crashing through some cashier screens in a shower of safety glass.
Some of which bounced by Savior as he made his way through the bank, seemingly aloof but in reality completely aware of where his team was and what they were doing. Knowing that, Savior had carefully kept out of the way as he tried to decide what tactic to use. It seemed the Titans had all broken off into their own little fights, and none of them were losing badly, so that left one thing, and one person, for Noel to deal with: the leader of this new group, who seemed to be just standing there and laughing at all the destruction. Savior knew a cover when he saw one though: Juryrig was doing exactly what Savior was doing: assessing the situation and looking for where his aid was needed. Well, Savior would deal with that, as he rolled under a flying piece of stone debris as Terra counter-attacked the still mad Floral and sprang into a small leap that put him before Juryrig, whose eyes immediately snapped to him.
"So…Juryrig, is it?" Savior as, as the Shimmer coiled out of his hands, ready for any commands. "So…what can you do? Somehow I doubt it has anything to do with the outcome of trials."
"Oh, it has more to do with trials then you think…" Juryrig said as he raised his arms. As for why Savior didn't attack him then, well, he might have felt comfortable hitting the teen villain when he was posing, but he was clearly kicking in his power, and since Savior had no idea what it was he wasn't going to go attacking Juryrig and get a face full of acidic smoke or something. True, names tended to tie into powers, but if the teen was smart enough to observe a battle he might be smart enough to purposely take a misleading nom de plume.
"But rather a trial by fire then a trial of law!" Juryrig added, and brought his hands together and then began slowly pulling them apart, his fingers trembling.
A rumbling sound was heard, but unlike before, where it came from the ground moving under the Titans' feet, there was no discernible origin for his sound, as Savior stood there, his body tense, his eyes darting around the room…
And still nearly getting squashed as he glanced up and to his left and saw the rubble from the destruction flying at him. Savior cursed and sprang/rolled out of the way as the rubble crashed down where he had just been. Juryrig was a telekinetic? Well, he could handle…
Wait…
Juryrig hadn't been throwing the rubble at Savior. He had been CALLING it to over to him, like a strange magnet of some kind, and it appeared that as long as it was inanimate, Juryrig could summon it, as he called the wood and stone and metal that had once been part of something or other to and before him. Now the reason he had been staying out of it became more clear: he had not just been watching his teammates, he had been, in a sense, using them: the more damage they did, the more material he had.
The pillar outside the bank that Mammoth had shattered flew through the door, smashing it up and flying past some of the fighting Titans and HIVE members before it slid over to the shape Juryrig was forming, a shape now coming into definition: a massive golem, the giant pillar becoming it's right arm, even as the vault door that Platinum Blonde had ripped off floated over and attached itself to a rock and metal right arm to become a massive hand, of sorts. Two broken lights lit up where the head was, said head made out of a desk and a few pieces of pillar, as it open it's crude mouth, pulling back in what could only be described as a silent roar.
Not a telekinetic. A puppetmaster. Savior's eyes narrowed as he looked at the creature Juryrig had formed, looking very pleased with himself as he glanced upward at it.
"You know that expression 'haste makes waste'? Well in my experience…it's…waste makes waste." Juryrig said, as he glanced up at his creation. "Hmmm, not bad at all. I think I'll call him Titanic Tommy."
"NYYYUUHHH!" Savior yelled in a wordless battle cry, as he tried to make a preemptive move, firing twin Shimmer lines at Juryrig, under the old adage "cut off the head of the snake and the body will die…"
Except this body knew that fact, as the metal vault hand slammed down in front of Juryrig, blocking the piercing bludgeon. Savior growled as he recalled the strands. He wasn't just a puppetmaster, he had damn good reflexes.
"Bad boy! Sic' em!" Juryrig yelled, pointing.
"Well damn." Savior said flatly.
The refuse golem, which Juryrig called Titanic Tommy, and hereby referred to as TT, swung out with its pillar arm. Savior threw himself backwards as the arm slammed into a wall, both the wall and the arm shattering a bit…and then reforming as the smashed bits of both returned to the mass and clung to it. Damn. Not only could Juryrig make the monsters, he could add to them in mid battle…
And they were fast, as Savior found the vault hand swinging down at him. Savior leapt to the side, the vault smashing a hole in the floor, and even as the wreckage slithered up and added itself to the TT golem's arm Savior found the pillar arm heading for him. He didn't quite dodge this time: the pillar clipped his form and knocked him down, smashing through a desk. Savior shook his head and rolled backwards as the longer ranged pillar arm tried to smash him again: all it did was reduce the wrecked desk to toothpicks as Savior leapt away. Snarling, Savior lashed out with several Shimmer strands, piecing them into the monster's body and ripping out whatever wreckage he could. The creature staggered a bit, but the wreckage Savior had tossed out swiftly returned, reinforced by new debris that had been made in the other battles. Savior's eyes snapped over to Juryrig: yes, attacking the head was definitely the way to go. However, the fact that TT immediately moved in front of him clearly showed that getting to the head would be the problem.
But Savior was good at problems, as he yelled and ran forward, swinging up several strands into a sword-shape…and then slashing the sword down early as it turned into a makeshift pole-vault as Savior tried to leapt over TT…
He met the vault hand in mid-leap, swatted out of the air like a fly. He bounced once and then flipped over, staggering as pain shot through his body.
The wreckage giant charged forward, its arms flailing and swiping. Deciding that standing his ground was counterproductive, Savior started backing up and continued to do so. However, there wasn't a lot of room in the bank to do so, and seeing that Savior was still wracking his brain to think of a successful counter attack…that wasn't good. But Savior paid that factor no mind: he'd had worse problems.
And there was also the matter that due to the aforementioned bank size, it wasn't long before Savior headed into another one of the fights.
"UGH!" Cyborg grunted as he crashed to the ground. He'd tried hitting Platinum Blonde at a distance courtesy of shooting out his arm on a grapple, but she'd grabbed it and yanked HIM into her fist instead. Mad as hell, Cyborg changed his arm to the sonic cannon and fired off a powerful blast, but Platinum Blonde just walked into it, staggering under the force beam but still resisting it enough to maintain forward momentum. Cyborg growled: apparently with her on guard she wasn't as easy to knock down, and if he upped the power on his cannon any more he'd risk overloading it, but Platinum was almost on him, a arrogant smirk on her face...
And so was a giant shadow. What the heck…
"CY! DOWN!" Savior shouted.
Cyborg obeyed without any hesitation, cutting off his sonic cannon and throwing himself to the ground. Titans listened to each other. However, Platinum wasn't a Titan and paid no heed to such a warning, which was unfortunate as Savior had called it because the TT Golem was swinging back its pillar arm for a baseball bat smash.
And Platinum became the ball, as the arm swung out and caught her, sending her flying through the front door of the bank with a scream.
Outside, Scalpel was finishing his lift of the car that he and Mammoth had been fighting over…and Platinum Blonde flew straight out through the broken door doors and into said car, forcing it out of his hands and onto the street. The car hit the ground, rolled a few times, and then skidded on its side with her stuck through its chassis and one of the windows, leaving her in a not too dignified manner.
Serves her right for that short skirt really.
Scalpel felt above his head a little, wondering where the car had gone. However, he didn't get to wonder for long as Mammoth once again slammed into him, driving him backwards and reengaging him in combat, leaving the wrecked car and the stuck Platinum Blonde behind, the girl's legs waving comically as she couldn't get the proper leverage to free herself from her plight.
"Oh no! Antoinette!" Juryrig said, turning his head to look at the hole that had been made when he had inadvertently grand slammed his teammate, and then became aware of chuckling.
"Nice one." Savior said. "With friends like you…"
The TT Golem swung its vault hand at Savior, and he once again leapt out of the way as a yelling Juryrig furiously attacked. Cyborg rolled away, saw that Savior was fine for now (probably one of his plans, Victor knew how Noel thought), and scanned the bank to see what he could do.
The remaining Titans were fighting four of the six HIVE members, as one was outside having a fistfight with an alien and the other was trying to get herself out of a car without losing what little dignity she had left. Gizmo was, as per usual, flying around with his jetpack as he fired off every micro missile he owned in the hopes he would hit that smarmy Gauntlet before he could crack any more really bad jokes. I mean, Gizmo did have some 'supposedly' immature threats, but he wasn't so cliché about his taunts as Gauntlet was. What was this kid, a walking comic book?
"Your powers are mighty! Or would be if we were in just two dimensions!" Gauntlet said as he jumped up over the missiles and his threat shouting advisory, as he quickly formed his Gauntlet energy into a rough gun shape. It seems that he had been improving his skills since the last time we saw him: perhaps he had talked to one of the Green Lanterns (and actually he had; John Stewart, whose power ring could form anything he imagined out of hard light energy, and while John, a former architect, preferred simple, concise structures, Gauntlet had begged him to teach him how to make fancier shapes then he, Gauntlet, normally could. Stewart had, for some reason known only to him: maybe he just wanted Gauntlet to stop annoying him. And while Gauntlet hadn't actually used the move yet, he figured now was as good a time as any to pull it out of the bag), as he soon started to blast Gizmo with the 'gun'. Gizmo yelled another curse with the usual 'snot' and 'crud' words in it and tried to dodge, as Gauntlet continued with his jump, firing down upon Gizmo with each blast, before landing on the other side and continuing his barrage. Although Gizmo continued to dodge his way around the blasts, his wings didn't have the same luck, and on the last few dodges he was shot out of the air and crashed to the ground with a "Cruddddd!".
"Heh. Optimus Prime, eat your heart out." Gauntlet said, and blew on his yellow energy construct.
And was then promptly buried in rubble dropped down upon him by a stray Hex blast. Jinx, rather then aiming for the Titans themselves, had decided to aim at the area around them, in effort to make the bank attack them for her, or do it in a different way then the way Juryrig was, rather. Indeed, the rookie was doing pretty well: Jinx marveled at how he had managed to gain a lot of the Titans' attention away from his other teammates. True, he was a bit too proud of his wreckage puppets, always bragging on how he never made the exact shape twice and giving each one a name and other things as he goofed around a little, but he was a good leader and the HIVE had made the right choice to choose him. She still had her doubts about the other two though, but they were new, hell they admitted it. This was their first mission after graduating; they hadn't really expected the Titans to show up. But they had. It must have been a slow week.
Well, with Gauntlet and Gizmo out for the count for now, Savior fighting off TT as he kept trying and failing to get to Juryrig, Terra and Beast Boy once again pinned to the wall by the angry Floral, and Mammoth outside fighting with Scalpel, she wondered if she had left anyone out. She couldn't rest on her laurels, not considering what was happening with the HIVE these days. Her powers used to be unique, but ever since Cord had shown up…she didn't need someone challenging her as the 'bad luck' person…
And then, Jinx realized that she had missed someone. How the hell she had missed HIM, she had no idea, as she turned sharply…
"Hey." Cyborg said.
Jinx snapped up a hand to hex her enemy…
And she hesitated. Her hand was raised but the blast wasn't coming out. Cyborg stood firm in front of her, his sonic cannon out and charged. The battle continued to go on around them, yet they stayed still, as if they were looking at each other across an empty street rather then in the middle of a war zone. Yet both of them stood there, their hands extended, ready to fire off blasts…but neither did. As both were wondering if they should. If they could.
Jinx thought back to the Sorceress attacks. In all the chaos and destruction, the one person Cyborg had saved above all other people who weren't Titans, was her. The Sorceress had tried to drain her dry of her magical power, only to have Cyborg lunge at her like he was a man possessed. Considering the Sorceress' certain 'issues' about science and technology, the fact that he had tried to beat the FAR more powerful mage away from her, and then carry her out of the city, was even more noteworthy.
But maybe it meant nothing. Maybe he didn't want to protect her; maybe he just wanted to prevent the Sorceress from getting her power. But whatever the case was, he had saved her. She never needed saving, she was no damsel in distress…but the Sorceress had been beyond anything she could have mustered to help herself…so he had…
Cyborg waited himself, ironically thinking along the same lines. From his undercover assignment to the Sorceress…was there more to this then the confused feelings of a teen not yet fully grown up? Maybe there was something more behind his rescue of her, maybe there was something he couldn't quite see…
But something he did see however, was the high powered mine that had rolled to a stop at his feet.
Unfortunately, during his battle with Gauntlet, Gizmo's attempted counterattack had been interrupted, resulting in him dropping the mine, which had finally run out of inadvertent momentum at Cyborg's feet, beeping extremely fast...
Jinx and Cyborg stared in horror at each other, and then they both dashed in the same direction, Jinx firing her hex blast to try and force the mine away…
However, her aim was off, as she was trying to avoid hitting the still in her field of vision Cyborg, and instead of knocking the bomb away she hit the bomb into the air.
Which just ensured the shockwave from the blast was magnified even more.
The explosion was surprisingly large, and sent both the lighter sorceress and the heavy cyborg flying through the air and out the same door Platinum Blonde had gone through, except they had even more momentum behind them and hence flew over her still trapped in the car form and into the storefront on the opposite side of the bank. Cyborg fortunately was going first through the air, as his body cleared the way for Jinx's lighter, more vulnerable form, but that also meant he was the poor soul who was greeted by the brick wall that backed up against the storefront, a small warehouse behind said wall. The pair came crashing through it and landed in a heap.
"Ow..." Cyborg said, as he blinked, even as his computer systems told him how banged up he was due to that trip (which was a lot). He tried to sit up, only to find he had a weight on him. He looked up to see Jinx on his chest, getting up, or at least trying to. Her own little ride had obviously knocked a few cobwebs loose from her head, as she coughed and sneezed on the dust and wiped her eyes before she looked down to find that she was on his chest. Shaking her stars away, she staggered to her feet and held her head.
"Bloody Titan. You're not the softest thing to land on..." She complained as she made some distance between the pair, trying to focus as she put a hand up.
"I think that wall I broke down for you would have been a lot less forgiving." Cyborg replied as he too got to his feet, somewhat steadier then Jinx was. His sonic cannon armed again, and her eyes widened and then pink energy glowed on her hand.
Once again the pair was standing face to face, their arms raised in attack mode and ready to unleash blasts of devastating power consisting of focused concussive sound and pure bad luck.
But once again they just stood there, as if frozen. It seemed that time had stopped.
The world seemingly stood still around them.
And the question kept coming across their mind; why did they hesitate? They were supposed to be enemies. They had been enemies for years.
So…Why?
That question had baffled rulers and philosophers and priests and scientists and artists for thousands of years. Why did this work? Why did we have to conform to a preset idea? Why couldn't we feel this and do that? Why does everything have to be used in a certain program? Why not... experiment with it a little? Hell, if people didn't always follow the set protocols of ideas and ideologies then maybe things could be solved quicker, and with less fuss.
Or at least that was the idea behind peace discussions. When people got tired of fighting for the right to lead or the right to control or whatever drove them, people started to talk to one another, trying to prove that one could solve things without fighting. However that only seemed to work until someone changed their mind and wanted to pick a fight again. So was trying new things a waste?
No.
It just needs to be perfected.
And that was the problem we now had here. We had a hero, a young and diligent man with a personality and will stronger than ten normal men, and a villain who had robbed and cheated her way through banks and god knows how many other things across the city. These same two, according to the rules of superheroing and villainy, had to fight each other until one either ran away without the goods they came for, or was knocked unconscious, or arrested, or worse.
But these two didn't want to follow those rules.
No…it seemed they were tired of fighting.
If this was a Western, a tumbleweed might have rolled by while men and women in the saloon looked on or played cards. And eventually, an action would need to be taken.
But no one shouted 'draw' or something in the vein of the legendary John Wayne ("Fill your hand, you sunavabitch!") or fired off insults, or arrogantly predicted on how this would end. They just stood there, staring with unsure expressions on their faces. You could tell that they were thinking, but you could also tell they had no idea just what they were supposed to think.
"Well..." Cyborg said quietly, his arm lowering slightly from its original high pose. As if he was looking into a mirror, Jinx's hand did at the same time.
"I guess we have to go back to fighting." Jinx finished for him.
"I guess so." He replied.
"Yeah."
There was another pause.
"Er..." Cyborg said, trying to break the silence. "Ladies first?"
"Um..." Jinx muttered, as she paused and straightened slightly. "Uh…thanks..."
She paused again, not sure what to do.
"It's nothing personal." She finally said, before raising her hand again and firing off a hex blast.
Though her face almost looked a little pained as she did so.
Terra bounced off the wall and dodged away as another vine whip slashed at her less than bulky frame. Floral may have started the fight looking like a scared child, but Terra and Beast Boy had clearly hit a nerve in her, a big one. Or maybe she (obviously) didn't like geokinetics, or the shape shifting boyfriends of said. Indeed, she seemed to be going after Terra with a greater focus then the average supervillain did.
She wondered just what was behind it. Everyone had their nemesis, maybe this Floral girl was hers? Did she need a nemesis? Then again it seemed like every great hero had one. Even if they were unassuming. Yes, Floral wasn't exactly in the same league as, say, Brother Blood, but before he had turned up Cyborg's nemesis was Gizmo.
Everyone started somewhere, she assumed. Maybe Terra would upgrade to another one?
Or maybe that was a bad idea?
Another whip came down upon her like a vulture screeching for a carcass, and Terra decided that maybe wishing for a greater nemesis was indeed a bad idea, as it still wasn't clear if she could survive this one.
Beast Boy was having even worse luck. His animal forms were far more suited for downing humanoid opponents, not masses of angry vines. His lone attempt to become a large herbivore and eat some of the plants had only result in him nearly choking to death as the vines rammed themselves down his throat, not to mention pissing Floral off all over again. He was currently a bear and was trying to hack through the attacking vines with his claws, but for every vine he slashed three more took its place. Not to mention the strange sounds the vines made (they couldn't be screaming. PLANTS COULD NOT SCREAM) was royally weirding him out…and before he knew it the vines had entangled him and slammed him against the wall, again. Beast Boy turned human again to try and fake the vines out and wiggle free, but they adapted too quick and he was swiftly ensnared once more. He saw in the corner of his eye that Terra was suffering the same fate: the vines kept hitting her in the head and interrupting her concentration every time she tried to put together any kind of rock assault.
"Now do you see our power? Do you know how terrible our wrath is?" Floral was yelling. The poor girl had definitely cracked, but Beast Boy had more pressing concerns then her mental stability, like getting free before said lack of stability resulted in his body being turned into fertilizer.
The pillar arm pistoned down and thudded into the floor where Savior had just been standing: he was at the moment leaping backwards as he lashed out with Shimmer strands, tearing and ripping at the debris monster, but everything he damaged just got reabsorbed almost immediately. Savior found he was being driven into a corner again. He wasn't very happy: none of his moves were making a dent. And from what he saw with Beast Boy and Terra, they were doing pretty damn poorly as well…
And then it occurred to Savior: if at first you don't succeed, switch places with someone else.
The vault hand swung sideways at Savior: he sprang up and against the wall, acting like he was aiming for Juryrig, who continued to stay behind his creation and away from Savior's attacks. TT automatically lunged to the side to protect its puppeteer…which was just what Savior wanted, as it left the direction Savior was really heading in wide open, as he shoved himself at the wall and at the vine masses holding Terra and Beast Boy, spinning into a tight somersault as Shimmer blades sprang from his form, turning his body into a whirling dervish of blades that sliced through the collection of vines holding the pair. Floral shrieked loudly, even as Savior landed on the floor, wincing at the noise (what the hell was that?). Beast Boy and Terra were already free: Savior jerked his head at them to indicate a direction (towards Juryrig), and hoped that would be enough for them to understand as he turned back to Floral.
"No! My friends! You hurt my kin!" Floral yelled.
"Hey, Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing called. They want their shtick back." Savior replied, as he formed Shimmer blades on his arms.
Terra and Beast Boy headed for Juryrig, who had needed some time to swing TT around and get behind it again. But Terra figured there were enough rocks in the creation for her to turn the battle in her favor…
If Floral hadn't proceeded to completely lose it.
"YOU DESTRUCTIVE VICIOUS MEATBAGS!"
The whole middle of the floor of the bank exploded, the number of vines literally quintupling within a second. Savior's eyes widened.
"Fiddlesticks."
A mass of vines, this time covered in ripping thorns, lashed at Savior, who barely managed to turn his blades into shields before it slammed into him. Pain shot through Savior's body as the thorns torn into the vulnerable to blades Shimmer, but that was just the beginning of the pain as the plant attack carried Savior into the front wall of the bank and then THROUGH it. Only the fact that the wall had been weakened by previous attacks, plus Savior's highly trained mind throwing up a last second Shimmer shield on his back as well saved Savior from being broken in half or some other unpleasant fate: it still hurt like hell as the vines let him go and he bounced once off the stairs and fell into the middle of the street.
"Geez! Rose, calm down! We're supposed to ROB this place, not RAZE it!" Juryrig yelled, but Floral was clearly beyond any kind of advice, as vines rose up underneath her and carried her out, slithering across the ground and shoving more of the wall out of the way to get to Savior.
Savior got to one knee, spitting blood as he watched the plant commander head out after him…and the fact the bank was starting to wobble.
"Shit." Savior said, as he wiped blood from his mouth and then leapt back and away from another vine bludgeon. The massive green tendril shot across the street and slammed into the same storefront that Cyborg and Jinx had taken their earlier trip through: this impact caused the abandoned store to collapse completely into a pile of rubble. Savior took that in and decided that yep, the bank was definitely starting to keel over as well.
"TERRA!" Savior yelled. "BRACE IT UP! Beast Boy, guard her flank!"
"Good idea." Beast Boy said, as a large chunk of rubble from the ceiling hit the ground not three feet from him. Terra grabbed a nearby stone platform and flew away, Beast Boy following, as Juryrig stared, unsure of what to do.
Then another piece of rubble hit the ground near him and shattered, and he was enveloped in a thick cloud of dust.
Savior looked around. His other three teammates were nowhere in sight, which meant he was on his own. Peachy.
"Now…" Floral said, as she towered above Savior on her mass of plants. "You will pay animal! You will all pay!"
"Oh really. All of us?" Savior said.
"Yes! Every flesh and blood creature on this planet has trodden upon us for too long! But soon…we shall take it all back! We shall cleanse this planet of all you humans, all you animals, all you pieces of meat, and create a PARADISE OF GREEN!" Floral trumpeted, as she looked down on Savior.
Whose expression startled her. He didn't look angry or scared. Instead he looked…contemptuous.
"You idiot." Savior said. "If you kill all the animals, the OXYGEN BREATHERS, on this planet, then what's going to turn the oxygen back into carbon dioxide for YOU to breathe?"
Floral opened her mouth to reply…
And stopped as Savior's words hit her like a bolt of lightning…because they were true. She'd been ranting about killing all the animals, global genocide…and if she did that they're be nothing to produce carbon dioxide for plants to breathe. It was the cycle that was in life: plants took in carbon dioxide and expelled oxygen, and animals did the reverse, and hence life existed.
And she had actually been willing, WANTED…to destroy that balance…
"…What….what's going on…" Floral said, as her plant platform began to shrink, retreating back into the earth. "I wanted…by the soil, what I wanted…that's not what I want…but…they…and…oh Duo…Duo…what's happening…what kind of mistake is this…"
"Ahem."
Floral looked up from her hands and realized two things. One, her plant platform had shrunk so much she had actually descended back to the street. Two, that put her a level plane with Savior. Her eyes widened.
"Epiphanies are grand and all." Savior said. "But don't let them get in the way of practicalities."
And Savior thrust back a hand: a lightning quick blow to this small girl's temple should deal with her…
If a shadow hadn't fallen over him.
"Practicalities?" Said a new voice, and Savior's eyes widened. No way. How in the hell could he move so quietly…?
"Like not watching your back?"
Savior whirled, and then the vault hand was swinging down. Yes, he was right, much to his regret: while Terra had been bracing up the bank (and still was) and Beast Boy was guarding her (bracing was a delicate business), Juryrig had somehow snuck out one of the large holes that the Titans and HIVE had knocked out of the bank walls, circled around Savior, and gotten the drop on him with his giant golem he called Titanic Tommy. He was definitely a student of the game…
The vault hand closed in.
And slammed into Savior as he threw himself down on the street even as he fired off half a dozen Shimmer strands to keep the vault door away from him. The strain was terrible though, as evidenced by his face's expression and the fact that cracks immediately began to spiderweb out from where the Shimmer was braced on the ground.
"Floral, go back in the bank! Grab whatever you can! We don't want this to be a complete bust!" Juryrig ordered. Floral stared at the scene for a moment longer before she nodded and ran back towards the badly battered bank.
Unfortunately, two things worked against her. One was the fact that having been snapped out of her 'CRUSH KILL DESTROY' mindset, the steel it had put in her spine had apparently been drained away as well. The second was the inside of the bank was very dusty and she couldn't see where she was going…
And hence ran into Beast Boy.
Who promptly turned into a velocirapter and screamed at her. Floral screamed in turn and promptly ran away, leaving a confused Beast Boy to turn back to normal and scratch his head. Hadn't she wanted to kill him a minute ago?
And speaking of confused battles, let us return to the one raging in a nearby warehouse.
Cyborg fired his cannon at Jinx, but the pink haired mistress of ill fortune easily dodged it with her acrobatic cartwheels, returning fire with hex blasts that made some boxes around Cyborg explode, pelting him with shards of wood. Which was pretty damn ineffective: cyborgs could hardly get splinters. And Cyborg knew it.
She wasn't trying as hard as she could.
And why not? Neither was he.
But since nothing had been settled on yet, the motions continued to be gone through, as Jinx darted around several boxes and Cyborg lost sight of her. He returned his cannon to his normal arm shape and put his eye in search mode, looking around…
As she sprang off a box to his side and lashed out with a kick.
Cyborg blocked it, a dull ringing noise coming from his arm, as he began to counter. She was wide open…
And he didn't take advantage of it, allowing her to land and flip away from something that should have clearly cost her dearly. And her eyes knew it.
"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled.
"You tell me!" Cyborg replied.
"Look, you have to take this seriously!"
"Oh yeah? Why?"
"Just…because!" Jinx yelled as she swept up her arms and fired off several waves of pink energy, her hexing power causing the worst of all possibilities to befall whatever it touched, the floor cracking and exploding from the blasts as Cyborg leapt backwards again.
"…Yeah…I suppose that's it in the end." Cyborg said, as he re-armed his cannon. In the end things just had to go a certain way, as he aimed…
And then suddenly the meters he saw with his cybernetic eye went crazy.
"Argh!" He screamed, his cannon shutting off in mid-fire, which just led to him being tossed backwards a bit, landing on his back. Cyborg gritted his teeth as readings continued to flash before his eyes.
And the worst part was he knew exactly why he was seeing these readings, and despite kicking himself he knew he deserved it. That trip through the walls had banged him up, and he should have immediately done a system scan and initiated any internal repairs he could before they magnified, but no, he'd been too caught up in his confusion, the maelstrom of feelings within him clashing and distracting him, and now the damage coupled with Jinx's hex power had come back to bite him: something had broken in him and his systems were threatened by an emergency shutdown. The bad kind of emergency shutdown: Cyborg didn't just risk turning off, he risked having vital parts of his body or memory damaged if he didn't contain the problem right away. Which he had to, as he raised his arm as a panel flipped open, trying to press the buttons needed…
More chaos spasmed within him. Too late for that, as his arm jerked and then went dead. More signs appeared before Cyborg's vision, and he knew he was in serious trouble…and it looked like there was nothing that could be done…
Or…
Jinx had watched Cyborg yell and suddenly collapse. It was so sudden she had stood there, shocked, for several seconds before it occurred to her. He was down. She could finish him off or leave or…
…or what?
In the end, Jinx found herself running towards Cyborg, even as his arm spasmed and slammed against the ground, not moving. His teeth set in a clenching rictus, Cyborg wondered if he should just shut himself down ahead of the problem: it might make the consequences even worse but it also might lessen them or avoid them outright and that would be better…
And then he saw her, looking down on him.
And he wondered if he'd even get a chance to do ANYTHING. He was helpless and completely at her mercy. She could fire a hex blast right into his head and fry his brain/computer right then and there…
And yet…
And yet…
They looked at each other again.
And Cyborg wagered it all.
"…Help me." He pleaded.
In the streets of Jump City, bedlam reigned in the area where the battle took place. Yells, screams, roars, crashes, explosions, destruction, it had it all and more.
And from his perch nearby, leaning on one extended knee, the Jackal took it all in. He looked strangely content.
"Perhaps this place, wherever it is, might not be so bad."
To Be Continued