God, this chapter was long… I'm not sure how well I did, especially with the fight scenes. But I'm trying to flesh out the Titans' reaction to Robin's death and bring in some new characters at the same time. I think I did OK with that. Oh, and changed the title. This is planned as part of a trilogy, and Run, Jump, and Play sound better than Shout, Scream, and Cry. The former sounds like an action story, whereas the latter sounds like pure, unadulterated angst.
Bree-2006: Damn, you're right – it is Dick! Well, I guess this story isn't going to be continuity perfect…
DeathsLastBreath: Well, it isn't going to be too dark and serious, but I wasn't going to go for all the weird romance stuff either. I wanted to make a story that felt like the cartoon – serious, yet funny with a heavy serving of action and a dollop of pre-teen glee.
Does that make sense?
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Chapter One: Metal Spitballs
It was hard without Robin. Nothing seemed right without him, especially fighting. Beastboy thought it was sorta creepy that he missed getting dragged out of bed at five in the morning for endurance training or yelled at for not executing a fighting movement correctly in battle or even getting fussed over when he was injured.
It was just weird.
Starfire had cried a lot. It was the sort of soft, dull weeping that he'd never seen her do before, and never seemed to stop. She barely went out of her room the first three days, and when she did she was still unhappy. The last time he'd tried to joke with her, she'd thrown a starbolt at him.
Raven hadn't cried at all, and that made it somehow worse. The last week had been like a replay of the first time they'd met, with Raven blank and unresponsive to anything other than the most prosaic and practical of questions. She'd eat with them, and make sure they weren't kicking up trouble, but she wasn't with them. It made Beastboy even lonelier, if that was possible.
Cyborg had been working almost constantly. When it was clear Robin wasn't coming back, most of the criminals in the city and the surrounding country had gone on a spree: He'd go out with Raven or him, come back and recharge, then go back to exert damage control. Beastboy could already see him losing weight; see the bags under his eye.
It worried him. When it wasn't Beastboy's turn on duty, he'd taken to cooking meat just to get Cyborg to eat. Recharging was all very well and good, but a guy had to eat.
Speak of the devil and you see his horns. Cyborg's voice crackled over the intercom.
"Titans – we have a code red situation downtown! Get to the intersection of Main and Ortega Street NOW!"
Beastboy began sprinting to the garage. It'd be faster to hitch a ride with Cyborg.
He jumps through the window just as Cy starts the car. As they drive off, Cy flips the intercom switch in the car.
"OK, Titans, here's the deal. Cinderblock somehow broke out of the prison hospital and is tearing up the downtown. Raven, I need you to exert damage control – get civilians out of the area and try to shield the city. Starfire, concentrate on his joints with your starbolts. BB, use your T-Rex form or anything else you can think of. I'll use the sonic weapons on his head. Clear?"
"Clear."
"Gotcha, man."
"I understand, friend Cyborg."
Cyborg's lip twists, and he sighs. "Titans, go!"
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The good thing about Cinderblock was his stupidity; flip-side was his strength. It usually took all five of them to beat him. They were one person short, and Cyborg wasn't a betting man. If they beat him by themselves, though, it would go a long way to putting the criminals into hiding. Emphasis on the 'if'.
Cyborg shot more sonic blasts at Cinderblock's joints. C'mon, BB, get out of the way – you're blocking my line-of-sight!
Beastboy was currently getting whomped on by the concrete metahuman. T-Rexes have strong teeth and tails, but neither is particularly useful against a man made of rock. Cinderblock of was slow, but he was still getting some good hits on the dinosaur.
BB stumbles and Cinderblock pounds into his head. Suddenly, Beastboy's morphing back into his human form. Before he even has to call, Raven teleports in, grabs him, teleports out. Cyborg doesn't have time to worry about him too much, though. Cinderblock is still on a rampage, and they're at least one member down.
"Star!" She looks down at him, hovering ten feet above him. "Go for the head!"
She nods decisively.
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Raven sighed. A bad concussion and a few broken ribs; Beastboy wouldn't be fighting anytime soon. Even now, his concentration was wavering. If he couldn't pay attention to her voice, he definitely wouldn't be able to keep his concentration on one form. Raven sent her power through his head, making sure he could stay awake.
"Beastboy, I've got to go help the others. You need to stay awake. Can you do that for me?"
He nodded hazily, and she sent another jolt of energy through him.
Rising into the air, she looked in the direction of Cinderblock. Starfire was zipping around him, focusing her starbolts on his head while dodging the rubble the idiot threw in her direction. Cyborg's sonic blasts were intermittedly pounding his head, but mostly they were spent destroying the rubble Cinderblock was throwing at the far less mobile Cyborg.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
Suddenly, every piece of rubble in the air was enveloped by black power and thrown at Cinderblock's head.
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Starfire knew they were losing. Even with friend Raven's telekinetic skills, friend Cyborg's sonic blasts, and her own starbolts combined, they were still losing. It was so frustrating! Unconsciously, Starfire narrowed her eyes for the next starbolt. The lasers that came out of her eyes was much thinner and more concentrated; it blew a pockmark out of Cinderblock.
Did I know I could do that? Blinking her sore eyelids, Starfire decided she did not, in fact, know she could do that. Could I do it with my hands? There was only one way to find out.
Pointing her forefingers at Cinderblock, Starfire focused. To her satisfaction, a concentrated version of her starbolt shot out and dinged Cinderblock. She laughed delightedly, then swooped overhead shooting her new and improved bolts at his head.
Still, it wasn't enough. Even with the added power Starfire was putting in, they were only holding him back, not winning.
And then someone new joined the fight.
The first sign was the melt scar in the center of the forehead. Starfire had only enough time to think I didn't do that when a glob of molten metal hit Cinderblock on his face. And then she saw the boy.
He was short and slight and he looked like magma given human form. Currently, he was melting the fender of a car into a glob of semi-heated metal. Starfire heard Cyborg whoop.
"Hotspot – go for the head! Same for the rest of you guys!"
As the boy – Hotspot? – covered Cinderblock's eyes with his metal, Cinderblock grew confused. Raven lifted rubble and sent it at him all at once, and the combined power of Starfire's starbolts and Cyborg's sonic booms finally knocked Cinderblock off his feet.
Starfire started giggling as she flew a loop-de-loop. They had won!
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Hotspot quirked a small smile as the redhead began her aerial display. That was definitely the alien Starfire – she was the exact same way on the news. Sparing another glance for the giggling teen, he made his way over to Cyborg, staying a polite distance from the man as he talked to his other teammate – wasn't her name Raven? He'd heard some kooky things about that one… A minute later, she rose up in the air, then disappeared with a bang. Hotspot involuntarily jumped. Damn, that was creepy.
"Hotspot, man, how's it going?" Cyborg is as welcoming as ever, and Hotspot reaches out and shakes his hand firmly, careful not to melt him.
"Eh, same old, same old…" Hotspot shrugs. "Nothing's really going on in my territory, so I'm traveling." He pauses, then lowers his voice. "I decided to stop by Jump City after I heard about Robin. I'm sorry, man. He was the best."
Cyborg suddenly seems far older than his eighteen years. "Yeah, he was, wasn't he?"
There's an uncomfortable silence that stretches on. Hotspot would sweat if he could – as it was, he was fidgeting awkwardly. He clears his throat. "So, um, where's Beastboy? I thought he'd be around here someplace…"
Cyborg frowns deeply. "Cinderblock did a real number. Raven told me that he's definitely got a few broken ribs and a serious concussion. She's taking him to the infirmary to get him fixed up." Cyborg throws him an apologetic look. "Hey, why don't you stop by the Tower? I'm sure the others would like to meet you."
Hotspot grins. "I'd thought you'd never ask! Where do I go?"
Cyborg laughs. "Hold on, hotshot – we'll take my ride, the T-Car."
"Hotspot, man, Hotspot…"
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"Friend Raven! How is friend Beastboy doing?"
Raven turned toward Starfire, gesturing for the tape to continue wrapping around Beastboy's torso.
"Thankfully, his concussion was less severe than I thought. He'll probably recover fully in a week from that. His ribs, however, will take longer. Three of them are broken on his left side. Even with my healing powers, he'll be out of commission for the next two weeks."
Starfire sighed. "I am sorry to add to your burden, but I need medical assistance as well. Could you examine my eyes and hands?"
Raven motioned for Starfire to get on the other examining table, then got a magnifying glass to look at her eyes.
"Huh. Looks like you scorched them. The actual eyes are fine, but your eyelids are definitely fried."
Raven picked up her hands and saw the problem immediately. The skin on her fingers is puckered and red, like it's been burned. "Let me guess: your new starbolts take a toll?"
Starfire nodded silently. Raven goes to a medical cabinet and pulls out a jar of salve and some bandages.
"Put this on your eyelids and bandage them up before you sleep. Do the same for your fingers at every meal and after your shower. Understand?"
Starfire nods jerkily, and Raven hears one very audible sniff. Oh, damn.
"Starfire?"
"Yes, fr-friend Raven?"
"He'd want you to stay happy."
Starfire burst into tears.
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Cyborg grinned at the look of awe on Hotspot's face. "Impressive, yeah?"
"It's a giant 'T'. On the middle of a private island. Let me think… Hell, yeah!"
"Wait 'til you see the swimming pool," Cyborg chuckles.
"C'mon, man, don't leave me hanging!"
"Olympic sized, baby!"
"Aw, you guys get all the good stuff…"
Cyborg looks sidelong at Hotspot. "Why would you care? Your blood is magma…"
"It feels cool…"
"Well, if you're a good boy, you can take a dip later on."
"You're the greatest, Cyborg."
"I know."
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While Hotspot boiled the water in the pool, Cyborg jogged down to the infirmary, only to find Beastboy gazing blearily at everything and Starfire asleep with tear tracks on her face.
"Raven – oh, crap."
Raven smiled dryly. "Exactly what I thought."
"What happened?"
"Starfire realized she was being happy and started crying."
"Why?"
"She didn't say anything, but I believe that she feels she's betraying Robin's memory by being happy a spare week after his 'death'."
"Well, damn. Is there anything we can do to fix her?"
Raven smiled thinly. "Nothing save time can fix her. Beastboy, on the other hand, will be ready for duty in two weeks."
"That long?"
Her smile flattened abruptly. "Would you rather it be six? Even healing powers have a limit."
Cyborg raises his hands. "Sorry, Rae. Didn't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm just…worried. We're down two members, and the metahumans will start coming out of the woodwork now that Cinderblock has gotten out."
Raven looks pensive for a moment, then looks up. "This boy, Hotspot – is he good?"
Cyborg blinks. "Yeah, pretty good. Not as good as Robin, but he has skills."
A devious smile spreads across her face. "Why don't I give him the tour?"
He grins at her as the implications hit him. "Rae-girl, I like the way you think… I'll stay down here with these guys."
"If he measures up…"
"He's already an honorary Titan – it would just make things a little more official."
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First I wanted to bring Wondergirl into it, but her history is so complicated that I didn't want to bother. Then I wanted to bring Terra, but she's got too much baggage – although she might show up later. But then I remember Winner Takes All, and how much I loved the character design of Hotspot. Since he's pretty much a blank slate, I can do a lot with his character.
Next chapter: Raven and Hotspot rub each other the wrong way, Starfire thinks, and the obstacle course gets trashed again.