Meag: KIORI!
Kiori: nyah! That's what you get for all those threats you issue out!
Meag: But drugging me? You've sunk too low…
Kiori: Who's the one who didn't study for finals?
Meag: (grumble)
Kiori: The thanks for reviewers are at the end of the page today.
Meag: Yup, sorry. I do have an important announcement though!
WINNERS FOR LAST CHAPTERS RIDDLE:
First Place:
The Hidden Girl
AlyRaven
Shadowedstar213
Second Place:
Arthwen
Robin J.
Third Place:
Outlawarcher
Angel Caida
Meag: Congratulations to all the winners and all reviewers who participated! Now, on with the fic!
DISCLAIMER: Dude, I so WISH I owned the Teen Titans!
Congrats to all winners!
The light glared unmercifully at the innocent paper. It lay, defaced by the same ink written words over and over again, the words that were now constantly echoing in Robin's poor mind.
"Too far to reach,
Bright to our eyes,
Children adore them,
A 'boom' when it dies."
What the hell did that mean? Plenty of objects were too far to reach, both physically and metaphorically. Not only that, but children adored as many objects in the world as there were bright objects. The last sentence though… that one was a little bit easier. Not much, but how many objects give a boom- explosion, when it dies?
"Mother's life depends on it,"
How could his mother's life depend on it? He wasn't born with the same mother as Cyborg and Beastboy, and he could only assume that the riddle involved them as well, and besides that his mother was dead.
"Yours does as well,"
That could mean anything. It's not like he could just stop breathing or eating or just plain stop using his physical needs.
"Everybody's does,
From feathers to shells."
Well maybe that provided a bit more of an explanation but not much. So all living things need this, eh? Still a general topic…
"They make paths of rays,"
They just felt like making his life more complicated than it already was didn't they?
"Where we strike next,"
Now THAT was straight forward and clear. If only he could say the same for the other clues…
"4 points total,
Where energy intersects."
Back to mud again. Sighing Robin closed his eyes, which were beginning to get bloodshot, and rubbed his temples, willing the oncoming headache to go away. Last night had been terrible. For the most part anyway. They had gotten past Jump cities best without as much as a flinch! But that wasn't the part that bugged him. It was the part that they had let them get away in 2 ways:
1) By not going after them right away when they made their escape, and
2) By underestimating them and their genders.
Robin growled and knocked the paper off the desk and into the recycle bin beside his desk, where it lay with several other sheets.
"Dude, you've been working at that stupid riddle poem thing for 2 hours! Give it a rest! Getting mad at it isn't going to help you solve it," Beastboy chided.
"I don't see you trying to help the economy," Robin snapped back.
"Alright you 2 break it up! And Robin? 2 things that you should know about: 1) We can't afford for Beastboy to be sent to the hospital again for thinking too hard. Remember how embarrassing it was last time and having to record 'thinking too hard' as a disease? And, 2) They didn't steal enough to actually damage the economy. They only took a few thousand," Cyborg informed.
"That's exactly what's so maddening!" Robin cried frustrated. "They had enough of an opportunity to steal more! Then there's also their odd striking pattern and that damned riddle!" Beastboy sighed in response.
"Maybe you should take a break Robin. Your eyes need rest from this dim room and your mind will be completely lost if you keep thinking about that riddle, and trust me; we can't lose your brains at this stage of the fight. Cyborg's good at thinking but I won't be able to help at all."
"I can't just quit! Those thieves are out there somewhere planning on robbing some bank and they've even given us a clue about where that bank is! We have to figure this out!"
"Robin," Beastboy said in a concerned voice. "How can you solve anything when you've been working to the point that your brain has turned to mush?" Robin gave an exasperated sigh.
"I guess that for once in your life, you're right," he admitted. "Still, that was scarily deep for the Beastboy that I work with…" Beastboy just shrugged.
"I think I read it in a magazine once while I was waiting for Cyborg to get out of the auto shop…"
GIRLS
The air was crisp and stung slightly at her bare flesh as she sat, floating cross legged watching the bright glow rise over the horizon. The reds and yellows blended together with soft pinks, purples and oranges. She chuckled. How cliché, with the darkness being chased away as the light rose with the sun. "But in the end the darkness always comes back…" Starfire thought. Soft footsteps were heard behind her followed by the rustle of a cape as one of her companions joined her on the high tree branch over looking Jump city.
"It's very pretty, huh Star?" Raven asked the Tameranian.
"Yes. The Earth sunrise is quite pleasing," Starfire agreed and absently rubbed a sore arm. Raven took a side glance at Star's arm and noticed that she had put on the thick arm armor that she hated to wear over one of her arms. The armor was similar to a wrist for roller blades but it extended to the end of her elbow. It was colored a deep purple and was outlined in flashing silver. It really was pretty, even Starfire had admitted that. She just hated how the silver flashed which conflicted with her night errands.
"What happened to your arm Star?" Raven asked. Starfire turned finally noticing how her hand had absently been rubbing it and how Raven had been staring. She adverted her eyes, peering at the dye of colors once more.
"Nothing, friend Raven. Why do you ask? Why are you here as well?"
"Don't change the subject Star. I can tell that your arms giving you some trouble so don't even bother lying to me. Did that guy you were fighting hurt you?"
"His name is Officer Robin," when Raven raised an eyebrow at how much she cared about his name Star was quick to supply an answer. "His fighting skills intrigue me. It would be polite of me to at least remember an honorable foe's name would it not?" Raven nodded in understanding. That could be her answer to why she had come up in the first place. "When I first met him through the window he came full on with his staff. I must admit that this morning I was slightly alarmed but not surprised to find a bruise forming. It is growing bigger yet still.
"Still, when I was fighting him he masked his emotions well. If I did not live with you I would not have been able to have known he was surprised at my appearance," She paused to laugh at Raven's slight glare. "He held back after that. I am unsure if it was because I am a female or because he was studying my moves when I carelessly fought harder. So what brings you to the roof?" At this Raven was glad her hood was up. Her cheeks colored slightly as she was once again plagued with the reason. All night long she was thinking of Officer Beastboy. In the moonlight his hair had given off a soft glow and his eyes had held a kind expression. She now knew why a third of Jump cities population chased after him when he bothered to step out.
"I've been having thoughts of the Officer I was fighting last night. It's probably because he has powers that I've never seen before," she partially lied. He did fascinate her with his powers…
"What are you 2 doing up here? It's still like 5 something with the sun still rising and we were up pretty late," Jinx asked coming into the conversation.
"Enjoying how the city looks with the new day," they replied in unison. She nodded, taking this as a reasonable excuse and plopped down ungracefully beside Raven.
"The city does look good when the sun's rising," she confessed. The sun was glinting off the reflective glass on tall skyscrapers, apartment buildings, and the Jump city bank. Water from last night's rainfall shimmered through the damp vegetation, lush from the water. The morning was quite in the streets, few cars driving by. Birds sharing the tree with them chirped groggily, while water droplets shop from there positions on a spider web.
Through all the years that they had been living in Jump, the scenery was always breathtaking yet somehow relatively the same. It looked a lot like any city, filled with highways, skyscrapers, parks, and banks. Small stores, houses, schools etc. There was one major difference between Jump and any other city, the high security prisons which were scattered all over the land. The prisons were all state of the art, all the technology as high tech as was possible and were rumored to have been set up by Cyborg himself.
There were so many security codes, computers, cameras and guards that the jail was almost like an entire city itself. This was the main reason why there were so many physco's that walked around threatening the economy so often. The government didn't worry much though- the fame for the 3 top officers was spread well.
Nearby was a wide ocean, a small inlet cutting into the city. At the center of the inlet was an uninhabited island, a perfect place to build a tower, but it would probably be to unstable and expensive to build something important. The water was clear near the shores, colored a pretty turquoise-blue which gradually deepened as you waded out farther and farther until you hit a pitch black, a warning to the depth of the ocean.
"I like it better at night," Raven commented casually.
"That's only because it's easier to get to other buildings in town at night," Jinx replied with a laugh giving her a playful hit at her shoulder. Raven mocked hurt before offering a small smile.
"So what's the plan chief?" Jinx asked referring to Starfire.
"I know not of this "chief" you speak of, but I for one know a plan that may be better than this chief… Speaking of which, you are going to another for a plan? I thought that you liked my own," Starfire replied sadly. Jinx smacked a hand to her head while Raven explained that "chief" was a synonym to "leader." "Why did you not say that you were speaking to me? In that case I do have a plan, as I have said earlier."
"So what's the plan already," she asked a little annoyed at how Star didn't understand the Earth vocabulary. "Are we going to go with plan A and go for city plans, and security codes?"
"Actually no," she answered, surprising Jinx so much that she nearly fell out of the tree. "Today I have decided that since we did such a good day yesterday with our planning, we may prolong the banks defeat until later. Much later."
"This has nothing to do with the fact that we already have all that information, does it Star," Raven questioned, almost coyly.
"Of course not," she informed making it obvious that she had her fingers crossed behind her back. The girls just laughed and jumped out of the tree heading back home to enjoy the day as them.
"So where are we going first?" Raven inquired absentmindedly. Jinx and Starfire grinned to each other and answered in unison.
"To the mall of course!" They said giddily.
"Oh joy," Came Raven's reply in her usual monotone but she couldn't stop a single sigh escape from her lips as she thought about how much dragging into preppy shops she would have to endure.
BOYS
"THE MALL?" Robin and Beastboy yelled as they scrambled to get out of Cyborg's reach. Unfortunately for them Cyborg was faster.
"Yes y'all, the mall. Now quit your whining and get down to the cars. I need to go to that auto shop for some parts since somebody jammed my regenerator-" At this Beastboy had the grace to blush while Robin smirked at him.
"So then I don't need to go do I? After all I didn't jam your regenerator," Robin reasoned.
"True," Cyborg admitted. "But somebody ELSE crashed my computer after they panicked and threw a birderang at it when it alerted me it was time to regenerate." When Cyborg turned to glare at Robin he just turned away and started whistling while Beastboy took his time to snicker at him. "And that is why you two are going to come with me to endure the trip."
"But why the mall?" Robin whined uncharacteristically. Trips to the mall were never fun for the three superheroes. Here was there logic: Malls girls. Girls fans and fans chasing around city and tearing at clothes. Actually it wasn't really logic, more like experience…
"Because that auto shop has quality stuff and if you two are done your belly aching then we can get down there faster and since it's still early it might be less crowded." The other two just followed along sadly, knowing that it WAS there fault that they had to go but still hearing the death march ringing in there ears anyway.
GIRLS
"How many more shops are you going to drag me into?" Raven asked with a groan.
"Not many more," Came Starfire's reply.
"But you said that to me 5 minutes ago!"
"If you just quit asking every 5 minutes then maybe we'd be done sooner," Jinx reprimanded while she looked at a pair of ripped jeans at American Eagle.
"Maybe, but I for one don't see how shopping before a heist has any point," Raven muttered.
"The mall of shopping is a place for recreation and when looked through the right point of view may be taken as a test of endurance and is a good place of exercise," Starfire answered. "So I suggest that you see this test of one's endurance before you give away who we are and get us into the place of cells."
"At least in jail I don't have to suffer the cruel and unusual torture of death by shopping."
"If you're going to be complaining the whole time then perhaps we shall all do the multiplying up and go our own ways and get together once more at this very spot in one Earth hour?" Starfire declared. Raven immediately perked up and eagerly nodded already getting prepared to make a mad dash to the nearest exit. "But, I expect you to keep on these bracelets which can notify the holder of where the other two holders of the bracelet are, which means no, Raven you may not escape from here."
"What if Raven tries to take hers off?" Jinx asked squashing Raven's plan B and lead her to glare at the pink haired girl.
"I have thought of that as well. The bracelets will only come off when I say so and since she has already put hers on we will not need to worry about her escaping, us frantically searching for her, returning to our home at dusk, only to find out that she had been there the whole time causing us to vent out anger on her in a 2 vs. 1 sparring match that we drag her into like the last 20 times."
"It was only 19…" Raven whispered darkly, glaring at the seemingly innocent bracelet.
"No it wasn't. Star and I would know since we WERE in fact counting."
"How come this other torture device that directly links to the first torture chamber only comes off at YOUR command," Raven inquired Star.
"Because I programmed them to be like that," she answered smugly. "Now if you excuse me I will see your gloomy cloud of rain in an hour- I will also bring ingredients to make a pudding of sadness to cheer you up." If possible Raven's face paled even more. Jinx just snickered.
"Ditto. Later Rave," she called. As soon as Star was out of earshot she passed by Raven towards another store, whispering, "You have my sympathy," as she walked by, disappearing into an early crowd.
"Great," Raven muttered, alone in a quickly filling mall. "Might as well go eat my mourning away, or at least wash it away, at the food court."
And with that she walked further into the depths of the dreaded mall, hoping that with any luck the salesgirls on either side of her would miss her on their tagging frenzy and that it would grow darker with every step she took to a place where the booming speakers and bright fluorescent lights couldn't follow her.
BOYS
"Alright y'all here's the plan. We all split up and meet any survivors at the auto shop in an hour. Any questions? None? Good. Hopefully I'll see you both then," Cyborg commanded, getting ready to dash out from there parking space and into the filling mall. Or at least that was HIS plan until Robin pulled him back into the BMW by the ear.
"You're not sticking with us? What happened to all for one and done for all?" Robin said through clenched teeth. He obviously didn't feel the need to die at a young age.
"This one's more like an 'every man for himself,' theory. Now will you please let go of my ear? I already have a mechanical one thank-you."
"You can't leave us to survive in there and what's with the hour? I thought it was a touch-and-go mission not a send-us-to-our-slow-and-painful-death situation!" Beastboy complained.
"It's your punishment for messing with my room. If it makes you feel event he slightest bit better I have to suffer through one WHOLE hour without you two as well. We can even split up at the entrance when we're inside. Seriously dude, my ear can't take much more abuse!"
"What if one of us doesn't show up at the hour?" Robin asked, finally letting go of Cyborg's ear.
"Then he's a braver man then all of us put together because if that person doesn't show we'll have to either a) assume he died and we get to claim all his possessions for himself since none of us has even thought about a will or b) beat him into a bloody pulp when we get back into our apartment for ditching us on the battlefield," Cyborg explained, counting them off on his mechanical fingers.
"We don't have a choice in the matter then, do we?" BB said as more of a statement then a question. Slowly all three guys got out and slowly approached the towering, people infested, fan populated area as if it were a ticking bomb and they were going to go play a game of Risk with it anyway.
As soon as the trio got through the swinging glass doors Robin and Cyborg gave a salute to the group and dashed off in different directions. From what Beastboy could tell Robin was heading into the men's washroom. 'Where he's probably going to hide until the hours up,' Beastboy's mind thought, and Cyborg had headed into who-knows-where but he had an odd suspicion that it had to do with a new security system for his room which he and Robin had gotten past to get into his room. As his head contemplated these thoughts he realized that his stomach was growling from his lack of breakfast.
"Might as well go to the food court and get something to satisfy my hunger before I attract more attention," he grumbled having nothing better to do.
FOOD COURT
"A medium cup of herbal tea please, as well as a hash brown," Raven ordered at the McDonald's that resided at the food court. Normally she wouldn't have anything to do with a fast food place but she was getting hungry and it was the closest place with tea…
"No need to pay, little lady," The pimply faced teen told her as she reached for her purse to pay for the meal. "This one's one the house," he said with a wink. Raven smiled sweetly though her insides were rolling and she was fighting the urge to gag. She grabbed the hash brown and the tea quickly and looked around for a place to eat…
BEASTBOY
"A tofu burger and a coke please," Beastboy ordered, thanking god that the cashier was male, straight, and didn't know who the hell he was. He paid moments later and picked up the tray easily and looked around for a place to eat. Surprisingly the food court had filled up quickly and it looked like there wasn't any place to eat. Scanning he saw one lone table for 2 in the row ahead of him, dead center between him and McDonalds. He began to move towards it…
RAVEN
Raven finally found a table right in front of her. It was dead center between her and some tofu serving place. Unfortunately she also saw some guy heading towards it as well and she was quick to speed up and grab the table before him.
BEASTBOY
Beastboy arrived just in time to see some girl grab the table before him. He opened his mouth to object when he was shoved out of the way.
"Hi," he greeted the girl. In return the girl greeted him, only in a much more monotonous way. He could here in the way she spoke that she was stifling a sigh. "You know you do look really pretty. Pretty enough to be my next girlfriend." At this Beastboy almost gagged and by her expression, even though it was hard to read, he thought he could tell she was about to too. From his spot only about 10 feet away he observed the guy. He was tall gangly, pimple covered, greasy haired, apparently didn't know the meaning of hygiene and what showers were invented for and looked (and in his opinion sounded) like he didn't know the answer to 2 plus 2.
"I'm sure you must be confusing me with somebody else," she answered calmly. Beastboy looked at her in awe. If it was him he would have socked the guy right in the jaw if he had the courage to even get near his face but then again this was coming from a guy.
"Oh no. You definitely look like her," he continued obviously not getting her first hint, and sitting down. "I even dreamt we were passionately in love and got married. Did you have the same dream?"
"Sounds more like a nightmare," she replied coolly. "I'm sorry if you may have read my sign language wrong but I really don't like you."
"Oh don't worry. You'll grow to like me the more we go out. So do you like Chinese food?"
"Seriously that wasn't a hint saying 'try harder.' I'm trying to give you the 'get lost' message so since that won't work I'll give it to you personally and bluntly. 'GET. LOST.'"
"Awww, now you've made me all cold inside. However, maybe a kiss from those soft looking lips of yours will warm me up… or anything higher than that of course." Beastboy had just about had it. He didn't know how that girl did it, keeping her patience this long but he could tell she needed a bit of help. He wasn't even the one being hit on and he felt like throwing this guy out of the mall.
RAVEN'S POV
I was going to hit this guy! Or blow him up, whichever came first! He didn't get it did he? No wonder he was still single. I was going to get up and leave when the man I had beaten to the table here walked up to the teen. At first I thought that he was going to punch the guys nose in he looked that angry (probably still has some steam left from the table thing) when he surprised me enough about two things that I nearly choked on the herbal tea I was sipping.
a) He was the officer I was fighting yesterday… OK it wasn't really fighting but I met I guess.
b) He DIDN'T sock the guy!
Instead he put his hand on the guys shoulder with a grimace (I can't blame him. I could practically see the flies buzzing around this teen. Or maybe it was but his aroma was making me so faint that I thought I was hallucinating) and looked directly at me, his eyes pleading "play along!"
"How was the party at your friend's honey?" he asked with enough enthusiasm to make it seem like he was actually interested.
"Well there was a beginning, middle, and an end. Just like the meeting I was having with this fine young gentleman. Now if you excuse me sir this meeting has met its end. It was a pleasure meeting you," I formally ended, looking straight into the teen's eyes.
"Yeah, sure," he said disappointed. That wasn't my fault. How can it be if he can't take a hint, or the other dozen after that? As soon as he left however Officer Beastboy occupied his empty seat. Not like I minded of course but I wasn't really in a flirting mood. I was going to say something but he was quicker.
"I know that you probably want to be alone right now and normally I would be running from the opposite sex but do you mind if I join you for breakfast. All the tables around us are packed, I haven't had any breakfast, there's enough room here for two, and you owe me one for breaking up with your latest 'boyfriend' since he can't take heart breaking like normal people." I didn't know what to say. My answers were all jumbled and somewhere inside me my emotions were knotting too. Instead I settled for the safe route.
"He was not my boyfriend." He just laughed and looked me right in the eyes and the laughter stopped immediately.
"Wait, do I know you?" he asked studying my form. Uh-oh. The first thing to cross my mind? Busted…
End of Chapter 4
Meag: Will Raven be caught? How will Star and Robin meet? Jinx and Cy? Oh and here are replies to:
Outlawarcher: There's more than one Star place…
The Hidden Girl: Sorry! I do tend to be confusing at times… I'm just glad that you still like it!
Angel Caida: Close… very close. …You mean the rhyme right?
AlyRaven: You're not wrong! I'm glad that you got it right and that it was at least a bit challenging.
Nervepillen: They're not impossible to catch as you'll find out later, the city was described a bit more here too, and you'll find a bit more about their powers later! Still thanks for liking my story and yes! I have proof Kiori did it!
shadowedstar213: You're right!
shadow929: Sorry… I think that works better in real life…
mr.rogers: 'Fraid I can't say…
xxSassyActressxx: I'll take that as a compliment!
Hunter: I'm really glad you like it! You are the BEST reviewer ever, and somehow I'm flattered that you threatened me for an update… I know, I'm weird. Sorry I made you cry like a baby because I took so long!
Thanks to: rikagirls, MagicV, cylobaby, Raven92, and Just me and myself.
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