Disclaimer: I do not, never have, and never will own the Teen Titans or any other registered trademarks of DC Comics.
Chapter 6
"Listen, we need to talk about what to do with this guy. Sure, once you get to know him, he seems nice enough, but lets not forget only earlier he took every one of us down. Were lucky that he fights villains, otherwise we would have our hands full. But even the way he does that is a little extreme." Robin said, talking to the rest of the team out in the hall.
"Robins right, this guy has the potential to be one bad dude. We can't be sure he won't turn on us at any minute, I mean, he never even apologized for attacking us. I don't even think he wants to be on our side." Cyborg said with his arms crossed.
"But did he not just say he wanted to do good? We at least owe this Kevin a chance to prove himself." Starfire said.
"Wait, you want him on this team! Are you crazy, after what he did to us! I am not going to have a demonic horse in the room next to me." Beast Boy said.
"Why, we let you in here don't we." Raven replied, not even looking at him.
"You're forgetting, we have to turn him in for the actions he took against those robbers earlier. He's wanted by the police." Robin said.
"Could we not just, overlook his infraction?" Starfire pleaded.
"You know, this is a big decision, I say we put it to a vote." Raven suggested.
"Fine, but it needs to be done in two parts. First, who votes to forgive his attack on us and not turn him into the authorities." Robin asked.
Stafire's hand immediately shot up, followed by Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg. Robin just stood there with his arms crossed.
"Fine, we let him go. Now the second part. Should we ask him if he wants to help us fight crime?" Robin said quietly. "Before you answer, remember, this is a JUST A TRIAL. His membership is far from certain. Show of hands, now." Robin said.
Again, Starfire's hand went up first. For a second nobody else moved. Then slowly Raven raised hers, followed by Beast Boy. Robin and Cyborg just stood there leaning against the wall and staring at the floor.
"The ayes have it, but we need to do this cautiously. Lets not forget last time." Cyborg said growing quieter with the last sentence.
Nobody moved for a minute, then, Starfire broke the ice.
"Joyus! I shall go inform our new friend at once!" she said and flew through the door back into the main room.
Kevin was leaning against the counter, rubbing his chin when everybody else walked back into the room.
"So, are you going to arrest me?" he said, not even looking up.
"Actually, we were wondering if you would like to be a temporary member of our team." Robin said quietly while looking at the floor.
Kevin slowly raised his head and looked at the group. For a moment he said nothing, then he spoke.
"Are you stoned? After what I just did to you, you ask me if I want to help you? Sorry, but I have my own agenda. Besides, I work alone." With that he stood up and put his helmet on and grabbed Bucephalus by the reigns. "Thanks for the offer though. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be leaving."
The rest of the Titans looked shocked, except for Robin, who looked like he was going to explode. He just stood there fuming. Starfire looked like she was about ready to cry.
"But please, will you at least be our frie-" she was cut of by Kevin's response.
"Sorry lady, but I don't want to be your friend. In fact, if you see me again, don't even count on me being friendly." He said as he walked for the door. Not even turning his head back, he walked out of the room and the doors swooshed shut behind him.
For a second no body even moved.
"What a butthead." Cyborg grumbled.
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Kevin walked into his shanty home. Bucephalus trotted over to his trough to eat some oats while Kevin went to grab something to drink. He paused and looked at his surroundings. The warehouse he was in was a giant open building that was two stories tall. Catwalks and stairs were on the sides and a few small offices were on the ground floor. In one of those offices he had set up a bed and couch. This was where he lived.
"Maybe I should have taken them up on that, at least for a decent place to live." he said to himself.
"I can't blame you for that, you most certainly deserve better than this." said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Kevin drew his sword, scanning the building. "Identify yourself!" he shouted.
Movement caught his eye over in a shadowy corner. Slowly a tall figure emerged from the darkness.
"How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Slade, and I think we might be able to help each other."
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It had been several days since their visitor had come and gone, and things were starting to return to normal. Yet everybody was still troubled in their own little way. Starfire was still upset about how Kevin had downright refused to have anything to do with them (he was the first person who had ever done that to her). Raven was deep in thought about the news that her father was still alive out there somewhere, and Robin had a new obsession over the new public enemy number one.
But for the most part they were getting over it. Another day had come and gone, and they were all sitting around the main room doing their own thing. Beast Boy was flipping through the TV channels.
"Anything on?" Cyborg asked sounding bored.
"Not really." Beast Boy said still taping the remote. He paused for a second.
"Hey! I've seen this movie! Sleepy Hollow, it's about this headless rider on a black horse that…" he trailed off as he noticed everyone in the room was giving him a death glare.
"On second thought, it was a lousy movie. What else is on?" he said and continued flipping.
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It was cold out that night. Kevin shivered slightly as the wind blew. He looked up at the giant "T" before him. He smiled slightly, boy was this going to be fun. He opened up the laptop he had and pressed a couple of keys. He did not know much about computers, that was why he had other people design programs that were simple and idiot proof for him. Just a few mouse clicks and simple words to type and the program did the rest of the work for you, those were the types of computers he liked. There was just one more ingredient he needed.
He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a CD. He placed in the laptop and smiled.
"Let's rock."
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"And then the rabbi said-" Beast Boy was cut off by the tower's PA system squealing.
After a second it stopped and music started to come over it.
"Hey! I know this song!" Cyborg said standing up. It was ACDC's Back In Black.
The moment the guitar kicked in, the building shock from an explosion downstairs.
"Titans! Trouble." Robin shouted and they all leapt up and ran downstairs.
When they got to the lobby, all they found was a smoldering hole in the door, and that was it.
Beast Boy was scratching his head "I don't get it. Where did he go? We went down both flights of stairs. Meaning…" he trailed off as everybody turned to see the elevator going up and stop on the second to last floor.
"Why that sneaky little-" Cyborg was cut off by Robin.
"Quick, we can't let him into the-"
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"Evidence Room." Kevin said to himself as Bucephalus trotted on in through the door.
Kevin dismounted and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He then grabbed the saddle bag off of Bucephalus and went from shelf to shelf, checking off items as he put them in the bag like he was grocery shopping.
"… and last but not least, a remote control." He smashed the glass case and picked up a red and black remote that had a weird looking front.
"I can only imagine what this thing is for. Ok, now all I have to do is-"
"Get out of my Tower you-" Cyborg was stopped by Kevin's immediate reaction.
The rest of the Titans were still stepping through the door when Cyborg had opened his mouth. Not even waiting for him to finish, and with out even turning around, Kevin whipped out his pistol and started shooting. Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg dove for cover behind display cases while Raven through up her barrier and Starfire flew through the air in a zigzag pattern.
Kevin stopped shooting for a second and looked at Raven, he took careful aim and fired of one shot. The bullet ripped right through her black barrier like paper and smashed into the clasp that held her cloak around her neck. The bullet was stopped, but her clasp shattered, causing her cloak to flutter to the ground.
"You forget, your powers are useless against me." he said. Once again he was concealed in a seemingly black shadow that hid his face, though the Titans could swear he was smiling.
"But my powers are not!" yelled Starfire as she smashed into him, throwing him into the far wall. She gripped him by the neck and held him up high while her other glowing hand reared back ready to strike him at any moment.
"You turned down our friendship, and now you attack us, again! I am through with being nice to you!" she screamed at his face.
"Yeah, well I was never nice to you in the first place." as soon as Kevin finished saying that, Bucephalus rammed his head into Starfire's back. This sent the girl sprawling on the floor and Kevin was released from her grasp. He quickly ran over and mounted his horse.
"I really hate to do this, it's a nice place you got here, but I got what I came for. So until next time, audios." and with that he kicked Bucephalus in the flanks and raced of for the door.
"Oh no you don't!" Robin yelled as he pulled out his bo staff and swept it at the horse's legs. Bucephalus simply jumped over it like it was a hurdle and continued for the door of the evidence room.
It was at that moment Cyborg simply sidestepped into the doorway with his arms crossed.
"There is no way you and that mangy animal are going to get past more than 500 lbs of solid steel and-" he was cut short by the collision. Bucephalus rode right over him, knocking him to the side and sending him flying across the room like a bowling pin.
"Quick, get to him before he's out the front door!" Robin shouted as they all scrambled after him. Starfire flew out of the room, followed by a green cheetah and Robin. Cyborg got up and was on his way out while Raven picked up her cloak tossed it over her arm while flying out the door. She then came to a halt. She sat there hovering for a minute, staring at the floor. A startled expression then came across her face and she speed downstairs.
She came into the lobby just in time to see the rear end of Bucephalus heading out the hole in the door with the rest of the Titans behind him. She stopped at the foot of the stairs and shouted at the top of her lungs at the fleeing figure.
"SLADE SENT YOU DIDN'T HE!"
At this both Kevin, and the rest of the Titans halted in their tracks. Kevin slowly turned his head and looked at her.
"How did you know?" he asked quietly.
"To answer that, A- I'm an empath. B- you and I both get our powers from Trigon. That means that your mind is more in tuned with mine than any one else's. I can read you like a book." Raven replied.
Bucephalus snorted.
"Then you are correct, Slade seems to be a man of vision. He and I are going to reshape this city into the likes of which none of you have ever seen. A newer, better city." he said.
"Dude, whatever Slade has promised, it won't be good." Beast Boy said.
"If you haven't noticed already, I don't care what you say. I'm through here." Kevin said turning to leave. But before he did, he turned his head slightly one last time and said "Hey Raven, if you can read my mind so easily, then read this."
A second later Raven jolted her head seeming shocked. Then an angry expression crossed her face.
"Why you dirty little-" but before she finished, she stopped because he had already rode off into the gathering night.