Well readers, it's finally drawing to a close. This is the final part of my long, long journey called BARCODE. I really appreciate all the reviews, comments, praise, suggestions, and everything else that you guys have been giving me along the way. You waited patiently while I was grounded, gone away to London on vacation, and so much more… you all deserve to know the end of the story. This thing has been almost a year in the making, surviving two stabs from the monster called "writer's block." I do believe its time for the final chapter, readers. I don't own Teen Titans. So, here's BARCODE!
BARCODE
Part 20: End
"Uh… I'm… Raven, from Azar, teleported, and… uhm……I guess?" She answered all of the fiery-haired girl's questions.
"Ah!" The girl yipped, embracing the dark girl. "Hullo new friend!" She squeezed so hard that Raven heard bones popping.
"Agh! Hug! Too much hug!" Raven gagged. Beast Boy launched himself forward and tackled her, jealous some stranger had her arms around Raven.
"Ah!" Starfire pushed him off, delighted. "Hullo strange green creature! I am Starfire! What is your name where are you from how did you get here what is your favorite color and do you wish to be my –!"
KA-BOOM!
Starfire's ship blew apart, sending scrap and flame in every direction! Everyone stared in horror, including the new girl. Raven threw up a wide-arched barrier, protecting them all from it. "Whoa…" Cyborg said.
"My vessel!" Starfire cried in dumbfounded horror. Then, she finished that thought with a rather comical, "At least I found a nice planet to stop on!" She smiled at the world in an odd happy-go-lucky way. All the Titan's sweat-dropped as the flames raged, consuming the ship completely. Then… a figure stood among the fires. They all stopped, glaring into the fire. "Please, who is there? Your shadow is quite vague and I cannot see you!" Starfire was curious.
A beam of red light lanced out of the fire. It was the organic beam cannon! "Look out!" Robin shouted. He, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg all tackled her at the same time. They landed in a mess of arms and legs, getting very wet and muddy.
"Yeeek! Someone's hands are on my grubknacks!" she squealed. Robin threw himself off of her, along with everyone else (as though they weighed nothing), rather red in the face.
"Sorry…" he mumbled, looking as though you could fry an egg on his head.
"What a strange greeting this planet has, tackling people!" Starfire chirped, standing and completely forgetting the violation of her personal space. They stared at her, cocking eyebrows. Was she really that happy, or just plain air-headed? There was an explosion as the beam hit a rock that was jutting out of the sea! She turned and looked at it as it came apart, wide-eyed. "He was attempting to harm us!" she said in shock. She rounded on the figure in the flames, looking angry. "You are not a very nice person!" she shook her finger at the shadow that was B-001.
"Miss, you should run!" Robin exclaimed. "This guy is super strong and his arm is a beam-weapon! Run for it!"
"How strong is super strong?" she asked, looking angry at the silhouette of her enemy. "I do not know, I will still challenge it!" With a battle cry to match an amazon princess, the red-headed alien girl flew into the flames!
"She can fly!" Robin exclaimed, dumbfounded.
The sounds of battle raged within the smoke and flames. Crushing of metal, rock and splashing water. The slender shadow of the girl fought back and forth with the muscle bound monster that was B-001. There was a roar and he threw a punch at her. Robin and all the other titans looked away, expecting to hear her cry out in pain as her jaw got broken. When there was no such cry, they all looked again. She'd stopped his fist with both hands! She was holding his huge arm in some kind of waist-high stranglehold. He grunted with effort, trying to get his arm back. But, he couldn't. She was strong.
"She's got super strength!" Robin exclaimed, awe-struck.
B-001 swung with his other arm around and caught her arms against her sides. "Gotcha." He said, squeezing her tiny waist.
"I am sorry to disappoint you…" Starfire said, a tiny green glow in the backs of her eyes. Her body shifted only slightly as one of her legs curled back. "But I am stronger than I look." The leg rushed forward and connected with his jaw!
He grunted and both combatants flew from the flames. One in pain, the other in grace. The Titans scrambled to face their enemy, rallying around their new ally. "New Titan?" Beast Boy chirped, looking at Robin. He didn't have time to answer, because B-001 was already on his feet again.
"Fools!" he roared, his organic beam cannon forming on his arm again. "I am the perfect super soldier. You'll DIE!" Sparks of energy gathered to a single life-stealing cause, and the beam blasted forward. Three of them reacted suddenly. Cyborg's sonic cannon blasted, Raven's powers wrapped around the beam, and Starfire's hand glowed bright green. The black/blue beam and the red one connected and the resulting explosion shook the entire bay. Starfire sprang into the sky as Beast Boy and Robin gave chase.
"Ha! Ha!" Bolts of bright green energy flew from Starfire's hands, knocking B-001 off balance as Beast Boy both hit him head on.
"She can shoot energy from her hands!" Robin exclaimed, stating the obvious again.
B-001was off his feet and momentarily dazed. He was lifted into the air, encased in a sphere of dark magic. Raven made dozens of magical gestures to strengthen it, but he merely pointed the organic beam cannon to the side of his prison. It was blasted apart and Raven grunted as she was thrown backward. The Titans regrouped, all of them breathing hard. Starfire flew slow circles around their enemy, green sphere's of energy on her hands. B-001 kept his eyes on her.
Since she was so high up, Robin could quite plainly see up her skirt. "She's got a great body, too…" he mumbled, a little red in the cheeks.
Raven appeared next to him in a split second. "What was that last one?" she inquired sharply, her eyebrow going up.
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Robin said quickly. "Uhm… let's get him!" he charged recklessly forward, drawing his spare bowstaff and birdarangs. He threw the birdarangs and they exploded in unison, sending up rock and debris. Raven rolled her eyes and followed, Beast Boy and Cyborg in tow. "Starfire!" Robin leapt high and struck B-001 with his bowstaff, though it did no damage. The recoil of the blow sent him high up. "His cannon's barrel is his only weak point!" he shouted quickly as he sailed through the air. She grabbed him and, whipping his body around, tossed him back into the action!
"Then we shall concentrate on it!" Starfire's eyes flared a bright green as she circled higher and higher! A green Rhino was literally thrown away with a sonic cannon blast merely bounced off. Raven's magic recoiled and she cried out, sailing into the water with a mighty splash. Robin slammed into his opponent but it may as well have been a rock wall! Stopped so suddenly he was vulnerable, and twisted hard. His bowstaff connected with B-001's cheek, bruising it black. Happy to have finally done some damage Robin backed off before his head was taken off.
B-001 was getting angry and sloppy. "I'll kill you all!" He roared, aiming his cannon in blind rage. It glowed red as he aimed it straight at Beast Boy. His back was turned, trying to help Raven up out of the water. "Starting with the traitor!"
Starfire descended from out of the blinding sun, swathed in green and bathed in golden light!
A starbolt in both her hands, she combined them and shoved them straight into the organic cannon's mouth. There was a loud hissing as thousands of tiny nanites fried. B-001 cried out as his arm literally blew off. He fell, clutching at it. It was bleeding terribly, too quickly to ever recover. Beast Boy turned, becoming an elephant. Using his tusks he tossed his enemy into the air. A sonic blast changed his course while he was battered with black magic and exploding disks!
By the time Garfield Logan hit the ground, he was almost dead. Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg stared as Robin rushed forward to pull his head above the water and keep him alive. "Cyborg. Call the Coast Guard." He ordered. The metal man nodded, consulting his own arm to do so.
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"Well… that was exciting." Robin collapsed onto the sofa with a groan, holding his sore shoulder.
"Uh huh." Beast Boy said.
"Yeah, man…" Cyborg looked ready to drop.
"What should we do about her?" Raven asked, gesturing to the girl that had followed them into their living room.
"Uhm…" Robin said. "We're sorry your ship got shot down." He scratched the back of his head. "I was kind of hoping for a fifth member to the Teen Titans. You…… you wanna join us?" he asked.
"Ohhhh wonderful!" Starfire yipped, jumping up and down with glee. "I would love to stay here and learn local customs and go to the mall of shopping and perhaps make more friends and –!" That was about where Raven stopped paying attention. The fiery-haired girl sure was talkative.
Raven's eyes strayed, trying to find Beast Boy. She caught sight of his back, leaving for the stairwell upward. He was going to the roof? Hmm…
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"Hey." Raven said, finding Beast Boy looking out over the city. "What're you doing up here?"
"Thinking." The green teen replied softly. He was holding his hands out, looking at the backs of them. The barcode and the number B-407. "I am… different." He said, looking at her with ashamed eyes. Even after all that had happened, he was still thinking about that? "I am… a creation." Since when could he talk so poetically with his limited vocabulary? "I am…" his eyes started to well up with tears. "Like him?" He asked, gesturing out to the battlefield they'd created only about an hour ago.
"You are a Titan." Raven said softly, handing him a small box. "I got you something to remind you of that. I was going to give it to you sooner, but…" He took it and gave it a little shake. "Open it." She commanded, pulling her hood down so she could see him better. The sun was setting, after all. Starfire's ship had stopped burning, so it would be hard to see.
He pulled the simple tan wrapping off of the small box and opened it. He gasped softly, and tears fell down his cheeks. "Raven!" He dropped the box altogether and embraced her with strong arms. He wept happily into her shoulder, thanking her with wordless nuzzles. She patted his back a few times, roses blooming on her cheeks. A certain rare and elusive emotion was in her eyes as she wrapped her arms intimately around him… what was it…?
She'd given him gloves, so he'd never have to see the BARCODE again.
THE ENDAwww… I think that was a pretty good way to end it, folks. There WILL be an epilogue, for those of you that are wondering about B-408! Is there a sequel on the way? Or is this the end? Did Raven get the right size of gloves? And, most importantly, will Robin ever get the image of Starfire's panties out of his mind? …probably not, for that last one! LOL!
Well. I guess this is the end of my long journey, folks. That's the end of BARCODE, the longest story I have ever written. It took almost a year to finish since I got grounded from the Internet for so long… What did you think of the story in its entirety? What was your favorite comedy moment? Action Moment? Romantic moment? I'd like to know so I know what kind of stuff I should write in the future!
I'd like to thank everyone who's left such a generous number of reviews for me, all those that have been patient for updates, and so many more! Thank you all so very much for just reading my story… BARCODE!