Alright. Now that I have my infamous story From Across Time over and done with (don't get me wrong, I adore that fic (It's an InuYasha fic) but it took me such a long time to finish…lol) I can get started on a evil plot bunny whose been jumping in the back of my mind for centuries…Actually just about three weeks, but in the end it feels like exactly the same thing. I have very little notion of time, as you can see by my updates…lol.
So this is going to be an AU. The Teen Titans are not a team; some of the members don't even know each other (yet). The setting is in a super-modern city, coincidentally, Jump City itself, but maybe quite a few years later.
Pairings (although not obvious at the beginning of the story) are BBRae, StarRob and for Cyborg…hasn't been decided yet…lol for now I would say BeeCyJinx…
Let's get this story started!
Remember:
"Talking"
Thinking, or in some cases, as noted, a flashback
For standard disclaimer, check the bottom of my author's profile.
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Days of Tomorrow
Chapter One
By Ryuu no Taiyo
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Two years earlier…
"Alright team-"
"Chill dude." Said the short man with green hair and matching eyes.
"Don't forget to cover you hair BB." Said the dark man who was built as if he could have been a professional football player. He was wearing a red hoodie that red: 'Jump City Heroes' which was with no doubt the city's football team. His red hood covered his head, but strangely enough a blue light could be seen slightly from under the hood. BeastBoy, annoyed, put on a hat.
The boy who had spoken like a leader spoke up again. "Cyborg, you take the BM that's in the parking lot below. BeastBoy, you'll. Become a pigeon or something, just stay unnoticed and out of trouble." That last bit had been said a bit more forcefully.
"Gotcha." Said the green eyed kid, who could only be maybe seventeen. The three men were not that old. In fact, Cyborg was the eldest, he was twenty one. Robin was nineteen.
"We'll meet up later!" said the black man.
The one named BeastBoy darted off in a different direction, towards an alley. Moments later, a pigeon emerged from the shadows, flying off into the night sky.
"See ya later, man." Said the black man called Cyborg. He ran towards a door in a wall, opened it and ran downstairs. As the one called Robin lost sight of the tall man, he tore off his mask for the first time that day, put a helmet on and climbed on a motorbike propped against an empty wall.
The sound of an engine blearing could be heard and the motorbike whisked off on the near deserted street. But he went unnoticed.
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Three hundred thousand dollars stolen from a local bank:
Police Investigate, but come up with no results.
"There is nothing to worry about. The robbers will be caught soon." Assures the head of Jump City Police Department, but his voice lacks the confidence needed to make us believe him.
While there was no one injured during the robbery and the loss was not big enough to put the bank out of business permanently, the bank's president is out of his mind with fury, screaming of the incapability of the police, his security guards and refuses an interview with any one for any more information. See page 4A for the interview with the head of the police department for more information.
Article written by Stephanie Melagio
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Today
"Come on Terra! One more chance, please! I promise I'll be better! I want to change!"
"Sorry, Garfield." But the blonde's tone certainly did not demonstrate sorrow. In fact, it was just pure anger and annoyance. "I'm fed up with you." She said simply, whisking her hair in his face as she started walking away.
"Please! Don't be like that! Terra! You know you love me!"
Today, BeastBoy's charms just wasn't working on her anymore. Terra was fed up. Or seemed fed up.
"I never want to see you again! Garfield Logan!" she spat, and ran away quickly.
Garfield couldn't believe she was gone. Sure, they had fought before…but…
The green eyed man winced inwardly as he fell down, sitting tiredly on a bench. He was at the carnival, one of his favourite places. There were rides, games…prizes…ice cream…
He had invited Terra here to say sorry for his last screw up and to try to convince her that he deserved a…fourth…maybe fifth chance?
Garfield shook his head, muttering incomprehensible words. His heart felt like it was breaking, and it hung heavily in his chest. Passing a hand through his un-groomed hair, he sighed.
He went towards an ice-cream stand that didn't have a swarm of noisy kids crowding the way.
"I'd like…" he said, to the kid working at the stand, "an orange tornado." He said; his voice devoid of anything happy or remotely content.
"That'd be one thirty nine." Garfield searched his pockets for the change, and finally found a few dollars.
"Here. I don't want the change." Garfield said, forcing about four dollars absent-mindedly in the kid's hand and taking the ice-cream from him, and he walked away.
He wandered aimlessly for a few minutes, when he heard a voice.
"Yeah…I know…I'm free now…So, where do I meet you?...In half an hour? I'll be there. Love you."
Terra's unmistakable voice ran in his ears and he turned around abruptly, seeing Terra talking into her pink cell phone about four or five meters from him. She stood out of the crowd.
I've been played…
She hung up and walked away.
Garfield felt the ice-cream dripping down his hand. He threw the unwanted ice-cream cone into a nearby garbage angrily and wiped his hand on his clothes.
"Dammit." He swore.
"Life getting to you?" asked a nearby kid wearing the carnival's red and white uniform.
"Sorta."
"I'm not big on the whole 'advice-giving thingy'," the man said as he swept the area in front of an empty game stand, "but I know somebody who could help."
Garfield eyed the kid wearily. Who was he and why was he sticking his nose into other people's business?
"She's really good at what she does. Only sixteen too." The man said, leaning his chin on his hands that were in turn leaning on the top of his broom.
Garfield sighed. He had nothing better to do.
"Dude…She's not… a prostitute is she? I've had enough of those." One of the reasons I lost Terra…he thought painfully. Even if it was an accident. His mind travelled back to that night in the club where he and Terra used to hang out, he had gotten drunk…and then the first reason for their very first fight happened. Garfield shook the thought out of his head.
"Nah." The worker laughed at the thought. "She can see the future though and she's great at cheering people up."
Garfield nodded. He followed the worker's instructions, and soon found himself in front of a small black and dark blue tent. For some reason he heard crying inside.
Wonder what's up with that…
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Her day had started out fine, like every Friday did. The morning had a few bimbos who walked in, giggling and mocking her behind her back and then a little boy came with his mother around lunchtime and had asked if he was getting a little sister or a little brother anytime soon, and Raven almost let herself smile in delight at the cuteness of the picture.
The afternoon brought the usual ones. This old crazy man who was obsessed with the future and wanted to know everything, no matter how much Raven was reluctant to show him. But he paid the most out of all her customers. Probably because she would occasionally give freebies when she saw something…a little harsh in their future or if she just fell like it.
A beautiful music played in the background, the woman's voice was singing in Spanish and the only word that Raven understood in the song was 'alegria' which meant extreme joy and happiness.
Then, around 3:45 in the afternoon, an old lady came in, in tears and had asked if her granddaughter was going to survive the blood cancer that she had.
She had seen clearly that there was only a snowball's chance in hell that the child would survive. She had herself let a dangerous tear fall.
"There is…some hope…but you know, sometimes believing firmly in something is enough for it to happen." Raven had answered truthfully.
The old lady had nodded and was about to pay her the amount for the consultation when Raven stopped her and said: "Please. I want no money for this. I just want you to keep on believing that your grandchild will survive, and I will believe too. We must kept the hope."
The lady had smiled, somewhat satisfied that the fortune-teller had not told her outright that her grandchild was most likely to die.
Most fortune-tellers were frauds, pretending to have something others didn't. They thought they were special. Raven wasn't like that. Nobody felt distrustful around her. She seemed to give off an aura of content stillness, interrupted only by the soft words spoken in the music played by the cd player near the back of the small tent.
Raven allowed the lady to leave with a soft 'Farewell' and she sat down in front of an open book on the small table were there was a small quarts crystal ball propped upon an ebony pedestal. Raven sighed and immersed herself once more in her reading.
Then she felt the emotions stirring nearby.
The empath opened her eyes.
"Who's there?"
"Wow. You really do see the future."
Raven rolled her eyes once more.
Great. Another sceptic to deal with.
She turned around. But no one was there. Frowning, she turned around again to face the front of the tent...and almost screamed.
A young man with green hair and green eyes stood before her, his hands in his pockets, wearing a sheepish grin.
"Hey! I'm Garfield!"
Raven stared evenly at the thin nineteen-year old.
"I don't know who you are, but-"
"Chill. Relax dude. I'm not gonna do anything. I just wanna know a few things."
"Then sit down in the chair where I can watch you."
Her tone was quite commanding, and the young man was starting to wonder want he was doing there.
"Ummm…" he said slowly, "So…you can tell the future?"
"No. I can vaguely see the most possible path time will take, but nothing is certain."
"So if you're wrong, you have an excuse."
Raven looked deadly furious.
"I am rarely wrong." She said viciously.
"So, I have a question." He said hurriedly, fearing her a little.
"Spit it out then leave."
"Am I going to die soon?" he said in a joking manner. Raven rolled her eyes. Sceptics always asked her that question.
"I will kill you if you don't get serious or leave."
"Alright alright…" Garfield sounded light-hearted, but in fact inside he was terrified. This is the girl who is good at cheering people up? What to ask… "So, what's the next big thing life has in store for me?" he said, his question sounding stupid even to himself.
Raven stared in the ball of crystal separating her and the young man called Garfield.
She closed her eyes, and Garfield could not help noticing how the crystal ball seemed to darken. Nice special effects… he thought quietly.
"A meeting…somebody from your past…" she opened her eyes. "Something pretty big anyways. Oh, and be careful not to lose your keys again, you'll need them soon."
Garfield's eyebrow rose.
"I also see that you have no more money on you and that you will be hoping to pay me back tomorrow."
Garfield quickly checked his pockets.
He had left his wallet at home!
"Uh…hehehe?" he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Lucky guess wasn't it?" she said sarcastically.
Garfield nodded slowly.
"You can leave now. And I don't want your money." She added.
"Why?" asked the other, not moving from his seat.
"Because…" Raven didn't know what to say. "Oh I don't need a reason! Now out."
She grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him outside.
Garfield, once she had shut herself once more in her tent, smiled.
"I think she likes me."
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Richard Grayson sighed. It had been two years since he had seen Cyborg, or Victor Stone, which was the name he went by now. Richard passed a hand through his black hair which was currently spiked up with some cheap hair gel.
Richard rang the doorbell of Cyborg's apartment.
"Comin'!" replied an all-too-familiar voice. Richard almost gave out a breathe of relief. At least the address was right.
The door opened and there stood a tall (taller than Richard remembered actually) black man.
"Rob?" asked Victor, both eyes widening in disbelief.
"Cyborg…How did you change your-"
"Shhh!" cried the man. "Come in. Not so loud." Victor walked in the rather small apartment, headed to the kitchen and closed the door behind Richard and him. He then closed one of the windows and closed the curtains on both windows.
"Man… Rob. It's been two years…how you been doin'?"
Victor looked quite happy to see him, despite the earlier caution he had shown.
"It's…I suppose it's been ok. Nothing really changed. I've already spent all my money." Richard, or Robin, smiled sheepishly, an action he didn't do often.
"What have you been doin'?" asked Victor as he took out to beer bottles.
"I got bored…ended up giving it all up to charities. Under different names, of course. I've been living under Bruce's hospitality for a while."
"So you've been in Gotham?" Victor gave Robin one of the beer bottles.
"Yeah. Hate it there though. Glad to be back." Answered Richard.
"Cool. Glad to see you again."
"How come you look…all human?"
"I've been investing in some things…After a few adjustments to something I bought about a month or so after the job we did, you know, with you and BB." He sighed. "Anyways, got my hands on a holographic disguise." He looked at his watch, turned one of the knobs three times, and the image faded, revealing what Victor Stone, a.k.a.Cyborg, really was.
A half-human, half-robot being.
After switching the hologram back on, Robin nodded, visibly impressed.
"That's pretty awesome."
"Ain't it? One of ma babies!" Cyborg grinned.
Robin chuckled.
"So…what are you here for?"
"What?"
"I know you Rob. You said that after our last heist, it'd be dangerous to meet again. I'm pretty sure this ain't a social call."
Robin chuckled again, but darkly.
"Yes…you're right…" he said, looking away from Cyborg as he took a rather large gulp of the bottle in his hands.
"We're probably going to need BeastBoy, right?" asked Victor.
Robin nodded. "Correct."
"I haven't seen the little man since…since Christmas before last, and it's now April."
"How's he been doing?"
"Wasted his money away at once, that's for sure, even if he denied it. Found himself a girl though, who didn't mind his green-ness." Cyborg chuckled. "Of course, she had no idea about her powers."
Robin smirked. "Found himself a girl, eh?"
Cyborg nodded slowly, throwing his empty beer bottle in the garbage machine.
"So. You gonna tell me why you're here?"
"When we find BeastBoy. I only want to say it once. What's his real name by the way?"
"Uh…I dunno. Never told me."
"But you saw him last time…"
"Nah. We bumped into each other at a club. His girl was there too. She's a cute chick. Blonde hair, makeup, the works. She was pretty cool."
Robin nodded.
"I have some pretty powerful computer in my bedroom. We can start searching for BB."
"Good. The sooner this gets started, the sooner this gets over with."
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Kori Andrews sighed as she leaned back in the uncomfortable chair in the waiting room.
She was in a hospital. And this was never good news for Kori. The redhead sighed. It always meant someone was hurt. And Kori never wanted someone to get hurt. She was very sensitive and emotional.
But this time, it wasn't really because a close-one was hurt. She was waiting for her sister, Manda, to come out of her appointment. Kori was on the edge of her seat in apprehension.
Finally, the door opened.
"Sister! What is it?"
Manda looked a little resentful.
"Positive."
"So you are with child! I shall thus be an aunt!" Kori exclaimed joyously, a little nervously because it was quite obvious her sister did not share her opinion. Kori felt her joy evaporate as her sister said the next words.
"I'm getting an abortion." She said simply.
"But…Sister! You cannot do such a cruel thing!"
"I don't want a kid, Kori." Manda said tiredly.
"But why not?" asked her sister, shocked, "They are such lively little people!"
"One, I don't know who the father is," Kori seemed aghast at this, "and children are annoying nuisances."
Kori bit her lip. She knew that her sister, Manda Andrews, was one of the most stubborn and obstinate person on this planet, and perhaps even their home planet, where their parents had come from.
"It is…in the end…you're choice, dear sister."
"I knew you'd see it my way." Her black-haired sister answered.
Kori didn't see it her sister's way, but what use would it be to argue?
What Kori hated above all was fighting.
The two sisters walked out of the hospital, and Kori, the younger of the two, remained in a subdued silence.
Manda finally started speaking. "I need the car to pick up some friends. You'll be able to find your way home without a problem, right?" but Manda didn't even bother waiting for an answer, because she didn't care for one.
She took the car keys out of her jeans pocket and opened the car.
"I'll be home late." Kori nodded, knowing full well what that meant.
Manda started the car quickly, backed up, then pulled out of the parking lot.
Feeling a sudden weight on her heart that pained her, she felt herself suddenly not able to raise herself up.
Sighing she started walking, and noticed absent-mindedly that it was raining.
"Just what I needed…" she said in a soft voice.
It would take her, from here, a good hour before she reached the apartment she shared with her sister. Kori wondered what she was going to do with her elder sister. She was not as innocent and naïve as her sister thought, and Kori knew fully well what Manda would do at her clubs and with her friends. 'Drugs, sex and rock'n'roll' as the expression said. Kori just wished her beloved sister would stop doing such shameful things. She was almost glad her parents were not alive anymore; Kori would not have wanted them to feel the same sadness that she always felt towards her sister.
Kori was confused. Why did she do that to herself? Manda was strong, yet had succumbed to the deadly allure of those activities and Kori knew that Manda knew what she was doing, and liked it.
Kori shook her head, trying to think of more cheerful things.
She wasn't very successful, she noted.
She spotted a telephone booth not too far away and sighed in relief. She could wait there and sit out the rain, which had started falling down as hard as ever.
She opened its clear door, and went in the tight space. She had no change on her, her purse having been left in the car Manda had taken, so she couldn't call a friend to come and pick her up.
"I wish I could at least sit down." She mumbled to herself, her feet starting to ache after a few minutes.
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Richard was walking down Elevation Street when the rain really started pouring. He sighed and then opened up his red umbrella. He had been carrying it around all day, because he had had a feeling that it was going to rain.
He had just left Victor's house and was heading to his hotel. He had arrived in Jump City only yesterday and hadn't found a place to stay yet.
He was waiting at the corner of a street for a green light to go off for him to cross when he noticed a shivering redhead inside a telephone booth.
He knocked on the glass softly to get the girl's attention.
"Hey. You need a hand…or an umbrella?" he asked her.
She smiled.
"Yes, that would make me very grateful."
She stepped under the umbrella and Richard found himself staring at her for a few moments.
"Uhh…ahem…So I suppose I'm going to be walking you home. Where are you headed?"
"My home is…on the Redforth Avenue." She said slowly. "Thank you very much, but I truly do not wish to bother you so much…"
"It's my pleasure. I can assure you." He grinned. She could not sense any falseness in his tone and finally smiled.
"Then it is fine."
"So…what's your name, milady?" Robin smiled, surprised with himself for having uttered such a bold question. He probably sounded like he was trying to flirt with her!
The redhead smiled and blushed. "My name is Kori." She looked at him as they started walking together, "What is yours?"
"It's Richard."
She hadn't given her last name and he simply returned the favour.
"So, what do you do as a living?" asked Kori, trying to make a conversation as they walked in the dark rain.
"I…used to work as an acrobat in a circus."
"Oh!" she exclaimed, a smile lighting up her face. "That must be so very interesting. I am only a school teacher. I teach kindergarten." She looked proud.
Richard could see her very well as a teacher in his mind.
"That's pretty good." He said.
"I do so love children! It is so complementing when they smile and are happy! I love teaching them things! You should see the wall in my room! It is covered by their drawings! Such sweet little things!" her enthusiasm about her work made Richard smile. "My sister does not share my opinion, though. It is most saddening. We share an apartment."
"What does your sister do?" he asked.
"She…doesn't work." Something about her voice was off, and Richard understood that this was a touchy subject for her.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"No! Do not feel sorry, friend Richard," something about the way she spoke amused him, he didn't mind at all being call 'friend Richard', "it is quite alright. I simply disapprove of my sister's doings, that is all."
"Then why not ask her to change her habits?" he offered as kindly as he could.
"Oh…I could not do that. She is my sister."
Richard nodded, not quite understanding.
"But it does not matter. I can sustain us both quite well." She said, her voice regaining its cheerful note, "If I plan carefully, I should be able to buy a new television set next month! Ours…is 'screwed' up…" she rolled the slang expression off her tongue and Richard could see that she wasn't used to saying those kinds of things.
Richard laughed a little. "Sounds like a plan."
"It does!" and she laughed a little too, glad he wasn't mocking her queer way of speaking.
"Why do you speak so…"
"So strangely?" she said, quoting her sister.
"No, that wasn't what I was going to say." He adjusted the umbrella a little, making sure she had most of the protection from the raindrops, "So differently."
"I was taught English that way…" Kori answered simply.
"Oh. You know…you're name is pretty, where does it come from?" Now he really sounded like he was trying to make a move on her, he noted inwardly and winced. Kori, however did not notice.
"It is…foreign…but I would not be able to explain its origin." She said rather sheepishly and giggled slightly.
Richard glanced at her throughout the corner of his blue eyes.
She could be quite evasive when she wanted to be.
"Oh well." He shrugged. "It is a pretty name though." Come one, Rob. He scolded himself, stop flirting with her! You're trying to get involved with a girl your never going to see again after this!
He shook his head from those thoughts and continued to listen to Kori who was chatting away happily.
Finally, they reached her apartment building on Redforth Avenue. He opened the door for her, and Kori waved to the doorman. She said goodbye and thank you once again. But right before she left, his hand grabbed hers. Kori looked around back at Richard.
"Could we…maybe see each other again?"
"Of course!" she smiled. She dug her hand into her pocket and dragged out an old receipt and a pencil she always kept on her.
"Write your telephone number here please." She said. He took the pen from her and scribbled down his cell phone number quickly.
"Here. Thanks. Call me anytime." Richard smiled, giving back the pencil.
"I shall." Kori smiled and put the paper back in her pocket. "Goodbye friend Richard!"
And with one last look from her amazing green eyes, she turned around and headed towards the elevator.
Richard opened his red umbrella again and left, his face positively beaming.