Part 5
December 12th
No one knew what started it, really.
The 80's truly saw the rise of it: The 'Must Have' toy, which kicked off with Cabbage Patch Dolls, and progressed through the years with other notable examples including Tickle Me Elmos and Furbies. With the rise of video games from a child's toy to an actual universal entertainment medium in the mid-90's, certain pieces of electronics also had a habit of becoming hot items.
The Gamestation 470 had gone past hot and gone all the way to supernova, and this day a large electronics store had managed to get a large shipment in. Fortunately, they had had the wherewithal to alert the police, who had sent several dozen units to watch over the place. Good thing, as a hundred people had been in line the night before, a crowd that had swiftly swelled to thousands by the morning. At the time though, it seemed peaceful, as the cops kept order and managed to prevent a stampede when the store actually opened.
But all good things must come to an end…
Perhaps somehow two people had grabbed a box at the same time. Perhaps someone had come into the store looking for something else entirely and been mistaken for another competitor. Perhaps someone said the wrong thing. Or maybe the holiday stress just got to someone.
Because a minor scuffle broke out, a minor scuffle that was almost adverted…until someone who already had a system got too greedy and tried to claim the one being fought over, which drew two more people into the fight. The cops tried to break it up before the chain reaction got away from them, but the incident had seemingly taken on a life of its own, as more and more people, for their own reason, got involved, a true ripple in a pond…
It truly went out of control when a Gamestation 470 being fought over was confiscated by a police officer to try and calm people down…and then promptly run off with, the police officer wanting it for himself.
That was it.
By the time the Titans got there, it was a full blown riot, complete with smashing windows, burning cars, looting, trampling, and all the usual good stuff, the police having long been overwhelmed and retreated, waiting for the SWAT Team or the Titans to get there first.
The Titans had extra numbers, and they did their best to calm the people without resorting to violence…but things like that do not take long to go from simple things like trying to please your children to primal urges to vent all the frustrations and rages people have about their lives, and in the face of such a thing, the Titans could not find a peaceful solution: they were forced to take action.
Even then, they held back. Mas Y Menos and Beast Boy concerned themselves with rescuing children and the elderly. Terra buried a group up to their neck in dirt, completely immobilizing them. Cyborg busted out a new variation of his sonic cannon that made people dizzy and disoriented without harming them. Raven sucked out a group's rage and then warped away to vent it. Even Robin settled for just knocking people down and then cuffing them with plastic links.
And Savior also tried to do things peacefully, despite the fact this wasn't one man punching at him, it was a giant group of all kinds of people, seemingly all united in a nameless rage. Savior even tried not making threats.
Until a lucky shot of a tossed bottle smashed on his head, causing him to stumble, which let one guy tackle him, driving him to the ground, and then it seemed like hundreds were dog-piling on Savior, beating on him like he was their mortal enemy and they truly wished his demise.
This lasted about a second and a half.
The mob was hurled away as Savior erupted from under the heap. And he was done playing nice.
"All right, that's the way you want to play?" Savior growled.
The worst part was, even when Savior cut loose, he still barely got the crowd under control.
"You know what I blame this on?" Beast Boy commented, the mob finally broken, people fleeing the Titans as the Titans rounded up everyone they could, restraining them in various ways. "A strong launch lineup. Most game systems only had at best one great game when they launched, as it takes time for people to learn a new system…this one had five. Five great games. Really, what were people expecting…" Beast Boy joked, trying to lighten the mood. For some, it worked.
But Raven could tell it hadn't for Savior. She didn't even have to see his face to know. She could feel it coming off him, waves of anger, of disgust, of scorn…and under all that a deep sense of disappointment and sadness, directed both at the crowd, carefully tied up in the Shimmer…and at himself.
"Savior…" She said, trying to step in before…
"They tried to kill me." Savior commented.
With those words, Raven knew she was too late. Plenty of people had tried to kill Savior before: he accepted that. But he couldn't accept this…not the reason behind it.
"For this." Savior said, holding up a mutilated box that had once held a Gamestation 470. "They tried to kill me, the one who saved their lives, so many times, tried to beat me into a shattered paste…for THIS. For a few hundred dollars worth of electronics. To them, that was more important then anything. Their freedom, my life, ANYTHING." Savior growled.
"…Savior…it's not just about that. These things, they swiftly become…" Raven began.
"I know Raven. I know." Savior said. "But it's not enough."
The SWAT team was finally arriving, rounding up the people in paddy wagons. A group came to take custody of Savior's batch: contrary to being cowed, a good few of them cursed at Noel as they were taken away. Savior's face remained blank.
"…I tried Raven." Savior said. "I try every year. But it's just too much."
"Savior…"
"I'm sorry." Savior said, as he turned away. "I am. But I can't Raven. I'm done…I'm done with it all." Savior said, and with that he swung off.
Raven watched him go, and sighed to herself.
"Still won't come out?" Robin asked.
It was some time later, and the Titans had finally all gathered back at the Tower. Robin and a few had accompanied the captured rioters back to the police station…and it was there Robin had noticed something strange. A lot of the rioters had still been angry, if not furious when brought in, snapping at the cops and struggling with their captors…and then, about an hour later, it had all vanished, like someone had flicked a switch. Most of the rioters said they had no idea what had happened, how they had gotten there, or what was going on. Robin had gotten Raven to see what was going on, and while she confessed that there did seem to be a fair bit of genuine confusion, there was also more then a bit of people attempting to shift the blame for their own lack of self-control. Still, it was something to note, and something Robin wanted to discuss with Savior, who had gone back into the Tower in a funk.
However, Savior wouldn't see him. He'd moved all his stuff out of Raven's room and back into his, and he was politely asking to be left alone.
Later, much to Robin's realized annoyance, the Titans spent ninety minutes trying to get Savior to come out. He wouldn't budge, and in most cases, wouldn't even talk with the Titans. The only one he'd spoken to was with Raven, and even she'd been unable to convince him to rejoin the Titans.
"He says it's for the best." Raven said. "He doesn't want to drag us all down. He'd rather deal with the season his own way and let us have our fun. He said…he'd do all the Christmas busywork. Wrapping, card lists, anything…so we'd have more time to ourselves. Besides that…well, he just doesn't want to spend time with us. He'd just be no fun."
"But…he is one of us…" Starfire said.
"Man, let him sulk in there if that's what he wants to do so badly. Why are we wasting our time on his emo ass? Let's go add alcohol to the egg nog and play ping pong!" Bumblebee said, as she shrank down to small size and flew off.
Robin's annoyance came from the fact that Bumblebee was right. Noel may have been part of the team, and his friend, but if all he wanted to do was sit in his room and think bleak thoughts of what Christmas had become, then what the hell was he doing making the Titans think the only way THEY could be happy was if Noel was happy, especially if Noel would rather have a quiet and dour self awareness because it was more honest to him then happiness? Yeah, Bumblebee was right. Noel could stay in his room until Easter; Robin wouldn't let it put a damper on the proceedings.
Though Robin was immediately faced with the problem of just how he was going to explain that to Starfire.
"…You know, quite frankly I don't see how you put up with him." Terra said to Raven as an aside.
"…I have my reasons." Raven said, as she remembered Noel's quiet rationale, almost as if he was reading her mind.
"My problems shouldn't be your problems Raven. I'd like to spend time with you…but I know how you feel around this season, and how hard it is for you to find anything like it during the rest of the year, even with us, or me…and if I hang around, I'll just drag it down. Better you spend it with the rest of the gang, until I either sort this through or until the season's done. I'll be with you in spirit. Because it'll be no fun if I'm with you in person."
Terra wasn't the first to wonder why Raven stuck by Savior, but she knew. It wasn't because what he'd done for her, or because he was in a way her first love. That made him special, but not to the point where she'd stay in an unhappy situation. She'd spent too many years having to be a blank slate, risked too much to go back to that…and risked too much to settle for such a way to live. If Savior made her unhappy, she'd have left.
But she didn't, because in his own way, despite his moods, he made her happy, because he understood her so well. Her, and himself, and them. Maybe someone like Gar, or Tim, or heck even Nathaniel might have been able to bring her more outright joy in how they felt…but Noel was the one who knew how to keep the embers going when the fire burned down.
So she'd do what he'd asked. For now. Because Raven had a mind of her own too, and she did her own thoughts. For now, they meshed. If otherwise…
Though she did regret not saying something in regards to Savior's last comment. He'd mused that Raven had been right in sensing a disturbance, because look what had happened.
Raven didn't want to sink Savior's mood any lower, so she didn't voice her pondering.
The riot that had occurred hadn't been the cause of her disquiet. No. It was something else entirely…and Raven still didn't know what.
But she'd figure it out later. For now, she was going to spend some time with her friends.
It took about seven minutes, when Beast Boy, Gauntlet, and Speedy were having a contest to see who could burp the loudest, if she wondered if she'd be better off staying with Noel and building a little fort.
December 13th
Titans Tower was back to normal, somewhat. Savior seemed a bit better, but he was continuing to stay in his room, only leaving to eat and fetch things, as he was indeed doing all the busywork: Aqualad and Bumblebee had knocked on his door and dropped off gifts for other Titans and come back later to find them neatly wrapped outside his door.
Cyborg, on the other hand…
"Victor, we already have all the gifts wrapped! We don't need a gun that does it!" Robin protested, unable to believe that Cyborg didn't get the hint.
"Oh come on man! At least let me show it off!" Cyborg said.
"…Ok, fine. But I'm standing over there." Robin said, as he stood behind Cyborg.
"Ok, sure. Now watch how pretty my Gift-Oh-Wrap makes this average box…!"
25 seconds later.
Robin finally cut through the last layers of wrapping paper, allowing Speedy to sit up as he gasped for air.
"…Well, on the bright side, if I can't get this to wrap presents, maybe we have a new tool to tie up criminals…" Cyborg said, leaving with his gun, even as Robin fought with Speedy to prevent Speedy from shooting a taser arrow into Cyborg's rear.
"AUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Came the scream from the kitchen, and then Aqualad ran out.
"Ok, who left the box of fish sticks out…" Sophie said.
Gauntlet was doing his own fiddling, his with the magical artifact he wore on his arm, as he poked around in it with various tools.
"Hello Friend Gauntlet! What are you doing?" Starfire asked, popping out of nowhere. Gauntlet noted that she had just come from Noel's room and had probably just been attempting to convince him to come out. Savior's expression as he followed her and walked right past them indicated that she hadn't been successful, so Gauntlet decided to nip this in the bud before her confusion lead to unhappiness.
"Simple Star. My gauntlet's energy field is yellow, right? Well, this is ancient tech, surely the Old Ones built all kinds of options into this thing that I'm not aware of…so I'm poking around in it to see if I can turn it red for the season."
Savior walked past them again, carrying a few rolls of wrapping paper.
"…Um, Friend Rob, while I would indeed like to see that, is not poking around an artifact older then most civilizations that you were awarded by sheer chance have a high likelihood of being, what is that human word, hazardous?"
Savior walked by again.
"Oh come on Star! I'm linked to this thing! Surely nothing bad can happen! Any more!" Gauntlet said.
"That was what you said when you located those ruins similar to Stonehenge and attempted to activate them with your gauntlet. To this day, I did not know piled rock structures could scream." Starfire said.
Savior headed back, this time holding a list of something or other.
"Well yes…but I've learned my lesson! I've marked off all the sections I know I can't poke…" Gauntlet said as Savior walked by again. "So as long as I stay out of there, I'll be fine!"
"Are you certain you've found ALL those sections Friend Rob?"
"Well nothing has happened…"
The energy shot out and rammed into…the running figure of Aqualad, sending him smashing through the wall.
"…Yet." Gauntlet said, as Aqualad sat up looking dazed. "Um…hey Aqualad, uh…watch out for our new defense system!"
"The same one that did not touch me before I went past you?" Aqualad said, still dazed as pearls danced around his eyes.
Savior came back, took one look at the damage, and looked at Rob, who tried to hide behind Starfire.
"…Well, at least it wasn't me this time." He commented, and headed off.
Then a chunk of the ceiling, loosened, finally fell off and broke on Noel's head.
"YOU'RE DEAD ROB!"
Gauntlet lost Savior in the garage and headed back to the main room, where he found Robin and May Y Menos playing games. Gauntlet waited for his turn.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
"Hah. Poor fool. Mas and Menos will starve before they give up a video game controller." Bumblebee said from where she was sitting at the kitchen table with Nigel.
"Hardly a wise decision." Nigel commented, doing paperwork.
"…So…you're a Blacktrinian eh? How's that working out for you?"
"Well besides everyone thinking I'm a monster, kids screaming and running when they see me, my girlfriend's family loathing me, and the fact my race has a death warrant on my head for betraying the empire that treated me like so much flesh to be thrown into the meat grinder of war, pretty damn good overall." Nigel said.
Bumblebee stared.
"On the plus side, you humans have delightful drinks." Nigel said, and took a sip from his.
"…Nigel, that's ketchup."
"I know. It's very tasty."
"Starfire taught you what to eat here, didn't she?"
"However did you know?"
"Come on Raven!"
"No." Raven said as she closed her door. Terra knocked on it again, and Raven opened it. "Strange, I thought that despite her hair color the girl before me knew not to risk annihilation. I guess I was wrong."
"Come on Rae. I'm wearing one for Gar, Star's wearing one for Robin, and god knows Noel needs to snap out of his funk."
"Tara, there are times and places for wearing Mrs. Claus outfits. Considering their style, what they mean, and what most people expect, absolutely none of them will happen in my lifetime." Raven said, and closed the door again.
"But we already made you one!"
"Give it to Bumblebee!"
"Who's she going to wear it for?"
"Not my problem!"
And then Terra got hit by a snowball.
"THIS JOKE IS NO LONGER FUNNY! STOP IT!"
December 14th
"Dund dund dund dund, dund dund dund, dund dund dund dund…" Gauntlet hummed to himself, continuing with the Peanuts Christmas as he headed for the main guest rooms.
"Hey dude, we got your photos back!" Beast Boy said as Cyborg opened his door.
"Really? Awesome! Let's check them out!"
(A minute later)
"…Dude, these REEK!" Beast Boy said, looking at the shots. There was maybe one decent one: the rest were out of focus, zoomed in too close or in the wrong area or not on Cyborg entirely, with fingers in the frame, and so on. "Who TOOK these?"
"You did man." Cyborg said dryly.
"…Oh, right…but come on! I said all the right things!"
"In exchange for doing none." Cyborg said again. Beast Boy sulked. "Hey calm down man, no huge harm. There's still time. We'll just have to take them again."
"You want me to take them again?"
"…Come to think of it, no." Cyborg said.
"Yeah, probably for the best. But then what do we do? Use a static camera?"
"No, that makes the pictures come out drab and lifeless, lacking heart…"
"Well uh…do any of the Titans know how to take pictures?"
"As far as I can tell, the only photos we take with any care are recon photos…but those are mostly taken by Robin. We can't ask him, he'll ask questions."
"Well, who else takes the photos?" Beast Boy asked.
Cyborg started to speak…then paused as a wicked smile crept across his face.
"The guy who's perfect for the job."
"Oh…yeah." Noel said, not a hint of inflection in his voice, as Cyborg posed before him and he took pictures. "Yeah…that's…good…pout…yeah…"
"Oh come on man! Do it right!" Beast Boy complained.
"Gar, I said I would do my best to take good pictures of Victor. I even said I would not ask just WHY he wants pictures of this sort taken. But I will NOT act like a joygasming model photographer who's most likely hopped up on some kind of illegal substance."
"But…"
"DON'T PUSH IT." Noel said, and went back to taking pictures. "Cyborg adjust your hologram for more water."
Cyborg did so.
"I said WATER, not OIL. Geez." Noel said, but he finished up anyway, and with care. "All right, done. You want me to develop them in our dark room as well?"
"…We have our own dark room?" Beast Boy said.
"Oh YEAH! We do! Forgot about that!" Cyborg said. "Hey, less time and no need for payment, nor a worry the photos will end up on the internet!"
"Somehow I doubt the internet's ready." Savior muttered.
No one knew how to develop photos, but one Internet download into Cyborg's systems quickly fixed that problem, as the three developed the photos. Well, Cyborg developed them, Savior watched in his 'always learning' way, and Beast Boy hung around because Mas Y Menos were now playing each other on video games and Beast Boy would rather try and disarm a bomb again then try and get the controllers from them.
"…Whoa man! These are great!" Cyborg said, looking at the shots.
"Simple adjustment. When you're trying to take shots from two hundred feet away with a maximum of accuracy, taking still shots of an up close figure isn't so hard." Savior said.
"You kidding? These could be in a magazine! Heck, picture it! Muscleman presents…Cyborg! And…and…" Beast Boy said.
Savior could see the light bulb come on over Beast Boy's head, and he sweatdropped.
"OH YEAH! THAT'S THE STUFF! DO IT BABY!" Cyborg yelled, as Beast Boy, now in his own skimpy piece of spandex, struck his poses, while Noel took the pictures while wondering how volunteering to do Christmas busywork had landed him in this situation.
"Would you knock it off!" Savior snapped.
"Oh come on man, it's the business."
"Well then, I guess you want to find a scab. Otherwise, quiet." Savior said. Cyborg frowned, but stopped yelling, while Savior continued clicking photos. Gar was in pretty good shape, but he wasn't Arnold Schwarzenegger, and there was also the fact of the fur, which made the poses he was going into far more absurd then sexy, but hey, Tara was his girlfriend, not Noel's. He wasn't going to pass any judgments.
On Gar, anyway. This whole exercise was a different story, as Noel continued clicking photos. Savior wasn't going to condemn cheesecake, but when he was the one stuck taking the pictures, then he was a bit less prone to tolerate the fact that he was snapping shots of a half-naked Beast Boy. I mean, what else…
"Interesting." Gauntlet said. Savior nearly hit the ceiling.
"You know, there are potentially a million things I could say right now, but I think I'll just keep quiet." Gauntlet said in his typical smart ass way.
"Quit making assumptions. I'm just the photographer here. Vic wanted them for some reason he doesn't want to share with us and Gar wants them assumingly for his girlfriend."
"And you're just blithely taking photos of half-naked men."
"Yes. NO!" Savior yelled, noticing the subtext.
"Hey hey, no judgment here." Gauntlet said. "But you won't find me taking part in this! Oh no! That's just degrading!"
"Yeah, I can see how not having anyone to give them to would make you think that way." Savior snarked. Gauntlet frowned, and then decided he'd said enough and left the room.
Savior resumed taking photos, something nagging at him…
And then he realized it. Gauntlet had been carrying an empty sack. Which either meant he was going to put something in it…or he had taken a bunch of stuff OUT of it.
Gauntlet almost got away when Savior caught up to him.
"Ok Gauntlet, what funny stuff did you pull this time?"
"What? Geez Savior, it's not enough being Scrooge, you have to be Howard Hughes as well?" Gauntlet said, trying to look innocent.
"This isn't about…" Savior said, before he realized where he was: the main 'guest wing', so to speak. "Oh God. Did you just prank the guest rooms just to mess with Titans East?"
"Um…"
"God, what are you, five?"
"Noel…"
"Quiet. I'm not going to waste time on you! I'll just fix it myself!" Savior said, and headed into the nearest room.
What followed was the rapid sound of mousetraps, liquid filled balloons, pots and pans, clanging buckets, and general crashing noises, combined with yells and screams.
"Actually, if you'd let me speak up, I was going to say I pranked their rooms to mess with you." Gauntlet said.
The noise ended
"WOOHOOHOO!" Gauntlet whooped in his best Daffy Duck, and ran off.
"YOU ARE DEAD!" Savior bellowed as he gave chase.
Raven was a bit surprised to see Noel out of his room. She was not surprised to see it was chasing Gauntlet.
"You know, I'd stop this if it wasn't for the fact that Savior's always so happy when he's mad at Rob." She commented. Bumblebee gave her a weird look. "Well, happi-ER."
Gauntlet disappeared, while Savior re-emerged holding a frying pan.
"Where is he? He and the Almighty Frying Pan of Ouch have an appointment."
"I think he went that way." Speedy said half seriously.
"You'd think you've give me better directions, I caught him pranking your room." Savior said as he stalked off.
"WHAT? THAT'S IT!" Speedy yelled, as he grabbed Aqualad and dragged him off. Actually, he spent too much time dragging him off: instead of leaving down the hallway he walked into one of the walls on either side.
"OW! No one saw that!" Speedy yelled, and managed to leave this time.
The whole time, Robin and Starfire had been sitting on the couch, watching.
"It's funny." Robin whispered to his girlfriend. "Even when this kind of crap happens with Noel and Rob, we're still more organized then Speedy's team."
"WHOSE team?" Bumblebee growled, suddenly next to the pair.
"Sigh. The democratically run and organized team of Steel City. You know, it seems to me that when you need more then three words to describe your team leadership, you're in trouble." Robin said.
"Besides, the People's Republic of Titans East wouldn't fit on a comic book cover." Gauntlet said, as he popped up next to the group.
WHAKONK! Noel nailed Rob on the back of the head.
"GOTCHA! I knew you'd stop to mouth off!"
"Owww…" Gauntlet said, collapsing.
"Well, that's my deed for the day. If anyone wants me I'll be in my room." Savior said, tossing down the dented frying pan and walking off.
"Well…he was out of his room for ten minutes today. That's a new record! I think this is progress." Gauntlet said.
"I think that may be a concussion." Robin commented.
"Yeah I got that inkling too." Gauntlet said, and collapsed.
"So, it's agreed!" Speedy said that night. "Tomorrow, we strike! And then…REVENGE!"
"I still don't see how this is going to work." Aqualad said.
"That's because you spend too much time around fish and not enough time around women! Believe me! It will be glorious!" Speedy cackled.
Aqualad just rolled over and hoped that the night would bring more peace then the day.