Authors note: Hey guys, chapter four has arrived and once again I apologize for its late arrival (more yard work) but nonetheless here it is. Thank you all so much for all the great reviews they have made writing this so much more enjoyable, and Darkmoonknight, I would be honored if you would mention my book in yours thank you for offering. Now here's chapter four enjoy.
Disclaimer: Don't you get it! I don't own them!
Chapter 4: The stripes of the tiger
Raven looked at the clock, Tobias had been gone for almost four hours and she was beginning to worry that he'd gotten lost. She had considered waking Robin up to go look for him but decided against it, Tobias could take care of himself she was just worrying.
"Why am I worried"? She thought "its not like it matters to me if he never finds his way back here", Raven was lying through her teeth and she knew it, but it was better than crying her eyes out and blowing stuff up. She decided to pull out one of her many books and occupy her mind that way, soon she was engrossed in the story and had forgotten all about her annoying fixation with the cat eyed wonder.
Tobias sat down at the table with Jinx across from him, they had been dancing on and off all night and now they were taking a break for drinks. Jinx looked over at Tobias gazing into his fathomless yellow eyes,
"So, you got any friends around here"? She asked taking a large drink from her full glass of club soda. Tobias watched her throat as it moved like waves while the cold liquid flowed down it,
"I've got a couple" he said drinking from his own glass of cranberry juice, he had picked it because the scarlet color had reminded him of blood and for some reason that made him want to taste it. "I just moved in with them, what about you"? She smiled and nodded at the two boys she had been with before,
"You see those two over there? The short one's called Gizmo and knows more about computers than anyone your likely to meet. And the big guys named Mammoth, to put it simply he strong enough to rip the horns off a bull, Tobias looked at the boys silently he thought their descriptions sounded like Cyborg split into two people.
"And what about you"? He asked "do you have any special powers I should know about" he was laughing, Jinx smiled and pointed to a waiter carrying a tray loaded with glasses and snapped her fingers. Suddenly out of nowhere the waiter slipped and his tray went flying, the sound of glass shattering echoed through the club, everyone froze the music had stopped and waiters were rushing out from the back with brooms. Soon the mess was cleaned and the music back on and everyone was dancing again, it was now that Tobias thought he should get back to the tower before someone started to think he was lost.
"Hey jinx, its been great but I think im gonna head home its getting early" he smiled and stood up, Jinx stood with him and blocked his way.
"Wait a sec don't I get to know when I can see you again"? She asked looking a little offended,
"Why don't we meet here tomorrow at midnight" he said the smile never leaving his face "I wouldn't take off without saying goodbye to you", the expression of outrage left Jinx's face at once and was replaced by her natural carefree smile.
"Good, tomorrow at midnight it is, and just to make sure you don't forget" she grabbed his hair and pulled him down into a kiss that made his toes curl.
"Im pretty sure I'll remember that" he said breathlessly when they parted, she laughed a bit then with one last meeting of their celestial eyes the two felines parted company.
It was 3:31 a.m. when Raven was distracted from her reading by th sound of a powerful engine tearing through the silent morning. She looked out her window and in the dawns first light she gasped at what she saw, Tobias was speeding across the bridge standing strait up on his motorcycle arms spread wide as if in imitation of the Tower. As he pulled into the driveway he hopped back onto the seat before shutting off the engine, running up the steps to the front door he took the elevator up to the top floor. The second the doors opened Tobias slowed his pace to a walk as he ascended the stairs toward his room, he was about to go in but decided to stop in the bathroom first. Stripping off his clothes he stepped into the shower washing off all traces of his night out including a large pink lipstick mark ons his lips, then drying himself off he wrapped the towel around his waist and crossed the hall into his room.
Picking through his small wardrobe Tobias chose his new clothes for the day, a pair of black shorts that hung slightly below the knees, a studded leather belt, a fishnet shirt with his full shoulder tank top, and his big black combat boots. He slicked his hair back a little and went back downstairs, in the kitchen he found Raven sitting at the table sipping from her usual steaming cup of tea she looked up at him as he entered.
"Where did you go last night"? She asked raising her eyebrows, he walked over to the fridge and started rummaging around.
"Oh just to a club I passed by while I was riding around" he said his face still in the fridge, finally he pulled out the milk and poured himself a glass,
"You were at a club by yourself for four hours"? Raven snorted trying to hide her amusement.
"Who said I was alone"? He asked grinning over the rim of his cup, Raven spit her tea back into her glass,
"What"? She gasped choking on the tea. Tobias ran over and smacked her back hard a few times,
"Raven you ok"? He asked truly concerned, regaining her ability to breath Raven pushed him away.
"Oh like you care" she snarled and ran off leaving behind a cup of hot tea and a very confused Tobias.
Robin was walking down the stairs when he was knocked over by Raven running past him, shaking his head he continued into the kitchen where he found Tobias sitting in a chair banging his head on the tabletop.
"Dude what's up"? He asked sitting down across from his friend, Tobias stopped hitting himself and looked up meeting Robins gaze, he looked on the verge of saying something but seemed to change his mind.
"Lets go downstairs" he said finally "I need to blow off some steam" he stood up and walked out of the room Robin close behind him.
Up in her room Raven was beating the hell out of her pillow as she cried, after a while she became exhausted and collapsed in a heap on her bed eyes dripping with salty tears.
"I knew this would happen, I just fucking knew it!" she yelled into her sheets "the people don't even know about him yet and I've already lost my chance." but then a thought hit her maybe she was wrong, maybe she still had a chance to get Tobias to like her "he said he was at a club"she thought "he couldn't have met anyone special at a club in Jump city." Raven stood up and went to her book case, she knew what she wanted to do now all she needed was some inspiration.
Not to far away, in the depths of Jump city's vast underworld a lonely figure sat waiting for night to fall. Jinx sat in silence as she always did when she was at the hideout she didn't like it there and she really didn't like Slade, the crime lord was a sadistic tyrant who abused all within his grasp. Though Jinx wasn't regretful of her choice in lifestyles not by a longshot, she wasn't a goodie, goodie like those halfwit Titans she was cold intelligent and vicious, she had no real friends and didn't need any. Although that guy Tobias had sparked her interest big time last night at the club, he had intrigued her enough for her to ask to see him again and that was something she didn't do often.
"He was really cool, didn't seem like anyone else I've met in this city so far, and his eyes! I've never met anyone who had eyes like mine."
In another room Slade watched her on one of his many security monitors he had seen her last night with that strange boy. There were very few things in the world that puzzled Slade but there was something about that boy he couldn't place, no doubt it would become clearer when he had him in his maniacal clutches.
Robin just stood back and watched as Tobias attacked a body sized punching bag bare fisted, it flew around on its chain while Tobias's limbs crashed into it. Tobias assaulted the bag with everything he had driving his knees, fists, and elbows into its rough material. He was so engrossed in his exercise that he didn't see Raven come in and start whispering to Robin.
"So that's what I want to do" she said to Robin with more than a little embarrassment in her voice, Robin looked at the picture she had drawn as a blueprint for her idea and nodded slowly.
"Sounds cool sure I'll help, you might try to get Cyborg to work on the smaller technical stuff but I can definitely get the weapons for you." he said handing her back the paper,
"Thanks Robin this is really cool of you" she said with a small smile "im gonna go talk to Cye now" she ran off to find Cyborg. Robin turned back to Tobias who had shifted to the gymnastics bars, he watched as his friend flipped and spun with the grace of a cat and thought that Ravens design had been quite appropriate. He decided to leave Tobias to his exercise and go upstairs for lunch, when he got there he could hear Cyborg and Beastboy playing the x-box and boasting to one another as they played. In the kitchen he ran into Starfire who was busy making some monstrosity or other, Robin took out the bread and made himself a sandwich sitting down at the table he watched Starfire as he ate.
Soon Tobias came in and poured himself a glass of water which he downed in three gulps, putting his cup in the sink he turned to Robin.
"Going to the mall, be back later" He said while refilling the cup with milk this time and downing it just as fast then he walked out the door, a few seconds later they herd his motorcycle start up and fade away as he rode off. Robin got up and went to go play games with Cyborg and Beastboy, the day passed by uneventfully until an unexpected visitor landed at the front door.
Inside Cyborg paused the game when the doorbell rang and he got up to answer it, whistling he walked down the hall took the elevator to the bottom floor and opened the door, which he slammed the second he laid eyes on who was on the other side. Robin looked up when Cyborg ran back into the living room sped to the security computer and activated the towers defense system.
"Cyborg what's wrong" he asked his biomechanical friend, Cyborg looked over at the other four titans,
"You are not gonna believe who's at our front door" he said charging his laser cannon and going to the intercom, "alright Blackfire what do you want"?, the other Titans all jumped up and ran over to him.
"Blackfire? What's she doing here"? Robin asked, Beastboy as usual got strait to the root of the situation,
"Yea isn't she supposed to be like in jail" he said, Starfire was feeling both joy and curiosity.
"Sister? Perhaps she has come to apologize for her terrible crimes of her last visit" she said hopefully,
"Don't think so Star" said Raven, Cyborg was getting impatient.
"I said what do you want Blackfire"? He repeated into the microphone that connected to the intercom, a second later Blackfire's voice was herd,
"I just want to come in" she said "im out of prison on good behavior, wanted to see my sister thought we might try to get to know each other again." Cyborg looked at Robin who shook his head,
"No way Blackfire we remember last time, were not letting you in here for anything" he said, he was about to tell he to get lost when they all herd the sound of Tobias's motorcycle coming across the bridge. In a second his voice came up over the intercom,
"Hey do you need in"? He said, they herd the door unlock and slide open, Cyborg's jaw dropped and Robin smacked himself on the forehead. A minute later Tobias walked into the room followed by a girl who was as tan as Starfire but had purple eyes and black hair,
"Hey guys I came home and found this girl outside, she a friend of yours"? Tobias asked flopping down on the couch, Robin stared at him.
"Yea something like that" he said resisting the urge to whack Tobias in the head then beat him senseless, Blackfire spoke up
"Im serious I just want to patch things up with you guys" she said raising her hands to show she meant no harm. Robin chewed on his lower lip as he thought,
"Alright" he said finally "here's the deal, you can stay here to try and convince us that you've gone strait but if you make one wrong move we'll haul you right back to prison, got it"? Blackfire looked a little relived and nodded,
"Got it," she said with a cocky smile that was wiped off her face when Starfire plowed into her putting her into a hug that would have crushed anyone else.
"Oh sister it is so good to have you back" she said, surprisingly enough Blackfire returned the hug before prying her sister off,
"Its good to see you Star I really want to set things strait with you I-" Starfire cut her off before she could finish.
"Forget about it you say you have reformed and I believe you" she said in her simple Starfire logic, Blackfire smiled and decided to change the subject knowing her sister was finished with the discussion.
"So- who was the hunk you let me in"? She asked, Starfire laughed
"Sister I think you are confused "hunk" means a piece of some sort and Tobias is very much his whole self", Blackfire gawked at her sister's lack of knowledge but didn't comment on it.
"Ok... so his name is Tobias, but who is he"? She repeated, Starfire looked over at Tobias who was still lying on the couch.
"He came home with Robin a few nights ago to stay with us, he's completely a mystery even to himself, he has what did Robin call it? Amnesia! He knows nothing about his life before coming here." Blackfire looked at Tobias
"Whoa, so dose he have any powers or anything other than being drop dead gorgeous"? She asked, Starfire thought for a second
"Well he hasn't been in any fights yet but he has really beautiful eyes and he doesn't seem to need to go to sleep" she said, then Robins voice cut in.
"He also has the agility of a panther, I've seen him in the training room I don't think he even knows that he's doing anything other people cant do, and Star you told me that the morning you met he jumped almost twenty feet in the air." Star nodded,
"Yes he did that and he did tricks those funny people in the circus do" she said looking up at him.
"You mean acrobats"? Blackfire asked, Star nodded again, Robin called over to Tobias who sat up and looked over at them,
"What"? He asked, Robin motioned for him to join them
"I was wondering do you think I could run a few scans on you so we can try and find out just what you are"? He asked when Tobias walked over.
"Ah... sure I guess" Tobias answered "what do you need to do"? Robin started to walk off in the direction of the training room
"Just follow me" he said. When they were gone Starfire turned back to her sister and giggled a little
"Do you know what's funny? I think friend Raven has one of those crushes on friend Tobias" she said still giggling, Blackfire raised her eyebrows'
"Your kidding right? Goth girl actually likes someone, that's priceless" the two sisters just sat there laughing at the irony of Raven actually wanting a boyfriend.
Up in her room Raven was working painstakingly with a needle and thread while cyborg helped her construct her gift for Tobias, it was almost done. She had decided to model it after her dream, the black tiger was still fresh in her mind and she could think of no better image than that one.
Finally Cyborg put the finishing wires together, it had been hard the technology was at a micro sized level he had hardware running through every piece of fabric and he hoped it was all right. Then turning to Raven he gave her a thumbs up,
"Ok its all done it should work perfectly for Tobias" he said handing her the folded up product. Raven took it from him warmly,
"Thanks for all the help Cye this is really important to me" she said "now I just have to go find Robin and get the last bits." She left her room and went downstairs where she passed Beastboy, Star, and Blackfire who were all playing games. She made her way down to the training room and found Robin recording information in front of one of the physical scanners, she waled up to him.
"Hey Robin my projects finished want to see"? She asked him, Robin took his eyes of the clipboard he was filling out,
"Sure lets see how you did" he watched as she unfolded the finished version of the drawing she had shown him this morning. "Wow Rae that's awesome its perfect, did you get Cyborg to do all the computer stuff"? He asked, Raven nodded
"Yea now all I need are the weapons you promised me" she said, then she noticed that the scanning machine was on "who have you got in there"? She asked.
"Tobias" Robin answered as he walked over to a storage cabinet and pulled out the items he had made for her, Raven panicked
"shit I've got to get this out of here before he gets out of there!" she said grabbing Robins training bag and stuffing her package in it. Robin watched her and shook his head
"What's the bid deal? Your just going to give it to him anyway" he said bringing her the two weapons he promised,
"Yea but it's a surprise for later" she said taking the stuff from him "wow Robin there great thanks", Robin smiled at her
"No prob Raven" he said, just then the scanner opened and Tobias climbed out, he was wearing extra thick goggles so as not to burn out his super sensitive eyes.
"Hey Raven" he said replacing the goggles with his normal glasses, "well Rob what's the deal"? He asked. Robin pulled out the multiple x-rays showing the different levels of Tobias's body along with his physical readouts,
"Incredible" he whispered "Tobias according to this data your body structure matches 83 with that of a Siberian tiger, your muscles are designed to allow you to jump great distances, and lift large amounts of weight. While your bones seem to follow the same pattern they do have advantages all their own, such as they are unbelievably flexible and as far as I can tell from the sample I took they're as strong as carbon steel!" He finished eyes wide beneath his mask staring at what was easily the most incredible being he had ever encountered and that was saying a lot. "Also from when we did your live test I've concluded that your reflexes function at thirty times that of normal people and that you naturally know how to shift your body weight instantly, making it possible for you to balance perfectly on any structure that can hold your weight." Tobias just sat there taking in all he had herd, Raven looked at him as her mind worked out the missing pieces to the puzzle of her dream.
"Well, this explains a lot" Tobias said finally and removing his glasses he stood there bare chested in his long black shorts for a second his eyes shining in the florescent light of the training room, then without warning he took off sprinting around the track he ran the whole way then leapt fifteen feet in the air and grabbed Robin trapeze wires and began doing tricks that would embarrass Olympic gymnasts! After a few seconds he let go and flew off into empty space doing back flips the whole way down and landing in a crouch in front of Robin and Raven. They just stood there mouths hanging open, staring at him,
"What"? He said with a slightly cocky grin before redressing and sprinting upstairs. When he got there he looked at the clock it was 11:45 he had fifteen minuets to meet jinx "shit! Got to go be back in an hour or so" he yelled as he ran out the door. The others all looked at the doorway he had been in a second before,
"What was that about"? Asked Beastboy, everyone else shrugged and went back to whatever they had been doing.
Tobias flew through the city oblivious to traffic or speed limits as he sped towards the club where he had promised to meet Jinx. When it came into sight he squeezed his brakes and the bike slid screeching to a halt, he ran inside where he found her waiting at the same table as the night before. She looked up when he approached
"I was starting to think you were gonna blow me off" she said with that same sly smile she always wore, he smiled back
"Not a chance, im not that kind of guy" he said leaning down and kissing her lightly. The night went more or less the same way the last one did until Jinx got a call on her cell phone,
"Hello?, What?, Now?,Fine!" she hung up and shoved the phone into her pocket then turned to Tobias "sorry Tobias but I've got to go" she said
"What? Why?" he asked but she just smiled and said
"You know nothing I want to do just something I have to do" she looked as put out as he felt.
"But-" he never finished because once again she grabbed his hair and pulled him into another deep wet kiss, "damn" he whispered as she smiled and walked out of the club. Sighing he walked outside and rode home, when he walked in the door Tobias found himself facing everyone else in a half circle around Raven.
"Hey guys what's up"? He asked as he came in, Raven stepped up to him and pulled a package wrapped in black paper from behind her back and handed it to him, "what's this"? He said taking the parcel from her. Seeing Raven was to timid to answer Cyborg put his hand on her shoulder and spoke for her,
"Open it, Raven worked real hard on it", Tobias gingerly unwrapped the paper and pulled out a folded mass of black fabric. As he unfolded it, it turned out be a costume, without saying a word he walked into the downstairs bathroom. A few minutes later he emerged a totally new creature, the boots went all the way up his shins and were fastened the whole way by big heavy buckles at the toes were steel plates much like Robins except that there were three long claws jutting out in front. The pants were tucked into the boots and bore the military tiger stripe camo pattern, the stripes on the pants were grey while the background was black. Two studded belts hung loosely about his hips forming an x about his waist, a sleeveless hooded sweatshirt covered his torso and under that he wore a fine mesh shirt. About his biceps were five small belts to each arm, and his gauntlets were of the same make as his boots reaching up to his elbows heavy buckles holding them together, ending in fingerless hand guards. Finally came the mask, it was like Batman's except it had no mouth opening and the ears were tilted backwards resting somewhere between strait up and a ninety degree angle.
"Daaaammn" whispered Beastboy who like the others was speechless at the chilling effect of the image, Cyborg stepped up and looked it over checking his sensors now and then before turning to Tobias.
"Yup, looks good now you need to know just what this suit dose, it has adrenal implants that feed into your nervosystem allowing you to access the primary weapons."
"And those would be"? Tobias asked, Cyborg smiled
"Focus on your wrists" he said, Tobias thought about his wrists and how he wanted whatever weapon was there to work. And then out of nowhere claws shot out of his bracers like in the movie Predator but without all the serration on the blades.
"Shit" he said laughing "why did you do this for me Raven"? He asked turning to her, she just stared at her feet
"Well, you know your on the team now and if you gonna be a Titan you need to look like one" she was interrupted by Beastboy
"Raven likes Tobias"! He yelled before running off out of harms way, Raven turned crimson but didn't give chase. Tobias smiled at her then pulled her into a hug
"Thanks Raven" he said, Raven lost control of her power for a second and upstairs they herd a crash then a thud then Beastboy yell then silence. Everyone just chose to ignore the noises from upstairs,
"Tobias one last thing, your suit's mask amplifies your sense of hearing, and smell too" said Cyborg Tobias was about to answer when alarms started going off everywhere. Robin ran over to the huge security screen,
"It's the hive their robbing the bank we have to move fast"he said and if ten minuets they were on the scene. The Titans sprung into action the hive wouldn't stand a chance this time, not with Tobias and Blackfire on their side, the fight lasted only a short time before the hive members realized they were outmatched. As Tobias fought he thought there was something really familiar about the huge figure he was battling but he didn't have time to think about it while he was dodging blows from a guy who looked like he could bench press a bulldozer. Suddenly the two visible hive members ran off down an alleyway and were then joined by a third who continued to run off with them.
"Fuck" Robin muttered "we cant follow them in the dark" he kicked the ground in anger
"You cant" said Tobias "but I can" he snatched one of Robins fallen bird-o-rang's and sped off after the felons before anyone could stop him.
Racing through the pitch black ally would have been crazy for anyone else to try, but it was nothing to Tobias in moments he caught sight of his adversaries the three of them were running for their lives. Taking careful aim Tobias threw the bird-o-rang at the closest of the three, the weapon struck the figure in the back of the head they stumbled on a few paces... then fell. The other two stopped for a second then one of them shouted,
"Leave her"! And they took off again, Tobias slowed to a walk as he approached the fallen criminal and rolled her over with his foot.
"No" he whispered "no it-it cant be true" but there was no deigning it, there lying unconscious on the ground was Jinx.
Well what did you think of this one? This was the longest chapter yet I put in a lot of time on this one to make up for its late arrival so be grateful. Anyway let me know what you think.