Hello boys and girls and welcome back to the New Teen Titans. Well thanks to those who reviewed I'm glade you all have continued reading the story up to this point. Well last chapter was a bit of a break but this one goes back to the arc system. So before I begin as usual I will answer and respond to reviews. Well it appears this week the only person I can comment on is Mr D 91, thanks for the reviews everybody else. Mr D 91, thank you for you criticism it's kind of hard to edit my own work because when I read it I can see in my mind what's going on and I tend to not see the mistakes. Plus that chapter was long, longest so far I guess I got tired, my apologies. Some of your criticisms were a bit off mark though. When I said that Mystic had the same eyes as Jinx I wasn't refereeing to the colour more like the way they look, the intensity and emotion in them. Oh and the Titans never really did make it to the Hive's place. Those there were all reserve members and the ones that confronted Mammoth were the Titans East, I believe I said that. But yes beside that I promise to work on my spelling in the future and if anyone wants to go back and edit my past chapters please do so and send the edited versions to me, it would be appreciated. But until then here's chapter twenty-three of The New Teen Titans.
Chapter 23: Sibling Rivalry: Part 1
"You can't run forever," came the shout of a flying teenager as he ducked and weaved between different machinery. An elderly man in a lab coat quickly ducked behind a bunch of large tubes into a narrow hall and watched as the boy flew into the air for a better look. Three weeks this teen and his friend had been tracking him down and they had finally cornered him in a warehouse just outside Star City. The old man was terrified as his whole operation was being overrun with super powered teenagers. He was use to dodging arrows that would either turn into a net before hitting him or just fly though his arm, not laser beams. Quickly ducking behind another tube he cursed the organization he was a part of. The Order of Chaos had made him their chief of science, even let him become one of the inner circle, but where were they now.
"Got you now," Beast Lad shouted as he saw the villain hiding behind the test tubes. His eyes went wide and he took off down the narrow hall as Beast Lad turned into a leopard and cased after him.
The man had nowhere to go as the leopard turned into a cheetah mid-run. Suddenly from the sky rave-bolts began to burst the tubes right as the man ran by them. He covered his face to block the glass as the liquid deflected off of Beast Lad's greyish green goat. He turned a corner just as a bird made of black magic attacked his face and the morphing Titan followed. Turning so sharply that he slid he turned back to normal with a flash before stopping. "Oh ho," Beast Lad said as his eyes went wide.
"Bye bye," the lab coat wearing man said as in his hands he held a fire hose aimed right at Beast Lad. With a pull of the nozzle a stream of liquid hit Beast Lad in the chest and sent him crashing into some pipes. They bent around his body and after a few seconds the man turned off the horse with a smile. Turning around smugly he came face to chest with Mystic. Looking up he grimaced at the emotionless face but quickly smiled as he tried to turn the hose on again. Nothing happened. "Uh-oh," he said as he looked down at the hose and then up at a smiling Mystic.
The man went flying through the air and hit the ground with a loud thunk. He struggled to get up but quickly found a sonic cannon shoved right into his face. "Don't even think about it," Android said.
"Now then," Rave said as he landed on the ground and squatted down next to the villain, "The Scientist is it?" Rave asked with a slight smile. He didn't wait for a response as his face turned vicious and he said slowly through clenched teeth, "Where are our parents?"
The next day the Titans found themselves back home at Titan Tower alongside a sore Beast Lad and an angry Rave. "That guy didn't know anything," Rave huffed as he stormed towards the hallway, "he was just a puppet they gave a badge to." Before the door to the hall closed Rave waved a gloved hand behind him saying, "I'll be in my room."
"I take it didn't go well?" said a quiet voice from the couch.
"Yeah Mom," Android said to her mother, Mina, who was sitting on the couch watching the door to the hall. Android was busy fighting with Alakazam over who got to help Beast Lad to the chair.
"Well I think I should be going then," Mina said as she stood from the couch and grabbed her beg that was sitting nearby.
"Thanks for watching the Tower Mom," Android said as she let go of Beast Lad to give her mother a hug. By the time she was out the door Beast Lad was already sitting down and Android quickly rushed back over to help him get comfortable.
"I really don't need any help girls," Beast Lad said as both of the girls tried to fluff his pillow for him.
"Ok, but if you need anything, I'll be right here," Alakazam said as she stood from Beast Lad's side.
"And if she's not there I'll be here," Android said rising from his other side with a huge smile spread across her metal face.
"But I'll be here," Alakazam said as she and Android walked towards the hall.
"Yeah but if your not I will," Android shot back as she entered the hall and both continued their little argument all the way to their rooms.
Beast Lad just smiled and relaxed in the chair as Black Bird sat on the couch and stared at him with an eyebrow raised. "What?" Beast Lad asked as he puzzled over his sisters serious face. Mystic looked between them and silently left the room before Black Bird started to talk.
"Those chemicals hit you pretty hard," Black Bird said in an even tone with her hood up to hide all her features. Beast Lad knew the hidden meaning in her words and knew she didn't really just think the chemicals had hit him hard even if they had.
"We did all the test twice and my DNA is fine," Beast Lad said with a moan which hurt his side a bit.
"Your DNA is half mutant and a quarter demon," Black Bird said as she stood from the couch and began to pace the room, "we don't know how it reacts to things."
"My mood hasn't changed, and Dad said it was always something physiological and the chemicals were just an excuse his brain made."
Black Bird wasn't completely listening to her brother as she bit her lip and instead listened to the sound of her tattered cloak sweeping the ground. "Is anything wrong?"
"What does that mean?" Beast Lad asked as he unzipped his vest to make himself more comfortable slouched in the chair.
"In your life?" his sister asked as she stopped pacing and looked him in the eye.
"My life is fine," Beast Lad said slowly as he looked his twin in the eye to show he wasn't lying. Facing each other their multicoloured eye's matched up and their brains connected in a way like only a twin and an empath could truly understand.
"Alright," Black Bird said closing her eyes and breaking the link, "but if anything goes wrong, an injury, a problem amongst the guys, if you feel frustrated at all about our parents or-"
"You'll be the first to know," Beast Lad said as he stood and waved his hands towards the door, "now go to bed."
"Alright," Black Bird said as she lowed her head and silently stalker off to bed without another glance at Beast Lad.
He smiled inwardly and laid down on the couch with his arms over his eyes to block out the small amount of light coming from a lamp on the kitchen table. His eyes grew heavy very quickly and time stopped as sleep took him. When time started up again a loud alarm was sounding in his sensitive ears. He shot up to find someone had put a blanket on him but disregarded it as he pulled it off and made to where Android was standing. "What's going on?" he asked in a huff as the rest of the team shot into the main room.
"Bank robbery on Main Street," the robotic teen said as ones and zeros flew by, "two meta human criminals."
Two profiles popped up on the criminals in question but they scrolled to the side just as quickly as video footage of the two appeared on the screen. It was hazy but one was shooting a stream of water from his hand at cops off screen. The other raised her arm and the pavement rose up in front of the camera, the picture shorting out. The team all looked towards their masked leader and waited for him to say the line that would make them move. With a slight growl in his voice he shouted two words, "Titans Go!"
In only a few minutes the T-car skidded to a halt in front of the villains and the team faced off with the two villains, the girls taking on the water based villain and the boys facing off with the earthmover.
"Hey Wet Willy," Alakazam said with a smile as the water-controlling enemy stared her down, "good thing I brought my water wings." The villain appeared to smirk and shot his hand forward to send out a blast of water. "Ole!" Alakazam said jokingly as she used her jacket like a cape. Instead of harmlessly hitting the fabric though the water melted a hole start through it.
"Whoa," Android said as she put her head at level with the huge hole that was still growing larger as the water ate away at the fabric.
"They don't call me Acid Rain for nothing," the villain said, his voice echoing like he was at the bottom of a deep well. His body was composed completely of mucky moving water that didn't drip from his frame. His face too was covered completely with water and he appeared to be bald because of this. The two sunken in black spots with small white dots like stars were apparently his eyes. He took a step forward and his water covered foot sunk into the asphalted as he advanced on the Titans. Black Bird only took a second to send out a bird to pester him long enough for the other magical girl to cast a spell.
"Presto freeze-o," Alakazam shouted as she pointed her wand at the villain. He froze instantly but only for a split second before the ice all melted away.
"Nice try," he said with a twisted smile expressed under the water like he was wearing a full-face mask.
Meanwhile the boys were having a bit more trouble, as their villain was a lot more forward with her powers. Spikes shot from the ground that all the boys avoided in their own special ways. Rave manoeuvring through them in an attempt to get at the female terrakinetic but a wall always got in his way. Beast Lad was simple turning into other animals to avoid the rock blast as Mystic shot the rocks with his hexes causing them to crumble with ease.
The girl herself looked like a beautifully normal girl except for the fact that her entire body was made of some kind of living rock. You could hear them moving as she bent her arm or changed expressions and her hair was the same crumbling slightly every time she shook her head.
"You don't happen to know a chick named Terra do you?" Beast Lad asked as he turned into a monkey to leap over a small rock that rose in front of him.
"Used to be my hero when I was little," she said as she made a wall of rock on her left which crumbled after being hit by a rave-bolt but kept her safe, "then I realized I was better. That I was Quarry."
"Yeah you're also easily distracted," Rave said as he sent another rave-bolt, this one connecting with her side and throwing her into Acid Rain.
She flew through his water-based body and screamed as her rock body melted before finally stopping when she covered herself in dirt and sunk into the ground. "Whoa," the male villain said as the water in his stomach still shock slightly after a person had moved through him.
"He's not covered in water," Android said out loud to herself, "it's just so grimy it looks like he is." Lifting her cannon she aimed right at his head and charged up a ball of sonic energy. "Which means I have no reason not to just do this," she fired a full blast and it took the villains head right off in a splash of water which melted the wall behind him.
His head shot back up from his body and he shook it as he stumbled around, "oh that is it!" he shouted out as he put his arms out in front of him. They began to spin faster and faster causing his hands to disappear into whirlpools and then his two arms to morph into one joined at the elbows. He began to scream as he pointed the spinning stream of water at the sky. "Let there be rain!" a blast shot straight up into the air and there was a second of calm before it began to poor burning hot liquid.
"I think you just pissed him off," Black Bird shouted as she put up a dome to stop the rain which when it hit her magic caused a small wisp of smoke.
"Yeah I noticed," Android shouted as she ran for safety under a hospital mezzanine along side Alakazam. Alakazam ran because she was only human and couldn't take it and Android because the high pH level was making her rust.
"Beast Lad, Mystic!" Rave shouted as he floated in the air unharmed by the rain, "help anyone in the area to get out of the rain until it stops."
Both nodded as they could take the pain, the largest Titan due to his father's side of the family and the shape shifter in the form of a rhino could take the rain on his thick hide. As the remaining boys and Black Bird ushered people out of the rain Rave floated high into the sky to look for the two villains they had come to apprehend. Quarry had disappeared but Acid Rain stood out in the open, basking in his own polluted water. An easy target for Rave who lowered back down to ground level.
Meanwhile Beast Lad turned his head to see Rave making his way towards the aquatic villain when he noticed the ground behind his leader begin to shack slightly. His rhinoceros eyes widened slightly as he noticed the dirt form a smiling evil face. Quickly with all the speed he could muster he ran full speed towards Rave as the mineral made madwomen burst from the ground behind him. Her feet not emerging from the ground and her arms diamond blades pointed right at the back of Rave's head. At the last moment Beast Lad jumped into the air and turned back to human form, using his momentum to push Rave out of the way as Quarry's blades cut thin air and were imbedded in the asphalt.
"You insolent little," Quarry muttered as Beast Lad got back to his feet and tried to hitch up his vest to stop the rain from hitting him. He never saw her raise her rock covered arms and had no time to react as walls of rock raised up around him. All shooting from the ground and curving forward to make a dome closely imprisoning the teenage changeling.
Luckily for Beast Lad though shortly after his capture the rain stopped and the sun shined through. "Wha?" Acid Rain questioned as he opened one of his eyes to look up at the sky. He titled his head back from where he had been letting the rain hit his face to see Black Bird standing in front of him with her arms raised.
"Storms over," she grunted as she screamed her mantra, "Azarath Arella Azar!"
"Oh that cant be good," Rain said and a second later a hot dog cart crashed into his left temple.
Meanwhile Quarry was standing over her prison with a smile as Beast Lad banged on the rock.
"Hey," she heard from behind her and as soon as she turned Android's fist collided with her face sending her spinning to the ground with a loud crash.
"Hey get me out of here!" Beast Lad shouted as in a panic he tried to turn into every type of animal he knew.
"Oh no he's claustrophobic," Black Bird said as she and the rest of the team gathered on one side of the dome.
"Allow me," Android said as she took a stance with her canon and fired a powerful round at the rock making he arm shoot back like a shotgun. But when the dust cleared the rock was mostly unscratched.
"My turn," Rave said as everyone cleared the way for him as his fist collided with the side of the dome and this time it came crashing down. Moving his wrist in a circle it cracked but when the dust cleared Beast Lad was nowhere to be seen, only a large hole where the centre of the dome had been.
As the Titans pondered over this they didn't realize the two bank robbers they had come to apprehend had woken up and were currently trying to get out of the area undetected. But they were stopped as the ground cracked in front of them and some kind of monster sprung forth. Huge with arms the size of an average sized person, the forearm slightly larger and joined with the hand making it look like claws emerged straight from the end of the arm. His body was like a gorilla with a huge barrel chest and his legs were small in comparison to the rest of his body like a human squatting only with huge feet with claws. His head was a monstrosity with a large snot and a pointed noise like a Doberman. No ears, but little holes on the side of his head and sharp teeth showed as he opened his moth to breath rancid breath. Starting just after his noise were a pair of beady red eyes and above those was another set of those same blood red eyes blinking out of sync and stared at the robbers terrified faces.
"This is not our lucky day," The male component of the villain team said as the monster raised an arm high above his head and brought it down at the villains. Swatting them away with his large palm.
It caused a commotion that got the attention of the Titans who quickly recognised the greyish green fur, though slightly darker and covered in dirt, of their friend who stood motionless after re-knocking out the criminals.
"Beast Lad?" Black Bird question as she stopped in front of her brother who stared right through her. Raising his arm he swatted at her but only kinked her arm as he grunted. A bit of black magic went from him unnoticed by most but he quickly drew back his hand like it had been burned.
"Hey!" Rave shouted as he got in front of the stunned Black Bird and faced off with the monster, "I don't care what's going on here but you don't hurt her."
The creature didn't seem to take Rave's yelling lightly as his four eye's filled with fire and he stormed forward and tackled Rave to the ground with his mass. Pining the shocked half alien he pointed a sharp claw at Rave's throat but moments before it came down he was hit in the side with a fist from Mystic.
Beast Lad bounced along the ground and finally landed upright in front of Alakazam and Android who stood huddled close in the shadow of their friend. He shook his head and then opened one row of eyes when he noticed the girls. Taking a step forward he looked confused as the girls moved slowly away from him.
"Hey when his dad was like this the only one he wouldn't attack was Raven right?" Alakazam asked as she backed up along side Android.
"Yeah," Android said as she gulped mechanically, "then later on they got married."
Both girls paused for a second partly because they had hit a wall and Beast Lad and stopped in front of them still looking between the girls. "I don't want to see you hurt," Alakazam said as she turned to her friend.
"I know, I don't want to think what he'll do to you," Android said as she hugged her friend and both closed their eyes. Beast Lad looked like he had decided something and raised his clawed hand above his head. Both girls opened an eye to see what he was going to do but just as he was about to bring it down Rave zoomed in and put his shoulder right into the monsters midsection.
"What a relief," Alakazam said after a silence, though she didn't sound too convincing.
"Yeah," Android said with a nervous smile and laugh, "relief."
Beast Lad once again flipped along the ground into a sitting position as Rave stopped in his flight. "I don't want to hurt you Beast Lad," Rave said as he held up his hands in defeat. But instead of ending the fight all it did was make Beast Lad growl deeply as his eyes glowed a dangerous red. Rave had no time to react before a beam of light shot from each eye and connected with four points on his chest. He flew back when the beams hit him and crashed against a wall leavening a Rave-shaped dent in the brick. Beast Lad saw that he was down and jumped up into the air, the small legs that seemed to be his weakest point propelling him all the way to Rave, his clawed hand back and ready to strike his best friend in the face.
"No!"
The yell silenced the area as Beast Lad stopped mid jump and landed right in front of the source, his sister. He stared at her as she stood with her arms outstretched protecting of the boy she loved, eyes tightly shut. She opened one eye to see the beastly confusion on her brother face before he grunted and turned around diving into the hole he made earlier. Mystic moved to jump into the hole after him but he was stopped by Black Bird's yell. "No! He's gone," Black Bird said the second part lower then the first, a slight scratch to her voice. Pulling her hands to her heat she said quietly, "he's The Beast."