HIVE MIND
Part Two
"Then can you run with barriers?"
"Yes."
"Can you make a barrier and attack with Holy at the same time?"
Terra leaned as close to Sakura as she dared. She had already showered that day and had absolutely no desire to be caught in Sakura's rain of pity. Sakura had been sulking for exactly three days. Speedy had been gone for exactly three days. The correlation was lost on no one. In those three days Sakura hadn't trained (because no one was brave enough, except for Robin, who was much more interested in spending his free time with Raven than taking and giving a beating); she hadn't meditated, slept very poorly and refused to cook. Most of the other Titans paid little attention to her. Getting to her usually required a boat and a lot of self control. Most of the Titans had neither. She didn't say much, or at least didn't think about what she was saying. She was almost running on autopilot. Terra found she preferred Sakura's company that way.
"I can… but it's difficult. Attacking with Holy takes a lot more focus."
Terra pushed a strand of blonde hair from over her right eye. "Can you make multiple barriers?" She asked.
Sakura sighed. "I'm working on it with Raven…" Sakura turned her head to eye Terra, the water seeming to stop for a moment. "Why are you so concerned?"
Terra leaned back with her eyes wide. "I was just thinking… with Raven always going off to meditate by herself and with Speedy gone--" Sakura groaned and the rain cloud returned full force. It expanded twice its original size, catching Terra in the shower. "With everything happening without us," Terra began again; her words were fast and loud, trying to out-compete the storm. "I figure we could train together… so we both can get better."
The cloud dissipated over their heads. Sakura sat up and looked Terra up and down. She smirked¹. "You just want to throw rocks at me."
Terra nodded. Sakura chuckled. "Un." (Okay.)
…
"BOOYAH!" Cyborg called victoriously as Celine read off his measurements. "Six four, two hundred pounds of pure power! Alright! I can defend the city all by myself!" Cyborg flexed his muscles and broke out into song: "When there's trouble you know what to do--CALL CYBORG! He can shoot a rocket from his shoe--- 'CAUSE HE'S CYBORG! Do da do da… something like that. Nana nana big fluffy cat! That's right!"²
Starfire, Celine and Beast Boy sweat dropped.
"I like the beat… but the words need a lot of work." Beast Boy said.
"Agreed." Starfire said. "I did not know it was customary to break into the song when a physical is performed."
"It's not Star… He's just strange." Celine replied.
Cyborg ignored her and continued to flex.
"Alright Star. You're up." Starfire stepped forward and allowed the measurements to be taken. "Weight's the same but you've grown just a bit. You're about five eight and a half now."
Beast Boy stepped forward.
"Do me next Celine!" Beast Boy said.
"Why? You just had a check up two months ago."
"I know, but I feel like I've grown a bit."
Celine pulled the measuring tape from Beast Boy's feet to his head. Her eyes furrowed. She opened up Beast Boy's last records.
"Beast Boy! You're sprouting like a weed! That's three inches in nine weeks!"
Beast Boy took his turn at flexing. "Three inches! Dude! That's awesome! What's that make me? Six feet? Six one?"
"Five seven." Celine dead panned.
Beast Boy pouted. Celine laughed behind her hand for a moment. Behind her back a small flashing light alerted her that her console required her attention. The other Titans followed her to the common room.
Celine watched her computer gather data about the crime in progress. She frowned. She hadn't expected this.
"It's the HIVE. They're downtown… it looks like they trying to break into the… Embassy."
"That's not like the HIVE…There's nothing of value in there." Beast Boy said.
"Not to us." Celine replied. Her fingers pressed keys quickly, trying to gather more information. "I suggest you go before they advance their plan from breaking and entering to theft… there's something in there that they want… lets make sure they don't get it."
The Titans arrived at the Embassy in a few minutes. The HIVE was waiting for them. They weren't trying to steal anything. They were luring out the Titans.
"Look who finally showed up. If we had wanted to we could have tore the whole place down." Mammoth grunted from his perch on a crushed display box.
"These crud chewers aren't even worth our time." Gizmo stated, extending his spider legs.
"Yeah, but we've go a job to do." replied See-More.
"So let's do it." Private HIVE didn't wait to see if anyone was with him.
Immediately See-More engaged Star and Blackfire. "Doll eyes! Long time no see." See-More turned his eyes to Blackfire and smirked. "Another one? I wonder what I can see with my X-ray vision?" Blackfire blinked. Starfire gasped and threw her body in front of Blackfire's. See-More laughed. "Got ya!" Star gasped again and crossed her arms over her body. Blackfire turned her eyes to Starfire. Star looked back at her then they both turned their eye beams on See-More. The purple and green beams hurled him thirty feet. See-More's body flew past a green kangaroo and Mammoth.
Beast Boy hopped about, spinning his fist like a boxer. Mammoth leapt forward, arms trying to grab the nimble marsupial. Beast Boy's right arm wound up and delivered a solid straight punch to Mammoth's stomach. The massive anti-Titan hunched over in pain, setting himself up perfectly for a tag team drop kick from Aqualad and Robin.
Private HIVE dove at Raven and Terra. His beefy arm dropped back to swing. Raven produced a barrier, protecting the girls. Private HIVE continued to bash his fists against the barrier.
"He's persistent isn't he?" Terra asked.
"I was thinking stupid." Raven replied. Private HIVE pulled his arm back for another strike when it was interrupted.
"Huh?" Private HIVE's arm wrenched back towards his shoulder, straining his neck. He looked over and saw a smiling blue eye.
"Play nice." Cyborg said before tossing Private HIVE over his shoulder. Private HIVE soared through the air, flailing his arms. He landed with a solid thud on the pile that consisted of See-More and Mammoth.
Gizmo sprung forward on his spider legs, jumping about Sakura. She stayed perfectly still, watching him move with her eyes.
"Come on snot brain! Attack! Or are you just a crud chewing yellow belly chicken?" He bounded smoothly, hoping to her left and right, not staying still for more than a second. Gizmo finally landed behind Sakura's back. He pressed a button on his control panel and unleashed two rockets. Sakura turned swiftly and swung her weapon like a baseball bat, exploding the rockets in the air. The explosion wrapped her in dust. Gizmo laughed mechanically. The laughing ended when the hiraikotsu emerged from the cloud, spinning with him as its target. Gizmo screamed and watched as the spinning boomerang slice off the legs of his spider craft. The half-pint, annoying anti-Titan ejected from the smashed craft before the return path of the hiraikotsu could take him out. He fled to the air, watching a hand emerge from the smoke to catch the weapon. Sakura and the other Titans stepped forward in a line and regarded Gizmo.
"You pit sniffin' barf brains can't defeat the Fearsome Five!"
Beast Boy scratched his head. "Uhh… there's only four of you."
Gizmo grumbled under his breath. A black lever with a red button extended from his flight pack. "Get ready to eat it you crud chewing, cludge-headed, scrum-buffer---"
An empty display case, shrouded in black energy, smashed into the side of Gizmo's head. The bald boy dropped formlessly, landing in the pile of the other three members of the Fearsome Five.
"Way to go Raven." Robin said.
"Man that guy's annoying!" Terra added.
"So," Aqualad said, turning to his companions. "Was it just me or was that terribly easy?"
"Yeah, they didn't have Jinx with them." Cyborg replied. The team spread out, looking for any sign of remaining danger.
"It was over almost as soon as it started." Raven said as she approached Robin.
"It's not over yet." The mechanical hiss and drum caught the team off guard.
Before the Titans could realize what direction that voice came from, five rounded Xs shot from the perimeter of the room, each of them catching one of the female Titans by the waist, locking their arms to their sides. The force of the grab knocked them all to the ground. Before anyone could react, a magnetic force pulled all the rounded X's towards each other, slamming the five girls into the center of room. In a ring of five the girls sat shoulder to shoulder, all with a center view of Red X descending from the raptures.
Celine watched her output reading. "This doesn't make sense." Her fingers dove across the keypad. The energy field was picking up two unaccounted for life forms: one had to be Red X, the other was…. Celine's eyes widened. "That's not possible!" Celine dashed from her chair, knocking it over in her haste. She didn't pause in her run even when she snagged her Fire Fly from its post. The automatic doors slammed close behind her. The energy output machine continued to flash Red.
Red X unleashed several X-bombs, throwing the male Titans back. Red X landed on the balls of his feet, quickly turning to approach the bound female Titans.
"Looks like I got the top prize." X stepped forward confidently, something red and menacing twirling along his fingers. A sealing X dashing from his hand and landed on Raven's mouth, silencing any spell she was considering. Raven sat between Terra and Sakura, Blackfire on Terra's right and Starfire on Sakura's left. Each of them twisted to free themselves from the bind. Red X put his finger to his cheek. "I guess I've got myself a mixed bouquet." He stepped forward to Sakura, flipping her chin up with his finger. "So what kind of flower are you?" Sakura narrowed her eyes. A green eye beam slammed into Red X's side, hurling the imposter away from the five girls. X recovered and threw another X, this one latching onto Starfire's eyes. "Don't know how I forgot about that one."
Robin and Aqualad recovered first. The Atlantian turned to the Titan's leader. "Is that this guy's M.O? Showing up when other bad guys do?"
"He has a nasty habit of hanging on other's coat tails." Robin replied. Behind him Beast Boy and Cyborg shook themselves off.
"It's a good thing I'm such a nice guy. I could have taken all your pretty girls away as slow as you recover." Red X stated. Behind him four of the bound girls screamed. Blackfire had tried to break the band with her own eye beams. Red X turned his head to the side. "I wouldn't try that again. The shocks only get worse the harder you struggle."
"What do you want X?" Robin sneered.
"To do what I want of course. I like stealing. There's something here I want."
"The Disk." Cyborg muttered.
"Right-o." Red X turned in profile, his eyes focused on Raven. "Last time Raven stopped me, but now that she's in dispose, I'll get what I came for." The flying Xs appeared from Red X's palms aimed with well designed accuracy. The male Titans shielded themselves for the attacks and Red X took his opportunity to tumble in a series of back flips towards the five bound girls. He landed perfectly in the space between the girl's bodies. He leaned his head over Raven's right shoulder. "I'll be back for you later Sunshine. I haven't forgotten about us." Raven rocked her head back, trying to strike Red X. Red X flipped and faded into the shadow.
The dust settled, clearing Robin's path. His masked eyes darted around the room, looking for any remaining trace of X. There was none. He was gone. "He's after that disk."
"So we know where he's going." Cyborg said, "Let's be sure that he's got a welcoming committee when he gets there."
"Hey! Could you get us out first?" Terra yelled.
The males ran to the girls' aid. Cyborg grabbed the band around Raven's waist with both hands and pulled. Raven's eyes widened in surprise, behind the X, her scream was muffled. The other girls screamed as well. Cyborg panicked, looking down at his hands. Under his fingers, the band was constricting tighter, pulling the metal against their skin.
"Stop helping!" Terra yelled.
Beast Boy pulled the X from Raven's mouth. She grimaced; she could feel the red skin flaming up. She shook her head. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The black energy pooled around the metal Xs and pulled. A tremor of electric energy raced along the steel, sending another painful series of shocks into their bodies.
"There's got to be a way to get them out without hurting them." Beast Boy pulled the remaining X from Starfire's eyes.
Raven turned her head to her leader. "Go and get X. We'll find a way out of this!"
"But Raven…"
"Don't worry about us! Don't let him get away again!"
Robin nodded. "Aqualad, stay behind and make sure nothing happens to them. Beast Boy, Cyborg, lets get X."
The three Titans dashed deeper into the embassy, trying to remember the appropriate turns. It was the second dead end that made them realize they were lost. Cyborg punched in his comm-link. "Celine! Which way do we go? Do you have a trace on X?" The other line was dead. "Celine? Celine! Of all the times…"
"Dude! Where could she be? She lives for the battle console!" Beast Boy replied.
A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye grabbed Robin's attention. There was red and with it was bound to be X. "Titans move!" Robin headed the run, trailing behind Red X. The copy cat thief fazed in and out of vision, but always returned where the Titans could find them. Robin had a suspicion that they were being lead into a trap… but when it came to X, the risk of a trap was negated by his desire to catch him.
Eventually X led them to the safe where the disk was stored. He turned his back to the team and set about opening it. Robin charged forward.
…
Aqualad paced around the complicated trap, trying to find something that looked like weakness. He had tried dumping the fountain water on them, hoping to short circuit the system. Instead he got five angry stares from five waterlogged female Titans. He laughed nervously and kept his distance as he tried to come up with another plan.
Sakura twisted her wrist against her body, flexing it, allowing her to grab the band around her waist. Terra watched in horror as her Holy energy wrapped around her fist.
"That won't work! And I don't want to get shocked!"
Sakura ignored her. "He's equalizing the Titan's powers… Raven's words, Cyborg's strength… he knew exactly what to do to keep them back… why would he know anything about me?"
The silver power spread along her fingers, slipping like wave of water across the metal. The Holy energy spun around the constricting bands and sunk in. For a few seconds nothing happened.
A short spark was heard. Blackfire squeaked. Another short spark, Terra gasped with a jerk. Another set of sparks danced across the constricting bands. Soon all the noise stopped. It was the only warning they got before a powerful electric surge ran through all the girls, drawing cries of pain from all of them. Aqualad panicked, willing to do anything to hush their cries. He ran to Blackfire's side and with all his might pulled on the band. The charges ran through his body, he gritted his teeth against the pain and continued to pull. Blackfire watched with one eye drawn shut from the pain. The band was constricting around her body painfully, adding more suffering to the trap. She could see that the electricity was affecting Aqualad as well, but he continued to pull.
A sharp explosion originated at the space between Aqualad's hands. The blast knocked Aqualad to his back and threw smoke into Blackfire's eyes. The smoke cleared, the charges finally stopped, but the bands didn't release. Aqualad stared dumbfounded at the five girls; their hair was standing straight up, electric pulses running through the length. They all looked like brides of Frankenstein. Terra turned a furious eye to Sakura. She was too angry to say anything, her face said enough.
"Oh don't give me that!" Sakura replied, her pony tails were a playground for electric sparks. Terra glared at her, a charge running up her hair.
A dashing figure, body cloaked in shadow, passed the electrified girls. The wind raced by them, stealing all the static from their hair.
"What was that?" Aqualad asked.
"All I could see was black and red." Starfire replied. After a second, a solid 'clink' sound was heard. The girls looked around unable to find the source. In an unexpected moment, the constricting rings fell off. The girls turned their eyes from their lefts to their rights.
"Anyone know how that happened?" Raven asked.
Negative shakes all around. "Come on!" Terra shouted, pulling herself up. "Let's go follow whatever that was! It went in the same direction of that X guy!"
The other girls stood and chased the fleeting image.
…
Red X didn't turn to face Robin's attack. He wasn't going to fight. Not yet anyway. I'll let her have some fun… then I'll have my playtime with Sunshine.
Robin leapt into the air to attack, his foot extended in front of him. Only a few feet away from his target his eyes widened in surprise. He didn't have enough time to react. Cyborg and Beast Boy could see: in mid-attack, a red flare struck Robin in the chest. He fell onto his back, a sharp pain searing through his body.
"Where did that come from?" Cyborg and Beast Boy rushed to Robin's side. The Titans leader was stunned, that attack had done the trick.
The red energy came again dashing at Cyborg and Beast Boy. Close up they could see what Robin had. The flare was distinct. The red energy was a Red Hawk screaming towards them, mouth open to destroy its prey. Beast Boy jumped out of the way, the screaming energy smashed into the wall behind him, creating a huge hole. He sweated nervously. That could have been me…
The energy directed at Cyborg met him head on, sending the mechanical Titan into the air. He landed with a solid thud, his circuitry arching and hissing. Getting up was a struggle he was losing. Cyborg laid a hand over his chest, the attack had damaged his plating, a deep red burn markered his wound.
"What was that?" Cyborg asked as he and Robin pulled themselves to their feet.
"It wasn't me." Red X said, still not turning to face the Titans.
"Of course not… because it was me." A female figure leapt down from the raptures. She landed with a soft click, her high heeled grey boots tapped the floor. From her left hand her weapon dangled. The sharp red glow was evidence that it was the energy source for her attack. The sword blade kissed the ground as she stalked forward. The light began to reveal her features; long legs under a short skirt, dark grey shirt pinned to her slim body. Draped over her left arm was a leather cloth. It hung limply, resting against her arm, but it displayed the muscle perfectly. Her dark red hair hung ferally down her back, it was more like a mane than anything else.
Beast Boy, Cyborg and Robin stared in disbelief. The girl in front of them, even with her eyes painted dark brown, even dressed in such an unusual outfit, stood out to their memories as only one person. She was beautiful, she was statuesque, she was dangerous.
"Cat got your tongue?" She asked. "I hope not… I was so looking forward to snatching it out myself."
"Who are you?" Cyborg whispered.
"Know you not my name? It is known by many… but dead men tell no tales…"
Red X made a single dash against the wall he was facing, cutting a slab from building. The panel fell forward, missing Red X by only a few inches. "Red Hawk…" X said, his attention still focused in front of him. "You're so cool."
Cyborg was too stunned to move. He might have ducked under other circumstances when he heard the sonic power charging behind his ear. The blue noise smashed against his eardrum as the wave of energy soared over his shoulder. The blue beam sought out its target. It was aimed at Red Hawk. The girl raised her blade, taking an arching stance and waited. When the energy finally reached her, the blade sung with a fatal red glow, as fiery as the woman's hair. A single swing of her blade dissipated the energy.
Behind the Titans, several pairs of footsteps echoed along the room, running closer and closer to the site of interest. Raven's feet slid to a stop as she and the other girls took in the scene before. With her Fire Fly cannon poised on her shoulder, Celine stood perfectly still, an uneasy grimace on her face. Directly in front of her…. Was Celine.
Beast Boy shook his head back and forth from the two nearly identical girls. He blinked his eyes hard, trying to rid any tricks his mind was playing on him. There was no trick, there were two Celine Fletchers, staring each other down with weapons ready.
"Dude! I didn't know Celine had a twin!"
Celine stared at the enemy before her, her weapon trained with dead accuracy. She wasn't going to let her guard down, but she definitely wasn't going to attack first. Not until she knew what was going on.
"She doesn't." Red Hawk taunted, stepping closer to Celine. Her sword dangled beside her, her painted eyes narrowed as her foot steps circled her mirror image. "Or do you?"
Celine's grimace turned into a sneer, her focus remained steady as the heartbeat in her chest grew more anxious. "That's not my twin…" Celine's voice dropped and stumbled. "It's me…"
End of Part Two
¹Sakura, like Robin, can't resist a fight.
²Cyborg's funniest moment ever! It was the only thing I liked about Titans East (besides Speedy and Aqualad of course.)