Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.
A Strange Business
Chapter Three: Fun with a Capital 'F'
The sun was beginning to set over Jump City. The vehicles on the bridge continued to scurry along to whatever destination awaited them, the sight of a building shaped like a giant T scarcely registering on their drivers' minds. Kole smiled as she looked out over the sun kissed city. There was nothing like this in the arctic. Sure, there were the Northern Lights, but there was something so… alive about the city. The strum of a guitar brought her attention over to the mute blonde sat next to her.
"Your shift with the kids over, huh?"
With an exhausted yawn accompanying his nod, Kole guessed that it wasn't the most relaxing time of his life. He strummed the guitar once again, adjusting the tightness of the strings until he had the desired sounds. A hopeful look over to her made Kole sigh. She knew that he wouldn't forget her promise.
"Okay, okay… what do I do?"
He plucked a string, generating a high pitched noise that made her ears twitch slightly. He gestured over to her, and then pointed at his mouth. It was the same signal she had given to her the day previous when he had wanted her to sing. Clearing her throat nervously, she smiled slightly.
She sang the note as best she could, closing her eyes so she could avoid Jericho's penetrating gaze. Slowly finishing the note, she turned to look at the mute blonde, wondering what he had thought.
The grin on his face gave her 'the warm fuzzies', as Kid Flash had called it when referring the Jinx. Not in the presence of the pink haired witch, of course, but still, that was what Kole was feeling right now. Jericho raised a finger to get her attention, and then gestured to his stomach. Slowly bringing his hand up, it rose until it reached his throat, where his fingers spread out and he brought his hand forward.
"So… I should sing from my stomach?"
He tilted his head from left to right in a 'more or less' gesture. After plucking the same string yet again, he gestured for her to sing, once again pointing to his stomach to reinforce his earlier lesson. She nodded, her pink hair bobbing slightly in the wind.
She took a deep breath and sang the note. As she finished the note and looked over at him, she was surprised to see a different look on his face. Rather than the pleased grin that had adorned his face before, his face was covered with a shocked expression, as though he were amazed.
Kole frowned, and so did Jericho in response. Slowly realising that he must have offended her, he reached down and grabbed her hands with his, smiling gently at her. Kole smiled back, feeling her face go slightly red. His message was clear.
"WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST STAND STILL!"
That wasn't it.
The two looked over to the door leading to the rooftop in time to see Timmy make his way through, screaming as he went. An exasperated Cyborg followed, delicately holding Teether in his arms.
"Yo! Timmy! Where the-"
Horror crossed the half robot's face as he saw the infant hero heading for the edge of the roof. A shocked noise escaped his lips and, throwing Teether onto his shoulder, ran as fast as he could towards the red headed boy.
Teether, meanwhile, decided that Cyborg's shoulder looked particularly tasty, and took a large bite. Letting out a sharp yelp, Cyborg tripped and fell at the sudden distraction. He looked up to see Timmy, his eyes closed in a tantrum, still heading for the edge of the roof. Just as he reached it and toppled over, Jericho leapt forward on his front, grabbing Timmy by the feet. The boy managed to drag Jericho down with him. Kole charged forward and grabbed onto Jericho's feet, pulling him up with all of her strength, which wasn't much.
Meanwhile, Jericho grabbing Timmy's legs unfortunately caused him to swing him down and bang his head on the side of the roof, his crying quickly intensifying into a deafening scream. Kole looked over her shoulder at Cyborg, who was trying to rip Teether from his shoulder.
"Could I get some help here?" she groaned, starting to panic as she slowly lost her footing.
"I'm trying; this kid has a grip like Beast Boy begging for tofu!" He stopped and smiled, looking away wistfully. "That was a good one…"
Kole scowled. "JUST GET OVER HERE NOW!" she yelled loudly, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look over in shock. Even Timmy stopped his wailing. Cyborg leapt to his feet.
"Yes ma'am," he said quickly, getting up and walking over with Teether still on his shoulder, though the baby was now staring at Kole in amazement. Grabbing Jericho's legs with on hand, Cyborg effortlessly lifted both Teether and Jericho upwards. He gently put the two down and picked up Teether, backing away in silence until he reached the door, which he closed in front of him. The three were plunged into the darkness of the stairway, looking at the closed door in silence.
"Angry lady," Teether gurgled.
Cyborg nodded numbly.
"Gah-NARRK!"
He sighed. Gnarrk must have been scared by Bobby again.
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Red Star eyes slowly opened, his eyelids feeling dry from the sleep dust gathered beneath them. Wiping it away with his gloves, he looked over to Starfire, who was awake. They had decided to take shifts, although he was beginning to feel like it was a stupid idea. What was the point when they were gradually sinking into the atmosphere of some alien planet? What could possibly go wrong that would require one of them to be awake?
He shook his head and picked up his headset, sliding it on.
"Starfire, I am awake. You may rest now."
They was a brief silence on her end, the only noise between them the faint crackling of static over the line. The Russian once again looked over at her pod, but could only see her silhouette against the reddish orange planet beneath them.
"Starfire?"
He heard a heavy sigh from her end. "I do not wish to sleep."
"Perhaps not, but you need to keep your strength up."
"I do not-!" she sighed again, and took a breath. "I do not need to keep my strength up. I need to be awake so we can find a way out of this."
Red Star nodded slowly, his green eyes softening with understanding and sympathy. "I know how you feel. Perhaps we should simply leave the pods behind and take our chances."
Starfire shook her head. "No. That would be a bad idea. If the Gordanians returned-"
"If they did, they would not kill us. The fact that they disabled the ship indicates that they wanted us alive, not destroyed. And I think that we would be able to hold our own against them, but not if you are weak from lack of rest."
Although she remained silent, Red Star could practically see the small smile spreading across her face.
"You are right. Allow me to rest, and then we will try and leave."
He brought up the side of his face in a half smile. "Perhaps we will find Robin and the others, too."
"Perhaps," Starfire replied, her voice becoming more contented as she spoke. "Thank you, Leonid."
"You are welcome, Starfire."
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Cyborg had no idea he could feel this tired. Sure, he had been pretty exhausted before, but he had always managed to get up and walk to the recharge station in his room. As it was, all he could manage was the energy to blink. And even that was pushing it. With a weary expression, he cast his gaze across the living room. The kitchen was all but destroyed. The TV and the Gamestation didn't even resemble their former selves. Cyborg somehow gathered the energy for a small smile.
Beast Boy would not be happy when he returned.
But now, they were all asleep, the random destruction and general noise they created having drained their energy supplies. Gnarrk lay upside down on the couch, snoring loudly. As Cyborg continued to look around the room, he noticed that Bobby was sat against a wall, even though Melvin was asleep. What was even more puzzling was the fact that the large imaginary bear was awake. Cyborg had no idea how that was possible, but at the moment he was willing to let the laws of physics go.
"Say, Bobby?"
The bear looked over at him with curious eyes.
"Do you talk at all? Make any kind of noise whatsoever?"
The bear shook its head. A tired grin spread across Cyborg's face.
"That's… beautiful…" he said, enjoying the fact that he could have some semblance of silence, at least for a short while. It was inevitable that Timmy would wake up from a bad dream, or that Teether would do a 'poopy poops' as he called it, but he wanted to live in denial for a short while longer.
The only one who didn't bother him was Melvin. Raven had told him that she was the most wilful of the group, but Cyborg found that hard to believe. Maybe it was just because Raven was in an awful mood at having been stuck with the kids in the first place. It probably didn't help that as soon as she got back, Beast Boy slid a pie onto a rock she was about to sit down on. While it was funny, Cyborg had known better than to laugh. But not Beast Boy, oh no. His response was:
"Ha ha! Wet butt!"
Cyborg chuckled lightly at how Beast Boy had limped for about a week after that incident, grumbling about pies the entire time.
Suddenly, the alarm went off, and Cyborg was grateful for his foresight in making it a silent alarm for the moment. His robotic eye informed him that Plasmus was tearing up downtown Jump. He silently crept over to Gnarrk, looking at Bobby and putting a finger to his lips.
"Gnarrk… wake up…" he whispered as he approached, hoping that the caveman was having pleasant dreams.
He wasn't. Cyborg tapped him on the shoulder, and nearly fell over when the caveman leapt to his feet.
"GNARRK!"
The half robot put a panicking finger to his lips.
"Ssssh! We just managed to get 'em to sleep!"
The long haired caveman ducked his head and looked around the room, remembering all too well the carnage the kids could create. Cyborg pointed to the door and tip toed out. Gnarrk went through the doors first. Cyborg stopped at the doorway and looked over to Bobby.
"Hey, Bobby. Look after them while we're gone, all right?"
The bear grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Or at least, a claws up. Cyborg wasn't sure what to call it. Simply smiling and nodding, he made his way out.
It didn't take long to gather Jericho and Kole; they were still on the roof. Both Cyborg and Gnarrk were pretty surprised with how well she was singing. For someone who didn't seem to think she was very good, she was… well… very good.
Cyborg told her this, but she just blushed, furtively glancing over at Jericho. Noticing the heat between the two, the enforced romance sector of Cyborg's brain activated (a place usually reserved for Robin and Starfire), a big cheesy grin spreading across his face.
He began to scheme. He only wished he had a thin moustache to twirl.
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Gnarrk screeched in horror as the T car screeched in protest of being turned so sharply. Kole laid a supportive hand on Gnarrk's shoulder.
"It's okay, Gnarrk."
Jericho looked at how kindly she reassured her friend and couldn't help the fond smile spreading across his face. He noticed Cyborg looking at him in the mirror and turned away quickly, his face heating up.
Cyborg just smiled.
Oh yeah. He's definitely interested.
As he turned another corner, he saw the familiar sight of Plasmus in the middle of the street, who was guzzling gasoline from various parked cars. One BMW owner was even on his knees crying. Tutting as he got out of the car, Cyborg mentally ran through the different quips and one liners he could use.
"Hey, Plasmus! You-" nah, that wouldn't work.
"Yo! Plasmus! What'choo doin', foo?" Yeah, right, Victor. Who are you, Mr T?
"Park it, Plasmus!" Oy, that's too BB.
"All right! Let's get this party started!"
Cyborg sighed. He fired a warning shot in front of Plasmus, who was holding a car above his head.
"Put down the car, slimy!"
Slimy! The best you could come up with is slimy! Victor, Victor, Victor… Robin could have done better than that. Shame on you.
Plasmus growled threateningly and dropped the car, now giving the four heroes his full attention. Cyborg gritted his teeth. "Titans, go!"
He fired a shot from his sonic cannon at the dripping villain, but the blast went straight through the purple slime that made up his body. Roaring in outrage, he flung a ball of goop right over Cyborg. Though it didn't hurt him, it drenched him from head to foot in purple goo.
"Ah, man… now I've goo in my gears."
Gnarrk, holding the crystallised Kole over his head, leapt towards Plasmus and swung down at the multi eyed monster. He fell straight through, landing on his feet on the other side with a grunt. Much to his surprise, he realised that he was no longer holding Kole. He turned in time to see a crystalline arm being sucked into the purple belly of Plasmus.
"Gnarrk!" he growled, leaping forward at the goo monster. Plasmus swatted out with a dripping tentacle, sending Gnarrk flying down the street and onto the top of a parked car.
Cyborg, having recovered from what Beast Boy called 'goo shock', turned to Jericho, pointing at Plasmus.
"Jericho! Get Kole!"
The blonde mute nodded and ran towards the monster, leaping straight into him and out the other side, carrying an unconscious and de-crystallised Kole in his arms. Plasmus, outraged at being jumped through so nonchalantly, turned towards the two Titans.
Cyborg put away his sonic cannon and mentally activated the electricity gauntlets he had installed just a few short days ago.
"No time like the present…" he murmured to himself, his hands crackling with thousands of volts of electricity.
"Yo! Plasmus!" The purple monster looked over its 'shoulder' at Cyborg, making a curious growling noise as he did so.
"Eat this!" Cyborg yelled, leaping forward and plunging both hands into Plasmus. The slimy creature howled and shrieked in pain, and Cyborg smiled, thinking his victory assured. Then something ticked over in his brain.
Wait… he's been drinking gasoline… electric gauntlets… SPARKS!
Plasmus suddenly stopped howling and looked at Cyborg in shock. The half robot had a similarly horrified look on his face.
"Oh dang."
Plasmus popped with a deafening explosion, covering everyone in the street with purple goo. Cyborg was propelled back by the blast, landing painfully on his back and leaving sparks as he skidded down the road.
Gnarrk and Jericho made their way over to their slime soaked leader, who merely chose to lie on his back and stare up at the sky.
His vision was suddenly blocked by Gnarrk's face. "Gnarrk?"
Cyborg blinked a few times, still staring blankly ahead, watching a particularly lumpy cloud slowly float by. Suddenly, an alarm went off on his arm, quickly replaced by the wail of Teether. It was the baby monitor he had built into his systems. He let out a sigh.
"Jericho. You can write pretty good, right?"
The blonde mute gave pause at the question, attempting to find some way to make hand signals while he was carrying Kole in his arms. Sighing, he settled for a nod. Cyborg, seeing this out of the corner of his eye, responded in kind.
"Good. When we get back to the Tower, take a note."
He was quiet for a moment so he was sure that piece of information had sunk in. Taking a breath, he finished his sentence.
"Kill Raven."
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The sun glared through her closed eyelid, and she squinted uncomfortably. Attempting to shield herself from the orange light that penetrated the cool darkness of her closed eyes, she squirmed in her chair, coming face to face with the headrest.
Then it all came rushing back to her. Why they were there. How they got here. What their current situation was. She sighed. She wished she hadn't woken up. She couldn't even stretch her arms out as she yawned, something she revelled in doing at home. Her eyes glazed over at the thought of home.
She didn't know whether she should be thinking of the Earth or Tamaran. She absentmindedly scratched her head as she pondered the matter, looking over at Red Star's pod as she did so. The sun was reflecting off the glass of his pod, making it impossible for her to see the hulking Russian. Slowly picking up her headset, she spoke cautiously into it, not wanting to startle him.
"Red Star?"
His reply was almost instantaneous. "Are you ready?"
She smiled to herself; somehow she knew that he would be itching to make some kind of move. For someone who had locked himself away in a blank, dull fortress, he certainly had a zest for adventure. It was most likely a direct result of that fact. After living for so many years in such a barren environment, she didn't blame him for wanting to enjoy everything to its fullest. She had felt the same way when she had been released from captivity by Robin.
…And the other Titans, of course.
She brought the headset to her mouth. "I am."
"All right. How do you wish to accomplish this? Should I try to-?"
"No!" Starfire exclaimed suddenly, picturing Red Star's startled flinch in the other pod. Calming herself with a deep breath, she continued. "We cannot make an explosion; we run the risk of being blown into the atmosphere of the planet, and even our strength would not be able to pull us away from it. We must do this… delicately."
Red Star blew a frustrated breath out through his nose, sending a loud windy noise through the buzzing static.
"I am not good with… delicate."
She thought back to his drawings. "I have seen you being delicate. You can do this."
After a brief silence, Red Star responded. "Very well. What do we do?"
Starfire looked around the pod for some way to break free. She knew from Cyborg's exhausting presentation that the glass on the pod was nigh on indestructible.
If I could get good enough leverage, then I would be able to lift it open…
She sighed.
…but the air pressure would make that impossible…
Her eyes brightened.
I do not need air! And neither does Red Star!
"Red Star – push the depressurise button in your pod."
"…why?"
"If we could get enough leverage, we could open the pods ourselves. But with the air pressure, it would be nearly impossible to lift them."
"But neither you or I need air to survive."
Starfire nodded, happy at the ease at which he had caught on. She brought the mouth piece to her lips. "All right, ready? Three…two…one… now."
After pushing the button, Starfire began to hear a tremendous hissing sound as the oxygen was ripped from the pod. She wondered what she would feel now if she were human. Obviously, there was fear, but she was more interested in the physical effects. Would her ears pop? Her hair fall out? The image of herself bald made her want to giggle and recoil in horror at the same time.
"Um… Starfire?"
Snapping herself out of her daze, she spoke into the headset again. "Yes, Red Star?"
"The air is gone. Perhaps we can…?"
"Oh! Of course. My apologies."
Reaching out, she used her not inconsiderable Tamaranian strength to wedge her fingers beneath the glass and lifted, groaning with the effort she had to expend. She made a mental note to tell Cyborg to create some kind of hatch opening device that didn't require power. She pulled even harder, and the pod began to lift. She smiled at her victory, and continued to pull.
Two black gloved hands appeared next to her own, pulling the pod up from the other side. She smiled as she saw the determined face of Red Star above her, pulling the pod up with all his strength. Once there was enough room, Starfire lifted herself from the pod and stood next to Red Star on the surface of the two interlinked pods. He smiled.
"Perhaps we should tell Cyborg to make these pods… less indestructible."
Starfire grinned. "Agreed." Gesturing into deep space, she looked over at the Russian giant stood next to her. "Shall we?"
"After you," he said, extending his arm out with a polite smile. Using the pod's surface as a kicking off point, they were thrust into the blackness of space.
Starfire looked behind her and saw the pods continue on their orbit of the planet. She wondered how long it would take for them to gradually make their way into the atmosphere and burn up.
"Starfire!" Red Star blurted, pointing ahead of them. Starfire twisted her head back around in time to see two large Gordanian ships approaching, their weapons charging. She looked back to Red Star.
"I will take the left, you the right!"
Nodding and moving away with an efficiency only a soldier could manage, Red Star shot himself towards the ship on the right.
Starfire brought her attention to the ship approaching her. It fired the same electric beam it had fired at the T-ship earlier, crackling and spitting as it spiralled towards the Tamaranian.
However, Starfire was not as cumbersome an object as the T-ship, and easily managed to evade the beam, shooting towards the ship and latching onto a wing. She began ripping at the armour surrounding the wing, then used her eye beams to steadily cut the wing clean off.
A hatch to her right swung open, and two Gordanians in space faring equipment stepped out, brandishing miniature staff like versions of the electricity weapon the ship was armed with. On the end of the staff was an electrical prong, sparks of energy coming from it even in the blackness and cold of space.
She left her cutting for the moment and stood, getting herself in a battle ready stance. The first Gordanian lunged at her with the staff. Starfire dodged to her left and grabbed the base of the staff with both hands, throwing the Gordanian over her shoulder and into empty space behind her. She turned to face the other Gordanian, beckoning him forth as she had seen Neo do in 'The Matrix', one of Beast Boy's favourite movies.
She would have to thank the green changeling when she got home.
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Red Star continued to swerve desperately out of the way of the Gordanian ships lasers, finding himself nowhere near as used to this kind of combat as Starfire was. He suddenly stopped his frantic manoeuvres and turned to face the ship.
Very well. If I cannot dodge, I will deflect.
The ship fired another laser beam at him. Concentrating on controlling his power, he assumed his red glowing form once again, absorbing the energy as it made contact with his body. Unable to hold the energy for long, he redirected it through his body and back at the ship.
The ship moved away before the laser could do any harm, quickly turning and firing again, but this time, firing continuously. Red Star attempted to absorb and redirect the blasts as best he could, but there was simply too much too fast. He gradually began to falter, his concentration failing.
His red form faded away, and the exhausted Red Star was hit by yet another laser blast, making him yell out in pain as he felt his skin burn under the ministrations of the weapon. The ship flew clear over him and turned around, coming in for another pass. Red Star prepared himself for the pain that would follow.
But it never came.
He looked up to see a large, silver, sleek ship attacking the comparatively small Gordanian ship, which was destroyed almost instantly by the powerful weapons of its attacker. Red Star wondered whether his new ship was friend or foe, when he suddenly found himself surrounded by a bright blue light.
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The second Gordanian was more cautious. He circled Starfire slowly, waiting for the right moment to strike. Starfire felt the adrenaline running through her veins, and the excitement that grew within her as a result of her Tamaranian physiology. A small warrior's smile appeared on her face.
This seemed to unnerve the Gordanian somewhat, who took that opportunity to strike, bringing the staff down on Starfire's head as though to cut her in half. Bringing her own stolen staff up crossways, she caught the Gordanian's staff mid strike. She pushed her self up and brought her right knee up to collide with his jaw, causing him to stumble back.
Using the staff just as she had seen Robin do many times, she slammed the electric prong on the end of the staff down onto the top of his head, then the other end to his stomach, finally finishing with a twirl of the staff above her head and a vicious uppercut with the electric end.
The Gordanian was hurled back by the blow and into outer space to join his friend. Satisfied, Starfire tossed the staff away and walked over to the hatch, sealing it shut with her eye beams. She made her way over to the wing and resumed her cutting. She began to hear banging coming from the hatch, but chose to ignore it. By the time they had managed to get through, she and the wing of their ship would be long gone.
Only a few more glorfniks to go…
She heard an explosion behind her as the hatch blew, and three more Gordanians emerged. Starfire stood and turned to face them. With an evil smile reminiscent of Raven, she waved at the reptilian aliens before firing a starbolt behind her back at the tiny piece of metal holding the wing together. Hopping on board the severed wing, she waved goodbye as the ship began careening out of control.
She turned to see how Red Star was doing, and was greeted by a shocking yet slightly familiar sight. As she attempted to place the large battle cruiser that was now floating overhead, a large laser blast emerged from its underside, annihilating the Gordanian ship instantly. Starfire turned to look at the blast, but was engulfed in a bright blue light.
She closed her eyes to shield herself from the blinding light. As she opened them, she found that she was on a ship.
A ship she had been on before. Her expression darkened as she recognised her surroundings.
However, these thoughts were instantly forgotten as she looked over to see the injured Red Star laid next to her, a black and charred burn mark on his chest. He looked over at her, his eyes laden with pain. She gasped and attempted to see to his injuries. He sat up slowly, brushing her concerned hands away.
"I… am fine. I need only time to heal." He looked around his surroundings. "Where are we?"
"Someplace I do not wish us to be."
"Why? What is-?"
An all too familiar voice interrupted their conversation, loudly echoing off the walls.
"Well, well, well. I answer a distress call and find a couple of Troqies. What are the odds?"
Starfire looked up scornfully to see the intergalactic hero, Val-Yor.
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(A/N: Dunn dunn dunnnnnnnn! That's right, Val-Yor. Some of you may not like him, but I think he's a cool character to bounce people off of (verbally and physically), and I felt his story was left a little bit unresolved at the end of 'TROQ'. So, here he is.
For those of you wondering about the lack of Robin, Argent and Hot Spot, fear not! Next chapter is devoted entirely to them in a weird alien city. Hilarity ensues.
Now, let's see… anonymous reviews ahoy…
Jarkes: Being a Brit myself, I can safely say that Argent's (show) accent is closer to English than Australian. The stereotypical way that Australians are portrayed in modern culture would have meant her saying 'mate' at the end of every sentence. I'm just going to assume that she was English and that she was in New Zealand because… um…
I got nothin'.
Besides, her indifferent attitude is so very English. Take it from me; every single English person is as bored and posh as she is.
(Sarcasm detector explodes)
Ah, damn. I'll have to get that fixed.
I guess I could have made her Italian like in the comics, but that's a bit too much of a stretch, considering her accent.
Dust-in: Yes, Jericho and Kole will be a pairing, but damn… Beast Boy and Raven as well? I'm already juggling thirteen Titans (or ten, if you count Melvin, Timmy, Teether and Bobby as one character), not to mention Val-Yor and the other characters that'll be appearing later on. So you can shove-
Ahem.
I respectfully decline.
Seriously though, thanks for the review. I just can't handle Beast Boy and Raven as well.
But…
(Shameless plug alert)
Are you interested in BB/Rae stories? Then read 'My Box of One Shots' by Super Chocolate Bear! Not only will you find BB/Rae fluff, you'll also find:
Rob/Star!
KF/Rae!
Cyborg/Sarah Simms!
And… OTHER STUFF!
(End of shameless plug)
Anyway, review.)