Disclaimers and Useless/Useful Stuff to Know:
I don't own Teen Titans or the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. Never will. Wish I did.

I've been seeking out info on other two former members of the H.I.V.E. Academy: the alien-like boy that grows large, and the angel girl. It appears as though their names are, respectively, XL Terrestrial and Angel. Are these the definite names of these characters?

Also, there was a good question about the prologue, as to why Kyd Wykkyd didn't just teleport the bomb out. The thing is, Wykkyd can't simply make portals and toss it out like the Herald or maybe even Raven; he uses his own body and clothes as extensions I figure. In that case, in the time they had left, he'd have to grab the bomb, take it with him, and decide on a spot to toss it. Nobody but Gizmo would have known what time was left -- which honestly wasn't much. Essentially, Wykkyd had the best chance of blowing himself up with the bomb, so it wasn't an option. Good question, though.

---

No Rhyme, No Rhythm

by Alba Aulbath

---

Chapter One - Composing Fate

---

"This STINKS! Now what're we supposed to do!" Gizmo demanded.

There was no immediate answer to his question; the remaining of the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. looked out to the distant stream of smoke that was a mile off from where they were currently located: standing on the top of a roof to an apartment building just on the edge of Jump City. Everything had been going downhill for them; they'd been betrayed, they'd been frozen, and they no longer had a home to return to. Some could call it karma. Others, just horrid luck.

"Ah'm tellin' you one thing, ah'm not gonna find me an abandoned warehouse or nothin' of such," Billy Numerous remarked wryly.

See-More's eye moved to look at one of the Billies before looking to to the others, while he and another Billy still supported Kyd Wykkyd. "We gotta find Jinx."

The second Billy snorted. "Why th' hell would we go an' do that?"

"Yeah! She's th' one who was ready t'hop, skip, an' jump t'th' Brotherhood in th' first place!" the first agreed. "Now she's followin' Kid Flash 'round. Why wouldja wanna go find HER for?"

The first thing the cyclops snapped was, "Look at us!" There was a pause; everyone watched him carefully before he sighed and explained, "She kept us together. She's our leader." See-More's eye blinked, becoming blue and looking very, very unhappy. "We need her."

"Pff! Ah say we're better off without 'er," the first Billy disagreed. "C'mon, we oughta be goin' t'th' car lot, grabbin' us some vehicles, an' findin' a new hideout."

Mammoth folded his arms, his expression firmly set into anger and determination. "We oughta go after those Titans for all of this!"

"Good luck at that, snotbrain!" Gizmo rolled his eyes at the largest of the F.I.V.E., not at all impressed. "That's a gazillion of them in Jump City right now!"

During the argument, both See-More and the Billy holding up Kyd Wykkyd forgot about supporting their friend, much more interested in getting their point through; much to Wykkyd's dismay, he fell onto his backside while See-More tried to argue back. "Look, we obviously can't organize ourselves at all! We need Jinx to--"

"Aw, th' hell t'you and yer crush on Jinx! Let's jus' do what we do best!" Billy snapped back at him.

"Forget this!" Mammoth growled, clenching his fists and turning so that his back was to the rest of the F.I.V.E. "I'm gonna smash those Titans for this!" The largest of the F.I.V.E. leapt from the roof to a lower one, intending to meet with the ground and go on his own way, marching down the street.

"Mammoth, wait! We should be stickin' together!" See-More called out to him in desperation -- but it hadn't mattered. Mammoth obviously wasn't listening and had his own intentions.

Gizmo kicked a pebble, glaring at the rest of the members. "Forget it! I can't do a stinkin' thing without my backpack; I'm goin' t'make another! Seeya, crudmunchers!" Though small, he started to make his way down the fire escape, intended to go on his own.

"Aw, hell. They've got th' right idea! Whaddaya say, Billy?" the first of the Numeri questioned the second.

"Ah agree. We'll do things our way! Wykkyd, you comin'?" the second turned to the pale boy, still sitting since he'd been dropped.

Kyd Wykkyd looked up to him, frowning as he pondered the offer for a moment before shaking his head.

Billy grinned faintly. "Suit yerself! C'mon, Billy!"

"Comin', Billy!"

Duplicating himself, the Billies started down the fire escape as well, hooting and cheering as they went on their way to accompany only themselves.

Sighing, See-More held the side of his head. It was a disaster; to add to their list, the F.I.V.E. had almost completely split up, leaving only two. Reluctantly, See-More turned to Kyd Wykkyd. "You wanna go, too?" he asked miserably.

The quiet boy shook his head; he was scowling, thoughtful likely.

"What're we gonna do, Wykkyd?" See-More shook his head. "We can't just go back to the way things were. It ain't that simple now."

Kyd Wykkyd shrugged before he accepted the hand-up help from his friend. Thinking seriously on the matter for a moment, the crimson-eyed boy came to a conclusion and made a simple gesture.

See-More, however, was only confused; he blinked a question mark. "What...?"

Sighing, Kyd Wykkyd pointed in a direction.

Turning his head and magnifying the view, See-More spied the location Wykkyd was pointing at and smiled faintly.

"Sure, why not?" he supposed.

---

It made sense to Mammoth. Basic logic usually did.

Track down the Titans, crush them all for that they had done.

The H.I.V.E. had been dealt with awful hands several times before. He remembered clearly; things were fine in the Academy until the Headmistress mysteriously went missing. Then, Brother Blood took over. Sure, brainwashing sucked, but it was all the worse that their home went crashing down upon all of them. That, and currently they were betrayed about three times, lost a second home, and they were all on their own again.

It was the fault of the Titans, the way he looked at it. They kept taking everything they wanted and needed. They ruined everything.

He had to destroy them, obviously, once and for all.

Fighting was something that Mammoth had only known for awhile. Before the Academy, it was always fighting for his life, smashing his opponents down, and constantly being used by that damn woman. It was just his luck that both Gizmo and Jinx had found him that time ago, or it'd still be the same routine.

It was supposed to be the three of them, the top students of H.I.V.E. Academy.

It went from three, to F.I.V.E., to four, F.I.V.E., six, and F.I.V.E. again.

Now it only felt like one, and once again, Mammoth was fighting for his life.

He moved quickly down the street, but paused as he watched Dr. Light flee out of a bank. Mammoth snorted as he observed the doctor; not a surprise. The idiot wasn't even reinvited to the Brotherhood of Evil. That much of a loser, obviously; even Control Freak had been there.

Before he moved to take another step, Mammoth's eyes widened at the sheer amount of Titans leaping down to confront Dr. Light. They swarmed him, worse than bees to honey; throwing starbolts, firing sonic cannons, radiation, flames -- even bad luck, much to his dismay. Jinx really, REALLY was with them.

While hearing the moron scream like a little girl was insanely hilarious, there things obscenely obvious to Mammoth:

Jinx had left them for good. Whatever reasons she had. It was unfair -- he'd been friends with her and Gizmo for a couple of years, after all. What the hell had gotten into her?

Second of all, if he so desired to crush the Titans, he couldn't do it alone. Dr. Light was a weakling to be sure, but as strong as Mammoth was on his own, just one of himself couldn't fight ALL these Titans.

Billy was right. Just too many.

Reluctantly, Mammoth backed away, turning and trying to think of something else. He'd never been especially good at planning, but he tried desperately.

He decided to crush a lone soda can under his foot that was in the street; he grumbled and cursed at it, as if it was the to source of all his problems. That, and he pretended badly that it was the Titans Tower.

---

"Stupid ooze-slurpin', barf-eatin' nosepickers," Gizmo fumed.

For all of his wee life -- twelve years at best -- he'd been a genius. Born with a gift, born with talents that all envied him for. His brilliance had always been amazing. Had been wanted. And for most of his life, he'd been told what to do.

He never liked being told what to do. He hated the Brotherhood of Evil, hated Madame Rouge -- though feared her as well, hated Brother Blood, and didn't want to be pushed around by the others in the F.I.V.E.

Not that they had been, but why take that chance?

Jinx was the only one who had the capability of telling him what to do. She'd always been a friend, even if he thought all girls had horrendous skin-burning cooties. They were gross, annoying, giggly, and stupid. Jinx never had been.

Then, anyway. Stupid Kid Flash made her a... a GIRL.

Grumbling, Gizmo circled around the interior of Cook's Electronics, gathering and composing the materials he needed to rebuild his backpack.

It was all wrong. They were all supposed to be in the Academy, kicking the Titans' stinking butts, and doing what they wanted. The Titans always made things worse! He hated them! He hated them so much!

He wouldn't be pushed around anymore!

Gizmo just didn't understand why he felt like he missed the others so badly when he wanted to get away before.

Much to his ignorance in his thoughts, sparks of electricity danced towards his backpack.

---

"I think I can remember th' first day of Academy," See-More mused faintly, pushing some debris over. "I mean, you know, I remember when I first showed up fer membership..."

Within character, Kyd Wykkyd remained absolutely silent, but he smiled and nodded, reassuring his friend he was listening.

The pair had returned to what had once been H.I.V.E. Academy. It was possible to walk through the ruins, but there wasn't anything worth looking at or keeping, in truth. Still, it was the only home for them to go without being pestered by Titans, leftovers from the Brotherhood, or authorities in general from the city.

"It was tougher t'steal in Jump than Steel, so I wanted in. It wasn't easy." See-More laughed a little. "But y'know, didn't have anywhere else to go. After all those tests, I was so damned tired I could barely walk. It was Jinx that helped me t'my room. Stupid, huh? I think that's when I started to..."

He couldn't finish the sentence.

"A lot of us. No where else to go." The voice was soft, hesitant, a little whispery, but still remained fairly deep-toned; it belonged to the pale boy. Kyd Wykkyd's manner of speech was a bit stilted; he was never very good with words, even See-More could admit.

"I know," See-More agreed. "Heck, I remember when Headmistress brought you an' Angel in. You were completely out of it, y'know?"

"Don't really remember much," the dark-clothed boy admitted, continuing to re-explore the Academy.

"Not surprisin'; you were out fer a few days."

Kyd Wykkyd shrugged, pushing aside a broken door. He glanced around before he entered a wide, dark room; See-More was right behind him.

Turning his switch on his helmet, See-More focused his eye to become nothing more than a glorified flashlight. "Th' cafeteria?"

The pale boy smirked faintly. "Everyday, Sloppy Joe's day."

"Yeah. Makes me think of--"

"Don't." Kyd Wykkyd shook his head.

See-More managed to find a chair that wasn't completely destroyed in the wreck, pushing it back to its upright position before taking a careful seat. "It does," he said honestly. "I remember his first day here. Man, it almost seems hard t'believe sometimes that it was him that destroyed this place..."

"I know." Kyd Wykkyd smiled wryly. "...He helped me with my homework."

"Sometimes, I dunno whether t'thank him or hate 'im."

Wykkyd lifted his head, looking around the room quietly before speaking again. "I do both. ...He threw all his memories away."

See-More's eye popped up a question mark.

"...What I mean is... we take what we want. Do what we want. But I never, ever throw my memories away. ... Maybe we stew over them, but we don't forget things." Kyd Wykkyd closed his eyes. "Cyborg, Bumblebee, and Jinx are going to willingly forget everything, because it's for the greater good. Or whatever that means to them."

"Y'really think Jinx is going to--"

"See-More." Red eyes were set onto the cycloptic helmet. "Just because you care doesn't mean she will."

"I..." See-More sulked. "I guess not."

---

"YEEHAW! What'd ah tell ya, Billy!"

"Y'all were right, Billy! As usual!"

"And smooth, too!"

"Damn right, Billy!"

It was impossible to count exactly how many of them were presently nabbing ... essentially anything from stores all around. It was never quite the items that he stole that mattered, but really, just the act of it. The thrill of theft and getting away with it and having it all -- that was really the only reason why Billy Numerous did what he did.

That had been his reason, so he thought.

"Heck, we're better off without 'em!"

"Holdin' us back like that!"

"Good riddance!"

For a long time, he had only himself and only cared for himself. Hundreds of himselves, as a matter of fact. It was the type of career -- if one could call it that -- that being selfish counted most.

"Heck, we don't need a bunch'a wussies mopin' behind us!"

"Don't want 'em around!"

"I kinda miss 'em."

Several Billy heads turned to look at the single Billy in the middle. He held up his hands defensively, but he couldn't say anything.

"Me too," another agreed.

"Aw heck, y'know when Mammoth makes that beef stew--"

"Whaddabout them pillow forts--"

"It ain't so fun without 'em."

It was only so long that your best friend could be yourself, Billy knew.

He didn't like giving a worried glance to his H.I.V.E. communicator when there was an emergency blip going off. One of them was in danger.

---

While Mammoth debated on robbing a taco stand half-heartedly, he noted his communicator.

And he growled. It wasn't the Titans messing with one of them. After all, they were stomping around on Dr. Light. So who was in trouble, and who was giving them trouble...?

He turned, forgetting about the taco stand, and setting his mind to something more important.

---

"Can't be too surprised about Jinx," Kyd Wykkyd mumbled as the pair stepped into the destroyed combat room.

"Why not? I mean, c'mon; she was all over th' Brotherhood of Evil," See-More responded doubtfully.

Kyd Wykkyd smiled wryly at him. "...Her taste sucks. First Cyborg, now Kid Flash? Give me a break."

See-More smirked and shook his head. It didn't much help, considering the whole unrequited feelings he still harbored, but he knew Wykkyd was trying to make him feel better.

The two of them stopped in their conversation, communicators beeping. They looked to the comlinks.

"One of them is..." Kyd Wykkyd trailed off and frowned.

"Cook's Electronics." See-More hooked his communicator back to his belt. "Are ya up fer 'porting?"

Kyd Wykkyd nodded without hesitation, considering he had long since recovered. Throwing out his cape, it reached out and covered both of them, twisting and disappearing away.

---

Outside of the electronics store, the F.I.V.E. were once again gathered, slowing once they were within ten feet of each other; it was an awkward moment, none of them knowing what to say to each other. They had argued, had wanted to do different things, and still didn't even truly know what to do next. Where would they go, what would they do, and would it even have a point?

But See-More let out a sigh, starting them off. "Look, I don't think we can stay split up like this. Sure, we all wanna do different things, but we can't do any of 'em by ourselves, right?"

"Aw hell, See-More; it's jus' borin' without any of y'all," Billy Numerous admitted, thought reluctantly. Shaking his head, he continued, "Ah could steal from as many ATM machines as ah want an' it wouldn't be a blast without y'all."

"I'm not crazy enough t'go after all of those Titans. They completely stomped that Doc Light loser -- more than usual." Mammoth folded his arms.

"It's just better if we stay together. I know we've been betrayed loads of times, but we don't have anyone else right now. Jus' us -- each other. We were separated for all of two hours, guys. With more Titans and less of us, we have to keep together." See-More paused, then his eye blinked and formed a question mark, finally noticing a lack of their shortest member. "Is Gizmo the one in trouble...?"

"With who? Them Titans ain't 'round here; they was busy with Dr. Light, weren't they, Mammoth?" Billy turned to the much larger of the F.I.V.E.; Mammoth nodded, puzzled.

See-More held onto the switch to his helmet. "Gimme a sec; I'll take a peek." Turning it, he used x-ray vision to gaze past the wall and peer inside the shop.

It was indeed Gizmo, fleeing and scrambling under a table, hiding from his own backpack -- still obviously in the works, but near completion. It was attacking him, for whatever reason, spider-legs stabbing into the floor, chasing him--

See-More took a closer look at the backpack. A familiar disk attached to the back of it.

"Overload?" See-More blinked his eye back to normal, glancing to his teammates.

"Naw!" Billy Numerous interjected doubtfully.

A second Billy nodded. "I saw Overload get absorbed by that Kilowat feller."

"He probably escaped; there were plenty of electronics in the base! He's taken over Gizmo's backpack now. C'mon!" See-More pointed to the door. "Mammoth, break it down!"

Smacking his hefty fist into his palm, Mammoth smiled widely. "My pleasure!"

Winding his arm back, the largest of the F.I.V.E. smashed his fist against the wall, breaking it down with little effort. Presented before them was indeed Gizmo, hiding under a table, though he peered out in shock once he saw the others rush inside to his aid.

"Guys!" Gizmo cried out for their help. The spiderlegs on his backpack smashed the table in half abruptly; yelping, the boy scurried out from under the splinters. "CRUD!"

"Wykkyd, grab Gizmo! Billy, split up an' get Overload's attention!" See-More commanded, constantly switching between sights to overlook the situation.

One Billy gave him a thumbs-up, the second grinning and saying, "Y'got it! C'mon, y'all!"

Splitting up in a few more of the Numeri, the group of Billies rushed off to nag and annoy the possessed backpack. Kyd Wykkyd quickly disappeared into his cloak, vanishing; he reappeared a second later, grabbing onto Gizmo and disappearing again.

"Now what?" Mammoth demanded, looking at See-More.

"Hang on, hang on!" Flipping through the levels as he stared down at the floor, he pointed sharply. "There! Billy, herd Overload here! Mammoth, get to th' pipe t'make a water stream."

"We're a'comin'!" a Billy reassured. "YEEHAW! C'mon, bubba; I'm over here!" He split in half just before Overload stomped the tip of a spiderleg towards him.

Kyd Wykkyd reappeared beside See-More, holding Gizmo up in his arms; the pale boy glanced to the cyclops, tilting his head.

"Gettin' to it," See-More told Wykkyd. "Gizmo, you okay?"

Snorting somewhat ingratefully, Gizmo looked away. "I'm fine!" he grumbled.

"Ain't that a fine way t'say thanks?" Billy laughed, shortly before he was knocked back by a leg and thumping against the wall. "AUGH! Aw, dang it..."

Overload turned on its legs, focusing on the group. A slot slid open, revealing--

"MISSILES!" See-More glowered the best he could with his eye at Gizmo. "When'd you get time to get missiles?"

"Zip it, scuzz-brain! I was almost done until this stupid virus infected it!" Gizmo flailed in Wykkyd's arms, snapping at See-More.

The missiles launched at the group; quickly, Kyd Wykkyd shoved Gizmo into See-More's hands before he disappeared, reappearing in time to use his cape to slice off the detonator parts of the missiles, letting them fall harmlessly to the ground. A second later, he was swatted away, deeper into the store. A few Billy Numeri leapt from the floor, slamming against the spiderlegs, knocking Overload over so he smashed against the ground.

"Mammoth, NOW!" See-More shouted.

Slamming his fist into the floor and further, a burst of water from a pipe sprayed and completely covered the backpack, shorting out Overload into a plain disk.

There was a moment of silence from them, hearing only the water spray and trickle on the floor. Slowly, they advanced towards each other, looking at one another.

Gizmo wiggled out of See-More's grip and grabbed onto his backpack before running around to essentially hide behind Wykkyd's cape, who had returned with a slight limp. The pale boy blinked down at Gizmo, then looked back to the others in silence.

"Like I said... we can't do this alone," See-More told them quietly. "...I dunno how we're going to do it without Jinx, but we can."

There was a burst of laughter from two Billies, a third slapping his knee. "Y'can be real dumb, y'all know that?"

See-More blinked, forming an exclamation point. "Whaddaya mean?"

"Don't be stupid; Jinx was a real motivator. Girl sure had that as a talent!" Billy told him.

A second Billy nodded and continued. "Y'all know what'cher doin', though, far as tellin' us what t'do an' where t'go. Hell, we don't need Jinx now."

"Easy for you to say!" Gizmo snapped at the Billy Numeri, peeking out from behind Wykkyd's cape.

Mammoth simply stated, "She was my friend. It's the Titans' fault she's left us."

Holding up his hands to quiet them, See-More said, "Look, I dunno 'bout leadin'. I'd rather it'd be a team effort, but. Anyhow, there's not much we can do, as far as Jinx's concerned. I don't think th' Titans made 'er leave. ... Actually, I'm damn sure of it. We can't make her come back, but that doesn't mean we can't pay back th' Titans... sometime. Fer now, we gotta focus on us. We gotta stick t'gether, and we gotta do it right. I'll be honest with ya guys; I tried livin' on my own fer a long time. I can't do that anymore. I like us bein' together. Yer my friends. I don't want us t'split apart."

"Family."

Eyes and an eye looked to Kyd Wykkyd; he went red easily, due to his complexion, but he spoke softly, unsure if speaking up was the right thing at the right moment, "Us. Family. No one else."

"Y'got a point there, Wykkyd," the first Billy agreed, smirking.

"Hell yeah!" the second echoed the first's feelings.

Gizmo muttered, "That's so stinkin' stupid." In spite of the fact that he was holding onto both his backpack and Wykkyd's cape tightly, almost for dear life.

"No, I think Wykkyd's right." See-More grinned. "Look, we've all known each other for a coupla years durin' th' Academy an' after. Some of us know each other better than another, but that doesn't change th' fact at all."

"Great, it's all touchy-feelly, See-More, but what are we actually gonna do?" Mammoth demanded.

See-More looked down at the disc that contained the remains of Overload, picking it up hesitantly. He glanced around the electronics store, then grinned.

"We're not jus' a bunch of punks. We can do more than that. Let's make our own fate."

---

"Man, didja see his face?" Beast Boy laughed. "No wonder the Brotherhood of Evil didn't invite him back."

"Must've been a slam in the ego; they let Le Blanc in," Raven pointed out, smirking in the delight of having truly frightened Dr. Light yet again.

The Teen Titans and a few of the other members aside from the core were on their way to Cook's Electronics; they'd been so caught up in taking out Dr. Light that they had accidentally ignored the alarms that went off at the store when it was broken into.

They studied the outside of it; a hole in the wall, some damaged goods -- half the merchandise missing. Robin stepped inside, kneeling down and looking at the defective, sliced missiles laying on the floor.

"Comrade Robin, I believe perhaps you would be interested in this?" Red Star called out for the Teen Wonder.

Bounding over with a few other Titans behind, Robin scowled. "What is it, Red Star?"

"Look." He pointed at a floating device; it was like a canister, tightly concealed with a giant and stylish 'G' on the lid. Inside was Overload's disc.

Robin raised a brow.

"I am afraid I have more bad news, friends," Starfire called out apologetically. Lighting up her hand with a starbolt, she held the glow towards a wall.

It'd been spraypainted yellow with the H.I.V.E. Academy symbol, a number '5' in the middle of it.

"This doesn't make much sense," Robin muttered, folding his arms. "Overload being held in one of Gizmo's gadgets, the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. not in prison, and only taking half the goods?"

"Do you think Jinx let them out?" Raven mumbled suspiciously to him.

Robin thought it over, then shrugged. "Something to think about," he responded quietly before speaking louder for the other young heroes' attention. "Beast Boy, see about contacting the Doom Patrol about the Brotherhood of Evil and the other villains. Make sure you know whether or not they have the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. locked up somewhere. Cyborg, take Overload. The rest of you can head back to the Tower, rest up, and do as you want from there. I'm going to finish up here."

---

It was simple, they decided.

Things were never so black and white; this the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. knew well from their lives and recent events. They did not want to take the path Jinx had, as they felt they owed the world nothing. But it didn't mean they shouldn't protect one another or take out supervillains that might endanger them in the future.

And why not take half the goods in the process? Society owed them badly. It was rightful payment.

The F.I.V.E. had settled down into finding an abandoned apartment building. They were exhausted, and took it over for the night, and perhaps in the future. They hadn't decided yet.

Mammoth found a dusty old sofachair; the moment he sat, he slept, snoring loud as ever. The Billies remerged as one before picking a spot on the couch on one end, and Wykkyd took the other. As Kyd Wykkyd dozed, Gizmo had eventually crawled onto the couch and had flopped against him, clinging onto the cape.

See-More found himself in the middle.

He felt unsure about the future, but they could take it into their own hands.

There wasn't just a path of good or evil. They'd make their own.

But for the moment, slept begged for his attention.