Whoo...and I'm
already getting responses over AIM.
Yes, Kitten is on a HIVE team here. I've long held the theory that since her dad's strong enough to handle Cyborg, and Kitten herself matched Starfire in a fight; Killer Moth's little girl has some level of superhuman strength/durability as well.
I checked spelling, and I apologize for a minor misspelling. The batman-wannabe in HIVE is "Wykkyd" with two k's and two y's instead of three y's and one k.
Quar: While your favorite webhead may not fight any girls in this chapter, there's a good chance he will in later ones.
Raze: Whoo...a long review. This chapter's largely fighting, but don't worry. There will be some casual/conversation moments in the next ones.
Psycho Tangerine: Um..thanks for the review. Nice to see someone new reading this
Chapter 2: Love & War
The day had not been going well.
First it was his friend's persistent taunting. His first encounter with the city's villains hadn't gone well at all.
Now he was trapped on the side of a skyscraper and directly in the blistering sun's rays.
To make matters worse, the only person capable of rescuing him didn't get it.
Not by a long shot
Eryth stared back at Starfire, his now-red eyes narrowed against her green ones through See-More's trap. "Oh no, I love it up here." he growled. "I've always wanted to obtain an injury before being trapped up on the side of a building in a little ball."
"Oh that is glorious!" the tameranian cheered, her face split by the biggest grin the trapped teenager had had seen in his life. "I am glad, for it was my fear that you had been trapped up here against your will."
"Have you ever heard of sarcasm?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Then you know what it is?
"It is what Raven uses on Beast Boy when he annoys her."
"You do not look satisfied. Is that not the answer you were hoping for?" she asked, confused. He seemed grouchy and in a very bad mood because of his situation, but at the same time he seemed to like being miserable.
"Oh its just the answer I was looking for." he said, wondering if the hooded girl was stupid, playing around, or actually not understanding the point he was trying to make.
"Excellent." she smiled. "I shall inform the others that you are comfortable where you are and that we do not need to release you."
She flew off, feeling glad that she had done as he'd asked, but still confused by his coarse, almost rude manner.
Eryth was completely struck dumb by what had just happened and his momentary speechlessness left him unable to call out to her for release.
I suppose I could always blast my way out. He thought, looking down and being thankful that the streets in his area were devoid of much activity. But I'd only destroy the image inducer, and I'd rather not draw too much attention until I'm settled in at the tower.
He sat there, stuck in the eyeball and fuming.
The day was definitely not going well.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The day could not have been going better.
A quick breakfast and shower in the hotel, and a pleasant finish on their way to the tower. Webs had managed thus far to get in his daily taunting of Eryth, meet two female villains, one of whom looked hot enough to flirt with, and managed to get away in a manner that seemed humiliating enough for the bad guys.
Then he remembered that he'd left Eryth behind.
Hmm, go back and get my buddy, or keep having fun? he thought.
The decision didn't take long however, as he could hear the angry shouts of Jinx and the others behind him.
"Guess I'll keep having fun." he shrugged and shot down main street like a wayward marble.
"There he is!" Jinx shouted, from her position in the air with See-more. "Get him before he reaches the bridge!"
"We're on it." Fang hissed, racing along the sides of the glass-paneled skyscrapers with Kitten in his arms.
Down below and in front of Webs, the ground shifted, and the web-spinner began weaving in and out of the dark patches where Wykkyd was spreading his cloak, trying to stop the hero from making it out of the city proper. It was a more restricted method of travel than what the spider-hero was used to, but he was getting used to it.
"I should see if I can keep this thing later on." he said to himself. as he shot along the street. "Now I hope I can make it to the bridge."
Above him, a small green hawk flew silently ahead and landed gently on one of the towers that held the bridge up. Shaking its wings out, it dropped the small yellow and black disc it had held in its beak and flipped back; clothing forming seemingly from nothingness as Beast Boy resumed his normal form high above the speeding cars below. He held the communicator in one hand and turned his lower half green again, shifting his legs into the tentacled form of an octopus to maintain his grip on the high and windy tower.
"BB to Robin, you there?"
"Robin here!" Came the crackled voice over the communicator. "Beast Boy, report!"
"Okay, we got a few Hive dudes chasing a runaway eyeball with a spider and your girlfriend."
"What?" Robin shocked voice shouted, rising in pitch slightly.
"That daughter of Killer Moth's." Beast Boy grinned, glad that he was not within arm's reach of his leader and friend. "You know, the one you had to take to the prom?"
"I know! What's she doing with the Hive?"
"Probably hoping you'll show up." the green titan said happily.
"Beast Boy..." Robin growled, leaving the shapeshifter with the image of the Titans' leader grinding his teeth into powder from stress.
He could just see the sparks flying.
"Ah. heheh. Just a bit of fun. You kn-" he began before the Boy Wonder cut him off
"Where are they?" Groaned Robin, sounding pressed for time.
"Nowhere special. Just heading for bridge and out of the city." he said, squinting slightly. "Want me to take 'em?"
"I'll tell Cyborg and Raven to intercept them from the north side. We'll meet up there and coordinate our attack. Robin out!"
Beast Boy clicked off his communicator, and snickered to himself. The exhilaration of combat would make his leader forget that the little taunt about Kitten had ever happened.
At least, he hoped it would.
Maintaining his grip on the edge of the bridge tower, Beast Boy looked below him to the roadway, hoping to catch sight of the other titans. He quickly spotted the familiar blue and white shape.
"Not even moving a mile an hour." he grinned, imagining Raven's expression.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Raven sighed from her seat in the T-Car. Her face was set with a mask of exasperation and anger at her friend's planning. We had to come out near the other entrance and its taking forever. We could have caught the Hive Five by now if Robin hadn't insisted on this two-sided attack. Her thoughts were either very forceful or strong enough to have pushed out through her mouth as Cyborg glanced over and spoke.
"Something bothering ya, Rae?"
"Only the fact that we have moved ten feet in the past five minutes." she sighed "Besides that, no."
"Heheh," the half-human chuckled nervously. "I didn't think we'd be stuck in traffic."
"Being heroes doesn't give us the freedom to drive as we please." Raven said.
"We got away with it when I first built this thing."
"That was because it was nine o'clock and there were no other cars on that winding road."
"Um.." Cyborg grinned as a comical bead of sweat dripped down his bald head. "We've moved two feet now."
"Ugh."
Cyborg drummed his fingers agitatedly on the wheel. "Three feet?"
Raven shot him a nasty look that held a "Don't even start..." suggestion in its withering gaze.
"Hey..sensors detect something heading this way." he said suddenly, looking at the display on the dashboard that showed several blips heading towards their position at the center of the bridge.
Cyborg leaned out the window, sticking his head into the unpleasant smell of car exhaust to get a better view of what was coming.
A giant eyeball that was letting out whoops of hilarity shot past them.
"I think we found our targets." Raven said, eyes glowing. "Keep this thing steady."
Her eyes shut as her soul-self peeled away from her face and out of her body, shooting through the roof and into the air.
"Just ge-HEY!" Cyborg shouted as something heavy hit the hood of the car and scrambled over the roof before pushing off and leaping to another car. Quickly, the metal titan leaned out the window and caught sight of Fang skidding across other vehicles "Aw you did not just do that."
Getting out but staying near the car, Cyborg unfolded his arm, taking careful aim, and let loose a high-intensity blast from his sonic cannon. The first several shots missed when Fang began rapidly zig-zagging across sides of the bridge and making aiming difficult.
The drivers behind the T-Car were starting to honk their horns.
"He, just wait one minute!" Cyborg yelled angrily as he kept up the fire. Fang's human legs were suddenly seized in a pair of shadowy fists and the mutant spider-boy found himself swung into the path of Cyborg's sonic cannon.
"Boo-yah." he whispered, smiling.
Fang was nailed in the back and sent squealing off the bridge and into the ocean.
Cyborg reshaped the cannon into its normal arm structure and turned back to the T-car, dusting his hands off and grinning at the impatient drivers behind him.
"You!"
The metal hero was kicked in the stomach and sent flying to the ground.
"Hurt!"
Getting up, he almost got a look at the attacker before a sneaker slammed him in the chin and flipped him completely over, leaving him winded.
"My!"
He managed to roll and avoid the next hit, springing to his feet and aiming the fully charged sonic cannon as he did so.
"Boyfriend!" Kitten finished, face flushed as she cracked her knuckles. She was standing frighteningly at ease before him as though she regularly knocked people his size off their feet with no effort.
Cyborg was completely baffled. "Hey, when did you..."
Kitten slammed him to the ground in a shoulder tackle and swung her arm across his face.
Aw man, I been slapped by a girl. That's not supposed to happen. Cyborg winced, reaching up with one hand and grabbing the wild child by her coat collar.
"Go back to annoyin' Rob will ya?" he suggested holding the screaming girl a good two feet off the ground. His grimace deepened as he heard the dull thunk of a newspaper hitting his other arm.
"Beating on little girls! For shame!" an old lady in a nearby car shouted, her bifocals shaking and falling off her face to the road surface with a clatter.
"Hey, I'm the one who got hit fi-" he began before Kitten swung her legs out and knocked him back into the hood of another car further long the bridge. "Geez. Now I know why Starfire didn't pound you flat." he groaned.
"You tell 'im girl!" the old woman shouted encouragingly before Kitten used the moment to kick the spectacles out of the woman's reach and sprint off after Cyborg. "Well I never..." she huffedd.
Getting out of the car and muttering angrily, she made to retrieve the now-broken frames, but a black platform boot crunched down on them removing all chance of repair..
"My mistake." Jinx said sweetly, looking down at her. Turning her foot and grinding the cracked lenses to powder, she turned to the one-eyed boy next to her. "See-more, make sure those titans aren't nearby and unoccupied."
Eye rolling around and back, the cyclopean villain spun his field of vision until it landed a short distance away on the T-Car. His expression turned into a grin and the eye spun back to its normal position "Hey, looks like one of them decided to take a nap."
"Poor choice." Jinx said, walking towards the car. She was only a few feet away when a dark shadow shot out of the street in front of her, winglike-cloak spreading. The two HIVE graduates' expressions changed to shock as they stepped back instinctively. The shadow rose before them; eyes glowing with an ethereal light.
Kid Wykkyd stood before his two companions, staring at the twin looks of surprise on their faces. His head was tilted to one side slightly as though he couldn't understand why they had backed away from him like he was an enemy.
"Don't do that again." Jinx snarled, pushing past him and heading for the near-abandoned vehicle. "Well well well, if it isn't-"
A dark shadow shot out of the street in front of her, winglike-cloak spreading. The HIVE graduates' expressions changed to shock as they stepped back instinctively. The shadow rose before them; eyes glowing with an ethereal light as a swarm of dark tentacles fanned out from the depths of the shroud.
"Wykkyd..." she started before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Cat-like eyes flickering down briefly, she noticed it was the black gloved hand of her teammate.
Kid Wykkyd was right next to her, and the shadow was in front of her. No, it was around her.
At first Raven had found the dark being Jinx called "wicked" to be an annoying mockery and a sad parody. Her annoyance was alleviated however, when she realized that she could just as easily be mistaken for an ally of the HIVE with the dark one around. Her soul-self had walled them in easily and held them prisoner with ease. Before she could act from her seat in the car however, her field of vision suddenly took on a pale red tint.
What do you think you are doing my dear? a pleasantly smooth voice asked in her head.
Her soul-self faltered as a crimson glow spread through her mind. What are y-
The voice rose to a near-shriek and deafened her.
Do not ask questions, insolent child! You will release your hold on my students!
Jinx blinked, slightly confused as the shadow faded from around them and the form in the T-Car slumped forward in its seat, head hitting the dashboard with a dull thud.
"What was that?" the pink-haired sorceress asked, looking around.
"Who knows, but we get a free prisoner out of it!" See-more said happily, sprinting towards the unguarded car with an ever-cheery smile on his face.
The HIVE trio were almost upon the car, backs turned to their prey when
"Aw no ya don't!" Cyborg yelled, grabbing See-more and Wykkyd each in one metal fist before he was knocked off his feet by Jinx. Rolling across the suddenly disintegrating bridge surface, he came to his feet, cannon out. "Feeling a little nasty today are we?" he grimaced, letting out one blast from the sonic cannon before he had to duck another spell. "Your gang's gettin' meaner." he said nervously, ducking an eye. "It took me an' BB to take out that crazy girl of yours!"
"Monkey meets Kitty, whaddaya know?" See-more laughed, distracting Cyborg with several exploding-eyes while Wykkyd's brand of phasing allowed him to evade most of the titan's attacks. Jinx hwoever did not lunge or attack immediately, evidently waiting for her cohorts to weaken Cyborg before she moved in herself.
Before Cyborg could take the offensive side again however, See-more's eye had clicked around and let out a stream of tiny golden eyeballs. Cyborg instinctively smashed one and blasted another before the remainder surrounded him and crackled to life, blasting his metal shell with tendrils of electricity.
"No pain, no drain!" the villain giggled as Cyborg dropped to his knees gasping and cracking the concrete beneath him with the full weight of his body.
"Not bad." Jinx smiled, staring down at her former friend. "Wykkyd, wrap him up. We can take these two back with us."
"Not going anywhere..." Cyborg growled, eye snapping open as he lurched to his feet, slamming the bat-cloaked HIVE member back into a bridge tower with one hit and knocking See-more out with a quick uppercut to his jaw and taking a moment to congratulate himself with his typical bellowing warcry of "Boo-yah!"
Teeth clenched in rage, Jinx rushed, eyes flashing as her hands began to glow. She was forced to jump and vault high over Cyborg's back as he let out a long blast from his cannon that swept in an arc and followed her. Hugging her knees to her chest, Jinx whirled over and down, the blast-waves rippling up her back and coming closer than she was comfortable with. As Cyborg swung his massive body around with surprising grace, she landed neatly on her feet and swung her hands together in a clapping gesture that sent a bright pink wave straight at him.
The brutal attacks met in the middle.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The south end of the Bay Bridge was in sight.
Approaching the other end of Bay Bridge from a street running perpendicular to it, Robin took the chance to scan ahead in an attempt to locate the supposedly intense battle.
Where are you? he wondered to himself, drawing closer to the bridge. He didn't want to spend the whole day looking for his friends in the city.
Then he heard it; a triumphant yell he'd come to recognize over the years that seemed to raise his team's spirits even in the most dire of situations.
"Cyborg.." he grinned, speeding the cycle up as though willpower alone could move the small vehicle. As he roared onto the bridge proper, something shot down in front of him. It was a pale green sphere, partially transparent and laughing.
The boy wonder had time for one confused expression before the orb let out a cry of panic, skidded on the dry pavement, and hit the R-cycle, bouncing off the front and flying into the air. Thinking quickly, Robin slammed the brakes to the point of snapping and used the momentum to launch himself into the air. As his glider unfolded in the sky, he managed to let out one explosive disc that caught the sphere and blew it to part just before his world was obscured in a tangling mess.
The area around him had quickly become a nearly impenetrable web of strands and strings. Fang? he thought as he retracted the glider's wings and pulled two birdarangs. Dropping through the quickly growing skein, he swung the small weapons like miniscule daggers. He was able to dodge some of the glistening webs and slice others.
Landing in a crouch, he leapt forward to meat the black and red blur that moved towards him, mentally running through the entire list of speedsters he knew and calling to mind the proper techniques for taking each of them down in a fight.
Mas y Menos are stopped by a rolling leap and two chops at perpendicular angles. he recited quietly Kid Flash is held off by forcing his speed and direction to lead him into an obstacle, he remembered, and against Flash himself I don't have a chance.
Barely avoiding the next assault of webbing with use of an ice disc, he jumped into the air, kicking off a rusted guardrail and extending his glider once more. He hadn't even gotten that high, and suddenly two strands fired up in a blur and tugged him down. Reacting quickly, Robin slapped the side of his belt, releasing his entire cache of freeze-discs. It wasn't his preferred method of attack, but he calculated that the spread of ice would hold his assailant in one place.
Webs blinked as he realized he was up to his knees in ice. It had barely been a second, but he knew that the chill from it would begin to affect his feet soon. It wasn't a thought he cared to dwell on.
"Whoa! What is your deal man?" he shouted as Robin sat in a rather undignified position on the road trying to get the webbing out of his cape.
"My deal?" You're the one who attacked me first!" Robin sputtered, rolling onto his back with his rear in the air as he managed to get the webbing stuck to the roadside as well. The realization that there were probably people gathering in a crowd and staring at him didn't help.
"You tried to run me over!" Webs grunted, trying to crack the ice with his hands.
Eyes narrowed behind their masks, the two boys stared at each other at the edge of the bridge, ignoring the traffic and angrily blaring horns around them.
"You're just an arrogant spider-man copycat!"
"Your hair's got more oil in it than a car!"
"You're more annoying than Mas y Menos!" Robin growled, finally ripping the last of the webbing from his cape and getting to his feet covered in sticky patches of silk that made him look as though he had been living in a tomb for a few years.
"You couldn't get a date if you wanted to!" Webs laughed,finally cracking the ice free of the road and splitting it apart in a shower of glittering shards against a guardrail
"You're the worst excuse for a hero I've ever seen!"
"And your family's probably a failed circus act!"
A gasp of shock brought both teenagers back to reality. Hordes of cars were backed up around them and horns were blaring.
Starfire was standing in front of the crowd, still looking curiously out of of place in her Raven costume. Robin had expected her to look angry at the very least with one of them. What he saw instead was an unblinking expression that suggested both confusion and curiosity. When she spoke, her voice was fainter than he had ever heard it.
"You have not told me about your family."
Robin blinked once and tried to explain while tearing the persistent strands from his hair and person. "Starfire, it's-"
A deafening explosion from the bridge tore everyone's attention from the current matter at hand. Heads turning at once, their faces were bathed in a shimmering light that flared up and outward. A loud whooshing noise was heard as towers, cables and cars alike shook in the searing wave that spread from the center of the blast.
Starfire gasped and immediately shot into the air, dragging a gust of wind behind her from the pressure vacuum. Following her lead, Webs blasted two strands from his wrists and managed to snag a nearby streetlight. Stretching back slightly, he launched himself into the air over the heads of people still watching and let another line out at the cable towers, allowing him to swing faster by whizzing alongside the side of the battle-ravaged bridge itself.
Eyes wide behind his mask, Robin leapt back onto his cycle and shot it at a nearby corvette, jerking the front wheel up and using the bounce from the hood to leave an ugly tire mark and send himself flying over the crowd and crashing back to the pavement's unforgiving hard surface. The R-cycle was pushed to its limits as it raced towards the source of the explosion, skidding and speeding as though the rider's intent was to flee from an old and vengeful ghost.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Ten minutes.
He had sat there in the blistering sun trapped in a stupid eyeball for ten minutes.
How did I get into this? He wondered. I can match Wolverine in combat and I can't escape from a little booby-trap that some one-eyed guy sets off?
Then he heard it; a faint shredding noise.
Oh cru-
The webbing snapped and released prison and prisoner with a wet ripping noise.
Eryth dropped to the ground rapidly, fearing the worst when he hit as his ears picked up a loud cracking noise. When he dared to open his eyes, he was mildly surprised and relieved to find that his weight and the impact had managed the sphere.
"Easier done than said..." he muttered to himself, getting to his feet shakily. "Now which way did Harry go?"
At that point, a shining blast lit the cloudy sky beyond the buildings.
Despite being new to the city, Eryth had a good feeling that the city didn't let out explosions like the one he had just witnessed even on the fourth of July. He spun around and realized that with only one hand usable, he couldn't climb and maneuver through the city the way he usually did.
"Aw crud.." he said, realizing what he would have to resort to. Pulling the image inducer out of his pocket, he looked around quickly and ducked into a nearby alley. Hidden in the shadows, he clicked it off. "So much for the disguise. Now lets see if I've got this down." Gritting his teeth, he focused, trying again to pull off the trick he'd only begun working on in his room back at Xavier's.
Before he knew it, he'd sunk into the ground, leaving no sign that he had been there except for a few tiny crackling arcs of red lightning.
