Raze: Yes...Psimon...the "fishbowl" head as Gizmo called him. He's here. So...yeah..this could get ugly later on.
Quarion: So you beat Raze to reviewing...cool. Don't expect a prize though :P
Don't we all like Gizmo's little mouth-spout-off abilities?
TheAceMan: Eager for Fixit to show up, eh? You never know..he just might.
Nankotsu: Ah, I'll have to see how much of a crossover this winds up becoming. Really, the only mavel/dc mix is in Eryth's origins. I'm not sure if it'll become a huge part of this or not.
becca: Raven captured? It's quite easy actually. Anyone can be captured if you knock them out
Chapter 4:
Aftermath 2: Ambitions
How many times has this happened? Beast Boy thought, sitting uncomfortably on a metal stool in the medical room. Behind him, two bodies lay still, leaving the green titans slouched over the flickering control panels that would occasionally beep and wrack the silence of the dull room. Robin was downstairs in the Evidence Room, and Starfire was watching Jinx. That left Beast Boy upstairs making sure the bruised and scratched forms of Kitten and Fang didn't leap up and attempt an attack of any kind. Thankfully, this time the villains had been taken down outside the tower and the structure of the building itself was in top condition, unlike... he thought. Terra. How many times have we been betrayed like this?
Then it hit him.
Sighing as he looked gloomily up at the ceiling, his mind wandered back to the last time a friend had suddenly turned on them without warning. The reaction had been shock, fear, anger, and hurt. He realized with a guilty twinge that this time, there had been none of that.
There had only been a casual and cold indifference. Jinx had showed up with a crowd of the usual villains in the usual street in the usual style and no one had even wondered first why she was among them. After all, it was usually what had happened in the past. The fight had been swift, and no words had been spoken between any of them; even from Cyborg. The thought that they had just methodically taken down someone who had joined their side only months earlier shook him.
instinct. It had all been instinct. She had only been with them for a short while, so she hadn't really begun to feel like a friend anyway.
Liar. He thought, admonishing himself. She was becoming a friend.
It had been only a week since the overthrow of the Brotherhood, and the return to Jump City. The celebration was racous, with several boats and platforms floating beneath the structure on the water in a hodge-podge raft of sorts. The structure bobbed about on the water awkwardly, threatening to tip the occasional cup of soda or knock over a pitcher and drench someone's socks. Multiple poles stood at seemingly random intervals across the raft's surface, some holding tents, while others kept flags and table umbrellas in a fixed position. The entire thing looked like a floating circus arena; a landmark in the middle of an otherwise featureless ocean. At that point however, focus was only on one person.
"Oh yeah dudes! Who took out the biggest bad guy of them all?" Beast Boy grinned, bright hawaiian shirt flapping in the wind as he stood atop a table and silently struggling to stay upright while Cyborg casually kept nudging the table leg with his foot. "DUDE! Cut that out; I'm the celebrity here!" the changeling whined.
"All celebrities fall one time or another." Cyborg grinned, lightly shoving the table.
The thin wooden structure suddenly toppled, sending Beast Boy, two punch bowls, and a George Foreman Grill into the cool water with a hiss of coals and a panicked scream.
Noticing the look Robin had shot him, -as well as the fact that his friend had just reflexively crushed his soda can into a dripping mess- Cyborg backed away quickly, raising his hands with the "I'm innocent" gesture.
Robin's eyes narrowed and he turned to the other likely cause behind Beast Boy's tumble.
Jinx was sitting only a few feet away in one of the white beach chairs wearing a light pink tank top that matched her hair and a black skirt that stopped just above her knees. Trying to play innocent, she kept a hardcover copy of "Hannibal" leaning against her legs, appearing quietly absorbed in the book. Catching Robin's glare however, she dropped the innocent disguise and looked between him and Beast Boy, pouting with a badly faked "who, me?" look that caused another vein in the boy wonder's forehead to twitch. Before he could even say anything however, he slipped in the soda he'd spilled and tumbled back, knocking himself and Beast Boy back into the water.
"Dude! I was just about to get out!" Beast Boy whined, stringy green hair plastering his face again.
"But now that you are in, we may all enjoy the playing of the water!" Starfire cried out, leaping into the water and knocking Beast Boy silly. Robin decided to clamber back onto the raft in a fashion that didn't involve him noticeably staring at Starfire, whose summer dress was now plastered tightly against every inch of her body.
"You realize," a dry voice said from behind the giggling Jinx. "that this is your fault?"
Jinx's shoulders twitched momenarily as though she were about to leap into the air and attack, before Raven spoke again.
"Don't worry. I didn't mean that in a threatening way." Raven said, one corner of her mouth twitching up.
"Still made me jump." Jinx sighed, shutting the book.
"You just dunked two members of the Teen Titans. If you were still an enemy, we would have attacked you by now."
"Probably." the witch smiled, glancing over. "Don't you mean three?"
"Two. Starfire jumped in herself."
"No." Jinx said. "Three."
The wood beneath Raven's feet, so assuredly hard and steady before, now found itself damp and thin in a pale flash.
"You did not ju-" Raven began, before dropping through the hole into the water.
"Well that wasn't nice..." a familiar voice said, amused.
Jinx had been dreading this moment. While the other titans an honoraries were still on the floating raft-party structure, Cyborg was the one standing closest to her.
"Who said being a titan meant you had to be nice all the time?" she replied with some degree of fake politeness. "There's always room for mischief."
"But never any real harm done between frie-." he added, stopping as he realized where the discussion was headed.
There was a momentary awkward silence between the two. Thankfully, no one else on the flotilla noticed it.
"You didn't just come over here to tell me I was being a bad girl, did you?"
"...Look, I-"
"Still hoping to apologize and forget everything like that?" Jinx asked, snapping her fingers. Cyborg backed up half a step, before realizing it was just a snap, not a spell. "You still don't trust me."
"Hey, I trust you more th-"
"Than a villain? There was a time you know, when you trusted me completely." she whispered. "Or was that a lie also?"
Cyborg froze. How could he have trusted her completely at the Academy, knowing he was there to destroy it, and yet remain wary of her now, when she was on their side, as a titan? Even the computerized half of his brain, so acute when there was a chronoton detonator to be de-fused, couldn't stop what was to follow
The moment of silence was short-lived, but long enough for them both.
"We can still be friends," Jinx sighed. "But I can't forget what you did to us- to me."
Perhaps she couldn't forget it, and it seemed that the titans couldn't forget her either.
Beast Boy sat uncomfortably on a metal stool in the medical room. Behind him, two bodies twitched slightly, and suddenly moved, leaving the green titan slumped unconscious over the flickering control panels that shut off with a whisper, adding to the silence of the dull room.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Starfire drifted uneasily down the long dark hallways of the Titans tower, silently hoping for some sign of hope from Robin. Feet skimming inches above the hard floor, she moved past the blank walls and occasional storage closet quietly. Eventually, she arrived at the door to Robin's evidence room where she supposed he was.
That worried her.
Ever since the battle on the bridge and their return to the tower, Robin had promptly sealed himself inside what now seemed to be his favorite place in the tower. Indeed, he hadn't even come out to eat or speak with the two villains from HIVE that they had retrieved.
As it was, Cyborg and Raven were unaccounted for, as was Webs' friend who'd barely been in the fight at all. She only hoped that one of them could return with some good news soon. Mind still back at the bridge, Robin had sent Webs out on a quick scouting mission to try and find the missing titans and the other newcomer.
Starfire had at first seemed glad that Robin was being more open with the newer titans, but she caught the look on Robin's face as he told the speedster to "Find them, now." It wasn't a team-leader's order, shouted with gusto in the heat of battle. It was a dark command given from one grudgingly accepting ally to another. From what she could see of Webs, he had a deep desire to do what was right and typically endeavored to remain as polite as possible
Unfortunately to her, it seemed that his temper got in the way at times.
Perhaps that was why Robin seemed so angry with him. He had put his foot in his mouth -something Starfire initially tried doing after she had heard the expression- before, but why did this time seem so much different? Robin had been called many things in life, but the insult at the bridge seemed to affect him in a way she had never seen before. Except for the simple command to Webs, he hadn't spoken a word; keeping his jaw locked and face hardened as though moving a muscle would unleash something frightening.
"You're the worst excuse for a hero I've ever seen!"
"And your family's probably a failed circus act!"
They had both said something they hadn't meant to, and the reactions puzzled her. When she had last called Cyborg a "torstafian barglenoff" for accidently causing the fire supression systems to flood her room, he'd gotten over the insult within a few hours.
It had been more than four hours now, and neither Robin nor Webs were showing any signs of getting along again. Truly, she had not meant to call Cyborg something as bad as a torstafian barglenoff since he wasn't one, but it had just slipped out.
The comments at the bridge also had "slipped out", but both sides were acting as if they were true. Robin seemed to take it personally as though his family was indeed a "failed circus act".
"Robin..." she whispered to the darkness of the suddenly cold hallway. "What he said to you...in the city: Is that why you lock yourself up and keep away from your friends?"
"Waiting for your friend to come out?" someone said suddenly, causing Starfire to shoot a couple more feet into the air with a squeak. Recovering her sense of balance in the air, she whirled around, facing a familiar face.
"Jinx...you are awake?" she asked, glancing around nervously and realizing she was quite alone with someone whose true intentions were unknown. True, the sorceress had a bandage across one eye and one sleeve of her outfit was torn and still bloodied, leaving her arm in a sling, but she was known to possess incredible agility even when hindered.
"Well I'm not asleep if that's what you mean." she said, rolling her eyes.
Suddenly, Starfire was in her face, eyes blazing a bright and furious green. "Why were you with our enemies? We believed you had joined the Titans and given up your life of wickedness!"
"I know." the spellcaster sighed, putting on a distressed face. "I tried, but your lives are just a tad too unrewarding. Sure, you get to go out in public, get fame and all that, but where's the power? Where's the recognition? You people supposedly saved the world and where's the gratitude?"
"A hero would not ask for gratitude from those who have been saved." Starfire responded clearly. "A hero does what they must because they feel an obligation to do so."
"Touching, but I've got a life to live. I don't want it held back by ungrateful people," she sighed, eye suddenly glowing "or by would-be righteous do-gooders."
"The Kid Flash told us you were his friend." Starfire pressed, still hoping she could use the spellcaster's old insecurity against her before a fight broke out. "Why have you abandoned your friend?"
The sorceress hesitated for a moment, once again looking nervous and unsure. "He may have taught me that I didn't have to be a villain, but he didn't make the best case for the hero life either. He hung around for a couple weeks after the Brotherhood fell, but after that he was off again at lightspeed, probably trying to find another villainess with insecurities to "save". He's not just fast in the physical sense."
Starfire blinked for a moment, seeing not Jinx, but another titan before her; another product of a romance that had seemed so perfect, yet destined to crumble from the beginning. Dimly, the words told to her by Robin echoed in her mind.
"I'm not some sad little girl who's waiting to be rescued!"
Jinx's eye flashed brighter, and her fingernails began to glow as the hex-power built within her fingers.
"Tell Victor this makes us even..." she hissed.
Starfire backed away quickly, starbolts at the ready as Jinx whirled into a pirouette, radiating arcs of energy from her delicate fingertips.
"Watch it!" someone shouted, blurring between them. Starfire backed up, catching sight briefly of the red and black form that shot around her. Jinx's attack found itself soaking into a sheet of webbing like water into a sponge. Her eye flared again and the spell-infused webbing warped back and caught Webs perfectly, binding him like a mummy. Using that trap and Starfire's concern for her fallen teammate, Jinx took off at a run, heading for an exit. She flashed once more, and she took a running leap from the tiled hallways, crashing against the door and sending it soaring from its framework with a pink tearing noise. Battered even more by the impact, she sent the metal door skidding across the room, angling up as it ripped through the couch and shattered the center window in the main living area, allowing her to sail through in a shower of broken glass.
Starfire flew after her, rocketing into the dust-covered lounge just in time to see the sorceress drop out over the ground below and catch a thin cord and swing her way up towards the roof of the tower one-handed. Determined not to let Jinx escape, she followed her out-
-and was lashed across the face with a blazing whip.
"Didn't have time to use this little toy before!" an all-to-familiar voice laughed from above her. Reeling, Starfire spun around and caught sight of a dull grey hovercraft, almost twice the size of the T-Car. It was mostly egg-shaped, save for two engine pods that seemed to flow outward from its rear. Two similar protrusions with claws came from the front end and gave the vehicle the overall look of an open-air deep-sea explorer. Vision clearing, she shot herself at Jinx, who was still dangling like a small piece of bait. Expecting it to be an easy shot, she didn't bother readying any starbolts for the attack.
It was a mistake.
Spinning herself on the lifeline, Jinx managed to swing one foot up, connecting with Starfire's chin and knocking her back. The joint impact also left Jinx spinning in mid-air as well however. Undeterred, the alien regained her composure and zoomed forward again, eyes glowing as Jinx righted herself on the cord. This time, Jinx flipped herself up, tucking her legs in and bringing herself and her feet down as Starfire went under, slamming both heels into her spine and dropping her back at the tower, where she hit, sending up a crashing cloud of dust and rocks.
"Not too bad, Kitten. I didn't think that Beast Brat alone could keep you and Fang down." Jinx smirked. Fang stood at the doorway to the craft, mandibles clicking as he held the using only his jaws.
"Hurry up.." he grunted, line held between rows of needlelike teeth. "I'm not standing here all day so you can play swing."
"I've got one arm tied up here you know. I can't exactly climb."
"Women...always making men do the work." the spider-boy groaned.
"What was that, Fangy-poo?" a screechy voice cooed.
"Nothing."
Positioning his feet and hands against the interior of their escape "shuttle", Fang tensed up. Mandibles and teeth clicking again, he began reeling Jinx back in like a dangling fish. It wasn't easy, but he soon had her pulled up to a height where she could get an easy handhold on the edge of the craft.
Clambering over the edge of the vehicle, she dropped herself into a bare metal seat, wishing momentarily for the cushioned comfort of the old T-Car.
Fang hissed back a positive sounding grunt as he moved back to his seat in front of Jinx and turned to look at the wrinkled face in front of him on the "dashboard".
"Get us out of here, Instigator, NOW." he emphasized, seeing Starfire begin to recover from her state of confusion below.
The face sank back into the console with a wet squelching noise and seemed to unfold from the front of the craft, sweeping back its broad forehead and turning the open-air hovercraft into a macabre-looking escape pod. Starfire let loose with her eyebeams, grazing Instigator's underside as her starbolts began walling the mechshifter in a green blur of light and energy. Disregarding his companions' comfort inside, the metal HIVE graduate swung his body around, rocketing through the barrage and extending his arms.
"Take her with us?" the mechshifter's voice buzzed inside with a metallic whir.
"And have her break out?" Jinx sighed, rolling her eyes. "Just get us away from this place." The spellcaster slumped back in her seat, wishing the hard metal were the bean bag that she had back in her room at the Academy. This team's better than the last crowd of jokers I was with, but they're still slow in the head.
The quartet shot away, headed for their own safe haven. Below them, Starfire floated gloomily above the tower, pain from her bruises dulled by one thought that echoed throughout her mind. Terra had betrayed them for control over her power, and Jinx had done it for a road that would lead to recognition and acknowledgement. If humans such as the Titans and HIVE students already had powers, why would they wish for more? In the suddenly grey afternoon, Starfire found that her thoughts were not her own.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
After years of waiting, it was time.
The board was set.
His opponent was unknown, but he would still play his game.
In the darkness of the room, lit only by a single blue light from overhead, a glimmering black claw touched a single white bishop. The claw twitched, as though considering it's next move. A deep sigh was heard before a thumb swung in from behind and plucked the piece from the cold metal chessboard. There was a sucking snap, and a series of short, fuzzy squeaks were heard in the darkness. The bishop swung back into view, now blackened with faint smudges of white color showing beneath the newly applied black surface.
The board was set.
In the blue light, the faintly glowing white pieces found themselves short one number, while at the head of the black lineup, a smudge-blackened bishop stood, out of place from either side.
As he considered the next move, the figure in the darkness quietly tapped the capped end of the marker on his teeth, permitting his odd grin to show in the luminance of the azure bulb.
