Titans and Gods: Awakening
A Teen Titans Fanfic by Lavender Gaia
Editing and Assistance by Laine
Chapter 3: Wet and Wild
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any of the recognizable characters appearing in this chapter. They are all property of DC Comics.
Eventually, Robin and Speedy fell asleep on the couch, only to be woken a few short hours later. Cyborg stopped whistling as he caught a glimpse of the pair on the couch and eyed his friends warily, wondering which one was snoring. The fact that Roy had fallen asleep with his head landing in the empty snack bowl didn't help as he tried to keep from laughing. Leaning between the two from behind the couch, Cy asked loudly, "What's up, ya'll?"
The two snapped awake, immediately attempting to make themselves presentable. Robin rubbed his eyes and desperately slipped his mask back on as Speedy mumbled, "We were um, just watching..." He looked up at the TV to see a rerun of Hamtaro. "Uh…"
"The news!" Robin covered quickly, fumbling for the remote at his side. "You know what happens when you lean on the buttons…"
Cyborg smirked, openly amused. "Yeah, ok. If that's what's you wanna go with, I'll play along." He walked towards the kitchen as the two teenagers turned red; it was embarrassing enough to fall asleep on the couch, let alone the day before they were going to stop the end of the world.
"So, uh, do I have time to get in a quick shower before breakfast?" Roy asked, knowing that he probably had cheese powder all over him. No matter who you were fighting, there wasn't a villain alive who would find him intimidating like that. Plus, he certainly wasn't going to allow Donna to see him less than perfect. On top of it all, if Aqualad was feeling particularly evil, he would snap a picture of the scene and threaten to send it to Green Arrow and the Justice League as blackmail. For a brief moment he wondered why he considered the swimmer one of his best friends.
"Go ahead," Cy said from inside the refrigerator as he began pulling eggs, milk and other ingredients out.
As the redhead moved to the hallway, Robin called after him, "Don't use up all the hot water!" Speedy just waved him off and Robin scowled at his retreating figure, planning revenge in case he had to take a cold shower. "Anything I can help with?"
He considered it for a moment. "I was gonna make some waffles, but you can start fryin' up the bacon." Dick nodded and started up the stove. While he didn't know how to cook much (having a gourmet butler for half your life can do that to you), that was one of the few things he'd mastered.
Bumblebee was the first of the other Titans to wake up and stole the first batch of waffles from under Cyborg's nose. "Thanks, Sparky." She sat at the island and smothered them with butter and syrup before realizing that something wasn't there. "Hey, you're missing the most important food group."
He frowned at the contents spread over the counter. She didn't expect vegetable waffles, did she? "What am I missing?"
"Coffee."
"Woman, I am trying to make waffles for eleven hungry teenage superheroes. If you want coffee, you better make it yourself!"
Robin gestured to a cabinet on his right. "Filters and grinds are up there."
Rolling her eyes, she opened it up and got what she needed. Frowning at the two containers of grinds, she turned towards the Titan boys. "Which one is decaf?"
The men blinked at her. "What's decaf?"
"Forget I asked." Soon, the expensive imported coffee maker was percolating the expensive imported coffee. Bee decided not to question the rich taste, knowing the Roy had acted the same way until she convinced him that Dunkin' Donuts was just as good for less than half the price.
Raven was the next one out, electing to just heat some tea in the microwave. "C'mon, Rae, you know you love my waffles," Cyborg enticed her.
She didn't blink before replying, "More than life itself." To the side, Robin snorted into his coffee. Cy and Bee exchanged a look before deciding that it was an inside joke and returned to their food.
One by one the other members trickled out (excluding Mas y Menos, who came together and have the identical twin thing down to an art). Robin excused himself after Speedy returned, needing a shower of his own and letting the archer handle whatever bacon needed to be fried, much to Beast Boy's dismay.
Once the concept of breakfast had been officially exhausted, everyone did their share of cleaning up, excluding Bumblebee and Robin. As the leaders of the two groups of Titans, they had what Starfire brilliantly summed up as "A meeting of the minds of the leaders."
When the pair was finished, they called the other Titans over. "We've decided to split up the teams so that we can get to the two spots with the most recent activity," Robin pointed out the two spots besides the fire pit that had been circled before last night.
"What about those other two?" Aqualad asked.
"Surprisingly enough, BB found those," Cyborg nodded to the green dude who was grinning triumphantly.
"And…we trust that?"
Beast Boy opened his mouth to retort but was unable to say anything before Bumblebee interrupted. "My team will go to the underwater chamber. Robin's will go to the one in mainland Spain." She picked up the list of teams and read off of it. "Cy, Beast Boy, Raven, Aqualad, and Speedy come with me. Mas, Menos, Donna and Starfire will go with Robin."
"You know, I think I should go with Robin," Speedy interjected. "I get claustrophobic."
His team leader blinked. "Since when? The plane and the T-sub are basically the same size."
He nodded understandingly, "But, you see, there's not as much pressure being in the air with two beautiful women who can fly as there is being hundreds, if not thousands of feet under water."
"But, man, you were able to beat Aqualad in the Tournament of Champions. You're our best hope for this thing," Cyborg pointed out.
"That was a fluke," Aqualad muttered under his breath. This was ignored.
Robin decided not to add that the idea of him being claustrophobic was code for 'I want to be next to the girl with the red halter top.' "Plus, if my team is going for the wind Elixir, your arrows are going to be useless." Logic was once again against Roy Harper, who finally conceded with a sigh.
Wonder Girl cleared her throat. "Listen, guys, I know I'm not really part of any team and I'm certainly not a team leader, but I think I've earned the right to give you guys a couple warnings." She glanced at Robin, who nodded his consent for her to continue. "Do not pursue the Elixirs. In fact, don't go into the temples unless you have to. They're filled with guards who will do anything to protect them, not to mention the fact that they've been booby trapped by the gods themselves.
"Also understand that whoever is going for these knows that it's a suicide mission. It's not that they've never been pursued before; it's just that through all these millennia, no one has gotten close. They're not just, like, pens that you pick up and put in your pocket. If someone has gotten past the guards and booby traps they must go through a ritual in order to obtain control over them. This person essentially forges themselves with the Elixir and the element itself.
"Whoever is orchestrating this obviously knows what they're doing if they've managed to steal and utilize the fire Elixir. Please be careful, everyone," Donna pleaded, looking all of the Titans individually. "These aren't silly people like Control Freak or even the Joker. We're dealing with people who are trumping the gods and therefore becoming demi-gods."
"In other words," Robin whispered, "This is the end of the world. Let's start acting like it." The room was silent as everyone pondered these words for themselves. "Cy, you ready to prep the T-Sub?"
He nodded. "I'm on it."
Everyone was getting ready to leave, meaning Speedy had to go get his bow and arrows. It took him a minute to realize he was being followed. When Bee turned to get her stingers from the guest room, he saw Donna in the hall looking at him. Gesturing for her to continue with him to his room, he asked, "Something you need?"
She fiddled with her lasso for a minute. "I just…I wanted to tell you to be careful. When you're in the middle of a battle, there are certain times when you can get a little…"
"Reckless?" He suggested, shouldering his quiver.
"I was going to say stupid, but that's a better word for it," she teased. "But really, Roy, please take care of yourself." With nothing left to say, Wonder Girl turned to leave.
He grabbed her arm above the metal wristbands. "Hey, wait a second." When she looked at him again, Roy leaned down and gave her a tender kiss on the lips. A blush spread over her cheeks, but the smile on her face gave away her happiness as she hurried back down the hall.
Picking up his bow and stretching his arms over his head, Speedy grinned. "Oh, yeah, I still got it."
When their transportation was ready, Robin's group headed out. Cyborg announced that the T-sub was ready and Bee assembled the troops. "Ok, guys, this is gonna be one long ride. We'll be stopping to refuel and stuff a few times, but it's going to be a few hours till we even think about it. Take care of anything now. You all know how Sparky feels about accidents."
"That means you, Beast Boy," Raven smirked.
"Hey!" He scowled, then shuffled his feet. "Be right back."
Since there were only five seats in the sub, Aqualad had suggested he swim alongside it. Everyone was mostly interested in his or her own activities for the beginning part of the trip, whether that was reading, sleeping, or just thinking. When Beast Boy had successfully finished one of the ten video games he'd brought for the Game Station: Portable, he tuned his headset to Raven's part of the ship, "Hey, you ok, Rae?"
She blinked in surprise before turning to look at him. "Why wouldn't I be ok?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. Just thought that the whole end of the world thing might be a little too personal for you. Didn't wanna bring it up in front of Titans East though."
The empath's face softened slightly at his consideration. "That's oddly perceptive of you. I'm fine though. In a strange way, it's kind of a nice change of pace protecting the world from the apocalypse instead of causing it."
While most people probably would have found that the strangest sentence ever, Beast Boy nodded in understanding. "I get that. You know that you can talk to me if you need to, right?"
"Yeah, I know, Beast Boy. …Thanks." The two exchanged a small smile.
Ok, this was getting weird, even for him. "Another question for you: Why did the chicken cross the road?"
Groaning, Raven rolled her eyes and tuned her headset out of the conversation. "He just had to ruin the moment."
After many, many hours of staring at endless ocean (more hours than they wanted to think about; they almost had to drag Speedy back into the ship after the last rest stop), Aqualad gestured for them to follow him towards a particular spot of the ocean.
Bumblebee, who was in Robin's seat up front, steered the ship towards the underwater cavern. A smaller, but equally high-tech chrome submarine was already lying in the sand and the Titans realized that the cave wasn't filled with water, but oxygen. "I guess the gods can manage everything," the leader said as they climbed out of their respective seats on onto the floor below them.
"Someone beat us here," Aqualad informed them. "Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing." He nodded towards four guards littering the way towards a broader section of the cave.
Raven went over to examine the bodies. "They're not dead," she informed them. A black aura settled over the pairs of men and women.
"Don't use too much energy," Speedy warned. "You don't want to run out."
She shot him a look before finishing. "They should be fine; their heads may hurt like hell, but they can deal with it."
Aqualad and Beast Boy moved them to the side as Cyborg looked over the enemy sub. "This thing is a beaut," he whistled. "Too bad I'm gonna have to take her apart." Several tools popped out of his arm, each glinting ominously from the candles along the walls as well as the strange glowing light that seemed to come from nowhere.
Bee raised an eyebrow. "Not joining us, Sparky?"
"I figured if this guy is gonna control water, a machine isn't the best person to fight 'em. Besides, if he doesn't have a getaway vehicle, I don't think he'll go too far."
"Someone guarding the exit is probably a good idea anyway," Aqualad pointed out.
She nodded. "Alright. The rest of you, let's go."
The quintet moved stealthily down the hallway. Raven examined the markings on the walls, trying to find familiarity in what seemed to be a language, when Aqualad whispered, "It's Atlantean. Or a very old form of it. I can only understand a bit."
"This cave has been here a lot longer than Atlantis. Perhaps you got your language from here," she suggested and he had to admit that it made sense.
"Guys, remember what Wonder Girl told us," Speedy interrupted. "These places were booby trapped as well. Let's be careful."
As if on cue, the redhead kicked a rock, sending it hurtling into the wall. In return, spears suddenly shot through the right wall as if the stone wasn't there at all. The dozen spears were aimed straight for Speedy, who dodged them as best he could.
"Nice going, genius," Bumblebee scolded.
"See, that was just a demonstration for everyone," Roy squeaked, realizing how close one had been to certain sensitive parts of his body. Wiping off the sweat that had gathered on his brow, he forced a weak smile.
Beast Boy put his arm through a hole that had severed all the way through his quiver. "Yeah, right."
Quickly making sure that his arrows were ok—they were—Speedy responded by glaring at the green man. "You would have done it if I hadn't."
"Nuh uh." Just to prove this fact, Beast Boy turned into a sparrow and did the best a bird can at sticking its tongue out at someone. Bumblebee, reasoning that this was in fact a very rational, even borderline smart, idea, morphed into the smaller bee-sized version of herself.
The group continued down the hallway until they came to a sharp turn. Raven crept up slowly, motioning for everyone to keep behind her. "There's someone in here." Everyone got a glance until Speedy hissed, "Man, it's a girl!"
Indeed, a lovely girl with curly blonde hair stood over an altar in the middle of the room, a good hundred feet from them. She was easily in her late teens or early twenties at most. While she certainly wasn't curvy like the Titan girls were, she was in excellent shape. Much to Roy's pleasure, her short jean shorts and equally tight shirt that ended mid-ribcage showed a lean physique doubled with strong abs. Two guns were holstered around her waist. "Why do we have to fight the hot chick?" he reasoned. "Maybe she's here to help too."
Everyone glared at him, but Aqualad was the only one to speak. "Oh, great. This is just like you, Roy. I can just hear the conversation now, 'Sorry, Donna, but I let the bad guy confirm the end of the world because the girl gave me a boner. Since we know it's all over anyway, you wanna hit a movie?' Watching an angry Amazon punch your perverted face in will give me endless enjoyment until the world goes BOOM!"
Speedy was about to retort when Raven ordered, "Both of you, shut up!"
Bee returned to her normal size. "Speedy, if you don't want to fight, just don't get in our way. Of course, when we're done with her it'll be your turn; you'll also probably want to hide once we get back to the tower because if Robin and Wonder Girl hear it, they will kill you, bring you back to life and kill you again for good measure. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it." To prove it, he put an arrow against his bow. "So, what's the plan, Boss Lady?"
She quietly explained what she wanted, the gang listening intently. "Everyone understand?" They nodded. "Then I guess there's only one thing left to say: Titans, GO!"
The blonde was too intent on chanting in ancient Greek that she only realized she had company when black light curled around the water Elixir and yanked it away. "I think I'll keep that," Raven smirked. She was surprised to find that the Elixir was simply an orb of water that kept to itself, but could feel a fraction of it's power as it fought against her hold.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you that stealing is wrong?" Bee asked, stingers ready.
"Who the hell are you?" she hissed.
"We're the Teen Titans," Beast Boy grinned. "Now, come along quietly and we won't have to hurt you."
The blonde pulled out one of her guns, shooting at the shape shifter. "Fuck off. You don't know who you're dealing with."
"You know, I don't really think that will matter too much," Aqualad insisted, attempting to pin her arms behind her back. Unfortunately, she was faster than he had expected. Her elbow connected with his nose and a gun hit him on the side of the head as she reloaded her other.
"Anyone else want to play?" she growled.
Beast Boy transformed into a cheetah, dodging the bullets. Bumblebee tried to get in close enough to sting her without getting shot as Speedy took a stand in front of Raven. Trigon's daughter was having trouble trying to hold on the Elixir and it wouldn't do if she had to defend herself at the same time.
A giant green gorilla tried to capture the woman in what seemed to be a cheap copy of the old King Kong movies. At least in this case, the woman could fight back. She kicked him in the stomach, and while it didn't hurt him, it gave her enough leverage to launch herself at Bumblebee, a barrage of gunfire ahead of her.
Unfortunately, there wasn't all that much room to fly and a stray bullet clipped the leader's arm. Her friend's scream of pain made Raven lose her concentration and the Elixir floated to its former position over the center of the altar, ten feet above the floor.
"My lord Poseidon, bless me with your strength!" The blonde requested and the Titans who were till conscious knew that it wasn't just hope. Speedy cursed in frustration as the Elixir released itself from its spherical shape and rained down on her. She glowed faintly before a cocky grin appeared on her face.
The green shape shifter leaped to attack as a wolf, but was pushed away by gallons and gallons of water. He turned into several different sea creatures in order to get out of the stream or overpower it, but there was no luck. With a sickening crack, Beast Boy's head slammed into the rocky wall of the temple.
Raven was pissed. "Azarath metrion zi-!" Before she could even finish her chant, water filled her mouth. She put up an automatic shield and coughed out the salty liquid invading her lungs. This, unfortunately, gave the blonde a perfect chance to shoot the empath's side.
"Damn witch," wasn't heard over Speedy's call of "Raven!" As he watched her body glow faintly and rise a few inches off the floor, he knew she was healing herself. But that meant it was now him against the psychopathic blonde. Fuck.
"Who might you be?" She smirked, approaching him. The arrow tightened in his grip. "You know you don't want to shoot me. Because if you did, you'd have done it already."
He loosed, but the arrow flew past her as she harmlessly sidestepped it. "The thing is, I'd hate to have to ruin your perfect face if I don't have to," he grinned. Another arrow was quickly loaded into the bow.
"Nice line. Does it work?"
"You tell me." A wave came crashing towards him, but he had expected that. The arrow in his bow flew forwards, freezing the crest. She was surprised; the thing Roy had hoped for. He proved his codename as he speedily fired off two more arrows, breaking down the chunk of huge ice and giving him a chance to do a jump-kick to her midsection.
With a small grunt of pain, she fell back before regaining her footing. From this close range, he could see her grey eyes glinting coldly, but there was a hint of respect behind them. "You startled me. It won't happen again."
"I'm a man of many surprises," He assured her, dodging her punch. "But, before I continue to thrill you with my awe-inspiring greatness, won't you do me the honors of telling me your name?" Charming her was a wild card, but he was willing to play it early.
"Feria. Mistress of the Seas."
He ducked her spinning kick, using her slight loss of equilibrium to pin her against a wall, arms trapped above her head. "Most people use shorter nicknames. Easier to scream out," Roy whispered in her ear, pressing his body closer than it probably should have been to the woman who may have killed at least one of his teammates. "You can call me Speedy."
Her knee connected to his gut. It was a sucker's move, but an effective one. It registered with him that charming wasn't the best way to go as he winced in pain. This time, her kick didn't miss and he rolled back with the force. His mind was reeling over the best way to go at her.
If he stayed back, she could easily hit shoot at him. She had more bullets than he had arrows and though he was probably the fastest archer alive, he was no match for two glocks. The closer he moved in, the easier a target he was unless he could get in really close. She couldn't try to shoot him from a foot in front of her, and Speedy could tell that her mind still wasn't completely processing the fact that she could control water.
Going with option C, he ran and slid towards her, kicking one gun out of her hand as she reloaded the other. While he was no martial arts expert and Robin would probably kick his butt on a one on one match, the Green Arrow had taught him standard hand to hand and he could handle an average fighter.
This woman—Feria, she'd called herself—was no average fighter. Her blows hurt, much more than he'd admit aloud. He grunted as she hit him with repeated blows to the abdomen. Speedy decided to use this to his advantage, falling backwards and kicking her legs out from under her.
She'd put her guard down enough to actually stumble back—especially when his other foot had connected with the abs he'd admired earlier, forcing her down. He regained his balance and used it to straddle her hips, keeping her there.
Feria reached for her remaining gun, eyes flying open when it wasn't in her holster and instead was pointed at her by the redhead. "They don't call me Speedy for nothing," he grinned. "And I don't just shoot arrows, babe."
She scowled. "And I don't just play with guns, dude."
"Oh, shi-!" A huge wave erupted from her body, pushing him clear across the room where Raven was still working on removing the bullet from her body. That had hurt. It was one thing to be kicked away, but when tons of pressure was continually moving you back and then buried you for a few seconds with no air, most people would have to pray to stay conscious.
She leaned over him as he worked on that prayer; unfortunately it wasn't going too well and the impact made every part of his body hurt. "I'll let you live because you're cute, but I'm sure you've learned now not to cross the Mistress of the Seas." Feria started walking down the hallway before turning back to smirk at him. "But I'll think about shortening that. Thanks for the advice, Speedy." It was the last thing he heard before finally passing out.
Of all the things Cyborg had expected to walk towards him, she was the last, after radioactive monkeys wanting to meet Bill Clinton. He blinked in surprise as the wet blonde approached him. She scowled. "Did you bust up my sub? That was expensive, dammit!"
His sonic cannon blasted her, though the water she now wielded made a greater shield than he would have expected. He was soon plastered to the wall by a pressured wall of water. Though his need to breathe wasn't as necessary as others, this was still not good.
"I guess I'll just have to make my own transportation." She stepped out of the confines of the cave, a bubble surrounding her. It floated towards the surface as she waved goodbye.
He struggled to release himself of the watery bonds. By the time he'd become free, she was out of sight and he was out of breath, leaving the final Titan unconscious on the sandy ground.
A/N: Can I say I love this chapter? Because I do. I've never been good at writing action scenes, but I did my best with this. Please tell me what you think about it. You may have noticed my unhealthy obsession with Roy; I tried to give as many characters as I could some spotlight. I even wrote some BB/Rae! First time too, so don't be too harsh on that section, k?
Feria is very very loosely based on an original character of mine. I basically just took her name and her hair and the whole control of water thing. Of course, if there had been an X-man with the power over water, I would have used them. If there is and I'm just being ignorant, let me know.
Important note: It's been almost two weeks since Hurricane Wilma and I still don't have power. My muse also ran away from the storm and the house I'm staying in is creativity-stifling, to say the least. I'm hoping that I can get the next chapter out by next Saturday, but I make absolutely no promising that I can update anytime soon.
Questions, comments, reactions and reviews are greatly appreciated.
Review Responses:
DOJ: I'm doing my best to keep the JLA in character, so I'm glad you appreciate my attempt. Speedy's one of those guys that you either love or hate (which would be easier to tell if the cartoon gave him a personality besides that as Robin's clone). As someone who adores him, I'm really happy you thought he was in character.
Cass: Next chapter is going to have a few big Donna scenes, so I'm excited about writing those (or would be if I wasn't as blocked as you know I am). I promise to get Legion asap!
Tigerchic121: I'm so happy that you like Roy and Dick together! It was really fun to write that scene. I'm working with the JLU as best I can, and more will show up later.
Whylime: Well, I like Buffy (or do whenever I can watch it; so far I only have the first season), so the comparison makes me happy. Of COURSE Batman will be in here. I never miss a chance to write some good Robin angst.
