:D Tis the end of the story, but not the last chapter! (I'll explain at the end!)
"Brain Freeze?" Raven said sarcastically to Beast Boy, folding her arms. "You'd been after this guy your whole life and the best line you could think of was 'Brain Freeze?'" He looked sideways at her, grinning embarrassedly at her tilted head and raised eyebrows.
"Hey, I was under comedic pressure!" he defended, walking towards the Tower's transparent window/wall and stretching his arms out. "Nngh… Home sweet home!" He sighed, staring out over Jump City.
"I sure missed this place." Added Cyborg, grinning at his reflection. Suddenly, Kid Flash's joined it, and it was looking slightly bored. The five Titans blinked in unison. When did Kid Flash move in…? That's when they realised they had company in the form of over 15 extra superheroes/heroines.
'…Okay, they're definitely bunking with Beast-Boy…' She thought, shuddering at the thought of having Wildebeest in her room… But Aqualad…
Her rather… erm… amorous thoughts were interrupted by the large TV screen, which switched to a security camera picture showing footage of Dr Light trying to burn his way into a vault.
"The Dr Light?" said the slightly surprised Starfire.
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me…" Raven added, feeling the teensiest bit sorry for the guy. No wonder The Brain hadn't invited the 'villain' to the big hero bashing battle- he was pathetic, a running gag. Wait… Invite…? Villain-! Raven's eyes widened as she suddenly remembered-
"Alright team!" Robin laughed out, turning to the large collection of superpower behind him, some of which were confused why he looked so happy. "It's time to have a little fun… Just wait till you see this guy's face…"
(Some time later)
"Priceless!" Argent gasped, her arm around the shoulder of the equally amused Bumblebee as they walked down the road. "Bloody- Bloody priceless! His face! His face was just-!" She lapsed into loud giggles, which set Bumblebee off again after she had tried so hard to keep a straight face. The whole group only had to turn up to Dr Light's robbery for him to surrender, and now, with him in custody, they decided to have a good long laugh about it on their way back to the Tower.
"He squeaked!" cackled Cyborg, in line with the other guys in the group, his head leant back and a hand on his forehead. "Did you hear him? He squeaked like a little mouse-! Ha-ha-hah! Oh, no offence, BB." He added, giving him a thumb's up.
"¡Un qué wimp!" Mas laughed, sat on Cyborg's shoulder.
"¡Sí, su voz era hysterical!" Menos agreed from the other one, waving his legs up and down as he laughed.
Raven, however, didn't revel in Dr Lights capture and performance, as she walked near the back of the group, dragging her feet slightly, her hood up and cowling her face. She was thinking too much. And worrying. She hadn't seen Wykkyd at all after they had left. She'd almost promised him that he'd be an honorary Titan, and, after all, she always kept her promises. She sighed slightly, shaking her head. She just hoped he was OK…
"Earth to Raven, hello?" She heard someone say suddenly in her ear. She jerked her head up, the voice jolting her out of her train of thought, and turned to look at Kid Flash walking next to her, watching her with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry, what?"
"I said, what's up?" He asked again. "I mean, apart from the sky, the clouds, birds and all things upwards." He added, grinning slightly at her. She faintly smiled back, shaking her head.
"It's nothing." She lied, turning her head away from him. "Just…"
"Just… What?" He queried, folding his arms and tapping his fingers impatiently, purely out of habit.
"Well…" Raven sighed, looking back to him. "During the battle, when you were freezing the bad guys?" He nodded. "You didn't happen to grab anyone… different?"
"…Okay, you've got to be a little more specific, bird lady." He said, smirking good-naturedly, lifting his hand up and holding his finger and thumb close together. "Half of those villains weren't even human. (Actually, now that I think about it, most of us aren't that human, but-) Sorry, you were saying?"
"Oh, right," She corrected, shaking her head slightly as she re-thought the question. "Um… You didn't freeze any- Ok, this is going to sound strange, but- Batman look-a-likes did you?"
"Hmm…" he pondered, putting a finger to his chin. "I'm not really sure… I work too fast to keep count. Could ya' be a little more specific?" Raven bit her lip, feeling slightly worried now.
"Specific…" She mused, looking upwards to try and spur her brain into motion. "Erm… Let's see… Er… Ghh… Oh! Yeah!" She realised, clicking her fingers. "Erm, the first time you came to Jump City?" He nodded. "You went up against the Hive Five? There was one of them, silent guy? You said he needed a bell-?"
"Oh yeah!" Kid grinned, clicking his fingers and laughing slightly. "Old spooky roadblock!"
"Yeah, well he-! What? I'm sorry, but- 'roadblock'?"
"Oh! He kept 'porting in front of me and stopped me from running away."
"Really?" Raven asked, taken aback. She tilted her head in a shrug, muttering, "(Didn't really think he was that fast, but-)" She shook her head quickly, screwing her eyes up. "What-? Well, anyway, I think you made a mistake."
"Mistake? Wha-? So- So, you're saying I- I shouldn't freeze the bad guys?"
"What? No, of course not, but-"
"But he was a bad guy though, so-"
"But, n- no! He wasn't!"
"What? Waddya' mean he wasn't?"
"He was a good guy-!"
"Wh-? Wait-wait, if he was a good guy, why was he fighting us?"
"But- because he was supposed to-!"
"Because he was a bad guy!" Kid concluded, failing to grasp Raven's explanation.
"No!" Raven growled between her teeth, sweeping a hand over her forehead and brushing back her fringe in annoyance. Kid Flash could be so infuriating(!) at times. "Look… He was a villain, but he didn't want to be…" She said slowly, making sure Kid Flash got the point. "He was forced to be a true villain by The Brain. When I talked to him in the battle, he was willing to come back to our side and be an honorary titan again.
Kid nodded in a child-like sagely way. (If… that combination was possible…) Raven sighed gently. "Now, I ask again, did you freeze him or not? Please try and remember."
"Alright, alright." He said quietly, holding his hand up to her. "Serious, I get it." Kid narrowed his eyes as they walked, looking down at the sidewalk just in front of him as he thought. He mumbled to himself under his breath at high speed as he ran through the event in his memory. After half a minute, he stopped mumbling and his eyes widened in shock. He turned to look at Raven, his mouth slightly open. "…Oh…"
"You mean you…?"
"…yeah. I remember now, I froze all the Hive together…"
"Great…" She groaned, putting a hand to her forehead. "If we want to get one, we'll have to unfreeze the other three…"
"Hmm… Well, if they're gonna be un-frozen, you'd have to come along."
"Me? Why me?"
"Oh c'mon. You just being there'll keep them in line! Hey-hey! Joking! Joking!" He hastily added as Raven started to growl under her breath at him.
"Well, in any case, we'll need more than just us two to un-freeze them…"
"-gulch frinkin' skuzzmunchers'll never take us alive, ya' hear me?"
"Speak for yourself, squirt. I know when I'm out-done."
"What? Coward!"
"Naw, clever, for once. I'm with Mammoth on this one."
"Tha- Hey! Waddya mean, for once?"
Wykkyd raised a stiff hand up to his face and gently covered his eyes, his thumb and middle finger gently squeezing the corners of them as the voices jolted through his head. He let out a tiny sigh of discomfort, lazily opening his eyes under his hand.
He was sat on the floor of the Brotherhood base, which looked quite derelict since a month of absence, and he was surrounded by heroes. Kid Flash, Lightning, Bumblebee, Argent and Raven were more than enough to handle the Five. (Well, four, minus See-More.) In fact, he felt slightly flattered.
"Aw, stop squirmin', half-pint." Billy frowned, elbowing the restrained Gizmo as he sat cross-legged on the floor. "It's your fault you're in those anyways."
"That's 'cause I'll never surrender to these goody-two-shoes Titans!" He growled, trying to wriggle out of his hand-restraints as Argent smirked at his frustrated face.
"(Persistent little bloke, isn't he?)" She whispered behind her hand to Kid Flash.
"C'mon, Wykkyd." Wykkyd looked up to see Raven holding her hand out for him. He smiled faintly as he took it, pushing himself to his feet.
"WHAT?" Gizmo yelled angrily, jaw dropping at the sight of this. "Am I the only loyal one left or somethin'?"
"Loyal to what? A bunch of popsicles?" Bumblebee snorted, thumbing towards the opposite wall.
"Well, they do have a point…" Billy mused, glancing at Mammoth. "But… I dunno." He put his hand to the back of his neck. "Can't be bad with these guys (He thumbed behind him) around, but I don't wanna just be a good-guy like that." He clicked his fingers. "Isn't there some… I dunno, half-way thing you fellers can sort out?" He asked, glancing up at the Titans.
"Neutrality?" Bumblebee confirmed.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Alright, Wykkyd." Raven said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder as Bumblebee and Billy chatted. "We'll leave them to sort things out. They don't need us at the moment. Right?" She added glancing towards Lightning.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'm gonna take Wykkyd here. You can handle things without me?"
"Do not concern yourself. We are more than adequate to watch over these scoundrels. Oh, and no feelings of revenge for the electrocution…?" He appended, nodding to Wykkyd. He shook his head immediately.
"Alright then, see you." Raven said, guiding Wykkyd away from the seated trio-plus, depending on how many Billys there could be. Wykkyd frowned slightly, glancing surreptitiously over his shoulder at the rest.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine." Raven comforted, patting his shoulder. "Now," Her tone became more business-like and formal. "First of all, are you still willing to become an honorary Titan?" He nodded. "Good. Second, you do understand that, since you have been aligned with the villains, even if under protest," She added, smiling slightly at his affronted frown he sent at her. "You'll have to be put under six month probation. This means that, even though you'll be left alone, you will be monitored, lest you turn back to villainy."
He folded his arms and glanced away, letting a sigh out of his nose; annoyed. He looked back, paused a second or two as he weighed up his options, then nodded.
"Great. But this will mean that you'll be interviewed by a probation Titan or honorary on a monthly basis, just to give you an overview of your progress." She raised an eyebrow slightly as she saw his cheek flush for a second. "What?" He quickly shook his head, looking the other way as thoughts of Kole were quickly removed from his mind's eye. (Raven wasn't entirely convinced, but dropped the subject anyway.)
He frowned slightly as he realised they were walking out of the bases' front doors. He looked back to her, motioning to the ground then pointing ahead of them.
Where are we going?
"Back to the tower for now." She explained, her eyes glowing white. "Want to accompany me or find your own way back(?) It's a long way from Paris."
He pointed at her, tilting his head and pouting his lip, trying to look cute.
"Don't try the puppy look on me. It doesn't work. I'll guide."
Wykkyd smirked, then, taking the ethereal hand, whipped his cloak round him as he teleported, Raven leading the way...
"WHOOOOOOOOOOO-YEAH!" the driver of the joyride car yelled, punching the air as they hurtled down the street.
"Aw, man! That was just- That was great!" The passenger-side man laughed, turning around in his seat to check out their third member. "Hey, how'd we do?"
"Wha-? Oh, yeah…" The third member murmured, looking away from the window and back to the stash of 'loot' they had stolen. The front passenger raised an eyebrow.
"What's got you sweatin' bullets?"
"Well…" he said uncomfortably, squirming slightly in his seat. "It's… the new one."
"What?"
"Well… Alright, It's stupid, I know, but… There's a new super around, a Titan, like."
"So? Nothin' to do with us!" The driver called back, giving the finger to someone on the street. "They're all busy with the big crooks, the big-leagues. Don't really go for our type, do they?"
"Not this guy. He goes for runners."
"Runners?"
"Yeah, the ones who run from a scene to cash up somewhere else."
"Oh yeah, like we're doing(?)" The front passenger snorted sarcastically. "So what's this dweeb's name?"
"Well that's just it. No-one's really sure. He's all quiet, like. Doesn't say a word. People are callin' him 'The Silent Shadow' just for something ta' call him."
"The what?" The driver guffawed, turning around and shaking his head at the back-seater. "What kind of dopey name is that?"
"Hey, eyes on the road!" The passenger noted, elbowing the driver.
"Aw, keep yer' pants on!" He snorted, turning back and running a red light.
If he had been keeping his eyes on the road, he would have noticed two red eyes appear in the alleyway next to the road…
"Ah, now this is more like it!" The driver sighed, turning down a darkened road, with several broken lampposts owing to the lack of light.
"Why, so we can't see your face(?)" The passenger smirked, spitting out of the open window.
"Oh yeah, real fun-" He stopped talking, brow furrowed at the front window, and he eased off the accelerator. The others looked up to see a dark figure in the middle of the road, his outline hazy in the low light, as it looked like he had two horns on his head…
"(Who's that?)" The back-seater asked, feeling wary.
"Doesn't matter. In a few seconds, he'll be roadkill." The driver smirked malevolently, pressing down on the accelerator so the car shot forward.
But, just when the figure was in striking distance, he vanished into thin air, and the car jolted violently, the left side slamming into the ground as the right side was jerked upwards.
"What the heck-?" The driver yelled, turning the steering-wheel violently. The back wheels locked, the back of the car swung round and before they knew it-
CRRRRKRUMPPPAANGHH!
-they had ploughed side-on into a lamppost, almost folding it in half. They piled out quickly, un-harmed, to check the damage.
"(Hey, guys…)" The back-seater whispered, pointing to the left side of the car. The entire left side, from the headlights to back wheel arch, was split cleanly along the side, so the bottom half was literally hanging off the top.
"What the heck can do that to steel…?" The passenger asked, turning to the driver. The driver shuddered, looking behind him.
"Nothing… at least, nothing I know of…"
CLANG!
The trio snapped round to where they each thought they heard the noise. The street was silent.
Very.
Silent.
"…It's godda have something ta' do with that weird kid…" The driver surmised, slipping a hand into an inner pocket of his coat and un-holstering a gun. "Find him. Wipe him out." The other two nodded, and, the back-seater visibly shaking, they set out into the street.
"(Calm, be calm…)" He ordered himself, turning on the spot as he walked, glancing behind him every so often, tightly holding the knife in his hand. "(It's… It's just some guy… in a costume… Just… Just be calm…)" His back bumped into something, and he froze, eyes wide.
There had been nothing there when he'd just looked round. He tightened his grip on his knife, held his breath, then span on the spot, thrusting the knife into-
Thin air.
"(Waaaaay creepy…)" He muttered, running his free hand through his hair. He turned back only to stare into a pair of glowing, blood red eyes…
"He had to come this way, of course(!)" The front passenger grumbled, flicking the switch on his taser to test its charge. "Why he couldn't have driven down Main Street, I've no idea…"
He stopped as he heard running footsteps coming towards him. He turned round to see a shadowy figure barrel down the alley at him, arm drawn back for a punch. Startled, he jabbed the taser violently as he came within striking distance-
Only for him to vanish completely.
"Whoa!" he yelped, dropping the taser in shock. He stood still, then pinched the back of his hand, testing whether he'd been hallucinating or not. He heard a loud 'wumph' behind him, and turned in time to see a speeding kick heading for his face…
"C'mon Mr 'Silent Shadow(!)' The driver laughed, searching around for their mysterious rival. "What's wrong, afraid to go one-on-one?" He emerged into a walled-in basketball-court, buildings on all sides.
There, in the middle, hands behind his back, stood the one who had taken out his companions, unbeknownst to him. He blinked, staring at him, a neutral expression on his face.
"(Bad move spooky…)" he grinned, standing still an aiming the gun right between his eyes. He pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit the far wall. He saw a flash of movement to the left of him; he turned and shot, but missed. Movement to the right! Turn, shoot! Left! Turn! Shoot! Right! Shoot! Left! Right! Right! Left! Right!
Before he realised it, something swiped at the gun in his hands, leaving his wrist stinging and teeth gritted, eyes closed as he growled obscenities. He re-opened them as the figure stood in his original position, as if nothing had happened. The driver's eyes widened, and, for the first time, he felt afraid.
He turned and ran towards the alley, only to find him standing there.
He turned again to find him directly in front of him.
No matter which way he tried to go, the figure was always blocking his path.
"Wh-what the heck are you, buddy?" He panted, slumping back against the wall, looking up at the pale, red-eyed figure before him.
The figure raised his hand up in front of him, twitching his index finger from side to side, as he shook his head. He tilted his head down slightly, his lowered hands curling around the edges of his cloak. He stared straight into the now terrified man's eyes.
He smirked.
In one swift movement, he raised his arms, his cloak billowing out behind him, bathing the man in shadow that seemed darker than normal. The red eyes burned out from the abyss, screaming out two simple words as the cloak swept round, engulfing the screaming driver in chilling darkness.
You're mine…
"What in Sam Hill-?" The on-duty police officer cried, staring at the occupants of three empty cells. At least, they were empty when he last looked…
"The three men, found to be members of a car-jacking circle, seemed to be scared witless, as no coherent answers were given by any of them for the police questioning. However, their stories are connected by three analogous words: 'The Silent Shadow'."
Kole sighed, a smile on her face, folding the newspaper over and taking a sip of her coffee.
"I'll give him 10 out of 10 for results," She giggled, shaking her head. "But I'll have to deduct points for scaring the perpetrators to death."
:D Tada! I'm sorry to see it end so soon, but... It had to soner or later...
Now don't click over just yet! There's one more chapter to go! Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's the bloopers section!