As the night came, the clouds rolled in and covered the starry sky. We stood underneath the elevated T-Ship to shield ourselves from the pouring rain. The sky flashed occasionally from lightning strikes, followed almost immediately by roaring thunder.
"From the very beginnings of the Doom Patrol, we have fought against the Brotherhood of Evil, our archenemies and the world's greatest criminals." Mento said, the light of the warm fire illuminating our faces. "There's General Immortus, also known as The Forever Soldier. Name any battle in history and he'll tell you all about it... because he led them all. Madame Rouge gives all meaning to the word 'twisted'. She can also turn into any person she wishes. The gorilla, Monsieur Mallah, is the Brain's second-in-command. There are few in this world who can match his strength or intelligence. The Brain leads them."
"But what about the new one?" Elasti-Girl said.
I perked up. "New one? What do you mean?"
"Oh, right. The new recruit. She joined the Brotherhood of Evil recently, about a few months ago. In fact, she was the one behind ambushing us. She seems to possess some kind of psychic power, as if she could perceive what would happen before it did." Mento said.
"Not to mention the giant scythe she carries. Nearly took out my head." Negative Man said.
The Titans slowly turned to look at my horror-stricken face.
"...Jane." I whispered. Thunder screamed behind me, making me jump.
"Now that I recall, she did mention you to the Brotherhood. She told them about you and the Titans coming to save us. Do you know each other?" Mento said.
I looked away and folded my arms. "In a sense." I cleared my throat. "So, the quantum generator. It's really bad and we have to stop the Brotherhood from using it."
"Close. We're going to stop it. This job is too much for a group of kids." Constantly being given that excuse to sit around and do nothing quickly got on my nerves. Mento handed Beast Boy his Doom Patrol mask. "The Doom Patrol will handle this."
"The last time one of you mentioned that, you ended up getting your butts handed to you." Cyborg said. "You need all the help you can get."
"Listen here, punks!" Robot Man snapped. "You'll just get in the way. Let the professionals take care of things."
"Doom Patrol, let's move out." The Doom Patrol stepped out into the rain and down the forest path. Beast Boy, clutching his mask, looked out into the rain.
"Don't tell me you're going with them." Robin said.
Beast Boy turned back to us. "I'm sorry... but they need me." Beast Boy slipped his mask on. "It'll be just this once. Don't worry, we can handle this."
Beast Boy, flashing a grin and a thumbs up, jogged into the darkness.
"They're heading right into trouble. They'll be picked off one-by-one before they reach the Brotherhood." I said. "No way we're going to just let them go, right?"
"Are you kidding? How stupid do you think we are?" Cyborg said.
I smiled and nodded.
The storm passed when morning came, and we set out as soon as possible. As we walked down the path, I felt the occasional glances from my friends.
"If there's something you're worried about, just tell me." I said.
Starfire floated beside me. "We are all thinking about Jane."
I held my hands behind my back. I realized they had stopped walking, and I stopped a few feet in front of them and turned around.
"Please don't tell me you're going to try and prevent me from helping." I said. "I can't stop after I've come so far, even if I am against Jane."
"We won't... as much as we want to." Robin said. "Just know that whatever happens, keeping Jane away from you is our first priority. There's no way I- we'll let her try and hurt you."
"I appreciate it... but don't place me above everything else. The world is in danger; don't make me the reason why you can't protect it how you're supposed to. I can handle Jane."
My friends looked between each other. I scowled.
"I can." I said.
"Yeah, yeah, we heard you." Cyborg said.
With a huff, I turned and resumed walking. We ended a blast zone, the trees ripped off their trunks, incinerated, and scattered across the ground. Robot parts were wedged into the grass; I passed by an intact arm that still billowed smoke. In the center of the blast zone, where the grass had been wiped clean and the dirt turned black, Robot Man lay unconscious and flat on his back. I pressed the power button on his chest. Robot Man's eyes flew open, and he sat up straight.
"Calm down, don't run off again." I said. "The Doom Patrol's in danger. We're here to help."
Robot Man looked between the five of us and scowled.
"Fine, but just this once." he grumbled. He pointed to the other side of the open area. "The Brotherhood is located on the outskirts of the jungle, in a desert area."
I held a hand out to Robot Man. He refused it and stood on his own.
"Well? Are we leaving or not?" Robot Man turned his back to us and started walking.
The lush greenery disappeared behind us as we entered the dry desert. The sudden change in climate was staggering, and the heat clung to my skin and clothes. As we walked, I could see half-buried tanks in the sand. They were scattered every few feet and led to a canyon. Kneeling in the sand was Negative Man's body. Starfire flew over and poked his gauze-wrapped arm.
"He is asleep?" she said.
I gripped his arms and pulled him a few inches to the right. His eye sockets glowed with negative energy, and he fell on his hands and knees. He looked up at us.
"I guess I should thank you." he said.
"Save that for later. The rest of your comrades need our help." Robin said.
Negative Man stood up and shrugged. We headed deeper into the canyon and came to a pile of large rocks. A hand stuck out of the bottom. We blasted away the rocks and revealed Elasti-Girl underneath. She groaned and opened her eyes.
"What happened?" she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. "Where are Mento and Beast Boy?"
"They went on ahead. They're probably at the Brotherhood's base already." I said. "We should hurry."
It was nighttime when we finally reached the Brotherhood's base. The doors had been blast open, meaning Mento and Beast Boy were inside. I led the group down the hall and to the main doors of the base's core.
"This is it." I said.
Robin slapped an explosive disc on the door. We stepped back as Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon and shot the explosive. The doors blew off their hinges and we ran inside. General Immortus scowled midst his army of robots, which had dwindled to less than half.
"You're all okay!" Beast Boy said.
"We were wondering when the rest of you would show up." the monotonous drone of the Brain echoed in the room. He stood above us with Mallah and Madame Rouge on the balcony of the tall structure that held the quantum generator.
However, none of our eyes found him. Instead, they plastered onto the girl next to him, sitting on the railing with her legs crossed and her large scythe resting in her lap.
"I don't think you have properly introduced yourself." the Brain said.
Jane's eyes, even from afar, bore into me. She smiled. "It's not needed. I know exactly who they are."
I stepped back on my left foot. My heart began to race.
"Titans, go!"
"Doom Patrol, attack!"
The side of the tall structure opened, and another wave of General Immortus's robot soldiers stepped out. With a grin, Jane leaped off the railing. She dug the blade of her scythe into the side to slow down her fall. Beast Boy charged at her as a ram. She twisted her body, planting her hand on his back, as she flipped over him. Beast Boy crashed into a small cluster of robot soldiers. The ground beneath her glowed with astral energy, and she cartwheeled away as it curved up into a cage.
She shook her head with a tongue click. "Sorry, but you'll have to think of something less original. I know you better than you know yourself."
Raven scowled and thrust her hand out. She sliced the cage into pieces and threw them at Jane. Stretching out her scythe to the side, she snagged a few soldiers and threw them in front of her. The strips of metal cut the soldiers in half, and they exploded. Starfire lunged at Jane, but Jane backflipped out of the way. She found me within the commotion. I watched her with wide eyes.
"What, Fatella? You're going to let your 'friends' take the heat while you quake in your boots?! Some hero you are!"
"You will not call her that!" Starfire growled. She thrust her fist at Jane, attacking her with a starbolt. With a grin, Jane dug her scythe into the ground and ripped a piece of metal out of the floor. The metal took the blow of the star energy. Jane slammed her foot into the metal, and it flew towards Starfire and hit her, knocking her out of the air. Jane walked towards her, tightly gripping her scythe.
I pulled out my pistols and transformed them into my bow. The string twanged as I released an arrow. As if in slow motion, the arrow nearly grazed Jane's nose and hit the structure next to her. She whirled in my direction. Despite the little movement, I was breathing and sweating heavily. I could hear her vicious growl from here.
Alarms blared. When the smoke had subsided, the Brain, Mallah, and Rouge were gone. A screen displayed the outside of the base, and Beast Boy stood under it.
"What did you do?!" Mento called.
"I reset the coordinates to this place." Beast Boy said. He hopped down and joined us. "Unless you'd like to see what the inside of a black hole looks like, we should go."
The quantum generator began to crackle with blue energy. Jane watched me with a twisted smile as she reverted her scythe back into a slim block and retreated her arms back into her cloak. Starfire grabbed my arm and forced me into a run.
We climbed up the cliff of the canyon and watched the base collapse on itself as it was sucked into a black hole. It disappeared with a crack of thunder.
Morning had come, and we stood next to the T-Ship and the Doom Patrol's ship. We faced each other in uncomfortable silence.
"You kids... I mean, you Titans... did all right." Mento said. "Thank you for your help."
"What are you going to do now?" Robin said.
"The Brotherhood's crawled back into their hole, probably working on their next scheme." Mento said. "We'll be waiting for them to show their faces again. When it happens, we know we can count on you to be there."
Elasti-Girl held Beast Boy's arms and hugged him. "We'll see you again, Garfield."
The Doom Patrol climbed into their ship and took off into the sky.
"Garfield?" Cyborg said.
"Uh, yeah... That's my real name." Beast Boy said.
Raven smirked. "Oh, I'm going to have fun with this."
I chuckled. I can think of worse. I found Robin midst the group, and our eyes met. His eyes widened in realization, followed by a wild blush as he quietly migrated to the back.
"Well, the season just started, so that means we're in for a very crazy ride." I said. "I guess we'd better get going."
My friends headed to the T-Ship. Starfire rested her hands on my shoulders.
"We are here for you." she said. "I will not allow this Jane person to harm any part of you."
Starfire squeezed my shoulders and walked to the T-Ship. I bowed my head and closed my eyes. I pictured Jane approaching her as she struggled to climb back to her feet, her scythe in hand. Had I not stepped in, I could only imagine Jane raising her scythe, a maniacal grin on her face as she prepared to chop Starfire in half.
My head snapped back up, and I opened my eyes as I sucked in a deep breath. I lingered my gaze on each of my friends, panting quietly. They watched me patiently, waiting for me to hop in. A droplet of sweat trickled down the back of my neck, followed by a shudder that made my entire body tremble. I took slow steps to the T-Ship and climbed in. I buckled my seat belt and slipped my headset on. The T-Ship emerged from the trees, and I watched the jungle disappear as we flew away. My friends' casual conversations filled my ears. Gripping the steering wheel, I reached over and muted the sound. The deafening hum of the engine took its place. I rested my forehead against the wheel and squeezed my eyes shut.
You're so focused on protecting me... who will be there to protect you?
