"The Fullmetal Titan"
By cdc100
Summary: Edward Elric is a new resident at Jump City. When the city is in danger, the Teen Titans must turn to the Fullmetal Alchemist for help.
Disclaimer: This is a work of pure non-profit fan fiction. I do not own any of the characters, their weapons, their abilities, or any of their universes, nor do I own any of the lyrics that will appear in later chapters, or any of the products mentioned in the story such as Coca-Cola, or Playstation.
Chapter Three
"Villains Unite?"
The Titans arrived back at the Tower, and sat in the main room. They were about to review what they had learned about Edward Elric.
"Okay, team. We've just surveyed Edward Elric for one whole day. What have we learned? Let's take turns. Cyborg, you're up first."
Cyborg nodded and cleared his throat.
"In his apartment…" he plugged a jack from his arm into the computer, and punched a few buttons, "I found drawings and posters of these…" he indicated the strange circles with patterns inside them, "… on the wall. These circles all have a specific shape inside them, some of which are repeated. The circles sometimes even overlap other circles, and inside a few of the circles, I found Greek and Latin letters, and what look like equations. Now, this would lead me to assume that he's into the occult, and that he's somewhat of a mathematician. Although, I have to admit, I don't remember seeing any occultist signs that have a heptagon, a hexagram, or twin triangles within a circle. Also, I found a few books scattered all over the place. One of them was titled Modern Chemistry and the Sciences Preceding It."
"Beast Boy, it's your turn," said Robin.
Beast Boy stood up and stretched before doing his part.
"When Elric left Wayne Enterprises, I followed him first as a butterfly."
"A butterfly?" asked Raven.
"Let's face it. There's nothing unusual about a green butterfly."
Cyborg shrugged.
"He's got a point."
"Did it ever occur to you guys that I might have something useful to say?!" asked Beast Boy, shutting Cyborg and Raven up.
"Anyway, he turned around once, and somehow noticed me. He stuck his finger out, and I perched on it. He had kind of a brief one-ended conversation with me, about how he was a drifter, 'like me,' he said. He also said that he had no idea how he was going to make it back home. He seemed kind of sad, and maybe even homesick. After that, I didn't hear much else out of him."
"Okay," said Robin. "That at least tells us what his objectives are. Raven, any input?"
Raven stood from her place on the sofa.
"We had a short conversation about where he came from and what he does for work at Wayne Enterprises. He says that he experiments with fuels."
"Judging by what I saw at the lab, probably just a cover story," said Robin.
"We talked about his home, but he never mentioned specifically where he came from, just that it was expensive to go back, and would probably cost a lot more than he had to offer. He would smile quite a bit, but I could tell by his aura that it was just a mask to hide his sadness."
"Okay, Starfire. Your report?"
"As you all know, I had been wearing one of Cyborg's hologram generators. When I approached the Elric, he did the gawking at me. He said that I looked like someone he knew. He said that that person helped him replace something that he had lost. I was not sure if he meant that he had lost a material possession or not. He seemed the sad when I spoke with him."
Robin cleared his throat, and began speaking.
"When I looked inside the lab, I found that he had been experimenting with mainly non-explosive powders, distilled liquids, and salts. I did find some weapons in the containment room, but they weren't anything dangerous. All I managed to find was a sword and a spear. I'm sorry that I led you guys on a wild goose chase. I just thought that he might be dreaming up something bad."
"Don't worry about it, man," said Cyborg.
"If I were the team leader, I'm sure I would've done the same thing, Robin," said Raven.
"Yeah, no problemo, dude."
"No problemo indeed," said Starfire. She then assumed a confused look. "Please, what is meant by this 'wild goose chase?' We did not chase after any wild migratory birds."
Robin chuckled.
"When someone is on a wild goose chase, it basically means they're chasing after something that can't be found. Anyway, after all that's happened today, I think we could all use a few hours of relaxation. Why don't we all go out for pizza? I'll buy."
Beast Boy's and Cyborg's eyes immediately lit up.
"Dude! That was so totally worth it! You should take us on wild goose chases more often!"
Beast Boy sprinted to the door while Cyborg stayed behind.
"Uh… any chance we could order separate pizzas? There's no way I'm eating a vegetarian pizza."
"I think I have enough that we can each have our own."
"Sweet!" exclaimed Cyborg as he ran out the door after Beast Boy.
"You shouldn't have done that," said Raven.
"Probably not," replied Robin.
The Titans crowded around their usual table at the pizzeria. Each member ordered their own personal pizza and were chomping away at it. Starfire was the first to finish hers. Eventually, however, she was not the only one, and everyone was sitting at their seats, rubbing a full stomach, or in Starfire's case, full nine stomachs. Since it wasn't a necessity for them to return to the tower, they decided to stay out and socialize for a while.
"Dude, I'm telling you, tofu aliens are much scarier than werewolves," said Beast boy. This earned him the customary swat on the back of the head from Raven.
"Sometimes the echo I hear inside your empty head is deafening," she said, flatly.
Robin was the only one who hadn't said a word since he finished his pizza.
"Robin, what is the matter?" asked Starfire.
"It's still that kid. I know we've already had the discussion of his threat to society, or lack thereof, but I still can't shake the feeling that somehow, we're going to cross paths with him for good or bad. Does that make any sense?"
"You have a 'gut feeling,' am I correct?" asked the alien.
"Yeah," replied the boy wonder. "Hey, wait a sec. Look over there!"
He looked over the balcony toward a distant building, and all of the Titans looked in the direction he was pointing. In that direction, there were people running about. They looked like they were running away from something.
"Cyborg, can you get a closer look at the situation?" asked Robin, shifting into leader mode.
Cyborg used his cybernetic left eye to zoom in on the situation. He saw Cinderblock trashing the freeway.
"That's our cue," said Robin. "Titans, go!"
He jumped on the R-Cycle, and sped away, Beast Boy and Cyborg piled into the T-Car and jetted after him, and the girls followed them by flight.
When they arrived at the scene, they confronted Cinderblock.
"Hey, Cinderblock!" yelled Beast Boy. "Don't you know it's bad to destroy your own kind?" he asked, pointing at the pavement.
Robin jumped on top of Cinderblock and began thrashing at him with his weapons. Cinderblock swung at him, but missed. Robin jumped off of Cinderblock and threw three explosive discs at his upper body, which blew to bits on contact, subduing Cinderblock. Starfire's eyes began to glow bright green and she started to fire Starbolts from her hands. Cinderblock was getting dizzy from trying to avoid them. Beast Boy transformed into a triceratops and charged into him, but Cinderblock caught him by the horns and pole vaulted Beast Boy over his head. Beast boy hit the ground hard and turned back into human form.
"How many times have we fought this guy and we still have a hard time with it?" he asked.
The others weren't paying attention, as they were too busy trying to fend off Cinderblock. Cyborg charged up his laser cannon, and Raven began chanting her spell. Raven lifted Cinderblock off the ground, and Cyborg fired a blast from his cannon. Starfire fired starbolts from her eyes at the back of Cinderblock's head.
Robin was just about to pull out his bo staff, but before he managed to extend it, he was kicked in the back; by what, he didn't see until he got back up. It was Red X.
"Hey there, kid."
"Red X?" asked Beast Boy. "Since when does he work with Cinderblock?"
"We're working new angles," said Red X. "Cinderblock. We've got what we came for. Now, let's go."
As he said this, Gizmo, Mammoth, Seemore, and an octet of Billy Numerous came out of a building near the fight, each of them carrying several crates of xenothium.
"That can't be good," said Beast Boy.
"After them!" yelled Robin, but before he could make a move, they were all pinned down by a huge layer of sludge, left behind by the mutant blob, Plasmus. This kept the Titans busy for several minutes, giving the villains just enough time to escape. The enormous glob of ooze began to glow bright orange. In moment, the glowing portion of the ooze exploded, revealing a glob-covered Robin. Cyborg fired off a charge from his cannon, taking care of the ooze covering him. Raven used her telekinesis to lift what was covering her off. Starfire fired off the biggest starbolt she could muster off. Beast Boy's head was the last to pop out.
"I am so sick and tired of getting buried by that stuff!"
"I agree," said Starfire, wringing some of the grime out of her hair. "I too feel the sickness and the tiredness that comes with fighting Plasmus."
The team heard a retching sound coming from the other side of the street. Cyborg had run over to a trashcan in an alleyway, and was vomiting.
"I'm sorry!" he yelled. "I've had to keep myself from throwing up after fighting Plasmus too many times!"
Robin let out a frustrated chuckle.
"Take your time, Cyborg!" he yelled. "Okay… We're all exhausted, why don't we all, as soon as Cyborg's done, go home and take showers?"
"I'm all for that," said Beast Boy, running to join Cyborg by the dumpster.
"In the meantime…" said Raven, "what do you think they stole all that xenothium for?"
"Normally, I would say that they stole it to power Red X's suit, but then, why would he need help to steal it?" asked Robin.
"Please, may we continue this after we return to the tower? I wish to wash this grime off of me."
Robin shook some of the grime off his cape, and mounted the R-Cycle.
"Let's go…" he said.
The girls followed Robin, while Cyborg and Beast Boy made their way to the T-Car.
"Man…" said Beast Boy, "Those guys owe me a cheese pizza…"
He and Cyborg jumped into the T-Car and drove after Robin and the girls.
When the Titans returned to the tower, they were finally able to clean off the remnants of Plasmus left on them. When they were all satisfied with their cleanliness, they returned to the living room where they strategized.
"Okay, what do we know about the people that we saw today?"
"We know that Mammoth, Billy Numerous and Gizmo all belong to the H.I.V.E. Academy, but after I defeated Brother Blood, the Academy collapsed," said Cyborg.
"We know that Cinderblock and Plasmus sometimes work for Slade, and sometimes they're freelancers," said Raven.
"And, we know that Red X is always a freelancer," said Beast Boy.
"Which makes what happened today all the more unusual," said Robin.
Cyborg scratched the organic side of his head.
"You think it's possible that the H.I.V.E. rebuilt itself?" he asked.
"You know," said Robin, "when Slade came back to life, I learned something: Anything is possible. And I think that it's possible that-"
Before Robin could finish his sentence, a siren sounded, signaling a break-in, or an attempt at one. They all ran down to the door, and Robin hit the "open" button.
"Titans, get ready," said Robin.
The door opened, revealing a tall man wearing a suit of armor. This armor had tooth-shaped carvings on the helmet, spikes on the shoulders, a loincloth, and a long plume coming out of the back of the head.
"What the-?!" began Cyborg.
"Who are you?" asked Robin.
The man scratched the back of his head with his right gauntlet. When he spoke, the Titans were surprised.
"Are you guys the Teen Titans?" asked the voice of a boy who sounded to be about ten or eleven.
To Be Continued…