Disclaimer: We do not own Teen Titans or Jackie Chan Adventures.
Betaed by Zim'smostloyalservant
With Thanks to Cylon One.
A Shadow of the Titans
Created by Nocturne no Kitsune
Written by Eduard Kassel
Betaed by Zim'smostloyalservant
Chapter One:
"What Now?"
Or, A Near Miss And The Cost Of Short Fuses
The alley was peaceful, and kind of dirty, deserted and quiet; with a clear blue sky peering down between the buildings, it was just another urban scene. Then it started to get weird.
The sound came first, a bit like someone stepping on bubble wrap while some angry bees buzzed nearby, but more importantly the air in the middle of the alley began to darken, turning a bruised purple color. With a sound like wood breaking a crack appeared in the darkened air, followed by another and another branching out from the first. Any observer would be given the queer sight of looking through the space and seeing through it like a badly cracked window with the segments on the other side not seeming to line up.
The bizarre sight continued as the air bulged, straining against the cracks as something seemed to weigh it down. The cracks widened, multicolored light leaking through, before with a final crack the purple air burst, disgorging its load. A large "drop" of multicolored liquid shined briefly as it fell to the ground, and splattered on impact with the pavement.
The liquid evaporated rapidly in a red steam as the air seemed to heal itself, lightening until it was once again clear while the parts that had fallen away darkened and disintegrated. In about a minute the only evidence that anything had ever been amiss was the girl left lying sprawled on the alley floor, with blue skin, denim shorts and an orange hoody.
Just as someone arrived to bear witness, Jade Chan stirred; the observer held back, watching intently as the entity awakened. Its instruments had detected some sort of discharge in this location and it had per protocol abandoned its patrol to investigate. More in-depth scanning confirmed arcane energy to be rapidly dispersing; the level was estimated to have been dangerously high via calculating rate of dispersal with the energy level present on its arrival.
"Ack, why does everything taste blue?" Jade blearily asked no one as she sat up. She quirked an eyebrow over an ember colored eye as she looked around the alley.
"Huh?" Jade remarked, confused by her surroundings. How did she get here, she wondered?
...The portal! Uncle banished her (again!) with the ill-tempered humorless calamari! But why was she in a city? Surely Uncle didn't banish the demon here?
She put a hand to her aching head, trying to recall anything between seeing the portal rushing towards her and now. She got nothing, but when she opened her eyes again she instantly lost interest in finding puzzle pieces. Below her sleeve was the exposed skin of her arm, which was blue. Holding her hand out away from her head she saw it was also blue, with black fingernails. After confirming this was so with her other hand she reached forward and rolled back her denims, revealing still more smooth blue skin covering her legs.
Rolling her pants leg back down, Jade stood up, guessing without having a mirror to confirm it that her eyes were now red as coals.
"WAAAH!" Jade cried out, demonstrating a very impressive set of lungs. Her observer actually retreated a step and a half, mistakenly believing it had been detected.
"Okay, that's out of the system. So before panicking is there anything else I need to remember?" Jade demanded of herself, covering up her growing agitation with sarcasm.
"The Talismans!" she cried in her head. She hastily padded down herself, trying to locate the three pieces of kick ass she had grabbed for the trip. Gone, oh crap. Then she felt something on her back; naturally she reached over her shoulder, frowning as she searched for the cause. Jade's hand pressed through the cloth, feeling the familiar shape of a talisman just barely peeking out of her body.
Feeling rather numb now, she ran her hands down her front and stopped as she felt something too hard there.
Time to go, no idea where but I need to get moving, Jade decided internally. She was off like a shot, and after a moment's hesitation the Observer took off in pursuit, making the call to cloak itself in order to utilize speed over stealth for the moment. The trash stomped or kicked up by its passage would be the only clues to its presence had anyone else been watching its silent pursuit.
Roughly three minutes after their departure, a gray girl cloaked in blue descended from the sky and perched on one of the buildings overlooking the alley. Her cloak fluttered around her before settling, the white light that had filled her eyes fading to reveal eyes the color of purple grapes sweeping over the ground below.
She had thought she had sensed something, a vague wave of power emitting from this area. But by now the magic had dissipated and while further inspection may have revealed something to the Titan, her brooch began to blink red.
Raven rose back into the sky and departed to face the emergency, unaware of the epic "almost" that had just unfolded.
Jade stopped, leaning with one arm against a wall as she panted. Her panic attack seemed to be receding; another advantage of being her – the traumatic stuff just didn't seem to stick.
"Good thing too, with my lifestyle if I couldn't take it all in stride I'd be bankrupting Jackie with therapy bills," Jade joked to herself.
Alright, so she seemed to be back in blue, but she didn't feel like taking over the world or anything so it may just be appearances this time. Straightening up, she reached inside her mind and called out for the Shadowkhan to come to her.
Jade couldn't tell if she was relieved or disappointed when no one answered her call. She supposed whatever was keeping her sane kept her from doing that trick; maybe it was because the Shadowkhan were now all sealed in the Red Mask? Then again, looking to her leg confirmed no tattoo, curious.
Never mind, more important stuff to worry about, she chided herself. Namely the thing that sent me running, she decided. Closing her eyes she focused on rising as Jade had so many times before. Feeling a small tingle on her stomach she opened her eyes and in surprise kicked in the air, finding herself hovering about six centimeters off the ground.
Relaxing as it had in the past lowered her back to the ground where she easily steadied herself on her feet. Now that that was confirmed she ducked behind a trashcan, a wise move because she was indeed being watched.
Jade pulled up her hoody and the shirt beneath, revealing a blue belly, and the Rooster Talisman imbedded over her navel.
"What the hell?" Jade demanded of the talisman trespassing on her person. She tapped the stone, finding it surprisingly warm and pleasant to the touch, though its surface was as smooth as she remembered it. Not surprising, as it was hardly an ancient talisman since Uncle had recreated the twelve in the process of defeating Shendu.
She remembered the Dragon Talisman having a tendency to sink into users, which came clear of the skin with a strong pull. Jade skimmed the edges of the stone, digging her fingers into her skin to get a better grip on the short edges of the Rooster. Still not satisfied but wanting the thing off of her, Jade gave a tug.
"Gaaaah!" Jade hissed, folding forward and falling on her knees. That hurt, oh man. Not only was pain pulsing from the Rooster, but she also felt a pair of numb spots on her back. She wearily recognized the one near her shoulder as the other Talisman she had felt. The other was near the middle of her back over her spine. As she half expected, some searching with her hands in the hard to reach place revealed another talisman resting in her skin like it had every business being there.
The Observer had de-cloaked to conserve power, and while it had lost visual it continued to monitor power levels for any fluctuation. It had already observed gravity defiance from the entity; the report was appearing more and more promising. It receded deeper into the shadows as the entity emerged, whipping its eyes.
"So, I still have the Talismans, but they somehow got fused onto me. Good news is I still can use them, I guess. Might be why I'm not all evil with another magic here in me. Bad news is doing anything to them causes boatloads of ouch.
"Guess I had better find out where I am, hopefully I can call Jackie and Uncle can see about getting me re-colorized," Jade thought as she walked down the alley.
She looked for a way into the real city out of the back alleys now. True, her appearance was problematic, but she could always fall back on make up or something as an excuse. People were dumb; they wouldn't believe in a blue red-eyed girl, even with one in front of them, she reminded herself. Besides, she was tired, hungry, and not in the mood to wait on account of caution.
Stepping out of an alley onto a sidewalk lit by the midday sun and full of pedestrians Jade took a sigh of relief. While she loved adventure she was a city girl, and the rabble of urban environments was a part of normality in her life. True, she disliked normality, but she was just coming off an adventure so it was okay for now.
Casting about for something to orient herself she saw she was at the crest of a significant hill affording her something of a view of the city. She didn't readily recognize it, but her eyes widened to apple size as she spotted something… well, she didn't have the words for it, her mind shrieking to a halt.
She had a view of the bay from here, and an island her excellent memory for adventure easily recognized as being the residence of Alcatraz – except it wasn't. Someone had replaced the fortress-turned-prison-turned-tourist attraction with a tower built in the shape of a capital T. She knew enough to know even if she was wrong about that island that there was no such tower in any city like this. But here it was, so...
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain, we are not in Kansas anymore," Jade murmured. She stood there standing in a little wedge in the pedestrian traffic as people gave a slightly wider berth than usual to the blue girl.
Later:
Jade was not in a good mood. True to her spite for the damsel in distress tripe she had set to finding stuff out rather than panicking. She had recalled a cartoon where Viridian Beacon (1), after being thrown into another dimension, grabbed a newspaper immediately to see how different it was. She had followed the hero's example and pulled a relatively fresh paper out of the sidewalk trash bin.
Important things she had learned from the front page: One, this was Jump City, a place she never heard of, lending weight to the "other dimension" theory. Two, it was the future some five years ahead of her own time, possibly arguing against the "other dimension" theory. And three, her head was aching and she threw the paper away before reading a headline that would have told her something quite important about the world she was in.
Food was the priority for now; everything was better when approached with a full stomach.
And after that maybe she should duck back into the back alleys; she was feeling rather exposed. People were staring, which she couldn't fully blame them for as a storefront's glass ad confirmed her Shadowkhan-ness. But it wasn't the disbelief, exasperation, or even fear she had expected; it was wariness and a slight but potent feeling of hostility.
Jade considered herself brave and was acknowledged as so by people who knew such things. But this wasn't a single obstacle she could stare down or outwit, it was an atmosphere she felt pressing down on her gradually telling her, "You can stay for now, we are polite here; but please don't be so inconsiderate as to overstay your welcome."
Jade pulled up her hood, hoping for a bit of relief if her face wasn't so easily seen. She took no notice as the shadows in her hood came together and darkened, concealing her face in darkness save for her red eyes shining through. Not exactly an improvement in PR, as people walking toward her recognized those traits as hardly ever a good sign and thus crossed the street away from Jade.
So it was with double relief Jade spotted a hot dog cart, manned by a stereotypical paunchy middle-aged vendor wearing a stupid hat.
"Give me one with everything," Jade requested in her airier than normal voice as she walked up to the man who was just getting paid by a construction worker for a dog. The vendor turned away from the departing customer towards the new customer calling out, a part of him registering the voice as a child he glanced down, and almost stumbled at being met by a pair of glowing red eyes. Thankfully, the girl pulled her hood down and revealed a blue but basically human face.
The vendor calmed some; he didn't like surprises like that even when he was young enough to not worry about his heart. He was no fan of metahumans nor was one of that lot which disliked them – a customer was a customer. So he proceeded to fix the hot dog, piling all the toppings he had on it before holding out his free hand for payment.
Jade rummaged through her various pockets and finally dropped a dollar and a small collection of various coins in the vendor's hand. The man frowned, shifting the change in his hand, counting the total with practiced ease. He handed it back to Jade who looked up at him with confusion clear on her face.
"Five cents short kid," he told her, kicking himself for making the dog first.
"Oh come on, a nickel's nothing! I'm starving here," Jade whined, her stomach growling its agreement. The vendor shook his head and turned away; if he caved every time he heard that one...
"Hey! Don't ignore me! What's five cents, you probably pick up a dollar's worth of change off the sidewalk in a week! Come on already!" Jade insisted, scampering back into the man's line of sight. The smells from the cart was only piquing her appetite and she took no notice of her words slipping into Japanese as her anger grew.(5)
The vendor frowned at the Meta kid now; great, a brat, he thought. Now she was jabbering nonsense at him. And he noticed people were now avoiding his cart, because she was here making a scene.
"Beat it kid, if you're not a customer I've got nothing to say to you," he brushed Jade off, flicking her forehead hoping she would take a hint. She scowled at him and her eyes flashed red.
"Oh crap!" he thought. He hadn't considered what he might be dealing with; he assumed this was just a kid, but... he'd heard stories before of people who crossed supervillains or their flunkies in civvies. She called him something he didn't understand and he wondered if that might be a spell like some of these people used. Starting to sweat, his eyes darted around for some escape, and fell on a policeman walking his beat.
"Officer!" he called out, and was rewarded as the young man in blue's head snapped in their direction.
"Nani?" Jade asked as a cop was called over by the vendor.
"Hey, what's this?" Jade objected to the interference, pointing between the vendor and approaching cop. Her accusing finger was pointing but as her anger rose steam was rising from her other balled fingers.
"What's the trouble sir?" the policeman asked the vendor.
"This brat's threatening me! I think she might have super powers!" the middle-aged man exclaimed, taking a step back from the encounter as the policeman frowned and turned his attention on Jade. He had been taught that, and his experience reinforced, these sorts of situations were usually nothing but exaggeration aided by prejudice; but on the flipside when it wasn't, things could go south faster than you could believe.
"He's full of crap! All I want is lunch!" Jade defended herself in Japanese, pointing at the man and then the cart. With her smoking fist the gesture seemed far from benign.
"Great, I learn Spanish to jump the language barrier, only to run into someone speaking some Asian language," the officer groaned internally. Whatever the case, there was more than complexion at work here, this kid needed to calm down. Taking a step forward he leaned down to reassure her or try to, but Jade had noticed a crowd gathering and the atmosphere spiking with ire directed at her. So what she saw as a sudden invasion of her personal space made her open her hand and release the Dragon blast that had been building.
The hot dog cart exploded in a fiery blast. The vendor fell backward while the cop hit the deck, and the people screamed. Unsurprisingly the cop was the first to pull himself together; unharmed, he stood up and confirmed the damage was just the cart and with a sweeping look checked to see if anyone was hurt. The blue girl was gone, he quickly realized.
Pulling out his communicator, he reported the incident and gave a description of the possible hostile and definite danger. All the while glad it hadn't been worse.
No one noticed a stocky man with a long black beard and workman's overalls, and a Gotham Knights cap jammed on his head, watch the proceedings with interest. Just as no one had noticed he was the only one to not waver when the blast erupted, and a piece of burning meat passed right through his leg, like it wsn't even there, to smolder on the sidewalk. The Observer was content to watch the noteworthy incident unfold and track the entity's escape during the panic. He calmly followed, already resolved to send a report to the Headmaster.
Brother Blood was weighing the pros and cons of Russia. The country had been a veritable criminal utopia in the post-communist era when Yelstin's rule ever faltered and those with money and guns could run rampant, pillaging the corpse of a fallen superpower. The HIVE had set up a branch campus in the country to take part in the vast new market, and it had prospered immensely.
Until recently, with his coup here on the main campus, that is. All things considered, the coup against Headmistress had been a resounding success. After ten years of loyal service and three years of plotting, Brother Blood had achieved what he had planned since he joined the HIVE Faculty thirteen years ago – the post of Headmaster.
The coup had been worth the wait, the main campus achieved in less than an hour, with Headmistress dead and the loyalists crushed in that span with only superficial damage to the facilities and student body. Matters had only been slightly more bloody and costly in five of the Branch Campuses. The exception was Russia, where the Deputy Headmaster running the place had not only survived but also crushed the coup forces there. The infuriatingly clever man tried to go his own way and Blood had to crush him lest the defiance undermine his own new regime.
While he had only minutes ago been delivered the Deputy Headmaster's head and been informed of the Branch Campus' conquest by his forces it was a bitter victory. The Russian Branch was devastated and the assault had also been costly. True the losses were easily absorbed with the empire he now held, but still was it worth the cost of salvaging Russia?
On the one hand it would mean a loss of prestige and it would be difficult to operate in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in depth from the Branches in Calcutta and Paris.
On the other hand the country was not what it had been. Putin was putting the country in order again, breaking out the Kremlin playbooks and even cutting deals with formerly ostracized Soviet Metas to return prestige and professionalism to the state and military. With the West wanting order for their markets and the people wanting a return to order, the Kremlin was advancing slowly but surely in the war on crime.
And there was also the competition to consider; the scent of blood was in the water.
Government or Molina, everyone of relevance would work to keep HIVE Russia from regaining its former glory.
"Best to cut our losses; prestige is not worth having to fight such foes for a prize so dubious," Brother Blood decided aloud. His course resolved with the crisis, he turned his attention to his inbox, which had a red-letter item flashing on his computer. Intrigued at the "P" labeling the file as a prospect he brought up the video file and watched a blue girl with red eyes throw a tantrum that all but destroyed a garbage ridden urban alley.
With a small and sneaky smile Brother Blood rewound the Observer's file to a certain point, then zoomed in with two clicks of the mouse. Yes, he decided, this one was well worth the small risk of approaching. And he thought he had just the student for it; young girls, even if proclaimed rebellious, were drawn to those of their sex with power, and this one would not lightly accept failure if charm and intimidation didn't work.
"Acolyte 42, bring me young Miss Jinx. I have an extra credit assignment for her Metahuman Resources class," Blood spoke into the intercom mounted on his desk.
Reclining in the chair as he waited, he took a moment to bask in achievement. Inside a week he had gone from lieutenant to absolute leader of one of the foremost criminal organizations in the world. Patience paid off, and he had a feeling this was only the first installment to come his way.(3)
"Sigh," Jade went, sitting on the roof ledge, her feet dangling over the side.
"Boy I don't think I've ever sighed this much in my life," she admonished herself halfheartedly. Hanging her head, she looked down into the smoking alley below her. She had taken out her misplaced aggression on innocent garbage and waste receptacles. Okay, and put some holes in the walls. The buildings were abandoned anyway!
She noticed it wasn't really smoking anymore and the smell of burning garbage was much less pronounced. How long had she been sitting up there lost in thought? She glanced to the side and felt her anger spike a bit at the sight of that blasted tower, a middle finger raised to her announcing how deep she was in it this time. As if having her species changed wasn't enough!
It had been, in the immortal words of Jackie Chan, a bad day, bad day, bad day! At least she managed to avoid getting arrested, as ducking back into the alleys, she had discovered another power; when a guy in an apron had come out of the back door of what she guessed was a restaurant carrying a pair of garbage bags, he walked past her without a glance. Confused, she had continued walking, only for him to spot her and flee back into the building when he turned back from the dumpster; what with her eemingly popping up out of nowehere looking like she did.
A little bit of trial had shown she could go chameleon in darkness, or maybe just shadows? Not like the Snake Talisman's cloaking power, she could still see her arm kind of; it was like Predator, only with darkness, she decided. Who says Schwarzenegger movies were unrealistic?
She hadn't seen it as very good news. She wanted no part in Shadowkhan powers after last time. As awesome as they were and however cool having an army at her beck and call – no! Bad Jade, awesomeness out weighed by desire to rule the world.
"Lovely day, isn't it?" someone remarked behind Jade. The Shadowkhan girl popped up into the air and whirled around, and was stopped short by a bizarre sight. Namely a Lolita Goth decked out in black and pink with her hair done up in horns. More importantly, she had gray skin, pink eyes, and pink hair; and something beyond these told Jade she wasn't entirely human.
"What's so good about it?" Jade answered sourly, cocking her head. She knew she had made things worse with the hot dog incident, but that guy had had it coming! Wow, she really needed a chill pill, she thought, a bit surprised by the amount of anger. She chalked it up to hunger, oh and the stress of being banished to an alternate dimension.
Jinx grinned, amused by the kid's attitude, and closed the gap in three bounding dancer steps to rest on top of the roof ledge. Jade recoiled, surprised by the rapid advance, as Jinx put her hands on her hips to look at the destruction below. She gave an impressed whistle, even though she wasn't impressed. In her experience people were easy to manipulate with some flattery, so she would lie through her teeth if she had to if that was what was needed to pass this test.
"Nice handiwork, some new radical environmentalism, war on trash and urban decay?" Jinx chuckled, turning to face Jade. The blue girl frowned at the newcomer; being mocked was something she never took lightly.
"The wall spat on me, so I hit back. One thing kind of led to another," Jade threw out there, referring to the wall pipe that had spewed all over her and triggered the destruction below.
"Hmm, and what did all those hot dogs do to you?" Jinx asked, finding this more fun than expected. Jade's flaring temper kept her from wondering how the Goth girl knew about that.
"That guy had it coming, it was just a nickel!" Jade bellowed, her hands sparking. Jinx resisted the urge to step back; she wasn't exactly afraid, but it was always best to be cautious around people with powers that make things go boom.
"No argument here. Congress can pass all the laws they like, it doesn't change the fact that Normals hate Metas and always will," Jinx shrugged. She would try playing the empathy hand, half-truths and all that.
"Metas?" Jade asked, lowering herself back to the ledge, looking up at the other girl. Jinx had anticipated this; the girl was listed as possibly off-worlder or time-traveler.
"Metas – used to be short for Metahuman, humans with abilities that makes them more than human. Nowadays it covers most things that are almost but not quite human, and species and machines that are close enough to have some kind of claim. It isn't really spelled out anywhere I think.
"Anyway I'm a quarter fey and I'm loaded up with magic," Jinx explained. She held out her left hand and gathered a ball of her energy for a second before letting it dissipate.
"I'm from another dimension," Jade volunteered before realizing what she was doing. Curse you hunger for my loose lips, Jade raged internally.
"Wow, I've heard of that but I've never actually met one from the other side of the veil. The name's Jinx by the way, I don't think I caught your name," the super villain-in-training offered. Jade narrowed her eyes, studying the girl; she didn't know if she could trust this girl, but she probably had some limited options after the hot dog incident.
"That's cause I haven't said it," Jade remarked to the gray Goth. Jinx smirked; she liked the attitude, and it was cute in this kid, in a creepy way too.
"Well Blue Girl(6), I would like to extend an invite, to an organization that specializes in helping people like us prosper and generally do well in the world despite society's shortcomings," Jinx announced grandly, stepping down from the ledge to roof top. Jade frowned at the girl; on the one hand it was rarely a good idea to answer that kind of invite. But if it did turn shady she could always Talisman her way out. Her stomach growled, offering its own question.
"Meal plan provided, plus room," Jinx volunteered, suppressing a snicker at the bodily function.
"Alright then, Jinx, lead the way," Jade conceded as the other girl's face lit up. Jade had the feeling she was jumping straight from one adventure to another. Which would be awesome once she got some sleep and some chow in her, she decided.
For now she followed Jinx as the girl flipped off the roof to land gracefully on the pavement below. Jade descended slower, levitating down and following Jinx at eye level with the other girl. The two soon vanished into the darkness of Jump City.
Author's Notes:
1). Jade will not be familiar with the DCU, for the sake of this story the Chan-verse does not have the collection of superheroes we know and love, or love to hate and hate to know. Their comics and movies have similar but different characters, so while Jade knows the super hero super villain set up she won't know any of these heroes or villains.
2). This is Dark Jade but it will be slower in getting to the dark parts. Hopefully all the sweeter for the slow build up.
3). This is AU for the Titans-verse, and the plot outline is already done so if you have chronology arguments they have likely been thought over already. So while you are free to point out a divergence it is quite likely it will not be changed because it is part of the plan.
4). That being said constructive criticism is always welcome. If you have a suggestion or feel some sort of editing is needed say so. I would rather hear concern or doubts than only praise or worse, silence. The reviews are not compliment boxes anything sort of flames is welcome.
5). Italics are for when characters are speaking something other than English and I am too lazy or ignorant to properly translate said dialogue.
6). Don't worry Jade will get a cool, and somewhat misleading, villain name. Nocturne and I went though quite a few names before agreeing on one.
7). I was planning on updating SSG before this, and the next chapter of that crossover is nearing completion. But I have had this ready for days, and I decided it was just being silly to hold back when it might take another week to polish off the next SSG chapter. Sorry to fans of that story, its coming slowly but surely.
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