Disclaimer: It is with a great many ruffles and flourishes I proclaim . . .What? Blast it would seem I still do not own either Teen Titans or Jackie Chan Adventures.
Betaed by: Zim'smostloyalservant
A Shadow of the Titans:
Written by
Nocturne no Kitsune
Eduard Kassel
Chapter Four:
"Niche"
Everyone Has a Role
The canteen was bustling in the new blood that was currently sampling its wares. The small bar was tucked away in the bowels of the HIVE, allowing students to indulge, without compromising security by leaving the facility. That's why the faculty tolerated it; for the students, in addition to booze, it provided a more private place to discuss things in neutral ground. At the moment, it was serving more as a place of disorderly conduct, as some new inductees celebrated their ways off their stools and a teenage boy with overly tanned skin dressed like a mountain climber's volume increased erratically.
In the midst of these events, doing their level best to ignore them, the top team of the HIVE sat in conference in a corner booth.
"Alright Jinx, what's so important you couldn't email," Gizmo demanded, fuming slightly as he squirmed in his seat. The tiny tech genius hated this place as much as some students loved it. Mammoth was more at ease stuffing a handful of pretzels into his mouth. Jinx rolled her eyes at the two of them as she propped her elbows on the polished table.
"Well I guess there's no sense keeping you two from much needed beauty sleep. I've asked the Headmaster for Zhu Chan as an addition to our team," Jinx told them. Mammoth's eyes widened and he stopped chewing, blindsided by this. Gizmo, on the other hand, had his jaw drop before it clamped shut as his face twisted into anger. Standing on the seat he slammed his hands onto the table.
"What the hell! ? We don't need some rookie cramping our style! We're elites, not babysitters!" Gizmo declared, his outrage reddening his face. Jinx sighed, glancing to the side; it wasn't like she hadn't expected this. After all, she'd had similar thoughts when she had been assigned to look after the blue girl initially.
"Yes, we're the best of the HIVE, but what does that even mean anymore?" Jinx answered with her own question. Swallowing, Mammoth smiled, knowing the answer to this question.
"It means we're badasses," Mammoth answered smugly. Jinx scowled at him and he went from his best danger grin to confusion at the sudden hostility.
"The most asses we've been seeing are the ones the Titans keep handing to us. When we first fought them we beat them hands down, then they out maneuvered us for a win. But at least then they had to work for it. Ever time we fight them we loose; they get better and we become a recurring annoyance!" Jinx growled out. Her fists balled as she resisted the urge to get to her feet.
"What are you talking about? We still get plenty of loot, and we wouldn't still be the top students if they thought we were washouts," Gizmo was genuinely confused now.
"I'm not talking about money; yes, we turn a profit in spite of the Titans, but that's getting away with some of the money despite losing the fight, or avoiding them all together," Jinx stressed, trying to make them see the obvious.
"As long as the job gets done," Mammoth shrugged. Now Jinx's eye began to twitch and the two boys both knew stuff could start breaking at any moment. Jinx let out a breath, calming herself as the idiot in the coat bellowed about a fight he had with some guy. When she spoke, it was with clearly forced calm.
"The most determined enemy of better is 'good enough'," Jinx stated, clearly quoting something. She drummed her fingers on the table, hoping the rhythmic beat on the wood would help her spell it out in words they could understand.
"It's not about money, it's about reputation. We graduate either to work as our own villains paying the HIVE back for our education with cuts of takes, or we get our contracts bought by big shots. I don't intend to be paying off student loans for the next decade while trying to build an operation from nothing. If we are going to get noticed by the right people, in a good way, we need something worth mentioning to our names.
"Zhu Chan isn't a rookie; she may be new in town, but she's got power and skills. Not to mention focus – she's been blowing off all the social stuff to focus on the work. She could be just what we need to mix it up with the Titans big time again, and at least four against five makes better odds. The fact she's already getting good ink doesn't hurt either," Jinx explained. The witch had other reasons, but those weren't for these two to know. Or anyone else as far as Jinx was concerned.
"Heh, so long as she pulls more weight than she brings and doesn't bother me more than you two," Mammoth acquiesced easily enough, returning to his pretzels. Gizmo was frowning again and crossed his arms, showing he still had a piece to say.
"I don't like it; we don't need another magical girl. Much less a dimensional bumpkin with combustion issues," Gizmo stated firmly. Jinx wove her hands together and rested her chin on them, smiling as she fixed her pink cat eyes on the small inventor. Gizmo gulped, finding the expression creepy in an "I need an adult" way.
"Well, as team leader it's my call, not yours. Besides, who would you pick?" Jinx pointed out sweetly. Scowling harder, Gizmo sat back down; after all, he couldn't answer that as he regarded most everyone as useless.
"AND THEN HE STARTS TO WHINE LIKE A LITTLE GIRL BABY!" the oaf at the bar cranked it up a notch as he swung an empty bottle around for emphasis. Jinx and Gizmo both cringed at the invasive sound, while Mammoth gave no signs of caring.
"Seriously, I would pay to shut that guy up. Anyway, it's up to Blood if we get her; apparently he wants to feel the new students out before assigning teams, or something like that," Jinx griped. Gizmo nodded in agreement. Then he caught sight of something and went on guard, prompting Jinx to turn in her seat…
And see Gadjo staring down at her, grinning in a way that made her feel as uncomfortable as Gizmo just had. He was leaning on the booth end, towering over the teenagers as Mammoth planted both hands on the table.
"How much?" he asked, still smiling.
"What?" Jinx answered dumbly, leaning away from him as he leaned down, invading her personal space.
"To shut him up?" Gadjo clarified, moving his head to indicate the loud drunk they had been complaining about. Suddenly understanding, the circuits in her head started to fire.
"Twenty bucks?" Jinx suggested. Gadjo frowned and Jinx got ready to spring back and blast the imposing villain.
"Twenty-five," Gadjo demanded. Jinx nodded and sighed as he withdrew from her space. She was about to say something to make light of it to Gizmo when the sound of wood splitting under impact broke through the revelry. They turned to the bar, save for Mammoth who had watched the whole thing, as Gadjo took his large hand off the back of the offending student's head. It was mostly out of sight, the bulk buried in the ruptured surface of the bar, which the new HIVE student had slammed it through.
Without a word, Gadjo walked back to their booth and held out that same hand. Thinking fast, she pulled the money out and slapped it into the waiting palm.
"Pleasure doing business," Gadjo smiled – it seemed genuine – before turning and walking out of the bar, stuffing the money in a pocket.
'Note to self, avoid that guy,' Jinx told herself, as someone asked if the idiot was dead. Soon enough the possible corpse's wallet was stolen and celebration began anew in that little corner of the HIVE.
Meanwhile, Zhu Chan's Quarters:
Jade sighed heavily, looking down at the notebook in front of her as she tapped the pencil back and forth on her table. It had been a fast day, yet slow in its own right, and it was already nighttime once more. At least, she thought it was nighttime, as she glanced at the numbers floating in mid-air thanks to the table. She had already discovered that it was a bit more then it seemed, and the holographic clock was just the start. She had to admit that while not pretty her room was quite decked out.
It was her second day at the HIVE, not counting the Practical Entrance Exam. Her first day was just getting a more in-depth tour of the HIVE, once again by Jinx, who seemed to be in a much better mood. Still hadn't told her the "good news" yet, saying it was a surprise once she started classes, but she had shoved a wad of hundred dollar bills into her hand with a smirk.
For some reason, the money had just felt dirty looking at that smirk. Knowing where it came from didn't help either, although she was grateful that her luck apparently held out even if she was supposedly playing for the other team now. She at least had money to buy anything she could get away with not stealing.
Today had consisted of getting familiar with classes, knowing which classes taught what, and what was expected in each one. Flipping the pencil up into the air before catching and balancing it on her nose, she made a half-hearted glare at the paperwork she was making a point of ignoring as long as possible, before sighing and letting the pencil drop off into her hand. Once again, she looked down at the notebook and addressed it in a dejected tone.
"Ya know, you're not really helping here either. You're supposed to be filling up with ideas how to get me home and out of this place, and maybe back in my own skin."
The notebook was silent; not like Jade expected otherwise. Paper didn't normally talk, and if it did then you either had a miracle or a problem on your hands. For her, it was normally the latter, so she was in a way thankful it didn't.
After today, she had decided to sit down and before anything else figure out what she was going to do to get home. So far, she wasn't doing well, and the process seemed to include a lot of sighing. So, she leaned back to think to herself out loud.
"Ok, so just brainstorming it ain't working. Maybe I should just work my way from the start to now? Now, this started when…"
Jade started writing, mostly just technical details. Pretty soon, she had a fairly thorough detailing on just what had happened to her. Of course, she left out the details. There was no way she was going to let anyone figure out more about her then she wanted. Either way, by the time she was finished Jade was faced with a pretty plain picture that left her exasperated.
"Just great. Magic brought me here, so best bet is magic is going to be what gets me back. So I can either wait for Uncle to figure it out, find someone to help me, or…"
She blinked as she had a realization.
"Or I can do it. Can't be too hard right? I know some magic already from watching Uncle and those times I peeked at the spellbooks. If there is magic here, then I bet they have people who can teach me, or might be willing to part with a thing or two. I piece together what I know with what I can find out, and be home in half the time! But first, what do I know exactly?"
At that point, Jade started to frantically write down everything she could remember of chi magic, from Uncle's chant to the ingredients and potions for everything she could think of, even to the point of the flower spell she had inadvertently created trying to make the spell for a demon banishing. But when she was finished and took a moment to examine what she had, she was sorely disappointed.
She had barely filled up more then three pages with her rushed scrawl, and even then it was pointless stuff mostly. The mentioned flower spell was always a handy bit of firepower she had to admit, and she could always try to make the sleep potion into something useful in the fight, but what in the world was she going to use an enlarging spell for? Or a duplication spell? She guessed that if she had to be cliché, she could always pull the thing from Hyper Rangers and use the enlarging thing on a monster, but why would she do that?
"Gah! This stuff is useless! How can I say I know magic when this stuff barely counts as cantrips from some cheap geek game? !"
She slumped face first into the book and grumbled, before getting up with a scowl. She slammed the notebook shut, and looking at the blank cover she grabbed a marker.
"At least I can make a bit of fun at my expense. Lets see…"
Ornately as she could, which was not very, she wrote the words "The Jade Spellbook" on the cover, before tossing the book on her bed and went into the kitchen grumbling.
She decided to get some sleep; the morning would come soon enough and school would be in.
Morning:
Breakfast was held in the same food court she had used previously. Even aside from the outfits and strange looking people, it wouldn't really pass for a real school cafeteria. Oh, there were the usual cliques, complaints, and the odd student ignoring their food to cram or scribble away at a due assignment. But more prominently, you had showoffs demonstrating a power or gadget. Magic cliques with their stuff spread out arguing over stuff, and she saw Gizmo actually interacting with some techies, animatedly discussing some blueprints taking up a table. Also, unlike the public school system, there was a certain 'zeal' to the students, Jade concluded.
Another thing to add to the list was Jade Chan, or rather Zhu Chan, working to sit alone. Something she had tried to avoid at home, where friends were something desired but oh so difficult to obtain. Yet now that she didn't want attention, she got it. Uncle talked about karma…
She noticed a fishy looking student, not suspicious but an actual fish mutant thing, reading a newspaper and recalled the source of her social woes.
"New Menace Battles Titans!" the headline that Jinx had sent her with ruffles and flourishes had read. Not only did her double knockout of Robin, the leader of the city's heroes, make her a "major threat", but they'd even included the hot dog incident as a sign of Jade being a danger to the public in general. Of course, they didn't mention that the "good people of Jump" made her feel as welcome as the plague, the skinflint vendor, or the patronizing attitude of the Titans. It was all "blue girl bad!"
This sucked; making nice with the Titans would be much more difficult after blowing up their leader. And knocking the rest of them around a bit hadn't helped, though a small part of her took a little glee in actually holding her own with something out of her comic books. Still, she was confident in a few months she would be laughing about that in their Tower. In the meantime, the press – along with her test – made Zhu Chan an object of interest to the student body.
She had actually turned down invitations to sit with people! And now she was starting to think people were labeling her an antisocial jerk, as well as a villain, for doing that. Skewering the pancake on her plate, Jade stuffed half of her syrup soaked delicacy into her mouth, and chewed mutinously.
"A healthy appetite as usual," Jinx commented, stopping next to Jade, holding a tray of toast and jam. Zhu glared at her, which was rather amusing with her blue cheeks puffed out by half chewed pancake.
"Still the loner, eh? Maybe you should hang together with other loners?" Jinx suggested. She gestured with her chin to an otherwise empty table where Gadjo was presiding over a plate of clean picked bones, eating an apple pie. Not sliced up either, he was taking big bites out of a whole pie.
"I didn't know they served pie for breakfast," Zhu commented.
"Neither did the staff," Jinx snickered. Jade joined in before she caught herself, imagining refusing the tough psycho his demands for food. The warning bell went off; Jade sighed and made to stab her last pancake, only to discover her fork was missing its bristles. That explained the crunchy parts. Sadly, Jinx noticed.
"Well someone's getting enough minerals in their diet," Jinx stated, barely holding back a laugh.
"Oh, shut up, I usually use chopsticks," Jade half lied. Maybe she should switch to chopsticks; it was the second time she had done that. Wood would probably be easier on her stomach.
Later:
Jade grumbled as she strode down the corridors of the HIVE, the demerit for falling asleep in class sitting atop the stack of textbooks and folders she was carrying. If anyone was at fault it was that old bag of bones – who else could make the History of Villainy as boring as… math? Jade tried to grasp for something more boring before she realized that the light crowd of students around her had dispersed.
Had she taken a wrong turn? No, she recognized it as the path to her next class, Infiltration 208. Where was everyone?
Her answer came when she heard someone walking behind her. She turned and saw none other than Susano walking down the deserted corridor. He was looking much better, though the area of his face between his eyes and mouth was still wrapped in bandages. To his left, a teenage girl was floating, her near transparency and her ethereal tail below the waist declaring her to be a ghost, or something of the like. Her clothes were ragged, but once aristocratic from the look, her hair black and floating around as if in water, and a sutra, the only solid thing on her, covered her face.
Feeling eyes on her back, Jade turned and was not too surprised to see a short, but taller than her, red monster with oversized teeth, small horns on its bald head and a pitchfork in its hands. Some stereotypical monster she quickly dismissed; the ghost was more impressive.
"Vermin," Susano greeted, walking up to her. He reached behind his back and pulled out his storm staff. 'Hammer space,' Jade wondered?
"You're looking better," Jade put on a brave face, not liking to have to turn her back on the monster to face him. Susano scowled at the remark, but it was fleeting as he assumed a neutral expression.
"You have a great deal of arrogance, when your very existence is vulgar," Susano stated. Jade's eyes narrowed, her fists clenching at the insult, barely noticing the ghost floating to her left, cutting off the door that offered a possible route of escape.
"What the hell is your problem? !" Jade demanded, speaking her mind. Susano smirked, the monster also joining in, and the ghost… well the paper pressed on her face made it hard to tell.
"You are, obviously, or are you so stupid you depend on curs to save your miserable existence?" Susano asked, shifting his staff in his grip.
"HEEEEK!" the Ghost shrieked through the sutra page. Everyone's attention shifted to it and the man who had emerged from the men's room behind it.
"Am I interrupting?" Gadjo asked as he wiped his hands off using the ghostly tail of the Asian specter. Hissing, the specter sprouted reddish claws and reared back to surely do something horrible to him. Gadjo casually tightened his grip on the tail and swung the specter like a whip. She slammed into the floor with a thud, face first.
"You know those air dryers never quite do the job," Gadjo remarked, tossing the twitching tail aside. Jade was wondering how you grabbed a ghost, but this guy could shrug off mass electrocution, so maybe logic was best not applied here.
"You don't think I've forgotten," Susano rumbled, the corridor shaking with a thunderclap.
"I wouldn't be surprised, he did beat the tar out of you," Jade slipped. Drat! This place must be getting to her; being on this guy's hit list she did not need.
"Oh, you want to finish Lightning Bug?" Gadjo asked, glancing to Susano. They both heard pounding feet and turned to see the red monster vanish around a corner. Susano looked fit to burst, glaring after his treacherous teammate and turning the gaze on the unconscious one.
His anger was insufficient to either revive or recall his teammates, so Susano – sparing a look that he no doubt wished could kill – stomped down the corridor. Jade sighed with relief, but warily saw Gadjo turn his attention to her.
"Thanks for the back up," Jade nodded her head. The guy was a psycho, but she wasn't, and this was definitely a case were thanks were in order.
"Don't, it was fate I was here, and I wouldn't have done anything if he'd been man enough to fight right," Gadjo waved the gratitude off. Jade assumed he wasn't approving of ganging up on people; great a villain with twisted honor, which following story logic probably made him better than most in a fight. She almost squeaked when he strode up to look down at her, rising a few centimeters off the ground in reaction as he towered over her.
"It seems fate wants to keep throwing us together. I wonder, will we be comrades? Will I kill you, or perhaps you will kill me? Whatever, this will fun," Gadjo laughed as Jade backed up into a thin shadow along the wall.
"You know, Susano will try and kill you if you keep pushing him," Jade tried to change the subject. Gadjo stopped laughing and fixed her with a glint in his eyes. It occurred to her that may have been a mistake.
"So what? Everyone dies; long as I have fun I don't care.
"Are you afraid to die, Little Shadow?" Gadjo asked as he advanced on her. His shadow fell over her, more oppressive than comforting, but she still had the shadow from the wall. She reached out and was shocked to find her hand going through into some goop.
Gadjo blinked as the red eyes winked out before him; his gut told him she wasn't hiding. She left? The shadow certainly looked normal again. Without shifting his stance, his left foot lashed out, striking the wall and denting the metal with a dull clang.
"Gone," Gadjo nodded, pleased to confirm his gut instinct.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" one of the metal men asked him. He had heard it coming, and he still didn't care.
"Probably," he answered. Without turning to face it he walked away, smiling at the newest wrinkle in his puzzle.
Three Days Later:
Jade pulled the shadows thickly around her as she floated through the empty bank. Fortunately, the closed bank had plenty of darkness already, and the few lights cast enough shadows that with some effort she was able to hide herself in the darkness. The sensors she had been warned about in the floor and walls were no worry to her, bypassing them with the Rooster in her belly was cake.
The big problem had been the huge vault door in front of her. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the Vault, but unlike that heist she had no way of opening it quietly. It was a time lock as well; after business hours, even if you knew the code it wouldn't open. She could cut through it with her eyes, or blast it in with her fire blasts, but she wouldn't.
During breakfast, she had been approached by one of those Acolyte robots and taken to Blood's office. Basically he felt it was time she showed her stuff solo with a crime, demonstrate how well she was learning. Frankly, Jade felt she had learned little to help her at the HIVE so far; it was more course works and projects than daily assignments, with lectures thrown in, medium and long term stuff. You don't really have standardized tests for evil.
Anyway, Blood had given Zhu some choices on what to do and where to do it. And so here she was.
She was out to pull a Viper, not some cliché supervillain bank heist. She had been called on to do a crime, and she wasn't yet feeling up to making nice with the Titans. They may still be smarting from her tantrum. But you do not say no to the big bad when he tells you to bring him money. So here she was.
This had been her first choice for three reasons. One, no people to get hurt. Two, she could hopefully do this on the sly without lowering her reputation further. And thirdly, among the listed valuables within was a deposit box containing mystic books owned by a collector. A long shot, but any progress at furthering her magic was good at this point.
Now she just needed to pull off her magic trick.
Painting herself like a human with sunglasses and accidentally getting where she wasn't supposed to be had been embarrassing. She had acted like a scared brat when caught to avoid suspicion; destroying the security tape was her first act on breaking in. No evidence of that could be allowed to survive, and she was already blocking the memory.
But her sacrifice had not been in vain. She had gotten an all-important look into the open vault. Now it was just a matter of…
Holding out two fingers, she just barely didn't touch the steel door, the darkness deepening beneath the fingertips. Depressing her fingers, they passed into the darkness, enlarging it. Her hand passed after them into the 'warm sticky steam' she had come to associate with shadow travel. It was an odd combination of pleasant and unpleasant. Deciding to get it over with, she floated the rest of the way in; not realizing the cameras could see her own shadow on the floor and the darkness swirling over the door.
In a tower, people in costumes started to beep.
Shortly:
Jade felt herself emerge from the shadows – which was the only way she knew, since it was pitch black inside the vault. Her night vision had improved immensely, but there was simply no light in this reinforced box. But lo and behold the miracle of the flashlight, Jade grinned as she touched down on the floor and drew the flashlight. The beam of illumination let her see everything more or less clearly.
Now to find the books and fill her second sack with goodies to sate Brother Blood.
Meanwhile:
Cyborg watched the screen on the lock go fuzzy before the code began to play out. He had already bypassed the time lock function; they were going to pop this open and see what kind of cream filling they had here. The bank manager had already given the nod, preferring a breach of policy to twiddling thumbs during a break in.
Of course there was no guarantee the perp hadn't already left, but they hadn't seen anything on the other cameras. As the code clicked in, Cyborg stepped back to take his place with the other Titans as the door swung open.
In the vault:
Books now carefully packed inside one bag, Jade took to filling the other with what she needed to appease Blood and get the passing marks she needed on her "test". Internally, she snorted at the idea. She might have a slightly looser than what was probably socially acceptable grasp of the rules, and therefore law, but Jade was no crook. Or at least, she was not supposed to be. This whole "test" thing just itched to blast someone deserving, preferably Blood.
Either way, she shook her head, causing the flashlight held between her teeth to blink back and forth rapidly as she cleared her thoughts. She also heard a small crack from said flashlight and cursed herself and her now unnaturally sharp teeth under her breath. Setting the bag to the side for the moment, she let the slightly damp end of the flashlight drop into her hand, and from the dim reflection of light of the metal of the safe was able to make out the large and visible crack. With a grumble, she took to instead holding it in one and decided that her control over the Rooster needed more practice anyways.
She was in the process of quickly emptying the deposit boxes one by one with telekinetic precision practice when she froze as she heard the massive tumblers in the vault door click and withdraw, allowing the heavy bolts to retract. She watched dumbly for a moment as the heavy door swung open on heavily oiled hinges silently, allowing light from an unknown source to frame the outlines of the Teen Titans quite dramatically.
Jade just looked at them for a moment, smug looks almost all around, before she frowned visibly from having pulled her hood down to better work. She just pointed a finger at them in general and spoke in a accusing tone.
"You so totally cheated."
The heroes were taken aback for a moment at the highly unexpected and apparently sincere accusation. They naturally recognized her, though she had changed her outfit into something more akin to an Eastern sorceress. Beast Boy was the first to recover, pointing his own less impressive accusing finger.
"Says the exploding girl robbing a bank," he retorted.
"Hey, it was hard work getting in here without breaking anything! It's not like it was my idea, I'm just trying to get homework done here! And now here you are just opening the door like its some big deal!" Jade shouted back, pulling up her hood.
"Well that's the plus of being a good guy, people actually trust you with the key so you don't have too…" Cyborg tailed off as shadows filled up Jades cowl, leaving her face a black veil, except for her even more apparent glowing red eyes.
"Titans go!" Robin declared, his team springing into action. Shrugging her bags back to her shoulders, she thrust out her palms, firing a Dragon blast from both barrels. The fire filled the doorway, forcing the Titans back. With a pulling motion of her right hand, Jade pulled the vault door shut with her Rooster power.
It wasn't locked, but once again darkness filled the vault; time for her to go. She didn't have or want to fight the heroes she planned on defecting to, after all.
Raven was the first Titan into the vault, phasing through the door. She immediately realized she was both alone and magic was at work. Cyborg slamming the door open let light flood in, making the rapidly receding pool of shadow on the floor apparent. She didn't have much time, so sweeping up Robin with her darkness, she drew them both into her raven and it dived into the last speck of shadow before it dried up.
"Well, that happened," Cyborg blinked as Beast Boy turned into a bloodhound and sniffed the spot they had disappeared into.
Jade appeared on the nearby rooftop she had used to enter the bank's shadows, a vent ridden thing over a supermarket. She looked around, verifying her location with a toothy grin that showed through her shadow veil. It was longer for a jump than she had done before, and it was a success.
She felt something in her bones and glanced around, feeling she should move… before darkness burst from the spot she had just stepped through. She took two steps back, wide-eyed as a giant shadow shaped like a bird towered over her.
"What the! ?" Jade cried, before the darkness dispersed, revealing Raven floating, the Titan's eyes glowing white with Robin deftly landing on the roof.
"You're not getting away that easily," Robin told her.
"You have shadow powers?" Jade asked stunned, looking to Raven. That proved a mistake. Reflex alone made her step back, avoiding the sweeping blow from Robins bo that would have knocked her off her feet. Kicking off the ground, she caught the next strike on her forearm and deftly knocked it away with her free hand before trying to kick him in the head. Robin evaded it, taking up a new stance.
"I see you have some training," Robin remarked. Jade grinned, as praise was something she rarely got for her martial arts; even considering the circumstances it was to be appreciated.
"Yeah, I'm even more awesome than you thought," she grinned; the sight would have intimidated the other Titans a bit. As it was, neither was impressed.
"Hardly, you're a talented novice at best," Robin answered. The teeth disappeared into the darkness as the smile apparently slipped. Her eyes flared brighter still for a second before twin crimson rays shot out and at Robin. A black dome sprang up, absorbing the twin strikes with only a slight buckle as Raven stepped up next to Robin.
Jade blinked cutting off the assault, after all she hadn't come to fight she reminded herself. Glancing to her side, she saw the shadow of a vent in the moonlight and lunged for it, entering the warm embrace of shadow again.
Robin nodded to Raven, who swept them up in her power's manifestation once more. The shadow bird pursued the shadow girl through the darkness with a raptor cry.
"How did they follow me?" Jade asked herself as she stepped out of an alley, looking around the deserted street. She shot up into the air as a pair of bolos cut through the spot she had just been occupying. Growling, she turned and saw both Titans emerge from the alley.
"You can't escape. Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven yelled as the nearby street light was engulfed in darkness and tried to ensnare Jade. Jade turned and blasted the "arm" off it with one hand. Turning back, Robin was in her face and his fist sank into her gut. Folding as the air was knocked out of her, Jade fell and landed with a clang on a parked car.
Robin landed in front of her kneeling form and she realized one of her swag bags was lost, lying on the sidewalk. Robin leveled his redrawn staff at her as Raven hovered above them, her cloak drawn about her.
"Surrender…" Robin trailed off and Jade chuckled, realizing he didn't know what to call her. She looked up at him, her teeth showing again in her demonic Cheshire cat look.
"Call me Zhu Chan, and say goodbye," she told him. Their only warning was the metal glowing around her hands before she let loose a pair of blasts at pointblank on the car. It went up in a plume of fire and smoke, the boom shattering the night's serenity.
Jade rode the momentum up with her fire power and levitation. Spotting a shadow on the wall, she dove for it, deciding one bag was better than being arrested.
Robin stepped out of the black shield he and Raven had taken shelter in and glanced up and down the street under the light of the smoldering car.
"We lost her," Raven supplied plainly. Before Robin could answer, their communicators started to blink anew. Robin flipped his communicator open for details as Raven stepped up to him to see.
"Break in at the Technology Museum, assailant unknown, but heavily armed with high-level tech," Robin stated. Three icons appeared on the bottom of the tiny screen confirming the other Titans were in route.
This Zhu Chan would keep, for now they would deal with the current problem, Robin thought. Raven scooped up the bag Zhu had dropped, taking it with them as they too vanished into the night.
H.I.V.E.:
It was not a happy Zhu Chan who returned to the H.I.V.E. Of all the bags to lose, she had lost the one with the books. In the sterile waiting room colored in the HIVE theme, she handed the bags over to the Acolyte behind the counter.
She lowered herself back down to the ground and dusted herself off, pulling her hood back. At the very least her uniform was durable, nothing wrong with it that a wash wouldn't fix; Jinx had recommended she get at least two more copies of the outfit. Was that why some characters always seemed to have the same clothes on, Jade wondered?
"Direct or liquidated?" the drone asked. Jade, stirred from her thoughts, looked up. The Acolyte was leaning over the counter, looking at her.
"Uh… direct?" Jade answered confused. The drone withdrew and she heard it rummaging before a bag was tossed to her. She opened the plain sack to discover wads of familiar cash inside.
"What's this?" Jade asked.
"Student cut. Your grade will be sent to your quarters shortly," it told her mechanically. Jade scowled; the adventurer tempted to tell the machine to keep the dirty money, but that would be very suspicious to say the least. And after all, right now she was dependant on the H.I.V.E., money could help fix that. She had earned it after a fashion and at the expense of the spell books no less.
In the end she tucked the wad of dollars into a cloak pocket and walked away without another word to the machine.
Titan's Tower:
After the battle and the return of Starfire, everyone had been overjoyed. Even Robin had to admit with a sad smile that he had no idea how the Titans would continue if they lost Starfire, or anyone else for that matter. The brief moment where they had thought Starfire gone had driven a chilly and unexpected spike into his heart, as well as the hearts of the other Titans.
After that, everyone had gone back to the tower. Of course there was the celebration, but afterwards it had gotten rather quite. Everyone had drifted off to their own special spots to contemplate. Robin in particular sat in his evidence room looking over what Starfire had given him shortly after the party.
A letter of all things, from his future self Nightwing. A plain paper envelope, signed with his signature and handwriting just to prove it was real. Robin didn't doubt it.
But he still hesitated. He had heard enough from Batman and about the League to know that something like this was dangerous, just like his future self would know. That meant that his future self had sent it to him fully believing it was worth the risk that it could have to the future, regardless of which one.
He frowned, and turned it over in his hands as he struggled with the decision. It was just as easy to read it, as it was to throw it in the incinerator tube to his right. It all depended on the risk.
Was the price of the future worth risking it with this one letter, or had Nightwing misjudged? Was it worth risking everything to avoid that future, or perhaps any others?
He knew that his future self would have thought of all this as well.
With a grim continence, he grabbed a letter opener and quickly sliced the top open, revealing the message inside. He unfolded the simple white paper, and laid his eyes on the writing, knowing that whatever happened, Nightwing thought it was worth the risk.
-Robin,
I know you will be skeptical of this letter, because I know I would have been. This message may well be worthless; giving you back Starfire could change everything.
But you deserve warning, if not for our sakes, then for the Titans. The truth is that Starfire's disappearance did hurt the Titans, but it did not break us. Zhu Chan, who you recently met, is the reason we fell apart.
She didn't defeat us; we won the vital battle. But what we did then and afterwards drove a wedge in the Titans that never healed. Given a choice between what we wanted to do and the right thing to do, I chose to act like Slade. After that we never truly trusted each other as friends again; bit by bit we just became colleagues and finally went our separate ways, meeting failure, madness, and isolation as our fates.
Starfire was always what was most pure and noble in the Titans. I had forgotten just what she was till meeting her again. With her there, the battle may not come at all, or if it does she may be your conscience and ensure you make the right decision. But we both know we can be stubborn at the worst of times; sadly I still haven't fully kicked that after all these years. But Starfire could well make the wrong choice for all the right reasons, and more than wanting her to get back to you I want her to be spared what happened to us.
When the time comes, if it comes, do what you… we know is right and not what you want to be right.
-Nightwing
H.I.V.E.:
Jade wondered if the one consistent rule of the universe was boring lectures. Even here at a school for supervillains, she was tapping her pencil eraser on a desk made from some recyclable material as a masked man in a suit droned on about setting up dummy companies. Aside from the H.I.V.E. color scheme she was pretty sure this could pass for any lecture hall, not even awesome tech built into the desks.
Evil Economics was a required class, that should have been her first warning. But she had hoped for something interesting. Her one consolation with this situation would be that school at least wouldn't be boring during her stay. I mean, its supervillains, all "behold the giant walking death ray", monologues, and evil plots galore!
But no, there was also how to finance operations. The dos and don'ts of minion-overlord relations. How to be big without attracting the concern of someone bigger. And right now, Destructocon Esq. was telling them how to set up a dummy company as a cover and front for legally buying stuff.
She was certain his power was making time slow to a crawl. Only 33 minutes until the class was over and she could get back to Breaking/Entering/And Escaping, her best class so far. With the exception of Magic 108 she was doing average in intellect classes while being a top student in the practicals.
Right now she was working on a side project, a spell that would work like a skunk spray making a person or object smell terrible. With any luck it would get some juicy extra credit and thus breathing room.
The school was demanding; most of her free time such as it was ended up tied up in homework, research and projects. She was actually hoping to be tapped for a raid on the city, since it netted money and credits while getting out of the HIVE for a bit.
She did still have time to herself, which she was encouraged to use bettering herself as a villain. Fortunately, everyone saw her magic research as just that. But Jade was making slow progress; she needed more free time and that meant fewer classes.
The only way you could drop classes was by becoming a contender, at which point you were expected to be practicing as a villain as much as a student. She was in the running for that status, but she wasn't the only one.
A white-gloved hand slamming down on her desk broke her reverie as she looked up into a face covered by an old fashioned gas mask.
"Zhu Chan, would you care to repeat the three key elements to a convincing cover operation essential to throwing off an investigation-prone hero?" Destructocon demanded. This was all too familiar, Jade thought.
Sure enough, the class continued in the boring manner she had become accustomed to back home. Her time was consumed by trying to not zone out and jotting down an occasional note, or a sketch of a ninja.
The student villainess didn't bother to hide her relieved sigh when the class was dismissed. Turning to go, she felt someone watching her back and getting close; sharp senses did little good since she didn't want another detention.
"Zhu Chan," the teacher stated her name. Stated, because it hardly seemed a greeting or even something as polite as a question coming from the villain turned boring teacher. Bracing herself for some kind of lecture she turned, irritation clearly written on her face. Something the teachers couldn't afford to punish with this student body.
"The Headmaster wants to see you in his office," Destructocon Esq. informed her before she could speak. Without another word he phased down through the floor, an ornamental 'D' marking the spot before it faded under her eyes.
"There was a time that would have surprised me," Jade grinned at the exit by the otherwise boring teacher. The pleasant expression vanished as she considered his words. Being sent to the principal's office was never good back home, and Blood was also a high level supervillain.
"Well it's not like I have a choice," Jade sighed, adjusting the theme appropriate blue and black trapper under her arm.
"So, you're the kind of villain that talks to themselves?" a loitering fishboy in green spandex commented from where he was going over his papers. Jade glared at him, and was a bit sorry when he flinched under it.
Shortly:
The doors to Brother Blood's office opened as she reached them, his secretary – who Jade was certain was actually a robot or something – never looked up.
The room she walked into was just as she remembered. Right down to Blood turning his chair around to face her… honestly, didn't people here see the clichés?
"Ah, young Zhu, I am pleased at your prompt arrival," Blood greeted her with manners she trusted less than month old milk. Still, she bowed her head in deference; if he demanded a curtsey she would blast him and go from there.
"Headmaster, you wanted to see me?" Jade managed to sound civil and courteous. Blood smiled, steeping his fingers; bastard probably liked to see people bow and hate doing it.
"You are not in trouble, in fact this is good news. Your status in the HIVE has been clarified," Blood told her, still smiling like he was genuinely happy to serve.
"Huh, I'm getting a new schedule already?" Jade asked, confused.
"Oh no, this is not about classes but rather your out of facility learning. You have been assigned a team of peers to train with and carry out activities in the city beside," Blood told her. Jade struggled to maintain composed curiosity as her look.
Who knew what she would be pushed into doing with real villains pressuring her. Not to mention making contact with the Titans just got more difficult, to put it lightly. Oh, and overbearing antagonists making her keep her guard up even more as she searched for her version of the ruby slippers.
A possibility occurred to her that made the gears in her head screech to a halt.
"It's not Gadjo is it?" Jade slipped out, her eyes widening. Brother Blood smiled wider, shaking his head – whether at her question or loss of composure, who could say.
"No, our aspiring destroyer may have taken a shine of some kind to you, but I prefer you alive and mostly intact for the nonce. He will be working with Machete; they seem to share a habit of their colleagues dying.
"No, you should feel honored; you have been tapped by the honor roll," Blood announced. As if on cue, and Jade would later decide it was, the doors opened and Jinx walked in with that satisfied smile on her face. Jade had a feeling she knew where this was going.
"Hey again Blue, welcome to the team," Jinx gave a cocky smile while flipping a hand up in mock greeting.
'Things just got more complicated,' Jade concluded as her ember eyes warily met the pink cat's eyes of her new teammate.
AN:
Okay this was more trouble than expected. First it wanted me to write it then fate kept throwing stuff at me.
To fans of J.F. I can only offer apologies I just can't seem to get into writing Naruto lately much less mingling it with marvel. I am seriously considering rewriting the thing in the hopes of getting around that block.
The next Queen chapter is about half written with the rest more or less planned out. Hopefully it will be a troll down the lane with this beast appeased. Though I plan on taking a break from Queen after two chapters. The chapter after the AU Black Magic will be vital; it must be perfect before I unveil it to you my dear readers.
I really want to get some JoD done, Midnight wants to play with the Titans some more.
Well until whatever gets updated next, long day's pleasant nights.