As much as the Titans hoped it wasn't true, Beast Boy's guess of bagpipes representing the eleven pipers was a good one. There were five music shops in Jump City, but Robin made the decision to stake out Musical Menagerie on First as it was the biggest in the city.
The streets were slowly starting to come to life. Despite the black night still permeating the air, lights were flickering on in windows and sometimes the odd person would shuffle down the pavement. A few cars passed them on the road, whining streaks of light disappearing beyond the city limits.
But no one came to the music shop.
It was nearly five o'clock when something caught Cyborg's eye. He nudged Robin and pointed to the rear-view mirror where they could see two figures running down the road.
Starfire turned around in her seat. "Perhaps they are running from a crime? We are in the incorrect location?"
"Or they're running to it," Robin growled as the figures came closer. One wore bright white and forest green, whilst the other flapped black and purple like a large bat.
"Is that See-More and Kyd Wykkyd?" Beast Boy said, craning his neck to get a better look. "I was wondering about the rest of the H.I.V.E. Five…"
Robin grit his teeth. "Cyborg, follow them."
The two villains ran past the car, seemingly not noticing it, and disappeared around a corner. The T-Car pulled back onto the road in pursuit, driving slower than usual to remain behind them. It was a short journey; just two blocks, another turn, then See-More and Kyd Wykkyd disappeared into a dark building.
Robin flew out the car and skidded to a stop outside. The words 'Austin Family Bakery' were printed above the door in peeling black letters, and the bay windows either side suddenly turned gold as the shop lights were turned on. Robin hurtled through the front door, leapt over the counter, and burst into the kitchen with his teammates hot on his heels.
See-More and Kyd Wykkyd were at the large table in the centre of the room, spooning lumpy grey goo into piping bags, and joined by Billy Numerous and several clones. Robin didn't need to do a headcount to work out there were eleven of them to battle altogether.
For a moment, the Titans and the H.I.V.E. Five members stared at each other, both groups seemingly equally surprised by the other. Then Beast Boy pointed at one of the Billy Numerouses and proclaimed, "I thought we already took you to jail!"
"And I thought we already took you to…" Billy began but faltered. "Uuhh…well… Eat this!" He swept up one of the piping bags and squeezed, squirting a large amount of grey gunk at Beast Boy.
With a cry of repulsion, Beast Boy wiped it from his face, but his hand stuck fast to his skin and wouldn't budge however hard he tugged. "What is this stuff!?"
See-More gave a high-pitched laugh and gestured a large bag on the surface. "Quick dry cement –want a taste?"
Cackling, the villains launched into an attack. Soon the air was thick with spurts of cement, clinging to the walls and dripping from the ceiling. With one arm already out of action, Beast Boy was taken out quickly, glued to the floor in the corner.
The Billys were relatively easy to fight. From her vantage point near the ceiling, Starfire was able to avoid the blasts of cement sent her way and fire starbolts with deadly accuracy at piping bags whenever one of the clones turned their back. She had managed to take six out of nine Billys out single-handed by when a glob of cement caught her wrist and pinned it to the ceiling. A seventh Billy fell victim to a powerful kick before more cement entombed her, rendering her helpless.
The other two Billys succumbed to Cyborg's sonic cannon; they were thrown through the door and crashed into the shop counter with a loud crunch and a ding.
"Eye think you need to cool down," See-More cried, ducking beneath a bird-a-rang and firing a barrage of eye-shaped projectiles at Cyborg. The eyes exploded upon impact, showering him with icy water. Cyborg readied his cannon again, but failed to fire as a large blob of cement from See-More's piping bag had blocked the barrel.
Cyborg's arm exploded with a blue flash, and the resulting shower of cement flecks pasted him to the table. See-More made the mistake of pausing to gloat – "What's wrong, too much eye-cing?" – which gave Robin the window he needed. Another bird-a-rang, attached to a length of steel-enforced string, sailed through the air and wrapped around See-More's legs. The cyclops crashed to the ground and dropped his piping bag.
"You need another layer," Robin said, stepping on the bag. Grey sloshed out all over See-More and encased him like a poorly-made coffin.
Unfortunately, Robin didn't notice Kyd Wykkyd sneak up on him until it was too late, and he met a similar fate to See-More. He watched, bound by cold cement, as Kyd Wykkyd and Raven squared up, in the centre of the kitchen.
Raven attacked first. She lifted a pile of pans from the side and threw them like discuses, but Kyd Wykkyd whirled into his cloak and disappeared, reappearing suddenly behind Raven with his piping bag poised. Cement flew, but Raven leapt away at the last moment, grey smearing the ends of her cloak.
Kyd Wykkyd didn't give her time to recover; he twirled again, transporting behind her to catch her arms, but she slickly moved away and rolled under the table. Kyd Wykkyd jumped on top, spread out his cloak across the wood, creating a portal through which he drove his hand and piping bag.
Raven was ready for him. Before he could squeeze she grabbed his wrist and pulled. Kyd Wykkyd tumbled forward, entire arm falling through his cloak, and slammed face-first into the wood.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The piping bag's nozzle was ripped away, unleashing a slurry of cement to the ground. Then, with a final tug, she forced Kyd Wykkyd's hand into the puddle of cement as it dried, trapping him halfway through the table.
Raven crawled out and surveyed the kitchen. It was destroyed. Scorch marks from starbolts and sonic blasts marred the chipped-tile walls; the ovens were dented; utensils were strewn across the ground; and cement was everywhere. Grey smears on the floor; smudges on the surfaces; stalactites dragged from the ceiling.
The other Titans squirmed in their concrete prisons, so Raven began releasing them one-by-one. Black energy moulded around her fingers which she used to slash through the grey bonds and break Starfire free from the ceiling. As Starfire hurried to dig Robin out, Raven used her magic to crumble the cement holding Cyborg to a wall.
When it came to Beast Boy, things became more complicated. It was easy to free him from the corner, but his hand was still stuck to his face.
Starfire threaded her fingers beneath his in attempts to prise his hand away, but he squealed. "Ooww!"
"I apologise, Beast Boy," said Starfire solemnly. "But I see no other way of extracting your hand from your face."
"Shame it's not stuck to his mouth," Raven added, earning her a glare. As they and Cyborg continued trying to help Beast Boy, Robin crouched next to See-More and broke the cement away from his head.
See-More lifted his gaze and frowned at him. "Didn't take you as the gloating kind."
"Didn't take you as the bakery-wrecking kind," Robin replied. "We know there's something bigger going on. Who told you to target the bakery? Who's behind this?"
See-More held his stare for a few seconds then looked away. "Can't tell you."
"Why?"
"I can't," See-More insisted.
Robin groaned in frustration and stood to pace for a while. "What do you think it is going to happen if you tell us?"
Still avoiding his eye, See-More muttered, "It's more what'll happen if I don't."
A garbled yell grabbed Robin's attention. Beast Boy lunged forward, rubbing his rather pink face. "Dude! I thought you were going to rip my skin off!" He regarded his hand, crusty and grey. "I'll never wash this off…"
"You never wash," Raven pointed out.
Beast Boy glowered again and shuffled over to Robin. "Did he say who's behind it?"
"No," Robin said, staring at See-More distastefully.
"I know! We could get you less jail time!" Nudging See-More shoulder with his foot, Beast Boy continued. "Reduced sentence for, uhh, police co-operation?"
See-More hummed derisively but made no comment.
"We can't offer that," Robin said, shaking his head. "We're not the police. We'll just have to work it out on our own."
"Speaking of police, how did Billy Numerous get here when he should be in jail?" Cyborg asked as they picked their way out of the kitchen. Two Billy Numerouses were still sprawled across the till, moaning and groaning and rubbing their heads.
"Maybe they're all clones and the real one's still in jail?" Beast Boy suggested.
"Or perhaps it was only the clones at the pear farm?" said Starfire. "And the original is here?"
Outside, the sky was beginning to turn lilac, and the snowy streets were no longer silver but a merry white glistening under the weak rays of the rising sun. Robin checked the time – nearly six o'clock. The police were in for a rough Christmas day. However, before he could phone then station to tell them about the latest attack, a police car and van arrived on the block.
Sgt. Miller was the first out, crunching across the pavement. "Ah, Titans. Should've known you'd already be here."
Robin nodded stiffly. "See-More and Kyd Wykkyd. And Billy Numerous somehow. Did he escape from jail?"
Miller waved a hand over his shoulder, gesturing for his men to go to the bakery and apprehend the criminals inside. "That power cut earlier. He made use of that and got out."
"But-" Starfire blinked, gaze flitting between Robin and Miller- "I had been told the jail cells were not secured by the electricity."
"Panic, confusion. He slipped out and used a clone to make us think he was still there until he was out the building," Miller explained. "We'll make sure we have extra guards on watch until you reach the bottom of this…whatever's going on."
"It's nearly over," Robin assured him, turning to face the East were the sky was blossoming periwinkle. "If our assumption is correct, there's only one more attack to go."
Police officers emerged from the bakery, carrying between them the eleven cement-stricken bodies of See-More, Kyd-Wykkyd and Billy Numerous' clones. As they were deposited in the police van, Miller turned back to the Titans.
"You kids should go home for a bit. Rest up before this final attack, if there is one. We'll take this lot."
The Titans piled back into the T-Car and slowly drove away from the bakery. With the paling sky and waking city, the drowsiness from a sleepless night seemed to fade. Not enough for them to talk, or even to speculate about the final attack. Surely, if whoever was behind this wanted the Titans to be a part of it, they would find some way of letting them know when twelve drummers drumming would come into play.
As they crept down frosty streets, they were aware that more and more people were up and about. A few cars, all heading the same way, a food truck following them. The odd person trundled down the road, bundled up in coats and winter apparel, carrying odd-shaped cases.
It was when one such person, with thick glasses and a hat jammed on his head, traipsed through the snow with a round drum-case on his back that Robin pointed it out.
"It's an odd day for orchestra practice," he said, suspicion evident in his voice. "Odd time, too."
Cyborg watched the musician stifle a yawn and nearly slip on a frozen puddle. "Nah, they're probably heading to the parade. Meant to be starting at sunrise. I was going to go, but…"
Robin stopped listening.
A parade? Through the city?
A parade with drummers.
Perhaps twelve drummers?
"Cyborg," he said. "Follow that drummer!"
Sorry for the random delay, guys. I had initially planned to get this chapter out on Christmas Eve and the next on Christmas Day (seems so long ago now…) but unfortunately I found myself rather busy with people over, and then I was struck down with the worst cold I have had in a long time, and I've only just found myself with a day with another health and time to crack on. As such I'm going to upload both chapters and possibly an epilogue very quickly. Haha.
Chapter title is taken from Auld Lang Syne, the words of which come from a poem by Robert Burns in 1788.
Also, fun fact time! Although there have been several variants of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' over the years, the most commonly used version was coined by Frederic Austin in 1909, hence Austin Family Bakery.