jasongd: Alien X. Is not. Always. The. Answer.
Negaben364: Thanks a lot mate.
R. Vital: ... the fuck was that?
Shooting Star Dragon 3000: Well... TECHNICALLY you can.
B.E.A.T.N: Yeah, it is a really tense time.
Here are some reviews answered by Ghost:
B.E.A.T.N: Thanks very much, this IS a big problem in regards to this chapter.
Shooting Star Dragon 3000: Dude... We can ALWAYS blame Lex Luthor for something.
Negaben364: Thank you very much for the kind words, dude. You're a good person.
jasongd: You sure about Markovia? Oh, my sweet summer child; you don't think there are other aliens with immense power out there?
Artist: GhostKaiser23, he goes by Hangman12 on Deviantart. Either look him up, or go to my profile to see links to all of his official work for this story
Disclaimer: Cartoon Network owns Ben 10 or Teen Titans
AUTHORS NOTE
Sorry for no update last week. I did mention this would happen every now and again, but I am still sorry
So, we have some serious stuff coming soon.
Hope you all enjoy it
James' Harem 2
Chapter 69
The Countdown, Save Markovia
Tim was working alongside his older brother, this bomb threat was intense and they needed to work fast and narrow down the suspects to a single being. The others weren't really listening to him right now though, as he listened to the situation
"This is insane, we need t fin the person who isn't panicking the most right now." Thad commented. "Only a complete sociopath would be calm right now!"
"That doesn't narrow it down, enough. It would still leave Psimon, Luthor and Savage." Dick answered.
"Doesn't mean that we can't narrow it down!" Thad snapped.
"Calm down kid, we've got it." Dick frowned and walked off
"Is he always like this?" Thad frowned.
"Yeah, that's why I love him." Duela smiled. "Don't worry Thad, you've done enough."
Over with Jinx and Karen, the two walked towards Psimon and prayed that he didn't recognise them. Although if he did, maybe that would help them? The two looked at each other and nodded, steeling their nerves and began to speak to him. "Hello, Sir. A pleasure to meet you." Karen spoke first.
"Hmm? Oh, unusual attire." Psimon responded, sounding... like a snob. How he was a 'a king' of a country.
'Good, he doesn't remember us.' Jinx thought.
"We're invited guests to Markovia." Karen explained. "We were hoping that-"
"You'd get my autograph, or get close to me," Psimon responded, acting all high and mighty. "Sorry to disappoint, but... that isn't happening."
...
"We are part of the Titans." Jinx frowned
"Ah, I see." Psimon retracted his comment. "Well then, 'Titans'. What do you need me for?"
...
"Simon Jones, Psimon, cut the crap." Karen glared
Psimon's pompous air soon dropped as he was talked to by his real name. No one called him by his real name, at least not by those who he didn't deem it. He scowled at them and rolled his shoulders. "Fine; what do you want? I could have you tried for diplomatic-"
"Talking to someone isn't warrant for 'diplomatic immunity abuse'." Jinx answered. "Karen Beecher and Jinx."
"'Jinx'? Where have I-?" Psimon pondered. "What do you want?"
"We have to ask; did you have something to do with this?" Jinx asked.
"You assume that I have something to do with this?" He snapped.
"HIVE." was the girls only response
Psimon's gulp was only audible for the two girls to hear. "So... fellow classmen. I see. I didn't cause this. Do you think I would put myself in danger? An assassination where I myself would get taken out?"
"Possibly. You've always been egotistical and your powers may have evolved further." Jinx stated
Psimon licked his lips quickly as he heard that, feeling his ego grow and deflate because of that statement. "True. But my business is my own. Why should I-?"
"Start talking. Tell us what you know." Karen's ire began to rise.
She focused and worked, unleashing the full power of her pheromones
Psimon looked at Karen and had a small snarl... before it softened. "Of course. I'm here for the resources of Markovia. The Kryptonite here is worth billions and its apparent usage in mutations for MetaHumans... can you even imagine?"
"We can." Jinx glared
"HOWEVER I have nothing to do with the bombing!" he glared
Both Karen and Jinx looked at each other, having a good feeling he was telling the truth... Damn it. He wasn't the culprit. But he had an ultimate agenda.
"Then what were you planning to do?" Karen demanded, pushing herself even further to get answers from Psimon's machinations.
"I was going to send several of my figures into the goverment, to kidnap and smuggle the super human population to my country." he stated seriously
Jinx and Karen's faces hardened as they heard that. Kidnapping and smuggling? How dare he! Something for later, however
Karen pointed straight at him with a deadly gaze. "When this is over. You're going to confess and go to prison for this."
Psimon nodded at this, almost stiffly by Karen's order.
Jinx saw this as Karen held her head and walked off for a breather. "Stay here." She asked.
"Yes, of course." He nodded.
"You okay?" Jinx asked
"I-I'm fine, Jinx." Karen held her head as they walked away, her mind throbbing as she could hear someone else in her mind. 'I can't beleie it. I did it. I used the powers... for good?'
"How did you do that?" Jinx asked almost excitedly.
"You know Psimon would always crumble under pressure when someone calls him out. He is a coward." Karen argued softly
"... Yeah, that's true. That was very badass." Jinx praised her.
"Thanks." she smiled before she slapped her shoulder "Ow!" she hissed
"What's wrong?" Jinx asked in worry
"Just got bit by a bug." she grumbled
...
"Bwahahaha!" Jinx laughed
"What's so funny?" Karen glared
"Sorry, sorry." Jinx snorted "Just... the BUMBLEBEE getting a bug bite. That's funny!"
"Fuck off." Karen rolled her eyes
"Want me to kiss it better?" Jinx joked, neither noticing a small silver fake insect flying away
*with Cyberian*
1:59
1:58
1:57
Victor was furiously typing away at his systems to get the actual deactivation code, running millions to billions of codes and sequences.
"Okay. Oky. Everyone, calm down." Victor muttered as he tried to deal with everything
"We're against the clock here, Cyberian! Would love to hear some good news!" Argent snapped
"Sorry Argent, each of your bombs are different and I have my own!" he called back
"Okay, good to know!" Rachel responded.
"Guys, doc and I have turned our bomb into a pumpkin!" Firestorm spoke out.
"You did what?" They asked.
*with Firestorm*
"Hoo! Prof! We did it!" Ronnie spoke excitedly through Firestorm, seeing a large pumpkin before them. A large, harmless pumpkin.
"Good work, Ronald. We need to get rid of it just in case." Professor Stein spoke.
"Yeah, yeah, good idea. Can't be too careful." He nodded.
...
"Why a pumpkin?!" Superboy called
"I don't know! I flubbed!" Firestorm responded. "I didn't want to turn it into something big or heavy."
"A pumpkin is 'big and heavy'!" Superboy deadpanned.
"You want me to get rid of this or not?" Firestorm retorted.
"It is a pumpkin now, it is harmless." Professor Stein stated
"Urgh, let's just go!" Firestorm responded, flying off to join another member of the Bomb Squad.
*elsewhere*
"Hmmm~" Bleez hummed as her ring glowed
She looked at the bomb, seeing the timer go down and thought of something... perhaps she could do that thing Kyle did? "Let's see if this works." As she tried to create string constructs from her ring as she wanted to internally fuck up the bomb.
She focused as best she could, Red's weren't really able to make constructs
"Hnn... come on. Concentrate." She told herself, getting enraged because of the timer ticking down.
1:39
1:38
1:37
Bleez continued to struggle, using her ring for not its intended usage and growled angrily.
She didn't a construct after all, but she needed enough leverage ...
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" she roared angrily, unleashing a blast of red ring energy right under it.
The bomb rocketed up into the air, shooting higher and higher into the atmosphere. The bomb shot upwards and was out of the area, flying deep into space and away from anyone.
"There! I've shot it into space! It's done!" she praised herself
"Okay, good work, Bleez." Jay responded.
"A bit angrier than how I would've done it... but you know." Superboy quipped.
"You wanted it gone right?" She responded, shooting out of the cave.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Stargirl responded. "Beetle, Lantern; how're you guys doing?"
*With Jaime*
The Blue Beetle was using Khaji Da's technology to analyse it. Though it made more sense to disarm it by getting it out of there.
"The shield will hold." Kyle assured "... You sure the Bettle can protect you if that blows?"
"Hey, we've got to try." Jaime responded. "Besides, can't let you just be the hero." He joked.
"Real funny." Kyle frowmed
Jaime smirked as he grabbed the bomb. "Let's go, partner!"
"Yes!" Khaji Da responded as they rocketed into the air. while the beetle started hacking the bomb "Look at this, James's technology is more advanced than this bomb!"
"Less talking more hacking please, Khaji Da." Jaime responded.
*back at the camp*
"This entire situation is crap." Black Canary frowned. Clad in just a black cocktail dress, a stylish little number she was proud to wear to this wedding, she didn't feel fully covered or prepared. A fight? Right now? Oh, she could do it. But the chance of injury for herself and innocents where higher.
"Agreed." the Renegade, Rose Wilson, nodded "I don't even have my weapons. And killing an entire country? Whoever is behind this is a lunati-OW!" Rose quickly brought her left hand down, slapping her opposite arm
"Are you okay?" Dinah asked
"Yeah, something just bit me." Rose nodded "Some sorta bug."
"I guess even Markovia has its pests. Ow!" Dinah raised her arm, slapping at her neck
"Wish we had bug spray." Rose mumbled
"Agreed." Dinah nodded
Neither noticed the fake insects, the shinny silver mosquito's, flying away. On their backs where small bags, filled with blood...
*elsewhere*
...
"So... what do we do?" Conner asked as he looked at the bomb
0:59
0:58
0:57
"We have to lift it up and out of the country. Together." Wonder Girl answered.
"It's a nuke." he responded, reaching for the machine
"We can do it." She answered.
"Yeah." He grinned
The two grabbed a hold of the bomb and flew up as fast as they could, rocketing into the atmosphere to despose of the explosive device.
WHOOSH!
"Whoa!" The two screamed as they soared into the air.
"You... Okay...?" Superboy called out, struggling from breaking the sound barrier.
"Never. Better!" Wonder Girl responded.
"Ready to throw?" Superboy asked as he tightly gripped the machine
"Yep! On three!" Cassandra responded.
"One!" Connor called out.
"Two!" Cassie followed up.
"THREE!"
YEET!
The two gave a mighty throw, slinging the bomb into space
0:48
0:47
0:46
*elsewhere*
"Alright, Jay. You're old, but you can still learn some new tricks." Jay spoke to himself as his hands began to vibrate against the console, the original Flash grunted intensely as he began to phase through the metal. It was difficult, but people were depending on them.
His hands began to work along the wires and inner circits, breaking it apart
"Okay, there we go. That feels important. That's got to go." Jay quipped to himself, pulling and disarming the bomb.
BWWWooooo...
"Done." He smirked proudly
"Guys, talk to me. How's it going?" Cyberian's voice called through their communicators.
"I've disarmed my bomb." Jay responded. "On route to another."
"Superboy and I are in orbit with ours!" Cassie called through.
"Really? Same here!" Jaime responded.
"Thank goodness. What about everyone else?" Cyberian asked.
*With Raven*
"Taken care of." Raven answered, having surrounded her bomb in a large sphere of anti-light and sent it into another dimension as she pulled down her hood "I'm on my way to search for the others."
She looked down as the golden orb of anti-light shrunk smaller and smaller, until it vanished into nothing
"There's no time. There's like 15 seconds!" Kyle responded.
"That's a lifetime for Speedsters!" Bart responded over the communicator.
...
"Bart... What are you doing ... ?" Jay asked
*With Bart*
Bart was zooming towards one of the other bombs, running as fast as he could, tapping into the Speed Force to lengthen the time they had left.
...
As all the bombs where flouting behind him, being dragged through the air by his lightning trail. Did we say 'all the'? Yes, we did. Why? Because behind Bart was not one, not two, not three... But FIVE of these nuclear bombs!
"Probably something you'd find super stupid, Jay!" He called with a laugh, rushing across the waters now.
"Bartholomew... w... w... w!" Jay called out before it came to a crawl and out of range.
"Gotta go fast!" He pushed himself as he neared an abandoned island in the middle of the ocean. His mind was working quickly, calculating how far the explosion would go
'Come on, Bart; you're an Allen!' He told himself as he slowed down for a fraction of a second, letting the bombs land on the ground of the deserted island, before rushing back to Markovia
WHOOSH!
'Please. Please! Be far away enough!' He thought to himself, the water creating a ditch from where he ran.
"Flash Fact. Even being partially submerged in water massively reduces the range of damage the immediate blast causes." Bart mumbled to himself "Flash Fact. I'm faster than an explosion. Flash Fact..."
KABOOM!
"I'm gonna need to get someone to clean that up." He joked
*With the investigation team*
Dick, Duela, Dinah and Shayera were gathering notes, worried when the bombs were about to go off... it was nerve-wracking while their brains were firing in top gear.
"Has anyone spoken to Savage, yet?" Duela asked
"The guy's cagey, he's not going to be easy to talk to." Dinah answered.
"Agreed." Shayera nodded
Tap
Tap
"Put the mace away." Dick commented
"Oh..." Shayera frowned, holding her weapon.
"... Where did you even hide that?" Duela asked.
"I can teach you." She smiled.
"Please!" She smirked
"Later." Dick asked, not disagreeing with it.
tap
tap
"Huh?" Dinah turned around and looked at Cass.
"I could try." Cass offered.
"Try what?" Shayera asked
"Cass, can you read his body language to get a gauge on him?" Duela asked.
She simply nodded and looked at Savage, reading him like a book... a tightly locked book. But a book nonetheless.
"I'm up." Dick nodded, walking towards him
"Be careful." Duela whispered, her husband flashing a smile
"Mr Savage." Dick spoke as he approached him.
"Hmm? Oh, a Titan. How may I be of service to you?" Vandal asked. "You are Nightwing, correct?"
"That's right. I see that you're up to date with us." Dick responded.
"Of course. After all, it's not easy to bounce back from losing to a bad luck witch and a foul-mouthed gadgeteer." Savage answered.
'Hes been keeping a close eye on us. Why?' Dick thought. Dealing with HIVE had been one of their first missions after all, and their first failure.
Cass continued to read Savage, the smug bastard looking at her adoptive father.
"A ragtag group of heroes. It's kind of funny." Savage commented, having a restrained smile on his face.
"And I'd say we've grown into something great, myself." Dick responded
"Obviously. You've grown out of the Bat's shadow and became something." Savage spoke, looking away for a moment. "That strange moth-man who just appeared, quite the lynchpin."
Dick subtly flexed his hand. "Trust me, if James heard you... Not good." as he steeled himself "However, I need to speak to you about what happened a while ago."
"Oh? Why?" He asked with a frown
"Well, Markovia does not have any enamies." Dick lied as naturally as he breathed "And so we believe this attack at the wedding may be targeting someone who was ATTENDING said wedding. While some of us beleive it may have been done by a terrorist group to remove a large sect of the world's heroes, we are not abandoning the idea that it may have been a political attack against one of the other guests. Such as yourself."
"I see." Savage minutely flinched as he heard that, instantly caught by Cass. "Well, I do have such enemies."
"Care to share?" Dick asked "This may be serious. Any info could be helpful."
Savage looked down at Dick. "Very well." And began to give him some information.
Away from Savage and Dick, people were beginning to talk, worried when/if there was going to be anything else.
"He is a fighter." Dinah commented "You can see it."
"After several thousand years, I'm not surprised," Shayera added. "But what's he planning? What's his aim?"
"Excuse me, Miss. Are we going to be alright?" A guest asked Duela
"Don't worry, my friends have it covered." Duela responded as she looked at her stomach, thinking
Thad was thinking about what was all happening. The means and motives to those who were there... and if the others were alright.
"Hey, you okay?" Tim asked
"I'm thinking, Tim." He answered. "I'm worried about this all."
"Hey, it'll be alright. We've got the teams." Tim responded. "Also, I think I've worked out who it is."
"Wait; you have?" Thad asked, turning his head to Tim.
"Yep." He nodded "Just need help getting the last few pieces together."
"What do you need?" Thad asked as the two shared a grin.
*back at the fight*
The Titans there were doing their best, feeling the strain of the battle against the assassins... and no more than Jade and James.
"Damn it Jade, why are you doing this?" James asked, now in a new alien form
James was now in a strange humanoid crocodilian alien; dark green scales covering the majority of his body, inverted purple and yellow eyes, a long tail with furred legs, wears a kilt made of silk-like fabrics. Sharp fangs in its long mouth, webbed hands and feet and has feathers protruding from its head like a secretary bird but also dreadlocks.
"It's... It's a job. I have to do this!" She repeated as she defended and attacked. She gave a high jump, slamming her foot into the side of his head "You think using new guys can throw me off, as well? Nice try." She span, dodging his next attack and stabbing in hmthe thighh with her sai
"Gah! Hnn! Fuck!" He grunted as he slapped her away
"NOW you play rough?" She mocked, watching as the wound in his thigh repaired itself "Huh, healing factor. Great, I have more I need to rip apart."
"Jade, have you gone off the deep end?! Do you know what you nearly did?!" He snapped, literally, as he brought his jaws down in a series of dramatic biting strikes
"A job." She glared as she jumped back, dodging and almost dancing around him perfectly "What I have to do."
"JADE! Will you just LISTEN! TO! ME!" James snapped as he managed to grab her arms, holding her above the ground. He snarled a bit, his eyes glowing "Lian!"
"Shut up." She hissed, headbutting him
CRACK!
"Jade! Jade! Listen-"
CRACK!
"-Plea-Jade! Plea-"
CRACK!
CRACK!
"Damn it! Jade! Jade!"
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
"SHUT UP!" she snapped angrily, her mask cracking more and more with headbut
"LIAN WAS THERE!" James snapped as loudly as he could
shatter
Jade froze after her latest headbutt. The white mask split in half, the left half of her mask falling down away from her face. Revealing her face, her bright green eye turned into to tiny dots as tears fell down her cheek and jaw
KABOOM!
Drip
Drip
Drip
Drip