Dark Titans – Arc 6 – Wed by Dawn

Chapter 5

I don't own Ranma or Teen Titans.

Enjoy if you Will, Tolerate if you won't.

"Oh man, I am so jealous of this bed!" Nabiki exclaimed as she laid back on the wide, soft mattress.

To her side, spreading her arms out over her head and curling her fingers into the fine sheets, Shampoo murmured in agreement. "I miss the bed in old apartment so much after moving to cramped, stuffy satellite."

Sitting on a chair next to the bed, Ryouga was doing his best to not look at the two girls wearing skin-tight outfits writhing shamelessly on his bed. The results were mixed, but despite the red coloring his cheeks, he wasn't blasting blood out of his nose, which was a good sign. At least the poor guy seemed to be getting somewhat desensitized after spending so much time with the likes of Raven and her infamous combat swimwear.

The fanged martial artist coughed into his hand. "Well, it's not like I get to use it that often, anyway."

Nabiki fired a cheeky grin at their bashful host. At least he had the good sense to know that there was something worth looking at on display but knew better than to stare too openly. Not like the pair of dunderheads that were still watching the video from Jinx on Ryouga's computer.

She let out a prolonged sigh. "I can't believe how tame that video is, Hibiki. With all the build up, I was expecting something way more tantalizing."

Her lavender haired partner in crime sat up and gave an annoyed snort. "Bad Luck Girl send you a touching video will, and you go around just showing it off to everyone that asks? Pig Boy live up to his name."

It took everything that Nabiki had to not explode in laughter as she watched Ryouga's face screw up in confusion and rage.

"You literally broke into my room!"

Shampoo waved off his ire. "And you barely even put up fight at all. Maybe Jinx need stronger man to look after her?"

For several moments, it looked like there was going to be an eruption of Mt. Hibiki, until Ryouga threw his hands up in surrender. Nabiki, feeling a bit sympathetic, reached out and patted the martial artist's knee reassuringly.

"She's just teasing, Ryouga. Don't worry, we won't tell Jinx about this little lapse." - Not that there was anything on the video worth actual blackmail, though maybe those down-the-shirt shots might have been worth something, if the main customer didn't already have access - "Isn't that right, boys?"

As one, Mammoth and Gizmo spun to look at her, pain, and loss on their face. "What? This is teasing gold!"

It was the Amazon that responded, leaning forward, and narrowing her eyes dangerously. "You think it funny to tease sensitive heart of young woman?"

Instantly, Gizmo's hand flew of its own accord and shut off the video. "Hey! Who wants to listen to something on YouTube!"

"Very nice," Nabiki commented, nodding smugly to herself.

Shampoo simply shrugged. "Is what Shampoo do."

The Lost Boy chuckled, finally smiling for the first time since they'd busted into his room. He then turned his attention back to Nabiki.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to Ukyou, Kunou and Bumblebee, do you? I thought they were coming, but no one has seen them yet."

Reluctantly, Nabiki sat up as well. Living in a lair did have some advantages, but a spacious room and decent furniture were not among them. She really needed to finish the paperwork for the brick-and-mortar location for their new company headquarters. Then, she could finally get herself a nice apartment and be able to write it off as a business expense!

"Well, as you can imagine," she drawled while rolling her wrist, "Having our nemeses show up here would cause… complications. So, I organized a little distraction for our good friends."

Ukyou lashed out with her with her spatula, the broad flat edge of the weapon whistling through the air as it closed in on the red wrapped skull of the obnoxious and mildly sexist Billy Numerous.

Only to yell out in frustration as, at the last possible second, the insufferable boy just vanished into a streak of red light and zipped away faster than she could follow. Just like the last ten times she had finally caught up to the jerk for the night!

What the hell was Nabiki's game, anyway? If they couldn't figure out what she was up to, they were going to miss Ryouga's party completely!

It had been so long since she'd had a chance to sit and chat with the Jackass.

"Ukyou, Kyd Wykkyd just popped up over by the bank on Main Street this time. Blue Thunder and I are both in opposite directions and too far to get there."

The crime fighting Okonomiyaki chef grumbled darkly, for several reasons.

"I'm on it! Also, it's Shining Spatula, not Ukyou!"

"I never signed off on that name! I'm bringing in that PR firm first thing Monday morning!"

With a growl, Ukyou snapped the communicator shut, then lashed out to her side with her spatula, just to let off some steam.

She was already gone by the time the lamppost hit the ground.

Ryouga just stared at her incredulously. "Um… don't you think Ukyou is gonna be pissed if she finds out?"

Nabiki shrugged. "She's always pissed off at me lately. Besides, Kasumi doesn't really like her that much, anyway, so I figured I'd be doing a favor to a couple of people."

The middle Tendo sister looked up as she noticed a hand resting on her own. The hand's owner was Shampoo, who was grinning shamelessly. "Well, you certainly did me a favor, Mercenary Girl. I totally owe you one for keeping the pancake chef away."

Nabiki shared a glance with Ryouga, both turning to look at Shampoo.

"Totally?" Ryouga asked, looking amused.

The fiery Amazon chuckled helplessly. "Sorry, spending too too much time with blonde valley girls lately."

Nabiki giggled, not sure that many people on the planet would be able to get away with calling the eponymous Supergirl a 'blonde valley girl'. It was still hard to believe that Shampoo and Mousse, of all people, had gotten onto the League. Ranma would have been an obvious pick, with Ryouga right behind, if only to keep challenging his eternal rival. If she were a more cynical type, she'd think they were up to something, but she just couldn't figure out an angle that made any sense.

"Well, how about you return that favor now," Nabiki replied lazily, "And drop the fake accent already?"

For a moment, Shampoo looked like a deer in headlights. "I - Shampoo not know what you talk about…"

The mercenary villainess rolled her eyes grandly. "Please, Shampoo. We've known you forever. First off, you don't sound like a bad stereotype now, you sound like what a fluent person thinks a stereotype sounds like. Second, Japanese and English are totally different languages. It's weird hearing you try to mimic the same grammatical errors in both."

The lavender haired hero returned Nabiki's even stare, then flicked across to Ryouga, who was nodding, before finally shrugging.

"Ugh, fine. You caught me. I've been working with a number of language tutors lately. It's been a huge help," Shampoo admitted, sticking her tongue out playfully, "I kind of prefer it when people underestimate me as a dummy, but it is getting so hard to keep up!"

Nabiki giggled as Ryouga shook his head, then shook it again. "Wow, that was… weird… but you know, I think I could get used to this new Shampoo pretty quick."

Her lips quirked up into a tiny grin as she watched a flush of red flash across the Amazon's cheeks before vanishing just as fast. Shampoo quickly shook her head, no doubt more disturbed at the lapse than anyone could hope to understand. Deciding to be the nice one, Nabiki turned back to Ryouga.

"So, Ryouga, what have you been up to lately? I haven't heard about you getting tangled up in any cool villain battles or anything like that. Even Ranma is making the news more than you, and he's a cop in Japan now." It physically pained her to use the 'c' word there, but it had to be said. The only thing more disappointing than Ranma's new career choice, was the fact that his brazen actions just totally screwed over all the work Gizmo did to cover up his personal information. Hell, it'd nearly backfired on them, and they'd been forced to burn some expensive equipment before anything could be traced back to them.

"It's true, I've actually spent most of my time here working with Terra."

"Tara? Wait, you mean that adorable blonde twig that let us into your room?" she asked, not quite believing what she was hearing. "She's so skinny I doubt she could arm wrestle Gosunkugi! What could you possibly be teaching her?"

Even as Ryouga began firing up a suitably offended papa-bear glare (That was new, quite different from his 'How-dare-you-insult-Akane!' glare), Shampoo started laughing out loud.

"You aren't keeping up with current events, are you, Nabiki? I wasn't sure who Ryouga was talking about when I got here, but once I saw her, I realized exactly who she is," Shampoo... failed to explain. Nabiki must not have been able to hide her confused look, as the Amazon looked at her in disbelief. "That 'little twig' nearly destroyed this entire city, and that was after she beat all the Titans, by herself."

"Hey now, there's no reason to put it like that," Ryouga muttered defensively. "And she's come a long way since then. So, you better lay off, Nabiki. Even Ranma would know better than to bet on you if it came down to a fight."

Shampoo sniggered at the mention of her airen's legendary gambling skills. "I'm just glad to finally see one of these 'born with special powers' types getting some proper training." The Amazon leaned forward, grinning teasingly. "Say, how did that training method that Great Grandmother recommend to you work out?"

Nabiki frowned, feeling a loop forming bereft of her as Ryouga laughed with genuine mirth. "Better than I would have expected. It was perfect for getting the basics down. I've moved on, and now I'm working on her Dairokkan. It's going a bit slow, but she's handling the training really well."

The Tendo sister knew the term, but had little experience with what it entailed, however Shampoo nodded with full understanding, an impressed look on the elite warrior's face. "She's come that far? You must be a better instructor than I had given you credit for."

Feeling annoyed, Nabiki waved her arms between the two fanatical martial artists. "Hey, no fair cutting me out of the convo!" She pointed an accusing finger at Ryouga. "And for that matter, why are you teaching her? She doesn't look like a martial artist, and you aren't a city destroying metahuman."

The Lost Boy fired another frown her way, only to lean back in his chair. "Lots of reasons, really. When it comes down to it, she just reminds me of myself, you know? She's lived a harsh life, made lots of mistakes, and now she's trying her best to live down her past."

A short look was shared between the Mercenary and the Amazon, mutual understanding shrouding them both. Shampoo let out a low whistle, while Nabiki could only shake her head.

"Wow, that poor girl. She must have had a really terrible life," Nabiki muttered, feeling a tightness in her chest. Shampoo simply nodded in agreement.

Ryouga nodded for a moment, only to start. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that just because she's like me, that she must be miserable?"

"That about sums it up," Shampoo agreed. "When Nerima's biggest Drama Queen looks at someone and says 'Man, they had it rough'... well, then they must have had it rough!"

Nabiki nearly laughed out loud as Ryouga started sputtering incoherently. "Drama Queen? Do you know the-"

"Hell I've seen because of Ranma?" "Hell I've seen because of Ranma?"

Shampoo and Nabiki not only got the lyrics right, they even managed to harmonize as they stepped all over the Lost Boy's tired refrain. Speaking of which, they definitely needed to get on stage later.

Ryouga crossed his arms over his chest grumpily. "Well, I have," he muttered under his breath. A moment later, he pointed at them accusingly. "And why are you feeling bad for Terra having a bad life? Neither of you have ever said a word about my terrible life?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes and waved dismissively. "Oh, come on, Ryouga, that's just who you are."

Her lavender scented partner in crime nodded. "Your life made you far stronger than you have any right to be, so I don't see what you have to complain about."

Before the wanderer had a chance to argue, Nabiki stepped back in. "But the idea of a young girl being so lost and alone all the time? Now that is tragic. Even Natsumi and Kurumi had each other to rely on. Terra must have been so lonely."

"I was lonely, too," Ryouga muttered petulantly, before letting out a disgruntled huff. "At least I have a bit of evidence that you two are capable of human empathy."

Nabiki joined her flat stare with Shampoo's as they glared at the uppity Lost Boy.

Instead of faltering under their combined attack, he turned his grin back to Shampoo. "Still, I must say, training her has been really rewarding. I've actually been considering training more people if they were interested."

Shampoo rolled her eyes. "Good luck with that. I don't see Bad Luck Girl being a good match for your style. Maybe that floaty girl… what was her name again?"

Ryouga grinned. "Starfire. And she was one of the people I was thinking of." He fired a pointed look at the Amazon. "You were the other, Shampoo. Granted, it would be more training with you, since you're leagues beyond Terra and Star, but you're one of the few girls I know that has the power to really use the Hibiki style. What do you say?"

Nabiki nearly gasped out loud. Where was Ranma when you needed him? This had the makings of a great setup for misunderstandings and one upmanship as one tried to show up the other as who was the best teacher.

For her part, Shampoo stared at Ryouga incredulously, shook her head, stared some more, then shook her head again. Nabiki could only guess what was going through the Amazon's head.

"Wha- No! I mean, I'm training with Great-Grandmother. I don't even know when I would be able to…"

Chuckling, obviously amused with himself, Ryouga held up a hand. "I'm just kidding. I know you're too busy to work with a slacker like me. It just sounded like a fun idea in my head, passing along a few pointers from the Hibiki School that might help you out."

It looked like Shampoo was offended at being teased, but only for a moment. Instead, she offered up a smile. "Well, Great-Grandmother still wants to come and meet with Terra herself. Maybe if she comes by to help train her, I can come as well and give you some friendly pointers. You know, so you don't fall too far behind Ranma."

"Hey, I won our last fight, remember?" Ryouga barked.

"Yes, and exactly how well does 'winning the last fight' work out for, well, anybody when it comes to Ranma?" Shampoo asked pointedly.

Instantly, Ryouga's face fell and Nabiki could almost see him starting to glow a bit. "Now that's a depressing thought." He suddenly perked up. "Though, on the bright side, Ranma is gonna be too busy gunning for Jinx to come bothering me!"

"What's this, using your girlfriend as bait to draw off the mean, nasty Ranma?" Nabiki asked teasingly. A moment later, she found herself nibbling her lower lip. "Actually, that's kind of hot."

"Nabiki!"

And with Ryouga's cry of scandalized shock, the curvy Amazon performed a kip-up back to her feet and made her way for the door. "Speaking of which, I promised someone that I'd help them with a little problem they are having." For some reason, Shampoo's grin looked downright predatory as she slid out the door. "That, and I want to find those other Amazons and get into some trouble."

Nabiki giggled as the lavender haired warrior vanished from view. "Man, we need to get her away from Ranma and the fiancée brigade more often. She's actually kinda fun on her own."

The bandanna clad boy nodded, a trace of a smile on his lips. "That might be a bit of an issue, what with the two of you being on opposite sides of the hero-villain divide. You don't get to sit on the sidelines like me anymore."

Her own smile fell a bit at that. He wasn't wrong. Even coming to this party was a huge risk, and one they wouldn't be able to repeat. The second that any of the other Titans returned, the jig would be up, and then it would be fight time. How often would she even be able to see her own sisters once she really got going? Kasumi was hard enough, living with the Titans, but Akane was halfway married to the Anti-Villain police force back home.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Ryouga looking at her with concern.

"Hey, don't worry about it. As long as you still consider me your friend, I'll be here for you, and I know Kasumi will always have time for her baby sister."

"Hey! I'm not the baby sister, that's Akane!" Nabiki felt a giggle bubble up in her throat and couldn't help but smile. She appreciated the sentiment, at the least, even if it was from the Lost Boy, and thus any claim of 'being anywhere' was instantly suspect. She was about to say something else when someone else stumbled into the room.

They both turned to see the now familiar blonde figure of Ryouga's protege enter the room, carrying a small tray with four drinks on it. The young girl was frowning and let out an annoyed huff as she walked up to them.

"That Shampoo girl breezed past me and grabbed two of the drinks. Now there aren't enough for everyone!"

Spinning around his chair, bringing himself more in line with Nabiki, Ryouga glanced at his pupil with a hooded gaze.

"And we thank you for your generosity in getting us all drinks, Terra." He then leaned forward and grabbed another two, giving one to Nabiki, and gesturing for the young waitress to give the other two to Gizmo and Mammoth.

Surprisingly to Nabiki, the rebellious looking waif of a girl did as instructed, though it didn't stop her from whining a bit.

"Come on, Ryouga! You aren't still mad at me, are you?" Terra tugged at the hem of her sky-blue shirt. "How was I supposed to know you didn't want these guys in your room?"

Rather than respond, Ryouga leaned Nabiki's way and absently asked, "Say, do you happen to recall hearing me yell 'Don't you dare let them in my room'?"

Tapping a finger to her lips, Nabiki feigned innocence as best as she could (not being overly familiar with the concept herself) and shrugged her shoulders. "You know, that does ring a bell. But what kind of dutiful student would possibly betray her own teacher like that?"

Unfortunately, neither of them could hold in their laughter as Terra started to mewl like a kicked puppy. Ryouga held a hand over his heart and quickly reached out to pull his ward close so he could drape an arm over her shoulder.

"Okay, okay, I forgive you. Now, let me properly introduce you to Nabiki. She's-" an odd look settled on the martial artist's face as he came to some unusual conclusion in his dense head. "She's kind of my oldest friend here, excepting Kasumi. I've known her longer than Shampoo and Mousse, and she even got pulled into the whole Villain Academy thing with me."

Nabiki held a hand to her own chest, actually feeling a bit of something at the surprisingly honest admission. She kind of considered Ranma and Ryouga as weird, dysfunctional parts of the family, but it was a bit unexpected to think that, just maybe, Ryouga felt the same way about her. She could count the number of people that had called her a friend - not just an associate, a boss, or a partner - on one hand.

It was oddly touching.

Terra bowed to her respectfully, before standing again and running her hand through the hair on the back of her head in a remarkably familiar gesture. "It's nice to meet you. Also, I just want to say, you are, like, super pretty. I could tell you were related to Kasumi right away!"

The villainess smiled brightly, turning to Ryouga. "Did you train her to say that just to get on my good side, Lost Boy? If so, then much respect."

Even as he laughed, Terra pouted, before speaking up again. "Hey, so if you went to the Academy, does that mean that you're a reformed villain, like me and Ryouga?"

Nabiki turned her stare back on the young girl, matching the hungry smile Shampoo had worn when she'd slipped out of the room. "Oh, you are just adorable. I can see why Ryouga likes you." She licked her lips lasciviously. "I could just eat you up."

It was amusing to watch the red surge up the slim girl's neck and then up her cheeks as she stared at Nabiki, eyes growing wider by the second. She spun to her master.

"I think I need an adult…"

Said master shrugged his shoulders helplessly, struggling to hold in his smile.

"She is an adult."

The massive mothership loomed over them, even as they crouched on the balcony of a tall tower near the outskirts of the city. Obviously, that ship was too high profile a target for infiltration, but luckily there was no shortage of other, smaller ships parked around the area as well.

Robin spent a long stretch of time watching the comings and goings of the various guards that patrolled the area. Oddly, he only saw Tamaranean sentries; he had yet to see a single crew member emerge from any of the bizarre alien ships.

Crouched next to him, Perfume nodded to a ship stationed closer to the city proper than the rest, which meant it was the closest to the cover of the buildings. He nodded in agreement. The guards would be leaving that region momentarily, giving them a brief window to get in and investigate.

The Boy Wonder hooked his grapnel gun to the railing, before throwing himself over the balcony and into freefall. The wind whipped past his face and the surge of adrenaline brought his senses into keen focus. At the last possible second, he pulled back on the grapnel, and arrested his fall just enough to land with a heavy thump to the ground.

The Elder landed a second later, not even bothering with a rope at all. And to think, he'd been proud of how far he could push himself now, after all of his training, but it was also good to know that there was still so far he could go.

Without the need to signal his intent, he dove into a nearby alley, Perfume hot on his heels. Moving silently, they skittered down the narrow gulf between buildings, only to hold up ten feet from the mouth of the alley. He held up his hand, even as the pair of guards floated past. He knew to be careful; he'd learned from Starfire that her people had excellent low light vision, but their hearing seemed to be similar to humans.

They held their position for little less than a minute, just long enough for the guards to round the corner four buildings down, as they had every on every other patrol of this route. Dropping his hand, the pair of them shot out of the alley, sliding to a halt under the hull of the nearest ship.

While small compared to the Void Skipper, and downright miniscule compared to that massive mothership, the viridian green vessel was still nearly one hundred meters long, and nearly a third that in height. Luckily, he'd been able to locate an access hatch from the distance and that was where the pair of them were now crouched.

His communicator wouldn't work here, so he pulled out a more sophisticated tool for this job. It was one of the league Decryption devices, one that Cyborg had upgraded during the Thanagarian invasion for even greater functionality. This, at least, had a chance of working, as long as whatever system this tub worked on was at least compatible with one of the technological architectures it incorporated.

Holding it up, he quickly looked for an access port for the access hatch from which he could… well, access the system.

"Well… crap."

Except, there was nothing. There wasn't even a control panel, let alone any kind of ports. Not even a keypad to tear off and dig into the wiring beneath. Were all the controls on the inside? Even Thanagarians had controls on the outside in case of emergency situations. What kind of organization would design something with so little regard to the crew's safety?

"Problem?" Perfume asked, not sounding concerned.

"Only if you don't have a way to open this hatch hidden up your sleeves," he muttered in frustration. "I have a cutting torch, but it wouldn't be quick, if it worked at all."

Rather than replying sarcastically, as he'd been expecting, the young Elder instead pushed him aside and began to inspect the hatch. Reaching out, she tapped it lightly. "Hmm, not terribly thick, but it isn't a material I'm familiar with."

Robin looked around anxiously. They only had about ten minutes before the patrol came by again. It didn't leave them a lot of time to puzzle out a way to get in.

Abruptly, Perfume rose to her full height and took a step back, squaring her shoulder. "I believe I can get us in, but it won't be pretty. If we are unlucky, the guards will notice our entrance as soon as they come by again."

The young hero raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you going to do? It might be a hatch, but this is still alien hull armor we are talking about."

Perfume offered him a wry grin. "You think I was put on the Council for my looks? Cheeky boy. Allow me to show you something special I've been working on."

The aqua-haired warrior then drew back one arm, her fingers splayed out and curled like claws. For a moment, nothing happened… except that Robin was starting to feel a bit hot under the collar. He took a step back as a haze, like the air over the road on a hot summer day, began to shimmer around the Amazon warrior.

A moment later, his eyes widened as sparks began to snap and pop off her hand. It was only thanks to his own training in the technique that he was even able to notice the tiny vibrational movements in her hand reminiscent of the Chestnut Fist, but whatever she was doing was light years ahead of his own meager skills.

"Fèng Huáng Shā Sǐ Lóng!"

Her hand lashed out, though not ridiculously fast, as he'd expected, but seemingly normal speed. Her curled fingers approached the hatch, but never made contact, the Veridian metal burning red, then white in less than a second. Before the hatch could melt and deform around the Elder's outstretched hand, an explosive surge of air burst forth and swept up the molten remains of the hatch into the ship like an incandescent cyclone.

The boy detective could only stare, dumbfounded, as Perfume pulled her hand back and started inspecting her nails, blowing a bit of smoke from her cuticles. She turned to see him staring, only to roll her eyes.

"Yes, yes, I know the name isn't exactly imaginative, but it's still a work in progress. Now, let's move quickly, we probably don't have much time."

He nodded dumbly as he followed her into the ship. Luckily, the cyclonic winds at the end had cooled the metal enough that it wouldn't hurt them, but now the entire interior corridor was spattered with ropey strands of melted alien metal.

"What was that?" he asked, still in awe.

She slipped forward to the end of the corridor, sneaking a peak around the corner before finally looking back at him.

"Something I've been devising ever since Old Cologne revealed that a certain Musk Prince had not only somehow stolen the secret of the Hiryua Shoten Ha from our people but had learned to counter it as well." She shook her head. "Cologne is a bit too much of a traditionalist when it comes to the sacred techniques, but I prefer to think ahead."

Robin had… absolutely no idea what she was talking about but decided to breeze past it. Moving past her, he looked both ways as well. The small corridor ended at a T-Junction, heading towards the front and the back of the ship. Pulling out his communicator, he used it to begin mapping the interior of the vessel. At least this way, they could find their way back out in a pinch.

"But how did you do it? I thought I saw some aspects of the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken, but that was something else entirely." he asked, still curious. Odd, though, he wasn't picking up any motion within range of his communicator. Shrugging, he began to move towards the nose of the alien vessel, stretching his senses to try to pick up on anyone that might try to ambush them.

She nodded, eyeing him approvingly. "That is a part. Most of the rest, you might already understand. Cologne mentioned that one of your friends has started to dabble in elemental ki, though he is focusing on earth. An impressive feat for one so young. Personally, I am more in tune with fire. Beyond the application of elemental ki, it is mostly a combination of several other techniques."

The elder pouted in annoyance, pulling at a few strands of her bluish hair. "I had always hoped that I would be Water attuned, but unfortunately, I got the element that most clashes with my entire style."

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. It seemed like the Amazon equivalent to First World Problems, as the number of people he knew that could actually use elemental ki at all were… Perfume and Ryouga. Probably Cologne, too, but he'd never seen it, anyway.

Something else struck Robin as off as they sped through the ship. The corridors seemed to criss-cross through the ship extensively, but there didn't seem to be any rooms. Just endless access ports to allow system maintenance, or at least, that would be his guess. Not only was there not a single crew member, but it didn't seem like there was any place for them to live or work. Then again, that… thing Starfire was supposed to marry did look kind of gelatinous. Did they just ooze through the ship's inner workings?

That didn't really seem to make sense, though.

What if, what if there was no crew?

Curious now, as they didn't seem to be making any headway running through the ship, Robin skidded to a stop next to one of the access panels. At least, inside the ship, there was no shortage of places to access the computer. Pulling out the decryption tool once more, he examined one of the access ports for a moment, before choosing the Thanagarian styled interface to test out. It seemed to be the most similar in design, at least.

Inserting the probe, he booted up the decryption software. Within a few moments, he was getting some basic information on the readout, which soon began translating. Had to give the League credit, when it came to borderline magic technology, they had it made. Probably all those Green Lanterns they hung out with.

Without having to crack the system, he was able to get some basic information. Ship name, registry number, corporate ownership of the vessel…

Corporate ownership? The name of the company didn't translate into anything but a string of letters, so it was probably a company named after an individual, but that seemed odd for an evil invading empire.

He was about to start the actual system hack, when he heard movement coming from down the corridor. He couldn't hear the tromping of boots, but he did here muffled speech in Tamaranean. It hadn't been nearly ten minutes yet, though, which probably meant something else had happened.

"Crap," he muttered quietly, "We must have set off a silent alarm when we broke in. We need to get out of here!"

He turned to his comrade, to come up with their best escape route-

Only to find himself standing alone in an awfully long, hideously green corridor.

The hushed sounds of the approaching guards soon became shouts, and Robin saw the first of them round the nearest corner, leveling their spears in his direction.

"Well… crap."

Terra smiled into her drink. At least there was one advantage to getting mercilessly teased by Kasumi's sister, and that was that Nabiki did not share the same stick which was firmly wedged up the Elder Tendo's butt! While no one was looking, Nabiki had snuck her, what she called, a 'Screwdriver'. She had mentioned that sneaking booze to young people was traditional, in accordance with the Old Laws.

Whatever that meant.

She took another sip, enjoying the taste of the orange juice, but was careful not to drink too much. Nabiki had told her that vodka was tasteless, like water, so she might drink too quickly and get sick.

Sometimes it was good to be a bad guy!

She could already feel the liquid courage, as Speedy had called it while psyching himself up to chat up Wonder Girl 2.0, bolstering her still partially fossilized self esteem. With her new, artificially enhanced bravery, she strode up to the most interesting person in her vicinity to introduce herself.

The woman in question was tall, taller than Ryouga, taller than Cyborg, nearly as tall as that Mammoth guy hanging around Nabiki. And she was just about as heavily muscled too, though, she supposed that made sense. With the Luchador mask she was wearing, she certainly looked like she could throw people around as a profession.

Stopping before the imposing heroine, Terra stuck out her free hand. "Hey! I'm Terra, nice to meet you!"

The statuesque wrestler glanced down at her, though it was a bit hard to tell with those stupid pupil-less masks that seemed to be all the craze these days. She looked to be the stoic type, though, as her face was bereft of a smile.

"I know who you are."

Huh… Weird answer. Regardless, she soldiered on. "Pretty good party, right? You having fun?"

"I was," the imposing lady muttered, "But now I am preoccupied asking myself why you are here?

"I thought this was a gathering for heroes."

Terra felt like she was collapsing in on herself, wanting to disappear completely in the looming hero's shadow.

"W-wha…"

She realized she was already talking to the woman's back before she could even think of something to say. She hadn't even gotten her name.

Ice settled in her stomach and her eyes flitted around the room. She hadn't seen it before, but once friendly faces sneered at her. People still smiled and laughed and drank, until their eyes darted her way. Did everyone know who she was? Had Artemis and Argent just been making fun of her? Pretending to be friendly to her so they could laugh at her behind her back?

Her eyes desperately sought out the one person she knew she could trust, the one person that knew her. She found him, leaning against the far wall, and talking to that guy with the trumpet. But… there were so many people between her and Ryouga. The distance seemed to stretch on forever, countless shadowed faces with judging eyes boring into her.

She struggled just to lift one foot to put in front of the other, in hope of closing that abyssal gulf between them-

A hand on her shoulder startled her back to reality. Suddenly, she was standing back in a still large, but far from infinite room; no one was leering at her. Looking to her shoulder, she saw a large, callused hand peeking out of a bulky sleeve. Looking up, she was greeted by warm, green, pretty eyes, as well as a kind smile.

It was Weapon Master, or Mousse, as Kasumi had mentioned. Despite being new to the hero scene, he was still one of the top dogs of this entire party, being part of the vaunted Justice League and coming in the company of Supergirl. That bit of trivia paled in importance to the far more critical fact that was lodged in her skull.

"Y-you're Ryouga's friend, Mousse, right?" she stuttered more than she would have liked to. It was hard to pull back from wanting to cry to latching onto a life raft out of nowhere.

The tall martial artist shrugged. "Well, we certainly have some history. You're Terra, right? You're Ryouga's protege, aren't you?"

She nodded, the ice in her belly starting to thaw incrementally. Looking around the room, she noted there was a bit of a gap around them now, like a tiny island on an ocean of indifference.

"You sure you want to be talking to a villain like me?" she asked.

Mousse stared at her for a long moment, apparently trying to puzzle something out, only to burst into laughter. Really loud, too, right from the belly kind of laughter. Shaking his head, sending his luxurious raven locks dancing, Mousse reached under his glasses to wipe a tear from his eye.

"I see Hibiki has only been giving you the sanitized version of our history. Don't tell me: Ranma is the worst person you can possibly imagine, and Ryouga is just an unfortunate victim of circumstance?"

Terra frowned at the almost-accusation… but could not exactly refute it. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that Ranma isn't a jerk?"

This earned another laugh, this one more reserved. "Oh, he is, don't doubt that. But from what you might call a narrative standpoint, Ryouga and I could hardly be called angels back in our Nerima days."

"Ryouga and I are definitely in no position to judge anyone else's actions." He swung out his arm, gesturing to the whole room. "As are probably a lot more people here than would like to admit, as well."

The raven-haired martial artist then leaned in, lowering his voice for proper secrecy. "And speaking of real villains," he suddenly reached down and grabbed her cup. An instant later, a tiny clear bottle popped out of his sleeve, and he poured the transparent content into her drink. "Why don't we put some actual alcohol into this drink for you?"

"What are you talking about? Nabiki already…" She took a hasty sip to prove her point, only to spit it back out and start hacking as the actually mixed drink burned its way down her throat. "Oh - oh God! That's the worst thing ever!"

Mousse chuckled evilly. "That's why I don't drink it, myself, but I'm always prepared."

The geokinetic heroine wasn't sure if she wanted to yell at Nabiki for fooling her like that or thank her for saving her from this new form of suffering.

"Say, why don't you join me and a few old friends of mine?" He gestured to the couch, which had now been taken over by Nabiki's crew, as well as a few others, including Artemis and Argent. The crowd was laughing and gossiping with abandon and seemed to be having a lot of fun. "I think we can help you ease through the whole 'recovering antagonist' thing."

She couldn't help snickering at his odd grasp on things, but he seemed genuine, and to be a decent guy despite his own assertions.

"Thanks. I really appreciate it," she replied, her throat still a bit burny.

Mousse chuckled to himself, waving off her gratitude. "No need to thank me. If Ryouga thought I wasn't looking out for you, he'd crush me like a beer can." The bespectacled warrior glanced over at the oblivious Hibiki, before turning back to her. "On that note, maybe don't mention the drink spiking either?"

A smile curved her lips as the tall man wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to lead her to the couch. Maybe, with her past, she would be the top dog at the 'not-as-good-guy' table, just as Mousse was with the heroes? It was certainly a weird, conflicting thought that still made her want to smile more.

"You know, the withered old Ghoul - ahem - I mean Cologne has mentioned your particular powerset, as well as some of the training you've been doing with Hibiki." He lifted a hand to push up his glasses with a single finger, setting the glass discs to glinting in the light. "I was wondering if I might be able to give you some pointers as well?"

Wait, hadn't Ryouga mentioned something about Mousse and training back at the camp? She never actually heard how he fought or anything, so she had no idea what he might want to teach her.

"I suppose, but why would you want to teach me?"

"Well, I've heard that a lot of your techniques involve pulling rocks of various shapes and uses from the ground to attack."

The older boy's smile only grew wider, almost feral.

"So, if you think about it, for you, the entire planet is just an infinite supply of Hidden Weapons."

"Huh?"

"Here, have another drink," Shampoo offered her Off-brand Amazon sister. She handed the surprisingly tall Greek woman another of the cheap red beer cups, filled with its namesake. "You need to at least try to have some fun tonight."

Donna took the proffered glass and drained nearly a quarter of it in one go. The divinely blessed (A real Amazon didn't need gods to make her strong!) warrior let out a beleaguered sigh before offering up a weak smile. "You are correct, my sister, but it is difficult."

The dark-haired woman's gaze traversed the room to linger, again, on the target of her woes. "That male trespassed on the sacred ground of Themyscira. Seeing him walk about, without any punishment at all?" She sighed again, lancing Shampoo with an imploring look. "I'm not usually like this! I'm heroic and virtuous, I can have fun! He's just so… frustrating."

Shampoo could only roll her eyes at the woman's timidity. Granted, Ryouga was a tough nut to crack, and just like him to wander exactly where he wasn't meant to be. Thank the Goddess that it hadn't been Ranma. He would probably already… be…

An evil smile slithered onto the lavender haired Amazon's lips. Casually, she reached up to wrap an arm around her tall compatriot's shoulders and drew her down so she could whisper.

"Donna, if anyone knows how frustrating Ryouga is, it's me. And if anyone here knows about having to deal with sacred Amazon laws, no matter how outdated or utterly insufferable they might be, it's your friend Shampoo, here." She squeezed her companion's shoulder, giggling wickedly. "But your approach is all wrong. You've made one of the four classic blunders of Nerima."

The olive-skinned Amazon stared at her; confusion was clear on her face. "Four blunders?"

Shampoo nodded. "First: Never try to hit Ryouga in the head, it's just too dense. Second: Never borrow money from Nabiki, it's not worth your soul. Third: NEVER hang your underwear outside to dry in Nerima… don't ask. And finally: Never challenge Ranma to anything with Martial Arts in the name."

"I… have no idea what you are talking about, but I think I understand what you mean with your first point." Donna ran a finger along her chin in thought. "I can't kill him at his own party, anyway, it would just be rude. ...Also, the whole murder issue that the League would probably frown on. Also, when he finally stopped running, he was far more formidable than I had anticipated."

It was true, Ryouga was a powerful warrior, not quite top notch, not yet anyway, but more than sufficient for what she intended.

"May I suggest an alternate approach," Shampoo whispered right into her companion's ear, nearly nibbling on the lobe.

"There are other ways to teach someone a lesson…"

"Ha! So that was you I saw in Russia! Man, what are the odds, right?"

Ryouga chuckled and shook his head. "I thought you were just a cosplayer, or something. I just had no idea who you were supposed to be."

His latest companion, Herald, laughed in amusement. "A cosplayer, in Russia? I don't think they're too big on conventions, there."

The Lost Boy scratched his head in thought. "Are you sure, I swear I've been through at least one in Moscow…" Finally, he shrugged in defeat. "Anyway, I have to say that you have the most amazing power I've ever seen."

Just think of it, the ability to go anywhere you wanted, when you wanted? Ryouga couldn't think of a better power than that. Herald, for his part, chuckled in embarrassment, juggling his trumpet in a showy manner.

"Teleportation and dimensional travel has its perks, I won't lie. Most people don't really think it's cool compared to the big three, you know, super strength, invulnerability and flight."

"Pfft!" Ryouga scoffed, "How could anyone think flight is better than being able to get where you want to go? I can't even imagine how different my life would be now if I could do that."

Herald looked confused for a moment. "Wait, do you mean teleportation is cool, or do you mean just being able to find your way?"

"Ahh," Ryouga hemmed. That one had gotten away from him a bit. "Well, you see-"

"Ryouga! Over here!"

The sudden shout distracted the Lost Boy, especially since it was Shampoo yelling out, and he began to spin to see what she wanted. Now, it had to be noted that Ryouga was currently holding a drink in his hand, and thus his arm was cocked out to the side somewhat, and as he spun about, he unconsciously lifted his arm to keep his drink from spilling.

The sudden impact and the unhealthy sound of bone on bone shook Ryouga to his core as his elbow rammed directly into the generously padded chest of the tall woman that was inexplicably standing right behind him. He watched, something akin to dread suffusing his soul as he watched the lanky warrior collapse to the ground in a heap of red and black.

"Oh shit, you just dunked on Wonder Girl," Herald exclaimed, nearly bursting into laughter.

"No… no-no-no," Ryouga muttered, dread evolving into something far worse.

Slowly, the red clad Amazon on the ground pushed herself up to her knees, gingerly rubbing her chest. With deliberate hesitation, she looked up to catch his eyes with her own, her eyelashes fluttering distractingly.

"It… appears that you have defeated me, mighty warrior."

Ryouga's internal scream was so loud that the green skinned girl across the room flinched and splashed her drink right in Hotspot's face, his shock leading his head to burst into flame, which in turn, caused the Martian girl to shriek in terror and phase right through the floor.

"No! No, I didn't, it was just an accident!" He backed up, flailing his arms, only for his back to hit the wall. He briefly considered trying to follow Miss Martian's lead and just push through the wall, but he was pretty sure he'd destroyed enough of the tower for one night.

Panic transitioned into existential terror as the tall, attractive Amazon rose to her feet and stepped right in front of him. Quick like a snake, her arm shot out, slamming to the wall right above his shoulder. Looking down on him slightly, she leaned in, pinning him to the wall with her sheer presence and the smile on her face as she loomed over him caused a familiar pressure to build up behind his sinuses.

"I-I-I…" He fiddled with his fingers helplessly as she leaned in further.

"Wo… Ai… Ni…"

An explosion rocked the entire room. For the second time that night, people scattered, and shouts of attacks and villains sounded from across the room. Using the split-second distraction, Ryouga ducked under Donna's toned arm and slid to the side. Across the room, a cloud of black smoke began to disperse, everyone in the room now training their attention, and weapons, on the source of destruction.

The last wisps of smoke dispersed to reveal… Jinx? The slight witch was standing before an entire bank of computer monitors, all violently exploded and still spewing forth sparks and smoke. The pink haired woman was standing straight, fists clenched at her side and her entire body so taut that you could probably get a pretty good note if you stuck her in a piano.

It only took a fraction of a second for Jinx to realize that the entire room was looking at her now, and another fraction of a second for her face to start blending in with her hair, chameleon style. A second after that, Jinx just held a hand up to cover her face and awkwardly stalked away towards one of the unoccupied corners of the main room.

Shampoo grinned victoriously at Jinx's little display of pique.

Maybe that would finally get the Lost Boy's attention so he would stop running away from the neon hellcat like a cowardly little boy all night! That, and she managed to help her new friend get some well-earned payback, epically embarrassing the Lost Boy! Two birds with one bit of malicious matchmaking.

The vivacious Amazon giggled to herself. And people said she wasn't a romantic at heart.

I'm such a good friend!

"Where the heck did everyone go?" Cyborg asked the air. Pacing back and forth wasn't producing any more results than his rhetorical questions, but it felt good to at least be in motion. Lotion and he had met up with Beast Boy and Spice a while back, and they'd come back to the 'waiting room', only to find it bereft of bossy know-it-alls.

Maybe they'd gone for a walk too? The mental image of Robin talking a romantic walk along the balcony, hand in hand with Cologne was worth a chuckle and storing away in the mental archive

Beast Boy, looking a bit more comfortable sitting in one of the 'chairs' juked to the side just in time to catch a piece of flying tofu in his mouth.

"Gooaal!" Spice cheered from her chair a dozen feet from the green teen's.

"Not sure what you're cheering about," Cyborg remarked, grinning wickedly. "Hitting his big mouth is playing on Beginner mode."

Even as his friend started to grumble, folding his arms over his chest, Spice and Lotion laughed and giggled to various extents.

"It is odd," Lotion jumped back to his question. "Departing without even leaving a note, or trying to contact us?"

"Dude, if you're so worried that Robin is trying to put the moves on your girlfriend Cologne, then just check the communicators."

Cyborg nearly slipped his camshaft just contemplating that thought. It didn't help that Spice burst out laughing again as he struggled to find anything witty to reply with.

Finally shrugging in defeat, he lifted his arm to contact Robin-

"That won't work, I'm afraid."

The unexpected comment startled Cyborg, but it was the familiar voice that sent him skittering off to the side, giving a high-pitched squeal.

"Elder Perfume!" Lotion called out, surprised at the older woman's sudden and startling appearance amid them.

Spice was halfway into a combat stance, before she caught herself, swearing in embarrassment. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was tucked safely away in a turtle shell and hidden under the table.

Taking a deep breath, Cyborg shook a fist at the dang, sneaky Amazon. Bells! Bells for all of them! "Sheesh, Perfume! You trying to scare me the rest of the way to death? What are you even talking about?"

Worryingly, the young Elder was not wearing a 'I-just-scared-all-the-dumb-kids' expression, instead her face was all business.

"There's no time to explain," she stated quickly, "Robin has been captured, and I have no doubt people will be coming for the rest of us very soon. We need to move quickly."

"What? Captured? What the heck were you guys doing?" Cyborg barked.

"And where's Raven?" Beast Boy added.

"Or the Matriarch?" Lotion continued.

Perfume took a deep breath, and then her hand shot out, slapping all three of them across the head.

"What did I just say about there being no time? Move!"

Grinning victoriously at avoiding punishment, and nearly vibrating with excitement at the tense atmosphere that now gripped them all, Spice sped for the door and swung it open. The green haired teen vanished out the doorway, running full tilt, only to bounce back through the doorway a second later, as if she'd just run into a brick wall.

Well, that couldn't be a good sign. Following Perfume's lead, with the mental promise to get a running explanation en route to wherever they were going, Cyborg and the others made their way to the door; Beast Boy ducking down to help Spice up along the way.

The reason for Spice's sudden reversal was revealed as they poured into the hallway. Standing across from them, his massive arms folded across his chest and an exceptionally large axe held in his hand, was the massive Galfore. Cyborg swallowed visibly at the sight of the imposing warrior. The tableau of a standoff held for several long seconds, no one making so much as a twitch, until finally-

"The Empress has ordered me to confine all of you to this chamber. You would be wise to cooperate," Galfore intoned with grim finality.

"Screw that!" Everyone turned to stare in surprise as Spice stepped forward furiously. "We're gonna get our friends back, and then we're gonna go grab Star and beat down your stupid Empress just for good measure!"

Galfore's expression grew stormy and fierce as he leaned down towards the tiny emerald haired Amazon. "Your impertinence knows no bounds, little Spice." Rising back to his full height, the ancient Tamaranean glowered mightily. "To accomplish any of those things, you would first need to get past me… and then take the corridor to your left. Then descend the second access tunnel to the dungeon in the third sub basement where a dozen armed guards are holding both of your rutha friends."

There was a sudden pause, as everyone just stared at the tall warrior and processed what was just said. The Titans and the Amazons all looked to one another, no one quite sure what to do, until Beast Boy finally shrugged, and took a step to the left.

Only to shriek and jump back as a massive axe tore into the ground an inch before his nose. Everyone dropped back into combat stances, eyeing the dangerous alien.

"I am sworn to serve the Grand Ruler," Galfore stated proudly. "I cannot allow her enemies to pass without battle."

Cyborg lifted his arm, his hand shifting loudly to sonic cannon form. If it meant saving his friends, then he was all for-

A hand reached out to push his arm back down. He looked up to see Perfume smiling broadly.

"Cyborg, take the children and rescue the others. This battle is mine to fight."

The cybernetic Titan stared back at the Elder, then to his friends, all of whom were looking to him for guidance, then to Galfore. He almost missed the imperceptible nod as the giant warrior struggled to hide a tiny grin.

"You sure, Elder?"

She nodded in return. "You don't have time to waste here. Besides," she turned to glance at Galfore, nibbling her lower lip, "I am certain that I'll be enough to keep our friend satisfied."

He could only shake his head in amusement at the aqua haired warrior's bravado, also how damn thirsty she was! With a wave of his arm, he started to jog down the corridor, the massive warrior making no move to stop them.

"Let's go get our birds out of their cages!"

Galfore watched the youngling's charge recklessly down the corridor. That Spice, though, was something he had not seen in some time. He let out a small sigh, she reminded him so much of Komand'r… back before everything had fallen to pieces. Someone with that much courage deserved to survive the challenges ahead of her.

Finally, he turned his attention back to the slip of a woman that stood before him. She bore no weapon, so he tossed his axe to the side. She watched him do so and chuckled loudly.

"Such a gentleman. Throwing away your only hope of survival." She held up a hand and clenched her fist, knuckles popping loudly; Galfore raised a single eyebrow. "I hope you are at least as strong as your little bumgorf if you plan on making this interesting for me."

The ancient warrior stared incredulously at the tiny female with his good eye. "Little One, you hope that I-" He lifted his arms to his side and flexed his arms mightily, straining his armored clothing to its limits. "Am as strong as a teenage girl who, frankly, is far too skinny…" he tugged his beard anxiously. "By X'hal, I wish she would eat more. She is going to waste away to nothing…"

"Ahem!"

The interruption snapped Galfore back to the moment, and he offered the colorfully appointed woman a thankful nod. It took him a moment to find his train of thought again. Oh, yes!

"Worry not, tiny human female, you will find that I have strength to spare. And-" Finally, Galfore began to focus his internal energies. His feet lifted from the ground and his hair began to flutter in an unseen breeze, his eyes blazing with emerald light. "I have no shortage of righteous fury these days."

The female warrior nodded approvingly, dropping into her own combat stance. A smirk crossed her painted lips.

"You wouldn't have happened to have read over any of our Amazon laws, would you?" she asked, rather unexpectedly.

"I have… not," he admitted. His eyes narrowed as he stared down at his landbound opponent. "Why, is there something I should know, Small One?"

The slight female giggled. "Just two things. First, is that I love surprises."

Suddenly, the air around the human cracked and her own hair began to whip around violently as some form of energy began emitting from her entire body. Galfore's eyes widened in surprise. He was certain that nothing he had read about humans had mentioned anything like that.

He began to grin, excitement which he had not felt in decades began to build in his stomachs. Surprises indeed!

"And second-" In the blink of an eye, the blue haired female vanished, only to appear right in front of Galfore, a red glowing fist drilling directly towards his chest.

"It's rude to not ask a lady's name!"