Dark Titans – Arc 6 – Wed by Dawn
Chapter 7
I don't own Ranma or Teen Titans.
Enjoy if you Will, Tolerate if you won't.
Perfume's heel slammed into the titanic Tamaranean's chest with every iota of force she could muster. They hung in the air, time frozen as they locked eyes, until the tell-tale sparks and pops started to crackle around the point of contact.
The shaped explosion of spiritual pressure and elemental fury launched the airborne warrior careening through the air. And then the wall behind him; Galfore might as well have been a wrecking ball as he blasted through the alien stone, before vanishing into the darkness of a long corridor beyond.
The Amazonian Elder shook out her foot before gingerly resting her weight on it once more. The towering soldier might not have even noticed her kick on its own, but by the Goddess, he noticed that!
Perfume preferred to focus more on raw, explosive power than overspecializing in speed, as Cologne did, but even with all her training, her opponent far overshadowed her in that department. Thankfully, her skills and speed were more than sufficient to stay out of the formidable man's clutches.
Her eyes narrowed as she peered down the darkened hallway. Something wasn't right, though. Her strike had been powerful, but not 'launch a six-hundred-pound male out of sight' powerful. She clearly hadn't struck the man down; his inhuman endurance had absorbed far too many of her attacks to let her think that this last one had been a finishing blow.
He hadn't… fled, had he? The young Elder couldn't even imagine the disappointment she would feel if the monolith made flesh were to flee the field of honorable combat simply because he was far outclassed.
She took several quick steps forward, leaping through the shattered hole in the wall and into the unlit corridor beyond. It was narrow, only a dozen feet across, and a bit higher than that. Straining her ears, she tried to pick up any signs of her elusive prey.
Unexpected vibrations ran up her feet, slightly disrupting her footing as she looked down the hallway curiously. The entire corridor was shaking now, more violently by the second, and she could now see a spark of green light within the distant abyss.
Her grin returned. So, it was that was it? The man was no coward, rather he was beyond reckless!
Setting her footing solidly, her feet sliding slightly as the stone warped beneath her soles, she began to spin her entire arms in wide arcs, stirring the air with swiftly heating currents.
The green light rapidly grew as it approached her, and the entire hallway began to shudder in response to its passage. The fact that she could not hear anything yet boded poorly. She had fractions of a second to act!
With an inarticulate yell, she dug her bare toes into the plastic stone at her feet and angry ruby lines shot forward over a dozen yards, racing along the floor, walls, and ceiling faster than she could blink. A fraction of a second later, all the supercharged breaking points exploded violently, hurtling molten stone into the corridor from every angle.
At the same instant, her hands finished their last revolution and her palms slapped together fiercely, unleashing the blazing horizontal cyclone. The searing winds dove into the heart of the burning storm of running stonework, pulling the molten material in, and twisting it into a long, jagged glowing lance, hurtling through the air at ballistic speeds.
The next moment was nearly lost between blinks as Perfume watched Galfore soar majestically down the corridor, trailing a glowing green contrail of light behind him. The walls shattered in his wake as the sonic boom chasing his toes exacted a harsh toll for its very existence.
The ancient warrior saw her gleaming stone spear, but rather than spin to avoid it, he only accelerated!
A fraction of a second later, her lance shattered against the heavy metal band that wrapped around his shoulders. Galfore blasted through the airborne debris Perfume had created so fast, that it was picked up in his wake and was now flying back at her! It was all she could do just to dive to the side as the supersonic alien barreled through the space she had just occupied.
A second after that, she was sucked up into the vacuum of his Mach cone and hurtled through the air, pummeled by the remnants of her own attack every inch of the way. She collapsed heavily to the ground a moment later, hissing at the bruises that would be born over the next few hours. Luckily, the heat wasn't much more of a concern for her, than it was for her opponent.
She was alone again, back in the waiting room where it had all begun, the only new addition being a sizable hole in the far wall. Perfume dragged herself to her feet and spat out a few bits of gravel. A light chuckle escaped her lips as several sections of the newly damaged wall collapsed in on itself. It looked like Galfore's linear speed was far more impressive than she had anticipated, and far in excess of his ability to brake.
She tilted her head sharply to the side, cracking her neck loudly to get a crick out of it. A moment later, her opponent gently glided through the new opening he had just carved and landed less than a dozen feet before her.
"I have to admit, I did not expect you to be able to use your flight so effectively in such an enclosed battle," she admitted ruefully.
He shrugged. "Most Land-bound have difficulty understanding the intricacies of aerial combat." He then looked around at the numerous collapsing walls. "And the walls are thin here, anyway. Give me a week with a trowel and I'll have it suitable for habitation again."
At that, Perfume could only throw her hands into the air. "Oh, and now you're a handyman as well?" Dropping her hands on her hips, she shook her head. "You're making me a sad woman for having to grind you into the dust beneath my heel!"
The look of confusion spreading across the ancient warrior's face was by no means his own fault, but it was somewhat endearing. He shrugged it off a moment later, grinning wickedly.
"You assume much, Little One. I find your assertion of victory to be highly dubious."
The Joketsuzoku Elder shrugged. "While you are powerful, and your linear speed is truly impressive, you are no match for my skills and maneuverability. It is only a matter of time before you fall at my hands."
Her host/opponent smiled honestly this time. "I will admit, you remind me of a Southern K'lteth. Swift as the wind, vicious as a P'tahnk and a thing of beauty to behold on the hunt."
Perfume felt her cheeks begin to heat, but quickly suffused the flow of blood to avoid embarrassment. A thing of beauty, was she? Perhaps the man wasn't as oblivious to the charms of a woman as he appeared.
"Well, that-"
"But there are counters to agility!"
With shocking swiftness, Galfore swung his arms forward, only to clap his palms together with thunderous force. The resulting shockwave blasted the minutely distracted Perfume right off her feet and her body tore yet another hole in yet another wall.
This time, Perfume was far from amused as she got to her feet. She glared at the obnoxiously grinning Galfore through the hole that she had just created. Perhaps it was not his various alien powers that she was underestimating, but his centuries of experience on the battlefield.
"Now you've done it. The kid gloves are coming off!"
Galfore chuckled.
"But without your mittens, Child, how will you stay warm?"
The shimmering aura that erupted from her, melting stone, glass and steel was, she hoped, a suitable answer.
Well, this escalated quickly.
Ryouga deftly drew his thumb along the graceful curve of Jinx's shoulder blade, eliciting a sound somewhere between a moan and a whimper. Instantly, his nose began to heat up again, but to his credit, only a single drop of blood spilt past his lip to splatter messily on the pale skin of Jinx's exposed back.
Reaching to the box of tissues beside them, he quickly cleaned off the spot and tossed the used wad of paper off with the rest on the floor. It was hard, even with all his 'exposure therapy' of late, to try to hold in his excitement as he stared at the girl's naked back, her shirt pooled next to her, and her deep maroon bra unclipped as she lay on the bed. Thank whoever was listening that her skirt and socks were still on, since this wasn't that kind of massage.
"A-are you alright?" he asked more shakily than he would have liked.
She gave an imperceptible nod, her face staring blankly at the welded shut door. "I'm sorry. It's just that… I haven't had anyone, you know, touch me in the past few months." The slight girl grimaced. "Well, not without punching or kicking me, anyway."
He nodded in understanding; though he was currently living in a strange new era of constant hugs, affection, and camaraderie, he knew the lonely life of training on the road too well.
Using the edges of his hands, he pressed gently into the muscles of her lower back and started pushing up towards her neck. The young woman's skin was like a roadmap of her training over the past few months.
He'd lost track of how long it had been since they had last been in this same position, but the difference in the definition and tone of her muscles was shocking. Beyond that, the resistance he felt when kneading those same muscles had increased substantially as well, less like she was made of tissue to his touch. If he were to gauge, he'd say somewhere closer to Akane's range of conditioning, maybe moving towards Ukyou if she kept up her current efforts.
Taking in the whole was making it difficult to think straight, so he focused his attention on where his fingers met skin. His thumb grazed a tiny imperfection in the silken skin, drawing his eyes to a long, straight line of even more pale skin. A scar, months old at this point, he couldn't be sure if it would ever fully heal at this point, even if she was beginning to pick up the quick healing techniques every martial artist in Nerima knew.
"Happi knocked me across a roof there. And like an idiot, I didn't control my fall right." Her muscles tensed under his fingers, and he instinctively worked to ease that tension. "Hit something on the way, hurt like a bitch."
Ryouga chuckled to himself. That sounded about right for Happosai, not to mention Cologne and Genma. Kind of odd to think that Ranma's dad was the most ruthless guy on that list, but, well... Cat Fist.
His fingers trailed upwards, lightly tracing her ribs, less visible now than he recalled as well. The featherlight touches elicited giggles from his patient, at least until his fingers hovered over three parallel lines on her side. These were far more recent, and not nearly as clean as the other. The healing was more aggressive, testament to her body's development over the course of her training, but these likely wouldn't heal fully either.
"Those were Killer Croc," she muttered, sounding a bit drowsy from his ministrations. "Heh, not nearly as bad as I got him. I bet Ivy and Harley are going to love his new chest tattoos when they meet up in Arkham."
"I wish I had been there to help you," he admitted.
"I'm glad you weren't," she replied cheekily. "You would've knocked Croc's block off! Wouldn't have been any fun left for me!"
Oh, he would have relished that. Still, it had been a good, honest fight from what he'd seen, and Jinx was right, you couldn't improve if you didn't put absolutely everything on the line when you fought.
He added a bit more pressure to kneading her muscles, eliciting a surprised 'eep', and eventually found his way to her shoulders. He frowned here, as he saw another white line, cutting over her shoulder, from front to back. It was perfectly straight and clean, almost like it was done with a scalpel. It was older than the Croc scars, and should have already healed perfectly, for how clean it was. There was something odd about that one, he couldn't figure it out.
"What about this one?"
Looking a little confused, Jinx turned her head to her other shoulder, then glanced down to where his fingers were tracing the faint line.
"Ah, that one was Shampoo-" her jaw clicked loudly as she suddenly clammed up, just realizing she'd said something she probably shouldn't have.
Gently, Ryouga lifted his hands from Jinx's back, and rose to his feet.
It really was too bad. He had actually liked Shampoo.
He took a deliberate step towards the door.
"Ryouga, where are you going?"
He grinned savagely. "I'm just going to put down a stray cat."
Jinx rolled her vibrant eyes. "Really? And a duck while you're at it? Not to mention a Kryptonian, two Amazons and however many other idiots are out there?"
That brought him up short. "Kasumi and Speedy would probably be upset if their party ended in a bloodbath."
"I'd be upset if you got your idiot self killed over something so stupid!" She glared at him pointedly. "Now get back here and rub my back, it's getting chilly!"
He shook his head ruefully and sat back beside her. "Can you at least tell me why Shampoo decided life wasn't worth living and attacked you?"
Silence hung over them for several impossibly long moments before Jinx finally shook her head. "Not yet. I promise I'll tell you someday, but I just can't right now."
"Besides," she continued with a nasty grin, "if anyone gets to put down the alley cat, it's me."
Now that was more like it. Sighing happily, he returned to his worthy task of easing his companion's tense muscles. "Now, as fun as counting these is, can you please do me a favor and not collect anymore? Knowing you get hurt is bad for my mental health, and I'm not sure I can handle you looking any sexier and more badass if you get more."
The sight of Jinx's lips twisting up into a bashful smile, and her cheeks flushing red was its own reward. A moment later, that bashful grin grew far less innocent, biting her lower lip enticingly.
"I do have… one more scar. I haven't shown it to anyone else. Do you… wanna see it?"
He nodded slowly, apprehension and excitement building in his chest, though he wasn't exactly sure why. A moment later, he didn't care why, as Jinx started to push herself up from the bed and his neck nearly snapped from looking away so quickly. His hand snapped out for the box of tissues, but a smaller hand intercepted his and stopped it dead in its tracks.
"Down boy," Jinx whispered into his ear. Hesitantly, he cracked open one eye to see Jinx sitting before him, one arm lazily holding her delicate maroon bra to her chest to preserve her modesty. Moving gracefully, she then spun around to lay her legs across his lap.
"This one is… special. So, make sure you behave yourself, alright?"
He nodded slowly, having no idea what she meant by that. His eyebrows shot up far enough to vanish behind his bandanna as she laid back on the bed, only for her free arm to reach down and begin slowly inching up the dark material of her skirt. He felt the heat build in his face with every sinful inch, until he saw just the hint of lacy maroon once more, when she suddenly stopped.
A strange whimper escaped his throat that surprised even him at its intensity. Rather than moving up, her delicate finger slipped beneath the stripped, thigh high stocking wrapping her leg, and pushed back down. Ryouga's excitement receded a moment later, as black and purple gave way to pale skin, revealing a viscous, vaguely circular scar on Jinx's upper thigh.
This one was older than all the rest and looked like it might still be causing discomfort. He recognized the type of wound instantly, something had impaled her leg, probably near to the bone. She had to have been near a hospital when it had happened, as he had no doubt that this was the kind of wound one would bleed out from, untreated.
Mesmerized, his finger traced the faded wound, only to snap his hand back as a powerful shudder ran through Jinx's body at his gentle touch. The pink haired sorceress looked back at him, blushing badly herself now.
"It's pretty gross, right? I think my days at the beach are done."
Grinning, feeling strangely fulfilled that Jinx had chosen to share this with him, Ryouga carefully tugged her sock, and then her skirt back into place. Jinx quirked an eyebrow at him as he did so, but he shook his head.
"I'm not one for the beach myself, but that would be a damned shame to never see you in a swimsuit." He laughed as Jinx sat back up to swat him, before wrapping her free arm around his neck.
"Besides, now we match a bit better." To prove his point, he lifted his own shirt revealing his own physical reminders of past battles.
Jinx's eyes trailed the faint line that ran up and down his torso. She clearly remembered his trophy from his first battle with Brother Blood, and the clouds forming on her lovely face showed she remembered her part in that as well. A moment later, though, she let out a small gasp as she saw the newer scar, the small, perfectly circular pucker wound on his abdomen.
That was a reminder of his last battle with Brother Blood, and Jinx had never seen it before.
"What happened?" she asked as she traced her finger along the edges.
He shrugged. "I did something dumb. Tried to use my body to block an attack by Brother Blood. Turned out to be useless, beam went right through me. Missed anyway."
The small, upturned frown on Jinx's lips slowly grew, her entire face twisting with pain before she buried it in his shoulder.
"This-this is all my fault!" she cried. "All I've ever done is cause you pain, gotten you hurt."
The martial artist simply held her, content to let her get it out of her system as her shoulders hitched beneath his arm. A moment later, though, Jinx sniffed loudly, only to look up into his eyes.
"Umm… isn't this the part where you're supposed to say, 'It's not your fault.'?"
He shrugged his shoulders, then offered her a shameless grin. "Well, I wouldn't want to start over again by lying to you, now would I?"
Moving quickly, catching the volatile villainess while she was stuck between confusion and outrage, he gave her shoulder a tight squeeze.
"However," he continued, "As bad as things got, I'm glad you did it."
She looked at him, shifted back towards confusion.
"Think about it. If we had never met, then I'd still be a pig half the time, you wouldn't be the 'One True Heir', Terra would still be a statue and-" He leaned forward planting his lips on her forehead. "And I wouldn't be here with you. So, I'd say that a little bit of pain was worth it, wouldn't you?"
The smile that bloomed on Jinx's face was the most beautiful thing Ryouga had ever witnessed.
"Well, it wouldn't kill you to be a bit more of a pig," she said, grinning shamelessly. "I don't think most guys would press on the brakes like you just did there."
He grinned bashfully. "I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. I just feel we should get to know each other again before we rush ahead too far, don't you?" He chuckled to himself. "That, and most girls I know tend to get real violent in these situations, and I really don't want to make a habit of getting impaled by unhinged villains."
"So, you don't mind being stuck with a scarred-up unhinged villain for a girlfriend?" she asked shyly.
He could only shake his head in bemusement.
"As wicked as you are, you're beautiful to me. You're my darkest burning star." He ran a single finger up her spine. "There is nothing that I wouldn't do for you."
A different kind of whimper spilt past Jinx's lips, coaxing him to hold her closer. A comfortable silence hung over them for several minutes.
"Speaking of which, about the whole 'One True Heir' thing," Jinx whispered, "Um, you're gonna help me with the whole Ranma thing, right?"
"Oh, not a chance. You pulled the pin on Ranma's Ego; I'm not jumping on that grenade!"."
"You lousy Jerk!"
Nabiki silently fumed as she nursed her drink. She sat, seething in annoyance by the kitchen counter. She had been wronged and needed to make someone pay.
Her machinations were disrupted by the unlikely sight of Ryouga and Jinx entering the room. The latter was clinging to the former's arm and both were smiling and laughing. A quicker inspection noticed a few more interesting details. Mussed hair, flushed cheeks, and clothing just the tiniest bit askew.
Odd, though, Nabiki hadn't been expecting them to come back out at all, but even with that, she was pretty sure they hadn't been gone long enough to have had too much fun.
Not that she exactly had any experience in what too much fun entailed… but, well, she was a mature young woman without a boyfriend and with an internet connection. There had been some research on the subject, purely educational.
Hmm, she was starting to depress herself, and that was the Lost Boy's job!
Still, this boded well. Evil smile worming its way onto her face, she rose from her seat and moved to intercept. With her general amount of courtesy, she slipped right between the newly reunited couple and wrapped her own arms around Ryouga's. Of course, Jinx squawked in annoyance, but Nabiki shot a wink her way.
"Jiiiinx, I need to borrow your boy toy for a minute! Why don't you catch up with the stooges and their new gal pals?"
Even as Ryouga furiously shook his head indicating that this was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas, Jinx shrugged. "I suppose that's fine. You lose him, though, and I'm coming back for a pound of flesh." The slight girl's eyes flicked down, a grin spreading across her lips. "And I'm pretty sure I know where you have ample flesh to pay the tab."
Fuming even more now, Nabiki twisted her entire body to try to hide her bottom from the judgemental witch. Why was everyone commenting on her butt tonight? She was going to have to reconsider the bodysuit. With a sharp hiss, she swatted at the cat eyed girl, sending her scurrying away giggling.
With that nuisance taken care of, she turned her smile back on Ryouga. He did not appear reassured by it.
"I'm not fighting anyone for you to bet on," he grumbled, only to tilt his head in thought, "Unless you can set something up with Shampoo. The less witnesses -ahem - audience, the better."
She filed that tidbit away for later. Apparently, something interesting had come up during his talk with Jinx for him to have had such a sharp departure from their earlier camaraderie.
"Nothing like that, I just want you to sing a song. You haven't gone up all night, and you need to do something romantic for Jinx now that you've stolen her innocence."
She had to swallow a giggle as Ryouga's eyes swirled around trying to follow her logic.
"Hey, I didn't do anything like that!"
Her grin grew predatory. "Oh really? Tell me you at least got to third base, here."
The Lost Boy lived up to his namesake, staring at her blankly. "What base?"
Oh, come on! How was she supposed to live vicariously through her friends if they were all so clueless? The fact that she even needed to think that in the first place was even more depressing than her earlier train of thought.
"Oh, forget it. Follow me."
With that, she led him to the karaoke table and started flipping through songs. It didn't take her long to find something suitable, starting at 'Lo' and moving on.
She pointed to the song in question.
"Sing this song!"
Ryouga's eyes scanned the song title, then back to her. The look on his face was less than impressed.
"I refuse."
Nabiki's grin slipped a fraction of an inch, and she dug her fist into the martial artist's collar and pulled him down to her level.
"Excuse me? That wasn't a request."
He rolled his eyes. "I'll bet a hundred dollars you've never even heard the song and only picked it for the title."
"Of course, I've heard it," she lied. She then held out her hand. "Now pay up!"
The Lost Boy grinned a familiar, evil grin of his own. "Oh yeah? Sing me the first verse."
"...I never agreed to that bet."
Man, Ryouga sure could manage an insufferable grin when he needed to. Must be a rare treat for the guy.
"Look, you're gonna sing the song. The question is, do I need to get nasty first?" she asked sweetly.
"Why me?" he grumbled.
She shrugged. "You're the only one here I really have any dirt on that I can use."
"I guess that makes sense, in a horrible kind of way." He scratched his chin. "But I'm pretty sure you don't have anything on me that would matter to the current crowd, so I'll risk it."
Nabiki had only two words for him.
"Koi. Rod."
"Don't even joke, Nabiki!" He glared at her for all he was worth. "I will bring down this tower and everyone in it!"
She smirked. "Heh, after your little chat with Jinx? I doubt you could even light a cigarette with your angst cannon."
Ryouga continued to bluster for a moment before his shoulder finally slumped in defeat. "Fine, you win. Can you at least tell me what crime I committed against you to warrant this punishment?"
Well, she supposed she could throw the dog a bone. It would be funnier anyway.
"Nothing you did." Turning, she glared at the true villain. "Gizmo tricked me into singing a song about not needing a barrel of money and being fine with dressing ragged and funny! I hated it!"
The martial artist stared at her, clearly shocked.
"Sorry, for a second I forgot how cravenly petty you can be."
She shrugged. "If anything, I feel I've mellowed out since going rogue." With a wave of her hand, she shooed him towards the stage, the martial artist scrambling gratifyingly as she cued up the song.
Now, time to get some sweet, sweet schadenfreude from someone else's embarrassment. She'd never heard the Lost Boy sing before, and she couldn't wait to hear him struggling to sing the silly sounding song she'd picked for him. Apparently, a few other people shared her curiosity, as the sight of the Fanged Fighter getting up on the small stage turned some select heads around the room.
Smiling shyly, Ryouga tapped the microphone, sending a sharp squawk through the speakers. Wincing, he shrugged helplessly as the music started to play.
"Strange and beautiful are the stars tonight.
"That dance around your head."
Nabiki's lips dipped into a frown. She watched Ryouga's eyes search through the crowd, before locking gazes with the pink haired witch on the couch.
"In your eyes I see that perfect world.
"I hope that doesn't sound too weird."
Jinx nearly face planted to the floor as she was physically pushed over the couch by Artemis and Argent, both catcalling shamelessly and telling her to 'go get some!'
"And I want all the world to know!"
Ryouga suddenly kicked into high gear, his smile growing as he read the words seconds before singing.
"That your love is all I need! Allll that I need!"
No! He wasn't supposed to be good! And how could a song with such a dumb name actually be a romantic ballad! Jinx was right in front of the stage now, a space forming around her as she blushed badly at the singer.
"And if we're lost, then we are lost together!"
The lyrics hit her like a truck, and she spun around the room frantically to gauge the reaction.
Even worse! Hardly anyone here got the joke, and everyone that did was too caught up in the spectacle between Ryouga and Jinx to do more than snicker! Even Nabiki herself was too shocked to laugh properly! Damn people and their common decency!
Where was Ranma when you needed him?
...My schadenfreude.
Her legs lashed out at blinding speed, inverted hurricane kick spinning her about like a green painted top. Two of the Tamaranean guards continued to fall back under her relentless assault, her movements too quick for them to do anything more than absorb the strikes on their raised arms.
Everything's coming up Spice tonight!
Well, there hadn't been all the guards out front of the massive alien vessel when their small strike force had arrived, but with only three orange skinned soldiers to deal with, Beast Boy and herself had volunteered to keep them busy while Cyborg and Lotion broke into the ship to do… whatever it was they were planning on doing.
Honestly, the plan was something of a work in progress, but she was enjoying it so far. And these Tamaraneans could really take a beating! It made it so much more fun. Being the generous type, she'd let Beast boy prove himself by battling the stronger female guard, while she handled the two, feeble males. She wondered how her companion was doing.
"Spice! ...little help!"
The young Amazon cut off her spinning assault and fell back just long enough to see the green teen being held in a headlock by the tall, darker haired woman who looked to be having a fun time herself. A moment later, Beast Boy shifted into a large tiger and started to bite away at the woman's arm.
"Ah, it is tickling me! This creature is adorable!"
Spice, the two guards she was fighting, and, the green tiger, all shared a nonplussed look between them, before everyone exploded into action again.
The green tiger shifted into a jade bear, now towering over the female guard, only for her to ironically lift it into a bearhug and start swinging the hapless changeling around. "J'Karta, look! It just keeps getting fuzzier!" The woman nuzzled her face into the bear's fur. "Who is my little bumgorf?"
"Hey!" Spice yelled, weaving beneath the stab of a spear only to kick out at her opponent's wrist, sending the weapon tumbling. "That's my bumgorf, lady!"
The form of the furious grizzly swelled and shifted, ever larger, until the Tamaranean woman was now holding an emerald Mammoth above her head. If the extra weight was even noticed, she didn't show it, just flying up into the air still hugging the massive pachyderm.
"By X'hal! If it gets any fluffier, I might expire!"
Spice felt bad that Lotion wasn't here to see this. Not just for the plain bizarre sight, but, well, she had never heard what an outraged Mammoth had sounded like before. She was sure Lotion would have loved to hear that, for posterity's sake.
"Stop goofing around already!" she shouted.
The mammoth's legs flailed helplessly in the air for several moments before the emerald animal suddenly went completely still. To Spice's trained eye, Beast Boy's massive body seemed to shake with strain, when suddenly, his shape began to shift once more.
Ominous leathery wings grew before snapping out wide, bathing the entire battle in shade. A long, serpentine neck that ended in a lamprey like hole filled with never ending teeth reared up, unleashing an unholy sound the likes of which Spice had never heard. With effortless grace, the juniper green creature spun about, breaking the guard's grasp, before the clawed wing slammed down, crushing the woman into the tarmac, shaking the earth.
The battle froze as the slavering beast righted itself, standing on two hind legs, three long tails twitching angrily behind it, before spreading its wings once more.
"Wild P'tahnk!" One of the remaining guards yelled.
The guard that still had his spear, suddenly trained it on Beast Boy's frightful new form, blasts of bluish light suddenly erupting from the blade. While the creature swung one of its titanic wings before it, scattering the energy blasts along its surprisingly tough hide, the other guard tried to fly around to get into a better position.
Despite not having any visible eyes, one of Beast Boy's new tails lashed out, fast as a scorpion sting and cracked into the side of the maneuvering soldier, sending them careening into the ground, before skidding and bouncing several times, only stopped by the hull of the Mother Ship.
Shrugging, Spice walked up behind the distracted guard, still shouting, and firing wildly, and unleashed a full-strength axe kick to the back of his skull, driving him to the ground. A few extra stomps, just for good measure, and the guard finally quieted down.
Smiling, she looked up at the monstrous creature that the Titan had become. It was one of those flying creatures they had just seen! It seemed that the animals on this planet were just as overpowered as its people.
Would she actually be able to defeat the Titan in this form? It was an… exciting prospect.
In a blur of green Beast Boy returned to his regular form, breathing a bit heavily and rubbing his arm gingerly.
"Man, those shots in the arm stung like heck!"
Spice giggled at the complaint, she had to wonder what the result would have been if those same projectiles had hit herself. "How did you know you could do that?"
He shrugged carelessly. "Lucky guess. Pretty cool though, right?"
She nodded in return, before she spotted something in the distance. Raising a hand, she pointed to several approaching dots in the sky.
"Think you can do that again? Because it looks like we have more friends flying in."
A reckless grin was his reply, before he surged upwards once more into the form of the terrifying 'P'tahnk' as they'd called it. Without a second's hesitation, Spice leapt up and onto the creature's neck, wrapping her legs tightly to lock herself into place. She then slapped his leathery hide.
"Let's go kick some butt!"
Dark green, nearly black wings spread out, before launching them into the air at break-neck speed.
This was turning into the best vacation ever!
Cyborg chugged down the corridor with all the stealthful grace of a garbage disposal. At his side, Lotion loped along with elegant strides. A more disparate duo he could scarcely imagine, but he was glad for the company.
Luckily, he'd gotten enough information from Robin's earlier attempt at hacking to at least have an idea of the design philosophy used in these unmanned ships. Even without a map of the interior, it was enough to give him a general idea of where things might be located, and the translations were working fine.
He grinned, thankful that whatever mechanics that put this tub together were crazy efficient at labeling everything. Beyond that, there were even handwritten messages on many of the panels and walls, shorthand instructions for the people that came in to work on things.
It was like an engineer's playground! Man, he wished he had some time to do more than record some images.
A few minutes later, and over a dozen stories of climbing up cramped access shafts, Cyborg felt confident that they were nearing the CPU of the ship. There were certainly enough power conduits going this way as well, so it was either the command center of the ship, or some cool alien super weapon which would also be fun to see!
He was strangely disappointed that it was not the latter when the pair of them charged into a large, spacious area. A good portion of the room was occupied by a large, bulbous looking core of curved metal hanging from the ceiling. Various screens across the surface of the oddly brain shaped CPU showed off thousands of different processes being run, even as the ship sat parked on the ground.
It made a bit of sense to the cybernetic Titan. While the massive mother ship was grounded, it could take advantage of the atmosphere to better regulate the heat that the massive calculations of controlling an entire invasion fleet would generate. Now, he just needed to find-
"Dizzy?"
Lotion's shocked shout drew Cyborg's attention to the third person in the room that he had completely failed to notice. Hunched over one of the control panels was the familiar Tamaranean scientist, Dizzenind'r. It looked like he had torn the panel open, and countless wires trailed out to various devices laid about on the ground.
The moment Lotion called out, Dizzy jumped in surprise, banging his head on the massive ship Core. He spun around, a look of terror on his face, until he realized who it was that had snuck up on him.
"What are you doing here?" he whisper-shouted.
"Us? What are you doing here?" Cyborg replied in kind.
"I'm trying to find a way to override the fleet controls," Dizzy explained with a grin. "I told you that we were old hands at repelling invaders."
At his side, Lotion held a hand to her chest, looking relieved. "Thank goodness. We were here to try to disable the ship as well. What have you determined so far?"
The Tamaranean shrugged. "Had enough luck with the security system to get myself in here. Got some baseline system controls, but the fleet controls are behind more firewalls than Vega has planets!"
The alien specialist nodded in Cyborg's direction. "A little help would be greatly appreciated, my friend."
"Aw Yeah!" Cyborg cheered. "Let me in there! We'll get this thing hot wired faster than a 57 Chevy. Let's see Blackfire and her alien buddies use that ugly ass fleet against us then."
The sound of Lotion slapping a hand to her face was followed a second later by Dizzy's expression dissolving from elation to confusion.
"What?" the alien engineer asked in a quiet voice. "Are you saying that the Empress is responsible for bringing this fleet? That it is under her control?"
Cyborg nodded eagerly. Once he knew the truth, Dizzy would be right in line to join their little revolution. For some reason Lotion was gesturing wildly at him, but he couldn't really overcome the Chinese/English body language barrier to get her drift.
"That's right. Blackfire is behind the whole thing, all just to get revenge on our girl, Star. We need to finish here quick so we can help take her down!"
Dizzy let out a long, tired sigh. For a moment, he looked down at his feet. "So, the Empress controls this fleet?" He then looked up, locking a cold glare on them. Suddenly, the dusty haired engineer burst into motion, grabbing his spear, and spinning around before leveling the weapon their way. The blade of the spear then split in half, revealing a wide, ring like device which began to glow with azure energy at three points.
"Then I am duty bound to protect it!"
The daggers that Lotion was staring in Cyborg's direction were, thankfully, not literal; the elegant Amazon turned her attention back to their erstwhile friend.
"Dizzy, please-"
"Do not call me that!" Dizzenind'r glared at Lotion, even as he kept his weapon mostly trained on Cyborg. "Anyone that would commit treason against the Grand Ruler is no friend of mine!"
Okay, that was enough! They were on a timeline here. Getting angry himself, Cyborg took a step forward, swiping his hand through the air.
"Look, buddy. We don't got time for your 'just following orders' crap. You know you can't beat me, so why don't you just save us the time and go sit in the corner?"
The grim smile that spread over their opponent's lips made Cyborg wonder if he, maybe, might have made a slight miscalculation somewhere along the line.
"Oh, I think I can defeat you, villain. Man to man, fist to fist," Dizzy shifted a few short steps to the side, shifting his grip on his weapon. "Just you and me-"
Suddenly, he swung out his fist, hitting a large red button on one of the dangling control panels he had been fiddling with before their arrival. Instantly, red light filled the room and angry sirens began to whine.
"And this ship's automated security system!"
Loud 'clacks' sounded from around the room, as dozens of panels slid open, only for large weapon emplacements to pop out and begin glowing with crimson light.
Lotion punched him in the shoulder. "I told you it was too easy getting in here!"
Cyborg was really starting to hate engineers.
Supergirl let out a contented sigh as she leaned on the kitchenette island. Leaning to the side, she nudged her shoulder into Mousse, shooting the tall boy a grateful smile.
"Thanks for smuggling this out of the Watchtower for me," she elaborated, holding up the small bottle of green liquid she had been nursing for the past half hour or so.
The weapon master shrugged casually, leaning back on his own stool. She had to hide her grin as, even though they were nearly welded together at the hip ninety-nine percent of the time, his eyes still tried to find Shampoo in the crowd whenever they were separated. At the moment, the Chinese Amazon and Argent were laughing their asses off as Jinx was just… just butchering Bad to the Bone on the karaoke stage. Granted, the pink haired girl was shaking her petite sized booty enough that there were still plenty of cheers.
Not to mention her number one fanged fan in the crowd.
"Try not to make a habit of getting me to slip things out of Green Lantern's liquor cabinet, please," the bespectacled man replied with a chuckle. "Even with my skills, Batman's attention isn't something I want pointing in my direction."
The boy learned fast! Still, she waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, come on, the guy hasn't even been on the station in a week. You'd think with most of the heavy hitters out in deep space for that alien distress call, that he'd be more hands on." She looked at the robed hero appraisingly. "And just what skills are you talking about, anyway? And, for that matter, how did you get this thing past the transport scanners, anyway?"
He replied with that enigmatic, just a touch dreamy grin of his. "That… is a trade secret."
Even as she rolled her eyes with aplomb, Mousse leaned over, adjusting his new glasses as he peered at her bottle. "What did you have me… liberate, anyway?"
The Argonian held up the unlabeled bottle. The thick green liquid sloshed around strangely, and a quick sniff didn't offer any other idea what it might be. Finally, she just shrugged.
"It's green."
More importantly, it was giving her that fun buzz that all the beer in that keg across the room wouldn't have been able to do. The last thing she wanted to do was be the designated hero at a party like this. She wanted to be like everyone else, just having fun and getting stupid, not silently watching over everyone like a paragon sentinel.
That was the hard part, though. Because even though she gossiped and sang and danced with everyone else, she knew she was missing out on some of the fundamentals of true party fun. She glanced across the room trying to quash a bit of envy as she saw some of the things people were doing that she likely never could.
Over in one darkened corner, Stargirl and Hotspot were starting to get a bit hot and heavy. Her mood ticked down another degree. Sure, everyone wanted to talk to Superman's cousin at a party like this, but when it came down to brass tacks, none of the guys had the cojones to take that last step to put the moves on her. When it came to her love life, Reputation was her Kryptonite.
She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the long haired, handsome Chinese man beside her. To use the vernacular, she wished that Shampoo would crap or get off the pot already with Mousse. She kept leading the poor guy on, but then always shut him there was one guy here that was worth flirting with… but she could never do that until she knew what Shampoo really wanted from the guy.
Sighing, she quickly scanned the room for the next big spectacle, she was not disappointed to see that giant Wildebeest looking guy in a literal headbutting competition with the big Mammoth guy that had been up singing earlier. One of the goliath teens would rear back only to charge forward and slam his head into the others with a 'crack' reminiscent of mountain goats cranked up to eleven. They would both then laugh, slap each other on the back as everyone cheered, and then set up again.
Over by the windows, she could hear Speedy daring Artemis to shoot an arrow at him, because he could totally catch it out of the air now that he'd seen it done. The emerald clad archer looked to be just tipsy and vindictive enough to be considering it.
At the buffet, Kid Flash was currently whooping the two young new speedsters at an eating contest while Megan, Herald and Kasumi cheered them on.
That kind of roughhousing was out of her reach as well. No one wanted to play when they didn't think there was even a chance of winning. But, come on, sure her and Clark were strong, but it wasn't like they could tow planets around or anything insane like that.
She took another sip of The Green, before giving a dissatisfied huff.
"Something wrong, Special K?" Mousse asked.
A giggle escaped her lips at the nickname. She hated it when Stargirl called her that, she wasn't a box of cereal! But she didn't mind it nearly as much anymore for some reason.
"I dunno, Mu Mu-Chan," she responded in kind, enjoying his indignant bark at Shampoo's odd nickname for him, "Just feeling a bit left out of some of the fun, you know?"
Mousse made a show of adjusting his glasses as he looked around the room. "And what fun would that be? I'm mostly seeing a bunch of people doing stupid things."
"I know, right?" she barked. "I want to do stupid things! But everyone is too intimidated to let me join in."
The tall hero shrugged his shoulders. "I'm pretty sure I've heard someone say, 'With great power comes great responsibility'."
Supergirl puffed her cheeks out indignantly. She didn't come here for a lecture on being a good girl! Swaying just the tiniest bit, she dropped a hand onto Mousse's shoulder.
"Wrong answer, Mousse! All this revelry and booze has got me feeling frisky, so you got two options. Either you start making out with me-" she swallowed a laugh as his eyes near bulged out of his head at the suggestion, "Or, you help me come up with something dumb and competitive to do!"
It was surprisingly fun to watch the weapon master squirm and sweat in his seat as his mind raced a mile a minute. She would have liked to think that just a bit of that distress was coming from conflicted emotions, but sadly, knew his heart was too devoted for any such silly notions.
"Arm Wrestling!" Mousse exclaimed proudly. "It's about as dumb and macho as you can get, but unlikely to destroy the entire tower if people get carried away."
"Perfect!" She gave the robed cutie a quick hug before leaping to her feet.
"I declare an arm-wrestling tournament!" she shouted at the top of her particularly loud lungs.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her, seemed to consider the idea, before shrugging and going back to whatever they were doing before.
Plopping down into her seat, crossing her arms over her chest, the Argonian gave a frustrated huff. "What the heck?"
Chuckling in that aloof manner of his, Mousse patted her shoulder consolingly. "Come now, Kara. This is going to look like an uphill battle for everyone. You need to incentivize them, maybe give them a glimpse of hope?"
Scratching her chin, she cheered as epiphany struck. Jumping back up she shouted once more.
"Arm wrestling Tournament amendment! If anyone can move my arm, just an inch, I'll do anything that person wants!"
Immediately, people began to turn back around, looks of interest… and maybe just a bit more, beginning to alight on some faces.
A second later, Mousse jumped up, "Nothing sexual!"
Almost immediately, people began to turn away again.
"Nothing overtly sexual!" Supergirl amended the amendment to her amendment.
That seemed to be enough, as a lot of people around the room started laughing, cheering, and whistling as they started flexing their various muscles to show off.
Beaming a kilowatt bright smile, Supergirl floated back to her stool and shot a look Mousse's way.
The robed martial artist was currently rubbing both of his temples and letting out a long, tired sigh. "I hope that isn't Kryptonite juice that you are drinking, because you just asked for a tower load of trouble."
She snorted loudly, snickering at the idea. "Oh, don't be so serious, Mousse. What's the worst that can happen? We all have a bit of fun and I beat everyone anyway."
Rather than reply, Mousse just turned to look at the lineup of powerhouses starting to line up. Interestingly, more ladies than gents, she must have prodded a few egos with that 'even an inch' bit.
"We're gonna need a stronger counter, Mu Mu-chan."