Aurum's Day Out

December was in full swing, Christmas cheer was in the air even in the underground of the HAYPE academy. Tinsel and multi-colored lights were hanging outside of a few of the student's dorms. Aurum had ordered some Christmas lights of his own online with some of his money from the monthly stipend the grant gave.

On his desk was a small plastic Christmas tree, his Christmas lights were draped over his book shelf and taped around the door. Aurum sat on his bed with his cloak off. In the four months he had been at the academy his dirty blond hair had grown out much to his annoyance, but a bit of peach fuzz was beginning to show on his upper lip and chin which made him feel better.

A knock sounded from outside his door, "Aurum meet up at the lobby on the surface for a school announcement," Private Hive's voice rang out.

Aurum sighed as he stood up, stretching his back with a groan, "yeah, yeah hold your horses," he said whilst putting his cloak on over his shoulders and pulling his hood up.

The door to his room slid open with a hiss and there was his lovely next door neighbor Private Hive waiting for him with back strait and arms crossed. "You know you don't have to baby sit me Private, I'm the last person who would pass up the chance at surface time."

The Private shifted awkwardly in his stance once Aurum walked passed him, which he ignored like always. Even Private hard ass felt uncomfortable around him, "it's not like I've ever hurt anyone while training before, you'd think I was still wild with my powers with the way everyone's treating me." Aurum would often wonder to himself.

But he understood where they were coming from, his power was still an unknown to everyone even after months of data and observations, it also didn't help that a new group of superheroes called the Teen Titans formed recently, it didn't take long until a few students and teachers began to draw a few parallels between him and the dark Titan known as Raven. He figured that was their own fault however since the school was the one who gave him the cloak, if anything Raven was copying him. Which he knew wasn't possible since he doesn't have a known presence outside the school but he still felt better saying it.

Aurum felt the Private fall into step behind him, "Uhh hey…you're friends with Angel right?" The Private asked carefully.

Aurum rolled his eyes under his hood, he should've know that this was the real reason why the Private was still walking with him, "yeah what about it?" He asked even though he already suspected what this was about.

"So uhh, she taking anyone to the winter dance?" Private asked.

He hated being the middle man in situations like this, especially when Private Hive was involved, the guy had anger issues and he's pretty sure he had to be on the spectrum in some way with how he never took the obvious hints that Angel was not into him. "I don't know Private, I don't think anyone from my table is going anyway." That was how the school divided itself, if you were eating lunch with the same people at your table then they were in your friend group, Angle had escaped the prep table early on when she and Kyd Wykkyd began talking and was now the token girl at the nerd table. "All we need is an Asian and we'd be set to ragtag into a random sport and win the big game just like in the movies." Aurum joked inwardly.

The Private nodded, "hey how bout we do each other a favor," the bulky teen offered.

Aurum gave him a side glance, "I don't roll that way Private but thanks anyway," he picked up his pace slightly, hoping to get out of the conversation.

"What, no I mean I'll get an in for you with someone from my table," the Private explained.

Aurum shook his head, "my friends aren't trading cards Private if you want to take Angle out to the dance then be a man and ask, but don't be surprised if she says no." He ended the conversation by walking into the elevator and shutting the door in the Private's face.

Aurum sighed at successfully evacuating the situation, he was not about to set Angle up with anyone she clearly was uncomfortable with, he wasn't that irresponsible. But the conversation did give him some questions, "do I even want to go to the dance?" He asked himself.

Their weren't all that many girls in the school, there was Cheshire who hung around with the outsider crowds but he never had the chance to talk with her and he couldn't think of a good reason why to ask her other than 'because you're one of the only girls around.' Angel was out, he didn't know what was going on between her and Kyd but he respected the bro code too much to get in-between a budding relationship. Jinx…well it was a thought, he felt something for her, she was the only magic user in his grade that wasn't Kyd. She had a good head on her shoulders and didn't seem to be completely uncomfortable around him, but she was also pretty cocky and standoffish. She's been a part of the top three students of the school since she joined the academy last year, being amongst the best in a school filled with super powers could make anyone arrogant but she took it a bit too far sometimes.

The elevator doors opened, the sound of dozens of voices echoed through the halls leading from the main lobby. He followed the voices and saw the lobby was jam packed with nearly every student from the meta human side of the academy.

"Aurum over here!" See-More waved from over the heads of the crowd.

He squeezed through the mass of humanity as best he could, "excuse me, sorry, excuse me," he apologized as he stepped between people and bumping into them on occasion. Those who were aware of his presence near them quickly got out of the way, looking as if they just came close to an edge of a cliff.

"Hey guys what's going on?" Aurum asked when he came upon his friends.

Kyd shrugged

Angel who was standing abnormally close to Kyd smiled and mimicked Kyd's shrug.

"We're being allowed to leave the campus for the day, they did this last year around this time." Jaguar informed.

Aurum raised a hidden eyebrow, "all of us, so like a whole bunch of meta humans are just going to wonder around the city en masse, that sounds like it's going to go swell." He stated sarcastically.

Jaguar shook his head, "no we'll be leaving in groups, we can go wherever we want besides Titan's tower obviously, also we won't be leaving in our uniforms." Jaguar informed.

See-More blinked his eye, "what do you mean, like we're going in street clothes, I thought we weren't allowed to leave the school without our uniforms?" The Cyclopes asked.

"We usually aren't but this isn't a mission, it's more of an early Christmas present, but obviously we aren't allowed to use our powers." Jaguar explained.

"Students may I have your attention," The voice of Headmistress Wilson rang out above the crowd.

In a second everyone went quite, looking up at the balcony above the lobby was the Headmistress herself looking down at all her gifted students. "Today we will celebrate the holidays by allowing you all to leave campus for the day." A cheer form the students rang out and she waited patiently for it to die down. "Yes but there will be strict ground rules for you all to follow, number one is to stick to your assigned group at all times. Number two, you will not be wearing your school uniforms so there will be absolutely no use of your gifts while on this trip at all, failure to comply with this will be met with immediate expulsion." Murmurs from the crowed now, no one wanted to be expelled and the thought of it was probably more than enough to keep people in line. "Number three, your groups will be assigned by your student advocates so please meet with them by the doors." The student body turned as one to the dozen student advocates, to the eyes of the advocated, a pack of hungry wolves had just found their next meal, a few of the more skittish ones tried to hide behind their clip boards. "Lastly I will like to remind you that even though you are not in uniform you still are representing our fine academy, If you act untoward or foolish then there will be consequences, dismissed!"

Aurum was shoved around as the pack of students stampeded their way to the advocates. Only his training in the combat fields allowed him to wade through the crowed with little difficulty after the initial rush. He found his student advocate after a few minutes of fumbling around, the staff member still looking board despite the chaos around him. "Ah, yes, Aurum dorm number thee ninety-four." He announced with a yell to be heard over the crowed.

The advocate, Mike, if he remember the name right, nodded "alright you'll be with green team, go out the door and you'll see where you're supposed to meet." Mike Droned.

Aurum nodded and left for his dorm to get changed, he quickly fast walked to his dorm and in a few minutes he was finally their opening his door. To Aurum's surprise there was a light blue colored Christmas themed bag sitting at the foot of his bed with his name written on a small tapped to the front of it. He opened the bag and found a HAYPE themed hoodie and jeans that were his size. He pulled the hoody out and felt the soft black fabric, it smelled like the school pride shop above ground, he looked down in his bag and his eyes widened, the hoodie was left forgotten on the bed as he reached into the bag with trembling hands. Anthony slowly pulled out a new pair of brown leather boots, he smelled the leather and a wave of nostalgia hit him.

He was five years old again, his father laughed as he walked around the house in boots that were much too big for him. "You'll be eaten up by them boots boy," his dad laughed.

Anthony came back to reality a second later, he quickly took his shoes and socks off and put on the long tube socks from the bag and slipped on the left boot, he only stopped when he felt a crunch beneath his right foot when he tried to slip on his other boot. Aurum pulled out a small note from the boot and opened it.

"Dear Aurum, I am so proud of your progress as a student and as the man you are becoming, I hope you take this simple gesture as a token of my appreciation for all of your hard work this year.

Sincerely Professor Blood"

Aurum held the note closer to his chest, a smile formed on his face, "thanks teach," he whispered.

He made his way outside a few minutes later, feeling the cool December wind nip at his face and ears making him pull the hood from his new hoodie up over his head.

He found where he needed to go easily as a green balloon was tied to a bench near the student drop off area. Aurum sat down on the bench and waited patiently for the rest of his team.

A few minutes passed until he heard the sound of small feet approach him from behind, Aurum turned around towards the noise and sighed in annoyance internally.

Gizmo was wearing a long sleeved green shirt with blue jean pants and white sneakers, he had a Hive themed yellow baseball cap covering his bald head. "Hey who are you supposed to be?" His whinny voice asked.

Aurum shrugged, "no one while I'm wearing these clothes." He explained.

The bald child narrowed his eyes, "aw damn we got piss back on our team, this is gonna suck!" He exclaimed.

Mammoth came from behind his friend, the giant teen was wearing a black leather jacket over a sleeveless red shirt. His pants were also blue jeans and he had black Hive themed sneakers on. "I'm going to bring my car around and pick you up, save time that way." Mammoth said before walking away towards the parking lot.

Aurum watched the giant leave and sat in awkward silence next to Gizmo, he didn't like the kid. Not because of his age, but because of how he carried himself, the bald kid thought he was better than anyone else and if anyone stood up to him he'd run behind Mammoth, he was like every bully trope all wrapped into one little ball of annoying.

"Where's Mammoth going?" Jinx asked as she came upon the bench.

Aurum turned to find Jinx wearing her bright pink hair down for once with a black Hive themed beanie on her head. She wore a black and white striped long sleeve shirt and a black band shirt with the sleeved cut off over it. On her legs were dark purple skinny jeans and on her feet were her usual thick high top boots.

"Went to bring his car around," Aurum answered simply.

Jinx nodded at that as she slipped onto the far end of the bench a few feet away from him.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Jinx asked.

"Game store, the new Star Colony came out today!" Gizmo exclaimed immediately.

Jinx frowned, "I don't want to spend a whole day at a smelly game shop."

Aurum nodded in agreement, he didn't have any device to play a game on, the laptops they were given weren't meant be gaming laptops. He might have enough money to buy the Bunions and Flagons player's handbook and a few dice to get his friends into table top gaming but he wanted to go to the book store more, he also he wanted to eat out for the first time in almost half a year. "As long as I can get to a pay phone, a book store, and we sit down somewhere to eat then I'm fine." Aurum supplied.

Jinx scratched her head under her beanie, "yeah that's fine, I think the music store is near a book shop, and there should be a Chinese place across the street."

The sound of a truck rolling up pulled their attention, Mammoth came riding in an old red pickup truck that was leaning towards the driver's side. "Come on we don't got all day!" Mammoth shouted.

"Shot gun!" Jinx called rushing over to the passenger's seat.

"I call back!" Aurum shouted jumping in the back of the truck.

Gizmo grumbled to himself as he had to jump and climb his way up to the back seat, it would have been adorable if Aurum didn't know the type of person Gizmo was. With everyone in the truck, Mammoth pulled out and drove away from the academy and out of the parking lot towards downtown.

Finally after nearly twenty minutes of driving and another ten frustrating minutes trying to find a parking spot, team green had made it to downtown. To Aurum it was like he was seeing the city for the first time, before he was always too concerned with getting food and getting accepted into the academy but now, he was almost awed a the huge sky scrapers surrounding him and the white Christmas lights wrapping around every tree. Aurum twisted the black and yellow ring he was given at the beginning of the year, for the first time in a long time, he wasn't afraid to walk amongst a crowded city, the energy just under the surface was calm like a quite pond in an undisturbed wood.

He closed his eyes and passed his presence over downtown, able to stretch his presence eight hundred yards now. Hundreds of people appeared in senses, he could feel their life forces, all varying in degrees of strength and age. Jink was a bright beacon amongst candles, her connection with fate magic, as Brother Blood called it, made her presence seem more wild and ununiformed. Like her signature was constantly fluctuating and changing ever so slightly but it still remained distinctly her. The second largest presence was Mammoth, his life force was larger than anyone around, Aurum didn't doubt that this was due to his physical strength as well as sheer size, Aurum likened Mammoth's signature to that of a sleeping gorilla, clam and quite at the moment, but you knew that he could tear your head off if provoked. He would have stayed searching over the crowed within his range longer had Gizmo's voice not focused him back.

"Alright my phone says that most of the stuff we're looking for is in the strip mall a few blocks away. But that Chinese food place Jinx mentioned got destroyed by the lizard guys last month so we'll have to find a new place." Gizmo reported, head looking down at the map on his phone.

"Then lets head their anyway, we'll figure something out later," said Mammoth, taking the initiative and leading the way.

The rest of team green followed behind him, the intimidating presence of the goliath did wonders to part the foot traffic around them making their journey much faster.

After a few minutes of walking Aurum came upon a pay phone, "guys hold up a sec I gotta call someone."

Gizmo groaned in annoyance, "fine but don't take so long ya hear me piss back!"

Aurum ignored him and placed a few quarter in the machine, with an uneven breath he pressed in the phone number he was trying to reach.

Three rings passed, "Hello?" A female voice on the other end greeted.

"Mom…it's me."

"Anthony oh my baby are you okay, are you hurt, where are you I'll come pick you up right away, please come home!" His mother shouted causing him to have to pull away from the phone least he get damage to his hearing.

"I'm fine mom, I…I found a school mom, I'm in a grant, they're teaching me how to control my powers." He explained.

"Honey that's wonderful…but I still want you to come home, please your sister misses you, please come home." His mother begged.

Anthony put his hand atop the pay phone and turned his back to his fellow students, "mom it's not going to be that easy, this grant…it's a once in a life time thing, I'm learning so much here I can do so many amazing things now. I really want to come home but…I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Where are you, we'll try and visit for Christmas."

"I'm in Jump City mom, at the HAYPE academy, but…well it's hard to explain."

"What do you mean it's hard to explain?"

"My powers…its...well it wouldn't be safe for you or Jena, my identity isn't known and I don't want people trying to get to me through you."

"If it isn't safe for me then it isn't safe for you, I want you home."

"Mom listen-"

"No you listen, I have been waiting for over a year now Anthony, no one, not the police, not the private detectives, no one could find you! You know what the police said to me when you disappeared, that you were most likely dead, dead and Jena over heard that, she's locked herself in her room, won't talk to her friends, she didn't eat for a week. What did you're father say when he left, what did he tell you?!"

Anthony felt as if he was being stabbed with each word, tears began to well up in his eyes, "Take care of you two," he whispered.

"Come home baby please, we need you here." She pleaded.

"Can I finish out the school year at least?" He asked.

He heard his mother sigh, after a long pause she answered, "yes."

Anthony smiled, "thanks mom…I don't have much time left on this pay phone, can you give the phone to Jena?" He asked.

He heard the stomping of his mom's feet on the hard wood floor back home, "Jena sweetie you're big brother's on the phone." He heard her voice echo.

There was a pause until he heard the sound of the phone changing hands, "hello?" A younger feminine voice asked carefully as if not believing he was actually there.

"Hey little bit," Anthony smiled.

"hey," she greeted back quietly.

Hearing her voice broke what little resolve he had left and he began to cry quietly. "how are you," He somehow kept his voice steady.

"The police man said you were dead," her voice sounded so small at that moment.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He placed his head atop the payphone, hoping she didn't hear the catch in his throat.

"Can I hug you now if you come home?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll hug you lots when we see each other again." He smiled and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"Where are you?"

"Jump city."

"Where's that?"

"California,"

"Where's that?"

"it's not too far away but it's still pretty far." There was a pause for a moment before Jena's voice spoke again.

"Don't leave like daddy."

He choked back a sob and took a moment to compose himself before answering, "I won't," he promised.

"Good."

"I love you little bit."

"Love you too Tony." He never wanted to be home so bad, to hug his mom and little sister at that moment, to be home again, to let them know he was safe and they wouldn't be hurt if he stayed around them from now on.

The sound of the phone changing hands told him that his mom had the phone again , "I love you too Anthony, come home safe."

"Love you too mom, merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." They probably would've stayed on the phone for an hour talking with each other but the payphone had other ideas and ended the conversation for them.

Anthony took a moment to gather himself as he slowly put the phone back, he took a deep breath and pulled his hood up more so it shadowed his eyes.

He turned back to find the that only Jinx was left standing awkwardly behind him.

"Where did the other's go?" He asked, voice more horse than it was a before he picked up the phone.

"They got bored and went ahead," Jinx explained.

Aurum nodded, "sorry about that, I'd been putting that off for too long."

Jinx nodded in understanding, "it's fine."

The two walked along side each other in silence for a block, "I ran away too," Jinx suddenly said.

Aurum stopped for a second, looking at the pink haired girl, "because of your powers?" He asked.

Jinx nodded, "most of us were runaways or homeless, the world doesn't like things that are different."

Aurum chucked at that, "I think the world doesn't like anyone who isn't rich honestly." He admitted, "had my family been loaded we could've hired the best scientist to figure out what the hell was wrong with me and I would've never had to leave home."

They turned a corner and found a park with a large twenty foot tall Christmas tree ordinated in bright white lights at its center, "maybe getting our powers is the universe's way of tipping the scales then?" Jinx asked with a shrug

Aurum walked up towards the tree a few meters, Jinx following next to him. The two stood in silence looking up at the tree, the star on top twinkling in their eyes. "Do you celebrate Christmas?" He asked.

Jink shook her head, "I used to when I was little, way back before I discovered my powers."

She looked sidelong at Aurum, seeing him smiling softly up at the tree and the people around singing Christmas carols, "do you…" she paused for a moment, trying to word her answer, "you know, actually celebrate Christmas?"

Aurum glanced back at her at the personal question, "well she did tell me some personal stuff now." He reasoned inwardly. "Yes actually, I was raised in it but it was something I chose to keep to when I first ran away."

Jinx nodded silently, the two stayed staring at the tree, taking in the carolers and Christmas cheer around for a few more minutes before walking away towards the strip mall.

They walked over a block away until they finally came upon the row of shops they were searching for.

"Oh there's the music shop," Jinx pointed out a shop with red neon lights that read 'Gator's Guitars.'

Aurum followed Jinx inside, "we should probably stick together, we already lost half our group," he stated opening the door for her without a thought.

Jinx raised an eyebrow at Aurum, "uhh thanks?" She asked not expecting Aurum to open the door for her.

He gave her a questioning look, "for what?"

Jinx rolled her eyes and entered the shop, "nothing."

Aurum shrugged and followed her inside, immediately he was hit by the smell of vinyl from the hundreds of records and wood from the many acoustic guitars hanging from the walls. A man in a band shirt sat behind the counter looking down at his phone.

"Hey dudes, let me know if you need anything," the man greeted not looking up from his phone.

Jinx walked over to the metal section of the store, "so what music do you listing to?" She asked.

Aurum shrugged, "I used to be into old country, not that new shit that's just pop with an accent. But I kinda just go with whatever I feel at the time."

Jinx walked through the isle dragging her fingers along the vinyl records of various metal bands. "How do you like metal?" She asked.

Aurum hummed, "its fine, I listen to it to when I'm in the workout room."

She gave him a side glance, "you go to the workout room?" She asked incredulously.

"Don't act so surprised, I go there for an hour every Sunday." Aurum retorted.

She walked towards a row of records and put on a pair of ear phones that was attached to a touch screen with the various samples of songs that was available in the store. Jinx touched the screen and immediately the sound of an electric guitar blared though the ear phones.

Seeing that the conversation was over he walked towards an acoustic guitar hanging on the wall. He grabbed it and sat down on a nearby stool and began tuning. In a few minutes he had it in standard tuning and began to play a few cords to wake up his old muscle memory.

"Alright let's see if I remember how to do this," He said to himself and began to play.

"Of all the money that e'er I've had, I've spent it in good company." He sung

"And all the harm that e'er I've done, alas it was to none but me." He continued, taking his mind back many years to a rocking chair on an old porch, his grandfather playing guitar outside to ten year old Anthony holding his baby sister whilst the cicadas hissed and the trees blew with the hot summer's breeze.

"And all I've done for want of wit, to mem'ry now I can't recall."

Unknown to him the clerk had stopped looking down at his phone and begun to listen.

"So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all."

Jinx had put her headphones down and made to move to another isle when she heard someone singing and playing the guitar in the store. She turned a corner and was surprised that it was Arum playing with his back turned to her.

"Of all the comrades that e'er I've had, they're sorry for my going away."

Jinx moved closer, leaning her shoulder against the wall and chuckled to herself.

"And all the sweethearts that e'er I've loved, they'd wish one more day to stay."

"But since it fall unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not."

"I'll gently rise and softly call, good night and joy be with you all."

"Good night and joy be with you all." He ended his song, looking down at the guitar, lost in memory.

"I didn't know you could sing," Jinx commented.

Aurum jumped in place, "ah, shit Jinx don't sneak up on me like that."

Jink chuckled, "be aware of your surrounding next time." She smirked.

She walked back over the rows of music and picked up a record she was listing to earlier, "I got what I came here for, let's get your book or whatever." She said brining the record to the clerk.

The clerk smiled at them, "you're good, you think about ever signing at Blondie's down the street, they got live music."

Aurum shook his head, "no thanks, I don't do well in crowds." Aurum explained.

The clerk bagged Jinx's purchased, "that's a shame, see ya later then."

"Bye," Jinx waved off

"Merry Christmas," Aurum wished as he left.

The two were back in the cool winter air, Aurum spotted a book store a few stores down named 'Jump Street Books.' He lead the way to the store with Jinx following behind, as he entered the wave of new book smell hit their noses.

"Ahh best smell ever," he sighed with a smile.

Jinx rolled her eyes, "nerd."

Aurum chuckled, "you're damn right."

He walked past the nonfiction section and strait to the fantasy shelves. "really, you can already do real magic do you actually want to read about fake magic?" Jinx asked skeptically.

He thumbed through a book before setting it down, "hey you never know, might give me a few ideas." He defended.

They walked through the shelves a few minutes, Jinx picked up a manga and looked through it, "how the hell are you supposed to read this?" She asked looking down at the book in her hand with confusion.

"It's back to front and the panels are read right to left," he answered without looking at her, trying to find the book he came here for.

Jinx put the manga back in disgust, "two weren't enough," she whispered.

Aurum heard her and snorted as he walked amongst the book shelves, "now where are you," he said to himself.

"What're you looking for?" Jinx asked.

"It's called the Burned Stag, it's a sequel to a book I read before I left home." He answered.

"What's it look like?"

"Ah, I think the cover is red, but I know it has a stag head on it."

"You mean this?" She asked pulling the book in question off a shelf.

"O yeah, thanks Jinx," he said gratefully grabbing the offered book.

After purchasing his book they left the store to find the two lost members of green team, it took them only a few minutes to find a store that had a banner over it that read, 'Dice Stone.'

"This is the only gaming store around, but I think Gizmo was talking about a video game not table top." Aurum observed.

Jinx shrugged, "whatever let's just check the place."

Walking into the store the pair split off, "hey Gizmo you in here?" Jinx called.

"Wha- yeah over here!" The bald boy called.

Aurum followed the sound of Gizmo's voice and soon found the back of the store where five long tables where set. Gizmo was at the head of a table, with feet on a chair and hovering over a game board.

Mammoth was sitting next to Gizmo, his giant form was tall enough to be head level to Gizmo even though he was sat in a bean bag chair.

"What are you two doing?" he found himself asking.

Mammoth looked up from the board, "new Star Colony," he stated as if it explained everything.

"We thought you were talking about a video game," Jinx said, sitting down across from Mammoth.

Gizmo snorted, "video games are too easy if you know how to hack everyone of em, intellectuals like myself like to be challenged."

Aurum held back a laugh at hearing that.

"Whatever, are you done with this we got to get lunch?" Jinx asked picking up one of the plastic game pieces.

Gizmo huffed, "yeah fine, but piss back is paying."

"The hell I am squirt," Aurum stood up crossing his arms over his chest.

"What'd you just call me?!" Gizmo screamed in anger before he tried to lung at him.

Jinx grabbed the back of Gizmo's shirt as he was flying midair. "Calm down Giz you'll get us in trouble if you fight right now, save it for the combat sims."

Gizmo struggled for a few moments until an idea seemed to pop in his head, "yeah, you know what you're right," the midget began chuckling menacingly.

Aurum felt very uncomfortable at the maniacal look Gizmo was giving him.

Ten minutes later and green team had found a pizza place that was so new it hadn't even shown up on Gizmo's phone. They split two large pizzas amongst each other, Aurum getting jalapeno and extra sauce on his, Mammoth got chicken and pepperoni, Jinx ate both the chicken and the jalapeno slices while Gizmo had bell peppers and extra cheese.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, Aurum and Mammoth both eating as if they hadn't eaten in days while Jink casually ate her slices, looking bored with her head in her hands, and Gizmo was multitasking between eating and playing with his phone.

Suddenly the ground began to quake around them, a second later an explosion went off in the distance and the sound of screaming people took over the causal atmosphere of the pizza place.

"What the hell?" Gizmo asked.

Mammoth ignored the sounds and continued eating.

Aurum stood up and looked out the glass door, "Uhh, there's some kinda rock monster outside," he reported.

Jinx ran next Aurum to get a look, "wow so cool," she looked in awe as the huge rock man picked up an semi and threw it out of view.

Without warning a blur of green jumped in front of the glass door, a green skinned kid with pointed ears wearing purple and black spandex pointed to them, "Stay inside!" The boy ordered before he morphed into a giant green gorilla before their vary eyes and jumped away towards the rock monster.

"Was that a Titan?" Aurum asked.

"Aw leave it to those crud munchers to ruin a perfectly good meal." Gizmo complained, walking up next to Aurum to look out the window.

"Yes and I'm sure the giant rock monster has nothing to do with it." Aurum sassed back.

"We didn't start seeing super villains show up in the city until the Titans formed, now it happens almost once a week." Stated Jinx.

Aurum looked back towards the battle, his eyes widened suddenly as a car was thrown in their direction. "Get down!" He warned.

The vehicle sailed towards them, on instinct born form his training, Aurum pulled Jinx back and stepped in front of Gizmo, he raised his arms in anticipation to bring up a barrier.

A shadow darker than night surrounded the flying car and stopped the vehicle in its tracks before it was thrown back by the same shadow towards the hulking rock man. A dark purple cloaked figure appeared in front of the store, "ignore the green idiot, escape while you can out the back." A feminine voice droned in a monotone. As soon as she appeared the dark Titan flew away towards the battle down the street.

The other patrons didn't need to be told twice and left running out the back exit in a panic. Jinx's response was to walk back to her seat and continue eating, Gizmo doing the same.

"Uhh, guys are we just gonna sit here in a war zone right now?" Aurum asked, an explosion went off that shook the ground and made the lights of the pizza place flicker.

"Giz are you done yet?" Jinx asked ignoring his question.

"Yeah the cameras are off, go ahead." The ball cap wearing boy said between bites.

Jinx smirked and walked behind the counter to one of the registers, in a flash of pink energy it was destroyed and she began grabbing the cash inside.

"Wow, wow what are you doing?" Aurum demanded.

Jinx looked at him in confusion, "uhh looting." Her tone made it sound obvious.

"I see that but why?" He stepped forward with a scowl on his face.

"Because I want money, seriously man what's got your panties in a bunch?" She asked in growing annoyance.

Mammoth walked over to one of the other registers and smashed it open with his giant fist.

"Shut up piss back, your acting like an idiot," Mammoth reprimanded.

"Yeah, it's not our jobs to help any of these people, besides this shop's gonna be trashed anyway." Gizmo said as he helped Mammoth clear out his register.

"If they were smart they would've got insurance on this place, hell they might even get more money than they started out with." Jinx reasoned, putting dollar bills into a pizza box.

Aurum still didn't look convinced and was shifting uncomfortable in his stance, head occasionally looking back over his shoulder.

"Besides animals do worse to each other to survive every day, what's a few hundred dollars anyway." Mammoth reasoned along with Jinx.

Aurum nodded, "yeah, their right, no one will miss a few hundred dollars when their whole store is going to be destroyed, besides we need money more than they do." He tried to convince himself, but despite that he still didn't partake.

"Alright let's get the hell out of here," Jinx put the last of the bills in her pizza box full of cash.

"We're good lets go," Mammoth copied Jinx's idea and put his own pilfered bills into another pizza box.

With that they all ran out of the back of the store running away towards Mammoth's parked truck.

It was not a second too soon as a moment later the rock monster came flying though the pizza place, destroying much of the building.

"See told ya, no one will miss a few hundred dollars after that," Gizmo cackled.

They made it to the truck without much incident other than having to wade through panicked people rushing away from the strip mall and into any safe direction that could be found.

Mammoth apparently knew a lot of side streets and back ways to avoid some of the traffic in the ensuing evacuation and so after only forty minutes green team finally arrived back at the academy.

Mammoth and Gizmo ran off, snickering to each other and asking what they were gonna do with their share of the loot.

Aurum jumped out of the back of the truck and started walking towards the academy with his hands in his pockets. "Hey Aurum," Jinx got his attention.

"What?"

She walked next to him and held out her hand, "here's your share." Jinx offered.

"But I didn't do anything." He stated.

Jink raised an eyebrow, "you were the lookout weren't you?" She asked.

Aurum wanted to deny it, but she was right, he technically did help them rob that place blind. He tentatively took the money from her offered hand, fifty dollars.

"Not much of us are given a fair chance at life, sometimes it's up to us to take it." Jinx imparted.

Aurum frowned, "I don't know, it still feels wrong," he admitted.

Jinx shrugged and walked away, "figure your own shit out Aurum cause I know who I am." She called from over her shoulder.

He soon found himself alone in the parking lot, night had already crept up on him and the cold winter wind chilled his spine. He looked down at the money in his hands, he balled his fist around the stolen bills, he shoved his hand into his pockets and walked back towards the academy.

AN: Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you all for reading so far and giving my story your time of day. I knew when I first made this story that the OC Teen Titans fics were a very niche area of fan fiction so I'm actually surprised and over joyed that this story got any attention at all.

Three reviews and all positive, that's amazing, especially for a story that goes against a lot of the norms of an OC Teen Titan's fic. But I'm not doing this for the attention, if I wanted attention then I would've made smut, with the amount of horny teenagers on this site it wouldn't be hard to gain traction. I hope to one day actually sit down a fix my very many grammar issues that I know are their but I'm just too stupid to actually spot. English was never my best subject, actually my worst until they added letters to math, so I know I have a long way to go until I'm even remotely passable with my grammar.

I hope this chapter finds you all well and that you all have a very merry Christmas and incase I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.