Alright everyone! Hope you're all ready for more Teen Titan-ic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this new chapter, with Adonis now in the Titans' custody following the events of the previous night, the Titans have an important meeting to discuss and decide the heinous armored casanova wannabe's fate. Just what will happen to this vile miscreant? Time to find out ya'll! And that being said, here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!
A/N: But first, just to remind you all once more, I do not own Teen Titans. NOW on with the fic!
Chapter 16:
Beware the Nice Ones
The very next morning, at 8:00 in the morning, all of the Titans present in Jump City found themselves gathered around in the still quite trashed common room. Or more accurately, all of the Titans present in Jump City besides the founders were gathered around in the remains of the common room. Right now, the five founders were currently in the interrogation chamber taking care of some very important business, and had only hung around in the common room just long enough to finish their breakfast, wish the other honorary Titans a good morning, and help them get situated before departing for said business.
Upon thought of said business, all of the teen and young adult members of the Titans present winced, mentally shuddering as they realized just what had managed to unfold the previous evening. Bushido, in particular, was still mentally kicking himself for having not been able to keep himself awake long enough to be of any help the previous night in the event that he could have potentially been needed to provide assistance. Kilowatt, meanwhile, was feeling both lucky that he had managed to avoid running the risk of getting Raven's three surrogate 'kids' involved and horrified at just what Raven had narrowly avoided the previous evening. The electrokinetic clenched his fists, his eyes silently narrowing into a glare. "If anything like that were to happen to Mirage," he thought angrily to himself, "then by God, that bastard would be force fed a full course meal made of lightning, and it would be the last sensation he ever experienced."
"Uncle Kilo?" asked Melvin. "Are you ok?"
Kilowatt tensed up in surprise, and turned his head to face Melvin, Timmy, and Teether, who were all looking at him in a mixture of confusion and worry. Kilowatt chuckled nervously, relaxed himself, and turned himself around to completely face the three kids. "Sorry kids." Kilowatt let out another nervous chuckle. "Just thinking about the horror of what your 'mom' just narrowly managed to avoid last night." He shuddered. "And I was also just now thinking of how lucky that monster is right now. You see, your mom reminds me of a very good friend of mine from my home town. And if that friend had undergone any experience like the one your mom just narrowly avoided, I would have definitely needed a whole lot of people holding me back to prevent me from crossing the line in my rage."
"But why?" Melvin asked.
"Yeah," said Timmy. "What was that man last night even planning to do anyway? How would it have been any different from what every other bad guy we've encountered has ever done?"
Kilowatt let a small weak smile come on his face. "Oh how lucky they are to still be so innocent and unaware about matters like this," he thought to himself. He got down on his knees and placed his hands on Timmy and Melvin's shoulders. "You'll understand when you're older," he promised.
The two kids thought to themselves, then hung their heads and sighed. "If you say so," said Timmy. Teether, meanwhile, just looked up at his brother and sister, his eyebrow raised, still clearly looking confused. Kilowatt mentally chuckled at this. "I definitely won't regret waiting for the day he gets let into the loop in regard to this matter," he thought to himself.
The other Titans present in the common room, likewise, were all still somewhat stunned by the full knowledge of just what had gone down the previous night. Speedy, in particular, was especially horrified by the knowledge. "Man, the Master must have really been keeping Jade out of the loop if even she didn't know about the plan being scheduled for exactly last night until this point." Then he mentally winced, and directed a worrying look outside the window in the direction of the forest. "Oh God," he thought to himself. "I hope she's ok."
Meanwhile, Hotspot and Argent looked both stunned and slightly bemused. "I can't believe all that happened right under our own noses and we didn't even notice," Argent thought to herself. Then she hung her head. "Admittedly though," she thought to herself, "that force field I set up around our campsite was pretty strong." And indeed, not too long before she and Hotspot had settled down and gone to sleep in their campsite the previous evening, Argent had set up a force field around their campsite as both a means of serving as mosquito net as well as a means of allowing them privacy. And for the sake of further reducing chances of anything interrupting the more romantic atmosphere that had been building up within their campsite, she had specifically made sure to have it designed to be 100% sound proof from the inside. But now, as she and Hotspot had just now been very surprised to find out, the force field's built in sound proofing had worked far more effectively then they'd expected.
Red Star briefly stole a glance at his two teammates that had been out camping the previous evening, and briefly found himself feeling quite bemused at how they'd very conveniently spent the entire night out camping and never once returned to the Titans North ship until this morning. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head from side to side. Now was not the time to be even thinking of subjecting Hotspot and Argent to yet more teasing about their relationship, let alone actually doing any teasing. He winced. "And not just because of this little Adonis crisis either." In fact, after what he and Pantha had ended up being forced to endure after reuniting with Wildebeest the previous day, he thought it would be awfully counterproductive and hypocritical of him to tease any of his teammates.
What all of the Titans in the common room were thinking in unison, however, was that it was nonetheless a good thing that everything had worked out for Raven and the other founders the previous evening. And at the same time, they also couldn't help but wonder just how things were going for them in the interrogation room at that moment and what they'd have to say when they came back.
. . . . .
It was 8:00 in the morning, and Adonis was feeling quite uncharacteristically nervous. He had first finally woken up from the suspended animation stage of his own drug at 11:40 the previous evening, only to find himself now very firmly stuck in the newly activated paralysis stage while lying spread eagled on his back across a metal surface clearly styled like a surgical table oriented at a diagonal slant that allowed him to directly face the two-way glass mirror on the wall in front of him. And as if the fact that he was now paralyzed wasn't enough, he had his wrists and ankles pinned to the table he was lying on by four metal cuffs. And not only that, but judging from the sensations he was now feeling in his stomach and back areas, it was clear that the Titans had managed to very painfully stitch his wounds shut while he was still unconscious.
For what had seemed like an eternity to the paralyzed and terrified boy, Adonis had stayed awake, staring in fear at his reflection in the mirror, terrified out of his mind by both the knowledge of his current condition and the fear of the unknown in regard to what would happen to him later. And indeed, he was quite certain that whatever the Titans had planned for him would be far from pleasant. Eventually, at around 12:10 am., Adonis had finally ended up falling asleep purely out of sheer exhaustion, and had practically blacked out to sleep. And now, he was wide awake, and the drug was worn off. "What are they gonna do to me?" he thought to himself. He gulped. "What are they gonna do?"
He heard a door opening to his left, and he turned his head just in time to see none other than the 5 founding Titans come walking right in. Adonis gulped as he watched the 5 Titans enter, for it was clear from their facial expressions, tense body language, and the way they were walking that they meant business. The 5 Titans took positions gathered around in front of Adonis, and his heart sank further. "Here we go," he thought to himself, clearly aware that the wait was over, and whatever had been planned for him would now unfold.
"I presume you're wondering why you're here in Titans Tower instead of in the relative safety of Jump City Prison," said Robin.
Adonis thought to himself, and then weakly nodded his head up and down.
"In which case I shall gladly explain." The Boy Wonder folded his arms across his chest, his expression clearly in 'poker face' mode. "Last night, you crossed some serious lines. So serious, in fact, that you've now given us no choice." Robin spread his arms out to gesture at the entire area around him, the other Titans, and Adonis. "Do you have any idea how rarely this area of the tower ever gets used? Up until now, only one criminal has ever been placed within here. The fact that you're the second ever villain we've ever had placed under temporary containment within the tower's interrogation chambers speaks volumes at how much you've forced our hands this time Adonis." The Boy Wonder paused, and then let a wolf-like smirk come on his face. "Or should I say . . . Donald?"
Adonis's eyes widened. He reared up, or at least did as best as he could considering his current position, in surprise. "How did you know my name?"
Robin's smirk widened. "Looks like Speedy's spy is really doing her work well," he thought to himself. Then his smirk morphed effortlessly back into his default 'poker face'. Now was not the time to mention such a matter out loud. The last thing the Titans needed was for their only spy to be accidentally exposed to the Master. "How I came to know about your name is of no concern to you right now Mr. Anderson." Robin folded his arms across his chest once more. "Right now, we've got more important things to worry about, and so do you." He looked over at Raven. "Raven," said the Boy Wonder, "you know what to do."
Raven nodded, and lifted her right hand up while extending it in the direction of Adonis's face, her eyes glowing white. The miscreant's eyes widened. "VALD'R'ON, U'RU'BAENAI, K'VIESTAVAR!"
Adonis felt a brief burning sensation inside his forehead, and he shrieked in pain with his eyes closed. Then the burning sensation ended, Adonis's eyes snapped open, and he gasped as he suddenly felt an overwhelming sensation flood the insides of his mind. At this very moment, he could feel what seemed to be a mass ocean of horrifyingly negative emotions flooding and storming around in his mind. It took all his willpower not to completely lose his mind from the overload he was now feeling of despair, pain, terror, disgust, hate, and similar negative emotions inside his mind. And even worse, he could tell, for a fact, that none of these emotions were his own. He turned his head back towards Raven, his face now clearly terrified and in panic. "What have you done?!"
Raven snarled, her eyes now their usual violet color once more. "Simple," she snarled. "I cast an empathy spell on you." She folded her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowed and a look of pure utter revulsion on her face. "All that stuff you've got in your head right now? Those are all the combined emotions felt by me and every single other girl you've ever threatened, pursued, and violated, successfully or otherwise. Every girl, but especially me. Those emotions that you feel right now that are not your own, that's how me and every other girl you've done wrong towards has ever felt about you. And we have never felt a single positive thing towards you at all." She leaned forward towards Adonis, her purple eyes now burning dangerously with hate from underneath her hood. "And the only way for this spell to stop is for the spell caster to manually undo it. Without that, this spell can last for days, weeks, even months! Just think about that! Feeling all that hatred and despair and fear that you've caused so many helpless girls to feel for so long towards yourself for that much time! Some people who've suffered similar negative empathy spells in history have only managed to last 5 minutes before committing suicide Adonis! And after what you were willing to do to me last night, I am more than willing to allow you to test how long you can last before you get driven to suicide yourself!" As if to further emphasize how Raven was telling the truth, one particularly glaring portion of the hate within the tangled jumble within Adonis's mind began to burn and glow even more strongly than before as if in direct response to Raven's current rising anger. The miscreant gulped, clearly both frightened and ashamed.
Raven stepped back, and Robin walked back up to his earlier position. The other Titans also positioned themselves accordingly. Adonis gulped, and stared at the 5 young heroes timidly, clearly now terrified even more about just what was now very likely about to happen. "Alright Donald," Robin growled. "Raven may have already slammed you with that little spell. But trust me, that's getting off lightly compared to what else we're willing to do to you depending on what sort of direction you decide to have us take." No sooner had Robin said this, when Adonis's eyes proceeded to widen in horror as he watched the five Titans, one by one, perform some very ominous actions that clearly hinted that they were willing to consider resorting to cold blooded torture against him now. Robin very ominously drew out a pair of nunchucks from his utility belt and smacked one end of them against his right palm. Cyborg pressing a button on his left arm that caused his right hand to become engulfed in a small web of what looked like blue lightning. Raven's eyes turned red and her hands began to glow with her distinctive shadowy energy. Beast Boy bared his fangs, took off his gloves, and caused his already pointy fingernails to extend ominously into dangerously long and sharp Wolverine level claws. Starfire, meanwhile, merely caused her eyes to glow very ominously bright to the point that her eyes seemed to ignite into venomous green flames.
Adonis gulped, cringed at the sight of the very pissed off and willing to resort to torture Titans. "This . . . this isn't right," he whimpered. He moved in a way that clearly hinted that he was trying desperately to back himself away from his hopeful torturers. "You don't do this kind of thing! You don't!"
"Usually we prefer not to," said Robin. He stopped smacking his right palm with his nunchuck and gestured at his four friends. "But like I said earlier; you've now given us no choice." The Boy Wonder pointed his finger directly at Adonis. "You need to be punished for the unforgivable actions you attempted to subject Raven to last night, and you also have information that we need to know; and you are going to get that punishment and tell us that information." Robin snarled silently with his eyes narrowed and his teeth gritted. "And we know this, for a fact." Robin lifted up his left arm, drawing the nunchuck back as if about to smack Adonis in the face with it. "Now answer me this Donald," Robin snarled, all tensed up and ready to strike. The other Titans likewise tensed up in preparation. "What's it gonna be? The easy way? Or the hard way?"
For a brief moment, Adonis just gaped in shock and terror. Then he shook his head, his face clearly showing that he was now feeling both afraid and just plain dumbfounded. Beast Boy found himself starting to chuckle when he saw this. Adonis heard the chuckling, and his fear and speechlessness turned to anger. In a flash, he snapped his head to face Beast Boy and spat the area around the changeling's feet in an act of pure anger.
Beast Boy looked down at the area where the spit had landed. The other four founding Titans directed their gaze towards the area as well. Adonis let a small smirk cross his face. "Hah, take that loser," he thought to himself smugly. The Titans looked back at Adonis. After what seemed like an eternity, Adonis finally noticed this, and his smug grin faded. He looked back up to face the entire group, a wince of fear and dread now firmly etched across his face as he belatedly realized how very unwise an action he'd just committed. "I'm dead," he thought to himself.
Robin raised his eyebrow, an almost bemused look of pleasure now on his face. "Hard way it is then." Adonis winced, now clearly preparing himself for the pain to come.
Robin clipped up his pair of nunchucks and slipped it back into his utility belt. The other Titans, likewise seemingly stood down. Adonis raised his eyebrow. "I thought we were doing this the hard way."
"We are," said Robin. "We were just getting warmed up."
The Boy Wonder looked over at Raven, an almost conspiratorial grin now on his face. Raven, her own face as emotionless as ever, nodded her head up and down. She looked over at Beast Boy, her eyebrow raised. Beast Boy grinned, the look on his face now making him look very disturbingly look like the kind that would be found on the Cheshire Cat. The shapeshifter looked over at Adonis, his grin still on his face. Then he chuckled, and morphed into . . . something.
Adonis raised his eyebrow. Whatever Beast Boy had just turned into; he couldn't see it. He directed a look of confusion at the other Titans. Robin only grinned, causing Adonis to raise his eyebrow again. Then Adonis heard something slam down on the area directly to the right of his left foot, simultaneously feeling the force of the impact. The miscreant's eyes widened, and he directed his eyes downward in time to see what looked like a large, green, scaly, lizard-like foot with claws on it clenched onto the area where he'd heard and felt the impact. All of three seconds later, a second such leg rose up into his line of vision and slammed down on the area directly to the left of his right foot. Then the creature's head rose up into view, and Adonis found his eyes widening in surprise at the sight. He had remembered seeing this very creature, albeit in a less obviously grown color scheme, at the local zoo. "A Komodo dragon?" he asked. "Seriously? How's a pathetic lizard supposed to make me talk?"
Raven shook her head, her face silently grunting a 'tsk, tsk'. "Pathetic lizard?" She folded her arms across her chest. "We all knew you were an idiot. But we sure as Azar didn't think you'd be this suicidally stupid."
Adonis raised his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
Raven shook her head again, and then directed her gaze towards Beast Boy the Komodo dragon. "Ever been bitten by a Komodo dragon?"
Adonis almost laughed at the sheer randomness of the question. "What kind of question is that?"
"A needless one," said Raven. "Because the answer's obvious. Why? You're alive."
Adonis narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
Raven narrowed her eyes and glared dangerously at Adonis. Adonis actually gulped, and cringed in fear at the sight of the look that was now on Raven's face. "I went to the zoo yesterday with Beast Boy," said Raven. "The very lizard that Beast Boy has just transformed into was the first animal that he and I saw on display." She directed her gaze down at the green Komodo dragon, which was now hissing and shaking its head in anticipation. "And I remember quite well the very interesting information he taught me about these creatures." She looked back up at Adonis. "They may not be able to breath fire or have any other of the other abilities commonly associated with their namesake. But with what they do have, they don't need any of those abilities."
The sorceress looked over at Beast Boy, and nodded her head. The lizard growled, looked back at Adonis, and opened its jaws wide open, causing Adonis to blanch at the sight of its unnervingly sharp teeth. "Within a Komodo dragon's mouth," Raven explained, "is a mass amount of a very rare bacteria."
Adonis raised his eyebrow. "So it's got bad oral hygiene. Big deal."
"Oh there's more to it than that." Raven pointed her finger at the head of the green Komodo dragon. "The bacteria in the mouth of this species of lizard? It's nothing at all like any other bacteria. This bacteria? 100% venomous."
Adonis's eyes widened at the sound of this word. As idiotic as he was, he knew perfectly well what the word 'venomous' meant. He looked at the Komodo dragon that was now present before him and at the ready to bite him, now regarding it with considerably more fear than he had before.
"And the worst part," Raven continued, "is that there is no antidote. Zero. None. Just one bite, and the victim will die. Simple as that." Adonis felt his heart plummet. "And not only that," Raven continued, "but the lizards themselves know this to." She folded her arms across her chest. All they need to do is just give their target a single bite, and then they scamper off to a safe distance. Because they don't need to fight their prey to the death. No way. All they have to do is just bite their target, and then they spend however much time it takes just following the unfortunate animal around, waiting patiently until the target inevitably succumbs to the bacteria and keels over dead as a dodo. And once that's happened, the Komodo dragons are more than prepared to just walk right over to the corpse, and dig in."
Adonis gulped, looked over at the green Komodo dragon fearfully, shuddered at the sight of the creature licking its lips and hissing, and then directed a fearful look back at Raven and the other three Titans. "You're not seriously . . .?"
"You have till the count of 10," Raven stated coldly. She pointed back at Beast Boy. "And unless you talk, our friend here is going to allow you to find out the hard way exactly how it feels to fall victim to a Komodo dragon's bite." She folded her arms across her chest. "And in the event that that happens, we won't be able to save you even if we wanted to."
Adonis blanched, his eyes widening in shock and fear. "Hold on," he stated. "You can't seriously be . . ."
"10."
Adonis stopped talking, gulping in fear. He looked over at the green Komodo dragon, which now had an almost human-like look of smug satisfaction on its face. He looked back at Raven. "You're out of your mind!"
"9."
Adonis's eyes widened again. Clearly, Raven was serious.
"Well calling her 'out of her mind' certainly isn't going to help your case," said Cyborg.
Adonis gaped over at Cyborg. "You're joking!"
"8."
"Are we?" said Cyborg.
"7."
"This isn't you," Adonis whimpered. "You'd never let something like this happen! Never!"
"Are you really sure you want to test that theory?" said Robin.
"6."
Adonis growled, and jerked against his restraints. "That's it! I'm done with these games! Let me out of here!"
"Tell us what we need to know, and we'll let you live," said Robin.
"I'm serious!" Adonis yelled.
"5."
"This isn't funny!" Adonis roared.
"Do we look like we're joking?" Cyborg asked.
"4."
"There's no way you'd possibly get away with this!"
"3."
"Go to Hell!"
"Already going there," said Robin.
"2."
"This is blackmail!"
"1."
Beast Boy the Komodo dragon hissed, reared up his head, and opened his mouth to the fullest, clearly ready and eager to bite Adonis right on the ankle.
"Ok, ok, ok! I'll talk! I'll talk! Just don't let him bite me! Don't let him bite me! DON'T LET HIM BITE ME!"
. . . . .
At around 8:30, all the ancillary Titans were still lounging in the destroyed remains of the common room waiting for the founders to come back. And at this point, some of them were starting to get impatient. Speedy, in particular, looked especially impatient as he was pacing back and forth in front of the main doorway to the room. "What's taking him so long?" the archer growled.
Aqualad sighed. "Look man, please be patient," said the Atlantean. "I'm sure everything's fine."
"You really sure about that?" Speedy grumbled. In fact, he himself was quite certain that the founding Titans were alright. In fact, the real reason he was currently acting the way he was due to his getting increasingly nervous about whether or not Cheshire was still safe and hadn't managed to accidentally get herself exposed to her boss as the Titans' spy. And this possibility was something that Speedy very much wanted to not ever become a reality. "I've already lost one girl," he thought to himself. "I refuse to allow myself to lose a second."
Fortunately, out of all the gathered Titans present, Terra was smart enough to connect the dots. "Speedy, please relax. I'm sure that Cheshire is fine. And even in the event that she isn't, getting all frantic and bent out of shape in worry over her won't help her."
Speedy tensed, fighting to keep himself from flat out exploding in a mixture of anger and worry. All the other Titans present held their breath. Then Speedy very abruptly relaxed, sighing heavily. He turned around, walked on over towards his gathered friends, and sat down at the top of the small set of steps leading down to where the sofa had once been located. "You're right," the archer admitted. "Cheshire could yet be perfectly safe, and getting all twisted out of shape won't help her in the event that she isn't." He hung his head, sighing once more. "I'm still so worried though."
Terra nodded her head. "I understand perfectly," the geomancer admitted. She lifted her head, sighed, and then said. "Believe me, if I were the one potentially in big trouble, I'm sure Garth would probably be right there in your shoes and getting all worried sick about my wellbeing."
Bushido raised his eyebrow in confusion. "No more anxious then the rest of us, surely?"
In perfect unison, Speedy, Aqualad, and Terra turned their heads towards Bushido and directed a withering death glare so strong that the hardened young samurai warrior actually sweat dropped. "By Kami," he thought to himself. "What did I do?" Then the samurai noticed that all of the other Titans alongside the three who'd just now started glaring at him were also directing the exact same 'really?' death glare towards him as well. Bushido gulped upon realizing this. "Jeez," he thought to himself. "Was it something I said?"
Kilowatt face palmed, sighing heavily. "Seriously man?" he said. "No wonder you never get laid."
All the teens and young adults in the room, including Bushido, snapped their heads around to face the electrokinetic, clearly appalled by his recent comment. "DUDE!" Aqualad yelled. He gestured at Melvin, Timmy, Teether, and the twins. "THERE ARE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN HERE!"
Kilowatt winced, now clearly regretting his words. "Sorry," he grunted weakly.
"What is he talking about?" Melvin asked.
"That's need to know," said Bumblebee, her finger raised in a way that brooked no argument. "And you do not yet need to know."
For a brief moment, the five especially young members of the Titans just stared at their elders with raised eyebrows. The older Titans all collectively mentally held their breaths, hoping like mad that the 5 children would willingly drop the matter and refrain from perhaps going out to ask Bobby to 'convince' them to talk. Then the 5 kids looked at each other, thought to themselves, and nodded their heads up and down in agreement. "If you say so," said Melvin. The elder Titans all mentally exhaled in relief.
Then Aqualad realized a little detail that he was quite certain now that Terra had possibly been implying earlier in her comments that had inspired Bushido's earlier slip up. "Terra," said the Atlantean. "Do correct me if I'm wrong, but are you implying that Speedy has a thing for Cheshire?"
The other Titans present apart from Terra all jolted in surprise, now finally connecting the dots themselves. Speedy also jolted in shock at first, then he grimaced, and directed a half sheepish and half dreading look on his face. "Oh dear," he thought to himself, clearly now fully expecting to be either teased or yelled at. "Here it comes."
"Well yeah," said Terra. She gestured over at Speedy. "I mean come on, just look at how he was acting just now. No one acts like that on someone's behalf unless they really, really, really care about that person. And judging by how Robin's acted none too different in some situations involving Star, Speedy clearly has got the hots for our little spy. I mean really, isn't it obvious?"
All the other Titans apart from Speedy thought to themselves, and then their eyes all widened as they realized that the blonde geomancer had a point. As one, they all turned their heads towards Speedy, their faces silently asking, 'Is this true?'. Speedy grimaced, clearly not enjoying this newfound scrutiny he was being placed under. "Oh Hell," he thought to himself.
At that moment, Speedy was spared from further potential torture when the sound of the common room doors opening split the air. As one, the gathered Titans all looked in that direction just in time to see none other than the 5 founders come walking in. And judging from the looks on the faces of all but Raven, they were clearly quite pleased with themselves. Upon seeing this, Bumblebee let a sly grin come on her face. "I take it from the ridiculously happy looks on your faces that the interrogation was a success."
"Indeed," said Robin. He looked over at Speedy, a teasing smirk on his face. "And before you ask, I had Raven use her psychic contact; our spy is perfectly safe."
Speedy instinctively exhaled in relief. "Thank God," he said without thinking. The other Titans, including the founders, all smirked upon hearing this, and thus receiving perfect confirmation as to their suspicions. But at the current moment, further grilling the archer about the matter would have to wait.
"But moving on from that," said Robin. "Time to talk about what our prisoner had to say." His grin returned. "And believe me, once he realized that Beast Boy actually was willing to bite him while in the form of a Komodo dragon, that idiot actually proved quite talkative."
Terra's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror. "Hold on," she said. "Beast Boy was willing to what?!"
"Not important," said Beast Boy. "What is important, is just what Adonis had to say after he finally cracked."
"And like Rob said," said Cyborg. He chuckled, and folded his arms across his chest. "That moron had quite a lot to say."
"Indeed," said Robin. He cleared his throat. "The most important thing he said though is, just as Speedy was informed of yesterday, the Master has come to Jump City."
At the sound of this, almost all of the other Titans started rapidly whispering and talking around at each other. They all were well aware of the adventure involving Terra's brother Geo-Force that had occurred the previous summer, and thus knew perfectly well just who Robin was referring to by 'the Master'. Terra, however, had a withering glare on her face at nothing in particular, and very noticeably clenched both her fists. Aqualad noticed how his girlfriend was currently behaving, and raised his eyebrow in a clearly worried fashion. "Um Terra?" said the Atlantean. "Are you ok?"
Terra found herself quite startled at first, then she looked at Aqualad, then at her hands. She took a deep breath, sighed, and relaxed, unclenching her fists in the process. "I'm ok," said the blonde. She nodded her head. "Sorry about that; it's just, what he did to my brother . . ." Aqualad placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "I understand Tara," said the Atlantean. "What happened to your brother thanks to that monster is unforgivable. But don't worry, I'm sure we'll all get the chance to properly get justice for him and take out the monster responsible at some point sooner or later."
Kid Flash, meanwhile, soon had a question of his own, and he raised his hand.
"Yes?" said Robin upon catching sight of his old friend's hand in the air.
"So the guy who brainwashed Terra's big bro is in town," said the speedster. He placed his hands against his chin as if he were thinking. "Now the question is, what does he want now?"
"According to Adonis," said Cyborg. "He's come to attempt to recruit local villains into that army we interrupted his efforts at forming last summer."
Raven nodded her head. "Indeed," said the sorceress. She looked over at all the other gathered Titans. "Even before we got him into a position of being able to get interrogated, he was already dumb enough to brag about it to me while I was still under the effects of that drug. It seems that, after what happened with Geo-Force, the Master's decided that he's better off recruiting people who are already villains or will likewise be willing to work for him without having to be mind controlled into serving him. As for why it's taken so long for us to hear anything about him after last summer, my best guess is that he decided it was best for him to lay low and let us get busy with other stuff so as to lower our chances at causing too much damage to his plans."
Kid Flash thought to himself, and then nodded. "Makes sense," said the speedster.
"Mm-hm," said Jinx, nodding her head up and down. "I can certainly see the reasoning behind it; after all, Brother Blood followed a pretty similar strategy when looking for students to enroll at H.I.V.E."
"You got that right," Bumblebee agreed. The other Titans, likewise, showed agreement.
"Well that's good and all," said Hotspot. He looked over at the founders. "But now that leaves us with another concern. Just who has this Master fellow attempted to recruit?"
"Another question easily answered," said Beast Boy. The changeling cleared his throat. "Apparently, much like our helpful spy told Speedy yesterday, only two people so far. One of them, as I'm sure you guys have probably guessed by now, was Adonis. The other . . ." He hung his head, sighing in half resignation and half regret. He shook his head side to side, sighed once more, and lifted his head to face the ancillary Titans. "The other person was apparently some random dude named Todd Jameson."
The instant Beast Boy said the name, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg discreetly directed their gaze at Raven. Beast Boy himself, likewise, directed a surreptitious gaze towards her as well. As usual, the sorceress showed no visible reaction. Even so, her four fellow founders were quite certain that this particular bit of information was even now still affecting her far strongly then she was letting on, particularly considering that she'd already been made aware of it in the first place while they'd been in the midst of interrogating Adonis.
The ancillary Titans all had the same look of confusion on their faces. "Who's Todd Jameson?" Herald asked.
I agree with Herald, Jericho signed. I myself would very much like to know who this person is, he continued. Kole translated for him on both sentences.
"At first glance," said Starfire. "Seemingly an ordinary boy resident of this city who lives the goth lifestyle."
This information hardly reduced any of the ancillary Titans' confusion. "Well what use would this Master being have for some random goth civilian?" said Argent.
"That's something that could very likely be extremely important for us to know," said Robin. The Boy Wonder pounded his right fist against his left palm. "Believe me, you're not the only ones who find it odd that this being, whoever he is, would go to the trouble of attempting to recruit some seemingly harmless civilian to what he hopes to be a powerful army of villains. That being said, if he's attempting to hire this civilian, let alone any other civilian, odds are there's likely more to said civilian than meets the eye." His masked eyes narrowed, for he was now thinking of both the fact that the mysterious Master was apparently planning to recruit this civilian and the fact that the boy's name had somehow seemed so familiar to him for some reason. "And with the way we do things, it's best that whatever secrets this guy's hidden from us don't remain secret for long. Whatever these particular secrets are, they're apparently to qualify him for an attempt at recruitment to this Master being's army. And that qualifies them for investigation by the Titans."
"What about the Master himself?" asked Red Star. The former soldier nodded his head. "I understand that the current information is valuable komandir, but it will not entirely do nearly as good as it could if this Master is allowed to roam around to continue to recruit more of our enemies here in Jump City, and who knows where he could be right now."
"A valid concern," Robin admitted. "Which is why, thanks to Adonis having conveniently spouted off the handy detail about just where his hopeful future boss has set up shop, we're going to go off on a little side trip to the Master's current lair and see if we can catch him before he either looks for more recruits among the local villains, or in the event that he already knows we're on to him, before he gets the chance to cut his losses and flee again like he did last summer."
"Ahem," said Raven.
Robin winced. "But first," the Boy Wonder admitted. "There is one equally important thing we must get out of the way." He looked around at all the gathered Titans. "We need to decide just what to do with Adonis. I don't know what you guys want to do with him, but I know that we can't legally keep him in our custody forever, and as inconvenient as this other bit might seem to some amongst you, I'd very much prefer we not risk soiling our reputations by killing him." Kilowatt briefly tensed up upon hearing that last bit, but then he mentally took a deep breath and calmed himself down, for he knew that his old friend from his hometown would likely agree with Robin, and he himself preferred to honor his friend.
"Can't we just send him off to jail then?" Kid Flash stated. "Quick and simple?"
"This time might be a bit more complicated," said Robin.
"How?" asked Aqualad.
Robin looked over to Raven, who nodded her head. "As you all know," the sorceress explained, "Adonis has a very unhealthy obsession in my regard."
"That's one way to put it," Beast Boy snarled.
"But last night," Raven continued, seemingly ignoring Beast Boy's comment. "He came very unacceptably close to actually succeeding in getting what he wanted from me." The other Titans all shuddered, not even wanting to think about the matter that had just gotten brought up again.
"And that being said," Robin continued. "With how close he got this time, odds are high he's gonna decide to work extra hard at finally finishing the job next time, and be especially more determined than ever. And considering how little time it already tends to take for the supervillains around here to get out of Jump City prison, suffice it to say that I'm not so sure if we can still trust them with keeping Adonis out of equation under these particular circumstances."
"And not only that," said Cyborg. "But as we found out last night, out of the two of them, it turns out both Beast Boy and Adonis are still capable of assuming their respective Beast modes in spite of the antidote I gave them three years ago on the night they first appeared. And after all that's gone down last night, I wouldn't put it past that slimy little punk to attempt to find a way to make himself access the power of his Beast more often than he currently has just to fulfill his goals. And I quite doubt that Jump City Prison has any means available of properly keeping that creature contained."
"Please," said Starfire. "Is it truly necessary to worry so about this?" She gestured at Raven. "I mean, that spell she subjected him to, surely that would be enough to permanently discourage him?"
"While I admire the sentiment, it's better to be safe than sorry." Robin nodded his head up and down as if in agreement with his own statement. "And besides, I can't be entirely 100% certain just yet that Raven's little spell will truly be enough to discourage Adonis that easily. He could yet think up some sort of loophole to take advantage of to shake off whatever trauma he may or not have managed to undergo from being hit by that spell. And even if he doesn't manage to do that, sometimes villains are just far enough gone that such extremes will hardly leave that much of a lasting effect. Believe me, I can name at least two villains that I used to encounter alongside Batman very often who would gladly either laugh it off or be inspired by the experience." Starfire hung her head. "But nonetheless, I appreciate the sentiment."
"Well can't we just figure out ways to properly keep Adonis contained while in Beast form and allow the prison to set them up for Adonis's cell?" Kid Flash asked. He shook his head side to side as if to emphasize how he didn't see any problem with his suggestion whatsoever. "I mean, hey nothing wrong with the idea, and it solves all our current problems with Adonis. We get to avoid killing him, and he gets to stay in an especially secure imprisonment setting that we'll likely be considerably more difficult for him to escape from than before."
"And that's all fine and dandy," said Robin. Then he pointed at Beast Boy. "Until we get to the part where the government insists that we subject Beast Boy to the same conditions." The other Titans all thought to themselves, mentally gulped as they realized that their fearless leader had a valid point. They looked over at Kid Flash, who thought to himself, reached the same conclusion, and nodded his head. "Fair point," said the speedster.
"Well perhaps we could at least try the idea out?" said Speedy. "I mean come on, it's hardly too big of a price to pay." All the other Titans, the five founders included, directed withering glares at the archer. Speedy, however, seemingly didn't notice, or just didn't care. "Besides," the archer continued slowly walking over towards Robin. "It's not like this would be the first time one of us has gone to an extreme or two to make sure that we did what was right. And hey, Batman himself has both been willing, and actually done, exactly that kind of thing multiple times in the past, and even to this day."
Robin grabbed Speedy by both sides of the collar of his shirt and yanked him forward. Speedy gasped in shock, but didn't otherwise even get the chance to react before Robin leaned his face jarringly close to the archer's and angrily shouted, "I'M NOT BATMAN!"
For a brief few seconds, all of the other Titans gaped in shock at what Robin had just done and said. Speedy eventually managed to shake off his shock, regain his composure, and glare at Robin. "So what?" he growled, anger and lingering worry over Cheshire's wellbeing now clouding his judgment. "You've acted like him often enough in the past. . ."
Speedy never saw the punch coming, and the archer was sent stumbling backwards and crashed hard on the floor on his back after the Boy Wonder's right fist pounded him painfully hard right in the face. Speedy had just enough time to get himself back up into a seated position on the floor before the now very angry Robin pointed his finger at the archer and roared, "YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!" Speedy gulped, and opened his mouth to reply, only for Robin to interrupt. "BECAUSE I DO! I KNOW DAMN WELL HOW OFTEN I'VE ACTED LIKE BATMAN IN THE PAST! HELL, IT'S EXACTLY HOW MUCH LIKE BATMAN I'VE BEEN IN THE PAST THAT ALLOWS ME TO UNDERSTAND HOW SIMILAR I AM TO SLADE!"
Robin clenched his fists, growled, narrowed his eye, and started storming off left and right in a very tense and angry pacing. "AND I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING LIKE THAT! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M PROUD OF IT! HELL, I NEVER EVEN WANTED TO BE LIKE EITHER OF THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, LET ALONE LIKE JUST BATMAN ALONE! THAT'S WHY I LEFT BATMAN AND GOTHAM CITY! THAT'S WHY I EVENTUALLY CHOSE TO BE THE LEADER OF A TEAM INSTEAD OF WORKING SOLO LIKE I ORIGINALLY WANTED TO DO! THAT'S WHY I'VE CHOSEN TO CHANGE HOW I ACT AND TREAT YOU ALL DIFFERENTLY THEN BEFORE AFTER EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN TOKYO!" He came to a stop at his original position, turned around to face Speedy, and pointed his finger at the archer again. "AND THAT'S WHY I REFUSE, AND I MEAN REFUSE, TO WILLINGLY DO EVEN THE SLIGHTEST THING SIMILAR TO HIM IF THERE'S EVEN A TINY CHANCE OF AVOIDING IT! BECAUSE I AM DONE WITH BEING LIKE HIM! I'M SICK OF BEING LIKE HIM! I DON'T WANT TO BE LIKE HIM AND NEVER DID! I AM NOT BATMAN! I WON'T BE BATMAN! I! CAN'T! BE! BATMAN!"
All the other Titans remained silent, gaping speechlessly at Robin for what seemed like an eternity. Sure they'd all seen Robin lose his temper before. However, even so, they'd still never quite fully seen him get quite this angry before. And as much as they knew about how uncomfortable he was with talking about his past at all, let alone the time he'd spent under Batman's wing, they had never once expected him to blow his top and rant as much as he'd just done right that very moment. Eventually, Speedy managed to fight off his shock, gulp, and hang his head in shame, clearly now feeling guilty about his actions and behavior that had caused his old friend to blow up so savagely. "You're right," Speedy said, almost croaking from the shame. "I'm sorry."
Robin breathed heavily, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "It's ok," said the Boy Wonder, now sounding more tired than angry. All the other Titans mentally exhaled in relief.
Then Beast Boy tensed up, his face silently screaming 'Eureka!'
Terra noticed this. "What is it BB? You've got an idea?"
All the other Titans, fellow founders included, directed their heads towards Beast Boy, clearly willing to listen to what the changeling had to say, especially in the event that he turned out to have a good idea on just how to resolve their current problems involving Adonis. The shapeshifter took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked up at all his friends, a determined look on his face. "Forgive me if this sounds at all insulting," the changeling began. "But I'm starting to think, we may be approaching this problem with a little too narrow a focus in regards to potential solutions." He cleared his throat. "To be more specific, I believe we're putting too much faith in the solution only being capable of being found here in Jump City. I mean, think about it. Do you guys not get how big this country is? The continent even? I may not always be the sharpest fang in the jaw, but even I know that Jump City prison certainly isn't the only jail in America. There are plenty of other jails that we could send Adonis, and several that have considerably better security to."
The other Titans thought to themselves, and nodded in agreement as one. Beast Boy certainly had a point.
"That is true," Robin admitted. "But we can't legally do that."
"Doesn't mean someone else can't get it done for us." Beast Boy folded his arms across his chest. "In fact, I'm actually thinking of one especially high security prison that has an especially strong reputation for how good of a job it does at keeping its inmates contained. And not only do I think that this would be a good place to send Adonis to, but I also think it would be even more helpful if he were in the exact same cell as a certain other inmate already there."
At this point, all the ancillary Titans looked just plain confused. The other four founders hardly seemed any more knowledgeable about just what the heck the changeling was talking about. "What do you mean?" asked Robin.
"Who are you talking about?" asked Cyborg.
"And why that particular criminal?" asked Starfire.
Beast Boy chuckled nervously, intertwined his fingers together as if he were about to start wringing his hands, and continued, "Well hey, we know how unhealthily obsessed Adonis is for Raven, and how very twistedly and utterly convinced he is that he's in love with her and she with him."
"Don't remind me," Raven snarled.
"And we all know that, regardless of whether or not what he's feeling actually is even love at all, let alone the kind he thinks it is, we can all admit that this is a kind of emotional motivator right?"
"Yes Beast Boy," Robin replied, damn near growling. He spread his hands out sideways, his face still clearly showing that he was starting to get exasperated. "Spit it out Beast Boy. What's your idea?"
Beast Boy winced, clearly realizing only now how unnecessarily long he was dragging the matter out. "Look," he began. "The point is; we're dealing with a psychopath with an emotional motivator."
Robin tensed up as if about to angrily remind Beast Boy that this fact was already quite clear, but Starfire placed a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, and the caped crusader reluctantly managed to keep himself in check. Clearly his girlfriend believed that Beast Boy would get to the point sooner or later.
"Well the thing is," Beast Boy continued, "this particular criminal that I think Adonis would do well to share a cell with? Emotions are kind of his thing." The changeling thought to himself, and then nodded up and down. "And with that in mind, I'm sure that it might be kinda . . . therapeutic, if you will . . . for Adonis to spend quality time with this guy. I mean, knowing this potential cellmate, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to discuss that little matter with Adonis." Beast Boy paused, thinking to himself. Then he allowed his eyes to move into position so that they were directly looking at his four fellow founders once more, a wolf-like grin now on his face in the place of his earlier partially nervous look. "In fact, I'm actually quite positive that this hopeful cellmate of Adonis would very much enjoy the taste of it."
The ancillary Titans raised their eyebrows, still not quite getting what Beast Boy was getting at. They looked over at the changeling's fellow founders. For a brief few seconds, the other four founding members of the team remained just as confused as the rest of the Titans, sans Beast Boy. Then, one by one, their eyes widened as comprehension finally dawned on them, and they realized exactly what Beast Boy was suggesting.
"Beast Boy," said Starfire. "It is not often such a moment as this occurs thanks to you, but I honestly believe that you couldn't have possibly come up with a better idea right now."
Cyborg chuckled, nodding his head up and down in agreement with a smug smile on his face. "I'm liking this idea already."
"Beast Boy," said Raven. "I can't believe I'm saying this; but as of this moment, you are once again, officially a genius."
Beast Boy chuckled. "I have my moments."
All the ancillary division Titans still looked confused, and they all directed their attention towards Robin, hoping that the Boy Wonder would be able to explain to them just what was going on. But unfortunately, as it soon turned out, they were going to have to wait a little while longer.
"Please excuse me," said the Titans' fearless leader. He turned around and walked out through the main doors to the common room, digging into his utility belt for his communicator. "I have a phone call to make."
And just like that, another chapter complete. I will admit, I certainly did have fun with this one, and I hope you all likewise enjoyed reading it! ^_^ That being said, here's me hoping that you all leave a respectable amount of feedback. Remember, I require a minimum of 1 review for this chapter in order to post the next one. And that being said, feel free to be as detailed, or as simple as you want in leaving a review. On another note, I might as well get one little thing or two out of the way. Feel free to let me know what you think in regards to just how the Titans handle Adonis in this chapter. Hopefully I approached the matter properly and had everyone behave reasonably. And speaking of the interrogation, any thoughts on the spell I had Raven slam Adonis with? Or how I had all that stuff about Komodo Dragons from that whopping huge chapter from a long while back turn out to be such an epic Chekhov's gun. Speaking of the spell, I'm quite certain that those of you who have read (and are fans of) Christopher Paolini's 'Inheritance Cycle' books (as in ERAGON) like myself will recognize the inspiration that I got from them in forming the words for the empathy spell Raven cast. Also, the way I see it, Speedy at this point would be very concerned for Cheshire's safety, and not just because of pragmatic reasons either ;). Also, I (like TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne and Jovan2013) believe that Robin would be at this point more than a little uncomfortable with talking about his past with Batman and that it would also be quite reasonable for him to outright flip out if pushed too far on the matter, especially if compared to Batman in being similar to him in ways that Robin would very much prefer not to be similar. Finally, please do feel free to guess A: just which alternate choice of prison Beast Boy is referring to, B: the exact identity of the potential (and apparently now quite preferred) cellmate, and C: just who Robin is about to make that phone call to. Anyway, just like that, again I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of feedback! Peace ya'll! ^_^
Coming up next: Justice is served, and Adonis learns the hard way just how much more kind it would have been for the Titans to let him die on Valentine's Day night.
