Chapter 7
Daybreak. Sunlight was streaming through the window, warming me back to life. I rolled over and looked at the bed next to me. Raven was still soundly sleeping. We had both slept in longer than usual, and I was eager to get on the road again, to get back to the tower. When I had woken up that morning, I decided to let the dark beauty sleep for a while longer, and quietly went around, running through my morning routine, and packing back up the things I had brought in with me. I finished packing, and still Raven slept. I went and checked out, came back, still…Raven slept. A smirk came across my face, and I laughed silently to myself. I walked out to my car, opened the passengers door, and walked back into the motel room. Gently, I picked up the sleeping girl, cradling her in my arms. She was soft and warm, not what I expected from someone who acted so cold, but there she was. She moaned softly, turned her head into my shoulder, and wrapped her arms around my neck, almost as if she was cuddling up. I carefully placed her in the passengers seat, which I had already leaned as far back as I could, and buckled her in.
It was an hour and a half later when she finally came to. She woke to the gently rolling hills just outside of the Appalachian mountains. The view was breathtaking, and I heard her gasp slightly as she looked out the window.
"Good morning, sunshine." I said cheerfully.
"Where are we?" she mumbled, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"Just north of the Virginia State line," I replied. "We're almost back to the tower."
It was then she realized she was still in my clothing.
"Greeeaaat."
I looked over at her, and saw her looking down at herself.
She looked towards me.
I thumbed towards the back of the car, where she finally saw her outfit, cape and all, folded neatly and sitting on the back seat.
"We can pull over so you can change."
"Not yet," she said, surprising me. "I'm quite comfortable right now."
I smiled, not regretting her decision. I guess anything would be more comfortable than that skin tight body suit she wore all the time, though. Anyways, she definitely looked good in my clothes.
We made good time getting back to the Tower, managing to arrive before lunch time. Raven still hadn't changed, and didn't seem to care.
The elevator doors swished open, and I strolled into the main room. Breathing in the familiar smell of day old pizza, the sound of Cyborg on his video games, BB screaming his head off, tofu fire.
"………………."
Tofu fire!
I ran over, pulling a fire extinguisher off the wall, and promptly put out the fire.
It was good to be home.
Starfire floated into the room, talking and giggling with Robin. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Raven standing in front of the fridge in 'her' new outfit.
"Raven!" she exclaimed, "You have new clothes!"
That was obvious.
Every other titan's gaze swung over towards where the Raven stood.
Robin stared.
BB drooled.
In the background, you could hear Cyborg's controller hit the ground, followed by his character on the screen promptly dying.
"Did you and Ryk go to the mall of shopping?" the Tamaranian girl finished.
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, like we had time to do that, I let her borrow those to sleep in last night, and I don't think I'm getting them back."
"They're comfortable."
I laughed, that had become her answer for not giving them back all day.
The guys of the Titans finally pulled themselves back together. Cyborg turned quickly back to his video game, Robin turned towards the screen, and walked over to join the game king. BB turned back to his burnt tofu, whining about why I had to use the fire extinguisher. Now, he was complaining, he would have to remake everything for his sandwich.
I had been gone for to long. It was only 2 days, but I had already started missing the life of the tower. Right now, it was a little dead, but I had my own ideas. I silently moved over behind the couch where Robin and Cy were sitting.
Starfire caught sight of me from the kitchen area, and stifled a giggle, Raven's eyebrow raised, and she slapped her hands over BB's mouth before he could screw it up.
The two boys on the couch were completely unaware of my sneak attack. I got within about three steps from the back of the couch, and stopped, waiting, knowing what would happen next.
"So Ryk," he started turning around, "how did things go down in AAAAHHHHH!"
The boy wonder had turned only to see me flying through the air at him. I tackled him in perfect football form, planted my feet in Cyborg's chest and sent him and the couch tumbling across the floor. Robin hit the floor first, my shoulder still buried in his chest. Cyborg skipped along the floor a few times before leaping to his own feet.
"DUDE!" he exclaimed, "what's the big…"
I had a huge goofy grin on my face. "Gotcha," was all I said.
Robin climbed his way back to his feet, finally finding his breath. "Not bad, new guy," he said, "but between me and Cy, we don't need to sneak."
He struck a fighting pose, as did the titanium titan behind me.
"Now boys…" Raven's plea went unheard, so she took more drastic measures.
All six of us were encased in a field of blackness as we suddenly dropped through the floor. Floor after floor flew by us until we ended up standing on the ground in the training room. BB stood there looking at Raven, jaw agape, half eaten sandwich halfway to his mouth.
"What?" came from Raven
The changeling shook his head, snapped out of his trance and immediately attacked the funky looking sandwich, tofu smearing the sides of his face.
"Well, shall we pick up where we left off?"
I looked at Robin, and smiled again, showing him I was ready when he was.
Cyborg nodded his agreement, and both charged me.
I waited, hands in my pockets.
Cyborg wound up for a mighty punch, Robin leapt into the air in a karate kick, both charging me.
And me? I took the easy way out. I ducked and rolled out of the path of their attack. Both boys panicked, and barely managed to avoid hitting each other. I stood on the edge of the ring, waving at them, a used car salesman grin plastered on my face.
Robin and Cyborg growled in unison.
SNIKT
Robin had his staff extended in his hand.
WHUR-CLICK
Cyborg's left hand turned into a laser cannon.
My eyes went wide.
ZZZZAAPP
I barely dodged the blast from Cyborg's cannon, and pulled my twin blades just in time to block an uppercut from Robins staff. We danced madly around each other, one getting the upper hand for a moment, then the other, and then back again.
I blocked Robin's staff up above my head with crossed blades, and smiled at the boy wonder. Cyborg was yelling something about getting clear for him to take a shot, but I wasn't about to give him the chance.
And then there was no pressure holding up Robin's staff. The sudden disappearance of the counter force caused him to lose his balance. He stumbled forward just as I slid between his legs, arms spread wide to trip him
THUD
He hit the floor hard, and decided to just lay there for a moment. Cyborg could hold me off for 10 seconds while he took a break.
Maybe.
I literally flew across the ring towards where Cyborg stood, the android's stance widened, and he took aim at the body rushing him.
And then I was gone. A cloud of smoke erupted from my shoe as I stepped down, completely concealing my body. Cyborg shot into the cloud, only to feel the cold steel of my blade on his back.
He spun faster than I thought he was capable of, his arms held high, ready to deliver a mighty blow to my skull.
And the alarm promptly went off.
"Well, today's your lucky day!" Cy said. "C'mon, let's go see what's up."
We all ran for the main room.
The screens lit up, and the Titans gasped at the situation at hand.
I had expected it.
The attack was on one of the major university research labs downtown. Gizmo had been seen there, and there was the unmistakable look of Jinx' handiwork all over the place.
"Titans, GO!" was Robins call to action.
We didn't need to be briefed on the situation, we all worked and thought as one when we came to this point.
Robin, Cyborg, Raven and I ran for the garage, while Starfire flew out the window, followed closely by a green falcon.
Robin took the point position of our little convoy, the engine screaming on his bike. Cyborg followed him, and I brought up the rear, engines roaring, turbos hissing. Raven was sitting in her usual spot next to my titanium friend.
Traffic cleared out of our way, and we made impressive time to the city's university.
Once we arrived, we were quickly directed by a frantic principle towards where their research center was located. Upon arrival, we noted the missing front doors, the heavy footprints, and the unmistakable scars of Gizmo's laser guns. It was the H.I.V.E. alright.
"Beast Boy," the boy wonder began.
BB already had the drift. In an instant, there was a green bloodhound standing in his place. The dog's nose searched the ground for an instant before howling and charging into the building. We took the hint and gave chase to the noisy animal. The dog led us through the hallways, following its sensitive nose, and soon brought us to a certain research lab. There was a series of round objects that immediately caught both Raven's and my eye. They were the same reactors that Jinx was trying to steal at the military base!
Ting ting ting ting ting
We spun around to see gizmo clattering towards us on four metal spider legs. He brought a pair of laser guns to bear on us, and opened up. The six of us dove for cover. I was a step to slow, and was literally blown through the room, and out the window.
Raven stood up, fists clenched and teeth gritting.
"How dare you touch my friend." she spat, a red glint appearing in her eyes.
Every last one of the miniature reactors was encased in her black power. They lifted as one, and rocketed towards the boy genius.
The boy smirked, he had been prepared for an assault like this. An extra pair of laser cannons rose from his backpack, and joined the first two in blowing the flying reactors into nothingness.
------------------
-outside-
I tumbled repeatedly from my blow, and landed hard. I shook my head a few times to clear the cloud of pain that had overcome me, and looked up…
Right into the face of a two star Navy Admiral. The heavy set man smiled, and offered me his hand, pulling me to my feet.
"Looks like you could use a little help in there," his deep voice boomed.
I blinked. The military coming all this way just to help with a break in?
The Admiral chuckled, and motioned to a black Suburban behind him.
"Follow me, it won't take you long."
I did as he asked, figuring my friends could hold their own for a moment longer.
We walked up to the back of the SUV, and one of the other sailors there opened it for him. There, laying in the back was one of the armor suits that I had seen back at the naval base.
"It has been field tested, but it has never seen combat," the admiral continued. "We would be honored if you would be the one to put it through the paces for us."
He took a moment to explain how it worked, and what it was outfitted with.
"I hope you don't mind, but we customized this one just for you," he said, pointing at the arms. There was a place for my personal blades right there in both forearms.
I smiled, and thanked the man greatly for his 'donation' to our efforts. He handed me a special body suit, designed to relay my own movements to that of the armor, and motioned me inside the truck. I jumped in, quickly changed my clothing, and climbed back out, standing there in the tight body suit. I looked down
Whew…at least it wasn't too tight down there.
The armor suit, or hard suit, as the admiral kept calling it, was standing there in front of me, awaiting my presence. I stepped into it, pulling it up, and felt it fasten itself behind me. I flexed my "new" limbs, feeling the ease of the movement that this suit provided me with. My new outfit was almost solid black, with silver accents highlighting it. I smiled again, and thanked the admiral one last time. One of the other sailors handed me my helmet, and I pulled it on. I took a moment to get used to the readouts that were flashed across my "eyes" and realized that I did not have eyes to see of my own, but only what was shown on the monitor in front of me. But it honestly looked like I was actually looking with my own eyes, just with computer readouts about everything I could possibly want to know about everything that I looked at. I would have to figure out how to turn that down later.
I flexed my limbs one more time, leaned forward, and lit off the thrusters in my back. It almost felt natural to do it, I noted. I flew back up to the third story window I had been thrown out of, and landed inside. The Titans were pinned down by Gizmo and Jinx' relentless fire. I whistled from out in the open, catching their attention. It was obvious that they didn't recognize me, nor did the titans. That's when everyone's eyes traveled down the length of my right hand, to where I held my own jacket. Jinx' eyes went wide, and I saw Star shiver. I had to wonder if they thought I had killed me, or if this was me. Either way, it frightened all of them. My smirk was well concealed behind my helmet. I felt the suits strength augmenting my own, I saw the readouts on my enemies, and I smiled. In an flash of thrusters and a blur of black, I was behind Jinx.
"Guess who's here to play," I whispered into her ear.
Her pink eyes went wide, and I saw her visibly shudder from head to toe. And then I was gone again.
Gizmo was the first to react to my presence, firing his laser cannons wildly. I lifted my left hand, and watched as his blasts pinged off of its palm, not even phasing me or the suit. I could get used to this thing.
The small boy growled, and brought one of his spindly spider legs down at me. I agilely rolled under his blow, and came up, firing a series of superheated spikes from my 'needle gun' mounted overtop my right wrist. The red-hot metal tore through the lightweight steel legs, and Gizmo fell with a cry.
WHAM!
I was blindsided by a semi, or so it felt like. I looked up from the ground to see Mammoth's huge foot sailing down at my face. I desperately put my hands in front of my face, and, to both of our surprise, caught his foot. I smile exploded onto my face. Yes, my new hard suit was definitely a keeper. Thrusters fired, scarring the tile on the floor. I drug a howling Mammoth down an aisle, and tossed him right out the window that I had come in through. I landed in front of the window, my feet spread, and my arms crossed over my chest. I reached up with one hand, and flipped open my visor. My face was radiant behind the hardened clear plastic that separated me from the outside world.
RRRAAAAUUGGGHHH!
My eyes widened, as I got tackled from behind by a raging Mammoth. He had climbed back up the side of the building, and was not happy about being thrown out the window. My right hand quickly reached up, flipping the visor back closed just before I hit the ground.
SCRRAAAAPE
I slid across the floor with Mammoth riding me like a sled. An idea jumped into my mind, and I figured I'd give him the ride of his life. My thrusters popped open on my back, just behind where he was sitting, and lit off. I let them burn almost all the way across the huge room we were in, cutting them off at the last second and grabbed a post as I flew by it. The sudden stop felt like it was going to tear my arm off, but I managed to hold on. Mammoth, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He flew the last 4 feet to the wall, his body's impact creating a myriad of tiny spider webbing cracks across the cinderblock wall.
'Well, let's try this one out.' I thought to myself, and activated my knuckle bomb.
I leapt towards the behemoth in front of me, the four metal nubs over my left hand humming.
Mammoth barely rolled out of the way in time, and I managed nothing more than to punch the wall. The punch, however, was nothing like what I expected. The entire wall rippled like the surface of water before exploding out away from me. I gasped at the power my little suit had hidden inside of it. Mammoth's eyes were wide, and he scampered out of the way. I caught sight of Gizmo flying off with something in his grasp. Crap, he had the generator. My thrusters popped out of my back, but Robin's hand on my shoulder stopped me. I looked over at him.
"Let him go," he said
I flipped my visor open, about to protest.
"We have a bit different of a problem right now." He was pointing across the room.
And there Jinx was, kneeling right were I had first caught her, sobbing her eyes out. The entire team was watching from a distance, trying to figure out what was happening. I watched as Jinx' collar launched an electric pulse through her tiny body several times, ordering her back to the base. Each time, she cried out from the pain, but ignored the call.
I slowly walked over to the crying girl. She knelt there, sobbing. I was only about three feet away when she finally noticed me. She looked up at me, pink tears streaming down her face.
"Why do you do this?" she sobbed out.
"Do what?" I whispered
"Why are you torturing me?"
"I thought I had offered to help you."
There was a sudden fire in her eyes. "Don't play with my mind anymore, I know who you are! The headmaster told me all about what you did to his niece!"
"I did something to your headmasters niece?"
"His niece," her tears returned as she thought about what her headmaster had told her. "His niece was Poison Ivy."
Robin gasped in the background.
"You killed her," Jinx shaking voice rose. "You killed her and you enjoyed every moment of it, didn't you!"
A single tear rolled down my face, and I fell to my knees before the weeping girl. There was a long silence before I finally answered the girl.
"You're right," I said, my head dropping behind the protective faceplate of my helmet
Robin stared, Starfire gasped, Cyborg's jaw dropped, Raven's hand flew to her mouth, trying to cover her shock, and Beast Boy immediately started questioning me.
"Dude, tell me you didn't do it, tell me you didn't kill somebody!"
I shook my head. I had killed people. I had killed many people.
I looked up at Jinx, who was staring at the floor again, "The headmaster told me how you play head games with your targets. I just want you to know that I'm on to your games, and I won't stand for it. Now if you're going to kill me, do it now."
I swallowed hard, unable to move.
"Do it now, SILVER MANE!" she screamed.
I still couldn't bring myself to move.
Her voice dropped off. "Do it now, or I'll do it myself." Her tears had started again. She pulled a short knife from her boot, and slowly started bringing it up to her chest, pointing it towards herself.
"JINX! Please don't."
The voice was Starfire's. The Tamaranian was on her knees, at the point of tears.
"There's no need to shed unnecessary blood."
My protective instinct kicked in, from my kneeling position I fired the thrusters imbedded in the back of my hard suit, rocketing forward. Jinx' gasped, believing that this was the end. Instead, I turned at the last minute, slapping her hand outwards. The knife flew through the air…
And came down right in the joint between the chest piece and my arm, lodging itself in my shoulder. I winced in pain. Jinx stared me, unable to speak.
I fell back to my knees, my left hand reaching up to the opposite shoulder, closing around the hilt of the knife. I clenched my teeth, closed my eyes tight, and pulled. The knife pulled clean, a red stain trailing down the front of my black armor.
"How," I muttered, "how could I kill…my own sister?"
The proverbial pin could have been heard should it have been dropped. Nobody knew what to say.
"You're lying," Jinx spat.
"Am I?"
Another burst from the collar wracked the small girls frame. She screamed in pain, and clenched her fists to keep from clawing at the abomination around her neck, and making the punishment worse.
SCCHHIIIINK
My own blade had flown to my hand, and spun up, dangerously close to my little sisters neck, slicing through the controlling collar in the perfect position. The thing fell to the ground, arced twice, and was dead. Jinx and the Titans stared at the device.
"You are free, Jean," I bowed my head. "Make the best out of the rest of your life."
I pulled my visor back down so no one would see the tears streaming down my face, stood and turned to walk out.
A hand on my wrist stopped my turn. I looked down to see Jinx' hand holding me back. "Are you really my brother?" she asked.
I knelt, the visor on my helmet still down. "Do you even remember having a brother?"
The girl sniffed, "I remember Mom and Dad, and…and…and silver eyes."
I pulled off my helmet, my "blue" eyes staring into her pink ones. A snap and a hiss, and the hard suit unlatched itself from behind me, falling forward. I stepped back out of it, my gaze never leaving hers. My right hand, no longer covered by the metal armor, reached up, and plucked the contacts out of my eyes, dropping them to the ground.
"He is the Silver Mane," Robin muttered.
A flood of memories washed over Jinx, pouring back into her memory even though she had only been 5 years old last time she saw her older brother. She burst into tears, not from fear and sorrow this time, but actual tears of joy at finding her long lost brother. I stood there before her, clutching my bleeding shoulder. She slowly stood to her feet, and crossed the distance between the two of us. Slowly, tentatively, she leaned into me, and let her arms encircle me. She hugged me gently, crying into my stomach. My hand slid from my shoulder, and both of my arms encircled her shoulders, and pulled her protectively towards me. She wept on my bodysuit, and I bled on her jumpsuit, but neither of us cared. It had been so long since we had even seen each other, and now we were back together, finally.
The Titans quietly slipped out of the room, and headed back to the tower, leaving the two of us alone. They had a lot to discuss about their "new" Titan.
End Chapter 7