I do….NOT own the Teen Titans! If I did, there would most definitely be a sixth season!
What whaat?
#************#
Everyone, except Robin- who went ahead of us on his Bird Bike or whatever he calls it- runs through the shopping center vigorously. I seem to be the only one eager, and- admittedly- nervous.
Cyborg calls us through our communicators. "Okay, guys, bank robbery on Jefferson Street. Head west."
Robin also contacts us, "I'm going to sneak inside the back and try to hack the security cameras inside the vault. Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire- you guys get to the bank's entrance and be ready to fight. But before you do that, Beast Boy and Cyan Rush will run ahead and get a clear look at what we're up against, got that?" He says.
"Copy that, Rob." Cyborg says. He nods at me and Beast Boy, and I start to stretch as Beast Boy morphs into a cheetah. We start to run and after a few seconds, I realize that the green changeling isn't behind me.
I turn around and see him a few yards away.
"Hey! Think you can slow down, Rush? Just 'cause I'm the fastest land mammal on earth, doesn't mean I can sprint at three-hundred miles per hour!" He yells to me.
I quickly dart over to Beast Boy and give him an apologetic smile,
"Sorry."
"S'okay, now let's get going!"
"Right."
We start running again, this time at a speed limit of 60, which feels incredibly slow to me. I can't tell if that's because I'm anxious, or because I can run roughly two-hundred miles per hour short of the speed of sound. Finally, we arrive at the bank, and take cover behind a parked car. I scan the scene, but don't see anyone leaving or entering the bank.
"See anything?" I ask Beast Boy. I glance over to him, and see nothing.
"Beast Boy? Where'd you go?"
I jump as Beast Boy morphs into his human form right in front of me. I must have looked pretty surprised, because he bursts into laughter. I quickly cover his tofu-stuffing-hole so as not to blow our cover.
"You-you should have seen your face!" He laughs though my hand. "I morphed into a flea w-when you weren't looking! Haha- priceless!"
"Do you want us to get caught? No more games, BB!" I scold him.
"That was a good prank, though! You gotta admit!" He tells me.
"Yeah. Yeah, you should write that one down. That was pretty funny." I agree.
We sit in silence for a few seconds, and then erupt into stifled giggles.
"Beast Boy, Rush, anything to report?" Cyborg asks me through the communicator.
"Nothing so far, Cy. The outside seems empty. We're thinking the Hive might still be inside the bank." I answer.
"I don't think so, Cyan." Robin's voice crackles. "I'm in the vents, I've hacked the cameras everywhere, and nothing's show up on them."
"Cyborg, how'd you know it was the Hive in the first place?"
"Or that there was a bank robbery here?" Beast Boy adds.
Silence from the communicator in my hand.
"Cyborg! You there?" Robin shouts.
Beast Boy and I exchange worried looks. Suddenly, the radio crackles to life,
"I-I'm sorry, guys." Cyborg says quietly. "But I'm not Cyborg." An unknown woman's voice comes through the radio.
My communicator shuts off, and I stare at the black screen. What is going on?
"Rush look out!" I hear Beast Boy's voice yell.
I turn around and a smiling woman with short red hair looks down at me.
"Now why don't you come with us, darling? Don't talk, just nod and you won't be shot." She says calmly.
I turn to look at Beast Boy. He's been knocked unconscious, and a man with the same swirling tattoos as the red-haired woman is dragging him away towards a white van.
"Beast B-"
"Shut up." The woman covers my mouth. "What did I say?"
She nudges me with her pistol, and I ever so slowly stand up. I need to act now.
"You said not to talk." I taunt.
"Why you little-!"
I grab her gun and twist it away from us, leaving her vulnerable. Before she can even blink, I have her pinned down on the ground. I scramble for my communicator while trying to keep her pinned.
"Robin-Robin, come in! It's-I've!" No one answers. I start to panic.
"No, no no no! Someone answer! Starfire? Raven?"
I have to help Beast Boy. The woman struggles under my hold, but I don't let go. I hear a car door close, and I see the tattooed man slam the van closed and get in the driver's seat. He apparently doesn't care about his partner, because he starts the car and begins to drive away.
"Gardner! Don't just leave me!" The woman screams at him, but he's too far away to hear.
I need to catch up to that car, but this woman is clearly a criminal, I can't let her go. I growl in frustration, and then realize something obvious.
"Oh, duh!"
"What? You're going to let me go?" The woman asks pitifully.
"Something like that."
I knock her out with one blow to the head, and silently apologize as I drag her behind a row of trash cans. Now that that's out of the way, I sprint in the direction of the van.
I come to an intersection, and silently scold myself as I look at all the cars I have to avoid. I make a wild guess and turn right, dodging the incoming cars as best I can. Please Beast Boy, don't be so hard to save. This was supposed to be a simple bank robbery, but now he's missing, Cyborg's up to something, and I can't contact anyone.
Beep!
I impulsively generate a force field in the direction of the noise, and would've hit a car if it wouldn't have been for that. An angry driver yells some unpleasant words at me, but I dispel the bubble around me and keep running. Finally, I see the white van a block away, and let out a burst of speed to catch up with it. I follow it to a large warehouse. How original.
The man gets out of the van and drags Beast Boy into the building with him. I spot a high window, climb up a rickety ladder, and sneak into the warehouse.
It's ominously dark in the room, and I can hear the mechanics of my mask working against the dark. Suddenly, I can see everything with a green tint. I take a cautious step, and the wood boards creak underneath me. I pick up on the sound of a familiar voice and run to the metal railing.
I look down to the first floor and see my teammates- all of them, even Cyborg- tied up in a circle of chairs, with multiple thugs surrounding them. Starfire is shouting angrily at them in what must be her native language.
"Starfire, please be quiet, you'll provoke them." Robin says to her.
"Oh, we were provoked by the Teen Titans a long time ago…"
A wrinkly man steps out of the shadows. He's holding a cane, and dressed in a dusty black tuxedo that looks like he could have pulled it out of an attic. It's covered in dirt and cobwebs, making him look ancient. His silvery brown hair seems muted in color, from what must be the cause of age.
Okay, he's old.
A slightly younger woman dressed in a yellow business dress follows behind him. She stays silent, staring at the floor.
"The Teen Titans. What a name." He sneers. "Never in my ninety-eight years of living have I ever had such a nuisance."
"Who are you?" Beast Boy demands, now conscious.
"You can call me Client, but that information won't be important, soon. I've gathered you all here to kill you, but that doesn't mean that you don't deserve at least an explanation for why."
I stay silent, ready to blast my energy at the man at any moment.
"You see, that girl you added to your team, what do you call her, Cyan Rush? She originally was supposed to go to me. You stole her."
I clench my fists at those words. I am not an object to be sold or bought. I am Cyan Rush, Teen Titan.
"What?" Raven exclaims.
The man makes a hollowed chuckle. He encircles my teammates dangerously.
"She never told you the full story, did she? That sneaky brat. When I get her back, I'll fix that attitude of hers."
"You will not lay a hand on her, Client! Right now, she's at the Tower, contacting Titans East and the police. You'll be put behind bars before you can even blink." Robin says confidently.
"I don't think so." Client snaps his fingers, and I hear someone emerge behind me. I look up from the railing and see a thug coming at me with a shotgun. Luckily, I'm ready, and I blast energy from my hands, knocking the gun straight out of his hands. He's not alone, though, and another hidden thug kicks me in the side. Hard.
I fall to the ground with the breath knocked out of me. He grabs me and chucks me over the railing. A split second before I hit the concrete, I'm able to generate a small force field, absorbing most of the damage. Still hurts, though, and I think I might have a sprained ankle.
"Friend Rush! Are you of the injured?!" Starfire shouts frantically at me.
"Ugh…" I try to get up, but fall back down in a daze.
I see Client advancing towards me, and he jerks me up from the ground by my blonde hair. I yell out in pain.
"Get away from her!" Cyborg demands.
I claw at his hands and try to kick him. My energy is almost gone, and I'm helpless. I punch him in the gut, and he drops me suddenly. My head knocks the ground and I get a splitting headache.
"You brat! Time to teach you some manners!"
He lifts his cane in the air, ready to crash it down onto my head.
"Rush! Fight back!" Beast Boy screams.
I-I can't. My eyes start to close as I wait for the approaching pain, but it never comes. I crack my eyes open and see the neatly-dressed woman blocking the man's arm.
"Please, sir. They'd want her undamaged." She says calmly, her voice like water.
He puts the cane down and composes himself as if nothing happened.
"You're right. Tie her up and let me finish with her friends." He tells her.
She drags me to a nearby chair and bounds my hands and feet. Client turns back to my teammates.
"Now, maybe you would all understand why I'm taking her if I told you something, her powers were not accidental, we've been planning the operation for decades. The doctor in charge, Stormer, made a mistake. You see, Cyan Rush," He motions to me. "Was supposed to be stronger, faster, almost indestructible. But Dr. Stormer didn't make the serum right, and her body rejected part of it. We told him that any mistakes made would be punishable by death. So, like the fool he is, he escaped the country after blowing up the medical research facility that the Ross family was staying at."
No. He doesn't know, he couldn't.
"Ross family?" Robin asks.
I shut my eyes. I don't want to hear what he says next.
"Of course she didn't share that. Your teammate, Cyan Rush, is Candace Ross."
Robin and the others all gasp in surprise. I keep my eyes closed. I don't want to face this, not after all I've been through with the Titans.
"You mean Rush is really-"
"Rush is really the missing girl, yes." Client answers Beast Boy. "After being the only survivor of the explosion, Candace somehow found the prototype mask and outfit we had been making, and changed her identity. It didn't take long for us to finally track her down- there's a tracker in the mask."
I silently curse the blue and white accessory I've kept by my side since that fateful day. It was a symbol of the start of my new life, but now it looks like a symbol of the end of it.
"The police are still looking for you, Candace. It's hopeless, really. A few days from now, you'll be off with me to Russia. I'll make a pretty penny selling you to some up-and-coming terrorists." Client turns to me. I open my eyes to look at him and glare furiously. My anger seems to fuel my energy, and I have the strength to burst out of my confinements, but not yet. Client smiles smugly at my silence and continues,
"Of course, before I make any travel plans, I'll need to be sure we're not followed, which is why I've lead you all right into my trap. Rosetta here," The woman comes to his side. "Helped me accomplish just that. She has a special talent."
Rosetta maintains her bland expression as she speaks in Cyborg's voice, then Robin's. Client smiles proudly and explains,
"We easily hacked your communicators, and disabled Cyborg's and Robin's. Rosetta spoke for them. Of course, they never knew this, because whenever one of them would try to contact any of you, Rosetta answered them in whoever's voice Cyborg or Robin was calling. Rosetta told Cyan and Beast Boy to run ahead to the bank, so we could easily capture Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg without anyone noticing. Robin was never at the bank, but captured a few minutes before. Then, Beast Boy was taken, and Candace was purposefully lured here. The pieces all falls into place, and now, it's time to finish the puzzle." Client motions to the thugs, and they point their shotguns at each of the Titans.
Now.
I blast the ropes apart and rush at Client. I knock him off his feet and head straight for my team. Circling around them, I untie their ropes while at the same time shooting the guns out of the thug's hands with energy blasts. With all of us freed, it takes only a few minutes to knock them out.
I bitterly walk over to Client, who's lying weakly on the floor. Robin puts a hand on my shoulder, seeing the look of utter disgust on my face for the man.
"Just leave him; the police will take care of the rest." He says.
I nod and walk away with him. As I am, I can just barely hear Client whisper,
"Your parents would be so disappointed."
