"LAND!" Screamed BeastBoy at the top of his lungs, "LAND IT, LAND IT, LAND IT!"
"I can't land in the middle of the freakin' city!" Yelled an annoyed Cyborg.
"I thought I told you to go before we left!" Snapped Robin.
"I don't have to go; I just have to get OUT! LAND!"
"FINE! We'll land in that field." Cyborg steered the Titan flyer to a field just outside of Gotham. The silence and darkness was eerie to everyone, only the occasional streetlamp could be found, the city was dead.
BeastBoy ran like the wind out of the ship. He barely hesitated before becoming a bloodhound and running into the city.
"BeastBoy, wait a-god dammit!" Robin snapped his fingers, "Titans, go!" the others followed as best they could after the runaway BeastBoy.
BeastBoy ran straight into the city without stopping, his canine tongue lolled out of his mouth as he panted his was into an abandoned subway. The Titans followed but stopped behind a wall when they heard BeastBoy turn back and talk.
"Okay, I'm here! You can stop now!"
"Wonderful." Said a female voice, "Where are the others?"
"I dunno. I think they were following me. How did you?"
"I share a telepathic bond with all non-human earth creatures. I wasn't sure weather it would work on you, but it was worth a shot."
Robin walked out of his hiding place, "Who are you, exactly?"
"Forgive me, Robin." The female bowed, she was what appeared to be an average human, with amber eyes and short, red hair. She wore a black corset with black gothic pants, "You may call me Flamethrower."
"I take it you know our names." Said Raven calmly.
"We know you only too well." A male voice said. Another creature came from the shadows; he was human-shaped with blue scales covering his body. Leathery bat wings flapped behind him and his cool crystal eyes were nothing short of mystical, "I am Drake, and I think you have already heard of Tiger."
"Is Tiger the one who called for our help?" Asked Starfire.
"That would be me." A furry female limped out. Again, she was human-shaped. Her body was covered in orange and black striped fur, her whiskers twitched and her tail flicked back and forth. Her torso and right leg were tightly bandaged, "You gave me a scare, and I won't underestimate the Titans again." She said.
"Oh, sorry." Said Raven.
"We're here for that explanation." Said Robin in a serious tone, "What's going on? Why are things so quiet?"
Tiger and Drake looked away, Flamethrower smiled slightly, "I'm afraid we cannot accommodate much, but you can sit on the floor as we tell out tale."
The Titans and the others sat, and Flamethrower began, "We were not always as you see us today. Once, we were normal teenagers like anyone else. Gotham was thriving on the day we were captured by The Joker.
"He had a virus designed to mutate the cells in our bodies, giving us otherworldly powers. Those who survived the cruel experiments became his slaves. We were forced to submit by a mind-control collar that he placed on us the second we were fully mutated. It was only recently that a few of us were freed."
"I can take it." Said Tiger.
-FLASHBACK MODE-
A/N: Words appearing in italics and quotation marks "like this" are clips of Tiger narrating.
The panic alarm of a bank went off right as a rhinoceros bulldozed its way through the wall of a vault. It turned into Tiger, in her regular form, and began ripping open safety deposit boxes and loading itself with jewelry and money.
A cloaked figure jumped from the ceiling and confronted Tiger, "If it's jewelry you're looking for, there's a sale at Macy's."
Tiger turned around and growled, her snarling teeth a reflection of pure evil, her eyes a reflection of pure sadness.
"Regardless of how much The Joker controlled us on the outside, he could not control our feelings. I didn't want to harm anyone, and it didn't take a genius to figure out I was being controlled against my will."
Tiger dropped onto all fours and pounced onto Batman like a cat. Batman swerved every slash and bite but never attacked. Tiger's mouth somehow resisted the collars influence.
"Fight … back."
"Who are you?"
"Sasha … Black."
"The missing girl?"
"Collar … Joker … DIE!" The collar took control again, she ran at Batman full-speed with her claws extended. Batman took out a throwing star and swerved to the side, cutting the collar from Tiger's neck.
Tiger collapsed to the ground, now that her mind was back in control, her body realized how exhausted she was.
-END OF FLASHBACK MODE-
"When I came to, I was on top of a building." Tiger continued, "I never even got a chance to thank him for freeing me."
Drake began talking, "Next I came, but I was simply terrorizing the streets. Batman fought me long enough to cut off my collar, and then left. Tiger and I met up and established this hideout, and more came with the same story: they fought, they lost, and they were free."
"In your letter, you didn't mention The Joker." Robin pointed out, "You said something about an experiment that went wrong."
"That or it went perfectly, depending on your perspective." Said Flamethrower, "Which is where I come in. I was more or less The Jokers bodyguard, I never saw daylight, but I witnessed the creation of an evil. It was on one fateful day that he attempted to create something using only the virus itself, with no host. It reproduced faster than expected, and quickly broke free of its glass containment chamber. In the explosion, my collar was shattered, The Joker was defeated, and the monster was intent on evil. And a few days ago, we witnessed the fall of Batman."
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Author's Notes:
I'm sorry that took so long updating XP. My internet was down.Please forgive?
I probably could have kept going, but I really need to go to bed. Plus a bunch of you probably thought it was dragging, which is fine, I'm not really good at writing fight scenes.
I guess I'll proofread this and then sleep. Man, I'm tired. Drake, Flamethrower, and Tiger's powers will be explained in the next chapter, and you *might* meet a new character (I'm not sure, we'll see how long it ends up being) I'll give you a hint, though; she'll have power/personality similar to what you would have if you combined a ghost and a vampire. Sound interesting? Haha, we'll see ;).