Blanket Disclaimer: Poison Tonic LX does not own the Teen Titans or any characters therein. Don't sue her, please, because if you do I won't have a home anymore…-Ralph, the muse
He still couldn't just waltz up to the Tower and expect them to just take him in straight off the streets. He would have to prove himself somehow…
This little experiment was becoming quite bothersome!
He set out into Jump City, locking his house up tightly behind him.
As if the heavens were smiling down on him, almost as soon as he got into the main part of town, three strange beings burst out of the bank, arms laden with bags of cash.
He himself had never robbed a bank, though a few of his prospective employers had asked him to. It had never really seemed like enough of a challenge…and besides, there were too many people during the day—witnesses—and at night the security was always deplorable, which meant pulling off a heist would be far too easy, which in turn meant there wouldn't be enough of a rush. Besides, the Titans might show up, and even the slight chance of being caught wasn't worth it for such a small-time heist—and a fight wouldn't be enough to make up for the lack of rush in the actual job.
No, he much preferred stealing from people or businesses.
He landed in front of the three, leaning boredly against his black bo-staff.
"Didn't your parents ever tell you it's not nice to take things that don't belong to you?" He drawled, smirking at the irony—on the other hand, as far as he could remember he had never had anyone at all to tell him stealing was wrong, much less parents.
"Yeah, but who listens to those idiots?" The girl, with pink hair and a strange costume, asked.
He shrugged. "Wouldn't know." Hmm…telling the truth (in a way) felt strange…a rush?
…Nope…
"Too bad, so sad. Get out of our way, you stinkin' loser!" Cackled a very small boy in green.
He arched an eyebrow at him. "You're rather rude. Isn't it past your naptime, kid?"
The boy growled, glaring at him. "Yeah, 'cause I've never heard that one before! Move before I put you to sleep!"
He smirked. "That's okay, I already had my nap. Thanks anyhow!" He threw a net at them, the girl and other boy dodging, but the little boy still got wrapped up in it.
The boy started cursing at him and struggling, even having a strange thing appear out of his backpack, but, of course, it couldn't get through the metal the net was made of.
The girl snarled. "How's about a little bad luck?" She asked, tossing a pink spell at him.
He dodged it, as well as the crumbling portion of the building that tried to fall on him.
"Nice try, doll, but not nearly up to par." He said, tossing two daggers at her. Both spewed out an adhesive substance, one sticking to her hands and the other to her feet.
"Mammoth, get him!" The girl screeched as she attempted to get the stuff off her, only managing to knock herself over.
The huge man, the one that hadn't spoken yet, nodded and picked up a car, heaving it at him.
He started to dodge, then stopped when he saw it freeze in midair, encased in shadows.
"Dangit! The Titans!" The girl yelled angrily. "We almost got away!"
"We're still getting away!" The man exclaimed, scooping up her and the boy, and took off down the street, leaving the loot behind.
He frowned. They couldn't get away!
"Titans, get them!" The Kid yelled.
"I got this, kid. Back off!" He all but snarled, and twirled his bo-staff, quickly surmising the distance between himself and the receding trio before throwing the staff like a javelin at them, the device getting tangled in the man's legs and sending him toppling to the ground.
The man let out a pained howl as he fell forward and his face skidded hard across the asphalt, the staff twisting around his legs like cuffs.
"Too bad." He sighed. "Not much of a rush. Amateurs."
Maybe the Sorceress' reason wasn't the rush after all…how very boring.
But then, these guys didn't seem like much of anything anyhow, so maybe he should wait a while before deciding it was a complete waste of time.
"Amateur this!" the girl screeched, the adhesives falling away with a momentary burst of pink energy, and threw herself at him, sloppily punching and kicking.
He easily blocked her attacks, but then she added some of that energy, which surprised him for a moment as it stung his hands through his gloves.
He dropped and struck at her legs, shooting up and punching her when she jumped to avoid the kick. She grunted, but picked herself up and jumped at him again. This time when he kicked her, she was too slow to dodge or block it, and she stayed down, unconscious.
"That was irritating and pointless." He decided out loud, scowling at the fallen girl.
"Maybe, but it was freakin' awesome, dude!"
He turned towards the speaker, the Comic Relief.
"Thanks." He said slowly, biting back a sharp retort.
The Kid chuckled and held out a hand. "I'm Robin, and they're Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven. We're the Teen Titans. It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah…" He hesitantly shook the proffered hand, half expecting the Kid to have caught on to his act and attack him. "You can call me Rush."
"Rush, huh? Nice to meetcha, man." The Metal Man said, also offering a hand. Again, he took it.
"Yes! It is a pleasure to meet you! What is your favorite color? How did you learn to do all of those things? Will you be my new friend? Why do you not answer my questions? I am Starfire!" The Dolt squealed excitedly, giving him a tight bear hug, so tight he had the sudden sensation of being unable to breathe. Vaguely he wondered if she did this to everyone she met.
"I…can't…breathe…" He choked out.
"She has that effect on people." The Sorceress agreed monotonously. The way she said it made him unsure as to what exactly she meant (the dolt's looks, which to most would have been breathtaking (the pun made him wince), or her hugs), but of course that could also be contributed to the current and considerable lack of oxygen to his brain. Luckily, or perhaps predictably (she was a superhero, after all), she came to his rescue. "Starfire, stop hugging him before he runs out of air."
"Oh!"
He took a deep breath of air as he was released, waving a hand at the Sorceress to express his gratitude as he gasped for precious oxygen.
Once he'd regained his breath (the Titans politely waited for him to do so, apparently accustomed to this), he looked at the Dolt.
"Nice to meet you, too…though my ribs may not agree with me on that count." He heard the Sorceress try to hide a snicker, and inwardly grinned. "My favorite color is either red or black, that's my business, I suppose I can, and I should think that was obvious."
"Ah…New Friend Rush, I do not understand how your ribs could disagree with you?"
"He was just being sarcastic, Star." The Kid said, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
"I see! New Friend Rush will get along well with Friend Raven, yes?"
He saw the Sorceress scowl out of the corner of his eye.
"Just because we're both somewhat sarcastic doesn't mean we're automatically going to get along, Starfire." She deadpanned. "Besides, we don't know that he'll be around for any of us to get along with, do we?"
"She's right." The Kid said before the Dolt could speak (thankfully), and turned to him. "Rush, how would you like to be a Titan?"
He plastered a slightly confused expression on his face, smothering his glee lest the Sorceress get suspicious. "Be a Titan?" He asked.
"Yeah." The Metal Man said with a slight nod, and explained, "When we meet someone like you who's interested in helping people and has the means to do so, we invite them to be a Titan. That's how Titans East got put together."
"Because of an incident happening a while back, we'll have to ask you some questions, but you should be okay." The Kid smiled at him.
"Oh." This wasn't going to be as easy as he'd thought. "Alright then. Ask away."
"Dude, we have to take you back to the Tower first." The Comic Relief said, laughing.
"But before that…Raven, you don't sense any ill will, do you?" They all looked at her.
The Sorceress paused thoughtfully, then shook her head. "He's harmless…to us." When she added this, he saw her give him a curious look, though no one else seemed to catch it.
"Great then!" The Kid's smile widened. "Do you have some way to get around? A car, maybe?"
"I have legs for a reason." He said, and then smirked when they blinked at him. "Kidding. I have a bike." He motioned at the sleek black motorcycle parked nearby, which had just barely escaped one of the pink haired chick's spells, if the melted light post beside it was any indication.
"Sweet." The Kid said, his tone implying that he would want to check out the bike later on. "Just follow us, then."
He nodded, and began readying himself for whatever questions they might ask when they reached the Tower.