Beast Boy and the other Titans watched in horror as Control Freak fired his shot. A split second later, Knuckles' head snapped back, the momentum from the blast carrying his body head over heels over the top of Starfire's chair.
Watching the scene play out before her, Raven's stomach turned over. She had never witnessed someone die before her very eyes in that manner. Aqualad and Tremm had looked away the moment they heard the gunshot. Now they were shaking their heads, eyes closed in grief.
Only Beast Boy continued to stare at the empty spot where the echidna had been standing mere moments before. His mind had trouble coming to terms with what his eyes had shown it. It just didn't seem possible…
Control Freak snickered to himself as he lowered the gun. "Bulls-eye!" he said. "Fastest hands in the West!"
Walking to the edge of the stage, he surveyed the captive Titans before him. He had not only managed to avert a rescue mission led by Beast Boy, but had taken down one of the toughest men in the galaxy with ease. Thing were going well…until he found himself staring into a pair of emerald-green eyes attached to the body of a very angry Tamaranean! In Knuckles' final act, he had wrenched away the shackle from over her face, leaving Star with one weapon at her disposal.
"Uh-oh…" Freak said. "I didn't wanna have to do this, but…" Quickly raising his gun, he pointed it straight at the girl's head. Starfire let out a little gasp, freezing up for a second at the sight of the weapon. This was all the time the villain needed. Sneering, he pulled the trigger.
CLICK. The Mobian's prediction had been correct. Control Freak was out of ammo – and out of time.
"Star!" Robin yelled, bringing the Titan back to reality. "Take out the container!"
"My pleasure," the girl said, letting loose with a massive blast of alien energy. The beams slid right through the alloy housing of the storage unit, leaving a gaping hole. The drop in pressure resulted in the release of a massive amount of energy. As the shockwave ripped through the building, the shackles on every table sprung free as its' electronic lockdown mechanism fizzled out. Meanwhile, the other Titans watched as their captors quickly shorted out, and collapsed on the ground. Free from the imposing force, Aqualad straightened up, and breathed deep.
"Let that be a lesson to you,' he quipped, stepping over the prone figures of the Royal Guard.
As the teens recomposed themselves, an ominous shudder ran throughout the building.
"Uh guys, what was that?" Speedy asked, glancing around nervously.
The answer came in the form of a steel girder crashing down onto the middle of the stage.
"I think it's time to leave," Robin said, sternly.
With that the Titans headed for the door. Only Beast Boy remained, standing at the edge of the stage and looking down. He had never lost someone before in that manner. Granted, he had watched Terra literally self-destruct against Slade, but this just seemed unfair. Knuckles shouldn't have even been there. This wasn't his fight. Still, he came anyway.
The boy's mind snapped back to attention as he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. Looking up, he found Raven staring back at him.
"Beast Boy, we have to get out of here!" she said. "He didn't sacrifice himself so that we could follow along with him."
The shape shifter let out a sigh, and allowed the girl to lead him to the exit.
Control Freak slowly headed towards a back door exit. Such a feat would have been much easier for him if he weighted less…and didn't have 180 pounds of dead weight hanging off his back.
"Come on, old man!" he shouted at Mad Mod, who still remained unconscious from his beating. "You gotta wake up! If you don't, we're both gonna DIE!"
Suddenly, a flaming girder blocked the path to the door. The ancient dust of the building had proven rather flammable, and the building was erupting into an inferno around the two villains. Panic setting it, the fat man looked around, trying to locate a new exit. Suddenly, he noticed Robin over by the other exit, ushering his friends out the door.
"Hey, Robin!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
The Boy Wonder turned in the direction of the voice, and noticed Freak waving his arms wildly.
"Hey man, no hard feelings about everything that happened tonight, right?" the villain said, a weak smile on his face. "I mean, you wouldn't just leave me here to die, would ya?"
Robin smiled, despite the seriousness of the situation. 'Hmm, it would be poetic justice just to let the two of them go out like this,' he though to himself., watching the fat guy practically suffer a nervous breakdown in realization of his impeding death. 'But then again, there's been too much life lost tonight and, like it or not, I couldn't live with myself with their deaths on my conscience.'
Reaching down, Robin opened up a secret compartment in the right side of his left boot. His hand quickly came back with an explosive boomerang – a sole backup should he ever be separated from his utility belt. Tonight had proven his theory. With a swift toss, the Boy Wonder launched the projectile into the wall that he himself had blown down a few months before. The resulting explosion left a gaping hole in the structure large enough for the villains to escape. Stunned, Control Freak looked back at the Titan.
"Go on, get out of here!" the boy said. "We'll catch ya some other time!"
The look of Freak's face was one of solemn appreciation. Moving as quickly as his body would let him, he and Mod disappeared out the newly-acquired exit and into the night.
"Damn me and my good-natured self," Robin muttered, shaking his head as he headed out into the night.
As the burning warehouse slowly collapsed in on itself, the two Titan teams finally had time to collect their senses.
"Wow, that was too close for comfort," Speedy said breathlessly, his hands upon his knees.
"You got that right," Bumblebee said, smoothing her hair back out.
As the heroes recounted their rather interesting night, Beast Boy couldn't bring himself to look away from the flames. His eyes teared up as he replayed that fateful shot over and over again in his mind. The Titan had dealt with death before, especially during his time with the Doom Patrol, but he had never seen a friend taken away like away right in front of him. The damn echidna had just stood here, taking the blast full on instead of risking Starfire's life. He had sacrificed himself to free the others, the way that a true hero would have wanted to go out. Knuckles' gamble had worked, but the price was too high for BB to accept. Slowly, he dropped to his knees, and covered his face with his hands.
The boy's breakdown quickly caught the attention of the other Titans. Aqualad was the first to approach him, with Tremm following close behind. Kneeling down, he placed a hand on the hero's shoulder, squeezing it gently.
"Hey, man," he began, his voice almost a whisper, "I think you should know that everybody else is grateful for what you did tonight. I mean, you proved yourself once again that you can be leadership material. We did good work tonight, BB. We bet the odds, and that's saying a lot. Nobody's gonna fault you for that."
The Titan's eyes were still down-trodden. "It's not right man," he said, quietly. "Him going out like that…it's just not right…"
Slowly, the rest of the Titans came and stood behind the three, and watched in silence as the fire department rolled up to put out the fire. Because of this, none of them noticed the dirt shifting around in a small garden on the opposite site of the street. Nor did they notice the dirt-stained figure crawling slowly up from a subterranean tunnel.
As Beast Boy wiped his eyes, he felt the presence of his friends surrounding him. It was then that he heard a gruff voice on his left say, "So, you, uh, guys wanna have a weenie roast?" Whipping his head to the side, BB found himself staring into the face of a very-much-alive Knuckles the Echidna!
"DUDE!" he cried, wrapping his arms around the Mobian in a big hug, "I thought we lost you!"
The echidna smirked. "Hell, I ain't going down just yet," he said. "I got a show tomorrow!"
"But…how did you survive that gunshot?" the green hero asked as he got back to his feet, the event once again replaying in this mind.
Knuckles chuckled, and held out his right fist, fingers down. As he opened his hand, a small metallic CLINK resonated on the ground in front of the teens. "I told him I'd catch the bullet," he said. "And you know what I learned tonight?"
"What?" Robin asked, as the others shrugged their shoulders.
The Mobian took a deep breath. "Catching bullets hurts like HELL!" he bellowed out, shaking his hand in pain. This sent the Titans all into a fit of relieved laughter.
'Well, it's good to know you're still among us," Robin said, smiling. "Thanks for your assistance tonight…although I still can't figure out how you managed to find us."
"Huh…oh…" Knuckles said, tapping his forehead. "I almost forgot. I think this is your."
A moment later, the echidna tossed an object into the Boy Wonder's hands. Looking down, he recognized his communicator. "I thought I lost mine during the scuffle," he said, thoughtfully. "Where'd you find this?"
"Under an dumpster next to the movie theater," the Guardian said. "BB was transmitting a mayday on it, and it caught my attention." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Looks like I was in the right place at the right time," he added.
That remark prompted a couple weird looks from the Titans. 'What exactly were doing at the theater in the first place?" Raven asked.
"Would you believe that I was planning to see a movie?" the echidna quipped, smiling.
Beast Boy smiled as well. "I guess great minds do think alike," he said, beaming.
Knuckles slowly turned his gaze onto the shape shifter, an 'I don't believe you just said that' look on his face. "BB," he deadpanned. "Don't make me hurt you."
The Titan gave a weak smile to his friends. "Well, I thought it was funny," he said sheepishly.
"You would," Knuckles said, jokingly. Beast Boy just rolled his eyes.
"Listen, I gotta get going before people start noticing me and begging for autographs," the Mobian said. "I'm part of that big stand-up comedy show they got here tomorrow night, and I gotta get back to the hotel and practice."
"Hey, is Bubsy gonna be there?" BB asked, referring to Knuckles' fellow Freedom fighter and Mobian stand-up comedy legend Bubsy A Bobcat.
"Yeah, and Eddie, too," the echidna said, before adding, "You know, if he had known what was going on here tonight, he would have brought a video camera."
"Just was we would have needed," Raven grumbled. "Video of our predicament posted up all over YouTube."
"Just be thankful it was me who found you guys," Knuckles said, laughing. "While we're on the topic of comedians, you guys should come down to the show tomorrow night. Bubsy's the one in charge of putting it on, he can get you in. Afterwards, we can catch up on old times, okay?"
Beast Boy smiled. "It's a date," he said.
"Cool," the echidna said, flashing the bullhorns sign.
Suddenly, Robin's ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming there way. As he looked up behind the echidna, he noticed a strange figure moving towards their direction. As he tensed up, he wasn't sure as what was about to happen. Knuckles, on the other hand, simply chuckled to himself.
"Speak of the devil…" he said.
Robin breathed a sight of relieve as Bubsy came into view. Despite his furry appearance, the man was actually half-human. Because of that, he stood 5' 8" – nearly a foot and a half taller than the average Mobian. He also bore the characteristics of a Mobian Prophet – massive strength, reduced aging, and invulnerability to any weapon known to man. He was also old enough to be any one of the Titans' father, as he had recently celebrated his 43rd birthday. Still, he was one who lived for the moment, and had captured the attention of many fans on Mobius with his brand of humor. He had met the Titans previously during a show in Titan city, and had befriended them as well as helped take Johnny Rancid down a peg when he tried to steal the bobcat's spotlight.
Looking over at the smoldering ruins, the cat let out a whistle. "Well, that definitely looks like your handiwork there, Knux," he said, the slight tinge of a New Jersey accent lingering in his voice.
"It's not all mine, but I did my fair share," Knuckles stated.
"I'll bet," Bubsy said. "So, what the hell all when down here tonight?"
That question left the Titans at a loss for words. None of them left exactly how they should word what they had all been through without sounding silly. Knuckles, however, took it upon himself to propose an answer.
"Well, Control Freak and Mad Mod hatched a hair-brained scheme to drain energy from the Titans here to power some highly dangerous work-in-progress, and I just happened to catch wind through a lost communicator about what was going on," he explained to the bobcat. "Basically, it was just another screwed-up night at the office for the Titans. Let's just say that I helped them get out of a 'ticklish situation'."
Bubsy crossed his arms over his massive chest. "Is that so?" he said, pursing his lips together. "Well, I'm sure they appreciated that."
"More than you'll ever know," Raven said, sighing.
"Say, Bubsy," Knuckles interjected, "I took it upon myself to invite our friends here to tomorrow's show. You think that'd be cool?"
"I'd say so," the bobcat said, "but I think I can one-up you." Looking over at Beast Boy, he smiled. "Somebody sent me a tape of you doing a stand-up bit at the Kings of Comedy show here in town," he said. "I hear you were the opening act."
"Yeah, well the promoter wanted a little bit of local talent, and I was the only one who applied," BB said, shrugging his shoulders.
"That's cool," the cat said, nodding his head, "but I'm wondering – how you like to have your own time slot tomorrow during the show?"
Beast Boy's jaw nearly fell to the ground. "You-you serious?!" he stuttered, overwhelmed by the offer.
"Sure am," Bubsy said, grinning. "I figure you get on stage at one of my shows, you'll become a bon-a-fided superstar."
Beast Boy was on the verge of melting. Turns out this night had gone better for him than he had ever imagined. Going on stage with three of the galaxy's biggest comic stars was a dream come true! "That is the coolest!" he yelled, jumping up and down.
"Least I can do," the bobcat said. "Now, Knuckles and I gotta get back to the hotel. Sally's gonna get all butt-hurt if I come back without him."
"All right, let's roll," the echidna said. Taking one last look at the Titans, he pointed his finger. "See you guys tomorrow, right?" he called out.
"As long as we don't see you first," Robin said, smiling.
As the Mobians left for the comfort of the hotel, Cyborg was preoccupied with finding out where his car was. "Man, I hope I didn't leave the keys in it!" he said, frantically. Suddenly, he noticed a tow truck pulling up on the opposite side of the street. "Hey," the driver said, leaning out the window, "I got a call from some guy named Andrew Cardigan* to pick up a car and deliver it to a Mr. Cyborg."
"That's me…"the Titan trailed off as he saw his car hanging off the back of the truck "…and that my BABY!"
While Cyborg was busy planting kisses on his car's hood, Raven shook her head, think back to what Knuckles had said about their night. "'Ticklish situation'…" she muttered. "Why didn't he just tell him straight out?"
"Beats me," Robin said, looking up at the moonlit sky. "Well guys, the movie theater's closed and it's getting late. Anybody else have an idea on what we should do now?"
"Ooo, I know! Why don't we all go back to Titan Towers and have ourselves a big tickle fight?" Beast Boy said, grinning from ear to ear.
The jaw of every Titan in the vicinity fell open in utter shock and disbelief. One look at BB's face told them that he wasn't kidding.
"How could you suggest such an activity after all that we have got through on this night?!" Starfire said, her eyes glowing with green energy. Many of the other Titans echoed their sentiments in agreement…expect Robin, who put up his hands.
"On hold on, hold on," he interjected. "Maybe Beast Boy's on to something."
"HE IS?!" the others chimed in unison, stunned that the Boy Wonder would be agreeing with BB after all that had been through.
"Sure," the Titan said, glancing around. "I mean, I almost certain that every one of us here besides Cyborg is pretty ticklish." Locking eyes with Raven, he gave her a playful wink. "Don't you think, Rae?"
"…Riiiiiggghht," the girl said, a mischievous smile forming on her lips as she caught on to Robin's drift.
Beast Boy, meanwhile, was staring at the two of them in befuddlement. "Wow," he said, scratching his head. "I didn't really you guys would bite. Dude, this is cool!"
"There's just one little stipulation," Robin said as he set up for the kill.
"What's that?" BB had bought it all – hook, line, and sinker.
The Boy Wonder grinned. "I think the first people up should be anyone who hasn't already been tickled tonight." he said. Looking back at Raven, he chuckled softly. "Do you happen to know anybody like that, Raven?" he asked.
Now it was the Goth girl's turn to laugh. "Oh I think so, Robin," she said. "In fact, I'm staring at three of them right now."
BB, Aqualad and Tremm quickly came to a conclusion on who the three people Raven was talking about were. BB's little joke had backfired on all of them.
"Uh-oh," Lad said, pulling at his collar.
"Dude, not cool," Beast Boy said, his eyes wide.
[* Bubsy A. Bobcat's birth name. When he went looking for Knuckles, Bubsy found Cyborg's car and had it picked up in order to make sure it wasn't stripped...again.]
As the night sky over Titan City set in, a small echo of laughter could be heard emanating from the shores of Titan Tower. It seemed that, despite everything that had occurred that night, Beast Boy, Aqualad and Tremm learned just a little too late that the joke had ultimately been on them.
THE END
"Well, you managed to get your rocks off tonight," Bubsy said as he and Knuckles walked the quiet streets of Titan City.
"In a way," the echidna said, smirking. "Still, I sorta wish I could have been there to see those devices active. I've always imagined what Raven would look like in the middle of hysterical laughter."
"I'm sure Eddie would have as well," the bobcat said, referring to his friend and stand-up comic Eddie DelGado, a high-energy individual who had a thing for tickling and Goth chicks. Putting both together would have been his ultimate wet dream. "But until Ms. Raven lets anyone's fingers do the walking all over her body by her own accord, your imagination is where it'll have to sta…"
Bubsy trailed off as he noticed a late 1906's Jaguar coupe parked on the side of the road, its' detail done up in the fashion of the British flag. "Say, isn't that Mad Mod's car?" he asked.
"It's either his or Austin Powers'," Knuckles said.
An evil grin came to the face of the bobcat. "Come on," he said, nudging the echidna. "I got an idea."
"Are you telling me that all of my robots were wiped out?" Mod growled in disbelief as he stomped his way back to his car. After finally regaining consciousness from Knuckles' beatdown, he had awoken to finding the entire plan going up in smoke along with the building.
"Uh, duh!" Control Freak said, trying to keep pace with the much slender man. "If they hadn't, do you think we'd be on the outside looking in?"
"Don't talk to me right now!" the British villain yelled, trying to shoo away the fat man with his hand. "All I want is to go home and forget this fiasco ever happe…"
Mod looked on in disbelief as he saw not one, but two furry creatures camped around his car. The taller one seemed to be pouring a bucket of some sort of fluid into the passenger seat of the coupe. Determined to get to the bottom of this, he stormed his way over to the hooligans.
"All right, what in the world are you cretins…"he stopped as he caught sight of his beautiful car, seemingly filled with a pancake batter-like substance. "Wh-what have you done to my car?!"
"Hey Mod!" Bubsy said, putting down the bucket. "We just filled your car with AB Foam!"
"You filled my car with what?!" the old man said, on the verge of a heart attack.
"AB Foam," Knuckles echoed, motioning his hand towards the vehicle like he was Vanna White. "It's an amazing substance. It reacted quickly with moisture and expands to fill every nook and cranny of its' container. Best of all, once it hardens, nobody will ever be able to steal your vehicle again!"
"Of course, it goes without saying that you will never be able to drive this car again, either," Bubsy added, smiling. "On the up side, this car will never disappear on ya – unless, of course, the Incredible Hulk meanders into town and picks it up over his head, but that's not likely to happen."
Mod was flabbergasted. All he had done was provide help to a pathetic little villain. Why was all this bad stuff happening to him?
"Wh-why did you do this?" he stammered, intent on receiving an answer.
Bubsy's smile soon faded, and he walked up right into the British man's face. "Because you crossed a line,' he began, his voice deep and gravelly. "You decided to capture and torment a couple of good kids – good kids that I am honored to have as friends. Now, regardless of the fact that you tickle tortured them, I can not overlook this fact."
"Wait…How did you know we were tickling them?" Control Freak said, stunned.
The bobcat smirked. "Knuckles doesn't use the term 'ticklish situation' unless there was tickling involved," he said matter-of-factly. "As for you two, you have just learned a valuable lesson tonight - and that lesson is, if you mess with the Titans, you mess with us. Spread the word to your cronies."
As Bubsy back off, Knuckles grinned at the two villains, who looked a lot like deer caught in the headlights. "We also videotaped this entire thing. Feel free to send it to your friends, so they know what'll be coming the next time they so much as breath on a Titan."
What that, the two took off running into the night. As they passed the camera, they left one last parting message:
"Don't mess with the Titans!" Bubsy yelled.
"That's what you get!" Knuckles said, jumping into the shot.
As the two headed off back to prepare for the following day's festivities, Mod was left to stare at his $52,000 paperweight. "I hate my life," he said to himself.
"I hate your life too, dude," Freak said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Oh, shut up." Mod said, shaking his head in defeat. "Just shut up."