And now for Chapter 3 as the Team Sinclair is starting to expand.
I don't own the Teen Titans.
Adriana sat on the swings waiting impatiently. It was four o'clock and the parents of the playing children were starting to look at her funny. She tried not meet their gaze and went on to look at something more interesting. Like the table that was unfolding by itself underneath a tree. Adriana looked confused for a moment, and then in an instant she knew.
"Idiot," she grumbled and lowered her legs to stop the swing. Adriana had a few choice words for a certain soul. She walked away from the playground toward the grassy green quad. Suddenly Ghost became visible, completely illuminated. "Do you know how stupid you are?" Ghost looked up and took out the folding chairs he'd hidding in a nearby bush. He greeted her with a grin.
"No," Ghost said. "I don't think they have units of measurement for stupidity."
"Yes they do. It's called an IQ," Adriana pointed out moodily. She sat down on the folding chair anyway, despite her annoyance with the soul of an obnoxious kid.
"Oh yeah," he said. He sat at the table excitedly and his hands folded. There was a moment of silence. Adriana didn't know what she was expecting. A line of comic book geeks lining up in funky costumes, the police ready to arrest them for vigilante, but she certainly wasn't expecting to see no one.
"How many people do you think will show up?" he said bringing up the exciting topic. Adriana stared at him in disbelief of how rash this kid was. The playground was barren aside from a few kids playing in the sandbox and their parents who were packing up their things getting ready to go.
"I don't know. Hopefully not the police," she said propping up her elbow and leaning her cheek on her hand.
"Take off your clothes," Ghost said suddenly. Adriana was taken aback.
"Excuse you?" she spat angrily. Ghost pulled the fabric of her sweater.
"I know you have that blue leotard underneath. Who's going to believe you're a super hero unless you show them your weird blue skin?" he asked.
"Maybe they could tell by the glowing kid I'm sitting next to," Adriana said dryly. After a minutes of sitting she realized he was right. She had made a name for herself in the papers as the blue vigilante. If she was in her disguise how was anyone going to know who she was? She got up and started to take off her pants, earning shocked looks from the parents who eventually calmed down when they saw what she was wearing underneath. Then she took off her sweater.
Her leotard clung to her entire body up to her wrists and down to her ankles like a wet suit. Her long white hair went down to her shoulders. She sat back down beside a grinning Ghost.
"Told ya," he said.
"Shut up," she responded. The two super heroes were there almost an hour and no one had showed up. Ghost had his head down on the table resting on his arms. Adriana held out her hand and held it down on the table making it all ice. With her fingers tracing motions in the air, the ice cracked into different lines.
"Wanna play hangman?" she asked uninterestedly. Ghost perked.
"Sure," he said.
"Um, excuse me?" said a meek little voice. Ghost and Adriana looked up. There was a timid girl in front of the two of them. She looked average enough. Her brown hair was tied in a ponytail and she wore jeans and a t-shit. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder. "Are you guys the teenage super heroes?" She shifted her stance nervously from one side to the other.
"Yeah," Ghost said scooting his chair in and with a big smile on his face. "What can we do ya for?" The girl looked away while she talked.
"Um, well I can do something and you guys might think its cool. I don't know though," she said blushing. "It might be stupid."
"Well, it can't be any more stupid than my friend here," Adriana said encouragingly. Ghost almost agreed with her until his brain processed the insult. He glared at her instead, but it went unnoticed as Adriana was paying attention to the girl. She gulped and set down her backpack.
"It happened just recently, so I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet." Then she did something no one was expecting.
She took off her shirt.
She was wearing a bathing suit top underneath though.
"Whoa," Ghost said, still abashed from the surprise. She turned around back to Adriana and Ghost. Just then two huge angelic wings emerged from her, skin melted into individual black feathers until she finished her transformation. Then she turned around and faced Adriana and Ghost, eyes casted downward. She approached the folding table again.
"Your names are Adriana and Ghost. You met yesterday in an alley," she said. "And Ghost..." Ghost looked up.
"Tomorrow there's a pop quiz, five questions. The answers are B, C, C, D, and A," she said. Adriana and Ghost were still in shock. "I get preminitions."
"Um," Adriana said. She looked at Ghost who was staring at her with his mouth open into a huge smile. "You're on the team."
"Yeah, I know," the girl said still blushing. Adriana smiled and pulled up a spare folding chair for her.
"So that was B, C, C, D, and A?" Ghost clarified. Adriana elbowed him.
"I'm not super strong or shoot laser beams out of my eyes. I just fly and I can see the future...sometimes," she said. "My visions kind of hit me out of nowhere. I don't know when I'll get them, ironically enough." She laughed a little.
Adriana stood up and extended her hand offering the seat. Ghost floated out of his seat. The girl smiled gratefully and sat down.
"What's your alias?" Adriana asked.
"Celestial," said the girl. "I'm fifteen. I really have nowhere else to go." Ghost and Adriana spent the next hour introducing themselves showing their talents. Ghost was proud of himself watching his fellow teammates, even if they were two scrawny girls who just happened to have super powers. They sat and talked a little bit longer getting to know one another. Before they knew it, Ghost was standing up from the table and stretching out his arms.
"Well, you guys...I have to get home, I don't know about you," he said. Adriana and Celestial stood up too.
"Wait...Where do you guys live?" Celestial asked putting her wings against her her back and letting them melt back into her. Ghost realized he wasn't all that sure.
"Don't worry. You can stay with me," Adriana said her voice fading as she noticed someone coming toward them. There were three-... No wait, there were four people walking up to the folding table. Celestial and Ghost slowly realized what she was looking at. The first person was a woman in pumps and a suit. She was an attractive African American woman followed by two thugs, that were dragging someone who was fighting hard against them.
"You three. Are you the ones with the ad?" the woman demanded to know. The teens looked at one another. Adriana shrugged.
"Depends," Ghost said with a head flick. "Who's asking?"
"Agent Red. Don't worry. As long as you cooperate, I'm no threat to you," she said leaning on the table. The thugs were struggling to hold onto the fourth person who was fighting too hard and too quickly for them to see clearly. Agent Red stood in front of him blocking their view and gave a smile. "You are looking for other super heroes, yes?"
"Yes..." Adriana said hesitantly. The two thugs dragged up the guy that was fighting in their arms. They let go of him.
"I can walk on my own thank you very much!" he said breaking free. He finally stood still and straightened his loosely fitting jacket. He was a wiry guy who looked an awful lot like his mother. His hair was dark, and his skin was the same rich color. However, the only difference were staggeringly beautiful green eyes. He stopped fighting for a moment as he fixed his clothes. He wore a dark expensive suit, black slacks, white shirt, and a red tie.
"This is my son, Crimson," she said. The three teens looked at her and then back at him. Agent Red huffed blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "I have tried schools, I've tried camps, and I've tried jails. Nothing seems to hold this kid." Crimson looked back at each one of them with defiance in his eyes. Adriana stared straight back at him in wonder, Celestial averted her gaze when he tried to look her in eye, and Ghost simply blinked.
"What's with the suit?" Ghost asked.
Crimson glare was his only response.
"I want to give him some responsibility so he knows how important he is as a team member," Agent Red said. "If you'll take the challenge of letting him be on your team I would be willing to fund you up to five members, all expenses covered. I can also make sure the police don't interfere with your affairs, in fact they will work with if you so need to." For Adriana that was all she needed to hear, so put on a happy smile.
"Welcome aboard!" she said cheerfully.
"I work alone," Crimson said in a gruff voice.
"Not anymore," his mother said to him. Then continued speaking with the team. "There is one issue. He doesn't have any super powers."
"What can he, uh, offer the team then?" Ghost asked.
"He's offering us cash, that's enough," Adriana said through grit teeth and giving him a jab with her elbow. Agent Red sighed heavily.
"My son is an escape artist. He can get into and out of any holding area. Also, he is a martial arts specialist, acrobat, with an outstanding immeasureable IQ," said the woman. "That is why no one can hold him. That is why he won't take orders from anyone."
"And I won't take orders from anyone," Crimson stressed crossing his arms.
"How do you feel about giving orders?" Ghost asked. Crimson suddenly relaxed. He obviously wasn't expecting this. Agent Red seemed to have a problem with this.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded.
"Well, none of us are exactly the leader type. Your son does well on his own obviously. He might do even better with a team of his own," Adriana said. Crimson gave a sort of sideways smirk of confidence and cunning. His mother was aghast which only seemed to encourage him.
"Absolutely not!" Agent Red barked. She pointed at her son accusingly. "He needs to learn that he does not run the world!"
"I'm sure he will. After all, your funding gives you some position of power," Adriana pointed out. Agent Red turned about two shades darker and then stomped her foot stubbornly.
"Fine!" she said. She turned to her son and pointed a stern finger in his face. "Stay out of trouble, young man. And keep these other's out of trouble."
"But of course, Mother," he said with a faux innocent expression.
"And you three, keep an eye on him. If you ever question his motives, you have the right to mutiny. In fact you have my blessing to mutiny," she said. She snorted angrily before glaring at her son. With that she and her men went back to the street where a black car was waiting. Crimson waited for her to go and then turned to his teammates.
"Very well then. I suppose we should get started. I take it you have a hideout?" he said. Adriana thought for a moment.
"Well...Sort of," she said sheepishly.
Yeah, see that's where Teen Titans has its similarities. I tried to make it a little different, but Teen Titans has so much charm that I want to have::sigh:: The next chapter will be coming shortly.