Chapter 34: Trouble brews (again)
I do not own Teen Titans
To: Stuart. A fact for you: America elected him, so maybe its you, THE MINORITY OF VOTERS (51 vs 47 makes the kerry guys the minority) who is wrong. Im SO SO sorry that your guy lost, best of luck next time. And i suppose you think Mrs. Clintons 'wealth redistribution' would be any better huh? Sorry guy, but thats socialism, just a hop skip and flip flop (no pun intended, I SWEAR) away from communism.
To: Blitz1647. I'm not shying away from them, no. This chapter has more with them, and Robix.
To: You. Not sure, probly pretty soon!
To: Darby. Thankyou, one of the most loyal reviewers, for the name NIGHTFIRE, thats the one I'm going with.
To: Gohan Strife. What? Peace time? No drama? I was fairly certain that just a few chapters ago a charecter (Jinx) died. I've said theres a fight between Robix and howard coming up too.
To: Jingle bells. Would have been some more laughs if i kept frenchie around. I planned on making him try to surrender to an unarmed naked man hiding in a closet at a gas station after trying to rob it.
To: EVERYONE! IMPORTANT! It wasnt STUART! I got it wrong, I thought stuart was the guy who complained about something else, and- well, it just wasnt stuart. He's actually a fan of the story. I'm sorry I got that wrong like that Stuart, really am.
It had now been almost a week since Robix completed her number one goal in life. With her mother supposedly dead, and her father un-dead, she felt there was no more she could do. So, now Robix felt it was as safe as it was going to get to start her own life. With the Red-X suit hidden away, she now owned a fake identity, a job, and a small one bedroom apartment. Sure, she could steal what she needed, but she didnt want to. Perhaps something of her father compelled her not to do so. When she thought of this, it made her laugh. She technically had killed her parents, but didnt want to resort to stealing. This was her life now, this was her chance at it, or so she would have liked to believe.
The truth was the circumstances of her conception and birth still plauged her. She could never trully be happy, she would always have the accumulated years of her mother and fathers memories and not her own. Even so, she liked to think this was as good as it was going to get. She imagined what life would give her, a husband someday, children perhaps? She had decided at least to make an effort for it, now wanting to always live under the stigma of her circumstances.
Robix tried to open the door to her apartment, trying to balance two bags of groceries at the same time. She got frustrated and kicked off one of her shoes. It had been a talent of her mothers; being able to do almost anything with her toes. She turned the key and twisted the knob and kicked the door open gently. Her foot was back in its shoe before the door even bumped the wall.
"Ivan I'm home." She yelled, allerting her pet to her presence. Ivan was a curious creature she had picked up from the animal shelter. A big black cat, blind in one eye, he also had drank anti-freeze at some point or another and it left him with some neurological disorder. Every five feet or so as he walked he would turn around in a full circle before continuing on his way. It had reminded her of a russian submarining maneuver, the 'crazy Ivan'. Just as usual he didnt come running to greet her, that would be too dog like for him. Instead he sat on the counter and watched her with mild disinterest as she put the food away. "Some help you are." She said jokingly and pet the feline behind the ears.
When she was done she went to the living room, to admire what she had. She had only been living here for four days, so she still liked to admire the fact that it was all hers. She decided to turn on the tv for a little while. When she couldnt find the remote she instinctively thought of blaming it on Beast Boy. She chastised herself for the relapse, they had at least been happening less and less lately, and she was learning to deal with them better.
'In other news, no explanation for the anomalies at the mall last thursday. Investigators say it is most likely the work of one of the cities many meta-humans. This furthers the question- Meta-Humans, friend, or foe? More at eleven.'
The screen cut out to a network logo and Robix played idly with one of her pink 'dog ears'. In the few days she had had her job many of the girls had asked her about them, and a few had tried to imitate them. If only those poor fools knew these were natural, they would be the source of even more envy. She clucked her tongue, happy her doggy ears had earned her a bit of a social following. Now if she could only grow a tail.
'In even more other news, no sightings of two of this cities resident vigilanties.'
The newscaster was anti vigilante, and it showed. He even refused to call the titans heroes, and had supported the idea that they were the cause behind the robot attack, which at last count had claimed nearly nine hundred lives.
'The ones known as Starfire, and Beast Boy have inexplicably gone missing. They have been absent from the latest string of robberies. This begs the question, where have they gone? What are they plotting next?'
Robix couldnt roll her eyes back far enough for this. It was no wonder this network was so in the tank. When they werent trying to convince the audience that president- Gregory W. Shrub- was trying to steal old folks social security, they were practically accusing the titans of being the bad guys. While she hated her father with a passion she had nothing against the other titans, and didnt like seeing theire name besmuged.
'Also, in even more other other news, crime is down nearly twenty percent from five years ago, but our jails are filling up with fellons. The question is, is it worth being safe at night if so many hardened criminals are put away? This is Danny Rathernot, singing off.'
Robix growled, unable to stand anymore. She quickly flipped channels about to a better news station.
'... Wherever you are, Beast Boy, Starfire, the city misses you. This is William O'mally, singing off.'
Oh yeah, quite a differance. Robix quickly tired of news entirely and switched to cartoons. No matter how many times the rooster snuck up on the dog and paddled its ass with a 2x4 it was still funny.
Blackfire pursed her lips as she thought about what she had seen a few days before at the opera house. Kali had been crying, it confused her. She had cried too, but Kali had gone first, and it made Blackfire think there might be something going on under the surface she couldnt see. She leaned back on the couch and forced the thing to recline. The couch wasnt meant to recline, but she forced it to anyway and the metal frame groaned as she leaned back. She was enjoying an earth 'cartoon', some kind of large bird creature kept paddling a dogs ass with a two by four, and she couldnt figure out why but she laughed like hell every time, even when she saw it coming a mile away.
"Oh cool, its Forghorn Leghorn again." Said Cyborg as he entered, bringing Lance back from his walk.
"Marathon. Shh." Blackfire un reclined the couch as quietly as she could. No one seemed to like it when she re-aranged things in ways they were not meant to be. The bear crept up behind her and put its head over her shoulder, demanding to be pet. "Your such a pest Lance, go lay down." To Blackfire Lance's dog-like behaviour was unalarming because she had never had a dog, and didnt know what dogs and bears should act like. Cyborg watched with a nervous look as Lance rumbled and slinked off to some corner of the tower to take a nap.
Blackfire groaned as Cyborg took the remote from her and began flipping channels. It had just been getting good, the rooster was about to paddle the dogs ass with a 2x4. "Hey put it back." She said half heartedly.
"Just gotta check the news. Only be a minute." Cyborg flipped to the news, just meaning to catch up on current events in the city. There was an inventors expo coming up soon and he wanted to know when to go. He turned to a news channel that was still reporting on the scene at the mall. The reporters voice came in as a video of people evacuating the mall was played.
"Here again is video of the massive evacuation at the North Jump Mall several days ago..."
Cyborg drowned it out, not caring to listen to it again. The city news had been covering this non stop ever since it happened. He didning it.here he should be getting, but kept on missing it.here he should be getting, but kept on missing it.here he should be getting, but kept on missing it. His cybernetic eye allowed him to concentrate on more of the footage than most people could, and he had scanned all the shown footage, but that nagging feeling was still there. Then, something caught his eye. The network logo, and the header were just slightly transparent. When he had scanned the footage before he had skipped those, and it was now obvious that you could see through them if you tried hard.
"Blackfire get a look at this." He said in a serious tone. The tamaranian got up and approached the screen and stood next to him.
"What is it?"
"Theres something here. I know it." He pointed at the network logo and captions that covered the bottom fifth of the screen.
"What are you talking about? You changed foghorn leghorn for this?" Blackfire put a hand on her hip and huffed.
"Im serious! The day Jinx was attacked, we scanned through all the footage we could get our hands on but all the security cameras were fried in that area. Then, we turned to the local news and scanned through this stuff." Cyborg pointed to the area that had just caught his attention. "But we didnt try to scan through this little area. I think theres something there Blackfire."
"Like what?"
"Like Jinx's attacker."
Good, she figured. Then she could send her a gift basket. "What use would that be? We already have the description."
"Having a picture is much better." Blackfire snorted, and Cyborg crinkled his face. He knew full well Blackfires distaste for Jinx and Starfires 'lifestyle'. He had the sneaking suspicion that she would just as soon not catch this culprit. "Blackfire, you wanna catch her don't you?"
Blackfire gave the metal man a heated look. "Oh yeah, I wanna catch her. Thats what we do, isnt it? I just don't have to like her. Jinx gets no pitty from me, understood?" She and Cyborg glared at each other for a few seconds, and finally Cyborg broke it. He had too much work to do now for this. He left to go to his room and analyze the superimposed logos and such.
"There gonna come back you know, your going to have to get used to it." He said as he approached the door. He waited for her reply, but nothing came so he went through. On the walk back to his room he wondered if just maybe they had been wrong in choosing her as a titan. He did not like the thought, but if Blackfire started a fight with her sister that threatened to break apart the team, well, Cyborg knew which side he was going to pick.
Finally, it was night time on Tamaran. Nightfire, the queen, looked at her sleeping husband. One of her hands was placed gently on her mid-section, where something felt wrong. For almost a whole week now she had felt ill all the time. It was getting worse. She was afraid that within her some sickness grew stronger, and intended to take her life. She was only in her mid- thirties, and did not want to die. She knew whatever it was to be serious, for she had never been ill before a day in her life. A few tears sprang to her eyes, and she curled against her husband for warmth.
"I'm scared." She whispered to the sleeping form next to her. He didnt stir.
Nightfire suddenly didnt feel so well. She floated off of the bed, and faltered as what little power this sickness hadn't taken from her shorted out. She collapsed to her knees on the carpet, and crawled the few remaining feet to the bathroom. Once there she leaned over the toilet as wave after wave of nausea washed over her. Her stomach clenched, and lost its contents. She looked back to her room, wishing her husband would hold her hair back for her, but not wanting to wake him. After some time she finished, and wiped her mouth with a washcloth.
"Oh no." She said, as she saw it was smeared with blood. She looked back to the toilet, only to find it was filled as well. Her hands went to her mid section again as tears sprang to her eyes. Tamaranian battlefield medicine was easilly the best in the universe, but doctors here were not highly skilled with dealing with such things as cancers and other deadly diseases. Nightfire closed the door and leaned against it. She allowed herself to slide down to the floor, and spent the rest of the night crying quietly.
It was almost night time now. Robin had gotten a message that Thunder and Lightening would be arriving shortly, and the titans stood assembled on the roof as a massive storm moved in. It was coming in from the west, out over the ocean. The storm lessened as it approached the tower, and it was obvious that it was moving too fast to be natural, especially since it was moving against the wind. Cyborg smiled, he liked thunder. He had a quality about him that made him easy to compare with Starfire. "Man we haven't seen these guys in too long." He said excitedly as the storm died down above them, and the two brothers fell from the clouds.
"Yeah, these guys are alright." Cyborg added. Robin and Raven remained quiet, Blackfire watched with interest.
"Our meeting with the other elements is over!" Came the hyper voice of lightening as they landed on the roof.
"Welcome aboard, we're glad to have you here finally." Robin shook hands with the elder brother. It was easy to figure out which was the elder, lightening always came before thunder.
"We are honnored that you would call on us for help." Thunder gave them a deep bow, and for an instant Blackfire thought she saw a similarity between him and her sister.
It was unanimously decided that a pizza dinner be had to celebrate the arrival. It became evident, however, that Thunder and Lightening were just as naive of human customs as Starfire was when she first came to earth. At the pizza parlor Thunder took a sip of a soda set before him, and thought he had been poisoned when the drink fizzed in his mouth. Lightening jumped to action, and attacked the waiter that had given him the drink whilst Thunder thrashed about madly, soda fizz coming out his nose.
"Well." Said Robin, watching the scene play out. "This is interesting. Maybe we should have ordered in." Lightening by now had assertained that the waiter knew nothing of the poison, and had gone into the kitchen to find the real culprit. Thunder was now thrashing about on the ground like a fish, making dying noises.
"Robin, remember to tip them well." Raven said. "Should we stop them?"
"Nah." Said Cyborg as he wolfed a few pieces of pizza down. "I like a good show with my dinner."
"I'm at a loss for words." Said Blackfire as what she assumed was a pizza went frisbeeing overhead.
Eventually things calmed down, and under the conditions that they let theire pictures be taken, tip well, and sign some autographs the Titans were allowed to stay at the parlor. Thunder and Lightening appoligized proffusely to the staff, and afterwards they all sat at the table again. The two newcomers inspecting theire glasses of soda.
"So, it is not poisonous?" Asked Lightening, a somewhat skeptical tone to his voice.
"No. No poison whatsoever." Droned Raven.
"Then, it is safe to drink?" Asked Thunder, still trying to get over the embarassment of the earlier altercation.
"Safe as it gets." Offered Blackfire. She felt some sympathy for the two, she had thought something similar when she had her first soda. Thunder and Lightening looked at each other, shrugged, and chugged the drinks before anyone could warn them not to. The titans laughed as the two newcomers coughed and sputtered.
The rest of the meal went on uneventfully, and with no more incidents involving soda. In the end the two princes of the elements decided that soda was alright; unless of course you drank it too fast. Robin and the others just watched. Thunders naivety was so similar to Starfires; it would perhaps fill a small part of the emotional gap while she was gone. Lightening was just as naive, but it was clear he was the dominant of the two brothers. He was more aggressive, careless. It didnt matter though, the titans were glad for the company.
On the way home the seven of them walked. After the robot incident Jump city had a newfound respect for them, and tried to treat them to some manner of privacy. Any poperatzi who dared approach them was likely to be lynched by the greatfull citizens. Robin walked in front, and looked back over his shoulders. "If you guys think soda is bad, wait till you try Nyquill." He said devilishly. The brothers traded confused glances, and Blackfire felt a stab of pitty for them. The memories of her own ordeal with the stuff were still too vivid for her liking.
"Yo Rob I thought we weren't gonna do that no more." Cyborg whinned.
"Come on guys, It'll be-"
"A repeat of puke-fest 2004." Raven finished for him.
"I'll quit the team if you even bring that stuff into the tower." Blackfire said in a mono-tone that could make Raven sound vibrant.
"But I'm the leader what I say-"
"Is stupid and we're not doing it!" Finished Raven and Blackfire. Robins shoulders slumped, and he let out an exhaspterated sigh.
"So strange, these humans." Said Thunder to his brother. Everyone thought they were talking about the argument over nyquill, they were not. They were talking about the strange looking man on a rooftop nearby aiming something at them. Thunder and Lightening had not dealt with guns or RPG's before, and did not know it was a deadly weapon trained on them.
"Yes. Isn't pointing rude? I heard its bad to point at someone." The rest of the team turned around, wondering what in the seven hells they were talking about.
"Who are you guys talking about?" Asked Blackfire.
"Him." Thunder said, and pointed at the man up on the roof. At that instant an RPG round was fired off at them. The titans ducked and covered out of habbit and instinct, but Lightening zapped up towards the projectile and grabbed it, and landed next to his brother to examine the ticking object.
"Guys no!" Robin yelled, seeing what was going on. Oh gods above, they didnt even know the dangers of this job. A second later Robin was blinded by a bright flash, and everyone was knocked away by the blast. Robin quickly found his bearings, and looked through the smoke, hoping the brothers were made of stronger stuff than C-4 could destroy. They were not. The smoke cleared, and there was nothing to be found of them. The man who had fired the shot had thrown himself off the building.
As it would turn out he was working for the drug cartell Howard Smith had beaten. The cartell had rued the loss of the liberty ship scheme, and thought the titans were responsible. The man's familly was held hostage, to be released upon news of his death. Dead men couldnt speak.
Just as the team was about to go into shock, and mourn the loss, two large egg-shaped objects fell from the sky above. This was no more than a minute after the blast. The titans approached them cautiously, and were knocked back by the sound of thunder, and blinded by the sound of lightening. Again they waited for the smoke to clear, and heard what sounded like children bickering.
"You should not have grabbed the boom-device. Our bodies were destroyed again because of you!" Everyone shook theyre heads, if they didnt know any better, that sounded like a childish version of thunder.
"Shut up!" Came the screechy reply of what sounded like lightening. "You were just about to go after it too." The tone of the voice changed to a more taunting sound. "But lightenings faster, I was born first again!"
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!" The smoke finally cleared, revealing Thunder and Lightening. Blackfire fell back down on her bottom, pointing dumbly at the brothers. They didnt look any older than five!
"Theyre so small!" Blackfire yelled, stating the obvious.
"Whats going on here?" Asked Robin.
"Theyre so small!" Repeated Blackfire, unable to say anything else.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man." Said Cyborg.
"I think I know whats going on." Said Raven, the only one left level-headed after the ordeal.
"Theyre so small!" Blackfire said again. The two young brothers continued to bicker and fight over who's fault dying was.
"Thunder and Lightening are elementals. They don't die as long as the planet lives. All that can die is theyre bodies, which they can re-create at will."
"So..." Ventured Robin. "They have to grow up again?"
"Yeah." Said aven, giving him a worried glance, the disgruntled kind where one eye was much bigger than the other. "And I think we just pulled for babysitters." On the sidewalk nearby Thunder and Lightening resorted to fist fighting, Thunder got a black eye, and cried.
"No..." Said Robin. "This isnt happening. This isnt happening." Behind him Cyborg went to help Blackfire up. He pulled her to her feet, let her go, and she fell again.
"Theyre so small!" She said yet again, still pointing at them.
Starfire and Jinx stood together next to a computer console. It had been decided that it wouldnt hurt to call home, and see how things were going. A video phone link was quickly enabled, and Starfire found herself looking at Robin. "Greetings from Tamaran!" She beamed, and didnt notice the way Robin cringed, as if anything happy grated his nerves.
"What she said." Added Jinx, noticing the extreme ammount of comotion in the backround.
Robin still felt a little uncomfortable seeing the two together, it was alot to get used to. "Yeah, hi." He paused, tying not to ask how the wedding was going. "How are things... up there?"
"Most enjoyable."
"I'd rather be fishing." Starfire looked to Jinx. Jinx had recently found that she could spout out any random saying from a bumper sticker, and confuse the girl. It was positively delightfull.
"I'd rather be where you guys are." Robin cleared his throat. "Starfire, while your gone we decided to recruit some new members." Something exploded nearby, and he could hear thunder and lightening bickering still. The two brothers came into the background of the video call. Robin had to cover his ears as Starfire squeeled in delight.
Jinx jumped back as Starfire lunged at the computer. "They are adorable!" She cried. Robin winced as the camera jostled about. Starfire could be heard squeeling in the backround about how adorable the brothers were, and Jinx righted the camera.
"You just had to get her going- hey, they are cute." She noted as the brothers fought in the backround.
"Don't ask about them, its complicated beyond all reason." Robin put his elbow on the desk and rested his chin in his palm. Starfire could still be heard babbling about how cute they were. Jinx was gently shoved to the side.
"Robin! What has happened to the brothers?" She asked excitedly. "May we keep them? PLEASE?" Starfire blushed madly. "I will take care of them! I will feed them, and walk them, and-"
"Thats what you said when we got Jinx." Robin droned. In the background on the other end Jinx could be heard saying 'I heard that!'. He smiled. Robin was somewhat roughly shoved out of the way by Blackfire, who wanted to speak to her sister. He chose this moment to make his escape from the room.
"Starfire." She greeted her sister. "You." She greeted Jinx. "Is everything well?" The pink sorceress gave her lover no chance to reply, gently pushing Starfire from the camera she took up most of the screen.
"Hello sister" She said, just to grate her.
"I'm so glad to see your safe." Blackfire said sarcastically. "I was worried something might have happened on the trip."
"Hey, I wanna use your old room. Its just how you left it right?" Jinx said, and left Blackfire no time to respond. "You won't mind will you, after all, I'm familly after tomorrow." Jinx narrowed her eyes, and in a dangerous tone went on. "I promise to leave it just the way I found it." And the connection went dead.
"Oh no she didnt." Said Cyborg, having listened in on the conversation. He held his stomach as he laughed. The laughter died when Blackfire glared at him, her eyes glowing purple. "Oh, she did. I'm so sorry." He added, and quickly retreated. He had little kids to feed now. Blackfires eyes twitched. Having the master of bad luck in your old bedroom, the bedroom you intended to use again some day, was not a good thing. Thunder and Lightening continued to bicker over who was faster behind her, and she spun on them. "BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" She yelled. The brothers stopped quarreling, and theyre eyes went wide.
"Oh come on that was uncool." Cyborg said behind them. The brother's lips started to tremble.
"They were out of control."
"Look at these guys!" Cyborg said. "There about to cry!" As if on cue both brothers pointed at Blackfire, and began to cry.
"She was mean to us!" They both yelled.
"Auh shit." Blackfire said, sitting back down in the computer chair and resting her head on the desk.
"She snapped at us and we didnt do anything!"
"Hey hey hey guys come on. Its cool. Blackfires sorry, isnt she?" The brothers stopped crying for a moment, and Blackfire looked up.
"Whatever."
Lance, the bear, chose this moment to lumber into the room. A three way wrestling match quickly ensued between he and the twins. Blackfire and Cyborg watched the trio leave in the form of a dust cloud. Limbs, heads, and paws could be seen coming out of the cloud rapidly. It looked like something out of a cartoon. "Hey they were crying just a second ago!" Said Cyborg. "Now they are laughin n playin with Lance!"
"Yeah." Blackfire drummed her finger on the desk. "Kids are such operators."
Raven sat in her room, preparing to have another talk with Shinigami. She had not yet made up her mind as to wheter or not to let him out, but it looked good. She was getting to know him. Raven closed her eyes, and just as she did she felt another presence in the room. It was Kali. Her meeting with the demon would have to be postponed. "Most people knock." She said, without opening her eyes.
"Most, but not all." Kali cleared her throat, and sat down on the carpet across from Raven. "Raven, I have a question for you."
Oh boy, here it comes. "What is it?"
"Why in the world are there two children elementals running about the tower playing with my bear?"
"Its a long story Kali." Raven sighed. It was tempting just to let Kali read her mind to find out so she wouldnt have to explain it.
"Theres something else bothering me Raven." Kali's tone was soft, and sounded almost hurt. Raven leaned foward slightly, paying much attention. "Us." Raven looked angry right away, and rose from the carpet.
"Oh no! NO! I just put those feelings away, you can't do this!" Raven yelled. "You know how hard it is for me to control things like that, I'm not letting you dig it up again!" She had gone from calm to the brink of tears almost instantly. After so long, how dare Kali bring this up with her.
"No. Not like that Raven." Kali said, sounding depressed. "I just miss you. We live in the same place, but its like you avoid me sometimes." Kali looked up; a hurt expression etched on her delicate features. "Raven, I just want to be your friend. I just feel kind of put out." Raven blushed, and put her hood up as she regained her composure.
"Its it just- it was so hard to get control over what I felt again. I thought you wanted to drag ack out."
"No, I had that problem too. I wouldnt do that to us again Raven." Kali was silent for a few moments. "It just doesnt seem like we ever talk. Maybe I'm just imagining it with Starfire gone."
"Maybe." Raven said. "I miss her too. When you first got here Starfire was what we concentrated on mostly. There weren't many discussions about us." Kali got up and headed for the door. Raven didnt turn to watch her.
"I know it can't change instantly Raven, but I just want to know you again." The door slid shut behind her, leaving Raven to her thoughts. Raven sat in the corner, and hugged her knees to her chest. Kali had been right, she had been avoiding her. The lights in the room flickered out as the first tear fell down her cheek. She had been avoiding her, and she had not even said sorry.
"I'm so sorry Kali." She whispered to the darkness.
Royal servants were a pain in the ass, Jinx decided. Currently she was trying to get to the baths, but she was so mobbed by servants offering to help her that it didnt look like she would be getting there any time soon. It was no wonder to her why they found her so interesting, they all looked pretty much the same to her.
"Let me wash your hair for you, princess!" She was not technically one of the princesses yet and they were already calling her that. That was something she was never going to get used to.
"I can wash my own, thanks." A number of dissapointed groans came from the crowd of servants, male and female alike.
"A foot scrub?"
"Not on your life."
"A back massage?"
"Maybe another time." The bath rooms were in sight, she wondered idly if the sea of red-heads would stop at the door and give her privacy, or come in and offer to fill the tubs. "You know" she said as she reached the door "The green boy might like a foot rub." This dispersed the female portion of the crowd, which was about half. After this there were about ten males left. Jinx gave them a coy look. "Beat it, or else." She concentrated her powers at a low level, and directed them towards a support beam nearby. The hallway shook, and the servants took off running.
Beast Boy was sitting in his room, minding his own business, not doing anything wrong at all. That is, untill his door burst open and fifteen servant girls crowded into the room, and surrounded him on the bed. They all looked at him like he was something they had never seen before. Oh right, he thought. They had not seen him before. "Uh, can I help you?" He asked nervously.
"We are here to help you." Laughed one girl. Beast Boy looked at her with a confused look on his face. He couldnt understand a word she was saying! What the hell was wrong with his fish?
"I'm sorry, I cant understand you." The servants looked to one another and shrugged.
"Is your fish alright?"
"What?" Beast Boy yelped as he was siezed, held down, and one of the girls pulled the fish from his ear. It came out with a wet sloppy noise. "Eww gross." He whinned. They let him up and everyone looked at the malfunctioning fish.
"Look everyone, its dead." Said the lead girl to the others.
"Hey, don't those things feed on brainwaves?" Asked Beast Boy, still not understanding what the others were saying, but they understood him.
"Yeah. Poor little thing, starved to death." The girls all laughed with one another, and Beast Boy wished he could figure out what they were laughing at.
Throughout the tower everyones communicators went off simultaneously. A summons was issued to Cyborgs room, he had important news for them. Robin and Raven were the last to arive. "Cyborg? What is it?" Robin asked. He and Raven leaned against the wall near Blackfire.
"I found somethin going over the news footage again. Before when we checked the first time we never checked under the network logo's and captions. We didnt realize it at the time but they were slightly transparent and super imposed over the existing footage."
"You found Jinx's attacker?"
"Yeah." Cyborgs voice was grim. His red eye flashed a few times, sending infra red signals to his computer. It displayed the news footage, on mute and in slow motion, with the captions stripped away. "Three seconds into the footage." He said. "Freeze frame. Enlarge quadrant four section E." Everyone was now looking at the blurred image of Robix's head. "Computer, enhance image, calculate a mug shot style shot." The computer screen went black for a moment, and lit back up. Now they were looking at the computers 'best guess' as to what Robix looked like from the front. It was fairly accurate, and with any luck, it would be all they would need.
"My god." Said Raven. She turned to Robin, who looked just as uncomfortable as her. "Robin, she looks just like you."
"Wait." Said Blackfire. "I thought it was Jinx's evil sister."
"Yeah." Said Cyborg, his voice serious. "But she looks just like him."
Robin shrugged it off, something about the picture he found most haunting. "Cyborg I want a check through the JL's database of known meta-humans. If she's not there I want a check through police recors. Theres a chance her power just recently aweakaned, and I have a feeling she's been in trouble before."
Im ending it here. The next chaps will progressively involve Robix more and more. The fight with her and howard's next, and so is the ceremony between Jinx and Starfire. Im gonna try and update on CHRISTMAS DAY, but I need you guys to review for me too. I'm pretty down about the fic being bumped, and want nothing more than to get it back to where its supposed to be.