Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Enter Shadow. I know you all probably don't like OCs, but you'll just have to deal with it.
"I don't have time for this." The cloaked boy mutters to himself. Ducking a blast of lightning, Shadow lunges forward. He stops suddenly and leaps backwards to avoid the electric barrier that manifests itself around his target.
"The Meta shall reclaim you." Says Shadow's foe in a monotone. He is a tall man in a full body suit that looks very high tech. The metallic blue gives him a futuristic look and accents the bright yellow power lines that run up and down the suit. "You belong to us."
"Like hell I do." Shadow hisses. "You can't own a person."
"You were always less than a person. We gave you your abilities. You belong to us." The Shock repeats.
"Try reminding someone who actually cares." The dark boy says sarcastically. Gritting his teeth, Shadow charges into the electric barrier and tackles his target.
Sparks literally fly as the two fight. The bank around them gains some new scars from stray lightning bolts. The Shock hops backwards and lets loose another powerful bolt. Shadow swerves around the shot and charges forward once more. He unleashes a barrage of punches as he comes within striking distance.
The electricity user sidsteps the first few blows and shoots a small bolt of lightning at his target. Shadow is knocked back slightly, but despite being electrocuted he seems none the worse for wear.
'I have to finish this quickly.' The boy reminds himself. 'I need to be home to greet Starfire.'
Grunting, he rips a counter out of the floor and throws it at The Shock. Blasting it with a single lightning bolt reduces the counter to ashes, but conceals Shadow's quick approach. With one powerful kick, the fight is over. The Shock lies unconscious on the ground as Shadow quickly hacks into police communications and types the location of the criminal using a small black circle containing a miniscule white dot in the middle as his signature.
The police would recognize the symbol. He used it whenever he caught a criminal.
Sparing only a moment to shatter the power lines on The Shock's suit, the cloaked boy dashes out of the bank and leaps onto a roof. He starts running across rooftops to get back to his house as fast as possible. He needs to greet his guest.
###
"I don't WANT to go to the arcade!"Robin protests as Beast Boy and Cyborg drag him into the T-Car.
"We ain't lettin ya stay in your room all day brooding." The metallic teen huffs. "You need to have some fun and hang out for once."
"What do you mean "for once"?! I have fun all the time!" The masked boy argues.
"Doing crime research does not count as fun." The green shapeshifter sighs, rolling his eyes.
Robin mutters something about "the joy of research" but the two other Titans pay him no mind. They've taken it upon themselves to distract Robin. So distract him they will!
Sighing, Robin resigns himself to actually going somewhere. He knows that the others are just trying to keep him occupied, and he appreciates the thought, but Starfire's absence will not be so easily masked.
'I can't believe that I'm reduced to this so quickly.' The Titans' leader thinks to himself. 'I guess I'll just make an effort to distract myself and follow along with whatever Beast Boy and Cyborg come up with. I won't be reduced to depression by the absence of just one of my teammates.'
The T-Car's engine purrs as it comes online. The three boys shoot out of the tower, determined to have fun. Who knew fun required such mental strength?
From a higher window Raven watches the T-Car zoom out of the tower and over the newly installed extending bridge. No more tunnels to reach the shore.
"I hope those two don't mess up." The empath mutters, referring to the two resident pranksters. "We don't need Robin to be any more annoyed than he already is." Raven sighs and walks over to the main computer. "I better make sure Starfire arrived without incident. Robin will flip if anything happened to her."
###
"It is very cozy." The bubbly alien notes as she looks around the small house.
"I suppose that's one way to put it." Shadow says in an amused voice. He watches as Starfire flutters around the small main room inspecting the few appliances and sparse furniture. Despite Shadow not owning much, the room seemed cramped; possibly because it's barely the size of Starfire's bedroom. "I was going to go with "tiny", but that works too." He muses, almost to himself.
Starfire had arrived just moments ago at Shadow's small house. Shadow himself had only been home for a few minutes, but quickly ushered the girl inside so no passerby might wonder what she was doing there. His house was a secret, no villain knew where it was.
Both of the room's occupants were startled by the unexpected ringing of Starfire's communicator. The green-eyed girl snatches it off her belt quickly and opens it. "Yes?" She asks energetically.
"Have you arrived?" Raven's voice says in a monotone.
"Oh yes! I have indeed done the arriving. I am speaking with Beast Boy's "little brother", though they do not look similar in the slightest. Oh! Did you know that his house is cozy? It-"
"Starfire" The half-demon cuts her off. "Did you get into any trouble while traveling?"
"No. My ride was most enjoyable." She chirps happily.
"Good. That's all I called to find out. Enjoy your vacation Star." The empath hangs up quickly before Starfire can get another word in and start rambling.
"Did she not wish to hear about your house?" Starfire inquires curiously.
"She probably had something else to do and just called to make sure you are okay." He pale boy says, covering for Raven's hasty retreat. He is well aware that Raven only has so much tolerance for Starfire's ramblings.
"That is a shame. I wished to tell her all about it." She says sadly.
"You can tell her all about it when you return. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear all about it then." Shadow reassures her, trying not to chuckle.
Starfire nods and continues looking around. Honestly though, she's probably looked over everything several times already though. Shaking his head, the pale boy tugs the flying alien down to the floor.
"I'll make lunch. Don't worry about cooking anytime, I'll take care of it." Shadow says. 'That and my appliances probably couldn't handle whatever she'd cook.'
Smiling to himself, he starts making a simple meal as the alien girl turns the television on and starts watching "World of Fungus".
"To each their own." Shadow muses as he glances at the TV. "I know I ain't watching that of my own free will."
###
"I totally smashed you guys!" Robin gloats. The two other Titans just stare at the screen open-mouthed.
"Dude! I'm the best at this game! How did you beat me?!" Beast Boy cries.
"You mean I'm the best at this game." Robin teases. "You two are about as tough to beat as a couple of sea sponges."
"What? I was winning until you hit me with the sink!" Cyborg protests.
"And I was crushing you till the pickle and the scythe guy came!" Beast Boy whines.
"Just proves that I'm the best. I haven't even played this before and I managed to trash two self-appointed "masters"." Robin taunts.
The metal man and the shapeshifter fume for a minute. Suddenly, inspiration strikes.
"Well... I'm gonna bet you can't beat me at DDR." Beast Boy says proudly. "I'm great at that game."
"You wanna bet?" Robin retorts, grinning.
"I bet on Robin." Cyborg sighs. Beast Boy shoots him an angry look.
"C'mon Cy. Do you really have so little faith in me?" He complains.
"If your victory dances are any indication of your skill. Then yeah, no faith to be found here." Cyborg scoffs.
"Hah. You just don't believe you could beat me either." Beast Boy says slyly.
"Is that a challenge green bean?" Cyborg asks, standing up to full height.
"You bet it is." The green shapeshifter replies.
The three male Titans spin around and disappear into the colorful, bustling arcade in search of the famous DDR machines. It will be a battle like no other, not even the King of games could organize a competition to inspire as much awe as this one would.
###
"-and that concludes World of Fungus."
Shadow breaths an internal sigh of relief. How could Starfire stand to watch that throughout lunch? The pale boy hadn't commented though, he had been through much, much worse. The revolting show was nothing compared to some of the tortures he had experienced in his life. Plus, it had kept Starfire happy and distracted.
"Thank you for the lunch friend." Starfire thanks him cheerily. "Perhaps we could venture around the city now? I wish to acquaint myself with it if I am to be staying here."
Shadow nods. "That if acceptable, however I cannot accompany you. The Night Shadow does not venture out in public as the Titans do, so if would cause quite a commotion if I started now."
"Oh..." Starfire's eyes are downcast.
"There is something we could do though..." Shadow mentions.
"What?" The alien girl looks at him eagerly.
"If we could disguise you are bit then I could accompany you in my civilian identity without arousing TOO much suspicion." He explains.
"Oh yes!" Starfire rejoices.
Several minutes later the two teen's walked out of the bathroom. Shadow looked no different. No one ever saw his hero identity without his hood on, so no one knew what his face looked like, no matter how odd his face was. He was dressed the same as always. Black, form-fitting, long-sleeve shirt and pants. He removed his gloves to further remove suspicion as to his identity. It was difficult to conceal his physical differences thanks to his Sonic the hedgehog-esque hair which could not be tamed, so he didn't bother.
Starfire was another story. Her hair had the color altered slightly to be more orange, it was also muted slightly. Shadow had given her glasses to cover her green eyes, and her skin had been coated over with a special oil to reduce it's intense orange to an extreme tan. She had brought her own casual clothes: a purple tank top and skirt, not unlike her hero costume, but with subtle differences.
"Ready to go?" He asks in his unusually deep voice, concealing his sadness. To be perfectly honest, Shadow didn't want to leave the house. Almost everyone feared him due to his appearance, no matter how nice he was to them. The only time he left was to go to work, and buy whatever he needed once a week. No sense in going out into town and bothering everyone.
"Yes! Let us do the hitting of the town!" Starfire squeals. She was ecstatic. It was an entirely new city to explore, and she was confident that Shadow would make an excellent tour guide.
"One last thing before we leave." Shadow sighs. "We cannot go by our superhero identities. You shall go by Kori Anders and I shall use my actual name. Shatamara." (Pronounced: Shah-tah-mar-ah)
"Shatamara?" Starfire says curiously. "That is an unusual name for residents of this planet, yes?"
Shatamara nods. "Truth be told, I can't remember my real name, first or last, and I don't want to either. I don't suppose Big Brother told you about my past?"
The disguised alien shook her head.
"Long story short; my parents sold me to an organization after years of slavery to be a lab rat. I suffered through a multitude of tortures which are responsible for my enhanced physical abilities. Sometime during that four year period I forgot my real name, it just didn't mean anything to me. So I started going by Shatamara; a name I had made up myself for one of the heroes in my imagination. It helps me ignore my past."
Starfire looks slightly startled at this revelation.
Shatamara rubs his neck sheepishly. "My pardon, I did not mean to put a dampener on our excursion. Let's try and enjoy eh?"
Starfire nods excitedly, quickly regaining her bubbly demeanor. Shatamara opens the door for the alien girl and quickly follows her outside into the noontime sun.
Chapter 3 complete. A tiny bit of backstory on my Shatamara AKA The Night Shadow. Just to develop a bit of trust between him and Starfire.