Jump City Symphony
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald
Opening Notes – It's been… six months? Something like that. I've been suffering severe writers block on every project I have going right now, including any and all original fiction. Hopefully, it'll clear up by the time the new semester starts so I wont be struggling through term papers again. See the closing notes for info on my New Plan to make this story update faster. I need help, and you kids are gonna help me!
Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.
Kids
Two dark forms stood in the garage of Titans Tower, both with eye masks that blocked their blue eyes. Both with gadgets lined on their utility belts, and both with black hair.
They could have been brothers.
"I don't know if I can do this." The shorter one said.
"Don't worry, bro. You'll do fine."
"I'm still really new to this, Dick. What if-"
"They'll listen to you, Timmy. Don't sweat it."
"I just don't see why it has to be me."
"Because," Nightwing pulled a helmet on and saddled up on his sleek black motorcycle, "Robin is the leader of the Teen Titans. That's the way it should be."
"But what if-"
"Komi and Sarah are still here to be adult voices of reason, and I'm only a com call away. I had to brow beat Bruce into letting me take you away for this gig for almost a week, so the least you can do is meet and work with the rest of the Teen Titans for a little while."
"Okay… okay. I'm ready."
"Just don't show signs of weakness, and stay confident at all times. Trust me, Tim, you're the best trained of any of them."
"Right." Robin picked up his duffle bag and turned towards the elevator, "Stay safe while you're out there."
"That's really not my job." Nightwing grinned back at him, and started the bike, "Have fun, Tim." They both waved as the older Titan drove out of the garage. Robin sighed once and walked over to the elevator. Hitting the up button, he put on his game face.
Blackfire was rubbing her temples. Nightwing, the last of the Titans to leave the Tower, had only been gone for twenty minutes, and already she had a headache. "Bart!" she yelled, "Will you please give Cassie back her tweezers!"
"No!" the speedster zipped across the room, away from the flying Wonder Girl and stuck out his tongue, "She'll attack me with them again!"
Wonder Girl scowled, "Your eyebrows look all funny! Just let me fix them!"
"You can't even see 'em under my mask!"
The blonde girl scowled, "Then wear your mask! I'm sick of looking at your funny face!"
"You've only lived here for four days!" Impulse shouted, "You can't be sick of me yet!"
Suddenly, strong hands clamped down on his shoulders and yanked him off the ground. Blackfire growled at him from where she held him, floating in midair, "I only knew you for a half hour before I was sick of you! Now give those back!"
Impulse vibrated out of her grip and zipped away again, "No!"
"Sonofa…" violet energy surged around her form and the Tameranian princess let loose a blast that blew part of the kitchen counter off. Bart dodged it and zipped over in front of the elevator that led up to the residential floors.
The doors opened behind him and Seraph lunged out, tackling him to the floor, "Gottcha! Gimme those tweezers!"
"No! You girls are all ganging up on me! There needs to be another guy here!"
Across the room, the doors opened up to the elevator that led down to the garage and a young man in a familiar looking red, yellow, green and black outfit stepped off. He carried a duffle bag emblazoned with an 'R' logo, and his eye mask arched up on one side as he observed the room.
Seraph was holding Impulse down on the floor while Wonder Girl and Blackfire hovered above them, both ready to strike at a moments notice. They were all staring at him with wide eyes.
"Um…" Wonder Girl touched down on the floor lightly, "Who are you?"
The young man shifted his depthless gaze to her and said in a voice that seemed kind of out of place on someone so young, "I'm Robin."
"Really?" she arched an eyebrow.
"Really." He turned a glare on the rest of the Titans in the room, "And I'm wondering what my team is doing wrestling around on the ground when they should be training."
"Your team?" Impulse was suddenly up off the floor and right up in Robin's face, "Who put you in charge?"
"Nightwing." Robin didn't even miss a beat, "Robin leads the Teen Titans. That's how it's always been."
"And what qualifies you to be the team leader?" Seraph asked as she got up off the floor. She had a small frown on her face.
"Better training in tactics and strategies. More discipline. And I've been working cases with Batman for months."
"So?" Wonder Girl flipped her hair and crossed her arms, "I've been working with Wonder Woman for over a year!"
"And I've been trained to be a hero my whole life!" Impulse stuck out his tongue.
"And look at all the good it's done you." Robin deadpanned. The two other protégés dropped their jaws and stared at the insult as Robin swept past them, his cape trailing behind him. He stopped next to the final Teen Titan, "Seraph, right? I'll need you to show me to my room, then get geared up and meet me in the training hall. Nightwing tells me that the two of us have some combat training to do."
"Um… okay." Seraph glanced at her other two teammates, "Just… maybe you shouldn't be so mean to them… we're a team, aren't we?"
"Only if we choose to act like one." Robin replied. He motioned to the elevator and stepped past her.
Seraph glanced back at her friends, then hurried after Robin.
As soon as the doors shut, Wonder Girl burst out, "What an ass!"
Blackfire landed next to her, "He's not so bad once you get to know him. Batman's just had a bad influence on his attitude."
"No way did Nightwing leave him in charge." Impulse grumbled, "That's just… just…"
"True?" Blackfire shook her head, "Technically, Sarah and I will be in charge. But the Teen Titans do need a leader, and he is the best trained. I'd say you should listen to him while he's here."
"You can't be serious." Wonder Girl rolled her eyes, "He's nothing but a jerk."
"So was Dick when he was that age." Blackfire shrugged, "Maybe it's a Bat-Thing. Whatever it is, you'd better get used to it."
As she floated towards the kitchen (Wonder Girl's tweezers firmly in hand) the two younger Titans' eyes met. A silent message passed between them; Robin was going down a few notches.
Seraph glanced over at Robin in the elevator and fidgeted a little. The silence and the way he was ignoring her presence was getting to her. She decided to just jump in head first.
Turning towards him, she stuck out a hand, "Um… I'm Kylee. Kylee Rodgers. I just wanted to formally introduce myself."
The young man next to her turned as well and briefly made eye contact while he shook her hand, "Nice to meet you."
As he turned away and faced forward once again, Seraph frowned, "Um… aren't you going to… you know…"
"Reveal my secret identity like you just did?" Robin snorted lightly, "It wouldn't be very secret then would it?"
"I already know your name is Tim."
"Forget it then. When I'm out here on the west coast, my name is Robin."
"Do you really think remaining that impersonal is going to help you at all with the others?"
"I don't really care. We work together. That's it."
"But… we should be friends! The Titans are more than just a super hero team! They're a family… even Nightwing admits to that!"
"Most of the Titans don't have any other family to back to." Robin still didn't look at her, "I do."
"Who? Batman?"
"No, Seraph. My father is still alive. As is Wonder Girl's mother. Not all of us are orphans." He turned a cool glare on her, "Not all of us need a surrogate family."
Seraph's eyes hardened and he lower lip quivered a little. As her eyes started to tear up, she spoke very softly, "I really want to be friends with you, Robin, so I hope you'll be able to forgive me."
"For what?" Robin arched an eyebrow.
"This." And she belted him across the jaw as hard as she could. As fate would have it, the elevator had just stopped and the doors had just opened. Robin tumbled to the side, out of the lift and onto the floor of the hallway.
Right at Sarah's feet.
"Um…" the blonde girl looked up and her eyes grew wide as Seraph lunged out of the elevator and landed hard on Robin, who was still slightly dazed from the blow. She grabbed his uniform front and yanked his shoulders up off the ground, growling down at him as her tears dripped from her eyes onto his face.
"You… you don't ever get to speak about my parents with such disrespect ever again! And you don't get to speak ill of my friends either! And you defiantly don't get to be such a calloused ass to anyone in this Tower!" she shook him and Robin almost managed to stutter something out before she cut him off, "Shut up and listen! You may be Batman's new partner, and you may have better training and more experience, but if you can't get past your own selfish needs and your stupid, stuck-up attitude, then the Titans don't need you! Do you understand THAT, Robin? We don't need you!"
Sarah had backed away a few steps and just stood and watched with wide eyes. Robin stared up at Seraph and blinked a few times behind his mask. It was then that he realized that when she'd jumped on him, he'd put his hands on her waist and hip to keep her from fully pinning him, and that their faces were only a few inches apart. Her hair was tickling his cheeks and she smelled like lavender and fabric softener.
"Um…" his cheeks flared red, "Could you… get off of me? I mean… we're only thirteen and I'm a guy and this is… you're… um…"
Seraph suddenly blushed as well and quickly stood up off of him. Robin slowly stood up as well, closing his cape in front of him. She noticed her eyes trailing down below his waist before it fully closed and let out a little strangled noise at what his tight pants had revealed. She turned away, "Sorry! Oh… shit! I'm so sorry!"
"Not a big deal." Robin turned away as well, "Just a… natural reaction. And… I'm sorry. For being such an ass."
"Yeah… um… just don't do it again." Seraph glanced over her shoulder at him, "Um… I can show you to your room…"
Sarah suddenly jumped up in-between them, grinning like a fool, "As long as he doesn't invite you in!" she laughed, then ran to the elevator before either Titan could make a grab for her. She continued to laugh as she hit the button for the common area, "Wait 'till I tell Komi about this one!"
"Ga!" Robin lunged at her, "No! Don't tell Blackfire! She'll-" But the doors had already closed and Sarah's laughter was fading away. Robin hung his head, "She's going to tell Oracle, and Oracle will tell Black Canary, and Black Canary will tell someone in the JSA, then it'll make it's way to the JLA, and then to Batman. And I'll have twelve hours of 'disciplinary training' to do when I get back to Gotham."
Seraph had her hands covering her mouth, "I'm soooo sorry!"
Robin sighed again and waved a hand, picking up his bag, "Don't worry about it. I'm honestly more worried about what Raven is going to do when she finds out."
"Aw… crap. I'm kind of worried about what Bart is going to do."
"Impulse?" Robin arched an eyebrow, "Why?"
Seraph blushed even deeper, "Oh… he and I are… we have a little… thing."
Robin arched a corner of his mask, "A thing?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Seraph turned around and walked down the hall quickly, "Your room is this way!"
Shaking his head, Robin followed.
"You're sure this is going to work?" Wonder Girl looked a little concerned as Impulse filled the water balloon with cooking oil.
"Positive. Gar told me this prank always works." He tied off the balloon rapidly, then set it aside and grabbed another. Seven empty bottles of oil at his feet became eight as he finished filling the twentieth one.
"Um, call me crazy for wondering this, but Changeling is kind of an idiot. Do you really think that his definition of 'always working' is worth even considering?"
"Of course!" Impulse zipped away, and was back four seconds latter with a long, bright red rubber band. "Now help me find something to set up the triggering mechanism!"
Wonder Girl sighed, "Alright. But if this goes wrong, it's all on you."
Seraph walked into the gym as she was finishing pulling on her right glove. She looked up to see Robin twirling a bo staff and thrusting it in stabbing motions.
"What do you know about staff fighting?" he asked as he spun his weapon to a stop and turned to her.
"Not much, really." Seraph shrugged, "Dick and I usually only do hand to hand. He did teach me the basics of how to use my dagger, but I doubt I'll ever need it."
"And why is that?" Robin motioned her over to the sparring mats, and she followed him.
"Any situation I can't fight my way out of with my hands, I should be able to fly out of. If I can't fly away, I know a few spells that will protect me."
"While it's good to have a wide range of tactics to keep your opponents off balance, it's better to be an expert at all of them so that you have the option to pick and choose which ones are going to be the best to use in any given situation." Robin held up his staff, "Draw your dagger." She did so with a frown.
"I don't know if we should be practicing with these kinds of weapons, Robin. It seems danger-"
"Defend yourself!" he shouted, and lunged at her. Seraph's eyes grew wide and she ducked the staff as it whistled above her head. He wasn't playing around.
With a firm set about her features, she lashed out with a low kick, trying to sweep his feet. Robin planted his staff on the mats and vaulted over her, coming back in close and hard with another swing. Seraph caught it on her dagger with a metallic clink, but the force of the blow still jarred her arms and sent her sprawling.
"Up. Again." Robin ordered.
Seraph quickly scrambled to her feet, and brandished her dagger, "What the hell are you doing? We're practicing, not trying to kill each other!"
"Do you think an opponent you meet out there on the street is going to cut you any slack?" he jabbed at her, and Seraph jerked her head to the side to avoid having an eye put out, "Fight, Seraph! Or back down and give back that communicator!"
He jabbed again, and Seraph dodged to the side, then came back in fast and to the left. Robin swung his staff around and aimed a hard blow for her left side. His eyes grew wide as she didn't even try to dodge the blow and took it hard in the ribs. There was a sharp crack, and he knew he'd just broken a bone.
Wincing and trying not to scream even as tears pooled in her eyes, Seraph grabbed the staff and yanked Robin forward. He stumbled, not expecting the move, and she had her dagger across his throat in a matter of seconds. Their faces were inches apart for the second time in and hour, "Don't ever challenge me like that. I don't back down." The young girl's tears did nothing to dispel the firm resolve in her voice, "Not ever."
Robin blinked then a soft smile split across his face, "I don't know what Dick was talking about. You're better than he gives you credit for."
Seraph let go of his staff and backed away. She closed her own eyes and concentrated. After a moment, a healing aura surrounded her, "I'm healing my cracked rib. I'll do the cut on your neck next."
He touched his neck and saw that his glove did indeed come away tainted with blood, "Hmm. Thanks."
"Not a problem… you know, they all underestimate us. They don't think we can do the job yet."
Robin nodded, "I haven't been allowed to operate independently of Batman since the first night I started. He's always with me, even for minor things."
Seraph opened her eyes and held out a hand to his neck. As she healed him, she replied, "It was like pulling teeth to get Raven to let me go out. Then after the first night and all the trouble that went down, everyone started treating me with kid gloves. They even treat Cassie… sorry, Wonder Girl, like she's made of bone china." Lowering her hand and inspecting her work to make sure there would be no scaring, she scoffed, "I mean, the girl can get thrown through buildings and still get up and fight. And Impulse can get away from anything, so there's no real need to worry about him, and I'm capable of taking care of myself, even if most of what I do is hang back and heal…"
Robin chuckled, "Sounds like this whole thing with them leaving us by ourselves is going to be just the opportunity we need to prove we can do the job."
"Yeah," Seraph roller her eyes again, "If Blackfire even lets us go out…"
"Really?" Robin grinned a grin that made her think he may be far more kid and far less hard core crime fighter than he seemed, "I'd like to see her try and stop us."
Ten minutes later, Seraph and Robin were walking down the hall that led to the garage on the main floor. Seraph was gushing excitedly, "You really mean it? You're only what? Fourteen? Thirteen? You have your own bike?"
"Batman thought it was best to get me trained on the vehicles as soon as possible. The motorcycle just fits my needs better." Robin grinned, "Though it is a pretty sweet bike."
"Awesome! You have got to take me out for a spin! Is it anything like Nightwing's bike?"
"Well, I'm guessing he's made some mods that Batman doesn't know about, so-"
"Hey! Birdbrain!" came Impulse's voice from up ahead of them, "Welcome to the Titans!"
Both Robin and Seraph looked up with wide eyes as twenty odd balloons full of cooking oil flew down the hall way with incredible velocity. Robin jerked out his staff and Seraph pulled her dagger but it was too late to use them. Cooking oil splattered everywhere as the two of them shut their eyes and tried to dodge.
Both of them slipped a moment after the balloons hit and fell to the floor. Laughter echoed down the hall at them and Impulse came into view a moment later, standing behind his sling shot, busting a gut. "You should have seen your face! Oil all over you! Ha!"
"Um… Bart?" Wonder Girl floated behind him, "You hit Kylee too…"
"Huh?" the speedster looked down and saw a scowling Seraph pulling herself to her feet, "Oh… crap."
"Oh crap is right, Zippy." Kylee slipped again but used the wall to support herself as Robin tried to find his feet next to her, "When I catch you… and I will catch you, Bart… you're going to find out just how many pressure points Nightwing has taught me how to punch."
Impulse looked frightened as he took a step back, but the alarms started blaring a moment later and the lights started flashing. Two seconds later, all of their coms buzzed and they pulled them out. Flipping them open, they saw Blackfire with a frown on her face, "Titans, trouble." She said, "Get up to the briefing room."
"What the hell happened to the two of you?" the dark haired alien asked with an arched eyebrow as the the Teen Titans trooped into the briefing room.
"Impulse happened." Robin growled.
"Ah. I see." Blackfire turned her violet gaze on the speedster and he shrank back.
"Sorry."
"Whatever." She waved it off, "Listen up. There's been an explosion at an archeological dig site just outside of city limits. It's a little ways into the desert, but that shouldn't be a problem. We have no reason to expect foul play at this point, but I want the four of you down there just in case. This is an easy one to break you kids in." she turned to them and eyed them critically, "If anything goes wrong, get out of there and we'll beacon the JLA. Don't be stupid and try to take on something you can't."
"We'll be fine." Robin said, "Um… as soon as we change clothes."
"You do that. Five minutes." Blackfire grinned, "Move out."
Fresh uniforms in place, Seraph and Robin joined Impulse and Wonder Girl on the ground floor, just outside the garage. Robin wheeled out his bike, and Seraph walked a few steps behind him with a helmet in her hands.
"You two riding together?" Wonder Girl asked, pulling her goggles down over her eyes.
"I can't fly as fast as you, so Robin's bike is the next best way." Seraph replied, "Oh, and Bart?"
"Yeah?" he was next to her in a half second.
Seraph punched him in the arm.
"Owww…" he whined.
"Try not to do anything stupid, okay?" she grinned at him.
"Hey, I'm a super hero. We don't do stupid stuff."
"So what was with the oil back there?"
"That was-"
"Enough." Robin ordered, "We're wasting time. This could be serious."
"I agree." Wonder Girl floated up into the air. "Imp, you'll make it there before the rest of us, so you should scout a little bit to see what's up and report what you find before I get there."
"Who died and made you leader?" the speedster scowled up at her.
"No one did." Robin cut off another argument, "I'm the leader, because Nightwing said so, and he's the leader normally. And I agree with Wonder Girl's plan. Let's get moving."
He swung a leg over his motorcycle and stuffed his helmet on his head. Seraph patted Impulse on the arm, then jumped on behind him, pulling her own helmet on. As Wonder Girl took to the skies, and Robin revved the bike, Impulse scowled one more time, then took off in a Flash.
Robin and Seraph were halfway there, with Wonder Girl flying slightly ahead of them when Impulse's call came, "Hey Titans! Time for Radio Impulse!"
"What have you got?" Robin asked, trying to sound professional and non-threatening at the same time.
Impulse seemed to have already forgotten his anger from just minutes before, "The site seems okay, no one's hurt really, except for the dig leader. She was in the hole when the explosion went off, and she's still down there."
"Is she okay?" Seraph asked over the com in her helmet.
"Dunno. There's all this smoke and stuff."
"Can you disperse it and get a visual?" Robin asked.
"I don't think I should try. The smoke is purple."
"Purple?"
"Yeah. Bright, neon, Raven's eyes kind of purple." Impulse grinned stupidly over the video connection.
Wonder Girl joined the com call a moment later, "So, why have you been studying Raven's eye color so closely, Imp?"
Impulse blushed suddenly, and Seraph scowled over Robin's shoulder at the small video display on the bike, "Yeah, Bart, why have you been staring at Raven's eyes so much?"
"Uh…"
"Stop teasing, girls." Robin grinned as well, "Everyone notices Raven's eyes."
"What color are your eyes, Boy Wonder?" Wonder Girl batted her own baby blues.
"Trade secret. Oh look, we're here." Robin slowed to a stop several yards from the dig and removed his helmet. "Let's move, team."
A few minutes later found the Teen Titans staring down into a hole in the ground that the dig team had been excavating for the past six months. Robin was talking to one of the archeologists and taking notes, "So, Miss Murphy, you say Dr. Nina Dowd had just uncovered some kind of artifact, when she touched it and it exploded?"
"Yeah." The young woman responded, "We're not sure what it was, but that smoke seems to be sitting there and not dissipating. That artifact could have been anything."
Wonder Girl nodded, "It could have been magical. That would explain the overall weirdness of this whole mess."
Seraph shook her head, "I don't sense any magic from in there. I think this might be something that's been on the planet for a long time, but isn't really from here."
"Like, alien tech?" Robin arched an eyebrow.
"It's not unheard of." Seraph shrugged.
"Which aliens?" Impulse was next to them a moment later, "I know most of the species that arrived on Earth before humans made contact with them."
"How?" Murphy asked.
"I'm from the 31st Century." Impulse replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Oh…um, okay…" Murphy edged away from the squad of super kids.
"Right. Let's get started. We need to find out what's up with this smoke."
"I guess I could just run thorough and take a look-see." Impulse turned to the hole.
"I don't think that's-" Robin started to say, but Impulse was already gone. A second later, he was on the other side of the dig. He called back to them, "I couldn't see anything in there! Lemme take another look!"
"No! Impulse-" Robin tried again, but a second later, the speedster was standing right next to him again.
"Nope, nothing."
Wonder Girl buried her face in her hands, "Were you born stupid, or do you work at it?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
Robin waited for his heart to slow down a little before speaking again, "It looks like Impulse actually disturbed the smoke enough to dissipate it. Let's see what we can see."
Seraph stepped forward and waved her hands, muttering a few words. A light breeze picked up and the smoke blew away, revealing a strange crystallized cocoon. She took a step back, "What the heck is that?"
Robin pulled out his T-Comp and pointed it at the hole. Opening it and hitting a button, he spoke loudly enough for the directional mic to pick up his voice, "Blackfire, does that thing look like anything you might know about?"
The alien girl's voice came through the com unit from the communications hub at the Tower, "Not really. Tameranian Crystalis looks a little different."
"Hmm." Robin turned the T-Comp around and spoke into it, "Do you think we should go in for a closer look?"
"Can't see what it would hurt."
"I can." A strong voice interrupted the conversation. Robin looked up and sighed, "Ho boy. Blackfire, we have government types down here. I'll call you back."
"Be careful." She warned, then singed off.
Robin turned to the two agents walking towards them. One was tall, African American, and had tinges of white hair at the edges of his beard and around his temples. The other was younger looking, and Asian. They both had side arms drawn. "Hello, Agents. We don't want any trouble."
"Then leave." The shorter Asian one scowled at him.
"Hey!" Wonder Girl stepped forward, "Just who do you think you are?"
The taller black man pulled out a bill fold and flipped it open, "I'm Special Agent Donald Fite. This is my partner, Special Agent Ishido Madd." A long card holder flipped out of the bill fold, displaying various badges, "Our credentials."
"Wait…" Impulse arched an eyebrow, "You're Fite 'n Madd?"
"Yes."
He looked over at Seraph and they both chuckled.
Robin sighed and stepped forward to start reading the badges, "DEO, FBI, CIA, INTERPOL, Secret Service, Scotland Yard, Texas Rangers, US Marshals, DOD, SMERSH… USDA?"
"We like our meat fresh."
Robin shook his head, "You can't possibly have clearance from all of these organizations…"
"We're from the All Purpose Enforcement Squad. A multi-national cooperative task force." He leaned in and scowled down at Robin, "We have more clearance than God."
Impulse spoke up again, "You're APES?"
"Yes." Agent Fite responded again.
Impulse and Seraph giggled at each other again, and Wonder Girl covered her mouth to prevent her smile from showing.
Robin rolled his eyes under his mask, "Agents, we just want to help. Maybe we can work together to-"
"This is none of your concern." Agent Madd said, "Go back to your club house and play."
"Now, wait just a second!" Wonder Girl flew up next to Robin and shook her black haired wig, "You can't just toss us out! We're super heroes!"
"I think you'll find that we're more then capable." Agent Fite flipped the safety off on his gun.
Seraph shook her head, "Okay, this is getting out of hand. Let's all just… hey, where's Impulse?"
Very few words could inspire fear like the last three Seraph had just spoken, and Robin whirled around, "What? I thought you were watching him!"
"Me?" she gaped at him, "It's not my job to keep track of him! He's not a puppy!"
"He's worse than a puppy! At least a puppy comes back when you offer it a treat!" Robin ran to the edge of the hole and threw his hands up with a shout of frustration, "Impulse! Get your head out of that thing!"
Impulse was down in the hole with his head jammed inside a small hole he'd made in the side of the cocoon. Even as Robin was shouting at him, it exploded, blowing them all away from the edge. As the three young heroes picked themselves up, they all rushed back to the edge of the dig to look for their friend, "Imp!" Wonder Girl shouted, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" he was standing next to them, looking down into the hole.
Wonder Girl turned to Seraph, "Remind me to kill him later."
"Will do."
"What?" Impulse looked hurt.
"What the hell…" Robin was still looking into the hole, "Um… Agents? You may want to look at this…"
Fite 'n Madd picked themselves up and walked over to stare down into the hole as well. In the center of the pit was a woman wearing a bizarre outfit. It was tight, made of some kind of flexible mettle, and bright pink and purple. The top part of it was missing a large portion of it directly on the chest, revealing the woman's huge breasts. Her hair was long and auburn, and she had decidedly cat like claws, and ears sticking out of the top of her head.
"Uh…" Agent Fite scratched his head.
"Maybe you should let us handle this after all…" Robin looked grim.
The woman called up at them from down in the hole, "You! I see you there! You ask yourself, 'Who is this vision of beauty and strength? Well, once I was simply Nina Dowd, but now… now I am so much more! Now I am MIGHTY ENDOWED!"
The Teen Titans and the APES agents stared.
"Tremble!" Mighty Endowed screamed at them.
"So… wait." Wonder Girl scratched her head, "There's a new super villain who's power is… having really huge boobs?"
Seraph looked confused as well, "Um… do we have to fight her?"
Impulse looked excited, "If there's a God, yes!"
Mighty Endowed screamed at them once more, "I see you! Trembling in fear!"
"This isn't fear!" Impulse pumped a fist into the air, "It's anticipation!"
"Team, let's just… I don't even know what to do…" Robin shook his head.
"Impulse," Seraph squinted down at their advisory, "Go poke her between her shoulder blades."
"Kay!" and he was behind her in a half second, "Poke!" he said as he poked her right where Seraph had told him to.
Mighty Endowed waved her arms around, "Whoa! Hey! No! Too… top heavy!" and she pitched forward, landing on her face. "Ow."
Seraph nodded, "Way to take her out, Imp."
"Thanks!" Impulse zipped back up to them.
"Okay…" Agent Madd shook his head, "That was a little… irregular."
"That about wraps things up here." Agent Fite turned to Robin, "We'd like to thank you kids for helping to real in Mighty Endowed."
"It was nothing." Robin waved a hand, grinning a little.
"She may be Mighty Endowed to you gentlemen…" Wonder Girl slid up next to Robin, and he finished for her,
"But to us, she's just a routine bust."
"Wasn't all of that kind of anti-climatic?" Wonder Girl asked as the four super teens walked down the street in down town.
Robin, ignoring the stares of the citizens they were walking past, shrugged, "I guess. Not every battle has to end with violence and destruction though."
"Yeah, she might have gone on to flash some innocent civilians or something…" Seraph shook her head, "I'm with Cassie… I want to see some real action."
"It's too bad we couldn't investigate further. When Impulse accidentally blew Mighty Endowed's cocoon up, it destroyed the artifact that changed her in the first place."
"And that's a bad thing?" Wonder Girl stopped by a window to inspect a pair of shoes on display. They were three hundred dollars.
"I'm just wondering why it changed her."
Impulse zipped up next to them, "Maybe it was booby trapped."
"Aw… man, that was bad, Bart." Wonder Girl shook her head.
Seraph grinned and Robin shook his head, "Let's pack it in. I'm sure Blackfire is wondering where we are."
"Maybe we can do a patrol sweep of the city." Wonder Girl hovered up off the ground a little ways, "You know, look for some action?"
"At half past four in the afternoon?" Robin arched an eyebrow up at her, "What crime are we going to stop? People skipping out of work early?"
"You know, you're starting to be kind of a downer, Robbie."
"Don't call me Robbie."
"I'll call you whatever I want to call you!"
Robin opened his mouth to retaliate, but a bleeping from everyone's T-Comps cut him off. The all pulled out their coms and flipped them open. Blackfire stared back at them, looking worried.
"Hey team. We just got a report of another explosion from the dig site. This one not as big… thing is, something got out, and it's headed for the city."
"Something… got out?" Seraph asked.
"Yeah… it apparently destroyed almost all of the vehicles on site, then started running for the city at a pretty good pace. It should be there soon."
"Any ideas on what it is?" Robin was all business.
"No clue. Reports say it's bipedal, has the head of a lion, and four arms."
"What the hell is that?" Wonder Girl looked freaked out.
"I've seen worse." Blackfire shrugged.
"I see big bad and ugly!" Impulse pointed, "Look out!"
Charging down the middle of Main Street was a huge humanoid creature. It had short brown fur covering its body, and wore armor that covered every inch of it except its four arms and its head. A shaggy mane of hair spilled around its head, and it roared in anger as it stomped down the street.
"Finally!" it bellowed, "After two thousand years! Rip Roar is free!"
"Did that thing just call its self Rip Roar?" Impulse asked, "What the heck is up with all the weird names today?"
"No time to worry about that now!" Robin pulled out his staff and extended it, "Titans, go!"
Seraph took to the air, going straight up, and Wonder Girl flew straight at the beast. As she plowed into its chest, she bore down, slamming it into the pavement. Impulse was right behind her, and he started zipping around, kicking the monster every so often.
"Hold still!" the beast roared.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Impulse grabbed its mane and started dragging it along the ground. Wonder Girl flew back in and landed a solid punch right in its gut.
"Oof!" it growled, then two of it's hands shot out and grabbed her. She let out an eep! as Rip Roar hurled her away and into a car. She smashed through the drivers side door and ended up in the front seat looking dazed.
Rip Roar reached up with his other two hands and grabbed hold of Impulse. The speedster kicked his feet rapidly, but couldn't break the monster's strong grip. "Hey!" he shouted, "Leggo!"
"You are nothing more than an insect to Rip Roar!"
"And you need to stop talking about yourself in the third person!" Impulse stuck out his tongue.
If the monster was bothered by the insult, he didn't show it. He simply hurled Impulse through the wall of the closest building. The brick gave way and the speedy teen moaned from inside the pile of rubble.
"Impulse!" Seraph swooped down from the sky and landed running. She quickly made it to the prone form of her team mate and started clearing the rubble from him. As she worked, a shadow fell over her. Looking up with wide, frightened eyes, she saw Rip Roar bearing down on her with a hungry grin.
"Rip Roar… hungry…" he salivated.
"Go get a burger like everyone else than, pal." Robin deadpanned as he flew in from the side and slammed a boot into the monster's jaw. Rip Roar tumbled away but rolled up to his feet a moment later, howling in anger.
Robin didn't let up, "Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and cry like a baby, you walking fur ball." He slammed his staff across his opponent's chest, then twirled it high and glanced a blow off his temple. Rip Roar howled again, and started swinging his fists around in a rage. Robin was forced to back off for a moment, then rushed back in and blocked two blows before the monster caught him up and tossed him high and to the right. The Boy Wonder smashed through a second story window and landed in a jumbled of bo staff, cape and glass. Looking up through blurry eyes, he saw two young woman behind the counter of a cosmetics store staring at him. He rubbed his side and muttered, "Did any one catch the license plate number on that wrecking ball that just hit me?"
Back at the Tower, Sarah barreled into the communications hub, grabbing up her headset and jamming it on as she spun into a chair, coming up next to Blackfire and tapping up a few screens, "What's the situation?"
"The kids are fighting a monster down town. It came from the dig I was telling you about."
"Any idea what it might be?" Sarah's fingers flew over her keyboard and she started pulling up security camera feeds in the area, as fell as traffic cameras.
Blackfire pulled up an image she had and showed Sarah what she had, "This one is cleaning up now… I'm trying to see what that symbol on its chest is."
"Looks alien."
"Wow, you're helpful today… here we go, got it…" she trailed off and reached out a hand, running her fingers down the screen, looking with terrified eyes at the symbol she'd just cleared up.
"What?" Sarah shook her partners shoulder, "What is it, Komi?"
"That's… that's the crest used by Apokolips during the wars with New Genesis."
"Huh?" Sarah looked confused.
"Earthlings wouldn't know much about it, but on Tamaran it's a well documented war… it was… two thousand Earth years ago."
Sarah looked a little flabbergasted, "That… thing has been imprisoned for two thousand years?"
Blackfire nodded, "Probobly by a piece of New Genesis tech that was destroyed when Mighty Endowed was changed and Impulse blew up her cocoon.
Sarah stared at her for a moment, then pointed right at her face, "You lost me. You have no idea what a nut job you sound like right now."
"I have to go." Blackfire stood up and tossed her head set down.
"What?" Sarah grabbed her arm, "Komi! You're pregnant! Call Brian or something, but you cannot go out fighting New Gods from Apokolips!"
"Those kids are going to die, Sarah!" Blackfire shouted.
"They know the risks! We need to get them help, yes, but we should call in someone who isn't carrying a child!"
"I have to go! We're wasting time!"
"No!" Sarah bellowed an angry look on her face. Blackfire looked shocked. She'd never seen Sarah yell like this before, "Komand'r d'Tam'ran, if you don't sit your shapely rear end back in that chair this instant, so help me I will tell your sister that you really want to spend some quality time with her re-learning every epic poem she knows!"
Blackfire stared, "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me." Sarah looked deadly.
Blackfire kicked it around for a moment, "Fine. Call Red-X, see what he's doing."
"On it. Who else?"
"Raven is the only one who can make it back fast enough. Kori is too far away, and no one else can move fast enough to get her in time." Blackfire grabbed up her headset again and sat back in her chair.
"Alright. Putting out a call to her too."
A bleeping noise brought Red-X out of a sound sleep and he groped around on his night stand before he grabbed his cell phone. Flipping it open and bringing it to his ear, he muttered, "Ello?"
"Brian?" he blinked when he hear the voice of Sarah Simms, "Are you awake?"
"I'm a thief who works at night. What do you think?"
"The kids are in trouble, Bri! We need your help!"
"What kids?"
"Robin, Wonder Girl, Impulse and Seraph!"
"The Teen Titans, huh?" he shook his head, "What's the trouble?"
"A New God kicking their butts!" she sounded frantic, "There's no time! Get geared up as quickly as you can and-"
"No." he flopped back down.
There was a pause, "What?"
"I said no. I'm hardly awake and no where near fight form right now. Besides, you underestimate them… those kids are gonna show us all up really soon…"
"Brian!"
"Sorry, Sarah. I wish I could help, but I can't right now. Bye." He closed the phone and set it to silent. Shaking his head, he tossed it aside, "Eh. They'll be fine."
Raven wiped her mouth with a napkin and sighed in contentment. She'd found the best little café in Chicago and discovered that they had divine chocolate cream pie. As she picked up and sipped her chilled mocha, her T-Comp buzzed. Flipping it open, she spoke, "Raven here."
"Rae, we have a situation." It was Blackfire, "Somehow, a New God from Apokolips got loose down town. The kids are holding him off for now, but they're getting thrashed."
Raven narrowed her eyes, "Kylee?"
"She's okay. I think." Blackfire bit her lip, "Uh… you'd better get back here."
"I'll be there shortly. I can't make jumps quite that large, so it's going to take me a few minutes." She stood up and placed a few bills on the table she'd been sitting at.
"Hurry." Blackfire replied, then signed off.
Raven tucked her T-Comp away and vanished in a cloud of black smoke, much to the surprise of the rest of the café patrons.
Seraph was just finishing healing Impulse's broken ribs when Rip Roar loomed over her once again. She took a deep breath and jumped straight up as he bore down on her, plowing both fists into his face. The monster stumbled back and the young super teen winced, shaking her hands.
"What the hell are you made of?" she demanded. As Rip Roar turned back to her and roared a challenge, she held both hands out at him, palms out. "Let's see how well you fight when you can't see!" she shouted back, and let loose with a blinding pulse of white light.
Rip Roar stumbled back, two of his hands clutching at his eyes. Even as he shook his head and started to advance again, blinking spots from his eyes, Impulse sped around him and stomped on his toes repeatedly.
At four times the speed of sound.
The monster howled in pain and jumped back, only to find himself right in the path of Robin, swinging down from the buildings above. Both of his feet plowed into the beast's head, and it toppled over, smashing the pavement where he landed. As Rip Roar tried to stand up, a car door slammed across his head.
Wonder Girl stood next to him, the door from the car she'd slammed through clutched in her hands like a steel chair in the hands of a pro wrestler. She brought it down across his cranium again, shouting, "Stay down, damnit!"
Rip Roar suddenly surged forward, grabbing her up and slamming her into the ground with two of his hands. Holding her there, he began to beat her with his other two. She cried out as his fists slammed into her face and chest.
Robin's eyes grew wide behind his mask as he saw one of his team mates taking such a beating. He growled out the only command he could think to issue, "Titans!" he shouted, "Take this thing out! Now!"
Impulse zipped in and plowed Rip Roar with a shoulder block, knocking him off Wonder Girl. Robin vaulted over the speedster and came in with a hard downward chop with his staff, slamming it into the beast's arms even as it raised them to defend itself. He dodged to the side as Rip Roar threw a punch that caved a hole in the street. The monster rolled back to his feet and faced off with the Boy Wonder.
Suddenly, a white blur slammed into him, and Rip Roar howled in pain. Seraph was on his back, both feet planted against his side and her dagger buried to the hilt behind his top left shoulder blade.
Impulse didn't wait for another opening. "Hey ugly! Ten punches to the face doesn't seem to be slowing you down, so what do you say we try ten thousand?" and he commenced brutally beating Rip Roar in the face as rapidly as he could.
Robin darted back in as well, swinging his staff around and slamming Rip Roar in his injured shoulder, even while Seraph bore down and held the dagger where it was, swinging from his back as he thrashed about.
Rip Roar seemed to finally stop underestimating his opponents. With a howl of rage and grabbed Seraph from his back and slammed her into Impulse, sending both of them tumbling. He lashed out with a kick that missed Robin, but caught him with one of his two good right hands and clamped a choke hold around his neck. Lifting him off the ground, Rip Roar began to squeeze the life out of the Boy Wonder.
He chuckled out a harsh laugh until a girl's voice cut him off, "Hey! Ass hole!" he turned his head in time to see Wonder Girl forgoing her car door and just lifting the entire car off the ground. His eyes grew wide as she hurled it at him with a scream of anger.
Dropping Robin, the monster from Apokolips turned and tried to catch the car. He was too late though, and it plowed into his face, slamming him back into the ground. Wonder Girl was on him in an instant.
"I said," she growled, slamming a fist into his face, "Stay!" WHAM! "The hell!" CRACK! "Down!" THWACK!
Robin looked up at her from where he lay on the ground, gasping for breath. She was straddling the monster's prone from, a fist still hauled back, ready to strike again. Her goggles were long gone, and the black leather jacket she wore was ripped in several places. She was breathing heavily, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead and her black wig askew, revealing a few blonde strands that fell from underneath it.
It was a combat pose to be sure, but Robin saw past that. Her eyes were wild, wide and blue, glaring with deadly intent. Her gaze was that of a warrior, one that transcended the moral place. In that moment, Wonder Girl wasn't so much the kid that tagged along with Wonder Woman, but an Amazon Warrior in her own right.
"Cassie," Robin rasped out, "He's down."
She continued to breath hard, and after a moment, she stepped back, satisfied that the monster wasn't going to get back up. Impulse and Seraph walked over a moment later, and they all looked down at the prone form of the monster.
Impulse spoke first, "Damn, Cassie."
She smiled sheepishly, "Uh… he pissed me off."
"Remind me never to piss you off." Seraph chuckled.
Robin eyed Wonder Girl critically, "You know… I think you should lose the wig. You'll stand out from Wonder Woman more."
Wonder Girl looked at him funny, "I guess, but… aren't I supposed to like… be her daughter or something?"
"Why would you want to be her daughter? Don't you already have a mom?"
Wonder Girl looked a little stunned for a second, then smiled, "Yeah… I do."
At that exact moment Raven materialized in the middle of the street. The Teen Titans all looked over at her, and she stared back at them from under her hood.
"Um… aren't you supposed to be in Chicago?" Seraph asked.
"I was. Blackfire just had me teleport halfway across the country to help you fight a New God." She looked down at Rip Roar, "Is this him?"
Robin and Impulse both dropped their jaws. Impulse spoke first, "He's from Apokolips?"
Raven shrugged, "I guess so. Seems you four were able to handle things after all." Raven narrowed her eyes, "I'll go back to the Tower and have a little chat with Blackfire and the Operator. They need to learn that you kids aren't as helpless as they think you are."
All four of them looked at each other and grinned as Raven vanished. Robin nodded to his team, "Way to go Titans. Mission accomplished."
The next morning Tim Drake cracked his eyes open and rolled out of bed. He was sore all over from the fight the day before, and Seraph's healing ability only went so far. He took a few minutes to stretch out, then dressed in sweats and a t-shirt with the bat logo on it. He walked to the door of his room, paused, then walked back to the desk. Picking up his eye mask, he smoothed it out over his face.
Ready for his morning workout, Robin left his room.
Three minutes later, Robin stood in the doorway of the gym, his eyes wide and his moth hanging open. His right hand went limp and he dropped the towel he'd brought with him.
"BART!" Wonder Girl was shouting, flying along behind him as he tore across the room, "I swear to the Gods that if you EVER snap my bra again, I'll dismember you!"
"Comeonitwasjustajoke!" Impulse shouted back as he ran up a wall and Wonder Girl plowed into it.
A short ways away Seraph and Blackfire were arguing, "Komi, I don't need to wear a freakin' sports bra like Cassie! I have no boobs!" she motioned at her t-shirted front.
Blackfire waved a black sports bar in the younger girls face, "I don't think you realize that you do have a little bit of a shape to you, Kylee. And there are boys here that will definitely notice that shape if you don't start wearing one!"
Kylee blushed and opened her mouth to say something, but right then, Impulse ran into her. They fell to the ground, even as Wonder Girl, swooping in to grab the speedster, tried to pull up. She plowed face first into Blackfire, who grunted as she hit the ground. There was a two second pause, then all hell broke loose.
"Bart, get off! Wait, don't put your hand- AH!"
"Holy crap! Kylee I didn't mean to-"
"You groped me you pervert!"
"Hey! Don't- OW!"
"X'hal damnit, Cassie! I'm fucking pregnant!"
"I'm sorry! Are you okay?"
"No! I am not!" A flash of violet later and Wonder Girl was sailing across the room. She hit the ground and rolled up to her feet. Taking to the air, she screamed as more energy blasts from Blackfire started burning towards her.
"Get back here you sicko!" Kylee screamed.
"No! You'll hit me again!" Bart ran. Fast.
"Oh, I'm going to do more than hit you!"
"Whoa! Komi, calm down!"
"Come on, Cassie! This is just training!"
"This is crazy!"
"OW! Kylee, stop it!"
"I'm gonna cripple you, you perverted little shit!"
"Stop it with the energy blasts!"
"Stop it with the flying away!"
"No fair running up the walls!"
"No fair?!? You're trying to kill me!"
"And you should take it like a man!"
"Why am I being blasted? This is all Bart's fault!"
"You should learn to fly better!"
"You should learn to dodge!"
"BART!"
"CASSIE!"
"STOP HITTING ME!"
"YOWCH! CUT IT OUT WITH THE BLASTING!"
Robin groaned and buried his face in his hands, "And we were working together so well yesterday…" he side stepped as a chunk of the ceiling fell where was standing. A stray energy blast zipped past his head and scorched the wall behind him in the hallway. A small scream made him turn around and look to see who was there.
Sarah backed up a few steps, "Komi in a bad mood?"
"Probably just a hormonal thing." Robin replied, "Is it like this every day?"
"Pretty much. It doesn't take that long to get used to it really."
"We need more discipline."
"Good luck. Nightwing tries every day."
"And I'm supposed to lead this bunch of kids?"
"Don't forget," Sarah bent down and tapped him on the nose, "you're a kid too… Tim."
As she stood straight and smiled at him, he looked at her in wonder. His eyes followed her as she walked down the hall and entered the elevator. She turned back and waved before the doors shut.
"What else do you know, Sarah Simms?" he muttered, then shook his head. "Reminds me of Babs." Sighing, he turned and marched towards the gym to try to gain some measure of control over the Teen Titans.
Closing Notes: So here's the deal. I've got a few ideas for the membership sweep with the other Titans. Since they're up next, I need more ideas. Some of their stories will be longer than others, and some will be short and sweet. What I need from you guys and girls is ideas for new Titans. Wrack your brains, and start throwing out names. I prefer DC characters of some kind, but if you just feel a burning need to suggest on OC, PM me with the details. From there I'll narrow the list down to one recruit per Titan and we'll see what I can't hammer out. This is a hump I feel a great need to get over, so all the help I can get is appreciated. With all that out of the way, I guess I just need to tell you…
Next Time – It's a homecoming like none other when Arsenal returns to Star City for the first time since leaving it to join the Titans. Will things with Green Arrow go well? And who the heck is this new girl running around in a red and gold outfit, calling herself 'Speedy?'