Chapter 3 - The Abandoned Temple
"Duude, this place is weird."
"It's my home."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Nah, I gotta admit, weird describes it well..."
"So, where do we begin?"
"There are weird creatures here. Let me track them. Something as odd as Doctor Light's armor falling here? It'll surely get their attention."
"Well, your world, you lead the way."
"That is a tough wall." he said and prepared his sonic cannon for another shot.
"Cy, any luck?"
"Not yet, Robin. Still trying here, but I'm not sure if I can do this."
"There's a weak spot on the field. It's located near our training grounds."
"I'll look over there. How did you get this info?"
"I... scanned the force field. Seems it is weaker there."
"You made some sort of deal with Doctor Light, didn't you?"
"Five minutes headstart. And he talked about Kerveria as well."
"Really? What about it?"
"He is not quite sure, but he suspects that the situation there may have the Brotherhood of Evil's finger on it."
"What?! And we just sent three Titans in there?"
"Six. Kid Flash rushed to aid Jinx and Beast Boy tells me Thunder and Lightning were called by someone there as well."
"Aww, man! Y'know, for a brain in a jar, that guy doesn't think straight at all!"
"Light says he's not completely sure, but he had his suspicions. If he is right, then we need to get as much help as we can."
"Found the spot, Rob!"
"Good. Attack!"
And he threw another sonic blast at the metal ball, that broke and the force field seemed to flicker a little.
"It's not gone yet, but I think I weakened it. Any other weak spots?"
"The next one is on the roof. I'll have to deal with it. Search around, Cy, there may be others."
"Will do. Cyborg out!"
"So..." Robin said "you think the Brotherhood, evil enough to get you to flee, is behind that and yet you asked for something in exchange for the info?"
"Hey, I couldn't just give it for free, could I? It'd be too... too... heroic to do so."
"Whatever. Let's get to the roof."
"I have to go with you up there?"
"You think I'll let you outside my sight? Think again."
"Friends, you're safe!"
"Starfire, what took you so long?"
"I have company." she said and Thunder appeared with a sad face from behind some bushes carrying an unconscious Lightning.
"So you found them."
"Yes, but... I was too late."
"When we were talking to you back at the palace... some soldiers overheard and ambushed us... they had these weird weapons... I was hit once and I could not fly anymore... but Lightning was hit twice!"
"It's the Nulifier, sir." Private Hive explained "They developed some weird technology that seems to mess with superpowers and render them unuseable."
"So... we're out for good?"
Raven touched Lightning's shoulder and sighed, relieved.
"No. Seems this portable Nulifiers are less powerful. The effect should pass in a couple of hours. For now, it is best we set camp and spend the night somewhere safer."
"On our way here, brother and I found a temple hidden in the middle of the forest not far from where we are. We can take you there."
"Sounds good enough to me. Lead the way."
"So... what is the Mammoth doing here?"
"Believe it or not, he's in for the same reason we are. To help Private Hive."
"We can trust him?"
"I'll keep an eye on him, but I don't think he's much of a threat, outnumbered as he is."
And then all of a sudden Mammoth charged and both Raven and Starfire prepared to attack, but he went right past them and tackled a wild boar, that fled after the charge.
"That one was close. Thanks, Mammoth."
"It was nothin'!"
"Over there, behind those bushes is an entrance."
And so they went in one by one and when the last one entered, he covered the entrance again.
"Cozy."
"So... do any of you have any eats?"
"I have some stuff here" Private Hive said, taking the stuff out of his backpack, including some fruits and a cannister "it's not much, but we'll have to make do."
"Seems we have a lot of catching up to do. Starting with you, Mammoth. I don't think you were through with your explanation. Why are you really here?"
"The Hive Five as you knew them... are gone. Gizmo replaced all our old allies with other guys. Weird guys. And he's more of a tyrant now, but y'know I have no shot if I go solo, so when Private Hive called, I thought maybe I could help him and then team up... so much for that plan now."
"I did remember seeing new faces last time we faced in battle. What about your other allies?"
"Haven't heard of See-More and Billy in months and... Kyd Wykkyd seems to have gone to another world to study magic... what was it now... eh, I can't remember."
"And you, Private Hive? What brought that change of heart?"
"Me? I only know battle as a trade, ma'am. And that thing your leader said last I faced him... I could be a better leader, but I blew it. I'm not the biggest fan of Robin, but he is a good commander and he was right. So I decided to become a leader that would never fail his men and well... facing the Titans never ever went well for me, so I had to resort to something else... but I failed my men yet again."
"Not yet. When they attacked us, they said their prison was filled... with your men. They still live. We can still save them."
"I'm not so sure. Now that they know I live and I have new allies... leaving my squad alive would be a bother in best-case scenario."
The vibe became heavy.
"This is not nearly enough for me! I'll see if I can capture that boar from before!"
And Mammoth left.
"We've got signal. Better call Robin and give him an update."
"Robin here."
"Robin, it's Starfire."
"Good... you're okay! You found Raven?"
"Yes, and also Thunder and Lightning. We're all together here, we, Jinx, Kid Flash, Private Hive and Mammoth."
"Wait, Mammoth is there?"
"He just left to try and catch a wild boar."
"What is he doing here?"
"He came to help Private Hive and try to team up with him in the life of crime, but that plan fell through."
"Really? Private did change?"
"I did, sir. You told me not to fail my men and until now... I had not."
Robin smiled. Something good was happening there.
"We have some bad news. The villains have a weapon called 'the Nulifier' that can disable superpowers. We broke the cannon, but they have hand guns with that effect. The only silverlining is that te portable version can only affect the powers for a short period of time."
"Then I think Doctor Light may be right."
"You defeated him?"
"Yes, but we're still stuck here. The forcefield is still on and we are having to hit various weak spots to disable it. Doctor Light says he was offered a job at Kerveria, but refused because he suspected it was the Brotherhood of Evil."
"What else did he say?"
"That he thinks he saw Professor Chang there. And if that madman is there, whatever is going on is not good."
"Call us back if you have any updates on the forcefield matter or any other info that Doctor Light seems to be giving around so thoughtfully."
"Sure thing. Robin out."
And then she turned to Lightning, that was left lying down. Next to him, Thunder waited anxiously.
"Can you wake him?"
"I could" she said with her hands on his head, examining "but it is best that I do not. His body shut down as a shock to losing not only its powers, but its deep connection with the nature. He should wake up as soon as his powers come back."
"Oh, that's a relief to hear..."
"Hey, I'm back" Mammoth said, carrying the dead boar "now let's light a fire and roast this thing."
"Beast Boy would have passed out by now."
And then Starfire giggled at the idea.
"I see a bunch of creatures there. Are they looking at what I think they're looking?"
"Let me see." Beast Boy said and turned into an eagle that scouted the area. And then he flew back to Herald and took human form again.
"There's something there alright. It's the armor."
"Then we just have to go back there and get it."
"I have a better plan. Prepare to open a portal to Titans Tower!"
And then Beast Boy turned into one of the creatures.
"Cool!"
The green creature proceeded and got the armor, but then the others started to chase him, wanting their new toy back. Herald opened a portal as soon as he saw Beast Boy approaching and they jumped in, with the portal barely closing before a chaser could cross.
"We did it!"
"Yeah, but this thing seems kinda busted."
"Robin left a note. He says he's up the roof."
"And where's that Doctor Light?"
"Must be there as well. Robin woudn't leave a criminal alone."
"Well, we should get there, then... I don't know how this thing works, so we need to get it to someone who does."
"Glorious, you have yellow juice?"
"Yellow juice?"
"She means mustard."
"Yo-you drink that?" Mammoth asked, shocked.
"You are an odd girl, aren't you?"
"Mustard... fruits... this stock of yours if kind of random, isn't it?"
"I got it raiding one of Ricard's forts. It was right before I found you. I wasn't in my best conditions, as you know, so I just went ahead and got whatever I could."
"You sound more... serious... grown."
"Running a corporation does that to you, ma'am, even if I mostly delegate my tasks and am more of an action man."
"By the way, nice thinking back there with the Nulifier."
"I didn't know what I was doing when I did it, but hey, we found that thing's weakness."
"It has a weakness?"
"Well, if you do have powers, it is devastating" Jinx said "but if you don't, it is harmless."
"And since what I work with are skills and props, guess I'm your secret weapon."
"He's coming to!"
"Ugh... feels like I was trampled... what happened? Where are we?"
"They hit you with a Nulifier weapon. When you lost your powers, you passed out with the shock. But it seems now they're back." Raven said when Lightning observed his hand, focused and sparks came from it.
"Oh... so they were the wrong guys after all."
"It gets worse.. This tech... it could prove Robin's suspicions that the Brotherhood is involved with this."
"You mean this?" Private Hive said and got one of the guns out of his holster, making them all tense and both Thunder and Lightning, which had felt first-hand what that thing could do hide behind Mammoth.
"Wait, wait, the safety's on."
"Whoa, when did you get that?"
"The guy operating the Nulifier had it on him, but he never had a chance to use it. Thought it'd be of more use to me than to an unconscious dude."
"Though I do not approve of your habits, the results are pleasing."
"Hold on to it. When Cyborg gets here, he can analyse it and find out a way to counter the effects."
"Sure thing, ma'am. And if the Brotherhood are behind this, we can use it to attack some of their kind."
"Dinner's ready!"
"Finally! I could really use some food!"
"Pass the potatoes."
"Dibs on the ribs!"
"Hey, you can't call dibs on the ribs! I brought this thing here, the ribs are mine!"
"Oh, yeah? You'll have to catch them from me!"
"Who's got the tomatoes?"
"Here you go."
And in the shadows, someone watched, unnoticed.
"You got the armor back... mostly. Now give it so I can deactivate the force-field and get out of here."
"No way, Light. You think we're that stupid?"
"Very well..." he said and pressed a hidden button behind his ear and the suit jumped from Beast Boy's hands and wore itself on Doctor Light. He then pressed the bulb symbol on his chest and the force-field broke itself.
"Tell Shade that we're even!" he said and threw a lightbomb on the floor that left them blind for a moment and when they could see again, he was gone.
"Slade?!"
"No, man, you heard it wrong. He said 'Shade'."
"Oh. That's a relief. But who's Shade?"
"I don't know, but something tells me we'll know soon enough."
"At least the forcefield is out. But this whole thing has been tiring."
"Agreed. We depart to Kerveria next morning. After all, what can happen in one night?"