Chapter 3:
Predator quickly drifted off to sleep in his new bed. However, his sleep was not a peaceful one. His eyes flickered rapidly behind closed lids, as he tossed around, grabbing and tearing at his bedsheets.
"Stop." He growled, breathing heavily. "No, get away from me. Leave me alone! I said... leave... me...ALONE!" Predator roared ferociously as he quickly shot awake from his horrible slumber. Panting heavily, he looked around and was relieved to find himself back in his room, the morning sunlight gleaming from the outside window. "Another bad dream." He sighed, rubbing the sweat from his face.
Predator was shaken from his confusion by the sound of footsteps distantly approaching his room. He grunted as he quickly stood up, putting his mask back on. He leapt towards the door, crouching and taking cover on the side of it. Predator inhaled sharply, taking in the scents of the approaching footsteps. He sighed in relief, as the smells belonged to Beast Boy and Cyborg, and not an actual threat. He stood up and opened the door before either one had a chance to knock.
Beast Boy jumped and yelped, while Predator continued to blankly stare at them.
"Uh, heheh…morning." Beast Boy chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yyyyeah, morning." Predator replied, scratching his ear. "What's up?"
"You feeling all right, man?" Cyborg asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You look like you just ran a marathon—you're dripping with sweat, man. You sleep alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Predator assured, wiping any remaining sweat from his forehead. "I've just been a little on edge, alright?"
"Well, we were actually coming to let you know that breakfast is ready. Little grub might do you some good." Beast Boy advised. "Also, don't you think that maybe you should… you know, change into something else?"
"What? Oh...yeah." Predator looked at his tights and noticed the rips and burn marks on it. "I would but I don't have anymore suits."
"Glad to hear you say that…" Cyborg grinned. "…because last night, Starfire and I stitched together some completely new outfits for you. And when I say 'completely new,' I mean exactly the same as the original."
"You guys stayed up all night making me some new suits?" Predator asked in disbelief, raising his eyebrow.
"Well, it wasn't that big of a deal. I don't need much sleep, since I'm part-robot, and Starfire wanted to find a way to make you feel welcome here. So I helped her make them for you."
"How'd you even get my size and everything?"
"When we brought you in to fix you up, I had to scan your biometrics so I could get a reading on your anatomy and physiology. You know, to see how extensive your injuries were. I just took the reference from your readings to get your size right."
"Okay…" Predator responded a bit uncomfortably. "Um, thanks…I guess."
"I gotta say, dude, tights are a really bold choice for you." Beast Boy said.
"You're legit wearing tights too, yo. What're you talkin' about?" Predator said.
"Yeah, well…" Beast Boy struggled for a comeback. "They look good on me."
"Yeah, sure, okay. Look, I'm about to hit the shower, I'll be up in a minute." Predator resigned himself from the argument. He turned back into his room and closed the door.
"It's almost like he's always been here." Cyborg joked.
"Do you think there's something wrong with my tights?" Beast Boy asked him.
"Hey, man, it's your choice. I won't argue with you on it."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'm no lady, and I'm not gonna talk about your fashion choices with you!"
After a long, relaxing shower, Predator stepped out of the bathroom wearing one of his brand new custom made suits. He tossed his old, tattered one into the bin and stepped out of his room. His nose twitched as it suddenly caught a familiar scent.
"Huh, it smells like eggs. I haven't had that in forever." Predator said to himself as he followed the scent. He made his way down the hall and all the way to the living room.
"Hey, morning, Predator. Glad to see you awake and in good shape." Robin greeted him.
Beast Boy was in the kitchen preparing breakfast while Robin and the other Titans were seated at the table.
"Good morning, new shapeshifting friend." Starfire greeted him with a cheerful smile. "I am glad to see you are refreshed from your injuries."
"Thanks." Predator furrowed his brow at Starfire's odd speech. He sat down next to Robin and Raven at the table.
"Do your new clothes suit your comfort?" Starfire continued.
"Not gonna lie, Star, these're way more comfortable than the last ones." Predator commented, bringing a huge encouraged smile to her face. "So, what's for breakfast? It smells good and I'm starvin'."
"Remember that when you're actually eating it." Raven warned.
"Whaddya mean?" Predator gave her a puzzled look.
"Don't listen to her, Predator. She's biased against things that are awesome." Beast Boy said, placing a plate on the table for each person.
"She's not the only one." Cyborg mumbled, staring at the eggs in disgust.
"Wait, you mean you made these? I thought you were a vegetarian?" Predator asked.
"Yep. That's why the eggs are made of tofu." Beast Boy grinned. Predator stared at the eggs and suddenly noticed they were a little too white. If they were tofu, then that would explain why they smelled so strange.
"Uh…you remember the part when I said I'm a carnivore, right?" Predator asked. "I don't think this stuff is built for me, man."
"Aw, come on." Beast Boy pleaded. "It's not bad—it's just like regular bacon and eggs…or well, that's what it says. C'mon, just give it a try." He morphed himself into a tiny kitten with huge sparkly eyes, and mewed at Predator.
"The heck's he doin'?" Predator raised his eyebrow, unphased.
"Being 'persuasive.'" Cyborg said.
"Does he do that a lot?"
"Only when he wants things to go his way." Raven answered. "You might as well do what he says. It's the only way to shut him up without doing something physical."
Predator frustratingly glared at Beast Boy who remained in his cat form. He sighed as he picked up the fork, staring at the non-protein food product.
Beast Boy morphed back into his normal form with a huge grin on his face, while the others watched curiously. Predator dug into the eggs with the fork and lifted it up to his lips-fighting the powerful urge to gag-and put the eggs into his mouth. He twitched as he slowly chewed the salty, flavorless yet chewy food. After a few seconds, he finally managed to swallow it down, shivering in disgust and sticking his tongue out. Beast Boy's eyes literally turned into stars, a smile with glee shining on his face.
"You appear unwell." Starfire said. "Is the food causing you distress?"
"What gave it away?" Predator replied sarcastically. His disgust was quickly replaced with discomfort as his stomach churned and growled. He groaned as he grabbed his lower chest. His own confusion quickly drifted into nausea which caused his entire face to turn green. He slapped his hand onto his mouth, and without hesitation, quickly jumped out of his seat and ran towards the exit at top speed, down the hall and into the bathroom.
Everyone quickly directed their attention to Beast Boy, glaring at him angry and disappointed.
"Okay, maybe that wasn't a good idea." He said, a drop of sweat falling from his forehead.
"I told you he wasn't gonna be able to eat that stuff!" Cyborg snapped, his teeth grown sharpened and a fiery background behind him.
"I didn't know it was gonna make him sick!" Beast Boy argued, innocently.
"He's a carnivore! What did you expect? We can't even eat that junk! What made you think he was gonna tolerate it?"
"You always complain about my cooking because you don't like vegetarian food! How am I supposed to take you seriously?"
"You know, I don't know why I let you cook in the first place. Everyone knows that anything you make is obviously gonna end up vegetarian. It's always gotta be me who makes real food."
"Guys." Robin tried to interject.
"If you're such a good cook, then why didn't you do it instead of me?" Beast Boy shouted.
"Guys." Robin repeated.
"Don't start with that!" Cyborg shouted back. "Every time you wanna cook, you do it without even telling us. We don't even have the chance to argue about it!"
"QUIET!" Raven shouted at the top of her lungs, surrounding the entire room with dark energy. The others immediately shut up and recoiled in fear. The dark energy vanished from the room. "Now that we know he can't tolerate vegetarian food, maybe we should feed him something he can actually eat."
"How about we all just go out to eat?" Robin suggested.
"I'm down." Cyborg said, meekly.
"Agreed." Starfire said. They all turned to Beast Boy, expectantly.
"Okay." Beast Boy replied, looking down in defeat.
The door opened and Predator burst through the doorway and lunged at Beast Boy at top speed.
Beast Boy's eyes widened as Predator ferociously growled at him - teeth already turned into fangs, eyes glowing bright yellow and fingers turned into claws. Beast Boy couldn't help but cower and yelped as a fiery background formed around them.
"Good news, Pred." Cyborg said, jovially, catching Predator's attention. "We're going out for breakfast."
The fiery background died down and Predator simply glared back at Beast Boy. Beast Boy let out a nervous chuckle.
"Hmph." Predator mumbled in annoyance as he walked away. Beast Boy literally melted into the floor in fear.
Later…
"How'd you fix the car so fast?" Predator asked Cyborg, from the back seat. "I thought it was totaled when I fell on it."
"I have my ways." Cyborg said, slyly, looking at Raven—also in the back—in the mirror.
"Speaking of which, how's your memory? Has anything turned up from last night?" Robin asked from up front.
"Not a thing." Predator said in frustration. "But it still bugs me every time I think about it. Can't wait to get back at whoever did this."
Robin sighed as he and Cyborg looked at each other.
"We'll figure something out, Predator; don't worry." Robin assured.
"I'm not worried, I'm irritated."
Cyborg pulled the car up to the pizza shop - the same place they tried to be the night before. They all stepped out of the car, as Beast Boy, in the form of a lizard, transformed back to normal and stepped off the roof.
"I know I kind of goofed and all, but don't you guys think that was a little cruel?" He said.
"If you didn't want it to happen, you should've done something about it." Cyborg retorted.
"Pizza for breakfast?" Predator squinted curiously. "Not exactly what I had in mind."
"Believe me, man, this place is number one on my eatery list." Cyborg said, lifting up the menu. "If there's one place in the world that can satisfy your hunger and mine, it's this place. It's just too bad we didn't make it to 'All-You-Can-Eat' last night."
"It's not a healthy choice...at all." Raven answered Predator.
"Look, at this point, I just wanna eat something. I'm freakin' starvin', man." Predator said, looking through the menu. "What kind a' platters do they got?"
"Hey, um… Predator?" Beast Boy called. Predator kept his eye on the menu even though Beast Boy, sat next to him.
"What is it, kid?" He answered.
"I just wanna say… I'm sorry for trying to make you eat tofu. I guess I was too excited about having someone like me around that I…well, didn't really consider your…'tastes.'" He said, apologetically.
Predator let out a sigh and sits the menu on the table. He looks over at Beast Boy, meekly.
"Don't sweat it, Beast Boy." Predator smirked. "It's really not that big of a deal."
"So…we're cool, then?" Beast Boy asked with a smile.
"Yeah, we're cool." Predator said. "Just don't do it again, got me?"
"Deal."
Suddenly the waiter in roller skates arrived at the table.
"Good morning." He asked, wondering deep inside why he had to wear roller skates. "Are you guys ready to order?"
"Yeah, we'll have two large-" Robin started
"Extra-large." Cyborg insisted.
"Right, two extra-large pizzas, one with just regular cheese and the other with..."
"Double pepperoni." Cyborg said.
"The tiny anchovies." Starfire added.
"Extra cheese." Raven said.
Predator thought for a moment before adding his choice.
"I'll get pepperoni, sausage and meatball…and three pounds of bacon on the side. Oh yeah, and can I get some crazy fries with it; just hold any veggies it comes with...oh and a large chicken fillet sub with pepperoni, hot sauce and swiss cheese." He said, receiving a few agape mouths and shocked stares, even from the waiter.
"Uhhhh...do you...want anything to drink with that, sir?" The waiter asked.
"Yeah, two liters of lemonade."
"Um...sure thing. Coming right up." The waiter skated away.
"What?" Predator asked, in response to the awkward stares he was receiving. " Too much? I said I was starving. I can pay for it if that's the problem."
"No it's not that, it's just...that's a pretty big order." Robin said. "You can really eat that much on your own?"
"Yeah! Even I can't eat all of that." Cyborg agreed.
"Yeah, pretty much." Predator answered, shrugging his shoulders. "It's kind of like a werewolf thing; I can eat a whole Thanksgiving feast in one serving and still be kinda hungry. Comes with the territory of...bein' me, I guess."
After a twenty minute wait, the waiter finally came back with their pizzas and set them on the table, followed by Predator's plate of a large stack of bacon, a bowl of fries with meat and cheese over them, his sub and two large drinks. His mouth began to water and his teeth sharpened to points as he took in the smell. Beast Boy felt his own stomach churn at the sight of all the meat about to be devoured.
"Let's dig in." Robin said.
Predator and Cyborg were quick to grab the first slices. Predator added a few strips of bacon to his pizza and took a large bite with a crunch that could be heard across the table. After biting the pizza, he grabbed the sub and put some fries on it, that too chomped with a large bite. Beast Boy put his hands over his mouth, trying desperately to contain himself.
"New friend?" Starfire addressed Predator. "Would you please let us know more about you?"
"Mm?" Predator mumbled, his mouth full again.
"Yeah, man." Cyborg agreed. "Why don't you tell us how you got your powers?"
Predator gulped down his food and looked down.
"Uhhh..." He muttered.
"Is it an embarrassing story?" Beast Boy teased, nudging his arm.
"Believe me, it's not even close." Predator smoldered. "But I don't really like to…"
Predator's eyes suddenly widened and his ears twitched. He heard something in the distance. It sounded like…an alarm. He quickly jumped up from his chair, shocking everyone at the table. Without a word, Predator jumped from the balcony and onto the pavement, followed by a hop onto a light post, then another high jump onto the side of a building, gripping it with his claws. He jumped up a few times until he reached the top and ran further away until he was out of sight.
"Man, it's like living with a Chihuahua." Beast Boy said. "There's not wanting to talk about it, and then there's that."
"I don't think that's it." Robin said, standing up as he heard his and the other Titans T-Coms beeping. "Titans, let's move!"
The group jumped from their seats and made their own respective ways towards the source of trouble. Robin and Cyborg jumped into the T-Car while the others flew towards it.
"I need to start asking for cash up front." The waiter said, looking on.
Predator grunted as he landed on another roof. He crawled about on all fours, scanning for the source of trouble. His search heralded nothing out of the ordinary, though.
'I don't get it, I don't see anything. Something's not right.' His thoughts were interrupted by an explosion from the bottom of a nearby building. Predator gritted his teeth and pounced to the corner of the roof, where he saw a cloud of smoke shooting out the entrance of a bank. Coming out was a huge-muscled monster with long, brown hair and a goatee, his eyes curiously whitened and with no pupils. His outfit consisted of a sleeveless black costume with a yellow lining.
"Man, oh man...looks like I've hit the motherlode." The monster said, raising his arms in a gleeful manner. "Who would've thought there was so much free money lying around like this?"
"Hey, Sasquatch." Predator called jumping off the building and landing on a light post.
Mammoth grunted curiously as he turned around to face him.
"Who the heck are you?" Mammoth growled at him.
"I'm the new kid in town." Predator growled back. "Now drop the money before I drop you."
"Yeah, right. You and what army?" Mammoth snorted.
"Me." Predator smirked, jumping onto the ground on both feet. "Let's go, you and me; my fist hitting your face and your face hittin' the floor. Anytime you're ready."
"That's a good one, kid." Mammoth laughed. "I'm in a good mood right now, and you don't wanna catch me when I'm not. Why don't you just scurry off back to the comic book store?"
"Yeah, I actually did, big guy. They told me they were missing an ugly princess; who'd thought I'd find her robbing a bank."
Mammoth growled, clenching his teeth together.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, pal." Predator added, cracking his knuckles. "Your choice."
Mammoth smirked and dropped the bags on the ground. He suddenly stomped on the ground and sent a fast-traveling shockwave towards Predator, catching him off-guard knocking him into the air. Predator was dazed as he slammed into a car, crumpling the roof and shattering all the windows.
"Okay, that's gettin' annoying." Predator groaned as he slid down onto the ground, landing on his hands and knees. He looked up and saw Mammoth laughing at him. "Okay, Tinkerbell...if that's how you wanna play it." He growled, standing to his feet. His eyes turned red and he charged at Mammoth at an intense speed.
"Huh?" Mammoth raised an eyebrow.
"WHAM!" Predator connected a powerful punch to his face. The impact sent Mammoth flying a few feet away, sliding into the ground. He came to a halt after bumping his head on a car. He groaned, rubbing his head and standing back on his feet. He glared at Predator with intense hatred, whereas Predator smirked, popping open his claws.
"That's it!" Mammoth roared. "You wanna go, LET'S GO!"
Charging at his opponent at top speed, Predator let out a mighty roar readying to strike his newly declared prey. Mammoth quietly chuckled and charged at him as well, leaving craters in the street after every step. Predator gritted his teeth as they drew closer and closer to one another. They neared each other, winding back their fists, ready to strike the other down.
To Be Continued...
There's the third chapter for you, I really hope you enjoyed it. I'll add the next chapter as soon as I can. Probably/Hopefully in the next few days. Until then, thank you and goodnight.
BTW, I wanna give a special thanks to BlackWidowofLaPorte for creating the awesome cover image to this story. If you guys have the time, do me a solid and check on over his profile and stories and perhaps follow him for more content, leave a review, that kind of stuff and such. It would be greatly appreciative to him and me.