A/N: Aaaaand here's chapter 2! More Tempestra and Kid Flash interaction, and the appearance of one of the Titans' C-list villains.
"Two rooms, please. One night only."
Standing at the front desk of the hotel, the vigilante rummaged in her belt for her money as the man at the desk calculated the costs.
"Are you sure that's wise?"
Entirely unfazed by Kid Flash's sudden appearance, Tempestra took out a bunch of bills. Not looking at the youth, she watched the concierge into the computer.
"Then what's your big idea, Kid?"
The redheaded teen rolled his eyes at the nickname as he leaned against the desk.
"Well, the cost might add up. It's an actual hotel, instead of a motel." Casting his eyes around the area, he noted the well-dressed people coming in and out of the lobby. "Do you have the money for it?"
"Eighty dollars a night for each room," the concierge told Tempestra in a clipped voice. "One hundred sixty dollars is your sum."
Kid Flash smirked.
"Like I said. Do you have the money for it?"
Closing her eyes for a moment, Tempestra took a deep breath. Exhaling slowly, she opened her eyes again and looked back at the concierge.
"One hundred sixty dollars?"
A whoosh of air and a flutter of her cape, and her companion was standing on her other side, facing her as he leaned backwards against the desk – to the concierge's obvious annoyance.
"We could always just get one big room," the youth suggested, arms crossed. "It would be cheaper, right?"
The Asian girl gave him an irritated look.
"No way am I living in the same room as you. Even for just a night." As Kid Flash shrugged, the girl turned back to the deskman. "How much for two of the smallest, cheapest rooms?"
Typing on the computer, the concierge looked back at her.
"One hundred dollars total," he replied shortly. "It's the smallest rooms we have. They're connected, with one bathroom between them."
Glancing at Kid Flash's bored look, Tempestra placed two twenty dollar bills and a ten dollar bill on the desk.
"Here's half. Kid, cough up a fifty. I'm not paying for your room."
Looking disgruntled, the Titan slapped a fifty dollar bill onto the desk and went back to watching the people go by, his arms crossed.
Giving the concierge an apologetic look, Tempestra handed over the money, then accepted the two card keys.
"Thanks," she replied. "We'll be in and out with no problem."
"Great. Just great."
Hands on her hips, Tempestra surveyed the small room critically. With only one bed, a tiny closet, and a door leading to the connecting bathroom, it was the most sparsely furnished room the girl had ever been in. And having once been the daughter of a well-to-do family, this was certainly a new low.
The Asian girl was just dropping her dark purple backpack onto the plain bed when Kid Flash burst into her room and proceeded to examine it closely, speeding from one corner to the next.
"Huh." The speedster finally came to a halt, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I could swear your room is bigger than mine."
Glancing through the open bathroom doors, Tempestra rolled her eyes.
"It's exactly the same, smart one," she replied, gingerly sitting down on the bed opposite her companion. "And you really need to start knocking on doors, especially since our rooms are connected. And do I need to remind you to lock both doors when you go to the bathroom?"
Kid Flash merely smirked in response to the girl's mocking tone. Falling backwards to lay across the bed, he tucked his hands behind his head comfortably.
"Nah. I do have some sense of privacy, y'know." Glancing over, he saw the Asian teen frowning at him. "What?"
Sighing with exaggerated patience, Tempestra poked the speedster's muscled arm.
"This is my bed, Kid. Get off."
The boy grinned, his blue eyes flashing wickedly.
"Make me."
Tempestra rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"You have got to be kidding me," she remarked, shaking her head. "That is such a juvenile comeback."
Shrugging, Kid Flash closed his eyes.
"Nope. I'm not kidding. If you want me to get off so bad, make me. Unless..." he opened his eyes and raised one eyebrow mischievously. "You really want me to stay here."
The girl scowled, not missing the double meaning.
"Fine. But you asked for it."
Kid Flash smirked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down comically.
"What're you gonna do?" he asked mockingly, as his companion took a deep breath to steady herself. "Blow on me with some win-"
Tempestra extended one hand, pointing towards the boy. At once, thin bolts of lightning crawled down her arm and shot from the tip of her index finger, jolting Kid Flash from his position on the bed and knocking him onto the floor.
Breaking off the stream of electricity, the Asian teen walked over to the youth, who was sitting up slowly, wincing.
"Seriously, Kid. Some people just shouldn't have their buttons pushed."
Bending down, the girl offered her companion her right hand, which was now lightning-free. Shaking his head to clear it, Kid Flash took the proffered hand and let Tempestra help him to his feet.
"Well," he commented, brushing dust from his suit, "It's a good thing you're not one of those people."
As Tempestra rolled her eyes at his audacity, the speedster grinned.
"Meet you outside for a patrol," he told her, then zoomed from the room, shutting the door behind him.
Taking advantage of the Kid Flash-free moment, Tempestra fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes, arms spread-eagled over the covers. After days of traveling through all kinds of weather and places, she was tired of constantly moving. For just a few minutes, she wanted to savor the quiet stillness and relax, maybe even take a quick nap...
Her cell phone rang, emitting two high-pitched beeps that crashed through the girl's calm aura. Irritably opening her eyes, Tempestra used her right hand to open the outside pocket of her backpack and take out her phone.
Very few people had her cell phone number, which was the only way to contact her from a distance. It was either Damien (her heart quickened slightly at the thought) or Robin. But if it was Robin, it was probably close to the end of the world. He never called her if he could help it, preferring to ask official Titans for help. Even those times were scarce. And, of course, there was Kid Flash. But he preferred to just run over to her if he wanted to talk. The youth never did something if he could run instead.
Flipping open the clunky black phone, the girl held it to her ear.
"Hel-"
"'mbeingattacked!"
Jerking her ear away from the receiver, Tempestra stared at the phone for a second. The voice was loud and rushed, the words jumbled together into a meaningless stream. What made it worse was the whooshing noise in the background, as if air was flying by at top speeds. Or the person speaking was flying by at top speeds. Putting the cell phone back to her ear, the girl spoke cautiously.
"Kid Flash? Speak slower – I can't understand you."
There was a rush of static as the speedster gave a sigh of frustration.
"Tempestra," he said clearly, his voice only slightly slower. "Get down here right now. I'm being attacked down the street from the hotel. I NEED BACKUP."
Tempestra blinked, startled. Kid Flash was one of the last people to admit to needing any kind of backup or help. He, like many other male superheroes, preferred to think that they had the situation under control, even when they obviously didn't. Whatever was happening to Kid Flash, it was serious.
"I'll be right down," the girl replied swiftly, bounding up from the bed. When she heard the Titan hang up, she closed her cell phone with a snap and shoved it back inside her backpack, then shouldered it.
Starting towards the door, Tempestra hesitated. Her room was positioned on the third floor, meaning that her descent down to the street would take a precious amount of time. She didn't have time to go down an elevator, or even fly down the stairs. She needed a shortcut.
Eyes landing on the medium-sized window set into the ivory-colored wall, the girl made a split-second's decision. Firing off a burst of lightning, she shattered the window outwards (inwardly praying that nobody was outside to get hit by the falling glass and wood). The resulting hole was just big enough for her to try a little trick she'd learned from Robin.
Backing up until her backpack was against the door on the opposite wall, Tempestra took a deep breath. Then, she began sprinting towards the hole in the wall. When she was a foot in front of it, the girl leaped headfirst through the opening, making her body streamlined as possible to get through unscathed.
She almost made it.
Her head and shoulders out of the gap, Tempestra winced as a stab of pain lanced through her left leg. A piece of jagged glass must've slashed through her legging and cut through her skin.
Ignoring the pain, the girl concentrated instead on her landing. Doing a small mental trick, she created one of her wind platforms right underneath her. It appeared, whirling and barely visible, in time for the vigilante to do a neat roll onto it and land on her knees. Perfect, except for the leg cut. It was much harder than Robin made it look like whenever he jumped out of buildings to land on one of Raven's black discs. At least this time, the night's darkness kept anyone from spotting her.
Getting to her feet, Tempestra mentally directed the wind platform so that it flew around the side of the hotel. As she glanced back at the jagged hole – looking extremely out of place from the other bright, polished glass windows – a twinge of guilt went through the girl. She'd promised the concierge that she and Kid Flash wouldn't cause trouble. And now, she was leaving them with a thoroughly destroyed window.
Shaking away this thought, the vigilante soared around the hotel and towards the front. Flying ten feet above the near-empty roadway, she glanced down the street in both directions to look for the commotion. It was late evening, meaning that most people were indoors, or else civilians on the street or in the cars would be staring at her floating in midair. As it was, a few people had stopped from coming out of a restaurant to gawk at her.
Most of the cars, it seemed, were coming from the east. They sped by, faster than was normal for the light evening traffic. Pedestrians, too, were walking rather quickly from the same direction, casting anxious looks over their shoulders. Noticing this, Tempestra turned to face the east. There seemed to be some kind of commotion, involving a gathering of quite a number of similarly-looking people, and a red and yellow blur. Definitely Kid Flash.
Powering her hands with lightning – to the pedestrians' horror – Tempestra zoomed through the air, distantly feeling her leg gash sting from the onslaught of wind. Coming nearer, the girl saw that Kid Flash was surrounded by no less than forty men, all of them looking exactly alike: middle-aged Caucasian men with black hair streaked with gray, wearing white-collar workers' crisp cotton shirts, blue ties, black pants, and black dress shoes. Large old-fashioned glasses were stuck over their eyes, while creepily fake smiles were plastered on their faces.
Having read the Teen Titans' files on the many villains that they'd faced, Tempestra instantly recognized the Bobs. Created by a block of space tofu called 'The Creator', the Bobs were made from the same material, called 'newfu'. The last time they'd been spotted, The Creator had been eaten by Cyborg and the Bobs destroyed by Beast Boy. Obviously, they'd made a comeback.
Now, scanning the Bobs as she approached the scene, the vigilante spotted one of the Bobs holding a small glass container holding a small block of newfu in a liquid – The Creator. The leader, a jagged black mouth and pair of yellow eyes under a black unibrow pasted on the block, was screaming encouragement as the Bobs attempted to tackle Kid Flash. The super-speedster, however, was running circles around them, ramming into each of them and causing them to hit the ground and dissolve into a cream-colored mush. Unfortunately, the pulp would reform into a Bob again and redouble its attempt at attacking the Titan.
The Creator and Kid Flash both spotted Tempestra at the same time.
"A little help here!" the redheaded teen yelled, ducking to avoid three Bobs as they dove at him. The Creator's eyes widened – out of fear or anger, Tempestra didn't know – and began screaming commands again.
"Attack the girl! Attack the girl!" It shrieked, its voice surprisingly shrill.
Immediately, twelve Bobs jumped into two pyramids, standing on each other's shoulders in order to reach the vigilante. The two on the tops of the heaps leaped at the girl, hands reaching out to grab her.
Flying backwards a few feet, Tempestra hurled fistfuls of lightning at the Bob pyramids, causing most of them to splatter to the ground, then materialize again into Bobs. Frustrated, the vigilante created a thick rope of air, then used it to trap five Bobs to the ground. In spite of this, the newfu creations simply turned themselves into mush, slithered out from under the rope, then congealed themselves into Bobs again.
It was hopelessly maddening. Everything that Kid Flash and Tempestra did was useless as the Bobs reformed over and over, never once staying in their paste-like state or falling unconscious. Even Kid Flash's rapid speed tunnel, created when he ran around them in circles, didn't defeat them. And it didn't help that The Creator kept screeching "Kill them! Kill them!" endlessly.
Finally, Kid Flash jumped onto Tempestra's wind platform, grabbing her hand to steady himself as the platform flew upwards, out of range. The Bobs, attempting to make even taller pyramids to reach them, vainly fell to the ground.
"Uh, got any ideas on how to get rid of them?" Kid Flash asked, quickly letting go of the vigilante's hand and pointing at the Bobs, who were attempting to climb onto parked cars to get closer.
Tempestra raised her eyebrows as she blasted the nearest Bobs with balls of lightning. When her leg gave a throb of pain, the girl distractedly grabbed a roll of antiseptic bandages from her backpack and wrapped it around the wound.
"Aren't you supposed to know how to defeat them, being an official Titan?" she pointed out skeptically, putting the roll away. When Kid Flash just looked at her, completely clueless, the girl gave a huff of annoyance and straightened. "The Titans have files on their enemies and their weaknesses, you know."
The super-speedster shrugged.
"I was never into computery stuff," he remarked dismissively. "Too boring. So what's their weakness?"
The vigilante moved the wind platform backward to avoid a Bob, who managed to climb up a nearby lamppost and make a leap for them. The other Bobs, seeing this, began to do the same thing.
"Water," Tempestra replied finally, making the wind platform weave to avoid the Bobs suddenly jumping at them from neighboring lampposts. "They go back to their newfu forms when they touch water."
Kid Flash grinned.
"Let's get hoses and waterguns!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "It'll be awesome. All we have to do is shoot them with water and bam! They're finished."
"Great idea, Kid," Tempestra remarked, voice heavy with sarcasm, "Except for one thing – where are we going to get the hoses and waterguns? And the water for them? They don't even have pools around here."
The boy's face fell.
"Oh. Yeah." Then he brightened again. "But on the east edge of the city, there's a forest and a lake."
Tempestra raised her eyebrows doubtfully.
"There's a lake? Are you sure?"
The speedster smirked confidently.
"'Course I am. I explored the city in, like, five seconds, remember?"
The Asian girl pursed her lips thoughtfully, absentmindedly shooting a Bob with a bolt of lightning.
"All right. I've got an idea."
Turning the wind platform around, the vigilante cupped her hands around her mouth and faced The Creator, its container held snugly in a Bob's arms.
"Hey, you! The Creator, or whatever you call yourself! You've got strength in numbers, but are you fast enough to catch us?!" Dropping her hands back to her sides, the girl began flying eastward, glancing back to make sure that they were being followed. Sure enough, the Bobs began running after the two teens, The Creator screaming, "Get them! Get them!" in a high-pitched voice.
Smiling smugly, Tempestra turned back forwards to direct the wind platform towards the edge of the forest. Glancing at Kid Flash, she saw the youth shaking his head disappointedly.
"What?" she demanded.
Kid Flash sighed, crossing his arms.
"That was a pathetic excuse for a taunt," the boy commented, still shaking his head. "It almost makes successful taunts look bad."
Tempestra rolled her eyes.
"Isn't that what crime-fighters do?" she retorted. "Yell bad puns and comebacks?" When the speedster raised one eyebrow questioningly, the vigilante shook her head. "If you're going to complain, you can just jump down and get to the lake by yourself."
The superhero peeked over the edge of the wind platform, which was flying at least thirty-five miles per hour, to see that they were thirty feet from the ground. Any jump from their height, at their speed, would be fatal.
"Uh, I'm staying on."
The vigilante smirked as they crossed the city line.
"Thought so."
They both fell silent as the soared away from the outskirts of the city and towards the forest. The Bobs were still sprinting after them, seemingly never getting tired. And The Creator was still screaming "Run after them! Run after them!" as loudly as possible.
As they neared the edge of the forest, the lush green treetops just above their height, Kid Flash eyed the thick woods with apprehension.
"Are you going to fly over the trees, or through them?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "'Cause you might hit a branch or something that'll make us both fall."
Tempestra shot him an exasperated look.
"We're flying through them so the Bobs won't lose sight of us," she replied with forced patience. "And I won't let us fall to the ground or hit a branch. Have a little faith in me, Kid." As the speedster muttered, "I would if you gave me reason to," the girl slapped him lightly on the shoulder.
They plunged into the woods, Tempestra concentrating as they wove through the outstretched branches. Below, the Bobs never slackened their speed as they crashed through the undergrowth, looking up once in awhile to keep their target in their sights. Even Kid Flash, not wanting to distract the focused vigilante, stayed silent, even as a falling twig clipped him on the head and leaves tangled in his hair.
"How far is the lake?" The girl's voice was curt as, eyes narrowed, she jerked the wind platform to the left to avoid a tree branch. Kid Flash, having lost his balance multiple times, was now clutching the vigilante's shoulder to steady himself.
"Uh, not that fa-"
The Titan's reply was interrupted as the maze of tree branches suddenly thinned. The two teens burst into a large clearing, dominated by a large pond, the blue surface barely rippling. Bushes lined the edge of the water as reeds thrust up from the calm surface.
Tempestra flew to the center of the pond, giving Kid Flash a glance.
"This is a pond, you idiot," she said exasperatedly. "Not a lake."
Her companion merely shrugged.
"Close enough."
At the vigilante's urging, the wind platform turned on the spot, facing the direction from which they'd just come from. A second later, the Bobs burst into the clearing. Spotting the pond, the ones in the front skidded to a halt, only to be shoved forward as the ones behind them failed to stop. Ten Bobs fell into the water, instantly turning into small, cube-shaped newfu that floated on the surface.
"Nice," Tempestra and Kid Flash commented at the same time. The remaining Bobs spread out along the edge of the pond, trying not to fall in. A couple of the clumsier ones, being jostled by their fellows, tripped into the water, turning into their newfu form.
"Get closer to the edge," Kid Flash suggested, eyes on the Bobs. "They might try to jump for us."
Raising her eyebrows, Tempestra followed his advice, flying lower and nearer to the Bobs.
"You actually have a good idea," she remarked, voice grudgingly surprised. A group of Bobs made a leap for the wind platform, then missed, falling into the water with a plop. Kid Flash flashed a grin.
"I try."
Twelve more Bobs, forming a pyramid, made a dive at Tempestra, who jerked the wind platform back. All twelve of the Bobs splashed into the water, leaving very few left back on land. Rubbing his hands together in anticipation, Kid Flash nudged Tempestra with his elbow.
"Lower this thing close to water level," he ordered, bending his knees in preparation. "I'm going to finish them off." The vigilante obliged, muttering, "It's a wind platform, not a thing."
Once they were hovering mere inches above the water, Kid Flash sped across the surface of the water, only a blur as he produced ripples in his wake. Reaching the edge of the water, the speedster sprinted behind the Bobs, pushing each of them in the back into the water as he did. One by one, the Bobs tumbled in, until there was one left. Kid Flash shoved him in with one hand, then neatly caught the container holding The Creator with his other hand.
Struggling not to look impressed – and thus, make Kid Flash even more egotistic – Tempestra raised her eyebrows.
"Good jo-"
"Let me go, insolent human!" The Creator shrieked, bouncing up and down in the liquid. "You will pay for this! Where is my backup?"
"Backup?" Kid Flash shook the container questioningly. "Who sent you? Why'd you attack me?"
The cube of newfu laughed maniacally.
"You shall never know, human! You will pay for this! You-"
With one deft movement, Kid Flash unscrewed the lid of the container and dumped The Creator into the water, where he began to sink, screaming, "Insolent human! Bring me back!" The super-speedster shook his head stubbornly as Tempestra sighed, crossing her arms.
"Nope. Not until you tell me who sent you and why you attacked me. And who's your backup?"
"That would be me."
The mechanical voice came from a black-clothed figure as it tackled Kid Flash to the ground and threw him into the nearest tree. The superhero hit the wood hard and fell forward onto his knees, where his attacker, ragged cape fluttering, grabbed him by the throat and shoved him against the side of the tree once again.
And Tempestra realized whom, exactly, the backup was.
Red X.