Chapter Two/Fourteen: Go! I
As night fell on Jump City, four special teenagers moved towards its centre.
The first, Robin, was motoring the R-Cycle into the city proper. As he took the exit off the Dixon Highway into the streets, he smiled. The city was vast and glorious, but had a bit of a rough edge to it. This place was going to be perfect.
He pulled over by a dark alley to change into his actual costume and stepped out, reveling in the atmosphere it provided. It looked like he was now Robin, teen Wonder of Jump City. What a great moniker to start-
WHEE-OOO! WHEE-OOO!
Oh. The superstitious and cowardly lot. Right.
The second, Garfield, peered out of the window of his bus and grinned. He was finally here! No more parents, no more rules, just a chance to fight crime with his main man Robin and eat some tofu, with some video games on the side. It was a great deal.
chicksdigtheEars [cE] began messaging toddlyWonder [tW] at 9:47 pm
cE: dude IM HERE!
cE: this place is SO AWESOME!
cE: um..
cE: you here dude?
tW: huh? beast boy?
tW: oh. sorry. i was a bit busy. J
cE: hehehe thats cool
cE: you excited or what?
tW: eh… i kinda have my own job to manage actually.
cE: ?
tW: wayne… enterprises?
cE: oh right!
cE: good luck with that!
cE: mind givin some mojo to the beastmeister bfore he steps off tio find robin?
tW: thanks.
tW: and… good luck?
tW: i dunno, dude. robin literally just arrived. might be hard to corner him.
cE: L
tW: but on the other hand, there IS a burglary going on right now! you should go help!
cE: oh rlly?
cE: sure thing toddman!
tW: heh…
tW: good luck!
chicksdigtheEars [cE] has left the chat.
tW: amateur.
Oh, boy! A burglary just as he arrived! That was amazing!
Still giddy with joy, Garfield stepped off the bus and wondered where exactly such a thing might be…
WHEE-OOO! WHEE-OOO!
The jewelry store! Right!
The third, Rachel, manifested in a flash of black energy, smiling at her effort. Upon perusal, she appeared to be in a field, the look of which reminding her of a day with her mother at the park. It had been a fun day, the two of the taking some time off to- No!
No need to overwhelm herself. She'd literally just arrived in a city, having been struck down by the Justice League. Better to settle down and get her bearings first. Actually, that was a good question- where would she get her bearings? A library? A pub?
The library seemed like a good bet. She called upon her soul self to take her there, ignoring the grating sounds of a-
WHEE-OOO! WHEE-OOO!
Hmm. That sounded suspicious. Should she go and see what was going on? She didn't want to ruin everything by losing control of her magic, but-
Oh. It was a crime scene. Probably something to consider checking out.
The fourth, Victor, parked his car by a restaurant, got up to lean by it, and sighed. He had managed to make it to Jump okay, but there was still the question of what he would find there, and whether he had the resources to do what he wanted. The male had planned to consider applying to a university, but the effort of buying gas and food had depleted what little money he had taken, and for lack of a better term he was broke-
Could he show off his cybernetics? It was a possibility. The freakiness of the metallic parts would probably scare people off, but it would also gain enough interest to get him some tips- although he was a bit nervous about the wrong people finding out. Besides, he was pretty much a freak- that was why he had covered himself up-
WHEE-OOO! WHEE-OOO!
What? The police?
He froze, planning to leave, but sighed in relief when he realized they weren't coming for him. He also paled when he saw a burglar coming down the road- freak or not, he had to do something!
The Toyota pulled over by a small overhang, allowing its two occupants to get out. Moving quickly, Deathstroke pulled out a telescope and screen, while Wintergreen produced a small burger- his dinner.
The terminator gazed into the sky and smiled. "Isn't it beautiful, Wintergreen?"
"Why, yes sir, it is!"
"All those stars. Distant worlds, with no way of reaching them."
Wintergreen sighed. "Well, of course we can't, sir, it's bloody impossible at the moment!"
"I know." Deathstroke gestured towards the telescope, grinning. "Look into this."
The butler grumbled and did as requested. The view seemed normal enough- white dots briefly eclipsed by larger yellow ones. "Not much different here, sir…"
"A bit to your right, Wintergreen."
"What's so significant about that, then-" Moving the telescope further, he froze. "That's- a shooting star, isn't it, sir?"
Wilson nodded. "A small piece of space debris, moving swiftly towards Earth. Some would say it's a meteorite." He pointed to the star, a large green dot in the sky. "Don't you see… something different about this one, though?"
"Erm- no? It's just a regular star…"
"No, you fool!" The terminator grabbed his butler and waved towards the sky. "It is a star, but much more than that, it is an alien…"
Wintergreen gaped. "An alien? What- makes you say that, sir?"
"People have been talking about aliens for quite some time, but none have managed to find one. They do exist; it's just that the Justice League has taken care of them all. Now that the destiny debacle has caused them to split up…"
"You'll be able to take the thing for yourself?"
Deathstroke shook his head. "Contrary, Wintergreen-" He smiled slyly. "Robin will be taking it for himself."
"Why will that be?"
He pointed to the city centre, a giant mass of buildings and roads. "Robin is headed towards the central business district, where most of the crime can be found." Gesturing the butler to take the screen, he put it in his hands and showed the butler his findings. "If my calculations are correct, the alien will be landing… about here! The boy will be right in the crossroads, and then-"
"He'll be ours!" Wintergreen clapped his hands. "Brilliant deduction, sir!"
Deathstroke smiled. "Yes. Quite brilliant." He took out a strange mask from the trunk of the car and put it on. "Call me Slade for now, Wintergreen. I don't think the son of the World's Greatest Detective will react very well to the name Deathstroke."
The Englishman saluted. "Right away, sir- Slade!"
The two packed away their things and got back into the Toyota. "This is going to be amazing, Wintergreen," Slade mused. "The son of the Boy Wonder, right at our fingertips; and if we play our cards right, the alien will be too. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship."
"Yes, yes it is!" The two laughed maniacally as they drove off.
Lewa yawned, opening his eyes, and smiled. He had had a good nap, but it was now night, the time where he was obligated to fly down below and help the populace. Despite never being in the superhero business, he had made quite a name for himself over the last three days; the media had taken to calling him The Bionicle, a name that he grudgingly accepted. It wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but it would work.
The types of crime that he had seen during his tenure were very bizarre; to say the least- he had fought a mad ninja, a stocky grandma who could pack a punch, a green cybernetic alien who was surprisingly not his clone, an overly peppy jester, and an angry card-themed thug. The variety was refreshing, and certainly beat a sextet of villains who could only be defeated by collecting objects and going underground, but the Toa yearned for something more his type- just the mundane old criminal, nothing too serious-
WHEE-OOO! WHEE-OOO!
Oh- that was interesting!
Lewa peered down at the source of the noise and was surprised to see it was just as he'd hoped- an average-sized male creature was running down a road, outmatching a poliz car with a large sack in tow. A burglar? That seemed easy enough. He quickly stood up, readied himself to jump, and cast off, using the Miru to steady his fall. Warrior landed right in front of criminal- it seemed he wasn't too interested in him, though. What a shame. Lewa moved to get his attention but stopped when a dark shadow moved over the two of them.
"Huh?"
The man was right. What was up with that? Makuta?
No, it didn't seem to be- the shadow moved through the sky and dissolved into a nearby alleyway. The burglar pulled out a crowbar- why did everyone here have Toa Tools - and brandished it, obviously hoping to take the thing out. Before he could move a muscle, however, a small metal thing zoomed through the air and took the crowbar with a clang. Hoping to be helpful, Lewa quickly caught the thing.
The criminal seemed nervous, backing away hesitantly. "I-I don't want trouble, okay?"
Bad move. Before the two's eyes, a black blur dropped into the alley. Turning to see what it was, he was quickly overwhelmed by a giant bat, squeaking violently as it flew towards him. The burglar moved to protect himself, but was quickly scared by another blur.
"You should've thought of that before you committed the crime."
Charging out of the darkness, the source of the voice, a boy in a costume, jumped up and high-kicked the man back. He ran towards the kid, venom in his eyes, but Lewa was quick to intercept him, blocking the criminal's furious punches before giving him a good kick in the chest, taking him down.
The Toa smiled. "Hey, need a hand?"
The boy obviously could not reply, but he seemed to accept Lewa's presence. Nodding, he quickly bounded off a wall, flying over the criminal's shoulders, and grabbed them in a body slam. Before the man could react, he dragged him off the ground and threw him into the wall. It seemed he was fully knocked out. Lewa walked towards him hesitantly, trying to figure out if he was okay.
The criminal did not like this. "Hey!" he yelled. "This isn't your town! Aren't you supposed to be with-"
The boy moved closer as well. "Just moved here. From now on, I work alone-" he looked at the Toa- "or, on occasion, in a teamup."
Lewa turned to the boy. "Wow. Was that awesome or what?"
The boy did not respond. Scanning him over, the warrior realized that this actually was a hero. He had on a red and yellow tunic and green leggings- looked like a traffic light, now that Lewa thought about it- and a black cape. His hands and feet were covered by green gloves and black boots. A mask covered his face- that was a shame, but his spiky hairdo and the fact that he was shorter than him made up for that.
Trying to strike up a conversation, the Toa gestured frantically, trying to convey his earlier thoughts.
"Hey," the hero finally said. He smiled. "Do you… speak English?"
Lewa frowned and gestured further.
"Oh. Guess you don't." The creature put out his hand. "Robin. And you are…"
Acknowledging the offer, Lewa went for a fistbump, which the hero at first did not realize but later returned. He himself began gesturing as well. "Huh- you're that new hero, aren't you? The one everyone's been talking about?"
"I- guess so-"
Whooooosh!
A bright green streak flew through the sky above the city, illuminating the dark alleyway. Lewa and Robin looked to it and gaped. "Woah," the Toa said as it disappeared behind one. "Is that…"
BOOOOOM!
They both froze, taking in a sudden emerald glare. "Guess not. Do you think we should-"
Robin's eyes narrowed, taking in the scene. He all but disappeared, pulling out a rope and tying the burglar up before climbing over a wall.
Lewa looked at the burglar and frowned. That was peculiar. "Are all your Toa-heroes like that, burglar-villain?"
Queasy from being hung upside down, the man was unable to answer. "Uhnnnn…."
"Nevermind, then." Running after the hero, Lewa hoisted himself over the wall and was gone.
The sky was bright. Tanika winced at the strain on her eyes, but quickly ignored it. They all had to PAY.
Climbing out of the crater that she had formed, the girl coughed through the smoke, climbed to the top of the rubble, and took in her surroundings. It seemed she had landed in a city, buildings, roads and vehicles in the immediate vicinity. Several creatures had come out of the vehicles and were staring at her hesitantly. Tanika growled at this new obstacle, deftly sliding off the rubble. "Slopforn ivortnat! Slopforn! Ond gudshik zerrole!"
A male was trying to corner her with some sort of capturing device, one of the few people who had not been scared off by her yelling. She raised a starbolt to protect herself, but the device quickly flashed; closing her eyes in pain, she quickly reopened then and began swinging her arms, screaming loudly as she did so. The onlookers at first began to back away, but were soon running for cover once she pounded the pavement.
She wouldn't STAND for this.
A small yellow vehicle was parked by the building; Tanika quickly disabled it with a harsh punch. Moving toward the establishment, she began to punch again, taking out a metallic booth, a bench, and a few lights. Some more onlookers, on top of the building this time, looked at her hesitantly. She frowned, pulling her arms to try and get her cuffs off. Why were they so stubborn? Had her attack really frightened the Gordanians that much? Ugh!
The exile looked around, trying to find something to break them off. Surely these structures were somewhat hard. The building seemed to have some- Aha! A pillar! She flew towards the thing, and swiftly punched it; despite her hardest efforts, the floor shaking and the pillar crumbling to reveal its dented inner core, the damn things would just not budge. She tried again anyway.
"Zop!" PUNCH. "Yark!" PUNCH. "Mesnef!" PUNCH.
With each hit, the column began to steadily weaken; after the last, it gave way entirely, causing the balcony to fracture and tilt towards the street and scare the onlookers. The cuffs were still not off, though. She inhaled hard and prepared to swing again, but was-
ZOOM!
A small metal bird flew towards her. Could this be a chance to free herself? Tanika rushed towards the weapon, but it smashed into her crown and knocked her off balance. Stopping to catch her breath, she looked at the source of this obstacle and growled, eyes blazing.
A spiky-haired boy stood on the roof of a nearby car and smiled. Preparing to take this new girl on, he was quickly unnerved when a small robot jumped up beside him.
"Sorry I'm late!" it gestured. "You ran off and left before I could get the chance to talk to you!"
"I wasn't expecting you to follow me," the boy returned.
"Well…" the robot grinned. "That's kind of my thing! Running after people and helping them!" He turned to the damage. "Who do you think did all that? I've got my suspicions that it might be-"
The boy scowled. "Good question. Who are you?"
Before the robot could answer, Tanika leaped towards the car, readying herself to crush the boy; thankfully, he was quickly saved with a shield. Another swing was mitigated by the two jumping out of the way, landing on the street in a skid.
"Thanks," the boy gestured.
"Don't mention it! It's what I do." The robot smiled, but quickly froze.
"Wait," he thought, "is that- TANIKA!"
"Yeahs, I knows what's you're alls thinkin'," Jone'z said. "'Why're we heres?'" he continued, adapting a child-like voice. "'Why haven'ts the big scary lizards takens us back to their home planets?'"
"Why haven't you?"
"I knows! Well…" the Gordanian explained. "sees, I don't thinks you're guiltys of helpings the rutan'gah. You were withs mes, after alls. I figures I should helps you out and takes you back."
Malum frowned. "But you said you take everyone. Why won't you experiment on us?"
Jone'z sighed. "Truths be tolds, roboman, I'm kinda tireds of thats sorta thing. Gets pretty olds after a whiles. Methinks the others'll be the lasts."
Akhmou beamed. "Really?"
"Yeahs! I wanted to talks to Tro'gaars about-" He froze. "Oh, Zorg! Gotta get backs to the ships!" He bolted off, but not before violently hugging the two. "I'll see youse all laters! Have funs!"
"Well," the Glatorian whispered. "That's it. They're all gone."
"Huh. You'd figure an alien invasion would be more… aggressive."
Malum thought over this. "Guess they only wanted their girl after all. Say… what do we do now? I don't know if we'll be able to keep walking…"
"We gotta find Toa Lewa!" Akhmou cried.
"What? Why? Isn't he dead?"
"He may very well be," a new voice said, "but I am sure further questing will show he is not."
"Turaga Vakama!"
"Fire robot! Huh! Why're you here?"
"I had come to inspect the remaining pool of protodermis after the Gordanians last used it," Vakama drawled. "It seems they have had mercy on you!" He smiled. "I have no doubt this relates to your destiny."
The Glatorian scowled. "What about our destiny?"
"Do you not think it odd that they would leave you two behind, but not the Tajunan or the Tesaran?"
"No… why?" Akhmou panicked. "Do we have to keep walking?"
"Somewhat," Vakama said. "Jone'z is a very generous man, I am sure he knew you two would be something special.
"So?"
WHACK! "Do not backtalk your Turaga!"
"Sorry."
The Turaga sighed and continued. "This stock protodermis is one of the last, deftly preserved by the Great Beings. You are the last remaining threats to Spherus Magna. It is not a stretch to assume there is a correlation."
The Vorox Chief hummed. "So you're saying that we should…"
"Yes. Go in the protodermis. Find your destiny. It will serve you well."
"But it's protodermis, Turaga! What if it does… weird things to me? What about him?"
"There is no use second-guessing it," Vakama noted. "Destiny must sometimes be found through a leap of faith, for fear of not finding it at all." He turned towards the altar. "Now if you will excuse me, I must examine these interesting murals…"
"So," Akhmou asked, trembling, "should we do it?"
Malum sat for a while, pondering, then smiled. He had made up his mind.
"Malum?"
Swiftly picking up the Matoran, the Glatorian ran to the edge of the pool then stopped. Akhmou looked up at him nervously.
"What… we are? Are you crazy?"
"Crazy enough to listen to an embittered old crone," Malum remarked. "'Sides, I'd take bathing in a gamble liquid over walking in the desert with you any given day."
"But… the Vorox?" The conman pouted. "You're stupid."
"I know." With that, he held his breath and jumped in, letting the silvery water cover the two of them. It picked at them, tearing the two apart… but both were too preoccupied to care. Malum was thinking over his promise to one of his men, and Akhmou was too jittery over what his destiny might be. Neither one noticed as the protodermis disintegrated them and threw them into the abyss.
Lewa's first glimpse at the threat had been too far off to care, but now that it lay in front of him, he could plainly tell that this was his friend. He frantically tried to get her attention to no avail; the girl was well and fully sunk in her anger. What a shame.
She was still for a while, unnerving the two; then, without a warning, she was off, launching furious roundhouse kicks at Robin. The Toa sent bursts of wind in her direction in an effort to stop her, but she simply kept going, pushing her target down the street in sporadic blasts of green. Lewa sighed. If anything were going to get her attention, it would have to be talking…
"Tanika!" he cried. "It's me! Lewa! Your heart-friend!"
The alien briefly looked at him and harrumphed.
"You know! We speak-talked in the cave! Heart-promise made! I'm trying to shield-protect you!"
"If you wanted to protect me," Tanika finally said, "you should not have been the able to die." Then she was off, attempting to kill the hero again.
Lewa winced. Hurtful.
Robin didn't seem to care, though. Leaping high above the girl, he reached into his belt and pulled out some weird… plastic things, which flew into her face and deftly exploded. The Toa frowned at the boy. Had he actually killed her? If he was a hero, would he not follow the Toa Code?
Robin smirked. "Grenades. Always carry 'em around for times like this."
The Toa exhaled and turned to a passing alleyway, looking for a way to stop the rampaging alien. He was quite surprised, though, to find that a blue-hooded girl stood impassively, watching the fight in boredom. He looked at her questioningly, only to receive a small shrug in return.
As the smoke from the grenades cleared, the duo took a moment to rest, the hero smiling at his handiwork. "If I'm right," he gestured to Lewa, "these should've taken her out. Don't worry. I'm not going to kill her."
The Toa sighed in relief, manipulating the air to remove some smoke, but gasped- Tanika hadn't been harmed at all! As the collapse of the column showed, the girl looked to have taken some damage from the smoke, but otherwise it seemed nothing had happened…
Oh. And she was still very, very angry.
"But- I didn't mean to the die!" Lewa pleaded. "I speak-told you, it was protodermis! You don't exactly learn-know!"
"Do not give me the excuses!" the girl barked. "You cannot be here. The Gordanians explicitly killed you. The only way I can be the talking to you," she continued, picking up a nearby car, "is if you are the clone. And that seems quite viable."
The Toa frowned. "I'm not a clone! Please! I've had to deal with that kind of ruckus enough as is. Look- Tanika- trust me, I'm in the flesh. I should know… I've been through the stuff before!"
She screamed, kicking up the car so that it would rotate. "I am not the listening!" And then, just as it was about to hit the asphalt, she kicked it at them.
She kicked a car at them.
That was honestly a bit outlandish.
It flew towards their faces, wind screaming as it did so. Acting on instinct, Lewa grabbed Robin's neck and threw them both down. The action was taken not a moment too soon, as the car flew over them, hit a building at a distant intersection, and exploded.
Robin eyed the explosion and gaped. " Hm. Stronger than she looks." He turned to Lewa. "You know her?"
"A- bit," the Toa admitted. "Not very well."
"Makes me wonder why you couldn't calm her down- WOAH!"
Eyes bugging out, the hero gasped as he was struck in the jaw, skidding a few feet away. Lewa attempted to intercept her, but the girl quickly slammed him down. Helpless on the floor, the warrior saw her jumping for Robin and winced. "Brother- heads up!"
The hero nodded. "I've got it!" He dove away from his spot and sublimely got to his feet, pulling out a long metal staff that Lewa assumed was his Toa Tool- wait, hadn't he seen the thing before? In a dream, maybe? He struggled to remember, but was quickly distracted by the two's fight. In a swift motion obviously indicating experience, Robin jumped at his enemy, pulled his staff back, and landed a solid shot on her, sending her into a car a good fifty yards back. Brandishing the tool again, he smiled, aiming to take the girl on once more- but it crumbled to dust, leaving him defenseless.
"Huh? How did that happen?"
Lewa cringed. "I- don't know! I never fought her before… what do we do?
"I don't know," Robin answered, "but whatever it is, we'd better act fast, before-"
Too late. Smiling maliciously, Tanika pulled herself out from some wreckage. The Toa tried to get her to calm down again. "Sister- stop being so angry-mad! Have some thought-sense!"
"Sense? What sense? You left me to be captured."
"What?" Lewa gaped. "No I didn't!"
Tanika wrung out her head. "Like I said before; I am not listening." She smirked. "Zota."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Before the Toa could get an answer, the girl quickly wrung him up. She leapt towards Robin, aiming to finish him off…
RAM!
And was intercepted at the last moment, a green blur knocking her out of the way.
Lewa looked on at this and frowned- it wasn't very clear at first, but it seemed a kikanalo had done the deed. Why was it here- weren't people taking care of it? Why had it decided to ram into Tanika? And most importantly, why was it green?
The Rahi trotted towards Robin, as did Lewa, and it quickly changed to a humanlike form. Oh- that made sense! He looked more like an elf than he let on- green skin, fangs, pointy ears, impish form, and a goofy magenta and black outfit with the silliest of masks. How could he be a hero? The kid looked way too young to be doing so, way too immature- and he was saluting Robin! Seriously, what?
"Ex-Doom Patrol member Beast Boy, sir! How can I help?" He gasped, apparently realizing who he was talking to, and began to melt. "Wowzers! You're Robin, aren't you, sir?" He seemed to realize whom Lewa was, too, turning to him as well. "And you're that new hero everyone's been talkin' about- the Bionicle!" He eagerly shook the twos' hands. "Jeepers, it's great to meet you both!"
Lewa frowned at Robin. "Who is this?"
"Beast Boy, apparently. Don't ask me who he is- I've never worked with the Doom Patrol."
Beast Boy grinned. "Yup, Beast Boy! That's me! Hehehe. Like I said, I can't believe I'm meeting you, sir-"
Robin scowled. "Well, you can start by not calling me 'sir.'"
The boy briefly lost his composure, but was quick to regain it, saluting even harder (if that was even possible.)
"Let me just say that it's a real honour to be-"
Lewa looked towards the pizza parlor and gaped. Oh no. She couldn't have survived that, let alone not be hurt by it. Then again, though, she did resist a few explosions…
He turned to the elf and gently tapped him on his shoulder.
The boy beamed, now frantically gesturing back. "Oh, yeah! Yes, sir?"
The Toa sighed and pointed off into the distance, where it appeared Tanika was attempting to lift. A bus. And potentially kill them all.
It begins!
This chapter was another very difficult one to write, because of the pains of the whole language barrier thing. I don't think Lewa had a Great Rau, did he?
1. Ah Slade, I'd forgotten how manipulating you were.
2. If it isn't clear, Lewa and Robin are signing. There's some implied difficulty in the two understanding each other, but I think Robin'd know at least a bit of sign language. Doesn't come off too well, right?
3. Malum and Akhmou don't find Lewa from the beginning. That would be boring.
Also, is it preferable to use episode titles as chapter titles or just make up your own? I'm quite curious.
Read and review!