Titans East flew in on their modified T-ship. Mas & Menos shareed a modified pod that could tap into their shared powers when seperated from the rest of the ship. Jinx had the cockpit, with Aqualad and Speedy in the two side pods, and Mammoth balancing out the back. Each pod was designed to take advantage of their abilities and aptitudes.
As the Tower came into sight, Jinx sighed. "There it is: our temporary home for a time."
Mas and Menos pipped up with something the others didn't understand.
Cyborg came in on the communicator. "Titans East, come in."
"Hey Cyborg," Aqualad spoke up.
"Hey, tin man!" Jinx said happily. "What's up?"
"Hey, Jinx. Can't talk long. I'm transmitting a list of villains you should keep an eye out for. When word gets out the Titans are out of town, someone may try to pull something."
"Gosh, I hope so!" Mammoth spoke up. "THings have been SO slow back in Steel City. Working out just ain't the same as busting bad guys."
"Thanks for looking after the city while we're off fighting the Brotherhood of Evil," Cyborg said.
"No prob, tin man."
"Now make sure-"
"I know, I know," Jinx said rolling her eyes. "Activate the security lockdown every night, buff the T-car counterclockwise, and don't eat your turkey leg from the fridge, it's for turkey day. Did I miss anything?"
Cyborg smiled. "You know me so well, Jinx. With you there, what have I got to worry about? Oh! Star wants to make sure you remember to feed and cuddle Silkie. According to her, the little guy responds best to a woman's touch, so she'd like you to handle that part, Jinx."
Jinx smirked. "The little cutie? I'd be happy to. YOu let Star know he's in good hands. Jinx out."
In the Tower, they began to explore. Jinx and Mammoth had seen it all before, as had Aqualad, but Speedy got a bit jealous. "They've even got flat panel computer displays. How come we don't have flat panel computer displays?"
Before Jinx could answer, Control Freak made his appearance. "Greetings Titans! YOur number o-OOF!"
Mammoth did not react well to being surprised. WIth one punch, he sent Control Freak bouncing across the room.
"Ow!" he said when he came to a halt. "That hurt! You're not supposed to hit me!" THen he saw them. "Wait, who are you guys? You're not the Titans!"
Jinx smirked. "We're the Titans East!"
Introductions were in order.
"Aqualad!"
"Speedy!"
"Mammoth!"
"Mas..."
"& Menos!"
"And Jinx!"
Control Freak stared at them. "Yeah...never heard of you guys."
"Now that's just rude, Control Freak," Mammoth spoke up. "We hung out not two weeks after the fall of Hive Academy. ...and weren't you a washout under the original Headmistress?"
Control Freak made several angry, incoherent noises.
"Oh yeah!" Jinx said, smacking her palm with her fist. "The Angry Titan Nerd! I watch your channel!"
"R-really?" Control Freak was stunned. A cute girl like Jinx watched his channel?
Jinx laughed. "Yeah! You're always good for a laugh!"
"I don't do comedy!" He leapt backward. "I came here to enact the Ultimate Titan Challenge! And since you seem to be this way about it, and the REAL Titans aren't here, I'll just have to settle for you!" He whipped out his weapon pack. "I've brought the ultimate weapons, made specifically for the real Titans. You Titan Wannabes don't stand a chance! Victory will be mine."
He fired off the torpedos. Mammoth evaded the blasts. He got caught in the sphere. He punched it, trying to break out.
"Your efforts are futile! THis atomic resistor capsule was built to defeat Starfire."
"Really? That strong, huh?" Mammoth started running. The sphere rolled towards COntrol Freak.
"No fair!" he yelled, running away.
His face offs with Speedy and Mas & Menos went as expected, and Jinx and Aqualad cornered him back in the kitchen. While he was taking pop shots at Aqualad, Jinx shorted out his pack with a few hex bolts.
He jumped away. "You lot don't fight fair! This would all have worked on the REAL Titans, but your powers are just...LAME! I don't wanna fight you anymore."
The Titans East worked together to clean up the didn't bother searching for Control Freak. If he tried anything, everyone would know. THat's just how he worked. Besides, he'd post something about it on his channel. In the mean time, she fed Silkie.
"Who zaps out in the middle of a fight?" Speedy asked, confused.
"A sore loser," Mammoth said from the computer. Jinx had him watching Control Freak's channel for activity. "He's more of a super fan than a super villain. DOn't worry so much."
Cyborg opened communications. "The tower sensor detected weapons fire. Everything okay?"
Mammoth shrugged. "Just some pest control problems. A rat ate your turkey leg."
"What? Aw, man! But what kinda rat requires weapons fire?"
"The kind that thinks it's a bad guy. DOn't worry about it, tin man," Jinx said, rolling her eyes. "YOu asked us to watch the citry for you. You gonna jump every time the scanners send you the slightest blip?"
"It's just-" There was an explosion in the background. "Uh oh. I gotta go."
Jinx shrugged as she babbied Silkie. "See? Cyborg just worries too much."
The alarm went off.
Control Freak watched as the Titans East handled their own unique hurdles. Jinx magic stairs were an intruiging way of dealing with the building problem. Mammoth seemed to think with his muscles with every problem that came his way, though, so it was lucky that his issue was a building collapsing. He just got in position where the support had given way and held the whole thing up until everyone was out, then did a controlled drop so no one would get hurt.
With advice from his chat room buddies, Control Freak planned his New Ultimate Titans Challenge!
With the beginning of the challenge, Control Freak announced everyone's hurdles, but only to the audience and each Titan. For Mammoth, a giant chess board was crafted near the nuclear power plant. He had five minutes to beat a fiendish level computer, or the chess board would trigger a meltdown of the reactor, irradiating the entire city. He had to take down the enemy king...by the rules of the game!
Mammoth smirked. "Bring it on!" he said, cracking his knuckles.
For Jinx, a schoolbus was driving its bus load of children home from school. It would take the freeway, and once it went above 50, the bomb would be armed. If it dropped below fifty, the bomb would detonate.
Jinx sniffed at hearing this. "You stole that from speed. Can't get anyone off the bus without setting off the bomb either, right?"
"That's right!" Control Freak said. "YOu're task is to get on the bus in the middle of the freeway, get control of it, and disarm the bomb..." Nth Metal cuffs suddenly cocooned Jinx' hands and lower arms. "Without the use of your magic hand motions! Let's see how well you do!"
Jinx cursed. "You just love to make things difficult, don't you?" She saw a car coming up with a bunch of young guys, and whistled. It stopped. "Gimme a lift, boys?" she said flirtatiously, and winked.
Once they let her in, her eyes glowed. "Drive as fast as you can. There's a school bus we need to catch."
They drove.
When they caught up to the school bus, she hopped up onto the engine housing of the car, in front of the windshield, then leaped, sliding elegantly through an oped window of the bus without touching the sides. Running up to the front, she explained the situation. The driver nodded, and kept the pedal to the metal. She turned to the kids.
"We're filming a movie, boys and girls, and I need volunteers. I'm not looking for the photogenic, though. I'm looking for experts, to make this realistic. Who here is the biggest expert when it comes to anything dangerous? And who's the biggest nerd?" Two kids were pushed forward. They both looked like they were beat up regularly, and were probably members of every nerdy club on campus. They were about 10, and from how they acted around her, they had just started to notice girls.
"Tell you what, you two. You're my new costars. You both know the movie Speed?" They nodded. "Well, we're doing a similar scenario here. Somewhere, a BOMB has been strapped to the bus, and I need help finding it so I can disarm it. Now, how should I go about doing that? Manage it for me quickly, and you both earn a kiss!"
The kids rushed to work. They examined the bus, the vicinity, even some old comic books. Popping open the lower emergency door, one of the kids peeked under the bus. "It's just under the front part of the bus, miss, between the front wheels!"
The other kid paced out the exact location for Jinx. "Right here, miss."
Jinx nodded, she had explained the situation - and her plan - to the boys in the car, and they had made sure no other vehicles were behind the bus in three lanes for at least 5 miles back. "Okay," she yelled to the students. "We're gonna make this real, so everyone to the front of the bus!" Everyone ran to the front of the bus, piling as far forward as they could while staying out of the paced out area. Taking a deep breath, she tolf the driver, "GUN IT!" As he pushed the bus as fast as it would go, she spun, cutting the section with the bomb completely free with hexbolts from ehr feet.
The bomb wasn't as well built as Control Freak had thought. Cutting it free had caused a few seconds delay in the explosion, enough time for the bus to get completely clear.
As the bus slowed to a halt, Jinx found the two kids who had helped her. "Well done, you two." She gave them eacha quick kiss on the cheek.
Once the Titans reunited, they talked about what had happened. Most of the Titans were shocked at Mammoth's success.
"13 move checkmate? Are you kidding me?" Speedy demanded.
"What?" Jinx said, laughing. "You expect anything less from the Hive Academy chess champion?"
They all stared at Mammoth. He shrugged. "I like chess."
Control Freak was carted away when he stupidly made himself too readily available for capture.
Jinx reassured Cyborg in his call that there was no...OFFICIAL need to hurry his return. They had everything under control.