A/N: I don't own the original Teen Titans or Nightstar. The other Titans belong to me. Enjoy!
Teen Titans: The Next Generation
Chapter Four: Unwanted Heroes
May had come and gone and the HIVE students, as well as their hideout, were nowhere to be found. This was beginning to bother Mari more and more each day and her teammates had started to notice. Another weekend was upon them as they walked to their homes.
"Okay, guys, let's go home and hit the books so we can start our training as soon as possible!" Mari exclaimed, trying to sound confident. "If we get enough done, maybe we can do a quick patrol."
"Can't we take a break first?" Maxine whined. "Reruns of Pretty Pretty Pegasus come on at 4:30 pacific, 3:30 mountain, check your local listings."
"Don't you own all the seasons?" Valkin asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I can also watch every episode ever made using my artificially enhanced computer brain. I like sitting in front of the TV, let me have my rituals. You can have your rituals. Except the kinds with animal sacrifice, those are icky." Maxine huffed, folding her her arms.
Valkin opened his mouth to argue, but sighed and shook his head.
"You guys have been working pretty hard," said Azara, "you should take a break every once in a while."
"We can take a break after we find the HIVE and bring them to justice." Mari insisted as she continued to walk ahead. The others looked at each other with concern.
"Is she always like this?" Hallie asked.
"Well..." Vanessa began, "she's always been a bit hardheaded and tends to over do it like her dad."
"She's never had to lead a team or fight crime before." Valkin pointed out. "It can put a lot of pressure on someone.
"Mom says Nightwing used to push the team really hard sometimes, especially when Slade was around." added Azara. The mere mentioning of the name sent a chill down her cousins' spines.
"Slade?" Hallie asked.
"You don't know about Slade?!" Maxine asked, surprised that anyone who lived in Jump City wouldn't have at least heard of the name."
"Wait, orange and black mask, right?" asked Hallie. "Didn't he almost kill off the Titans and cause an evacuation of the city?"
"Well, technically-" Maxine began before Kyle cut her off.
"Slade manipulated our mom to believe the Titans would reject her because she couldn't control her powers and she believed him," he said, his tone dark as if reliving a nightmare, "he promised that he could help her if she spied on the Titans and destroyed them. When she thought she got rid of them, she attacked the city and people evacuated as Slade took over."
Hallie looked disturbed by the story. "I'm sorry. My parents never liked to talk about all the criminals that attacked the city."
"It's not a time in her life she likes to talk about," Kyle replied.
"Hey, guys! Hurry up! We're wasting time!" Mari called to them. The others sighed in unison and followed after her.
The new heroes went to the Logan home where they managed to finish their homework. They went to the Tower and trained for a half an hour before they did a quick patrol of the city. Once they finished their patrol, they returned to their homes.
Mari was helping her parents clean the table from dinner when she turned to her father. "Dad, isn't it odd how we haven't been able to find the HIVE or their hideout? Or how they haven't tried to attack the mayor or even the prison? Not even a bank robbery."
Richard nodded. "It is strange. I'm sure they're planning something."
"But what was the point of attacking the mayor if they they stop trying after the first time they failed?" Mari asked. "Why aren't they doing something? Anything?!"
"Maybe you guys showing up scared them out of the city," Mari's brother, Robert, suggested.
"But why attempt an attack just to get heroes to show up? What's the point?" said Mari.
"Maybe it was just to get someone's attention." said Robert with a shrug. "To see if any heroes protect the city besides Dad."
Richard put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. He could see the situation was bothering her. "Just stay vigilant. They're bound to show up at some point."
Meanwhile, in the HIVE's secret headquarters, the team that had attacked the mayor were trying to occupy their time, but were growing restless.
"I'm bored!" whined Gadget as she tinkered with a contraption of hers.
"I'm hungry!" Monumenta groaned.
"You're always hungry," Gadget snapped back. Monumenta snarled as Gadget squealed and covered her face.
"Will you idiots knock it off?!" barked Glint. His teammates stared blankly at him as he let out a frustrated sigh and went back to his sketch book.
"Whatcha drawing?" a Benny Various clone asked.
"None of your business." Glint growled.
Another clone snatched the sketch book out of Glint's hands. The sketch was a very illustrated snake with its fangs out and wrapped around a skull "Hey, this ain't bad! You turnin' into some kinda artist or somethin'?"
Glint snatched the sketch book back from the Benny clone. "I said it's none of your business!"
"Sheesh! Touchy!" replied the first Benny clone. "Hey, Benny, you wanna go rob a convenience store?"
"Sure do, Benny!" the second Benny clone replied.
"You know the rules," Glint warned, "we stay inside headquarters until the queen gives us our next mission."
"But we're hungry!" the first clone whined.
"And bored!" the second clone added in. "We need to do more than just classes, homework, and training. We need to get out there! Make the people fear us! Get our adrenaline pumping!"
"Patience, my students, you will have your chance to cause mayhem soon enough." said a woman as she came out of the shadows. She had short, orange hair, green eyes, heavy eye makeup, dark lipstick, and a yellow and black uniform. The woman turned to Glint. "What do I always tell you?"
"You can't just rush into a battle assuming you have the upper hand. You need to be great in number, strength, and mind." replied Glint.
The woman smiled, pleased. "Exactly."
"But Aunt Shimmer, we've been hiding for almost a whole month!" Monumenta protested. "The HIVE used to do all sorts of crimes and whenever they wanted."
Shimmer glared at her niece. "The HIVE was reckless and weak then!" she spat. "Students would get caught and thrown in jail on a regular basis. We can't afford to make the same reckless mistakes. We need to plan every move carefully. Isn't that right, my son?"
"Yes, Mother." Glint sighed.
Shimmer noticed the sketch and snatched the book out of his hand, tore out the picture he had just drawn and crumpled it up. "We need to do what is best for the HIVE. Now, it's getting late. You should all go to bed."
"Yes, ma'am." the teens replied in unison. Shimmer smirked as they headed to their rooms.
The next morning at eight am, Mari called her friends and told them to meet her at Titans Tower to train. Needless to say they were less than happy.
"Hey, Mari, there's this thing called sleeping in." said Kyle. "You should try it sometime."
"I'm going to slip tofu into everything you eat." Vanessa threatened.
"Please don't make me send you to another dimension." said Valkin.
"Aww, man! You woke me up from this really cool dream where there were kittens driving tanks and giant chickens that shot lasers out of their eyes! " Maxine rambled.
The team met at the Tower, stretched, and did a morning workout before they had breakfast. They were about to start lunch when the alarms in the Tower went off. Nightstar checked the computer.
"There's a bank robbery! It might be the HIVE. Titans, go!" When the Titans arrived, there was a swarm of police with cars flashing their lights outside the building. "We're here! Is it the HIVE?" Nightstar asked one of the officers. He looked at the team as if confused as to why they were there.
"What are they doing here?" another officer asked.
"There's three punks with ski masks in there trying to rob the bank and they have hostages." the first officer snapped. "Beat it, kids! Before you get hurt."
"Hey, we're the Teen Titans!" Nightstar snapped back. "We can handle a situation like this. Besides, it might be the HIVE again."
"Those super-powered freaks? They don't wear ski masks. This is a job for the cops! We'll let you know when a super villain comes around. If ever." said the second cop.
Nightstar glared at the police and huddled her team in a circle. "This is a hostage situation. We need to be extra careful going in."
"But the police told us to stay out of it." said Hallie.
"The police just have the building surrounded." said Nightstar. "We need to get in there, disarm the crooks, and get everyone out safely. Here's the plan."
Inside the bank, people whimpered and cried as the three men pointed their guns in different directions. "If anyone comes through that door, everybody dies! Your cops can't save you!" the first thug yelled. The people cringed in fear.
All of a sudden, a black aura covered the three criminals's guns. "What is this?!" the second thief exclaimed. The guns broke into pieces and fell to the ground as the criminals stared in horror.
Suddenly, the Titans came out from behind the teller booths. "Who are these kids?!" the second crook snapped.
Nightstar stood in front of the hostages. "We're the Teen Titans! Titans, go!" she shouted. Burrower, Beast Girl, Hallie, and Channeler followed Nightstar in the attack against the criminals while Falcon, having used a lot of energy and concentration to destroy all three guns at once, escorted the people out.
Meanwhile the police noticed the doors open and saw the hostages exiting the building. They ran to the hostages and helped them to medical aid. Not long after, Nightstar and the others brought the robbers out all bound up.
"Here you go, Officer!" smiled Nightstar triumphantly.
"We told you to stay out of this!" the officer snapped. "You could have gotten someone hurt!" His men took the criminals away and drove off.
"You're welcome." Falcon said dryly.
Nightstar let out a disappointed sigh. "Come on, guys. Let's go back to the Tower." They returned to the Tower where they had lunch and later did another workout. "Come on, guys! Fifteen more pushups!"
"Nightstar, give us a break!" exclaimed Burrower. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. "We've already trained for an hour."
"My arms feel like jelly!" Channeler whined. "And now I want a sandwich. Can we take a break, please?!"
Nightstar sighed in frustration. "Fine. Have your recovery drinks. We can call it a day."
Her friends looked at each other with concern, but said nothing in order to avoid confrontation. In the following days, the situation didn't improve much. One night, the Titans were on patrol when Falcon sensed distress. He followed the emotion until he heard screams.
"Help! Somebody help me!" a woman screamed as a man ran with her purse.
Falcon swooped in and used his magic. "Azarath! Metrion! Zinthos!" His dark energy grabbed the man and threw him against a wall. He glared angrily at the man as his magic handed the woman back her bag.
"You wanna fight, kid?" the man asked, his hands balled into fists.
Falcon's eyes shut and when they opened, four red ones took their place. "Ever danced with a devil?" he asked, his voice dark and sinister. The man stumbled backwards and fell onto some trash cans before he got up and ran away. Falcon's eyes turned to normal and he turned to the woman he had helped. "Are you all right, ma'am?" The woman nodded nervously before she too turned and briskly walked away.
Meanwhile, Nightstar spotted two crooks trying to steal a car. "That doesn't belong to you," she told them.
"Back off before you get hurt, little girl," one of the men sneered. When she took a fighting stance, they charged at her, but she blocked their attacks and twisted their arms as they yelled in pain. "Okay, we're sorry! We're sorry!" the man cried. Nightstar let them go as they held their injured arms and ran away.
At the same time, Beast Girl was on the edge of Jump City when she noticed a dog fight. She leapt into action and turned into a T-Rex before she growled at the people. Once they had ran away, she tried to assure the dogs that they were all right, but they were all too timid to approach her.
When the Titans returned to the Tower, they talked about the events that just occurred. "What do we do now?" Hallie asked.
"See if tomorrow is any different," said Nightstar, though her tone showed she wasn't very optimistic.
The next morning, the teens watched the news from their respective homes. Needless to say, it didn't raise their spirits.
"It has been a month since the so called HIVE had attempted to attack the mayor. The attack was stopped by five super-powered teenagers, but the HIVE had escaped. Since then, there has been no signs of the HIVE. Instead, the Teen Titans have been fighting every day crime and the people of Jump City are beginning to wonder; should the Teen Titans hang up their capes and call it quits? Was this all just a publicity stunt to bring super heroes back to Jump City? Are heroes needed again?"
To be continued...
A/N: Special thanks to Bludgeon for beta-reading this chapter for me!