-Writer's Log-
I'm doing my best to make up for lost time and to try and get back into the swing of things, blessedly I'll have more time for fun in my life, thus I give you the next installment of Thomas and the Titans, please enjoy. -The Saint
Robin reclined against the wall of a secure room in the Jump City intensive care ward, his tired bloodshot eyes watching the broad, armor plated back of Cyborg, who sat hunched over a series of monitors and control panels, the three would be criminals were sedated and restrained in separate rooms, the sheer volume of sedatives needed to keep the three criminals under, though it was readily apparent that the fugitives circulatory system and natural filters were working overtime screening out the drugs almost as fast as they could be administered. Cyborg finally looked up from the readouts with a disgusted sigh "you guessed right the whole set up is a primitive adaptation of Loonies' set up, way more primitive, and kind of, I dunno slapped together, like every component was hand crafted. I think these three are prototypes for a production model." The boy wonder's eyes widened marginally "you mean to tell me there are more of these guys running around the city!" exclaimed the exhausted teen, fumbling with his utility belt for a moment before finding a small flat disk that rattled fetchingly, he fiddled with a small lever on the side of the disk and tipped the device upside down against his lips, the Titan's leader swallowed three small pills dry, they struck his empty stomach like lead and began to burn away his fatigue, his aches and pains left his body as the mildest euphoria softened the word around him he reminded himself once again that this was the last all nighter this month, "crime never sleeps" he muttered to himself, Cyborg's brow furrowed and he pretended not to hear even as the mask teen vanished into the night off to hunt, this was *his* city and he'd be damned if he let the little bean pole have all the fun, with that Cyborg strode out of the hospital room and joined the hunt.
The Lunatic jerked awake as the pain of being struck jarred him into awareness, his left hand shot out from beneath the thin hospital blanket seeking his attacker and succeeding only in knocking over his IV unit and toppling him from the bed and onto the cold hard tiles of the infirmary floor, He managed to twist mid fall landing on his hands and knees , the jarring impact sent an incessant throbbing jangling into his skull, his vision swam and dark spots danced before his eyes as a dull roar filled his ears, his limbs shook uncontrollably and frustrated tears escaped his eyes, unexpected shame seized him in it's merciless jaws and shook him, horrific fantasies of crippling weakness danced before his eyes as he lost his fight against gravity and fell onto his side, curled into himself and struggled to against frustration and shame to find that still place deep within and the relief it promised.
It came as a shock to himself standing before a mirror still pool of water as dark as the void and impossibly deep, all around him hung the black curtain of his subconscious, an expectant stillness seemed to settle about him as his eyes came to rest upon the pale figure that stood opposite him across the dark pool. She, for indeed the person across from him was a "she", stood out starkly from the darkness that surrounded the pool, her hair seemed to drift lazily about her shoulders, leaving her face obscured by the writhing strands, though tom had no need to see her features, nor her tall, scarred, painfully thin frame because her hellish black eyes that shone darker than the darkness, hungry and strangely excited, their shared bareness seemed oddly fitting given their intimate location, then she smiled, and Thomas found himself tipping forward and sinking into the cold dark water.
The incessant squeal of some kind of frustratingly complex medical device was the first thing that Tom became aware of, the second was far more distressing it was the cold sticky feeling of his naked buttocks doing it's level best to adhere to the cold tiles of the infirmary floor. The infuriating whine precluded the door bursting open and a harried doctor rushed in her hair tied up in a sever bun and a name tag designating her Dr. Veronica Hildegard pinned to her pristine lab coat, she barked orders to the trio of nurses and demanded to know where their patient had vanished to, Tomas grinned broadly and leapt up with a shout of "SURPRISE!", the startled cries of the nurses and doctor were drowned out almost immediately by Starfire's shocked scream, and the explosion of her reflexively hurled star bolt as it took out the wall across from her and knocked out the power to the entire floor, in the gloom of the dust filled infirmary the Lunatic cackled with delight.
From the pitch dark, humid depths of Raven's private bathroom, said Titan sighed contentedly "looks like Loony managed to pull through without us", a gasp followed by a satisfied moan could be heard in the warm wet dark as her partner's strong hands gently worked the knots from her aching shoulders, he murmur softly as his nimble fingers located another knot and began working it from her slowly relaxing shoulders coaxing another gasp and a low throaty sound from deep within her chest that sent the blood racing through his veins, his fingers dipped beneath the soapy water as he leaned in close grazing her slender neck with his sharp teeth,earning a gasp of a different sort and earned him a rare happy laugh from the sorceress. Raven shivered as the warm fingers caressed her warm flesh "wicked wicked boy" she whispered into Garfield's pointed ear before dragging him into the soapy water with her.
It was an interesting scene that awaited Robin and Cyborg, when they arrived back at the tower after a long fruitless night of scouring the city for information, the only thing unusual that they had been able to gather was that most of the criminal organizations seemed to be pruning their less effective members and shipping them off to god knows where. However I digress, back at the tower Robin and Cyborg stood in slack jawed shock as they watched Lunatic and Starfire sharing a vegetarian pizza and slathered thick layers of sour cream upon the already unhealthy meal, the food choice in and of itself was almost normal, however the fact that Loony and Star were sitting together... and chatting, smiling even as they discussed some inanity about cream soda, and barbeque flavored peanuts. Raven was sitting at the far end of the couch, well out of immediate "splatter" range reading, her hood about her shoulders and smiling faintly as she read from a small leather bound book, a tiny magnifying glass in her hand as she deciphered some clue about the, likely, hand written text, sitting on the floor beside her feet was Beastboy playing a hand held game with the volume off periodically adding to the discussion, or piping in a disgusted sound, it just seemed so normal. Cyborg shattered the tableau with an excited yell and booming footsteps, scooping up Starfire and Loony crushing them (mostly Loony) in his bombastic embrace excitedly chattering while Star giggled and Loony barked his outrage at the invasion of his personal space, Beastboy and Raven shared a small secret smile and colored momentarily as Robin proceeded to go boneless in the doorway sliding down the wall to sit in an untidy sprawl, a silly relieved grin on his face.
The news that both Titans had been under for almost two weeks was a grim but not unexpected unpleasentry, Loony took the news that his rifle and chest plate with a sort of restrained panic, reassurances that the rest of his weapons and armor were accounted for did something to relieve the jittery youth. Robin dropped his final bomb of the night by informing the rest of the titans about the enhanced criminals, that resembled their newest member.
As the meeting was adjourned, Robin placed his hand on Stars and smiled walking her to her room and speaking in low tones about the things he hadn't the nerve to speak of with others, "I'm glad your alright Star, I was... the team was, well.." he cleared his throat nervously and started in shock as Starfire gently rubbed her thumb against the back of his hands, smiling reassuringly her luminous green eyes glowing understandingly as she waited, Robin finally managed to organize his thoughts into some semblance of coherency "I was worried" he muttered softly, coloring with embarrassment at the admission. Starfire leaned in and kissed his cheek softly and murmured a quiet "thank you Richard", they sat quietly together in the privacy of the conference room, enjoying the quite and the company.
All was not exactly well in the tower despite the seeming peace, with his belly full Thomas retreated to his room, his mind working a mile a minute as he plotted and planned the steps necessary to make his way back to the HIVE, he had no direct method of communication, his student I.D. card allowed him entry into the school, but the Titan's as a whole had expressed a distinct distaste for his choice in friends, it was troubling but he refused to budge on the subject, after all a wise man once said you can't pass the whiskey to yourself. He slipped into his room to gather what remained of his belongings, he had the sinking suspicion that troublesome times were coming, and he wanted to have all his ducks in a row before making a move, he rooted through his belongings counting out the shells for his revolver and loading all four speed loaders, he packed away the loose rounds into his belt pack and fished out the replacement fatigues that Cyborg had been rather cool about getting for him, the olive drab was comforting, but the new clothes had a stiff sort of newness to them that would be felt for weeks, an aggravated sigh escaped the trouble young man, as he stowed his pistol on his belt and sheathed his knife in its usual spot, hand level on his right thigh, he pulled on the new fatigues and resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose at the "new car" smell, after lacing his boots and stashing what was left of his armor under his bed, he sat down once more and focused on finding the stillness, and plunged immediately into darkness for a quarter hour.
At ten thirty five P.M. the Titan's tower saw an intruder creeping through its halls for the second time in as many days, this time escaping from the premises as opposed to gaining entry, the Lunatic swift and silent down the halls his well worn in boots making nary a scuff as he drifted through the halls avoiding the sensor network that kept the teen heroes safe during their hours of rest, Tommy paused mid stride posed, still as a painting with his right foot inches from the ground, down the hall in the living room, he could hear Cyborg talking to someone over his internal comm, an unusual even given its nature, whom ever it was they must have been female because there was that *certain* twang that only ever seemed to find its way into conversation, when one was trying to charm the fairer sex, after impossible minutes Thomas continued his trek slinking past the flirting "older" teen and reaching the door, as he pushed the door open, he heard Cyborg clear his throat. "Where you heading out to this late?" drawled the metallic titan with a wide grin, the teasing expression came as such a relief that Tom nearly wept, he chose instead to flush, the stutter came more naturally, his denials were waved away and the older teen threw an affectionate arm around his fellow titan, "awww its alright Loony, its just a natural part of growing up, should I give you the talk? Do you have any questions, y'know about girls?, cause I don't mind" drawled the widely grinning Cyborg as he chucked Lunatic's chin with an alloyed knuckle, Tom manage to free himself with a nervous laugh and a stuttered denial, bursting through the doors and bolting for the tunnel at a dead run.
Lunatic stashed his communicator half way down the tunnel on top of one of the ventilation fans, then sprinted the rest of the trip, opting to avoid taking one of the "pubic" vehicles he never the less managed to exit the tunnel and took a sharp right making his way down the beach towards Carmichell's Steel works, and the old maintenance tunnels that hid there, he was startled to find someone waiting for him in the tunnels, well not waiting exactly but trying to make their way down them, he skidded to a halt a scant ten feet from the petite girl in the savagely grinning cat mask, she whirled on her heel and flicked a pair of blades coated in a slick black lacquer, Tom lurched to the right and barely evaded the first, his trailing left hand snatched out and caught the second blade returning it with a sharp flick of his wrist, drawing his revolver with his right hand and swinging the weapon towards the now moving masked assassin, a short curved blade flashed into her hand as she zig-zaged towards Thomas a blur of ivory and jade, not wanting to risk his hearing trying to fire at the blur of a target Tom swung his revolver at the approaching figure forcing her to parry the fast if plainly telegraphed swing a sharp ring jangled down the tunnel as his attacker's feet left the ground and he was forced onto the defensive blocking kicks to the head and slashes from her poisoned blade, the difference in skill was very apparent as he lashed out with a wide kick hoping to force her back a pace and give him room to fire, he was rewarded with a shallow slash along the length of his leg, Thomas cursed as the numbness struck his limb, he managed to retain his balance though with effort, his attacker hopped back into the fray and proceeded to drive the young hero further down the tunnel in an effort to keep from being disemboweled, he acutely missed his armor as he felt a blade sink into his shoulder the spreading cold soon had him reeling until finally he fell to his knees, and received a solid kick to the face.
Thomas toppled over his mind careening into the still place and the healing trance, a desperate bit to save his life as the poison spread through his body shutting down his systems. His eyes slid grittily open his tongue felt two sizes too big and his body shook, he felt the acute need for water that came with metabolizing toxins, he lurched to his feet and spent an embarrassing few moments relieving himself against the wall, he noted happily that his belongings remained on his person, collecting his pistol and knife, he tore off down the tunnel at an unsteady run, he caught the faintest hint of rose water and lavender growling low in his throat, his head rapidly clearing Lunatic gave chase running swift and silent down the tunnel bent nearly double as he moved in the tight confines of the tunnel following the scent of rose water and lavender.
His trip through the tunnels was uneventful, with nary a glimpse of his attacker, not as he left the tunnels and entered the ventilation system, and not as he prowled through the endless maze of golden corridors, he passed a number of faculty members, and nearly ran into the towering form of someone in bright red power armor, the only part of him that was visible was his face which had a Romanesque shape, proud chin, narrow black brows, and a sneer that immediately prickled Thomas' ire. "Outta the way little man, you don't wanna mess with this" at that Adonis gestured down the recently buffed armor, Lunatic paused in his pursuit of the cat masked girl, the urge to take a shot at the towering power armored fellow student reared up and pawed the ground, for a moment he was paralyzed with indecision, before finally he managed to to wrestle his fury to manageable levels before gritting out "have you seen a girl, bit shorter than me, white and green smiling cat mask, wearing a green, er short robe, uh thing?" the blank look that seemed to settle on the power armored teen , before a cocky sneer crawled across his face, her jabbed a broad finger into Thomas' chest "you need to start hittin the gym, tiny get yourself some guns and the ladies will come to you" with that the power armored youth "flexed" his barrel thick robotic limbs, and Thomas jaw dropped for a moment before erupting into hysterical laughter. Adonis stared down at the cackling boy in the military garb with steadily increasing fury, until after almost a minutes of the cackling, now sobbing with laughter, teen trying to regain his composure Adonis lashed out with a vicious back hand attempting to smear his annoying schoolmate. Promptly forgot his revelry and leapt out of reach, deciding that perhaps now was a good time to continue his chase.
The trail of rose water and lavender led him to one of his fellow classmates mates, a tall pale girl with a silver helmet and golden eyes, she regarded Thomas with a politely neutral expression, Kyd Wykkyd stood nearby his expressionless face the same as ever, it appeared that Tommy had interrupted a private conversation, grinning sheepishly and cursing his poor luck he excused himself hastily as the winged helmet wearing girl continued to explain hand held video games the puzzled Kyd.
It was a frustrating, fruitless half hour for our hero, he tore across the HIVE wriggling into every doorway, stairwell, training/classroom, and more then a few dorm rooms (getting chased from the girls dormitory by a towel clad bumblebee at long last) before he finally collapsed into a chair in the cafeteria with a disgusted sigh, the faculty members were already bringing out the huge quantities of food necessary to keep the ravenous appetites of the still growing villains, with a defeated sigh (and a growling stomach) he wandered into line and grabbed a tray waiting patiently while the line of mutants, super humans, cyborg monster men, and the socially challenged with a particular talent, or the can-do attitude to become a real psycho. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, there isn't a thing that they can't cure, as he moved down the line to get the brightly colored gelatin cube, he came face to face with the lunch lady of the day, well more accurately her grinning cat mask.
Author's Notes cont.
Alright let me get this out of the way, I'm totally cool with the whole pairing thing, i like a little sappy romance and a bit of saucy "nudge-nudge, wink-giggle" but I don't much care to write it, teasing is about all I can manage. I won't lie to you, I've not a romantic bone in my body, anywho another chapter out more misdeeds of Thomas are yet to come.
-yours in spirit, Saint.