I replayed the events of my time with Raven over and over and over again, until suddenly a delicious smell tickles my nose. My tail wagged once I realized what the smell was. I smelt pancakes. I twitch my ears as I tried to listen for the source of the smell. Somebody was in the kitchen, and they were still cooking them. The back of the couch kept me hidden as I lay curled up on the cushions with my eyes closed. My original plan was to just listen and spy with my ears while I waited for the others to come into the living room, but the mystery of who was cooking was quickly solved as Starfire burst into the room.
"Oh, Raven! What a glorious way to start the day!" Upon discovering that it was Raven cooking, my eyes shot open. While still lying down, I turn my head to the back of the couch.
Still wanting to spy, I thought to myself, I wonder if I can still do this, in reference to my x-ray vision. I chuckle to myself a little as my yellow eyes turn purple and the couch suddenly becomes see-through in my eyes. Starfire was floating by the dining tables, which had the restaurant booth seats, over by the living room entrance's left (my right). To the right (my left), Raven was cooking over the stove, her back facing Starfire. My heartbeat starts increasing slightly upon seeing her. Starfire goes on to compare Raven's pancakes to something known as a glorka roach, which apparently is known for being "burnt on the outside, yet runny on the inside". Before I could think too far into that comparison, Beast Boy and Cyborg run into the room to join Starfire in a sort of panic.
"Hold up, time out", shouted Cyborg as he and Beast Boy crossed their forearms as if they were referees in a sports game calling a penalty of some kind.
"Friends, what seems to be your troubles", asked Starfire.
"The trouble is that Raven is making pancakes", said Beast Boy. "And in case you need further clarification on that, here's a few reasons why we should all be concerned. Reason one, Raven making pancakes implies that she's being nice, and she's never nice." I could see Raven beginning to blush a little as I think to myself, that's a bit harsh, Beast Boy.
"Reason number two", added Cyborg, "Raven can't cook!"
That's even more harsh.
"And finally", began Beast Boy, "reason number three, the last time she cooked pancakes…." I noticed Raven's eyes starting to glow red as her pupils and irises slowly disappeared into the crimson abyss. Before she erupted with rage, Starfire interrupted.
"Friends, please. Raven only wishes to prepare a meal for us, and as her friends we should cherish this surprise. And I wish not to discuss the events that occured the last time we were graced with Raven's cooking." With that last comment Starfire's face started to light up with giddy joy. The boys look at one another, still suspicious of Raven's nice gesture. They look back at Starfire and simply nod their heads in mutual agreement as they take their seats at one of the two tables. I look back over at Raven. Her eyes were still glowing red and she still looked irritated at the boys for their blunt comments. Not wanting there to be a heated fight, especially considering how Beast Boy interrupted us the previous night, I yawn as loud as I could so that they all could hear.
Still shielded by the couch, I could see the glow from Starfire's face instantly disappear as Raven's face was washed over by a wave of relief as her glowing red eyes turned to their normal look and her gorgeous violet irises were once again visible. I "deactivate" my x-ray vision as I violently shake my head after having yawned. I then lift my head up over the back of the couch and smack my lips, if wolves had lips. I then rise to my paws, leap over the couch, and do a quick cat stretch before walking over to the others.
To my right were the boys sitting at one of the tables. Looking from the kitchen, the table on the left was big enough for three people (two facing the kitchen, and one more facing out towards where the couch was as the table was shaped like the letter "L") to sit at without having to pull up another chair. The table on the right was big enough for two people to sit side by side.
I look over to my left towards the kitchen to see Starfire and Raven preparing plates for everyone. Raven placed two pancakes onto each plate, while Starfire then grabbed the plates and floated them to the table. Starfire made three trips from the kitchen, placing two plates onto the tables during each of the first two trips. On the third, she carried with her a bowl, and two bottles. She placed a bottle of syrup, and (for some reason) mustard on the smaller table, and drops the bowl with two pancakes in it onto the floor by one of the tables. I walk over to it and discover that the bowl in question was a pet's food bowl with the word "Silkie" written on it.
Now this is just mean, I thought to myself upon realizing Starfire's gesture. I look up at the others to see that everyone else was going along with it.
The boys were awkwardly trying to muscle down Raven's pancakes, which apparently were that bad, and Starfire and Robin, having now joined us, were awkwardly trying to eat their pancakes with one hand, while their free hands had their fingers locked with the other's under the table. A quiet growl rumbles in my chest as I look at Starfire, now looking completely innocent and harmless, as she flirts with her masked beau. Once again, I felt ignored, by everybody except Raven.
She was leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug of what I assumed was tea in her hands based solely on the smell. Though I could tell that she knew I was there, she stared down into the mug as her face continued to burn a slight red as she still was blushing. I look around the room once more at the others, and it was then that I discovered why she was blushing.
With the exception of Starfire, who happily ate the pancakes, with the mustard oddly enough, without hesitation, none of the others had hardly put a dent into their meals. I look down at the two pancakes I was given, and I could see why the boys were giving Raven such a hard time. The pancakes were blackened and crusty on their edges, with the exception of the whitish globs scattered on each one. I look back up at Raven. She kept her usual monotoned look, and was still blushing, but I sensed a touch of sadness in her face. It was then that I picked up Silkie's bowl, whoever that Hell that was, in my teeth and walked over to take my seat beside Cyborg in the "oddball" spot of the larger table facing into the living room. I could feel everybody stopping to stare at me as I place the bowl onto the table and lower my rear onto the cushion. I glance up at Starfire for a moment as I think to myself, since I'm just an animal to you….
I reach forward and grab one of the pancakes in my teeth and toss it into the air. As it falls, I open my jaws as wide as they could go. The pancake falls into my jaws as I begin to eat the whole thing in one bite. It was times like these that I was grateful that my lycanthropy remedied my large appetite and love of drama and showmanship with a pair of large jaws. I stare ahead and chew the pancake without saying anything. The Titans watch in awe as they awaited my response to Raven's cooking. Once I had finished chewing, I swallowed and smacked my "lips" for a moment to let the taste settle on my tongue. I wait a moment more, and then smile the biggest smile my wolf form would allow as I gleefully barked twice in as high a pitch as my lungs would allow. My tail also began to wag at this point in delight. I then open my jaws as my serpent tongue combined with my dark powers stretches across both tables and grabs the bottle of syrup. As my tongue reels back into my jaws I clamp them around the bottle as a baseball player would close his mit to catch a pop-fly. I tilt my head to the side as syrup pours out of the bottle and into the bowl. I tilt my head to the other side as I placed the bottle onto the table when I had finished. I reach my head forward again as I dive into my second pancake. After nibbling at it for a bit, I lift my head up again for a moment and gleefully bark a couple times more. As I dive back into the pancake, the Titans began commenting about how brave I was or how I was trying to suck up because I was the new guy, as if I actually was a dog that couldn't understand the neighboring conversations.
Though I was sucking up to Raven and trying to make her feel better, truthfully I thoroughly enjoyed her pancakes. I believe Starfire said it best when she described them as "burnt on the outside, yet runny on the inside". Though the brain boggles as it tried to figure out how Raven managed to burn a pancake that much while somehow preserving pockets of uncooked pancake batter on the inside, my tastebuds were on vacation as I ate. Somehow, I found this weird variation of a pancake to taste good. True, the taste of raw pancake batter is usually never ideal, but in this case, the crunchiness of the outside of the pancake complimented it.
As I continued to eat, I noticed Raven out the corner of my eye, her smile, though smaller, stretching across her face. I look up to see that the other boys had donated their pancakes to either me or Starfire. As I notice Robin giving his pancakes to Starfire, I am reminded that I was hoping to talk to him about my being recruited to the team. I lift up my head and lick syrup from my "lips" as I open my mouth to speak to him.
"Hey, Robin….", I started. However, I was interrupted when the room started to flash red and the alarm from before began to sound. I look around at the others and notice that their communicators had all started to flash as well.
"Titans, trouble", shouts Robin as he leaps out of his seat and runs out of the room. Starfire and Beast Boy follow right behind him. Raven pauses for a moment and looks at me. She then motions her head towards the door as her powers pull her cloak's hood over her head, covering the top half of her face. She flies out of the room as Cyborg places his right hand on my shoulder.
"Go time", he says as he scoots out of the booth and runs after her. I quickly run over to the sink in the kitchen and rinse the syrup off of my muzzle. With no time to thoroughly dry it, I shake my head for a moment and run out of the room as I think to myself, note to self, don't eat syrup while in wolf form. I ignore the elevator and run down the stairs eight floors to the garage. I arrive just in time to see Robin mounting his motorcycle, which Cyborg referred to as the R-Cycle, and Cyborg revving up the T-Car. The garage door opens as Robin and Cyborg shoot out of the garage. Beast Boy then morphs into a pteranodon as I think to myself, he can Change into dinosaurs, too? The green pteranodon flaps its wings and takes to the air as it flies out of the garage after the two vehicles, with the girls flying right behind him. I run out of the garage and down the main road as I race to catch up with the Titans.
I wasn't worried about not being fast enough to catch them. Part of growing up as an Elemental werewolf was that I trained myself to have an incredible amount of stamina. I trained myself for years to be able to sprint long distances, so the run into Jump City was a light jog for me.
After a few moments, I finally catch up with the others. A mutual look of shock passed over their faces as they saw me running at the same speed they were traveling in as Lobomon as opposed to flying alongside them as Gizamon. As the six of us raced down the highway towards the city, it was Robin, again, straight to business, who broke the silence and spoke first.
"Listen up, Team. We've got a burglary on our hands."
"Who and where", asked Cyborg as his left arm and his head poked out of the window of the T-Car.
"The H.I.V.E. Five. They're raiding the museum."
"Why must they attempt to steal from there again", asked Starfire flying over Robin.
"Don't know, but we're about to find out." Robin then revs his bike and speeds ahead a bit. The rest of us speeding up to catch up with him. Right before we reached the museum, Robin gave us our orders. "Wolfman, you stay on guard as lookout. The rest of you, divide and conquer." As soon as he gave our orders, I immediately came to a halt. I watched as the others sped ahead to the museum a few yards down the street in front of us as I noticed the recurring pattern of being ignored.
""Stay on guard as lookout"? What am I looking out for?" I growl to myself as I immediately answer my own question. "You know, Robin, if you wanted me to sit this out, all you had to do was say so", I said as I continue to run towards the museum.
Once I reach the entrance, I lower myself to the ground and cock my head to the side as I listen to the conversations going on inside. I couldn't hear any actual fighting yet, it sounded moreso like the Titans and the H.I.V.E. Five were just trash talking so far.
Since I'm not supposed to fight, I'll do some more espionage. I open up another portal on the wall of the building and jump through. I jump through another portal moments later, which brought me up to the rafters of the museum's Ancient Egyptian exhibit, where everyone was about to do battle. I had just picked out the perfect spot for observing when Robin cried out.
"Titans, go!"
"Attack Pattern Alfa", cried the littlest member of the opposing fivesome as they all separated and each started to do battle with a single Titan one-on-one.
Robin's opponent wore a red jump suit with black bands around his waist and wrists. He also had on a pair of black goggles, and on his chest was a white circle with a black outline. In the center of the circle was a black division sign, as in mathemathics. As Robin pulled out his metal bo staff from his utility belt, his opponent began to multiply. Seeing him do that might've looked a bit intimidating if it weren't for the fact that he kept talking to himself, or rather himselves in this case.
"Ready to go, Billy? Ready if you are, Billy. How 'bout you, Billy? You know it, Billy!" Robin, usually cool, calm, and collected, obviously lost his patience with Billy as he lunged at one of them.
I don't blame him for his frustration. I, too, was growing tired of Billy's constant blabbing. Robin swung his staff in a wide sweep. He missed his original target, but struck three others in the process. The Billys then run at Robin trying to surround him, but constantly failed to do so as Robin would just as frequently out-maneuver one or more of the Billys with his highly-developed martial arts skills that he was known for, complimented by the occasional appearance of a birdarang.
Cyborg's opponent was the little one who had ordered his team's attack plans. Based on that alone, I assumed he was the one that called the shots. He wore a green jumpsuit with built-in shoes, green goggles, and had a harness connected to a jet pack on his back. As he fought Cyborg, he would push a button or two on the metal appliance in the center of his suit and the harness on his back would sort of, for lack of a better word, transform. One moment it was a jet pack, then in another moment it was a robotic pair of rocket-powered bat wings, and then another moment it turned into four mechanical spider legs. He also complimented his shifting tech with added features such as holographic clones that appeared in battle alongside him, as if he had the ability to multiply just like Billy did.
As Cyborg struggled to out-muscle the tiny one's spider legs, I look over at Beast Boy and his fight. His opponent was a giant to say the very least. He was about seven feet tall and about 300 pounds of pure muscle. He wore a black unitard with the sleeves cut off with yellow designs with circles in them stretching across his torso, wrists, and ankles. His hair was long and brown, and he had a bit of a goatee under his chin. His appearance alone was not something to take lightly, and he backed it up with his strength.
Beast Boy charged at him in the form of a green triceratops, and the big guy simply punched him square on the "head plate" in between his two horns. Expecting Beast Boy to bulldoze straight through it, I was a little shocked to see Beast Boy roar in pain as the large lizard was flown backwards into the wall behind him. His opponent then runs at him and leaps onto his back and mounts him as if he were at a rodeo. To make matters worse, Beast Boy plays right into his hands and morphs into a bull as he tries to buck him off. The large monster of a man simply laughs in enjoyment.
Nice going, Beast Boy.
I look over at the girls to see that they were facing the remaining two members of the H.I.V.E. Five as a sort of tag team. Their opponents consisted of one young man in a green and white unitard with a green helmet with a single comically large eyeball on it, and another young person with grayish-blue skin, red eyes without pupils or irises, and an outfit that, in all honesty, looked like he had attempted to recreate Batman's uniform and failed. It took me a minute, but I eventually realized that the wannabe Batman was indeed male. With all of the details like the cape, and the bat ears which I honestly thought made him look silly, I couldn't tell at first.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos", shouted Raven as she fired a stream of dark energy at their opponents. Starfire simultaneously fired two lasers from her eyes at them as well. Their opponents counterattacked by mimicking the exact same attacks. The one-eyed boy fired a laser from the eye on his helmet, while the one in black fired a stream of dark energy of his own. The four blasts collided in midair, causing an explosion large enough to send them all flying backwards as a cloud of smoke filled the room.
When the smoke had cleared, I look back down at the Titans to see the fights continuing. It was at this point that I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was a mystery wild card, if that, and did a little mind reading. I spoke to myself in a sort of inner monologue as I went over all that I learned.
Okay, so in their respective order, these guys are known as Billy Numerous, Gizmo, Mammoth, See-More, and Kyd Wykkyd. They call themselves the H.I.V.E. Five, and apparently are former students of the H.I.V.E. Academy, which I guess was a school for training villains. On a side note, their team seems to consist of three humans and two mutants. That fact shocked me a little.
Obviously Gizmo was a human as shown by his dependence on his technology in battle, but See-More and Mammoth I assumed were mutants at first. The way See-More's helmet was designed, I thought he truly had only one eye. Much to my disappointment when I discovered that like Gizmo, See-More was simply a human who used technology to battle.
Mammoth on the other hand was, in my opinion, the most impressive member of their team. One doesn't just simply come across a human of that size and with that much strength. I mean he had punched a fucking dinosaur. In my opinion he would've been more of a success as a body builder or fitness coach than as a villain.
Another disappointing detail I learned was that Gizmo was indeed the leader of the H.I.V.E. Five, which wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that he was just a bratty little kid. I didn't have to read his mind to find out how old he was, his dialogue told me plenty. Every other word that came out of his mouth was something along the lines of "snot-lickers" or "scuzz buckets".
With powers like those of Mammoth's or Kyd Wykkyd's, why are these guys taking orders from this little brat? Better question, why am I taking orders from a team that constantly forgets I'm in the room? Upon asking myself that, I heard Cyborg scream.
When I came to I saw Cyborg pinned on his stomach with one of Gizmo's spider legs wedging into his back. Sparks of electricity surged from Cyborg's back and traveled up Gizmo's mechanical leg and into his systems on his own back. Gizmo laughed as his dirty trick caused Cyborg to shut down. As Cyborg lay still, quiet, and unconscious, Gizmo showed no sign of stopping his mechanical assault. I read his mind briefly and learned that he planned to completely devastate Cyborg's battery, which simply meant he was killing him. It was then that I also noticed that the other Titans were starting to lose their fights as well.
Beast Boy Changed back into his human form as Mammoth threw him into yet another wall, Robin, though still holding his own against the Billy army, was starting to lose his stamina, and if it weren't for the fact that the girls were teamming up and defending one another, they would've been overpowered long ago.
Okay, that's it! I've been on the sidelines for long enough! With a roar I launched myself off of the rafters towards Gizmo. Stunned looks appeared on our enemies' faces as they saw a random black wolf leaping at their leader out of seemingly nowhere. My yellow eyes burn purple as I imitate Starfire's laser vision and shoot two purple lasers at Gizmo, which cut off the two front spider legs. He shrieks for a moment as he leans back trying to balance on the two remaining legs.
It was then that I opened my right paw and grabbed the top of his head (my large paws and his tiny size were the perfect combination in this case. To me it was like the equivalent of palming a basketball). He falls forward as I land on the ground on my hind legs, Gizmo's head still in my grasp. I roar again as I extend my right arm and swing Gizmo around the room. Beast Boy, Robin, Raven, and Starfire all dodged out of the way as Gizmo's two spider legs struck all of our enemies in a single sweep. The force was strong enough to force all of the Billys to return back to one body. As expected, Mammoth recovered from the blow easily and charged at me. It was then that I chucked Gizmo at him. Mammoth hesitated and fell over just as Gizmo crashed into his face. While the H.I.V.E. Five were on the ground recovering, I took the opportunity to speak with the Titans. I used my aura to summon a white light, which filled the room, causing me to black out.
When I came to moments later, I was in an endless white abyss. It was like that episode of "Spongebob Squarepants" when Squidward broke a time machine he stumbled upon and accidentally traveled to Nowhere. I look down at myself for a moment as I notice that I had returned to my human form. I look around the abyss and notice that to my right were the Titans with the exception of Cyborg, conversing with one another with confusion in reference as to why we were all transported to this empty place. Their conversation ceases as they all look in my direction when I walk over to join them.
"Glad to see you're okay", said Robin. "Did you happen to see what happened to Cyborg or the H.I.V.E. Five?"
"They're not here, it's just us", I responded.
"How are you so sure of their absence", asked Starfire suspiciously.
"I'm sure because I'm the one that brought you all here." I quickly continued before they took the opportunity to bombard me with accusatory questions. "This is the Elemental Conference Room, a dimension I created for the purpose of speaking with my associates telepathically."
"So, we're in your brain right now? Huh, and Raven says my head is empty", said Beast Boy with a cheeky grin.
"This is but a single corridor of my mind. It's only purpose is to allow the Elementals to communicate with one another so there was no point in filling this dimension with anything", I responded defensively.
"But that light swallowed us all, so shouldn't we all be present", asked Starfire.
"And why did you leave Cyborg all alone", added Robin.
"Nobody was left behind, Robin. Technically none of us are even here in this dimension." Looks of confusion appeared on their faces. "Your in my mind, remember? Everything you're seeing is an illusion. The light that brought you here, the vast emptiness of this dimension, even your own bodies, they're all visions being projected into your minds."
"So essentially, you're tricking us into thinking we've been transported to another place", asked Robin, now also sounding suspicious.
"Essentially, yes. However, the conversation we're having is very real. As we speak, time has been slowed down in the real world so that we can talk. When you return, time will continue as it normally did, this entire experience will feel like a dream, and everything we just talked about will be implanted into your brain as an instant memory."
"So you can Change into a werewolf, and Change into a snake, and grow wings, and run super fast, and teleport, and now you can bend time and space? Dude, that's so not fair", whined Beast Boy.
"Okay, now that we understand how and why we're here, let's cut to the chase. What's on your mind", asked Robin. Upon hearing a pun in Robin's question, Beast Boy imitates a rimshot. Raven then slaps him upside the head once again.
"I insist that you Titans fall back."
"Wait, what", asked Beast Boy.
"What do you mean "fall back"", asked Robin.
"The H.I.V.E. Five are wearing you all down, and that's probably because you've been playing right into their plans. It's quite clear that they've faced you all several times in the past, and this time they came prepared to single you all out so that they could defeat you one at a time, and it's working."
"I appreciate your concern, but we've defeated these guys many times before, and we can easily do it again", said Robin. "We'll keep our opponents busy while you take over for Cyborg."
"I beg to differ. Billy has been wearing you out since the fighting began, the only thing keeping the girls from being over-powered is the fact that they're working as a team to defend themselves, Beast Boy will be lucky if he walks away from this without so much as a concussion, and in case you all aren't aware of the seriousness of Cyborg's condition, had I not intervened moments ago, Gizmo would've killed him." I could hear their hearts drop as looks of concern appear on the faces of the Titans.
"You mean, Cy would be dead? Like dead-dead", asked Beast Boy.
"Not all damage done to machines can be repaired." Beast Boy's pointed ears begin to droop in response to my response. Robin prepared to speak again, but hesitated as he was cut off by Starfire.
"Then what are you suggesting? Shall we just retreat and surrender to our enemies, thus ignoring our responsibilities as the Teen Titans?"
"Star's got a point, Dude", added Beast Boy. "Besides, they need to pay for what they did to Cy".
"I understand, Beast Boy…", I began.
"No, you don't understand. My friend almost died", said Beast Boy, now becoming more aggressive. "Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me." This was the part in the conversation in which I snapped. My friends had been kidnapped, my bitchy mother abandoned me, I was recruited to a team that mostly ignores me, my reasons for my recruitment were unknown, I was constantly having to deal with Starfire's bullshit, and then there was that snarky remark. My chain had officially broken loose.
"'Doesn't mean anything'? You had no idea that Cyborg almost died until I told you! I brought you all here to try to reason and plan with you all so that you can defeat these lowlifes, and even went to the extreme of bending time and space to do so, and instead of acknowledging that, you're not only choosing to continue to waste time, but doing so by trying to guilt me about your injured friend? I've got news for you, you Sour Apple-flavored elf, not that it was any of your business but I care about my friends as well!
Whereas Cyborg is still very much alive, I've seen several of my friends get abducted, attacked, experimented on, and in some cases, die! In fact even as we speak right now, three out of six of the Elementals have been kidnapped! My best friends, and I don't even know if they're still alive! I joined this team of yours in the hopes that Doctor Light would come out of hiding and lead me to them, and so far it's like I'm not even here!
You all claim that I am a Titan, but you've dubbed me as this mystery wild card that you have no intention of even playing! If it's because I'm new to the team then just say that! Don't sit me on the fucking sidelines and expect me to just sit back and watch everyone else fighting and hope to get some acknowledgement! I'm just as tough as any of you five, if not tougher, and I've proved it more than once already long before I was recruited!
And back to the matter at hand, nothing about this fighting is worth dying over! Until we showed up here today, the only crime these guys were committing was petty theft, and that's it! Plus they're kicking all of your asses, to the point where one of you almost died! If their elementary schooled brat of a leader is willing to commit murder just to steal some jewels dug up from a mummy's tomb, then it's pretty clear that killing the rest of you is a possibility as well! It won't matter how angry you get at Cyborg's near-death experience if you're all pushing daisies with him!"
A growl rumbles in my chest as I struggle to catch my breath and look at the other Titans. Beast Boy and Starfire stared at me with shock on their faces, while the other two Titans expressed unexpected responses on their faces. Both Raven and Robin had small grins on their faces, the kind of grin you'd give to somebody after either hating them or knowing very little about them for so long and then suddenly being bombarded with a shit-load of information that forces you to look at them in a new light which causes you to spontaneously obtain some respect for them. Upon seeing Raven grinning, my growl stopped dead in its tracks.
"He's right", said Robin breaking the silence. I noticed a shocked and puzzled look on Starfire's face as she looks over at Robin. Robin then gave us our new orders. "Okay, Team, new plan. Beast Boy and I will grab Cyborg and take him out of the exhibit. Starfire, you and Raven will cover us until we reach the hallway. Once we're out, you two will keep an eye on Wolfman and be ready in case things get out of hand. Think you can handle them all", asked Robin as he now looks at me.
"Just be sure to wake up Cy ASAP. I wouldn't want him to miss out on all the fun", I said as my brown eyes turned yellow for effect. Robin nodded in agreement. My eyes burn purple once more as I begin to summon the white light again to take us back. It was at that moment that Raven finally spoke.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Her black aura flashed and filled the room just as the white light swallowed us once more. The clashing forces made this black out way more intense than the previous one. When I came to I was standing on two legs, once again in wolf form. The H.I.V.E. Five had just gotten to their feet to prepare for a counterattack.
"Titans, go", shouts Robin as he and the other Titans dash towards Cyborg. As Raven passes me she places her left hand on my shoulder.
"Good luck", she says quietly as she then flies away. It was then that I remembered that she used her powers right before we left the Conference Room. Upon remembering that, my ears begin to twitch as I heard a familiar sound, Raven's heartbeat. I also noticed that just like before, I regained some power, except I gained back several of them. Raven managed to restore four of my forms, and four other miscellaneous powers I possessed. My tail wagged in excitement. I look back at the opposing five, as Mammoth stepped forward.
"Huh, I kinda like this new guy. This is gonna be fun", the giant said as he cracked his knuckles. He then yells with a thundering voice close enough to pass as a roar as he begins to charge at me. With a roar of my own, I begin to charge at him as well, but still on two legs. As the distance between us began to get smaller, I pull my right arm back as if preparing to punch him. Mammoth pulls back his right arm in response. When we got close enough to each other, Mammoth swings his right fist at me while opening his left palm as if to catch my punch. Unfortunately for him, as prepared as he was to catch my fist, my punch was merely a decoy.
I immediately drop to all fours as his fist rushes over my head. The speed alone was enough for my fur to catch a bit of a breeze. As Mammoth is trapped in the process of following his punch through, I launch myself upward as hard and fast as I could and headbutt the large brute right under his jaw. Mammoth screams in pain as he flies backward far enough to land on his back right in front of his teammates. Mammoth lies still as Gizmo rushes at me, his tech had morphed into his rocket-powered bat wings.
"You next", I ask, feeling a wee bit cocky.
"Blow it out your fudge hole, Crudface", he screams as his tech brings back his two spider legs, with four new ones to join it. "Eat metal, Mutt!" His six spider legs extend and point at me as he charges closer at me.
Two can play at that game, I thought to myself as my yellow eyes turn red and four new arms identical to my original two shoot out from the sides of my torso. I catch each of Gizmo's mechanical legs in one of my six paws as his jaw drops in astonishment. He tries to fly away using his robotic wings, but to no avail as I had more than enough physical strength to keep him from going anywhere. Let's see how many volts that can handle, I think to myself as I send volts of purple electricity through his spider legs and up to his tech controls on his back. Gizmo screams when he realizes what I was doing.
"No, wait! You're gonna short-circuit my systems!"
"That's the idea", I said as I amped up the voltage. Small clouds of smoke then began spewing from his back. It was at that moment that I yanked my arms out to my sides as hard as I could, ripping off his six mechanical legs with a single motion. Gizmo, now defenseless, falls at my feet. I grab him by the front of his jump suit and pull him to my face so that I could look into his eyes. "Now sleep", I said as I thought to myself, Hypnosis!
I didn't know how my eyes looked whenever I hypnotized people. Unlike the majority of my powers where I can tell they've Changed colors, there was no way of knowing how my eyes worked when I used my powers of hypnosis. My enemies obviously can't tell me, and whenever I tried observing for myself via another person's mind or a mirror, I would always fall for my own spell and fall asleep. The only evidence to prove that my spell worked was the fact that Gizmo immediately passed out. His head hung forward, his mouth hung open, and he began to snore. I drop Gizmo to the floor, the small child sleeping right through landing on his head, and look back at the others.
"And then there were three." It was at this point that the gruesome twosome, Kyd Wykkyd and See-More, stepped forward. See-More flipped a switch or something along those lines on his helmet as if he were James Marsden's Cyclops as his teammate instantly vanished into thin air. See-More's eye then began glowing red.
Obviously he was about to blast me so I moved to the side to prepare to dodge. However, Kyd Wykkyd was there waiting for me as he teleports to my side out of nowhere and sucker punches me in the jaw. As I stumbled backwards, Kyd Wykkyd teleports away just as See-More blasts me, but for some reason, I wasn't tossed into the air from it. I quickly realized that See-More had an option of setting his blasts to "stun", which made it harder to move each time he hit me with them.
I try to get out of the way again as See-More charged his blaster, but wound up falling for the same trick again. When See-More's second stun blast hit me, I fell to my knees. The two of them took this as an opportunity to go full force as I then got bombarded by their two-step attack over and over again. Kyd Wykkyd began teleporting around me randomly, punching and kicking me each time he did so. While that was going on, See-More continued to blast me with his stun blasts, which were now starting to take their toll on my body. Unable to dodge or run, I only had one option.
I managed to dig deep and position myself to where I was only resting on one knee. Once that happened I began fighting back, and fortunately I still had a few extra arms. With an angry roar, I flail my arms and claw at the air hoping to catch Kyd Wykkyd. This proved to be a taxing task as I was still being blasted by See-More as I did so. I could hear Billy and See-More laughing at me as I probably looked like a raging, six-armed, spaz wolf as I flailed at the air. The laughter immediately stopped when I lucked out and managed to catch Kyd Wykkyd by snagging his cape in my claws.
Before he could teleport again, I quickly cloaked two of my paws with my aura and grabbed him. Thinking I was distracted, See-More fires at me again, but this time I was ready. I shield myself using Kyd Wykkd's body. His eyes widen in discomfort as he takes the blast. The darkly dressed mutant then passes out in my paws.
You wuss, I thought to myself upon realizing that I managed to take multiple stun blasts from See-More whereas he was knocked out by a single blast. Any respect I had for him for being a fellow dark soul went right out the window. I spin around and hurl Kyd Wykkyd at See-More. See-More yelps as he and his teammate collide and then crash into the wall behind them, creating a cloud of dust in the process. When the dust cleared, I look at the floor to see See-More was also knocked out from my attack.
I rise to my feet and turn to Bill Numerous as he begins to multiply. As he did so, to catch my breath for a moment, I absorb my extra arms and return to my human form. In mere seconds, the room was filled with Billys.
"What'cha gonna do now, Son", asked the Billys in a unified voice. I flick my serpent tongue at him and hiss angrily in response. I noticed some of the Billys backing up when I did so. I quickly read one's mind and chuckle to myself as I discover why. Apparently, Billy Numerous was ophiophobic. An evil grin stretches over my face as I unleash my Yami Bakura laugh. The Billys back up a little bit more upon hearing it.
"I'm going to enjoy thissss", I said as my brown eyes turned green. Blindimon digivolve to…. Mambamon! As I looked up at the army of Billys, I rattle my tail. The Billys immediately began to cower at the sight of me in my snake form. Double Team, I thought to myself as I too began to multiply. A few seconds later, the army of Billys was herded together in the center of the room, as they were all surrounded by dozens of black rattlesnakes.
With synchronized timing, all of the Mambas lifted their heads and hissed as loud and aggressive as they could. The Billys responded in the most humorous way possible, a collective girly shriek, followed by them all peeing themselves. As the smell of urine started to fill the room, the Billy army was scared back down to one.
Among the crowd of me, I noticed a green rattlesnake joining in on my serpent mob. One of me turns around to see that the other Titans were restraining the still unconscious members of the H.I.V.E. Five, and more importantly, Cyborg was back online. I look back at Billy and notice that he'd been reduced to the fetal position on the floor. Raven then surrounds him in her aura and imprisons him in a dark bubble.
With Billy now successfully restrained, the great many snakes I multiplied into slithered together and merged back into Blindimon, my human form. Raven then lifts Billy's prison into the air and flies out of the room with him. Starfire follows behind lifting the other four restrained villains. Robin then approaches me with Cyborg and Beast Boy, now back in his human form, at his sides.
"Nice work, Wolfman", says Robin as he sticks out his right arm.
"Thanks", I said as I shook his hand.
"No, thank you for saving my life", said Cyborg as he interrupted our handshake by placing his hand on top of ours. Beast Boy then places his hand on top of Cyborg's.
"I just wanna say….", Beast Boy began, "….that is, what I'm trying to get at is….". Robin then slaps him upside the back of his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything when I said…."
"I understand, Beast Boy", I said, cutting him off. "You were upset about Cyborg. And I, myself lost my temper as well. And for that I am sorry." Beast Boy nods his head with a grin.
"I say tonight we celebrate", exclaimed Cyborg. "I'm talking sushi buffet! All you can eat!"
"Dude, I'm a….", Beast Boy began.
"We know", said me, Cyborg, and Robin all at once.
"I was just saying…."
"How about burgers and a movie night", I suggested.
"Great idea", said Robin.
"Now we're talking", added Cyborg.
"Sweet! I do have one question though", said Beast Boy. We all looked at him waiting for the sarcastic quip. "Any reason why we're still holding hands", he asked as he took his hand away. As if on cue, the three of us snatched our hands away awkwardly. A few seconds later we all found ourselves laughing at the comically awkward situation that had just happened.
"Alright, guys. Let's head down to the station and meet the girls. We've got to go over the damage we caused today anyhow", said Robin. "Then it's combat training back at the Tower." Cy and Beast Boy groaned at the thought of training after everything that had happened just that morning. "And then later tonight, we celebrate our newest teammate and his first mission." I couldn't help but smile as Robin and the others turned to walk out of the door.
As they walked, the world around me slowed down once again. I blink in astonishment when I noticed how much Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy reminded me so much of Asia, Taiyo, and Adryen. It was like my kidnapped friends were right in front of me.
God, I miss them, I think to myself as my eyes start to tear up a little. Through the tears at the bottom of my eyes I saw Asia stop and turn back at me.
"Wolfman? Are you coming", she asked me. Shocked to hear her voice, I rub my eyes dry and open them again.
"Wolfman? Are you coming", asked Robin. The Elementals were gone and the Titans stood in their place. It must've been just wishful thinking.
"Yeah, I'm coming", I said as I walked to join my new friends. Friends. Yeah, I think so. I think these guys are indeed my friends.