I don't really know how long we were asleep, seeing as how I failed to get back the watch that Rancid stole and this was before I realized that the communicators had clocks on them (stupid me), but eventually we arrived at the mall, and Cyborg was more than gracious enough to wake us up.
"Phew. Finally, we're here", begins Cyborg before actually noticing that we were asleep in the back. "I said, "we're here"", he repeats a bit more sternly. Though I was "awake" enough to hear him, I either wasn't "awake" enough to comprehend what he was saying, or flat out didn't care, either one is a possibility. "Is anyone awake? YO! WAKE UP", he hollers. Beast Boy, myself, and the girls all groan as we start to regain consciousness.
"No wake yet. More sleep", whined Beast Boy as he managed to lose his hold on his animal form.
"*Yawn, I will have to advise against that, Beast Boy", said Starfire as she poked the top of his head, politely reminding him that he was stretched out across her lap in his human form.
"*Chuckles nervously, my bad."
"I can't believe this! The four of you all take a nap while me and Robin are stuck staring at the road for who-knows-how-long?"
"Uh, you and who", asked Raven as she points over at shotgun. Cyborg looks to his left to see that Robin had also fallen asleep at some point during our trip. Cyborg responds with an EAC face of his own.
"Guess someone should wake him up", suggested Cyborg. The rest of us sort just looked over at each other waiting for somebody to say something. "Well don't everybody volunteer at once", said Cyborg sarcastically.
"Or, or, or", began Beast Boy as he frantically waved his hand in the air as if he were a child in elementary school raising his hand.
"Isn't that the call of an oceanic lion", asked Starfire. Her "so close, yet so far" nature when it came to her English was almost criminal.
"Quiet. You'll just open the door to more unfunny jokes", said Raven in reference to Beast Boy's knack for exploiting cheap and tired puns, especially animal-related ones.
"That wasn't what I was going to say", said Beast Boy defensively.
"Then what then", I asked. Looking back, as much conversation that went on in that car, it's amazing that Robin slept through it all.
"You'll see. But first, Cyborg, hand me Robin's iPod", he said as he stuck out his hand. Cyborg then hands him a cherry red iPod with an aux cord connecting it to the T-Car's radio.
Well, now we know where that deafening rock music wassss coming from, I thought to myself. Beast Boy then begins digging through Robin's iPod. I couldn't help but notice that Beast Boy's usually cheesy grin had a sinister look to it, and that his pointed ears curved towards his head to a point where they almost looked like horns.
"What are you up to, BB", asked Cyborg. Beast Boy then finds a song he likes, and then reaches over to the radio and scrolls the volume dial all the way to maximum. Sensing what was about to happen, I lift my head up and around Raven and stretch to look over Beast Boy's shoulder. I cringed a little once I noticed his song choice. The song he had chosen was "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven, a rock song that had a somewhat quiet intro, but then immediately went ape-shit with a loud as Hell guitar melody.
"Yeah, we should totally abandon ship. Like right now", I said to the other Titans, having now anticipated what Beast Boy was planning to do. Beast Boy then opens his car door and begins to get out, placing the iPod on the car seat next to Starfire as he did so. He was getting into position. By this point, the other Titans were also aware of what was going to happen, as was indicated by our frantic panic as we all fled out of the car. I even went as far as Changing back to my wolf form so I could leap out of the car. After the five of us all made it out, Beast Boy leans back in and presses the "play" button on Robin's iPod. Beast Boy then leans out of the car and flees, closing the door behind him as he did so.
"No reason for us all to go deaf", said Cyborg as he pushes a button on his car keys in response to hearing the song's intro, which I later found out activated a sound-proof shield. He basically made it to where Robin was trapped in a large metal prison with ear-deafening music that was so secure that absolutely no sound could escape. It only took a few seconds for the music to begin blasting. It took even less time for Robin to react to it. I still don't know how he managed it, but one second he was passed out asleep while leaned up against the shotgun window with his seat belt on, and in the blink of an eye, he was on his back on the floor behind the driver's seat covering his ears. Seeing him move so quickly in response to a jump scare ranked up there with watching YouTube videos of pet owners teasing and scaring their cats.
It took Robin a few seconds to finally unplug the iPod, but when he finally did, needless to say he wasn't too pleased. The rest of us on the other hand were just cracking up to no end. The whole prank lasted less than twenty seconds, but you would've thought it had gone on for hours by how hard we were laughing, even Raven felt no need to hide how hard she was laughing.
"Shhhh! Quiet, guys. Here he comes", whispered Beast Boy as Robin, having finally gotten out of the car, stomped over to us. I could still hear several of us snickering as we tried our best to hold a serious face.
"Cute. Ve-ry cute", said an unamused Robin. He then begins darting his glare at each of us individually, as if he was non-verbally interrogating us trying to find out "who did it". When he looked at me, I exploited the fact that I was in my wolf form and tilt my head to the side as I played my role of "just a dumb animal". Eventually Robin glared at Cyborg, and he glared hard. Robin was convinced that Cyborg was the one who pranked him, which to be fair was understandable. Beast Boy was in the clear, until he blew a raspberry, the kind you make when you burst out laughing after trying not to laugh for too long, and began cracking up all over again. Upon hearing BB break his bearing, the rest of us all began laughing again as well.
"You should've seen your face", laughed Cyborg.
"Yeah, you were all like….", began Beast Boy as he morphs back into a cat. He then rowls like someone had just stepped on his tail in reference to Robin's wakeup call. I don't know if it was because Robin was usually never the victim of pranks, I assumed he wasn't anyway, or because he's just cranky whenever he's disturbed while sleeping, but he was going off, and the fact that we were all still laughing at him while he did so wasn't helping any. This was one of the few times I was glad Starfire was around.
"You think this is a joke? You think this is funny", asked Robin as he began to become more enraged by the second. "What if I snapped my back? What if I got whiplash? What if I went deaf? What if….". Robin then is interrupted by Starfire as she pulls him close by the front of his uniform and kisses him. Stunned and shocked, Robin's body just sort of tenses up like a flagpole as he just takes Starfire's kiss without question. After a few moments of a dragged out kiss, Starfire releases him, and it was only then that he returned to the Robin we all knew. "All is forgiven", he says awkwardly as he clears his throat and walks back towards the car.
He then opens one of the back doors and begins tossing out Beast Boy's bags of laundry one by one. Beast Boy responds, determined not to let them hit the ground, by morphing into his sasquatch form and frantically running around trying to catch them all. Surprisingly enough, he actually manages it, though the sight of a green sasquatch stomping around in a panic was kinda funny to see.
"Okay, now can we get this shopping trip started", asked Robin, still a bit grumpy, but eager to move on.
"I should hope so, seeing as how it's now a quarter 'til noon", said Raven as she checked the clock on her communicator.
Considering we left the tower between 10:00 and 10:30, that means Raven was sleeping against me for at least a whole hour. Sweet, I thought to myself.
"How curious. A trip such as this usually takes us less than half an Earth hour", said Starfire.
"Yeah, well tell that to the extra traffic, the countless red lights, the incompetent dog catcher that crashed his truck and released half a dozen dogs into the streets, and that old lady that held up an entire intersection because of her little "protest", said Cyborg with a face that looked like he was going to throw up.
"I unfortunately was awake for that", added Robin, also creating a "throw up face".
"What happened", asked Raven.
"Let's just say that time did not treat her well."
"My eyes cannot unsee what they've seen", added Cyborg as he covered his eyes with one hand dramatically. Some of my fur stood up at that moment due to me creating an assumption on what might've happened.
"You know, on second thought, I don't want to know", said Raven as she walked towards the end of the parking lot towards the mall entrance.
"Yeah, I'm gonna pass, too", I added as I followed her. Beast Boy growls in agreement as he follows as well. The other three Titans soon followed after. I remember how we all laughed as Beast Boy, due to him being eleven feet tall at the time, hit his head on the top of the entrance trying to walk inside. He remedied the situation by morphing down into a gorilla. Upon entry, we found ourselves gathering by a large fountain to discuss our game plans.
"So, where to, Titans", asked Robin.
"Well BB's gonna hit the cleaners, I've gotta hit the hardware and auto stores", began Cyborg.
"I wish to explore the choices for female clothing", said a gleeful Starfire.
"Raven and I are gonna take a look at some fabrics", began Robin. "And you, Wolfman?" I lowered myself to the ground to sit before answering.
"Well, I….", I began. I lost my train of thought at the sound of a whistle. The whistle was immediately followed by an annoying and obnoxious accent, though I couldn't quite identify the part of the country it was from.
"Hold up there, Guys", exclaimed a security guard on one of those scooter things they stand on as he rolled up to us. "So, uh, what's going on here", he asks as he points to the lot of us. I immediately started to become annoyed by this guy due to him being a heavy gum chewer who chewed with his mouth open and off to the side, much like an obnoxious horse.
"Nothing yet. We just got here", said Robin.
"Course 'ya did. You, uh, lookin' to shop in here?"
"Oh, yes. We'd be more than happy to", chimed Starfire.
"Not without leashes 'ya won't."
"Come again", asked Cyborg.
"Leashes. Come on, Guy. Leashes. Ain't you ever heard of a leash before, Guy?"
"Guy", asked Cyborg harping on the fact that this guy used the word "guy" a lot.
"Look here, Guy. Either 'ya put 'ya two fleabags on leashes….", he began as he pointed to me and Beast Boy.
"Beg your pardon", I interrupted as I rose to my hind legs. Beast Boy, also offended, lets out a brief roar, causing the guard to jump to a point where he almost lost his balance.
"These fleabags are members of our team", said a defensive Robin.
"Oh yeah. You guys are them Titan guys, ain't 'ya? Clean a lot of clocks, don't 'ya, Guy", he asked Robin.
"I'll clean his clock if he doesn't stop saying, "guys"", muttered Cyborg. Raven then elbows him to shut him up.
"Look here, Guys. This here mall's got a strict leash law, capiche", he asked as he ripped off a sheet of paper from his clipboard and hands it to Robin. After reading it a moment, Robin then hands it to me. I then read aloud so Beast Boy could hear.
""All animals on mall grounds must be attended for via leash or cage. No exceptions. All unattended animals will be restrained, captured, and if necessary, put down". Psssh, love to see him try", I muttered.
"'You threatenin' me, Guy", said the security guard as he reached for his belt. If he were a cop I might've taken him more seriously, but since he was a security guard in a mall, all he was equipped with was a whistle, a flashlight, and a can of pepper spray, so naturally I growled at him in response to him being a complete douche.
"Whoa whoa whoa, we don't any trouble, do we", asked Robin as he looked at me with a stern look. I also noticed Raven looking at me out the corner of my eyes. The truth of the matter was, I had no problem with the guard's request or the leash law, though that bit about being "put down" was kinda questionable. I've been in malls before, and I'm fully aware that many of them don't allow animals and have leash laws, and have good reasons for it.
From a logical standpoint, it makes sense to not have a bunch of animals roaming around the mall by themselves, though it'd be more fun if the animals in question were all mutants. I had no problems with the rules, I just didn't like the guard telling us about them. He was rude and disrespectful. I could've been a pet owner with a dog and still found his "fleabag" comment offensive. Who was he to go around calling any animal a fleabag? Besides, between that, his annoying and obnoxious accent, and his horrendous gum chewing, this dude sent out a really negative vibe. But, I digressed and gave into the rules as I Changed back into my human form.
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it, Guy", asked Officer Sweeney (I caught a glimpse of his name tag). I growled at him again in response as if to say, "don't push your luck". "Now you, Green Bean." Beast Boy then looks over at us and offers us a few of his bags as if to ask us to help carry them. We all at that moment, having full knowledge of the fact that all of his dirty laundry were in those bags, take a giant step away from him. Gorilla Beast Boy then makes his signature EAC face as he lets out a sarcastic groan. "Here, Guy", began Sweeney as he reaches into his pocket. "Hope 'ya like pink", he said as he pulled out a pink leash. Beast Boy's eyes suddenly widen upon realizing what he meant.
"Oooh! I've got this one", said Cyborg as he stepped forward to receive the leash from Sweeney. Beast Boy then looks over at the rest of us with a worried look on his face. We all just started to giggle a little.
"Oh yeah. Good luck living this one down", said Raven with a grin. Beast Boy responds with another groan as Cyborg slips the leash around his neck.
"'Dere 'ya go", said Sweeney as he turned his scooter around and began to ride away. "Y'all have 'ya-selves a nice day", he shouted back to us before he was out of earshot.
"Dick", I said after he was out of sight. Beast Boy grunted in agreement.
"Maybe, but he's gone now", said Robin. "Shall we", he asked to Raven. Raven simply nods her head as the two of them began to walk away. "We'll catch up with you guys later", he said back to us.
"Will do", said Cyborg back to him. "Come along, Monkey Boy", he continues as he tugs on Beast Boy's leash. Beast Boy groans in resentment as he resists Cyborg's tugging. Cyborg responds by tugging harder, which easily wins over Beast Boy's obedience. "If anyone asks, I'm gonna call you Bobo", he said with a cheesy grin as the two of them walked in a direction opposite of Raven and Robin's. Beast Boy roars at him in response, but Cyborg just laughs.
Starfire, having heard Cyborg's "Bobo" comment as they walked away, begins to giggle, but stops when she notices that she was alone with me. She then looks at me with a serious look. It wasn't so much an angry look like she usually gave me, but it looked more like she was confused for some reason. Without saying anything, she then flies up to the second floor and disappears to do her own shopping.
"Well, that was subtle", I said sarcastically. I then began to look around to see what kinds of stores the mall had. I don't know what it was about Jump City, but the majority of the stores and businesses there were strictly local. There were hardly any nationwide brands or logos to be seen anywhere. "Man, I don't even know where to start." I then turned a corner and happened upon a store I recognized, Target. "Bullseye", I said as I walked towards the entrance.
Once inside, I grabbed me one of their red carts and began shopping. It was one of the few times in my life that I took my sweet time to just look around. Usually my shopping trips were quick, easy, and painless because I already knew what I needed and what I wanted to look at prior to walking through the door, which was why I always hated shopping with my mother, who never knew what she wanted until she got to the store. However, this time it was my first shopping trip since being stranded in Jump City, and I had to start my life over.
During my shopping, the first few things I found were some toothpaste, a few toothbrushes, some olive and castor oil for my hair, a small comb, a new afro pick, two sets of clippers (one for facial hair, and the other for "other" hair), batteries, and mouth wash. I then gathered me some Axe brand body wash and body spray.
Can't be smelling like a wet dog all the time, now, can we? I then stumbled across a clearance bin with a bunch of towels in it. It didn't take a genius to figure out why they were on clearance. They were old, like really old. I don't really know how to explain it, but you could tell that these towels had been just sitting on the shelves for months and months and months without selling. It was also evident by the fact that there was no organization to the bin they were in. There were a great many different colors, styles, and brands for the towels. However, I fortunately managed to find three of the same towel in that bin. They weren't anything glamorous, just three pitch-black towels to match the color theme for the Titans. Since Raven seems to have already claimed purple, I guess I'm stuck with black for being my color.
After that, I did a bit of window shopping, looking at stuff that looked cool and stuff I impulsively wanted, but knew I didn't need. Besides, although I had a large amount of money in my name, the very last thing I wanted to do was make a big purchase right away. This was for two really big reasons. The first was that I had quite literally just got my bank account, the credit card, and the money that very same day, and it'd look really bad if I blew most of it on the first day, especially if the purchase in question was something I didn't need.
The second, and most important, reason was because I wanted to prove to myself that I could start my new life on the right foot. I already lucked out with finding a new home, a new source of income, and new friends, all within a few short days, but now I finally had the opportunity to start thinking about my future. I had the opportunity to start making decisions. I had the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself, a feeling I hadn't had in a long time, and I wasn't about to screw it up.
My window shopping eventually led me to the clothing department. With all of my stuff still in Anchorage, the only clothes I had were the ones I was currently wearing, which were atrocious. Though I truly was more comfortable in my wolf form, to the point where I favored that form over my human form, part of the reason why I tended to stay as a wolf around the Titans was because of my clothes. Thanks to Rancid, my Classic shirt, which used to be a kickass nostalgic novelty item, was now a raggedy light purple shirt with random pictures on it. He messed it up so bad to where it looked like the shirt was handmade, terribly. My jeans were even worse. Full of holes, the bottoms of the legs were all frayed, and the blue color was starting to fade.
The sooner I get out of these clothes the better, I thought to myself as I began looking through all the new clothes. I had never been more excited to buy clothes before. Back in Anchorage I had too many clothes, so getting new clothes always annoyed me because I knew I didn't need them. Here in Jump City, I had little to nothing, so getting new clothes was amazing, like if clothing was food and I was stranded in a desert for the past four days. Huh, I wonder if this is the feeling women have when they shop for clothes, I thought to myself. I started collecting a bunch of the collared Polo shirts that I liked, but then I had a thought. Wait a second. Don't the Titans just wear their uniforms everyday? It was then I decided that it'd probably be best to build a wardrobe in a similar manner. I didn't have a uniform, so I went with the next best thing, clothes that I could afford to damage, but still were acceptable enough for me to fight in and be seen in public in. Guess it's gym shorts and sweat pants for this guy, I thought as I hung up all of the much cooler Polo shirts.
I then made my way over to Target's selection of sportswear. Much to my surprise when I found an outfit I actually liked. It consisted of three parts. The first was the gym shorts. They were loose on the legs, but tight at the waist, meaning I didn't have to worry about tying a knot or anything. They were pitch-black with a single white stripe that ran down each leg, my kinda style. Then there was the sweat pants, which were the same brand as the gym shorts. They too were loose on the legs and tight at the hips. They also had the same color design, except the sweats had two white stripes on each leg instead of one. The idea was to play the sweat pants by ear, depending upon whether I felt I needed them for a public setting, or the weather. After all, I was now in sunny California, a long way from the much cooler Alaska. And last but not least, was the shirt. I don't know what the brand was called, but I liked it. It was made kinda like a jersey, in the sense that it had a thicker and tougher material base than your average t-shirt. It was sleeveless, making it more comfortable to wear, despite people having to see my marked up arms, but I was willing to live with that. And the color choices were awesome, so much so that it took me about five minutes to narrow down my options to two designs.
The first was a black shirt with a white ring around the collar. Simple, classy, and nothing too over the top. The other was a dark purple shirt of the same design, except the ring around the collar was black. I really, really, really was leaning towards the purple one. I even went as far as to justify why I should get the purple one even though black was my team color.
Raven's team color may be purple, but her favorite color is obviously blue, probably indigo. Unfortunately I had to face reality. Though I wanted the purple shirt, I knew that it didn't match the rest of my wardrobe, which normally I would be okay with since they were merely gym clothes. However, since these gym clothes were going to act as my Titan uniform, they needed to match, meaning I would have to revolve my outfit around that one shirt, which wasn't possible since no other choices of gym shorts or sweat pants really went with that purple shirt. The black shirt on the other hand matched perfectly with the rest of my wardrobe's theme, black with white stripes. Eh, Star and BB are already in purple uniforms, I thought to myself with a sigh as I put back the purple shirt. I then grabbed ten complete sets of my new uniform and threw them into my cart. In addition I got me some more underwear, socks, and "wife-beaters" as well. These are extremely essential. I then found me a nice pair of black and white running shoes, so nice that I grabbed three pairs of them.
Hang on, how am I supposed to carry all of this stuff? Better question, where am I gonna put it once I get back to the Tower? Those two questions then led me to purchase a laundry bag and a medium-sized suitcase, small enough to where it was easy to manage, but big enough to fit all the clothes and stuff I was about to buy. "Okay, that just might do it", I said as I pushed my cart towards the check out. I came to a halt when I noticed a sort of Hallmark section. There were greeting cards and kick knacks everywhere, but that wasn't what grabbed my attention. What truly grabbed my attention were the calendars. There was one in particular that had wolves on it, complete with a lunar chart. I flipped a couple pages into it to the month of March to retrace events from the past couple of days.
Let's see here, the last full moon was, well the night I got here, which was on Thursday, the 5th. Then the next day I got jumped and visited the Tower, and then the next day there was the dog, the lost little girl, that bitch with the broom, by the way, who fights a werewolf, or even a regular wolf for that matter with a broom? Anyway, and then I got recruited. That was also the night I hung out with Raven. Man, that was awesome. Um, let's see, after that it was pancakes, the H.I.V.E. Five, and movie night, and that brings us here, so today is Monday, the 8th.
I then noticed that the next full moon, or autumn moon according to Kendall, was scheduled to rise on Friday, April 3rd, meaning I had a little less than four weeks left. Having grasped that fact, I began to get bummed out again. I went from feeling excited about preparing to start my new life, to feeling depressed about preparing for my last few days of my life.
Worst, Monday, ever, I thought to myself with a growl as I tossed the calendar into my cart and continued to the check out. It was then that I found myself in the last place anyone wanted to be when trying to check out, at the register with a new employee on her first day.
She was a very shy and very timid young girl, probably around the age of fifteen, maybe sixteen. She had ginger hair on her head, and freckles on her face. She also wore glasses, and had braces on her teeth. From my position in line I caught a glimpse of her name tag. Her name was Elizabeth.
Oooh, that's a bit unfortunate, I thought to myself in reference to the late NickToons show. My thoughts were interrupted at the sound of the gentleman ahead of me. He was accompanied by two women, both blonde, one of which was the blonde bitch from Hell I kept bumping into. For the love of God, pleeeease don't turn around.
"What's the problem? Why is it taking you so long", complained the thirty-something year old man as he tried to lean over the register to look at Elizabeth's screen.
"M-my apologies, Sir. I just have to make one little correction….", she began hesitantly.
"Correction", scoffed one of the blondes. They both spoke like movie cliches so I honestly really don't know which of them was speaking. "That's like, what, your fifth one?" I then heard one of them make a "Wild Thornberrys" joke under their breath.
I knew that joke was coming, I thought to myself.
"My apologies, Ma'am. I will have that taken care….".
"No! Hell no", exclaimed the man again. "We've been trying to buy this merchandise for the past ten minutes! I could've been in my car by now as slow as you're going!"
I don't know about all that, Dude. Even on a good day, I would need at least ten minutes to ring y'all up, I thought to myself as I noticed these three ignoramuses easily had an entire cart's worth of merchandise, a lot of which was jumbo sized.
"Sir, please! If you would please stop shouting at me I could get this done", exclaimed Elizabeth having finally lost her cool, not that I blamed her. The man was too riled up to care, but I noticed that Elizabeth upon saying that to him was struggling not to cry.
"Who the Hell do you think you're talking to you little bitch", shouted the man as he slammed Elizabeth's counter.
"I think it's pretty clear who she's talking to", I said to the man. "Please do us all a favor and take it down a few."
"You've got something to say to me?" Before answering I look around behind me for comedic effect.
"Oh, you're talking to me. I'm sorry, I thought I stated what I needed to say pretty clearly." The man, who by the way was a rather large man at a height of approximately 6'5, then walks up to me and gets in my face. I looked up at him for a moment, as we were now staring each other down, but my attention was pulled away as one of the blondes spoke out.
"Ew, aren't you that hobo guy from the dumpster?"
"Very nice to see you again", I said to her as I leaned around the large man. "I do hope you were able to replace that broom of yours", I added as I Changed my eyes from brown to yellow. She responded by backing up a little as she gasped. The large man responded by grabbing at my shirt and lifting me up to his eye level.
"I'm thinking that somebody needs to learn to mind his own business, before his big mouth gets him into a world of hurt."
"And I'm thinking you might want to ease up on the steroids. Or at least invest in some anger management classes", I said sarcastically as I lifted my right hand up and patted his left cheek. He responds by swinging his right fist at me to punch me in the face, but he wasn't fast enough. I responded to his obvious attack by blocking his fist with my left fist, breaking a few of the bones in his hand in the process. The large brute then falls onto his back and writhes in pain as he holds his right wrist in his left hand, releasing his grip on me in the process. "Tsk tsk tsk, you might wanna put some ice on that hand", I taunted as I stood over him.
"Like oh, my gosh", what's your problem", said one of the blondes.
"What the Hell are you", said the injured man. I noticed a bit of fear in his voice upon asking me that.
"A very good question. A question such as that deserves an equally valuable answer. That said, here's a little hint", I said as my yellow eyes turned blue in front of him. His jaw dropped upon seeing me do this. I then gave him a bit of a jump scare as I let out a loud as Hell bear growl in his face, sharpening my teeth as I did so for effect. Like the bitches they are, the injured man and two blondes scream in response and run out of the store in a panic. I then returned my teeth and eyes to normal before facing Elizabeth, who I also inadvertently frightened. "It's okay, I won't hurt you."
"O-Okay", she responded nervously.
"First day?" She nods in response. "Were you ever trained on how to use your register?"
"I-I was, but it was so confusing and the guy was very fast and I didn't want to sound stupid and….", she began in a sort of panicky rant.
"Whoa whoa whoa, easy, Elizabeth. Take a deep breath." Elizabeth then motions her arms as she inhaled and exhaled. "Now, the first thing we've got to do is get you out of your current transaction. Look on the side of your screen. There should be a button there that says "suspend"."
"I don't see it", said Elizabeth as she brought her eyes back to her screen.
"Is there a button that says "page down"?"
"Uh, yes. I see that one."
"Push that button first, then look for the "suspend" button. I continued to coach her until she had cancelled the last guy's transaction and completed mine.
"Here you are, Sir", said a more calm and confident Elizabeth as she handed me my receipt. "And thank you."
"Not at all", I responded.
"No, really, thank you, Mr. uh, uh….", she began. Guess she really didn't look at my credit card when she was verifying it. Usually that's a big no-no for cashiers, but I let it slide.
"They call me the Wolfman", I said as I offered her my hand to shake as I Changed my brown eyes to yellow. I figured since the rest of the Titans had hero names, I might as well start introducing myself the same way.
"Wolfman", she repeated as she shook my hand. "Thank you."
"Anytime, Liz." Judging by the way she smiled back, I assumed she appreciated the nickname I gave her. Even if the nickname wasn't new for her, I was sure she appreciated being called Liz, as opposed to Eliza. "Have a nice day", I said with a wave as I walked towards the exit pulling my new suitcase. Once I left the Target, the first thing I did was go find a bathroom. Once there, I immediately grabbed the handicapped stall at the end and began to change clothes.
Guess now is as good a time as any, I thought as I opened my suitcase and pulled out one of my new uniforms. After I had successfully changed clothes, I then made my way to the bathroom sink. I then gave myself a much needed cleansing as I brushed my teeth and oiled and combed my hair. I then pulled out one of the sets of clippers and popped in a couple of batteries. I then took the time, with a little help from the comb I bought, to trim up my mustache and shave off my small beard and neck hair (for a guy who is used to having his body completely covered in fur, in my human form, I didn't grow much facial hair). This process was kinda tedious considering I was doing this all in a public bathroom, but fortunately the bathroom was empty, nor did anyone enter while I was sprucing.
"Much better", I said to myself in the mirror once my little makeover was complete. I had just barely made it out of the bathroom, when I noticed Officer Sweeney again. He was doing what he does best, harassing, only this time he was harassing what appeared to be a homeless gentleman. He wore a raggedy, brown trench coat, a pair of black jeans, and an old "TMNT" t-shirt. He had long, grayish hair, though it had a dirty brown look to it, and he was completely barefoot. I don't know how their exchange started out or what had happened, but it was clear what was happening in front of me. Sweeney was trying to kick him out of the mall. As Sweeney pushed the man continuously trying to force him through the nearby exit, the homeless man continuously tried to turn to face him with his hands out, begging as he said things like, "just a bit of change" or "make a difference".
"Look here, Guy, I'm not gonna tell you again. Get goin'", ordered Sweeney as they moved closer and closer to the exit. Outraged by how disrespectfully Sweeney was treating that man, I decided to help him out. Since I doubted that I could convince Sweeney to let the man stay inside, I decided to do the next best thing, give him what he wanted before he left.
I squatted down and opened my suitcase. I then grabbed one of the large, plastic shopping bags I was originally given to carry my purchases in before I moved everything into my suitcase. I then opened it and filled it with my old pair of white tennis shoes, my old shirt and jeans I came to Jump City with, two of the ten sets of my new uniform, and the $200 in my wallet that I withdrew during my purchase. I then tied the bag up and closed my suitcase as I rose to my feet and hurried over to Sweeney and the homeless man. I was just in time, too, because Sweeney had managed to push the man to where they were about five feet from the exit.
"Hey, Mister", I shouted at them. I came to a halt a few feet away from Sweeney as he and the homeless man stopped to look back at me. I then took the tied up plastic bag and held it up for them to see. I then swung it around as I prepared to toss it. I didn't want to hit either of them, so I threw up far and high as I aimed for the wall above the top of the exit. The bag hit its target, and then fell to the floor a few feet in front of the homeless man. He then dashes over to eagerly see what was in the bag.
"Bless you", said the man, who upon looking at him up close kinda looked like Sam Elliott, back to me as he rose to his feet with the bag in his hand. He then rushes out of the mall in response to Sweeney reaching for his belt.
"And if I catch 'ya here again 'ya gonna be sorry", shouted Sweeney. He then turns back and shoots a glare at me. It didn't bother me too much. I didn't break any rules, and in actuality I made his job a bit easier as I managed to calm the situation down between him and the homeless man. That said, I simply shrugged and walked away.
I had just rounded the corner and was on my way down a long straight shot towards the food court when I noticed the sound of motorized wheels. I twitched my ears and sniffed the air, Sweeney was following me.
Guess you've got nothing better to do, do you? To this day, I feel kinda guilty that I took pleasure in this, like I was enjoying the fact that I enraged somebody so greatly, but given the many things on my mind at the time, the last thing I needed was that mall cop, and I made the message clear that I didn't really care for him. As I continued to walk, I made a few Changes. My human ears became pointed, my brown eyes turned yellow, my feet turned into wolf paws, and I brought back my tail as it materialized behind me. To continue to taunt him, I slowly and deliberately wagged my tail in time with my stride. He knew I knew he was following me, which I guess pissed him off because moments after that my ears twitch to the sound of his scooter thing revving up to go faster. I soon found myself walking with Sweeney riding beside me. "Is there a problem, Officer?"
"Oh ho ho, that there is funny. You're funny, Guy", he said sarcastically as he wagged his finger at me.
"What do you want, Sweeney?" He hesitated before answering, probably because he had nothing to pin on me.
"You think you're pretty slick there, don't 'ya, Guy? The trash talkin', the tiptoeing around the leash laws, making me look like a fool in front of the homeless, you just have no respect for authority, do 'ya, Guy?"
"Unless there's a law I'm unaware of that makes sarcasm and trolling illegal, I'd say we're done here", I said with a grin.
"You may think you're hot stuff because you're with them Titans, but to me, you nothing but a wild animal, a fleabag, a mutt." I could feel a growl rumbling in my chest upon hearing his comments. "Y'all all the same, not knowin' where you belong on the food chain."
"I suppose you think that humans reign supreme?"
"You really have to ask me, Guy? What are 'ya, retarded or somethin'?" I almost released my growl and prepared to let out a roar at him in response to his arrogance, but got interrupted.
"You really shouldn't use that word, Sir", said a young college student at a nearby table. She was accompanied by two other students, one male, one female, at their table, which they were using as a booth to raise awareness for ending the use of the R-Word.
"Leave 'em alone, Sweeney", I said to him as I noticed him about to say something to them. He then turns to say something to me, but gets interrupted by his little walkie-talkie attached to his shoulder.
"Dispatch to Sweeney, Dispatch to Sweeney, over."
"Sweeney to Dispatch, ova", he replies reluctantly. He then turns his back to me and rolls away a bit to prevent me from hearing. Unfortunately for him, I was a werewolf, and the guy speaking to him on the other end, at least to my ears, was all kinds of loud, so I didn't have to actually try all that hard to overhear the conversation. At first I was listening in to see if there was some kind of disturbance in the mall. As a newly recruited Titan, I felt it'd look pretty bad if there was a disturbance and I didn't respond to it. But as the conversation went on I discovered he was just being "voluntold" to respond to a mild confrontation at Victoria's Secret involving a naked older woman and a cashier.
Honestly, what is it with Jump City's elderly and public nudity today, I thought to myself. My thoughts were interrupted as Officer Sweeney hung up his walkie-talkie.
"'Til the next time, Guy", he said simply as he revved his scooter and drove off as if he was trying a bit too hard to look like a badass.
Dude, it's a scooter, I thought to myself as I shook my head a little. I was about to continue my walk to the food court when I remembered the booth I was standing next to. I looked over at them and noticed that the clipboard they had on their table with their petition only had three signatures, theirs. For some reason, I guess to grab people's attention, they also had a bottle of ink and a quill with an ostrich feather to write with instead of just a regular ink pen. It couldn't hurt, I thought as I walked over with the intention of signing their petition.
I immediately noticed the lot of them looking at my tail, eyes, and paws. It was clearly their first time meeting a werewolf, which is always a fun little experience. None of them said anything as they looked me over, and I didn't really know what to say to them, so the whole exchange was rather awkward. In an attempt to break the ice a bit, instead of using their ostrich plume, I decided to show off a bit. I Changed my right index finger into a claw and dipped it into the bottle of ink. Since both it and my claws were pitch black, I knew that the ink would wear off before I even noticed it. After dipping my claw into the ink, I then go on to gently sign the word "Wolfman" on their petition in a crude cursive. Expecting at least one of them to say something in response, they all instead just watched in awe.
Well that didn't work, I thought to myself as I handed their petition back to them. I then gave them a peace pistol and began to walk away. I don't know what I was expecting from them at that point, but before I made it too far away, the one male student among the three them then runs up behind me and taps me on the shoulder.
"Hey, Man, thanks for that", he says to me as I turned to face him. "Seriously though, nobody's been over to our booth. We appreciate you", he said as he handed me a pen and a small spiral notebook, one of those little ones that you flip over the top to turn the page. Wasn't much, but I appreciated the gesture.
"Not a problem", I said as I shook his hand. We then awkwardly go our separate ways as he returns to his booth while I continue towards the food court.
I Change completely back to my human form just as I entered the food court. I had only made my Changes to mess with Sweeney, so since he wasn't around anymore, I saw no point in drawing any unnecessary attention to myself.
So many choices, I thought to myself as I looked around at all of the restaurant choices. Much like the stores in the mall, most of the restaurants were local eating places I had never heard of. Wave Jump Surf & Turf, Callie's Cali Rolls, Gotham Giros, I began as I read the names of some of the restaurants. There were only two restaurants that I did recognize, Taco John's and Dairy Queen. Part of me wanted to hit up Dairy Queen, but I decided to be adventurous and chose Gotham Giros instead. There were four other people in front of me when I got in line, but I didn't care, I had nothing better to do.
A few minutes later, at which point two of the four people ahead of me had already left with their food, I found myself cringing as I heard a trio of familiar voices. Three young men, presumably my age based on their voices, and they were hooting and hollering about some girls they ran into the night before. Those in front of me in line, now getting as annoyed as I was, would occasionally look back at them behind me and shake their heads and roll their eyes. I didn't blame them. For college students, they were cliche as Hell, not to mention completely rude and obnoxious.
Please, for the love of God, please ignore me, I begged in my head for I already knew who the three obnoxious douches were, and the absolute last thing I wanted to have to do was deal with them if they happened to recognize me. After waiting for what felt like hours, it was finally my turn to order at last. I soon found myself struggling to order as it was difficult to speak or even think over the three men behind me. "Yeah, uh, can I get….", I would begin but then lose my train of thought and have to start over due to me struggling to tune out the noise. "Oh, for Christ's sake! German giros and fries, please", I finally said with much frustration. I had just handed the cashier my credit card when the loudest one of the college men spoke out to me.
"Hold on. You look like that hobo from a couple of days ago. Looks like you finally had your bath", he said.
"You know, I really don't like that word", I said to them with my back still turned to them.
"Is that so", asked Goon #1.
"Check it out, Boss. Hobo Dude's got an attitude", said Goon #2.
"I mean it", I warned them as I turned to face them. I then found myself getting more irritated because these three dudes were hella cliche. Their assumed leader, the guy who seemed to call the shots among the three of them, alone was so cliche as far as how he spoke, what he looked like, what his build was, and the fact that he wore a football letterman jacket, I decided to refer to him as Flash from "Spider-Man", because that's who he looked like. His two goons consisted of a built yet still very skinny white dude with long, gothish, black hair, and a larger black dude with dreads. They too, also had football jackets on, but aside from that I knew nothing about these guys, and to this day I couldn't care less about 'em.
"Hobo", says Flash simply as he grabs me by the front of my shirt and slams me backwards into the counter. The cashier gasped upon seeing him do so. I winced and let out a brief groan before speaking again.
"One more time. I dare you", I warned Flash, who was still holding me by my new shirt. Flash, unintimidated by me leans forward towards my ear.
"Ho-", he begins to whisper before I interrupt him by grasping his throat with my right hand. Flash, who was about the same size as me, then begins to gasp a bit as I managed to lift him up into the air. Despite this, his face didn't show signs of fear, but rather it showed signs of anger. Seriously, despite the fact that I was holding him up in the air by his throat, and the fact that he couldn't breathe, and the fact that he couldn't move or escape my grasp, and the fact that his two goons didn't do shit to try to get him down, he looked down at me with a pissed off attitude as if to say, "how dare you?", which ironically pissed me off even more. I had just finished tightening my grip on Flash's throat when the cashier called out behind me.
"Forget about him, Mr. Wolfman. He's not worth getting kicked off the team for." Stunned upon hearing her say that, I turn back around to her. I looked down at one of her hands that rested on the counter to see that she still had my credit card between her fingers. She knew that I was a Titan, and she was right, he wasn't worth getting kicked off the team for. With my eyes locked on her, I didn't trust myself to look at Flash as I did this, I slowly lowered him to the ground and gave him a quick shove as I released him. I did turn to face him when I sensed him trying to rush at me in response. I was more than willing to fight him then and there, but his friends had other ideas as they held him back.
"Let go of me", demanded Flash as he struggled against his two goons' grip on him. It was then that I Changed my eyes from my normal brown to Lobomon's yellow. Flash and his goons stop and stare in response.
"There's a reason why I am called "Wolfman", I said with a growl. Despite his stunned look towards me, I could sense that Flash still wanted to fight, which I admit, had me concerned a bit. It was one thing to want to fight, it was one thing to be stupid and want to fight an opponent you can't hope to win against (especially since it was one impulsive and ordinary human versus an Elemental werewolf), but something about Flash seemed different. Even as far as impulsive humans go, there was something off about Flash.
"Forget him, Man. Let's go", said the goon in the dreads. I assumed he'd been with Flash longer than the other guy had based on the way that he managed to talk him down a bit, considering how unusual Flash's rage and impulses seemed. Flash, now convinced but still pissed, snatches his arms out of his goons' grip and storms off. Before taking off after their friend, Flash's goons take a moment to glare at me as if to try to size me up. I growled quietly in response, as if daring them to try something. As the goon in dreads began to walk away, the gothic goon then spoke out as he approached me.
"You had better watch your back, Son", he said trying to sound tough. I responded by releasing a single bark. The suddenness of my bark and the movements that went with it was more than enough to cause him to fall backwards as I startled him. After that, he didn't wait around to say anything else. He instead picked himself up awkwardly and scampered away after his friends.
Perhaps, I could've handled that a little better, I thought to myself with a sigh as I Changed my yellow eyes back to their normal brown color. I then turn back around to the cashier, anxiously awaiting the awkward conversation that would follow. That said, I was a bit shocked to say the least when she continued to work on my transaction as she handed me back my card. She didn't speak again until she brought me the food I ordered on a tray.
"Here you are, Sir", she said in a calm, presentable voice, as if she didn't just witness a werewolf choking out a college student just a moment ago. "And thank you."
"Well if it tastes as good as it looks, I'll definitely be back", I said in reference to the food. The food did look good, but I only mentioned it to try to fill the air with some form of "normal" conversation, as if trying to make up for my unprofessional behavior.
"Well thank you, but I was actually referring to you. Thank you, Wolfman."
"Naw, no worries. I've dealt with jerks tougher than them", I bragged.
"Yes, I know", she said as she rolled up one of the long sleeves of her uniform. She then revealed on her shoulder a tattoo of the word "Sturgis", as in Sturgis, South Dakota. Underneath "Sturgis", there was also the images of two wolf paw prints, complete with claws. I also noticed that one of the paw prints was smaller than the other was. A small detail that took me a minute to understand, but once I did it was crystal clear what the tattoo meant. This cashier was from South Dakota, and she was a fan of me and my sister. "Do you recall that wildfire you stopped a few years ago", she asked me as she pulled her sleeve back down.
"Like it was yesterday", I responded.
"Well, you saved me and my brother's lives, and I never got the chance to thank you for what you did. Or for everything else you've done for SD." Upon hearing her say that I then had a flashback of that night of the wildfire. I remembered that trapped in the middle of the flames, surrounded by tall grass being reduced to ashes, were a young girl, and her even younger brother. I remembered how I had to warp-digivolve to my mega form, and how they rode on my back as I flew them to safety before immediately returning to the flames to eliminate them. I remembered her very well.
"How could I do anything less? I'm just glad I made it to you in time", I said as I grabbed my tray as began to walk away. "I'll tell Sammie you said, "hi", and give my regards to your brother, Lola."
"I will. And thank you", she said again. Before walking away completely I turned back at her, grew an extra arm, and gave her a peace pistol. After that, I continued my path towards the tables to find a seat.
There weren't any open tables for one or two, so I was stuck with getting one of the larger round tables to sit at, alone. Sitting at that large table by myself was all kinds of awkward, but fortunately, sort of, it wasn't my biggest concern at the time. There was so much to do, and so little time. As I ate, I pulled out the notebook that guy gave me and began to jot down some notes on a sort of "to do" list.
Let's see, the first thing I should do is figure out how to save Adryen and the others. Of course, it would help if I knew where they were. Ugh, then maybe I should network with some of my other associates. Except I don't have any information to give them. Ugh! But then there's Kendall, but I don't even know where she is either. And then there's that army of masked men, that Doctor Light guy, Raven, my sisters, UGH! I don't know what I'm doing! I was getting more and more flustered and frustrated. The Elementals had never been in a situation this intense, or this difficult. I didn't know what to do, and time was running out, for both me and my friends. I was about to give into my rage for the third time today and flip the table when I heard a familiar voice.
"Yo, Wolfman", cried Cyborg. I looked up to see that he and the Titans, all except Raven, had all finished shopping and were approaching my table. "Mmmm-mmm, I smell giros", he continued gleefully.
"Too bad there isn't anymore", I said as I picked up the empty cardboard carrier my fries were in and turned it upside down.
"No biggie", I've got to go fix that hole in the wall anyway."
"Oh, yeah", I said bashfully as my ears dropped in reference to my contribution to destroying the said wall.
"If anyone else is going back to the tower, speak now", continued Cyborg.
"I'll go, too", began Robin. "I've got a few reports to finish."
"And me and Star have a date with a Mega Monkeys tournament today at the arcade", said Beast Boy.
"Lovely", I said sarcastically as the title Mega Monkeys sounded like a rejected idea for Cartoon Network.
"Question", began Starfire. "Though I do not wish to ruin anyone's plans, if Beast Boy and I are to Mega the Monkeys, and Cyborg and Robin are to return to the Tower, then what's to become of Raven?" As expected, the guys ignored the fact that Starfire conveniently forgot about me, again.
"Where is Raven anyway", I asked.
"After we got the fabrics she took off to the bookstore", replied Robin.
"Well then I'm definitely not waiting around for her", began Beast Boy. "The last time she went in there she didn't come out for a whole two hours."
"No problem", I began as I got out of my chair. "You all go ahead, and I'll wait here with Raven. We'll catch up later." I then noticed that Cyborg and Robin were stealing glimpses of my notes I wrote in the open notebook I left on the table. I responded to this by using my powers to flip it closed. Starfire and Beast Boy were clueless, and although I could sense Cyborg preparing to question why I closed it, Robin took the hint immediately and moved the conversation forward.
"Then it's settled. I'll give you a hand with the wall as well", he said to Cyborg.
"Alrighty then. We can take that bag for you if you'd like", offered Cyborg.
"Sure", I said in response as I handed him the suitcase I just bought. However, the notebook I stuck in my pocket. "Now which way is the bookstore?"
"Just keep walking that way", began Cyborg as he pointed down the hallway I would've continued to walk down had I chose to ignore the food court. "It's just around the corner. Last door on the left."
"Got it, thanks", I said as I gave him a peace pistol before walking away. "Catch you guys later."
"See ya, Dude. I'll be sure to bring home the Golden Banana trophy", called Beast Boy confident about his upcoming tournament.
"Yeah, you do that", I chuckled to myself as I rolled my eyes. I then made my way to the end of the food court, at which point I turned left, towards the bookstore.