I do NOT own Teen Titans
Notes and replies to comments:
His first fling. Nothing too explicit.
I think it's beyond even Batman to figure this out. He doesn't have any more data to go on than the rest of them do. It will be discovered eventually. I'm sure Jim appreciates what Beast Boy did, and will be generous with the next few deals. Beast Boy knows they didn't try to kill him, that things just got out of hand somehow, but he's still not ready to go back. He would see Batman as an ally of Robin, and so not seek him out.
This chapter will describe two humanoid forms, and have him use one.
The journey will indeed be important to him, teaching him independence and showing him his true strength. He will learn new skills, and met new people. Raven is still half human and open to all the weaknesses of what it means to be human. She didn't want Robin to herself, she wanted him to look at her the way he does Starfire. It's when she realized that that wasn't going to happen that she decided he wasn't what she wanted. And it's when she lost Beast Boy that she realized he'd been looking at her that way the whole time she'd known him. It'd just been something she'd never noticed. I would see her emoticlone's as different aspects of her. That would mean different ways of thinking. ie. Timid would be how to avoid a fight, Brave would be how to win a fight. Totally different views, but both would be aspects of the same person.
Wow! I never really thought about that. You're right, his amoeba form does talk. That's interesting. Thanks for pointing it out. I did notice that when he first entered Nevermore it seemed liked he used one of his forms to eat the attacking four-eyed ravens. So it would appear he also ate meat in at least one episode.
Lost and confused within the convoluted mess that is the DC universe I too am wondering just how much Robin and Batman talk. Since in this story Batman funds the Teen Titans they must talk some. Jump City, fair or not, wouldn't be able to hand out any serious punishment. The city is at stake, and getting rid of the Titans would be suicidal. It does seem the silver minions are winning. And so far whoever is behind it is only sending one at a time. As it stands, one is all that it would take to destroy the city if they used it right, as this chapter will show.
Letting him take on machine forms might be a bit too much. Imagine if he was able to take on the form of a Gordanian warship. He would be able to destroy whole cities. Still, in the next chapter he will leave/have left Gotham City and he will be seeking new shapes. Other than Tamaranian I'm wondering just what sort of alien shapes I should give him.
Turning parts of his body into another creature. Interesting suggestion. Something he will be able to do, though just how he will make use of it remains to be seen.
Time: Two weeks later.
Jenny,... New Forms,... Patrolling the City,... A New Skill,... Another Silver Minion,... Titans East,...
Beast Boy opened one eye, looked around, and decided it was a good day to sleep in. Moving would mean waking the cute girl who was snuggled up against him. When he'd first seen her with the blue hero outfit and mask, play acting a hero, he'd assumed she was around sixteen, but with her friend safe Jenny Baling had resumed her true age of twenty. She and Amy, he'd learned, had been born on the same day in the same hospital. They'd been friends their entire lives. To say there were as close as sisters would be an understatement. They would do anything for each other. When Amy had disappeared Jenny had lost it, and had done the only thing she could think of; become a hero to save her friend. In that aspect she had his admiration. She was intelligent and must've known just how futile it was.
The following night she'd shown up at his hotel, which he had no idea how she'd found, and stripped before his wide-eyed, slack-jawed, expression. Despite the temptation he'd reluctantly refused, not willing to exchange doing what he saw as his job for sex. That hadn't kept them from talking for hours. She'd stayed the night given how dangerous it was to travel in Gotham City after dark. The following evening when she'd made the same offer, he'd accepted. The last two weeks had been a very interesting, and a very pleasurable, learning experience for him. He'd been naive in practically all aspects of sex, while she was somewhat experienced. She'd explained she was on the pill, and always required her partners, of which he was the third, to use condoms. She was in her second year of college studying to be an engineer, and had no plans to ruin it with a pregnancy. Or by catching some disease for that matter.
He knew to her it wasn't serious. He was just a guy she found extremely interesting, and who she was curious about. In a few days she would be resuming classes, and would focus on her grades to the point of excluding almost everything else. He had to admit he would miss her. He also had to admit that in the long term they really wouldn't be a good match. She was a natural when it came to technology, which was the one thing he was clueless with. Even now the way she sometimes spoke left his head spinning in circles.
Reaching out, he ran his fingers through the soft mass of fine red hair. Her head tilted slightly, and an eye the color of a clear blue sky opened to peer at him. Smiling, she reached out to return the attention. The last two weeks had been very interesting indeed. Their lips met, and soon he was fumbling for the condoms once again.
When she left for the day he settled back in the bed, still able to smell her scent. Intoxicating. Still, while she was reason enough for him to stay in Gotham for a while, she wasn't the only reason. The waters around the city were filled with numberous ships that'd sunk, and he'd kept himself busy looting one that was close to the shore. Every second day he brought up eight million in gold, which Jim Baling was more than happy to take care of at seventy cents on the dollar. Beast Boy suspected he was doing it at no profit for himself.
That was a lot of money, and money opened doors. In a city like Gotham there were numerous laboratories doing all kinds of research. Most of in was on industrial processes, but not all. A few percent was on the genetic composition of villains, and in a city of thirty million people that few percent turned out to be a lot of high quality work. The forty million he'd salvaged had been cut down to just a little over twenty-three million as he'd bribed people to get access to various labs. He'd added two new forms to his collection.
First there was the work on the Joker's blood that one particular group had been researching. It'd been changed a little, but he now had a shape that was immune to nearly all forms of toxins. It's potential didn't stop there. They'd learned one of the reasons it conferred such immunity was due its ability to rapidly regenerate. For small wounds, if he wanted to keep a human form, the Joker might be ideal. Though he thought it unlikely he would use it that way given the blood was toxic, and could be lethal. He could just see a fly biting him, and then dropping down in a pot of soup in a restaurant, infecting dozens with the poison. It was truly scary to think about. But it also provided him with a devastating weapon while in that form. A speck of his blood would kill. Slash a hand and spray it in the air and he had an area affect weapon that could kill almost any foe. He'd taken the shape, but it wasn't one he would ever be eager to use. He was no killer.
There'd been another foe of Batman whose blood was being researched. Killer Croc. That form had him more excited. Despite its reptilian appearance, it was nearly human, meaning he could use his knowledge of martial arts. Combine that with the shape's other abilities and it was a form fit to match the beast. Razor sharp claws and teeth as natural weapons; super human strength and agility; hardened skin; immunity to toxins. It made him drool. It's hands were even flexible enough to allow him to use weapons.
Stretching, Beast Boy reluctantly rose from the bed where Jenny's scent still lingered. He was really going to miss her. Pacing the room he considered what to do once she went back to college. Remain a hero, gain new shapes. He recalled having already made that decision. But there was no way he was remaining in Gotham. So far he'd stopped over two hundred muggings, stopped nineteen stores from being robbed, saved seventeen people from buildings that'd caught on fire,... He needed a break. No wonder Batman for all his abilities couldn't bring this place under control. You would need to be as fast as the Flash with the strength of Superman with the ... Something or other to handle this city. A person would go nuts staying here.
He looked out at the eternally gray sky, and smelled the never ending toxic air of the city. There was a continuous roar from vehicles and people. He wondered what Batman saw in the place. But then Jenny loved it, so there must be something to it. Bored, he shifted into a falcon, and took to the air.
Soaring to a height of a quarter-mile, which was as far as he could clearly see through the smog, the shape shifter scanned the ground. Within five minutes he saw a dark-clad man brandishing a knife in an alley. The frail looking older man beside him was frantically emptying his pockets. Having learned not to waste time in this place where crime never rests, he folded his wings close to his body and dropped like a stone. Less than a fifteen seconds later they unfurled and slowed his fall. A split second transformation to an eel dropped the would-be mugger, and then his wings were grasping the air, straining to regain the lost altitude. In all it was less than a minute before he was back scanning the city. He would let someone else call the police; if they did. He noted the old man running from the alley, his wallet clutched in his hand.
Twenty minutes later the shape shifter spotted a building on fire. In Jump City, with the smoke to give them away, those were easy to spot from a distance. Here it was different with thousands of factories pouring pollution into the atmosphere. Checking again, he confirmed it was a fire, and started to study it in detail, his super-sensitive eyes peering through the toxic smog. Too toxic. His senses warned him. Landing on the roof, he shifted to a bat and listened. Automatically his ears sorted the sounds, blanking out those that weren't caused by people. In the end he located twelve sources of noise that might be survivors.
Given the smoke was toxic, Beast Boy decided to try the new Killer Croc form on for size. Smashing his way through the door on the roof, he used the enhanced hearing that came with the shape to help locate one of the survivors. He picked the unconscious man up, and slowly made his way to an exit, having to circumnavigate flames four times. Just before getting outside he reverted to his human form. To these people the Killer Croc would be a villain, and its appearance could cause trouble. Dropping the man to the ground where rescue workers could get to him, he hurried back inside. Ten seconds as a bat confirmed his second target was also not moving. It also told him there was another person inside who was moving swiftly towards another survivor. Ignoring them, he hauled one person after another out of the disaster site. Each time he listened, he noted the other figure also moving, saving people.
When the building was empty, he took to the skies once more. His sharp eyes peered down, and noted the form of a girl wearing a black suit. Batgirl? He wondered. After watching her for a minute or two, he continued his flight over the city. Five minutes later he sat down to take a rest. It seemed that while Killer Croc's form had prevented him from being harmed by the toxins in the air, and had even protected his skin to some extent from the flames, it' been seriously winded by the low oxygen environment. As a human, he laid back and stared up at gray sky. Perhaps being a villain wouldn't be so bad. He mused. I could destroy the more polluting factories, and the rest would have to clean up their mess or face the same. How can people live without seeing the sun or the stars? With a sigh he stood and continued to patrol the city, or at least the small section he could.
Nine more muggers felt the shock of an electric eel around their necks. Two robbers were clobbered into unconsciousness as he swooped into a store and turned into the beast. There was a drunken gang of ten motorcyclist shooting shotguns into store windows. Those he took care of too. That was something he didn't think he'd ever seen in Jump City.
There hours later he returned to his hotel room, dead tired. Sitting back, relaxing with a cold bottle of diet soda in his hand, he turned his attention to one of the talks he and Jenny had had. She, being an engineer, had wondered if he could replace one structure in his body with an equivalent one. At first he'd though her words were strange, but he'd given them careful consideration. His transformations had always included his whole body, but could he change it one part at a time? It was something he'd never considered. The body was a single organism, consisting of many different parts that worked together in harmony. Of course there would have to be limits. If he changed his head alone to that of a blue whale's he expected things would get messy, but maybe more reasonable changes. Something that replace one structure with another, yet retained the harmony of his body as a whole.
Raising his arm he focused on trying to transform, but only included his fingers in the attempt. At first it seemed to be useless, but determined to give it a serious try, he continued the process. Two hours later it worked, and his fingers took on the form of the Killer Croc's with huge claws at the end of them. Letting go of the partial shape, he fully resumed his human form extremely surprised at the success. It was a bit scary, and every sense he had was screaming at him how dangerous it might be. If he'd used the hand of the Joker for example, he thought it likely the tainted blood from it would've flowed through him, causing a very painful death.
So, the body is just a series of structures. He mused. And I can change them either as a whole, or one at a time. Interesting. Be nice if I can learn to change, but leave my human vocal cords intact. Would be able to speak. Happy to have learned something new, he settled down to experiment some more.
The alarm had sounded, and they'd rushed to fight another silver minion. For the last two weeks the process had continued at the same rate of one every second day. Fast enough to keep them tired, yet not overwhelm them. The damage had added up, and if things didn't improve soon the city might just surrender without being asked to. Though since the villain behind it all had yet to step forward that might be hard.
Maybe they could just give the message to one of the robots. Raven thought, straining to hold their foe still.
Cyborg rushed forward and used the chance to dump a huge truckload of quick-drying cement on top of it. "If it's not too strong, that might hold it." He said with a hint of weariness in his voice.
The concrete held the foe for a little over five minutes. Then small cracks started to appear in it. Within two more minutes the cybernetic minion walked free. It's sonic impulses started shattering all the glass around it once again.
"Maybe if we tried something like spraying molten titanium on it, and using liquid nitrogen to harden it right away." Cyborg mused. "The concrete did hold it for a bit."
"That'll be hard to try." Robin replied. "And the titanium alone would cost millions. Okay, let's try the acid."
Raven reached out and struggled to hold the slippery robot. "Okay." She told the others.
Cyborg and Robin lifted tanks of various types of acid onto their shoulders, and started spraying. The mess it made would be a pain to clean up, but if it worked it would be worth it. The spray hit the machine, and while it hissed on impact it didn't seem to do any damage. When it started to move again, Cyborg just shook his head.
"It dissolved some of it." He said, looking at the data he'd recorded. "But only around a tenth of an ounce. The amount of acid needed would be an environmental nightmare to clean up."
"I have an idea." Raven intoned, her expression having reverted back its old facade of apathy. "But it'll take time to set up, and there's no way we can use it on this one."
"Okay then. We'll just have to pound it into submission." Robin spoke forcefully. "Raven hold it as much as you can. Everyone else, blast it."
Sounds of explosions and other noises of combat rang throughout the city block.
Glad it doesn't fight back. Raven silently muttered, sweat running down her face with the effort of holding the silver minion in place.
With stops and pauses the four fought their relentless opponent. Suddenly, despite her control, Raven's face went pale. She used a bit of power to shoot up into the air and look around.
"Raven. What're you doing?" Robin inquired, tossing a disc which the silver minion evaded.
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news." She intoned. "But we're heading straight towards Jump City's main power plant." She stared at the gigantic towers that showed the location of a nuclear power plant with six cores, each rated at a little over a gigawatt.
Robin went pale. "Cyborg. Worst case scenario?" He demanded.
"The plants don't use water, and are instead air cooled by massive radiators." The cybernetic teen replied, thinking frantically. "Technically a meltdown is impossible. And should it somehow occur their passive failsafes will prevent any radiation leaks. We don't have to worry about that. But those plants generate over five hundred million dollars in electricity per month. The loss of tax revenue, along with the need to import power for the city will be over a hundred million a month." He shook his head. "Along with the cost these silver minions are racking up, I don't think the city can afford to pay out over a billion dollars a year. It'll go bankrupt. And there will still be a mess to clean up. That'll cost the city more."
Cyborg tilted his head and looked thoughtful. "Which reminds me, we haven't tried gamma radiation against those machines yet. It's worth a shot. I'll set something up for the next one."
"You sure about the radiation risks?" Robin demanded, dead serious.
The cybernetic teen nodded. "Latest design. But all that material will still be there, and will need to be guarded. We lose the plant and we lose the city. It just won't because of the radiation."
"Damn." Their leader muttered, watching their foe relentlessly march towards the city's doom. "Okay. Raven, you're our only hope. Can you toss it back a mile?"
She reached out with her power, and struggled to grasp it. Throwing all she could into the effort, she flung it back a hundred yards. "That's the best I can do." She told him, sinking wearily to the ground. "I can't get a good grip, but I can probably repeat it a few more times." Her face was pale, and the strain of the effort showed through her facade.
He nodded. "We hit it with everything we got." He sighed, obviously stressed to the breaking point.
"What would B do?" Cyborg muttered. "You know, I never really realized it until now, but he's the one who usually came up with the obvious solutions in such cases."
Raven looked at their cybernetic foe who was closing the distance again. The obvious. She thought. Reaching out, she manged to tear several truck sized chunks of rock out of the ground and use them to build a barrier. Her sigh of relief was audible, as the silver minion reach the makeshift blockade, and made a ninety-degree turn.
"It never smashes through anything." She explained, watching as their foe walked past the power plant.
"The obvious." Cyborg muttered, staring.
They resumed their assault on the robot, and brought it down six hours later. This time the trail of destruction was a little under twenty-five miles long, with a cost to the city of more than fifty million. There would definitely be another tax hike. Raven collapsed halfway through the fight, exhausted with her powers drained.
The violet-haired girl sat back on her bed, dead tired. She would take a short nap, and then would talk over plans for stopping the next silver minion with Cyborg. It would be messy, but it might work. Though if we do find a way to stop them, they won't take it sitting down. The violet-haired girl mused, staring at the ceiling. They will start attacking, and that's not going to be fun. We will have to plan for that too. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. They were still damaged and the room looked blurry. On her wall there were several newspaper clipping showing Beast Boy saving lives. He's alive. She thought. We failed, and for now that's good enough. I can be happy just knowing he's okay.
She leaned close so she could make out the words in the headlines. Reading the articles themselves was beyond her, but that was okay. Recent reports had him in Gotham City, and she wondered what he was doing there. Given it had the Joker, and other villains the likes of which the Titans rarely had to face, it was a pretty bad city to be a hero in. Somehow she doubted he would stay there long. Robin had asked Batman to search for him, but so far there'd been no word.
Despite her weariness, she sat and mediation for several minutes before trying to sleep. Knowledge's last bit of advice to her, so long ago, had been to keep marching forward, so that was what she would do. Eventually she laid down and tried to sleep. It refused to come as she wondered how things were going with the Titans East. The cause of the infighting had been determined to be based on false data placed in their computers by some unknown villain; the same as had happened with Beast Boy. Kid Flash had returned to the team, but things were still tense. Someone was rewriting the contents of their computers at will, leaving no trace behind. There'd been two more attempts to break up Titans East in such a manner, but they'd learned to ignore what their computers said.
She turned her thoughts back to Beast Boy, wondering once more how he was doing.
End of Chapter.
Considered using the Gentleman Ghost as one of his new forms, but decided teleporting and interdimensional travel might be too much.
Wonder what plans Raven has for stopping the silver minions, and how they will react. If something isn't done soon Jump City could become history.
Many thanks to those who read and review.
