Changeling and Nightwing entered the lobby at moved into the crowd. Changeling ventured towards where he had left his teammates to see if he could locate them again. He reached Billy Numerous just as he had finished a conversation with a puzzled looking Hotspot.
"Hey Billy, where are the others?" Changeling asked as he reached his ex-villain friend.
"Oh hey boss." Billy answered as he turned to face his green leader. "Your girlfriend got dragged off by Cyborg and Starfire, Kole and Jericho went to see Gnaark and Wykyd is over there talking to Argent." Billy drawled in his thick accent but his voice gained a mischievous tone as he gestured towards Mr Wykyd and Argent. Billy watched as his leader looked around the room taking note of where all his friends were. "So err what did Nightwing want?"
Changeling returned his attention to Billy with a smile plastered on his face. "He apologised."
Billy's face dropped for a second before he smiled as well. "Woohi! Well aint that better than badger on vacation!" He called loudly, confusing more bystanders around him.
Changeling cocked an eyebrow but was still smiling. "I'm sure it is Billy…" He replied slightly puzzled.
As they were talking both Changeling and Billy noticed that Nightwing, Cyborg and Starfire had climbed a stage that was along the back wall of the room. As Nightwing walked towards the podium the rest of Changelings team began to gather around him.
"Did he say why we're here?" Raven asked in her signature monotone as she stood beside her green beau and took his hand.
"Nah, but I guess we're about to find out." He replied happily. Raven could sense his happiness and knew that it meant he and Nightwing had patched things up, this brought a wave of relief through her. Billy on the other hand was not really paying attention and instead decided it was time to have some fun with his dark friend.
"So Kyd, you and Argent have some fun while we weren't looking?" He questioned with a sinister smile. This got the attention of the whole team who, apart from Raven, all had similar sinister grins on their faces as they watched their friend blush.
Wykyd shook his head vigorously before he started to sign. "First of all it's 'Mr' not 'Kyd' and secondly no we did not do anything of the sort!" He signed quickly but after living with and fighting alongside two mutes the entire team had learned to read sign language at almost impossible speeds.
"Whatever you say little buddy." Billy added with a chuckle, clearly not believing his friend.
The conversation died out however as the team noticed the room becoming quieter, as they looked around to find the reason they noticed Nightwing standing behind the podium trying to get the attention of everyone in the room.
"Alright everyone please, we have some big news and it's important we get through everything that we need to." Nightwing commanded as he quietened down the rowdy superheroes in front of him. "Ok then well let's begin. I think it would be best if we just get straight to the point." Nightwing declared as he looked about the anxious faces of the crowd. Nightwing steadied himself and took a deep relaxing breath before continuing. "Myself, Starfire and Cyborg have all been offered places in the Justice League; and we've accepted." At these words the crowd erupted into applause, cheering and a series of loud congratulations that were shouted above the applause. Behind Nightwing Cyborg had a triumphant grin on his face that seemed physically impossible it was so large whilst Starfire was feeling so much joy that she was beginning to float off the stage. Nightwing once again addressed the crowd before him. "Thank you everyone but now comes the important business before we leave. Kid Flash and Jinx will be staying here in Jump City with Kid Flash taking over leadership of the tower. They will be joined by Hotspot, Herald and Gnaark."
"Whoo go Gnaark!" Kole shouted happily, not caring that she interrupted Nightwing.
"Gnaark!" The caveman answered loudly and proudly from the other side of the room, eliciting a loud chuckle from the crowd.
Nightwing just cleared his throat as he continued. "Yes well as you know although most of us have our own leaders whether it be Bumblebee of Titans East or Changeling of Titans Dodge but I have always been the leader of all the Titans, but I can't be that any longer which brings me to why we're all here. We are going to vote in the new leader of the Titans!" He declared loudly. "So this is how things are going to happen, we are going to take in nominations now and then we will vote, however it will not be decided until one candidate has at least 65% of the votes. So do we have any nominations?"
"Bumblebee!" Aqualad called from the centre of the room, the nomination was greeted by a murmur of agreement from the crowd.
"Changeling!" A thick Russian voice called from the back of the room, the room turned to see Red Star looking confident in his choice. This was greeted by a much louder murmur from the crowd.
'They can't pick me can they?' Changeling thought in his head. 'I thought everyone disliked me coz of what happened between me and bird brain?' His thoughts were silenced as he felt his hand being gently squeezed by his girlfriend who had still not taken her hand away from his. He looked at her and smiled warmly at her; he then felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Billy smiling confidently at him.
Nightwing looked about the crowd waiting for more nominations that never came. "No more?" The soon to be ex-leader asked the crowd. "Speedy?" He asked as he looked over to the ego driven archer who just shook his head. "Well ok then here's what's going to happen; I'm going to call out each of their names and when I call the name you want to vote for raise your hand and then Cyborg will count them. So let's begin. Bumblebee." All of Titans East raised their hand but as they looked around they noticed that no one else had raised their hands. They all lowered their own hands looking absolutely defeated. "Ok then." Nightwing added, he was extremely puzzled by this. "Changeling?" Every hand in the room shot up like rockets ready to break atmosphere. There was no need to count the hands as it was beyond clear what the decision was. Nightwing looked over at the now shocked looking the green shape shifter. "Changeling come up here." Nightwing commanded.
The shape shifter looked about the expecting faces around him and noticed that the body of superheroes had separated allowing him to walk towards the stage. Before he moved he looked about his own team; to a normal person Raven's face would have seemed completely stoic but not Changeling as he could see the pride in her eyes as she looked at him. Billy was speechless which for him could only mean one of two things; he was shocked beyond belief or he was dead, although Raven theorized that someone as loud as he was would probably still talk when he was dead. Kole and Jericho had two huge twin smiles on their faces and Mr Wykyd just nodded confidently at him. Changeling steadied himself and began to move towards the stage. He passed by all of the smiling faces and found it hard not to turn around and run for the hills; but eventually he made it to the stage and over to Nightwing who shook his hand confidently. Nightwing gestured to the podium and stood back. Changeling looked puzzled and then it clicked. 'He wants me to make a speech?' He screamed in his head. Nightwing noticed the look on his face and decided that he could come to the rescue one last time.
"Congratulations Changeling I know you'll do the Titans proud." Nightwing stated confidently; Changeling merely nodded with his stupid smile across his face.
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The rest of the day progressed as it normally would have at one of the Titans events, with Nightwing giving a speech that literally lasted for hours. Cyborg and Starfire had left the stage just before Nightwing had begun because there was no way in hell they could stand up there in front of everyone for that long. Cyborg had ventured over to Changeling as he had not had a chance to catch up with him yet but as he got closer he noticed the new green leader of the Titans snickering with the ex-villain Billy Numerous. Cyborg's mood dropped fast; he was jealous that his little buddy had a new best friend. He was about to turn and walk away when he felt a hand on each of his shoulders; he looked to either side and saw Changeling and Billy Numerous sneakily trying to lead him out of the room.
Once they made it to the hallway Changeling turned to his cybernetic buddy. "Cy what happened to old room?" He asked, the sinister smile from earlier had returned to his face.
"It's just a normal guest room now; why?" The metal teen responded quizzically.
"Then they should still be there." Changeling responded with a dirty chuckle. Before either Cyborg or Billy could notice the green man before them became a green cheetah and sped off down the hall.
"Whoa hold up partner!" Billy called as he and Cyborg raced after him. The two slower heroes arrived in Changelings old room and entered to find the green man plying off an old floorboard and then shoving his long green arm down into it. A clanking of glass could be heard as he rooted around the hole in the floor before pulling out two black plastic bags.
Changeling turned to his friends with a smile on his face. "Gentlemen; shall we begin?" He asked in a posh accent as he placed both bags on the floor. The two confused heroes peeked into the plastic bags and what they saw brought a twinkle to their eyes, well cyborg only has one eye and you can't see Billy's because of his visor but they were twinkling nonetheless. Changeling reached into the bag and pulled out three very large glass bottles, the label on the bottle read 'Russian Standard Vodka'. Changeling handed a bottle to each of his friends and the three man party began.
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Two hours later and Nightwings speech finally ended; to say that he was angry that two team members and the newly appointed leader of the Titans disappeared before the speech even began would be the understatement of the century. Nightwing was marching through the tower in search of the three renegades with Starfire and Raven in hot pursuit trying to deter him from his proverbial war path.
"Nightwing calm down they must have had a reason to leave." Raven stated calmly as she trailed the furious ex-leader. She was lying as she was pretty sure she knew why they left and what they were doing now.
"Yes please listen to friend Raven!" Starfire called as she followed after her dark clad fiancé.
Nightwing didn't listen. He was seeing red and was out for a fight. He knew exactly where he was going to find the three deserters. Finally after marching through the tower he arrived at a door that had the words 'Beast Boy' in very faded green letters. Without pausing Nightwing punched in the code for the door and peered inside the room as the door swished open. Nightwing paused. In the centre of the room were three empty vodka bottles; sitting on one corner of the bed was Cyborg with another bottle in his hand. His eye was glossy and he was sporting a ridiculous look grin on his face as he was listening to one of Billy's overzealous stories. Billy was sitting on the floor in front of the half metal man with a vodka bottle in one hand whilst the other arm was flailing about ridiculously adding emphasis to his story. Changeling was leaning against the wall with a very satisfied looking grin on his face; he watched as Nightwing began to march towards him but just as Nightwing was about to open his mouth to begin his rant the green man silently shushed him before throwing an unopened bottle into his hand.
Nightwing paused as he looked at the bottle in his hand; he returned his gaze to the shape shifter and his damn grinning face. Nightwing felt his anger quickly flow away; almost as quickly as the vodka flowed down his throat, that's right… Nightwing was in the party now.
Now it was Raven's turn to be unimpressed. After all the effort she and Starfire went through to try and calm Nightwing down she was quite annoyed that her boyfriend could do it without even opening his mouth. Her anger quickly subsided as her green beau produced yet another bottle from one of the plastic bags, this time however it was a rather expensive looking bottle of red wine. Raven was quickly pulled into the green man's lap and was then handed the now open bottle of red wine.
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It was late the next morning when Changeling awoke. He was confused and was suffering from his very present hangover; he was lucky however, due to his strange genetics his blood worked quickly to remove all the toxins from his body so he only usually remained hung over for an hour max. He slowly began to sit up but was still sitting on the cold concrete floor beneath him; he looked at his surroundings and noticed that he, as well as the others, had somehow ended up on the roof of Titans tower. Changeling was confused as he had no recollection of the night after pulling Raven into his lap after Nightwing had found them. Changeling took note of everything around him; Raven was out cold on the ground close to him whilst Billy and Cyborg were leaning against each other both talking in their sleep. Nightwing was not too far away from him either but it was clear that he had woken up barely a minute before Changeling.
"Dude… What happened?" Changeling grumbled tiredly. Nightwing looked at him; he was in a bad state and obviously really suffering from the effects of a hangover.
"A lot." Nightwing responded curtly. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Um… I guess pulling Raven into my lap." He responded quietly. His vision was still very out of focus and so he was squinting in the late morning sunlight.
Nightwing chuckled. "Which time?" The former Titan leader asked with a grin.
"The first I think. How many times did I do it?"
"Well she pretty much spent the whole night in your lap. You even carried her up here so that she wouldn't let go of you." Nightwing laughed.
Changeling took a moment to look at the dishevelled sleeping beauty next to him. Raven was the opposite to him when it came to hangovers, she really suffered from them. They were so bad that the only person brave enough to go near her when she has a hangover is Changeling, but that's only because he loves her. He reached out and brushed a lock of her violet hair out of her eyes and then rubbed her cheek with his palm, subconsciously Raven began to lean into his hand and a small smile graced her lips. Nightwing watched the display with a smile on his face.
"Look Changeling I know you guys need to get back to Dodge soon but I really need to talk to you about some leader type things ok?" Nightwing asked gently. Changeling turned his gaze from Raven to Nightwing and nodded in response.
"Ok buddy, just let me carry Raven to bed first."
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Billy woke up not long after Nightwing and Changeling had left with Raven in the green leaders arms. Billy looked around and noticed he was on the roof of the Titans tower but that wasn't what was bothering him. He could hear a strange buzzing noise that was very familiar to him but he couldn't place it. Billy struggled to his feet trying his best to hold his own hangover at bay. He slowly made his way to the ledge of the tower where he could hear the strange buzzing noise. As he reached the edge he noticed a strange device on the concrete floor beneath him, he instantly recognised it.
"Well I'll be…" Billy muttered under his breath. He bent over and picked up the vibrating device and looked it over suspiciously. He had good reason to be suspicious as the device he was now holding was the H.I.V.E's equivalent of the communicator. Billy pressed the answer button on the device and looked on in shock as a familiar bald head greeted him through the display. "G-G-Gizmo?"
"Look I don't have time to talk scuzz muncher." The foul mouthed teen responded curtly.
"Why what's up little buddy?" Billy asked, concern was clear in his voice. He may have left the H.I.V.E behind when he and Wykyd turned to the good side but they would always be his first family.
"Don't worry about me." Gizmo replied. "It's you who needs to be worried."
"What why?"
"Word in the underground is that someone big is coming for your boss."
"Changeling?"
"Yer the green freak." This reply brought a growl from Billy's throat; no one gets away with bad mouthing his family. But he didn't have time to reprimand the little teen as he needed to know what was going on so instead he just let Gizmo continue. "Look I don't really know who this chick is but all I do know is that she's supposed to be wicked scary! But all I've got is a name: Gemini."
Billy nodded in response. "Thanks Gizmo this means a lot."
"Look I'm doing this for you and Wykyd alright? What you guys do with this info is on your own heads but I suggest getting the hell out of there!"
"Not a chance little buddy. But thanks again." Billy stated as he flipped the communicator shut to end the call. "This could either be as much fun as a clown in a bumper car or as disastrous as a fox in chicken coop." Billy mumbled.
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An hour later and both the Jump City Titans and the Dodge City Titans were assembled in the common room chatting away before the D Titans had to leave. Billy picked this time to tell his leader about his conversation with Gizmo. The sound of shattering glass caught the attention of the whole room as each hero turned their attention to Changeling who was now standing as still as a board with a look of pure shock and a hint of terror on his face.
"Gemini?" He breathed.
"Err yer boss; the name mean something to you?" Billy replied, his voice carrying his concern for his best friend.
"Shit." Changeling declared loudly.
"What who is it?" Nightwing asked forcefully. Raven on the other hand moved closer to her terrified boyfriend and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Gemini is the most evil, sadistic and clever bitch I have ever met." He stated confidently, but his eyes were glazed over as he looked off into the distance. Suddenly his brow knitted into a deep frown and his eyes took on a look that sent shivers down the spines of the Jump City Titans who had never seen this look before. "And she'll be coming for me first and then the rest of the Titans."
"What? Why?" Kid Flash shouted loudly.
"Revenge." Changeling almost growled. "She'll want to kill us all for taking down the Brotherhood of Evil. Gemini is the daughter of Madam Rouge…"
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Hey people!
Thanks for the reviews! Please keep them coming.
So just in case you were wondering I did not make up Gemini; She really is the daughter of Madam Rouge and I hope I can make her interesting for all ya'll!
Cheers!
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