It was early the next morning when the team congregated again. Just like they did every Tuesday morning they met up bright and early in the training room before breakfast. It was the one day a week that they had to wake up early; considering how lazy Billy Numerous could be and how much Changeling and Raven loved their sleep it could seem strange that they would have a tradition like this but that is because it came with one extra incentive. As long as there was no crime that day the whole team got the day off after their training drills.
Billy Numerous, Jericho, Mr Wykyd and Kole were already in the training room warming up and idly chatting away, or signing away in the case of the two mute teammates, awaiting their leader and other teammate who were never usually late.
A few minutes past before Raven entered the training room with an almost out of character grin on her face, her entire body was draped in her usual dark blue cloak. Raven glided over to the rest of the team who had assembled in the centre of the large room filled with exercise equipment, sparring area and even a wrestling ring for Billy to train in. A wrestling ring might sound strange but considering he had the same amount of strength that a normal body builder had he had to use is 'strength-in-numbers' talents when he fought which strangely enough worked best when he used old wrestling moves he remembered from when he was a kid. As Raven met them in the centre she cast a glimpse at Kole who had some sort of all-knowing glint in her eyes.
Moments later Changeling entered the room on his customary sleeveless Doom Patrol uniform and his ever present grin that seemed even wider today.
"Ready boss man?" Billy called to his best friend.
"Always Billy!" Changeling replied merrily.
"Whoa hang on a second!" Kole interrupted with a giggle to follow. "I think I'd like to know why Rae-Rae is standing there smiling like that?"
Raven blushed and smiled slightly but happily. Slowly her left hand protruded from beneath her cloak to slowly reveal the beautiful engagement ring that shone from her ring finger. Kole squealed with joy and embraced her friend which Raven returned. Wykyd and Jericho jumped for joy before signing so fast that Changeling doubted even they could have read what they were saying. Billy walked over to him with a smile on his face.
"Woohi! Well aint that better than a stallion playing poker! Good job boss man!" Billy said whilst clapping his friends back happily. "They grow up so fast!" Billy mocked whilst wiping away a fake tear.
"I've gotta find out where you come up with those." The green man said. "Thanks guys, seriously." Changeling added honestly. He looked about his now very happy looking teammates and couldn't believe how things had turned out. These five people around him weren't just his teammate and truthfully they never were. Raven was going to be his wife soon! He thought of Billy more like a twin brother and Kole was definitely like a younger sister to him. Jericho and Wykyd were like those two cheeky cousins that everyone has that you just know are planning some sort of prank or trick. And look how happy they all were. He was the one getting married. Raven was the one he was marrying. Normal work colleagues or even housemates don't act like this do they? Not as far he knew. "Ok here's the deal." Changeling announced, snapping his teams attention back to him. "I'm too happy to be bothered with training so we're gonna be doing something different."
"OOH! Team building exercises! Kole squealed.
"Kole… come on… one day yes but let us be happy for today ok Pinkie?" Changeling admonished using her nickname. Kole frowned but understood. Changeling looked towards one of his mischievous-cousin-like teammates Jericho. "Ok pretty boy I've got a present for you." Changeling added happily as he made his way to one of the far corners of the room. Jericho was hot on his heels with an eager smile on his face, the rest of the team followed not too far behind.
Changeling led them to a large object covered with a brown tarp. Jericho was literally bouncing in anticipation; Changeling approached the object and in one swift movement ripped the tarp away to reveal… a pile of rocks.
"Thanks?" Jericho signed. He was confused but so was everyone. Changeling laughed loudly but quickly sobered up.
"Looks just like a pile of rocks right?" Changeling asked, wiping a tear from his eye. Everyone nodded. "Well it aint." He said with a devious tone and equally mischievous smirk. "Jericho, possess it." Changeling ordered, still grinning. Jericho looked at his leader like he had grown a second, third and fourth head.
"I can only possess people." Jericho stated.
"Just try."
Jericho looked at the pile of rocks and with a shrug his body became transparent as he quickly floated towards the rocks and entered the largest one. As soon as he had done this a strange glow surrounded all of the rocks, the glow was the same colour as Jericho's blond hair. Suddenly the rocks began moving and swiftly began locking together. The movement lasted a few seconds and when it was done the rest of the team looked on in absolute awe and astonishment.
"What is that?" Kole breathed.
What stood before them was now an 8 foot tall Stone Golem that still had the faint yellowish glow surrounding it, on the rock that was obviously the head of the creature were two green glowing eyes that were the same colour that Jericho's transparent form possessed.
"This is called a Shale." Changeling began. "It took me months to find one that was still working but I eventually did." Changeling began gesturing to the Jericho infused rock monster, which was looking around its own body in awe. "A shale is a rock Golem, a long time ago in Siberia mages used to infuse the souls of soldiers into magic infused bodies made of either rock, fire, ice or pretty much any element you can think of. The downside was that once a soul was infused they could never be separated again and the soldier would then spend the rest of its life in a body that couldn't feel, smell or taste anything. However with Jericho's ability he can willingly possess and leave the Shale body whenever he wants to."
Jericho was barely listening but instead began jumping with joy in his new host body, using his massive stone hands to sign appreciations and gratitude's at his green leader.
"This day just keeps getting better and better don't it?" Billy said as he and the others continued to gawk at the creature before them.
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The Justice League Watchtower was a strange place. It housed almost a hundred heroes ranging from super powered humans to aliens to gods with backgrounds from orphans to royalty and more. One of these powerful heroes was standing by one of the large glass windows that faced earth, standing there in all its glory almost defiant and proud in its shining as it opposed the inky blackness of space that surrounded it.
The lone female hero sighed as she gazed upon the rotating planet, she was so deep in thought that she failed to notice another hero glide effortlessly towards her.
"Friend Wonder Woman?" The intruding hero asked sweetly.
"Ah Starfire hello." Wonder Woman responded kindly. "Please call me Diana."
"Thank you friend Diana." Starfire replied. "You may call me Kori if you wish."
Wonder Woman smiled at the young heroine's kindness.
"Are you well?" Starfire continued.
Once more Wonder Woman smiled. This innocent creature before her was not as naïve is she appeared.
"Tell me." Wonder Woman began. "Do you truly know nothing about Changelings past?"
Starfire's smile faded slightly. "Friend Changeling always refused to tell us of his past."
"I can imagine why." Wonder Woman confessed. Starfire was taken aback slightly by this confession.
"Friend Diana do you know friend Changeling?"
Wonder Woman chuckled. "In a way." Wonder Woman stepped away from the window and ushered Starfire to follow her. "Come, let us talk in private." The Amazonian princess said to the Tameranian princess.
Starfire followed the elder Leaguer to a secluded grassy area in one of the stations habitat zones. "When I was much younger." Wonder Woman began. "My country was ravished by a terrible disease that threatened to end my people." Wonder Woman paused. "We begged for help but none was given to us but then one day seemingly out of the blue two scientists appeared a man and his pregnant wife. They travelled the world trying to find cures to deadly diseases so that they could help people and luckily for us they came before it was too late. They defeated the disease and saved my entire country." Wonder Woman stopped and turned to face the floating Tameranian who was listening to her story intently. "We offered these two a huge reward but thy refused saying that they only wanted to help. That is not the Amazonian way so instead we began keeping an eye out for them so that we could repay the favour in some way but… we failed." The elder heroine's eyes began to water but she continued despite this. "My mother was infected with the disease that they cured so I was eternally grateful for them saving her life so I took it upon myself to check up on them. Unfortunately when we learned what disaster had struck them it was too late to do anything. The two scientists had perished in a terrible accident leaving their six year old son an orphan. My people searched for many months to find the young boy but in the end we could not and thought him dead. It wasn't until many years later that the boy emerged to the world again but as a member of the Doom Patrol and eventually The Teen Titans."
Starfire's eyes bugged in realisation. "Friend Changeling." The alien breathed in shock.
Wonder Woman nodded. "Yes. And we still owe him a lot."
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The only thing that could make Jericho more considerate is if he breathed in carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen. That's what Kole thought to herself as she snuggled into her long term boyfriend on the couch in the common room. They were idly watching the goings on of their teammates around them. Changeling and Billy Numerous were battling away on the Gamestation with Raven reading contently beside them as she lay on her back with her head positioned comfortably on her new fiancés lap. This brought a smile to her face as she imagined her protective older brother figure marrying her big sister figure. Mr Wykyd was seated on the far end of the crescent shaped couch typing into his laptop happily.
Kole would always think of the caveman Gnaark as her first family but she couldn't deny how happy she was with the Dodge City Titans. Her boyfriend was the sweetest guy she had ever met, except for when he descends into his prankster phases when he's left alone with his best friend Mr Wykyd for too long. Raven was a complete mystery even after the four years she had spent being her best female friend but if she ever needed anything she would often go to Raven first. Mr Wykyd was equally mysterious and was also very caring but he also had a cheeky side to him that made him almost cute… like a puppy. Billy Numerous was the loudest person she had ever met but was also one of the funniest, his quips in battle and mock arguments that he had with their leader would often bring them to tears of laughter. Then there was Changeling, the green man was the second tallest of the team following after Billy but it was strange because he seemed to get taller every day. He was the only person that any of them would follow into hell because he was the only one who could be trusted to get them all out again without casualties. It was no surprise that she often thought of him as her older brother and even now and then as a father figure despite the fact he was only just over a year older than her.
She cared for them all deeply but no matter how much she tried she could never get anyone of them to open up about her past. She knew that Changeling and Raven had exchanged their histories to each other and she knew that Raven spent the entire next day in tears as she held onto him for dear life, and if it could do that to her then it must have been bad.
But she couldn't stop the need to know.
"Hey guys?" Kole said cautiously.
"Maybe tomorrow Kole." Changeling replied with a smirk.
"How do you do that?" Kole asked with a look of shock on her face. Changeling just chuckled in response.
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An hour later Changeling had decided to give gaming a rest for the day. Instead he led his beautiful fiancé down one of the halls on the second floor of the tower towards the large computer lab near his office.
"We're not doing more research are we?" Raven whined as the green man led her towards the large computer screen in the centre of the back wall.
"Don't worry I won't start obsessing until tomorrow baby bird." Changeling answered with a chuckle. Raven smiled; no matter how many times he called her that it would always make her smile, she loved that nickname!
"So what then?" She intoned, still smiling with a faint blush.
"I need to tell my parents the good news!" He admitted with a wild smile. Raven smiled as well. Mento and Elast-girl, or Steve and Rita, of the Doom Patrol were two of Ravens favourite people in the world. They chose to see beyond her heritage and accept her into their own family without any hesitations. Rita was also phenomenal at giving her advice and Raven often found herself calling her for private conversations whenever she needed a woman's help.
Changeling began typing away at the keyboard in front of him and shortly after an image of Steve and Rita appeared on the screen in front of him. Larry and Cliff, or Negative Man and Robot Man, could be seen playing table tennis in the background.
"Ah Garfield!" Steve began loudly. "I was wondering when you'd call. Unfortunately we have no new information on Gemini or her plans I'm afraid." Steve finished and his face became a bit downtrodden.
"That's not actually why we're calling dad." Changeling said with a smile.
"You two just looking for a chat then hmm?" Rita said with a warm smile.
Changeling looked to Raven who was seated beside him. "Show them' He said with a warm smile.
Slowly Raven raised her left hand to once again show off her new engagement ring. On the screen Steve's jaw dropped as he gasped whilst Rita beamed and let out an ear piercing scream of excitement that rivalled one of either Kole's or Starfire's, this caught the attention of the two heroes in the background, interested they made their own way over to the screen.
"My my that's a big stone!" Cliff bellowed happily.
"Good work kid but I think you may have broken your dad…" Larry added with his own sarcastic monotone.
Suddenly Steve burst from his chair and stood proudly before them all. "That's my boy!" He yelled loudly before kissing his own wife in excitement.
Steve, Rita, Changeling and Raven spent almost an hour chatting away happily before they signed off. Pushing all the thoughts of their mission to the back of their mind, even for just one day they wanted to be a happy couple and celebrate their engagement properly.
However, celebrations in the Dodge City Titans Tower were never something small and this could mean only one thing. A party. Which meant another a stream of things; alcohol, loud music, alcohol, an eccentric Billy Numerous, alcohol, a giddy Kole, alcohol, drunken pranks that usually backfire from Jericho and Mr Wykyd, alcohol and an amorous Raven who was always a very flirty drunk when it came to Changeling even when they lived in Jump City but they were underage back then so they kept that on a need-to-know basis.
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Changeling stood at the top of the tower on his own. His teammates were doing their own thing, even Raven who had decided that she quite enjoyed showing off her engagement ring and was now sitting in the computer lab on her own calling her friends to gloat. This brought a smile to the green man's face. He looked over the scenery before him at the ever present sight of Dodge City. It was quiet and as everyone knows that can often not be a good thing.
Animals could always tell when a storm was coming and Changeling was no exception except his instincts were different, he could tell if storms were coming but he could also tell when danger was approaching and he could sense it now in the calm before the inevitable shit storm that was approaching him.
His instincts had always been 'strike first and protect the ones you care about' and he had learned to never ignore his instincts. However today was different, he wanted one day where he could just forget everything and revel in his own life for a change. But he couldn't escape the feeling that there was something beyond the Gemini threat, something different and far more dangerous.
He took a deep breath and put all of his will power into supressing his instincts. He needed to do something else, he needed a distraction. He grinned as the perfect solution came to his head. Well two solutions came to his head but the second would have to wait until later that night when he could get Raven alone but for now he had a different plan. He turned on his heel and headed back towards the common room.
He entered the automatic doors and found his whole team in there watching some sort of dribble on the TV.
"Billy!" Changeling shouted happily. "Grab your chef's hat; we need a feast to celebrate, for tonight we party!" He declared very loudly.
"Yeehaw!" Billy Numerous called in response as he leapt from the couch and made his way over to the kitchen. He followed his orders to the letter and even donned an actual chef's hat. "Ya'll better prepare yourselves for the Numerous family special!"
As Billy began working on his concoction, all of his meals were always beyond compare, Raven made her way over to the shape shifting leader of the Titans and took him in a tight embrace which he returned. She kissed him lovingly before pulling away with a glazed over look in her eyes.
"I love you so much baby bird." Changeling whispered lovingly into her ear as he held her close.
"I love you too Gar." She responded with a satisfied sigh.
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Hey people! Thanks for the reviews. Now for anyone who has played the 'Dragon Age' games then to you a golem called Shale might sound familiar but fear not for I did not steal it! A golem is merely a living but artificial construct made from any element whether it be from fire, earth, ice, etc. But a Shale is a type of golem meaning: Stone Golem… so you can see I didn't steal anything.
Once again thank you to everyone who reviews and a special thank you to JasonVUK and Krostovikraven1 for all the support! P.S Check out their TT stories as well!
Also if you like things a little… 'dirtier' then check out my other story 'That Smile'.
Sincerely,
D-403