Chapter 04: titans fail again ?
Jump city, downtown, financial district, 11:58 pm, JNNC news copter
"good evening, this is Bethany snow, reporting live from downtown jump, where yet another skirmish between the teen titans and yet another one of their foes, judging by the scale of it I'd say it's most likely Plasmus…. if you watch it within the vicinity of the area you're better off running for cover, most likely for the fact that the titans will inflict heavy collateral damage on the are or in worst case scenario…. they are responsible for the monster's escape to begin with… either way we'll be broadcasting the events as they unfold…. this has been Bethany snow… back to the studio.
Meanwhile on ground level, the titular heroes make their way to the scene of the disaster zone, Starfire, raven and beast boy utilize their skills to navigate through the metropolitan sky, while robin the leader of the group decided to join cyborg, in his own car, as he focuses on coordinating the team next to the driver's seat.
"Robin to all titans, acknowledge, in light of recent events, we need to work together quickly and efficiently, raven and cyborg are to help evacuate the people away from the battle ground and provide medical care if may needed, as for myself I'll try to lure plasmus into a closed environment, now here is when it gets crucial… after cyborg and raven are done with evac duty, rendezvous with me until Plasmus is cornered off completely, at that moment starfire will block off his escape using her star bolts while beast boy swoops in for the finishing blow…. any questions?"
Robin received confirmations both from raven Starfire and cyborg, now it all revolves on beast boy who took the form of a white throated needle-tail. A few moments have passed until robin became impatient. " is that understood beast boy"? beast boy not being shy from confrontation replied the following. " loud and clear… except for one thing…. since when did I change my name from beast boy to kamikaze?"
Robin now humorously replies " why beast boy, don't you want to be the centre of attention"? beast boy apperently missing the humor in that statement had this to say.
"centre of attention, yes….. centre of a walking breathing, exploding zit?, forget it."
On the other line where robin is, " would you…. beast boy interjects, if you're gonna ask if I want Scooby snacks I'll kick your ass" robin rolling his eyes finally ends the discussion with this. Got it now please can you do it? You're the only one on this team who can be fast enough to pull such a stunt".
Beast boy finally relenting, "OK but promise me you'll be right behind me"
"Sure pal, by at least 10 feet behind you" robin jokes on the titans comm link which to that beast boy replied with "you're a dick" which prompts robin to grin while thinking 'he has no idea how much that's true
A few minutes into the ride robin pulled up his communicator in a swift motion to relay a message to Starfire. "Robin calling Starfire, do you acknowledge"? to his delighted ears said female heroine gave him a positive answer which prompted him to continue
"i know I'm stating the obvious…. but do try and stay safe….. I really care that much about you" that last part was said in a whisper as almost sweet nothings, not out of shame or guilt for showing a more vulnerable side, he just was never that type of guy who wanted to linger on teasing or joking on his expense however living with other four teenagers, super heroes or other wise said teasing and joking are bound to be a part of a routine.
Speaking of routine, cyborg, as such for his name sake, picked up on the last part that robin tried to hide, and keeping up with his optimistic persona sported a devilish almost mischievous grin, a grin which robin caught and with a pointed stare that said 'I know what you think, but now is not the time or place' shut down the banter before it could begin, however the next conversation was unavoidable.
"Hey rob?, you sure beast boy can handle this much responsibility?"
Robin now confused asked "what do you mean?"
"You know Terra, he blames himself for what happened, not to mention he's been more aggressive over the last few weeks"
Robin now visibly preparing for a fight, reassures his friend, "he's a tough guy he'll pull through besides venting anger will do him more good than repressing it, besides as a team we'll make sure he doesn't over do it, and he knows it too."
Cyborg understanding what robin meant, was closing in on the battle zone when he asks the following question, " rob, how fast are we going?"
"88 mph, why?"
Now referring to the battle scene with Plasmus, "well we're about to see some serious shit"
Robin , now surveying the battle ground, has been rendered speechless as he witnesses the devastation for himself, after a few moments of silence, he reached for his communicator to address his team one last time.
Robin to all nearby titans, I remind you to try and stick to the plan, but take to consideration some improvisations are necessary at this point in time, robin out…. taking a few moments to calm his nerves before he shouts, "titans together
With that said the titans leaped into action as planned, raven and cyborg on first aid duty, Starfire on confinement duty, robin as a decoy, and beast boy as the ace of spades to take down Plasmus, well at least in theory it should have been clear unless for the minor fact that said villain started making miniature versions of himself destroying downtown on a grander scale than expected.
Robin not letting this faze him for a second, was searching for Starfire, locating her he began talking, "Starfire, I'll need you to….".
"let me guess, Starfire was finishing his sentence, hurry up and finish making the perimeter and proceed to provide the backup and medical care with friends cyborg and raven?"
"are you reading my mind right now?" robin asked, amused by the notion, Starfire being innocent as she was replied with, "no I do not believe I posses such power, more importantly as you say, we need to focus" in the mean time Starfire chose to cut the conversation short while flying into a collapsing office building where cyborg was busy fending the Plasmus clones off while raven provided medical help to near by survivors and evacuating any deceased victims she could find.
Firing what some might consider a flamethrower only based on heat radiation, cyborg getting overwhelmed after beating dozen upon dozens of enemies.
"sure could use a hand about now", without a moment's notice he saw a bunch of clones get literally slapped around by a gigantic hand made out of black magic, without fail or even a reaction raven rushes to his side once she made sure the evacuees are reasonably protected. " did I take your request a tad too literal?" she addressed her friend.
All the while cyborg scanned the building to asses his next few moves, "sorry no time for comedy, the building won't last long until it goes down, with us in it"
Meanwhile raven and cyborg were greeted by Starfire's arrival, "not that I don't appreciate you being here, raven said in her monotone dead pan voice, but have you finished making sure Plasmus won't escape?", Starfire gave a reassuring nod while adding, "I believe Plasmus did most of the work for me, however he's securely contained, now let us join robin to provide him aid…"
However before she could finish her sentence a part of the building almost collapsed on the three of them, to the surprise and relief of all Starfire held her footing before any debris could cause serious harm, within a silent agreement raven and cyborg had managed to evacuate the entire building before Starfire loosened her grip and the building collapsed to the ground.
Cyborg, starfire and raven now heading towards robin's location gave her a silent look as if to ask, 'you think the building was insured?', raven in return gave him a glare laced with sarcasm 'yeah I'm sure it's filed under huge slime creatures'.
Speaking of slime, that's exactly what robin was dodging for a good few minutes when he went up against Plasmus, gratefully for him he always came prepared armed with freezing discs, so when Plasmus unleashed his clones on robin he in retaliation threw a few of them in succession and afterwards proceeded to pummel them with his iconic bow staff, now equipped with extra features such as detaching to make either batons or nun-chucks, depending on the situation, which right now the nun-chucks proved to be the most effective, however he slightly over estimated his stamina and endurance.
'damn it, does this guy ever run out of juice?, I'll sure will If I don't get….'
Before robin could finish that thought, Starfire, cyborg and raven charged in to occupy the clone Plasmus army, while robin concentrated on the villains feet throwing his arsenal at them to make his foe lose his footing, while without making any sound a green pterodactyl swooped in from nearby doing any kind of maneuver to avoid getting hit too soon from it's target, mid air the prehistoric flying dinosaur transformed into a gorilla smashing even more projectiles while diving head first into an otherwise pool of slime, not before turning into a rhinoceros on the very last second colliding with the centre of the monstrosity, a very confused very agitated young man resulting in both of them shooting out of the slime while the older of the two losing consciousness, without thinking beast boy delivered a swift punch to the man's nose.
Realizing his teammates are watching and judging he quickly replied, " I saw it move"
Robin giving him a stare as if to say 'do you really think we'd believe that?' was about to scold him, but to his horror noticed that a news chopper hovering over the area was losing altitude fast so without a second to spare, beast boy, "last minute rescue go", beast boy in response took off running towards the helicopter changing mid run into a peregrine falcon swiftly reaching his destination he bursts through the doors in human form grabbing both pilot and the crew on board before jumping out and mid fall transforming into a gorilla grabbing the ledges of a nearby building and sliding down the building as he sets the survivors down.
Realizing it's miss Bethany snow, he transforms back into human form and angrily walks towards robin, "it's our favorite bitch miss snow, are you sure I had to save her?"
Robin now sighing with a slight annoyance, "yes, don't worry I'll handle ms. Opinionated over there, in the meantime get some rest you deserve it pal"
Beast boy too tired to argue complies and while walking off robin turn over to raven.
"make sure beast boy is okay and healthy, I need him actually rested and on a good mood" raven without a single word acknowledged robin's request and disappeared after beat boy
'Better see what the bitch wants' robin said to no one in particular
Jump city, near the shore line, a few hours later
The T car can be seen driving along towards titans tower in a leisurely pace, however that's the only thing that can be considered leisure about the situation, with it's occupants? Not so much, beast boy was nursing a wounded wrist after punching Plasmus for good measure, raven in her turn was busy healing beast boy while also dealing with his emotions due to the nature of her powers, which now felt like extra baggage nobody in particularly asked for, Starfire while herself kept a calm pleasant demeanor was busy tending to robin's stress levels with what can be considered to him as a long overdue massage, while the former boy wonder himself felt both pensive and alert, and as for cyborg the designated driver had the pleasure of dealing with the stress of being a motorist and taking notice of his own passengers uneasiness, in the end something had to give.
"Hey rob, call me crazy but I think you want to spill the beans about 'this and that'" robin at first not responsive gave him a sideways look saying 'it's nothing, not at the moment at least', feeling not satisfied with that answer, cyborg tried a different approach
"Do you trust us?" cyborg's question made robin raise an eyebrow under his mask.
'yes" was the response that soon followed, meanwhile cyborg threw the next question, "then what's making you tear out your hairs?, you know a bald isn't a good look for you"
Robin now visibly starting to relax feels his tongue working on it's own, "well lately I've been noticing some of our adversaries are disappearing of the face of the earth without a trace and I'm not sure if I should be worried about it or if I should have worried you about it… sorry"
Cyborg gives him a reassuring nod while focusing on his driving again while beast boy, now in a more pleasant mood chimed in the conversation.
"First of all thanks for caring boss man, secondly, we just had a kick ass fight with a giant walking and breathing exploding zit, so I think I speak for all of us when I say that we need a rest and a good shower before we can continue worrying about our own troubles, so did I miss anything?"
In a rare moment, well to him anyway, no one of his friends and family gave him any protest, so noticing that all of them are nearly home, for a split second he detected movement, with his extra sharp eyes, near the living room and the tower's kitchen.
"guys? Are we renting the tower for extra income?"
Taking beast boy's rhetorical question into consideration, he instructs to cyborg only this.
"care to step on it?"
Cyborg's only response was a grin which said 'like you need to ask'