AN: Okay, so this makes the last update for a time. All five chapters for the episode are up and I'll be back after writing the next episode as soon as I'm finished then the same thing will happen that happened with the posting of this one. Already writing it in my downtime and I'm sure you're all going to like it.
Ruffhero77 - Well remember, the Batclan are more in the loop with each other than the rest of the League, so they would know more things Batman would know.
Eric - For how Damian blinded Kara, whatever works, right? I could actually see him notice he can't hurt her so he slides through her legs, grabs her skirt-cape, then flips over her back and yanks the cape over her head to get clear of someone who can crush him with one hit. Better for him to run than fight in this case. And it's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I thought the Gren Lantern rings alerted their useres to evil in their area, which is what I went by here. And yeah, I could make this longer than the last one, or shorter. I'm just finding a balance of how much to put in with the outline I have done.
5.
Jump City
August 07
22:11 UTC
Striking the ground, Scarecrow narrowly missed sticking Terra with is needle armed hand. Sparks flew from the impact with pieces of the asphalt popping up. He wasted no time as he went for Beast Boy next who dodged three initial swipes before diving forward in a roll, leaving the fear master to target Arrowette next.
With his clawed hand back, Scarecrow rushed the crimson archer who fired her loaded arrow. Despite how fast it traveled, her shot sailed past the criminal who twisted to the side. The trick arrow she chose was a gel impact, which detonated the moment it hit the wall behind him. Another shot resulted in the same thing as the arrow sailed past his right shoulder after he twisted out of the way. Several strands of straw flew off his body with his shirt being torn where she grazed him.
"Dodge this one." Letting a third arrow fly, Arrowette released a net trick arrow to ensnare her attacker. But just as the arrow was to activate and trap Scarecrow, the criminal snatched it out of the air just as another one was fired to back the previous one up.
As Arrowette's eyes grew wide in surprise, Scarecrow threw the snatched arrow back at her. Firing another, she shot it out of the air then separated her bow into her slasher weapons. She had no time to mount any offense as she was forced to block his lethal blade-like needles when she felt the ground shake. With the two on unstable ground, Arrowette performed a low leg sweep and tripped the yellow eyed criminal to his rear just in time for a large chunk of ground to rise into the air, flip over, then smash him on the ground. It was not enough to kill, but enough to daze him, or so was the plan.
"You okay?" Terra asked a recovering Arrowette, who had no time to answer as Scarecrow shoved the piece of ground off him and at them.
No sooner had he stood when Raven launched several trashcans at him. He easily knocked each black shrouded object aside, not realizing it was a distraction for Lantern to attack. Winding up as he swooped in, the teen Lantern formed a stone-like gauntlet on his right hand and delivered a punch with most of his strength behind it. He missed as Scarecrow bent backwards at an angle that would make the most limber of yogis jealous. The teen then crashed partway into the building behind the criminal and got his hand stuck.
Coming to his friend's aid, Beast Boy charged forward, leapt into the air, then morphed into a kangaroo. Both elongated feet were aimed at Scarecrow's head for a knock out, but he was soon flying backwards himself from a hard kick to the belly.
Flicking out his wrist, Scarecrow planned to slice into Lantern but had his attack blocked as the teen formed a shield just in time. With the aid of Terra, he was able to get free, but not before being grabbed by Scarecrow's free hand and thrown clear across the alley and into the street.
Hitting the pavement, Lantern bounced along the street with the sound of car horns blaring around him until crashing into a parked Mercedes. If not for his ring providing a thin barrier to shield him from injury, he most likely would have been knocked out. Instead, he let out a groan and rubbed his head before getting back to a knee and flying back into the fight.
Titan Tower
August 07
22:21 UTC
Standing in front of the window overlooking the city, Conner had his arms crossed over his broad chest with a broodish look on his face. Letting out a huff, he carefully scanned the horizon and could only guess at where the group of teens were at that moment. It had been too long since their last check-in and he was now wondering what was keeping them. Granted during a real field mission, they would not be on a time table such as this but would still need to check in with those who deployed them every so often. Now he was just waiting, as patient as he was known to be, for any word on where the group was.
Entering from the hallway, M'gann saw the TV was on mute with a show running in the background and her husband standing on the other side of the room. "I thought we were going to watch the show together," she said over their link as she had a water bottle float over to her.
"How's Carter?" Conner asked as he continued to stare into the distance.
"He's fine. Sleeping soundly." She took a swig of water then stood beside him. "What are you doing over here and not on the couch?"
"They're late."
"They didn't check in?"
"No. They should have checked in five minutes ago."
"Conner, five minutes?" M'gann smirked.
"Five long minutes."
Shaking her head, M'gann took another swig then wrapped her arm around his. "Since when did you become the worried parent type?"
"What?" He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Worried parent?"
"You're worried something may have happened with them but they'll be just fine. So they're late to a check point by a few minutes. Give them ten more and then start to be worried. That's what I'm doing. Maybe they got hungry."
"Maybe. I just want this to go smoothly."
"It will. Gar's the veteran out there. He knows how to go about missions. Raven and Kyle also have some experience in battle on their side. Terra's a little rough around the edges and Cissie's been trained by two of your best friends, one without any powers whatsoever. They'll be fine."
Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Conner moved his arm to wrap around his wife's shoulders. "Yeah. You're right."
"Now I can't help but think what would have happened if we had a little girl. No boy would come around her," M'gann said with a grin.
"Not as long as I'm around they wouldn't"
Nudging her husband playfully, M'gann giggled as he formed his near invisible smirk. Unknown to them, the TV switched from the show they were watching, to a breaking news bulletin.
Jump City
August 07
22:29 UTC
"Any one have a plan?!" Arrowette shouted as she narrowly avoided being sliced by Scarecrow.
"None at the Moment!" Attempting to get a hit in, Beast Boy swooped down as a hawk and morphed into a bear at the last moment, just barely missing Scarecrow who dove away.
"Insolent children." With both feet planted, Scarecrow rose up as if he had no skeleton as his body to a standing position. The teens had to do a double take on what they just seen as the villain rolled upwards like a rag doll. "It is not you I am here for."
"Then who is it?" Beast Boy demanded.
Letting out a deep, gluttonal, demonic laugh, Scarecrow flashed his yellow eyes. "Then again, maybe I am."
Reaching into his mouth as he looked straight up, Scarecrow stuck his forearm down his throat, making gagging sounds as he did so. The teens only looked on, disgusted at what he was doing when they saw him take something out. A long, curved branch-like handle was pulled slowly from his mouth and did not stop until a long, curved sickle exited. Grinning, Scarecrow stood in a gunslinger pose then slammed his weapon on the ground, making the sharpened metal end spring up.
"Now, children...taste you FEAR!"
Leaping forward, Scarecrow attacked Raven first, slamming her aside then went or Terra. He had just enough time to swing his weapon over her head when the Goth girl sent him flying into a wall with her black energy. Not slowing down, the sickle swinging man planted both his feet on the wall and flipped towards Lantern. The teen could only block each attempted strike before he was kicked away.
Turning to pick another target, Scarecrow had just picked up on the high-pitched whistle of an arrow flying through the air and strike him in the eye. Panicking she may have just killed someone, Arrowette was about to lower her bow when she saw him rip the arrow out. Straw from his burlap mask stitched the hole shut before forming another eye. Growling, he then attack her. Beast Boy came to her side and slammed a large tail into Scarecrow as he morphed into a triceratops, sending the fight into the streets.
"Azerath Metrion Zenthos!" Using her mantra, Raven had a black barrier shield them from the civilians as she used several manhole covers to attack the recovering criminal. They hit their mark but were ineffective as he simply shrugged them off then attacked her.
Leaping from the ground, Scarecrow wound back to bury his weapon in her when Raven crossed her arms and formed a black energy shield to block his attack. She then landed a roundhouse kick to his midsection then backflipped away, kicking him to the ground as she did so. Meeting him in the air, Lantern formed a baseball bat construct and sent him flying into a nearby hotdog cart where several arrows were landed around him. They detonated in several explosions when the ground shook and caved in on him.
Flying in a semi-circle, a green condor landed on a nearby car and shifted back into Beast Boy as the others stood at the ready. "Good job. He gets up from that, I'll charge in first then Arrowette and Lantern back me up. Raven and Terra, keep him in place for us to hit him hard."
With their powers or weapons at the ready, the five waited for any sign of movement. When none came after a few moments, Lantern signaled he was moving in. Floating above the ground, the green and black teen used his ring to clear the hole of debris and dust. Looking back at the others, he shook his head slowly.
"What happened?" Raven asked as she dropped her dome separating the civilians from the fight.
"Nothing. There's nothing here-"
"Fools!" Looking up, the group saw Scarecrow standing on a nearby news stand as if nothing had happened to him. "You can not defeat fear. Especially yours and an entire city of it!"
Wrapping his arms around himself, Scarecrow let out several jet streams of a brownish gas before enlarging to the point where he exploded, sending the people into a panic.
"Fear gas!" Beast Boy yelled.
"I got it!" Using his ring, Lantern constructed a large vacuum and sucked up the toxin, every last bit, just before it could hit the crowd. Forming a large slingshot, he then had the vacuum turn into a large orb and shot it into the sky and eventually into space where it would dissipate and be harmless as it burned up in the atmosphere.
"Well," Raven flatly said once the immediate danger was taken care of, "whoever's the leader now, you have to explain this to the super couple when we get back."
Looking at each other, the teens instantly said the first thing on their minds. "Not it!"
Titan Tower
August 07
23:59 UTC
With Sphere landing in the hanger and the teenage heroes rushing down the halls, nothing but hushed celebratory sounds could be heard from them. After finishing up with Scarecrow and hurrying through to the rest of the check points, the group met up with the living machine with around fifteen minutes left until midnight, barely enough time for them to get back to the tower before the cut off time. With them checking in the moment they were in the hanger, their night and first unsupervised mission was complete.
"That was awesome!" Arrowette whisper shouted as she took her mask off.
"I know!" Lantern said while depowering. "We took out a B-list bad guy slash cult follower on our first night!"
"And saved dozens of people in the process!"
"Anyone get the final tally on bad guys caught?" Terra asked. "I still won, right?"
"No, Cissie got two more than you," Garfield told her. "And Raven finished one ahead of me. How am I last?"
"Then take Scarecrow as your captive to tie with me," Raven told him. "Not that it matters how many we got individually. We still took out over sixty."
"Sixty seven to be exact."
Pausing in their tracks, the group felt chills run up their spines from the sound of Conner's voice coming from the living area.
"We are so dead if they know," Kyle said.
"Yeah, if they know," Terra said.
"Super hearing," Conner told them.
"D'oh," Terra said as she mentally slapped herself.
Rounding the corner into the living area, the five teens came face to face with their leaders. M'gann had an expectant look on her face, obviously waiting for a report of what they were up to with Conner having his usual indifferent look about him. It was always hard to tell what he was thinking when he was like that.
"Did your mission go well?" M'gann asked.
Pushing Garfield forward, Raven kept eye contact with the Martian and Kryptonian. She; however, caught Terra reaching for the green teen's hand for support and let out a quiet sigh.
"Um, well, yeah. It went as planned," Garfield explained. "We started off with a few purse snatchers and by the end, we got a couple of arsonists setting a car on fire."
"Anything else?"
"...we had pizza?"
Moving to the side, Conner, who was holding a remote, pressed play on the DVR. The muted images it displayed were of the fight in Jump City with Scarecrow. Even though damage to the surrounding area was kept to a minimal, the teens saw how much they did destroy trying to bring the criminal down.
"Because you were recorded," Conner began, "the city now knows who you are. The original goal was to have it where they may see you, but we can still switch you out with the black ops team to keep the criminals guessing who is with who."
"Well," Cissie spoke up, "they could still not know we're the-"
Putting a stop to Cissie's words, Conner took the TV off mute and had the sound play right at the worst possible time for them.
"And the city has now been saved from Scarecrow, who apparently has a new look, thanks to the actions of these heroic teens dishing out justice in their own way," a reporter said as she tried to get close to the group.
"Titans!" Arowette shouted at her. "We're Titans!"
"You heard it here, people, the birth of the Teen Justice Titans."
"No," Lantern told her, "just Titans."
"The Justice Titans," the reporter said.
"That makes them sound old," the reporter's cameraman said.
"Right, right...Young Justice," the reporter offered.
"No, we're the Titans!" Beast Boy told her then smiled and flashed a 'victory' sign for the camera.
"Young Titans than." The reporter now had a grin as the group actually pandered to the cheering crowd.
"That makes us sound immature," Raven told Terra.
"Tell me about it. We're not that young." Turning to the reporter Terra told her the same. "We're not that young."
"Alright," the reporter said. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Teen Titans."
"Yeah, I can live with that." Beast Boy said.
"Me too," Arrowette agreed.
"Meh," muttered Raven.
"Perfect," Terra expressed.
"That'll work," Kyle added.
Turning the TV off, Conner crossed his arms. "You disobeyed orders and advertised yourselves on live TV. You took on a known supervillain displaying new abilities. But you did take him down and stopped him from harming civilians."
"And you did it while completing your overall objective," M'gann added. "So in all, you pass. Training's over."
The group of teens let out a sigh of relief followed by slaps to the shoulders and hand shakes.
"Debrief in five then inform us of your choice for leader," Conner told them, "then clean up and get some rest. Don't know how I'm going to explain this to the League."
As the two leaders left, Garfield placed his hands on his hips. "Oh yeah. We're rockstars."