When There's Trouble

Ever have that moment, you know the one, where everything is perfect? Lounging on the couch, feet up, arm around a pretty girl, and you're not even paying attention to what's on TV because you're in that state, that one state where everything is perfect, so perfect, that all you can say if life is—

Then the alarm goes off. Loud, shrill, and such a mood killer, it was enough to spoil everything. And now everything felt like it could piss you off because you had perfection in your hands and it was gone now and you were never going to get it back.

That feeling. That was the feeling Garfield—hold up, alarm had gone off so it was Beast Boy now—felt right now, and he had an itch to beat up whoever was responsible.

First thing was first, this better not be a drill.

Second, both he and Terra were going to need to do a quick change in clothes because neither were in their superhero wear.

What the shapeshifter didn't have on him was a communicator. Terra did, though, because she had pockets most of the time, and yeah, he had one too but where was he suppose to keep it when he literally went beast mode? So he was using Terra's, opening up the pale yellow, circular device and glared into the small screen on the raised in.

"The hell is going on?" he demanded. There, that ought to get his rage across.

He was expecting Red to be on the other end. Instead, he had an already masked-up Kid Flash. "Bad guys on the attack, BB! They're at some big building, cops are all over, oh, and they called for us!"

Meaning it was a situation. Those guys only called when it really was something they couldn't handle. The big one was metahumans. You could guarantee there were metahumans. He held back a groan because they had to pick now of all times? Sheesh, these assholes needed to get it into their heads they weren't the center of attention.

Instantly, the image of Kid Flash was replaced with Cyborg. "Get your green butt down here! We're taking the car."

Quickly shutting the communication device, the shapeshifter gave a groan to Terra, who returned his look with the same ex…um, feeling. She understood his pain.

At least he had the animal kingdom to rely on for speed. He was feeling falcon right now, so a falcon he was—though he had a hiccup since he got tangled up in his clothes, since they were casual wear and all—and seconds later heading down the hallway towards his room and leaving Terra in his dust. Doors were automatic, except for, you know, bedrooms. Couldn't have those open up while you were doing something spicy, right? Right.

It felt like the seconds were passing too quickly, especially when it came to slipping on the red and white jumpsuit he wore. It needed to be tight, because somehow the tighter it was, the more likely it would…well, he wasn't quite too sure where it went when he shifted. Probably best not to think about it.

The elevator was the next destination, and—ha!—he got there first. Terra ran around the corner, and he had to give her a cheeky look, one she rolled her eyes at while pushing the down button. Oh. Right. Forgot to press it.

One trip down later, and they were the last to pile into Cyborg's T-car. Kid Flash was already enroute, and Red and Wonder Girl weren't anywhere to be seen, wonder why. Seriously, they weren't at the tower? Oh wait, maybe they went on ahead to find out what was going on too? That seemed a bit like Red's style, but Wonder Girl's?

"What were you doing, showering?" Cyborg ribbed him, putting the car into drive before the last door was shut.

"Had to change," Beast Boy replied. "You know how hard it is to put on something that's like glued to your skin? And in a rush? Not easy."

"Perhaps you should have had it already on," Raven remarked from the front passenger seat. The T-car was already entering the tunnel that would take them to the mainland, the overhead lights flashing as they passed them.

"How were we suppose to know someone was going to…where are we going again?" That was one detail he…wasn't sure he knew. Maybe someone mentioned it earlier, but hey, he had been in a rush! You couldn't expect him to remember everything!

"One of those old malls. Highland," Cyborg answered. Probably downloaded the answer off the internet or something. "Hostage situation. The other three of our merry band are heading there and we should meet up with them. We'll get all the details then."

Right. Hostage situation. Time to get serious about this. He found himself looking to his right, his green eyes meeting up with Terra's blue. She gave a small nod then looked ahead. He looked over the blonde girl's head and found Starfire on the other side, looking calm and, uh, another c word right here—that wasn't bad or anything, okay?! Ahem. She was keeping her head, like she normally did, but he knew that she knew how to kick some serious ass.

The shapeshifter then turned his head to look directly ahead, and found his view spoiled by the back of Cyborg's driver side seat. No, he wasn't going to let something as stupid as the back of a car seat knock him off his game. See, he could be serious when he wanted to.

Someone was putting people in danger and they were going to find out why Jump City was the wrong place to do it in.


Red and blue flashing lights were not something that Red Robin was a stranger to. What he was still getting used to was seeing them in the daylight. To be out and about while in costume was putting him on edge, but he felt that he had that under control.

The night was where he felt more comfortable, but the Teen Titans were not restricted to nighttime hours. Daylight was where they were needed too, and not all crime happened at night.

So, that meant he was standing there in his black, red, and yellow outfit, his thin red cape trailing behind him as he found himself walking through a perimeter of law enforcement. Cars, barricades, and even yellow tape was being used to cordon off the area, as impossible as that was.

It was a mall, or the shadow of one, but that didn't change the fact it was huge, took up a lot of space, and was a logistical nightmare. You didn't have anything high enough to offer a sniper a good vantage point. There were so many entrances, but no clear sight of the perpetrators. The roof might offer a view from above, and Kid Flash was already on it.

That left getting the sitrep from the officer in charge. There were so many eyes here, and too many of them were on him. The last time he had this kind of attention…hadn't ended well. At least Wonder Girl was beside him, and he allowed her presence to keep him calm. A steadiness like that was what he needed, and not the accusing eyes from Raven.

He didn't need to look to know that none of them were wanted here. The contempt in the eyes of the local police was not hidden at all. That, at least, he could take. It was the same kind of look he managed to catch from multiple cops back in Gotham. At least back then he was on the move and then he was out of sight.

Not here, not in the daylight.

By now, he had gotten good at projecting confidence, and even though he was wearing a tight-fitting bodysuit while surrounded by numerous cops in uniform, he walked through them all while showing no signs of discomfort. He searched for and found a general center of activity; this was where you would find whoever was in charge here.

The normal Jump City PD uniform was your standard short-sleeve, dark blue button up, same color pants with belt that held all the bells and whistles that was your standard law enforcement gear. Gun, gun holster, mace, retractable baton, among other things. The person in charge usually was more dressed up, long-sleeved dress shirt that was a different color from dark blue, typically white, and came with a necktie sometimes. They also stood out as they wore a bulletproof vest over their clothes, giving away that they didn't normally wear it.

Lo and behold, there was such an individual. His name was Coleson, one of the informal liaisons from the police department and only informal because JCPD didn't want an official one. He didn't look happy to see either of them, but he was professional enough to not say it. This wasn't Red Robin's first time interacting with this particular officer, and while only a last name had ever been given to the teen vigilante, it didn't take much to find a first one. He still kept it professional, or as much as he could under the somewhat hostile circumstances.

No one liked having someone else in their jurisdiction, and adults especially did not like having to answer to anyone they thought of as a minor. To be honest, Coleson here was one of the better ones, even if he did look like he was swallowing something sour every time he had to speak with any of them.

"We were told there was a situation," was all Red Robin would say as a greeting.

"Metahumans," Coleson said, his tone of voice clipped and devoid of all emotion. "Had this been anything else, we wouldn't have called you, but the agreement we have says we're to call if there's any sign of them." The man nodded his head in the direction of the mall, specifically to where some damaged cop cars were, some flames rising from them. "They have firepower, and some swore they saw what looked like pink lightning bolts."

Coleson didn't need to go any further, and he didn't. Red Robin appreciated that much decorum. The officer took a step away while the masked teen gave a sharp nod, then raised his gaze to the rooftop. Somewhere up there, Kid Flash was doing his thing, so shortly they'd have some intel. In the meantime…

It was several minutes later, but Cyborg's T-car arrived on the scene. It was also time that members of the press had taken advantage of to show up. The situation by itself would have drawn them in anyway, but now they had an even bigger story on their hands.

So many more eyes on them…

With confident steps, he approached the others as they got out of the car. Kid Flash made his timely return, so he could get them all down to business quickly. "We've got an attack by some metahumans. They're holed up in the mall," he informed them all, nodding his head in the direction of the building. To their resident speedster, "What did you find out?"

"There's five of them. I didn't see all five of them, but there's five," Kid Flash answered.

"How do you know that?" Cyborg asked.

"It's the same guys who were working with that mummy guy in the wheelchair. Had a monkey for a minion," Kid Flash explained flippantly. "I got a good look at the big muscle guy, I saw that one girl with the pink hair, and there was a little kid who was walking around with spider legs. It's those guys again."

Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Shimmer, and Wykkyd. Yes, somehow you could tell those were Ys. The last time they had met with that lot, they'd been breaking into tech companies and stealing rare hi-tech. The guy they worked for had a big plan for Jump, and they had managed to take them all down, though they did not capture them.

It looked like they were going to get a second chance, though.

"So what's the plan? We bust in and start kicking some ass?" Beast Boy asked eagerly.. His green eyes practically shined at the idea.

"No. First, Cyborg, I need you to check out the mall's security. I know it doesn't have much, but based on how these guys operated before, Gizmo would have gotten into it already. They probably know we're already here, so we need to act like they do. Once you get in, blind the camera around the…" pausing, he glanced at a portion of the mall that was larger than the others, typically where one of the department stores was located, and read the blackened space where letters had once hung, "Dillards. Once you do, you, Wonder Girl, and Beast Boy will go in, but try to keep quiet. Starfire, Raven, and I will go in through the roof and draw their attention. Once we do, you guys strike.

"Terra, Kid Flash, you two are to go after the hostages. Come in from below and try to keep a low profile. Once you get the hostages out, then join the rest of us. Starfire, you get Mammoth, Raven, Shimmer. Beast Boy, Jinx. Cyborg, you hang back. Once the fighting starts, I want you to scan Wykkyd's teleportations and see if you can't figure out a pattern to them. That'll leave Gizmo to Wonder Girl."

"I get why Starfire and Raven, cause they beat those two the last time. But didn't BB take on that teleporter and got showed up the second time?" Cyborg pointed out. "What makes you think these guys aren't ready for a round two?"

Beast Boy threw a glare at the cyborg, but then gave his two cents. "You sure about me and Jinx? I mean, last time I tricked her into dropping a ton of stuff on top of her and I don't think we want to do that again. I mean, I don't think there's a lot of the mall to drop and it could get everyone else hurt."

"Starfire knows how to handle people with enhanced strength," Red Robin told his skeptics. "It'll come down to who knows how to fight better, and what I saw of Mammoth last time, he didn't look like he had a good time. Raven's figured out how Shimmer works, and she can act quickly if we cause a big enough distraction. Plus, we've all been training hard. We're not the same people as we were the last time.

"Gizmo's too tech savvy. It'll be a huge gamble putting you against him. Wonder Girl has the strength and if he manages to hit her with anything, her armor will respond and protect her." Turning his masked eyes to the armored blonde, "Whatever he throws at you, do what you do best and break them. All of them." Wonder Girl gave a nod of her head. Whether she agreed with his logic, she didn't say.

To Beast Boy, he gestured with his arm for the shapeshifter to move closer to him. The green teen did, and when he was close enough, the teen vigilante spoke into a pointed ear. The last words he said were, "She can't hit what she can't see." For his part, Beast Boy gave him a wide eyed look, and Red Robin wasn't certain if he understood everything. Still, he was going to trust him to carry out his part regardless.

Back to Cyborg, "The real wild card is the teleporter. When I beat him, it was because I put him in a situation where he could only come after me from two directions. If I think about it, he actually had three, but it didn't occur to him either. The mall is too open and there's not enough enclosed spaces to do the same thing again. So we need a different approach. I'll act as bait, you scan and see if there's a pattern or any tell he has, and once you have enough data, act on it." Now that this logic was laid out, he would see the understanding in Cyborg's human eye, and the following nod was the agreement to the plan.

Moving his gaze to each and every team member here, he saw they all understood their parts. "Move out guys and get into position. In ten minutes, we go in. Terra, that gives you time to be where you can breach and we can get the fight started. Whatever we do, move it away from the hostages."


Dillards was suppose to be where they entered, but you couldn't really call it a Dillards anymore. You could see the discoloration of where the large letters used to hang, stating to the world who was using that part of the building.

So break things. She could do that. Wonder Girl didn't know everything this Gizmo could do but she was getting some of the dirt she needed from Cyborg, who told her all about his experiences with what she was told was a midget. Or maybe a really, really, really late bloomer. A laser gun, metal spider legs, and some hacking skills were the big ones. If he was able to hide metal spider legs, the guy had some other artillery on it. He just had to.

Cyborg gave a snort. "Man, it's like he's not even trying."

Wonder Girl cocked her head up and eyed the cybernetic teen. "What's that?"

Cyborg shook his head. "I'm in, and I found his programming. Not that security here is spectacular or anything. Just basic alarms and video recording. But I found where Gizmo hacked in and everything. I recorded five minutes of footage and put it on loop. I'm disabling the alarms at this door, and the only thing I don't know is whether they locked them. They're automatic, but anyone can turn that off. I double checked, and it wasn't turned off, so they're not locked, we can walk through."

She was able to understand that all. Sort of. All she needed to know was that the cyborg had gotten in and was doing his part. The ease of it did give her a little pause because when was anything easy for them? Were they being lulled into a sense of complacency? Was there a trap set up deeper in the store?

She let Cyborg know of his concern, and since they still had a little time, he did what he could to find out. "Not finding anything. Either there's nothing there, or Gizmo's hiding it real good."

Which could it be? Glancing to the shapeshifter, it took a little time for a lightbulb to flash on. "Can you go in first, see or sniff or whatever anything that might be in there?"

Beast Boy looked between her and Cyborg, then shifted into a bloodhound, taking a deep sniff, then padding off to the doors. Shooting a look to Cyborg, the two followed, the cyborg trying the door and finding it unlocked…after his strength had broken the lock itself. With the locking mechanism itself tearing through the trim, the door was opened to let the green hound in. Wonder Girl dealt the second set of doors, and with nails clicking against a tiled floor that had not been mopped in some time, the shapeshifter did some sniffing around.

In the blink of an eye, the doggy body vanished, and seconds ticked by before a human popped back into existence. "Nothing. I didn't smell anything, and I did see anything."

By now she had a feeling how things went down. First a dog's sense of smell, then perhaps a bug's vision. Between those two, it would make hiding anything difficult. But, to go for the trifecta, she sent one last look to Cyborg, the third member of their trio who was definitely doing scans the second they entered.

"Nothing." Thermal, electromagnetic. We're in the clear," he informed her.

Nodding, the armored blonde slipped out her communicator, but instead of opening it, she pressed a finger down on a certain spot along its circular edge. "We're in. We'll wait for show time."


Peering down through one of the slanted ceiling windows, Red Robin nodded to himself, but did not say anything.

Wonder Girl's group was in position. Seconds were ticking by for Terra and Kid Flash to do the same. However, whenever it came to being underground, signals tended to get weaker, so they would need to trust that duo to be ready with the time frame given. A battery powered watch still worked even under several tons of dirt, and lucky lucky, their communicators had a clock feature in it.

A digital display, glow in dark, and everything else that came with it. It also reset itself for daylight savings time.

Meanwhile, he was doing the finishing touches of opening one of the windowpanes. Sure, he could take a page from Batman's book and just crash in. There was no telling where exactly the hostages were being held or if any of the five tech thieves were standing next them.

There was still time, and he took it to think about the situation. In his gut, something about this did not make sense. This wasn't the M.O. of this group of thieves. They tried to keep quiet, sneak past security without making noise, and they didn't take hostages. Already, they were doing everything against that M.O.

Why though? Why such a drastic change in tactics? They were noisy here. They were holding people against their will. They holed up in a large building—perhaps the most sensible move here but also a liability. It limited what law enforcement could do, but it also gave the cops multiple ways to enter at the same time. There were only five of them, but way more than five entrances. Cyborg had already gotten through the security system firewalls, and since there was no scrambling below, Gizmo was unaware of this hacking. He could see two of them, Jinx and Gizmo, and both looked like they were waiting.

There was a trap in this, somewhere. Right now, he just couldn't see it.

"You're sure about this plan of yours?" And that would be Raven. She had to have sensed his uncertainty. How, he still did not understand, though hopefully one day he would.

"At its core, it's basic. A distraction while you go after your true goal. We don't have enough information about these guys, even with all the fighting we've done with them. But based on everything we do know and have seen, these guys are confident in their skills. The names they call us? Putting us down and making themselves better than us. That's a sign of ego. And when egos are bruised, they lash out, usually at the one that bruised it. If not that person, then another who can't fight back."

"You're banking on their little egos being hurt that we beat them the last time we met that they'll voluntarily fight the people you chose?" the hood and cloak-wearing girl asked.

"Actually, this is real world experience," he casually remarked. "Saw it too many times in Gotham. Had to work with another who couldn't take his ego out of it…and he paid for it. You've seen it too. Ravagers, Royal Flush. People who commit crimes at this level have egos. The smart ones don't let it stop them. These guys have worked as someone else's muscle. If they aren't here for themselves, they're doing it for someone else. Right now we don't know enough to make either conclusion. We need more information, and the first step is to stop them here."

It was really starting to feel like he was defending himself to Raven. The pressure she was putting on him had been steadily increasing over weeks and…had it been longer? Months? No, not months, but it felt like it. Where had this come from?

Still, the important thing here was saving the hostages. Raven's attitude towards him would have to wait.

Unlocking the pane, he carefully pulled it up. Lowering his head, he tilted an ear downward and waited. There was no idle chitchat happening. No conversations, no bragging, no anything. The acoustics of the mall would have had voices echoing, so the silence was concerning.

Slipping a birdarang out—he didn't grimace at the name anymore—he perched himself into the rooftop opening and took in a deep breath. He didn't check the time; Terra would be breaching at ten minutes, so they needed to get this show on the road.

Knowing that Starfire and Raven would follow after him, the masked teen took the plunge, activating the electric current to harden his cape and glide in. Below, he cast a shade, and immediately both Jinx and Gizmo looked up at him. The small…boy(?) raised up his weapon, definitely something energy based due to how the inside of its barrel began to light up.

He wasn't going to give Gizmo the chance; the birdarang was already thrown out and arcing its way to the weapon. Gizmo gave out a cry as the throwing projectile knocked the self-made gun out of tiny arms, sending it clattering to the floor. Judging he had descended far enough, he deactivated the current, and let himself fall the several feet left, landing on his feet and going into a roll. Simultaneously, he drew out another birdarang but held back from throwing it.

Jinx had done nothing but watch, smirking. "And there you are. You're late."

"Are you trying to break my hands or something?!" Gizmo demanded, glaring at him.

Behind him, Starfire and Raven lowered themselves, taking up positions that kept them in the air and ready to act at a second's notice. This gave him the chance to look behind the two familiar figures and spot Mammoth and Shimmer further in the mall, both facing in their direction and beginning to close in. That was four, where was…over there. It was far to his left, and Wykkyd had been keeping both out of sight and blending in areas lacking in light.

There they all were. All five of them.

"You get one chance. All of you," Red Robin said calmly, evenly. "Surrender and turn yourselves in. Let the hostages go, they have no part in any of this. Give up, and maybe we can talk leniency."

"You sound so generous," Jinx cooed. Then she looked to the others and said loudly, "Anyone want to take him up on his offer?"

Gizmo was glaring, hands lowering slightly. Mammoth punched a fist into the palm of his hand. Shimmer snorted. Wykkyd…stood there.

"Sounds like a no to me," Jinx remarked, looking back at him. Her hands raised up, arms bent at the elbows, and pink energy crackled like little bolts around the limbs. "Any luck you had is all used up now. This time, it's personal."

You didn't need to be genius to know where this was going. So instead of continuing the banter, Red Robin swung out his birdarang, throwing it towards Wykkyd, then launching into the ensuing fray.