Fallout
"Details about the standoff at Highland Mall are scant. Jump City Police officials claim that it is an ongoing investigation and as new information is uncovered, they will release more in time. What we do know is that a group of metahuman criminals took nearly thirty people hostage and all were recovered with no casualties reported. We report that the local metahuman team, the Teen Titans were brought in to resolve the situation. Aerial views show heavy damage to the mall and of the metahumans responsible, three are currently in custody. All other details are being held by the Jump City Police Department.
"Today I have with me City Councilwoman Elizabeth Alderman, a vocal critic of the Justice League's T.I.T.A.N. Initiative. Councilwoman Alderman, what are your thoughts about today's events and what do they mean for Jump City?"
The lights of the studio were hot, beaming down on a set colored blue, white, and red with blue being the more prominent color. Behind a long, curved desk was the news anchor, a middle aged man who wore more makeup than most actors did and all to look handsome and charming while he delivered the day's dose of bad news.
Seated several feet away from him, and thus needing two more cameras, one to get a close up shot and the other to get both the anchor and the councilwoman he had introduced into one shot. The councilwoman was a thin woman who sat with a strict and straight posture. Dark hair was pulled back into a styled ponytail, all the better to expose a youthful face with high cheekbones and a pair of glasses that served to give her an even more severe appearance.
Her dress was just as professional. A red blazer covered a white turtleneck sweater, and that was most of what could be seen over the news desk. Lower arms and hands were propped up on the desk's surface, fingers intertwined with one another, and a watch peeking out from under one of the sleeves. A ring on the left ring finger served as a symbol of her marital status.
Alderman's head tilted back slightly as she answered the anchor's question. "What we have here is a serious disregard for public property and human life. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times, this T.I.T.A.N. Initiative is a terrible idea and here we have more proof of it. How can anyone expect restraint or responsibility from a group of children? It's like having a flamethrower without a safety valve! It'll go off and keep going until everything around it is burned. Is that what we want for Jump City?"
"There were multiple reports of metahuman activity in the mall prior to the arrival of the Titans," the anchor pointed out.
"And it is the job of our police to handle these situations, including the illegal activity of metahumans," Alderman countered. "This is not the time to be defunding our law enforcement, but increasing their budgets and affording them the best equipment to handle these situations. They've all sworn a vow to protect and serve, and how can they do that if we're slashing their budgets? The police know the risks of their jobs, and they do them anyway. They deserve our respect, our support, and most importantly our gratitude."
The anchor did not correct her. "So what should we be doing about the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative?"
"There are a million different ways to do the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative better," the councilwoman answered readily. "The Justice League claims this is an education system, when in reality its for indoctrinating our youth and turning them into child soldiers."
"And according to the statistics, more and more children are developing or being born with special powers," the anchor said.
"And these children need guidance, but not this kind. The kind the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative offers only results in destruction. Look at what happened to Highland Mall! There were people's lives that depended on it! Now their livings are gone! The building is useless! We could have repurposed it and used it for something, anything else! Now there's no choice but to demolish it. Is this what we want for our city? Is this what we should expect from now on?"
"You have some very strong opinions about this, Councilwoman Alderman."
"Children should be in school. Adolescents should be finding part-time jobs to get valuable work experience. They should all be learning how to be functional members of society. Not trying to play hero and doing the jobs that we pay our police to do. They are trained professionals, and these children are only making this worse."
"You have been bringing together a lot of the opposition against the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative."
"I am a founding member of Mothers Against Adolescent Superheroes. We need to protect our children from this very dangerous and irresponsible lifestyle that will get them killed. We do not need the blood of our children staining the streets of our city. The Justice League is out of touch if this is their answer to a problem they created. Before the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative, Jump City didn't have metahuman criminal activity. Now it's happening every week. What do they hope to accomplish here other than to make our great city into the laughing stock of the country?
"This has gone far enough. These 'Teen Titans' are no role models. They are Justice League sanctioned hooligans who make a mockery of our laws and our systems. Jump City does not need the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative. It does not need Justice League interference. We were doing great before it, and we will be great once again once we get rid of it. Our children need better role models. They have better role models. They don't need these delinquents filling their minds with this indoctrination."
"I understand that you have a rally scheduled soon. What can you tell us about that?"
"MAAS is holding a protest this weekend. For two days, in sight of that ridiculous tower, we will make the will of the people known. If you out there also oppose this example of gross negligence both on part of the Justice League, and the so-called parents who see nothing wrong with any of this, please, come out and show your support. Jump City, the world, needs to know how wrong this is. Only together will we right this wrong and make our city a better place. This weekend, where Cardy and Haney, Boulevard and not Avenue, intersect, we will make our stand.
"Join us. Stand against adolescent vigilantism. Stand against children who think dyeing their skin green is a good idea. Stand against the moral corruption that threatens the lives of our children and how they should see our world. Jump City is counting on you."
"Thank you for joining us, Councilwoman Alderman. It was very enlightening. Remember, MAAS' rally will take place this weekend at the intersection of Cardy and Haney Boulevard. Make sure to bring water and keep hydrated for those hot temperatures. When we come back, the latest updates with the Bruce Wayne Murder Case. Tune in after the break to learn the newest details coming out of Gotham. We'll be—"
The channel was changed to something much more preferable, and right now, some kiddie cartoon was much better than anything the news was putting out today. That was Victor's opinion and he was sticking to it.
"Man, what is that lady's problem?" Gar whined from his spot on the couch. Pausing a second, the shapeshifter looked over what skin he had bared and grimaced. "This is so not a dye job. It's perfectly natural! I had to get devolved into a West African Green Monkey to get this shade. All natural. And who goes around dyeing their skin?"
"She's just trying to score some political brownie points," Victor sighed, more than willing to take up the cause of defending his buddy, but knew he might actually make it worse. That Alderman woman was not the kind of bad guy you could punch and never see again. She was a politician, and those were like cockroaches; just when you think they were out of your hair, they're back and they're the same roach you squished not ten seconds ago.
"What's she so mad about anyway?" Bart asked, throwing back half the contents of a chip bag into his mouth while tucking twenty others under an arm. "We're the good guys, we saved the day. Nobody died!" Naturally, he was talking with his mouth full and getting little bits of chips everywhere as a result. Somehow, being muffled didn't make it harder to understand him; technically it made it easier since the speedster had to slow down to talk and chew. "Sure, the building didn't have a good time, but what do you expect with bad guys? It's part of the job."
"Look guys, she doesn't care about the damage to the mall. It's a smokescreen. Anybody with a brain cell knows that mall was on its last legs and would have been shutting down anyway. It just happened sooner rather than later," Victor explained. "It's just convenient for her to use it to blame us, and really, I don't think any of us had anything to do with the roof caving in. There's only a couple of us with that kind of raw power, one has too much control over her powers and the other was with the hostages. The rest of us? Not in the amount of time it took, so it had to be one of those assholes."
"So…why blame us?" Bart asked, already polishing off a fifth bag of chips.
Before Victor could answer, Tim cut in. "It's the game of politics. Everyone is trying to gain an advantage over everyone else. It's based on opportunity, and the sooner you speak up, the more you're able to control the narrative. That's what it's about, because once you speak first, the other side has to waste time fighting that claim."
"It's all a bunch of horseshit," Cassie grumbled.
"And it's horseshit that can get people hurt, or worse, killed," Tim replied grimly. "The truth is we can't ignore her, but we can't do anything about her either."
"Then what are we suppose to do?!" Gar exclaimed, and you could hear his frustration easily. Victor knew the feeling, and he understood where Tim was coming from.
From the corner of his human eye, the cyborg noticed how Raven was watching Tim, keeping quiet but giving the impression that she was expecting something from him. It was something he had been noticing happening a lot lately, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was about.
"Right now, the only thing we can do is to be better." That interrupted Victor's thoughts and he returned back to the matter at hand. "Let's not try to give her more ammo, even though there was little we could do about it this time. All the proof in the world won't change her mind, not now at any rate. We prove her wrong by our actions, and that's the only thing we can do."
In the kitchenette, Kori was mixing…something in a bowl, most likely some Tamaranean dish that was going to be murder on the taste buds, but that would be for later. Far, far later, and hopefully he would have managed to hide himself before the dreaded taste test.
Then their resident Tamaranean spoke up. "I am no stranger to the machination of policy creators. The strategy that our friend has explained was one that was very common on my planet before it…before my sister seized power. The more vocal the individual is, the probability of being heard increases. If speaking more does not accomplish your goals, then speaking louder is another tactic. My father made it his goal to be the loudest voice and the one that spoke the most. It allowed him to remain in power for longer than the norm."
"And what happened when words weren't enough?" Cassie asked, interested.
Kori shrugged her shoulders. "When words were not enough, then action was what my father did, and he usually did his actions during coups. He was very accomplished in the art of battle. My mother was much more accomplished. Together, they were able to claim the throne long enough to conceive a child and solidify themselves as Tamaranean royalty. That did not prevent those who thought they could do much better from trying again and again."
"This isn't something we want to engage in yet," Tim summed up, drawing attention back to him. "Right now, we need to focus on what Jinx's crew was up to this time. I highly doubt they came out of the woodwork just to pick a fight with us. They chose that mall for a reason, and they took hostages which they have never done before. Who are they working with this time and what is their goal?"
From a spot next to Grass Stain, Terra looked to their fearless leader curiously. "You guys fought these guys a lot, right? Before I showed up. What do they normally do?"
"It was tech for a mummy man in a wheelchair. It got crazy," Cassie answered bluntly.
"But they were working for him. If they were on their own, why wait so long just to set up an ambush?" Tim continued.
"Do these people really need a reason?" their hot-tempered blonde argued. "We got three of them this time. Once we let them stew a bit behind bars, let's ask them again what they're up to."
Tim raised an eyebrow. "And if they don't want to answer?"
Cassie didn't immediately answer. She at her lip, then her eyes flickered downward. What was going on through her pretty little head? Then, as if coming to a decision, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "We can see if my lasso is anything like Wonder Woman's."
Victor frowned, then thought about what she said, then really thought about it. He'd seen her use that glowing rope before, and always for fighting, but now he was wondering about everything it could do. Could it make someone tell the truth? Could it…could it…well damn, he didn't know what else Wonder Woman's lasso did other than making people tell the truth.
So what all could Wonder Girl's do? And now that he was really thinking hard about it, wasn't Wonder Woman's lasso gold? Or glowed gold? Why then did Wonder Girl's glow red instead? Well, more like a red and gold glow, but still.
"You seem to be very unaware of your abilities," Raven commented.
"What's to know? I got magic armor. I can bench press a truck with it. It keeps me from getting hurt. What else is there to know?" the blonde dynamo said dismissively.
"Then you do not know the full extent of your abilities?" That question came from Kori, which there wouldn't be outright dismissal. The Tamaranean was watching their armor-wearing teammate with an expression that suggested worry, curiosity, and a little disbelief.
Cassie gave a shrug of her shoulders. "It's never come up. Why is everybody so interested all of a sudden?"
"I think it would be best if we took some time to cool off," Tim interrupted before anyone could push further. "We have a new case on our hands, and since a mall was nearly destroyed, you can bet a lot of the criminal element is going to keep its head down while Jump City's Finest ratchet up their presence. Alderman is not going to do us any favors so let's not give her more ammo. Take the night off, either relax, train, or upgrade—" a knowing look was sent his way, "—but whatever you do, get yourselves ready for tomorrow. We're going to start by trying to track down the rest of them. Let's not wait for them to strike again, because this time they did put people at risk. No more chances."
Victor felt himself nod. So far, Tim's statement about bad guys going quiet after something big went down tended to be right. However, that didn't mean they were going to be fully off the clock. An emergency could come up and they would need to jump in action in a second. Well, that, or Batman could show up again.
Tim walked past him, and after a second, so did Cassie as she followed after. This left the cyborg to listen to the plans Green Bean was trying to put together with Terra, and out of boredom Bart was doing his best to weasel in. Kori kept herself to the kitchenette, determined to finish whatever it was she was cooking, please do not be in a mood to share…
Which left Raven also taking her leave, but Victor found himself watching her. He had noticed the change in how she was interacting with Tim. She seemed to be a bit more…what was the word here…antagonistic? Confrontational? Whatever it was, she seemed to be asking a lot more questions of the one guy here without any powers. Challenging, that was the word he was looking for.
Now, that challenging stance she was taking was being directed to Cassie. What was her deal here? What was she up to? At least with the politician, you could figure that one out, but Raven was still a mystery that had yet to be cracked.
Always holding herself away from them, from the others, even when she was in the same room. While he would like to help her come out of her shell, he knew from personal experience that no one held onto their secrets like she did.
Like when he had first met her, Victor knew that all he could do was wait. Until then, he had other choices to make, like whether he'd do what Tim suggested and do some maintenance on himself or stick around and see what the Grass Stain, the Blonde Twig, and Hyperactive Jitterbug got up to. Okay, that last one was him really trying to coin up a nickname for Bart, and all he knew was that it still needed work.
There was one big reason why you didn't want to be the leader. Whenever something bad went down, you were the one who got all the blame. You got the brunt of the punishment, and it sucked.
This was Jinx's position right now, standing in front of Immortus and presenting not an overwhelming victory but another bitter defeat. Her mind was racing, still trying to figure out what had happened. Those Titans, as they called themselves now, were not this strong the last time they had met. And they, the H.I.V.E. Five had been training their asses off to get back the good graces they once had.
So where did it all go wrong? It made no sense! None!
To put even more insult to injury, Private Hive butted in. Oh, sure, of course, he was the backup and reinforcement that she totally didn't need, and yet things had gotten bad enough that Hive's loser squad came in. They too also had their asses kicked, so there was that, but ultimately, Jinx still got the blame because she was the one in charge.
It was so unfair.
"This is very disappointing," Immortus remarked, his voice almost as old as he was. How old was he anyway? Some time before dirt was invented? "You're some of the best H.I.V.E. has produced and trained, and here you are in unseemly condition. Injured. Exhausted. Missing comrades. Whatever am I to do with you."
Jinx stood straight, refusing to show any weakness. It wouldn't help her case if she did. And the reminder, that Shimmer and Gizmo were captured, was rubbing even more salt into the wound. When Mammoth found out, the amount of sedation needed to put him down could have killed a bull elephant. And let's not forget, Private Hive only lost one to their two. So embarrassing.
"Regardless, the primary objective was accomplished," the self-styled general continued, looking over her head as if she was no more important than a piece of lint on his uniform. "Gizmo's surveillance equipment captured and recorded the actions and fighting styles of our adversaries. At the very least, you were able to do that much."
Just another backhanded insult. But yes, the true purpose of luring out the Titans was to record them in their element. Immortus wanted up to date intel and wanted those twerps tested to within an inch of their lives. If they were able to beat them, all the better, just another notch on the belt and getting their perks reestablished.
The fact that they were being relegated to over glorified reconnaissance…
That was the job though. Draw them out, engage, try to kill, and if failing that, make them smile for the camera by drawing every single fight out for as long as possible. Make them break a sweat.
"I've already seen some of the preliminary footage," Immortus mused. "I was surprised at how quickly our adversaries took control, and how quickly you were to give it up. There is a marked difference in their skills compared to your original reports." With a booted foot, the old man walked around her and with gold eyes she followed. He was heading for a row of monitors that hung suspended from the ceiling, below a long row of terminals in which multiple, uniformed techs were hard at work.
On every monitor was a different image, and though different they were, they all showed the same thing. Mammoth was being schooled by the Tamaranean a second time. The armored Wonder Girl—pretentious much?—was tearing through Gizmo's gizmos with ease. Kyd Wykkyd went down faster than she would have anticipated, and by the one that had no powers. And Shimmer—oh, that's what happened to her. It sent a shudder up her spine, and Jinx looked away.
Which had her watching herself get shoulder tackled by a green kangaroo. On second thought, maybe she should take a look back on the Shimmer footage and figure out how that was going…
"The discrepancies are obvious," Immortus commented, interrupting her thoughts. "Whatever strength they possess that allowed them to conquer you previously, they have honed and built off of. They exceed the training of which you have endured. I am very curious of what this training entails. However, my curiosity will have to remain unsated; they are marked for death. So death is what we will deal."
So far, Jinx had kept quiet, listening to the villain spiel being dished out to her. She had heard it all before, and sometimes she could even predict what would be said next. It was like a little game, something to keep her head in and not be bored out of her mind. If you let Immortus go on long enough, you'd start hearing all the cliches.
However, this whole thing was personal now. Twice humiliated. Twice she had been taken down by the same idiot shapeshifter. Hell, now that she was really watching the monitors, she realized that almost all of them were being beaten by the same ones that beat them the first time. Gizmo was an exception, but that exception wasn't saving his little ass.
So what was going to be her next move?
"When do you want us back in the field, sir?" she asked, knowing that she would be the center of his attention.
"What makes you think you'll be going back into the field?" the general said idly.
Internally, she was bristling. Outwardly, she kept cool and in control. "We have men in the field who were captured. We should be bringing them back and making sure they didn't talk."
"Without question," Immortus agreed, surprising her. "However," she did not like the sound of that word, "based on your recent, lackluster performance, your talents will not be used in the next phase. You will be remaining here. There is no need to keep trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Anger flared, and it must have shown on her face. Or her eyes. Or how a console began sparking loudly.
Immortus glanced at her, expressing no fear whatsoever. A gloved hand slipped into his pocket, then pulled out what looked like a fob—
Pain exploded inside of her head. Jinx went down to a knee, her hands shooting up to grab her aching noggin, as if applying pressure would somehow relieve her of the pain. Belatedly, she recalled what she had learned on that doomed mission or theirs, where that mummy man revealed what H.I.V.E. had done to them.
In spite of what little free time they had, Gizmo had been unable to locate where that damn device was placed in their heads. She wasn't suppose to know about it, but the implantation that H.I.V.E. had done had been thorough. Immortus wasn't even trying to hide it from her.
"There will be none of that," the older than dirt bastard chastised. "The HIVE Five require more training, and training you will have. The embarrassment you have brought to this organization will be addressed, one way or another, but you throwing a temper tantrum is unacceptable.
"Once, I might have overlooked this insubordination due to your reliability of results. You have lost that privilege, and including your performance today, a few more privileges will be revoked from you and your team. If you want them back, you will deliver and bring glory to H.I.V.E. Until then, return to your quarters and pack up. You will be moving to your new ones shortly."
Her head was throbbing, but that last part got through. Moving? Again? And they were going to be smaller than the current ones. So first a verbal lashing, then the mother of all headaches, and now this? How much further were they going to fall?
When were they going to get another win?
Not here, not far away from the action, that's what.
But even from where she crouched on the floor, she could see the fob in his hand, and she knew that she had no options. The second she even crackled, the little button on that device would be pressed, and there would be pain, pain, pain. Pushing it here would only make things worse.
"Do you understand?" Immortus said mildly, but there was anything but pleasantry here.
"Yes, sir," Jinx grumbled, looking down.
"Very good," the general mocked. "Now get up and obey your orders."
It felt like she was moving, walking, she wasn't sure. Was she upright? Moving in one place or going somewhere? There were no other thoughts and any that she had tended to fade away as soon as they came. What was up and where was down? Was it cold or hot? Could she see or was she blind?
It felt like there was movement. It felt that her legs were moving. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right… Left…
Was she going anywhere? Why couldn't she see? Why couldn't she feel? Was there earth below? Sky above? Air around? No wind, no solid, no anything…
Fast or slow? Hard to tell. It felt so much like…dreaming and not dreaming. There was no lucidity. No reality too. Yet she continued to step forward. Where was she going? Did she need to be somewhere? Obviously, she did, or otherwise why would she be…what was she doing?
There was a feeling now, the feeling of everything being far away. But how could that be a feeling? That didn't make any sense. Nothing made sense. Everything made no sense. But she was sensing, wasn't she? And how?
And how…was…was she breathing too? It felt like it, but her chest…her chest wasn't moving. She was alive though. She knew she was! This was so surreal. So unreal. Yet so real.
And…and…
Terra blinked.
Eyelids opened and closed rapidly, and the world itself slowly faded back into…um…huh…what…?
Confusion. There was a lot of confusion. Also, it felt like there were cobwebs all over her brain. She placed a hand to her face, closed her eyes once more, then applied pressure with her palm and rubbed. She could feel that and it helped to anchor her. What was this feeling?
Shaking her head, the blonde girl opened her eyes again and found herself standing in front of a set of windows, the city of Jump lit up behind them. She was in a room, one of the unused ones but right now she couldn't remember what its intended purpose was.
Alright. Okay. How did she get here? Last thing she remembered… The last thing she remembered was going to bed. There had been some insisting that Gar go to his room because this wasn't…this wasn't like old times where everything was communal and she had her own room now and she liked her privacy thank you very much. And once the not quite manchild was run off, she had climbed into her comfortable bed…thought the sheets could have some cleaning by now. Um, when was the last time she had laundered them?
Okay, focus. She was going to bed, then…something something something, and now she woke up in a completely different room. One she did not remember right now what it was for. Was there some kind of prank happening here? Was this Gar trying to play a fast one? No, no, if there was one thing she did know, that green shapeshifter respected the sanctity of sleep if only because he liked having a lot of it himself.
So what other reason did she have to be in here? Was she sleepwalking now? Did she sleepwalk? Now that she was thinking about it…now that she was, this seemed like it was starting to form a pattern. There had been times she had gone to bed, but then woke up in her own room sure, but sometimes in a position that could have been explained by being very restless.
Like the time she had woken up while sitting upright at the edge of the bed. Or laying face down on the floor in her own bedroom. Or kneeling beside the bed with her face in the covers. Or leaning against a wall, still in the same room. This was the first time she had woken up in a room not her own.
So had she been sleepwalking before and this was the first time she caught herself doing it? It didn't explain that weird dream…what had that dream been about? Didn't recall it, not at all. Only that it was really, really weird and nothing else.
Did she need to see a doctor for this? She had never sleepwalked before—that she was fully aware of. And wasn't it suppose to be something that started when you were a little kid and not like a full grown teenager? So much didn't make sense, she didn't make sense, and right now she did want to make any sense of it.
Maybe she could do an internet search tomorrow…or later today if it was the early morning. First thing on the agenda was getting back to her room, and going back to bed where she would hopefully remain in bed. How about locking the room so she couldn't leave? Sounded like a plan unless sleepwalkers could open locks? Could they?
This was not the kind of thinking you needed to do and not at this time of day or night. Rubbing her face once more, Terra turned away from the windows, nearly stubbed—okay that wasn't a nearly, she did stub her toe. Son of a bitch, now she was really awake! God damn, where was she? Shit!
Right, going back to bed. Now. This was something for daylight. Ooh. Son of a bitch.
