On another day in the tower, the titans have been requested to meet in the virtual reality room.
"Titans, this is something big. We have been given an assignment... by Batman himself." All the rest of their eyes widened up before, sort of, going crazy.
"Oh man, we've been given a Bat assignment!" Garfield yelled in excitement while flailing his arms.
"I know bro! My processors are having trouble computing how awesome this is!" Cyborg agreed with lots of enthusiasm.
"Bring it in ladies!" Jinx shouted as the girls each high fived each other in a certain way a group of animated penguins from Madagascar hi-five.
"That's right, he needs us to infiltrate one of Lex Luthor's laboratories to get a certain piece of evidence. He has been unable to find out what it is, so for now we'll call it the maguffin for now."
"Hmm, makes me want an Egg McMuffin instead." Cyborg chuckled while licking his lips.
"With all the fries we can eat!" Beast added.
"And the milkshakes! Don't forget the milkshakes!" Jinx put her own thought in, leading to the three joking titans laughing until it was out of their system, which Nightwing patiently waited for if with a stern look.
"Rrrrright. Maybe after we succeed the mission we'll get all that. Anyway, due to how high maintenance the security any Luthor building has, Batman himself can't infiltrate them alone. And since this is a stealth mission, I'm going to have to teach you the art of the ninja. Ninjutsu."
"Whoa, ninjas!" Garfield gasped. "Awesome! Now I can be a orange clad ninja with multiplication skills from the Tree Village!" The green shapeshifter said as he thought pretended to be Naruto.
"Oh please, you want to talk about being a cool ninja?! How about being a cyborg ninja with a sword that can cut through anything, even giant robots for war filled to the brim of metal gears and weapons." Victor countered as he thought pretended to wield a red katana, running up to a giant robot.
"Hey, just as long as our ninja wear isn't sexy body flaunters, we're in." Jinx said as all the girls imagined that they were all the kind of kunoichi in which one wrong move or strong enough hit would basically uncloth them down to their underwear, to which the three shook their heads in disgust.
"No no no, we're not going to be anything like ninja in the anime and either action or sexual video games. We're wearing these." Nightwing pulled out from a box a set of dark blue ninja clothing. "Shinobi Shozoku. The traditional garb of the ninja."
"Why is it dark blue? I thought Ninja wore black?" Cyborg asked.
"That is just a common myth. The black comes from Japanese puppetiers or actors who try to be invisible in theater acts. These cloth are either dark blue or red to either blend easier into the night sky or hide blood stains from a wound. They're already tailor made into your sizes. Try them on." Each titan went outside of the room to change until they were all outfitted in the Shozuku.
"Why don'ts I just sneak in like normal?" Garfield asked.
"I don't want you getting hurt on the mission. Due to how tight the security is, we don't know all the dangers. Now, I'm going to put up a simulation whatever Batman could get of the inside. You can't use your powers, since Batman has found that it has sensors for superpowers.
First up was Cyborg, but he was too heavy with his metal body, constantly setting off sound detection alarms. And when it came to hidden pressure plates, he didn't even survive the first step before falling into a trap with a yelp. Starfire was able to quickly get around the course and avoid the pressure plates, but when she came to lasers, her hair proved to be her downfall as even when trying to maneuver around the lasers, her hair kept falling over her body into the lasers or was too poofy when she tried to squeeze between a thin passage. Even Raven failed due to her lack of stealth skills by her own. She always relied on portals or phasing through the walls or floor. So while she got past the previous stuff, it was plain and simple cameras that spotted her along wit spotlights. Jinx however was the one to make around it the best. She moved silently through the factory, was so quick she didn't even register her steps, that or malfunctioned to not open, practically danced through the lasers and snuck under the cameras when they were at angles they weren't looking at. As for Beast Boy... he almost didn't even try. Sure, he was actually quiet, but when he pressed on the pressure plates, he just fell in with no yelp or fuss. Nightwing pinched his nose.
"Alright, let's take it from the top." Pressing a button, all the titans were all over the room, waiting for the simulation to be over and then lining up. Cyborg, it appears that even if I trained you in ninjutsu, your heavy metal body could never what they're known for: silent stealth." Victor lowered his head, almost feeling profiled against a body he was forced to have until Richard mentioned, "However, that doesn't mean you can't help. You'll be helping by hacking into their security so that it's easier for us."
"Okay." That made him feel better, but not too much.
"Starfire, you certainly have the dexterity... but your hair brings too much attention.
"I am the sorry. it is too much to fit in the mask and it won't fit in the hole for the back.
"Perhaps a haircut will work?" The Tamaranean princess went for mildly upset to highly defendant as she put her arms around it, hugging it to her front.
"Absolutely not Richard. My hair is my pride, and it reminds me of Tamaran, where such volume of hair is a status representing luck and health." The titan leader put his arms up defensively.
"I'm... I'm sorry Starfire. I didn't mean to offend. But something has to be done with it."
"We'll handle it." Jinx volunteered. "Raven and I could give it a dye job to look black, or dark blue... oh, and a braided ponytail put in a bun."
"That sounds the reasonable, but except for those very big scrunchies which pushes my hair several inches away from my head before going down, ties and bands aren't strong enough to contain my hair."
"Leave that to me." Cyborg offered his help.
"Alright then. Moving on. Raven, while you did hang in there, it appears that you need to look out for enemy surveillance without outing yourself. We'll train on that but you're pretty good even without lessons."
"Eh, I've always had the knack of sneaking up on others without meaning to. I've just never taken the cameras into consideration before." The half-demon girl excused.
"We can all attest to that. Jinx, you did excellent."
"It's my background of course. Sure, there was more combat drones and turrets involved but I can get myself through fortresses when I need to." The female metahuman chuckled as she checked her nails.
"That will come in handy." Nightwing's pleased smile then disappeared when he went up to Garfield. "Beast, what was that?"
"Well, I never had to sneak into a place without my animal powers before. Plus you'll be teaching me the ninja-jitsu, so what's the problem?"
"The problem is you didn't show me where to properly improve upon. I want you to go again, but this time take it seriously."
"Ugh, fine." The shapeshifter rolled his eyes. And to his credit, Garfield was able to actually finish the course, if not as quickly. "There, you happy?" He asked in an annoyed tone.
"Hmm, pretty good actually."
"Yeah. I am a bit uncomfortable though. I've done stealth mission before, but this most reminds me of before joining the Doom Patrol. Being tricked to commit crimes by stealing stuff while being sneaky."
"Garfield, whatever you've done in the past, it's made up for everything you've done as a hero." Raven spoke to him, taking her ninja mask off. "For me, I would've looked past your past by the time you first went into Nevermore. While I never would've admitted it at the time, our friendship truly began at that point, and everything else just made me like you more and more, even if I rarely expressed it before Trigon's second coming."
"Yeah bro, don't ever let your pre-hero past define who you are." Cyborg said with encouragement. "You've done more than make up for it."
"Aw, thanks guys." Beast wiped a couple of tears away. "Alright, let's get to learning the ninja-jitsu."
"Very well. Practice begins now." They then went through a montage of learning ninjutsu while listening to Eye of the Tiger. While there was a mishap in the stealth section with Beast willfully popping the bubble wrap he was supposed to run on like a kid, which prompted everyone to join in, training was a slow but sure process where they got better. A slow but sure process which would normally take several years condensed down to four minutes thanks to the power of training montages. During the training, the titan's issues have been resolved.
Cyborg manages to finally solve Starfire's hair tie problem. After brushing, she braids her hair into pigtails, which takes some time, after which they get held closer to her body by strong hair clips created by Cyborg to withstand tons of pressure. Star also dyes her hair black with magical hair paint that Raven and Jinx made so that her hair isn't bright anymore. Along with Jinx's pink hair.
Eventually Cyborg got used to being the guy in the chair doing technical support.
Raven gets put under a harsh training program to get her better at infiltration and at solving problems without her magic.
Jinx personally taught Beast to get over the his uncomfortable past, and learn to embrace what he learned as a sneaky thief purposed for not stealing for greed, but for good. Soon, they were ready as the team grappled up one of Lex Luthor's factories. Cyborg back at the tower was coordinating everyone thanks to a linked telepathic web Raven created. Just because she can't use her magic doesn't mean she can't perform mystical enchantments small enough the sensors won't notice.
("Everybody knows what to do?") Victor asked everyone.
("Yes.") They all responded with their thoughts. Heading down the outer perimeter wall, they all were able to sneak around the search lights and reach a wall. Putting on their climbing claws, they punctured their way up the wall to a window which Jinx with ninja tools caused to fall out while Starfire caught it, and threw it far away out of the compound. As for the inside, it was much harder as Cyborg was having to constantly evade the detection software in the mainframe while also helping his friends inside the factory, such as going down the right pathways and disabling armed robots which would soon turn corners. Beast could also use his animal senses to sniff or feel any hidden traps such as collapsable floors or prepped sleeping gas. Overall, the team of five were handling things pretty well thanks to Cyborg's assistance. They were eventually able to find the evidence they were looking for, which was contained in a metal safe surrounded by lasers. Nightwing threw shuriken at the machines producing the lasers, shutting that defense down while Beast went to the safe. Pressing his super sensitive ear to the wall of the safe, he carefully twisted the knob around until he heard the ultimate click, and opened the door, revealing a smaller box. Jinx expertly swapped it for a fake replacement of equal weight.
However, as they were leaving, the alarms set off.
"But how?! We did everything right?!" Starfire questioned, which was when Jinx saw that there was a code to put in before leaving.
"Oh of course. How could we see that as a possibility?" The former villainess rolled her eyes.
"Go on, Star and I will distract them!" Beast yelled to his friends.
"Why?!" Raven inquired.
"Because we can cause the most damage." The shapeshifter grinned before turning into an African elephant charging towards the doors which opened to reveal the guards, only to be run over by the incoming animal.
"Yes. We will be fine. Just go." The Tamaranean warrior urged before yelling as she flew to follow him. The others had no choice but to escape, so Raven made a portal so they could escape.
Once all the titans were back safe and sound in their tower, Nightwing was explaining their prize.
"So titans, this is what Batman wanted us to retrieve from Luthor. In this box turns out to be an alien rock brimming with pure, potentially unlimited energy. He could use it to power a city... or destroy one with one of his lasers. Raven, if you would." Richard asked as he threw her the box. Snapping her fingers to open a portal, the sorceress helped send the box to Batman whom was sitting at the main computer. Seeing it drop down onto the console, he grinned as he went to put it away. "Alright titans, let's celebrate with dinner!" The titan leader suggested.
"Yes!" All of them agreed, but the sound of metallic straining put their cheer on pause.
"What is that noise?" Cyborg asked. Jinx and Beast to Star noticed her braided bun held together by Cyborg's clips was trembling, growing slightly bigger and bigger, which she could notice.
"Huh? What's going on with my hair?"
"Um... perhaps we should-DUCK!" Pulling Garfield down, Starfire's bun exploded as all that volume burst out to be free, pushing Starfire a few feet forward as she yelped. Raven turned intangible to not be hit, the wall taking damage while Cyborg managed to catch the other clip, but in doing so it really dented into his right hand, almost into the inner circuits of said hand. Starfire just stood there, her hair curly and messy from being in a braided bun for so long then exploding from being in such a tight confinement when it wasn't even very tight itself. The female titan could only nervously giggle as she said,
"My apologies."
A/N: Haha, that was a fun one. Island Advenutres is next. Stay tuned for it.