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..◢..chapter three..◣..
"Titans, go!" Robin commanded, zooming through the darkening streets of Jump City on his R-Cycle. His high-beams were bright over the empty and shadowed streets. He debriefed through the comms, loud over the engine, "The H.I.V.E Five were spotted at the Amusement Park on the pier fifteen minutes ago. We need to catch up to them and find out what they're planning."
"No problem," Cyborg said, the T-Car purring under his hands, "We'll get there in no time."
In the passenger seat, Raven looked out at her reflection on the window, her skin ashen and grey. She felt exhausted and wrung out, her magic pulse weak inside her.
"You sure you're okay?" Cyborg asked gently, looking at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the road.
Raven considered the question. They had found the sword after the earthquake had stopped, shorn cleanly in two but with its second half no where in sight. When they picked it up, it looked like a window into another galaxy with its astrological design, smooth and shiny like a piece of broken glass. They suspected the H.I.V.E. teens had collected the part of the blade with the hilt; Robin also thought that the sword was the villains' original target, but the others weren't so sure, as hundreds-worth of goods were stolen, including both magical and not.
"I'm fine," she finally answered flatly. Cyborg hummed noncommittedly, making a smooth turn down another street.
"Well, we're here for you," he reminded her, and she absently heard Beast Boy caw above them, his wings flapping.
"...I know. Thanks."
She went back to looking out the window.
She was only tired, that was it. Though, the centipede demon was new. She suppressed a shiver at the reminder of its pale theater mask, red lips stretched wide in an off-putting grin. Mine, it had claimed, but she was no one's to own.
It had also said something else, though, hadn't it? Something she'd heard before, soft and echoing like a dream from the past?
"We're here," Robin said, and Starfire landed next to him as he parked the motorcycle. Beast Boy had changed back into his human form and was looking around. The Ferris Wheel and rollercoaster were abandoned, and the wooden planks at the entrance of the boardwalk were jagged and torn, poking up like a mouthful of fangs.
No more cheerful melodies filled the park of amusement, Starfire noted sadly.
"Looks like there was a fight," Robin observed, and he crouched down, putting a gloved hand on the wood. His mask narrowed.
"Over here, too," Beast Boy added, and Cyborg walked over to where he was standing. The picnic tables were broken in half, smashed and splintering.
"Mammoth?"
"Most likely," Raven confirmed dispassionately, floating past them, her hood pulled over her head.
The Titans separated, walking through the abandoned pier to search for clues on who the H.I.V.E. Five were fighting, and where they could have gone—either party. Raven and Starfire checked the rides, while Cyborg scanned the area for any remaining heat signatures. Beast Boy skittered as a rat through the stalls, only to turn back into a boy to exclaim excitedly, "Ohh, it's so cute and fluffy!" and hug a stuffed green lemur prize to his chest. "And it's green just like me!"
Robin ignored him, his attention on the stall selling carnival masks. He picked up one of the porcelain oni masks, five horns unevenly protruding on the edges, decorated with a fanged smile. A spidery crack was broken across the face. He frowned.
What did the centipede demon from before have to do with with H.I.V.E? Were the two connected or was it just a coincidence? Was this strange attack on the pier related to the masked demon, and therefore related to the villainous group?
He wished he knew what they were planning. Demons weren't their usual M.O., and it was bothering him. Something wasn't right.
"Grubfar for your thoughts," Starfire asked, gently setting down by his side. She peered over his shoulder, her green eyes following the crack down the middle of the mask. Creepy, she shuddered. "What troubles you, my friend?"
Robin's frown deepened, and he set the mask back on the stall. 50% off, a half-fallen sign declared optimistically. He turned his attention to Starfire. "I wish we knew who they were fighting, and why."
"You're in luck, then," Cyborg said with sardonic cheer, his mechanical parts a bright blue in the dark. "Store cameras got five minutes of visuals at the end before glitching out."
"And?" Robin waved him on, his mind racing.
"And we think they just got two new members," Beast Boy answered for him, his face unusually serious as a fuzzy image blurred into existence on Cyborg's screen. It looked like a teenage boy and girl, dressed in red robes and green tunics, were following the H.I.V.E. Five away on friendly terms. Or at least, as friendly terms as anyone in the vicinity of the villainous teenagers could be. There was no obvious sign of a struggle or coercive threats.
...But the fight mere minutes before at the pier said otherwise.
"Maybe it was an initiation," Cyborg guessed with a shrug, thinking back to his brief time undercover at the Academy. He shook his head at the reminder.
"Maybe," Robin echoed hollowly. He looked back at the Japanese devil masks, toothy and gleeful on the wall stand. Or maybe they were missing something here. "Split up and search the city," Robin finally decided, "If you don't find anything within the hour, regroup at the Tower."
Once the city was successfully divided up between them, Robin returned alone to his R-Cycle. He started the engine and curled onto the streets of Jump City in a comet of blazing red. A leering mask was strapped to his back, grinning under his billowing cape.
There was something he had to check at the docks. The GPS tracker on his T-communicator blinked its way to Pier 41.
Slade, he thought aggressively.
"Anything?" Cyborg asked, his car parked a couple blocks back. The green dog at his feet snuffled, shaking its head, the droopy ears flopping back and forth. Beast Boy trotted further ahead, barking at a passing car. The headlights disappeared seconds later, and then it was back to the two of them.
The city's dark alleyway remained quiet, save for the rustling of street animals and the faint music of nightclubs farther downtown.
Beast Boy returned to his human form in a green and purple blur. "Nothing, dude," he sighed miserably. "Wherever they went, they're long gone."
Cyborg gave another cursory look around. His scanners didn't pick anything new up since the last time he'd checked a minute ago. "They skedaddled fast," he observed, not sure what it really meant in the grand scheme of things though.
They continued their search, walking past Wayne Enterprises' regional office building, the WAYNE marquee letters bright and officious. At least it was a nice day out, with a calm breeze and moderate temperatures.
"Maybe those two were secret agents," Beast Boy guessed, and turned into a snake, slithering up Cyborg's arm to curl around his head and hiss threateningly. He poofed back into himself, but stayed perched on Cyborg's metal shoulder as the taller man continued his trek down the district streets. "Or maybe they're from another dimension, sent to kill us by their," he paused dramatically and Cyborg rolled his human eye, "Bug Overlord." He added spooky sounds for the ultimate effect.
"Or maybe they're just regular supervillains," he deadpanned. "Probably from out east or something."
"Nah," Beast Boy dismissed, and then perked up, his pointed ears swiveling. "Hey, what's that noise?"
"I don't hear anything."
"No, no," Beast Boy claimed, knocking a gentle knuckle against the cybernetic side of his friend's head. "I heard something. Near the nightclub we just passed."
Cyborg looked back the way they had come, neon signs brightly advertising shapely hour-glass figures and beer bottles clinking together. They were near the red-light district. "What did you hear?" he asked cautiously.
"I don't know," the other boy answered, sounding confused and a little concerned. "But I think we should check it out."
Cyborg frowned. "Alright."
Beast Boy shifted into a green wolf, though the color was muted due the grey darkness of nighttime. "Careful, BB, this place doesn't take well to strangers," Cyborg warned as they slipped deeper into the sparsely lit underbelly of the city.
It was at the end of an alleyway that Cyborg heard it. It sounded like laughter, taunts... and a young girl's angry voice. Beast Boy's furry head looked up at him, green eyes bright and wild in his animalistic form. Cyborg raced after the smaller Titan's hurried lead, and they came to a quick stop around the corner of a bar, a gang of motorcycles parked out front.
"Be a doll and give us our friend back, girlie," one of the burly men was saying, his hands in the air and a false sense of kindness on his lips, "and we won't have to get mean."
A girl in a simple blue kimono-esque dress was peering furiously up at the man covered head to toe in tattoos. She didn't move from her spot in front of a woman with her top strap loose over her shoulder and a hazy look in her eyes.
"No," the girl promised, not budging, her body shadowed by the men's bulk looming over her.
The man snarled, and his biker gang chuckled a little, someone saying from the back, "She's got moxie."
"Yo," Cyborg yelled, his cannon charged up and glowing electric blue. Beast Boy growled loudly, low and rumbling, gnashing his sharp teeth at them. "Pick on someone your own size."
The man huffed, turning to them and opening his mouth to retort. He never got the chance. Water went flying straight at his head, and then it was suddenly freezing into pointed, heavy crystals. The man's eyes widened, and he fell to the side from the sudden weight. "Mmmmhhh," he said, panicking, his hands frantically clawing at the cold ice, his mouth and nose completely covered. The other men looked at the two heroes in fearful shock.
Cyborg and Beast Boy looked back at them just as surprised.
In an unnatural move, the ice crystals melted into a bursting puddle beneath the gang leader's feet.
"There's more where that came from," the girl assured them, a water skin cocked open at her hip and a fierce, daring look in her ice-blue eyes.
"What the hell," one of the men muttered. "Not today, man," another added.
Their leader spit water from the side of his mouth, his voice gravelly as he struggled upright, "You some kind of metahuman freak then?"
Before everyone's eyes, the water around them drooped upright, rising like the undead. "Want a rematch," she challenged with unbridled confidence, her palms stretched out over the water. "Cause believe me, I won't go easy on you this time."
"What," the drugged woman behind the teenager mumbled confusedly, blinking owlishly at the moving water.
Cyborg understood the feeling. "Leave them alone," he demanded angrily, but his blaster was lowered at his side. The metahuman seemed like she could handle herself well enough, and if she needed help, they were right here just in case. Beast Boy growled, snapping.
"Nah, man, not worth it," a guy said, raising his hands and squeezing between the two heroes to get back to the street. Cyborg leisurely blocked his way, crossing his arms over his chest. The gang member gulped, confessing almost immediately, "We didn't do nothing to the lassie. Boss was just gonna give her a ride home."
Beast Boy's wolf form bit the bottom of his pants, ripping the fabric jagged.
He squealed, stumbling into the side of the wall. "Fine, fine, fine! He drugged her drink. Just wanted some information, wasn't gonna' do nothin' to her."
"What information," Cyborg asked, facing the gang leader.
"I don't have to tell you anything," he objected. Faster than lightening, the strange teenager made a fluid motion with her hands and water erupted, blasting upright and soaking everyone in cold, dirty water. A ball hovered ominously in front of his face.
He sputtered, spitting out water and giving her a nasty look that she returned with one of her own.
"She saw something weird the other day, and someone's paying people for their accounts. Don't know who, so don't ask. It was just some information gathering," he stressed, an angry scowl on his face. He shrunk away when the girl stepped in front of him, and then visibly forced himself to glare right back.
"Get out of here," she commanded authoritatively. "And don't come back."
Cyborg wanted to object — they could arrest them for this! — but the men were already rushing past them, too many to stop all at once. Motorcycle engines filled the air in a rush and then the gang was gone. At his side, Beast Boy transformed back into his human self, wasting no time in approaching the powerful girl.
"That was so cool!" he said, asking with a friendly smile, "Do you know Aqualad?"
Water was suddenly encasing her hands like perpetually-wet gloves, and the threat was loud and clear. Beast Boy raised his hands, backing up. "Sorry, sorry. No sudden movements, got it," he squeaked out.
She turned to the older woman, but her back was angled so that both boys were also within her line of sight. "I'm sorry about that," she was telling the poor woman softly, a motherly smile on her face as she prompted, "What were you saying earlier? At the bar?"
"At the bar?" the woman repeated back dazedly.
"The bracelet..." she lead with, holding out an earth-colored bracelet shaped like a horseshoe. It was matted and dull looking. "Where did you get it?"
"Bracelet," the woman repeated, closing her eyes. The girl waited patiently, and Cyborg and Beast Boy looked on. It almost looked like the water was glowing, but that could have just been the light from his circuits. "...By the beach," she finally mumbled, sighing and bringing her fingers up to massage her forehead. "I think. 'M sorry, my head is kinda... floaty right now."
"No, thank you," the girl told her kindly, standing up and looking at the two heroes, "that was helpful."
"Do you need help getting home?" Cyborg asked her now that the girl had said her piece, crouching down. "We can—"
"No, no," she said, a hand on the wall as she pulled herself up and absently fixed her shirt, "My friends can pick me up. God, my head is killing me. Pass me my phone, could you?"
Cyborg helped her call her friends and leaned against the wall, promising her he'd wait with her. "Thanks," she sighed, "What a shitty day."
The water girl frowned at the language and opened her mouth, before shutting her mouth and glaring down at the bracelet she was clutching to her chest like a lifeline.
"I'm Beast Boy," the green changeling introduced while they were all waiting on a quiet curb strip, music faint in the background, "and that's Cyborg."
A car came into view, and Cyborg stood, offering a hand out for the woman. She smiled at him, but didn't take the offer, stumbling as she opened the car door. A group of women stared back at them from the backseat, and before the door closed they could hear concerned exclamations and upset yelling.
The car drove off, and silence settled over them like a blanket.
"Robin said an hour," Cyborg finally said, taking out the T-communicator. He stared at it, and then back up at the girl who hadn't left even after she'd gotten the information she had seemed to need. He didn't know how to ask if she was as lost as she looked.
"Do you need a place to stay?" Beast Boy beat him to it.
She blinked in surprise, a hand finding the hollow of her neck like she was used to touching something there. "A place to stay?"
"Yeah," he confirmed easily. Cyborg wanted to object, but it really wasn't safe on the streets at night, and though she could clearly handle herself, she was still young and alone.
She studied them thoughtfully. "I'm looking for my friends."
"We can help you find them," Cyborg reassured her, "tomorrow, when it's daylight."
Her grip on the bracelet tightened. Bright blue eyes stared intently at them. Then, "My name's Katara. Nice to meet you."
Robin looked out over Jump City's docks, his T-comm in one hand and the oni mask in the other.
He had found nothing. Not a single sight or sound. Just the leftover overturned gears, gathering dust inside the abandoned clock factory.
"What are you planning?" he growled, alone but for the whistling wind. A burnt smell lingered in the air and his cape dramatically flowed behind him. A group of bats fluttered over his head.
He got back on his R-Cycle. Hopefully the others back at the Tower had better luck than he did.
"Min—e," a voice promised, unheard. "R-ro—biin."
"And you are sure you are not feeling the gorgbluffens anymore?" Starfire asked, floating next to Raven as they looked for anything H.I.V.E. or crime-related. "On my planet, many-legged bugs like centipedes," she said, trying the word out and not liking the flavor it left in her mouth, "are deadly. Their toxins boil you alive. Then they eat you, peeling off your skin and—"
"Starfire," Raven sighed, pinching her fingers together and making the approximate size of an inch, "Centipedes are usually this big. I'm fine."
"Oh," the alien responded in surprise. "On Tamaran, they can be as big as one of Beast Boy's gorillas."
"It was just," Raven paused and considered her next words carefully, "A wayward bug demon. It didn't do anything to me. We can catch it and put it back where it came from once we find it."
Starfire looked at her with concern.
"I'm fine," Raven repeated. "Stop that."
"Stop what, friend Raven?" she returned innocently, but Raven wasn't buying it. Her redhead friend knew exactly what she was doing.
"Just go back to looking for the H.I.V.E. Five," she grumbled, "Robin thinks that they're behind this anyway."
"But you do not agree?" Starfire questioned lightly, her fist lighting up green as she studied a dark alleyway. A wild cat hissed at her from the top of a dumpster, and she smoothly returned to Raven's side in the air. The wind carded through their hair, blowing around them serenely.
"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "Maybe they are. Does it matter?"
"Yes," Starfire said. "This has been bothering you. For some time," she noted perceptively. "Since before yesterday's battle."
"Mh," Raven said instead of answering, and then her violet eyes widened and she hissed, "Starfire, look. Down there."
Quietly, the teenagers drifted down from the sky. Raven pulled her hood back over her head, dark energy flickering over hands in a halo as Starfire glanced around the corner. A teenager in a blue tunic, similarly designed as the the two blurry strangers' clothes from the pier's video camera, was hunched over a pawn shop's lock pad, a toothpick in his hands as he fiddled with the key hole.
"I don't know about this, Sokka," someone else said, and a bald tattooed child, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, came into view. His was nervously chewing on a fingernail, pacing back and forth and looking around anxiously. "Someone's going to see."
"Hah!" the boy exclaimed quietly in success, and the lock fell to the ground. He glanced back to his partner, "There's no one else here, Aang."
"You sure about that?" Raven intoned flatly, and the two heroes revealed themselves. The door behind the young criminals turned black, and Raven used her dark energy to close it shut.
"Please, turn yourselves in," Starfire requested, and when she raised her fist, neon glowed around them, brightening the street in green light and lengthy shadows.
"Ah!" the blue boy, Sokka, yelped. He reached for something on his back, but then his face twisted and he brought his hand back emptyhanded. He scowled at them.
"We're not criminals," the smaller one hurried to say, raising his hands over his orange-red robes, "We were just... uh..."
"The pawn shop has something of ours," Sokka filled in, and Aang sighed, adding nervously, "Yeah, what he said."
"Technically, they stole it from us first. We're just getting it back, okay? No criminal activities here, no siree."
Starfire and Raven traded incredulous looks. The broken lock floated in front of them, encased in black.
"Okay, maybe a little," the older boy amended sheepishly, and then a sudden breeze smacked into them from the side.
Starfire went careening down the street, her boots sparking on the asphalt.
Her eyes glowing white, Raven grabbed her arm, taking to the air in a black raven, pulling them through the rough winds. When they quickly returned to the pawn shop, they found the young robbers behind the counter, a pile of discarded items throw carelessly onto the flat surface or the floor. It looked like they weren't bothering with the sparkling jewelry or expensive watches.
With a broad grin, the older boy brandished a boomerang made from whale ivory, the blade sharp and shiny. "Yes!" he cheered.
"Are you going to pay for that?" Raven asked dryly, motioning to the 500 dollar price tag. "Mr. Not-A-Criminal."
The small child stood protectively in front of his friend. "I don't want to fight you," he said, looking back at them imploringly.
The teenager behind him made a soft, surprised sound, looking at a lace necklace inside the glass encasing, the single pendant a sea-blue circle. "Katara," he said lowly, relief mixed with concern. He pulled it free, gripping it firmly in one hand.
"Then surrender," she said.
Starfire's eyes turned green, and the blue boy raised the boomerang between them, a steely look in his eyes. Raven raised her hands above her head. This shouldn't take long, she thought mildly.
"I don't normally play this card," he started, and Raven braced herself for another weak excuse to delay their fight, "but I'm the Avatar." He stopped talking, waiting for her to... do something? She wasn't sure what he was expecting.
"Aang," Sokka cautioned, looking nervously between the two heroes.
"Is that your supervillain name?" Starfire asked curiously. "It is not a very good one," she told him honestly.
...The Avatar, Raven repeated thoughtfully in her head. Hadn't she heard that before? She rolled it around her mouth, but the answer evaded her as she blankly considered the two boys.
"Supervillain?" the Avatar echoed, his voice getting louder in outrage, "supervillain?! Me?"
The other boy looked between them, an intelligent spark in his eyes. "Look," he said, trying again, "We're... travelers looking for our friends. They're lost, like us. We don't want any trouble."
Raven considered them. Lost friends. A similar, eastern-styled fashion choice, though it was colored differently. The strange name. Ava—tar. She frowned and asked, "A teenaged boy and girl, dressed in reds and greens?"
"Zuko!"
"Toph!"
"They're okay?" the bald one rushed over his friend's voice, "Are they with you? Did they ask about us?"
"Did you see a girl in blue? Dressed like me?"
Starfire returned Raven's look. Well. Robin had said he wanted more information about the earlier fight on the pier. Looks like they had just found it. "Please, join us," Starfire invited. "We do not have your friends, but there is something you may want to see."
The boys shared a similar look, reading something from each other's expression Raven could not interpret.
"Alright. We'll go with you."
"No funny business," the dark-skinned one said.
"Us? Never," Raven deadpanned.
Ava—tar, she thought. A—vatar. The meaning frustratingly eluded her.
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Author's Note: Enjoy and please Read and Review. I also really would like to thank everyone who reviews; it makes me smile when I read them.
UPDATE: this was re-written 1/5/23. I also think it's hilarious how the Gaang joined this world:
Zuko & Toph = adopted by supervillains
Sokka & Aang = arrested
Katara = finds the heroes of this story and gets help;
Clearly, Katara is the only capable one here lmao.