Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen in the Orange Sunset ❯ The First Meeting ( Chapter 2 )

“TITANS, GO!”

 

There was the sound of wailing sirens, fired shots, and concrete being torn. The Teen Titans were on hand to help now; charging the scene a washed with deja vu. There was really only the one bank in the city, for all intents and purposes, and it seemed that it was every other day it was broken into. The only reason the place was always in working order was due to the hardworking people of the City Works. They tired endlessly to making sure that all the damage, due to super fights, was repaired as soon as humanly possible.

 

Robin was leading the charge as always, swinging on a thin yellow rope into the bank, letting go of it when it became too taut. Landing, after a mid-air somersault, in a crouch on the floor, body at the ready like a lethal weapon; he awaited the arrival of his team.

 

Next in was Starfire, whose fast reflexes were caused by her concern for all of her friends. But most importantly for Robin, who she always looked up to, for reasons she would never share with anyone. Even to her inner self, keeping them locked away beneath a bubbly, almost air-headed and eternally perky exterior.

 

Then came Cyborg, who was always enthusiastic in a fight, but slowed down by his greater concern for his precious T-Car, a concern that bordered on an obsession. But it was a healthy one at any rate. His right arm was already transformed into its sonic cannon configuration, and his face was set into a small smirk and a mild glare for the enemy.

 

Then, Raven. She melted through the walls effortlessly, her eyes glowing a dark blue-black, her arms at her sides, and a slight curve in her spine, a forward hunch that was common during forwards flight. Sparks danced along her fingertips as she chewed on her lower lip, looking around and feeling a little out of sorts today, finally starting to feel something for once in her entire life without fear.

 

And finally, Beast Boy, who bounded into the bank in the form of a green cheetah, skidding across the hard floor and spinning around twice before smacking into a column, and shaking his head vigorously as he changed back to normal and stood with the others, a fiercely determined look on his face.

 

Standing before them were the five children that formed the almost-comically named HIVE Five. Gizmo, the infantile-appearing genius to rival all others; Mammoth, the oversized, over-muscled behemoth, capable of incredible feats of strength and power, as well as incredible endurance; Jinx, the grey skinned, pink-haired, and cat-eyed hex wielding witch, who was also an expert acrobat, though not to the same degree as Robin; Seemore, a teenager with the ability of a hundred different eyes, each with their own unique power and color; and Private Hive, the military-sounding and acting battler with a HIVE insignia shield on one arm. The first three were bad enough, but the new additions made this a lot more complicated than it had to be.

 

Robin chewed on his lower lip for a moment, his masked eyes narrowing as he reached into a specific pouch, and pulled out his amazingly-retractable Bo-staff, which served as his standard non-lethal weapon of choice. He spun it over his head, and then held it behind his back with one arm, the other one pointing straight forward. The air was filled with energy, tension, and building up aggression, the ten children starting their counterparts down, waiting to see which side would give first, give to the call of battle…

 

It was Robin who broke the silence, with a scream of “Now!” Then the battle was joined, each Titan squaring off with one of the Five, the bank filling with the dust of battle as stone and metal was broken, twisted, and in general destroyed.

 

Robin's Bo-staff, for instance, smacked into Gizmo's tech-pack's spider legs repeatedly, before he jumped up, and swung low, tripping the small child up and sending him sprawling to the ground in a heap. “Ahh! Crud-sniffer!”

 

Such was the pace of the battle, with both sides nearly evenly matched: Beast Boy was running around Mammoth, adopting various forms and making the strongman dizzy; Raven and Jinx were trading blows and spells, each trying to win out over the other one; Starfire flinging Star bolts at Private Hive, and Cyborg blasting Seemore.

 

Robin pulled out one of his Birdarangs, and wound up his arm, throwing it and catching the yellow-and-blue wearing teen across the back of his helmeted head, knocking him down face-first into the floor. He was about to get up, but one of his teammates fell onto him, and fully k.o.'ed him. Gizmo got back up, and growled at the Mammoth, who was shaking his head to clear it out.

 

“Hey, Mammaries!” he glared with all the meanness he could. “Cover me!” His `friend' made an angry face at him, but lunged forward anyways, catching Starfire by the leg and using her like a baseball bat to his Raven into Robin. Then he spun and tossed her at Cyborg, adding to the Titan floor pile. “Good work, y'big goon.”

 

 

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Down the street to all this was a bus, which was stopped by a police roadblock. On that bus was one of the classes of the Dakota high school…the same class that had not one, but two resident superheroes. However, in this circumstance, neither one of them could make a move to do anything at the moment.

 

“Man, this is some seriously bad stuff, and where are we? Stuck on a bus…” Virgil Hawkins griped to his friend Richie, who just shrugged, wearing the same anxious look as the other boy. From where Virgil was sitting, there was easy access to an emergency exit window, but it was all in the opportunity…

 

Then came the sound of something banging on the roof of the bus, then footsteps. The teachers were distracted, so Virgil yanked on the window lever, and shimmed out of the bus, dragging his backpack with him. He then high-tailed it into an alley - big surprise there, he thought to himself with a small smile, as that was how his career as Static had started…running into alleys - and started to change into his costume. He took out his collapsible and foldable Static Saucer and charged it up, causing it to unfold and become his primary source of transport. He floated up into the air, and looked around. He saw a large black shape moving quickly through the alley, and he gave chase, zooming low over the ground.

 

He turned the corner…and was clothes-lined by an arm as thick as a tree trunk, and just as sturdy. “WOOOLPH!” escaped his lips as he was knocked from his disk and sent spinning through the air, landing in a pile of garbage with very sore ribs. He looked up, and his eyes widened. “Uh oh…”

 

 

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Jinx had caused part of the roof to cave in and attempted to crush the Titans with it as the HIVE Five tried to escape through the main doors. They got almost all the way before Beast Boy, in the form of an elephant, rammed into them and sent them flying forwards onto the street.

 

“OW…brilliant plan, Gizmo…” Jinx griped angrily, looking up from underneath Mammoth's chest, her face red. The pint-sized villain just shot her a dirty look and a glare before climbing out from the pile of HIVE students. The Titans ran outside, smug in the victory, when suddenly an overcoat-wearing form went flying out of the alley next to the back. A glowing disk was chasing after the figure, and caught it, pulling it upright. The Titans and HIVE kids all blinked, as Static stood there, holding his stomach. “That's something you don't see everyday.”

 

“Static…?” Robin did a double-take, before one of the large dumpsters came flying out of the alley mouth, and towards the young hero. He spun to the side, but the flying object was about to smear a group of policemen. He held his gloved hands up, and sent out strands of energy, catching the dumpster in a web of electromagnetic energy, and pulled it back, sweating under his mask.

 

“I see you are not all talk, Senior Static,” a thickly Brazilian-accented voice came from the alley, as a massive figure wearing tight black leather pants, black heavy boots, a black muscle shirt, black gloves, and a black leather mask that looked like some kind of bondage accessory, as well as a shining large armband with a tube that connected to the back of the mask, all of this over a massively muscled frame that featured tanned skin stretched impossibly over the muscle. “That is very good for you, however it does not mean that you stand a chance against the greatness that is Bane…”

 

“You know, you talk to much, man…” Static muttered, throwing the dumpster at him, straining for leverage before letting it fly at Bane. One massive fist swung out, and tore a great hole in the metal, splitting the container in two, the pieces hitting the bank and the building next to it. “That can't be good.”

 

Robin bit his lower lip, as the HIVE Five rose. They were fully preoccupied with the new arrivals as they fought, Bane dodging energy bursts and various metallic items, until Static levitated a police car, and slammed it into the villain, knocking him back through the wall of the bank, the front crumpling like cheap foil when it hit, pieces of engine and so forth flying about. “Titans, don't forget the HIVE!” he finally decided, throwing a flash ball at the five other teens, the bright flash of light it created temporarily blinding them and allowing the Titans to renew their attack.

 

Meanwhile, Static was trying to subdue Bane, who had retreated into the bank, and grabbed the vault door. Grunting, his already bulging muscles strained as he hit the switch that fed the Venom directly into his system, his other hand digging a series of deep gouges into the metal as he lifted it up and pulled, tearing the vault door off with a great effort. Then he held it with both hands and started spinning in place, lifting the heavy metal disk up from the ground, then releasing it in a forward arc, that tore through the bank wall again and went towards…

 

“The school bus!” Static almost cursed as he zipped forward, slapping his glowing hands into the air and catching the vault door, but straining to keep it from going any farther back, sweat running down his face and back, before he finally stopped it, and levitated it away, setting it down on the ground and breathing in relief. Then his eyes widened and he rushed back to the bank, only to find Bane had escaped, and probably with some gold or cash at that.

 

The Titans were pushing the HIVE students back, but then Jinx used her hexes to make a gas main explode and provide enough of an endangering distraction to let them slip away.

 

Raven used her magic to smother the flames and separate the main from the other gas lines to prevent any further explosions. Robin wore a fierce scowl, which didn't lighten as Static set down, and folded his saucer back up, slipping it into his coat pocket.

 

“Uh, hey man…sorry about that…” the other teen replied, wearing a slightly bemused smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess I'm just not having much luck this week…oh, Batman says hi.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Well…no.”

 

Robin chuckled softly, shaking his head a little. “So, what brings you here?”

 

“Well, I think it involves one of your baddies…” Static continued to rub at his neck, chewing on his lower lip for a few moments.

 

“Which one?” Robin raised a brow, curious now mostly because of the body language of the other hero.

 

“I think it's…Slade?” Static could tell the name touched a nerve at the way everyone present just froze, and all started looking at him. He felt his cheeks and ears burning, and the urge to just run away rose quickly. “Was it something I said?” he asked Robin, the only person there he was comfortable with.

 

“Yeah, it was.” The reply was terse, Robin's posture a little slouched, almost defeated. The African-American teen just shrugged, and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“Sorry man, but that's what Bats told me, and since you two have that working relationship, I figured it'd be okay to bring up.”

 

“It's not that, Static…Slade's…not like anything you've faced before…”

 

“You mean he's worse than the Joker?”

 

“…That's a tricky one to answer there.”

 

The other four Titans just watched the conversation with interest, having never met or even heard of Static from Robin or the television, since the hero had entered into semi-retirement lately. Finally Raven raised a hand, blinking a little.

 

“Uhm, this may be out of line, even with everything that's happened lately taken into account, but maybe we should continue this at the tower?” she asked, those violet eyes taking everything into them, and casting a light reflection of the faces of the others/

 

“I'm down with that,” Cyborg nodded, taking out a security beeper and hitting the button, the T-Car honking as it drove up. Static whistled in appreciation, and looked to Robin.

 

“Nice wheels, dude,” he chuckled, giving the Titans two thumbs up. Robin rolled his eyes, though this wasn't all that obvious, and gave the other youth a little poke.

 

“Just get in, wise-guy.”

 

 

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“So there were after the Big Bang gas, huh?” Robin was sitting at the kitchen table in the main room, the other Titans and Static in varying seats around it. “And you're sure it was the right design and type?”

 

“Well, Batman said they were Slade's, and since he's, well…Batman, I trust his conclusions,” Static was leaning forwards on his forearms, looking seriously at the other teenagers at the table. “They seemed really intent on getting the stuff too.”

 

Beast Boy, as always, was clueless, while the others were keeping up, barely.

 

“And what about Gear?”

 

“Oh, he's in town…he was just…preoccupied at the time. I'll just get on the Shock Box and give him a call, and give him directions. He'll be here in no time.”

 

“We are…getting more company?” Starfire asked Raven, who nodded subtly.

 

“Cool…uh, now can we stop the talking and maybe start the eating?” Beast Boy asked, smiling slightly. The others are cracked smiles and nodded.

 

“Cool! Tofu pizza, coming up! What drinks do you want?”

 

Static made a face. “I'll have a cherry soda.” This earned him a bunch of funny looks. “What? …I like cherry soda, big deal.”

 

“I think we have some of that stuff…” Beast Boy shrugged, as he got to work. Cyborg hopped up, and started hollering.

 

“OH NO! WE'RE HAVING REAL MEAT ON THAT PIZZA!”

 

“TOFU!”

”PIZZA!”

 

Static blinked, and gave Robin a funny look. “Uh, they do this often?”

 

“Only every day…” The Boy Wonder sighed in dismay.

 

“Oh my.”