Bittersweet Victory

Club Teen Titans OC Fight Club Entry

       "Okay, so explain this to me." Speedy said "When they say, ardo- aggro-"

       "Arrodillarse delante de mi cabello hermoso." Aaron supplied with a wince before Speedy could butcher the Spanish any further.

       "So what does that mean?" Aaron repressed the urge to laugh before answering, looking at the other Titan combing his hair in the cockpit across from him.

       "It means, 'Kneel down before my beautiful hair.' Seriously, how much time do you spend combing you're hair?" The cabins erupted in laughter as Speedy tried to quickly hide his comb.

       "When they get back, we are going to have a talk."

       "Settle down, Goldilocks. We're almost at Titans tower." Bumblebee said, beginning to lower their ship into a descent while Speedy grumbled how his hair was red.

       "Do you think they're alright? That signal was really weird." Jade asked as worry crept into her voice. The cabins of the ship became quiet as each of them thought back to the odd looping signal of a computer voice asking for assistance.

       "I agree, it's all really suspicious." Aqualad said, breaking the silence. "It's just the computer's standard S.O.S. so whatever happened must of been fast."

       "Which is why we called for backup." Bumblebee said quickly trying to keep the team calm. "Thanks for coming, by the way." She added, addressing honorary Titans, Jade and Aaron. "With Mas and Menos visiting family, I was worried we'd have to face this two men short."

       "We couldn't let you guys go into a dangerous situation without backup." Jade said as Aaron nodded silently in agreement.

       "I don't like this situation but-" Bumblebee stopped as ship as descended from the clouds. "That's not what I expected." The team silently looked at the Tower which was brightly lit up against the night sky as though nothing had happened.

       "It doesn't make sense." Aaron said, his demeanor became much more serious. He quickly brought up the information about the signal on his monitor. "The signal is being broadcast from the tower, you'd think there be some sign that something happened."

       "We're going to land but I want everyone to be on alert!" Bumblebee said as she brought the craft down in front of the tower. When the craft landed, the exited the ship and grouped around in front of it. Bumblebee drew her weapons as she addressed the group. "Listen up! Stick together and keep your eyes open for anything suspicious." Before the team started heading towards the tower, the doors opened. The team braced themselves but were surprised as Starfire flew out and landed in front of them.

       "Friends, it is good to see you! What brings you to Titans tower?" Starfire said as the other Titans quickly followed.

       "While we were chasing some of our villains, who were trying hide out in Nevada, we got a distress signal from your tower and we couldn't reach you." Bumblebee said, obviously shocked to see their sister team apparently fine.

       "We haven't had any security breaches but we've had some technical issues with our computer system since Cyborg has been away helping Titans North." Robin said as he reached the assembled heroes. "I'm sorry you came out he-"

       "Bull." Aaron said as he summoned some fire, which darted between his fingers. "That alert is a fail safe in the security system, which is not connected to the general computing system. I'm sure you'd know whether it was your security system or computer glitching up, Robin." Robin returned the accusation with a glare that sent shivers down Jade's spine. Taken aback by the suddenly hostile atmosphere, the Titans East raised their guard.

       "Calm down, hotshot." Bumblebee said, shooting a glance at Aaron. "However, he is right. Robin, what is going-" She demanded but stopped when the eyes of the Titans suddenly glowed red. "Brother Blood!" she said. The man himself appeared behind the Titans in flash of light.

       "It's good to see I haven't been forgotten." he said with a sinister glee. "You didn't honestly think a man who could bend others to his will could be locked up forever."

       "Titans attack!" Bumblebee cried out as she and the rest of Titans East opened fire on Brother Blood. Raven blocked their initial attacks as the other Titans moved to protect him but Brother Blood held up his hand.

       "Your assistance won't be necessary, students. I'll handle them." He jumped into the fray as he dodged all their attacks with ease. When his arm shifted into a canon Jade managed to raise a wall of ice which bore the brunt of the attack while the team returned fire. As the area cleared from the raised dust, Brother Blood was no where to be seen.

       "Where he is?" Speedy asked as he drew another arrow for his bow.

       "Right here." Brother Blood said as he appeared behind them. The Titans turned to face him and his eyes became a horrible shade of red as Aqualad, Bumblebee, and Speedy fell to their knees in pain. Jade made a move to go to her team mates when Aaron grabbed her wrist to stop her.

       "We have to help!" Jade said as she pulled out from his grasp.

       "It's already too late." He said as he watched Titans East get up. When they turned towards the two, their eyes matched the crimson hue of Brother Blood's eyes. He appeared pleased with his success as he turned towards the remaining two heroes.

       "Now, I don't know you two. I assume you must be some of the new Titans they recruited." The two didn't answer him causing him to frown. "Such rudeness, but I'm curious to see the talent of those the Titans have been allowing in their ranks. Think of this fight as an entrance exam." When he finished talking, the controlled Titans moved in on the two.

       "What do we do?" Jade asked. Speedy shot arrows towards her which Aaron incinerated before it reached them.

       "Well, they're not worried about hurting us! We're going to have to fight them." he said.

        Jade nodded as she brought up some ice to block Robin's attack with his bo staff while Bumblebee began shooting at Aaron simultaneously.

       "Switch!" Aaron shouted as he fended off Bumblebee's attack. The two traded opponents as Jade froze over Bumblebee's stingers and pulled them from her hands. Bumblebee flew into to attack her directly just as Speedy fired another arrow at Jade. Taking advantage of the situation, Jade used ice to slide herself out of the way allowing Bumblebee to take the hit.

       Meanwhile, Robin was now attacking Aaron with a mix of kicks and swipes from his staff. Waiting for a window of opportunity, Aaron reached out to grab the bo staff as it came down to hit him. Working through the pain the force of the blow sent through his arm, Aaron began heating the metal staff and he smirked as Robin reflexively let go. Without giving Robin a chance to attack again, he used the staff to knock Robin back. Noticing  Speedy notching his bow, he sent a burst of fire at Speedy's bow causing the arrow to detonate, sending him flying backwards.

       Following up that attack, Aqualad sent a wave of water towards Aaron but Jade intercepted it by freezing it before sending it flying into Beast Boy as he tried to chomp at her in his raptor form.  After Aaron blasted Aqualad back, Starfire began firing a volley of starbolts forcing the two a part. Aaron was about to return fire when one of the starbolts hit him square in the chest.

       "Aaron!" Jade screamed. Rushing over to his side, she hit Starfire with a large chunk of ice before she could open fire again. "Are you alright?" she asked.

        "I'll be fine but he's just toying with us. They could take us out easily." Aaron said, gritting his teeth from the the pain of the starbolt attack. Jade blocked a few incoming rocks Raven was sending their way when she spoke.

        "Can you clear a path?" She asked, pulling down her goggles over her eyes. He gave a short nod as he stood up, summoning fire in his palms.

       "Duck." Jade quickly got down as Aaron sent out a huge ring of fire, blasting back most of the Titans. Jade created a disc of ice beneath her feet and flew into the air as soon as the fire passed over her.

       "Get on!" Aaron grabbed her outstretched hand and she pulled him on to the disc. Wasting no time, she flew them over the heads of their still dazed attackers and towards the city.

       "It's time to end this." Brother Blood said, clearly loosing his patience. "Raven, bring them down!"

        Jade and Aaron were just clear of the island when a black aura surrounded the two. They were pulled off the disc and thrown onto the rocks below as Jade heard her communicator break beneath her. The two had little time to recover from their fall when Brother Blood appeared before them and began to speak.

        "A decent effort. You both will make fine additions to my school." When he finished, his eyes glowed red. This time, they both felt as though thousands of little needles were stabbing into her brain repeatedly as the rest of the world faded.

        'Give in and I can make the pain go away." A soothing voice spoke in her head. 'Allow me to help you.'

        Jade wanted to trust the voice but  everything felt wrong and familiar. Unbidden memories flooded her mind. Cadmus scientists testing her limits, putting her through tests so they could use her as a weapon. How they used all sorts of electronic devices to keep her subdued. She wasn't a person to them, merely a tool. As her anger grew at the memories, the pain began to ebb away. She managed to open her eyes and realized what was happening. She quickly got up and her hand glowed as she summoned ice around her.

       "I am not going to be your puppet!" Jade shouted angrily, as she sent large shards of ice flying towards Brother Blood. Before it reached it a blast of fire enveloped the ice. Jade turned to find Aaron standing near her with his eyes glowing red causing her to jump away in shock. As she looked into his now emotionless eyes, she knew that it hurt her more than anything else Brother Blood could have done.

       "Looks like he doesn't share you're immunity." Brother Blood said with a snide tone as some of other Titans arrived by his side.

        "Aaron, it's me." She said, trying to reach him. "You have to fight it! He-" She was interrupted by a blast of fire which singed her clothes as she dodged. Brother Blood laughed as Jade took a few steps back until she felt the tide wash over her shoes.

        "I tire of these games. Take her." He commanded.

        Before the Titans could move forward, Jade took a deep breath and raised a thick fog from the ocean water, covering the beachfront in a dense blanket of mist. Not allowing them any time to recover, she froze the ocean water around her into snow with a swift movement, filling the air with countless snow flurries. Ignoring the shooting pains reminding her why she normally didn't control this much ice at once, Jade sent the snow rushing towards the Titans, creating an artificial blizzard. With her attackers momentarily blinded, Jade summoned a disc of ice beneath her feet and rose in the air but, before she could speed away, a sudden realization hit her.

      'Without a communicator, there is no way I could warn the others before Brother Blood took anymore people.' 

        With this thought, she looked at Titans Tower and came to terms with what she had to do. She speed towards the massive Tower and sent some ice ahead of her to break the window. Jade flew through the open window and continued on her way after pausing briefly to ice over the hole in the window. It wouldn't cover her tracks for long but it could buy her just enough time. She flew through the corridors until she reached the room she was looking for: the Titan's mainframe. Jade rushed over to the computer and put in the command to allow her send a message to all the communicators. Pressed for time, she began speaking immediately as she inputed another code.

      "Titans, this is Jade. Brother Blood has taken Titans Tower! He has control over the members of both Titans West and East, except Cyborg and Mas y Menos." A lump rose in her throat but she forced herself to continue. "He also has Aaron and I don't have much time left. I'm disabling the trackers on the communicators so stay safe." She finished inputing the command into the computer and saw that the communicator locations disappear from the map on the screen. As the last coordinates vanished, she heard the sound of the door being blasted open. She turned to faced the intruder but was met by a blast which sent her flying into the computer.

      "I must confess, I am impressed. Once I break through your mental barriers, I can put your powers to better use." Jade weakly lifted her head as she saw Brother Blood walking towards her. He grabbed her by her neck and lifted her up from the wreckage of the computer. "Not to mention, I now know what to expect from the others the Titans recruited." Jade was scared as the metal hand tightened its grip but she tried to muster enough defiance to stare him in the eyes.

      "The other Titans are better and have been heroes long than me. Besides, you've just lost the element of surprise." Brother Blood's face contorted in anger as he realized what she had done and he tossed her into a wall.

      "Lock her up!" Brother Blood commanded in disgust. As shadowy figures came towards her, Jade lost consciousness as exhaustion and the pain of her injuries took its toll.