literature

Switching Sides Drabble

Deviation Actions

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A figure in a dark trench-coat, slunk through the Steel City History Museum carefully avoiding the various security measures until he reached a large circular wing of the building. He took out a small circular disc and threw it towards the center of the room. When it landed, he looked away as a bright flash of light filled the room. When it passed, he walked out and retrieved the disc. Looking at how the lasers surrounding his target were no longer there, he was proud to note that the EMP disc had done it's job.

He was about to reach out his hand to grab the artifact when a thick layer of ice encased the the display case. The thwarted thief felt the temperature of the air around him drop and moved to face his attacker. He made it about two steps before he found himself surrounded by large icicles which formed a makeshift cage. He looked to see who had captured him and saw a petite girl in green with white hair standing in the doorway: Jade, an honorary Teen Titan.

Jade grabbed her communicator and spoke into it. "The curator was right; someone did try to steal the artifact." A voice filtered through its speaker in reply.

"Alright, the police are in route. Keep an eye on him until they get there."

"No problem." Jade assured as she ended the connection and pocketed her communicator. When she did, the fact that she was going to have to awkwardly stand here, alone, with the criminal for awhile hit her at full force. She looked at him and was surprised to see he was maybe a year older than her. He seemed unconcerned by the situation and leaned his back against the bars of his prison as their eyes met. 'I guess we just glare at each other until the police come.' she mused but the criminal piped up.

"Aren't you a little too cute to be a super hero." Jade resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 'Great, he's that type of thief.'

"Isn't breaking into a museum to steal a cursed artifact a little too cliched for a thief." She retorted. He laughed, surprising her by how genuine it sounded.

"I know, but I just went after what the client wanted. He totally lacks imagination but the pay is good." He said as though they had been friends for years. "If I could, I would go after something more challenging."

"I'm sure the police would love to hear about it."

"I'm not interested in talking to them. You, however-"

"Not interested." She shot back. 'Why did I get the odd one. Why can't he just be angry at me and say he'll get his revenge.' she thought. "Police should be here in a few minutes and I doubt you can flirt with them." Before she could stop herself, she added. "Besides, I bet you flirt with every female super hero that captures you."

"Actually," he said, looking at her appraisingly. "You're the first hero to ever stop me before."

"Lucky me." Jade said sarcastically.

"I suppose not." The thief said, surprising her. He sighed dramatically before speaking again, "Well, Jade, it's been fun but I can't let my client down."

"You're not going anywh- wait, how do you know my name?" Jade asked, raising her guard knowing he was probably much more dangerous than he had let on. In response, the thief shook his head in disbelief.

"Jade, I wouldn't be a good thief if I didn't do my research on all the Titans who work in the area." The thief said, as his tone became much more serious. "For example, I know all about your history with Project Cadmus and find it interesting that you've become a hero. Especially, after what happened to everyone else that was rescued from that facility. It's really a shame that you were the only one to surv-"

"Enough! I don't want to hear another word out of you!" Anger flashed in Jade's eyes as she raised a glowing hand threateningly.

"Then I guess we're done here." He said darkly. With out warning, the ice surrounding him dissipated into a thick cloud of steam. Jade quickly countered by refreezing it and sending back towards him. This time he made no motion to move away as the ice came flying towards him. In the blink of an eye, his hands glowed red as he raised a wall of fire that melted the on coming ice. The thief smiled wildly as Jade's face briefly betrayed shock.

"You're not the only one with powers here!" He yelled triumphantly. Jade stood her ground and answered calmly.

"It's going to take more than fire to scare me off."

"Too bad, burning you would be such a waste." Jade didn't dignify the comment with a response, but sent shards of ice in his direction. He melted it easily, but, when he looked over to where she was standing, she was gone. Before he could look for her further, he felt a strong blow come from behind sending him into a column. He quickly got up and ran towards her, as she attacked with an icy blast, he expertly dodged and sent a well aimed fire attack at her feet causing her to lose balance.

Taking the opportunity to attack the fallen hero, the thief sent another fire blast aimed for her chest. Jade deflected the blast with an ice shield but she knew it would not last long. While his attention focused on getting through her shield, she raised a column of ice behind him with her other hand and sent it crashing into him. The force caused him to ram into the nearby wall and lie on the ground in pain.

"I know it must hurt but I made sure there wasn't enough force to cause any permanent injuries." Jade said as she walked up to him, her hands glowing and ready to attack in case he attempted anything.

"How nice of you." He said, still trying to recover. "I guess I should do something to return the kindness."

'How about cooperating and not talking.' She thought, knowing this was a way to distract her.

"Oh, I know! The official story is that the Project Cadmus facility you were rescued from was rogue and doing research not sanctioned by the government."

"I know the facts about my own rescue." Jade said, losing patience with his antics. She was taken aback when he laughed at her.

"But that's just it, that's not facts at all. The real story is that Project Cadmus knew the super heroes were getting too close to their main lab which made the one you came from look as fun as Disney World. They decided to make a scapegoat out of a smaller facility and sabotaged the experiments there so they would die shortly after release. Suspicion would be off them and the experiments weren't going to survive to become a liability. You were supposed to be moved but the heroes arrived early which is why you're here and not a weapon right now."

"That can't be true. The Justice League and the F.B.I. did a thorough investigation and didn't come up with any of this. Besides, Project Cadmus hasn't done anything to me after my release." However, notes of uncertainty snuck into her voice and she felt as though her heart had dropped. This wasn't helped as the thief laughed as though he heard a good joke. He stopped quickly, wincing as he placed his hand on his chest, still in some pain from before.

"Whatever, helps you sleep at night. Personally, I could care less what lies Justice League or F.B.I fills their files with. More importantly, Cadmus has the best stuff to steal. Which reminds me-" His hand flew from his chest into his trench coat and grabbed a pistol. He fired a shot but Jade was too slow to block it and felt a needle pierce her leg.

Jade instinctively pulled it out but realized it was too late as she felt as though her blood was boiling. Her body went into shock and she fell onto the floor. The dart had rolled into her blurred field of vision. Looking at the dart confirmed her fears as she saw the shape of the Project Cadmus logo emblazoned on the front.

"As I said, Cadmus has wonderful technology to steal, including these darts. For a facility that has no further interest in you, it's strange that they would produce something designed to kill you." Without giving her a second glance, he unceremoniously stepped over her. As she fought to remain conscious, she could hear sizzling coming from the ice that had protected the artifact as it was being melted away.

She thought to herself angrily, 'How could I let him distract me? After everything, this is how it will end.' She saw him step over her once again only to knelt down beside her. He brushed the hair from her face with surprising gentleness for someone who just shot her. When her breathing became ragged, his hand went back into his coat as he pulled out a syringe. As he moved to grab her arm, Jade attempted to to pull her arm away but it only lifted weakly before falling back to floor. The thief chuckled as he grabbed her arm firmly and shot the contents into her arm. Jade braced herself the pain but instead felt a cooling sensation slowly spread from the injection site. 'Is this-'

"It's the antidote." he answered matter-of-factly, as though reading her thoughts. "Mixed with a bit of tranquilizers, of course. I can't have you follow me."

"Why?" Jade asked, hating how feeble she sounded.

"Killing heroes is bad for business. Who wants to hire a thief that heroes have a vendetta against. Besides, I wasn't lying before."

"I get it, you're a good thief." Jade hissed but he gave her a sly smile in return.

"Of course, but I was referring to the fact that I really do think you're cute. Not to mention this has been the most fun I've had stealing in awhile so I hope that we can do this again sometime." He said conversationally while pocketing the artifact. He stood up and turned as though to leave before abruptly turning to face her. "When you realize that heroics is a dead end, look me up. I go by Fenix, and I happen to know much more about Project Cadmus than I told you tonight. You'd be surprised how how much information is accessible when you are working outside the law."

-

The police had arrived shortly after and found Jade barely clinging to consciousness and she blacked out shortly afterwards. She was taken back to the Titan's East tower where it was determined that nothing she was exposed to would lead to any permanent damage. She was able to be back on her feet that night and Bumblebee later found Jade sitting on the roof of Titans East's Tower, pensively looking towards the city. After Jade didn't greet her, Bumblebee asked. "Are you holding up alright?"

"Yeah, I think I'm still a little off from the stuff he used against me. I should be better in a few hours." She said as she got up. "Is there any leads on this guy?"

"None, it would appear you might be the first person to stop him, like you told us he said or else we'd probably have police records to work off of."

"We can't underestimate him next time. He said he done research on all of us and might of had something to stop any one of us." Jade said.

"On top of that, the fact he had something that was specifically manufactured to be used against you means he broke into Project Cadmus facilities without getting caught."

"That definitely something to worry about." Jade said, her voice sounding uneasy. Bumblebee looked at Jade as she considered something.

"Did he say anything that we can use to identify him? Perhaps an alias or some sort of lead." Bumblebee asked and Jade looked away.

"No."
This was going to be an entry for the Switching Sides contest at :iconclubteentitansoc: but it just didn't work at the time. First because Jade came off as way too snarky and OOC. Second, I felt it was a bad introduction to Aaron as character since I hadn't really introduced him when the contest was around. I fixed what was really wrong with it and decided to post it since Evil!Aaron (a.k.a Fenix in this) was absolutely fun to write.

While Jade was difficult to make evil, because she always wanted to become a hero, Aaron was much easier. He used to be a thief until a heist went wrong and he was left for dead when a police officer saved him. In this AU, the police never saved him but he managed to survive and took revenge against his former employer. He remained a thief, working for whoever can pay the most, but also gathers an impressive amount of information to use either for his heists or against his enemies.
-
Random Notes
-The stuff he says about Cadmus is true in regular continuity as well.
-Aaron flirting with her is a nod to the fact they are a couple in regular continuity. I also believe that this version of Aaron would be fascinated by someone who chose to go into super heroics after what happened to her. Will he reform or pull Jade into a life of crime? :iconsneakylionplz: I almost want to write more of this AU.
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