Chapter 19

I wasn’t exactly the fastest Titan. That title of course went to Kid Flash. Unless Galatea regains her original powers, then that gets called into question, but I digress. And while speed was nice to have, flight would have been much better in this situation as Starfire was being pulled around in the air from a mechanical looking squid.

And considering my name wasn’t Raven, Galatea, Beast Boy, or Blackfire, that meant I wasn’t exactly in a position to help. Thankfully Starfire was struggling pretty well against the squid. Pulling it in several directions in an attempt to get free. Even getting it to occasionally turn left or right for a few seconds before it attempted to correct its course.

Thankfully there were others better equipped to handle the situation.

“Hey Law. How’s the-“ Cyborg almost immediately answered, only for me to cut him off. Time was of the essence, and being polite wasn’t exactly high on my priorities at the moment.

“Starfire is being captured by some sort of flying squid monster. I need all the Titans here. Now.”

“On it.”

Cyborg immediately hung up. It was good to know that he could quickly understand and react to the situation. Maybe it’s the machine part of him, or maybe that was just his personality. Either way, I’d probably owe him one after this.

As a most people were still distracted by the fireworks instead of the two aliens fighting nearby, it was a bit hard to maneuver around. Adults and kids just sat around slack jawed at the events happening before them as I started to crest down the hill back towards the festival.

I noticed a pair of teens with helmets on that seemed really interested in-

Wait. I can use that.

Almost immediately I tore the skateboard out of the hands of the one on the left. Skating wasn’t something I was exactly proficient at, but I did have some experience with it. Though none of that had been going down a hill.

“Hey, my board!”

“I promise to pay you back! Double!”

I called back to him. Hoping that would end any possible conflict in the near future. Of course, the truth was that I had no intention of paying him back anything, hell I probably wouldn’t even care to return the board. There was no time to pay attention to the little things, only what mattered at this moment.

Which just so happened to be the hill that I was speeding down at a very rapid rate.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Like a complete dumbass, not only do I not stop, but I instead push off the ground to go even faster. Sometimes even I find myself amazed at how stupid I could really be at times.

“Get…off!”

Though the speed did make me a lot closer to Starfire than before. So close in fact that I could now at least hear them again. Well, at least I could hear Starfire. The squid itself didn’t say much of anything.

As the flat pavement of the harbor came into view, I decided to jump at the last second. As I was about 90% sure if I hadn’t my body would have smashed into the cold hard pavement and died. In a move that surprised even me, not only did I not turn into a bloody pancake, but I also landed back onto the board.

Though my excitement was quickly killed by something snapping on the board itself. It didn’t cause me to crash, but it was starting to become very jittery. Which meant it was time to hop off and use my two legs again.

Which…still had no chance to help in a fight that was in the ai-

Starfire then plummeted into the pavement below. Crushing the squid machine underneath her. Even still, it seemed determined to cling onto the struggling and angry Starfire for all it’s worth.

At least, until my hand came on top of it.

See I’m not exactly good with machines. I’m not a tech geek, or a car nerd. There was very little about technology that I could explain besides maybe wifi and a phone. And while it was most assuredly true that the best match ups for me are opponents with an actual biology, metal was an element I was…somewhat familiar with.

Metal was strong. Unbending, and hard to break. Lots of tough things are really. However, there are some metals with certain weaknesses. It wasn’t something that every metallic object had. For instance, the metal that made up the prison I had stayed in had a type of metal that wasn’t weak to this. Most places that have pretty decent materials to work were rather immune to this weakness.

But those that weren’t?

Well…they folded like paper.

Liquid Nitrogen. A substance kept at near sub-zero temperatures that could flash freeze anything that came into contact with it. What most people knew is that metal has a melting point. What most people don’t realize is that metal has a freezing point to. And getting a metal substance close to that point will usually make it incredibly brittle.

Of course, it was utterly laughable to insinuate that I could produce Liquid Nitrogen from my body. It would instantly freeze the blood in my veins and I’d just die.

Fortunately, Liquid Nitrogen wasn’t the only cold liquid in existence. There were others that were much less potent, they were actually usable. In small concentrations at least.

Which meant after I touched the top head of the squid and it’s strange synthetic like Tendrils started to loosen up, Starfire slammed her fist into it’s head. An act that she’s done before, but this time the contents inside scattered across the floor of the harbor with an impressive speed.

I sighed as I helped pick up a surprised Starfire. Who flinched lightly when she noticed how cold my hand was.

“Thank you, friend Law. You were most helpful.”

I shrugged in response.

“Eh. It was nothing. So…what’s the deal with the squid?”

Starfire gave a confused look before looking back down at the ruined carcass of the mechanical squid.

“I…do not know.”

“Well…it doesn’t matter now. We’ll just have to play it by ear if-“

I cut myself off as movement caught my eye. And unfortunately, my eyes had not deceived me. For fucks sake…why was there now three of them?

Starfire saw them and started to fire her starbolts at them. To which they rather impressively dodged before divebombing towards her. They completely ignored me as I touched the one that was closest to me. Causing it to immediately start having uncontrollable spasms.

Unfortunately, the other two had quickly grasped onto Starfire and locked her in place. One binding her lower body, and the other binding her upper body before quickly flying away.

I bit my lip as I considered my options.

…Fuck, what options? They were quick as shit and could fly. Damn it, what do I-

A black energy formed around one of the squids, before it was quickly forced to bend and break under the weight of the force. Looking up and to my left, I noticed a familiar blue cloaked witch.

With only one other squid on Starfire, and with Raven as support, it didn’t take long to take care of that. As the three squid were quickly turned into scrap metal, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Kid Flash were on the scene.

And just as Starfire and I were explaining the situation, which was pretty simple in of itself, another squid popped up.

And another.

And another.

And another.

It didn’t seem like they planned on stopping either.

It would seem that we would have our work cut out for us.

Minutes passed as numerous squids fell to the floor. More and more Titans also appeared to join in the fray, with Robin and Blackfire being the late to the party.

The only two Titans to not join in were Galatea and Aqualad. And while Galatea would be exceedingly nice to have about now, it wasn’t exactly possible for me to go and try to find her. All hands were needed in order to just stop all these squids from taking Starfire, who seemed to be their one and only goal.

Cyborg blasted them in the air with his sonic canon. Robin threw a variety of explosive batarangs. Kid Flash would pick up dead squids, run around, and then chuck them at squids that were still alive. His aim sucked, but when it hit, they fucking stayed down. Beast Boy turned into a Pterodactyl and mauled them in the air whenever they got too close to Starfire. Raven started to smash them with anything not nailed down. Starfire was forced to play on defensive for once, as anytime she went on the offense, they’d quickly swarm her and grab her. Blackfire stayed back at range, and simply peppered them with starbolts.

Starbolts that were pretty damn underwhelming. I was starting to see why she preferred to fight up close if that’s what she was capable of at range.

A half hour passed, and none of us let up. Leaving the vast majority of us to start getting covered in sweat as we kept fighting. Thankfully the machines were the first to break. Showing that their numbers weren’t infinite. Only seeming like it.

There was only two left. One that was currently fighting Starfire up close and personal, and another that was being bombarded by ranged attacks from the other Titans. Unfortunately, due to how tired we all were, our aim wasn’t exactly stellar.

And then something curious happened.

Upon being hit with a starbolt, it paused in the air. Staring towards Blackfire’s position before quickly flying towards her. Blackfire didn’t even hesitate in tearing it apart in mere seconds, as unlike Starfire she didn’t seem very winded at all…

…

Ah…I see…Yes, it would seem my time with the Titans had made me soft. They made me stop questioning every little thing, and to simply accept nice things as nice things. But my paranoia was still there. In the back of my mind, taking note of everything slowly, but surely.

The Titans started to sigh in relief. Not even caring enough to do anything but rest. All except me, and Blackfire.

I smiled at her as I approached.

“Hey, good work there Blackfire. At the end, I mean.”

She smirked at the first part, before frowning at the last part.

“Well, I-“

“…Come on Law…We’re all tired…”

Black fire attempted to defend herself, only for Kid Flash to do it for her. Even then I ignored it.

“Oh, of course. Sorry. By the way, why did you and Robin get here so late?”

This time her eyes narrowed dangerously for a split second before simply adopting a much of innocent look. Yes, I knew for a fact now that I was on the right track.

“Well, Robin and I had gotten a bit busy-“

“Oh, that’s interesting. Especially because out of all the Titans, you two were the closest. But I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised…”

I looked away for a second, which left her to drop her guard slightly. Likely thinking I was dropping the subject before I looked back up.

“Because you wanted your sister to be taken by them, didn’t you?”