The weekend was here once again, and the Teen Titans were hard at work. The months that they had spend together training were paying off wonderfully already, even this soon. They spent the free time that they had honing all of their skills, the things that they were already good at as well as what they’d never done before. Dinah’s training and leadership had left their mark, a wonderful foundation for the team to build on. And these days, they had a new mentor.
Red Hood paced between the Titans, his mask fast around his face to conceal it, yet still showing his expression through, and the pride he felt in the team already. He had seen them when the Titans were green and new, and he could see how far they had come, and how far they could yet go.
The team was training individually today, under Hood’s guidance and instruction. Raven had retreated to her meditation, but only after training her strength enough to sprain her wrist, and she was busy willing the pain away. Mas sat beside her, struggling to find the same calm focus that Raven reached so easily. Cyborg had been tasked to work on his speed; Menos was working on his strength. Spoiler hadn’t been able to make it this weekend—she was too busy at home in Gotham City—and Beast Boy was away for his own reasons, but both had already had several sessions under Hood as well since he had come into their confidence.
“Easy now,” Hood stopped his rounds when he saw Menos pumping his weights at super-speed. “You just started on that size, don’t hurt yourself. Get used to the weight first. Patience is a virtue,” he added with a soft laugh.
“Yeah, well harder to get used to patience,” Juan muttered, but made himself slow down. “What’s the point of being this fast if I still have to take it slow?”
“What’s the point of running fast if all your arms are up for is running away?” Hood tossed back. “Good work, by the way. I’ll have to get more of your training plans set, I didn’t expect you to reach this level so fast.” His words raised a smile on Menos’ face, and Hood went back to his rounds.
Today was the latest of several weeks that Red Hood had been teaching the team. The trust that was developing between them was mutual; although all secret identities had stayed secret so far, the Titans who had been more guarded around him before were beginning to open up. All of them were accepting his criticisms and guidance as they felt themselves growing stronger. Hood had been the one to insist that they begin cross-training each other in the skills they were weaker in. Dinah had meant to start them, but simply wasn’t around when the time came to try it out. In the end, it had turned out to be a good time to change trainers, and the Titans were thriving.
As the training wound to an end ant the Titans gathered back together at the front door, Hood caught a movement in the corner of his eye, and turned to see a bright green falcon sticking out against the blue sky. Beast Boy made his landing quickly ,without the drawn-out circles he usually made to kill boredom. There was a look of seriousness on his face when he transformed that made all of his friends stop and look—if Garfield was this somber after a trip, something had to be wrong.
He finally let himself smile, a grimly triumphant sort of expression. “I found her.”
*****
“So it’s all been going really well, but we miss you,” Steph Brown tossed over her shoulder, looking backward and barely managing not to knock over the vase of flowers that she was watering. She picked up the watering can that she’d dropped in trying to save the vase, and turned back to see Dinah covering her laughter. “Look, see, I’m getting more graceful already,” Steph joked.
“I see that.” Dinah hefted herself onto her crutches just to move around her flower shop. The cast was thick around her injury, and she was under strict orders to rest as much as possible, and let the bone heal all the way this time. “I’m glad to hear the training’s working, though. No trouble yet? I haven’t seen anything on the news.”
“Nah, it’s been quiet,” Steph answered, and reached for a paper towel to wipe a bit of spilled water off of her nametag. She’d worked in the shop with Dinah for a long time now, and there was always something of a relief when she got to come home and have a job, like a normal person. The money was nice, too. “Oh, here, hang on,” she darted behind the counter to find her bag, and pulled out a small envelope. “Gar and I made everyone sign,” she grinned, and handed the get-well card to Dinah.
Dinah chuckled, opening the envelope and quickly reading the cheesy poem. “It’s great, Steph. I’m hoping I can get out to visit at least a bit soon. Just as soon as this damn thing stops twinging,” she patted her cast.
“Everyone’d love to see you,” Steph grinned. “But you don’t have to worry. Red Hood’s been great, he really knows what he’s doing. Not that you didn’t,” she added quickly.
With another smile, Dinah put the card away and returned to her work. “I’m glad to hear that. Is he still mysterious and everything?”
Steph shrugged. “Haven’t learned anything, no. He doesn’t talk about himself a lot. But I’m listening. We all are.”
“Good. I still can’t find anything. It just makes me nervous, a little,” Dinah admitted.
“Don’t worry,” Steph assured her, smiling brightly. “We’re the Teen Titans! We’ll do great, whatever happens. We can handle ourselves even better, now.”
“I really am glad,” Dinah said again. “I hope you’re always right about that.”
*****
“I was looking all week, and I finally found her,” Garfield told the Teen Titans, pacing along the front of the room. “One of my old enemies…well, Doom Patrol’s enemies, but mine too. But I tracked one of them down. Madam Rouge.” He looked around, disappointed to see that the name wasn’t ringing bells with his teammates.
“That’s where you’ve been all this time, looking?” Vic asked.
Gar nodded. “I’ve been getting some help with it, but we finally got a lead that turned out right. She’s been hiding in France for at least a few months now.”
“And she hid that well for so long?” Raven had her legs tucked under her on the couch, focused to think better.
“Man, I seriously can’t believe none of you guys know,” Gar’s shoulders slumped. “I kinda thought Doom Patrol had better publicity than this.”
Carla tapped her fingers on her knee. “Not the point, Verdo,” She used the nickname that she and Juan had developed, a term of affection. “Tell us now and we’ll know.”
Gar nodded, and started in. “Well first of all, she hides so well cause she’s a shapeshifter. Kinda like me, but better, cause she looks normal when she’s not shifted. It’s not just changing her face, but she can do all sorts of creepy things stretching out her arms and all. I remember one time Rita and I were…okay, sorry,” he stopped the anecdote before he could start it, when Vic cleared his throat. “The point is I finally tracked her down. The last time I saw her was when I was on the Patrol, before everyone disappeared. And if anyone’s going to know what happened to us, why I wound up in that lab, where everyone else went and why, it’s going to be someone like her. Rogue had it in for us forever. So I’m gonna see what she knows.”
“Kay cool, when do we leave?” Juan asked, “Never been to France, that oughta be cool.”
“It’s lovely country, but I don’t think that’s quite the point,’ Raven said with a small smile.
Gar brightened up at the reactions, as Vic and Carla joined in the chatter. “You all are coming too?”
“Of course, you think we’d skip out? How else are we supposed to get everyone to go along with our own revenges?” Carla laughed.
A deeper voice rang out from the back of the room, as Red Hood stepped into the meeting. “What’s this about revenges?”
All of the Titans turned to look as he came in closer, and Gar cleared his throat to speak up. “It’s not really that, quite, exactly. I found Madam Rouge.”
“Aah.” Hood nodded, resting his arms on the back of the sofa. “And you think she has a clue for you about the Doom Patrol.”
“Hey, you actually heard of her,” Gar brightened up a bit. “Yeah. We’re going to France. The jet can get us there quick as anything.”
Red Hood nodded. The blank face of his mask had stopped bothering the team as much as it once had, as they had gotten more used to reading the expression underneath it. Gar could tell that he had no misgivings, no reason to stop the plan. “Do you need me there? Or do you have it under control.”
The team deferred to Garfield, though their feelings were clear on their faces. They were confident, and ready. “We’ll be fine. I think we can keep track of each other.”
Hood smiled under the cloth. “Very well. Don’t be afraid to call for help. I may not be able to reach you myself, but I do have allies. I hope you find what you’re looking for,” he added to Gar alone, as the rest of the team started off to prepare the jet.
“Me too,” Gar told him, showing just a hint of how much he was counting on this trip. Hood’s hand on his shoulder gave Gar a boost of confidence, and he looked up at the man. “I have to know what happened.”
“I know you do. You’ll learn, I have no doubts. Do what you must,” Hood assured him. Gar ran off to re-join the rest of the team in their preparations, leaving Red Hood standing alone to watch over the Tower. By the time the T-Jet took off with Cyborg at the helm, Hood had made his way back to his own life, setting the Tower security and taking the rest of the weekend for himself.
*****
“Hey guys, why’s the alarm on? I got out of work early so I thought I’d come by and spend the night, have some fun? I brought Hasselhoff!” Stephanie called into the empty tower, holding up a pack of DVDs and waving them in the air.
Steph explored the tower thoroughly, and finally heaved a long sigh when she found the note that had been left for her:
“Gone to France, Gar’s personal business. Buy you a beret if we get the chance. See you next weekend!”
“Grr, they’re in France? Without me?” She shouted to no one, pouting and folding her arms, crumpling the note in her fist. “Oh man, that’s just mean!”
She grumped about the Tower for a short time, putting her things away in her room and finally making her way up to their lounge, with the large TV and the long sofa. “Fine, I’ll just have fun all by myself with David, while they’re off in silly old France.”
Steph settled herself in, collecting a fort’s worth of blankets to lay across the cushions and a mountain of popcorn for munching, as she resigned herself to a night, if not a whole weekend, alone in the Tower. “It still beats sitting around at home,” she shrugged and talked to herself. “Least here, Dad can’t make me keep the sound down.”
*****
Paris was a beautiful city. The T-Jet made its rounds over the streetlit roads until it found space to land, and airfield set aside by the French government for these sorts of flights by foreign heroes. The sights of the city rose up to meet the Titans as they landed, but there was no time to see them. Instead, Beast Boy led the team out of the plane and into the streets, where he found himself more popular than he would have guessed.
“Everyone’s looking,” Gar hissed to his friends, wishing for a hat to cover his pointed ears, though his green face would still have stuck out.
“You’re a star, Green-genes,” Juan slapped his shoulder playfully. “I thought you liked being recognized on the street.”
“Well…okay, usually, but now?” Gar protested, sinking into himself as another group of people pointed him out. “I’m so dumb, she’s gonna know it’s me even if I did get taller,” he sighed. “What if someone alerts her before we even get there? I didn’t think I was that recognizable here.”
Carla shrugged. “Frogs love their bad movies, I guess.”
Raven blinked and looked at her quizzically. “Frogs?”
“I can say it, I’ve heard worse about my own people.”
Gar brightened up with a snap of his fingers. “That’s it! Carla, you’re brilliant!”
With an elbow to his sister’s side, Juan chuckled, “Someone finally recognizes it?”
“<shut up>,” she shoved him back.
Ignoring the twins, Gar had shifted his form quickly, and before long a wet-looking little green frog had crawled up into Raven’s hood. “This’ll be perfect! Once we get Rouge to let her guard down I can change back.”
Raven nodded, then reminded herself to be careful with her head as Gar clung to the fabric in her hood. “We’d better get going,” she said simply. With Gar’s whispered directions in her ear, Raven led the way. The wide roads gave way to smaller streets, and then to narrow alleys, lit by sparking streetlights that had held candles long ago, and been re-wired instead of replaced. The winding spiderweb of Paris streets spiraled inward, and at last the Titans came to their destination.
The building was old, tall and narrow and nestled between a hundred similar structures. The team had boldly decided to confront her directly, knocking on the door to the first-floor apartment Gar was sure belonged to Madam Rouge. Cyborg had the honor, his strong fist echoing into the room beyond the door.
The woman who answered fit no part of Gar’s description. Where his Madam Rogue had been tall and willowy, she was hunched over with age. Where Rouge’s hair had been a jaunty black bob, the woman’s was a tight white bun. But the voice that she spoke with matched almost exactly, with only a small waver. “Quoi? Qui etez-vous?”
Raven gave a small nod to her teammates. She could sense the deception, like ink dripping from the woman’s skin, making her black. “Please let us inside. We’d like to talk.”
The old woman shook her head, moving to close the door. “Non, je ne parle pas anglaise.”
“We know that you do,” Raven said more forcefully, as Juan zipped between the door and doorway, and Carla slipped into the apartment unseen. “We know who you are, and we must talk.”
Gar couldn’t keep himself from popping up to look, and the woman’s gaze snapped straight toward his black froggy eyes. “Very well…if you must.” She stepped away from the door and held it open for them now, a sight so much more sinister than before. Hers was a viper’s den, and still the five teens made their way inside, all on constant alert as they let her shut the door behind them.
“No sense hiding.” Rouge’s voice only changed in its strength, her Parisian accent thick in her English. Her body changed more dramatically, shifting into the tall, deadly woman Gar remembered so well. “I thought the rats had been watching me too closely. I ought to have guessed it was you.”
Garfield took the bait, leaping from his perch and shifting his own shape to stare Rouge straight in the eyes. “Forgot about me, did you?”
She yawned, bringing her hand up to her mouth. “Not as well as you wish, I’m sure. Come, little beast, why have you been so foolish as to come here?”
The other Titans watched at the ready, each realizing how important Gar’s mission truly was as he kept speaking. “You have to know. The Doom Patrol have been gone for two years.” Gar balled his fists, his eyes burning into hers without looking away. “You know what happened to them.”
Rouge had the audacity to laugh. “Little beast, why should I have seen your friends when no others have?”
“Stop calling me that!” The force of Gar’s shout silenced everything else, taking even his friends by surprise. “You always called me that when you were winning, always to make me think I was too weak, too little to beat you, well I’m NOT!”
A hand reached for Gar’s shoulder, and Raven let some of her calm demeanor seep through his temper. “Stay focused,” she murmured into his ear, “She only means to distract you from your task.”
“Forget this.” Carla tossed her head and was at Madam Rouge’s side in half a moment, ready to attack. “Bitch isn’t gonna just talk. I’m up for taking her down a few pegs.”
There was another dark chuckle, and Madam Rouge began to change again. Her arms reached out, stretching from her body into flexible, rubbery bands that wound around Carla, long enough to catch her even when she started to run. “You are? Well, let us enjoy ourselves, oui?”
“You are SO on.” Juan rushed toward his sister and the fighting began. The Titans filled the small space of Rouge’s apartment, quickly forming a circle around her, while Carla struggled and squirmed in of her grip. Even if this were Garfield’s fight, each of the Titans was ready to give their all.
Rouge looked between her combatants, knowing just how cramped her space was. She needed more room to fight properly, and needed fewer opponents at once. Her arm was wrapped three times around Carla’s waist and arms, pinning the girl and keeping her in place, if far from still. She spoke while her mind was working, “What a long way you’ve come,” she told Garfield. “Outnumbering a poor woman, coming into her own home for such a purpose.”
“Save it for your surrender!” Garfield charged, shaping his four limbs into strong goat’s legs, his horned head bent as he ran forward.
Many things happened all at once. Juan shot forward toward his sister, running tight circles around Madam Rouge and striking out whenever he found her skin. Carla popped one of her arms free of her captor, raking her nails at the stretchy, rubbery arm, but finding she couldn’t do that little damage to someone who changed her shape. Rouge’s skin rippled and whirled, the womanly figure distorted with all of her changing as she tried to keep up with the Titans’ blows. She side-stepped Garfield’s charge, with just enough timing for the ram to knock Juan out of his orbit, sending them both crashing into the wall with the loud clatter things falling around them. A few feet away, Cyborg had a sonic blaster at the ready, his favored technology useless in the melee; Carla was too close to his target, and Vic couldn’t shoot.
A few feet up in the air, Raven was shaking as hard as the building. Her mind was pounding with the fear she felt, the cries of the people above this apartment, and in the neighboring buildings, the people who only knew there was war and danger in their homes. “We can not fight here!” She called over the crashes and shouts. “It’s too dangerous, we must be outside!”
“What a good idea.” Madam Rouge grinned wickedly, and suddenly shot her elongated arm straight out the window, crashing through the glass with Carla still tight in its grip. Rouge’s skin shrunk back from the shards, but Carla cried out with the myriad cuts and scrapes that slashed into her face and arms and legs. Rouge let her go mid-toss, sending Carla flying out into the street and toward a sturdy brick wall. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but felt a soft body blocking the path—Juan had raced to follow her arc and he took the blow against the wall instead. She fell into him, and they both stood up a moment later, when they’d regained their breath.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Titans spilled out into the dark alley, chasing as Madam Rouge stretched her skills. She grabbed hold of a flagpole sticking from a higher floor of a neighboring building, and before long she was swinging nearly out of sight, extending herself from one perch to another and leading the Teen Titans to a more open space.
“We can’t let her get away!” Gar shouted, sprouting wings and following her as fast as he could.
“We won’t,” Cyborg called back. He and the Twins had to follow Raven, who kept her flight closer to the ground as they wove around the buildings. By the time they had made their way to the open square that Rouge had found, she and Garfield were tangled in a fight all their own.
The creatures changed in flashes, one after another to keep her off her toes—a gorilla, a snake, an elephant, a rat, Garfield going from one size to another too fast for Rouge to keep up by changing her own shape. Each new animal came with another word, a stronger demand, “Tell! Me! Where! You! Have! My! Family!”
Rogue didn’t answer, but this time it wasn’t out of spite. She turned her head to see the other Titans behind her, each of them preparing their own assaults. Raven’s body was surrounded by her dark aura, the energy building around her. Cyborg yelled a warning and fired a shot of his sonic cannon—Rogue felt her head spin and heard her ears ring uselessly. The team was surrounding her again, fighting as one, and she was outnumbered.
But there was one saving grace for Madam Rouge. A crowd was forming around the fight, made up of late-night walkers and partiers, couples on dates and singles going wild, old and young alike. Rouge shot her arm up again to grab a streetlight, stretching her whole body into a long rope and changing it as she rose into the air. She willed her black hair to grow long and blonde, her skin to darken, her bones to shift. By the time she landed among the crowd, she was a different person completely, and as she ran she changed, taking on the looks of the women she saw, and the men, only glancing back once to see the Titans tearing through the mob.
“It’s no good, BB, she’s gone!” Cyborg had to grab Beast Boy himself to get him to stop racing through the spectators. Garfield shouted and kept changing himself, but Vic’s grip was sure, and finally he lost his energy, sinking back to the ground.
“She can’t be gone,” Gar growled, his head bent down toward the pavement, as his friends gathered around him.
Raven stood taller. “She won’t be for long. We will find her.”
Gar looked up at all of his friends, at Raven’s steady expression, at Carla’s cut face, marked with tiny beads of blood, at Vic’s rough nod. “We will…we’ll get her…I have to get to the truth!”
*****
“Come on you guys, come on, you’ve almost got her!” Steph had abandoned her movies in favor of the news coverage from Paris, finding a local website through her laptop. She knew that the footage was broadcast after the fact, but Steph couldn’t resist the urge to cheer her friends on. She bounced on the sofa and watched eagerly, groaning when she saw Madam Rouge swinging away through the cell phone camera’s eyes. “Oh, come on! You guys are useless without me,” Steph pouted, and sank back on the couch.
Not too far away, the same footage ran on a loop over another screen. One figure stood in front of it, the light flickering over his young face. His chin was smooth, with a fringe of fuzz that never quite threatened to become a beard. He was somewhere between short and tall, somewhere between strong and weak, an everyman. There would have been plenty of people like him, even without his special powers.
“Yo Billy, you thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” From the worn-down couch behind the b oy, his double called over.
A triplet popped his head around the doorway. “What, Billy? What’s going on?”
“Teen Titans are off gallivanting,” the Billy on the sofa leaned back and scratched his meager whiskers. “And that means—“
“—they ain’t at home,” a fourth Billy piped in, spinning around in another chair. “And
that means—“
“All y’all shut up!” The Billy in front of the computer shouted, turning to glare at his duplicates. “I can’t think with all of us jabbering!”
The others all vanished in a moment, and the first of them smiled.
That meant that Billy Numerous finally had a chance to get on the map.
