Discordant Hormoney. Chapter 4
I think I wrote this...today, actually. All of it. Just sat down and started typing until it was at the stopping point I'd had planned out in my head. ...I wrote during my sleeping time. Apparently I was coherent. I am amazed. And now...I'm gonna consider this a well-deserved rest.
Oh yeah, and the minimal Mikey and Ted interaction in this chapter should be remedied in the next one. And probably all others after that. Aaand I'm-a shut up and go sleep now. Bluh. *flop*
Beta by lakidaa.
CHAPTERS: { Prologue }{ Chapter One }{ Chapter Two }{ Chapter Three }{ Chapter Four }{ Chapter Five }{ Chapter Six }{ Chapter Seven }{ Chapter Eight }{ Epilogue }
<-{ previous story: Midst Of Rough Earthliness } { next story: Harmonious Discourse }->
~4th Chapter
The mystery boy had rattled off a Highland Park, Illinois address, asked them to "pleasepleaseplease hurry," said he'd be waiting out front, and signed off before they could even ask his name.
"So," Robin had asked, turning to the group at large. "Do we help the 'anonymous tipster'?"
A general consensus of "yes" was reached and they headed out. When they got there, they almost missed it, and would have if Anonymous Tipster hadn't been in the front yard waving a flare. The house behind him had clearly suffered extensive fire damage, and it looked like something had punched a hole in the roof. As they got closer, it looked like it had also been rained on afterward.
"You came!" the boy shouted excitedly as they approached him. "You reallyreally came! This is so cool! I hope you're not any of the stuff Dad said about the Justice League. Thanks for coming! Wow, you're taller than I was expecting."
"And you are?" Robin asked, letting the Justice League comment slide for the moment.
"Oh!" The boy looked surprised for a moment, then straightened and held out a hand. "I'm Junior. Who're you?"
Robin warily reached out and shook Junior's hand, frowning. "Robin. You...don't know who I am?"
"Well I know you're the Teen Titans, but that's it," Junior said thoughtfully, cocking his head. He suddenly grinned and pointed at Cyborg. "Ooh! Except you. I know who you are. Skeets mentioned you. Cyborg, Victor Stone. He said you were...'a breakthrough in the science of combining organic and technological elements' and some other stuff, but I missed it 'cause the commercial with the talking gecko came on, but I could tell he was impressed."
"Uh, thanks." Cyborg said slowly.
"Oh! And he said not to ask to look at your specs 'cause that's rude." Junior beamed, looking proud at having remembered, and for not asking about Cyborg's specs. "C'mon, they're in the basement." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the house and then started toward it. "Introduce yourselves on the way."
There was a tentative rollcall as the Teen Titans followed the boy into the wrecked house. It looked even worse on the inside.
"You live here?" Beast Boy asked.
Junior laughed and rolled his eyes at him. "Of course not!" Just as thoughts of Child Protective Services were leaving his mind, though, the boy added, "I live in the basement, mostly."
"Ah--"
"But we're moving now," Junior continued, oblivious. "Or we were supposed to be. Dad found an apartment and we've been packing up, but then this happened." He sighed in exasperation, as if magically age-regressed parents were on the same level of inconvenience as rain.
The boy peeked through the open basement door and called, "Hello? I'm coming down again. I talked to Skeets and I brought help, okay?" There wasn't a response and he frowned as he started down the stairs. After a quick conversation, it was agreed that Wonder Girl, Cyborg, and Speedy would stay on the ground floor while the others followed Junior into the basement.
Kid Flash raced ahead, disappearing in a red and yellow blur that sped through the basement, then came to an abrupt stop at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't see anyone," he announced.
A look of concern growing on his face, Junior bent to look under a large desk. "They should be here," he insisted.
"Maybe they left," Superboy suggested.
"Did you explain what had happened?" Robin asked.
"Sort of!" Junior said, looking flustered and worried. "I said they weren't supposed to be like that and it was magic, but you try explaining things to two confused teenagers when one's freaking out because he's dressed like a bug and the other's pushing you around wanting to know where they are!"
"A bug?" Beast Boy muttered to Kid Flash, who shrugged to indicate he was clueless as well.
"Calm down, Junior," Robin said gently.
"But they shouldn't have been able to leave," Junior protested, looking confused. "There're motion sensors all around the house and the basement door and I turned them on before I left. So if they left, I should've been alerted! I mean, unless they flew out of--" The boy froze, eyes widening. "Oh no." He dropped his face into his hands and groaned. "Dad figured out he can fly."
Robin frowned. "Junior...who did you say your parents were?"
"Um...I don't think I did," Junior said slowly. He scratched his ear and stared at Robin.
Robin stared back. "Junior, who are your parents?"
"Oh." Junior sat on the edge of the desk and kicked his feet a little. "Booster Gold and Blue Beetle." He looked around at their disbelieving stares with innocent confusion. "What?"
----------
Ted tightened his hold on Mikey as the laughing lunatic did a loop-the-loop.
When he finally came to a halt, looking around in confusion, Mikey said, "Uh, where do we go?"
Opening his eyes, Ted glanced over the expanse of geography below them. "Hey!" he said suddenly, craning his neck to get a better look. "I think I know where we are!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, that looks like Lake Michigan!" Ted grinned as he looked at Mikey. "I think we're still in Illinois! In fact...that looks like Chicago." He tightened his legs and let go with one hand to point. "That way. Let's go!"
Grinning, Mikey wrapped his other arm around Ted and shot off in the direction indicated. "Woohoo!"
----------
It took a number of questions, and then a number of more specific questions, to get the whole story from Junior.
Booster Gold had apparently taken leave of his senses upon learning of the death of Blue Beetle. During a period of trial and error magical experimentation (the origin of the magical objects involved wasn't mentioned, but Robin had his suspicions), Booster had created Junior. Junior was, for all intents and purposes, the biological son of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. An unspecified amount of time later, Booster succeeded in bringing Blue Beetle back from the dead. A trip to the store was briefly mentioned, as well as some movies Junior had watched, before he got to the part about the flash of magic light and the discovery of his teenaged parents.
It was probably a testament to how strange their lives were that they all took this in stride, though the fact of Junior's all-male parentage did manage to raise a few eyebrows (Superboy's most notably).
"So do any of you know magic?" Junior asked hopefully. "The Big Book of Resurrection Rituals is mostly in Latin and the Latin-to-English dictionary's been missing for a while."
"Do you have any idea what might have done this?" Robin asked. When Junior shrugged helplessly and shook his head, Robin turned to Raven. "Can you take a look?"
Raven nodded in response and cautiously moved closer to the desk.
"In the mean time, we should try to locate Booster Gold and Blue Beetle."
Junior tucked his hair behind one ear and tapped something metal on it. "Skeets? They flew off. Do you have either of them, like, tagged or something?" He beamed. "Great! We can track them in Bug!"
"We?" Kid Flash repeated, appearing at his side suddenly.
Junior blinked at him. "They're my dads. I'm going with you." A thoughtful expression crossed his face and he looked down at himself. "But I can't go out like this." Looking around briefly, he spotted what he was looking for and walked over to something that looked like a robot. He snatched a pair of bug-eyed goggles hanging from the robot's arm and put them on. "Okay, now I'm ready!"
The assembled Teen Titans looked him over. Shaggy brown hair, yellow goggles, a too-big yellow shirt with a blue star on the chest, baggy shorts that reached his knees, sagging socks, and a pair of lime green shoes. He looked like he had raided someone else's closet. In the dark. With his eyes closed.
"And the goggles are...?" Beast Boy prompted, waving his hand a little as he held back a laugh.
"In case anyone sees me." At their expectant looks, he sighed. "In case anyone sees me with the Teen Titans. Dad--Beetle gave us all a lecture about how we were going to keep superheroing and...non-superheroing separate and secret, only I think that was mostly for d--Booster, because Beetle's making him use his real name and he hates that. But Oracle made him Pinocchio papers too along with mine, so he can't use that as an excuse anymore."
Kid Flash snickered at the mention of "Pinocchio papers" and Junior glanced at him in confusion. "Yeah, d--Beetle laughed too, but me and Booster didn't get it."
"The story of Pinocchio was written by Italian author Carlo Collodi in 1883, though it was actually first published in serial form between 1881 and 1883 before being collected in one book--" Noticing the impatient looks from the others, Kid Flash hurriedly concluded, "But anyway, the main goal of the puppet, Pinocchio, especially in the classic Disney interpretation, was to become a real boy."
There was a pause as his explanation sunk in, then Junior laughed. "That is funny! I have to tell dad when we get him back." Something on the nearby workbench caught his eye and he rummaged through a stack of papers to pull out what looked like the Blue Beetle belt. "Ooh, cool!" Quickly putting it on, Junior did his best to tighten it to fit, though it still sagged on the side with the BB gun holster.
"I thought you said your dad was wearing his costume," Superboy spoke up. "Why not the belt?"
Junior's look, when he glanced at him, was carefully blank. "I don't want to think about why my dad wasn't wearing his belt while he was alone with my other dad," he said with slow deliberation.
Superboy grimaced. "Ugh, sorry. Nevermind."
"'Kay, let's g--" Junior was interrupted by a banging sound.
"Hey! Hello?! Is anyone out there?!" a muffled voice called.
Junior stared at the closet the sound seemed to be coming from. "No," he said.
"Hello?!"
"No," Junior groaned, reluctantly trudging over to unlock and open the closet door.
A brunette teen hurried out and slammed the door behind him. "Finally," he snapped. His nose suddenly wrinkled and he sniffed. Pulling his shirt up, the boy sniffed at it inquiringly before quickly turning his head away. "Phaugh! It is me." He glanced at Junior. "Why do I smell like rotten meat wafting on a fresh breeze?"
"You're not a zombie anymore," Junior said mournfully.
"Was I one?" the boy asked absently, looking around. "Huh. This is one weird pajama party."
"You're supposed to be a zombie," Junior insisted, pouting.
Kid Flash zipped to their side and was a brief blur around the boy from the closet. "Seems pretty alive to me," he said. "Except for the smell. Phew." He grimaced and waved a hand in front of his face.
"But--"
"For now, let's assume he's alive," Robin interrupted. "Whoever he is."
"Maxwell Lord," the smelly but living teen introduced himself, flashing a charming smile. "Alive and breathing. Call me Max."
"You hiding any other dead people around here?" Beast Boy asked Junior.
----------
After another round of explanations, Max nodded and said he was going with them.
"Like that?" Junior protested.
"Good point." Max disappeared into the closet for a moment, then reappeared moments later wearing a different shirt and a jacket that looked a little too big for him. But stylishly so.
"But...what if someone asks why you're with a bunch of people in costumes?" Junior continued to protest.
Max tilted his head loftily and adjusted the jacket on his shoulders. "Tell 'em I'm your manager."
-----
[ETA of chapter the fifth: plotted but currently unwritten]
Oh yeah, and the minimal Mikey and Ted interaction in this chapter should be remedied in the next one. And probably all others after that. Aaand I'm-a shut up and go sleep now. Bluh. *flop*
Beta by lakidaa.
CHAPTERS: { Prologue }{ Chapter One }{ Chapter Two }{ Chapter Three }{ Chapter Four }{ Chapter Five }{ Chapter Six }{ Chapter Seven }{ Chapter Eight }{ Epilogue }
<-{ previous story: Midst Of Rough Earthliness } { next story: Harmonious Discourse }->
~4th Chapter
The mystery boy had rattled off a Highland Park, Illinois address, asked them to "pleasepleaseplease hurry," said he'd be waiting out front, and signed off before they could even ask his name.
"So," Robin had asked, turning to the group at large. "Do we help the 'anonymous tipster'?"
A general consensus of "yes" was reached and they headed out. When they got there, they almost missed it, and would have if Anonymous Tipster hadn't been in the front yard waving a flare. The house behind him had clearly suffered extensive fire damage, and it looked like something had punched a hole in the roof. As they got closer, it looked like it had also been rained on afterward.
"You came!" the boy shouted excitedly as they approached him. "You reallyreally came! This is so cool! I hope you're not any of the stuff Dad said about the Justice League. Thanks for coming! Wow, you're taller than I was expecting."
"And you are?" Robin asked, letting the Justice League comment slide for the moment.
"Oh!" The boy looked surprised for a moment, then straightened and held out a hand. "I'm Junior. Who're you?"
Robin warily reached out and shook Junior's hand, frowning. "Robin. You...don't know who I am?"
"Well I know you're the Teen Titans, but that's it," Junior said thoughtfully, cocking his head. He suddenly grinned and pointed at Cyborg. "Ooh! Except you. I know who you are. Skeets mentioned you. Cyborg, Victor Stone. He said you were...'a breakthrough in the science of combining organic and technological elements' and some other stuff, but I missed it 'cause the commercial with the talking gecko came on, but I could tell he was impressed."
"Uh, thanks." Cyborg said slowly.
"Oh! And he said not to ask to look at your specs 'cause that's rude." Junior beamed, looking proud at having remembered, and for not asking about Cyborg's specs. "C'mon, they're in the basement." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the house and then started toward it. "Introduce yourselves on the way."
There was a tentative rollcall as the Teen Titans followed the boy into the wrecked house. It looked even worse on the inside.
"You live here?" Beast Boy asked.
Junior laughed and rolled his eyes at him. "Of course not!" Just as thoughts of Child Protective Services were leaving his mind, though, the boy added, "I live in the basement, mostly."
"Ah--"
"But we're moving now," Junior continued, oblivious. "Or we were supposed to be. Dad found an apartment and we've been packing up, but then this happened." He sighed in exasperation, as if magically age-regressed parents were on the same level of inconvenience as rain.
The boy peeked through the open basement door and called, "Hello? I'm coming down again. I talked to Skeets and I brought help, okay?" There wasn't a response and he frowned as he started down the stairs. After a quick conversation, it was agreed that Wonder Girl, Cyborg, and Speedy would stay on the ground floor while the others followed Junior into the basement.
Kid Flash raced ahead, disappearing in a red and yellow blur that sped through the basement, then came to an abrupt stop at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't see anyone," he announced.
A look of concern growing on his face, Junior bent to look under a large desk. "They should be here," he insisted.
"Maybe they left," Superboy suggested.
"Did you explain what had happened?" Robin asked.
"Sort of!" Junior said, looking flustered and worried. "I said they weren't supposed to be like that and it was magic, but you try explaining things to two confused teenagers when one's freaking out because he's dressed like a bug and the other's pushing you around wanting to know where they are!"
"A bug?" Beast Boy muttered to Kid Flash, who shrugged to indicate he was clueless as well.
"Calm down, Junior," Robin said gently.
"But they shouldn't have been able to leave," Junior protested, looking confused. "There're motion sensors all around the house and the basement door and I turned them on before I left. So if they left, I should've been alerted! I mean, unless they flew out of--" The boy froze, eyes widening. "Oh no." He dropped his face into his hands and groaned. "Dad figured out he can fly."
Robin frowned. "Junior...who did you say your parents were?"
"Um...I don't think I did," Junior said slowly. He scratched his ear and stared at Robin.
Robin stared back. "Junior, who are your parents?"
"Oh." Junior sat on the edge of the desk and kicked his feet a little. "Booster Gold and Blue Beetle." He looked around at their disbelieving stares with innocent confusion. "What?"
----------
Ted tightened his hold on Mikey as the laughing lunatic did a loop-the-loop.
When he finally came to a halt, looking around in confusion, Mikey said, "Uh, where do we go?"
Opening his eyes, Ted glanced over the expanse of geography below them. "Hey!" he said suddenly, craning his neck to get a better look. "I think I know where we are!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, that looks like Lake Michigan!" Ted grinned as he looked at Mikey. "I think we're still in Illinois! In fact...that looks like Chicago." He tightened his legs and let go with one hand to point. "That way. Let's go!"
Grinning, Mikey wrapped his other arm around Ted and shot off in the direction indicated. "Woohoo!"
----------
It took a number of questions, and then a number of more specific questions, to get the whole story from Junior.
Booster Gold had apparently taken leave of his senses upon learning of the death of Blue Beetle. During a period of trial and error magical experimentation (the origin of the magical objects involved wasn't mentioned, but Robin had his suspicions), Booster had created Junior. Junior was, for all intents and purposes, the biological son of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. An unspecified amount of time later, Booster succeeded in bringing Blue Beetle back from the dead. A trip to the store was briefly mentioned, as well as some movies Junior had watched, before he got to the part about the flash of magic light and the discovery of his teenaged parents.
It was probably a testament to how strange their lives were that they all took this in stride, though the fact of Junior's all-male parentage did manage to raise a few eyebrows (Superboy's most notably).
"So do any of you know magic?" Junior asked hopefully. "The Big Book of Resurrection Rituals is mostly in Latin and the Latin-to-English dictionary's been missing for a while."
"Do you have any idea what might have done this?" Robin asked. When Junior shrugged helplessly and shook his head, Robin turned to Raven. "Can you take a look?"
Raven nodded in response and cautiously moved closer to the desk.
"In the mean time, we should try to locate Booster Gold and Blue Beetle."
Junior tucked his hair behind one ear and tapped something metal on it. "Skeets? They flew off. Do you have either of them, like, tagged or something?" He beamed. "Great! We can track them in Bug!"
"We?" Kid Flash repeated, appearing at his side suddenly.
Junior blinked at him. "They're my dads. I'm going with you." A thoughtful expression crossed his face and he looked down at himself. "But I can't go out like this." Looking around briefly, he spotted what he was looking for and walked over to something that looked like a robot. He snatched a pair of bug-eyed goggles hanging from the robot's arm and put them on. "Okay, now I'm ready!"
The assembled Teen Titans looked him over. Shaggy brown hair, yellow goggles, a too-big yellow shirt with a blue star on the chest, baggy shorts that reached his knees, sagging socks, and a pair of lime green shoes. He looked like he had raided someone else's closet. In the dark. With his eyes closed.
"And the goggles are...?" Beast Boy prompted, waving his hand a little as he held back a laugh.
"In case anyone sees me." At their expectant looks, he sighed. "In case anyone sees me with the Teen Titans. Dad--Beetle gave us all a lecture about how we were going to keep superheroing and...non-superheroing separate and secret, only I think that was mostly for d--Booster, because Beetle's making him use his real name and he hates that. But Oracle made him Pinocchio papers too along with mine, so he can't use that as an excuse anymore."
Kid Flash snickered at the mention of "Pinocchio papers" and Junior glanced at him in confusion. "Yeah, d--Beetle laughed too, but me and Booster didn't get it."
"The story of Pinocchio was written by Italian author Carlo Collodi in 1883, though it was actually first published in serial form between 1881 and 1883 before being collected in one book--" Noticing the impatient looks from the others, Kid Flash hurriedly concluded, "But anyway, the main goal of the puppet, Pinocchio, especially in the classic Disney interpretation, was to become a real boy."
There was a pause as his explanation sunk in, then Junior laughed. "That is funny! I have to tell dad when we get him back." Something on the nearby workbench caught his eye and he rummaged through a stack of papers to pull out what looked like the Blue Beetle belt. "Ooh, cool!" Quickly putting it on, Junior did his best to tighten it to fit, though it still sagged on the side with the BB gun holster.
"I thought you said your dad was wearing his costume," Superboy spoke up. "Why not the belt?"
Junior's look, when he glanced at him, was carefully blank. "I don't want to think about why my dad wasn't wearing his belt while he was alone with my other dad," he said with slow deliberation.
Superboy grimaced. "Ugh, sorry. Nevermind."
"'Kay, let's g--" Junior was interrupted by a banging sound.
"Hey! Hello?! Is anyone out there?!" a muffled voice called.
Junior stared at the closet the sound seemed to be coming from. "No," he said.
"Hello?!"
"No," Junior groaned, reluctantly trudging over to unlock and open the closet door.
A brunette teen hurried out and slammed the door behind him. "Finally," he snapped. His nose suddenly wrinkled and he sniffed. Pulling his shirt up, the boy sniffed at it inquiringly before quickly turning his head away. "Phaugh! It is me." He glanced at Junior. "Why do I smell like rotten meat wafting on a fresh breeze?"
"You're not a zombie anymore," Junior said mournfully.
"Was I one?" the boy asked absently, looking around. "Huh. This is one weird pajama party."
"You're supposed to be a zombie," Junior insisted, pouting.
Kid Flash zipped to their side and was a brief blur around the boy from the closet. "Seems pretty alive to me," he said. "Except for the smell. Phew." He grimaced and waved a hand in front of his face.
"But--"
"For now, let's assume he's alive," Robin interrupted. "Whoever he is."
"Maxwell Lord," the smelly but living teen introduced himself, flashing a charming smile. "Alive and breathing. Call me Max."
"You hiding any other dead people around here?" Beast Boy asked Junior.
----------
After another round of explanations, Max nodded and said he was going with them.
"Like that?" Junior protested.
"Good point." Max disappeared into the closet for a moment, then reappeared moments later wearing a different shirt and a jacket that looked a little too big for him. But stylishly so.
"But...what if someone asks why you're with a bunch of people in costumes?" Junior continued to protest.
Max tilted his head loftily and adjusted the jacket on his shoulders. "Tell 'em I'm your manager."
-----
[ETA of chapter the fifth: plotted but currently unwritten]