After School Villains Club (2)

Making Plans

NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE

As fanfiction apparently doesn't get noticed on wattpad unless it's Porn
I am moving all this to ArchiveOfOurOwn.
The process will take a few months as I don't want to flood the board.

Novella 3 through 8 are still here, but unpublished and available upon request.

They are also (and will later be published) here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toyloli

NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE

* The following work is the start of a my own Alternate Universe
* Teen Titans, Justice League and all attached characters are owned by DC Comics
* The Inscrutable Machine and all attached characters are owned by Richard Roberts and are used with permission.

This is Episode 2

Reviled

"The Teen Titans. That's what they're called, I can't believe Sharkie is one of them - he is so." I reflected as we sped away from our latest crime.

The hopper, a mechanical contrivance made at short notice, was very loud, and I had to shout to be heard over it. Made mostly of tin and copper and way heavier than it looked, it required multiple wings of cloth and some spinning gyro just to keep this thing in the air. It flew like a grasshopper too, lower legs extended out for balance, hind legs constantly beating in time with the massive wings.

The thing could manage a mere 20 miles an hour, barely faster than running but it was flight.

Penelope's Blink Bracelets, as people were now calling them, were wrapped around a shaft in the middle of the controls. They hummed lightly as Penny performed another blink.

Since it mostly traveled in a straight line, and Penny had a flight GPS on her phone to navigate by we were able to cover hundreds of miles in under a second this way.

Without the blink bracelets we could barely cover a few feet in that time.

"Honestly, as stupid as Sharkie is he might excell at this. They have tacticians and smart people, he's a perfect lancer. The Heart of the team!" Claire called back.

Our grins were miles wide as we fled, the hopper weighed down with stuff the machine's drones had removed before we left.

"So, do we head back to the Lab?" Penny called out, "I'd really like to get this stuff in, at least begin setting up for when we get the bio-mass!"

I shrugged, bio-mass. We had needed radioactive material, lots of pure carbon, three different types of weird crystals, and a small amount of some alien bio-mass. Just to create a glorified scanner.

"Could we stay a day?" Claire called out, "I got a response on the job forum while we were sitting in the Teen Titan's Jet. There's a contact in this town who I need to meet up with, tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow is tomorrow, and I have an idea!" I purred into Penny's ear, at about 200 decibels so I could be heard. "Penny can take this stuff back, and then we can make an actual field trip of it! As far as your parents know we've been dating for a couple of weeks. So let's actually go on a date while E-Claire meets her contact!"

She blinked at this. Her face turned red.

"Besides, there's a nice mall here, neutral territory. I'm sure if we ask nicely we can park the Hopper on their roof, take a day trip around the city. Spend some cash." I almost chuckled at Penny's stiff brushing reaction, pity the Hopper was cramping my style.

I could do this. I could make a plan and carry it through, I knew she wouldn't be interested in any of the superhero stuff I normally geek out over but there was a theater, nice eateries. It would be nice.

And then we could wander the mall during villain hours. I heard there was an underground fight ring, and that guy who sold exotic animals might be there. Or might not, we'd have to see.

Tomorrow would be Saturday, it wasn't a school night, and as far as we knew The Audit, Penny's mother still didn't suspect what we did during our spare time.

We had to keep it that way. And a Date might be a very, very good start.

The Hopper set down hard on the tennis court near the back of our yard and, going around to the back of one hoop, I kicked at the cement base where the loose panel was. It popped open revealing the lever that worked this freight elevator - lowering the hopper down then sliding across a panel with an almost exact duplicate of the court on it.

I jumped down the hole and helped unload, dancing a little with excitement. I can make a difference, I can make a change.

"I can make an effort, I can make a stand." As we unloaded the Hopper my mind drifted in and out of music, and I found myself unconsciously bobbing my head. "I can make better, if only for one niii -iiight! And I, I, I. I can make a Plan!" I sang out. Was I grinning? I felt like I was grinning.

"Oh no, that girl's music talk is spreading!" Claire laughed, wrapping an arm around her long time friend Penny.

They turned to tease me. "We must quarantine him immediately. It might be catching!"

The fixed me with a stare, that I was too happy to ignore. "There's nothing wrong with singing. More people should do it. Even if it sounds terrible!"

The rest of the unpacking was done with fits of giggles.

I had sounded terrible, but it didn't matter. I could make a plan and when I got home, I did sit down and plan. Home wasn't the best place to plan but it did give me a computer to work on.

I was surprised to see my mother waiting up for me. More surprised to see her not drunk. Artemis Viles sat on the couch in the living room, her father nowhere in sight and greeted me as I walked in. She looked up, then stumbled as she attemped to get out of the couch.

"You're, you're back! Oh, ah..." I couldn't believe my eyes, she was dithering. Fretting. I thought over the conversation last night, her and grandfather talking about me.

"Did you want something to eat? It's only mac n cheese but I made a family sized amount." I waved her back to her seat.

Checking the oven, sure enough I found a bowl from the microwave, instant. Claire's mother would have scoffed at this but I wasn't going to. I took it, sat on the couch and watched the news with her, in silence.

A cold air settled over the room, but cold wasn't terrible. Until recently it had been freezing, a bitter mix of disappointment and regret.

I was the disappointment. She was the regret.

The news was mostly good, there was a lot of camera footage of the Teen Titans of course. They'd worked hard fighting first the robot us's, then the actual Inscrutable Machine. There was nothing on the news about our escape, although they did show footage of Penny's freezing thingy, and the totally frozen over pond above the nuclear fuel rods.

"This design by two of the world's leading scientists:" The news failed to say who those scientists were, "Is Already being studied and plans made to implement it in future Power Plants!" I smiled.

"I hope Penny sees this. Also kudos to her, the news woman!"

Artemis and I swapped looks, her's was skeptical.

"I threw her off a roof once. Yes it was into a waiting helicopter, but she's still at it. Good to see I didn't scare her off!"

That earned a snort from my mother. The laughter died before it could begin and we both looked away.

"I'm gonna head for my room. I have a date tomorrow." I said casually.

"Really?" I stopped, mentally kicked myself.

"That girl? Bad Penny? You're actually that close?"

I clenched my fist, thought and wondered. I could say nothing. I chose speach, "Yeah. She's sorta my boss now, when we're not working for other villains. I finally got around to telling Penny I like her and after the job yesterday I asked her out. I'll be gone most of the day. Maybe even a couple. Not sure."

I didn't look back. I didn't want to see her expression.

I took a breath, entered my room and prepared to plan the best date I could, with what little I could find on the internet about the Mall we'd be visiting.