Heroes Collide

REUNION

Natalie entered through the double doors and carried Cason to one of the empty tables, not paying any attention to the people laying on the other tables. She gently laid his unconscious body down. "You're gonna be okay." She pulled a chair from near the wall and sat down by his side. "You'll be fine."

"Well, well, well..."

Natalie looked up from Cason and gasped. A young man was leaning on the wall by the door. When she walked in, she must have passed right by him. Sure, he was wearing different clothes than he usually would, but she knew that judgmental glare anywhere. "L-Lenny?" She stood, her chair groaning out a metallic screech as it slid against the concrete floor.

"It's Rory. Remember?" The boy's head shook ever so slightly that Natalie almost missed it.

But it took her by surprise, and she paled backing up. "W-Why would you use that name?"

Lenny took a step closer and raised his voice a little. "Because Rory Frost was a hero, Natalie. We fought together for years. You remember me, right?"

There must have been some reason for this behavior. He seemed set on her calling him, Rory, for some demented reason. But she knew he was doing it on purpose. Rory Frost was no hero, but he knew she knew that. No one else knew that but him, her, and Jeremy. From what everyone else knew, he had disappeared near the beginning of the crisis.

Natalie relaxed her hands and glared at him for a few seconds before walking up to him and wrapping her arms around him in a loose hug. Lenny didn't hug her back, but he did crack a smile. "Thanks for not breaking my bones there, Nat."

"I missed you, Le... Rory." She pulled back. "We wanted to come get you guys. I swear!"

Lenny's eyebrows furrowed. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about. Please don't get sentimental on me. I hate that sh*t."

Natalie chuckled, "You're still the same."

Lenny frowned, "Because the last time I saw you was five hours ago. I haven't changed at all. I can't imagine how different it's going to be for you after five years."

Natalie sighed and sat on one of the empty examination tables. "We'll see..." She looked over at Carrie who lay asleep on another table in her suit. "So Carrie was finally able to go fast enough to travel through time?"

Lenny nodded, "She got all four of us here in one piece."

Natalie let out a shaky breathe, knowing the answer before she even asked. "And the others?"

Lenny shook his head. "Not everyone was as lucky..." He moved to sit on the table next to her as she put her face in her hands. He took a deep breath. "Nat... I know you don't want to hear this..."

"Then don't say it..." Natalie's voice was muffled by her hands.

"This is all his fault."

Natalie sat up and turned to him. "I said don't... Please don't."

"He could have saved us all. He made the pods right?" He put his hand up to make sure he wasn't interrupted. "Yeah. How many of those were there again?"

Natalie looked down, not meeting his glare.

"How many, Natalie?"

"There were three." Both of them turned as a voice spoke from the doorway.

"Oh great. It's him..."

The dark-clad young man stood in the doorway casting an unapproving shadow over them. "I only had the resources to make three pods. You should probably be thanking me for having Carrie come rescue your lousy *sses, Frost. So you need to show me some respect."

Jeremy didn't miss a beat when using Lenny's pseudonym. He probably cared too little to out him or ask questions.

"Do you know how many friends we lost in the five hours it took for Carrie to gather us together? Or maybe you'd like to guess how many of them died?" Lenny slid off the table and walked past his unconscious friends. He gestured to Carrie, Colleen, and Vincent as he passed by. "This is all that is left of your precious Titans here. And you made it pretty clear when you left us to die that none of us were really ever part of the group. Our mentors were brutally murdered, the aliens came back at the last possible second and massacred everyone else!"

Jeremy's facial expression didn't change and Natalie wondered if he was really being as cold as he looked. "You can't blame me for any of that."

"You abandoned your team! We trusted you and listened to you and you f*ckin left us!" He took his cold gun out and went to swing at him. Lenny was sweating by now and his face was contorted in rage. His swing was blocked as two pairs of arms grabbed him from behind and a small hiss rang in his ears.

Natalie snapped to attention, ready to protect her friend. But Lenny wasn't struggling against the fox and human that held him. She was shocked to see the hint of a smirk cross the Rogue's face. "Someone sure was hungry..."

"Can ya blame him, Frosty?" Colleen rubbed her eyes as she slid off the table. Natalie didn't even realize she had woken up. She skipped over and put an arm around Jeremy's shoulder. "Those two cuties are snacks!" She winked at them, letting out a shrill laugh. Suddenly, there was a flash of metal and her knife was at his neck. "Call off the dogs, Jeremy." Her face was locked in a stone-cold scowl. "You're out of line."

The two mind-slaves were suddenly at her sides, holding onto her arms and snarling at her neck threatening to snap.

Vincent, the cheetah, came forward to pull Lenny behind him grabbing the fire gun from Lenny's belt. "Stay behind me. The traitor's not putting a finger on you."

Colleen kept her eyes locked with Jeremy's in a cold, hard stare. She started to giggle softly, but it slowly got louder and higher.

Jeremy's confusion caused the two to loosen their grips on her.

"Awww c'mon kiddies. Don't chicken out on me. Make it tighter!"

Natalie sat off to the side watching all this go down.

"Well... This is chaos." Cason slowly sat up on his table and rubbed his eyes.

Natalie slid off her table to help him sit up. "Cason... You're shaking. Are you alright?"

Cason nodded and put a paw on his head. "I think so... My bones are supposed to feel like chocolate pudding, right?"

Natalie chuckled, "Want me to check to see if everything is okay?"

"Burn me with your laser eyes." Cason giggled.

Natalie chuckled and scanned him with her x-ray vision. "You're bones are fine."

"Not chocolate pudding?"

"Not chocolate pudding. Not regular pudding either. Just good ol' bones." She smiled and sat next to him. "You probably shouldn't move too much though."

Cason rested his head on her shoulder. "I'm just gonna stay here then." He watched the fight for a few seconds before sighing. "Should we stop this?"

Natalie shook her head. "I don't have the energy for this."

"You ain't got a right to kink shame me when you bite people just to satisfy yourself, vampy boi!" Colleen slashed at Jeremy with her knife. The fox slave, who Cason said was named Kolby, grabbed her arm, and threw her into a wall. The human slave, Cason said her name was Robin, held her other arm behind her back.

Jeremy glared at her. "It's inappropriate!" The yelling got even loud as some of the others joined in.

"EXCUSE ME!"

The room fell quiet. Everyone turned around as Carrie Allen sat up from her table. "Can't a girl rest in peace?" She rubbed her head and glanced around at everyone else. "What the hell is going on here?"