The Hailite Building

[Deleted]

The blue, primate-like monster definitely wasn't as strong as the leathery creature Beast Boy had fought earlier, but it was twice as slippery. Blood welled from between his claws as his jaguar paws struggled to keep a firm grip on the thing thrashing beneath him. He had to fight the animal instinct to sink his jaws into the experiment's throat, a part of him remembering that this thing may have once been human.

Eventually, a swift blow to the head was enough to send the blue beast's head spinning. Beast Boy clouted the thing twice more in quick succession, and then it was out. He quickly stepped away from the unconscious lump of fur and began to lick his paws clean, panting heavily. He had injured the hazardous experiment more than he had meant to, and his green feline eyes avoided looking at the claw marks gouged in the thing's chest and shoulders.

A new scent coupled with an unfamiliar one suddenly caught the green jaguar's attention. Relief pulsed through his body as he glimpsed Mani making her way towards the team with what looked to be a small boy held in her arms. Immediately curious, the jaguar was quickly replaced with Beast Boy's human form as he jogged toward Mani.

"Are you alright?" he asked, obviously concerned. He ignored most of Speedy's jabber about finding the antidote, hoping the archer would repeat it later. He glanced quickly at the boy, a few years his junior, that Mani was clutching protectively. He looked to be a cross between a normal child and some form of insect. A butterfly, perhaps. He gave a small smile to the boy, but it vanished almost as soon as it had appeared at the sound of howling and baying. It sounded like a whole pack of hounds were heading their way, and Beast Boy's first thought was of Robin. Their fearless leader was still on his own, and though he could more then handle himself in a fight, the changeling still wanted to make sure the Boy Wonder was alright. Someone had to have his back, even if it was a shapeshifting mischief-maker like himself.

"I'm going to look for Robin," Beast Boy announced to Speedy and the others, shifting into a raven to fly over the hounds headed their way. He was confident the other Titans could handle a few mutant dogs in his absence.

He caught a glimpse of the charging mutts as he flew down the corridor, however, and his little birdie heart clenched in terror. He had expected mutations, of course, but those things almost didn't even resemble the typical house dog.

Beast Boy landed and shifted into a bloodhound at the door the dog-like creatures had burst out of, catching Robin's scent amid their musky odor. He was almost certain he had heard the Boy Wonder's voice while he was fighting that furry blue monster earlier. Surely he couldn't have disappeared that quickly?

Sniffing the ground, Beast Boy quickly sneezed when he encountered the very faint, yet distinguishable presence of chloroform. There was another scent as well, and it made the bloodhound's lip curl in a faint snarl when he recognized it. The evidence he had amassed pointed to one thing - Robin was in trouble.

Beast Boy darted out of the now deserted room and meandered through various hallways, nose glued to the floor. Eventually, the sounds of fighting faded from his ears, to be replaced by faint voices emanating from a distant doorway. Encouraged, the changeling reverted to his human form and pressed his ear against the door, just to be sure.

Sure enough, the faints sounds of Robin's struggles could be heard through the door. And Professor Chang voice was unmistakable; despite the severity of the situation, Beast Boy had to cover his mouth to suppress the chuckles that always managed to escape him whenever he heard the little man speak.

Not wanting to blow the element of surprise by testing the door, Beast Boy changed into a rat and squeezed under it instead. Any other stealth tactics were thrown out the window, however, when the little green rat noticed the syringe Chang held in his hand. He was advancing on Robin, who was strapped to a table like he was about to undergo surgery.

"Robin!" Beast Boy yelped, though to anyone listening all that could be heard was a frantic rat squeak. Switching his rat form for that of a raven, the changeling took flight and dived for Chang's hand, meaning to snatch the syringe before it could be used on Robin.

[Silv]

It seemed that the majority of the struggling was useless. Robin couldn't go far in these straps and once the older man gripped his upper arm in a surprisingly strong grasp for such a small old man it seemed this fate was inevitable. The boy hissed in pain as the needle was driven into his skin and stopped thrashing completely. A devious smirk crossed the mad scientist's face but vanished a second later when a green raven dive bombed him.

The good thing about scrawny villains like Chang was that when they were cornered then they were usually easily taken down. The man let out a yelp that sounded more like a girly scream and his hands flew up to protect his face. The needle slid out of Robin's arm and clattered to the floor. The Boy Wonder would have to inspect it further to figure out whatever it was he'd just been injected with and if he'd gotten the full dose or not and what it would do to him. Had he more time to think about it he might have been worried.

“Beast Boy!” he'd never been so happy to see the green changeling. “When you're done with Chang come help me with these straps.” he rattled about ineffectually on the surgical table. They needed to get back to the others and finish shutting this place down so he could begin to research the compound he'd just been injected with.

[Deleted]

The raven continued to dive bomb the unfortunate Chang, pecking at his face and scratching at his ears with sharp talons until he had driven the man into a corner of the room. Once he had him pinned, Beast Boy changed into a massive bear, swelling up large enough to block any opportunity to escape. He then brought his great, muzzled face right up to the terrified Chang's, staring at him with beady eyes for a single, horrifying moment before promptly roaring in the man's face.

This act of intimidation quickly turned the little man into a quivering, simpering wreck. Unsure of how long Chang would stay like that, Beast Boy reverted to his human form and was quick to release Robin from the straps that bound him to the table.

The changeling picked up the syringe Chang had dropped and studied it. A worried frown creased his face when he saw at least some of it had been used on Robin; he hadn't been fast enough to stop whatever it was from getting into the Boy Wonder's system.

"Should we ask the good doctor what he's prescribed to his patient?" Beast Boy growled. A quick glare in Chang's direction produced another squeal from the terrified man. The changeling began to wonder if he had maybe scared him a little too badly.

[Bry]

Raven nodded to Speedy and took off to the side, entering the first door she came upon and glancing around the room beyond it. Luckily for her, there was nothing left here that felt like attacking.... There was nothing left in here alive.

Her nose wrinkled at the horrible smell of death and decay, and she thought better of using anything she found in this room as an antidote.... Obviously nothing here had worked.

She backed out again, and moved on to the next door.

And the next.

And the next.

And nothing was productive.

Growling in frustration as she entered yet another room, just like all the others, Raven was hit with an ounce of hope. In a cage in the corner came a happy little yelp; automatically falling into a defensive crouch, Raven's eyes sought out the creature. A little black dog sat wagging it's tail, little black eyes shining, happy for no reason at all. And completely natural. Just a dog, with no trace of human about him, and certainly no trace of supernatural powers....

Slowly, Raven straightened up again, her eyes searching the counter tops around the room. A line of bottles sat untouched, save for one, which still had the syringe lying dolefully beside it. She picked one up, gazed at the label.

Syrum 547.

Little notes scrawled on the side of the bottle proclaimed it to be effective in extremely small doses and lethal otherwise. The little black dog barked in agreement from his corner. Raven glanced at him, then continued to read. Syrum 547 was created to resolve the problems the scientists had been having, concerning their subjects losing all human thought processes, as opposed to only most of their human attributes, and it had proven to be stronger than planned. Rather than restore a small bit of human to the subjects, it restored them back to their original God-given forms.... Raven looked at the dog again, and walked over to him. Kneeling, she slid the bolt back on his cage and he gave her a yip of approval before disappearing into the dark of the hallway behind her.

Raven's eyes followed him for a minute before she rose again and scooped up three more bottles, and the syringe. As good an antidote as any, right? It practically shouted "I am what you're looking for!"

Out in the hall, she hoped nothing would be waiting for her; she could hardly fight while juggling four bottles of 'otherwise lethal' substances.... But no, there was nothing but the distant sounds of Speedy and Batgirl and Mei with her little charge, and she made her way quickly back to them, trying to blend with the shadows as she went.

As she came back to the hallway, she mumbled an announcement to anyone listening. "Found something guys."

[Aly]

Batgirl was the last to arrive at the little grouping, having run out of breath on the way and had to stop. She would definitely be taking Speedy up on that offer. Or maybe she would just have to start running by herself. The latter seemed better. At least she wouldn't humiliate herself with an audience. She didn't say anything when she arrived, not wanting to draw attention that she was so slow and out of shape.

She was there, however, when Beast Boy said that he was going to find Robin. Batgirl almost followed him, but when the beasts came straight for them, she had to dart aside to avoid being trampled. One of them turned on her after a moment, though. She punched and kicked the large dog-like mutation, not making much headway. She finally just took out a capsule from her utility belt and popped it into the mutt's thrashing jaws. Instantly, it exploded with purple goo, causing the dog's jaws to lock together. It wimpered once then backed up before running away with its tail in between its legs.

Looking back at the group, she figured they could handle the rest. She sought out the door Beast Boy had disappeared into and opened it. What she immediately saw was Beast Boy standing over a recovering Robin with a syringe in his hand. There was a slight redness to Robin's arm where he had been injected. Her eyes broke away from that and found the villain who she guessed had done it.

"Beast Boy. Be careful. You don't want to accidentally touch the end and inject yourself, do you?" She surried to Robin's side, helping him stand. "Are you okay? Do you know what it was?" As she helped Robin stand, she took the syringe from Beast Boy. "Sorry, but we need to get this analyzed. Who knows what he could have injected him with." Taking out a small impenetrable bag from a pouch on her belt, she put the syringe in and twisted the top so it wouldn't fall out.

Her mind was swirling with possibilities. It could be what he had injected all of these poor experiments with, or something more lethal. Once they got back to the tower, she could take it to her room and do some tests to see if she could make an antidote for it. She knew Robin probably wanted to do it on his own, but he may be incapable of doing so.

[Silv]

Robin rubbed his wrists and sat up as soon as he was free to do so. His fingers worked one of the ankle braces while BB finished the other and finally he was blessed with a complete range of motion. While the Boy Wonder made sure he was functioning correctly Beast Boy had picked up the vial off the ground and was studying it. Robin's blood ran cold when he thought about the vial and whatever it could be in his system. Well, hopefully it wasn't nanoprobes. Hah.

Then Babs came in the door and was telling the changeling to be careful with syringes and worrying over Robin. He didn't need the assistance but he let her help him off the cold steel table before gesturing for her to back off. “I'm fine.” he insisted in classic Batman style. So far he felt perfectly fine. He wasn't sure how long it would stay that way, however, so he had to move fast.

Moving around the table the Boy Wonder went to the cowering form of professor Chang. The small Asian man shook as Robin hauled him to his feet by his collar and slammed him into a nearby wall with angry force. For half a second the boy wondered what would happen if he pulled the tubes from the mad scientist's nose but decided against it because he wanted answers. “Who are you working for?” he asked menacingly, his face right near Chang and his upper lip curled into a snarl.

The crazy Asian simply laughed that stupid breathy giggle of his. The giggle intensified as Robin's hands began to shake and in the end he threw the man back to the ground. “What the -hehe- matter little boy?” the man wasn't in a position to be teasing, but he had managed to inject the fearless leader of the Teen Titans with the serum as instructed.

Robin cursed his own shaking hands, trying to hide them from his teammates as he knelt down to the man's level this time and got in his face again. “You are going to tell me what was in that syringe.” he said knocking the man into the wall with such force that his head snapped back against it with a crack. Now Chang was much to dazed to respond and the boy jumped to his feet much too quickly and wavered in place as black spots flitted across his vision.

After a few moments he steadied himself and turned back to Batgirl. “We don't have time to linger here. You have the vial? Let's go help the others.” As soon as they got back he was going to spent some quality time with that substance. He had to know what it was. Maybe then he'd have a clue as to who ordered it.

[Deleted]

Beast Boy blinked in surprise as a new person entered the room. "Batgirl," he greeted, stiffening a bit when she chided him about handling needles and promptly snatched the syringe from his hand. He snorted, the only sign of his displeasure. He may be one of the youngest on the team, but that didn't make him completely inept. His past actually made him one of the more battle-hardened Titans, though Batgirl didn't know that.

He watched as Robin went to interrogate Chang, expecting the Boy Wonder to rough him up a bit and squeeze the needed information out of the little man. He was good when it came to that sort of thing. Beast Boy did not, however, expect such force from the relatively slim child as he slammed Chang against the wall. The changeling knew his fearless leader was in peak physical condition--he would have difficulty keeping up with his metahuman teammates otherwise--but even he knew such strength was questionable for an ordinary human. And was it possible that Robin's hands were shaking? His hands rarely, if ever, even showed the signs of a tremble.

Beast Boy knit his brow in concern. Either Robin was a little shaken up from being used as a lab rat--something the changeling highly doubted--or the serum he had been given was already beginning to show some effect. Summoning his courage, Beast Boy stepped in front of Robin as the Boy Wonder got up a little too fast, a grim expression on his face. He didn't like to question his leader's orders, but there were times he felt it was necessary.

"Er, Robin," he began nervously, knitting his fingers together. "Maybe you should get Raven to take you back to the Tower while the rest of us wrap this up. The sooner you figure out what you got injected with and fix the problem, the better."

[Kenni]

"You competing with Kiffie there, Princess? I didn't even have time to miss you!" whistled Speedy, impressed with the empath's ninja-like agility enough to allude to Kid Flash's speed in her retrieval of what may very well be the key to some of these poor beings' natural form reversion.
He ruffled Ricky's hair, who was being held in Mei's tender care against her chest.
"Hear that, kiddo? The pretty lady here's found your friends some relief. Isn't that great?" Would Ricky would to be 'cured'? It didn't seem that his add-ons were too gruesome of a mutation to merit a backtrack; Speedy was curious as to what the kid could actually do with whatever enhancements were performed on his body, as he took care not to ruffle his curls too close to the curious butterfly's antennae Rocky possessed.
Speedy smiled softly at the little boy, then at Raven, although is became more grim as time went on; they weren't quite finished in this place, yet. Whipping out his T.Comm., Speedy called the local branch of Mayo Clinic in Jump, one of the most prestigious hospitals in the United States. If anyone could cooperate with them and administer the en masse treatments of all these poor experiments, it would be great if that hospital was informed. The vaccine could be studied and produced at greater and legal levels under their care. Finishing the call with a voice that was all business and none of his usual fooling around, the ginger archer turned to continue down the hall.
They still needed to locate Robin, Beast Boy and the recently vanished Batgirl. She'd gone patrolling down the hall earlier, but Speedy was worried about her, not to mention his other friends. Where had Robin gone, anyway?
"Alright, everyone. We might've located an answer to these experiments' problems. Robin, Beabster, Batgirl, how are you all faring?" Speedy T.Commed briefly.
He began down the hall, the tightened grip on his bow resumed as he rose it, taking the lead, but walking backwards to make sure the last person behind him was covered. He assumed they'd watch his back, too.

[Aly]

Batgirl let go of Robin as he shooed her away. He was more like Bruce than he would care to admit. She watched as he confronted Professor Chang, worried about when the syrum would start to take affect.

She was watching him closely for any changes, so she immediately saw when he tried to hide his hands shaking. She knew that rarely happened to Robin, even when he was really angry, so that was because of whatever Chang injected Robin with. Genuinely worried about him, she continued to watch as he shook and yelled at the small man, cringing as she heard the sound of his head collide with the wall.

When he returned, she gave him a worried look. She knew he would want to take care of the analysis by himself, but she wasn't about to let that happen. She could do it just as well as he could, if not better and faster.

Robin spoke about leaving, and she just nodded before making her way to the door. She opened it wider and stepped out, immediately colliding with a body and falling to the ground. Speedy had been walking backwards and Batgirl hadn't had a chance to stop him before he walked right into her. "Hey!" She exclaimed, making sure the syringe didn't penetrate the bag and Speedy. That would have been bad. "You know you don't have eyes in the back of your head. You should walk forwards more." She laughed easily and stood up, dusting herself off with her free hand.

[Bry]

"Kid Flash has nothing on me," Raven replied, returning Speedy's smile with a rare one of her own. She was still juggling the bottles in her arms, doing her best to make sure none of them broke. That would be bad for so many reasons.

"There are two more in the room I found these," she informed no one in particular, finally getting a grasp on the ones she had managed to snatch. She looked up at Speedy's refferal to her as a 'pretty lady,' and then she glanced at Ricky, the little butterfly in Mei's arms. She couldn't truly be called 'good with children,' but Ricky managed to steal her heart just by blinking at her.

And then Speedy was giving orders in a very Robin-esque voice, and she was paying attention again, her head right back in the mission. Slowly, they made their way down the hall, Speedy walking backwards, his bow trained behind the team, acting every inch a leader. Raven kept her ears open, and attempted to grasp at the emotions coming from each room--the ones with living creatures in them anyway--So as to have a warning of anything they might encounter.

Three very familiar beings brushed her consciousness and she opened her mouth to voice a warning, just as Batgirl burst from the room closest them, and ran head-on into Speedy, falling to the floor.

"Way to go, Speedy," she remarked quietly. "Bowling the team over, one member at a time." She looked down at Batgirl, and almost offered her a hand up before realizing she had no hands to offer. Instead she asked, "Are you okay?" And then she craned her head around, looking for Robin and Beast Boy, wondering exactly what they'd been doing in that room.... Who was giving off such vibes of terrible fear...?

[Kenni]

As the impromptu leader-figure made his way down the hall, he heard Raven's additional statement, grinning.
"Great! We'll have to stop by and pick them up soon so we don't forget about them. The more the merrier, eh Your Highness?" A little flourishing bow as he swept up the vials Raven was doing a balancing act with, freeing her hands and saving them in his quiver, a little too long spent in the flourish, missing her facial cue to look behind him before it was too late. The staggering forward, just catching himself before falling atop Raven and bringing more Titans to the ground. His next comment might've been taken equally as flirting with one, the other, or both she-Titans at once, knowing his reputation.
"Wh-whoa there! It's best I don't drop you until we're somewhere a little more comfortable, Milady. So very sorrily I beg pardon; so hard to restrain myself." he replied roguishly, looking at and landing on Raven first, stopping them from falling by a handily-placed palm around her mid-back and his other fist clamped around a stray metal barb in the basement-level wall. He'd fallen towards her, almost flooring them both in the immediacy of her being in front of Mei and Ricky as they traversed the almost-liberated Hailite Building lower-levels. Although he was facing her when he said it, it was quickly apparent the same could be said towards Batgirl, whom he spun around to face, allowing the apology to make it's way her direction.

Dusting Bat Prodigy the II off an unnecessary few more brushes at her shoulders, Speedy affected the air of a complete ham. Grinning as he noted Robin and Beast Boy were to be found behind Batgirl, he expressed his relief, relinquishing his leader position with no hard feelings. It was good to see Robin was alright & that Beast Boy had taken care of that blue menace from a while back.
"You guys been having nap-time or what? Lookin' a liddle woozy there, Robbaby." laughed the archer, lowering his guard a little upon the reunited front of most of their team gathered around him. What safer group to be a part of in this city?
He imagined their work here was done, not knowing at all about Robin's run in with Chang or the aid from the other two that had taken place.

As the ambulances and Jump PD arrived among reporters and hype at Hailite, with special ops from the PD division storming the castle, Speedy looked around at his comrades, his friends, relinquishing most of the bottles of possible vaccine Raven had so graciously found them to the proper Mayo Clinic authorities as the Titans tried to slip out unnoticed. It seemed they were all pretty tired and didn't feel much like attending to the media at the moment concerning this debacle of human rights.
"I think we could all use some Nap-over-Time. Great job today, all."

But what would Robin's encounter with Chang mean for the Titans...?

OoC; So this is meant to be a closing post for this thread, unless you guys had other plans for stuff to flesh out for Hailite. Lemme know about any objections to this xD |