Fan Fiction ❯ Teen Titans X ❯ Million Dollar Morning ( Chapter 4 )

A little craziness in this chapter. Hey, just cause this is a serious story doesn't mean I won't put the occasional insanity. To be honest I'm a little disappointed with this chapter. True it brings up and makes some good points I feel like to much was said and not enough done. Hopefully you guys will like it anyway and still support the story cause next chapter there is finally going to be some action again and maybe a death.

(lol, teaser. Is he serious? You just have to wait to find out) Anyway, lets hear from the reviewers:

 

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, Willy Wonka, the Ompa Lumpas, Super Smash Brothers Melee or any character in it, or Alex Chui. (that's just a shout out) I do own Khalid so if you steal him I will eat your soul!

Teen Titans X

Written by: Juggalomalice

Chapter 4: Million Dollar Morning

 

Morning came sooner then anyone had expected in Titans Tower. Cyborg and Beast Boy were on their way to the kitchen having their daily argument of tofu verses meat like any other day. According to Beast Boy just because Cyborg was leaving in a few days didn't mean he would surrender his fort of Tofu Supremacy and Cyborg was more then happy to proceed with his Meat Siege. Though Cyborg would never admit it he knew he would miss the tofu eating green bugger the most when he left. The very fact that he insist on arguing with him this morning, at the very least, made Cyborg feel like it was a normal day even though he knew very well that it wasn't. This fact of life became very apparent once the metal door to the commons and kitchen slid open.

The bright light from the room shined with blinding radiance as if every surface was an embodiment of the sun itself. The two teens nearly collapsed from the sudden burst of light that flooded their eyes. After a brief few seconds their eyes finally adjusted to the light as they stepped into a room that `looked' like their normal living room and kitchen, but wasn't. It was as if they had stepped into an episode of “Life Styles of the Rich and Famous”. The floor they were standing on seemed to be made of solid marble, the TV looked like it was laced with gold, the sofa was covered with what look like silk sheets, and every table, chair and counter was laced with silver and rubies.

To the side in the kitchen Khalid calmly sat on a barstool made of solid gold reading the morning newspaper. In front of him was a half-eaten plate of pancakes and what appeared to be a crystal teacup full of a greenish liquid that he occasionally sipped from. Yet as strange as the sight of him was it was not enough to prepare the two veteran Titans for what they saw next.

Jinx stood right in front of a gold plated oven flipping pancakes with a jewel encrusted spatula. She turned to them and gave a rather bright morning greetings. The two boys stared in wonder at the semi-Goth. She wore a black apron over her cloths which read “Kiss Me, I'm Evil” and wasn't wearing any make-up. Her natural beauty seemed to be almost picture perfect in the morning atmosphere. Beast Boy was amazed that he never noticed how attractive Jinx was and the smile he had inside was twice the size of the one he flashed back at the pink haired girl. If the team could wake to a simile like that every morning he had a good feeling the tower wouldn't be so gloomy anymore. It faintly reminded him of Starfire's smile, but with a strange hint of cat like mischief. Cyborg himself was dumbfounded as he temporary forgot why he had rejected to the girl's desire to join the team in the first place as his old infatuations for the girl were revived. Or at least he forgot till he asked himself where the hell all the gold and gems came from.

“Jinx, where the hell did all this stuff come from!? Don't tell me you went and knocked over a jewelry store while we slept!” Cyborg asked in an accusing manner.

“Humph, for your information I haven't stolen anything. For that matter I haven't done anything illegal.” She snapped back.

“You haven't?” Cyborg asked back in a confused manner.

“No.” Jinx firmly stated once again. “Now do you two want the breakfast I made for you guys or do you think I stole that too?”

Beast Boy jumped at the sound of breakfast, one of his three favorite words. The other two being lunch and dinner. “Hey Cyborg speaks for himself. Come on Jinx; lay me with that pancake goodness!” Beast Boy exclaimed as he eagerly took a seat at the counter abandoning his friend for food.

Cyborg grumbled to himself about how Beast Boy was a traitor and such as he took a seat next to the green changeling. Jinx gave a light giggle as she produced two plates stacked high with pancakes dripping with syrup and butter and placed them in front of the two hungry teens. Beast Boy hastily picked up the nearby fork and began to ravish the food placed in front of him. Cyborg picked up his fork and prepared to follow suit had not the gleaming luster of his fork catch his attention. He stared at the golden fork in his hand.

“Is this solid gold?” Cyborg asked himself out loud not noticing the plate of bacon and sausage and tofu equivalents Jinx had placed between him and Beast Boy

“Yes” the monotone voice of Khalid came from behind the newspaper.

“But how did we get solid gold tableware? How did we get a marble table? How did we get a gold plated TV? How did we get any of this!?” He nearly yelled

“How did we get what?” came X's trademark voice of indifference as the doors behind them slide open again to reveal the darker members of the team, Red X and Raven.

As soon as the doors fully opened X flinched at the sudden increase of light as he adjusted the shading level on his mask. Raven covered her eyes with a hand as she pulled her hood over her head as far as she could. Even then she gave it a few tugs as if she was trying to get more out of it for good measure.

“What happened here?” X asked as he stared in amazement at the room.

“That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out.” Cyborg said he showed X the solid gold fork and flicked it with his finger. “Thing's solid gold and Jinx claims to have nothing to do with this.”

“I didn't say I had nothing to do with it. I said I didn't do anything illegal.” Jinx corrected

“What do you mean?” X asked

“Well since I was going to be staying in the living room I just asked Khalid to make a few changes and well I guess I got carried away. Oh, are you and Raven hungry? I made pancakes.” Jinx answered back as she changed the subject without a second thought.

X didn't answer Jinx's question as he turned his attention to the local apath who didn't seem to take any interest in the fact that he was dragged into the discussion. “Khalid?” X's cold voice sounded as he drew Khalid's attention.

“Yes?” Khalid answered back matching X's coldness with indifference.

“What did you do you here?”

“Simple matter conversions and transmutations. Pretty easy stuff over all. Why?” Khalid answered as if he didn't know that he was in trouble.

“Why would you do such a thing?” X asked in minor frustration in an attempt to understand what the apath was thinking.

Khalid put his paper down as he casually tilted his head upward in thought. “Well Jinx asked me and I had no reason to say no.” he answered in a simple matter of fact manner.

X went quite for a moment as he considered Khalid's answer. He didn't know if he should get mad or just laugh at the simplicity of the answer. It was like something a child would say. “Can you reverse it?” X asked after a moment his voice taking on a lighter tone.

“Of course, it's such a simple process a monkey could learn to do it.” Khalid answered as he picked up the paper again.

“I guess that means Beast Boy will never be able to learn it.” Raven sarcastically remarked

“Hey for you're information I can turn into any monkey under the sun.” Beast Boy retorted as he turned into a spider monkey to prove his point.

“Unfortunately you don't get any smarter as them.” Raven countered. A horde of laughter rose in the room from just about everyone except X and Khalid. X because he refused to laugh and Khalid because he didn't care too.

“Anyway, I expect you to fix this after breakfast alright Khalid?” X added at the end of the laughter as he took a seat next to Khalid.

“Sure thing.” Khalid answered never once moving his eyes from the paper.

“Jinx did you make coffee?” X asked the pink sorceress.

“Yeah, want a cup?” she answered rather happily

“Yeah, black ok.”

“Sure thing.” She answered as she made her way to get a cup.

In the commotion of laughter Raven had already made her way to the cupboard and was pulling a cup out for her morning tea. She had overheard the conversation and had pulled out a silver cup laced with greens gems and handed it to Jinx as she approached. Apparently Khalid and Jinx didn't miss a single dish in the kitchen.

“Thank you.” Jinx said as she took the cup from Raven's hand. The two magic user's hands touched briefly as they exchanged the cup and Raven felt a strong wave of happiness flow off of Jinx. She still wasn't sure if Jinx could be trusted, but the very fact that she was so happy was a pretty good sign. Raven pulled out a cup for herself, hers was gold with rubies on the handle, and reached for her teapot. She made a grab on to feel air. Her teapot had been moved. She glanced around the kitchen to see it, now with a platinum covering, sitting on the stove apparently having recently been used.

“Did someone use my teapot?” Raven asked with a hint of annoyance

“That would be me again.” Khalid answered as he lowered the paper to look at Raven. “I found a whole cupboard full of tea and decided to help myself to some of the green tea there. I hope that's alright with you. There's still plenty in there if you want a cup.”

Raven poured a cup of the green tea and took a sip and instantly her eyes shot up. “This is pretty good. What did you put in it?”

“Nothing much. A bit of honey and some ginseng for kick. I got hooked on the stuff when I was kid. Just about the only thing there was to drink at home besides water.” Khalid answered as he picked up the paper and began to read again. He glanced at the two pages he was on and flipped through them immediately apparently finding nothing of interest in them.

Jinx had returned to X with the cup of coffee which she handed to him. She kneeled on the seat directly in front of him and stared at him. X glanced at her in a confused manner.

“Yes?” he asked the cat eyed teen.

“Are you hungry?” she asked him with a bit more eagerness then necessary

“No I'm fine.” X answered her without a thought.

“Are you sure you're not hungry?” She asked again in a persistent manner.

“Yeah I'm sure. I usually don't eat much in the morning.” He answered again with no real thought.

“But I made you a special breakfast.” Jinx answered in almost a desperate tone.

“Sorry Jinx, but I'm just not hungry.”

“But…” Jinx said trying to counter his reasons but finding herself failing miserably. She was just about to give up too.

“Just eat the damn breakfast X. She worked really hard on it the least you could do is try it.” Khalid snapped out his voice carrying the slightest amount of annoyance and impatience. For anyone else it would not have been noticed, but for Khalid, who everyone had already gotten accustomed to as indifferent, the smallest hint of emotion was enough to get everyone to stare at him in shock. Khalid looked around him at the many eyes staring at him. “What?” He asked as his voice once again took on its boring monotone demeanor as he turned back to the paper. With that shock passed everyone's attention turned towards X as they awaited his answer.

X felt the attention of the room shift towards him. He stared at Jinx who was staring back with pleading eyes as she bit her lower lip. “She looks really cute like that.” The thought slipped by him before you knew it. X mentally slapped himself. He shouldn't be thinking that. Still he continued to stare at her until finally he gave up.

“Ok I guess I could try it at least.” X finally said.

Jinx practically jumped off her chair at the sound of as she ran to the other side of the kitchen to the microwave and opened it. She pulled out a plate and rushed back towards X as she placed it in front of him. It wasn't anything fancy. The meal consisted of three strips of bacon, sausage links and three pancakes. What really caught X's attention, and that of the rest of the team as they peeked over at the plate, was that the top pancake was dyed black with food color as a light layer of powdered sugar formed the shape of a skull and his trademark jagged red-x was painted right in the upper-center of the pancake with red strawberry jam. It may not have been fancy, but it was well thought out and considerate.

Jinx was again kneeling in the seat in front of X as she leaned in towards him on her elbows with a rather ecstatic smile. She looked like an overjoyed newly wed wife who impatiently awaited her husband to give her the first official compliment of their married lives.

“Jinx, I don't know what to say. This looks amazing.” X stated honestly with a somewhat lack of words.

If it was possible Jinx's smile would have grown bigger. “Well you could take a bite and let me know how it tastes.” Jinx said with a flirty giggle.

X was a bit nervous from all the attention he was getting, but he had accepted the meal and now he had to eat it. He reached up to his face and pressed some unseen button on the side of his mask. A low click was heard followed by a slight pop as X slide the skull mask off his face and placed it at the side of his plate. His face looked just as it always had when he held the persona of Robin except that his hair was bit longer and unkempt. Aside from that he was still very clean shaven and still wore his old Robin mask over his eyes. This was no real surprise to the veteran Titans. They had grown accustomed to X only removing his mask when he ate, but most of the time he would take his food with him to his room or the crime lab. As such it was a rare sight indeed to see X eat with the team.

X picked up the fork that, apparently made of diamond, came with the plate of food. He cut into the flat cake with the edge of the fork and stab it once a piece was free. The room fell silent for the exception of the occasional flipping of paper from Khalid as everyone watched X as if the moment he bit into the pancake a new world order of some kind would begin. X lifted the forkful of food to his mouth and placed it in there. He pulled the fork out and chewed at what seemed a painfully slow rate. His eyes closed as his jaw went about doing what they were meant to do. After was seemed like a millennium he finally swallowed.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they expected the worse from the cold hearted leader. Jinxed leaned a littler further on her elbows. Her face a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. She waited and stared with intense interest as if the next words out of X's mouth would be remembered and replayed in her mind for all eternity. To everyone's surprise a small smile appeared on X's face. The first in a very long time.

“This is really good Jinx.” X said trying to sound as calm as he could but still letting a little too much excitement slip through. Beast Boy and Cyborg were speechless. X was smiling and appeared to be in a good mood. This just didn't happen. X doesn't smile.

Raven lowered her head at the sight of X smiling. She felt a slight pang of pain and failure in her heart. Jinx had accomplished in less then one day what she couldn't do in over three months. She was glad that X smiled. She just wished it was her who made him.

Jinx turned away and gave a slight blush at X's compliment. X didn't seem to notice it as he took another bite out of his breakfast. It wasn't long before Jinx was once again staring at him.

“Is something the matter Jinx?” He asked as soon as he realized she wasn't going to look away.

“No, nothing at all.” She answered with a smile.

“Ok, hmm are you going to get any breakfast for your self?”

“I ate earlier.”

“Oh.” X asked a bit discouraged. It wasn't that he didn't like his breakfast. It was pretty damn good and it wasn't that he found Jinx to be unpleasant to the eyes. She was really pretty when she wasn't being a psychotic lunatic. It's just her continuous staring was making him uneasy. Why did she keep staring at him? He glanced up at her. Her eyes affixed on him taking in every action he made. It might have been possible for X to ignore Jinx's eyes its just that all the attention she was giving him as drawing the attention of the rest of them resulting in not just one pair of eyes watching him, but four.

X gave the room a casual look over as he searched for a way to escape all the staring. There was of course his mask, but that was just too obvious a sign of hiding. His answer came in the sound of ruffled papers as he turned towards the white hair apath who looked as if the newspaper was the incarnation of boredom.

“Are you done with the paper Khalid?” X asked in a casually manner

“I'll give you what I'm done with.” Came the monotone answer as Khalid pulled out a single sheet of the paper and handed the rest to X. In a some what out of character action Khalid now read the remains of the newspaper he held with intense interest. The black bold letters on the top of the newspaper sheet he held read “Obituaries”.

“What you looking for?” Beast Boy asked as he looked over at Khalid's focused face.

“Dead people.” Was Khalid's answer. A short, general, and unhelpful answer.

“Well duh, but why?” Beast Boy rephrased in hopes of getting a more informative response.

“I'm looking for a specific type of death if you must know.” Khalid answered once again. His voice showing no sign of annoyance from Beast Boy's questions as his attention stayed focused on the paper. The rest of the team looked a Khalid in a confused manner. Khalid's answer was strange to say the least and did nothing but prop more questions.

“How specific?” Cyborg asked unsure of how to ask the question.

“I'm looking for any and all deaths of unknown origins where there was no sign of external or internal cause of death.” The answer came in almost an automatic manner as if Khalid had given it a great many times in his life. It seemed like Khalid was very familiar with the signs he was looking, but his answers gave no indication why he was looking for these sorts of things.

“Why? What are you looking for?” X asked slightly concerned. X was rather familiar with obsessive behaviors and Khalid seemed to be displaying some in this search of questionable intent.

“Nothing.” Khalid answered in the simplest and most unmeaning of voices.

X's brow narrowed at the answer. His detective skills hard at work trying to decipher any hidden meanings or intents in Khalid's answer. It didn't seem like Khalid was lying. I just seemed like he meant a lot more than what he said. X pushed the thought aside. He knew full well from his research that Khalid had a sketchy past and he figured that when he was ready he would tell the team any secrets he had.

Khalid folded the newspaper apparently finding nothing to aid him in his unknown search. His face losing any interest he might have held in the piece of paper as his familiar blank expression came back on. It was clear that little if anything outside his own world mattered to him and he made no effort to hide it.

With X now hiding behind his newspaper Jinx was steadily growing tired of reading the sports review on the back. She got up from her chair and walked over to the sofa picking up the remote and flipping the TV on. The TV came to life revealing a news program of some sort.

“Welcome back to The Action News Report.” A man with slicked back black hair and a suit said. “Headlines were made nation-wide as Umpa Lumpa's Labor Union, which has worked for the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory since it's construction in the 1960's, went on strike today. The Chairman of the Union and organizer of the strike had this to say.”

The screen changed to what appeared to be a press conference. In the front of the room was a podium at which stood a short orange midget with green hair and clown cloths. He slammed his tiny fist on the podium and yelled, “We demand sacrifice!!” The screen froze and shrank into a window in the upper left corner of the screen as the Action News anchor appeared once more.

“With us today is our Labor Specialists, Alex Chiu.” The camera moved to the side a bit to reveal an Asian man with a black suit and tie. “Alex, what can you tell us about this strike?”

Alex Chiu cleared his throat and then in an unseen burst of rage stood up so fast that his chair was thrown behind him. He flipped the cameras off and yelled, “Fark you Eeckel, yo!” After that a fight broke out between the set crew and Alex and a technical difficulty message appeared on the screen.

Every one of the Titans stared in confusion at the mayhem that broke out on the news. Though the televised incident came as a shock it was quickly forgotten. With that the rest of breakfast passed by uneventful.

X reached out for his mask and with a snap had it back on his face. He swiftly washed his plate and cup and headed for the door. He stopped momentarily and looked back at the rest of the team as they threw their own dishes in the sink.

“Combat practice is at 12 sharp Titans. Don't be late or you'll have to run the course an extra time for each minute you're late.” With that X made his exist.

Beast Boy let out a loud grown at the sound of this. He always had to run the courses multiple times. Once X made him do the same exercise 30 times cause of his tardiness. The continuous practice had done wonders for Beast Boy's fighting skills, but never helped him be more punctual.

“Easy up BB. We still got several hours till then. Want me to whip you at `Smash Brothers' in the mean time?” Cyborg jested as he gave the green youngster a playful punch.

“You're on Cy.” Beast Boy confidently said as the two rushed over to the sofa and leapt over it to their designated seats. Jinx had to dive out of the way of the leaping bodies of the young Titans if she didn't want to get squished by them. Cyborg quickly hooked up the universal game console he invented and popped in `Super Smash Brothers Melee' and handed a controller to Beast Boy.

“Hey mind if I join you guys?” Jinx asked as she got back up on the couch from her dive. Cyborg and Beast Boy were rather taken back by this request as they gave each other a baffled look.

“I guess there's no reason why you can't play.” Cyborg admitted as he handed a controller to Jinx.

“Yeah, the more the merrier.” Beast Boy added, “Just don't expect us guys to go easy on you just cause you're a girl alright.”

“And why would you say that?” Jinx asked with an unbelieving look on her face.

“Cause it's a known fact that guys are better than girls at video games.” Beast Boy answered.

Jinx gave them a bemused expression. “You know you two sound like Mammoth and Gizmo.” She said as her Kirby easily kicked Cyborg's Ness and Beast Boy's Link off the screen. “At least you sound like them before I kicked their butts.” She added with her confident smile.

The two male gamers stared in shock as they shouted for a rematch with Jinx that ended in similar results. Raven sat at the end of the sofa reading a book giving the three an occasional glance. It seemed Jinx was adjusting well so far and that was good. Raven gave a slight smile to herself behind her book. Raven shivered a bit as she felt the atmosphere around her get slightly colder. She had a good idea why too. She gave a nervous glance to her side to see Khalid almost hover by her. His empty expression only matched by his nearly non-existent aura.

He briefly brushed the sofa with his hand as he passed by her as a yellow blue light filled the sofa and it returned to its original state. He walked past the game screen as he continued to lightly touch various objects in a similar process. Bluish-yellow light shined as everything he touched returned to normal state no longer lined with gems or precious metals. He didn't seem to notice the stares he was receiving and if he did he gave no sign that he cared.

“Hey Khalid you want to join us when you're done?” Jinx asked unexpectedly. Khalid gave her a casual glance from over his shoulder as he converted the kitchen counter back to its original state.

“Sure, why not?”

End Chapter 4

Ending rant oh I do love my ending rants. Lol

If you haven't noticed yet, this story is going to be a love triangle between Red X, Raven and Jinx. (Remember my summery) I'm sure you've noticed that, but for those who haven't noticed yet here's your warning. So no flames on how you hate Rob/Jinx.

I seem to be making Khalid out as an older brother figure for Jinx. That was unintentional, but it seems to work for the better good. Amazing how stories evolve as you write them.

I'm still looking for the name of the flower in Kanna's hair. A friend of mine told me that they thought it was just a flower made up for Kanna's look and not based off anything in reality. Is that true? Let me know if you know thank you.