39 Observe And Evolve

(Nathan POV)

Walking through the city with the sun shining in the sky is something so calm that most may consider it one of their favorite hobbies. But what made this walk different was the lack of people on the streets.

Let it be known that some people were walking about, but not nearly enough for a normal day.

As I walked past an electronics store, I saw reports on the screen about a funeral for the people in Metropolis, along with a vigil made for each person. That explained why there were so few people on the streets, but my cynical mind makes me think that some people got the day off just by saying that they were torn up about what happened.

It would be a lie, but it would get most people paid or accepted leave.

For now, though, I walked into a pizza shop as I wanted to eat some before the next train in half an hour. As I walked in, I saw a few people seated and a few people manning the counter.

After walking up to the counter, the one guy at the register smiled in that corporate way and asked: "Hello, sir, what can we get you today?"

"Two slices of cheese and pepperoni; I'm getting something quick before I head out." The man then tapped a few keys on his register and handed a sheet of paper to the chef behind him.

"Alright, sir, that will be $8.50." I reached into my pocket, took out a ten, and handed it to him. As he handed me my change, I walked over to a table and waited for my food. I took a corner booth and waited, looking outside and seeing the empty streets. The waiter then walked over and handed me my food. I gave the man a small tip, and he thanked me and walked away.

But before I could take a bite, I sensed multiple presences approaching the place, and as I looked outside, I saw Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven walking inside. But I wasn't really afraid as I could easily hide my emotional signature so Raven couldn't sense me, and since my face was different, they could not ID me.

As I ate my food, they walked in and approached the counter. Beast Boy said, "Hey, Jason, can we get a few pizzas to go, the normal order?" The man actually smiled at them and nodded as he put in their order.

The change in his emotional state almost made me laugh at the logic of this world, but it's rather simple. These guys do their work for no pay and save the citizens, so it's not too ridiculous to imagine they would be trusted differently.

But I forgot to account for one thing, and as it hit me, I noticed Raven staring right at me.

I killed a demon, and I assumed that the taint would have disappeared after a while, or at least that was my theory as to why the girl had not stopped looking at me. 

I never glanced at her, but my senses, through the force, allowed me greater sight. As I ate the last bite, I handed my plate back and walked out. As I passed by an alley, I stopped and looked behind me and saw her.

"You should be careful." The girl says in that stale tone.

"Excuse me?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"You were around something evil. I would advise stopping what you were doing." Keep speaking in riddles, girl, but I simply nodded and walked away.

Making sure I was decently far away, I spread my sense through the force, found the residual demonic traces, and washed them away using the dark side. I could practically see them being vacuumed up by the endless dark. Thankfully, I was able to do this, and with my assimilation increasing, I could sense more and more from the dark side.

It beacons me closer, like a lover but with the undertone of a jailer or a yandere girlfriend. It desires me to give in, but I simply ignore it as I do not need to delve any deeper, at least not yet. 

Changing my face again along with my aura, I walked past a small bank as I sensed danger and jumped away before the front of the bank exploded, and out came Mammoth holding multiple bags of money.

As I got up, I saw a chance to devour some more abilities, and from their roster, I saw Mammoth, Psimon, Gizmo, Jinx, and Billy Numerous. All of them began to run into the sewers. With Mammoth being too big for the manhole cover, he simply ripped up a part of the street and all jumped in. My question is, where the Titans were during all of this?

My question was answered as I saw a yellow blur in front of me as I watched from the rooftop a block away. My enhanced senses followed the Titans that showed up. 

I did manage to place a small piece of biomass on Mammoth before they left, so I just needed to wait. As I saw Superboy and Red Robin go into the sewers, I phased through the street and waited on the opposite side.

"Well, I did not expect the Titans to be here. Aren't you all too busy mourning for that dead city?" Psimon says as he stands behind his group. Superboy, Kid Flash, and Red Robin are all getting ready for battle.

"They have better things to do than look for you guys," Superboy says as he jumps at Mammoth, sending them both flying deeper into the swerve tunnel they were in.

Bart had already run forward and slammed Billy Numerous in the head with a barrage of punches so he couldn't duplicate. After all the punches landed, Bart was already behind him. He slammed his elbow against the guy's back and launched him away. Red Robin throws multiple of his robin rangs at Jinx and Psimon, and as they both dodge them, Jinx throws a wave of flame at Robin.

Thanks to what I assume was a flame-resistant cape, the kid then dodged through the flames and slammed his fist into Psimon's face, sending him into a wall as Jinx launched a barrage of water at him. 

Robin, unable to dodge in time, is launched away by the water but is soon grabbed by Kid Flash before he can hit the wall.

Robin coughed out some sewer water and groaningly said, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Kid Flash, chuckling at his friend, says, "Just make sure to have a lot of breath mints after we get back, or Wonder Girl will not be kissing that mouth for a while." he then dashed away and grabbed Jinx's arm before spinning her around and around and then using the momentum from all the spinning he threw the girl into a nearby wall.

After being nearly drowned in sewer water, Robin threw some more of those robin rangs. When they landed, a sheet of ice spewed around Jinx, freezing her in place. Superboy, on the other hand, was grappling with Mammoth. 

As the giant man tried to slam his fists into Superboy, the half-Kryptonian dodged the punch, slammed his fist into Mammoth's face, and followed up with multiple rapid hits to the stomach before grabbing his head and slamming him into the ground.

Cracks spread across the sewer due to the force of those blows, and Mammoth went down thus, Mammoth and Jinx were out of the fight, leaving only Psimon, Billy, and Gizmo, and as Gizmo attempted to teleport away along with the others, Beast Boy, who had just arrived had already taken the teleportation belt form the kid-sized adult and then proceeded to turn into a tiger and grasp Gizmo in his mouth and spin him around.

"Let me go, you accursed feline!" Gizmo says as he gets very wet from Beast Boy's slobber before the tiger smiles and turns into a hippo, with Gizmo now stuck in Beast Boy's mouth lest the hippo's jaw crush him.

Cyborg then walked over and placed a small device on Gizmo, deactivating his tech. Beast Boy proceeded to spit him out while he faked a cough while yelling, "Great! Now my mouth tastes like neckbeard and crap!"

Cyborg shakes his head in amusement as the Titans, now including Red Robin, Beast Boy, Superboy, Cyborg, Kid Flash, Starfire, and Raven, look at Psimon and Billy.

Psimon, looking rather angry, then yells out, "Psimon says die!" he then unleashes a rather large psionic blast that sends the Titans flying before the now angry psychic, then looks to Billy and says, "This group has served their usefulness now goodbye. Sacrifice yourself for Psimon."

Now mentally entranced by Psimon, Billy summons a hundred clones armed with grenades from Gizmo that rush the Titans as he runs deeper into the sewer. Now is my time.

As he turns through one of the sewers while the Titans try to stop the real Billy from dying, I begin to follow him deeper into the sewer.

"Those fools had long served their purpose, and now, with Joker dead, Psimon can take the clown's place. Yes, that sounds perfect. Psimon likes this." His run is then interrupted as I drop in front of him.

"Who are you?!" He isn't able to say more as I grip him by the neck and slam him into the ground over and over again. Absorbing him and his psychic powers. I could feel my mind opening its senses to the psionic as I finished absorbing him and his memories. I then deleted his ego and returned to my previous hiding spot. I needed that cloning power.

But before phasing back through more of the sewer walls, I saw some of the Titans who had managed to escape the suicidal Billy Numerous clones turned the corner and found nothing. 

Superboy slammed his hand against the sewer wall for "losing" Psimon and looked at Bart, who followed him. They nodded to each other before returning to the other Titans.

Following them but opposite to them, I ran silently along the walls of the opposite sewer and heard the explosions before I saw them. It seemed some of the clones had already suicide bombed. For now, though, I carefully spread my senses through the force to identify the real Billy, and at the back, I saw him.

And I made my move.