Upon Your Doorstep (Open)

In all their years, it seemed inconceivable that the Titans and HIVE had never fought. Not in a pitched battle anyhow. Pix had swung a political hammer, but there were few who believed such contests counted.

It wasn't through lack of notoriety that they hadn't been targeted. HIVE were foremost in theft, premier in street gang warfare, and implicated in the eradication of minor super-hero groups. They had even kidnapped a Titan member once. And still they remained at large. That the Titans could ever claim to be successful with the HIVE Five still at large was laughable.

Pix thought he would make things easy for them for once. Stepping off his pixelated platform, he landed on Titan Island.

For any of those keeping tabs on Jump City, Pix hadn't been seen for at least six months. In that time HIVE had become more subdued. There were even rumours now that they had reinvented themselves as a training facility. But hopefully his hard earned reputation hadn't fallen by the wayside.

Pix had been a notable presence at the prison riot caused by Russia some year back. A riot that had been successfully subdued, unlike the travesties that occurred at the other Russian targeted areas. He'd negotiated the release of Toji with the branch of magical Titans, and he had avoided every attempt at capture, even if a certain hero had come perilously close upon discovering his weakness.

Of course Hugh estimated his own worth far higher than anybody else. But at the very least he calculated that a known felon landing on Titan property ought to raise a few alerts. The Titan leaders did love their surveillance systems. He would walk inland as far as the security system would allow. If by some chance he made it to the door he would knock.

It wasn't so much a matter of "When would the titans realize he was approaching?" as much it was "How long will it take them to run down to the front door?"

The answer to that was about a minute from when he entered the towers airspace. You see, since that little... incident with an insane bird girl, Hotwire had beefed up the airspace scanners to increase their range a bit. Pix would make it about halfway to the tower door before it opened.

There stood Hotwire, and whatever other Titans were around to answer the intruder alarm.

Toji stood beside Hotwire, staring right at Pix."Hiya, buddy!!!!" Despite the friendly tone, the black/gold eyes and lengthened canines, not to mention the curiously still air surrounding his form, attested to the fact that no, he was not pleased to see Hus former captor.

Metamorphi heard the proximity alarms go off while he was hanging out in his room, for once an emergency hadn't gone on while Meta was training. From the report, he knew that the threat he was responding to was a known criminal, Pix, walking over to the tower. Meta ran down and came out besides his leader and Toji, his 'pack brother'.

The walking talking sprite stared back at them with his distinguished expression. (o__o) He approved of the reception committee. Pix knew that someone of his calibre necessitated at least three Titans. Reputation wasn't a thing you could buy, it had to be earned. Recognition was a form of respect and the villain was very grateful to the Titans for giving him what he was due. Even better, no one had attacked him or demanded he surrender. Uncommonly sensible. They must have been wary. His unexpected arrival had no doubt shaken them.

Since they were offering him first word Pix would seize his moment. His neck craned upwards, gazing at the skyscraper before him, “Nice place. I saw the flood breaks out front. You must be worried that the tide will wash away your sand castle again.” When last Pix was in Jump the new Tower was still under construction. The old base had been hit by a tidal wave or similar. Doubtless it was a sensitive topic, “I'll be interested to know if the insurance paid out on that one.” They would be covered for flood damage. But not for Act of Aqualad.

Pix inched gradually forward, “Not much else on display though. No turrets, no lasers, no blaring siren. Hiding it are you? Saving it for when you actually need it. Because you're ninety-eight percent sure I'm alone. Less since I brought it up.” His arms rose above his head in a gesture of non-violence. Let's not mistake hypothetical threats for the real thing.

And because the sprite was not yet tired of listening to himself, “Let me guess. Hotwire's scanning me for tech. I left it all at home. Lightning Wolf is looking for an excuse. I don't want to give him one. Meta... harder to read, but he's never been that important. Now, I am really interested to see if anyone can guess why I'm here.” He opened up the floor to response. Of course he could have just told them, but the reminder of how dumb these Titans were would be a nice little pick-me-up. (^_^)

Man. This guy was striking all the right nerves. At the comment on the insurance Hotwire blurted "Yeah!? Well... you don't even have a face!"

Yep. Our hero everyone.

Then he began trying to get in the heroes minds. That would ultimately backfire in the long run. While sure it got Hotwire thinking about whether or not this was an elaborate trap, it at least told him that this guy was in the mood for playing mind games. Indeed, Hotwire was scanning him for tech. Nothing. Well hey, an honest criminal had to count for something right?

"Let's see. You couldn't be here for a direct confrontation. That would be too risky. We may not know what kind of firepower you have behind you, but we don't need to. You have no idea what we have either. So I'm going to venture a guess. You're here to call us out. You want a fight, but on neutral turf."

Hearing the comeback, Toji looks at his alpha with a raised brow, but looks back at Pix and grins."Awwwwww...I wouldn't  be such a bad host as that...You know......like you and your crew were? Just a little tip, in case you ever have me over again...I hate having my mind messed with." He leans forward, then leans back,pretending to think."Oh, let's see...hmm...is it to sell cookies? Or is it directions for the arcade?Odd that...You oughta know....Wait!!!! I got it!!!! You need some flowers and mushrooms!!! Or, you know, you could be trying to mess with us." 

Meta wondered what Pix was going to say, but it seemed that he just wanted to waste time firing shots about the tower being destroyed back in the war, then going on to talk about how there wasn't much defence on display. He then talked about what the Titans were doing, calling Meta unimportant, Meta didn't particularly care about his petty insults though and didn't grace it with a response, sadly his leader could not say the same.

Pix also asked if anyone could guess why he was there, the others gave their responses, but Meta had no patience for a waste of time such as this Just tell us.

It felt like he almost knew them. Pix had studied all the main Titans from afar for years. And not in an admiring way. He liked to scoff and poke fun at tales of their exploits as if it were obtuse propaganda. The other members of HIVE rightly ignored him when he began highlighting errors, falsehoods, and shortcomings. He was the superhero critique that nobody wanted to listen to. He had almost deluded himself into thinking he could predict them. And yet for a few this was their first time meeting.

Hotwire went to answer first. As expected. Their resident problem solver. Leave all the hard work to the red-head. Everyone else can have this brain-motion off. He manipulates machines - he must be clever! Only comparatively.

"Our first guess. He~ shoots, he~ breaks his metatarsal and ruins a promising sports career. Listen genius. There are so many different ways I could call you out that even I would run out of breathe before I got to the end of that list. And none of those methods involve putting myself at risk of being captured. Because as you just said - I don't know what firepower you got on this island. I could be standing on a force-field trap for all I know." (>_>) Pix pawed the ground with his foot, as if he could unearth a hidden landmine.

Toji went next. A powerhouse. Never had to live in the brittle world of humans. He predictably demonstrated a carefree attitude. Because when you shrug off shrapnel, there's nothing serious in life anymore. He was going to make those jokes whether Pix was friend or foe.

"Messing with you is a bonus. I can multitask. For example, I'm talking to you and ignoring what you say both at the same time!" (=D) Pix had been exposed to such jokes before. Quinn always had something new and witty to say about his spritely exterior. They didn't impress him much anymore.

Last and by all means least came Meta. If hitting things was the solution, he was your man. Not much better than a thug. Unimaginative and crude. It irked Pix that he wouldn't play his game, but it wasn't an unforeseen reaction.

"You know, Meta, what impresses me the most about you is that you never give up." (-﹏-) But he supposed he couldn't leave these three in suspense all day. Sooner or later one of them was going to decide that hitting him was an appropriate course of action (it wasn't). And then he would lose his momentum.

"I'll give you a clue." Pix closed his eyes (>.<) and concentrated. Gradually his body became less granulated, his outline less angular, and his expression more natural. Gone were the pixels that made up his body. He was left a being of flesh and blood. The human opened his eyes and looked back at the Titans, "My name is Hugh Matthew Exley. I was born in California. And I am very much a criminal accused of tangible crimes."

Hugh folded his arms and quirked a smile, fancing he'd foxed them further, "Do you need another clue?" Hopefully nobody decided to start that punching now.

It turns out Hotwire was wrong. Then what could he- wait. What was he doing? He was turning into a regular human? Showing his face? Now he was admitting to all his crimes, and giving a name to the pixel? That was foolhardy. Hotwire knew what a name could do in this field. But it wasn't like he was...

No. That's exactly what he was doing.

"You're surrendering."

Toji gives a reassuring pat to HotWires arm."Not to worry, next time, eh?" Then he gives a menacing grin to the villain."Careful. The hunter knows to keep a eye on the wolf, and so should you." Then Pix transforms. Toji grins, blurring forward, a fist blurring towards the villains cheek.....only for it to stop just as it barely touches said feature. The hand goes into a friendly pat on the shoulder." So that's what you look like, huh?You're really surrendering?" I know, I know, but Toji couldn't resist messing with him a little. Fair dues, and all that.

Meta ignored the sarcastic response to him trying to hurry him up and waited for him to get to the point. Meta watched as his body slowly got less pixelated and more clear, until eventually his true form was revealed, he wasn't anything too impressive. He then said his name and admitted that he was a criminal, that means he was... surrendering? He was about to say it, but Harmon beat him to the punch. Speaking of punch, Toji almost did the same to Pix, but then turned out to be faking it. Meta didn't do anything so drastic, but his body language did change slightly, showing that he was suspicious Are you really surrendering? Why?

As Toji blurred forward, Pix's heart skipped a beat. The fist launched onwards and Hugh recoiled from it. His shoulders bunched and his eyes squeezed shut. It took a couple seconds before he registered the half-demon had stopped. Of all the lousy tricks. As Toji put his hand on Hugh's shoulder, he would be able to feel him shaking. Pix knew all too well how vulnerable he was as a human. Despite his mental calculations he was still scared the Titans would hurt him.

“Basically.” Was the answer to Toji's question. And to Metamorphi he let out a short huff of derision, “I'm sure to you Titans my actions are unfathomable. I'd better explain.” Far be it for them to make a further educated guess. His hands clasped behind his back as he began.

“I have recently been a guest of the American government. I have fought my way through the courts to put a number of allegations behind me. You get a lot of time off for a confession these days. But they couldn't try me for crimes committed under the California regime. Now I can clear up a few embellishments of my criminal escapades here, serve my time, and probably be out in three months flat.” Considering the charges that could be brought against him, that was an optimistic statement. If real justice was served he should be getting years. But Pix was not all bluster when it came to legal intrigue.

“Of course for that I could always go to the police station. It's just a secondary goal. So why approach you? What can the Titans offer me in exchange for my freedom? I know what you're thinking. You have me. You don't need to trade anything. But I assure you my circumstances are beyond refusal.” Now Hugh grinned out of one side of his mouth as he chose his next words carefully, “The Americans have my father. They are blackmailing me (quite ineffectually) into betraying the TIBERIUS government as part of a wider conspiracy to return this State to the fold. I wasn't in America by chance. I was one of several dozen metahumans who have been kidnapped and extradited over the last few months. They are being stigmatised as agents of a dictator.” Sometimes it was difficult to notice, that beneath all the Western Media spin, the American government engaged in just as much skullduggery as any foreign banana republic.

“Or to put it simply for Lightning Wolf – I'm here because I need the Titan's help.” Took them long enough. Given Pix's past history of cooperation with the Titans it was not inconceivable he would seek to do so again. Asking them to rescue his father was a no brainer. Their only alternative was leaving an innocent man to rot at the mercy of a clear and present evil.

If there was anything Hotwire hated, it was a criminal who used the fine lettering of the law to escape punishment. It appeared that's what pix was doing. Using legal loopholes to trick the system, letting him compress all his jailtime 50 fold.

He didn't quite know what to think. There was a lot of nuance to the situation here. The titans would have to consider every detail. He didn't respond to Pix immediately, instead he handed Metamorphi a pair of handcuffs. All things considered, he was probably better at physically restraining a suspect. "Meta, you keep our guest from pulling anything. Toji, I need you to run up to my room." He said pulling out his passcard. When Toji would come up to him, he'd whisper what he needed. "There a small carton in the my filing cabinet. Second drawer from the bottom. There should be a bunch of boxes just like it, but you'er looking for one labelled room configuration. Inside you'll find a bunch of data chips. You need one Titles 'Metahuman Dampening Chamber.' Then I need you to insert it into one of those empty storage rooms on the 6th floor."


Then he approached Pix. "We can't promise any help. We can't even take your words at face value. For know, we're going to keep you in lockup until we decide what we're going to do with you."

Toji feels a slight pinch of guilt, but pushes it down. They had done worse to him, and he was only doing it once. Never less, he gives the crook a reassuring pat."Relax." Then he goes on. The halfling's brows drop down. Kidnapping innocents? He was not pleased....in the slightest. Toji blinks as Hus alpha calls him over, then does so, listening to his instructions.Nodding, the boy blurs away, doing what was asked of him.