New To The Family

Chapter 23: Teamwork

Huntress hated the fact that she was hiding, but she was trusting her friends to deal with Clayface, just like Robin had asked. She wanted to go down and help them fight the monster, but reluctantly admitted that he was right. Clayface was after her, and they couldn't fight him and keep her safe at the same time.

"I don't need to be kept safe," she grumbled irritably.

Yet she had agreed to let them take care of the threat all the same. However, she still refused to leave the Tower. If Clayface managed to beat her friends and couldn't find her, she knew he would kill them instead. But if she knew Clayface like she thought she did, as long as she was still in the Tower, if he did manage to beat them, he would use them to get to her to come out of hiding, and she would get chance to save them.

"Come on, guys," she whispered, "you can do it."

Her fingers tapped against her side impatiently as she waited. She had a shuriken in one hand and her pole in the other, ready in case it was Clayface that came in. She had faith in her friends, they were each very powerful in their own right, but Clayface was so... unique. It seemed impossible to damage him at all. How do you defeat someone with a body like his?

"Air tight jar," she quietly theorized out loud. "Deep freeze him. Would that even work?"

The sound of a door opening brought her out of her thoughts, and she tensed up, ready for anything. But then she heard Robin call out to her. "Helena, you still there? It's ok, you can come out now?"

She raised an eyebrow at this and looked out of the grates of the air duct she was hiding in. She saw not only Robin, but the rest of the team, minus Cyborg, who was still missing. They had to find out what Clayface did with him. She hoped he was ok.

"Helena," said Starfire, "it is safe. Raven opened a portal and sent him away."

The Azarathian nodded. "He won't be coming back any time soon."

"We're going to call Batman and Catwoman," Blue Beetle added. "Your mother would want to know you're alright."

Scowling slightly. Huntress kicked open the air duct and dropped down. "What about you guys? You all ok?"

Beast Boy gave her a thumbs up. "You bet. Old Clayface was no match for the Teen Titans."

Robin motioned her over. "Come on, let's call Batman."

Huntress stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, sure, just one thing."

Quick as lightning, she threw several shuriken, each one striking a different Titan in vital places. There was no blood anywhere, but the area around the shuriken had turned a brown mud color.

Huntress glared. "I wouldn't fall for your lame ass impersonation a second time."

All five phony Titans scowled at her. They liquefied and came together, forming Clayface, and the shuriken seeped out of his body, leaving him unharmed. "How'd you know?"

Huntress snorted. "You can imitate appearances, but there's some things you missed. Speeches patterns for one, accents, behaviors, body language. My friends have different traits that are exclusive to them that your copies lacked. Also, I could sense your hostility." She sniffed with her extra sensitive nose. "And then there's personal hygiene to consider. But besides all of that," she twirled around her pole, "your Robin copy didn't say the code word to let me know it's safe. That's a basic precaution, dumbass."

Clayface looked surprised, but then he chuckled. "Very cute. But if you knew, then why did you come out?"

Behind her mask, Huntress glared at him. "To find out what you did with my friends."