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The assignment was granted by personal prowess and expertise. Brain had selected specific individuals to contend with particular Titans. Gizmo, with his mastery of technology, and the duplicitous Billy Numerous were sent after a girl named Kole and her caveman cohort. Accompanying them was Mammoth, lying in wait for the inevitable rescue by a physically stronger Titan. On another side of the world, Overlord would engage with Lightning, matching him blow for electrical blow while his brother endured a beatdown from two powerful brawlers.
Angel, however, had permitted surprise to rise to her face when Brain issued his command. It was a slight slip of her mask, one which he noted with instant mockery. If she could not handle her opponent, then there was no reason for her to associate with the Brotherhood.
But a mere mind could not understand the inner workings of another’s true thoughts. He had no fathomable idea of the chilly emotions stirring in her chest, nor the memories racing to the forefront. The labyrinthine layout of the Academy briefly replaced the lair of the Brotherhood, coupled by the suffocating presence of a girl earning high honors. Angel may have been a picturesque presence of divinity, but the one who stood upon a pedestal leering down on them all was Bumblebee.
Out of every possible Teen Titan, Bumblebee was Angel’s target. Fate smiled with a devious lift of her lips, and Angel shared a smirk.
When Angel reminisced above the city awaiting her inevitable arrival, Bumblebee had blended in without issue. She earned the Headmaster’s respect, though his appreciation was little more than cloying manipulation. Once he sought power far greater than any of them could have provided or achieved, he abandoned his students.
Yet, Bumblebee never faltered before Blood’s power. She weaved between students, offering subtle hints to something greater than what was on their lunch trays; her suggestions were never accepted.
Always with a glint in her eyes, wearing an expression unsuitable for a proud H.I.V.E. student, Angel loathed Bumblebee.
Now, the chance to prove herself arrived. The ambush was swift and sudden, attacking from high. The clouds parted for Angel and her irksome associate. Punk Rocket bolted low on his guitar, his abilities supposedly required for the apprehension. He took charge, avoiding the twin strikes from Bumblebee’s stingers before firing off chaotic soundwaves.
It was a direct bombardment. Bumblebee didn’t stand a chance. Her hands shot for her ears, stingers falling to the city below. She squirmed, twisting in on herself. As Bumblebee’s expression writhed, Angel became the swatter before the struggling insect.
Such a sorry display will have you losing a few points, queen bee.
She refused to shake, refused to hesitate. Angel crossed before her, and spread her arms high toward the heavens. Bumblebee scowled, but as Angel’s wings expanded, certainly filling Bumblebee’s peripheral vision, she looked up at Angel.
For a moment, Bumblebee froze. Nothing in her training could have prepared her, or so Angel thoroughly believed. She gazed upon Angel as if witnessing a ghost. Her lips moved, forming a name, but the moniker wasn’t uttered.
Angel, resolute, slammed her wings shut.
The powerful clap embraced Bumblebee. In her grasp, Angel felt her body seizing and twisting. Her limbs constricted, and her head twitched to the side. Those immense, blinding wings sequestered Bumblebee in a manner Angel had long imagined, a fantasy finally becoming reality.
Such a scenario never would have occurred at the Academy. No matter how Angel strove, Bumblebee was five steps ahead. Attempting to contend and clash with her often resulted in failure. Angel’s grades and assignments never succeeded passed Bumblebee, who surveyed the students with a look that churned Angel’s insides.
Angel never needed pity. The sentiment was worse than any kick she endured from Bumblebee in combat class.
In a blink, though her eyes have refused to close, Angel’s wings snapped apart. The world reopened itself to the Titan she ensnared. A scream wrenched free from her throat, raw and unfiltered. Bumblebee’s limbs failed, her upper half twisting low. Her stingers descended, escorting her to the rooftops below. Such a keening howl continued on her downfall, and as Angel observed, it hit her.
Bumblebee fell. She lost, graceless and alone. Angel achieved what she presumed impossible. Clipped wings could no longer fly, after all.
Her heart pounded. Her lungs finally expanded. Air invaded her mouth, and she rasped it down. Her fingers twitched and jittered against her hips. Fair eyes followed Bumblebee’s body, and Angel’s ears remained alert to the scream trailing like a prolonged shadow.
It’s done! She’s finished. I finally prevailed.
But as Bumblebee’s cry became a whisper, the natural smirk did not cross Angel’s tense expression.
She forced her hands into tight fists. Nails grinded against her palms. Her wings trembled, her flight threatened. Angel had succeeded, her superiority proven. She pushed Bumblebee off her pedestal, down a few pegs, whatever phrase she desired to insist upon her victory.
Don’t you think there’s something more to this? I bet a lot of us could do better, and you didn’t hear that from me. Wouldn’t want Blood getting more funny ideas, but hey, food for thought.
And as Bumblebee’s gentle, nudging words flitted through Angel’s mind, her betrayal all the more obvious, Angel felt like Bumblebee was an anchor around her ankle, dragging Angel with her.
“Hey! We ain’t done ‘ere!”
She shuddered, posture stiffening, contemplation halting. Her glory and agitation were short-lived as Punk Rocket darted after Bumblebee. Like the soundwaves he commanded, he dashed, but Angel, sweeping low, invaded his path. She relished his dumbfounded gawp.
“Oh, yes, we are,” Angel declared, arms crossing over her chest. “She’s done for. Can’t you tell?”
“We still gotta bring that girl back to the Brotherhood blokes! They won’t take our word for it, featherhead.”
“Yeah, well, I did my part. You do yours.”
Taking flight for the Brotherhood’s base, Angel, shivering and uncertain, still felt Bumblebee in her vice.