Disclaimers and Useless/Useful Stuff to Know:
I don't own Teen Titans or the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. Never will. Wish I did.

I went on a small quest once. It was, while writing this fanfic, to find out how to spell 'Kid Wicked'. Honestly, I've seen everything from 'Kyd Wykkyd' to 'Kyd Wycked' to 'Kid Wickyd'. So you know what? Screw it. Really, just screw it. I'm spelling it like a normal sane person. It'll be 'Kid Wicked' for this fanfic, and there's no possible way I can be convinced it's spelled otherwise. Not unless I have the creators knocking on my door, screaming at me that it's spelled differently. So there ya go. My wee tale.

Now go be good and read.

EDIT: Fortunately, someone was kind enough to give me the straight truth. It is indeed Kyd Wykkyd. Damn it, kid, just spell your name like a normal person. All spellings have been adjusted.

---

No Rhyme, No Rhythm

by Alba Aulbath

---

Prologue - Abandonment

---

There was a thing about being able to duplicate yourself. After all, your foes would have a difficult time keeping track of you -- heck, keeping count. It wouldn't have even occurred to impatient Kid Flash or the rest of the Titans to be sure that all of the Billy Numeri were collected.

The Titans had left, calling the Doom Patrol to take care of all the criminals frozen. It left the hideout disturbingly silent.

Save for the sounds of footsteps belonging to one lone Billy Numerous to approach the console.

"Razzin' frazzin'..." he mumbled, shaking his head as he tried to figure out the control panel. Multiplying himself just once, the second Billy pointed at him.

"Yer doin' it wrong! S'like this!" The second Billy proceded to press random buttons.

"Hey! Yer gonna screw it up, then we ain't ever gonna get th' F.I.V.E. outta there!" The first Billy slapped at his hands.

"Quit wussin' out!"

"Ah ain't wussin' out! Knock it off!" The pair of Billies started to get into a slap fight with each other, flailing and falling over onto the console -- which accidentally pressed the button they were looking for.

Steam burst underneath the frozen H.I.V.E. FI.V.E., the original Billy included. The F.I.V.E. thawed in seconds, each getting off of each other or kicking each other off of one another.

The second Billy smirked to the first. "See, what'd ah tell ya?"

"Shaddup!"

"HEY!" the original Billy snapped at the two. "Y'all gonna jus' argue? C'mere!" The pair of Billy Numeri grumbled to themselves before remerging with the original. "That's better."

"Hell help us if y'ever get an identity crisis," See-More muttered. "Aw, man, I can barely see a thing!" He rubbed furiously at his eye.

"Like that's a big deal! My gears are useless thanks to those snotbrained Titans!" Gizmo snapped, pouting.

"I've got a headache! An' I'm hungry!" Mammoth complained.

Kyd Wykkyd folded his arms, silent as ever; it expressed enough.

"Hey, aren't we gonna unfreeze th' rest of these guys?" See-More wondered.

"Why th' heck would ya wanna do that?" Billy doubled himself, the second stating, "They got us intah this mess!"

"I dunno, do YOU know how to get us home?" See-More peered at the two.

"Wykkyd can get us home, can't he?" Gizmo asked, frowning. He was not up to thawing out the rest of the Brotherhood of Evil, either.

Kyd Wykkyd, however, held up his hands with his eyes wide, shaking his head. "He can't take so many of us," See-More explained. "Gizmo, can you figure out how to get us home?"

"All right, all right. Step aside, nosepickers; I'll go look," Gizmo grumbled, stomping away to another console to look over it.

"Th' heck we gonna go home fer, anyway? Them dangnabbin' Titans are all gonna be there! All'a bunch of 'em! Multiplyin' ain't gonna mean squat," one Billy stated, folding his arms.

The other nodded. "Billy's right; we ain't gonna be able t'do diddly."

Sighing softly, Kyd Wykkyd shook his head to both of them.

"Whassamatter, Wykkyd? Timmy fall down th' well?" a third Billy asked; the second elbowed him.

The pale boy raised a brow at the Billies, then shrugged; he was distracted.

Watching Kyd Wykkyd a moment, the cyclops boy thought a moment before he nodded in understanding. "I think I got it." See-More folded his arms, his eye looking quite unhappy, red and slitted like a cat's, sympathizing with his friend. "How could she do that t'us?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Mammoth growled. "I'm gonna go look fer somethin' t'eat." He turned and stomped off to explore the base for food.

"Ah'm comin'!"

"So am ah!" Two Billies scampered off after Mammoth, the third remaining.

Kyd Wykkyd rested a hand to See-More's shoulder, frowning in sympathy.

"I mean, joinin' th' Brotherhood of Evil was HER idea in th' first place! Then she's hangin' out with THAT loser?" See-More demanded. "What's up with that?"

"Girls 're mysterious an' dangerous creatures?" Billy Numerous suggested.

Kyd Wykkyd nodded in agreement, frowning.

"Whatever; I just want to go home," See-More mumbled miserably. "I'm sick of this place."

"Got it!" Gizmo called out. "C'mon! Let's get outta here!"

"We're goin'?" Mouth stuffed full of a sandwich, Mammoth had returned with an arm full of, essentially, groceries. The two Billies behind him apparently decided raiding the Brain's kitchen equipment was a far more fun idea.

"Lookie here! I got me, uh..." Billy paused.

"It's a rice cooker," See-More told him.

"Right! I got me one of those, an' one of these, an--"

See-More interrupted sharply, "Look, let's just go. Gizmo has it set up." He turned around, practically marching towards the teleporting pods.

The remaining of the F.I.V.E. exchanged glances; Kyd Wykkyd ran off after See-More before the rest went to follow.

---

Essentially, the five of them were dragging their feet; it was a reluctant return home to their underground base. After all, there wasn't much to look forward to. They'd been betrayed -- again -- and barely had the desire to even look at Jump City ever again. The Titans were once again victorious. Worst yet, they won over Jinx.

Words weren't even exchanged the moment they appeared home. Two out of three Billies ran off to the kitchen, laughter that was forced echoing behind them as they decided to explore with their newly stolen goods with Mammoth following to feast upon the raid on the Brain's stocked refridgerator from prior; the third Billy saw it best to hog the sofa before anyone else could reach it, which led to Gizmo yelling after him. See-More saw fit to slump himself down at the table, folding his arms on top of it, and flopping his face into his crossed limbs.

He already knew it; it wasn't something any of them wanted to discuss. After all, at first? They'd been concerned about Jinx, when she had left them shortly after the confrontation with Madame Rouge. After awhile, they had assumed that Jinx decided to go with her -- the last presumption they had in their mind was that she had decided to go with that speedy little twit. Of all people!

And damn him, but he still... well, See-More still liked her. A lot more than he should have, apparently.

See-More didn't look up immediately, but he heard someone else sit across from him. He already had a feeling who it was.

Lightly, Kyd Wykkyd patted him on the shoulder sympathetically.

"M'fine," See-More grumbled a little, lifting his head to look at him. "It's jus'..." He didn't feel like saying it, so he shrugged at him.

Kyd Wykkyd smiled faintly, then gestured to the area surrounding himself. To anyone else, the movement would have been meaningless, but See-More had spend almost all of his classes in the H.I.V.E. Academy with Kyd Wykkyd; after awhile, he was just used to understanding the pale boy's body language. It was in this instance that he seemed to be pretty much saying: "Look on the bright side, at least we didn't lose another base."

Maybe in not so many words, but See-More grinned a little anyway, even for just a moment. "I know. But... after all that, she kicks OUR butts fer goin' with th' Brotherhood? It wasn't even our idea."

Kyd Wykkyd glanced aside, frowning. He agreed.

"Y'all still mopin' over that?" Yet another Billy approached, making it the fourth one in the headquarters.

"It was just a little while ago -- how can you ignore it so quick, anyhow?" See-More demanded.

Billy Numerous scowled. "Ah dunno; ah jus' don't feel like focusin' on it so much. It's annoyin'."

"That's not too surprising," See-More grumbled.

"Now whaddaya mean by that?"

"You're as self-absorbed as they come."

"Y'all no better than me; yer a thief, too!"

Kyd Wykkyd held up his hands, waving them desperately to be noticed. But the pair didn't seem to notice the red-eyed boy flailing for their attention.

"At least I'm tryin' to think about what we should do with ourselves," See-More responded; his eye shifted, looking angry.

"Same as always; look fer stuff t'steal, soon as them other dangnabbin' Titans go back t'wherever they came from."

"Is that all we're going to do? Ignore it! The Brotherhood and Jinx and the Titans and that speed freak?"

"If y'got any bright ideas--"

"Hey Gizmo!" Running from the kitchen was another one of the Billies. "Ah found this thingamajig in th' kitchen!"

Gizmo squinted over the couch from his repair on his backpack; hopping down and running his short legs to the Billy, he stared at it. Whatever it was, it appeared to look like an oversized disc -- and it beeped loudly and suddenly. Startled, Billy Numerous dropped it to the floor.

It unfolded, becoming a short tower; shining from a lens on the top of it was a holographic image of the Brain.

"Greetings, H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E.," he droned. The rest of the F.I.V.E. in the room went alert.

Having heard the voice, Mammoth immediately peered from the kitchen warily. "Isn't he frozen?"

"It's a recording, gunkmuncher!" Gizmo replied.

"I presume that you must have left the Brotherhood of Evil to return to your base. That was an unwise decision; you have broken your agreement. As you must know, I always follow through on my threats. So here is a parting gift for you all." The recording ended and the hologram blinked out.

"Guess it never occurred t'th' Brain that he'd get his butt... uh... lack of butt... get defeated!" Billy Numerous pointed out with a smirk.

The second beside him let out a laugh. "That's one confident bastard!"

"Shut UP! I'm lookin' it over!" Gizmo snapped at them, touching the device delicately.

"Whatever it was, looks like it was a dud," See-More assumed, considering the lack of activity.

It appeared that wasn't the case, as Gizmo paled. "Crud! No, it's a bomb! We gotta get outta here!"

"Can't you diffuse it!" See-More demanded.

"I don't have TIME to!"

All of them stood frozen for a few seconds; if Gizmo was even remotely right, then it'd take minutes to get out of the base and even just to their vehicles. Trying to come up with options, See-More whirled around and faced Kyd Wykkyd. "Look--"

Kyd Wykkyd shook his head wildly.

"I know you can't, but... but we need to get out of here!"

The pale boy looked worried, glancing around at the other F.I.V.E. They had no other options to even consider -- there was just no time. Biting his lip he nodded. Raising his gloved hands, Kyd Wykkyd's cloak extended out, covering the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. until they were safely under his cape shortly before they teleported away.

The H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E.'s base, seconds afterwards, was no more and caught within a fiery explosion.

---

A mile from the base, on a rooftop, a dark portal appeared right over the flat roof; one by one, the H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. dropped out from the portal, landing atop each other with grunts and groans. Afterwards, the dork portal reformed into a caped pale boy, and he fell atop the dogpile.

"So much fer lookin' on th' bright side," Billy Numerous muttered, trying to untangle himself from the mess of the F.I.V.E. "That's gotta be, like, th' third base we lost."

"Crud! All my stuff!" Gizmo fumed and stomped to a corner of the rooftop.

See-More and a Billy helped support Kyd Wykkyd to his feet, exhausted from the transportation; the boy with the large eye glanced towards the smoke rising from the distance, magnifying the look. He sighed. "Yeah, it's toast..."

Kyd Wykkyd sulked his head, closing his eyes.

It was another moment left unsaid. There'd been more than just betrayl amongst them, more than just getting busted yet again by the Titans, mocked by Kid Flash -- and it was much more than having lost their base.

All in the same day, they'd also lost their home.

---