OLD HABITS
The buildings of Jump City rumbled on the verge of collapse as the ground beneath them quivered violently. Not far from the extending Bay Bridge, a battle royale raged on in the city streets. Civilians dashed for cover as a power struggle between the White monster and the Titans intensified.
"I fear that nothing is working against the creature!" Starfire shouted after firing a flood of starbolts at the creature from behind debris Raven was using as a makeshift blockade.
"Everything we throw at it ends up getting thrown right back," Cyborg winced as he tried to recover after taking a four by four to the chest.
"We need a new plan of attack," Raven added as she continued to use her powers to keep their only defense from crumbling around them.
"We need Beast Boy!" Robin demanded through gritted teeth as the White Monster advanced on them.
Just then, as if by some miracle, or just good timing, a green-skinned tyrannosaurus swatted the creature off to the side with its tail. The monster was sent flying through the air, crashing from one car to the next. It smashed into a building a few hundred yards away, nearly bringing it down in the process.
"You called?" Beast Boy grinned proudly after morphing back into his human form.
"Where have you been?" Robin snapped. His aggression was a clear translation for the silence coming from the others.
"Dudes, you're never gonna believe this, but I swear I just saw-"
"Now's not the time," Robin interrupted him as he motioned in the direction of the monster.
It struggled to its feet. Its body had morphed to adapt to its surroundings so many times at this point that it was now a different kind of material on each limb. Its red eyes stared down the Titans. Even though it was a formidable opponent, its outnumbered stance had began to take a clear toll.
"Titans, go!" Robin shouted.
As Starfire fired of another flurry of starbolts, followed by Cyborg's sonic blast, the monster tried to evade, but dark energy in the shape of a raven's claw engulfed the creature and prevented its escape allowing for a direct hit. The White Monster had now been brought to its knees as Robin leapt into action and tied it up with his resistant nylon rope. A green triceratops charged the monster, the sharpened horns of the dinosaur impaled the creature head-on. Like a fork being jammed into a toaster, Beast Boy was sent flying off due to an electric shock.
"Beast Boy!" Starfire shrieked as she rushed to his aid. "Friend, please tell me you are undamaged!"
"What happened?" He groaned in agony as he sat up. Smoke had begun to rise from his spiked hair as Starfire tried her best to snuff out the flames without causing a need for panic. "What is that thing?" He asked just as Starfire nearly knocked his head off with a swift pat. "Ow!" He cried.
"Only one way to find out." Robin concluded as he moved closer to the creature's head, his staff at the ready as the others gathered around as well.
Sparks continued to flash along the puncture wounds that were made in its torso. Its once-red eyes were now a dimmed gray. Robin, who was now standing directly over it, used his staff to lift the mask which only revealed circuitry. There was no crazed, blue magician, no evil psychopath bent on the destruction of the team or even a floating brain in a glorified pickle jar - just a robot.
"Is it no longer a threat?" Starfire asked.
"Not in this condition." He examined the contraption once more before settling with his answer. "Come on, let's go home."
[scene break]
Titans Tower seemed incredibly massive. It had been months since the team left the Jump City bay in order to take on the Brotherhood of Evil along with their newfound alliances. All the life that was once a part of the tower was now non-existent. It loomed over the city like a dark cloud did just before a storm.
"Man, oh man," Cyborg took in as big a whiff as he could of the familiar, inviting scent. "Feels good to actually be home! No more chasing crazy villains around the world, or around the city for that matter."
"Oh yes! I have missed my home and my bed and my Silkie!" Starfire chimed in as she began her search for the moth larvae. "Here Silkie, Silkie." She called out. "Where are you my little bumgorf?" She continued as she made her way from the room with the others.
"It feels surprisingly..." Raven searched her mind for the right words, "good to be back."
"'Good'?" Beast Boy scoffed. "It feels more than good! It feels great! To be back in my home, in my bed, on my couch watching Super Fantasmo Monkey Crew with a scrumptious tofu sandwich!" He continued with a look of bliss sprawled across his face as he made his way to the kitchen area.
"I have to admit, I did miss this place. It feels nice to finally be able to come back after being gone for so long." Robin agreed as Starfire re-entered the room lifting his cape, still searching for her lost Silkie.
"Oh," she whispered wearily, "I do not know where the Silkie has gone." She cried. "I have searched my room and his favorite place of hiding, the toilet, but I fear that this time he has run away."
"No!" Beast Boy screamed as he fell to his knees in dismay.
"Beast Boy! What is it? What's wrong?" Robin demanded.
"The... the... the..." he sniffled over his words.
"Spit it out!"
"The... tofu!"
"What?"
"Silkie!" Starfire squealed as the overstuffed larva slinked over to her. "Oh how I have missed you so!" She took the smiling larvae into her arms and gave it one of her overpowering hugs.
"Uh, what's going on?" Raven asked.
"Starfire's worm ate all of my tofu!" Beast Boy exclaimed as tears streamed down his face. Silkie then let out a belch of contentment.
"Dude, you're crying over a bunch of meatless meat?" Cyborg teased.
"For the thousandth time, it's not meat! It's tofu! There's clear difference!"
"It's still nasty," Cyborg added.
"Beast Boy," Starfire hovered over to him, "I wish you to forgive the Silkie. He did not know it was your tofu, surely. He had no one who could tend to him when we were away doing battle with the Brotherhood of Evil."
Beast Boy took one look at the squirming baby bug whose mouth was still lined with tofu and turned the other way in frustration. "Humph." He huffed.
Starfire hovered to the other side of him and extended Silkie outwards to him. "Please do not be angry with him." Beast Boy had turned his back on Silkie, but looked back at him and remembered when he once shared Starfire's compassion for the larvae. Suddenly he couldn't find it in himself to resist the charm of the little bug.
"Fine," he groaned, "but don't let that skunk beetle near the remote!"
"All is forgiven, my little skunk beetle." She smiled as she twirled off in happiness with a smiling Silkie in her arms.
"So... what now?" Raven asked.
"Now, we relax!" Cyborg shouted as he plopped down on the gray sectional with the remote. "Let's see what's going on with the FasCar racing channel."
"Oh no! Dude, I wanna watch Super Fantasmo Monkey Crew!" Beast Boy demanded as he jumped onto Cyborg in an attempt to seize the remote.
"Man, ain't nobody wanna watch the Super Fantasia Gorilla Gang."
"It's Super Fantasmo Monkey Crew, and I said gimme!" Beast Boy shouted while climbing all over the stretching and extending Cyborg.
"And I said no!"
"Gimme!"
"No!"
"Give me the remote, Cyborg!"
Suddenly, the view that looked out over the Jump City bay turned from clear to static as the TV switched on. The sudden intense volume levels caused the Titans to duck for cover as they all covered their ears. The incredible vibrations shook the tower at its core.
"Turn it off!" Robin demanded over the way-too-loud volume.
"I can't!" Beast Boy cried. "It's not working!"
And just as quickly as it started, it finished. Instead of static there was now a black screen.
"Now look what you did." Raven glared as she and the others recovered.
"Me? I didn't do anything! Cyborg is the one who had the remote!"
"You probably messed it up trying to take it from me!"
"I didn't do anything!" Beast Boy insisted.
"Good afternoon, Titans." A distinct and sultry voice greeted the young heroes from, where they assumed, the TV. They all turned their undivided attention to the black screen. "You don't know who I am now, but you will, and when that time comes you'll wish the Brotherhood finished you off." You could hear the cynical smile in the unknown voice.
"Who are you? What's going on?" Robin barked.
"In good time, my dear Robin. In good time you'll find out that I am your worst nightmare come to life." The voice in the void answered. "I must admit, Titans," the word came out as if it were soaked in disdain, "you took out my android much quicker than I anticipated. It was a real treat the whole thing."
"You sent the android!" Robin repeated. "Who are you?" He demanded.
However, before he could get an answer, the TV then reverted back to a clear screen. The voice lingered in the air like a thick fog snaking its way throughout the room. The Titans all exchanged uneasy looks with each other.
"Talk about crime never takes a break." Beast Boy sighed as he slouched onto the couch.
"Cyborg, can you lock on a transmission signal?" Robin asked.
"I can try,"
"We need to find out who or what is doing this and we need to be ready." He gritted his teeth together.
"Do you think it could have been Slade?" It was clear that Starfire had her reservations about saying his name around Robin, but she may have been on to something. "After all it would not be the first time he has tried to exterminate us with such intricate machinery as the android."
"She's right," Raven added. "It could just be another one of his games."
"No." Robin said with absolution. "I know Slade and I could tell that wasn't him."
"Can you be so certain?"
"I'm sure of it. There are similarities, but in the end there's only one Slade and that wasn't him."
"I can't get a read, Robin." Cyborg said. "The static from earlier was a disruption signal and I'm not bringing up any hacking traces in the security system. Whoever we're dealing with knew what they were doing."
"Figures. We could be dealing with a new, very powerful villain here. For someone to have the means to create something like that... this could be bad."
"You really think so?" Cyborg asked.
"I can't be sure, but I have a bad feeling about this. The android, the ability to hack our system without leaving a single trace? Whatever, or whoever it is isn't afraid of pulling out all the stops." Robin noted as he looked out the window.
The others gave each other worried looks.
"Come on dudes," Beast Boy jumped up from the couch. "We just defeated an entire brotherhood of villains, made it back home safely, established communications with other Titans all over the universe, and just took out some freakish robot assassin! If there's anything to be sure of, it's that we're the Teen Titans, and there's nothing we can't handle!" Just as Beast Boy punched the air above him for dramatic effect, a sudden rumble could be felt throughout the room. Seconds later, the roof above Beast Boy caved in causing him and the others to dart out of the way.
"Nice going." Raven patronized as she emerged from a dark force field.
"I do not think that was Beast Boy," Starfire speculated. "Look." She pointed to a gaping hole in the ceiling. There appeared to be figures moving around through the smoke.
"Titans, get ready." Robin ordered as they all huddled together.
They stood their ground ready for a fight, but once the smoke cleared they were able to see that nothing was there. All that appeared through the hole was a blue sky and a clear day. Nothing out of the ordinary except for the hole itself.
"Oh-kay," Cyborg said as he lowered his sonic cannon, "what are we getting ready for?"
"Perhaps it was merely an accident?"
"No, that hole is too perfect to be an accident." Robin said as he examined the gaping fault.
"It looks like an ordinary cave-in to me," Raven insinuated.
"Yeah, I mean we have been gone for a while. Maybe the structure jus-" Cyborg was caught off guard mid-sentence as a glowing pair of red eyes sucked him into the floor.
"Cyborg!" Beast Boy screeched.
"Where did he-" Raven began, but she too was grabbed and sucked into a wall.
"Where have our friends gone?" Starfire's voice was both shaken and scared as she readied her starbolts.
"I don't know, but we need to stick together and find out what's going on here." Robin said in a panic.
"Agreed."
"Are you in Beast Boy?" Robin asked. "Beast Boy?" Both Robin and Starfire turned their attention to where Beast Boy once stood only to see him being dragged away into another one of the walls. A terrified expression crossed his face as his mouth was muffled.
"Beast Boy!" Robin shouted as he made a mad dash for his teammate, but was not fast enough. "No!" He pounded the wall with his fist.
"What are we to do, Robin? Our friends have been taken by our home!"
"Not by the tower, but I have an idea of what's going on."
"You do?"
"Do you remember the android we fought downtown? And how it could change its body to match any material and blend in?"
"I do."
"I'm thinking that hole was made by a few of its friends. They were able to blend in with the tower which is why we couldn't see them." He said examining the hole. "The real question is who's the mastermind behind this whole thing, and what do they want with us?" He paused, contemplating. "I mean it all kind of seems to have Slade written on it, but I'm still not positive. What about you, Starfire? Any ideas?" Silence. "Starfire?" He turned to where she last was, but there was no one there anymore. It seemed as he was the only one in the room and, for all he knew, in the whole tower. "Starfire?" No answer. "How is this possible?" He questioned as, unbeknownst to him, another pair of glowing red eyes appeared from behind. "Whoever it is must have eyes on the-" With a quickness the android pounced on Robin and, using its materializing abilities, drove them both into the floor, disappearing.
It felt as if his body was turned to mush and they were just slipping on through the cracks. His head began to spin and his vision blurred, and what seemed like hours was over within seconds. He felt his back stiffen with pain as he collided with the barbells in the weight room. He quickly rebounded and did a back flip, landing on his feet. The sting from the impact with the weights caused him to take a knee in pain.
"I don't know who put you together, but I'm gonna enjoy taking you apart." He snarled as his fighting staff extended to its full form. "ARGH!"
The two then engaged each other in combat. Fighting one of the robots as a team was difficult, so of course Robin knew he'd be in for a real fight. These robots were built to adapt and use their surroundings to their advantage, and the only way Robin knew he could take it out was to force it to adapt so many times that it would eventually become so stretched out and would then be vulnerable.
[scene break]
Meanwhile, down in the basement of the tower, Raven was busy occupying her own changeling android. She zipped past columns of steel trying to lose the robot, but its ability to travel along the material made fleeing almost impossible. With a swift jab at her leg the android sent Raven tumbling to the ground with a thud.
"Alright, you asked for it." She snarled as she looked around trying to find the android. "I may not be able to see you like this, but I can always see in the dark." She closed her eyes and began to focus on her surroundings, particularly the android that was well hidden... and there it was! Just as it lunged for her, her telepathic powers caught it mid-air. "Taking you apart should be easy enough now." She glared under the hood of her cape. "Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" Her powers encased the android in dark energy and, with a flick of her wrist, tore it apart at the limbs. "Thought so." She then finished the job by opening a portal and tossing the remains through it.
[scene break]
Cyborg and Starfire had met up while battling their own android. Starfire's monster grabbed her by her long, red hair, spinning her around until it released her. She was sent flying into Cyborg, throwing both of them to the ground. They lay there, motionless as the androids advanced on them. Just as they were about to attack, the two Titans jumped up and blasted them back. They looked relived as they now watched the motionless androids on the ground, but that feeling didn't last long.
"I must admit," Starfire noted after seeing the android rise back up, "they are most determined to defeat us."
"That, or just really stubborn!" Cyborg suggested. "ARGH!" He shouted as he rushed his android and stuck his hand into the robot. "Booyah." He smirked as his sonic cannon blew it to pieces. Starfire followed and did the same, but instead of blowing it to smithereens, she tore it apart with her bare hands. "That works," Cyborg nodded.
"AHHH!" Beast Boy ran past the two with his android in-step.
Cyborg had prepared his sonic cannon, but just a few meters away a dark, bird-like claw grabbed it from the ground and crushed it to pieces. Raven then appeared from the ground surrounded by its remains.
"Guess that works too,"
"Dude, who are these guys?"
"They're not guys, they're things." Raven corrected.
"Whatever! The point is that they're attacking us for no reason."
"Is it not a plot created by the Brotherhood of Evil?"
"It couldn't be. They should all still be frozen in that underground hideout in Paris. Every last one of 'em." Cyborg pointed out.
"Whoever it is has a lot of connections to pull off an attack like this with robots like these." Raven observed.
"Has anyone seen Robin?" Starfire asked.
Just then the wall to their right burst open as another android crashed through. There were numerous puncture wounds across its body and one directly between its dimmed eyes, the shot that likely ended it. Robin emerged from the smoke and rubble.
"Robin!" Starfire gleamed. "I trust that you are all right?"
"I'm fine. Can't say the same for the weight room though,"
[scene break]
"Is it just me or was fighting these robots easier this time around?" Cyborg asked.
"Perhaps they were not as resilient as their predecessor?"
"Either way, do we have any idea who would send these things to attack us?" Raven asked as they all walked back into the living room.
"None." Starfire said. "All of the villains we have done battle with are frozen or in jail."
"It has to be someone new," Cyborg started. "The video they sent us said we didn't know them, not yet anyway."
"But why now? Why did they not engage us in battle with the Brotherhood?"
"Because now they have our full attention." Robin added. "Whoever it is has striking similarities to Slade. My guess is that they want us to only focus on them, just like he would've wanted."
"So whoever it is, is a copycat Slade?" Beast Boy concluded.
"Not necessarily," Robin said, "but they're using similar methods as a likely way to make sure we stay invested." He held up the mask from the android that he fought. "I'll start analysis on it right away." He said as he began to walk away.
"Robin?" Starfire called to him. "Won't you celebrate with us the defeating of the evil brotherhood and of the androids?"
"No. I need to figure out who it was that sent these things. We need to better prepare ourselves for whatever might come next." He asserted as he walked away.
"Here we go again," Raven muttered.
"Where are we going?" Starfire asked without looking away from Robin's direction.
"She means that this little thing is gonna become Robin's new obsession, just like it was when it was actually Slade behind the voice." Cyborg added.
"We probably shouldn't worry about it. He'll come out of it soon enough." Raven reassured. "Robin deals with these things better on his own."
"Will we be celebrating our victories?" Starfire turned to her other teammates.
"I think we should. We definitely deserve it." Raven said with a less-than-enthusiastic tone.
"Booyah!" Cyborg boomed. "You know what that means, BB!" Silence. "Beast Boy?" They all turned to see him staring out over the harbor just as the sun began to set. "Yo, Beast Boy, you OK?"
"Friend," Starfire floated to him, "will you not celebrate with us?"
"I'm not in the mood," he said as he hung his head.
They all seemed taken aback by this.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and just say that you're not OK." Raven noted.
"When we were out there fighting that robot in the city, I thought I saw..." the words alone seemed as though they were physically painful for him to say.
"Saw who?" Starfire encouraged.
"Terra,"
The others fell silent for a while. "Beast Boy," Raven started, "that isn't-"
"Possible? I know." He finished. "But when I went to see her statue it was gone."
"That's impossible," Cyborg looked to Raven. "There was no way to reverse the effects, not yet anyway."
"I know," he looked back out over the glistening water that danced under a sky littered with pinks and oranges. "She didn't even know who I was; she didn't remember me."
"Perhaps this Terra was not our Terra," Starfire said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It doesn't matter anymore," he shrugged it off, "she's moving on and we should too."
"Trying to forget that someone ever existed isn't moving on," Raven said.
"It's a start,"
[scene break]
'I am your worst nightmare come to life'.
The words lingered in the air around him like a swarm of houseflies buzzing. He racked his brain of which villain could possibly be behind the attack. The fact that there were so many trails leading to a Slade attack made Robin think more about it. Whoever this person was then they were out for the Titans, and with the assault against them today, it made him even more apprehensive. He wanted to make sure that everyone was prepared for whatever was going to be thrown at them.