Good evening you all, the name is FriendlyMushroom, and it's been a long time since I wrote a Teen Titan's based story. Many years ago, when the Teen Titans were still and aired series, I wrote two sister Stories: Those who ride the Lighting (Kid Flash/Jinx), and Emerald Twilight (Blackfire/Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern V)), and I did so because both were my favorite heroes at the time, I grew up with them, and loved the idea of the sidekick hero (in case of Kid Flash), and replacement hero (In case of Green Lantern V), taking the ropes after the greatest sacrifice or downfall of their predecessors. Back then I wanted to write both stories together, and end in a crossover episode between the two, but that happened a long time ago, when the Teen Titans were still popular. Also, the Flash and Green Lantern were not my only favorite characters, so was Nightwing, and Batman of course, and many others, and I always wished to be able to write their stories from the comic books perspective, which lead me to this project.
The majority of you, know the Teen Titans from the cartoon, and obviously you are here for that reason, but little are those who also know the comics. Now, the comics are very complex, you would need years of comic book knowledge to know it all, that's where I wanted to intervene, how about I gave you all, a deeper insight of the world of the cartoon heroes, using my knowledge of the comic books, to create a whole series of fics like there are comics that link together? Such though, lead me to write 5 sister stories, that happen in the same universe, and perhaps they link like eastern eggs every now and then, but are independent stories at the same time. The five stories I'm talking about are as follow:
Battle for the Cowl (Robin xRaven): Follows Robin's road from being the leader of the Teen Titans until becoming Nightwing, and later, considering taking the cowl of Batman.
Born to Run (Kid Flash x Jinx): Follows Kid Flash's evolution from being the youngest sidekick ever, to becoming the first sidekick to take on the mantle of his mentor, the Flash, who sacrificed his life a year before the events of the story.
Emerald Twilight (Green Lantern V x Blackfire): Follows the story of Blackfire, after being assigned to social service on Earth under the custody of rookie Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, who is still under training with the Green Lantern Corps.
Heart of Steel (Cyborg x Bumblebee and Beast Boy x Terra): Follows the story of Cyborg, left with the leadership of the Teen Titans, and trying to maintain the several incarnations of the Teen Titans together (North, West, East, and South), all while mentoring the unstable clone of Superman, Superboy.
War of the Gods (Aqualad x Wonder Girl x Speedy): Follows the love triangle of the exiled Atlantean, the exiled Amazon, and the not really exiled marksman, as they get into conflict with the Greek gods.
As mentioned before, the 5 stories happen in the same universe, but are independent stories, you may enjoy reading them all but it isn't really necessary. The only drawback I see for people not wanting to read them all though, is the couples, specifically the Robin x Raven one and the Beast Boy x Terra one, it's not that I don't like Robin x Starfire and Beast Boy x Raven, but story wise, these selection of couples serve my storyline purposes, so I apologize if you feel repelled from reading them for that reason, as I mentioned, there is no need to read them all, it's just… more interesting for those who read them all.
Anyway, I already said too much. For those who want to read all 5 stories, the summary and Prologue is the same, so after reading it once you can skip it. As for when will I update these 5 stories, I will update them every first Friday or Saturday of every new month, which means the 5 stories will all be updated at the same time on Friday 8 or Saturday 9 of March (Because Friday first or Saturday second is too soon).
One last note about the dates and years I use, the Teen Titan's animated series don't have a stablished date (as far as I know), but belong to the same universe as The Batman animated series, and in the Batman animated series, most specifically on the episode "Artifacts", it is stated it is the year 2027, and on that year, Robin was Nightwing, and had been so for 10 years, so, in the comics Robin became Nightwing at age 18, and since in The Batman Robin is 14, I did the backwards calculation and found the year the Teen Titans series is supposed to happen for real (2015), but this story takes place one year later, (2016), so all stories are dates as 2016, I know the series is from 2003, don't blame me, blame The Batman for not doing the maths correctly. I hope this doesn't bother you all.
I don't own the Teen Titans or any DC Comics related character, I write this for fun, for DC comics fans, and I win no money doing it. Read, enjoy, and let me know if you will read all 5 or just the one you were interested on, happy reading.
Prologue to a Titan's Legacy:
New Genesis. 853rd century.
"Companionship + understanding + assurance + joy + altruism ÷ respect ÷ commendation ÷ sympathy x innocence x dignity x success x acceptance, y = n, where, y = despair, and n = caution, love = truth, death = rebirth, and self = light side. The Life Equation is the proof that life is worth living. This is the first present I, Metron, give to you, my son." The story of the greatest heroes there to be known, is complex, as is the beginning of it all. Since different to popular belief, the greatest heroes of them all, didn't find their path toward greatness in the force of a lighting, the mantle of the night, the depths of the ocean, their beliefs in their gods, the light of willpower, the power of the closest sun, or the miracles of the technology they could harness. The true path that created the greatest heroes of Earth, the whole universe, and the multiverse, will be found in the farthest of futures, where a god used technology, to create that which is uncompressible. Life, inside lifeless objects.
The world of New Genesis from the 853rd century, is nothing but a lifeless wasteland, attacked constantly by explosions of a dark light, which disintegrated everything it touched, the anti-matter. On this wasteland of a world, only two life forms exist, Metron, an old man, in reality a god, wearing a circuit-looking bodysuit, and his son, a golden colored android, wearing nothing but a brownish scarlet cowl, in front of which, Metron placed a shapeless object, looking more like a white metal that bended in several directions and forms, forming amazing tube-like forms, and shinning from white, to yellow, to scarlet, switching between forms and colors from time to time.
"This, is the Worlogog, the Philosopher's Stone, a time-spanning engine that can be used to bend time and space. It is an exact working model of the entire space-time continuum in miniature, and maps everything from the Big Bang to the Omega Point." Metron delivered it to his son, who took it and gazed at it intensely. "The Worlogog is a fraction of the Source, and is the second present I give to you. Gaze upon it, learn everything you need to know of this and every universe, and do whatever you must to stop Darkseid from gathering the Anti-Life Equation." He explained, and the world in which they existed, began blowing up. "There is still one present I need to deliver; this present is your name. And with your name comes the greatest of all responsibilities. Your name, is Hourman. You change events, sometimes minor, sometimes major, always in the name of life." He finished, and at that very moment all that existed collapsed, leaving the multiverse in infinite darkness. The only being that existed, was Hourman, protected by the destruction of existence itself, by the will of a god who gave it all to preserve the most valuable thing, life.
Hourman knew nothing about what to do, but suddenly the Worlogog began displaying something uncompressible to any human or god, but that Hourman, as a machine, could understand. He read at an incredible speed, the whole existence, from the origin of it all, to the split into several realities. He saw all possibilities, all events from the many continuities, all of them ending in the same place, the destruction of everything that exists. Sometimes existence itself ended with billions of years of differences, but his reality was the last one. And after one year of reading the events of all reality, he discovered one, in which there was something, hope. But this hope was fated to de deleted, as everything else would.
And so, Hourman began doing what he was programmed to do, he began changing the reality, connecting events that weren't supposed to connect, and creating his own reality, and after another year of complex calculations and connecting events, one reality in which survival was possible was displayed. Yet, even though his calculations were correct, manipulating past events to create the reality in which hope wasn't entirely lost, meant the future may not behave as he expected, and if it didn't, all reality would collapse once again.
"It shall be tested." Hourman concluded, and displayed a group of 7 teens, the majority of them sharing a same history, one Hourman knew far too well. "Titans… you are all the keys to the existence's survival. Yet, not all of you are ready, or won't be ready in time. In the name of existence, I shall manipulate your world, in favor of preserving existence." He finished, and opened with the help of the Worlogog, a portal to a distant past. "My name, is Hourman. I change events, sometimes minor, sometimes major…" He finished, and so, a new reality was born.
Tee
n Titans: A Titan's Legacy Series.
Heart of Steel: Volume 1.
Issue #1: Savior.
Jump City, California. Titan's West Tower. January 1, year 2016.
"Booyah! It's new year baby! Go Cyborg, you reached New Year! Go Cyborg! Let's get this party started!" Cyborg danced around the tower, facing the fireworks outside of the window, celebrating on his own the arrival of the New Year, even going as far as to take out a controller from his mechanical-like body, pressing the button of the controller, and allowing a disco ball to come down from the ceiling, and once it did, Cyborg continued dancing. "Oh yeah! With Robin back at Gotham, nothing can prevent me from bringing out my secret disco ball! Robin would disconnect me if he knew I kept this baby a secret from him!" Cyborg continued dancing.
"Yeah, coolest thing ever! Robin would never accept it!" Beast Boy added, dancing alongside Cyborg as if they were in a disco club's dance floor. "Good thing you hid it so well, Cy, this is fun!" Beast Boy continued.
"Of course it is, my green furry friend!" Cyborg continued, but suddenly stopped, turned the disco ball off, and faced Beast Boy in annoyance. "What are you doing here?" Cyborg yelled at that very moment, and Beast Boy fell down after his potent yell. "Hey, if you were going to stay for New Year's guard duty, you should have said so before! I cancelled my plans with my old man at Metropolis because Robin went to Gotham, Starfire went back to Tamaran to celebrate her Blorthog with her k'norfka Galfore, and Raven went to… well, I got no idea where Raven went, but you were supposed to celebrate New Year with the Doom Patrol! So why, are you here?" Cyborg complained.
"Well… Elasti-Girl didn't cook vegetarian food, and Mento said they weren't going to wait for her to cook something for me, so I yelled at them that they were eating things I transform into, and ended being kicked out of the dinner." Beast Boy added, and Cyborg faced him in disbelief. "I just don't understand what's everyone's problem with meat?" He complained.
"One, meat is delicious, two, you are already being noisy enough about your vegetarianism that you are close to the vegan category, and three, everyone is free to eat whatever the circuits they want! Stop trying to force your feeding habits toward everyone!" Cyborg pointed out, and Beast Boy crossed his arms out of annoyance. "Ow men, if only I knew, I would have been in Metropolis by now enjoying my pop's pork, beef and jam deluxe super mega burgers with chili dogs and cheese! But no, Robin had to start with his: 'let's be fair routine', and I ended doing the guard's duty, which by the way, you pointed out at Christmas' dinner!" He pointed out.
"Ok, and I'm sorry, I really wanted to go celebrating with the Doom Patrol!" Beast Boy added while crossing his arms, sitting at the coach, and apparently really mad. "You don't understand. No one does." He complained.
"We meat eaters don't need to understand! The problem is you!" He insisted, but before the discussion could continue, Cyborg received a call, and he complained about it. "We will continue with this latter." He replied, and then took an antenna out of his thumb, and used his little finger as a speaker. "Yo, it's me, Victor." Cyborg began, listening to the person on the other side of the line. "Yeah, Happy New Year to you too dad." He continued, and Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at what he was listening to, and approached Cyborg, even transforming into an elephant and using his giant ears in order to try to listen to his conversation. "Yeah, I know you prepared your famous beef and jam deluxe super mega burgers with chili dogs and cheese… I know it's my favorite, but as I told you before, I am on guard duty, and even if I took the T-Ship, it would take me about 3 hours to arrive!" Cyborg complained, pushing Beast Boy out of the way. "No dad, I can't take 3 hours off, and even if I could, I wouldn't, so stop insisting, I'm busy right now!" Cyborg complained, and morphed his hand back to normal, and when he did, he found Beast Boy in front of him and staring at him with concern. "What?" He wondered.
"I don't think that's the best way to speak to your father…" Beast Boy added, and Cyborg just rolled his eye and gave his back to him. "Come on, Cy! You were talking about your father's food just a few minutes ago. I still think it is brutal, of bad taste, and unforgivable for someone to eat meat of any kind, especially since meat is nothing but a cooked corpse." Beast Boy added, though the comment was of Cyborg's dislike. "But you were enthusiastic about those burgers. I am here, there is still tofu-turkey leftovers on the fridge, which I don't know why since tofu is delicious, healthy, and something I don't transform into, but I got carried away. I can take care of the guard duty for you, go see your old man!" Beast Boy added cheerfully.
"Nah, I'm fine! My old man doesn't deserve my presence!" Cyborg added with annoyance, and that reply only depressed Beast Boy. "Besides, I am having fun, I got my disco ball! Booyah!" He yelled, the disco ball began coming down, but suddenly Titan's Tower lost all power, and apparently not just Titan's Tower, but the whole City. "Hey! What gives?" Cyborg complained, and faced the city in darkness. "Yo, who turned the lights off? And why aren't the emergency supply batteries restoring the power?" He wondered, and while he did, Beast Boy began shaking in fear, and trying to win Cyborg's attention. "Not now Beast Boy! I'm trying to find out what is going on!" Cyborg complained, while facing his instruments, tough Beast Boy continued trying to win his attention. "Apparently the T-Communicators aren't working either?" He added while inspecting his communicator, and Beast Boy began shaking him more violently. "What do you want!?" He yelled intensely, Beast Boy pointed toward the window, and Cyborg yelled in fear, and pointed his blaster toward the window, outside of which, a golden colored android with crimson red eyes and a crimson-brown cloak, faced him.
"Something tells me he is the reason of the power shut down! Believe detective Beast Boy and blast him!" Beast Boy pointed, while the android began floating toward the window, which began bending like if it was a soap's bubble, and allowed the android to enter. "Ok, I'm done for." Beast Boy added while transforming into a chicken and running away, hiding behind the sofa, Cyborg just powered his arm-cannon.
"The power failure, wasn't my doing, but the one of an alien you both know fairly well." The android began, pointing toward a violet light, that began growing up in the outsides of the city. "Blackfire, the name rings a bell? She was being kept captive on a prison planet, from which I released her, perhaps my actions lead her to Earth, and to do this, but it was a minor change turned major." He informed, and Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged looks. "But Blackfire should not be of your concern. Soon enough, one of my selected champions will deal with her. You in the other hand, will be too busy, not facing her, but facing another treat, one you two also know far too well, but who doesn't want to be discovered, although in about 27.3 minutes, she will be forced into doing something she doesn't want to, and which will detonate events, earlier than they should truly happen." The android explained.
"What are you talking about?" Cyborg wondered. "Yo, thanks for telling us about Blackfire, we will deal with her. In the meantime, don't make yourself comfortable, we didn't invite you in." Cyborg added, pointing his cannon once again toward the android. "Who are you and what do you want?" He wondered.
"My apologies… I have traveled so many times and to so many different timelines, that sometimes I don't know if my champions know me yet or not." The android vowed, and both Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged looks, and they vowed as well. "My name is Hourman, I change events, sometimes minor, sometimes major. The release of Blackfire was a minor event, which will trigger a series of events in which one of my seven champions, will give his first step into being integrated into the ranks of the Teen Titans, under the leadership of another one of my seven champions, the most important one, Victor Stone, Cyborg." Hourman pointed.
"Me?" Cyborg pointed toward himself. "Yo, you probably fried a circuit during the blackout, I'm not the leader of the Teen Titans, Robin is, and if he were here, he would tell me to be careful with you." He insisted and began walking toward Hourman with his cannon ready.
"I'm not your enemy, but I could care less if you think so or not." Hourman replied. "I come from a future in which time itself doesn't exist, and you, Victor Stone, Cyborg, are the one I believe to be the key to saving the future from total annihilation." Hourman insisted, and Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged looks, and they both began laughing hard, making fun of Hourman.
"Dude? Are you serious? Cy? The savior of the future?" Beast Boy added while cleaning the tears away from his eyes. "I mean, we are heroes and all that, but I can think of thousands of thousands of heroes way better than Cy!" Beast Boy added.
"Yeah!" Cyborg mentioned, and then gave it some thoughts. "Wait a minute!" Cyborg faced Beast Boy, who laughed nervously at him. "Who says I can't save the future? Not that I believe this android here, but I bet I have better chances than you!" Cyborg pointed out.
"Indeed…" Hourman replied, and Cyborg faced him once again. "I have analyzed thousands of realities, none of them display a future in which time survives the event that leads to existence itself being erased… so I began changing events here and there, from different timelines, and making the calculations with different champions. In the end, I got seven subjects, with different percentages of success. Yours was the highest." Hourman explained, and Cyborg was impressed. "Yet, you failed as well, so I thought: 'what would happen if I took these seven champions… and placed them together in the event that destroys everything?' The result was, once again, the champions failing. It was then when I understood, merely changing the events for the champions to be in the same place at the same time, wasn't enough… my seven champions needed something more. That something, I'm still trying to figure out, but that something, is something you possess, that the other six lack… which means, you need to be the center, you need to be the heart of the seven, and I shall shift the events of this reality, until you become that which I know only you are capable of becoming… the savior of the multiverse." Hourman pointed once again, and both Cyborg and Beast Boy were left speechless.
"Is this the moment where we laugh once again?" Beast Boy asked, Cyborg nodded, and suddenly they both burst into a strong laughter once again, tears where even falling from their eyes. "Cyborg the savior of the multiverse? Dude, there is a man known as Superman, maybe you should look for him, Cy is going to Metropolis, maybe he can take ya!" Beast Boy added.
"Superman is not the savior… he is the cause…" Hourman replied, and the laughter stopped. "But right now, nothing I say will change your point of view. But you will believe me in five minutes, when Jump City starts crumbling down by the powers of a female friend you both know well, who will accidentally release several experiments from a secret underground facility, and when curiosity gets the better out of you, you will release him, he who you are destined to convert into one of the greatest heroes of them all! This is not the last time we meet, Victor Stone, since even if I'm messing with the events around my seven selected champions, never forget, that you are the most important of them all." Hourman finished, and suddenly, he disappeared.
"Dude? He is gone!" Beast Boy added, and moved his hand around the place Hourman was not long ago. "What was that dude talking about? You, the hero of the seven champions, savior of the multiverse, Jump City will start crumbling in five minutes! Yo, we already survived 2012, what else can happen?" Beast Boy wondered, and suddenly, the whole T-Tower began shacking. "I take it back! I'm a believer! Cy, what is going on?" Beast Boy asked in fear.
"The T-Tower is shaking!" Cyborg added with concern, and then faced Jump City, and began seeing the buildings falling down. "Jump City is shaking! That mad android surely was winning some time for some kind of earthquake diffuser to go off! This is nuts!" Cyborg continued, grabbed Beast Boy by the collar, and ran away with him and toward the hangar, where he entered the T-Car. "The hero of the future, savior of the multiverse, bite my shining metal butt!"
"I understood that reference!" Beast Boy added with pride, but then began yelling hard as the T-Tower began falling down. "Cyyyyy!" He yelled, while Cyborg stepped on the pedal, and drove out of the T-Tower, a second before the tower fell down. "Dude! Our home!" Beast Boy cried hard upon watching the tower crumbling down.
"Now I'm really mad! Once I find that freaking android I'm gonna, I'm gonna, well I'm too mad right now as to know but it's going to be painful!" Cyborg complained, and followed the artificial road that lead from the T-Tower and toward Jump City, now in darkness and chaos. "The whole city is in chaos, we need the others." Cyborg added, and tried repairing the T-Communicator as fast as he could. "Come on, just give me… a damn minute… with signal! Booyah!" Cyborg exclaimed happily, and then began a communication. "Attention all Titans! Do you copy?" Cyborg began, and at that very moment, several explosions began happening all around the city. The explosions came from the energy that was being sucked from the wires around the city, and toward a power plant, where the violet light of Blackfire was seen. "Aw men, there is a first time for everything! BB, take the wheel!" Cyborg mentioned, grabbed Beast Boy by the collar, and placed him by the steering wheel.
"What? Dude! I don't even know how to drive! I'm 14 years old!" Beast Boy complained, but Cyborg ignored him and continued trying to find a signature to communicate with. "Move your cradle bad baby! I know I'm going wrong way lady, no need for that language! Watch out! Nine lives or not I'm not taking them, kitty! Cyyyyy! I can't do this!" Beast Boy yelled from out of the window, while driving and dodging everyone by the streets.
"Attention all Titans! Do you copy?" Cyborg insisted once again, and the explosions continued, but he ignored them and continued with the transmission. "Jump City is under attack! The whole city's power lines were messed up by Blackfire, and the city is in total chaos! We Titans West got our hands busy with a freaking android from who knows were breaking havoc all around the Tower! If ya got speedsters in your teams, this would be a good time to send us a helping hand!" Cyborg continued, but the T-Car was suddenly blasted by a golden light, and a rain of rocks began falling on top of them. "Where did you learn to drive?" Cyborg complained.
"I never did! I told ya!" Beast Boy complained, but then faced the golden light. "This can't be… Cyyyyy!" Beast Boy yelled, pointing toward a point in the sky, where a golden light was shining hard, surrounded by several boulders that floated around it. "That's Terra!" Beast Boy pointed.
"Say that again? BB, we discussed this already, Terra is…" Cyborg tried to say, but upon facing the golden light, and using his mechanical eye to reduce the light's intensity and have a clearer view, Cyborg's eyes widened. "I can't believe it, it's Terra!" Cyborg exclaimed, and suddenly saw an emerald colored light flying on top of them and toward the violet light Blackfire was releasing at the outsides of the city. "Was that? Was that Green Lantern driving a DeLorean? Someone please tell me what is going on here! Androids from the future, an earthquake destroys the city, old friends we though lost are still alive, and Green Lantern flies inside of a DeLorean, with too little care for the laws of copyright!" He complained. "What else is going to happen now? A crossover with Superman?" He wondered.
"That's not important right now! Terra! She is the source of the earthquakes!" Beast Boy explained, morphing into a vulture, and flying toward the flying boulders, placing himself on top of one of them, and morphing back to his gremlin-like self, floating around Terra, who was in a trance. "Terra! It's me! BB! Terra!" Beast Boy tried calling, and while doing it so, Cyborg launched his mechanical hand with a wire attached to it toward the top of a building, where the hand attached itself strongly, and began pulling himself up, though the earthquakes intensified, and Cyborg almost lost his grip. "She is not waking up!" Beast Boy added.
"Well, we need to stop her now before she continues destroying the city!" Cyborg added, and pointed his free hand morphed into a cannon, which freaked out Beast Boy. "Face it, Beast Boy, last time we saw Terra, she was a criminal, maybe she got a change of heart, maybe not, but right now everyone is facing their attention toward the emerald light and the violet one blasting one another all around the city!" Cyborg pointed, and Beast Boy noticed Blackfire chasing down a hero he hadn't seen before, similar to a Green Lantern, yet, younger. "Once that battle ends, all eyes will be centered on Terra here, in trance or not, and if there was anything left from the Terra we knew, the media will make sure to destroy her…" Cyborg explained, and Beast Boy closed his eyes in fear and pain. "I promise not to be too rough." Cyborg finished, and Beast Boy nodded, morphing into an eagle, landing on top of Cyborg's shoulder, and allowing him to fire. "Nothing personal!" He blasted, and Terra was hit, and began yelling in pain. Her yell of pain however, only lasted a few seconds, since after it, she lost consciousness, and began falling from the sky.
"Terra!" Beat Boy yelled upon morphing back to normal, adding more weight to Cyborg, whose wire began malfunctioning, but Beast Boy was too concerned about Terra as to worry about Cyborg, and so he jumped, reached Terra, hugged her protectively, and morphed into a gorilla with his arms around Terra, before finally slamming the street hard and being buried toward the sewers.
"Beast Boy!" Cyborg added with fear, but his malfunctioning mechanical hand finally gave up, and he began falling toward the street as well, forming his own hole in the concrete, and falling into the sewers with Beast Boy.
For a while, there was silence, Cyborg's human mind was knocked out, and while the mechanical one still worked, it couldn't move, and did nothing but scan the proximities. It took Cyborg a few minutes to recover, and once he did, a report was send to his wrist, and upon waking up his scenes, Cyborg read the signatures.
"Stand up, my sensors say you are alive and well." Cyborg complained while facing Beast Boy, who was by the floor with Terra still in his arms. "BB!" Cyborg complained, and Beast Boy faced him with annoyance.
"I heard you the first time… I'm just enjoying it a little." Beast Boy replied, but then stood up, and carried Terra in his arms. "Is she going to be fine? Please tell me she is going to be fine." Beast Boy begged, and Cyborg continued reading her signatures.
"She is alive, but my scanners read her brain is behaving abnormally." Cyborg explained, and continued scanning her forehead. "There is a strange serum around her brain, painkillers, some very strong narcotics, if I had to guess, which I totally have to do, I would say someone injected straight to her brain an inducing serum." He informed, and Beast Boy faced him with concern. "Mind controlling drug." He explained.
"Then Terra was being mind-controlled by someone! That explains why she acted as if she didn't know me! She actually knew me!" Beast Boy continued. "What else? Is her body ok? Did she break something?" He asked once again.
"I'm not a medical procedure robot! My scanners consume too much energy!" He complained, but Beast Boy once again faced him with teary eyes. "Ok, fine!" Cyborg continued, scanning Terra. "Everything seems to be fine… wait… there is a bomb inside of her neck!" Cyborg freaked out, and this time Beast Boy freaked out as well, he left Terra by the floor, and both backed off. "They implanted a bomb o her neck, whoever was controlling her, could also blew her head off!" Cyborg explained in fear.
"You need to do something!" Beast Boy added. "She is our friend! You can't leave that thing inside of her neck!" Beast Boy begged, and Cyborg freaked out. "Come on Cy! I know you can do it!" He insisted.
"It's not that I don't want to, but that thing is really small! I would need a laser to…" But Beast Boy went to his knees, and begged. "Beast, Boy, I'm not doctor! I just… ok, fine, but if I blow up, I will find my way back to life to kick your butt!" Cyborg continued, and walked toward Terra, and prepared his cannon, lowering its intensity and pointing toward Terra's neck with shaking hands. "There is no morphine, I'm shaking like a little boy, and if I'm not careful, I may cut her head off, or blow the thing up! No way, I can't do this!" Cyborg continued, and took his thumb, pulling it up like an antenna, and used his pinky as a speaker. "Yo, old man!" Cyborg began, and Beast Boy understood he was calling his father. "Listen, I never ask you for anything, but I need you to do something for me, do this for me, and I swear I will do anything! Are you at S.T.A.R. Labs?" Cyborg wondered, and waited by the other side of the line. "Great, I'm sending you some x-rays, a friend of mine could die any second now, and I need you to help me with…" Cyborg tried to say, but suddenly, a shriek coming from deep inside of the sewers, freaked him out. "Call me when you know what to do!" Cyborg added, and morphed his hand into a cannon. "BB, tell me that was your stomach." Cyborg complained.
"It sounded like it, but I assure you it was not!" Beast Boy replied, hugging Terra in a protective way, which in turn woke her up, and she suddenly faced Beast Boy with curiosity. "Terra!" Beast Boy exclaimed, forgetting entirely about the shriek.
"Who?" Terra began, and then pushed Beast Boy. "Let go!" She complained, pushing Beast Boy, who looked at her in confusion, and afterwards, Terra grabbed her forehead. "I… told you I wasn't the person you were looking for…" Terra insisted.
"My DNA signatures imply that you are, but if you aren't convinced enough, we saw you moving boulders in midair." Cyborg remarked, although he continued looking in the direction the shriek came from.
"Terra, it is us, your friends!" Beast Boy insisted, and Terra began getting furious, and replied by pushing Beast Boy away from her once again. "What is wrong with you, Terra? Just tell us already! Is this about the mind controlling serum and the bomb in your neck?" He wondered.
"How do you know that?" Terra complained, but then began shaking her head. "No, that's not important, I really don't…" She tried to say, when she also heard the shriek, but instead of freaking out like Beast Boy and Cyborg, she reacted with determination. "Just stay away from me, or they will blow my head off and you with my head." She insisted, and began walking around the sewers. Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged looks, and Beast Boy was the first to follow Terra despite of her words. "Fine, I admit it! It was me all along! Now move! I don't want to see you or anyone!" She insisted.
"But why? Terra, you were my friend, you were more than a friend, you were special!" Beast Boy insisted, and Cyborg just followed them both around the sewers. "Why are you doing this? Why did you use your powers to bring the city down?" He asked in concern.
"I wasn't using my powers to bring the city down. But that's none of your business!" Terra insisted, and moments after saying that last, the shriek was heard once again, this time closer, and coming from bellow some rubbish from the structures that fell down due to Terra's earthquakes. Terra them faced both Beast Boy and Cyborg, who just crossed their arms indicating they weren't going to leave. "Suit yourselves, if I blow up, which I much likely will, don't blame it on me!" She yelled hard, and then used her powers to move the rubbish away, releasing a strange creature, humanoid for the most part, grey skinned, with his skin looking more like the skin of an old man, than from an alien species, he was bald, and had a pair of golden horns adorning its forehead, and his eyes where totally black. "Codename TRX02, Tara Markov, identify yourself." She asked, and both Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged puzzled looks.
"Codename XX, Dubbilex." The alien-looking creature replied, freaking out both Beast Boy and Cyborg, as the creature tried to stand up. "I can see unidentified specimens are among your lines, TRX02. What is your directive? Are these specimens part of your directive?" He asked.
"They are not DNAliens if that's the question." Terra replied, and the strange creature faced them both with distrust. "My directive was to bring down the project's headquarters at Jump City once the blackout occurred. Alien subject Blackfire absorbed even the reserve energies of the city, I was told the containment was breeched." She continued, and Beast Boy and Cyborg faced her with several question marks adorning their heads.
"The containment was indeed breeched, TRX02." Dubbilex replied. "I used the full extension of my telekinesis, to separate the support cells from the majority of the containment units, about 99% of the subjects perished at the first minutes of the support cells being extracted from them." Dubbilex explained.
"And yet they send me to demolish the whole place. And not only that, they released the serum for me to lose control, why?" Terra asked, and Dubbilex faced away not wanting to reply. "All I asked the project was for a second chance at life! And suddenly they break our agreement and convert me into a seismic inducing lifeless doll! Speak, Dubbilex, before they find out I survived and decide to blow up my head, at this distance it could even be fatal to you." She explained.
"The project would have already activated your bomb if they knew, subject TRX02, I understand it now that they send you to demolish the building even when I had 99% of the DNAliens under control." Dubbilex explained, and Terra gave his words some thoughts. "After this backstab, I have no wishes in continuing operating for the project, so I have a proposition, let your friend here release an electromagnetic pulse in our respective bombs, and I will explain. The pulse will give us enough time to find a way to take these bombs off." He added.
"Wait, now there are two bombs?" Cyborg scanned, and found the bomb. "Anyone cares to explain, what is going on here?" Cyborg wondered, and then received a call, and answered using his hand. "What?" He yelled, and at the other side of the line he heard complaints. "I'm in a delicate and confusing situation right now, so please, quit the disappointment speech and tell me about how to defuse the bomb." Cyborg insisted, and nodded several times in agreement. "Yeah, thanks, see ya latter." Cyborg replied and hung his hand. "Long story short, the bomb is made of a strange allow and nanotechnology that can't be easily removed without the proper instruments. I move the bomb even and inch, and we all burst into pieces since that thing got the power to vaporize an entire building!" Cyborg pointed at Terra's neck.
"Now I know why I'm TRX02 and not TRX01, I surely tried." Terra replied, and Cyborg grew furious for not understanding anything that was going on. "Want the long story short too? There is an underground facility on Jump City where a secret corporation I will not mention, creates artificial meta-humans known simply as the DNAliens, they introduce into their minds false memories, mostly from the subjects they are based upon, using the strongest DNAliens like codename XX, Dubbilex, to download and create a copy of the original subject's memories, to place those memories inside artificial bodies with enhanced abilities, giving birth to the DNAliens as stronger copies to the original designs." Terra explained, and by the looks of it, Beast Boy and Cyborg got more questions than answers. "I… let's say, work for this secret corporation, and for my freewill and judgment, they place a bomb on my neck. I disobey them, they blow me up, they have no more use for me, they blow me up, the director head mistress gains weight and I mention it, she blows me up, you get the picture. When you found me, I was undercover, and trying to kick you out of my way before they blew me up!" She yelled hard.
"But you didn't have that problem before, Terra!" Beast Boy insisted, and then flinched. "Don't tell me you are… the real Terra is…" Beast Boy continued, feeling his heart breaking at that very moment.
"Subject TRX02 is the second clone of the original life form known as Tara Markov." Dubbilex explained, forcing Beast Boy's mind to collapse. "Her memories are from the original one, her last backup was… a month or so before the original subject ceased to exist."
"That was before… before… Terra and I became closer…" Beast Boy added, and Terra raised an eyebrow at that last. "That's the reason of why you weren't reacting at all! You felt nothing for me! Because your last backup was before that!" He pointed out.
"You know, it's really curious how you care more about my uploaded memories, than the original Terra being gone forever." Terra added, and Beast Boy faced her with tears, Cyborg in the other hand, placed himself between Beast Boy and Terra, visibly annoyed. "The petrified body had no usage anymore, I was cloned, and the backup memories were stored in me, it's that simple, the project recollected my body in hopes of getting enough DNA to clone."
"I understand, I don't like it, but I understand." Cyborg replied, while Beast Boy closed his hands into fists trying not to release his anger. "Now you understand me, your original self was Beast Boy's most important significant other, and you acting so selfishly, is hurting him badly, and Cyborg doesn't like his friends being hurt, now, if you want me to follow Dubbilex's advise, and generate an electromagnetic pulse around that bomb in your neck, you better start apologizing, now!" Cyborg added, and Terra faced him with rage.
"I wouldn't be in this problem if you had stayed put!" She complained, and approached Beast Boy, who refused to face her. "If I apologize right now, it will be of no use to you, since you know I'm doing it for that pulse." Terra added, and Beast Boy gave his back to her. "But I can certainly say something to light your mood, the original Terra, she loved you…" She added, and Beast Boy faced her in disbelief. "I know, because during last backup, she had those feelings for you, that's the reason of why I wanted you to stay away, so you wouldn't get hurt." She continued, and Beast Boy faced her with concern. "But that doesn't mean I want to feel that now, I'm a clone, I'm not the original Terra, she is gone. It would be selfish to take advantage of my feelings, knowing you have them too. Is that enough as an apology?" She asked.
"BB?" Cyborg wondered, and Beast Boy thought about it for a few seconds, and nodded. "Electromagnetic pulse on!" He blasted Terra, and then Dubbilex, then he analyzed his scanners, and smiled. "The bombs are officially shielded from any detonating signal, but it won't last forever, I will continue giving you both electromagnetic pulses, as long as I know you are being of help. Now, Mr. DNAlien. I suppose the 1% of the DNAliens still living here are super powered clones with the power to vanishing us all!" He complained.
"Indeed, the most dangerous one, and apparently, immune to my mind controlling powers." Dubbilex replied, and asked the group to follow him. "If you can permanently remove the bomb from my neck, I will serve you well, I guaranty it. In the meantime, I will conform with you stopping the menace that was born inside this laboratory." Dubbilex pointed, and Terra used her powers to move the dirt away, and revealed a secret underground facility, with several human-sized containers, full with some kind of orange liquid, and some wires that were, not long ago, attached to something. "99% of the clones dissolved once their genetic structures were released from the life support cells." He pointed at the odd looking orange spheres by the floor. "Yet, there is one that needed 12 orange spheres to survive, and who after the spheres were removed, remained alive." He pointed, and the group's eyes widened, when they came across a giant mechanical structure, with a shield-like logo of a hero they all knew fairly well.
"Ow hell no! You did not clone who I think you just cloned! Are you serious? How? When? Why?" Cyborg added with concern, and then heard the mechanical structure being punched hard, and it even bended to the form of a hand closed into a fist. "You really just cloned Superman?" Cyborg asked in fear.
"Not entirely." Dubbilex replied. "Getting blood samples from Superman was difficult enough, the little samples we had were incomplete. In favor of creating a clone, we had to combine the Kryptonian DNA with human samples to fill the spaces on the void. The result, it got the strength of Superman to a lesser degree, his heat vision as well, but he cannot fly. As a side effect, he acquired some kind of new power we call Tactile Telekinesis." Dubbilex continued, and the punches continued coming, and the container unit began falling apart. "Overall, he is 70% Superman, 30% his unique dangerous self." He finished, as the machine blew up, releasing golden colored energy from the clone's Tactile Telekinesis, which maintained the pieces floating around the place, while a younger looking clone of Superman stood there in the middle. The eyes of the clone were shinning scarlet red, and he quickly launched the rays against the group, and the heat vision would have blasted Terra, if it weren't for Cyborg, who blasted in the heat vision's direction.
"Enough with the surprised stares! I'm already feed up of this day!" Cyborg added, standing in front of the Superman clone. "I was assigned guard duty, and an android from the future broke into my tower, just after a black out ruined my disco ball, not to mention said disco ball fell down and broke, with my whole tower, thanks to the uncontrollable earthquakes from a clone of my once friend, Green Lantern comes to my city, and brawls against a super powered Blackfire, while we end in the sewers with a clone of a demon-like alien, no offence, who got a bomb attached to his neck and could blow up at any minute now if we are not careful enough, and to make it worst, there is a clone army facility just below my city! And now, Superman was cloned, and his clone breaks rampant in my city, my brain would have melted long time ago if I wasn't 90% machine, but the 10% human part I have left, is going to whoop your sorry butt! Booyah!" Cyborg blasted, and a surprised clone was launched away, and the machine began falling on top of him. "Now, if that thing is really 70% Superman, that won't hold him much, I can't do this alone, Beast Boy, I know I'm counting on you, but you, TRX-whatever, you may be a clone, but if what was told to us is true, you held her memories, you are her in a way. So I'm asking you, right now, as a once human with an artificial life thanks to my body being recreated, just accept your new life, and try to start over, with us, with the people who used to trust you. After all, your backup doesn't include the moment you betrayed us, does it?" Cyborg smiled, and Terra lowered her head, and before she could reply, the Superman clone came out from the floor and was about to strike Cyborg down, when a giant boulder was slammed against him.
"No it doesn't…" Terra replied, and readied her powers, which began forcing the place to tremble hard. "The memories I have… my last memory is…" Terra continued, concentrating her powers even more, and when the Superman clone came from out of the ground, and tried to reach Beast Boy, a giant dirt-made arm was created by Terra, and with it she punched the Superman clone away. "Receiving a beautiful heart shaped box… with a mirror on the inside… that was the moment I made my last backup." She informed, and Beast Boy faced her with hopes. "This Terra… is the Terra before she was convinced to betray you!" She continued, and when the Superman clone came out once again, Terra used all her powers to transform into a drill of dirt, and launched herself toward the Superman clone and pushed him toward the ceiling, where she continued drilling until reaching the surface.
"Dude, I don't care if she is a clone, she is the clone I love." Beast Boy added with heart shaped eyes, and Cyborg just moved his head in negation at how naïve Beast Boy could be. "We need to help her! Come!" Beast Boy continued, morphed into a pterodactyl and grabbed Cyborg from the shoulders, flying him out of the underground, and toward the streets of Jump City.
Jump City, Ground Zero.
"Uff!" Terra complained, and was then launched by the Superman clone out of the sewers, where several civilians noticed her, and when they did, they freaked out and began pointing at her as the responsible of the earthquakes, some even began throwing rocks toward her. "Great, now the project will surely know about this and I will blow up!" She complained, and then faced the Superman clone, who launched itself toward her, only Terra bended the earth beneath her into quick sands, buried inside of them, escaping Superman's clone attack, and afterward she came out from the ground with her leg surrounded by earth, and kicked the clone's face hard. "Ouch! That seemed like a smarter move in my mind!" She complained while rubbing her damaged leg.
"Terra!" Beast Boy added upon coming from out of the hole Terra created, and morphing into his usual self, only to notice the people yelling and throwing rocks at her. "Hey! Give the girl a break! She didn't do this!" Beast Boy explained, placing himself in front of the rocks, and the confused civilians exchanged looks. "I know what you are thinking, that she is the one that attacked our city before, and now you think she did this, but she didn't, not under her own control at least…" He whispered that last part. "She was protecting you from the bad guy! That's the bad guy over there! Ignore the 'S' on his shirt, he is just a fan with Superman's powers!" Beast Boy explained, and was then tackled down by Terra, and if it weren't by her, the Superman clone would have blasted him with his heat vision.
"Yo! Superboy!" Cyborg yelled, and the clone faced him in rage. "Yo mama so fat she had to be cloned twice!" He insulted, and the clone launched himself toward Cyborg furiously, who was waiting for him, and opened his chest plate, releasing the stored energy of his backup battery, and launching him all around the city. "That blast got enough power to power a whole city for a year." Cyborg smiled, but then saw the clone dizzily standing up. "And it just dazzled him! Sure, why not? This day can't get any worse, but it sure can get better! Yo, we are still Titans, are we not?" Cyborg wondered, and Beast Boy smiled toward Terra, who gave it some thoughts, before nodding in agreement. "Way to go team, now, before the phrase gets old, Titan's, Go!" He commanded, and both Terra and Beast Boy launched themselves toward the clone. "Man do I love saying that! But not as much as I love saying Booyah!" He blasted several times, and the dazzled Superman clone began being launched all around the place by Cyborg's attacks.
The Superman clone though, was slowly recovering, but once he opened his eyes, he was tackled down by Beast Boy transformed into a rhino, who then morphed into a gorilla, grabbed Superman's clone by the leg, and began slamming him all around like a crazy beast, or at least he did, until the clone spun around, launching Beast Boy several meters up, who then morphed into a pigeon and flew toward safety.
"Over here, pretty boy!" Terra continued with the attack, forming a giant hand that closed around Superman's clone face, and slammed him hard at the floor. "And stay there!" She ordered, but the dirt began burning until transforming into crystal, as Superman's clone released himself from the hand using the full power of his heat vision, and punched the ground hard, breaking it, and almost launching Terra back into the sewers, though at that very moment, she began floating, and was carefully placed down, by the powers of Dubbilex, who began walking on top of mind created steps. "Thanks for the help, codename XX." She added.
"Now that we are both on the surface, we are both dead unless we find a way to get these bombs off our neck, so of course I was going to help, codename TRX02." He explained, and Terra gave him an emotionless stare. "Codename S-13 is weak, if you continue tiring him down, I can use my mind control abilities to put him into slumber, I don't know for how long I may be able to hold it, but if he keeps gaining unwanted attention, all of us, will be in danger. Stop S-13 now!" He asked, and both Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at him in confusion, and Dubbilex grunted. "The Superman clone!" He continued.
"Oh, why didn't you said so earlier?" Cyborg replied, and launched his mechanical hand toward Superman's clone, grabbing his shoulder, and then launched his other free hand toward the closest wires he could find. "Terra, I need a ground point!" He yelled, and Terra noticed what Cyborg was planning, and ran toward him and hugged him while surrounding her body in dirt and slamming her foot against the concrete hard, extending the ground around her feet until finding soil. "I hope the energy is being reestablished already, because if not, this is going to hurt." Cyborg then crushed the wire with his hand, and the stored electricity was released. Almost all electricity was redirected toward Superman's clone, who began being shocked strongly, the other part was redirected by Terra toward the ground, but despite the effort, Cyborg's circuits began exploding, and Cyborg began biting his lips hard once he could finally feel the effects of the electricity, upon noticing that, Terra surrounded Cyborg entirely with dirt, cutting the electricity flow entirely, and leaving both Cyborg and Superman's clone totally dazzled. "Ya know what to do now, BB…" He mentioned, and then collapsed.
"Yo, Super clone!" Beast Boy pointed, and the weakened clone tried to face him. "Kangaroo fight!" Beast Boy added with a grin on his face, and then impacted the Superman clone with a vigorous kick to the face after transforming into a kangaroo, knocking him down.
"It is done." Dubbilex added, and surrounded Superman's clone with his energy. "I will maintain S-13 sleeping as long as I can, but we need to be quick into finding both, a way to take these bombs off our necks, and a way to lock S-13 for good, he is too dangerous, any ideas as to where to start?" He asked.
"The ruins of a T-shaped building count?" Beast Boy wondered, pointing toward the island where the T-Tower once was, and Dubbilex, though disappointed, nodded in agreement.
Ruins of the T-Tower.
"Recharge finished!" Cyborg yelled a few hours later, when the sun managed to power up his solar cells, and once Cyborg was awake, he noticed the strange group around an improvised camp at the outside of the T-Tower's remains. "What did I miss?" He wondered.
"We defeated Superboy!" Beast Boy added, and Cyborg faced him in curiosity. "What? Calling him all the time as Superman's clone is lame, and you invented the name." Beast Boy continued, and Cyborg then faced Terra. "She… doesn't have anywhere to go… if she returns to her home, the project will look for her and try to blow her up!" Beast Boy continued, and Cyborg then faced Dubbilex, who kept a sleeping Superboy inside a container unit. "Dubbilex found some stuff to amplify his powers and keep Superboy even sleepier, with the side effect of he not being able to go too far away from him." Beast Boy explained, and Cyborg then faced the tower. "Nothing survived but what Dubbilex found… not even my comic book collection." He cried.
"Forget the comic books, I downloaded them to my central processing unit a while ago, but look at our home!" He pointed out, and lowered his head. "Rob, Rae and Star are not going to like this…" Cyborg insisted, and afterwards, his body began malfunctioning, worrying the ones around the fire Terra was using to cook some fishes. "It's nothing… my body just suffered a lot during the battle, although I don't think I can find spare parts around here." Cyborg added in concern, and then took his T-Communicator. "I suppose I will have to leave Jump City for a while, not that I want to, but without spare parts, my life is in danger… stay put, I have an announcement to make." Cyborg continued, and began a transmission. "Titan's West Tower… is down… I repeat… Titan's West Tower is down. To every Teen Titan leader out there, we ask for temporary members to be assigned to Jump City while we… recover from the damages… we understand New Year is a busy time to be asking for help… but right now we could really use it… Cyborg out." He finished, and then breathed out heavily, and faced his group of friends. "Well, who wants to come with me to Metropolis?" He asked cheerfully, and everyone exchanged curious looks.
BIOS:
Dubbilex: Codename XX is a DNAlien created by Project Cadmus, a longtime ally of Superboy, with the ability to communicate using telekinesis.
Hourman: An android created by Metron of the New Gods in the 853rd century, he wields the Worlogog, an special stone that is a map of the universe and is able to shape time and space.
Metron: One of the Gods of New Genesis. His sole purpose is to know everything and is known to experiment on sentient life forms. He isn't evil nor good, he just keeps universal equilibrium.
Superboy – Conner Kent: The clone of Superman created by Project Cadmus, he isn't entirely Kryptonian, since his DNA was merged with someone elses, some of you may know with who, don't spoil please.