A/N: Well, this is my first story so I feel I should warn you that this story is based off of the TV show Teen Titans, not the comics. (Although I would love to read them, I just can't seem to find them) So, that is just a little note that you may want to keep in mind.
Chapter one: When Bad Turns Good.
"Janet, what is the plan for tonight?" Slade said as he paced around me.
"To guide the Teen Titans away from their home so then we may take over the central city. From there we will lay our threat of a bomb that will be able to shut down and destroy the city, whichever one becomes necessary." I say, breathing in with a shudder as I finished the last word. I hope Slade didn't notice it for if he did, then I will be in a lot of trouble. "Then we will take the city hostage and work our way through the surrounding cities to take over a larger land mass if the government refuses to make peace with us and meet our demands."
Slade paced around more in the dark room we were in. Not overly a surprise that this room is as dark as it is. I have never understood it but in all the years I have known Slade, I have noticed he likes dark rooms. The only light is the light that is like a spotlight on me, and a few computers emitting light a little ways away. It is always like this when he briefs me on missions he wants me to do. Dark and unknown, just like how I don't know much about anything outside of what he had taught me.
Slade, in a few ways, is my father. He found me and raised me from the age of 12. He found me wondering lost in some forests with no memory of who I was, no family and no knowledge of this world. Neither he or I will ever know what happened in those past 12 years, all that we know is it was a miracle that I had even remembered my age back then, if I even remembered my right age. What I knew then is all I have and ever had to knowing whom I was before I lost it all. I was alone and scared, unsure of what I was going to do, and then Slade came along. He took me in and took care of me and in turn, I give him my services for whatever plan he is hatching and working at. After all, evil is all I have ever known. I am 17 now, and I still do not have any memory of where I have come from or whom I really am. All I know is until I remember who I really am before I lost everything; I will serve Slade and all of his evil works.
"You shuddered." Slade says simply.
I straiten up, ready to take any punishment he may give me. I know he doesn't want me to feel like what I am doing is wrong but that is one thing that bothers me now though. As I got older, I started dreading doing these missions for him. I feel like I owe him everything but I can't bring myself to do feel okay doing it anymore. Everything he does isn't right to me anymore and I know if he ever knew about that then he would tell me I have gone soft, gone the worst way anyone who works for him could go, and he would leave me without any way of surviving without him.
"You're not going soft on me, are you, Janet?" Slade says, facing the computers.
"No, sir, I am not." I say hoping he will believe me.
"Regardless, we will deal with it when we get what we need for the plan. Go, Janet. You know what to do."
"Yes sir." I say as I turn to walk out.
"And, Janet, when you come back, prepare for the worst."
I walk out after a moment of pause after he said that. I knew he would punish me in some way. Judging by the way he said it, I am going to guess some hard training is coming up paired with him kicking my butt into gear. He does that sometimes. He does it to make sure that I am loyal to him and him only. He doesn't want me going astray in any way possible so he makes sure I stay in line any chance he gets.
I make my way across town in the shadows of midnight, for the shadows are my power. They are one of the few powers I have learnt to hone with my time with Slade. I have learnt to pull my physical form into a shadow form, hiding in the shadow of buildings and people. Even then, I prefer to wear dark colors like black to blend into the shadows. Tonight is the perfect night for a walk, not too cold in my black tank top and dark shorts. The night is a good time for me to travel since almost everywhere is nothing but shadows so I can move swiftly through the city streets. I don't see anyone in the streets ahead, so I let myself wonder in my physical form rather than being a shadow among the many here. I go to the port, hoping I can steal a boat to get on the island the Titans place their house on. From there I will make my way pass the security system and- I pause. I hear a noise that isn't suppose to be here at this moment. I pull myself into a shadowy corner, still in my physical form, to watch what may occur at this moment. Two figures are by a boat, one tall and muscular, although the muscles look like a machine. The other figure is small and is rather scrawny. I silence my thoughts and focus my hearing to hear what they are saying.
"Can't I just drive it once?" The small, scrawny figure asks as he stands like he is going to beg for the chance to drive the boat.
"No, Beastboy. It is way too complicated for you to drive." The taller figure says.
I smile. Beastboy is on the Teen Titan team, so the other figure has to be Cyborg, judging from his size. If these are who I think they are, then there is no need for me to hack their security system and lure them out with false alarms like I was planning to, but rather I could use these two as bait to get the others out of their home. I take out the communicator Slade gave me years ago to keep in touch with him.
"Slade, there has been a change of plans. This plan will be easier on all of us." I say into the communicator.
"It better work or else you will have a lot more than just the worst to come back to when this is over." He says. That is pretty much a go ahead from him.
I pull myself into shadow form and sneak my way into Cyborgs shadow. As long as I am here, I will show up as his shadow even if he is in the darkest room in the world. Good thing people rarely pay attention to their shadow, or several people would have seen they have two shadows following them instead of one.
"Cy, I can handle driving a boat. I have done it before." Beastboy says with the look of a child trying to convince his parents he is old enough.
"Oh really? Did that boat reach over 100 MPH with a two piston engine?"
"Well, it reached 5 MPH if I rowed fast enough…" Beastboy says in a whisper.
"Get in the boat, no driving for you. But, if you want, I will kick your butt at some video games once we get home." Cyborg says as both of them get into the boat, and as I follow as Cyborgs shadow.
I wait in the shadow of a box cause it moves a lot less than Cyborg which makes it easier to keep up with, plus I have an idea dealing with the yellow lights that I know are very bright. One thing I have discovered about my power is that I can move things by their shadow alone. I know if I can move the light source to be pointed at the two boys on the boat, then I can control them better cause their shadows will be bigger. Slowly, I start to aim the lights to the boys and when it is in the perfect position so their shadows are on a wall, I turn on the light.
"Beastboy cut it out. Turn it off." Cyborg says I move some rope closer to where it will all go down.
"I didn't do anything!" Beastboy says as I started bringing the rope around both of their feet. I wrap the rope all around them to their shoulders and pull them to the ground.
"Well, that certainly wasn't me doing that." Cyborg says as he tries to get the rope off.
"Don't look at me! I don't know magic!" Beast boy says.
"Don't you mean Shadow art?" I say as I make myself a shadow on the wall and come out into my physical form. "Cause comparing this art that takes years alone to master is an insult of the highest degree."
"Who are you?" Cyborg demands, but I just smile.
"Who I am is not important," I smile as I take both of their communicators off of them, "but what is important is how fast your friends will get here to help you."
I go to the boat controls and start sailing away from Titan Tower and to a deserted beach that I walk on sometimes. I always knew knowing that beach was going to be useful one of these days. I took both of the communicators when I could leave the controls on their own so I could send a distressed signal from both of them at the same time and check up on the two prisoners I have acquired. I see they are both there then I see Beastboy turn into an animal and get out of the rope. No matter, I pin him on the wall with his shadow without raising a figure.
"You have to try harder than that to get to me." I say.
But inside of me while looking at him pinned there, I feel guilt. I know all the horrible stuff Slade will do once he is in power and he is just one of the brave heroes trying to protect this city and all who live within it from the evil deeds. It is brave what he is doing. Fighting where there isn't hope and protecting people he doesn't know. I turn around. I can't go soft. I leave Beastboy pinned on that wall and convince myself I am doing what I need to do, nothing more. I stay quiet for the rest of the ride to the beach where I sail the boat on shore so it looks like it crashed in a way. I take Beastboy and Cyborg to an old abandoned jail that still has a few good cells in it. It was a long walk through a dense forest after we get off the beach, but I can keep them under control because the path way was lit up. Slade must have hoped I would come down this path to this cell, which is good he did or else I wouldn't have known what to do.
I get them inside the musky and mossy cell that still has a good lock, even though it is rusty and the door makes a lot of noise when it is opened and closed. I lock them up and wait for their friends to come and fall into my trap although it was going to take a while for them to show up. That was going to take longer than I had thought so I took a seat and waited. Everything was set up for the next part. I am planning to use the lights that I set up in the cell. Once the rest of the team gets there, they will see their two friends locked in the cell. I will turn on the lights behind them once they get too close and use their shadows to drag them into the cell. It is an almost flawless plan but I can't help but feel wrong for doing this. I know I am going soft and it is hurting me on so many levels and it is only going to cause me trouble so I need to stop it and toughen up.
"You don't have to do this, you know?" I hear a voice from the cell speak. It is Beastboy.
I look into the cell and try to pull off a smile. "True, but it is what I want to do. Ruling will be such a great feat and it will only get better."
"But you don't mean that." He says.
I stumble on my words because I don't want to believe he knows I don't want to do this. "What on earth would make you think that? The fact I trapped you guys? Or the fact I have the perfect trap set up for you and your friends? Or…"
"Or the fact that you took us to the middle of nowhere when other villains usually keep us imprisoned in the center of their plans?"
I turn away, there is no way I could convince him otherwise that I am happy to do this simply because I am not. I am not glad or happy to do any of this. Maybe instead of soft, what is going on is I want to be on the same side as Beastboy and his friends. Maybe, just for once, I want to know something other than this evil I was raised to love. Maybe I am not what Slade raised me to be, no matter how much of a father he was to me.
"You're right, I don't want to do this," I say, "but it was all I was raised to know, all I was raised to do. Even if I wanted to, I can't change who I was raised to be."
"But you can't keep suppressing what is in your heart. Let the real you out." He said.
"Central City Point." I say as I throw the keys inside the cell to Beastboy. "Slade is hiding a threat there that can shut down everything the city needs to live and if the city still doesn't corporate, then he will destroy it to send a message to the surrounding cities that he isn't playing."
"If that is the case," a different voice comes in, "Then all of us need to get there as soon as possible. All of us" It was Robin, practically the heads of the Teen Titans. The rest of the Titans came out into the light. He was looking at me when he said 'all of us'.
"You want me to go with you?" I ask out of complete shock.
He nodded. "Anyone willing to give up their hostages that easily is not a bad guy, just a hero needing guidance."
I nod back at him. I know I am far from having his whole trust but at least I know there is a start. All of us start heading out from the jail and then sirens screamed out like they were right next to my ears. Light blinded me from every angle and when I blocked it out, the forest I was in with the Titans was gone. Instead, there are bright floodlights everywhere and white walls making it so much brighter.
That is when I remember that was just a memory from 9 months ago, when I betrayed the person who was the closest I had to a father. When I worked with the Titans to unlimited a threat and I ended up in jail anyways for it. That is why it is so bright in my room with the only color being my orange jumpsuit that every prisoner wears. Everything else is a blinding shade of white to make it, or at least seem, all the brighter in the room. I am laying in the same bed I have been lying in for the past 9 months, been in the same insanely bright room for the past 9 months, been without shadows for almost 9 months. Shadows are the essence of my being, so being without them is draining and I can only make enough with my hands to keep me going from day to day. The sirens are new, though, and I don't think I like them one little bit. Someone came into my cell.
"Morning, Prisoner 72097, you have a visitor." The guard says as he carried the handcuffs that would limit my ability to use my powers but not by much. Not like I would escape anyways because that would only make it seem I wasn't honest by what I said 9 months ago. I promised them I would do anything to let them know I am not a danger to them, somehow this was the only way how. I am guessing they want me to pay for the crimes I have done which would leave me in here for life, not because they are that bad but rather people wont trust someone who can hide in the shadows.
"Oh, so the sirens weren't my new alarm clock? I kind of like them." I said sarcastically.
"We didn't want to wake you but your visitor, Robin, said it was an emergency." The guard said as he finished putting the cuffs on in front of me rather than behind me because they are too big to stay behind me.
I pause and look at the guard. "Robin. As in Robin from the Teen Titans is here, wanting to talk to me?"
"Yep, so lets go before he changes his mind."
We walk outside of my room and I instantly feel better and not as drained as I have felt the past 9 months. They didn't make the hallway as bright as my room so there is more shadows here than in there so they feed me their energy. I enjoy it while it lasts because I have a feeling that it won't last long. I am betting they made the room I am meeting Robin in is every bit, if not brighter, than my room because they believe that is what they need to do to keep me under control. It really isn't, it just drains me but they need to do what will be the safest.
The guards march me down the hall and into, wouldn't you guess it, a very bright room with Robin in it. He is sitting at a table in the middle of the room with eight chairs, four on each side of the table. Wouldn't you know it; they are made from a shiny metal so they make the room seem brighter than it already was. I can feel the shadow power drip out of me slowly already. I take a seat across Robin. He has a friendly smile even though he is talking to a prisoner. But I know I am not any prisoner to him. When Slade was going to set off the bomb to destroy the city, I got it deactivated and saved the city. To him, I am a hero, although to the citizens, I am a criminal.
"Do they expect you to sleep with how bright it is in here? I mean I can't imagine how your room is." He said with a smile as if he was seeing a childhood friend.
"You get used to of it after a month. What is this emergency?" I ask
"You never do small talk, do you? Anyways, it is Slade. The team and I believe Slade will try again at this whole thing but we aren't sure where to look. You were close to him and worked with him, so we need you to help us find him."
"Me? What makes you think I can find him?"
"You mentioned to me how long he worked on this project for. I don't think he will give up just because you aren't there anymore. The fact is he won't give up his plan till he gets it right"
I lean back in the chair. I think about what on earth Slade could be doing. For all I know he could be kicking puppies and I wouldn't have a clue. "Slade was secretive, even to the people he thought of as his kin. He never shared many plans with me until the day I had to go out and do the missions, but if all failed, he said he would go to the research lab."
"Research lab?"
"Yeah… you don't think he was referring to the chemical lab…?"
Robin gave me a look as if he was going to say probably. "I will be right back." He says as he got up and walked away. I sat there and waited for Robin to come back and when he did after fifteen minutes, he came with a guard.
"We are going to let you free as long as you don't leave the city and work with the Titans to save it." The guard says as he undoes my handcuffs. I look at Robin and he just smiles. I stand and walk to him.
"How did you…?" I begin to ask.
"Welcome to the team." He says as he hands me a communicator with the T for Titan on it.
