Replacements: Chapter Two

Roll Call:
The Future:
Robin III – Tim Drake
Ravager – Rose Wilson
Blue Beetle – Jamie Reyes
Red Devil – Eddie Bloomberg

The Present:
Robin I – Dick Grayson
Cyborg – Victor Stone

- It really sucks when you plot out each chapter but then it goes in a completely different direction or goes on longer than expected. Urgh.
Oh yeah as a heads up, if it's Tim's focus then whenever 'Robin' is mentioned that's Dick and vice versa. If that makes sense?

Replacements: Containment Break.

Tim struggled to open his eyes after being knocked out for the second time that day. He stared at his feet, spying Red Devil and Ravager lying on the floor before him. The two were bound in handcuffs still unconscious. He shook his arms, finding himself in the same confinement. His back was propped up against a wall of what he figured to be a containment room. It looked small and bleak enough to be. In the wall in front of him there was a large tinted pane – a one-way glass to the outside. There was no visible door and only a dim lamp hanging above their heads to provide some light.

"Blue-" he croaked, suddenly remembering he wasn't accounted for.

"Here esse," he replied. The voice was coming from his left. Blue Beetle, handcuff free, was standing by the corner, his systems already scanning the area. "Scarab woke me up ten minutes ago." Blue Beetle moved closer, yanking the handcuffs off of Tim. "Where are we? What happened?" he asked hurriedly.

Tim struggled with the pounding in his head so he could give a response to Blue Beetle. Shaking his limbs to get any feeling back he pulled himself up to his feet. "We're in Titans Tower."

Blue Beetle furrowed his brows. "That's what Scarab tried telling me. I've never seen this part of Titans Tower."

"That's because it's not our tower Blue Beetle," Tim replied. He felt for his utility belt and sighed upon feeling emptiness. Ravager was missing her swords too. They had taken all their weapons before throwing them in, save Blue's. You couldn't really remove his powers unless you yanked it out from his spine. "It's the original Titans Tower – at least one of the originals."

Tim crouched beside Red Devil, easily pulling off the handcuffs since his skin had burned through a good part of it. Blue Beetle helped with removing Ravager's and the two stirred awake, their eyes fluttering.

Red Devil sat up, clutching his bruised head. "What happened?"

"We got knocked out by another Robin and Cyborg," Ravager spat. She turned over to Tim and glared, "And someone watched them do it."

Tim ignored her; Ravager was just upset because her pride was damaged. Although he wasn't quite sure himself as to why he didn't react while his team was knocked out and cuffed. Every time he tried to find the answer the guilt would consume him before he arrived to one. All he knew was that he wasn't very capable of saving anyone – not of recently it seemed.

"Robin and Cyborg are out right now," Tim started

"So that was actually Robin and Cyborg?" Red Devil asked, "I thought I was hallucinating."

"Robin says we went back in time," Blue Beetle piped up.

"We should call for help!" Red Devil suggested. He felt around his pockets for his communicator and frowned, realizing those too had been taken. "Communicators are gone."

Ravager scoffed, brushing off some dust from her thighs as she got up. "If we travelled back in time the commlinks wouldn't have worked anyways genius."

Red Devil shrank back, seeing Blue Beetle smirk a bit out of amusement. "Oh," he breathed.

Tim drew in a sharp breath. "Guys listen up. The Titans are out right now, if they weren't they would've done something once we all woke up. If we can escape this containment room before they come back we can sort this all out." He looked around the room again. There wasn't much to work with as far as escaping the room. If they were to leave with brute force it would probably send an alarm to Cyborg or Robin and they'd come rushing back to the Tower. He tried to run through his options but his thoughts were cut short.

"Here's your way out," Ravager's voice sounded; Tim raised his head and watched as she moved towards the containment room's window.

"Wait-!" Blue Beetle and Tim cried out. Red Devil spun around in time to watch as Ravager jammed her fist into the tinted window. In response a swirl of electricity bolted up her arm, sending a shock through her body. She fell to the floor, out cold once more. "It's booby-trapped…" Blue Beetle murmured, finishing the sentence a little too late.

He and Red Devil rushed to her side, trying to jostle her awake. "Hey Rose, wake up," Red Devil pleaded. He reached out his hand to shake her shoulder but Tim stepped in, his words cutting through the air.

"Eddie," he almost snarled – no one seemed to be listening to him. Immediately the devil retracted his hand. "You're going to burn her."

"We don't have time for this," Tim said glaring at his two teammates. "They're coming back to the Tower now that Ravager attacked. Blue Beetle, scan for the closest exit."

Red Devil narrowed his eyes and took a step closer towards Tim. "You know now's a pretty crappy time to decide to be leader," he grimaced. He poked a finger at his chest and Tim's expression stood cold, unwavering. "Where were your leadership skills when we were getting our butts kicked?"

Tim snatched a hold of the hand poking at his chest and thrust it downwards. He ignored the heat growing beneath his gloves and kept his stare. "Like I said we don't have time for this. You can stay here with Ravager and keep playing prisoner while you guys don't follow orders; but I'm getting out. You're welcome to come if you're willing to cooperate."

Red Devil huffed, steam and fire expelling out of his nostrils. Blue Beetle pointed towards the left corner of the room and tapped a few buttons on the alien computer built into his arm. "There's a door through that wall there; but both are sensor and trap protected. Any attack on them will trip an alarm."

"Not to mention lined with metal." Tim stroked his chin and looked around the room.

"If they're already on their way what's stopping us from just tearing this place apart and escaping?" Red Devil asked.

Tim shook his head. "It'll just make their more hostile towards us. If we want to get back to the future we need their cooperation and we're not going to get it by destroying their home."

"And it might be booby-trapped again," Blue Beetle added.

The light bulb flickered overhead and Tim stared up, suddenly getting an idea. He turned over to Blue Beetle. "All the Titans' Tower run on the same tech designed by Cyborg. If this tower is like ours, all electricity is connected to one unit." He pointed above their heads and the boys followed with their eyes. "If we can overload that cell from here, the power will go down, disabling all tech."

"Isn't there a back-up battery in case of power shortages?" Red Devil asked.

"It will take a few seconds to start up. Within that time period, you and I are going to pull open that wall and the door; making our way out." Tim turned over to Blue Beetle and he spoke up next, knowing his cue.

"And I'll overload the circuits, then follow you guys out."

"Is it gonna work?"

"It has to," Tim replied, punching his fist into his palm. The three of them nodded, clear on their assigned tasks. Red Devil motioned for Ravager but Tim pulled him back. "She stays."

He spun around, his face suddenly furious. "What?" he sneered in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding. She disobeys you once and you want to leave her in containment?"

"Trust me."

Blue Beetle laughed. "That's a good one. Look Robin, I'll follow your orders and all but Red and Ravager are right. How can we trust you when you just watched while Cyborg and your other Robin beat us up?"

Clenching his fist, Tim grit his teeth. "Fine. Ravager stays…and that's an order."

Red Devil rolled his eyes and backed away towards the hidden exit much to his dismay. "Let's go then," he pouted.

"Ready?" Tim asked.

The three of them exchanged nods. Tim and Red Devil placed themselves perpendicular to the wall enclosing their way out, ready to pull it open.

"On my count," Tim commanded. He opened his mouth again to proceed counting but Blue Beetle interrupted him.

"Robin," he called out readying his canon to shoot at the light bulb. "There's something you should know," Tim turned around, staring at Ravager's limp body then to Blue Beetle. "They took your blood and Ravager's while we were out. The database is scanning them now."

Tim took in a deep breath in an attempt to control his racing mind and worries. "She's going to show up positive for-" Red Devil began.

But Tim cut him off. "Hit the lights Blue," he commanded. And with that the room burst into a blaze of light before the darkness swept over them, acting as a blanket of cover while they stole for the doorway out.

Dick brushed his hands over the surface of the floor where he first found the unconscious superheroes that were tossed out from a portal. There was nothing - there was nothing everywhere. Sighing, he stood up and turned to Cyborg, hoping he had found something scanning the area.

Cyborg shook his head solemnly. "Nothing. Not even a trace of beams the portal left."

Dick had hoped to find some answers back at the crime scene since his captives clearly weren't cooperating. But they had both came up empty handed. More questions arose rather than being answered. He clenched his fists.

The Titans had responded to a tripped alarm in the museum and had come face to face with Warp. Amidst the chaos of the fight Warp had opened up a portal - not only escaping their grasp but taking a few Titans with him. It was just another repeat of when they had lost Starfire – except worse. This time, not only Starfire but Raven and Beast had been involuntarily sucked in along with Warp to wherever the portal led to. In exchange, the portal spat out four other mysterious superheroes, knocked unconscious with one of them bearing his emblem. Dick didn't like the thought of it.

A high beeping broke his thoughts and Dick turned his head towards the sound coming from Cyborg's arm. His companion tapped a few buttons before frowning. "The alarm went off in Titans' Tower," he spoke grimly.

Dick stood up. "The room's armed so they won't be able to escape." He said the words in a way that seemed to reassure himself more than Cyborg.

"We should head back anyways, there's nothing left here for us," Cyborg suggested swiveling around. "Besides, if they're awake it's about time we got some answers." He pounded his fist in his palm and broke for the exit with his leader trailing behind him.

Tim concealed himself within the shadows of the containment room's control area, an easy enough task. The difficult part was the waiting. Waiting for Robin and Cyborg to return, and waiting for the right moment to set his plan into motion. Blue Beetle and Red Devil next to him grew impatient and he couldn't help but notice as they eyed Ravager's limp body still trapped in the containment room with disapproval. He tried telling himself leaving Ravager there was purely strategic – not because she verbally attacked him for being a bad leader, but he was finding it hard to believe his own words.

Soft footsteps sounded from outside the door and the three of them crouched lower, preparing themselves for battle. They watched as Robin and Cyborg entered cautiously, the confusion spreading across their face as they realized their captives had gone missing.

"They're-," Robin began. "Where are they?!"

Cyborg headed for the controls and furrowed his brows upon looking at the screen. "The Tower says they're still in the containment room." Instantaneously Cyborg and Robin armed themselves with their respective weapons, their eyes searching every inch of the dim room.

"Right here!" Red Devil shouted. His drew in his breath, expelling it into a red hot flame that shot out at the two. Blue Beetle dove out of the shadows next, shooting a blast at Cyborg before he had a chance to retaliate. Red Devil followed his lead as the two of them jumped onto his back, trying to keep him occupied. Tim took his leave next, deliberately running past Robin in plain sight as he escaped the containment room.

"Cyborg! The other one!" Robin yelled his head whipping from the exit to his ambushed teammate.

"Go!" Cyborg screamed back, successfully prying off Blue Beetle from his back and flinging him against the wall. Red Devil latched on for his life.

To Cyborg's consent, Robin sprinted after Tim, isolating the two from one another – just as planned.

His heart and mind racing Tim ran down the unmarked halls of Titans Tower completely foreign and hardly resembling his own. Rounding a corner he tried looking for an open room – a wider place to fight if his plans didn't work. He could hear the pounding of Robin's footsteps not far behind his own. His eyes searched frantically around the vacant hallways before he ran into a set of opened doors leading into the common room. The place was far enough to give him and Robin some alone time before Cyborg came in if he was able to neutralize Red Devil and Blue Beetle. Tim ran down the steps, stopping in front of the couch before he spun around, staring at the door. He waited.

Moments later Robin burst into the room, the anger evident on his face.

"Don't. Move." Robin snarled. He dared to take a few paces closer, his bo-staff ready.

Slowly, Tim motioned for his utility belt that he had managed to retrieve back in the containment room. He unlatched the buckle and tossed it at Robin's feet. "Yield." Tim positioned his hands behind his head, completely surrendering himself to his predecessor.

Robin's eyes widened before narrowing in suspicion. "Who are you?"

Tim released his arms and carefully peeled off his mask before tossing it to the floor as well. "My name is Tim Drake. I'm the third Robin to be trained by Batman after Jason Todd, the second Robin who succeeded you and the current leader of the Teen Titans ten years into the future."

Robin scoffed. "Why should I believe any of this?"

"Because, Dick," Tim almost smiled, knowing he had already reeled him in. "I can help you get Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy back."

"Cyborg!" Dick yelled, bursting into the control room of the containment facility.

Cyborg stopped his fist midway before crashing into the side of the devil's face. Cyborg had him by the throat, the boy squirming vigorously. Robin trailed in behind him, his eyes darting around the room to check for the rest of his teammates.

"Put him down," Dick told his comrade. His voice strained, it was hard for him to give the commands and to say what was coming next.

"Say what?!" Cyborg screamed, dazed. He chucked his captive to the hard ground and rubbed his metal hand partially burned. "I had him. Should I throw them back into the containment room?"

Dick swallowed hard, stepping closer to his comrade. He watched as Robin helped his fallen teammate up to his feet and scurry towards the other two, huddled in the corner. He shook his head. "No. Cyborg these are the Teen Titans…" Dick gestured towards the pitiful team before them. "Ten years into the future…and we're going to help bring them home."

- Ou this one's lengthy and it's just gonna get worse from here on out D: Oh yes and something else! This story will be a lot more err- serious than the first draft I had out.

Next chapter: How to Convince a Robin to Bring you Home: For Dummies & To the future with the missing three!