Chapter Three
"Nngh… I feel… Actually… I feel great… Better than ever… I feel strong, like I could break a concrete wall…" Robin said, leaping up, and twisting to kick in the air. Unfortunately, he underestimated his strength, causing him to fly into the wall, crumpling the metal underneath his body.
"Whoa… That should've hurt… Badly. I should've broken a number of bones." Robin said. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.
"There's someone in our tower." Robin hissed, jumping back up, and going out the door, resolving to fix the wall later. It wouldn't be a problem with Cyborg on the job. He went into the common area, seeing the Titans sitting on the couch, playing video games. Well, Cyborg and Beast Boy were. And there was a blonde girl that looked very familiar sitting there, laughing with the two of them. Robin snuck up behind her, pulled her over the back of the couch, and glaring at her.
"What are you… Terra? What are you doing here!?"
"Robin! It's so good to see you again, too! I'm glad you're feeling better!"
"No, I mean, what are you doing here? I… Thought you were still a high school student. I thought you had completely forgotten about having superpowers."
"Well… I… I kept having dreams about you guys, and… Honestly, at first, the dreams could just have been from seeing you in everyday life. But soon, they got more specific. I dreamed about my date with Garfield, and… About my servitude to Slade, and about my powers… I often had the dream where I turned on Slade, and used my powers to make the volcano erupt… It's a terrifying dream, and well… I knew I had to come back and set things right.
"You were… The only people who ever truly cared about me. Slade only wanted me for my powers. My parents and the people from place I came from were all terrified of me. I had no control over my powers then, and I would hurt people without meaning to. Actually, Slade taught me more than I ever wanted to learn. I… I learned that I enjoyed hurting people more than I wanted to admit.
"I was an angry girl, and I lashed out at the world for its perceived injustices against me. But, he did teach me to control my powers in ways I never would have considered. Did you know humans have iron in their blood. It's an important part of the blood, and if I focus hard enough, I can control them through it. Bone is made primarily of Calcium, so I can break bones. I… Can't exactly exercise fine control with their bones, but I can cause them pain, break bones, and immobilize an enemy.
"Humans have less iron in their blood than a penny's worth of metal, unless of course the particular human eats a lot of meat. For vegetarians, or vegans like Garfield, they probably contain a lot less Iron than normal. I probably couldn't control Garfield's body with ferrokinesis.
"I… I swear I would never use those powers though… Unless there was no other option. Controlling someone's blood is too exhausting to do for long, and breaking bones is just too vulgar. Oh, Starfire, what happened to your nose? Are you alright? Did Mad Mod hurt you?"
"No… I got in a disagreement with a friend. It is not a korsnax glumbar driongl…"
"A what, now?"
"It is not a big deal. Tameranians heal faster than humans. My nose will be good as new in no time."
"Are you sure? Your nose looks broken."
"My father always said that these things build 'the character'." Starfire said cheerfully. Terra raised an eyebrow. She wasn't quite buying it.
"So, Robin… You're really feeling better? Mad Mod used some really weird stuff on you… I assumed it was a hallucinogenic drug. Maybe it wasn't?"
"I dunno… But I'm feeling better than ever. Stronger than ever." Robin said.
"Really? You wanna spar with me, Robin? One on one?" Cyborg said brightly. Robin nodded, grabbing his staff from the corner, and going to the training room, and facing off against Cyborg.
The rest of the Titans sat around the walls, and watched as Cyborg punched, and Robin blocked his strike with his staff, leaping up in the air, and kicking at Cyborg's head, knocking him back a few steps, and pressing his advantage, thrusting with his staff before grabbing Cyborg's wrist and flipping him over with one arm, slamming him on the ground and punching in the air, stopping right before he hit Cyborg's nose.
"W-whoa! Y-you really are stronger. Squeeze my wrist… As hard as you can…" Cyborg said, his hand extending out to reveal a thick metal bar in his wrist. Robin gripped as tight as he could as Cyborg watched the monitor on his forearm. Finally, the numbers leveled off, and beeped.
"Wow! That's an even stronger grip than I have! 1,500 kilograms! I'm jealous!"
"What happened? May I scan your mind empathically, Robin?" Raven asked. Robin nodded, and Raven walked over to him, sitting down next to him, and touching her forehead to his, putting her thumb and forefinger knuckle on his forehead as well, closing her eyes and breathing in, breathing out, and connecting to his mind. It was only empathic, not a true telepathic connection, but she could feel an immense ocean of power inside Robin. It was so great that it was almost painful to connect to.
"Robin… You… I don't understand. You have always been strong… But… Your power now, is overwhelming."
"Is Robin sick?" Starfire asked. Raven sighed, and shook her head.
"I don't believe so. I sensed some sort of virus inside him, but… It's… More like the virus is him, rather than him having the virus."
"What? I don't understand!" Starfire cried. "Robin, are you ill? Do you have 'the fever'? Do you need 'the bed rest'?"
"I'm fine, Star… I'm a little confused as well. I seem to have some intuitive understanding of my new powers. But by and large, I guess only time will tell what I can do with them."
"Hmm… Clever boy…" Came a deep, gravelly voice from the monitor that alerted them to crimes in the city.
"Slade!" Robin growled, jerking his head around, glaring furiously at his nemesis."
"Hello, Robin. It has been quite a while… And Terra… I see the Titans have accepted you back. I never expected them to. Good for you… Oops, sorry." Slade said, clapping sarcastically, but not elaborating, seeming satisfied when the Titans looked at Terra suspiciously.
"Well, Robin… I am glad that my little gift didn't kill you. The virus is quite deadly. Most of those I tested it on ended up as withered husks. It kills 99.99% of those it infects. Mad Mod seems to have modified the virus to be in hallucinogenic drug form. How very like him."
"What did you do to me!?" Robin demanded.
"Are you controlling Terra again!?" Beast Boy added. Slade's eyes narrowed.
"Me? After she betrayed me last time? I wouldn't even consider it." Slade said, slowly, controlled, displaying no emotion with his voice. Robin felt sure that Slade was telling the truth. But he wasn't dumb enough, either, to risk it.
"Well… I've chatted long enough. I really am quite busy." Slade said. Robin growled.
"What are you planning!" the young leader of the Titans demanded. Slade's expression didn't change even a little bit. He looked right into Robin's eyes, though Robin was sure he saw a smirk affect what little of Slade's face he could see.
"Planning? I'm hurt, Robin… After all we've been through together? No, I just wanted to check up on you… I had heard that you had been accosted by Mod, and that young Terra was back in action, so to speak. She always was something of a disappointment. I'm sure that you, Robin, would do me proud."
"I'd never work for you!"
"You mean like the last time you would never work for me? Or the time that you changed identities and became Red X, and unwittingly gave me all that I needed? No, Robin. You and I… We really are so very much alike. Two sides of the same coin. As much as you protest to the contrary, you can never escape our similarities. So, I really must go. Enjoy my gift, Robin." Slade said, ending the connection.
In the next moment, the Titans were all looking suspiciously at Terra, who seemed terribly upset, so much so that she wasn't able to say anything. For a few minutes, she just sat there, wide eyed, unable to speak. Then, "W-wait! Raven! You were the first one to believe that I wasn't on the level last time! You sensed my loyalty to Slade. You can see that I'm not hiding anything, right!?" She gasped, desperate now, to be proven innocent. Raven nodded, walking over to Terra.
She put a hand on Terra's forehead, putting her other hand on her shoulder and touching her forehead to Terra's. The closer the contact between her and the other person, and the more unguarded the other person was, the more accurate her reading would be. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she delved into Terra's mind.
Don't… Resist me, Terra… I promise I won't hurt you. Raven said telepathically.
Terra nodded, sighing and releasing her memories for Raven to inspect. Raven sighed, breathing deeply and looking at Terra's memories, finding nothing unusually suspicious. She had friends at the school she had gone to, and she had even had a boyfriend for a little while. Raven didn't look overly much at the memories. She didn't want to meddle where she didn't belong. She had a strong sense of privacy for herself, and she respected others' privacy as well.
"I'm not seeing anything suspicious. She has secrets, just like anyone, but nothing to worry about. Terra smiled nervously. Was Raven really giving the all clear for her? Of all the Titans, Raven had always been the most suspicious of her, the most ready to suspect Terra of skullduggery. The other Titans exclaimed happily, and welcomed Terra to the Titans before heading about their business.
"Can I talk to you, Raven?" Terra asked, grabbing Raven's wrist and pulling her into the other room.
"Raven… I… Appreciate you being willing to vouch for me, but… Why? You never liked me! What's your angle?"
"Angle? Why should I have an angle? I don't sense betrayal on your mind. So, as hard as it is for me to accept new things, or new people, I have no reason to doubt you… Yet.
"But… If you betray us, if you give me any reason to believe that you're a threat to us, I won't forgive you, and I won't hesitate to destroy you… For good this time!" Raven snarled. Terra gulped, shaking violently. However, almost immediately, Raven actually smiled, and walked into the other room, gesturing for Terra to follow her. For a moment, Terra stood there, dumbfounded, unable quite to process that Raven had just smiled.
Was she just trying to throw her off? It didn't strike Terra as Raven's typical behaviour. She was usually fairly straightforward, well, she was when she actually spoke about something. She didn't beat around the bush. For a few minutes, Terra stood there, dumbstruck, looking around to see if anyone else saw Raven smile. Finally, Beast Boy came back and pulled her back into the kitchen, where Raven had picked up where she left off.
"I think I have enough for everyone. I made twenty pancakes, four vegan pancakes, fruit, vegan eggs, vegan milk, regular milk, sausages, bacon, regular eggs. If you're not sure which is vegan and which is regular, ask. I assume that most of you won't want to eat the vegan stuff.
"Wait! Raven is cooking!? When has Raven ever cooked? Much less for everyone? How long have you been up that you could have cooked this, come with the team to fight Mod, come back, played video games and still had time to finish!?" Terra demanded, becoming increasingly suspicious.
"There's no need for your suspicion, Terra. Your distrust is well founded, but unnecessary." Robin said, sniffing the air. "This is the real Raven. I can't explain her good mood, but it's kinda nice." Robin said. Raven nodded. She knew that Robin knew why she was in a good mood, but she wasn't ready to talk either, so she was grateful that he wasn't talking.
"Terra, did you want vegan or regular?"
"Regular." Said everyone except Beast Boy, who didn't have to say that he only wanted vegan. They went up and loaded up their plates, Cyborg took five pancakes just for himself, almost a third of the eggs, four sausages, and three pieces of bacon.
Robin and Starfire were more conservative, mainly because Starfire was still somewhat unused to Earth food, and Beast Boy took all the food Raven had made for him. Terra took only a little bit of everything, since there was only a little bit left, but she had eaten already that day. She just didn't want to offend Raven, who seemed to have put a lot into the meal. When she actually bit into the sausage, she found that it was really good. Raven had some skill in cooking.
"This is really good, Raven. I didn't realize you were this talented at cooking… Boy, you could probably take all the Titans out by yourself, and you're also good at cooking? Wish I had that much talent." Terra said with a laugh. Raven scowled.
"It was simple to make breakfast, and I doubt that I could take out Robin at all, now. I don't fully understand what his new power is, but it's immense… And a little bit frightening.
"It behaves like a superpower, but feels like a virus."
"Um… Back when I was working for Slade, he was working on a synthetic virus that would stimulate the hyper-development of all of the person's abilities, and furthermore, allow them certain other abilities. I never understood everything that he said, but a man who was at peak human levels, if they survived, would become superhuman mentally and physically.
"If anything, Robin should be even more physically capable now, if this is the virus I'm thinking of. It would allow him to… Program new superpowers into himself, though only if he either understood them completely, or had extensive exposure to them. So for instance, Robin could program himself to have all the powers of all four of us. Cyborg, it's harder to say, since your abilities are partially reliant on the machinery that was fused with your human body.
"He could make himself stronger than Starfire, and able to shoot more powerful energy attacks than her. He could make himself able to transform into all the animals Beast Boy can and more. He could adopt all of Raven's powers and enhance them to impossible levels, as well as my powers without breaking a sweat. He would essentially be a one man army, since he can also create walking, talking clones of himself or any of you… Again, with the possible exception of you, Cyborg."
"What is this virus called?"
"Well, Slade called it Blacklight. He was talking to Mad Mod and a few other criminals. I don't know what he wanted from them, and I didn't want to know."
"So… You're saying that if I wanted to, I could have telekinesis, umbrakinesis, flight, psychic empathy, telepathy, universal animal transformation, plasma bolt projection, ionikinetic battle, laser vision, linguistic assimilation, and of course, terrakinesis?"
"Well… Yes, and more. But beware of this new power. Power corrupts. Slade is proof enough of that. I think Slade still wants you as his apprentice, and is probably using this as a way to force your hand. He wants you to try to learn about the powers on your own and fail so that you demand answers from him, and he can use that as a way to bring you under his thumb… Is what I'm assuming. No! I'm not working for Slade! I swear!"
"She's telling the truth, or at least she believes she is." Robin said, surprising the rest of the Titans, especially Raven, who was usually the one who could discern truthfulness. Had Robin been able to copy her powers just because he had such an intimate encounter with her? Would the other Titans start to get suspicious? Robin had extensive exposure and knowledge of all their powers. That was how he had been able to disable all of them in seconds when he became Red X.
So Raven knew that there was a good chance that he could have subconsciously copied many of their powers without realizing it.
"Oh! Shit! I remembered something… You can absorb biological material. You can even create biomass factories. Slade explained a little bit of this to me, but I never thought much of it… It was a project, he said, long in the works, and one he wasn't sure would even work.
"Actually, he said that if and when it was complete, he was considering using it to poison the water supply. No matter how clean a water supply may be, there's enough biological material in it to allow the virus to multiply exponentially. Unfortunately, he said, approximately 95-99% of those contracting the virus would die. But those who survived would become the ideal subordinates."
"How did you find all of this out? Slade isn't generally the type to be so open with his plans, even with his apprentice." Raven asked suspiciously.
"I… Was sneaking around on his computers. He found me, and after he… Disciplined me, he explained some of his plan. He said that he was only telling me a very small amount of his full plan, so I suspect that it's far more convoluted than any of us could comprehend.
"Hey, Terra… Could I by any chance read your mind to get whatever knowledge of Biological Manipulation you have?"
"Well… I don't know that my knowledge would be much help. It's limited in the extreme and likely would be limited by my lack of understanding of it."
"Well… I'm not picky. I'll take whatever I can get… If you don't want to, that's alright."
"No, I don't mind. Just try to stick to the knowledge of Biological Manipulation. I don't know that I want all my memories known by others." Terra said, looking ashamed. Robin nodded and crossed over to Terra, seeming to move faster and more gracefully than was humanly possible.
He put his thumb and forefinger on Terra's forehead, resting his own forehead very near her to minimize any chance of missing some information. As the knowledge poured into Robin's brain, he realized that Terra had far more information on the ability than even she knew. He could tell that she had no idea that she had such encyclopedic knowledge of Biological Manipulation. It was possible that Slade had planted it secretly inside her head, and she just didn't have access to it, herself.
Given how secretive Slade was, he may have given her the knowledge as a failsafe. If his computers and backup drives were ever all destroyed, he could always just access the knowledge through Terra. But even though the information was in Terra's brain, it was in the brainstem, a place that harbored instinctive knowledge like breathing, procreation and other such abilities that humans didn't even think about.
Thus, Terra probably had it without ever realizing. There was no reason to tell her that, though. It would only upset her. Robin pulled away, breathing in and letting the information settle. When he perused the knowledge more closely, he realized that there was far more information in Terra than just the information on Biological Manipulation. Full profiles of all the Titans, and every power user that the Titans had ever met, and many they hadn't were in there.
Jinx's full profile was in there, along with the Titans East, and all of their powers, as well as the full scientific breakdown of said powers, strengths, weaknesses, and fighting styles. Robin knew that this information was dangerous, and probably accounted a great deal for why Slade seemed so unassailable. It was in part his superior ability. But it was also his ability to out-plan everyone and keep full accounts of all of them. If Terra had somehow gained access to all this information…
No. It would have overwhelmed her, and she could likely have been rendered unconscious. When she woke up, there was a good chance that she wouldn't remember any of the information that she had accessed.
"Thank you, Terra. You knew a lot more than you realized." Robin said.
Then, he closed his eyes and put his thumb on Terra's forehead again, amplifying her terrakinesis, and enhancing her ability to control her powers. He knew she would still have to train with them to fully appreciate the newfound power. But for now, this would work.
"W-what did you do, Robin?"
"I enhanced your Terrakinesis, Terra. Your powers should be magnified by approximately 300%, now. Thank you for opening your mind to me."
"What!?" Beast Boy shouted. "You can enhance people's powers? What about the rest of us!?"
"I intend to enhance all of your powers as well. With the information I got from Terra's mind, I should be fully able to make all of you monumentally more powerful.
"First, I need some biomass. Robin said, focusing on the entirety of Titan Tower, and reaching out with biotendrils, absorbing all the rats, ants, and spoiled food in the tower. There was a lot of mold and other gross stuff in Beast Boy's room, and three day old pizza in Cyborg's. No real loss, there. When he had enough biomass, he focused on Starfire, putting his thumb on her forehead, enhancing her physical and mental abilities first, then going onto her powers.
He increased her flight speed to several hundred miles an hour, enhanced her plasma bolts to be even hotter and more destructive, and further enhanced her other abilities, including her martial arts skills. Now, he was sure, even Blackfire would have difficulty keeping up with her. He looked at Beast Boy, and the small green man came over. Robin enhanced Beast Boy's physical and mental abilities. This would allow him to be even more physically powerful when he was in animal form.
He enhanced his speed, and his mental faculties. He wasn't sure there was much he could do about Beast Boy's relative immaturity. That was personality, and not subject to rapid change without unduly tampering with who Beast Boy was at his core.
"What about me, Robin?"
"Cyborg. I can do a great deal with you. I could make you fully human again. Remove your mechanical half, if you want."
"Robin… You… I don't know if that's possible. This mechanical half… It's part of who I am, part of what I am. It's what I've come to know myself as.
"I… Appreciate the thought. But if you removed my mechanics, I wouldn't be me anymore."
"Okay… Well, that's why I asked. How about if I reverse the mechanical aspect. I wouldn't remove it, but it just wouldn't be visible anymore. You'd still have a computerized brain. But it would be an even more fully integrated biocomputer. It would be harder for anyone other than you or I to really be able to tamper with you.
"Brother Blood's former knowledge of your abilities would be moot. You'd be more powerful, faster, stronger… And you'd look fully human. You… Would need to start wearing clothes."
"You can really do that, Robin?" Cyborg asked. Robin nodded.
"I think so. I would need to collect a lot of biomass or bioenergy to do it. It would be a huge undertaking." Robin replied. Cyborg nodded.
"I can't do the operation today. But maybe tomorrow." Robin said, heading over to Raven, and enhancing her abilities even more than they already were, increasing the abilities of her telekinesis, essentially giving her omnikinesis, enhancing her telepathy to its natural conclusion, and of course, all of her other abilities, including her physical abilities and intelligence as well, finding it almost painful to be inside Raven's mind. He also saw the magic that she possessed, and further enhanced that as well.
After he finished, he let go of her, and then left Titan Tower, keeping his communicator with him in case he was needed. In reaching into the Titan's minds, he had copied all their powers, and could easily find the biomass that he needed. He closed his eyes when he was in the middle of the city, teleporting into the sewers, and commanded all the rats to report to him. He waited for twenty-five minutes, before all the rats came.
Robin's nose wrinkled in disgust, but he reached out to the rats with a biological tendril, absorbing all but fifty of them, leaving 25 males and 25 females, reducing their fertility so that the rat problem would never be as much of an issue. He absorbed the rest, and imbued the fifty with biomass seeds. This way, they would, over time, begin to produce their own biomass. They would continue to reproduce, and all their progeny would also produce biomass.
He then teleported into the park, and found the connection in the roots between all the trees, and imbued as many trees as he could with biomass, forcing them to become factories for his benefit as well. He knew that Slade could also take advantage of this, so that he could have an unlimited source of biomass. Thus, he created a backlash so that if Slade (Slade's DNA) attempted to take the biomass, it would not only refuse to be absorbed, but also would injure him.
It was not a perfect plan, since if Slade had his DNA, he could imitate Robin perfectly, and use Robin's biomass factories. But it was a good plan, and it would deter all but the most determined enemies from using his biomass makers.
