Hi everyone, I'm back, and sooner than expected! I'd like to thank
x Step On Me x and Starsoffire
You guys are the absolute best; I dedicate this chapter and a cookie to you!
I would just like to say that from Monday to Friday next week I'm going on a school trip to Swanage and won't be able to update. But I'm updating now instead! Enjoy!
"You don't think that Slade's planning to turn Starfire against us? He's tried it before," Raven speculated.
"You were running your power supply dry. It was inevitable that you would soon be unable to use them at all…"
"You shall take this mallet and use it to break rocks."
Something caught Starfire's eye. There lay a small, brown book that bore the insignia 'BD'.
Slade opened the box to reveal a couple of syringes in clear wrapping. He picked up the one that wasn't wrapped and he snapped it in half. "And she doesn't even know what's going on."
There was an island in the far away horizon. In all the time he had come to spend in Jump City he had never before seen that island there
Robin paused for a moment, "Titans investigate. If it is where Slade's hiding, then it's where we'll find Star."
Starfire was getting much faster at breaking rocks, it felt as easy as it would have with her powers. With every swing of the mallet came many flying shards of rocks. Starfire had learnt to look away when they came airborne.
Slade firmly placed his hand on her shoulder. "I think you're ready. We have to leave this place soon." Slade turned around and walked calmly over to the building.
"Why?" Starfire asked. He stopped and turned back.
"You may not remember there ever being an island here. That's because there wasn't one. There is a thing called Global Warming. The increase of temperature has been causing the sea level to lower and thus this island came to be. It only appeared last week and I've been monitoring it. We have thirty minutes before the tide level buries the island again," he walked over to a blue motorboat tied to one side of the island. "Do you want to be here when it does?"
Starfire stopped in mid walk and ran over to the building to grab the book. She quickly ran back to where Slade had just sat down on the boat, which she had just noticed only had one long seat. Slade patted the small stretch of leather just behind him. "There's no lifejacket. Hold on tight," he warned.
Starfire reluctantly sat down behind him and grimaced at him. He unexpectedly started up the engine and Starfire had to force her hands loosely around his waist so that she wouldn't fall off.
The speedboat left a trail of foam that quickly disappeared. Starfire's gaze followed the dying ripples back to the island which was slowly submerging into the sea. She sighed. If it was anyone but Slade, she thought that she'd be enjoying it.
Back to the other Teen Titans…
Robin, Raven walked along the harbor looking for Cyborg. "Hey guys!" came a voice from behind him, "I just talked to this man who loans boats. They normally don't come cheep but seeing this is an emergency, he lent us one for free." Cyborg indicated to a large speed boat with four seats floating at the end of the harbor.
"Great," Robin got an orange lifejacket on and hurried into the lifeboat. He was closely followed by Raven, and Cyborg who had already had a lifejacket on. "What could you find out about this island?"
"Only that it wasn't there before. And that there's some activity going on there."
"Like what?" asked Raven.
"Like temporary building materials being transported there. Nothing fancy just as a shelter. My scanners wouldn't let me check for life signals; too easy to get a heartbeat confused with a seagull," Cyborg answered.
The speedboat started up and moved away from the harbor. They were in the water for no less than 5 minutes before a profoundly green seagull flew down and sat down in the empty seat as Beastboy. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked.
"We're gonna investigate the island," Cyborg announced.
"Too late. It sunk," Beastboy declared.
"What?" Robin asked unbelievingly.
"The tide rose up and ate it," Beastboy stated flatly.
"Oh great!" Cyborg shouted. "That was the only lead we had!"
"But if there was a building there, then there had to be people there. And they had to go somewhere," Raven said dully. She turned to look at the sea, Beastboy smiled at her. "What?" Raven asked accusingly without even turning her head.
"Oh nothing," Beastboy answered in a playful tone.
"Well, let's go!" Cyborg shouted as the speedboat made a sharp turn to the right and sped towards the pale shape in the sea where not long ago was an island projecting from the horizon.
Speeding away across the sea was Starfire and Slade.
In the rearview mirror, Slade looked at Starfire gazing longingly across the sea and behind her was the newly sunk island. "Are we there yet?" Starfire moaned.
"No. But we're close," Slade replied. He heard a deep sigh from behind him. Looking back at the mirror, something new caught Slade's eye. In the distance, there was a speedboat just visible below the sky. Slade clenched the handles tighter and sped up. He felt Starfire's grip tighten too. "Nearly there."
Starfire didn't have the rearview mirror in her eyesight so all she could do was hope that her friends weren't far behind. She would have taken off and flew home if not for her recently acquired normality.
Suddenly the air was filled with mist.
On Slade's side hung a pouch that Starfire didn't notice before. The style matched his costume a bit. It was dark and combat styled. Just like him. What is in there? She thought. Probably best not to ask thought.
Slade made a sharp turn to the right through the mist and soon a cliffside appeared at the right. It looked black, probably clay. They had barely traveled for two minutes when a cave came into view in the cliffside. By its entrance was a speedboat that puzzled Starfire greatly.
Instead of parking the boat by the cave, Slade sped on and went further along the cliff which steadily curved to the right. "Why was there a boat by that cave?" Starfire asked curiously.
"Why isn't there a boat at every cave?" Slade answered unhelpfully and mysteriously before engaging the thruster mechanism not normally found in speedboats and zooming away.
With Robin, Raven, Beastboy and Cyborg…
They had spotted the speedboat as they reached the previous location of the new island. "It went that way!" Cyborg announced and pointed ahead.
"Are we sure Starfire's in there? Couldn't it be like a speedboater or something?" Beastboy questioned.
"Why don't you go ahead and see?" Robin asked.
"I'll do that," Beastboy morphed into a dolphin and slid out of the boat into the sea. He sped ahead far beyond the boat and raced to catch up the other boat. He got closer and closer but couldn't see anything from underwater. He jumped up in time to be splashed in the face by water sent from the motor. Beastboy instantly fell back as he regained his vision.
Morphing once again, he took the form of a hawk and took to the sky. But not before ruffling his feathers free of water. Unfortunately, a thick fog came upon him and he lost his eyesight once again.
Beastboy swooped down and out of the mist and landed in the boat. "I couldn't see. This fog got in the way.
Robin turned to Cyborg, "Turn the headlights on," he demanded. "Raven, see if you can sense anything."
Raven folded her legs and closed her eyes, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." Instantly, her eyes turned entirely purple and her aura escaped her body. It zoomed ahead towards the mist, but there was nothing to see. She searched some more and was surprised to find a boat parked by a cave in the cliffside. "That doesn't seem like Slade, to leave such an obvious diversion." Raven's aura flew back and was almost blinded by two bright lights, if that were even possible. She glided over the boat and flew into her body.
Robin turned to face her, "What did you see?"
"Slade's planted a boat by a cave in the cliffside. He was trying to divert us."
"Can we be sure it was Slade?" Cyborg asked as the boat was encased in mist.
"Who else would leave a badge with the insignia 'S' on the seat?" Raven scepticised.
Everyone was silent for a moment. All that could be heard was the motor's uproar. "Wait, so he sped ahead?" Robin asked breaking the silence.
"I didn't see him but he must have done, to lose us," Raven replied.
"And he left a badge on the seat?" Robin pondered.
"I guess it was to try to convince us that he pulled up by the cave and lead us off his trail," Cyborg considered.
"And you're sure it was a badge and not a-," Robin couldn't finish his sentence for a loud ringing sound filled the air. Suddenly a colossal explosion came from the right of the boat. Robin grabbed his cape and threw it over himself. Beastboy transformed into a mouse and hid under the seat. The boat was rocking violently. Raven watched all this happen with wide eyes. She saw debris falling from the cliff and started panicking.
"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" she shouted and a sudden wave of darkness surrounded the boat. Within the orb of ebony magic, all was silent except for the occasional sounds of rocks hitting the wall of black and the unsteady breathing of each of the titans.
The rocks fell more and more frequently and Raven broke out in a sweat. Suddenly, the rocks stopped falling. "What do I do?" Raven demanded in an unusually panicked tone. Beastboy came out from under the seat and morphed back into a human.
"If you release the shield, then we'll be crushed under tons of rock from the cliff," Cyborg warned. Raven started grinded her teeth in fear. Cyborg typed something into the computer in his arm. "I don't see what we can do, there's got to be at least three meters of rock in each direction."
"I can turn into a mouse and climb out and then move the rocks," suggested Beastboy.
"No, the cliff's too unstable now. Moving the base rocks could set off the whole cliff to collapse on us," Robin cautioned. "I don't think there's anything we can do," that last sentence echoed around them all.
Raven said nothing. The weight of the rocks was getting to her and soon her arms felt stiff from the pressure. Beastboy noticed her expression as nothing he had ever seen on her before. "Hey Raven, are you okay, you seem a little tense."
Raven shut her eyes tightly and a vein appeared on her forehead. She took a deep breath before standing up, careful not to lose the force field. "Do you think I'm okay! I'm the only thing between you and certain death!" she shouted. Everyone was a little taken aback by her sudden outburst. She waved her arms around as she spoke but only enough to make sure the rocks wouldn't move, "Have you ever tried to hold several hundred tons of rubble when you know there's no getting away from it? Of course I'm not okay!" Suddenly, the force field shattered throwing the rubble in all directions away from the boat. A thin layer of dust showered them. Raven looked stunned; she sat down and took a deep breath.
"You okay?" Beastboy asked cautiously.
Raven just nodded staring into the bottom of the boat.
"Coz you just saved our lives!" he shouted throwing his arms around Raven. She didn't shudder or move away uneasily as usual, she just sat there staring into space having just avoided being crushed to death.
"Way da go!" Cybrog shouted as he patted Raven roughly on her back.
Beastboy released her and sat down. Robin stared at Raven as she regained her normal state. "You know, you could have escaped," he slowly spoke.
"I couldn't live with myself knowing my friends died when I lived," she admitted.
Hi, I'd just like to remind you that I'll be gone from Mon to Fri next week, so I won't be able to update then, but I will be back! Please review!