Disclaimer: Ha ha ha! I wish! Owning Teen Titans would be so cool. But alas, I don't.
Author's Note: Well, another chapter here. This chapter is very fast paced and you have to pay attention to understand what exactly is going on. On a side note, I know that this is so late in terms of the holidays, but I finally decided to post a new story called "A Child's Christmas Present" involving a certain curly haired kid named Joey Wilson. Hope you check it out. But back to this story, this chapter does have a huge fight scene, something I haven't done in a while. Without further delay, I present: Chapter Four: Bay Battle!
-T-
Could This Go Anywhere?
Chapter Four: Bay Battle
On the beach, the waves hit the sand with raw and angry power. Lifeguards hurried to get people off the beach. Parents were packing up their picnics and picking their children up in haste. The parking lots were without crowd control. The gash in the water was livid, animated, alive. It seemed to dip inward like a whirlpool, but it was so perfect to the point that it seemed as though one could rip its half pipe up like it was still. The sky was darkening with clouds and rain coming in. In the middle of the gash were a bunch of green figures carrying something Poseidon would.
The bay's waters violently moved out of the way of the T-Sub. It was traveling a good 50 mph, making the waters above even give way to waves. Each Titan was ready to go when needed. Each clutched the sub and stared onward ready for a fight. Robin sat in the middle looking ready and determined. He looked at the radar and looked at the wave patterns. They weren't getting into that gash by opening the door.
"Titans, surface!" He yelled into the speaker.
Each brought their ends up. The sub began to rise and the depth level decreased.
"Beast Boy, be ready to be released, Raven, you too!" Robin ordered.
Both nodded, unbuckled, and got ready to be ejected into the air. Ten feet, five, four, three, two, one. The sub launched itself into the air. Beast Boy turned into a sword fish and landed in the water. Raven soared into the air and began scooping up Tritons that were above the surface. The Sub went through the roof and into the middle of the gash. Once they were back in the water, the three remaining Titans steadied the craft at the center.
"Cyborg, Starfire, ready your blasters!" Robin yelled, "I'll take over driving from here."
Tritons appeared in less than seconds, each smiling and laughed insanely. Robin saw Beast Boy swim in and catch one from behind. Starfire and Cyborg took advantage of the others that were caught off guard. As Robin watched, he looked around. The gash was steady, very steady, but the current was strong. Looking closely, he noticed Tritons were each swimming in unison in short circles around the sides. 'So that's what he's doing,' Robin thought to himself. But just as he realized that, something landed on top of the ship. Triton smiled outside of the craft as more and more piled on.
"Cyborg, Starfire, keep shooting at them, but we're going to take a spin. Beast Boy, go up to Raven, tell her to start netting the sides of the whirlpool!" No sooner had the Boy Wonder said it that he took off. His goal was to shake them loose. But to do it was one roller coaster ride neither Starfire or Cyborg would forget. Beast Boy swam up to the top of the water. Jumping out and turning into a hawk, he flew up to Raven. When she saw him she created a small landing space.
"Robin says to start scooping out the sides!" he yelled.
"Scoop them?" Raven screamed back to be heard over the roaring waves.
"Like a strainer!" he yelled back.
"Got it!" she replied, "Tell Robin, it's getting chopping up here, too!"
"Will do!"
Raven let Beast Boy drop back into the water and began to do what she was told to do. The T-Sub finally halted to the side. Cyborg was feeling sick and Starfire was trying to float for a second of her spinning vision. Robin, however, was fine.
"Dude, let us know next time you decide to take us on a ride that will make us sick in under three seconds!" Cyborg yelled as he held his stomach. It was ironic because he was normally the one to give them a ride that made them question if the laws of physics really existed.
Robin rolled his eyes and in the process spotted something. A wire. Looking at it closely, he saw that it ran out to open water, where Triton's cave was. It wasn't just a wire, it was an explosive wire. 'He didn't get out, someone let him out!' Robin thought bitterly. He was about to investigate when Cyborg let loose on some oncoming Tritons. Making a mental note to come back to it later, Robin drove the sub back into battle. They'd have to dive back into the center to get into the fight again. They sped up and attempted to ram their way in again.
Above the water, Raven strained catching the Tritons if she was lucky, but she didn't realize that one had surfaced behind her. Taking aim, the clone fired. It hit Raven in the back and she screamed. She was out cold and was heading straight for the water. Just at that moment, the sub surfaced above the water.
The Titans watched for less then a millisecond before Robin gave the order, "Starfire, catch her!"
Starfire ejected herself and flew up. The sub sealed up again and hit the water. Starfire caught Raven moments before she hit the water. Lifting her up and checking Raven's pulse, Starfire brought her communicator out again.
"Robin, Raven is out of it!"
Robin gripped the wheel tight. They were in trouble, they had to regroup! "Titans, regroup fifty feet from the Tower, above water!"
Beast Boy and Starfire nodded and headed over. As Robin drove out of the fight, Cyborg kept the clones from following. As they reached their meeting point, the Sub opened up it's hatches. Starfire landed and put Raven in her seat. Beast Boy crawled up and kneeled on the side.
"This isn't working," he said, out of breath.
"Is Raven going to be okay?" Starfire asked.
"She will be," Cyborg said, scooping up some water from the side. He slowly poured it over the telepath's face. Her eyes twitched and then opened. She groaned, but sat up.
"I got hit in the back. "She said calmly. "I'm fine, though."
Robin stood up and looked out at the waters. It was getting worse. The gash was getting closer to shore and once it got to the beaches, Triton would start to invade. This wasn't good. Robin looked at the controls and then an idea hit him.
"Cyborg, how fast can the T-Sub do 360's?" He asked.
"I'd guess around eighty or seventy miles per hour. Why?" He responded.
Robin stared out at the ocean. Starfire watched him with hesitation. Beast Boy raised a brow in an attempt to get an answer. Cyborg and Raven looked at each other with trepidation at what Robin might have been thinking. The clouds finally brought the rain in and the drizzle started. Robin stared out evaluating the chances.
'Triton can't stay out of the water for more than an hour without water, but with his clones, they'll easily get their water supply. If we were to try this, we might not even get all of the clones. Who even knows if the Sub can withstand that pressure? We could end up breaking off the sides. What if a Titan got slammed in by that speed and force? Then again, if Raven had to, she could switch to pulling the sub out of the water...' Robin looked back at the others in the corners of his eye. Cyborg was keeping an impatient Beast Boy from playing around slightly with the T-Sub's controls while Starfire was trying to help Raven recover.
For a teenager, Robin was incredibly smart. He had always been a fast learner and when he had moved in with Batman, he could only go out on patrol if he had A's in all of his classes, including the extra ones that Alfred taught him. As he watched the watery gash become bigger and bigger, his masked eyes drifted towards the shores. The rain intensified. The drops could clearly be seen on the bay's surface. Robin felt someone put a hand on his shoulder.
"Robin?" Starfire asked.
He looked back at each of the Titans and they looked back. Robin could retain emotion from the rest of the Titans as though it was a talent. The Titans didn't know what he was thinking, but they trusted him, not just because he was their leader, but also their friend. They could do this. He knew they could.
Robin smiled, "Okay Titans, everyone in, we're going for a ride."
"Man, please don't let it be another roller coaster," Cyborg complained.
"Not exactly."
The Sub started up again. Robin rammed the Sub into the center as before and centered the ship that it was in plain view of every Triton. Each were smiling, too confident for their own good.
"Raven, can you keep everyone relaxed? Cyborg, Starfire, you're back on the blasters. Beast Boy, I want you to tilt your controls to the left, I'll tilt mine to the right. Titans, Go!" They had no more time to prepare.
Raven concentrated hard. Cyborg and Starfire turned on the blasters. The sub turned in multiple 360's, moving every which way. The Tritons were dropping like flies and if they could have taken a moment, they would have seen the whirlpool was slowing down because of the counteracting current they were causing. Beast Boy and Robin kept steady hold of the controls. Their speed was increasing rapidly, getting dangerously close to a speed that would spell disaster.
By now, the beaches were empty and the city was full of onlookers. But deep inside the Haunt, four robots guarded Nightwing closely. Nightwing watched them walk in their patterns from side to side and not turn their gaze away for a second. He had no doubt that Slade was watching, but he was probably overseeing something to get his younger self in the Haunt as well. This had to seem as though it was nothing.
Nightwing pulled himself up slightly, causing the robots to turn and direct their immediate attention towards him. He twisted his wrists and stretched his fingers as far back as he could and then relaxed. The robots put themselves back at ease and began to pace back and forth again. Nightwing continued to look uncomfortable and sore. But at his wrist, he felt his Gauntlets begin to heat up. For a few minutes, nothing happened. Fifteen minutes and nothing happened. Twenty three and thirty nine seconds, Nightwing stole a glace and saw the clasps holding his wrists. Very subtlety he saw the iron was hot and sticky.
He breathed out and in. Then he yanked his arms forward, breaking his arms away from the wall. His feet were still chained to the wall, but he still had momentum and used it. As he landed, he yanked his ankles away from the wall. The clasps broke easily as he rolled into a somersault. The guards were quick and after him within a millisecond. With a freeze disk, he got rid of two of them. 'Two for me.' The two others ran right into the fight. An electric disk took care of one of them and a swift kick to the head of the other left Nightwing's guards unable to do anything about him. 'Two for Kori.'
A nice thing about the new uniform was its upgrades. 'I've got tricks too, Slade,' He thought smugly. The alarm rang. 'Figures.' Nightwing threw a small bomb up to the ceiling and it made a hole in the roof. Nightwing grappled up and landed smoothly on top in a crouch. Slade's robots reached the roof and chased their target. Nightwing ran across the buildings, finally coming to halt. He threw smoke bombs into the middle. At the sides he left small fire bombs. As he jumped off the side they went off making the robots go haywire with confusion as they were prone to sensing heat to figure out where their opponents were.
He hid in the apartment building. His eyes darted for the kitchen. He went to the fridge and opened it up. He pretended to search the fridge as he waited for the robots to disperse. The stupid things would never learn, would they? Nightwing finally left the building and began to head down the alley towards downtown Jump City. All the while, he contemplated his predicament. He couldn't show himself to anyone. He couldn't warn anyone. And he certainly was going to be stuck here for a while. To make matters worse, his credit card wouldn't be activated till he was twenty-one which seemed like light years away.
Nightwing rested against the wall, silently kicking himself for getting into this mess. He kept thinking about the outcomes that could happen if he screwed up. He and Bruce would never make up. He and Kori may never get married. He may never become Nightwing. He may never... 'Enough with this,' he thought, 'I might be in the past, but that doesn't mean I don't have the skills that I've gained in the future.' With that he marched off and continued his way to the center of Jump.
But in the slums that he had left, Slade was calm. As he had said before, he knew that Nightwing wouldn't be a problem. All that meant was that he had two targets... Again. And while that was sorely annoying to have to chase down one of them again, he didn't mind. He loved the thrill of the chase. It was like hunting in Africa. He had lost Nightwing, but he had a feeling that Nightwing's trail would be easy to pick up. And besides, he didn't need Nightwing right then. He was after all, 'The Preview' and still was in the pre-production area.
The Titans, though, left the easiest trail in the world. Honestly, a giant T-Shaped tower is the best trail there ever was. His robots were holding up against the current in the bay and as Slade studied the projected images, he realized that there might be more than one way to sink the sub and get the precious cargo inside. He got up and headed out the door toward the car.
The waters were slowing. The Tritons were practically gone and had retreated. The water gash was dissipating to nothing. Now the only problem was slowing down from the Sub, not something Robin given much thought to. He had assumed that they would just turn the opposite way, but it didn't seem like that was going to work. He had forgotten to take into account that Beast Boy's speed couldn't reach Robin's and they had to slow down at the same time and with the same pace. There was only one thing that they could really do and it wasn't something Robin wanted to do. If they could avoid it, he would.
"Cyborg, would we be in trouble if we used the emergency breaks?" Robin asked.
"Duh!" Cyborg hollered, "Wait, Robin, dude, please don't do what you're about to do."
"Only if we have to."
And it looked like they would. Robin looked at the controls. He pushed the ascend button. The sub slowly began to rise up, still spinning despite the sudden upward force. Robin ground his teeth.
"Titans, separate, break, and eject!" He yelled.
The others looked at him in horror, but nodded. Slowly the five parts of the sub dispersed upward, and began to spin out of control towards opposite directions. Raven couldn't pay attention to soothing everyone's nerves anymore. So automatically everyone was on their own. Robin tried to focus on his controls. He saw himself coming towards a reef. Before he could react, he hit it and the gash in the inflator began to slow down in his ascent.
Looking around, Robin decided to ignore his own advice and hit the gas. His rise was fast and just before he broke the surface he realize his mistake and stepped on the breaks. Too late. He jolted forward and before he knew what happened, he water slammed his face and shoulder. He caught one glimpse of the craft that was slowing on the water's surface and realized he must have hit the eject button. Then it was a blur. He felt himself hit the water and bounce up again and again and again. It was like he was a skipping stone across the water.
It hurt and it didn't get much better. He didn't stop skipping and fall into the water until he was stopped by the shore line. Robin felt himself being flung up one more time and then his back hit something hard, rough, and prickly-sharp. He fell onto his side. Robin thought he heard something, but couldn't tell over the sound of the waves. The rain pummeled on his face as if trying to slap him to keep him awake. Robin was barely conscious, but his thoughts fought to keep himself thinking straight. 'Did they... Where am... What did I... Titans... make... it...? hurts..' Robin lost consciousness as the pain finally took over.
The waves lapped each other. Robin lay there for a minute with nothing to bother his still form except the rain. Then the sand crumpled as someone's feet came into the midst. They came up over to Robin, who was lying in the wet sand in front of a fallen tree trunk. Shoving Robin with his foot, Slade smiled. The boy was out of it and he hadn't even needed to destroy the rest of the sub. Now the other Titans wouldn't even be alerted to their nemesis being involved with their leader's disappearance. Slade motioned for two of his robots to come over and pick Robin up.
As he had thought, it had been simple.
-T-
A/N: Now that I've answered every question that I made you ask in the last chapter, I've probably just created new ones with this chapter. It's the cruel thing about reading a story in my opinion. Just when your questions get answered, new questions are created. I know that most of this chapter was a fight/battle. The next chapter isn't nearly as fast paced as this one and I hope it won't create nearly as many questions as this one did. And the thing with Nightwing's Gauntlets, I made that up, but I'm sure that it would be a handy thing to have. Well, how was the chapter? Please Review! Again, I hope you enjoyed it! Later!
Rena
