Previously on Teen Titans: Two of Four Elements…
" . . . You look like you have something more to say," the ex-brunette stated.
" . . . What... What if Slade comes back someday?" the blond asked, the others in the room flinching at that statement.
"Slade? The guy who took a hot lava bath?" the ex-brunette asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I mean... How do we know it wasn't just another robot?" Terra asked.
"I sunk my teeth into him numerous times," Beast Boy said as he hammered the buttons. "Trust me, he was the real deal."
" . . . " the blond didn't say anything, rubbing her arms nervously as she looked at every dark corner.
"Look, Terr. I've spent more time with Slade than everyone in this room put together. I get where you're coming from, the guy comes across as invincible. And even if he does somehow manage to come back from this, rest assured, we'll stop him again," Ventus said squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. "What I'm really worried about, is that crazy daughter of his. She will fuck yo couch!"
"I met her a couple times, but she isn't that powerful, is she?" the blond asked.
"Terra. Her father can take on half the original Justice League simultaneously. If she's even half as good as he is, we're going to be in trouble if we don't go into that fight full-tilt," the ex-brunette stated.
" . . . Alright. We'll do this together," the blond said cracking a real smile.
A moment later and her eyes flashed brilliant gold, her hair billowing outward in all directions as the Tower shook. The glowing and billowing ceasing a few seconds later, all eyes in the Tower turned to the blond.
"Um... Didn't she get her powers under control?" Robin asked.
*TEEN TITANS*
The following morning, everyone, Terra included, was sitting at the breakfast table. Terra sat to Ventus' right, Raven at his left, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, Robin, Jadework, and Grey-Wing sitting around in clockwise-order. There was a tense silence over the room, the only sounds made being that of silverware scraping plates and food being chewed.
"So… Addressing the… elephant, in the room," Robin started off slowly, trying to word what he wanted to say carefully so he wouldn't drive Terra away. Again. "The removal of Slade's controller has negatively impacted Terra's rudimentary control over her geokinesis. Obviously, that needs addressing."
"No, what needs to be addressed first is getting that dermal armor off of Terra's body!" Ventus argued slamming a hand on the table. "Her powers are secondary. Her health is first and foremost!"
"I already have something in the works, I just need to make some final adjustments, as well as take into account the high power draw of the De-Skinner itself," Grey-Wing said between bites.
"D-D-De-Skinner?" Terra asked nervously.
"Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit," the genius replied.
"It'll hurt a whole lot," Jadework interjected.
"Dammit, Jade! You were supposed to not say that part!" she shrieked at him before turning to the blond. "Look, you're going to have a good moral pillar at your side the whole time, so you'll be fine," she said motioning over to Ventus. "Just… try not to squeeze his hand too hard if that's what you're going to do. This… will probably hurt more than giving birth."
'G-Giving birth…?' Terra thought, a flush overcoming her face as her thoughts spiraled off into a completely different tangent.
"So we'll finally be getting around to getting that armor off. That's good," Ventus replied.
"Yeah, but she'll be very sensitive for a while," Grey-Wing said before waggling her eyebrows at him. "Just don't do anything fun with her afterwards. Or you might drive the poor girl off the deep end."
At that statement, Terra started drooling a bit and fidgeting in her seat.
"Terra, is that a nosebleed?" Beast Boy asked.
"Sh-Sh-SHUT UP!" Terra shrieked as she slapped Beast Boy from across the table, sending him tumbling through the air before crashing into a wall.
*TEEN TITANS*
Days passed by in the blink of an eye. As people began to return to the city in the distance, the western horizon brightening little by little in the darkness, Titans Tower was slowly but steadily reconstructed into the hope-bringing symbol it once was. It was fortunate that Cyborg had the foresight to store away the Gordanian salvage not used in the initial Tower's construction instead of selling it off to the highest bidder, because they merely needed Raven to teleport the massive amount of construction materials to the island so they could begin construction of Titans Tower 2.0 with little delay.
The interior of the tower, still largely a mess from Slade's run of the place, needed to be cleaned out first and foremost otherwise regardless of how reconstruction went, the teens' home would not be livable, nor would normalcy return. This is where Raven's ability to manipulate space-time came in, as her black hole-like portals made short work of any un-salvageable materials in the tower, sending it on a one-way trip to the nearest landfill, saving them countless man-hours in having to haul it off the old-fashioned way either with a barge or through the underground tunnel. Suffice it to say, it only took about a day to clean out the interior, though the Sladebot "carcasses" were left where they were at Ventus' insistence.
When it came to the electronics, Robin's biggest focus was on getting the Tower back into crime-fighting condition. Thankfully with the surplus of alien tech they'd managed to hold onto, with a little tweaking to make it user-friendly, the new interfaces would prove to be far-better than any terrestrial tech of equivalent weight and size. It was also quite cathartic, because it kept his mind off of the wolf among the sheep, and prevented him from saying anything incredibly stupid and/or insensitive. It also alleviated the friction growing between himself and the normally-carefree Titan.
Beast Boy also showed incredible initiative by helping sweep the tower for any bugs or wire-taps Slade left behind. As it turned out, Beast Boy often sleep-walked through the Tower in various animal forms, and thus sub-consciously knew every corner of the Tower like the back of his hand. This also gave him knowledge of any unfamiliar smells that came from non-standard equipment. With the ability to turn into various rodentia, especially the common rat which could chew through concrete, even the most discretely-concealed leavings were made short work of.
The major reconstruction however was left to both Cyborg and Starfire. Both possessed super-strength to degrees that the others simply did not, with supplementary powers like Starfire's eyebeams making welding metal together a snap, while Cyborg's auxiliary tools allowed him to do the work of an entire construction crew. Most of the patch-work was the same shade of yellow as the Gordanian dreadnought that they brought down the first time, but when it came to replacing the windows, the new blaster-resistant panes of space-worthy glass would increase the Tower's defensibility immensely. Obviously there wasn't enough of it to cover the entire Tower, but between the two of them, they were able to quickly fabricate enough to suit their needs.
This left the current "outcasts" of the Teen Titans to mill about on their own devices.
As the earthquake a few days ago showed, Terra's now-current lack of control over her powers not only proved to be a major security risk, but it was also a major blow to the girl's pride, which desynchronized her powers from her control even further. While it was true that her powers needed addressing, every day she had to wake up with the same Dermal Armor grafted onto her body was another day she felt constricted and unable to look herself in the mirror. It got so bad that at one point, in a panic, she tried to carve it all out. It was only when Ventus' blood splashed against her face when he tried to stop her, that the girl calmed down, instead focusing on the ex-brunette's wellbeing instead of her own.
Under normal circumstances, Cyborg and maybe even Robin would be the one to spearpoint the operation to remove Terra's Dermal Armor. However, with the super-genius that Ventus had been able to recruit, the matter was made marginally easier. While medical care for the Gordanian soldiers was practically non-existent, injured or dead troopers left to fall where they may, the captain's quarters had its own suite of medical equipment that was literally out-of-this-world; a setup which Grey-Wing was quick to cannibalize on in order to make an apparatus that'd enable them to help remedy Terra's condition.
However, fancy equipment alone wouldn't be enough. Grey-Wing was a genius, but without a tangible idea of what she was working with, any premature attempts at removing the Dermal Armor could cause long-term if not permanent damage to the blond's body. As such, it was up to the four of them to scour Slade's now-defunct FOBs to scrounge up whatever info or research materials they could find. It also helped that with the man dead and his legion of robot soldiers largely inert, they felt no fear of reprisal for scavenging whatever wasn't, and was bolted to the ground (after said bolts had been removed) in their quest to find a safe means of resolving Terra's current dilemma. Just because Slade had no intention of letting Terra off her leash, didn't mean he'd leave such a glaring design flaw present in the event that medical treatment required a complete removal of said armor for the "upkeep" of his resource.
"Geez, I get that maybe the gears were meant to be some kind of metaphor for every piece doing its job, but you'd think the guy would get a little tired of all the steampunk after a while," Vent groaned as he and Grey-Wing salvaged raw material for later processing back at the Tower, Terra at his side while Jadework moved through the shadows.
"Maybe the gears had a double-purpose. With all the extra noise, it'd be hard for people to hear him sneaking up on them," the genius replied.
"But wouldn't that make it easier for others to sneak up on him as well?" Terra asked as she hugged Ven's arm to herself; she wasn't so much afraid of the dark as was she afraid of what might be hiding in there. At the moment she was clad in a sky blue sweatsuit, mainly because it was loose-enough that she could pull it over her armor components. Even now, she didn't really understand why Slade made her wear bandages; all she could come up with is maybe to look like a Mummy which was considered a Monster, but even then that idea was pretty weak.
"Not really. Slade didn't get to where he was without being the best of the best. Batman can sneak up on Superman, so if Slade could sneak up on him, then you know he's a master at his craft," the ex-brunette returned.
"It still feels weird… referring to him in the past tense like that," Terra said as she tugged at her chest armor, the only part that was flexible by any stretch of the imagination.
"Yes, well, unless there's some magical bullshit like Superman's healing coma after his whole Doomsday episode, Slade will hopefully stay dead," Vent returned as he plopped himself down on one of Slade's thrones, only for his face to twist into a grimace a few seconds later. "Jesus Christ, there isn't even an inch of padding on this thing. How did the guy stand these things?" he asked rising out of the uncomfortable throne.
"Hey guys, I think I found some kinda tech-lab up here!" Jadework called out. Grey-Wing was quick to ascend the inert gears with rocket-propelled boots, while Ventus scooped his antithesis into his arms before running along the air, rings of smoke in the wake of his footfalls.
Compared to the gritty clock-punk theme of the base's lower levels, what was up in the rafters couldn't be any more different. While the lower levels were dark and musty, the upper levels were painted a sterile shade of white, the group of four needing a minute for their eyes to adjust to the bright fluorescent artificial lighting. Overall, between the hydraulic space-age doors and the bland paneling, it looked like a mix of Fallout's vaults and Portal's testing grounds.
"I found a tech lab that looked like it was used to fabricate Dermal Armor down the hall here," Jadework said leading the genius. "There were a bunch computer banks in there, but I have no idea how to work those kind of things."
"That's good. If we can find any kind of technical data, our job will become much easier," the genius replied.
"You hear that. We're almost in the home stretch," Ventus said putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Yeah…"
"Is something on your mind?"
"This place… I think I've been here before," she said nervously as she brushed at the armor on her elbow. "Slade had me come to a whole bunch of these bases during training before… before things got out of hand."
"If you left something of yours here, we can go and get it. We've literally got nothing better to do until Grey-Wing comes up with something."
"These places… They all look alike, so I might be thinking of somewhere different," Terra said nervously. "I wouldn't want to trouble you."
"Like I said, until Grey-Wing finds something, you and I are just spinning our wheels here," the ex-brunette reassured her. "Unless there's something you'd like to do while we're here," he shrugged, an innocent smile on his face.
"Well…" Terra said nervously as her cheeks blushed a bright red. "I… can't think of anything else right now," she sighed, realizing that with the kind of person he was, there was not any hidden context to his words. There was such a thing as "too soon", as much as she hated to admit it. 'It's almost impossible to imagine the days where we couldn't stand each other,' she thought idly. "Ven… I know you're trying to be fair in all this, but it's alright if you hate me for what I did. I did a bad thing, and if I upset you, you shouldn't be afraid to show it. I was prepared for it as soon as I started following Slade's lead."
"Terr… Deep down some part of me does hate you for what you did," the ex-brunette answered, causing the blond to wilt. "But more than that, I hate myself. I should've seen the signs. The signs that you needed a friend more than I needed a place to call home. That despite the irony in it, you needed a rock to hold onto. I've been a terrible friend, so I'm just as much at fault as you are."
"No, you shouldn't think that!" the blond argued.
"It'll be up to the next generation to decide who was right and who was wrong," the ex-brunette sighed as he sat against a wall, the blond sitting down beside him. "Grey-Wing, you find anything?" he asked into his T-Comm.
"Ooooooh yeah. Big-time," the genius replied. "It'll take a while to sift through all the technical data though, and that's not counting the encryption Slade put on all his data. Why don't the two of you take a walk or something, I'll call you when I'm finished back here."
"Well, you heard the lady. Let's go on a walk or something," Ventus said pushing himself to his feet, the blond following after him. The halls pretty much looked all the same, but a few notices for the human staff kept them from getting lost. It was after the two had finished raiding the infirmary for some high-end medical supplies that they came upon a cafeteria-like space at the exact moment their stomachs started growling.
"Guess looting everything down to the floorboards Fallout-style is pretty hungry work," the now-white-haired teen chuckled.
"Yeah, you could say that again," the blond sighed.
"Well, it won't hurt our karma too much if we raid one more fridge, huh?" he asked walking over to a large stainless steel fridge and prying the door open. "Huh, I never took Slade for a health-nut," he said looking at all the food still in there. "Glad the power's still running, otherwise this would not be appetizing," he said tossing pieces of fruit and cups of yogurt over to Terra.
"Yeah, well, I never would've known I was so malnourished until Slade had those tests run on me, so at least he was good for that much," she shrugged as she idly ran her fingers up and down her sides. Feeling the curves of her chest, the dip of her waist, and the slight flaring of her hips, she smirked internally knowing that Starfire and Raven weren't the only girls with hot bodies in the Tower now. Put her in the right outfit and even Ventus' head would be turning her way.
"Yeah, I spent a couple years running one of his health plans, so I know what you mean," the ex-brunette shrugged. "Before Slade took me in, I was just as skinny as you used to be, and much shorter to boot," he said pulling out a head of lettuce. "You up for a fruit salad?"
*Growrrrrrrrrr* "Sure, why not?" the blond asked as she began rummaging for cooking utensils. Grabbing the necessary stuff and putting it on the nearby counter, she looked over her shoulder before stopping. "I thought I recognized this place!" she realized. "That's right where I was before Slade sent me after you guys," she said pointing to a table off to the side, a tray and some half-eaten food left to spoil, like the moment was frozen in time.
"Huh… You don't say…" Ventus hummed as he eyed the utensils, the gears in his head clicking together like the décor in the real world.
*TEEN TITANS*
Ventus, Terra, Grey-Wing, and Jadework's raid of Slade's previous base had borne fruit both literally and metaphorically. In addition to the still-good produce that the group fed off of in the cafeteria, Grey-Wing was able to find a complete set of blueprints and technical specs for the Dermal Armor, as well as the hardware used to apply it, all things that would go a long way to getting Terra's armor off, saving the genius weeks, maybe months of work trying to make her own solution for it.
That was why, when they returned to the tower, the bulk of the original team watched from the hallway as the four of them set up a massive machine inside the infirmary that looked like something from Star Wars. The center of the machine dominating the back wall was a transparent tank filled with an unidentified amber fluid, a number of manipulator arms folded against the sides. To the left and right there were complicated banks of computers and keyboards, as well as a few holographic interfaces. However, most-prevalent was the thick black cable spilling out of the room, running all the way through the Tower to the basement.
"So uh… I see you guys have been busy," Cyborg remarked as he watched them work. He wanted to offer his technical expertise, but he could never find the right time to ask without feeling like he were intruding, and no-one really asked for his help.
"Yup," Ventus hummed as he dragged over a set of cooling fans to the sides of the machine.
"Ya-huh," Terra hummed dragging a canister of liquid nitrogen over.
"Mm-hm," Grey-Wing replied, completely fixated on her work.
"So… What is all this?" Beast Boy asked.
"This is what we're going to use to finally get that armor off of Terra's body so she can have an actual shower. Oh, and, you know. A life," Ventus replied with a deadpan tone.
"That is wonderful!" Starfire squealed, bouncing up and down as she clapped her hands.
"So what's with the goop?" Cyborg asked looking at the amber-colored liquid.
"For lack of a better term, we're calling it Bacta," Grey-Wing hummed as she worked. "Removing Terra's armor is going to be incredibly painful after what we've found out about it, so we're going to need to suspend her body in a non-oxygenated environment while simultaneously coating her in a viscous layer of pain-killing chemicals and the like."
"And where did you find all of this?" Robin asked.
"We haven't been running around with our thumbs up our asses. We've been raiding Slade's FOBs left and right trying to find anything about Terra's armor that we could, and today, we hit paydirt," the ex-brunette replied.
"What's with the enormous cable then?" the spiky-haired teen then asked.
"The power draw on the De-Skinner is going to be massive, so we needed to establish a direct, physical connection to the generator down in the basement, otherwise we'd short out all the wall sockets on this floor," Grey-Wing replied. "I'm also going to need all of you to unplug or otherwise disconnect all non-essential appliances once we get started so the least amount of strain is placed on the generator."
"And if we don't?" Robin asked.
"It'll explode and topple the whole Tower," Jadework hummed without missing a beat.
"Yeah, so don't be a prejudiced dick to morally-gray characters and do what you're told for once," the ex-brunette huffed as he leered at Robin. "I finally have a chance to end Terra's waking nightmare, and if you think about getting in the way of that, I'll show you exactly what I learned from Slade. Do we understand each other?"
"Yes…" Robin bit out as he stomped off.
"So you really sure this is going to work?" Beast Boy asked.
"With a ninety-five percent certainty," Grey-Wing hummed as she worked. "Although~" she said in a sing-song tone as she sidled up against Cyborg. "I could use another set of hands in there. Whad'ya say, big boy? Wanna give a girl a hand?" she asked batting her eyelashes at the cyborg.
"Um… uh…" the robotic teen stammered as the organic side of his face began to flush bright red, doubly-so once the genius girl began trailing a finger down his chestplate.
"Guys… What's happening here?" Beast Boy asked off to the side.
"None of your business," Raven sighed as she opened up a portal. "Why don't you go and unplug all that useless crap from your room so we can get the show on the road?" she asked before tossing the changeling in with a scream, Starfire flying off to do the same. Looking back into the room, she saw Ventus standing across from Terra as she sat on one of the infirmary beds, slowly unwrapping the bandages around her body until she was left mostly-bare aside from her armor. She wanted to step forward and say something, but her heart lurched when she saw the ex-brunette take the blond's hands into his own, their fingers interlaced as the blond looked up at him with pure adoration in her eyes, a soft smile on the aerokinetic's face as he cutely tilted his head to the side and probably said something really reassuring. 'Keep your cool, Raven. Keep your cool,' she told herself as she floated off. Last thing she wanted was to damage her standing with her friend because one of her temper tantrums destroyed what was probably incredibly-sensitive technology.
"Ven…" Terra said worriedly as she squeezed his hands. "Do you think this is going to work?"
"Hey, Grey-Wing's one of the smartest girls I know. Plus, the math is really sound, so I don't see why it shouldn't work," he replied. "Plus, now we've got two super-geniuses at work, so your chances are only getting better."
"Yeah, well, let's just hope she stops flirting long enough to make those final calibrations," the blond said as she looked around the teen's side, watching as the cyborg flushed every time their hands would touch.
"I think its sweet, to tell you the truth," the ex-brunette replied as he watched the two interact. "Plus, after that whole Freaky Friday episode where Rae, Star, and I all got body-swapped, I happen to know about all of his most-important hardware," he said waggling his eyebrows.
"Hardware? Like what?" Grey-Wing asked with her curiosity piqued, Cyborg blushing brightly behind her as he tried to tell the ex-brunette to stop talking.
"Oh, you know, the important stuff. His heart, his lungs, more than half of his brain, not to mention, his pe-"
"PENCHIL SHARPENER! I installed a PENCIL SHARPENER so I could always sharpen my PENCILS!" the cyborg teen said before the ex-brunette could blurt out a very private (giggity) detail for all to hear.
"That too!" Ventus-whooped, while Grey-Wing giggled behind Cyborg's back.
"Well… I'm scarred for life," Jadework shuddered as he turned away from the two.
"What, don't they have sex-ed in ninja school?" Ventus asked.
"Yeah, but it doesn't talk about sex between woman and robot-"
"Cyborg! The politically correct term is cyborg!" Cyborg huffed.
"Yeah dude, try to be a little open-minded. He might be made of metal and circuits, but his heart is still human," Ventus replied.
"As well as other things~" Grey-Wing purred.
"Well, I think I can see where this conversation is going," Terra said as she drew the curtain closed around them and gave the two some privacy as Jadework left the room. " . . . Ven?"
"Yeah, Terr?" he asked, eyes widening in surprise as the blond threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she mashed her lips against his. Her lips moved against his for several seconds before she disengaged from him, a flush on her cheeks.
"Thank you…" she said as tears began leaking out the corners of her eyes. "Thank you for coming back for me. If you didn't, I don't know what might've…" *Chu* Her words were stopped short as she felt a pair of lips press themselves to her forehead, a flush on her cheeks as he smiled sweetly at her.
"Hey, what're friends for?" he said with a smile.
"Yeah… friends," the blond whispered to herself.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Alright guys, are all non-essential appliances shut down?" Ventus asked an hour later.
"Everything's powered down, captain!" Beast Boy said giving a salute from outside the room, the others standing against the wall outside the infirmary next to him.
"The manipulator arms are fully booted up, and diagnoses show everything's all-green across the board," Cyborg said from the console on the left.
"Terra's biometrics are fully stable," Grey-Wing said from the console on the left, a wireframe of Terra's body in blue with the armor components rendered in red in front of her.
Between the two of them was Terra within the amber-colored Bacta, floating within the fluid with a breathing mask and goggles over her face. Her body was completely bare aside from the armor components which couldn't be physically removed, the girl's face flushing red as she put her hands over her chest and her groin to preserve her modesty. This left only the armor on her head, neck, shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees, and ankles. Her hair was tied back in a tight bun, keeping it away from as many of the armor components as it could.
"So uh, not that I'm complaining or anything, but does she have to be naked for all this?" the changeling asked as he covered his eyes, peeking between his fingers.
"Eyes up here Beast Boy," Ventus said standing in front of the blond and obscuring her from view. "As for why she's mostly-naked, removing the armor's connection from her central nervous system is going to be incredibly painful for her, so we needed to maximize her exposure to the Bacta she's currently suspended in," he said jabbing a thumb toward he amber-colored fluid behind him. "If you can't keep your animalistic urges in check, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're making the patient uncomfortable."
"Oh ha-ha, I can turn into animals so my urges are animalistic. Good one," the green-skinned teen huffed sarcastically as he walked down the hall and stood next to Robin, who wanted more distance in case something exploded.
"Alright, we're about to begin," Grey-Wing said from the console. "The armor on her head is going to be removed first, and that's going to be the most-painful. After that we're going to work our way down her body."
"Are you sure you cannot do this painlessly?" Starfire asked.
"The armor components' connection to her nervous system is basically nano-filament wire wrapped around her nerves. Once we begin removing those, it's going to be like barbed wire dragged across her pain receptors. Trust me when I say that no amount of medication will be able to keep her out for that kind of treatment."
At this, the blond began to look around worriedly, wringing her hands in front of herself. The sound of a hand pressed to the glass causing her to look forward, she saw Ventus in front of the tank, a small smile on his own face as he placed his hand in front of her.
"Don't you worry about a thing, Terr. I'm going to be here for you every step of the way. You aren't alone in this," he said reassuring her, tears welling up in the blond's eyes as she pressed her hand to the inside of the tank, completely unworried of her nudity as she pretended he was the only one there. "Wing, Cy, you can begin when ready," the wind-wielding teen said resolutely, the two geniuses nodding to themselves as they began typing in commands to the console.
The machine beginning to hum loudly, Jadework sending liquid nitrogen into the computers' interiors as their temperatures rose, thin mechanical arms rose from the bottom of the tank, cuff-like hands clamping down on her wrists and ankles, forcing her into a standing position. Rising up behind the blond were a pair of silver-colored manipulator arms with crab-like clamps, and in the center were a number of tools sticking out. The two locking onto the bond's head-pieces, a set of micro-tools began to extend until they plugged into the "knobs" on the armor pieces. A set of tools began to whir when suddenly-
"AAAAAAAAAAGH!" the blond suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream through her breathing apparatus, the others cringing or outright jumping out of their skin as the blond began to writhe, the manipulator arms' work cut out for them as they stopped her from flailing out.
"Terra! TERRA! STAY WITH ME!" the ex-brunette shouted as he slammed his palm onto the glass, the blond looking through tear-filled eyes at him only to clamp them shut as she let out another blood-curdling scream, the tools dutifully doing their work even as she continued to flail wildly against her restraints. A few seconds later, though to everyone else it felt like an eternity, the armor pieces sitting atop Terra's head finally came off, thin red clouds of blood bubbling into the Bacta out of Terra's skull as the armor pieces floated down to the bottom of the tank, a pair of manipulator arms taking them out of the chamber keeping it clear of unnecessary obstructions. "Terra! Terra can you hear me!?" Ventus shouted as he slammed his palm on the glass, Terra raising her head and weakly smiling at him, giving him a thumbs-up even as she cried from the pain.
"The Bacta's doing its work," Grey-Wing reassured him. "If she weren't floating in pain-killer, that kind of shock would've caused her to flat-line," she said as a manipulator arm went to the back of her neck, a laser-cutter causing her to cringe as the piece of armor around her collar was peeled away. "Alright, we're about to move onto the next pair of components. Are you ready?"
"Terra. Terra, we're about to start again. Are you ready for this?" Ventus asked getting her attention, the blond placing her hands up against the glass and nodding her head. Ventus placing his own hands across from hers, Grey-Wing and Cyborg nodded to one another before they activated the next set of coding, the blond letting out another blood-curdling cry as the quasi-magnetic manipulators began to un-coil the micro-filament wire from her nervous system.
*TEEN TITANS*
"I cannot stand to listen!" Starfire cried as she curled up in the corner, covering her ears with her hands as the treatment went on.
"Don't worry, Star. It'll be over soon," Raven said through her T-Comm. After the first scare, she relegated herself to wait it out in her room. She was lucky a window against the wall was the only thing to get damaged after that first blood-curdling scream.
"We're about to remove the last of the armored components," Grey-Wing stated.
"Are you sure this is safe? Terra's barely-conscious," Cyborg said worriedly as he took a look at the blond's vitals.
"Her heart's been under a lot of stress from the pain, but she's still within acceptable levels," the genius reassured. "Beginning procedure."
"Beginning procedure," Cyborg repeated as he worked the console, the two manipulator arms clamping onto the armor at Terra's ankles, micro-tools diving into the "knobs" while a laser cutter cut a line through the opposite side of the armor to Terra's skin. The blond's scream was now more like a gurgle, her flailing much weaker as she had tired herself out from all the flailing. She nodded her head in and out of consciousness, the ex-brunette pacing a circle into the floor as he kept a worried gaze on her.
"Aaand… we're… done," the genius sighed as the last of the armor components came away, leaving the blond completely bare, the wounds from the intrusive nature of her former hardware sealing up quickly.
"Terra, Terra did you hear that? Terra, we're all finished," Ventus said placing his hands against the glass, the blond's eyes glossed over from the pain as she regarded the hazy blob of color and noise in front of her. "Is she going to be okay?"
"She'll be fine. The pain-killer is doing its job, though she's going to be largely insensate for a while," Grey-Wing stated. "Hopefully we didn't break her, but we'll just have to wait and see."
"Is there enough room in there for two?" the ex-brunette asked.
"Why do you ask?" Cyborg questioned.
"Look at her. She's in tears and sobbing into her mouthpiece. She's been through a lot, so I think more than anything, she needs a friend to let her know everything's okay," he answered.
"Well, the treatment's over and the manipulator arms are retracted, so I suppose there is enough room for two," she answered. Nodding his head, Ventus ran out the room, coming back less than a minute later clad in a pair of black swim trunks, a two-part yellow swimsuit from the blond's room in his hand. Putting on a pair of goggles and a re-breather in his mouth, he climbed atop the machine and opened the lid with a *hiss*, before he slowly lowered his feet into the Bacta.
His feet touching down, the ex-brunette nudged the blond's hand with his own, the girl blinking her eyes as a flinch ran up her body. Blinking the bleariness from her eyes, weakly brushing the hair from her vision, she saw her most-trusted friend floating inches from her, one of her swimsuits in his hand. Pointing a finger at the garment with a questioning look on his face, the blond gave him a nod, the brunette nodding in turn as he lowered himself, a flush on his face as he slowly worked the bottom part of the blond's swimsuit up her legs. Sparks of pain ran up the blond's spine as the material ran along her skin, but she bore with it as the bottom-part finally reached its destination. Weakly raising her arms, the blond reached around her back and tied the swimsuit to her frame, preserving her modesty.
The ex-brunette then spelled out the words You good? with his finger, the blond nodding her head and slowly spelling out a Yeah.
That's good. How are you feeling?
Like shit. Everything stings.
I'm so sorry. Did I do the wrong thing bringing your swimsuit in here?
No. Now that the armor's gone, I realized just how naked I was.
Hey, you don't hear me complaining. If I said you had a great body, would you hold it against me?
You flatterer Terra spelled out as she playfully bat at his chest. Thank you. Thank you for saving me she spelled out as she slowly wrapped her arms around his neck, sparks of pain and pleasure dancing across her body as the two of them embraced within the slowly-warming Bacta.
Any time the ex-brunette spelled out as he returned the hug.
Why Ven, is that a snake in your trunks or are you just happy to see me? the blond asked as something brushed up against her, a bit of mirth returning to her eyes. Her smile went all the way up to her eyes, knowing how her new body had his undivided attention.
Hey, I'm holding onto a hot girl in nothing but my swimsuit. It's only natural he spelled out as he backed a certain part of his anatomy away from her, only for the blond to grab onto the back of his waistband and pull them flush together.
I never said I didn't like it she spelled as she batted her eyelashes at him from behind her goggles.
"Well… I think now would be a good time to leave the two alone," Grey-Wing said with a smile on her face as she herded the others out of the room, leaving the two whose powers were literally like heaven and earth to bask in one another's company.
*TEEN TITANS*
"So… How'd the procedure go?" Robin asked in the Ops. Center as Greywing led Cyborg and Starfire into the room. Once the screaming started, he and Beast Boy opted to leave and drown the blood-curdling cries out with some mindless television.
"It went off without a hitch. The Dermal Armor components are now inert and as far away from Terra's body as physically possible," she said holding up a tote box of armor components. "I'm going back to the G-Comet to study these in-depth so that in case something like this happens again, I can make the removal process a little less painful."
"Friend Wing of Grey, if you wish, you are more than welcome to move in, with us!" Starfire said with a smile on her face. "You have done so much for us and Ventus, it feels wrong to not make the offer."
"Yeah, we could always use another techie on the team," Cyborg said scratching his cheeks. Suffice it to say, he was not prepared to have a girl coming onto him after seeing his armor components. If anything, they probably excited the genius girl. Of course, he was going to get some form of revenge on the ex-brunette for so casually bringing up the topic of his hardware up with the girl.
"That's sweet of you to offer, but…" she hummed. "It's still too soon for me to tie myself down to anyone place. Why do you think I live in a flying tour bus?" she asked. "Maybe after I get a couple more miles on my soul, I'll come back if the offer still stands, but for the time being, there's still more of the world I want to see."
"Well, until that time comes, consider yourself an honorary Titan," Robin said holding out a new T-Comm for the girl.
"Thanks, spiky. I'll be sure to stay in touch," the genius girl replied with a smile.
"Do you have to leave so soon?" Starfire asked sadly.
"Hey now, I'm not leaving right away if that's what you're asking," she replied. "The G-Comet's still going to need some more repairs before I'm comfortable taking her cross-country."
"What about you Jadework? You wanna become an honorary Titan?" Beast Boy asked.
"Only as long as my communications device has any trackers disabled," the ninja huffed.
"But if we do that, we won't be able to keep track of your location," Raven stated.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a ninja. A tracking device sort of defeats the purpose," he huffed. "I'll leave the communicator alone, but I will not have a super-villain tracking me down wherever I am just because you guys want to know where I am. I'd rather not have "Big Brother" watching me," he said making air quotes.
"That's understandable, you being a ninja and all," the changeling shrugged.
"So where are friends Ventus and Terra now?" Starfire asked.
"They're waiting in the Bacta tank. The procedure ended a while ago, but Terra's nerves are still going to be inflamed from the removal process," Grey-Wing stated.
"They're waiting?" Raven asked looking up from her book.
*TEEN TITANS*
A few hours later, the sun had set and dinner was being prepared in the now-restored kitchen, now with fresh ingredients since the grocery store in town had begun doing business again. Cyborg was whipping up some chicken and waffles to celebrate, Beast Boy was off to the side making some kind of veggie-concoction, Starfire was making… something else, and Raven was making a nice salad for everyone while Jadework was making a large pot of fried rice.
The sound of the sliding doors opening drew everyone's attention to the back of the room, where they saw Ventus and Terra walking practically shoulder-to-shoulder towards them, toweling off their hair and laughing together. Venus was clad in a loose-fitting yellow shirt and gray-camouflage pajama pants, while Terra, now freed from her armor prison, was clad in the same yellow shorts and black T-marked shirt she'd worn after her return.
"Hello. Terra," Raven bit out.
"O-Oh! Hey Raven," Terra said nervously as she jumped out of her skin, stepping slightly behind the ex-brunette. "How long have you been there?"
"Long enough," the mage returned. "Ventus. I assume Terra hasn't stepped out of line or anything?"
"Don't worry, Rae, she's been a perfect little angel," the ex-brunette replied.
"You don't say," the mage huffed as she glowered at the blond. "You don't think that a change of clothes will make us all forgive you, do you?"
"W-What're you talking about?" the blond asked nervously.
"Don't play dumb with me. You're wearing your hero uniform so we'll forget everything that happened. Well I just want you to know," she said tightening her grip on her salad tongs. "It isn't going to work."
"Yeah. You turned against us and joined Slade's faction of your own will. You're still on the chopping block for that," Robin huffed.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho!" Ventus chortled like a certain heiress out of Street Fighter. "On the contrary, Captain Hairgel Lad. New evidence has recently come to light that casts doubt as to how much of Terra's doubt is founded."
"What're you talking about?" Robin asked with narrowed eyes.
"After having Cyborg run these culinary implements through a full-spectrum analysis-" Ventus said holding up evidence bags with a plastic tray and silverware in it.
"Hold it! I'm the crime-fighter here! Why didn't you let me take part in this analysis?" Robin demanded. Oddly enough this was the first time the processing of actual evidence had come up in their crime-fighting escapades in Jump. Back in Gotham, that sort of thing was more commonplace where he and Batman usually arrived after the fact.
"Because you might've chosen that very moment to cast aside your morals and doctor evidence so everyone would follow your lead in continuing to hate this adorable blond super-powered girl," Ventus said protectively wrapping his arm around Terra's shoulders.
"I would never do something so legally ambiguous!" the spiky-haired teen demanded.
"Uh… Does Red-X ring any bells?" the ex-brunette asked, causing the spiky-haired teen to cringe as everyone looked at him suspiciously.
"I was doing it for a good reason!" the spiky-haired teen argued.
"It isn't about doing the right thing. It's about doing things the right way," Ventus argued.
"So uh… What exactly did you dudes find?" Beast Boy asked.
"Preliminary analysis indicated traces of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate," Cyborg answered.
"What does that mean in the not-king's English?" Starfire asked.
"In layman's terms, Terra's eating implements had traces of gunpowder on them!" Ventus said shockingly. *Dun-Dun-DUUUUUUN!*
"Where did that noise come from?" Starfire asked.
"Sound effect app I asked Cy to install in my T-Comm.," the ex-brunette answered holding up said device.
"And this changes things how exactly?" Raven asked.
"This and other evidence suggests that Terra's actions were not entirely of her own volition. For the time being however, I will focus on the gunpowder before moving onto more-compelling evidence," Ventus stated. "On note of why the gunpowder mixed into her food is important, gunpowder as some of you may or may not know contains Toluene, giving it hallucinogenic properties. Mixing it into food is a common trick by warlords in third-world countries during the training of child soldiers to keep them drugged, but more specifically, controllable!" *Dun-Dun-DUUUUUUN!*
"He what!?" Terra gawped.
"You mean you didn't know?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well I did think the food tasted funny, but Slade always told me those were nutrient supplements to help me develop my body after years of malnutrition," she said running her hands along the now-present curves of her body. Beast Boy drooled slightly at the sight, but Cyborg smacked him over the back of the head for good measure.
"So… Terra did not wish to attack us the way she did then?" Starfire asked, her eyes glittering with hope. Like diamonds. Or the Hope Diamond.
"There was some part of her that wanted to do that, I'm being un-biased enough to admit," Ventus stated causing Terra to slump. "However! This and other evidence suggests that there was more going on than most of you cared to realize before you all tried to execute her right next to me," he said with narrowing eyes, the others cringing back at the black bars that appeared above and below his gaze. However, once their focus widened, they realized that Grey-Wing and Jadework were merely holding up a set of black tiles in front of his face for visual effect like out of an action movie. "Now, can anyone tell me what this is?" he asked holding up an innocuous-looking CD.
"I believe that is the disc of compactness," Starfire answered.
"Correct, it's a CD. Now, can anyone tell me what's on it?" Ventus asked.
"Uh… No. We haven't listened to it before," Robin snapped.
"Well then why don't we take a listen-loo, shall we?" he asked as he slid it into the music-playing hardware at the front of the tower. Pressing the Play button, the other Titans didn't notice any unreasonable change until-
"AAAAAAAAGH!" Beast Boy screamed before he fell to the ground clutching his pointed ears. "DUDE! Shut it off! SHUT IT OFFFFF!"
"Um… What just happened?" Raven asked worriedly.
"Some form of noise with a very high pitch, which the Beast Boy is clearly more susceptible to than myself," Starfire said cleaning out her ear.
"Okay I'll bite, what was on that CD?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow. Ventus' answer was to move some knobs on the console, slowing the reading of the CD down before the speakers began droning out- "I am Slade, your lord and master. Do as I command, and all you desire shall be yours. I am Slade, your lord and master. Do as I command, and all you desire shall be ours. I am Slade, your lord and master. Do as I command, and-"
"Dude, that is so fucking creepy," Beast Boy grumbled as the masked man's voice continued to drone on out. Like, from beyond the grave.
"What's going on exactly?" Cyborg asked.
"It's… some form of subliminal messaging," Robin groaned, reluctant to admit. "The original message was played at such a high speed at such a high frequency, that an ordinary person wouldn't be able to consciously recognize it."
"And what does this mean for Terra's case?" Starfire asked.
"It means Slade was brainwashing her," Raven grumbled, realizing the Terra-gone-bad case was getting weaker and weaker by the second.
"Oh, that is most-wonderful news!" Starfire cheered as she scooped the blond up into a rib-crushing hug, swinging the girl around back-and-forth. "Friend Terra is not the evil manipulative female dog we thought her to be!"
"Um, I think you mean bi-"
"Yes, that's exactly what it means," Ventus said slapping a hand over Cyborg's mouth before he could corrupt the innocent space-girl. "But wait, there's more!" the ex-brunette said swinging his arm like on an infommercial. "Buy two pieces of case-cracking evidence and you'll get the third free!" he whooped holding up one of Terra's Dermal Armor hairpieces.
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what pray tell does that have to do with the present case at hand?" Raven asked.
"Grey-Wing. Send out the signal," he asked as he drew the others closer with a waggle of his finger. The Titans gathering around the innocuous-enough hair ornament, when a thin needle shot up suddenly with a *shink*, the Titans let out non-masculine or otherwise effeminate shrieks of-
"EYAAAAAAAH!"
"What was on my head?!" Terra gawped pointing at the needle that suddenly came out. "That was going INTO my head!?"
"Yep! And you know what's inside it? Dopamine!" the ex-brunette said enthusiastically.
"You mean the feel-good neurochemical?" Cyborg realized.
"Yep! Whenever Terra did something Slade agreed with, he'd send a signal to these hair-pieces and send minuscule amounts of dopamine into Terra's bloodstream. Pumped full of these feel-good chemicals, Terra was forced to experience exhilaration at times where she herself would not wish to feel those emotions, such as terrorizing powerless civilians or other forms of collateral damage!" Ventus narrated.
"So what does this all mean exactly?" Raven asked, almost dreading the answer.
"It means… that Terra wasn't entirely in control of herself when she went on her little rampage…" Robin groaned.
"Thaaaat's right, Roby-poo!" the ex-brunette said much to the teen's ire. "When Slade recruited me, he did it because of a fire in my eye or some other metaphorical bullshit. When that didn't work, he aimed for an apprentice-candidate with prior-training and resorted to blackmail to keep him *cough* Robin *cough* under his retinue. When that didn't work, he targeted the feelings of a susceptible super-powered teenage girl swimming in teen-hormones and used chemicals, subliminal messaging, drugs, and cybernetically-invasive implants as well as more chemicals to coerce her into doing whatever he wanted!"
"So friend Terra was not the evil female dog! Oh, that is most wonderful!" Starfire squealed as she went in for another hug. Terra, having been trained in bits and pieces of ninjutsu by Slade, grabbed a nearby Beast Boy and changed places with him at the last moment, leaving the changeling to receive the full brunt of Starfire's affectionate "feels".
"And with that, I demand a re-trial!" the ex-brunette demanded.
"Okay I've humored you for long enough. Why should we change the parameters of Terra's punishment?" Robin demanded. "In case you don't remember, Terra, tried, TO KILL US!"
"So did you guys when you left me here to die with no backup, but you don't see me holding a grudge," Ventus returned.
"Held a grudge against me pretty badly," Raven grumbled.
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU SUBVERTED MY FREE WILL AND MADE ME YOUR ZOMBIE MIND-SLAVE!" the whitette raged. "Anyway, as I was saying to Robin, if you will remember the day we were selecting our team's leader so many months ago, as some of you may or may not recall, it was I, not Robin, but myself who won the Ultimate Marvel versus Street Fighter 3 video game tournament. While I merely ceded leadership duties to Robin because I didn't want to do it myself, the fact of the matter still exists that my leadership authority supersedes his own!"
"Oh that is such bullshit!" Robin raged, tongues of flame spilling out his mouth with each syllable.
"Seems pretty cut-and-dry to me, bro," Beast Boy shrugged.
"In the end, his thumbs were mightier than our own," Cyborg sighed dramatically.
"You guys can not be taking this seriously, right?" Robin grumbled.
"On Tamaran, it is not uncommon to settle disputes over leadership with some form of game when fighting to the near-death is not viable for the long-term of the campaign," Starfire stated matter-of-factly as she adjusted round glasses with a lab coat over her shoulders.
"I told you going to that prop store's everything-must-go sale was a good idea," Beast Boy whispered to Cyborg.
"So what, are we just going to forget everything she's done?!" Robin demanded.
"Nooooo. That would be retarded," Ventus dead-panned. "What I am saying, is you all forgive her, because she wasn't completely within her own mind. And there were drugs involved. Need I point out the third piece of evidence again?" he said holding up the armored hair-clip, the needle popping up and down accompanied by the soundtrack of the shower scene in Psycho.
*RN-RN-RN-RN*
"NO!" most of the Titans demanded.
"The defense rests!" the brunette shouted. "Come along Terra, let's see about getting that ankle-cuff taken off before I go to the mayor and show him these pieces of evidence so the JCPD doesn't have kill-on-sight-if-that-girl-turns-evil orders anymore."
"Objection!" Robin demanded, now clad in a blue suit, a single loch of his hair juttnig forward.
"Hold it!" Ventus retaliated, clad in a burgundy suit of his own, his hair parted away from his forehead and a frilly ascott at his neck.
"Dudes, this is just like Phoenix Wright versus Miles Edgeworth!" Beast Boy squealed as the two stood behind opposing stands.
"Except the Vietnam-era gasoline flamethrower Vent just whipped out," Cyborg re-iterated as Ventus pulled out said flamethrower and flared it ominously from behind the prosecutor's stand.
"What, like from the Christmas party?" Beast Boy asked as "Robin Wright" ran for his life.
"Yeah, but that wasn't canon," a third interjected.
*Gasp* "Uncle Grandpa! You are real!" Beast Boy squealed at the oddly-shaped man who was suddenly amongst them.
"For the love of God, not again!" Raven cried as she ran from the third trans-dimensional entity to suddenly appear in the Tower. Two was bad enough, she was not going to stick around for a third.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Well, Terra, it was really hard pleading your case to the mayor, but thankfully, all he asked for in turn for rescinding those kill-on-site orders were that I make an appearance at his daughter's next birthday party. I wonder why that was," the ex-brunette hummed.
"Yeah, I wonder why," the blond grumbled. Seriously, sometimes it was hard to tell if the guy was faking it, or he really didn't notice how he drew the affection of girls to him. "But… Thank you for everything. Not everyone would've held onto hope for so long that they could find evidence to exonerate me of some of my wrongdoings."
"Hey, I just figured that with all the time and money he put into that armor of yours, there had to be some extra bells & whistles we weren't aware of," the brunette shrugged. "Plus, not including his daughter, he'd burned through two apprentices before coming upon you, so I doubt he'd take on a third without something fool-proof. I'm just lucky we happened upon that cafeteria otherwise I couldn't have started hyper-analyzing things the way I did."
"Dude, did dying and then coming back all those times make you smarter?" the blond asked.
"I didn't have a Gate of Truth FMA-moment if that's what you're asking. But yes, I feel like my eyes are a little more open than they were before," the ex-brunette stated. "I somehow feel like all that dying-and-coming-back will bite someone in the ass later on down the road, but gosh darn it, I'm too hopped upon dopamine and estrogen from shoving a proverbial bus up Robin's ass I don't care."
"I thought only girls had estrogen."
"Yeah, all that dying-and-coming-back may've killed some of my brain cells," the white-haired teen admitted. "That might also be why my hair turned white," he said raking his fingers through his lochs.
"I think the guy who made the Taj Mahal got white hair because his wife died," Terra hummed. "No, wait, that's really off-topic. What I want to ask is… Are things really going to go back to normal that all this really obscure shit has come to light?"
"Honestly? . . . No, I don't think things will go back to normal," the red-eyed teen sighed. "But who said normal was so great anyway? Albert Einstein wasn't normal. Martin Luther King Junior wasn't normal. Mahatma Gandhi wasn't normal. Normal doesn't change the world. It's the abnormal ones that say 'Fuck You' to the universe and actually gets shit done. So, no, things will not go back to normal, because that'd be really fucking boring. Times change. People change. Cultures change. But as long as people are willing to accept that change and we don't stagnate, no-one will be dumb enough to resort to nuclear warfare like something out of Fallout."
"Wow… I never really thought of it that way," Terra realized.
"Terr, I've traveled all over the world by flying through the skies or stowing away on cruise liners and using the computer-hacking skills Slade had me learn to hack my name into the passenger manifest. If there's anything I learned, it's that knowledge from one source is only a single color, and there's a whole rainbow of things you can learn to better yourself," Ventus stated. "So if you want to travel, just the two of us, then that's alright. I can turn in my letter of resignation to the mayor and the two of us can head off first thing in the morning. It doesn't really matter if you or I come back here, there will always be those who want to do good in the world, even though most people are just a bunch of cynical desensitized assholes who don't give a shit."
"That… That sounds really great," Terra said with a smile on her face. "But… I think I've walked that lonely road long enough. I'm ready to let my feet rest and just enjoy the scenery, you know? Plus, I did a lot of damage to the city, and I'd feel bad if I didn't make up for it, you know?"
"That's the spirit!" Ventus said with a smile. "If Superman can regain the people's trust after leading an alien invasion against the entire planet, then so can you.
"I guess you're right," Terra realized. Compared to what Superman did, hers was small-potatoes, all it'd take was time. She had no delusions of getting everyone's forgiveness right away. "Thanks, Ven. Thanks for being my friend."
"No problem," the ex-brunette shrugged. "Well, I think we've had enough excitement for one day. I don't know about you, but I feel like turning in for the night."
"Right now? But you barely ate any dinner," the blond said worriedly.
"If I get hungry I'll sleepwalk to the kitchen and make a snack or something," he replied. "I just hope I'm wearing pants this time. Last time that happened, Raven didn't speak to me for a week, and she must've been really offended by it because her face would turn really red and she'd squirm in rage."
'Same old air-headed Ven,' Terra thought as she shook her head. "Alright, I'll see you in the morning."
"You too," Ventus said with a smile as they went their separate ways. Shedding out of his clothes and getting into some pajamas, he went to the ensuite and splashed some water on his face before brushing his teeth. Idly scratching at his face, the teen groaned as he pulled the bandages from around his eye, squinting in the light before looking at himself in the mirror. His pupil no longer clouded over, he leaned forward and got a better look at himself. "Well now… That's an interesting change."
*TEEN TITANS*
As a certain spiky-haired Saiyan with a widow's peak once said, I'M BACK BITCHES!
But in all seriousness, yes, I am back. And I have a good reason for not updating what's arguably my most-popular story for so long. That might not be satisfying, but I feel like I should give you "Venterra" fans out there some kind of explanation.
First and foremost, there was real-life I had to deal with; North Central Institute is a technical college for my chosen major, Airframe & Powerplant Maintenance, or the repair and upkeep of airplanes. It was a fast-running course, so studying for that took up a lot of time. After that is the work that I had a Teaser of in the previous story, Young Justice: The Hunter. I'd spent over a year planning out storylines for the massive-multi-crossover, exchanging hundreds if not thousands of PMs to sort everything out, and it might be one of my longest-running stories upon completion.
After that came my RWBY story, Giant-Slayer. Originally it wasn't going to be published until this year (as of 2015). However, when Monty Oum, the web-based animator and writer for Roosterteeth's Red vs Blue and RWBY, as well as Haloid and Dead Fantasy, died, I was devastated, but in memory of him, decided to post Giant-Slayer a year ahead of schedule. Pretty much all of his works inspired me, especially his works for Red vs Blue, and thus this and other works simply fell onto the back-burner.
HOWEVER! I sincerely hope to change all that, as I'm holding back on Giant-Slayer until I get my other stories updated, including Naruto Tenryo and Naruto EXE Subspace for my longer-standing readers, updated. I hope to spread-out my attention, and not let my more-prominent fanfiction (as well as XCOM 2 or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for the PS4) get in the way.
And now onto things for this-chapter. Terra only wore her Dermal Armor for 2 episodes, excluding the ones where she's turned to stone, and the reason her chest and groin-pieces are removable (NOT FOR FANSERVICE) is because from a biological standpoint, Slade would've designed the armor to accommodate for Terra's future growth. Also, he picked Terra up by her chest armor, showing that it's removable to a degree. The rest however, was not so much.
I'm not sure how I came up with the idea for the invasive properties of the armor to involve nano-scopic filament wires wrapping around her nervous system, but it just seemed appropriate for a system that'd allow someone to use another person's powers like their own. The pain bit during the procedure was just because that armor didn't look like it could be removed by conventional means, and armor that was literally bonded to her body would be painful to remove.
As for the other stuff (i.e. Vent's coma, the city getting back on its feet, and the gangs digging themselves in), I set them up to add a bit of realism to the story, but still keep it interesting. While Beast Boy may act like a goof, when he's determined to get something accomplished, he's just as competent as Robin, if not moreso. Gadgets may be great and good, but nothing beats a wholly mammoth battering ram. On note of the White Collar reference in relation to Terra's punishment last-chapter, I figured Terra wouldn't be let off Scott-free or with a slap on the wrist, so I tried to add a little something to that part of the story as well. As for me saving Terra, I just couldn't bring myself to have her turn to stone. Plus it would probably tear Vent up inside and send him spiraling downward into a depression.
I could probably write a one-shot about that or something, but I digress. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I certainly had my share of fun repairing Ventus and Terra's strained relationship, as well as the "fluff" I saw fit to add to things. The rating change from T to M implies some things will become more-serious in both word and deed, so look forward to that. On top of what happens in the Episodes, I'm also going to try and make some stories from the Comic, as well as some all-original works.