AUTHOR'S NOTE: This doesn't take place in the same storyline as my "Forced Base" and "Fractured Heart" stories, so forget those when you're reading this. Also, about Sanza/Red X: When he's wearing the mask, he's Red X. When he's not, he's Sanza. Simple as that.
SECOND AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the third part of a trilogy, which includes "The Life and Times of Red X", and "Maiden of Stone", both of which are in my profile. Read those before you read this. Also, this fic COMPLETELY IGNORES the events of the fifth season (with the exception of "Go"). For the purposes of this fic, "Things Change" NEVER HAPPENED.
O-O-O
A silver-skinned teenager stood on the roof of a tall warehouse and looked out over Jump City, its beautiful skyline glistening in the evening sunset. She put her hands on her hips and smiled, completely unaware of the danger she was in.
"I think I'm going to like fighting evil in this place," said the girl, her accent sounding something like that of an Australian, though she was in fact from nearby New Zealand. "Now, where's Titans Tower...?"
The girl was Argent, and she'd been contacted recently by her friends in Titans East, who'd asked her to respond to a situation involving a large number of villains and an organization known as the Brotherhood of Evil. Not one to pass up a chance to help out her friends while saving the world, she made her way to Jump City as quickly as possible... completely unaware that as soon as she set foot in the city, she'd become a target.
She began hopping from rooftop to rooftop, and was finally able to spot the tall, T-shaped Tower in the middle of the bay. She smiled to herself and began racing toward it, using her ruby red energy beams to form bridges across the buildings so that she wouldn't have to make so many jumps. When she reached the end of the row of buildings, she shrugged her shoulders and leapt off of the final one, preparing to take flight... only to have two multi-colored ribbons suddenly loop around her wrists and pull her down toward the alley below.
"What the... what is this?!" shouted Argent, struggling furiously against the ribbons wrapped around both of her wrists as someone continued to pull her down. She looked below her and could see a blue-skinned man in a tophat and tuxedo holding both ribbons... and standing with him was a blonde girl and a freakish half-man, half-spider hybrid. "Hey...!!!"
She formed an energy sword in her right hand and tossed it toward the ground at the girl and the spider, who simply dodged, chuckling to themselves as their new captive was finally pulled down into the alley. As soon as her feet touched the ground, more ribbons wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides and binding her legs as well.
"So sorry, but you know we can't have you helping out the Teen Titans..." said Mumbo, laughing tauntingly at Argent as she struggled in her bonds. She squirmed and thrashed, but this only caused her to lose her balance and fall on her face at Mumbo's feet. "We'll be taking you back to the Brotherhood of Evil very shortly..."
"That's right, little girl..." said Kitten, walking over to Argent and cruelly kicking her in the side. She knelt down beside the captive superheroine and brushed her hand through Argent's hair, shaking her head and tsking to herself as she did so. "Black and red? Ugggh, your hair is so ugly... not like mine. Beautiful, blonde, and-"
"Shut up, you bloody brat!" screamed Argent, squirming back to her feet and hopping up and down in front of Kitten. "As soon as I get free, I'm gonna-"
A puff of smoke appeared in front of Argent's mouth, and to her horror, the silver-skinned heroine realized that her lips had been replaced with a zipper... which was currently in the 'closed' position. She let out a loud, muffled scream before being pushed to the ground by Kitten, who only had to give Argent a gentle poke to knock her back down to the ground.
"Thanks for shutting her up for me," said Kitten, smiling at Mumbo, whose magic wand was still glowing after transforming Argent's mouth.
"I don't normally take requests, kid, but in your case, I decided to make an exception," replied Mumbo, who then burst into a loud fit of laughter as Argent continued to squirm on the ground. She looked up at her three captors, trying not to show even a tiny amount of fear... but unfortunately, she was having quite a bit of trouble concealing her growing fright.
"They captured me as soon as I got into the city...!" thought Argent, trying to activate her powers beneath the layers of tight ribbons encircling her body. "If they were able to catch me this quickly... I don't know if the Titans stand a chance!"
O-O-O
Across the city, the two teams of Titans East and Titans West were gathered in the main room of the Tower. Sanza was with them, in his Red X suit and mask and ready to fight... just a day removed from the horrific incident of the previous day, in which he'd almost shot dead Enricio Calderez, the man who'd killed his father, Sanza was trying to forget what had happened... and busting up a few bad guys would certainly help him to do that.
Seated next to him on the couch was Terra... and Beast Boy was next to her. He'd been trying to keep his mind on what Robin had been telling him, but at the moment, even an impending war for control of Jump City was just about the furthest thing from Beast Boy's mind. He was still thinking about the Doom Patrol, who at this very moment were being held as hostages in the Brotherhood of Evil's base of operations, wherever that was. They'd been captives now for three days, and if Beast Boy knew the Brotherhood, and he did, it was likely that his former companions weren't being treated well.
But he was also thinking about Terra... and the fact that she was now together with Sanza, which meant that Beast Boy would have to focus all of his romantic efforts on Raven... the fact that maybe he didn't have to have a girlfriend at all never really crossed his mind.
"Right now, the first wave of new heroes is probably just now arriving in the city," said Robin, pointing at a large, computer-generated map of Jump City that was being displayed on the main room's television monitor. "We haven't been contacted by any of the new heroes yet, but we're bound to receive word from them soon."
Standing on the other side of the screen was Bumblebee. As leader of Titans East, she would be directing the coalition of superheroes alongside Robin... and would be leading her own team in any side missions that may arise.
"The new heroes are gonna need someone to meet them as soon as they reach the city," said Bumblebee. "A welcome wagon of sorts... Titans East will be that welcome wagon."
"So... we're gonna be going out into the city and looking for the heroes as they come in?" asked Speedy, seated next to Aqualad on the small couch closest to the screen. "I dunno... I'd much rather go after some of these villains."
"Titans West is gonna be staying at the Tower and responding to any distress calls that we or any of the new heroes send out," said Bumblebee. She gestured to Robin, who nodded his head in agreement.
"Since you're more familiar with these newcomers than we are, it's probably best that you go out to meet them and escort them to the Tower," said Robin. "If any of you get attacked, just call in and we'll come running."
"Got it," said Aqualad. Nearby, Mas y Menos eagerly signaled their agreement with the plan... but Speedy was still unsure.
"All right, we'll go out and look for the heroes... I guess whatever action there is, it's gonna be later anyway," said Speedy.
"Hey, Robin-looking dude..." said Red X from across the room, waving at the masked archer until he'd gotten Speedy's full attention. "I wanna kick butt just as much as you do... and from what I've seen, there's gonna be plenty of butt to go around."
"Of course there will be for you, you're a free agent, you're not taking orders from anybody!" replied Speedy, clearly frustrated with the fact that while he had to comply with whatever plans Bumblebee or Robin laid out, Red X's allegiance to neither team gave him the option of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. "I assume you're gonna be staying here at the Tower too?"
"Yeah, but it might get kinda boring here waiting for you guys to get into trouble... the only way we get to actually go out and fight is if we're called, so..."
"Red X is right," said Raven, trying to calm Speedy down as best as she could... the last thing that either team needed right now was tension, especially on an important mission such as this. "The optimal outcome is that neither team has to fight anyone until we're all together and back here safe in Titans Tower. Your mission is to go retrieve the heroes and get back here as soon as possible."
"Yeah, Speedy... the way you're acting, it sounds like you want us to run into trouble," remarked Bumblebee. Speedy simply crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away indignantly, not saying a word... he knew Bumblebee and Raven were right, but he was still itching to get into some kind of battle... all of this difficult training would mean nothing unless he got to use it against a powerful villain. "As for the rest of you, we're moving out right now. Titans East, go!"
Speedy, Aqualad, and Mas y Menos got up from their seats and headed for the door. They were followed by their leader Bumblebee, but before she could get away from the seating area, a cold, metallic hand touched her on the arm. She turned back and looked down... Cyborg was smiling at her.
"Bee, be careful..." said Cyborg, prompting the Titans East leader to return a smile of her own.
"You just watch your own butt, Cyborg... if something happens to me, don't do anything reckless."
"Aw, you know me, I'm always careful!"
With a short laugh and a roll of her eyes, Bumblebee followed the rest of her team out the door, leaving just Red X and the members of Titans West in the main room. As soon as Titans East had left, Robin turned and walked toward the hallway leading toward the back of the Tower.
"I'm gonna go do some more research on our enemies, if anyone needs me..."
Raven got up from the couch as well, followed by Cyborg, who had to do a bit of maintenance work on some of his weaponry. As soon as they left, Starfire got up as well, floating over to Robin and taking his hand in hers.
"Please... allow me to assist you, I would like to discuss a strategy I have thought of for the coming battle..."
While it seemed more likely to Robin that Starfire just wanted to spend time with him because the two were a couple, he didn't seem to mind her spending time with him, and it was likely that she did in fact have a strategy, though discussing it with him was obviously just an excuse.
The two of them left together, which left Beast Boy, Terra, and Red X as the only three people left in the main room. They sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Beast Boy got up from the couch and walked over to the television.
"I uh... know we should probably use any free time we have to get ready for the Brotherhood of Evil, but if you guys wanna play some video games..."
"Um, actually, I kind of just wanted to sit and talk," said Terra, her hands in her lap, her thumbs nervously twiddling back and forth. "I mean, if that's okay with you..."
"No, that's totally okay!" said Beast Boy, though it was clear from the look on his face that he was obviously disappointed... he'd wanted to play video games with Terra so that he could spend time with her, but if she just wanted to talk, it was quite obvious who she wanted to talk to. "Um... if you want, I could leave you guys alone..."
But Terra didn't want to be left alone, she wanted to talk to Beast Boy and to Red X... as she knew that the two of them hadn't talked with one another since she'd made her decision to be Sanza's girlfriend. It hadn't been out of bitterness that the two hadn't spoken, in all the chaos surrounding the impending battle for Jump City, the two simply hadn't had the time. Now that they did, Terra knew that it was as good a time as ever for her two best friends to sit down and discuss everything that they had on their minds.
"Sanza, is it okay if we talk...? Me, you, and-"
"Sure," replied Red X, "in fact..."
He reached up and removed his mask, setting it down on his lap and looking over at Beast Boy, his hazel-colored eyes meeting the changeling's own.
"I figured this was mostly a Sanza matter..."
Beast Boy nodded in agreement and walked back over to the couch, sitting down on the other side of Terra and looking past her over at Sanza.
"Look, I don't have any hard feelings with you about... you know, Terra..." Was that all that Beast Boy needed to say? That he had no hard feelings? Sure, he wasn't angry at Sanza... he knew that Sanza hadn't set out to take Terra away from him, knew that Terra wasn't really even his to begin with... at least not after he'd started having feelings for Raven.
But he also knew that that wasn't the only reason that Terra had decided to give her heart to Sanza. Beast Boy knew that whenever Terra spoke to him, she felt an intense guilt for everything she'd done, and no matter how many times Beast Boy had tried to forgive her, no matter how much that Terra knew that Beast Boy didn't blame her for all the mistakes she'd made, it wouldn't be nearly good enough... Terra would always feel guilty.
"I know you don't, Beast Boy..." said Terra, reaching over and taking the changeling's hands in hers, a warm smile on her face. "I don't want you to feel like I'm rejecting you... I'm not... I still want to be friends with you, you're still my definition of fun, it's just that..."
"You never hurt Sanza," replied Beast Boy, looking away slightly. "And you still feel guilty about hurting me."
"...yes, Beast Boy, that's right..." Even now, Terra felt guilty, not just about when she'd betrayed Beast Boy to become Slade's apprentice, but she felt guilty that she'd hurt him by deciding to be with Sanza... but she still had no regrets. Not only did she not feel a twinge of guilt every time she spoke to Sanza, but she also knew that no matter what she did, he would never judge her, or turn against her, or hate her... being with Sanza gave Terra more comfort, more stability than she'd ever had at any other time in her troubled life... and with Slade on the prowl, a constant reminder of Terra's worst mistake, it was comfort she needed now more than ever.
"You don't have to feel guilty, Terra..." said Sanza, reaching over and placing a hand on Terra's shoulder. She smiled and turned back toward him, her grip on Beast Boy's hands loosening as she gently released them. "I... I didn't mean to spoil the moment, but-"
"No, it's fine..." Terra looked back over at Beast Boy, who was able to muster up a slight smile... then a larger one, as the realization of what this new relationship meant for the emotional well-being of the girl that he still considered the best friend he'd ever had.
"She's so happy with him..." thought Beast Boy. "Happier than I've ever seen her... geez, am I really that generous...? I didn't actually think I'd ever be like this, but... it's Terra... and I still have Raven, so..."
Terra wrapped her arms gently around Beast Boy, giving him a hug that he was all too eager to return in kind. The two hugged for nearly ten seconds as Sanza watched them, content to allow whatever time Terra needed to adjust her relationship with Beast Boy from 'couple' mode to 'just friends' mode. All that mattered now was that Terra was happy... and hopefully, safe from whatever Slade or any other villains might be planning.
"I made a promise and I'm going to keep it, Terra... you saved me last night, and I promise that if you get into trouble, I'll save you too."
O-O-O
The heroes continued to make their way into the city... including Hot Spot, who was having a bit of trouble getting away from the villainous duo of Punk Rocket and Adonis. He weaved his way through alleys and abandoned buildings, but no matter where he ran, his two pursuers were right behind him... and he was starting to wear out.
"It's only a matter of time now, fireball!" shouted Punk Rocket, shooting blast after blast at Hotspot from his floating guitar. Hotspot rolled out of the way and responded in kind, shooting several heat blasts at Punk Rocket that the wild-haired musical villain was easily able to dodge.
"He doesn't have to touch me to attack me..." thought Hotspot, entering a small storage building and hiding behind a large stack of crates. "But the big guy does... so that gives me a bit of an advantage..."
Adonis entered the building first, angrily swatting over boxes, machinery, and whatever items he could to find the hero he was assigned to capture. Large, blistering burns on his hands were a testament to the fact that he'd attempted to use physical force to catch Hotspot and had failed miserably... it would be up to Punk Rocket to weaken Hotspot to the point that he could no longer keep his hot outer layer active... and at that point, Adonis could go in for the kill.
"Come on out, or I'm gonna smash you!" Adonis stalked the warehouse, destroying anything that Hotspot could possibly be hiding behind... until finally, he reached the large stack of boxes that Hotspot was using as cover.
"It's now or never..." thought Hotspot, scooting back and allowing Adonis to ram his fist right through the boxes. As soon as he did, Hotspot lunged forward and showered Adonis with fireballs, quickly bringing the large villain to his knees. "You shoulda known you couldn't handle all this heat..."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" shouted Punk Rocket, bashing Hotspot over the head with his guitar. Hotspot toppled over, falling to one knee and reverting back to his normal state, completely at Adonis and Punk Rocket's mercy. "Now to take you out for good..."
Punk Rocket raised his guitar, which began glowing with a powerful electrical charge... then, suddenly, his entire body was engulfed in water. The electrically-charged guitar immediately began shocking its owner, and with a loud, pained scream, Punk Rocket collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from his body. When Hotspot looked up, he could see Aqualad standing behind Punk Rocket, reaching over and offering the superhero a hand.
"Thanks, Aqualad..." said Hotspot, taking Aqualad's assistance and standing up quickly. He released Aqualad's hand, and his body returned to its fiery state. "If you hadn't shown up..."
"Behind you!" Aqualad shouted, pointing at the large, destroyed pile of crates behind Hotspot. Adonis was just starting to get up from Hotspot's earlier attack, and it was clear that he wasn't happy... "We'd better hurry back to the Tower, come on!"
Aqualad and Hotspot escaped the warehouse before Punk Rocket and Adonis could recover... but soon, the two villains began to give chase once more.
O-O-O
On a nearby rooftop, the swordfighter Bushido had his hands full... his opponent Control Freak had him outnumbered, two swords to one.
"Heheh... this is just like one of those old samurai movies, except this time, the bad guy's gonna win!" In keeping with samurai tradition, Control Freak was dressed in a silken robe and a pair of sandals... but for Bushido, it wasn't fun and games. His life was in serious danger.
"I will defeat you, and restore order to this city!" declared Bushido, launching into a sweeping sword motion that Control Freak was easily able to dodge. "How is this strange man avoiding my attacks...? I have spent my entire life training in the ways of the samurai!"
But Control Freak, being the lazy couch potato that he was, wasn't one to waste valuable television-watching time on training... and instead, he'd simply used his remote to give himself the skills he needed. Those skills, combined with his two swords, gave him a decisive advantage... Bushido was in trouble.
The samurai hero now found himself up against the edge of the roof, desperately parrying Control Freak's quick, precise sword attacks... he looked down at the street below, and knew that he had two choices: be carved to ribbons by Control Freak, or jump fifty feet to the ground.
"Looks like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place... or in this case, between two swords and a long fall! Say goodnight, loser..."
A hail of yellow-colored energy blasts rained down on the roof, knocking Control Freak away from Bushido and causing him to look around to see who, or what, had just attacked him.
"What the... where-"
"Right here on your shoulder, big guy..." Perched on Control Freak's right shoulder was Bumblebee, who'd shrunk herself to miniature size. When he looked at her, she quickly fluttered over to his other shoulder and giggled at him. "C'mon, you gotta be quicker than that..."
She leaped up and kicked Control Freak several times in the face. At her small size, the kicks felt more like painful bee stings than devastating blows, but it was certainly annoying enough to distract Control Freak from his target.
"Hey... stop it now, I know kung fu!" Control Freak wildly swung his two swords, but Bumblebee dodged every single slash, flittering back over to Bushido and returning to normal size.
"I must thank you for your assistance, Bumblebee-san..." Bushido said gratefully. Bumblebee didn't reply, instead, she took Bushido's hand and leapt off the roof, floating down gracefully to the sidewalk below.
"You can thank me when we get back to the Tower... you're still in danger, we gotta move!"
O-O-O
As the new heroes continued to pour into the city, and were engaged by the villains assigned to stop them, the four members of the Brotherhood of Evil, along with Derek Voscoti and the criminal mastermind Slade, watched the chaos unfold from the comfort of their headquarters. They were viewing several large screens, displaying images of the various battles that were taking place... and next to the screens was a large map of Jump City, with flashing blue dots representing the locations of the heroes, and red dots the locations of the villains attacking them.
"Everything is going according to plan..." stated the Brain. "The young heroes are being met with overwhelming force... any effort at organization will prove very difficult indeed."
"The Teen Titans have not yet been summoned..." said Mallah, noticing six large blue blips emanating from Titans Tower. "Could it be that our forces are not having as much success as we'd anticipated?"
"Perhaps..." said General Immortus, "but sooner or later, the Titans will have to be summoned..."
"And when they are, I will be there to stop them." Slade turned away from the screens and walked out of the room. He had yet to elaborate on whatever it was he'd been working on the previous night, and Madame Rouge found herself increasingly curious as to just what Slade's secret plan could possibly be... after all, she still didn't trust him to be working in the Brotherhood of Evil's best interests.
Voscoti, sensing some of the uneasiness, reached out to place a hand on Rouge's shoulder... but before it was even halfway there, he found it painfully swatted away.
"Don't touch me... ever," said Madame Rouge, walking past Voscoti and following Slade out of the room. "Whatever Slade is planning, I believe I will go see it for myself..."
O-O-O
What had once been Robin's bo staff was now being used by Cheshire to rain down blow after blow on the horn-wielding Herald. The blows were disorienting at first, but upon repeated contact against increasingly tender skin were starting to become more and more painful, and soon, Herald found himself backed up against a tall, brick wall. He raised up his horn and managed to open a small portal before Cheshire smacked him again, right on the hand. The horn immediately fell to the ground, and the red and black portal it had formed completely disappeared.
"Damn... can't believe you're moving so quickly...!" shouted Herald, pressing himself up against the wall and throwing both of his legs out at Cheshire's face. The kick connected, knocking her back several steps... but it was only a minor deterrent, and she quickly rushed forward again, slamming her staff into Herald's gut before uppercutting him in the jaw with her fist. The cloaked hero slumped down to the ground, a trickle of blood seeping out from the side of his lips.
"All too easy..." thought Cheshire, raising the staff up and preparing to go in for the kill. Suddenly, she felt a violent explosion against the small of her back, an explosion that threw her forward, face-first into the wall. She hit the wall with such force that for a moment, she blacked out... and at the same time, the staff that she was holding fell from her hands and clattered to the ground. Herald rolled out of the way of the falling villainess, standing up to see Speedy walking toward him.
"Hey... you're..."
"Speedy," said the masked hero, a smile on his face as he helped Herald up from the ground. "For a moment there, I thought this mission wasn't going to be any fun at all..."
"Well, I haven't been having much fun..." Herald responded, picking up his horn from the ground and checking it to make sure there weren't any dings or scrapes. "Thanks for coming."
Still lying in a crumpled heap on the ground, Cheshire slowly picked up her aching body. She raised her hand up to the mask on her face and could feel that a small crack had formed over her forehead... but it was better to have a cracked mask than a bloodied face.
"What the hell was that?" thought Cheshire, turning away from the wall to see her target speaking with one of the most handsome people she'd ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. "...that guy... the guy who just blasted me..."
She clenched her fists and looked down at the ground, searching for the bo staff which she'd dropped when she hit the wall.
"Hey, catgirl... looking for this?" Speedy taunted, holding up Robin's bo staff and twirling it in his hands. "This belongs to a friend of mine, so... if you don't mind, I'm gonna take it back to him now..."
"Grrr... GIVE THAT BACK!"
Cheshire immediately let out a gasp, putting her hands to the part of the mask where her mouth would be... she'd been trained to stay silent on any mission, and never to let any of her foes hear her voice... now she was really pissed.
"You know, you sound really cute when you're mad..." said Speedy, handing Robin's bo staff to Herald while readying his bow to fire another explosive arrow at Cheshire. "I bet you look cute too, under that mask... so why don't you take it off, and-"
With an angry hiss, Cheshire lunged forward, dodging Speedy's arrow and punching him right in the face.
O-O-O
Mumbo, Kitten, and Fang strolled victoriously down the sidewalk with their captive, the bound and gagged Argent, securely in tow. She was being carried unceremoniously over Mumbo's shoulder, and was struggling the entire time, furious to have been captured so easily.
"Hey, aren't we supposed to um... kill whoever we find?" asked Kitten, leaning over and looking Argent squarely in the face, trying to see if the silver-skinned heroine would show any fear... she didn't.
"That is true, the Brain told us to wipe out the new heroes," added Fang, gesturing with both his human hands and his spider legs.
"Oh, but a show's no fun without a nice audience to watch it, and I'm planning to bring in a lot more heroes... that way, they can all watch as I saw my beautiful new assistant Argent in half!" shouted Mumbo, laughing loudly as he felt Argent continue to struggle over his shoulder. "In fact-"
Mumbo barely saw Mas y Menos coming... but by the time he did, he was flat on his face on the sidewalk, with Argent lying next to him. Both of them had surprised looks on their faces... but Kitten and Fang were the first to actually see the twin superheroes, already standing fifty feet away and coming back toward them.
"LOOK OUT!!!" Kitten screamed frightfully, leaping into Fang's arms as the two incredibly quick twins charged into both of them. They flew up into the air, landing in a crumpled heap where Fang had once been standing. This time, Mas y Menos stopped just ten feet away, pointing and laughing at all three downed villains.
"This... isn't over..." said Mumbo, slowly picking himself up from the ground. Nearby, Argent began squirming furiously, still wrapped up tightly in the multi-colored ribbon bonds that Mumbo had wrapped around her.
"¡Usted ahorra Argent, yo tratará de estos malos individuos!" said Menos, pointing at Argent. Mas nodded his head and rushed toward the distressed damsel, only to be grabbed by Kitten, who held him up by his shirt collar as she rose to her feet.
"I don't think so..." said Kitten, her eyes narrowed in rage. Menos gasped, until he too was grabbed and lifted up by his collar, this time by Fang.
"Hey look, baby... when you hold 'em apart they can't do anything!" shouted Fang, laughing at Menos struggled helplessly in his grasp.
"Ooooh... I think you're right! And they're both so cute and adorable... my daddy has lots of cages at home that you two will be right at home in!"
As Mas and Menos desperately tried to get to one another, Argent watched in horror, letting out a frightened gasp through her zipped-up lips. She began struggling again, rolling onto her back only to see Mumbo slowly advancing on her.
"And as for you, there's still a magic show that you and your friends will just die for!" Mumbo said menacingly.
"I can't let these guys hurt my friends... especially not Mas and Menos, they tried to save me...!!!" Argent clenched her fists beneath the ribbons, closing her eyes and channeling all of her energy. "Come on... come on...!"
"¡Menos, tenemos que conseguir libres y ayudarle!" shouted Mas, reaching out to both his twin brother and to Argent, who he could see was fighting desperately to get free. "¡Adelantado!"
"¡Estoy intendo, estoy intendo!!" replied Menos, trying just as hard as his brother was to try and make the connection that Mas y Menos needed for their powers to work.
Suddenly, Argent had a breakthrough. The ribbons around her entire body ripped apart as two glowing energy mallets appeared, one in each hand. She quickly got to her feet and leapt back, hitting Mumbo in the face with one mallet to knock him into a daze, then bashing him on the head with another to knock him out. She dropped the mallets and unzipped her lips, causing the zipper to disappear with a puff of smoke as soon as she'd gotten it open.
"Now for you two...!" shouted Argent, bombarding Kitten and Fang with energy blasts until they were forced to release Mas y Menos. The two brothers hit the ground at the same time, touching hands and quickly rushing over to Argent, each of them hugging one of her legs.
"Gracias, gracias!!" they both shouted, gratefully rubbing their heads against Argent's thighs. The silver-skinned girl giggled, gently pulling them off of her legs and patting them both on the head.
"I don't know a lick of Spanish, but I'm pretty sure that means 'thank you', so... you're welcome. I should be thanking you first, you did come to rescue me after all..."
As Argent expressed her gratitude, the young twins' faced turned almost completely red... once again, Mas y Menos had a new crush.
"Grrr... we'll be seeing you losers later!" screamed Kitten, angrily climbing onto Fang's back and riding off down the sidewalk. "C'mon, Fang, let's go make out in a bush or something..."
But behind Argent and the two Spanish twins, Mumbo wasn't about to give up so easily... he stood up behind Argent and pointed his wand squarely at her head.
"¡Argent, mirada hacia fuera!" screamed both Mas and Menos, pushing Argent out of the way just in time to take the brunt of his latest spell. In an instant, the two twins of Titans East were transformed into small flowerpots... and Argent was about to be next.
"Oh my god..." gasped Argent, picking up both flowerpots and stumbling backward as Mumbo slowly came toward her.
"Looks like your two young heroes are pushing up daisies... and you're going to be next!"
Argent turned and ran as fast as she could, carrying the two flowerpots with her. With Mas y Menos both transformed, if Argent dropped them, it could be fatal... which left her unable to defend herself against Mumbo's attacks. She ran down the sidewalk for a few seconds with the magician chasing behind her... then took flight, only to find to her horror that Mumbo could still chase her, as he'd formed a magic carpet beneath him in order to take to the skies.
"This isn't good... I have to get to Titans Tower, right now...!!"
O-O-O
A few minutes later, the Teen Titans were riding out toward the city... Robin and Starfire were on the T-Cycle, while Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, Terra, and Red X were in the T-Car. The police had seen Mumbo and Argent's aerial game of tag and had contacted Titans Tower... and Titans West had no choice but to go out and assist their friend.
"I can't wait to bust up Mumbo again," said Red X, smiling under his mask as he sat between Beast Boy and Terra in the back seat of the T-Car. "So, who's this Argent, anyway?"
"Robin told me that she can form solid material out of energy that she creates inside her body," replied Cyborg, "which sounds pretty cool to me."
"She won't be able to do anything if we don't help her," came Robin's voice over the T-Car's radio. "Have you guys seen anything?"
"Not yet..." said Raven, "but I can sense someone nearby..."
The T-Car crossed the bridge into the east side of the city, and soon came up on a long, deserted street... the road was lined with rows and rows of old tenement houses that hadn't been occupied in decades, and a few abandoned cars that had long since begun to fall apart.
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this place..." said Raven quietly.
"Yeah, did you take a wrong turn on Albuquerque Street or something?" shouted Beast Boy, prompting Cyborg to angrily rebuke him.
"I know where I'm goin'! Mumbo and Argent were seen over the east side of the city, this is the east side, so-"
A violent jolt shook the T-Car, causing it to come almost instantly to a stop. Despite the fact that they were wearing seatbelts, all five of the car's occupants were thrown forward, nearly out of their seats before their belts pulled them back. Riding alongside in the T-Cycle, Robin could see exactly what had stopped the car, and quickly rode around behind it, dismounting the T-Cycle along with Starfire in order to confront the person who'd just brought his friends to a screeching halt.
"Slade... what are you doing?! Answer me!"
The arch-villain had his fist buried halfway in the hood of the T-Car, and smoke could be seen pouring out of it along either side of Slade's arm. Slowly, the occupants of the T-Car got out as well, walking around the front of the car to see the same thing that Robin and Starfire were now seeing... and as soon as Terra laid eyes on Slade, she let out a loud, fearful gasp.
"You... leave us alone!"
"You have perfect reason to be afraid, my former apprentice..." said Slade, walking past Robin and Starfire and then turning back to face the whole team. "I've come to destroy you... all of you... even you, Sanza."
Red X stepped forward as well, getting in front of Robin and Starfire and tightly clenching his fists as he confronted the man who'd caused so much pain to both him and Terra.
"This ends tonight, Slade," said X, prompting the villain to open up a control panel on his left wrist, displaying the large red button he'd been working on the previous day. "What the hell is that...?"
"Yes, Sanza, it does end... for you... for the Titans... and for Terra," said Slade, pressing down on the button. Immediately, a violent electrical shock went through Terra's body. She fell to her knees, screaming loudly and trembling with intense pain. Red X rushed forward, only to have Terra levitate a rock from the ground and throw it toward his head, hitting him in the skull and knocking him onto his face at Slade's feet. The Titans all turned toward Terra, who was now once again standing up, electricity coursing around her body.
"Terra!" shouted Beast Boy, pointing at Red X, still unable to realize exactly what was happening. "What did you do that for?!"
Terra then lifted up another, much larger rock, and threw it down at all five Titans, hitting them and burying them under a large pile of boulders. With a gasp and a scream, Terra turned toward Slade, trying to lift her hands but being unable to do so. The Titans crawled out from under the rocks that buried them, all of them looking back and forth between Terra and Slade, while at the same time coming to the same terrible realization.
"When I attached the neuro control suit to your body, I also installed a failsafe control chip somewhere inside of you... this chip was designed to be an override in case you somehow were able to remove the suit... but after being killed, I forgot about it for quite some time."
"No..." said Terra quietly, a horrified look on her face. "It's impossible... you can't control me...!!!"
"Yes, I can."
Slade lifted up his arms, causing Terra's arms to lift as well. More pieces of concrete broke off from the ground and flew downward at the Titans, knocking down Robin and Beast Boy before Cyborg and Starfire could punch through the rest. Nearby, Red X was in a daze, still trying to recover from Terra's previous attack... he grabbed Slade's legs in an effort to pull himself up, only to be kicked hard in the face and knocked back toward the Titans and the damaged T-Car.
"Stop it... stop hurting her, you bastard!" shouted Red X, picking himself up from the ground and clenching his fists in rage. He couldn't believe what he was seeing... Terra, her body completely under Slade's control, once again being forced to live through the nightmare of harming her friends. "SHE DOESN'T WANT TO WORK FOR YOU!"
"That's the idea," said Slade. He raised his arms again, and this time, Terra lifted up the slab of concrete under which the T-Car was sitting.
"No... no, you can't make me...!!!" screamed Terra, tears running down her cheeks as Slade forced her to carry the slab of concrete right above Red X's head.
"Terra...!!!" Thinking quickly, Starfire flew up and blasted the T-Car with eye lasers, destroying both the car and the rock that it was on... a move that sacrificed the T-Car in order to save Sanza's life. Letting out a regretful sigh, Cyborg turned toward Slade and pointed his plasma cannon at the criminal mastermind's head.
"I'm blamin' you for destroying my car!" shouted Cyborg, right before the ground split beneath his feet and he fell into a massive fissure that Terra had been forced to open up. As Cyborg hung on for dear life, Slade turned and walked away, disappearing into the cloud of dust which Terra's actions had kicked up, and leaving the group alone to deal with their friend, her body now completely under Slade's control.
"Terra... fight it, I know you can fight it!" But as Beast Boy looked into Terra's fearful, tear-filled eyes, he knew in an instant that she couldn't... she was trying as hard as she could, but as strong as she was, Slade's control chip was stronger.
"Get out of here... all of you, go!" Terra said, speaking through several sobs. She looked over at all of her friends... watching Starfire pull Cyborg out of the crack that he'd fallen down in, then glancing at Robin and Raven before turning to Beast Boy... and finally, to Red X.
She lifted up her hands again, instantly forming two dozen stone men that rose up from the concrete and marched toward the Teen Titans. The Titans went into battle stances, trying to fight off the men, while Red X ran around all of them, coming at Terra from her left and trying to reach her before Slade made her attack again.
"Terra... I can stop you..." he pointed his hand at her and fired a set of binding cables, which she destroyed easily by punching through them with a stone fist that continued forward and slammed into Red X's chest.
"SANZA!" Terra watched helplessly as her attack sent Red X crashing through the window of an abandoned tenement apartment. Before she could see what had happened to him, a cloud of dust obscured him from view, and her attention returned to her fellow Titans, who had shattered all of the stone men that Terra had formed. They surrounded Terra on all sides, but did not attack her... they didn't want to leave her until they knew that Slade could no longer control her body. "What are you doing, I told you to leave...!"
"We can't leave you here, we have to find out how to stop Slade's control!" shouted Robin, turning to Cyborg and giving him an order. "Use your scanner to find that control chip, we have to get it out of her before-"
Terra let out a loud scream, just as several pillars of stone burst up from beneath the Titans' feet. Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy were all able to use their gift of flight to get airborne, but Robin and Cyborg found themselves flung into the air, their bruised bodies hitting the ground a short distance away. Horrified, Terra once again tried to break free of Slade's control... but the powerful electrical impulses on her nerves were far too strong.
"This is a nightmare... I thought I'd never have to deal with this happening ever again... it's worse than last time, I can't even move my fingers unless Slade tells me to!" The only thing that Terra could move on her own was her head... everything else was completely under Slade's control, and he was using her powers to great effect. As soon as Robin and Cyborg hit the ground, the concrete beneath them liquefied and then re-hardened, leaving the two heroes with just their head, hands, and feet above the ground.
"What are we to do...?" asked Starfire, who, along with Raven and falcon Beast Boy, was floating above Terra's head and wondering, like the rest of the team, how to possibly liberate Terra from Slade's control. "Raven, can you detect where inside Terra's body the control chip is...?"
"Not unless she knows where it is, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't..." responded Raven. From her position just above Terra's head, she could easily sense her blonde friend's brainwaves... Terra's mind was in turmoil, and every horrible memory that she had of her time with Slade was all rushing back at once, filling her with crushing guilt and undoing all of the work that the Titans had done in the past month to raise her spirits again. "Terra... none of this is your fault, you have to stay calm, I promise we can help you!"
But Raven's thoughts weren't reaching Terra's mind... with every second, the girl was becoming more and more frightened, and more and more in despair... and the fact that her friends were all staying to try and help her just made it worse.
"You all have to go!" shouted Terra, involuntarily ripping a large section of brick from one of the tenement buildings and flinging it at Starfire and Raven. Starfire put out her hands to try and stop it, but all she managed to do was cushion the blow a bit as she and her friend were sent plummeting to the ground, buried until a pile of bricks. "Please... I don't want to hurt you...!"
Red X weakly crawled out the window of the building that Terra had knocked him into, running past the immobile Robin and Cyborg and firing another set of cables in Terra's direction. This time, he was successful, binding up Terra's arms and legs and knocking her to the ground... but a few seconds later, she'd ripped free, standing up with a powerful current of electricity coursing through her body. She screamed as her frail body was forced to undergo a tremendous amount of strain, far more than she was used to... and by the time she'd freed herself, she could feel a burning, tearing sensation in all of her muscles... by trying to stop her, Red X had inadvertently caused Terra much, much more agony.
"Terra... dammit... I thought... I thought Slade wouldn't be able to-"
Terra let out another scream, sending up a wave of concrete that slammed into Red X's body, knocking him back to the ground. By now, Terra's face was completely covered in tears, and she was breathing incredibly heavily, her eyes wide and contorted in misery.
"Just... leave... me...!!"
Beast Boy, now detransformed from his falcon state, dropped down to the ground and rushed over to Terra, desperately trying to comfort his friend. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and wiped some of the tears from her face, telling her over and over again that everything would be all right. But Terra knew better. Once again spurned on by Slade's control, she ripped her arms free and slowly backed away.
"Beast Boy... go... everyone... please..." More small pieces of concrete came rushing Beast Boy's way. He allowed them to repeatedly smack into his body, bruising him in several places and even giving him a bloody nose... but still, he was not deterred. He continued toward Terra, not stopping until he was right next to her again... and receiving a punch to the stomach for his trouble. "No... stop it... stop making me do this...!!!"
Terra's fist, surrounded by sparking blue electricity, began to pull back from the changeling's gut as he fell to his knees in front of her.
"Robin, if you're so fucking smart, come up with a way to save Terra!" shouted Red X, forming a large, X-shaped hole in the street and freeing Robin and Cyborg. "Do it... please..."
Beneath the mask, the thief was about to cry... seeing Terra in such a horrendous mental state, being forced by Slade to attack her best friends was almost too much for Sanza to bear... but out of pride, he restrained his emotions, letting only his anger show.
"The scanner hasn't picked up anything yet, but-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Terra was now holding a large, spiked rock above Beast Boy's head, just as she'd done so long ago in Slade's lair. Beast Boy, his eyes wide in horror, looked up into Terra's tear-filled eyes... Terra screamed again, trying with everything she had to resist Slade's control.
"Beast Boy... move out of the way, I can't stop it...!"
"Terra! Yes you can! You can fight it!" Raven shouted.
She and Starfire now stood behind Terra, but both of them were unwilling to hurt their friend for something they knew she couldn't control... even if it did mean that Beast Boy would soon meet a gruesome end. Standing in front of Terra, Robin and Cyborg were just as reluctant... but as Red X looked into Terra's eyes, he knew exactly what had to be done.
"Terra... forgive me..." And then, he blasted Terra in the chest with an exploding X, knocking her backward and causing the rock in her hands to fall apart. As Terra skidded on the ground behind Starfire and Raven, Beast Boy looked up at Red X, horrified at what he'd seen the thief do... especially since he was supposed to be in love with Terra.
"DUDE! Why did you just-"
"We have to attack her, Beast Boy, it's the only way," said Red X, extremely reluctantly. "We have to try and knock her out so Slade can't use her anymore... the only way to stop her is to fight her!"
Terra was just as shocked as the other Titans were... but as she stood up, forced to do so by Slade's control over her body, she breathed an intense sigh of relief... and began begging the other Titans to attack her as well.
"Sanza's right, the only way to stop me is to attack me... please...!" Terra levitated a huge pillar of concrete from the ground, turning it sideways and sending it flying at Starfire and Raven. The half-demoness stepped forward, taking control of the pillar and keeping it hovering in place, while at the same time looking right into Terra's eyes.
"Terra..." she said quietly, "are you sure you want me to attack you?"
"Yes, hit me with everything you have..." Terra sobbed. "PLEASE!"
"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!" Raven sent the pillar flying back at Terra, hitting her in the chest and knocking her all the way into the building behind her. She turned to the rest of the team, who was regrouping as quickly as they could. "You heard Terra... she's our friend, but she doesn't want to be under Slade's control... the only way we can stop her is to knock her out! We're not trying to kill her, but we still can't hold back, we have to do this quick!"
"Raven is correct... but it brings me great sadness to attack my friend..." said Starfire, bowing her head. She herself was about to cry at the prospect of what she was going to have to do... but her tears were stopped by Robin's hand touching her shoulder. He looked up at her, trying to comfort her as best he could.
"Terra knows what we have to do to stop her... this is what she wants," said Robin calmly. Just as Starfire nodded, the building that Terra had just been knocked into exploded in a shower of bricks that bombarded all the Titans. Raven quickly crouched down, raising up an energy shield that protected her friends, while Terra quickly emerged from the crater left by the building's destruction, her fists clenched tightly in front of her.
"This is going to hurt..." thought Terra, bowing her head and preparing for an onslaught of attacks by her friends. "But if it's the only way to stop Slade's plans..."
The shield disappeared, and as soon as it did, the Titans rushed forward. Starfire pelted Terra repeatedly with Starbolts, which stopped her for a moment before Slade's control once again forced her forward. She extended her arm and caused a stony fist to burst up from the ground, but before it could hit Starfire, Robin had destroyed it with a cluster bomb, before hurling another explosive Terra's way. The geomancer prepared for impact, only to leap out of the way at the last moment and fling several bricks at Robin.
"I don't believe it... Slade's making me dodge all their attacks... but... they've beaten me before and they can beat me again...!" Terra turned to see Raven rushing right at her, but instead of hitting the blonde with an energy blast, Raven decided to engage in fisticuffs, launching a series of punches and kicks that Terra blocked almost effortlessly. "Raven, you're not fighting me, you're fighting Slade, he's too good of a fighter to-"
But Terra's warning came too late, as she rammed her fist into Raven's chin, a vicious uppercut that immediately knocked the cloaked Titan to the ground. She continued backing off down the street, tossing large pieces of concrete at the advancing Titans with every step.
"Terra, hold on!" shouted Beast Boy, transforming into an elephant and charging through the hail of concrete to knock Terra to the ground. He stood over her, lifting her up with his trunk and preparing to knock her out by ramming her head into the concrete. "I promise I'll make this quick..."
Terra responded by flipping up the ground beneath Beast Boy's feet, sending him tumbling onto his back and causing his grip on Terra to release. She landed in a standing position and watched in horrified helplessness as the chunk of concrete that Beast Boy was standing on flipped all the way over, trapping him beneath the ground.
"No... BEAST BOY...!!!"
She tried to lift up the ground to get to him, but Slade's control prevented her from making any sort of attack, and instead, she stood motionless where she had landed, watching as Red X once again came at her, followed by the rest of the Teen Titans.
"Sanza... stop... stop...!!"
"Don't worry, Terra, I can do this!" Red X threw down several Xs on the street around Terra. They began to glow as they landed, and soon formed an electrical field that surrounded the geomancer, bringing her to her knees with a loud cry of pain. "I hate doing this to Terra... I hate Slade for MAKING me do this to Terra..."
As Terra continued to scream, the thief began to feel more and more guilty... but he knew that in just a matter of seconds, the pain would likely cause Terra to pass out, ending, at least for now, the immense threat that she and her powers posed.
"Sanza... thank you..." Terra said weakly, fighting through her pain just long enough to give him a smile.
"Just a bit more... then... I promise it'll be over, Terra..." said Red X, again trying desperately to fight back tears.
Suddenly, the electrical field disappeared completely. The four Xs that the thief had laid on the ground had all been pierced by tiny spikes of rock... and Terra was soon standing once more, though now she was feeling an immense amount of pain as her body was forced upward with the electricity of the shocks she'd just suffered still coursing through her body.
"Azarath, metreon, zinthos!" screamed Raven, bombarding Terra with blasts of dark energy. At the same time, Starfire was hitting Terra with Starbolts, while Robin was preparing to use a freeze bomb to encase Terra in ice. When the smoke from the attacks faded, a sobbing Terra continued to stand firm, her fists tightly clenched as the ground began to crack beneath her feet.
"It didn't work...!" shouted Starfire, amazed that Terra was still conscious after such a prodigious energy assault. "And now she is in terrible pain... I fear that all of our efforts have just made Terra feel much, much worse!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" Letting out a cry of agony, Terra thrust her arms forward, causing the crack beneath her feet to begin rapidly moving toward the Titans, splitting the road between them and putting Robin, Starfire, and Raven on one side of her body and Red X and Cyborg on the other. From beneath the crack, Beast Boy, now detransformed and covered in sewer water, scurried up and crawled over to the side where X was standing, gasping for breath and looking back at Terra the whole time.
"Terra... I'm so sorry I let this happen..." thought Beast Boy, barely able to stand as the ground shook beneath his feet.
"Here goes...!" Robin threw the freeze bomb at Terra, just before falling to his knees because of the intense shaking. The freeze bomb exploded above Terra's head, encasing her in ice. The shaking immediately stopped, and Robin was allowed to climb to his feet, briefly looking over at the five-foot wide gap in the pavement that Terra's powers had made. The large gap was more than two hundred feet long, and the violent shaking that had caused it had also caused several of the apartments lining the street to collapse.
For a moment, the Titans said nothing... Red X hesitantly made his way over to Terra, walking around the near end of the fissure in the pavement to get close to her frozen body.
"Don't touch her," ordered Robin, "the heat from your hands could cause the ice to melt."
But Red X touched the frozen Terra anyway, his gloved hand stroking across the side of her ice-covered cheek. A single tear escaped from his right eye, but was quickly absorbed against the inside of his mask, and only the thief knew he had cried it.
"How ironic... after being controlled by Slade, you become a statue again... but this time, we'll get you out of there quick... and I promise, by the time you recover, you won't ever have to worry about being controlled by Slade again."
"Robin," said Cyborg, turning to the Boy Wonder and displaying a reading that he'd just picked up on his scanner. "The control chip's in Terra's left arm, it's buried right under her skin..."
Beneath the ice, Terra's eyes began to glow... and slowly, a large crack appeared in the frozen Titan's face. It moved down to her chest and then, to her legs... the ice encasing Terra was about to shatter into pieces.
"X, get away from there!" shouted Robin. Instinctively, the thief backed off... but only a few feet, just far enough so that he wouldn't be impaled by shards of ice... the Titan beneath all of that ice didn't scare him a bit.
"I'm getting that chip out of you..." thought Red X, extending his wrist blades and crouching down into a fighting position.
"X, did you hear Robin...?" said Raven, whose admonishment was immediately followed by a worried cry from Starfire.
"You must get away from Terra, before-"
But it was too late. The ice around the frozen Titan shattered and fell to the ground, raining a few small shards upon Red X, but leaving him ultimately unharmed. Terra stood upright for a couple of seconds, the glow in her eyes fading almost immediately as she stared out at the Titans, and then at Red X... then fell to her knees, her body shaking violently. Blue sparks were crackling from her skin, and tears were streaking rapidly down her face. X immediately rushed to her side and brought her head up to look at him, wiping the tears from her cheeks and fighting the urge to wrap his arms around her... then, without any regard for his own safety, and not caring if Slade forced Terra to kill him, wrapped her up in a tight embrace... only to immediately be pushed away.
"Terra...!" Beast Boy let out a loud gasp, realizing quickly that Terra had pushed X away under her own power. "The chip... it's stopped-"
"No... only for a few seconds... you have to get out of here... the chip's shorted, but... it's repairing itself, I can feel it repairing itself inside my body... please... please go!"
"It's inside your arm," said X, lifting Terra's arm up onto his knee, his entire body beginning to shake. "I can... get it out, but-"
Terra gasped quietly, looking up into X's eyes and realizing exactly what he meant. Her eyes quickly glanced to his right wrist blade, which he'd lifted up as well. Then, she looked back at X.
"Terra... do you trust me?"
In order to remove the chip from her arm, Red X would have to cut it open... it would be painful, it would be messy... but it would also liberate her from Slade forever. She looked into X's eyes and gave a quiet nod.
"Yes... with all of my heart I trust you..." she whispered, giving X a brief smile before beginning to tremble and wince.
"...then here," said X, removing the mask from his face and lifting it up to Terra's lips. "Bite down on this..."
Terra opened her mouth and accepted the large piece of smooth fabric that Sanza gently placed inside, biting down on it as hard as she could and closing her eyes, praying that Slade's control wouldn't suddenly return the moment before Sanza was able to pull out the chip.
Carefully, Sanza lowered his wrist blade toward Terra's arm. As soon as he began to slice into the skin, she let out a scream, stifling it by biting down on the piece of fabric between her teeth. Sanza continued to cut into the skin, parting it back and wincing as a large amount of blood poured out between his fingers.
"Dude..." said Beast Boy quietly, not wanting to watch the impromptu display of battlefield surgery that was taking place. Starfire was reluctant to watch as well, hiding her face in Robin's cloak as Sanza began looking for the chip somewhere beneath Terra's skin.
"Be careful..." thought Robin, "even if you find the chip there could be some kind of tamperproof function that might make removing it extremely dangerous... I know you want to help Terra, but-"
"Found it," said Sanza quietly, staring directly at a faint, blinking red light attached to a layer of Terra's muscle. He reached in with the blade and, as carefully as he could, flicked the tiny chip off of her nerve, sending it flying up into the air and landing harmlessly on the street nearby. "There... it's gone..."
Though her arm was still in incredible pain, Terra spit out the mask and lunged forward at Sanza, embracing him tightly with the one arm that she could still use... her other arm was still dripping blood at a fairly quick pace. She sobbed as she held Sanza to her body, and a few seconds later, Sanza began to cry as well.
"I'm sorry... I had to hurt you..."
"Sanza, you saved me..." Terra whispered, still sobbing violently as the other Titans ran over to her. "You saved me... you didn't hurt me at all..."
"Here, I can heal your arm..." said Raven, gently pulling Terra out of the embrace and placing her hand directly on the girl's wound. As the healing waves of energy radiated throughout Terra's body, her physical pain was ended... but her emotional pain was still there, and Raven could easily sense that her friend wouldn't be well again for quite some time. "This wasn't your fault, you didn't do anything wrong..."
"Yes I did..." sobbed Terra, standing up as soon as her arm was healed. "This only happened because I agreed to work for Slade..."
"But... Terra, you stopped working for him, remember?" said Beast Boy, walking toward Terra and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You sacrificed yourself to save the city!"
"Only to stop a disaster that my powers caused," said Terra, pulling away from Beast Boy and walking away from all of the Titans... and Sanza as well. "All of this is my fault..."
Terra stopped after a few steps, turning back toward Sanza and the Titans, tears still streaking down both sides of her face. Slade's most recent attack had shown Terra just why she still felt guilty about her past, and why even now, she still posed a danger to the team. Even though she'd rejoined the Teen Titans, even though she'd tried to use her powers for good... Slade had still been able to use them for evil, and it had almost cost the Titans their lives.
"I can't... I can't be a Teen Titan anymore."
"Terra, what are you saying?" replied Robin, walking forward, only to have Terra take an equal amount of steps back. "Nothing that happened today was your fault! Slade took control of you and your powers-"
"BECAUSE I LET HIM! I agreed to be his apprentice, I agreed to help him kill you! I don't care if you think I've atoned for what I've done, all the atoning in the world doesn't mean anything if your lives are still in danger! For the good of the team, I have to go... I'm sorry."
None of the Titans knew what to say, all of them were so stunned by what had just happened... after they'd seen Terra so happy just a few days before, this happens, and now... now she didn't want to be a Teen Titan at all, because she thought she posed a danger that the Titans knew she didn't.
But nothing they could say would be able to convince Terra otherwise... and without another word, she left, flinging her communicator at the team as she ran off down the street. It was caught by Beast Boy, who held onto it for only a couple of seconds before Sanza snatched it away.
"I'm not going to let her do this," said Sanza, picking up his mask and running off after Terra with both his mask and her communicator in hand. "She's making a big mistake!!"
The five original Titans, physically hurt by Terra's attack and emotionally numb from her sudden announcement, were left standing in the middle of a broken street, wondering what they could possibly do next. All thoughts of Mumbo and Argent and of the Brotherhood of Evil had completely exited their minds.
"What do we do now...?" asked Raven, her normally calm voice showing an unusual amount of distress.
"We go back to the Tower," said Robin, glancing over at his T-Cycle, wrecked during the battle and lying in ruins by the side of the road. At least it was faring better than the T-Car, which had been smashed into scrap metal that was now floating in the sewer somewhere. "Come on, team... let's go."
O-O-O
Terra ran for several minutes before her exhausted body could take no more, and she was finally forced to stop for a moment to catch her breath. It was then that Sanza finally caught up to her, but Terra already knew what he was going to say.
"Sanza, I can't," said Terra, turning to Sanza and looking down at the communicator that he was holding in his hand. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and she looked as if she was about to start crying again as she continued to speak. "You saw what happened back there... I almost-"
"But it's over, Terra... Slade's chip is out of your body-"
"But Slade's still around! As long as he's around, I can't... I can't be with the Titans... Slade knows too much about me... he could use me to hurt them-"
"I... I won't let him, Terra..." Sanza dropped his mask to the ground and reached up, touching Terra's face with his hand... several tears from her eye landed on it, and he brushed them away before placing his hand back on her face. "...what am I saying... it happened this time, and I couldn't-"
"You stopped it, Sanza... you got that chip out of me just in time... don't feel bad, this isn't your fault, it's mine..."
"It's not your fault, Terra..."
Sanza's voice began to break as he spoke, his words lined with guilt... he'd promised to protect Terra, but Slade had still gotten to her... and he'd hurt her so badly that she didn't want to be a hero anymore.
"Here," said Sanza, reaching out with a trembling hand to give Terra her communicator. "In case... in case you decide to-"
"I don't need it," she replied, pushing it back toward Sanza and turning her head away, trying to hide her tears from him so that he wouldn't feel any worse. "You take it... you fight with them... you stop the Brotherhood of Evil... and Slade..."
She then turned and began to walk away, but stopped when Sanza gently grabbed her arm.
"...what are you going to do...?"
"I'm going to get my life straightened out, Sanza, I'm going to think about what I'm going to do next... all I know is that... I won't be a Teen Titan. Not anymore."
"...what about us?"
Terra turned back toward Sanza, whose eyes clearly displayed the intense sadness that he was feeling, not just because he thought he'd failed Terra, but because he might never see her again... she had to reassure him that that wasn't the case. Even though she still felt terrible guilt for what she'd almost done, seeing Sanza brought her a bit of happiness... and she didn't want that to go away.
"Sanza, I still love you... and I still want to be with you. And... now that I'm not with the Titans, you won't have to worry about fighting me anymore, right? You can still be a thief if you want... I won't judge you."
"Right now I'm just worried about taking out Slade," said Sanza, not thinking even for a moment about resuming his criminal career... right now, all he cared about was Terra. "Please... please reconsider."
"...I'm going to go now, Sanza... I need to think for a while. Please don't try to follow me."
And then, she turned and walked away... but Sanza still wasn't done talking.
"You promise that we're still together?"
Terra turned back toward Sanza and smiled warmly at him, brushing away her tears and walking back toward him... then kissing him deeply on the lips, knowing it'd be the last kiss the two would share for quite some time. After several seconds, she parted from Sanza, giving him one last smile before turning away.
"I promise."
And just like that, Terra was gone, leaving Sanza alone in the middle of the street with the moon and the streetlights shining down on him. He walked over to the sidewalk and sat down, putting his head in his hands and letting out a long, regretful sigh.
"I failed her... just like I failed Cleo..."
Sanza's entire body trembled as he let the tears come... there weren't many, but without anyone else around to see him cry, he could show as much emotion as he wanted... he stomped down on the pavement and let out a loud, angry yell.
Standing nearby, watching in silence from a rooftop just across the street, was Madame Rouge. She'd seen the entire spectacle unfold, from Slade's activation of the chip, to its removal from Terra's body, and her subsequent resignation from the team. She'd followed Sanza and Terra down the street, planning to ambush the two of them if Sanza had managed to convince Terra to stay... but now, she simply decided to keep observing. With Terra off the team, it may just be possible for Slade to convince Sanza to become his apprentice... but Rouge still had her doubts.
"I must admit... I am impressed, Slade... but I still do not trust you. This girl was not able to defeat the Teen Titans... the task of destroying them will now likely fall into the Brotherhood's hands... and if you cannot convince this boy to be your apprentice, I will enjoy crushing him myself."
O-O-O
Back in the main room of Titans Tower, Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg had returned to find several new heroes inside their home... along with Speedy, Aqualad, Bumblebee, and a couple of flower pots.
After explaining the situation behind Terra's departure, and after Raven transformed Mas y Menos back to normal, introductions were made and a celebratory dinner was prepared... but without Terra, there was a somber mood behind the entire evening.
The heroes waited all night for either Terra or Red X to return... neither did, and by midnight, most of the heroes had decided to hit the hay, leaving only the five original members of Titans West in the main room to discuss everything that had happened.
"Y'know, with Argent, Herald, Bushido, and Hotspot here, and more heroes coming tomorrow, we don't even need Terra to stop the Brotherhood of Evil!" said Cyborg, trying as best as he could to lighten the mood. It wasn't working.
"That's not the point," said Robin solemnly. "Terra's our friend. We were just starting to get used to having her around again, but..."
"Then she left," continued Beast Boy, "and definitely not on the best of terms. Remember what happened the last time she left?"
Beast Boy let out a long, heavy sigh. What was he talking about? Of course Terra wasn't going to betray the team... not again, not when she felt so bad after doing it before... but all alone in the big bad world, Terra was vulnerable to attack... not just from the Brotherhood of Evil, but from Slade as well, who was well-known for preying on people in their time of distress.
"Well... no matter what happens to Terra, we still have to think about protecting the city and stopping the Brotherhood of Evil," said Raven, standing up from the couch and making her way over to the elevator. "And that means that we have to get our rest... tomorrow's a big day."
"I agree with Raven, we need to be up bright and early so that we can get as much training in as possible." Robin started to get up as well, but he looked over to the couch and could see Beast Boy, his head resting on his hands... and the changeling looked as if he was about to cry. "Beast Boy..."
"Beast Boy, do not worry," said Starfire, floating over to her despairing friend and wrapping her arms around him in a warm, gentle hug. "Terra will be safe... I know that she will come back..."
But it wasn't just Terra, it was a growing list of people... Terra was just the icing on the cake, adding to the sadness that Beast Boy already felt.
"First the Doom Patrol, then Terra... all my friends are disappearing right and left," said Beast Boy, letting out a sigh as he gently pulled away from Starfire's embrace. "And did anyone see Sanza after-"
There was a knock at the door, drawing the Titans' attention to the front of the room.
"Terra!" Beast Boy shouted excitedly, getting up and running over to the door. It slid open, and the changeling's eyes widened in shock... then drooped in disappointment. It wasn't Terra, it was... "oh, you. Red X."
"I thought you'd be a bit happier to see me, kid," said Red X, looking past Beast Boy and over at the other Titans, who were all staring at him with highly varied expressions on their faces. "Well, at least some of you are happy to see me..."
"What did Terra say?" asked Robin curiously, hoping that X had somehow convinced the Titan to return to the team. He hadn't.
"She's not coming back, she's got a lot to think about, but... as long as Slade and the Brotherhood are working together, I'm ready to take all of them down... I'll be here right after school tomorrow to train with you guys. I'd skip school, but... mom would probably rip my balls off, so..."
"Yeah, you should probably go to school," replied Robin, not wanting to contribute to the delinquency of a minor, though at the same time wanting X to get in as much training time as possible... a big part of Robin was silently begging for the thief to skip. "You be here when you can."
"Oh, and you don't need to call me on the phone anymore," said the thief, holding up what had once been Terra's communicator. "Use this... Terra gave it to me, and I'm gonna use it. No, that doesn't mean I want to be a Teen Titan... but until Slade goes down, you guys are stuck with me."
"Good to still have you on board, X," said Robin, a smile on his face.
"Yes... it is wonderful to know that you are still willing to assist us..." continued Starfire, glad to receive the first good news of the entire evening.
Terra, at least for the moment, was gone... but Red X was still determined to the cause, and now had a new reason to want to fight the Brotherhood of Evil... and especially Slade. He'd promised Terra that he could protect her... and his failure had led to her departure from the team. So now, X had a new mission... eliminate Slade so that he would never, ever be able to hurt Terra again.
It was a mission that Red X was willing to devote his entire being to accomplish.
O-O-O
So, Terra's out, and X is in... still not a Titan, but as committed to stopping Slade as they are, and possibly more! But we've already seen how dangerous the Brotherhood of Evil can be, and with more heroes still outside the safety of the Tower, can the Titans possibly protect them all? And will Jump City fall into the hands of good, or evil? Find out next chapter!
