Jetstream gazed on the form of his weakened friend. His grey undershirt was soaked with sweat, along with his thick, brown hair. His face was downcast, and he seemed to be relying heavily on the chains that bound him to keep his torso up.
His black pants folded under him, along with his legs, as he sat on the dusty ground in a kneeling position. Chains and wires ensnared his arms and wrapped around his head, confining him to the back wall. Weak as Chief was, Jet could sense his pulse still throbbing in his body; he was alive.
Suddenly, sensing that he was no longer alone with Slade, Chief stirred and his head lifted; he saw Jetstream, and smiled. He flipped his sweat drenched hair to the side, and lifted his azure eyes to meet Jet's. Chief's eye's glowed purple for a moment with the last bit of energy he had, and Jetstream felt something click in his head. A knowing smile still played across Chief's lips, as his head dropped back down in exhaustion.
The room began to spin, as Jetstream's head felt like it was put in a vice. Memories began to come back in waves as Jetstream remembered his dreams. Clutching his forehead, Jetstream sank to his knees, head throbbing, as the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of his past swelled into his mind. As Jetstream attempted to quell the eruption of emotions and sensations in his head, Slade glanced backward at his captive and made the connection.
"So, you know this boy; how interesting," Slade's tone was like that of a scientist studying an interesting form of lower animal.
As Jet sank lower to the ground, Robin made a move to help the dark-haired boy up. Jetstream, however, waved off his help and managed to stumble to his feet.
"I suppose you're here to free him," Slade continued, "is that it? Or are you just another one of Robin's lackeys, here to take me in?"
The rage on Jetstream's face made Robin uneasy; he looked like he was about to do something rash.
"Jet..."
"What did you do to him?!" yelled Jet, cutting off Robin.
"Oh, the chains?" asked Slade in a taunting voice, "Observe."
Slade produced a small, black remote from his waist belt, and pressed the red button in its center. A machine behind Chief lit up, and the boy's body lurched outward as a powerful bolt of electricity coursed through the chains. Jet could only look on in horror as his friend's face contorted in pain.
"Stop!" Jet screamed in desperation, "Let him go!"
"I'm afraid that is not possible," replied Slade
He removed his thumb from the button, and Chief slumped back down on his haunches.
"You see, I figured out rather quickly that this boy, Chief... isn't that what you called him... has powerful telekinetic abilities," Slade looked back at Chiefss heaving form, and spoke with something akin to admiration in his voice, "Yes, he very nearly got the best of me in our first encounter; almost subdued me all on his own."
Slade turned back to the Titans and tilted his head at them, "Almost."
"Why are you torturing him?" demanded Jetstream through gritted teeth.
"Torturing?" retorted Slade, "Believe me, boy, if I had been torturing your friend here... just be glad I wasn't torturing him."
Jetstream had to be held back by Robin, to keep from charging Slade singe-handedly.
"Don't do anything stupid," whispered Robin harshly in Jet's ear, "Keep him talking while I think of a plan."
Jetstream swallowed his anger, looked up at Slade, and rephrased the question, "So why are you hurting him?"
"Well, it's not out of spite, if that is what you were thinking. You see, the electricity I have running through Chief is keeping his powers under wraps; it's an old trick I picked up in my earlier years, and I have found it most effective on all sorts of mentally enhanced individuals."
"Do you normally entrap random people in your industrial secret lairs?" continued Jet, as Robin moved back to the other Titans, "Or was this a just a one-time thing?"
Jetstream knew Slade saw Robin rejoin the others, but he continued to focus on Jet; almost like he didn't care what Robin did. That worried Jetstream; they had this guy outnumbered six to one, seven if he could get to Chief, so why was Slade so calm?
"This boy, as a matter of fact, found this place all on his own," stated Slade, "How he managed, that I haven't a clue. I assumed dumb luck at first, but after I first confronted him and he escaped my grasp, I began to think he made his way here on purpose."
Chief stirred in his restraints, and Slade casually pressed the button on his remote again, sending him into another fit of thrashing. Jetstream balled his fists in rage, as his hair swirled up in a gust of wind.
"Yes," continued Slade, "It took me nearly a full day to locate him again, once he had hidden away in the old buildings up top."
Slade walked over to Chief, and patted him on the head as he gasped for breath, "But as you can see, nobody gets the better of me twice."
Suddenly Robin and the others leapt into action, charging Slade in a perfectly executed formation. All except for Raven, who had still not fully recovered. But as Jet watched, Slade made no move to defend himself, he simply turned calmly to the charging teens with his hands behind his back.
Robin, who was leading the charge, was the first to hit the force field. The blue field of energy sparked brightly as Robin came in contact with it and sent the masked Titan flying backward, tendrils of electricity coursing through his body. Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg, who were unable to stop in time, quickly followed suite and were also rebounded by the field.
The blue lights of Cyborgs mechanical parts flickered as the electricity ran through his body. As Starfie hit the ground, her auburn hair blackened at the end, Robin stumbled back to his feet. He threw several of his bird shaped bombs at the field, but they had no effect other than causing copious amounts of smoke to float to the ceiling.
Beast Boy was next to recover as he had been at the back of the charge and hit the field with the least force. He quickly morphed into an electric eel as he flung himself at the blue wall of energy, but found that he could not break through to the other side. As he morphed back to his normal self, Cyborg and Starfire began to blast the wall with Starbolts and Cyborg's sonic cannon. They soon found however, that nothing would break through the glimmering wall of energy.
"Are you all quite done yet?" asked Slade in a bored manner.
"Leave them be, Slade," croaked Chief, weakly lifting his head.
"Silence, boy," commanded Slade as he pressed the button on his remote.
Chief's cry of pain was the last straw for Jetstream, flying over to the field, the dark haired boy called out to Slade.
"I'm giving you one chance, Slade!" yelled Jet as he hovered in the air, his head a few feet above Slade's, "release Chief this instantl and turn yourself in!"
"Or?" questioned Slade as he released the button, and Chef relaxed back into his restraints.
"Or you'll force me to do something, that I really don't want to do," replied Jetstream darkly.
Hearing this, Chief's head perked up and he looked at Jet, fear in his purple eyes. Jetstream already had his hand on his glasses, but as he looked at Chief, the restrained boy shook his head, unable to manage words. Jet knew that look well.
It's too dangerous, not yet, that is an absolute last resort. Jetstream got the message, and as he looked back at the Titans, he decided Chief was right. If he lost control, he could seriously hurt his friends. But they had no other plan. What else could he do?
As he looked down at his friend, Chief nodded towards Slade, and then bumped his head on the machine he was chained to. Jetstream put two and two together, and realized what Chief was implying, but it was going to be difficult; controlling air he wasn't directly connected to was very hard.
Jetstream floated back down to the ground, hanging his head as if he was defeated. He had to get Slade to take a step back from the field.
"What's this?" asked Slade in a taunting tone, "Here I was, expecting some grand maneuver."
Slade turned his back to Jet and started to walk over to Chief. Perfect. Suddenly Jet threw out his hands and pushed the air hard at Slade. It felt a bit wobbly, but had the desired effect. Slade flipped head over heels and flew back first into the machine above Chief's head. Chief ducked and closed his eyes as the metal of the machine crumpled inward at the force of the collision.
In a frenzy of sparks and flashing lights, the machine buzzed loudly, then exploded, sending Slade and Chief flying forward as the force field died and the electrified cuffs entangling Chief unlocked. Acting quickly, Jetstream flew forward and managed to soften Chiefs fall by half catching, half colliding with him in mid-air.
Slade hit the ground hard ,and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop on his back. Before the masked man could regain his footing, he was surrounded by the Titans, with Robin pinning him to the ground with his staff.
Chief coughed as Jet helped him to his feet and pushed his sweat soaked hair out of his eyes.
"I just meant for you to fling the remote into the force field," said Chief through a laughing cough, "But that worked too."
Jetstream laughed along with his friend, and rubbed his head sheepishly.
"Got any recovery chews left?" asked Chief as he released Jet and stood on his ownz; Chief was an inch or two shorter than Jet, and Jet could smell the burned ends of his hair.
Jetstream was confused about the question at first, then suddenly remembered the powerful little gummies that Chief had invented. Rustling through the inside of his jacket pocket, Jetstream found the small container that held the chews.
"I completely forgot they were in there," marveled Jet as he opened the container, and handed Chief one of the red, nickel sized gummies.
"Don't remind me," replied Chief as he popped the gummy into his mouth; his face scrunched up for a moment and his eyes watered as he chewed, "Whew, those things sure pack a punch."
Chief shook his head and swallowed hard; his face almost immediately brightened and he stood up straight, his breathing regular, "That should do it for now, but I'm gonna need to run some serious head checks when we get back to base."
Chief threw out his hand, suddenly a staff with a tennis ball sized silver sphere on the top flew out of the corner. Chief deftly snagged the staff out of the air and tapped it smartly on the ground.
As if responding to Chiefs touch, a pulse of purple energy flowed from the top of the staff and into his arm. Chief sucked in a sharp breath, like he had just had cold water splashed on him, and lifted himself up on the balls of his feet.
Chief seemed to glow for a moment, his purple eyes shining unnaturally bright. But soonthe glow faded, as he sighed contently, settling back on down on his heels. "That's better; now, where is my, ah..."
Chief waved his staff, and a long, ankle length brown coat flew off of a nearby table and into Chief's arms, followed closely by a matching brown fedora with a grey stripe around the middle.
Jetstream shook his head and laughed, as Chief donned his coat and hat, "You never lose that ratty old hat, do you?"
In response, Chief grinned and flicked the bill of the fedora at Jet. Meanwhile, Robin had pulled Slade to his feet and slapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.
"Game's over, Slade," stated Robin triumphantly, "You lose."
Slade looked back over his shoulder at Robin, and sniffed as he pressed a button on the back of his belt.
"Net yet, Robin, not yet."
Suddenly, a white cloud of harsh smoke billowed out of Slade's utility belt, forcing Robin and the other's to cover their faces. In the confusion, Slade swept Robin's legs out from under him and took off running.
Covering his mouth, Robin quickly got back up and peered through the thick, choking smoke. As he did, he saw Slade run across the room and enter what appeared to be an elevator. Slade jumped skillfully in the air and swung his hands under his legs as he did. As he pressed a button on the inside of the elevator, Robin took off after him.
"Stop him!" he yelled as the other Titans tried to get their bearings.
Robin arrived at the doors a second too late. The metal doors closed in front of him and began to rise up the elevator shaft. Acting quickly, Robin pulled out his grappling hook and shot it up at the receding elevator.
As the hook caught on the bottom of the elevator, Jetstream pushed the harsh smoke to one side of the room with the wind. But by the time the smoke had cleared, Robin had already disappeared up the shaft, chasing Slade.
"Robin!" yelled Starfire in distress.
"Star, Beast Boy, after him," barked Cyborg, "Raven, can you fly?"
Raven got to her feet and nodded. As the three Titans flew up after their leader, Jetstream looked to Chief for direction.
"Go with them; I'll meet you up top," Said Chief somberly.
Jet looked at his friend and leader frowning, not wanting to leave him so soon.
"Go, Jet; I'll be fine," Chief turned, and strode towards Cyborg, "Cyborg, I'm assuming; come with me, I know a way out."
"How do you know..."
Chief cut him off with a wave of his hand, "A conversation for another time; we need to move."
Whether it was the fact that Cyborg had no other option, or that Chief was naturally persuasive, he agreed to go with him. As Chief and Cyborg ran to the back of the room, Jetstream hesitated for a moment, then flew up the dark elevator shaft after Robin and the others.