AN: Ugh, once again a late upload -.-. I was hoping to finish this story before the start of school, but I now see that this won't be the case. If things go well after this, this chapter will be the second last, though because of school, I probably won't be able to upload it before the weekend :(. Enjoy though!
10
Terra watched her teacher bombard Beast Boy with various questions about Titan security. Some of the answers the green Titan gave weren't even known to Terra herself. He replied to the questions without any hesitation; there was no inquiry he couldn't respond to. Slade pressed the changeling with a rather revealing question and Terra blinked at what little judgement Garfield actually had as he replied. She looked away and thought about what would happen after it was all over. After the Titans were defeated, she'd be free. The former Titan would be rid of the hardship that was her past. Granted, she would never be able to truly forget her life as a superhero, but she'd be allowed to leave it behind her for good.
The switched blond pressed Raven's fingernails into her palms, telling herself that it would only be a matter of time before she could begin rebuilding her life. She looked back at Beast Boy and Slade, who continued their little interview. She narrowed her eyes at the black and orange super villain and mused. Although she came back to work for him, she despised him for what he'd done to her. Everything she cared for was destroyed by her sadist of a mentor. Almost everything, she corrected, glancing at Beast Boy before returning her gaze to Slade.
Would he leave me alone? She thought to herself. Terra knew of Slade's many attempts at finding a pupil to mold. As far as she knew, she was the one who'd stuck to his side for the most amount of time. The former Titan grew slightly peeved as she thought of a scenario where Slade would keep her to do more of his bidding. This led her to the thought of whether she was really just a pawn in Slade's quest for conquer. She gritted the dark Titan's teeth at the idea, feeling worthless. She glared at Slade's back and mentally cursed him for making her feel like nothing.
Beast Boy was finished his interrogation, and Slade gestured for Terra to step forward. The former Titan tentatively approached the two.
"Are you aware of your objective, Terra?" Slade asked his student. The former Titan took a breath a nodded.
"As aware as I'll ever be," she responded. The masked villain raised an eyebrow under his facial covering, but didn't question the switched blond. He walked over to a large monitor, turning it on and showing a map of the city with a cluster of dots in the centre.
"The Titans have gone to the forests near the shore. Make sure they don't return," the masked villain turned to face his student. Terra nodded and left.
Nothing out of the ordinary was happening under the trees, so Terra was at a loss. She floated on a circle of black magic and kept watch over the tops with a careful eye. The former Titan saw the remains of the car she'd averted and the fumes it produced, happy that her on-the-spot plan had worked out so well. She didn't see anyone anywhere near the bottom of the cliff, but saw the T-car parked around the gap where the car rammed the fence. Terra lowered herself until she was on the paved road and stopped moving. She waited for a noise or a voice to call out. When nothing came to reach her stolen ears, the pseudo-hero grimaced with her adversary's face and approached the gap. She peered over the rail, but didn't see foot prints that would lead her anywhere. Terra sighed and took to the air again.
The silence was getting to her, and Terra began to think of her future once again. She thought about where she and Beast Boy would go when everything was over. She contemplated traveling to a place where Slade couldn't get to them. She thought about changing their identities, but then remembered how difficult such a task would be for her love. She knew she would never return his judgment, which upset her. The things that made him Garfield would no longer exist; he wouldn't have the autonomy to love, he'd never be able to share jokes with her anymore, he would never again have the spirit that had always drove him to fight for his vegetarianism. These and others were good arguments that almost swayed Terra to return him to his friends, but then remembered that if she did so, Slade would have her kill him like the rest. She told herself that she would destroy the book before she could do so.
Just as she was coming out of her thoughts, she caught sight of something moving in the depths of the forest. She looked down and squinted to get a better look at what was occupying the grounds and caught sight of two of her former friends. They seemed to be carrying someone else with them, and she assumed it to be one of the agents that had been in the "accident" she'd caused and didn't think much of it. They were rather close to the crash site, so Terra had little time to think of a way to exterminate them without much of a trace. Before she could think of anything, Starfire and Robin were greeted by Cyborg and Bumblebee, who greeted the survivor with more warmth than the former hero expected.
Still, Terra didn't forget what she set out to do and decided to telekinetically pick up a single tree away from the Titans and light it with the near-snuffed flames of the vehicle. She floated it over as discreetly as possible to the trees that surrounded the super teens and set the small area ablaze. Once she saw that their attentions were caught by the fire, she turned and flew, leaving her ex-friends to die. But before she could leave, she felt Raven's cloak being tugged. The switched blond yanked at the blue material before levitating further into the air, unaware of the piece of fabric she left behind.
The five heroes looked up in panic as the plants around them burned.
"We're surrounded!" Cyborg yelled. The trees were quickly diminishing in height and were coming dangerously close to the Titans. Since the forestry was so close together, the flames closed the spaces above them and were nearly covering every inch around them.
"Star, take Raven!" Robin relieved himself of the switched dark Titan, "I have an idea." He took out his grappling hook and wrapped it around one of the burning trees. He tugged to make sure it was locked onto the bark and began to pull. At first, the flaming plant twitched under the pressure, and then it began to bend. Cyborg caught sight of what the masked Titan was trying to do and ran over, grabbing hold of some of the wire and helping him out. The tree started to crack around the trunk and it soon fell, leaving a small view of the rest of the woods. The two repeated the act until the exit was big enough for everyone to pass.
"There's more!" Robin yelled when he saw the flames that lay beyond the circle.
"We're in a forest, man! Of course the fire would spread!" Cyborg yelled in response.
"That's not what I mean! The fire was concentrated on the trees around us! Whatever this is, it's on purpose!"
"So what are we supposed to do? Wait to die?" Victor shouted. The masked Titan's forehead creased in frustration. He knew that none of them were equipped with anything that would help them escape. Pulling the trees down only justified as a temporary solution, but if this kept up they were as good as dead.
Raven hung off of Starfire like a ragdoll, struggling to keep her own with Terra's mangled legs. She looked down at her peach palm and saw the dirt that covered it, thinking. She looked back up at the fire over her head and began to plan something. The dark girl saw the ground around the tree stumps and gasped.
"Friend? What is it?" Starfire noticed Raven's realization. Rachel hadn't bothered to answer the alien Titan, and closed her eyes. She envisioned the soil underneath her and summoned Terra's powers.
"Raven! What is wrong?" Koriand'r yelled. Raven forced herself to block out her friend's concerned wails and concentrated. The ground began to move under the Titans' feet, and they all grimaced in confusion. The dirt crept up the bark of the flaming trees, slithering towards the sparse and disintegrating leaves. The tall plants were being relieved of the fire and soon all that was left was the caked-on soil. The others looked around.
"Um…" Cyborg mumbled. Raven breathed out.
"Dirt doesn't burn…" she stated, releasing her concentration and leaving the dirt to fall back to the ground. Everyone looked at her as she retracted her arm from Starfire and lifted herself from the soil with a combination of dirt and rocks. The dark Titan breathed a sigh of relief as she sat on the makeshift platform, nursing her broken arm. She floated to the treetops, looking up and around at the landscape that surrounded the woods.
"There's no one here," she announced.
"Let's head back to the tower. We'll discuss suspects there," Robin led everyone back to the crash site.
"…and furthermore, why would you decide to do such a thing? How can you be sure if they're even dead?"
Terra had Raven's jaw set in quiet menace. She silently let her mentor scream at her while she flew through the air. The former Titan was on edge, and Slade didn't seem likely to stop harassing her. Her anger would rise to a high enough level that the dark Titan's powers would lose control, causing her to drop a little or make something explode. Every time her powers would go off, Terra would have to take a breath to cool down. She fought the urge to speak back to her teacher, but it was getting more and more difficult.
"Look, they're dead, alright? You won't have to worry about them anymore," Terra almost-grunted.
"Who do you think you're speaking to? I still have your beloved here, unarmed," the former hero widened her eyes and set her jaw. She didn't expect him to threaten her with Beast Boy.
"You wouldn't dare," she hissed.
"Wouldn't I?" Slade asked, looking over to where the green Titan was held, guarded by several of his robots. He knew that with a small gesture, he would have Garfield's corpse in his lair, and smirked at the power.
"Just…don't," Terra said, "please." Slade's smirk grew into a sinister grin.
"I can't promise you anything, Terra. Not before I know they're all dead." The former Titan growled at what Slade had said. Deep breaths didn't suffice anymore. She needed to be alone. Completely alone, for the moment. She grounded Raven's teeth and lifted her arm to her ear, taking the earpiece and chucking it behind her.
The Titans had arrived at their vehicle, and were almost on their way home. Nearly all of the heroes were in the T-car, but Bumblebee was left last. Just as she was putting a leg through, something came into contact with her curl-ridden head.
"Ow!" Bumblebee exclaimed, rubbing her head. She stepped back out and away from the car and the others looked back at her in concern. She looked at them in slight annoyance before looking down and around her. She spotted an odd-looking electronic device on the ground, wondering why it had hit her. The bee-like Titan picked it up and examined it, looking at the S in curiosity.
"What does S mean?" she mumbled to herself. She held up the small device to her friends, who all reeled back in shock. Karen furrowed her eyebrows.
"What's wrong?" she asked. The four other Titans gawked at the little piece of technology in horror.
"Slade," Robin muttered. "The S means Slade." Bumblebee widened her eyes.
"Hey, look at this," Cyborg called everyone's attention to himself. He reached through the driver's window and took something from the marred fence. He turned around and held up blue fabric to his teammates, who froze.
"Terra and Slade are trying to kill us," Raven concluded, taking the blue fabric from her half-robot friend.