A/N: Hello all and welcome to the 10th chapter! I'm glad that we have come this far and still have a lot left to do. For now though, thanks to my friend and co-author MaxGentleman1, Also, thanks to Moheart 7 for providing the cover art.
None of us own Teen Titans I think WB does.
Enjoy!
Rorschach's Journal, August 21, 2015
Over the past month, we have been dealing with threats from the one known as Slade. The first time we heard this name was during our first encounter with the HIVE and haven't heard from him until the recent Red X case. Lately, Robin has become obsessed with him, trying to figure out his next move(And he says I'm the paranoid one). Meanwhile, the voices in my head or in this suit continue to bother me, and I am not sure how to get rid of it. Team meeting in living room, continue later.
Robin was pacing back and forth as the team reported into the room.
"I don't get it. No matter where we look or how we try all we have on Slade is a name." He said punching the wall.
"Please, Robin calm down." Starfire said.
"Yeah, don't worry. So we haven't caught him yet, it doesn't mean we won't." Cyborg assured.
"All we have to do is look harder." Beast Boy said.
"Or maybe he'll come to you." A man in an orange and black metal mask with a deep, dark voice said on the main monitor, which just came on its own.
"Slade, it's been a while." Rorschach said, crossing his arms.
"Far to long for my tastes. Hello again, Robin, have you been keeping well?" He said in a dark, sarcastic tone, acting like he cared.
"What do you want, Slade?" Robin said angrily.
"Well that's precisely what you've been trying to find out, isn't it?" He asked, "And in spite of all your efforts, you're still in the dark about my intentions. Disappointing, Robin, I expected a little more from you." He said.
"Like I care what you-" Robin was about to retort when he was interrupted by Slade.
"But since you've been unable to discover my plan, I suppose I'll just have to reveal it myself." He said before the camera panned to the left revealing two hench-bots next to a large object beneath a tarp. The two removed the sheet, revealing a large, cylindrical object.
"I'm sure you are all familiar with the concept of a Chronoton Detonator." Slade continued.
"No!" Cyborg said.
Star gasped.
"Uh oh." Raven said.
"No way!" Beast Boy feigned surprise, "What's a crouton detonator?" He asked Starfire.
"It eradicates all chronotons in a localized area, utterly destroying the temporal component of the space\time continuum." Starfire explained.
Beast Boy didn't catch a word of it.
"It stops time, permanently." Rorschach explained in layman's terms.
Beast Boy now started to freak out now that he understood the threat.
"If he were to trigger that thing downtown it would freeze frame the whole damn city." Cyborg said.
"Tell me where it is, now!" Robin growled at the image of Slade.
"Now, now Robin, you're all rather clever. I'm sure that you can figure it out. Of course, I'm the one with the detonator, so you could say that time is not on your side." He said before vanishing from the screen.
"Damn it!" He said, hitting the keyboard so hard a few keys came off and the backing cracked; "Okay, we spread search the city, we find it, and we shut it down." Robin said, stomping towards the exit only to be stopped by Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Rorschach standing in front of him.
"Look Robin, we've been thinking lately. You've taken your interest in Slade to a more...obsessive level. We think that it might be better for all of us if you were to stay here and coordinate the search." Cyborg said carefully.
"No, I appreciate the concern guys, really I do, but this is too important for me to stay behind." Robin said.
"Then you should at least get more info on its whereabouts." Rorschach said, walking past Robin and over to the monitor. "Slade gave us more info than he realized." He said, pulling up a still image from the video and zooming in on the Chronoton Detonator, revealing what looked like blurry letters.
"Ooh, wavy lines, so helpful." Beast Boy said sarcastically.
Giving him a glare, Rorschach zoomed in further and enhanced the image, revealing backwards letters. Flipping the image around, it spelled the words "Pier 41".
"Oh." Beast Boy said in embarrassment, only to be elbowed by Raven.
"It's down at the docks, come on!" Robin said before he and the others ran out the door.
-Jump City Docks, Midnight-
The Titans arrived at Pier 41 at midnight. They all gathered at the door to the warehouse where the detonator is supposedly stored.
"Okay," Rorschach said, "we'll need to use stealth to get the drop on them. Raven and I will sneak in through one of the windows and-"
*BOOM*
Rorschach was cut off by Robin blowing the door off the front of the warehouse with some explosive gel, catching everyone off guard. Robin rushed in, closely followed by the others, only to find the place completely empty.
"Damn it!" Robin yelled, "They must have moved it."
Before they could come up with any ideas, they were quickly surrounded by Slade's henchbots. They all got into fighting positions.
"Titans, go!" Robin exclaimed, charging forward.
Robin threw his staff to the side, causing it to bounce off several of the bots. Rorschach drew his own blade and charged it, ready to unleash a slash until Robin leaped in, taking the bots he had been aiming for down.
Cyborg charged towards a few only for Robin to do the same, bouncing from one bot to the other, "I was going to do that." He muttered.
Starfire found herself surrounded by the bots and prepared to blast them when Robin leaped in, grabbing his staff from where it had fallen and attacking half of them while Rorschach cut through the other half.
And it pretty much went on like that. If it wasn't Robin, it was Rorschach attacking and dismantling the Slade bots, until at last, Robin was beating on a fallen robot repeatedly and it was starting to scare the others.
"Robin, I think you can clam down, you got him." Cyborg said but Robin kept hitting it.
"Robin, please stop, we are victorious!" Starfire said, grabbing his arm to stop him from hitting it again.
"Slade's got his finger on the trigger, and we have nothing! You call that a victory!?" Robin half shouted, collapsing his staff as he stomped out of the building. The others, including a glaring Rorschach, followed him.
"Okay, so we know the detonator was here. All we have to do now is find it." Cyborg said.
"Well that shouldn't be too hard," Beast Boy said, "all we have to do is-"
"Spread search the city? Search for hours only to come up empty handed?" Raven asked.
"Well when you put it like that." Beast Boy said, slightly annoyed.
"Raven's right, there must be a better way to find it." Rorschach said. No sooner had she said that did Robin spot someone behind a warehouse corner.
"You there, stop!" He yelled and charged after him. He quickly caught the man and slammed against a wall of one of the warehouses. "What do you know about this?!" Robin yelled, holding up Slade's emblem, "Answer me!" He yelled.
"I don't know what you're talking about, please just let me go!" He said, scared out of his mind.
Before Robin could interrogate the man further, he was picked up and pinned to the opposite wall by Raven's magic.
"I thought you said you could handle this?" She asked.
"You promised." Starfire said as she and the others walked up.
As soon as Raven released Robin from her magic, he stomped off.
"We're wasting time." He said angrily.
"You know, just cause we're hunting Slade, doesn't mean you have to become him." Rorschach said with an equal amount of anger. This caused Robin to stop in his tracks a turn back to Rorschach with fire in his eyes. He walked up to him, inches from his face.
"Don't you EVER compare me to Slade! I am NOTHING like him! You understand?" He said through gritted teeth before turning back around.
'Could've fooled me.' He thought to himself.
Before anyone could continue, Starfire let off a massive sneeze that shot a Starbolt blast, accidentally burning each of them a bit and effectively killing the anger for now.
"I'm sorry, I am allergic to metallic Chromium; there must be a source nearby." She said, sounding stuffed up before letting off another sneeze; they all dodged out of the way this time.
"Interesting." Cyborg said, looking at her and then at his arm.
"Not really. On my world, chromium allergies are quite common." She said, blowing her nose.
"No, not that. I mean, one of the key components of a Chronoton Detonator is a metallic chromium core. Which means." Cyborg started and Beast Boy finished for him.
"Starfire can track it." He said, smiling as they all stared at her and she sighed but nodded.
-Jumpcity Sewer System-
Starfire was sneezing repeatedly as they walked through the murky waters, "I believe it is this way." She said, sounding miserable but determined.
They all nodded following her as Robin spoke up, "Look guys, about earlier..." He started as all but Rorschach turned to look at him.
"I just want to say..." He continued and then Rorschach cut him off, "It'll have to wait." He said, pointing ahead to a red boat that had a Slade bot on it, along with the detonator.
"Titans Go!" Robin said as they sprang forwards.
As soon as he said that, the Slade Bot started the boat's motor and took off. Robin and the others were about to catch it when the wall to their left blew up and something grabbed Robin and pulled him in and threw him to the ground. Quickly recovering, he saw an old and unpleasant face.
"Ravager." Robin said.
"Glad that you didn't forget about me." He said.
"Guys, forget me, go after the detonator." Robin called. The Titans did as they were ordered and went after the boat.
Robin and Ravager began to trade blows. Robin was having a bit of trouble; one of the reasons he beat Ravager last time was because he had Rorschach with him. Even so, he fought with all his might.
"Fair warning, you caught me on a bad day." Robin said before charging at Ravager for another clash.
-Titans-
The boat sped down the sewer tunnel at top speed, the Titans closing in fast. The Slade-Bot activated the boat's defense system, causing two turrets to activate on the boat's stern and began firing at pursuing heroes.
"I will not be given attitude from a boat!" Cyborg yelled, activating his sonic cannon.
-Robin-
Robin began to deliver a series of punches to Ravager's head and body. He tried to dodge, but Robin's ferocity was too much to handle. Robin finished by delivering a strong right cross to Ravager's head, knocking him senseless.
"Where is he? Where's Slade?" Robin interrogated, grabbing Ravager by his suit collar. Before he could question further, he heard a faint beeping. Turning his head, he saw that Ravager was holding a GPS in his hand. There were two markers on it, one showed their current position, the other had Slade's insignia on it. Robin gave a small smirk before taking it.
-Undisclosed location-
In his base, Slade stood before his many monitor screens, watching from several hidden camera's as the other Titans chased after his robot and bomb.
"Hurry, Titans your time is almost up." He said as there was a small explosion behind him and Robin stepped into the room, glaring at him.
"Actually, we just went into overtime." Robin muttered.
"Ah, there you are Robin. You know I've been expecting you, I was beginning to wonder if you had what it took to beat Ravager." He said, turning to face Robin and speaking in his usual calm, almost care-free, voice. He then held up the activation switch to the detonator, "Looking for this?" He asked, setting it down between them. "Here. If you want it, come and take it." He taunted.
Robin growled and leaped forward.
-Titans-
Meanwhile, the other Titans were gaining ground on the boat, Starfire carrying Cyborg, who was aiming shots at the boat's defense cannons, which he finally managed to take out.
The Slade-Bot quickly activated the auto pilot just as Starfire dropped Cyborg onto the boat, who grabbed it and tossed it into the air, where it was promptly sliced in two by Rorschach.
Cyborg tried keying in a code to stop the boat, but was having no such luck. Finally, he decided to just cut down on time so he could focus and ripped the auto pilot out, bringing the boat to a slowing stop as the others boarded the boat as well.
"Please tell me that is not how you plan on disabling the detonator?" Raven asked. Cyborg blushed slightly at that, "Uh no." He said.
"You do know how to stop it though, right?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.
"How hard could it be?" Cyborg asked as the detonator opened and exposed several different moving pieces, "Okay, Rorschach, we're going to need to work together on this." He said and Rorschach nodded as they both examined it.
"Well, whatever we are going to do, we had better do it fast before Slade decides to trigger this thing." Raven said.
-Robin and Slade-
Robin kept trying to reach the activation switch, but every time he got close, Slade was there to knock him away. Most recently kicking him so hard he flew off to the side and slammed into a wall.
"Come now Robin, I was expecting more. I haven't even broken a sweat yet." He said before hitting him again and causing Robin to stagger before regaining his footing with a growl and charging again.
They went back and forth: Robin would attack, Slade would dodge and counter, neither gaining any real ground, but Robin felt as if Slade were toying with him as he caught his next hit.
"Good technique, though certainly not perfect yet. You know, I thought Batman would have trained you better than this." He said before twisting Robins arm and tossing him away. Robin bounced off the floor a few times before hitting the wall and slumping down.
He stood on shaky feet and jumped at Slade, only to be caught in the ribs with a hard punch that knocked the wind out of him and left him slumped over on his hands and knees, panting at Slade's feet. Slade merely chuckled at Robin's misery.
-Titans-
Raven used her magic to unscrew a small panel on the detonator. Cyborg removed it, revealing the core.
"Alright, the chromium core, no sudden movements." Cyborg said quietly, passing the panel to Rorschach, who placed it down gently. Before they could continue, Starfire was beginning another sneeze. Raven quickly sealed Starfire's head in a bubble, causing the sneeze to blow-up in her face.
"Thank you." She whispered. They all let out a sigh of relief before Rorschach and Cyborg continued.
"Alright," Cyborg continued, looking at some schematics on his wrist, "All we have to do is cut this wire." He said.
Rorschach did as he asked and cut the left most wire. When he did though, a small alarm began to go off and the core seemed to be energizing.
"That's not a good sound." Beast Boy observed.
-Robin and Slade-
Robin continued to be beaten to a pulp. He was lying on the floor, angry and fatigued. Slade walked up to him with his arms behind his back, looking down on him.
"I can understand your frustration Robin," He said, "You hate losing as much as I do. One of the many qualities we have in common." He said with only the slightest bit of amusement in his voice.
Robin looked up with fire in his eyes. Without warning, he hit Slade with a strong uppercut, knocking him off the ground. He continued with a back-handed punch to the face, followed by a series of body and head blows. Slade just seemed to take the blows like a sandbag, not even trying to block. Robin finished the assault with a back-flip kick to Slade's chin, knocking him onto his back almost 10 ft. away. After that, Robin walked over to the trigger and picked it up.
"It's over, Slade!" Robin said.
"On the contrary, Robin," Slade said, walking out of the shadows. Before Robin could ask what he meant by that, the trigger sparked and fell apart in his hands. "This is only the beginning." He finished.
"Where's the real trigger?" Robin demanded.
"Trigger? There is no trigger, because there is no detonator." Slade said nonchalantly. Robin's eyes widened at this revelation.
-Titans-
Rorschach and Cyborg had been discussing things for a few moments before they nodded and looked back at the detonator, "Alright, moment of truth y'all, everybody ready?" Cyborg asked and the others all nodded nervously.
"I can't watch." Beast Boy said, covering his eyes as they cut the cord and the glowing red core turned a soothing sky blue. They all let out an extremely relieved sigh until it started beeping and seemed to begin to activate as red lines spread through the device.
"Ah! We blew it, we'll be frozen in time forever!" Beast Boy said, shielding himself from the detonator and clutching his hair. The detonator looked like it was about go off, until the device seemed to short circuit and collapsed in on itself. "Uh, why are we not frozen in tome forever? Not that I'm complaining." Beast Boy asked.
"Because this wasn't a Chronoton Detonator, it was a fake." Cyborg said and Rorschach growled in frustration, giving the machine a light kick. Before anyone could notice, a turret sprung up from the boat's floor behind them and shot a laser blast at them, throwing each of them into the sewer water.
They all came back up, panting a little, "Okay, first: I think I may hurl. Second: aside from the sewer water taste in my mouth, I think I'm okay." Beast Boy said, scraping his tongue with his finger nails.
"Sensors are reading all blue. Far as I can tell, I'm fine." Cyborg said.
"Whatever that beam was supposed to do, it failed." Raven said.
"So then, we are victorious?" Starfire asked hopefully.
Unknown to them, inside each Titan, small Nano-bots with Slade's symbol were flooding their bloodstreams, attaching to every blood cell they could.
-Robin and Slade-
Slade smirked beneath his mask as several screens popped up behind him, each showing Robin one of his friend's bloodstreams, all infected.
"Nanoscopic probes Robin, the Chronoton Detonator was simply bait for a much larger trap. Because now, with the push of a button, I can destroy your friends from the inside out." He said as a button slid out into his hand.
"You can't control them. No matter what you threaten, they would never obey you." Robin spat.
"Oh, this isn't about your friends, it's about you, it has nearly always been about you." Slade said, pacing in front of Robin, who looked confused, so he continued.
"Sending trouble your way, all the clues I left for you to unravel, all a test. You see, for some time now I have been looking for another apprentice, someone else to follow in my footsteps and assist Ravager in jobs that require more than one person, and though I've considered a few others," Here he paused as brief images of Rorschach and a blonde girl Robin had never seen before flashed on screen before vanishing as he spoke again.
"I've chosen you. Congratulations." He said, his one eye narrowing.
"No way would I ever..." Robin started before Slade threatened to press the button in his hand.
"If you join me, if you swear to serve me, if you never speak to your friends again, I will allow them to live. However, if you disobey even the smallest request, I will annihilate them Robin, and I will make you watch. So, do we have a deal?" He asked.
Robin just looked at Slade then back at the monitors, sadness and anger in his eyes.
-Titans-
The Titans were crawling out of a manhole close to downtown Jump City. Starfire was trying to contact Robin over her communicator while Rorschach was helping everyone out.
"Robin? Robin, come in. Please answer." Starfire said, beginning to get worried. Cyborg looked at a screen on his arm.
"His GPS locator's down too." He said.
"Do you think he's alright?" Starfire asked, getting more worried.
"Robin can take care of himself." Rorschach said, scratching his arm. Raven took notice of this.
"Hey, you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, skin's just a little irritated. Hopefully I'm not developing a rash or something from the sewer water." He said, scratching his other arm.
"Robin," Starfire said, trying again with the comm. link, "If you're out there, please answer."
-Undisclosed Location-
"Robin, please pick up. You're beginning to worry us, me especially." Starfire's voice said from Robin's communicator on his belt. It echoed inside Slade's lair. Underneath a single light, Robin stood, clad in armor near identical to Slade's. He looked down with a clenched fist as he looked at himself. Slade soon walked up behind him and put a hand on Robin's shoulder.
"I know it seems bad now, but trust me, you'll soon learn to like it." Slade said sinisterly before walking away. Robin looked up at the screens with his friend's vitals on it, a small tear leaving his eyes.
A/N: So that's it for now, wait until next chapter people we have some realy fun things in store for you. In the meantime thank you for reading leavea review and we'll see you next time!