Neon light suffused the ocean depths with the glow of eager consumerism. It came down from up above, from the peaks of Rapture where the powerful and the glamorous made their homes. None of them lived down here in Pauper's Drop, they wouldn't step foot down here if they could help it. Nobody that could live elsewhere lived in Pauper's Drop. It was a place for Rapture's 'proletariat subaltern class'. Or at least that was what Eleanor's mother had called them. Not that her seven year old self could or cared to wrap her head around that concept. She just wished that Aunt Gracie would take her up to visit Arcadia and the other places she used to sneak out to before her mother was taken away. Eleanor placed a little hand on the inside of the Aunt Gracie's window and tried to look up at the lights above, around the dark steel girder that took up most of the view.
"You waste far too much time daydreaming or rushing about, Eleanor." Eleanor turned from the ocean and there sat her mother. Sofia Lamb sat as erect and poised as ever. She had that regal air about her that made her seem authoritatively cold, but Eleanor knew it could break into a smile that warmed many a heart. For all her sins, her mother was good at what she did. She sat perched on the edge of an armchair in a half shadowed corner calmly scribbling notes on a pad of paper, not looking at her daughter. Suddenly Eleanor was not a little girl, but her teenage self, wearing a white nightgown. "Were you to spend more time contemplating the truths of the human condition, perhaps you would not so hastily cast aside ideals."
"I have my own ideals, mother."
"Oh?" Sofia Lamb looked over the rim of her glasses critically. "How's that working for you, dear? You've been keeping secrets from your friends, hoping to protect them." There was a calculated amusement in her voice. "But from what? Were you really protecting anyone but yourself?" Eleanor turned her head to look at her mother, then turned back to the window. She felt very tired. Her limbs were heavy and her movements languid as if the ocean was within the room instead of out the window, pressing down upon her with all its weight. Her mouth remained unimpeded.
"I didn't want anyone to know." She reached out a hand and touched the glass. It was ice cold. "I wanted to be like father, protecting my sisters, protecting the world from what was wrought in Rapture."
"If that's what you think, then perhaps you are like him." Her mother somehow managed to speak calmly and evenly while still slipping an iron edge into her words. "He killed dozens for the sake of one. He destroyed Rapture's last chance at salvation because he couldn't let go of a girl that was never his to have. There is no nobility in such selfishness."
"Father wasn't selfish, mother." She could see her own reflection in the transparent material. Her eyes were drooping and her hair was in disarray. Her mind felt like like it was wrapped in cotton, everything vague and dull. For some reason she could not explain, it did not alarm Eleanor at all. Then all at once, she could see something else mirrored in the window, a looming figure in the darkest corner, broad and bulky. A yellow light shone faintly from where its face should be. "He just wasn't you. Father put the people in front of him before ideals, whereas you casually sacrifice any and all on the altar of yours."
"I lived for the people, and I made no sacrifice lightly." Sofia made a vague gesture, blasé in the face of Eleanor's judgment. She stood and stepped toward her daughter. "But at least he valued your life over his own and he did not indulge in self deception. You call the Titans your friends, but how can that be when you don't trust them with the truth? Couldn't they help you? Are you truly emulating Delta, or are you hiding behind him yet again to shield yourself from cognitive dissonance?"
"I..." Eleanor turned fully to Sofia now. Her facade broke: her brow knit in confusion, a tightness in her chest she had not known was there unraveled to cast a pall over her thoughts. Yet more weight seemed to fall on her shoulders and Eleanor felt she would collapse. "I know that, I see that now... I just"
"Fear," Her mother put her hands on Eleanor's shoulders. She pursed her lips and the former Little Sister hesitated. Sofia smiled. "Ah, you are utterly terrified, Eleanor, aren't you? Once you lay yourself bare, there's no going back, nothing left. What will they think of you then?"
"I don't..."
"Will they hate you? Find you a disgusting aberration? Perhaps-"
"No!" Eleanor gasped, suddenly able to move. She struggled with all her might, but her mother's fingers dug into her shoulders and held her firmly in place. Her mother's skin began to grey, then disintegrate from her arms and face in sheets. Her eyes sunk into her skull and her hair slid off her head in dripping wet strands. The smell of brine filled the former Little Sister's nostrils. Eleanor cried out as Sofia's fingernails drew blood. Red rivulets dripped down her arm.
"-they will simply not trust you ever again, as you have not trusted them."
When Eleanor returned to the waking world, she stared at her ceiling for almost five minutes. Her room was still dark and a glance out the window told her dawn was still at least half an hour away. For a moment, she half expected to see the ocean depths on the other side of the glass. She tried not to think about it, but could not quite dislodge the dream. Even as the details faded from memory, the feelings attached to them remained. Eleanor sat up and rubbed her eyes with a sigh.
For the past two days since her conversation with Jack, Eleanor had been trying to work herself up to telling the Titans everything, everything about Rapture, Andrew Ryan, ADAM, Little Sisters, her mother, all of it. She had been less than successful. A part of her said it was irrational, that they all had complicated pasts in some fashion. That was pretty much how they all met in the first place. The other part... it felt like shedding a protective layer of secrecy that had clung to her since she first leapt from that hospital bed over almost a year ago. Without it, something would change. That sense of foreboding was hardly comforting. It lodged in her throat each time she tried to bring it up, but Eleanor knew she had to do it. When Robin got tired of finding nothing in the building Tenenbaum had been held in, he would come to Eleanor and the last thing she wanted was for this to turn into an interrogation.
"Sure," Eleanor whispered to herself in the dark. "It can't be this hard, you just have to tell them. Stop thinking about it and do it... ugh" She flopped back down onto the mattress with a groan. "Let's see, 'I was born under the sea and have a mutagen secreting sea slug surgically implanted in my gut', or 'I drank blood from corpses as a child', there's really no pleasant way to say that is there?" With that cheery thought, Siren closed her eyes without any real expectation that she'd get any more sleep in before morning. Just then, as if to confirm her prediction, there were two light raps on the door.
"Eleanor?" Raven's muffled voice came through the door.
"Raven?" Eleanor sounded as surprised as she felt, though her goth friend seemed to take it as an invitation. The door slid open and Raven stood in the doorframe. The former Little Sister rolled over under the covers and propped herself up on her elbows. "What are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same. You were already awake when I knocked."
"I was just... preparing myself to tell the rest of the team about, well, me." Eleanor dropped her eyes. "I'm just trying to-" Raven raised a hand stop her.
"I'm not here for a heart to heart." That stung a bit more than she expected. I guess we're not there yet... Raven winced even as she spoke, but continued. "This is about Slade."
"Slade? The one Robin's been so obsessed on?" Eleanor sat up and pushed off her covers, swinging her feet out of bed. All thought of her her own predicament pushed aside for the moment. "Has he found him?"
"No, Slade just called the tower."
"Good morning, Teen Titans." Slade's masked visage dominated the screen as Raven and Eleanor entered. His words dripped with a menacing bemusement. "I do hope I didn't wake you."
"What are you, an insomniac?" Beast Boy grumbled, fighting back a yawn. "Who calls at five in the- ow!" Cyborg nudged the shapeshifter sharply. Siren and Raven exchanged concerned glances.
"What do you want?" Robin all but growled.
"Well, that's precisely what you've been trying to find out, isn't it?" The mockery set the boy wonder to grinding his teeth. "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." Now, Robin snapped at the screen.
"Like I care what you-"
"But since you've been unable to discover my plan," Slade continued as if he had not spoken. "I suppose I'll just have to reveal it myself." With that, the masked mastermind moved away from the screen to reveal two of his robotic minions pulling a tarp off a large cylindrical object. Red lights blinked on its surface. "I'm sure you're all familiar with the concept of a chronoton detonator?" Starfire gasped.
"No!" Cyborg shouted.
"Uh oh," Though it hardly seemed possible, Raven grew even paler than usual. For her part, Siren felt her heart skip a beat. Over the past year, she had read up on the myriad means man had created to destroy himself...
"No way!" Beast Boy exclaimed, then leaned over to whisper to Starfire. "Um, what's a crouton detonator?"
"It eradicates all chronotons in a localized area, utterly destroying the temporal component of the space-time continuum!"
"Huh?"
"It stops time," Raven broke in.
"Permanently," Siren added absentmindedly. A horrified look came over Beast Boy, this time he let out a shriek and collapsed. The former Little Sister squinted at the screen. There was something she couldn't quite make out...
"If he triggers that thing downtown it'll freeze-frame the entire city!" Cyborg probably understood the exact mechanics better than anyone. Eleanor tried not to think about what it would be like to be trapped in time. Would they cease to think? Or worse, would they still think but be unable to move? Either way, the thought sent a shiver down her spine. But what does Slade hope to achieve? And how does Apex factor in to this?
"Tell me where!" Robin demanded. The villain's mask filled the screen once more.
"You're a clever boy, Robin." Slade continued with the same easygoing malice. "I'm sure you and your little friends can figure it out. However," He lifted his hand to reveal a small device in his hand, his finger poised over a red button. "Since I control the detonation, time is not on your side." The transmission abruptly cut and the screen filled with static. Robin slammed his fist into the keyboard with a frustrated grunt and whipped around to storm towards the door.
"Fan out! Find it! Shut it down!" ...Only to find Beast Boy and Cyborg blocking his path. The green shapeshifter tugged at his collar uncomfortably, sweat beading on his brow.
"Hey, uh, maybe you should stay here and coordinate the search."
"What?" Robin nearly shouted. The shapeshifter flinched.
"Man," Cyborg stepped in. "When it comes to Slade, you have issues." The metal man's eyes flickered to Siren for a moment before resettling on Robin. It lasted only a moment, but Eleanor felt a pang of shame and guilt. She turned back to the monitor, directing her thoughts back to the footage of the detonator. "Might be better for the team if you sit this one out."
"No." Robin set his expression and shouldered past them. "There's too much at stake for me to-"
"Robin..." Starfire spoke softly. The boy wonder stopped in his tracks. Eleanor tapped quietly at the computer. There was a distortion reflected on the surface of the detonator, if she could clear it up maybe... Suddenly she was aware of Raven at her shoulder. The sorceress glanced at the tense scene behind them, then scrutinized Eleanor's work. The former Little Sister wasn't sure whether Raven was displaying continued mistrust or simply curiosity. She hoped it was the latter. "We have not forgotten the last time you faced-"
"I made a mistake, Starfire. It won't happen again." There was some sincerity in his voice, but he seemed distracted, annoyed. He started toward the door. "I can handle it, I promise."
"Perhaps you'd like to know where to look?" Siren asked without looking up from the keyboard. She pulled up a still of the detonator up on the screen. "Slade isn't as clever as he thinks he is." She allowed a measure of satisfaction to enter her voice. The image zoomed in on the distorted reflection she'd noticed earlier with the tap of a key. "Tell me what you see in this reflection."
"A bunch of squiggly lines?" Beast Boy scratched his head. With a few more keystrokes, the image refined and words became visible. Siren flipped the mirror writing to be read normally.
"Pier 41," Raven read aloud with a satisfied glance at the shapeshifter, who tugged at his collar sheepishly.
"The docks," Robin confirmed. Once again, he turned for the door. "Titans, move out!"
The Titans traversed the city as they usually did. Those who could fly flew. Robin rode motorcycle. Cyborg drove his car. Only Siren ever really changed the pattern. Sometimes she sat in Cyborg's passenger seat and fiddled with the electronics of her suit. Today, Eleanor wanted to clear her head. So instead of riding in the close air conditioned confines of the T-car, Siren was sprinting along rooftops, using her powerful legs and teleportation powers to keep pace with her fellow Titans. No helmet today, she wanted to feel the wind on her face. There was very little traffic on the streets below. Most of the pedestrians were too tired to notice the celebrities passing over their head except a bleary glance at the T-Car as it roared by. They shuffled on towards home or work, staring at their shoes. The night shifts trying to stay awake long enough to reach their beds, the day shifts trying to shake off the vestiges of sleep. One early morning jogger glanced up and gawked at their passage. On a better day, or a better month for that matter, Eleanor would have waved.
What does Slade want? Eleanor instead mulled over that question. She had been considering Slade's efforts, but so far she could detect no ultimate goal. His attacks had been geared toward either maximizing destruction or simply targeting the Titans himself. The computer chips he'd used Robin to steal were conceivably for Apex, but there was no telling what the relationship between the two really was. Did they have a common goal or were they using each other? And then there was the detonator or, perhaps more importantly, that Slade had called them and told them about it. Either Slade was just that overconfident or it was a trap... Or he was insane.
But Eleanor found her thoughts drifting away from the masked man and to his, for the moment silent, , at the moment silent, partner. Tenenbaum had told her what he'd mentioned about his goals. He wanted to create supermen, he wanted humans to be be powerful enough that they didn't need heroes. It could even be seen as noble in some light, but whatever madness the doctor had fallen into after he started taking ADAM had led him down a dangerous road. He was deteriorating, and so was his restraint…
"What are you going to do?" Siren was so wrapped in her revert that her surprise at the question nearly made her miss a step and plunge five stories. Instead, she recovered and pushed off towards the next rooftop, trying very hard not to look down. Raven flew next to her, cloak billowing behind her in the wind.
"What?"
"If we find Apex in this mission, what will you do?" The sorceress turned her eyes forward but she was clearly still listening.
"I…" Eleanor's first instinct was to say, stop him. But she wasn't sure what answer Raven was looking for. Her friend's expression was inscrutable, but her eyes were searching for something in Eleanor's face. The former Little Sister had some idea what it was. After a pregnant pause, she gulped and spoke. "I... We need to stop him." She returned her gaze forward. "If we can stop him now, together... all the better. Then I'll... tell them about everything."
"Hm." Raven made a noncommittal noise, but said nothing.
"I know I haven't given you good reason have faith in me lately," Eleanor spoke with a little more confidence and looked back at her friend. "Just give me a chance to prove that I mean what say. That's all I ask."
"I want to..." Raven murmured and averted her eyes. Suddenly she sped ahead. Despite herself, Eleanor felt some hope enter her heart. Perhaps this new distance between them could be bridged after all. Then she steeled herself. A thought quickened her pulse. Whether it was getting her friend back or removing Rapture from her life for good, it all seemed like it start with the same step: Apex and Slade needed to be stopped.
Dawn was beginning to break when the pier came into view. The building looked abandoned, worn sheet metal walls and several of the small windows were cracked or broken. Within those fractured openings was only darkness. There was not a soul in evidence in the surrounding area. The only signs of life were a handful of pigeons. The Titans wasted no time in making for the structure's nearest entrance. They paused for a moment, glancing at one another for cues as to how they wanted to make their entrance. Eleanor was about to suggest that she teleport into the rafters ahead of them to get the lay of the land when Robin flicked out his Bo staff.
"That detonator could go any second," The boy wonder drew a pair of discs from his utility belt. "Go!" Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, the twin explosives were spinning towards the warehouse door. Eleanor took a step back and instinctively shielded her face from the blast. 'Handling it', yes, so I see Robin. The boy wonder charged into the smoke without hesitation. Whether the other Titans were having thoughts along similar lines, she had no way of knowing, they all followed his example or perhaps simply habit. Raven sidled in with her hands raised, prepared to summon arcane power at a moment's notice. Cyborg brandished his sonic cannon. Bright emerald light hummed from Starfire's hands. Beast Boy stood poised with balled fists to take any shape in an instant. The former Little Sister leapt to the fore, hands outstretched.
...Nothing.
"Empty?" Starfire spoke truly. The warehouse floor was bare. There was no detonator, no Slade.
"Oh man!" Cyborg groaned in dismay as he lowered his cannon. The other Titans relaxed their stances. Eleanor pursed her lips. Could Slade have anticipated them seeing the reflection? Or was he just cautious?
"I don't believe this!" The boy wonder growled. As if to add insult to injury, Slade's robotic henchmen chose precisely that moment to drop from the rafters. Over two dozen of them touched down with synchronized grace. Eleanor glanced back the way they came. A line of dark silhouettes blocked the brightening horizon, the bronze half of their faceplates gleaming in the dawning light. The Titans circled up, facing the surrounding drones.
"Great." Grumbled Beast Boy. "Now what do we do?"
"We fight. Titans! Go!" Robin's familiar shout set the Teen Titans into motion. Siren launched herself into the fray. A drone threw a punch in her direction, but hit empty air as she teleported, appearing in a violet flash behind it. She raised a hand crackling with electricity. The drone's body went rigid as the surge sent sparks flying from its circuitry and fused its systems. Three of its fellows surrounded her almost instantly. Siren held up both hands, each hissing with a building current of energy. She leapt, intending to plant her foot firmly through the faceplate of one drone while directing one of her electrified hands towards each of the other two.
*shink* *crack* *CSHHH*
The drone in front of her suddenly fell to the side. A bird shaped projectile split its faceplate down the middle and sparks flew from the open hole in its head. The sudden loss of her target threw off Eleanor's trajectory as her foot hit empty air. She yelped and pinwheeled her arms awkwardly for balance. Two bolts of lightning discharged harmlessly into the floor, leaving a pair of blackened scorch marks. Siren landed in an unsteady crouch.
"What- What was-?" She twisted around in time to watch the boy wonder's metal toed boot plow into one of her attackers. His bo staff took the other's feet out from under it and a second blow put a sizable dent in its head casing. Both fell still and Robin was gone before they hit the ground. Eleanor could only blink and sputter after him, bewildered. "Robin?" He was already moving onto new targets. Cyborg's headlong charge into the enemy was cut short as the boy wonder dispatched the drones in his path.
"Hey! I was gonna do that!"
Eleanor turned to see Starfire surrounded. Emerald starbolts pulsed around her hands as she prepared for a spinning strafe. Instead she gasped in surprise as a barrage of pinpoint accurate projectiles, punches, and kicks ripped through her opponents before she had a chance to lift a finger. Robin leapt smoothly into next cluster of drones, these menacing Raven, who hovered above them with hands outstretched.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zin-" She cut her mantra off in sheer bewilderment as the boy wonder continued his rampage. The five Titans could only look on in mingled shock and confusion as their friend singlehandedly annihilated the remainder of the drones. This was not the controlled diligent leader they knew. There was a frightful ferocity to his movements, uncontrolled rage came off him in waves, mingled with a singular desire to destroy his enemy. Eleanor glanced at Starfire. The Tamaranian's eyes were wide with a mixture of worry and dismay. Siren's heart sank. That's what Raven feels when she looks at me? The sorceress was far less open in her expression, but Eleanor knew her well. She was just as disturbed as the rest of them. As the last machine fell, Robin was upon it ferociously, beating his staff into its faceplate over and over.
"Uh, Robin? I think you got him." Robin didn't seem to hear Cyborg's deadpan observation. Again and again the staff pounded into drone, until the metal gave way and sparks flew from its circuitry. Robin's grunts and clangs of metal striking metal were the only sounds in the warehouse.
"Yes, please!" Starfire approached the frenzied Titan, distressed. "You may stop now." As he raised his staff to slam it down again, she caught his hand. "We are victorious!"
"Slade's got his finger on the trigger and we have nothing!" The boy wonder growled as he stood and retracted his staff. "Does that sound like a victory to you?"
"Dude, we get it, you don't have to go all psycho berserker ninja." Beast Boy winced as Robin sent a glare his way.
"Beast Boy's right, Robin." Siren spoke up. "This won't bring you any closer to Slade, you need to calm down." That anger will fester inside you if you let it. Robin turned and fixed her with hard look. He opened his mouth to retort.
"Wait." All eyes turned to Raven. Her hand was raised and her brow furrowed. "Listen, do you hear that?" Everyone stood still, straining their ears. Eleanor heard nothing at first. Then she picked it up, a steady hum buzzing and building through the very floor.
"What-" Starfire began. A thunderous crack cut her off as crevices spiderwebbed across the center of the warehouse floor. The buzzing reached a crescendo, screeching through the entire structure.
"Titans, move!" Robin shouted, not a moment too soon. The Titans scattered. Siren leapt upwards, catching a rafter in her ascent and swinging herself onto it. Concrete exploded upward into the room, a massive figure amidst it, sparking drill arm held aloft. His hulking armored form landed in a ground shaking crouch.
"Theta," Eleanor's breath caught in her throat. His visor pulsed crimson as he swiveled in her direction. Dark silhouettes clambered out of the hole he'd left in his wake. Deranged cackles and screeches echoed through the space. Fire leapt from some of their hands as they gained their footing. Others leapt to the rafters with howling whoops and latched onto the steel girders. "No..." He's been experimenting. She grit her teeth. The splicers surged towards the Titans. One spied Eleanor and raised a flaming fist. She tensed to spring away from her perch... when Robin's boot slammed into the splicer's chest and knocked him flat on his back.
"Titans!" Another splicer leapt down from the rafters only to meet the end of Robin's staff. His jaw cracked audibly on impact before he fell to the ground senseless. "Attack!"
Siren launched herself into the fray. Robin wouldn't be dominating the fight this time. She sent the first splicer she met spasming to the ground with two hundred volts coursing through his nerve endings. From there, Siren moved through the chaos of the battle unleashing torrents of lightning and barrages of fire, lashing out with crushing kicks and punches to send Apex's spliced thugs flying. She glimpsed her teammates through the chaos. Starfire dove and weaved through splicer fireballs, throwing emerald bolts at spider splicers that attempted to leap at her from ceiling. Beast Boy knocked thugs aside as a bull, only to slither beneath their attacks as a snake, and rise again throw them around like ragdolls as a massive green gorilla. On the opposite side of the gaping hole the armored juggernaut had so recently carved through the floor, Theta exchanged blows with Cyborg. The metal man and the juggernaut exchanged blows of incredible strength, bolts of lightning and blasts from Cyborg's sonic cannon scarring the area around them. Amongst the surrounding splicers, Robin was a whirlwind.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Dark energy coalesced around concrete debris and they whirled about the sorceress, batting away the frenzied mutants.
"Miss Lamb," The first words she heard in the battle besides grunts and demented shrieking gave her pause. They were calm, unconcerned, out of place. Pausing was a mistake. As Siren turned toward the speaker, she felt a sharp prick on her neck. She twisted away from the contact. Spinning away, Apex's red goggles gleamed in the dim light. He clutched a syringe filled with a clear fluid in one hand, already a third emptied. A bead of red clung to the end of the needle. Eleanor's hand shot to her neck. The spliced criminal shrugged bashfully. "I don't suppose you'll just make this easy for me?"
"What did you do?!" Siren surged forth. Her fist met red mist and she whirled around, searching. A popping noise drew her attention to a spot ten paces away. Apex stumbled, swore and turned.
"Theta! Capture her!" The juggernaut turned from his fight with Cyborg abruptly and stepped in their direction.
"Hey! You did not just turn your back on me!" Cyborg's arm shifted into his sonic cannon and he leveled it at Theta. A spider splicer crashed down into the metal man from the ceiling. His knives slid harmlessly off Cyborg's titanium shell, but his weight was enough to knock the metal man off his feet. "Whoa!" Theta took two running steps, then launched his armored form over the hole he had made earlier.
"Apex!" Eleanor grit her teeth and tried to bound after her nemesis, only to fall short as her vision swam. "What- what is this-AGH!" Theta's thunderous impact shook the ground and threw Siren off her feet.
"That was a partial dose," Apex held up the syringe and began walking toward her prone form. "This is enough to put down a horse. It should be more than enough for you. Theta! Hold her!" Even as Eleanor drew in her arms to push herself up, a great weight descended on her back and forced her back to the ground, pinning her arms beneath her body. She craned her neck to look over her shoulder. Theta's drill arm lay flat across her back. The juggernaut leaned into her with all his weight. His gleaming red visor glared down at her.
"I know what you are, Miss Lamb," Apex approached her, toying with the syringe. "I've wondered how you can be so powerful, yet be, by all appearances, impervious to the mutations and mental degradation my subjects suffer from." He took a knee beside Siren. "You're the key, Miss Lamb, hopefully to my supply problems as well." He lowered the syringe towards her neck. A stab of fear shot through the former Little Sister. For a moment, the figure standing over her was wearing a lab coat, not black body armor. For a moment, his face was that of Dr. Suchong, expression pinched in cold distaste. The warehouse melted away, to be replaced by a sterile laboratory. Then at once there was a great crash and the weight pinning Eleanor was gone.
"Siren!" Raven's eyes shone like two brilliant white stars in the darkness of her hood. A steel beam, bent and distorted from striking Theta, had been wrenched from the rafters and hung in the air beside her. Apex staggered back. Siren took advantage of his distraction and launched herself at her foe, tackling him to the ground. She pinned the wrist of the hand holding the syringe and pulled back her fist. Apex was floundered, apparently still trying to figure out what had just happened. This was her chance. She could knock him unconscious and ensure he spent the rest of his life behind bars where he couldn't hurt anyone. But would that be enough? How often did their usual opponents break out of prison and take up their old tricks? Eleanor hesitated, and in that hesitation she saw Raven out of the corner of her eye. The sorceress batted away a spider spliced with the steel beam, unaware of a massive form raising its sparking drill arm behind her. A spike of terror drove through Eleanor's heart.
And suddenly, her choice was easy.
In a violet flash, she was no longer pinning Apex. When she reappeared, she had a split second to watch Raven's expression register confusion. Then a strangled shriek ripped from Eleanor's throat as electric agony coursed through every nerve ending. Her back arched, every muscle spasmed. She smelled smoldering hair. Her vision went white, then black, then nothing. By the time her body hit the ground, every other sense had followed suit.
"Eleanor!" Raven froze in mute horror as the former Little Sister collapsed to the floor, twitching and silent. The sorceress hardly noticed the ball of fire until it was upon her. She threw up a barrier of dark energy, too little and too late to stop the full force of the attack. Heat blasted her exposed skin and the force of the explosion knocked her from the air. Searing agony consumed her left hand. Raven landed on her shoulder, grunting at the pain.
"Grab her, you idiot!" Apex was shouting, something between excitement and desperation in his voice. "We need to go now!" When Raven looked up, Theta had tossed Eleanor's limp form over his shoulder like a sack of wheat. The former Little Sister shuddered and groaned, but made no indication of consciousness. His master tapped his foot impatiently by the hole in the floor. "Stick. Too. The. Plan!" And with that he was gone in a burst of red haze. The juggernaut took a step towards the edge.
"Hey!" Robin was suddenly there, throwing a trio of discs at Theta. There was a flash of fire and smoke with each impact. Theta reeled and staggered, but kept his footing. "What does your boss want with Slade?!" The boy wonder drew more explosives from his utility belt.
"Don't hit Siren!" Raven forced herself to her feet and tried to raise her burned hand. Every movement summoned a fresh wave of pain, but her formidable mental discipline allowed the sorceress to persevere. Robin hesitated for a fraction of a second as he reached into his utility belt. It was long enough for Theta to step off the edge and plunge out of view. Raven's heart leapt into her throat, a tumultuous wave of emotion swept through her and out of her. The floor cracked around her feet, the nearest pillar whined with the strain as it warped and crumpled. Before she knew it, Raven was airborne and flying after juggernaut faster than she had ever flown before. The water parted for her as she fell below the pier, conforming around her bubble of dark energy. Numerous reinforced concrete pillars, each barely more than two meters in height, separated the warehouse floor from the shallows of the harbor. Theta was making his way towards a large pipe opening set into the concrete barrier that marked the shoreline. Even as Raven watched, the juggernaut pulled himself and his quarry up into the pipe. Eleanor's head lolled to the side, allowing the sorceress a glimpse of Eleanor's slack features. An alien, feral growl bubbled up from Raven's cool facade. She saw red. She hurtled towards Theta filled with a visceral need to tear and crush this wretched being: how dare he attack Eleanor! How dare he take-
A cloying wrathful fog wrapped itself around Raven's every thought, turning each towards the object of her rage. They reached out as tendrils of consuming blackness ahead of her, speeding towards Theta. Some tiny part of her that remained in control noted a number of odd lumpy grey bricks stuck around the pipe's circumference. Each had a small black rectangle with red light on it. If she was more herself, she no doubt would have recognized them for what they were immediately. As she was, her frenzied awareness had no chance. As Theta vanished into the tunnel, her first hint that something was wrong came as a deafening blast, then a wave of heat and concussive force. The sorceress tumbled through the air like a rag doll. She struck a buckling pillar. The next thing she knew, she was in the water, with warehouse crashed down upon her then...
R... ven...
Pain. Flashes of blinding white and red light.
Raven!
Her body wouldn't respond, her mind was too spent from clinging to the edge of consciousness to think or feel.
"Raven, please, wake up!" Starfire. The Tamaranian's familiar voice drew her to the surface. She opened her eyes. Three pairs of eyes stared back. Starfire was holding head up, her face creased with worry. Beast Boy breathed a sigh of relief and sat back when she opened her eyes. Raven's eyes found Cyborg. "Where... Where's Siren?"
"I lost her signal a minute ago." Cyborg shook his head. "Still in the sewers I'd guess, could be anywhere by now." Raven grit her teeth and forced herself to sit up.
"Hey!" Beast Boy piped up. "Take it easy! You'd of been crushed if Star hadn't pulled you out of there so quick!" Her head swam for a moment, but otherwise she felt unharmed.
"We have to go after her, now!"
"We need to find that detonator!" Robin growled. "Slade could detonate any second, we can't waste any more time!" The boy wonder clenched and unclenched his fists, as if frustrated he didn't have anything to hit. Raven took Cyborg's hand and rose to her feet. She turned on Robin with a glare.
"Who cares!? Apex has Eleanor! Do you have any idea what he could be doing to her right now?"
"If that thing goes off, it won't matter who has her! The whole city's at stake!"
"Hey, time out, everyone calm down." Cyborg stepped between the two making a timeout gesture with his hands. "Apex is working with Slade, right? So if we can find one, we'll probably find Siren."
"Yeah!" Beast Boy chimed in. "I mean, we know he was here with the detonator. So we'll just split up and-"
"Waste hours searching only to find nothing?" Raven snapped. Starfire winced at her friend's distress, but nodded.
"Raven is right, we must find some way to track the device." The Tamaranian turned to Robin, hoping he had calmed down sufficiently to come up with an idea, but the boy wonder wasn't even paying attention. He was staring intently across the wharf.
"Freeze!" Robin burst into motion, sprinting towards a figure that had slipped between two buildings. More confused than anything else, the other Titans followed in his wake. When they rounded the corner, Robin was throwing a terrified dockworker against the wall. He shoved Slade's emblem into the man's face. "Tell me everything you know about this!" The man could only blubber in fear and bewilderment.
"W-what?"
"Answer me!" Robin pushed him up against the wall more roughly. A cold anger seeped through Raven. Was Robin even trying to keep his promise to hold it together? Eleanor had. She had put Raven ahead of her need to stop Apex and leapt into the line of fire. Now she was in danger because of her, and Robin was too busy acting like a thug to help. Almost unbidden, dark energy began to coalesce around the boy wonder's cloths.
"I swear, I don't know what that is!" The man swore, but before Robin could press the issue he found himself yanked back and slammed hard against the opposite wall.
"You said you could handle it." She growled, pressing Robin harder into the brickwork.
"You promised…" Starfire muttered weakly, pain in her voice. Her friend's pain shook Raven from her rage. She released Robin and the boy wonder dropped down to the ground.
"We're wasting time." He stalked off without missing a beat, as if Raven hadn't had him at her mercy a moment ago.
"Hey, just because we're trying to catch Slade doesn't mean you have to act like him!" Beast Boy shouted at his back. That gave him pause. Robin stopped in his tracks, then turned on Beast Boy.
"Don't you ever compare me to him! He's trying to destroy the city, I'm trying to save it!" Robin looked ready to attack the next person to contradict him. The Titans stared at their de facto leader in silence. Raven wondered how he could be so blind. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Thankfully, fate intervened to relieve it.
ACHOOO!
Starfire sneezed. When humans or most other species sneeze, the worst those nearby have to worry about is projectile mucus, which is really bad enough. When Tamaranians sneeze, their energy projection abilities also act up for just a split second, so when Starfire sneezed it was like a small concussive explosion. The other Titans were nearly knocked off their feet, smoke clouding their vision.
"...Gesundheit." Raven muttered, dazed by the sudden blast. The other Titans reeled.
"I apologize," Starfire blushed. "I'm allergic to metallic chromium, there must be a source near-" The Tamaranian paused and wrinkled her nose. This time the other Titans had time to take cover.
ACHOOOOO!
"Ugh, sorry." Starfire sniffed. Raven emerged from the wall she had phased through. Cyborg walked up to the alien girl with both eyes fixed on his arm scanner.
"Interesting."
"Not really," Starfire covered her nose to stop herself from sneezing again. "On my world chromium allergies are quite common."
"No," Cyborg shook his head. "The key component of a chronoton detonator is a metallic chromium core, which means…"
"Starfire can track it!" Beast Boy grinned. Immediately the other Titans began following Starfire around the premises, prepared to leap for cover should her allergies bring them closer to the detonator. Raven lagged behind. This isn't going to work. They may very well find the weapon, but there was no reason Slade or Apex had to be anywhere near it. If they actually planned to set it off, they would be far away. This wouldn't get her closer to finding Siren. There might be one way...
"Yo, Raven, come on!" Cyborg motioned for her to follow the other Titans. Raven took a breath and steeled herself.
"Go ahead, I think I have a way to find Siren." With that she phased down into the ground with a flare of darkness. When she emerged in the sewer, the sorceress closed her eyes and felt for that fragile thread in the back of her mind that connected her to Eleanor. It had withered to almost nothing, as she had intended it to, but now she poured every ounce of her will into it, opening it, widening it, reaching through it as best she could, anything to give her a sense of where Eleanor was. Wake up.
A jolt of wakefulness shot through Siren's mind. All at once her senses returned to her: the dank odor of sewage, tingling pain in her nerve endings, shafts of light from the surface illuminating the large intersection ahead, and the hard cold of Theta's armored shoulder as she lay slung over it. But the most vivid sensation wasn't coming from one of her five senses.
It was Raven. Eleanor could feel the sorceress throughout her thoughts, permeating every corner of her mind. It felt like a wave of electric fire, burning away the effects of the drug in her system. Every cell felt energized, almost giddy. She couldn't quite put into words how she knew it was Raven, but she did. The sorceress was reaching for her, trying to find her. Siren didn't know if she could get a location, but it gave the former Little Sister something else.
A chance to fight.
She checked her communicator, but the electric jolt that had knocked her unconscious seemed to have fried it. Only one thing to do then. Siren balled her fists, then in one vigorous movement twisted to bring them crashing down on Theta's helmet with a shout. The juggernaut stumbled and in that instant Siren teleported. With a violet flash, she had reached the wide intersection. Her boots plunged into rank sewage, but she didn't mind. Siren whirled on her captor. Theta let out a low groaning roar, the red glow of his visor intensifying as it settled on the Titan.
"Well, now, let's do this properly." She grit her teeth and raised one crackling electric fist. "I will not be your maker's lab rat." Her only response was another groan. Theta raised his drill arm, wrapped in lightning as the drill revved up. "That's what I thought you'd say." With no further preamble, Theta lunged forward, his whole body launched behind the drill. Siren could hear the concrete crack beneath the force of his launch. She was prepared. Eleanor bent her knees and pushed off with all her strength. She shot straight up into the air just as Theta's drill tore through the sewage and into the spot she had been standing on with a shriek of metal and breaking concrete. At the apex of her flight, she reached the grate in the ceiling. The gaps between the bars were just large enough for her to interlace her fingers with them. Siren hung there, looking down as Theta struggled to pull its drill free.
"What on earth are you doing, you-" Apex's tirade died on his lips as he turned the corner and saw that his prize was free. All Eleanor had time to do was shoot a glare at the villain, a glare with a promise:
You're next
"Subdue her!" Apex stomped his feet as he screamed at the top of his lungs, desperation and fear accompanying annoyance. "Subdue her! You stupid, useless-" whatever he said next was lost on Siren as she returned her focus to Theta. The juggernaut had just about freed his drill from the sewer floor. The Titan flipped herself upside down to brace her feet against the grate. She let go and pushed off at the same time, driving her fist straight down below her to collide with Theta's armored helm. She felt the metal begin to cave beneath the colossal force of her blow. Surely she had several new bone fractures for her effort, but the adrenaline was keeping the worst of the pain at bay for the moment. Her moment of triumph was cut brutally short as Theta swung his drill up in an arc, catching her in the side and swatting her out of the air. The blow drove the air from her lungs and sent the Titan careening across the chamber, tumbling through the air. Eleanor saw stars, then she hit the ground.
"Ugh!" If she'd had air in her lungs, she probably would have screamed a lot louder when her shoulder dislocated on the first bounce. She slide a mercifully short distance on her side before coming to a stop. Siren made herself sit up, trying not to whimper as she held her arm close to her side. It hurt. Putting it back in place would hurt a lot more, but with her healing factor it would only get worse if she left it much longer. Eleanor held her breath. An errant thought crossed her mind: Why do I feel cold?
"Aaaagh!" What little breath she had regained was driven forth again as her joint was righted. She fell forward, all thought of her idle question obliterated, supporting herself with her good arm.
And that's when she saw why she felt cold.
Instead of sitting waist deep in sewage, Eleanor was kneeling on a solid sheet of ice. She raised her gaze and followed it to what must have been her point of impact. The Titan looked down at her hand. The soreness in her arm was rapidly dissipating and she was able to hold it in front of her. It was the same hand she had punched Theta with. Her gauntlet was all but shattered, in part from the punch and not helped by the extreme cold coming from inside. Her hand was covered in a sheen of ice with tiny thin spikes glinting in what little light there was. She flexed her fingers experimentally. The whole hand felt like pins and needles, but the ice didn't seem to inhibits her range of motion. She looked up at Theta. The juggernaut had paused to observe this new development, but now it raised its drill for another charge.
"Thank you," Eleanor uttered her thanks under her breath and blinked away a tear. She knew what had happened. The pieces fit. Raven's mental invasion, stimulating her mind and body, had awoken this plasmid in her. It had been her father's, absorbed with his memories when she took his ADAM. The two people she loved most had reached across time and space to give her what she needed. She had a new trick. The rules had changed.
Siren stood to her full height as Theta braced for another charge. Then he surged towards her, sparking drill before him. Siren leapt, not up this time but at an angle to Theta. She bounded off the wall, pushing herself up and over the juggernaut's charge, all the while a wave of frost and subzero temperatures poured from her palm, washing over Theta's frame. Even as she passed over him, his movements began to slow, the water around his feet becoming solid. Siren repositioned herself, freezing the water beneath her and landing in a crouch. Theta once again turned to face her, visor flaring crimson. She thrust both her hands forward, cold rushing from both palms now. The water between her and her adversary froze almost instantly.
Theta took a step forward, only to find himself stuck as ice formed around his legs. The frost climbed Theta's armored form even as he tried to shake it off. An anguished groan echoed off the walls as cold it had never been designed for sank into his armor's systems. The juggernaut's movements became slower and slower until a layer of ice had formed all around him and he stopped moving entirely. Eleanor let her arms drop, momentarily exhausted by the effort, but she only rested for a moment. She gathered and launched herself at Theta.
"Hah!" She plunged her fist into the center of his breastplate and it shattered, made brittle by the extreme cold. Cracks spiderwebbed from where she struck and the armored suit ruptured with near explosive force. Theta tumbled back and crashed through the ice into the foul water below. He made no movement to get up. Siren just stood there for several seconds, her fist still poised in the air, panting. That was the only sound besides the babble of the sewer's flow. After a few seconds, she opened her hand.
It took her a moment to realize it was covered in blood.
Splayed out before her, what lay inside Theta's armor could no longer be called a man. It's skin was grey splotched with white and pink. It's arms were almost more like tentacles and its head was a bulbous knot of flesh she couldn't even begin to see as a face. It's chest heaved, a gurgling noise escaped what passed for Theta's mouth. Crimson gushed from a small gory crater in its abdomen. The flesh was already slowly attempting to knit itself together. But it won't be enough. Theta was dying, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
"My god... You truly are an astounding specimen." The awe in Apex's voice stoked a wrathful fire in Eleanor. She wheeled on him and leveled an accusing finger.
"You did this to him!" she shouted, her voice shrill with fury. "You just kept giving him ADAM, didn't you?! You didn't even care! You didn't care what you were doing to him!" As she considered the horrors that had been visited upon Theta and her father alike, her mind leapt to those left behind. Theta's body was warped beyond recognition, his DNA spliced and degraded. Nobody would ever know who he was. Somewhere out there he could have a family: a spouse, children, parents or siblings that would never know what became of him, never get closure. He wasn't the monster. He was just one of the monster's victims.
"Subject Theta was a stepping stone," The villain wrung his hands excitedly. "I learned a great deal from him, but you are what I aspire to: strong, fast, and adaptive. I know you are no fool, Miss Lamb. Imagine what we could achieve together!" Eleanor screwed up her face in disgust. The mad scientist was off in his own little world, gleefully contemplating whatever ideal future he hoped for.
"You're the same as Ryan, the same as my mother." Eleanor muttered to herself. "You say you want a better world, but you don't really care about anything besides your own ideas."
"Hm? What was tha-UMPH!" Apex suddenly found himself pinned to the ground, Siren looming over him. She clawed at his mask and he did his best to ward her off, shouting to no avail.
"Who are you!?" Finally she got a grip on the ski mask and yanked with all her might, the goggles coming with them. What she she saw, sneering back up at her, stopped her cold. "D-Dr. Lutwidge!?" The man she had known almost as long as she had known the Titans, the man who had tended her sisters as they languished in comas. Was he even really trying to wake them up? Then the fiery rage returned. This man, this psychotic deviant, had unlimited access to her sisters for months. The very thought made her skin crawl. How could she have missed it, why hadn't she seen it!? Her grip tightened on his shoulders and she raise a fist. Then something sharp jabbed into the side of her neck. Eleanor swore and punched Ryan Lutwidge straight in the face. He howled as his nose broke. The syringe fell to the ground but it was too late. Eleanor lurched away from Lutwidge. Already she was feeling groggy.
"Have to get away..." She grumbled. In a violet flash, she was across the room. She staggered down the nearest passageway. In this state, a blind teleport could put her halfway through a wall. She reached a corner and turned only to bump into something, someone. He towered over even her. When she looked up she saw a mask. Copper and black. Panic rushed through her.
"Sla-" A fist struck her in the temple so fast she barely registered the movement. Eleanor crumpled and knew no more.
"She's gone." Raven tried to suppress her own rising sense of panic. The stream of awareness she had sensed from Eleanor had abruptly vanished. She'd been able to get a vague sense of location and had been following it as fast as she could, which she hoped was much faster than Theta could move. Now, it was gone, and she wasn't sure what that meant, only that it was bad. "No, no, no! She has to be here..." That's when she heard the voices.
"I don't enjoy cleaning up your messes, Doctor."
"I assure you, this girl is all I need. A perfect specimen..."
"If I had not already invested my resources, I would have washed my hands of you some time ago."
"Yes, yes..."
"One more setback and the Titans will be the least of your concerns." Raven recognized that voice all too well. When she rounded the corner, the sorceress stopped short, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. The remains of what looked like Theta were laid out in front of her, sliced open with some... thing inside. a layer of frost clung to his remaining armor. It was the the two speakers that drew her attention, however. The one without a mask, Apex she assumed, looked like he hadn't slept in a week. His eyes were bloodshot with dark bags below them. He was pale and his hair was disheveled. Apex held Eleanor's limp form. The man he was talking to...
"Slade!" Raven flew into the tunnel, dark energy forming around her hands. "Let. Her. Go."
"Raven." Slade seemed almost amused by her presence. "What a surprise, I would have thought you'd be tracking the detonator with the rest of the Titans." He glanced at the former Little Sister's slack features. "But I suppose it isn't surprising that at least one of you came after your lost comrade, even when calamity threatens the city..."
"I won't tell you again." Raven grit her teeth and tried to find her center. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Dark energy enfolded the rubble from what Raven guessed was Eleanor's fight with Theta. The concrete chunks hovered in the air around her.
"Very well then, let's be brief. I do have an appointment to keep after all..." Slade moved with remarkable speed. Before Raven could blink a cluster of projectiles were spinning her way. One of the concrete chunks moved to intercept. The sorceress sent the others hurtling toward both her opponents. Apex cried out, hastily dodging a piece intended for his head. The mad scientist abruptly turned tail and fled the opposite direction, Eleanor still in his arms.
"No!" Raven surged forward, intending to chase after them. Then something grabbed her cloak and pulled her back so hard she lost her focus and tumbled to the ground. Slade looked down at her holding a fist full of blue cloak. He didn't have a scratch on him.
"A bit of advice," Raven just barely blocked his first punch with a burst of dark energy. The second knocked her flat. "Don't forget who you're fighting." The sorceress lashed out, catching the villain off guard with a burst of energy that knocked him back a pace. It was enough for her to scramble away and take to the air.
"Azara- AH!" Without warning, a red beam struck Raven in the center of her chest and sent her flying down the tunnel, where she landed in a heap.
"As I said Raven, I have an appointment, I don't have time to drag this out." Raven barely heard him as she faded to the edge of consciousness, he seemed to be moving away from her. "Goodbye," Raven saw two lights flicker on the roof of the tunnel, a pair of projectiles she had missed earlier. Then a pair of explosions ripped through the tunnel, and everything was smoke, fire, and falling debris. That's when Raven's efforts to stay conscious failed. When she regained consciousness ten minutes later, she searched the surrounding tunnels. She found no trace of Apex, Slade or Eleanor. There was no indication of where they had gone and she couldn't reestablish a mental link. After almost three hours, Raven was forced to admit that Eleanor was gone.
Author's Note: I'M NOT DEAD… So, it's been awhile I know. I've had an… eventful and stressful year. Hopefully I can get back to updating this on a more regular basis. I enjoy writing, but it's a time consuming and challenging hobby. As someone starting to approach the end of college, I have increasingly less time and more challenge on my hands as it is.
Like I said though, I do want to continue this. So please leave a review! This story has 132 followers at the moment, and more favorites. Hearing from a good number of you would be great, thoughtful opinions are appreciated. Also, a few people have asked about an Infinity crossover. I will say only that I am planning something in that line, but its quite a ways down the line.