"It thought you said the T-Jet was ready!" Robin growled. "What are you doing?"
Cyborg gave Robin an annoyed glare. "I have to do a pre-flight check. It's a suborbital flight, remember? We're not taking the T-Car for a spin around the block. Just leave me alone, I'm going as fast as I can!"
Robin grumbled as he walked away. Of course Cyborg was right, but that didn't help ameliorate his impatience to get going. It had almost been an hour! Just as he was about to leave the hangar Barbara charged in, with a large backpack weighing her down.
"I'm not late, am I?" she asked worriedly.
"You're fine, the T-Jet isn't ready yet." He replied. "Have you been in space before?"
"We're going into outer space?"
"Just briefly. That's how we're going to get there so quickly. That is if we ever get going."
"I heard that!" Cyborg whined. "And you can stop complaining, the T-Jet's ready to go."
The three Titans climbed into their compartments aboard the T-Jet after Cyborg had stowed their backpacks into the storage compartment. Once they were buckled in the T-Jet was lifted to a vertical position and the two booster rockets ignited, lifting them quickly into the ionosphere. Within 20 minutes they had crossed the continent and were over the Atlantic Ocean. The boosters at that point were spent and were discarded, leaving the ship temporarily in zero G. Barbara felt queasy but fought back the nausea. After another 20 minutes they had crossed the Atlantic and began their reentry into the atmosphere with the African continent already visible ahead of them. As the reentry progressed they could discern the Ivory Coast. Much to Barbara's relief the tug of gravity was felt as the T-Jet quickly decelerated.
"We should be there in 15 minutes guys… whoa!" Cyborg shouted as he saw the nuclear blast from their current elevation of 40 km.
"Cyborg, what was that?" Robin howled.
Raven and Starfire flew up to Robotman.
"Is he OK?" Raven shrieked.
"Yeah, he's fine. He just got zapped."
Starfire stared at the mushroom cloud that was now towering over the forest.
"Friends! We must dig!" the princess yelled. "The shock wave will be here soon!"
"Go get Marie!" Raven shouted back as she used her obsidian power to start digging a trench. "Don't just stand there! Dig!" she shouted at the Doom Patrol. "Where's Terra when you need her?"
The Doom Patrol joined in helping Raven dig the trench. Robotman and Rita used their hands while Mento used his mental powers. The trench was dug in a matter of seconds. Starfire soon returned with Marie in her arms.
"I will round up the villagers!" she shouted.
"Hurry! We don't have much time!"
The trench was quite long and deep by the time the villagers approached.
"Everyone get in NOW!" Raven shouted in Dioula. The villagers complied followed by the Doom Patrol and the female Titans. As soon as they were all in Raven covered the trench with a dark energy shield and not a moment too soon. As they huddled in the trench the sound of destruction passed over them. It was obvious to all that the village was being destroyed above them. Raven sweated profusely as she held the shield in place. Soon the howling sounds above stopped.
"Wait!" Mento warned. "There will another reverse shockwave in a moment, keep the shield up Raven."
As Mento predicted a second wave passed through the village. Eventually it too was over. Exhausted Raven dropped the shield and collapsed. Mukta and Neela attended to her as the others climbed out of the trench. The villagers gasped as they took in the destruction that surrounded them, as the village and the surrounding forest had been flattened by the shock wave. Even the brick house was decimated.
Starfire was at Beast Boy's side, caressing his head while trying to wake him. It was only then that Rita noticed the green baby she was holding with her other arm.
"Wake dear husband." She kept repeating as the Doom Patrol stared in disbelief.
"It's a nuke man!" Cyborg yelled in disbelief. "The Brotherhood of Evil set off a nuke near the village! About 5 miles away."
Robin was too shocked to say anything. They were too close to ground zero to survive that kind of blast.
"Let's make a slow pass to see if anyone survived." He said sadly.
"Let's not give up on them yet Robin."
Within a few minutes they were flying over the village, or what was left of it.
"See! Told ya!" the bionic boy crowed as soon as they could see the villagers picking through the debris that was left. He landed the T-Jet right in the middle of the village. The three disembarked and were greeted by the Doom Patrol, who proceeded to explain what had happened.
The Doom Patrol had located the Brotherhood's hideout just hours before and where staking it out when Beast Boy appeared. They noticed that he was agitated and was not careful as he approached the cave. He morphed into a monkey and climbed up a tree, unaware of a rock that was morphing into a humanoid form, which had clearly seen him. Before anyone could shout a warning the figure, which turned out to be Madame Rouge, shot him with a stun gun as he was morphing into a bird. Beast Boy reverted to his human form as he fell and landed in Rouge's arms. This is when the Doom Patrol charged. Madame Rouge dropped the changeling and fled into the cave, followed by the Doom Patrol who left Beast Boy unattended.
As they entered the underground complex it was evident that it was still a work in progress. Robots where still digging and building. The Brotherhood had been caught off guard and was not ready to fight the Doom Patrol. The Brain gave the order to retreat. Mallah activated the base's self destruct mechanism as The Brain, Rouge and Immortus boarded a small jet. He joined them before Robotman could reach them and the jet blasted off with a rocket booster and was gone in a flash.
"Steve, we need to stop that self destruct!" Larry shouted.
"It can't be done. The Brotherhood has fitted it with a failsafe mechanism. Any attempt to disarm it will make it detonate. We need to get out of here now. Doom Patrol! Retreat!" he commanded.
As they exited the cave Robotman picked up Beast Boy while Rita stretched to 80 feet high and picked up Mento and Larry. They ran as fast their legs would go. Just as they reached the edge of the forest the self destruct exploded.
Raven and Beast Boy had regained consciousness in time to hear the Doom Patrol's tale. Once Mento was done telling what had happened he noticed that Beast Boy had a vacant look in his eyes.
"You guys didn't see anyone else in the cave, did you?" he asked with a trembling voice. Raven's eyes widened as she wrapped her arms around the changeling. A single word escaped her lips.
"Didi!"
"Who's Didi?" Negative man asked.
Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy joined in a group hug and began to cry.
Sorry for the short chapter. I should have another one by Sunday.