Weeeeeeeeeee! Exciting chapter...sort of...

Chapter 10:

"Robin! Wake up!"

Robin stirred in his bed.

"Robin, this is no time for the beauty sleep!"

Robin stirred some more.

"Robin! The city is in trouble!"

Robin was fully awake now. "What happened? What's happening?"

"The power plant outside of the city!" Starfire said.

"What about it?" Robin inquired.

"It is experiencing one of the meltdowns."

Robin was on his feet within a second. "How long ago did this happen?"

"About ten minutes ago."

"The city is asleep, they have no idea... The don't know what's just happened."

"Robin, we must hurry," Starfire said.

"I know, there isn't much time." Robin got dressed, and did not care if Starfire was watching him or not.

Starfire handed him his shirt, which he slipped over his bare chest.

"Thanks," Robin said, quickly buttoning one of the yellow buttons on the right side of his shirt.

Starfire dug his pants out from a drawer and chucked them at Robin.

Robin caught them and slipped them on over his boxers. He then grabbed his belt and clipped it around his waist.

Robin was out of the bathroom within a period of two minutes.

"The others are waiting downstairs."

"We have less than forty-five minutes before that radiation reaches the city," Robin said grabbing some keys, a suit and a helmet. Robin slipped on the suit, then the helmet over the suit. "You have your own suit, right?" Robin asked zipping up the suit.

"The radiation-proof one? Yes, I do believe so," Starfire replied.

"Put it on!"

"I am not affected—

"I don't care!" Robin said. "I don't want to lose you!"

"Robin—

"Just do it!"

Starfire did not protest anymore.

"And tell the others to put on their own suits."

"They are already wearing them."

"Good. April as well?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Go give April this—never mind. She can ride in Cyborg's car."

"You are riding the bike that is motorized?"

"Correct."

Starfire hurried out of the room and Robin was close behind.

"Let's go," Robin announced when he saw the others.

"So...we're going inside of a radioactive power plant?" April asked looking terrified through the helmet of her radiation-proof suit.

"Yes! Now you are going to follow every order that I or one of the other Titans tell you to do...understood?" Robin informed April.

April gulped. "Yes, sir."

"We have approximately forty minutes to find the source of the meltdown and shut it down. Titans! Go!"

Robin ran out of the room. The sound of the R-Cycle could be heard faintly, and then it faded as he sped from the garage, through the underground passage.

The others hopped in Cyborg's car and followed closely behind.

Robin sped towards the plant on his cycle. He was going as fast as his R-Cycle would allow. Even at that speed, it wold take him ten minutes to even reach the gate.

Robin braked hard. Barrier.

"Sorry, you can't go beyond here," a cop said.

"Cyborg's car stopped behind Robin.

"Yes, I can," Robin said pulling out a badge from a compartment on his motorcycle. "Robin or the Teen Titans. And I order you to get out of the way and let us through," Robin demanded motioning to his badge and the car behind him.

The cop nodded and moved out of the way.

Robin fired up his cycle and weaved his way around the wooded sawhorses wrapped in yellow and black tape.

Cyborg plowed right through them.

Robin skidded to a stop in front of the gate to the plant. "Locked," Robin said to the Titans, who stepped out of the car. "Obviously," he added.

"Dude, will I be able to morph in this?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes. It will change as you will. Took me a little longer to invent."

"You invented these?" April asked Robin amazed.

"Not important. Now stand back," Robin said. His hand went for his belt. "Shit."

"What?" Starfire inquired.

"My belt is on the inside," Robin answered unzipping his suit. He quickly unclipped his belt and zipped the zipper back up again.

"That was dangerous," April said watching Robin put the belt around his waist.

"I know. Now...stand back," he told April again.

April backed up as Robin took a disc from his belt and chucked it at the gate.

"Cover your heads and duck!" Robin said as he ran to where the other Titans were standing.

Everyone did as Robin said just as the disc exploded.

Bits of iron flew everywhere as the gate was blown apart. When the smoke cleared, Robin took the lead once again.

"Okay, we have about twenty minutes to shut this thing down. It's too risky to split up individually, so we'll go in pairs. Starfire and I will go to the central operating center. Raven and April go to the west reactor, Cyborg and Beast Boy, go to the east reactor."

April and Raven looked for a sign, found one and followed ins markers.

"I'm wondering why the plant would be running during the night," Robin said to Starfire while sweeping his gave for the door to the control room.

"There it is!" Starfire said pointing to a door on the opposite side of the room—a floor below them.

This part on the plat was like the inside of a large battle ship. Stairwells running throughout the center with thin catwalks creeping along the sides.

Robin took a leap down a stairway, jumping the stairs two at a time with Starfire right behind him. "Doesn't this plant generate enough electricity during the day so people don't have to work the night shift?" Robin asked heading down another pathway.

"This plant does generate enough of the electricity. No one is here. All the lights have been switched off. The plant was shut down at one o' clock in the morning.," Starfire said.

"How do you know that?" Robin inquired.

"It says so on that door," Starfire answered motioning to the door to the central control unit. "It ways the first shift begins at five-thirty AM, and the last shift ends at one AM."

"Right. Then how could there be a melt down at three o' clock in the morning if the system was shut down two hours ago."

"Maybe it wasn't shut down properly...or someone forgot to shut it down," Starfire suggested.

"Highly unlikely," Robin said trying the door which was obviously locked. "I think at this plant, or any as a matter of fact, they check the whole thing multiple times with a bunch of people before the leave the premises. I doubt all of the people who check this place would have missed something like that."

"Okay, I will go along with that," Starfire agreed.

Robin pulled a tiny crow bar from his belt and wedged it between the door frame and the door.

"Robin, why don't you just—

"Because it will blow the catwalks to bits," Robin finished wrenching the door open. He stuck the crowbar back in his belt and kicked the door down. Robin heard Starfire flick a switch.

"Power is out in here," Starfire said.

Robin pulled a flashlight from his belt then handed it to Starfire. "I would think a power plant would have a generator..." Robin said grabbing a flashlight for himself.

"You brought two of the lights that flash?" Starfire asked turning her flashlight on.

"Three, and extra batteries. Always be prepared. Always bring extras. Be prepared to stay overnight." Robin said turning his flashlight on and noticing a confused look from Starfire. "Never mind."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Look for anything out of the ordinary. Something that doesn't look like it should be turned on or off..."

"Okay, but Robin?" Starfire said.

"Yes?"

"If the power is out — why are the lights of the switches on?"

Robin froze and looked around to where Starfire was standing. She was right. The lights for the switches and the levers and buttons were on.

"Generator of their own?" Robin said with a shrug.

"Yo, Robin?" Cyborg's voice came through to Robin through a microphone.

Starfire looked at Robin then swept her flashlight on a control panel. She was listening to the conversation.

"It's okay...I don't care if you listen to what we're saying. It's probably important. And besides...you are a Titan. Just concentrate on what you're doing. We have like...fifteen minutes," Robin told her.

Starfire nodded then switched on her own microphone.

"Go, Cyborg," Robin said.

"This is way creepy," Cyborg said.

"What is?" Robin asked.

"Beast Boy and I are in the West Cooling Tower..."

"Go on," Robin said looking at some switches.

"The power is out down here..."

"Yes, up here too. What's so creepy about that?"

"The turbines are running, so are the generators..."

"And the cooling systems?"

"Fully functional."

"Wow. That is creepy," April's voice said into his ear.

Robin ignored her. "Then if the cooling systems are functional, then there shouldn't have been a meltdown. And If there is a meltdown–the cooling systems shut down because they aren't cooling the reactors fast enough. The reactors then overheat – which causes the meltdown. And if the power is off...that means everything should have shut down. This is not making any sense."

"The same thing is happening in the East Cooling Tower," April said.

"The lights are off in the control room, but the switches are fully lit," Starfire said.

Robin looked under a control panel. "Okay. If we see anything we'll page you. Robin out."

"Robin, this switch is in the 'off' direction. I do believe that this is supposed to be on."

"Which switch is is?" Robin said looking closer at something underneath a panel.

"It says 'electrical system."

"Flip it."

Robin heard a click.

"Nothing happened," Starfire said.

"I noticed. I'll ask Cyborg and Raven," Robin said looking at some wires. Robin paged Cyborg and Raven.

"Find anything?" Raven asked through her mike.

"Starfire did. A switch that should have been on and was off. Did any lights go on down there?"

"Nope," Raven and Cyborg said at the same time.

"So that makes me even more confused. We have ten minutes. Let's hurry this search up a little bit. And don't switch off your mikes this time."

Robin ran his fingers along a crack underneath a different panel. Nothing. Bump. A large bump. "Wait a second..." he whispered to himself and dove underneath to look at it. Shining his flashlight up into the crack, he saw what his fingers had run across.

A circular chip was attached to various wired. It had an oddly familiar "S" on its front. A very familiar insignia. Robin saw another one just like it, except this chip was slightly larger and was attached to wires and the control panel.

Robin worked his finger on detaching the one only attached to the wires, then he noticed another one. This one was attached to the wall, right where the wired entered the wall. He worked on that clip instead. When it was detached, robin stuck in in his belt, then went back to the one he left.

This one was slightly harder to detach. The wires were tangled. After about two minutes, Robin had that one off of the wires.

"Robin – what are you doing under there? What have you locate—

The lights switched on.

"The lights just came on in the East Reactor," April said.

"In the west too," Beast Boy said.

"The control room is in complete illumination," Starfire said.

Static.

Robin pulled the final clip off of the wall and he could hear an engine slow down. Another engine slowed through his earphone. "Guys...What just happened down there? You all okay?" he asked frantically.

"Fine actually. My reading of radioactivity read zero. The reactors have shut down," Cyborg replied.

"Same here," Raven said. The reactors are quiet."

"Okay. Good to know. But...I found something," Robin said. "I'll show it to you when we get out of here."

"Okay...I'll check and see if the cooling system is working properly again," Cyborg said.

"Check the temperature...wait, I'll do that," Beast Boy said.

"You guys?" Robin repeated clearing his throat.

"Yes?" everyone answered at once.

"I'm afraid a little of the city is going to suffer from radiation poisoning."

No one spoke.

"How long did we go over the limit?" April asked quietly.

"About three or four minutes."

"How many are going to suffer – die?" Starfire questioned.

"Only some...just on the city outskirts. They'll probably just get sick for a while. Only the really weak will die...maybe a few babies, some elderly. Not a lot of people will die compared to what could have happened."

A sigh of relief escaped Starfire.

"That's good news," Beast Boy said. "The water temp is normal. But what did you—

"Outside," Robin interrupted. "See you in five minutes."

Robin shut off his microphone.

"Robin, what did you find?" Starfire inquired after switching off her own mike.

Robin pulled out a clip and showed it to Starfire, who gasped.

"Robin...it cannot be Slade. He has been gone and dead for a year and a half," she said after a minute.

"He came back when Terra threw him into the lava."

"Robin..."

"He is back..."

"Robin, I do believe that your sock is doing the untied."

"I'm not falling for that again."

"Thank you...now that I have your attention...maybe Terra stole some of his gadgets. She managed to steal some of your stuff when we thought she was on our side," Starfire pointed out.

"But Terra turned into stone after she threw Slade into the volcano. She turned into stone stopping the volcano."

"A lot of things are possible. Slade doing the coming back is one of the options. But the likeliness is on the slim side."

"I guess you're right."

"But Robin? What if there are more of those clips?"

Robin nodded and looked quickly in cracks and crannies, and nooks where some gadgets could be located.

"Is there anything there?" Starfire said.

"Nothing," Robin said. "Now, let's go show the others what we found."

Robin was the first out the door and Starfire followed, switching off the light on her way out.

Wow...the longest chapter yet...took me like a month to write. I hope you all enjoyed that chapter... This is basically where the story picks up the pace.
Song: I hate using artists more than once.
Oh, by the way, I made fun of my dad in this chapter. If you have a dad as a Boy Scout leader...i think you should find the line where i make fun of him easily.
And another thing...and i you would please..could you take a peak at my account and look at some of my artwork. I have fanart there so i would greatly appreciate it if you left a comment. Penname: Slythergrl2004

"Life, its crazy how some things never work out,
But I'm hoping that this time goes right,
Cause I've tried so hard
to keep you hanging on this life,
But you always have to try and fight

CHORUS
I'm scared and I'm running, and I'm running out of time.
And all this time, always thought we were invinsible,

Time, it's gone so fast, all it took was one night back,
to crash it all into the ground,
Now two gone deep in a predictable last scene,
I never thought it'd be you and me
So what do we do?
I tell you I'm afraid just like you,
but by the time we're done thinking it's gone,
So don't waste your life,
just look at me and remember the time,
the time my angel came to stay
Take me away.

CHORUS
I'm scared and I'm running, and I'm running out of time
And all this time, I always thought we were invinsible,
Now I'm scared that it's over, and will I have another time to live?

So that day, you drank away, all alone in some way,
all thats left is me to blame,
but I just want to wake up from this dream

Well I'm scared, and I'm running, and I'm running out of time
And all this time, always thought we were invincible,
Now I'm scared that it's over, it's over, and will I have another time to live?"

-Ryan Cabrera "Blind Sight"