Notes: Some revisions were made to some of the chapters. Just the city names. I now know that the Teen Titans fight crime in Gotham. Since I suppose Batman lives with the Justice League now.
Camera 12: Starfire's Room
The door handle clicked slightly and Kori jumped. Vic popped his head through followed by Rachel.
"Finally." Dick sighed, "We've been wondering when you'd get back!"
"Sorry ya'll."
"We found some great information!" Kori exclaimed.
"Right, it was actually Atlas who made the bubble, it was only Slade who encased us in it!" Dick explained.
"What a genius." Rachel said emotionlessly.
"But we still don't know why…" Gar butted in.
"Yeah, well before we get on with that, Rachel and I have some bad news." Vic said slowly.
"What?" someone asked.
"Slade's not in the city." Rachel said bluntly, "He's in the Tower."
A change of perspectives…
After Slade had gotten all his weapons stashed in the right places, and had reprogrammed the Slade-bots, he had activated the device. The "shield" (or bubble) had sprung up as planned. He was wary of the only two that could possibly sense his presence—Beast Boy and Raven. But he had no trouble at all activating the device. Stealing the original from Atlas was just a piece of cake, changing the size and shape of the thing took a lot more work. And it took even longer for Slade to get the shield to be so big and the device so small. Of course it took time and money—both of which Slade had lots of. Unfortunately he couldn't change the color of the damn thing and so it remained orange instead of Slade's much more preferred color: black or even better—transparent.
He was hidden in the Tower's shadow and the early morning darkness. He scoffed remembering Blood's refusal to come and aid him. The coward didn't want anything to do with the plan and kept ranting on and on about how Slade would fail. He spit in the grass. Fail? Him? Impossible. The idiot would always be an idiot he supposed.
It would take another hour or so for his weapons to boot up—a glitch—something even he couldn't fix. He should have had Blood do this part, but Blood wouldn't cooperate. He'd have to remind himself to kill the bastard once he got back.
Once his weapons were up and ready, Slade crept silently through the Titan's lawn and into the Tower Entrance. Off to the side of the entrance there was a hidden panel that opened up into the Titan's main electricity controls. Slamming his hand into the damn thing took no effort at all and he watched as a light in the Tower's far upper room slowly fizzled out. The Tower was completely encased in the morning darkness. Slade laughed to himself silently, they were so predictable. He had expected them to notice that a strange bubble was surrounding their Tower. Oh well, this would certainly get their attention.
Quickly taking out another small device he planted it into the wall and another bubble sprang up around the crackling controls.
Smiling wickedly, he crept up the stairs to the long trek to Starfire's Room.
Camera 12: Starfire's Room
The light fizzled, then blanked out.
Rachel jumped slightly, but overall, kept her cool. She was used to the darkness, having lived and bathed in it since birth. She was a living creature from Hell, why shouldn't she be afraid of the dark? Of course, this didn't apply to everyone else in the room… Their so-called Leader was cursing, scrambling around for a flashlight while Kori and Gar screamed their heads off. Vic was busy—no doubt—checking his hidden cameras before Dick found the flashlight. Screaming like little babies? Rachel didn't think so. This was an adult situation, and would be handled in an adult-like way—
"Quiet!" Rachel yelled, silencing the room all at once as a faint light flickered on. The small light shined on each Titan as if checking they were still there before resting on the ceiling.
"Don'tcha think that flashlight's kinda small?" Vic asked raising an eyebrow as he eyed the flashlight Dick had found.
"Sorry, Kori only has this one." He replied pointing to the bright purple kiddie flashlight with cute little tulips painted on the side. He was referring to Star's starbolts and how she could use them when there was no light.
"Can someone get the light back on?" Gar asked. Vic popped open a light on his right shoulder and a compartment on his left arm. He frantically punched in a code and frowned at the outcome. Typing in the password again, he received the same answer.
"Sorry B," He said, "looks like someone took out the main controls… I can't get into the system… Someone musta really fried it."
Kori's glowing green light joined with the flashlight's, "Should we… Um… Go check it out then?"
"Erm… Have you forgotten that Slade is down there?" Gar refreshed her memory. Clearly fifteen years still hadn't rid him of Slade nightmares.
"How do you know he's not up here?" Rachel muttered, which didn't help the situation at all. Goosebumps crawled over many a skin before Dick broke the silence.
"Let's all go." He reassured them, "We'll have an advantage in numbers, and we'll be able to watch each other's backs."
Kori nodded quickly followed by Gar, shakily.
"Wait ya'll." Vic walked over to Rachel. She moved out of the way, watching him all the while. His metal hand grasped the automatic door and pulled. Unusual the sensor hadn't gone off to open the door automatically, but it must have been wired into the Tower's main controls. The same thought went through each Titan's minds—the doors didn't work—none of the electronics did.
"So the doors…" Gar trailed off.
"…Don't work." Vic finished his sentence, "Right, we'll have to go through them the old fashioned way."
"You do that." Rachel muttered and ghosted through the door effortlessly.
"Hey" Gar piped in, "Why didn't she just teleport us all out of here?"
"Probably didn't want to take you." Vic answered before smashing Kori's door to pieces.
Camera 8: Left Hallway
The clanking of metal shot through the silence of the hallway like an earthquake. Surely, Slade knew exactly where they were now. Nightwing was first over the threshold followed closely by Starfire and Beast Boy—Cyborg stumbled out last. Raven was already across the hallway heading for the stairs. With the lights out and the sun barely rising over the horizon, the Tower was in a spooky mood. With Star's flashlight, her starbolt, and Cyborg's shoulder light it lessened the eeriness of running through a tower looking for a madman—but not by much. Even though this was the home they had lived in and shared so many memories in, deep down in their hearts, each one was stricken with fear.
Raven jumped down the stairs three at a time with Nightwing and the rest of the gang close behind. Their footsteps echoed through the stairway leading them straight to Slade.
Camera 15: Cyborg's Eye
Beast Boy was the first to bring it up, "Where are we going guys?"
"I don't know," Nightwing snapped back, "Right now, we need to go somewhere big and spacious where we can fight Slade without him running away into the Tower."
"Then why aren't we running towards the roof?" Starfire asked.
"Well he could be out there waitin for us Star…" Cyborg said.
"Why can't Raven teleport us to the Lobby or something?" Beast Boy groaned. He wasn't tired yet, but he didn't like the thought of running down all the way to the second floor.
"Sorry." Raven answered back sarcastically. She didn't have a problem with teleporting them, but she had grown accustomed to saving up her energy for massive bursts of power. Unlike in her youthful days when defensive force fields were always thrown up and objects flung, she learned to increase her speed. By dodging and striking swift fatal blows to vital spots on the body she saved energy for bigger—more major battles to come… But if this "Slade-thing" got any worse, she knew she'd have to go all out.
"It's alright…" Beast Boy replied softly, he was surprised Raven had answered him. And the fact that he slammed into Nightwing because he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.
There was a sharp intake of breath from Nightwing replaced quickly with a low growl.
"Slade."
And there he was in all his glory standing barely ten feet away from them.
A change of perspectives…
He grinned. So there they were… The Titans. So grown up, getting so old… Slade smirked and downright laughed out loud. This would either be a piece of cake, or the battle of a lifetime. The gears were spinning madly in his head. The weight on his right shoulder was creating a throbbing pain for him. He'd have to fire quickly and retreat to load another hit. But who should he shoot first?
Slade weighed each option: Aiming for Raven would give him a slightly better success rate since she was the closest to him. On the other hand, getting Nightwing would cripple them mentally and as seeing him as the biggest threat he would be the better choice.
Nah.
He wasn't exactly sure if they had gotten stronger, and if they had, by how much? He'd just have to do what he'd been doing for fifteen years: wait and see.
Camera 15: Cyborg's Eye
Slade had hesitated when they had met on the stairs. Starfire's green starbolt had vanished probably due to the mere shock of the situation. The flashlight Nightwing had was shining right on Slade's head. There was something different about Slade… Sure he had on basically the same colors as before save a few additions of armor here and there, but there was something funny propped up on his shoulder. Raven had no time to analyze it as Nightwing had jumped over the railing with a screaming battle cry. She hoped Cyborg could tell everyone what the contraption was as she joined the fray.
Slade seemed a bit sluggish as he turned tail and fled down the stairs. He managed to dodge all of Nightwing's projectiles while watching the stairs before him. Flashlight abandoned, they disappeared into the darkness leaving the team behind. Raven and Starfire were the first to act. The Tamaranean took to the air and sped after her husband and the maniac he was chasing. Raven took the rear behind Beast Boy and Cyborg.
Slade's handy footwork was what saved him multiple times. Had he slipped even once Nightwing would have been upon him in less than a second flat. On the other hand the Titan's leader himself was having trouble thinking straight, all he could see was his target: Slade. Raven and Starfire could sense he was being controlled by his rage. After fifteen years of tirelessly scouring the city looking for him… one wouldn't be surprised to see him in such a rage.
In the darkness Slade was having a hard time picking out Nightwing's movements. He obviously knew Nightwing hadn't neglected his training but he wasn't exactly sure of the other four. Slade had a general idea of what Starfire had been doing but she was hard to keep track of, as she herself had put it: "Preferred to work behind the scenes." He knew Starfire and Beast Boy's skills weren't as sharp as before… The only ones who had escaped his radar were Cyborg and Raven. Judging from the reaction Cyborg had given him when he first saw him Slade could conclude that Cyborg was not exactly in tip-top shape—even for a half-robot. Raven was the hardest to read, she kept her cool with but a slight turn of the head and an unchangeable poker face.
Slade's 'warrior's sixth sense' could only detect normal, very low, power levels emanating from her. He was cautious around her.
Unknowingly Nightwing had driven Slade to the second floor and only when he had broken the door to the Lobby did he catch his breath and realize his duty as a team leader.
Starfire was the first to meet up with him bringing with her a comforting pale green light. "Shit." Nightwing cursed between ragged breaths.
"Calm down… You'll be fine." Starfire reassured him. Nightwing growled in frustration.
"He got away, the bastard. He's in our Tower. Our Tower!" Nightwing yelled out.
Beast Boy caught up to the couple, "Man, I need a breather." A strong light coming from the tin man's shoulder joined with a green light shined on the scene. Raven stood just outside of the light's reach—remaining just a silhouette in the darkness. Beast Boy tried to catch a glimpse of her, but she turned around. He was a bit disappointed.
"He ran into the Lobby ya'll. The only way to get out is through the stairs let's go!" Cyborg pushed them to move.
"Wait!" Nightwing half growled and half screamed, "I know I was a fool running after the bastard like I did. But hell if I'm ready to take him on like this!"
"What… What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked.
"Look at us! Tired already? I'm almost out of batarangs… And what is the first thing Slade will do once we step foot in that Lobby?"
He paused even though it was a rhetorical question. No one dared answer while he was in this mood.
"He'll set up, aim, and fire! BAM! And our brains will be plastered all over the kitchen!" he shook his head, "We'll have to retreat for now… as much as I hate to admit it. We're not ready."
"What are you saying though?" Starfire asked, "Years and years of looking for Slade and he's cornered in one room! We can easily overpower him… We have an advantage in numbers!"
"She's right!" Beast Boy piped up. He wasn't going to let Slade go so easily.
"Then you go after him!" Nightwing growled.
"His gun or whatever he has probably isn't loaded since he hasn't shot anything while we were on the stairs." Cyborg concluded. Raven was silent as she cursed Cyborg for not analyzing the gun's design while Slade was still and so close. But then again, he probably wasn't thinking straight and didn't act fast enough.
"Fine." Nightwing spat, "You go in, don't blame me if you die."
"I thought you cared Dick." Starfire said, "You'll leave us to get Slade on our own then? Where's the man who would chase his enemy to the ends of the earth even if he was out of batarangs?"
Nightwing sighed, "Just go!"
With a huff, she turned and walked through the busted door with Beast Boy right behind her.
Camera 9: Roof
"Man, I've got to say, that was the stupidest thing you've ever done." Cyborg said for the tenth time.
"I know…"
Raven didn't show any sign of stopping Beast Boy or Starfire when they ran into the Lobby, although Cyborg couldn't deny the fact he was hoping she'd leap onto Beast Boy and tell him not to leave her. Of course, this only happened in Fantasy World (where anything is possible).
"What do you think happened down there…?" Cyborg asked slowly.
"I don't know… I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a bad thing…"
"A bad thing? Man, you left them down there! With your arch enemy no less!"
"Then what should I do huh?" Nightwing yelled, "Run in there and save their asses? While in the meantime, run for my life?"
"She's your wife! Yes, I expect you to run in there and save their asses!"
"Forget it." Nightwing grumbled, "She can handle this herself, plus she has Beast Boy to help her…"
"You think fur ball is enough to save her? He can barely handle himself! He'll die from the fear first!"
Nightwing didn't answer for the longest time, "What then? What do we do then hmm?"
"Well, I don't know Nightwing. I don't make your decisions for you, but I know what I'm going to do, and that's go in after them, whether they've defeated Slade or not."
Nightwing didn't say anything, "Fine, go."
Cyborg turned to leave, heading for the door leading back into the Tower. Raven turned to follow but Nightwing stopped her.
"And where are you going?" he asked.
"Does it matter?" She answered.
"Yes. I've probably lost two members of our team, I don't want to lose anymore."
"Only if you sit here and do nothing will they be lost." She said.
"What? Are you saying I should go down there even though I'm not ready? Then I'll die."
"Are you afraid?" Raven asked him.
"Well… To tell you the truth… I mean Slade really hit a nerve back there… Just seeing him again gave me chills." Nightwing confessed. To the Titans, Raven was someone you could tell your deepest secrets to. You wouldn't get any opinions on it, just true honest advice. It wasn't uncommon for Nightwing to be spilling out his emotions to someone other than his own wife.
"Aren't you afraid too?"
Raven paused, "I don't know. Am I?"
"Don't tell me you're not."
"I never said I wasn't."
"Well you're going to follow Cyborg down there aren't you?" he asked.
"It looks that way."
"And you know Slade's down there."
"Yes, I know."
"And you're not scared?"
She shrugged and put her hands in her pockets. It was getting lighter outside as the minutes approached six o' clock. In another hour the city would be waking up…
"Please… Check on Star for me."
"Are you ashamed?"
"No… I just want to know if she's alright." He lied.
"Maybe you should check on her yourself." She suggested.
"Right…you're right. I should." He put his head in his hands and exhaled slowly. Raven still hadn't moved and Cyborg was long gone.
"One question before I leave you…" She asked.
"Shoot."
She paused. "Have I…" She shook her head, "I don't know how to say this..." Demon spawn, witch, goth, creepy, scary... "I'm-we're all different now aren't we?"
Nightwing smiled, "Yeah. All of us have changed. For the better."
"Hm." She didn't even look at him as she opened the door and walked down the stairs.