"Alright, Chief, I'm about to head out."
"Very well; fly high and catch a strong wind if you can, it's a long flight from here to Jump City."
"Yeah, yeah; I know. Tell the others I'll be back in a couple of days. Oh, and keep Haze out of my room; he can't help but loot the place when he goes in."
"Haha, I'll try. And Jet..."
"Yeah?
"I don't need to remind you how important it is you make a good impression on the Titans; we need them as allies, not enemies."
"I know, I know; play nice, good manners, all that stuff. I'll shoot ya a call when I get there."
"Oh! Jet, one more thing; I was tracking a pretty wicked storm on the radar earlier. It shouldn't cross your path, but be on the lookout, this thing was like a hurricane."
"Will do; see ya later, Chief."
Jetstream was snapped out of his flashback, as an explosion racked the elevator shaft. There was a flash of bright green light, as Starfire grabbed Robin and shot more Starbolts at the bottom of the elevator.
As he flew upwards, dodging chunks of metal that had been blown out of the bottom of the elevator, Jet felt the figure of Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven ascend through the hole and out onto the island.
Pressing the wind underneath him, Jetstream picked up speed; not wanting to be left behind by his friends. His head throbbed as more and more memories began to surface, fighting for attention and recognition. Did Chief really have to unlock everything all at once?
Shaking his head, Jetstream managed to push his reeling memories to the back of his mind, and focus on the task at hand; catching Slade. Flying towards the light coming from the hole in the elevator, Jetstream soon burst out onto the island. Robin and the others were standing just outside the entrance to the elevator.
As Jet surveyed the scene, his face dropped and his shoulders sagged.
"Crap."
"So did you implant those biomechanical prosthetic parts yourself, or did a doctor do it?"
Chief and Cyborg ran through the various rooms and hallways of Slade's secret bunker. Chief tried to make conversation with the robotic man as he led the way back to the surface.
"Actually, my father did the surgery after... Wait, why am I telling you this? I don't even know you," asked Cyborg incredulously.
Chief grinned over his shoulder at the robotic teen, and shrugged, "I don't know, but it doesn't really matter, I already know almost everything about you."
"Wha..."
"I was just wondering what kind of alloy you used for the metal. I dabbled in cyberbiotic engineering for a while a couple years back, when I had to implant similar prosthetics on a friend of mine. I used maraging steel for the internal structure, but coated the outside with grapheme."
Forgetting for a moment about Chief's earlier comment, Cyborg nodded his head.
"Yeah, that's about as strong as it gets, but mine are made of a special metal specifically designed to resemble the structure of a diamond. It's a pain to make, but the results are... Hey, wait a second, don't change the subject!" Cyborg yelled as Chief rounded a corner of the hallway, "What do you mean you know everything about me?"
Cyborg ran quickly to catch up with the strange purple eyed boy.
Chief shrugged again as they jogged down the dusty hallway, and lifted his palms upwards, "What can I say; I do my research."
Chief reached into his coat, and pulled out a small rectangular device; like a cellphone. He punched a code into the device with his thumb, and suddenly a 3-D projection of 'Teen Titans' popped up above the screen. Underneath was a 3-D model of Cyborg.
As the hallway opened up into another large room, Chief handed Cyborg the device and began to cross the room. Alarmed, Cyborg studied the projecting of himself, and soon several bars of text along, with graphs and charts, popped up alongside his projection. Two words in large bold letters floated above Cyborg's projection, that read 'Teen Titans'.
The graphs and charts gave startlingly accurate statistics about his strength, speed, stamina, intelligence, and other capabilities. Meanwhile, the bars of text slowly scrolled upwards, giving information into Cyborg's past and personal information.
Baffled, Cyborg swiped across his projection and it flew off to the side, it was then replaced with a similar projection of Robin, along with the same type of information. Cyborg looked up at Chief, who was tinkering with a set of metal sliding doors on the other side of the room, wondering how he had gotten this information.
Cyborg's wonder soon turned to disbelief as he swiped across the screen again, and again, watching as projections of Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven popped out of the screen and flew to the side. This guy didn't just know everything about him, he had the whole team on here. Cyborg shook his head as he walked over to Chief, he swiped across the screen again to see what other valuable info it held.
The large 'Teen Titans' expanded, and read 'Teen Titans: East'.
"No way," mumbled Cyborg.
Sure enough, as he continued to scroll through the incriminating device, projections of Aqua-Lad, Bumblebee, Speedy, Mas, and Menos appeared on the screen, with all their information.
"How did you..."
"Bingo!" exclaimed Chief, as the metal doors he was messing with slid open. The mysterious boy stepped into the elevator and pressed a button. Cyborg quickly jumped in after him as the doors slid close; after a moment, they began to ascend.
"Why aren't there any villains in here?" asked Cyborg as he continued to swipe through the device.
The heading had changed again, now it read 'Unaffiliated'; Jericho, Pantha, Red X, and other supers flew across the screen.
"Because that projector only has the data of potential allies," replied Chief nonchalantly, as he pulled another projector, identical to the one Cyborg was holding, out of his coat; he waved it in the air for a second, then put it back in his coat, "I like to keep things organized."
Cyborg continued to flick through the device, thinking about the fit Robin would throw if he knew about the info this guy had. Suddenly, the heading floating above the projector changed once more, it read 'ASAP', and projected an image of Jetstream.
The projector then took on a purple glow, and lifted out of Cyborgs hand. Chief opened his coat as the device flew into one of its inner pockets.
"What's ASAP?" asked Cyborg.
Chief sniffed and gave him a half smile as the elevator came to a halt.
"Yet another conversation for another time," replied Chief as the metal doors slid open, filling the small room with sunlight.
As Cyborg blinked several times, trying to adjust to the sudden light, he and Chief stepped out of the elevator.
As the metal doors slid closed behind them, an unassuming rusted door closed over the shiny double doors. If he hadn't of stepped out of it just a second ago, Cyborg would never had guessed there was an elevator there. They had popped put somewhere amongst the industrial buildings on the inner part of the island.
Cyborg looked around, wondering how many of the dilapidated old buildings hid Slade's technology.
When he looked back, Chief was already a good ways off, walking at a furious pace.
"Hey, wait up!" yelled Cyborg as he ran to catch the brown-cloaked boy, "Let me contact Robin; do you know where you're going?"
"Always," replied Chief over his shoulder.
"Hey, man; wait!" Cyborg finally caught Chief and grabbed his arm.
Chief winced and sucked in a sharp breath; Cyborg released Chief, and he immediately began to walk away in his hurried manner.
"You're hurt," called Cyborg as he followed Chief, "If there's a fight, you're not gonna last."
"And what makes you think I'm headed towards the fight?" asked Chief, "Do you have the keys to your ship?"
"Wha... yes, I do," answered Cyborg in resignation.
"Good, then I won't have to break in."
Jetstream and the others had surfaced on the outskirts of the island. As they emerged from a large boulder, disguised to hide the elevator, they were greeted by a large, open field of red dirt. The industrial buildings shimmered on the horizon in the heat of the sun. Jetstream hadn't realized how far Raven had teleported them, no wonder she was exhausted.
But the reason for Jetstream's dismayed reaction to the surface, was not the distance they had traveled from the ship. No, the reason for Jetstream's disheartened attitude, was the fact that Slade was nowhere to be seen.
The group of teens frantically scanned their surroundings, but Slade had all but disappeared, and Robin was furious.
"Slade!" he yelled, turning in circles, staff in hand, "Where are you?!"
It was baffling, there was nowhere he could have gone; they were in an open field. Robin turned back towards Jetstream, and his eyes got wide.
"Jet! Look out!" he cried, but it was too late.
No sooner had the words left his mouth, then Jetstream felt something smack the back of his head; hard. Slade, who had climbed to the top of the boulder before the teens got there, knocked Jetstream out of the air with a vicious kick, and pinned him to the ground with his knee. Somehow he had gotten the cuffs off, and drawn his sidearm.
Before the others could react, Slade had Jet up in a choke-hold, with the muzzle of a pistol pressed against the teen's temple. Jet struggled and clawed at Slade's arm, but the masked man was too strong for him; he was trapped.
"Jet!" exclaimed Starfire, "Release him, now!"she demanded as her eyes and hands took on a fierce green aura.
"Yeah, let him go Slade; it's us you want," said Beast Boy.
Raven, who was still too weak to use her powers, looked nervously at Jet as Robin scrambled in his mind for an idea, but he came up with nothing.
"Now, now, children; you are in no place to make demands," chided Slade.
Starfire floated closer to Slade and raised her arm.
"Now dear Starfire, do you really think your shot will hit me before I pull this trigger?"
Starfire paused in the air for a moment, then floated to the ground, defeated. Her snarl was replaced with a look of worry and her eyes returned to normal.
"That's better; now, here is what's going to happen," keeping a firm hold on Jet, Slade pressed a button on his wrist, "My men will be here in a few moments to escort you all to my own personal prison. If you give them any sort of trouble or try any sort of escape... well, then I won't be able to guarantee the safety of your friend here."
"Slade; you dirty, rotten..."
"Now, now, Robin; control your temper. What kind of an example are you setting for your team here?" Slade made a motion with the pistol that knocked Jet's glasses slightly askew.
"No!" gasped Jet.
Noticing Jet's distress, Slade pressed the muzzle of the gun against the frame of Jet's glasses, and pushed them a little further.
"Don't!" yelled Raven, the distress clear in her voice.
"And why not?" asked Slade in a sinister tone while Jetstream clawed desperately at his arm.
"Something terrible will happen if you take of his glasses." Said Raven. There was a moment's pause, then Slade looked at Jet's face.
"Well, now I have to, don't I?" Slade began to slowly slide Jet's glasses forward.
Jetstream's mind began to race. This couldn't happen; he couldn't let this happen. They might never recover. But what could he do? Suddenly Jet had an idea, and he prayed to God that it would work.
Just as his glassed were about to slide off the end of his nose, Jetstream threw out his hand and made a grabbing motion. Suddenly he felt Slade tense up, like somebody had hit him with an electric current. Jet tightened his grip on the air and lifted his fist.
Slade's grip on Jet and his pistol quivered as though he was struggling hard to maintain it. Suddenly Slade released both Jetstream and the gun and clutched his chest with both hands. Jet sucked in a large breath and adjusted his glasses as Slade lifted about a foot off the ground.
He almost couldn't believe it had worked, but sure enough, there he was; holding Slade aloft with the air in his lungs. Slade's chin was pointed up as he clawed for air at his chest. The feelings was surreal; literally holding a man's life in your hands, and Jetstream didn't like it.
As he threw down his arm, and Slade slammed onto the ground in front of the Titans, gasping for breath. Robin quickly subdued and re-cuffed Slade, though he wouldn't have been able to put up much of a fight.
Jetstream fell to a knee, as sudden wave of exhaustion coming over him. He didn't know why, but that little move had really drained him. Raven and Starfire moved over towards Jet and helped him back to his feet.
"Are you okay?" asked Raven.
"Yeah... just need to... catch my breath," gasped Jet.
"Dude, you sure caught Slade's," Beast Boy commented.
Jet and Starfire laughed, as Jet stood on his own.
"I am glad you are uninjured, and that we can all go home," stated Starfire.
"Uhh, dudes?" everyone looked over at Beast Boy, who was pointing towards the industrial buildings.
Five large trucks were speeding towards the teens, kicking up a huge volume of dust in their wake. Despair ran through the teens as the rumbling of wheels on packed dirt reached their ears. They were going to be horribly outnumbered, and two of them were already weak.
"Everyone get ready, don't let them get to Slade!" ordered Robin as the trucks shimmered in the distance.
The teens formed up around Robin and began, to brace themselves for a fierce fight.
They trucks, however, never did reach the teens, or Slade. Because at about that moment, the sound of jet engines cut through the air. Suddenly, the T-plane burst through the cloud of smoke kicked up by the trucks. The Titans cheered as Cyborg and Chief opened fire on the convoy.
In a few seconds, the trucks were reduced to scrap metal as the missiles of the T-plane found their marks. As the T-plane landed next to the teens, the hulls of the trucks burning in the distance, Cyborg and Chief stepped out and greeted their friends.
"Alright, I'm gonna say it; booyah!" gloated Cyborg.
The Titans, along with Chief and Jetstream, filed into the jet with Slade in tow.
"Good work, team," said Robin as the jet took off, "We got him."
There was no response from Slade.