(A/N)- Woo boy, this chapter was a monster, and I apologize for the lateness.
Coming down to the home stretch now though, so there shouldn't be too many chapters after this one. I hope you're all as excited as I am.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Teen Titans, I'd be able to make absolute sure that the new TNT live-action Titans show had zero romance drama bullcrap whatsoever. (Please oh please be a good show please be a good show please be a good show.)
Chapter 12: Searching
The Titans were silent a long moment, absorbing and processing the grim situation.
Raven moved over to the couch and sank down into it with a heavy sigh.
"Juuuuuust the way I wanted to spend my birthday." she muttered, rubbing her temples. "Saving the world from a looming apocalypse. Again."
"What can we do?" warbled Starfire, her eyes as wide as dinner plates and her hands clutching her heart.
Wilson turned back to the screen, zooming in on the diagram of the rift. "Here is where I have some good news." he said. "Fortunately, the solution to our problem appears simple, with a few caveats. Since it's the portal that's linking our two worlds and allowing them to spill into each other, my superiors believe all there is to do is simply force the door closed."
"Oh, is that all?" Cyborg snarked. "Man, we don't even know how the portal opened much less how to close it!" he complained.
"We could get Herald to do it." Beast Boy suggested.
Raven snorted. "Good luck trying to get through to him in whatever dimension he's in right now, what with our comm system the way it is."
"You mentioned caveats?" Robin prompted, raising a hand.
Wilson nodded. "Upon closer analysis, the Brotherhood discovered that not just anyone can close the portal. Our attempts had precisely zero effect. There is a certain empathic 'essence' intrinsic to the portal's construction." He looked significantly at Raven. "We believe it will only respond to its mistress."
Raven blanched slightly. She glanced back at the display of the rift on the main screen. "I... It's..." she stammered. It's so big, she wanted to say. She shook her head. "I dunno if I can do that." she confessed.
"We may not have a choice." Starfire said quietly.
"With all due respect," Wilson interrupted, "you aren't the only half-demon empath running around this world."
Her mind flashed a picture of a pale laughing face with burning red eyes, framed by pink hair.
Her jaw set firmly.
"No."
"Raven-" Robin started.
"Absolutely not." she cut off. "I don't want anything to do with her... me..." She grimaced with confusion, shaking her head. "Ugh, her."
"You don't have the luxury of options, I'm afraid." Wilson sneered. "Unless you're willing to risk the portal rejecting your touch? Or you're confident you can close it by yourself?"
Raven was silent a long moment and then sighed.
"Great, so..." piped up Beast Boy, flipping over the back of the couch to join her. "...we gotta find our evil twins again."
"And quickly." added Cyborg. The rift's getting bigger every minute."
"I can help with that." offered Wilson. "I know their habits, where they like to hide."
Robin stirred from a deep thought. "All right Titans, Cyborg and I will canvas the city map from here. Sla-Wilson," he corrected, "help us narrow down the search." He turned to their resident empath. "Raven, rest up and meditate. See if you can sense the Tyrants anywhere. But don't push yourself." he instructed. "Starfire, keep watch."
"What about me?" asked Beast Boy.
"Anything you can tell us about the last time you saw the Tyrants or where they were headed will help."
The shape-shifter made a face. "Do we have to work with him?" he whined, jerking his head toward where Wilson was already next to Cyborg by the computer consoles.
"I hate to admit it..." Robin said, shaking his head in resignation, "...but he probably does know more about the Tyrants than we do."
Beast Boy gave another discontented grumble in his throat, but obediently followed Robin to the computers to join Cyborg and Wilson, while behind him Raven and Starfire quietly exited the room.
-TT-
Red Raven was going to invent a new word to describe pain. And then she was going to inflict that degree of it on her teammates.
"What do you mean you can't find anything?" she growled into the communicator. "This is Jump City. Wayne Industries and STAR Labs both have branches here. Someone's going to have what we need."
"Well we've searched four labs and a tech company and so far nothing." Arsenal told her.
"Then keep looking." Red Raven snapped. "I don't want to hear from you again until you find something."
She cut the line off, and stood there fuming at the device a moment.
A moment later she flipped it back open and opened the channel again.
"Arsenal."
"Thought you didn't want to hear from me again." he snarked.
"Shut up." she spat. "Any sign of our old Brotherhood friend?"
"No." replied Arsenal. "Haven't seen him. If he is skulking about he's keeping a low profile."
Red Raven pursed her lips, briefly scanning her empathic radar. "I can't sense him anywhere either."
"Should we be worried?" Tempest asked, piping in.
"Not yet." she told him. "Slade'll keep hidden until he comes up with a plan. He knows can't take all of us. He'll try and split us up before he makes his move. Stay close to Blackfire, both of you."
She could hear the sarcasm in Arsenal's voice as he replied, "Yes, Mom."
"Watch your attitude, Arrow Boy!" she sniped. She ended the conversation there, turning off her communicator again.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped over to the window, lifting up the edge of the curtain to take a peek. She couldn't see the Tower from here-they were facing the wrong direction-but she could picture it, glittering against the inky blankness of night.
What time was it now? Nine? Ten? Only a few more hours until her birthday, at any rate.
If she had to spend it here she was going to kill someone. Sure, she could inflict and figurative hell on this version of Jump City, but it wouldn't be the same. They knew her back home, knew her brand of terror well. Dread added to the unique taste of their fear of her; a certain knowledge of exactly what she could do only heightened the thrill. Blind directionless panic was all she'd be able to wrest from those in this reality, like as for any common monster of the week. That these people wouldn't know her from an average rampaging lab disaster was almost insulting.
She heard soft footfalls padding behind her, and then felt tiny pink-pricks on her skin and a weight dragging on the back of her cloak. A matted green cat climbed its way onto her shoulders, rubbing its short fur against her face and purring loudly.
Red Raven smiled, and reached up to scratch the shape-shifter behind his soft ears. "Well I guess it's not all bad..." she cooed under her breath. "The Hayes Municipal Art Museum here has probably never been completely pilfered." She sighed wistfully, remembering the pitiful haul of almost worthless trinkets the Tyrants had liberated from the museum a few short weeks ago. "They never keep anything good there anymore..." she bemoaned to herself.
-TT-
"They should be hiding out somewhere close to the tech sector." Robin mused, staring intently at the map display on the screen. Two little red dots indicated where Beast Boy had said the trail started going cold and where he and Raven had last seen the Tyrants. The changeling had departed a little while ago, to go check on Raven.
"That's still a lot of ground to cover." observed Cyborg, seated in the chair next to Robin. He rolled forward to type on the keyboard. "Lemme cross-reference the afternoon's robberies and skirmishes with where we've already looked, see if it forms a trail."
Wilson had been silent up until then, standing back and watching with his arms crossed in front of him. Now, he spoke up.
"Overlay a map of all the hotels and inns in that section." he instructed, gesturing toward a patch of city between the two already plotted markers.
Robin looked up curiously, a question in his eyes.
"The Tyrants prefer more comfortable accommodations than those provided by your average abandoned warehouse." Wilson explained. "They would have bribed or coerced a free room from someone."
Satisfied, Robin nodded to Cyborg, who shrugged silently and tapped a few keys.
A scattering of blue-white dots appeared on the map. Wilson leaned forward and studied them a moment.
"There." he said, pointing, circling his finger around four dots in particular. "One of these. That's where they'll be hiding."
"Are you sure?" asked Robin.
Wilson nodded. "Trust me."
"Yeah, see," Cyborg said dryly, "the problem is... I don't."
The man's eye turned icy. "I didn't have to warn you about the impending cataclysmic disaster facing your world." he pointed out. "If it had been up to me, I would have vastly preferred to track down the Tyrants by myself."
Cyborg looked at him skeptically. "And then what? Even our Slade had to be jacked up on demonic fire powers before he could take all of us on his own."
"That part was, admittedly, unclear." Wilson admitted. "And Dr. Light would probably not have approved of my methods to... convince Red Raven to close the portal. Circumstances forced my hand, made me seek you out. Nevertheless," he said, "a little less open hostility would be appreciated. I'm here to help. Act like it."
Cyborg simmered down, sloughing his shoulders. "Wouldn't it have been less awkward to... I dunno, send a note?" he asked.
"I had been keeping out of your way. You can thank the Boy Genius here for flushing me out."
"You were following me!" Robin blurted indignantly.
Wilson had the sense to look embarrassed. "I... wasn't sure how to approach you." he explained.
"Stalking me wasn't the best start!" Robin snapped back.
Cyborg let out a sigh. "And you wonder why we have such issues trusting you..."
-TT-
Raven floated in the void, combing through the fabric of her mind to clear out the clutter. Her headache would return once she was back in her body, she knew, but for now she could relish the silence.
Her soul self lazily twisted through the air, drifting this way and that, cautiously probing for any hint of the Tyrants. So far all she could feel were normal civilian signatures, far down below.
She kept well clear of the portal, which she could see with immediate and startling clarity in this state. Like a virus spore it looked, irregular and blotchy, with dozens of tendrils spiraling outward, stretching in all directions. Behind it she could see, faintly transparent, the outlines of rooms and support struts and air ducts. A cross-section of Tyrants Tower, she assumed. And, if she got too near, she could start to feel the cloud of fear and confusion spilling through the gap, manifesting as a shrill, tinny ring in her ears.
She gently retraced her and Beast Boy's steps from earlier, keeping track of time and how far she was going, so she wouldn't have to rush back to her body. One strand of thought felt outwards, carefully extending. She kept the rest of her mind close to herself, wary and on guard. Now that she'd tangled twice with the Tyrants and lost her full mental control one way or another both times, she was extra keen not to repeat the experience.
The night was growing old. It had to be past curfew now, though if she checked she could sense a few stray teenagers still out and about.
You'd think it'd make it easier to pick out the Tyrants, she mused to herself. But she couldn't feel them any-
Wait.
Raven paused, hesitantly extending her senses out. There it was. Faint, because of the distance, but still detectable. Familiar empathic patterns. At least four. There was one that was a little more immediately recognizable, both from sensing it at the prison earlier that day, and from already being well familiar with the mind of their own Robin.
Because of their bond, he was always a little easier to pick out from the empathic crowd. That factor had just come in very handy, for Raven was sure she was sensing Red Robin right now.
She chanced dropping a little closer. If she could feel the Tyrants, there was a good chance they-or rather one specific they-could feel her. She didn't want to get too close and risk alerting them.
Brushing her empathy over the presence, she confirmed it. Red Robin. He was surly and frustrated about something. It was uncanny how much his mind looked like Robin's. But his emotions were oddly... muted. Raven nudged gently and came up against strong mental blocks around his mind. They were even thicker than Robin's mental walls. Raven wondered idly about this a moment as she swiftly turned around and made back for the Tower.
No time to linger. She was pushing her limits as it was, and she didn't even have to look to know that the rift was still widening.
The tinny ring of empathic feedback followed her all the way back to her body.
-TT-
"It's a simple WayneTech Jupiter system, Arsenal." Red Robin sighed. "Just... stay calm and I'll walk you through it."
The archer gave a groan of frustration over the communicator. "We don't have time to disarm it. The perimeter sensors are already tripped. Guards or police'll be here any minute."
Red Robin gnashed his teeth in aggravation. "You could have told me that before you called to freak out on me." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "All right, 'Fire? Just... just break the glass."
The sound of glittery shattering came over the channel, followed by the loud ring of an alarm.
"Do you see the cabinets on the far end?" asked Red Robin. "Look there first."
"Already did." Tempest replied. "Nothing."
"Seriously?" Red Robin frowned and pushed a page or two off the blueprints of the site he'd printed out. "Hang on, there's a locked supply closet on the far right side."
"Do not bother." came Cyber-Vile's monotone interruption. His stony eyes were fixed on the streams of data flashing across their laptop computer screen. "Lab reports state they moved their inventory last week, at twenty-two hundred hours on Monday the twenty-eighth."
"You wanna tell the tin man to say that again?" growled Arsenal. "Nice security hacking work. Buddy. Way to waste our time."
"Apologies. The encryption on the lab's data servers was... difficult."
Red Raven, standing at the window still, stiffened and alerted to something suddenly. "What was that?"
"What, the sound of me trying to throttle Cyber-Vile through the commuicator?" Arsenal asked sarcastically.
Red Raven lifted up her hand with a loud, "SHH!"
Everyone in the room stilled.
Changeling perked his head up with a curious, "Mrow?"
For a moment, no one made a sound. Then, Red Raven's shoulders untensed and she left out a puff of air through her nose.
"What is it?" asked Red Robin, irritated.
She shrugged. "Thought I sensed something. It's gone now."
"Oh, well..." he snarked. He waved his hand in a gesture for her to proceed. "Carry on then."
-TT-
Starfire and Beast Boy looked up to see Wilson coming down the hall towards them. They both straightened from where they were leaning on the open door frame of Raven's Room.
"What's her status?" asked the man.
"She is still deep in meditation. I have not seen her soul self return yet." Starfire replied.
Beast Boy checked his watch. "She should be back pretty soon. She isn't usually gone from her body more than thirty minutes."
Wilson gestured back over his shoulder with his chin. "Cyborg and Robin are calling hotels, pinning down where the Tyrants are staying. Once they've determined it, we'll be heading out."
"You will be accompanying us?" Starfire determined, her expression impassive and posture guarded.
"Is that a problem?"
She studied him a long moment. "No." she replied finally. "I do not believe you will harm us."
"A vote of confidence." He chuckled. "That's a first."
"Well you know," Beast Boy said sardonically, "it isn't exactly every day that a heroic version of your arch-nemesis crosses over from another reality."
"Admittedly true."
Silence reigned a moment. Beast Boy shifted uncomfortably, staring at the hilts of Wilson's twin swords.
"Uh... you don't... actually... use those on anyone... right?" he asked with trepidation.
The man seemed to grin behind his mask. "How do you think Tempest got his hook?"
Starfire looked mortified. "Y-you are doing the joking, yes?"
The humor drained from his eye. "No." he said, very seriously. Beast Boy's mouth opened to say something but Wilson put up his hand to stop him. "Save it. It was long ago, and I've already heard plenty of lectures about it from Dr. Light."
"The Dr. Light... is your superior?" Starfire guessed. "What is he like?"
"She," Wilson corrected, "is a brilliant woman, but she has no tolerance for what she deems excessive force. So we don't always see eye to eye." Wilson chuckled again, crossing his arms. "The stunt with Tempest nearly made her throw me out of the Brotherhood."
"So why didn't she?" asked a familiar dry voice.
Beast Boy and Starfire started and turned to see Raven at the doorway of her room, her own arms crossed and an impassive expression on her face.
Wilson squared his shoulders, puffing himself up in irritation. "Because she knows I'm one of the best men at her disposal. My methods aren't always pretty, but I get the job done." he told her evenly.
"Some hero you are." said Beast Boy, rolling his eyes.
The irritated glare turned upon him. "You know, I'm willing to bet you Titans aren't perfect paragons of justice all the time." he pointed out. "And I'll bet your Slade has had moments of surprising altruism too."
"We have yet to witness such a thing." Starfire said, quietly.
"Perhaps if you asked Robin." snorted Wilson.
"Maybe." Raven allowed. She stepped out into the hall with them. "We'd have to really pry. He doesn't exactly talk about it."
"Noticed that." Wilson said. "Not terribly surprising I suppose. Given my own history with the Tyrants I assume similar... incidents happened here as well?"
Raven leveled a steady, probing look at him, her eyes narrow. "Our Slade kidnapped and blackmailed him and held him captive for a week." she said carefully, posture almost challenging. "What did you do to him?"
"Is that really relevant?" he asked, bitingly. "The Tyrants are rabble-rousing delinquent brats. Do they need any more reason to dislike me?"
"No," Raven said evenly, "but considering you just admitted to dismembering a teenager a minute ago I might need more reason to trust you."
"Aren't I helping you stop the coming disaster?"
"And we appreciate that." she dismissed. "But how about a little honesty now?"
Starfire and Beast Boy watched nervously from the sides, glancing back and forth between the two as they stared each other down a long moment.
Wilson let out a sigh of defeat.
"...I was trying to help him." he said at last. "I found him unconscious and bleeding out in an alleyway behind the museum. Some sort of scrape with the police I figured. I took him back to one of my hideouts and patched him up."
"And then you didn't let him leave?" guessed Raven. "Why not just turn him over to the Brotherhood, or the police?"
"I thought I could get through to him." Wilson admitted sadly. "Break past the years of mental conditioning inflicted by his mentor. The Brotherhood's doctors had tried before, during the few brief times we had hold of him, but with no success. I thought I would be the one to finally reach him." He finished simply, "I was wrong."
"He took it about as well as our Robin did then?" asked Beast Boy.
Wilson shrugged. "Oh, he screamed and wailed about it plenty. But towards the end... it seemed like he was softening. If I'd had a little more time with him..." He rolled his eye. "But of course that was when the rest of the Tyrants finally found him."
Beast Boy seemed hesitant to press his next thought. "And... uh... what about... a blonde geokinetic girl? Went by the name of Terra?" Posture growing guarded he folded his arms across his chest. "Ring any bells?" he challenged.
"...Tara Markov?" Wilson asked after a pregnant pause.
Was that her real name? Huh. The changeling nodded.
Wilson straightened himself out. "We called her Gaia in my world. Ah, she was a sweet kid." he reminisced fondly. "Confused, in and out of trouble with the law, when I met her. But the Brotherhood saw potential in her. She was probably out youngest recruit."
"So... what happened to her?" Beast Boy asked reluctantly. "In your world I mean."
Painful memories flashed across Wilson's mind.
"It's too dangerous. We're pulling you out." he heard his own voice saying.
He saw her face, her expression too bright, too eager, too insistent.
"No! I just need a little more time with them!" she argued.
"Raven knows you're one of us." he warned.
"She's suspicious of everyone. If I lay low and keep my head down a few days she'll forget all about it."
He remembered the frustration that tinted his words. "They are using you, Tara. You're playing right into their hands."
"They're not like that!" she'd snapped back at him. He remembered the way she'd brushed her hair from her face, her voice softening as she said, "You... you don't know them..."
He shook himself, bringing his mind out of the past and back to the present. Beast Boy was still leaning forward on his toes, waiting to hear the fate of his world's Tara Markov.
He didn't like saying it.
"She was... shot in the back by police, trying to protect the Tyrants' escape." He didn't add his suspicions about Red Raven allowing that to happen. Wilson lowered his head. "It was my fault. I should never have let her infiltrate them."
Beast Boy ducked his head, almost ashamed he'd asked now. "Oh..." he said inadequately.
Awkward silence reigned a moment.
Raven straightened, her head tilting up.
"Robin's on his way down." she announced. "He and Cyborg have probably found the Tyrants' hideout. We should get ready to move."
Starfire nodded, turning to go meet the Boy Wonder halfway. Beast Boy hesitated a moment before following suit.
Wilson and Raven lingered a moment.
"Have I assuaged your doubts?" he quipped.
"Not entirely," she told him, dropping her arms and turning to follow her friends, "but I don't think I distrust you now."
He shrugged. "I can be content with that."
They joined up with the others shortly before Robin rounded the corner to meet them.
"The Perez-Hyatt isn't picking up their phone." he reported. "But their website lists plenty of vacancies."
Raven nodded. "That's about the region I sensed them." she confirmed.
"Good. Then we're moving out. You up to teleporting us?"
"My head's a little clearer for now. So yes." she told him.
"Out of curiosity-" interrupted Wilson. "-what's your plan for getting the Tyrants to play along?"
"No new rifts have formed, which means they haven't used what Red Robin and Blackfire had to leave yet." the Boy Wonder explained. "Assuming they don't resort to that, they're effectively stuck here. They might be willing to bargain with us for a way home."
Wilson considered that, scratching his chin. "Perhaps."
"Unless you have other suggestions?" Robin prompted.
The man shook his head. "With that lot, you can never tell what they're going to do, what means they'll respond to." He adjusted the strap of one of his swords. "I hope for your sake they want to get out of this universe as soon as possible. I'd hate for you to save the world only to be stuck still dealing with unwanted houseguests."
-TT-
"This is ridiculous." Arsenal muttered. He threw down another smoke pellet and watched the cloud consume their pursuers. "I swear those are the same cops we ran into outside RailTech."
"I wouldn't be surprised. All squad cars in the area have been alerted to your presence." Red Robin said over the communicator.
Blackfire muttered a Tamaranian curse behind him. Arsenal turned and put a hand on the small of her waist to guide her towards the narrow hallway exit they'd chosen to escape through. Laser bolts from the blinded police officers whizzed past their heads.
"A sprinkler system malfunction would be a really good distraction right now." he hinted strongly.
"Yeah yeah, give me a minute." Tempest groused, fighting with the door controls to seal their exit behind him.
"Error. Incorrect input." the mechanical voice of the computer intoned.
"Come on you blasted-"
Both of them had to duck behind the doorframe as a laster bolt punched too close to them, popping against the wall. Arsenal raised his communicator.
"Hey, can we get a quick door seal down here, Red?" he asked.
"Everything's on lockdown. I can't even get through the firewalls." Red Robin apologized. "Sorry, but I can't help you with that."
"Allow me."came Cyber-Vile's emotionless drone. "Please clear the area around the door. It will only take a few moments."
They didn't need to be told twice, and backed up down the hall several paces, Arsenal continuing to hurl smoke bombs and small explosives back down the passage to impede the police's progress.
There was a click and the door slid closed momentarily. Tempest raised his hand, seeking out the pipes beyond the door with his powers. They heard the metallic cluck and watery spritz as sprinkler heads popped off their moorings and sent water gushing down on top of the heads of their pursuers.
"That should slow them down for a bit." said Tempest, turning with Arsenal to join up with Blackfire.
"I do not believe this venture is 'going well', as you say." she said, flying along next to the two boys as they ran for the door on the opposite end.
"Ya think?" Arsenal snarked back.
Ignoring his quip, Blackfire continued, "Perhaps it would be better if we were to give up the search for now and return to the room?"
"I'm inclined to agree with her." Tempest put in. He looked around nervously once they burst through the door, out into the street. It was quiet for now in the immediate area but they could already hear sirens drawing near. "We're drawing too much attention. I'm surprised the Titans haven't gotten in our way a dozen times over by now. There's no way they aren't getting the alerts."
Arsenal took a glance at his communicator, frowning at the static that had replaced Red Robin and Cyber-Vile's voices. "I dunno, if their tech is acting up like ours is the alerts might not be going through." He stowed the device with a worried look. "Raven's not gonna be happy."
"She'll be even more unhappy if we get ourselves caught." Tempest pointed out.
The archer cringed, and then waved them off down one of the side streets. "Right. Okay. Back to the hideout it is. Let's shake 'em off our tail first though. Split up."
Silent nods accompanied his order, and the trio splintered off into difference directions, disappearing into the night.
-TT-
Her soul self broke unexpectedly, spilling them all out onto the street several blocks short of their destination. Most of the Titans managed to regain their footing quickly and looked with concern towards their empath.
"I'm sorry." Raven gasped, panting with the effort as she knelt on the pavement. "I can't... It's... it's too much..."
Echoes of voices and empathic resonance were swelling up inside her head. It was all she could do to keep them from overwhelming her. Let alone spare enough concentration to keep them all together as she teleported across the distance.
"It's all right, Raven." Robin said, stepping up and putting a hand on her shoulder. "We can hoof it from here." He straightened, turning to the changeling. "Beast Boy?"
Beast Boy obediently shifted into bloodhound form and put his nose low to the ground, following the fresh scent of Tempest's distinctive fishy musk. Starfire brushed the dust off her fresh uniform and then helped Raven to her feet, steadying the empath when her knees wobbled uncertainly for a few moments.
The Titans picked their way through the city, keeping their eyes and ears out for any sign of their doubles.
It was Beast Boy who heard her first. The green bloodhound alerted, ears perking up with a small whine.
Everyone tensed and went still. Watching the skies, Wilson spotted the dark silhouette of Blackfire, speeding silently through the air in a very purposeful direction.
"Look up." he warned.
They did so, quickly shying under cover to avoid being spotted. Pressing themselves to the brick wall of the building, they tracked Blackfire's path as she flew past them, disappearing over the rooftops behind.
Robin gave a subtle nod when the Titans looked to him, and quietly they all made their way up to the roof, gaining it just in time to watch Blackfire turn and descend.
She twisted her body upright to drop feet-first to the sidewalk outside a yellow-lit building, the bold black letters above the door that spelled Perez-Hyatt almost invisible in the dimness. A scruffy green dog sitting just outside paused in scratching himself to sniff and acknowledge her. She nodded at him before pulling open the front doors and disappearing inside.
The Titans let out a collective breath.
"I'd say we found them." Cyborg said, briefly checking the readings in his arm.
Raven felt out cautiously with her senses. She didn't have to extend herself far to confirm it. "It's them." she agreed. "They're all there. Except... Arsenal? I think?"
"He'll be back soon enough." said Robin, straightening. "All right Titans, keep your guards up. Let me and Cyborg do the talking." He checked absently through the pouches in his restocked belt as he continued, "We don't know how well they're going to cooperate with us, if they will at all. So be prepared for things to turn ugly."
"Robin?" Starfire called in concern. "What if they refuse to leave?"
Robin grimaced, his face twisting with a sigh. "I don't know." he admitted. "We'll figure something out." Glancing up, he looked to Wilson, who seemed to be keeping to himself a little distance away from the group, his eyes scanning the streets idly. Robin frowned, concern growing in his heart. "Go on ahead." he instructed, waving the Titans off. "I'll be right behind you."
The Titans peeled off, one by one, Raven hesitating a little and casting a worried glance at Robin and Wilson before lifting up and floating down to the street below.
Robin took a few steps closer to the man. "You're not coming?" he asked.
Wilson stirred, eyes fixing on Robin. "You'll have better luck getting the Tyrants on your side if I'm not there." he said. "They wouldn't exactly negotiate with me." He shrugged. "Bad blood you know. Better if I keep out of range."
The Boy Wonder nodded in understanding. He bit his lip. Words were on the tip of his tongue, straining to spill out. He held them back.
Wilson tilted his head at him. "Is there something else?"
He scuffed the roof with the steel toe of his boot. His thoughts were anxious, and at length he let them through the dam in his mouth. "You said... the best case scenario for all this was that our two worlds would merge." He lifted his eyes, reluctantly pressing forward. "What's the worst case scenario?"
Wilson's single eye darkened. "Do you really want to know?" he drawled wearily.
Robin turned his palms out helplessly. "I have to know." he said.
The man sighed deeply. He was loathe to say, but the boy deserved to be told. After a tense silent moment, he spoke again.
"According to our projections and simulations," he said, "the worst possible outcome between our two universes is a quantum collision."
"I take it that's a bad thing?" Robin guessed.
Wilson nodded. "The energy output alone could be enough to obliterate all matter."
He said it so casually, but Robin felt the weight of every word. He shook his head, wearily. "Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, his voice warbling.
"I didn't want to frighten you too much." Wilson replied. "If you were too paralyzed by the fear of what failure could mean, you would never have been able to focus."
"We're a lot stronger than you think." said the Boy Wonder softly, with an edge under the words, a slight trace of irritation and anger. Robin's hands gripped into tight fists by his sides. "And we won't fail." he said with determination.
That earned him a curious side-glance from Wilson, who tilted his head with a familiar quiet intrigue. Robin wondered what Wilson saw in his mind when he looked at him. Was he seeing Robin's darker copy and marveling at the differences between them?
"You should go." the man told him. "You have a job to complete." After a moment he added, genuinely, "Good luck."
Something passed between them unspoken. They looked at each other and, though no words were said, seemed for a moment to have an understanding. Robin nodded in respect, then turned and disappeared after his friends.
-TT-
Her head felt like it was full of mud. The migraine stabbed at her skull unceasingly, digging its way into her scalp. Raven rubbed her temples, trying to focus, and disentangle Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire's empathic signatures from each other in her mind.
She turned to Rpbin when he dropped into place behind them, his quiet worry the only clear signal she could feel through the fog. She frowned at the distraction she sensed from him.
"Something the matter?" she asked.
He was silent, mulling over something a moment, and then waved her off. "I'll tell you later." he said, moving past her to take the lead and start approaching the Perez-Hyatt across the street.
Arsenal had just reached Changeling's guard post. The shape-shifter sniffed him in disinterest, then ignored him, but upon spotting the Titans went rigid, Hair standing on end, arching his back and giving a low rumbling growl.
"Woah hey!" Arsenal cried, putting up his hands. "C'mon Greenie, it's me."
Changeling shifted back, still in a feral crouch. "Not you." he snarled. "Them."
Arsenal followed the shape-shifter's glare, instinctively reaching for his crossbow upon seeing them. "Oh what the-" he groaned.
"Easy." Robin said, raising his hands. "We don't want to fight."
"Oh yeah?" Arsenal challenged, not relaxing his trigger finger. "Then beat it before I call Red Raven out here to pound you into the grass."
"What's the matter? You scared we'll kick your butt again?" Beast Boy snarked.
Arsenal's face flushed red. "Why you little-!"
"Beast Boy." Robin warned him off sternly, giving him a hard look. Then he stepped forward, into Arsenal's line of fire. "This concerns her too. It concerns all of us." His hands slowly lowered. "Can we talk? Peacefully? Without coming to blows?"
"Unlikely." Arsenal muttered under his breath. After a few moments, when no one had moved or spoken further, he prompted suspiciously, "What about?"
"You want to go home right?" asked Robin. "We can help you."
Arsenal's finger tightened on the trigger as he stiffened defensively. "We don't need your help!" he snapped.
"So y'all don't want this back?" piped up Cyborg, raising his arm to show Arsenal the electromagnetic generator safely clipped there.
The Tyrant hesitated. He bit his lip, frowning.
Robin took another step forward. "Hear us out, and we'll give it you." he promised.
Arsenal seethed with indecision. Changeling looked back and forth between him and the Titans, ears twitching.
A long silence passed. Cyborg held the generator a little higher, offering it like bait to a hungry pack of wolves. Behind him Starfire held her breath in worry, hands up by her chest. Raven was almost hidden under her hood, violet eyes watching with wariness. Robin just waited, staring silently.
Finally, with a sigh of resignation, Arsenal lowered his crossbow.
"She's gonna kill me for this." he muttered. "All right, fine. Come on upstairs. We'll talk."
He turned and led the way through the door. Giving a look that clearly said he wasn't sure about this at all, Changeling morphed into a rattlesnake and slithered after the archer.
Raven heard Starfire let out a faint breath of relief next to her, but she didn't relax. She couldn't. She felt her heart deepen its rhythm, beginning to pound loudly inside her chest, as the Titans followed Arsenal into the lobby. The dim yellow light of the desk lamps glowed ominously. The ding of the elevator sounded small and far away. Her feet tingled with every step as they trumped up the carpeted stairs.
She could feel the Tyrants in the periphery of her senses, their presences blurring together in her empathic sight, becoming confused with those of her friends and drowned by the noise she could hear all around her now, clanging, pulsing with the throbs of her headache.
Azar she hoped the Tyrants would play along and close the portal. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.
No more time to think on it now. They were outside the door to the Tyrants' room. Arsenal reluctantly raised a fist and knocked, clearing his throat with a nervous cough.
"Hey Rae?" he called timidly. "We uh... we got company."
Someone opened the door from the other side. It swung open to reveal Blackfire, whose eyes widened as she floated back, numbly allowing Arsenal, Changeling, and the Titans to file in.
Raven steeled herself, and raised her head, meeting the hot red eyes that burned across the room at them.