A/N: reasons why it's taken me so obscenely long to update this time:
1. I haven't written anything but school essays since summer.
2. MY MOM SPILLED COFFEE ON MY COMPUTER! D:
So, yeah. I think those are pretty legitimate reasons. Moving on.
Merry Christmas my friends! *coughcough assuming I still have any friends here* Honestly, I'm surprised I got this done NOW, less than a week before Christmas (as opposed to last November -when I wrote this- or last week -when I typed it up- -.-) AND in the midst of preparing for finals (you guys are lucky I have time to temporarily half-a** some of my school work), but here I am. ^-^
(P.S. I hope you understand what I was going for in Slade's part, because it may be kinda confusing.)
Disclaimer: like most awesome things in the world, I don't own this. :'(
Slade had been sitting, pondering, for an estimated minimum of three hours (he had a habit of unconsciously impersonating a rock after that long). That in and of itself was not unusual. He was not, however, sitting in his customary place in the main room of his lair, but in his room (the only part of the building that had any signs that it's inhabitent was a human being, rather than an impersonal, brassy-colored mask). His thoughts, too, were travaling an unfamiliar path.
Specifically, his train of thought at the time was something along the lines of recent descoveries and events, and the resulting adjustments he would have to make to his plans.
"A stupid, cock-eyed, unforgivably unproffessional misstep this whole thing had turned out to be."
It seemed that more than one of his previous goals and intentions would have to be reevaluated in light of recent... Complications.
"You chose to leave behind any chance at that sort of life a long time ago, and you left it behind for a reason."
A brief lapse in diligence, a mere tidbite of information that he would probably have done better to have paid attention to.
"Five minutes of laziness. I already risked his life once, and he may be in danger again thanks to five. Stupid. Minutes."
Due to this, it might be better to take a more prudent course of action, a destraction if you will, to lead them off the scent.
"it's the least I can do after what happened the first time."
The girl was a convenient opportunity for such a destraction, especially as he had already played his hand in that direction recently.
"and that'll certainly put them in the mood to listen to him if they find out"
And her own cercumstances provided a welcome opportunity to benifet from a show of "revenge". Besides, she was altogether too troublesome to allow her to return to crimefighting unchallenged.
"as if they doesn't have enough possible reasons to resent him."
And after all, it never did pay not to take an opprotunity to gather information.
"And that'll Definitely make them happy."
Yes, he decided as he replaced the old picture of a small famaly on his desk. This issue had become entirely too personal. Something had to be done.
_
Bumblebee glanced in the rear-view mirror of the T-car, wondering idly why their new passenger had been so quiet during the trip. A light frown crossed her face as she took in the new girl's dejected expression, guessing-with a fair amount of accuracy- what it's sorce was.
"Hey, Bee." The insect-themed heroine's gaze flickered briefly over to the aggravating redhead in the passger's seat (a poorly thought-out seating arrangement, she would have to rearrange the seats when they stopped for a break) before returning her eyes to the road.
"Yes Speedy?"
"When are we going to stop for a rest break?"
Bumblebee's eyelid twitched. "As soon as we get to the same diner we always stop at when we come this way, Speedy."
"Oh, good." Speedy quipped, smerking out the window. "For a minute I thought you were passing it as some kind of cruel and unusual punishment."
Bumblebee spewed several relatively child-friendly curses as she jurked the car into the turn lane, leaving a symphony of honking cars in her wake.
"So, what's everyone gonna do first? Food-" She waved her unopened menu. "or restroom?" she nodded her head at the two marked doors at the back of the medium-sized diner.
As she expected, the three red-heads of the group departed for the restrooms almost before she even finished her question.
The mildly amused smirk her teammate's antics had brought to her lips slid into a thoughtful frown as she turned back to the remaining two people at the table.
"Well, doesn't look like clownfish has had much luck getting her out of her wonderfully fun and encouraging mood." She thought to herself as the girl looked at her menu and chose her meal with the speed of either familiarity or total lack of interest. "Might as well try my hand at it."
"Hey, Terra." she said out loud, jerking her thumb in the direction that the less-than-rational members of her team had disappeared. "What'dya say we go freshen up while Thing One, Thing Two, and Thing Sr. are taking care of three hours-worth of bad decisions? Heaven knows we won't get many more chances today."
Terra thought for a moment, then stood up, shrugging. "Sure, why not?"
_
"So, was there something you wanted to talk about? Or are we just hiding so Garth gets saddled with translating for the twins?" Terra prompted.
Bee grinned, then turned serious as she thought about the best way to go about bringing up what was on her mind.
"It's not going to be as bad as you think." Terra looked up, confused.
"What's not?"
"Seeing the Titans again. It's not going to be that bad."
Terra huffed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the sink in front of her and looking into the mirror. "Sure, like you would know anything about it."
"Well, that brain-activity-regulater-thing we found on you will sure take a lot of blame off your shoulders." She paused, giving that thought time to sink in. From the look on Terra's face, it seemed she'd completely forgotten about that. "Plus, from what I hear, Raven's going to be vouching for you, and that's going to carry a lot of weight for them, especially considering the history between you two."
Terra was quiet, thinking over what Bee had said.
"But I'm still going to have to face Beast Boy."
Bee nodded. "True, but I've already arranged for us to have a privet talk with Robin-"
"Us?" Terra innterupted, stiffening.
"Us meaning you, me, and Aqualad, plus Raven and those friends of yours. The point is, the only one there who won't be on your side from the start is Robin, and maybe Cyborg, so at least you'll be able to get that out of the way first."
"Oh." Terra said, relaxing as she felt her heart rate slow from the panicked speed it had shot up to.
"So long story short, you'll be fine." Bee grinned, patting the shorter girl's shoulder. "Just relax. Robin may be kind of paranoid, but he'll trust you as long as you give him a reason to."
Terra turned to her, a relived expression on her face as they walked out. "Jeez, the way you... And how you... It's almost like you've done this yourself!"
"... Yeah." Bumblebee grinned as they reached their table, a hint of nostalgia in her smile. "Something like that."