It's a new chapter! I'm hoping to update much more during the summer! So look forward to it! Here's this for now, and I'm half way done with the next chapter! So keep your fingers crossed for an early update! However long it takes, I will not abandon my stories! (Even the 1 on hiatus will eventually be finished)
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Taylor breathed heavily as he stepped through Slade's lair
Taylor breathed heavily as he stepped through Slade's lair. He didn't know what he was doing, or why he was doing it. He wasn't even completely sure what he was looking for. But he knew that Rikki…something had to be done for Rikki. How could she ever be happy as Slade's apprentice? It was something that any good friend, any titan would do for someone in her situation, for her, right? But the little voice in the back of his head reminded him that he was the only one doing it. But he shook off the thought and continued on his search.
"Hey Ham-man, what's up?" A voice cooed. Taylor whipped around to see Gemini holding her bow and arrow, the point of the arrow a mere inch from his forehead. Taylor paused, debating whether to ask for her help or to come out fighting. But his silence puzzled Gemini and she raised an eyebrow, poking him a little with the arrow.
"Hellooooooo? I'm threatening you here!" she scolded, poking him more harshly. Taylor swatted the arrow away from his bleeding forehead and looked at her.
"Why are you…but you were being nice…and Slade…not Slade…you…uh…?"
"Is something wrong with you?" Gemini inquired. Taylor perked up, realizing he had just been wondering the same thing about her. But before Taylor had time to reply, let alone think, Gemini dropped him to the ground the let the point of her arrow rest on his neck. She grinned.
"Slade's been asking for you."
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"Teen Titans huh?" Diana breathed, the name familiar as she strung it through her lips. Terra nodded.
"Yeah, I'm-I mean…I used to be…I was a member." She replied. Diana thought a moment, then she looked back and forth and stepped closer to Terra.
"Hey…do you know where the titans are right now?" Diana whispered. Terra looked at her confusedly.
"Uh…well, last time I checked they where at Titans Tower but they tend to travel a lot…" Terra trailed off. Diana paused, she seemed to be considering Terra's statement, but suddenly she smiled and clapped Terra on the back.
"Heh! What was that? Me getting all serious like that…what was I thinking, heh. Come on Blondie let's get going." Diana laughed. Terra nodded slowly, noting that Diana seemed…odd. She didn't even know her really after all; maybe she shouldn't have invited her to walk with her. No, Terra could defend herself, especially against a girl with no special powers.
"Why aren't you a titan anymore?" Diana asked.
"I…I left." Terra sighed, "I just…I didn't feel like I was really 'titan material', and it…after everything it just…felt too weird." Diana nodded as she listened to her.
"After everything…" Diana muttered, and Terra could tell that she was wondering exactly what 'everything' was. Then Diana stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening.
"Say hon…so… 'after everything…' a lot's been going on for the titans lately?" Diana asked. Terra nodded.
"Yeah, Slade's been acting up lately." Terra replied. Diana nodded, her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at Terra.
"Alright, this is important, do you know anyone named Kavi?"
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"We apologize for keeping you waiting!" Starfire called as she, Raven and Kavi burst into Slade's layer.
"FINALLY!!" Fade yelled, but paused when she saw Kavi, in fact that pause is what caused her to be thrown back and slammed into a solid brick wall.
"Pay attention!" Julia exclaimed, yanking her comrade up. But Fade gabbed Julia's head and turned it towards the entrance.
"Look!" she exclaimed, causing the others, in the midst of battle, to turn as well.
"Kavi? What are you doing here?!" Julia exclaimed, a stunned look on her face.
"I was traveling across the Harbnil galaxy when I-"
"You got lost, didn't you?" Julia sighed.
"We're sort of in the middle of a battle here! Come on guys! Chop! Chop!" Nova yelled, shoving one of Thorn's vines out of his face. Julia shot a death glare at Kavi, who for the first time to today looked a little nervous (just a little), but turned back to the battle, which could now start up again. The titans gave it their all, punching and throwing, biting and screaming, but Slade's apprentices where no laughing matter, the titans couldn't get close enough to the box holding Selena and Nikkos, and couldn't knock Thorn and Rikki down long enough to get a real clear shot. But for all their concentration, it was only a matter of time until somebody noticed.
"Slade's gone!" Luna called. Everyone stopped, looking over to the spot Slade had been standing this whole time, or so they had thought. "He's gone!" Luna repeated, and they saw she was right; Slade was nowhere to be seen.
"But…" Fiery began slowly, "where did he go?"
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"Hey boss, I brought him!" Gemini called, dragging Taylor across the floor towards her employer.
"Put him down Gemini." Slade told her lazily. Gemini released her grip on Taylor, only to shove him even closer to Slade. Taylor straightened up, trying to look like a brave and dignified titan, the way Robin and the original titans always looked in the textbooks.
"What do you want with me?" Taylor asked, cursing as his premature voice cracked at the end of his sentence. Slade smiled.
"Do you recognize the name Martel Lucas?"
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"Sorry, I gotta take this." Diana flipped open what Terra assumed was a cell phone, but looked kind of…well, not exactly something you'd find in this era. Terra sighed, Diana, after asking her about some strange-named person, hade promptly taken a phone call. It didn't matter anyway, she'd never heard of anyone named Kavi. Cool name though.
"Yeah, uh huh. I know, I'm already on it. Yeah, tell him that I'll take care of it. Pff, I can handle one kid, kay, later." Diana muttered, before hanging up on her caller. Diana glanced over at Terra; she seemed to be considering something.
"Hey Terra, where exactly are you headed?" Diana inquired hesitantly. Terra shrugged.
"Nowhere really." She replied, watching as the statement sunk in. Diana sighed; Terra thought she looked like she was giving up.
"I…well, I actually have a…wide range of places I need to go to," Diana began slowly, "wanna come with me?" The offer, however casual, caused a slight drift in their conversation as Terra realized, she was asking her for much more, Diana was asking for her help, no-she was asking for a titan's help.
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"W-who's going to tell the king?" a man asked timidly, gripping his weapon tightly. His friend, a guard, the same as him, was sweating greatly.
"Not me!!"
"Well I'm not going to do it!!"
It was at that moment, a new, young, inexperienced guard who had not yet met the king, made the 2nd worst mistake of his life, he rounded the corner and stopped right in front of the arguing guards.
"Is he new?" the first guard whispered. The 2nd guard nodded, smirking slightly.
"Hey new kid," the first guard began slowly; "Can you do me a favor?" This was the moment the new, young, inexperienced guard made the worst mistake of his life.
"Uh…sure." So the guards quickly told him the information, and shoved him into the throne room to tell the king. The young guard cleared his throat as he stepped forward, feeling small and insignificant as he stood in front of the king's tall throne.
"Y-your high-highness…" the young guard stuttered. The king leaned forward.
"Sir…um…I have, um, been informed that…that…" his voice grew so quiet that the king could not hear the end of the sentence.
"Speak up!" The king yelled, irritated by the guard. The young guard vaguely recalled being told of the king's violent temper.
"Th-the…young prince has…um…left." The guard spat out. The king's grip on his chair tightened, his jaw clenched and he leaned forward.
"What do you mean, left?" the king asked slowly, trying not to unleash his anger upon his victim.
"He h-has…um, I believe the exact description, um, was that he slipped p-pills into his guards drinks. And…um…they…uh, fell a-asleep and he…um…left…uh… 'escaped'. And…um, it's not like his u-usual…things he does to the townspeople…he's…y-you see sir…gone…g-gone back in time." The guard finally finished, bracing himself for the king's outrage. The king's eyes widened, perfectly round in his head, his nostrils flared and his face reddened, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, sending everyone in his fortress stumbling forward to obey his order.
"GET ME DIANA!!"
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"DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT!!" Amp yelled, skidding to a stop behind some overturned scrap metal, it was impossible to tell what it had been previously, though it had been intact before the battle had begun.
"What is wrong NOW?!" Midnight hissed, throwing herself to the ground next to him.
"EVERYTHING!!" Amp shouted angrily, "Slade's not here!! We're stuck fighting his stupid apprentices!! ONE of which is RIKKI!! And haven't you noticed yet?!"
"Noticed WHAT?!" Midnight scowled. Amp gripped the front collar of Midnight's cloak, and yanked her close enough so that he wouldn't have to scream over the noise. Amp glanced quickly, making sure he had enough time to tell her, and that maybe…no one else was listening.
"Slade is gone, Gemini isn't fighting, and Taylor's been gone since the beginning of the battle," he began, Midnight's eyes widened, "So what do you think?
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"Diana…we're going in circles." Terra sighed, resting on a park bench. Diana groaned and plopped down beside her.
"You're right! Argh! Man! I can't believe that I can't-" Diana's face slowly lit up, and she jumped off the bench and yanked a small green controller out of her pocket. Diana fingered the green controller, and punched a couple of buttons until the screen on the controller zoomed in on an odd set of lines, a red dot blinking in the middle of the screen.
"YEAH!!" Diana screeched, jumping up and down wildly.
"Is that…a tracking device?" Terra inquired, forgetting her exhaustion. Diana nodded vigorously.
"This stupid kid is always gettin' into trouble, so one night I snuck into his room and implanted a microchip under his fingernail-it'll grow out but it was easiest. I can't believe I didn't remember it until now!" Diana suddenly stopped her joyful shouting when she noticed the incredibly creeped-out look that Terra was giving her. Diana cleared her throat and composed herself.
"Anyway, we'll find him no problem hon, don't worry." Diana told Terra, patting her on the shoulder. Terra raised an eyebrow.
"Why should I be worried?" she asked. Diana grinned at her.
"Sorry, you looked worried, probably for my mental health right? He's a nice kid, but a little troublemaker," Diana laughed, "You should be worried, anyway, with this we'll find him no prob."
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"Oh no."
"What's wrong?" Julia asked as she dodged a desk being thrown at her. Kavi immediately dropped to the floor and pulled a pocketknife out of his belt. Quickly, he switched open the blade and dug it under his fingernail.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Julia screeched, wrenching the knife away from him, but not before Kavi had ripped off his fingernail. He held out a very small chip, letting Julia see it before he threw the lint-sized computer down and crushed it with the heel of his boot; he then began sucking on the tip of his bleeding finger.
"Can't believe I forgot…she probably already knows where I am…" Kavi muttered, yet he was still somehow calm, even as flying projectiles narrowly missed his skull. Julia paused, and raised an eyebrow.
"She?" Julia asked.
"Diana, remember?" Kavi replied, observing how much his finger had stopped bleeding. Julia nodded slowly.
"Yeah… I remem-"
"LOOK OUT!!" Fade jumped in front of Kavi and Julia, creating a rounded white shield and repelling two explosives away from her resting teammates.
"Pay attention you guys! We can't afford any screw ups right now!" Fade yelled before running off to help Fiery land a hit on Thorn. But before anyone could continue, they heard a loud banging, echoing around the lair, and finally, a quarter of the roof exploded, amidst coughing and trying to get rid of the eye-stinging dust from the 2nd interruption of their battle, everyone was trying to see what exactly, had interrupted them this time.
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"It didn't hit anyone did it?" Diana inquired, as she leaned over the hole on the roof, trying to see through the dust cloud to some moving creature.
"No, I lifted most of the rubble out before it hit anyone with the clay I used to break the roof." Terra replied, as she too squinted to see through the dust.
"Yeah, you got us here pretty fast with those powers of yours." Diana grinned. Terra nodded slowly.
"Uh…yeah…but I've never gone that fast before, did that thing you gave me make me do that?" Terra inquired, looking at a silver wristband on her right arm. It had a small screen with green lines, and a series of small buttons and dials, Diana had given it to her right after she had re-discovered the tracking device. Diana was quiet again, something she had been doing frequently.
"You can keep that." Diana replied, not really answering her question. Terra sighed, but turned her eyes back down to the dust cloud, where she could see…
"The teen titans!" Terra exclaimed, shrinking back, there was certainly no way she was going to face them so soon after leaving, what had she been thinking when she agreed to help Diana?
"Yeah, somethin' wrong?" Diana inquired.
"I just…I'm staying up here, don't tell them I'm here." Terra said quietly. Diana looked at her, confused, but sighed and nodded.
"Alright." She promised, and jumped down into the clearing dust.
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"Kavi!! You little bug!" Diana screamed, whacking Kavi on the head with her fists repeatedly. Julia groaned.
"Luna! Emerald!"
"Gotcha!"
"We're on it!"
Luna and Emerald quickly ran forward, Luna knocked Diana to the side with her black energy and Emerald slammed her to the wall with his, trapping her in a mass of his energy working like ropes to keep her restrained. Luna stood next to her brother and raised a shield around her, her brother and Diana to protect them from Slade's apprentices, while the others turned to start the battle again, but Thorn and Rikki were standing up in the metal balcony wrapped around the inside walls of the lair, standing behind Slade.
"What are you waiting for?!" Fiery called, "Come down here and fight us!"
Thorn and Rikki looked at Slade; they seemed just as confused as the titans. But just then, the door behind Slade opened, and Gemini stepped out, leading a boy dressed all in black, with simple boots and a belt. Everyone, except for Slade and Gemini of course, gasped.
"TRAITOR!!" Nova screamed, jumping forward. It took Fiery, Junior, Sid, and Vibe to hold him back, though they did so reluctantly. The other titans where caught between burning anger, misery, and horror as Taylor stood next to Slade, trying desperately not to make eye contact with his former comrades. Thorn seemed slightly amused, Rikki was in pure shock.
"It thought this would be a good time to test out my new apprentice." Slade sneered. He then nodded to Taylor. Taylor pulled out his elemental sword, a single bead of sweat running down his face. The titans stared at him, unable to move.
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Oh boy...yeah, Taylor switched sides. It's getting more and more complicated, and Nova's temper...I shudder...