A pre-chapter announcement I have: The Tournament of Heroes and Tournaments of Heroines rosters are now closed & set, given how that pseudo-arc will be starting next chapter. For the Heroes, I have accumulated 14 names (whereas there were originally only 8 in canon). For the Heroines, I have accumulated 12 (whereas there were only 3 confirmed and a couple of silhouettes shown in canon).
I'd like to take the time to thank Raidentensho, Kamen Rider Chrome, and Gui for the suggestions given, and hope they, as well as you, enjoy the upcoming chapters.
P.S.
There's a new Poll on my Profile if anyone's interested in helping me decide on a future project. I'd really appreciate the imput.
A few days had passed after Vent and Raven returned to Jump, with things relatively returning to normal between the Titans and themselves, as well as Vent and the citizens of Jump.
Cyborg on one hand was practically seething at how the brunette not only let someone look over his work –that he put his own circuits into mind you- without his consent, but also completely totaled his T-Comm. beyond the point of repair and even salvage. However, he also couldn't help but bow to the brunette for bringing the automated ice box blueprints back –after the brunette convinced him to help with it of course-, as well as worship the genius that had concocted said blueprints in the first place. The automated ice box, or T-Box, was colored similarly to the T-Car and Cyborg himself, a large Titans insignia decal slapped onto the side casually. It was slightly larger than a washing machine and dryer set next to one another, and an improvement he made onto the original design was that the machine was able to keep stock of the drinks that were in it digitally. Robin meanwhile agreed to not hold Vent's past over his head, since the past was in the past –unless someone from the past time traveled into the future/present, but that was a moot point-. Starfire was simply happy to have two of her best friends back, and had taken to calling all the Titans her best friends after the brunette told her you could have more than one best friend. Beast Boy was slightly depressed about the brunette or bluette not getting him anything, but the shiny new T-Box distracted him after it began handing out drinks with robotic hands.
Vent himself had to run "damage control" when word -as well as concrete evidence- got out to the press that he had once been Slade AKA Deathstroke the Terminator's apprentice. The mayor required some convincing, but eventually gave in because A) the past was in the past, and B) his little girl was a Ventus fangirl, and member of the Teen Titan: Ventus FanClub that operated within Jump. It also helped that the brunette when crime fighting tried to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, so that was good to. The people in general… would require more convincing, and Vent figured if the people couldn't see him for who he was through the merit of his actions, rather than who he used to associate himself with, then he should just do his job and ignore the people. After all, you can't please everyone.
However, something that didn't go unnoticed by the team was that the the team fought criminals, that Vent relied more on his martial arts and a borrowed bo staff more than his powers. In the times he did, they were usually in short bursts, nothing significant to say the least. While Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy figured he was just trying something new, Starfire and Raven saw differently. For Starfire, coming from a race of emotionally-driven alien warriors meant she could read people's emotions with uncanny accuracy, and in the brunette's eyes, she saw fear flicker through those crimson orbs whenever he used his powers, though couldn't figure out why since he had always displayed such exemplary control over his aerokinetic abilityes. Raven on the other hand knew the exact cause. After Vent's meltdown in Gotham -which caused several thousands of dollars worth of collateral damage to Gotham's slums-, it was obvious that he feared his powers running amok, and so he began repressing them. Ironic how after she had begun gaining better control of her powers with the brunette's indirect aid, that his own control began to suffer for it at the price of his inability to use his powers confidently.
It was at this time a week later after Vent and Raven's return that the team were all out on the roof of the Tower, the sun setting behind the city as they relaxed after a hard day's work of stopping criminals and such. Robin and Ventus were on one side, facing off against Cyborg and Starfire in a game of volleyball, the two prior silently coordinating their movements with one another and leaving the cyborg and alien in their dust. If they could apply this to a real-combat environment, the two could very well become the next Dynamic Duo; If Robin ever saw fit to drop the loner mentality he'd been carrying around that was. Beast Boy was off to the side refereeing, simply flipping Rob and Vent's scorecards into place, Raven sitting off to the side in the shade and meditating, her signature mantra leaving her lips as she chanted, though from time to time she'd keep an eye on her friends, trying to be more open without being too forward about it. She was still a little torn up inside about not telling Vent that one detail she didn't want to, but she figured it would be better he live on in ignorance, a smile on his face rather than sulk for the next couple of years knowing there was nothing he could do to save her; his best friend. Though one would think he used the term loosely, the passion he put into each time those words left his lips prooved otherwise.
It was at this time that Robin redirected the spike sent from Cy back into the air. Clasping his hands together, he threw the brunette into the air as high as he could, the brunette bringing his fist back before hitting the ball with everything he had, sending it a nearly straight-down spike towards the ground. Cy dove to stop it from hitting the ground with his forearms. However, when the ball landed on his arms, instead of bouncing off, it continued to spin wildly, steam rising from the plates on his forearms before the ball suddenly flew at his face with a -thwack- before it bounced to the right and out of the ring, bouncing a few times before going over the end of the roof.
"*Sigh* I'll get it," Beast Boy sighed saddly. He was a little upset when he found out that the two had run into Terra on the way back, but didn't bring her back. However, had he stayed to listen, he would've known that Terra was due to come back any day now if her words were any indication, but rather he had taken to sulking instead.
Back to reality; before he could leap over the edge, a deep, rumbling sound met his and the others ears causing him to stop. A few seconds later, a slender silhouette rose into view atop a rocky platform, long hair blowing in the wind and a hand on their hip while the other hand held the lost ball, the light peeling away and revealing who she was.
"So…" Terra said with a half-smile as not a trace of panic, fear, or trepidation made itself known in her voice as she muttered this single word. "Which team am I on?" the girl asked as she tossed the ball back to the group, Vent noticing her attire had changed since their… adventure, back in Gotham. Her new attire consisted of a black crop top turtleneck with long sleeves bearing a yellow-orange T insignia on her chest, yellow-orange shorts with a brown pouched belt replacing her old denim shorts, and a familiar yellow and black sling bag over her shoulder to complete the ensemble. The goggles hanging around her neck, gloves on her hands, hiking boots on her feet, and butterfly barrette in her hair however remained consistent.
"Terra!" Beast Boy and Starfire suddenly started screaming repetitively as they rushed at the brunette, pulling one another back like children in an attempt to get to the blond first before it was Star that managed to get to the girl first, wrapping her arms around the girl's lithe frame in an alien-powered hug.
"Oh, hello, long-lost friend! You remember me, yes?" Star asked happily as she held the blond in her arms.
"Of course, Starfire," Terra said in a strangled voice. "I still have bruises from the last time you hugged me," she said before she was released from the girl's grip, Beast Boy being the next one to come up to him.
"Terra! You're…" he said before losing his nerve. "I mean, I…" he said holding his hand to shake. "How's it… heh… wassup?" he asked, the girl chuckling at his fumbling before giving him a chaste hug, the changeling crumpling like a wet sock and sliding to the ground, hearts in his eyes.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite little rock-and-roller!" Cy said coming up to the girl and extending for a high five.
"Cyborg!" the girl said returning the sentiment. "Robin! What's shaking?"
"Good to see you again," Robin returned shaking hands, Star and BB running up to get back in the conversation only for the latter to win out.
"Good?-! Is he kidding? It's great to see you again! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" he said excitedly, delivering the last sentence with enough force to blow her hair back. "Raven, wake up! Terra's back! Isn't that awesome?"
"So. Finished your last little adventure before coming here huh?" Raven asked simply.
"That's right?" Terra said with a lopsided grin. "But hey, where's Ven? I thought he'd be the first to greet me," she said trying to hide the disappointment in her voice before her cerulean orbs landed on his form, the brunette at the moment simply holding the volleyball in his hands while looking at nothing in particular. "Hey Ven. Ven, you there?" the girl asked coming up to him and waving a hand in front of his face.
"Wha- huh?" he asked when his eyes snapped back into focus. "Oh hey Terr. Sorry I wasn't paying attention. I had… something on my mind," he said sadly.
"Is this about Gotham?" the girl asked in a hushed tone so only the two could hear, the brunette nodding sadly before the girl took the ball from his hands. "Come on man, crack a smile. You know I can't stand seeing you frown," she said as she suddenly began tickling him, trying to get him to loosen up.
"Ah- Wha-Hey! Cut it out Terr! I'm ticklish there!" the brunette said between his laughing as the girl continued to tickle him. "Well ha! Take this!" he chuckled as he began to tickle the girl in return, who could only giggle madly as he hit all her sweet spots, Beast Boy and Raven off to the side blushing for their own reasons when the two toppled over to the ground, grabbing at one another and tickling the other as much as they could to get the other to stop, the brunette eventually coming out on top. Literally.
"Ha… ha… ha… Looks like you win again?" Terra panted between breaths, her hair spread out beneath her, her chest rising and falling with each breath. "Wanna go another round?" she asked with a grin, the innuendo spreading through the air and causing everyone, especially Raven and Beast Boy, to recoil given how the brunette was pretty much straddling the blond. Looking up, the blond and brunette saw the flushed look on the Titan's faces before they looked to one another, then to the position they were in before they both became as red as stoplights, separating from one another as though they couldn't do so any faster.
"Wha-What's wrong with you guys?-!" Vent cried out with a flushed face. "It was just an innuendo!"
"You know, I do have to ask, what is the innuendo of which you speak?" Star asked, her expresion unflushed since finding people in varying positions of that nature was commonplace on her home world of Tamaran.
"Oh, an innuendo is-" Vent said before Terra clapped her hand over the brunette's mouth.
"That's girl talk for another day," Terra said with a flushed expression, but on the inside was missing the warmth the brunette's body provided. Not like that way, you perverts. "A-Anyway, I was hoping your offer didn't expire. You know, to be a Titan," she said scratching the back of her head nervously, only to meet the stunned silence of the others. "Oh. I see," she sighed dejectedly. "I guess I'll see you around. Later Ven-" she said before Robin's hand clasped her shoulder.
"The offer didn't expire," the Boy Wonder said trying to be tactful. "We're just concerned."
"Yeah, it's 'cause, well, um, last time when you kind of freak out and ran away, you didn't exactly… uh… you weren't completely, uh…" the changeling said nervously before Raven cut in.
"You couldn't control your powers," she said curtly with an edge to her tone. Most likely from that "shared boyfriend" commend the other day. Rachael Roth does not share her man with some blond bimbo! a part of her said deep in her mind. Of course due to the reinforced mental barriers she had erected since then, she had not heard.
"Hel-lo? That's why I left in the first place," Terra said smiling broadly. "Robin said I needed practice, so I've been practicing," she said adjusting her goggles on her face. "Check it out," she said as she jumped backward, landing on a boulder and quickly bringing up three others. Bounding nimbly from one to the other, she rode them to a higher elevation and took the spares with her. Off she went, guiding the stones through a loop-the-loop like a roller coaster, dropping from the lead and landing on the one at the end of the line, those on the roof awed by the performance.
"Glorious!" Star cheered.
"Whoo-yeah!" Cyborg added.
"Dude! She really has gotten better!"
"She learned a few tricks. Doesn't mean she's any less dangerous," Raven said curtly, but then regretted the unintended message behind that statement when she saw the way Vent shrunk back on himself. Most likely because of how she'd by extension called him dangerous as well.
Back in the sky, Terra was flying by, her face saying she was at the top of her game, the four rocks sailing through the air in a diamond formation with her in the lead. Circling the tower, she skimmed low over Jump City Bay, her passage throwing up a wall of waves as she flew away from the Tower, the rocks now in a four-abreast line as she began a steep climb before sending them veering away from one another. A couple of quick barrel rolls and she was on a headlong charge straight toward the building, the remaining three rocks approaching fast from the remaining cardinal directions.
At the last possible second, the four earthly missiles shot straight up into the air after nearing mere feet of crashing, all of them turning into a sharp climb as the blond landed neatly in a crouch. Standing erect and groaning with the effort of the performance, she sent the rocks high in a tight spiral towards the heavens, throwing her hands to the sides and causing them to collide, resulting in a pyrotechnic display that could be seen all across Jump, the yellow sparks sailing through the evening sky.
"Ahhh…" Star gaped.
"Ohhh…" BB gaped.
"Fantastic," Cy also gaped.
"See?" Terra said propping her goggles on her forehead. "I've got everything under control," she said before a sudden tremor shook her out of her happy mood. When the tremor ceased, a few annoyed pairs of eyes looked in her direction while one brunette rubbed the back of his neck nervously, the blushing girl simply replying- "Wasn't me." –as she waved her hands in front of herself defensively, her heart swelling with pride when she saw Vent confirm what she said with a nod and a smile. He truly did trust her, even after all of her past… mishaps.
A few minutes later inside the Ops. Center, the team looked over a computer-generated map of Jump City, four pulsating points marked on it, forming something reminiscent to a trail.
"Earthquakes," Cyborg said confirming what the instruments read out. While Vent and Raven were out, the Ops. Center had gotten an upgrade; Instead of a giant TV rising out of a slot in the floor –though the thing was still kept there-, the images from the computer monitors or TV feed could be projected onto the large window facing the ocean with such clarity that you may as well have been watching a regular-sized TV. The fold-out jumbo screen was only in case something happened to the projector. "Small ones, but they're happening all over the city."
"Too many to be natural," Terra mused, Beast Boy popping up behind her with hearts in his eyes, the brunette keeping him a distance away from the girl so he wouldn't violate her personal space like he had on the roof. That and because a part of him didn't want the changeling to get too close to Terra. For some reason.
"That's because they're not earthquakes. They're a trail," Robin said looking intently at the map, two more quakes suddenly appearing overhead. "Something is moving under the city. We need to find out what. Titans! Go!" he called out as Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Ventus charged out, Robin and Raven following, but then stopping short to turn back. "Are you coming or not?" he asked facing the blond.
"Does this mean I'm on the team?" she asked.
"It means we could use your help," Robin answered, the blond giving him a satisfied smile before running for the door and brushing past Raven as she passed. However, when the blond grazed Raven's form, three images of the blond desperately trying to control her powers, as well as Slade's face on a small round screen came into view, badly unnerving her by the sequence that she had picked up.
"Everything okay?" Robin asked placing a hand on the distressed mage's shoulder, who at the moment was shaking off what looked like a photographic-negative image of Terra's face from her mind, the features set in a cruel smile.
"Can't tell. Are you sure it's safe to have her around?" she asked.
"Not entirely, but everyone deserves a second chance," Robin returned, still not sure if he was the one who gave Vent a second chance, or if it was really the other way around. Raven on the other hand could only frown, the girl's surface thoughts worrying her somewhat. She said she'd had one last "adventure" to go one before she returned to Jump, but as to the context, well, she'd keep her eye on the geokinetic. Make sure she didn't try anything funny.
It was evening in Jump, the sun setting shortly after the "fireworks" display that had painted the sky over Titans Tower gold. The people were going about their business, the nighttime very quiet with traffic flowing normally in the streets before something very tall and broad erupted from beneath the roadway, throwing drivers and pedestrians into chaos. The source o the obstruction as a long, wormlike machine with an enormous drill bit on the front end, which it had just used to punch through the pavement.
At where the worm's head would be, the drill then retracted into its body, being replaced with a sloped metal head, a small screeching mouth on the end, with six small red lenses surrounding a large red lens, all of which likely served as eyes. It was at that time that the bus which had become stalled tried to back away from the tunneling worm, only for the front two tires to be within the crater, the public transportation vehicle tilting forward and back precariously as the passengers grew more alarmed with every passing second. The tunneling worm at that point knifed towards the street, sending people running for their lives, the bus which had hit it suddenly being yanked back by a pulse of black telekinetic energy right before the worm impacted. It was as the worm began to rise to full height that Vent rushed over to the door, pulling it open before herding the people out, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Terra charging past him to confront the mechanical beast before them.
"You missed the bus," Robin said curtly.
"Looks like you'll have to take a cab!" Cyborg shouted as he hefted a now-empty cab above his head before lobbing it through the air and scoring a bull's eye on the worm's head, the mechanical invertebrate rearing up and screeching at them after recovering, heading right for them.
"Azarath Metrion-"
"I got it!" Terra said cutting in front of the mage, the girl raising a large stone spike in the worm's path, which when plowed into flung the thing backward. As the thing's head tilted backwards, it overbalanced before gravity gained the upper hand, the mechanical beast falling to the asphalt, shacking the entire block and ruining a few cars. Once it was down, Beast Boy thundered perpendicularly to it in the quise of a massive woolly mammoth, ramming the head end into a nearby building. The changeling trupetted as best he could as he looked into the thick curtain of dust that had risen, about to trumpet again at his victory before an infernal red light shone within the dust. Before he could react, a beam shot forth and nailed Beast Boy, sending him flying across the street before he returned to human form, which at that point had bounced off the pavement before striking the side of a building face-first.
"Beast Boy!" Vent called out as he had finished evacuating the last of the passengers, the last one being an elderly woman who he'd had to help down each step. It was at this time that the giant tunneling worm had risen once more, the large red lens on its forehead glowing, revealing just what had sent Woolly-BB flying. The thing fired at Beast Boy again aiming for a decisive shot, but a ring-shaped flare of yellow encircled him before a pavement fracture, Terra's work, had pulled him out of the crossfire. As the thing changed its sights to Vent, the brunette dodging before the bus detonated, Terra leapt atop the pavement fracture carrying Beast Boy before she sailed into the air, Starfire firing a flurry of starbolts when they had crested the surrounding rooftops. The thing sent out another blast, swiveling its head about to get a shot at her, whereas Cyborg was blasting the thing with his sonic cannon full tilt.
"Vent! Can you get me up to its face!" Robin asked as the brunette landed beside him.
"Sure. How's your grip?" he asked tossing Robin his white and blue hoverboard, causing Robin to wonder just where he kept that thing.
"What does that matter?" Robin asked catching the piece of hardware.
"Just get on the damn thing!" Vent enunciated, the Boy Wonder settling his feet on it. Before he could ask what the brunette intended to do, a flurry of silver winds buffeted his back in the form of a tailwind, the Boy Wonder having to lean back and situate himself on the board as both he and it were sent sailing through the air, spiraling around the worm as it tried to shoot at Starfire. When the worm began to fire at him, the winds chaotically spun around him, causing him to barrel roll and somersault maddly around the beams, the mostions of which would've thrown him off had he not been grabbing onto it as though his life depended on it; because it kinda did. It was once he was able to situate himself that he leapt off the board, throwing handful of grenades from his utility belt forward before Star flew by and plucked him out of the air.
As the two flew to street letel, the projectiles sailed into the beast's open maw, a string of internal explosions causing the thing's body to bulge in several places before it opened its maw and belched out a billow of smoke, the Boy Wonder's grenades having just given it the world's worst case of indigestion. After Star had towed Robin to a safe distance, Terra depositing Beast Boy beside Vent, Beast Boy now in pterodactyl form flew at the thing with Cyborg in his grip, the latter launching a salvo of blasts from his cannon that left the worm reeling, the two Titans easily avoiding the retaliatory beams it fired at them. It was at this moment that Terra and Robin riding a piece of the street flew up the worm's body, the spiky-haired teen giving the blond a confirmatory nod before he leapt off the earthy mount, breaking into a dead run across the worm's body towards its head. Despite the worm's efforts to blast him, Robin had gotten onto the back of its head and brought out his bo staff with a quick twirl, the cylindrical piece of metal extending to full length before he jammed one end into what appeared to be a maintenance and leaned all his weight into it. Despite his best efforts however, the thing broke in two like dry wood, the worm soon rearing up his head and attempting to buck him off.
As Vent and Star shot up through the air to get Robin to safety, Beast Boy in the form of a triceratops with Cy on his back charged at the thing, horns and cannons blasting the thing's metal hide together. Stumbling backwards from the force of the hit, Cyborg quickly fired again, Terra lifting a large piece of pavement behind him, which was large enough to cover the full width of the street. However, before she could lob it, Raven's ink-colored magic took hold of the heavy material and stopped it in its tracks.
"No!" Raven called out as she held it back.
"What are you doing?" Terra cried as she glared at her.
"It's too dangerous. Someone could get hurt," Raven said as she pulled the pavement towards herself, trying to make it as safe as she could for her team, whereas Vent was climbing up the thing's back trying to finish what Robin started.
"I know what I'm doing! Trust me!" Terra called out as she willed the stone fragment to come towards her again, only for Raven to pull the thing back, the sheer magnitude of their opposing powers causing cracks to appear in the pavement. It was as the worm was about to fire at the two that the brunette atop its head abandoned his primary objective, leaping sidelong around its face with fingers trailing downt he side of its face before the brunette gave a powerful wind-packed kick to the underside of the thing's chin, causing the red beam to sail over the two girls instead of at them. The shockwave however caused the crumbling piece of pavement to detonate, sending both Terra and Raven backward in opposite directions, the radiant wave of energy from the explosion knocking the worm to the ground as well.
"Way to go," both Raven and Terra growled to one another, Robin coming between them and putting a hand on both their shoulders as the others ran off.
"Come on! That thing's getting away!" he said leading the two towards the new tunnel, the only trace of the worm left being the slight rumbling of the ground as the worm dug its way through it. And even that disappeared after a few seconds. It was at this moment that Robin's T-Comm. went off, the Boy Wonder opening it to see Slade's face on the static-lined screen.
"Slade."
"Robin. I see you let my ex-apprentice back on your team," the man opened, causing Robin to scowl at him before he continued. "I do hope I haven't called at a bad time."
"The worm! What are you planning?" the Boy Wonder demanded.
"Well, now, Robin. If you're so very curious, why don't you come down here and find out?" the man asked, the screen going dark causing the seven teens to stare, absolutely confounded before Robin clasped the device shut, leading the team down the long winding tunnel that the worm had used to escape.
"The evil worm has left a very long trail," Starfire saw prudent to say five minutes later after the team followed the drilling worm down the tunnel it had dug to escape. "This tunnel continues for at lest two more plinthorgs," she added, the others decided they didn't need to know.
"And we're more than three hundred meters below sea level," Cy added looking down at the scope on his forearm. "What's it doing down here anyway?"
"Whatever Slade tells it to," Robin said leading the team down the tunnel, Terra and Raven hanging back.
"So, sorry about our little tug-of-war back there," Terra opened up in apology. "You know I wouldn't have let anybody get hurt. Especially not Ven," that last part was more to herself than anything else.
"Whatever," Raven said back plainly.
"Okay, look. I don' tknow what your problem is, but get over it. If I'm gonna be a part of this team, we have to get along," the blond argued and the two stopped walking.
"You're not part of this team- Not yet! And if you endanger my friends again, you never will be!" Raven growled back, knowing the debris from that piece of concrete the geokinetic had tried throwing earlier would've hurt her friends more than the worm. "The next time I tell you something's too dangerous, TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!" she growled with a burning red face, her visage deflating as she stalked by, leaving Terra to catch up to the group.
"Um, why does she hate me?" Terra found herself asking Beast Boy since both Robin and Vent had taken to the front of the team.
"Ahh, she kinda hates everybody. It'll be fine. Raven just needs time to get used to you," Beast Boy said reassuringly. "I think she's still getting used to me," he added under his breath, causing the girl to giggle a bit. Walking down the path a few more minutes, they come to a large open space, no other way out aside from back.
"Dead end," Vent said looking around. "How the hell does something that big just disappear?" he asked looking all around, only meeting undisturbed stone walls.
"Not necessarily," Robin said approaching a wall with his T-Comm. out, the device beeping as he came to a slightly disturbed wall that the brunette hadn't noticed before. "I'm picking up a signal from deep inside the rock."
"Way deep. Electronics… and a heartbeat," Cy said adjusting his optical implant and scanner.
"Slade," Vent growled staring at the rock. Had he been born with Laser Vision, he would've given Slade a new pair of nostrils with the look he was dishing out.
"How about we dig down there and see what's up?" Terra asked coming over to the wall, adjusting her goggles on her head and rubbed her hands together to warm up, only for the whole room to suddenly shake. After the tremor settled down, the blond felt a glare at the back of her head. "Are you gonna give me that look every time there's an earthquake?" she asked incredulously, only to recoil when a drill cut through the floor next to them. "Whoa!" she cried as Star was about to throw a Tamaranian slider at the intruder, only to gasp and backpedal as another drilling worm punched through the floor, followed by a third and surrounding the seven fighters.
"Titans! Ready!" Vent barked as he and the others went back to back and got ready to face the three mechanical menaces, only for them to completely bypass them and instead punch through the walls behind them. "Well…" Vent said feeling about embarrassed about getting so pumped up. "That was strange."
"Hel-lo? The good guys are over here!" Beast Boy said as though he wanted them to come back.
"Because we are not their target," Starfire noted.
"Three of those worms together could wreck anything in the city," Cyborg said running some calculations on his forearm.
"We have to stop 'em!" Terra said clenching her fists.
"We have to stop Slade," Raven argued.
"Split up," Robin ordered quickly. "Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, go after the worms," he ordered facing the three. "Terra, Raven, Vent, we're going after Slade," he said facing the other three.
"Star, BB, let's move!" Cy ordered as the group took no time going into the tunnels the worms took off into.
"I can make a tunnel on my own," Terra said before her eyes turned to Raven. "Shouldn't she go with-"
"No. Raven's almost as good at moving earth as you are," Robin interjected. "We're digging through solid rock. I'm going to need you both," he said throwing a glance to Raven.
"Can we please just get going already," Vent said uncharacteristically bluntly. "The air quality here's so poor, I think I'm going to be sick."
"What's the big deal. The air here's fine," Robin said breathing in through his nose deeply before huffing it out as if to prove the point.
"Maybe to you, but if you were me, you'd know the air quality in those tunnels was sub-standard at best," Vent said back huffing a gout of air from his nose. "Without proper circulation, all you'd be breathing in is CO2 due to the buildup in the next few minutes. Wherever Slade is, he's probably got an alternate air source going for him, otherwise he'd suffocate down here. As for me, well, my powers don't work so well underground."
"Is it because you can't see the skyline?" Raven asked. She'd figured that with the amount of time the brunette spent looking off into the skyling during their little sabbatical, that it had something to do with his powers, similar to Starfire's emotions being directly tied to hers.
"A little," the brunette said holding his fingers an inch apart, looking at the stone walls surrounding him a bit warily. I was hoping to avoid finding myself in a place like this during my superhero "career". I feel like the Earth's gonna swallow me up… No! he suddenly berated himself shaking his head. This all started after Terra- I have to believe in her, he said clenching his fist. "It' nothing, really. I have faith," he said shooting the girl a thumbs up, whereas off to the side Terra partially understood where the brunette was coming from.
"We need to get moving," Robin said ignoring the brunette's psychosis. "I've got a fix on the signal. We need to go forty degees down, six hundred meters deep.
"No problem," Raven and Terra said together before launching black and golden beams respectively into the rock face. "Is that as fast as you can go?" Terra asked smugly.
"Not even close," Raven said picking up the pace, Terra keeping pace right behind her.
"Careful. This rock isn't stable. Just take it a little…" Robin said looking up from his communicator, only to see that Raven, Terra, and Ventus had already gone a hundred yards downrange, and still going strong. "…slow," he said as he looked at them incredulously before he began following after them.
As Raven, Terra, Ventus, and Robin made their way underground to where Slade was operating from, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy all pursued their own drilling worms, each meeting difficulties along the way. Cyborg tried firing a clamp-launcher at the worm and hitch a ride, only for the worm to drop sharply downward and used the change of momentum to throw the cyborg down. Starfire tried trapping the worm rear-first by melting the rock around it after pinning it with a cave-in, only for the thing to wriggle free before shooting off all over again. Beast Boy in the form of a cheetah threw himself at the worm before transforming into a wolverine and digging his claws into its metal hide, only to fall back along its length before being dumped unceremoniously onto the tunnel floor, the changeling commenting on how he wouldn't need to cut his fingernails for a few years.
It was as the worms began heading towards the surface that the squad of four managed to punch through into an underground cavern, the group's eyes widening when they saw a large cylindrical chamber held in place by a massive orange cage, with a few miles of metal fencing holding the surrounding rock at bay. Sitting in the center was a cylindrical computer console with keyboards spaced at regular intervals around its perimeter, a broad beam of light emanating upward from the middle ring and showing a holographic image; On it was the underground cavern at the bottom, several thousand feet of earth, and finally Titans Tower. Circling at the top of the cavern was a circular chassis similar in appearance to the three digging worm's chassis.
"Robin! It's the Tower!" Cy suddenly called out through the T-Comm.'s high band. "They're attacking Titans Tower!"
"It's not just under attack," Robin returned as the horizontally spinning ring at the top of the chamber began firing a trio of lasers into the solid bedrock overhead. "It's about to be underground. Cyborg! Take those things down!" he shouted into his T-Comm. before throwing a boomerang at the ring overhead, only for the throwing projectile to bounce off with little effect. Raven's black shots yielded the same results, and the worms moving about too much for Vent to cut through it with his wind blade. "Not even a scratch!"
"If we can't break the drill, hacking this computer is our only shot at shutting it down," Vent said dropping down to one of the keyboards and began typing in numerous commands to bypass the internal programming the worms were running by, lines of binary code appearing on the reflective surfaces of his crimson-colored orbs, giving him a surreal, yet alien look to him as he hacked through walls of binary code while avoiding the security measures or be locked out. Out of the shadows however, Slade suddenly swooped out and drop-kicked the brunette out of the way, aiming to stomp the brunette into the metal walkway with a steel boot a moment later before Robin tackled the masked villain sidelong, Raven and Terra helping the brunette to his feet while the Boy Wonder fought off Slade.
"Robin! Hang on!" Vent said fighting off the ringing in his ear. Another inch to the right and he would've cracked my skull wide open, he groaned rubbing the left side of his head, cursing as he found his ear had begun bleeding. Oh, and that there was a boot-shaped indention pressed into the left side of his head. That would most likely bruise in the worst possible way.
"Forget about me! Shut down the drill!" Robin ordered as he fought off Slade, leading him into the service elevator and buy the others some time to act. This however seemed to play into Slade's game plan, because once they were in, Slade activated the waist-high gate keeping them inside.
"God, my head's killing me," Vent groaned as he weaved from left to right as he made his way to the keyboard, his right hand clasping to the console to the point that the metal began to rend while his remaining hand stayed by his throbbing skull. I have to focus. Any less and we could lose everything.
"Ven, move aside," Terra said levitating a boulder above the console the brunette was trying to hack, which in itself proved difficult with only one hand. "Why hack when you can smash?"
"No!" Raven said enveloping the rock with her presence before pushing it back. "We don't know how this thing works. Destroy the controls and we may never be able to stop it."
"Or we might stop it sooner and save our home," Terra argued as she put more effort into moving the boulder over the console. In the background, Vent had taken his bleeding hand away from the side of his head before he began hacking the computer with renewed vigor, though his vision tunneling wasn't helping any. "Why can't you just trust me?"
"Cause you don't deserve it!" Raven growled back, groaning as she kept the rock at bay. "I have to meditate every day to keep my powers under control, and I'm supposed to believe that you can just suddenly control yours? Trust is something you have to earn!"
"Then how? How do I make you trust me?" Terra asked letting the boulder drop off to the side.
"You can start by trusting me and Vent," Raven said pointing to herself and the brunette, whose legs at the moment were shaking from the effort of stifling the pain spreading through his skull, his concussion-inhibited hacking efforts proving fruitless after the computer's security measures managed to lock him out. This of course caused him to not notice the alarms going off around him, nor the massive boulder heading straight for him.
"Vent!" Terra cried as time seemed to slow in front of her, the massive boulder about to crush both him and the console. There was no way she'd be able to stop it in time, given its size and the speed at which it was moving. Vent's death would be all her fault.
"Vincent!" Raven cried out as she threw her hands toward the brunette, his real name missed amidst the chaos as the brunette's body was suddenly enveloped in an ebony glow before he was yanked away from the console, Terra catching him in her arms right as the boulder flattened the console, the laser emitters at the top of the chamber breaking away the ceiling at a greatly accelerated rate. The console's destruction had removed whatever inhibitors were set in place, the devices put into overdrive by the literal system crash.
"Okay. Maybe smashing the computer wasn't the best idea," Terra sweatdropped as she held the injured brunette in her arms, the haze in his head beginning to clear as he shook his head. When his vision finally cleared, his eyes widened in horror at the sight that greeted him.
"The console!" Vent cried before his eyes went upward. "The Tower!" he cried as the trio of cutting laser beams made another pass, the slab of rock overhead being forced down by the Tower's own weight. While on the surface Cyborg and Beast Boy had managed to make the surface-to-cavern lasers cutters disengage, it was a fruitless effort as the cavern-to-surface laser cutters six hundred meters below suddenly punched through to the surface, the then-cut cylinder slowly sinking into the bowels of the Earth.
"We have to go! There's nothing we can do now!" Raven called out as the slab of rock bore down upon them.
"Yes, there is! Trust me!" Terra shouted as she let Vent stand by his own power as her eyes and hands began to glow bright yellow, a pair of wide-angle beams firing from her hands and into the rock face with a savage yell. The energy struck the lower face of the monolith bearing down on them overhead, the blast smashing the drill around the AOE apart and causing them to crash around the team, flattening the surrounding walkways leaving the center area isolated. While she had held it up for a few seconds, the sheer weight from above proved too much and began to drop again, her knees buckling from the strain as she fought a losing battle.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted before twin ebony beams fired off from her hands, eyes glowing bright white as she began to push up against the stone formation above, Terra straightening up and pushing up against the rock formation as well. However, even with their combined efforts, it still proved to be too much for them. The massive weight above was still bearing down on them, and their powers were beginning to breach the rock face instead.
"V… Ven…!" Terra cried as she struggled against the slab of rock bearing down on her. "We can't do this by ourselves! We need your help!"
"I'm on it!" Vent shouted as he shook his head fiercely to get the haze out of it, standing across from the center of the platform the two were on as he raised his hands to the air, his hands extended before he began to spin his arms, twin cyclones colored silver soaring skyward before striking the rock face with a resounding -THUD-, dust spiraling about as he kept up the barrage, his arms ceasing to move once the cyclones had been generated.
"Ven! Push harder!" Terra shouted out. While he falling island's progress had been slowed, it had yet to be halted completely. While it was now descending at inches a second instead of feet, they were still losing this battle.
"I'm pushing as hard as I can!" Vent grunted as he put everything he had into the updraft.
"No you're not!" Terra snapped back, shocking the brunette. "You're stronger than this! I know you are! Everything you've done until now has been complete and total crap!" she said causing Raven to balk. "You have so much more power than you're using! Just like in Gotham! You shredded through that warehouse like it was nothing! So come one! Be a man and quit holding back!"
"I… I can't…" Vent said as tears began to leak from his glowing silver eyes eyes. "If I lose control… You could be hurt… I can't do it…" he sniffed as he fell to his knees, the tornadoes on his arms wavering. "I… I just can't."
"You can, Vent! You can!" Raven shouted as she picked up the slack. "You control your powers! Not the other way around! Now take hold of them, and do what you were born to do!" she said trying to get through to him. "You're Ventus! Teen Titan of Jump City! Wielder of the winds!" she shouted, only to find she wasn't getting through to him. Biting her lip, she mustered forth all her willpower before yelling out- "You're also my best friend in the whole world, and the person I admire the most!", Vent's eyes snapping open when a wave of black energy was released in all directions from the mage's body, almost knocking them off their feet.
" . . . Alright," Vent said getting to his feet, wiping the last of the tears from his eyes after that very heart-warming pep talk. "Together! On three!"
"One…" Raven said building up her powers.
"Two…" Terra said doing the same.
"THREE!" Vent said as all together, they released as much power as their bodies could, magic, earth, and wind all pushing up against the collapsing island above them as they raised it up with everything they had. Slowly, the glow around Vent's hands and eyes began to increase before his forearms followed suit, then his biceps, the glow then covering his entire form. It was at the moment the expanse of the air within a yard in every direction around him began to glow that his eyes instead of glowing silver returned to their original color, both of which narrowed before he and the others released a primal roar, Raven's magical beams increasing in width and magnitude, as did Terra's geokinetic beams, a massive cyclone with the same force as the one from Gotham, though not the same size, shooting up from his body and began pushing up against the slab of rock above them, which was now beginning to raise.
Meanwhile with Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire, all of whom were sulking on a stretch of beach in Jump bay, could only stare at the ground as Titans Tower had sunken below sea level. However, when a strange rumbling sound met their ears, Beast Boy and Cyborg looked up, gaping at the sight that greeted them.
"No way."
"Starfire, look!" Cyborg gaped.
"I cannot. Our home is… *GASP*!" Starfire suddenly gasped at the sight that greeted them, Titans Tower beginning to rise from the depths, gold, ebony, and silver beams radiating from beneath the island before the Tower rose to its full height, standing triumphantly in the skyline once more. "Saved! But how?"
"Terra," Beast Boy smirked.
"Not just her," Cy said bringing up an arm to his face as the wind radiating from the multi-colored light-show beneath the island caused the wind to push out in all directions, the waves lapping against the shore and Star's hair whipping back in the sudden breeze.
"Terra, Raven, and Ventus," Robin said from the T-Comm.'s high band. "Working together."
After the team had stopped the center of Titans Island from collapsing below sea level, Robin helped Vent out of the cavern after promptly passing out from the tremendous release of aerokinetic power he'd not only unleashed, but controlled with a degree of mastery unheard of. With that done, Raven and Terra set to work on bracing the island from underneath with massive pillars of earth reinforced with the surrounding steel braces. This fix would hold the island until the inside of the cavern could be re-filled, lest they risk the island beginning to sink again.
Arriving back at the tower after Vent had received medical treatment, the team could only collapse onto the large C-shaped sofa in the middle of the living room, dropping where they were after the tenuous battle they had all fought. While the majority of the team rested, Terra and Raven leaning against one another after their stamina finally gave out, Vent whispered a few words into Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire's ears before slinking away. With those words passed on, the others went back to sleep, dog-tired from the evening's challenges. Especially Beast Boy who had taken the form of a bloodhound and was snoring into the carpet.
"So… friends?" Terra asked Raven as they walked down the hallway a few minutes after she had woken up after sleeping for a few hours, finding Raven waiting for her while the others were gone.
"Close enough," Raven returned, a ghost of a smile present on her face. On the inside, a part of her wanted to smack the blond for belittling every feat Vent had performed beforehand so blatantly, but another wanted to thank her for the words she had said. Since getting back from Gotham, she had noticed that Vent had become more reserved with the use of his powers. Almost as though he were afraid that by trying anything big again, that he'd cause his powers to spiral out of control; like a dam breaking from the force of the water behind it. Now however, he seemed to have regained his confidence, and she didn't doubt the brunette would be back in peak form by tomorrow, probably doing all sorts of ridiculous yet-somehow-effective feats with his aerokinetic powers.
"Sorry we kinda got off to a rocky start," Terra said making a poor joke to ease the tension.
"Actually, I thought things went pretty well," Raven admitted. "It took me a year to stop hating Beast Boy. Constantly anyway," the mage chuckled, the two laughing a bit before the mage turned to the right sharply and entering an open doorway, the mage and geokinetic now within a darkened room.
"Um… Where are we?" she asked as she tried to peer into the dark room before her.
"Your room," Raven replied as she flipped the light switch, Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, and Ventus –whom was wearing bandages and gauze on the left side of his head- yelling- "SURPRISE" -, leaving the blond completely flabbergasted as she looked around the room. The walls were painted a reddish orange to show a mountain landscape under a starry night sky, which was colored dark black to purple and lastly blue with actual lights embedded into the walls, all of which were most likely connected to the star-themed switch within arm's length of the bed, which was large, colored yellow, and positioned in the back of the room. Positioned beside it was a cactus, some bookshelves by the walls, as well as a large couch and coffee table facing the window. Off to the side was her own ensuite, though currently a blank slate so she could customize it later on.
"You guys did all this… for me?" Terra asked in surprise. Looking out the window, she saw that her room was facing the bay, meaning she could watch the sun rise and not have to leave her own couch.
"Yeah. Vent told us what you liked and even hired the artists who did up his room," Robin explained. While the brunette may not've had the connections he did, the brunette's own came in pretty handy sometimes.
"You like it?" the brunette asked a bit nervously as he scratched the uninjured side of his face. While the artists he'd contacted before were pretty laid back, he'd had to pay through the nose to get them to drop everything they were doing, and hire their friend in electronics at the last minute, to come and complete the room in one straight shot. The glittering star-like lights embedded into the walls cost extra, but for her, his first real friend -or at least one that was his age-, the money spent was worth it, despite how it had cleaned him out. Oh well. He could always make more money later. Those Titan-used tissues sold for $12 a pop on the internet and he could always make some quick money off the raving fanboys and fangirls.
"Like it? I love it!" the girl cheered with a smile. "Come on, guys! I feel a group hug coming on! Come on, don't be shy!" she said with a wide grin as she spread out her arms, Star immediately taking her up on the offer with Vent following a bit bashfully, unable to refuse anything the girl asked for. Cy encompassed the group with his larger frame a moment later, leaving Beast Boy to try and find an opening that would lead him to Terra, Raven and Robin off to the side simply content to watch since they weren't really into group hugs.
"Heh. If you're loving this so far, wait 'til you find out who your neighbor is," Raven said with a bit of a smile as she motioned towards the open doorway, Terra's eyes going to it before she saw the door opposite her own, the name VENTUS inlaid into the door showing just whom her room was neighboring. "We thought that since you and Vent were friends first, that you deserved to have a room next to his," Raven said as the blond's eyes widened at the sight. The next moment Raven's eyes widened when Terra burst out of the group hug, nearly mowing Beast Boy over before she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug, their bodies pulled flush against one another causing Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Vent to blush wildly at the sight. Star of course didn't see any reason to be embarrassed since less conservative shows of public affection were common on her home planet.
"Oh Raven, you're the best friend a girl could ever ask for!" the blond cheered, completely unaware of how flushed the two's chests mashed up against one another were making the boys present.
"Actually… That was Beast Boy's idea," Raven found herself admitting, the blond turning to the green changeling who at the moment was scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Yeah, well…" BB said nervously. "We though that since you helped save our home and all, that you deserved a room next to your best friend," he admitted.
"Beast Boy, you have no idea how much this means to me," Terra said practically beaming before she pulled the changeling into his own crushing hug, the blush on his face only magnifying when the girl gave him a peck on the cheek, which caused him to crumple like a wet sock out of her arms.
"Um… Perhaps you went too far," Star said looking at the puddle of green goo on the floor that used to be Beast Boy.
"Eh heh, whoops," Terra said nervously, rubbing the back of her head before she noticed Robin walk up to her.
"We also thought you deserved one of these," he said holding out his hand, a brand spanking-new T-Comm. held out towards her. Freshly polished too.
"So I'm-"
"A Teen Titan," Robin finished, holding his hand out to shake, which the blond happily took. "Glad to have you on the team."
"Aw yeah! Very nice!" Cy smiled.
"Welcome, new Titan!" Star cheered.
"Congratulations, Terra," Raven said shaking the girl's hand. "You earned it."
"All right. There's only one way to commemorate such a momentous occasion," Cy then beamed. "Waffles!"
"Mmm!"
"Perfect!"
"Can the be non-dairy waffles?" Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy asked respectively.
"Sounds good. I'll catch up in a minute, okay?" Terra asked, the others leaving before she looked down at the T-Comm., a smile on her face, and almost on the verge of joyful tears. "I don't believe it. They actually trust me."
"Of course we do," Vent said from behind her from the doorway, the blond nearly leaping out of her skin since she thought he'd already left for the kitchen. "So-Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" he apologized.
"No-No, it's no big," Terra said nervously as she set her T-Comm. onto her waistband. "Why're you still here. I thought you'd be pretty hungry after that awesome air show you pulled down there," she said punching the brunette's arm playfully.
"I am, trust me on that," the brunette chuckled as his stomach growled hungrily against his… stomach. "It's just that I had something I wanted to say to you."
"Oh, what is it?" Terra asked, a light red color forming over her cheeks at the current atmosphere. The two of them… alone in a room together… the others preoccupie- Girl! Get your head out of the gutter! Vent's too much of a gentleman for that! the blond berated herself. Of course, she didn't know whether to be happy or upset about that fact.
"Well…" he said nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "After what happened in Gotham, I became… scared, of what my own power could do once spiraled out of control. I thought if I just cut back on using my powers that everything would be fine, but… it didn't feel right. Like I was keeping a part of who I was locked away. If you hadn't said those words to me, we would've lost our home, and I may have never forgiven myself for being so weak. So… thank you. Thank you for giving me my life back," he said as tears of joy flowed down his right eye. The left side of his face was currently bruised, so he couldn't cry properly out of that eye
"Y-You're welcome," the blond said rubbing her arm nervously as the brunette wiped the tears from his face. "Now come on. Let's get some food in you. You look like you're about to collapse," she said dragging him towards the doorway.
"Just don't let Beast Boy get his soy milk or non-dairy waffles anywhere near me. You remember how I get when that stuff hits my system."
"How could I forget. You nearly gave Jian a heart attack with the way you were swinging his katana around," the blond chuckled, the two walking hand in hand and laughing all the way down the hallway.
Author's Notes:
On note of how Raven, Terra, and Vent had to work together to keep the island from sinking, the reason for his inclusion is simple. Two teenage girls, no matter how powerful, being able to support several thousand cubic tons of rock and Tower on their own seems ridiculous by any stretch of the imagination. With that in mind, Vent was the only other option, and I wanted to elaborate on his feelings towards himself and his control over his powers after what happened in Gotham.
As for those of you who've been questioning what will happen to Terra due to Vent's inclusion in her life, well… You'll just have to wait and see. I don't feel like sharing spoilers.
P.S.
Try and guess where one of the lines that Terra had spoken to Vent came from. Come on, it'll be fun.