Pa7adox: Sith alchemy hahaha no I believe Starfire just has a gift of giving life to food monsters if the titans ever need a distraction have her cook up a monster and unleash it on the villain
Re: What I'm wondering is how the hell she did that with only Earth foodstuffs.
LoamyCoffee: I can see your point, my friend. Though there are different types of emotions, like a calm rage. Hell I've seen a Red Lantern Bakugou, codenamed Red Grenadier. Still angry, but mellowest version I've seen that wasn't femBakugou.
This was a fantastic chapter, I'm really glad you're having the Titans do stuff like this. Responsibility is important.
Sad about the interaction between Cy and his dad but I don't blame him. Terra getting closer to her royalty reveal and Quality Time with Blackfire~ I'm super pleased by the irony that resulted in and that lock of trust~
It's like dealing with Uncle Max's cooking habits.
Re: The Indigo Rings are "poisonous" in a more abstract way than its contemporaries, and since Blackfire has been forced to wear one as well, that opened up an interesting moment of dialogue between them.
superpierce: OOh poor Star she will never seem to make a good meal.
Re: Well, like with Grandpa Max, I'm sure she's a better cook for aliens.
skinnydude911: This was a fun chapter even with the brief explaining of what happened during that... "Hyper Monkey Virus" incident and seeing Victor's dad.
I can agree with Starfire not being the designated chef of the team for many, many reasons cause I don't want to know WHAT she put in that soup to make it do whatever it did.
I did enjoy Ventus and Blackfire's talk and day out about him maybe getting a new suit and him in that thrift store, it was very wholesome in a way.
Re: Thanks. I always try to keep things "wholesome".
*Cough*
Raidentensho: very nice. hmm, will the other influences/references(Starfire gaining Hamon/Sendo, Raven performing FMA Alchemy) be touched upon in later adventures? looking forward to more of this and other pieces. though its unrelated, have you ever thought about the 'Team' from "Young Justice" actually be the second incarnation of the Argonauts? something to think about. until then, later!
Re: Yeah, the Titans will definitely be more-formidable as time goes on. As for Young Justice/The Team, I'm sticking primarily to the DCAU "Earth-12", not "Earth-16", so no.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Hey guys, have you seen Robin around?" Ventus asked coming into the living room. "I wanted to ask him a deep, philosophical question."
"Last I saw he was down in the basement," Cyborg hummed as he and Beast Boy went head-to-head in a racing game.
"Ugh, again?!" he groaned. "It's like an obsession with this guy!"
"Have you seen what his room looks like?" Beast Boy asked. "That tent in Robin's pants goes way past 'obsession'."
"Gross," Raven said bluntly.
"This can't be healthy…" Terra hummed. "Sure, I was scared to death of the guy, but I got over it, and I'm the one who got turned into a flesh-robot!"
"To be fair, the same thing happened to Robin, only with the black person's mail," Starfire said causing Cyborg to sputter loudly, Beast Boy pulling a head and taking the lead.
"You guys tell Starfire everything wrong with that sentence; I'm off to drag Igor before the villagers," Ventus groaned as he left the room.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Robin? Rooobiiiiin? Olly olly oxen BITCH!" Ventus swore as he made his way down the stairs. Fishing for his phone light, he cast a cone of light into the dark storage area until he happened upon the Titans' field leader, frantically swatting a cloud of dust out of his face as he knelt over an opened box. "Geez, Robin. We need to get you a girlfriend, or something!" he said grouping for a light switch.
"Ventus? What're you doing down here?" Robin asked between coughs.
"I wanted to ask you a deep philosophical question, but the magic is gone," the wind-wielder groaned as he brought the lights online. "Don't tell me you're still staring into that empty mask."
"We can't be sure he's really gone. He was never captured, never found."
"Uh, we can, yes, and, wrong," Ventus said answered flatly in-order. "Robin… Waller and her people literally found Slade's earthly remains with GPR once the dust settled. His carbonized skull is sitting in a box in her own 'trophy room'. They found his body. End of story."
"How do they know it's even his? How do you?"
"One, Waller ran the DNA tests. There wasn't much left, but they got a positive match. Second, unless Slade had a perfect clone of himself made, the thing I saw fall into the lava, with my own eyes, was definitely Slade."
" . . . "
"Robin; nobody belongs anywhere, nobody exists on purpose, everybody's going to die. Come watch TV."
"Is that a reference, or something…?"
*SLAP!*
"Just… Just get out of the damn basement…" Ventus groaned behind his palmed forehead. "It's rare, but Villains do die, get themselves killed, or barring that, retire. Its time you move on, get over your 'first love' and do something meaningful with your life. The world's full of villains, so at the very least, fixate on one of them, but just… stop crawling down into the basement pawing through Slade's old crap like a god-damned racoon," Ventus said lidding the box back up before shoving it back into its slot. "Robin, I don't know if what happened on Tamaran has sunk in for you or not, but Starfire is of marriageable age. At least take that girl on a date or something!"
"Are you really in a position to be giving me relationship advice?" Robin asked with an eyeroll.
"Robin, I know enough about relationships to know I'll never get a fucking harem to work in this country," Ventus deadpanned. "And it's not like they're trying to make a 'Harem ex Machina' work either."
" . . . "
"Robin, look, Star is worried about you. We all are. Well… not all of us, Blackfire wasn't around for your little episodes, but… Look, just come back upstairs before I have to drag Igor before the villagers."
"I think I preferred the racoon comment."
"Just get out of the damn basement."
*TEEN TITANS*
The rest of the Titans' day was uneventful beyond some successful Danger Room simulations, a quiet-ish meal over TV, and Wintergreen teaching any interested parties how to make "Eggs Valentine" which is basically just Eggs Benedict by another name. It had seemed like it'd be another boring day leading into a boring night, and that they'd all get to sleep for eight full hours.
That restful sleep was unfortunately interrupted in the wee hours of the morning as a distress beacon was activated by the Jump City Science Police. Apparently Cinderblock was being moved to another facility in order to study what made him tick… which went about as well as one would expect.
One magically-powered teleportation spell later and the Titans crested a hill above a mountain highway, Jump City in the distance, numerous armored vehicles flipped on their sides, and Cinderblock having broken containment.
"That can't be good," Raven said as Cinderblock lifted one of the vehicles above his head, aiming his gaze at an overturned truck where some of the Science Police were hunkering down.
"This is the part where I get to punch something really hard, right?" Blackfire asked crankily, pawing at her eyes like an irritated housecat.
"Oh, yes, by all of the means," Starfire offered with an affirmative gesture.
"Good. HRAH!" Blackfire roared as she shot forward and struck Cinderblock across the jaw with a powerful *KRACK!*, shards of living concrete flying into open air like shrapnel, Raven catching the vehicle as it fell while the other Titans slid down the hill.
"Cinderblock! We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way!" Ventus shouted irritably as the nine Titans spread out in a phalanx around the golem.
"By all means, please do it the hard way," Terra said cracking her knuckles, eyes flaring gold.
"Yeah! Do you have any idea, any idea at all, what time it is?!" Kitten shrieked angrily, bedhead sticking out under her violet-colored aura.
Cinderblock's only response was to roar furiously as he worked his jaw, grabbing a nearby truck before chucking it.
"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as the Titans scattered, Raven and Star-Girl catching the lobbed vehicle and setting it aside. Starfire's bolts striking Cinderblock in the chest, Robin's struck out with his staff at the creature's head, Beast Boy as a Triceratops drilling into their old foe and bulldozing him back to the guardrail. The metal snapping behind the golem's shins, Cinderblock was quick to wrap his arms around Beast Boy's midsection, but the changeling morphed into a goat and kicked the golem ineffectually in the groin before bounding away, Cyborg passing by and leaping skyward, Sonic Cannon primed. The two meeting with a deafening *BOOM!* of thunder, the golem was quick to slam the cyborg into the ground with his free arm, stomping down for good measure.
Before Cinderblock could do so again, Blackfire flew in and struck the golem in the knee with a star-powered axe handle, a loud *CRACK!* sounding through the air. One of the golem's hands going to his ruined knee, the next moment Raven flung a large clamp into place around his waist and arm, pinning it to his side. Raven and Kitten grabbing onto the cable and hauling back, Cinderblock grabbed it with his free hand and whipped it, sending the two flying skyward with a scream.
Robin, Cyborg, and Ventus diving into the fray once again, the wounded golem put up an admirable fight as it rebuffed them all with kicks and swings of its free arm. Leaping impossibly high and snapping the clamp around his midsection, Cinderblock brought down both fists on the ground upturning a section off road around him, scattering the nearby Titans in all directions.
"Robin!" Starfire cried as Robin plunged to the forest below.
"Sis, he climbed the side of a Citadel with his bare hands, I think he'll be fine," Blackfire said flatly.
"Yeah! Let's put this guy down already so I can get some god-damned beauty sleep!" Kitten growled, violet aura flaring like a cat's raised fur.
"Titans! Together! Let's give him the Supergirl Special, and then get back to bed!" Ventus ordered.
"Ooh, I love that plan~" Blackfire purred excitedly.
"Hey, his eyes are up top," Terra huffed.
"Titans! Go!" Beast Boy shouted rushing into battle, zipping through the air as a humming bird and landing on Cinderblock's face before morphing into a woodpecker and pecking a divot between his eyes.
The concrete golem howling and raising his fist, before he could strike the changeling down a golden aura surrounded both arms, Terra's brow beading with sweat in concentration as she wrenched the concrete limbs backward, Raven using her magic on the nearby cable to bind the monster's wrists behind his back. Kitten shouldering Cinderblock's back, Cyborg and Gorilla-Beast Boy grabbing his ankles, and Ventus firing his most-powerful air blast, Cinderblock was thrown off his feet and completely defenseless as Starfire and her sister swooped in. Fists alight, with a warcry the two delivered a star-powered Double Flying Punch to the golem's face with a thunderous *CRACK!*, jagged vertical cracks marring Cinderblock's stony visage as he was sent pinwheeling backwards, landing on his face with an almighty *CRASH!* that shook the nearby trees.
"Yeah! Take that, rocky!" Terra whooped.
"Eh, not your best work," Raven hummed causing the blond to pout at her.
"Hey uh… You sure he'll be okay?" Kitten asked poking at Cinderblock, the vertical cracks wrapping around over the top of his scalp. "You kinda bust his head open like an egg."
"Don't worry about it, Cinderblock never displayed any life signs," Cyborg waved off. "No food, no bathroom, never 'changed back' to a human form."
"Working theory we have is he's a Golem created with both science and sorcery," Raven continued.
"What, like that one Hebrew thing?" Kitten blinked.
"Yes but without the letters carved in his forehead," Ventus hummed.
"Friends, can we not please go after friend Robin?" Starfire asked worriedly.
*TEEN TITANS*
With Kitten locking Cinderblock's wrists and ankles together with Star Crystal manacles and a backup flatbed showing up, once the golem was loaded and the vehicles leaving Jump behind them, the Titans were quick to descend the cliff Robin had been thrown from. A powerful updraft cushioning the fall for those that couldn't fly, when they touched down on the clearing they found a haggard-looking Robin, drenched with the opening moments of rainfall.
"Yo, Robin, you missed the best part!" Beast Boy called out. "We finally got to use the Supergirl Special outside the simulator!"
"Slade. He's back."
" . . . Hah…?" the changeling blinked.
"Robin… What part of 'Waller found his body' did you not understand?" Ventus asked tiredly, a glowing silver finger twirling upward and deflecting the rain overhead.
"Yeah, man, you've kind of had Slade on the brain lately. Maybe-"
"It was him," Robin scowled cutting Cyborg off. "It was him, and he's going to sink the city into the eastern seaboard with an earthquake," he growled causing Terra to wince. "We have three hours to stop it!"
"Uh… Robin, crazy idea, but, maybe this 'Slade' you saw isn't really Slade, but just another robot?" Beast Boy groused. "I mean, he suckered you before back when you were Red X, remember?"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAW!"
"Say it, don't spray it," Terra gagged.
"Robin, it doesn't matter what you 'saw'. Not if what you saw is just another robot," Cyborg said plainly.
"We're going around in circles here," Raven said flatly. "You said 'Slade' was going to create an earthquake; how?"
"Don't you air-quote at me! And he's going to use Seismic Generators," he answered. "Cyborg, Ventus, Raven, I want you to lead teams to the bridge, the park, and the pier. Starfire, you're with me."
"Going in a little light, aren't you?" Blackfire questioned.
"Once you take care of your Seismic Generators, make your way towards me," Robin said activating the beacon on his T-Comm. "Come on. We don't have a lot of time."
"Do not worry, Robin. We will stop him," Starfire said reassuringly.
*TEEN TITANS*
So apparently, after one of Superman's rogue's gallery attempted to ransom Metropolis with Earthquake Generators, major cities on the east and west coast started having Seismologists evaluate future hypothetical attack sites so in the event something similar happened again, they wouldn't be on as-much of a time crunch.
As such, when the Titans came forward with information that Slade himself ("or a man claiming to be Slade" as Ventus put it so no-one in office would think Robin was nuts) had placed Seismic Generators across Jump City to split it in two, the police were ready to mobilize alongside the Teen Titans to cover as much ground as physically possible. Half the cops on the graveyard shift were pissed, while the rest were just excited to do something meaningful in "the fight against evil". There were a few between the two factions who were wholly professional about it, which showed just how wearily-often this sort of thing transpired.
Suffice it to say, with the entire city at risk, it wasn't all that difficult to rally the manpower at that ungodly hour.
Thusly, the Teen Titans split up and joined the police in the event Slade had any robot commandos guarding aforementioned Earthquake Generators, or just waiting in the wings to attack any investigating parties from behind. Drawing straws, Cyborg teamed up with Beast boy, Raven with Terra, leaving Ventus with a girl on each arm.
"Robin, I'm at the bridge," Cyborg said from the north support column, Beast Boy at the south, they with their entourage of law enforcement agreeing to meet in the middle.
"Did you find the Seismic Generator?"
"Man, I can't find diddly. No signs of anything unusual."
"Same here. I gave my end the twice-over as a Bloodhound. Nothing's here. At least not anything that isn't supposed to be here," Beast Boy added.
"Nothing on my end," Raven confirmed.
"Park's clear," Ventus added.
"They're there. Keep searching," Robin ordered before hanging up.
"So um…" Terra hummed into the line now that Robin had vacated. "What's the over/under that there's anything to even find out here?"
"Like I said, Slade pulled the old 'Doombot' routine on us before," Beast Boy hummed. "It could be a post-mortem thing, like Emperor Palpatine with his Operation: Cinder."
"Or his daughter. We never caught her," Ventus hummed. "Maybe she's the one controlling the robot."
"Sooo… we aren't going to acknowledge that it's maybe Slade?" Terra groused nervously.
"The remains that Waller found in the follow-up were Slade's, so either the guy that died down there was the genuine article or a clone," Raven answered. "Beast Boy, you sank your teeth into him. Anything feel off to you?"
"Raven, I'm good, but I'm not that good," the changeling answered. "If it was a clone, like the Ultimen, I certainly couldn't tell the difference."
"So in summary, it's either, a robot on auto, a robot controlled by a spiteful daughter, the work of a clone, the work of the genuine article, orrrrrrr…" Blackfire hummed.
"Robin finally went nuts?" Kitten suggested.
"I was going to say 'needs to get laid', but that works too," the former dictator shrugged.
"We give it another hour, then we pack it in," Cyborg hummed, cutting his end of the line, the other teams doing so as they redoubled their search.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Guys, we've swept Jump's seismic faults front to back," Cyborg said once everyone reconvened. "I'm thinking all this Seismic Generator stuff is just another one of Slade's tricks."
"Assuming it's Slade at all," Beast Boy hummed.
"Friends, I am not so certain that Slade is behind this," Starfire said worriedly.
"Yeah, speaking of which, where is Robin?" Kitten asked.
"Robin… has elected to continue the search on his own," she replied somberly.
"Why? What happened?" Terra asked.
"He said that he saw Slade. I tried to see him too, I truly did, but… I could not," Starfire answered, her gaze downcast. "I have never seen Robin so angry… So angry at me."
"Well…" Ventus hummed loudly. "That, is not a good sign…"
"What, that hopeless romantic screaming at my baby sister?" Blackfire groused. "No, no, that seems like completely normal behavior for him."
"Starfire… With your permission, can Raven show us exactly what happened?" Ventus questioned. "I feel like a bit of context would really help us out."
"If it would help… I suppose you all should," Starfire conceded.
*TEEN TITANS*
What Starfirie had borne witness to… did not paint a pretty picture about Robin's mental state.
Not that his mental state was never in question before that evening/morning, but still… To an outside observer, which the Teen Titans technically were since Raven projected Starfire's thoughts into a magical television screen instead of the inverse, it kinda looked like Robin went over the deep end, hit the bottom, grabbed a shovel, and dug deeper.
So yeah, more of the usual.
"You know, we should really take that guy to a shrink," Beast Boy mused as they followed Robin's locator signal toward one of Slade's old bases.
"I think Black Canary is a qualified therapist. We get through this, I can try and get in touch with her," Ventus offered.
"Just as long as you keep your hands to yourself…" Kitten said jealously.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. She said nothing," Terra asserted, Raven rolling her eyes as they went down the long tunnel.
"Guys, I've got Robin's locator signal pinned down!" Cyborg spoke up as he got a signal lock. "He's nearby!"
"AGH! URGH! AARGH!"
"Very nearby," Raven said as Robin's pained grunts and loud crashes sounded down the hall.
"Everyone, weapons hot! We don't know if this is a robot, a clone, or the real thing, but as soon as you catch sight of anything orange-"
"What about us, friend Ventus?"
"Anything orange other than those two, we hit it fast and we hit it hard," Ventus amended.
"Just like date night~?" Blackfire purred.
"Oh grow up, this is serious," Raven hissed.
"Exactly! Which is why I'm trying to relieve the… pent-up tension~"
"Remind me to get a spray bottle when this is over," Terra grumbled as the Titans rounded the corner into a massive room filled with massive gears and ruined clockwork mechanics.
Descending into Deathstroke the Terminator's old base, the Titans had expected one of many outcomes. One was for Robin to be fighting an army of robot commandos. Another was for Ravager to be tag-teaming Robin with a robot doppelganger of her father. Another, posed by Beast Boy, was that Slade had somehow come back as a "Class IV Full Torso Specter" like something from Ghost Busters.
What the Titans did not expect, was to find Robin shadow-boxing, but getting his ass kicked, staggering backwards with a swollen eye and a torn-up uniform.
"Um… since when is Robin into mime?" Beast Boy questioned.
"Eyes and ears open! If Slade really is here, he could be cloaking himself!" Cyborg said as his eye shone red and shoulder-mounted spotlights came on. Beast Boy transformed into a bloodhound, hackles raised, Terra's gold-veiled hand touched the ground, and Starfire raised her hands on high bathing the room in emerald light.
"What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be finding the generators!" Robin screamed rounding on there.
"Robin, there weren't any generators," Cyborg stated. "Us and half the police force can attest to that."
"Slade must be cloaking them, just like he's cloaking himself! That's why you can't see him!"
"Terra, are you getting anything?" Ventus asked as he guarded the exit.
"No. There's no-one else here."
"Raven?"
"There isn't any magic here aside from my own."
"Robin… If we cannot see Slade… why can you?" Starfire asked imploringly.
"What are you trying to say?" Robin growled angrily.
"Robin, are you sure you really saw Slade?" Raven asked interposing herself between them.
"Saw him? I fought him! What, do you think I did this to myself?" he asked tugging at a ripped sleeve.
"Dude, this is the only way out, and we've been standing here the whole time. No one got past us," Beast Boy stated once he was sure Slade wasn't present.
"I don't have time for this…" Robin growled as he headed for the door. "I have to find those generators."
"No."
The next moment a blast of air flung Robin back, pressing him back against a fallen gear, Ventus standing over him with an arm extended, gale-force winds howling through the ruined space as the Boy Wonder was pinned.
"Robin, this has to stop," Ventus said with a firm tone, slowly closing the gap between them, eyes aglow with silver and the pressure unrelenting. "I indulged you because earthquake generators sinking Jump City into the North Atlantic was a very real threat, but there were no generators, and you're in here jumping at shadows looking like the business end of a drowned rat."
"SLADE'S HERE! I SAW HIM!" Robin raged against the howling wind, for all the good it did him.
"No, you only think you saw him," Ventus said with a flat stare, drawing a chemical vial from his pocket. "Get a good night's rest, and tell me if you still see him in the morning."
"NOOOOOO!" Robin howled as Ventus flicked the stopper with his thumb, a green gas riding the wind and smothering him. The spiky-haired teen flailing angrily, he desperately reached into his utility belt as darkness crept around his vision.
"HE'S GOT A WEAPON!" Blackfire shouted, throwing a starbolt that struck Robin in the chest. The force of aforementioned blast sent his body plowing through the corroded gear which exploded into chunks, the manic teen falling flat on his face with an explosive disc rolling out of limp fingers. Once the explosive came to a stop, the gathered Titans shot her a shocked look. " . . . What? You all saw it. He startled me!"
"He startled you?" Raven said flatly.
"Yes. He. Startled. Me," she returned with all the grace of a former dictator.
"Well, he's out. What do we do now?" Beast Boy asked nudging the insensate Robin with his foot.
"Now…" Ventus said drumming his finger on his crossed arm. "Now we run his bloodwork, see if Slade didn't booby trap any of his old shit to screw with Robin one last time."
"Isn't that a little convoluted?" Kitten blinked.
"Or, is it not convoluted enough?" Blackfire groused eagerly.
"It's what I'd do," Ventus shrugged in turn. "Hell, there's black market out there for stuff like Joker Venom, and plain old Venom, so maybe there's some Fear Toxin mixed in. Hell, Slade had his run of the Tower when I had to haul ass, so maybe the mice rigged some bad catnip while the cats were away."
"Well… I mean… any alternative is preferable to our leader being crazy," Raven conceded.
"Yeah, cause if there isn't something more to this, the cops are going to be really pissed at us," Terra hummed.
"Pretty much, yeah," Ventus said throwing Robin over his shoulder. "Alright, kiddos, wheels up, we're going home."
"Oh thank god… Finally I can go to bed," Kitten groaned, slouching in an unladylike fashion, rubbing at the bags under her eyes.
*TEEN TITANS*
"Uuhhhgh…"
"Oh! Friend Robin! You are awake!"
"Huh? What? What happened!? Where am I?! Where's Slade and… What are you wearing?" Robin asked confusedly as he came to. It was the following morning at the least if the risen sun was any indicator, he was strapped down into one of the infirmary beds like a crazy person clad in teal hospital scrubs, and to top it all off, Starfire was clad in a purple Sexy Nurse outfit showing a great deal of leg and cleavage.
"Oh, Kitten and Blackfire suggested I wear this. They said it would make you feel better when it came time for your morning carpentry," Starfire replied innocently, finding absolutely nothing wrong with the revealing, tight-fitting attire which may as well have been Tamaranian loungewear.
"Uhhhhh…" Robin uhhhhhed, his brain shutting down as it began to lose out on the domestic blood supply.
"Well hey there Mr. Crazypants~ Glad to see you're awake," Ventus said good-naturedly.
"Ventus? Dammit, Ventus, get me out of here, we have to-"
"Robin, there weren't any earthquake generators, and there wasn't any Slade."
"Oh what?! So you're saying it was all in my head!?" he said angrily as he struggled against his bonds. Without any of his hidden tools from his gloves, he'd have to get out the old-fashioned way.
"Technically speaking, yes," Cyborg said coming into the room, holding a tablet. "Looks like Slade managed to pull off one last trick."
"That mask you were staring at like it was 'your Precious', it contained a chemical reagent derived from Scarecrow's Fear Toxin and nanomachines that infiltrated your central nervous system," Ventus elaborated. "It made you see, hear, and feel Slade even though he wasn't there."
"Yes, and the more you fought, the more harm it did to you," Starfire replied.
"You and anybody else who got in the way," Raven added as she came in. "Fortunately, we were able to scrub it all out of your system after Ventus gassed you."
"Then it… It was all a lie? An illusion?"
"An illusion real-enough to kick your ass," Beast Boy stated. "I've never faced Scarecrow myself, but I've heard the horror stories. You're lucky you had a support group to help you out, otherwise you would've shadow-boxed yourself into an early grave."
"I… I can't believe it… It… It just felt so real, that-"
"We know," Starfire nodded, a hand going to his arm. "What's important is, the nightmare is over."
" . . . I'd been fighting Slade for so long, I guess it was too hard to… let it go," Robin conceded. "For the longest time I felt like I was the only one still looking for him, the only one who could stop him. And then Waller hands you that international bounty and…"
"It was hard to accept it wasn't your name on the post-accident report?" Raven questioned.
"I never would've killed Slade… I'd have made sure he lived long-enough to face justice for everything he's done-"
"Except he can't, because he's dead. I had Waller run that carbonized skull through another battery of DNA testing after we scrubbed that Fear gunk from your systems. It's the real deal. None of the hallmarks you'd find in cloning with a side of accelerated aging," Ventus stated.
"Hey man, if it really means that much to you, we were able to extract the data from those nanomachines and add them to the Danger Room. You can fight Slade whenever you want until you get over your first love," Cyborg said, grinning toward the end.
"He wasn't my-! Never mind…" Robin grumbled, struggling against his restraints and happy at the least that his covers had been pulled up to his waist. "Think you can let me go now? I'm not crazy, I was just… under the influence."
"What, and deny Starfire the opportunity to tend to her little bumgorf~?" Blackfire cooed sweetly as she, Kitten, and Terra poked their heads in, phone cameras at the ready as Starfire sat beside him, chest bouncing tantalizingly as she held a spoonful of breakfast out to him.
By the look of it alone, he could tell anyone other than Starfire had prepared it.
"Robin, you had a hell of a night. Let yourself be pampered for once," Ventus hummed.
"If you need us, press the 'Call Nurse' button," Cyborg added.
"You mean the button six inches from the hand that's strapped to the bed?"
"Yep~ That's the one~" Cyborg grinned, he, Beast Boy, Raven, and Ventus leaving Robin to the attention of the fairer sex. It was only when they rounded the corner well out of earshot that they adopted more-serious expressions. "You didn't tell him."
"Tell him what? That someone outside the Tower activated the reagent?" Ventus blinked. "C'mon, Cy, he's sleep-deprived, but he isn't an idiot. He'll figure it out on his own eventually; probably has a suspect lined up right now."
"Ravager…" Raven hummed.
"Yeah, man. Who knew Rule 34 in real life could be so terrifying?" Beast Boy asked with a shudder.
"Please, don't ever say those words again…" Ventus grumbled with a shudder of his own. "But yeah, this has Ravager written all over it. Wintergreen's on our side now that the checks aren't coming in and Grant's been dead for weeks, so it really couldn't be anythone else?"
"So what do we do, then?" Cyborg asked.
"We let Robin rest, recover, and then we ask him some leading questions to see if he's given this any deeper thought," Raven answered.
"And if Ravager attacks before then?" Beast Boy asked.
"If that happens, we'll be ready and waiting…" Ventus stated. "Come on. Let's see how-accurate that Slade simulacrum really is," he said making his way to the elevator, the others trailing off behind him.
*TEEN TITANS*
AN:
Thought I'd change up the ending of "Haunted". That and address just who activated that last Hail Mary since it never came up in the cartoon.
Tell me what you think!
