Without the Mask
By Sava Varen
Quick Notes:
Disclaimer is in the prologue...at least...I think it is anyway...*goes and looks*...yeah, yeah it's there. ^-^
A. Kiwi- haha! Yeah, it took me a bit to get their personas to fit the conversation, but I got it! Go me! Must congratulate self. *pats left side of back, then right, then slaps head* ^-^ hehe. I love doing that, but it was Krissy's originally. She got me into doing it. woohoo! I'm not the only one who does research on things off school subject! yAy! I thought Slade should talk about it to Starfire because she's the kind understanding one and thought "hey! Maybe she could lend a hand in plan I have in store for Slade! WOW I'm so not smart!". Yep, that's exactly what I thought too. ^-^ Oh, don't worry, you can hurt me if you want to because I don't update that much...that might actually help in getting me to think, cos lately I've been so tired and angry for no reason whatsoever, maybe I just need a whack over the head. I hate depression. I wish someone would whack me with something really solid really hard so that I'll go through lots of stress and everyday stress I go through now won't seem to be much stress at all. I think that might work. ^-^
Chapter: I Got Some Good News and I got Some Bad News...
Two guards held Terra's arms while they brought her into the colony. Terra looked around to remember how they'd come in just in case it would help. When they finally got in the colony completely, it was deserted. Probably from the Crescentary scaring everybody off...or killing them. She cringed at the thought of people being slaughtered. Hopefully Slade had a good plane in coming to her rescue before she had to do anything drastic. She then remembered what the leader of the Crescentary had said about Slade.
'No!' She thought. 'He loves me! He's going to...'
Suddenly, Terra didn't know what to think. Or what to do. What if it was true? What if it was just lust? She felt so alone, like the day Slade had chased her down the alley. Terra looked up to see the leader staring down at her face. She'd been sobbing lightly at the thought, tears ran down her face slowly. He stared down on her with his demonic smirk he'd had on before.
"Ready to help me?" he asked laughing at her.
"I don't seem to have any choice." she told.
"And you're right!" he then took her arms and brought her into a huge, dim room.
It had lots of wires running everywhere, computers and machines of all sorts lining the walls and more. The other Crescantary were operating the computers and machines idly. It was exceptionally warm in the room, no doubt due to the heat generating from the machines around her. There was a large metal chair in the center of the room Terra could only guess what it could be used for. It was surrounded by entangled wires and lights. The leader, Terra had earlier identified him as Captain Seto Montomry, pushed her forward to get her to walk and led her to the strange chair. He pointed at it.
"Do you know what this is?"
"No." Terra stared at Captain Mongomry's clawed finger.
He definitely wasn't human. Either he was a really sick person who didn't wash his hands or clip his nails, or he just wasn't human!
"I didn't expect you to. It's called the SolarPsyche Throne. Now it's name should be enough to practically give what it does away. It' a throne that uses Solar energy to tap into the psyche, etc. etc."
"And you'll use it to control me."
"Not quite. It is another way of keeping you to your will, but we won't go that far...yet. It is how we'll keep in contact from here to Markovia until further preparation." he told.
Terra sat in the seat before being told to or being shoved into the seat, either one she didn't want to happen.
"Hmmm...excellent Terra. Such obedience. Slade taught you this didn't he?"
Terra's mind strained at the thought of Slade. Tears began to fall again, but she wiped them away stubbornly and looked up at Captain Montgomry fiercely. "Of course. He was an excellent mentor." her voice was dark and angry.
"Well then, we'll begin. Huck! Blair! You know what to do."
The captain backed away slowly while two men came to her and began to strap wires to the chair and Terra's skin! They had to have two more people to hold her down because she "refused to be hooked up to some machine". Once all the wires were applied, she instantly felt weak. Her head hung lowly and her eyes glowed a bright, ice blue. Captain Montgomry laughed.
"Did I forget to mention it'd drain your energy for a little while?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Everyone ready?" Robin asked from in the T-sub, which was improvised to go into space a long time ago. (think: "Transformation" ^-^)
"Ready." the rest of the Titans said.
Starfire glanced back to see Slade tapping his foot lightly showing his impatience. This teamwork thing was a real drag for him, at least the way the Titans did it. He nodded signaling to her he was ok, and she turned back in her seat and looked forward. The engines started and they took off. Slowly but surely, they made their way to the space colony.
Two hours later, they neared the colony. They knew they shouldn't get too close because of the defense system most likely set up, so they stopped a good distance away as so not to be detected.
"Where do we go from here?" Beastboy asked.
"We need to somehow sneak in undetected and find out where they're keeping Terra." Robin said.
"Okay...how do we do that?" Beastboy said.
Robin sighed. "I don't know Beastboy, how DO we do that?"
"Hey dude, I asked first!"
"BEASTBOY!" everybody but Starfire and Slade yelled.
Suddenly, static began to come from the radio transmitter. Everyone's attention went to that.
"Uhhh...Cy...wasn't that turned off?" Beastboy asked getting very nervous.
"Yeah, or at least I thought it was..." Cyborg said taking a step back.
Slade sighed, rolled his eyes, and became bored of their little 'haunted spaceship' syndrome. He pushed through them and picked up the transmitter.
"Hello?" he said in a low, hushed voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
((Terra doesn't really speak out loud, it's more of a transmission through her mind so her words are in thinking quotations [' ']. So, there we go, now you'll probably understand it better.))
Terra woke hearing voiced in her head. They seemed to be other peoples' voices arguing with one another over something she couldn't hear. But why were these voices in her head? Who were they? Once her head had cleared up of most of the headache she woken up with she recognized one of the voices as Captain Mongomry's. The other was a mystery to her. She decided to find out who it was.
'Captain, who are you talking to?' she asked with her mind.
"Oh, Terra, have a nice sleep, I hope I haven't disturbed you're rest."
'You didn't, now stop changing the subject.'
"Quite right, I'm speaking with the steward of Markovia."
Terra gasped. 'So soon? What's going on?'
"Terra? Is that you? Oh my god, he wasn't lying."
'Lying? About what? Captain Montgomry, what's going on?'
"Just doing a little negotiating with the steward. He wasn't cooperating before so maybe you'll be able to convince him."
'To do what?' she asked angrily.
"You are the rightful heir to the throne making you ruler. I have a law that I wish to pass and the steward won't believe me when I say you agreed. You did agree."
Terra sighed. She really had not knowledge of this, but he'd probably shock her or something if she didn't agree. 'Yes...' she said.
"My lady...you didn't seriously..."
'I did... I'm sorry...' she said.
"Excellent. Carry it out, the princess's orders."
"Yes Princess Terra." He said before leaving.
"Princess Terra...I like the sound of that..."
'Don't you dare!' she said angrily. 'I didn't do it for you, I did it for Slade's sake!'
"Whatever you did it for, you made the right choice. I'll leave you to answer transmissions yourself, you know that one wrong move will cost you...right?"
'Of course, that is why I agreed to that stupid law scene.'
"Watch your mouth Terra! I'll check up on you later."
'Sure, whatever, why not.' She now was alone in her mind; exactly how she liked it.
What was weird was she could hear transmission signals from all over this galaxy...maybe she could put that to her advantage. She set out a search for Slade's transmission signals. She couldn't find one, but...she found the Titans', and it wasn't that far off. She had to do this quickly and hope nobody could hear her conversation, otherwise she was done for.
'Titans? Titans! It's me! Terra! Pick up!' she called through her mind.
It was a little while before anyone picked up, but when someone did pick up, low and behold, it was Slade!
"Hello?" he asked in a low, hushed voice.
'SLADE! Oh my goodness, its you! But this is the Titans' signal. Why are you with the--'
"Terra? Oh my god, Terra! Where are you? Don't worry about the Titans, they agreed to help free you, just tell me everything that's happened and where you are! Don't leave any details out!" he sounded like he'd been really worried and stressed.
Terra smiled subconsciously. 'You already know which colony I'm at, right? Well, last I saw, I was in a dim room with lots of machines and computers. The Crescentary are all in the room operating the machines and the leader, Captain--'
"Captain Seto Mongomry, yes, I know."
'Yeah.' she giggled. 'Well, he told me his whole plan and...'
"Terra? What's wrong? Terra? Please tell me! Are you there?"
'I'm here. It's just...his plan...we had it all wrong...'
"What are you saying?"
'I'm saying...his target wasn't you...it was never you...and he hasn't been hired, he's doing this of his own free will. He's trying to take over Markovia.'
Slade was suddenly silent.
'Slade? Are you okay?' she asked worriedly.
"Than...you...were his real target?" he'd gulped before saying the question.
'...you knew...you knew all along and you never told me?' she came to realization.
"I thought you'd figured it out when I'd sent you for the file that one night."
'I suspected something...but I got distracted from asking. Why...didn't you ever tell me about who I was?'
He was silent again.
'Slade? Please answer me.' she wasn't yelling or having an attitude about it, she was actually speaking quite softly and gently.
"Can we discuss this some other time? Maybe when I we don't have the whole entire team of Titans right here listening in on our conversation?" she asked impatientness in his voice.
'You can't just answer now?'
"Terra. This isn't helping." he was speaking soft and gently just like she was. He was getting desperate. "The most important thing right now is that you are rescued and unharmed. How in the hell are you calling me anyway?"
'Oh! I forgot that. Seto has me in this strange looking chair called the SolarPsyche Throne. It lets me tap into transmission signals since Seto is obviously not ready to go to Markovia just yet.'
"The SolarPsyche Throne! I should've known it!" He snarled.
Terra heard some banging sounds in the background and much objection from Cyborg. Terra giggled again.
'Slade! Stop killing Cyborg's things!' she was giggling madly.
Slade chuckled seeing that Cyborg's discomfort made her happy. Anything that made her happy was fine by him. "It's good to hear you laugh again. I just wish I could be there to see your reassuring smile." he said
Terra blushed and smiled in her subconsciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slade stood up straight and his eye opened widely. Oh boy was he in for it from the Titans when he finished talking with her. How had he managed to let that slip? He knew exactly which Titans would have a problem with what he'd just said; Beastboy (above all), Cyborg, Blackfire, and maybe Aqualad and Raven. Raven really didn't let these things go to her head, so that was good, but Robin and Starfire already knew this fact. He had heard the sound of someone jumping up and then being held back. That was most likely Beastboy getting up and Robin holding him back. Good thing too, because Slade wasn't afraid to beat Beastboy into his place. Terra was way to good for him. At least Slade thought so. He wasn't at all surprised that Terra was a princess. She was the most important princess in his eyes. Sometimes even he felt unworthy of her affection and unconditional love. Even her presence and gaze was enough to make him melt. He couldn't believe how far she'd let him go. How much she accepted his love and returned it as well.
"Slade? Are you there? You didn't break the transmitter did you?" her voice made him come back to reality.
"Yeah, I'm here. No, of course I didn't. Listen Terra; can you tell me how you entered the space colony? I promise that when this is all over, we'll talk and I'll tell you everything." he said soothingly.
"Okay. Well, I think we came in on the west side of the colony. Then we went down a lot of halls and to the room I'm in now. There was a lot of security though. Guards were everywhere! If you're going to get in that way, you might wanna have a quiet, stealthily approach to it."
"Can't you do something to get them off guard?" Slade asked.
"Like what? A distress alert? Or maybe something highly dangerous on the opposite side yous are on? I'm not sure if I can do that; after all, I am talking to you through my mind. I haven't been able to move in who knows how long, I haven't seen the inside of the colony in the same amount of time. We're going to need a different plan."
"Really? How do you feel? You're not under any pain are you?"
"I can't feel my body that much, I can't even see anything, and it's all black to me. And your voice isn't going into my ears like it normally would, your voice is in my head."
"So that's how that piece of shit works." he said sighing.
Terra giggled again. "Yeah, that's how. Anyway, How are we gonna get out of this one?"
"I don't know yet. We might need some outside help..." he thought aloud. "Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I'm not gonna let them have their way."
Terra gasped.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Go to Markovia! Asked the people there for help! They have no idea that they are holding me prisoner, tell them that! They might be able to help! They have to have some sort of army, right? Wouldn't they come to help if it were asked of them?"
Slade snapped his fingers and Starfire jumped up and down happily. "You're right! We'll go to them for help, but will you be okay in the meantime?"
"I should be, they need me alive to be able to control Markovia. Pretty soon they'll bring me there, set up something with the people and attack when we arrive! I'll most likely be hooked up this thing for a while, I'll keep in contact as much as possible and I'll tell you when we decide to leave, but for now get to Markovia. You might wanna take your time because it'll be a while before Seto decides to go to Markovia personally." Terra explained.
"Just what do you mean by 'hooked up'?"
"They put wires and connectors onto my skin that probably hooked my psyche into the machine. We'll find out more later, but for now, start on your way to Markovia. I promise I'll be fine."
"Okay, I trust you know what you're doing, correct?"
"Yes. And make sure your arrival on Markovia is a silent one, the news that you are there will most likely pass to here if everybody knows it."
"Quite right. How much longer do you have to talk?"
"I don't know, I was searching for your signal when I found the Titans' and just decided to take my chances in contacting there."
"That means he could tap into this a any time, we should refrain from this as much as possible."
"Yes, and don't try to contact e, it'll just go right to the Crescentary. The Crescentary are always notified of the incoming transmissions. The outgoing ones almost always go undetected to them. They left me to deal with surrounding matters; they think I'm warning people away from the colony right now, so we're safe for a while. Until Seto decides to check up on things that is. I should be going."
"Yes, you're right, but keep us notified on all the information you can provide, okay?"
"Alright. I will."
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
Slade turned off the transmitter and slowly turned to see the Titans he thought would have a problem with what he said glaring at him. He sighed.
"You heard her! We have to go to Markovia!" he said angrily.
They all went to work without saying a word. Well, Starfire said a few things before they all had to sit down and get ready to go to Markovia. Slade had to navigate since he was the only one who knew where it was. Hopefully, Terra would be freed soon and the Crescentary will be beaten.
Quick Notes:
Disclaimer is in the prologue...at least...I think it is anyway...*goes and looks*...yeah, yeah it's there. ^-^
A. Kiwi- haha! Yeah, it took me a bit to get their personas to fit the conversation, but I got it! Go me! Must congratulate self. *pats left side of back, then right, then slaps head* ^-^ hehe. I love doing that, but it was Krissy's originally. She got me into doing it. woohoo! I'm not the only one who does research on things off school subject! yAy! I thought Slade should talk about it to Starfire because she's the kind understanding one and thought "hey! Maybe she could lend a hand in plan I have in store for Slade! WOW I'm so not smart!". Yep, that's exactly what I thought too. ^-^ Oh, don't worry, you can hurt me if you want to because I don't update that much...that might actually help in getting me to think, cos lately I've been so tired and angry for no reason whatsoever, maybe I just need a whack over the head. I hate depression. I wish someone would whack me with something really solid really hard so that I'll go through lots of stress and everyday stress I go through now won't seem to be much stress at all. I think that might work. ^-^
Chapter: I Got Some Good News and I got Some Bad News...
Two guards held Terra's arms while they brought her into the colony. Terra looked around to remember how they'd come in just in case it would help. When they finally got in the colony completely, it was deserted. Probably from the Crescentary scaring everybody off...or killing them. She cringed at the thought of people being slaughtered. Hopefully Slade had a good plane in coming to her rescue before she had to do anything drastic. She then remembered what the leader of the Crescentary had said about Slade.
'No!' She thought. 'He loves me! He's going to...'
Suddenly, Terra didn't know what to think. Or what to do. What if it was true? What if it was just lust? She felt so alone, like the day Slade had chased her down the alley. Terra looked up to see the leader staring down at her face. She'd been sobbing lightly at the thought, tears ran down her face slowly. He stared down on her with his demonic smirk he'd had on before.
"Ready to help me?" he asked laughing at her.
"I don't seem to have any choice." she told.
"And you're right!" he then took her arms and brought her into a huge, dim room.
It had lots of wires running everywhere, computers and machines of all sorts lining the walls and more. The other Crescantary were operating the computers and machines idly. It was exceptionally warm in the room, no doubt due to the heat generating from the machines around her. There was a large metal chair in the center of the room Terra could only guess what it could be used for. It was surrounded by entangled wires and lights. The leader, Terra had earlier identified him as Captain Seto Montomry, pushed her forward to get her to walk and led her to the strange chair. He pointed at it.
"Do you know what this is?"
"No." Terra stared at Captain Mongomry's clawed finger.
He definitely wasn't human. Either he was a really sick person who didn't wash his hands or clip his nails, or he just wasn't human!
"I didn't expect you to. It's called the SolarPsyche Throne. Now it's name should be enough to practically give what it does away. It' a throne that uses Solar energy to tap into the psyche, etc. etc."
"And you'll use it to control me."
"Not quite. It is another way of keeping you to your will, but we won't go that far...yet. It is how we'll keep in contact from here to Markovia until further preparation." he told.
Terra sat in the seat before being told to or being shoved into the seat, either one she didn't want to happen.
"Hmmm...excellent Terra. Such obedience. Slade taught you this didn't he?"
Terra's mind strained at the thought of Slade. Tears began to fall again, but she wiped them away stubbornly and looked up at Captain Montgomry fiercely. "Of course. He was an excellent mentor." her voice was dark and angry.
"Well then, we'll begin. Huck! Blair! You know what to do."
The captain backed away slowly while two men came to her and began to strap wires to the chair and Terra's skin! They had to have two more people to hold her down because she "refused to be hooked up to some machine". Once all the wires were applied, she instantly felt weak. Her head hung lowly and her eyes glowed a bright, ice blue. Captain Montgomry laughed.
"Did I forget to mention it'd drain your energy for a little while?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Everyone ready?" Robin asked from in the T-sub, which was improvised to go into space a long time ago. (think: "Transformation" ^-^)
"Ready." the rest of the Titans said.
Starfire glanced back to see Slade tapping his foot lightly showing his impatience. This teamwork thing was a real drag for him, at least the way the Titans did it. He nodded signaling to her he was ok, and she turned back in her seat and looked forward. The engines started and they took off. Slowly but surely, they made their way to the space colony.
Two hours later, they neared the colony. They knew they shouldn't get too close because of the defense system most likely set up, so they stopped a good distance away as so not to be detected.
"Where do we go from here?" Beastboy asked.
"We need to somehow sneak in undetected and find out where they're keeping Terra." Robin said.
"Okay...how do we do that?" Beastboy said.
Robin sighed. "I don't know Beastboy, how DO we do that?"
"Hey dude, I asked first!"
"BEASTBOY!" everybody but Starfire and Slade yelled.
Suddenly, static began to come from the radio transmitter. Everyone's attention went to that.
"Uhhh...Cy...wasn't that turned off?" Beastboy asked getting very nervous.
"Yeah, or at least I thought it was..." Cyborg said taking a step back.
Slade sighed, rolled his eyes, and became bored of their little 'haunted spaceship' syndrome. He pushed through them and picked up the transmitter.
"Hello?" he said in a low, hushed voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
((Terra doesn't really speak out loud, it's more of a transmission through her mind so her words are in thinking quotations [' ']. So, there we go, now you'll probably understand it better.))
Terra woke hearing voiced in her head. They seemed to be other peoples' voices arguing with one another over something she couldn't hear. But why were these voices in her head? Who were they? Once her head had cleared up of most of the headache she woken up with she recognized one of the voices as Captain Mongomry's. The other was a mystery to her. She decided to find out who it was.
'Captain, who are you talking to?' she asked with her mind.
"Oh, Terra, have a nice sleep, I hope I haven't disturbed you're rest."
'You didn't, now stop changing the subject.'
"Quite right, I'm speaking with the steward of Markovia."
Terra gasped. 'So soon? What's going on?'
"Terra? Is that you? Oh my god, he wasn't lying."
'Lying? About what? Captain Montgomry, what's going on?'
"Just doing a little negotiating with the steward. He wasn't cooperating before so maybe you'll be able to convince him."
'To do what?' she asked angrily.
"You are the rightful heir to the throne making you ruler. I have a law that I wish to pass and the steward won't believe me when I say you agreed. You did agree."
Terra sighed. She really had not knowledge of this, but he'd probably shock her or something if she didn't agree. 'Yes...' she said.
"My lady...you didn't seriously..."
'I did... I'm sorry...' she said.
"Excellent. Carry it out, the princess's orders."
"Yes Princess Terra." He said before leaving.
"Princess Terra...I like the sound of that..."
'Don't you dare!' she said angrily. 'I didn't do it for you, I did it for Slade's sake!'
"Whatever you did it for, you made the right choice. I'll leave you to answer transmissions yourself, you know that one wrong move will cost you...right?"
'Of course, that is why I agreed to that stupid law scene.'
"Watch your mouth Terra! I'll check up on you later."
'Sure, whatever, why not.' She now was alone in her mind; exactly how she liked it.
What was weird was she could hear transmission signals from all over this galaxy...maybe she could put that to her advantage. She set out a search for Slade's transmission signals. She couldn't find one, but...she found the Titans', and it wasn't that far off. She had to do this quickly and hope nobody could hear her conversation, otherwise she was done for.
'Titans? Titans! It's me! Terra! Pick up!' she called through her mind.
It was a little while before anyone picked up, but when someone did pick up, low and behold, it was Slade!
"Hello?" he asked in a low, hushed voice.
'SLADE! Oh my goodness, its you! But this is the Titans' signal. Why are you with the--'
"Terra? Oh my god, Terra! Where are you? Don't worry about the Titans, they agreed to help free you, just tell me everything that's happened and where you are! Don't leave any details out!" he sounded like he'd been really worried and stressed.
Terra smiled subconsciously. 'You already know which colony I'm at, right? Well, last I saw, I was in a dim room with lots of machines and computers. The Crescentary are all in the room operating the machines and the leader, Captain--'
"Captain Seto Mongomry, yes, I know."
'Yeah.' she giggled. 'Well, he told me his whole plan and...'
"Terra? What's wrong? Terra? Please tell me! Are you there?"
'I'm here. It's just...his plan...we had it all wrong...'
"What are you saying?"
'I'm saying...his target wasn't you...it was never you...and he hasn't been hired, he's doing this of his own free will. He's trying to take over Markovia.'
Slade was suddenly silent.
'Slade? Are you okay?' she asked worriedly.
"Than...you...were his real target?" he'd gulped before saying the question.
'...you knew...you knew all along and you never told me?' she came to realization.
"I thought you'd figured it out when I'd sent you for the file that one night."
'I suspected something...but I got distracted from asking. Why...didn't you ever tell me about who I was?'
He was silent again.
'Slade? Please answer me.' she wasn't yelling or having an attitude about it, she was actually speaking quite softly and gently.
"Can we discuss this some other time? Maybe when I we don't have the whole entire team of Titans right here listening in on our conversation?" she asked impatientness in his voice.
'You can't just answer now?'
"Terra. This isn't helping." he was speaking soft and gently just like she was. He was getting desperate. "The most important thing right now is that you are rescued and unharmed. How in the hell are you calling me anyway?"
'Oh! I forgot that. Seto has me in this strange looking chair called the SolarPsyche Throne. It lets me tap into transmission signals since Seto is obviously not ready to go to Markovia just yet.'
"The SolarPsyche Throne! I should've known it!" He snarled.
Terra heard some banging sounds in the background and much objection from Cyborg. Terra giggled again.
'Slade! Stop killing Cyborg's things!' she was giggling madly.
Slade chuckled seeing that Cyborg's discomfort made her happy. Anything that made her happy was fine by him. "It's good to hear you laugh again. I just wish I could be there to see your reassuring smile." he said
Terra blushed and smiled in her subconsciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slade stood up straight and his eye opened widely. Oh boy was he in for it from the Titans when he finished talking with her. How had he managed to let that slip? He knew exactly which Titans would have a problem with what he'd just said; Beastboy (above all), Cyborg, Blackfire, and maybe Aqualad and Raven. Raven really didn't let these things go to her head, so that was good, but Robin and Starfire already knew this fact. He had heard the sound of someone jumping up and then being held back. That was most likely Beastboy getting up and Robin holding him back. Good thing too, because Slade wasn't afraid to beat Beastboy into his place. Terra was way to good for him. At least Slade thought so. He wasn't at all surprised that Terra was a princess. She was the most important princess in his eyes. Sometimes even he felt unworthy of her affection and unconditional love. Even her presence and gaze was enough to make him melt. He couldn't believe how far she'd let him go. How much she accepted his love and returned it as well.
"Slade? Are you there? You didn't break the transmitter did you?" her voice made him come back to reality.
"Yeah, I'm here. No, of course I didn't. Listen Terra; can you tell me how you entered the space colony? I promise that when this is all over, we'll talk and I'll tell you everything." he said soothingly.
"Okay. Well, I think we came in on the west side of the colony. Then we went down a lot of halls and to the room I'm in now. There was a lot of security though. Guards were everywhere! If you're going to get in that way, you might wanna have a quiet, stealthily approach to it."
"Can't you do something to get them off guard?" Slade asked.
"Like what? A distress alert? Or maybe something highly dangerous on the opposite side yous are on? I'm not sure if I can do that; after all, I am talking to you through my mind. I haven't been able to move in who knows how long, I haven't seen the inside of the colony in the same amount of time. We're going to need a different plan."
"Really? How do you feel? You're not under any pain are you?"
"I can't feel my body that much, I can't even see anything, and it's all black to me. And your voice isn't going into my ears like it normally would, your voice is in my head."
"So that's how that piece of shit works." he said sighing.
Terra giggled again. "Yeah, that's how. Anyway, How are we gonna get out of this one?"
"I don't know yet. We might need some outside help..." he thought aloud. "Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I'm not gonna let them have their way."
Terra gasped.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Go to Markovia! Asked the people there for help! They have no idea that they are holding me prisoner, tell them that! They might be able to help! They have to have some sort of army, right? Wouldn't they come to help if it were asked of them?"
Slade snapped his fingers and Starfire jumped up and down happily. "You're right! We'll go to them for help, but will you be okay in the meantime?"
"I should be, they need me alive to be able to control Markovia. Pretty soon they'll bring me there, set up something with the people and attack when we arrive! I'll most likely be hooked up this thing for a while, I'll keep in contact as much as possible and I'll tell you when we decide to leave, but for now get to Markovia. You might wanna take your time because it'll be a while before Seto decides to go to Markovia personally." Terra explained.
"Just what do you mean by 'hooked up'?"
"They put wires and connectors onto my skin that probably hooked my psyche into the machine. We'll find out more later, but for now, start on your way to Markovia. I promise I'll be fine."
"Okay, I trust you know what you're doing, correct?"
"Yes. And make sure your arrival on Markovia is a silent one, the news that you are there will most likely pass to here if everybody knows it."
"Quite right. How much longer do you have to talk?"
"I don't know, I was searching for your signal when I found the Titans' and just decided to take my chances in contacting there."
"That means he could tap into this a any time, we should refrain from this as much as possible."
"Yes, and don't try to contact e, it'll just go right to the Crescentary. The Crescentary are always notified of the incoming transmissions. The outgoing ones almost always go undetected to them. They left me to deal with surrounding matters; they think I'm warning people away from the colony right now, so we're safe for a while. Until Seto decides to check up on things that is. I should be going."
"Yes, you're right, but keep us notified on all the information you can provide, okay?"
"Alright. I will."
"Goodbye."
"Bye."
Slade turned off the transmitter and slowly turned to see the Titans he thought would have a problem with what he said glaring at him. He sighed.
"You heard her! We have to go to Markovia!" he said angrily.
They all went to work without saying a word. Well, Starfire said a few things before they all had to sit down and get ready to go to Markovia. Slade had to navigate since he was the only one who knew where it was. Hopefully, Terra would be freed soon and the Crescentary will be beaten.