(part 2) Countdown

The warehouse was completely destroyed now. The once empty room was now a clutter of rubble and smoking craters. The fight was nearing its end.

Starfire grunted with pain as she tried to lift the steel beams that were trapping her ankle on the ground. She had been unlucky, trying to maneuver in a place so small, and now she was going to lose.

The mechanical worm took its time, sadistically slithering around Starfire, as if it were constricting her like a python. Star almost wanted to scream as she saw the worm towering above her, cutting off all exits with its constricting coil body. It looked down on her now, with its charging red eyes. Was this the end?

The worm charged its laser, preparing to fire, then for some unknown reason, it looked somewhere else.

One of the Generators in the room detached itself from the wall, and was hurled towards the worm. A large explosion ripped through the mechanical beast, and it quickly uncoiled itself and submerged into the ground, temporarily stunned.

"Are you ok?" Raven asked as she flew into the room, using her telekinesis to lift the steel beams off of Starfire.

"I am undamaged, thank you Raven."

"Where's the detonator?" Raven immediately inquired Starfire.

"Over there," Starfire pointed to one of the generators, which had a large cylindrical bomb attached to it, filling the plant with an ominious beeping sound. "I could not stop it."

The worm, which had recovered from the last attack, fully resurfaced now, just feet away from the two Titans. It opened its jaws in an intimidating roar.

"Don't worry." Raven "I got an idea." She focused now, levitating the detonator with her powers. The bomb floated magically in the air now, surrounded by a glowing aura of black magic. Raven turned to the worm now, which charged the two girls furiously, as if it was going to devour them.

"It's coming at us!" Starfire shouted.

Raven replied smugly. "No problem." She waved her hand in a fluid arcing motion now, sending the bomb flying straight at the robot. The semtex easily flew through the worm's mouth, making a clanking sound as it bounced deep within the insides of its stomach. The worm paused for a moment, seeing if it had taken any damage. When nothing happened, it resumed its attack.

Raven smirked now, then quickly close her hands into a fist.

The worm began expanding now, as if it were a blow up balloon. The semtex had detonated, causing a ripple of explosions throughout its body. Each explosion came closer and closer to the worm's head, bloating it up even more until...

The monster exploded, sending shards of metal and circuitry flying all over the complex. Although the bomb was powerful enough to level the factory, Raven had gambled on the fact that the Worm's armour was enough to contain the explosion, and she breathed a sigh of relief as the remains of the worm fell lifeless to the floor.

Starfire gave a cheer. "Yay! We have kicked the butt!"

"Let's go help Cyborg, there's not a moment to lose." Raven said dryly, and Starfire consenting in agreement, flew off with her friend to find the others. There was only half an hour left before the final bombs would explode. She hoped that they were make it in time, but more importantly, she hoped that each of her friends were safe...



The Bridge was deserted, the civilians having already fled some time ago, leaving a maze of abandoned cars and discarded items on the Bridge. It was one great sea of wreckage.

More Robots came now, jumping on cars and climbing the foundations of the Bridge. There were perhaps a hundred of them, and they all converged on one point by the suspension towers, where a series of explosions rocked the darkening sky.

The chase had gone on for over four hours now, and as the clock ticked down to the last ten minutes, the battles had intensified. The team had managed to get all but two bombs now, two bombs that were planted at the foundations of the towers, one per tower.

Cyborg was exhausted now, having fought for the last 4 hours without let-up. It seemed as if for every robot he destroyed, twenty more took their place.

"YAAH!" Cyborg screamed as he advanced, charging up his plasma cannon right before punching a hole through one of the larger robots. The droid remained stationary, stuck to cyborg's arm, and Cy immediately turned around to avoid the torrent of laser fire that came from the masked robots, who fired from atop the cars and buildings.

The droid's larger body blocked many of the shots, but it exploded, throwing cyborg onto the ground. More robots converged on him

Cyborg, not giving up, stood and immediately charged his cannon.

"Come on! Show me what ya got!" He shouted in defiance.

His plasma cannon went offline, drained of power from the fight.

An astonished Cyborg took one look at his cannon, then at the crowd of robots who were charging their lasers. A nervous smile went across his face as he started sweating bullets.

"Uh, perhaps we can call it a day? It's late and I'm missing my favourite- AHH!"

The robots opened fire, throwing cyborg off the edge of the Bridge. However luckily for cyborg not all of his functions were offline, he quickly shot his grappling arm onto the bridge, grabbing a hold of the edge. He sprung to a complete stop, dangling just feet away from the water.

He barely had time to breath a sigh of relief before one of the robots aimed at him from atop the bridge. He couldn't dodge this one, it was over.

A defiant roar was heard above the bridge, and Cyborg saw more explosions on the bridge. Just as he was about to hoist himself up though, a gigantic tail swept alongside the edge of the bridge, and what followed was a rain of robots and parts of robots as dozens of Slade's cronies took the dark plunge into in the sea. Each robot made a small splash and then sank. Their circuits fried by the water, they slowly sank into the depths, disappearing beneath the waves.

It wasn't appropriate, but Cyborg couldn't resist picturing Aqualad surfacing out of the water and telling them to stop putting trash in his ocean. Too bad it he didn't show up though, he would have been of great help.

"Cyborg! Yo Dude! Need some help?" It was Beast Boy's voice

"What ever made you think that beast boy?" Cyborg replied in a heavily sarcastic voice. "Perhaps I like holding on for dear life several hundred feet above a freezing stormy sea."

Beast Boy gave a satisfying grin and quickly changed into a gorilla, using his massive arms to pull Cyborg up on the tower.

"Wait! Hold right there B!" Cyborg shouted as he ascended almost halfway up.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I found it, just give me a few minutes and I'll disarm it!"

At this point, on top of the Bridge, Raven and Starfire made their appearance.

"Beastboy! I am glad you are not hurt."

"No," Beast boy replied. "But man! Some one tell Cyborg to lighten up on those burritos!" He grunted with strain as he held the cable.

"I heard that!" Cyborg replied from a hundred feet below. Which brought a nervous chuckle to Beast Boy's face.

"In any case, where is the other bomb." Raven asked.

Beast Boy pointed to the other tower. "Over there Rave, we got things covered here, just go and stop that one."

"Consider it gone." Raven replied, flying off to the tower.

"Star. Is there something wrong? You seemed worried?" Beast boy asked as he saw that Starfire still remained on the bridge.

"Yes my friend," Starfire looked up at the green titan with much concern on her face. "Where is Robin?"

Cyborg's voice shouted from below, he had secured himself onto the Bridge. "Go find Robin guys! I got it under control here!"

"The other bomb is disarmed, Cyborg, are you sure you won't need my help?" Raven replied as she landed next to Star.

"No. This bomb is different from the rest, it'll just take time, anyways, go look for Robin! I'll be fine."

The three titans looked at each other, gave a nod, and then vanished into the night, leaving Cyborg to work on the bridge.



He had found the old entrance, already making the hundred meter descent below the surface to locate his target. He did not want to stop, not even to tell the team where he was going, they would be able to scan for his tracker device anyway.

It was like going in blind, Robin found himself feeling the rocks around him, making leaps of faith as he jumped from one dark obscured boulder to another. Praying that his feet would touch solid ground.

He made it to the old abandoned base within a few minutes, saw the two gigantic steel doors that Beast Boy had torn down in their last visit here.

The chambered was bathed in an unholy light, a light reddish colour that seemed to emanate from the screened windows around the room.

How could Slade even work in a place like this, its just...too creepy.

What caught his attention however, was the large mechanism that stood on top of the mountain in the center of the room. And robin immediately sprinted up the walkways to the top. He dislodged some rocks, and the chambered eerily echoed in activity as they bounced into the darkness below.

The bomb was making a series of bleeps and computerized sounds, as if it were processing something. Each bleep brought about a pattern of lights as each button went on and off at different intervals. This certainly did not look easy.

Robin's first instinct was to use his Bo staff to pry open what appeared to be a control box on the side, but before he could, that distinct voice made its way into the passageway...

He turned around, and saw the taunting masked figure walking slowly towards him, hands calmly clasped behind his back.

"So Robin, alone at last...."



Robin turned around swiftly, using his cape to obscure the barrage of birdarangs he threw at Slade. A flash of light appeared in the cavern as the birdarangs went through Slade, causing sparks as they both ricocheted on a nearby boulder, one of them neatly buried within the rock.

"No..." Robin replied with horror, remember the scene that had troubled him for so many months. It was as if he could hear it in the cavern now, the seething rain, the murderous thunder, the dark apparitions he saw in the corner of his eyes.

"Oh yes. Robin," Slade's voice boomed from another corner of the cave now, right beside him.

Robin reacted instantly, taking out his bo Staff and lunging it at the apparition. His bo staff made a loud 'clank' as it hit nothing but the metallic surface of the detonator.

"What is wrong Robin? Frightened of a little voice?" Slade's voice echoed uneasily through the chamber.

Calm down. Robin thought. He was breathing heavily now. Trying to logically sort the facts in his mind. There was no way...this could be happening.

"Where are you Slade?" He shouted into the darkness.

"Where I have always been. Right here, by your side." He appeared out of the dark now, stepping beside the machine that eerily lit the room in a darkened red. He couldn't make out the mask in the darkness, but the silhouette was unmistakable. Was he.... No, that's not possible. There must have been a logical explanation for all this, why would Slade be here, of all places....

Then it hit him. It was all clear now.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to attack me?" Slade's cold calculating voice was contemptuous to the brim.

"No." Robin said calmly as he spoke up. "Because you aren't real."

He waved his hand across Slade now, saw his image fuzzed up as he waved through nothing but thin air.

"That's right Robin, a holographic projection. I did say I would enjoy watching you fail didn't I? I will also enjoy mocking you one last time."

"Mock all you want Slade. I've got a job to do." Robin walked through the holographic image, kneeling down to inspect the wires and control panels that he had pried open.

"You will find that quite impossible Robin, this is no normal detonator. Notice...how, there is no countdown?"

He was right, this was different from the other bombs, but if time did not detonate it, what will? Was it a trick? Did he purposely install some sort of multi-layered mechanism that would detonate if anyone tried to disarm it? He was frustrated, not only because he couldn't leave the bomb where it was, but because of Slade's taunting voice droning on into his ear.

"It is hopeless Robin. You were never good enough to defeat me. What makes you think you can win this time?"

"Shut up, Slade." Robin replied furiously.

"Or perhaps it is a dud?" Slade offered helpfully. "Then again, you can never take the chance can you?"

Robin was sweating now, straining under the pressure. He rearranged some wires here, disabled some safeblocks there, but the bomb was still beeping. All the while Slade's voice was beside him, never leaving his mind. How would Slade detonate this bomb? How? Why would he go through the trouble of planting twenty five other bombs to weaken the city, If this one could destroy the entire city in one full blast.

"Robin!" A voice boomed from behind.

"I said be quiet Slade!" Robin shouted angrily, only to look into the face of a much horrified Starfire.

"I'm... sorry star, I thought you were... Him."

"Dude," Beast boy said. "There is no one in here but us."

"Yea, yea, I get the point. Now about this detonator, there's something about it that bothers me." Robin's thoughts cleared up now, thankful to be among his friends as well as away from that troubling voice that haunted his mind.

"There's no countdown mechanism?" Raven inquired, lifting her hood to get a better inspection of the equipment.

"None, I think it may be set off by something...maybe a trigger."

"I found the other bombs Robin, but there's something weird about them as well." Raven commented.

"What?" The boy wonder asked curiously.

"They weren't consistent. I found one of the top of a skyscraper, while another was planted underneath the doorstep of the hospital. Dangerous as they were, they would not have brought down the building's structural integrity."

"What are you planning Slade..." Robin stroked his chin, this was the most puzzling thing yet, but he found it even harder to think now.

"Robin! Watch out!" Starfire called out a warning.

Raven and Robin lifted their heads now, and saw the ominous dark figure standing next to them, he grinned, as if he had been there the whole time.

"A good question indeed Robin, but I suppose I can give you a little hint." Slade began.

Raven began charging her powers, until Robin pushed her back. "He's a hologram."

"Indeed, now ask yourself this Titans. What is the best way to ensure that a bomb goes off without a hitch?." His mask, although fake, still made grim reflection as he walked into the light. His amused face quickly gave way to an intimidating look as he gave the answer.

"A mechanism that never fails."

Then he vanished.

A mechanism that never fails? What? A trap? A flawless program, or a certain criteria...

Then it dawned on him. He cursed himself for being so stupid all this time. Robin immediately picked up the communicator, for he knew what the mechanism was.

"Cyborg are you there?" Robin shouted urgently.

"Just a second Robin, I almost...got this last bomb. Ah. There!" Cyborg cried in triumph.

An unusual silence filled the cave now. Then, suddenly the lights on the twenty ton detonator began bleeping more violently now...

"Dude, What's going on?" Beast boy asked.

Robin was frustrated, and hit the side of the machine in anger. He looked up at his team now, shaking his head.

"I think the real countdown, has just begun."