Teen Titans; the island of doctor maniaca

Chapter Two: Terra Firma

Disclaimer; I own nothing! Nothing do to with this story- don't sue me, I have no money.

The science wing of the GCU had been sealed off by the city's police and every doorway and window on the ground floor was a spider web of the bright black and yellow crime scene tape that was an all too familiar sight to Gotham's residents. 'Bumblebee tape' they called it, another way for them to make light of the city's almost incurable crime problem.

Raven was making her way to class across the main quad when Valerie came running up to her dragging a tall dark haired boy behind her. Raven had her hat pulled down so far that it almost covered her eyes so she couldn't really see his face as he was taller than Val. 'Great,' thought Raven 'Val wants to show off another stupid boyfriend'. She continued stomping across the quad but it was only when Valerie called out her name that she looked up. "Hey, Rach!" her friend shouted dressed today in a blue hoody and what looked to be a ball gown underneath it, black of course. Her make up as usual did her no favours. Raven stopped and looked at her friend "Yeah, Val? What's up?" replied Raven. "Nothin' much, hey this guy says he's looking for you, dunno who he is but he sure is cute don't you think?" Val turned and pointed at the tall thin dark haired boy who was hanging around out of earshot and staring at the floor scratching at the back of his head. "It's okay Val, I know him" said Raven and asked her friend to get the handouts for her. Val skipped off but as she went whispered to Raven "Make sure and tell me all the juicy details later," she turned to the boy and waved "see ya!" Raven turned to look at the boy who now raised his head and spoke "Been a long time Rae, how you been?"

"It certainly has, Tim," said Raven and stifled a giggle,

"What, something funny?"

"I just can't get over that your name is Tim, the boy wonder's name is Timothy" Raven giggled again.

"Yeah, well keep your voice down, Rachel" Tim sounded annoyed.

"At least mine sounds kinda right, I look like a Rachel. You don't suit Tim at all," Raven still had the grin on her face "what brings you here then, the robbery? I thought that one of you might take a look at it, who was involved?". Robin jerked his head signalling Raven to walk with him,

"It was the Penguin," said Robin in an offhand manner "do you wanna get a cup of coffee, Rae? The robbery isn't why I'm here."

"Well why are you here?" asked Raven. Robin visibly stiffened as he said

"Titan business". Ravens eyes widened for a second and she gasped, was he serious?

"What do you mean?". Robin ushered her into the Campus café and they sat a table in the back, Raven almost blushed when Robin sat down a little too closely next to her. "Pretend that we're a couple talking," Robin whispered "it'll look right". Raven nodded silently. Robin leaned in closer to her,

"This morning the JLA watchtower picked up an energy signature from an island in the south pacific. It went right off the chart for about a second and then was gone."

"What kind of energy was it?" Raven was secretly enjoying being this close to Robin. He looked right into her eyes and for a fraction of a second and Raven was sure Robin could see how excited and scared she was by his closeness. "Geokinetic!" his voice was barely above a whisper and Raven felt any enjoyment of the moment she was feeling evaporate. "But there's only one energy signature on record that the Computer would recognise as Geokinetic," Raven lowered her voice to the barest ghost of a whisper "but it can't be her!". Robin had the same deeply concerned look on his face that Raven guessed she had too and just nodded as he too believed what the report was suggesting was impossible.

The Teen Titans and the Justice League of America had in their possession detailed records of the majority of Metahumans that were known. Every time a new one was discovered the sensors on the watchtower would record their unique energy emissions and dispatch someone to track them down and determine their threat or friendly status. It was like that X-men comic book Beast Boy read. The two organisations shared their information as it tended be the one of the Titans who got sent to find the new Metahuman but one time a Metahuman had found them.

She called herself Terra, an old word for Earth. Her unique abilities had been the power to move the rocks and dirt of the country side around her with just a thought. Although initially undisciplined and lacking focus, her abilities had enormous potential and after a rocky start eventually became a Teen Titan.

But not for long.

From the outset she had been the target of the criminal mastermind known as Slade. Using his persuasive abilities he acquired Terra as his apprentice, his right hand with which to strike at his enemies with those being chiefly the Titans. She was the second Titan to occupy this position, Robin being the first, and still found it difficult to talk about. However, just as Slade had victory in his grasp and the destruction of the Titans seemed imminent, Terra turned. Maybe it was her own sense of good, perhaps it was her feelings towards Beast Boy and she took his words to heart but ultimately Terra was Slade's undoing, for a while. But she paid the price for her defiance of her master and was destroyed by her own power.

Terra was dead.

Raven studied the further detail of the report and found that from the vaults of her memory she was recognising details on the energy reading of Terra's power. She looked up into the soft Brown eyes of Tim, the boy she knew as Robin, with a look of mixed excitement and fear. "Is is suggesting what I think it's suggesting?" said Raven raising a perfect eyebrow. Tim merely nodded and lowered his gaze to stare at the table. "It's suggesting either of two things," he said "that either something with a Geokinetic energy reading identical to Terra is on that island or the impossible has happened". Raven put her hand on his in a reassuring gesture and even after all this time took a guilty pleasure in doing so. "Tim, it's not possible, we were there when she died"

"Even so, Slade survived that day"

"Slade wasn't turned to stone," Raven lowered her voice to a whisper "we keep her in the damn basement, Robin she's dead. I know we said we'd find a cure one day but we haven't yet and no one but the Teen Titans can get into the Vault". Tim still stared at the table with a dark look in his eyes and Raven could see the change in him; no longer was he Tim Drake but now he was Robin, leader of the Teen Titans. "I know," he said "but we have to investigate this, Terra's power would be extremely dangerous in the wrongs hands, was dangerous in the wrong hands thanks to Slade and I'm not going to let it happen again," Robin's knuckles whitened as he clenched his fist "I'm not having another Titan used for evil, not again".

Raven squeezed his hand with hers until his fist unclenched and their fingers intertwined and the dark look vanished from his eyes. Slowly she watched Robin melt back into Tim but all the while kept gripping his hand, she knew quite well how he felt about members of the Titans being used in such a way. Twice Robin had been used against his own team by Slade who had also placed his spy in the form of Terra amongst them. But with Terra it was different, she was just a scared kid who didn't want to be hated for what she could do. Both the Titans and Slade had offered her control over abilities but ultimately her fear had lead to her choosing the quick and easy path to control of her power and ultimately to her death.

"How are we going to get there," asked Raven "the T-sub suddenly being spotted again would only raise questions, a Justice League Javelin would hardly be inconspicuous now would it, how, Tim, how do we get there?" she released her grip on his hand "And I have my degree to think about now, and my room mate would only ask even more questions if I were to disappear after a conversation with a guy that just breezed into my life". Raven stood up to make for the door "It's tempting, Tim, it really is, but I just can't drop everything to play hero like you can. I like being normal, for a change. Rachel has a future, she's going to become a Doctor of Psychology with a nice office. And, maybe, one day have a husband and kids and live in a world where two days can go by without the world being in jeopardy". Tim stood up to stop her leaving,

"So you're just going to walk out of here and forget about everything the Titans were, everything we did?" he said as Raven's shoulders sagged and she gave sigh "I wouldn't want to forget about the Titans, or anything we did, but maybe it isn't the only thing I could do with my life". Tim just looked at her in disbelief, he was so sure she would have wanted to help but instead she was talking about nice offices and husbands. "What happened to you Rae?" he asked placing his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled weakly " Gotta grow up sometime, cant be a Teen Titan forever," she brushed his hands off her shoulders and kissed him once on the cheek "Good luck with whatever is on that island," and as she walked past him said "and I liked the red suit better".

Thousands of miles away in a cave a similar conversation was taking place. "I'm telling you it was her!" Beast Boy was getting frustrated, they had been talking for hours and had been going round in circles. "And I'm saying it's not possible," said Cyborg calmly "you were there when she died, you visited her grave everyday for a year, Terra is now in the Vault back at the Tower. Admit it, it couldn't be her!". Beast Boy turned to look at his friend again and threw his hands up in a gesture of frustration "Explain the earthquake when she got scared, when she saw me?"

"This whole island has been shaking ever since we got here, there is no connection between that and your mystery girl"

"Explain how she could look just like Terra then, huh?" Beast Boy's voice seemed to be pleading with his friend to believe him.

"We only have your description of her to go on and it was only," Cyborg pressed a button on his arm panel and said "she looked just like Terra, dude!" his voice had changed to sound just like Beast Boy.

"You know I hate it when you do that" grumbled Beast Boy.

"Oh come on," Cyborg still sounded like his friend "It's way funny. I could kill for a burger, pass that Bacon my way, could you melt cheese on that?" Cyborg was bent double with laughter "Aha," he sighed with his own voice "I kill me!"

"look don't joke about it, it was her" Beast Boy was now facing the cave wall "I couldn't forget her face, ever" Cyborg stood up and placed his huge steel hands on his tiny friend's shoulders,

"Gar', after she died you kept seeing her everywhere. Remember how often we chased you 'cause you were so convinced you saw her in the street" Cyborg took a deep breath "remember what it was like when you finally accepted that she was dead and couldn't come back. I don't want to go through that again". Beast Boy turned to look at his friend "It was her, Vic. I don't now how but it was her, I wanted to do something but when she screamed I froze"

"Don't worry man, we'll solve this" Cyborg left his friend to his own thoughts and headed out into the jungle.

Deep underground a lone figure stood at a computer console. He was dressed in the classic combination of dark blue scrubs with a brilliantly white lab coat over them and embroidered upon it in royal blue thread was simply "Doctor". He typed a few commands into the console and what seemed like the far wall of the room lit up as a massive screen with multiple windows showing various views of the island. From the light of the screen more details of the room were visible; the console stood on a circular platform at the end of long walkway suspended above the floor of the room by mysterious means. The walkway and the platform had no guard rail along their edge and beyond them was simply a long drop into a river of infernally red lava that flowed far below. The Doctor thought it was a nice touch, it gave anyone who entered the room the impression that he wasn't messing around.

The Doctor himself was either a young man who had suffered much at the stresses of the world or an old man who had led a trouble free life. His age was indeterminate and could have been a young looking fifty or an old looking thirty. He was what would be considered quite handsome and hand am air of worldly knowledge about him that was only marred by two things. His right eye wasn't the deep sea blue of his left and instead was a raised metal ring that stuck out of the socket with a fiery red lens as it's replacement. Also his left hand was a metal and Perspex mirror of his right hand that glowed with blue circuitry through its see through coating and clicked as the steel digits moved across the console.

His human eye subtly flicked between all of the windows on the screen as he searched for what he was looking for. Eventually he found it, a young blonde girl tearing through the jungle at a terrified speed as she ran away from what? He checked the camera windows for the surrounding area, there was nothing there. He frowned in concentration and selected the beach camera, he knew she liked to go there at this time of day, and using a jog-dial wound the image back several minutes. Seeing the image the camera had captured he quickly hit the freeze button and zoomed in on a portion of the image that had suddenly grabbed his attention and answered his question. A young man stood on the beach drying his hair with a towel and wore only black board shorts and he was looking at looking at Teri with a mixture of shock and disbelief on his face. A young man being at the beach wouldn't have scared her, a few often came over from the large tourist resort the island also had but it was his physical appearance that concerned him. He was from head to toe, hair and all, bright green.

The Doctor's human eye narrowed and the red light in his robotic one brightened, "Interesting" he whispered to himself.

Arriving back at her apartment alone, Raven went straight to the kitchen and began making herself a pot of her favourite tea. In a sweep of badly dyed skirts Valerie breezed into the small kitchen "I thought I heard you come in," she said leaning against the fridge "so who was he then? Do I get to know or are you gonna keep him all for yourself?" Valerie was grinning widely at the hope that her friend might finally get a boyfriend. "He was a friend from the old days," Raven stated flatly "he was just dropping by to say hi".

"You sure he's," Valerie formed quotation marks with her fingers on either side of her head "just a friend. There was a little something' in the air when I left you two," Valerie nudged Raven in the side and walked past her to get a cup for herself "and what are the 'old days', like, High School?". Raven grinned slightly,

"You could say that, it was sort of like that" Raven had prepared for any probing of her past "I was home schooled, as you know, and he was my neighbour and sort of my best friend too". Valerie put on a faux serious expression "Little Miss Mysterious opens up a little, so what's his name?"

"Tim, Tim Drake"

"Tim," Valerie mulled it over for a few seconds "didn't strike me as a Tim, but hey, we can't pick out names now can we"

"We sure can't" inside Raven the personae of Rachel Roth squirmed a little.

"So, if you're just friends then do you have his number?" asked Valerie "or does he already have a girlfriend?". Raven put her tea down and smiled a little,

"Sorry Val, he's involved, big time" Raven walked out of the kitchen towards her room. Behind her she heard Valerie shouting, "You could give me his number anyway, you know, just in case". With a wry smile she shut the door of her room and slowly turned the lock so her room mate wouldn't hear it.

With a sigh she sat on her bed and looked at the huge black trunk that sat at it's foot. She knew she couldn't fight the impulse to open so she didn't' bother. Standing up she flicked her hand in it's direction and the two catches became surrounded with a black aura and snapped open, unnecessary, but she enjoyed using her powers as a reminder that her past wasn't some kind of dream. On top of the trunk's contents was a heavy dark blue cloak, Raven picked it up and looked at it half expecting to see the hood filled with her own face mocking her for turning down Robin's offer to investigate this energy signature. She threw the cloak onto the bed and pulled out a one piece long sleeved body suit, a little revealing but she never wore it just by itself. The final item she dredged from the trunk's contents was bright yellow circle of hardwearing plastic that had a few scuffs on it. Raven ran her pale fingers over the scratches and let memories both good and bad flood over her. The cover, embossed with huge T logo, flipped open in a clamshell design with a chirping noise, Cyborg's tribute to his favourite boyhood TV show; Star Trek. He and Robin and Beast Boy would argue for hours over which series was best. She missed stuff like that.

The tiny screen on the communicator displayed the same message it was always did when she looked at it these days "Titan Mainframe Offline; Try Again Later" in bright red lettering. Raven packed everything back into the trunk, shut the lid and with another wave of her hand the catches snapped shut.

Sitting alone her thoughts turned to Terra; she couldn't be alive. Raven remembered the great flash of yellow light that had heralded Terra's demise. It felt warm, like sunshine, as it washed over them like a wave and, being the only empath of the group, Raven had sensed in it everything that Terra was; her memories, her feelings about Beast Boy, and a great sadness and shame about what she had helped Slade do but also Joy. Joy for finally having a purpose, a reason, a place to call home, a home to defend, and someone who would be waiting for her one day in this world or the next.

A single tear rolled down Raven's cheek and splashed down onto the bed. That moment had changed everything she thought about Terra, it had even been her idea to eventually bring her remains to the Tower and place them in the Vault with the other past Titans.

She wanted to go with Robin to investigate what was going on, to wear the cloak again and to be Raven again. But it was like she had read somewhere, once you take your first breath it isn't so easy to give life up. She enjoyed her life as Rachel but it lacked something, looking out her window she saw in the sky above Gotham City a great white light with a huge bat symbol at it's centre sweeping the cloudy night sky.

That was the sort of thing she was missing.

Author note; no reviews yet but I'm just getting started, took a while to write this chapter coz I've been working constantly. Gotta make the Benjamin's somehow. Not a lot of action but it's gonna take a while to set up. Raven's doubts about going back to hero work started in my last story and are just about her fears about being stuck as Raven forever, she just wants there to be something else to life, like we all do. Now, I gotta get working on chapter 3. TTFN. 2ndc

COMING SOON TO AN AUTHOR ALERT NEAR YOU; Chapter 3; I see green people!