Teen Titans; the island of doctor maniaca

Chapter Four: There's something about Rachel!

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

The air in the jungle surrounding the doctors house was so thick with humidity and the incessant chirping of a million insects that it was oppressive and felt like it was squeezing itself around Beast Boy like the coils of an invisible constricting snake. He was sitting on a huge stout branch about half way up a tree that overlooked the property watching the comings and goings of various people dressed in dark khaki clothing as in twos or by themselves they entered the house, stayed for a few minutes, and then left in a hurry vanishing into the thick jungle. Beast Boy's eyes narrowed as he noticed that they were all carrying rifles.

He studied the layout of the building from his vantage point and was arriving at the conclusion that something was amiss. He knew that the entire island was owned by one man, a professor or something, and although it wasn't entirely unheard of for the incredibly wealthy to own their own island, Lex Luthor owned an entire archipelago, it was for one of this size to privately owned. The house itself was not entirely what he would have expected a man who owned an island the size of Metropolis to live in. It was large alright but it looked a bit too clinical, the exterior was mainly black marble with expansive windows at the rear or the property facing the bay but had tiny oblong windows on his front side set high above the ground. Beast Boy's trained eye could see where the thick metal roller shutters were hidden above the windows and from the width of the rear windows he could tell the walls were about a meter thick and probably reinforced concrete. The window glass itself was about three inches thick and he guessed reinforced again with titanium filaments too small to be seen with the naked eye. Despite the appearance of the place being somewhere between a home and a hospital it was obviously more of a fortress.

Footsteps crunching up the path made him turn round expecting to see another rifle toting henchman of this mysterious professor. Instead he saw conformation that he wasn't deluding himself, it was the girl from earlier. She was walking slowly up the sandy coloured gravel swatting at clouds of insects with her hands and Beast Boy nearly fell of his branch when he saw her. The skin was a little paler and she was maybe an inch or two taller but it was definitely Terra, even down to the little mole on the back of her neck. He watched her open mouthed as she passed right under the branch he was perched on humming a tune under her breath and singing snatches of lyrics. It was 'Naked and Famous' by the Presidents of the USA, his favourite song and one he had taught Terra on one of their unofficial dates when they were just hanging out together. The fact that they held hands the whole time was beside the point.

He watched the girl enter the house and dropped to the ground from his branch quickly morphing into a cat for to land on his feet and then in the blink of an eye into a gecko. He quickly made his way round the side of the house and becoming a cockroach slipped in through a vent and into a room full of air conditioning equipment. There was a ripple of air displacement as he went from the tiny form of the cockroach to his normal human form. He gave a little shiver in the hot dark room, he hated being insects, there was something about having more than four limbs that just left his skin crawling. He remembered spending a few hours on a stakeout as a spider and for about two days after he kept trying to pick up plates or cans of soda with arms he didn't have.

Sweat dripped off his brow and soaked his uniform as he leaned against the wall forming a plan, he was inside now but had no idea of what he was going to do next. Did he just run up to the girl and say; "Hey there, you look identical to my old girlfriend- well she wasn't officially my girlfriend - but it's just uncanny and I was wondering if you knew anything about how or why you do and, well, Terra is that you?". He shook his head, she would think he was insane. He had to find out more about her and her relationship with this professor. He needed a plan and plans weren't his strong suit, he needed Robin.

Unbeknownst to Beast Boy his prayers had been answered as a passenger airliner had touched down at the island's small airport carrying the very thing he wished he had. After disembarking from the plane Tim and K'oriandor found themselves greeted by a smartly dressed young man holding a sign saying 'Mr and Mrs Tim Drake". K'ory looked at the sign with an air of puzzlement as they approached but Tim explained it to her as it was probably a joke from Alfred.

"Hello Mr Drake," said the man lowering the sign "my name is Lucas, I was sent by the Doctor to collect you and take you to the resort". Tim raised an eyebrow suspiciously, a expression he'd picked up subconsciously from Bruce "The Doctor?" he asked "Professor Maniaca? I didn't know he was in this part of the world". Lucas smiled a knowing smile,

"The Doctor owns the entire island, everything you see here was built by the Doctor. May I ask how you know the Doctor, were you a patient of his?". Tim flashed a quick look at K'ory but smiled and replied,

"I met him at a Wayne Enterprises fundraiser, I obviously made an impression".

"Indeed" said Lucas before turning to K'oriandor "May I take your luggage Mrs Drake?". K'ory looked from Lucas to Tim and said "I am not a Mrs Drake, My name is-" but Tim cut her off with,

"K'ory means that she's not Mrs Drake yet, we've kept the engagement a secret, you know how it is". Lucas nodded politely as K'ory glared at Tim and began to drag K'ory's suitcase towards the limo that was waiting outside, Tim was impressed as the man barely showed any sign of it being far too heavy. K'ory nudged Tim in the ribs and leaned in close "Why does this young man think I am the Mrs Drake? We have not engaged in a nuptial ceremony!" she whispered.

"Because I think Alfred is playing games with us, I just wonder how this Professor Maniaca knew I was coming here?" Tim whispered back.

"Is there any reason to suspect that this Doctor person is connected with the Terra energy signature?"

"I just don't know," said Tim "but this island is getting more mysterious by the minute". He watched Lucas as red faced he loaded the obscenely heavy suitcase into the car's trunk and thought 'Something doesn't add up here, what does the Doctor want with me after all this time?'

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Be- Smash!

Raven's alarm clock suffered the same fate as it's nineteen predecessors as a black telekinetic aura made it implode and crushed it into a thousand tiny plastic pieces. Seven thirty AM, too damn early for a Saturday but Raven had to study. She'd missed all of yesterdays lectures as she decided to stay in her apartment after a sleepless night and eat ice cream watching Cartoon Network. She didn't know why, she hated cartoons, but suspected it was just so it could be background as her brain freewheeled as it organised all her thoughts together about the last few days.

However today wouldn't bring any talk of strange energy signatures or meetings with faces from the past and would instead merely involve Raven and a library full of books. Deep in her nest of covers and pillows Raven mumbled a few curses at the prospect of spending all day in a library and surprised herself. Normally the solitude that studying brought was enjoyable to her but recently she longed for a bit activity in her life. She blamed Robin, if he hadn't had shown up she would have been fine.

Reluctantly she tossed back the duvet and swung her legs out onto the floor. Still in a state of not being quite awake yet Raven made her way to the kitchen. The door to her room swung open and unnoticed by Raven she floated a few inches above the ground as she went about the business of making her morning tea. Cupboards opened of their own accord, a mug floated down to beside the kettle as well as a teaspoon that zipped out of a drawer and landed in the mug with a crisp tinkle. The radio flicked on by itself and tuned in to the college radio station filling the small room with the new Weezer single. A loaf of bread gave off two perfect slices that floated into the toaster and a jar of jam and a knife landed beside a plate that was still settling down on the worktop making little roin-roin-roin noises as it spun to a stop.

All this happened while Raven had her eyes shut yawning uncontrollably for a good minute and a half. She stopped and reached out absent mindedly to grab a glass of orange juice that was floating in front of her at chest height. Slitting down on a stool at the worktop she had a mouthful of the juice before looking up at the kitchen where everything she needed for breakfast was laid out for her. She rubbed her eyes with her hand and muttered "Not again"

Valerie came stumbling through ten minutes later in a knee length t-shirt that was red with the words "Grandville High" on it in white. "What's all the noise about, Rach?" she yawned "it's Saturday!"

"Oh," said Raven "sorry Val, didn't think you'd be in what with the Triple Omega Kegger last night". Valerie waved her hands a little bit "It wasn't that good, the band didn't show up and they only had the one keg. Have you seen the remote?" Raven looked under a magazine on the counter,

"It's over here" she said throwing it to Valerie who had stopped and was staring and pointing at Raven's mug of tea. "Is that tea stirring itself?" she said frowning in confusion. Raven blinked and behind her the spoon stopped moving . "Could have sworn it was" mumbled Valerie as she flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Raven quietly got showered, dressed and left for the library all the time thinking that that had been too close a call.

In the form of fly Beast Boy had managed to explore the entire house and was presently sitting behind a fruit bowl watching the mysterious girl eat lunch. From listening to her conversation with the chef he had learned that her name was Teri, a similarity that peaked his curiosity, and that she was a patient of some kind under the care of 'The Doctor'. The chef, who was named Ralph, had put an inordinate amount of dressing on the salad she had with cheeseburger, as a vegetarian Beast Boy noticed such things. And with every mouthful, especially of the salad, Teri was becoming more and more tired and drowsy until she lurched off towards the main living area of the house and curled up into a ball and fell asleep on the couch.

He flew after her and settled down onto the wall to watch her and noticed the other person in the room. A tall man probably approaching middle age dressed like a scientist with a cybernetic left hand and right eye that reminded Beast Boy of Cyborg's technology. He turned and walked down a small corridor towards a lift. Zipping after him Beast Boy landed on his shoulder and hitched a ride with him to find out more about this man who must be the Doctor that Teri had spoken of.

After a few minutes the elevator was flooded with dull yellow light and Beast Boy heard something he wished he hadn't; two voices in unison saying "All Glory to the HIVE!". Who was this guy?

Tim and K'ory had finally checked into the hotel resort and right now were standing on the balcony of their room. The room was a large affair with an enormous four poster bed made from a dark highly lacquered perfumed wood and white walls that made the place seem bright and clean. Tim had his arms round K'ory's stomach and she was leaning into his shoulder as they looked out over the expansive bay. "It is truly glorious," said K'ory "On Tamerran we have no places like this since the war with the Gordanians, it is a paradise!". Tim held her a little tighter and said,

"Anything for my Princess" and K'ory melted a little bit in his arms.

Tim was actually impressed with the room as it was well above what he had paid for, a gift from the Doctor no doubt. He was wondering how long it would be before he had to meet the Doctor again but that was answered when a Bellhop brought up an invitation to a function the Doctor was holding that night in the Hotel Ballroom.

It was a few hours till the function so Tim left K'ory to unpack her case and decided to explore. The hotel complex itself was made up of a scattering of individual buildings that housed four suites each surrounded by thick jungle. He made his way down a white slabbed path towards the main complex which was constructed like a renaissance French palace. He had even heard it had been a country house in France that the Doctor had paid to have moved here stone by stone. It rose against the jungle in an odd juxtaposition of an ancient civilised culture and feral nature and was filled with bustling staff members and bored looking tourists.

Tim negotiated his way around the building with its enormous marble reception area with its foyer running the entire width of the house so the main doors connected with the pool area to the rear of the building. Two staircases wide enough to accommodate the largest line up of top hatted and cane spinning dancers imaginable swept up on either side of the huge circular reception desk to a second level that held the main restaurant for the building. The tables sat on a sectioned floor that was all mirrored glass to those below and see through to those dining giving the impression of the tables floating in mid air. The rear pool area itself was the typical scattering of pools and sunbeds and whirlpool Jacuzzis, Tim did notice that the Jacuzzis were slightly hexagonal shaped but didn't know why that was significant.

He had no exact idea what he was looking for but he was hoping to find something that wasn't quite right with the place, some clue to a dark intention or purpose of the place. He'd researched the building itself and the original structure in France had been home to an ordinary family or aristocrats before the revolution and had never been used for anything untoward or slightly unsavoury. There was just nothing to find.

The only wild card he had found in the deck so far was Professor Maniaca's involvement with this island. There were no records of the island being privately owned and each of the resorts had been constructed by separate competing companies. The Doctor was hiding something here, Tim knew the man and he was a secretive soul indeed.

Raven was trudging through the rain drenched streets of Gotham city. It was thick heavy rain made oily from its passage through the smog choked city air and she could feel it weighing her down with each drop that landed on her coat and soaked her hair. Her day of studying hadn't gone well at all. All the books she needed had been checked out , the computer network was down so she couldn't even download an e-book copy of what she needed, she'd forgotten her lunch so she was now so hungry she'd even consider eating one of Beast Boy's Tofu burgers, and some stupid bimbo had made an expansive hand gesture as she talked to some other stupid bimbo as they made their way down the stairs and had knocked Raven down the last four steps. In a pile of spilled note paper and pain she had gathered her things up grumbling about something under her breath and had stomped out in a bad mood. Of course the time it took her to tidy up her dropped notes caused her to miss the bus back to her apartment and naturally there wouldn't be another one for about an hour so she had decided to start walking.

Then it began raining.

Then the rain got heavier.

And there was thunder too.

So Raven eventually made her way up the stairs to her apartment after dropping her keys in a puddle when she went to unlock the outside door when some idiot bashed into her. Her squelchy footsteps, one of her boots had a hole in the sole, echoed off the stone walls as she quietly fumed inside about her day.

Stupid Library!

Stupid Computers!

Stupid damn bimbos!

Stupid Buses!

Damn Rain!

Rude Idiots!

Raven couldn't see it but the whites of her eyes had a soft red glow about them that rose and fell in time with her angry pulse and she was leaving a slight trail of steam. Eventually she opened the door to her apartment and went inside to find Valerie still lying on the couch where she had left her and still in her Grandville High T-shirt. "Hey Rach'" she said not looking up "how's your day been? Did you know it was a DR Phil marathon on the talk show channel today?". Raven tossed her book bag into a corner of the room and flopped down into the one chair in Valerie's field of vision "Lousy," she said exhaling heavily as she sat down "not much else to it. Have you moved today at all?"

"Nope, well, I peed now and again but apart from that not at all," she looked at Raven grinning and then back to the TV but did a double take and looked back at Raven. "Rach, how'd you get home?" she asked.

"I walked, why? Can't you tell!" replied Raven dryly.

"No," said Valerie "your completely dry" she was looking confused for the second time today. Raven ran her hand through her hair before saying "Must've got lucky I guess"

With his unknown passenger hiding in some corner watching the proceedings the Doctor strode into main command area of his HIVE fortress. It was a three level affair with the top level being given over to a throne like chair which he flopped down into. The second level had a large curved computer console that three technicians sat at crunching endless data that they had fed to them from various sensors on the lower level that was a massive lab where scientists scuttled back and forth between experiments like frightened insects.

A young man in a black business suit appeared by the Doctors side. "Mr Drake has checked into the resort," he said in a cold voice "The Tamerranian is with him. Do you think they suspect anything?". The Doctor stared down at the lowest level watching the activity of his drones "We detected no transmissions to or from Titan's Tower or a Javelin launch from the Watchtower so we cant say anything at this time" said the Doctor. The young man frowned, "Beast Boy, and most likely Cyborg too, are on the island," he said "we can't write-off the appearance of Robin and Starfire as well as coincidence".

"But there were no transmissions on Titan frequencies," The Doctor turned for the first time to look at his partner in conversation "Lucas, they could just be on vacation!"

"Or they could be here to stop us" Lucas looked extremely angry "I could have my men eliminate them while they sleep, it would be easy". The Doctor snorted and shot Lucas a sharp look,

"The best of the HIVE academy couldn't kill them, even Slade couldn't take them out so what gives you the idea that you," he stood up "and your squad of overpaid gorillas could even make them break a sweat?". The Doctor looked Lucas straight in the eyes "Your contribution to this project has not been forgotten but until I suspect that Mr Drake is going to move against us," he said "which given our history I doubt he will, that he remain free to go about his business on the island"

"And what of the girl?" asked Lucas.

"Princess K'oriandor will not be a problem," the Doctor sat down again "she's no Supergirl! If we need to eliminate her then I don't foresee it as being a problem". Lucas bowed his head almost imperceptibly,

"As you wish Doctor".

"Besides," said the Doctor "they will both be at the reception at the Hotel this evening, they will be easy to keep track of"

Having heard enough Beast Boy buzzed off until he found his way into an empty locker room. Robin and Starfire were here on the island too, this was getting weird.

First a Terra look-alike shows up out of the blue, then Robin and Star' are here, the only one missing from the party was Raven. All the Titans were becoming drawn to this island it seemed. He reverted back to his human form and hid in a corner as he processed what was going on here. This Doctor was involved in some kind of project for the HIVE society, it apparently involved Terra but that wasn't possible, Robin knew this Doctor somehow, and the Doctor knew who the Titans really were it would seem and also that himself and Cyborg were on the island. He had to explore this facility and report back to Cyborg what was happening.

Back in his fly form he flew down an air duct and out into a typical Hive training area where black and yellow armoured troopers were engaged in acrobatic practice routines and sparring, This led to a long corridor that held a series of workshops where large Perspex containers were being fitted into metal cradles with a lot of electronics attached to them. He didn't really know what was going on but continued on down the corridor towards the door at it's end. What he found there was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen.

Author note; Yes I changed the title, I know. I just couldn't think up a good enough story line with Valerie. The point was that Valerie is starting to notice odd things about Raven and will eventually put it all together and find out who her room mate really is. No Cyborg coz I can never think of anything for him to do except join in the fight scenes. The Tim and K'ory thing is probably getting kinda stale, I don't use there persona names because there not being them just now. I'm fascinated with the separation of an idea of who someone is from the person they really are. The plot regarding this Doctor is getting more complicated, what past dealings does he have with Tim and just who or what is Teri. All this and more will be answered in the next two instalments. oh and could someone please review!

COMING SOON TO AN AUTHOR ALERT NEAR YOU; Chapter 5; Conspiracies and Champagne.