Teen Titans: Half-Life
Chapter 20: Awaken! (part 1)
Traveling in a nearly straight path directly from the Titans Tower, the five friends were lead onward only by their tracker's continuous incessant beeping. Each one of their communication units contained not only a radio, but also a beacon and tracker. The reason was in case they ever became separated, or captured, from the group, they could easily be found by the others. Back when Robin presented Knives with the Titans communication unit, it was not only to welcome Knives as a friend, and hopefully future member, but Robin had an ulterior motive for his actions.
In some ways Robin was jealous of Knives' good fortune at having shared his childhood with Raven. So much of Raven's past and personality were still unknown to Robin and the others, as well as what kind of history both Knives and Raven had shared. This was a series problem in Robin's mind. He hated unsolved mysteries. When he had first met Raven, it was right after the atomic disaster two years ago, true he hadn't known much about her then, but he figured that would be solved in time. But still Robin knew next to nothing about this female Goth.
In the past two months there had been several unexplained events with Raven or Knives, sometimes both, being at the center of each one of them. From Id's hold on Raven's mind to Trigon's desire to have Knives eliminated, Robin felt it was best to keep tabs on Knives' whereabouts in case they ever had a reason to find him or vice versa.
That reason came when Knives' connection with Raven became team knowledge, Robin saw this as a special opportunity and he intended to exploit it. Truth be told, of all the Teen Titans, Robin trusted Raven the least. To Robin, people like Raven never talk about themselves because they have something to hide, a skeleton-in-the-closet as it were. She was an enigma, every time Robin thought of her, he thought of Slade as well. Slade was a very dangerous and deadly opponent, and Robin knew even less about him. But both Raven and Slade seemed so similar in their deception, like a giant net wrapped around, covering, protecting them both, Robin couldn't see where the net began or ended. All he could see were the holes, bits and pieces of a larger picture. It was as if there was a person holding 1000 pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and that person handed Robin 20 random tiles of that puzzle and said, "What is this a picture of?"
But now Robin knew who the person holding the rest of the pieces to the puzzle was. Somewhere in Knives' mind were the answers Robin sought concerning Raven, maybe even Slade, but Robin wasn't going to get his hopes up on the latter.
Robin was thankful that he had managed to give Knives a communication unit. It certainly made their current job all the easier. However, once they found Knives, how would they convince him to come back to the tower? In addition, Robin felt that the others, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire, were thinking along similar lines, they too wanted more answers in light of recent revelations. This was especially apparent since none of them opposed the plan to find Knives and restore his memory, forcibly if needed. Regrettably the short trip between the tower and their destination, hadn't given Robin enough time to think up a suitable plan. In situations such as this, Robin relied on improvisations, something of which he held a fair amount of talent for.
Standing before him, like an image from some post-apocalyptic movie, was the old Jump City warehouse district. Back during the Second World War, a manufacturing company used this warehouse and others like it as temporary storage for materials and chemicals to be used in the mass production of weapons and ammunitions. The condemned factories nearby also stood as a testament to that. But none of it had been used since the war ended. Not even the local gangs or criminals came here, the progressive state of decay and towering machines threatened to collapse at any moment, therefore most sensible people just stayed away.
That was until a small group of self proclaimed teenage crime fighters decided to make it their underground base. Taking advantage of one of the warehouses that somehow had managed to avoid the worst decay. They rigged up their own elevator system to the lower, more stable. Electricity and water they leeched off of nearby sources. Setting up a system of wire and hoses, respectively, that led right to their living space. A meager existence at best and at worst it was living like roaches. Robin never thought that Knives, memory or no, would've actually come back here again, but then Robin thought the same of himself.
Robin led the way through the piles of metallic rubble. As he surveyed this technological wasteland, he couldn't help but think about how nothing had changed. There were at least a dozen other warehouses surrounding this one and while all showed the typical signs of wear and age; rust, warped metal, missing panels, and graffiti, this one remained nearly untouched as if someone was purposely trying to preserve it. Still mounds of garbage and the smell of rot hung heavy in the late afternoon sun. Robin mentally cringed as his head filled with various images of what the smell of decay creped from.
"Dude what died in here." Beast Boy said, as if guessing what Robin was thinking, while trying to defend him self from the stench by pinching his nose tight.
"The smell is most foul. Like a newly born glevartian mist monster." Starfire's added her alien wisdom to the atmosphere.
"I don't even want to know." Cyborg replied almost too quickly.
"Dude, if I smelled that bad, I'd be hiding in the mist too."
"Titans! Concentrate, we have a job to do." Robin caught everyone's attention.
"Hey Robin, chill down, this isn't a big deal." Cyborg said with is hands up in a defensive posture. Robin turned his back to the others.
"No, I mustn't force this. I mustn't appear too eager." Robin mentally coached himself. It took only a few heartbeats for Robin to calm himself and face the team again.
"Your right Cyborg," Robin took a final breath before signaling the others to follow his lead into the warehouse. As he turned to take the first steps forward, he caught sight of Raven gazing in his direction. She had a frown and an expression of doubt.
"No doubt," Robin thought, "she knows, or has at least guessed at, my purpose. She'll probably try to hide the truth from me." Robin started walking, "but I mustn't let her succeed in hiding it any longer.
Five minutes later, and a quick inspection of the engine, revealed that the elevator was safe to ride. The engine itself sported fresh oil and some new parts as well. The tracker on the comm. Unit said that Knives was near fifty feet below them, roughly four floors. Three Titans mounted the elevator, Cyborg unfortunately had to be left behind, the weight of his mostly machine body was probably too much for the old elevator to handle. Too keep him company, Starfire offered to remain behind as well.
"Guard this elevator in case Knives tries to escape." Robin instructed.
"Escape?" Cyborg said, confused. "Robin, were not chasing a runaway criminal here, were trying to help a friend….right." Cybrog seriously doubted Robin's sincerity about doing this for Knives' own benefit.
"You're thinking of Slade." Raven spoke forth, to her surprise everyone, except Robin, agreed.
"Raven's right," Cyborg nodded, "ever since we left the tower, you've had that look on your face."
"There is nothing wrong." Robin denied.
"No you have." Starfire was concerned.
"Not you too Starfire."
"There's no way around it dude." Even Beast Boy stood against Robin.
"Face it Robin," Cyborg warned, "Everyone here know what happens to you when you perceive Slade to be involved in something. From that unwavering single tracked look that comes over your face, to hiding all the significant details from all of us."
"I'm in with Cyborg," Beast Boy crossed his arms, "we're doing a favor for Knives, not taking him prisoner."
"Right," Cyborg said, nodding his head in agreement, "I think Robin should stay here with me, Raven too."
"Me?" Raven said, almost imperceptibly raising an eyebrow.
"Friend Cyborg is right." Starfire talked in a gentle matter, so as not to anger Robin any further, since he was already showing signs of frustration. "Beast Boy and I will go and find healer knives."
Beast Boy immediately broke into an ear-to-ear grin and puffed out his chest in a show of pride, "I will amaze him with my quick wit and undeniable charm."
"Ok, now I'm not going to let that one slide." Raven's expression dropped to a I'm-not-amused sense as she bore down on Beast Boy in a single stride.
"No seriously, I'm an excellent charmer." To demonstrate his point, Beast Boy transformed into a cobra and started 'dancing' to some invisible music.
No one was impressed.
"How charming," Raven deadpanned.
"Titans!" Robin broke in, "We shouldn't be wasting time."
Returning to his normal human form, Beast Boy grabbed Starfire by the hand and dragged a most surprised female to the elevator platform. "Ok then it's settled, Starfire and I will bring Raven's boyfriend home."
"Beast Boy!" if looks could kill, BB would be a sizzling brown spot on the floor in an instant. Nearby several piles of rubble exploded with unprecedented fury. But with a playful chuckle BB pressed the down arrow on the control panel and the elevator doors closed. Just in time to save him from a most terrible experience at the hands of Raven. BB and Starfire descended down into the shaft, the sound of rusty gears followed them. Behind them they left two ticked off teenagers and one laughing cyborg.
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Downward the elevator crept, true the trip was only 50 feet, but it seemed the elevator was crawling a mere foot a minute. Plus the wail and grinding of neglected gears, un-oiled for years, was driving Beast Boy fruity. So much so that Starfire had to restrain him from jumping off the side to speed the trip.
2 minutes and 50 feet of ear stabbing pain later, the elevator came to rest, with a metallic squeal, on the bottom floor.
"Next time let's just take the stairs." BB clamored uneasily from the elevator. The lingering ringing in his ears made it impossible for him to hear properly. He thought he heard Starfire trying to talk to him, but he wasn't paying attention.
"I can't hear you Starfire, the ringing in my ears…..hey Starfire." BB surveyed the narrow space he was in between the elevator and a metal slide door. Apart from the elevator shaft and whatever lay behind the door, there was no other place to go.
So where had Starfire gone to?
The ringing in his ears started to grow even worst, he felt a massive headache coming on. Frantically he rubbed his ears in an attempt to rid himself of the pulsing wavelength.
"Star where did you go?" But still he didn't see where she had gone too. Maybe she had already gone past the door. BB looked at the jurry-rigged door. It was obvious, even to Beast Boy, that the door would've collapsed from age years ago, but a quick patch job and new opening mechanism had extended the life of this door. A plaque, hung from the door, read, "Home, Sweet Home," and underneath the gentle greeting was 'Alexis,' in black paint.
So there was someone else living here. Knives that lucky dog, got to spend the last 2 days with a girl. BB suddenly felt very unsure about going into the room, what if he saw something he wasn't meant to. Just to be sure, he checked his communicator again to make sure that Knives was still in there. The tracker indeed said it was so, and it didn't seem Knives was moving around at all.
Still unsure about whether or not it was safe to enter, BB knocked on the door. 'Tap, tap, tap,' a dull metal clang, like a soup can against wood. BB waited for an answer, but not he was even more concerned about Starfire, it was evident that she hadn't gotten past the door yet. She must've goon back up to apologize to Robin or something. But to do that she'd need to get past the elevator.
Looking back, BB observed the elevator still in its resting position. He examined it closer and found no blast holes or anything to suggest she went through or around the elevator cage. When BB heard the metal door sliding open, he realized that the ringing in his ears was gone. He heard footsteps approaching, which were much too heavy to be Starfire's.
"Hey Knives, buddy, how' you doing?" Beast Boy turned hoping to find Knives standing besides a cute girl. But who he saw was not Knives and there was a girl there too, one that Beast Boy recognized.
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Pacing back and forth with nervous energy, was Robin, he didn't like waiting. Waiting, waiting, it made him want to rip his hair out with frustration. Beast Boy was a goof off, and Robin held little hope that he'd succeed with this mission, true Starfire was there to help but still…
No, he shook his head to clear it, was he going about this in the wrong way after all? Maybe the others were right, he was being too much of a one-track mind, especially about Slade. But Slade was the biggest threat the city had ever faced, at times it seemed that only he understood that. The others just didn't understand what terrible things Slade could do if he wasn't stopped, and soon. Why did no one else see that?
Sometimes Raven could sympathize with him, but most of the time she just talked down to him about his need to defeat Slade. It was hard to swallow, especially since Raven was a lot like Slade in the way she hid behind her social 'masks.' But at other times they accused him of being just like Slade in other ways.
He needed to think this through, but he accursed grinding from the elevator was making him all the more aggravated. Raven was trying to meditate, and Cyborg was fiddling with some gadget he had brought along with him. It was real obvious they were not handling the noise well either.
It made him want to scream praise to God when the sharp metal against blackboard finally stopped. His mind was finally settling down when Beast Boys's voice, like a volcano erupting magma, erupted from everyone's comm. unit.
"SLADE! SLADE IS HERE!!!"