Teen Titans: Half Life
Chapter 22 – Awaken! (part 3)
Cyborg slammed his foot on the accelerator pedal, and the T-car jerked forward with a squeal of tires. The stench of burning rubber wafted into the cabin for a brief moment, before the tires gripped the road and shot the T-car down the road like some demon straight out of hell. His focus fixed solely on the road before him, unwavering. Robin aided him by acting as navigator with the use of the car's onboard computer; which also had the programming to track a Teen Titan through their communicator's beacon.
Cyborg was like some crazed NASCAR racer, veering sharply around and between cars and vans with no regard for man or machine. Sure they needed to hurry and find their friends, but deep down Cyborg was happy for this opportunity to demonstrate his superior engineering skills and talent for planning ahead. When time was against them and shortcuts needed to be created, for just such a situation he had installed a hydraulic suspension system, stripped off an old low-rider. But it wouldn't do just to have the system, not at all. It needed more power. With the amount of juice pumping through the hydraulics he could've had an eighteen-wheeler dancing the waltz.
With the flick of a switch, half the car jumped into the air, balancing precariously on the other half's wheels. He pressed the car between lanes of traffic, his face mere inches away from getting a face full of car.
…………………………………………………………………………………
While the boys focused on the chase, Raven was meditating in the back or at least attempting to. The constant rocking of the car as it maneuvered to and fro made it very difficult to achieve the state of mind she desired, if not outright impossible; but that wasn't the major reason why she was having so much trouble.
She could feel her control slipping as long dormant memories and emotions awoke within her. It was pointless to dwell on the past; it couldn't be changed no matter how much she wished for it. Then why, damn it, would her mind not stop thinking about it. For nearly two years she had succeeded in maintaining a dam between herself and her past. But Knives' return signaled the return of the flood. Finally she just gave up on trying to meditate and surrendered herself to her thoughts.
She blamed herself for what had happened. The guilt was reaching a climax inside her. If she hadn't been so eager to push Knives away, to bury the memories again, maybe the situation could've been avoided. Knives was back in her life, and for that she was relieved to know he was alive, but he brought with him many bad memories and unresolved emotions.
A low wave of nausea started to rise in her stomach as her thoughts turned to Slade. It was logical to assume that Knives' amnesia had wiped all memories of Slade as well. But how long would that last? Raven knew that he had once been Slade's apprentice. Actually she knew he had been the apprentice of some malign force, but at the time, when they first met, she could not have known it was Slade who manipulated him. It was years later that she finally made the discovery.
Raven didn't put it past Slade to use Starfire and Beast Boy as trump cards to secure Knives as an ally again. He had done the same thing to Robin when Slade had tried to forcefully recruit him as his apprentice.
But this wasn't the only problem; Knives was a loose piece. Others would seek to secure his fealty to their organizations; not just Slade, but the HIVE as well. This was inevitable. Before his death he had worked up quite a reputation for himself, his apparent resurrection would not go unnoticed. They would come,
In her mind she knew Xavier would never betray the Teen Titans, but right now he didn't even know who he was. This new personality of his was unpredictable, there was no telling what he would do or what could cause him to sway in another's favor.
This was something Raven would not allow.
She thought she had lost him before. She didn't want to have to suffer having to fight against him.
…………………………………………………………………………………
A sudden sharp angle tilt of the car jerked Raven out of her assessments and back into reality. The car was spinning out of control, like a giant top, before it came to rest by the side of the road, parked nicely between two other cars.
The nausea became worse.
"Raven," Robin spun around, "the others are in the sewers moving north of us," he quickly informed her. "Are you ok?" Robin asked when he noticed Raven looked a more white than usual.
"I'm fine," she didn't look at Robin, she couldn't handle this overwhelming feeling of guilt. How had her life become such a tangled mess?
As the three Titans ran through the twisted maze of subterranean tunnels pursuing the lone beacon's signal, elsewhere other matters were unfolding.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Lost and with nowhere to go, someone had suggested they follow the sewer pipes and eventually they'd find a way out or come across a familiar location, but as one set of pipes branched into four each leading in a separate direction, they chose at random which one to follow. But no matter where they went their pursuers always managed to keep up.
Hissing steam leaking from miles of hot water pipes saturated the air humidity to the maximum. Even in the cement wrapped tunnel a small river of water, halfway to their knees, flowed to some unseen, but not unheard, drainage conduit. Starfire wiped a few strands of hair, weighted down with water, from her eyes. Her clothes were also soaked all the way through and they clung to her body exaggerating her natural feminine curves. It was mighty uncomfortable but also embarrassing; she had caught Knives staring a few times where he shouldn't.
"Friend Beast Boy please wake up." Starfire pleaded to the green figure she carried on her back. BB was unconscious, a large knot forming on his head from here he had struck the solid metal wall, but he was unharmed. Unfortunately BB's 'dead weight' was slowing them down; not by much, but enough. If Starfire could only fly this wouldn't be a problem, but the tunnels were too narrow for that. Besides her companions wouldn't have been able to follow her, if she had flown.
Knives and Alexis accompanied her in their retreat. Alexis lead on, looking for that way out or a familiar location since she knew the sewers slightly better than the rest of the group. Knives watched the rear, sword drawn, ready to take on anyone that turned the corner. There must've been dozens of Slade's armed robots moving down the tunnels behind them. The group could hear the echoing sounds of their footsteps as they gave chase.
"Lets go this way," at a fork in the tunnel Alexis pointed down the left passage.
"See anything yet?" Knives asked.
"No, but we must be getting close to something." It was strange, for as long as they'd been running through the sewers they had yet to encounter a single manhole or opening.
"I recall hearing the same thing three turns back."
"Well if it worries you then why don't you ask your friend back there to ease up on the bloodhounds." she grumbled in return.
"You can't reason with people who wear masks."
"Yes Robin can be difficult to talk to, but even he…" Starfire suddenly interrupted.
"No, Starfire I was talking about Slade."
"Oh" was all Starfire could reply with.
"Thinking about your boyfriend?" Alexis grinned slyly. "You know," she added in an off hand manner, "you two have quite a following."
"Following? Is Slade after Robin again?"
"No No, Geez," Alexis rolled her eyes, "do any of you Teen Titans pay any attention to those internet chat rooms? You got a ton of fans who think you and Robin are an item."
"You'd be the one to know." Knives shot her an accusing glare.
"Only because I stumbled across one particular chat one day."
"Right…." He droned sarcastically, while Starfire looked ever more lost. Alexis ignored the last comment and continued down the path she had designated.
"Healer Knives, this item you speak of, would Robin like it?" Starfire asked, but before she could get an answer, there was an interruption. A white laser beam hissed and streaked overhead missing them by a long ways, impacting harmlessly upon the cement ceiling.
"We'll talk about it later Starfire. You can even ask Robin about it too." Knives motioned Starfire to continue after Alexis.
…………………………………………………………………………………
A short distance after making another left branch, the tunnel became slanted noticeably downward.
"Great now were going even further down." Knives griped about the obvious turn in events. The flowing river was picking up speed as natural gravity started to have a more noticeable effect.
"Thank you captain obvious." quoted Alexis irritably. "It would almost be worth the pain," she thought to herself, "to just turn the stun gun on in the water, if it would only shut him up." She flexed her shoulder, taking note that she still felt a little stiff all over.
"Are you still angry about that?" Knives read her mind, well actually guessed from the way she flexed her shoulder. Alexis didn't reply, but continued onward as fast a possible, in silence, as did everyone else.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Starfire wasn't sure when she realized it, but she suddenly realized that she could no longer hear the sounds of their pursuers from behind them.
"Friends, I do not hear our enemy anymore." This caught the other two's attention. None spoke for a few moments and they all strained to her any noise above the rushing water.
Only the water greeted them.
"Should we go back up and check?" Knives suggested.
It was a viable course of action, but the slope and rushing water would make the return climb difficult, besides none of them really wanted to risk the chance. They all looked between themselves and saw the same reasoning in each other's eyes.
"Let's just continue on." Knives answered his question.
Further down.
…………………………………………………………………………………
"When the hell does this end?" Alexis screamed in the darkened tunnel. As they had continued down, it had gotten progressively darker until they were forced to use other means.
Starfire now provided their only source of illumination by the twin green bolts hovering in her palms. Alexis noted with humor that the light made them all look almost as green as a certain Beast Boy who's own private transportation had fallen to Knives.
"How long does this guy sleep?" Knives didn't sound to be good mood. "I swear if he starts snoring, I'm going to drown him myself."
"I'm going to be drowning you in a minute if you don't shut up." Alexis said in a challenging tone. It might have even broken out into a genuine fight if Starfire hadn't been there to calm the two down.
"Friends we must not fight…."
…………………………………………………………………………………
"We're lost." Knive began
"You're doing it again. I'm perfectly aware of that."
"That it's your fault, right."
…………………………………………………………………………………
There was no telling how far down they'd gone, or even what time it was since none of them wore a watch. But it was long enough for the sound of the water to fade from awareness. The three continued their descent in silence all conversation washed away with the never-ending tide.
When they heard the grind of machines suddenly rise up, just a few yards away, it took them a few moments to realize it. Silently they picked up their pace, hastening their hopeful exit from this water pit. Much to their relief the slope evened out, but it quickly led to a dead end, a single metal grill placed just below the water's surface proved to the only drainage point.
Immediately to their left were five steps that lead, above the water and to a concrete path seemingly cut into the wall, directly to a rusty sewer door. Words spray painted with a stencil, just above the door, read, ' Jump City Water Purification Facility # 3-A.'
Despite the old and rusted look of the door, it opened with little effort. Inside, it looked to be an sewer employee lounge. Lockers lined the west wall, next to them were a half dozen hooks from which hard hats, complete with lights on the front, hung along with several worn uniforms that sewer workers typically used. In the center of the room was a cardboard table with five folding chairs set beneath it. Finally along the east wall was a mini kitchen, complete with fridge. The door they had just entered and another one directly across from them were the only ways out of the room. All in all, the room had an old, well-used look and feel to it.
Placing BB gently on the floor, using a folded up uniform to support his head, the other three teenagers took this opportunity to rest; each unfolded a chair and sat down, enthusiastically.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Robin, Cyborg, and Raven continued to sprint down the sewer tunnel. When they heard the sound of a laser fire from somewhere ahead. Picking up the pace they rounded the corner and found five of Slade's robots blocking the path ahead. Smoke flowed lazily from the barrel of the front-most robots rifle.
"Looks like a clogged drain to me, let's clean it out." Cyborg smiled with anticipation.