Disclaimer: I don't even own my own computer. I'm borrowing someone else's! What makes you think I'd own the Teen Titans!
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, people! My original goal for reviews was fifty, and you guys did it! But I still want more. Lost more. Som keep reviewing!
Now, I want to tell everyone some good news. I have decided to extend the length of this story. Originally, it was only going to be nine chapters long. However, someone finally convinced me to make a few more. Thus, this story will now be a total of ten to eleven chapters. Don't ya love me? My thanks goes out to my e-mail friend, Fargol, who was the one that finally convinced me to make more chapters. While she wanted twelve, I can do no more than eleven, if I'm lucky. Everyone give Fargol a HUGE thanks!
And now for chapter eight, which was never actually a planned chapter. This chapter is completely last-minute made, so sorry in advance if it sucks. But I hope it doesn't. Okay, I'll stop now. . .
Chapter Eight: Second Chances
Cactus City, Midnight. There are a few words that shouldn't go together! Who in their right mind would be out at midnight in Cactus City? It's Cactus City for crying out loud! You could be shot just trying to cross the street. The place was dangerous enough during the day. But after night? Well, let's just say there's a reason people don't go out after dark in Cactus City.
But despite that, that was exactly what two individuals were doing. One was female, with long blonde hair. Her clothes were dirty and torn, but she didn't care. She flew through the city on a flying boulder, levitated above the ground.
The other figure was following right behind her, flying as well. He was short, about three feet tall. His head was bald and his eyes were covered by goggles. He wore a green-black jumpsuit. A pair of large, metal wings were coming out of a pack on his back, allowing him flight.
Terra and Gizmo.
The latter was smiling to himself, his goggles glowing as he activated another command through his handheld device. As he did so, an explosion was heard, echoing through the night. The two were now located over top a huge compound, full of people you would never want to meet. A prison.
Alarms cried out as the prison was penetrated by Gizmo's masterful mechanics. The doors opened, letting loose every single prisoner. The already over packed prison was swamped as inmates flooded from their cells, rushing to find an exit.
"C'mon Terra!" Gizmo cried, signaling to the blonde geomancer. "We came here for Automatron, remember? If we don't finish this, Chang will have both our hides!"
Terra simply nodded. She couldn't bring herself to speak anymore, especially to him. She hated Gizmo almost as she hated Chang. He reminded her too much of herself. Far too much.
Raising her hands into the air, Terra's eyes began to glow yellow. As her body glowed with the same colored energy, a huge pillar of earth rose up from the center of the prison. A single prisoner was on top of the pillar.
To describe the figure accurately, you would have to see him yourself. But I'll do my best. The figure looked, basically, like a huge robot. He had two large legs, along with two large arms. His entire body was made out of metal, and his red core could be seen glowing in his chest. His silver plated head was square shaped, and had a single red eye looking out. Lasers and missiles were located over every inch of skin possible.
Gizmo quickly shot out a computer chip at the lumbering robot. The chip, which had a red C on it, was of Chang's design, of course. The chip latched on to the robot, and was pulled into its core, activating it. Automatron was awake, and now completely under Chang's control.
"Excellent work," Chang said through his communicators. He laughed out loud, just as any maniacal scientist should do. "A job well done. Gizmo, order Automatron to come back to base. After this is done, I want you two to finish scouting. Everything has to be ready for our little plot."
"As you wish...master," Terra said , disgusted. "Why do you want Automatron, anyway?"
"Because I made him, silly girl," Chang said. "He alone has the blueprints I need for my plan to succeed. And for the blueprints, I need him! Now stop asking questions."
"As you wish, " both said at once. Chang hung up. Gizmo looked over at Terra.
"What's with you?" he asked, sneering at her. For such a little thing...Gizmo was so cruel. "You don't still miss them, do you? It's been a full day! Get over it!"
"Don't you have a city to scout?" Terra said, glaring at him. Gizmo stuck his tongue out at her and flew off, heading for the east part of Cactus City. Automatron shot off himself, a jetpack unfolding from his back. The lumbering robot shot off into the air, towards Chang's base. All he said were a few commanding beeps.
Terra watched them both go. Seeing Automatron fly off into the distance, she called forth her boulder transport. Jumping on, she headed for her west part of Cactus City. She had a job to do.
As soon as she knew she was out of range, Terra felt herself begin to cry. She quickly flew away from them all, searching for a place to land. At last, she found it. Desert Rat Middle School. The poor girl landed the boulder and fell off unceremoniously. She didn't care.
She sobbed, holding her head in her hands. She could feel her body shake as the sobs rocked her back and forth. The tears fell, and she let them. She didn't want to stop. She had now lost all of her friends. One had betrayed them, and the other three...she had defeated them.
Not killed, but defeated. Something even Chang didn't know. She was fully aware that her friends were alive. She had merely dropped them into the fissure, nto actually killing them. As long as they landed right...they would be fine.
But they didn't know she had let them live. Nor did Chang or Gizmo. No one did. To the world at large, the Reforms were dead. And she had killed them. Terra, the traitor. She had killed her own friends.
She realized she would always be that. She would always be Terra the traitor, the betrayer. It was who she was it seemed. No matter how long she tried, or how hard, she couldn't change. She thought she had, she had hoped. But it turned out she was wrong.
Terra felt terrible. She had been given another second chance. She had the chance to redeem herself, to change her past. She had the chance to do great things. And she had destroyed that as well. She had destroyed her only chance of happiness.
She had been given so many chances, and she had screwed up every single one of them. But she didn't have to, she realized. Terra looked up. She could still redeem herself. Her friends were still alive, she knew that much. And she knew Chang's plan...some of it, at least.
She had enough to change the outcome. She could stop Chang, or at least Gizmo. She could rescue her friends. And she could save Cactus City. She could finally become the hero she had always wished she could be.
Terra stopped crying and sniffed a bit. Her tears were creating mud. She realized she hadn't washed since she fought last night. Her face was streamed with mud. She smiled a nit as she though what Red X would think of that. She missed him so much. . .
And that made her even sadder. Not only had she betrayed her friends (again) to an evil madman (again), but she had also lost the one she loved in the process. Again. This was just like last time! This is just like Slade!
No...no, it's not, Terra realized with a start. Last time...she had been controlled, weak. She had been unable to control herself. But that wasn't the case here. Here...she could do what she wanted. She was able to change the outcome...and she would.
Terra drew out the X-blade she had found last night. The red X was still as sharp as its user. Pulling it out, she took off her glove, exposing her soft skin. She fearlessly ran her finger up the blade, cutting it in the process.
As she flinched in pain, Terra got up, holding her finger. She took it and walked over to a huge crack in the ground. Not just any crack...the fissure she had thrown her friends into. Placing her bleeding finger on the crack, the fissure began to glow a deep red.
Yellow energy surged from her blood, melting the rock in the lobby of the school. The blood acted as lava, carving the land as she wished. As her eyes glowed yellow, Terra chanted her feelings. She cried out all her innermost feelings towards her friends, all her emotions, all her memories of them. She told the rock everything. And it listened.
Twenty minutes later, Terra felt her eyes stop glowing. She landed back on the ground and finally became visible. She looked out and saw what her Earth spell had accomplished. The lobby was now demolished, along with the rest of the school..Nothing remained of Desert Rat Middle School. However, something else had taken its place.
Three great sculptures, made of the finest stone, stood in the center of the ruins. Red X, Jinx, and Mammoth. The three Reforms stood, carved in stone, standing over the rest of the school. They were in perfect likeness, down to the last detail.
A description lied beneath them. It read as follows:
Red X, Jinx, Mammoth
The Titans South
The Reforms
The heroes of Cactus City
In presence and absence
They will watch over us
Always.
Terra felt her eyes begin to tear again. She looked away from her masterpiece to cry. She felt ashamed, and guilty to the greatest degree. And she knew she should be. She had every right to be miserable. What she had done was unforgivable.
She looked up as she felt the communicator on her belt vibrate. Taking if off, she quickly wiped away her tears and cleaned her face off a little. She pushed the button that made the communicator turn on.
"Terra! You are needed!" Chang yelled out of the communicator. "There is trouble downtown, where Gizmo is! I cannot assist, as I am in a very delicate stage of procedures right now. Go to Gizmo, and help him."
"As you wish, Master Chang," Terra said, wiping her eyes again. "What is it, by the way?"
Chang's eyes narrowed. The wire that lead to his mouth glowed as he stared at her. "Apparently our friends are still with us," he growled in his oriental accent. "It's the Reforms again. Back fromt the dead."
"But...but, I..."
"No buts, girl!" Chang said, his eyes glowing red as Zinothium pumped through them.
"TAKE–THEM–OUT!"
A/N: Heh, cool. Like I said earlier, review like there's no freakin tomorrow! I want as many reviews as possible, people!
I might make eleven chapters, if I'm lucky. Definitely ten, though. Definitely ten.
Until next time, True Believers! Heh, Stan Lee again...
PEACE OUT!