Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't own. Get a clue.
Rory: Welcome to chapter 13. Thanks for the reviews.
This is a pretty long chapter, about three thousand words.
Cyborg yawned. Man, was he tired. That wasn't normal; maybe he needed a quick reboot.
He went into his room and sat down at the desk. May as well get a few things done first. That was how Cyborg did things. One hundred ten percent.
First, he decided to run a system check. Maybe the exhaustion was a bug or a glitch. Better to catch those things early.
It was a pretty normal scan. Cyborg yawned again. He was really tired. Maybe he ought to try to get some sleep. He laid his head down on the desk as the sweeper scanned his systems. In fact, he was so tired that he didn't even notice the first blip of a virus…or the second…
Robin punched the wall of his room. He shouldn't have done that. I probably just made it worse, he thought, remembering the look on Starfire's face when she left the room.
She had been so – so heartbroken, different from her usual perky self. It had been almost like she'd snapped, taking everything right about her and turning it upside-down and inside out. He felt guilty, in fact, for causing loss of such innocence.
Robin felt so tired from the day. So tired, it made him sick.
He blinked. Stress usually little physical effect on him.
"Computer," he said, addressing his laptop, "Run a scan on the atmosphere level."
The machine was done in a few minutes. "Scan complete. Fourteen percent breathable. Fifteen percent non-breathable. Thirty-one percent unreadable gases. Forty- percent toxic gases."
Robin frowned. "Toxic gases? More information, please." That can't be right, he thought.
"Toxic gases increasing at a rate of point three five seven percent acceleration rate per second. Effects of toxic gases include drowsiness, nausea, and death through prolonged contact."
At that point, Robin decided that the computer wasn't malfunctioning, and indicated so by the curses emitting from his mouth. The laptop wasn't done, however. It had one last projection to make.
"You have thirty-five minutes to live. Have a nice day."
He sighed. Robin really didn't like the little additive Beast Boy insisted go into the computer programs.
The Tower kitchen seemed pretty quiet to Beast Boy. He didn't really care. All he had eyes for was the oven.
Why the oven, you ask? Because it had something inside. His wonderful miracle TwoFu. It was, as Beast Boy put it, 'The first tofu to be made with sawdust. Cheap and easy to flavor!'
Surprisingly enough, Cyborg had declined to be his first TwoFu client. Beast Boy just shrugged and made some more. Actually, it wasn't bad. Tasted good, to be honest. Especially if it was kiwi-flavored.
Beast Boy's excellent hearing caught a sound outside in the hall. It sounded like Raven's cloak swishing, only louder.
"Hey, Rae?" he called. "Want to be my first TwoFu customer?"
There was no reply. That surprised him, since Raven was really one for comebacks, not the cold shoulder. "Rae?" Still no answer. Cautiously, he stepped into the hall. No one was there.
"Raven?" he called in a slightly panicked voice.
A heavy brown cloth sack jumped out of nowhere and attacked him. He was captured within minutes.
"What the – " He tried to morph into an alligator in order to chew out of the bag – but Beast Boy found that he couldn't morph.
"I spared you the last time," came a voice, "Because you were nice to me. But I can't disobey any longer…" The male voice was very sad. "Please forgive me…"
Raven curled up on her bed, huddling into the covers. It was very quiet in her room, just how she liked it. No loud noises, just her and Sage Apprentice, her latest book. She immersed herself in the adventures of Andreios, ignoring the rush of water sounding from the bathroom she shared with Starfire.
After a few minutes, Raven found the drip-drip-drip intolerable. Starfire must have left the shower on again, she thought in exasperation. Hovering over to the bathroom door, she hit the OPEN button and was instantly submerged in about three feet of water.
The girl paled. She hated the water.
Sloshing over to the bedroom door in a slight panic, Raven forgot all about her powers, banging on the button over and over, getting nowhere.
Finally, she tried to use her powers. "Azarath Metrion – AAGH!"
A voice-activated laser hit her from a "security camera" in one corner of her room.
Cursing, Raven tried the windows, but something held them in place. She looked around her room, searching for something to bust it with, but she remembered the shatterproof glass.
"Damn," she said as the water crept up to her chest.
Starfire stared blankly at the boy before her. He was an inch or so taller than her, with catlike greenish-yellow eyes and a thin, tanned face. His blue-gray hair was cropped short, naturally spiking, and he was built with a wiry frame. Strangely, he wore clothes much too short for him: khaki cargo shorts that were outgrown (or so it seemed) and a striped green and black t-shirt. He didn't have any shoes on.
He also looked vaguely familiar.
"Who – who are you?" she asked softly.
He looked taken aback, smirk finally wiped from his face. "That isn't important," he said hastily. Then, after a moment, he thought better of it.
"Actually, I will tell you," the mysterious boy said. "But we have to get to the hideout first." With that, he slapped a pair of what looked like handcuffs on Starfire and dragged her off.
It didn't take long to reach the hideout, the cavern now abandoned by Terra. Starfire gazed about with slight irritation. Couldn't the boy at least have done something original?
"Okay, here we are," he said, unceremoniously tossing her in a wooden chair. "Not as comfortable as the Tower is, but hey, we aren't all great heroes." A nasty look spread over his face at the last two words.
Starfire glared at him. "That is very nice," she said sarcastically. Doing the 'hanging out' with Raven had its occasional upside. "Will you tell me who you are?"
He looked surprised. "Oh, yeah. How rude of me." Once again, that insolent grin spread over his stealthy features. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Andy. Andrew Logan."
Racking her brain, Starfire could not figure out what had happened. "I know you," she said slowly.
Andy laughed. "Sure, you do," he said teasingly. "You really seemed to like petting me at the Tower. You and Darkfire. Obvious how you two are siblings." At this, the teen sighed. "My brothers all abandoned me."
Ignoring the pang of pity she felt for him, Starfire prodded, "Your brothers?" She needed to distract him while she figured out what he meant about 'petting' and picked the lock on her handcuffs.
He looked irritated. "My oldest brother's name is Matt. He ran off to Los Angeles once he got his high school degree. The other one, Brian, got himself killed one day in a gang fight." Andy's eyes narrowed. "I've never been able to count on anyone in my family. No one ever gave a damn about me. So I left and found my last remaining family."
The story sounded familiar enough to Star. She felt the same way. Still, she hadn't released the cuffs. "Remaining family?"
"Yeah." He paused, looking at her. "Beast Boy."
Starfire froze. Friend Beast Boy?
He grinned at the look on her face. "Didn't expect that, did you?" he asked. She shook her head, and Andy continued. "He's my only cousin. Dad's side." Andy's slightly slanted eyes gazed off into space. "We're the same age, you know," he said vaguely. "But I never met him. First, he was in Africa with his parents, and then with the Doom Patrol. By the time I figured out that the famous Beast Boy was related to me, he was a Titan."
"I am sorry you never met him," she said softly. Distract, she thought. Almost done. Left, twist.
"I don't care," he said. "But Ga – Beast Boy has been nicer to me than anyone else ever has. After I had an – accident at a nuclear plant in Ohio, I finally was able to find him without suspicion." Andy smiled, a yellow gleam in his eyes. "And he never knew I was there. Want to know my little secret?"
Starfire didn't particularly want to know, but he didn't wait for her to answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, shifting, melting down to the ground. She gasped.
Andy had turned into a cat.
His small body was covered in pale, silvery-gray fur, tail tipped with white. Slightly darker gray striped his back. The only things that attached this cute kitten to the ominous teen were the bright, yellow-green eyes that seemed to laugh at her.
In a heartbeat, he changed back. "Convenient, eh?" Andy chortled. "I get into the Tower as one of my cousin's pets, and you all welcome me with open arms."
Suddenly, it clicked. He was the cat Beast Boy played with when Darkfire and Saffire picked their names, and when the Titans were hanging out. "You have been here the whole time," she whispered. "You were under our proboscises for the entire duration of our predicament."
He nodded; a pleased expression spread on his outlandish features. "Yep," he said. "And no one ever knew."
Then, he abruptly grabbed Starfire's wrists. She had forgotten her quest for the unlocking of the shackles, and the locks were half-turned. "Huh," he said softly. "I knew it."
"I – I – I – " she stammered.
Shaking his head, Andy turned around, tugging her forwards. "It's time to meet our trainer."
Darkfire sighed softly. He didn't want to tell his sister about who he was bound to. Most Tamaranians bound themselves to their spouses. It was usually considered humiliating to be bound to someone else.
This isn't, he thought fiercely.
He went to go find Saffire. Maybe she would be glad to see him.
When he walked into the room, he felt that something was not right. Then he discovered his little cousin's limp body, passed out on the floor. A book lay open next to her outstretched hand.
Gulping, he swept her up and ran from the room. The teen rushed to Robin's room. Although he didn't like it, Darkfire knew that Robin would be able to figure out what was wrong with her.
When he got there, he set Saffire over his shoulder and knocked on the door. "Robin?" he called, shifting the girl's slight weight. After a moment, Darkfire tried again. "Robin? I know you are inside." There was no answer.
Darkfire shifted with unease. Robin and Starfire had surely come straight to his room, hadn't they? Perhaps they had gone somewhere else.
Just as he turned to leave, he heard a faint noise. Maybe it was even imagined. But there was no way that Darkfire could have imagined what happened next. "Help," came a faint sound from the lower part of the door.
Ruby eyes widened as he figured out what was happening. Someone had locked Robin in his room. And Starfire was with him. Setting Saffire down, he clenched one hand into a fist. His skin started to glow with a blur of red heat, and, already regretting it, he slammed his hand into the lock module. Spars hissed, flying off, and there was a faint whirring noise. Ignoring the pain in his knuckles, Darkfire grabbed the edge of the door and pulled.
A coughing Robin fell out. "Th – thank you," he wheezed. Then, he saw his rescuer. Robin jumped up, pulling out various red and yellow gadgets. "Don't move," he said. "What have you done with Starfire?"
He looked rather insulted. "What have I done with her? My sister was with you last!"
The two boys looked ready to start brawling when a noise from the floor caught their attention. Saffire was shifting in her unconscious state.
Robin lowered his weapons, frowning. His superhero nature was taking over. "What's wrong with her?" he asked quietly, kneeling next to the girl.
Darkfire crouched next to his cousin as well. "I thought you would know," he informed him. "That is why I brought Korian here."
The other boy frowned. "Then – where's Starfire? She ran out of the room, and she hasn't been answering her communicator."
"Why would I know?" he asked. From the look on Robin's face, he could figure it out. "You thought I was betraying you, did you not? Betraying you to the one that you call 'Slade' or the like." Darkfire's face contorted. "You do not trust me."
"Well – no," he admitted. "But I do now. Sort of."
Darkfire stood, picking up Saffire. "Where are the others?"
"I don't know," he said. "We should find them."
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my apprentice, returning with my prey."
Andy bowed his head. "Yes, sir. I've brought Starfire for you." The girl had her head bowed as well, eyes closed, facing the ground.
Slade stepped down from his elevated chair. Placing his hand under her chin, he tilted her head up. "My, my, you are just as pretty as they say," he said, a hint of a smile in his voice. "I'm sure you and Claw will get along just fine."
She flinched.
"Oh, yes," he said, laughing. "This is my third apprentice. Andrew Logan, soon to be known as Claw throughout the entire world."
Andy's face scrunched up in dislike, but luckily, Slade didn't notice. "You two had better be getting used to each other," he said softly. "After all, you will be training together for a rather long time."
Now, Starfire was trembling. "I will never be your apprentice," she informed him, eyes squeezing shut in revulsion. At least he was wearing gloves.
Again, Slade laughed, a creepy experience for those who hear it. "You will," he said softly, "Because if you don't, your friends will die."
On the wall behind him, screens flickered to life. Cyborg's huge frame shuddered as the virus racked his circuitry. Raven hovered to the ceiling, water up to her waist even that high above the ground. Robin's room, dark and lifeless.
Starfire finally dared to look. Her softly glowing eyes took in everything, how her friends suffered, and realized why her father had done what he did. No matter how much his own pain was, it would be nothing compared to the suffering for his people.
Now matter how much she hated Slade, it was nothing compared to her friends' lives.
Her legs just gave out. So much stress had been placed on her; Star's body couldn't handle it. "I will do it," she said, looking up at her captor. Her voice was weak. "I will do it – for my friends."
Slade let her head drop. "Take her to your room, Claw," he instructed Andy.
Muttering under his breath, the metamorph shifted to become a large Siberian tiger, letting her fall onto his back, and padded off to his room.
Slade shook his head. "Such a pity," he said, touching a single button.
As Robin and Darkfire reached Raven's room, the door slid open. Hundreds of liters of water poured out, flooding the place. Saffire instantly started hacking, struggling to sit up in her cousin's arms.
Robin rushed into his friend's room. "Raven!" he exclaimed, stooping to help her.
She shivered, almost sopping wet to her neck. "It – the apprentice – where's everyone?"
"We do not know," Darkfire said, leaning against the doorway.
Saffire was already kneeling next to her mentor, a worried look on her face. "Raven, you are well, is?"
Smiling a bit, she nodded. "But where're the others? We need to find them."
The group went through the Tower, finding nothing until Cyborg stumbled from his room, crashing into Saffire and nearly flattening her.
"Sorry, man," he said, words slurring slightly. "I'm no' feelin' too great…"
Robin and Darkfire caught him, backing him into his room and setting him in the recharge. "What happened?" Robin demanded. "Are you all right?"
Cyborg shook his head. "No. I've got some sorta virus."
The leader nodded. "I'll set the purger."
"Why do you take orders from Slade?"
Starfire was sitting on Andy's bed, watching him build a second one for her. He did not look pleased to be doing manual labor.
He took a moment to glare at her, then continued his work. "Slade rescued me from the Davis-Besse mess I got into," he said in a low voice. "He saved my life. When he brought me to Jump City, he offered to help me control my powers, and in exchange, I would work for him." He sighed, setting the bed's frame upright. "My powers are working smoother, and I'm even getting stronger, but – I don't know."
She nodded. It was the same ploy, she believed, that Slade had used on friend Terra to lure her in as well. "I believe that he did the same ting with another Titan," she told Andy. "Terra was the same way."
"Terra?" He looked confused.
"Um," she said. Terra hadn't been around too long, really.
Then, she thought of something else. Robin had become an apprentice under the threat of the other Titans. Slade is not very creative.
"I guess we'd better get going," Andy said, emerging from a closet. The boy wore a metal suit, much like the one Terra wore, with Slade's crest on the center of the chest. He tossed a package to her, a near exact duplicated costume of the one he wore. "We're on a pretty tight schedule of taking over the city."
Rory: Man, that was weird. I'm not sure I liked that chapter. Anyways, reviews are nice...