On the top of Titan's Tower, Robin in mid-leap. A fierce growlisin his throat and one fist pulled back past his head. He swings it forward and nails a flying volleyball. A metal-handed bump sends the ball up, and Beast Boy, Zoe and Laurie is Robin's teammate, while Rae, Starfire, and Cyborg play the opposite team. Raven is busy meditating across the roof.
The ball sails across, but Beast Boy hops up as a kangaroo and kicks it back hard. Starfire flies up to deliver a killer spike, Robin jumps for a counter-move, she slides across to bump, and now Cyborg rushes in for the follow-up. As the ball descends toward the net, the big man gets ready to spike and suddenly finds himself facing an even bigger green gorilla with the same idea in mind. Beast Boy smashes the ball past all members of the opposition; it hurtles straight toward the back of Raven's head. An instant after he comes down from his jump, he resumes human form and panics.
"Raven, heads up!" Beast Boy yells, while Zoe, Rae, and Laurie giggle a bit.
The ball continues its flight, but stops dead an inch short of her cranium thanks to an annoyed glance and a bit of telekinesis. Rocketing back toward the four players as she faces forward to resume meditation, it slams into Beast Boy's breadbasket.
"Yow!…Thanks, uh…" Beast Boy collapses, "…good save."
Robin looks worriedly down at him, then at Raven, "Are you sure you don't want to play, Raven?" "Yes, please, you must volley the ball with us!" Starfire comments. "Come on!" Cyborg says removing his left arm, " I'll play you with one hand behind my back."
"I can't. I have to meditate." Raven says quickly.
Shrugs all around, after which Cyborg puts his arm back on and they resume the game. Now the ball is in Beast Boy's hand; he transforms while raising it to serve, and he has again become a gorilla. After pounding it ahead, he hits the court and returns to human form, blowing his cool a second time.
"Heads up, again!" Beast Boy yells and Laurie, Rae, and Zoe all laugh
The ball zooms toward Raven as before; this time, though, she does not stop it, but instead floats off to one side and lets it continue toward the edge.
"OH, NO!" The seven titans yell. All scream. The ball goes off the tower. It bounces among the rocks and toward the shore. Back to the seven players, whose panic gives way to resignation. "I'll get it." Beast Boy groans, walking to go get the ball.
He trudges toward the edge, but is brought up short by the reappearance of the ball, which sails back up from below to roll across the concrete and stop at his feet. Looking up puzzled as something begins to rumble, a slender silhouette rises into view, long hair blowing in the breeze, hands planted on hips, standing on a floating object. The voice instantly gives away this person's identity and part in returning the ball.
"So…" Terra smiles "…which team am I on?" Terra's rock then floats down to the tower's edge and she leaps off; seen now, she has traded her denim shorts for yellow-orange ones, but still wears her old brown hiking boots.
"Terra!" Starfire yells; running towars Terra. Terra's shirt is now a black crop-top turtleneck with long sleeves, a yellow-orange Titan insignia on the chest, and no second shirt underneath. Same leather gloves, a matching belt, and a new pair of goggles around her neck. She tosses her hair back. "Terra!" Beast Boy yells; and Starfire and Beast Boy both race to meet Terra. Starfire wins of course by blasting Beast Boy in the butt.
"Oh, hello, long-lost friend! You remember me, yes?" Starfire says; strangling Terra in one of her 'deadly hugs'. "Of course, Starfire." Terra says strangled, "I still have bruises from the last time you hugged me."
"Terra! You're..." Beast Boy stops; losing his nerve, "…I mean, I…how's it…heh…wassup?" Terra hugs him. A pinch on the cheek leaves his entire face hanging slack, and he moans happily and keels over. Cyborg, Laurie, Zoe, Rae, and Robin all step over.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite little rock-and-roller!" Cyborg says, and they reach into view for a high-five. "Cyborg! Robin! Laurie! Zoe! And uh Rae! What's shaking?" Terra smiles "Good to see you again." Robin says and Rae nods. Zoe and Laurie fold their arms and look at each other.
"Good! Is he kidding? It's great to see you again! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" Beast Boy yells.
He delivers this last sentence with enough force to blow her hair back; she blushes at its end. Now he addresses himself toward Raven's back—she has not budged from her meditation at the roof's edge—and drags Terra over there. "Raven, wake up! Terra's back! Isn't that awesome?" Beast Boy asks.
"Super. Just help yourself to anything in the fridge," Raven says, "and don't forget to lock the door when you leave." Terra frowns, "Actually, I kinda wasn't planning on leaving this time. I'm ready to take you guys up on your offer. I want to be a Teen Titan." Terra smiles. The big smile on her face fades into uneasiness; the seven volleyballers, all of whom stare confusedly at Terra as Cyborg scratches his head.
"Uh…" Beast Boy says uneasily. "Got it. Sorry." She turns to walk away, "Didn't realize the offer had an expiration date." Robin's hand lands on Terra shoulder, stopping her exit, and she sniffles a bit as tears form in her eyes. "The offer didn't expire, we're just concerned." says Robin.
"Yeah, it's 'cause, well, um, last time when you kind of freaked out and ran away, you didn't exactly…uh…you weren't completely, un..." Beast Boy starts "You couldn't control your powers." Raven says walking up to the 8 teens. He yelps, surprised; a pause.
Terra smiled again, "Hel-lo? That's why I left! Robin said I needed practice, so I've been practicing." Terra puts on her goggles, "Check it out."
She jumps backward, lands on a boulder, and quickly brings up four others. Bounding nimbly onto one of these, she rides it to a higher elevation and takes the three spares with her. Off she goes, guiding the stones through a loop-the-loop like a roller coaster; she drops from the lead one and lands at the end of the line. Cut to Robin, Laurie, Beast Boy, Zoe, Rae, Cyborg, and Starfire, watching thunderstruck from the roof as Terra zips past.
"Glorious!" Starfire smiles "Whoo-yeah!" Cyborg grins "Dude! She really has gotten better!" Beast Boy says. "She learned a few tricks. Doesn't mean she's any less dangerous." Raven reminds the team.
On the end of this, Terra, whose face says she is right on top of her game. The four rocks sail on, in a diamond formation with her in the lead. Terra circles the Tower, skimming so low over Jump City Bay that her passage throws up a wall of waves. On she goes away from the Tower, the rocks now in a four-abreast line, and she begins a steep climb that sends them veering away from each other. A couple of quick barrel rolls, and she goes into a headlong charge straight toward the building. One of the other three rocks is approaching fast from that direction.
The four missiles hurtle straight toward a collision above the roof. When they are within mere feet of crashing, though, all turn up into a sharp climb, the camera following them up. On the roof; all 8 Titans brace for impact, but it never comes and Terra lands neatly before them in a crouch. Standing erect and groaning with the effort, she sends the rocks high in a tight spiral toward heaven; as they are about to pass out of sight, they explode in a mighty display of pyrotechnics.
Several of the titans gasp enthusiasticlally; as Terra props up her goggles onto her forehead. "See? I've got everything under control." Terra smiles.
A tremor shakes her out of this mood—and we see that it is also jolting the Tower and Jump City to boot. When it stops, eight very annoyed pairs of eyes look her way and she blushes a bit. "Wasn't me." Terra defends
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Looking at a computer map of Jump City, four pulsating dots are marked on it.
"Earthquakes." Cyborg concludes. He and all the others are studying the map, which is on the window/screen in the operations center. "Small ones, but they're happening all over the city."
"Too many to be natural." Terra adds. "That's because they're not earthquakes." Robin says, "They're a trail. Something is moving under the city. We need to find out what. Titans! Go!"
Starfire, Beast Boy, Rae, Laurie, Zoe, and Cyborg charge out. Robin and Raven follow them, but stop well short of the door and turn back. "Are you coming or not?" Asks Robin. "Does this mean I'm on the team?" Terra asks. "It means we could use your help." Robin answered
She gives him a satisfied nod and runs for the door, brushing against Raven as she passes. Raven is badly unnerved by something she has seen (a vision, duh!). Robin touches her shoulder. "Everything okay?" Robin asks. "Can't tell. Are you sure it's safe to have her around?" Raven asks. "Not entirely. But everyone deserves a second chance." Robin concludes.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
A section of Jump City; it is now nighttime and very quiet. Traffic flows normally in one of the streets until something very tall and broad erupts from beneath the roadway, throwing drivers and pedestrians into chaos. The thing's shadow extends down the block, and it rears up to show itself in full detail—a long, wormlike machine with an enormous drill bit on the front end, which it had used to break through the pavement.
The drill rises to full height; it retracts upon stopping and is replaced by a head with a small, screeching mouth. Close-up of the spinning wheel of a stalled bus, then cut to an overhead view and pull back into the sky. It is stuck at the edge of the worm's crater. Inside the shaking vehicle, the driver and passengers look up alarmed; in the sky, that head rears back and knifes toward the street to send people running for their lives.
The bus is hit with Raven's powers and pulled out of the way, an instant before the worm bites into the pavement and throws up a cloud of dust. When it clears, the head is pulling free. Robin, Zoe Beast Boy, Rae, Laurie, Starfire, and Terra a bit farther along the street. Raven floats down to them and sets the bus down safely behind. "You missed the bus." Robin observses. "Looks like you'll just have to take a cab!" Cyborg says, as throws the auto and scores a bullseye on the worm's head; there is an explosion, which clears to show the robotic invertebrate rearing up and roaring anew. It comes down, as does Raven.
"Azarath Metrion—" Raven starts, but Terra shoves her aside. "I got it!" Terra says.
She raises a large stone spike in the worm's path; it plows into this and is flung backward. It smashes to the asphalt, shaking the entire block and ruining a car or two. Once it is down, Beast Boy thunders in as a woolly mammoth with Laurie and Zoe on it and rams the head end into a nearby building. He trumpets as best he can and looks at the thick curtain of dust that has risen—and after a moment, an infernal red light begins to shine within it. A beam shoots forth and nails Beast Boy; he is driven to the opposite side of the street in human form and bounces off the pavement and a building, with Laurie and Zoe out too. "Guys!" Terra yells.
Out of the smoke plumes, the worm rises once more, and a red spot on the head glows to indicate where the blast came from that took down Beast Boy. Cut to him, half-erect and woozy, and pull back overhead; a yellow flare encircles him and turns into a pavement fracture—Terra's powers at work. The worm fires its laser down at him, but she runs across, gets on the chunk she has just broken out, and carries him and herself to safety on it.
Up they go, the beam tearing into the architecture as it follows them. Once they have risen past the rooftops, Starfire flies in with both hands ready to fire. A barrage of starbolts strikes the worm, which lets go with another laser beam from its now-smoking head and swivels to sweep it after her. Cut to ground level; Cyborg has his sonic cannon going full tilt, while Robin stands by him and watches. Pan across a bit as Terra and Beast Boy touch down. "Good work, Terra! Now help me get in his face!" Robin yells.
Oooh...A cliffie. please R&R! Remember-this is the second to last chapter. Be sure to check out the sequal when it comes out! Thanks!