The political argument in this chapter is not serious. If you are heavily opinionated either way, please pay it no mind.
"Yes, Okay, Thank you," Robin said as he placed the phone back on the receiver. The video phone in the Steel City Titan Tower's was on the fritz (Though unknown to Robin, this was because of Mas and Menos fighting with Speedy (in super speed, of course) and accidentally bumping into Bumble Bee, causing her to spill her latté all over the device.)
"Well?" Raven asked her team leader. She scratched her arm as the skin-tight flight suits she and Robin were wearing had been a little underused.
"She seemed almost happy to get rid of Mas and Menos for a few days, though I can't imagine why," Robin said. "Are you sure you can handle command with just you, Collin, and Gar here alone?"
"I'll manage."
"What if Slade shows up again? We couldn't beat him together with his new powers, so how could you and Best Boy, even with Ragnarok, expect to…?"
Raven cut him off. "If Slade shows up, I'll make him wish he'd stayed dead." She made sure her voice was as intense as Robin had ever heard it. Raven glanced over at Cyborg, at a workbench adjusting his right arm and the sonic canon therein. He was busy; she would get no back up from him.
"Ok. Still, I would be more comfortable if there was someone else… And I have an idea."
Raven rolled her eyes. Sure, he was giving her command of the Tower while he, Kori, and Cyborg were away, it was a bit condescending to think she needed more protection.
"Hey, Static, this is Robin."
Murmuring came from the other end of the call.
"I didn't use the video phone because this one was closer, now listen. Several of us west coast Titans are going away for a while, and I was wondering if perhaps Impulse could help out here until we get back."
More murmuring
"No, it's not a vacation! I'm going with Starfire to see her home planet. She thinks it's been destroyed."
The murmuring got serious.
"Thanks, Virgil," Robin said.
Another voice murmured, and Raven thought she heard a brief argument. Suddenly, a flash of orange and yellow blurred by.
"Fine, I'll stay here for a few days," Bart Allen, alias Impulse, said into the phone… ROBIN'S end of the phone.
"You got here from Dakota City THAT fast?" Robin facevaulted.
"Well. V would not shut up until I did. So, let me introduce myself. The name is Bart, and I'm the Speed Force man."
"Well…" Robin regained his composure. "Welcome to Jump City. We have plenty of food in ops."
"If you can call it that," Raven joked.
"And I'm sure Beast Boy will show you the ins and outs of the Gamestation XL…"
Impulse goggled. "You have a GAME-STATION XL? That system isn't supposed to be released for another 5 months!"
"Superheroes get dibs on prototypes." Robin smiled.
"The GSXL is the ONLY system from the 00s still available in the future! I must play it!"
"Sure," he said. "It's in ops as well."
The orange and yellow blur was gone.
Suddenly, a red and white blur rushed into the room as well.
"Mas y Menos, aqui y listo!" said the diminutive Titans in unison. And Robin goggled to see Speedy and his red armor, complete with bow and his absurdly large arsenal of arrows on top of them.
"Hi, Speedy." Robin said.
"Hey, Bumble Bee was pretty quick to get rid of the three of us, huh?"
"She sent you up here too?" This from Raven. She wouldn't say anything to his face, but she really did not like Speedy at all. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way. "How about we send him into space with you, Cy, and Star?"
"You all are going into space?"
"Raven," Robin sighed, "That was supposed to be a secret."
Raven sweatdropped, then regained her composure. "Well, all the more reason to send him with you."
"Can I come too?" Ragnarök stepped sheepishly into the room.
"I'm not certain that's a good idea," said Cyborg, who finally got a break from adjusting his sonic canon.
"I am." Raven and Robin said simultaneously, loudly, and emphatically. Raven said so because she did not want the responsibility of a new recruit bungling things up for her. And Robin, she suspected wanted to keep an eye on him. A very close eye.
"I agree," Starfire said, following him into the room, also wearing such a flight suit. Hers was a personalized purple. "I would be most honored if Friend Ragnarok would accompany ourselves on this voyage."
A fly on the wall that nobody had noticed quickly became Beast Boy. Again, he visibly exhaled steam. "Glad that's settled. I am so sick and tired of Collin out mangling me at Mangler Brothers!"
"Um…" Robin started at him. "How long have you been in here?"
"Er… Just a little while," he visibly winced.
"Were you in here while I was changing into my flight suit," Raven asked him, intently and with a trace of anger. This was too far! She was going to… do something… evil… to him.
"No, of course not." Beast Boy insisted.
An orange and yellow blur flashed through the room, and flashed back in a split second later holding a glowing yellow lasso, the loop of which was wrapped around Beast Boy. "Were you?" Impulse smiled wickedly.
"Yes!" Gar began to cry. "I'm sorry Raven! Please don't turn me into anything… unnatural."
Raven arched an eyebrow, and with a flick of her wrist, Gar became a mouse. That wouldn't have been a problem normally, since he could just change back. But he was a Pink Mouse. And when he morphed back, he was a pink Beast Boy.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? I can't go out like this! I'm PINK!"
"Nothing you didn't deserve." Raven smiled.
Beast Boy turned into a large feline and growled at Raven.
"Raven," Ragnarok asked, "why are you wearing a flight suit anyway? You're not even going into space."
"I was, but I changed my mind when I realized that leaving Cyborg and the pink panther here alone together would be an utter disaster. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room, changing back. ALONE."
oooo
Later that evening, the five were set to leave. Robin took his normal place at the center of the T-Ship, and Starfire and Cyborg sat in the middle two seats behind him. Speedy, the arrow-shooting strong-arm of the Titans East, took the right wing. Robin thought it was fitting that the left wing was occupied by Ragnarok, as he had seemed a rather liberal to even Robin's centrist sensibilities.
"Ok, we have engine power," Cyborg said. Robin checked his displays; all lights and indicators were green.
"Activating main thrusters," Robin said. "Liftoff if three… two… one…"
The T-Ship rocked as Robin initiated the lift of sequence and guided the small vessel up through the earth's atmosphere into orbit.
"Oh, is this exciting Friend Collin?" Starfire's voice showed no trace of the somber mood of the trip. "You're first space flight!"
"Oh. It's awesome!" Ragnarök said enthusiastically. "So, what does this thing have, a warp nacelle or Hyperdrive?"
"Not quite either. I suppose it's closer to what they have in Star Wars. Let Star or Cyborg explain it to you." Robin switched off the comlink with Collin's compartment and turned on the ship-to-ground communicator.
"Raven here," came the even tone. She was back in her standard navy leotard and blue cloak.
"So, did you get a read on our new recruit's mind?"
"Yes. I…" Raven seemed lost for what to say.
"What?"
"I sensed no malevolent intentions as I did in Terra. But there is something… deceptive. I don't think he's been fully honest with us, and yet nothing he's told us has struck me as a lie. It's more like he's hiding something." Robin detected Raven wince, as if she felt a pang of guilt. Raven had her secrets too, he thought.
"And that's a perfect excuse for me to keep an eye on him," Robin returned.
"Anyway, we've almost got a clear vector. Robin out." The screen cut off, Raven's image giving way to a black display. Robin touched a button and the faces of the other four passengers appeared on the screen.
"We're getting ready to activate the Hyperdrive. Speedy, Collin: This will feel a bit weird, so be prepared."
Robin saw the computer flash, and saw that the vector for Tamaran was clear.
"Three," said Cyborg.
"Two," picked up Koriand'r
"One," finished Robin. The ship flickered and suddenly launched itself from our star system and began the seven-hour journey to the world of Tamaran.
oooo
"That was intense!" Speedy gasped as the gray blur outside the T-Ship faded to a dull gray due to the photo tropic shielding of the high-strength molybdenum polymer cockpits.
"I think I will be sick to my stomach," Rag complained. Suddenly, he felt better. "Unless of course I can play my music!"
"I guess that's OK," Cyborg said cautiously.
Suddenly, the opening cords of Sweet Home Alabama blared through the ship's sound system.
"Skynyrd?" Robin asked, rather indifferent.
"Can't a simple country boy have some- respect y'all?" Colling visibly leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.
"I thought they said you were from Idaho," Speedy interjected.
"He is," said Robin.
Collin smirked. "Oh, technicalities."
"So you just like the song?" Speedy asked.
"Yeah."
"Funny. You struck me as one who wouldn't care for such music. What with your politics and all."
Robin sighed. The main reason Speedy wasn't Green Arrow's side kick anymore was because of their infamous disagreements over political matters. Oliver Queen was a hard core leftist; Speedy as staunch supporter of the Limbaugh crowd. And Robin DID NOT want a political argument on his T-Ship…
"You have a problem with my politics?" Collin chuckled. "Ok, so I am a bit left of center, but at least I can give some Reps their due. Luthor made a great president, right?" He referred to the past eight years, which, though while in our world saw Clinton in the White House, in the DC world were taken by the Luthor Administration.
The T-Ship went dead-silent. Everyone in the T-Ship but Starfire stared at his screen. Star just laughed lightly to herself.
"Um," Cyborg said at length, "You do realize that Lex Luthor is an evil criminal who's been trying to murder Superman for about fifteen years? Don't you?"
Rag sweatdropped. "Really?" he asked.
Cyborg nodded.
"Oh." Ragnarok gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, still he's better than Bush."
"What!" Speedy snapped?
"Warmongering redneck," Collin snapped.
"Great Leader," Speedy shot back.
"Economical disaster!" From Collin.
"TAX. RELIEF," Speedy.
"Complete Moron!"
"Ivy League Graduate!"
"Who mumbles his speech!" Starfire interjected joyfully.
Robin and Speedy both facevaulted, while Ragnarok just laughed.
"Whose side are you on, Kori?" Robin asked.
Starfire's face went from amused to perplexed. "Robin, we are both in the middle of the ship. I am on neither side." She was dead serious. Which made Robin facevault again and caused Ragnarok to laugh even harder.
Robin killed his monitor and leaned the seat back. This was going to be a long seven hours.
oooo
Raven had retreated to her room. Command was new to her, and she was afraid of screwing up. So of course, she did exactly the wrong thing as her human half tended to, and hid from it. Surely the tower would stay together long enough for Robin and the rest to retrieve what they were after and get back. Then again, with Mas, Menos, and Impulse being all Speed Force users, and Beast Boy being… Beast Boy… No, it was best not think about it. Still, something was bothering her. She couldn't read, and visions of Slade… and her father… still kept her from peaceful meditation. So, Raven took the opportunity to float around the Tower doing menial chores and such, anything to take her mind of her destiny. After all, when one is born to destroy the world, it might weigh a bit on her conscience.
To her surprise, Gar and Impulse were both in ops, calmly playing the Gamestation. But unfortunately Mas and Menos were nowhere to be seen.
"Where's the dynamic duo?" Raven asked. The two seemed to ignore her, so she asked again.
"Oh, the midgets went out on patrol. I told them I'd take the late shift. I still need to make a run through Steel City as soon as I get the chance."
One of the characters on screen whirled a combat knife into a zombie and blood sprayed all-over the digital playing field.
"Nice kill," Impulse complimented.
"Thanks."
Raven sighed heavily. "Please stay alert you two." As she started to hover off, a pink Garfield Logan took notice.
"Where are you going?"
Raven glared back at him. "Out…"