Technical Difficulties
By: Yamathan
Disclaimer: All characters and places mentioned in this work of fan fiction are the trademarked intellectual property of DC comics and to some extent Cartoon Network among others. The Author takes no claim to these characters and will attain no financial gain through writing, posting, or making an ass of himself in this work of fiction. The story is meant to amuse, or at least amuse the Author, and the Author would much prefer not being sued.
Author's Note: Speaking as a fan of the TV series and the comic books, I tried to keep most of the characters in character. Speaking as someone that doesn't have Cartoon Network, I didn't see a good deal of the Trigon story arc and for me BitTorrents are few and far between. That said I had to invent some plot points, so some of the continuity is most likely screwy. Just keep it in mind and enjoy the show.
"Ytternium?"
"Yeah, that's the core all right."
A long and silent pause flitted through the air.
"What were they thinking?"
"World domination, most likely."
Two lights flickered in the darkness, two cigarettes being lit and sucked on for moral support. Neither man smoked regularly, but this was one Hell of an occasion. Phillip Morris didn't make nicotine strong enough for this kind of thing.
"How stable is this stuff?"
"No idea. That's why Luthor had it locked up during his tenure."
"Any guess?"
A beat of time occurred and a thought did as well.
"If it's been used recently, it could go critical in under a month unless it's put back in stasis. They've been using it extensively, I'm sure, so it's unraveling. It may be as much as 5 degraded by now."
"What happens when a lot of it unravels?"
Pregnant, oppressive silence and a very hard drag of a cigarette landed.
"Nothing good, I can tell you that much."
It was at this point at a few things were happening, none of them related to the nervous and sweaty conversation in the bowels of STAR Labs. Cyborg was attaining yet another level of Game Master. Beastboy was attaining yet another tofu dog from the fridge. Starfire was attaining a newfound appreciation of the word "nutmeg" for no reason apparent to someone unawares of Tamaran's pleasure gardens.
Robin was also finding a new appreciation for tastes of home.
In the wake of Trigon's attack, a good deal of the underground complexes were cleared and retrofitted to produce a Batcomputer though the namesake didn't stick. Three Cray mainframes weren't exactly Bruce's seven, but it's what the Tower could handle and by God it was more than necessary. It was in one of these caverns and in front of one of these terminals that Robin was pouring over the latest criminology reports.
It was unfortunate that although several things were happening upstairs in Titans Tower, nothing of interest was occurring in the underworld of Jump City. Even with his skill, Robin couldn't find anything whatsoever. Line after line of newsverts and message boards told him the same thing. 10'o'clock and all is well in Jump City, who'd have thought, now it's on to a look at the weather.
In all honesty he was jumpy, considering that so far nothing had occurred after The End of The World. The irony sashayed through his mind and promptly left, bored as Robin was.
Robin sighed a little, ran his fingers through spiky hair, furrowed his brows.It was hard to stay on top of things when nothing was happening. Training was half-hearted because everyone knew very little was going down, and Robin himself was getting stir-crazy. At least the cave was a little like back in Gotham.The smell was just about the same, save for the marked lack of bat guano.
"Why isn't anyone making plans?"
"Trigon ate their power during the battle."
That voice was something Robin was familiar of hearing when he least expected it, and even Raven's sudden appearance and disappearance didn't shake him from boredom any more. Some small part of his mind observed that the blue of her cape blended in very well with the shadows, and how Raven's skin was rather difficult to discern from the granite when looking at an angle.
"What did you say?" Words slipped out and echoed through the cavern.
"Trigon ate their power during his personal Ragnarok, and only now are the crimelords of the city getting their mojo back. Even the petty crime rate's down, an all-time low, remember?" Raven's words didn't echo among the crevices and crags, setting Robin's teeth on edge.
"So … what next?"
"I haven't a clue."
"… Great."
"Nice pajamas, though. Very chic." Red and green seemed to be a dominant theme for Robin, and it did make him look good -- though the sudden supernova of red on his features made Raven chuckle a little inside. Robin wasn't used to letting the other members see him in anything but uniform, and his reaction underscored his discomfort.
"I got them as a present from Br- I mean Batman and-"
"Don't sweat it. It's a Saturday morning. It's allowed."
"... Thanks." It was an awkward reply, but Raven knew he meant it.
"Starfire's making lunch and sent me down here. Show up in twenty minutes or so or duck and cover."
"I'll be there, don't worry."
"Later, then," Raven said, moving up the stairs. Robin returned to his almost-work, shrugging off his emberrassment over something so juvenile. Out of the corner of Robin's eye,Raven's robe created the effect that she floated to the doorway and out into the relative sunlight.
Robin only then realizedthat Raven made a joke.
"And lo unto the nations he saw and said it was good!"
"Dude, you've just got me cornered, it's not that you're good at it."
Beastboy and Cyborg were indeed playing a video game to end all video games, Smasher and Crasher Reborn the Ninth. Although Starfire had some perfunctory knowledge of the game and its plot, she believed that perhaps Raven had described it best as, "Katamari Damacy on something illegal."
Beastboy's avatar was being wiped across the level's vertical surfaces on a broom handle, mopping up points for Cyborg. The green boy twitched on the couch, trying desperately to wrest control. Cyborn merely grinned, wiping up points in a corner here, a corner there, like so many cobwebs.
"I'm owning you, man. Face it, BB, you're no good at this game."
"I am too, and I can prove it!"
A flurry of motion registered on the screen, and Cyborg's avatar went flying, thrown across the arena by a rather nasty blow with a broom handle.
"How did you do that?"
"… Button mashing. But I proved it!"
"BB, button mashing doesn't take any skill, it's just dumb luck."
"It's dumb skill if you ask me."
Starfire sighed a little inwards and continued her adventures in cooking in the kitchenette. The glorbgab eggs weren't hatched yet, and most of the bacterial cultures hadn't progressed to the Neolithic stage – things weren't looking good for Starfire's casserole. Luminous green eyes flitted over various recipies in the Tower collection, not finding much that involved the arachnid species she intended on using today.
Earth cuisine seemed to be the only option for lunch, and unfortunately the boys had eaten most of the solid foods. It'd be take-out tonight after the stores of lunchmeat, cheese, and tofu were depleted. But for now, though, Starfire wanted to make something special and leave the sandwich building to individuals. She concluded hot cider toddy was always a good decision, even in mid-May. Perhaps she could even use some of that "nutmeg".
Starfire giggled, thinking about how silly that humans should name a spice after something so delightfully dirty. Beastboy and Cyborg didn't notice.
"I'm tellin' you, man, button mashing is not a legitimate strategy."
"So what, Cyborg? I know you camp in Until Death Do Us Shoot! You can't call that a legitimate strategy!"
"I am not a camper! I hate campers! You're a camper!"
"Friends, why do you so dislike persons who appreciate sleeping under burlap housing in the outdoors?" Starfire decided that now would be a good time to throw a monkey wrench in the gears of the argument, and she supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Beastboy and Cyborg did stop fighting, although they stumbled over each other's words to explain the situation to the newbie.
"Well, you see, Starfire, we're not talking about like the Boy Scouts or anything-"
"It's this thing in a game where-"
It was at this point that the window exploded.