Disclaimer: Need I say it? I don't own the Teen Titans or any remnants of them or their cartoon series.

Author's Note: I just received some more reviews. Thank you for giving me your opinions and I'm glad you think this story is good. I will take your advice into serious consideration to make this fic a whole lot better from now on, though I can't make any guarantees... Now on with the fic already.

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In the forth level basement.

All has stayed quiet. Not a soul reveals itself in the nearly unlit room. Its emptiness was partially filled by a single item silently sitting in the middle of the floor next to an open manhole.

A metal box is illuminated by the eerie green glow of four scattered glow sticks. The box laid open on the floor revealing its contents. Inside was a sphere connected to various wires and circuitry. On top of all this was a small dial pad with a small LCD screen. The screen's display has changed since the last time it was seen. The display was now a timer, counting down.

5m : 47s… 5m : 46s… 5m : 45s… 5m : 44s…

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In a hallway somewhere on the upper floors.

"Dude, do you even know where we're headed!" asked Beast Boy as he is running down the hall along with Robin and Cyborg. Starfire and Raven were keeping pace in the air. Alarm were still loudly buzzing and flashing red all over the place. By now the majority of the police in the building had started to evacuate and the halls were relatively empty. The Titans had warned the police via radio about the potential bomb threat and everyone got the hint to drop everything else and run for the hills.

"Not a clue!" replied Robin, "But like Arsenic said, it's most likely somewhere in the lower basement levels!"

"How can you be certain, friend Robin!" asked Starfire from the air.

"If I wanted to bring this place down, that's the place where I'd probably put a bomb!"

"Why is that?"

"This whole structure in supported by underground columns. If a bomb is strong enough to knock-out those columns from below, this whole building will collapse under it's own weight!"

"How much damage would that do to the surrounding area?" inquired Raven next to Starfire.

"Sufficed to say: a lot!"

They reached the end of the hallway where in lies a fork. The skidded around the corner and made a sharp turn to the right. The ran down the hall in a blistering pace. They had almost reached their destination for this particular floor, only short distance away now.

"Cyborg." Robin called out. "Can you disarm the bomb when we get to it!"

"I won't know for sure dawg!" replied Cyborg. "Not until I know exactly what kind of bomb we're dealin with here!"

"We'll attend to that when we get there!"

The reached the end of hallway again. This time however the dead end was into an emergency fire escape staircase. Robin charged head-on and plows into the door with a kick which forced it open inwardly. The rest of the Titans followed him into the staircase. Robin took a moment to look down, over the railing of the stairs. It was a long way down.

"Alright, we go straight down." Declared Robin. "Titans, GO!"

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Somewhere on the same floor.

Riya was running opposite of the Titans. He was completely ignoring the fact tat he had just activated a bomb in the lower basement levels. He only had one objective in mind at that moment: His sister. Besides the bomb was nothing but a distraction. The Titans will soon learn it is more irrelevant than they first thought.

His plan had worked out flawlessly. As he had predicted the Titans had put finding the bomb as their first priority. This left him with just enough time to find Sakura and get out of the building. He estimated he had around five minutes left. Plenty of time, or at least Riya hoped.

He was searching door to door for his objective, having no luck at all. He kept running down the hall and took the next corner. He ran as he searched through the assorted doors on the way. Still, he had no luck. He was getting frustrated now.

"C'mon sis…" he said. "…where the hell are you!"

He turns another corner at the end of the hall and ran down the next hallway. He continues to search through the doors he passed by, searching, searching, and searching, until he stopped dead in his tracks. He eyed one particular door next to him. It had a plate near the side labeling the room: Special Holding Room. Riya smirked slightly.

Bingo. This day might just get better yet.

He reeled back and gave the door a nice hard kick. It broke off its hinges crashing into the floor beyond. Riya entered into a much too gray room. At the center of the room, he found who he was looking for: Sakura, strapped into a chair designed to hold her.

"Sis?" he called out.

Sakura groggily lifts her head and looks towards the person who called her. An expression of delight in shown on her face.

"I knew you'd come for me, bro…" she said. Riya returned her smile with his own he moves closer to her.

"Hang on, I'm gonna get you out of here."

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In the fourth basement level.

The Titans emerged from the emergency fire escape staircase and into the parking floor. The entire space was dark and barren. There wasn't a whisper to be heard. Not even the alarms from upstairs could penetrate the silence. Starfire provides a dim light from a starbolt she held in her hand. Even so they couldn't see past a few feet due to heavy dust in the air.

The Titans knew already that this whole floor was closed off for maintenance purposes. There was no power on the floor. That gave Arsenic an advantage in hiding the bomb. It's gonna give the Titans a really hard time finding it though.

"Alright." Robin called out to his team, his voice echoed loudly. "Spread out and search for it. Sound off when you get something."

The Titans gave a nod of affirmation. Then they proceeded to search in their own respective methods.

Robin took out a small scanner from his utility belt. The kind used to detect any electrical wavelengths from digital devices. They all saw Arsenic using a digital remote detonator, which Cyborg had pointed out clearly earlier on. He was fairly certain whatever bomb it would be, it would have a digital detonation system. If the bomb was near, his scanner would detect it.

Cyborg was using his cybernetic eye which he currently programmed to see infrared signals. In a floor with no power, anything electronic would be as obvious as a spots on a cows back. Problem with this technique though, the multitude of supporting columns was blocking most of his vision, and he already had a short range to start with since the floor's atmosphere was thick with dust.

Raven was floating around with a palm held out slightly glowing in dark energy. She was trying to pick up any form of energy signatures that could give away the bomb like a radiation frequency. A problem was she didn't know if the bomb gave off any radiation or if it was even remotely nuclear. She was having no luck.

Starfire was flying around the large space of the floor with a starbolt held above her head to light her way. She searched purely by sight. She didn't have any of the sophisticated technology of Cyborg and Robin nor did she have the keen spiritual senses of Raven. However, since her home planet has a relatively darker atmosphere than that of Earth, she has evolved better night vision compared to humans. Even in this darkness she would be able to see anything she was looking for if she looked hard enough.

Beast Boy had transformed himself into a hound. He had prior experience in this kind of situation. He has learned that his best way of finding a bomb would be to find it's chemical trails. A hound's nose is perfect for the job. He sniffed around, sniffed around some more, sniffed around a lot more, but comes up empty.

Until finally he raises his head. He couldn't detect anything by scent, but a light at the distance caught his attention. He stares into the distance his canine eyes detect an unusual hint of fading green light on the floor. At first he thought it was Starfire's light but then remembered she was behind him, in the air, moving.

Instinct took over and Beast Boy, still in the form of a hound dog, bolted towards the spot. As he neared it he transformed back to his elfin self. He comes within a few feet of whatever was in front of him. He could see it clearly now. An open metal box surrounded by rapidly dimming green glow sticks. He peered into the box and saw what was inside. He knew immediately what it was but what caught his attention the most was the timer slowly counting down.

3m : 31s… 3m : 30s… 3m : 29s… 3m : 28s…

He didn't need anyone to tell him what to do next.

"Hey, guys!" he exclaimed, "I found it, and it ain't good!"

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Meanwhile, back in the Special Holding Room.

Riya grabbed hold of the binds that held Sakura's arms to the chair and effortlessly ripped them off. He bended down and did the same to the bounds on her legs. She was now free. He coaxed her into getting up but she hardly offered a response.

"Sis, what's wrong?" Riya asked.

"They used some kind of sedative on me when I was out," Sakura replied, "My muscles are completely numb. I can't move an inch if I wanted to."

Riya frowns at this. Sakura's captors were smart. If she had not been sedated she probably would have escaped on her own, no problem. But the Titans knew that fact so the made sure she couldn't use any of her strength. Now Riya was presented with a problem: Sakura couldn't move on her own. He had only one option which he needed to complete his mission.

"Don't worry, I gotcha…" he said.

He then proceeded to pick her up in both arms in a cradle like a groom would carry his bride. With his strength, it was no problem at all. Now there was only left the problem of how to get the hell out of the building and back to the hideout. Fortunately he had already planned for that a little earlier in the day.

"Now what?" Sakura asked while in her brother's arms.

"To the roof." He replied.

Riya swiftly exited the room with his sister safely cradled in his arms. He ran down the hallway at breakneck speed. He knew he had little time remaining to make his escape along with Sakura. He needed to hurry. He knew where he was headed at least.

"…I'm sorry." Riya said out of the blue.

It took Sakura a few moments to realize that the apology was for her since there is no one else in particular to be able to talk to. However she did not know why he said it.

"…For what, bro?" she asked.

"I made a promise to protect you and I failed." Riya replied. "I shouldn't have let you down like that. If only I was a little more careful---"

"Forget it."

"Huh?" He looks down at her for a moment.

"I said forget it. I shouldn't be counting on you all the time like I have always been. I have to get stronger myself. It was also my fault I got careless. So you don't have to blame yourself bro.It's okay already. You're here for me, aren't you?"

"…Who's the big brother here again?"

Sakura returns a soft expression of humor. Riya smirks satisfyingly. All is well in the universe for a moment.

"Don't worry," he said. "We'll be out of this place in a minute!"

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On the building's rooftop.

CRASH!

The emergency exit door burst open with the force of a cannon blast. Riya, still carrying Sakura in his arms in a cradle, has one leg extended as if following a kick outward. He cautiously moves out into the open space of the rooftop. The place seems empty at first. He listens carefully for a sound. He hears two voices in the distance.

"Hey, did you hear that?" said one voice.

"Let's check it out, c'mon!" said the other followed by the pitter-patter of rushing feet.

Riya searched the area for available options and saw one. A large air-conditioning motor is planted on the rooftop just a few feet to the side. He rushed towards it and quickly hid behind the unit, out of sight. He could hear the two other persons on the rooftop reach the area in front of the emergency exit.

"Whoa, what happened here!" exclaimed the first voice.

"Be careful, there's someone else here!" ordered the second, followed by clicking and sliding sounds.

Riya knew what he had to do. He set down his sister carefully beside the air-con unit so that she was sitting up and against it. He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and said: "Wait here, I'll be quick…" Sakura gave him a nod in affirmation. He then cautiously moved around the air-con unit so as to not grab the attention of the two other. He peeked around the corner to see his would-be adversaries. They were two men, one dressed in a regular police uniform the other dressed as a pilot. Both had handguns drawn at ready and were searching the immediate area.

Riya looked around on the ground and found a large screw, probably left there by some engineer or technician. He picked it up and looked around some more. He spotted another air-con unit a distance away beyond the two officers. He had a plan right then and there.

He reels back his hand and threw the screw all the way towards the air-con unit beyond. It made a large clanging sound as it made impact. Naturally, the two officers immediately turned their attention to the sound oblivious that their target was behind them. It was then that Riya made his move.

Riya emerged out of the corner and rushed the guy closest to him, the pilot, who was still oblivious and off-guard. Riya sweep kicked him from behind causing him to fall backwards. Then, in a lightning quick move while the pilot was still free falling, Riya palmed the man's chest and shoves him down into the concrete, knocking the wind out of the pilot.

"Woah---oof!"

The second man, the regular officer, finally noticed what's going on and rapidly aimed his gun at Riya's general direction. But before he could get a shot out, Riya was already in his face and grabbing the barrel of the pistol, crushing it with his strength, rendering it useless. Riya then grabbed the officer's neck and plowed him into the ground by it, completely knocking him out.

"Dah---Agh!"

Riya stood triumphantly and took a last glance at the two making sure they were completely out. Satisfied, he moved back to the air-con unit where his sister was still sitting patiently. He picks her up once again. He moves to the back of the rooftop. There he finds what he was looking for: A police helicopter. He smirks.

He made his way to it. Its doors were already open and it seemed like it was all set to lift off. Most likely the two men he just fought were supposedly going somewhere in it. He moved to the passenger side of the thing and carefully set Sakura down in the passenger seat and strapped her in securely. He then moved to the pilot seat and sat himself down. He worked the control panels expertly and made the necessary preparations to take off.

"Almost home free…" he mumbles incoherently. He was guessing, in his head, that the Titans must have found the bomb right at that moment. And if they we're crazy enough to mess with the thing as Riya had predicted the would do, then Riya had to hurry.

He grabbed the controls for flight. He lifted the stick beside his seat, which was the lift control. Above them, the rotor blades slowly started to spin.

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Back in the fourth basement level.

"Well, Cyborg?" asked a now concerned Robin.

All the Titans had gathered in front of the metal box containing the strange sphere and its corresponding circuitries. Cyborg was the one kneeling down directly in front of the item while the others kept a reasonable distance so as to not disturb Cyborg.

Cyborg gave the bomb a once over with his electronic eye. He took a digital picture with it and compared it to his personal database on high explosive weapons. It took him only a few seconds to correctly identify what it was and relayed the information to the rest of the team.

"That Arsenic dude wasn't kiddin' y'all." He said. "This sphere is supposedly the warhead of a cruise missile. That like enough TNT to level a three block radius from where we're standin'!"

"Just great!" said Robin. "Can you disarm it, Cyborg?"

"Well…uh…the warhead is familiar but this detonator is new to me, dawg. It ain't like one in a missile. More like the kind on ol' fashionedbombs where it is programmed to blow after the timer runs out."

"A time bomb!" Beast Boy states the obvious. "All you have to do is cut the red wire, right dude?"

"This ain't the movies BB!"

"Nevertheless, Can you do that, Cyborg?" asked Raven.

"Uh…sure, I'll try…"

Cyborg looks over the detonator and checks he timer. It was worrying to say the least.

2m : 49s… 2m: 48s… 2m : 47s… 2m : 46s…

He quickly searched over the different circuitry connected to the detonator. It was really confusing. If this were the detonator directly from the missile he associated the warhead with he could disable the thing, no problem. But the warhead was connected to a different kind of detonator, the kind you would find on a time bomb. But it was also custom made, Arsenic's personal handiwork probably. Beast Boy was right that the usual solution for time bombs was to cut the right wire, simple enough. The problem lies in finding the right wire.

He scans the detonator thoroughly. He analyzes the circuitry. He decides on a particular wire that seemingly is the only one directly connected to the timer. He raises a forefinger. It opens up and a small pair of shears appears from the robotic digit. Cyborg places it on the wire and prepares to cut. He takes a deep breath…and cuts the wire.

2m : 38s… 2m : 37s… … …

The Titans crane their necks to see the timer stop. It seemed, for a moment, that Cyborg had cut the right wire and the bomb was disabled.

… … …2m : 36s—2m : 35s—2m : 34—2m : 33s—2m : 32s—

The Titan's eyes grew wide as saucers. The timer had not only spontaneously continued, but it continued at double the pace as before. Not good.

"Oh, boy…" said Cyborg.

"Well, this is convenient…" sarcastically said Raven.

"Friends, I must inquire." Said Starfire. "Does anyone have a plan of the letter 'B'?"

"Oh, no! What're we gonna do now!" exclaimed Beast Boy.

"No choice! Grab it and let's go!"

"What?"

"We have to get it outside, now!"

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Outside on the front parking lot.

The Titans emerged from the tunnel entrance leading into the underground parking spaces. The rushed into open air and the sunlight nearly blinded them. Beast Boy was at the rear of the pack, transformed as a gorilla and carrying the bomb with one arm on his shoulder.

"How much time left!" asked Robin.

Beast Boy set down the bomb so the rest of the group could have a look see.

1m : 01s—1m : 00s—0m : 59s—0m : 58s—0m : 57s—0m : 56s—

"if we're gonna do this, it better be now…" said Raven.

"Agreed! Starfire, Beast Boy, you guys know what to do!"

The tamaranian and the animorph both nodded. Beast Boy transformed into a pterodactyl and grabbed the bomb with his talons. He then zoomed upwards into the air with the bomb in tow. Starfire took that as her cue and swiftly followed Beast Boy into the air.

The two Titans flew well over the top of the building next to them. They were roughly a quarter of a mile up at that moment. Beast Boy then tossed the bomb with all his reptilian strength as far high up as he could. The bomb case traveled about a hundred feet upwards of where he hovered.

Starfire took that as her next cue. She reeled back and produced an extra large starbolt with both palms. Once she has decided that the bomb had reached its maximum height, she unleashed the massive ball of tamaranian energy at the thing. It made impact and exploded in a brilliant green light.

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About a mile to the south of the JCPD HQ building. Fifteen hundred feet in the air.

A police scout helicopter was hovering in the air. Inside Riya and Sakura watched as a huge green explosion takes place above the vicinity of police headquarters. Sakura, understandably, had an expression of curiosity on her face. As far as she was concerned, this was a surprise turn of events. After all she was locked up in a holding cell for most of the day.

On the pilot seat, Riya was less baffled. He had planned everything and fortunately for them both, the plan had more or less gone smoothly. The distraction he provided for the Titans kept them busy enough to leave them alone. Had they not this whole effort would have been a complete waste. He counted himself lucky that the Teen Titans didn't call his bluff.

But that didn't matter to them now. For them the day was over and done with. For the moment, they can relax.Now all that was left for them to do was to head back to the hideout. Riya worked the controls and headed the aircraft I a southward direction.

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A little later that afternoon. At the front parking lot of police headquarters.

Police officers were scrambling all over the place trying to secure the site. This whole day, it seemed, was one debacle over another. However there was some good news. There were no casualties aside from the few officers suffering from the affects of tear gas and the pilot and his escort from the roof that suffered at the most crucial, some bruises. Fortunately there were no fatalities.

There was also no structural damage to the building since the bomb threat was properly disposed of. The only real setback from this whole situation was the discovery that one of the helicopters we're stolen. The police and the Titans had concluded that it was probably taken by Arsenic to make his getaway with Lithium. They are both free once again and the Titan's knew that was a big problem.

But now their concern was getting things in order in the vicinity of police headquarters. The excitement has slowly died down over the course of two hours since Arsenic and Lithium's escape. The Titans had gone over the building along with the police to secure whatever evidence they could find. Cyborg on the other hand was out on the parking lot beside the T-car.

He had a portable terminal he took from the T-car set up, on the hood. He was staring intently at the screen which was playing a kind of video playback. It seemed to be a recording of an explosion. The explosion from earlier. He kept on watching. Because as he watched, he knew something was not right. He typed something on the keyboard. A massage pops on the screen that states: 'NEGATIVE RESPONSE'. After reading that, Cyborg knew that something was definitely not right.

"Hey, there Cy. What's up?" Beast Boy said from behind the metallic teen hero.

Cyborg looked over his shoulder to see that the rest of the Titans had gathered behind him.

"We got your call to come back here." said Robin. "It sounded serious. What have you got for us, Cyborg?"

"And what're you watchin' there anyways?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well, this is what I wanted to talk about." Cyborg pointed to the video playback.

"What is it exactly?" asked a curious Raven, who was now watching the video with much deliberation.

"As you could probably guess this is a recording I made of when BB and Star blew up the bomb. I've been goin' over it for, like, half an hour already and the more I look at it, the more I analyze it, I still go back to the same conclusion. Which is really buggin' me, dawg."

"Aaaaaaand… what's that?" asked Beast Boy.

"The bomb was a fake."

"…"

A general silence befell all the Titans. This was something they were not expecting to hear. It was very concerning. Everyone was taken off-guard by this.

"Friend Cyborg, did I not just hear you state that it was a false device that we had destroyed earlier?" Starfire broke the silence.

"That's right, Star."

"How can you know this for sure, Cyborg?"

"I took a recording with my electronic eye. Visual, infrared, gamma, the whole nine yards. I wanted to make sure that the explosion wasn't leaving any nasty gases and crud like that. But when I analyzed the playback I found out that there was no trace of explosive material aside from Star's blast."

"Can you be sure about that, Cy?" asked Beast Boy.

"Yes, and there are other clues. For instance that explosion wasn't nearly as big as it was suppose to be. It would have been able to cover at least ahundred foot radius. That is if it was properly armed."

"So you're saying it wasn't a real bomb?"

"It was, partly. The warhead was authentic, I can be sure of that, along with the timer and the detonator. But the only explanation I can think of is that the warhead was emptied out of explosive before it was set-up. There was never any threat from it."

The Titans took a long moment to ponder this. The bomb was not real, at least to a certain extent. No threat ever existed.

Robin did his best to piece together the pieces in his head. The bomb was not legit, that much has been revealed. So it was nothing more than a distraction planted by Arsenic. He used it to keep the Titans occupied while he retrieved Lithium from her holding cell.

But why use a fake bomb, or at least one that was useless. He knew warheads. And he also knew it was really difficult to empty out a warhead of it's payload. It would've been much easier to set up a warhead as it is. But to empty it would completely defeat the purpose of its existence. Unless, Arsenic never planned on any actual detonation. As if he…didn't want anyone to get killed.

As if reading his mind, Raven summed up Robin's thought in her own saying.

"This gets even more curious every minute…" Raven said.

"Indeed, it is…" said Starfire.

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Author's note: Again, thanks for the reviews. Thank you for telling me my format was slightly wrong since I was accidentally using present tense. Who knows, maybe I'll actually write a screenplay someday.

Also I noticed an error in my last chapter when I mentioned a 'thirteenth floor'. I realize there is no such thing as a thirteenth floor in any building. That's why they made a sci-fi / horror movie out of it. Sorry for the mistake. Anyways, comments, suggestions, violent reactions. Send them all my way!