Disclaimer: STILL don't own the Teen Titans!
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Early morning in the day, around the southern docks.
The sun had reached a moderate height in the morning sky. The land is bathed in a soft amber light giving the atmosphere a most tranquil feeling. Over the ocean and on a few spots near the edges of the docks, seagulls happily go about their business, filling the air with their squawking and squalling. If there was ever a calm before the storm, this was the veritable calm after the storm.
On one particular site in the docks, several fire trucks and even more several firemen were gathered around a very large, smoldering pile of rubble which used to be a warehouse. In the ruble were various shipping containers, or pieces thereof, were bent and twisted out of shape due to the extreme heat. There was plenty of steam coming out of the rubble but all of it is really from the firemen's hoses so there was no longer a fire threat.
All over the place, other firemen and a few dock workers were walking around the general area cleaning up any shrapnel the came from the enormous explosion. Burning shrapnel had caused a few isolated fires here and there but nothing too serious that wasn't dealt with in a good time. This may have been a disaster to most onlookers but with the way things are going the docks will be back in business by the end of the week.
On a farther end of the docks, near the edge of the water, Three Titans gather in a meeting: Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. They were all standing besides a parked T-car and R-cycle which they used to get there in the first place way earlier in the day. They were having what was basically a round table discussion without the table, their topic being the recent events.
"Okey-dokey, let's recap," started Cyborg, "We find out where our suspected little trio have been hiding out in. We seize the place and find our best two-out-of-three. We get our butts kicked big time by them…again…and they get away. On top of which, judging from that beautiful pile of smoldering ruble over there, we just lost all our leads on this particular case…"
"So…?" asked Robin in an unusually calm tone.
"So…" continued Cyborg, "…What are we gonna do now!"
"Please, friend Cyborg, calm yourself," said Starfire, "Now is not the time to apply an over-exerted breathing towards your cranial region."
The two boys stare at her, sweatdropping.
"Um… Star," said Cyborg, "the expression is: 'blow your top'."
"Oh…my apologies…eh heh…"
"Regardless, she is right, Cyborg," said Robin, "No offence but your starting to sound a lot like me when we were just starting this investigation."
"Guess I'm just getting really frustrated just now, Rob," replied Cyborg, "These guys have been givin' us the run-around since they showed up."
"Yes, I agree," said Starfire, "They have been very troublesome to deal with especially in combat. Though they have unassuming figures they have proven themselves to be quite formidable foes."
"They have, haven't they?" said Robin, "Considering their background, they were trained in the best forms of martial arts and warfare tactics. They don't mess around in their work. Plus there's also that mastermind of theirs, Dr. Volkov. I would bet he is nothing short of genius. There not like most of the villains we've faced before."
"You seem pretty calm about this, Rob," pointed out Cyborg, "What's in you head?"
"Yes, Robin, please tell us your plan," said Starfire.
"If you even have one, dawg."
"Heh, of course I do, Cyborg!" said Robin.
"Well, what is it then?"
"I'd prefer that everyone be here when I say it, We'll just discuss it back at the tower after we're done here. But don't worry, I can say for sure that this plan has a lot more potential than all the other stuff we've tried in the past."
The two Titans aside from Robin seemed doubtful for a second, But soon enough they seem to come to ease. Their leader has been known to have done the would-be-impossible before. Surely he still has what it takes to do it again.
"Now, if only Raven and Beast Boy, could finish up…"
Suddenly, a black portal appeared near where the three Titans were standing. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg, eagerly looked at the black portal, knowing what's to come of it. Surely enough, Raven emerges from the dark gateway and into the material realm. She stood there stoically in front of the three.
"I'm back," said Raven.
"Do you have anything to report, Raven?" inquired Robin,
"I did my best at scanning the place from underground," Raven pulled down her hood, she gave a disheartened sigh, "there was really nothing left down there. I also tried to scan the place using my emphatic senses but it seems the whole facility is empty of living souls…as well as departed ones, thank Azar…"
"Now it would seem we must wait for Beast Boy's case," said Starfire.
"I think I see the little grass stain comin' now," said Cyborg as he looked out towards sea.
The rest of the Titans followed Cyborg's gaze and spotted what seemed to be a green dolphin merrily jumping in and out of the water, heading towards the docks. The green skinned marine mammal jumped out of the water and over the dock. In mid-air, The Beast Boy transformed back into his elfin form and landed safely on to feet. He stood tall and shook of some of the extra moisture on his body, then walked towards his friends who were patiently waiting for him.
"Well, here I am," said the partially soaked changeling.
"What did you see down there, Beast Boy?" inquired Robin.
"Not much to look at down there, dude," said Beast Boy, "I think the explosions caused the whole place to cave in on itself. It's as big a mess down there as it is up here, dude. Rubble was packed so tight I couldn't even squeeze in as an anchovy."
"Then there really is nothing left for us here."
"Except for what ever you got cookin', dawg," said Cyborg, "You gonna fill us in or what?"
"Hold that thought."
Robin reached into his back pocket to retrieve his PDA. He stared into the device intently. The Titans looked at him curiously. Seemingly satisfied, Robin smirked and pocketed away his PDA. He looked back towards his team.
"Look's like we still have a few cards up our sleeves," he said, "we might just be able to pull this off."
"Pull what off?" inquired Beast Boy.
"I'll tell you guys on the way back. We'll discuss this fully once we get back to the tower."
They all nodded to each other in affirmation. Then they all boarded their vehicles, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire in the T-car and Robin in his R-cycle. They quickly left the scene and headed Back towards their home, Titan's Tower.
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In the middle of the ocean.
Riya and Sakura were still in the powerboat they used to escape a little earlier in the day. With their old hideout no just a pile of rubble under the sea they were heading towards their new destination, which they hope will be the final stop in their quest. The last pieces of the puzzle were finally in place.
Understandably, at least one of them was a little impatient.
"Are we there yet?" asked Lithium.
"No," answered Riya.
A few moments of silence.
"Are we there yet?" asked Lithium.
"No," answered Riya.
A few more moments of silence.
"Are we there yet?" asked Lithium.
"No," answered Riya.
Even more moments of silence.
"Are we there yet?" asked Lithium.
"No," answered Riya.
An agonizingly long period of complete silence.
"Are we there y--"
"Dang it sis, if you ask me that one more time--!"
Sakura cringed and sweatdroped.
Riya let out a sigh of exasperation.
"This place is about a couple hundred miles off-shore," said Riya, "You should have known this was gonna be a long boat ride just like the last time,"
"Last time, I was asleep for most of the trip," said Sakura.
"Can't you go to sleep now?"
"After everything that's happened, how could I?"
Riya let out another exasperating sigh.
"Relax, we're almost there," said Riya.
But actually, they were already there.
In the distance of the waves, becoming ever so visible was a structure that seemed to stand still in the ever fluctuating waves. The boat drew closer and the structure came into clearer view. There in the middle of the waves stood a massive Oil rig.
It rose about twenty stories above the waters at its peak. The whole Rig was supported by more than two dozen steel columns that ran all the way to whatever depths that lay below the water. As the boat came within a hundred feet of the structure, the two occupants could see that the rig was in fairly good condition. Still from their point of view, not a soul can be seen or heard from aboard the rig. They seem unaffected by this fact.
The pulled up to an area below the rig's bottom strut to one of the many support columns where there was a small platform just inches above the water's surface. The platform was then used by the two to dock their powerboat on. Once they were in position, Riya and Sakura eagerly came of the boat and tied it down with some rope that was handy on the spot.
The powerboat was now properly docked and the siblings walked the platform to where there was a winding metal staircase attached to the column. They made their way up into the mysterious structure.
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Inside the Oil rig.
In a massive room somewhere in the interior, Dr. Volkov stood in the middle of a make-shift laboratory. Clearly most of the stuff in the room, like several computer terminals and weird looking equipment, was foreign to the rig and they were also disarranged. The most conspicuous of the foreign equipment: a gigantic: a forty foot high cylindrical tube over a dozen feet in diameter. Inside the tube, the large skinless humanoid carcass stayed suspended, revealing nothing through its plain featureless mask of a face.
Dr. Volkov stared at the creature unaffected. His moment of triumph was about to begin and that carcass, however horrific, was the centerpiece of all his work. To him, it was one of the most beautiful sights he has ever beheld. His dear Maria
It had been quite difficult moving her here in the Oil rig along with all the other equipment they needed. But it was necessary. They could not perform the induction process in the underground hideout. Why? They had no power there. The abandoned underground naval facility they were using as their hideout did not have a sufficient power unit to provide the necessary power to run the induction process. The hideout was just basically an underground warehouse and only needed enough electricity to run a small building's worth.
The Oil rig however had a massive power source. In full functionality, the Oil rig would have needed enough power to carry into several very high-powered oil pumps that sucked up fossil fuels several miles underwater, along with the computer systems that ran the whole pumping operations, and all the other various electronics in and around the rig. Put it all together and the rig had enough power to supply five city blocks, and that doesn't even count the backup generators.
It was the ideal location in which to conduct the final induction process he needed to fulfill his dream. Dr. Volkov couldn't help but smile and chuckle sinisterly. Now, all he needed were the last two pieces and the puzzle would be complete.
In fact, here they are now.
Somewhere in the far back of the large room, A pair of double doors open up. From the doors emerged Riya and Sakura. Dr. Volkov slowly turned around with a grin on his face as to greet the two siblings who were walking towards him.
"Welcome, my dear children," said the Doctor. "Your back sooner than I expected."
"Traffic was forgiving," said Riya sarcastically.
"Is the experiment ready?" asked Sakura right away as they reached the center of the room and stopped.
"Oh yes," said Dr. Volkov, "everything is set-up as it should be. Truth be told however, there is still a final two remaining pieces that I need."
The siblings said simultaneously. "What?"
"Oh, but don't worry, they are right where I want them to be and are readily available."
"Cool, so where are they?" asked Riya.
"We want to get this show running!" said Sakura
"But first of all," the Doctor grinned, "I want to express my deepest appreciations to you two."
The siblings are visibly less comfortable from where they stand. Something was wrong with this picture though they can't say for sure yet.
"God knows I would be nowhere without you, my dears," Dr. Volkov continued, "I truly cannot express the value of your work. That only makes this decision of mine a much harsher one."
"What do you mean, Doctor?" asked Sakura.
"What decision?" inquired Riya.
"I realize how much importance you two hold in the resurrection of your 'mother' but unfortunately for the all of us we cannot reap the same benefits from this project since we all have our different objective, you see. Conflict will only bring about more undesired setbacks so you can understand that only one of us can achieve their goal."
"What conflict?" asked an uneasy Sakura, "Isn't it the point of this whole operation to bring her back! We all want that, don't we? Why would there be a conflict!"
Riya was equally uneasy as his hand slowly inched its way to his gun holster. Volkov in the meantime was placing his arms behind his back in a casual manner.
"Sakura, my child," continued the Doctor, "Exactly what were you planning to do with Maria after she is returned to this world? Do you expect her to shower you with hugs and kisses? Tell you a bedtime story? Be a family?"
"She…she is our mother. She will give us our purpose. Her will is ours to follow…"
"A misguided dream child. She is your mother only by blood, not by soul. You share nothing of her because like everyone else you are imperfect."
Sakura was taken aback by this comment. Riya grew even more uncomfortable. He wasn't liking the way this conversation was playing out. He had to do something.
"Your purposes are meaningless to her. She is above you in every sense. She need not waste her time on you. She has better things to do."
"Like what, Doctor?" inquired Riya, his tone aggressively interrogating.
Away from Riya's sight, Dr. Volkov reached into a back pocket to retrieve a small device that had a single red button. The doctor's thumb rested on the solitary button.
"It has always been her destiny to rule over this pathetic little world. She posses immense power that none but me can fathom."
"You!" interrupted Riya, "What makes you so special, Volkov! Last time I checked, your no divine anything in anyone's book! What makes you think you know our mother!"
"I found her twenty-four years ago frozen in her grave! I discovered her genome structure! I was the most responsible for Project: Maria! I know her most and I know that she has the power to rule this world and because of that I deserve most to stand by her side when she does!"
"You don't deserve shit!" Riya cursed, something he very rarely did.
He drew his .45 handgun in a flash and aimed in Volkov's direction. A red dot appeared on Dr. Volkov's forehead. The Doctor, and even Sakura, visibly cringed.
"Your just like the rest of them. You think she is some kind of weapon you can just use to do whatever you want! We're nothing but tools to you bastards! Well I've had it with people trying to use us! That's why I'm taking you out of this little operation, Doc!"
"What!"
"You have a choice," Riya said coldly, "Either you walk out right now and keep your head, or I retire you personally."
The Doctor's face twisted into a sinister grin as if Riya's intimidating threat had no affect on him whatsoever. Dr. Volkov then began to chuckle in a maddening tone.
"Haha…hahaha…HAHAHA!"
Riya and Sakura were now very uneasy and actually began to back off. Riya kept his aim as Sakura gripped her two combat knives. This whole ordeal was very wrong.
"What makes you think you have any say in this operation, my boy!" said Dr. Volkov, "It was I who has been running this entire operation from the start! You command nothing, my boy, and if I were you I would stand down immediately."
"Not gonna happen old man!"
"Hehehe…I'm disappointed to hear that. Sad that we've had to come to such an end, you and I. But it is the way of a genius to continue what he has started no matter what."
Behind his back, Dr, Volkov pressed the red button on the small device. Then and there the tables have turned.
From out of the floor behind Riya and Sakura, a tall metal rod with a giant dome at the top sprang up to a height of fifteen feet. The two were momentarily distracted by this. In front of them to their sides, two more metal rods sprang up from the floor. In a bird's eye view it appeared that the three tall rods were three points of a triangle that enclosed on the two siblings. They began to buzz loudly. Both Riya and Sakura gasped in fright as they immediately knew what these things were.
Tesla coils.
It was a trap. Riya did his best to re-aim his custom .45 at Volkov but it was too late. From the three tall coils came bolts of electricity that instantly jumped at the two siblings in the center of the triangle.
Both screamed in agony. "AAAARGH!"
Both teens fell to their knees and hands as bolts of high voltage electricity coursed through their bodies. The pain they were feeling must have been immense yet they kept consciousness somehow. The coils continued to supply their charge as Dr. Volkov chuckled at the scene.
"You two may be a lot tougher than ordinary humans but soon enough you too shall succumb to pain," said Dr. Volkov, "Once I have you are out of it I can finally start the induction process."
"WHAT…THE HELL!" Riya screamed in agony.
"Oh , I should probably mention to you that you two are the keepers of the last two pieces of the genome."
"WHAT!"
"When Cannes and I were still in good terms we split a sample of your mother's genome into four separate segments. Cannes decided to hide the first two segments in special protein solutions. I decided to hide mine in your bodies. Now all I need left is for you two to cooperate with me one last time, just long enough for me to extract a fair amount of the genome inside of you."
"YOU…SICK BASTARD--!" screamed out Sakura in pain.
It's pointless to resist, child."
It eventually happened. Sakura's body couldn't take the pain and she fell completely out of consciousness and onto the floor. Riya on the other hand held on for a while more. With his strength sapping away and only sheer anger driving him on, Riya summoned his last ounce of strength to lift his handgun from the floor and aim at Dr. Volkov. Sadly enough he could not muster enough will to pull the trigger until unconsciousness finally claimed him.
The Tesla coils shut down and the room turned quiet for a moment. Dr. Volkov's sadistic chuckling broke the silence. He turned away from the sleeping teens to look once again at the horrifying carcass in the large glass tube, its empty eyes staring, unaffected from all that just happened.
"Soon my dear you will be whole again," said Dr. Volkov, "The process will soon begin and at the end of your requiem all the world shall be know your wrath as my own! Hahaha…HAHAHAHAHA!"
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Titan's Tower.
The team had just settled in after the post-investigation of the disaster scene from the southern docks and was having a makeshift breakfast around their usual places in the main room. Beast Boy was having a soy-dog on a bun that he kept in his personal stash at the back of the fridge, Cyborg was chomping on a quick fix of milk and cereal, Raven was sipping a cup of herbal tea, and Starfire… was sipping a bottle of mustard through a drinking straw.
Robin was at the computer terminal typing, satisfying his hunger with partially eaten power bar he had clamped in his jaw. He took a moment to free one of his hands and take the power bar from his jaw so he can eat it properly. He took a big bite, chewed, swallowed, and clamped the rest of the bar back onto his mouth as his other hand went back to typing.
"Yo dawg!" called out Cyborg in-between spoonfuls of cereal, "You gonna tell us what you got cookin' or what?"
"Hoohh ohh ah minnh," said Robin, power bar still in his mouth like a cigar.
"…What?"
Robin freed a hand again to take the power bar out of his mouth. "I said hold on a minute."
Robin used his remaining hand on the keyboard to make a couple of final keystrokes. Immediately on the screen flashed a digital map of the west coast. It zoomed in on a particular corner of the coast right where Jump City should be. However the map centered on the middle of the ocean, the coast occupying about one-third of the space to the right of the screen. In the middle of the ocean was a little beeping dot.
The Titans stared at the display, intrigued, amazed, and totally wondering what in God's name does it even mean. Robin wasn't sharing the team's expression since he knows what it is.
"Ooooookay…" droned Beast Boy, "…what are we seeing here?"
"I knew from the start that there was a good chance that those two would be bailing on us the first chance they got," said Robin, "Arsenic and Lithium seem to prefer playing it smart and avoid any conflict with us, or anyone else for that matter, if they can help it. That whole debacle in their old hideout was a distraction all along, I wasn't surprised the left like they did. So I made sure we would be able to follow them."
Raven lifted her head from her teacup. "So is that what I think it is?"
"Yup. I managed to pin a tracer on Arsenic before he ran out on us. It's been sending a steady signal for a while now but for some reason has stopped transmitting a few minutes ago."
Starfire lifted her head from her 'beverage'. "Dou you suspect that they have discovered it, Robin?"
"Now way of telling, Starfire. But the for the last half-hour or so, the tracer has been on this particular spot since they stopped moving," said Robin pointing at the blinking dot on the screen, "About two hundred miles off-shore. It would seem there is nothing there at first but there is actually an old Oil rig there that's been abandoned for a half a year now."
"Man why does it always those creepy abandoned places," said Beast Boy, "With all the stuff they steal, you'd think super villains can afford some rent!"
They probably think it's the best place to finish their operation, Beast Boy. The place may be abandoned at the moment but most of its facilities are in working conditions including the power systems at that rig."
"You think they went there for the power supply, dawg?" asked Cyborg.
"That rig has over twenty times the powering capabilities of their last hideout. They probably need that much power to even attempt the induction process we've been hearing about so much."
"Then it would seem that they are beginning their final preparations for this said process," pointed out Starfire, " we must make haste in stopping them!"
"Agreed, Starfire, we must. So we make plans to leave immediately, We'll take the T-ship to get to this location plus we might need the extra firepower. Titans, lets move."
The team hurriedly finished what substitute they had for a breakfast meal. They began to move towards the exit so as they can make their way down to the Tower's own underground docking bay where the Titans' precious T-ship resided. They were near the door when Raven decided to speak up.
"Wait," said Raven.
The rest of the team stopped in their tracks to pay the dark girl their attention.
"Can we really pull this off?"
The rest of the team raise their eyebrows in question.
"Uh…what are ya' saying, Rae?" inquired Beast Boy.
"Not that I want to admit it, but Arsenic and Lithium have proven themselves quite ferocious foes. They have been making it their career to kick our butts at every turn. I'm just saying that fact worries me."
"C'mon Rae, we've beaten them before, haven't we?"
"That's only because we got lucky at the time."
"…"
"All I'm saying is: can we really feel confident that we can beat those two? And what of their mother, this…'Maria'? Should she come to exist, will we be able to take her on as well?"
The room fell silent. If there is one thing Raven is good at, it's being as brutally honest as she possibly can. Though as much as the Titans don't want to hear it, they need to anyway. And she did have a good point.
"…Well…we'll just have to wing it out as best we can," said Robin.
Now everyone else turned their attention to the boy wonder.
"Robin I don't think your getting my point," said Raven, "Everything we've seen so far shows that we have a low chance of beating them."
"And has that ever stopped us before?"
"..."
"Guys, we've faced almost everything in and out of the book. Whether it was giant monsters, evil geniuses, heck even a demon god. Every time the odds always seem to overwhelm us. But have we ever really backed down?"
The room lightened up a bit.
"No, we never backed down. We've done the impossible time and time again. Why? Because we are the Teen Titans. No matter the outlook we still charge head-on into the fray of things. We save lives, protect the peace, uphold justice, and bring down anyone who says otherwise. That's why I'm still going on this mission despite the risk. Even if I have to rely on luck alone, so be it."
The room's mood seemed indifferent. Beast Boy broke a considerably long silence.
"Dude, that has got to be…the corniest thing I've ever heard!"
"So you agree?"
"…Heck, yeah!"
"I can't argue with that dawg!" agreed Cyborg.
"Yes, what wonderful points you have bestowed, dear Robin!" exclaimed Starfire.
"Hmm… I guess your right again boy-o-wonder," sarcastically remarked Raven.
"Then we are all agreed then?" asked Robin to his team.
They all nodded in affirmation.
"In that case…TITANS, GO!"
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At the Oil rig.
The once tense atmosphere has died down. Riya and Sakura were truly in no position to argue anything at this point. Their exact position however involved them shackled by their arms and legs crucifix-style on raised metal beds raised in a vertical manner. They were still unconscious. In-between the vertically hanging siblings, there was the giant tube that held their mother's carcass.
One would look at the sight and may say it was a sort of sadistic family portrait of sorts.
Bellow on the floor, Dr. Volkov was busy moving about the room, keeping himself busy by making the preparations for the event that was about to take place. He would move from one computer terminal to another, typing whatever commands he was using.
Every once and a while, the Doctor would glance at the unconscious sibling, hanging by chains. And every time he did so, he would grin sadistically as if taking a little pride in his work before moving on.
Meanwhile, several feet above the floor, Riya and Sakura peacefully slept. As they did, they did the same thing they always do when they are in such peaceful slumber.
They dreamt of days long past.
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Author's note: Writer's block is a really ugly thing to happen to you! That and too much schoolwork piled into one night. A little more time than I expected, but I've finished my…let's see one…two… nine…fourteenth installment! As usual, please R&R!