Remembersees

Part Six

ºflashbacksº

As far as Robin could discern, the people of Yinti were all males. Every single one of the alien life forms was distinctly male in shape and they all seemed to have the exact same face. Each of them was easily seven feet tall, their skin was something he likened to coral and they all wore white. They walked forward with the exact same stride, their lean frames shifting the exact same way at the exact same time. It was unnerving, but he pressed on with his team. As they walked deeper and deeper into the city, the Titans' leader couldn't help but notice that the path of the Yinti people seemed to part to stay clear of them.

"Blackfire, does any of this look familiar?" Robin asked.

"I remember it… but from the other direction."¹

The headquarters for the Grugdindorf was as massive a building as the Titans had expected, but much more empty. As the group of ten made their way deeper in the hollow chamber the only sounds they heard were the clicking of their heels against the clean floor. It took them nearly ten minutes to find another life form: he was standing behind a desk eyeing them as they approached.

D'ucel stepped forward and addressed the Yinti-man and within moments the much taller alien creature directed them to the Chamber of Memories.

"Name." The Yinti-man asked, his tone was unsteady as if he didn't speak the universal language often.

"Komand'r til Tameran Sixth." D'ucel provided.

"That name does not compute."

D'ucel furrowed his brow. Aqualad stepped forward. "How about Blackfire?"

"Match found."

The Yinti-man produced an access code and directed them to the aisle where they would find Blackfire's tape. The Titans searched up and down the column unable to find it. The Titans without flight searched the bottom of the massive column, while Star, Raven and D'ucel searched from above. Terra couldn't help but notice the hesitance on their faces: especially Blackfire. The pretty Tameranian hadn't taken flight to search; she wasn't looking on the ground either. She was standing there looking up ahead of her where D'ucel was flying, just about where Aqualad was standing.

Terra grew increasingly impatient and had all but decided to quit even looking for it. At least that was what Cyborg figured when she left the designated aisle. Cyborg's scan was useless against the stacks without knowing what to look for, it was going to be impossible to find. All the tapes looked exactly the same.

Terra found it by accident, on the bottom shelf in an aisle that wasn't where they were directed.

"This doesn't look like anything special. I could probably play this on my VCR." Terra said, flipping the tape between her hands. Behind her both Aqualad and D'ucel gawked at Terra's treatment of the future of their hearts.

"Well we've got it… now we just need to watch it." Cyborg said.

"Where do we go to do that?"

The Titans returned to the Yinti-man who directed them again to a room on the other end of the building. As the team walked, they barely noticed how cold it was getting: instead they continued to realize how empty the massive hall was. All the noise in the building was their own, but somewhere that had to be others; Yinti-men or even tragedy-stricken individuals who were preparing for the Grugdindorf.

Robin slowed his pace, catching Raven's attention. They walked side by side, slowly putting a distance between them and the rest of the group.

"What is it?" Raven asked.

"I'm not sure. Something about this just doesn't feel right."

"How do you mean?" Raven asked.

"You would think that the headquarters for something as powerful as the Grugdindorf would be much better guarded. We've seen all of two Yintis since we got inside the building."

"You're right. That is strange. Maybe they have some sort of security protocol that we don't know about."

"Possibly… but something else doesn't piece together."

"The tape." Raven posited.

Robin nodded. "D'ucel said that only those who had the Grugdindorf could access the tape…"

"But the Yinti at the gate didn't ask for verification. But then again we were told the wrong whereabouts for the tape."

"Its like they want us to find it… but at the same time they don't." Robin rubbed his chin.

"It doesn't make sense."

"There's something we're not getting." Robin said. "I'm concerned."

"So am I, but for a different reason… I want to know what's on the tape… but I'm afraid it's going to show us something we're not going to like."

"At least one of us."

Raven nodded. They remained quiet for the rest of the walk.

…

Celine's eyes opened slowly, the light from the sun was pouring across her face. Sunlight? I went to bed at eleven PM… Celine raised her wrist watch. She sat up startled.

"It's noon! How did I sleep that long?"

Celine pulled herself from bed, barely noticing Loberos wasn't beside her. She changed into a fresh outfit and cleaned herself in haste. She was shrugging on her jacket when she opened the door into the living room.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to over sleep." Celine's brown eyes took in the area in front of her and realized something: she was talking to no one. The house wasn't so large as to miss the presence of others in it; Celine could turn a full circle and see everything there was. None of the doors were closed, not even the bedrooms. Celine stepped forward to the entrance of Sinora's bedroom; she could see all three of them.

Loberos had taken to the bottom sleeve of the pioneer bed. He wasn't sleeping, but he looked rested. Celine usually noticed whenever Loberos left her side, but she had slept so deeply…When was the last time I ever really slept? It's been years, hasn't it? Above Loberos, Sinora was still very much asleep. Her face showed her youth, though she had to be at least in her forties, she didn't look a day over twenty… especially with a green kitten curled under her arm. Celine smiled and shook her head as Beast Boy's paws stretched out and back.

It must be so hard on him to have to wait until a scare of tragedy to communicate so closely with his mother. He is just a boy after all…Celine went back to Beast Boy's room and stood in the center of it for a moment. To her right she could see all the things Garfield Logan had decorated his life with: drawings, carvings, few books and something that caught Celine's curiosity. Hanging from the wall was what looked like a strange flute. She pulled it down gently and brought the instrument to her lips, even though she had no clue how to play. With a short blow a soft note was produced, rebounded by an outburst of bubbles. Celine laughed behind her hand at the silly thing and watched the little spheres dance across the room, all heading for the wall. When the wind picked up her hair she realized the window was open.

Celine placed down the instrument just as she found it, letting her fingers trace along all the things that had made Beast Boy's childhood. Her boots barely clicked when she approached the window. She threw her arms out to catch the panes and pull them inside, but when her body was exposed to the cooling air, she couldn't just close them. The last traces of the sun were fading along the prairie land. She had never seen such shades of gold and gray before.

Every night he went to bed to this. Even when the rain begins it's beautiful. Celine rested her arms on the window sill and stopped seeing the horizon before her eyes. Instead she had remembered something Sinora had said to her when Beast Boy went to adjust his room so Celine could sleep in it.

ºSinora's story had been very amusing and both women were sure that Beast Boy's exit had more to do with the embarrassing nature of the story than wanting to make sure his room was habitable. Celine hid her laugh behind her hand, looking up at Sinora from her place on the floor. She smoothed her skirt across her boot brushing a bit of Loberos's fur from the fabric. Celine waited until Sinora turned her eyes to the door that Beast Boy disappeared to before raising her question.

"Sinora… if I may ask… was it difficult raising Beast Boy alone?"

Sinora shook her head in the negative. "Not for me." She stated brushing Loberos' fur as the blue haired beast rubbed at her ankles.

"I only ask because I was raised by my mother alone and it was very difficult for her." Celine supplied, only moderately surprised by her sudden openness.

"My heart goes to her… Raising my son has been the greatest joy in my life… my only regret is that because it was just he and I… Garfield had to grow up very quickly."

Celine did her best to suppress a sweat drop. I didn't see anything like that…² º

The red haired girl felt ashamed of herself for comparing her life to Beast Boy's. But in truth their circumstances were similar, both raised in the absence of a father, though Celine didn't brave to ask what had happened to Mr. Logan, but she had absolutely no doubt that it was nothing similar to what had become of her father: no, while they both were raised by their mothers, the outcomes of their lives were so different that it nearly brought Celine to tears. Beast Boy had grown up with warmth, love, happiness and beauty: Celine had brains, determination, obligation and Victor. It was Beast Boy's combination that gave him promise of a wonderful future, why they all loved Beast Boy so much, why none of them could ever bear to let him last one minute in self-doubt, pity or insecurity.

Some might have called it weak or self-dependent, but they were all wrong. Families, real families: unshaken and stable families had hearts that beated like Beast Boy's and they had tenders to make sure that that heartbeat never faded. Celine's day dream erupted with the might and whorl of thunder crashing along the sky. Just a few drops of rain struck her fingers before the red haired girl closed the window. Omicron sat down in the middle of the floor and got to work.

…

Blackfire's worry was on display. It seemed to Raven that Blackfire was worrying her lip behind the shield of her balled fingers. Starfire trailed closely behind her sister who stood between the proud shoulders of Tameran's Champion and the demigod of the Earth's waters. The halls were absolutely empty save the band of Titans.

In silence they came closer and closer to the center of the great hall of Returner Technology. It was halfway through the trek that they realized why there were not more Yinti-men attending the headquarters…

They were all laying in wait for an ambush.

Starfire gulped painfully before setting her face from shock to determination. In a line before the group of ten were dozens of Yinti armed with sophisticated energy rifles trained on the group.

"Halt." One of the Yinti commanded.

"What is this?" Cyborg asked.

"You are under arrest for your trespasses against this society." Another Yinti stated.

D'ucel stepped forward. "I do not understand. For many years the people of Yinti have called Tameran its allies."

"You're referring to the wrong society." This voice was different, deeper and mechanical. From behind the tall, armed Yinti, a shorter though no less threatening life form emerged. It was wrapped in black metallic garb, his face shielded by a massive helmet. On his right chest was a symbol that D'ucel recognized immediately.

"You are an Orcrixian Battle Hammer! By the Code of Conquer you are not permitted on this planet!"

"What do we care for your code? We found a welcome reception from the people of this planet for a year now. It would have been longer without the interference of the Troqs."

D'ucel and Starfire's hands took an angry glow at the use of the -T- word. A spark struck in Blackfire's head and she too brought her Tameranian might to her hands. The Titans behind them prepared for the battle that was sure to come… but the Battle Hammer didn't make to attack. His single eye blinked slowly behind his helmet, the pupil dancing around to take in the side of the three Tameranians.

"Is this your feeble counteraction Troqs? We have already made the Yinti Home World ours and the Yinti readily accepted our rule…But one of you already knew that… didn't you?"

The Battle Hammer's eye landed on Blackfire and bore at her. D'ucel and Aqualad turned to the pretty brunet, questions apparent in their faces.

"What does he mean Komand'r?"

Blackfire shook her head in the negative. She didn't know.

The Orcrixian seemed to laugh. "Is that it? Has your Sweep not worn off?"

"Sweep? What's a Sweep?" Aqualad demanded to know. Blackfire's brow furrowed as that pain in her head came and left again. She groaned gently and only Starfire was close enough to hear it. The red haired princess stepped closer to Blackfire unsure of her next move.

"A Sweep is Orcrixian technology similar to the Yinti's. It's a temporary mind wipe."

"Temporary?" Starfire narrowed her brow and felt Blackfire step backwards, their bodies brushing each other. Starfire's fingers steadied the older girl.

"You preformed a Sweep on Blackfire? When? Why? How?" Robin asked, just as Speedy and Sakura had done beside him, he had drawn his weapon. His bo-staff was clenched tightly, his arm dropped behind his back to spring forward at the first sign of an attack.

"It was a stroke of luck that the Princess Komand'r til Tameran Sixth stumbled in at the end of our silent conquering of the Yinti. For years our overtaking was prevented by the interference of the Troqs. The Orcrixian Battle Hammers sought retribution."

"What did you do to her?" Aqualad didn't have any water or oceanic allies to aid him, but the might of his fists and feet would be more than enough, in his eyes, to take down anyone of them that played a role in using Blackfire.

"The princess is our little messenger girl. We programmed her Sweep to last until this day, when her memories would flood back. She'd flee to Tameran to give the warning."

"Well your plan obviously didn't work! So what was the message?"

"To come… Just before the Sweep we told the Troq princess everything we were planning, to scare her so terribly that she'd run home at the first chance she got to warn all her people…"

"You were going to use her to set a trap for Tameran!" Robin stepped forward again, standing in line with D'ucel and Aqualad.

"We know all about her reputation amongst the other Troqs. The odds were best that they wouldn't trust her, but send fleets anyway…"

"Where you'd be waiting for them." Raven sneered.

"And if they did believe her?" Speedy's bolt was drawn taunt, ready to sing against the air.

"They would send their best fighters… where we'd be waiting for them to greatly outmatch their power."

"And what if Blackfire didn't go back to warn Tameran?" Cyborg asked, the blue glow was threatening; the heat wove sweat against Terra and Sakura's faces. Sakura's weapon was readied. Terra's fists were balled up: she had always wondering if she could control any land or if just the Earth. The confrontation that was brewing would definitely be informative.

"I believe you're in the perfect position to find out." The Orcrixian Battle Hammer turned to the Yinti behind him. "Attack. Leave none of them alive."

"Titans Go!"

The Titans' readied their powers and hurled them into the air.

End of Part Six

A/N

¹She remembers leaving not coming in. This makes sense, considering she had her mind Swept after walking in.

² Beast Boy grown up? Not from what we've seen.