Transient
Part Two
Red X had noticed that between the three of them, they all seemed terribly occupied. Terra tore at Raven with words, hinting at Raven's role in the future, Slade studied Sakura from a distance and every waking minute Washu was consumed with his hall of stolen energy, his focus always on that thing he had stolen from Robin.
X had worried briefly that Washu would try to take the power that was within him, to see if his life energy glowed like the original stock. It had worried his down time for weeks before he realized that Washu couldn't tear his eyes away from Robin's energy long enough to consider getting more… especially when it was likely that X's own life force paled in comparison.
Despite the occupation of the others, X was rarely in solitude, when Tetris wasn't at the beck and call of Washu to maintain the lives of their spoils, Red X and Tetris occupied separate ends of the same space. X leaned against the wall of the Syndicate's hide out. It never mattered to him that between him and a difference of a million degrees was a single door: just as heaven was in a few steps of a curious travel, not that the idea appealed to him much. X's cape shifted when his right foot tapped along the wall, his arms tightening across his chest. Two rooms away from him, Slade was studying Sakura and that wicked Holy energy that Washu struggled to suppress.
X snorted in his mechanical tone. He knew that Slade wasn't interested in Sakura just because of her Holy. A lot of it had to do with her kin. Slade was obsessed with Robin; everything about the Boy Wonder: the way he lived, the way he thought and the things that mattered to him.
And that's why Slade collected things: Raven was Robin's heart, Sakura was his past and Red X… was his darkness.
It made sense to X that his attraction to Raven had been a genetic disposition. Robin swam in her, touching the girl had sent fire to every nerve in Red X's body and for the longest time he considered disobeying Slade and getting Raven before they gathered all their information because he didn't believe anything else in the world would give him that burn.
That was until he met Terra.
He knew Robin, the real Robin, who had a distinct character, memory and eye color, would never consider Terra as something to be desired. But X did. Slade's 'great work', as he heard Slade once refer to him, was programmed to be an apprentice; to desire what Slade desired, to want as Slade saw fit and that want was reduced to Terra; Slade's other pet project. He had taken readily to Sunshine, he was enraptured when he saw that sinister smile slide onto her face before she cleared it away to slip back amongst the Titans.
The component for self-actualization was in X, but it was so distorted that what should have disgusted him, the process of his creation, barely fazed him. He was programmed to be Red X, a fictional manifestation of a point in time of Robin that was fake, that wasn't who the Boy Wonder really was. Slade knew it, X knew it and so did Sunshine. Sunshine and Slade were too occupied to think about X, but X had plenty of time to determine himself and he found that his inherent flaws of design didn't bother him. His programming was based on a mangled concept that Slade forced upon Robin, but as far as programming went, X couldn't complain.
X's shielded eyes rolled to Tetris who stood static in the small space between where Washu studied and where Sakura slept. His pink eyes were dull and even more so against the backdrop of the gold band crown that wrapped around his forehead. X's head rocked a little and watched Tetris give no evidence of consequence. At least I'm not programmed to be empty…
…
For three months, the only thing Sakura saw was Tetris. She swore there was someone watching her whenever the pink-haired half demon brought in her food, but she knew that Tetris' eyes were unseeing and that his skin was unfeeling. She had tried talking to him, to get him to say something; that Raven was okay, that the Titans had escaped, what their plans were… but day after day and week after week, Tetris came and brought her food and made sure to say absolutely nothing.
Sakura felt the twinge in her leg when she rolled it softly to move into a new position. She had seen movement behind Tetris' back that he never appeared to be aware of. He looked at Sakura, but only as a bullet found its target, he never showed awareness.
No one is born that way… something is doing that to him… and it might be whatever it is moving in the back… one of those phantoms? The demon wizard? Slade? Deep in her gut, Sakura knew that there was more to Tetris than the delivery boy Washu used him for. Tetris was strong, Sakura had felt that and that brutal power was probably why Washu kept him as a pet. But no one that strong would so easily become a servant. Washu did something to him… He has the power to… Just like he has the power to keep my Holy in check…
Sakura watched Tetris put out her rough rations, taking her eyes from the demon playing in the background. Tetris was fluid, unwavering, more machine like than any of Celine's computers, more so than Cyborg's metal parts… But this isn't a machine… there's something in there… If I could use my power, I could find it… Jericho, help me.
For a moment Sakura swore that the routine, unerring motions faltered in Tetris. Her eyes narrowed, she hadn't imagined it. Before she could think of what might had happened to Tetris, something became painfully obvious to her. Underneath the pink hair and against the grey skin, Tetris' eyes didn't seem to empty… it was when she saw the band crown adorning his head that she could feel the chill of void when she looked at him.
She didn't think. She hadn't considered the consequences, but she moved. Her fingers fanned out and grabbed. Her digits slid between Tetris' flat forehead and the thin spiral of his band crown.
The reaction was explosive, literally. The second her fingers came in contract with Tetris' garb, the Holy power surged and escaped. The backlash took Sakura by surprise and hurled her body against the wall. Her back throbbed with the impact. She groaned and rolled her head, taking her eyes back to Tetris…
Who was totally unaffected…
The Holy had been repelled by whatever that band was and Sakura knew it… and from the still empty look in Tetris' eyes as he walked away, she didn't have the power to do anything about it. Tetris left the room but Sakura was intimately aware of eyes on her.
She was wrong. There was only one eye.
Slade emerged from the shadows, his figure no longer cast along the cave wall. Though the blue flames lit the room and tossed shadows against Sakura's face and body, Slade stood in the center of the flame light and cast no shadow.
"I become more and more impressed with you as the days pass Sakura… despite your obvious weakness, you are proving to be very powerful indeed… such a power should be exploited to its full potential."
"I don't care if you're impressed."
"Yes you do, because you are just like your brother. You want the appreciation of someone stronger than you."
"You aren't stronger than me Slade! It took a whole Syndicate to nearly take me down… its only going to take one chance for me to take you down."
"Nearly? I'll ignore your foolish pride, because in truth I find it endearing… you and Robin are very much alike and that makes you very much like me."
"I'm nothing like you!" Sakura yelled.
"That's what Robin said… there are some differences between you and I; just as there are differences between Robin and myself."
"You say his name again and I'll---"
"Do what? Attack me with your powers? Dear girl, you are just like your brother. You fail to grasp the true severity of the situation you are in." Slade leaned down, putting his face only a foot away from hers. Slade knew that Sakura would attack and caught her unwounded leg midstrike. He could have pulled her completely from the floor, lifting her from her side by her shin and showed her that he was the one in control.
He chose a more subtle route. He always did have a way with words.
"If you had the capacity to beat me… where would you go Sakura? To your friends? To your Speedy?"
Sakura sneered but couldn't shake her leg free from Slade's hold. He made sure of it.
"Don't you think you've wasted enough time on the Titans? Hasn't the shame of being associated with a lesser class of human being driven you mad yet? You and Robin were meant for better things."
"Shut up." Sakura ground out between her teeth.
"I can offer you those better things. Wouldn't you like to see what it's like when your power is absolute, when you've surpassed every plateau to be the strongest in the world? I could show you that."
"I don't need you to be strong Slade! And I will never ever work with, for, or beside you… only against you." Sakura replied.
Slade dropped Sakura's leg and her weight bounced stiffly against the ground.
"It took your brother a long time to warm up to the idea as well… So I will give you time to think about it"
"You can give me all the time in the world and I'd never stand by you."
"I suggest you evaluate your choice very thoroughly… there isn't much time left in the world."
Sakura tried to attack, but before the hold of her magic could be enacted, Slade attacked, a thundering power slammed into her chest and the black haired girl was thrown to the floor. She coughed against the pain in her lungs. Slade dropped his offensive stance and stared down at Sakura… even in such pain; her eyes were flooded in battle fury.
"If you had enough power, that attack might have worked. I'll come back in exactly one day for your decision."
Sakura didn't sit up; instead turned her head to watch Slade slowly retreat. "Is that what you propositioned Terra with?"
Slade didn't stop moving forward. His words were like an after thought. "No… with Terra I had to be much more creative."
Slade walked away.
…
Terra was beginning to think that no matter how much satisfaction she got from knowing that Raven was weak and helpless before her and relied solely on Terra for information, it didn't make up for the time she had to endure with Raven to get it. She wished Slade would hurry up, three months of Raven's questions and threats were too much for her.
Raven tried to ignore the red markings firing against her skin. For days the marks were appearing and disappearing. With the constant strain on her powers and her mind, Raven hadn't been able to mediate to clear the Scath Stigma from her body. It was great fortune that her powers were suppressed; the small room would have been destroyed long ago… if she had the power to.
But you don't… not yet… Just keep going… keep wearing her down… she's going to break… you are going to break Terra…
Terra could see that Raven was going to ask another question; just like she had every time Slade sent her into entertain Raven, as if Terra's presence would discourage suicide. Sometimes she wondered if Slade actually knew anything about anyone other than Robin. Raven was far too proud to escape without satisfaction… and that was one of the reasons that their plot was going to work…
So Terra endured it… for just a while longer.
"What about…" Raven began.
Terra rolled her hands before leaning forward in on her stool. Her gaze bore down at Raven; the frustration was frolicking in her eyes. "Are we really going to sit here and laundry list it? Just accept it. I hated you all… How about we play a new game? Want to guess who was at the top of the list? I'll give you a hint: it's a girl, she was cruel, arrogant and self-satisfied… and I'm staring right at her."
Bingo.
"Why?" Raven asked. "You couldn't have done all this to get at me…"¹
Terra shook her head. "It's what you all did to me."
Raven snorted. "We never did anything to you!"
Terra dropped her hands to her thighs, straightening her back. "Exactly. None of you gave me what I wanted… what a person of my powers deserves… You, you who had to work so hard to get your powers strong should have been able to see that I did the same thing. When you all stared down at me when my power was too much for you, you tore me down and disrespected me to my face and constantly behind my back. And those who didn't think to disrespect me did something just as unforgivable. They ignored me."
"This was a cry for attention?"
"Of course not. I'm glad no one noticed. It would have made it a lot more difficult to destroy your team." Raven was going to say something, coax more from her. But Terra's character did it for her. "But the real reason… why I have no regret… is because I'm doing exactly what you told me to." Terra said.
"What?"
"You told me to get control and I did."
"You didn't learn anything! I showed you how to focus!" Raven yelled.
"And believe me, no one appreciates it more than me… it made me that much faster to learn everything Slade had to show me: he saw everything I wanted from the beginning and he gave it to me."
"You couldn't have planned this the whole time. You destroyed Slade!"
"It was an accident. No matter how much he hurt me: I knew I couldn't hate him. When he gave me the opportunity… I took it. … He forgave me… the way you never did… Maybe, if you'd've been nicer---"
Raven was not going to let get away with that. "You can stop right there. You would have done this no matter what we did."
Terra nodded. "Probably, but I love putting the blame on you… it makes all the awful things we're going to do you and your baby that much more fun."
"My baby?" Raven asked.
"Terra, you've ruined the surprise."
When Slade entered the room, Terra's relief was evident. "Finally Slade! You wanna take over from here? I've had enough talking to birdie dumdum"
Slade nodded and Raven waited. "Murder, marriage, manipulation, motherhood, me… all the important words start with M."
"How about misanthropic, mislead, mistaken and minimal time left on this world?"
"Is that a threat?"
"It's a promise."
"It's the truth." Slade replied. "There is minimal time left in the Earth. Your grand prophecy will come true."
"I don't know what you think you know Slade, but I can tell you that there will be nothing grand about what Trigon wants me to do."
"It's not just what Trigon wants you to do… its much more than that… it's also what you want to do."
"What I want is to destroy y---"
Slade interrupted her. "Everything? That sounds about right… and from what I've gathered, that's almost exactly what you'll do."
"Almost exactly?"
"Yes, almost. There are a few complications that I wasn't aware of when I made my alliance with Washu… but once I had access to the entire breadth of the situation… I found that I was enraptured in the dramatic."
Slade reached behind his back and pulled a small black disk. Raven frowned. It was the same disk that Blood had tried to steal, that Red X had tried to steal… that the Syndicate had been after for a long time.
"When did you go back and steal it?" Raven asked.
"Go back? Why go back when I had someone inside to make sure we never lost it?"
Terra smiled. She waved her fingers in front of Raven's face. "Sticky fingers. You should never leave valuable information in just anyone's hands Raven, it always ends badly."² Terra shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes skyward. "Another thing I'm good at, besides gathering information, is passing it along. People who sneak get caught; I did it all in plain sight. That night when you and Robin were together, rolling around like pigs at the playground… didn't you think it strange that I showed up to help first? I was waiting for him."³
At Raven's sides her joints popped from her clenched fingers. The sneer across her lips tightened. Slade turned his eyes from his childish cohort to the child-like captive. Slade stepped closer to Raven, pulling her gaze to his face. He raised the slim, black disk over his guarded eye. Raven stared at it, her huge irises waving.
"Raven, do you know why this disk is valuable? What is on it that makes it so important?"
Raven shook her head in the negative.
"You… You and your grand prophecy: Raven, the portal bearer."
"What did you need the disk for? You already knew what I was supposed to do."
"But we didn't know how. The truth is in the details. Do you know what a Transient is?"
Raven's widened and what little color was in her face drained away. Her mouth dropped open and a painful inhale became trapped in her throat. No…
"Yes…" Slade said simply. "The transfer of pure energy from a sender to a host. Demons use it routinely to sire. Your own creation isn't so unlike what we have in store. You're going to produce a portal."
"What are you talking about? I am the portal!"
Slade almost laughed. As it was, he could barely contain the merriment in his voice. "No, no, no… dear girl, I'm afraid you're overstepping your value. You are the portal bearer… what you bear will be the portal for Scath… "
Raven's eyes widened. He couldn't mean…
Terra shifted her weight to her left leg, pressing her hands to her hips. "Do you get it now Raven? You're going to be a mommy, to a precious baby girl, just like you always wanted."
"No." Raven whispered.
"Yes…" Slade replied.
"That can't be true! My prophecy---"
Slade interrupted her declaration. "Is only ambiguous if the truth is being kept from you. No one here is trying to protect you Raven, so we have no reason to withhold the truth. You are the sire of Scath, you are his heir to a legacy of destruction… but you aren't capable of such fury… The whelp of a Transient birth possesses powers of magnitude incomparable to anything seen it this world... that is why we need your daughter... It was written that the marks of Scath would arise when your body would become receptive. The marks of Scath are proof of fertility."
Raven's eyes hardened, her voice picked up. "You did that to me!"
"I didn't create the marks Raven, merely uncovered them. Proceeding before you were ready would have proven futile. Do you remember when the first touch burned into you Raven? When it first began?"
Raven tried to calm her breathing, but her heart was forcing every inch of her body into triple time to keep up with its mad beat. Her mind raced, it's speedy nearly rivaling the beat, beat heartbeat. This is a lie… I know what I was told… Azar wouldn't lie to me… why would he lie to me? Raven threw her head to the side, her eyes unseeing as they turned to the ground. Her eyes trembled, tears were threatening to escape. No… no…
"Is your mind troubled Raven? Does it not make sense to you? For months you've felt your Gem state, the need to continue your heritage into the future… I thought you'd be happy. You are going to get what you wanted." Slade rubbed his chin. "I wonder Raven, when did you start dreaming about being a mother? What was the very first day you remember having the desire to make life? Was it on your birthday? The day after? The day after that? Of course, the influence of your programming desires to continue your bloodline. It was the very thing you were meant to do and your mind supplied you with everything you desired, to reach the goal of your body."
Raven stared down at the flaring marks across her body. Tears fell then as her eyes moved from symbol to symbol. "I thought they were a curse…" She hadn't realized she had spoken aloud until Slade made his reply.
"Destructive prophecies are rather cryptic. Someone very smart had to put all the pieces together. It's a rather complicated plot, I must admit Raven. A lot of work is going into unlocking Trigon."
Terra rolled her eyes before leering down at Raven. "We did a lot of work to get to this point… just do your job alright? Well, its' not like you've got a choice."
You don't know anything about my choices, you stupid traitor. I'll make sure you do when I… when I…The sobs racked Raven's body, the captured mystic cupped her mouth in one hand as her body convulsed. She could feel a burning in her stomach… as if it were resigning to her destiny. No, no, no… this can't be real… I won't let them do this to me! I have to get out of here… if not for me… then for…
Raven's hand rose to attack. Terra leapt back just a few inches, shaking a finger at Raven.
"Not a good idea Raven. Those powers that keep you in check are always on and the more you try to fight, the more they take away from you… We know more than enough about you to make that pain as crippling as possible."
A tragic static dashed through Raven's head, the same one that Washu sent nearly every minute of every hour she had been captured. That spark arose whenever she tried to concentrate her powers, whenever she tried to meditate, whenever she tried to escape… every minute of every hour that she had been captured.
"You don't know anything about my pain." Raven sneered.
"Don't you get it Raven?" Terra was stuck between amused and exasperated. "It was everything I found out… every time I listened to your conversations, every time I watched you move, every time you gave your weaknesses away… I gave it to Slade and I got you here. When it comes to you, Raven, I'm the big bad. And I have to admit, it was fun."
"That's enough Terra. I believe we've tortured her enough, she'll have plenty of time to torture herself and somehow I feel as that will be much more damaging… besides, it's always a fool's error to give away all the details of our plan. Secrets are the best weapons, especially in a plot as delicate as ours."
He's not telling me everything… and he wants me to know it… what else could there be? What could hurt more than knowing the truth?... Does he even know everything? There has to be more, there has to be a way out… there has to be a way to stop this… if Slade doesn't know how… he will tell me at least who can.
"You say ours as if it were just Trigon's bane. Trigon is powerful, but he isn't smart. Someone else orchestrated this. Someone stronger than you!"
Slade tilted his head as if contemplating his options. "Stronger? No… his powers are simple more diverse. Washu is extremely interested in you… everything about you. We've all invested an interest in your progeny Raven."
Every question Raven threw out returned an answer that scared her heart. She was losing the strength to stand anymore. Her body clenched the consequence of Slade and Terra's words… inside her nausea and pure terror raced; her blood was on fire and freezing at the same time. My daughter… my dreams of the future… they were a plot… it had all been so beautiful… and all a part of the burden of my nature… How could he; how could Trigon take what was precious to me and use it… how could Slade facilitate that destruction? How can I defend against it?
Raven could not deny the overwhelming sensation of defeat… though nothing as of yet had been a success, simply knowing all of her truths resigned her to accept it. Her mind was turning over to her body and driving her to submit.
No…
Inside Raven something craved protection. Through the sparks of disabling magic, Raven could feel something moving, desperate for her attention. HOPE… HOPE… Do not give up hope, Raven…Right now… its all you have…
"Why?"
Slade didn't have to think before providing his answer. "Why does anyone do anything? Because we can. However, in your case… you do because the rest of the world is stacked against you. And with no white knight, no avoidance of inevitability, you haven't a hope in the world of escaping your destiny."
Raven tightened her fingers into a fist and screamed. "You can't do this!"
Terra laughed. "What makes you say that Rae? The fact that we have you here, the fact that you gave us everything needed. It only took a little bit of meddling to keep some delicacies in your nature intact."
"What?"
"The complexity of a Transient birth is overly precise; certain precautions were monitored to make sure you didn't spoil before you were ripe." Slade replied.
"I don't understand."
Slade crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Do not concern yourself with the details Raven."
Raven was going to do exactly that. "You're not protecting anyone Slade, tell me."
"Just tell her Slade… this is the best part. If you don't I will."
Slade turned to stare down at Terra. "It would do you well, Terra, to remember your place… but I suppose there is no harm in you knowing the full spectrum of that particular truth. All Transient births are the facilitated transfer of energy into a host, but there are two complications without which Transients fail. First is that the host must be strong and receptive. Your strengths are unquestionable and nothing outside of Washu can take that away from you… and as for receptiveness… I believe your new understanding of your birthmarks does provide some understanding."
"Some?"
"You pick up on my nuances so well Raven. It's charming… Your body is not totally ready… No woman's body can sustain a Transient birth before the age of twenty. It's a set back that we are prepared to accommodate for. We have a lot of preparation to do… though you did most of it for us."
Twenty? That's four years from now!
Terra nodded. "Guess you're wondering why we took you now huh? There's another complication for the Transient… you've got to be a virgin."
Raven's fury flared in her mind. A sharp spin of her psyche ruptured and was crushed by Washu's interference. Raven's eyes bored at them both, both purple eyes slanted with fury.
Terra laughed at the display. "With the way you and Robin were getting hot and heavy just by looking at each other… it was obvious that that complication was in risk of being nonexistent."
Confusion softened her features, her eyes dropped to the floor, her lips parting softly before the lower one rolled and was pinched between her teeth. She remembered being so close to Robin then… and she had stopped… then she didn't know why, she just did and when Robin stopped as well, she had called it nerves… My body didn't want Robin, even though my heart did… my body stopped to make sure I stayed a virgin… and because Robin respected me, we stopped… Robin… Robin…
Raven had cried for days in worry about Robin. She remembered him being so fragile in her arms… she knew he was too strong to be defeated, but unable to see him, to hear him, to know that he was thinking about her, worried about her, terrified Raven. She didn't know if Robin was safe and Terra wouldn't tell her. The blond traitor had all but told her that she didn't care enough about Robin to even ask what happened to him. Raven had asked if her hate extended to Robin. Terra replied in the positive; Robin had ignored her… and now she was returning the favor.
Terra's voice cut through Raven's worry. "Making sure you stayed a virgin was exhausting, Raven. Most the time, since you both were bumbling fools about it, my interference was minimal. Sometimes I had to step in… on your precious little anniversary, did my knocking ruin the mood?"
Slade grew tired of Terra's self-important tone. "That's enough Terra… I'm sure Raven understands now the true depth of your deception. Is it all clear Raven? Has the consequences of your life and all the life you will create… has it all sunken in? Don't be concerned if it hasn't… We will not be moving forward until your body is ready, when your teenage years have passed you."
"You'll never hold me here for four years!"
Slade nodded in agreement. "No, not me… but there are forces much more powerful than yours… and how very convenient that they all have aligned against you… I'm afraid you won't have as much time as you deserve to brood and worry about your unavoidable future… to eliminate any chance that something might arise to inspire attempts at escape… we're going to put you asleep… it will be as if the next four years will fly right by… it isn't as if the interlude will matter to you… You won't have the consciousness to miss it…"
Terra groaned. "Now look what you've done! You made the strong and proud Raven cry… It's just as bad as her glares and threats… it gets boring so quickly. Can we just put her to sleep now? Why don't we go get Washu… and give Raven a little alone time… before she gets a lot of it."
…
Aqualad's face was tight with nervousness as he restrained Blackfire in the middle of the common room. The Tameranian had thrown down her task, shattering the three dirty plates she was carrying to the kitchen to wash. Aqualad had been closest to Blackfire when her temper had flared and though she had the power to throw him aside and probably a few miles on top of that, he was the only one she wouldn't hurt to break free of and he was the only brave enough to get in her way.
Blackfire's temper flaring up wasn't anything uncommon in the last few months. The girl didn't take stress well and the background noise to their already complicated lives was not helping her achieve calm.
For three months, the fragment that remained of the formerly indestructible Titans had been rebuilding. It had been a difficult task for all of them, all of the hallways and bedrooms seemed to echo with memories of Raven, Sakura and Terra. There hadn't been a single joke made from Beast Boy, nor a surprised giggled from Star; there wasn't a merry shout of a victorious Speedy and when the TV was on, it wasn't attached to a game station; it was channeled on the news. The livelihood of the tower was gone…
All the talks had been serious, because everything was serious and everything was a crisis. When Blackfire and Aqualad had preformed the preliminary assessment of the damage, their hearts seemed paralyzed as their eyes and ears took it all in. Every floor was littered with debris and with the splatter of destruction. Some rooms and wings were spared destruction, but others seemed to be the epicenter.
When the pair stumbled upon Beast Boy, standing in the center of a corridor, they were forced to wonder if the attack was meant to disable them or to dishearten them. Every single bedroom, every room where a Titan laid their head, was harmed. The room Starfire and Blackfire shared was caved on one side. The door was blown in on Cyborg's and Beast Boy's had been the victim of a rebounding attack when Sakura and Celine's room was completely destroyed.
It was a wonder if any of them slept those first few nights. Their bedrooms were the harshest wounds down to the physical aspect of the tower. Even as Blackfire cried when she bent to clear the wreckage that was Starfire's bed, she knew, they all knew, that the real damage done to the tower was the damage done to the Titans.
It was some stroke of luck or cruel game that the medic room was relatively undisturbed. Cyborg had tried not to think about it when he laid Celine to rest there. He was silent as he used his personal technology to revive the small hospital and took care of Celine's wounds.
Celine had lain unconscious for three days. When the red haired genius woke up, she became more like a machine than any of her computers. Her first task was to repair the Titans' system. All of it. The frenzy and precision of the strike on the tower had decimated everything: every page of history, every ounce of identity, any clue for how to recover and move forward. So Celine had to make the plan for recovery. She and Cyborg had spent days sifting through the wreckage of the control panels, tossing aside the unsalvageable and saving as much as they could. There was much more of the former than the latter, but they worked with what they had.
Cyborg repaired the data acquisition system and directed the Titans to their tasks. He had put most of them to work on clearing out damage and then into restoration of what was important… he never told Celine what to do, because she knew better than anyone else what had to be done…
Her most painful task was to assess Robin. Between all of them, Celine didn't know who was most worried about the Titans' leader. Starfire only left his side when forced and Speedy couldn't go more than a few hours without asking if there was any change, even though between those few hours he was right beside Starfire, worried like Celine had never seen.
They were all feeling the effects of Robin's incapacitation. Robin was part of their absolute strength as people, he reminded them of what strength of will was and he made sure that if they ever needed cheering up, he'd be there to do it.
We could use it Robin… we really would like it… if you could wake up…
The word could was what bothered Celine the most. She had run every test she could access, read every book she could salvage from her library (which is to say, wasn't much), she had contacted every doctor she could rely on, but she couldn't find anyway to wake him up. Magic, specifically Washu's magic, wasn't a science. It was something she didn't understand. It was beyond the scope of Reverse Engineering and nothing anyone said could inspire some side of Celine's genius…
And that was why Blackfire was angry. For three months she watched her friends and her sister falter and lose hope: lose hope of finding Sakura, of saving Raven and of helping Robin. For three months she had watched Starfire wilt under sadness. The emotional capacity of Tameranians was meant to experience great happiness, but for these three months they had been captured in fear, uncertainty and sadness. It had incapacitated D'ucel, sank Star and drove Blackfire to fury.
Celine and Cyborg watched Aqualad hold Blackfire back. They all had the same fears: that something terrible had become of Sakura, that Raven would succeed in her terrible destiny and that Robin would never recover… and it ate at all of them, but what made Blackfire take on her righteous fury was when one of them would give up hope.
Just a few moments before Blackfire turned to anger, Celine had encountered something discouraging. All of her outreaches were pointed definitely to the negative. There was no scientific mind, no modern technology, no gift of the present that could bring Robin back into animation. None. Celine didn't want to say, but when Cyborg asked what she found… the flaw in her nature disclosed all the truths.
"So that's it?" Cyborg had asked his voice loud enough to catch Blackfire's attention. Celine frowned and nodded, closing down her microcomputer.
"For now…"
"Don't do that Omicron, don't linger out the inevitable."
"I'm not lingering out the inevitable, Cyborg. I'm just holding on to hope."
"You said so yourself, we can't help Robin. No matter of hope is going to change that… and we need to accept it."⁵
Blackfire turned and so did Aqualad. Celine didn't want to look at him, but Cyborg's declaration demanded their attention.
"We need to face it ya'll. The Titans are never going to be like it was. We've lost Robin, just like we lost Raven, Sakura and Terra."
"You will not compare our friends to Terra!" Blackfire yelled. "And we have not lost them!"
"Blackfire, listen to me, I'm not giving up on Robin or Raven or Sakura. All I'm saying is that for the last three months we've been focused on the wrong objective. If Robin was going to wake up, he would have done it by now."
"Are you saying there's an expiration date for hope?" Aqualad asked.
"I'm saying there's a time for everything and right now is the time to get ready. No amount of worrying is going to make us ready for when the Syndicate makes its move. I want Robin to get up and fight with us again too, just as much as everyone else. He's a good friend and I'd do all in my power to get him back. But right now we don't know what that will take."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying the Titans are at a standstill and we need to move ahead."
"Move ahead where? To a place without our friends? To a place where we leave them behind because we have not found a solution immediately? Where do you suggest we go?" Celine asked.
"We go where we aren't victims to our memories."
That was when Blackfire grew furious. Aqualad had grabbed her just inches from Cyborg's throat. The mechanical Titan had been surprised by her sudden attack and would have fallen victim to it if not for Aqualad.
He could see in her glowing eyes that she wasn't angry… she was at a stage far beyond angry, she was scared within a breath of self-destructing.
"You are wrong!" Blackfire's eyes lost their glow when she saw the unease in the faces of her friends. She pulled in all her strength and let Aqualad wrap his arms around her. Her stature was just tall enough that she could look over Aqualad's shoulder and into the eyes of Cyborg. Her face was pulled far away that he could hear every word she said. "I know that hiding does not resolve problems… our pasts are painful, but they are also important. I cannot give up any of those good things in hopes to get rid of the bad… in the past are our friends… I have not many friends left in the universe Cyborg; do not dare ask me to give any of them up without a fight."
Cyborg couldn't meet Blackfire's eyes a second longer. His strong face deflated and without a look back the cybernetic powerhouse left the room. Celine followed behind him.
"Cyborg, stop." Celine demanded.
It surprised her, but he did. "I'd never ask that." He said simply, responding to what Blackfire had said and not to Celine's command. The beautiful engineer touched his arm. She had touched his arm before, on a million different occasions, but this touch had been the first one in months. To any onlooker it seemed the most natural thing in the world. To Cyborg, if felt like one of the tragedies of the past.
Celine's brown eyes were soft when she saw that he couldn't meet her gaze. Her free hand reached up and turned Cyborg's head gently, her palm cupping his cheek.
"I understand, Cyborg. You're trying to be strong for us, but you're going about it the wrong way… forgetting is what leads to the same mistakes coming and coming again… we can't ever forget what has become of us and we'll use every single memory to get back what was stolen. "
"I want my team back, Omicron."
"Then be our leader and recognize that we're scared… we won't forget our fears."
"I didn't mean to sound like I was giving up on everything, but every time I see Starfire and Speedy… whenever I see BB… its hurts so much I can't stand it… the only way I can think to take it all away… is to push it all aside."
"Pushing might work for you Cyborg, but not for us…"
"I should have known that. I'm a terrible leader."
"No, it's just hard fitting into Robin's tights."
"You have no idea."
It wasn't funny, but they all got the idea. Two floors down, Starfire sat beside Robin, her chin resting on her folded hands. She leaned against his bedpost and from where Speedy sat she was on the verge of crying again.
There were no clues and that was what was most frightening about their situation. The attack on the Titans had been so thorough, so precise that it was obvious that the executed plan had been matriculated carefully and over a very long time.
It had taken Speedy weeks to convince himself that the shallow rising and lowering of Robin's chest wasn't a figment of his imagination. He sat beside Robin and Star for hours, trying to think of something that would make it all feel right again.
Together the Titans had worked out a rough timeline of what had happened and what would happen. The former was the more terrifying of the two because the uncertainty of the latter was all around them. For three months the world had continued to turn, there was still life, there was still light and there was still hope. Something was stopping the end of the world… and Speedy prayed with all his might that that something was Sakura, that she was fighting still and that she was okay. There was that possibility, that that could be happening and that sliver of chance gave Speedy peace. What unnerved him was in what had happened; because even in the details of how, who, what and when… the why question burned at them brutally.
It was someone's goal to take us out. Not just at the Cave of Serin, but long before. The exactness hadn't been certified, but that wasn't important. The Titans knew that the beginning of the end had started probably when Raven was born, before Slade came into the picture, before Terra was implanted within the Titans… Before we ever knew that we were a threat.
They didn't know where the chain of command lead, but they did know that Washu had sent Slade and Slade brought Terra and Terra gave them everything. With all the wreckage it was hard to know what Terra took and what was destroyed, but it all resulted in the same thing: a plot.
The whole time, it was a set-up. Terra was an emissary, the fourth member of Slade's court⁴, sent to get the Syndicate the edge on us. Everything was stacked against us… the Cave of Serin… they knew that Sakura was afraid of heights so they tried to take her out by dropping the ground beneath her … they knew that when Washu made that attack on Raven, that Robin would protect her. They knew that Sakura and Robin were the biggest opposition to their plot and they sought to take them out… and by doing so they crippled our team… and now we're playing the waiting game until they make their move.
Speedy looked over to Robin and saw Starfire close her eyes. The green eyed girl was slowly, but steadily feeling the effects of her worry. She's already lost him once…
Speedy dropped his chin onto the back of his hands. He could have been praying, thinking about the vast uncertainty of the universe, or on the verge of tears from that position. But he wasn't. He was thinking about the difference one person could make in the fate of the rest of their lives.
Get up Robin… There are a lot of people waiting on you and even more who need you… we need to get our girls back… all of them…
Beat, beat, heart beat.
End of Part Two
A/N
¹Last part Raven said she didn't care why she did it. Of course that was a lie, but she knew that Terra wasn't going to tell her then… and she was going to get a lot more information out of her when she wore her down.
²Did anyone notice that in HIVE MIND part 5, that Terra closed an empty vault? Its subtle, but its there.
³In Remembersees Part One: Terra passes Slade the disk when he grabs her. That's why she didn't run away rather than couldn't run away. Again, very subtle, but its there.
⁴There are four major members under Slade in his Syndicate. I named three: X, Washu, Tetris… and Speedy filled in the blank that I left in Engraved Invitation. That one wasn't so obvious as a clue, but there it was.
⁵As far as superheroes go, Cyborg is probably the most easy to turn to despair. Any chance the guy gets he's ready to quit and go home. I'm probably over doing it, but I really don't have much more for him to do until the end of this chapter.