Transient
Part Four
In two days Robin had more ideas than Celine and Cyborg had put together in three months. Robin's recovery had been fueled by fear, but while it had paralyzed the rest of the Titans, it drove Robin to do better.
The reconstruction was in its final phases and the network system had become, for the most part, functional. Despite what Celine's reports had disclosed about the possible side-effects of Robin's return from suspended animation, Robin didn't seem to be suffering from fatigue. Cyborg had readily relinquished Robin's role as leader of the Titans and Robin set about making the Titans a team again.
He had set the most sensitive to work in reconstruction; the Tameranians and Beast Boy were in charge of settling the internal fragments of Titans' Tower. Speedy, Aqualad and Bumble Bee were responsible for the out reach phase, getting as much information from their friends around the world; Hot Spot, Kid Flash, Wildebeest, anyone about anything that could be connected to the Syndicate and their movements. Cyborg and Celine were the grand communicators, siphoning lines of information from informants and pulling it into the Titans' headquarters.
It was Robin's role to put it all together. Robin sat with Celine and Cyborg, pouring over every inch of possibly relevant data and after one week Robin had four pieces of information to go on.
"Omicron, Cyborg, so far we know four things definitely. First, we know that Slade's Syndicate contains more than four members."
"Right, but that could be anyone." Cyborg replied.
"But there are two specific some ones I'm interested in. First is Brother Blood." Robin started.
"We know from the past that Blood worked with Slade if only for a short amount of time. Seeing as Blood didn't get what he wanted with the bargain, he's either still working with Slade to get his money's worth or he's looking for him for pay back." Celine added.
"Brother Blood can hide out and wait better than the rest of them. He could be anywhere he wants to be for as long as he wants to be. He might be wherever Slade's Syndicate is holding Rae. If Blood wants to be found, then he'll come to us." Cyborg posited.
"Waiting on Blood could take years." Celine replied.
"That's time we don't have." Cyborg retorted.
"Its time we don't need. Slade and Blood have a common ground. We need to find Professor Chang and see if there's something he's capable of telling us." Robin continued.
"I've already put Bumble Bee and Speedy on it. I don't know if she'll be able to find her in time."
"In time?"
"The AGU and the Justice League have no doubt caught wind of the attacks on the tower. I haven't given them the breadth of the situation--"
"Right now it would be best to keep our secrets," Robin interrupted, bringing Celine's attention to his face. "Before we can dispel any information we need to get to the bottom of this."
"Getting back to the beginning is presenting a problem. The Cave of Serin isn't where the map indicated three and a half months ago. It moved. To where, I'm not even sure where to start looking."
"I'm not sure how much that would help anyone," Celine began. "There's absolutely no way to know if the Syndicate hasn't moved from the cave to another location. The cave opened to a portal realm, they could be in an innumerable number of places."
"Then your task, Omicron, is to narrow it down. We don't have much to work with except that the release of Trigon can't destroy Earth unless it is actually freed on Earth. If they aren't on Earth now, they've got to come back."
"I don't know much about traveling between dimensions, but whole caves can't be transported between zones without making disturbances within the location it was taken from and where it ended up. If that cave moved off Earth, we'd have known about it." Cyborg replied.
"But the Cave of Serin is a tie between worlds and even between the end and the present. That isn't to say that the cave can't move between those functions… if we're to assume that we could detect the consequences of its movements and that we haven't… That only limits it to the continuum of Earth's sphere, all the alternative dimensions linked to earth."
"Then that's where we start." Robin said and watched Celine drop her scouter of her eye and type rapidly along her microcomputer.
"What else?" Cyborg asked.
Robin proceeded. "Two things, but they're both tied together with Slade's plot to end the world."
"We can't even be sure its Slade's plot. That Washu guy is a pretty bad dude." Cyborg interrupted.
"Which leads me to believe that Slade is responsible for Washu leaving us alive. Washu obviously has the capacity to annihilate us, but he didn't."
"Why would he do that?"
"Don't know. It could be something as simple as him not wanting to waste time and energy… or it could be that he wants us as spectators when he makes Raven free Trigon." Robin replied.
Cyborg frowned. "That sounds like Slade."
"That sounds like an opportunity." The Boy Wonder's masked eyes were heavy with determination. "It's been months and the world hasn't ended, that means beyond the preliminary actions, a move hasn't been made. That means there's still time to find Sakura and save Raven."
Celine's revived Console, a poor replicate of its original glory, buzzed to life. It was Bumble Bee.
"We found him. We got Prof Chang. I'm sending you the coordinates."
"Right. We'll be there ASAP. Omicron out."
The readouts printed and Robin tore the map cleanly away. The longer hairs that defied his hair prep fell around his face and across the corners of his mask. He turned to Cyborg who readied his cannon and Celine pulled her Firefly to her shoulder. Robin nodded.
…
Sakura woke up on her side with Terra crouching over her, poking her with one finger. Sakura's hand shot out to grab Terra by the collar, but her extension was interrupted with a hand from the Earth grabbed her by the wrist. Sakura gritted her teeth and tried to pull her arm away. From the contented grin on her face, Terra had no intention of letting her go.
It was the first time she had seen Terra use her power in her holding cell. She knew that Terra's control of the Earth was inherently better than her own will of Holy, but she also knew that Terra wasn't nearly as strong as to fight Washu's influence in this place. That meant Washu was letting her use her powers, that meant without a shadow of a doubt that Terra was choosing to work for Slade and there was no point in convincing herself that Terra was worthy of rescue.
"How long?" Sakura asked.
Terra tightened her brow. "How long what?"
"How long?" Sakura repeated again.
When Terra caught the question she laughed to herself. The hand holding Sakura's wrist melted and reshaped, extending in height and forcing Sakura to stand. The earth and sand pooled and spun under Terra's feet as she stepped forward, as the ground around Sakura pulled and ran, wrapping around the half-Japanese girl's ankles, then calves and hips. Sakura felt the cold result of Terra's power, but kept her eyes on the geomancer's face.
"Maybe," Terra began, "Maybe it was when Raven rejected me… or maybe when you embarrassed me in the training room… maybe longer… who knows?" Terra laughed. The earth pulled tightly around Sakura, leaving on her neck and shoulders exposed to the air.
"You know." Sakura replied, the soil began to solidify around her. Her Holy was seeping through the cracks and faults, but as those faults tightened, the energy peeked less and less. Terra smiled as Sakura's light show faded… Light show…
"I do know Sakura, but I'm not going to tell you… I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of knowing that. But I do want to share with you something infinitely more interesting."
Terra made three soil replicas: one of Sakura, one of Robin and one of Celine. Their faces were mutated with deep frowns and eyes without detail. They looked like weak puppets and Terra was going to make them dance.
"I'm making a list of who is going to be destroyed specially. I mean beside the whole end of the world thing. This is a special operation with special candidates… It's composed of the Titans and I've already ticked a name off the list."
The dirt Celine turned around smoothly before leaning over at the waist and exploding into dirt fragments that scattered against the cave walls. Sakura's mouth dropped agape, even as a clod struck her face.
Celine… no… no…
"Oh don't worry, Sakura, she'll have plenty of company. She already does actually… I'm sure she's feeling right at home with your dearly departed baby brother."
Sakura's eyes widened. Her breath clenched in her throat. "No!"
Terra tilted her head menacingly, a knowing smile on her lips. "'fraid so." The soil Robin spun around slowly before lifting a few feet of the ground and spasming, a small fine portion pulled away, spinning in a hollow sphere just outside its body. While the sphere twirled and whorled, the soil body Robin dropped to the ground. On impact the body broke apart. Terra watched with great interest as tears ran down Sakura's cheeks.
"It's a pale comparison," Terra said pointing to the still spinning sphere of sand. "But it gets the point across. Slade had Washu kill your little brother, taking away all his energy. From what I heard, it was a really painful way to go."
Sakura couldn't find the words to yell at Terra, to scream. Her tears flowed without caution, a burn spreading through her chest. Dear Brother… it can't be true. You promised to always stand! You can't have…
The sand sphere thrashed into Sakura's face. "Were you awake to see it? Robin's light show? Or were you too busy to scrapping yourself off the ground to see your brother's last moments of life?"
"Stop it." Sakura ground out, the sand mixed with the salt of her tears, burning her eyes and skin. Her breathing was ragged and she couldn't tell if it was from her chest expanding and deflating deeply and quickly or if it were part of Terra's game that was making the stone that imprisoned her feel tighter.
"Oh don't feel so bad Sakura. Soon, he'll have a good half of dozen friends to join him. Robin left a great parting gift. His training simulation based on all the Titans' fighting styles will give us all we need to wipe out your friends… Who should we start with? Starfire? Cyborg? Bumble Bee? Don't worry Sakura," Terra said, stepping forward and slapping Sakura's face. "I won't crush them all. I'll keep Speedy as a pet. I've always wondered what color his eyes are."
"I'm going to destroy you." Sakura ground out.
Terra rolled her eyes. "Wrong, so wrong. Now that Slade has no use for you… I can do whatever I want… and I want to start the annihilation of the rest of the Titans with you."
Sakura's soil puppet didn't spin at all. A wave of earth pulled over her and crushed the doll. The ground smoothed out, it was as if the puppet was never there.
…
Professor Chang was having difficulty breathing when Robin arrived. Anyone would if they had Bumble Bee's heel pinning them by the neck to a wall. The gifted fighter had Chang pinned firmly; his legs dangled a few inches off the floor. His fingers sought leverage in the chain linking of the wall behind him back, but the mad scientist could find no purchase. While his life dangled beneath a sharp black boot, Robin, Cyborg and Celine approached. Speedy jerked his heads towards Bumble Bee's captive. Robin moved forward. Bumble Bee turned her eye to the trio and waited for a signal to back down.
She didn't get one. Robin stared at the mad doctor, but Professor Chang didn't seem nearly as interested in Robin as he was in Celine. Celine pulled her Firefly across her shoulder, moving the barrel to push into the junction between Chang's neck and chin.
"That unpleasant scar seems to have affected your temperament." Professor Chang gasped out.
"You know a lot more about my scar than it just being unpleasant… you know about who gave it to me because you worked with him…"
"Him?"
"That attack reeked of more than Terra… there were traces of Slade and Brother Blood all over it… tell us where we can find him." Celine demanded.
"What makes you think I know that?"
From the sharp hiss of his oxygen tank, Robin could tell he was losing air. His masked eye turned to Bumble Bee who dropped her heel. Chang's relief only lasted a moment when Robin grabbed him by the collar and pinned him back to the wall. The thin metal shook with the force of the slam.
"We know you're a member of Slade's Syndicate. You're the tie between Brother Blood and Slade and when there's a movement made by the both of them, we know it comes back to you." Robin replied.
"I'm afraid you are overestimating me Robin. I am not a member of any syndicate. The restraints of such governments stifle my creativity."
Speedy strung back a bolt. The careening arrow stuck faster than Robin could react to. It was a fighter's reflexes that kept his grip on Chang as the arrow sliced in from the left, striking Chang's goggles and continuing to the right. The smoky frames splintered; the metal shattering and falling away. His dark grey eyes were open in surprise as his head turned to the left and stared at Speedy. The archer pulled another bolt.
"Slade would have given you plenty of opportunity to play and I know he has at least one playmate available. So stop your games and tell us what we want to know." Speedy said, his fingers were clenched tight to the back end of his charge, but he could let it go at any instant.
"You are quite a nasty boy. All the children in the Teen Titans are rotten children, especially the masked ones."
Robin slammed Chang again, having enough with his stalling.
"Tell me where to find Slade!"
"I can't tell you what I don't know. I am not a member of Slade's Syndicate. My role in Slade's goal appears to be a one time affair and as it seems, that relationship is to my benefit. I have no business with Slade or you. Unhand me."
"What about Blood?"
"I have not seen him since I completed Red Hawk." Yildindan replied. "If you do not believe me, consult the Brotherhood of Evil, I have been terribly occupied with their work for quite some time."
Robin's fingers relaxed their grip. Chang pulled his clothes away and stood, Robin standing at the same time. Chang adjusted his mangled glasses.
"Robin, do you believe him?" Cyborg asked.
"He's never given me a reason not to. If there's one thing Chang is, it's honest." Robin replied.
"He's also getting away." Bumble Bee added, pointing to a fleeing Chang.
"No he's not." Speedy took aim and let his charge escape. It took no time at all to catch the mad doctor and ensnare him in an impenetrable net. Professor Yildindan Chang fell to the floor struggling. He squirmed uninterrupted for a few seconds before Celine's grey boot pinned him down by the shoulder. Her Firefly dangled to her left as she bent over, resting her right arm on her elevated knee.
"If it's been so long since you've seen Red Hawk, how about I arrange a reunion for you… in jail?"
Chang ceased struggling.
…
It only occurred to Robin after a night of tortured sleep how much the others were affected, truly affected by Raven and Sakura's disappearance. It was no argument that Robin felt the fullest brunt of the lost, his girlfriend and his sister were the victims to Slade's plot. He had woken up that morning feeling sweat covering his body, his hair sticking to his face. He couldn't remember the dream he had, but he did feel the chill of it; if things had been different, Raven would have been right there beside him, holding his head in her hands and taking away his fear.
Interrupted tender moments often leave many things unsaid. Robin realized that he never told Raven that he loved her and never got to feel the wonderful uncertainty that came with her saying it back. They had waited, had been delicate with each other… and there was a possibility that he'd be paying for it for the rest of his life.
But while he had the uncertainty of never, Speedy was facing "it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" scenario and it appeared to be kicking his butt.
The others who had emotional fragility had outlets. Blackfire could turn to Aqualad, Star and D'ucel could bury themselves in their tasks and Beast Boy followed Celine and Cyborg like a shadow, hoping to be of some help.
Robin had been worried that the green changeling, whom no one referred to as the little guy anymore, as his height was rocketing by the day, would be the one most damaged by what had happened. But with Celine and Cyborg always able to spare him a glance or a task, the youngest Titan was the first to start being normal. The other day Celine had accidentally made Beast Boy smile and for the whole day, everyone's chins were held just a bit higher…
Except Speedy's.
No matter what they said about Robin and his secrecy, the truth was the only person who knew anything about Speedy, outside of Aqualad, was Sakura. With Aqualad occupied constantly, Speedy was the odd man out. It was only the way that Speedy's masked sagged that Robin knew the archer wasn't sleeping. His work was consistent; while he wasn't terribly competent at computer work, if he was given a task, he did it, did it fast and did it well.
Robin could hear Speedy's fingers typing against the laptop on the table. He had barely eaten the lunch that Blackfire was clearing away. His fingers had drummed the whole half an hour. When Professor Chang had turned out to be a bust, the Titans had been sent back to square one. Speedy hadn't taken it well.
The consequences of another draw back had affected morale and seeing as Speedy hadn't much of a reserve to begin with, he was bound to break. The team moved in their orders. Beast Boy was working with Celine at her console, Cyborg and Aqualad were in the city out on patrol and Blackfire and Star were finishing odds and ends.
They were the witnesses.
Robin closed his computer. The Titans' leader looked over Speedy's computer at Speedy's sleep deprived features. His handsome face has lost much of its natural radiance; the only light it produced was what it reflected from his computer monitor.
"Hey Speedy, you've been having at that search for a long time… maybe you should rest for a little while."
"I'm fine."
"Speedy, no you're not… Look, I know you're worried… but pushing yourself too hard isn't going to make the answer fall out of the sky."
Robin was wrong.
The explosion threw both masked heroes from their chairs. Dusk kicked up and blinded the Titans temporarily as the roof sunk in. Robin shook his head and beside him Speedy sat up. Beast Boy had grabbed Celine's shoulders to hold the red head steady, but the pair were thrown to the floor. The other red head and her sister were able to keep their ground.
What Robin saw was like a memory being played again. The form that was naturally graceful, full of life and energy was falling, dropping down like a stone into water. Just like their mother, just like his father, her body arrangement was awkward. As her body plummeted downward her loose hair flapped above her. Her body crashed against the T-table, landing in the debris from the roof. Robin's eyes saw the shadows of her fall, heard her land and heard Speedy scream.
"SAKURA!"
The masked fighters both leapt onto the table, taking crouches by the girl's side. Speedy shook her shoulders, trying to get her awake, but the girl was not moving. Robin's eyes were painfully wide, his mind couldn't seem to connect what he was seeing. Sakura was laying perfectly still, absolutely still. Speedy's movements moved Sakura's body and Robin couldn't tell if she was breathing or if it were Speedy's pitiful sobs that made Sakura's chest rise and fall. Speedy clutched the formless girl to his chest. Robin's fingers reached out to touch her, almost touched her when a voice above his head entered his attention. His eyes remained locked on Sakura as Terra began to speak.
"Consider this a warning, Titans. You're all slated for destruction. Don't worry about finding us. One by one, I'll find you."
Robin turned his head then, in the short turn he could see Beast Boy's face plummet, he could see Tameranian might charging. He could see the outlook of his team changing within less than a second.
"Where's Raven?" Robin yelled.
Terra seemed slightly taken aback by his voice, but her voice didn't show it. She stared directly down at him, her eyes seeing only the T-table, Robin, Speedy and Sakura. "She's resting… bringing up the Apocalypse can take a lot out of a girl." Terra narrowed her eyes cruelly. "I wouldn't worry so much about Raven… She's in good hands… can't say that about Sakura."
Robin turned his head for a second to look back at his sister and Terra escaped on her floating stone…
She escaped Robin's vision but not Starfire's grasp. Star and Blackfire had moved at the same time, when Terra had turned her eyes for just a second to glare down at Sakura and Robin. The flying sisters charged, chasing Terra with fury in their eyes. The faster Blackfire drove ahead while Starfire pinned her from behind. Even though Terra knew that Star was behind her, she kept all of her attention on Blackfire.
"You will pay for what you have done to our friends." Blackfire sneered.
"I haven't even begun yet to hurt your friends, Blackfire… but when I do… you'll have a front row seat."
As Blackfire drew her hand back to purge a Blackbolt, Terra shifted her body. The blonde geomancer was fast enough in dropping down a few feet that only the tips of her hair felt the heat of Blackfire's furious energy. Starfire's chest felt the brunt of it. The blow surprised Starfire, causing her to double over in pain. Her down cast eyes had the perfect view as Terra retaliated with a raising column of stone, drawn from her riding rock, slammed into Blackfire's neck and stole away her wakefulness. Terra only spared a single glance to the rapidly falling girl, long enough to watch the foolish Starfire dive after her. Terra made her escape, uninterrupted after that point.
Terra's mind focused on two things. First was how good it felt to put Blackfire in her place. Just like Sakura, Blackfire had a spot near the top of her list, but she was going to wait to bring her to her end. Striking her down so easily had brought her a feeling that would satisfy her for the time being.
The second was that she had seen him, had heard his voice. Robin wasn't dead. Terra thought for a moment, bringing both hands behind her back. That's a handy piece of information… I think I'll keep that to myself…
End of Chapter Eleven