Well, here's the next chapter. Only one more after this. Hope you guys enjoy.
Static. "Raven? Pick up." Pause. Static. "Okay, don't pick up. Beast Boy's in trouble. We need a plan. We need to get that remote from Slade and we need to distract Slade long enough so he doesn't notice. And ideas?" Pause. Terra's breathing filled the frequency as she gave an irritated growl. "Fine, be that way. I dunno why I even-"
"Would you stop messing around with the communication frequency? If you needed to contact me you could've just opened a thought link."
Terra, still hovering awkwardly at the edge of the platform tilted her head slightly to the side, watching the three Titans, Robin still in a crouched position, Starfire lingering behind him, and Raven hanging back farther then the other two, violet eyes flicking back to stare pointedly at the blonde, who was somewhat stunned at having the empath's voice in her head. "Right. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, maybe because I've been gone for over nine months…" Terra didn't notice the fact that she was speaking aloud, but blinked slightly when Raven responded anyway.
"Was there a reason you needed to talk to me or was this just time to irritate me in the heat of battle?"
The geomancer rolled her eyes slightly, once more catching Raven's gaze. "You heard it. If you can hear me talking now you heard it." Terra pulled back, glancing over her shoulder to Cyborg, who had a very strange attachment, like a scalpel on one hand, a syringe and a wad of gauze in his other. She winced slightly as he pulled back the skin on the shape-shifter's forehead and shook his head slowly. "What?"
"It's deeper then I thought. I might have to break bone." Cyborg paused, exchanging his scalpel for something that looked like a small metal detector. "Once I find the chip I'll get it out ASAP, but Terra I can't guarantee you he'll be the same BB. I mean, that chip has to be fused into his brain to be working. It might even have erased some of his memories."
"It didn't," she answered quietly, head bowed as she bit her lower lip. "He remembered me. As the beast his eyes changed according to what was controlling him, the beast, the chip, or Beast Boy. He recognized me." Terra had drawn her knees in to her chest and was resting her chin upon them, hair hanging into her face and hiding the steady stream of tears that was falling. She might have said that, but deep inside there was that small part of her that thought…No, he was fine.
"He might remember bits and pieces, Terra," Cyborg murmured, a steady beeping sound coming from his tech detector. He moved the device along Beast Boy's cut, and when he reached the dead center of it, where the stitches had fallen out, the beeping became shrill and sharp. "But I'm not gonna lie to you. This kind of thing, neural control, it usually leaves a person with some kind of brain damage."
"Usually," Terra repeated voice cold and slightly violent, "People don't come back from the dead, either." She brought her gaze back to Raven who judging by her general expression had been listening in to their entire conversation. "I didn't lose my memories."
"You pretended to."
The geomancer turned her attention away from Cyborg who now was trying to select the right type of tool to break through Beast Boy's skull. The sound of sawing was heard in the back of Terra's mind, but thankfully her attention was on solely on Raven. "You got a plan or are we gonna sit here until Slade starts picking us off one by one?"
"If I had a plan I wouldn't be just standing her on a telekinetic phone with you, would I?"
Not perturbed by the response in the least, Terra jumped right in, her voice taking on the uncanny likeness of one of those crime bosses about to pull a big heist. "Alright, here's what we do…"
B&P
"With Cyborg working away trying to save your friend and Terra incapacitated it seems I only have three Titans to deal with." Slade was pacing in front of Robin, though the Boy Wonder was paying little to no attention to the villain. One hand was at his ear, brow furrowed as he communicated with Raven through his mind.
"You're sure this'll work?" There was no answer, merely what seemed to be elevator music playing in the background of his brain. Robin shook his head slightly, pulling his gaze upward to stare defiantly at Slade. "Three against one seems like pretty good odds to me," the Boy Wonder murmured, eyes flashing behind his mask.
"It would seem that way, wouldn't it, Robin. But you see I have one thing you weren't counting on." Slade gave a snicker before moving aside to reveal a large blue orb that looked like it was made of Jell-o. Robin tilted his head slightly to one side. Something was in there. The Boy Wonder rubbed his eyes, disbelieving what he saw before letting out a slightly hoarse gasp.
"…Star…fire?"
"Yes. While you and Little Miss Darkness were having your little chat," Slade paused, earning a glare from Raven who was standing to the right of Robin, completely hidden behind her cloak. "Yes, I did have the lair blocked from telepathy, remember. That includes your little telekinetic conversations. Pity, that plan was so well thought out. It might have even worked."
"You let her go!" Robin barked, now on his feet with bo-staff in hand. His mouth was formed into the mother of all thin lines, eyes narrowed to the point that it was a wonder he was even seeing. The Boy Wonder advanced on the villain, only causing Slade to sidestep him and Robin to collide with the giant orb. He ricocheted off of it and landed on the rocky ground his staff feet from him, panting slightly. Robin though merely leapt to his feet and with a bird-a-rang in hand charged Slade once more.
The masked villain turned just in time to catch Robin's wrist and turn it forcefully behind his back. Slade plucked the projectile from the Boy Wonder's fingers and tossed it off to the side, his tone seemingly amused. "Now now, Robin have you forgotten that when you fight me it's one on one combat?" With that word Slade flung the Titans leader to the ground, where he lay for a moment before springing to his feet, eyes wandering. Where had Slade vanished to now?
He appeared directly behind Robin and landed a karate chop to the back of his neck. The Boy Wonder let out a yelp before feeling his knees buckle under him and landing sprawled out on his stomach. From there Robin got into a crouched position, retrieving his bo-staff and glancing around warily for the villain, though he was nowhere to be found. Slade phased into view directly in front of him, and Robin thrust the staff upward, catching him in the mask.
There was a clattering sound as the mask hit the staff, Slade's eye widening in fury. He gripped one end of the bo-staff while Robin grasped onto the other. The masked man pulled upward on his end, and the Boy Wonder was thrown into the air. Slade twirled the staff at his side as he stalked up on Robin, who lay on his side feet away. "It's a wonder I ever wanted you as my Apprentice, Robin. You seem a bit rusty." Slade kicked the Titans leader in the side, rolling him onto his back where he lay, eyes narrowed. The masked man planted a foot on his chest just as Robin scrambled to get up, pinning him there. "No escape now, Boy Wonder. It seems your time has run out."
He raised the staff high in the air and brought it down forcefully, aiming straight for Robin's stomach. The boy braced himself for the impact, eyes jammed shut and a wince already visible on his face, but the staff never made contact with his body. When Robin opened his eyes, he found a black energy shield around him, and Slade had been thrown backward a good yard or so. The Boy Wonder sprang to his feet and glanced over his shoulder just catching the tail of a purple cloak disappearing into the shadows. "Thanks, Rae," he muttered bluntly, now scanning the area for Slade, his shield fading.
"You know," the villain's voice was smooth, though there was a large dent on the left side of his mask. "If it wasn't for those girls on your team, you Titans would be much easier to take down." Slade stood before Robin, hands behind his back as the Boy Wonder leapt into the air, flipping once before coming down with a powerful kick. Slade was knocked backward as the foot collided with his chest, but he dropped down, swinging his leg out to catch Robin in the ankles and bring him down. The Boy Wonder however, had anticipated that and jumped into the air in time to avoid it, coming down with a roundhouse kick to Slade's stomach.
Unfortunately, the villain predicted that very movement and latched onto Robin's leg, flinging him halfway along the floor of the lair before stalking after him, much like a lioness stalking a gazelle.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the lair Raven was hidden among the shadows. The empath's hood was drawn, though her senses were as keen as ever, and with Cyborg's help she was tracking the energy signal of the chronton detonator. "Cyborg, you sure you're tracing Terra's energy signature? I'm right where you told me and I don't see or hear anything."
"Positive, Rae. And the thing should be directly in front of you." Raven sighed slightly, snapping her communicator shut before edging forward. There was nothing here but a bare wall with a bunch of old machinery parts stacked against it. She was inches from the wall's surface before she gave an irritated growl, centering herself once more before raising two fingers to her forehead and chanting.
"Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." Her eyes snapped open as her head tilted slightly, eyes narrowed beneath her hood. Raven extended her fingers to touch the wall and just as she expected, her hand phased through it. "Holograms and robots always were your specialty, Slade," she murmured, a strand of dark energy flowing from her fingers and picking a small metal box from the pile of nonexistent junk. Raven's powers snapped it in half revealing a door, and behind that door was the chronoton detonator.
"Raven calling Cyborg. I found the detonator. How do I disable it?" There was no answer. The empath edged forward, punching in the frequency again before repeating her quarry. Shaking her head slightly Raven snapped the communicator shut once more, now resting a hand on the detonator. It was glowing a faint gold, matching the color if Terra's powers. If she could just remove Terra's powers from it then it would be nothing but a shell. Raven took a deep calming breath before chanting once more, now concentrating on the detonator's power core.
"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" At her command, a jet of black energy appeared, flowing freely into the detonator and covering the circuitry in a mess of black. Raven gave a slight smirk at the simplicity of it all before gasping slightly; the black was changing to a strange mix of gold and black, almost a brown. The two sources of power were fighting for control of the machine. Raven's eyes flew shut as she began reciting the words of old once more, her concentration wavering from the sounds outside the room. There were voices, so many voices and the sounds of the fight between Slade and Robin. There was a shriek that pierced the air that Raven was sure had come from Terra, though she didn't know why.
Her eyes snapped open, watching as her own black energy wrestled with the gold energy for a minute. Then the black was sent hurtling back to its source, sending Raven flying backward into the wall. For a moment it seemed time had stopped, nothing but the gold in the chronoton detonator moving…But wait, time had stopped.
Raven lie immobile propped against the wall, Starfire was still locked within that orb of Slade's. Slade and Robin were locked in combat, the villain midair in a kick and Robin frozen upside down, as if walking on his hands in a backhand spring. Cyborg was still bent over Beast Boy, an attachment inside the shape-shifter's skull. Nothing was moving…Nothing except for Terra.
Outside in the city, cars were stopped even though the traffic lights were green, people were frozen in place, and even the dog by the fire hydrant was frozen in place. Terra though shaking slightly, feeling a strange sense of foreboding was unharmed, and completely mobile. The geomancer looked around her, completely bemused by the fact that everyone else was stationary, and yet she was feeling if anything, rejuvenated. Sure, she still sported the cuts and bruises, the broken wrist and even the emotional pain of Beast Boy's ordeal, but she could stand now for some reason.
Terra hopped off the pedestal, hands folded behind her head as she walked forward, first smirking at the sight if Slade locked in place in mid-air. She raised an eyebrow slightly before jumping in front of him, making all sorts of rude gestures and hideous faces with no response from him. The geomancer chuckled slightly before turning her attention to the large gelatinous orb holding Starfire. The blonde tilted her head slightly to one side before raising a glowing fist, and wrenching a large piece of rock from the ground.
Terra paused, shaving the edges of the stone to make the edge sharp and pointed, almost like an arrowhead. The geomancer let the sharpened stone hover for a moment as she moved to the back of the orb, where more empty space was; Terra wasn't taking any chances on stabbing Starfire. Robin might kill her and really, Terra didn't need that at the moment. Once in position, she guided the spear forward until it poked the edge of the orb. Terra took a deep breath before shoving the arrowhead forward, breaking an enormous hole in the containment field. It burst, letting air out like a balloon and sending Terra backward a good three feet, but Starfire merely ended up sprawled out on the ground, still frozen.
Terra managed to get to her feet and rushed to her friend's side, a hand on her wrist. The geomancer gave a sigh of relief as she found Starfire pulse, and let her wrist drop back to her side. "Starfire, Robin, Slade, Beast Boy and Cyborg…" Terra murmured as she stood now walking towards the opposite edge of the lair, a thoughtful gleam in her eyes. "So where's Raven?"
Terra paused, trying to connect a 'mind link' with the empath, though she thought she had failed. The geomancer wandered the lair endlessly, at a completely loss of what to do. But then, thoughts of Raven's began spilling into her head. Apparently the mind link had been connected, but since Raven was unconscious and frozen in time, this was all Terra was going to get.
Like a filmstrip the images flashed passed, one of Raven conjuring a shield to protect Robin from Slade's final blow, one of Raven hidden in the shadows, talking to Cyborg, and finally, the clue to her answers, one of Raven in the back room with the chronoton detonator. Terra immediately turned her head to see a bare wall in the back of the lair, a door partially open. The geomancer sprinted for the door, not without the aching of a few sore spots still on her body. Terra skidded to a stop once she reached the door, glancing around wildly for Raven…
But then something caught her eye. Terra's jaw dropped as she noticed the chronoton detonator glowing with the same golden hue as her powers did. The geomancer edged forward, resting a hand on the machine and feeling a slight electric shock. She paused, eyes closed as she tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The conclusion she finally came to was this: because the source of the detonator's power was from her, Terra wasn't bound by the fabrics of time as the others were. She was the only one that could stop it, or rather make time start up again.
Terra stood with one arm across her chest, elbow resting in her palm and chin atop her fist. She circled the detonator once before shaking her head slowly, bending down to examine the wires. Was it snip the red? Or the blue? She was no member of the Bomb Squad. Terra straightened up, hands now resting in her pockets as he stared blankly at the detonator. What was she supposed to do? Well, that was obvious: disable the chronoton detonator. The problem was how.
The geomancer pulled a hand from her pocket to stare blankly at it before clenching it into a fist and letting her powers engulf it. Terra stepped forward, resting her now glowing hand upon the detonator. No shock came this time, merely a sort of vacuum as the golden power within the detonator was removed, flowing back into Terra's veins. As soon as the last bit of juice was drawn from the detonator, time was restored and with it the problem of not having enough of it loomed within Terra's eyes. She nearly collapsed on the spot, overwhelmed with the sudden return of her powers. One hand found its way to her head as she swayed slightly, now leaning against the wall for support.
"Way to evade the laws of time and space," Raven's usual monotone met Terra's ears and she whipped around to stare blankly at the empath who was just getting to her feet. "Did you scream earlier? Did something happen?" She pulled her hood back over her head before edging toward Terra, who was panting slightly while leaning against the wall.
"Just stress build-up," the geomancer answered shortly, now ignoring the feeling that she felt as if her veins were about to explode. The two locked eyes for a moment, just about to share a thought when a deep booming was heard. Raven cast a sideways glance at Terra who shrugged. "Wasn't me."
The empath conjured a disk of black energy to carry to the two of them to the battle scene. Of course, that was where the sparks were flying, literally. It seemed that after Robin broke from his backhand spring, he had tossed an electric disk at Slade. Angry, the villain had whipped out his remote and jammed the button for the detonator…but nothing happened.
"Why didn't you just steal the remote from the frozen Slade?" Raven mumbled as the disk touched down behind Robin. "That way you would've had the control on Beast Boy's chip, too." Terra brought a hand to her forehead, dragging it down her cheek before groaning outwardly. She was kicking herself inside for that; apparently her mind hadn't been all there.
"What?" Slade growled, now staring at the group opposite him consisting of Robin, Raven, the freed Starfire, and Terra. "You," he growled, launching himself forward and knocking Terra clear off her feet. "You were never supposed to be alive when the detonator went off." Terra was pinned beneath him, but she raised a glowing hand to smack him clear in the face, her power bubbling just at the surface of her skin. The slightest movement and they would go off. Blinking slightly Terra scrambled to her feet watching as Robin rammed into the masked villain from behind. The three Titans cornered him against a wall of the lair while Terra brought herself back up to the pedestal, staring from Cyborg to the immobile Beast Boy and back again.
"So…"
Cyborg gave a grim sort of smile, a pair of tweezers in hand. "Got it." He held up the tweezers which were holding an object, a blue circuited computer chip. "Just gotta sew Beast Boy up and he should be…okay."
Terra felt a deep sigh of relief come over her as she flung herself at Cyborg, knocking him onto his back and the tweezers flying off the stone platform. The geomancer gave a giddy sort of laugh as she hugged the stunned Cyborg, who pushed himself to a seated position. "Thanks, Cy. I'll never be able to repay you for it."
"No need to repay me little lady. Friends don't need payback." The bionic teen coughed slightly before setting Terra down on her feet and moving back to Beast Boy with a needle and thread. "Uh, you might not want to watch this part. Sewing skin back together isn't exactly fun to watch." Terra gave a slight smirk before staring out at the battlefield. Three Titans were there, all in a circle around a wall but Slade was nowhere to be found.
Gritting her teeth the geomancer jumped from the stone platform onto the ground, just catching sight of Slade's reappearance. He was running, making a break for the door. Why? Why didn't he just teleport himself out with that belt of his? The reason was he wasn't running for the door. He made a sharp turn, changing his path to charge directly at Terra. She gaped at him slightly before tearing a piece of earth from underneath herself and taking to the air.
Slade though used his bo-staff to vault onto the flying rock, now standing just opposite of his former Apprentice. "Terra you didn't think you could ever run away from me did you?" The masked villain gave a slight chuckle, now nearly on top of her but she didn't dare move. There was a strong surge of power resting inside her, and it was bubbling with the anger she was feeling right now. If she moved, it might be released and there was no telling what that would do. The only other time she felt this much power inside her was the day she'd sacrificed herself to save the city and we all know that didn't turn out so well.
"I was running after you, Slade," she shot back, hands balled into fists but stowed in her pockets to resist the temptation of using her powers. "I thought you were making a break for it just like you always do." Terra's stare was steady, never leaving the masked man's face, even when his eye seemed to bug out, seeing through her, inside her.
"Dear child, how could I leave without saying goodbye to my daughter? I think you deserve a proper funeral this time if the Titans can find your body." Slade wore a sort of manic gleam in his eyes, his voice suddenly darker and deeper then ever before. He pushed his arm forward, catching Terra in the chest, but she didn't fall. Instead she thrust her arms out in front of her on instinct, eyes widening at what she saw.
Normally, even if she would have tried to push back against Slade's push she would have fallen, and normally when her concentration was on a person rather then the rock she was levitating it would drop. This time, however, was different. The rock remained airborne and she didn't fall. Terra's hands though, were glowing the familiar gold. In fact, her entire body was giving off a radiant light of her power. The geomancer's teeth were gritted as she thrust her arms outward, Slade being thrown backwards, off the rock and onto the now melting ground. The earth below was boiling, lava slowly and steadily boiling beneath its surface.
Terra's rock dove directly into the pool of burning lava, the stone was steadily starting to melt. Slade had avoided a fiery death for the second time by teleporting himself to safety far out of Jump City by use of his very own Xenothium powered belt. It was too late to stop the severe burst of power that was exploding from Terra's body. The pain was so intense she was screaming in agony, the lava flowing around her and the ceiling caving in. The lair was made of rock completely; the entire thing was going to go down if she wasn't careful. The geomancer was raised into the air, the gold still radiating from her body just as the rock she had been floating on was engulfed in the flaming lava.
The only part of the lair that wasn't being licked by the lava was the stone platform where all five Titans now rested. Robin was staring about wildly, trying to formulate a plan of action while Starfire stood alongside him, hands clasped to her chest. "Friend Terra is losing control again."
"We gotta do somethin'. This place is gonna blow!" Cyborg stood behind the two, Beast Boy all sewn up now resting on his back in a sort of piggyback ride. The shape-shifter's head was resting on his shoulder as he stared out at the mess of lava and rock.
"We couldn't do anything before. What can we do this time?" Robin was crouching now, examining the dust as the lava steadily rose, getting closer and closer to the top of their platform.
"Nothing. There is nothing we can do but wait." Raven enveloped them all within a black energy shield as Terra threw her arms out wide, another scream piercing the air. It took all the power she had to slow the lava down enough to freeze it in stone, the rubble from the cave-in still floating around her.
The shield was breaking from the pressure and heat around it, and the Titans were all thrown in various directions. Cyborg kept his hold on Beast Boy, and miraculously the changeling opened his eyes slowly chin resting upon the bionic teen's shoulder. The last thing he saw was Terra, a cyclone of flying rocks around her before he dipped back into darkness, unconscious, yet still hearing snippets of the conversation. He was dipping in and out of consciousness, seeing the Titans one minute and the next only visions of darkness. Cyborg was jumping from rock to rock now, Beast Boy being jostled about. He took a deep breath, the last words he heard before exiting the cave being
"Titans, move!" Robin bellowed, his words echoing within the cave and dying out slowly, leaving everything left in the cave dead as well.