The Teen Titans celebrated another victory. This time they had defeated Overload again. He had used the chaos that Control Freak had established in the mainframe of electronic equipment and tried to take over the world himself. He had almost succeeded having become a part of all the electronic equipment in the city he had assumed control of robotic equipment and built copies of himself into an army of tanks. The Titans had stopped him though it was a tough fight.
Reporter: "Congratulations again, young heroes. Tell us how you saved the day"
Robin (with a sling on one of his arms) "This was a tough fight, we're lucky we have some heavy hitters on the Titans, most of the credit goes to Cyborg for reprogramming the factory and transmitting the virus that reprogrammed the Overload tanks into street sweepers. And also to Starfire and Raven for keeping the army of machines at bay while he could reprogram it" he motioned toward the three. Cyborg blushed a bit and waved. Starfire and Raven seemed too tired to do much though. Starfire smiled a bit and tried to cheerfully wave, quickly regaining her energy.
Reporter: "what about you and the green changeling Beastboy?"
Robin: "Beastboy is on assignment helping his former team the Doom Patrol and I got hit by a lucky car early in the fight" he said this while holding up his arm in its sling.
Starfire: "nonsense, if it was your not for plan we couldn't have won the day" the camera panned over Starfire with many obvious bruises on her body, but still somewhat energetic.
Cyborg: "yeah, it was a team effort" then he paused "hey, am I starting to sound like Robin? Shees next thing you know I'll be wearing tights and a stupid cape"
Robin: "my cape is not stupid!" veins popping out on his forehead
Cyborg: "who wears green anyways, you know metallic grey is the new black"
Reporter: "and so you have it, this is channel 6 and good night" camera pans back showing Cyborg and Robin still bickering while they walk back into the tower, Starfire and Raven had already went inside.
Focus goes out to see Slade watching the TV again.
Slade: "computer, show the coverage on the Overload battle" the computer, which was programmed to automatically record and clarify any television coverage or internet coverage on the Titans started to play the fight on the screen. Slade watched with some interest until Robin was grazed by a car which had been inactive until that moment. Robin's attention was focused on a tank, which was shooting at Starfire. He threw his discs which exploded on the tank but caused no discernable damage. While Robin unleashed another barrage the car came alive, it's tires squeeling as it drove toward the hero. The sound of the tires made him aware of the car, but too late it seemed. Robin sidestepped the car, but the automatic door opened while it went by hitting Robin solidly and knocking him down. Slade began to lose interest at this point, citing Robin's error of not accounting for the door when the car exploding brought back his attention. Starfire had saw him go down and acted immediately. He rained starbolts on the car completely destroying it and landed by Robin facing the tank which was barreling toward him. She fired her eye beam which seemed to do no damage. What she did next surprised Slade though. She planted her feet and punched the tank as it charged her. It sounded like a car impact and of twisting metal. The Tank flew backward a few dozen feet and landed in a heap. Two more tanks were charging the downed figure of Robin and Starfire stood between him and them. One grazed her with a laser as she charged it throwing starbolts which did little damage. She ripped off the turrent and used her eyebeam to destroy the inside of the tank while Raven had seen the commotion and grabbed the other tank up in her energy and crushed it. They landed at Robin and Starfire picked him up.
Starfire said to Robin: "you're hurt, we need to get you somewhere safe"
Robin: "don't worry about me, you have to protect the factory. Overload's main program is in there, if Cyborg can reprogram him, these tanks will be disabled. You have to protect him."
Cyborg appeared on the screen VIA the security cameras in the factory. He was typing furiously into a keyboard occasionally transforming his arm into a cannon and firing it and yelling something. Many lasers few past, but seemed to not want to hit the mainframe that Cyborg was typing into. He used this to keep himself safe while hacking, fending off the occasional security robot or maintenance robot.
Outside Raven and Starfire flew around fending off the tanks and other vehicles which were being controlled, Raven with her energy, and Starfire with her starbolts, and in the case of the tanks, her strength as well. They never reached the parking lot of the building.
Slade watched the battle making mental notes on any weaknesses he saw in their strategy or in their abilities. They seemed to fight well, even with Robin out of the picture. He had obviously been training them. "Freeze frame" the picture froze on Starfire ripping off the turrent of another tank. "I need to learn more about all of my foes in order to completely defeat them" he pushed a button on the phone, it dialed and the speaker came on.
Slade: " what is the status of my order?"
Voice on phone "almost done, sir. Should be completed by next Tuesday"
Slade: "You mean it will be completed and delivered tomorrow as per our contract" said in a very threatening tone
Voice sounding nervous "Yes, I meant it will be completed and delivered by tomorrow and thank you for your patience" the telephone clicked and Slade sighed. He was a patient man, but did not have an inexhaustible supply of it. He wanted his apprentice and it was taking far too long for him to accomplish it.
Slade bided his time by inspecting his security drones and his base. Small as it was, it was one of the best in the world. He inspected his training area. This included weights, exercise machines, weapons, fighting drones, holographic teachers and opponents and various other training devices. Once he had his apprentice back, the training would be intense. Yes, he was ready for his apprentice now his apprentice need only be made ready for him. Slade thought for a minute and made a mental note to add a medical drone to his staff. Robin, apparently, could get hurt during training. Satisfied, he decided to relax by testing out the skill of his training drones. A good sweat may take his mind off waiting for his ship to be finished.