Chapter 4: Youthquake

"Titans! Go!"

Slade eyed the group arrayed against him. The speedster would be the first to reach him, naturally. Slade measured his velocity, his bearing, his stride, his physical dimensions, and calculated the exact time to strike.

His mind did this in the fraction of a second that it took Kid Flash to run directly into his fist. He smiled with satisfaction behind his mask as the fleet-footed teen went down.

"Damn," muttered Cyborg. The others held off, shocked at the speed and skill that had just taken down a human thunderbolt.

"Who's next?" Slade said, mockingly.

"I'm sorry, Beast Boy," Raven said, an apologetic look on her face. "There's not much more I can do about those ribs."

Upon Robin's command, Raven had immediately gone straight for Beast Boy, quickly transporting them both away via her soul-self. The two were now on the rooftop of one of the buildings that surrounded the alley.

"Thanks for taking some of the pain away, at least," Beast Boy answered. "Now, go, they need you more."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" asked the violet-haired empath.

"I've had worse," replied the changeling.

"Well... all right." Raven winced as she got up.

"Are you okay?" it was Beast Boy's turn to ask.

"Nnngh. It's nothing. Just a side effect. I'm used to it." She turned, and descended back towards the fight.

Oh, right, remembered Beast Boy. Her healing powers don't eliminate pain... they just let her absorb it from others.

Terriffic... I'm STILL more trouble than I'm worth, the young metamorph thought ruefully. Well... enough was enough. He'd find some way to contribute.

Somehow.

Slade dodged between the hex bolts wildly hurled by Jinx. So, my intel was right, he thought. The witch and the speedster. Who would have guessed? Me, that's who.

Reaching into his belt pouch, he withdrew a half dozen tiny spheres and hurled them into the air. They exploded into a burst of brilliant light, blinding everyone in the vicinity. Of course, Slade had been thoroughly trained in the art of blind fighting, as he was sure Robin had been.

Jinx, however, had been rendered quite useless. Sensing her light footfall behind him, He swung, clocking her on the back of the head. She fell, instantly concussed.

This will be easier than I thought, Slade mused, just before something large slammed into him, knocking him into the air, out of the alley, and into the street, directly into the path of traffic.

Years of training enabled him to land on his feet and hurdle the oncoming truck with ease. Still... he had misjudged his vulnerability.

A mistake he would not make twice.

Cyborg's good eye blinked as his vision slowly cleared. Slade had forgotten that his cybernetic eye wouldn't be overwhelmed by a brilliant burst of light. This had worked to the Titans' advantage.

"Everyone okay?" he asked.

"Kid Flash and Jinx are out of it," Robin reported. "The rest of us are starting to regain our vision."

"Well, good. I've widened the playing field a bit."

"Splendid," Starfire replied. "I was starting to feel the cramped."

"Let's make the most of it," Robin said. "Titans, go!"

"I'm terribly sorry, but your effort was remarkably dreadful. If I had to describe your voice, it would be somewhere between a cat in heat being strangled, and an asthmatic orangutan. I award you no points, and, in fact, am considering suing the producers of this program for making me listen to you."

Sighing, Terra changed the channel. She didn't know why she even bothered with that show... listening to obnoxious, self-important people annoyed her. Yet, there really wasn't much else on...

The math problems were finally done, and it was time to kick back... so to speak. She'd rather be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Was there anything decent on? The Cartoon Channel was showing a marathon of some stupid show about a monkey... the Learning Channel was running one of those home remodeling shows that seemed to be all they showed lately... at least that obnoxious jerk was occasionally funny. She gave up, and switched back.

"...interrupt for this report. Downtown Jump City is being cordoned off, as there appears to be a superhero/supervillain fight in progress. We go live now to our correspondent Chris King."

Crap. A news brief. She hated these.

"Thanks, Bethany. It appears the Teen Titans are in pitched battle with an as-yet unidentified supervillain at the corner of Wolfman St. and Perez Ave. A section of Downtown has been evacuated for... what? We have a visual? Okay, put it on the screen."

Tara froze. That mask... it was the same one she'd been seeing in her nightmares, half black, half orange, only one eyehole...

"It appears that this is the same man responsible for the Terra incident about two years back." Stock footage was inserted of a slender girl with long blonde hair wearing a bizarre uniform. No... not a girl.

It was her.

"If you can recall, it involved the city being placed under siege by a mysterious blond earth-controlling girl and several of her minions..."

Terra... Earth-controlling...

She remembered it all now.

The man in the mask killed her, and he was still walking around.

And she had the power to stop him.

She had the power.

Starfire struggled to rid herself of the strange foam that was quickly spreading over her. "What manner of X'hal-forsaken trickery is this?" she snarled.

"Ah, yes... a special creation of my own. Quick-spreading, quick-hardening, and it drains solar energy like a sponge. I originally developed it for use on a certain Kryptonian, but it seems to work just as well on you."

Robin took in the situation. Four of them were now down for the count. It was down to just himself, Raven, and Cyborg.

He could work with that.

"Okay, on three," he whispered. "Combat maneuver Radar Victor Radar." The other two nodded.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos," invoked Raven, as quietly as she was capable of. A dark aura formed around her, expanding into a large birdlike shape, as Cyborg and Robin charged towards Slade. The latter hurled a volley of shuriken at the masked man, who easily dodged them. As Robin had expected. The shuriken weren't the point of Radar Victor Radar, anyway.

Just as the two male Titans neared Slade, Raven's shadowy form suddenly swooped in, absorbing them and phasing through the ground. Moments later, she phased up behind him, releasing her friends directly on top of him.

"Hey, Slade, how ya like me now?" crowed Cyborg as he tackled Slade.

"Immobilized," deadpanned the mercenary as he unjointed his arm and slammed a small disc on the back of Cyborg's torso. A quick sequence beeps gave way to an arc of electricity that lanced through the cybernetic teen's electronics, frying them. The blue glow of his bionic parts faded to black, and the light went out in his mechanical eye.

Tara

(No. That name is a lie. Just like the rest of my life.)

Terra arrived at the scene of the battle. The entire area had been blocked off by the police.

Terra's approach did not go unnoticed. "Halt!" an officer demanded. Terra ignored him and approached the barrier. "You can't go in there!" the officer emphasized, approaching to restrain her; with a gesture, Terra upset the ground beneath him, knocking him back on his rear.

"All right, you've been warned!" another officer spoke, drawing her billy club. Continuing to ignore the authorities. Terra wrenched a chunk of the pavement out of the ground and flew it over the barrier, into the restricted zone.

"So... do we follow her?" the officer asked, pausing to assist her fallen counterpart.

"Hell no," a third police officer replied. "Didn't you recognize her? That's the chick who led that army of robots a couple years back. She put a lot of good cops out of action for a long time. You ask me... if she wants to go get herself killed, I say good riddance."

"Not... again..." said Raven through clenched teeth as she keeled over, paralyzed from the venom in the dart stuck in her thigh.

"Just a little something I mixed up in my spare time. Instantly paralyzes every muscle in the human body, yet leaves the mind completely intact. It's the ultimate prison, one could say." He turned toward Robin. "And now... the main event." One by one, the mercenary removed all his weapons, keeping only his staff. "You and me, Robin. Mano e mano."

"What's your game, Slade?" the Teen Wonder asked, glaring, as he drew his own staff.

"No game. Just a chance to see which of us is the best." He struck a fighting stance. "I always knew, eventually, it would all end here."

The two squared off, at first just circling each other, with the occasional feint to gauge the other's reaction time. After several minutes of this dance, the fight began in earnest. The blows started slowly at first, each one blocked by the other.

"So..." Robin taunted, "why even bother? Why not just shoot me?"

"Not nearly as satisfying," Slade replied. "I'd much rather crush you fairly."

"I'm touched," the younger replied sarcastically. "Really."

The fight picked up now, as the blows came faster and more furiously. Still, neither was able to land a single blow.

"You've improved a great deal," Slade said admiringly.

"Gee, thanks. That means so much coming from you."

"Have I mentioned how much I HATE sarcasm?" The blows were now, if possible, even more furious than they had been. It was now just a matter of time before someone's defense faltered.

And so, ten minutes in, it was Robin who drew first blood with a blow to the side of Slade's head. "A lucky shot," he admonished. "You won't get to repeat it."

"You tell yourself that," answered Robin. But, as the fight continued, it became clear that this was no idle boast; Slade landed the next blow, then the next.

"You're tiring," the masked man said. "For all your bravado, you're still merely human."

"And you're not?"

"I am... and more."

Robin had to admit, his strength was starting to flag. Slade's seemed undiminished, though... it was as if he was drawing on some inexhaustible fountain of strength. He had to face it. Sooner or later, he would fall. And Slade would be triumphant.

Terra watched as the Teen Wonder's defense became weaker and weaker. She'd have to intervene soon.

Not that she had a problem with it. Slade had used her, corrupted her, forced her to betray the only friends she'd ever have, not to mention the guy she could've liked as more than just a friend. He'd made her do horrible things, to the point that she convinced herself she enjoyed being evil. And then... he'd had the unmitigated GALL to make her think that he was... she gagged at this thought... her father! It was disturbing, sickening... and she'd never felt as happy as she did then. It absolutely disgusted her to think it... but she missed the lie.

In a way, Slade had made her love him. And that had been the worst betrayal of all.

In the midst of the fray, now, Robin was on his last legs. With a final, savage blow, Slade brought his staff down on Robin's, snapping it in two.

"First, you will die. Then your friends. And finally... finally, this will all be over. He can finally rest."

Okay, Robin thought. Now, he's wandered into 'third person' territory. He's officially nuts. "Only resting you'll do is in a jail cell, Slade," Robin said, bringing up the two halves of his staff, wielding them like Filipino escrima batons.

"Not ME, you idiot! You've completely forgotten haven't you! And you dare call ME a criminal!" Enraged, Slade lunged, too fast for Robin to fend off, knocking his makeshift weapons away, grabbing him by the shirt. "YOU KILLED MY SON AND YOU JUST FORGOT ABOUT IT!"

His son? But the Titans had never committed murder. The closest thing was...

...wait...

And, at that moment, the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.

"Who is Slade?"

He knew now.

And in another minute, he would take his knowledge to the grave.

Terra stood there, in the shadows, frozen. Robin, the person who had given her a chance when no one else would, was within moments of having the life strangled out of him. She could save him... and yet, she was paralyzed by the strange parody of filial love that Slade had imprinted in her mind.

Villain or no, liar or no, conniving manipulator of emotions or no, Slade was that closest thing she had ever had to a father. She loved him with all her heart... and despised him with every fiber of her being.

It was then that Fate made the decision she could not, as a screeching green chimpanzee leapt down on the aggressor, clawing and biting him.

Forced to drop Robin, Slade yanked the chimp off his face.

Terra felt her heart lurch.

"Flea," spat Slade, contemptuously hurling the simian aside. It crashed into an already-totalled van, melted back into a more human, though still verdant, form, and passed out.

Melted, too, was Terra's indecision. Clenching her fists, Terra strode forward.

"SLADE!" she called out in challenge. Both criminal and crimefighter whirled in response.

"Terra?" Robin said, comnfused.

"Tara?" Slade said almost simultaneously, his façade of unbeatability shattered.

"No... Robin's right," Terra stated, coldly. "Tara was a lie. A sick fantasy you imposed on my mind. I'm TERRA. Now and forever."

"Get out of here," Slade said, attempting to recover face, "This is none of your concern."

"It's BEEN my concern from the beginning," Terra snarled, her eyes glowing a bright yellow. "All of this was for MY benefit, wasn't it. You wanted them gone... then you would've been free to lie to me in peace."

Terra moved her hand in a quick downward motion, as if pulling something down from the sky. Suddenly, Slade felt an enormous weight slam into him. Struggling against this invisible encumbrance, he realized: this great weight wasn't on his shoulders. It was HIM.

Despite his predicament, he could help but feel some pride. Terra had unearthed, pun intended, her true potential.

Raven, still frozen, watched the scene through eyes that couldn't turn away.

Slade had been forced to the ground by some invisible force. Telekinesis? No, that wasn't it. No. Gravity. That's what it had to be. Somehow, Terra had gained the ability to command gravity.

Still, Slade managed to struggle to his feet. His strength must be incredible, to resist that, Raven thought. I'd always thought he was just a human being, in some kind of power-enhancing armor. But no human could POSSIBLY be this strong.

Slade staggered forward, towards the waiflike blonde. "Please..." he groaned, the effort obviously draining away at his strength. "It... doesn't have to... end like this. I... I can make it better. It's all I wanted. I... just wanted, for once in my life, to be the father I should have been."

Terra looked up at the two-toned mask. She thought, for a moment, that she could actually see a tear in the one visible eye."

When her fist met the mask, it shattered. As did his jaw.

"Nice job," Terra said icily as Slade Wilson, unmasked at last, collapsed to the floor.

"Man, I really, REALLY hate getting knocked out," Kid Flash muttered, rubbing his forehead. "And I really, REALLY hate being the first to get knocked out."

"You didn't exactly miss much," replied Cyborg, rebooted and good as new. "He plowed through the rest of us like we weren't even there."

Nearby, Robin injected Raven with something from his utility belt. After a few moments, the Azarathean began to move stiffly. Within a minute, she was attempting to struggle to her feet.

"Need a hand?" Jinx offered.

"I can get up by myself," snarled the violet-haired teen.

'Jeez, sor-REE, grumpy. I guess I'll know better then to be helpful next time."

"Listen, Jinx," Raven spat back, pronouncing the name the way a vegetarian would pronounce "butcher," "you may say you're reformed, and the other Titans might take you at your word, but I'm not that easy to convince. If you intend to earn my trust, you're gonna have to work REALLY hard." With that, she walked off stiffly, leaving the magenta-tressed ex-con fuming.

"Glorious!" Starfire said cheerily, flexing her own stiff limbs. "I feared they would never manage to chisel me out of that klor'varbnet stuff!"

"It was our pleasure, Miss, uh, Fire, ma'am," the rescue worker answered. Starfire walked (there would be no flying for her until she'd had a chance to absorb some sunlight) over to where Beast Boy sat, his broken ribs having been taped up. "Are you well, friend?" she asked.

"Only hurts when I laugh," the changeling replied, smiling weakly. His gaze did not move; it was locked on the same location it had been for the last hour. "She's just been sitting there. Ever since the cops dragged Slade away... it's like she's just... shut off."

"Perhaps she is simply waiting for someone to turn her on?" Of f Beast Boy's odd look, she blushed. "That was the wrong choice of words, wasn't it."

"I know what you mean, though," Beast Boy said, getting up. "Who knows... maybe this'll be the first time I DON'T say the stupidest thing I could. I mean, you just used a contraction, so anything's possible, right?" He walked off, towards the solitary blonde.

Sitting down next to her, he began, "So... how're you doing?"

"I just killed my father," the girl replied, a haunted look coloring her pale face.

"Uh... he's not dead. And he wasn't your father."

"He was the closest thing to one in my life. And I think I could have killed him."

"It's okay. Once we get you back to the Tower, we c-"

"I'm not going back to the Tower."

"What?"

"Look... Beast Boy... Garfield..." She turned toward him, tears in her eyes. "I have a lot of stuff I need to work through, and I just don't think I can face any of you right now."

Getting up, she gave Beast Boy one last sad glance back, then walked off into the night.

"Terra, wait!" Beast Boy shouted, starting after him, but a metal hand clamped on.

"Just let her go for now, Gar," Cyborg said. "She'll be back. When she's ready."

On the other side of the continent, deep within a dark cave, the footage of the Titans' battle with Slade played. Periodically, the viewer would slow the footage, zoom in, pause it, rewind, and do it all again.

Eventually, as if he had finally found the one thing he had been looking for, the viewer shut off the screen. "Not just geokinesis," he muttered to himself in a raspy voice, "but gravity control. And enhanced strength."

Picking up the phone, he dialed. When the recipient of the call picked up, the man, dispensing with pleasantries, said, simply, "It's me. I've found her,"

"Excellent," the voice on the other end said. "As soon as you can... you will bring her to me."

To be concluded...