Chapter Twelve: Desperation

Raven and Terra stood on the deck in disbelief. The mystic felt sick to her stomach now. All the dread she had felt the other day had now come back to haunt her. The feeling was a physical sensation.

"We hit it." she muttered. "I let us hit it."

Terra stared sympathetically at her. "No." she said. "It hit us."

Raven regarded her. "Either way, the ship is still doomed. And it's because I didn't do a good enough job." Tears welled up in her eyes.

Terra held her by the shoulders. "You gave as good as you got. Come on, let's get the others."

Nodding, the two girls went inside.

They took the staircase down to 'C' deck and entered the corridor. While there, Raven hesitated.

"Hold on, Terra." she said. "I'm gonna be sick."

Holding her hand over her mouth, she made for the lavatory, with Terra not far behind. She ran to the nearest toilet, doubled over and vomited into it.

Terra winced as Raven upchucked most of her dinner. The smell reached her nostrils and she also felt ill. She took the stall next to Raven's and also vomited.

When they felt relived, they flushed their mess down and went to the sinks and washed out their mouths of bile.

"Feeling better?" Terra asked.

"Yes." Raven replied. "How about you?"

"Sort of. Come on, let's go."

They left the restroom.

Meanwhile, in the boy's room, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire waited. Having nothing to do, the boys dozed off to sleep once more. Starfire, however, was unable to go back to sleep, as she was a light sleeper.

She knew so much rested on her friend's efforts tonight. The anticipation of it all kept her awake. She glanced at Robin.

Starfire found herself staring at the Boy Wonder intently. The feelings of love and tenderness for him flooded her mind. A variety of desires and images ran about her head. Most prominent was a desire to simply embrace him, to hold him close to her, and to keep him away from all dangers and competitors that would want to take him from her.

Her musings were interrupted when Terra and Raven entered the room.

"What happened?" Starfire asked them. She then noticed how dismayed they looked.

Ignoring her question, they went to the sink, took a couple of glasses and filled them with water for a drink. They both sighed as they washed away the raw feeling in their throats.

"Please friends," Starfire said. "Tell me what has happened." The boys then woke up.

"Terra? Raven?" Robin said. "Why are two here?"

The two girls looked at their friends. They had tears in their eyes. "We failed." Raven muttered.

"What?" Beast Boy asked.

"The iceberg hit us." Terra replied. "The ship is damaged and will sink."

The others were in shock. "No!" Robin exclaimed as he got up. "It can't be!"

"It is." Raven said to him. "History repeated itself. The Titanic will sink."

She sat down wearily. Robin did the same, shaking his head.

'How could we let this happen?' he thought. 'We should've thought of some other plans, just in case this didn't work. We should've planned better.'

Beast Boy suddenly snapped his fingers. "Wait! Can't we plug up the hole?"

"How?" asked Robin, with a tinge of hope in his voice.

"Can't we get something to patch up the damage?"

Cyborg shook his head. "We don't have any metal with us to spare, and even if we did, I don't have underwater welding equipment."

"Oh." the changeling said. Then, he brightened up again. "What about you, Star? You can take the cold, can't you? You can use your powers, right?"

She shook her head. "My resistance to the cold only works in the vacuum of space. When I am in atmosphere, then my body does not work to protect itself in such ways. I feel cold as you do."

"Oh." Beast Boy let out a sigh of dismay. Robin, however, had other ideas.

"Raven could you use your powers to empty out the water?" he asked.

"Not with the damage we have." she said. "Nor at the rate at which it's coming in. It's like a fire hose."

"How do you know?" Terra asked.

"I read about it." she replied.

Robin sighed. Another idea came to his mind. "Raven, could we get off in the lifeboats?"

She thought for a moment. "Well, if most follow the standard practice, they'll only let off women and children first. And the cutoff for children is about, oh, thirteen I think."

Robin nodded. "I see." He stood up. "Raven, you and the girls leave on the boats. The rest of us will have to stick it out here."

Starfire's eyes were wide with horror. "No! I will not leave you, Robin!" She got up and embraced him.

"It's the only way, Star!" he replied.

Terra stood next to Beast Boy. "I'm not leaving without Garfield!" she exclaimed.

"Terra, you got to go!" he told her. "I'll be fine!"

She held his hand. "Where you go, I go!"

Raven stood next to Cyborg. "And I'm not leaving without my friends! All of them!"

Robin stared at her. "I don't suppose I can do anything to change your minds, huh?" he asked.

"No!" the girls all exclaimed.

Beast Boy sat down. "That's it, then." he muttered. "We're dead."

Terra glared at him, then at the others. "I've been dead before." she said. "Come on, we just can't give up!"

"Terra, it's over." Raven said. "Even if we don't drown on the ship, we won't survive in the cold water for too long."

"I don't care!" the geomancer exclaimed. "There has to be something we can do to save the people!"

She snapped her fingers. "Of course! That's it!"

"What's it?" Beast Boy asked.

"We've all been concentrating on saving the ship! What we need to do is save the people!"

Raven's expression brightened. "You're right! It's the people that need help now, not the ship!"

Robin stood up. "Brilliant, you two!" he said. "What can we do?"

Terra was at a loss, but Raven already was forming a plan. "Well, most of the people died from the cold. So, we need a way for them to be away from the cold. Something to lay on that's out of the water, like a raft. But what?"

Beast Boy pondered an answer. Then, he had an inspiration. "Knock on wood." he said.

"What?" Raven asked.

"It's a phrase for good luck." he said. "Anyway, if we had bid pieces of wood, they could float on those, could they?"

"Yes." said Cyborg. "But what?"

The changeling looked around. "What about the doors?"

Raven clapped her hand together! "Beast Boy, you're brilliant!" she exclaimed. "If we take off the doors and throw them overboard, then people will have a chance!"

Terra hugged the changeling as he beamed with pride, but then let him go. "But won't others notice what we're doing and wonder why we're doing it?"

"That's true." said Robin. "We must be subtle."

Cyborg snapped his fingers. "Hell, we can just leave them in the corridors!"

"What the hell good is that going to do?" Beast Boy asked him.

"The Titanic broke in two when it sunk. So, if we just leave the doors in the corridors, then when the ship breaks, they'll all pop right out!"

Raven hugged him. "Great idea, Cy! I guess we got a plan!"

The Titans were smiling now, until Raven thought of another issue. "I just realized something. Most of the people that died were the poor, the third class. They were locked below until the last minute."

"So what do we do about that?" Terra asked.

"We can lead them to safety, I suppose." Raven replied.

"Good idea, friend Raven!" Starfire said.

"Alright team, we've got a purpose now!" Robin said. "For this to work, though, I think we need to split up."

"Agreed." Cyborg said. "Who goes where?"

"Terra, Raven, and I will get the third class." he replied. "You, Beast Boy and Star can work on ripping off as many doors as you can. Try not to get caught."

"It shall be done, friend Robin!" Starfire said.

"Good. Now Raven, you'll have to lead us to the third class as well as finding a quick way out, okay?"

"I'll do my best." the mystic replied.

"I'm counting on it." He joined his team mates. "I'm counting on the rest of you to do your best as well."

"You'll get it!" Beast Boy said enthusiastically. Cyborg and Starfire nodded in agreement.

"Good." Robin said. "Cyborg, what time is it?"

He checked his internal clock. "Geez, it's almost midnight! And if I remember right, the ship only has until two-thirty!"

"Two-twenty." Raven corrected.

"In any case," Cyborg began. "We better get moving!"

"One more thing!" Raven said, retrieving some odd looking vests with her powers. "Put these on. They'll help you float."

They put on the lifebelts (as they were called) with little difficulty. Robin noted how odd they all looked now. 'Never mind that.' he thought.

"Okay team, we've got a job to do." he said. "Let's make this one mission for the history books." They all nodded at him.

"Titans, go!"