Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
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"Is it ready?"
In a dark room somewhere in the depths of Steel City, There is a strange happening. A crew of men dressed in white jumpsuits and weird looking gas mask were setting what looked like a long metal coffin. The coffin was not really a coffin at all but was shaped so. It had tubes and wires running from its sides hooked up to several machines all on top of a wheeled rack so that it could be moved. God knew what was inside.
One of the men in the white jumpsuits looked towards the source of the questioning voice and gave a silent nod in affirmation. From where the voice came from in the shadowed corners emerge the figure of Professor Chang.
He was once a big time arms dealer that would sell all sorts of hi-tech weapons over the black market. However, business has been slow over the past few months, thanks to a famous bunch known to the world as the Teen Titans. Chang had been degraded to obscurity and he was regarded by most of the underworld as a failure.
He seethed at the thought of the Teen Titans as well as a few other people in his past that caused his demise. But now things were finally looking up. He had a new gig. Something that can bring him back to the top. He was thankful that someone out there recognized his great potential as a weapons manufacturer. Now that someone was his new partner and together they were building a weapon that can be used to hold the world hostage.
Everything had gone smoothly. Most of the major components of the weapon have been completed and was in the process of being assembled and all the other components were well on their way to completion. Now they just needed to transport one of the most vital parts of this operation to a safer location.
Chang looked down on the coffin. He smiled. He knew what resided inside slumbering away. He reminisced a bit on the whole process of him coming across this fine new treasure. It wasn't easy, that's for sure but in the end he managed to grab his prize without much trouble at all. He looked back to his men who were waiting for his orders.
"Transport it carefully," he said to them, "We do not want to damage the delicate thing. Once you reach the…'location' my partner's men will see to it that it is brought to a safer place."
The white suited men all nod.
"Oh, and one more thing," said Chang, "Take this with you…as a precaution."
From out of the shadowed corners emerged the figure of a man. The man was about six feet tall with an athletic build. He wore a plain black shirt, plain black khaki pants, and plain black running shoes, His face was emotionless like that of a mannequin. His head was completely bald. Slung on his back was a long sheath hiding what looked like a sword.
"He should provide you with an extra hand or two incase you-know-who shows up. We want to avoid any conflict with them if we can help it, understand? Now go, and do your job well."
The white suited men gave one last nod and moved out. They began to push the wheeled cart supporting the hi-tech coffin into the far side of the room. There was a truck there. It looked like an ordinary truck, one used by local companies to make large deliveries. The men opened op the back and loaded the coffin onto the truck's back. The back's door closed hiding the coffin and a few men inside acting as safeguards.
The remaining two men, one was the man dressed in black, hopped aboard the front cab. After the two front doors are closed the truck's engine started. Ahead of the truck the garage door was remotely opened allowing the truck to leave the building into the nighttime scene of the city.
Chang watched as the truck moved out into the open until the garage door came back down to cut it from view. Chang still had a few lingering worries. Everything up to this point has gone without a hitch and all the signs point to smooth sailing till the end. But Chang knew better. He knew from painful past experiences that there is always a hitch, always something that can go wrong, that will go wrong. No situation is perfect.
He knew this badly. And as much as he wanted to hope for smooth sailing, he knew he had to prepare for the worst case scenario, and, like the true evil genius he is, he did prepare. He rolled out an all new line of gear just for this operation. He knew as well that he was outside his territory. Here he was facing a new bunch of enemies, though not the same as his old adversaries, just as dangerous.
Sooner or later, these new enemies of his will eventually try to stand in his way and try to ruin all that he has worked for. But when that time does come, he was not going to make it easy for them.
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Steel City.
The industrial capital of the east coast. It wasn't the prettiest city in the world granted but it had a fairly rich economy. One look at the city from a distance and you would know what it was all about. There was a factory every ten blocks from each other and the air rang of clanging metal in a form of music only this city could appreciate.
The main reason people like this city is that you can never run out of jobs here. Were there is a factory, there's a business. Where there is business, there is work. This city probably has the biggest labor force in the entire country. Those who can't make it big in the world immediately usually come here to get a start. Because of this abundance of work, the city thrives.
Big businesses like this city for it's availability of laborers and the people who need work readily welcome them as a source of personal income they need to support themselves and their families.
Unfortunately, the booming economy of the city has invited as well a host of unwanted residences. Villains and criminal masterminds have tried to cash in themselves on the plenty on resources that this city has produced often harming innocent people in the process.
One such example is speeding across the streets at that moment.
The delivery truck driven by Professor Chang's men sped down the street. They were careful to stay under the speed limit so as not to attract any unwanted attention. It was night and the police usually double their security efforts during the night. The driver took it slow and steady making sure his vehicle doesn't look too conspicuous.
They were also making sure to use all the main roads along with the most of traffic. After all, a delivery truck driving around on the back roads in the middle of twilight would be really suspicious. All these extra precautions may have worked to make sure the truck was not detected but it did make for a longer trip especially since the place where they were going was all the way across town. They arrived at their destination about an hour after they set off.
The place where they were supposed to go to was a closed down factory near the outskirts of town. It was recently closed down due to a major technical problem wherein one of the building's water pipes burst and caused a factory wide short circuit. While the company is looking for people to repair the damage, the place is basically vacant. It wasn't to be vacant tonight that's for sure.
Upon passing the gate, The driver of the truck vaguely noticed a security guard that was tied-up and gagged at the mouth and unconscious on the floor of the gate's security booth. The truck continued inside the factory where the door was already open. The truck entered the darkened interior of the factory floor. Up ahead the truck's headlight caught a glimpse of the factory's current occupants.
There was a squad of six men up ahead dressed in a gold and black armor that is reminiscent of wasps. They were armed with some hi-tech looking rifles. The men were flanked by four robots that basically looked like giant chicken drumsticks, with the fat end for a head, with arms and legs. Call them drones. They all stood at ease as the truck pulled up to them. It was expected to come.
One of the wasp-armored soldiers walked up to the truck just as the engine died and the driver stepped out. The met face to face. Neither said anything to the other for a while.
"Is the package in the back?" asked the armored soldier.
The man in white nodded. "Yes it is."
With that, the armored soldier looked back to his colleagues and signaled with his head. The rest of the wasp-armored soldiers along with the drones made their way to the back of the truck. They opened the door to see the inside and met with the other mean in white. Together they all lifted the hi-tech coffin to the ground where they could move it in an easier manner.
The man in black that has accompanied Chang's men all this time stepped out of the front passenger seat and onto the factory floor. The wasp leader saw him and looked at the man suspiciously. The man in black simply stood in his place and stared emotionlessly. The wasp leader looked back at the man who was driving the truck.
"Who is this guy?" he asked.
"Just a little added protection," said the driver, "You never know who might show up."
"You got that right!"
That voice was neither that of the driver, the wasp leader, or anyone else of the evil crew. They all looked at the direction of the factory entrance and the source of the voice. One of the drones turned around faster than the rest. It was immediately greeted with the sight of an exploding arrow flying towards its face.
The arrow made impact and the drone exploded in a mesh of wires and broken circuits. The body fell flat on its back. Finally alerted to real danger the wasp-soldiers and the white-suited henchmen readied their weapons. They looked in the direction where the projectile came from. For them it wasn't a welcome sight.
Standing in the open entrance were the five famous heroes of the Titans East.
Bumble Bee. Former top student of the infamous and nefarious Hive Academy and an expert in cybernetic engineering. Dawning a special cybernetic bee-suit that allows her to fly freely in the air as well as change her size to as small as one-one hundredth her original mass yet allows her to maintain her normal strength.
Speedy. Master in archery and weaponry, expert tracker, and an expert survivalist. Trained under the guide of the famous Green Arrow himself and with years of crime-fighting experience he is the equivalent of a whole army battalion all wrapped up in one convenient package.
Aqualad. Prince of the seas, possessing physical strength and fitness exceeding that of the average human being. Able to telekinetically control water freely and able to telepathically communicate with marine life make him a adversary not to be underestimated.
Más and Menos. Pint-sized speedsters, when they come into contact with each other they are able to move at incredible speeds. Their super speed allows them to run hundreds of circles around their foe before their foe even know what's going on.
The Titans were standing ready in their place. The bad guys were getting nervous, understandably.
"Nice little party you guys got goin' here," said Speedy, "I'm kinda disappointed you didn't even send us an invitation."
"Whatever it is y'all are up to ends right here and now!" said Bumble Bee.
The villains responded in the following manner: they all readied their weapons and aimed them threateningly at the Titans East.
"Éstos que los tipos nunca aprenden lo hacen ellos?" said Más.
"Supon que sólo tendremos que enseñarles la misma lección vieja" said Menos.
"Whatever you guys said," said Aqualad, "I think I can agree."
"Titans, go!" ordered Bumble Bee.
The Titans scrambled in different directions just as the villains began firing, the wasp soldiers with their hi-tech rifles and the white-suited henchmen with their taser rods. They missed the Titans by miles, who were already converging on them. The villains, realizing their plight, decided to split up themselves and take on the Titans separately.
Bumble Bee came up against two men in white. She was flying around the air while the two men tried shooting her down with their taser rods. She was way too fast for them to hit and they were simply blasting towards the ceiling.
"Nice toys you got there, fellas," said Bumble Bee, "Let me show you mine."
Bumble Bee took from her waist her own personal pair of tasers. They were shaped in a sharp letter 'B' that reflected the heroin's name sake. With them, Bumble Bee blasted towards the two white-suited men at their hands. Call them stingers. The bolts from Bumble Bee's stingers hit the white men's hands and forced them to painfully drop their taser rods.
Bumble Bee holstered her stingers and flew down at the two men. One of the men saw her coming towards them. As she approached he readied his fist. She came within range and the henchman swung wildly towards her. To his surprise, Bumble Bee suddenly disappeared from sight and his fist hit nothing but air.
He stumbled forward and fell flat on his face. His partner behind him seemed to just look around dumbly in search of the missing Titan. He heard a 'psst' towards his right side. He turned that way and saw a minute Bumble Bee hovering in the air.
Bumble Bee rush forward and gave the baffled bad guy a swift kick to the nose. Since she is able to keep her strength at any size, the kick was still powerful enough to knock the henchman on his back and out.
The henchman who tried to swing at Bumble Bee recovered and was now on feet. He quickly turned around but was immediately greeted with one of Bumble Bee's stingers straight in the gut. He was immediately fed with about a couple hundred bolts of electricity which caused him to convulse as sparks flew in and out of his head. He collapsed on the ground soon after. Bumble Bee stood, full sized, proudly, blowing off the smoke from her stinger.
On the other side. Aqualad was fending off the remaining three drones. One of the drones charged Aqualad with its claws. Aqualad leapt into the air and somersaulted over the drone and landed behind it. Another drone came at him with a claw. Aqualad managed to catch the claw and use his Atlantean strength to catapult the drone towards the other that charged him earlier. The two drones crashed into a heap on the floor.
The last drone grabbed Aqualad from behind and tried to bear-hug him to death. Aqualad resisted as best he can which prevented him being crushed. He managed to break free from the drones grasp and toss the offensive robot over his head like a soccer ball being thrown back into the field. The drone landed in the heap along with the other two.
The drones were quickly recovering. Aqualad looked up at the ceiling. He found something he liked. He looked back down and smiled at the drones which have recovered to the feet. The drones' armor shells were cracked in many places.
"You guys really need to cool down," said Aqualad, "and I know a good way to do that."
Aqualad raised an arm to the ceiling. Above them, the many pipes that composed of the sprinkler system began to violently shake. The piped burst and shot forth a stream of water that quickly snake down to Aqualad's outstretched palm. It gathered into a large ball of water.
"As they say here on the surface-world: Batter up!"
He threw the ball of water towards the three damaged drones. The water impacted them with the power of a freight train and the three drones almost instantly broke apart and what ever was left short-circuited in the water. Aqualad stood victoriously.
The twins, Más and Menos were running circles around some of the wasp soldiers and white-suited henchmen who were desperately trying to get a shot at them but not having much success. The two speedsters were just to fast to hit. Más and Menos would occasionally trip, kick or punch the offending soldiers and henchmen.
With in a matter seconds the whole bunch of the soldiers and henchmen were sprawled on the floor, holding or clutching damage areas of their bodies. They were conclusively out of the fight. Más and Menos stood on top one another looking over the sprawled bad guys.
"¡Tú no tienes una posibilidad para ganar aginst los este de Titans!" they said together, "Ríndete ahora y guardar un racimo del pesar a ustedes mismos."
From the far side of the two, the wasp leader and the driver aimed their respective weapons. They both shot their weapons to the floor where the twin speedsters stood. Their shots hit nothing but floor. The wasp leader and the driver looked dumbly at the spot then at each other.
"Estamos aquí, señor," said Más and Menos from the right of the two villains. The wasp leader and the driver quickly re-aimed their weapons and fired. Too late though as the twins sped of in a red and white blur.
"No, ¡aquí!" said the twins to the left. Again the two villains re-aimed, fired and missed as the twins speed away.
"Tú te estás poniendo más tibio, señor," the twins said from behind. Once again the two villains re-aimed, fired and missed as the twins speed away. They were getting really annoyed.
"Hold still you annoying little pests!" demanded the wasp leader.
"Si tú lo dices, señor," said Más and Menos who happened to appear standing on either soldier of the wasp leader.
The wasp leader froze up with surprise. The driver on the other hand was already noticing the twins and did the first thing which came to his mind. He aimed his taser rod regardless of the wasp leader's presence. The wasp leader's eyes grow wide under his helmet and opened his mouth as if to object to the driver but it was too late.
The driver shot at the wasp leader in hopes of hitting the annoying twins. But the twins quickly sped away leaving just the wasp leader. The red lightning bolt that cam from the white-suited driver's taser rod hit the wasp leader right in the face. The wasp leader convulsed in shock as a stunning wave of electricity flooded through him and then collapsed on the floor unconscious.
The driver just looked at what he done feeling kinda dumb for the mistake he made. While he was in the middle of thought, Más and Menos came up from behind him and tripped him. The driver fell on his back flat on the floor. A second later, two pairs of feet were barreling down on the driver's face. He tried to scream but was soon knocked out as the four feet made impact.
Más and Menos hopped of the driver's face to examine their work. The seemed satisfied.
"¡Muy bien! ¡Ése es cómo le hacemos a mi amigo aquí!" they said.
Meanwhile, Speedy was in and out from behind random machines in the factory floor as he was dodging fire from the remaining soldiers and henchmen. The soldiers and henchmen were couldn't quite get a good shot of speedy since he wouldn't stay out in the open too long and would quickly duck back behind cover.
Speedy ran towards a large block-like machine. He ducked in on one end, while behind the machine quickly stooped, draw two arrows and place them on his bow, Then quickly doubled back and aimed around the corner he came in from. Naturally, the bad guys were expecting him to come out the other end so they didn't see Speedy right away.
Speedy aimed carefully and let loose the two arrows. In mid-flight, the tips of the arrows blew open into boxing gloves. The gloved-tipped arrows hit two of the unsuspecting bad guys right in the face. The two villains fell flat on their back, completely knocked out. Two down, four to go thought speedy to himself.
The villains finally noticed Speedy's true position and began firing on him. Speedy ducked behind his cover and began running again. He ducked in and out of cover too fast to be hit. In a part where there was a wide gap between two machines, Speedy leapt sideways while quickly drawing an arrow into his bow. As soon as he was out in the open he quickly aimed and fired on one of the villains.
The arrow turned into a glove-tipped arrow in mid flight and knocked out a henchman as the arrow smacked him in the face. One of the wasp soldiers decided to try a new strategy. He took something from his belt that looked like a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it to where speedy would be.
The grenade exploded and littered a bunch of debris on the floor. The bad guys waited for a moment to see if the young archer was actually hit by the explosion.
"You guys couldn't hit the ground if you dropped an anvil!" said Speedy's voice from above.
The men looked up and found Speedy on one of the maintenance walkways aiming another arrow. They couldn't react in time as Speedy launched the arrow towards them but not directly at anyone. Instead the arrow hit the floor and exploded into a cloud of blinding smoke.
The men inside the fog coughed and heaved as the smoke invaded their lungs putting them in a very vulnerable position. Speedy leapt off his perch and down into the smoke cloud. After disappearing into it, sounds of hitting and jabbing and a few yelps of hurting sounded from the cloud.
When the cloud dispersed, Speedy stood triumphantly while everyone else was sprawled all over the floor in agony.
"Well that was fun," said Speedy, slowly turning around, "now where can a guy get a can of soda around here—Whoa!"
Speedy narrowly avoided being cut in half by a broadsword by jumping backwards at the last second. Speedy got up quickly and looked at the guy who just tried to slash him in two. It was the bald man in black holding a very intimidating broadsword. The sword was at least six feet in length and about seven inches wide all the way to the tip.
Speedy got into a ready fighting stance and drew an arrow. The rest of his team gathered behind him. The man in black stared emotionlessly at them.
"Hey, Speedy," called out Aqualad, "who's your new friend? Never seen him before."
"Me neither but when I'm done with him his own mother won't recognize his face."
Speedy launched a glove-tipped arrow towards the man's face. It hit. The man didn't move. He barely even flinched. Speedy and everyone else's eyes grew wide.
"Talk about hard-headedness," said Bumble Bee.
The swordsman charged the team. They all scrambled to get out of his way or rather the path of his broadsword. The sword managed to hit nothing at first, luckily. The man looked around for the Titans. Aqualad was the first one he saw.
The Atlantean prince was to one side of the man in black. He telekinetically summoned water from the pipes under the floor. The floor cracked open ands burst forth a torrent of water which Aqualad gathered into a water whip and used it on the swordsman. The swordsman barely reacted as the water beat on his body, an ordinary human would have succumbed by now.
The swordsman fought against the water and charged Aqualad, sword swinging down. Aqualad jumped to the side to avoid the blade that fell through an idle conveyer belt. The sword dug deep into the machinery and was stuck for a moment.
Más and Menos took this opportunity to attack. They sped towards the swordsman and hoped to get a few hits in before he could yank his sword free. To their surprise, the swordsman yanked the sword free from the machinery with relative ease and quickly swung in a wide horizontal arc at the twins. Más and Menos went wide-eyed and split-up at the last second to avoid being cut, Más hopped over the blade while Menos slid under.
The twins sprawled on the floor after that evasion technique. The swordsman was about to pick them off before he received a few explosive impacts on his back. He looked behind him. Bumble Bee had her stingers ready and Speedy had an arrow ready.
The swordsman turned completely around to face the two. The two Titans fired at will. The blast from Bumble Bee's stingers seemed to have no effect and neither did Speedy's shock-arrows since they were skillfully being parried away by the swordsman. One arrow actually stuck on the swordsman's forehead. Speedy and Bumble Bee thought the fight was over by then but the swordsman didn't even register the thousands of volts of electricity flowing into his cranium.
The swordsman grabbed the arrow and forcefully yanked it from his forehead. He tossed the still sparking projectile away like trash. His face was unscathed. The swordsman held his sword at ready once again. The swordsman charged at the two. Speedy shot one last arrow, a smoke screen arrow, towards the ground at their feet. It exploded and covered both him and Bumble Bee in a cloud of smoke.
Just as the swordsman entered the cloud of smoke, Speedy and Bumble Bee leapt/flew out evading the lethal blade. They regrouped in an area far from the smoke cloud. They were soon joined by Aqualad and the Twins.
"No way that guy is human!" declared Speedy.
"Tiene razón," said Más and Menos, "Necesitamos una mejor estrategia."
"We need to find his weak spot and exploit it," said Bumble Bee.
"Think he'll tell us if we ask him what that would be?" Aqualad asked sarcastically.
Just then, the swordsman leapt a great distance into the air out of the dispersing smoke cloud. He came barreling down on the Titans with his heavy broadsword. Thinking fast, Aqualad called water from the water pipes in the floor directly below him. The floor cracked open and released another powerful torrent of water which pushed the swordsman back into the air.
While the swordsman was helplessly flailing in the air, Speedy loaded an explosive tipped arrow on his bow and took aim. He waited for just the right moment and launched the arrow. The arrow flew like a missile and hit the swordsman right in the face. Simultaneously, the swordsman was forced to let go of his sword. He fell and crashed to the ground on his back, actually leaving a crater where he impacted.
The swordsman got up and greeted the Titans with a little something new. The Titans went wide-eyed at what they saw. His face was gone, at least his 'human' face. What was left was a robotic equivalent of a human skull. As the swordsman got up, it was clear his arm was dislocated. Upon noticing this himself, the swordsman took his working arm, grabbed the broken one, and yanked it hard back into place with showing any sign of discomfort.
Speedy was right. It was clear now that this guy was an android. The Titans took careful note of the fact that his skull is exposed and vulnerable.
"It's time to put this guy down permanently," said Bumble Bee, "Aqualad, give him a drink!"
"Roger that!" Aqualad gathered water into a ball and threw at the androids exposed cranium. The water forced its way into the android's face as the water ball impacted. As the water worked its way into the androids systems, the outcome was predictable. Already he started to convulse uncontrollably.
"Looks like it's working," said Speedy, "He's starting to short-circuit!"
"Let's help him along shall we!" said Bumble Bee.
Bumble Bee drew out one of her stingers. She aimed it carefully and fired a blast of concentrated electricity. The blast nailed the android right in the exposed face. The extra charge accelerated the destruction of the android's internal systems. Soon enough the android's body began to explode in several areas until the whole of it's body simply melted away into a heap of metal and plastic.
Bumble Bee twirled her stinger and slung it back on her belt. "That's how we do it here in Steel City."
"¡Eso era excelente!" said Más and Menos.
"Well now that the fun part is finished, we ought to get down to business," said Aqualad casually walking over to inspect the bad guys, "First question: why were they here?"
"I told you guys already why they were comin' here didn't I?" said Speedy walking towards the truck, "it was to make an exchange. That's what all the sources we had pointed to."
"Then what were they exchanging? And who exactly are these guys were dealing with here?"
"Well it's pretty obvious that these guys are under Blood's payroll," said Bumble Bee as she hovered over the bodies of a few knocked out wasp soldiers, "I don't know about these Darth Vader wannabes though. You guys got any idea on them."
"I think they look familiar, like something I saw in a file somewhere," said Aqualad, "I'll run their profiles in the Tower's database later. Now about that thing they were transporting…"
"It's this thing," said Speedy looking over the strange metallic coffin that was sitting idle near the back of the parked truck.
Más and Menos pulled up on the other side of the coffin opposite of Speedy. "Oooh, una caja de matal misteriosa de alguna clase. Muy intrigante y también muy curioso. Debemos investigar esto inmediatamente."
"Yeah, what they said," agreed Speedy.
"Okay then, we're taking that thing back to the tower for a closer look," said Bumble Bee.
Outside, the familiar sounds of police sirens were progressively getting closer. The Titans momentarily looked to wards the entrance that opened to the outside. They could see, although distant, the flashing red and blue colors of police vehicles.
"Looks like the cavalry's arrived" said Speedy.
"Then that means we're done here," said Aqualad, "What do you all say we go home?"
They all nodded in agreement. They made their way towards the entrance to leave, their mysterious 'prize' in tow.
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In a hidden underground lair, sometime later in the night.
"What did you say!"
Brother Blood was screaming into a video phone inside his personal office. On the other end of the line was Professor Chang who showed a great composure even though his partner in the conversation seemed to be a little on edge at the moment.
"I think I was quite clear during the first time I said it," said Chang's image on the monitor, "The Titans East intercepted the exchange and took away the package from the hands of my men and yours."
Brother Blood was practically seething. This could potentially be a major setback in the plan. He was wracking his mind trying to figure out how this could have happened.
"How was this possible," rambled Blood, "We were so careful in making sure we wouldn't be detected. Are you sure you took every precaution, Chang?"
"I did. But I have stressed this before: no set-up is perfect. You know how much trouble I had to go through to get al the equipment and all the men we need to this city and you know the bigger the set-up the bigger the risk. There was a great potential for leaks as I came here and any one of them could have been exploited by those brats. And do not forget that the leader of the Titans East herself is a former student of yours. She may have used her knowledge on your facilities to get vital information."
Blood was rubbing his forehead out of frustration. "Well none of that matters now. The point is we need it back as quickly as we can get it back."
"I agree but I don't believe it is as simple as you say it, my friend. Remember who we are dealing with here."
"Without the key ingredient, our little project won't go anywhere. It won't function unless we can steal back the that which has been stolen from us."
"We simply cannot break in to their fortress and grab the package. You were able to break in at one time but your ability to do so has long since passed, Am I right? We neither have the resources nor the opportunity to regain our asset."
"…Then what do you suggest?"
"Patience. Opportunities will arise sooner or later. Why waste our time and effort. Let them have it for now. They have no idea what it is worth or how we plan to use the asset. By the time they do figure everything out it would have been already too late for anyone to stop us."
Blood took a moment to think about what Chang said. He grinned. "I see your point. I'll be patient. But when the time comes that we should make our move, I think we are going to need more than one of those new fangled androids you have, Chang."
"Oh, do not worry about that, my friend. I have plenty more where those came from," Chang chuckled, "Very, plenty more…"
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Titans' Tower: East
Just like its more western counter part, the tower of the Titans East stands sentry over the city known as Steel. It is one of the most technologically advanced structures in the world. And just like its western counter part, it harbors the famous Titans East, Steel City's first line of defense against all those who bring evil into this city.
At first, The Titans East's first and only mission was to stop Brother Blood during his reign here in Steel city. After that mission became a success, no small thanks to the original Teen Titans, the city started to clean up after itself and it's economy soon blossomed. This brought out a rise in the criminal population making the Titans East's presence here all the more vital.
Now the tower and the Titans will probably become a permanent landmark of this city, providing it with security and the preservation of peace.
Inside one of the engineering bays of the tower, all five of the Titans East gathered. They were all focused on the same thing: the large metallic coffin they retrieved from the bust earlier in the day. It had not been damaged in the fight nor was it ever disturbed. Still the question of 'what was it exactly?' was still an issue.
Bumble Bee was scanning the box with a couple of instruments that were handy in the room. She seemed to be looking for possible booby trapping on the object if there were any to begin with. A couple of minutes have passed already and she didn't seem to have found anything worth mentioning.
Aqualad was leaning over the coffin trying to take a closer look. They knew it was a container of some sorts and had something worth looking at inside. The Atlantean was looking for some kind of handle or switch to open the thing but not having much luck.
Más, Menos, and Speedy were standing idle on one side of the room along side some emergency stuff like a handy fire extinguisher and a first aid kit. They knew that the insides could be possible volatile so they were taking precautions. They kept a close watch over the object as Bumble Bee and Aqualad worked.
Bumble Bee was the first to break the silence. "Well guys, it looks like it's safe to handle. My sensors didn't see anything too dangerous."
"That's cool," said Aqualad, "But I still can't find a way to open this thing."
"Want me to get the blowtorch?" said Speedy.
"Dude, don't even joke like that. We still don't know the contents of this thing and we want to go through this as delicately as possibly. Aren't you curious about what's inside it, man?"
"¡Sí!" answered Más and Menos.
"Speak for yourselves, little guys," said Speedy.
"You saying you already know what's inside?" asked Bumble Bee.
"Nope."
"They why'd you say you're not curious?"
"What's to be curios about? We don't know what's inside of it, yeah. But it'll probably turn out to be some obvious thing like a big gun, or a bomb, or Jimmy Hoffa, or something. So no, I'm not curious one bit."
Meanwhile, Aqualad finally found something. "Hey, I think this is it!"
"What you find?" asked Bumble Bee.
"Looks like a key hole. It seems to be the only way to open it. Problem is we don't have a key."
"Let me take a crack at it," said Speedy. He walked up to where Aqualad was looking down at near one of the coffin's ends. He took out a lock pick kit from his utility belt. One of the things that were taught to him under the Green Arrow was how to pick a lock. He became a master at it in no time and the ability has proven quite useful in many occasions.
Speedy bent down close to the keyhole and began to work with his picks. "Okay, here we go… a twist here… a tug there… and carefully… got it!"
There was a load click from the keyhole just as Speedy finished. The click was soon followed by a bunch of mechanical humming sounds. Alerted, Speedy and Aqualad slowly backed away from the thing for caution's sake. After a short while of humming the coffin began to open automatically. The top cover split in the middle and folded upward then down to the side along with the side walls. Both ends also folded down. The inside was covered in a thick white mist of cold gas.
The Titans waited for the gas to clear to see what was inside. After it did they got a surprise.
The contents of the coffin was the almost naked body of a girl, her most private parts were covered only by several bandages wrapped around her body in some areas. Her petit figure barely filled the area which she was lying on. From the looks of her she was still young, somewhere around her mid-teen years. She was unconscious
The Titans took an even closer look. They then got a bigger surprise.
"Whoa," said Aqualad, "No way!"
"It can't be…" said Bumble Bee.
"Esto es imposible," said Más and Menos.
The girls round face, small nose and long flowing blonde hair. Her already mentioned petit frame of a body with its light fair skin. The Titans recognize her. They knew who she was and they stared in awe. The girl that was lying there in front of them, sleeping as if the world was standing still.
Terra.
"Okay…" said Speedy, "…Now, I'm curious."
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