Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans East, or anyone else for that matter. No wait, I do have an OC in this chapter, so I guess I do own one thing in this fic.
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In the deep caverns that lie below False Vulcan.
"Is that so…?"
Brother Blood sat in the middle of a vast control room of sorts. In front of him were several men seated on their individual computer terminals. On the wall facing Blood was a huge computer screen. The screen's space was currently occupied by the enlarged bust of Professor Chang, He and Blood were discussing important current events.
"Yes, my friend," replied Chang, "My mech-ranger is currently in pursuit of her right now as we speak."
"Tell me has she---?"
"I know what you're going to ask, my friend. And yes, her powers are manifesting fully."
Brother Blood smiled upon hearing this. This was a good turn of events, particularly for their master plan of activating the GeoHammer. Things were finally looking up and it has finally been proven that all their efforts so far have not been in vain. Now all that was left was the obstacle of actually retrieving the girl from the custody of the ever so annoying Titans East.
Luckily for them, Blood had already prepared a contingency plan. The issue will soon be addressed and if all goes well, they will have complete success in a matter of days. Blood was almost unable to contain the excitement he experienced at that moment.
"Now all we need to do is to reclaim her," said Chang on the screen,
"Then we must act immediately," said Blood.
"No not yet."
"Huh? Why?"
"My preparations have not yet been completed. If we capture her now, it will only mean she will have more opportunity to escape or be saved in the time remaining for me to complete my preparations. It is suggested that we apprehend her when I do complete the preparations for the process and then we will be safe even if she manages to escape afterwards."
"Hmm, you're right. But we don't have to worry, I guess. The Titans still don't know about the GeoHammer and they are not about to find out soon. We can take our time. Still, tell me how much time you will need to complete the process requirements."
"At the present rate, I shall be done in about forty hours, maybe less."
"Good that should give me enough time to finish things on this end. Once the time is right, we will seize the girl and our plan will finally take fruit."
"It is to my understanding that you, my friend, have prepared a plan for doing just that, Is it ready?"
Brother Blood was about to answer when someone already answered for him.
"Oh, I assure you, Professor Chang..."
Brother Blood spun his chair to the source of the female voice. Similarly, Professor Chang looked towards Blood's backside to see who spoke. Out of the shadows, came the voluptuous figure of a young woman. Chang stared at her questionably while Blood smirked since he knew who she was.
The lady was about five and a half feet tall with a beautiful figure full of nice curves. This was highlighted by her wardrobe which really didn't leave much to the imagination. She wore a tight fitting leather suit which covered all her body except the neck-up. It was mostly shaded in black and purple and had some light tribal designs printed on it. Her skin on her face was light and her waist length hair was a gleaming silver color. Her eyes were gold in color and looked like those of a cat's.
"I am very much ready," she said.
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Downtown, Steel City.
Steamroller plowed straight through a parked SUV as he made a sharp curve too fast. The SUV flew to its side, crashing into a nearby storefront window, completely shattering it. People nearby screamed as they frantically got out of the rampaging villain's way. Steamroller barely registered any of this and continued down the street.
Seconds later, a flying slab of concrete carrying Terra and Speedy came to the same corner and came down the street still in pursue of the fleeing Steamroller. People were likewise surprised at this spectacle, cause even in Steel City, flying pieces of concrete are rarely ever seen.
Terra was hell-bent on catching Steamroller. One could see it in her face; the sheer determination in her expression said it all. It still isn't clear why she is so ambitious to capture and apprehend the large villain trying to escape. It wasn't clear even to her. Was it to get back at Steamroller for hurting Aqualad? She did reason out that she wanted to protect her new friends. Was it to prove that she still had the makings of a hero? God knows she is capable. Or was this just something she could do to gain a little bit of redemption? She couldn't answer that and in all truth she didn't want to.
Speedy would have loved to have the girl's determination but at the moment all he wanted to have was a barf bag. He was an agile fighter and his usual form of transport is to swing around in a grappling arrow like Robin or his mentor, the Green Arrow. But Terra was, to be blunt, a lousy pilot. Sure this probably looks cool from a bystander's perspective and Terra seems to be fine with it, but God help anyone that she takes as a passenger.
Speedy wondered how long they have been on this chase. How long and how far have they been chasing Steamroller? Was it like four or five minutes ago that they left the construction yard? Speedy estimated they must've gone a distance of around eleven, seventeen, heck twenty-five city blocks as far as he can remember. So far, Steamroller has knocked down eight lamp posts, flattened six mailboxes, crashed into five cars, broke over twenty storefront windows, and thankfully hasn't hurt anyone yet.
"Hold on!" Terra suddenly yelled out.
Speedy frantically looked up to see what was happening. He saw a flying sedan that was heading right for them. The concrete slab that carried the two suddenly dipped a couple of feet. The sedan flew right over their heads. Speedy was barely able to hang on
"Looks like this guy wants to go on the offensive!" Terra pointed out.
Speedy looked forward again, albeit a little hesitant. He saw steamroller just block ahead of them grabbing a parked car and hurling it at them. The car that Steamroller threw flew at the two heroes like a missile. Speedy immediately grabbed the sides of the concrete slab they were on. Terra predictably evaded by swaying the slab up and allowing the car to pass under them.
Steamroller was about to turn tail again and run. Terra steadied the concrete slab long enough to give Speedy a good line of fire. Speedy got the idea immediately and slung an arrow to his bow. He let the arrow loose and it flew straight towards Steamroller's lower limbs. The arrowhead popped open into a bola which tied around Steamroller's legs tripping him as he tried to run. Steamroller fell flat on his face.
This gave an opportunity for terra and Speedy as they approached the fallen villain. As Terra neared, Steamroller suddenly snapped of the cabled on his legs and quickly got up. Terra and Speedy were caught off-guard as they come to an abrupt halt. Steamroller quickly swung down one of his drum hands down on the two heroes.
Reacting as quickly as they can, Terra and Speedy jumped in opposite directions as the Drum hand came barreling down on them. Steamroller missed the two teens but managed to smash into bit the concrete slab they were riding on. The two heroes fell opposite of each other right in front of Steamroller.
Steamroller then had to make a decision of whether to attack the girl or the boy. He was most familiar with Speedy so he decided to go after him first. It turned out to be a bad call as Speedy was playing possum. The second that Steamroller came within a few feet of him, Speedy turned on his back and fired an arrow right at Steamroller's face. It was a snare arrow; exploding into a net which entangled Steamroller's entire head.
Steamroller stumbled backwards grabbing onto his face trying to remove the entangled net on his face that was nearly choking him. At this time Terra and Speedy got back on their feet. Steamroller finally managed to remove the netting from his face and allowed himself to breath again. He snarled at the two heroes in front of him who were readying themselves for a fight.
Steamroller opted to attack terra first this time. It turned out to be another bad call. Terra reacted quickly and raised a pillar from the ground right under her launching her into the air. Steamroller's fist hit nothing but soil and cement. Terra came down with a foot to Steamroller's face. She kicked off of him and flipped backwards.
Steamroller stumbled backwards. Speedy acted then and there by shooting off another explosive arrow towards Steamroller.
"Do us all a favor and just go down already!" he yelled.
The arrow exploded on Steamroller's chest but did little to stop the villain. Instead it only made him more pissed off. Steamroller charged at Speedy and took a swing at him. Speedy evaded by jumping up and over Steamroller's drum fist and landing perched on the villain's back. Speedy quickly pulled out a grappling wire from his belt and tied it around Steamroller's neck. Steamroller predictably tried to shake speedy off. Speedy rode the giant villain like a rodeo horse.
"Yee-haw! Woah! yahhh! wahh!"
Steamroller tried in vain to shake Speedy off of his back. The teen hero was able to hold tightly enough so that he was locked into place. Steamroller started to move again, running around as he tried to get rid of Speedy. The two barreled down the road knocking over a car on its side in the process.
"Speedy!" cried out Terra.
Terra ran after Speedy and Steamroller, having nothing else to do. She watched as Speedy and Steamroller busted straight through a large glass door entrance into the Shady Hills Mall.
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The Shady Hills Mall.
Located near the center of Steel City. This grand structure houses over three hundred stores on seven stories worth of space. As usual it is bustling with people from all walks of life. People were walking around simply mingling and searching for a good buy here and there. The whole building was structured like a hexagon with a space in the center for a marble fountain and six different colored marble pillars for each point in the hexagon. A relatively peaceful atmosphere.
The atmosphere was broken as soon as Steamroller with a struggling-to-hold-on Speedy on his back crashed right through the front entrance and started running down the ground floor uncontrollably. Steamroller wasn't even looking towards where he was going since he was sorely concentrating on trying to remove Speedy from his back. Predictably enough, people scrambled to safety.
Speedy didn't have an easy time either. Terra's ride was bad enough but Steamroller was making him sick to his stomach. It was his resolve as a hero that was the only thing that was keeping his lunch in his stomach. He found it harder to hold on but managed anyway as Steamroller started to ram into a few, make that a lot, of things on his rampage.
Steamroller plows right through a marble pillar, breaking it apart into bits. He tramples all over a bench, flattening it to the ground. He knocks over several palm plants and litters the floor with those little white gardening stones. He breaks in and out of several storefronts. And finally he plows right through the central fountain of the mall, sending marble tiles, bits of cement, and a torrent of water all over the place.
"Whhoooaaa!"
Then and only then was Speedy finally thrown off his back. The archer fell to the ground with a splash as he landed in the middle of the flooded floor. He slides a good distance away and stopped when he hits a colored pillar. Speedy managed to pick himself up and shake of the dizziness.
"Rrrrghhh!"
Just as he did, Speedy saw Steamroller groggily stomping towards him. Steamroller put both his drum hands together again into one large drum and rolled in on the floor and charged towards Speedy. Speedy reacted fast enough to get out of the villains way just as he was about to be flattened. Steamroller instead, crashed into the colored pillar, breaking away the bottom part and sending cracks along the rest of it.
"Daaaahhhh!" cried out Steamroller.
He was getting tired. He was running low on energy for the first time in the day and it was messing with his head. He was starting to get dizzy and he knew he needed to get away and fast. But he knew the Titans would not allow that. Speedy was in no better shape. Fatigue was setting in and found that vthe had a hard time just standing up straight.
Steamroller managed to turn around and face Speedy again. Speedy was able to ready a few arrows on his bow. The two looked like they were about to make their last stand.
"You can not…defeat me!" yelled Steamroller.
"That's what they all say," replied Speedy.
"And they're always wrong…"
Steamroller and Speedy took a second to look to where the voice came from. A short distance behind Speedy, Terra calmly walked down the floor, hands glowing brightly. Behind the girl, all the debris caused by Steamroller's rampage through the first floor (bits and chunks of marble, cement, pottery, soil, etc) where floating along following Terra's movement.
"Step aside Speedy," she said, "I got this…"
Speedy smirked. Knowing not to argue with, he obliged and took a step out of her way. Steamroller and Terra were now in direct eye contact. Steamroller snarled at the girl while Terra remained as calm as she walked in. Her demeanor was frightening none the less.
Steamroller acted first. He charged head-long towards Terra. Terra threw forward her golden glowing hands. Giant blocks of marble and stone began to shoot towards Steamroller. Soon enough, steamroller found himself going up against a virtual torrent of stone as he is pelted continually.
Steamroller tried his best to block but found that it was useless. The storm of earthen materials came from all directions, not just from the front. Terra was commanding the broken pieces of the stones that impacted steamroller from the front to spontaneously turn around and pelt him from the back and sides.
Eventually Terra stopped the bombardment of stone on Steamroller. She held the remaining pieces of rock that were still big enough to use at bay with a wave of her hand. She watched what Steamroller would do.
The villain in question stood there for a while, not moving a muscle. He started to stumble forward, one foot ay a time. Terra didn't seem to react. She knew what was coming. Steamroller finally fell forward on his face, completely knocked out.
Terra breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her hands. The pieces of stone dropped to the ground. She looked around to find Speedy standing a few feet next to her.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked.
"Well, I can say I've been better," he replied, "But I could also say I've been worse. Good job, Terra."
"Thanks"
Before they knew it, people started to gather around the scene to check out what has happened. Speedy didn't seem to mind much but Terra steadily grew uneasy. Above them, several other people were peeking over the balconies and down on the scene. On the top-most balcony, a little girl that would look about six or seven years old looked down on the scene.
Speedy moved to the unconscious figure of Steamroller and checked to see that the villain was really out of commission. He seemed satisfied.
"Yup, all in a days work…" said Speedy sarcastically.
He looked towards Terra and noticed her discomfort around the gathering crowd. He started to get worried. He soon found other things to worry about.
Someone from the crowd yelled out. "Look out! The pillar!"
Everyone looked towards the pillar which Steamroller damaged a few moments ago. Cracks started to form and climb all the way up the pillar. The pillar started to collapse entirely and Pieces started falling down on the people. Bellow, people started screaming as debris was bout to rain upon them.
Terra went wide-eyed for a split second and reacted accordingly. She raised her hand to stop the falling pieces of debris and made them drop to where there be no people to hurt. Speedy helped too, by shooting up a few arrows that completely obliterated the large pieces that fell.
The situation seemed under control when the last f the pieces fell to the ground. But that was not all. On the sixth floor balcony, the floor directly over the broken pillar followed in the collapse and dipped forward at an angle. There, the six or seven year old girl slid down the dipped floor and over the railing. She screamed loudly as she fell from six stories high.
The crowds bellow gasped and screamed as they saw the girl plunge. Terra saw it early and took action without even taking a breath. Terra ran forward and summoned a slab of the floor rise from the ground. Terra hopped onto the slab and flew straight up. Terra stretched her arms out, and caught the falling girl just as she reached the third floor balcony's level.
Terra gently cradled the petrified girl as she slowly set down the slab of floor back in its place. The girl in Terra's arms opened her eyes to see what happened. She seemed surprised to see Terra and how she wasn't a stain on the floor like she expected to be by now.
Terra let the girl down gently and checked-up on her. "Are you alright?"
The girl nervously nodded back at her.
"Okay, now go find your parent and be careful, alright?" Terra gave the girl a gentle pat on the head.
The girl nodded one last time with a slight smile on her face. Terra smiles back. The girl ran off into the crowd. It was then that Terra noticed the crowd gathered around her. She stood up slowly. She became very uneasy as she could feel hundreds of eyes stare at her. She was so nervous she was just about ready to fly out on a rock.
Suddenly, to her surprise, applause started braking out. People cheered her all around. Terra looked around a little surprised. She somehow spotted Speedy among the gathered crowd. He gave her an approving smirk and a thumbs up. Terra looked back and helplessly blushed.
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Later that night at Titans Tower: East.
Terra was back in the main room. Along with her were Bumble Bee, Aqualad, and the twins, Más and Menos. They were discussing the events of earlier in the day. Overall the conversation concentrated on the positive side with a couple of problems being addressed here and there. Speedy was not present because he was escorting the apprehended Steamroller back to jail.
"Well, all in all, I'd say this day turned out fine," said Aqualad, "Steamroller's goin back to jail, No-one got hurt that badly, and…well there must be something else that went right today, I just can't remember right now."
"How about the fact that we didn't see hide nor hair of Brother Blood or Professor Chang?" stated Bumble Bee glaring in mock anger towards Terra.
"I'm sorry," Terra apologized, "I know you guys told me that it was important that I stay in the tower but if you only felt what felt about the situation you guys would kinda understand why I just had to go help out."
"Oh believe me Terra," said Aqualad, "I felt quite a lot." He put a hand around his stomach.
"Oh my, are you okay Aqualad?"
"Es fino, no preocúpate por él tanto. Lo está falsificando," said the twins.
Bumble Bee giggled. "Yeah don't worry about him, he's cool, Terra."
"Yeah they're right," concurred Aqualad.
"Are you sure," asked Terra, "You took a really nasty blow back there, ya' know?"
"That was nothing really. May have put me out of commission for a while but trust me, I've been hit harder before and I still came out smelling like a newborn mackerel."
Terra looked at him with slight disgust.
"No la mejor elección de palabras, el Sr. Aqualad, el Sr. Aqualad," said the twins.
"Sorry I probably should've used better words than that."
"No it's fine," said Terra, "I get what you mean anyways."
"Now moving on to more pressing matters," said Bumble Bee, "I'm gonna have to stress again how much you should avoid going outside Terra."
"I know, I know," replied Terra.
"We were just lucky that neither Blood nor Chang made a move today. But who knows when they will snatch up an opportunity to grab you."
"Yeah, she's right," said Aqualad, "Granted we have a lot to thank you for, what with you saving our butts and all, you still took a pretty big risk by going out in public like you did."
"Odiaríamos pensar qué podía haberte pasado si tú fueras capturado por nuestros enemigos de algún modo," said the twins.
"I know all that and I'm really sorry," said Terra.
"Then I'm glad you understand," said Bumble Bee.
"But of course you do know that if something like this were to happen again, as in I think that you guys will be in a lot of trouble, I won't hesitate to do what I know is the right thing which is to save you guys. And I'll do it regardless of the risk."
"Terra, please, you should---"
"I made that mistake before, Bumble Bee. I won't let it happen again at whatever cost…"
A hush fell among the teens present. No-one knew what to say to anyone. For a while everyone just stood there looking dumb. Eventually, something broke the silence but it was none of the five people present that did it. The doors slid open to reveal Speedy holding up four whole pizza boxes in the air..
"Well I'm back!" he announced out loud, "And let me tell you I am famished. Good thing too cause I took the liberty of ordering out some good Italian grub! C'mon guys, get em' while they're hot!"
Everyone looked at him not really noticing his presence. Speedy noted that no-one seemed to react much to his announcement. Usually the twins were the first to his feet whenever he brought home pizza. He also noted the mournful faces on everyone.
"Well, from the looks of things, I guess you guys have been watching 'Bambie' without the second half of the flick again, huh?"
Again, nobody reacted. Speedy was getting rather concerned right then.
"Okay, seriously, you all look like some one just died. What's going on already?"
The other five teens looked at each other for a while. Bumble Bee was the first to put on a smile and speak back to Speedy.
"Oh nothin'," she said, "Just glad your back that's all."
"Huh?"
"Isn't it nice to have all you friends here close to you, safe and sound?" inquired Bumble Bee to the rest of the group.
"…yes it is…" said Terra.
Aqualad, Más and Menos smiled at her. Speedy looked at the bunch like he was looking at a bunch of mental patients.
"Fine, keep your secretes," said Speedy, "As for me, I'd rather we just start eating already. I'm freakin' starving over here!"
"Ooh, is that pizza!" inquired Terra.
"Well, it ain't noodles, if that's what you're asking."
"Yaay, ¡comamos ya!" exclaimed the twins.
"Hey Speedy," called out Aqualad, "There better not be any anchovies or I swear to Poseidon I'll feed you to a squid!"
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Outside the tower.
The ocean waves hit the craggy walls of the cliff that served as the edge of Steel City. Above the roaring waves on the edge of the cliff. A lone woman looked towards the Tower of the Titans East. The woman wore a tight fitting leather suit. Her hair a gleaming silver complementing her golden cat-like eyes.
She smiled as she stared at the tower from where she perched. She laughed sadistically into the cold night air. She licked he lips
"Enjoy this night, oh lady of the earth," she said, "soon you shall be in our hands and victory will belong to us…"
She laughed into the air again.
"Victory, thy name is…Fallacy…"
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Author's note: Kinda short, but I'm saving a lot of stuff to be said on the next updates. A belated Thanks to all those who have reviewed me and an advanced 'thank you!' to all who will. Watch out for the next update coming soon. As usual: Pls. R&R!