Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah… yaddah, yaddah, yaddah…dribble, dribble, dribble…
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In the GeoHammer control room.
The Titans and Brother Blood were all staring up at the giant computer screen that showed a picture of Titans Tower: East. The Titans were staring up at the image with dread on their faces while Brother Blood had an expression of utter glee. For the Titans it was a moment of demise while for Blood it was victory assured.
"Sir, positive impact on target confirmed," said a nearby technician on a terminal.
"Excellent…" replied Brother Blood.
From the control room's monitor, the scene unfolded with dramatic clarity for all the Titans to see. The image on the screen showed the island slowly lowering itself into the depths of the ocean. Waves of seawater splash against the island violently due to unusual and abnormal geological events.
Soon the entire rocky crag on which the island stood on was completely submerged in water. The tower itself began to touch the surface of the water. From the looks of things then, it seemed that the whole of Titans Tower: East, the last line of defense for Steel City, would be lost to the ocean in a matter of minutes. When the tower was halfway down into the water, the image on the monitor suddenly disappeared.
The Titans, taken aback by the loss of visuals, looked down towards Brother Blood who had a finger on a button on his armrest terminal. They stared at him from behind a little bewildered. Brother Blood took his finger off the button and slowly spun his chair around to meet the Titans face to face. He had a smug look on his face that each and every one of the Titans just wanted to slap off.
"I think that's enough for today, Children," said Brother Blood.
"I will have your head for this!" exclaimed Aqualad.
"I'm afraid that I must be left undisturbed now. You have already seen that the trial run was successful. Now I must move to the real targets."
"Trial run?"
"I'm a scientist first and foremost, my boy. When I build something, I make sure it works."
"So what're you gonna do now, huh?" inquired Bumble Bee.
"Now that I know," said Blood, "that the GeoHammer will live up to its standard. I can move on to the real targets. What you saw was just a tiny fraction of the GeoHammer's power. Once all the power generators have been fully charged, nations will sink to the depths of the earth allowing me to build it anew."
"¡No te dejaremos get con esto!" exclaimed the twins.
"If you'll excuse me I have to attend to more pressing matters now. I'll deal with you four a bit later. Sergeant?"
The door to the control room opened and the same wasp soldier from before. He again ordered the Titans to follow him and the same squad of soldiers began to escort them back to their holding cell. The Titans were powerless to do anything. Brother Blood watched as they all disappeared behind the closing door. He took careful note of the contempt on each of the Titans faces as the left.
When the Titans were gone he turned around his chair so that he was facing the monitor again. He started giving out orders to his subordinates on the computer terminals below him. He told them to start charging the main generators in preparation for their main strike on the surface. Brother Blood couldn't help but smile sinisterly.
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At the sinking Titans Tower: East.
Terra, Chu-hui, and the still unconscious Speedy were all gathered in the main room of the tower. Speey was laid on the couch to rest. Chu-hui was standing next to the couch watching over Terra who at the widow looking down. The water level was steadily rising as it reached halfway up the tower. Throughout the whole time, the shaking never stopped.
Terra was obviously getting more and more worried at the rising water level. If that kept up at it's the rate it was going, the whole tower would be sunk completely in less than ten minutes. Terra dreaded the thought of loosing the tower while having the rest of the Titans captured and/or unconscious. They couldn't afford it. The world couldn't afford it.
Something had to be done. But what? Terra wracked her brain for any solution but she was never really the brainy one in any team she ever joined. She then noticed Chu-hui walking up to her.
"What are we gonna do now?" asked Terra.
"This tower must be saved," said Chu-hui, "It is your friends' home after all."
"Yeah, but how?"
"You can do it, my student."
Terra was taken aback. "What?"
"Right now only you have the power to save this place. You must do it for all our sakes."
"But, I can't do this!… can't I?"
"You can and you must!"
"But I…"
"If you won't then who will. I know that you have more than enough power to fulfill this one objective. Do not underestimate yourself, young lady."
Terra was silent and contemplating. In the distance, sounds of plates and glasses breaking could be heard as they were shaken off the kitchen counter top. Alarms and sirens were going off everywhere around them. The Tower was reaching a critical state.
"I… don't know if I can."
"Would you rather go on living knowing you didn't even try? You may not have much faith in yourself but at the moment the faith of your friend are with you and they believe that you are competent enough to do the right thing. Will you simply abandon their faith? "
Terra looked at the True Master. Chu-hui's eyes seemed to give confidence to her. Terra simply stood there for a while before she finally looked up at Speedy. He was unconscious on the couch, unable to get up due to his injuries. She began to remember all the time she spent with him and the rest of the Titans.
After that, she had already made up her mind.
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Moments later, at the rooftop.
The rooftop door opened up. Terra rushed out the door onto the shaking roof. She immediately ran to the edge of the roof to check the water level. It was already two-thirds of the way up the tower which alarmed Terra a great deal. She walked backwards towards the center of the rooftop.
When she reached the center, Terra stood still. She breathed in and out as if trying to give herself a little relief from all the tension surrounding her. She was this tower's only hope of surviving. That wasn't exactly a light load to carry. She had to relax, to focus.
After deciding she was as relaxed and focus as she would ever be at that point, Terra got to work. She stood on spread legs ands stretched out her arms wide. She closed her eyes and concentrated. A while later her body started glowing a golden hue.
As if a gigantic tether from the sky suddenly lassoed itself around the huge structure, the tower immediately stopped sinking. The gradual lowering of the tower into the ocean depths came to a very abrupt halt. But that's all that happened at that point. The Tower didn't sink or rise any. Terra looked as if she was struggling.
The quaking of the tower never stopped but seemed to intensify under Terra's efforts. Terra showed her teeth and grinded them against each other while trying to keep the tower from sinking further. Below, the waves continue their unrelenting bombardment on the tower's outside walls. Then, all of a sudden, Terra yelled out then fell to her knees.
"Aaargh!"
Almost as soon as she did so, the tower started to sink once again. If anyone would be able to see, they would be able to tell that Terra had a saddened face that was staring down.
"I… can't do it…" she said.
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Back in the main room.
Chu-hui was watching over Speedy's sleeping figure on the couch when she noticed the tower start sinking again into the ocean. Looking up into the far wall, a strange shadow caught her attention. Looking behind her towards the window, she saw the source of the shadow.
The water has risen to the level of the main room. Chu-hui watched as waves of water started beating on the window in front of her. The water level rose halfway up the window in front of her and Chu-hui swore she saw a school of anchovies swim pass by.
By now she knew the situation was critical. She looked up to the ceiling but seemed to be looking beyond it. It was as if she was looking at her student above her.
"Don't give up," she said, "you can do this. Your friends believe in you and so should you…"
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Up at the roof.
As if hearing the old woman speaking right in front of her, Terra looked back up. With renewed vigor she got back on two legs a little shakily though. She steadied herself and prepared to give it another go.
"I can't give up," she said, "not yet, not after all they've done for me."
She spread he arms out wide. A moment later her entire body began to glow a bright golden hue once again. Almost instantly, the tower stopped sinking and remained in place.
"This is for the Titans," said Terra, "if not for me… rrrgh!"
Suddenly at that point, the tower actually raised up from the ocean. Slowly but surely the tower of the Titans East began to rise up from the depths of the deep blue. Terra was actually doing it all by herself. But her moment of victory was short lived.
Halfway up, the tower slowly came to a halt in its accent. Terra on the roof fell on one knee but managed to keep both her arms outstretched. The tower again had stopped, neither sinking nor rising. Terra was loosing precious energy, mainly because she lost most of it in the night before with Professor Chang's little experiment. She has yet to fully recover them and she simply could not muster enough to lift the entire structure on her own. She wished Raven was here.
"It's no good, " she said, "My powers are almost drained. I need more…"
As Terra tried o concentrate harder, she accidentally tapped into another power source down below her through her own powers. She immediately identified it as the force that was pulling the tower down against her. A moment later she realized something else was familiar. The force that was pulling the tower down was her own power. But she wasn't the one where it was coming from.
Eventually she realized what it was and where the power had come from. Brother Blood and Professor Chang. This has to be their doing, there was no other explanation. Terra now realized the awful truth that should have been clear to her all along.
This was the reason those two maniacs cloned Terra to steal away her powers. To make a weapon with control over earthen elements. Only now did she understand fully the whole situation of this drama that has played out for the past few days. And she was feeling the blunt of everything that came to pass at that very moment when her powers were being used against her.
Predictably enough, that struck a sour cord in Terra's mind.
"I won't let anyone…" said Terra, "…use my powers… for evil again…rrrrrgggghh!"
Terra just got her much needed extra boost. She tapped directly to the force that was pulling the tower down. Seeing as it was her power to begin with, she took it back and used it for herself. She was able to convert the power that was pulling down on the tower to part of her own in pulling it back up.. And the tower did go up.
The tower was now finally, steadily, rising up out of the ocean. Soon all the floors of the tower became visible once again. Moments later the craggy rock island that made up the base of the tower finally resurfaced. The tower was back up on its proper position but Terra's work wasn't done yet. She focused on the rocks below the water.
Because of all the unnatural activity, the bedrock was pretty messed up. All the dislocated earth made the tower's foundation extremely unstable. Terra focused her powers on putting back together the tower's underwater foundation. Below the water, rocks, glowing gold, began to pile up and compact themselves. The rock hardened with all that compression and the tower's base was finally stable.
Terra's job was done at last. Up on the roof, Terra allowed herself to fall on her butt then on her back. She was exhausted and understandably so. It was rare that she exert as much of her power as she did. She thought to herself how lucky she was she wasn't wearing one of Slade's high-tech neuro-link suits. If she had, the backlash caused by the suit might have turned her into stone.
She laid there on the cool rooftop gravel panting to catch her breath. A while passed by until the door to the roof opened up to reveal the True Master, Chu-hui. The old woman walked towards where Terra was lying down. The blonde girl barely registered the old woman's presence. She was too tired to do so. Chu-hui sat down next to her student.
"You've done well," said the True Master.
"…yeah… what about Speedy?"
"The boy is fine. He should wake up soon once he gets enough rest."
"So… what happens now?"
"I have already told you, young lady, that we are the ones who write our own story. We decided where it will go. What happens now is completely up to you."
Terra was silent for a while before she spoke up again. She simply looked up at star-filled night sky, appreciating their beauty and what a peaceful sight it was. She remembered how she enjoyed spending cool nights just staring up at the clear night sky. She loved it even more when she spent those nights with friends. It was that last thought that finally solidified her resolve and then she made her decision.
"…I'm going after them," said Terra, "I'm gonna go rescue my friends…"
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In the holding cell, inside the GeoHammer facility.
Bumble Bee was seated on the floor on a lotus position staying calm. Más and Menos were seated back-to-back, leaning against each other with solemn faces. Aqualad was pacing back and forth across room at a brisk pace. They were all still handcuffed and unable to use their powers. Completely helpless.
Other than the fact that they were imprisoned and couldn't do anything about it, another issue that was eating at them was when they saw that image on the control room screen, where they saw their tower slowly sinking into the ocean. Blood was even nice enough to show them only half of the footage letting them imagine in their own how their home sank to the depths. They were understandably frustrated, some more than others.
"Dammit!" exclaimed Aqualad, kicking the wall, "I cannot believe this is happening!"
"Tampoco poder nosotros," said the twins, "pero no hay nada que nadie puede hacer sobre él ."
"You're gonna have to settle down, Aqualad," said Bumble Bee, "Complaining about the way things are is not gonna help anybody."
"Isn't there anything we can do?" asked Aqualad.
"At the moment, none. But that doesn't mean we can give up hope just yet."
"Es correcto," said Más.
"No debemos soltar la esperanza o más todo es perdido," said Menos.
"Speedy is still out there somewhere," continued Bumble Bee, "It may have looked like he took a really nasty fall, but we all know he's a lot tougher than that. I'm sure he survived. Plus there is someone else…"
"You mean Terra?" asked Aqualad.
"Yes, Terra."
"Bee, not that I want to be pessimistic, I don't think it'll be that easy, just hoping for Terra and Speedy to come rescue us. I mean I want them to come and I believe in them. But we all know how Terra was the last time we saw her. She wasn't exactly in the best mood, not after that whole "I'm a clone" issue was brought up."
"Maybe but there is more to this than that. More to her than what we may think."
"¿Qué estás diciendo tú?" inquired the twins.
"Terra will see that she is the only hope this world has. And I know she'll act on it. She has to."
"Is it really that easy," asked Aqualad, "to assume that Terra will step-up to something that big after what she's been through?"
"She's been there before. At least the real Terra has. But, clone or not, I know what think is real. Our Terra is definitely real and so is her resolve and determination. She has what it takes to save us and the world. I know that she'll do the right thing…"
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Back at the tower, in Terra's room.
She was seated on the bed, resting her legs. Even though her Master told her to get some shut-eye Terra was unable to put herself to sleep, not after all that had just happened. Chu-hui had volunteered to look after Speedy in the main room. Terra was left alone with her thoughts.
During her time alone, which had probably been half-an-hour by then, she had a lot to think about. About the conversation she and Speedy had. About the conversation she had with her Master who happened to show up rather unexpectedly. She thought about this whole 'clone' business and what her true identity really is.
After doing a lot of thinking, she got up and went to her desk drawer and took out a large pair of scissors. She held up the scissors on her hand and took a good look, inspecting the blades. She opened up the blades of the scissors and inspected them more closely by feeling them with her thumb. She could tell they were nice and sharp.
With scissors in hand, she made her way out of her room and into the nearest bathroom. She entered the bathroom that was right down the hall from where her room is. She stood in front of the sink and stared directly into the mirror and at her reflection. She stared long and hard as if trying to solidify a memory of something that was about to be gone.
She took a deep sigh. She looked at the scissors in her hand one last time before finally making up her mind. She calmed herself down as best she could in preparation of what she was about to do. She stared back up at the mirror one last time. Then she closed her eyes shut.
She brought her both her hands up, one of which carried the scissors. She put both her hand in the proper position, relying only on her sense of touch. She was able to feel the sharp blade touching her skin. Once she was satisfied with the placement of her hands and that the scissors were ready. She took a deep breath.
Slaaaaaaasssshhhh…A long moment of silence followed.
She opened her eyes and looked into the mirror. She smiled.
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Back in the main room.
Speedy, who was still on the couch was groggily waking up. "Uuughh… my head…"
His vision was blurry and his head was aching. Thankfully though, most of the soreness his body has endured for the past few hours seemed to have gone away. He sat up in a sitting position to get more comfortable. He put a hand to his head to try and subside the aching.
"Man, I need an aspirin…" said Speedy.
"Here you go."
An aged pair of hands, one holding out two aspirins while the other holding a glass of water, were held up to Speedy's face.
"Oh, thank you," said Speedy.
He took the aspirins, popped them in his mouth and swallowed. He then took the glass of water and began to drink it down. Halfway through his drink, realization shot through Speedy's head like one of his own arrows as he looked down and saw an old woman in a pink dress, blue jacket, sandals, and a derby hat supporting herself with a wooden cane.
Immediately, Speedy eyes went as wide as diner plates and he choked on his drink of water and spitted nearly all of it back into the glass he was drinking it from. He put down the glass on a nearby coffee table. He beat on his chest to get rid of that choking feeling. After catching his breath, he looked back down on the old woman who was smiling back at him.
"W-Who are you?" inquired Speedy.
"Me? I'm just an old woman who's visiting a student of mine…" said Chu-hui rather cheerfully.
"B-But how did you get in here?"
"Same way you did. Through the door."
"Do we even know each other? I mean you don't look familiar at all? Are you someone I met at a previous life or something?"
Chu-hui looked strangely at Speedy. "Calm down, my boy. I'm only here because I was invited."
"So, you know us?"
"Well, I know one of you, but I think you have figured it out by now that you're not that one…"
"Well, I know I don't know you. And I know that you don't know me. But I don't know if you know any of the others and I also don't know if any of the others know you. But I know you said the one who knows you is also the person you know and I know that person invited you is the person you know and who knows you back. So, since I don't know you, you can't know me and since you don't know me It wasn't me who invited you in since I don't know you. And you don't know the others because they don't know you enough to invite you in since they're all captured. So knowing that you don't know me and you don't know any of the others, I now know--"
Chu-hui simply stared at him.
"--that the only person who you know and has invited you 'cause they know you has to be someone who was not captured. But I know I was not captured and you and I don't know each other so I know that person who knows you isn't me. And I also know that the only other possibility left, who was not captured, not me, and could possibly know you enough to invite you is… (insert drum roll here)… Terra! Yes I'm a genius!"
"You brilliance is blinding…" said the True Master in the most sarcastic tone.
"I know!…" said Speedy, "…wait... Terra! Where is she? I have to go talk to her!"
Speedy shot up off the couch and was about to dash right out the door but an aged hand grabbed hold of his wrist and stopped him. Speedy looked down to see the old woman holding him back as well as giving him a stern look as if ordering him sit back down.
"Don't worry, my boy, the girl is fine. She only needs a little time to rest. She will need it."
"But--"
"She has made her decision to try and rescue her friends from where they are. She believes this is the right thing to do and so do I. But, as powerful as she is, she'll still need help. You may have recovered most of you energy since you gave your injuries a chance to heal by resting up a bit. But I believe that you should save that energy for the both of you. You can make yourself useful now by formulating a plan."
Speedy didn't respond right away. He thought about what the old woman said. He found that he couldn't argue with any of the points she made.
"Alright," he said.
He walked to the main computer and took a seat. He turned the contraption on and began typing. Speedy looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. After a while of inputting some commands, a digital map of the general area appeared. A moment later it zoomed in on a particular spot on the mountains. Four blinking dots started to appear, one of which seemed to be moving back and forth.
"Yes!" exclaimed Speedy, "good 'ol Bumble Bee, always prepared."
Chu-hui walked up to Speedy. "What is this showing?"
"Oh this? Well, Bumble Bee was always worried when some of the team would go missing by whatever circumstance. To ensure that we'd always have a way to locate each other, she installed micro transmitters in our costumes that only the Titans' computer is able to detect. What were seeing now is their exact location on the map and by the looks of things it seems they're alright."
"Then we've still got a chance."
That came from the door, in a voice both Speedy and the old woman were familiar with.
"Terra!" exclaimed Speedy as he got up to look at the source of the voice, "I'm glad you're alright! You sure had me worried there for a sec--"
Speedy was cut short of his speech by what he saw. It was Terra but at the same time it was not. He couldn't help but stare. Chu-hui also looked but unlike Speedy the True Master gave a satisfied smile at what she saw.
The girl who just entered the room stood in the middle of the room. Starting from below, she wore heavy-looking, industrial black boots. Above those, she wore thick. yet snug, black cargo pants that had a bright yellow stripe that ran on the side of each leg. It was held onto her waist by a utility belt. For her top, she wore a tight-fitting, short-sleeved jacket colored in black and yellow. The sleeves, shoulders, and the turtleneck collar were black while the rest of the jacket was bright yellow. Her hands had a fingerless glove each. Hanging around her neck were a pair of googles.
But the most noticeable feature on the girl was not her new clothes. What really got the attention of the two people in front of the main computer was her hair… or lack thereof. Where one who was familiar with the girl would expect to find long, waist-length, blonde hair, there was none. Her hair was cut short so that it would only reach her neck.
"What?" inquired the short-haired blonde, "is there something on my face?"
Speedy realized he was staring. "Oh! Um no… nothing at all, but… What happened to you?"
The girl took a deep breath. "I've done a lot of thinking. I thought about what you said, Speedy and I took a good look at myself while doing it. I've decided that I want to help you guys. But I don't want to do it as some one I know I'm not. So I'm still gonna help you guys, but I won't be doing it as 'Terra'…"
A moment of silence followed where nobody moved.
"I understand," Speedy spoke up, grabbing the girl's attention and walking up to her, "Somehow I expected you to pull something like this. And to tell you the truth, I've got no objections."
"Thanks, Speedy," she said, "you think the new look is good?"
"I think it's just great. So if you're not 'Terra' then who are you?"
The girl looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke.
"From here on out…" she said, "the name is… Silicis"
"Silicis?… Okay then," Speedy held out a hand, "Welcome aboard!"
Silicis smiled and eagerly took Speedy's awaiting hand. Silicis then looked down towards Chu-hui then back up at Speedy.
"So I guess you two know each other now," said Silicis.
"Yeah, and a good thing to," said Speedy, "You see, now that I know her it also means she now knows me and because we both know each other, I could now--"
"Oh, don't you dare start that again!" exclaimed the True Master.
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Author's note: Pleas take note of the name change since I'll be using her new name for the rest of this fic and any future fics that would feature Terr—er I mean Silicis. As usual: Comments? Suggestions? Violent reactions? Send them all!