Yay, last chapter of the first part! (throws confetti). Thanks guys for the reviews, they make me happy! Anyhoo, in this chapter we are back in real time, a few days after the battle with Slade. No, you won't see the actual battle, sorry. You will only see bits and pieces of it from Raven's visions and dreams, of which there are more to come.


Chapter 12: Detonation

The sliding door could barely open fast enough before the five teens rushed into the main room of Titans Tower. The place was empty as the Titans looked around its walls. An open comic book and a leftover slice of pizza sat on the counter, as if the ones who had been using them had just vanished into thin air.

"Well, they're not in the tower," Cyborg said grimly, looking at his robotic arm.

Robin pulled out his communicator and turned it on. "Speedy, Bumblebee! Anyone?" The handheld device remained blank.

Suddenly, a large face appeared on the window TV screen. The person wore metal armor, and the right side of his face was blank and dark.

"Back so soon?" he asked in a calm, unemotional tone.

Robin clenched his fists and glared up at the screen. "Where are they, Slade?" he demanded. "What did you do to them?"

Slade waved his arm in an unconcerned motion. "They are taken care of. You know, they never were as good of fighters as you are."

'Liar,' Robin thought, though he had an uneasy feeling in his heart.

Raven walked up next to the Boy Wonder. "It's not surprising that he attacked now," she told him. "Titans East have never fought him, not to mention that the city is weak…"

Robin saw something flash in Slade's eye for a split second and he realized what the man had done. "You sick bastard," he growled.

Slade ignored him. "Besides," he said, "you should be more worried about yourselves than your pathetic friends." With that, the window went dark.

As soon as the villain's face vanished from the screen, the tower flashed red…

The scene played over and over again like a broken record in Raven's mind. She remembered every word, every detail, every heart-wrenching second of that terrible day.

But, she refused to remember what happened after. She didn't want to relive what happened when they went to the outskirts of the city, never knowing what Slade had in mind.

Ignoring the pain in her leg, the empath got up from her bed and limped into the main room. Beast Boy and Starfire were nowhere to be seen, but Cyborg was busily typing on the computer while Robin paced furiously behind him. They didn't notice her come in.

"He has to be planning something," he muttered.

"Yeah? Well I can't think of anything that's worse than what he's already done," Cyborg replied.

"Slade's never done something like this before," Robin said. "Beast Boy and Raven nearly died because of him." He paused for a long moment before going on. "To tell you the truth, I'm surprised Beast Boy's still alive. Not many people get shot straight in the head and live to tell about it."

"If Raven hadn't been there, I think we'd all be dead."

The empathy backed slowly out of the room and into the hallway. Once she was safe, she leaned against the wall and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. She was tired of everyone talking about her like this. She didn't know how she managed to heal everyone that night; she didn't know how she saved Beast Boy's life. It just happened.

It just happened!

Raven was knocked out of her thoughts when her communicator beeped. As she turned it on, she heard Robin's voice.

"Titans, get in the main room now!"

The empath flew into the room where Cyborg and Robin were looking at the screen. Starfire and Beast Boy joined them a few seconds later. Slade's face stared at them from the window.

"Hello again, Titans."

Unconsciously, Raven felt her heart beat faster and she backed up a couple steps. She took a couple deep breaths and forced herself to look up at the screen.

Don't be afraid. He can't do anything to you. Don't be afraid…

In her thoughts, she didn't realize that Slade was still talking, and she caught the last few words.

"…are five bombs place at different locations in the city." The screen showed five quick shots of the bombs before going back to Slade's face again. "You have ten minutes to find them all." The screen went blank once more.


After sending the rest of the team in different directions, Robin jumped on his motorcycle and rode at break-neck speed toward the center of town. In a few minutes, he arrived at Jump City Medical.

A few yards from the hospital's doors was a small red flashing. The Boy Wonder walked toward it slowly and studied it.

The bomb was a dark grey and was about the size of a dinner plate. From a distance, and person would have mistaken it for a small car tire, if not for the red light and rectangular clock in the middle.

2:28…2:27…

A few moments later, Robin's communicator beeped and Cyborg's face appeared.

"Robin, there's no way to turn these things off!"

"What? There has to be!" Robin yelled at the screen.

"I've tried everything."

The screen split and Raven appeared. "Robin, I can't turn the bomb off with my powers. What should we do?"

Starfire and Beast Boy came up on the screen too, with the same statement and question.

14…13…

Robin was paralyzed for a split second, clutching the communicator tightly in his hand.

"…Robin?"

The Boy Wonder shook himself angrily. "Everyone out of there NOW!"

8…

7…

6…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…


(tries to be heard over the loud "WTF?'s" of confused readers)

Err…all will be explained…in the next chapter…