Thanks again to those who reviewed the last chap. I'm glad to hear you like the Terra-Rae exchange; I was afraid people would think it was corny. Here's the new chapter, where we get to see the Tower opened once again.

Chap. 9

Re-Opening

Somehow, the Titans managed to get their kids home after that, and force them to get into bed. Of course, after the excitement of the evening, none of them really slept. They stayed up, thinking about everything that had changed in their lives. Some saw it as the beginning of a great adventure. Some wondered if they would be up to the task. Others still wondered what would happen when it was all over. But despite all that turmoil, they all managed to fall asleep… about two hours before they had to get up for school and work. From then on, the day dragged on, with all the daily tasks and work of the outside world seeming unimportant and boring in the wake of what was going to happen that night. And despite the apparent crawling of the clock hands, that time finally came, as they made their way onto the island in the twilight of the afternoon.

"So where are they?" Lisa asked, as she looked around the isle. "Brett will be here. Give him a minute." Robin answered, as he looked over at the Tower. The huge building had aged well in the last few years. It looked as clean and pristine as it had when the Titans had lived there before. Of course, that was due to the restoration efforts of the city, who sent cleaning crews over twice a month to keep the place looking good. Still Robin wondered what the inside was like. No one had been inside it since they had locked it all those years ago, and he had no idea what kind of shape the equipment was going to be in once they got in there. Robin sighed then, thinking of all the memories he had locked inside that building. He wondered briefly if the children would have the same kind he did, or if they would even get the chance.

Suddenly, the voice of Brett was heard from a distance, breaking Robin out of his interlude. Turning, he saw the figures of the Elementals and Terra walking towards them. As he walked forward to greet them, he saw that Terra had changed out of the Slade-armor and back into her old Titans uniform. He took it as a good sign. "So are we ready to do this?" Brett asked, as they joined with the others. Cyborg nodded, as he walked over to the front doors. Moving to the side, he opened up an old control panel. Opening up his finger into a key like device, he stuck it inside a slot by the left side of the panel. Slowly, the panel's screen came alive, as it flashed and beeped back into working order. As they watched, a message began to form on the screen. ANAYLZING… UNIT CYBORG RECOGNIZED. ENTER PASSCODE. "Silkie." Cyborg replied aloud. PASSCODE ACCEPTED. OPENING TITANS TOWER. With that, the huge doors began to shuttle open, creaking as they did so. "Silkie?" Brett said in amazement, as Cy disengaged from the panel. "That was it?" "Yeah why?" Cyborg asked. "Well, I guess no one would've thought of it. I just expected something different." The bat replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Who was Silkie anyway?" Bart asked, as they began to enter the Tower. "He was my pet." Starfire answered. "Oh, he was such a good mutant larvae. I wish he was still here." Bart turned back to his father, who simply nodded in response. "Whatever happened to him anyway?" Bart asked. "He starting mutating one day and we had to put him down." Raven answered. "As I recall, he was delicious." Brett added. Bart's eyes shot over to his grandfather, who simply replied, "Hey, it was either that or drinking blood. My species does one or the other. Be thankful."

Slowly, the group made their way through the Tower. While Cyborg had opened up the doors, the systems had not been activated; a safety precaution, in case the wrong person had ever gotten inside the Tower. Cy could activate it manually, but first they needed to get to the power core, located in the center of the Tower. Until they did, the only illumination was the dying light of the sun. "I can get to the power core on my own. Why don't you guys show the kids around the Tower?" Cy suggested. "Not a bad idea." Jinx agreed. "We'll split up and show them different areas of the Tower. I can show Marty the main room" "Lisa, would you like to come as well." Star asked. "Sure, why not?" Lisa replied, as she joined her mother, Jinx, and Martin as they headed for the main room. "Didn't I hear about some kind of game room here?" Bart asked. "Yep. Let's go see if that stuff still works." Beast Boy answered, a smile on his face, as he began to direct his son towards the one room in the Tower he had helped design.

"I knew he'd go back there." Raven said, rolling her eyes at the ceiling. Turning back to her daughter, she asked, "Anywhere you'd like to go?" Katie thought for a minute, and then answered, "I always wanted to see the city from the rooftop. It must be a great view." "Good choice. I always liked it up there myself." Raven answered. The two of them headed for the stairs, only to hear Robin's voice stop them a moment later. Turning around, they saw Rivers and his father heading in their direction. "I'd like to go back up there myself." Robin said. "I've forgotten how the city looks from up high." The four of them began to go up, but then Rivers turned back to the Elementals and asked, "You guys wanna come?" "Naw, we've got a few things to see ourselves." Brett replied. Satisfied, the Titans and their offspring headed up the stairs to the roof.

Meanwhile Cyborg headed down to the basement, searching for the Tower's core. Of course he hadn't been in the Tower in a few years, so he had forgotten a couple of things on the way. "All right, now just make this left and… OWWW!" Cy cried out, as he walked headfirst into a pipe twisting down from the ceiling. The impact threw him on his back, and his lay on the floor rubbing his head, he muttered aloud, "Why didn't I take that thing down before?" Then he looked up and realized that it was leading right into the power core room. "Oh right. That's how I got here." He said, as he got back up and began to walk into the power core room. Walking inside, he saw the huge cylindrical device that powered the whole Tower. All its hookups were still in place, so Cyborg expected little more then flipping a few switches. "Good thing I build to last." He said as he walked over to the control panel and flipped the on switch. For a second, there was the sound of turbines whirring, as electricity flowed through the wire. But it was only a second, as the machine shut down just as swiftly. "Huh? What in the…." Cy cried out, as he continually pushed the button, with no results. "Great." He muttered, as he moved to complicate this simple job.

Meanwhile, the Elementals stood in front of a door in the Tower's east wing. A name was engraved on it, just like there were on each of the rooms in the Tower. Terra ran her hand over the engraving of her name, and then with a deep breath opened the door. It slid open easily, since it operated on a small amount of reserve power. The group walked inside the room, looking around at all the surroundings. "We didn't change a thing." Brett said, as Terra looked around in a sad wonder. It was then she noticed an object on the bed, one that she recognized with a gasp. Slowly, she walked over to it and picked it up. Holding it in her hands, she looked at with a wistful expression on her face. Brett and Sara stood silent, knowing what that object meant for the girl. But Eddie did not.

"What's that?" the dog asked, as he moved to stand behind his daughter. "Beast Boy made it for me." Terra answered quietly, as she held the heart-shaped box in her hand. "Looks like he spent a lot of time on it." Eddie commented. "I knew he was making something. He took all the glue and scissors from the Tower for two days." "He must've really cared about you to spend all that effort on it." Eddie said. Terra stared to say something, but then her tears broke, and she began to weep. The box slipped from her hands, and would've shattered on the floor, but Eddie caught before it could hit. Standing back up, he tried to comfort Terra, but she moved away from him and sat down on the bed, weeping into her hands. Eddie stood there silently, wanting to help, but not knowing how. Finally, Sara moved over to the bed and tried to calm the girl, while Brett pulled his brother to the side.

"What did I say?" the dog asked in confusion. "I thought she was ok with Beast Boy." "She was, but the night he gave that box to her was the night she betrayed us." "Aw crap." Eddie muttered, as he pulled his hand down his face. "It's alright; you didn't know." The bat said. Eddie sighed and said, "That's the problem. I don't know anything about this. I don't know how to do this." Looking up at the bat, he said, "Maybe I shouldn't be doing this. Maybe I'm not cut out to be her father." "Eddie, she needs you." Brett said. "Then why do I feel like she doesn't? She's been pulling from me ever since she regained her mind. All I seem to do is hurt her." Brett began to answer, but suddenly the lights above them flickered into working order. "Looks like Cy got the power back." Brett commented. Turning back to his friend, he said, "Eddie, she has a lot to deal with right now. She's missed the last twenty years, all her friends including the one she could've loved have moved on, and now she knows she's not completely human. You say you don't how to be a father; I don't think she knows how to have one and right now it's just too hard for her to learn. Give her time. Raven didn't accept Sara and I at first either, and frankly it took us time to accept her. Let it be, and she'll accept you eventually."

The dog was silent a moment, then sighed and said, "I guess you're right. I just wish that she…" "I know." The bat said, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "She will." Turning back to the bed, Brett asked, "You guys ok?" "I think so." Terra answered, as she wiped away the last of her tears. She rose up off the bed, and Eddie said, "Sorry, I didn't know about…" "It's ok." She said. "You didn't mean to do anything. I guess I should starting facing all this stuff now anyway." She would've said more, but then there was a frantic knock on the door. Looking at the others curiously, Eddie out the box down on the dresser and opened the door. Outside was a panic-stricken Lisa and Starfire. "You've got to come, hurry!" Lisa cried as she grabbed Eddie's arm and tried to pull him out of the room. The dog however, would not be moved so easily, and pulled his hand back. "Hold up, what's going on here?" he asked. Star answered, in a voice just as panicked as her daughters'. "There has been an accident. Martin was injured by on of the security devices." "Shit! How bad?" Eddie asked, as the others came up to join him. "Bad enough that we need you to heal him." Star replied. "Lead the way!" Brett yelled, as they sped out of the room and towards the hallway.

The group sped through the hallways of the Tower, following Star and Lisa all the way to the main room. There, they found the others all crowded over the form of Martin lying on the floor. The boy was clutching his upper leg, as a short but sharp spike was sticking through almost all the way. Sara hissed at the sight of it. Brett knelt down and quickly looked over the injury. "Your oldspear trap?" he asked Cy. Cyborg nodded, too worried about his son to speak about it. "He must've been in the wrong spot or he'd be dead." Brett said, as he slit the side of Martin's pants to get a better look at the wound. After a moment, he pronounced his opinion. "It's not bad. The spike went through the meat of the leg and missed the bone and muscle. Once we get it out, it should be easy to heal."

Slowly, the bat wrapped his hands around the end of the spike. "Wait, maybe you can.." Martin began, but the bat cut him off. "Rob, stick your belt in his mouth. Martin, when I pull this out, bite down hard." Robin did what he was told and quickly put the belt in Martin's mouth. "Ready?" the bat asked the young boy. Martin nodded, prepared for the pain. Brett regained his hold and as quickly as he could, pulled the spike out. Martin screamed against the pain, but kept his mouth clenched against the belt. "Good job." Brett said, as he tossed the spike to the side. Moving his hands over to the now bleeding wound, the bat prepared to gather his energy to heal the wound. But then he noticed Katie watching him. The bat's eyes glinted with illumination, as an idea flashed across his mind. "Um, before I bleed to death please?" Martin asked through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to heal you." The bat replied simply. "What!" Jinx and Martin yelled in unison. Unfazed, the bat pointed at Katie and said, "She is."