Chap. 16

Fall from Grace

After that, things improved between Brett and the kids. He became like the Brett of old, a more fun teacher, who would correct gently and listen to the words of his students. It was a good thing too, because every day, Slade came closer. And while the kids were learning much, they were still nowhere near ready to face him. They were good, but the question still remained of how to get them to their full potential. The Elementals spent a lot of time discussing it, but they just could not figure out an answer. Of course, sometimes an answer will come whether you plan for it or not.

"Come on, you're almost there!" Eddie yelled from the training room's control space, as Lisa and Martin inched closer to their goal. "Easy for you to say!" Lisa yelled back, as she dodged another shot from the plasma cannon. A second later, Martin smashed it to bits, leaving the two of them even closer to their goal. In this case, the goal was a large spire, on top of which was the shut off button for the exercise. Eddie had designed the exercise himself, as well as picked who would run it first. He had chosen Lisa and Martin, because they were total opposites. Lisa's agility and slight build made her think carefully about each step and how to sidestep the obstacles. Of course, that also made her more vulnerable to the shots of the weaponry. And while Martin's steel body made him invulnerable to that effect, he had a habit of simply smashing his way through everything. He also wasn't capable of climbing up the smooth sides of the spire, though Lisa was. Eddie knew that the two of them would have to work together in order to finish the course. He just hoped they could do it.

"Come on!" Martin yelled, as he took down the two cannons surrounding the spire. Lisa flipped over the wreckage and landed next to the steel teen. Looking up, she said, "All right, I think if we.." But before she could even begin to formulate a plan, Martin had already begun to smash at the sides of the spire. "What are you doing?" Lisa yelled, as she tried to pull him away. "I figure, we can bring it down to us." Martin replied. "Are you stupid? If we do that, then the circuits will be broken. The button will be useless!" "You don't know that!" Martin yelled back, as he drew his fist up and continued to beat at the spire. "Yes I do! Will you shut up and listen?" Lisa snapped, as she leapt in front of the spire to prevent Martin from smashing it. "Get out of the way!" Martin yelled back. But she never got a chance to. Suddenly, two panels popped out of the spire and a pair of small sniper-blasters popped out. While the two teens stood arguing, the blasters swiveled around and with almost no sound, fired. The two of them didn't even notice the sound of the machinery, until they were hit by the blasts and blown away from the spire in a heap.

The blasters would've taken another shot, but suddenly they whipped back around and retreated into the spire. Likewise, all the cannons retracted into the walls, as the entrance door opened and Eddie stomped his way down. "Dammit, that's the third time you've screwed this up!" he yelled out as the two of them pulled themselves to their feet. "If you would just stopping arguing for five seconds, you could get this done. Why can't you do that?" "Hey, why don't you do it then, if it's so easy?" Martin snapped back. "Because I'm not the one who needs to do it. You are." Eddie answered back. "But frankly, I'm starting to think I could do it by myself. Because at least then, I could make a goddamn decision on what to do!"

"Look, you thought this thing up, don't blame us if I doesn't work." Lisa said. "It may not work, but it isn't because of Eddie's job on it." Said a voice from the door. The others turned as Brett and the rest of the group walked into the room. "You two can't work together for five minutes without tearing each others' head off." The bat continued. "Well if she would just let me do something on my own." Martin said. "Hey, maybe if you had a good idea!" Lisa snapped back. "Enough! I don't care what it is, but it is going to end now." Eddie said, throwing his hands up in the air. "You have got to learn how to work together, or this is never going to succeed." "How do you expect me to work with this hoity little snit?" Martin asked angrily. "Or me with this lumbering idiot?" Lisa back, with an equal amount of venom. "Because you both have qualities that can add to one another, if you could put your gripes aside and learn to use them." The dog replied.

But despite the wisdom of his words, neither Lisa nor Martin seemed any closer to calming down. "Do have any idea how much your parents accomplished by working together?" Sara asked, hoping that a reminder of the past might shame into working together. But that proved to be a both the right and wrong thing to say. "I don't care!" both teenagers yelled out in unison. "Oh really?" she asked, knowing that a nerve had just been struck. "Look I just don't feel like hearing about my parents and what they did ok?" Martin said. "Me either." Lisa said. Even though both were still angry, there was a trace of melancholy in their voices, that somebody was smart enough to pick up on. "Are they telling you guys stories too?" Katie asked. "Huh?" A slight smile on her lips, Katie said, "Ever since this started, my parents started telling us stories about the old days." "Yeah it's pretty cool." Bart added. "But it's also a bit overwhelming, isn't it?" Sara said, catching onto the line with ease. "Yeah. I mean the stuff about Trigon and Slade… I don't know if we can ever get to that level." Katie said, as the melancholy evident in her friend's voices began to creep into her own.

Perhaps it was hearing their own fears and thoughts, reflected back at them that caused Lisa and Martin to finally get into the conversation; "At least you don't have to hear about the stuff that went on with Batman." Lisa said. "Or how your father rebuilt his body all those times." Martin added. "Or becoming ruler of a whole planet." Rivers said. "I mean really, what are we supposed to do with all this?" The Knights gave no answer, knowing that these thoughts had to simply be uttered, not answered upon. "I don't know. They probably think that they're helping us, but it just it seems even more out of reach." Lisa said. "Um, am I the only one who does enjoy these stories then?" Bart asked. "I mean, I just like hearing about all the cool stuff they got to do." "Don't you get it?" Martin asked. "We're gonna have to do all that and more. We have to face a demon-man, or whatever Slade is gonna be, and we don't even have the experience they did when they fought Trigon." "So? We'll be trained, we'll do fine." Bart replied with confidence. "I've been watching the old tapes of them fighting. We don't have a chance." Martin said. "They were coordinated, quick-thinking, hell they were perfect. And we're never gonna be there, no matter what we do."

"Wait, you think they were perfect?" Terra asked. Martin and the other kids, save Bart, nodded. The blonde girl looked back at Brett and Sara, who looked back with a mirror image of surprise on both their faces. Then, the three of them did something that surprised even Eddie; they erupted into peals of laughter. "Oh my…. You actually…. Oh I'm gonna die." Terra spurted out between laughter. Brett actually grabbed his stomach in pain, as Sara leaned on him for support. This fit went on for about three or four minutes, before they were finally able to calm down. "Is there some joke I'm not in on?" Eddie asked in slight annoyance. "I'm sorry man, but… perfect, jeez you guys did not know your parents." Brett said. "What do you mean?" Bart asked. "Do have any idea how many times your parents stepped in it?" Sara asked incredulously. "Didn't you ever hear about the time Beast Boy accidentally infected Cyborg with a virus that made him eat half the garbage in town?" "No way, Dad actually did that?" Martin asked. "Oh yeah. And that isn't counting the time he put that chip in his head so he could do more stuff. He almost blew out half his wiring!" "That was good, but remember when Starfire nearly married that blob thing back on Tammeran?" Brett said. "Jesus Christ, that thing was ugly! And she wouldn't say anything about it, just tried to act like she was happy." "Yeah, that really pissed off Robin. It was like watching that date he had with Kitten in reverse!" Sara added. "Oh, and that time Raven brought the movie monster to life and it nearly ate all of us? All because she wouldn't admit she was afraid."

The kids listened intently, eager to listen to these tales of their parents, even though they weren't the victorious ones they had been fed. Finally, the two knights stopped, smiling at all the old memories. "Trust me guys, it's ok to screw up. Everyone does it, no matter how great they seem. Besides, if I can come back from it, anyone can." Terra said. "If you really need proof though, I think I've got the perfect thing for you. Brett, why don't you call up the picture you showed me yesterday?" "You mean…. Oh, they are going to hate you." Brett said, but he moved over to the viewscreen all the same. Typing a few commands into the keyboard, the bat pressed one last button, and a large image of the old Titans filled the screen. The kids gaped at it for a few minutes, and then began to snigger in laughter. It showed their parents, in front of the entrance to a mall, ready for battle and dressed in the most ridiculous fashions known to man. Beast Boy was in a pink bunny suit, Raven in a yellow dress and pigtails, Cyborg in a rain coat and boots, Starfire in an oversized green sweater, and Robin, who had almost escaped the idiocy, had it not been for the slicked back school boy hair.

"Oh my God… what were they on?" Bart snickered out. "There this weird demon that Cyborg brought home in a pie." Brett explained. "It's a really long story, but she basically made the Titans think that she was their mother and that they were five years old. She even redecorated the Tower to add to the effect; God it was like being in gingerbread hell! Luckily, us B.R.A.T.S didn't have any of the pie after we saw what it did to them. But we did manage to get a few shots for posterity. You should see the diaper pics we got." The bat finished, as he looked over the kids with a smile. In the space of a few minutes, they had gone from sad, unconfident, kids, to a group of laughing friends. It was a warm sight to behold, and there was no telling how long it could have lasted, had Cyborg not walked in with the other parents, ready to take the kids home. "Hey what's so funny in.. "SWEET HEAVENLY GOD HOW DID YOU GET A PICTURE OF THAT!"