Chapter XIII: The Briefing
Beast Boy stuffed a big wad of popcorn into his mouth and chewed ferociously. The others sat around the briefing room table watching in mild disgust as popcorn fragments fell onto the floor.
"Beast Boy," Cyborg said agitatedly. "Do you have to eat while I'm trying to brief everyone?"
Beast Boy shot him an annoyed look then put the bowl of popcorn on the table and continued chewing. Aimee reached over and tried to grab a handful from the bowl. Beast Boy saw this and quickly grabbed the bowl and playfully pulled it away from his daughter. Terra sighed realizing this was not going to end well.
"Hey Dad share!" Aimee lectured her father.
"No way," Beast Boy snarled. "This is mine. The rest of you stuffed yourselves at lunch. All I had was a stale peanut butter and jelly sandwich ."
"Dad!" Aimee said in exasperation. She reached over and grabbed the edge of the bowl and began tugging on it.
Beast Boy pulled back. "Stop it!"
The two struggled momentarily before Aimee lost her grip on the bowl. The bowl slammed back against Beast Boy's chest and popcorn flew everywhere.
"Aw thanks a lot Aimee," Beast Boy cried in disappointment as most of the popcorn scattered over the table and the floor.
Aimee looked up and began laughing at the mess they had created. Beast Boy scowled at her then fished out the remaining popcorn from his bowl and flung it at her. Aimee screeched as popcorn became lodged in her long hair. She looked up in shock then proceeded to scoop up popcorn from the table and fling it back at her father.
"Cut it out you two," Cyborg said in frustration. The others at the table looked on in mild amusement as Aimee and Beast Boy continued flinging popcorn at each other.
Terra blushed in silent embarrassment, though in truth it was something she had become used to over the last decade. Her husband often reverted to an older sibling with Aimee. She watched momentarily storing up the memory of this incident to enjoy at later quieter time.
Cyborg stood at the front of the room unsure how to get control of the situation. He watched as Terra stood up and walked behind the popcorn combatants then firmly pinch each of their ears. Aimee and Beast Boy screeched in pain and immediately stopped flinging popcorn at each other. Terra then proceeded to seat each of them in separate chairs then take a seat between them. She sat down and folded her arms across her chest and alternated glares at her husband and daughter. Aimee and Beast Boy sank back in their chairs thoroughly disgusted with each other.
"Thanks Terra," Cyborg paused as he looked at the mess Aimee and Beast Boy had created. "By the way you two WILL clean this room up afterwards." He heard both of them groan in protest.
"Where was I?" Cyborg fumbled unsure what he was doing before the little popcorn incident broke out.
"The Gato files," Samuel spoke up.
"Right," Cyborg took a breath then pressed on with his briefing. The main screen lit up with a schematic of Gato's plan. "It took us awhile to figure out what Gato was doing with all of that underground electric cable. They're trying to bring down the four-state nuclear power plant."
"That seems like small potatoes for Gato," Samuel interrupted.
"It's a bit more insidious than that," Cyborg countered. "They've got a draw down center somewhere in the desert with multiple connections to the main electric grid. It looks like they intend to slowly draw electricity from the grid until the plant overloads and shuts down."
"Why would they want to draw power from the grid slowly," Robin asked. "If they did it quickly they could knock the whole grid out and create chaos on the coast."
"They intend to do that this way," Cyborg explained. "A slow draw will cause the nuclear power plant to ramp up to peak capacity right before the electric grid collapses."
Robin frowned as he realized just how insidious Gato's plan was. "That would probably overload the plant beyond recovery and cause a catastrophic melt down. The four-state reservoir would become contaminated and almost the entire coast's water system would be unavailable for centuries."
"That's right Robin," Cyborg replied. "And it would leave Gato's ports in South America as the only alternative for all of the cargo vessels from the Far East.
The others at the table sat silently as the graveness of the situation sank in.
"So what do we do," Samuel's somber voice interrupted the silence.
"I propose we split up into teams and try to find Gato's draw-down site," Cyborg proposed. "We'll cover more area and if something happens to one team we still have the other group for an assault." Cyborg looked out at the others. Their close call at the warehouse made him acutely aware of the danger he and his friends faced.
"I'm in with you guys if you don't mind," Samuel spoke up.
"Glad to have you aboard," Cyborg replied. An added gun like Samuel's would only make them stronger. He looked over at Robin and Starfire. Both of them sat smiling at each other calmly holding hands.
"OK, I'll give each team a map where I think Gato's base is located," Cyborg instructed. "Each team has an assigned area. Radio contact has to be kept to a minimum. We don't want to give them a chance at finding us before we're ready. I'll go with team Logan and Raven you're with team Grayson."
"Um, Cyborg," Robin interrupted. "How are you planning to get to the search area?"
"I was going to take the T-car and you guys could use the hover bikes," Cyborg explained.
Robin snickered. "I don't think Raven wants to ride with me again."
"Is that so," Cyborg asked curiously as he looked over at Raven and saw her frown . "What say you young lady?" he asked hoping for an explanation.
Raven looked down at her shattered hand then quickly wrapped it under her cloak to hide it from the others. She had a choice to make. Either have a heart attack riding with the Grayson's or be stuck with the Logan's and all of the uncomfortable feelings she would have. Garfield and Terra never knew that their relationship had triggered the jealous rage that she had fallen into before she left the Titans. Her feelings for Garfield had cooled over the last three decades, but they were still there. And where there was a spark there could still be fire.
"Raven?" Cyborg called to her after an uncomfortably long silence.
"I'll go with the Logan's," she said in a calm resigned voice.
"All right," Cyborg said slightly perplexed. He wasn't sure who was going to lead the Logans and more importantly who was going to drive the T-car. Aimee was too young and Raven hadn't driven in decades. That left him with two possibilities. "Terra do you want to drive?"
"I think I'd better navigate," Terra replied. "There's no way I can drive and look at the navigation system at the same time."
Beast Boy's face lit up immediately. Cyborg sighed as he realized what that meant.
"Ha!" Beast Boy blurted out. "After thirty years I finally get to drive the T-car!"
"I want to see your insurance and run a background check on your license before you go," Cyborg said sternly.
"You're kidding, right?" Beast Boy asked.
"No, I'm dead serious," Cyborg replied.
Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at each other for an uncomfortably long time. Beast Boy finally stood up and fished his license from his wallet then walked over to Cyborg and handed it to him.
"Gracias," Cyborg replied as he took it from him.