Dear readers, I owe you an apology for the long hiatus with this story. That said, I have an excuse.
As many of you already know, I'm one of those "old people". Not old enough to be retired, though I'm getting there, but old enough to have old people health issues. Anyway, as some of you already know, I was having some pretty serious knee issues, serious enough that standing on my feet and/or walking for more that a two hours was becoming an issue for me. So I had a decision to make: should I tough it out for a few more years with my progressively arthritic knees, or should I have them replaced. After some careful thought I decided to bite the bullet and have my knees replaced.
I had the first one done in August, about a week after I posted chapter 6. For those who don't know, the recovery from knee replacement surgery is rather painful, mostly because the surgeon has to pull your kneecap, along with the bazillion muscles and tendons attached to it, very out of the way so he can saw off the tips of the femur and tibia and place titanium prosthetics on them. This aggravates the muscles on the leg immensely and requires months of physical therapy to recover.
Anyway, I was planning to write several chapters during the first three weeks of recovery, as I took time off from work. It turns out that I was so miserable from the pain and doped out on pain killers that I couldn't bring myself to write anything. After that I went back to work (lucky for me I have a desk job) and found myself too exhausted after a day's work to do any writing.
The good news is that by late November I had pretty much recovered. The bad news is that had my other knee done the week before Christmas.
As I sit here typing I am still in a bit of muscular pain, those less than in recent weeks. I am at the point where I can walk without a cane, so I'm getting better, quicker than last time, in fact.
Anyway, I remembered this story and have decided to finish it. So here is this chapter. It's a little on the short side, at least by my standards, but bear with me. I promise to not keep you waiting and to finish it.
Thanks for your patience.
TheForce.
-(-)-
"Slade, I presume?" The Vulcan replied.
"You presume correctly." The masked man responded.
Spock carefully evaluated the so called supervillian, who appeared to be even more ominous in person than in the video clips Robin had shown him. Vulcans were normally much stronger than humans, but Spock doubted he could defeat Slade in hand to hand combat. He recalled when he met Khan and his augmented minions. Slade would have fit right in with them.
"I presume that this incident was planned to separate me from the Titans, so you could capture me."
"Indeed, though if my droids are able to successfully steal the circuitry made here, it would be a bonus."
Spock tried to assemble an escape plan, as capture was not an option. He would need to somehow distract Slade.
"What is your purpose in kidnapping me?"
Slade chuckled. "Surely, it is obvious."
"{Perhaps. Do know that I will not share my technology or any information with you."
Slade cracked his knuckles in a menacing gesture.
"That's what they all say. Believe me, when I am done with you, you'll tell me everything. Especially about that fascinating ship of yours."
Slade reached behind his back a produced one of his expanding bo staffs, which with a click he extended to its full length. He twirled it menacingly before adopting a fighting stance.
"It's up to you, Mr. Spock. You can come quietly. I'd rather not bloody you up, but I will if I have to."
Spock quickly assessed the situation. Fortunately, Slade eschewed the use of firearms and energy weapons, unlike his robots, which had primitive laser weapons. But even though he was armed only with a staff, Spock could tell that in hand to hand combat he would be at a serious disadvantage.
Spock ran various scenarios through his mind, and made a decision. He reached under his tunic and produced his hand phaser, which he aimed at Slade.
"It appears that I have the advantage." Spock calmly replied.
Twirling his staff, Slade lunged at Spock, yelling as he leaped. Spock fired his weapon, which was set to stun. To his amazement, Slade blocked the phaser shot with his staff as he continued to rapidly approach the Vulcan. Spock decided to raise the power level, hoping to overwhelm the staff's blocking abilities, but before he could with a lightning fast blow of his staff,Slade knocked the phaser out of Spock's hand, sending it flying away. It clattered on the concrete sidewalk, far out of Spock's reach. The one eyed villain then used the other end of his staff to hit Spock in the face and knock him down.
As he fell Spock was amazed. He had never seen a human so fast or so strong, not even Khan. There was no way he could defeat Slade in hand to hand combat. Spock hit the ground and rolled several times. To his credit he leaped back onto his feat and adopted a Vulcan fighting stance. As he looked at Slade he was reminded of another man, Kahn Noonian Singh, and remembered what Khan told Jim Kirk when he asked what Khan was better at, Kahn's answer was both succinct and chilling: "Everything".
"You shouldn't have set your cute little ray gun to stun. Now … will you come quietly?"
Spock's mind raced. There had to be a way to defeat this super human.
"YOU WILL LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!" A voice shouted from above as a hail of star bolts rained down from the sky.
Slade looked up and Spock saw his single eye narrow, revealing the contempt he felt for the Tamaranian. He of course expertly dodged the attack, leaping with feline reflexes, falling back and away from Spock. The Vulcan quickly found his lost phaser and set it to its maximum power level and aimed it at Slade. At this point the rest of the Titans showed up, forming a perimeter around Spock. Slade's body language betrayed his defeat. He threw a smoke bomb at the ground, which exploded loudly, quickly forming a smoke screen. By time it cleared he was gone.
-(-)-
Back at the Tower, a little later …
Robin paced back and forth in the common room. Spock had seen this behavior in humans before and understood its meaning: Robin was upset. The boy wonder continued to pace, until Raven finally intervened, grabbing him by elbow and making him stop.
"There's no point in beating yourself up, Robin. Slade is our nemesis, this sort of thing this is going to happen."
Robin turned and glared at the sorceress. Spock noticed the hairs stand on the back of the changeling's neck and heard a faint growl come out of him. Humans could be viciously protective of their mates, even when said protection was unnecessary.
"He knows Spock's name, and that he's an alien. What else does he know? That he's from the future? And how did he learn all this?"
"Yo, gel hair, chill. He probably spied on us when we fought Brother Blood. Come on, we know that Slade's good at what he does."
Spock cleared his throat. "Do you know the source of his super human abilities?"
"We don't." Robin replied in a huff. "And believe me, I've tried to learn more about him … and failed. And Spock, I have a question for you … why didn't you tell us you carry a weapon?"
"It seemed unnecessary. Not to mention that carrying a weapon is standard Federationprocedure on away mission." The Vulcan replied in a calm voice.
"Right … so, I'd like to examine your weapon."
Spock handed his phaser over to Robin, who after giving it a good look, handed it to Cyborg.
"What is it? Some kind of laser?"
Cyborg also examined it and whistled. "You got me, Rob. This tech is way beyond anything I've ever seen."
The princess, who was standing next to the tin man, took a good look at the weapon. He handed it to her.
"You ever seen anything like this, Star?" The Tin Man asked.
She examined it very carefully.
"I believe I have seen something like this once, though it was not as advanced." She announced. "Galfore keeps it in the trophy room. He said that it was taken from wreckage of an alien ship from some people called Andorians."
Robin looked at her. "Well, what is it?"
She handed the phaser to Raven, who after giving it a disdainful look quickly passed it over to Spock. "I believe it is a 'phase pistol'" the princess announced. "It fires a particle beam where the charges particle are in a phase. Our engineers were unable to reproduce it."
"Your assessment it correct, though that is an archaic name. We, and by we I mean the Federation, call it a hand phaser." Spock interjected,
Robin crossed his arms. "It's a gun, and I don't like guns. I wish you hadn't brought this into the Tower."
The Vulcan nodded. "I understand. You may keep it under your control until when I depart."
"Thank you. But perhaps you should keep it with you. Slade has his eye on you, and I don't like that one bit.. You should be safe here in the Tower."
"I see no reason why I should need to leave the premises again. That said, I would like assist you in your research regarding this Slade, at least while we wait for your friend the Green Lantern to provide us with the replacement parts that I need. Is there a computer terminal that I can use?"
"I'll set you up with one in your room." Cyborg announced just as the main console in the common room beeped, announcing an incoming call on the Titans private channel. Robin frowned as he pressed the answer button. His frown intensified when the view screen came to life, displaying the Dark Knight, who was flanked by several Justice Leaguers. Spock quickly surmised that these costumed individuals were also super heroes, ones who were adults. The one in the middle, who wore a cowl and a cape looked every bit as menacing as Slade.
"It's our understanding that you have an alien with you, and that Slade attempted to kidnap him." Batman growled.
"Yeah, what's to you?" Robin replied defiantly.
"We're coming to the Tower. Expect us in 40 minutes. Batman out."
The screen went blank. Spock could tell that Robin was disturbed, not that it was difficult to know, as his fists were clenched and he was grinding his teeth.
"I'll be I my office." Robin grumbled as he stormed out of the common room.
Spock turned to Raven.
"This 'Batman' and his companions, I take that they are superheroes as well."
Raven nodded. "They are. Collectively, they are known as the Justice League. They are Earth's preeminent group of super heroes. But there's more … Batman used to be Robin's mentor."
"I see. I see there a reason why he is no longer Robin's mentor?"
"How much time do you have?" She asked in her monotone.
"Forty minutes, apparently." He replied.
-(-)-
And there you have it.
Have any of you watched the new live action Titans show or season 3 of Young Justice? What do you think of them? I did like the first season of Titans, though they did cheat us out of the 12th episode, which will be part of the second season instead. I don't like the idea of having to wait a whole year for season 2.
And then, there is all the chatter and rumors of a sixth season for Teen Titans. As you probably already know, at the end of the wretched "Teen Titans Go" movie there was a brief teaser for the return of Teen Titans, where Robin says they found a way back. Grep Cipes and Tara Strong also hinted that the Teen Titans might be coming back, though no promises were made.
Well that was last summer, and so far there hasn't been a peep about a sixth season. The only thing that has been confirmed is some sort of "Teen Titans vs. Teen Titans Go!" crossover coming this year, which in my book is barely better than nothing, and could potentially be worde than nothing. What we can hope for is that the crossover special might lead to a sixth season of the real show. Keep your fingers crossed. Greg Cipes hinted that it could be shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, which would imply that season 6 might have more "mature" themes. If it ever happens, which I'm beginning to doubt.