Author's Note: It's been a while. My immense apologies...real life invaded for a while, including but not limited to the whopper task of finals and the two days of this site's submissions system being on the fritz. Next update shouldn't take nearly as long.
Thresholding by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
This fic is dedicated to Post, for all that he has contributed to its existence. (I wish I could quit you!)
Chapter 20
"Coming in for a landing," Cyborg announced. "Everyone ready?"
"All clear," came Raven's reply.
"All right, back to Area 51!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"God, just let me out of this thing…" Terra muttered. "It smells like throwup in here…"
"I wonder why," Cyborg grunted sarcastically. "Note to self: install barf bags ASAP."
The T-Ship settled to the ground at Area 51's main landing strip with expert precision, making Cyborg smile to himself. His baby was flying smoother than ever. He flicked a series of switches to the off position and killed the engines, then popped open the hatch and took a deep breath of hot, dry desert air. It felt quite pleasant to him; both the T-Ship and the Echo'r had been rather chilly.
Three quick hisses of air pressure told him the rest of his team was climbing out of the ship with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Raven simply hovered out and to the ground as calm and collected as ever, her hood and cloak shielding her pale skin from the harsh sunlight. Beast Boy, in contrast, practically leapt out of his seat and raced to the door, where he started tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for it to open.
"Oh, sure, leave your sick girlfriend hanging, I don't care!" Terra shouted half-heartedly after him, but she doubted he heard her. She did look rather ill; her face was pale save for a twinge of sickly green.
"You okay, girl?" Cyborg asked.
"I don't think all that Tamaranian cuisine agreed with me," she managed.
"Well, at least you got it outta your system," Cyborg said. "Albeit all over the T-ship…"
"Sorry," she said as she landed unsteadily on the ground. "I'll clean it up…"
"No time to worry about it now," Cyborg said. "They're expecting us inside. C'mon."
On slightly shaky legs Terra followed Cyborg and Raven to the front door of the base, where Beast Boy still stood waiting and tapping his foot.
"Gee, thanks for helping me," Terra grunted and punched him in the shoulder.
"Huh-OW! What was that--" he cut himself off as he turned to face her. "Hey, you don't look so good. Did you hurl or something?"
Terra glared at him.
"Such an observant boyfriend you have there," Raven remarked, straight-faced.
Fortunately for Beast Boy, the door opened before Terra could sock him again. The pilot commander, Amato, greeted them.
"Hurry inside. Everyone's ready," he said, and beckoned them forward. The Titans followed him as he led them back to the enormous conference room, and Terra couldn't help but notice that the pilot, as good of a flier as he was, seemed rather duck-footed on the ground. She wondered if he'd always been like that, or if it was just a side-effect from spending so much time in the pilot's seat.
But those thoughts were forgotten as she and the others entered the conference room once again. It was exactly as she remembered it from before, except that the security presence had tripled. Lysand'r's murder had clearly sparked an interest in rearranging things.
Gathered together in one of the lower sections of the circular room was a handful of officers, conversing quietly with each other. Amato went to join this group the moment he entered the room, but on careful inspection, neither General Lambert, nor – thankfully, Terra sighed in relief – General Graham were in this group. Lambert, in fact, stood on the raised central platform, making it clear to Terra that this man was definitely the one running the show. Graham was nowhere to be seen.
To the right of the officers and taking up an area of the circular seats was a holographic projection displaying to them all the Presidential Cabinet, looking solemnly down on the congregation in Area 51 from their headquarters in the Capitol. As usual the President sat at the head of the table, alert and composed.
And to the right of that display…
"It's them…" Terra whispered in awe, unable to stop herself from staring. "…The Justice League…"
There were a good handful of them present…thirteen, to be precise.
Speedy's mentor, the Green Arrow, looking for all intents and purposes like he'd walked straight out of Robin Hood.
Black Canary, arm hooked around Green Arrow and looking quite comfortable in an outfit that left rather little to the imagination.
The Question, his faceless mask hidden under the rim of his violet hat and his body concealed in his equally purple trenchcoat.
Huntress, sleek and seductive, her ebony hair held back by a violet mask and her arms crossed impatiently next to The Question.
Aquaman, bare chest puffed out, brandishing his hooked hand menacingly and glaring at everyone in the room.
Supergirl, smiling nervously but politely and trying not to be noticed, blonde hair tucked back out of her clear blue eyes.
Hawkgirl – or Shayera to her closest friends – her mask abandoned, revealing her hardened face, and her mace attached to her belt, though one hand rested over it.
John Stewart, the Green Lantern, his hairless head shining slightly with reflected light and his pale green eyes inexplicably drifting to Shayera now and then.
The Flash, a lopsided grin complimenting his carefree expression as he leaned back in his seat with his feet up on the table and half-dozed.
Wonder Woman, in all her Amazonian glory, lasso looped around her belt, blue eyes throwing a distasteful glare at the lazing Flash.
Superman, perhaps the most recognizable among the heroes, straight-backed and proud, his small but sharp eyes alert and watchful.
J'honn Jones, the Martian Manhunter, his skin as green as Beast Boy's and the empty yellow pools he had for eyes staring emotionlessly around the room.
And Batman…Robin's mentor, the Dark Knight. Aloof. Silent. Motionless. And he was staring through hooded eyes right back at the geomancer in a way that made her shiver to the core.
Terra tried to break the stare, but for some reason she couldn't look away. It was like his gaze had paralyzed her, exposed her every inner secret for him to see and judge. She'd never felt more naked than that stare made her feel, and it sent relentless chills up and down her spine.
A pale hand touched her shoulder and she jolted, barely holding back a scream. "You still with us?" came Raven's voice.
Terra finally tore her eyes away from the Dark Knight, though she could still feel his own eyes on her. "Why is he just s-staring at me?" she stammered.
Raven glanced up at Batman, and felt the empathic energy there. "He's suspicious of you," she reported.
"Suspicious? Why?"
Raven glanced, hard-faced, back at Terra. "Do you really have to ask?"
"……Oh……" she said in a small voice, and winced. "S-sorry…"
Raven simply shrugged. "You asked. I answered." She began to drift away, but paused and gazed back at Terra, her expression softer. "Don't take it too personally. The way I hear it Batman doesn't really trust anyone."
Raven floated on, but Terra glanced back at the Dark Knight again. He was still watching her. Studying her. Terra gulped down a nervous breath, averted her eyes again, and hurried to catch up to her friends, who were now seated near the officers and across from the League.
"Gentleman, ladies," the President announced, his voice coming in as clearly as though he were actually there. "Now that everyone is present, this session is officially opened. General Lambert, tell us what you know."
Lambert nodded. He fiddled with a few controls on his podium, which brought up the three-dimensional holo-projector. At the moment, it showed a projection of the entire planet, with several blue blips marked in orbit around it, save for a solitary green blip hovering over North America.
"These are the planetary defenses we currently have to work with," Lambert announced. "The green blip you see is the JLU Watchtower. It has no weapons of its own, but it does possess a compliment of well-armed, space-flight-capable Javelin fighters ready for deployment at a moment's notice." He turned to the League. "How many do you have active?"
"Two dozen," J'honn Jones answered. "And pilots available for each."
"All right," Lambert said. He turned back to the holo-projector. "The blue blips are where we are currently tracking our soon-to-be allies, the Tamaranians. As you can see their war fleet is spread out around the planet and holding perimeter there. They possess approximately one thousand fighter craft and fifty thousand warrior personnel."
He clicked a button and the image faded, and was quickly replaced by a flat map of the planet. Tiny green dots littered this map, most of which were concentrated in the North American region, though there were a few in all areas of the globe.
"These are the current deployments of our own forces," Lambert went on. "Two million trained men and women with the most advanced weaponry known to man."
He pressed a button, and a series of blue dots – of which there were many more than green – appeared across the map. "These are the forces of our allies across the globe. The European Union, China, and Russia all have a large enough military presence to extend the fight outside of their own borders. Unfortunately the rest of the world cannot afford to fight against any threat outside their own countries, so we'll have to make do. All totaled, we have approximately eight million men and women armed and ready to fight this battle.
"…According to the Tamaranian Emperor, Galfore, the Gordanians' invasion army may have equivalent numbers. Maybe even more."
Lambert pressed the button again, and this map faded, to be replaced by a pair of images. The first was an image of a Gordanian warship, the one that had come to Earth two years ago when Starfire had first arrived. The ship was a dull, dark orange color, its size rivaling that of Galfore's command ship. A monolithic eruption of spikes, sensors, and antennae stuck out from all sides of the craft in near-perfect symmetry, like an enormous flying mace. The second was of the Gordanians' smaller scout craft and fighters, brown in color and less sleek-looking, with fat green bulbs for windows and bright green lasers flashing from their undersides.
"We don't know exactly how many ships they have, but it is bound to reflect their numbers, so we expect the Tamaranian ships to be quite overwhelmed. Unfortunately, beyond the League's Javelin fighters, there's not much we can do to assist them."
"Not much?" The Flash spoke up with a yawn. "I'd say there's a heck of a lot you could do with a few well-placed nukes."
"And then risk the radioactive fallout raining down over the planet?" Superman countered immediately. "Infecting the ozone, the atmosphere? That's unacceptable."
"Not if they go off out of the atmosphere," Green Lantern countered. "The Javelins could be equipped with a nuclear arsenal and fired at the Gordanian invasion forces before they get within the planet's atmosphere."
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with handing United States nuclear weapons over to anyone," The President interjected. "Not even the Justice League."
"Unless your military has the capability to launch them outside the atmosphere yourselves, you may have to be," Batman spoke up, for the first time seeming to remove his stare from Terra. "We're facing an enemy with numbers as great as our own, probably more; and it's safe to assume they're considerably more advanced than us as well. The Tamaranians have comparable tech, but not the numbers. They won't last long in a direct assault. A nuclear strike in space, before they get within range of a planetary invasion, may be our best chance of thinning their numbers down to something more manageable."
"Batman is probably correct, sir," Lambert said. "But we'll get to that soon enough. What we need to worry about is our surface defenses. Based on what we know, the Gordanians are here for Earth's resources, which means they are going to want to take this planet with as little collateral damage as possible to those resources. Since that makes total planetary bombing impractical, there is a very high likelihood of engagements across the planet by their ground troops. From our preliminary reports, most of the world's nations will defend their own soil, but as I mentioned earlier they are unable to extend their forces any further than that. Which means that a lot of these areas are at risk of takeover if the invasion forces are focused on any or all of them. We don't want to end up with a bunch of alien sleeper cells hiding out under our radar."
"The metahuman presence would be most effective in countering that," Raven spoke up, drawing the room's attention on the Titans for the first time since their entrance. "The Titans established agents all across the planet not long ago when the Brotherhood of Evil reared its head. Many of them are well-positioned to defend the more remote areas of the world. If the expanded Justice League were to spread its members similarly across the globe, any stray Gordanians that make it to the surface unchallenged can be dealt with."
"But what guarantee is there that our agents can locate them all?" The President asked.
"That task falls to my kind," J'honn Jones answered. "I and the League's telepaths will be able to sense any alien presence on this planet that may elude our normal forces."
"You assume too much," The Question spoke up suddenly. "Psychic shields, anyone? You know they have them. Even our OWN government has them, hidden away with all their other secrets, and if we have 'em, the Gordanians will certainly have 'em too."
"Oh, no conspiracy theories today, please, Q?" Huntress countered.
"That's what you said about the moon landing, but you were happy to find out about that, weren't you?"
"That's enough," Lambert stopped them. "We have enough to worry about it as it is without conspiracy theories."
"Besides, it's unlikely the Gordanians have such technology," Shayera added. "They've never had the need to develop it, between fighting my people and the Tamaranians."
"All right," Lambert nodded to the League members. "We'll trust you to disperse your people accordingly."
Superman returned the gesture. "We'll take care of it."
Lambert turned back to the President. "Then all that remains is deploying our own forces in correspondence with The European Union, China, and Russia."
"Keep your sea-faring vessels to the shores," Aquaman sharply insisted. "You will need them there. If any of these Gordanians invade the oceans, my people will deal with them ourselves."
Lambert glanced at Aquaman, then to the other league members.
Wonder Woman deduced the unspoken question first. "He may be a bit arrogant, but it's well-placed. The Atlantean army can handle a lot."
"Fair enough," Lambert said. "Very well. If we keep our Navy near the shores we can launch air-strikes and artillery bombings faster anyway. As for ground troops--"
"Um…" a small, feminine voice spoke up. A room full of heads turned to the source of the voice, and focused on a blonde in red, white and blue.
Supergirl smiled nervously, but pressed on. "This…may be a stupid question, but…is there no chance of negotiating? I mean…we're making peace with Tamaran, right? Isn't there anything we can do to do the same with these guys?"
"That's fool's talk," Shayera countered instantly. "The Gordanians are ruthless and unyielding. There is not going to be any 'negotiating' when they're involved."
"But shouldn't we at least try, before we resort to killing each other?" Supergirl pressed. "The whole reason we made peace with Tamaran despite the rocky start was because we wanted to avoid unnecessary violence. If there's a chance of avoiding it with the Gordanians as well, then…"
"But there isn't that chance," Green Arrow answered less harshly that Shayera had while Black Canary nodded her silent agreement over his shoulder. "You heard the bird-lady. The Gordanians are ruthless. They won't negotiate, and we'd just be wasting time and resources and probably lives trying."
Supergirl seemed to accept that as she admitted the point to Green Arrow and fell silent, though she didn't look pleased by it at all.
Cyborg stepped up to break the silence. "Look, y'all, a lot of this is just speculation so far. It's great to be prepared and all, but these preparations can only brace us for the first strike. Once the Gordanians reach the surface, there's no telling what they'll do, where they'll go. Much as we don't like it, how we defend ourselves is essentially at the mercy of the enemy's plan. We have to be flexible. We have to be able to shift our focus where it's most needed to respond to their movements, and do it fast. Which means it'd be a bad idea to make any of our initial deployments too permanent."
Lambert nodded. "Agreed. Fortunately, in the wake of the Thanagarian War, we've prepared contingencies for just such a situation, in the event of another alien invasion, with or without support from other nations."
"Very well, General," The President said. "Tell us what you have."
"Yes, sir," Lambert said. "Here's what we're going to do…"
Terra suddenly found herself only half-listening then. Her eyes had found Batman again, and his stare was locked on hers once more. It was so intense, so penetrating…like Robin had glared at her when she'd…
When I tried to kill him…
Terra shivered involuntarily. As harsh as that glare had been, it hadn't affected her. But this…this was far more than what Robin had managed. Beyond what even Slade could do to scare her.
He's suspicious of you… Raven's words echoed in her head. And why shouldn't he be? It was long behind her, she knew…but it was still a part of her past, and that would never change. And no one would ever truly forget…
Terra shivered again and groped under the table for Beast Boy's hand. He squeezed it reassuringly, but it did little to ease her tensions. Even as she looked away and tried to focus on the conversation again, she felt his eyes on her…so much like Slade's had been…watching…always watching…