A/N: i'm kind of on a roll! updating is good, yes? ha. this chappie actually is quite action-packed, so that should be good. not quite as angsty, really, as the others. read, enjoy, and REVIEW!!!!

How Long Is Never?

Chapter 10

"Where did I go wrong?

I lost a friend somewhere along

In the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life."

--"How to Save a Life", The Fray

The Titans had piled into the T-Car in record time, since Beast Boy had conceded the front seat to Nightwing without his usual argument. A deep sense of urgency was churning in all of them, and Cyborg had nearly rammed through the garage door; there now were tire tracks on the floor. The lights in the tunnel beneath the bay were turned into long streaks of white, and as the T-Car zoomed up the ramp on the far side of the bay, the wheels left the street as it burst into the city, startling a flock of pigeons, which took quickly to the skies.

Starfire watched them fly away hurriedly, her temple leaning against her window, and let out a soft sigh. So this was it. This was what it all came down to: an epic mission to save the city from certain destruction…once again. The thought almost made her laugh. They could save millions of people they didn't know, but they couldn't save themselves from each other. The irony was sickening.

She felt more than saw Beast Boy glance over at her, but all the other Titans had been glancing at her more often than usual ever since Nightwing had explained what was going on. She didn't know why she was so much the center of attention; after all, the only connection she had was that chromium made her sneeze. She ignored her teammates and reflected on Nightwing's latest hypothesis. He had suggested that the prank call had been made by TestCom to lure the Titans to where the sniper was located; then Starfire could be easily picked off. Except, of course, it hadn't quite happened like that. No, it hadn't because back then Robin had cared and he had saved her life. Drawn his cape around them both and deflected the bullets that would have killed her. But he was a hero. That was what he did.

It almost seemed funny to her. TestCom had attempted to assassinate her so that she wouldn't be able to detect the detonator, but she had left shortly thereafter and hadn't been able to detect it anyway. More irony. As she reflected, she realized that there was nothing she hated more than irony. It twisted everything into a massive, ugly knot.

She stared idly out the window, noting that the white building had come into sight, and Cyborg pulled the T-Car to the side of the road, parking it. He still gripped the steering wheel tightly and asked, "So do we have a plan?"

Nightwing opened his door and got out, the other Titans following his lead. He closed the door soundly and gave a shrug. "Well, it's still a computer technologies facility. It's been exporting products for all the years it's been in business." He sighed. "This means that the detonator is probably a secret project, which then means that most if not all of the employees are innocent civilians who actually have no idea that their bosses are planning to destroy the city. With that in mind, they'll probably let us walk in the front door, and from there Starfire can lead us to the detonator."

Starfire looked at him, but he was studying the building with a critical eye. She crossed her arms almost protectively on her chest and nodded. "I can do that."

"Boo-yah," Cyborg said, much more sober than usual. It seemed like he said it because he was expected to do so.

Nightwing gestured with his hand, and the team fell in step behind him, approaching TestCom warily and scanning the area for signs of trouble. They had almost reached the front doors when the sharp crack of gunfire shattered the peace; Raven reacted instantly, throwing up a shield that descended in a hemisphere around the Titans. Tense and in battle crouches, they watched as a few more bullets pinged harmlessly off the black energy.

"They seem to have been expecting us," the half-demon commented, her usually violet eyes spitting with the same white fire that crackled in her hands.

"They're sure on top of things," Beast Boy added with a nervous laugh.

Nightwing pointed toward where the bullets had impacted the shield. "The shots are coming from over there. If Raven drops the shield and we just try to run for it, we'll be clear targets until we reach the doors." He looked at the changeling. "Beast Boy, morph into something small. Raven, drop the shield to let BB out, and then bring them back up. Beast Boy, take out the sniper. We'll have the shield up, and when you're done, come on back and tell us. Then we can proceed."

"Aye aye, captain!" Beast Boy said, snapping a flashy salute an instant before he shrank into a green mouse. Mouse-Beast Boy scampered to the edge of the protected area and looked back at Raven. She drew her powers into herself, the black energy disappearing as the transformed Titan scurried from out. Gunshots rang out again, but Raven had brought the shield back in the nick of time, and the Titans remained safe.

Nightwing began pacing, and Starfire watched him, knowing intuitively that he was worried about their teammate. He had ordered Beast Boy out, after all, and the old Robin had certainly always felt extremely responsible for the welfare of his team; it would seem that Nightwing was no different.

A bestial roar ripped across the silence, and they all tried to discern what had happened, but the black energy was fairly opaque and severely limited any observation. Cyborg ran a hand over his bald head and muttered, "Sure hope that was BB scaring the crap outta those baddies."

"He's fine," both Nightwing and Raven said simultaneously, curtly. Starfire studied the half-demon; she seemed nervous, which was saying a lot for Raven. The Tamaranian almost smiled. Raven had always had a soft spot for the hyperactive changeling. They would be a cute couple someday. Cyborg and Bumble Bee were already dating; she had found that out the day before. The only ones remaining unpaired were her and Nightwing. Her ephemeral good mood faded. Yeah, right.

Another minute slid by agonizingly slowly, all of them wondering what had happened to their friend, and suddenly something banged against the shield. The Titans fell into defensive stances before Raven lowered her shield, but when it turned out to be Beast Boy, they all relaxed. That is, until they saw his pale face and his limp.

"BB, what happened, man?" Cyborg demanded as they all rushed over to him.

Beast Boy grimaced, one hand held tightly on his thigh; blood was leaking through his fingers. "Apparently the first reaction to seeing a gorilla pop out of nowhere is 'fire gun now!'" He drew his breath in through gritted teeth and managed a shrug. "Just got my leg, though. I smacked him a good one for it."

"Can you heal him, Raven?" Nightwing asked quickly.

She shook her head. "I'd be healing the tissue around the bullet, and that would be worse than leaving him as he is. I'll have to remove the bullet first. You three go on ahead."

"Yeah, we'll catch up," Beast Boy assured them, waving them on with his free hand.

Cyborg looked torn, but Nightwing laid his hand on the half-robot's large shoulder. "Come on. We have a mission to complete."

He nodded after a moment, and the remaining Titans trotted the rest of the way to the doors, glancing around furtively as they entered. It was a fairly normal-looking lobby: there was a receptionist behind her desk and some potted plants and chairs scattered about. The trio exchanged raised eyebrows before approaching the desk.

The receptionist, a young woman with far too much red lipstick, held up a finger to signal that they wait as she listened to something on the phone. After a moment, she hung up and looked up at them expectantly. "Do you have an appointment?"

Starfire blinked and contained a grin. She could just imagine the answer to that: "No, we don't. However, we're going to barge in anyway and find the chronotron detonator you're hiding somewhere in this building and destroy it. Then we'll be on our way."

"We're the Titans," Nightwing told her, apparently convinced that statement explained everything.

The receptionist quirked an eyebrow as if to ask, "So?"

Nightwing shifted his weight to his other foot. "If you don't mind, we're just going to have a look around."

"Are you investigating? Don't you need a search warrant to do that, or do you think you're above the law because you're superheroes?" she demanded, obviously not about to let them snoop around.

Nightwing opened his mouth to reply to that, but his response was never heard because precisely at that moment Starfire gave an almighty sneeze. All the papers on the desk blew into the air as if a miniature hurricane had appeared in the lobby, and the receptionist toppled backward in her chair. Seizing their chance, the Titans excused themselves from the lobby and dodged into the elevator bank. Cyborg read the listing of the floors and groaned.

"Great, man. Where are we s'posed to go?"

The half-android and the leader looked at Starfire expectantly, who had her finger held under her nose in an attempt to prevent further explosive, reflexive actions. "I don't know!" she protested.

"Okay, okay," Nightwing repeated, pressing his palm against his forehead. "Logically, I don't think it'd be above us. That's probably where all the normal cubicles and whatnot are, not some top-secret plot to destroy the world. Let's try 'down' first."

"Alright then," Cyborg agreed, pressing the appropriate button. One of the elevators dinged quietly, and its doors slid open; the three Titans rushed in and caught a glimpse of the enraged, askew receptionist an instant before the doors closed again.

"Which floor?" Starfire asked, eyeing the buttons curiously.

"A basement one, obviously," Nightwing said, looking at the panel. There were B1, B2, and B3 buttons, but next to them were keyholes; clearly not just anyone could access those levels.

"Now what?" Cyborg questioned. "Do you want me to try to jimmy the lock, or…?"

"We don't know how much time we have," Nightwing reminded him. "Just blast a hole in the floor."

"Boo-yah!" the android declared, sounding much more exuberant that time. His right arm switched into a sonic cannon, and the other two squished behind Cyborg as he aimed and fired. The wide laser shot a neat, steaming hole in the floor, just large enough to fit them through.

"Star, you go through first and get the closest door open," Nightwing instructed.

She nodded and eased herself through the hole, concentrating on flying as she floated down the dark elevator shaft. The door to B1 was easy enough to find, and she balanced on the slight ledge, cramming her fingers into the slim crack between the sliding doors. With a grunt, she forced them open, shoving them to each side. Once she determined that the doors would remain open, she flew back up to the hole.

"Cy, now you," she heard the de facto leader say.

"Gotcha," the other replied, and he lowered himself carefully. "You better catch me, li'l lady," he ordered her good-naturedly.

"I'll do my best," she teased him in return, and she caught him securely. They descended to the door, and she dropped him off. "I guess you should watch for guards."

"Can do," he affirmed, readying his sonic cannons as she returned to the hole, where Nightwing was gripping onto the edges and dangling there like laundry hung out to dry.

"Need help?" she asked tentatively, finding her concentration beginning to waver. She would need to quit flying soon.

"No," he snapped defiantly, but as he calculated the distance between where he was hanging and the door, along with the inconvenient angle, he grudgingly amended, "Yes."

"Okay." She forced herself up to his side, feeling more and more tired, and instructed him, "Just let go of the hole. I'll catch you."

He obeyed, releasing his grip and falling directly into her arms, his own wrapping around her neck. Unfortunately, all Starfire could think about then was how good it felt to be holding him and how warm he was, especially compared to the drafty elevator shaft, and her concentration was shot to hell. Suddenly they were in freefall, but Nightwing managed to keep his wits about him and launched a grappling hook. The device twisted around one of the beams in the shaft, and they jerked to a stop and went swinging haphazardly into the wall. He shifted his position and took the brunt of the impact; they bounced once, and then he redirected them to the door.

They rolled gracelessly upon landing and quickly separated from each other. Starfire noted that bittersweet thoughts would not allow flight, either, and then let out another ungodly sneeze.

Nightwing returned his grappling hook to his belt and brushed dust off himself. "Maybe you should stay here, Star. You don't seem well."

"I'm fine," she disputed, rising to her feet to prove her point. "I just don't fly all that well anymore."

He looked at her sharply, and she remembered that she had told him the nature of her powers a long time ago. His expression almost became guilty for a second, but he turned his head and she couldn't be certain. "We should get going. This way," he said, as if nothing had happened.

The Titans jogged down the corridor, turned the corner and paused in front of the door. A sign hung on it read "No Admittance Except Authorized Personnel" and they glanced at each other before Nightwing tried the knob; as expected, it was locked, but another blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon granted them entrance. They found themselves on a catwalk suspended above a massive underground room, large enough to be a warehouse. Across the catwalk was a collection of computer consoles, and below were more computers and complex machinery, and sitting in one corner, nearly one hundred meters away, was a tall, somewhat cylindrical object.

"That looks like Slade's detonator," Cyborg announced right before the people below took notice of the intruders.

"Security breach!" one of them shrieked, and the Titans barely had to time to react as guards dressed like SWAT team members flooded the room, both on the ground below and rushing from the door at the far side of the catwalk. The trio jumped from the catwalk, bullets following them down. They landed behind machinery and used it as cover, Cyborg and Starfire popping up and returning fire at the guards. They had gotten a fair few, but the situation wasn't improving greatly.

"What now?" Cyborg asked Nightwing, who was largely sitting out of the fighting, as he didn't have a great deal of far-range weapons.

"We need to get to the detonator," he answered, peering around the machinery and gauging the distance and various forms of protection offered between the detonator and where they were. It wasn't good: except for fleeing technicians and some rows of computers, there was no cover. But they really had no choice; they had to move.

"Titans, go!" he yelled, and the three of them sprinted to the nearest computers, throwing themselves behind as the guards opened fire. The computers were torn to pieces, and by unlucky accident, Cyborg was one of those computers caught in the line of fire. His chest plate riddled with bullet holes, he toppled backwards, frozen in position.

"Cy!" Starfire cried, launching a starbolt at the responsible guards and plowing them over and leaving them equally motionless. "Are you okay? Cy!"

"Got my motor functions," the injured half-robot gritted, his jaw frozen shut. "Fine, can't move."

"Robin…?!" she demanded, glaring at him. Now they desperately needed answers, and he was sitting there mute.

He swallowed, deep in thought, and glanced toward the detonator again. "Star, we need to take out the guards. We'll have to leave Cy here."

"Go," Cyborg managed, aware that he wouldn't be any use.

"Fine," she snapped, angry that they were leaving him vulnerable but unable to come up with any solution. She burst into the air and raked a continuous starbolt across the line of crouching guards on the catwalk; the metal grating and the guards were blasted away, and cries and crashes sounded as both hit the floor on the far side of the basement warehouse. Nightwing dashed out from behind the battered consoles and she followed him, blasting away the more distant guards as he took out those closest, striking left and right with his bo staff. They had more than one close call, but in the end, they managed to be the victorious ones. Not pausing to recover their breath, they dashed over to the detonator and rammed into an invisible wall.

Skidding backwards, they halted their momentum and regained their feet wearily, aching from impact with the unexpected obstacle. They approached more cautiously now, arms outstretched like they were blind. They encountered the invisible wall again, but it was pulsing and seemed to be made of energy.

"Some sort of force field?" Starfire guessed, pressing against it, but it would not yield.

"Looks like it," Nightwing affirmed, following it all the way to the wall. "I hardly think it's in place to keep us out, though; more likely they put it up so in case there was a problem with the detonator, it wouldn't take out this place with it. This is probably also the 'protection' that sniper was referring to," he added.

"How do we get past it?" she asked, stepping back and keeping a wary eye out for more guards.

"This is too much energy for the city's power supply," Nightwing reasoned out slowly. "They must have their own reactor. It probably fuels only this level, since I would guess that the rest of the building functions on standard electrical power." He paused, hands flat on the invisible shield. "I need you to take out the reactor. Normally I'd ask Cy, but he's useless."

Starfire didn't know why she voiced her next question. "Won't that be dangerous?"

"In all likelihood, yes, very dangerous," he said, his voice low, almost quiet.

And you're sending me off with no qualms about my safety? she wanted to ask next, but she refrained and merely nodded. "What will happen when I take out the reactor? Would that affect the detonator?"

With his back to her as it was, she couldn't tell what his expression was, but she saw his shoulders tense. "I don't know…it could. If the detonator is still hooked up to a power source, it very well could short-circuit the thing and make all hell break loose. But…" he trailed off, walking as far as he could around the detonator and checking it for plugs or cords, "it seems to be on its own power, even if it's not 'on'. Once you get the shield down, I'll be able to deactivate it for good."

She nodded again, unconsciously waiting. What for, she didn't know. An apology? A last goodbye? A good luck wish? A confession? She waited a heartbeat more and then headed for one of the doors, disappearing into the corridor outside.

Back inside, Nightwing bowed his head against his arm, which was still pressed against the force field. "Damn it, Star…be careful…"