Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it! It's a great reward knowing that my story is liked and I just hope that I can continue writing it in a way that'll satisfy my readers. Here's the next chapter!
When the titans returned to the tower, they were greeted by Crow. "How's Darkstar doing?" Stinger questioned. "He's fine." Crow replied. "Me and Sparrow patched him up. He's a little sore, but he's doing okay. Sparrow's with him right now." "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Wasp said, trying to lighten the mood. The others smiled slightly before walking inside.
As soon as they were inside, Moonfire immediately headed for the infirmary. The other titans, Terra excluded, followed behind her. As soon as they stepped inside, they found Darkstar and Sparrow sitting up and talking to each other. They both looked up when the others came inside.
"Oh, hey guys. How'd the battle go?" Darkstar questioned, smiling at them and looking like his usual self. "Slade got away, but we turned his robot army into scrap metal!" Cyborg replied, grinning as he and Darkstar exchanged a high-five. Robin and Moonfire meanwhile, relaxed, seeing that Darkstar was indeed alright.
Starfire on the other hand, flew over and pulled him into a crushing hug, clearly pleased as well. "Oh, I'm so glad you are okay!" she squealed happily. From over her shoulder, Darkstar looked at the other titans with a pleading expression and mouthed one word. Help.
"Um… Starfire?" Robin started gently. "I don't think Darkstar's in any condition to handle one of your hugs right now." Starfire smiled, and loosened her grip on the boy. After a few moments, Moonfire spoke up. "So, now that we know Darkstar's fine, we have another matter to talk about." she pointed out. The others looked at her in confusion. Darkstar however nodded.
"She's right. What happened out there? I thought we already took care of Sparrow and Crow's… er… problem. Terra knows Beastboy's not her boyfriend any more. Isn't that what was causing this in the first place?" he pointed out. They all nodded. "Then how could this keep happening?"
"I have no idea." Crow said. "But whatever it is, it's really getting on my nerves! I'm sick of it." Robin thought for a moment, then turned to Beastboy. "Hey, Beastboy. This morning Terra wanted to go with you. It was like she was trying to get you back. Did anything happen while you guys were looking for Slade?" he asked.
Beastboy looked at Robin worriedly. He knew he'd have to tell them about the incident with Terra kissing him, but he hadn't expected to have to talk about it so soon, and in front of everyone. "Well, actually, something did happen. But it wasn't my fault!" he added, seeing the worried and shocked expressions that crossed everyone's faces. "It was Terra! I had nothing to do with it, I swear!"
Everyone relaxed at that. "Please, what is it that Terra did that possibly affected Sparrow and Crow's powers?" Starfire asked. "Go on Beastboy. We're your friends, we trust you. If you say you had nothing to do with it, then we'll believe you." Cyborg insisted. Both teams nodded in agreement.
"Alright." he said. "See, when we were looking for Slade, Terra tried to convince me to get back together with her. She talked about starting over and going back to the way things used to be. I ignored her, of course, but then she kinda… kissed me." the last part came out barely above a whisper, and he looked at Raven anxiously wondering what her reaction would be.
Raven was indeed mad, but not at Beastboy. Sure, he could be immature and childish when it came to some things, but he was a caring person who would never do anything to intentionally hurt someone he cared about. And even though it had taken her a while to believe that he really wanted to go out with her the first time he asked her on a date, she knew for a fact now that he loved her, and would never do something horrible like cheat on her. He just wasn't that type of person.
Terra on the other hand… Raven had to be honest, she never did like Terra. She always had a bad feeling about the girl, even before she betrayed them. Sabotaging her and Beastboy's relationship was exactly the type of thing she would do. If she thinks I'm going to give up that easily, she's off by a long shot. Raven thought. Seeing Beastboy looking at her anxiously, Raven smiled at him. "I know you had nothing to do with it." she said simply.
Beastboy immediately relaxed, completely relived to see that Raven wasn't mad with him, or considering breaking up with him. Then his expression hardened. "So… what are we going to do now? Terra won't listen when I break up with her, and she's affecting Crow and Sparrow's powers."
"We have to do something. We can't just sit back and let her keep this up till Crow and Sparrow… well… till, something really bad happens to them." Stinger said, avoiding the word 'disappear'. Everyone took a few moments to think about a solution. Finally, Robin spoke up. "For now, I think it'd be best to just keep discouraging Terra and to try and get her to understand that things have changed." he said.
Moonfire nodded beside him. "Robin's right. I don't see what else we can do and before you say it, yes…" she turned toward Sparrow who had opened her mouth to speak. "Tying her up and torturing her until she admits defeat is still illegal, Sparrow."
Sparrow glared at her, then brightened and tried to say something else. "So is threatening to throw her to a pack of hungry wolves." Moonfire cut in. Sparrow thought again, then tried to say something else. Once again, Moonfire beat her. "And no, we can't just dump her in the middle of the ocean for the sharks." Sparrow rolled her eyes. "I was going to say piranhas but I like your idea better."
Everyone groaned as Crow hit her arm. "Would you cut it out?! This is serious!" he hissed at her. "Just trying to help." Sparrow muttered. "Guys relax." Moonfire yelled. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if I'm the only sane one on this team! she thought to herself. "Look, let's just go with Robin's plan, and think of something else later." she suggested. Everyone agreed and they all walked back to the Ops. Room.
Terra was lying on the couch, flipping through a magazine and looking completely bored. "Took you long enough." she muttered when she saw them. "You okay Darkstar?" she questioned. "Just a few cuts and bruises." Darkstar replied, though he could tell that Terra didn't really care. Ignoring her, the team went back to work, trying to track down Slade. All except for one.
Raven stood over Terra, her face hidden under her hood. "Uh… can I help you?" Terra asked, annoyed about having to talk to the woman who, in her mind, stole 'her' guy. "Can I talk to you? Outside?" Raven asked, more a demand then a request. Terra rolled her eyes. "Whatever." she replied, putting the magazine down and following Raven outside.
Robin, who had turned for a moment to get something, saw Raven and Terra walking out together. He hesitated a moment, wondering if he should go after them, then decided against it, realizing that it would be next to suicidal to try it.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Raven turned toward Terra and lifted her up using her dark energy. "What… what in the world are you doing to me?!" Terra demanded, furious. "Teaching you a lesson." Raven replied, her eyes glowing red. "How dare you kiss my boyfriend. What part of 'it's over' did you not understand?"
Terra smirked. "Ahh… jealous much?" she teased. Raven growled at her. Terra lifted up a fairly large rock and flung it at Raven, who ducked and in doing so, let go of Terra. "Look." Raven snarled, getting up in Terra's face. "If you ever, EVER, try to get between me and Beastboy again, I will personally make sure you have the type of life people only know in nightmares. Understood?"
Before Terra could respond, Raven turned her back on her and walked calmly back to the tower. So, the goth girl wants Beastboy for herself huh? Terra thought. No matter. Two can play at this game. With a smirk, she walked turned and headed back to the tower as well.
One hour later:
Moonfire sighed, fighting back the sense of hopelessness she always seemed to get when dealing with Slade. Honestly, no other villain she had ever faced made her feel like such a disappointment to her team, like nothing she did was ever good enough. With a sigh, she turned towards her team.
"Guys, let's stop for a while. I don't think we're catching a break today." The others all reluctantly agreed and they stopped searching. Moonfire, meanwhile, headed towards the door.
"Hey Moonfire. Where are you going?" Cyborg suddenly asked, seeing the girl head out of the room. "Oh, just going to the gym. I need to get my thoughts straight." Cyborg nodded. "Well, when your done, we'll be right here." Moonfire smiled at him. "Thanks." With that, she left the room and went up to the gym.
A while later:
She didn't know how long she spent in the gym, betting the punching bag and practicing her martial arts on imaginary enemies, when she heard the door open. Turning, she found Sparrow standing at the door. "Hey, the rest of us are talking about what to eat for lunch. We were wondering what you wanted."
Moonfire blinked in surprise. She glanced at the clock on the wall. 3:15 she noted. Is it really that early? "Moonfire?" Moonfire looked up to find Sparrow watching her. "What… oh, anything is fine. Maybe we can all get some pizza?" she suggested.
Sparrow smiled. "Sounds good to me. So long as little-Miss-meat-lover doesn't complain about my choice of toppings." she joked. Moonfire laughed and was about to follow her when her communicator suddenly went off. Moonfire frowned. Who could that be? she wondered, flipping the communicator open.
A familiar, auburn haired girl looked back at her. "Archera?" Moonfire said, looking at the archer from Titans East in surprise. "The one and only." she replied. "Give me that!" A voice suddenly yelled. There was a small fight and then another girl replaced Archera. "Aquagirl? What's going on?" Moonfire demanded.
"Slade, that's what. He and his robots are trashing Steel City, and we're having trouble controlling them. We need your help." Moonfire bristled, lunch quickly forgotten. "Slade's in Steel City? What's he doing there? We just beat his robot army here!" she yelled. "Uh… do they look beat to you?" Aquagirl replied, showing her the robots who were indeed up and about, wrecking the city.
"Where in the world does he keep getting those darn things anyway?" Moonfire muttered under her breath. "We'll be there as soon as we can." she replied, before flipping the communicator off. Turning to Sparrow, she said. "Looks like the pizza will have to wait. We have to get to Steel City." More to herself then to Sparrow she added. "We just beat him. What's he doing in Steel City?"
"Maybe it's like a big farewell thing for him before he retires." Sparrow suggested weakly. "I mean, the dude's kinda old by now." Moonfire snorted in disbelief. "Slade retiring? Yeah, that'll be the day!" she retorted. "It's possible." "Possible?! Have you ever MEET Slade?!"
With that Moonfire turned towards the door. "C'mon, we have to go!" Sparrow followed silently before speaking up. "So… we're definitely not getting pizza?" she ventured. "No!" Moonfire yelled, rolling her eyes. Okay, it's official. I really AM the only sane one on this team! she thought as they headed for the Ops. Room.
Please review! It only takes a moment and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks again to Pollimigo for the name suggestions. Next chapter will be up soon!