Terra rushed to the console as the alarm blared. Looking at the GPS marker showed it was a robbery on Cooper St. Terra turned and ran out the door. Once outside she boarded a boulder and followed the portable positioning system she had found. Arriving at the scene showed her that the robbers were just starting their business and seemed to be having trouble cooperating. Terra landed in an alley and walked out into view.
"You don't give the orders, I do!" one of the robbers shouted.
"You shouldn't be in this position, rookie!" the other robber shouted, turning his gun on the other. Inside the bank the other four stopped what they were doing to watch the scene. Terra frowned; they still hadn't noticed her so she decided to make herself known by taking a leaf out of Robin's book and announcing her presence with a one-liner.
"Can't we all just get along?" The robbers turned to the newcomer and the bellicose one with the gun turned on her.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Terra reached up to her hair and took out the red butterfly shaped comb. She tossed it over and it landed on the ground at his feet. He looked down and stared at it in confusion. He looked up with a quizzical look and was hit in the face with a chunk of debris from the bank. His partner immediately fell to his knees and put his hands on his head. Terra frowned, but decided to proceed into the bank. She stepped over through the hole and smiled at the hostages. She turned her smiling face to the other four robbers and struck up a conversation.
"Nice day for a robbery isn't it?" All activity stopped. One of the robbers took out his gun and fired. Terra raised her hand and a section of the floor came with it, bullet imbedding in the wall. She raised her hands again and walls erupted from the floor, separating the hostages from the robbers.
"Are you a Teen Titan?" one of the robbers asked, panic-stricken.
"Honorary," she responded and tore up a section of the floor; it tipped them all forward and they fell on their faces. She set the slab back were it was and lowered the protective walls. The hostages cheered as she fashioned handcuffs out of rock and pulled the robbers out of the building. Setting them next to their rookie leader, she beckoned the hostages out of the bank. When they were all clear she raised her hands and replaced as much of the debris as she could. The crowd cheered again and she bowed and left on the slab of rock she arrived on. Before leaving she turned back to the robbers. "Play nice."
Terra grinned as she entered the living room, but stopped when she noticed the mirror she had found on the counter had a spiral of familiar black aura reaching through the glass.
"Hello? Raven? Is that you? Where is everybody?" she called but the spiral retreated back into the mirror and all that was left was her reflection. She picked it up and examined it. With a frown and a shrug she set it back down and went back to the couch and continued beating all the high scores on the Gamestation.
TT
"I think I heard Terra!" Beast Boy said as they sat at the couch. "When we were in the portal thingy, I think I heard Terra! She said 'Where is everybody?'… Did you guys hear it?" he looked up at the others that had been in the portal and they nodded.
"So… what exactly happened?" Abel asked from his perch in the back of the couch.
"What does it look like happened?" Raven asked touching a bruise forming on her forehead, which immediately disappeared. "We got dumped back here."
"Why have we been prevented from returning to our home?" Starfire asked as she held her finger in front of Noah. The baby gurgled and waved his hands happily, he started to levitate slightly.
"I don't know Star…" Abel said as he spun on the couch and addressed the other Raven. "Any idea what went wrong?" but before she could answer a portal opened in the ceiling and down came an incredibly beautiful woman.
"You cannot return until you have righted what you have wronged."
"What do you-" Abel started but paused and squinted. "Mom?" the woman smiled and Everybody's jaw dropped
"That's your mom?" Beast Boy asked, drooling. "Dude!" Abel glared at him but his mother laughed.
"Yes my son, it is I. I am so sorry I had to leave you. Chicken pox appears to be fatal to Tamaranians. But that is not why I am here. You cannot return, because a terrible fate has befallen this place and you must remedy you interference. You can only return if you take your brother and his servant with you back to your reality, and reset this place back to its rightful path. I am very proud of you Abel. You have grown to be a great young man and… as it appears, a good father," she said waving at Noah. Noah giggled and waved back. "My husband on Tamaran would be quite proud of you were you his son. I must go now. Good-bye. I love you."
"I love you, too…" Abel replied, his voice cracking as tears welled up in his eyes. A box on the kitchen counter malfunctioned and shot waffles into the air before exploding. His mother disappeared and Abel shuddered, he wiped the tears out of his eyes and turned back to the others. "Looks like we're going back to Zynthos…" Starfire walked up to him and hugged him tightly.
"Her husband would have been extremely proud of you. I know this for sure. Her husband was my kinorfka, Galifore, on Tamaran." Abel smiled and nodded.
"We should go there sometime."
"As soon as we return to our-" she was interrupted by the alarm going off. Robin rushed over and turned back to them.
"Slade," he spat. "He's starting fires in an abandoned part of town." Abel stroked his chin.
"You should go. I mean the Titans that are from this dimension. I think this may be some sort of distraction. You guys go and we'll return to Zynthos and see what they're up to. Robin nodded and stood.
"Titans! Go!" the Titans to which he was referring ran out.
"Well, let's go." Abel clapped his hands together. "The tear's still fresh, so it shouldn't be too hard to re-open. What are we going to do about Noah? I'd much rather we didn't take him with us."
"I will stay." Starfire said. Abel nodded and sliced his through the air; the tear opened and revealed a place that wasn't the throne room.
"What the?"
"What's wrong?" Raven said as she peered into the rift.
"I don't know, but that's not the throne room." Abel poked is head in and looked around. "I don't think that's even the temple! Oh well, we can find our way from there." He said as he stepped through. He hesitated and looked back in. "Maybe Cyborg should stay, too. He won't blend in as well as us." He said to Raven.
"I agree, but what about you? You're orange."
"So's my copy in this reality. I can make them think the chakra isn't there." With that they stepped through the rift. On the other side they looked around them; they appeared to be in a sewage system. Robin gathered this by the sounds of footsteps above and the stench of excretion.
"Nice place," he said, his voice muffled by is cape. He watched as Abel poked his head through a manhole and studied the way the people dressed. Dropping back down he waved his hand in front of himself and his clothing altered into a fancy sort of robe with silk shoes. "Pretty fancy for hell."
"This place isn't hell in the whole sense of the word. 'Hell' means that this is where great evil resides. Not a place where sinners go to suffer eternal damnation. What we call sin is a part of everyday life here. Try not to let your heroic demeanor show. It'll get you killed." Raven replied as she too altered her appearance. Robin nodded.
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" Best Boy said indicating their altered clothing.
"People see what they want to see. We have the ability to convince others that we are someone else by clouding their minds and making them see what we want them to see. Robin, try to imagine looking like Abel. You won't be able to tell, but we will. Try it. As for you, we'll disguise you." She replied again. Robin closed his eyes and tried to imagine the clothes that he currently saw on Abel: a dark red robe and black shoes that curled at the toes. He opened his eyes and found that his clothes were still the same. He looked up and saw Beast Boy rolling on the floor, holding his sides in laughter.
"What?"
"You're naked." Raven said with a faint smile.
"What?" This time his tone was incredulous.
"You. Are. Naked." Abel replied while moving a hand to cover his eyes. "Maybe we should just find some actual clothes. You don't seem too good at this illusion thing." He phased through the floor and came back down with an armful of clothes.
"Why don't you keep the illusion thingy?" Beast Boy asked as he pulled on the large robe. The sleeves came six inches over his hands and the excess of the robe gathered at his feet.
"It's tiring. As soon as I phased through the ceiling, I felt like I was about to pass out." He turned to Robin. "You're going to have to remove that. Hiding your eyes is a sign of shame. Not even the blind do it." Robin hesitated.
"Robin no one is going to know the difference." Robin removed the mask and Raven gasped. "Your eyes…"
"You've seen them before, what's wrong?"
"They're darker… and they look kind of purple." They looked at Abel like he knew what was going on.
"You think I know what's going?"
"You've read the book of Azar and you have photographic memory." Robin replied in a tone that basically said 'Well yeah… Now get to it'. Abel shrugged.
"I'll be back. Azarath, Metrion, Zynthos." He was transported into his mind and returned a few seconds later. "Some of her traits have been transferred into you as well. It's nothing too serious. Your skin tone will start to look like hers, along with your hair. The process is slow and should finish in about two months." Abel reported as he lifted himself back up to the manhole. Robin sighed.
"What's wrong?" Raven asked.
"I was just thinking it was time for a change in wardrobe." He responded waving his hand at his discarded uniform. Raven nodded her approval and cocked her head in an 'about time' gesture. Abel dropped form his position and nodded.
"All clear. Let's go." They lifted themselves to the surface and walked out of the alley. The first thing they saw was the blackened temple built into the side of a mountain. They caught a few curious stares, mostly directed at Abel, as they headed in the general direction of the castle. They soon came to a fork in the road.
"Which way now?" Beast Boy asked.
"We could try the road marked 'Temple of Scath'" Raven remarked sarcastically. Beast boy squinted at the faded sign; the writing was in some strange language that Beast Boy couldn't read.
"If you say so…" he scratched at the back of his head but was blocked by the excess of the robe. "What are we supposed to be anyway?" he asked as they made their way up the road.
"Priests. I noticed they were the only ones walking up this road while the townsfolk avoided it completely. Put your hoods up." He finished as other priests came into view. They fell to their knees in front of Abel.
"Lord Rycan! My Lord, your father will not be pleased with you outside of the temple!" Abel raised his eyebrows and smirked.
"Oh? How can he be angry if he does not know?" he replied in a patronizing tone. The priests shrank lower and nodded vigorously.
"Yes, my Lord."
"Rise." Abel stated simply. The priests rose hesitantly. "Continue your duties."
"Thank you my Lord!" they bowed quickly and speedily continued down the road.
"Why weren't they suspicious about us?" Beast Boy asked.
"They didn't know you were there."
"So why'd we have to put up our hoods?" Beast Boy asked again. Abel shrugged and continued on.
TT
"I have returned," Carthatagon reported as he stepped through the portal. His younger self stepped through, followed by Ark'tesh. The newly arrived Carthatagon looked around and took in the room. It was identical to the room back in his reality; the smell of the air told him that it was also fifty feet below the Temple of Scath. He looked to the throne and saw exact replicas of himself, his brother, and his father. Carthatagon seethed at the memory of what he had been told, but refrained from taking his vengeance.
"So what exactly is going on?" he demanded.
"Patience…" His replica replied.
"All will be revealed to you in time." His brother finished.
"Why have you brought me here?"
"You are here to act as a…" his older self trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Detection device." The masked man finished.
"Oh? And who am I supposed to detect?"
"You'll find out soon enough." His older self replied. "Now, you asked what was going on. I'll tell you. We are going to bring the three worlds together. We will create one kingdom and rule over it."
"But why this reality? Why not our own?" the older one considered this a minute.
"Honestly? I don't know. It was convenient, I guess."
"You do not speak like one from Zynthos."
"Four years of banishment will do that to you." He replied with a nonchalant shrug.
"I see. And how are we going to do that?"
"Our nephew"
"Nephew?"
"Abel's son. He is from my time."
"What sane person would bed with that imbecile?"
"A Tamaranian."
"Ah, like mother." As soon as he finished his statement, Carthatagon felt a tingle in the back of his neck. He had never felt it before, but he immediately knew what it meant. "He is here."
TT
'Hello brother.' The voice was vaguely familiar, but Abel knew who it was.
'Carthatagon.'
'We've been expecting you.'
'They dragged you into this too, huh? Is your future self still there?'
'He is. Now come; Trigon grows impatient.' A portal opened in front of the four Titans. Abel turned to the others and explained with one word.
"Carthatagon." He turned to Beast Boy. "Maybe you should go back to the tower."
"Yeah, I agree!" he nodded vigorously. "Uh… just how do I do that?" Abel sliced his hand down and the living room of the Tower appeared in front of them. "Oh, right." He stepped through the portal, but stopped. "Don't worry, dude. Me and Cy'll watch over 'em." Without another word he brought his other leg up, caught his foot on the edge of the torn fabric of space, and stumbled into the other dimension.