32 Productions Presents…

A Teen Titan Fan Fiction The Teen Titans in…

"Out With the Old, In with the New"

Chapter Two

Titan Tower: Main Room

Starfire winced. Robin was not a happy boy at the moment. This was evident by the yelling and how he had just punched the table. She had no idea why, as she had just gotten home with Silkie. Edging over carefully, she saw he was talking to someone over the communicator. Perhaps Shade had heart worms again.

Robin: Put him on, Terra.

Terra: Fine, fine. Hey! Hey, he wants to talk to you!

Robin grumbled and drummed his fingers on the counter. Finally a voice answered from the other end. One that filled Starfire with dread…and annoyance, because Gremlin was just that sort of person.

Gremlin: Yello, ello.

Robin: Let them go, Gremlin.

Gremlin: Ah, ah, ah. You didn't say the magic word.

Robin: Let them go NOW!

Gremlin: Oooh, sorry. The magic word was "waffles". "Waffles".

Robin: If you hurt them…

Gremlin: Oh whine, whine, whine. Thank god she didn't call Beast Boy or I'd really be getting an earful. In any case, I don't intend to hurt them. It's just a little experiment. You'll like the results. Until then, stay away or they pay the price. Got it, Boy Blunder? TTFN.

The communicator clicked off. Robin shut it and slammed it down, annoyed. Starfire couldn't keep silent any longer.

Starfire: Robin, what is happening?

Robin: …Gremlin has Terra and Tara. He said he has an experiment for them to be a part in. If we try to interrupt, he'll kill them both.

Starfire: Did he say what the experiment would entail?

Robin: No…just that we'd like the results. She seems okay…

Starfire bit her finger and whispered softly.

Starfire: Should we inform Beast Boy? He shall not take it well.

Robin: We'll avoid it for as long as we can…but if he straight out asks us, we can't lie. That'll only make it worse when he finds out.

Starfire: Very well. Excuse me…I need to check upon my garden.

Robin: Now?!

Starfire: Robin, my garden is very important to me and as of now there is nothing we can do. Why should I not?

Starfire had him there. He sighed and nodded. She kissed his cheek.

Starfire: As twisted as he is, Gremlin is not one to lie. Terra shall be fine. You shall see.

Sighing, Robin nodded as she left. He wanted to believe that. He really, truly, and honestly did. …but Gremlin was insane. His definition of "not hurting" someone could be very different indeed.

Shadow Disc Near Tower

Raven sat on the disc, facing away from Shade, drumming her fingers on her knee. Shade sighed and shook his head.

Shade: I'm sorry.

The only reply her got was her fingers drumming faster. Taking in a deep breath, he blew a stray hair from his face. In retrospect, maybe he had made a mistake. Raven had one major pet peeve. She HATED being embarrassed in public. Spending her whole life avoiding the eyes of others, she liked to simply blend into the background. Despite her odd garb, the way she was so quiet and rarely moved unless she had to (meaning she didn't fidget much) made it easy to forget she was there…which was how she liked it. Well, it was a pain when they were picking who gets the last slice of chocolate cake…she liked chocolate cake. Shade had a thing himself. He hated being prodded. And there he was at the vet's office. Suffice to say, he was not happy. Then again, no dog likes the vet. So when it came time for him to be examined, he was less then thrilled…especially when he found out that they don't use oral thermometers. He could SWEAR he saw Raven smirk. He might have been imagining things, but he could SWEAR he saw it. Either way, he kind of began to struggle at that point until they agreed to get an oral thermometer. In doing so, he kind of knocked a lot of things over. All in all, Raven not only was humiliated, but had to pay extra for the damages. Shade had probably done worse things, but at the moment he couldn't recall them. He felt pretty bad, really. Raven put up with a lot of crap from him and he had no idea why. Just luck he supposed. He sighed.

Shade: Raven, I know I upset you but…

Raven: Shade.

Shade: Yeah?

Raven: While I know you're only trying to make me feel better, you have a tendency to bury yourself deeper in the hole when you talk. So just shut up and let me work this out through my own thought process and I'll get back to you.

Shade: …I love you.

Raven: Okay, now you're acting like a little kid. Stop it.

Raven huffed as silence once again reigned. Why did she tolerate this? They landed and walked back inside the tower. Robin looked up.

Robin: How'd it…?

Raven: Clean bill of health, don't ask anything more.

Sighing, Robin shook his head.

Robin: He panicked again?

Shade: It wasn't…

Raven: Like a frightened rabbit.

Robin: …I've got some bad news.

Junkyard Lair: Medical Room

Tara winced as the needle was stuck into her arm. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she knew enough not to like it. Her captor explained that he needed a sample of her blood in order to help her weird statue clone friend. He didn't explain how it would help…and at the moment she was too frightened to ask. Besides, she doubted that the drone that took the sample would have much in the way of conversational capabilities.

G-9: You don't need to be so tense. You're in no danger.

Tara looked up at what she assumed to be a human (or at the very least a living being) girl with red hair. She walked over and sat down next to her at the table.

Tara: Who are you?

G-9: Gremlin AI System Model Number Nine, but most just call me G-9. I'm a highly advanced mechanical organism. Which is to say that I'm not really an organism, but am capable of mimicking one to near perfect levels.

Tara: You're a machine?

G-9: Absolutely. I'm here to help you calm down. I know this must be stressful.

Tara rolled her eyes. This girl had a talent for understatements. She was scared out of her mind! The place smelled of motor oil and air sanitizers. It was lit with florescent bulbs that fizzled and crackled now and then. It creeped her out big time.

Tara: Yeah, a little.

G-9: Look at me, Tara. This is what that man is capable of creating. Your friend will be fine and then you'll be let go, safe and sound.

Tara: …this whole thing is just making me feel queasy. I don't like being here.

G-9 tilted her head for a moment before snapping out of whatever stupor she had fallen into.

G-9: Hmm…you do seem to be reacting…elevated blood flow, increased heart rate…perhaps being here is reminding you of your past time as Terra.

Tara: All the more reason I don't want to be here! I don't WANT to be Terra.

G-9: I think that's another sign of it. You're afraid to remember because part of you knows what you did.

Tara covered her ears. She didn't want to hear this.

G-9: Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…

Tara: Just stop talking about it!

G-9: Alright, alright…calm down. Seen any good movies?

Slowly, Tara lowered her hands. G-9 was tempted to shout something quickly, but decided that would be too mean.

Tara: Not really…

New Chamber

Terra shook her head.

Terra: How do you build these places without anyone knowing?
Gremlin: People are stupid.

The room was mostly filled with two large devices. One had a clear tank, big enough for a person. All sorts of arms and tubes were attached to it. It was connected to a large computer. The other was smaller and mostly consisted of a chair with a weird doodad on the tap. It almost looked like an electric chair. A drone floated in and presented Gremlin with a vial of blood.

Gremlin: Ah, thank you Thing.

It puttered off as he put the vial in a slot on the larger device and it sank in. Data filled the computer screen.

Terra: "Thing"?

Gremlin: It's a bad joke, but I like it. Now then, to begin. I can make some alterations to your genetic code by accessing your recessive genes…or rather her recessive genes. This means that if your mother had brown eyes and you had blue, I could change them to brown, but maybe not green. Understand?

Hesitating for a moment, Terra nodded. Genetics wasn't TOO hard a subject for her. Gremlin typed a little.

Gremlin: Let's see your options…I assume you might want a different hair color? That will really set you apart from Tara Smith.

Terra: What do you got?

Gremlin: Hmm…not much. Straight black or curly brown.

Terra: Damn…I wanted to be a red head…

Gremlin: That's why we have hair dye.

Terra: True…okay, gimme the straight black.

Gremlin: Alright…eyes? You got green or blue.

Terra: I like the blue eyes.

Gremlin: Blue it is.

They went through the list and Terra soon had a new body planned out. Fairly the same as her old one, it was fixed of a few minor problems, like an allergy to penicillin.

Gremlin: The muscle tissue will develop to match Tara's current condition. You may need to work out some to get back up to snuff, but that's your problem.

Terra: Fine, fine. How long will this take?

Gremlin: I dunno…maybe an hour or so.

He hit enter and the process began. The tube began to glow before the blood was slipped into the clear fluid that was inside it. Gremlin clasped his hands.

Gremlin: Okay…that's settled. Want to play a game while we wait?

Terra: I'd rather talk to Tara. You haven't let me see her since this whole thing began.

Gremlin: Fine, fine.

Gremlin called a drone.

Gremlin: Lead Terra to Tara.

It started to sputter off.

Gremlin: Wait, where are you going?

Drone: (mechanically) I am going to fetch Tara to bring to Terra.

Gremlin: No, no, no. You take TERRA to see TARA.

Again, it started to leave. Gremlin grabbed it.

Gremlin: Listen to me you hunk of junk! I said…take Terra! T-E-R-R-A to see Tara! T-A-R-A!

Drone: (mechanically) You don't need to be so harsh…

It began to whimper, with clicks in between each sound. Gremlin sighed and shook his head.

Gremlin: Yeah that's right. Go ahead and cry. Cry you stupid…

Terra: Uh…

Gremlin: WHAT?!

Terra: …if you're done abusing your robot, can I go see Tara now?

Gremlin: I am NOT abusing my robot! He had it coming!

Drone: You just love Drone #127 better then me. Waah. Waah. Waah.

Gremlin: Oh god damn it… I knew I should have stopped at two hundred. It was a nice even number, but no, I went on to two hundred and seven…

Terra sighed. It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic…

Titan Tower: Hallway

Raven sighed as she walked down the hall. She needed to meditate…rid herself of her frustrations before she did something regrettable. While now able to control her powers, she, like anyone else, could still boil over and take her anger out on someone undeserving. Meditation could help her with that. As she walked, she failed to notice the plant from before clinging on to her cloak. She opened the door to her room and stepped in, gathering up incense candles. The plant slithered off her cloak as she set the candles up and floated into position. She didn't hear the soft creak of her trunk opening as she inhaled deeply and began to chant. What she did hear was the sound of a statue shattering. Turning around sharply, Raven realized that the statue was the prison for the Demon of the Soil. Two plus two added up in Raven's mind, or rather, broken statue, plus imprisoned demon. The answer to that equation is, of course, a freed demon. That realization came just in time for her to erect a shield as she was slammed through the wall by a pillar of dirt. Without it, she would have surely died. The glass of her window exploded as the large dirt cloud fled. Many thoughts went through her head right then. How could she have left her trunk unlocked? What WAS that plant thing that let it out, the one currently crawling around in circles on her floor, trying to stay in the sunlight? Where was the demon going? All these thoughts bubbled in her mind, but the one that took precedence was one. She was indirectly responsible for the release of a demon. How did THIS compare with simply causing a ruckus in the vet? Now she had to forgive Shade for causing her embarrassment because she had done something twice as bad…due to a dancing game.

Robin: Raven!

Her friends came running at the sound of the thundering crash. She coughed and looked up at them.

Raven: We've got a problem.

Cyborg: Okay, somebody mind telling me how something got in here past MY security system.

Robin: It was already here. Most of the glass is outside.

Raven: That damn plant let out a demon I was guarding in my room.

Starfire covered her mouth and picked up the plant. It thrashed about before dying. It had been away from soil for too long. She turned to Beast Boy.

Starfire: How could you let this Tamaranian creep vine escape?!

Beast Boy: It wasn't my fault! I didn't know you had plants that walked!

Starfire: …I am sorry. I am a terrible gardener…

Robin: Can we back up a little? To the part where you were guarding a demon without telling us? What else is in there?

Groaning, Raven climbed to her feet and brushed the dirt from her cloak.

Raven: I'll give you a list later, Robin. The longer we take to bring that thing down, the stronger it gets. It's going to be a bitch fighting it as it is, since it's made of soil.

Beast Boy: No problem! Terra can take care of it.

Starfire and Robin hissed slowly, looking at each other.

Starfire: Yes…Terra. About her…

Outside Tower

The birds all fled at the sound booming sound that echoed from the building.

Beast Boy: She's WHAT?!

Junkyard Lair: Medical Room

Tara sighed, her head on the table. Terra patted her on the back.

Terra: Relax…this is almost over. Soon you'll be back home and this will be a distant memory.

Tara: Easy for you to say. This crap is common place for you.

Terra: Hey, calm down. Don't get so upset.

Tara slammed her fist down. She had had enough. Her stress level had just reached critical mass.

Tara: I'll get as upset as I want to! I'm being held captive by a nutcase in a mask! I've had blood extracted from me, this place reeks of motor oil, and YOU just stand there as calm as you please! You're a superhero! Do something super!

Terra: We're fine. There's no need to do anything stupid now.

Her eyes narrowing, Tara stood up and poke Terra's chest.

Tara: You don't even care, do you? This is all about getting yourself a new body!

Terra: What?! Tara, don't say that! I'm your friend! I wouldn't let anything happen to you! Look, if there was a way to get out of here, I'd do it…but right now the ball is in his court and besides, he's not threatening you. He's taken all he needs from you. Right now you're just here to keep me from attacking him.

Tara: Well…well you just…NNGH! Why did I even agree to hang out with you?! I should have known this would get me in trouble.

Terra was rather hurt. She was about to argue further when G-9 leaned into the room. Her tone with Terra was far less nice then the one she used with Tara, which was a good indication of whom she was speaking to.

G-9: It's time to switch your brain.

Terra: …G-9 can Tara please go home now? She's had enough.

Sighing, G-9 shrugged.

G-9: It's not my call. Come with me and we'll ask my creator, alright?

Tara: Fine, fine…

Grumbling, Tara followed the other two. She was not happy right now…but to be honest she wasn't sure why. Maybe the robot was right. Maybe she was afraid that this would remind her of…whatever it was she forgot. The fact remained, Tara hated her current situation. They arrived in the huge room.

Gremlin: Ah, Terra. Sit down, get comfy. You won't be in that body much longer.

He was tempted to add "I hope", but figured that she needed the confidence boost. Terra sighed and nodded, sitting down in the chair. Tara stepped up.

Tara: Uh…excuse me…Mr. Gremlin? Can I go home now?

Gremlin: Just a sec…

Gremlin started the device. Terra tensed briefly before her body simply locked into place. The screen flickered and a voice came from the speakers.

Terra: What just happened?

Gremlin: I downloaded your brain for later use. You'll be going into your new body…once it stops being a fetus…

Terra: Hey! I thought I was still going to be a teenager!

Gremlin: Yeah, yeah, you are. Don't be a weenie. I'll age the body appropriately. The download is going to take time though. It's easy to shove a brain into a computer, putting it into another body, not so much. Anyway…

Gremlin turned to Tara.

Gremlin: I no longer need to worry about Terra getting rowdy…so you can go. We just…

There was a rumble and the ground shook slightly. A screen lowered down.

Tara: What was that? An earthquake?

G-9: Not a natural one…

Terra: Wasn't me.

Tara: I didn't do anything! …I think.

The screen displayed a shocking sight. The Titans were battling a large creature composed of…stuff. Grass, trees, dirt, all the things that grew from the ground composed its gigantic body. It was as tall as a building and built vaguely human.

Terra: Oh no! They need my help! Let me out of this thing!

Gremlin: I can't. Heh…I…uh…never designed it to go the other way around.

Terra: …you stupid son of a bitch.

Gremlin: I did build a delete button though.

Terra: Shutting up. Tara, you need to go in my place.

Tara: What?! No way! I told you…

Terra: Tara, please! They need you! The city needs you! You're the only one who can help them right now!

Tara held her head.

Tara: But…

Terra: You're the last hope…at least until I'm finished here.

Tara bit her lip. Sighing, she nodded.

Tara: How long is this going to take?

Gremlin: Uh…another…twenty minutes maybe?

Tara: …I need a costume.

Gremlin: Well, I was saving this for Terra…

Gremlin snapped his fingers and a duplicate of Terra's t-shirt and shorts lowered from the ceiling, goggles and all.

Gremlin: …but you knock yourself out.

Tara had a bad feeling about this…

END PART TWO