First of all, the thankyous are at the bottom today, because I have a few things to say. But thankyou to all who reviewed!
Call this my "Pre-Halloween Edition" of Remember the Titans. Halloween is like my favourite public international holiday thingie, and for this reason I have something very special planned for tomorrow. I'll tell you a little more about that in a moment, but for now… Yup, this is a Halloween run-up event, especially for you. This chapter, Shock to the System, is so-called for two reasons. If I was to tell you that the first is that it is actually the tag-line from fellow WB teen superhero cartoon Static Shock, and given Robin's new "power", it should be fairly obvious why it is named such. The second reason should become apparent by the end.
The chapter itself deals a little more with Robin's feelings concerning the sudden deaths of his friends; and his resulting decision, made around halfway through, brings us to the next big step in the storyline of Remember the Titans. Call this chapter something of a cathartic period before the next big shake up. As for that resulting decision… without giving anything away, I can guarantee the lot of you will smack your foreheads when you read it, asking yourselves why it didn't dawn on you that this was where it was going. It really is rather simple…
Okay, my Halloween Special. I have actually written a brand new fic (with chapters and everything!) especially for the occasion. The first chapter will obviously be put up tomorrow, and will then run weekly. It has about seven chapters (not sure yet; I haven't finished it yet, actually…), with journal entries in between. Yes, you read that right; journal entries. It's a very "special" fic because it is completely different to anything I have written before; specifically, it is an Elseworlds fic, which is a coined term used by DC to refer to (generally) Batman storylines which are out of the regular DCU continuum. Examples include Gotham by Gaslight (Batman vs Jack the Ripper) and Kingdom Come (set in the future). I won't call my new fic an AU because I don't think an AU and an Elseworlds are quite the sane thing.
To tie in with Halloween, the fic (Teen Titans, of course) is obviously of the horror genre; it is also heavily integrated with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, from chapter titles right down to the odd line showing up in the narrative. It's set in 1845, has a supernatural twist, includes vampires, and is (surprise surprise) Robin-centric. I think it's quite different to anything you will have read in this section before (TT in the Victorian age! Or what was the equivalent of in the US… Queen Victoria was on the throne over here in Britain in 1845), so you might want to have a look at that tomorrow. Pleeeeeaaaaase?
It is called Nevarmore. Not Nevermore. Nevarmore. There is a reason for it. And I command you to read it.
In other brief news before I actually let you read this chapter;
Tomorrow, Halloween, is also the one-year birthday of that infamous RobinxSlade fic you all love, known as… Small Print. Just thought you might like to know. And speaking of Small Print, not only does it have a new video (Pushing Me Away) by Coolteenzz, but the Small Print shrine created by Rocky-White Wolf of Curses also has an awesome banner, produced by Worren. If you want to see it (it's really cool, honestly) you can find a link to the shrine on my profile; you'll see the banner immediately. You can also still see the video via a link to Coolteenzz's videos on my profile.
In related news… my co-writer Narroch06 decided it was time for a change and despite my threats shortened her pen-name to simply Narroch. Seemingly irrelevant, but just in case anyone gets confused about what happened to the "06" part…
And last but not least… anyone get the Teen Titans Go! comic book? Wonder Girl was in issue #36! WONDER GIRL! Yay, I was so pleased to see her! She looked awesome. I wonder why they were allowed to put her in the comics but not the cartoon. It's very strange. Still, better than nothing. Yay for Donna!
And now, after much delay…
Shock to the System
Entering Titans Tower was a dream.
It felt so strange to be alone, to walk down the empty hallway towards the front room and know that his friends would not be there, arguing or watching TV or playing Game-Station.
To know that he would never again find Starfire in the kitchen whipping up some gross Tamaranean recipe for them all to try.
To know that he would never accidentally walk in on Raven while she was mediating in the gym.
To know that he would never have another play-off against Cyborg and Beast Boy on Super Ninja Fury.
He entered the front room and simply stood in the centre looking at the ceiling. It just felt so empty, and he did too. It was like the deaths of his parents all over again; that utter raw indescribable implacable pain simply eating away at his soul…
Batman had picked up the pieces last time; he could probably pick them up again. But the pain never went away, not for good. Bruce knew that better than anybody, and Robin knew it too. There wasn't a day went past where he didn't think about his mom and dad, but at least he'd always had someone to lean on, first Bruce and Alfred, and then his friends; the Teen Titans.
Now the only Titan left, and with Bruce off all over the place hunting for the remaining Arkham escapees, he had no-one.
The Teen Titans are dead, and I should have died with them.
He didn't know how he had survived – or been revived, as it were – but he wished he hadn't. Death was ignorance – ignorance was bliss. Better to feel nothing at all than this pain, this knowledge of loss…
He couldn't stay here – this place had become a memorial. Everything was just how it had been left as the Teen Titans had rushed out into the city in response to the Titan Alert; Beast Boy's half-eaten bag of Happy Buddha Tofu Chips was lying the floor, its contents spilled everywhere, just as the shape-shifter had left it. The Game-Station was still plugged in, and Cyborg's can of Coca-Cola still sat on the DVD shelf on top of Wicked Scary. A pile of junk sat on the coffee table, including Cyborg's new edition of Car Monthly, two Beatles albums, outdated TV guides and Raven's Sudoku book, all exactly as it had been left. Starfire's Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi dolls were perched on the back of the couch.
Suddenly Robin had to get away. Just looking at it all… it was such a normal scene, but now it hurt to look upon it.
Everything was exactly as the Teen Titans had left it.
In what must have been the very last hour of their lives.
He climbed the stairs up through the empty tower, his footsteps seeming to echo tenfold. He reached the top floor, going down to the bathroom first to clean himself up; he could still feel the Plasmus-sludge in his hair.
He entered the bathroom, flicked on the light and shut the door behind him, feeling slightly more secure for being in a closed-off room. That was the thing about bathrooms; you were supposed to be in there alone. Therefore it didn't feel quite so empty.
Quite.
He crossed to the sink and placed his hands on the rim, leaning over it and trying to think of what to do. Find Bruce seemed like the most logical choice, but where to find him? Bruce was all over the place; he could be in Gotham, or he could be in Metropolis, or he could even be in Jump itself, or Steel, or…
He could go to Gotham, to Wayne Manor… Alfred would be there, he would know where Bruce was. And Alfred was a good listener. Yeah… he wanted to talk to Alfred; the prim and proper Englishman was still to this day one of Robin's very favourite people, and not only because he made truly great sandwiches. Maybe… maybe he could even work up the courage to tell Alfred about the baby…
But…
Robin's head jerked up again as he realised it – the baby had to be dead now, even if the electricity hadn't killed it. Raven's body would have been crushed beneath the collapsed warehouse; surely the baby would have been crushed too? There was no way in Hell it could still alive after that… He felt terrible for thinking such horrible thoughts, wishing the death of his own unborn child, but he couldn't help it. That baby was not normal… and it wouldn't have surprised him if it was still alive.
It was then that he saw his reflection in the mirror above the sink – it was all he could do to quell his shriek. His hair had definitely seen better days… Although, of course, it figured; he had been electrocuted. It wasn't literally standing on end like Einstein's, but his carefully-gelled spikes were fried and jagged, with stray hairs sticking out all over the place. Not to mention the remnants of Plasmus… He had to do something with his hair before he went any further. Somehow the preoccupation with his hair was calming – it made everything seem almost… normal.
He pulled off his gloves and turned on the hot tap, putting in the plug and filling the sink up. He unclasped his necklace and pulled off his cape and then his shirt, throwing them to the bathroom floor with his gloves. Then he stuck his head under the running tap, reaching across for the shampoo, barely noticing the tiny sparks flying from his dark hair as the water touched it…
…And the bathroom light blew out.
Robin jumped as the bang sounded and sparks flew from the fluorescent light above and the entire bathroom was plunged into darkness. He threw his head back, squinting upwards through the darkness and absently putting a hand to his wet hair. He yelped in shock as a tiny streak of lightning shot from his wet hair to his fingertips, being absorbed back into him. He stared at his hand in horror, hardly able to believe it. What was happening?...
He had done that. He had blown out the light when he had put his head under the water. But how? He knew of beings with powers over electricity, other superheroes… Thunder's brother Lightning. Static Shock, from over in Dakota.
But he wasn't a superhero in the sense of the others. Neither he nor Batman actually had any powers to speak of… So how was he doing this? It seemed that he was still charged from being electrocuted, but somehow had some form of control over the voltage still coursing throughout his body, and rather than being harmed by it and electrocuting himself again, he seemed to be immune to it.
But how? He was human; he wasn't alien as Starfire was, he wasn't robotically-enhanced as Cyborg was… He was vulnerable to the things that threatened all mortals. He was Batboy, not Superboy. Fire, water, poison, gunshot, sharp objects, gas, electricity… all those things could kill him. Yet now electricity didn't seem to be harming him; it had, because it had killed him, but now he seemed to have returned from the dead with an all-new control over the very thing that had taken his life.
He finally seemed to have a superpower.
Control over fire would have been cooler, but still…
He finished washing his hair in the dark, this time taking notice of the sparks crackling around him whenever he touched the water, and rubbed it dry using a towel. Then he pulled the switch for the over-mirror light; its proper use was for applying make-up, but he used it to gel his hair. Once he had got it looking satisfactorily spiky he pulled on his shirt and cape and gloves and carefully threaded his Blood Diamond around his neck again and left the bathroom – as he had pulled out the plug to release the water he noticed that the electrical charge he seemed to have left on the basin and on the water flowed back into his fingertips.
It hit him then.
He didn't have a superpower – he was a channel for electricity. It flowed through him without hurting him, and because his body was still charged with excess voltage he only seemed to have it at his disposal. It would probably run out eventually, unless he kept charging himself up. And if he could channel it… he could control it.
It wasn't a superpower. But it was a weapon.
So… to use it effectively, he would have to concentrate it and channel it through something else that conducted electricity; something wet, something made of metal or something that had circuits, etc.
Or a person; as he well knew, people conducted electricity very well…
He stood in the corridor outside the bathroom and thought for a second. He could feel the electricity coursing through him if he concentrated… the floor was metal…
He outstretched a gloved hand, his fingers splayed, concentrating on the lethal energy he could moving though him, using him for a channel… well, he was going to channel it right back… He wanted it to go to the floor, he wanted it to go from his fingers to the metal floor—
And it did. One second he was standing there concentrating on it, the next a bolt of thin white lightning had shot from his fingertips towards the metal floor, which conducted it. He breathed out heavily, actually surprised at how easy it had been. It just seemed to come to him naturally, the knowledge of how to control it.
As though he had always had the ability.
But he hadn't; he'd had it for less than an hour, yet he knew how to use it…
Okay, now he wanted it to come back… and it shot back up from the metal floor and was absorbed into his fingertips. It was easy… it was almost too easy… But then, Starfire had always told him that her abilities were easy to use, and so were Beast Boy's. You just had to know how to use them. When Raven and Starfire had swapped bodies it had been difficult for them to use each other's powers, simply because they didn't know how.
But Robin knew how to use this power; he didn't know how he knew, but he did. And that was why it was easy.
And within minutes he was commanding it to do all sorts of things; he could make a vein of lightning bounce back up off the floor and return to his hand, as though it was a birdarang; he could make it into a blade; and he could charge up his own birdarangs and metal Bo staff to make them even more lethal. He could blow circuits, charge water as Overload had done, and he found that he could also suppress it so that he didn't blow up everything that he touched. The control seemed to be coming too easily to him, but he wasn't complaining.
And Slade was in for the shock of his life when Robin turned up to seek his revenge, "shock" being the operative word. If nothing else, he was going to use this newfound ability to stop Slade once and for all, to truly live up to his prophetic title and avenge his friends.
But first he would go and see Alfred, try and contact Bruce…
He made his way down the hall to his room, bouncing a ball of electricity as though it was rubber. He opened the panel with minimal sparking and entered the dark room beyond, making straight for his bed. He wanted to get the Blade of Azar from the box under his bed.
Well, it was metal. Metal conducted electricity…
He sat on the made covers of his bed and reached underneath it for the box. Once he had got hold of it he opened it and fished the knife out, standing up again and slipping it into the back of his belt, where it was hidden by his cape. He kicked the empty box back under his bed and went to the window.
It was starting to get dark, and beyond he could see Jump City beginning to glitter with lights. Little did those civilians know that all but one of their sworn protectors were dead.
The Teen Titans were no more. It didn't seem like only that morning he had stood in here and gaped at Raven's prematurely swollen stomach; it seemed years ago since he and Cyborg had taken it in turns to hammer Beast Boy on Super Ninja Fury, when in reality it had only been that afternoon. Since waking up that morning to the "joyful" sound of Beast Boy singing the Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi theme song in the shower he felt as though he had aged twenty very long, hard years.
He left his room and started down the hall again. As he passed Starfire's room… he suddenly got a mad urge to go in. He was torn; Star was dead, something he didn't want to be reminded of so strongly. Going into her room was only going to make it even more painfully obvious. However… he didn't know what it was, he just… wanted to go in. Maybe for comfort or something, he didn't know…
He slid the panel back and entered Starfire's room quietly, as though afraid of waking her. But he knew there was no way to wake Starfire now, not when she lay dead, buried beneath the ruin of an entire warehouse. Biting back fresh tears, he moved further into her room, flicking on a small lamp. He was immediately struck by how… pink… everything was. He'd never been in Starfire's room before; at least not for long enough to really notice the interior design. She, however, was always sneaking into his to see what he was up to. Her bed was circular, with – surprise, surprise – pink sheets and fluffy cushions. The walls were pink, the carpet was pink, the curtains… were purple, actually, and so was the ceiling. But everything else seemed to be pink.
Painfully pink. It reminded him of (eww) Kitten.
Why had he wanted to come in here? As a last reminder of the alien girl? Or… something else?...
He touched his necklace absently as he looked around – he was starting to wish he'd brought sunglasses. Or a can of black spray-paint. He moved almost unwittingly to her desk; there were a few books lying on it, and he picked them up absently.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi World Tour Scrapbook, The Amazing World of Mould and Fungi… and some other book, written in a weird language that he was unable to read; Tamaranean.
He put Starfire's books down and ran his gloved hand across her desk. There were several pink fluffy pens, and a pink photo frame housing a picture of the Teen Titans together, enveloped in a group hug. Robin picked up the frame and smiled faintly at the picture – it was one of those one-of-a-kind pictures, where the mood could never be captured again. Cyborg was in the very middle, giving Beast Boy a friendly noogie with one hand. The other was on Raven's lap, securing her as she perched on his shoulder, her hood down and actually genuinely smiling. Robin was sitting on the half-robot's other shoulder; Starfire was hovering behind him, her arms around his shoulders, beaming happily. They had all been truly happy that day; even Raven, who, of course, had pretended otherwise.
Days that would never be again…
He put the picture down and was about to turn away from the desk, when another book caught his eye. It was – big surprise – pink, but not fluffy, and was fastened with a silver clasp in the shape of a heart.
A diary? He reached for it, then withdrew his hand. No, he shouldn't; he should respect Starfire's privacy, even now that she was dead. But then the glittery purple swirling writing across the front cover made him change his mind.
It didn't read Diary – it read Scrapbook.
He opened the clasp and flipped the book open to the first page. It simply read Starfire's name and the date on which she had started putting the book together. He flipped through it idly, occasionally stopping to glance with interest at a page. It really was very nicely put together; Starfire had very neat handwriting, although not everything she had written was in English, but in her native Tamaranean. Perhaps the more personal stuff… She'd stuck in more photographs, little bits and pieces, sequins and glitter; he recognised the picture of himself and Starfire, the one he had torn in half a few weeks ago in his temper following his ordeal in Arkham Asylum. She had taped it back together and glued it in, drawing a little border of pink sparkly hearts around it. She had accounted a lot of incidents, much like a diary, but it was not as personal; it was more like a picture book of their lives. She'd written about the "Red X Thing", and about his becoming Slade's apprentice; she'd written about meeting Terra for the first time, and all the girl-stuff she and the earth-mover had done together, the things Raven wouldn't join in with… She'd written about Terra's betrayal, and about her concern for Beast Boy, and she'd written about Kitten's prom and how displeased she had been about it, and about the horrors of Transformation, the "Joker Incident", and even their time in Azarath… it went on and on, and there was more stuff that he couldn't even read.
And he hadn't realised that Starfire was so good at drawing, but the book was filled with cute little pictures of them all, neatly coloured in with felt tip pens and embellished with glitter and sequins. There were lots of pictures of himself, he noticed, and of Raven freaking out, and of Starfire herself with lots of hearts around her. There was also a whole page taken up by a drawing of a bottle of mustard, with hearts all around it, and the opposite page explaining the many wonders of the sauce.
It was the unfamiliar drawing he noticed as he flicked the page that caught his eye; it was of Starfire, her eyes replaced by huge cartoon hearts, with her arms around someone in black, long dark hair down their back. He put it close to his face and saw the finer detail; the black mask on the cartoon guy's face, the little blue bird-shaped symbol on the front of his outfit.
Who the heck was this guy?
And then he saw the label underneath the cartoon, with an arrow pointing to the guy in question; it read "Nightwing".
Nightwing? Who the hell is… ohh… I'm Nightwing…
Yeah, he remembered now; Starfire had been thrown forwards 20 years into the future during the battle with Warp, a time-travelling thief from 100 years into the future, which happened to be on the day of "Blorthog", the Tamaranean festival of friendship. The fight had been over Warp's theft of the Clock of Eternity, an ornate timepiece capable of time travel far more complex than the kind Warp's suit could perform. That was why he had wanted it; that, and the fact that it was priceless in his future world. But when Warp had attempted to return to the future with his prize, Starfire had been taken with him, breaking the suit in the process. She and Warp had been cast 20 years into the future, instead of Warp's intended 100. There the alien girl had learned of the devastating future that would become; the Teen Titans had split up following Starfire's disappearance, Cyborg becoming obsolete as his last power cell had died, Beast Boy an overweight bald "One-Man Zoo" in a freakshow, Raven's fragile mind utterly devastated by the loneliness that had consumed her. It had seemed, as Starfire had recounted the tale to them once back in the present day, that Robin had been the only member of the estranged teen team to have made out reasonably okay; in the form of an older Robin, now known as "Nightwing".
But… wait, that didn't fit. The Teen Titans were dead; they had been killed less than an hour ago, by Overload on Slade's command. How could they have grown up to become what Starfire had told them, if they were dead?
Unless… Robin stared at the picture of Nightwing, his mind racing. The Clock of Eternity… it induced time travel, right? The Teen Titans had died, yet in the future… they were still alive. So, something must have happened. Something must have brought them back to life, revived them from death as he had been revived.
Something, or someone.
And what if that someone was him? What if he, in a future time, had used the Clock of Eternity to go back a few hours and stop the Titans from dying? If given that time back, he knew he would be able to prevent their electrocution, because he would know what was going to happen. He would know to make sure that Cinderblock was down and out, he would know to ensure that no-one was standing on the floor; if they were in the air, then they couldn't conduct the electricity flowing through the water.
Yes, the more he thought about it, the more he was certain that this was what he was meant to do. He, Robin, was meant to go to the museum and get the Clock of Eternity, use it to go back a few hours and prevent the Teen Titans from being electrocuted to death. That had to be it, otherwise how could Starfire have met them 20 years in the future?
If given that time back, he would not have let his friends – his team – die.
He'd let them die once; he wouldn't let them die a second time.
Thankyou, Star…
He shut Starfire's book again and left her room, sprinting down the hall to the elevator. All thoughts of going to Gotham to cry on Alfred's shoulder had been pushed from his mind; he would save them, he'd bring them back to life…
He got into the elevator and punched in the button for the ground floor. It started to move but his mind was elsewhere, already revising how to break into the museum. It was stealing, he knew – but he was only going to borrow it. He would put it back once he had used it to save his friends. He could drop it back on the way home after their clear victory.
No problem.
A sudden crashing sound met his ears and the elevator slammed to a halt, throwing him to the floor. Dazed, he got to his knees, shaking his head. What the hell-?
Another loud crash, an explosion… they were beyond the elevator, right inside the Tower, but with the lift jammed he was stuck. The light suddenly went out and he knew that someone had cut the power. Would have been a problem for him.
Once.
He got to his feet and took a birdarang from his belt, using it to prise the metal casing from the control box. He threw the casing aside, reached into the control box and grabbed a handful of the dead wires. And as easily as though he had always had this power, he surged thousands of volts through them. They came back to life – a little too effectively. The elevator screeched down the shaft to the ground floor at breakneck speed, actually throwing him upwards into the air. He seemed to levitate there for a few seconds… then was painfully slammed to the floor again as the elevator smashed to a halt, completely giving up the ghost.
Ouch… I'm gonna need a chiropractor after I'm done saving the world…
He rolled over and staggered to his feet, pressing the button for the doors to open.
Nothing happened.
Duh…
000
The front room was in chaos; fifty-odd of Slade's black-and-amber robot commandos were utterly trashing the place on their master's orders. They smashed the coffee table, tore the couch to shreds, pulled down the DVD and bookshelves, upended the CD rack, shattered the screen of the TV/computer mainframe, pounded in the door, broke the windows…
And their reign of chaos went on quite unremittingly.
Until the doors of the broken elevator suddenly started to spark violently, and then exploded outwards, the heavy twisted metal crushing three commandos in the process.
The remaining commandos – and there really were quite a lot of them – all stopped what they were doing and turned to observe as the Avenger stepped out of the completely-annihilated elevator, apparently unruffled. He was dusting down the front of his red shirt, seemingly not noticing the god-knows-how-many minions standing in front of him trashing his front room.
They had been given two orders; one had been to destroy Titans Tower.
The other had been to destroy the last remaining Titan; Robin – the Boy Wonder; the Avenger; the Batman's child…
They all simultaneously dropped whatever they had been in the middle of breaking/smashing/stamping mercilessly on and started towards him as one solid, deadly unit.
And the Avenger simply looked up at them lazily, not even going to his utility belt for a weapon.
He didn't need one.
He slammed his right foot down onto the floor, sending 500,000 volts through each and every robot. They stopped short and sparked and malfunctioned and shorted out one after another, toppling like dominoes.
50 robot commandos in one single shot. Far more constructive than his usual methods, and so much more fun.
The boy done good…
And he stepped over them and walked out of the room, not one single hair out of place. Of course, it helped that he had half a tub of hair gel on it – it was rock hard, the spikes pretty lethal – but it was the principal.
I could get used to this…
Once he got into the hall it became obvious that there were far more than 50 commandos here; the hall was trashed, and he could hear more smashing sounds from upstairs. He knew they would wreck absolutely everything; the kitchen, the gym, the bathroom, the Evidence Room, all their bedrooms…
But it didn't matter, because he was going to put time back and all of this would become undone. And then, when they had defeated Cinderblock, Plasmus and Overload, they'd go and kick Slade's ass too and all would be right with the world… The feeling he got when he thought of kicking Slade's butt wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy, but it was close enough. He seriously owed that guy a butt-kicking…
He had left his bike in the garage and so headed back down there to retrieve it. However, when he got there, he was pissed off to discover that twenty-odd commandos had beaten him down there and had already made short work of his precious R-cycle; now they were starting on the T-car. Enraged, he made short work of them, then turned back to his bike. It was torn to pieces, utterly dismantled, the smooth red bodywork twisted where they had ripped it apart to get at the engine and circuits.
Now how was he going to get to Downtown Jump? He could walk, but it was a very long one, especially considering Titans Tower was situated on its very own little island and the only access to land and vice versa was via a very long carved out tunnel below Gotham City River.
Gotham… hang on a second… the Bat-cycle!
He still had the thing, an older model than his R-cycle, shoved away at the back of the garage, covered in an old white sheet. He had ridden that for a while, before acquiring the more personalised R-cycle. But now that his favoured mode of transport was in about fifty different bits, he didn't have much of a choice.
He ran across the garage to the very back corner, grasping the white sheet draped over the bike to prevent it getting dusty and tugging it off. He threw it aside and heaved the bike out its corner. It was a beautiful motorcycle, streamlined but very powerful, painted shining black. Trouble was, the mudguards were scalloped like bat wings, as were the handle bars, and the Bat-insignia was painted on the side of the bodywork. There was nothing wrong with the bike – how could there be? Bruce was filthy stinkin' rich – but it was the design that had made him shove it to the back of the garage to pursue his own image. In fact, he had a sneaking feeling that it was actually a better bike than his R-cycle.
Well, bats will be bats, right?...
He'd lost the keys, but that was okay. He slung one leg over the leather saddle and, working quickly, used a birdarang to loosen up the circuit box as he had done in the elevator. A touch of electrical magic later and the bike was roaring, revving and ready to go. Unfortunately the sound seemed to attract more commandos, but by the time they had pounded down into the garage he had already screeched out into the night heading for the museum, leaving them to choke on his dust.
TT
The museum was utterly empty; it had taken him very little time at all to break in, finding it as easy as Slade had all but a few weeks ago. There were no guards or anything; they had all been called away in an emergency situation to help prevent the sieges now taking place in Jump City. Robin didn't know how long the Titans had been dead; it had been afternoon when they had raced to their deaths at Overload's hand – daylight, as he remembered. Yet it had clearly been dark when he had awoken from his own death, night-time as it was now. He must have been dead… maybe four or five hours before whatever revived him had got around to it.
And in that time everything seemed to have gone to Hell. Slade's commandos were everywhere, destroying stores and restaurants and Jump's new mall on Main Street; Overload, Cinderblock and Plasmus – now reformed yet again from his sleeping state – were all in on the action too. It seemed as though Slade had began his demolition of the city as soon as he had been brought the news of the Titans' deaths, but had sent Terra to check that they really were dead hours later.
What's up with that?...
And with no Teen Titans to stop him, Slade would soon have taken over Jump City. And then he would undoubtedly move on to Gotham, and then perhaps Metropolis… no easy feat, with the likes of Batman, Superman and the rest of the Justice League skulking around, but if Slade could somehow manage to unleash the Orb of Azarath's power, no-one would be able to stop him, because Supes and all his super-pals would be as powerless as Batman was. And although Batman was deadly in his own right, trained in martial arts, the other Leaguers weren't.
Because that worried him. The prophecy had said that he, the Avenger, had to die as part of the unlocking of the orb's power. And although he was alive now, he had died. He had been dead for a good few hours before he had been revitalised. Did that count? The prophecy hadn't specifically stated that he had to stay dead; it had merely said that he had to die after the sexual tainting of his soul.
And he had.
Did Slade have the key? Because if he had managed to get hold of it…
Okay, it's no problem… you're about to throw a spanner in the works here…
He remembered which room the Clock of Eternity was in from that last battle with Warp, even though it had been all those months ago. It really was too easy to break in here; no wonder stuff was always getting swiped…
He found the room with no problems whatsoever, crossed to the glass case it was housed in and shorted out the electronic forcefield. He smashed the case with his staff, replacing it in his belt as he reached out and picked up the Clock of Eternity. For a clock it was heavy and he used both hands to carry it a fair way away from the broken case, setting it down on the floor. He then sat down cross-legged and started to examine it.
Ok, he had a vague idea of how it worked, having fooled around with it before to write his report for the crime files on the Warp case. He and Cyborg had practically taken it apart to figure it out, so he knew what he was supposed to do with it.
He removed its glass cover, gently setting it aside on the floor; then he picked it up and started to wind the clock backwards… He paused – how far did he want to go back? Was five hours enough?
No, he didn't know how long they had been dead. Ok; ten, just to be on the safe side. Ten hours ago would be more than enough. It didn't matter when he went back to, as long as it was before they were electrocuted.
He meticulously wound the clock anticlockwise ten hours, then had to wait for the second hand to reach XII. As it did he slammed down the button-like device on the top of the clock, and he seemed to be thrown forwards into blackness by some invisible force; it felt like he had been kicked in the back. He clung grim death to the clock as he fell through that black oblivion, the very essence of time melting around him.
And then he slammed to the ground, being instantly reminded of his mental note to visit a chiropractor when he was done. He landed on top of the clock, but it did more damage to him than vice versa, jabbing into his chest and stomach painfully.
He sat up, shaking his aching head, and reached for the glass dome of the clock – as part of the timepiece it still came with its other half even if it was not on it. He picked it up and replaced it, setting the clock between his legs as he looked up.
He should have been in the warehouse, or Titans Tower, or wherever he had been ten hours ago.
But he wasn't.
He was still in the museum, in the Clock of Eternity's chamber. But as he looked around, he saw that it had… changed. It was run-down, broken, thick with cobwebs, the ceiling and walls cracked…
What had happened? This wasn't ten hours ago…
He got to his feet, carrying the clock tightly, and made his way quickly back through the museum. It was utterly demolished. Had he accidentally gone forwards ten hours instead?...
But no, it looked… so old. Ten hours from the present it might be broken like this, true, but not thick with cobwebs, not crumbling and dank and rotten, as though it had been abandoned for…
…years…
He burst outside and his breath caught.
And as he looked out over the devastated ruin of what had once been Jump City, his only thought was that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
…
Told you it was simple.
Time-travel. How unoriginal. But I wanted to do it, so… nyah! But how many of you are now asking yourselves why and how you didn't see this coming a mile off?
Although, of course, it's all gone wrong. And just where do we go from here? As for the Clock of Eternity… I'm not sure if it can actually induce time-travel, but for the sake of an argument… it is fan-fiction, after all…
Don't get excited about Robin's new powers; it may disappoint you to learn that he doesn't actually use them very much. He's hardly Static Shock. Sorry about that. And if you think his "power" is a little bit weird… hold on to that thought…
BTW, sorry about the frequent references to Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. It is something of an in-joke since Puffy AmiYumi sang the Teen Titans theme song, but admittedly last summer when I wrote this chapter I had a bit of a Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi obsession. It was new to British Cartoon Network and I really liked it… I even drew a picture of chibi Raven and Starfire as Ami and Yumi, which is on my joint DeviantART account…
Okay, thankyous;
Narroch (O Disobedient One with the New and Shiny Pen-Name… I bet Superman wouldn't find falling out of the sky as amusing as you would… And damn, guess I'll have to try a bit harder at making you skip class. I tell you, I found it very easy… What is "Raiden Robin"? And why is he hot?); Simmie (Oh come on, Simmie dear – you know I'm not going to answer all those questions… The baby… and Raven… and Robin… and his powers… I'd love to tell you. But that would wreck it all, no?); Raven Victoria Grayson (you laughed? The Teen Titans were all electrocuted to death and then Robin came back to life to be faced with the revelation that he was the only one left, and you laughed? What kind of insensitive cartoon lover are you? Just kidding… glad you enjoyed it…); Rocky-White Wolf of Curses (of course Slade's pissed off; wouldn't you be? And I just plugged Worren's wicked banner up above! It's totally cool – tell her we love it!); Guardian of Azarath (you wanted Robin to electrocute Terra? Jeez, does anyone like her besides me? O.o Poor lil' Terra… And your speculations are very good. I can't tell you if they're right or wrong, though – you will find out soon enough…); Green Gallant (slash warning? Where? In chapter two? You mean the MarcusxJonathon stuff? Ugh, that's irrelevant, really… You want scary slash, read Asylum… Glad you liked it aside from that, though…); Me (not Meq… heh heh… An amusing game is Tales of Symphonia – the main character, Lloyd, is voiced by Scott Menville, and therefore sounds identical to Robin. And Lloyd swears. A lot. So hearing a character yell out "You bastard!" in Robin's voice never fails to make me laugh… And what superpowers does Robin have (aside from being crazy)?); Kami-Elf (you like your angst, don't you? Glad this was moody enough for you…); Flying02Fish (a dream? Like I said, that would be a lame cop-out, wouldn't it? And I am glad that someone else likes Terra – I try to portray her in quite a positive light since she is not very popular. You'll have to wait about the necklace, but great job on keeping an eye on it!); Ray1 (Robin has got some serious butt-kicking on his mind… or did have until the content of the above chapter just completely threw his schedule off…); Coolteenzz (come on, five seasons and a movie should have shown you by now that Robin is not an easy one to knock off… and both Narroch and I are glad that the love (heh, how ironic) of Small Print is spreading…); Crazy Insomniac (yup, poor lil' Robbie's a loner now… And rawr, another Terra-hater? You'd better learn to like her pretty quick, my friend… Glad these updates brighten your day, and yeah, gotta love all the videos! All thanks to the talents of Coolteenzz, Flying02Fish and Citrus02Honey… Have you seen Rocky's shrines?); Athena's Wings (Athena's Wings is a nicer pen-name. It has an element of Wonder Woman to it (Goddess Athena, I guess…), which is more fitting than The Dragon's Fire, considering you are reading a Teen Titans (DC) fic. Just my opinion. Anyway, I am so glad you are enjoying it, and again am so pleased you liked it enough to read all of Asylum and Black Magic in one go…); Quinn and His Quill (O.o Good grief, was than a "Bravo" from Quinn? I have certainly hit a nerve here… or you're just a bit weird in the head from bugging over Another Touch of Death… Your QED logic is rather terrifying – you appear to have thought this all out more carefully than I have… And don't get technical on me, Mr Science Whiz… Glad you liked it, though!); YamiTai (it was a good guess… I can't tell you if you're right or not, but you know that… Just stay tuned…); LoopyLouise123 (Robin die and then stay dead? Since when does that boy ever take no for an answer? Yup, Slade is a bastard, but we knew that from Season One – and loved him for it… Glad you're enjoying Wertham's Law too – that will be updated soon…); and finally the very scary Poison's Ivy (ironically, I am dressing up as Poison Ivy herself tonight for a Halloween party. Anyway… you're mean to me. Just 'cause I killed off Raven… Well, as you will have just read above, Robin did intend to bring his friends back just as you speculated, but that went a little bit wrong… So I guess, in a way, you were right. As for your other theory… it's wrong. Robin did die. As for Raven… don't fret. She will be back (obviously) and when she does return, there'll be hell to pay… she has a very important role… Another Terra-hater… there's a surprise… "Literally" means that something is factual; e.g. something is true. That's all. Sorry to confuse you. Okay, so I'm still in your bad books. Perhaps Nevarmore will cheer you up tomorrow; it has vampires in it. I know you like vampires. And Raven. She's there too. BTW, I should be sending you prologue back soon, okay?).
Actually, now that we're done with those, I've noticed that everyone seems to care that Raven died, but not really so much about Starfire, Cyborg or Beast Boy. Wow, I guess she really is the most popular Teen Titan…
Well, I think that's about it. What is everyone dressing up as for Halloween? As above, I am being Poison Ivy – nope, I didn't buy a stupid Uma Thurman costume. I put it together myself with bits and pieces, based on the Batman: TAS version. I am quite proud of it… I like my DC costumes. I was Batgirl last year and Wonder Girl (!) the year before. Do you guys all have a costume yet?
Soooo… yup, that's it! Happy Pre-Halloween to you all; and full-on Happy Halloween to anyone who doesn't show up for the Nevarmore showcasing tomorrow. Otherwise, hope to "see" you there!
- RobinRocks xXx