Chapter 6

Back in Black

All the Titans who had a mouthful of root beer at that moment soon found that their tasty beverage was now streaming across the room in long streams, except for Cyborg who had shattered the bottom of his cup when spat out his drink.

There were a great deal of flashes from a camera, illuminating the room in sudden bursts but the Titans paid no heed. Cyborg rose from his chair and fired his sonic cannon into the doorway where the boy stood. The boy let out a short yelp before ducking behind the door as the sonic wave passed over his head. Starfire then followed up by launching a hail of star bolts into the doorway and drove the boy from his hiding place. Just as the boy left his cover, Raven grabbed him in a black aura and reeled him in for the final blow.

"HOLD IT!" Bumblebee shouted, causing the Titans to cease their aggression. Bumblebee grabbed Cyborg's arm before he fired off another shot and gave the other Titans a stern look. "What is the matter with you guys!?"

The Titans all started shouting at once.

"What is he doing here!?"

"He nearly messed up my dew!"

"…tried to kill us-!"

"…a bad glurnotch!-"

"…should be in jail-!"

"-ALMOST MESSED UP MY DEW!"

Bumblebee tried to calm the other Titans down but found they would not listen. It wasn't for another few moments until she noticed that one of them was missing. Terra had strayed away from her friends and was inching closer to the blond haired boy being suspended in a black aura upside-down.

She leaned closer to the boy and eyed him suspiciously. She looked over him once, and then twice, making sure she wasn't seeing things. "Bro?"

The boy gave her a sarcastic smile and replied rudely. "Nice of you to finally notice, sis."

Terra was suddenly overrun by her emotions. She couldn't decide what to do at that point. Cry, laugh, jump for joy, or go into a fit of rage? She just stood there motionless, gazing at her brother. Terra moved closer and reached out her hand to touch him. But instead of a gently, heartwarming touch, she slapped him.

"OW! What the heck was that for!?" Terran jostled around in his floating prison but it barely budged an inch.

Terra slapped him again. "For before you jerk!" Terra began slapping Terran over and over again ever time he tried to speak, until the impression of her hand started becoming visible through the black aura.

"FOR CRYING OUT- OW - TERRA WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE-OW!"

At that point Bumblebee grabbed Terra before she could slap him again. Terra struggled for a few seconds before finally giving up. She turned her back to Terran and folded her arms. She snarled when she made eye contact with Aqualad and Speedy, who were each holding cameras. They quickly hid the cameras behind their backs, innocent smiles on their faces, and left the room.

"CAN SOMEONE LET ME DOWN!?" Terran shouted. Everyone except Terra turned their attention back to him and Raven snapped her fingers. The field around Terran ceased to be and he fell to the floor headfirst. He tumbled over himself in a heap before regaining his sense of balance. Terran rubbed his head as he got up and glared at his sister as she took quick glances back at him. "Well this isn't quite the day I had in mind, what are you guys doing here anyways?" He made eye contact with his sister and they both exchanged hateful glares.

"You invited us." said Cyborg.

Terran was about to reply when he turned his gaze to Bumblebee and glared. "We knew you'd object." she said innocently.

Terran gave one last look at his sister before he stormed out of the room, grumbling under his breath "Darn right."

Once Bumblebee was sure the door had closed she turned on the Titans. "What the hell was that all about?"

Beast Boy got up from his chair. He wiped the remains of his root beer from his shirt. "We should be asking you the same question."

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. "Why is he here?"

"More importantly, why isn't he in jail?" added Robin.

Bumblebee pulled up a chair and sat down. She folded her arms and said "Maybe you guys should fill me in."

After several minutes the Titans explained to the present members of the Titans East their encounters with Terran in Jump City. The situation became only more complex when Bumblebee told them of how they came across Terran. Three weeks before, the Titans East were investigating a break-in at a warehouse by the port. A group of thieves narrowly escaped with several crates of expensive computer equipment, but not without leaving behind a certain blond teenager.

"So you just…found him?" Robin asked when Bumblebee's half of the story was finished.

"Pretty much, he was just lying there unconscious." Bumblebee replied.

"What did he say when he woke up?" Cyborg asked, joining the conversation.

"Not much…well, really nothing at all."

"Nothing?"

"Yup not a word, at least until recently."

Terra, who had still been steaming, joined in. "He didn't say anything, not even about us?"

"Nope, when we tried to talk about it he either didn't acknowledge us or walked away."

Terra's expression softened but she was still visibly angry. "But why, why wouldn't he want to come back to us?"

Robin moved closer to Terra and placed his arm on her shoulder. "Terra, maybe he just hasn't gotten over the fact that he'll have to face us again after what he did. Kind of awkward when you're not supposed to be alive."

"But-"

"Terra," Bumblebee said. "Maybe you should talk to him yourself."

"Why do I have to-?" Terra asked, a rather stupid question.

"-Because you're his sister." Robin replied. "If he's going to open up to anyone, it's going to be you. You said it yourself, you're both very close."

Terra was about to object again, but thought better of it and made her way to the door. It slid open, making its signature whoosh, and she silently stepped. "Were…"

7th Floor

Workshop…

Terran stood fuming over a worktable with scattered power tools lying across it. He was angry, not just at Terra for slapping him but at the Titans East for inviting the whole team here. Didn't they get it that he didn't want them to know, at least not for awhile. Especially after all he had done to them. He was surprised the Titans East gave him a second chance after nearly killing them, but the Titans, and especially his sister, were going to complicate things. He could no longer ignore them.

There was a small clang! and Terran turned to the source. A girl bearing an eerie resemblance to him was standing over the doorway, leaning over to pick up a wrench she had dropped. Terran shot a glare when she made eye contact with him and returned to gazing at the worktable.

"Terran?" she said.

"What Terra?"

"Mind if I come in?"

"Aren't you already?"

"Terran, why are you being such a jerk?"

Terran spun around and marched to his twin sister in an attempt to give the impression he had authority. "I'm being the jerk! What do you call that upstairs?"

"That was payback!" Terra matched his stance.

"Payback for what!?"

"For attacking us, for attacking me!"

"I thought you said you'd already forgiven me!"

Terra smacked her twin brother upside the head. "Don't play stupid Terran, everyone saw you."

Terran responded with a quick jab to the arm and snapped. "Of course everyone saw me, it's not like I was trying to hide!"

"HA! You admit it!"

"Of course I admit it, you already knew about me being a member of the 'Brotherhood'."

Terra stopped as she opened her mouth and it hung there for a full three seconds. Terran's twin placed her hands on her hips. "Terran," she said her voice a tad bit calmer, "I think we're talking about two completely different things."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Terran proclaimed. "You never could keep a conversation straight." Terra tried smacking him again but Terran caught her blow. "And would you stop that!"

Terra tried to pull her arm from her brother but found he wouldn't let go. She stopped struggling and stared into eyes that matched her own. "Terran, I love you, you know that. But what you tried to do I can't just ignore."

"Terra, what are you talking about?"

"I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU WORKING FOR SLADE!" Terra told him at last.

Terra's arm dropped from her brother's grasp. His face twisted as he tried to make sense of what came out of his sister's mouth. His answer was summed up into a single, simply word. "WHAT?!"

Slade's Lair…

Slade sat upon his throne with both arms crossed over his lap. The only illumination came from a large set of monitors imbedded into the wall twenty meters away. The image each screen was projecting overlapped one another, creating a single, larger picture before him. A blond haired girl with hazel blue eyes, wearing a black T-shirt and short blue jeans, encompassed the screen.

"Terran, I love you, you know that. But what you tried to do I can't just ignore." she said, her voice slightly overlapped by static.

A few seconds later another voice, this time male that was out of sight, projected from the speakers. He said, "Terra, what are you talking about?"

"I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU WORKING FOR SLADE!" the girl responded. Her voice was raised and one could identify the stress and anger in her tone. Slade set his head back and waited for the response. "WHAT?!"

It was short, but nonetheless to the point. Quite disappointing really, Slade had expected Terran to come up with a wittier response. Slade chuckled to himself as he rose from his seat and exited the room, taping a small controller located on his belt. "Playing stupid are we? Sorry Terran, but you're going to have to do better than that."