Alone, Cyborg sloshed his way through the stale moisture of the building, searching for Apollo. Trying to determine where she had disappeared to so quickly, he finally gave up and began to call her name. "Apollo," he whispered loudly. "Apollo! Where you at?" Still no answer. As he stumbled further down the damp pathway, his eyes began to strain as the few faint traces of light slowly began to fade. Irritated by Apollo's lack of communication, Cyborg decided to call for his 'partner' one last time before contacting his real team, "Apollo, yo-" abruptly his cries ceased when he heard the sound of footsteps at the end of the hall. 'Finally,' thought Cyborg, assuming that Apollo had heard his calls. As the footsteps grew louder, the dim glow from a flashlight began to follow;;; the steps down the hall. Relieved he had found her, Cyborg began to walk toward Apollo and the light. However, as he grew closer and the light became clearer, Cyborg noticed that the blurry shadow holding the flashlight, wasn't the sleek silhouette he'd become accustomed to seeing- it was one of Slade's robots!
Startled, Cyborg backed away and crouched into the shadows and readied his sonic cannon, preparing to take out the demonic drone. Slowly he stood, armed and ready to attack; but then he heard another noise coming from above him… 'Oh man,' he thought to himself. 'I'm dead!' he cried in his head as the flashlight crept up on him… "Alrigh- huh!" Shouted Cyborg as his defensive attack was cut short by the supposed drone above him that swooped down from the vents and lashed out on the unsuspecting minion. During the blitzed battle, the victim's flashlight was dropped; but before the light fell to the floor, Cyborg managed to catch a glimpse of the attacker's shining amethyst eye- Apollo. However, after the crystal-blue shine died with the flashlight, amid the angry growls and grunts, Cyborg noticed an eerie- yet entrancing- silver glow that continued- barely- to keep the hall lit. Finally, after an intense one-on-one scuffle that seemed to last for hours, Cyborg jumped in to assist his partner in the battle. After a few more blows and blasts, Apollo was thrown backward by the drone- allowing it time to signal for backup.
Determined to keep their whereabouts a secret, Apollo whipped out her bo staff and charged toward the robot. Just out of striking distance, she dug the staff into the ground, launching herself into the air. Once above the enemy, Apollo then came crashing downward; slamming her feet onto her opponent's shoulders- Cyborg could only close his eyes in reaction to the echoing crash. Opening his eyes up to the battle scene, everything had been silenced except for Apollo's heavy and hostile breathing. She continued to stand over the fallen victim; her feet firmly grounded between the robot's severed arms! 'Dang,' Cyborg thought to himself as he continued to stare at the still angry girl; while she continued to stare at the finished drone, the mysterious silver light which illuminated Apollo's face, slowly began to die down; once again everything was dark. Then suddenly, in the darkness, Cyborg was startled by the swift rush of air that resulted from the whipping of Apollo's staff as she lifted it and then quickly slammed it back into the ground- upon doing so, Cyborg heard the sound of breaking metal… Walking forward to see what had happened, he shone his own light first towards Apollo- she appeared fine- then on Slade's mutilated robot- the light revealed the lethal staff, slammed into its chest!
"You wanna yell a little louder next time," asked Apollo irritably. "I don't think everyone else heard you!" She continued arrogantly. Insulted by the comment, Cyborg quickly responded.
"Well if you hadn't disappeared so quickly,"
"Well if you knew how to pay attention and keep up!" Apollo snapped back, turning to face her teammate.
"Well-" Cyborg suddenly stopped his rant- entranced by his partner's eyes. The beautiful amethyst- blue on the right, and… a pale grey- glowing- on the left!
"What?" shouted Apollo, still angry, but confused as to what Cyborg was staring at. Then she noticed her shining reflection in his shoulder; embarrassed, she turned away and immediately began to fix her hair- covering the left side of her face once again. "I wish you hadn't seen that." She mumbled sadly.
"I'm sorry," said Cyborg, realizing that she had been offended by his stare. "I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay," Apollo said softly. "You're not the first… you'd figure I'd be used to it by now." She continued to face away from Cyborg until she was sure her eye was shielded, then she turned and spoke sternly, "Come on. We're wasting time…" she said as she tore her staff from the lifeless drone and jumped up to the ceiling- crawling back into the vents; Cyborg following close behind.
Back in the ventilation system, Cyborg and Apollo crawled toward the main observatory in hopes of finding Slade. Enveloped in silence, the two continued to crawl through the seemingly endless maze; finally, Cyborg spoke up, "Hey um, back there I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry about it," answered Apollo quickly. Her attention clearly on their objective, she continued to lead through the vents, trying her best to show no emotion. "Like I said, you figure I'd be used to it by now."
"I like it," Cyborg said. "Your eyes I mean; they're beau-" he quickly stopped himself and reworded the complement- trying not to make the moment too awkward, "cool."
"Glad you like them," Apollo replied sarcastically.
"No offense, but I don't see why you keep it hidden; I mean, if anyone has something to cover it'd be-"
"Me," Apollo interrupted, purposely replacing Cyborg's anticipated answer. "If anyone has something to show off its you." She slowly turned back to Cyborg and flashed a shy smile. "There's nothing beautiful about torture and past pain…" she sighed as she fixed her hair, revealing her eye once again.
"What do you mean?" asked Cyborg in confusion; based on her last gesture, those entrancing eyes had a deeper meaning than she was willing to share. Slowly Apollo sighed as she turned around and continued moving.
"Let's just say heterochromia doesn't run in the family…"
Still confused by the statement, Cyborg too continued to move forward in the vents, silently thinking to himself, 'Great, something else she won't tell us... Does she always have to talk in riddles?... That's definitely one thing she got from 'Daddy'…' his train of thought was halted when he and Apollo suddenly stopped short. Frozen in place, Apollo remained crouched down in an apprehensive position- staring down at the closed vent shaft base beneath her. "What is it?" asked Cyborg.
"Slade," growled Apollo, her head still facing downward. Her stare was intense, and as she continued to focus, Cyborg noticed the slow return of the eerie silver glow. Suddenly the light ceased and Apollo quickly sat down and began to pull up her holographic map and determine her coordinates. "Contact the others," she ordered. "You get Raven and Beast Boy, I'll call Robin and Starfire." Immediately she and Cyborg began to call the rest of the team, and within minutes everyone was engaged in conversation. "Apollo to Robin, Cyborg and I have located Slade, and are prepared to attack."
"Good work," praised Robin.
"I'm sending you a visual of our destination," continued Cyborg to Raven. "We're all going to meet up and cut off his escape routes; it's an ambush."
"Okay, get here as soon as you can, when I give the word we all enter and progress with phase two. Apollo out."
"Well we did it," said Cyborg, in a content manner. "We're about to capture Slade; he's finally gonna get what's coming to him."
Apollo shut off her communicator and held it tightly in her hand; looking down at it one last time, she then closed her eyes and whispered to herself. "And he has no idea…"
*It looks like the titans will finally be successful in their attempt to defeat Slade. Let's just hope things don't backfire- as we all know, Slade's always one step ahead, and with his daughter in the mix, anything can happen; but the only way you'll know for sure is if you keep reading. And as always, please leave a review! Will update soon.