Chapter 7
[Desert near Salton Sea]
[A/N: This is where the coordinates are that were mentioned in Chapter 6…Hehe.]

"Hello, Slade," Edward said in Terra's voice, "What's shaking?"

"You are," Slade said, "I never expected you to be rescued from your stone prison."

"I didn't expect you to come back, either," Edward said, "Last I knew, you were in the lava you forced me to bring to the surface. A fitting end for someone who deserved to be in Hell."

"That is not the way to greet your master!" Slade snarled, then said, "There will be time for me to retrain you. And, this time, you won't betray me"

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

Slade pulled a needle out and before Edward could react, Slade injected him.

"What did you do?" Robin demanded.

"Ensured that Terra keeps her word. She's been injected with the same insurance I had against you," Slade said.

"Those nano-bots," Robin said.

"What nano-bots?" Edward said, looking as Slade.

"Oh, that's right," Slade said icily, "Those little buggers are really nasty. I hit a button and they destroy your blood cells or put you into extreme pain."

"Those were unnecessary!" Robin cried.

"On the contrary," Slade said, "Terra will serve my every whim at the cost of not only her life, but, the rest of the Titans as well.

"WHAT?" Edward said.

"That little fight yesterday? Well, that implanted nano-bots in the other Titans," Slade said.

[Raven!] Edward called through the link.

[Ouch!] she said, [What's wrong, hon?]

[That bastard! He's infected the team with nano-bots!] He snarled.

[Not again!] Raven said, [Time for us to get de-botted.]

[Do that later,] Edward said, [Those bombs come first.]

Edward sighed, as did Robin and the real Terra.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Slade said, grabbing Edward by the wrists.

"Not so fast," Robin said, "There's a matter of a detonator and location of some bombs."

"Quite right," Slade said. He put a device on the desert floor and an envelope as well.

"Go ahead, take them," he said, "I won't stop you this time."

Robin walked over to the detonator and picked it up, along with the envelope. He opened the envelope and saw a list of 10 buildings where the bombs might be at.

"Here's the deal," Slade said, "You get into that pretty blue car and drive away. If you stop for any reason before you are 30 miles away, Terra here dies a horrible death as well as the others. I suggest you start now."

The planning anticipated that move and Terra carefully backtracked to the T-car, using her footprints as a guide. Robin made a show of opening the front door and waited 15 seconds to allow Terra to climb in.

Robin closed the door and started the vehicle. He turned around and pulled away. He didn't go far, though, he could see on the scanners that the Slade-bots had repositioned themselves and he had a short area where there was no coverage.

After the car had disappeared, Slade pulled Edward along towards a helicopter.

"We're going to start by teaching you how to respect your rightful master," Slade hissed and drew his hand back to strike Edward.

"How about I teach you not to mess with my friends, instead," Edward said coldly.

"How dare you?" Slade said angrily and swung as hard as he could, only to meet a grip a lot stronger than he expected.

Edward grinned ferally and said, "I have a surprise for you, pal." He snapped the flexi-cuffs and before Slade could react, he was sent flying through the air.

"No more pretenses," Edward said, reverting to his human form and pouncing on Slade.

"You should never have done that," Slade said. He pulled a device out of his pocket and pressed a button.

He heard a pained scream through the link. His eyes glowed yellow, but, nothing else happened.

"You should be writhing in pain, like your friends!" Slade said.

"Gift of being immortal, Slade, a gift you will be stripped of. Your devices couldn't attach themselves to my blood cells," Edward snarled.

[Hang on, dear!] Edward said through the link.

Raven screamed, her aura glowing black-purple in his mind.

Edward growled, "You've made this VERY PERSONAL!" His eyes went from yellow to red.

Slade didn't even have time to react as Edward picked him up, seized the control and hit the only switch. There was a beep and Raven gasped in relief through the link. Edward crushed the device.

By then, Robin and a visible Terra had returned to Edward's great relief. They looked like they had been through the wringer.

Edward saw them approaching and said, "Hey, Terra? What should we do with Slade?"

Terra walked over to Slade and as Edward held his arms, she hissed, "This is for making me turn against my friends!" She punched him as hard as she could in the gut.

Rocks started floating and she said, "This is for Beast Boy!" A rock flew and slammed into Slade's gut.

"This is for Robin!" she yelled. Another rock flew and slammed into Slade's arm. Edward heard the bone snap.

"This is for Starfire and how you hurt her!" she said, slamming another rock into his other arm, snapping that bone as well.

"This is for making me try to drown Raven!" This time, a leg was snapped.

"This is for Cyborg!" That rock went into the ribs. She didn't break any ribs, but, it would leave a heckuva bruise!

"And, this is for my virginity," she whispered into his ear. The next rock slammed into his groin. That caused Slade to scream in agony. His nads had been smashed.

"Finally, this one's FOR ME!" she screamed. The largest rock yet slammed into Slade's mask, cracking it, but, not killing Slade outright. Slade slumped in Edward's arms, out cold.

Edward's eye, by then, had stopped glowing.

Robin grabbed Terra, but, the geomancer was done. She would allow Slade to live and got a measure of revenge. She collapsed in tears.

"It's over?" she whispered softly.

Edward laid Slade on the ground…Even he had his limits and showed Slade some mercy. He was beat within an inch of his life.

Edward ran over to his little sister and joined the hug.

"Ya did good, Terra," Edward said, "It's over, for good. I'll take Slade somewhere where he can't return."

"Where will you take him?" Robin said.

"Depends on how he answers a couple of questions I would like to ask him. If he agrees to cease chasing Terra, he gets a trip to prison to serve out his life. If not, he might find himself the only human on Earth. If he's trapped 500,000 years in the past with proto-humans, he's gone for good. Maybe I might just take him to a point in time right before an asteroid impact. He'd get ringside seats to the extinction level event that wiped the dinosaurs out. Or maybe the asteroid blast in 1908. I'd love to stick him on the Titanic, but, I was there helping rescue people. I don't recall rescuing a man with these injuries, though," Edward mused.

"Might I recommend something?" Robin asked.

"Certainly," Edward said.

"Just take him to prison regardless," Robin said, "That's what we do with other people that we capture."

"How do we ensure he stays there?" Edward asked.

"I can talk to Batman for you. He knows several out of the way prisons for a man like Slade to live in for the rest of his life," Robin replied.

"I'd like that," Terra said, sniffling.

"Ya sure, little sister?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure…Big Brother," she said, acknowledging for the first time that she considered Edward as her family. She smiled as she realized what she said and put a major bear hug on Edward.

"You mean that?" she asked.

"With all my heart, Terra Markov," Edward said, "While Rae's my girlfriend, the rest of the team is family, regardless of their past."

"You know my real name?" She asked.

"I know most of the team's real names, except for Robin," Edward said, "If he wants to tell me, that's on him."

Robin leaned over and whispered, "Richard Grayson, you can call me Dick in private."

Edward said, "Deal, Robin."

Slade started to stir and moan.

"Time for some mercy," Edward said, walking over to Slade, and after lifting his mask, slugged him hard enough to ensure that he'd be out for a while, then, replaced the mask.

"There's first aid stuff in the T-Car's trunk," Robin said, "I hate to waste this stuff on Slade, but, we should anyway."

"Hand me the note, please," Edward said, "I have to relay that to the team back home."

Robin did just that, then, tended to Slade's injuries. He really didn't want to, but, there was a begrudging respect between the two.

[You OK?] Edward asked, sitting on the hood of the car.

[Hurting, but, we'll be fine,] Raven said, [Did you get the locations of the devices?]

[We did, hon,] Edward said, then, relayed the locations to Raven.

[What happened to Slade?] Raven asked.

[Terra worked him over badly,] Edward said, allowing a wince to go through the link.

[That bad?] Raven asked, [I sensed you were really ticked at first.]

[I was, Rae,] he replied, [But, it wasn't my place to give Slade what he deserved. Terra broke his arms, a leg, his manhood, and a stone to his mask.]

[His what?] Raven asked, not believing what she heard.

[His manhood,] Edward said.

[Stoned his groin, huh?] Raven said with a laugh.

[You can't tell the others, dear. I can't say anything else without breaking my word to Terra,] he said.

[I understand, but, Beast Boy and Cyborg are looking at me funny,] she said.

[Go get those bombs, sweetheart. We'll be back quite soon,] he said.

"Normally, I'd heal these wounds," Edward mused aloud, "But, since we're taking him to jail, these fractures will keep him in one place until his trial."

"Agreed," Robin and Terra said at the same time.

Robin had finished wrapping up the injuries to Slade and said, "How do we transport him and us?"

"Put him in the back seat," Edward suggested, "Terra, you sit next to Robin. I'll lift the T-Car into the air and teleport back to Jump City."

"What about the rest of the team back in Jump City?" Robin asked.

"Raven said that they're hurting, but, that they'll be fine. By now, they should be leaving the Tower to find the bombs," Edward replied.

"Good," Robin said, "Give me a hand with Slade, please."

Edward took Slade's shoulders while Robin handled his feet. Robin went into the T-Car first and strapped Slade's feet down as Edward secured the man's shoulders.

Edward waited till Robin and Terra were secured and said, "Hang on, we'll be home in a few moments."

He transformed to a larger Dragon and carefully lifted the T-Car off the ground. He became airborne a moment later and teleported back to Titans Tower.

[Titan Tower]

Edward emerged from the teleport and set the T-Car down outside the garage.

[Edward,] Raven called out. She sounded agitated.

[We're back at the Tower. What's wrong?] he said.

[The bombs have a failsafe timer! They just became active as well,] she said.

"We've got a problem, Robin," Edward said aloud, "Raven's saying that these bombs are activated."

Both his and Terra's jaws dropped hearing that.

Slade had awakened and said, "That's right, Titans. I took precautions. As soon as one of the Titans got near, they activated a timer."

[Edward, Cyborg says that he can't disarm them without blowing them up. There's only 15 minutes before they explode!] Raven said.

"Don't try to disarm them," Slade said, "They have several other failsafes built in and there's not enough time to find and remove them all."

[Did you catch that?] Edward asked Raven.

[Yeah,] she replied.

[I'm still in Dragon form,] Edward said, [Where are you at?]

[The first location on the list,] she said.

[Good, I'll need you to feed me what you're seeing right now. I'll be there in a moment,] he instructed.

He blinked and saw a mental image as Raven was seeing it.

"I'll send EMS over here as well as law enforcement ASAP," Edward said, "I'm off to remove those bombs."

Edward went to his mini-dragon form.

"How?" Slade asked.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"How did he talk to Raven?" Slade asked.

"Short answer: Raven and Edward are telepathically linked," Robin said as Edward lifted into the air and teleported.

[Office building basement]

Edward emerged from the teleport and returned to his human form.

"Am I glad to see you, dawg!" Cyborg said, "This puppy's got a ton of backups. There's no way to disarm them."

"I know," Edward said, "I can probably teleport them to a safe area."

"I don't think so," Raven said, "There are motion detectors in this. We move it and it might explode."

"Get out of here, then," Edward ordered, "I have to teleport from a ground position and the only defense I have are my scales."

Raven covered herself and Cyborg with her soul-self. She teleported then to safety.

Edward returned to his larger Dragon form and said, "Here goes!"

He gently grasped the first bomb and teleported. He emerged five miles out to sea and 5,000 feet up.

The timer jumped from 12 minutes to 15 seconds. Edward released the bomb and teleported back.

"Next location?" Edward said.

"Cyborg to Starfire," Cyborg said after pulling out his communicator.

"Starfire here," she said, "The bomb is going to explode, friend Cyborg!"

Edward took the communicator, "Hi, Starfire. Can you turn the communicator around so I see where you're at?"

Just then, there was the sound of a huge explosion coming from the ocean.

"Beast Boy to Cyborg!"

"Edward here," he said, "What's up?"

"What was that sound?" he said.

"Bomb 1 exploded over the ocean," Edward said, "Can't talk now, though. I gotta run to get those other bombs. Raven's going to teleport Cyborg to spot four. She'll meet me in spot 5."

Edward closed the communicator and looked at Cyborg.

"Titans, GO!" he said. As the second-in-command, it was his call to continue anyway.

Raven covered Cyborg with her soul self again and they were gone. Edward teleported to Starfire's location.

"Friend Edward!" she said happily, "You've come to get rid of the bomb of destruction."

"No time to chat, Koriand'r," he said apologetically, "Fly out of here and get to location 6, please."

She left and flew to the next spot.

Edward gently grabbed hold of the bomb and teleported to the same location as before and released the bomb, then, teleported to Beast Boy's location.

"Head for location 7, BB," Edward said as another explosion sounded in the air.

Another teleport and dropped bomb later and Edward caught up with Cyborg (after a quick peek to see where he was at.)

"Off to location 8, Edward," Cyborg said.

"Wait for Raven to teleport you," Edward requested, "She's my next stop."

"Gotcha!" Cyborg said.

As Edward went to teleport, he saw the timer hitting the 4 minute mark.

Gotta hurry!

He teleported the bomb and released it. He teleported to Raven's location.

"Teleport Cyborg to #9 please, then, head for the last one," he requested and planted a super quick kiss on her cheek, "Almost done!"

She teleported to get Cyborg. Then, Edward repeated the teleportation again.

After another thunderous explosion reverberated, Edward was catching up to Starfire once more.

"You can head back to the tower, Star," he said, "Could you make sure that emergency services and police meet you at the tower? Slade's there and needs medical attention."

"Friend Terra?" she asked.

"Yeah, Terra got her revenge," Edward said, "Go on, we'll explain to you folks shortly."

Starfire left then. Edward only had two minutes left. He grabbed the bomb and teleported again.

The bomb was dropped and he headed to Beast Boy's location.

"Head back to the tower, please," he said without preamble and without waiting, grabbed the device and teleported.

The area was coated in heavy smoke as Edward threw the bomb as hard as he could and teleported.

There was only 30 seconds left as Edward grabbed and teleported a ninth time.

The bomb was dropped into the sea and he teleported once more…to Raven.

He got there as the bomb's timer hit 5 seconds.

DAMN! Not enough time!

"DUCK, RAE!" he yelled and she dove behind him. He fired his lightning breath, hoping to short the device out totally.

The bolt hit the device as it exploded!

Oh...a major cliffhanger!

Well, there's one more main chapter and the epilogue to go :) But, depending on the length of the next chapter, I might just combine the conclusion into the chapter.

My next story is up for grabs. I'm pondering bring in another character I like...Kole (Sorry Kole/Jericho shippers. I don't have enough background on them to justify a pairing. Don't fret Gnarrk fans. I can't use Kole without her BFF, right?) However, if anyone has a different idea, I'll consider it. But, I'm also leaning on a fluff piece for the three couples. They will need some dating time, I think.

Thoughts? See the little link below? It's there for a reason...to let the writer, whoever he might be know what you think. So, please take a moment to let me know what's in your heads. Good, bad or whatever, K? I can take it.