Teen Titans – Severing Old Ties – Sibling Rivalries –

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Chapter 7: What is a Trek Through the Universe?

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NOT A SLASH – Just psychic abilities and secret methods to locate a perp. Not a slash, I repeat!

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Richard kept his head up as he looked over the laptop in his hands; cross legged, he sat up and tried to pretend that he didn't care if Eli was looking at him with a wise expression on his face and white brows.

"What are you doing, man?" Eli yawned and sat up, the time then being seven am in the morning.

"I let you sleep off the attack. You were –

"I could not believe…" Eli sat up and forced his body not to sway as his embarrassment rose. "That YOU would have dared to treat me like some…. some invalid!" He squawked. "How dare you leave me in bed while you, the big leader, go along and actually DO the work."

"If my team is hurt," Dick snapped the laptop's lip shut with a slap. "Then that falls on me to fix things. You couldn't keep your eyes on Slade. He got away when I ordered you to let him go from your telpathy. You did this to –

"I had him right where he needed to be." Spat Eli as he stood over the hero, eyes red from not sleeping a wink. Slade's reappearance could do that to a crime fighter.

"How can you lead them if your obsession is getting in the way?? I'd let him have a what for; you should consider what else –

"Slade has goons and dealers of that same dangerous information he fed us all over. I can't count on anyone to not be on his side. He's not only a threat, but I know he'd go after Rose when he promised to keep her safe. If she shows a sign of rebellion, he'll hurt her…Grant…Grant died from not being prepared to do that…To save anyone…" Sighed the hero, a hand to his skull of floppy ebony spikes.

"Why not you rest and I take over while you –

"Can you?" Dick stared at the kid, all games and jokes were put away between them. "Slade did his worst to all of my teammates. Our lives have never been the same since."

"Touching." Eli bit his lip and put his hands to his pockets, uninterested in a sob story.

"It's worse. He almost made Raven destroy the world. We had another teammate, Terra. He manipulated her until she took her own life to stop him. We got her unfrozen in the state she'd left herself, but her memories are gone. Beastboy was extremely close to her…And, me…I was blackmailed. Forced to save my friends by becoming Slade's unwilling Apprentice."

" Apprentice?" Eli snorted. "What era is he living in?" Dick rolled his eyes as Eli didn't seem to empathize in the least. "Alright, then allow me to try and help you to find out where he'll strike next. I do retain the energies of those I've caught in my throws." Eli crossed his arms and smugly added, rather proud that emotions could not sway him as they had these other heroes.

"You…. will you –

"I won't be attacked, and it may put your mind at ease to finally catch some zzs." He said to the Titans' leader. "What do you say, mate?"

"I say, you have yourself a partner."

"Good, then lie on the bed."

"Huh?" Dick blinked up at Eli. "Weren't you going to –

"I have little energy connected to this Deathstroke character." Admitted the teen with snow white locks. "So, you'll have to fill in the blanks and recall what he was, every bit of it in detail."

Dick gulped. "Why bother? We have the –

"Not fast enough, not in this game he's trying to play and WILL likely win." Eli replied, pointing to the hotel bed he'd just left with the sheets still in a proper order. Unused.

"Just, this one time?" Dick agreed with a reluctant bob of his spiky hair. "Anything I should know before we start?"

"Yes, actually." Eli pressed a hand to Richard's chest as he was shoved onto the bed behind him. His eyes gazing up at the ceiling, as Eli directed a spell unto his body and mind.

" Don't look down."

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Dick didn't, he had his eyes screwed tightly shut until a hand on his shoulder jutted the hero to open them.

~Hah! ~

~Are you conscious completely? ~ Eli stood there, but his body wasn't that of a child's. He was an adult, the same expression staring back at Dick as he seemed more interested in helping a friend. Was he?

~Are…. Eli?? What ar –

~This, might take a few moments to explain. ~ He moved away as a significant reflection of time and space shown from within a space craft, the walls see through as he saw what it held. What this world, was.

~Welcome, to the home base of the Authority. ~

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Dick gawked as they walked on down through technologically advanced tunnels to a darker hallway with orange and blue lights.

~This was the birth place of those like me, and it took us in to have us keep peace between dimensions and time lines outside of the boundary. ~ Eli spoke too cryptically, that Slade and he might get along just fine – if the man weren't out for blood.

~It? Is this place, sentient? ~

~In a way, we fuel its power since our power is derived from it. ~ The snow-white detective nodded with a smirk. ~You'll be the first of many, yet today we are going to a hall where there is a chance that your memories might unlock clues to where we must take our routes. If that person, Slade is so very eager to have a what for, we'll be one step ahead. ~

~Who else knows about…this? ~ Dick asked, still astounded by this futuristic time spell. ~Are Argent and Jenny –

~That would be Jen, not Argent. She's not one of us, even if we were stationed to maintain the order in London by our real employers. ~

~The Authority. ~ Dick nodded. ~ The Titans don't need to know, then. Your secret ties to another organization that messes with other times? ~

~They'd be in danger if they did. ~ Eli sighed. ~But not from me, mate. By my bosses. Your friends are too important and the Authority isn't a danger to anyone it hasn't spoken with in person. ~

~Do Batman and the League know about you and Jenny joining the Titans here in our time? ~

~Familiar, but no. Not the whole story. John Constantine and a few league rogues know about us. Apollo, Midnighter? ~

~Don't know them. ~ Dick frowned. (Nod to Nightwing there.)

~Maybe, not yet. ~

~What? ~

The door to the room they needed to be, slid back.