Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes

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Chapter 20: Buried Illusion – Silent Treasures

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The eye blinked back at him as the robot, the man inside gasped at his reflection. Weakly, his other eye had seen the greatest changes as he awoke. Nothing had been done. He was strapped to a work table with the lights made dim. He saw electricity, heard it humming. Music, an overtone of something so very lonesome as this new world. From the reaches and rafters about the boy's head, he saw glowing red. Red eyes, crying no tears as they did all but spectate, the humming swept him back. Back to one lone eye in the dark.

"Good. You are undamaged. I was able to fix the damage perfectly. Do you not see it?" He had one robot, an eye to it now softly a white- not red. The other was tall, his skin cold and grey as the bots. His skin, nearly gone. All that remained was the metal layers. Piled, pierced and augmented indefinitely with some nimble touch. Cyborg let his eyes adjust to his limbs as he was let go. The binds cane undone from his sides. He seemed the light, that much was certain. This item, this relic was content to look upon his latest incomplete project.

"You…you fixed all 'a my scratches and…I'm full capacity." Cy grinned at the arm he had which told him how much was left of his reserves. It was all full bars, he kept smiling confidently. "Thanks, uh…-

"Fixit." The bot gave a little bow but no smile. "You came to me, and I promised you fix anything that did so. You are a marvel of technology by the likes I have not seen before…would you not be from some other dimension?"

Laughing a little, Cy humored the hermit. "Naw, I'm all bot and man merged after…well, long story but accident took my body apart. I got a second chance and it's all that counts. Why are you all alone in this place?" Cy saw how very dark and lonely it was. The bots in the rafters maybe could sense physiologically how he was. "I no longer require these things. I am, perfect. There is no need to starve or to fight and lose in endless battles. Here, I am free to do as I wish without harm. You too, you are not at all familiar with your robot self?"

"Just got it less than a year, so maybe. Is there something you saw?" He gasped and checked his arm. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing, not at all. You are, simply requiring more rest." Fixit had the gas in the room fill to keep his subject in a hazy state of awareness. "Please, lie back down. You do not have to worry. I will be sure to make sure you are, functional again it will hurt a bit, so you must not try to resist –

Cy was too late as the binds went back on. The boys getting closer as clinking metal parts and Fixit's one eye had Cy's widen in a surge of full-frontal fear. "Stop! I'm not gonna –

"HEY!"

"You are formidable, maybe a few spare parts will do." Fixit moved to another table and picked up a face plate. Cy shook. His eyes flipping back between the mask, the room and the oppressor. "I'm not doing this! You can't be serious-

"I am always true in whatever I set off to accomplish. There is no need to panic. You too shall experience the completeness that is without human boundaries and parts that are not required to thrive. We are the same –

"You're forcing your way of life and I don't buy it for a sec. Fixit, let me get you outta here. This place is making you –

"Up there, I was called, freak. Trash. I was not the only one."

"You changed everything before you could get to know the real you – Fix…. you can't be so…. selfish! You're not a robot! Neither am I!"

The bot didn't fight and instead looked at them wall beside his new trinket. His soon to be friend. "You will rest here. When you wake, everything will be as it should –

"Don't do this." Cy shook his head, body going slack as his lips kept moving. "That part of me can't be fixed. I'm not all one thing. I'm both, and that's something you cannot have. You got this notion that robots are here so I'm one too. I chose to be me. So, drop the act. You're no real friend a mine, Fixit."

/

The robot went quietly aside and did not try to fight. Cyborg in his mind was not right. He could never be. Not with an inferior human bit of intellect still slipping by his mechanical gaze.

"I will be back. Once the process is done, you will have no need to fight it. What you are. What I see, us something truly disturbing-

"Son of a –

/

Raven meditated in her hardest time to cope with their disappearances. Starfire floated as the skies were clear. She cracked closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Oh, there is nowhere the mean Mumbo could have run to without assistance. I fear he was promoted to become this, evil?"

"I am not sure, Starfire. My magic isn't-

~ Guts. I'd rather see what he can accomplish-

"Raven!" Starfire gripped her friend before Raven could nearly faint. Such raw rage. She saw only a blur before the voice had distorted with the vision of madness.

"Mumbo. We have to find Robin and Beastboy. I think they're in trouble." Raven blurted out, not trying to recollect the scary image in the back of her brain.

/

Off they sped to gain a foothold once more, while the sewers were lit with light up eyes and creaking metalized armor and preprogramed responses. Exhibiting no real threat at first, Beast boy in his form of a coyote tried to sniff for a scent. His ears went up and as he pointed to another wall, the robots saw this act of defiance.

~ Intruders. ~

~Intruder Alert. ~

~Defense mode ~

~Attack and battle –

The bots were not the same, yet the sounds were alike in that they wanted to defeat their enemy. To tear apart Beastboy and Robin in this underground hull of a place to regret everything. So far, Robin let his fight or flight kick in as he started up a new tactic. Fight. Fight and not be caught or killed. His eyes darkened and Renegade was needed.

Screw Slade's warning. He put the boy into this mess. How was it going to help in getting him out!

"Rob! We don't need to fight em! I can smell him; Cy is close by."

Robin's masked face let out his true impressions as Beastboy nodded back. Robin did, slowly before coming up with a new plan. Beat back the boys. Break a few walls down. Slade would surely understand the measures being taken as Robin pulled out a specialized disc meant to put a bridge to shame in seconds.

"Here goes…. back up!" BB helped Robin to stay clear as the blast thankfully didn't just catch the wall to light itself up –

The bots also caught a spark in the nearby blast. And exploded into a single prism shift of color. In flames. (I re-watched Annihilation and so…that was the colors from the Phosphorus flash grenade. God, that was a crazy adaptation….so tired from being up all night to watch it since it first was shown in theaters. Thing was, never spoke about it then but now? All the time!)

The bots curdled and cringed as the walls were down and other chambers were revealed to be in the wall and beyond Bb's original calculations. "You…. didn't have ya –

"No time." Robin got through the wall as he climbed inside, the rubble and gravel under his boots but still supportive.

"Wait up!" Bb scrambled over as a cat and crept atop stone and concrete. Metal inlay had him wonder how powerful those discs were designed to be.

Had the boy been told then of Slade's modifications via drone at night, well…best he not sense it on the faux hero until there was more to explain. "This place, what is it? Tunnels or…"

They opened a new door and saw a lab, filly functioning and wires to tubed vessels. Hoses, as if had never meant to remain here. Bb got back to sniffing the room. The mouse firm came in handy as memories resumed. ~ He was here, then…~

Bb sniffed again as a hound by a metal rack if tools. ~ He was moved, and… ~

"He is quite well, and you should

not be within this dwelling. State your purpose."

"You first." Robin brought up his rangs as more bots' eyes made him anxious that they'd not leave unharmed. Slade was there. He had eyes…maybe the robot was a test too?...

~ Where is our leader. ~ Bb growled as a wolf. ~ WHERE DO YOU HAVE HIM?? I KNOW YOU ARE HOLDING HIM HOSTAGE! ~

"He is free. I have done nothing wrong. I have made him, substantially –

"Take is to him, or we won't be so nice to your other family in here." Robin said as if taking jibe to a cop on the street. No respect at all. Only to his master. He nudged his head to direct his cheek at the bots eyeing them from around the lab's dimly lit space. "Leave. There is no one for you here."

~GIVE BACK Cyborg. He's not your machine or your prisoner. ~

"You, inferior creature, are incorrect. We; he and I are the same. He is like I am." The character pulled off a hand as he showed how it reassembled. "We were once imperfect beings. Now, creations by these hands. He is being fitted without that obsolete-

"Cy isn't a joke, freak show." Bb grumbled. "Cy, is his own person. You had that once too, right? You look like a dude who loved robots –

"Robotics." The tin hermit wondered back. "Memories. I, have nothing. You will not find what you long to have with you. This, Cyborg is my own re –

Robin moved quickly as his rangs bit into a tough metal. Shoved back, the robot was not alright being interrogated within its own home. The boy countered the boys' looks and the other bots were about ready to attack.

"Fixit."

The robot hermit swerved around. "My companion. You…are unchanged." It said nearly without any emotion to tell it had been upset.

"As it should. You tried to turn me into one of your spare parts. I ain't buying fir a SECOND that you ever had messed up intentions. He's cool, guys. Let me handle em." Cy moved with perfectly shattered knee guards and a face plate in hand. He held it up to the Fixit character and Robin's eyes didn't stray from the familiar logo and branding.

A Slade bot.

"You were gonna get a pretty penny for me ta join some group I don't even know nothing about. I say, you're just making up half a what you said-

"I am not. You are imperfect and, those parts were wonderful finds from my companions. They looked better. Stronger than what trash I have collected over my time here."

"You would have given me no reason to trust myself. I'm me, got that!" Slade's essence was always here, even if Fixit was just a scavenger looking for a daily deal or clearance find. Cy held up the mask and didn't let it leave his palm. He took it instead to show the others.

"Come on you two. Star and Rave have gotta be worried about us."

"What about –

"Leave em." Snorted the teen metal head. "He's better off down here for as long as he wants ta believe that."

"I, thought you were-

"Wrong time to be nice now." Cy huffed and turned away, leaving Fixit to repair his own walls. To collect his own memories all over again and erase them. "He was a brilliant scientist who made a discovery about immortality. The guy thought that being a perfect creation or whatever would make him better than everyone else. He ended up thrown off the committee and that's all there was that I know from my dad's logs."

"Your dad –

"No talking."

Cy stopped the group as a Slade bot moved as a creeping force. In its clawed fingers. It had something. An envelope with a symbol on the back seal. Robin watched its eyes as it squinted, as if greeting an old friend. Then, the bot began to speak.

~ Greetings. You are adequate fighters. Our master will be very pleased to know you have punished the ground thief. This is a thanks from our creator to you.~ The envelope was left on the ground as Bb leaped as a leopard and pounced. Only to see that this bot, was a hologram. He did not exist. Robin, again was stunned by the mercenary's simple planning and enigmatic strategies. ~ When you read, do take every word in at a time. We will one day meet, that I wish we never do…~

"Dude…that was…"

"Wrong." Robin's word was right, but this was…

Wrong, all wrong…

_

They never looked at the envelope or it's contents. As a team, they'd all gain a close understanding of the reason for this strange robot acting on its own. Or, was something else about to happen.

"Mumbo?" Cy turned to the two boys. They shook their heads. "Star, and Rave said they'd catch him. I don't know. We lost. "I'll talk. Rob? You got your unit handy?"

"Waterlogged with sewage." Robin said, telling the truth. "I fell in and…well, it's going to need a new shell when we get back to your workshop."

"Aww, man. Bb?"

"I can try. It's still damp but maybe-

The good news was, it was not damp enough as Raven pieced their ears on the wrong sequence. ~ COME IN, THIS IS RAVEN. HELLO, BEASTBOY? YOU'RE BACK ONLINE –

"ARGH! SIRENS! OWWY…."

Cy gripped the device and Kori leaped in with a tangled up Mumbo all under wraps. "You both caught um??"

~ Of course we did.~ Raven deadpanned. ~ Did you think we'd end up like you and get covered in raw sewage? We're not far. Where is your location now.~

" Not too far from the next pot hole. I can walk us through it, but…Rae, at the tower. We need to gave a debrief Pronto." He told her with her eyes now much more serious than his.

~ Understood. How is Robin? ~

"Hey! What about moi?"

~ You are still about to feel your toes? Breathe? Talk? Then you're fine. Robin is new to this –

"Not always, actually." Robin had to explain more to them back at the tower. If he had to make Slade into a real villain, then by damn. He'd hop right to it.

"There is something about that mask. I, can't really guess right now but I think…something in my past. An agent my mom knew. They had a similar logo." He pursed his lips. He'd create the ultimate betrayal and then falsify his turning to a side of reality that none should tread lightly. "I need to go lie down. Long day, huh?"

"B? You ok, man?" Cy noticed Bb was still overthinking what had possessed Mumbo to change. That maybe…

"I'm gonna go with Star and Rave ta see Mumbo off for hos recovery. He's not a bad dude, but…I think he's got a really rough past and I wanna apologize for pushing too much. I don't care if I'm not supposed to feel like this." He scratched his head and swapped to the body of a bonobo. ~ It'd be rude not to wish him some luck. Jail? He was…we'll get him fixed. Just like Robin. He's got a lot to learn about making sacrifices on a daily level.~

"Did you two bond –

~ THE TUNNEL THAT IS LIVELY!~ Kori gasped, making the boy's blow raspberries in protest. "No! We just, I saved him from drowning. He's really way, not a good swimmer. At all.

"I do better in the air." Robin snorted playfully.

~ Like a real bird, huh?~ Raven smirked. ~ We'll be back for supper. Make sure that you ALL take double showers and use the decontamination cell to keep yourself from being infected by any pathogens elsewhere.~

~ The ones of the leaving of large mammals, perhaps?~

Cy laughed and the rest did follow their leader's example.

"I guess….We'll be going through the clues, finding out who this new crazy mastermind is, right?" Robin pointed out that the message had barely been received until they opened that slip. "Back then, I think it was…more dangerous to talk about him. I just get this awful feeling." Robin put a brief hand to his waterlogged comm.

The working.

Water proofed measure he'd had Slade install to keep the heroes from their game until it was time to move another pawn.

"I just feel like, that mask…" Robin gripped his arms and Slade could have sworn that Robin wasn't acting.

"It's someone I know…from someplace, before I ran away."

/

Fixit was busy collecting his scrap and to his none the little surprise, the wall allowed in yet another visitor. "Love what you'd done with the place. Your rent is paid in full this time for keeping the heroes, in the dark a bit longer."

"My customer, your –

Slade put up a hand as the male robot was surrounded by Slade's bots in turn. "He rejected the changes. I almost made him as you wanted. With out exception, per our formal agreement."

"You were certain the virus is functioning as you left it?"

"When the time is right for you, sir. It shall encompass his code and give us what we need. Your apprentice is rather small. He did however seem threatened by how I held the Cyborg boy against its will."

"What if I took your children from you, or a dear friend. Dr?"

Slade watched as the robot started to recover a reflection if humanity. "That person, is no longer here. I am perfect as I am. You, are superior. Your suit should is a very model design. The mask was, a priceless symbol I am intrigued by how you cane to acquire a need for robots with expressions of their own."

"Can't be all bad to be that human and not see it, can it. Dr. Gilford."

The bot stepped back. His eyes not leaving the masked mastermind or his sense of danger that came with the title. "That person is recorded. It is –

"You, or can you not recall what those monsters did to you? Treated you like dirt for your glorious revolution in mind. Prosthetics exist, why can't mechanical or nano tech's level of augmented –

"Your story dies not compute."

" Doesn't it doctor, because I didn't come here to say you took something of mine without my jurisdiction. Oh, no. I came to return something. A welcome to the neighborhood, if you'll have it." The armored man had a palm out and in that, a microchip. A file so tiny, so potent that it…

Gilford. Why was that computing now?

"You question my resource; how I've come to acquire a fraction of your stolen creation?"

"It…was too dan – dan! Danger! NOW overloading –

"NOT YET." The twitching bot was held still by his bits as the other creations the hermit had made, looked on. "Time to see just why the famous professor was cast out so quickly. Usually know far too much about a subject I've come to understand as a promised field of exploration. Medicine, healing from any wounds. What about the reverse?"

The blabbering bot was turned round as the chip met his drive. The static was a failsafe as Slade jumped back onto his feet. "You were never free, Dr." Slade growled at whoever had made that file inaccessible.

"I'll just have to finish where your journals left off." Slade snapped his fingers as as a Slade bot brought out from a locked drawer in the lab, a set of records and paper documents that would come along nicely.

"Get rid of the evidence." He dropped his fingers again, then in a military stance with his hands behind his back, a gritty massacre took place. The obsolete bots that Fixit had saved were torn go bits by state-of-the-art claws and mocked with smiling masked red and orange faces. The rest, became a tomb as the hermit was laid to rest with his creations.

"You should have gone back to the surface. Left my hunt to another day. You made this far too easy, Gilford, if you didn't remember." Slade pulled off his mask, the dying boy gasping as he did see the true white-haired menace with only a working one eye. "A good face, on the day of death as a freak. I'm surprised though. You made yourself perfect." HE smirked at the man -bot. Drenched in shame for having held onto so many regrets before his transformation. "SO, can metal gods really not burn through the heart? I'd like to see if that theory isn't as alien as your colleague's made it sound." He took a grenade, a flash grenade with Slade's S shaped logo and didn't bother to speak a prayer. (Annihilation inspired. Still on a kick.)

"Goodbye now, professor."

The files in his hand, the Slade bots stood by as good little props in his secret war to defeat a bunch of children. The file had the photo of an Elias Stone. Slade hummed to himself. "It looks like this isn't such a big bad world after all." He handed the file back to his cronies. "Our humble old Mr. Fixit could have left this tunnel at any time he liked. A pity, and…seeing as the real criminal however, is still at large."

And his son…was going to become more of a flop than his famous father.

S.T.A.R labs. As long as Robin didn't call up to chat, there was a destination in mind. Slade pulled out his comm and sent one more message.

"Be ready. This playing field has gotten a few squares wider for you to stand across. To face…."

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Who ya gonna face next, Robbie? Find out!!