Our Time in Reverse – What it Takes –
/
Chapter 37: Better than the Original
/
The time was getting too late to think ahead correctly. Cy was sure that Bb and Kal had found the criminals hide away. He was sure.
Starfire was taking a cat nap, not just from low oxygen, and Robin had his cape as a blanket, his nerves holding still as those waiting one to two hours longer.
~ Stand attention, Apprentice.~ Slade whispered as he understood just from how the boy was acting that he needed to not be a nuisance this time. ~ Right now, the tanks are avoiding losing too much oxygen so within the next few minutes, there should be a time to rest and recover before it gifts any more. ~
"Am…" Robin felt his lips wobble out of fashion. " Ami I going to die, sir?" He whispered under the cloth, making it sound like a sniffle.
Slade spoke nothing, not a breadth as he paused. This was Robin's real mission. Do or die. Not on the moon in space. In the ocean, feet below the mainland in God knows what current. Still here in California, by the coordinates the kid had managed to relay.
~ No.~ Slade said calmly to the boy. ~ No, you are…. not. Trust them. Trust me, Robin. ~
Just like that, the signal went off as Cy took over the line. ~ Good news. We're mobile, and B and Kal found a cave. With something big inside it. ~
/
Slade smiled from that. Yes. He'd told him the truth, and what better way than to put on a brave face? Slade let the screens fall to background noise as Tara sat in a chair from the back of the room and just watched. "When are you going to train me, like him." She asked, hair barely pushed behind her ears.
"Soon, patience. You can't expect for me to drop everything and come to you. It will happen. Sit, enjoy the preview, awhile. Have you eaten?"
"I…no." Tara shook her head. "I didn't, not since that talk earlier." Slade made sure to contact the bots and William for a table to be set out. "It's nearly supper, but I promise. Very soon you two will meet. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"You told him to trust you." Tara looked up at how Robin was steadying himself, as if this were a test of his ability to endure. "You told him, but how did you know about the ship starting back up? Or their team finding the target?"
Slade wouldn't tell Robin, but Tara was able to keep her mouth shut. Hopefully, it would make her aware of what a t he was. "Not preconceived by my abilities at all. Just, a lucky guess, I'd assume. Does that answer your question, enough?" He shrugged his hands up as she scrunched her eyes a bit. Her confused eyes, blue and rock hard as diamonds in the dark.
"Whatever you say, Sir."
/
Bb and Aqualad swam further in as Bb became an angler fish to light their way. The corners of this cave were filled with light already, more organic to artificial as Kal redirected Bb to point his own light at the next path. "There, I'm sending the Titans telepathically this location. Raven should be able to read the image. Will you join me?"
~ I smell something like a…I dunno. Something that belongs in a real cave. Not underwater.~ Bb swam close to the entrance as Kal stayed ahead. "Don't lose sight. We are surely going to catch him in the act."
~You really want to impress your boss, huh.~
Aqualad swam beside Bb and nodded. ~ He is my king and the one that saved me pong ago when I was just a minnow in these waters. O owe him my very life as it is, and we've been connected through the promise of this kingdom remaining…standing…,~
They both stopped.
~ We need back up. ~ Bb gulped to his friends ~ We found the perp, red handed. And more ….~
/
The empath groaned and held he skull. Cy waited as Raven began to speak, though in mild duress of the other's psychic link. "Cave…Triton is….more of himself. –
"He's got an ego, so…"
"Robin. No, Rae, go on."
Robin bit his tongue.
"An…an, army. Copies. Of the criminal, himself ." She forced out.
"Cy, we can't stay here. They need us –
"If I go deep enough, the pressure is gonna hold but wait " Cy directed his teammates. "I bet they want us outside to stop any from escaping. Sounds better than getting our heads caught in a cavern ceiling, right?"
Robin nodded. Of they had gone, which the only way was if he had lead them….would Robin have killed the heroes by his fear of the unknown? Was he getting that nervous already?
Slade was not talking, Robin felt the lack of confidence rise up like their craft had moments ago. His hands fiddled with the device, while the man had said he'd be fine. Why did this whole trip worry him to death that they wouldn't make it??
( Robin is becoming more nervous like a puppy with separation anxiety. Slade may talk him out of it later. )
/
The two Titans navigated the pod location very cautiously. They were more eggs than pods, being with the criminal and his biological components. ~ He's, a mom??~
~ No, this is just…~ Kal looked for a self destruction mechanism on the large computer that kept these things alive. Morphing, living Tritons ready to take over the oceans. Kal felt sick, until the evil one himself cane from the shadows with a bellowing laugh.
"Now that you have seen of my own perfection, your doom shall be similar!" He attacked, more fish brained to become aggressive as the squirming Tritons in their carrier sacks made Bb hold back a gag to help Aqualad. " You're the original; so, why copy yourself?? That is the most –
~It is fantastic to see so many faces that are made in my image. They are bred to serve me and only me. With their assistance, I shall overthrow your king and finally conquer the surface world with an iron fist!!~
~No way! We are not letting you step foot –
Garth growled at Bb as he slapped a fin over his jaws..
~ These caves will not be our crypt. I shall inherit your king's role and destroy and take as I please! Perfection cannot be wasted! It is. Time, to awaken my soldiers of the new warlord, Triton! The one and only –
~Yeah, but if say…you do win and they do follow you, what if nobody likes that plan? What if they all want what you've got?~ Gar sniffed while the real Triton was perplexed by the mutants words. ~ I…I am the only exception. The one and true king to rule these waters –
"But, he's correct. You'll have competition. And because you are SO in sync…."
~ THE OTHERS, are gonna want you to listen to them. So, you have some thinking left ta do.~
The real Triton had not noticed as the hatchling army started to emerge. Not until one overheard Beast Boy's theories that it spoke up. ~ He is, correct. I should be the correct ruler the absolute lord of land and sea. You are not fit to rule in MY ocean. ~
And then another spoke, as the real Triton held his ground rather rigidly. " I am the true lord of these waters! You will all bow down to Triton – king of the surface and the ocean deep."
"No, for I am perfection personified in this body. I should be the one to overthrow the king and to enslave all human life!"
"NO. I AM!"
"I am perfection!"
"I AM THE GOD OF THESE REACHES AND NONE CAN STOP ME!"
"What…have you done!!? Foolish green fish. They will no longer listen to a true leader. They are on a path of destruction because of your folly!"
~ You're the one that played God, so deal with it. ~ Bb snorted as his fishy self. ~ Aqua kid and I gonna make sure you all get decommissioned from going rogue, because you just got sentenced for life with your copies here. For a long, long time. ~
/
In the end, the underwater "police" came, the Titans stood guard and blocked off the exits bit one until the cops arrived and the day was, well…
As they cane up to surface in front of the tower, Aqualad and to official guards waved back while leaving the heroes to their forever home for a while to let the events drift away into tomorrow. "We made it home!! That was a glorious event of sacrifice and humility, Beastboy." She praised.
"Well, I had a guy to kick it outta me. Robin?" The green kid came up to the other and left out a hand to shake. "You, um…made me think of that time we saved each other. I think it taught me not to give myself too much credit. We did a really good thing down there, and I-
It was morning as the sun hit the light of a face clad in two tones upon the shore. Its arms crossed, the man then removed the mask to showcase black hair and a false eye. The perfect way to set a scene, was to fake it. A sharp complexity of a face, toned and deadly muscles below a suit that was less expected of the transition from ex operative to crime lord. His sharpest features though had to be dark eyes making him into a real villain by the appeal. He seemed no more than mid to early flurries but his body said otherwise as he continued to scope out the heroes ' weaknesses.
"Richie."
The other ebony haired young adult dropped him arm and glanced at the man clad in a different uniform. More militaristic but with a darker touch. Not, at all like Slade. More, like an alternative version of the killer known as. ..
Deathstroke.
"How, how did you find-
"You've had a tracker since we've known each other. Your mother insisted I be discreet. So, you became a hero… Interesting, otherwise…you should consider quitting while you're ahead."
" YOU!" Kori rammed into him, yet he shoved her off as id she weighed nothing. "Gravity? What's this guy's deal?? Hey!" Bb shouted across the sand. "Get out before we have to put you down, old timer."
"And a rude company you keep to, not how we raised our dear little future killing machine." The man ignored the teen as he came near, but the flash bang disc took that issue out while Bb saw stars. Raven wasn't ok with this reunion. " Not in our home…Azarath…metrion!! –
He moved like a bullet and shoved her down before she could speak, her jaw in the sand as Cy raised his cannon.
"LET HER GO . I'm not gonna say it again."
The standoff was dangerous as Robin tried to move even a pinkie toe yet Slade, oh. He didn't give up as he made Raven's brow break out in perspiration.
"We demand that you release our teammate." Starfire commanded like the royal she still was. "There shall be no seconding the chances –
"Wait!" Robin put a hand up as Slade didn't look away from his quarry.
"I…I'll-
" No way!" Cy spat at the hero. "HE is never gonna stop unless you do something to show him how much he made your life a living hell. Robin, Richie, or whoever you wanna be. You gotta get it together and show this creep that you aren't owned by anyone."
"The city? By you, Cyborg?" Frowned the assassin elder.
"We know your name is falsely adjusted. That you steal the identities of countless innocent persons globally to cover your tracks…" Starfire huffed with her bolts still ready at will to fire, should she see Raven NOT curse her way out of a tight hold. Raven did, just as Slade had hoped. She left her soul self to deliberately dissolve into a puddle of black into the ground until she was right by her friends. Robin sighed, finding that Slade might pull a new trick, should they decide to fight back.
He straightened up, Robin staring back as the older male dusted himself off and walked the edge of the shore where they had him pinned.
"If my student won't learn to stand by his master, then I may have to test your "inferior" skills myself. I intended to make this a fair warning." He walked as they slowly stayed to pace. Slade finding his wrist as if to adjust his watch. Instead, it was a built-in cloaking device as the heroes were gob smacked and made a barrier around Robin with Raven's magic. "Where did he go!? Cy, we got a crazed ex mogul on the loose!"
"He…he isn't here for you." Robin swallowed, playing the victim as best he could remember how.
"Fear not, friend Richie. We shall not allow –
The Titans stopped as an alarm went off inside the tower by way of their units. "We can get em on lock up, Star. But…" Cy walked ahead as Raven made sure Robin was not being followed by anymore operatives.
"We bad better handle this mess first."
/
(Tick tock Tango one show was what this will be based off of. )
Find out!! Slade is loose in the tower under a new alias to fool the heroes and he's here to test them?? Well, sounds like a plot involved with a bit of an exception to the rule. Tara is on the ball with his plan. What will Robin do if they figure out he's a spy?? Find out!!