On The Wings Of Icarus, Chapter 3—Guess Who!?
AN: Well, I can honestly say I am surprised. My first serious fic, and we're already on Chapter 3! Goodness! Anyway, standard disclaimer applies. ALSO: This story IS NOT SLASH. Sorry to anyone who wanted it, but in the end, I decided not to go for it. I don't think there will be any pairings, just feelings but no romantic declarations of love, but if I do include them, then it will more than likely be RobStar, BBRaven, and CyborgTCar. Yes you did just read that last one right lol. And no, this story is not based on romance or sex. There will be nothing like that in here whatsoever.
I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has reviewed my story thus far. Thank you for your time and patience. It is truly appreciated.
Now without further ado, I present Chapter 3!
(Jump City, 4:03 a.m. Past)
A bright flash of light illuminated the sky in Southern Jump City. The light funneled, getting wider, and out fell an unconscious Slade who lay crumpled in the deserted lot of beat up old cars.
The next second the flash of light was gone and all was silent. The residents of Jump City slept on, never knowing what had happened while they were sleeping.
(Jump City, 4:09 a.m. Future)
Cyborg, Ivy, and Raven made their way down to Beast Boy's position in the underground bunker.
It took them only several minutes to get down there since Raven had managed to find a secret door that was carefully hidden in the wall of the office that used to be used for the abandoned car lot.
Beast Boy didn't complain about their shortcut like he would have a long time ago.
Much like Garfield's reaction earlier, the remnants of the Titans jaws dropped to the floor when they saw what was inside waiting for them.
"Hey Cy, do you think you can figure out what this machine is used for?" BB asked curiously as he poked around the mysterious contraption.
"I don't know. Gimme me a minute."
Steel looked around and found a messily organized stack of papers next to the computer console that was still flashing green lights.
"Ryan. I think you should take a look at this computer before you mess with that machine." Raven said and moved aside for him.
Poison Ivy grabbed a stackful of the papers lying around and sat on the ground to read. She occasionally cooed to the weeds growing through the cracked floor and ignored the looks her teammates sent her way.
She didn't expect them to understand. Sure they loved Robin...but not like she had. Now, she was different after finding solace in the earth and the plants that grew within it. She felt a connection there with the sentient weeds and flowers and had cultivated them to the best of her abilities. Now they only responded to her and her alone.
Ivy shook her head and cooed at the weed as it began to wrap around her hand in a comforting embrace. Settled, she began to read.
Day 34: WHY?
It's been a month since the boy died. Why can't I let his death go!? What is driving me to do this!? I was never this obsessed with Aimee! Sure, I loved her; she was my sister. I would do anything for her. But my rival? How did Robin get to be so important to me that I would undertake a project this size?
Starfire gasped as she read the entry about Robin. She glanced at the other Titans around her. None of them wrote this did they?
Day 86: Still haven't found that damn material for the machine yet. Went through all my contacts, but they claim they've never heard of the stuff, nor do they know where they can find any. How stupid do they think I am? I know their lying to me. They don't want to me complete my project. But I'll show them! I 'll get that material and I'll show them why it's a bad idea to underestimate me!
Day 175: Tired...God...so tired. Life doesn't seem to matter anymore. All I think of, all I can focus on, is seeing his face. I have his mask, it's my most prized possession. But for how long? How long will I be able to do this without support? The rest of them think I have lost my mind; that I've gone over the deep end. And all over a little acrobat brat with a passion for a good fight. I killed the last person who insulted Robin to my face. That boy means a lot more to me than they ever will. So be it; I guess I'll be doing this alone then.
Starfire blinked in shock. She had always wondered where Robin's mask had disappeared to...now she knew that someone had taken it. She felt a slow smile creep upon her lips as she read the part where the person killed someone for insulting Robin. Good for them. They probably deserved it. She blinked again. What was this person trying to do with the machine?
Day 239: Finally acquired the last piece of tech equipment for the machine. Took an embarrassingly long time to find and even longer to implement it into the console interface.
Everything looks solid and all lights are green. Let's do a test run and see how it works.
Ivy looked at the dried blood staining the pages further down the entry. 'Looks like it hadn't gone too well.' she thought.
Day 246: Machine blew up on me. Got injured in the ensuing blast. But that's not what has me so angry; it's the fact that I have to build another machine in another location! As if procuring all of the machine's parts wasn't bad enough; now I have to find a place to construct it in!
The rest of the entry was blotted out with black ink, as if the writer had gotten angry and scribbled the rest of it away.
Day 789: Finally! Finally have a new location and new parts. Now to build the new time machine. I have to go back. I have to see Robin one more time...
Starfire gasped. The machine was a time machine! But who wanted to see Robin so much that they would build something of this magnitude in secret?
Ivy looked up and stared hard at her friends. Robin's death had hit them all really hard; could one of them had done this without telling the others?
One of them could have. They hadn't been in contact overly much for those three years. Sure, they had talked through the communicators more than once, but actually seeing the other in person? No, there hadn't been too many face-to-face confrontations.
Any one of them could have easily slipped this passed the others.
She overheard Cyborg tell the others that he didn't have a clue what the machine did, but with time and patience he would be able to figure it out eventually.
She set down the papers on the grimy floor and stood up and joined the others.
"It's a time machine," she announced.
(Jump City, The Past)
Slade groaned weakly and struggled to move. Ugh. He groaned again. His whole body hurt; every nerve was on fire, every neuron was inflamed with agony. Even his hair hurt. He didn't have hair.
Eventually after a long struggle with uncoordinated limbs, Slade finally managed to get himself to his feet.
He took in his surroundings, noting that he was in the same general vicinity that he traveled from.
Had it worked though? Looking around wasn't enough. He couldn't tell if anything had changed or not.
Although seeing the objects he had placed into the time machine were lying strewn about the ground before him was nice solid evidence that something had happened, it wasn't enough for him.
The only proof that could tell him if he came back or not was Robin.
If Robin was around...then he had all he needed. If not...Slade shuddered. He didn't want to think about that.
The other Titans turned to stare at Starfire in incredulous shock.
"It's a what now?" Cyborg asked, glancing between the red headed girl and the machine sitting innocently only a few feet away.
"It's a time machine. It says so here in this person's journal." She replied, holding out said journal to the dark skinned man.
Ryan took the journal, more than a little incredulous. Time machine? That was just Sci-Fi stuff. That stuff couldn't possibly be real...could it?
He perused the journal and nearly dropped the book on the floor in shock. Ivy had been right; whoever had wrote this had actually built a time machine!
Cyborg looked up to find the others staring at him. "Star's—err Ivy's right; it is a time machine."
For a second everybody looked stunned at the revelation, before they all broke out into huge smiles.
"Do you know what this means!?" Beast Boy cried out happily.
Raven and Starfire shared a smile, and even Cyborg looked like Christmas had come early.
"We can go back! We can go back! We can go back!" BB cried happily over and over again, jumping around the room and changing into different animals as he did so.
"We can see Robin again!" BB yelled.
Nobody said anything for a moment, before determined expressions took over their previous ones.
"Let's get to work guys. Who knows who left before us." Ryan said.
They all nodded in agreement. They shared smiles again. They finally had a common purpose after so long without one to drive them to be all that they could be.
It was good to finally be doing something as a team again. But they all knew that they wouldn't be a real team again unless Robin was there with them.
"Star, take a look at those books again and see if you can't find out more about this machine. How it works, what powers it, and who built it. Raven if you wanna help her out? The more we can find out, the better chance we have on getting this thing to work." Cyborg delegated.
BB frowned. "What am I going to do?" Cyborg smiled. "You are going to get materials for me to test out in the machine." BB eyed Ryan suspiciously. "You just want to me carry all that stuff so you don't have to don't ya?" "I have no idea what your talking about." Cyborg deadpanned.
"Right..." BB said, but nevertheless, went about his business of gathering things for his cybernetic friend.
It was going to be a long day. But the tension and awkwardness in the room had abated and was now filled with a feverish determination only previously seen in one person: Robin.
Slade had no idea what time it was, but he knew instinctively that several hours had passed since he woke up in the abandoned car lot.
It was still dark outside, but the skyline was turning lighter and lighter with each passing minute, and Slade didn't want to be caught out in the daylight. For obvious reasons.
He needed to see what was going on here first before he actively tried to do anything.
It only made sense. That and the fact that he couldn't stand the daytime.
So as it was, he was currently on his way to his last hideout. Not the one in the car lot. He had discovered early on that it wasn't there at all. No, he was searching for a different one.
It took him another 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to the one in the center of Jump. The sun was out and Slade grimaced before he closed the door to his lair. Now he remembered why he kept everything dark; he couldn't stand the brightness of the daytime.
The inside of his lair was dark, dank, and cold. There was barely any light coming through and Slade sighed, before taking off his make-shift mask. (He had taken his other one off after Robin's death and hadn't bothered to wear one since he didn't really have a use for one then. Sadly he forgot along the way to bring one with him, having immersed himself into his little project.)
The dark-skinned male stretched lightly as he walked through the pitch blackness; already knowing where everything was, he didn't have to pause or step over anything.
He made his way to his personal chambers, and sighed in what would be considered contentment to most people, and flopped on his bed.
While it was uncharacteristic for such a display to make it's way out of his defenses, Slade couldn't help but not really care what picture he presented at that moment.
He was tired, his body ached in places he hadn't thought possible. His body simply hadn't recovered yet from the trip through the time machine.
He honestly didn't know how long he'd have to wait before the muscle soreness and tiredness left. (not to mention the throbbing headache pounding away inside his skull.) He speculated that it was probably different for each person since no two people were wired the same genetically. He had no idea if there any other side effects from using the machine.
He groaned as he rolled over to find a more comfortable position. He stared up at his darkened ceiling, contemplating what his next move would be.
He already knew that he would seek out Robin. That much was a given. He knew that he couldn't approach the boy without being at 100%. Robin was good and he would immediately know something was up. Best not make the boy more suspicious then he was.
Despite the apparent success of Project Icarus, he still had his doubts though. Sure, he'd seen the rocks and pieces of metal out in Southern Jump when he had awoke, but that didn't dispel the fear that his project had failed and he wouldn't be seeing Robin ever again. "I wonder what Robin is doing right now..." he whispered to himself as his eyes drooped lower and lower.
Before long, Spencer "Slade" Wilson was fast asleep.
(Jump City, The Past, Same Time, Teen Titan Tower)
Robin groaned as he awoke from another nightmare. Why was he having these dreams!? Why in the hell was he dreaming about SLADE of all people!? That wasn't exactly who he imagined would be invading his dreams night after night... But for the past week and a half now, he'd done nothing but dream of the man. And no, it wasn't one of THOSE dreams either!
It was...Robin frowned. It was weird, that's what it was.
Weird. And scary and had he mentioned how weird it was?
He knew Slade was a very dangerous enemy, but his nightmares indicated otherwise, which was seriously starting to piss him off.
In his dreams, he had seen Slade working on...something. The item or thing in question was blurred all the time, so he had no idea what it was or what it did. It was aggravating.
Not only that, but Slade was working on the mysterious object and muttering to himself. Again, Robin couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.
Were his dreams trying to tell him something? Were they warning him about Slade? He snorted at that thought. He didn't need a warning about that man.
But it just kept bothering him though; why was his subconscious doing this to him!?
Shaking his head, Robin glanced over at his alarm clock sitting on the nightstand next to his bed. In big bold red, were the numbers 7:36 a.m.
Joy. He'd awoken an hour early.
Yawning, Robin proceeded into the kitchen area where he put on a fresh cup of coffee. Stifling another yawn, the Boy Wonder looked around the living area and frowned. Raven wasn't up yet, which was kind of odd. She was usually the first one up, but strangely enough, she was the last to go to bed.
Shaking his head, Robin decided it wasn't really important and put it out of his mind.
It would be another hour and a half before he would start to get suspicious of his teammates...
(An hour and a half later)
Robin frowned, his face tight beneath his mask. No one else was awake except for him. It was beyond odd; bordering quickly on frightening.
Despite their...attitudes and general junk food eating binges and what not, the Teen Titans went to bed relatively early. They were also early to rise as a general rule of habit.
No one else was up but him.
Robin felt...apprehensive. Apprehensive and a little bit worried.
Sure, they sometimes slept late...when they went to bed late that is. Robin had heard them go into their rooms at approximately 10:30 p.m.
They should've been awake by now. But they weren't and Robin wanted to know why.
And no, he was NOT quietly freaking out thank you very much.
Hanging outside Starfire's room, Robin walked passed it and back again, before he got the courage to knock on the metal.
He knocked again when he didn't hear an answer. "Starfire?" "Starfire, are you okay?" Again, no answer.
Robin pounded on the door now, calling out his teammate's name, not caring if he woke the others in the process. Something was screaming at him that something was wrong.
"STARFIRE!"
Robin took a step back and readied himself. One way or another, he was getting through that damn door!
Taking a running jump, Robin smashed the heel of his boot against the door. The door flew open with a loud clang when it smacked the wall and rebounded toward the hallway.
Robin was already in the room and didn't pay any attention to the damage.
He was too busy staring at the red-headed girl on the room who had yet to move an inch.
"Starfire!" Robin rushed to her side and knelt down on the bed. He gently shook her shoulder. Nothing.
Robin started to panic a little each time he tried to wake up his friend and received no response.
He did everything; he checked her pulse. It was normal. He checked her eyes next. The pupil was normal. Star's pallor was normal as well. She had no fever.
But then why wouldn't she wake up?
Robin suddenly shot up from the bed, his blue eyes wide and slightly terrified beneath his black and white mask.
The others?! What if they too, were like Starfire?
Rushing out of the room, Robin dropped in all of his friends. To his dismay, shock, and slight horror, they were all the same: lying in bed as if they were asleep, but not waking up no matter what Robin did.
He didn't know what to do! His friends were virtually comatose and he was all by himself. He tugged his mask off and slumped down the wall in the hallway. He drew his knees up to his chest and placed his hands on them.
'Calm down!' his mind screamed at him, 'All you have to do is figure out who's behind this and stop them.' he thought.
He stared in Starfire's room from his vantage point and just watched the red head.
He really hoped a villain didn't attack...
He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't notice that a certain villain was watching him from the shadows...
AND, here's Chapter 3! Sorry for the wait folks, but hopefully this is worth it. As always, please tell me what you think! :D