Time and Time Again

Part 1: Blast from the Past

Writer's Note: This fic was originally intended for later in my "Wings of the Eagles" story, but the more I thought of it, the more I liked it. Therefore, I am writing it now. When I have completed the parts that would have gone before this part in Wings, it will be moved to there, but for now, its here. So enjoy. And this is for those who felt Slade disappeared in Black and White. I had no ideas for him. Until now.

Also, this takes place after the opening chapter of Wings, about a few weeks after.

"Good day Titans." Slade said on the monitor, his black and orange masked face filling the screen.

"Well well, look who's back!" Cyborg said. He wasn't very surprised, mostly thanks to Robin. He had indicated that someone was trying to hack a video feed into their computer fifteen seconds ago. The people who had done that successfully numbered one, so by the time Slade's masked face had appeared, the Titans had gathered, knowing who was calling.

"I guess he felt that he needed another butt kicking. Seek some help Slade! You're a closet masochist!" Beast Boy said.

"Spare me the flimsy posturing child. I do not have a high tolerance for nonsense." Slade said.

"Neither do we. What do you want Slade? You want us to foil another plan of yours? It would be our pleasure." Robin said. His voice was devoid of any mockery though: when it came to Slade, Robin had no humor.

"I will admit, I am impressed in the way you handled Killjoy. I could see one of your older superiors defeating him, but you? Impressive. You amaze me more and more every day, dear Robin."

"Call me dear one more time and I'll smash the screen and you can recite whatever message you have to an empty room." Robin snarled.

"Patience child. You have proven worthy foes. Therefore, I am going to give you a fair chance in my latest game." Slade said. "Where is your white haired companion? The one called Savior?"

"He's out. But worry not Slade. We can handle you fine without him." Raven said.

"I have no doubt. Well then Titans, here you are."

A new screen popped up below and to the right of Slade, a map that marked a building at the edge of town with a fancy S.

"You want to try and stop me? I'll save you some travel time. Here I am. Stop me if you can." Slade said, and then his face winked out from the screen.

"Does he actually think we'll fall for that?" Beast Boy said.

"Yes, he is surely erreneous if he thinks we lack intelligence in devising that this is a trap, most likely one filled with attempted murders and general ouchies." Starfire replied.

"Then I guess we'll have to be extra careful heading over there." Robin said.

"Robin, before we do anything, the second you start showing any sign of obsession, we're gonna tie you up and bring you back here until we devise another plan." Raven said. Robin glanced over at the pale girl, and nodded.

"I'll keep it in check. But Slade is dangerous, and even if this is a trap, we have to at least check it out. If we don't, who knows who'll be hurt?"

"I know that if we check it out, WE will." Beast Boy muttered as the Titans left the room.

"NOTHING?" Robin said incredulously.

"Rob, I just upgraded my visual devices, and tested them thrice over. There's nothing in that warehouse except one person, and he matches the general form of Slade. Could be a robot, but just one?" Cyborg said as he looked over to the Teen Wonder, having just spent the last minute scanning the warehouse from afar.

"Maybe it's a super robot Slade made to defeat us." Beast Boy said.

"Possibly. Just one robot?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"Yes. No groups of robots. No Cinderblock. No Plasmus. No Troika. Just a robot. Or Slade himself."

"I smell a rat." Robin said. "Ok Titans, Attack plan Episolon-7. Be ready for ANYTHING."

The Titans stealthily crept up to the door and assumed the positions they had memorized.

For a moment, quiet.

"NOW!"

Cyborg blew the door off its hinges and then the Titans all ran/flew/jumped through the door, forming a tight pack in case they needed to concentrate an attack on a single target, while also in optimum position to scatter if need be. The teenage heroes bounded into the dimly lit room, spinning and twisting, looking for anything that could be construed as a threat. They finally stopped, all of them with attacks charged and at hand.

There was no counter attack. Just the sound of clapping, and then Slade walked out of the shadows, his lone eye filled with sarcastic amazement.

"Bravo. Very nice entrance." Slade said in an ironic tone.

"Slade." Robin said as the Titans all turned to face the man who had been a thorn in their side for a long time.

"Or is he?" Starfire asked.

"I'm reading flesh and blood under that armour. He ain't a robot, but I'm not sure if it's definitely Slade." Cyborg said.

"Oh, it is I, Titans. I would not miss this for the world." Slade said.

"What are you planning THIS time Slade?" Robin said, somehow keeping his urge to throw every bit of weaponry he possessed at this man in check.

"This time. How appropriate." Slade said. "You know, I am rarely wrong Titans, but you have provided me with one of those rare times. All my assassins and warriors have failed me in my order to defeat you. And when I finally stepped in and did it myself, I found myself frustrated by failure as well. After Killjoy failed, well, I went over my choices, and while pondering them a phrase came to mind. One that will finally allow me to make things the way they should have been originally, had not fate decided to be spiteful."

Slade lifted an arm and pressed a button, and a spotlight lit up behind and to the right of him, illuminating the device that had been hidden by the shadows.

A…Chromoton Detonator.

For a few seconds there was silence.

And then Cyborg and Beast Boy cracked up, and even Raven cracked a small smile. Robin's face stayed severe, but his posture altered, ever so slightly, to indicate he had loosened up a bit.

"Dude, we may be kids, and I was never at the top of my class, but  C'MON! Do you actually expect that to work after LAST time?" Beast Boy laughed.

"He said it best Slade. Have you lost your mind? Do you expect us to be fooled by that paper tiger again? We know damn well the ability to destroy time is beyond you." Robin said.

"And DON'T try zapping us with nanonites again. We have safeguards now." Cyborg said.

"Ah children, the expression I believe you should pay heed to is 'don't judge a book by its cover.'" Slade said. Beast Boy's laughter died off.

"This device may look like my previous bluff, but is not. This is not a Chromoton Detonator. This is a Chromoton DESTABILIZER." Slade said.

"…And that is?" Beast Boy said, scratching his head.

"Trouble! TITANS…!" Robin said.

Slade snapped out his other arm and another switch, similar to the one Slade had used to trigger the nanonites within the Titans, snapped up to his hand.

"Don't move Titans. As fast as you can move, it will not be fast enough. Believe me." Slade said.

"What is that bluff that is not a bluff Robin?" Starfire said.

"Like he said, trouble. For all of you. You see Titans, the phrase that inspired my latest epiphany was "If only I could turn back time". And then, that was followed by…why not?" Slade said. "Stopping time completely is impossible, but altering it…that was within my means. Abet not without effort. That is why I have been absent lately, while you dealt with those freaks and monsters. But I have returned, and this time, I will succeed. In fact, I already have."

"How?" Cyborg said.

"Let me tell you what this does, Cyborg. You assume time is like a river, even flowing in one direction, inescapable and unstoppable. Wrong. Time is more like one line on a piece of paper the size of the universe. Each line represents one universe of possibilities and choices. Another, another. And so on. And the farther you go, the more different you find things. Places where words were unspoken, vows were unbroken, and where I am speaking to you without inadvertently rhyming. An infinite number of possibilities." Slade said. "This device will break that nicely layered line and make them cross and distort through each other. And you, Titans, will be cast into the chaos between continuums, leaving me unaffected while I search for the proper timeline. The timeline where things went the way they should have. Where you, Robin, realized your proper place at my side, one where you cast aside your friends as ordered and set out with me to achieve your true destiny. And once that is found…I will stop this device, and it will become reality. And hence will things be made right." Slade said.

"Never! I will never be like that!" Robin snapped.

"Wrong, child. It's all a matter of circumstance. This present reality has failed me. So I will find a different one that worked properly. Good bye Titans. You were worthy foes. I wonder if you will be so when this is done."

"You know, considering all you said about possibilities, I'm surprised that you didn't consider that this reality had the possibility of this happening."

Slade's lone eye widened at the new voice, and he turned around as the line shot out of the shadows, a strand of piercing white energy. But it wasn't aimed for Slade…

"NO!!!!!" Slade yelled as the Shimmer smashed through the Chromoton Destabilizer. The machine shuddered and sagged to the side slightly, as Savior swooped down from the perch he had attacked from.

"WHAT HAVE YOU-ARGH!" Slade yelled as a Birdarang, thrown expertly by Robin, flew under his hand and clipped the switch that Slade had had at the ready, smashing it into pieces. Slade turned back towards the Titans as twin Starbolts and a sonic blast hit him in the chest, throwing him off his feet.

"Savior!" Raven said.

"Hey guys. The government bigwigs decided to give the superheroes at the conference the weekend off. And so here I am. Good thing your communicators have tracing devices." Savior said.

"You did good Savior." Cyborg said, even as Robin pounced of Slade and smashed him across the face with a punch.

"Your plan, as Savior might say Slade, has been Operation Market Gardened." Robin said, as he reared back for another punch.
"GET OFF ME YOU FOOLISH CHILD!" Slade yelled, twisting and tossing Robin off of him. Slade flipped to his feet and barely dodged another sonic blast.

Savior was about to join in the attack when he heard a slight humming, and then an intense vibration that rattled in his teeth. What the hell…

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled as the Titans gathered around him, preparing to pound Slade into the ground.

"NO! GET AWAY! WE CAN'T FIGHT NOW!" Slade yelled. The humming grew in volume, and the other Titans noticed it too.

And then the Chromoton Destabalizer lit up, even as sparks flew from the place where Noel had impaled it. The warehouse began to shake.

"You stupid children! You didn't deactivate the device! You just damaged it! It's still operating, and I have no way of controlling it! And WE'RE STILL IN ITS BLAST RANGE!" Slade yelled, and tried to sprint away.

"Robin!" Starfire yelled.

"TITANS…!" Robin began.

And then it happened. Savior, who had been running towards the Titans, was blinded by a huge flash of light and then blown off his feet by a shockwave. He slammed against the wall as stars exploded in his vision.

He rose, shaking his head, as the light and the vibrations faded. He looked at where the Titans, his allies had been.

His eyes widened.

"No…"

The area around where the Chromoton Destablizer had been no longer was. Or rather, it was no longer the way it had been. It was if someone had dropped a shifting load of clear jelly around it, a jelly that sparkled with myriad colours, one that, despite being clear, could show nothing within it.

An area where time…had been torn apart.

"Raven? Robin? Starfire? Beast Boy? Cyborg? Guys?" Savior said, walking over. He stopped several feet before the shifting mass that had once been a warehouse floor and the area above a warehouse floor, and was now…what?

An infinite number of possibilities?

Spying a nearby wood chair, Savior picked it up with the Shimmer and hurled it at the plasmic mass.

A bright flash ignited the area, and Savior recoiled. He heard the sound of various objects landing, and he lowered his arms and took a look.

The chair was on the floor in front of him, in pieces. No. Not just in pieces.

Using the Shimmer, Savior picked up what had once been a wood chair and examined the remains.

One piece was fresh smelling and sticky, as if it was wood that had just been cut off a tree. Another was so old and gnarled that it looked ancient. Another was little more then charcoal, burned in a fire. Another was a strange colour, and it smelled bad. And so on, and so on, no two pieces alike.

The chair…had become all it could have ever been. And the process had destroyed it.

Savior dropped the pieces, looking at the area where his friends had been, before he had tried to save the day by smashing the device...and caused this instead.

"No…" Savior said, his voice filled with grief and fear as he fell to his knees. "What have I done?"

But he knew just what.

The road to hell was paved with good intentions.

And Savior had just made his friends, literally, become history.

Next: How It All Began!