Take the Fall

Starfire, knocked out on the sign. She is no longer suffering the effects of Slade's probes. She moans weakly and sits up atop the huge lighted letters.

"Huh?"

She looks over to her teammates. They too are free of the probes' onslaught and have begun to come around.

"Okay. Weirdness. What just-" Beastboy said as he felt his head.

They all gather.

Before he can finish the sentence, Robin plunges toward them with a yell and a fresh blast ready to go. It traces a short distance between the foursome, he lands in the middle and slings Beastboy into Raven's face. A low kick knocks Cyborg away, and Starfire finds herself trying to hit a moving midair target with her starbolts. He somersaults across the roof and trains his blaster on her. She gasps, realizing that he has her bracketed-but he shifts his aim and fires past her, hitting the Y. The next beams come at Beastboy and Raven; he becomes a monkey and scampers away, while she puts up a shield in front of herself.

Now the little green primate darts in and climbs all over the armored arms and legs, it takes a moment for Robin to get hold and throw him aside. As he does so, though, Raven exerts her powers over the arm with the blaster and causes the thing to dismantle itself. What she gets for her trouble is a shove that sends her careening across the roof. Next up is Cyborg, who comes up from behind and tries to grab him. Robin ducks away, and swivel quickly to show that all four of the other Titans have regrouped to face him. Beastboy becomes a bear, Cyborg has his cannon locked and loaded, and the girls have their respective powers warmed up.

He looks over his shoulder and finds that he is at the roof's edge. He whips out a handful of discs and throws them at the group. Cyborg and Starfire, who duck as the projectiles hurtle past, Beastboy and Raven as one of them explodes to show them detonating at the bases of the A.

"Titans! Move!" Cyborg yelled.

They clear out, Beastboy transforming to bat form-just in time, as the Y topples forward with the A not far behind. When the smoke clears, Cyborg is seen in one piece and on his feet, slightly to show him standing in the center of the fallen A-the right place at the right time to keep from being crushed. Starfire looks around fearfully as Raven lands near her.

"He's gone." Raven said as Cyborg walked over.

"Everybody okay?" Cyborg asked being concerned Beastboy lands and takes human form.

"Uh, I know where Robin picked up that heat ray, but where did he learn that little glowy hurty trick?" Beastboy tilt his head.

"I do not think that was Robin." Starfire looks at her other teammate who all stood quiet. "Perhaps it is Slade who has learned a new trick."

***

Smoke pours up from the two fallen letters; the three still standing are not in too great a shape either. As Robin's thermal blaster ray comes down from overhead among the Titans, the picture starts to fast-forward and then rewind as if it were a videotaped program. It stops just before the beam is to hit the roof, at which point it starts to play at normal speed.

"Thrilling."Slade smirks in joy.