Storm clouds fill the sky as rain poured down on Jump City. It's been almost two weeks since the attack on the school and Terra is finally back at home with her family. She was laying in bed in her pajamas on. They were fuzzy with pictures of teddy bears all over them. Her right arm was still covered in a cast connected to a sling that wrapped around the back of her neck.
She knows she was told to stay in bed and recover but something was bugging her. She couldn't get the image of the plaque she woke up next to out of her mind. The words rang out like bells in her head. She had seen the Teen Titans first hand. She didn't recognize any of them. Except one. But her memory of him was all but non-existance except for a few blurred images and his voice saying a few words.
Terra woke up from her day dream as a knock on her door made her jump with a gasp.
"Sweetie?" Her mother said after opening the door to see her daughter sitting up in bed, "why are you still awake? Its almost 10:00PM and you have your first day back at school tomorrow."
"Sorry mama," Terra replied, "I just can't sleep. There's a lot on my mind."
"Well," her mother started as she entered her room, "since were both awake, we can talk about it," she gently sat at the foot of Terra's bed with a smile on her face trying to encourage her little girl to open up to her.
"It's just..." Terra didn't want to sound crazy but a lot has happened so she figured she might as well talk it out, "ever since the accident at school my dreams have felt like... well... more than just dreams."
Her mother raised an eyebrow wondering what she meant.
"Like... they mean something," Terra continued, "I think... they might be memories... of my past?" Terra sounded like she was asking her mother if that sounded too crazy.
"Oh honey," her mother said calmly, "why didn't you say something earlier? What are your dreams about?"
"Well I didn't want to worry you or dad any more than you already are," Terra said with some guilt in her voice.
"No," Lindsey respond immediately, "we will always put you first, darling. We are your parents. We want what's best for you," Lindsey raised her hand and took Terra's cheek in her palm. She loved her. She wanted her to get her memories back and she wants to help however she can, "now..." She took her hand back, "tell me about your dreams."
Terra felt the warmth of her mothers palm and felt comforted. She felt loved. She felt like she could tell this woman anything.
"Well," Terra began, "I'm fighting the the Teen Titan Beastboy, but I don't seem to want to. I have these strange powers and I feel like everything im doing isn't in my control. And right when I'm about to finish Beastboy off, I stop and he speaks to me... what he says... I don't know... it helped me. I regain control and start attacking someone else. Someone I don't recognize. In the end I tell Beastboy he's the best friend I ever had and I end up sacrificing myself to save everyone with my power. Then I wake up."
Her mothers smile vanished the second she heard Terra say Beastboy. She didn't want Terra anywhere near him. After all, she believed Terra had been seriously injured because of him. Lindsey didn't care if Terra's memories were of them or not. When it came to Terra's safety that meant everything to her. She didn't want her anywhere near the Teen Titans. Especially Beastboy.
"Hmm..." Her mother said calmly covering up her angst, "maybe your accident with them caused you to have strange dreams with them in it?" She was trying to subtly rule out of the idea that Terra was a Teen Titan.
"But dad said that the Teen Titans stayed at my bed until you guys showed up at the hospital," Terra respond looking at her mother like she could see through her true intentions, "dad said Robin told him I was part of their team once."
"Oh your father just likes to make things up to make you feel better faster," Her mother respond instantly. She was desperately trying to keep Terra from seeking out the Titans for answers.
"Mom," Terra said sternly getting frustrated, "I woke up next to a plaque that said I was a Teen Titan. That I was their friend. How do you know it's not true? I don't remember anything. Maybe these dreams are telling me something."
Her mother got angry. Thunder roared outside Terra's bedroom window and Lindsey raised her vioce.
"No!" She shouted, "I can't even think about losing you again," her voice trembled as she thought back to seeing Terra in her recovery room, "I don't want you anywhere near them."
"But mom!-" Terra began to protest but was interrupted by her angry mother
"Especially that green one," she paused as if saying his name was a curse word, "Beastboy."
Terra's heart sank. She couldn't believe her mother would go to this length to keep her safe. She knew her mother was protective but this was almost a crazy level of over-protective.
They sat in silence for a second while Terra looked at her mother in shock. After a long pause of silence Lindsey stood up walked to the door and turned to look at Terra one last time.
"I'm sorry sweetie," she said calmly almost saddened that she had to yell earlier, "but it's for your own good. And that's final," she had a sense of seriousness in her voice that seemed almost scarey to Terra. Just before she left her voice returned to calm and loving like she really believed what she decided was in her dadaughter's best interest, "I love you sweetheart. Get some sleep. Goodnight."
Terra was in disbelief. She never thought she would have heard her adopted mother tell her that not recovering her memories was for her own good. She didn't know what to say and remained silent as her mother stood in the door waiting for a response.
Terra turned her head away from her mother and refused to say anything back to her. She was furious that her mother wouldn't even consider the possibility of her once being a Titan or just talking to them to know for sure and possibly get some answers to her past.
After another long moment of silence. Her mother finally accepted that Terra wasn't going to respond. She lowered her head and closed the door slowly.
Once the door shut Terra jumped out of bed and grabbed her backpack. She stuffed a flashlight, some snacks, and water and waited for the hallway light to fade from under the crack of her bedroom door.
A few mintues later the illuminated crack at the bottom of her door went dark and she heard the door of her parents room shut. She knew her parents had gone to sleep. With a deep breath Terra slowly and quietly opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the dark hallway moving as quiet as possible.
At the Tower the thunder and rain continued. Cyborg was running tests on the mechanical creature in his lab. Something didn't make sense to him about this thing. It had some very unique qualities that seemed impossible even after all the things he's seen first hand throughout his experience as a Titan. He spent so much time trying to figure it out that Robin started to get worried about him. As Cyborg continued to bury his mind into any possible answer to this riddle in front of him he was completely oblivious to Robin knocking on the door.
"Cyborg," Robin said softly, "are you ok? I haven't seen you in a couple days."
No response.
"Cyborg?" Robin said a little louder.
Still no response.
"Cyborg!" Robin shouted with worry. He threw the door open to see Cyborg Standing over the table in his lab, staring down at test results next to the mechanical face, "Cyborg..." Robin repeated softly, "what's wrong?"
Cyborg finally lifted his head away from the table.
"Huh? Oh. Hey Robin," he sounded like he didn't even care Robin was there and looked back at the table.
"What's wrong?" Robin repeated walking towards the table.
"Nothing," Cyborg said lazily. He wasn't even trying to conceal his confusion, "this thing has some unbelievable... Impossible tech behind it," he said still baffled.
"What do you mean?" Robin asked.
"I mean... This thing has... DNA. But it's not biological," he paused trying to figure out how to explain it, "it's almost as if... it's digital DNA."
Robin raised an eyebrow. None of what his friend just said made any sense to him. Cyborg saw this and was glad Robin was also confused.
"I know right?" Cyborg said relaxing a little, "instead of cells and biological anatomy that makes up a normal living thing's DNA, this thing has DNA made up of the entire periodic table. Every element you can think of can be processed and repurposed at it's own discretion."
"That explains why it could turn into anything it touched," Robin said making the connection.
"Yeah... but how?" Cyborg said still confused, "this kind of tech shouldn't even exist yet. This is on another level. Not even alien technology can create this."
"Well it's been over two weeks and we haven't seen anything like it since. I guess the real fight we have to handle is the one with our city," Robin sounded worried like the city was ready to revolt to disband them, "we're gonna have to show them we're still good for the city but I'm not quite sure how we're gonna do that when they won't trust us to fight crime. In the past two weeks we haven't recieved a single call and villains and criminals are causing all kinds of trouble knowing we can't stop them."
"Maybe we could do patrols through the city on our own," Cyborg suggested, "the people might not want us around but when they need us we'll be there."
"I hate to say it... but that might be our only option until we catch a break in this case," Robin replied with a sigh.
They sat for a long moment in silence. Cyborg was trying to figure out who could have possibly created this master piece of technology while Robin was trying to think of a way to clear their names. But the silence was short lived when a loud ring shook the Tower from the front door...