Nothing Under Control
Speedy and Isaiah came out about 15 minutes after we started cleaning up the living room. He and I didn't say anything most of the time. When I finally got the computer working, I started searching through the files, seeing if any transmissions came through or were at least sent.
"Wanna try this?" Speedy asked, holding an arrow with a hard drive where the point would usually be.
"What is it?" I said as I took the arrow and examined it.
"It's a filter arrow, some of Cyborg's tech from when he led the Titans East for a bit, he said if you input what you need it'll run through everything on the computer to find it in minutes" he explained.
"That's incredible! It's like Spyware without having to delete anything!" I said excitedly.
I inserted the arrow into the hard drive plug in the computer, and a slot opened up with a small screen and an even smaller keyboard. I typed "transmissions", and hit enter. The slot closed, and the computer instantly started searching through the files on its own.
"It should take about twenty minutes to finish," Speedy said.
"Alright, in the meantime, I need to repair the communicators, on the Titans last big mission, when they were facing the Brotherhood of Evil, Robin sent a signal to all of them that took them all offline. The Honorary Titans need to know what happened, they need to know that there's still hope" I said, then I stopped. "To do that, I need Robin's communicator, he's the one who sent the signal"
"Lucky for us, we know where it is," Bumblebee said.
"Really?" Terra asked.
"Dejaron sus comunicadores aquí cuando desaparecieron!" Mas and Menos both said.
"They left them here?" I asked.
Terra sighed, probably because she didn't have to ask again what the twins were saying.
"I'll go grab Robin's communicator, it's in his room," Aqualad said.
"I-I can grab it!" I said.
"Uh, okay" He replied.
Honestly, I just wanted a chance to walk around the hall again. As I passed each of the Titans bedrooms, I read their names on the doors. I finally made it to Robin's room, I went in. I saw his communicator on his bed, but that isn't all I saw. To the right of his bed, there was a board. Filled with pictures and newspaper articles, and red string to connect them all...they were about Control Freak.
"That makes no sense, he's an idiot, why was Robin so focused on him?" I said to myself.
I studied the board some more, hoping to figure out what Robin was trying to put together. Unless his attacks were extreme, the Titans always left the police to handle him. so what could Control Freak have possibly done that would lead Robin searching for answers so desperately? my thoughts were focused completely on the board until Isaiah came in.
"Hey, the computer thing stopped scanning," he said blankly. "Uhh, thanks," I reply
"Look I....I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier, I just don't like it when people try to tell me what to do with my powers, it's a thing for me" He explained.
"Isaiah, I get it, but...you almost burnt down the Tower, if something like that happens, we're five steps away from our goal, and I didn't just train and learn to hack computers in this place, it was my home," I admit, "If the Tower is destroyed, what do I have left of them? What do any of us have?"
he stands there, silent.
"Look," I sigh, "I need to check the computer, but let's just stop fighting before things get worse, please?"
"Fine, sure" he replies quietly.
I grab Robin's communicator and leave, pushing my thoughts of his board to the back of my mind...for now.
"There you are!" Bumblebee says, "The scanner finished! Did you get lost in the halls or something?"
Not wanting to tell them about the board just yet, I replied: "Um, yeah, it's been a while since I've been through there, but I got it!"
I hurried to the computer and saw what Speedy's arrow caught.
"954 results" I announced happily. Everyone behind me cheered, one of these transmissions could be the key to getting the Teen Titans back home.
"So what do we do now?" Speedy asked.
"well I have two more things to do here, fix Robin's communicator, and search these files to see if I can find anything that will help" I say.
"What are you looking for exactly? In those transmissions?" Terra asked.
"Well, wherever the Titans are, however they got that message through, it must be connected to the computer here if they got a message through the Tower, so I don't know, maybe we'll find the message, maybe more of it, maybe something different, but I know that there's something here" I explained.
Three years worth of the Titan's transmissions sent to their teammates and outside allies in one big pile, I start searching, skipping to the last year, the year they had to scope out the Brotherhood of Evil. That year was busy, I remember countless days coming home from school, ready to help the Titans again now that I didn't have to make up an excuse to leave class, and just be Tech Note, but I instead found them racking their brains trying to figure out how to get to the Brotherhood. I helped as best as I could. And while they were searching for answers, I went out in the field for them to keep the streets of Jump City safe.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, I get to the end of the transmissions, there's two there that were made two days ago...
"Hold on," I start.
"What is it?" Isaiah asks.
"I'm pulling it up now" I say as I click the first of the two.
"If you are watching this, it means you are one of the few that the Titans managed to contact" says a voice through a dark, blank screen.
"I know that voice" Aqualad says.
"Es familiar desde hace años. ¿Quién es?" Menos said.
"Control Freak" I mutter. Bee hears me.
"What?"
The video continues.
"Let me ease your excitement, as long as you don't have my controls, you will never see them again" he says. The screen changes, Control Freak was taller than I remembered. He cut most of his foot-length hair to a choppy four inches. And his sideburns grew into a full beard. If you're wondering if he'd lost any weight in 12 years...no, not at all.
"You may as well a stop trying right now, because the Titans belong to me"
The video ends.
The room is quiet. It finally occurs to me what that board in Robin's room was for. He knew what was coming before they disappeared.
Terra puts her hand on my shoulder.
"Come on, let's watch the other one"
Not even sure if I want any more bad news, I click the last video.
The moment I see the first second of the screen, I stand up out of the chair and leave the room. It's the video that made it to my phone. I can't stand to watch it again after what I just saw. I sit down near a wall and just barely listen, because I'm drowned in my own thoughts. When Beast Boy is on the screen at the beginning, I hear Terra start to cry. That hurts the most. 13 years ago, Terra woke up from being a statue and tried to forget about everything that had happened, tried to lead a normal life. And when Beast Boy, the only person that never truly gave up on her, found her at that school, to keep things the way they were, she had to lie to him. I'd be crying too if I were in her place. In fact...
I couldn't let them hear me like this. I ran to Robin's room as quick as I could. Tears were streaming down my face, and through them, I saw the board. Rage and anger were in control as I kicked the board. I wanted to get rid of it, I wanted it to be gone. I threw punches at it, kicked it some more, and then I took out my staff, extended it, and barricaded it through the wood of the board. When that didn't work, furiously, I jabbed again.
"Liz! What are you doing?!" Speedy yelled.
Panting and frustrated, I replied through my breath.
"Nothing, I'm fine" I say sternly.
"Come on, we have to go" he says, leading me out of the room.
"Where?" I ask.
"Well we still need people to know what they're up for, right?"
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