Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ TTHSCity Musical: WASP ❯ New Recruit ( Chapter 4 )

CHAPTER FOUR

Garfield prepared some instant food and offered some for Terra, but she was still moping as she was still feeling upset. “Come on, Terra. Eat something.” he said to her. Terra just looked at him grimly. “Look! Don't look at me like that. I don't like this any more than you do. If it were up to me, and if it were safe enough I'd let you go, but I can't so just make the best of it.”

“Well then why did you bring me here in the first place?” Terra asked.

“Why did I-- Eh duh-- I told you to go back… but like most people, you don't listen.”

Cindi convinced them both to stop bickering. It wouldn't change the situation. Still, deep down Terra was sort of excited. Here she was in space. The Moon looked so much closer, the sun seemed brighter and clearer, the Earth down below looked so beautiful, but easily Terra loved all the millions of stars in she could see the distance. “It's so beautiful.”

Garfield agreed with her, but sadly he had seen it often enough. “Every day I just go off to school as part of my cover, and then at days end I have to come back up here to be ready for a mission at any time. I only ever get so much as an hour of recess for fresh air down below, but it sure gets lonely up here, even though I have Cindi.”

Terra was starting to realize this was why Garfield was always acting so mean. He was just trying to drive her and everyone else away to avoid them learning about the Wasps and getting subjected into the mess she was in, even though she was still there anyway. It was also the fact that Garfield felt he just didn't belong in a high school. His six million dollar brain was able to give him answers to complicated questions and things in like a half second. This was why he felt bored at school with assignments was able to pass them so easily. Not to mention years of being cooped up in a satellite with hardly any human interaction would make anyone start to feel irritable and paranoid.

Garfield hung his low in deep remorse. “I'm sorry I've been so hard on you.”

Terra finally understood why he did what he did, and now it was just as much her fault she was in this mess. She just placed her hand over his and the both smiled at each other. Then a bright flash of light shone as a shooting star went past them into the Earth's atmosphere. It really was beautiful, but the moment was ruined when the Cindi warned them. “Incoming message form HQ.”

“SO3 from HQ...! SO3 from HQ…!”

Garfield answered the radio, “This is Space Observatory 3. Go ahead HQ.”

Garfield and Terra were ordered to come to Wasp headquarters at once for a special meeting to help decide what to do about Terra. “W.I.G… Be with you in a minute.”

“W…I…G…?” asked Terra.

“Wasp… Is… Green.” said Garfield “It means everything is fine. W.I.R--Wasp is Red, means the opposite. Come on, let's go.”

Terra came peacefully, since she didn't really have much of a choice. She stood with Garfield on the transporter platform. “Coordinates plotted.” said Cindi, “Ready for transport.”

“Initiate.” Ordered Garfield, and then he and Terra vanished in that same sparkling light. Terra was giggling a little because it tickled. Then they were gone, leaving Cindi to monitor the station.

…

Garfield and Terra reappeared in transport bay in a large, high-tech building. Terra knew she was on Earth again, but exactly where? Garfield couldn't tell her just yet, as it was the more guarded secret of all.

There so many soldiers and a lot of equipment of which Terra never would dream possible. Then, she met other soldiers who were quite familiar. One was Mr. Shepard who was actually a captain. He had been in the service for years, and that was why he and Garfield often saluted to one another, and why he made sure Garfield got his mail.

The other was Raven's mother. “Mrs., Roth?”

“That's Major Roth, if you don't mind.” she said. So now the truth was out. Arella was a member of the Wasps, which explained why Raven said she was so busy all the time and wouldn't tell her what her job was.

Still, now wasn't the time to worry about that. The head officers wanted to see them all at once. Arella handed a small badge for Terra to wear at all times while she was in the base. Then she followed the three others to the meeting hall.

Several women were already seated and were going to be recording all the events, Garfield Arella and Shepard all approached the lone female officer at the head of the room and saluted to her, then she and Garfield shared a warm hug, despite this being a serious time. “It's so good to see you again, my boy.” she said to him. Garfield smiled at her.

This woman was his foster mother, Colonel Rita Dayton, the second-in-command of the entire force, and she shook Terra's hand. “I see you're rather a sneaky one to be able to find us.”

Terra nodded, but she was starting to see Rita exactly how Garfield described her. Though Rita was a soldier she did have a fair amount of kindness in her, but soon, everyone in the room quieted down as Rita's husband, the lead commander of the entire World and Space Patrol, General Steve Dayton, entered the room, and he seemed pretty strict and cross, but then again most Generals were.

Everyone saluted to him, even Terra. Steve saluted, and said the meeting was now in session, “Please be seated.”

They went over the basics… the purpose of World and Space Patrol. He even asked Terra and Garfield to explain themselves, with simple yes or no questions. “I'm not interested in details.” He warned them, “Just answer them yes or no.”

Terra felt the general was pretty harsh, he even yelled at few of the soldiers for clearing their throats to keep quiet. Still, she and Garfield did as they were told, and after which, Steve made up his mind and came straight to the point. Terra had seen the organization, and she knew a lot of things already. “If this organization is not security tight, it cannot remain functional.”

He ordered that, effective immediately, Terra was to join the Wasps, and be under the supervision of Garfield the entire time. Everyone in the room began chattering, Garfield and Rita were most concerned about this too, but easily… Terra was the most shocked. She was just a civilian, Terra also pointed out that she got poor grades, but Steve warned her that she no alternative, unless she wanted to become a prisoner or worse…

“Consider yourself drafted.”

Terra gulped hard.

…

Meanwhile, Dick, Kori, and Vic met up at an outdoor food-court. They hadn't seen Garfield since he supposedly disappeared in that alley. They had gone over everything they knew multiple times, but were still nowhere near to finding the answers they sought.

“Maybe we should just get off his back.” Vic suggested “We're not gettin' anywhere.”

Dick, however, wasn't willing to give up. “We're missing one crucial element, but what is it?” he wondered aloud.

Kori suggested they ask Kato, “He knows about things like this. He reads detective books all the time.”

They could see Kato across the road but he was walking with someone they didn't recognize. It was a girl, but she was wearing a purple hoodie with the hood pulled way up, hiding her face in the shadows.

Dick ran over. “Kato…?”

“Hey, Dick…”

When Dick questioned about the girl, she quietly lifted up her hood a peek revealing it was really Raven who had snuck out behind her mother's back while she was out. Dick thought she was being pretty bad, but who was he to judge. Now that they were all together, they could all talk about Garfield.

Still, even with Kato and Raven, the only thing anyone could come with was to wait until school tomorrow and then confront Garfield personally.

…

When school started the next day, Garfield was nowhere to be seen, and when Kori, Raven, and Dick went to first period Terra was missing too. The teacher couldn't understand either but had recently received word from Principal Shepard that Terra wouldn't be coming back anymore, but it wasn't said why.

…

Terra was with Garfield in the space-station. “It was nice of Shepard to let me and Terra off from school.” Garfield said as he checked the computers. “What do you think, Cindi…?” but he just remembered that Cindi was still training Terra in the virtual pod on the other end of the room.

This way Terra could learn the most basics of the space-station and be ready to perform her new duties, but she was still not an official Wasp member yet. She looked so peaceful just sitting there, and she looked good in a Wasp uniform.

Suddenly, she woke up and Cindi came back online. Both of them seemed disappointed which told Garfield that Terra didn't do so well. Cindi even displayed of the things Terra did wrong…

She forgot to warm up the systems… she didn't give the tractor beam enough power to hold a rouge missile into place… and worse… she miscalculated the transport codes and ended up transporting herself into space. Thank goodness it wasn't real but Terra felt really ashamed with herself.

“I'll never get the hang of this. I'm a total failure.” She said trying not to cry in shame.

“Ten-hut…!” Garfield snapped at her, and Terra stood upright swiftly. As her superior officer, Garfield was trusted with the responsibility to whip Terra into shape, and one thing soldiers didn't do was cry, or give up. “Remember the code of the Wasps; you never give up! Never…!”

“Colonel Logan is right, Terra.” said Cindi “You just need to keep on trying.”

Terra agreed to keep on trying, but asked Garfield what he was up to.

“Searching…”

“Searching for what?”

Garfield hesitated, but he didn't think it was right to tell her in the first place. “Colonel… I would advise against this.” Cindi said, “This information is classified to high ranked officers only.”

She was right, and Garfield told Terra she wasn't to get into his business. Terra would have protested, but knowing she was in no place to give orders, especially to Garfield, she went for another go in the virtual chamber.

Once she was safely out of it, and couldn't hear what was going on. Garfield made a call to every one of the other space-stations, and ground searches. “Have you found any leads…?” he would ask, but every last report he got was negative.

He brought up a picture of that strange man again. “You're out there somewhere.” he hissed, “And when I find you, there's going to be trouble!”

…

That same man was in his secret lair, and finishing his preparations. “It really is a master plan, sir.” said one of his goons.

“Yes, it certainly is.” His master said. “Only a man of my person could come up with such a plot to outwit even the World and Space Patrol.”

He turned every single computer monitor he had and saw his mean in different areas around the globe each carrying out their own specific duties, but he was particular interested in the ones he had sent to Jump-City.

They seemed to be entering through underground caverns under the water armed with explosives. “That will be our key starting point.” Hissed the man, “And if all goes well, the Wasps will have no choice but to give me what I want if they ever wish to preserve life.”

He picked up a knife that was resting on his desk and threw it at a picture of the world, straight at America to be precise. “It won't be long now.”

…

School was out, and Dick and friends met quickly before Raven's mother came. She was still on punishment. All of them, except for Dick were growing bored with this investigation of Garfield and Terra, but Dick wasn't willing to give up yet.

“Forget it, man.” said Vic. “We're all fed up to the teeth with all these dead ends.”

“It's distracting us from our homework and studies, and I have big test tomorrow.” said Kori.

Kato and Raven were just plain bored of the whole thing.

Dick could tell there no way of convincing them to change their minds. “All right then…” he said deeply yet firmly as he picked up his backpack. “I'll go at it alone then.” And he began to walk back into the school to continue his research. “Dick...!” called Kori, “Don't be mad.”

“I'm not… just disappointed.” Dick called back, and then he was gone.

Kori was about to go after him, but Vic held her back, “Just give him some time. He'll come round.”

Kori hoped so. All this investigating was starting to affect Dick in ways that weren't healthy for a person, and he was working too hard on it. That was one of the most amazing things about Dick, he never gave up easy.

They hoped he was going to be okay.

…

Meanwhile, Terra was actually starting to get better with her training, because Garfield had tried new approaches… as well as not being so harsh on her, as she was just a beginner; he helped her out himself by showing her exactly what he did.

He showed her exactly which switches to hit and when to hit them, and he went into the virtual simulator with her to help her with other things…

How to spacewalk… the code words and sequences… how to act when she would be on Earth with him… and how to handle weapons.

That, she was having a lot of trouble with, she couldn't seem to aim her blasters properly in virtual training. “Here… let me help you.” Garfield said as he stood behind her and guided her in the right position, almost like a couple in a pottery shop.

They were starting to grow closer with one another as training continued, and Terra got better and better.

(Music plays)

(Voice of Molly Johnson)

No one was coming to my aid
and I still was so afraid
of the loneliness inside that I'd run away and hide
tell you the truth for me it would have been the end
lucky for me I had a friend
what i was lookin' for was you so help me true
how could I know what it could do
through the rain storm (through the rain)
cross the mountain (cross the plain)
walkin' with you I feel so strong.

Terra still made a few mistakes, but nothing that couldn't be overlooked. She and Garfield practically laughed at the whole thing.

Because you helped me carry on
with you guidin' (you to guide)
I know I'm learning' (I can't hide)
we are much more than you and me
we are the best we both can be
we are the best we both can be

Finally she passed with, not a perfect score, but most excellent. “You were incredible.” Garfield said, but then, Terra swept him into a hug. “I did it! You said I could do it, and you were right.”

Garfield blushed, and felt a little nervous, but he cleared his throat and acted professional, “Uh… yes I did. Well done, Cadet.”

Terra had a feeling maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.

…

While down on Earth, Dick was leaving the school, after researching for a while, and he was starting to think maybe the guys were right. “Maybe it's time I gave up on this…”

As he walked down the street, he noticed three men wearing black suits and carrying briefcases heading into an alley. “Hmm…?”

Those men looked awful suspicious. He just had to find out what they were up to. So he crept close to the alley, but when he peeked into it, the three men were nowhere to be seen as they had obvious gone down the uncovered manhole in the ground.

He didn't dare venture in there, but he could hear the men talking as their voices echoed in the darkness.

“You heard the world from the boss. We plant the bombs, we wait for the signal, then the water comes in and this whole town starts going over like dominoes.”

Dick's blood went cold. He had to warn someone about this, but as soon as he got up to run, he was caught by two other men who had just arrived while he hadn't been looking, and Dick was punched unconscious. “What do we do with this punk?”

“You know what the boss said about spies. We gotta send him on a little trip.”