Taking risks

It was supposed to be just another normal day for her and she had tried to even plan a nice weekend for herself and her friends as she was walking home and passed the Jump City bank.

But just in that moment, loud ringing sounds filled the air before 2 masked men stormed out of the bank, one of them carrying an apparently heavy bag on his shoulder.

She noticed a black van parked not very far from the bank and saw that the two robbers entered the van before the van started.

Another regular robbery…which was probably gonna be stopped by the Teen Titans. Terra turned away from the black van…when suddenly she was in collision course with another man.

"Out of the way, shrimp!" the man's deep voice called out to her but it was too late and both fell from the collision and Terra was left momentarily dazed.

But the small tiger tattoo on his wrist didn't escape her eyes.

Unfortunately, that notion didn't escape the thief either and before Terra had the chance to get on her feet…something hard collided with her head.

Her sight turned dark.

Not long after…the Teen Titans indeed arrived at the crime scene and as usual, Robin began his inquiring.

"How did they escape?" he asked.

"A few witnesses say that they saw them escape in a black van…and some of them say they took a hostage."

Robin's expression turned to surprise. "A hostage? This will make it harder for us to overwhelm them especially since they are armed. How long have they been gone?"

"Not more than a few minutes."

"They shouldn't be very far then. See if you can get their location, Raven," he ordered the half-demon but they were interrupted when their communicators rang.

And to their dismay, they saw that Red X was back in action as well as Overload – talk about a busy day!

"Great! Now we got 3 missions at once. I guess we should split then," Robin said, scratching the back of his head. "Alright, Starfire and I will go after Red X and you, Raven and Beast –"

"I found the van! It's not far from us!" he heard Beast Boy's voice from outside before checking to see what he had found out.

"Really? Then let's-"

"Let me handle this!" Beast Boy interrupted.

"But Beast Boy, they are armed," Raven interjected but he smirked at her.

"So what? So am I!"

"You know what I meant," she muttered with a disapproving glance.

"I know, I know. But you guys take care of Red X and Overload first. They are the big fish, not some lame robbers. Besides, I've beaten stronger bad guys," he bragged as the others gave concerned glances towards each other. "I'll be fine. And in worst cases, you can always call me," he flashed his communicator at them before taking off into the sky as a crow.

"Let's hope he doesn't get himself in trouble," Robin muttered before they scattered.

Terra slowly opened her eyes, flinching from the pain that suddenly set in her head. Why did her head feel like it wanted to explode?

She tried to blink the pain away before placing one hand on her head – why was that spot wet? She removed her hand for a moment and the little light that had managed to illuminate her spot…revealed red liquid on her palm – blood.

Terra took a look around, wondering where she was before realizing that she was in a van and the only light that helped her see anything at all was a small window that separated her from the driver.

Slowly, she scooted closer and noticed that the two robbers from before were there – she was in that black van!

"I can't just let her go!"

Terra noticed the deep voice from before before another different voice spoke.

"She hasn't even seen your face. Your mask was on, right?"

"Idiot! She saw my tattoo! Like that, the cops can find us in no time!" he shouted suddenly and after a short moment of silence did the other dare to speak.

"So what do you want to do?"

A small scoff. "Get rid of her, of course. We'll just need to find a good spot and then it's goodnight for little blondie."

Terra let out a small gasp at what she heard before she moved to the door of the van. She wouldn't wait until they found that spot.

She tried the handle but it wouldn't open so she slammed herself against the door a few times so it would open.

Unfortunately, the robbers noticed that and quickly pulled over and the driver opened the door just when Terra had slammed against the door again, causing her to fall right into the man's arms.

"Let me go! I-" Her shouts were quickly cut short when the other placed tape over her mouth.

"Now hold still," the first one said before the 3rd robber came up with a thick rope and even with all of her thrashing around, tied Terra's hands and feet together before she was thrown back into the van and the doors were closed upon her.

The van once again began moving and Terra again tried slamming the door open which earned her that the driver stopped once more and this time, tied her arms to one of the metal poles that were placed in front of the small window for protection.

Terra shouted and pulled on her restrains as best as she could but after about 10 minutes, she began to grow tired and just then, she noticed the faint laughter of the thieves.

Terra shut her eyes and clenched her fists in silent anger. She had defeated Slade…so how come she couldn't fight normal thieves?

Because she had no powers – because she refused to be a hero?

In a way, that thought mad her sick – like Beast Boy had said…she had been happy – for most part of her time as a titan, she had truly been happy.

But now? Now she might call herself happy…but it would never amount to her time as a Titan – as a hero.

A sudden, forceful push woke her from her thoughts as she was slammed against the wall as the van began skidding and she saw that one of the walls was slightly dented.

Had they been hit?

"What the-" one of the robbers said before the van rocked once more, this time to the front and the girl was slammed against another wall this time and the ropes cut into her skin but didn't snap.

Then she heard a crash and the van came to a sudden stop. Terra slowly sat upright, her back hurting from the impact. What had just happened?

There was a gunshot and she flinched at the sound.

"What was that?" one of the robbers said before the driver replied.

"Whatever it was that hit us, it won't anymore."

And in the blink of an eye, the van began moving again and Terra lowered her head. For a second, she had a slight flicker of hope – that there was someone who tried to help her or that some chance had presented itself for her escape.

But apparently, they just hit a car or something and were getting out before getting in trouble.

Terra shut her eyes, letting out a deep breath through her nose. Was this maybe the punishment for the things she had done in her 'past life'?

"Terra?"

Terra's eyes snapped open at that sound – at that unmistakably high-pitched voice. "Mmh!" was all she managed to get out, eyes on the verge of tears at seeing the shocked expression of Beast Boy looking down at her.

He still hadn't forgotten about her!