Disclaimer:
I do not own the Teen Titans, Batman, Felix Faust, or the Scarecrow. They are all property of DC comics.
'Fraidy-Cat.
A massive explosion disturbs the quiet of Gotham city. The city is normally quiet because people don't want to attract the attention of any of the dozens of super-criminals that the Gotham Police usually have to call in Batman to deal with. Speaking of whom, almost five seconds after the explosion, he sees the Bat-signal decorating the clouds.
He sighs. 'Finally, something to do,' he thinks. Ever since he took down the demon-enthusiast Felix Faust, crime rates in Gotham had dropped to a record low. Not even everyday convenience store robbers dared show their faces for a solid two weeks. There were even reports of good behavior in Arkham Asylum! This explosion had finally broken the period of lawfulness that Gothamites were almost beginning to get accustomed to.
Batman swung over to the Batmobile, grabbing his utility belt from it's usual resting place in mid-swing. He landed inside the car, put on both belts, (utility and safety) and fired up the engine. As he burst from the waterfall that concealed the Batcave from the rest of the world, Commissioner Gordon's face appeared on the screen, saying: "The explosion, which I'm betting you've heard, came from the Gotham vehicular pound. We believe it may be the Scarecrow, trying to get his plane back." "I'm on it." said Batman, as he gunned the nitro-booster.
He arrived at the pound to see the Scarecrow's Bi-plane on an improvised runway. Batman ejected from the Batmobile and expanded the glider-pack hidden under his cape. He (intentionally) crashed into the spindly, hay-covered fearmonger just before he could board the plane. Both tumbled for about thirty feet before getting up on their feet. Batman spoke first: "You should have stayed quiet, like everyone else has been, Professor Crane."
Scarecrow leapt up onto a nearby decommissioned plane, saying "Have you ever wondered why? Well I'll tell you why: I 'asked' them to lay low. It's really amazing, what people will do with a little bit of fear in their hearts. And" he said as he pulled a bunch of old books from under his shirt, "now that i've read Faust's books on necromancy, I will gain tremendous power from that selfsame fear." Batman grappled up to where his foe was perched, continuing the mid-fight banter with "I thought logic-minded people like you didn't believe in magic." Scarecrow dodged the incoming attacks, saying as he did: "True, but I've been reading the bits on psychology-based necromancy, something I'm very familiar with. There is even a small bit on ancient potions that, coincidentally, are very similar to my signature fear-toxin!"
And with that, Scarecrow threw a bunch of darts thet were concealed in the hay of his suit. One struck home, hitting Batman square in the face. He pulled them out, but they had done their job: flaming bats started to fly out of the Scarecrow's mouth! Batman dodged them just in time, even though his subconscious screamed 'They're not real! Those are just hallucinations created by his fear-toxin!' While Batman struggled with the effects of the hallucinogen, Professor Crane packed his bags into the plane.
"You won't have to worry about me, Caped Crusader! I'm skipping town! Ta-ta!"
Just as the plane began to take off, however, Batman pulled a batarang from his belt, fitted a tracking device on it, and threw it into the side of the aircraft! The Scarecrow left, unaware of the device fitted into the side of his machine, but not forgetting to leave a 'parting gesture': two bombs filled with fear-gas on the Gotham detention center. All of the guards lost their confidence and fled the building, and every single prisoner escaped.
Batman pulled the cure for fear-gas out of his utility belt, and injected it when the plane was out of sight. After a minute, all of the flaming bats disappeared, and he went on to help the police quell the riot. As he did, he glimpsed at the tracking computer in the Batmobile, and saw that the Scarecrow was making a beeline for what appeared to be--"Jump city! I have to warn Robin!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Later, at Titans Tower-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-"No way." said Robin.
Starfire was staring blankly at what had just happened.
Cyborg's mechanically attached jaw had just fallen off of it's hinges.
"Umm...Guys? A little help here?" inquired a shocked Beast Boy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thirty minutes later----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beast Boy hid in his room, thinking about what had happened. His brain hadn't shut down like this since she first hugged him after that incident with Malchior. After that happened, he tried to convince himself that it was merely a thank-you hug. There was no way he could say that about this time.
Half an hour ago, they had finished watching Wicked Scary 2, (the widescreen Hi-Definition version) and he found Raven's arms around him. As soon as she realized what had just happened, she threw him out the window, sure, but she actually hugged him during a scary movie! He had tried to stay away from romance ever since Terra's betrayal, and now he was scared of what would happen next.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The very next day------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What? Are you nuts, Robin?"
"No, Cyborg. It's just Private HIVE, nobody else. Besides, what happened last night may have damaged their self-esteems a little. Violence usually clears my head of that kind of stuff."
"You still didn't have to send just the two of them! Two lovers, out all alone, without me to tape them kissing? Think of what you're missing, man!"
"That's precisely why i---" Robin stopped there, as he heard something ringing inside his room….
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------At the Jump weapons facility-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am highly honored, SIR!!" Private HIVE shouted, brandishing his brand new assault rifle with pride. The guard that was intimidated into giving him the weapon ran away as quickly as he could. Private HIVE then proceeded to loot the place of all the experimental weapons. "Once I train myself in all of these, I'll be the best soldier in the world!"
Just as he was going to shoot open the final vault, his gun was enveloped in a black aura, and it jammed! He turned around to see Raven and Beast Boy, of the Teen Titans, standing just down the corridor. "You're under arrest for war crimes, Private." Beast Boy said, pointing at him. Raven, in her usual sarcastic tone said "Nice. Did you stay up all night memorizing that?"
Beast Boy paused for a little, because he did stay up all night, but it was worrying about what he would do when Raven woke up. He was afraid she would avoid him because of what happened during the movie. Whatever she was feeling, she had ducked back behind her protective veil of emotionlessness so she could actually speak with him.
Private HIVE noticed his pause, and took the opportunity to pull a rocket launcher out of his loot bag. He readied it, as he said "Never let your guard down. You're in the big leagues now!" He pulled the trigger, sending a foot-long missile straight at the two Titans. Raven altered it's course with her powers, sending it outside where it exploded out of people's way. As she did that, Beast Boy regained his senses and morphed into a leopard, leaping straight at the criminal soldier. HIVE noticed this, and pulled out his signature shield in response. Beast Boy couldn't stop himself in time to avoid being knocked aside.
Recovering, the shapeshifter changed into an emu and started pecking at Private HIVE. He blocked everything, but was driven into a corner. Beast Boy then morphed into a snake, coiled around Private HIVE's arm, and wrapped himself around his whole body. "Nice! I'm gonna need an advanced maneuver to get out of this one. Or, I could just do this!" Private HIVE said, as he pulled a Swiss army knife out from under his glove and flipped out the blade. However, Raven pulled it from his hand with her powers. Then, she grabbed a fire hose and wrapped it around Private HIVE, allowing Beast Boy to let go.
"No fair! I can't take another night of K.P!" wailed Private HIVE in defeat. Beast Boy, back in his human form, said "Dude, you're going to jail, not back to...whatever weird evil army you came from." "Phew," he sighed in relief. Later, after he was taken away by the guards, the two Titans started to walk back home...when eight of Slade's ninja-bots crashed through the window, making a grab for the weapons Private HIVE had stolen! "Looks like our work isn't quite done!" Raven pointed out, and they ran back to engage the thieving robots.
Beast Boy started, flying inside one as a fly, then turning into an electric eel in order to overload it's system. Raven chanted: "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" as she used her powers on two of the robots, ripping them apart. By now, the robots had their attention diverted from the weapons to the Titans. They rushed them, but Beast Boy popped up in their path as a bull, charging back at them, with Raven flying right behind. One of the robots threw down a gas bomb just before they met, but it didn't seem to do a pretty good job of obscuring them.
In short order, all of the robots were scrapped. Inside the gas cloud, Raven wondered aloud "Why would Slade send so few robots?" Their answer came, in the form of a very frightening voice: "Because Slade didn't send them. I did." They soon saw where it was coming from: a thin man in a suit mad out of hay and potato sacks, with a witch-style hat on top. His face was obscured by a mask made out of the same material as the rest of his suit. He continued, and as he did, he seemed to grow bigger.. "I borrowed those robots from him. It's amazing, the things people will do when they feel fear. Even a fearless kind of person like Slade."
Just then, their communicators rang. As they answered, Robin's face appeared on the screen and said "Guys, I just got a message from Batman. The Scarecrow's in Jump city, and we need to find him before he spreads fear and panic all over. What's the status of your mission? Because you need to come back here and organize the search with us." Beast boy, obviously intimidated by the person in front of him, said "Uuhhh.. d'ya think you could help us out first?" "What's wrong? I thought you were just fighting Private HIVE." Raven, fear in her eyes too, pointed the screen at the newcomer, saying "That's not Private HIVE."
Robin recognized him just too late; the Scarecrow leapt at the two helpless Titans....
Duh, duh, DUHHHHH!!!
Sorry about the lack of BBXRAE action, it'll come up later.
I'm imagining this like an episode of the TV show, so there's a lot of action!
I don't really get time to write very often, so the next chapter may be a while.
Until then, review this chapter!