A/N: Hello, everyone. I've been a longtime reader because of how simple these stories are to read from a phone or otherwise on the go, so I decided I should give something back to the community after having gotten so many hours out of it. I don't normally write fan fiction, so forgive me if I've made a formatting error or other faux pas somewhere along the line. I'm not entirely sure where the line is between a T rating and an M, so I went with M to be safe. I'm also not entirely sure what I intend in the future, or how graphic, so I thought M would be safer. I've also been fond of authors who leave more graphic things to separate one-shots that readers can pursue if they feel like it, so as not to intrude on the larger story. Anyway, this is the first of what will be, at the very least, several chapters. More character development on the parts of Raven and Jinx will happen beginning immediately in the next chapter, but this one was necessary to frame the narrative and to establish the setting.

Thank you for reading! As always, comments are what fuel the desire to keep writing these, since nobody gets paid for them.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or anything related to Teen Titans. Unfortunately.

Chapter 1

Murphy's Law

"And you're sure this is gonna come off?" Beast Boy worried, sitting on the couch of Titans Tower with his head leaned far over the back.

Behind him, Raven gently held him steady with one hand while the other worked a black marker on his forehead. "Hold still."

The changeling whined.

As Raven finished her work on Beast Boy, the rest of the team, led by Robin, entered the living area.

"Cyborg thinks he may've found a way to track these things back to the source. How's it coming?" Robin asked.

"Done," Raven replied.

Beast Boy sat up. "Wait. Don't you guys need yours?"

Removing gloves where necessary, Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire each revealed a rune written on the backs of one of their hands.

"What? Why am I the only one who got it on my forehead?" Beast Boy complained.

Raven capped her marker. "Because you're the only one who didn't stop me when I tried to put it there?"

He threw his hands out wide. "That was an option? Since when is that an option?"

Raven shrugged.

As Beast Boy simmered, the rest of the group made their way to the couch. Robin proceeded to the front of the room and pointed a small remote at the television.

"Let's review," he said. Robin clicked the remote, and an overhead map of the city appeared on the screen. "Three months ago, localized incidents of bad luck start springing up all over the city."

Several blips appeared on the map.

"Right, but nobody thinks much of it at the time. We didn't even hear about it until a month later," Cyborg added.

The boy wonder nodded once. "From what we've been able to tell, they started out affecting the physical locomotion of organic creatures inside of a fifteen-foot sphere—people and animals tripping over themselves, turning ankles, et cetera. Then they got bigger." He clicked his remote again, and a group of bigger blips appeared on the map. "And bigger." He clicked a third time, and a series of increasingly wider circles appeared.

"Once they hit half a city block and started to affect electronics, then we started lookin' into it," Cyborg said.

Another click and Jinx's face appeared on the screen.

Starfire's shoulders fell some. "A conversation with Kid Flash revealed that he and friend Jinx did the ending of their relationship two months before the first recorded incident…"

"He seemed okay, though," Beast Boy added quickly, rubbing his rune with his thumb. "And he said it wasn't nasty or whatever."

The assurance, however, did little to lift Starfire's spirits.

Robin clicked again, and the image of a cylindrical, gray canister appeared. "Analysis of devices found at several of the scenes seems to indicate that someone is making hex grenades."

"With or without Jinx's cooperation," Cyborg pointed out.

Robin conceded another nod. "And whoever it is, they're getting better at it. Raven's runes should protect us from the field effects, but if she has switched sides again, they won't do anything against the concussive force of a direct blast from her energy. Now…Cyborg?"

Cyborg stood up and approached the screen. A breakdown of the inner components of the metal canister appeared as he did. "When Jinx uses her powers, the energy is there and then it's gone. But when that kind of energy gets contained inside of one of these things for a prolonged period of time, it leaves residual traces in the metal. I did a scan of the city usin' that energy signature, and…" A bright red circle appeared on the map, vibrant in the center and fading toward its outer edges. "Either somebody stood under a ladder and broke a couple million mirrors, or…"

"Someone's stockpiling these things," Robin said sternly. "This isn't just about a few broken traffic lights or stubbed toes. Imagine it: every electronic subsystem inside of a nuclear facility failing at the same time, airplanes dropping out of the sky, entire hospitals full of equipment that just stops working."

"And, if she has not done the switching of sides, friend Jinx may be in need of our assistance…" Starfire offered sadly.

"That too," Robin said more gently, to which Starfire smiled a bit.

Suddenly, alarms went off as the red circle on the map quickly expanded to encompass the entire city—the tower included. A moment later, the tower went dark.

"Ah, man!" Cyborg groaned.

Robin grimaced, gears visibly turning in his mind. "That was no stockpile," he said gravely. "Titans, go!"

A warm and gentle sun shone proudly down on the residents of Jump city, inviting them out to embrace its golden glow and, indeed, the boundless freedom of life itself. However, on this particular day, only the bravest or most foolhardy of those residents risked accepting or even leaving their homes; in fact, many had simply found a position—any position, no matter where or how physically awkward or uncomfortable—that they believed to be safe and refused to move at all.

Outside, birds plunked into windows or walls or floundered, flapping wildly, out of the sky. All manner of electronics, from traffic lights to television to cellular phones, .mp3-players, electronic watches and vehicles malfunctioned in shocking and sometimes dangerous ways. Earthbound animals found it difficult or impossible to take even a single step without injury, and the tiniest of tiny insects struggled in vein to roll over off their backs.

Cyborg and Robin held aloft by Beast Boy and Starfire respectively, the team arrived and assembled in front of a warehouse.

Beast Boy morphed back into his human form. "Why is it always a warehouse? Anybody else notice that?" he asked around to the others. "Seriously, we should just start with the docks. Like, every time."

"Any idea what's inside?" Robin asked.

Cyborg paused, his red eye momentarily brighter than normal. "Negative. Must be some kinda shielding. Whole place is dark. I can't get any readings at all."

"Raven?" Robin asked.

Raven, meanwhile, had already crept up to the side of the building; placing her hand near the wall, she attempted to produce a window to the other side but found her efforts thwarted by a thin but volatile magical interference that seemed to channel through the walls like an electrical current—like one, or being carried along one. Floating up to one of the actual windows, she found it one-way only.

She returned to the group and shook her head to Robin, relaying her findings.

"Magitech," Robin practically spat the word.

"I doubt I'll be able to phase or teleport inside, either," Raven said. "Using my powers at all might be a bad idea. I don't know the exact ratio of electrical, magical, and psionic at work here, but if it's reached the point that it's interfering with my powers, who knows what could happen if they bumped heads too hard."

Beast Boy swallowed hard at the thought of Raven's powers plus bad luck.

Jaw set, Robin drew his bo staff and made to extend it; it malfunctioned halfway and broke apart when the internal mechanism collapsed. He narrowed his eyes at the warehouse. "Cyborg, are your systems functioning all right?"

"Yeah. Must be 'cause they're a part of me. Just a sec." Kneeling, Cyborg released a tiny camera drone from his finger; a few steps toward the warehouse and it sparked, smoked, and fizzled out. "So much for that…"

"No sweat. I got this," Beast Boy said proudly, then morphed into a silverfish and scurried forward. A minute later, he returned and reformed, rubbing his head and a bit singed around the edges. "I, uh… I don't got this. There's like a layer of metal or something, real thin but wired up like an electric fence from the other side. All the walls are covered with it."

"Okay," Robin said with a hint of finality. "Starfire, left side window. Raven, right side. Cyborg, can you give us a flash-bang when we get inside?"

Cyborg smirked. "You know it."

"Good. Once we're in, the rest of us will secure the building. Cyborg, you find whatever is generating this field and shut it down—the right way. Remember: we don't know who we're dealing with, how many there are, or if Jinx is on their side. Don't take any chances. If we have to, we can always pull back and regroup. Whatever's doing this, I doubt if it'll be simple enough for them to just pick up and move."

"What about me?" Beast Boy asked, pointing a thumb at himself.

One corner of Robin's mouth curved up into a tiny grin.

Moments later, the front wall of the warehouse came crashing in, metal and all, under the battering charge of a gargantuan, green dinosaur, which quickly became a tiny worm and plopped to the floor. Cyborg's flash-bang-equivalent washed over the newly renovated interior, followed immediately by the sound of windows being broken.

Inside, the team assumed combat formation, only to find themselves seemingly alone. A quick look revealed advanced scientific paraphernalia scattered about laboratory tables in the parts of the room still intact, with a litany of high-grade equipment that blinked and bleeped and blooped along the outside. A rack of the hex canisters—filled or empty, no one could say—sat off to one side, while a floor-to-ceiling machine occupied the center near the far end. An access terminal for the great whatever-it-was faced in their direction, as well as a small port window that glowed with pink light.

The seconds stretched on as the Titans waited, battle ready; as it sank in that they probably weren't going to be attacked, one by one, they relaxed some. Then, from behind the great machine, a figure stumbled out. Clothed inside of a high-tech hazmat suit, he nevertheless put a hand to the glass dome that protected his head, bracing himself against the machine with the other to stay upright.

"Chang." Taking advantage of the professor's apparent stupor, Robin strode right up to him, albeit quickly, and took him with both hands.

"Ugh!" Chang half grunted, half groaned as he was rudely swung around and pinned up against a wall. His eyes blinked several times behind his glasses, then narrowed in an attempt to focus the world around him. "You?" he asked in annoyance and disbelief. "What are you— How did you even get here? You should all be tripping over your own feet by now!"

"Trade secret. Now, what's going on here? Talk!" Robin ordered.

"And where is friend Jinx?" Starfire asked.

Beast Boy looked around one more time. "Not even any robots? Dude, you're slipping."

"Hold on," Cyborg interjected. "How is any of this even workin'? Whatever field you're generatin' shoulda fried all this tech the second ya turned it on."

"Oh," Chang put on a sinister smirk. "I guess there was a reason the tin man didn't ask for a brain." He lost some of his good mood. "Wouldn't be much good if it short-circuited itself, would it?"

Holding out his arm to scan, Cyborg turned in place. "The field doesn't actually take shape for about thirty feet in any direction, like a warp bubble for interstellar travel. Same concept, anyway: small bubble of normal space inside a bigger bubble of screwed up space."

"Very good," Chang said. "Maybe next he'll tell us how many human cells you need to graft onto an exoskeleton to give it a soul…"

Cyborg didn't bite. "Nah. Like the man says: trade secret. So, why are ya doin' this?"

Raven approached the machine.

Chang laughed. "Why? Why build a xenothium cannon? Or a freeze ray? Why pump enough radiation into a Russian teenager to turn him into a walking reactor? To prove I can!" His sly smile returned. "And if I happen to sell my discoveries, well…a man has to eat. Doesn't he?"

"I've heard enough," Robin said.

"As have I," Starfire agreed, floating closer. "You will tell me what you have done with my friend now, please."

"With who?" Chang asked innocently.

"Jinx," Robin said.

Raven touched a hand to the machine.

"Pink hair, cat eyes, 'bout yea tall if ya count the shoes." Cyborg demonstrated with one hand. "Big fan of stripes. Can't miss her."

"H— Oh, yes," Chang remembered fondly. "She came to me some time ago. Trouble with her powers, I understand. Very sad, very sad. Wanted me to help her understand them better. Paid very well, poor girl," he recounted.

Robin narrowed his eyes at the professor. "Where is she?"

"Here," Raven said.

All eyes turned to the empath.

"Come again?" Beast Boy said.

"She's in here," Raven told them, touching the machine again. Her brow furrowed briefly. "She's not conscious, but she is alive."

"Alive and unharmed!" Chang proclaimed. "And so you see, all is well. No harm done!"

Cyborg approached the terminal while Beast Boy did a double take. "Dude, she came to you for help," he said with distain.

"She did! And I did!" Chang asserted. "Look around! Have you ever seen her powers better controlled? At a higher potential? Think about it." He chuckled. "No more selling crickets in tiny boxes. I've found a way to bottle luck! Well, bad luck. But you get the idea."

"Bottle a person, is more like it," Cyborg quipped.

"Why did she not come to us for help?" Starfire asked.

"Who knows?" Chang asked back. "Still, I had wondered that myself. But, 'Her business is her business,' I told myself. Not my place to pry, you understand. I—"

Robin silenced him with a rough jerk. "Enough."

Starfire intensified the glow in her hands and eyes. "You will tell us how to release her and shut down your machine."

"Certainly," Chang said. "That's simple. Just cut the power, and everything goes back to normal. As easy as flipping a switch. Of course, the shock would probably kill her…"

"Don't play coy," Robin told him. "You planned to sell this technology. There's got to be a way to shut it down without burning out your only battery."

"Oh, yes. Of course there is," Chang said. "Or rather, there was."

"We have a problem," Cyborg said from the terminal.

"This was only meant to be a test run, you see," Chang went on. "I was working on shutting it down when you blew up my wall and set off that explosion, and I'm afraid something may have been…damaged. Energy is energy, true. But blending magic and technology on this kind of scale is very…delicate."

"The field is intensifyin'," Cyborg said. "If this thing's right, we've got about five minutes before it hits critical mass."

"What happens then?" Beast Boy asked.

"No way to know," Cyborg said. "The stronger the field, the stronger the effect. Concussive shock-wave, maybe. Maybe the field starts to affect biological processes the way it's fryin' electronics—strokes, blood pressure, internal organs. Maybe wide-scale molecular destabilization. The field's probability distortion reaches the quantum level, everybody's ions and electrons decide to shift, and molecular bonds break down."

"Tsk, tsk." Chang shook his head sadly. "Bad luck, wouldn't you say? Of course, everyone in this room will be fine, but everyone else…"

"How do we stop it?" Robin pressed Chang.

"I already told you," he replied.

"Without killing her," Robin said.

"Oh, what do you care? She's a criminal," Chang dismissed the concern. "She broke me out of prison, loosed me on the world. It's her life or… Oh, I forget. What's the population of Jump City these days?"

"Jinx is our friend," Starfire insisted, adamant.

"Funny, when I have a problem, I usually come to my friends for help," Chang replied.

"How?!" Robin barked.

"I don't know," Chang admitted finally, as though it should have been obvious already. "I didn't plan for this. If it were me, I'd just cut the power. We're in uncharted waters, here. But I'd say you have, oh…four minutes to figure it out?"

Robin's eyes darted to his teammate. "Cyborg?"

"I dunno, man," the metal man replied uncertainly. "Maybe I could… No. What if I…? Okay, what if I boost the power draw and cycle the excess energy through the surge reservoir? Burn off the extra juice without actually crankin' up the machine, but draw enough to brown out the power substation for this area."

"Isn't that the same as cutting the power?" Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg shook his head. "Brown out, not black out. Substation's gonna have a backup with substantial load reduction. Machine gets less power, trips a hard flag, initiates power-down fail-safe procedure on its own."

"That could work," Chang said. "Of course, if it doesn't, you could still kill her."

Cyborg looked back at Robin. "Best I've got, man. Maybe I could figure out somethin' better if I had more time, but…"

After a moment to consider and a shared look between his comrades, Robin turned again to Cyborg. "Do it."

Cyborg went to work.

"Calm under pressure, logical, decisive," Chang observed with praise. "Your mentor must be so proud."

Robin growled under his breath. "Ask him yourself on your way to Arkham. I'll handle the reservation."

"Oh, man…" Beast Boy craned his neck up at the towering machine.

The light faded from Starfire's hands and eyes, and she floated up to the porthole window, peering heart-brokenly inside but unable to see beyond the wall of pink light. Slowly, she drifted back to stand beside Robin, one hand clasped over her chest.

"Initiatin' power draw…now." Cyborg entered one more command into the terminal, and the hum permeating the room grew louder. The others stood in silence as he monitored the procedure.

Red warning lights spun to life on the sides of the machine; a siren blared.

"What's going on?" Robin asked anxiously.

Cyborg ground his teeth. "Gimme a minute, gimme a minute, gimme a—" His eye widened.

"What?" Robin asked again, more forcefully.

Cyborg typed frantically. "Somethin' damaged the reservoir subroutine. It's drawin' but it's not cyclin'."

"What's that mean?" Beast Boy asked, a bit more fearfully than perhaps he had intended.

Chang blanched. "It means the power isn't being cycled off. It's going into the machine." For the first time, he began struggling against Robin's grip. "We need to go! We need to get out of here!"

"I thought everyone in this room was safe?" Robin asked him.

"No!" Chang cried. "Well, yes! When the field was going critical! The machine is going critical!"

"Which means wh—"

"Boom…" Cyborg stepped back from the terminal, eyes locked on the machine but unable to do anything more.

"Cut the power!" Robin ordered.

"We can't!" Chang yelled. "It's too late for that! We're already past the event horizon! We have to—"

"No time…" Cyborg said quietly.

Chang took a slow, gasping breath.

Resolved to at least save who she could, Starfire burst forward into flight, by all accounts ready to rip loose the great machine and fly with it as far and as fast as she could before it detonated; before she could reach it, a low, loud warning buzzed, indicating in no uncertain terms that the penultimate moment had arrived and drowning out the sound of Raven's familiar mantra.

As the group recoiled in futile preparation, a black barrier enclosed the machine. It warped and flexed violently under the force of the resulting blast, muffling the terrible, cataclysmic crack on the other side into an awful, rumbling boom. Raven herself fell to her knees with the effort of holding the barrier in place. Those nearest to her in the last seconds might later have recalled a groaning sound that reached its crescendo in a strained cry, just before the barrier gave out, releasing the last vestiges of the explosion, bowing out the warehouse like a firework set off inside a tin can.

In the end, a detonation that would surely have taken most of the city with it had instead been reduced to one comparatively small. As the Titans picked themselves up and the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Robin was the first to his feet.

He coughed several times, eyes darting hurriedly from one spot to another in their search. "Raven?" he called out, and then again, louder, "Raven!"

But the center of the room was empty. Neither Raven, nor Jinx, nor any discernible remains of Professor Chang's horrible machine were anywhere to be found.