Disclaimer: DC comics holds the trademark for the Batman Series and the Teen Titans, not me, I'm just a humble and slightly obsessed fan... Oh, and please note that this is is based on the Teen Titans Animated Series, I have no idea what goes on in the 'Go!' comic series, so please don't chew me off for inconsistencies.
This story is placed in the same universe as the Batman mythos of Christopher Nolan, meaning that The Joker is the "Seething Anarchist" he was in the film The Dark Knight, if only because I prefer that one over the psychopathic clown in the comic books. (Though I still love the original.) This takes place after The Dark Knight, so no Rachel Dawes or Harvey Dent/Two-Face, also as of the ending of the last movie Batman has become a true vigilante and is wanted for several murders in addition to the lows he's broken in the past. The Teen Titans are formed about ten years after Bruce Wayne's 'birth' as Batman, with Dick Grayson becoming Robin five years earlier. Finally, the 'scan lens' is based on the "Detective mode" of Batman's cowl in Batman: Arkham Asylum, the video-game by Eidios Interactive.
Prelude:
Rockin' Around
Christmas time; jolliest time of the year.
Jump City glowed, as it did every night, but around this season one could swear that it glowed a little than usual. For once, the streets were free of death and terror, children played and couples smooched and Santas... ho-ed. It seemed that even the criminals, the killers and the psychos and the rapists, had holiday shopping to do. The big day was fast approaching, and all the procrastinators had to either grab gifts now or receive a lashing later from their loved ones. During the holiday season, the American population could pretty much be divided into two groups, people who got great gifts early, and people who struggled to get mediocre ones late.
Robin and Beast Boy belonged to the latter group.
The two heroes were walking, out of costume, in the main plaza of the city, where various vendors had set up shop in the streets, selling cheap knickknacks and handmade items. If you could dodge all the frantic mothers heading for sopme collectabletoy or the distraught fathers dashing for something their daughter had demanded, you'd soon realize that all the good stuff was on sale. Unfortunately, all the good stuff had also been sold, the signs only remained up to attract suckers dumb enough to wait until the day before Christmas Eve to go gift shopping. Places like Targetand Wall-Mart were closed by now, but that didn't mean much in a city full of street-smart hustlers. One could still find anything from a bootlegged watch or a pirated DVD to heroin at half-price or two joints for the price of one.
A few of the more honest vendors were selling handwoven scarfs or festive sweaters, however over the years those had become less popular seeing as after Christmas it became somewhat difficult to wear red and green clothing unless you were some sort of costumed vigilante.
By now, the two young Titans were beyond desperate, having been searching for hours still being unable to finding anything suitable for their remaining loved ones.
Beast Boy had yet to pick up anything for both of his bird-themed comrades, Robin and Raven. The simple reason behind this was that Raven was an incredibly hard person to please, and Robin was so rich that there wasn't much he didn't have. Plus the slick team leader was completely uninterested in most of the things that normal people were, he was obsessed with being a hero, so what kind of gift does one get a friend who loves crime fighting but already possesses every every tool a crime fighter could ever want?
The Boy Wonder himself may not have shown it on his face, seeing as he was wearing his trademark mask as always, but he was inwardly just as distraught as his green-skinned partner. He had asked everyone else on the team, and they'd all told him the same thing, Starfire was an easy person to buy gifts for. She was easily fascinated by all manner of Earthly objects, so get her an Earthly object which she is unfamiliar with.
But Robin wanted to get her something... special.
Something she'd cherish more than the mustard she always carried with her, or the enormous larvae she kept for a pet; something she'd remember...
"Uh, Robin, hello? I'm talking to you!"
The ex-sidekick snapped out of his daze and turned to Beast Boy.
"I said, wouldn't this be a great gift for Star?"
The changeling was holding up a book titled "World". Robin took it and flipped through it, it was full of pictures of various places and peoples of Earth, specifically all the most spectacular, Antarctica, New Zealand, the Himalayas, India, Afghanistan, et cetera.
"... Yeah, she'd love it." Robin said blandly, handing the book back and continuing further down the plaza. As Beast Boy paused to pay for the book, soemthing caught Robin's eye atop a nearby roof, the end of a tattered cape whipping away from the edge. His eyes narrowed.
Getting on the roof wasn't a problem, Robin never went anywhere without at least part of of his gear. He was still weary though, because without his armoured costume he'd be in trouble should anyone be deciding to ambush him.
The Boy Wonder blinked twice rapidly, activating his mask's scan lens. He couldn't detect any other life form on the roof, but he still had a hunch that-
"Hey kid, how's it going!?" An electronically altered voice asked, though the source was nowhere to be seen. Robin's head whipped around wildly, and he brought his fists up to bear, but he was taken completely by surprise when an invisible arm wrapped around his throat and a fist began rubbing into the top of his head.
"Merry almost-Christmas Robby!" Rex X laughed as he released Robin from the noogie.
The Titan paused a moment to run a hand through his hair, pushing it back into it's proper position, before suddenly lunging forward at his now-visible antagonizer. But the X-themed thief teleported behind the Boy Wonder and just barely grabbed the scruff of his hoodie before he lunged himself right off the building.
Robin responded by whipping around with a punishing roundhouse kick, but X ducked under the blow, grabbing the vigilante's other ankle and pulling it out from under him.
"Cool it, kiddo, it's the Holidays, I'm not here to fight." Red X said, holding up his hands as if there was a gun pointed at him.
"Are you here to give back the suit you stole!?" Robin growled, climbing to his feet and taking a stance.
A breeze picked up X's cape and caused it to wave lazily behind him, it was only then that Robin noticed the green duffel bag slung over the thief's shoulder.
"Fortunately, no," X's mechanized tone responded, and then he removed the bag, sliding it over to his rival. "But here's a peace offering, gifts for you and the rest of the Titans, you can take credit for them if you want."
Robin activated his scan visor, but the bag seemed free of any traps; however he did furiously note that no weapons were detected in Red X's suit either.
"Why?" Was the Boy Wonder's simple question, asked through gritted teeth.
"Uh, because it's Christmas...?" X answered, throwing his arms up in mock defeat again. "And because I've seen the gifts you got, gotta tell ya, they suck."
"Were you spying on me!?"
"What- No! No, I ran into you a couple of times in the mall, jeez."
Robin's expression hardened.
"Just because I'm a theif by a night doesn't mean I don't occasionally pay for things."
The Boy Wonder reached over to grasp the bag, but his hand was smacked away.
"Not so fast kiddo, I even wrapped those babies, so how about a little appreciation?"
"...Thanks."
"You're welcome." One could hear the satisfaction just in X's tone.
Robin picked up the bag, finally, though never took his eyes off his living antithesis. "You must want something for this."
"Righto, I need you to crash Slade's party over-"
"What do you know about Slade!?" The ex-sidekick suddenly blurted, drawing a birdarang. The thief raised a metaphorical eyebrow, before continuing.
"Over at that new hospital on Thirty Fith and Fourth, he's doing some bad stuff, like always, kidnapped a friend of mine, family's disappeared too."
"...What kind of friend?"
"The childhood kind, me and him used to get into all sorts of trouble... tagging buildings, skipping school, you wouldn't know, I'm sure that you don't have any real friends, thanks to the old Batman."
That struck a nerve. "Get out of my sight before I get Beast Boy to Swallow you..." Robin turned around and walked to the edge. "I'll think about saving your friend."
"Uh huh, sure, you'll definately really give a lot of thought about whether or not you wanna get your ass kicked by Slade again." X chuckled, before tapping the buckle of his belt.
When the Boy Wonder turned around the thief was gone.
Chapter One:
Olympus
It had been a mostly normal day in Titans Tower, as normal as it gets when five very different and hormonal teenagers are contained in one place for too long. Robin had referred to this period as "the calm before the storm", meaning that he expected something horrible to result of the current lapse in the city's crime rates. The other Titans however did not share their leader's passion, and as such generally used the cease-fire for as much goofing-off as possible.
Cyborg and Beast Boy sat on the couch, in the spots they used so frequently that one could tell whose seat was which by the odor alone. One side smelled of WD-40, and the other just smelled like green armpits. The two juvenile superheroes were happily wasting time on their new video-game, the latest Soul Caliber installment. They occasionally uttered curses or exclaimed happily depending on their how their character was faring, but despite their apparent disposition, they were having the time of their lives.
Starfire was decorating the Christmas tree as best she could, limited knowledge of the process causing her to place all sorts of things on the poor tree, old socks, a frilly bra she'd found in the laundry, Robin's boots, hooks without ornaments; it was a disaster to say the least.
For once however, Raven was not hiding out in her room, rather she was raiding the fridge, helping herself to another of the cookies someone had brought home from the market. They came in a basket, and were the biggest pastries she'd ever seen, they tasted like ginger and even she guiltily licked her fingers after scarfing them down.
As mentioned above, no one was very bothered by Robin's obsessive planning and endless theories, they cared so little so in fact, that when the Boy Wonder came running out, locater in hand, shouting "Trouble!!" they all gave him a moment's hesitation before actually mobilizing. The two gamers tried to save their game before realizing that one could not save a fighting game during a fight, Starfire knocked over her tree turning around, and had to realign it again before moving, and the lavender-haired demon spawn just had to wolf down another cookie before changing out of the navy blue sweater she was wearing into her signature cloak.
The team filed into the T-Car, buckling up and speeding out of there when suddenly Beast Boy realized he had neglected to change into his combat outfit, but Robin refused to allow Cyborg to make a u-turn. He was bitter and angry about something, something obvious, but the rest of the Titans couldn't see it.
The Titan's vehicle stopped in front of city hall, a massive structure dedicated to the history of Jump City, but they weren't there for a boring lesson, as they stepped out a booming laugh echoed from the rooftop.
"HAHAHA!! THEY FINALLY DECIDED TO COME!"
"Sorry looking lot, too bad they all have to die." muttered a second voice.
"TITANS, MOVE!!" At this the team all made it to the top of the hall within a few seconds, what they found was truly unnerving. Staring back at the teenage vigilantes was what almost appeared to be a mirror image of themselves, a team of super powered teens, who all seemed like cheap knockoffs of the actual Titans.
"What kind of trick is this?" Raven said in her usual deadpan tone, eyeing her apparent counterpart, a girl with short brown hair which had been dyed with purple streaks. She wore a black hoodie with violet designs about it; as well as gloves made from black lace and similarly coloured black jeans. In short, she looked less goth and more 'emo' as she stood across from the original teen spell caster, she also seemed a bit more... healthy, with a normal skin tone and ample bust, though upon closer inspection one would realize that this girl was also at least half a foot shorter.
A figure stepped foreword, a tall, very fit-looking female with long silver hair and an outfit not unlike Robin's had once been under Slade's tutelage. She had steel in her eyes, and whipping in the wind behind her were the ends of a do-rag of sorts, but it turned out to be a mask when she pulled it down over her face, a mask split into two sides, one black with no eye-slit, and the other orange with a white film over the eye, which made her look exactly like Slade's answer to Batman's young sidekick.
"Teen Titans, my father Slade has sent commissioned us to terminate you, hope there's no hard feelings..." She smiled, "Oh, just so you know, I'm the Ravager, and we're the Anti-Titans."
"Creative name..." Raven said, raising an eyebrow.
"Attack." Ravager commanded simply, and her team rushed forward with mechanical precision.
The girl whom Raven had taken for her rival completely disregarded her, and instead dashed forward to kick Robin in the face, cutting him off before he could give his own battle cry.
A hulking, shirtless figure with a metal skull for a head and tentacles protruding from scalp as hair unexpectedly tackled Beast Boy instead of Cyborg, and then Ravager engaged the dizzied Robin, leaving only the witch girl... to go and fight with Starfire. While a woman with frizzy black hair and electricity crackling around her attacked Cyborg.
"Hey! Spell Caster!" Called a voice from below where Raven levitated and watched, she glanced down and saw a young man in stonewashed black jeans and an unbuttoned shirt which exposed the white under-vest beneath it. He wore fingerless gloves and heavy leather boots, around his forehead trailed a black bandanna adorned with miniature jolly rogers. Beneath the bandanna was a face with thick sideburns and scruffy beard growing on his chin. His eyes looked like Starfire's with dark colour around the pupil and lighter shades around the rest of the eye, the main difference was that his eyes were a shining azure, blue so intense it seemed unnatural.
The blue-eyed boy may not have been wearing a specialized suit or weapons like his comrades, but it was clear that he was dangerous, because for some reason Raven couldn't sense his energy at all. No life radiated from him, no emptiness either, he just felt like a... a nothing, he didn't seem to exist. "You gonna' come down and fight or do I have to persuade you!?" He yelled up to the half-demon, grinning and exposing his razor-sharp teeth.
Raven waved her hand dismissively and sent a few trashcans hurtling at the strange Anti-Titan, who responded by punching the first of the lot so hard that it flew back and knocked the rest off-course.
"Now that's just underhanded." He said, smiling never leaving his face. "Alright, you wanna play like that...?" He jumped off the city hall and disappeared, Raven raised an eyebrow at the apparent surrender.
Robin was busy with Ravager, she had drawn a sword and begun taking slightly lazy but still lethal swipes at the Boy Wonder, so in response he drew one of his retractable staffs and began fighting back. As their respective weapons clashed the female warrior smiled with amusement, "You are skilled, that is refreshing."
"I bet this'll be refreshing too!" Robin responded as he broke the staff into two pieces against his opponents sword, and used her temporary surprise to swing around and smash her on the side of her skull with one.
Meanwhile Beast Boy had taken the shape of a gorilla and was struggling to keep the upper hand against the surprisingly nimble skull-headed man, who could probably match Cyborg in strength but had obviously decided to be a bit less predictable. Skull, as he imaginatively called himself, was strong enough to go toe-to toe with any of the changeling's forms, and fast enough to dodge or counter any of his attacks. The changeling morphed a bull and made to charge, but Skull grasped the poor Beast by his horns, swung him around, and smashed him directly into the roof, shaking the whole building.
At the same time, Cyborg was struck by one of the electric girl's lightning bolts as he was charging his sonic cannon, resulting in a catastrophic malfunction and the weapon exploding magnificently, also completely caving in the roof of City Hall.
"Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!" Raven shouted, using her powers to stop the debris from crushing her friends and any innocents within the building. After a moments struggle she closed her fists and smashed the pieces of the roof into dust; so the Hall would need cleaning, but it was better to clean dust than blood.
Suddenly, the blue-eyed boy from before came flying out of nowhere and grabbed Raven from behind, the surprise breaking her concentration and causing them both to plummet into the rubble with their teammates.
Starfire battled the Witch girl high above the commotion, but had lost the upper hand as her adversary was completely intangible even to starbolts. Every few moments the Witch would become visible and swipe and the Tamaranean with her fingers, not hurting her physically but sapping her emotions and strength each time. Gradually, the aerial skirmish became closer and closer to the ground until Star had no joy left to fuel her powers, and the last swipe knocked her unconscious, she too, fell into the ruined building.
When the dust cleared and Raven's eyes opened she found that she was still in the grasp of the blue eyed boy, his arms were wrapped around her, holding her in the shadows, she struggled to break away but he made a "Shush." noise and tightened his grip. The spell caster from Azarath looked up, and saw her comrades lying about, broken and defeated, all except for Robin, who held the Ravager in a choke hold and had the blade of a Birdarang at her throat. The other Anti-Titans all seemed to think this hostage situation was hilarious and made no move to help.
"Leave now or I'll end her!" Robin rasped, blood trickling out of the side of his mouth from the fall and mixing with the dust on his face.
"Oh please, you're Batman's little bitch, you couldn't kill anyone if you tried!" The Witch Girl laughed as she telekinetically lifted Starfire into the air. "How's this, you release our leader or I tear out all nine of her stomachs."
Robin was barely conscious to begin with, so this was too much, there was nothing he could do, he allowed Ravager to shrug out of his grasp. She turned slowly and took the birdarang from his hand, he did not resist in his submission, and then she stabbed the blade into his stomach, over and over and over, until he slumped palely to the ground.
Raven gasped but her captor put a hand over her mouth, the very action of which caused a flood of images to assault her mind, his origin, test tubes and beakers, vials filled with evil liquids, stolen blood, transfusion, power, death, rebirth, more power.
He released her then, somehow aware of how she'd intruded into his mind, and for a moment the two unholy children stared at each other, and then a lightning bolt struck Raven and she fell limply to the ground.
"What were ya doing hiding in the shadows back there maggot!?" Skull asked menacingly, striding up to the blue eyed boy.
"Coping a feel?" The Witch asked with a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip.
"What? No, I was... subduing her." He answered, glancing at the unconscious Titan at his feet.
"Be faster next time Squine." Ravager commanded, though she did so with a completely calm tone of voice.
"Of course Ms. Wilson."
"I'm hungry, let's go." The thunderbolt flinging girl muttered, it was one of the rare times she actually spoke, so the rest of the Anti-Titans took heed and filed out the wrecked building, heading for their HQ.
"Father, mission success." Ravager said into her earpiece.
Slade's slow, distinguished tone filtered back to the team through their cochlear implants. "Excellent my children, come back to base and we'll discuss your next assignment."
Squine slipped a peculiar calling card into Raven's hand before adjusting his bandanna and scratching one of his sideburns idly, taking one last look at the lavender haired enchantress.
"Happy Holidays." He stated to no one in particular, and then he trudged off after his team.