From Five to Four Ch 1
Disclaimer – I do not own any characters in this story. The plot idea is the only thing that is strictly mine.
Ten
"Starfire! Raven! Beast Boy!" Robin furiously yelled, "Evacuate the people out of the buildings on the entire block now! Two buildings a person."
The three of them nodded, just as eager to get going and save the peoples' lives.
"Cyborg and I will try to find and deactivate the device. There will be no mistakes. This block houses some of the most successful business centers of the entire city. We cannot lose anything or anyone more than we need. Clear?"
More nods to the leader.
There was a bomb. Hidden somewhere above, beneath, or in one of the six buildings on the block was a heavy-duty bomb that the villain none other than Slade had set. That was all the mysterious man had given them; they had nothing else to go by. Robin and Cyborg had quite a task on their hands.
"I'll take the first two," Raven declared, pointing to two matching gray concrete buildings.
"Then I will take the next pair," Starfire followed, moving in front of her respective buildings. These two buildings were not matching like the first two, but they shared a similar color scheme: navy blue and bright white. These buildings were slightly more modernized, consisting of both metal and concrete.
"I'll get the last two then," Beast Boy confirmed, looking at the female Titans beside him. He stood in front of two completely modernized buildings, their fronts completely covered with shiny, black-tinted glass. The metal supports ran through the four corners of the immensely tall buildings. Surely stable for an earthquake, but for a dangerous bomb? Only experience would tell.
Nine
With slight nods of the head, all three sprang into action.
Raven flew straight through the automatic sliding doors, immediately heading to the front desk.
"There's an emergency and everyone in this building needs to clear out! Where is your announcement or PA system?" The nervous twenty-two year old wearing a pastel colored women's suit with a mid thigh skirt pointed a shaky hand at the button and microphone sitting at the edge of the main desk. Raven marched over to it and slammed her finger down on the small red button.
"Attention all that can hear this message! This is Raven, one of the Teen Titans speaking. There is an emergency and all people need to evacuate, now!" Raven announced over the booming PA system. She removed her finger off the button, listening to see if anyone had started moving. She first heard her own voice reverberate off the concrete walls in quieter and quieter echoes. Silence.
Eight
Then, as realization sunk in, the screeches of metal chairs on tile and screams and shouts began.
Raven backed up from the desk and began directing the rapidly increasing stream of people in suits to a safer area. She glanced at the trembling girl at the front desk. With a kind but serious smile, Raven said, "You know, that means you too."
Nodding briskly, the girl rose from her chair and merged into the line of people.
Once the first building's people had cleared out, Raven shut the front doors and flew over to the other building.
Repeating her process, she flew up to the receptionist's desk. "There is an emergency and everyone in this building needs to evacuate immediately!" she told the man at the table.
"Thank you, Raven, we heard from next door. Good thing their PA system has always been so annoyingly loud."
Indeed, as Raven listened, she heard people already moving down the metal stairs at a quick rate. The click of heels and dress shoes on the stairs made it clear that the people were on the stairs. Soon enough, she saw people walking quickly towards the front entrance through which she entered.
"Join the people standing all the way over there as quickly as you all can, please!" she yelled over the crowd's murmurs and frantic whispers.
Seven
One blonde woman ran up to Raven, dripping sweat. Clearly, she was having some sort of panic attack.
"Raven! What is being done about the emergency? What's going on? Will we be okay? Oh dear, I don't feel too well…" she spoke rapidly, her tongue nearly unable to form the correct sounds to speak coherently.
Raven took hold of the woman's waist as the woman nearly fainted. "Easy there, it's okay. Two of the Titans are already on the job trying to take care of the problem."
The woman started shaking her head like it was attached to a spring. "As citizens of this city, we have a right to know what the heck is wrong!"
"It might be better if you followed the rest of the crowd to safety."
Rambling on and on, the woman frustratingly walked off, rapidly ranting to the person next to her. Even as she approached a distance of thirty feet from Raven, the Titan could see the bobbing and shaking blonde head clearly in the crowd of otherwise generally calm people.
Running out of the empty building herself, Raven whipped out her communicator. "Raven to all Titans. My two buildings are clear. The people are waiting at the safe point."
Six
Soon enough, she got a response.
"Good work, Raven. Help Cyborg and me find the bomb Slade's situated somewhere."
Raven's neck lurched forward a bit, her eyes widening. "You mean to tell me that you guys haven't found it yet?" Her aggravated and slightly worried tone was clear.
"We rushed into your first building as soon as the people cleared out. Our scanners didn't locate the device anywhere in this building. We're going into your second in a moment."
Raven sighed and swallowed, her throat starting to feel a bit thick. Time was crucial. If they hadn't found the actual bomb at three minutes in, they were going to have a problem. "You guys have six minutes. Like you said, Robin, we have no room for mistakes."
Robin gritted his teeth at the repetition of his words. "There won't be any mistakes," he spat back.
Raven sighed internally. Robin seemed to always make these statements, and most of the time they turned out to be completely true. She could only hope that this was one of those times.
A/N - I will update once I hit 5+ reviews! This is a gripping story, so you don't want to miss out!