Titans Dynamics

A long shrill wail echoed throughout the hallways and into the night, shattering any chances of a successful and comfortable sleep. Grumbling something softly, most likely a curse, the teenager jumped out of his bed and realized something just before he opened his door. His eyes were not concealed. If they saw through those pupils of endless tragedy, hopeless despair…

Of all, he knew that a violet haired sorceress would understand his pain. She had gone through as much, or even more difficulties through her childhood, and as much as they hated to say it, there was probably more to come. The black haired boy mumbled something sorrowfully. Raven could often mask her real emotions with what her friends hoped she felt. She always hid behind the deadpan face, her secrets left to be explored, if admitted. But Raven was not one to open up to anyone, not even himself, the team leader, and that was that.

Robin slipped on his mask, and took a quick glance at the digital clock before rushing through the door. It read 2:00am. He swore under his breath. This had better be worth it…

He made it to the main room first, where he would give a quick analysis to his team and then they would depart. The alarm continuously flared red, singing off the siren in high shrill notes. A black shadow appeared on the floor beside him and rose up in the form of a black bird.

It reverted to its original form; violet hair with two piercing orbs of the same color to match. Her navy cloak swirled casually around her as she floated a few inches off the ground, apparently it didn't require an air source to move. The medallion that pinned the cloak together gleamed as it flashed red with the alarm, its gold sparkling with each beep. A small opening within the cloak revealed that she had crossed her arms and was waiting patiently for the others' arrival. The sequence in which the titans came always seemed to be the same, with the exception of either Robin or Raven arriving first.

The automatic doors behind Raven opened and the area of the elevator was in eyesight. On its surface stood a teenager in his later years. But unlike Robin, he wasn't entirely human. He was half machine. The cybernetic blue parts that made up most of his persona glowed with the energy that flowed within them. He moved forward in a strong, long stride, his strength easily noted by the muscle trims on his African skin and the mechanical parts surrounding it. He was Victor Stone, codename Cyborg. Nodding respectfully to the two co-founders of the team, Cyborg stopped at Raven's other side, his own arms now crossing like the maiden's beside him.

A swoosh announced the arrival of the next member of the team, a valiant beauty that flew before them. She was a joy that the earth had never experienced before; she came from the distant planet of Tamaran. She was very calm and elegant in her nature, and she landed gracefully before Robin with a small smile at the lips. She was Princess Koriand'r, or as most knew her, Starfire. Though very naïve when it came to earth's cultures and customs, she wasn't daft. Her intellect far surpassed that of a normal human being, capable of naming the dynamics of an element or atom without much thought. Her emerald green eyes shone with a brilliance that none could quite describe; inspiration and excitement filling her gaze. Though their line of duty was danger and sometimes even life threatening, it gave her a sense of righteousness and justice that kept her character in check.

The quartet waited in silence for a minute, all staring at the ground and waiting, listening to the alarm in the background. It would only be shut off when the team was united and ready to go. The absence of the final member did not surprise them, as this happened occasionally when the alarm began in the early morning. Or late night, whichever you prefer. Robin tapped his foot impatiently. It had already been four minutes since his own rude awakening, his temperament was not as relaxed as usual. He was about to open his communicator and yell at the final teammate to hurry up when he noticed that the levitating girl beside him no longer had violet orbs staring into space. It had gone an eerie white, and another black shadow formed in front of the group. The black bird formed once more and gave a mighty cry before flapping its wings and heaving upwards. The party hung along in silence as they heard the distressful sounds of their last bickering teammate.

"Raven! Awww, come on, let me go! Dudes, tell her to leave me alone!" His tone complained about how rushed he was, it had become quite a routine in the past few days. Raven made her spiritual form dump him on the ground and he landed with a slight groan. He stood up and dusted himself, and the flaring of the alarm finally stopped.

He stood before them with a small, humorous grin on his face. He was the mischief maker and king of the lame random jokes. Not many understood his humor, as it was quite whacked, but all accepted him for who he was, though Raven had been tempted more than once to just throw him out the window.

Out of all of them, he was the youngest, and though he had grown in the recent months, Raven still succeeded him in height and just about everything else as well. He was certain and even made an oath to himself that someday, he would be taller than Robin. It was a somewhat stale hope, as the boy wonder was quite a few inches taller than him, but somehow, he would manage it. He could only dream to be as tall as Starfire or Cyborg.

His green eyes flashed as he remembered that day in front of the mirror, flexing his muscles and imagining himself to be taller. His arms were stringy in a sense, but he had a lot of strength within his other forms. He could change into other animals. A changeling. And unlike most of the human race, he was green. He was Garfield Logan, codename Beast Boy.

"Well, its 2:05 in the bloody morning! Who's the culprit?" Beast Boy asked, his tone hinting traces of annoyance. Raven sensed this, and rolled her eyes. He was always late, yet he always seemed to retain his original sense of… Raven paused. Sense of what? Laziness? She sighed. Her mind often thought cruel things at night, as she never really was able to get to sleep lately. Nightmares and visions haunted her mindscape, tearing her calm demeanor apart…

Character, she decided. That was the best way to describe it. Starfire slightly giggled at his expression and Beast Boy blinked in confusion. Robin typed some words on the keyboard. Robin stared in silence at the answer for a few moments.

"Well?" Beast Boy questioned, staring at the black cape of his leader.

"Its…" Robin started, putting the picture onscreen.

"A portal." Raven stated simply.

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"Raven, can you track where it's coming from?"

"Earth."

"That's not funny, Rae."

"I'm serious."

"We shall make with the haste, yes?"

"Yeah, Star."

"Raven, can you be more specific?"

"It's another dimension parallel to our own which just happens to be called Earth and has the exact qualities and features that this one does."

"…"

"Really?"

"Yes!" Raven shouted in frustration, and closed her communicator. They could be such idiots at times. She floated over the city, determining the location of the swirling vortex. Though the local authorities had said there seemed to be a random black hole type thing in the streets, they hadn't said where. She bit back her annoyance and sighed. They could be so useless.

"Rae, you there?"

"Beast Boy, I believe you have angered our friend."

"Me? Boy wonder over here was the one that questioned her answer."

"I just needed to know, all right?"

"But still… You asked Raven and she gave you an honest reply."

"Robin was only trying to be sure, friend Beast Boy."

"You guys just don't get it, do you?"

"Apparently not. Please explain."

Ouch. He really didn't know how he could explain his feelings and thoughts on the matter. It was just… there. For the past few weeks, he had a weird emotion appear every time he was around the silent teen. It was quite new and awkward, making him stutter when he attempted to dialogue with her. It had become quite a daily exercise, and he actually took some of his spare time just to try to fix this new dilemma. He hoped that she didn't notice, but he was sure that hardly anything could escape her protruding gaze. Raven was an expert on listening and reading emotions like an open book. It was quite simple for her, as being an empath was one of her qualities.

His silence revealed that he really didn't know what to say, or how to explain it. The others quieted down, and then realized something. After all this time, Cyborg hadn't spoken once.

"Hey Cy, you doing okay?"

"Friend Cyborg, please respond."

"Cyborg, answer us. Are you there?"

Fuzz and static…

"Cyborg?"

"Hi, you've reached Cyborg's pimp my telephone hotline. I'm not available at the moment because I'm either kicking butt, sleeping, or in trouble with some other dimensional creature that you've never even heard of-" There is a short pause. "Eh, just leave a message after the beep. BEEP!"

"That's… interesting…"

"Please, why does he refer his cybernetic arm telephone as a "Pimp my telephone hotline"?"

"Bwahhahhahahhahhahahhahhahahaha!" Beast Boy couldn't help it, the way she phrased it was hilarious, plus her obvious confusion didn't help matters.

"He's just being creative, Star…" There was a pause. "I hope."

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Raven made a soft landing on 51st street, for she had finally found the portal swirling just in front of her. She had seen the T-Car on its way here, so she already knew that Cyborg had detected it as well. She stood there for what seemed to be 10 minutes, taking hardly any interest in the fact that none of the other titans had tried to buzz her. Peculiar, as they always tended to bug her on it…

She flipped the communicator's top up and down, up and down. After doing this 10 times, she grew aggravated and attempted to call somebody.

"What is taking you all so long? HELLO, anybody home?" She blinked, realizing how out of character that sounded. Who really cared anyway. "I'm on 51st street, the portal is in front of me and none of you are here… Typical."

More silence, and faint traces of fuzz and static. Figures how useless these devices were…

She took a step forwards, and a large cracking sound occurred. She looked down to see that the earth had split under where she had walked on it. Okay… I'II levitate. She had barely made it a few inches off of the ground before she was thrust downwards again, hitting the pavement hard.

"Ouch." She tried to hide the pain in the simple word, but failed. Her head started throbbing. She struggled to get up and realized that she couldn't. Why were the sky and buildings going past her?

"Raven!" A distant voice yelled, and she instantly recognized it as Cyborg. "Hold on, I'll save ya!" Save?

She then noticed that her ankles had gone numb, too cold to feel anything. She took a chance and looked at them, and swore. Purple tendrils had wrapped around them and were dragging her ever closer to the portal…

"Cyborg, wait!" She yelled, a moment too late. He let out a cry and pumped out sonic energy from his cannon, blasting the tendrils to bits. Her movement stopped and she was left staring at the sky, without any blur.

"Told you I'd save you." Cyborg stated proudly, offering her a hand. She blinked in temporary confusion. Was her hypothesis wrong?

If only she were. It was over before it began. Raven was zapped and blacked out. As her consciousness faded away, she heard a thump and cry beside her. Then it was over…

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"Rachel, come on girl, wake up! Rachel Roth, get up!" The desperate voice rang in her ears. Who was Rachel? She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a ceiling, with a slow spinning fan rotating around. She felt soft wafts of air brushing against her face. What happened? An older woman with purple strands of hair looked down sadly at the girl on the floor. Her eyes were filled with tears that threatened to spill.

"I am so, so sorry. I couldn't defend you, he pushed me out of the way and… You fainted."

Raven blinked in confusion. What?

"Who is he?"

"Are you serious?" The woman stared at Raven as if she was mad. "Your father, of course! He was drunk and was going to beat you and I-"

"Oh… I fear I can't remember." Raven cut her off. She really didn't want to know. Besides, this was probably just a dream or something.

"It's just as well, I don't want you to remember him that way. If I knew that he was going to be a drunk for the rest of his life, I wouldn't have married him… I'm so sorry Rachel!" The woman began to cry, the tears spilling down and hitting Raven's face. She flinched as one hit her eye. She rubbed it away and got up, unsure of how to comfort the woman. She was never too good with emotions…

"It's not your fault, you didn't know."

"Oh Rachel, you are always too kind, it's quite a wonder considering how your father treats you…"

Raven was getting annoyed with being called Rachel, but there was nothing really to do at the moment. She tried to grasp what happened before she blacked out. There was a thump and a cry beside her, that much she remembered. It was probably Cyborg, for he was the only titan there at the time. Everyone else was just slow…

Her mind buzzed. Everyone else. Who were they? The sudden memory loss nearly scared her. There was Cyborg, and then… then… She sighed. She really couldn't remember.. After all she had done, she couldn't remember any of it.

"Rachel, Rachel, you okay? You're blanking out on me honey…" Raven attempted to reconnect with her current situation. Rachel? Her name was Raven. Yes, it was Raven, nothing else…

"Do you think you're well enough for school? It was terrible of your father to do this on a Sunday, your night off!"

School? Raven inwardly cringed. Of all the things she had forgotten, she knew for certain that she had never been to school. There was no point in it for her.

"I'll be fine.. Umm… Would it be okay if I took a walk?"

"Sure, but come home soon, you seem a little… Well, lost. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes!" Raven yelled in frustration. The woman backed off and flinched, obviously hurt from the reaction. Raven realized what had happened, and apologized before going out the door. The woman watched her go, the door's closing filling her mind. Hmm…

To Be Continued…