A/N: Not much to say right now. I always feel like my chapters are too short and rushed. I also feel like I'm terrible at action sequences, but I'm trying to get better at that. Almost forgot! A time frame for this story. It happens after Trouble in Tokyo. As for ages I'm going to go with this: Cyborg - 17 almost 18, Starfire and Robin - 16 almost 17. Raven - 16 and a half, Beast Boy - Just barely 16. Other than that, sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Disclaimer: Teen Titans and all related works are owned by DC Entertainment and Warner Brothers Studios, not me or anyone even remotely related to me.
Enter Payne
Bones sinking like stones/All that we've fought for/Homes, places we've grown/All of us are done for – Coldplay "Don't Panic"
It was a particularly average day in Jump City. There hadn't been a supervillian attack in days, and the Teen Titans were enjoying their break from crime fighting. In fact, all the teens were in the common room of the tower, each relaxing and enjoying their time off. Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg were playing video games, Raven was reading a book, doing her best to ignore the trio of boys and their trash talk, and Starfire was grooming Silkie, while occasionally glancing over at her boyfriend and sighing wistfully. All in all, the most unusual thing about the day was that Beast Boy was actually beating both Cyborg and Robin, much to the other two's chagrin.
"Come on Beast Boy, you can do this," the green teen mumbled to himself, displaying an uncanny amount of focus and determination. "One more lap, and you'll have finally beaten Cyborg without cheat codes." Just as Beast Boy was nearing the finish line, which would win him the game, the TV cut out, and a red warning siren flared up. "NO!" Beast Boy shouted, falling to the ground in a heap; his dreams shattered. Robin jumped up and immediately ran over to his computer, bringing up what caused the alarm.
"Yo Rob, what seems to be the trouble? Mumbo break out of jail? Control Freak get his hands on his remote again?" Cyborg said.
"Worse…much worse." Robin growled, his brow furrowing.
"Please tell me that it is not Slade." Starfire said, worry flashing across her face. Robin didn't respond, instead he merely turned his monitor around, showing everyone what had caused him to anger. The team responded quickly and efficiently, Starfire and Raven taking to the skies while the boys headed to the T-Car. It wasn't long before they arrived in the panic that was now downtown Jump City.
"TITANS! GO!" That was all the team needed to hear. Within the blink of an eye, the five teenaged heroes advanced on their foe, who, to the common passerby, looked to be the average man. Lanky build, brown hair, brown eyes, dressed in jeans, work boots, a flat cap, a simple white tee and a brown blazer, no taller than six foot even; he looked no more dangerous than any other man you'd see on the street. Of course, if one looked at the scene surrounding the group, you'd realize the man was extremely dangerous, judging by the damage that was at his feet. People were laying on the ground around him, unconscious or writhing in agony.
"Now, now, children," the man said in a tone dripping with snide condescension, a very slight Cockney accent hidden in his voice, "Why don't you back off, and let the real heroes handle me. There's no way a group of teenagers could handle a man as dangerous as myself. He…he…he."
"We'll see about that," the young leader of the group, replied, malice falling off of his words. "I don't know who you are or why you've done this, but it will be my team that brings you to justice." He then threw several bird-a-rangs at the man, who expertly and effortlessly dodged them. However, he soon was faced with a large, green gorilla, who was charging him full force. He nimbly side-stepped the ape though, and it was become increasingly obvious that the man was as agile as he looked. After skirting Beast Boy, he ducked underneath some rubble, which was still surrounded by Raven's dark energy. He then raced forward, quickly approaching the team's leader, all while dodging starbolts, sonic shots, and exploding discs.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Robin's head, his hand covering the boy wonder's face entirely. "Now you'll see, young man, why they call me Payne." Suddenly red electricity burst out of the man's hand. Robin began screaming in agony, desperately trying to get away from his foe. But it was no use, the man's grasp was far too tight. However, the villain let go, as a mix of green and blue energy shot at him from above and behind. Robin, released of his enemy's grip, slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"You will let my boyfriend go!" Starfire shouted, her eyes burning with righteous fury.
"No one gets away with hurting my friend like that!" Cyborg shouted simultaneously, his arm still in its sonic cannon form.
"Now, now, robo-man, you'll find that your friend is mostly undamaged." The villain continued, a grin plastered to his face. He proceeded to back away from the four remaining titans, before saying, "However, I grow weary of babysitting you five. If you excuse me, I must be going, other duties to attend to and what not." With that, the man hit a button on what appeared to be his watch and was bathed in an eerie light, teleporting to some unknown location. Upon his retreat, Starfire immediately flew to Robin's side, who was still out cold. Cyborg and Beast Boy examined the area where their unknown assailant previously stood.
Starfire turned to Raven, who was in the process of healing the boy, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Friend Raven, please tell me he will be alright. Oh, he just has to be."
"Calm down Starfire, he's just unconscious." Raven responded.
"Then that means you can heal him right?"
"That's the thing Starfire, for some reason, I just can't seem to heal him at all. We're going to need a better examination of him before we can fix him up." With that, Starfire scooped up her boyfriend, unsure of what she should do next. Raven merely pulled up her hood, hiding her face from the others.
"That's odd." Cyborg said, his arm scanning the area where this man who called himself Payne stood moments ago.
"What's odd, dude?" Beast Boy responded, quickly looking between Cyborg's scanner and the spot where their enemy stood seconds before.
"Well, normally teleporters leave an energy signature or a radiation trail in the area where they worked. But I'm not picking anything up. It's like he vanished or something."
"Weird." Beast Boy replied. He then shifted into a bloodhound, and sniffed the ground. He gave a howl, before switching back to his human form. "I don't smell anything either. You're right, it's like he's gone without a trace."
"Guys," Raven interrupted, in her usual dry monotone, "I think we should head back to the tower. We need to run some tests on Robin."
"Gotcha Raven," Cyborg responded, folding the scanner back into his arm and pulling out the keys to his car.
On their way to the T-Car, Beast Boy lightly grabbed Raven's arm, getting her attention. "What happened back there, Rae?" The green changeling asked, worry tingeing his voice. "Why didn't your powers heal him?"
"I…I don't know Gar. I honestly can't think of a reason why my powers didn't work."
"Well, it is Robin after all." Beast Boy chirped, optimism returning to his tone, "I'm sure he'll be back on his feet in no time."
"Let's hope so Beast Boy…let's hope so."
After a morose drive back to the tower, Cyborg quickly hooked Robin up to some medical equipment, and began running various scans on the boy wonder. After a couple hours of work, the robotic teen approached the rest of the group, who had been spending their time in the common room, waiting for his results. "Well the good news is that Robin's physically fine. He suffered nothing more than some minor contusions from the guy's grip. Dude sure was strong for being such a lanky guy." Everyone perked up at that, Starfire especially seemed happy. "The bad news is that whatever the guy did to him did some serious mental trauma. From his readings, this Pain guy managed to directly stimulate every nerve in Robin's face to give out massive trauma signals."
"Whoa, slow down, dude," Beast Boy chimed in, "What exactly are you saying."
"What I'm saying," Cyborg continued, slight aggravation in his tone, "Is that this guy managed to trick Robin's brain into thinking it was in extreme pain, without ever actually hurting him."
"Well, that explains why my powers didn't work," Raven said. Everyone turned and looked at her expectantly. She sighed and continued on, "My powers work by locating and isolating whatever damage has caused the pain, and removing it. Without a source of damage, my healing powers couldn't do anything as it couldn't find any trouble, per se."
"Can anyone around here speak simple English." Beast Boy said, grabbing the sides of his head in mock agony.
"Alright look," Raven said, giving Beast Boy her usual irritated glare, "This guy managed to make Robin's brain shut off by overwhelming it with pain signals. Well, Robin's brain still remained unconscious afterwards, however there was no longer a direct cause for this response, once this Pain or whatever stopped using his powers on him. Thus, I couldn't heal him because the source of duress had literally been removed." Beast Boy still looked confused, but nodded his head as if he understood.
Starfire then turned to Cyborg. "How long do you think it will take for Robin to wake up, friend Cyborg?" The Tamaranian asked.
"Don't know, but it should be soon. Hell, he should be up and walking right now, but he's not."
Suddenly the door swooshed open. "Well, from the looks of it, I'd say I'm doing just fine." Robin stood at the threshold, a smirk plastered to his face.
"Boyfriend Robin!" Starfire squealed, "You are the all better!" She then locked him in one of her vice-like hugs.
"Yeah, just a slight headache, so if you could keep it down a bit." Robin said strained but gently, not wanting to upset his girlfriend any more than she already had been. The rest of the team gave a collective sigh of relief, glad to see that their friend was alright.
"So…" Beast Boy began, "What's our next step?"
"I'm…I'm not sure Beast Boy. This is a new villain, one we don't know a whole lot about. He could be anywhere, waiting for the perfect time to strike again."
"Well, with guys like this you can always be sure that when they come back, they'll make a show of it." Raven snarked.
"And when he does…" Beast Boy continued, "We'll be sure to kick his butt."
Later that night, the team had settled down and, although still uneasy about their new foe, decided to partake in their weekly evening ritual of movie night. It was Cyborg's turn to choose a movie this week, and he had picked out The Grid: Uprisings. However, the metallic teen seemed to be the only one interested in actually watching the film. Starfire and Robin were too…preoccupied with other actions. Raven simply didn't care, as she wasn't a huge sci-fi fan; she was only there to be polite. As for Beast Boy, his thoughts were wandering elsewhere. His eyes kept drifting towards a certain purple-haired teammate, although he darted them back to the movie whenever she looked over at him. He wasn't sure why he kept doing it, it just kept happening, as if his eyes had a mind of their own.
Once the movie ended, each teen gave their respective goodnights, and headed off to bed, tired from the day's events. Right as Beast Boy walked into his room, however, a black claw grabbed him, swung him around, and pulled him back out into the hallway. As he flew through the various twists and turns in the tower, it wasn't long before he realized where he was heading…Raven's room. The door to her room opened and he was dragged across the threshold, putting him right in front of the pale girl.
The two teens looked at each other for a second, Beast Boy slightly terrified and Raven slightly irritated, before Raven gave a sigh and said, "Don't think I didn't notice what you were doing tonight." Beast Boy gave her his traditional blank stare. She sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and continued on. "You were staring at me, the entire night."
Realization hit the green changeling like a ton of bricks. Panic replaced all rational thought as two ideas were racing through the poor teen's head. One was saying, "She is going to kill me!" while the other was saying, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Beast Boy tried to act on the later, but he had forgotten he was still ensnared by Raven's magic. After a couple seconds of futile struggling, Beast Boy gave up and braced himself for the defenestration he was about to receive. But after nothing happened for a minute or two, Beast Boy tentatively opened his eyes. He was sitting on his bed, in his room. "Okay," he said to no one in particular, "How'd I end up back here? Was it all a dream? I think I need lay off the hot sauce." With that, he fell back onto his pillow and was asleep in a matter of seconds.
Meanwhile, in a completely different part of the city, Payne walked into a dark warehouse. Shadowy figures surrounded him, talking quietly amongst themselves. However, the villain walked up to one of the figures and gave an elaborate bow. "I have done as you asked, sir," Payne said to the figure in front of him, "The Titans know of my existence, although why you're worried about these children is beyond me."
"Silence Payne." The shadowy figure responded in a booming baritone. "I don't pay you to think. You only need to concern yourself with the tasks that I give you and nothing more. You may take your leave."
"As you wish, my master." Payne then bowed again and retreated into the darkness that filled the building.
"Soon…" The shadowy figured continued, "Soon, the Titans will be struck powerless, and I will spread the word to the people of Jump City." The silhouettes all murmured in agreement. "And the word is…madness. He… he… ha… ha… aha… AHA… AHAHAHA!" The others began laughing in harmony with their leader, a maddening chorus that sounded like a scream to the outside world.
A/N: Not quite sure what to say here, so I'll make it short and sweet. I haven't submitted anything to this site in a long time, and even then it was under a different user name. A somewhat dark set-up to a somewhat dark story. But don't worry, there shall be fluff and humor. I guess I laid the BBxRae a little heavy in this chapter, but I actually need to establish that relationship, unlike with Rob and Star. I'll try to keep everyone in character, but if I stray don't hesitate to tell me. Constructive criticism is appreciated. And point out any spelling and grammar mistakes I make; I type fast and tend to miss things when proofreading.