1.
Titan's Tower, night time. All were asleep after a long day of crime fighting. More than one of the Titan's had gone to bed nursing bruises given to them by Brother Blood and his latest class of rejects from the H.I.V.E. Robin especially took a good walloping, and so dispensed with his usual brooding and went straight to bed. Raven was the last to actually fall asleep, as she spent the time before bed meditating, suppressing the feelings of rage, of worry, of satisfaction. All the feelings that she felt when evil stuck its head around the corner. As she meditated, she tried desperately to forget about the dull pain in her shoulder, that little brat Jinx sent her headlong into a wall, then she crashed 50 odd feet to the ground....business as usual.
But by now, she to, had bedded down for the night. This was Titan Tower at its most peaceful, all its occupants had no trouble sleeping through the night, for they knew that there were extensive and elaborate security systems to keep watch while they slept. Security systems that were, until this night (and just once before that......kind of), impenetrable.
At the front door, a dark figure worked, silently pulling gadgets out of a backpack thrown over both shoulders. The main instrument he employed was an electro magnetic pulse generator, designed to knock out the electronic door locks and all surrounding video equipment for approximately five hours, he'd use it more than once on his way inside, knocking out video camera's and motion detectors as he went; it was an ingenious little device.
Its user, a man of average build, was encased entirely in black, wearing a black jump suit and a black mask, lacking even eye holes, forcing him to squint through the thin fabric. His eyes were good though, he knew his eyes were good, he knew that even through the mask in the dead of night, there was no way he could mess this up, he'd been planning it for too long.
The door lock clicked and slid open with no further resistance. The intruder, having studied the floor plans of the tower for weeks now, wasted no time in stealthily jogging towards his objective.
His breathing echoed into his ears off of the mask drawn in front of his face, but he was the only one awake to hear it; this he knew. He'd made a note to find out when it was the Titan's stopped their patrols of the city, and finally called it a night. Though he could never be sure they were all asleep, he'd seen them all return, and waited another hour before making his entrance. Since all the lights were off, and there was no noise coming from anywhere, he was getting more confident with every step that he'd picked the perfect time to invade Titan Tower, and that no one would disturb him.
He knew in his heart, they were all asleep.
He got to the bedrooms of the tower, there were five of them, and he'd memorized the order. The one he was looking for was down the second corridor on the left, and the treasure he was looking for lay beyond. He got out what he needed to conquer the bedroom door, which was a sliding door that responded to movement in front of it, but when it was locked it only worked from inside the room, so a little coaxing was required to gain entrance. He pulled from his pack a small device with an electronic scrambling program–designed to make the door think the hall was in fact the inside of the room, thus thinking his presence meant it was supposed to open–and placed it on the door. He punched a few numbers and it blinked to life, slowly calculating what needed calculating, and the door popped open. He grabbed the device back off the door as it slid and returned it to his pack. The whole process was a little louder than he would have liked, but he saw the occupant of the bed, and judging by movement and reaction, he'd not been heard. He walked calmly into the room, and on to his target.
He went back into his pack, pulling from it a large black bag and the most basic instrument he'd bothered to bring along, a stun gun. He looked at it for a moment with a smirk on his face, all the simplicity in the world, it was a wonder no one had tried it before. Sure, he'd modified it a little, upping the voltage in order to deliver a definite knockout, but essentially it was the simple stun gun that people bought for their own personal protection.
The bed's occupant stirred a little again, turning over on her side, letting her jaw length purple hair cascade over her face a little, and he knew he had to hurry or he would miss his chance. He walked up to the beds side and took position. Quickly, he planted a hand over her mouth, instantly waking her up but not letting her shout in surprise. Her eyes grew wide with surprise as she realised what was happening, but it was too late to do anything. A second later, white hot lightning shot through her body, as he planted the stun gun at the base of her neck. After a moment exposed to the current, her eyes closed and her body went limp.
She was out.
He put her in a sitting position and threw the bag over her head, slowly working it down until it was at her feet, then pulled a drawstring and closed the bag around her ankles, tying the access string off. He pulled her limp lifeless body up over his shoulder, and started the journey back outside, closing all the doors as he went. No evidence existed that showed he was ever there. He figured he'd have at least a days head start before someone in the tower noticed one of their own was MIA.
After all, no one would find it weird to not see Raven around.
Not for a while, anyway.
2.
Starfire awoke by stretching a crick out of her back, clearly the fight with H.I.V.E was going to be felt until at least lunch time. Nevertheless, it was going to be a good day. They'd shut down H.I.V.E again, and it would take weeks for Brother Blood and company to recover. That meant that today they would have a day off for a change, which suited Starfire (and, she imagined, the rest of the group as well) just fine. She dressed quickly and walked confidently out of her bedroom door, to greet what she hoped would be a sunny, sunny day.
When she got to the main hall, all were already awake, except, it appeared, Raven. No surprise there really, she was probably reading a book or meditating, in the quiet darkness of her own room. It was typical for her to stay in her room until someone went and got her for lunch, which by Starfire's count was still a few hours away. She sat down on the couch, not really beside anyone but Beast Boy was on the other end, eyes glued to the TV. The show that was on was one of the human 'reality TV' things, some woman eating a bowl full of worms. Quite a delicacy back home, but by Beast Boy's reactions, Starfire deemed it decidedly less than a delicacy here on earth.
Robin saw her walk in the room, and without her realizing it, had gotten up and poured her a cup of tea, the only breakfast related drink that Starfire would touch, she said coffee tasted 'wrong', and so would never drink it. He slid into the seat beside her and passed her the cup, which was sitting comfortably on a saucer of matching design, by far the most ritzy item in the tower, and no one remembered who brought it (but they suspected Beast Boy, just to annoy him).
"Morning," Robin said, smiling at her.
"Good Morning!"
She was wearing that smile that only Starfire could wear and not look completely insane. Robin loved that smile.
3.
At first there was nothing, just a harsh, dreamless black. That kind of sleep that has been forced on you, a state of restless unconsciousness. There was that, like a veil over her, and she struggled against it, but there was no getting through. The only way out was to let it hoist itself away, let the veil be lifted and the world revealed again.
She never told anyone this, but sometimes, she was scared of the dark. This kind, this total, strangling darkness, terrified her.
Slowly, and painfully, still under the veil, she opened her eyes. There was a haze, this blinding haze, she couldn't see. She tried to say something but there was something over her mouth, and she couldn't utter a word, tried to move but couldn't, tried to do anything but was unsuccessful.
The haze was slowly clearing and her eyes were focussing, though on what she could not really be sure. There were a lot of blinking lights, red, green, yellow, she could have been looking at a slightly skewed night sky if not for what the lights were set into, which looked like a series of computer panels and various bits of circuitry. There were thick wires snaking along every inch of the ground, some leading straight toward her, and up to her feet, which she realized were held immobile in some sort of platform. It was of the same computer motif, and her feet were locked into it up to the middle of her shin. She tried to shake them loose, but there wasn't an inch of give; they were stuck. Perhaps she could get down there and pull them out with her.....hands. They were trapped too, much the same way as her feet, they were stretched up over her head and locked into the same Star Trek looking design. They were pulled high up, too, there wasn't much room for her to move this way. It wouldn't be long until her shoulders cramped up, but that was the least of her concerns right now.
She tried to determine exactly where she was being held, which was a futile manoeuver at best, since her field of vision was limited, and all she could see from the left all the way over to the right was that mish mash of computer parts, none of which matched the piece that it was next to. It absolutely smacked of being stolen, though such lines of thought were hardly relevant given her present situation.
There was a door in the wall directly across from her, and it was the only accessible thing in the whole room, the only thing not covered in various computer debris, meaning that someone required easy access to this seemingly random collection of....stuff.
Only two things were clear to Raven then; one, she'd been kidnapped; and two, whoever did it knew exactly how to immobilize her. Held as she was, her powers were essentially useless.
The door slid open, and a figure silhouetted against a strong light stepped in. He looked down at a few of the panels and view screens on the way, checking for who know's what, then walked slowly and deliberately toward Raven.
For the first time in a long time, she felt completely afraid.
Who was this man? What was he planning? Why had he done what he did? She tried to ask but could only manage a few grunts and squeals from behind whatever was around her mouth.
"You're awake then?" He said, in a rather smooth, masculine voice. His voice reminded her painfully of Slade, but this voice was deeper than his, and had more emotion tied to it. She knew she couldn't speak, so she made her reply in the form of struggling against her restraints.
"I wouldn't do that," he said, "you'll only hurt yourself.".
The door slid closed again behind him, eradicating the silhouette and revealing his face for the first time. He was a young man, maybe mid twenties, with piercing blue eyes, and a scraped chin. In another situation Raven might have thought him handsome, but this was not the time for that kind of situation.
As it was, she was still scared beyond her ability to comprehend.
He leaned over a screen that was near her, to the left. He read what was on it, completely enthralled, his eyes getting steadily wider as he read. Whatever it was, to him it was good news.
"Looks, like you're ready to begin. I warn you, this might hurt a little." He pulled a remote from the breast pocket of his shirt, looking up at Raven through squinted eyes. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, and she stared intently at the control device.
With no further performance, he activated the remote.
Pain, and whatever people commonly associate with the word, was not a word to do justice to what happened to Raven then. It started at her arms and legs, and radiated through her entire body, until she was wrapped in it like a blanket. She'd been electrocuted once or twice in her line of work, and the feeling she felt now could be associated perhaps with that, only a million times worse. She thrashed against her restraints, and screamed as best she could, but the feeling continued. For a full thirty seconds it continued. Her vision was lined with red, she could feel her fingers going numb, she thought she was going to die. It felt like whatever he was doing was taking a piece of her away, sucking her dry. She was awake for every horrid moment, and did not pass out until he switched it back off again.
She went limp against her bonds, her head hanging down between her suspended arms. Her captor looked down at that same monitor again, and was again pleased with what it said.
"Very good. Very good indeed."
