Random Teen Titan story until I can get my head back into the TeenTitans/YoungJustice story I have going.
What's he doing here?
"My man, Slade! What brings you from California to New York ?"
The man who was addressed, Slade, narrowed his one visible eye. "I've come to make a deal." Slade stood near the entrance to the warehouse, his hands folded behind his back, adding to his seemingly contemplative stance.
The flashily suited man that sat across from him began to chuckle heartily. "But my, my, heh heh, what would a criminal mastermind possibly need from a, heh, criminal mastermind?"
Slade watched the despicable excuse for a criminal, almost wondering why he came to this man. But it was apparent that, while the pasty skinned rogue was, chaotic, for lack of a better word, in his methods, he was efficient.
"The deal is this," Slade said smoothly, his voice an antithesis to the other's chipper attitude. "You bring me the sorcerer, Raven, and you'll be able to strike at Robin."
The atmosphere seemed to suddenly get serious, as serious as it could get, with one of them concerned. "Hmm, Batman's birdy-boy, eh?" The suited man with the colored tie seemed to mull it over for a moment.
"You've got yourself a deal, jock. And since it's birdbrain, I'll be carrying this out, free of charge!" the man exclaimed before breaking into a dark chuckle. "One question though, why didn't you go to that, what's his name, Amazing Mumbo fellow?"
"We both know who is the more insane of you two," Slade remarked seriously, to which the other man broke into a heavier fit of laughter.
"First complement I've heard all day! Don't worry about it, the Titans will get the best brand of funny first thing tomorrow!"
"We'll be in touch," Slade stated, deliberately making his way back towards the entrance.
Once the Mercenary vacated the building, the suited man couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in distaste. "Ugh, that guy gives me the creeps," he complained, adjusting the corsage on his lapel.
Slade rubbed his temple to assuage the headache coming on. He would have preferred enlisting the help of any of the Jump City villains, or even those Hive kids, but this particular situation was more dire than that.
And he couldn't have any of those excuses for villains knowing of his condition. Their skills were not enough for this, even though he was already starting to have doubts whether the man he'd chosen was efficient for this. It was of no consequence, he told himself. The Titans were five super-powered children after all. What he really needed was a distraction in order to acquire Raven. After all, she was the only one that could possibly fix what was happening to him.
The headache was coming again.
Slade squeezed shut his single eye, switching his Jet's controls to Autopilot. Taking off his left glove, he could see the skin already beginning to look pasty. He was dying, and he had a feeling that Raven, or rather her father, had something to do with it.
The next day...
It was Saturday at Titan's Tower and the clock finally hit 2 P.M. The team took care of a rampaging Johnny Rancid without too much difficulty, and fortunately, before 12.
Beastboy and Cyborg plopped down on the Lounge room couch and began to play IronKing TekFist. Robin helped Starfire in the kitchen so she wouldn't make anything inedible, while Raven began to read at the far end of the couch.
Beastboy gave up after seven minutes though, because Cyborg was too good at the game.
"That's really cheap dude! How the heck did you even juggle me with that combo!?"
"Because i'm dope at this game, that's all there is too it!" Cy retorted enthusiastically to BB's complaint. "Don't worry, grass stain, you'll get batter after beating arcade mode a couple of hundred times," Cyborg appeased in mock-seriousness.
"Yeah, yeah, i'll get you back in a few minutes," Beastboy retorted before sliding over to Raven.
"So, Rae, whatcha' doin?"
"What dos it look like?" Raven replied monotonously, not having bothered to look at Beastboy. The changeling frowned at Raven's...Raven-ness. Even after they both pretty much became an item, Raven wouldn't let him take her on a date more than once a month. Heck, he still wasn't even allowed in her room!
"C'mon Rae, just making small talk," Beastboy answered, hoping to get more conversation out of her.
This time, Raven shifted her gaze from the book to Beastboy.
"Beastboy."
"Yeah?" he asked expectantly.
"I'm reading," she said before returning to her book. Beastboy resisted the urge to facepalm while sighing irritably.
"Can't we just talk for like 3 minu-"
KA-THOOM
Cutting off Beast Boy's plea was a rather loud explosion, making everyone slightly lose balance from the resulting tremor.
"What was that?" Raven asked. Everyone except Cyborg shrugged as he checked his mechanized arm. Looking over the readouts, he exhaled tiredly.
"Looks like a breach," he announced. "But the strange thing is, no alarms were set off. There's some weird playing cards blocking the entrance lenses though."
Robin instantly tensed.
"Robin? Are you ok?" Starfire asked, concerned. Robins eyes, or rather, his domino mask eyes widened in shock.
"Cyborg, what's the number on the cards?"
"No number at all. Just the Joker wild card."
Beastboy seemed to know what Robin was thinking about, because he jumped off the couch with an incredulous expression.
"Dude, you're not thinking who I think you're thinking..."
"Oh man, not him. Doesn't he operate in like, New York?" Cyborg pitched in, already standing up.
Robin nodded to Starfire, signalling that he would be fine. "I'm afraid so. We need to hurry to the entrance. Titans, Go!"
With the call, the team moved into action, all of them running or flying to their preference. Raven descended to hover on level with Robin.
"So who's this guy that's got you so worried.
"The Joker."
"Who?" Raven queried in confusion.
"Why does the name 'Joker' make you so nervous? Does he make tasteless jokes?" Starfire asked seriously, not getting the connection between 'Joker' and 'Villain'.
"Don't we have someone on the team that does that already?" Raven asked in half-seriousness, causing Cyborg to guffaw while Beastboy shouted an offended "Hey!"
"Don't underestimate the Joker," Robin stated, sobering the teens' atmosphere. "He's unpredictable and at the top of my old mentor's Rogue's Gallery."
"I doubt this 'Joker' can stand a chance if we are all working together," Starfire said confidently, to the agreement of the team.
"I was wondering when you kiddies would show up! So which of you Teen Titans want to rumble with the baddest Villain in town!"
The team, minus Robin sweat-dropped.
"Should I be flattered the Joker knows who we are? I feel confused," Beastboy muttered, causing Cyborg to shrug.
"Joker, why aren't you in Gotham?" Raven asked calmly.
"Dark and scary asks the $3 question. I just felt like it. Now let's start the punchline!" Joker exclaimed before pulling out a gun.
"He's armed!" Cyborg warned, readying his sonic cannon. The Joker pulled the trigger and a flag shot out with the word "BANG!" printed on it. The team watched uncertainly, waiting for an attack. Seconds later, unidentifiable men in clown masks entered the entrance from behind the Joker, wielding weapons ranging from golf clubs to fish, to rubber chickens.
"And I thought Mumbo was creepy," Raven commented, the team moving to intercept the henchman. There seemed to be about ten of the masked creeps, so Cyborg and Beastboy covered one side, Starfire and Raven, the other, while Robin went for Joker while kocking out any of the henchman that got in his path.
Beastboy tried to keep a straight face when he ducked under a swung rubber chicken, and at the same time morphing into a ram. Charging the hapless cronie into the one Cyborg was trading punches with, Beastboy reverted back to human form, running with Cyborg to take down some more.
"Seriously, how can anyone keep a straight face when facing guys like these?" Beastboy asked rhetorically, jumping over a henchman's wild swing and landing on his arm. The man was then knocked out after being body-pressed by a green elephant.
"Dunno. But what's the Joker even doing here? In Jump City, California of all places?" Cy asked in turn, sidestepping a swung bat and clubbing the masked criminal in the face. That was the last henchman on their side, and they turned to see Starfire and Raven take care of the last few on their's. Starfire shot a golf club right out of one cronie's hand before he was knocked out by a chair lifted by dark magic.
"That must be all of them, yes?" Starfire asked after reconvening with Beast Boy and Cyborg. They nodded, and began to move to help Robin.
"Hmm," Joker muttered, having seen the kids take down his henchman with relative ease. "I was hoping at least one of my henchman was still conscious! Now how can I kidnap Robin!?" he said aloud, obviously distraught with his plan going south a little.
"So this is all some revenge scheme?" Robin asked, his question more accusatory in nature, as he held three birdarangs at the ready in case the Joker decided to make any sudden movements. The Joker exhaled irritably as though he weren't worried in the least.
"Well, this is what I get for making a deal with that guy. Oh well, you kids aren't my kinds of heroes anyway. This city's too "kid friendly"," the suited villain said, raising his hands in surrender.
"Here's my good-bye present!" he shouted, shooting his hands up into the air. Two small metal balls flew out of his sleeves towards the titans behind Robin, and the Joker took the opportunity to make a run for it. Cyborg yelled "look out!" and everyone made a dive for it.
Unfortunately, Raven was the last to react, a bit of the gas spewing from the metal balls reaching her nose. No one noticed her cough lightly before Robin threw his freeze discs, effectively dispelling the green tinted gas.
"Everyone OK? No one breathed that stuff in, did they?" Robin asked worriedly. The rest of the titans shook their heads and Robin visibly relaxed.
"Looks like Joker won't be coming back here. Seems like he was working with someone," Robin uttered, his thumb and index finger hooked around his chin. "All we have to do is tie these guys up."
"Guys, the bright side," Beastboy said as they began to tie up the unconscious criminals. "We can brag to Titans East that we tangled with the Joker!" he said with a laugh.
After the Jump City police picked up the criminals from the Tower entrance, everything pretty much returned to normalcy. Beastboy and Cyborg resumed playing their video game while Raven continued to read. Starfire sat with Robin as he explained some of the lyrics on the song he was listening to.
"Hey Cy, mind playing a few rounds without me?"
"No prob, BB."
Beastboy jumped over to Raven's side of the couch, worry etched on his face. "Rae, you feeling okay? You've been coughing for the past hour."
"Thanks, Beastboy. I'm fine-" Raven's coughing cut herself off. An idea came to Beastboy's mind to lighten the mood.
"Hey, don't tell me you're sick of the Joker already? Huh?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. To his surprise, Raven began to giggle at his joke. BeastBoy's eyes widened as Raven's giggle started to become a laugh. Beastboy started to join in. "Heh, that was pretty funny, wasn't it?"
At that point, Raven was attempting to cover her mouth as she started to laugh harder. BeastBoy began to get nervous. There was no way Raven found his joke to be that funny. Even Cyborg paused his game, looking over at Beastboy and Raven.
"BB, did you actually just make a good joke?" Cyborg questioned with a raised brow. Beastboy could only shrug helplessly.
"Can't, hah, stop laughing, heh heh, for some reason!" Raven ground out between fits of giggles and holding her stomach as she guffawed. Beastboy sweatdropped before realizing what must have been happening.
"Robin! I think the Joker's gas-ball thingy must have got her!" He yelled to the team leader, who instantly ran over.
"Raven, do you feel able to stop laughing?" Robin asked calmly. Raven, in between uncharacteristic laughs, said that she couldn't.
"Dude, don't tell me she's going to laugh herself to death!"
"Don't worry, I have the antidote," Robin assured, pulling a harmless looking lid covered needle from his utility belt and injected it into Raven's neck. Her laughs instantly transitioned into a tired groan as she passed out.
"Robin, what did you just do?" Beastboy exclaimed irrationally.
"The antidote. She'll be fine with a few hours' rest," Robin assured the changeling, not taking Beastboy's anger personally. "We need to get her checked out and get her to her room."
Beastboy nodded and Cyborg helped him lift Raven and the team made their way towards the med room.
The team waited outside of Raven's room while Beastboy made his way out and closed the door.
"Now I see why the Joker's such a bad dude," he muttered with a depressed sigh.
"Do not worry yourself, friend Beastboy. Robin says that with bed rest, she will recover in just two hours," Starfire said with a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Robin and Cyborg nodded their agreements.
"Yeah man, don't worry. She's a tough girl. Just give her some sleep."
Beastboy nodded at Cyborg's words. But something was telling him there was more to this than what just happened.
