Author's note: Here it is, chapter 1. sweet. revised 5/12/2007
Began: 2/22/2007
Finished: 2/24/2007
Chapter the First: Encounter
Raven had been meditating when she felt Robin's emotions explode franticly. Sighing to herself she made her way out of her dark room, her eyes easily adjusting to the bright halls. Cyborg tried to be considerate, using softer lights in her hall, but it was rather pointless. Demon physiology had to have some perks, even if she was only half demon. She turned to the common room just as she heard the softened "Titans, trouble!" coming from their fearless leader. Making her way to Robin, she grumbled to herself, wondering at what could possibly be the problem. The alarm hadn't gone off, so what was going on?
Calmly entering the Common Room (also known as the Living Quarters, Rec Room, kitchen, game station, Ops center, and the room with the giant screen though Beast Boy just called it the living room, no caps) Raven noticed at a glance that they were lacking in green (Robin's tights did not count). Cocking her head to the side she looked to their pacing leader, silently inquiring on the situation.
Robin hated doing this: admitting to a mistake. It meant he failed and he did not want to fail, did not want to disappoint. It had taken time for him to accept that he had made a mistake with the whole Red X fiasco, not to mention the Beast incident, now he pulls another one like this? Oh man, if his team didn't hate him before, they were going to now!
"We- have a problem." Okay, stalling isn't going to do much for his situation. He tried to calm himself with deep breaths, but man he hated failing his team. And it was much worse since this was the third time he'd fail Beast Boy.
Cyborg knew the kid was tense: his body language easily declared that fact to him and anyone who could link up to the internet and find various interesting files therein about body language (and failing that, being sociable helps). He'd worried about the pressures of leadership falling upon the shoulders of someone like Robin, the kid was so tightly wound he'd probably make it to a neighboring galaxy if he caved. At the least he'll reach another star, maybe Tameran. He'd tried to keep bird boy from worrying too much, but he stressed on everything. With some people, there's just no helping them.
Starfire looked on curiously. Friend Robin was most anxious. She just hoped she'd be able to help him with whatever it was.
Raven was just impatient to know what was wrong with the fearless leader. Tch, for a fearless leader, he sure stressed out about some of the most insignificant of things. He probably blew something completely out of the water.
"Beast Boy has been taken against his will. He dropped his communicator and a passing civilian contacted me. She described how Beast Boy's legs seemed to move against his will to bring him into an odd establishment. She described it as creepy. That conversation was an hour ago." After further explaining the situation, he stopped. Now, he awaited their judgment.
"The loss of motor control was probably from a spell and failing that, mind control," Raven bit out after a pause. A twitch pulled at the left of her temple. "We're dealing with quite a powerhouse."
Raven's mind raced. She cursed the Boy Blunder for his idiocy; he lived with a freakin' sorceress! Taking time to calm herself, she dismissed the urge to berate Robin. There will be a time and a place for that kind of dressing down. Right now was the time to deal with an enchanter. From the sound of it, this person was quite powerful. Overpowering another's will was difficult; she would need some major firepower. Silently she turned and left to make preparations. There was no time to hesitate, who knows what they wanted with the changeling?
Starfire looked after Raven worriedly. She wasn't sure how exactly she could comfort the reclusive girl. She was just too distant for the Tameranean princess to get a proper read on at times. Robin she knew would be kicking himself over this. She went to her leader and not-so-secret-interest and tried to occupy his mind with plans for the attempted rescue. For now, he needed to be doing something to try to resolve the problem that he believed was his fault. As fond as she was of the teen, his mind worked in ways that were oft times a little too predictable.
Cyborg worked in a rather dazed way, collecting equipment here and there. He had quite a few nifty new things he'd developed that he had wanted to deploy. He just didn't plan on using them in such a serious situation. Who would want to kidnap Beast Boy? The green sprout never did anything too offensive to any major villain (excepting Adonis, ruining the Brotherhood of Evil's plan, etc.). Were they trying to get to the rest of the team? If they were, they did a good job of it. No one messed with one of Cyborg's and gets away scotch free. And if they mess with Beast Boy, that goes double. Sure, the kid was a pest at times but he reminded the half-robot and the rest of the team what they fought to protect.
Robin was still stressing about the dearth of information about Keltaeks. There were no floor plans; it wasn't even on the map. Starfire was trying to help him, and though he was grateful for her intentions, he still blamed himself. He couldn't help it. He'd failed so spectacularly with regards to Beast Boy it was just- just beyond words. First there was Red X, then the Beast incident and now, this. He should have known BB better; he should have remembered how the changeling operated. How could he possibly be a sufficient leader if he knew his team so poorly?
The trip to the garage was silent. Cyborg and Robin made preparations without even glancing at each other. There wasn't anything Cyborg could tell Robin that Star hadn't already said. Starfire and Raven had opted to fly, and the alien was slightly awed by the speed that the empath put on. Soon, the redhead heard the distinct roar of Robin's R-cycle and the soft purr of the T-car behind her.
-I-
When they reached the alley where Beast Boy's com unit was, that was all they found, an alley. Raven was no where to be seen. The metallic teen looked about him in confusion. Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of shop here? Utilizing the various scanners built into him, he tried to divine the situation. Still: nothing.
Robin walked into the alley itself and tried to see if there was more to learn from a different perspective. It was magic, it had to be magic. They'd encountered that before. It was a strange phenomenon but it had to follow some set of rules. It had to. Everything followed a set of rules. Pacing, he tried to dredge up every detail from his past encounters with magic, trying desperately to peg a working solution.
Starfire looked about anxiously. Science was her forte and in all her dabbling at magic with Raven, she never really encountered anything like this. Magic made sense to the sorceress, but it did more to confuse than clarify things for the alien redhead. She looked about hoping beyond hope to find some sign of Raven or Beast Boy or the strangely reported edifice. What she found instead was a discarded Titans com unit.
Picking it up, Starfire turned to report her find to her friends and stopped at the sight before her.
There it was, just as reported; the strange grey wall, the oriental styled building. It was all there. Even the sign read, going down, Keltaek's Knick Knacks and Other Krum.
"Friends, come quickly!"
Cyborg turned to the usually perky girl, a question in his gaze. Spotting the object in her hands, he immediately knew what it was. He'd know Beast Boy's com from everyone else's, that sprout rubs off on anything that comes into contact with him. He always leaves a mark of some sort that just screams 'Beast Boy was here!' at the top of its lungs. It wasn't ominously dirty or anything, just slightly dinged, slightly scratched, more- alive, or at least had the trappings of life about it. There was a certain something to that kid's touch and Cyborg has never been able to put his finger on it.
"You found his com unit, good work Star," exclaimed the masked teen as he made his way out of the alley. He cocked his eyebrow at the strange look that the pretty alien was giving him. Looking behind him, and then looking back at her, Robin found no reason for that strange look on her face. "Uh, Star?"
He got no further than that as Starfire shoved the unit into his hands.
"Please take another examination of the alley," the alien declared. There was a strange quality to her voice and she was still looking at the alley as if there was something to see. Turning around again skeptically, he found that there was indeed something to see.
Cyborg eyed his friends uncertainly as Robin blinked, shook his head, then squinted as if he couldn't quite grasp what his eyes were showing him. Starfire just continued to stare.
"O-kay, what're the two of you gawking at?"
Silently, Robin handed the metal man the communicator. He looked up and promptly dropped the device.
At first, both his eyes saw the building with the fence and all. When he dropped the com though, his mechanical eye stopped registering the image that his organic eye was reporting to his brain (or the half of it that was still there). This proved rather nauseating as his brain desperately tried to sort out what his eyes were reporting. This wasn't possible; a building of that size couldn't possibly fit in there. He looked across the street and found that, yep, he was still occupying the same space. Things seemed slightly elongated to his human eye, but the mechanical eye reported no such thing. Feeling a migraine coming on with such contrary views occupying his brain, he decided to ponder the matter some other time as he picked up BB's communicator. Man that sprout gets into more trouble than he's worth, the metallic man grumbled.
-II-
Raven was marching through the strange shop, or that was what those two at the front said it was. They had quite chirpily informed her that, yes, Beast Boy was still here. She had detected no deception from them (she didn't sense much of anything from them, in fact) and they didn't try to stop her when she said she was going to him. They did say something about how she shouldn't go into the back. She ignored them and now she was practically navigating a maze in these storage rooms.
She cursed under her breath at the things she found here and her inability to phase through walls really sucked. Her soul self couldn't get far either, something here made her extremely anxious to return to her body when she was in her astral form. Finding another door, she turned to check if Beast Boy was there. However, a few feet from the portal, a sudden whirlwind of paper, or at the least, what looked liked paper, condensed into a white wolf like creature. The thing was pure white, and its overall aura was menacing. Whatever it was, it was not to be trifled with, especially since it came up to her just below her chest on its feet.
"You may not pass," growled the paper wolf.
"Get out of my way, I'm not in the mood for this," hissed the half demon, her eyes glowing umbra.
"You may not pass, Lady Raven," stated the wolf again. "That which you seek is not beyond this portal."
"I'll check for myself, but thanks for the heads up," bit out the sorceress as jet missiles fled her fingers to tear white pulp. It did no such thing as a white wall met it instead, paper cancelling the attack.
The wolf growled in warning.
"I will take into account your distress and will leave you unharmed if you turn back now," grit out the wolf, hackles raised. "Another attack and-"
Black waves of energy rose from the floor and rushed the door keeper but white waves appeared to meet the onslaught.
"So be it," declared the warden and the battle was joined. White papers rushed to cut low the dark enchantress but were met with shades that ended their flight. Flying objects some encased in shadow, others not, flew at the wolf but the paper beast was nimble on its paws, and when surrounded, it broke apart only to regenerate in another area. Soon, Raven had exhausted her supply of missiles and was forced to attack with pure cobalt energy. The wolf only grew trickier, cutting her from afar with razor sharp paper and lunging at her with a ferocity that was unnerving.
Raven glared at the paper guardian, her frustration fueling her magic. It was rather difficult reining in that dark destructive power, but luckily she was aiming to destroy anyway. Nothing was going to keep her from Beast Boy. That imp was going to pay for making her worry like this.
Ugh, that damn thing was doing that disintegrate reintegrate thing again. She cursed; this teleportation thing was really annoying. Then she spotted something, a slip of paper that flitted about from where the wolf was to another location. As she watched, paper came forth to reconstruct the wolf's body around the slip. A grim smile graced her lips.
With renewed vigor, Raven went on the offensive, giving no quarter as her black mana tore into the canine. It once again disintegrated, trying desperately to escape the onslaught of pissed-off-female. However, as the slip of paper tried to move to a new location to recuperate, it was encased in a pitch aura. It tried desperately to free itself, but was well and truly trapped. Surrendering, the paper folded into itself and became an origami lupine.
"You've bested me," stated the wolf, its voice neutral. After a pause, it continued. "You may make one request of me that I am bound to grant."
Raven stared contemplatively at the shadow encapsulated wolf. Should she trust it? It was her enemy… but it didn't attack her, technically, she was the one that provoked the engagement. Gah, her emotions had been wrecking havoc with her actions. This was a magical construct; the thing had to obey the laws of magic.
"Very well, lead me to Beast Boy," commanded the dark empath. Turning the lupine pointed with its nose down the hall, away from the portal it had guarded.
"That way."
-III-
The three remaining Titans made their way about the store. It wasn't that big but the fence encased a rather sizeable floor space. There was a patio like set up from the back, with a sliding door. They could see nothing through the strangely opaque orifice. Nothing could be seen through the lattice covered windows either. After a while of trying to find another entrance to the shop they paused, stumped.
Cyborg, with BB's com in hand, tried to scan the structure but found no real openings. His mechanical eye could only get a reading with the thing touching him, the half-android had quickly learned. His sonic cannon had failed to punch a hole through the wall, window and door. Nothing worked, not Star's emerald bolts or Robin's plastique (don't ask him about the thing and he will tell you no lies).
"Hello, is there something you three need?"
The three of them turned toward the source of the voice, taking a small leap back and two of them landed ready to fight with the war princess in the air, hands encased in green energy and eyes aglow. They stared at the seemingly harmless girl before them. Light brown hair framed a delicate face. A simple dress the color of a ripe apple kept her modesty. A small smile touched her lips. However, her eyes, the color of murky pond water was completely vacant.
"My, so jumpy," declared the same voice again, coming from behind them, again. They turned to see another girl, long silver hair that reached her knees in a ponytail stood there, eyes a pale, empty blue and her dress a simple cut like her companion's but colored a pale blue that matched her eyes. "Perhaps you'd like some tea?"
"Where's Raven and Beast Boy?" demanded Robin, his grip on the bo staff tightening.
Red only blinked at them.
"Are you sure you wouldn't consider tea?"
Cyborg knew Robin's patience was down to its last thread at this point. With two of his teammates in possible danger, Robin was not a happy camper. Cyborg knew he should probably keep things from exploding and set about doing so.
"Uh…" now if he knew what to say, maybe this would have gone better. "Who are you?" well that's a start the metal teen decided.
"We're the store clerks." The voices answered simultaneously making an odd echo effect.
"And your friends are safe, for the most part." Red declared this with that vacant smile of hers.
"The grim one engaged one of the Sentinel Hounds, though," continued Blue.
"The green one is with our masters." Red again.
"But worry not."
"He is safe."
"And will remain so."
"So would you reconsider tea?"
Robin wasn't sure what he was supposed to make of this. It was far too strange. What had Beast Boy gotten himself into this time, bemoaned the young leader. He looked to what was left of his team, both staring at him intently.
"Um, sure." That could've come out much more confident, Robin decided.
-IV-
"Someone's causing a ruckus out there. Emrys, check it out."
"But the spell-"
"Only needs mana," snapped the first. "Go!"
Sighing, the second got up to investigate the noise. How troublesome; women were so impossible to work with.
-V-
Raven marched forth, following the origami wolf's direction. Soon she could see another door before her. She was about to speed up when her guide called her attention.
"A moment of your time," her escort asked. Cocking a brow, she turned her attention toward the white wolf. "I advise that you turn back. The working behind that door is rather delicate."
"That is where Beast Boy is, that is where I'm going," replied the sorceress, stubborn to a fault. The wolf shook its head, it had warned her.
About to make her way to the door, it suddenly opened and out slipped a scruffy looking man. He was a sandy brunette that had more grey in his hair than it did brown. Scraggly hair covered his chin and a resigned expression sat on his face. His glasses drooped despairingly on his hooked nose. He looked tired. The rumpled looking brown robe didn't help matters. From the open door she felt for a moment's worth a large power, an insurmountable wave that near physically pushed against her and then the door closed and the power was no more.
"Can I help you?"
Raven glared at him. Something didn't add up in her head. She couldn't put a finger on it, but something didn't seem right. She ignored it.
"Where, is, Beast Boy!" demanded the half demon. She was going to see him and no scruffy nerd was going to stop her.
"He's in the room behind me, actually," answered the man absently, scratching his chin. "But you shouldn't go in there, powerful working going on. He'll be with you in a bit."
"No," intoned the sorceress, "now!"
The man blinked at her, as if he couldn't quite understand what was coming out of the empath's mouth.
"That can't be done," he replied slowly. Frowning, he continued. "Perhaps you could wait in front and have some herbal tea with your friends?"
The shadows deepened behind Raven and she began to tower over the slightly bewildered man.
"I think not."
-VI-
The rest of the Titans were having tea with the two clerks, Red and Blue, who introduced themselves as Cora and Ceres. Robin had been inquiring about their employers; trying to ferret any useful information out of them. They answered without hesitation and didn't talk in circles. What they learned was interesting. Keltaek and Emrys were adepts, magic users who wielded great power. Apparently, Keltaek, although an adept, was inept when it came to magic that required a 'soft touch'. Emrys, a master of the more subtle side of the craft, took her on as an apprentice. However, they couldn't determine their motives. They didn't seem to have any motive for abducting Beast Boy.
Suddenly, tea was interrupted by a caped body being tackled through the wall. The cape was of a familiar cut and an all too familiar shade of blue. Atop of her was a griffin, which was quickly flicked off with a touch of black energy. With an inarticulate roar that never left her lips, the young sorceress charged back into the fray.
The three other Titans looked at each other, stood and Robin's mouth was opened, a household phrase at the tip of his tongue.
"Titans-"
"Hmm, the tea party's kinda ruined," commented Cora. She turned to her bluer counterpart. "Maybe they should talk to Emmy, ne?"
"Go!"
"Not going to happen," Ceres replied. Red and Blue sighed, a happy sounding sigh. "It was nice having friends."
Star took off, eyes ablaze and emerald fire flying from her fingers to strike various creatures of myth. Imps, goblins, gremlins; the list went on as did the numbers. Birdarangs flew, striking various opponents. A collapsible steel quarterstaff swept about, clearing nameless creatures aside as the Boy Wonder tried to reach Raven to determine the situation. A human machine hybrid's sonic cannon blazed forth, sound waves stunning many a foe.
As the battle moved back and forth, left and right, and all about, Ceres and Cora replaced the tea and went about the storefront, catching various invaluable artifacts that were knocked down by stray fire. They only paid attention to certain antiquities; others were ignored and allowed to break as they pleased. It all looked rather strange and random but to those with an eye for magic it wasn't strange at all. However, a certain vase did break.
"Ooh," declared Cora.
"Kel's not going to like that," finished Ceres resigned.
Emrys wondered at how his confrontation with the sorceress could have deteriorated to this so quickly. An all out brawl inside the shop- Kel was going to have his head. He had only wanted to scare her off, summoning creatures into life; he never expected her to put up such a fierce resistance. Now her friends have joined the battle and life was chaos. The black caped one was too potent with a quarterstaff for a child his age, and the tall redhead was wielding a magic most strange. The metal man was strange as well, his body hummed and fairly vibrated as it repulsed numerous creatures from his person, must be one of those new fangled contraptions he heard so much about. Hmmm, where was the sorceress…?
-VII-
The white wolf watched as the dark mage made her way toward the door again. The girl was a stubborn little spitfire and had slipped from the fray as quickly and clandestinely as possible, leaving her friends to take care of the creatures from legend. She was sure they could handle the situation without her. Suddenly, it snowed paper, and an all too familiar wolf made its appearance. Pale hands were encased in black, and a snarl made its way onto the sorceress' face.
"Such aggression," commented the lupine. "Fear not, I am not here to do battle with you again. I only ask that you think twice before going in there."
Raven glared at it, her eyes black with power. The paper creature sighed and stepped aside.
With that out of the way, the empath telekinetically opened the door and marched through. A wave of potent magic slammed into her, knocking her from her equilibrium. She had never encountered magic at this level before. Trigon's might was comparable (he had been weakened, what with destroying the world and all), but this was coming from a human source, a human endeavor at that level was practically unheard of.
Getting over her shock, she tried to scope the situation. What she saw was not too pleasing to her eye. Some girl with mismatched eyes, one hazel with a touch of green and the other grey, was sitting in a circle within another diagram on the floor. The diagram appeared to be a magical field, circular in shape with eldritch runes about it, power fairly humming from each arcane symbol. The girl's circle sat to one side of the diagram, in the center was Beast Boy, laid prone with his face free of everything. There was no sign of pain but there was also no sign of life either. It was vacant.
The honey haired girl breathed a sigh of relief, her simple but strange attire going limp with it.
"Hmm, I've more than enough to finish my own seals," she commented cheerily. Blinking, she turned to the door. "You're- not Emrys."
The diagram started to shift, the mystic energies shifting Beast Boy into the air softly as the runes followed him. Slowly they massed about the green teen, taking substance as they congealed about him. Raven had no idea what was going on, but she didn't like it.
Rushing forth, the sorceress tapped into the dark powers that she commanded, calling them to her hands. Floating up above Beast Boy for an instant, a flash of fear flitted through her eyes and a silent plea to whatever would hear her that she wasn't too late. Then she firmly shoved her pitch hands at the spell that wove about the other teen, hoping beyond hope that she could rend the thing before its grip on the boy became any firmer. Distantly, she heard the girl in the room demand to know what in blazes she thought she was doing. Raven ignored her as she tore into the spell viciously. A frown was working its way onto Beast Boy's face, but Raven knew the discomfort would only be momentary. As she continued to destroy the fabric of magic binding the boy, his distress grew. There was no time to hesitate though, and dark energy coursed from her being, flinging her cloak wildly behind her, to chase away the remnants of the spell upon him. A determined look on Raven's face urged her powers on. Finally Beast Boy was free of the spell. He opened his eyes for but a second, staring unseeingly.
Then, a scream of pain unimaginable tore its way from his throat.
End Chappy
Author's Note: Hope this was interesting enough.
