Chapter 3- Running Battle
Raven floated in midair high above Jump City, legs crossed as though she were seated on a solid floor, eyes clenched shut in concentration. Perhaps the most frightening of Brother Blood's powers was his ability to telepathically enslave the minds of anyone who crossed his path- but exploited properly, it could also be his greatest weakness. Whenever the former headmaster of the HIVE called upon his awesome powers, it would shine like a beacon to anyone who had similar powers and bothered to look. And so Robin had set Raven and her supernatural sensitivity to forces of the mind and spirit to the task of locating the infamous supervillain.
She wasn't the only one looking- Robin and Cyborg were patrolling the streets while Starfire and Beast Boy searched the skies. For her part, Raven devoutly hoped they were having better luck than she was. She could sense Blood's presence- the whole city seemed flooded with it, in fact- but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pin down the source. I'll give Blood that much credit, Raven thought. The man knows what he's doing.
The teenaged sorceress's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice. "Tell me, Raven, please- are you having more success than I in locating the Brother Blood?"
"No, Starfire," Raven said without opening her eyes. "He knows how to hide his presence. Maybe we'd have more luck if you didn't keep flying back here to ask me about it. When I find him, I'll give everyone a call on the communicator."
"Apologies," Starfire said, sounding rather dejected. "I will resume my search. I am hoping that we will both have better luck soon."
At that moment the Titan communicators attached to both girls' costumes began to beep loudly. Opening her eyes and switching to a 'standing' position, Raven pulled her device out and opened it. Robin's face looked up from the small screen.
"What is it, Robin?" Raven asked. "Did you find Blood?"
"No, but I found something else- something you need to see. I'm transmitting coordinates now."
Raven nodded as the numbers flashed up on the communicator screen. "We're on our way."
The sight that greeted Raven and Starfire's eyes as they landed beside Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy was not at all what they had expected. The boys had been crouched behind an overturned armored car, watching as a tall man in white body-armor over a black unitard shot laser beams at everything that moved- and some things that didn't.
"Dr. Light?" Raven asked incredulously. "You called us down here for him? From your tone, I expected someone a little more dangerous."
"Watch him," Robin said softly. Raven sighed and turned back to the illumination-obsessed criminal.
Now that she looked at him, Raven thought that Dr. Light did seem to be acting strangely. Normally the man was next to impossible to shut up, but now he was almost eerily quiet. Rather than the smug grin he usually wore, his face was blank- and while Dr. Light, apart from his unusual weaponry, was a fairly standard money-grubbing criminal, right now he seemed more interested in tearing this section of the city to shreds.
"He does seem… different," Raven finally said.
"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed. "He hasn't made a lame pun about light since I first noticed him ten minutes ago- that's gotta be a record."
"I have some ideas as to why he's acting so strangely, but we'll find out for sure when we take him down. Titans- GO!"
At Robin's shout, Raven was already in the air. Gathering shadows around herself in the shape of the dark bird for which she was named, eyes glowing with barely-contained power, she flew forward and hovered in front of Dr. Light.
"Give it up, Light," she said, her voice echoing slightly. "You know you never win."
Normally Dr. Light collapsed into a fit of hysterics if Raven even looked at him sideways- the result of an unfortunate encounter with her repressed demon side. Now, however, the madman didn't even blink, or seem to register precisely who it was he was fighting at all. Raising his arms, he sent twin laser blasts shooting towards the young superhero.
Raven sighed and wrapped her cloak around herself, vanishing and reappearing several feet behind Dr. Light. As he spun around wildly looking for her, the criminal 'genius' was hit simultaneously by a green gorilla, a cyborg, a kung-fu warrior, and a Tamaranean. All five collapsed in a heap- but then Dr. Light's armor flared brilliantly and the Titans were hurled backwards. As Light staggered to his feet, Raven focused her powers and uprooted a lamppost from its place by the street and sent it hurling at him. It struck Light square in the chest and sent him sprawling.
The blow should have knocked Light out of the fight for good- despite his armor, he was just an ordinary human and could only take so much damage. Now, however, he dragged himself to his feet and stood, staggering slightly and looking like nothing so much as a zombie called from its grave.
"Dude!" Beast Boy breathed in astonishment. "How'd he do that? Isn't Dr. Light just a wimp with fancy tech?"
"Whatever's affecting his behavior must be so strong he's ignoring pain," Raven said. "If that's the case, he won't stop fighting until he absolutely can't anymore." Reaching out with her thoughts, she found the criminal scientist's brain and attempted to probe it, only to be repulsed by a distinctly familiar presence. Suddenly it seemed this little side-trip wasn't as unconnected to the real business of the day as it had first appeared.
Dr. Light raised his hands again, both of them glowing white-hot as he powered up his beam weapons. Unfortunately for him, before he actually got a chance to fire darkness reared up and wrapped itself around his legs, lifting him upside-down into the sky. As he struggled to free himself, Robin drew a small, flat disk from his belt and hurled it directly at him. It struck Light and exploded, releasing a cloud of grey smoke. When it cleared, Dr. Light was quite thoroughly unconscious.
Raven gestured and the bound criminal floated over to a still-standing streetlight, to which he was bound by even more strands of dark energy. "There," she said. "That should hold him until the police get here."
"Does anyone have any thoughts as to why Dr. Light was acting so contrary to his usual character?" Starfire asked.
"My theory? Brother Blood." Cyborg's tone was dark- he and Blood didn't quite reach the kind of obsessive enmity Robin and Slade had attained, but they had had a long, unpleasant history nonetheless, and Raven, agreeing with his assessment of the situation, had no desire to get in the middle of their rematch.
Before the Titans could further discuss the matter, something a few miles away exploded with a particularly thunderous bang. In a city with more than its fair share of superpowered menaces, this was not a good sign. The Titans didn't even need to wait for Robin's signal to move out.
With a final sparking hiss Gizmo's jetpack gave out, sending the young criminal scientist spiraling to the ground below.
Raven sighed as she caught Gizmo and bound him with strands of shadow. It had been eight hours- and as many bad guys- since their encounter with Dr. Light that morning, and it was starting to get dark. Personally Raven was rather fond of the night, but after a full day of taking down one supervillain after another- each exhibiting the same emotionless detachment as Dr. Light- she was quite ready to crawl into her bed and stay there for a week.
To top it off, she hadn't been able to meditate since the morning, and combining that with rampant exhaustion, she could feel certain aspects of her mind acting up. They hadn't slipped the leash yet, nor were they particularly close to it, but it was still rather riskier than Raven would have preferred, particularly if their ultimate adversary turned out to be the person both she and Cyborg suspected.
She was jerked from her reflections as something beeping fell from Gizmo's backpack and landed on the ground in front of the team- something that resembled one of the team communicators, except for the fact that it was hexagon shaped and marked with a large H.
"A HIVE communicator," Robin said. He bent to pick it up. "Let's see who's calling."
When Robin flipped the communicator open, a familiar face appeared on its display screen- an old man with a mechanical eye and metal rimming his cheek and jawbone. "Brother Blood," Robin whispered. "We suspected you were behind this- you never were one for subtlety."
"Who needs subtlety when you have power? In any event, good evening, Titans," Blood said , his tone friendly but with an edge of menace. "I trust you all have been enjoying the little entertainment I devised for you today? It really was quite entertaining to watch you all running from one crisis to the next with no time in between! But you handled yourselves quite well, I must admit. Bravo!"
"What are you planning?" Robin asked, gritting his teeth at the mockery.
"You are a direct young man, Robin- a quality I feel is all too rare in today's youth. But no matter. I was just about to unveil my grandest accomplishment- and an audience never hurt." Blood's face pulled back from the communicator, showing the room behind him- which was dominated by a massive, pulsing, sparkling device. It was amazing he'd built the whole thing in one day, though it had the look of something that had been in the planning stages long before that.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Blood asked. "By midnight tonight this machine will be operational- and it will enhance my powers to such a degree that I will be able to control every mind in the city! I doubt any magic robots will come out of thin air to save you all this time, Titans. But, I really must be going. This device requires much attention. Ta-ta,!" The communicator went dark.
"Cyborg," Robin whispered, "Can you trace that call?"
"I can if you let me see the device," Cyborg replied, "But doesn't this seem a little fishy to you- a little obvious? Remember Slade and the chronotron detonator? That's what this feels like to me. I mean, I hate Blood as much as the next guy, but I know him best too, and this smells like a trap."
"I know, but we can't take the risk, especially since he might have moved by tomorrow, even if it is a fake threat. Trace the call- then we can find him and end this tonight."
"All right, man- I'm on it." Cyborg took the communicator and set to work. Watching him, Raven shook her head. We're all exhausted. Even if we find Blood, in this state, are we a match for him? Are we just doing what he wants?