Your Greatest Enemies
Standard/Annoying Disclaimers: I own no legal and/or merchandising rights to the Teen Titans.
Chapter 4: Positives and Negatives
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Each of the Titans were woken up. The alarm clocks next to their temporary beds kept flashing 6:30 am. Starfire, not fully awake yet, inadvertently smashed her clock to pieces when she attempted to turn it off. They were still half-asleep by the time they got to the briefing room.
"I'm glad your here Titans, I still can't get used to saying that," Tech greeted as he came in on his hover chair. He was followed by Archangel and Kyd Justyce.
"Dude, what's the big idea of waking us up this early."
"I need to know what brought you guys here in the first place, so I can figure out how to send you back to your own world. So what happened to you right before you came here?"
"Well, we were fighting Control Freak, Mumbo, and Johnny Rancid," Robin said.
"Go on."
"They attacked us at the same time, before I countered with my dark energy, and Naga used his black lightning."
"Then, for some reason, when the beams collided, they made this giant white ball, we started getting sucked into it, then the next thing we know, we're here," Beast Boy added.
"This, Control Freak, I'm assuming he's the villainous counterpart to the Film Fest of our universe." Tech brought up a picture of the Earth-3 Control Freak. But instead of being obese with long hair, the person in the picture was a sickly thin looking teen with short orange hair, wearing an overcoat. Under his picture, red letters spelled out 'TERMINATED.'
"What happened to him?" Cyborg asked.
"Shifter got to him, by the time we were able to find him, we could barely recognize the corpse. He was a good man, with an intelligence that could rival my own."
"I'm sorry about that," the changeling said.
"Don't be, it wasn't your fault, I think."
"What about the Mumbo and Rancid from this world, are they dead or not?" Naga asked.
"Mumbo was killed a few months ago by Raven, Jonathan is currently being held captive at the Tower," Arch told them.
"By any chance, did Mumbo try to capture me, her, in his hat?" Raven asked.
"Yes, did your Mumbo do the same to you?"
"Yeah, but he's still alive."
"People, lets stay on the matter at hand, now do you know what kind of energy they used when they attacked you?" Tech asked.
"Rancid used his demon pistols, Mumbo attacked with his magic wand, and Control Freak shot off this beam that, I've never even seen before," Robin told him.
"Actually Robin, I'm going over my memory banks, and I think I have a good idea of what that beam was; it was some sort of dimensional transporter; basically, it was supposed to send us into a void dimension, where we'd just wither into nonexistence."
"Naga didn't something odd happened when yours and Johnny Rancid's attacks merged?" Starfire asked.
"Yeah, when my lightning mixed with his red energy, it was like when you mix chemicals in a test tube and it blows off your eyebrows, only way stronger."
"So when my dark magic, and Naga's dark lightning hit their attacks, the effects of the reality altering properties must've formed a crude portal."
"Cyborg, would you mind if I uploaded what you saw onto the computer?"
"I guess not," Cyborg nervously said.
The metal man reluctantly uploaded his most recent memory banks into the Hive's computer.
Tech watched with the screen with rapt attention as he kept replaying and pausing videos of the explosions and of the white hole forming.
"Arch, get everyone in here." Arch did as Tech asked, bringing Mammoth, Triclops, and Billy into the main room.
Arch floated in the air on his chair, moving from left to right and back in front of the TV, much like a professor.
"I'm glad you could all make it today."
"As if we have anything better to do," Triclops muttered to himself.
"As you can see here, when Raven and Naga's respective powers made contact with the attacks from Rancid, Mumbo, and Control Freak's attacks, it formed this white sphere." Tech used a laser stick to point to the different images of the screen.
"We are already aware that Raven's powers are mystic in nature, and while Naga and Kid Arachnid's lightning is not magical, it is much stronger than average lightning."
"Yeah, you've given us this lecture, twenty-eight times before, and I have been counting," Mammoth interrupted.
"Mammoth, you know that I do not appreciate being stopped in the middle of a sentence. As I was saying, Mumbo's wand can alter the very laws of reality, while Film Fest used technology. It is safe to assume that Johnny Rancid of this alternate world gained his powers after a run-in with Robin's alternate dimensional counterpart, am I correct?" Robin nodded, though still a little confused.
"This white hole is a crude portal, a result of all five of these attacks, smashing into each other, although it is capable of taking you across space and time, the location it spits you out to is completely unknown."
"Yeah, that's great Tech, but how do we send these guys back?" Triclops questioned.
"Raven, can't you just make a portal to send us home?" Beast Boy asked.
"Portals to other dimensions are a lot harder than my usual ones, I'd need specific ingredients, and even with those, an incantation is the best way to make sure you go where you want to."
"Tech, can you make a portal opener to send us home?"
"I'm a super-genius, not a miracle worker. Just making the calculations for such a device would take enough time on its own. Also, I need the proper components, and as you can well imagine, finding them around here is nigh impossible."
"Well then you should get started now. The sooner you make it, the sooner these guys can get out of here."
"Triclops, making something that complicated will take time, and like I said, the materials I would need aren't just going to fall right out of the sky."
"I just want to send these guys back to wherever they're from."
"Ops, hasn't it occurred to you, that we may actually be able to beat the Titans, with these Titans?" Arch whispered.
"We don't need their help, we were better off on our own!" Triclops stormed out of the room.
Yeah, and you've done such a good job of it, Airheart said sarcastically.
Please stop Airheart, his pain is an understandable kind, Marina said.
"You will have to forgive Ops, because of what he's gone through, he is slow to trust people, especially anything to do with Titans."
"It is understandable," Starfire said.
"But it's not wanted," Naga added.
"I'll get to work on the calculations, but it will take some time to work everything out."
"Tech, mind if I help you out with that?" Cyborg asked.
Tech rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Okay, but this will take a long time, and it won't be easy."
"But it will get us home faster."
"Is there anything we can do to aid you?" Starfire to asked.
"You guys and my team can salvage parts; basically anything you can get your hands on, but be careful, the An-Titans aren't going to just let you take whatever you want."
"Do we go now or..."
"I'll get my guys here later and debrief you on today's objectives, until then, I advise you to stay with Arch, and out of Ops' way."
When the six got to the common room, Arch and Kyd Justyce were already making breakfast.
"Morning everyone," the black winged girl said; Justyce just remained as quiet as his villainous counterpart. The countertop was riddled with broken eggshells, empty cartons and milk bottles.
"I wasn't sure what your specific tastes were so I made bacon and eggs for everyone. Is something wrong?" Arch noticed Beast Boy fighting the urge to puke, and Naga recoiling at the smell of bacon.
"Grass Stain's a vegetarian, and Blood Stain can't eat pork." Cyborg rubbed his knuckles on Beast Boy and Naga's skulls.
"I am so sorry, I had no idea..."
"Relax, I'll take their shares, don't want it to go to waste." The others just sweat dropped.
"If you give me a few minutes, I think I can make something else," Arch continued.
"Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves." Beast Boy made himself a salad, while Naga found some fish in the freezer. Raven was lucky enough to find some Earl Grey tea in the back of the cabinet. Arch and Justyce both had looks on their faces that were both of curiosity, and a hint of disgust. They were both watching Star put unreal amounts of mustard on her food, Cyborg was eating an unhealthy amount of pig flesh, and Naga was drinking, well eating, from a cup with nothing but ice in it. Arch noticed that none of them paid much attention to each other's, eccentricities, save for Beast Boy and Cyborg's occasional arguing over vegetarianism, and carnivorism.
If these good Titans act like this when their eating breakfast, I'm scarred to think of what our Titans are like, Arch thought to herself.
Triclops walked through the kitchen, triple-eyeing the Titans with contempt, then silently walked out.
Arch was about to get up, but Justyce quickly grabbed her arm, and without saying a word, she sat back down.
"I'm guessing part of your role in this group is peacemaker?" Robin stated.
"Me and Kyd both fill that role."
Meanwhile, breakfast was going very differently for the An-Titans.
Kid Arachnid was the first one to make it to the fridge, after fighting his way through the others. Instead of opening the refrigerator, he pulled it from the wall and found a giant rat stuck in the trap he left there. After unhinging the trap, he sank his mandibles into the dead rodent carcass. Slowly the venom started to eat away the body, allowing Arachnid to suck out its tissue. Alpha found a whole plate of raw meat, which was abruptly snatched away by Shifter. While Darkfire was calmly eating something that was obviously alien, a stray missile Alpha launched at Shifter hit her. From the smoke a blue and red blur pinned them against the wall by their throats.
"Darkfire, calm yourself!" A red and black energy tendril wrapped itself around the alien girl.
"You may destroy them once we squash the Hive problem." It took all of the alien's self-control to keep herself from castrating Shifter when he flashed her the finger.
"So, what's it like on the world where you come from?"
"Well, it's a lot different from this place," Robin answered.
If by different, you mean, completely better than this cesspool hell whole, than yes, very different, Airheart cackled.
"What's Tamaran like?" Billy asked Starfire.
"It is a beautiful, glorious place."
"So would the Brightfire there be evil or what?" a Billy clone asked.
"Unfortunately yes, in my world she is named Blackfire." Billy noticed that Starfire's mood became much more somber.
"Hey, if yer lucky, maybe you'll get to meet Brightfire."
If only the worst of each of our worlds could be sucked into an eternal void, and we could live in a single universe, but this is only a fruitless hope, Frostbite complained.
We would be making so much more progress if you weren't always complaining! Sub-Terror screamed.
Then Tech called in from a TV, "Everyone meet in the briefing room, I have your assignments."
In the Briefing room, everyone sat without making a sound. Triclops stood next to Tech.
"Alright, I'm NOT repeating myself! We have three major targets: the scrap fields on the northern ends of town; the old shipping yards, and Slade's old hideout."
Robin instinctively reached for his bostaff at the mention of Slade's name. He stopped his hand only on the realization that the Slade in this world was a good guy, and Starfire practically crushing his wrist, even when she meant to just give him a light squeeze.
"We'll split into three teams. Starfire and Cyborg, you two will go with Mammoth and Billy to the scrap fields. Naga, Beast Boy, and Raven, you'll be going with Triclops and Archangel to the shipping yards. Robin and I will search through the haunt. Kyd Justyce will stay behind incase we need an emergency rescue, while Kitten will coordinate each team from here." The floor opened up to reveal a large table that, when activated, created holographic layouts of the areas they were supposed to search.
"Remember, look for and bring back anything that may seem useful, but make sure the Titans don't find you, am I clear." Everyone nodded in unison.
"Alright, now get into your teams." Everyone joined up with their teammates.
"Kyd now." Kyd Justyce waved his cloak causing three white portals to appear. Each team fell through their respective portals.
Cyborg, Starfire, Mammoth, and Billy found themselves standing among gigantic piles of scrap metal; mountains of rusted steel.
"Well, better get lookin'." Mammoth was sifting through trash, while Billy was already dividing himself.
"What specifically are we to be looking for?"
"Anything that looks useful."
The first thing that the five man group saw was darkness. Triclops switched his vision to infrared; Beast Boy changed into a cat for night vision; Naga lit flames on his hands for illumination.
"Spread out, we'll cover more ground and get done quicker," Triclops said in little more than a harsh whisper.
Raven got into the lotus position. "I'm setting up a mental barrier so Dark Raven can't find us."
Two lone figures appeared inside an abandoned warehouse.
"Wow, this really brings back memories," Tech mused.
"Yeah, memories," Robin muttered.
Dark Raven was sitting in the interrogation room of the Tower.
"Anything?" Talon asked impatiently. Raven didn't answer.
Finally breaking her silence, "The blue Raven is better than anticipated; for someone who hasn't fully developed their powers, she's able to block my prodding, but the question is how long she can handle it."
"Try looking for the others."
Dark Raven returned to the lotus position.
Back at the scrap fields, the group had been working for nearly three hours and had practically nothing to show for it. Just a couple of old, discarded wires.
"Billy, did you find anything?" Mammoth called out.
"Nope, how 'bout you Billy?"
"Squat. Billy?"
"Zero compadre."
"We should check another section for parts," Starfire suggested.
They moved to another section they didn't get any better luck.
A few feet away, a black feathered raven with two sets of red eyes watched them from a distance. It landed on a pile of scrapped cars, but it didn't go unnoticed by one of Billy's clones.
"MAMMOTH, STAR, CY, BILLY!" the clone screamed. The Raven quickly caught up to him. It grew in size, becoming a black silhouette with red outlines. Out of its wings came Alpha and Darkfire.
"Surrender now and a swift death will be granted to you."
"Stand your ground, we can take them," Mammoth said.
"I was hoping it would come to this," Alpha evilly said.
"SLAUGHTER!"
Starfire and Darkfire flew at each full speed, sending a ripple through the air as they collided.
Alpha was the first on the draw and blasted Cyborg with his red sonic cannon blast.
"Mammoth, hurl me!"
Mammoth grabbed two Billies by the arm and launched them from a tornado spin. In mid air, the two billies locked hands bringing Alpha to the ground. As soon as the red mech regained conciousness, the original recalled the copies.
Alpha's computer eye angrily scanned the heroes. When he had a confirmed lock on each of them, multiple missiles shot out of his shoulders.
"Don't shoot'em!" Mammoth yelled to Star, but it was to late. As soon as a bright green starbolt met one of the missiles, a bright white light came from it.
Then Cyborg could feel burning hot steel smashing against what little parts of his flesh remained. A split second later, each missile that was launched was going off in a landmine effect. Before the blistering shrapnel could burn through his armor, a giant wall of gray blocked the light from the burst missiles. When his vision cleared, he saw a wall of Billies; none of them moved, but smoldering holes were coming off their backs. Suddenly, a burst of blue energy sent the clone corpses flying.
In the confusion, Darkfire rammed into Star, and unleashed a maelstrom of punches. Using her enormous strength, Darkfire rammed Star's head into the ground.
"Such a waste, you use your strength to protect the weak, you would make a great companion for Brightfire."
Mammoth grabbed a rusted car and hurled it straight at Darkfire, but at the last minute she obliterated it with a sunbolt. Darkfire reached into a pocket on her thigh and pulled out a small piece of metal. When she gave a light squeeze (by Tamaranean standards), it elongated into her Tamaranean war scythe.
"Huh, Dark's got her scythe, that's never a good thing," Alpha muttered.
"What are you talking about?!" Cyborg demanded.
"Well, whenever she gets out the scythe, it means blood's coming." Alpha said all of this with only a smirk drawing on his face.
Darkfire looked like she was charging as much energy as she could into her scythe, because it started glowing a violent bright blue color.
Darkfire raised the staff high above her head, and with a powerful sweeping motion, a giant wave of blue energy burst from the blade. Mountains of rusted metal and bits of shattered glass were swept away as the blue wave charged through it. Out of the corner of his eye, Cyborg saw Alpha activate a pair of rocket thruster in his back; a set of rockets under his feet launched him into the air.
The blue wave hit the ground and displaced the earth they stood under.
Cyborg crawled out from under a piece of rock that had landed on him. Looking up, he saw Alpha watching him.
Activating the communicator in his arm, he frantically called Robin. "ROBIN, WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM, IT'S ALPHA AND DARKFIRE, THEY'RE KILLIN US, AAAHHHH!..." A red and white sonic blast hit Cyborg straight in the face.
Meanwhile, Robin and Tech were having much better luck than the aforementioned group. Tech was able to find a small supply of power batteries. However, they were met by a familiar double-red-eyed raven. Out of its growing silhouette came Talon by himself, with a katana slung over his back.
Without saying a word, Talon launched a six-pointed shuriken with a stylized letter 'T' on it. When it made contact with something solid, it exploded releasing a fog of tear gas. Robin was able to jump out of the way with a rebreather over his mouth, while Tech activated his chair's built in forcefield. Talon came out with a rebreahter of his own, slashing away at Robin with unrelenting hate. The katana blade was made of black stainless steel, with green lines running down it.
His ferocity was so intense that Robin had to do a 90 degree bend to avoid decapitation. Robin stood on his hands, landing a kick to Talon's chest.
"You may be skilled Talon, but even you cannot take on both of us," Tech stated as his chair started shooting lasers.
"But unlike you fools, I'm not bound by honor." The last part was said with a mocking tone.
Robin drew his staff and returned his counterpart's attacks. When he brought it down for an overhead strike, Talon caught it, and with the implants in his suit, broke it in two. Still gripping the half in Robin's grip, Talon rammed the stick into its owner's gut. Tech came from behind, and aimed for the head. Unfortunately, Talon's specialized katana was able to deflect the lasers.
With incredible agility, Talon jumped behind Robin, and pressed the edge of the blade to his captive's throat.
"Your choice Tech, stop, or I kill him."
"I know that you would kill him either way."
"Have I gotten that predictable?" he sarcastically asked.
"Normally I'd say let's talk this out like rational people, but you are far from any form of the meaning of rational; which is why I've planned for just this occasion." A bright blue light started to outline itself around Talon. Soon his grip on Robin fell and he was able to slip away. Behind the renegade bird was a little hovering pod, the source of the blue outline.
"A mobility inhibitor. I deployed it while you were handling the more strenous tasks."
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
Suddenly, Robin's communicator started going off.
"ROBIN, WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM, IT'S ALPHA AND DARKFIRE, THEY'RE KILLIN US, AAAHHHH!..." Cyborg was abruptly cut off.
"We have to get to the others now!"
While they were distracted, Talon was able to force his finger to a button on his belt, which sent out an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse), which shorted out the probe. Robin only had a split second to get out of the way of Talon's katana, and even then, it created a good sized gash across his chest.
"Kyd, strategic retreat!" A white portal engulfed Tech and Robin.
Starfire stood up and charged at Darkfire, but her opposite's armor withstood the brunt of the attacks. When she aimed a punch directly at Darkfire's face, she effortlessly blocked it with her bare hand.
Holding Star in place, Darkfire tortured her by firing a continuous star stream from her eyes, burning at Star's forehead. Star tried to pull away, but even she couldn't get out of Dark's iron grip.
Fortune smiled on her when a white disk swallowed her from the feet up. Before her head was engulfed, she could see the same thing happening to Cyborg, Billy, and Mammoth.
At the seaside warehouse, the five heroes couldn't anticipate the news they were going to get.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Ops, Arch, we need you back at the base yesterday!" Tech said through the hexagonal communicator.
"Robin, what's going on?" Beast Boy said into his own communicator.
"Cyborg called, he said that Alpha and Darkfire attacked them."
"We have to go and help them." Raven got out of the lotus position when she heard the news.
"No, Kyd's going to handle things, you guys just make sure you get here safely."
"And leave our friends to some psychos, forget it!" Naga deactivated his communicator.
"I'm with you guys, we have to help them," Arch declared.
"No, we have to do what Tech said, and get back to HQ," Triclops challenged.
"What if they don't make it?" Beast Boy asked.
"They'll be... wait, something's wrong."
"You found out you're acting like an ass," Naga muttered to himself.
"Kyd is the fastest teleporter I know, we should be back by now!"
Raven kept focusing her mind on the ground but nothing happened. "I can't make a portal!"
CAW! CAW! CAW!
They noticed a black raven sitting on a rafter, looking through them with its two sets of red eyes.
"They found us, we have to get out of here, NOW!" Triclops ordered.
The three-eyed teen aimed a powerful tri-blast at the wall, but the beam was intercepted by giant stone dome.
"Hmhmhmhm, how charming, we have guests."
From the shadows, Shifter crawled down the sides of the walls in the form of a rat. Kid Arachnid hovered down on a ball made of blue fire. The black Raven landed on the concrete, and assumed the form of Dark Raven.
"I'm going to enjoy spilling your blood muckdweller. Eight legs to none, I'm liking those odds" Arachnid said as he formed a battle axe out of stone.
"A snake doesn't need legs to prove its strength."
"KA, if you want to prove the strength of the spider, then start hacking!" Dark Raven said.
"Gladly." Kid Arachnid smashed the blade of the axe in the ground, causing a wave of blue flames to gush out of the ground.
How can he create blue fire, I haven't gotten that far.
Worry about that later, focus on destroying these defects! Inferno screamed.
Shifter leapt of the walls and transformed into a giant praying mantis. Beast Boy had to turn into an mouse to avoid the razor sharp arm/blades of his counterpart. When the insect turned around for another strike, Beast Boy turned into ankylosaur. Beast Boy swing his tail in a powerful spin, intent on impaling the giant arthropod. But as his armored tail was about to reach its mark, the mantis became a sasquatch, and caught the tail with little effort. The great ape lifted the dinosaur off the ground and threw him against the wall.
With five against three, it would seem the battle was pretty one-sided. On the contrary, the three good Titans and alternate Hive members could barely land a decisive hit on the An-Titans.
Using as much energy as she could muster, Raven telekinetically ripped the ground apart. Arch, BB, and Naga ran up to her to make sure she was okay, while Triclops started blasting into the dust cloud that formed.
As the haze cleared, they could see the three An-Titans behind a black dome with red energy crackling from it.
"Titans, DECAPITATE!" Dark Raven yelled.
As the force field dropped, Arachnid channeled Killer-Watt's dark lightning through his four arms, shooting it out in a giant stream of energy. Naga blasted off his own lightning, creating a beam war between himself and Arachnid. Naga poured all his strength into keeping the black lightning from reaching him and the others, but somehow, Arachnid was far stronger than him, and with his four hands, he had to put in only half the effort. Suddenly, a chilling thought came across each of them. They'd been holding out on them. The An-Titans were barely even trying, while they were exhausted.
Dark Raven sent a red and black claw spiraling around the dark lightning, greatly enhancing its power. Likewise, Raven added her own black and white energy, though this only slightly slowed down the collision point from hitting them.
Shifter's eyes gleamed in a disturbing way as the prospect of charred flesh brought drool to his mouth.
Naga felt like his arms would split from the strain of having to keep this up for much longer.
Suddenly though, Arachnid cut the flow of energy.
"So, the true power of the snake, I'm ashamed to say I expected a little more."
All Naga wanted to do was to sink his fangs into Arachnid's skull, but he had to focus on a way to escape.
"Can I eat now?" Shifter asked Raven impatiently.
"You may take your counterpart for yourself, leave ours' to us. The Hive trash are fair game."
With blinding speed, Arachnid ran up to Triclops and brought the heel of his foot into the side of his face. He turned around and drove his two left fists into Naga's back, causing him to cough up blood.
Dark Raven grabbed Raven's right arm with an energy claw, and bent it backwards until...
SNAP!
Archangel enlarged her wings as large as she could make them. When she attempted to smash Arachnid with them, he surrounded himself in a fire dome. While she tried flapping her wings to put out the fire on them, Shifter pounced on the girls black wings and sunk his fangs into the frame, staining the black feathers red.
Beast Boy changed into an octopus and swatted the carnivorous counterpart away. The octopus started spinning himself around, turning his tentacles into a whip tornado. Suddenly, eight stone hands grabbed each tentacle. As Arachnid held down the cephalopod, Dark Raven blasted at it with red energy. Shifter sprinted as a cheetah, and in the middle of a jump, transformed into a great green shark, and chomped down on the octopus' body. When Beast Boy changed back, he had large teeth marks on the left side of his body.
In the confusion, Raven and Naga merged their dark energy and dark lightning respectively, blasting at several load bearing columns.
"KYD, GET US OUT OF HERE!" Arch screamed into her communicator.
White disks swallowed the five whole, leaving the An-Titans standing in the wreckage.
The portal dropped the five to the floor in an ungraceful fashion.
"Get these guys to medical now!" Several teams of heavily bandaged Billies grabbed each member by the shoulders. Kitten was supporting Arch.
A faint trail of blood followed Arch as she was led to the med bay.
Naga had a strong taste of liquid metal in his mouth, and the warm blood started dripping down his chin.
Beast Boy was going faint from the severe blood loss, his skin was taking on an almost whitish color, though still tinged with some green around the edges.
When they got to the hospital, they were immediately linked up to the machines.
"What's wrong with them Kitten?"
"Beast Boy is suffering severe blood loss; both of Arch's wings are burned, broken, and at risk of infection; Triclops has a concussion; Raven's right arm is dislocated and broken; and part of Naga's spine is shattered & he has internal bleeding!"
"Can you fix our friends?" Starfire had bandages wrapped around her head with an ice pack tied to her forehead.
"Hopefully their advanced healing factors will be able to help fix what's wrong with them, but I still need to operate on them." Kitten tied her hair into ponytail, put on a pair of latex gloves and a doctor's mask.
"Cyborg, get me the sedatives."
Kitten injected the anesthetics into each of them, and soon they were unconscious.
About five hours later, Kitten came into the common room.
"So how are they?" Billy questioned.
"Will are friends be okay?"
"I was able to take care of Arch, Triclops, and Raven; Beast Boy and Naga are okay too; they're bodies are healing themselves; but all of them will need to take it easy for a while."
"How long?"
"At least a few days, a week at most."
"Kitten we don't have that kind of time."
"Sorry Tech, but it's the best I could do."
"May we please see them?"
"Yeah, they should still be out for a while, but you can check on them if you want."
When they got to the med bay, they found each of the recovering team members hooked up to an IV bag. Raven was floating above her bed, her right arm swathed in bandages and held in a sling. Arch's wings were was covered in gauze and wreaked of antiseptics. Triclop's head was covered in bandages like Starfire, though his three eyes poked out. Both Naga's and Beast Boy's bodies were covered in bandages that were covered by their clothes.
Out of nowhere, Mammoth smashed his hand through the wall in a fit of rage.
"What the hell man!"
"I thought we could take on the Titans, but even with you guys here, we're still no match!"
"Mammoth, we all thought we could beat them, but we were all wrong," Billy told him.
"But how could we lose, we had them outnumbered, and with their own opposites?"
"I have a theory," Tech said.
"Aren't you going to tell us?" Cyborg asked.
"It would be best to wait until they woke up, I don't feel like repeating myself." Tech floated out of the room.
Raven woke up to the feeling of pain. Her eyes adjusted to the light to find the others laying in beds hooked up to hospital machines.
"You're finally awake, good." Kitten was standing next to her with a clipboard in her hand.
"What happened?" Raven rubbed her aching head.
"You had a fractured arm, Triclops has a concussion, most of the ribs in Beast Boy's left side are broken, Arch's left wing is broken, and parts of Naga's spine are shattered, nothing to worry about."
"What would be something that you should worry about."
"Organ failure, loss of senses, things like that."
"Should Triclops be asleep?"
"I'm waking him up every two hours."
Raven tried sitting up, but it only brought back the pain.
"I wouldn't recommend to much movement, you were lucky that the worst Raven gave you was a broken arm."
"I should consider myself lucky my arm is broken?" Raven's voice held just a bit of acid in it.
"Yes! Our Raven isn't one to deal much physical pain, usually she destroys her victims' mind, then leaves their bodies to rot away on their own."
Hearing that humbled Raven, in a sense. She remembered the trauma she inflicted on Doctor Light. She also remembered how in a matter of months, he was back up and being the annoyance he always was. He was still sane, or about as sane as someone like him could be. But Dark Raven apparently tortured her victims to the point of no return, and she was sparred that. Why? It couldn't be mercy. Dark Raven wouldn't even know the concept after taking Trigon into her very being.
Raven's thoughts were interrupted by Archangel slowly waking up. Her helmet was on the table next to the bed, so Raven could see the shoulder-length maroon hair that lived underneath it.
"I better let Kyd know she's awake, and I need to let the others know you're awake," Kitten said to herself.
Kitten left the room. Raven lied back down into her pillow, trying to relax and force the sea of pain to escape. She was jolted awake when her friends burst through the doors and ran to her side.
"Praise X'Hal that you and the others are unharmed."
"Robin I told you not to do anything to strenuous, the gash on you side still hasn't healed, and you're the only one on your team without an advanced healing factor" Kitten scolded.
Robin gripped his head as everything started going hazy and he started to lose balance, but fortunately Starfire caught him.
"Please Robin, you must rest."
Kyd Justyce suddenly appeared out of a white hole in the ground. All he did was stare at Arch then turn to Kitten.
"She'll be fine," was all Kitten said. Kyd nodded in understanding, turned to the wall, and sat in a chair.
Kitten walked over to Triclops and firmly shook him until he woke up.
"Just let me sleep," he complained.
"Ops, as the team medic, it's my job to make sure you're all at your best, no matter how much you don't like it." Ops just grumbled and drew his blankets over his head.
"Should we wake them up?" Cyborg asked pointing to Beast Boy and Naga.
"We should let them rest," Raven suggested.
Raven told them about their fight with Shifter, Kid Arachnid, and her own counterpart; Starfire finally broke the silence that followed. "Our fights with the An-Titans, have been most... unsettling."
"Why could they beat us so easily?"
Despite being rather calm, their conversation was enough to wake up Beast Boy and Naga. Each of them stiffened and when they tried sitting up.
"What happened?" Naga asked.
"We had our asses handed to us, that's what happened."
"You two shouldn't be moving to much, you really took a good amount of damage," Kitten said from the other side of the room.
"Do you remember anything from the fight?" Raven asked.
"Shifter chomping into me."
"I remember Arachnid smashing my back, then bringing down the warehouse. Please tell me you guys did better than we did."
"Do we look like we did," Robin said.
"We fought valiantly, but each of us was defeated."
"But how? We know our own powers better than anyone else, we were fighting our own evil selves, and we had the Hive to back us up; where in that equation does lose come in?" Beast Boy questioned.
"I have an idea, but I want to her what Tech says," Raven told them.
Kitten explained to Naga and Beast Boy about the condition everyone was in. Soon both of them were back asleep. Starfire took Robin back to his room to get rest, despite his protests that he was perfectly fine.
Though Cyborg was spared the worst of the beating, he still needed to perform necessary maintenance checks. Raven noticed the Kyd Justyce hadn't moved from his chair, staring at Arch's bed.
At An-Titans Tower, Kid Arachnid was tasked with trying to control Shifter, who was still feeling the effects of bloodlust.
"DOWN YOU FILTHY BEAST!" Arachnid was choking a green tiger with a stone leash, but the tiger still wouldn't sit. It swung one of its giant paws that nearly hit KA in the face. The tiger transformed into a giant condor. The bird flapped wildly, until it was just floating in mid-air. Arachnid had his two left hands stretched out. The bird was thrown against the wall, following Arachnid's hands.
I can't believe how easy it was to defeat the serpent child! Sub-Terror boasted.
That's what happens when a snake thinks it can take a spider. The result is always the same. Arachnid let Shifter fall to the floor from the top of the ceiling.
The next day, or what they assumed to be the next day, everyone was moving in one way or another, albeit in a rather haphazardly fashion. Starfire and Cyborg were the only Titans that didn't seem to be limping. BB, Robin, and Naga were holding their sides for support, while Raven's good arm was slung over Starfire's shoulder. Triclops was limping just as badly as any of them, but he adamantily refused help.
"I'm so glad you all could make it, though if you could be a little more prompt, that would be much appreciated."
"Well next time we'll ask the bad guys to go easy on us," Naga muttered.
"I suppose you're all wondering why you were bested so easily, and rather humiliatingly."
"Just gotta rub it in, don't ya?" Cyborg sarcastically said.
"I do not mean to offend, I am simply saying what everyone else is thinking."
"The question on all of your minds: why could you not defeat your evil counterparts? The answer lies in the question itself."
"What?" all of them said in unison.
"Because we are heroes, we must exercise caution when we use our abilities, however the An-Titans exorcise caution. They are nothing if not sociopathic killers, they have no qualms over taking a life. Therefore, they are able to use their abilities to their highest degrees."
The blue fire!
The mantis!
The immense strength!
Naga remembered the only times he made blue fire were under either extreme rage, or severe stress. Beast Boy remembered he still had trouble with alien transformations. Darkfire was possibly even stronger, if not as strong, as Blackfire.
Raven knew her thoughts had proved true, but never before had she wished that she could be 100% wrong.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Cyborg asked.
"The only feasible conclusion I can assess is for you to train until your powers have significantly increased."
"That's it, just hide down here like a bunch of worms? We need to find a way to get home, and that can only be done if we find whatever you need!" Beast Boy stated.
"Yes, but in your current conditions, you could not hope to even last 5 seconds against the An-Titans."
Naga wanted to protest; he and Beast Boy would be back to normal in at least a day or two, Starfire was pretty much the strongest person he knew, and Cyborg could easily replace any damaged parts. But then he remembered that despite Raven being a rapid healer, broken arms took their time no matter what, and how Robin was only human with a fair sized gash on his side.
I should've transformed when I had the chance.
Naga, you know that even with enough training, the transformations still draw out your darkest feelings, you could've injured the others in a pursuit for victory.
Unfortunately Airheart had to come into the conversation. Plus you heard what Tech said, your opposite is way stronger than you. He would've just transformed himself and slaughtered you.
Your input is not required here Airheart, Marina said with only a hint of irritation.
Call 'em like you see 'em, just sayin.
In the interrogation level of An-Titans Tower, Arachnid and Dark Raven were interrogating Fang in their usual game of sadist psychology, a game which had quickly grown into their favorite pastime.
Arachnid shook himself out of a daze when he re-entered his own body.
"Did he crack yet?" Talon impatiantly asked.
"If he did we would've told you?" Dark Raven shot back.
"This filth is stronger than anticipated, don't you think I should hack off a limb or two, or three, just to get him to talk?" Arachnid asked.
"Fang will be of no use to us if he dies from his injuries."
"Shouldn't we be questioning Slade?" Shifter questioned.
Talon tensed up. "If anyone brings Slade to his knees, it's going to be me."
We should destroy Slade, then, when Talon is broken, KILL HIM! Mesos goaded.
I'm tempted to take you up on that idea.
Hey everyone, I wanted to go further, but I felt that this would be the perfect moment for a small timeskip.
Please review, if the comments are negative, please phrase them in a rather non-hostile fashion.
