Souls Entwined
Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Legacy of Cain belong to their own respective creators. I'd like to thank all those who have reviewed my story. It's because of you guys that I'm inspired to continue writing. Sorry if it took some time to get this chapter out. 'Real life' has been messing with my 'me' time. :p
Enjoy.
Note: This story takes place right after the 3rd installment of the Soul Reaver series and at the start of the Teen Titans animated series.
'- thoughts
".." - spoken words.
New Kid on the Block
A small boy in a green jumpsuit was standing in a yellow corridor. Looking quite smug, metallic wings sprouted from his backpack as he took flight. As he flew, turrets hidden in the walls of the corridor sprouted and began firing in his direction. Deftly avoiding each energy bolt, a missile rack springs from his pack and launches mini-rockets at the turrets, blowing up every one. As he flies further into the corridor, a pink haired girl fights against several robots, each easily 10 feet in height. She twirls in place, pink waves of energy striking the walls, causing pieces of them to fall off and crush her opponents. As she flips between the mangled machines, a huge cannon pops out of the floor behind her only to be smashed by a huge man with his bare hands. Several more cannons rise from the floor but the giant rips the one he smashed up and tosses it onto the offending guns.
Many more robots and turrets appear as the three teens race through the corridor, destroying each one as they make their way to the end. Upon reaching their destination, they take one last look at the destruction they cause before turning towards the exit. The scene fades to black as the video presentation ends, the head mistress of H.A.E.Y.P making her way in front of her client.
"Well, Mr. Slade?" she asks. Hive prided itself on being a crack mercenary force. If this client 'Slade' was all he claimed to be, Hive stood to earn a great deal of money from this transaction.
"They are impressive, truly." replied the man in the iron mask. His voice not betraying any emotional reaction to the presentation he just witnessed. Walking back to his seat, the sound of his metal boots reverberated throughout the whole factory. "Your team seems to be quite skilled but can they do more than smash machines?" he asked. "If your students want to serve me, they have to pass one final test."
All this time the head mistress had been following Slade as he walked. While she anxiously waited for what the request would be, she kept her stoic expression in place as she made her way beside the three new HIVE agents now standing in the spotlight. 'The first rule of marketing, never show them how eager you are for a sale'. she mused silently. As Slade took his seat, finally told her what that request would be.
"Destroy the Teen Titans."
Giving a short bow, the lights above the head mistress and her students switched off, leaving Slade alone in the dark factory. As he sat on his throne, he pushed a few switches on his arm rest, causing one of the room's many monitors to play a video his operatives had recorded the day before. In it, he saw a young boy fighting against over 20 armed men and winning. At least until he was hit by a laser rifle. Dismissing the unknown boy, he focused his attention on the boy wearing a mask and bright colored costume. He watched the boy swing his staff against several thugs as his team mates took care of the bulk of the crooks. The boy's movements were extremely precise, each strike wasting as little energy as possible while achieving maximum results. After watching the Titans mop the floor with the crooks, Slade paused the scene and just stared at the city's defenders, an evil glint in the one eye visible in his mask.
------
Garbage was strewn all around the room; stains from what appeared to be last week's soda clung to the floor like glue. On the kitchen sink (and all over the kitchen counter) there appeared to be the entire kitchen ware gathering mold and grime. In the background, two voices could be heard arguing. The discussion was heated as strategies were debated, locations scoured, and suggestions were made. In this room, two of the most powerful individuals in the city fought over the one thing which could control their destiny.
"How could you lose the remote?!" yelled Cyborg as he lifted piece after piece of furniture in search of the holy artifact.
"What makes you so sure I lost it?" countered Beast Boy.
As they continued their argument, a vein slowly made its presence known on Raven's forehead, her eyes peaking ever so slowly above her book as they narrowed at the two Titans. Thinking to ignore the useless banter, she would have proceeded except Cyborg blurted something so stupid to her she had to react.
"How am I supposed to watch TV without the remote?"
"Simple," replied Raven in a sarcastic tone as she slammed her book shut. "You simply get up and change the channel."
Cyborg and Beast Boy gave here incredulous looks, Cyborg especially as his eye narrowed and glared at Raven. Raven simply glared back.
"Don't joke like that," retorted Cyborg.
"I wasn't joking."
"GOOD! 'CAUSE IT WASN'T FUNNY!" yelled back Cyborg, as he resumed his search for the remote control.
The vein came out in full force as Raven blushed in embarrassment; 'And these are my team mates?' she thought. "This is a pointless argument over a useless device. You are wasting energy and distracting me from my meditation." replied Raven in an irritated tone as she moved towards the arguing boys. Which actually didn't help much as the argument simply escalated now to three people instead of two.
"...and that is the secret to traveling faster than light," finished Starfire, as she and Robin entered the lounge room. She looked on in shock as three of her team mates were engaged in some verbal argument. Not really wishing to see her friends fight, she tried her best to placate the three.
"Friends, please do not fight."
"Yeah," added Robin, as he tried to help Starfire calm the team. "Combat practice is later this afternoon."
"Perhaps we could mend our disputes with the sharing of unhealthy junk food?" suggested Starfire. "I will go fetch them."
"I DON'T WANT ANY FOOD! I WANT THE REMOTE!!"
Starfire headed off to the kitchen while Robin attempted to placate the three arguing teens. Now normally, Starfire's cheery disposition would have been able to calm them down and more so if she was able to bring back food. The food however, had other ideas as it attempted to free itself from the confines of the tupperware, giving off a tiny roar as it faced Starfire.
"EEEEK!" yelled the distressed Tamaranian. While she was new to earth, she was pretty sure that unmoving food was usually universal and the small blue blob in front of her did not fit into her definition of food. And so, she did the one thing she knew would protect her from the horrible little slimy blue blob. She zapped it, causing all of the 'blue furry food' to explode in huge explosion of blue...stuff which covered the entire room in blue.
Robin peeked out from under the blue blob dripping from his hair. Raising his eyebrow at the current mess and the now lack of food in the tower, he what any good leader would do.
"Maybe we should just go out for pizza."
-----
The pedestrians looked towards the sound of the inhuman growl, half expecting to find one super villain or another (it was Jump City, after all), only to find a young teen with a blush slowly rising up his cheeks.
"Sorry," he apologizes and quickly walks away lest his stomach betray him again. Raziel reached into his empty pockets, hoping that some money would 'magically' appear but sighed as they were in the same state as his stomach; empty. 'Maybe I can find job so I'd at least have some money to buy food.' growl 'Or maybe a soup kitchen first THEN a job,' he chuckles to himself. As he walks down the street, he notices three unusually dressed people talking by the side walk. 'Hmmm. Must be more heroes around here than just the Titans.' muses Raziel, leaving the three persons to their meeting.
-----
"All right, so you two remember the plan?" asks the only girl in the group; her unusually pink hair done in an even more unusual hair style.
"Yeah, yeah. We head in, kick their snot-nosed butts, then head back home," pouted the small boy in the group.
"Let's just get this over with, I'm hungry," complains the largest of the group.
"You're always hungry," the girl retorts. "Now get into position. They left the tower a few minutes ago and should be headed here any minute now." With that, the three H.A.E.Y.P graduates rush off to their assigned positions to await the arrival of their mission objectives.
The small child takes point at the top of a building, overlooking the main intersection. A pair of binoculars sprouts from his backpack and moves in front of his eyes. He takes the binoculars in hand and begins to scan for the targets.
"This is going to be too easy," he sneers.
-----
'Well, that an effort in futility.' Raziel had been walking up and down both sides of the street searching for any job openings yet none seemed to be hiring at the moment. The fact he had no identification or qualifications whatsoever for any type of job didn't help either. Finally coming to rest at a pizza shop, he peered into the window hoping to find a help wanted sign. As he was searching though, he could here several of the customers talking quite loudly on the second floor.
"I suggest a large pizza with pickles, bananas, and mint frosting," says a rather cheerful voice, followed by what seemed to be an eternity of silence.
Raziel's pale face turned a slight shade of green upon hearing the toppings suggested. 'I may be hungry but I think I just lost my appetite.' Thankfully, the discussion above deteriorated to an argument between someone who wanted pepperoni and someone who apparently disliked meat, distracting him from the 'unique' pizza toppings earlier. "Well, another dead end. No job, and no money." He was about to leave the area when he noticed a bus careening down the street, its horn blowing loudly. Looking towards the intersection, he heard a small cry coming from a baby carriage in the middle of the road. 'The baby will be killed!' He was about to rush towards the cart when he heard words which would soon have a profound impact on his life.
"Titans, GO!"
He watched as Robin immediately jumped into the fray, firing his bird-a-rang in grapping hook mode and swinging towards the baby carriage while the girl with the fiery red hair flew down and took the baby carriage out of harms way. Cyborg ran towards the speeding bus, bracing himself as it careened at unsafe speeds. As it slammed into his waiting hands, Cyborg pumped full power into his systems to try to slow it down while Raven used her powers to try to activate the braking system inside the bus. All in all, they worked like a well oiled machine; the bus was put to a stop and Robin and the rest of the team had moved the baby carriage out of harms way.
'Looks like my help isn't needed after all,' he thought with a small smile. 'At least they're really what that doctor claimed them to be.' He was about to walk away when he heard the cyborg comment something about the bus.
"Hey. Aren't buses normally supposed to have bus drivers?" Even Raven looked mildly surprised at the empty bus.
"And don't baby carriages normally have babies?" question Robin as he lifted a big green teddy bear from the carriage. The Titans looked puzzled at this turn of events when the said teddy bear suddenly looked directly at them, its eyes glowing brightly.
"Are you pit-sniffers normally this stupid? " it asked, before sending a beam of energy which blew Starfire, Robin, and Beastboy several feet into the air and into an alley. Before Raven and Cyborg could even react, the bus they had just stopped lifted itself into the air and poised itself above their heads, ready to crush them; or would have if one person had not been watching all of it happen.
"MOVE!" yelled Raziel as he rushed towards the two remaining Titans. As soon as the bear shot the three other titans he knew the others would be next. Running towards them even before the bus was raised, he began to formulate what needed to be done. 'He looks heavy. Hope this works,' thought Raziel. Jumping forward as hard as he could, he gave a double kick to Cyborg, the strength of the kick plus the momentum he had built up having just enough force to move him the few feet needed to avoid the bus. "Sorry," he yelled. He turned towards Raven, their eyes meeting for a split second as they recognized each other from the hospital.
"You..." the goth girl started. She didn't have time to finish as the bus started its downward motion, her body frozen like a deer caught in headlights. Before it came crashing down on her, she felt herself pushed violently to one side. She turned towards her 'rescuer' as he gave her a small smile; her eyes widening as she recognizes the look of resignation. She screams for him to move as the bus continued to fall.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Raziel, however; he was no hero, nor was he anything special but he tried to help the Teen Titans anyway. He turns towards falling bus, a frown on his face. 'Shouldn't my life be flashing before my eyes right about now?' he wonders. With nothing coming to mind, he raises his arms in a futile defense as the bus makes its final fall.
"This is going to hurt..."
The bus crashes down on its target, raising a cloud of dust which obscures the area. As the dust clears, a large figure makes its way through, wiping the dirt off his hands.
"That was too easy," replies Mammoth. "I always thought they'd put up more of a fight."
"I know. What a bunch of cludge-heads," comments Gizmo, who lands in front of his large companion.
Jinx then walks up to her team mates, a puzzled expression on her face. "Did you guys see something just before Mammoth dropped the bus?"
"I didn't see anything, and my sensors didn't pick up anything either. You were probably just imagining things. Want to get some pizza?" asks Gizmo.
Mammoth eagerly nods in agreement while Jinx stares intently at the bus. 'Something just doesn't feel right,' she thinks.
-----
Cyborg shook the cobwebs from his head; the guy who kicked sure packed some power. As he got back on his feet, he saw the three teens talking about beating the Titans and the wreckage of the bus. 'Hey! No one ALMOST drops a bus on me!' He then hears Robin and the others as they emerge from the alley they fell into.
"This isn't over." states Robin.
Cyborg uses this opportunity to step out of the dust cloud and enter the fight. "We're just getting started," he adds. As he charges towards the group, he notices Raven just staring at the bus, her eyes wide with shock. "Raven! C'mon!" he yells.
Raven is shaken out of her stupor with Cyborg's call. She takes one last look at the wreckage of the bus, a determined look on her face as she joins her team mates in the fight.
The three H.A.E.Y.P graduates step back, surprised by the 2 Titans they thought crushed by the bus.
"I knew it!" hissed Jinx. "You missed."
"Hey, I don't miss," retorted Mammoth.
Beastboy, on the other hand, was still struggling to get out of the trashcan he landed in. "Hey, what's a cludge-head? And who are these guys?" he wondered out loud as he finally pulled himself out of the trash.
As if on cue, the three teens start their attack once again on the Teen Titans, eager to finish the job they started.
"We are the H.I.V.E..."
"...your worst nightmare..."
"...and this is attack pattern alpha."
The battle began almost immediately. Although outnumbered, the H.I.V.E agents clearly had the advantage with working as a team. Mammoth and Cyborg targeted each other, both knowing who the powerhouses of the groups were. They first seemed evenly matched but Cyborg soon gained the upper hand as he began to push back the meta-human. Starfire was currently in an aerial dog-fight with Gizmo, pitting star bolts against mini-rockets; both of them missing their targets completely.
"Nya-nya, you can't it me!" jeered Gizmo, causing the Tamaranian girl to fly into a righteous rage as she continued to throw her star bolts. Mammoth, in the meantime, was losing the power struggle with Cyborg; the unstoppable force versus the not-quite immovable object.
"No one messes with the Teen Titans in their home town," taunted Cyborg as he continued to push back Mammoth. Things suddenly took a turn for the worst when Mammoth's expression turned to a sneer.
"I don't see any Titans. Just an idiot with a rocket on his back."
"What rocket....?!" Cyborg barely got a sentence out when Gizmo landed on his back and strapped a remote control rocket; causing him to fly out of control.
"Cyborg!" yelled Starfire. She flew of after her team mate, barely keeping up with Gizmo's rocket.
"Two snots down, three to go." said Gizmo, as he looked at the remaining Titans for a target.
Raven on the other hand, was having difficulty fighting Jinx. Hand-to-hand combat was never really her specialty. That, and the fact that her mind was still in a state of chaos over the death of the boy from the hospital. Every punch and kick she tried was either blocked or avoided by Jinx as she weaved in between Raven's attacks. If she thought about it, using her psychic powers may have been a better alternative.
"Is that the best you've got? You fight like a boy," sneered Jinx as she blocked another of Raven's attacks. The verbal attacks seemed to work just as well as the physical ones since Raven's movements became more and more erratic.
"...and you're going to croak like a frog!" finished Gizmo, his backpack now sporting huge spider legs.
Raven looked up in surprise as a plasma cannon sprouted from the boy's backpack 'I let my emotions get the better of me,´ was her last thought before the cannon fired and knocked her back. Robin was thankfully behind her so he was able to cushion her fall. As Beastboy saw his two companions go down, he charged at Gizmo and Jinx, changing into a wild elephant and ready to stomp some H.I.V.E agents. The charge was short lived as he felt himself being lifted into the air by two huge hands.
"Mammoth's gonna make you extinct."
'Even I'm not that lame with my joooookes!' he wanted to shout, as he was tossed and slammed like a beach volley ball. He would have crushed Robin as he fell but thankfully he morphed back to human form; the two of them still flew several feet back due to Mammoth's tremendous strength.
"Oooooh. Is it just me or are we getting our butts kicked?" moaned Beast Boy.
"It's just you," snapped Raven and Robin. They turned towards their opponents ready to resume the fight when they heard the sound of metal bending.
"Huh? Whats that?" asked Mammoth out loud. The sound came from the wreckage of the bus; its hulk slowly moving upwards as it was being lifted. In a city with super heroes, this would have been quite normal but the one who was lifting didn't have any costume, nor did he look like a super hero. He was bruised all over and had numerous cuts over his body, but . All he had was a rather damaged pair of jeans, a torn shirt, and a dark read scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face, making it hard to determine his identity. His eyes also glowed with an unearthly light as he flipped the bus on its side, collapsing to his knees as his strength suddenly left him, panting in exhaustion.
"I definitely do not wish to go through that again," he gasped between breaths. He took a quick scan of the area, noticing the pale girl he had pushed away earlier unharmed.The cyborg was missing, however, which brought a frown to Raziel's face. He shakily forced himself back on his feet, the effects of having a bus dropped on him still
Raven almost sighed in relief as she saw the boy emerge alive from the bus. How he survived, she would have to ask him later but for now she could concentrate on the task at hand. Turning around, she readied the spells for her attack against the H.I.V.E but instead came face to face with a plasma bolt headed her way, again knocking her several feet into the air.
Beastboy was also hit and landed almost next to Raven who was already recovering somewhat from the blast and struggling to her feet. This left Robin as the only Titan left standing before the three H.I.V.E agents.
"This isn't over," taunted Robin, as he got into his traditional martial arts stance. He charged at Mammoth, intent on taking out the bigger threat first. Jumping up into the air, Robin tried to do a double kick at the huge mutant's head but was immediately stopped by his huge hands; one already larger than his own head and currently gripping it with considerable force.
"Was that supposed to scare me?" sneered Mammoth, as he slowly added more pressure to Robin's head, causing the smaller teen to grunt in pain.
"No, but this is!" yelled another voice. Raziel saw Robin get caught in mid-attack and rushed in to help. With a jump that would make a pole vaulter proud, he dived down and gave a powerful punch to Mammoth's jaw, causing the giant to loosen his grip on the boy wonder. Robin took advantage of the distraction and freed himself from the hand, landing only a few feet away from his somewhat tattered rescuer.
"Are you all right?" asked Robin, eyeing the injuries that Raziel sported from the bus.
"Never better," he replied, although his knees were still shaking from the effects of his injuries. "Although I think I may have made our rather large friend angry."
And angry he was. Rubbing his jaw, he gave a glare which would have made normal people run in fear. "Not bad, runt. I almost felt that. But that's the only shot you'll get," he sneered. Mammoth slammed both fists into the ground, causing a shockwave which rocketed towards the two teens. Gizmo then swooped out from behind him, firing his plasma cannon as well. Robin and Raziel struggled to maintain their footing as the combined shockwave felt like a magnitude 7 earth quake. Jinx however, had other ideas, as she let lose waves of pink energy, causing the already unstable road to collapse completely.
Raven watched in mute shock as her leader and the bystander fell into the newly created hole in the street. She rushed over to the side of the hole and peered into the murky sewerage; no sign of Robin or the boy could be seen. Concentrating on her powers, she tried to search for either of the two. Beastboy also made his way to the hole, believing that 'no way Robin would be taken out just like that.' His optimism soon turned to disbelief when a black bubble of energy floated out of the sewers, dissipating only to reveal Robin's belt. The belt fell into Raven's hands, a look of shock still on her face. That shock was soon replaced by her cool expression as she eyed the three H.I.V.E agents slowing closing in on them.
'Outnumbered, and outgunned,' she thought. "We need to fall back," she commanded. Grabbing Beastboy's arm, she wrapped her and her passenger in a dark dome of energy and phased through the ground, disappearing from their attackers sight.
"Hah! Those snot-nosed dweebs ran away!" sneered Gizmo as he landed on the ground.
"So what do we do now? Headmistress told us to destroy them and they could be anywhere by now," replied Mammoth.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the GIANT 'T' standing in the middle of the bay?" Jinx answered sarcastically. The other two agents simply looked towards the bay with blank expressions on their faces.
"Oh." "Ah."
Jinx simply shook her head in embarrassment and dragged her two team mates towards Titans Tower.
-----
Raven entered the tower with Beastboy leaning on her. She didn't actually teleport back to the tower as she assumed their opponents believed but her powers allowed her and anyone with her to phase through any material without much problem. 'If they think I can teleport, the better,' she thought.
Beastboy on the other hand was injured after his altercation with the immovable object known as Mammoth and a small plasma cannon wielding boy. He limped over to a chair and sat down, a look of disbelief still on his face as he rubbed his injured leg. Raven noticed this and placed her hands over the leg. As her hands glowed with a pale blue light, Beastboy felt the pain slowly become non-existant.
"Who knew we had a doctor in the house," he joked, hoping to lighten the situation. "Thanks, Raven." He lowered his head again as he struggled with the thoughts running in his head. After several minutes of awkward silence, he finally spoke. "Tell me that didn't just happen…"
"It did happen. And we have can't change the truth, no matter how much we dislike it," replied Raven. She wanted to rage against the injustice of it all but she knew that she had to maintain a tight reign on her emotions. The sound of the main doors opening interrupted her train of thought however, as Cyborg and Starfire entered the tower.
"Maybe you all should call me fly-boy. I was half-way to Gotham City before Star blasted that thing off my back," joked Cyborg, looking pleased that his team mates made it back safely. "So what'd I miss? C'mon, give me the play-by-play. I gotta know how we kicked their butts."
Beastboy and Raven couldn't look their team mate in the eye. Neither of them could find the words to say they actually lost the fight. Starfire however, did not notice their discomfort but noticed something else.
"Where is Robin?" she asked. Her eyes scanned the whole lobby area but could find neither hair nor hide of the boy wonder. She trained her eyes on Raven as she waited for an answer.
Feeling all eyes on her, Raven shifted slightly in place. 'It is pointless to hesitate,' she thought. Taking a deep breath, she looked Starfire straight in the eye and told her what no one wanted to hear, holding out the only remains they could find of Robin.
"No, No, NO! How can he be missing? You did not search hard enough!" she cried. "We have to go back and search for him!"
"C'mon, Star. This is Robin we're talking about. He's probably fine and is just...late in getting back. Yeah. That's it'" replied Beastboy. Although the look in his eyes said otherwise, Starfire felt somewhat better with that comment. Her eyes lit up as when she heard a loud knocking at the door. She rushed to open it, ready to welcome Robin with open arms.
"Robin!" she called. Starfire barely made it to the front door when the whole structure was blown off its hinges, knocking her back several feet. The rest of the Titans shielded their face from the flying shrapnel as the smoke from the explosion continued to fill the lobby. As the smoke cleared, three figures, began to come into focus; a fairly lithe girl, a small boy, and a huge mound of muscle.
Beastboy looked on in despair as he came face to face again with the ones who disposed of Robin. "Oh no..."
"Oh yes," replied the pink haired goth girl as she and her team mates prepared to rid the world of the Titans.
-----
"So where are we exactly, again?"
Robin looked back at his new traveling companion. When they fell into the sewers back in the city, the current swept them quite some distance away. When they came to, they were in a fairly dark and huge underground network of tunnels. Although Robin lacked his utility belt, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve and produced several flares. The two were now making their way back to the surface. "These are some of the old subway lines that the old Jump City used to have. I guess with all the reconstruction and development in the city they were forgotten."
Raziel took in the sights like they were the first time he saw such things, which they were considering he had no memories prior to the night before. The whole tunnel seemed vaguely...nostalgic. Putting it off as his memories playing with him, he continued to follow Robin as they tried to find their way out of the sewers.
"How do we know we're headed in the right direction? I can't make hide or hair of any direction," asked Raziel.
Robin held up his patented tracking device, a red dot flashing on its screen. "I have a fix on the Titans Tower with this. As long as we follow this, we'll get out." As the two of them continued on their exodus from the tunnels, Robin's curiosity finally got the better of him.
"Who are you, anyway? I remember you from the other night in the alley, but it looks like you've made more than a full recovery. Well, at least you did. Now you look like someone dropped a bus on you."
"Haha. Very funny," he retorted, knowing Robin was just trying to lighten the mood. "Well, since we are stuck here for the moment, I might as well tell you what I know. I'm not really sure who I am anymore, much less what I am now," he replied morosely. As they continued walking he recounted to Robin his awakening in the alley, up to the point of the fight with the thugs.
Robin looked analytically at the teen in front of him. Nothing seemed too out of place in the story and he did fight against the H.I.V.E agents. "We'll see what we can do about your memory. Raven's pretty good with her powers. Maybe she can do something about your missing memory. It's the least we could do after getting you caught in the cross fire. Although I seem to recall someone jumping into fight without thinking things through," replied Robin with a smirk.
"I could say the same about you for trying to take on the three of them alone," retorted Raziel. Robin merely smirked as lead the two towards what was hopefully the exit.
"Are you sure your friends are all right? Those 'hive' agents seemed to be very coordinated."
"I'm sure they're fine. We've faced worse before," answered Robin.
"Yes, but have you faced them as a team?"
Robin merely remained silent with that question. True, they only formed the Teen Titans recently and really haven't had a chance to really train as a team. "There should be an exit right above us," he replied, changing the topic immediately. Up ahead, they saw a steel door which looked like it had been sealed for decades. Robin immediately ran up to the door and tried opening it to no avail; it was too rusted and the parts must have gotten stuck over the years.
"Let me try," said Raziel. Grasping the handle of the door, he braced himself against the frame of the door as he pulled with all his might; still the door wouldn't budge.
"Maybe I should..." Robin failed to finish his sentence as Raziel's eyes began to glow again. As the glow intensified, the sound of metal straining grew louder and louder. Robin wisely moved to the side as his companion's eyes grew as bright as the time he lifted the bus.
"RRRrraaaaagh!" With a primal yell, Raziel ripped the door off its hinges, letting the light of the setting sun into the dark corridor. Throwing the door to the side, he gave a tired look at Robin who simply had his arms folded across his chest.
"I was going to suggest using this," holding up a small cutting torch," to open the door but old fashioned is good."
As they made their way out of the sewers, they could hear some voices arguing in the distance.
-----
"Perhaps I could be of some assistance..." asked a gentle voice.
"I GOT it."
"But you are so damaged and..."
"I SAID I GOT IT!" yelled an angry Cyborg, who was rightly angry after suffering two losses in one day.
"Hey! She was only trying to help! What is your problem?" defended Beastboy.
"What do you think?! We got KICKED out of our house, a pint-sized poindexter took me for a joy ride, and IN CASE you haven't NOTICED, I JUST BECAME LEFT HANDED!"
"ENOUGH!" Raven finally intervened. "We need to control our emotions."
"OR WHAT? OUR BAD VIBES WILL KEEP YOU FROM MEDITATING?!"
"What, giving up so soon?" replied an unknown voice.
"WHO'S THERE?" yelled Cyborg, as he got into a fighting stance. The rest of the Titans also got battle ready and faced the source of the voice, only to find the boy from earlier stepping out of the shadows, the red scarf still wrapped around his face.
"Is this all the Teen Titans have to offer? I thought they were made of sterner stuff than this."
"WELL YOU THOUGHT WRONG!" answered Cyborg. "I WAS BEATEN BY A SMALL KID, BB WAS BUTT-WHIPPED BY A STICK GIRL, AND STAR AND RAE LOST TO SOMEONE MORE MUSCLE THAN BRAINS!" Finally getting his frustrations out, Cyborg looked back at their former home, a look of defeat on his face. "It's over. We lost. The Teen Titans are through. All that's left are losers."
"Why?" asked Raziel. "I don't see any losers here. I see (looks at Starfire) a gentle soul with the will and power to defend, (looks at Cyborg) a soul which will never give up, (looks at Beastboy) a soul which knows when to play and when to fight, (looks at Raven, his gaze lingering a little bit longer than needed) and a soul which will always fight against evil."
Cyborg and Beastboy simply continue to look at the tower, feeling somewhat embarrassed that someone who knows they lost still believes in their ability to win. Raven is more suspicious though, as she gives Raziel a glare, irritated that this outsider has the gall to lecture them.
Starfire looks down at the ground, shivering slightly from her unplanned swim in the bay. "I wish Robin were here," she wished out loud.
"Who says I'm not?" replies Robin as he steps out from behind Raziel. "Besides, it's not over till I say its over."
-----
"Slade's gonna have kittens when he finds out we whipped the Titans and took their stinking tower," gloated Gizmo as he had his robots mount Cyborg's right arm on the wall.
"Not to mention Robin's favorite fashion statement," says Jinx, referring to the belt now around her waist. "Ugh. But that's the only thing fashionable around here," she adds, a blue cloak in her hands.
"Yeah...munch...even their food...munch...is waaay out of date," adds Mammoth between several bites of the blue furry food.
As the H.I.V.E agents continue to ransack the Titans tower, they fail to notice small camera now protruding from Cyborg's right arm's middle finger. It scans the whole room, focusing on each of the three invaders to the tower.
Does she have anything that's not blue? asks Jinx as she tries on one of Raven's cloaks.
"I've got a fix on them, Robin," says Cyborg as he takes note of each of the positions of the H.I.V.E agents. "Gizmo's near a control console, Mammoth's in the pantry, and Jinx is about 5 feet south of the fridge." 'I don't think I'll mention the cloak to Raven. I'm not that cruel,' thinks Cyborg.
"Alright Titans, get ready," says Robin. Each of the Titans nod as they take their positions outside the tower. Raziel moves towards one of the piles of steel laying on the roof but an arm on his shoulder stops him in mid-stride.
"Just WHERE do you think you're going?" asks Raven.
"I may not be a Titan, but I still owe them a debt for the bus," he answers.
"You're a civilian. This is dangerous. You could get hurt and we can't keep protecting..." she is interrupted by the sound of creaking metal as she sees a steel pipe crushed in Raziel's hand and his eyes glowing with an eerie light.
"Riiiight. Next?"
Raven was about to retort when her communicator sounded. Raven, are you in position? We've got the coordinates.
"Yes, but what about Raziel?" she asked.
He's with us on this one. I promised him a crack at H.I.V.E. and I think he can take care of himself. Anyway, get ready. Cyborg says he's almost got the systems online. Raven shut of her communicator and gave a glare at Raziel who simply raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Just stay out of my way," she snaps. Closing her eyes, she visualizes the area where Jinx is located and chants the words which calls forth her dark power. As her eyes open, they glow with a bright white light.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
-----
"What the hairball?!" Gizmo doesn't get to finish his sentence as Cyborg's arm fires off some control wires which wrap around him. The arm then proceeds to drag Gizmo around the room before firing off some booster rockets, propelling it and its passenger through the ventilation system.
Jinx looks on in curiosity and amusement as their diminutive disappears from the room. She is startled out of her curiosity as a black claw grabs her and pulls her through the ceiling. Mammoth turns and sees his team mate disappear into the roof. All of a sudden, the doors leading to the roof open up and he feels himself blasted through it by a green bolt of energy.
Jinx is the first to appear on the roof, the dark energy depositing her there in an instant. Gizmo bursts out of the ventilation and is unceremoniously dropped onto the kneeling Jinx, knocking the two of them to the ground. Just as they are struggling to get to their feet, the see Mammoth blasted through the fire exit, landing right in front of them.
"Sorry to interrupt the victory celebration," says a familiar voice as a belt flies into his hand. "But like I said, this isn't over."
"Oh yeah..." Gizmo's stops mid-taunt as he sees five people now standing behind Robin, each with a determined look on their face.
"Yeah. It's just getting started," finishes Cyborg.
The three H.I.V.E. agents get to their feet, eager to show the Titans how they got beaten the first time. They each readied themselves as they moved into formation.
"Attack pattern alpha!" commands Jinx, as she fires of her pink bolts at the group. The Titans scatter as the bolt strikes the floor they were on, causing an massive explosion.
Beastboy lands directly in front of Mammoth whose hands are already in a downward strike ready to crush the shape shifter. He closes his eyes, expecting to be nothing more than a green smear on the roof. When nothing happens, he opens them to see the unknown teen successfully holding back Mammoth's hands.
"Hello, my rather large friend. Remember me?" he smirks, as his eyes begin glowing.
Seeing that Mammoth is now preoccupied, Beastboy rushes off to help his team mates.
Cyborg and Starfire on the other hand were in a deadly dance against Jinx. He spell bolts causing massive damage wherever they hit. Starfire let loose several of her star bolts against her who simply avoided them with the grace of a practiced gymnast. Seeing that she was currently out gunned, Jinx runs into the reconstructed area of the tower to find a defensive position; Starfire hot on her trail.
Cyborg backs away slowly from where Jinx ran. He saw Mammoth occupied against the new kid which left Gizmo somewhere else. He backed up against a large water tank, ready if Gizmo struck. Gizmo, however, was hiding on top of the tank and jumped onto Cyborg's back; ready for a repeat performance of his joyride.
"Hey, robo-wimp. Feel like getting hacked?" he taunted as he activated his multipurpose tool.
"Nope. How about you?" he replied. "ROBIN, NOW!"
Robin jumped out of the shadows he was hiding in and tossed an electro static discharge device at Gizmo's backpack. As it attached itself, a large electrical charge was sent directly into the backpack, shocking both the backpack and the user.
"AAAAAH! Cut it out! You're going to crash my whole system," yelled Gizmo frantically. It was too late, however as the device did its work. The pack's booster system fired launching the small boy in an uncontrolled flight around the tower's air space. Screams of 'Get it off me'could be heard as he flew around.
Starfire continued her attack on Jinx as she ran through the unfinished areas. It seemed as though Jinx was successfully avoiding the star bolts but Starfire soon stopped chasing her as she called out to a hidden team mate.
"Beastboy! Go!"
Beastboy lept from his perch and morphed into a monkey, landing directly on Jinx face. The shock of having something green, furry, and to be honest smelly on her face, caused Jinx to launch several spell bolts everywhere. Finally catching her senses, she grabbed the offending mammal and tossed him away.
"Your luck just ran out," joked Beastboy as he morphed back into a human. Jinx looked on in confusion before she heard the creaking metal and steel around her; her spell bolts hitting several of them and causing them to collapse. She screamed as the steel pillars began crashing on top of her.
Raziel and Raven were busy distracting the H.I.V.E powerhouse, neither having enough strength to take him on physically. Just as he dodged another of the giant's slow punches, he heard Jinx scream in the distance. He turns towards the source of the scream and sees the steel structure beginning to collapse. Grabbing another of Mammoth's punches, he flips him on his back in a judo-like move then runs towards the Jinx.
"Where are you going?" shouts Raven as Mammoth gets back on his feet and goes after her instead.
Jinx in the mean time is barely avoiding the falling debris. She trips over one of the steel pipes laying on the floor however, placing her in the path of one of the larger pieces of falling steel and concrete. Just as the piece is about to hit her, she feels two strong arms lift her up and move her out of harms way. She looks at her sudden rescuer only to see an unknown face with glowing eyes.
"Are you all right?" asks a smooth voice.
"Uhhhh..."
Raziel looks puzzled at the pink haired teen. 'Maybe she got hit before I got her out,' he muses. He takes a closer look at her, causing a slight blush to rise to her face. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he set her down on her feet like a knight would set down a lady. "You know, if it wasn't for the fact that your large friend nearly crushed me with a bus I'd find you quite attractive," he says, causing the blush on her face to color her pale skin. "But, you might want to duck now," he finishes, as he jumps out of the fallen debris.
Jinx looks on in puzzlement until she hears a familiar scream which seems to be getting louder.
"AAAAAAAAH!" yells Gizmo as his broken backpack crashes him into Jinx for the second time in the day. Mammoth soon follows, having been kicked by Robin. He lands on his two team mates which easily pin them down with his massive weight.
"Crud, I'm calling Slade." Gizmo barely has time to activate the communicator when Robin hoists him up out of the dog pile and holds him face to face.
"Who is Slade," he asks threateningly.
"Wouldn't you like to know, barf-brain."
Robin's eyes narrow at Gizmo, causing the smaller teen to flinch only slightly. 'I'll have to remember to ask Bruce to show me how he does that glare again,' he thinks to himself. Tossing Gizmo back to the ground, he turns towards his other team mates as he makes his way back to his room.
"Call the authorities to pick them up and get them out of my sight."
-----
"I assure you, such failures are not tolerated within the H.I.V.E.," apologizes the head mistress, her face a mask devoid of emotion. "Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities they will be disciplined...strictly disciplined."
Slade steps out of the shadows, his body language betraying nothing. "Actually," begins Slade, "your agents served my plans quite well. I never expected them to succeed. They were merely messengers." Slade lifts a remote control and activates several monitors in front of him. "And the message has been received." Robin's face appears on all the monitors, each of them repeating one phrase caught on video.
Who is Slade?
-----
"NOOOOO! This is the worst thing that could ever happen! My tunes have been...alphabetized..." Beastboy complains. "How am I ever going to find anything?!" he rants as he searches for all his CDs.
"They went into my room," drones Raven, a look of more than mild irritation on her face. "No one should EVER enter my room."
The last comment elicits a shiver from Cyborg. He recalled the pink haired girl trying on Raven's cloak. It was bad enough she found out the H.I.V.E agents entered her room. He didn't want to be around if she found out her clothes were used as well.
"Someone has disposed of all our blue furry food!" yelps Starfire, the fridge now devoid of all mutated matter.
"I can't believe it! The whole place is cleaned and I still can't find the remote!"
Robin whistles to get Cyborg's attention; pointing to the remote control on the table.
"I guess I'll be going now," Raziel says as he makes his way towards the exit.
"No, wait! We must thank you for your assistance against the H.I.V.E agents. I will go make the pudding of gratefulness!" Starfire replies gleefully only to stop suddenly. "Oh. I forgot we no longer have any ingredients to make the pudding," she sighs, eliciting sighs of relief from her team mates.
"No, it's all right. I just needed to vent some frustrations out on them," declined Raziel.
"Oh. I am sorry I could not prepare the pudding for you. Where are you going, then?" she aks.
"I guess anywhere fate leads me," was his cryptic response.
"You're not going anywhere," stated Robin. "You told me in the tunnels that you had no memory of who you were or where you came from. That's why we saw you in the alley the other night."
Raziel opened his mouth to object when his stomach spoke for him, a loud growl which caused him to blush slightly in embarrassment.
"I cannot allow my new friend to wander the dark streets alone, and hungry with no place to turn. We have many empty rooms here, yes? Can he not stay for just a few days?"
"I couldn't impose," he replied. Raziel looked at the rest of the Titans faces. While not as eager as Starfire, they all seemed agreeable to her suggestion. Starfire looked at each of her team mates waiting for any objections. Finding none, she immediately grabbed him and pulled him towards the door.
"Come. We must find you some food and new clothing and..." was Starfire's cheerful statement as she dragged a shocked Raziel.
"Yeah, dude. I have to introduce you to the wonderful world of tofu!" added Beastboy.
"Uh, uh. If he's gonna be eating, its gonna be meat!" countered Cyborg'
"Tofu!" "Meat!" "Tofu!" "Meat!"
Robin watched his team mates with a smirk as they dragged off Raziel, an image of a deer caught in headlights coming mind. "Looks like we'd better make sure he makes it back in once piece," states Robin jokingly.
Raven merely shrugs and floats off after them, the image of Raziel being the focus of Starfire's attention bringing a tiny smile to her lips.
To be continued.
Notes: Finally! I got the chapter out! Wheee! Now I can get started on the next installment. Stay tuned. :)