Cyborg paced back and forth in the Towers TV room. For the first time in a while, the teenager was being forced to think, instead of just charging into a situation. Not that he really had a choice, Jump City was too big to search by themselves and they had no idea if their missing team members were even in the same state. This time they had to strategise, an ability Cyborg was more than happy to leave to Robin and Raven. He forced himself to calm down as his metallic footsteps began to shake the floor. He could do this, the first rule to fighting any enemy was to know them. They'd lived together for three years, they knew each others weaknesses, their strengths, finding them should be simple…
Cyborg groaned in disgust before glaring at the two on the couch.
"Think guys! Where would Rae and Rob go?"
The green shape shifter sighed, they'd been through this a zillion times already. The teenager shrugged before blurting out the first thing that came to mind.
"Umm… the library?"
His team mates inane answer did what three hours hadn't, Cyborg ceased pacing and turned to face the couch.
"BB they've gone evil. I don't think they've gone to check out a book."
"But Rae likes to read…" muttered the changeling.
The response only increased Cyborgs anger.
"What else do they like to do? What does Robin like to do?"
Starfire and Beast Boy exchanged a glance before the naive alien hesitantly spoke up. "… train?"
"Ugh! They're our friends! How can we NOT know what they would do?"
"Robin and Raven are… difficult. Our friends rarely indulge in pleasantries," consoled the green eyed girl, her hands neatly folded in front of her as she tried to placate her friend.
"Hey that's it!" exclaimed an excited young changeling. "Maybe they've gone to a chocolate factory!" A silence followed Beast Boys suggestion. "… just an idea…"
The computers beeping cut Cyborg off before he could respond to that statement. Still glaring at Beast Boy the default leader of the Titans quickly accessed the mainframe. A few hours ago the teenage human had entered a search of every police report the computer could access. With a heavy heart he had entered his friends appearance into the perpetrators description.
"Guys, the computer's come up with something. A bar was burnt to the ground outside of town by two teenagers ten minutes ago, male and female. The girl had purple hair."
"That's them!" cried Beast Boy.
"Looks like it. I'm transmitting the co-ordinates to the T-car now. We can get there in five," grimly stated Cyborg as the trio headed to the garage.
In the middle of a dark warehouse stood a figure. In the gloom details were hard to make out but an observer with very good eyesight might have seen the person leaning over what appeared to be a very high table.
Of course, half demons have exceptional eyesight…
"Slaaaaade… Slaaaaade…"
The aforementioned villain immediately fell into a subtle battle stance, easy to fight from but to relaxed to seem worried. The poor light glinted oddly against his mask as the evil mastermind quickly scanned the room. He had the uncomfortable sensation that he knew that voice but the echoing warehouse distorted the singsong too much.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find you?" asked a malicious voice from the shadows. Behind his mask Slade smirked.
"Robin, what a pleasant surprise."
"No matter how far you run Slade, no matter how hard you try to hide, it doesn't matter. I'll always find you because that's what I do." The masked villain watched impassively as the teenager stepped out of the shadows and grinned at him. There was something wrong with this scene. Even for a Teen Titan this was over-the-top… and Robin was wearing black. Odd. "I catch the bad guys," finished the hero, his words slightly hissed towards the end. Slade cocked his head slightly.
"How melodramatic."
"You didn't have to hear him practicing the entire way over here," answered a feminine drawl. Slade showed no surprise at the Sorceress sudden appearance reclined on the table behind him. He barely acknowledged her existence as the oddly dark dressed Boy Wonder smirked at him. Unlike Robin, the Sorceress was unlikely to indulge in any banter directly before an attack. Still her tone of voice was uncharacteristic as well. If the villain had not known it was the obsessively self-controlled Raven talking, he would have classed the voice as sensual.
"Our dear Boy Wonder has read far too many comic books in his life," continued the amused Raven as her companion abruptly attacked. Slade dodged the staff blow with practiced ease but distinct alarm. The force behind that blow would have easily crushed bone, possibly even through his body armour. Aside from the time as his apprentice, Robin had never attacked with such viciousness. Something was very wrong with this pair.
With only the minimum amount of movement the villain carefully extended his weapon and subtly extended an invitation to attack. The teenager charged.
From her vantage point, Raven watched the battle with a smirk. The two warriors were almost dancing, so closely choreographed their movements seemed to be. Even her eyes could barely pick up the traces of movement that allowed Robin to dodge Slades kick and launch a blow of his own that was just as neatly sidestepped by the villain. The half demoness hummed slightly, she did love watching these two fight. It always stirred up certain hereditary features in her blood. Ravens amethyst eyes widened slightly in enjoyment as the fist true blow of the fight connected. Slades metal staff swung down in a counterattack that Robin misjudged by a mere fraction, allowing the weapon to land solidly on its target. She watched in eager anticipation as her friend fell.
The villain silently cursed as Robin merely turned the fall into a roll and fell back into a battle stance with a grin. His blow had directly struck a nerve cluster that should have sent any human into unconsciousness. If the teenager had been able to ignore his own limitations it meant only one thing, the boy was already fighting unimpaired by any emotion or guilt. He had shown promise of such ability years ago but had been unable to call it forth as yet. Which meant something had happened to make such a skill necessary. Slade knew he never should have gone on that business trip to Japan. He always missed the most interesting things that way.
The fighters stood still for a moment, both re-evaluating their opponent. Raven was the one to break their stalemate.
"Robin stop teasing," murmured a bored Sorceress
"But Rae," drawled the former hero in a mockery of innocence. "It's so much fun," grinned the teenager as he straightened up and withdrew his bo-staff. Slade elegantly followed suit.
"Hmmm… very well then, but no killing him," the sorceress smirked as her shadows enveloped her, rematerialising mere inches from in front of Slade. With the same instincts that had dominated most of the villains adult life, Slade instantly grabbed Ravens elegant grey hand before her finger could touch his chest. Her smirk merely grew larger. "We need you alive."
Slade tilted his head in question at the demoness' purr before Robins drawl interrupted his assessment.
"Or better yet, your toys," admitted the amused youth.
The moment Slades attention turned to the longer Boy Wonder, Raven slipped from his grasp like a wisp of smoke, reappearing a second later by Robins side. The former assassin resisted the urge to shake his head. His first idea that these two were somehow impostors had been rejected during the fight. He knew Robins fighting style and had spent enough time theorising how it would evolve over time and stress to recognise the form. There was little to no chance that someone had managed to copy such a thing. The second theory that they were being controlled had also been put to rest, both of the pairs movements were far too fluid for such a thing. Besides he almost recognised their actions, it was something he had seen mere glimpses of during Robins brief apprenticeship and Ravens rare outbursts.
"Really?" murmured a sarcastic Slade. "And why would I want to share?"
"We have a proposal for you," stated an almost scarily chipper Raven. The villain repressed a shiver at her tone of voice, he had never been more certain of the girls parentage than in that very moment.
"Do go on," invited Slade in an almost courteous tone of voice.
Robin grinned, absently draping an arm around the unresisting Sorceress' waist.
"Information," answered the youth.
"What knowledge do you possibly think I could want?" For villains their negotiating techniques were rather flawed absently noted the former assassin as his mind pondered the situation. Slade was certain that whatever had caused the teenagers transformation had not been planned. Infact the more he thought of it the more convinced he became that one of the Titans had been experimenting with something they would have been better leaving be. With Ravens talent for empathy the criminal would not have been surprised to find out this transformation was something to do with her. Certainly he would have heard rumours of such a thing if it had been organised.
"Now that was the question we've been asking ourselves all night," admitted the pale Sorceress with an almost concerned smile that Slade didn't believe for a moment.
"In between certain other activities of course," interrupted Robin with a roguish smile. "You see, we need to destroy part of the Tower and to do that we need someone to cause a big enough distraction that the remaining Titans will not come running."
"I'll need at least ten minutes," absently murmured Raven as she walked away from her team mate and back to her perch on the table.
"As enjoyable as I'm sure that would be, I don't do anything without reason. Why precisely would I want to do such a thing?" asked the villain again, allowing the smallest suggestion of impatience to enter his tone.
The two former heros shared an amused glance before answering.