Chapter 7

"Who does she think she is," Robin mumbled as he made his way to Raven's room. The siren had been going off for two minutes before Cyborg had realized that it was a false alarm. Robin was headed to wreak a raging storm on Raven for disrespecting him in front of the team like that.

As he approached her domain, a faint scent of smoke pooled into his senses and odd, empty feeling crept through his fingers as he knocked on the door. With no answer or sounds from the room, he overrode the lock and the entrance slid open.

"Oh my God."

The large window was shattered and looming, jagged glass reached out from the panes. The bookcase and décor of one side of the room appeared to be destroyed with burned books and miscellaneous objects.

Guilt overwhelmed him as he reached out and touched the splintered shelves. "Who could have done this…" His communicator rang and Cyborg's worried face appeared on the screen.

"We've got real trouble, Rob. An outside source triggered the alarm, and we've got a visual of an intruder. Is everything okay where you are?" Robin's face appeared oddly stoic, as if he was holding back deeper feelings.

"No. Raven's room has been ransacked and she's missing. Who is the culprit?" Cyborg's face fell into deep sadness, fearful of what to say next. "I'd hate to tell her I told you so, Robin."

IIIIIII

Shego slapped the back of her hand across Raven's cheek with punishing force. Although most of her senses had been depleted severely, her face felt as if it was engulfed in violent flames. She had no idea how much more pain she could endure before going into an unconscious shock. She swallowed the thick blood that was now pooling in her mouth and attempted to lift her head to catch a blurred view of her repetitive attacker.

"I really missed doing this," Shego sneered as she grinned toothily at her glowing green glove. Swiftly, she struck Raven with such vigor that the chair toppled over onto the ground. Any semblance of her consciousness had dissipated as her swollen eyelids slowly closed.

"She's got one hell of a pain tolerance, though," Shego mumbled. "No matter now," shrieked Drakken. "She is finally unconscious, although we could have injected her with something that could've put her out a lot quicker but—but—your method was also fun. In a few moments, the ancient crystals will be fully charged, and the electro-transmutation will be initiated. And now, to trigger the-"

"Okay, enough Drakken, who cares about your toys, just get this show on the road." He murmured something incomprehensible that resembled the words "appreciate" and "true super-villain", but quickly flipped a small switch on a control panel, prompting Raven to begin to convulse.

IIIIII

"Her name is Shego, Robin," Cyborg stated, revealing hundreds of Federal Government Official issued warrants, criminal records, and Interpol declassified documents that all contained the same common denominator. "Her various aliases include Miss Go, Sheila Go, Sheela Go, Sadie, Angelica Gregory, Miss Wobakoff, Sherry Go, and Miss Ogehs."

Beast Boy broke out in a heap of laughter. "S-Sadie? Come on, this is…you can't be human if you don't think that's hilarious. Where did Angelica Gregory come from? An old colleague's daughter? WOBAKOFF?" He fell over onto his back, hysterical and tears flying from the corners of his eyes.

"I agree with Beast Boy. These names are most amusing, but I can tell they all have something in common. Most of them are loosely based on her real name," Starfire inferred.

Robin nodded. "It says she is a hired hand, but remains loyal to someone named Dr. Drakken. He must be here with her." He leaned forward and stared intently at a photo of the villainous duo's mugshots.

"But where are we gonna find them dude?" Beast Boy approached the database's visual, having heard enough to take the situation more seriously. Cyborg opened a visual of Raven's coordinates with a bright glowing red sphere noting her location near the outskirts of the city.

"When we find Raven, we'll find Shego and Drakken."

IIIIIII

Blank space. That was all that she could see, void of any light or inconsistency. Deep down in the depths of her conscious, an angry voice could be heard, screaming at her for not believing her inner instincts for what they truly were. She was wrong to believe that she could trust anyone.

At least, anyone outside of Titan's Tower.

And most definitely no one who wined and dined her and spent hundreds of dollars on her without even knowing her longer than a month. Why did she ignore her intuition? It had been right all along…that mistrust—it was certainly justified.

She felt so helpless. However, one thing was known for certain: she was emotionally vulnerable when she met Shego. She was exhausted from the stress of bearing a secretive burden, and she was open to an outlet—even though it was completely mistrustful. Clearly, Shego was aware of this, and she found this weakness and played her way into the perfect storm.

"It's pointless to do all of that, sugar."

Raven looked up and saw Shego standing over her, smiling brightly in her direction. She stood ahead of her like some ironic statue in honor of Raven's stupidity, but somehow her appearance had brought illumination to the emptiness that Raven was currently shrouded inside.

"I can get you out of this, Raven." She turned her head away from Shego, rage bubbling up from her blackened heart. "I refuse to believe any of the bullshit that comes from your mouth." Shego cocked her head to the side in innocent wonder.

"What bullshit could I possibly feed you at this time? Look at where we are! A fucking empty pothole." Raven looked to her smug facial expression, preparing to fire a cannon of insults.

"You lied to me. You manipulated me. You made me think you were actually there for me when in reality, you were not. I should have known; this isn't the first time I was deceived, but I can promise you, it will be the last."

Shego stood silently, her face empty of any telltale emotions. She approached the fallen woman slowly and knelt down into a sitting position. Her emerald eyes were clouded and locked Raven out of her mind, making her unable to interpret any more lies. "I know I was wrong, but I did it for you. I did it because I knew of a way to help you…to make you normal."

Raven narrowed her eyes in curiosity. "What are you insinuating?"

She sighed, as if she was preparing to tell a short story. "There was once an ancient machine capable of helping demon-spawns. It can make you human. You will be able to feel, enjoy life, and have experiences without jeopardizing other people's lives or your self-control. You can exist without the fear of your father's influence. What's more is…I have it in my possession." Raven's eyebrows knitted together, and she felt engorged with even more rage.

"How do you know so much about me? And how do you know I even want this-"

"I know everything about you. I came here, to Jump City, to help you, Raven. You told me enough about you as well to show me that in your heart of hearts, you do wish to be normal. Perhaps…to be normal for Robin, so that he would commit to you. But I can, Raven. I can change this…your soul is too pure to be distorted by your demonic heritage.

She rose to her feet and held out her hand to Raven, who reluctantly stared at it with unsure judgment. "Come with me, Raven. Trust me…give it to me, and it will be destroyed forever, but only if you willingly give it to me. You must trust me."

Raven relaxed her defensive demeanor and momentarily weighed out her options. Maybe Shego was right. Maybe if she was human, her life would be so much less complicated. Maybe she would not have to deal with two-timing superheroes anymore or a monstrous father who would threaten her existence with a millennia-old prophecy foretelling an Armageddon in her future. Perhaps…she could be a normal Earth girl, go to college to study history and ancient languages, and live happily in a quiet apartment with a lazy cat.

It all sounded so appealing.

"Time is running out. You must make your choice now."

She took a deep breath, somehow accepting her fate, regardless of the outcome. Ending it all could really take all of the pain away…

Raven placed her small hand in Shego's weathered glove.

She pulled her into a standing position and held her close and tight against her chest. The denseness of her glare felt almost solid and Raven's breath was stifled. Her eyes were so piercing…and seemed as if they were fading into a different hue, from a deep shade of forest green to a glowing bright turquois and an eventual shining tint of blue.

Raven was enchanted by this aurora of light that had encapsulated the two and the blue glow began to emanate from her chest and flow into Shego's. She felt a river of energy gliding smoothly out of her, presenting an omnipotent calm in her heart and mind.

But the sensation was only enjoyable for only so long and soon felt like a painful wave of frigid water crashing against the walls of her sternum. Shards of ice penetrated their way through her senses and streamed into the other woman's body.

Raven gripped Shego's arms tight, bracing the pain and peered into her blinding eyes as the light began to overpower her sight…

Shego's body was blasted with powerful plasma energy into the wall on the far end of the lair. The energy supply flowing into the absorption device mounted on her chest was cut short, but continued to glow bright blue.

A small bomb exploded the glass cylindrical casing that contained Raven's now frail body. Robin caught the woman before she hit the floor and analyzed her withering appearance. Her bouncing bold violet locks had become drained of all vibrancy and her skin was paler than usual—almost skeletal.

Shego rose to her feet, brushing off her clothes as she noticed Drakken twisting in a futile attempt to break out of the vice grip of Cyborg's powerful arms.

There stood the Teen Titans, making a sudden appearance like a budding rose in a garden of weeds. "We don't know why you targeted our Raven, but you were dead wrong to think you were going to have her without a fight," Robin sneered.

"Clearly you have no knowledge of what you have exactly walked into!" Shouted Drakken, still squirming, but he remained in the hold. "Now, Shego! Release your new raging fury!"

The lair became encased with black, rippling with green flames as heat radiated throughout the domain. Shego fell to a kneeling position, holding her fists tight as immense power coursed through her. Her face folded with rage as she screeched and unleashed a wave of energy, knocking everyone off their feet and Drakken out of Cyborg's grasp.

She turned her electric eyes towards Drakken and enclosed his head in a ball of dark energy. His brain swelled to the size of the sphere and then exploded into a bloody mass. Shego dropped the energy orb and his body fell to the ground in a heap of blood.

Shego glanced at the rest of the Titans and gave them a devilish smirk before shooting through the roof of the underground lair and flew towards the city. As a result, the stability of the room began to falter as the area rocked back and forth.

Starfire grabbed Robin and Raven's seemingly lifeless body and BeastBoy, in the form of a Pterodactyl, carried Cyborg out of the building through the newly formed hole after Shego's pulsing form.

"Starfire, go with them. They need your help. Leave me with Raven," Robin spoke over the noisy collapsing lair. She nodded, bringing the two through the opening and onto safe ground. She gave him one last solemn look before soaring into the sky to follow after the other two Titans.

Robin turned his head to face Raven, who was breathing slow and heavy and her face was tear soaked. She lifted her eyelids to see the blurry view of his aching visage.

"I'm sorry…Richard," She whispered with a chokingly raspy voice.

Hoping for one (or possibly two) more chapters.

Also, be on the look out for the next chapter for Enigma. It's going to be a real treat! Let me know what you think!