Part 1

Chapter 7: Calling all villains

The five boys stared at the enormous gate in awe. Behind it was the largest bad guy lair they had ever seen, housing almost every villain who ever roamed Jump City and its surroundings.

Kyd had never been to Paris before. He should really use his powers for travelling more often. It was exhausting, though, especially since he had to go multiple times to get all of his teammates there.

In front of the gate stood two villains. One was Overload, a chip with an electric body around it. The other seemed to be Killer Moth, who was recognized by Mammoth because he may or may not have had a crush on his daughter Kitten.

"Who are you?" Killer Moth asked.

"We're the H.I.V.E. Five," See-More said. "We were told to come here?"

Killer Moth inspected the five for a second before pressing a button. The gate opened. "You'll have to check in with Mad Mod," he said. "Follow."

The young villains followed him past the mass of electric energy into the base. They approached a counter that had a red-haired man behind it.

"Mod! I've got a package for you!"

"Right! Send 'em over!"

They walked up to the counter and Killer Moth walked away. Mad Mod looked at them over his small pair of glasses. "Names?"

"We're the H.I.V.E. Five, and we're-"

"You're not the H.I.V.E. Five anymore, lads. You're all separate members of the Brotherhood of Evil now, so can I please have your names?" Mod asked in a rather annoyed tone.

"Uh… I'm See-More."

"Seymour?"

"No, no, See-More. S-E-E-dash-M-O-R-E."

"Gizmo."

"Mammoth."

"The name's Billy Numerous."

A pause. "And what about you, ducky?"

Kyd was pulled out of his thoughts. He had been admiring the architecture of the interior of the base. He stared at Mad Mod for a second.

"Your name, lad."

"His name is Kyd Wykkyd," See-More said.

"I'm not asking you, lad, I was asking him."

"He's mute."

Mod raised an eyebrow and looked at Kyd, before going back to writing down the names. "Blimey, what they call villains these days…" he muttered. He finished writing everything down and looked up at them. "Right. Proceed into the base and wait for further instructions."

"Wait! Can't we have a little more explanation?" Gizmo asked.

Mod stood up from his chair, leaned over the counter and knocked him on the head with a ruby-tipped cane. "Where are your manners, young man?"

"Uh… Excuse me, sir, may we please have some explanation?"

"Look, duckies, I don't know why you're here. All I know is that somebody seemed to be so fond of you that they demanded you to be invited here."

"And who's that?" Mammoth asked.

"That would be me," a voice behind them said.

They turned around. Standing there was an elderly woman, her grey hair tied in a bun. She tightly held a file against the front of her dark blue uniform dress.

Gizmo was the first to speak. "… Mrs. Headmistress?"

oo0O0oo

"It took me a while, but I managed to convince the Brain to let the best of my old students into the Brotherhood," the ex-Headmistress told the new members as she led them through the base. "You are not the first here. I believe you already saw XL Terrestrial, but there are plenty more."

The best? Kyd wondered. Does that include…

"Actually, where is Jinx?" the Headmistress asked. "Wasn't she with you five?"

"She was," See-More answered, "But she went out to work on her own."

"Too bad. She really was one of our most promising protégés."

"Is Brother Blood in the Brotherhood as well?" Gizmo asked.

She scoffed. "No, and it's good he isn't. I'll never forgive him for what he did to my school." They reached a door. "This is where you'll be staying." The door opened, and they saw a very familiar sight.

The large room reminded them a lot of the H.I.V.E. Academy cafeteria. Half of the room was filled with a long table, and around it sat several old H.I.V.E. trainees and other villains, ranging from Plasmus to Kardiak to Ding Dong Daddy. In the walls were several doors which probably led to separate rooms for the villains. The other half of the room consisted of a huge screen with a large, lunar shaped, couch-like bench in front of it. The screen was probably meant to be used for communication and messages from the Brain, but right now Control Freak was streaming a sci-fi movie on it. Kyd gasped when he noticed something next to the nerd. All he could see was the back of a silver helmet and a few white feathers sticking out over the back rest of the bench. But that was enough.

"You will find rooms with your names on them, and then you'll just have to wait until you get orders from higher up… Hey!"

Kyd ignored the Headmistress' call as he ran across the room, thinking of only one thing. Johnny Rancid cursed as Kyd Wykkyd almost ran into him, but Kyd ignored him as well. He flew over the bench and trapped the person on it in his arms.

Angel gave a surprised yell as she felt someone grab her from behind. She turned her head, and stared straight into a pair of red eyes. "Kyd…" she said in disbelief. "Kyd! It really is you!"

"Angel…" Kyd whispered, his voice barely working from not using it in months.

Angel gave Kyd a tight hug, resting his head on her shoulder, ignoring Control Freak's complaints. "Uh… Excuse me, guys, but I'm trying to watch Warp Trek III: Return of Darf Kaan here."

oo0O0oo

"And then he said 'Someone should put a bell on you'!"

Angel burst out laughing at the idea of Kyd with a little bell on a collar. "And what happened then?"

"Uh… I kinda trashed the main power reactor…"

"Really, Kyd. This could only happen to you."

Angel sat down on her bed. She had already moved into her room in the base days before, and they were catching up on each other's lives. According to the story she had told Kyd, she had spent a sizeable amount of time in Grandgate Prison in Crown City, before being rescued by members of the Brotherhood of Evil. At first, she had been just as surprised as the H.I.V.E. Five had been, but the Headmistress had briefed her as well.

"I have been waiting for you to show up for more than a week."

Kyd smiled. "Thanks for not selling me out."

Angel gave a sad smile back. "I really wish I could've seen my father, though."

"Why don't you ask around here if they can arrange something?"

"I have. But the Headmistress said she'd have to ask Mad Mod, who'd have to ask General Immortus, who'd have to ask Monsiour Mallah, who'd have to ask the Brain, and I don't think it even got past Mad Mod."

Kyd looked around the room. It was by no means cozy, but it had everything necessary to live there. Not bad if you considered the fact that every villain had a room here, and some required special rooms (because of size or other things).

He stood up from his chair and put his cowl back on. "I think I should take a look at my own room now."

"Okay." Angel stood up and opened the door for him. "Take care."

"Do you think we're going to get any missions soon?"

"I have absolutely no idea, but I do think they'll rather give the important tasks to the more experienced villains."

"I guess. Bye, Angel."

"See ya, Kyd."

Kyd walked through the long hallways. Despite an awkward encounter with Private HIVE (word had probably reached him that Kyd had replaced him), he had no trouble finding his room, because they were sorted alphabetically. He gritted his teeth when he noticed they had misspelled his name as 'Kid Wykkyd', causing him to end up between Killer Moth and Kardiak (does that guy even sleep?).

Ignoring the frustration caused by the nth misspelling of his name, he went in. His room looked exactly like Angel's.

Kyd decided to get some sleep. So deep underground, he had no idea of the time, but he was tired.

Before drifting off to sleep, a thought crossed his mind: maybe joining the Brotherhood hadn't been such a bad idea after all. He had found a lost friend, and he felt like he was going to make a difference.

Stop the Teen Titans.

oo0O0oo

Kyd Wykkyd managed to get some sleep, despite the constant buzzing sound coming from his neighbor (what kind of messed-up experiments was that guy doing?) and the rhythmic beat that joined in from his other neighbor about half an hour later.

He was hungry. That was the first thing he realized when he woke up. The thing was, he had no idea how food worked in this place. He walked out of his room, hoping to find something in the hub room.

When he entered the lounge, it was still exactly the same as before. Different villains, same situation. Kyd was glad when he spotted See-More amongst the crowd. He ran up to his friend and made clear he was looking for food.

"I asked Billy a couple of minutes ago. He told me to look for a guy in a white shirt called Bob."

"Did someone call my name?" a man abruptly asked, suddenly standing next to them.

"Uh… Are you Bob?" See-More asked wide-eyed.

"That's my name! Say, what will it be for you, sport?"

"Uhm… What do you have?"

"We have meat!"

See-More glanced at Kyd, who just shrugged. "Okay, uh… Two meat then?"

"Jolly good, Tommy. It'll be there in a second."

See-More turned back to Kyd. "Well, let's hope this meat tastes-"

"Here you go!" Bob interrupted him, holding up a tray with what looked like two hamburgers.

"What? Where'd you get that? You didn't even walk away!"

"Great, Jimmy! I'll be in the back." Bob walked away, leaving See-More with the tray in his hands.

The cyclops eyed the burgers with suspicion. "Well, at least the service is quick."

The two boys sat down at the long table with their meal. Next to them, Adonis and Atlas were arm-wrestling. The burger didn't taste half bad, better than they had expected.

The room suddenly went quiet as a large triangular logo with a skull appeared on the screen. Seconds later, the logo made place for the Brain himself, delivering a message to the villains.

"We… have captured… two of their pawns… already," the robotic voice echoed through the room. "Now… it is time… to start taking out… the rest… of their pieces. The Teen Titans… are giving communicators… to all the heroes… across the world. And once they have done that… we can take them out… one… by… one." Various expressions of enthusiasm were heard throughout the room. "Tomorrow… everyone must be ready… to fight. Once they have lost all their pawns… we can capture their king… and victory… will be ours. Evil… will triumph."

Wow, this guy really is into chess metaphors, Kyd thought as the room erupted into a cacophony of roaring, evil laughter, and banging fists on the table.

See-More grinned at Kyd Wykkyd. "Tomorrow's the day."

oo0O0oo

"Right, duckies! Everyone, wait in line for your turn!"

The next day, chaos was complete in the military part of the base. All the villains were ready for battle, eager to taste some Titan blood. Waiting in line unfortunately wasn't their strongest point. Mad Mod was trying to get some order.

"Wait in line! You too, Rocket! We can only send a few at a time!"

"Why is that?" Punk Rocket asked.

"Because the Brain decided to build his base in Paris –Paris, of all places- and we can only teleport one villain at a time," Mod said, pointing at Mumbo, who was standing next to him with his hat ready. "Now, I'll read your names one by one, give you your mission, and then Mumbo here will bring you to your location. Does everyone understand?" Without waiting for an answer, Mod grabbed a list ad started reading names.

"Johnny Rancid and Cinderblock, Sector 27: Más and Menos. Plasmus and Trident, Sector 7: Aqualad. Gizmo and Billy Numerous, Sector 13: Kole and Gnarrk." As he read the names, the villains stepped forward. Mumbo placed his hat on their heads one by one, and one "Mumbo Jumbo!" later, they were sucked into it. "Fang and Private HIVE, Sector 19: Jericho. Warp and See-More, Sector Limbo: The Herald. Steamroller and I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R., Sector 22: Thunder. Atlas and Adonis, Sector 9: Pantha."

This continued for a while. Kyd and Angel watched side by side how the villains disappeared, wondering which Titans they were going to get, and who they'd be teamed up with. "Punk Rocket and Angel, Sector 3: Bumblebee."

"That's my cue," Angel said to Kyd. "Good luck, Kyd."

"You too," Kyd said to his friend as he watched her walk up to the conjurer.

Mad Mod looked at a monitor next to him. "New orders from the Brain: Mammoth, Sector 13: Cyborg. Killer Moth and daughter, Sector 16: Starfire." The villains shouted enthusiastically when they realized it was the main five Titans' turn. "Kardiak, Sector 8: Beast Boy. Psimon and Kyd Wykkyd, Sector 29: Raven."

Kyd felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He got Raven. Raven, of all people. Why her.

He walked up to Mumbo and met up with his companion for the mission, Psimon.

"Okay, let's go!" Mumbo said, holding up his hat.

"Not necessary," Psimon said. "We can both teleport." Kyd gave him a surprised look. How did he know that? He didn't remember ever meeting the man before.

"Come on," Mumbo said, "It's already bad enough that I have to stay here while you guys go have fun, so let me at least do this."

"Psimon says, it is not necessary," Psimon said as the brain that was showing at the top of his head turned black and the veins glowed bright pink.

"You're right, it's not necessary," Mumbo said to Kyd's surprise. "You can go."

"Very well," Psimon said. "Come, Wykkyd."

Psimon disappeared through a pink portal, and Kyd teleported to Sector 29. He ended up on a rooftop in a large city.

'She should be arriving any second' Kyd heard. He looked around, but no one was there. 'It is I, Psimon. I am speaking to you via telepathy.'

'Is this how you knew I could teleport?'

'Of course. I know your every thought. Say, why are you so afraid to fight Raven?'

Kyd froze. 'Get out of my head! That's none of your business!'

'Psimon says, answer my question.'

Kyd covered his ears, but the voice didn't go away. He was struggling to resist the telepathy, and it felt as if his head was going to explode.

Suddenly, the force that was trying to make him talk went away. 'Our target is approaching. But remember, if you are unable to fight her, go away and I will do it myself.'

Kyd looked up and saw a small ship fly through the air. Kyd took a deep breath. He concentrated, and appeared right on top of the ship. He placed his hands on the glass of the cockpit and stared straight into Raven's eyes, but she just said something into her communicator. She then noticed Psimon, who was floating in the air next to the ship. Psimon powered up his brain, and Raven lifted a hand covered in dark energy. She wasn't going without a fight.

Kyd touched the glass, opening a portal through it, but before he could do anything, Raven pressed a button and the cockpit opened. Kyd was catapulted off the ship, and Raven flew out. She aimed her energy at Psimon, who placed both hands on the sides of his head. The black and the pink beam, from the hero and the villain respectively, hit each other in the middle of the space between them, and a bright flash made it impossible to see, but when it calmed down, Kyd could see Raven was protecting herself from Psimon's mental powers with a black shield.

Kyd appeared behind her, and wrapped her in his cape before disappearing with her. Psimon grinned and opened a portal. Kyd popped up right in front of it, and kicked Raven in.

The portal was closing, but suddenly the black head of a raven (the actual animal in this case) popped out, and forced the portal back open. The raven flew out and changed back into the heroine.

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" she said as she cast a spell around Kyd, trapping him in her magic. He tried to teleport out, but to no avail.

"Psimon says," the telepath said, ready to attack, "Let me into your mind!"

A pink beam shot at Raven again, and she barely managed to protect herself with a shield while still holding Kyd. "Believe me… You… don't want… to do this!" The shield was pushed back, and suddenly disappeared. Psimon's attack hit her, and she grunted as she released Kyd.

Psimon laughed, but not for long. Raven's face suddenly showed two pairs of red eyes, and a ball of black magic appeared around her, growing at a fast rate, and engulfing the two villains.

Kyd rubbed his head and looked around him. The city was gone, and he was now kneeling on a rock, floating in a black and red void. Other rocks floated around them, some having a dead tree on them. Next to him, Psimon was getting back onto his feet, and a few feet further, Raven stood with glowing red eyes (only two this time, fortunately).

"You have pulled yourself into my mind," Raven angrily said. "And you have to get out NOW!"

"Psimon says…"

"Azarath metrion…" Raven said simultaneously.

"Sleep!"

"ZINTHOS!"

The spells were cast at the same time, and hit each other with passion. They both bounced back, sending Raven flying backwards, but also letting Psimon fall on the ground motionless.

Kyd looked around. What to do? Soon enough, though, Raven got back up. She engulfed Psimon in her energy and levitated him through the air. "Get out!" She threw him through a red gate on a nearby rock, and he disappeared. She turned towards Kyd, her eyes glowing again. "And now you!"

Kyd swallowed hard as rocks started to float around her. He teleported away just in time to avoid being crushed, but when he reappeared elsewhere, another one was heading his way. He teleported up to five times, dodging a boulder every time, until Raven had none left.

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" She shot bolts of magic at him. He dodged most of them, but couldn't avoid being hit by one.

He was knocked back, and he rolled over the hard rock. He came to a halt only a few feet away from the edge. His head hurt, and he brought his hand up to feel if he was bleeding.

Kyd gasped. He could feel his hair. His cowl had fallen off. As quickly as he could, he looked around to search for it, but the damage had already been done.

Raven stared at Kyd Wykkyd wide-eyed. "… Elliot?"

oo0O0oo

A/N: Calling All Titans is one of the most epic episodes in my opinion, but my biggest complaint was when I noticed that almost every villain got to fight Titans, except for Mad Mod and Mumbo, two of my favorite villains. That's why I put them in charge of dispatching in my story.

I mean, the Brain REALLY is into chess metaphors. Who does he think he is, Professor Moriarty?