Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.
The Creeper had been patrolling the streets of Gotham when he saw Robin blast by on h is motorcycle, running through a red light. There was another biker at the intersection, who stared at the Boy Wonder as he continued to zoom down the streets at speeds close to 100 miles per hour, which is why he did not see the stranger who leaped off the top of a nearby building and landed next to. The unsuspecting civilian suddenly felt a vise like grip on his shoulder as he was lifted from his motorbike, which fell to the floor.
"I need some wheels, but it's for a good cause!" The Creeper chortled as the biker stared in horror, recognizing his assailant. The Creeper tossed him aside after which he picked up the motorcycle, a late model Harley-Davidson and took off on it.
Robin was almost a mile ahead of the self proclaimed "yellow wacky man" but with his heightened senses he was able to track him without being noticed by Robin. He followed him to Luthor's mothballed campus, staying hidden and followed him in. He watched as Robin demolished the two sentries and followed him in before the expeditionary force that had gone out to confront the Titans was able to return.
Unlike Robin he had no shroud to hide him from the cameras, which was fortunate for Robin as several alarms went off as the Creeper entered the lobby.
The Joker was still kicking back in his executive chair, bragging to Poison Ivy about how perfect his plan was when an alarm went off. Jumping to his feet he ran to his control panel and saw that a small group of people had been detected on a nearby hill. He also saw that several Mark III sentries had already been dispatched to intercept them. The leading sentry focused on of it telescopic lenses and the Crime Clown saw Raven and Beast Boy standing at the edge of the wood on the hill.
"That couple gives me the creeps." Pamela remarked dryly.
"You and me both." The Joker replied. "Oh look, there's Batsy, Cy-bore and the Bat Brat. I guess the Boy Blunder had to stay home."
As they watched on the high definition screen the invaders retreated into the forest, which within moments was pelted with a barrage of incendiary missiles.
"I guess we don't have to worry about them anymore." That Joker announced with a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat on his face as he plopped himself back into his chair.
"You can't be serious Joker. It's never been that easy with the Bat. And don't forget, he has the Titans with him, especially the witch."
"Ray-bans? You give her too much credit Pamela, she's just a kid."
"No she's not Joker. They might still call themselves the Teen Titans, but they're all adults now. And even when she was a teenager she was pretty formidable. It's too bad she didn't take more after her father, she would have made a good ally."
As the Joker dismissed Pamela's protest with a wave of his hand the console came back to life, this time with a audible alert.
"Warning, warning. Both lobby sentries have been destroyed. Repeat. Both lobby sentries have been destroyed."
"What did I tell you?" Ivy hissed. "You underestimated them."
"It can't be, how did the approach the lobby without being detected?"
"I told you her powers were not to be dismissed! So what are you going to do?"
"Uh, I don't know, the AI was everything. Oh look, it's dispatching more droids to the lobby. We'll be fine Pamela. They'll take Batsy and his friends down."
"I hope so Joker, I'm not interested in returning to Gotham. But if your robots can't stop them then we're doing things my way!" She growled.
The Joker let out one of his signature maniacal laughs. "You worry too much Ivy dear."
"And you don't worry enough clown!" Se retorted as a second alarm went off.
"Warning, warning. Intruder alert. Repeat. Intruder alert. Intruder is in the main lobby."
The Joker waved at the screen.
"Now Pamela dear, watch how my robots destroy the intruders."
What the Joker saw next made his heart freeze. It was the Creeper, who was effortlessly destroying the robots faster than they emerged into the lobby.
"It's him Pamela, it's him!" The Joker screamed in terror. "How did he find us?"
"Who is he Joker? I was in Arkham the first time he appeared. I saw him at the Stacked Deck and he clobbered Raven good."
"Who cares who he is? He a maniac Pamela! We have to get out of here!"
"We Kemosabe? My understanding is that he's after you."
"If I go down, you go down!"
Ivy scowled at the clown.
"We started this together and we're going to finish it. If we bail we're going to be on the run, or do you think t the Titans will forgive us what we did to the Tamaranian?"
"But the robots can't stop him."
"Then I guess they'll need some help."
"Ok, the coast is clear." Batman informed the team. Cautiously they emerged from the storage room and made their way down the now deserted hallway. Soon they reached a corner and peeking carefully around it they found one of the few and precious data ports they were looking for. Unfortunately it was guarded by two sentries. The team retreated to a safe distance.
"How do we get past them?" Cyborg complained. "Sure we can destroy them, but the AI will know that we're here and send reinforcements."
Beast Boy was scratching his chin and suddenly snapped his fingers.
"I have an idea. Batman, the AI, what would it consider to be an intruder?"
The Dark Knight nodded, understanding where the changeling was going.
"It would identify humans as targets. It's quite possible that one of your animal forms would confuse it. Maybe you could lead them away?"
"Oh no!" Raven interrupted. "And what if they start shooting? Gar would be a sitting duck."
"I'll be OK Rae." He replied as he morphed in to an ankylosaurus, with its massive bony armor protecting him.
"Oh all right." Raven moaned. "But you be careful!"
Beast Boy responded with a deep grunt and proceeded down the hallway making his way around the corner. As he approached the data port the two sentries turned to face him, but did nothing. As he got closer they began to shuffle about, but make no threatening moves against him. Beast Boy lumbered past the station they continued to observe him but made no move to follow him.
The changeling, still in dinosaur form paused. He needed to get them to follow him. Destroying them was not an option as he would then be identified as a threat and reinforcements would soon arrive. He then had another idea. He continued to walk and made his way around another corner. Moments later a loud crash was heard and the two sentries went off to investigate.
"What is he doing?" Raven asked in a worried tone.
"Whatever it was, it worked. They're both gone." Batman replied as they hurried to the data port. Cyborg was the first to arrive. A cable came out of his forearm and plugged itself info the data port.
"OK, I'm in the system. Now I just have to shut down the AI."
"How long will that take?" Raven asked.
"I don't know. I'm working on it."
Raven glided over to the other corner and carefully peeked around it. Her heart froze as she saw Beast Boy, still in his dinosaur form, surrounded by a least a dozen droids and more continued to arrive. He had knocked over some shelving that was in the hallway, spreading its contents all over the floor. Some of the droids were cleaning up the mess he made while the rest continued to observe him. Clearly the AI could not make heads or tails of this thing in the hallway, but Raven was worried that at some point the AI might decide to shoot first and ask questions later. Quietly she glided back to the data port.
"Tell me you're almost done. Gar is surrounded by dozens of those robots and more are arriving." She whispered to the tin man.
"I'm not sure that I can shut the AI down guys."
"Then what do we do?" Raven hissed back at him. "Gar doesn't stand a chance against that many robots. If they start shooting they'll kill him."
"Cyborg, can you create a distraction?" Batman asked.
"Hey, that's a good idea." Cyborg replied. Suddenly there was a loud clattering coming from where Beast Boy was. Alarmed, Raven took off flying to defend her beloved. Before she reached the corner and much to her surprise Beast Boy came around the corner, in his human form. Raven wrapped her arms around him.
"What happened?"
"I dunno." He replied. "They just all took off."
"There's an intruder that came through the lobby … wait a second … it's … The Creeper?"
"Ryder!" Batman snarled. "What the devil is he doing here?"
"Who cares?" Cyborg replied. "The Joker's instructed the AI to send every droid available to stop him."
Stephanie gasped. "That means that Starfire is unguarded."
"That's correct." Cyborg replied. "Raven, can you sense where she is?"
Raven closed her eyes and focused.
"No, I can't. She's probably still unconscious."
"It's OK, I found her. Here's the coordinates."
"Go get her Rae." Beast Boy chimed.
"And once you have her, take Starfire back to the rendezvous and do whatever you need to heal her." Batman added.
Raven nodded. She hugged and kissed Beast Boy.
"Be safe." She told him.
"You too Rae."
Raven kissed him again before phasing into the ground and disappearing.
Robin continued to work his way into the fortress like campus. He had a map that he had printed back at the Batcave that indicated Starfire's most likely locations, and he had a long way to go. At first he took advantage of the stealth that the holoring afforded him and he quickly make his way to the lower levels without being detected. Early on he noticed that robots were all headed to the surface, which both puzzle and concerned him. Still he pressed on began to search for Starfire. While he had a hunch that she was located on the lower level he had to proceed methodically of there was to be any hope of finding her, so he began to canvass the targeted rooms on level 3.
He moved as briskly as he could and noticed that his leg was beginning to hurt from all the running he was doing, but he did not slow down as he knew that time was not on his side. The more he lingered the greater the chance that he would be detected. He noticed that there were few robots in the lower levels and they were merely maintenance droids. Still he did not wish to be detected and continued his search as fast as he could go.
He came up empty handed on levels 3 and 2 and was now running down the stairwell to level 1, which was the lowest level in the complex. It was also the largest with the most rooms to search.
As he exited the stairwell his heart sank as level 1 was literally crawling with heavily armed sentry droids. At least he now knew that this is where she was being kept. He knew that it almost a certainty that the Joker and Poison Ivy were holed up somewhere nearby.
At this point Robin didn't care about duty and capturing the villains. He just wanted to find his girl and get her safely out of there. As he ran from room to room he realized that he had no idea of how he was going to get her out of there without being detected, as he didn't have a ring for her.
He shrugged off the unpleasant thought, reminding himself that he would cross that bridge when he got to it. Right now all that mattered was finding Starfire. He continued to work his way through the dozens of rooms that Level 1 contained. It was at the end of a particular hallway that he found a room with a locked door, the first one that he had encountered so far, which struck him as odd. The door was a heavy affair, made out of steel which he couldn't for open. Deciding to throw caution to the wind he pulled out one of Slade's modified laser pistols and aiming at the door's lock he fired. The lock melted away and using his healthy leg he kicked the door open just in time to see Starfire, draped in Raven's cape phase into the floor with the sorceress, who had her back to him and did not see Robin enter the room. Before he could say anything Raven and Starfire had vanished.
Oh well, she's in good hands, now all I have to do is get out of here.
That was when the alarm began to blare. The door was wired and as he kicked it open he triggered the alarm. It was then that Robin heard a buzzing sound and noticed that the holoring was quickly changing colors, until it died. Robin raised his hand and saw that he was no longer invisible.
He knew he was in trouble. Deep trouble.
OK, I'm back, at least with this story. Sorry for the brevity, but I promise to update over the weekend.