Teen Titans: Revenge of the Joker

Chapter 29: The First To Fall

Author's Note:

Did I ever tell you guys I do fanart as well? If you click on the link on my profile, you'll find yourself at my deviantart gallery. There have been some pretty spectacular TT-related posts, including a great Christmas picture. I never mentioned it earlier, because there are spoilers in my gallery (There's still one, but I don't think it'll spoil anything...)

I've been going through some of my sketchbooks from high school (3 boxes worth.. holy moley...) and came across some more awesome TT stuff. I intend to scan them all up in do time and do a sort of collage... I'm still looking for one sketchbook in particular - the one containing the entire storyline to this story, as I imagined it back when I first started writing it, four years ago... I'm hoping it's at my dad's...

Anywho, on with the show!:


The chaos was beginning to be a little overwhelming, Raven decided… there was far too many things happening all at once… Her attention was focused on a HIVE swordsman before her, someone she had never fought before – a new recruit, she thought darkly – but she also had to be aware of all the robots that were firing at her, all the other HIVE members that were flying around... it was all so different without her powers… she didn't know when someone was coming up behind her… Beast Boy, who was fighting See-More and robots nearby, already had to alert her on several occasions about approaching dangers.

Her head pounded from all the noise and confusion, and from its own desperation to be able to truly think and feel again…

There was no contest - this was the worst fight of her life.

She gasped in alarm and jumped aside as the swordsman charged at her, his broadsword swinging. She clutched one of Speedy's arrows tightly, swinging it up to block the sword as it came down. It clanged hard against the metal of the arrow. Raven's arms shook as the teenaged swordsman bore down on her with all his strength. She grimaced from the effort, her mind chanting "Please don't break. Please don't break." to the arrow. Her knees were giving out. She found herself going down – but she quickly reacted, throwing out both feet and catching the swordsman in the stomach, kicking as hard as she could and sending him, sword and all, hurtling over her head. She struggled to catch her breath as she rolled back onto her feet, brushing her cloak aside as more sonic cannon shots soared by her head.

Good thing those robots don't have Cyborg's keen human sense of proper aiming, she thought as she watched the HIVE member get to his feet, swinging his sword back up and falling into a fighting stance….

But the swordsman didn't move. A change occurred in his expression, his look of determination suddenly flickering into a blank stare of astonishment, his eyes suddenly fixated somewhere behind her.

Raven felt a strange coldness fall upon her…

…something wasn't right…

"Hello, my dear," said a dark, sinister voice, just beside her ear.

She had no time to react, a hand grabbing her by the arm, another slamming against the small of her back. She sucked in a hard inhale of air, her eyes growing wide as panic struck her dumb.

NO!

A flash of crimson…

…and everything vanished….

…the world… her body…

…far away, a desperate, familiar voice called her name…

…No…

…she was going down… falling…

…please, not like this…

...Robin…


"NRRHK!!! RHHFM!!!"

Robin's brain had gone dead… his body jerked and thrashed around in his restraints, unable to bear any of it anymore… his heart felt as though it had suddenly snapped, shattering pieces after being stretched far too thin… his skeleton wanted to rip through his skin and escape… god he wanted to do something… anything… it was agony… all of it… his eyes were closed now, shielding the television from view, but nothing could erase what he had just witnessed on the screen… a thin streak of crimson light, firing out from the center of her stomach… her face instantly going completely white, her eyes glazing over before her body collapsed forward, out of the camera's line of sight…

The world felt like it was ending…

…and far away, he could hear the sound of Billy Numerous speaking, his voice a blur of unrecognizable words… shouts… cries of anguish… and a little more nearby, he heard Harley's voice…

"No!" she shouted, almost in anguish. Robin's eyes opened, a little in shock, a little in confusion. Everything felt numb and unreal now. "No!" she continued "I lost my bet!"

Robin's chest felt like it was caving in now. Anger and hatred poured through him…

…a bet…a fucking bet…

…heartless monsters…

"Told you she would be the first," said the Joker happily.

"No! No! Simple luck! I bet you double or nuthin that the green one goes next!"

…they're betting on your friend's lives…

…Raven…

"How about triple or nothing that the cyborg is the next to go?" asked the Joker instead.

"DEAL!" spat the jester woman.

Robin opened his eyes once more. He lifted his gaze, glaring up at the Joker.

He had never known hatred like this before…

…he wanted to rip the Joker apart… with his bare hands…

His restraints felt tighter than ever… they seemed to bare down on him as his desire to be free of them exploded… he couldn't get to the Joker's neck, the next best thing was to dig his nails into the wood of the chair… he nearly ripped them off, he was pressing so hard.

The Joker gave Robin a deep, meaningful stare, before he lifted the remote to his lips, his thumb depressing a button.

"Hey, Brother Blood. Go ahead – get the robot next…"

Harley's mouth dropped to the floor as the villain on the television looked at the camera gave an affirmative nod, his fingers to his ear, as though listening in.

Robin's nerves went completely cold with numb disbelief.

…you were surprised by that…? said that voice in his head.

"YOU MEAN YOU TOLD HIM TO GET THE DARK GIRL FIRST?!?! THAT'S CHEATING! I OWE YOU NOTHING!!!"

Robin's eyes met the Joker's, his body feeling as though he was drowning the coldest depths of the ocean... The Joker stared back at him, his eyes sparkling, his yellow teeth bared in a sinister smile.

And suddenly, as though someone whispered it into his ear, he understood...

The Joker had known… he had known that Raven had been helping him…

…that's why she was the first to…

Fresh tears were streaming down his face, and he clenched his eyes together tightly, seeing her pain-stricken face once again in his mind's eye…

…this couldn't be happening… she wasn't…

"Hooo-WEEE! Look at all that blood!!"

"No one can survive a blow to the stomach like that, Billy… Not even Qui Gon Jin did in Star Wars, and he was a fricken Jedi Master!"

…no…

…Raven…

…she wasn't…

No… please, God, no…

…and the others…

…Cyborg… Starfire…Beast Boy…

…everyone… he'd ever cared about…

"You're not paying attention, Jay!"

…Jay…

The pain and panic in his heart was so numbing, he barely even noticed the electricity that began to pour into his body once again… the part of him that did notice it welcomed the pain… he deserved it… it was all his fault….

…they were all going to die…


Beast Boy felt it happen. It was something he couldn't explain. His back had been to her, his mind concentrated on a Cyborg-double before him, dodging laser bolts and trying desperately, without the ability to morph, to cause damage to the high-tech robot.

But then it happened, and a rupture happened inside him, like a black hole opening up, pulling everything within him into dark frozen nothingness.

And he knew. He just knew.

His mind turned from the peril before him and he spun around.

"RAVEN!"

The scene laid before became a permanent engraving in his mind, chiseling its terrible image into the surface of his memory... The sinister face of Brother Blood, his long, metallic fingers holding her upright, one hand still pressed against her back… the blood projected out of her from the blast raining down towards the ground… her hood sliding down from her head, revealing the fusion of shock and pain in her face, her skin turning suddenly, horribly, pale...

His feet were moving, his heart was shattering in his ears. The black hole inside him was swallowing everything up, pulling away sound and feeling. No... not this... anything but this...

He couldn't move fast enough. It was as though someone had clicked the slow-motion button of the world. Gravity gripped her, pulling her down to the ground, away from Blood's grasp with the graceful flutter of her cloak… And her victor stood above her, watching her body crumple at his feet, a malevolent grin spread across his metallic face. His eyes twinkled in the wake of his triumph. He lifted his chin, pressing his fingers to his ear, giving a slight nod.

And that grin…

…he was enjoying it...

A fire erupted in the green changeling. The fast-forward button was triggered. He was sprinting towards the monster with mounting hatred, anger and death burrowing deep into his heart.

"You'll pay!" he screamed in anguish. "You'll pay for that!!"

But Blood vanished as Beast Boy reached him, gone in a flash of red. Beast Boy roared in unrelenting fury, unable to believe he just missed him… he wanted to break something… wanted to make the whole world pay…

But a voice in the back of his head brought him back to his senses…

Raven…

His heart leapt to his throat as it all rushed back to him, the hatred vanishing from his face. He turned, looking down…

"Raven!" the changeling gasped. She lay only feet from him, on her front, her cloak washed over her like a frozen ocean of darkness, shielding her injured frame from his view… her head was turned to the side, her hair fallen over her pale face…

His breath caught painfully in his chest. A red pool of blood was forming around her.

"No... Raven..."

His body wasn't responding right. It took everything he had, every ounce of his strength, every inch of his nerve, to reach her side. Panic overtook him, silencing his thoughts, robbing him of any breath as his trembling hands reached out to her. He carefully, delicately, rolled her over into his arms, bringing her face into view, revealing the extent of the damage. The wound was in the center of her stomach, pouring out more blood than he could ever have thought possible. Without any thought, he pressed his hand against it, a feeble attempt to hold her blood in. But it was also flowing from her back, seeping through her cloak and soaking his knee with its warmth.

Oh, God... please no...

He swallowed hard and brought his attention to her face. He stared at it for what seemed like forever, feeling like he had never really seen it before, and was afraid he never would again….

"Raven," he choked, tears forming in his eyes. He gripped harder on her wound, feeling the warmth of her blood seeping between his fingers. Her precious life was sliding through his grip... He hugged her tighter to him, her face becoming obscured from tears. "Raven, please. Hang on. Just hang on!"

People were shouting from far away. The battle around them seemed to intensify, but he didn't notice… his focus was only on one thing…

Raven's face remained still and frozen. There was no response at all. Dread wrapped its cold fingers around his heart, squeezing it tightly in its grasp. He shook the girl with desperation.

"Raven!" he screamed, clutching her limp form so tightly, he was afraid she would break. This wasn't happening! It couldn't be happening! "RAVEN!"

"Yoo-hooooo!"

Beast Boy pried his eyes away from Raven's beautiful face, tears sliding unchecked down his cheeks. Ten yards away stood Jinx, a mischievous little smile on her pixie face. She gave him a conniving little wave, and alarms went off in his head. He had to move. He had to get Raven out of there…

Jinx moved her arms in a wide sweeping motion, and surges of energy shot from her and slammed into the ground before him. The floor began to burst, throwing upwards chunks of metal and earth. It traveled in a wave toward the two Titans. But his mind had shut down. He couldn't move. The floor ripped out from under him. He was flying through the air, clutching the dying girl for dear life as the world spun chaotically around him.

Darkness consumed him…

…this was the end.

---

…he disappeared from view… both of them did… falling beneath the torrent of concrete and debris.

"I WIN I WIN!" cheered Harley, jumping to her feet in victory.

"We never shook on it," said the Joker with a pout.

"Doesn't matter, Puddin'!" the jester said with a smirk, stepping gingerly up to the Joker and leaning forward. She lifted a finger and tapped him hard on the shoulder. "I won! Fair – And – Squ-AH!"

The Joker threw out a hand, gripping Harley by one pointed tip of her hat, causing the jingle bell on it to ring melodically. He swung his arm around, sending Harley careening behind the TV, slamming into something and causing a loud cacophony of crashing items.

"AAAOOOOWWWW! That hurt! What's the big—ooh, a nickel!"

The Joker scoffed, then returned his gaze to the boy seated before him.

Red eyes met blue again…

The Joker smiled.

There was something changing in those blue eyes…

…It was working…


Author's Note:

Wow, okay, wow…

This… okay, this is my favorite chapter. (How often do I say that?) Just… AH! This angsty crap is the stuff I just SQUEE about! :) I've been waiting to post that Beast Boy part for years…

So… I did something here that I can't believe I did… Just, if you were to able to read every fanfic I've ever come up with (I haven't written most of them down…), you would discover that there will ALWAYS be someone who gets stabbed in the stomach (read my very incomplete Danny Phantom fic sometime…). In this, the swordsman was supposed to do it, then I decided Blood would be the better choice… but he don't use a sword. AH WELL! Same diff. But, what I can't believe is, in this chapter, I reveal why I'm so fascinated with stomach-stabnation…

OH, QUI GON!!!! WHYYY?!?! X'(

Ahrm, well, anywho…

OH! And I better say this RIGHT. NOW.

NO BBxRAVEN WILL BE OCCURING IN THIS STORY!!

I am SO FRICKEN SICK of every fanfic having to be SO FOCUSED on pairings. The two are merely really good friends… and one of them appears to be dying… oops, wait, I mean, two of them appear to be dying. Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!!! (Dude, have you ever tried laughing maniacally like the Joker? I do it in the car sometimes. It's crazy fun and really releases a lot of stress. No wonder the guy is always so happy ;))

(Also, I will and I think already have hinted at RobinxStarfire in this story, but that's because it's canon, since they end up together in the Tokyo movie.)

ANYWHO! Read and Review and all that jazz!! (Great, now I have that song stuck in my head… and all that jazz! *snap*)