Chapter thirty six – Attack
Raven entered her bedroom, cup in hand. She hadn't been able to sleep so she had got herself a drink of milk. Smiling, she kicked off her slippers, pulled up the duvet and placed her glass on the bedside table. Humming, she slipped off her dressing gown and hung it on the end of the bed.
"Don't move."
Raven's eyes grew wide. There was a knife pressed against her throat and a gun barrel digging into her lower abdomen. Suddenly the seven words flashed into her head:
The Lightening bolt will be the Target.
So they had finally come for her. Well she would deal with them-
"Use your powers and you're dead." The gravely voice growled in her ear. As if to make his point, the edge of the knife was pressed harder to her neck. Raven gasped as a drop of blood dripped down her neck. She groaned inwardly as the gun clicked.
"The safety catch ain't on, girlie. Make a noise or use your powers or even move and I'll shoot. Got that?"
Raven found herself wondering how she was meant to respond if she couldn't talk or move.
"Good. Now, hold out your wrists."
Raven shivered in revulsion as the man wrapped his arms around her waist, head pressed against her back, clipping a pair of metal bands around her wrists. She blinked as he pulled back. Bracelets? She closed her eyes. Jewellery wasn't going to stop her.
Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!
She opened her eyes again, a triumphant grin on her face, expecting to see her assaulter groaning against a wall.
"There. Just to make sure you don't use your tele...telepa…head powers."
Raven stared at the metal. They must be some kind of interfering technology that stopped her using her powers. She swore under her breath. Human tech was growing far too advanced.
"Ah, ah, ah - what was that? Were you swearing? Looks like we're going to have to deal with that dirty little mouth of yours." The man snickered. His hands reached round and, to her alarm, Raven saw some kind of metal mouthpiece coming her way.
"Deal with THIS!" she growled, sinking her teeth into his wrist. The man howled with pain, but managed to secure the mouthpiece on Raven's jaw before she squirmed out of his way. Muttering curses under his breath, the man slunk back into the shadows of the dark room.
Awoken by the man's yelps, Beast Boy sat up.
"Raven!" he cried, jumping out of bed and running to help her. All she could do was shake her head desperately as she saw a gloved hand holding what looked suspiciously like a frying pan extend from the darkness. Noticing the terrified shaking of his wife's head, Beast Boy frowned.
"What? No, don't tell me – it's a trap?" he spun round and was smacked upside the head by the frying pan. Beast Boy groaned and dropped to the floor. Raven quivered, now kneeling on the floor, as the figure approached her.
"Time to die, girlie." The man had a cruel leer on his face as he loaded his gun.
Joseph had inherited a lot from his father – his pointed ears and fangs and, although no one knew yet, he had his father's power of turning into animals by just thinking. However, he had also inherited his mother's skin complexion and empathic powers.
Now, when Raven had the knife cut into her neck, and when Beast Boy had been hit over the head, little Joe had felt the pain and it had roused him from his sleep. But none of the pain compared to the terror his mother was going through at that moment, the terror that Joe shared through his abilities. And he did what any baby would do.
He burst out crying.