It's another fast paced, action packed chapter!...Sounds corny but there is a lot of action. Finally! A new chapter! I may be posting a new one later this evening or tomorrow, we'll see. I'll be working on it all day. Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews! I will be working on a sequel after this, sort of the scope of the aftermath of this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 37: Brawl

The two figures stared at one another; one in content and one in blinding, white rage. There was no recollection of any event that had ever tapped into Raven's fury such as this. Not the betrayal of Malchior or the dooming prophecy of her father's. Seeing her friends suffering on the screens did not help damper the raw emotions that had escaped. Raven was soon aware of her ropes having been loosened by Harley and was getting an idea why. Eyes turned to the Joker who was keenly watching with obvious interest. The clowns wanted a show. Joker wanted Raven to be beside herself with rage that she would do anything, even murder, to save her friends and lover. Even if the demon half of her pleaded and begged for the taste of blood, Raven was never going to murder anyone, no matter how much pain and distraught they would cause her. She kept still in her seat, not wanting to attack just now.

"Your men are cowards."

A crazy sort of smile played on Raven's lips as she stared at Lex. The smile Lex wore was now fading as he studied the girl. There was a strange aura about her very dark stare and her smile...but with her tied up, he tried not to worry about her wicked aura.

"How are they cowards?"

"Kicking and beating a man while he's down...cowardly. Just as cowardly as attacking someone from behind. No honor...tsk, tsk. If your little "SWAT team" were true men, they'd unchain Slade and fight him face to face."

"Hn, apparently you don't understand the tactics of gaining the advantage. The tactics are there are no rules, no guidelines. Slade was tricked, and fell into a trap, his mind warped by his new feelings. See what emotions and feelings get you? Nothing. They are useless."

"Really? How useless...?"

Tight fists gripped the loose ropes behind the back of the chair as she kept eye contact with this man. Her fingers itched to grasp his throat and watch as his life drifted off. Old, familiar risings of dark and sinister energy was spreading throughout her nerves. Every fiber of muscle began to twitch in her body, all ready at the signal to unleash their fury.

"Well, look where Slade's feelings got him. Chained up and getting beaten into nothing."

Raven's eyes darted to the screens and noticed something different. While Slade was still being brutally beaten,the other screens were empty. Her friends were no where to be found. Eyes quickly returned to Lex, hoping he didn't notice her glance. White teeth were bared in unmeasurable hatred.

"I feel sorry for you, you pathetic excuse for a man!"

Pale arms flung around and threw powerful bursts of energy at Lex. The dark powers slammed Lex painfully into a concrete wall, a sickening sound of bones breaking filling the room. Joker and Harley were standing to the side and not at all moving to stop the fight. Raven's eyes were ruby red, and the dark aura of energy radiating from her as she sprinted for Lex. A hand grabbed his throat and threw him across the room with ease. When Raven spoke now, her voice was deeper, raspier and more evil than it ever had been.

"You do not know what you mess with, human! You've awoken a beast in me and now you will pay the consequences for harming my friends! I will taste your blood TONIGHT!"

Wide, terrified eyes stared as Raven launched at the bleeding man on the floor. Then a smile came across Lex's face as he pushed a button to a small remote in his hand. Raven's eyes went wide as she fell to the floor writhing in pain. Lex stumbled as he stood and looked down at the struggling girl. It felt as if ice had suddenly filled her veins. All her pent up energies were being drained and leaving her feeling exhausted and fairly weak. The clowns were cackling at the sight of Raven fighting vainly to get at Lex. The device he was holding, she had guessed, was capable of draining her energy, however, in such a painful way that she could hardly move in retaliation.

"My dear, it doesn't have to be like this. I really don't want to drain you of your energy. You're forcing my hand in this."

Where were her friends? If they had escaped, were they coming to rescue her? Hoping they weren't running away, Raven let out a shriek that rung against the walls and filtered into the whole level they were in. Everyone within the vicinity stopped what they were doing, looking up in surprise. The shrill wail was deafening and agonizing. Robin and the team had stopped in their tracks and were taken with horror, knowing who's voice that was. They hastened their way towards the direction it came from, hoping they were not too late to save her. Slade's beating had been paused as Lex's men stopped at the sound of the cry. Slade knew that voice. It was his Raven in trouble. Horrible trouble. A resurgence of energy and fury flooded his body as he pulled at the chains as hard as possible, pulling them from their lodgings in the wall. Hands gripping at the chains and a murderous eye turned on the now frightened men, Slade was prepared to do anything to get to her.

The cry ended and Raven slumped over, shocking violet hair shielding her eyes. Her hair had grown inches within seconds, wild and untamed. Memories were striking her mind like lightning, flashing times with Slade, times with her friends, the peace she attained while in meditation, the humorous times in the tower, the nightmares that she had battled and triumphed over. The surge of energy that made her hair grow wild had been expelled into the room and knocked the occupants to the floor. Lex had stood back up, staring at the girl in admiration and lust to possess her abilities. To possess this kind of power and use it was a dream come true. Raven looked up to Lex with four vivid red orbs, seething in her rage's emotion. Lex was frozen to the spot, realizing what he was staring at. Trigon's daughter. The daughter of an intergalactical tyrant demon. Rumors had always been Raven never would release her demon side, even in the stickiest of times. To see it face to face now was more than he wanted. Would she attack everything around her with no regard for her friends? Just as his fear was it's height, Raven keeled over on her side and passed out. Her eyes were shut and she lay there limp. It was a stroke of pure luck for Lex this happened and he began to laugh.

"She's so stubborn not to release her true powers, that she let herself faint...foolish girl."

Lex approached the limp form of Raven on the cold floor and knelt. A hand brushed the strands and wild tangles of purple hair away and revealed her serene face. Lex's head tilted as he eyed this beautiful creature and a small curl of a smile appeared in the corner of his mouth. Her pouty lips and her smooth, soft skin was indeed inviting and he now couldn't blame Slade for caving into his carnal, male desires. Even as an adolescent, she was remarkable, and he knew when she was a fully grown woman, she would be able to woo anyone to her advantage.

"Joker, how come the ropes weren't properly tied? She shouldn't have been able to free herself."

"My Harley's an expert at tying ropes. Trust me...problem is, maybe Raven's instinctual drive to protect her friends and herself was a greater force? I don't doubt a half demon has some kind of inhuman strength as well as awesome, sparkly, magic powers."

Lex noted the ropes still on the ground and grimaced. It was an excellent excuse except for one problem the Joker overlooked. Lex picked up the ropes and stared at them, examining them thoroughly. A curious eye turned to the two clowns.

"If that is indeed true, the ropes would have strands and "breaks" in the lengths. It would be unraveled. This rope...is completely fine. There is no evidence of any strong force ripping them apart. If Harley is indeed good at knots, then her knots should not be able to "slip" and free Raven."

Joker gave Harley an accusing look in which the girl shrugged her shoulders and her eyes gave the most innocent expression she could muster. He advanced on Harley and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her forward.

"My dear little Harleykins...I am seriously hoping you tied those knots correctly. You did, correct? You wouldn't want to disappoint me, would you?"

Harley knew this was all part of the act. She too had noticed Raven's friends had escaped their confines, and that now even Slade was missing and all that remained were bodies strewn across the cell. The both of them had to stall Lex until the other group came and then the fun would really begin. The titans would indeed jump in and begin fighting themselves and Lex, and Lex's stand-by men would be radioed in of course by Lex, and more would join the fray. The titans would be preoccupied with beating back Lex and his men away from Raven, while Raven would be doing her best to protect an injured Slade from the others. The Joker only wanted to see the chaos ensue that would very likely destroy the titans.

"No Mista J! I know I tied those ropes right! After all, it's a unique specialty of mine, hehe!"

Lex was watching the pair closely and noted the Joker's acting. When it had calmed down and Lex stooped to pick up the Raven's body and leave, the door blew open and there stood four titans, all baring teeth and ready to fight. Seeing Raven's unconscious body in Lex's arms and the destruction within the room showed she fought but failed. Robin, more angry at himself for all the accusations he made toward her lately and the unfriendly treatment, rushed Lex blindly. Lex backhanded Robin to the floor and soon was jumped by the other titans. He dropped Raven to the floor and pushed a button on his suit that radioed for his back-up. He ducked and dodged all the attacks, and dealt out some well placed ones himself. Joker and Harley had melted into the dark background, watching with wide grins as the chaos before them unfolded. Lex was battling four different titans when finally the back-up he called ran in only minutes after the fight started. Guns were pointed at the heroes and some shot off. Starfire glared at the men with disgust and blew up their guns in their face with her bolts of alien energy. The men weren't fazed and resorted to using better equipped weapons to deal with them effectively, including tazer guns that were set to the highest voltage. Cyborg was caught offguard as one of these guns were aimed at him and fired. 200,000 volts of raw electricty zapped through his body and his system, shutting him down due to a meltdown of his body's robotic hardware. Beast Boy rounded on the one responsible for this as a wolf and pounced him. The gun skidded across the concrete floor as Beast Boy scratched and bit at the man. The evident rage in the titans turned them animalistic, and homocidal. To see them blindly attacking not to stop them but to cause harm was one step into the complete chaos Joker wanted.

"Where's Slade, Mista J?..."

"Oh, I suspect he'll be on time. Give him a minute."

It was not a moment too soon he said that that the door was knocked off it's hinges. The battling all stopped as both titans, Lex and the back-up crew stared at the disheveled hulk of a man blocking the doorway. A single glaring eye rested on the body of Raven lying on ground long forgotten by both parties. Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Lex all stared at Slade. The man was shaking with pure rage. It took a moment for them to notice he was covered in something wet. The tapes had shown Slade being beaten but the amount of blood on his clothes couldn't all belong to him. One shaking step into the room cause hairs to rise on Lex's neck.

"Robin. Get your team out. NOW."

The first reaction Robin felt was to glare back at Slade and protest but the stare in his good eye was far different from anything he ever saw. Even working for Slade to protect his friends long ago, he had never seen the man this caught up in emotions. His voice was hoarse and clearly evident of murderous intentions. It was indeed his best interest to get them all out.

"Starfire! Beast Boy! Get Cyborg! I'm staying here!"

Slade's eye rounded on Robin and when Robin saw the stare, decided maybe he too should leave. He approached Raven to gather her up and leave but Lex's hand squeezed tightly into the boy's shoulder and yanked him in front as a shield. At the same moment Lex did this, Slade had pulled a shot gun and was aiming it right at Lex's head. Starfire and Beast Boy stared in horror. Never once had they seen Slade use guns or remotely anything too dangerous. What had ruffled Slade this much?

"Let the boy go, Lex. He isn't a part of this. You know that."

"Well, if he isn't a part of this, then just kill him to kill me. Ain't that hard, right? Not that hard for an ex merc."

One man tried to stage an attack on Slade but the shot gun's aim quickly changed. The loud gunshot echoed in the room as the man was blown back. The wounded person laid against the wall, hands trying in vain to hold in his intestines and stop the profuse bleeding that leaked onto the floor. The gun again was aimed at Lex within a second.

"One last warning. Let him go and I'll let you leave with your life."

Robin was staring at Slade as if he had never properly seen this man before. It took only that few precious seconds of witnessing that murder to realize what Slade really was capable of. Why was he this bent on protecting his own enemies, the titans? Robin knew Slade practiced in martial arts and was quite agile but to learn that he knew guns, and didn't think before shooting someone put him in a whole new perspective. For once, Robin was scared of Slade and what consequences his rash actions might cause. If he could point a gun so carelessly and not think of deliberately taking someone's life, it made him that much more dangerous.

"Why are you even here, Slade? Defending your own enemies. Defending this stupid witch...have you gone soft?"

"If I had, I wouldn't be pointing a gun at your head, Lex. And your plans interfered with my own for this city. I wasn't about to let you interfere with my own plans. You should have known that from the get go. Now. Let him go!"

Beast Boy and Starfire could only look between the two men and watch silently in awestruck fear. Their leader was in mortal peril, and their age old enemy, Slade, was toting a shot gun. There was a fierceness in his eye and voice that they never knew. Beast Boy told Starfire to stay with Cyborg as he turned into a mouse and scuttled over to Raven. He turned back and grabbed her, trying to quietly drag her back. Neither Slade nor Lex cared at the moment as they were staring one another down, daring each other to step over the line.

"Last chance."

"You have grown soft."

With a wicked grin and a second's flash, a knife had been drawn and ripped across Robin's stomach. A gun had been hidden in Lex's other hand and was now visible as he turned it on Slade. The problem with the scenario was Lex never was injected with unmarked serums in the Army. Lex never had the regenerative abilities Slade possessed...or the incredible reflexes. Slade quickly dodged to the left as Lex began to shoot off round after round in the automatic. With one precise aim with the shotgun, Slade shot Lex. The scatter of pellets ripped through Lex's torso and arms, which wasn't enough to kill him. It didn't stop Lex from shooting his own gun. Slade wasn't expecting Lex to take on such damage and continue his rampage. Three bullets landed into Slade's chest, arm and side. With the previous injuries added to these, he doubled onto the floor and coughed blood. Lex couldn't stand but sat up on his knees, aiming the gun at Slade again. Click. Click. Click. Each time he tried to shoot the gun, it didn't expel any bullets. The clip was empty and Lex had to scramble to his last defense; the still remaining back-up who hadn't jumped into the stand off between the two.

"Finish off that pathetic fool!"

Men surrounded Slade and the titans were too dumbstruck at the moment to gather their wits. Robin held his stomach as blood leaked from it. He couldn't believe everything he was witnessing. Slade didn't want to shoot the shotgun, knowing it's scatter would have caught him as well. This was a level of mercy Robin never knew Slade possessed...though it didn't matter whether or not Slade had shot him. The blade had nearly disemboweled him and his whole forearm was soaked in thick, rich blood. The pain was ebbing away into a pleasant numbness. The scene before him was fading and blurring into a surreal mixture of colors. The moment he closed his eyes, he felt hands on his wound. The sharp pain came back as a warm but sharp feeling began to spread through him. When his eyes opened, he saw Raven's hand lying upon the wound, and Raven still lying still on the floor. Robin brushed her hand away when he realized the wound fully healed...was she awake? Lex was standing and watching the fight, paying no mind to the both of them. He probably was still thinking they were defenseless and not worth keeping an eye on. Robin crawled to Raven's side and began to gently shake her.

"Raven? Raven, wake up! We gotta get ourselves out of here..."

A sickening "thwack" caused Robin to turn around. The men were beating Slade around with their boots and weapons. Beast Boy and Starfire had tried to stage an attack but now they were caught and being beaten down too. Robin felt defenseless without his team, and even more so when their one enemy was clearly being defeated. Scrapes diverted Robin's attention back to Raven. She was getting up slowly, but her movements were jerky...as if someone had strings attached to her like a puppet. Arms hung limp at her side and the long hair veiled her face from them all. Feet dragged on the ground as she stalked forward to the fray.

"Stop...hurting my friends..."

The croaky, deeper voice infected everyone's nerves and caused the chaos to pause. The Joker and Harley had been enjoying the scene and now that Raven was awake, it truly was only going to get more interesting. Harley only giggled and latched onto the Joker's coat.

"Ohh, Mista J...what do ya think little Raven's going to do them all?"

"Well...firstly, that isn't Raven, Harley. That there...is a demon. And a very ticked off one at that."