"Would you two cut it out?" Robin shouted at Cyborg and Beast Boy, who were in the kitchen fighting
over who was going to make dinner. "I'm trying to watch the News here."
"I'd love to," Beast Boy yelled back snidely. "But if Cyborg thinks I'm havin' porkchops for dinner,
he's insane!"
"Just suck it up and swallow it! I had to eat your tofu stuff for breakfast this morning!"
There were sounds of struggling, and then plates crashing to the floor.
"I've never seen so many bad things happening at once. Tell me, is your planet under some sort
of curse?" asked Starfire, cocking her head slightly while watching the TV.
"Everyone's under a curse...," Raven replied without looking up from her book.
"Oh....," Starfire said, sounding disappointed.
"It's just the way the News is, Star, they have to show all the bad stuff in the
world so we know what's going on," Robin explained, and then turned the volume up using
the remote.
WE JUST HEARD FROM A PHONE BOOTH OUTSIDE OF MARVIN'S WAREHOUSE, THERE IS A ROBBERY TAKING PLACE
AT THIS VERY MOMENT. SUSPECT IS WEARING BLACK AND THREATENING THE EMPLOYEES---
Suddenly, Robin's beeper went off.
He leaped from the couch and looked at it. The T was flashing.
"TITANS! TROUBLE!"
******************
"Why do I always have to sit in the back?" Beast Boy complained as they drove off in the T-car.
"'Cause I don't want you messing with the car's controls," Cyborg retorted from the driver's seat.
"Are you saying you don't trust me?" asked Beast Boy in an insulted tone.
Cyborg looked at Beast Boy through the rear view mirrow. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
Beast Boy crossed his arms and sat with a disgruntled expression. He then turned to Raven, who was
sitting next to him.
"How come Raven has to sit in the back? She doesn't mess with your controls."
Raven turned from looking out the window when she heard her name.
"She likes it back there," said Cyborg, "Don't you Raven?"
Raven chose not to reply, instead she just smiled sarcastically.
"Stop fighting, we're almost there," Robin ordered.
"Good thing too 'cause---HEY! GETCHA BUTT OUT OF THE ROAD!" Cyborg shouted.
A dark figure stood in the middle of the street, not moving an inch.
"Is he crazy?" Beast Boy asked in alarm.
"Dunno," Robin replied, "Cyborg, maybe you should move to the other lane."
"Fine," Cyborg grumbled. But when he did, the dark figure moved in front of the car's path again.
"HEY!" Cyborg yelled, and then started pounding on the horn.
As the car approached the figure, the gang began to get nervous. They were only a few feet from hitting him.
"STOP THE CAR!!!" Robin exclaimed.
But it was too late to press the brakes.
"HOLD ON!" Cyborg shouted and turned the wheel sharply to the left.
The whole car tilted, Raven fell onto Beast Boy. It skidded for a few seconds, then stopped.
The T-car lay on its right side next to the road.
"Are we all alive?" asked Starfire.
"I think so," Robin answered.
"Dude, nice driving...," said Beast Boy from underneath Raven.
"That was a close call," Cyborg said, rubbing his head. "Is everyone alright? What about you Rae?"
"Yes, I'm alright," Raven muttered, trying to push herself off of Beast Boy.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos"
The car fell onto its four wheels.
Each of the Titans unbuckled their seat belts and stepped out of the car.
They looked around to see that the road was clear, not a car or person in sight.
"Where do you think he went?" asked Beast Boy curiously, scratching his head.
Suddenly, something swooped down and grabbed Beast Boy, and lifted him into the air.
"Beast Boy!" Robin and Starfire shouted together.
"Hey! What the--" Beast Boy struggled desperately. The dark figure released him.
Beast Boy transformed into a bird, then turned back into himself before hitting the ground.
"That's the guy! He's the one that almost got us killed and I bet the same guy who stole from the
department store!"
Robin looked up into the sky at the dark, shadowy figure and grabbed the retractable bo staff from his
utility belt.
"If you're looking for something to steal, I doubt that Marvin's Warehouse of Men's Clothes is what you
want."
He then threw the bo staff at the shadow. But the figure dodged it with ease.
"On the contrary, I have found exactly what I've been looking for," he replied to Robin.
"Better hope it fits," said Cyborg from behind the shadow and shot at him with his sonic cannon. "'Cause
it's all you'll be wearing once you're in jail."
The shadow didn't dodge Cyborg's attack, but he didn't have to, the sonic blast seemed to have gone right
through him, without harming him at all.
The Titans all exchanged puzzled glances.
"Who is this guy?" Beast Boy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They call me Shadow," the dark figure replied, and then hurled what looked like the same black energy Raven
uses at Beast Boy.
Beast Boy dodged it by turning into a bat and flying up.
"Shadows are not suppose to be able to attack!" said Starfire, confronting the villain.
"Your shadow cannot attack, but mine can!"
Starfire turned around in time to see what looked like to be Shadow's twin. It blasted her with dark energy.
"Starfire!" Robin called from below.
Starfire let out a little yelp but flew up again and started firing starbolts from her hands.
Shadow evaded each one of her starbolts. "Your attacks are useless. They can't affect me. I can
dodge each one of them."
"Dodge this," said Raven, who was hovering in the air behind Shadow. She shot at him with her black energy.
The energy struck him square in the chest. Shadow dropped lower in the air.
He raised his head. "You...," he said as she raised a hand full of new black energy.
"You will return what you stole," Raven demanded.
Shadow shook his head at her. "I haven't stolen anything....yet."
Catching her off guard, Shadow suddenly chucked a large black ball of energy at her.
Raven blocked it with her own energy, but the impact was just too great. She began falling
through the air towards the ground.
Her cloak whipped through the air as she fell. She opened her eyes to see the hard ground she was
about to land on. Raven gasped.
Then all of a sudden, the ground was replaced by large green wings, and she felt herself land on something
soft.
Beast Boy had caught her in time.
"Thanks," Raven whispered to him, as she sat up on the great green Pterodactyl wings. Beast Boy winked at her.
Raven then stood up and took a big leap before diving back into the air.
In the sky, Starfire and Shadow were battling it out. Robin and Cyborg were shooting at him from below.
"Go ahead Raven," said Beast Boy. Raven looked down to see him standing on the ground below her. "I got your back."
Raven nodded and flew towards Shadow. Beast Boy turned into an eagle and followed suit.
"This isn't over," growled Raven at Shadow, who had just blasted Starfire with dark energy again.
"You're right it's not," Shadow said, turning to face her. "It's just beginning."
He again shot a ball of energy at her but this time Raven was able to dodge it.
"What do you want?" Raven shouted as she threw balls of black energy back at him.
"What I've come for...," the mysterious, dark figure answered.
Shadow suddenly shot himself at her, and Raven had seconds to react. She only managed to evade him.
But Shadow wasn't quitting. He charged at her again, and this time he was able to grab one of her legs
as she was flying up.
"Let go of me!" Raven exclaimed, twisting madly to break free of his grasp.
"Hold still before I---AAAHHH!"
Large green talons had sunk into one of Shadow's arms.
"Get away Changeling!" Shadow shouted, and blasted a large ball of dark energy at him.
The large green bird fell to the ground.
"Beast Boy!" cried Raven.
She turned back to Shadow, anger written all over her face.
"Don't hurt my friends...," She said threateningly, her eyes beginning to glow red.
"Raven!" Robin shouted from below. He tossed a birdarang at Shadow, but Shadow merely put his hand up
and blocked it with a dark energy shield, which grew into a large veil that covered the two of them in the air.
"Release all your energy. Feel the anger. Let rage consume you," Shadow told Raven.
Raven's cloak began to stretch, claws of black energy emerged from it.
"That's it, feel the hatrid, the fear. The fear of losing one of your friends," continued Shadow.
Raven's whole body was glowing now. Her eyes were burning red.
"Feel the pain. The pain of losing someone you love....."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Raven screamed, so loud that the veil burst and everything
within 100 feet of it was blown backwards.
************************
"Ah man, talk about a headache," said Beast Boy, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.
Suddenly he was very aware of everyone staring at him.
"Uhh...what's going on?" he asked them.
"You were knocked out," Robin replied. Cyborg helped Beast Boy to his feet.
"Where are we?" Beast Boy asked, looking around. "And, where's Raven?"
None of the team answered. Beast Boy stared at them.
"Where is she?" Beast Boy asked again.
They all exchanged uneasy glances.
"We do not know where she is, we cannot find her," Starfire tried to explain.
"We think Shadow took her," Robin cut in. "We don't know where though."
"Well what are we waiting for!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Let's go find her!"
"Easy man, we're gonna," started Cyborg, "We have to go back to the Tower first though, see if we can
locate---"
"Nuh uh, no way! We're gonna go look for her right now!" Beast Boy interrupted.
"We will, as soon as we can find Shadow and info on him, we'll know where to start looking," said Robin.
Beast Boy shook his head. "You guys can go back to Titans Tower and find your precious info on Shadow, I'm
going to look for Raven now."
He then turned and started walking away from them in the opposite direction.
"You're being stupid Beast Boy, you don't even know where to start looking for her," Robin called after him.
"I told her I had her back," Beast Boy replied. "I'm not letting her down again."
"But---" objected Starfire.
"Let him go," Cyborg muttered, "Who knows, maybe it's better havin' one of us already out lookin' for her."
And with that, Beast Boy transformed into a hawk and flew off into the sky.
****************************
Raven slowly opened her eyes.
"Where am I?" she said aloud to herself.
She appeared to be sitting in a dark room strapped to a chair.
Raven tried tugging and yanking herself free but the chair wouldn't give.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she called out.
Still no use.
"Let me out of here!" she said through clenched teeth.
"Now why would I go and do a foolish thing like that?" said a voice from out of no where.
Raven stared into the darkness in front of her.
"Now, now when I have you right where I want you. Now when the dark side is calling your name."
"Where are you?" Raven asked furiously.
"Where am I?" the voice mocked, "Where am I? Well, I could be to your left."
There was a sound of someone rushing past and Raven whipped her head to the left.
"Or I could be to your right."
Raven again heard the rushing sound and she turned her head to her right.
"But mostly, I'm right in front of you and you never even notice...."
"Show yourself," demanded Raven.
"You already see me...every time you stare into the darkness you're staring at
me...every time you think a shadow just moved on its own...you're seeing
me...every time---"
"I get it," Raven said angerily.
"I don't think you get the half of it," Shadow replied. "Do you even know why
you're here?"
Raven stared blankly. "No," she answered.
"I think you do," the Shadow objected. "I think you know exactly why you're
here. It haunts you in your dreams, doesn't it? The fact that you're not all
good. The fact that you can see what others can't. The fact that deep down,
you know that you're going to have to make a choice."
Raven sat, eyes beginning to grow wide.
"But you don't know what that choice is, do you?" continued Shadow, "You are unaware
that soon, you will have to decide between your life, and the life of one of
your friends."
Raven shook her head. "No...," she whispered.
Shadow laughed. "Are they really that important to you?"
Raven bowed her head.
"They are aren't they? Who would of thought, of all people, you needed
friends the most...But then again, they are your escape. Your escape for who
you really are, for what you're really capable of. Well, I'm telling you this
now, there is no escaping what you're destined to be."
*************************
"I don't get it, there's no info on him anywhere, no signs of a previous
theft at all," Robin told the group while searching the net.
"What about kidnapping?" asked Cyborg, watching over Robin's shoulder.
"No, nothing. The guy just doesn't have a record."
"So what do you think he wants with Raven?"
"Dunno, but I don't wanna wait around too long to find out."
"Perhaps we should of gone looking for her with Beast Boy," said Starfire, who
had been pacing back and forth in the computer lab. "What if something has
happened to him as well?"
"Well, that would mean he's having better luck than us with finding Shadow,"
Robin answered, typing in a new search.
************************
"There's no need for any controversy, I'm merely offering you the chance
to join me...join me in the revolution of dark powers. Where rage, hate, and
fear consume all."
"I'm not my father," Raven said bitterly. "And I'd never join you!"
"You might think differently if you knew the consequences," Shadow protested.
*********************
If I were a Shadow, where would I take someone I kidnapped, Beast Boy thought
to himself as he flew over the city. Wait, what kind of question is that?
Ugh....this is useless, there are only so many places he could of taken her!
How am I suppose to track down a shadow, this is crazy! Whoa...crazy...
CRAZY! The nut house! Beast Boy flew in circles over the old run-down mental
institution. She's gotta be here, she's just gotta! I mean, where else would he
of taken her?
*********************
"You don't need them anymore, no...friends are pointless when you are
working for evil," Shadow went on, "All you need to remember is to look out
for yourself...and justice is what you make it."
"Would you shut up? How many times do I have to tell you I'm not joining
you?" Raven spat.
Suddenly two red eyes descended from the darkness. "Who ever said you had a
choice in the matter?"
Raven's mouth dropped open.
"Did you actually think they were coming for you? Your friends? You think they
cared enough to come looking for you? To come to your rescue. Think
again..." Shadow then let out a long, cold laugh.
Raven closed her eyes. No..they are my friends...they wouldn't leave me...
"They don't care about you, they never have...you mean nothing to them..."
"It's not true...it can't be...," Raven whispered.
"You're air to them, you have no purpose. But join me and you'll have
a very suitable purpose indeed!"
"NO!" Raven screamed at him.
Her eyes began glowing white and her cloak rised up from the chair.
"THEN YOU SHALL DIE!" Shadow bellowed and started summoning a large
ball of black energy into his hands.
Raven started trying to tug herself free again. Shadow laughed at her despair.
"It's no use! Try all you want!"
The ball of energy then shot out like a laser beam from his hands, Raven
managed to knock her chair on its side before it hit her.
Then, suddenly, there was a humungus crashing sound as the wall Raven had
been facing crumbled to the ground and a green-colored elephant charged in.
Shadow turned around in time to evade it. The elephant then changed into a
rhino and charged at Shadow again. Shadow flew up and shot his black energy
at the rhino. Meanwhile, Raven continued to struggle in the overturned chair.
Beast Boy continued his battle in the air with Shadow as a falcon, and swooped
down on him occasionaly scratching his face as Shadow continued to fire energy
blasts at him.
"No matter what you do, Changeling, you can't save her from what she is to
become! Her heart is black like her father's!"
Beast Boy swooped at him as a falcon and all of a sudden turned into a lion,
and pounced on him, making him fall into the hallway.
"Come on dude, Raven might be a little gloomy but her heart isn't black," Beast
Boy said as he landed on the floor as a human.
"A little help over here might be nice...," came Raven's voice from the
toppled chair.
"Huh?" said Beast Boy distracted, and then rushed over to help her.
"You okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to her.
"Yes, but I can't get myself free," Raven answered.
"Alright...," Beast Boy cracked his knuckles and his neck. Raven stared at
him curiously.
"Time to do what I do best...," he said and morphed into a gorilla.
He placed his hands on the clasps that were locking her in and pulled with all
his might. Within thirty seconds, they had snapped off and she was free.
Beast Boy changed back and held up his arms. "Gotta be somethin' I'm
puttin' in the tofu," he remarked, attempting to show off his muscles.
Raven pulled herself out of the chair and stood up to face Beast Boy.
He was looking at her with a smug look on his face and wiggling his eyebrows.
Raven merely stared at him not knowing what to say.
"I..I um---" she started.
"You didn't think you finished me that easy now did you?"
Shadow had arisen and was floating in the air in front of the giant hole in
the wall.
"Come on!" Raven shouted at Beast Boy. Beast Boy transformed back into a hawk and they
both flew out into the hallway, Shadow on their tails.
Beast Boy returned to normal form. "This way," he told Raven, grabbing her arm and
leading her around a corner.
This hall wasn't quite as dark as the previous room, some of the old lights flickered
on the ceiling, but there were still enough dark areas for Shadow to hide and wait to attack.
Raven and Beast Boy leaned against a wall. "What do we do? He could be anywhere," Raven whispered.
"Well I don't wanna stick around to find out where he is," Beast Boy replied. "Follow me."
Raven didn't protest and she followed Beast Boy down the hall.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Raven asked him as they continued down the shadowy corridors.
"Course I do! I'm Beast Boy! All I have to do is follow my natural animal instincts and we're outta
here in a jiffy!" boasted Beast Boy, not noticing Raven roll her eyes.
Beast Boy suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and Raven ran into him.
"What's the big id-"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" asked Raven, slightly irritated.
"Listen," Beast Boy urged.
Raven closed her eyes and focused. She heard it too. The sound of someone rustling past.
"It's him!" she gasped.
"He's coming from the right, no, I mean the left!" Beast Boy yelled.
"No, from the front!" Raven corrected and pulled Beast Boy down to the floor just as a
ball of dark energy shot over their heads.
"Foolish Titans! You'll never escape me!"
"In there!" Raven shouted as the nearest door burst open at her command and she shoved Beast
Boy and herself inside. Once inside, she quickly locked the door.
"Whoa, talk about bright," said Beast Boy, shielding his eyes. Raven raised her cloak to shield her eyes
as well.
The room was extremely white, and the walls were covered in padding.
"It's a psycho person's room," Beast Boy analyzed.
"Not the best way to put it, but yes I would have to agree," said Raven, moving her hands along the
padded wall.
"Do you think he can get us in here?" Beast Boy wondered.
"Not with this much light he can't," Raven answered, and sat down on the floor.
Beast Boy watched her for a moment before coming to sit next to her.
"So...what did he want you for?" he asked.
"He wanted me to join some sort of dark army. Something I think that has to do with my father," Raven replied.
"But you didn't..."
"No," Raven said firmly. "I told him no. I told him I would never join him. I told him I wanted to stay with you--
the Teen Titans. He told me you guys didn't care..."
"You know he's wrong though right? You didn't believe him right?" asked Beast Boy, sounding somewhat hysterical.
Raven paused. "I had my moments of doubt...," she said hesitantly.
"How could you even think that Raven? We're your friends, we would never let you leave us like that. At least,
I know I wouldn't...," Beast Boy said sheepishly and put his hand on hers. Raven looked up at him in surprise.
over who was going to make dinner. "I'm trying to watch the News here."
"I'd love to," Beast Boy yelled back snidely. "But if Cyborg thinks I'm havin' porkchops for dinner,
he's insane!"
"Just suck it up and swallow it! I had to eat your tofu stuff for breakfast this morning!"
There were sounds of struggling, and then plates crashing to the floor.
"I've never seen so many bad things happening at once. Tell me, is your planet under some sort
of curse?" asked Starfire, cocking her head slightly while watching the TV.
"Everyone's under a curse...," Raven replied without looking up from her book.
"Oh....," Starfire said, sounding disappointed.
"It's just the way the News is, Star, they have to show all the bad stuff in the
world so we know what's going on," Robin explained, and then turned the volume up using
the remote.
WE JUST HEARD FROM A PHONE BOOTH OUTSIDE OF MARVIN'S WAREHOUSE, THERE IS A ROBBERY TAKING PLACE
AT THIS VERY MOMENT. SUSPECT IS WEARING BLACK AND THREATENING THE EMPLOYEES---
Suddenly, Robin's beeper went off.
He leaped from the couch and looked at it. The T was flashing.
"TITANS! TROUBLE!"
******************
"Why do I always have to sit in the back?" Beast Boy complained as they drove off in the T-car.
"'Cause I don't want you messing with the car's controls," Cyborg retorted from the driver's seat.
"Are you saying you don't trust me?" asked Beast Boy in an insulted tone.
Cyborg looked at Beast Boy through the rear view mirrow. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
Beast Boy crossed his arms and sat with a disgruntled expression. He then turned to Raven, who was
sitting next to him.
"How come Raven has to sit in the back? She doesn't mess with your controls."
Raven turned from looking out the window when she heard her name.
"She likes it back there," said Cyborg, "Don't you Raven?"
Raven chose not to reply, instead she just smiled sarcastically.
"Stop fighting, we're almost there," Robin ordered.
"Good thing too 'cause---HEY! GETCHA BUTT OUT OF THE ROAD!" Cyborg shouted.
A dark figure stood in the middle of the street, not moving an inch.
"Is he crazy?" Beast Boy asked in alarm.
"Dunno," Robin replied, "Cyborg, maybe you should move to the other lane."
"Fine," Cyborg grumbled. But when he did, the dark figure moved in front of the car's path again.
"HEY!" Cyborg yelled, and then started pounding on the horn.
As the car approached the figure, the gang began to get nervous. They were only a few feet from hitting him.
"STOP THE CAR!!!" Robin exclaimed.
But it was too late to press the brakes.
"HOLD ON!" Cyborg shouted and turned the wheel sharply to the left.
The whole car tilted, Raven fell onto Beast Boy. It skidded for a few seconds, then stopped.
The T-car lay on its right side next to the road.
"Are we all alive?" asked Starfire.
"I think so," Robin answered.
"Dude, nice driving...," said Beast Boy from underneath Raven.
"That was a close call," Cyborg said, rubbing his head. "Is everyone alright? What about you Rae?"
"Yes, I'm alright," Raven muttered, trying to push herself off of Beast Boy.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos"
The car fell onto its four wheels.
Each of the Titans unbuckled their seat belts and stepped out of the car.
They looked around to see that the road was clear, not a car or person in sight.
"Where do you think he went?" asked Beast Boy curiously, scratching his head.
Suddenly, something swooped down and grabbed Beast Boy, and lifted him into the air.
"Beast Boy!" Robin and Starfire shouted together.
"Hey! What the--" Beast Boy struggled desperately. The dark figure released him.
Beast Boy transformed into a bird, then turned back into himself before hitting the ground.
"That's the guy! He's the one that almost got us killed and I bet the same guy who stole from the
department store!"
Robin looked up into the sky at the dark, shadowy figure and grabbed the retractable bo staff from his
utility belt.
"If you're looking for something to steal, I doubt that Marvin's Warehouse of Men's Clothes is what you
want."
He then threw the bo staff at the shadow. But the figure dodged it with ease.
"On the contrary, I have found exactly what I've been looking for," he replied to Robin.
"Better hope it fits," said Cyborg from behind the shadow and shot at him with his sonic cannon. "'Cause
it's all you'll be wearing once you're in jail."
The shadow didn't dodge Cyborg's attack, but he didn't have to, the sonic blast seemed to have gone right
through him, without harming him at all.
The Titans all exchanged puzzled glances.
"Who is this guy?" Beast Boy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They call me Shadow," the dark figure replied, and then hurled what looked like the same black energy Raven
uses at Beast Boy.
Beast Boy dodged it by turning into a bat and flying up.
"Shadows are not suppose to be able to attack!" said Starfire, confronting the villain.
"Your shadow cannot attack, but mine can!"
Starfire turned around in time to see what looked like to be Shadow's twin. It blasted her with dark energy.
"Starfire!" Robin called from below.
Starfire let out a little yelp but flew up again and started firing starbolts from her hands.
Shadow evaded each one of her starbolts. "Your attacks are useless. They can't affect me. I can
dodge each one of them."
"Dodge this," said Raven, who was hovering in the air behind Shadow. She shot at him with her black energy.
The energy struck him square in the chest. Shadow dropped lower in the air.
He raised his head. "You...," he said as she raised a hand full of new black energy.
"You will return what you stole," Raven demanded.
Shadow shook his head at her. "I haven't stolen anything....yet."
Catching her off guard, Shadow suddenly chucked a large black ball of energy at her.
Raven blocked it with her own energy, but the impact was just too great. She began falling
through the air towards the ground.
Her cloak whipped through the air as she fell. She opened her eyes to see the hard ground she was
about to land on. Raven gasped.
Then all of a sudden, the ground was replaced by large green wings, and she felt herself land on something
soft.
Beast Boy had caught her in time.
"Thanks," Raven whispered to him, as she sat up on the great green Pterodactyl wings. Beast Boy winked at her.
Raven then stood up and took a big leap before diving back into the air.
In the sky, Starfire and Shadow were battling it out. Robin and Cyborg were shooting at him from below.
"Go ahead Raven," said Beast Boy. Raven looked down to see him standing on the ground below her. "I got your back."
Raven nodded and flew towards Shadow. Beast Boy turned into an eagle and followed suit.
"This isn't over," growled Raven at Shadow, who had just blasted Starfire with dark energy again.
"You're right it's not," Shadow said, turning to face her. "It's just beginning."
He again shot a ball of energy at her but this time Raven was able to dodge it.
"What do you want?" Raven shouted as she threw balls of black energy back at him.
"What I've come for...," the mysterious, dark figure answered.
Shadow suddenly shot himself at her, and Raven had seconds to react. She only managed to evade him.
But Shadow wasn't quitting. He charged at her again, and this time he was able to grab one of her legs
as she was flying up.
"Let go of me!" Raven exclaimed, twisting madly to break free of his grasp.
"Hold still before I---AAAHHH!"
Large green talons had sunk into one of Shadow's arms.
"Get away Changeling!" Shadow shouted, and blasted a large ball of dark energy at him.
The large green bird fell to the ground.
"Beast Boy!" cried Raven.
She turned back to Shadow, anger written all over her face.
"Don't hurt my friends...," She said threateningly, her eyes beginning to glow red.
"Raven!" Robin shouted from below. He tossed a birdarang at Shadow, but Shadow merely put his hand up
and blocked it with a dark energy shield, which grew into a large veil that covered the two of them in the air.
"Release all your energy. Feel the anger. Let rage consume you," Shadow told Raven.
Raven's cloak began to stretch, claws of black energy emerged from it.
"That's it, feel the hatrid, the fear. The fear of losing one of your friends," continued Shadow.
Raven's whole body was glowing now. Her eyes were burning red.
"Feel the pain. The pain of losing someone you love....."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Raven screamed, so loud that the veil burst and everything
within 100 feet of it was blown backwards.
************************
"Ah man, talk about a headache," said Beast Boy, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.
Suddenly he was very aware of everyone staring at him.
"Uhh...what's going on?" he asked them.
"You were knocked out," Robin replied. Cyborg helped Beast Boy to his feet.
"Where are we?" Beast Boy asked, looking around. "And, where's Raven?"
None of the team answered. Beast Boy stared at them.
"Where is she?" Beast Boy asked again.
They all exchanged uneasy glances.
"We do not know where she is, we cannot find her," Starfire tried to explain.
"We think Shadow took her," Robin cut in. "We don't know where though."
"Well what are we waiting for!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Let's go find her!"
"Easy man, we're gonna," started Cyborg, "We have to go back to the Tower first though, see if we can
locate---"
"Nuh uh, no way! We're gonna go look for her right now!" Beast Boy interrupted.
"We will, as soon as we can find Shadow and info on him, we'll know where to start looking," said Robin.
Beast Boy shook his head. "You guys can go back to Titans Tower and find your precious info on Shadow, I'm
going to look for Raven now."
He then turned and started walking away from them in the opposite direction.
"You're being stupid Beast Boy, you don't even know where to start looking for her," Robin called after him.
"I told her I had her back," Beast Boy replied. "I'm not letting her down again."
"But---" objected Starfire.
"Let him go," Cyborg muttered, "Who knows, maybe it's better havin' one of us already out lookin' for her."
And with that, Beast Boy transformed into a hawk and flew off into the sky.
****************************
Raven slowly opened her eyes.
"Where am I?" she said aloud to herself.
She appeared to be sitting in a dark room strapped to a chair.
Raven tried tugging and yanking herself free but the chair wouldn't give.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she called out.
Still no use.
"Let me out of here!" she said through clenched teeth.
"Now why would I go and do a foolish thing like that?" said a voice from out of no where.
Raven stared into the darkness in front of her.
"Now, now when I have you right where I want you. Now when the dark side is calling your name."
"Where are you?" Raven asked furiously.
"Where am I?" the voice mocked, "Where am I? Well, I could be to your left."
There was a sound of someone rushing past and Raven whipped her head to the left.
"Or I could be to your right."
Raven again heard the rushing sound and she turned her head to her right.
"But mostly, I'm right in front of you and you never even notice...."
"Show yourself," demanded Raven.
"You already see me...every time you stare into the darkness you're staring at
me...every time you think a shadow just moved on its own...you're seeing
me...every time---"
"I get it," Raven said angerily.
"I don't think you get the half of it," Shadow replied. "Do you even know why
you're here?"
Raven stared blankly. "No," she answered.
"I think you do," the Shadow objected. "I think you know exactly why you're
here. It haunts you in your dreams, doesn't it? The fact that you're not all
good. The fact that you can see what others can't. The fact that deep down,
you know that you're going to have to make a choice."
Raven sat, eyes beginning to grow wide.
"But you don't know what that choice is, do you?" continued Shadow, "You are unaware
that soon, you will have to decide between your life, and the life of one of
your friends."
Raven shook her head. "No...," she whispered.
Shadow laughed. "Are they really that important to you?"
Raven bowed her head.
"They are aren't they? Who would of thought, of all people, you needed
friends the most...But then again, they are your escape. Your escape for who
you really are, for what you're really capable of. Well, I'm telling you this
now, there is no escaping what you're destined to be."
*************************
"I don't get it, there's no info on him anywhere, no signs of a previous
theft at all," Robin told the group while searching the net.
"What about kidnapping?" asked Cyborg, watching over Robin's shoulder.
"No, nothing. The guy just doesn't have a record."
"So what do you think he wants with Raven?"
"Dunno, but I don't wanna wait around too long to find out."
"Perhaps we should of gone looking for her with Beast Boy," said Starfire, who
had been pacing back and forth in the computer lab. "What if something has
happened to him as well?"
"Well, that would mean he's having better luck than us with finding Shadow,"
Robin answered, typing in a new search.
************************
"There's no need for any controversy, I'm merely offering you the chance
to join me...join me in the revolution of dark powers. Where rage, hate, and
fear consume all."
"I'm not my father," Raven said bitterly. "And I'd never join you!"
"You might think differently if you knew the consequences," Shadow protested.
*********************
If I were a Shadow, where would I take someone I kidnapped, Beast Boy thought
to himself as he flew over the city. Wait, what kind of question is that?
Ugh....this is useless, there are only so many places he could of taken her!
How am I suppose to track down a shadow, this is crazy! Whoa...crazy...
CRAZY! The nut house! Beast Boy flew in circles over the old run-down mental
institution. She's gotta be here, she's just gotta! I mean, where else would he
of taken her?
*********************
"You don't need them anymore, no...friends are pointless when you are
working for evil," Shadow went on, "All you need to remember is to look out
for yourself...and justice is what you make it."
"Would you shut up? How many times do I have to tell you I'm not joining
you?" Raven spat.
Suddenly two red eyes descended from the darkness. "Who ever said you had a
choice in the matter?"
Raven's mouth dropped open.
"Did you actually think they were coming for you? Your friends? You think they
cared enough to come looking for you? To come to your rescue. Think
again..." Shadow then let out a long, cold laugh.
Raven closed her eyes. No..they are my friends...they wouldn't leave me...
"They don't care about you, they never have...you mean nothing to them..."
"It's not true...it can't be...," Raven whispered.
"You're air to them, you have no purpose. But join me and you'll have
a very suitable purpose indeed!"
"NO!" Raven screamed at him.
Her eyes began glowing white and her cloak rised up from the chair.
"THEN YOU SHALL DIE!" Shadow bellowed and started summoning a large
ball of black energy into his hands.
Raven started trying to tug herself free again. Shadow laughed at her despair.
"It's no use! Try all you want!"
The ball of energy then shot out like a laser beam from his hands, Raven
managed to knock her chair on its side before it hit her.
Then, suddenly, there was a humungus crashing sound as the wall Raven had
been facing crumbled to the ground and a green-colored elephant charged in.
Shadow turned around in time to evade it. The elephant then changed into a
rhino and charged at Shadow again. Shadow flew up and shot his black energy
at the rhino. Meanwhile, Raven continued to struggle in the overturned chair.
Beast Boy continued his battle in the air with Shadow as a falcon, and swooped
down on him occasionaly scratching his face as Shadow continued to fire energy
blasts at him.
"No matter what you do, Changeling, you can't save her from what she is to
become! Her heart is black like her father's!"
Beast Boy swooped at him as a falcon and all of a sudden turned into a lion,
and pounced on him, making him fall into the hallway.
"Come on dude, Raven might be a little gloomy but her heart isn't black," Beast
Boy said as he landed on the floor as a human.
"A little help over here might be nice...," came Raven's voice from the
toppled chair.
"Huh?" said Beast Boy distracted, and then rushed over to help her.
"You okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to her.
"Yes, but I can't get myself free," Raven answered.
"Alright...," Beast Boy cracked his knuckles and his neck. Raven stared at
him curiously.
"Time to do what I do best...," he said and morphed into a gorilla.
He placed his hands on the clasps that were locking her in and pulled with all
his might. Within thirty seconds, they had snapped off and she was free.
Beast Boy changed back and held up his arms. "Gotta be somethin' I'm
puttin' in the tofu," he remarked, attempting to show off his muscles.
Raven pulled herself out of the chair and stood up to face Beast Boy.
He was looking at her with a smug look on his face and wiggling his eyebrows.
Raven merely stared at him not knowing what to say.
"I..I um---" she started.
"You didn't think you finished me that easy now did you?"
Shadow had arisen and was floating in the air in front of the giant hole in
the wall.
"Come on!" Raven shouted at Beast Boy. Beast Boy transformed back into a hawk and they
both flew out into the hallway, Shadow on their tails.
Beast Boy returned to normal form. "This way," he told Raven, grabbing her arm and
leading her around a corner.
This hall wasn't quite as dark as the previous room, some of the old lights flickered
on the ceiling, but there were still enough dark areas for Shadow to hide and wait to attack.
Raven and Beast Boy leaned against a wall. "What do we do? He could be anywhere," Raven whispered.
"Well I don't wanna stick around to find out where he is," Beast Boy replied. "Follow me."
Raven didn't protest and she followed Beast Boy down the hall.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Raven asked him as they continued down the shadowy corridors.
"Course I do! I'm Beast Boy! All I have to do is follow my natural animal instincts and we're outta
here in a jiffy!" boasted Beast Boy, not noticing Raven roll her eyes.
Beast Boy suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and Raven ran into him.
"What's the big id-"
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" asked Raven, slightly irritated.
"Listen," Beast Boy urged.
Raven closed her eyes and focused. She heard it too. The sound of someone rustling past.
"It's him!" she gasped.
"He's coming from the right, no, I mean the left!" Beast Boy yelled.
"No, from the front!" Raven corrected and pulled Beast Boy down to the floor just as a
ball of dark energy shot over their heads.
"Foolish Titans! You'll never escape me!"
"In there!" Raven shouted as the nearest door burst open at her command and she shoved Beast
Boy and herself inside. Once inside, she quickly locked the door.
"Whoa, talk about bright," said Beast Boy, shielding his eyes. Raven raised her cloak to shield her eyes
as well.
The room was extremely white, and the walls were covered in padding.
"It's a psycho person's room," Beast Boy analyzed.
"Not the best way to put it, but yes I would have to agree," said Raven, moving her hands along the
padded wall.
"Do you think he can get us in here?" Beast Boy wondered.
"Not with this much light he can't," Raven answered, and sat down on the floor.
Beast Boy watched her for a moment before coming to sit next to her.
"So...what did he want you for?" he asked.
"He wanted me to join some sort of dark army. Something I think that has to do with my father," Raven replied.
"But you didn't..."
"No," Raven said firmly. "I told him no. I told him I would never join him. I told him I wanted to stay with you--
the Teen Titans. He told me you guys didn't care..."
"You know he's wrong though right? You didn't believe him right?" asked Beast Boy, sounding somewhat hysterical.
Raven paused. "I had my moments of doubt...," she said hesitantly.
"How could you even think that Raven? We're your friends, we would never let you leave us like that. At least,
I know I wouldn't...," Beast Boy said sheepishly and put his hand on hers. Raven looked up at him in surprise.