This chapter seemed at bit forced to me, but since I write with little thought beforehand it probably isn't. I have seen some reviewers that want a CyborgRaven couple. I set out not intending them to get together, so it might not work for the storyline I have in mind. If enough people want it in, I'll add them to the list. Actually, there is a slight CyborgRaven moment in this chapter, and really, even some CyborgRaven shippers (no offense if there is any to take) wouldn't call it love. I wouldn't call it love, more for survival than out of some deeper emotion.
There is also a Stephen Kingish part in here. Readers of his books will know it when they read it.
Also, one reviewer told me about the reasons that Terra betrayed the Titans. Personally, to me, she tried to destroy the city, in Starfire's words "Attempted to annihilate us", and sided with Slade. All that because she assumes Beast Boy told her secret, with nothing but frail circumstantial evidence to back it up? To me, that's a childish reason, so I've taken that out, as it wouldn't fit the story I'm writing. If all goes to plan, control will fit in nicely with this fanfic.
With that said, enjoy the chapter, and again, constructive criticism, no flames.
Warning: slight nudity. There's no sex, no rape, so banish those thoughts from your minds.
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Terra's eyes scanned through the sea of buildings for movement. She shivered against the cold, wishing she had a blanket to banish the cold that stabbed its way into her like knives. Or a special someone... she didn't need to think such thoughts. That would all be possible in time, but right now, she had a mission to accomplish.
She spotted movement in an alleyway below. Landing silently but swiftly on the building flanking it, she proceeded to pursue the shadow below. Leaping from her rock, she lighted on the ground in front of whomever, or whatever it was.
It turned out to be what.
A rabid Doberman pincher attacked with a savage bark, froth streaming down its lips as it pounced at her. Gasping with shock, she lifted the rock that was her platform away from the deranged animal, but it leapt onto the rock and tried to deliver a bite. She kicked it off, which sent her and her assailant falling back to the alleyway. Landing on her stomach, Terra had the wind knocked out of her. The dog, however, landed on its feet, and attacked again, sending spittle everywhere. Its eyes seemed to stare into Terra's soul, and as she watched, unable to move, it seemed to talk to her.
"Gonna get you, Terra, gonna tear your heart out, gonna feast on your brains, gonna get you gonnagetyougonnagetyougonnagetyougonnagetyouGONNAGETYOU..."
The voice cleared her head. She rolled out of the way, lifting the section of concrete as she got onto it. She sped off into the night, glad to be away from that monstrosity. She could still hear it growling at her.
It turned out that the dog was growling at her. Terra looked behind her, staring at the persistent abomination that growled in an unearthly tone, fangs gleaming in the moonlight.
It leapt on her, knocking her back. She tried desperately to grab onto the edge, to get away from the demon that possessed the poor animal.
She missed.
Both Terra and the dog fell hundreds of feet to the surface, flailing their limbs in a futile attempt to slow their descents. Terra hit the top of a building hard. She could feel the bones in her leg snap, and she cried out in pain. The agony brought tears to her eyes, but she peered through them, trying to see where the dog had landed.
It wasn't far from her. It staggered toward her, slobber dripping down its lips, its red eyes blazing with bestial rage.
As a small child, she had had a rabid dog chase her, and was always nervous around them ever since. This brought that childhood fear back up from the grave, and she couldn't stop it. Her powers where useless, she couldn't concentrate. She couldn't run, her leg was broken. She could only stare at the insane canine, and hope it would end soon.
Suddenly, she heard a sharp report that took her mind a few seconds to recognize as a gunshot. The dog jerked from the impact, but recovered in seconds and continued its advance. Two more shots rang through the cold night air, and the dog fell over, blood oozing from three bullet holes in its shoulder, chest and head.
Terra looked toward the sound. Her vision was blurred, but she saw someone jump down from a far building top, but couldn't tell who it was. She said the name of the only one she could think of that would save her after all she had done.
"Beast Boy?"
She heard someone land next to her, and whoever it was grabbed her up in their arms and charged off of the building. Rolling expertly on the ground, whoever it was ran as fast as they could down the street. Terra saw the metal chest plate and realized it was Slade.
This was her last thought as she mercifully drifted into unconsciousness.
()()()
Robin watched as Slade ran off with Terra in his arms. He had watched the whole scenario, from the canine's initial attack to where she broke her leg. It was when he saw that she was going to die that he pulled out one Colt from the pocket on the inside of his trench coat that served as a holster. Firing at the maniacal animal, he failed to hit it in a vital area, and had shot it twice more. That felled the rabid mammal, and he left, knowing Slade had been watching to.
"That was for Beast Boy." He said to Terra in the night air as he ran along the street away from Slade. He couldn't face him now, but he memorized the surrounding buildings and the direction he had ran off to. He grinned. You will lose, Slade. he thought to himself. Somehow, someway, you will lose.
()()()
Terra awoke in her room.
She tried to get up, but the pain in her leg made her fall back with a hiss of pain. When the agony subsided, she looked around to get her bearings. She was back at Slade's lair, in her room, and her leg was broken. The door hissed open, and Slade strolled inside. He had a syringe filled with a yellowish fluid in his hand. Terra grimaced. She also hated needles.
"What's that for?" she asked, failing to hide the nervousness in her voice.
"This?" Slade inquired, waving the syringe back and forth, "It is a stimulant that will speed up the healing process of your bones. You took quite a fall back there."
Then she remembered the events of last night. The dog, the fall, the gunshot, Beast Boy...
She hardly noticed that Slade was about to inject the stimulant into her leg. Her eyes widened, and she tried to move away, but only succeeded in moving her broken leg. Fiery fingers of pain lanced through her body as she grit her teeth so she wouldn't cry out.
Slade noticed, and pulled the syringe away. "Terra, I have to inject this directly into your leg, or it won't work." He took on a soothing voice. "I made sure the needle was extra sharp. It will slip in easily. I doubt if you'll even feel it."
He then slowly pushed the needle into her leg. His aim was perfect. It went right to the sight of the fracture. Terra felt the pain of the needle going into the fracture. And she wanted him to pull it out, wanted to pass out, wanted to die...
Then it was over. Slade held the empty syringe in his hand. Terra could feel her bone healing already, and soon found it didn't hurt to move it around.
Slade warned her, "Now don't move too much, or the stimulant will leave the fracture. Just take it easy, and it should be healed by tomorrow. Now get some sleep. I dare say that fight with the dog wore you out."
Slade turned to leave, Terra remembered her mission.
"Master?" she said sheepishly
Slade stopped walking. "Yes, Terra?"
"I'm sorry that I couldn't find Robin."
"Don't worry, my dear. You see, it was Robin who saved you."
"What?"
"Yes, it surprises me too. Robin using guns. Colt .45's, judging by the size of the bullet holes he put in the poor animal. Ah well... Get some sleep, Terra."
And, as though he could read her mind, he added, "And I'm sure Beast Boy would have done the same thing."
Slade left, and Terra was left by herself to think. Would Beast Boy have really saved her? She liked to think he would, but what you like and what is real are rarely the same. Still, she hoped that he still would fight for her, despite all that she had done.
She laid her head on her pillow. She needed sleep after her ordeal. But she wouldn't have if she had known what her dreams had in store for her, the nightmares of being chased down and devoured by rabid dogs, while Beast Boy sat laughing at the spectacle, and the other Titans saying the traitor had been punished.
()()()
Raven woke up slowly, the pain in her shoulder nearly unbearable. She felt something fuzzy brush against her cheek, and saw a tabby cat that looked partially filled out. Hearing a door shut quietly. She turned her head to see Cyborg bringing in bandages and first aid supplies. He looked surprised that she was awake.
"I see you finally woke up."
"I wish I hadn't." she said, and the pain in her shoulder suddenly increased tenfold, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it out.
Cyborg's face darkened, and he handed her a bottle of painkillers.
Take one of these, it'll make you feel better."
She swallowed the pill with a little glass of water that Cyborg handed her, and then noticed that she was starving for food.
"Is there anything to eat here?"
Cyborg waved his hand in a big semi-circle, indicating the whole room. "Welcome to what's left of the grocery store. There's nothing but food and a few other things here. I can cook something up, if you like."
Raven agreed, and Cyborg prepared some canned soup for both of them. Both teens ate quietly, feeling somber in the pitiful remains of the grocery store.
Raven pointed to the cat. "Friend of yours?"
Cyborg swallowed before answering. "Yeah, found him out in the streets. I couldn't leave him there to die, so I took him along with us. I've named him Socks."
"Why, Socks?"
'Cuz if you look at his foot paws, they're white, while the rest of him is dark gray with darker stripes on his back. It looks like he's wearing socks, so that's his name. Socks." Cyborg grinned at her, and she returned it before going back to eating.
When both where finished, Cyborg told her of her injury.
"The laser passed through your shoulder, burning through the shoulder blade and exiting through your chest," he said, pointing to the hole in her breast, "Because the inside was cauterized, there was no bleeding, however, that also means that the healing process will take close to forever, since it has to remove all the dead cells before it can start to grow. I can speed up the process, but it requires me to sew up the holes in your lung so that it can heal over, which means you'll have to lose the leotard."
Raven thought for a minute, then gave her answer. "Very well. How long will this take?"
"Not too long, maybe about half an hour, depending on the condition of the surrounding tissue."
"All right. Shall we get started?"
"Hang on, let me get my tools ready."
He went to the back of the room, and came back with several scalpels, surgical needle and thread, and various other implements found in surgery.
"Do you want me to knock you out? It will hurt like the dickens if you're awake."
"Alright."
He reached for a can of knockout gas. Raven took off her leotard. Cyborg was grateful that she had on a bra. Triggering the gas, he waited for the fumes to take effect.
When he was sure she was out cold, he began to work. First, he activated his flashlight, so he could see what he was doing. He noticed a large scab forming on her lung. If that got into her lung, it could block her bronchus from receiving oxygen and expelling CO2. That would suffocate her, so he removed it by cutting it out with a scalpel. He then found where the tissue had begun to heal, and pulled this together. He then sewed it up with the needle and thread, careful not to poke anything that didn't need to get poked.
After repeating the process with the other side, he then sewed up the skin, so that the blood vessels could reconnect. He then sat down in a chair and stared out the window, waiting for her to wake up.
Socks hopped into his lap, and he absent-mindedly began to stroke his back. He thought about his current predicament. He was out of communication with the other Titans, Raven was wounded, and Slade's robots where searching the city for them. He was lucky that they hadn't found them already.
He remembered when they didn't need to hide in the shadows, when all they had to do was have fun and stop a bad guy here and there. It was paradise. Then Terra came...
Cyborg frowned at the thought of the geo-user. They had taken her in, let her stay with them, let her be a Teen Titan. Beast Boy was in love with her, Cyborg could tell that. The way he always stumbled over his words when he talked to her, it was obvious to him that he was smitten with the blonde. Then she turned on them, sold them out to Slade. The way she had treated Beast Boy after she revealed her true alliance drove him mad. How could she do that to him, how could she?
He was brought back to reality when Raven started to stir.
"Ugh... that stuff gives you a headache. Finished?"
"Yeah, here's your leo."
Tossing her usual garb at her, he turned around, giving her privacy as she got dressed again. After everything was back in place, Cyborg related to her all that had happened from when he found her to when she first woke up.
After hearing his tale, she nodded thoughtfully. So Slade was hunting them down. There must be something they can do.
"So what do we do now?" Cyborg questioned to the sorceress.
"I was going to ask you the same thing. Do you know where the others are?"
"Nah, I can't get in touch with them. I tried the communicators, the tower, everything. It's like they..." Cyborg stopped talking and seemed to be listening for something.
"What is it?" Raven whispered urgently, she too listening for anything out of the ordinary.
Even Socks had quieted down, as though knowing something was wrong. Looking in all directions, he stopped while facing in between the two heroes. Pinning his ears back, he bared his fangs at the doorway. Cyborg looked at the door, and heard the sound that meant it was no longer safe, that they had been found, that all hope was lost.
The sound of marching footsteps.
Not looking from the door, he gave instructions to his comrade.
"Raven, take Socks and get out of here. I'll keep them distracted while you find another place to hide. Come back here later. If I'm not there, then take Socks and find another Titan. Now go."
"I'm not leaving you here to fight those things alone."
"Get out of here!" he said, more forcefully than before.
"But..."
The wall suddenly was blown in, and androids poured in like ants.
Punching the wall behind him, he shoved her and Socks out the hole he had made.
"GO!!!"
Turning his back on them, he armed his sonic cannon. "Come to the party, y'all, everyone's invited."
With a loud battle cry, He charged the robots, His cannon firing here and there, his free arm smashing any and all who came close. Heavily outnumbered, he fought on with the strength of desperation, leaving decimated robots in his wake.
Raven watched as the numbers soon started to take their toll on the mechanical hero. Turning away, she held Socks tightly as she became airborne, shooting off into the night, leaving one of her truest friends behind to either be captured or perish. Tears formed in her eyes, but did not fall down her cheeks. She looked at the cat she was holding. He was looking at where they had left Cyborg, the one who had saved him from starvation. Looking into her face, he mewled sadly, and snuggled closer to her.
Raven slowly petted him, glad to have a creature that knew nothing of killing and war before that day.
()()()
Cyborg watched as Raven and Socks disappeared from view. He looked at the robots that had him surrounded. A grin formed on his face, and a maniacal twinkle formed in his one human eye.
"So it's just us now." said the mechanical Titan, his grin even wider now.
The androids began to close in. Cyborg readied himself for one last battle, determined to take all he could down with him. "I'll bet no one told y'all about Mamma Stone's only son."
He charged to his left, plowing through them like a bulldozer. Robots were scattered left and right as the juggernaut known as Cyborg swung his fists this way and that, destroying many with one blow. Several tried to throw him off balance, but he knocked them aside with ease, sending them hurtling into their own squad mates.
Rounding on the next group, he grabbed two by the head. Using them like clubs, he bludgeoned all that came close. Slamming both his weapons into another android. He tore the arms off another and threw it into a group attacking from the side.
Eventually, he wore out, and soon the robots gained the advantage of numbers. Hitting him with all they had, he was eventually pinned to the wall. One trained its blaster on his head. Hearing the whine of the generator building up a charge, Cyborg closed his eyes, waiting for it all to end.
It never came.
Cyborg opened his eyes to see nothing but the remains of severed androids, some contorted in such ways that Cyborg felt sick to his stomach, even though they were just machines. Looking wide-eyed at the devastation of the store, he stood up. Stepping through the hole that Raven and Socks had escaped through, he looked at his surroundings. The usual rubble from the initial attack on the city was there, but a quick sweep told him that wasn't all this place had seen. Light poles had been wrapped around clusters of Slade's cybernetic minions, dozens where crushed under rocks, and dozens more had been simply ripped to pieces by some unknown force.
Cyborg looked through the slaughter and spied a humanoid figure standing in an alleyway. Walking towards it, Cyborg discovered it was Raven.
She was holding Socks to her chest, her eyes shut tight, almost in a fetal position. Cyborg knelt beside her.
"Raven? You okay? Did you do this?" he quizzed, gesturing to the devastation that surrounded them both.
"Yes." She mumbled, not looking at him.
"Whoa. Remind me not to get on your bad side."
She half smiled as she stroked the sleeping feline she was holding. Cyborg returned the smile. Finally, she was happy. And Raven being happy was worth paying tickets to see.
Helping her to her feet, the two walked off, looking for the others. Socks slept peacefully in Raven's arms, glad that both where safe. The trio continued down the street, hoping to stumble upon the others.
Which was precisely what the other three Titans where hoping for.
()()()
Starfire and Beast Boy had been searching the streets for something to eat. So far, their efforts where in vain. Beast Boy, as an eagle, searched from the air, while Starfire looked in the streets. Beast Boy spotted something on a building top. Soaring toward the object, he landed and became Beast Boy once again. As he got closer, he could see it was dead. An even closer inspection revealed it to be a dog.
Beast Boy felt anger when he saw the bullet wounds in it. But an examination of the mouth revealed that it had been Rabid. Bowing his head, he turned away from the carcass of the dead animal. Once becoming an eagle again, he sped off into the night. He did not know that this was the same dog that had attacked Terra only an hour before.
Starfire was having less luck. The gashes on her stomach where throbbing, each pulse sending waves of nausea to her head. Her body simply didn't have enough energy to both keep her alive and heal the wound. The bleeding had stopped, but she still held her arm over the wound. She didn't know why, but the pressure on it helped to relieve some of the pain. Staggering into another building, she looked around, hoping to see food within the confines of the place. There was none.
Sighing in defeat, she stumbled out of the building to continue her monotonous task. Feeling light-headed, she leaned against the wall for support, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She would die if she didn't get something to nourish her weakened body. Using the wall like a crutch, she continued down the street, with the hope of a desperate person that the next one would have what she ached for.
Beast Boy flew along, not knowing what was happening to Starfire. Riding on the wind currents, he persisted in his quest for food.
Both Titans were thinking the same thing.
I wish Robin was here.
()()()
At that very moment, Robin was speeding around the city on his R-cycle, looking not for food, but his team. He passed several places that his team might hide in, but so far his hunt had turned up no results.
Cranking up the speed, he turned a corner, straight into the unsuspecting robot army. But not the androids that were in masses all over the city.
These were Elites.
Robin recovered from his shock first, throwing his freeze disk into the front of the group.
The ground froze over in a flash of white, sealing the forerunners feet together. While they struggled to get free, the rest attacked, their laser beams cutting across the space between them and Robin.
Dodging them all, he threw an electric disk at one who was stuck to the ground. It hit the explosive core of the machine, which then detonated, wiping out the rest of the unit.
Robin sailed out of the blast zone, head ducked to avoid any shrapnel that came his way. Stopping after traveling a few yards, he stopped and looked at the wreckage of the former Elite squad.
Heading back in the direction he had been traveling, he passed through the carnage the explosion had left. Hoping that the others were okay, he accelerated, heading off into the night.
Slade watched as his apprentice tailed him like a shadow. He was pleased. Terra had woken up from her nightmares in time to track down the leader of the former Titans. Slade looked on in excitement, watching as his plan began to unfold before his eyes.