Dont own Teen Titans, do not sue.
Chapter 5: Pizza and a bullet
"Im telling you guys. He cant be trusted!" Beast Boy exclaimed after he told the others about Cyborg's and his little encounter with Kardol, "He's planing something. I just know it!" Cyborg just rolled his eyes at the green teen. "Hey man, i dont someone who enjoys that kind of stuff is evil." he said, trying to reassure his friend. BB gave him a annoyed look. "Well, i guess you dont watch all those spy movies. The evil guy is always a art nut!" he yelled. "Beast Boy, calm down!" Robin yelled, causing BB to shut up. "Now look, if he is working aganst us, and he can hear everything we say we have to be careful." he said softly. Raven, who had been standing there the whole time, spoke up. "That ridiculus. We can trust him." The Titans all looked at her. "Oh? And how do you know that? Did you read his mind or something?" BB asked, curious. Raven crossed her arms. "No, for some reason i cant. But my gut tells me he's on our side." Robin looked her in the eyes. "Well, you may trust him, but how can we?" he asked. Raven rasied an eyebrow. "You trust me, dont you?" All the Titans fell silent, Raven's point burning thier concience.
"Hey, lets not worry about this. How about some pizza?" Cyborg said after the long pause. The other Titans noded in agreement and started to head out. Raven lingered behind. "Go ahead guys, i'll catch up." she said after them. After hesitating for a moment, she headed to the elevator, taking it a few floors down. She left and walked down the dimly lit hallway. She was surprised to see the broken door still siting on the floor. She poked her head in, blinded for moment by the contrast in light. She was astonished by the artwork that filled the room. It was better than she exspected. She jumped when she saw Kardol sitting in his chair, his wings folded out for maximum comfort. He had his face buried in another book, his tail swishing back and forth at a constant rythm. She walked completely in the room, a little nervous. "Um......Kardol?" she said softly. "If your here to ask me if i want some pizza, your wasting your time." his deep voice rang out from behind the book's pages. Raven gave him a concerned look. "But.....but you've been here for 5 days. You must be hungry." she said. Kardol lowered his book to his lap. Raven saw a stern look in his eyes. "Im fine," he said, "you'd be surprised how many rats there are in this place. Big ones, too." Raven gave him a slight look of disgust. Kardol just smiled and shot his book back to his face. "You'd better go. Beast Boy's pacing back and forth and Starfire hopes your not dead." he said, his ears twiching slightly. Raven looked at him for a moment, then turned and left. Little did she know that Kardol sliped his book down to watch her leave.......
"So, whats he doing in there?" Beast Boy asked Raven as the T-Car pulled up to the pizza place. Raven opened the door and got out. "Nothing.....absoulutley nothing." she said. They all walked inside and headed upstairs to the outdoor patio. "Hey, he could hear you coming from a mile away. Could've just stoped what he was really doing to fool you." Beast Boy said. Raven gave him an annoyed look as thier order was taken by the waitress. "Your paranoia isnt helping, you know." she said sacasticly. They waited for several minutes before thier pizzas arived. Beast Boy picked up a slice of vegitarian pizza and stuffed it in his mouth. "So......'ow we noo he wont 'esss up the Tower?" he asked, his mouth half full with food. Cyborg fliped up a little pannel on his arm. "I activated the security systems just before we left. If he starts screwing up the place, we'll know." Raven didnt like the idea of her own brother being watched like a zoo animal. Wait, i dont even know him that well. Why do i care? she thought to herself. She shrugged it off and picked up a slice of pizza.
If she had only turned her head to the left a few inches, she might of noticed the small glint of sunlight coming from the rooftop across the street. She might of seen the silver barrel pointed directly at her. She might of heard the firearm being cocked. The sniper loaded his gun with tranq darts, having been told this bounty-head was wanted alive. He was dressed in a one piece camouflouge suit, a gas mask hiding his face. He looked in his scope, Raven looking a tinted red color. He waited for the exact second to fire. "You guys ready?" he said to no one. A voice crackled over the com link in his ear. Wolf 2, go it said. Wolf 3, go another said. "Wolf 1, go." the sniper said as he placed his finger on the trigger. "Just give me a shot...." he thought outloud.
Suddenly Raven dissapeared from his scope. She was replaced by a blurry black wall. Confused, the sniper looked up. To his horror, a giant lizard's head was poking over the side of the roof. "Hi there..." it said. Paniced, the sniper pulled the trigger, but hit nothing but air. Kardol had reached his hand up, pushing the muzzle towards the sky. With very little effort, he snaped the gun in two and fliped over the roof's side, kicking the sniper back into a vent shaft. "Shit, Wolf 1 is down." a voice said, ringing in Kardol's powerful ears, "I repeat, Wolf 1 is down." "Then we do it my way." another voice said, followed quickly by the cocking of a Stinger missle. Kardol instantly dived towards Raven and the others at the pizza place. He wasnt surprised when a strong force blew him back across the patio, crashing into the counters inside. People screamed and ran as Kardol stood up, his skin sticky with cheese and marinara sauce. He was shocked to see Raven was jumping off the building into battle with the hunters below, but not as shocked as he was when he saw the ominouos glow of another Stinger missle heading right for him.....
Another explosion rocked the streets, and Raven looked up to see the pizza place was now a huge fireball. "No...." she said softly. She turned back to see Cyborg and Robin runing towards a green pickup truck. A masked man sat in the cab, firing his pistol at the charging teens. Another man droped his missle launcher and climbed into the bed, pulling a tarp off a Browning 50 mm machine gun. Bullets litered the air and street, forcing Cy and Robin to halt thier charge and take cover. Starfire and BB took to the air, Star shoting her starbolts at the men. Speeding backwards in reverse, the man in the bed fired up at her. Starfire dodged back and forth, but shot her head back and fell to the street below. "NO!" Raven cried as she took to the air and flew after the hunters at breakneck speed. Beast Boy, in his eagle form, was swept into tumbles by the wind Raven made as she passed. The truck spun around and sped off into the city, bobing and weaving through traffic. The man standing in the bed did his best to sturdy himself as he loaded some kind of spear into the Browning. Raven didnt care if he fired a nuke at her, she just wanted to get him. Her eyes glowed pure white, a look of detemination shining in them like the sun. The man aimed the gun at her and fired the spear. To her surprise, Raven was facing a glowing blue net seconds after the spear was fired. The spear-net wraped around her and gave her a stuning shock. She fell to the ground, not noticeing she was being draged through the streets by the nets teather. The truck skid to a halt, and the man in back reeled her in like a fish. "Heh, got ya..." he said, laughing. His laugh didnt last long as something big slamed into the truck's hood, causing him to fly right into the arms of a chared, smoking Kardol. Several cuts driped crimson liquid from his body. He held the man close to his face and started growling. Raven looked up at him, the shock from the net was draining her strength. She looked on as Kardol rasied his other hand, revealing his claws. Seconds after that, she was driven to unconciousness......
She heard voices in the dark. Familiar voices. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The Titans, save for Starfire, stood over her, looks of worry in thier faces. "Hey, i think she's coming to." Beast Boy said. Cyborg bent down to help her up. "You ok?" he asked. Raven got to her feet and clutched her head. "Yeah....yeah im ok." She looked around to see the green truck's hood was now a feature of the pavement. Its end stuck up into the air. "Where's Kardol?" she asked, looking around. The Titans remained slient. "What? Is he alright?" she asked, worried. Cybrog spoke up. "He's fine, Rae....but" he said, pointing. Raven looked and gasped. The man who was standing in the truck bed was lying on the ground, motionless. By the way his head was positioned, his neck had been snaped like a twig. Kardol stood a few yards away, holding the man who did the driving up in the air. Kardol was covered in his own blood, but he didnt seem to care. "Now im going to ask you again, who put up the bounty?" The man's feet kicked through the air as he struggled to breathe. Kardol was getting angry. "WHO PUT UP THE BOUNTY!!!" he screamed. The man finnally got a chance to speak. "I...........i dont know........was post........posted on the net," he said, sounding like he wanted to die, "....some guy.......named........" he didnt speak again as he fell into unconciousness. Kardol, fuming with rage, held the man high with one hand and readied his claws with the other. He stoped when he felt the soft touch of someone holding his wrist. He looked back to see Raven, a stern look in her eyes. "Dont do it," she said, "hes not worth it." Kardol breathed heavily at her for a moment, then took in a deep breath to calm himself down. He droped the man to the street and looked down. Raven let him go and turned to the others. "How's Starfire?" she asked. Robin gave her a thumbs up. "She's fine, luckily the bullet just scratched her head. Cy programed the T-Car to take her back to the Tower." he said. Raven gave a sigh of relief. "Good." She turned back to Kardol, frowning at his wounds. "Let me help you with that...." she said extending her hand. Kardol turned away in refusal. "I'll be fine......just get somewhere safe." he said. He looked up to the sky and folded out his wings. His take-off force shattered nearby windows and pushed the Titans back a few inches. Raven watched him as he got smaller and smaller into the infinite reaches of the sky. She jumped when she felt a cold metal hand on her shoulder. "He'll be fine, Rae," Cyborg said, "lets get back to the Tower."
Raven looked up at him and noded, then turned back to the sky. Kardol had dissapeared.
Whew. Well, hope you enjoyed that! Please R&R.