Chapter 3: To Move Heaven and Earth
"A dog starv'd at his Master's Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misus'd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood..."
When the Teen Titans arrived on the scene, witnesses to the crash were pulling Batman from the twisted, mutilated wreckage of the Batmobile. An ambulance had arrived, and onlookers were still peering over one another's shoulders as the Dark Knight was being carted off to the ambulance. As Robin went to ascertain the fate of his mentor, the rest of the Titans spread out and started to search.
The sun was swiftly approaching its zenith when Raven floated down a nearby alley with Cyborg close behind her. Beast Boy had not been pleased when Robin assigned him to accompany Torque instead of Raven, but he swallowed his resentment when Torque yelled for him to follow her. Robin understood his concern—it hadn't been easy for him to watch Starfire take off to follow Jinx, but he knew deep down that all four of the young women on the team were very capable of handling themselves and that, despite her condition, included Raven.
Raven felt a split-second worth of intuition before she spotted the massive, running form of Mammoth coming toward her. Raven gasped and pushed herself higher in the air, causing Mammoth to slam into the brick wall of the building they had been following along. Mammoth was still for a moment before getting up and beginning to throw the loosened bricks at Cyborg and Raven.
"Azarath—Metrion—Zinthos!" Raven rapped out quickly. Raven used her telekinetic powers to stop all of the bricks at once and force them to fly back at the Hive operative. Cyborg used his cannon to supplement her efforts and Mammoth found himself slammed up against the building again.
While Raven was busy with Mammoth, Gizmo was sneaking up behind her, He had his latest gadget in his hands: a deep scanning laser cannon. Gizmo had configured it to aim for the energy centers, or warmest points of the body in order to do the most devastating damage. When he peered through the scanning screen to aim, he saw something he never expected.
"Holy hairball!" Gizmo squealed softly. "Goth girl's got a bun in the oven!" Suddenly, Gizmo had a better idea. This Titan just became more valuable. Gizmo beetled over behind a garbage can and called Slade. Minutes later, Gizmo stepped out from behind his barricade and aimed the laser cannon not at Raven, but at her companion, Cyborg. When Cyborg was hit, it distracted Raven, and she hardly saw Mammoth coming. Raven lost consciousness and the two Hive members carried her off with them, leaving Cyborg with a large, smoldering burn in the back of his right shoulder.
Back at the crash site, the other teams of Titans regrouped.
"We didn't find anything!" Torque cried as she and Beast Boy bounded back to Robin's side.
"It is like they have vanished!" Starfire added as she and Jinx returned.
"No such thing. They were here, we just didn't see them," Jinx muttered, still glancing about as though she expected the two to magically appear.
"Where are Raven and Cyborg?" asked Beast Boy.
"They aren't answering their comms," Torque added. Robin's eyes narrowed. This wasn't right. Either of the two missing Titans could have easily defeated Gizmo and Mammoth. Heck, Raven had once single-handedly taken out Overload. He had no doubt in her abilities, or Cyborg's, but where were they? The static on the other end of the communication link bothered him. He listened a little closer and noticed something strange: an echo. He could hear the team talking, but it was echoing in the communicators. That meant that Cyborg and Raven had to be nearby!
"Titans! Follow me!" Robin called, running for the alley where Raven and Cyborg had begun their search. When they located their damaged friend, all five of the remaining Titans stopped short.
"No way," Torque murmured.
"Cyborg!" Starfire cried, landing beside him.
"Raven! Where are you!?" Beast Boy screamed. Robin ordered Beast Boy, Jinx and Starfire to begin the search for Raven while he and Torque took Cyborg home. He would need some heavy repairs and Torque was the only one with enough mechanical expertise to help Robin repair him.
The Titans would spend the rest of the day searching but to no avail. For the second time in two years, Raven was gone.
Beast Boy collapsed to the couch when the search party returned to the Tower. He let his head fall forward into his hands and tried to breathe normally. He was still panting from running along side his companions and from shouting his wife's name. Torque rested her hand on Beast Boy's shoulder, not sure if he would welcome the comfort.
"We'll find her, BB," Torque said softly.
"Yeah, we will," Beast Boy replied. "We'll find her if it's the last thing I do."
Jinx narrowed her eyes as she looked at him and said, "There's something you're not telling us." Beast Boy looked up from the couch.
"We just found out last night. She was meditating and she said she could feel more than one life force. She's having twins." Beast Boy replied.
"Oh, my God," Torque murmured, sinking to the couch beside him. Jinx was starting to feel queasy. It was now more imperative than ever that they find Raven. And fast.