Raven was silent. He was coming closer… closer… She leapt backwards as Ghost slashed forward with his katana. She expertly spun the twin blades as Ghost twirled towards her. The blades collided, and for a moment, she sensed a smirk forming on his face. But it left as soon as it came, and he rolled onto the roof.
She watched as he suddenly held another katana. She stared at it for a while, in a slow trance, until she realized why he had two.
Bane collided with the back of Ghost's new sword, and Ghost quickly assumed a new stance. "So now there are two of us?" Raven silently mouthed to her friend. He nodded and jumped over a blade.
"Come on, Ghost, you can move faster than that," said Bane. Ghost came again, twirling both long blades around him as he drew near his two friends… apprentices, of sorts. The Chinese man then leapt over and delivered a sharp boot to the unprepared Bane. Raven counterattacked with a blast of obsidian energy.
"Now, now, Rae, that's not fair," Ghost smirked as he dodged it with ease. New buildings flew behind them in a rush of false beauty. Sparks had loaded them into an old Matrix-like training program. Raven's purple hair swished backwards as she flipped into the air behind her, and used her powers to ascend to the nearest roof.
"What is it with you and roofs?" cried the powerless Bane. Ghost, ignoring his human limits, ran to the nearest alleyway and wall-jumped, Samus-style, onto the opposing rooftop. "Oh, come on, you can't…" Bane tried to say before Ghost and Raven began fighting again.
Raven back-flipped onto a new roof and quickly shouted, "Since he's got two swords, I could use some help!" Ghost smashed into her. She yelled as she slid down the side of the building. Bane ran up as Ghost flew down, crossing his Katanas into an X.
Ghost shouted in surprise as Bane literally cannonballed into his mentor and sent him thirty feet away, reeling. Bane then leapt high into the air and brought the single broadsword down onto Ghost's newer katana. The impact shattered the blade, and Ghost took a moment to take in air.
And that was all. He rolled out of the way and reverse-kicked the boy into the wall of the building. Bane sank the sword into the side to absorb the impact, and came back quickly with a low strike. Ghost merely crane-kicked Bane in the chest, sending the boy back again.
Raven leapt over Bane, who was clutching his stomach, and continued the assault on Ghost, finding it much easier to attack when Ghost only had a single sword. She got in a lucky hit, leaving Ghost wide open.
She kicked at his face, and was shocked when Ghost simply moved his head out of the way. He slashed his sword back, and she was thrown backwards. Rocks scattered as she used her powers to steady herself… and vanish into the ground.
Ghost already knew this trick. Two seconds later, he leapt, with a superhuman grace, fifty feet into the air. As he began his descent, Raven appeared out of the ground. Just as planned. His sword drove her into the ground.
Bane struck again, this time with less ferocity. Ghost sidestepped the blow and cuffed Bane in the back of the head. As Bane rolled and prepared himself, and Raven floated behind him, a siren rang out.
"What is it, Sparks?" Bane asked thin air. "We're going into the Matrix to get some more people out. Rollie's orders." Apparently Sparky had already given the new Commander a new nickname.
"But Sparks, we're not finished!" Ghost argued. "Ah, shut up," Sparks laughed. "You were getting your ass whooped anyways."
They sat up in their chairs and pulled the plugs out. Raven went to the Matrix monitors, while Ghost went up to the cockpit to help Niobe start up the ship.
Bane sat in his chair, hyperventilating. Why did he attack Ghost with such furiosity? He wasn't sure…
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The entity that watched the Titans in the store silently sat in a corner of the Titans Tower. No one knew he was there, not even Johnson. He watched as Robin angrily clicked at his computer, trying to find information on the Felicitas 'terrorist cell.' He chuckled to himself.
His phone shook in his pocket. The Exile slowly raised the cell to his ear. "Nightmare," said the unmistakable voice of Carter.
"What do you want? I'm on sentinel duty."
"Whatever. I don't even see why you're working for the Agents. I'm helping the humans." Nightmare scoffed.
"WHAT? It's pretty fun, actually. Marster's crazy, Riyo should be a Goth, Kut can't stay awake for three seconds, and Avril… well, Avril's okay. But she's a human."
"That never stopped you before. Mangy dirtball."
"Sleazeball. Anyways, they're always getting into crazy shit and stuff."
"Sounds fascinating. I'm at the Titans Tower."
"The Teen Titan Tower?" Carter proceeded to sing the song. "One, two, three, four, go! TEEN TITANS!"
"The poor kids have no idea two Japanese chicks made a song about them. I'm monitoring them right now; they got into a fight with, get this: the HUMAN Titans."
"Doesn't seeing yourself make your head explode or somethin'?"
"Only if its you and ya look in a mirror. 'Course, most other people's heads will explode when they see you as well."
"Ha, ha, ha. You are a riot. I'll come over there and pretend to be a villain, that they don't like. God knows I could use a laugh."
"I'll see you there." Nightmare felt the two scabbards at his side and smirked.
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Robin was frantically searching. After taking images of the three attackers (not having any information about the fourth) from Cyborg's retinas, he ran them through his computer and hoped for a match.
The first one that had opened fire on him seemed deathly familiar. If he didn't know better, he'd say that it was just him wearing a trenchcoat and shades. But obviously, it wasn't him. Or a robot, according to Cyborg's scanners.
The other also seemed incredibly familiar. It was something in his face… but Robin hadn't paid much attention to the face. More like the grafted claw. That thing was dangerous and definitely not legal.
The third must have some sort of power, as the dents in Cyborg's armor proved that this person had inhuman strength. The mysterious fourth person, who Cyborg had not seen but declared 'some kind of hurt,' was also a dead end.
Something came up. Robin's eyes widened. He had found a match. They had been fighting the deceased Brother Blood's son. Dark. Robin found as much information as he needed, up to the mysterious deaths of Blood and four students, along with the disappearance of Dark.
"It's time for some questioning," Robin whispered.
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Jinx was perfectly happy. Blood was dead, the pesky little bald bastard was dead and Mammoth and Shadow were dead. Now she was free to actually DO stuff… and the first thing she did was shop. Using Gizmo's infinite card.
She hit the mall and bought lots of gothic crap. She was due for some new stuff. Next, she went straight to the nearest Abercrombie and Fitch. It was when she went to the Gap that she made her mistake.
Robin, Cyborg and Raven stood in the entrance, waiting for her. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to not buy for yourself near Christmas?" Robin asked with a smirk.
"It's April, jackass," was Jinx's reply. Raven lifted two heavy statues and threw them at Jinx, who simply destroyed them with hex bolts and cart wheeled into the leader. He flew into the store as Cyborg fired at her. She simply dodged the cannon and threw a hex at Raven, who absorbed it in a wave of obsidian.
"What do you want?" she yelled as Cyborg narrowly missed.
"Where is Dark?"
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One hour later, they held a tied Jinx in the Tower. "Jinx, we don't want to have to hurt you, but people are being kidnapped. What happened to Dark?" Robin pointed at her.
"Like I'd tell you what happened," she said, and she spat on his shoe. "Fine. Cyborg, your turn." The android walked forward. Her eyes shook.
"Vic, what are you going to do?" she asked, her voice quavering.
"I'm going to protect the citizens I have a duty to," he said, before filling a syringe with a crystal liquid and walking closer to her, his arms at his side. Fear clouded her face, but before Cyborg could inject her, an alarm went off.
Cyborg spun and accidentally slashed her binding with the sharp needle. She pulled it off and threw Cyborg through the wall with a hex bolt. She burst out the window as Cyborg shouted, "Jinx is getting away!"
A sonic cannon blast destroyed a tree near her. She gasped as a green cheetah pounced at her. She sidestepped and blasted the changeling, who rolled and became a triceratops. He ran at her, but she merely leapt out of the way and allowed him to hit the trees behind her. "You are an idiot, aren't you?" she laughed.
A starbolt sent her into the face of the rocky cliff. "Answer the query my friends have bestowed upon you! Where is the Dark?" Starfire yelled.
Jinx ignored her and, smirking, dashed into the forest. Running into a large, black tree. The tree coiled back and smacked Jinx back the way she had come. She was embedded in the Tower. "Ow."
"Maybe… maybe that was a little too much…" said Cyborg, coming up behind the gothic girl. "Maybe serum isn't?" she retorted icily.
A shadow, unseen by the two programs, silently dashed away into the night.