Raven awoke with a start. She sat straight up in her bed, her face
drenched in cold sweat. She had had a nightmare and her heart was beating
rapidly. It took her barely the time to blink an eye to regain control of
her emotions. She could not even remember what she had been dreaming of,
save that there had been four glowing, red eyes in a dark void.
She could feel it again, that feeling of being called. Something was different in the air and she wished she knew what. She had seen none of the others had felt anything, it had only affected her, but why was the question.
************
Raven was not the only one awake that night; Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx, the top three members of H. I. V. E., were committing another heist. Their target was a piece of technology recently created at Wayne Enterprises, which was now under heavy guard and electronic lock. After disposing of the guard, Gizmo was now attempting to undo the lock and additional security system protecting the device. Jinx and Mammoth were waiting impatiently for Gizmo to be finished so they could grab the goods and leave.
"What is taking so long? This should have been an easy job." Jinx sniffed haughtily.
"I coulda broken down the door by now." Mammoth grumbled.
"Oh sure and brought down the army on us too." Jinx sneered.
"Would you two pit-sniffers shut up? I'm trying to concentrate." Gizmo said in his usual whiny voice.
"Awww, can't the great genius Gizmo figure out a simple electronic lock?" Jinx laughed.
"I would have finished by now but you two keep talking." Gizmo growled.
"What's her problem anyways?" Mammoth asked Gizmo.
"She's still pissed off because the snot-monkey, Beast Boy, beat her." Gizmo smirked.
"He did NOT beat me." She glared at them.
"That's right... He got her to beat herself." Mammoth laughed.
"Like you two idiots did any better." Jinx retorted.
"I thought I told you two to shu..." Gizmo started.
A small 'ping' noise signalled the defeat of the electronic lock and the subsequent defences beyond the door. The door slid open and the three went inside. It was a simple circular room with a sort of pedestal in the centre. Atop it was the device, which was approximately the size and shape of a hockey puck. Gizmo grabbed the device and the trio headed for the roof, where they would be able to escape any pursuit.
"Looks like a clean getaway." Mammoth said as they reached the roof.
"You're way too dirty to make that kind of a getaway." Someone said from behind them.
The trio turned and saw the Teen Titans with Robin in the lead. Starfire was on his right, Raven beside her, Cyborg on Robin's left and Beast Boy who was asleep on his feet, a large snot bubble hanging from his nose. The H. I. V. E. trio laughed and Cyborg looked at Beast Boy and tried to shake him awake.
"Yo man, wake up. You're embarrassing us." Cyborg said.
Beast Boy opened his eyes groggily, but did not appear truly awake.
"Just five more minutes..." He said sleepily.
"Heheh... We're ready for you teen twerps this time." Gizmo said.
Two guns sprouted from his backpack and mounted themselves on his shoulder and he began to fire.
"Titans GO!" Robin shouted.
The Titans scattered, Cyborg grabbing a semi-conscious Beast Boy as he ran. Raven engaged Jinx in close range combat to prevent her from using her hex powers.
"I've been waiting a long time for this." Jinx smiled malevolently as she kicked at Raven.
"Then don't disappoint me." Raven retorted, blocking Jinx's attack and then counter attacking.
"Hey, tin woodsman!" Mammoth yelled grabbing Cyborg. "I'm sending you back to Oz... in pieces."
The genetically engineered strongman easily lifted Cyborg off the ground, forcing the machine-man to drop, or rather throw, Beast Boy. The changeling hit the ground and skidded to a halt. The impact and subsequent friction burn shocked him awake.
"Man... and I was having a great dream too. Huh?" He said looking up.
Gizmo stood above him, his weapons trained on the currently downed Beast Boy. Robin intervened, knocking Gizmo away with a well-executed jump kick.
"Glad to see you're up." Robin said, smirking at Beast Boy.
"Y'know, the bad guys should do their villainy things at a better hour." Beast Boy laughed nervously.
Gizmo had crashed against the neon Wayne Enterprises sign and the device had fallen from his possession. Robin might not have noticed it at all had Gizmo not snatched the device up hastily.
"I'll take on Gizmo, you help Cy." Robin said as he ran towards Gizmo.
Beast Boy turned to where Mammoth stood. Mammoth still held Cyborg and was about to hurl him off the side of the building.
"Time to go 'splat', tin man." Mammoth laughed.
Cyborg continued to struggle. The way Mammoth held him prevented him from using his blaster or gaining enough leverage to strike at him. Starfire rose in front of them, her hands and eyes glowing with green energy.
"You will not be making any of my friends go splat." She said as she fired an increased star bolt at the human behemoth.
The force of the shot knocked Mammoth off his feet, causing him to fly backwards and drop Cyborg. Starfire, however, caught him as she dove to save him. They rose back to the roof only to see Mammoth coming towards them and he was sorely angered. Beast Boy, in the form of a ram, charged Mammoth and knocked him down. He then returned to his human form and shook his head, trying to clear it.
"Looks like your head isn't as thick as I thought it was." Cyborg smiled as Starfire deposited him on the roof.
"As... as soon as my head stops ringing... I'm gonna come up with the perfect comeback to that." Beast Boy said as he wavered back and forth, trying to keep his balance.
Robin had been able to disarm Gizmo and had thrown him so that he landed next to the fallen Mammoth. Raven had gained the upper hand, literally as well as metaphorically, over Jinx and threw her so she landed next to her two fallen comrades.
"Why are we still here? She demanded Gizmo. "We have the device."
"I guess it's time for a strategic withdrawal." Gizmo replied.
"You won't get any argument from me." Mammoth groaned.
The trio got to their feet as the titans surrounded them. Jinx took out a small object and smiled malevolently.
"We have a farewell gift for you Titans." She said as she threw the object towards the neon sign.
Light exploded on the roof and the Titans threw their hands up to protect their eyes. Raven fared the worst as the light pained her greatly. As far as she could tell it was ordinary light and that had never hurt her before, but the light inflicted great pain upon her; intense, searing, burning pain.
The light cleared and the Titans were presented with a new foe: a giant gelatinous golem lowered itself off the sign, taking shards of the sign off with it. The things flesh was transparent and appeared to have the general consistency and form of Jell-O. Within its flesh, different coloured veins of wire stretched over its body, reaching every tip of the constructs flesh.
"Well that's new..." Beast Boy said; he blinked in surprise at the creature.
"You know what they say: 'The bigger they are...'" Cyborg said, charging and firing his arm cannon.
The shot seemed to impact the behemoth, as its shoulder appeared to explode. However, in actuality it had just stretched the gelatinous mass of its shoulder so thin that it would be barely visible. The wires in that part glowed blue and the shoulder reformed itself. Blue energy traveled down its left arm, which it aimed at Cyborg, and it fired the energy it had absorbed back at him. Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg scattered to avoid the blast.
"Uh... the harder they hit back." Beast Boy said, finishing Cyborg's previous quote.
Starfire circled around to attack the monster from behind. She fired several star bolts, all of which seemed to have no effect. The golem turned its head and green bolts of lightning shot out from its eyes. The bolts struck Starfire, felling her from the sky.
"I got her, I got her..." Beast Boy shouted, positioning himself beneath the falling Starfire.
The behemoth reached out and caught Starfire in mid-air and held her tight in its grip.
"I don't got her..." Beast Boy said, dumbfounded.
"Don't attack it with energy." Robin said. "Beast Boy, fly up there and get Starfire down. Cy, help me distract it."
Robin threw several of his birdarangs at the creature, which exploded upon impact, leaving more than a few craters in its gelatinous flesh. Those 'wounds' healed quite rapidly. Starfire screamed as green lightning danced about her body: the behemoth was draining her of her power. Beast Boy had morphed into an eagle and landed on the monster's arm. Energy coursed through his body from the point he had landed on, shocking him severely. The monster used its free hand to flick Beast Boy off of it and then turned and kicked at Cyborg and Robin. Cyborg was kicked away but Robin was able to jump out of the way in time. Raven had found what she needed to cut the monster down and free Starfire.
"Azarath Metreon ZINTHOS!" She incanted.
She imbued a large shard of the neon sign with her power and it hovered off the ground. She flung the shard at the beast and it was sharp enough to dismember the arm the held Starfire. She fell from the creatures grasp as the goo dissolved in the air, detached from the main body, but she was too drained to fly. Robin was able to jump in and catch her before she hit the ground.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I am alright..." She said wearily. "I am just very tired."
The golem had, unfortunately, turned its full attention towards Raven, as she was the one who had damaged it. It had already re-grown its arm and attempted to grab her with said arm. She had raised a shield around her and the golem roared in frustration. It lifted her off the ground and smashed her down, breaking the shield. She fell, hard, against the ground. The golem now took up her entire field of vision as it lumbered towards her. She couldn't tell if the rest of the Titans were trying to help her on the other side of the beast, nor could she see anything that might be of use to her in fighting it. She backed up, trying to see something, anything or anyway to fight it. As she did she bumped against something. Turning to look she saw she had bumped up against a man dressed all in black an as she looked up at this strange man, she found she could hear her heart beat... no, not just her heart beat, but his as well which beat in sync with hers. She could feel his emotions, his pain; had it been his pain at the explosion of light that she had experienced earlier? She could fell his anger and she saw similarities between her and this man: whilst her anger could burn with the fury of a thousand suns, his was colder than absolute zero. She saw a smirk crease his lips as he looked from her to the approaching golem.
"AZARATH METREON ZINTHOS!" He shouted.
Raven watched, as the shadow beneath the golem became an unfathomable black. The golem drew back its fist to strike at her, but was halted as a black claw from the darkness beneath it reached out and halted its attack. That was not the end as more claws shot out from the dark shadow and clamped onto the golem. These shadowy appendages began to drag the behemoth down into the dark, as though its shadow was a pool of water with unfathomable depths. The monster struggled to no avail as it was submerged in the darkness. The shadow shrank and returned to it's normal opacity as an object, roughly the size of a baseball emerged from it. It was a glassy piece of rock with many rainbow colours within it. The golem was gone and there was no sign of it save for that rock. Raven turned and found that the stranger was gone as well. She got to her feet and was joined by the rest of the Titans.
"Way to go Raven!" Cyborg cheered.
"Yeah, that was awesome. I didn't know you could do anything like that!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"I didn't." She replied.
"Well if you didn't do it, then who did?" Robin asked, holding a sleeping Starfire.
"I don't know, but instead of worrying about who did what, shouldn't we go after Gizmo and the rest?"
Beast Boy's jaw dropped as he realized the villainous trio had gotten away.
"They may have gotten away, but they left empty handed." Robin said, displaying the device he had gotten off of Gizmo during their little fracas.
Both Cyborg and Beast Boy let out a sigh of relief and Raven hovered off the ground, preparing to leave.
"I'll see you back at the tower." She said before taking off.
"Hey! Where are you... going?" Beast Boy called after her, clearly not reaching her.
Raven flew, following the call she heard. It wasn't a noise, but a feeling; a feeling that had grown intense when she had bumped up against the stranger and she was hoping that feeling would bring her straight to him.
On one of the roofs, she saw a dark figure. She landed on next to the figure, but could only see his back. She did know it was him with the dark vibes he gave off.
"Who are you?" She asked as she approached the dark figure.
The figure said nothing, his back still turned to her. She advanced and then the sun rose. The sudden burst of orange and yellow light forced her to cover her eyes for a moment. When she refocused, she saw the silhouette of the figure was transparent and beginning to fade; it had been nothing but a three-dimensional shadow.
Author Notes: I forgot to mention this but this fan fiction takes place after the episode 'Apprentice part 2' but before 'Terra'.
Raven Facts: In the Teen Titans comics (those not based on the current cartoon) Raven was instrumental in forging the New Titans group. One of those she was trying to recruit was Wally West (Kid Flash at the time), who had retired from heroics at the time. Using her abilities as an empath, she convinced him that he loved her (though she could never safely return that love) so that he would join the new team. When Wally learned how he had been manipulated, he was horrified, but continued to have feelings for her. Their relationship has been strained ever since.
She could feel it again, that feeling of being called. Something was different in the air and she wished she knew what. She had seen none of the others had felt anything, it had only affected her, but why was the question.
************
Raven was not the only one awake that night; Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx, the top three members of H. I. V. E., were committing another heist. Their target was a piece of technology recently created at Wayne Enterprises, which was now under heavy guard and electronic lock. After disposing of the guard, Gizmo was now attempting to undo the lock and additional security system protecting the device. Jinx and Mammoth were waiting impatiently for Gizmo to be finished so they could grab the goods and leave.
"What is taking so long? This should have been an easy job." Jinx sniffed haughtily.
"I coulda broken down the door by now." Mammoth grumbled.
"Oh sure and brought down the army on us too." Jinx sneered.
"Would you two pit-sniffers shut up? I'm trying to concentrate." Gizmo said in his usual whiny voice.
"Awww, can't the great genius Gizmo figure out a simple electronic lock?" Jinx laughed.
"I would have finished by now but you two keep talking." Gizmo growled.
"What's her problem anyways?" Mammoth asked Gizmo.
"She's still pissed off because the snot-monkey, Beast Boy, beat her." Gizmo smirked.
"He did NOT beat me." She glared at them.
"That's right... He got her to beat herself." Mammoth laughed.
"Like you two idiots did any better." Jinx retorted.
"I thought I told you two to shu..." Gizmo started.
A small 'ping' noise signalled the defeat of the electronic lock and the subsequent defences beyond the door. The door slid open and the three went inside. It was a simple circular room with a sort of pedestal in the centre. Atop it was the device, which was approximately the size and shape of a hockey puck. Gizmo grabbed the device and the trio headed for the roof, where they would be able to escape any pursuit.
"Looks like a clean getaway." Mammoth said as they reached the roof.
"You're way too dirty to make that kind of a getaway." Someone said from behind them.
The trio turned and saw the Teen Titans with Robin in the lead. Starfire was on his right, Raven beside her, Cyborg on Robin's left and Beast Boy who was asleep on his feet, a large snot bubble hanging from his nose. The H. I. V. E. trio laughed and Cyborg looked at Beast Boy and tried to shake him awake.
"Yo man, wake up. You're embarrassing us." Cyborg said.
Beast Boy opened his eyes groggily, but did not appear truly awake.
"Just five more minutes..." He said sleepily.
"Heheh... We're ready for you teen twerps this time." Gizmo said.
Two guns sprouted from his backpack and mounted themselves on his shoulder and he began to fire.
"Titans GO!" Robin shouted.
The Titans scattered, Cyborg grabbing a semi-conscious Beast Boy as he ran. Raven engaged Jinx in close range combat to prevent her from using her hex powers.
"I've been waiting a long time for this." Jinx smiled malevolently as she kicked at Raven.
"Then don't disappoint me." Raven retorted, blocking Jinx's attack and then counter attacking.
"Hey, tin woodsman!" Mammoth yelled grabbing Cyborg. "I'm sending you back to Oz... in pieces."
The genetically engineered strongman easily lifted Cyborg off the ground, forcing the machine-man to drop, or rather throw, Beast Boy. The changeling hit the ground and skidded to a halt. The impact and subsequent friction burn shocked him awake.
"Man... and I was having a great dream too. Huh?" He said looking up.
Gizmo stood above him, his weapons trained on the currently downed Beast Boy. Robin intervened, knocking Gizmo away with a well-executed jump kick.
"Glad to see you're up." Robin said, smirking at Beast Boy.
"Y'know, the bad guys should do their villainy things at a better hour." Beast Boy laughed nervously.
Gizmo had crashed against the neon Wayne Enterprises sign and the device had fallen from his possession. Robin might not have noticed it at all had Gizmo not snatched the device up hastily.
"I'll take on Gizmo, you help Cy." Robin said as he ran towards Gizmo.
Beast Boy turned to where Mammoth stood. Mammoth still held Cyborg and was about to hurl him off the side of the building.
"Time to go 'splat', tin man." Mammoth laughed.
Cyborg continued to struggle. The way Mammoth held him prevented him from using his blaster or gaining enough leverage to strike at him. Starfire rose in front of them, her hands and eyes glowing with green energy.
"You will not be making any of my friends go splat." She said as she fired an increased star bolt at the human behemoth.
The force of the shot knocked Mammoth off his feet, causing him to fly backwards and drop Cyborg. Starfire, however, caught him as she dove to save him. They rose back to the roof only to see Mammoth coming towards them and he was sorely angered. Beast Boy, in the form of a ram, charged Mammoth and knocked him down. He then returned to his human form and shook his head, trying to clear it.
"Looks like your head isn't as thick as I thought it was." Cyborg smiled as Starfire deposited him on the roof.
"As... as soon as my head stops ringing... I'm gonna come up with the perfect comeback to that." Beast Boy said as he wavered back and forth, trying to keep his balance.
Robin had been able to disarm Gizmo and had thrown him so that he landed next to the fallen Mammoth. Raven had gained the upper hand, literally as well as metaphorically, over Jinx and threw her so she landed next to her two fallen comrades.
"Why are we still here? She demanded Gizmo. "We have the device."
"I guess it's time for a strategic withdrawal." Gizmo replied.
"You won't get any argument from me." Mammoth groaned.
The trio got to their feet as the titans surrounded them. Jinx took out a small object and smiled malevolently.
"We have a farewell gift for you Titans." She said as she threw the object towards the neon sign.
Light exploded on the roof and the Titans threw their hands up to protect their eyes. Raven fared the worst as the light pained her greatly. As far as she could tell it was ordinary light and that had never hurt her before, but the light inflicted great pain upon her; intense, searing, burning pain.
The light cleared and the Titans were presented with a new foe: a giant gelatinous golem lowered itself off the sign, taking shards of the sign off with it. The things flesh was transparent and appeared to have the general consistency and form of Jell-O. Within its flesh, different coloured veins of wire stretched over its body, reaching every tip of the constructs flesh.
"Well that's new..." Beast Boy said; he blinked in surprise at the creature.
"You know what they say: 'The bigger they are...'" Cyborg said, charging and firing his arm cannon.
The shot seemed to impact the behemoth, as its shoulder appeared to explode. However, in actuality it had just stretched the gelatinous mass of its shoulder so thin that it would be barely visible. The wires in that part glowed blue and the shoulder reformed itself. Blue energy traveled down its left arm, which it aimed at Cyborg, and it fired the energy it had absorbed back at him. Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg scattered to avoid the blast.
"Uh... the harder they hit back." Beast Boy said, finishing Cyborg's previous quote.
Starfire circled around to attack the monster from behind. She fired several star bolts, all of which seemed to have no effect. The golem turned its head and green bolts of lightning shot out from its eyes. The bolts struck Starfire, felling her from the sky.
"I got her, I got her..." Beast Boy shouted, positioning himself beneath the falling Starfire.
The behemoth reached out and caught Starfire in mid-air and held her tight in its grip.
"I don't got her..." Beast Boy said, dumbfounded.
"Don't attack it with energy." Robin said. "Beast Boy, fly up there and get Starfire down. Cy, help me distract it."
Robin threw several of his birdarangs at the creature, which exploded upon impact, leaving more than a few craters in its gelatinous flesh. Those 'wounds' healed quite rapidly. Starfire screamed as green lightning danced about her body: the behemoth was draining her of her power. Beast Boy had morphed into an eagle and landed on the monster's arm. Energy coursed through his body from the point he had landed on, shocking him severely. The monster used its free hand to flick Beast Boy off of it and then turned and kicked at Cyborg and Robin. Cyborg was kicked away but Robin was able to jump out of the way in time. Raven had found what she needed to cut the monster down and free Starfire.
"Azarath Metreon ZINTHOS!" She incanted.
She imbued a large shard of the neon sign with her power and it hovered off the ground. She flung the shard at the beast and it was sharp enough to dismember the arm the held Starfire. She fell from the creatures grasp as the goo dissolved in the air, detached from the main body, but she was too drained to fly. Robin was able to jump in and catch her before she hit the ground.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I am alright..." She said wearily. "I am just very tired."
The golem had, unfortunately, turned its full attention towards Raven, as she was the one who had damaged it. It had already re-grown its arm and attempted to grab her with said arm. She had raised a shield around her and the golem roared in frustration. It lifted her off the ground and smashed her down, breaking the shield. She fell, hard, against the ground. The golem now took up her entire field of vision as it lumbered towards her. She couldn't tell if the rest of the Titans were trying to help her on the other side of the beast, nor could she see anything that might be of use to her in fighting it. She backed up, trying to see something, anything or anyway to fight it. As she did she bumped against something. Turning to look she saw she had bumped up against a man dressed all in black an as she looked up at this strange man, she found she could hear her heart beat... no, not just her heart beat, but his as well which beat in sync with hers. She could feel his emotions, his pain; had it been his pain at the explosion of light that she had experienced earlier? She could fell his anger and she saw similarities between her and this man: whilst her anger could burn with the fury of a thousand suns, his was colder than absolute zero. She saw a smirk crease his lips as he looked from her to the approaching golem.
"AZARATH METREON ZINTHOS!" He shouted.
Raven watched, as the shadow beneath the golem became an unfathomable black. The golem drew back its fist to strike at her, but was halted as a black claw from the darkness beneath it reached out and halted its attack. That was not the end as more claws shot out from the dark shadow and clamped onto the golem. These shadowy appendages began to drag the behemoth down into the dark, as though its shadow was a pool of water with unfathomable depths. The monster struggled to no avail as it was submerged in the darkness. The shadow shrank and returned to it's normal opacity as an object, roughly the size of a baseball emerged from it. It was a glassy piece of rock with many rainbow colours within it. The golem was gone and there was no sign of it save for that rock. Raven turned and found that the stranger was gone as well. She got to her feet and was joined by the rest of the Titans.
"Way to go Raven!" Cyborg cheered.
"Yeah, that was awesome. I didn't know you could do anything like that!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"I didn't." She replied.
"Well if you didn't do it, then who did?" Robin asked, holding a sleeping Starfire.
"I don't know, but instead of worrying about who did what, shouldn't we go after Gizmo and the rest?"
Beast Boy's jaw dropped as he realized the villainous trio had gotten away.
"They may have gotten away, but they left empty handed." Robin said, displaying the device he had gotten off of Gizmo during their little fracas.
Both Cyborg and Beast Boy let out a sigh of relief and Raven hovered off the ground, preparing to leave.
"I'll see you back at the tower." She said before taking off.
"Hey! Where are you... going?" Beast Boy called after her, clearly not reaching her.
Raven flew, following the call she heard. It wasn't a noise, but a feeling; a feeling that had grown intense when she had bumped up against the stranger and she was hoping that feeling would bring her straight to him.
On one of the roofs, she saw a dark figure. She landed on next to the figure, but could only see his back. She did know it was him with the dark vibes he gave off.
"Who are you?" She asked as she approached the dark figure.
The figure said nothing, his back still turned to her. She advanced and then the sun rose. The sudden burst of orange and yellow light forced her to cover her eyes for a moment. When she refocused, she saw the silhouette of the figure was transparent and beginning to fade; it had been nothing but a three-dimensional shadow.
Author Notes: I forgot to mention this but this fan fiction takes place after the episode 'Apprentice part 2' but before 'Terra'.
Raven Facts: In the Teen Titans comics (those not based on the current cartoon) Raven was instrumental in forging the New Titans group. One of those she was trying to recruit was Wally West (Kid Flash at the time), who had retired from heroics at the time. Using her abilities as an empath, she convinced him that he loved her (though she could never safely return that love) so that he would join the new team. When Wally learned how he had been manipulated, he was horrified, but continued to have feelings for her. Their relationship has been strained ever since.
