Slade entered the room he had prepared for Crow. Crow sat, cross-legged,
in the centre of the room surrounded by shadow creatures. Each one had the
face and appearance of a human and their sightless gaze was trained on
Crow, as though they condemned him for some unspeakable crime.
Slade moved through the room and through the shades as insubstantial as they were. He stood behind Crow and looked at him with his one good eye. Before Crow, a shadow woman was kneeling before him, her face did not accuse him or condemn him, but her kind gaze seemed to pain Crow the most.
"Meeting her has caused painful memories, I see." Slade said.
"She is young... She has no conception of the powers of the dark. Nor does she have any idea what awaits her in the dark." Crow replied.
As he spoke, the shadow creatures sank into the ground and those dark marks that remained rushed to join Crow's own shadow.
"Would you like to a chance to educate the child?" Slade asked.
Crow stood up and looked out the window. He flinched at the fading sunlight and then turned to Slade.
"Excellent. I have a job for you." Slade said.
***********
Crow stood on the roof of the Wayne Enterprises building, the same one the H.I.V.E. trio had struck the other night. He stood before the roof entrance and simply stared at the door.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." He incanted.
He sank into the ground, or more accurately, into his shadow. He descended into a sort of shadow world; it looked like the world of light as seen through a photonegative. As he walked in this world, the shadow that remained in the world of light moved as well. The dark spot moved across the ground and beneath the doorframe, entering the building. The shadow moved past the security guard and his monitors, beneath the security lasers and bypassed all the physical and technological barriers that stood in his way. The door that stood between him and the device, that was locked with an electronic lock was another nonexistent barrier for him, as the shadow passed through the spaces between the door and the frame. The shadow slithered across the floor and came to a halt before the pedestal upon which the device rested. Crow emerged from his shadow and pocketed the device; this had been all too easy. Now all he had to do was leave. He again descended into his shadow and retraced his steps out of the building. Once outside he exited his shadow and waited for Slade to contact him. He had not set off any alarm, so there was no way for the Teen Titans to know that the device had been stolen again.
"You've done well, but now I want you to set off the alarms and wait for the Titans. Make sure you bring me the device after confronting them as we agreed." Slade said via the microphone that was placed in Crow's ear.
***********
At the Titans Tower, in Cyborg's lab, Cyborg was discussing his findings on the crystalline remnant of the golem they had recovered the other night with Robin.
"Well... I looked at it through infrared scanners, ultraviolet scanners, quantum scanners, particle analysis and pretty much every kind of analysis I could think of and I've come to a conclusion." Cyborg said.
Robin and Cyborg stood by a container where the chunk of the golem remnant was kept.
"So, what did you find?" Robin asked.
"Well, I can say without a shadow of a doubt... that I have no idea what this is." Cy concluded.
"You can't figure out what it is?"
"I can't even figure out if the thing we fought and this stuff is the same. There's nothing about that can absorb energy or move around or any of the things that monster did."
Suddenly alarms rang out, signalling that the Titans were needed. Cyborg and Robin rushed into the main room where Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy were waiting for them.
"What's up, guys?" Robin asked.
"Someone broke into the Wayne Enterprise building again." Raven stated in a completely calm manner.
"Do you think it might be Gizmo?" Starfire asked.
"Could be... I figured they'd want to come back for it. This time, we'll follow them and see who they bring it to." Robin replied.
"So you used an expensive piece of equipment as bait?" Beast Boy asked, surprised.
"I had too. There was no way to know if they would recognize a fake. Don't worry; I put a tracer in it. We'll be able to follow them no matter where they go." Robin smiled confidently.
"Well we'd better go before sleeping beauty over there decides to take a nap." Cyborg said pointing at Beast Boy.
"Hey! You're never going to let that go are you?" BB said indignantly.
The Titans departed and arrived at the Wayne Enterprises building in record time, only to find that their arrival was expected. Raven let out a small gasp as she saw Crow, the one who had saved them the night past, but no one took note of her surprise, focused as they were on the man in black.
"You must be the one that took the device I guess?" Robin said.
Crow said nothing, but rather showed them the small disk that was the device.
"You gonna be a good little thief and put it back?" Cuborg said, his arm converting into a blaster.
Again Crow said nothing, putting the disk into the inner pocket of his trench coat.
"So that's how its gonna be huh?" Cy said, the blaster charging up.
"Something's not right here." Beast Boy whispered to Starfire. "He hasn't said anything."
"I do not understand. What is wrong with his silence?" She asked.
"When a bad guy doesn't say anything, its either because he's mute or because he's strong enough to be the heroes up"
"Even if he did have that kind of power, he still couldn't take us all, there's five of us and only one of him." Raven stated.
Crow stood before the Titans and pressed his fists together, cracking the knuckles. He rolled his head, his neck making an audible popping noise and he then settled into a fighting stance. Robin eyebrows raised as he saw something familiar in that combat stance, but pushed aside the thoughts as he prepared for battle.
"Titans GO!"
The Titans charged, with Cyborg taking the lead. His arm reverted from a cannon as he prepared to attack.
"So you wanna go mano a mano huh? Lets see how good you are." Cy said as he threw punch after punch.
Crow deflected each punch easily and then he grabbed Cyborg's oncoming fist and then flipped the machine man over his shoulder, using Cyborg's momentum against him. Beast Boy shifted into a gorilla, an ancient silverback to be precise, hoping to prevent Crow from flinging him. Starfire came up from behind Beast Boy, her body glowing brightly and Crow visibly flinched at the light. His distraction was over momentarily as he focused on the oncoming strike from Beast Boy; Crow jumped to avoid the punch and then ran up Beast Boy's gorilla arm after he landed. From the beast's shoulders he jumped at Starfire, the light she emitted went dark in her surprise. Crow executed a hurricane kick to her head. She fell to the ground and Crow focuse on the next opponent before him: Robin.
The attack was quick and sudden all the teen could do was defend and as he blocked the punches and kicks he marvelled at how similar this man's fighting style was to his own mentor's fighting style. Robin thought he saw an opening and, desperate to turn this fight around, he struck out at Crow. It was in fact a feint and retaliation was swift as Crow struck Robin with a knee to the stomach and ended with a chop to the side of the head. Effectively disabled, Robin marvelled at how it was the same feint used by his own teacher, one he had never successfully defended against.
Crow then turned towards the gorilla Beast Boy and began a furious assault. The attacks seemed to strike random points, but they were actually targeting key spots on Beast Boy's body. When Crow was finished, he stepped back and observed Beast Boy. The green gorilla wavered for a minute and then fell over, unconscious.
Crow then began to walk forward, slowly, towards Raven. His footsteps echoed against the stone surface of the roof, at least to Raven's ears. Was she afraid? She wasn't sure; she knew her heart pounded. Was she eager? Her hands glowed with her dark power; she was ready to fight, but she didn't make a move, except to step back as he approached.
"Don't count me out yet!" Cyborg said, charging once more.
He fired off a blast from his arm cannon, which Crow easily sidestepped. Crow then kicked out and tripped Cy; continuing with his move he simply threw the metal man, again using Cy's momentum against him. Cy's metal body sparked as he skidded against the ground. Crow resumed his grim march towards Raven and she stepped back. Crow turned on his heal to face her. He suddenly smirked and took a step back, towards the edge of the roof. Raven's eyes went wide as she knew what he was going to do and she leapt towards him. Crow, in turn, leapt back and into the void as he fell off the roof of the building. Raven rushed to the side to watch his fall and was shocked as he halted in his fall and was engulfed by darkness. The darkness changed and shifted to become a large black bird: a crow. The crow launched itself into flight and gave a great cawing. Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg were just getting up.
"Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy, you follow him. Cyborg and me will follow when we can." Robin said.
Starfire and Raven took to the skies in pursuit while Beast Boy followed in the form of a bird. They followed Crow as best they could, but lost him when he descended into the city.
"Now what?" Beast Boy said when they were on the ground.
"We split up and we find him." Raven said walking off in one direction.
"Is it just me or she acting really weird?" Beast Boy asked Starfire.
Raven walked through the streets, but she was concerned. Why was she so concerned about this guy? It wasn't any form of attraction; it was more like an obsession similar to that of Robin's untoward Slade. That kind of thing could be dangerous to her and to those around her, if she wasn't careful. She suddenly stopped as she felt his presence again. She turned and saw him walk out of a convenience store with a bottle of water in his hands.
"After so long in the dark, with nothing to eat or drink, even this stagnant water tastes like the gods own ambrosia." Crow said to Raven.
"Who are you?" She asked, her voice controlled, her emotions under wraps.
"Haven't you guessed? We are bound, you and I." He said.
"What do you mean? I've never met you before; I don't know you. Why are you doing this?"
"I'm doing this for you." He said, with a wistful note in his voice. "I'm going to save you from the darkness."
Raven watched, stunned, as Crow walked away and vanished in the darkness. She was startled as her communicator buzzed and crackled.
"I haven't found anything, what about you guys?" Beast Boy said over the communicator.
"I have been unable to locate him." Starfire said. "What about you, friend Raven."
"I... I haven't seen anything either. We'd better head back." She replied.
Slade Facts (don't read if you don't want to know): In his illustrious mercenary carrier, Slade, more commonly known as Deathstroke the Terminator, had been shot. The only thing that saved his life was his inhumanely fast reflexes, however, it did not save his right eye. He has trained diligently and has overcome any depth perception problems. The fact remains that he is still totally blind in his right eye and thus is vulnerable to attacks on his right side. He can't defend if he can't see you coming after all.
Slade moved through the room and through the shades as insubstantial as they were. He stood behind Crow and looked at him with his one good eye. Before Crow, a shadow woman was kneeling before him, her face did not accuse him or condemn him, but her kind gaze seemed to pain Crow the most.
"Meeting her has caused painful memories, I see." Slade said.
"She is young... She has no conception of the powers of the dark. Nor does she have any idea what awaits her in the dark." Crow replied.
As he spoke, the shadow creatures sank into the ground and those dark marks that remained rushed to join Crow's own shadow.
"Would you like to a chance to educate the child?" Slade asked.
Crow stood up and looked out the window. He flinched at the fading sunlight and then turned to Slade.
"Excellent. I have a job for you." Slade said.
***********
Crow stood on the roof of the Wayne Enterprises building, the same one the H.I.V.E. trio had struck the other night. He stood before the roof entrance and simply stared at the door.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." He incanted.
He sank into the ground, or more accurately, into his shadow. He descended into a sort of shadow world; it looked like the world of light as seen through a photonegative. As he walked in this world, the shadow that remained in the world of light moved as well. The dark spot moved across the ground and beneath the doorframe, entering the building. The shadow moved past the security guard and his monitors, beneath the security lasers and bypassed all the physical and technological barriers that stood in his way. The door that stood between him and the device, that was locked with an electronic lock was another nonexistent barrier for him, as the shadow passed through the spaces between the door and the frame. The shadow slithered across the floor and came to a halt before the pedestal upon which the device rested. Crow emerged from his shadow and pocketed the device; this had been all too easy. Now all he had to do was leave. He again descended into his shadow and retraced his steps out of the building. Once outside he exited his shadow and waited for Slade to contact him. He had not set off any alarm, so there was no way for the Teen Titans to know that the device had been stolen again.
"You've done well, but now I want you to set off the alarms and wait for the Titans. Make sure you bring me the device after confronting them as we agreed." Slade said via the microphone that was placed in Crow's ear.
***********
At the Titans Tower, in Cyborg's lab, Cyborg was discussing his findings on the crystalline remnant of the golem they had recovered the other night with Robin.
"Well... I looked at it through infrared scanners, ultraviolet scanners, quantum scanners, particle analysis and pretty much every kind of analysis I could think of and I've come to a conclusion." Cyborg said.
Robin and Cyborg stood by a container where the chunk of the golem remnant was kept.
"So, what did you find?" Robin asked.
"Well, I can say without a shadow of a doubt... that I have no idea what this is." Cy concluded.
"You can't figure out what it is?"
"I can't even figure out if the thing we fought and this stuff is the same. There's nothing about that can absorb energy or move around or any of the things that monster did."
Suddenly alarms rang out, signalling that the Titans were needed. Cyborg and Robin rushed into the main room where Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy were waiting for them.
"What's up, guys?" Robin asked.
"Someone broke into the Wayne Enterprise building again." Raven stated in a completely calm manner.
"Do you think it might be Gizmo?" Starfire asked.
"Could be... I figured they'd want to come back for it. This time, we'll follow them and see who they bring it to." Robin replied.
"So you used an expensive piece of equipment as bait?" Beast Boy asked, surprised.
"I had too. There was no way to know if they would recognize a fake. Don't worry; I put a tracer in it. We'll be able to follow them no matter where they go." Robin smiled confidently.
"Well we'd better go before sleeping beauty over there decides to take a nap." Cyborg said pointing at Beast Boy.
"Hey! You're never going to let that go are you?" BB said indignantly.
The Titans departed and arrived at the Wayne Enterprises building in record time, only to find that their arrival was expected. Raven let out a small gasp as she saw Crow, the one who had saved them the night past, but no one took note of her surprise, focused as they were on the man in black.
"You must be the one that took the device I guess?" Robin said.
Crow said nothing, but rather showed them the small disk that was the device.
"You gonna be a good little thief and put it back?" Cuborg said, his arm converting into a blaster.
Again Crow said nothing, putting the disk into the inner pocket of his trench coat.
"So that's how its gonna be huh?" Cy said, the blaster charging up.
"Something's not right here." Beast Boy whispered to Starfire. "He hasn't said anything."
"I do not understand. What is wrong with his silence?" She asked.
"When a bad guy doesn't say anything, its either because he's mute or because he's strong enough to be the heroes up"
"Even if he did have that kind of power, he still couldn't take us all, there's five of us and only one of him." Raven stated.
Crow stood before the Titans and pressed his fists together, cracking the knuckles. He rolled his head, his neck making an audible popping noise and he then settled into a fighting stance. Robin eyebrows raised as he saw something familiar in that combat stance, but pushed aside the thoughts as he prepared for battle.
"Titans GO!"
The Titans charged, with Cyborg taking the lead. His arm reverted from a cannon as he prepared to attack.
"So you wanna go mano a mano huh? Lets see how good you are." Cy said as he threw punch after punch.
Crow deflected each punch easily and then he grabbed Cyborg's oncoming fist and then flipped the machine man over his shoulder, using Cyborg's momentum against him. Beast Boy shifted into a gorilla, an ancient silverback to be precise, hoping to prevent Crow from flinging him. Starfire came up from behind Beast Boy, her body glowing brightly and Crow visibly flinched at the light. His distraction was over momentarily as he focused on the oncoming strike from Beast Boy; Crow jumped to avoid the punch and then ran up Beast Boy's gorilla arm after he landed. From the beast's shoulders he jumped at Starfire, the light she emitted went dark in her surprise. Crow executed a hurricane kick to her head. She fell to the ground and Crow focuse on the next opponent before him: Robin.
The attack was quick and sudden all the teen could do was defend and as he blocked the punches and kicks he marvelled at how similar this man's fighting style was to his own mentor's fighting style. Robin thought he saw an opening and, desperate to turn this fight around, he struck out at Crow. It was in fact a feint and retaliation was swift as Crow struck Robin with a knee to the stomach and ended with a chop to the side of the head. Effectively disabled, Robin marvelled at how it was the same feint used by his own teacher, one he had never successfully defended against.
Crow then turned towards the gorilla Beast Boy and began a furious assault. The attacks seemed to strike random points, but they were actually targeting key spots on Beast Boy's body. When Crow was finished, he stepped back and observed Beast Boy. The green gorilla wavered for a minute and then fell over, unconscious.
Crow then began to walk forward, slowly, towards Raven. His footsteps echoed against the stone surface of the roof, at least to Raven's ears. Was she afraid? She wasn't sure; she knew her heart pounded. Was she eager? Her hands glowed with her dark power; she was ready to fight, but she didn't make a move, except to step back as he approached.
"Don't count me out yet!" Cyborg said, charging once more.
He fired off a blast from his arm cannon, which Crow easily sidestepped. Crow then kicked out and tripped Cy; continuing with his move he simply threw the metal man, again using Cy's momentum against him. Cy's metal body sparked as he skidded against the ground. Crow resumed his grim march towards Raven and she stepped back. Crow turned on his heal to face her. He suddenly smirked and took a step back, towards the edge of the roof. Raven's eyes went wide as she knew what he was going to do and she leapt towards him. Crow, in turn, leapt back and into the void as he fell off the roof of the building. Raven rushed to the side to watch his fall and was shocked as he halted in his fall and was engulfed by darkness. The darkness changed and shifted to become a large black bird: a crow. The crow launched itself into flight and gave a great cawing. Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg were just getting up.
"Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy, you follow him. Cyborg and me will follow when we can." Robin said.
Starfire and Raven took to the skies in pursuit while Beast Boy followed in the form of a bird. They followed Crow as best they could, but lost him when he descended into the city.
"Now what?" Beast Boy said when they were on the ground.
"We split up and we find him." Raven said walking off in one direction.
"Is it just me or she acting really weird?" Beast Boy asked Starfire.
Raven walked through the streets, but she was concerned. Why was she so concerned about this guy? It wasn't any form of attraction; it was more like an obsession similar to that of Robin's untoward Slade. That kind of thing could be dangerous to her and to those around her, if she wasn't careful. She suddenly stopped as she felt his presence again. She turned and saw him walk out of a convenience store with a bottle of water in his hands.
"After so long in the dark, with nothing to eat or drink, even this stagnant water tastes like the gods own ambrosia." Crow said to Raven.
"Who are you?" She asked, her voice controlled, her emotions under wraps.
"Haven't you guessed? We are bound, you and I." He said.
"What do you mean? I've never met you before; I don't know you. Why are you doing this?"
"I'm doing this for you." He said, with a wistful note in his voice. "I'm going to save you from the darkness."
Raven watched, stunned, as Crow walked away and vanished in the darkness. She was startled as her communicator buzzed and crackled.
"I haven't found anything, what about you guys?" Beast Boy said over the communicator.
"I have been unable to locate him." Starfire said. "What about you, friend Raven."
"I... I haven't seen anything either. We'd better head back." She replied.
Slade Facts (don't read if you don't want to know): In his illustrious mercenary carrier, Slade, more commonly known as Deathstroke the Terminator, had been shot. The only thing that saved his life was his inhumanely fast reflexes, however, it did not save his right eye. He has trained diligently and has overcome any depth perception problems. The fact remains that he is still totally blind in his right eye and thus is vulnerable to attacks on his right side. He can't defend if he can't see you coming after all.
