A/N: Why hello everyone!!! I'm back for round two! Thanx to the people who reviewed, and who were patient w/ the lack of action in the first chapter. There's plenty of that in this chapter!!! Oh, I'm only posting my disclaimer in the first chappie, so if you're adamant about seeing it, you know where to go! On to the show!!!
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Chapter Two: A New Threat....Darnit!
War. Battle. Fights. Is there a time for each of these not so honorable things? I sometimes wonder this particular thought for hours at a time, heck, there are people whose job is solely just to analyze each of those themes. Maybe there is a right time for each, if no peaceful solution can be found, even if these three themes can end up being even more disastrous than the original problem they were supposed to fix.
If you're hearing this, you probably have no idea whose even really speaking. He said we should do these audio journal things to help the titans, even if we should fail. Do you not trust us? Well, let me give you some information about us, well, besides our names because we cannot really trust you. You can probably tell by my voice that I'm a girl, and you could probably tell the audio before this was a boy. I have long, wavy brown hair, and lavender eyes, and while some would call me beautiful, I really don't see it. Boyfriends, can never trust them to tell the truth! Speaking of which, he has long, tousled, jet-black hair and blue eyes that are flecked with gold all throughout them. Now, he is very attractive, but he would probably say I'm on crack and that I don't know what I'm saying (but he really is quite a catch!).
Well, enough about us, after all we are supposed to be talking about our "heroes" and how they fight all the time. I do feel pity for those who fight, battle, or even wage war on the villains that consistently haunt their cities day after day. These "heroes" as it were, must continually deal with the guilt that accompanies fighting off the 'bad' guys for once, were they not 'good' guys? I just hope that these self-sacrificing few never stop feeling that guilt, never stop being human...
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Any area even encompassing the civic plaza was a complete mess by the time the Titans arrived at the scene. Smoking lamp posts, over-turned cars, people running with all their strength in every direction, and scattered bits of debris all over the streets made the area look like a scene from a doomsday movie.
"Well," Beastboy said with a weak laugh. "At least we know we're in the right place huh?"
As Raven rolled her eyes, Robin ordered out his ever so typical, "Titans, split up and look for whoever is behind this!"
"Betcha it was the Hive or something," Cyborg shouted as they all went off in their own direction. "This always seems to be their type of party."
"I don't think so," Robin said to himself as he began to creep down one of the alleyways that led away from the plaza. ' They wouldn't have run,' he thought to himself as he scanned the windows, and dumpsters for any kind of clue. He suddenly stopped, whipped out his bo-staff, and crouched down into a defensive position. Something about the stillness of the air and the alley spoke of something or someone lurking about in the shadows. As he swiveled around in his crouch, he felt and heard something land softly behind him. He was just able to roll out of the way of a vicious roundhouse kick that would have hit him in the head, and probably would have knocked him out. He flipped up and swung his bo-staff around to levelly face his attacker, but he was met with a bit of a surprise.
Standing before Robin was a 5'3 black-haired vixen with long, straight locks, and piercing yellow eyes that held no kind of compassion. She had on a black leather-tight suit with a toxic green trim around the edge, and she was barefoot, well, her suit covered her feet, but she didn't have on any shoes. Not any older than 16, she was Robin's age, but her eyes seemed to suggest she was a lot older than that. Robin got a good enough look at her features to see that she was adequately pretty and, judging by her physique, was obviously a seasoned fighter. His attention snapped back enough for him to whip out his communicator and contact the others saying, "Titans, I found our culprit, get over here pronto!"
When he looked back up, he saw the girl was smirking at him, waiting patiently with her gloved hands on her hips and her head cocked to one side. "Are you finished yet?" she asked, her snake-like voice dripping with annoyance. "Or, do I have to set up an appointment to kick your ass?"
Narrowing his eyes at her he spat out, "I don't think that'll be happening today miss!" He then heard his teammates all arrive around him and it was his turn to smirk at the vixen, "Besides, I think we can jump you to the head of the line!" All the Titans got into a fighting stance, but started to ease off when they saw the girl wasn't moving.
" How thoughtful," she answered back. She looked at each of the Titans, sizing them up in her head. ' The green kid won't be too much of a challenge, a little too raw. The gothic one could be an issue, so I'll have to take her out first. The robot, well, I guess I could just keep out of his reach and tire him down. The red, ummm, I could just ignore her altogether. And, our favorite boy, well, lets just see how that plays out.' She then turned her attention back to Robin and said, "You know, I'm honored that the Teen Titans actually came out to visit my little art display," as she threw a trash can lid into a light post and caused it to fall onto the street. "Of course, I know all about you guys. Lets see, we have Beastboy, who can turn into any animal at will, Cyborg, a half-human half-robot hybrid with enough ammo and guns to take out a small town. We have Raven, our resident goth who's telepathic and can create negative energy that can move crap around. I believe the redhead is Starfire, the alien princess that can fly, shoots starbolts, has super-strength, and can shoot eye beams. And last, but not least, we have Robin, the Boy-Wonder," she finished with a mock sigh. Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, she figured she could have a little more fun with one before she got down to business. Putting on an innocent face she asked, "So Robin, seen any good circus shows lately?"
Robin's masked eyes widened, and then narrowed into angry slits at the villain. His teammates looked at him with confusion, seeing clearly that whatever the girl had said had pissed him off beyond belief.
Trying to calm the situation, Starfire suddenly addressed the girl saying, " Please, we do not wish to fight you. I insist you come quietly and no blood will need to be shed."
The girl was quiet for a moment before she finally got into a fighting stance, and drew out a long, jade sword from a scabbard strapped to her back. She then addressed the Titans, "I don't think so red, and by the way, the name is Viper, get used to it kiddies!" as she exploded into action.
She lunged at the Titans, but they all scattered and then broke out into one of their fighting formations. Beastboy charged Viper first, turning into a rhino, and they all thought he would hit her, but she actually grabbed one of his horns, and threw him into a brick wall. He changed back, and passed out from the impact, rubble covering him up to his torso.
Angered by Beastboy's injury, Raven floated down and started chant her mantra, "Azerath Mentrion Zin—Ahh," as she was tackled out of the sky by Viper, who seemed to have jumped at least twenty feet in the air. After slamming Raven into the ground, Viper whipped around to see that Cyborg and Robin were rushing in on her fast, and sees the alien helping Beastboy out of the rubble. She bent down low and flipped over the boys, and hit Cyborg in his lower back with a swift swipe of her blade, causing his legs to buckle, and him to no longer be a threat.
Raven pushed herself up in time to see that Viper and Robin were now fighting, but that Cyborg was pretty beat up. She floated over to him and asked, "Cyborg, are you still on line, please wake up Cyborg! We need you to help Beastboy out!"
He looked up at her and slowly came to his senses. Looking over at Robin and Viper, he saw that they were both evenly matched, blocking every attack made by eachother. He pushed himself up and started to limp over to Beastboy and Starfire, Raven following suit.
" Hey Star!" Cyborg yelled at the girl trying to help the changeling out of the rubble. "Go over and help Robin, me and Raven will take care of BB."
" Oh, are you damaged Cyborg?" Starfire asked, worry etching all over her face.
" He'll be fine," Raven said as she pushed Starfire towards the fight. "You're the only one not hurt, you have to go help Robin."
Starfire nodded her head and started to fly over to the battle just in time to see Viper hit Robin in his knee, crippling him, and start to raise her sword to deliver a killing blow.
" No, Robin!" she shouted as she flew straight into a surprised Viper, ramming her into the wall.
Surprised as she was, for she wasn't expecting the alien to want to fight, Viper pushed off the wall with lightening speed, grabbed her sword off the ground where it had fallen, and cut Starfire deeply in her side right below her ribs.
" Oh," Starfire gasped as she felt the pain lancing through her body, causing her to pass out, and fall from the sky,
Robin, not even considering the possibility of catching Viper runs straight towards her, bad knee and all, to catch the injured redhead before she hit the ground.
Then, before Raven and Cyborg could even start to move towards her, Viper slid her sword back into the scabbard and said, "Well, I gotta run Titans, but be sure that'll I'll see you again, and you better have gotten a lot more serious than that." She then threw a smoke bomb into the alleyway, and when the smoked cleared, she was gone.
Needless to say, the remaining conscious Titans were to stunned to really say anything. Cyborg finally was able to pull out Beastboy out of the rubble, and after slinging him into his arms, he barked out, "Back to the Tower Titans! We can't stay out here and wait for her to come back before we heal Star and BB." And so they left, Cyborg carrying a bruised Beastboy and a limping Robin carrying Starfire, back to the Tower to try to decide what to do next.
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'The girl, Viper, was a definite improvement over Terra,' a masked man known as Slade thought from a top on the building neighboring the alley. ' No emotional attachments, no lingering feelings of self-doubt or guilt. Just pure carnal rage and aggression. She never even got to use her trademark nails, for which she invented her name. Poisoned-filled nails, marvelous. She, I believe, will prove to be my most successful apprentice yet, once she has been properly trained of course.'
Slade broke off his thoughts as he looked back down at the retreating Titans, heading back to their precious Tower. His eye widened in surprise as he saw a very useful clue, and an evil glint alit in it. He saw his would-be apprentice carrying the wounded alien girl, despite his own wounded-knee, instead of chasing down the renegade Viper.
' My my Robin,' Slade thought has the Titans faded out of sight. ' What do we have here? Don't you know it is not wise for the hero to harbor such feelings, you never know what madman is watching.'
His thoughts were interrupted again, but this time by a girl's voice, clearly out of breath and sounding as if she had just been put through a strenuous workout.
" Was that up to par Slade?" Viper asked angrily, has she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. When he didn't respond, she felt free to continue, "They were tough Slade, especially bird-boy. They'll be better prepared next time."
" Yes," Slade answered. "They will, but I believe that you will be ready. I have a plan that will attack their weakest point and use it against them."
" And what would that be what?" Viper asked scathingly. "Are you going to make up another 'doomsday' device, because that probably won't work for the umpteenth time."
" You will see my dear," Slade said with a smile. " You will see."
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Beaten and battered, the Titans waited in the tower as Raven healed the major injuries they each had. When she was finished, only Star's side and Beatsboy's concussion were left only halfway healed, but those would be fine in a day or two.
To be honest, it wasn't the injuries that were troubling the team, it was the silence between them. It was a thick, suffocating fog that wouldn't seem to lift, no matter how many lame jokes Beastboy tried to crack. It was the first time in a long time that they had truly gotten the poo kicked out of them, and it was by a solo villain! Of course, each Titan had their own way of dealing with their frustrations: Robin was spending all his time in the gym or his room, Starfire was trying to goad the team into ' go out and hang the mall' and failing miserably, Beastboy and Cyborg were battling each other relentlessly on a racing video game they were sick of, and Raven meditated on the roof.
However, Raven's method wasn't working out as well as she would have liked, due to the fact that she couldn't seem to focus to save her life. To many thoughts about Viper, Robin and Starfires' relationship, and Beastboy were swimming through her head.
' Well, you can't think about that last one, because well, how on earth are you supposed to have a relationship if you can't have any emotion?' she asked her self.
' Yes you can silly!' Happy Raven put in. ' All you have to do is ask!'
"Hummmm, Well, I'll think about that some other time," she said aloud to herself, as she was finally able to focus. "Azerath Mentrion Zinthos."
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A/N: Whew!! That was a long one uh? Didn't look that long on paper, oh well! Remember, Review!! It inspires me to update faster, and you guys will really like the next chapter! It's my favorite in the whole story, well other than the last two! I hope the fight scene was okay, to be honest, they're really not my expertise.
Oh, and a side note to Grumbumble, it was me, Osco, that reviewed you. Gecko is a little preoccupied right now, so she isn't really doing a lot on the site. But, I'm still here! Alrighty, long enough end note... Ciao! Osco
