RR76: First chapter of summer. Yeay. By the way, with this chapter, people may think I'm stealing from the season's plot, which I am not doing. I had the plot for the whole five-story series in mind before I wrote Carson. This is how it was meant to be.

Responses:

EMBER91: I like British slang. 'Specially bloody, bollacks, and pillock.

SaintH: You'll like this chapter then. Lots of fightage.

The Wild Ambition: Oh. That's Deadpool.

fourthelement: Nobody likes Terra anymore. I hope. She's a bitch you see.

Don't own, don't sue, yadda yadda yadda. Been through this...

Carson paced the upper level of the bank nervously, gathering his thoughts. The bait was taken. The trap was set. Only Terra, no one else. Be kinda hard to only take Terra--the others wouldn't give her up without a fight. Especially Beast Boy, but getting past him wouldn't be difficult. Robin would be easily dispatched, Starfire and Cyborg as well. Getting past Raven, however... Carson shook his head. Time enough to worry when they arrived.

The doors shattered and the six Titans entered. Speak of the devil... Carson thought, amused. He stepped up to the rail of the upper deck and looked down on the Titans. "Robin and companions...if I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake."

"You knew we were coming," Beast Boy said. "Where's the cake?"

Cason cracked his neck and drew his revolver. "Lost in translation I suppose."

"You're robbing banks now Carson? I'm disappointed," said Robin, looking up at the assassin with disgust.

Carson chuckled, shaking his head. The chuckle soon turned into a laugh--not a very nice one at that. "Robin...you don't get it do you? You never learn to recognize a trap when it's right in front of you."

The sound of guns cocking filled their ears. All around them men and women stepped out of hiding, each dressed like they'd been to the Hot Topic in Hell. Each carried a gun or crossbow. The leader, a tall muscular man with a goatee, stepped up next to Carson. "Take only the geomancer," Carson said to him. The leader nodded and leaped down, drawing a sword. "For the Beast!" he shouted.

The other cultists repeated the warcry and fired their weapons at Terra. A forcefield came around her from Raven, shielding her from immenent doom. "Titans, GO!" Robin shouted, and the battle began. Robin ran forward and leaped onto the upper level to challenge Carson.

"You're a glutton for punishment, aren't you Carson?" Robin snarled, drawing two birdarangs and creating that big-ass sword the way he does in Spellbound.

"If you define punishment as kicking your ass, throwing two of your friends off of a ten story building, shooting your girlfriend and brutally beating your might-as-well-be-sister, then yeah," Carson replied, drawing his katana and assuming a fight stance. The two fighters stared each other down, daring the other to move, until Carson broke the tension, stepping forward and swinging, aiming to disembowel Robin (not really of course). Robin blocked the blow and deflected two others, and replied with an assault of his own, raining down blows onto Carson, who deflected each and every one of Robins' swings.

The two locked their swords. "You've lost it Carson," Robin taunted. "If you're really as good as you say you are, I should be in pieces right now." Carson narrowed his eyes and pushed Robin away, going on the offensive.

"You don't understand, do you?" Carson said as he attacked Robin. "I could kill you before you could bat an eyelash. There's a reason I don't."

"Because you aren't getting paid to?" Robin asked through gritted teeth.

Carson swung, aiming for Robins' head, but at the last second reversed the attack, knocked the sword out of Robins' hand and thrust forward, stabbing through the Boy Wonder's side. Robin looked at Carson in shock. "Something like that, yeah," Carson mocked, pulling the sword out of Robin.

Robin staggered backward and collapsed, making Carson shake his head in exasperation. "Oh don't be so melodramatic," he sighed. "It won't kill you. It'll hurt, sure, but not kill you. My client, for whatever reason, wants you alive." Carson squatted down next to Robin. "I'm not sure he's thinking this one through though. You're going to play a big part in his downfall." He stood and sheathed his weapon. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a contract to fulfill."

A rock slammed into the head of a cultist, knocking him unconsious. Terra ducked under a swing of an axe and shot a pillar of rock into his belly, sending him flying. She panted and turned to face another attacker, only to come face-to-face with Carson. "Surprise," he chortled, and punched her in the nose. Terra fell backward, but Carson caught her by the neck and drove his knee into her stomach. The girl gasped and fell, clutching her midsection, staring at Carson in terror.

"See you in Hell, Terra," Carson said, raising his revolver. "Literally." A massive green fist crashed into Carson, sending him flying into a wall. Beast Boy stood over Terra as a gorilla, then returned to his human state long enough to exchange a few words with Carson, who emerged from the rubble almost unscathed. "Okay, that hurt," he said, wincing.

"It was supposed to kill you," Beast Boy snapped.

"Really now?" Carson asked, seemingly interested. "Lemme give you some tips in beating people to death then." He teleported in a haze of flames behind the shape-shifter, got him in a headlock and began to punch him in the face. Beast Boy morphed into an elephant to break the headlock and swung his trunk at Carson. Carson caught it and threw Beast Boy across the room into one of the bound tellars, crushing her. Beast Boy gasped when he realized what had happened, but looked down the row to see a disturbing sight: All the tellars had been shot just below the neck, where the spinal cord met the cerebral cortex. He fainted from shock.

Carson cracked his neck and turned back to Terra. "Now, where were--" A blast knocked his feet out from under him and he looked up to see Raven hovering over him, staring down with fury."Do you ever just say hello?" Carson asked her. Raven replied by sending a collection of rubble at Carson, sending him flying against the far wall.

"Azerathh Metrion ZINTHOS!" Raven shouted, and fired another blast at him, absorbing his screams of agony, his pain fueling her rage. When at last the screams stopped, Raven ended her assault and levetated back to the ground, letting out a sigh of relief.

Her relief didn't last. The rubble exploded and Carson stepped out, his eyes blazing with fury. Raven gasped and sent more rubble at him but Carson grabbed it and threw it aside. He grinned wickedly and charged Raven, hitting her with his lowered shouldar. He leaped into the air and came down, driving his foot into Raven's stomach knocking her through the floor into the basement. Raven struggled to her feet, leaning on a safe, her fear growing as Carson jumped down through the hole. "You know Raven, I always thought you were the cute one," Carson growled in a demonic voice. Raven gathered her strength for another blast but Carson closed the distance between the two in a flash, grabbed her hand and shoved her against the safe.

Carson drew his knife and eyed it fondly. "Did you know, Raven," he asked, "that back in the middle ages, the most brutal and painful tourtures and executions were reserved for witches?" Ravens' breathing grew heavy with fear. "But oh my--all I have is this bitty little knife." His eyes met Ravens' and she saw that the iris had turned black. She tried to push him away but he held firm.

"Oh, don't worry Raven," Carson said, and whispered in her ear, "I know how to make this last." He brought the knife up to Ravens' face, a centimeter from her nose. Carson grinned wickedly. "Let's get started then, shall we?" And just like that, his grin fell away. He dropped the knife and staggered backwards. Raven took the oppertunity to break free of his grip, but couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight before her. Carson howled in pain, clutching his head and falling to his knees. The howling stopped, and Carson spoke. "I apoligize sir. It won't happen again, I swear." Raven was puzzled, trying to figure out who Carson was talking to--until she felt the evil presence herself. And in that instant, it dawned on Raven. What Carson was. Whom he was serving.

"Trigon," she whispered.

Carson stepped forward and backhanded her so hard, Raven fell unconcious. "Keep it to yourself girl. Trust me, you don't want to tell anyone," he told her softly.

The mark of Scath appeared on the wall and Trigon's voice spoke. "Your tactics are unsound, the girl yet lives."

"I underestimated her resolve and that of her friends," Carson said to the demon. "I don't understand, if I could only kill one of the Titans--"

"They may yet be of use to me," Trigon told him. "As long as Terra lives, my plans for the Earth's destruction are in jeapordy. And as of now, Terra yet lives. Fix this." The mark disappeared, and the demonic presence left the room.

"As you wish..." Carson muttered. He looked at Raven. "Sleep tight, princess," he sneered. "You just got lucky." He leaped through the hole to see the cultists locked in a losing battle with the other five Titans. "Fall back!" he shouted. The cultists obeyed and ran out of the ruined door. Carson lingered behind to say some parting words to the Titans. "This still isn't over Titans. I'll be back!" And with that, he teleported to...somewhere else, probably.

Starfire brought Robin down from the upper level. He was clutching his side, blood seeping through his fingers. "Let him go," he moaned. "There's nothing we can do now." He looked around. "Where's Raven?"

Weeks later...
July 31, 200412:30 pm

Carson stood on a cliff not far away from Titans Tower, a sniper rifle in his hands. He fingered the trigger as he waited for his quarry. He didn't wait long--Terra emerged from her window on a rock. There you are thought Carson with a smile. He centered the crosshairs on her head and began to pull the trigger.

Suddenly someone else boarded the rock with her. Carson froze. Beast Boy stood with her, hand in hand. He cursed, but suddenly got an interesting idea. He'd tail them, see where they went, make sure they had a lovely time, and THEN shoot Terra at the right moment. Trigon never said anything about hurting the Titans, now did he?

Carson smiled. This would be interesting.

RR76: There. Review now please.