Raven sensed something was wrong in her room. Her father's blackbirds gathered protectively and grouped themselves in circles as if guarding something from her eyes. She could feel their red, beady gaze on her, watching for a sign of weakness. The birds sat perched on her bookshelf, her desk, her sculpture of the masks, and her bed.
How in the name of Azar did they get here? Had her father found some way to break the barrier and warding spells she put up? She frowned, finding that the blackbirds were flying through her mirror, which was floating in midair. But she couldn't reach her mirror, as the birds shielded it and soon they flocked all over her floor.
Strangely, the area around her closet was free of their presence. The birds settled on her black carpet, staring up at the dark panels of her wardrobe as they blinked at her. In fact, the birds had surrounded it but seemed afraid to venture into its perimeter. How odd, she couldn't remember putting anything particular in with her clothes and if her father evaded her other spells then there wasn't any reason why his birds couldn't take over her closet as well.
Setting her lips into a tight line, Raven drifted towards it as the birds cleared a path for her. The doors of her wardrobe swung open on their own as she approached and she sifted through its contents. Aside everything being drenched in syrup, there seemed to be nothing out of place. She wiped her hands on an already ruined cloak, cursing Beast Boy and his practical jokes. But there weren't any magical artifacts she'd hidden with her clothes, she was sure of that.
Then her hands met with a solid object, a jewel stained with the shade of blood. Raven pulled it from her wardrobe, the stone drawing the warmth from her fingertips when she touched it. She snatched her hands back, to see that the skin was wrinkled before it returned to normal. Raven turned over its smooth surface, seeing her reflection inside as the jewel began to glow, suspended in midair. There was a flash of red light before her world began to spin.
Falling to her knees, Raven slumped to the ground as the birds seized their prey, attacking her with their beaks and claws. And then she saw darkness.
The floating figure wore a dark cloak, her hands engulfed in black energy as she enveloped two gasoline trucks, bringing them over the buildings into a deafening explosion. She withheld the shock of the impact as the flaming carnage rained down on police cars, decimating them completely. Summoning her powers, half the street became swallowed by fire.
Raven stepped lightly into the burning building as the other half had already been blasted to pieces. Holding out her arms, she approached the security guards, waving her hands slightly as she flung them outside. Her footsteps rang in the empty hallway as she walked through the series of maze-like corridors.
She reached the end of the hall, her hands closing around the tech chip. "Freeze!" She sighed as a familiar, annoying voice called out.
The red, yellow, and green figure swung into the room via grappling hook and was soon followed by the rest of his team. "Titans, go!"
"Since when do the Titans play Simon Says?" Raven rolled her eyes, blocking their attacks with ease as she dodged Robin's punch and reflected Starfire's energy blasts at Cyborg. "Shouldn't you be stopping petty crime?"
Starfire geared herself up for a barrage of starbolts, her eyes charged a shade of radioactive green as she slammed her hands against the conjured black shield. Beast Boy dropped Cyborg from the height of the roof, swooping in his pterodactyl form as he morphed into a mammoth. Robin's voice was strained as he threw himself forward with a kick, "You are petty crime."
"Uninspired commands and dull comebacks. Your conversation skills are superb." Raven muttered dryly, ducking so that Beast Boy nearly gave Cyborg a broken nose. Cyborg cursed as his target disappeared into a portal only to appear next to him, causing the missiles to be launched in the wrong direction. "You must be beating the girls of with a stick."
"Robin has not the girls that chase after him." Starfire's eyes blazed with green fury. "And he does not require a tree to do the kicking of your butt!" Glowing with green energy, the alien princess seized Raven's cloak, throwing the dark witch through a series of walls before she reappeared behind Starfire to blast her to the ground.
"He doesn't "require a stick" because you beat the girls off for him." Raven replied, her gaze burying itself deep into Starfire's large green eyes, watching as it took a moment for the comment to register. Starfire growled carnivorously, revealing a dangerous glint of pointed teeth, her nails digging sharply into her palms. "Then I shall beat you!"
"You're welcome to try." The dark witch lowered herself in the air, her hands behind her back as Starfire flew towards her, twin beams shooting from her eyes.
Raven formed a shield, blocking the alien's attack but Starfire shot forward, nearly within a foot of the empath. Clenching her hands into fists, she felt the tinge of green energy, hurling one after the other into the shield. Raven lifted an eyebrow at this, deciding to break her shield herself as Starfire drew closer to land a blow on the force field, only to be met with a flare of dark magic, sending her reeling.
Raising her palms, two bolts of black lightening crashed through the roof, chaining Starfire and the rest of the titans against the wall. She counted, "One, two, three, four. . .Where's Jinx?"
And then a voice came from behind her, "Right here."