Clash of the Titans by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Chapter 1
"Pardon me for my sleight of hand!"
Like magic – coincidentally enough – Mumbo the Magician's hands popped right off his wrists and swelled until they were each human-sized. They grabbed the edges of the massive steel door, yanked it almost effortlessly out of the wall, and threw it across the room with a resounding crash.
"Dear me, it appears I was a bit...heavy-handed!" the magician cackled at his own wit. "Oh well. Time for the loot to make a disappearing act!"
His hands magically back where they belonged, he swept his top hat off his head and waved his wand at the now-exposed bank vault. A strong wind picked up inside it, and the stacks of bills, coins, and precious jewels were quickly caught in it. Once the vault was empty, the wind shifted, and flew straight into the magician's hat, money and all.
Mumbo spun the hat in his hand, tapped it with his wand, and turned it outward. "And presto! Gone without a trace! Thank you, thank you, you've all been quite the…captive audience!"
He laughed again, facing the bank employees strewn across the floor, each bound and gagged by colorful chains of handkerchiefs tied together. Some struggled, some panicked, and some groaned at the villain's one-liners, but none of them could do much else.
"Well, I know you'd all love me to stay, but I'm afraid there's no time for an encore performance! Ta-ta!"
Mumbo turned away from the crowd of employees and toward the door…and was promptly met with a large steel boot to his face.
The villain flew backwards and crashed against a teller window with a loud "oomph!" He shook his head to clear it and quickly scrambled to his feet. He looked to where the boot had appeared from, and saw none other than the Teen Titans standing before him, blocking the main exit.
"Somehow I don't think anyone's going to find your parlor tricks amusing!" Robin declared.
"Your act's over, Mumbo," Raven deadpanned.
"Indeed it is, m'lady!" Mumbo said jovially, waving his wand. "And it's time I made my grand exit! Mumbo Jumbo!"
In the wall behind him, a door with the word 'backstage' written on it suddenly appeared, and the magician dashed for it.
"Titans, GO!" Robin shouted. The team sped toward the door after Mumbo, Beast Boy and Starfire speeding ahead of the others. Mumbo reached the door and ran through with a mad cackle, and Starfire and Beast Boy sped through after him, but a moment later it slammed closed and vanished, and Robin, a split second too late, face-planted directly into the wall.
"Oww…" he muttered, rubbing his nose. "Cyborg, lock onto Beast Boy and Starfire's communicators so we can follow them!"
"Already on it," the metallic Titan assured.
"Raven, start freeing these people, and then rejoin us as soon as you can," Robin ordered, gestured at the bank employees. Raven nodded agreement, and Robin and Cyborg hurried outside to follow their two teammates and Mumbo. Robin leapt on his R-Cycle, while Cyborg jumped into the T-car.
"They're chasing him through the alleys. Keep me posted on his position by comlink," Robin said to Cyborg. "I'll get ahead of them, you cover the main road. With Starfire and Beast Boy behind him we can box him in. Be careful, though," he warned. "Remember this is Mumbo we're dealing with. No telling what he has up his sleeves."
The boys revved their engines and sped off. It took less than five minutes to catch up to Mumbo and their teammates.
"The Mumbo Jumbo is proving a most challenging foe," Starfire reported as she tailed him. "His spells have warded off all our attempts to stop him."
"Yeah, dude, he's as slippery as one of his fake snakes!" Beast Boy added.
"Just keep on him!" Robin instructed through the communicator. "Cyborg and I are gonna surround him!"
"Well hurry it up! I'm not made for long chases, dude!"
Robin ignored the changeling. He gunned the engine and zoomed well ahead of his teammate's signals, then swerved around and into the alley they were chasing Mumbo through. Sure enough, he'd managed to plant himself right in Mumbo's path. The magician skidded to a halt and made to dash sideways toward the main road, but Cyborg's car screeched into view and cut him off. A moment later Beast Boy and Starfire caught up from the rear, sealing Mumbo in.
"Show's over, Mumbo," Robin said. "Come quietly and maybe the guards'll let you have a deck of cards to play with while you rot in a prison cell."
"You think my act's hit rock bottom, do you?" Mumbo sneered. "Wrong again, Titans! I've got nowhere to go but up, UP, UP!"
Mumbo's wand waved again, and the villain rocketed straight up into the sky as though he was wearing an invisible jet pack.
"So long, Teeny Titans!" he cackled, looking down at their shrinking figures. He turned his attention skyward…and crashed straight into a solid wall of black energy.
"No more tricks Mumbo," Raven muttered from behind the shield.
The villain fell to the ground roughly, his wand tumbling from his grasp. Robin swept it up and snapped it in half over his knee; instantly a balding old man replaced Mumbo's magician form, and his hat expelled all the money from the bank before disappearing with the rest of the villain's costume.
"Unnhh…" the now-unconscious Mumbo moaned.
A moment later sirens could be heard from nearby, and a squad of policemen arrived to cart the villain away and return the money to the bank.
"Great job as usual, Titans," the officer in charge said, nodding to the fivesome. "We'll take him from here."
"Our pleasure," Robin saluted him. "Just try to hold on to him this time." He nodded to the officer, then turned back to his team. " Mission accomplished, guys. Let's go home."
Raven made her way back to her room alone; Cyborg had decided to make waffles – predictably enough – to celebrate, but Raven wasn't in the mood. She still had half her room to sort through and clean out. She approached the door and punched in her unlock code; the keypad let out a small beep and the door slid open…
And Raven almost fell over in shock.
Her room was utterly trashed. The books on her bookshelf had all been pulled off and tossed everywhere; her sheets were strewn haphazardly off the edge of the bed; her closet and dresser hung open, their contents scattered; and the trunk at the foot of her bed looked like it had exploded and littered the floor with its contents. Her room actually looked worse then Beast Boy's.
A furious glare overcame the dark girl. She stormed back into the main room, where Beast Boy was sitting down to a video game, Robin and Starfire were chatting pleasantly at the kitchen table, and Cyborg was mixing waffle batter.
The latter Titan looked up and smiled at her as he mixed the batter. "Hey, Rae, you decided to have some of my waffles after alllllyyeeAHHHH, WHOA WHOA, MY WAFFLE MIX!"
Cyborg's body was suddenly encased in black and was lifted right off the ground, the bowl of batter clattering to the countertop and thankfully not spilling. A second later the other three Titans were ensnared in crackling black energy as well, with various shouts of protest. Raven dragged all of them telepathically down the hall and dropped them roughly on the ground in front of her room.
"Oww! Dude, what gives?" Beast Boy whined.
"Explain," Raven growled, gesturing violently toward her room. The other Titans glanced in curiously, and their eyes bugged out.
"What in the world…?" Robin muttered.
"Dude, this looks worse than my room!" Beast Boy added.
"Dang, Rae, that's some mess," Cyborg said.
"This is most unlike you, Raven," Starfire said. "Is something the matter?"
"I didn't do this to my own room!" Raven snarled. "I know one of you did it!"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Cyborg said. "What makes you think we did this?"
"Why on Earth would we desire such a thing?" Starfire exclaimed.
"Yeah, Rae, do I look like I have a death wish?" Beast Boy said.
"Besides, we've all been out catching Mumbo," Robin reasoned. "You were with us the whole time. How could we possibly have done this?"
"Who else could possibly get into the Tower and into MY room?" Raven countered. She glared at Cyborg. "It's your security system, after all. Who could possibly get past it other than one of us?"
"A lot of people," Cyborg said. "The Titans East, for one. Not that I'm accusing them, but they do have access to our Tower. And then there's the new Red-X. I still don't understand how he got in the first time…"
"Let's go check surveillance," Robin said. "Maybe we caught whoever it is on camera. Raven, check if anything's missing, it's possible someone wanted to steal something from your room. Cyborg, Beast Boy, and I will go over the surveillance tapes. Star, give Raven a hand with searching."
Robin and Cyborg left, and Raven took a deep, calming breath. Robin was right. They had indeed been out catching Mumbo. The others couldn't possibly have done this. They wouldn't have. But then who did?
"Well then, friend Raven, shall we begin cleaning?" Starfire asked.
"No, you go help the boys," Raven said to Starfire as she went into her room. "I'll take care of this myself."
"Are you sure, friend? I would be more than happy to assist you…"
"Just GO!" Raven said, slamming the door and locking it in a confused Starfire's face.