Ok, here's the next part of Frightful Combination! This part has another fighting scene, but it's not quite as long as the others. I hope it doesn't seem too rushed!
Chapter 8: Gone Again
The tires of the T-car screeched to a stop, followed closely by Robin's motorcycle. The Titans piled out of the car and they all went into the large building. They ran through the empty halls. Only a few people ran past them. It was already late, and most people had left by now. They quickly ran up the stairs to the top level, where the break-in was happening. A tall woman came rushing around a corner and nearly ran into Robin, who was in the lead.
"Oh, thank goodness you're hear!" she exclaimed when she saw the Titans. "A strange man broke in, and he has a strange… monster with him!"
Robin nodded and they continued down the hall. They soon reached the room that had been broken into and they ran in.
The masked man whirled around, clearly surprised.
"Damn, you got here quicker than I thought you would!" he cursed, pocketing something that was in his hand.
"That's too bad, but I think it's past your bed time," said Robin "Titans, GO!"
Robin and Raven ran forward first, catching him off guard. Robin threw a flurry of punches and Raven used her powers to create a wall behind him, stopping him from backing away.
Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg stepped forward to help their friends, but were stopped by his latest creation. A cylindrical body blocked their path that was at least 20 feet long. Its body was coiled loosely behind it.
"A snake? I can take this one!" said Beast Boy confidently before turning into a mongoose. The snake hissed and lifted its massive head, revealing pincers and a scorpion-like stinger at the end of its tail. Venom dripped from its fangs and tail. Beast Boy felt suddenly less confident, but attacked anyway.
Beast Boy dodged the poisonous tail as he scratched furiously at the snake's body. Beast Boy dodged the tail again, but as he moved to the side, the left pincer crashed down on his head. The shock turned him back to his human form and as he shook his head, reorienting himself. When he looked up, the deadly tail was coming towards him. Before the tail could strike Beast Boy, however, it was blasted away by a blue beam.
"Booyah!" cheered Cyborg, running towards his fallen friend. As Cyborg helped his dizzy friend up, Starfire flew in, throwing starbolts at the serpent.
The creature followed her and snapped its teeth as Starfire flew around its head.
Raven watched the others out of the corner of her eye, as she helped Robin by mentally throwing floor tiles at the evil man.
Robin swiftly kicked and punched at the man, slowly backing him towards a corner. The man blocked the punches, not knowing how to fight back. They soon reached the corner and Raven encased the man in a black shield the seemed to seep from the walls.
"Call off your monster!" demanded Robin
"Now why would I do something like that?" smirked the man, back to his regular cocky self now that Robin couldn't touch him. It didn't seem to faze him that he couldn't escape.
"You'll do it, if you know what's good for you," threatened Robin.
"Now that's not a nice thing to say, I thought you were supposed to be the good guy," replied the man.
Robin growled and pounded his fists on the force field. He was about to say something, but was cut off by a high-pitched scream. He and Raven whirled around to see Starfire get hit by the serpent's stinger. Seconds too late a sonic blast hit the tail, in a vain attempt to save her. Starfire fell to the ground, where the snake's body wrapped around her.
"Starfire!" Robin cried, running towards them.
But Starfire's alien body seemed immune to the venom in serpent's tail. She eyes began glowing green. Beams of light shot from her eyes, heading towards the snake's face. The attack missed its objective, however, when the snake bared its fangs. The beams bounced off one if its strong teeth and hit the ceiling lights above the two of them. Shards of glass fell down on them. In a rush of adrenaline, Starfire managed to pull her arms out of the vice grip and was able to protect her head.
The glass punctured the snake and it hissed in pain, releasing Starfire. The girl flew out of its grasp. As monster writhed in pain, pieces of ceiling started to rain down on it. Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at the ceiling and the heavy, metal roof fell down on the monster.
They all watched in fascination as the monster shrunk.
"Raven, can you lift the pieces of roof so we can see what happened to the monster?" Robin asked
Without replying, Raven used her powers to lift the rubble off the creature, never letting the force field down.
When the pieces were all lifted up, the Titans gasped at what they saw. Lying on the floor were a paralyzed garter snake and a small, half-crushed scorpion.
Beast Boy walked over and looked closely at the scorpion. He was the animal expert, so no one stopped him.
"This kind of scorpion isn't venomous," he informed them all.
"That is not possible!" protested Starfire, "I felt the burning of the poison, before my immune system rid it from my body."
"Yeah, there was venom dripping from its tail, and its fangs while we were fighting it," added Cyborg.
Beast Boy raised a curious eyebrow, "But garter snakes aren't venomous either."
"Explain," Robin said simply, turning around to face the trapped villain. "Where is he?" Robin yelled, his eyes widening behind his mask. Everyone turned around to look. The force field was still there, but a pile of bricks sat where he should have. The wall in the corner he had been trapped in was broken.
Starfire gasped and the others gaped. Raven let down the shield and everyone ran forward to look out the whole in the wall.
They were on the top floor of a five-story building; it wasn't likely that he jumped down and ran away. But there was no one on the ground below. They looked in the dark sky, but couldn't see anything except a bat in the distance.
Robin fell angrily to his knees, cursed and pounded the floor with his gloved fist.
"He got away," he mumbled.
"Please, Robin. Do not feel angered. We were almost victorious. The next time we see him, we shall defeat him easily," comforted Starfire, wrapping her arms around the boy wonder.
"You're right, thanks Star." Robin said shakily. He pulled her into a hug and placed a kiss on her cheek. The others noticed this but didn't say anything. Cyborg and Beast Boy (who still didn't know what had happened between Robin and Starfire) knew they would have time to bug Robin later, and decided not to ruin the moment. Raven smiled lightly at their public show of feelings.
Beast Boy unknowingly moved closer to Raven. He was about to grasp her hand, when Robin and Starfire stood up and Robin spoke. Realizing what he was trying to do, the changeling pulled his hand away.
"I guess we should get back to the tower. It's pretty late." Said Robin, grasping Starfire's hand. Beast Boy felt a pang of jealousy.
'I was just about to do that with Raven, you jerk!' he thought grumpily. He shook that thought out of his head. He was too tired to think rationally.
Cyborg walked around the room. It wasn't that trashed, compared to most of their fights. The tiles Raven had ripped up to throw were missing from the floor, and there was a large hole in the roof, but the new and expensive pieces of equipment were fine.
The tall woman they had run into earlier walking into the room, looking around wearily. Her frizzy red hair was falling out of a tight bun on the top of her head, and she looked quite shaken.
"What happened in here?" she asked, examining the newly acquired skylight.
"What are you doing here?" asked Robin, ignoring her question.
"I knew you would need someone to tell you if anything was missing or damaged," she replied absent-mindedly picking up one of the broken floor tiles. "I hid in the basement, and it's a good thing I did. I already know what he took."
"What was it?" asked Robin
"We've been doing experiments on how sleeping pills and other sedatives affect a person's REM patterns. That man stole our strongest kind. It's a sedative that you inject into the body. It knocks the recipient out almost immediately." She explained, still examining the room.
"OK, thank-you for your help. We should get going," thanked Robin, shaking the woman's hand.
They walked out of the building and everyone except Robin hopped in the T-car. As Robin strapped his helmet on, only one thought flew through his head,
What was this guy up to?
Ok, so now you've read it, it's time to review!