Chapter 5:
The Titans wasted no time getting to the factory once inside they looked around.
Raven's skin started tingling. "I fear this is too easy."
A voice came from the darkness. "Congratulations Titans. You found us."
Gavin stepped out of the darkness and up to the group. "So Robin tell me how'd you do it?"
Robin refused to answer the question.
Gavin sighed. "Come now Robin, don't be like that. Maybe it was this?" He reached behind his back and pulled away the tracking beacon. "Wow, you really are easy to lure in aren't you?" He dropped the device at his foot and crushed it. "Yes, I knew about the tracking device. Hell, I was the one that let you put it there. Enough about me I believe someone here wants to talk to you."
Gavin walked away and in his place a tall man walked forward. "Well, well, my dear Titans its such a pleasure to see you all again."
The Titans didn't need for him to walk forward to know who it was. "Slade." They said in unison.
Slade walked forward.
Robin glared at him and drew his staff from his back. "Slade. Did you kidnap Starfire? Did you hurt her?"
Slade shook his head. "Robin, you disappoint me. I had nothing to do with your young friends capture. That was perpetrated by someone else."
Robin gritted his teeth. "Who? Who kidnapped her?"
Slade turned to leave. "Follow me if you wish to meet him."
Robin and the others followed Slade to a table, near it was Starfire still hanging from the ceiling. Her mouth was gagged.
Suddenly a chilling voice echoed through the air. "I haven't seen you in so long, how are you today, Robin."
The other Titans looked at him.
Raven walked toward him. "Robin do you know him?"
Robin nodded. "So it was you Ra's Al Ghoul. You kidnapped her."
Ra's walked up to the table. "Yes. It was the best way to get you here. You have many traits of your former master."
Robin, still holding his staff, relaxed. "Let Starfire go."
Ra's looked at Starfire then at Robin. "Now why would I do that? Because you, great protector of this city, told me to? Dear boy I still have the advantage."
Gavin walked toward the group.
Robin tried to reason with Gavin again. "Gavin you're messing with people who'll kill you rather than pay you. It's a waste of time."
Gavin looked at him straight in the eye. "Robin, haven't you done things outside the law, even for superheroes, to save someone you cared about? Is that wrong?"
Robin looked at the ground a moment in thought. "The act isn't, no. But the way you're going about it is."
Gavin nodded. "I see. Since we won't see eye to eye then I guess you'll have to stop me for good this time."
Robin nodded. "And I will."
Gavin shrugged. Maybe. At any rate the battlefield will be outside. If you can free your friend from Mr. Roland's warriors then come and see me."
Suddenly several Ninja's jumped down and surrounded the Titans.
Ra's Al Ghul smiled. "Now Robin, see how truly weak you are." He spun and walked away.
The Ninja's all attacked at the same time.
One of them swung his sword at Raven.
She failed to dodge in time as the blade cut her pale skin. A dark red drop of blood ran down her arm.
She turned to her left. "Robin, they're serious."
Robin nodded wordlessly and raised his staff in front of him. "Titan's, attack."
All the ninja's flew backwards as the combined force of all the teens was unleashed.
They got up again and rushed forward, feinting and weaving under and over attacks.
Ra's Al Ghul looked around and stopped. "So you came as per my invitation. So what do you think?"
Batman landed in front of Ra's. "I think you're mad Ghoul. This city's citizens don't deserve this."
Ghul shook his head. "Indeed. However I can't have super fools running around derailing everything. My world, the right world, will come. And there's nothing you can do to stop it."
Batman grunted. "Try me."
Ra's picked up his cane and brought it up to his face. With a flick of his wrist out came a sword.
Batman readied himself and stared into Ghoul's eyes.
For a few moments they just stood there staring at each other.
Robin slammed his staff into a Ninja's gut causing him to crumple over and fall to the ground. Most of the ninja's were dealt with, but two remained. They appeared to be of the higher class.
The teens looked at each other.
Robin pointed toward Beast Boy. "Go get her. We'll take care of the black pajama patrol."
Beast boy nodded and turned into a hawk and flew up toward Starfire.
The three Titans left faced the last two Ninja's and readied themselves.
The ninja elite attacked mercilessly, coming at the Titans with murderous intent.
Robin parried one of the blows and was saved from the other by Raven's shield the black energy sparked against the sword. "There's no way in hell you're touching him."
The Ninja blocked by Raven turned to her and swung at her.
She was ready and dodged backwards and flew into the air.
The Ninja threw four Shuriken at her and all but one missed. It embedded itself into her left arm.
Robin, as the sword of the ninja elite leader came down on him. Robin split his staff in half after he blocked the strike, catching the Ninja off guard. He parried the sword out of the way and struck the Ninja on the head twice.
The Ninja twirled several times in the air before landing on his head with a large crack. The landing had snapped his neck.
The other Ninja was about to take the advantage against Raven when a large blast of energy hit him, throwing him across the room. He also did not move again.
Beast boy flew down with Star on his back and gently let her slide off before turning into a humanoid again.
He kneeled down beside her and let her rest in his arms.
She looked up at the others and smiled. "Hello friends it's good to see you." She looked at Garfield and leaned up and kissed him. "Thank you for saving me, all of you. I was so scared. I didn't know what they were going to do to me."
Garfield hugged her tightly. "It's alright, you're safe now, my love."
She smiled and nodded. "I know."
Robin stood up and gripped his two halves of his staff. "It's time to finish this. If they won't give up now, then maybe several years in jail for conspiracy to murder will cause them to think. Gavin and his goons are outside waiting."
Raven looked around. "Robin I have a ba…"
Robin heard a person rise up from the ground.
All of the Titans were sure of whom it was. As they turned around they found out they were right.
Slade nodded. "A very touching scene indeed, however I'm afraid I must cut it short.
Beast boy picked up Starfire and took her somewhere safe while the other Titans prepared to fight Slade.
As Beast boy returned Slade looked at the Titans. As he was getting ready to attack he stopped. He looked over his shoulder and then back to the Titans. "I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on our engagement." He waved his hand in the air and smoke rose around him.
The Titans coughed as the smoke irritated there eyes and throat. The smoke cleared and there was no sign of Slade ever being in the building.
Beast boy ran back to Starfire and picked her up again.
She smiled at him. "It's alright I can walk now."
Robin nodded. "It's good to have you back."
Starfire agreed.
The Titans ran out of the building and stopped. They knew that Gavin and his team were around.
Robin looked around and yelled at the top of his lungs. "Gavin. Come out. We're not going to let you do this."
Gavin landed behind Raven and stroked her chin. "I never did realize how pretty you were." He looked at Robin. "Gee, I'm getting tired of your redundancy."
Raven forced her chin away and glared at Gavin. "Go ahead try to touch me again."
Gavin raised his hand in the air and snapped. His team mates all landed on the ground around the Titans. "This will be the final battle. Either you kill us or take us to jail and wait until we escape. And like all the people you arrest, you know we would."
Robin shook his head. "I won't kill you. You will however…"
Gavin raised his hand. "Let's just get this over with shall we?"
Robin nodded.
Ghul attacked Batman with a swing of his sword.
Batman ducked under it and punched Ra's in the gut.
Gavin swung at Robin and knocked the hero backwards.
He then crouched to the ground, pivoted in a circle, and kicked the feet out from Raven and the others.
They all fell with a thump.
Gavin stood up and stepped over them and walked toward his team. "I'll leave it up to all of you. Should we just walk away and forget this happened or should we fight them?"
Gavin's friends discussed it between themselves.
Vypra spoke up first. "I say we fight. What we are doing is not as wrong as they think. She needs us."
Hamberg nodded. "Yes. Frauline Derkia needs this money."
The others nodded wordlessly.
Gavin turned around. "Right. Let's do this. Take any targets of opportunity."
The others pulled out their weapons and nodded. "Roger."
They rushed toward the still recovering Titans and forced a hasty retreat.
Beast boy looked at his team. "Gee, they mean business."
Raven tried her best to defend herself without her magic, but the training that Vypra had was too much for her. She flew backwards and upwards. With her left arm throbbing from the pain of the shuriken she had to mostly use her right arm. She chanted and threw up a shield as she tended her wound with another spell.
The wound lessened in pain and she turned the shield in on itself and threw it at Vypra.
Vypra was sent backwards and tumbled on the ground.
Gavin was giving Robin a difficult day to say the least. All day he had been matching his moves and countering. Robin ducked under two strikes and hit Gavin in the gut with the end of his staff rods.
Gavin stumbled backwards and stopped. He grunted as he was hit there the last time.
Robin gritted his teeth. He was about to move forward when a leg hit him in the head. He flew toward the ground and rolled to a stop.
Freyha looked at Gavin and smiled. "There you go boss, a little breathing room so to speak." She gave him a thumb up and went to find Beastboy.
Gavin was able to recover from Robin's hit and rushed toward him to catch the teen off guard.
Robin was barely able to look, back flip, and land before Gavin reached him.
Cyborg found himself at a disadvantage as Vin kicked him in the knee.
Batman threw a batarang at Ghul only to have it cut in two.
He retreated to a safe place and waited.
Ra's just stood where he was and listened.
Beast boy was again at the mercy of Freyha and Hamberg. Both seriously ticked off at him for scaring her half to death. He dodged a kick from Freyha and blocked a punch by Hamberg.
Vypra threw a large crate at Raven only to see it shatter as a black energy surrounded it.
They exchanged several blows as the others were busy with their foes.
Starfire looked at the fight and wished badly she could help. Seeing Beast boy double teamed didn't help. Even her best friend Raven was having trouble.
Suddenly to her surprise a pink aura hit Gavin in the back of the head and sent him flying.
Starfire looked toward the direction of the blast and saw Jinx standing with her arms outstretched and her hands smoking. She noticed that Jinx wasn't alone; Bumblebee, Hotspot, Speedy, and Wilde beast stood behind her.
The fight paused momentarily to see the new comers.
Jinx walked past Robin and winked. "We were in the neighborhood and thought we'd help."
Speedy winked at Robin too but then whispered as he pointed toward Jinx. "What a hottie, huh?" He stumbled forward as he was slapped in the back of the head by Bumblebee.
She looked at Robin. "It's good to be working with our western Titan partners."
The fight resumed as the new comers came to the aid of the Titans.
Speedy helped out Beast boy, Jinx aided Raven, Wilde beast helped Cyborg and Hotspot walked over to keep Starfire company.
He looked at her. "You look lonely. If you want to talk I'm here, just don't expect a hug."
Starfire smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."
Speedy shot one of his arrows toward Freyha and knocked her backwards.
Beast boy looked at him and nodded. "Came to help? It wasn't necessary I had it all under control."
Speedy shrugged. "When a hot girl asks for help you don't say no."
Beast boy looked confused. "Alright. By the way, do you have any arrows that turn into fake snakes?"
Speedy shook his head. "No. Why?"
Beast boy smiled and nodded. "Good. No reason just thought I'd ask."
Speedy looked at him strange and then turned his attention back to the attackers.
The fight raged on as Starfire looked at it. The combat was so fierce she could barely keep up.
Batman threw a batarang into the air behind Ghul and smoke suddenly surrounded Ghul. Batman landed behind Ghul and swung at him.
Ghul ducked and threw an elbow strike that hit Bruce in the gut.
Bruce saw the building blur momentarily after he was hit then it refocused. He backed up and regained his bearings.
Ghul shook his head. "That is an effective trick, but I have taught it to all my Ninja; and every new comer that enters my clan. You will not fool me with it."
Suddenly his right arm grew cold, very cold, he looked down at it and saw it was encased in ice. He smiled.
Batman's fist came flying out of the smoke and landed on Ra's cheek. He flew to his right side and fell to the ground.
Ra's lay there and waited; his fate was to take him to Arkham again. But he knew he would escape again. Nothing would stop him.
Batman placed a knee on Ra's back, took his cane sword from the frozen arm, cracked the ice off his wrist; and handcuffed him with his zip ties.
Vypra and Raven were getting serious they kept on getting bigger and bigger objects and hurling them at each other with their magic abilities.
Robin swung his Escrima at Gavin's head, but he ducked under Robin's left arm, and pulled it out of Robin's hand. It went flying and clattered against the ground.
Gavin took the opportunity and smacked Robin in the face with the back of his fist.
Robin was about to fly back but Gavin had control of his wrist and pulled him toward himself and kicked him in the gut. He grunted and doubled over.
Gavin swept his feet from under him and drove his right elbow into Robin's back.
Robin landed face first into the ground.
Speedy knocked Freyha back and she hit a car and lost consciousness momentarily.
Vin was eventually defeated by Cyborg and fell to the ground.
Hamberg caught Beast boy off guard with a kick to the back of his knees and then a strike to the back of the head.
Garfield fell to the ground landing on his left side. He groaned as he couldn't move for a second.
Gavin and Vypra were the only ones left standing of the panthers. Vypra was busy deflecting all sorts of spells from Raven. She pulled off a few spells of her own but everything was defeated.
Gavin ran to help but Vypra smiled at him. "I've got it under control hon." She said over the headset. He stopped midway to her and just watched the battle.
Vypra turned up the heat by launching several fire spells at Raven.
Raven barely shielded herself in time and the flame licked off the black aura. She then picked up a fence, ripping the chain link wall from its posts; she unknowingly tore a post from itself, turning it into a deadly weapon.
She flung the fence at Vypra hoping to hold her. The fence hit the girl and wrapped itself around quickly.
Raven waved her hand around guiding the fence when she noticed the post a second to late. She tried to desperately to stop it but could only slow it down by a minuscule amount.
The post completed its final turn and stopped.
Vypra was knocked back, not knowing what happened to her. She started to get back up when she felt her chest start to burn, a feeling she had never experienced, She looked down at her chest and saw a large metal post embedded into it.
Gavin screamed her name as he rushed to her side, he knelt known and moved close to her. He gently took off her helmet, and then took off his. "Vypra! Shh… It'll be fine soon." He pulled her close and hugged her tightly.
Raven's powers collapsed as she landed softly on the ground. She didn't mean to hurt Vypra just wrap her up. What had she done? She could feel her eyes start to get really wet, she knew she was about to cry.
Robin and the other Titans recovered.
Starfire, seeing what happened gasped and turned away a second.
The panthers that were left woke up and saw Gavin leaning and hugging Vypra who had a steel pole through her chest.
They rushed over and tried to help but Gavin looked at them with tears in his eyes. He just shook his head.
Vypra looked at him. "Gavin. I love you so much." She leaned forward with as much strength as she could muster and kissed him passionately. "Don't you worry about me. We'll meet again someday, I know it. I want you to promise me something."
Gavin nodded. "Whatever you want love."
Vypra smiled. "Don't kill yourself in grief. Live on and be happy that I'm somewhere better than this. Our love isn't over because I leave this earth. I don't want you to seek revenge on anybody either, don't take it out on the world. Please take care of my sister; I'm making you her legal guardian from now on. Treat her right because she needs the love. Her life's hard enough as it is."
Raven really did cry this time after hearing this. So this is why they were so determined to win she thought.
Robin had walked up behind Raven and placed an arm around her.
She looked at him, still crying and smiled weakly.
Jinx was also tearing up as she walked beside Cyborg.
Vypra looked at Gavin and smiled. "Remember me, not for how I died but how I lived."
She cuddled into his arm and drew her last breath.
Gavin hugged her close again and broke down in tears.
Starfire, needing comfort, hugged Hotspot, as he was closest.
He stood there and let her cry.
Raven wrapped her cloak around her and looked down and the ground.
Freyha fell on her knees and collapsed crying loudly.
Hamberg knelt down and wrapped her in his arms tightly.
Jinx reached out and grabbed Cyborg's hand squeezing it. Her tears were rolling down her cheeks though she didn't react the same as Starfire and Freyha.
Gavin lay Vypra down, her face toward the sky. He passed his hand over her face brushing against her eyelids causing them to close.
He stood up somberly and sadly, pleadingly, looked at Robin. "Leave us be, please. You won't hear from us ever again. I beg of you, let us get the money for her sister's sake."
Robin nodded wordlessly.
Gavin looked around to his and motioned them to stand down and bring Vypra for a proper burial.
Gavin walked up to Robin. "One day you'll look back on this day and regret it. Super heroes, hah… Can't even save someone you try to kill."
Raven looked at his half glaring half crying. "I didn't mean to kill her I just wanted to…"
Gavin turned around silently and walked away. His team followed, Vin carrying the lifeless body of Vypra in his arms.
Raven continued to mumble to herself. "I didn't mean to, I just wanted to stop her."
Robin wrapped his arm around her. "Let's go home Raven."
Raven nodded and started to walk away. She got halfway to the T-car when she, beast boy, Robin, and Starfire all collapsed to the ground in pain. They felt as if someone was pushing them into the ground with all the might of ten steamrollers.
Batman came out of the building dragging Ra's behind him. He looked at the Titans all on the ground and pulled out four vials, each with a blue liquid in them.
He loaded a pressure needle and went to each one and injected them with it.
They continued to wring and groan for a moment on the ground as their hearts started to slow down as the antidote coursed through their veins.
Robin stood up first; he looked around and saw Batman over Starfire injecting the antidote. "You found an antidote?"
Batman turned to him. "Yes, it was simple as soon as I uncovered the compounds that were used in the poison."
The other affected Titans rose and shook there heads. They too saw Batman and Beast boy smiled widely and waved at him.
Batman looked over at Ghul than at Robin. "You'll be okay now, I've got to return Ra's to where he belongs."
Raven looked at Robin. "What do you think will happen to Gavin and his friends?"
Robin shrugged. "I don't know. But we're not going to go after them now, not while they grieve."
Batman looked at him thoughtfully. "Killing someone will never be something you'll get used to. I've had it happen to me when I didn't plan on it."
Raven looked at him. "How'd you know?"
Batman tapped the side of his head. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out what Robin meant when he said grieve."
Robin extended a hand toward Bruce. "I'll catch you later, Batman."
Batman nodded. "Maybe you won't have too." He turned around and walked away.
Gavin and his team reached the hummer when they saw Slade standing in front of it with a suitcase on the hood.
He looked at the team. "I see not all of you faired to well." He said as he regarded the dead corpse of Vypra. "However, one shouldn't grieve to long when one has another job to do."
Gavin looked at Slade. "We failed, we don't get the money remember? That was the deal."
Slade opened the case; several hundred thousand dollars lay in the case. "I am altering the deal. You have a new job. But seeing as how I'm an honorable man, I will let you take this money now and do with it as you please. "
Gavin walked up to Slade and looked at the briefcase. "I want to see if there are any explosives rigged to remotely detonate before I take it."
Slade nodded. "A wise precaution, I see much promise in you." He took out the false bottom and revealed that no explosives were under it.
Gavin was still not convinced. "The case could be the bomb for all I know. Take it apart."
Slade smashed the box and revealed no explosives in it either. "I take it that has convinced you. As much as I agree that you were wise in checking the case you now have no way to transport the money."
Gavin looked at Hamberg.
Hamberg walked passed Slade and activated a small compartment inside the trunk of the hummer. He checked the inside thoroughly for any sabotage and found none. "It's clean."
Gavin looked at Slade. "Put the money in the back, if you would."
Slade obliged. "I wish you no harm. I wish to hire your services. I have a few threads that need tying. You are the right group for the job."
Gavin looked at him. "We'll think about it."
Slade bowed his head. "You know how to find me." Without another word he left.
Hamberg looked at Gavin skeptically. "That was too easy. He's going to kill us."
Gavin shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
Freyha looked at him in surprise. "How can you be so sure?"
Gavin looked at all of his teammates. "It was in his voice."
Vin gently lay Vypra in the back seat and climbed in the hummer. The others did also save for Gavin who mounted his bike and put his helmet back on.
They drove off in the direction of the phsyce ward Vypra's sister was staying at until the surgery could be performed.
The sun set on over the city as all the lights of the night turned on.
End