Hello everybody. I'm really trying to work on this story as much as I can, but I don't really have that much free time at the moment. This chapter is definitely a lot shorter than I would have liked, but I thought I should go ahead and post it instead of keeping you waiting longer. So, here's chapter 17 for you. Enjoy.
The car ride down to the old stadium was a quiet one. Robin and Raven were deliberately not talking to each other or making eye contact, both still somewhat annoyed at their earlier dispute, and Beast Boy and Cyborg were silent because of the tension coming from the other two. They had been driving for about ten minutes when Robin's communicator suddenly went off. Everyone looked at their leader in the passenger seat as he picked up the device and flipped it open.
"Did you find anything Starfire?"
It was a few seconds before the voice of their Tamaranian friend was heard coming from the other end of the line.
"No Robin, I do not see anything unusual around the stadium."
Cyborg glanced over at Robin to speak after he stopped at a red light. "But we know that he's there. He went through a lot of trouble to make sure we came, he wouldn't just not show up."
Robin remained silent, thinking it all over. "Stay there Starfire, we'll be there in a few minutes. But don't go near the building yet, wait for the team."
"Yes Robin."
Starfire's transmission ended and Robin flipped the communicator shut.
"So…" Beast Boy began, "at least it looks like there won't be anything outside the stadium that we need to worry about. That's good."
The green Titan caught a quick glare from Raven and dropped the attempted smile on his face. "I just meant that it could be worse."
Raven let out a sigh and turned to stare out her window. "Are we there yet Cyborg?"
"Just about. Why, are you anxious to kick this guy's butt?" A teasing smile came to his face, which only widened as he saw the look she gave him from the rear view mirror.
Raven once again turned to stare out the window and watched as the street lamps blurred past the speeding T-car.
I knew I should've flown.
Four minutes later the T-car turned into the empty parking lot and stopped. The four Titans exited the vehicle and met on the side nearest the building.
"You guys ready?" Cyborg asked.
Robin began looking around. "Wait for Starfire."
The teens waited until their friend spotted the car and flew over to join them. "Are we to begin?"
"All right, everyone be careful."
The Titans quietly made their way over to one of the indoor stadium's many entrances where they all stopped. Robin motioned to Beast Boy, who nodded and stepped forward. The next second all the other Titans could see was a small green bee fly into the dark entryway and return a few seconds later. Beast Boy changed back to his normal form and once again nodded, informing the others that it was clear.
They walked through the doorway and snaked their way along the inside wall, feeling their way through the darkness until their eyes were able to adjust. Soon they were all able to make out each other's silhouettes and they continued walking down the hall, following the person in front of them.
A short distance later they passed a small window that looked into the interior of the stadium. Robin and the others leaned in close and strained their eyes to try and see something, but all they saw was a very large empty room with a small bit of rubble from where a part of the ceiling had collapsed, giving the room it's only source of light.
The young heroes stepped away from the window and looked around them. They would continue down the hallway until they had searched the entire floor, and if they didn't find anything then they would just go up to the next one. The Archimage had to be somewhere nearby.
The first floor hallway turned out to be a bust, however. Nothing was there. The Titans all looked at each other, disappointment and frustration evident on their faces, and nodded in agreement as Robin pointed upward, indicating that they should search the second floor now. They had just stepped into the dark central stadium to find the nearest staircase leading up to the second level when the lights of the stadium suddenly came on, temporarily blinding the Titans, whose eyes had become used to the darkness.
"Ah, I see you came after all. I was beginning to think that you didn't care about your friend's condition."
Looks of pure hatred crossed the team's faces as they spun around to see a man in the distance walking toward them. He wore a black floor-length robe with intricate red designs sewn into it, and a red-cuffed collar that was startlingly noticeable next to his short blond hair. The Titans quickly readied themselves and got in their fighter stance positions.
"And ready to fight as always. Isn't that sweet?" The Archimage stopped in the center of the room and began laughing. "Do you really think you can beat me? A bunch of naive teenagers?"
"You're not giving us enough credit," Beast Boy responded. "We've defeated tons of villains before."
The Archimage only laughed more. "You mean people like Dr. Light? Or Mumbo perhaps? Please, they're pathetic, not worthy of being called criminals. Beating them is not something to brag about, take my word for it."
"I'm surprised you could fit inside the building with that huge ego of yours. You're about to lose, Archimage." Robin pulled out his bo staff and twirled it before taking a step forward and readying himself to spring at any moment.
The black-robed man smirked, with a tint of evil satisfaction glinting in his honey-colored eyes. "So then why don't you come over here and prove yourselves?" The Archimage then threw his arms out, sending a huge electric energy bolt flying toward the band of heroes.
But with their countless hours of training and all of their experience, their reflexes had become well toned and they were able to dodge the attack. All of them in turn began sending their own attacks at him, but he too had exceptional reflexes and came out without a scratch.
Starfire hurled one of her starbolts at the villain, which he managed to sidestep at the last second.
"You Titans have no idea what you're up against."
Robin's face was set in determination, unwilling to let the man's words faze him. "You might be able to dodge attacks from a distance, but let's see how well you do when we're close up."
The team began charging forward, closing the distance between them and their foe. Raven was staring intently at the man as she flew forward, but something suddenly caught her eye and caused her to halt. On the ground beneath him was a marking that she recognized from one of her books, and that could only mean one thing.
"Wait!" No one seemed to hear her. She had to warn her friends before they fell into his trap. "Don't go any closer to him!"
The team quickly came to a complete stop less than ten feet away from their target. Beast Boy and Starfire turned around to face Raven to see what was wrong, while Robin and Cyborg kept their eyes on the enemy.
"You guys, get away from him! Get out of here, it's a trap!" Raven had a desperate look of concern and fear mixed on her face.
The Archimage gave a quick knowing smile to Raven and let out a mocking laugh. Then without warning he leapt forward toward the others. Robin held out his bo staff to block the man's attack as Cyborg shot his sonic canon directly at his chest. The blast, however, went straight through him, and then the figure disappeared altogether.
Cyborg's arm fell to his side as confused looks came to all of their faces.
"He's an astral projection," Raven began, "that wasn't actually hi-"
She was unable to finish her sentence, as a bright light suddenly seemed to explode from the center of the room. Huge walls of light shot out in all directions, eventually coming together to form a box of energy sealing the Titans inside. Things had taken a turn for the worse.
The young heroes remained where they were, but were scanning all around them for a possible way out of this predicament, so far unable to find one. Then there was a loud, ground-shaking laugh that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Raven had been hovering at this top of the newly formed energy prison trying to blast her way out. She gave up her attempt at escape as the laughing began and turned in the air to fly and join her friends, when suddenly a new wall shot across the room in front of her, cutting her off from the rest of the team. Now she was alone.
Okay, that's all for this chapter. Again, I apologize for it being short (although looking at past chapters it's actually a bit longer). I'm working on making chapters longer and more descriptive, but it'll be awhile before I'm really able to do that, but they say that practice makes perfect, so what they hey! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully I'll be able to get the next one posted soon, but it's unlikely. This is my last school week before finals, and the day after school gets out my family's going to Mexico for a week. I'll try my best to find time to write the next chapter before I leave, but no guarantees. Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!