"...but when you reach the end, you won't like me anymore." Timid Raven, "Nevermore"
"Hold still ya lil' bugger!" Punk Rocket sneered, sending another massive shock blast from his guitar towards Red X.
Red X merely did a handspring back flip, the blast missing him by inches. "So close, yet so far." the thief taunted. Having expertly dodged the shock wave, it instead crashed itself into a fire hydrant causing a geyser of city water to fill the street. Immediately, the master thief fired two small miniature red x's from the palm of his hands, but they found themselves instantly evaporated by the Flying V.
"And why can't you bloody sit still!" the evil rocker fumed.
"Not my style. Now let's get down to brass tacks, shall we? You have something of mine..."
"You ain't getting me guitar, you wanker!" and with that strummed a mighty chord causing a small earthquake making the pavement of downtown Jump City crumble in a tidal wave of asphalt. Red X expertly leap frogged it, and spring boarding off a wall attempted to spin kick Punk Rocket.
"You just don't give up do ya?" and with that swung his Flying V like a battle ax catching Red X in the midsection, sending him back straight into the arms of a just arriving Starfire. "Hey gorgeous." he said, not all that phased by the guitar shot to the solar plexus.
Starfire dropped him, causing him to hit the ground with an audible "Ommpffhh!"
"Nice to see you too.." he grumbled.
"Red X...long time, no see." Robin said, his voice heavy with a painful sarcasm.
"Aw bloody hell, if it ain't you do-gooding tossers, the flippin' Teen Titans! You know they wrote a song about you wankers...it's called LOSER!" and raising his guitar high in the air, Punk Rocket slammed into in the pavement sending another tsunami of concrete for the Titans and Red X.
"Titans, scatter!" Robin commanded. Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven took shelter in a nearby side alley, choosing to figure how to attack from there. Right across the street in another side alley was Robin and Red X, who needless to say, were not happy to see each other.
"Come to save the day again, Boy Scout?"
"Save it!" Robin said tensely. "What do you have against Punk Rocket?"
"Not one to waste time are we, kid? I'll make it quick and simple, that little brat over there stole something from me."
Robin smirked slightly to himself at the irony of Red X being stolen from. "And what's that?" the Boy Wonder asked.
"My xenothium supply. I don't know he did it, but he stole it from me and is using it to power that guitar of his."
Robin's eyes widened with horror at this. "So if that guitar cracks..."
"BOOM. No more Jump City." Red X said, finishing Robin's sentence. "I'm willing to call a truce for the time being. Not much to steal if we're all dead. Shake?"
Robin thought the offer over briefly before reaching out to shake the master thief's hand. "Deal. But as soon as Punk Rocket is brought to justice it's business as usual between us."
"I'd have it no other way, kid."
Robin flipped open his communicator as Punk Rocket was now loudly gloating about his skills as a master criminal, while just as loudly playing what appeared to be "Smoke on the Water" on his Flying V.
"Ugh...he's killing that song." Red X complained.
Robin was greeted by the face of Raven as he explained the strategy. "Titans, listen up! That guitar is being powered by xenothium."
"No!" Raven said stunned, thinking the danger of a complete xenothium meltdown had passed. Robin nodded grimly, enforcing the empath's fears. "We need to get that guitar from him, but we have to be careful not to damage it. Let me talk to Cyborg." he said as Raven handed her communicator to the cybernetic hero.
"Wassup?"
"Cyborg, on my mark let's hit him with with the brain freeze, got it?"
"Right on, man. Cyborg out."
"Brain freeze?" said Red X mockingly. Robin just smirked as he pulled a freeze disc from his utility belt. "Watch and learn." he said slyly "CYBORG, NOW!" he commanded and with that, the two Titans jumped out from their respective dwelling places and in one swift movement, Robin hurled a freeze disc straight at Punk Rocket.
Before Punk Rocket could even react, Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon right for the freeze disc causing it to explode in mid-air encasing the rebel without a clue in solid ice. The rest of the group slowly made their way out from hiding, safely inspecting from a distance to see if he had finally been beaten.
"Is he...frozen?" Starfire asked quietly, when suddenly a loud BOOM echoed throughout the many sky scrapers of downtown Jump City. Raven instantly threw up a shield to protect them from the flying ice chunk debris.
"Thought you'd freeze out ol' Punk Rocket, eh? Sorry wankers, but it looks like I'm a bit too hot blooded !" he said, laughing to himself. "Here's a song for ya, it's called HURT!" he said loudly before jumping in mid-air to flamboyantly thrash out another sonic attack...only this time nothing happened. The guitar let out a pathetic whimper and sputtered a bit, failing to unleash the fury as Rocket had hoped.
"Aw crud. Lost me mojo looks like." he said. "Ah well, live to fight another day than, eh?" and with saying that hopped on his guitar to zoom off in the distance, disappearing at a speed so fast that neither Starfire nor Raven had any attempt at catching him.
"We sure accomplished a lot there." Raven said dryly.
"Maybe we did after all..." Robin said rubbing his finger underneath his chin. "The intense cold seemed to cause the xenothium in the guitar to die out faster than it normally would. I'm willing to bet his warp away took whatever power he had left."
"Soo...uhhh, where could he get more of this xeno stuff?" said Beast Boy, still unsure of just what this stuff was.
"Wayne Tech Labs" Robin said grimly. "It's the only place on the entire west coast that has xenothium in stock and that's where he'll strike next. He'll probably hit the place up later tonight and when he does, we'll be ready for him."
"I suppose this means you'll be wanting my help..." said Red X. Raven narrowed her eyes in suspicion at this suggestion. "And how do we know we can trust you?"
Red X was blunt in his reply. "Simple. You can't. But at this point you don't have much of a choice, do you sister?"
"As much as I hate to admit, Red X is right. We're going to need his help if we hope to have chance of getting that guitar away from Punk Rocket." said Robin and with that, the Titans were off to plan their stake out at Wayne Tech.
Punk Rocket was nervous as he slowly tip toed through the shadowy halls of Wayne Tech Labs, the Flying V strapped to his back securely.
"Easy there Punk Rocket...keep it nice and cool like..."
He managed to stay in the shadows, dodging the cameras and laser trip wires with a relative ease, till finally he arrived at his destination, a large metal door that read "DANGER – XENOTHIUM STORAGE – AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY" and with a smirk on his face, swung his now non-xenothium powered, yet still packing a bit of a punch, guitar into the door causing it to explode and shatter in thousands of tiny pieces.
"Heh heh...bloody easy, I tell ya." he murmured to himself, stepping over the debris into the storage room.
The room itself was a large metallic cavernous storage area, with smooth metal walls surrounding a small metallic box which contained several vials of xenothium. Enough to power his guitar for years! Only one catch hindered him, the fact that the box was surrounded by a large electrical field, pulsing and vibrating with a deadly charge. "Aw bloody hell..." he complained to himself.
"What's the matter? Having a bad day?" came a voice from the darkness. Robin's voice.
"TITANS GO!"
From the darkness came several starbolts flying towards Punk Rocket and since his guitar wasn't strong enough to deflect them, he twisted and contorted his body, barely dodging Starfire's alien strength.
Before Punk Rocket had any chance to regain himself, Cyborg came charging out of the darkness and with a loud battle cry fired a concentrated sonic blast right towards the rock and roller, causing Punk Rocket to get caught square in the chest.
"Ughmmppfffggghhhh..." he whimpered as his body soared to the other side of the room, crudely bouncing off the steel wall. Punk Rocket looked up dazed to see Red X, who taking the Flying V from Rocket, attached another miniature red x on the back of the weapon of musical destruction. The guitar sputtered and hissed, before cackling with a blue electricity, Red X dropping it on the floor before it exploded.
"Game. Set. Match" said the master thief.
Raven made her way towards the defeated punk, attempting to bind him in her powers till the authorities could arrive. Down, but not out, Punk Rocket grinned as the pale sorceress approached.
"Oh what's this then, eh? Lil' Blackbird thinks she's gonna apprehend me and all that rubbish? Bloody hell! I still got a feel tricks up me sleeve!" and with that threw exploding guitar picks towards the empath. Raven froze in her tracks, knowing she didn't have enough time to chant her mantra to stop them due to how close he was.
Suddenly, she felt somebody push her out of the way, causing her slender frame to hit the ground hard. She looked up just in time to see Beast Boy standing where she was, the guitar picks exploding upon impact.
Beast Boy wheezed loudly as he felt his suit burn away, the picks burning his chest. The concussion force of the blast sent the changeling flying back...right into the electrical field. He twitched, convulsed and screamed with mind sheering pain till finally the field's circuits over loaded and Beast Boy collapsed on the floor, smoke trails emanating from his body.
"BEAST BOY!" Raven screamed, running over to her fallen love. Crouching down, she delicately lifted Beast Boy's head on her lap, his skin puffy and burnt. She could feel the stinging tears build in her eyes, as she stroked what remained of his green hair.
"Gar..." she said quietly "Please...hang in there. Don't leave me."
Red X reached down to grab Punk Rocket, lifting him up off his feet in the air. "What did you do to him!" the master thief bellowed, his normally calm voice furious in it's anger.
"Oh toss off ya wanker! So the lil' bastard took the stairway to heaven a bit premature like. Big flippin' deafhfhfgggjj.." he was cut off by Red X swiftly punching him in the midsection, before slapping a pair of specially designed red x handcuffs on him to restrain him.
Raven's tears meanwhile streamed down her face in a gentle cascade, splashing on Beast Boy's charred skin. Cyborg crouched over him, scanning with with some sort of attachment, monitoring the results on his wrist read out.
"He's alive..." Cyborg announced. "...but barely. He's fading fast, we need to get him back to the tower."
"That won't be necessarily." replied Raven, her voice cracking. Placing her hands on Beast Boy's forehead, she closed her eyes and chanted her mantra.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."
"Is...she healing him?" Starfire asked, her own gentle face soaked with tears. Robin just shook his head, unable to speak or say anything at the current moment.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos...Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."
She kept chanting till suddenly, bright white light emanated from Raven's mouth, eyes and chakra jewel, her back arching as her body lurched as if she were in great discomfort. From this light came Raven's soul self, a black silhouette of her composed of her powers and her very own soul.
The soul self left Raven's body and flew directly into Beast Boy's.
Once her soul self was completely in Beast Boy's body, she passed out on the floor in a heap. Starfire burst into hysterics and began crying harder, thinking Raven had taken her life out of the despair of losing Beast Boy.
Cyborg scanned Raven with the same scanner he used on Beast Boy. His face turned grim as he read of the results. "She's alive, but not by much. Her heart is barely beating at this point. We need to stabilize her and pronto"
"Ugghh...w-wha...what happened..." said Beast Boy groggily sitting up, his body back as if nothing had ever happened "and why is my uniform so tore up?" He looked around the room at the carnage and destruction the battle with Punk Rocket had caused...and then he saw Raven.
"RAVEN!" he wailed loudly, rushing to her side. "What happened to you?" he cried, his own eyes filling with bitter tears. Cyborg placed a reassuring hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "You were hurt...bad. She healed you somehow but it seemed to take a lot out of her. We may lose her, so we need to get moving back to the Tower and fast."
Beast Boy nodded before morphing into a large gorilla, gently cradling Raven in his arms. The police sirens could be heard loudly in the background, as the cops were on the way to get Punk Rocket. Robin turned to thank Red X, but he was gone. The xenothium still in place, unstolen.
"I promise I'll take care of you..." Beast Boy thought. "I'm not going to lose you. Hold on, Raven. Hold on for me."