Chapter 8: Overloaded
"Your not getting through this time Overload," Raven said.
She was flying towards Overload, readying her powers. Her eyes and aura around her hands began to turn into a black color.
They were in the city's power plant. Overload was trying to steal the city's electrical energy to make him stronger.
Raven telekinetically threw crates, pipes, and anything else she could find in the power plant. This was of no use, because Overload is made of electricity.
Raven began to look around for something to throw at Overload that would defeat him. "Ah hah," she had found it.
She telepathically made a small hole in the wall, broke a pipe, and commanded the water to hit Overload straight on.
The water fried him, before the water supply in the building wore out, Overload was reduced to nothing but a disk with a weird, red face on it.
"You're going straight to jail," Raven said as she walked over to the ship and picked it up.
Raven shook the disk a bit, to get the water off, and she went for the door, still holding the disk in front of her face. She began to be trapped in deep thought.
The Titans were going to be away for a bit. When they had told her, just the other day, they had also told her it would be no problem. That, the enemies would not be bothering her much, and if they did, she had more than enough to take them down. She reluctantly agreed to them.
I mean, once in Gotham for a few days, they needed someone to watch over the tower.
But, why couldn't it be Titans East? They did it last time. But, she remembered, crime rates have gone up in Steel City, now that more people know about the Teen Titans latest branch.
She had finally reached the door, and the police had just arrived. She threw the disk into the back of the jail truck, and flew home.
Why was she so tense, it was just one villain, and he was pretty easy to take down. Its not like she has to worry about Trigon, he's dead. Or Slade, he has been missing for a couple of months. Or even Brother Blood, he was in jail in Steel City.
She just has to make dinner and go to bed. After, of course, reading a good book.
She entered the kitchen. She looked in one of the cupboards. It was empty. She looked into the one next to it. It was empty as well. She checked all the cupboards, and all of them were empty. She began to get frustrated.
"Where is all the food?" Raven asked herself, and then remembered the appetite of a fellow Teen Titan, "Oh, I'll make sure I get Beast Boy when he gets back."
She had a smirk on her face, but yet, she was still hungry, "I guess I just won't have dinner today."
She walked out of the room and headed for her room. She walked down the hallway, until the door with the sign saying RAVEN, slid open.
She walked inside, and laid on her bead, legs crossed Indian style. She grabbed a fairly large book from her bedside table, opened it, and began to read. She read for a while, until she was finished, and bored once again.
She looked at her communicator, "Who can I contact?"
She sounded like one of those girls who stay on the phone for hours talking about pointless things like if a boy looked at her today, or how she should do her hair tomorrow.
She couldn't call one of the Titans, they would think she was incapable of holding her own without them, and this would bring them back home. This was the kind of break she needed, all alone, all calm.
She thought for a while, and couldn't believe she was trying to contact these people.
"Hello, Melvin speaking," said a short, cute girl. She had pig tails and a cape and a shirt with the initial "M" in the middle.
"So, Melvin how have you been?" Raven asked, "It's been a while."
"Oh, hi Raven!" Melvin said with a big smile.
"Raven! Raven! Where! Let me talk to her!" said a voice from off the screen.
Melvin turned, scolding at someone at her side, "No you can't right now Timmy."
"Anyway, It's been good. The good people have trained us, now we're the Young Titans! Teether is learning words like 'poopy' and 'imabitechu'. Timmy has also worked on his anger problems."
"I do not have anger problems," Timmy said off screen, about to cry.
"Yes you are," Melvin said looking to the side again.
Looking back, she said, "Sorry Raven. Now's not the time, Timmy and Teether are getting restless, they must be over-tired. Anyway, it was nice hearing from you. This is Melvin, out."
The screen fizzed with static, and Raven turns off her communicator, and it goes back to the "T" screen.
She laid down her head on the bed. She was a bit tired. She shut her eyes, to rest them, and was trapped in deep thought once again.
Thoughts circulated throughout her brain. She couldn't calm down. She was too tense and nervous. Tense about what? Nervous about what? She kept asking herself these questions, unable to answer them.
There was no help for her, even if there was a big attack. Hotspot and Wildebeest were living in Morocco. Kole and Gnarrk were in the Arctic Circle. Titans East was way to busy. Even Fixit wasn't seen around anymore, not that he would be that big of a help.
Was she just scared of being alone at nighttime, or was she feeling separation anxiety. She had been with the Titans for so long, she had concealed her fear, anger, happiness even when she felt these emotions the most. Now she was feeling scared and she would never let the Titans know about it.
She woke up to the alert signal. It sounded throughout the Tower, flashing red light throughout the Titan's home.
She bolted upright abruptly, panting from being shocked by a loud noise, after the entire Tower was calm. She caught her breath and put on her hood. She flew down to the main room.
She dropped onto her feet in front of the main computer. She began to type in digits while a map of the city popped up on the large monitor. A tracker went up and down the streets of the city, unable to find where the trouble was.
Raven thought for a while, but then said, "I got it," and began to type more and more, bringing the on screen tracker to the city's power plant.
"Overload, again," she said to herself.
She turned off the computer and flew out of the Tower, heading for the power plant for her second time that day.
She flew down just in front of the door. She gave a sigh and moved on to open the door, just when all the electricity in the city went out.
"Uh-oh, this isn't good," Raven said, looking shocked.
She opened the door and flew inside. There he was, Overload. He looked quite different. He was a lot bigger now, and the blue electricity that engulfed him, now started surging around him at a much faster rate.
He had drained and absorbed the city's entire electricity supply! On top of his new physical features, he can now shoot electrical blasts, which he shot one at Raven.
She was not expecting this, so she got hit by the powerful blast. She hit her head on the ground, and when she sat upright, she began to massage it, trying to ease the pain.
Electric blasts began to fly almost everywhere. Raven got up and began to dodge all of them. She was hit by on and got hit to the ground, but, almost instantly she got back up and began to run across the wall of the room, dodging blasts.
All she had to do is stall. That's what she continued to think. Stall and wait until the police come, yeah that's it, she reassured herself.
She kept ducking and jumping and slimly getting past all the electric blasts shot. She reached the end of the wall, and flew up. She kicked off the wall and headed towards Overload, dodging the blasts along the way.
She reached Overload and began to fly around him in circles, dodging his extendable arms, trying to slap Raven down to the ground, like a fly.
What was she thinking, if she kept this up, she would be dead before the police would even notice that there is a disturbance in the city. She had to act, and act fast, that is. She had to defeat him.
She thought back to see how they had beaten him before. They had shrunk him using water. That was it!
Raven tried to concentrate, trying to psychically find any form of water in a lake or a pipe. There was nothing. Overload this time must have thought before hand, eliminating all sources of water around the plant. Very smart.
Raven opened her eyes and was smacked by one of Overload's arm. She fell to the ground once again. What was wrong? Overload is such a minor villain, without much powers, but she could still not defeat him.
An idea popped into her head now.
"Oh, Overload," Raven said, calling him with a grin on her face.
Raven's eyes turned red, and her teeth looked more ferocious and fierce. Her cloak began to grow, making her taller. The bottom moved with wind coming from the cloak itself. Black tentacles emerged from the cloak, and grabbed onto Overload.
Overload pushed and tried to run to get away, but it was no use. The tentacles were overpowering him. He fell to the ground trying to get away. The tentacles dragged him on the ground, into Raven's cloak.
Raven simply smiled, and twisted and turned into a big black circle, and then disappeared. The electric plant was quiet again.
Just then, police cars began to pull into the plant's parking lot.
Raven was inside her mind. She had learned to control her powers, making her able to absorb people or things into her mind, along with herself. Overload was not there with her, but he was inside her mind with her.
"Now were did he go off to?" Raven said looking around, "He must have been here. He couldn't have gotten far."
She was normal again, and then began to walk on the rock platform. She felt like she was walking forever and it felt as if she wasn't proceeding any farther, no matter how much she walked.
She had reached the end of the extremely long platform, when a huge crow-like demon flew up onto the platform. Raven moved back a little, out of fright.
It screamed and started to charge towards Raven. She jumped, just before the large bird was about to dig its huge beak into her. She flew over the beast and began to throw rocks telekinetically.
They only made the raven flinch a bit. It charged again, but fell right in front of her. It was knocked out.
Behind the beast was a floating girl, holding a book close to her chest. She resembled Raven in every way, except she had glasses and a yellow cloak, instead of a dark purple one.
"In order to beat a grand raven, you must find it's weak spot and exploit it," said the yellow cloaked Raven.
The Yellow Raven attacked the giant bird in the eyes, making it blind. It stammered around, screeching as it accidentally slip and fell off the platform.
"I'm guessing you're my intelligent emotion," Raven said.
"You are indeed correct," Yellow Raven said, "What are you doing in your own mind?"
"I'm chasing Overload. He's a big electrical current monster. Have you seen him?" Raven asked.
"Yes, in fact, I did," Yellow Raven said, "He went this way. Follow me."
She flew towards the place where Raven had just left. Feeling irritated by this, Raven simply made a fist and continued to follow the Yellow cloaked Raven.
They continued down the small path, until a black portal appeared on the ground, grabbing the Yellow Raven and dragging her into the ground with it. She shrieked with horror as she was pulled into nothingness. The portal once again closed up, just as Raven tried to save her.
"Just great," Raven said as she got up. She had kneeled down to save her, but it was of no use. She continued to walk that way, until she came across a large green swamp. The water bubbled and gurgled as the green goop swirled around and around.
"Easy!" Raven said with a somewhat victorious tone, "All I have to do is fly over this pit." She rose up and began to fly over the swamp. Suddenly, a hand, covered in the goop, reached out from the murky liquid and grabbed her leg. More and more hands appeared holding onto Raven, attempting to pull her down. She fought to stay up, but she could not. She was descending slowly, slowly into the swamp.
Once Raven's feet had been completely covered by the goop, a new Raven emerged, as if out of nowhere. She came flying in and snatched Raven, bringing her to the opposite side of the swamp. Raven finally got a good look at her. She looked exactly like Raven, but this time she was wearing a pumpkin orange cloak.
Once again, the goopy hands emerged and followed the two Ravens, snatching and growling, in hopes to catch them. The Orange Raven noticed this and she immediately began to pick up speed. She used her telekinetic powers to slice through the hands. They let out a high pitched screech as they vaporized.
"Yeah!" the Orange Raven said in triumph, and then of course, burped out loud, and then giggled.
"Oh great, the gross and rude side of me," Raven said sarcastically to herself.
The Orange Raven looked forward once again, only to find more hands in front of them, ready to snatch them. She tried to slow down, and ultimately stop, but it didn't work. The halt was to great, and she fell right into the hands grasps. They were pulled under the muck pretty quickly.
The Orange Raven let out a gigantic wave of telekinetic energy, freeing them, and turning the swamp of goop into a pit of dirt. Once the girls were out in the open once again, they realized they were covered in green goop. Raven shook herself and the goop flew off. The Orange Raven simply giggled and said, "How do I look," and then hiccupped.
Raven hit her forehead, for the anxiety of being around someone like her, gave her a headache. Raven closed her eyes to rest a bit, and to conceal her emotions. When she opened her eyes, she realized the Orange Raven was nowhere to be found.
She got up and walked across the desolate wasteland, which was, only minutes before, a murky swamp swirling with goop. She continued and continued, thinking to herself that she must run into Overload sooner or later. If kept in her mind for awhile, permanent damage may be done.
She reached a high mountain. She sighed and then began to climb, moving her palms up the rocks of the mountainside. She climbed for a while, until she reached the top of a flat plain: a plateau.
On top there was a liquid like phantom, completely black, except for the small red and white blobs shining in it. Like liquid, it moved swiftly, twisting and turning, morphing and transforming. Confused, Raven couldn't keep her eyes on the creature for one second. Suddenly, the creature stopped moving. A long sliver, possibly his arm, stretched and extended towards Raven.
Alarmed, Raven moved back, and dodged the constant swipes of what looked like a liquid hand. All of a sudden, the creature looked to be coughing. Out of the liquid came another Raven, trapped within. She had a purple cloak, not like Raven's, but more of a lilac in color.
"Now that's what I call the 'Belly of the Beast'," the Lilac Raven said, and the creature who had "thrown her up", lunged forward, in hopes of imprisoning her once again.
Lilac Raven winced and hid behind her hands, in any hopes this will stop the beast. Raven used her powers to shield the Lilac Raven, from the ravenous beast.
"I have no time for this," Raven said, and her eyes became black. Her mouth opened and inside resided absolute darkness. She began to hurl magical bullet after bullet, until the monster was finally subdued by her amazing power.
Lilac Raven gave a snickering look at Raven and said, "Thanks for the help… NOT! I could have easily defeated that creature without you." She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, giving off a disgruntled appearance.
"Oh yeah," Raven said sarcastically, "Why were you inside it in the first place?"
Lilac Raven became enraged at this comment, turning red in the face and screaming at Raven, "Well, it was all part of my plan! Yeah, that's it…"
Raven simply gave a sigh, realizing it was pointless to argue with her. This got the Lilac Raven even madder, and she began to scream and argue at her even more. While this was going on, of course the creature was regaining form and spawning two other beasts along with it. Finally noticing, the Ravens got ready for another battle.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zin-" Raven said, but was cut off by the Lilac Raven appearing in front of her.
"I got it," the Lilac Raven said, and threw magical orbs at the beast. The creature simply grew bigger and stronger.
"Yeah, you really got this," Raven said sarcastically, yet again, "He must have grown an immunity to our powers."
Lilac Raven gave a know-it-all look and said, "Well, duh! I knew that! But, what should we do?" Raven began to think of what to do. She had to meditate, concentrate hard enough. Finally, an idea popped into her head.
Raven became a giant raven, using her powers, and took a tree, and began to slash at the creatures, scattering them. The giant raven let out a yelp, and dark lighting struck down from the sky, onto the creatures. They were disintegrated in no time.
"Hmph. I could've done that!" the Lilac Raven said. The raven disappeared and Raven was back onto the ground, with much power drained.
"I have to find Overload fast," Raven said. Suddenly the creature arose, taking the Lilac Raven under the ground.
"Well, that could be both good and bad," Raven said, "Oh well. I have to find Overload." She began to journey and journey, coming up to a large scaled electrical storm. She began to fly at top speed towards the location, almost sure Overload was the source.
When she got there, Overload was literally in the 'eye of the storm' gaining power from the lighting. He also had the three Ravens floating in circles around his head. Yellow, Orange, and Lilac, swirling around on their backs, with their eyes closed, almost as if asleep.
Raven, amazed by the spectacular light show, barely noticed the girls being absorbed into Overload, making him stronger and bigger. Soon, he was three times the height of Raven, and just as strong. Yellow, orange, and lilac electrical currents flowed around his being.
Finally noticing, Raven jumped back, alarmed. She didn't know what to do. Suddenly, three other Ravens come to the rescue, Ravens that Raven, herself, was in acquaintance with. They all donned pink, grey, and dark green cloaks: Happy, Timid, and Brave. They began to line up, sending beams of energy straight at Overload.
"Come on," the Dark Green Raven said, and Raven immediately fell out of her daze, and helped them. She shot her strongest telekinetic beam at Overload, and tried to hold it for as long as she could.
"We need help," said the Grey Raven. And, after that, the Pink Raven whistled, and nothing happened. But, after a minute, more Ravens emerged to help. Brown, Black, and even the Red Raven came and assisted them.
Soon, Overload began to choke on all the power. His body was collapsing. One by one, Yellow, Orange, and Lilac Ravens emerged from him. They assisted, and together they left Overload powerless.
"I'll finish this," said Raven, and she used her powers to open a portal back home. She shoved Overload through, waved good-bye, and entered the portal herself. The portal vanished in a swirl of darkness.
They arrived at the City's Power Plant, where the police were waiting. They took the chip that was once Overload, and locked him in a high security safe, and then threw him in the jail truck. As the police and detectives questioned the man who manages the plant, Raven's communicator signal went on.
"Hey Raven, how are things going," Robin asked as his face came on the monitor, "We heard Overload attacked the city." He was in the shadows of an alleyway in Gotham.
"Oh, it has been taken care of," Raven told him, "How are things going down there?"
"Not so good," Robin told her, "It seems we'll be staying here for a while. But, we do need your help. We'll be sending Beast Boy back, and he should arrive by morning. Once he is safely there, you can leave the tower and come to Gotham to help us."
"Ok, but now, I'm going to bed. I'm overloaded," Raven said, and turned off the communicator.