Raven vs Starfire Chapter 2: The Chase, a teen titans fanfic

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Teen Titans: Raven vs Starfire

Chapter 2: The Chase

The alarm sounded and the emergency lights flashed. Within seconds all five Titans were assembled in the great room, looking at the monitor that had descended from the ceiling.

"It's the bio-technologies lab at the far side of town," Robin announced. "Titans! Move out!"

They all turned and rushed out to protect their city.

(000)

Geneontech was the leading biotechnology company in the country and its facilities looked more like a college campus then a corporate superpower. The head of security rushed out the meet the Titans, panic etched upon his face.

"Thank God, you're here." He came to a stop and placed his hands upon his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "It's the neurological facility. Someone's broken in and is tearing the place apart, but how he got in, I have no idea."

Suddenly, an explosion and a pillar of black smoke caught their attention.

"I'm guessing that's the neurological facility?" Robin asked.

The man in the dark suit nodded.

"Titans! Go!" Robin commanded.

Starfire flew over her leader and took his out-stretched hands, lifting him effortlessly into the air. Beastboy transformed into a Pterodactyl and grabbed Cyborg by the shoulders, flapping his wings as hard as he could to get the added weight off the ground. Raven levitated and brought up the rear.

(000)

Smoke bellowed out of the top corner window of the three-story building. Robin and Starfire smashed through the windows to the right, Cyborg and Beastboy crashed through the windows to the left, while Raven went in from where the explosion had occurred.

Blinded by the smoke, she extended her soul-self around the smoky air and sent it out the window. With the air clear again, she easily spotted a suspicious item on the floor. Swooping to the floor, she reached down and picked up the cause of the explosion and the smoke just as Robin and the others burst into the room.

Looking at the device, Raven explained, "It was a smoke bomb with a sonic detonator." Looking about the empty conference room, she added. "Obviously, a diversion."

"Whoever it is, he's trying to lead us in the wrong direction. Titans, spread out and search the place." Robin commanded.

"And if he has already gone?" Starfire asked.

"Then we need to find out how he got into this place. Geneontech is one of the most secure companies around. He couldn't have just walked in through the front gate."

They nodded and were off, all except Raven, who was still staring at the explosive device in her hand.

"Raven, what's wrong? We need to find out who did this and now," Robin explained.

"I already know who it is."

"You do? How? Who?"

She turned the device so Robin could see the villain's signature logo stamped on top of it.

"Slade!" the masked hero growled.

(000)

"Titans…," Robin broadcasted to the rest of the team. "The person we're after is Slade."

"Are you for real?" Cyborg asked in disbelief.

"What's metal-head doing back?" Beastboy chimed in.

"I don't know, but when it comes to Slade, you know it's dangerous, so be on your guard. If you find him, call for backup right away. Robin out."

With Cyborg searching the third floor, Robin and Beastboy took the second floor while Raven and Starfire flew down to the first. They each darted in and out of every room throughout the building. Most of the people on the lower floors seemed to be surprised to see them, still unaware that anything had even happened. What the Titans found were people going about their normal workday.

That is, until Raven and Starfire went into a secured lab in the far end of the building, opposite of where the explosion had occurred. Here, several scientists and engineers lay unconscious on the floor while equipment and documents were strung everywhere.

"Looks like we found where Slade was searching," Raven observed. She flew over to the nearest scientist and tried to wake him.

"Robin," Starfire called from her communicator.

"Yeah, Starfire?"

"We have located the lab which appears to have been Slade's target. He is no longer here, but it does appear he was here not long ago."

"Okay, I'm on my way. Robin out."

She closed her communicator and attached it to her belt, then went over by Raven to see if she had had any luck reviving the man.

(000)

A few minutes later, Robin came rushing into the lab. By now all the scientists and engineers were sitting up or standing, still groggy but awake. Raven left the side of one of the scientists and flew over to Robin.

"It looks like Slade was after this." She held up a schematic diagram.

"What is it?" Robin took it and looked it over carefully.

"It's some kind of memory altering device."

"Memory altering device?" Robin looked up in shock.

"Apparently, it was being developed for people who've suffered seriously traumatic experiences. Things so horrible it prevents them from living a normal life. The idea behind it was to replace the bad memories with something less traumatic so the victim could move on with their lives," Raven explained.

"But in Slade's hands, who knows what sort of twisted use he could come up with." Robin lowered the paper. "How far along were they to making it work?"

"I was just about to find out when you walked in." Raven turned and headed back to the scientist she had been talking to, and Robin followed behind her.

(000)

Cyborg was making his third pass by the main hallway. He couldn't help but shake his head at the sight of the short, round man with the comb-over still pressing the elevator button impatiently. "Man, give it up. If it hasn't come by now, just take the stairs," the cybernetic teenager whispered to himself. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back towards the elevator. "Wait a minute. This building's only three floors. No way it should take that long." He headed over to the man.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Cyborg smiled.

"This elevator won't open up." The man peered closely at the seam between the doors. "I can tell it's there, but it just won't open."

Cyborg smiled. "Allow me." Placing a hand on each door, he pulled them apart. "There you go… wooooow!" Just as the man had suspected, the elevator car was there, but its bottom was missing. The teen looked down and shook his head. "That's a lot further than three stories, even if they do have a basement."

Turning to the man, Cyborg said, "I'm sorry, sir, but this elevator is out of service."

The man frowned, then walked away.

"Way out of service." Cyborg pulled out his communicator. "Robin, I think I know how Slade got into the building."

(000)

The five Titans stood at the bottom of a shaft that went 200 feet below the foundation of the building.

"It's a tunnel," Beastboy said.

"Really? What gave it away?" Raven replied in her dry, sarcastic manner.

The green changeling glared.

With Cyborg and Starfire illuminating the way, Robin commanded, "Let's go," and they made their way through the cave.

After about 300 feet, the single tunnel branched off into 4 and its composition changed from earth and clay to sandstone.

"We must have reached the catacombs," Raven observed.

"You mean the ones that start under the mountains and lead to the dessert?" Beastboy asked.

"Do you know of any others?" she replied.

Again, he frowned.

"Tracks come and go from each passage. Which way do we go?" Cyborg asked.

"We split up. Cyborg, you take the center. Raven, Starfire, you take the two to the left. Beastboy, you're with me." Without hesitation, the Titan's leader was off and running.

"Hey, Dude! Wait for me!" Beastboy changed into a fruit bat and took off after him.

"Catch you later." Cyborg took off running.

The two girls turned to each other and nodded, then flew down their respective tunnels.

(000)

After several long minutes, the tunnel that Robin and Beastboy went down branched off into two. They separated and continued on their way. A few minutes later, the two tunnels along with the one Cyborg had gone down merged into one.

The three heroes came to a stop.

"Well, that was a waste," Cyborg groaned.

"Come on, let's keep going. Maybe we'll join back up with the girls." Robin said, then took off running again. The other two were close behind.

(000)

Raven and Starfire had been flying down their respective tunnels for nearly an hour when the two paths merged back into one.

"Raven!" a startled Starfire gasped.

They both came to a landing.

"That's odd…" Raven looked back to see that indeed tracks lead down both passages from whence they had just come. Following the direction of the tracks, she looked towards the single tunnel ahead.

In the darkness, a glowing red eye greeted her.

"Slade." She glared and prepared for battle.

"Looking for this?" The villain held up the device he had taken from the lab.

Starfire's eyes glowed green and she sent a ball of energy down the length of the cave. It exploded and a bellow of smoke filled the air around them.

"Did I…"

"Now, now, ladies. You didn't really think you could eliminate me that easily, did you?" Slade's deep voice echoed mockingly towards them.

Without hesitation, the two heroes went flying after him.

(000)

Robin's communicator sounded and the Boy Wonder pulled it out without breaking stride.

"Robin, we have encountered Slade and are in pursuit."

"Great, Starfire. Stay on his tail and we'll be there as fast as we can."

"Affirmative. Starfire, out."

Robin holstered his communicator and skidded to a stop. "The girls have found Slade, we need to go back."

Cyborg and Beastboy came to a stop.

"But tracks lead this way too and it's possible that the tunnels they went down will merge with this one again. It may be faster just going ahead." Cyborg reasoned.

"That may be true, but we can't be sure," Robin countered.

"Fine." Cyborg thought logically. "You and BB go back, I'll keep going this way." He pointed in the direction they had been heading. "If I don't find anything in fifteen minutes, I'll turn around and head back as well."

Taking only a second to consider his teammate's suggestion, Robin responded, "All right. But make sure, no more than fifteen minutes. We'll need everyone to take down Slade."

"You got it." Cyborg gave his leader the thumbs up, then took off running.

"Beastboy, you're with me."

"All right, but we need to get there fast, so hop on." The changeling transformed into a thoroughbred. Robin jumped onto his back and they raced back the way they came.

(000)

Raven and Starfire flew as fast as they could in pursuit of Slade, but no matter how fast they went, they couldn't close the gap between them. Starfire tried to slow down the arch-villain by hurling starbolts at him, but he somehow managed to avoid them without losing a step.

Suddenly, the tunnel curved upwards and they were able to close the distance, though they lost sight of him momentarily after he reached the crest of the hill. As they came to that point, an object flew at them, exploding and sending them tumbling back down the hill.

"Arrrgh." Raven was the first to try and get up. Turning towards her partner, she asked, "Starfire? Are you alright?"

The redhead's eyes slowly fluttered open and she pressed her palm to her forehead. "That was… unexpected."

"When it comes to Slade, we have to expect everything." Raven wasted not another breath as she continued the pursuit. Starfire shook her head, and putting on – as Cyborg would call it – her game-face. She launched herself into the air, quickly catching up to her friend.

They were even further behind him now, and were losing sight of him whenever the cave changed direction.

"We have to close the gap. If this cave spits again, we'll lose him for sure," Raven said.

Starfire nodded. "Understood."

By sheer determination, the two girls began to fly faster through the winding passage, steadily reducing the distance between them and their prey.

Once again, Starfire tried hitting him with her starbolts, but again he managed to avoid them effortlessly.

And again, he tossed another bomb behind him, but this time they were coming too fast and managed to pass it before it exploded.

Raven's eyes were riveted on their target, refusing to lose sight of him again, when it dawned upon her, How on earth is he running so fast? It's not humanly possible. Slade's never been that fast before. She focused on his feet. After a moment she realized. No dust. No footprints. It's a trap!

"Starf-" was as far as she got before both heroes were hit by an intense blast of energy.

They screamed in pain, suspended in midair for several agonizing seconds before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

The image of Slade running suddenly disappeared and from the darkness the heavy steps of the Titan's arch-villain approached the fallen pair. "Too easy."

(000)

"Aaaah…" Slowly, Starfire opened her eyes. Everything was dark and out of focus, and her mind felt much the same way. Gradually, her eyes adjusted to the poorly lit room and she could make out her friend lying unconscious on a table with numerous probes and devices around her head. Panic instantly set in. "RAVEN!" she yelled and struggled to move, which proved to be a big mistake, as she let out an ear-popping scream of pain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the placid, evil voice of Slade echoed. "You see, your restraints are powered by your own efforts. The harder you struggle, the more powerful the restraint."

Thinking quickly, Starfire relaxed completely, expecting gravity to be enough to free her from the wall she was secured to, but nothing happened.

"Nice try. You thought if you failed to resist at all then the restraints would stop functioning as well. Fortunately, I made sure there is always a minimum level of energy supplied to keep you in place. Though I must admit, I wouldn't have expected you to come up with that solution so quickly."

Looking about the room, Starfire did her best to focus on the source of the voice. "You will find I am full of surprises." Her eyes shone green and she fired a beam of energy towards it, but the beam only traveled about a yard before striking a field, which charged her restraints. Again she screamed in agony.

Sweat dripped from the Tamaranian's face and hair. Her head hung low as she struggled to catch her breath. "What… are you doing… to my… friend?"

"Oh, I'm not hurting her, if that's your concern. In fact, I'm willing to bet she's enjoying her little stroll down memory lane. Of course, they're not really her memories, but we'll keep that our little secret."

Starfire suddenly felt a sharp pain at the side of her neck.

"I'd love to stay and chat with you, Starfire, but your friend, Raven, is almost done and it's your turn next."

"My turn for what?" she demanded to know. "Slade! Answer me!"

"Sorry, Princess, but that would ruin the surprise."

Despite her better judgment, Starfire started to struggle against her restraints and once again the pain of her own energy being turned against her increased exponentially. But despite the pain, she continued to struggle, screaming in rage rather than agony.

Eventually, the restraint system began to overheat and smoke, but it was too little, too late, as the drug she had been injected with began to take effect and she fell into a deep slumber.

(000)

Gradually, Starfire began to stir. "Where am I?" she whispered to herself. Her head was pounding and her eyes hurt to open, but open them she did. The streets of Jump City and a small crowd of bystanders greeted her. Looking about she realized she was lying in the middle of an intersection and traffic in all directions had come to a halt. "How did I get here?" Weakly she tried to push herself up, but only managed to sit up on an angle.

Without warning, the ground before her turned black and the large shadowy figure of a bird rose up from it.

Starfire gasped in horror. The shadow faded, and the darkly cloaked figure of her fellow Titan appeared.

"There you are, Red." An evil smirk crossed Raven's face as she raised her hand high, levitating several cars behind her. "Ready to die?"

(To Be Continued)

AN: Well, I hope this chapter smacks of realism and is consistent with the show and how they go about pursuing villains. Be honest now, were you expected this at the end of the chapter?

As of now, I don't see this story going past 5 chapters. The next is the heart of the story and the source of its name, Raven vs Starfire.

Hope it lives up to expectations.

As always, thanks to my ever awesome and wonderful beta, Janice. Here's looking at you, kid.

Please take a moment to review and let me know what you think of this chapter.

Thanks,

A. Amishi