My resolution is to get 2 chapters out before i go back to school. And here is one half. I think that i am improving from when i first started this story and thank you so mch for your continued support of this story...
So...me dedicate this chapterto Atemu's Lover for being my 200th reviewer! Im striving for 300 before i finish this story then im going to work on a HarryPotter one possibly called 'Sincerity'.
Wedding Bells
Chapter 13 It's a Deal
"Dude… was that Red X with Slade?" Beast Boy asked as if he was uncertain whether or not he was just seeing things that morning.
Richard couldn't answer; all he could do was nod dimly.
Raven, looked from Garfield to Richard and back to Garfield. And making up her mind that neither was going to snap out of their trance, she decided to take matters to her own hands.
"So…? What are you going to do about it?" she asked them, waving her arm in front of their faces to get their attention. It seemed to work cause Richard stopped staring at the point above her shoulder to ask, "About what?"
"Slade!" she hissed.
"Uh… I don't think I can't do much…" Richard hissed back, "I don't have my costume with me and I can hardy jump on top of roofs to catch Slade in this." He quickly gestured to his jeans and tee.
Garfield certainly didn't want to agree, for he looked at Richard, obviously trying to find a loophole to this Nightwing problem. But unable to find one, he said, in the same urgent undertone that Raven had used, "Fine, Rae and I will go after Slade and X and you can buzz Cy about this, agreed?"
Richard and Raven nodded (though Raven raised an eyebrow at Gar's sudden briskness). Garfield got up and went into the washroom, possibly to change, while Raven, too, got up and left. Richard sighed and got up as well.
The minute he got into the safe and security his car, he took out his communicator and immediately called up Cy. He was surprised to find that Cy answered almost at once.
"What's up, Rich?" He said in his usual playful tone of voice.
"Oh, nothing Cyborg… It's just that we spotted Slade and Red X near a downtown Starbucks. I'm sending you the co-ordinates right now."
"What? Slade? With Red X? Together or separate?"
"Together."
"Right, I'll inform the others right now." Cyborg paused and seemed to want to say more, "Hey, Rich, how's Star?"
"She's fine, I'm sure. Why?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just that Star wasn't at Terra's house like she promised today and Terra thought that was weird. But don't worry about it Rich," added Cyborg quickly at the sight of Richard worry creases on his forehead, "Star just probably had something really big come up. Being famous is lots of work."
Richard nodded briskly and was about to hang up when he remembered something. "You don't need to get Raven or Beast Boy, they already know. In fact, they are tracking down Slade right now."
"O…k… Then I only call Star and Terra then." And with that, they both hung up.
Richard threw his head back violently into the headrest of his seat. The result was immediately felt when a stream of nausea and pain filled his head. He hadn't forgot about Star, oh no. Star was on every inch of his mind. He had no idea what to do with that. He wanted to forget her like Batman wanted. But then again, he didn't. Richard soon found himself dreading the next meeting with his fellow ex-teammates coming up in a few days time. He knew the meeting would consist of Star determinedly ignoring him, awkward questions on why he and Star broke up, and lecture from his teammates about the importance of always telling the truth when it comes to Star.
The funny thing was that everyone seems to think that this is his entire fault. Even though it probably is. No one seems to think that maybe Starfire was just being difficult. But then again, he had kept a secret that he knew he shouldn't have.
Banging his head once more on the headrest, he sighed and closed his eyes, half thinking about Star and how to make up with her, and the other half on why he suddenly doesn't give a damn about the return of Slade.
"…was a deal. I kept my part, now you keep yours and hand her over to me." Purred Slade's cunning filled voice the moment they traveled within earshot. Beast Boy quickly threw a small device and watched it proudly as it buried itself into the folds of Slade's suit, before morphing into a mouse just as Raven sank into the cement rooftop. He scurried around a smoke stand and waited for Slade to continue.
"And what are you to do after?" Shot back Red X. It seems like they are disagreeing with something chuckled Beast Boy.
"That is for me to keep for myself." Beast Boy could almost hear the smirk underneath his orange and black mask.
"Well then maybe I should – " suddenly, X broke off. Beast Boy was overcome with the curiosity to know what caused him to stop. So curious in fact that he stuck his green fur-covered nose out from behind the smoke stand so that he was in full view to watch what was going on.
"What is it, X?" Slade voice was annoyingly calm, but had a distant hint of concern.
X didn't answer, but looked in Beast Boy's general direction. "Seems like someone is following us." He finally said, confused. Beast Boy felt cold sweat run through his body. Can he see me? He thought desperately. Suddenly his curiosity seemed reckless, he shouldn't have moved out in the open. No doubt Raven was fuming mad at his stupidity in her hiding place right now. Quickly he moved into hiding again behind his smoke stand.
"I, Red X, do not see anybody."
"Well, my sensors do. Apparently there are two somebody's following us. One is behind the smoke stand and the other is… right in front of us…" Confused, X tapped the x on his forehead. Still getting the same readings, he gave up and took out a few of his x's. And without warning, he spun the x-a-rangs towards Beat Boy. None of them hit him. Red X walked towards him now and, in a few strides, X was directly in front of Beast Boy.
Petrified, Beast Boy didn't act until it was too late. He transformed into the smallest mammal he could – a tiny, itsy, mouse – but X lazily picked him up by the tail and threw him at Slade's feet. Beast Boy was forced to transform into his former, human self.
"Ah," Said Slade, his one eye looking up and down, observing Beast Boy, "Beast Boy… to whom do I owe this pleasure of meeting you? It has been what? 5 years?"
"I thought you worked alone, Slade." Was Beast Boy's first comeback.
"But it seems that X here is much more skilled at doing what I need done…" Slade, after all was smart, he made sure nothing slipped while he talked. "So, tell me, Beast Boy, where is the other lovely person eavesdropping on us?"
Not knowing whether or not Raven wanted to be exposed, BB settled by transforming into a lion and pounced on Slade, who obviously dodged without that much of an effort. He morphed into a gorilla and tried to take a swipe at Slade's head, but Red X was much faster and pinned Beast Boy to a nearby wall with the same sticky x Starfire was trapped in. BB tried to break free with his massive, hairy arm, but, like Star, he couldn't. He tried to break free by transforming into a whale, but the X just grew with him, until he gave up and morphed back into his human form.
"I must admit, you have improved from the last time I saw you. You transform much quicker. But you are still too slow." Slade looked at Red X and finished, very coolly, "X, finish him."
Beast Boy's eye's widened as the two x on the back of Red X's gloved multiplied in size. The sharp point of it gleamed in the sunlight. X would never stoop that low as to kill. But he began to doubt that thought very fast, as X loomed closer. Raven… where are you? This would be a nice time to save me now…BB found himself thinking desperately.
Suddenly a wall of black aura rose into the air in front of X. And the hooded figure of Raven materialized in front of them. Her hands were glowing black and her eyes were black to match.
"Raven! Long time no see, hmm?" Said Slade. Raven, unlike Beast Boy, did not waste any breath on the casualties. She bound Red X with her aura and threw him across the rooftop, almost to the ongoing traffic below. Her other hand had found a handful of x-a-rangs on the ground and with another batch of power, she threw them at Slade, who quickly dodged.
"Beast Boy! You are so stupid!" hissed Raven as soon as she could. Her black aura ripped the X apart and Beast Boy was free to come out. Which he did.
Slade took out his bo-staff and landed in-between Raven and Beast Boy. He whirled and it hit Beast Boy squarely on the back of his head. Falling, he hit the same smoke stand he was hiding behind a few moments ago, and, by the fact that he didn't get back up, Raven assumed that he was knocked out cold.
The bo-staff came dangerously towards her head again, but this time, instead of dodging it, she blocked it with her black aura. She knew she could not win this fight, and she decided that she should just grab Beast Boy's body and run.
But before she could do anything, an x came spinning her way and she found herself helplessly glued to the cement floor the next minute later. The gooey red, Xenothium-powered stuff stuck fast, and she felt herself being suffocated. A tiny red x then flew at her and wrapped itself around the jewel on her forehead. Raven tried to melt out of the gooey stuff, she tried to use her Azarath Metrion Zinthos, but it seems the X that wrapped itself around her jewel prevented her from using her powers. Seriously stuck now, she watched desperately as Slade and Red X laughed coldly at her inability to use her half demon powers.
"A little bit stuck, Raven?" smirked Red X from behind his mask. Raven struggled some more and tried to move, but the Xenothium stuff held on fast. It seemed to trap her in a mold of rock. This must be how Terra felt for nearly a year thought Raven idly.
"X, kindly finish her, shall we?"
"Glad to." Red X made a show of flexing his fingers before extending his Red colored X once more. He walked close, closer than Raven would ever allow if she still had her half-demon powers, and ran the tip of his blade on her cheek.
Immediately, the sharp edge cut her skin and a drop of blood fell out. It mingled with the Xenothium before disappearing into its gooey substance.
"X, stop playing and finish her! We do not have all day." Apparently it was on X's part of the deal to obey Slade, for, if Raven remembered correctly, X took orders from no one.
"So, Titan, who should go first? You or your hubby?" For some odd, crazy reason, Raven was not at all frightened of Red X or of what Red X was about to do to her and Beast Boy. Raven had a feeling X would not come around to actually killing, simply because X was not the type.
"No one, X, because you are going to set them free." Said a voice behind them. Raven turned around to the new voice, and that's when she remembered she couldn't move, and therefore she couldn't turn around.
"Nightwing." Came Slade's voice, just a foot or so out of Raven's line of vision. "Ah, and you have brought a few Titan's that I have not seen in a while now." There was a slight pause where Raven assumed that he was studying them through his one eye. "Cyborg, Terra." Pause. "Where is your friend Starfire, Nightwing?"
"Up your ass and around the corner!" yelled Nightwing as Raven heard the unmistakable whoosh of Nightwing's bo-staff, followed by the charging up of Cyborg's arm canon. And the ground beneath Raven's feet cracking? Sure enough, the cement (which is partly sand, which in other words is rock, which is Earth, and which Terra can control) cracked right down the middle and the Xenothium, which had hardened around her, harbored cracks along it. The cracks multiplied and the whole thing shattered in the next minute, leaving Raven free to fall right onto one of Terra's muddy, flying, piece of Earth.
"Are you OK, Rae?" Said Terra urgently the minute she landed on her rock.
"I'm fine. Sure. A bit shaken, but fine." She said in a calm, monotone as she began to pick hardened Xenothium off of her clothes and skin. Terra shot her an unbelieving look, but said nothing as she continued to pilot her flying rock.
The cement around Beast Boy cracked and Raven saw Terra lift that piece of ceiling off, exposing a face of one of the workers below, who had undoubtedly thought the roof above his head was a safe haven. When Beast Boy came near enough, Raven had tried to use her powers once more, but found that they would not work. Terra, seeing that Raven was going to be no help, lifted BB into the muddy piece that they shared by using the old fashioned, and non-magic, way.
"What's wrong, Rae? What happened to your powers?" Terra asked the minute they got off the rock and on the actually roof. Her tone, Raven noticed, was a bit mocking, but serious and concerned nevertheless.
"There is a X blocking my powers. Can you get it?"
"Let me see. Ah, yea I see. I'll see if I can get it off. How does it block your power, by the way?"
"Xenothium, I guess, I don't know all the properties of the radioactive substance, but Red X seem to, go ask him."
"Jeez, Raven, I'm trying to get rid of this thing for you and all you do is snap at me. When will you get it that I'm here to help you? Now hold still, and don't move."
"Sure, whatever."
"Ok… wait… got it!" A tiny x, no bigger than the first section of Raven's pinkie finger, was lying in the middle of Terra's palm. It was surrounded by black energy and by the looks of it; Raven's powers were near frying it.
"Ok then, let's go. The guys are having all the fun, and they will never live it down if I missed it. You coming, Rae?" Terra said, throwing the X away and standing up, brushing dirt off her jeans. She offered her hand to help Raven get up, but Raven shook her head.
"I'll catch up later."
"Suit yourself." Said Terra, taking back her hand.
She jumped on her old piece of rock and sped off, eager to join the fight.
"You have slowed, Robin." Slade observed mockingly.
"My- " Nightwing took a big, and dangerous swing at Slade's head with his bo-staff. "- name – " he took another swing. " – is –" Slade casually knocked Nightwing's bo-staff out of his hands. " – not – " Nightwing delivered a kick instead. " – Robin –" Slade blocked his kick, so Nightwing settled for a punch. " – any – " Slade blocked his punch, so he punch with is other fist. " – longer!"
Slade blocked both his punches and they ended up doing a test of strength, which neither seems to be winning. Terra chose this exact moment to re-enter battle by taking a big piece of rock and slamming it on Slade's head, resulting in a crack right where the orange and the black side of his mask met. It also knocked Slade out cold.
Terra was about to bring another piece of rock down Slade's head when Red X jumped on her and pinned her to her flying rock with a gooey X he had used earlier on Raven. He swooped down on Slade before anyone knew what happened and he disappeared, with Slade and all.
"Dude… what just happened?" Said Beast Boy who joined the battle just in time to see Red X vanish with Slade.
"Xenothium." Came Nightwing's dark answer.
"But how?"
"Beast Boy," sighed Cyborg, using a voice sounding like he was teaching the basic laws of physics to an over-excited toddler. "Xenothium has properties not even Batman understands. And one of them is teleportation."
"Oh…"
Terra arrived in style for the meeting at the Titans Tower on her usual flying piece of rock. The only difference is that this piece of rock happened to have a large pipe running along the middle of it. And like usual, she didn't seem to care about it, nor did she care, it seemed, for the poor property owner who would now be spending hundreds on a new sewer system.
Nightwing was already here, she observed, noticing the black motorcycle Nightwing rode these days. And Cyborg probably was there as well. Starfire might, and Beast Boy might, but Raven was usually on time, so she assumed that Raven would at teach BB to be punctual or at least drag him along.
Terra opened up the door and stepped inside. She was surprised to find it pleasantly warm. It was dark, but heated. When she got up to the meeting room, she found it already full. That is, full, but with two seats unoccupied. Terra rightly assumed that one was for her and she sat down and waited patiently for Nightwing to start. He didn't, and Terra got bored, so she started to chat with Cyborg who was to her right.
"Titans," he finally started with about 10 minutes of waiting, "Has any of you seen or heard from Starfire?" Everyone turned to look at Terra.
"Star…? Not more than any of you had." She answered shrugging.
Silence penetrated the room. Nightwing looked at Raven and Beast Boy, and said very slowly, as if afraid to go too fast, "What did you hear Red X and Slade say? Exactly; word for word."
Raven took a deep breath and prepared to answer, but Beast Boy cut across her, "Ok, Slade was like 'We had a deal, and you have to hand her over to me' and then X was like 'No, no," and then Slade was like 'Yes, yes,' and then – "
"Beast Boy, that's not what happened, you moron. The first part about the deal was right, but then X said, 'What are you going to do?' and Slade said 'That's for me to know' and then Beast Boy got caught." Raven finished simply.
"Well, if Richard didn't give him all those toys, and a sensor, he wouldn't have found me would he?" BB shot back.
"If you had not stuck your nose out into the open like that, he might not have found you."
"My curiosity had nothing to do with it, he found out before I even did anything."
"Well, you could have – "
"QUIET!" shouted Cyborg and the whole room just fell silent. "Can't you two ever stop? You guys are married for goodness' sake!"
"Raven… are you sure that's what he said? ' We had a deal, and you have to hand her over to me?'"
"Yea… why?"
Terra's face suddenly arranged itself into a shocked expression. "You're joking, right?"
"Joking about what?" asked BB, clearly confused.
Terra ignored him and rambled on. "No, they could not be talking about her! She would never have allowed it!"
"They caught her off guard then!" Nightwing shouted, obviously unaware that he was, indeed, shouting.
"She wouldn't be that easy!" Terra shouted back. The rest of the Titans watched this back and forth shouting match like a tennis match.
"Red X did once before." Suddenly, Raven got it.
Robin and Terra stopped shouting to look surprised at Raven, who had cut off what Nightwing was about to say.
"Red X did pin Starfire helpless once didn't he?" Raven repeated.
Getting no reply, she went on. "And if he could do it once, he could get her again."
Nightwing's eyes widened. As much as he hated to have believed it, it was true.
I'm trying to write longer paragraphs... lol
A few review mentionings: itxprincessxlala, funny... my really good friend who just moved away used to say 'OhmyGWAD' all the time, i just couldn't resist pointing it out right here...
acosta pérez josé ramiro Thank you so much, i love your constructive critisim, and as for the Batman thing, even though i'm trying not to mix Batman in this, thank you for pointing it out, i didnt even think of it. Starfire probably wont tell.
ThANK you... nevermoreloverslove, itxprincessxlala (twice), april4rmH-town(Give it up? Never), Atemu's Lover, inukag1188, Anime Chick009 (dunno, ask them or go to www . cartoonnetwork . com to check it out) chicagonebananas, strodgfrgf, tigerchic121, Valda, acosta pérez josé ramiro (what does your name mean?), Kory-Ana-Star, MyMonkeyIsOrange, InkBlotted Chakra, samanthe2121,RS LOVer, FOR REVIEWING!
REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR LETTERS TO CARTOON NETWORK! or else no season six!
Merry be-lated xmas happy new year!
-Sers