Raven smiled as she shuffled through some folders on the table – documents about a string of robberies lacking suspects, instantly recognising the jewellery store where she'd first met her new friends. 24 hours had passed without the heroes trying to claim back their tower and despite their success, it was the first bit of joy Raven had found in their victory.
Gizmo still working to override the security within Titans Tower, Raven had taken it upon herself to complete an initial sweep of all the rooms – locked doors had never been a challenge for her. She hadn't found anything unexpected; bedrooms decorated to the tastes of the owners, a gym, several storage rooms and even more rooms that had been left empty. The only ones that had held any interest to Raven had been an evidence room where there was the start of a collection of various artifacts – no doubt trophies from fights – and the current room she was in.
Despite the high-tech nature of the building, someone had printed a lot of paperwork. News articles, handwritten notes and photos taken from what looked like security cameras littered the walls. Some celebrated successes of the team of heroes. The majority focused on various thieves and villains.
Raven jumped as the door behind her slid open, turning to find Jinx bounce into the room. Her smile was almost infectious.
"Giz finally figured out the security. All the rooms should be unlocked – not that it was an issue for you."
"How did you know where I was?" Raven asked as she shut the folder she had been going through, throwing it back onto the messy pile on the middle of the table.
"This place has all sorts of trackers and motion sensors. Didn't do them any good though, did it?" Jinx turned her attention to the room, scanning some of the items on the wall. "Think our faces would have gone up there if we'd failed?"
Raven found the printout of the jewellery store they'd broken into and held it out for the girl. "We're not on the wall but we're here."
Jinx took the paper, looking up at Raven with a smile. "Luck doesn't usually follow me round, but that was certainly our lucky day. You know my powers don't always do what I want them to – you saw with that lock. We'd have probably been busted if you hadn't come along. Wouldn't have been the first time the police have tried to pick us up." She threw the sheet back on the table. "I'm going to look round the rest of this place. Anything worth checking out first?"
"There's a room entirely decorated in pink. Otherwise go two floors down – there's an evidence room."
Raven left shortly after Jinx, making her way to the common room. Gizmo was still sat at the computer and Mammoth was going through the fridge, but the room was quiet enough. Raven approached the large windows looking out over the bay and sat down, closing her eyes before trying to clear her mind. She hadn't been meditating as much as she should have.
"Crud. Crud. More crud." Gizmo threw several disks over his shoulder, disturbing Raven who glared at him before trying to get back into her meditation. "I hope the stuff on their computer is better than what's here."
"You think that's bad? You should see their food," Mammoth said. "It's way out of date."
"No feast then?" Gizmo asked and Mammoth stopped looking through the fridge to shake his head at Gizmo.
"No feast."
"I think we've finally found a team worse than us," Raven dryly commented, standing up as she decided the common room wasn't that quiet.
Gizmo started to nod in agreement before he shot the empath a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Figure it out." Raven walked towards the common room doors, almost hitting Jinx as the door opened and she came from the common room.
"Fancy bumping into you here," Jinx grinned before stepping round the other girl. "The only thing useful in this place is the evidence room, and even that doesn't hold anything fun. I've searched everything."
"I still want to look at Robin's room. He uses a lot of tech. Tech from Batman I would imagine." Gizmo turned to look at his leader. "I'm running a program to copy everything on their system too – we can look through it later."
Jinx looked at Raven. "Where were you going?"
"Somewhere quiet."
"They have an assault course. Want to give it a go with me? Bet it's easier than the ones at the Academy." Jinx had turned to lead the way, almost back in the corridor before she realised the girl hadn't moved. "Rae?"
"They're outside."
"What?" Jinx asked.
Raven opened her mouth to answer but the tower's alarms beat her to it and klaxons drowned her out. Jinx's hands went over her ears and she turned to scowl at Gizmo, automatically assuming he was at fault for triggering the alarms.
"What the hairball?!" Gizmo ducked as CD holders started throwing the CDs out across the common room. He looked at the computer, planning to try and turn everything of but scrambled backwards as he saw their trophy – one of Cyborg's arms – sat on the keyboard. "Crud!"
Before anyone could react, wire-like appendages extended from the top of the arm, wrapping up the young villain. Jinx threw a hex but it went wide and hit one of the CD cases, several disks shattering and throwing a fine dust into the air. The hand started moving, using it's fingers to run, dragging the small villain behind it.
Raven started to focus on her dark energy, planning to try and slice through the cables but her concentration was broken as one of the windows shattered. Starfire flew into the room, moving fast enough to appear little more than a blur. She tackled Mammoth, proving just how strong her race was as she effortlessly picked the giant up, disappearing out the window with him.
Jinx took a step closer to Raven, her eyes glowing pink and she prepared to hex the next thing that moved, their attention on the shattered window. An explosion knocked them forward further into the common room and Raven quickly thew up a shield to protect their backs as she stumbled to keep her footing. She almost missed the green pterodactyl that grabbed Jinx. Raven glanced behind her at the doorway long enough to register the leader of the Titans stood behind her, bo-staff ready, before she lunged forward, running after Beast Boy and Jinx, throwing herself out of the window.
Raven fell for a moment before levitating herself. She moved up towards the roof where she could feel the rest of her team. She had almost reached the top of the tower when she felt something wrap itself around her waist. Cable cut through her leotard and into her skin as the wire of Robin's grappling hook pulled taut. She lost height having to take a moment to regain her concentration.
Having stabilised herself, Raven glared down at Robin, suspended only by the metallic rope caught around her. She phased through it and watched the teenager plummet towards the rocky shore surrounding the island. Raven continued to watch as she rubbed the sore skin of her waist with something close to curiosity, certain for a moment that Robin was going to hit the ground, permanently removing one of the superheroes. She startled as a small green bird dived past her.
Catching up with Robin, it morphed into the same pterodactyl that had taken Jinx. Beast Boy grabbed Robin's shoulders before opening his wings. He had been travelling too fast to pull up in time, but the changeling managed to slow the fall, the two boys rolling across the rocky ground. Her curiosity over, Raven continued to levitate up to the roof in search of her teammates.
Cyborg and Starfire were fighting off the free HIVE agents and were doing a surprisingly good job. Raven quickly forced Cyborg away from Jinx and Gizmo with a shield, giving them space. Jinx turned towards Starfire and thew several hexes in her direction, trying to drive her off Mammoth.
Robin and Beast Boy joined them on the roof quicker than Raven thought they would, both Jinx and Raven turning to look at the pair. Cyborg used the distraction to fire his sonic cannon and Mammoth. The blue beam hit the giant's legs and knocked them out from underneath him, Mammoth landing in an ungraceful heap.
Raven had started to move to protect him when Robin came after her. His bo-staff harmlessly bounced off one of her shields, though the second sweep of his staff knocked her off her feet. As she hit the floor Raven scrambled back, trying to putt some distance between them. Her back hit something cold and she quickly looked round and found Cyborg.
"Where do you think you're going?"
She didn't need to look around to know that Gizmo was in trouble if she also had Cyborg's attention. Raven rolled to the side and quickly pushed herself to her feet, only just avoiding Robin's bo staff. Cyborg's fist connected with her shoulder, shoving her forward, and Raven could feel herself starting to panic.
A pink hex flew past her, and she heard someone move to dodge it. Raven tried to pretend she was still at HIVE Academy in a sparring match as she turned to face the two heroes. Before she could use her dark energy, Robin had stepped toward her, his bo-staff extended, forcing her to move again. She stopped before they could back her against the door leading back inside the tower. To her left Mammoth was picking himself up off the floor while Jinx tried to keep Starfire away from him, Beast Boy not far behind her. Gizmo was out of the action, his backpack crushed. He was pulling parts out of it, trying to find something he could still use as a weapon.
Raven had spent too long assessing her teammates and wasn't able to react quick enough as Robin swept her legs out again. As she hit the floor the door behind her shattered into a shower of splinters. It drove the two boys away from her for a second as they tried to figure out what had happened and Raven took the opportunity to open a portal beneath her, quickly sinking into it.
She reappeared by Jinx, quickly blocking several of Starfire's starbolts, giving Jinx time to hit Starfire with a hex. The energy bolt stunned her, and Mammoth took a running leap, grabbing hold of the alien and pulling her towards the floor.
"Gizmo's down," Raven quickly told Jinx, her leader glancing around until she spotted Gizmo.
"Alright, Mammoth will keep Starfire busy. We need to get the others out of the fight."
Before Jinx could give any more instructions, something exploded at their feet. There was a blinding flash, Raven throwing up an arm to try and protect her eyes. She didn't Cyborg's attack, the blast from his sonic cannon throwing her back, away from Jinx. She winced as she hit the concrete, blinking rapidly as she fought to regain her eyesight, throwing up a domed shield around herself as she felt someone approach.
Cyborg's fist hit her shield, but she managed to hold it steady, trying to ignore the small whisper in her head that was telling her to let go of her careful control, to cut through the teenager's metal body with her energy. Not wanting to risk trying to attack, she continued to maintain her shield, wincing as Cyborg brought both his fists down, able to feel it as though he had punched her body. She closed her eyes as she felt anger stirring and when it offered her no solace, looked for Jinx.
Jinx had both Beast Boy and Robin after her. Robin's bo staff was gone, lying in two pieces on the roof, victim of one of the girl's hexes. He tried to approach her instead with his fists raised. Unable to decided what to do about her own situation other than panic, Raven focused instead on the floor near Robin. It took more concentration than she expected, Cyborg's attack almost taking out her shield, but she managed to rip up a chunk of the roof. She threw it at Robin, the hero only diving out the way at the last minute.
Mammoth hit the floor hard enough for it to shake. When he didn't try to get back to his feet, Raven looked for Starfire. She wouldn't be able to keep both Cyborg and Starfire from breaking her shield but with Jinx already fighting two of the titans, she had no doubt Starfire would come her way. She needed to reach Jinx.
Raven shifted under her shield into a crouch. Cyborg hit her shield again, Raven able to feel his frustration. As soon as he started to lift his fists ready for his next attempt to break her shield, she let it dissipate and pushed herself to her feet, straight into a run. She hit Robin from his side, her punch weaker than she would have liked.
Robin reacted quicker than she expected him to, and he turned into her, taking hold of her arm with on hand, his other hand yanking down the hood of her cloak as he pulled her forward and off balance. Dark energy burst from her throwing him back and rippling the concrete beneath her. She pushed her hood back, quickly realising Robin wasn't the only one she had knocked off their feet. She had to ignore her instinct to check on them - the last person she'd thrown like that had stayed down permanently - as Starfire tried to cover her teammates from further attack, unleashing a barrage of star bolts at the two girls.
Not sure what else to do – certain there was no way of regaining the advantage without risking more of her control – Raven reached Jinx and took hold of her arm. She reached for her dark energy and wrapped it around them, bringing up a picture of Jump City docks in her mind.
The girls fell to the floor as the dark energy dissipated, Jinx wincing as she picked herself up from the ground. Her knees and hands were skinned from the drop to the floor, adding to her other aches and pains from the fight. It hadn't been one of Raven's most graceful teleports, but the girl had saved her from a further beating. She felt she couldn't complain too much.
Jinx quickly recognised where they were, not far from where they'd been sat watching the tower the day before. Raven was still on her knees, hunched over herself. It wasn't the only thing she noticed, quickly asking,
"Where are the boys?"
She didn't get an answer, Raven holding her head between her hands as she muttered something under her breath, too quietly for Jinx to catch what she was saying. She grabbed Raven by her shoulders and pulled the girl to her feet, patience quickly dwindling.
"Rae, where are the boys?"
Jinx quickly let go of her and shrunk back as Raven seemed to grow taller, the shadows around them darkening, until she found herself looking up at the girl. Raven's eyes were crimson, her glare sending chills down her spine as every part of her body told her to run.
The change couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, Jinx finding herself looking back down at Raven, wondering if she'd imagined it all as the girl dropped her eyes to the floor, huddling in on herself as though she were trying to disappear.
"I couldn't do it."
Jinx only just heard her. She took a cautious step forward. "Couldn't do what?"
"This is all wrong," Raven took a step back, keeping distance between them. "I need to go."
Raven briefly looked at Jinx, her amethyst eyes wide with panic, before the girl disappeared into one of her portals, leaving Jinx bewildered and alone. She felt like she'd hit skip on a video game and missed vital information and the only person she could ask to fill in the blanks had disappeared to who-knows-where. Unable to do anything else, Jinx looked out over the bay at Titans Tower. She was too far away to see anything other than the building but had no doubt Gizmo and Mammoth were still on the roof.
Stubborn almost to a fault, Jinx wanted to go back to the tower for the boys. Sense won out in the end, Jinx realising that it would only end up with her joining them in being captured. With one last look at Titans Tower, Jinx started to make her way back to their base hoping it was where Raven had gone.
She needed the girl to calm down. They would wait long enough for Gizmo and Mammoth to be transported to Jump Penitentiary - no doubt in Jinx's mind that's where the heroes would send them – and break them out. It was one thing to get caught by the law but another thing entirely to fail the headmistress. They were going to need all the brownie points they could get and saving the academy's resources by getting their own teammates out of the hands of the law would help.