Chap. 7
Baptism
"Please, not the… noooo!" she screamed, as they wrenched it from her. She felt something drain away from her, as the life began to leave her body. Slowly, the world began to black out, as her eyes closed…..
"Dang, this must be some fancy necklace." Billy Numerous grinned, as he watched thewoman faint. In his hand, he held the large, ruby encrusted pendant that he'd taken from her. "I jus' love to watch 'em fall. Like cow-tipping, only better!" "Can you can it and help us get this stuff outta here?" See-More panted, as he dragged the large sack of cash behind him. "This crap must weigh a ton." The one-eyed boy moaned, as he struggled in vain to get a better grip on the bag. But suddenly, his problem vanished, as See-More felt the bag being lifted behind him. Turning, he saw three more Billys holding the bag up with him. "Git along, one-eye. We got trails to blaze!" the Billys said in unison as they moved forward, knocking See-More into the bag and giving him a convenient lift at the same time.
"Looks like clockwork so far." Jinx said, as she deposited her ill-gotten gains at the meeting spot. Looking up, she saw Mammoth and Gizmo coming towards her. The young witch grinned; her plan was finally coming to fruition. Each of the Hive Five taking a different part of the financial district, splintering both the cops and the Titans. And they haven't been a factor. Jinx thought. Too bad. I was looking forward to beating the crap out of them. Espically…. But before she could finish, an all too distinct and harmonized "Yee-Hah!" shattered the air. "Looks like Billy and See-More are back." Mammoth said, as he deposited his own loot. "Gee you think?" Gizmo snapped, as he dropped his loot. "Will you two knock it off?" Jinx snapped. "We're almost Scott-free." "Forget the almost Jinx." See-More said gleefully, as he and the Billys added to the pile. "We're done." "Then let's get out of here." Jinx said, looking into the shadows behind her. Slowly, they twirled around, until Kyd Wkyyd emerged. Silent and emotionless as always, his blank face stared at the loot, as his hands moved around in strange patterns in the air. The shadows moved from him to the cash, covering them and pulling them into the ground. "Nice job, now get us out before trouble gets here." Jinx ordered.
But before Wkyyd could even begin the spell for that, the shadows pulled back together and the money all but shot out of the ground. "Oh I think trouble's here now." A voice said from behind them, as they stared at the money. Knowing what awaited them, but turning anyway, the H.F. saw the figures of the Titans and WILDB.R.A.T.S. standing behind them. "You forgot that the chatterbox and I use the same magical pathways." Raven said, as her eyes finished glowing. "Now, are you going to go quietly, or will we do this same way as always?" Robin asked, drawing his staff already. "Boy, the Hive Five ain't never turning down a fight!" one of the Billys cried out. "Let's get it on!" he yelled, as he leapt into the fray, five more Billys appearing behind him.
But before a single Billy could get within three feet of the Titans, they suddenly halted, as a strange purple energy surrounded them. Before anyone could say anything, the Billys slammed back together and the one Billy left was thrown back to the H.F. "What in tarnation!" Billy sputtered as he got to his feet. "I believe it translates as the 'return to owner' spell." A voice said from the ranks of the Titans. Slowly Rorek stepped to the front, his hand still glowing with energy. "I could be wrong." He continued. "Ancient Rathet is such a difficult language." "Who the slagging heck are you?" Gizmo sneered. "I am called Rorek." The wizard replied. "I have no wish to fight you. Please, restrain yourselves and allow us to lead you to jail." "Are you serious?" Mammoth asked. "Do we look stupid?" "You call yourselves the Hive Five and there are six of you. I do not feel intelligence is a factor here." Rorek replied. "Why you little.." Mammoth snarled, as he charged the tall wizard. But like Billy Numerous, he failed. Rorek simply waved his hand and Mammoth halted in his tracks, lifted into the air, and all but flew back into his cohorts. "I could do this all day, but I'd really just like this to end peacefully." Rorek said. "Do you want to surrender yet?"
The wizard's reply was a blast of magic from Jinx, which he deflected easily. "That answer your question loser?" the young witch replied. "Hive Five, Attack!" "Titans, Go!" Robin yelled back, as the battle truly began. Mammoth made straight for Rorek, wanting to rip the wizard's head off for humiliating him. He began throwing punch after punch blindly, wanting to accomplish just that. But Rorek dodged each blow, seemingly without trying. "Hold still damn you!" Mammoth yelled, as he continued to throw punches. "I don't think so." Rorek replied calmly. "Besides, I think that you have bigger problems then me." "Huh?" "Exerciti siktri!" the wizard yelled. Before Mammoth could even move, the ground beneath him swelled up and covered him, trapping him in its concrete embrace. "I always liked that one." Rorek said, as he withdrew his magic. "Don't you?" he asked the now-trapped Mammoth.
The villain gave no response, only continued struggling against his bonds. "I thought as much." Rorek said. Suddenly, there was a crash and a yell behind him. Rorek whipped around, seeing Cyborg holding the struggling figure of See-More in his hand. "Gotta be more careful Ror." The bionic Titan said. "Thank you. I should have known that he was being too quiet." The wizard replied. "Don't sweat it. We got 'em, and that's all that matters." "Then whya re those two still moving?" "Huh?" Cyborg said, whipping around to see Jinx and Gizmo blasting back Neuron and Starfire and running down an alleyway. "I'll get them. You hold the others." Rorek yelled as he began running after the two villains. "Uh, ok." Cyborg replied as he watched the wizard dash off. As Robin led the other captured H.F. members to him, Cy quickly grabbed a set of cuffs from Robin and took care of See-More. "Well, I think that went well." Whimpernel. "Indeed, I do not think we have ever beaten the HIVE this quickly before." Starfire added. "Looks like letting Rorek out of the book was the best idea you three ever had." Bartman said to Raven, Nightstalker, and Lightweaver. "Oh, I think we've had a few good ones before that." 'Stalker replied. "Besides, we didn't get all of them." "Dad, did you have to say that?" Raven said. "All right Beast Boy, let's hear it." But instead of the retort she expected, Raven only heard silence. "Beast Boy? Chance to insult Rorek here?" the empathy said again. "Where is he?" 'Weaver asked, with a little concern.
Suddenly the group got an answer, as a scream came from the alleyway that Rorek had just come down. "What in the hell did he do now?" Heatstrike swore as the group sped towards the alleyway. But once they got there, they stopped short. The unconscious figures of Jinx and Gizmo lay on the ground; on either side of them was Rorek and Beast Boy. "What happened here?" Robin demanded. Beast Boy opened his mouth, but Rorek spoke first. "It was an accident Robin. I was using a containment spell to hold these two. But Beast Boy saw what I was doing and misunderstood. He disrupted my spell and well…." "They're not…… dead are they?" Cyborg asked, with more then a brief look at Jinx. "No, merely unconscious. But they will not awaken for at least a week." Rorek replied. "Good job Greenie." Polar snapped at Beast Boy. "Hey, give him a chance." 'Stalker said suddenly. "He has a right to tell his side of the story." But Beast Boy just said, "That's what happened." "Really?" Robin asked, with quite a bit of authority. "Yes." Beast Boy replied. "We're going to talk about this at the Tower." Robin replied. "That is if we don't run into somebody else and you get them killed." Raven said angrily. The green one didn't respond, but just looked down. "It's all right Raven." Rorek said. "Magic is difficult for many to understand. I'm sure that he thought he was doing the right thing." Raven nodded, but still gave BB an angry look. "Stalker sighed, and picked up Gizmo as Cyborg picked up Jinx.
As the heroes began to walk out, the bat gave a look at Beast Boy and shook his head. But the green one didn't even seem to notice. He just looked at Rorek and Raven walk off together, and after a moment, he followed. But as he walked past the bat, 'Stalker felt something emanating from the young shapeshifter. In his own way, Nightstalker was an empath as well, though he was limited to the darker side of human emotion. And as Beast Boy walked past, the bat got a sense of anger, frustration, and one thing that he recognized above all else- the stink of a lie. He knows something. The bat realized. Something that he didn't tell us. Or maybe couldn't tell us. Mentally sighing, the bat muttered, "There's a game afoot after all.", shifted the weight of Gizmo on his shoulder, and followed his teammates.