The Titans After Rasemune

by Professor Curly

The sequel to Rasemune. After the defeat of Trigon, everything is going well for the Titans. However, when a slew of new and old villains come along, the titans find themselves almost overwhelmed. What will they do? Shekron Kaizer raves: This is so great!

9. Breaker

1Chapter Nine: Breaker

"...Yes, I understand. However, it was a necessary... Ok... Alright, thank you sir. Yes sir... Good night to you to sir."

With a sigh of relief, Robin slammed the phone back down. How two people could single handedly destroy half a city park, he would never know. And what's more, without so much as laying a scratch on each other... It was bizarre... Of course, nothing else was new, everything was bizarre with their guest. He seemed willing to make friends, yet at the same time reclusive, if that made any sense.

"Worrying about him again?"

Raven. He turned slowly, ready in case she had another outburst. She hadn't showed up for quite a while, almost a day. That wasn't odd, it was just the crack in her emotionless persona... It disturbed him...

"Don't worry Robin, I'm under control now."

"Care to explain what that was earlier?"

Raven sighed, "I'd rather not."

"It wasn't a request."

"Ever wake up and just know that the entire world was against you?"

Robin shrugged, "That simple?"

"No, but does it make you feel better."

"Slightly. Will this continue to be a problem between you and Beast Boy?"

"Probably not."

"Maybe you should go talk to him Raven." He told as she stalked off towards her room.

"I don't do apologies."

"Not quite what I meant."

Raven stopped for a few seconds, before making a small portal and disappearing through it. Shaking his head, Robin added that to the list of things that made him uneasy. An overwhelmed Raven mixed with a fanatically apologetic Beast Boy could not end well. He had found out about Cyborg and Curly's little 'bet'... He had five that Raven would slam him through several walls. What, were you expecting him to pass up on a chance like that to be the uptight stiff-leader? Ya right...

Speaking of which, guess who walked into the kitchen/common area at that moment. That's right boys and girls, none other than the green changeling himself. He looked at Robin, eyes bright with anticipation, "Have you seen Raven?"

Now, in the span of a second, Robin had an entire conversation in his head. It was complex, every aspect of his overly-rational mind analyzing, arguing, yelling at him to say one thing or the other.

"Tell him the truth, it's the right thing to do!"

"He'll make an idiot of himself, don't do it!"

"Screw making and idiot of himself, that smirk means he'll probably get himself killed! For his sake and the sake of all the poor unfortunate children to have such a dysfunctional father as him, don't tell him!"

"..."

"..."

"...On second thought, spare the kids the torture of having such a dysfunctional father as him, tell him where she is."

"That's cruel!"

"To who?"

"Both of them!"

"Do it! Just think of how awesome it'll be!"

"Curly! How did your voice get in here?"

"Uh..."

"Don't answer that, just leave."

"It'll be funny."

"No, it's wrong."

"You'll laugh."

"No!"

"You'll laugh right out of those Peter Pan tights! ...Just make sure no ones around, no one wants to see that."

"THEY ARE NOT TIGHTS!"

"Matter at hand, tell him."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"...No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes! I'm telling him and that's final!"

"Yes, I just saw her. She went to her room."

"Alright! Thanks Rob!"

Beast Boy dashed off as Robin's eyes widened behind the mask.

"Hehehe... Gotcha."

Robin shook his head, sighing. Then a smile crossed his lips, "Oh well, guess I should get the guys. Time to see who'll win this little bet."

Beast Boy practically bounded up to his room, grabbing something from the dark depths that was the changeling's abode. He then dashed as fast as he could towards Raven's room. His mind was set on making her see how bad he felt, and that's all. Of course, if he had properly thought his current plan of action through completely, he would've quickly realized that this ranked up there with his worst ideas, if it didn't take the cake.

Of course, if had thought his current action and seen how completely suicidal this current kamikaze to get Raven to forgive him was, he wouldn't have been Beast Boy and this entire segment would be extremely boring to all you reading. Anyway, beside the point.

Curly, Cyborg, and Robin had gathered at Raven's room. Or more specifically, one floor below it in the hallway. They figured whatever Beast Boy did, it would result in enough noise for this position to a good enough observation point, while still providing a defense against the possible and likely collateral damage that would follow. Unless, she blasted him right through the floor, in which case if they were still alive they could claim that they had in fact been trying to... Well, do something, if worse came to worse Curly could make something up real fast.

"Remember, he makes a complete idiot out of himself I win."

"Well, that's a given. However, if he makes an idiot out of himself and is sent through a few walls, then I win." Robin responded, pulling out money along with Curly.

"And if by some miracle has come up with a good plan, I win."

They were rolling at that. Beast Boy? A good plan? Ya right, borrowing who's brain? See, it was a little known fact. The medicine that made Beast Boy green and able to change into animals also made his body produce a chemical that killed smartness-brain cells. Really. I'm not kidding.

Raven sighed as she walked down the hallway to her room. She really did feel a little bad for yelling a Beast Boy. A little, he deserved every bit of it, but he didn't need it that harshly. Maybe she'd say she was sorry to him... Though it was doubtful. Nice thought though right? Just thinking about it made the guilt just flow away... Maybe there was something to this 'think happy thoughts' stuff...

She suddenly wondered why she hadn't just portaled straight into her room, before shaking the thought off. Sometimes stalking... er... 'walking' about the tower helped her think. Though in actuality meditating was probably better, walking just let her know that she was actually alive.

Opening her door, she was about to just sleep off the rest of the night for once, when a certain emerald blur came barreling down the hallway. She barely had time to arch her eyebrows before he was right in front of her, saying, "Here."

With that, he shoved a spoonful of something into her mouth, "That's how what happened made me feel."

It took a full second for the taste to register. It was that bad. I mean, Starfire, she had some pretty nasty stuff but this was just BAD. Spitting out would've been the most desirable course of action, yet her impulses went the other way, and she swallowed it. She could feel whatever it was slide down her throat, landing in her stomach with much more force than should've been possible. Then the real effect kicked in. It spread throughout her body, an ache at how horrible the... thing was. Spreading out from her core, to the tips of her toes and fingers, before doubling back again. You know that feeling you get, that guilty weight right in the center of your chest that almost makes you sick?

Imagine that everywhere, in every square inch of your body. Then multiply that by ten, and add a slight burning sensation. Then you have the unholy concoction that we will call for now 'Beast Boy's failed attempt at an apology'.

"That's how bad I feel, and I'm really sorry, and I'll try not to be such an idiot anymore."

The three stood below, waiting in baited silence. At the lack of sound, their eyes went wide, turning towards Cyborg.

"You've got to be kidding. You mean Bb actually had a-"

"BEAST BOY!"

"...Nevermind."

They grimaced as they heard the changeling's screams, streaking down the hallway above them. The tower shook as he bashed, probably headfirst, through a wall.

"Yes! I win!"

"Uh-uh bird boy, you said 'several'. Several denotes three. If he doesn't go through three walls I-"

He was cut off by another tower-shaking impact. The silence was total, as they waited for what would settle the bet. They waited. And waited. And waited some more. Yet despite this, only silence. No impacts, nothing to indicated that Beast Boy had even hit another wall, much less went through it. That meant trouble, so the three took off upstairs like bullets out of a gun. It took them a few seconds, and when they reached the hallway, they skidded to a stop.

Their jaws dropped right to the floor. Beast Boy was gone. I mean, he was really GONE. He had flew straight through the first wall, then sailed through the ten-foot titanium reinforced shell that was the outer wall. They could see clouds and the Jump City sky-line through the gaping hole.

Raven tossed her hair (Which had fallen in front of her face) back, tucking it behind her ear with a smirk. She turned to walk into her room, saying, "Oh, IF you find Beast Boy's body, tell him I forgive him."

And with that, her door slid shut. Maybe that stuff he had made wasn't so bad, it had a nice after effect. She felt warm, and at peace. Or was that just the satisfaction of sending him through over ten feet of titanium reinforced structure? It was hard to tell.

They stared, until finally Curly managed to point, "She didn't hurt him, SHE KILLED HIM!"

"Ah-hem."

They turned to Starfire, who hovered over, arms crossed over her chest confidently. She reached out with her hand, beckoning, "I do believe that makes me the victor in this 'bet', does it not?"

Chuckling as she floated away, counting the money, they heard her mutter, "I see why Earthlings do this. It is quite a satisfying way to achieve victory over your peers, as well as profitable!"

The three boys looked at each other, sighing. Curly told them, "Next time, don't let her overhear us when we make bets, ok? I already have to attend a funeral. Why add insult to Beast Boy's injury?"

"Agreed."

They looked at the hole again, before Robin asked, "So, should we go look for him?"

"What's left of him you mean?"

"Ya..."

"Ok. Cyborg, get a trash-bag, Bird-boy, get a broom, and I'll get a mop. Titans... er... go, I guess..." Curly said, scratching the back of his head.

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"Hey guys, I think I found his arm!" Curly yelled, pulling on the appendage to try and free it from it's prison of rubble and sea-weed. Much to his surprise though, he found it still attached to Beast Boy's beaten body. And he was breathing, "Holy crap, he's still alive!"

"Ow..."

"Beast Boy, you are the stupidest person I have ever met. And from me, that's saying something. What on earth did you do to her?"

"I tried to show her how bad I felt..." Beast Boy muttered, incoherent and dazed still. After all, being sent through a wall is a fairly traumatic experience. If Beast Boy had a brain, it would have been damaged. Luckily, he didn't so no real damage to report outside of scrapes, cuts, and bruises. Some nearly broken bones, but he was still in commission. He would live to be stupid another day. Unless he tried something with Raven again, at which point she may actually kill him.

Cyborg checked his arm scanners, nodding, "You got lucky man. No severe injuries to report. I don't recommend doing whatever it was you did again."

"Or if you do, tell us so we can get it on camera."

Robin thought a moment, then remembered, "Oh ya, Raven said she forgives you."

"For what?"

"This morning."

"What happened this morning?"

"You said something about Trigon and Raven got mad..." Robin continued, while Beast Boy slowly shook his head, "...You don't remember any of this do you?"

"Remember what! I'm so confused!"

"That's a constant state of being for you isn't it?" Curly muttered.

Cyborg made another pass with his sensors, this time taking special care to check his head out, "Hmmm... Minor head trauma. It's not to bad, just don't go flying through any more titanium walls and you'll be fine."

"What did I do this morning!"

"In short: You said something, Raven got mad, went telepath in the tower, you felt bad, tried to make it up to her, got sent through a dozen feet of metal. Sound familiar at all?"

Beast Boy rubbed his head, before a look of realization spread across his face, "Oh ya! Darn, I was sure that I had a good idea this time..."

"Beast Boy, it was probably the best idea you've ever had."

"Really?"

Curly stood up, patting the changeling on the shoulder, "Sure! However the best idea to you still ranks down there with the worst ideas ever."

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Alarms rang out, filling the entire tower with noise that woke up even Beast Boy (Sorta), the lights flashing out an impatient red. It was just about noon, so everyone was... Somewhat already awake... What, it was Saturday. No one does anything before noon on Saturday. Not even criminals.

"...Man... Whoever is robbing something this early needs to get a life." Curly muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"It's noon."

"My point exactly. I need five more hours of sleep."

"How many would that make?"

"I dunno... five, six..."

Robin rolled his eyes, ignoring further complaints. Yet no sooner had the image come up than everyone snapped awake. Except for Curly, he wasn't quite sure why he was in the common room, not really remembering how he had gotten there. Cyborg sighed, "So it's the H.I.V.E.?"

"Confirmed reports on Gizmo, Jynx, and Mammoth. Ok Titans, lets be professional. Avoid collateral fire, don't take stupid risks, and Cyborg, try to resist the urge to flirt with Jynx this time."

The half-robots circuitry gained a slight red hue, "Right..."

"Titans, go!"

"...Do you ever say anything else?"

"Curly, come on!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming... Man you people..." Finally Robin just dragged the much taller teen down the hall and to the elevator, physically tossing him into the back of the T-Car before hopping on the R-Cycle and following Cyborg and the girls out. The H.I.V.E. was not the most dangerous of their enemies, but they were some of the most persistent.

It only took them a few minutes to reach the bank where the heist was being instigated. Robin slid the R-Cycle to a halt, the T-Car following suit a moment later. Beast Boy and Cyborg hopped out, while the girls landed, and thus formed the anti-criminals of Jump City, the Teen Titans. Then Cyborg realized there was something missing. He turned and opened the back door of the T-Car. Curly did a very good impression of the leaning tower of Pisa for a moment, before tumbling out of the car entirely. His arms sprawled out, face against the pavement, legs still in the car, they could here his faint breathing.

Robin smacked his head in disbelief, "Raven, Starfire, come on. You two wake him up then join us. Titans, go."

Cyborg turned to his emerald companion, "You heard the man, wake him up."

Beast Boy stretched, popping his neck and fingers, "My pleasure."

At which point he turned into a green lion. He growled low in his throat, before placing himself rather close to Curly's ear. Taking a deep breath, he roared with all his lion wrath at the sleeping teen. It was rather frightening...

...Right until Curly grabbed his tongue. Beast Boy stopped mid-roar, giving off a cry of surprise. Curly's brown eyes opened slightly, and he sort of sat up, pulling his legs out of the car. Then he stuck his right arm out, hand flat. Then he put his right arm over his left shoulder, hand still flat. Then in a hard sweeping motion backhanded Lion-Beast Boy with a mighty 'SMACK!'. Beast Boy flew to the side, morphing back into a human as he did. There he lay, tongue numb and hanging out of his mouth.

Cyborg's eyes were wide, "What the crap was that?"

Curly stood up, re-demonstrating, "I call that the three-step solution to any problem. One." He put out his right arm, hand held flat, "Two," He put his right hand over his left shoulder, "Three." He swung out in a wide backhand that caught Beast Boy again as he was standing up, knocking him back down.

Curly straightened his coat, storming towards the bank, where he could hear the sounds of a battle, swearing bloody painful death to whoever had disturbed his Saturday sleep in. In fact by the time he had reached the door he already had a grenade hanging from his teeth by it's pin and a high-tech pistol in each hand.

Beast Boy stood up, trying to return feeling to his jaw, "-ere id at ome om?"

Beast Boy had had the feeling smacked out of his mouth enough times for Cyborg to be used to this kind of talk, "I dunno, I think the guy really wants to go back to sleep."

He entered the bank, glancing at the destruction within. Then he saw a bunch of green starbolts fly by right in front of him, followed by the glowing form of Starfire. He walked past this, when suddenly a computer screen whizzed past him, inches from his head, surrounded by a black aura. A large pillar ruffled his coat as it was hurled past him, actually scraping his back. Several bird-shaped boomerangs flew past him, coming about a centimeter from scratching his glasses. Gunshots rang out, the bullets bouncing around his feet and then continuing to trace his walking form on the far wall.

Then he reached his destination. Putting the two guns and the grenade in an outer, empty pocket he began to search his coat and pants for something. Rustling through everything he owned, it took him a bit. Then he went down to one knee, as a stray birdarang embedded itself in the machine, just where his head had been a second before.

Finally finding the right pocket, he pulled out a handful of quarters and stood, a half-aware smile on his face. Another birdarang buried itself into the wall, flying right between his legs, where he had been crouched a moment before. A second earlier and it would have hit him in the back. Yet as it was he was fairly undisturbed by the anarchy behind him. He fumbled the quarters, putting them into the machine. Then making his choice, he punched the button. It made many groaning and shifting noises, before finally dispensing a can of Mountain Dew. Curly smiled as he held the can in one hand, turning back towards the chaos, as the machine sparked and smoked as it died.

At that moment a crescent of pink magic hit the can of cola, causing it to sparkle a moment. Before the top of the can exploded at the refreshing drink spewed upwards. Curly took his glasses off with his free hand, closed his eyes, then looked up with his mouth open. The soda came showering back down, as he managed to get a mouthful, swallowing it. He put his glasses back on, and smiled again, "Mountain Dew, drink of champions.", at which point he gave a thumbs up as if he was in a commercial.

He blinked, the caffeine saturated drink bringing him back to the world. He looked around, grabbing the pistols again, "Ok then, what have we..."

Then a familiar form landed in front of him. It was small, bald, and was suspended above the floor by four spiked, spider like legs that sprouted from a backpack. It took him several seconds, before he burst out, "Hey, it's the bald baby! I remember you!"

Gizmo froze, eyes going wide. Then he turned slowly, "It can't be."

"Fizmo! How you been!"

"IT'S GIZMO YOU RACKIN FRACKIN KLUDGE HEAD!"

"Right, right, Lizmo! Look, my man, I don't know what your bed time is, but I suggest you work on getting it extended. Cause I think you are the only person on the face of the PLANET that gets up this early on Saturdays."

"WHAT? WHY YOU LITTLE!"

Curly was perfectly ready to go into an all out brain brawl with the half-pint, but then another figure landed close by that caught his attention. He moved out of the way just as Gizmo attacked with his spider claws, making him loose his balance and fall face first onto the ground. Curly smiled as he approached, "I'll be darned, Jenny the Jynx."

She turned, a look of surprise on her face. She knew that voice, "Wait... You're the one from the competition! The one that beat Gizmo-

"Hey!"

"-and knocked the H.I.V.E. out of the running during the School for Advanced Students competition! Curly!"

"Hey, hey, you remembered me."

She threw an arc of pink energy at him, which he ducked as they continued to talk, "How have you been?"

"Alright. You?"

"Never better," She tossed another bit of energy, which spun away from, causing it to hit a pillar, causing it to crumble and land on Mammoth's head, with little effect considering, "So, how did you get in with these goody little two shoes?"

"Not by choice. Something was stolen from me. You guys are criminals, you know anything about some guy named Slade?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, eyes going wide, "What?"

An explosion knocked them both back, and as Curly shook his head clear of the cobwebs, he glanced around to see Gizmo fuming at him, "You aren't getting away that easy!"

"Please, we've been through this before."

"You got lucky last time!"

"Oh really?"

"Ya, really. And the odds of you getting that lucky again are approximately ZERO!"

Curly had his pistols in his hands, remembering why he was here, which wasn't to socialize with the enemy. He could interrogate them later, "Let's put that hypothesis to the test shall we?"

A gun turret emerged from Gizmo's backpack, firing at Curly, who rolled behind a pillar, wincing as the bullets whittled away the concrete. Gizmo made his way around, peeking his head around the pillar to see if he had hit his target. He found himself at eye level with a sticky bomb stuck to the pillar. Curly waved from the next pillar over, pressing the detonator nonchalantly. It sent Gizmo hurtling back, leaving his imprint on the wall of the bank, right by the door. Cyborg and Beast Boy's eyes widened as they looked at the small criminal, slowly sliding down the wall.

Meanwhile, Mammoth had charged up behind Curly, trying to crush the smaller teen, who flattened against the wall to let the head-strong combatant pass by. As Mammoth tried to turn back around, he was hit by two powerful stun beams that left his body smoking. Yet it only took him to his knees, which was a problem.

"Hehehe... Is that the best you've got?" With that he slammed his fists down on the ground, sending out a shockwave that knocked Curly off of his feet, carrying far towards the other side of the room. An arc of pink energy hit the floor right in the path of his slide, causing it to collapse. Curly tried to grab something, anything to stop his fall, but failed and fell into the pit.

"Ahhhhh!"

Gizmo, Mammoth, and Jynx regrouped, a little worse for wear but ready to continue. Robin, who had been trapped behind a rather heavy piece of rubble by Mammoth was freed by Starfire, and Raven recovered from a spell cast by Jynx. The two forces assembled, on at the entrance of the bank, one in the middle.

"Well Titans, you really have a knack for attracting the real kludge heads of society. How did you end up with that idiot Curly on your squad?" Jynx whispered something to him hurriedly, which caused his eyes to widen, "You're kidding. The guy is after Slade?"

Robin's eyebrow shot up, "How did you know that?"

Jynx smirked, putting a finger over her lips, "Speak no evil."

"Grrr... Titans, go!"

"Azarath Metreone Zinthos!"

Mammoth picked up a piece of fallen concrete and hurled it at the piece thrown by Raven, both of them smashing. Jynx began to launch arcs of pink energy, which collided mid-air with Starfire's starbolts and Robin's birdarangs. Gizmo unleashed a hail of lasers and micro-missiles at Cyborg and Beast Boy, the former of which shooting back with his sonic cannon as the latter moved to flank the small criminal.

Jynx had Robin relatively pinned down, but didn't see Starfire fly up behind her. She was about to be knocked into next year by the Tameranian when Mammoth jumped tackled Starfire, wrestling her down. Yet then he was pulled off by a gorilla Beast Boy, and tossed to the side. The changeling barely had time to celebrate before being caught in the chest by a charged particle beam, knocking him sliding across the floor, changing back as he did so. He happened to slide right into the hole Curly had, knocking the grappling hook that the technologically advanced teen had been using to climb out loose, making both tumble back to the bottom.

Meanwhile, Jynx had switched targets, shooting what looked like constant streams of her bad-luck spells while moving in a dance like way towards Cyborg. The half-robot tried to keep her away with his weaponry, but in the end only forced her to move in a circle around him. Then she was right next to him, one hand on his shoulder. She leaned up and it looked like she was going to give him a kiss. He froze to the spot, shocked. Then noticed the energy sparking around him, realizing it had all been a trick to get his attention averted. As she back flipped away, he looked up to the ceiling where a perfect circle was being formed by tendrils of pink.

"Oh darn it."

Then it collapsed. However, it just happened to be that cheap plaster ceiling that was about an inch thick, so it just sort of fell around him, doing no damage whatsoever besides getting a little dust on him. He blinked, "Well, that was rather anti-climactic. You did that whole thing to distract me long enough so the ceiling would collapse on me then nothing happened."

"You know what, you're right. But I like to call it attack pattern Zeta."

"Huh?"

Then a rocket hit him on the shoulder, causing him to go head first into the wall. But Jynx soon found herself tossed up into the air, then slammed into the floor by a black aura. Raven was taken out by a stray shot from Gizmo though, so she didn't get hit that much. Until she was pounded by the green starbolts of Starfire, knocking the breath and will to fight temporarily out of her. An energy net, courtesy of Gizmo, caught the Tameranian, immobilizing her for a time, while Robin went one on one with Mammoth, and losing ground quickly to the other teen's superior size, strength, and ability to take punishment.

Beast Boy and Curly finally emerged from the hole, ready for action. Beast Boy ran straight for Mammoth to help Robin, while Curly snuck around to attack his main opponent. While Mammoth went on the defensive, being double teamed and all, Starfire managed to break free, and her along with Raven began an attack on Jynx. Gizmo was about to take off after them, when he suddenly felt the robotic spider legs go limp and detach. Something caught him in mid-air. He kicked and screamed, "Hey! Let me go! Let me go!"

Curly smirked, holding the bald boy by his backpack, "Sure thing. Go long!"

He spun around, and with a might jerk sent Gizmo rolling. However, Curly still held the backpack in his hand, tossing it up and down casually, "That was easy."

Gizmo wasn't going down that easy though. He drew a small laser gun from his belt, and everything stood still in time, as everyone began to ready for a final attack. It was going to end now, either way it went. You could feel the tension, practically hear the dramatic music playing in the background, building up for the climax of the battle.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

Then it was shattered. Everyone froze, looking at Curly. He stopped, before checking his pockets. He pulled out a cell phone, "That's not my ring tone... Hello?"

He looked at the phone, it wasn't his call. He began to look around, before looking at Gizmo's backpack. Rummaging through it, he pulled out a bleeping and vibrating phone. He looked around, unsure what to do. Then he slowly flipped the phone open and held it to his ear. He listened, and said unsurely, "Hello...? No... No... Fine..." Curly ducked down to look out the broken doors, "It's clear and sunny, what does that have to do with-, oh. Ok..."

Curly looked at Gizmo, holding the phone to the side and pointing at it in disbelief, "It's your mom."

"What?"

The small criminal ran over and jump-grabbed the phone, "Hello? Mom! I told you not to call me during school! What do you mean I wasn't there? I told you we had a heist today, I even put it on the calendar... But I told you to cancel that! Come home now? Are you crazy, we're in the middle of a fight! But... I don't... I can't... But it's a part of our master plan!" He whined, stomping his foot. Then his mother told him something sternly, sounding something along the lines of 'no gamestation for a month'. He slumped his shoulders defeated, "Ok... I'll be home in a minute... Bye..." He hesitated, before repeating in a low voice, "Love you to..."

He clicked his phone off before slumping out of the bank doors, "Sorry guys, I have to go. Some stupid meeting thing..."

Gizmo got outside, and used his spare jet-pack to fly away, leaving the combatants stunned and confused. Mammoth scratched the back of his head, "Uh... Ya..."

"Um..."

"That was... odd."

Raven pointed where Gizmo had went, "Does this happen often?"

"Increasingly so... Um... Are we going to keep fighting or..."

Curly tossed Gizmo's backpack aside, "For some reason that sounds like a stupid idea."

Robin nodded, "Ya..."

"Well... It's six on two, so... anyone want to get something to eat before you take us to jail where we will inevitably appeal ourselves out or escape?"

"...I'm game for that first part."

"Why not..."

"Ya... the weirdness level of today is already pretty high..."

So they soon found themselves seated at the Pizzeria, the best pizza place in Jump City. Or... one of them. It was really a matter of opinion after all. Anyway, they split up among several tables, three titans to each H.I.V.E. member. Jynx, Raven, Cyborg and Curly at one table, Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy and Mammoth at the other. For a little bit, it seemed as though they had forgotten that they had been trying to kill each other ten minutes earlier.

Jynx sighed, "You know, sometimes I regret joining the H.I.V.E..."

Raven's eyebrows arched slightly, "Really?"

"Ya... I think Mammoth and Gizmo do to... It seemed like a good idea at the time..." She said, stirring her drink slowly with her straw, "Action, adventure, riches, thrill of a lifetime and get paid for it... Of course, then I never thought about what would happen if we weren't able to finish our jobs... The fighting isn't so bad, in fact it's rather fun, but then I realize who we're stealing from..."

Curly listened silently. Raven could tell that in some strange way her words were striking a cord within him. Why she couldn't tell, he still had that impossible mental barrier up... She was awoken from her musings by Curly's next question, "Well, since we're friends for a bit... You were going to tell me something about this Slade guy everyone seems-"

"No, I wasn't." She glared at him, no humor in her eyes, "I value my life."

"Man, no one can be that scary..." Curly said, rolling his eyes, "I've been getting this same routine too much in this city."

"You obviously haven't been here long enough. You don't understand Slade, he is the ultimate criminal mastermind. As smooth as Lex Luther, as smart as the Riddler, and as merciless as the Joker."

"Keep naming off names, I'll tell you when you get to one that impresses me." Curly said in a bored tone, leaning back.

"You're still as cocky as you were. But I'm telling you, go up against Slade and you won't walk away from it."

"I agree with her," Raven said, "You are underestimating him far too much. With all five of us working together we've never been able to beat him. The closest we've ever came... well, he shouldn't have walked away from it, but he did..."

"Oh really? What happened?"

"An old team mate... Terra... She betrayed us, but came back in the end. She had powers over the earth, but she couldn't control them all that well. They got out of control and eventually formed an underground lava pool. In the process of stopping it from exploding, she knocked Slade into it..."

"...What happened to her?"

Cyborg answered slowly, "She... didn't make it."

Curly leaned back further in his seat, putting his hands behind his head, "...I'm growing to feel more secure in my position as the sixth member more and more by the minute. Ok, so the guy is tough... It doesn't change the fact that he has something of mine, and I will get it back."

There was silence at their table for a while, none knowing what to say next. It didn't last long though. Broken by none other than Beast Boy, with a box of vegan pizza, "Hey guys, want to try some all organic pizza? It's good!"

Step one: Place arm out in front of you, hand flat. Step two, put hand over shoulder, hand still flat. Step three: Backhand Beast Boy into the next century for coming to their table and actually suggesting that they eat some over processed plant made to look like the best food ever made. Cyborg laughed, "You're going to make his head trauma worse than it already is at this rate."

"So?"

"What head trauma?" Jynx asked, peering over the table at the changeling.

"Oh, our resident sorceress sent him head first straight through the titanium walls of the tower. Headfirst near as we can tell."

Jynx laughed, raising her hand, "Ya, that's the way to do it. High five girl!"

Raven raised her hand in an unsure motion, touching it to Jynx's uncertainly. Partly because she wasn't sure if she would try something, partly because she was unused to giving people high fives. At first it seemed like everything was normal. Then pink energy crackled around their table, and they had to jump away to avoid going straight through the floor, and Mammoth threw down a smoke bomb to hide their escape.

Robin coughed, waving through the smoke, "Titans, cough cough, after them!"

Cyborg checked his scanners, shaking his head, "They're already gone."

"Darn it! We had them!"

Curly blinked, looking around. Jynx had whispered something to him before she left. 'Follow these directions'. He looked down to his hand, there was a small card. It had a place, a time, and a warning to come alone. He quickly pocketed it, before gathering himself up, and following the other Titans to head back to the tower for the night.

And as he did he thought, 'Alright. Finally, we're getting somewhere..."

CHAPTER END

Challenge: Can you find the hidden game reference? Three hints: It's a mecha game, it's part of the game's name, and it's at the beginning.

God bless,

-ProfessorCurly-