A/N: This is your long awaited for ending to a very long fan fiction. Whew! I never dreamed of making it. I'll shut up now and give you readers what you want. It's long for a good reason. Enjoy and please review!
Disclaimer: Any Teen Titans character in this fic I do not own.
Chapter 28 Win or Defeat
A wild, frantic look was plastered to Jake's face as he sprinted through the darkness. He couldn't see a thing in the blackness, but Jessica seemed to be completely fine with it. She stood in the middle of the warehouse and only had to look at Jake to take control of him.
Jake had to take in mind that if she couldn't focus on him it was harder for her to take command of his body. That was why he was running around the building blindly. The whole time he kept those two blue eyes in sight. They were the only real hint to Jessica's location.
Gritting his teeth, Jake put on his brakes quickly. A dust cloud formed around him. Those eyes looked his way but he was already gone, using his belt to turn himself invisible. He silently ran straight towards Jessica while taking out the X shaped razors on the back of his gloves. With a battle cry he struck out to her neck.
"No!" he cried as Jessica sensed him at the last second and pushed him away. He only managed to lightly scrape her sickly pale neck. Before he was pushed back into the darkness, he could see her tap her wound and growl in anger.
Her broke out of her hold with much difficulty. Her anger was the only thing keeping her mental abilities strong. After landing not so gracefully, Jake picked himself up and tried not to pant so much. He had to be silent to sneak up on her. Someone panting like a dog wouldn't be too great at that job.
The teen had been at this battle for more than a half an hour now with no breaks to rest. He was sore, beat up, and had a headache that just didn't know when to quit. He had tried numerous times to kill the girl by decapitating her, but she seemed to know what his plans were and wouldn't let him come near her neck. That little scratch she had now was the best Jake had done in the whole time he had been fighting.
Jake spotted a pillar as he ran. He hid behind it and closed his eyes to rest for a few seconds. He didn't think he was getting anywhere. Jessica was just too strong. He was going to pass out if he had to keep up this pace. Jake winced as the thought hit himself of him finally succumbing to this girl. What was he going to do?
He suddenly had a thought. It would most likely use up every drop of Xenothium in his new belt, but it could work. He was going to make it work. Narrowing his eyes in determination, the boy started to run around again. He took out about a dozen red X's and started to throw them at the girl as he circled her. He used up all the X's in his possession and skidded to a stop and ran the opposite way.
By now Jessica was growling in pure hatred because of him. Dozens of X's were sticking out of her body. Blood slowly trickled out of her wounds. She was about to pour everything out on Jake, but then he turned invisible. She screamed in her own madness. Her anger for him was getting worse every second. The next time she saw him she was going to explode on him.
"Up here!" he called down to her from above. She looked up to the rafters and saw him there. With a wild yell she threw up her hands and focused all her energy on him. Jake yelled in pain as he grabbed onto the side of the rafter with all his might. His arms felt like they were going to be pulled out of their sockets. He wouldn't be surprised if he heard a pop.
Jessica gave up with him after a few tries. She let his body go with another growl. He collapsed onto the rafter with a wince and didn't even try to get back up to his feet. Jessica decided that if he wasn't coming down, she had to get him. She started to move her own body slowly upward; it was a move that took full concentration on her part. But Jake wasn't doing anything and was still recouping on the rafter, or so she thought.
Suddenly Jake looked right into her eyes with an evil smirk on his lips. Jessica stopped her ascend and stared back at him in the middle of the air. She was stuck. If she moved him, she would break her concentration on herself and she would fall. But she was vulnerable to any of his attacks if she didn't attack him now.
Jake aimed his palm at her and was about to shoot his red goo at her, but she made up her mind. She quickly flew above him, on her way to a set of rafters above Jake. The teen predicted this move and his smile widened and pointed up at her before she could land above him.
"Just harder the fall," he said while shooting at her. His aim was true, and Jessica quickly found herself covered in red sticky stuff. Her concentration vanished and she began to fall. As she did, Jake kept shooting his red gooey X's at her relentlessly. She hit the cement ground hard with a sick thud.
Jake stood up straight on his rafter far above Jessica's covered body. He let out a pent up breath as he made the X's on his gloves come out again. He swiftly jumped off the rafter and down upon Jessica. The red goo around her body softened his fall. He stuck an end of the sharp X's on each side of Jessica's neck. He could feel her body wiggle and wreath in her red, sticky goo soon to be her grave.
With a simple and swift cross of his arms, Jake's X's sliced through her neck cleanly. Her body stopped once her brain was disconnected to her body. She was officially gone. Jake looked away from her corpse and sheathed his blades silently. He didn't look back as he walked into the darkness. His job here was done. He had other things to do.
-Robin-
The two boys had been with each other for only ten minutes and they were already seeing progress. Both of them had their backs pressed up against the wall and were silently peeking behind the corner in the hallway. Two Slade-bots were stationed outside a door armed with two laser guns. The soft glow from the lamp above them reflected off their slick armor.
Abe suddenly grabbed onto Robin's wrist and looked down with a panicked look on his face. Robin bit his lip to stop himself from gasping at Abe's sudden move. He glared down at him till he saw the fear in his eyes. He looked down and swore inside his head.
A giant black centipede, maybe a foot or so long, was starting to crawl up Abe's pant leg. The kid shook his leg a few times and stopped when the thing hissed in anger at this disturbance. Abe looked up to Robin for any kind of help on the matter. Robin mouthed to him to not move. Centipedes could be poisonous and Robin wasn't planning on losing Abe because of a stupid bug.
Robin took out a bird-a-rang from his back pocket. The centipede was now crawling up Abe's shirt. Its mouth was inches away from his exposed neck. Robin held the gadget over the bug and got the nod from Abe to kill it. In one clean swipe, the bug was cut in half and fell to the floor dead. Both boys let out a sigh relief.
Abe looked up and his relieved expression changed into one of alarm. "Behind yo…!" But he was too late. A robot swiftly had Robin's hands in handcuffs and another one had grabbed Abe. Robin lashed out with a kick and nailed the robot behind him in the chin. He turned around and was faced with a dozen more robots.
It took ten minutes for the robots to finally get a hold on the two boys. By the time the fight was done, three robots laid in sparking pieces of scrape metal. Abe was now in handcuffs as well. He had to be carried away by three robots who weren't being to gentle with him as he protested the whole time. Robin wasn't shouting like Abe was, but he wasn't making the robots' job easy for them.
Roughly, the two where shoved into the room they had been watching and waiting to ambush. Abe cried out as his ankle gave out on him and he feel to his hands and knees. "What's the problem?" Robin asked him while kneeling down beside the fallen kid. The teen was seized by the back of his shirt and dragged forward. "Let go!" Robin yelled at it, frustrated with their new position.
"It's my ankle," Abe said through a wince as he too was dragged violently forward. Finally the two were let go and forced to their knees on the coarse dirt ground. Their situation just got worse it seemed. Slade stood before them with his arms crossed in front of him. His one eye sized both boys up in a few seconds. Robin knew the man had to be smiling smugly under his mask now. It made the teen's blood boil in anger.
"Just in time to see your new present," Slade said down to both of them. He clasped his hands behind him calmly before nodding behind his shoulder to some robots in the shadows behind him. Robin's stomach dropped as if on a roller coaster as he saw the triumph in the madman's eyes. He watched with dread as the robots came out holding onto a motionless figure.
"Sam!" Abe screamed in horror as he watched her body being thrown in front of both of them. Robin gasped as he put his hands to his mouth in shock. It was clear that she was dead. The laser hole went right through her heart. Sadness suddenly pressed onto Robin as he stared at her dead body. He desperately tried to hold back his tears. They still had the problem of Slade on their hands. He couldn't let emotion get to him.
Abe was in a lot worse shape. He kneeled over his sister's body with tears poring down his face. "Not again!" he whispered to himself while squeezing his eyes shut as memories of his dead mother flashed into his head. He couldn't bear to see another one of his family members die. He wished he was dreaming all this, but when he opened his eyes, his sister was still there.
"Abe," Robin said solemnly to him, "I…I'm sorry."
"Of course you are!" Abe snapped at him. "And I have nothing freaking against you, Robin!" He glared dangerously up at Slade as the anger inside of him burned. "I'm against him!" he yelled while pointing to Slade.
"Abe, don't do something stupid," Robin said quickly. He knew that look in the kid's eyes. He used to have it every time someone even mentioned Slade. He could see a lot of his younger self in Abe now. He knew whatever he would say to him was not going to do anything to stop him from acting out of anger. He wasn't surprised when the boy suddenly sprung forward toward Slade with a loud battle yell.
As if whacking a pesky fly away, Slade simply blocked the boy's attack and grabbed his neck. In a swift motion, he slammed Abe's back against a steel pillar. Abe's eyes were wide in fright now. He winced as he fought for air. None was coming, though. "Crap, crap, crap…" Abe repeated to himself as he realized his stupid move. He was paying the deadly price now.
Narrowing his eyes, Robin got up and raced toward Slade. "Stop!" he yelled while throwing a bird-a-rang with his hands still cuffed. The blade struck Slade's thumb that was pressed against Abe's neck. Slade quickly released the kid. Abe gasped for air and fell to the ground ready to pass out. Slade backed off and let Robin catch his friend.
Abe passed out in Robin's arms. The teen slowly lowered the kid to the floor gently. He would be okay, but he had been close to death. Robin stood back up and glared at Slade. "You went too far, Slade," he growled at the man.
"They were both in my way," Slade said casually. He pulled out the bird-a-rang in his hand and crushed it in a tight fist. He sprinkled the remains of the gadget on the dirt floor and then looked up to Robin with an evil look in his eye. "What are you going to do about it, Robin?" he asked the boy. "You aren't capable to revenge your stupid little friend. Revenge is not the 'superhero' way."
Robin's glare darkened as he got into a battle stance. "You have no idea what I'm capable of, Slade," he said, his voice dripping with poison.
"There you are wrong," Slade said. "It is you who doesn't know how much you are capable of." Without another word the two went at each other.
-Raven and Jake-
"Please, please wake up Rea!" a voice called desperately to her. With a moan of pain, Raven opened her eyes to be staring into Jake's big blue ones. She looked up at him with confusion. She didn't know where they were or why she was knocked out. Jake smiled down at her with relief. "You hade me worried," he said quietly.
Suddenly all the memories before she passed out hit Raven. She gasped and made Jake jump back in surprise. "Where is Slade?" she asked while stumbling to her shaky feet. Jake had to hold onto her to keep her steady.
"He's not here…thankfully," Jake answered her. "I had been keeping track of where everyone was before I called up James for help. I had been in this room, before switching places with Robin, so I knew that you and Sam had to be heading here. Where's Sam?"
"It's awful, Jake," Raven said with a sad sigh. Tears swelled up in her eyes as the dreadful memory came back to her. "She was killed in a fight with some Slade-bots. I couldn't do anything to help her. I guess they took her away." She sighed before adding bitterly, "I feel so helpless."
Jake stared back at her with great sadness on his face. He finally sighed with a quiet swear whispered under his breath. He kept wondering how James would take the news. His wife was already gone. How would he deal with another death in his family? The teen felt awful.
"You're not helpless, Rae," Jake told her solemnly. "I need you to help me disable all these bombs." He briskly walked over to the computer screen showing the footage of the city. He observed the different screens for a second with interest in his eyes. Raven joined him, trying to be as unemotional as possible. They both looked down at the keyboard. They tried to hide the confusion from each other.
Raven cracked first. "Which of these is for the bombs?" she finally asked. "You would think that Slade would film footage of the places he put the bombs instead of those things the Titans are fighting."
"Because they are the bombs," Jake said slowly. His eyes lit up while saying, "Those invisible things have to be Slade's bombs! We should be able to shut them down from here. Do we just start pressing buttons?" He pushed a random button and looked back up to the screen. It changed into a timer for 15 minutes. The words "Detonation" flashed briefly onto the screens.
"That can't be good," Jake muttered. The two teens cringed when Raven tried another button and the words "Lockdown initiated" came onto the screens. "That has to be worse," Jake said while biting on his lower lip. He reached to press another button but Raven stopped him. "What?" he asked her.
"So far pressing random buttons is just making our situation worse," she told him while letting go of his wrist she had grabbed. "We have less than 15 minutes to override this lockdown and stop the bombs. We need a better plan than just pressing buttons. We already detonated them by mistake."
"Agreed," Jake said with a nod. He sighed while running a gloved hand through is hair. "Why can't there be a big red button like on the movies? It would be a lot simpler than this stupid computer. To override it we would have to type in a code. After that we would have to somehow know the right button to shut the bombs down. Know any codes?"
"No," Raven said with a frustrated sigh. "It could take us hours to get a right code. Should we just tell the Titans to leave?"
"And let Slade get away with what he planned for this city?" Jake asked her. "No! I didn't kill that psycho path two times in a row to be defeated by a computer. There is a way to shut this thing down. What if we destroy the whole thing?"
"That wouldn't work. This thing could still be linked to the things above ground and only quicken their explosion," Raven said matter-of-factly. "We would have to destroy the main power source as well." Her eyes went wide with realization. Jake nodded as he thought about it.
"It could be like those simple computers everyone has at home," Jake said. "If something you don't like goes wrong on it and you don't know what to do…the best thing to do is to shut down the whole computer down." He smiled at Raven while saying, "It's worth a try. We have less than 12 minutes."
The two went to work looking for a power source. They kept looking back to the main computer and watched nervously as the timer kept getting shorter. Soon it was five minutes left. Suddenly Jake heard a huge bang as a metal tile on the ceiling above him was ripped off and flung to the ground. He looked to Raven and saw her using her powers to tear down the whole metal ceiling. It didn't take long for Jake to find the main source of wires.
"Levitate up there and cut all those wires bunched together with your powers," Jake told her. "I've found a disconnected bunch of wires over here that must be what Slade used to cut off our signals to the communicators down here."
With nods, the two went to their tasks. Jake looked back and saw that they only had a minute now. Sweat started to form on his brow. Raven used all her almost depleted energy to cut through the bunches of wires. Jake connected all the wires in his bunch together then called up James with high hopes. He gave a loud shout of happiness when the call came in and he clearly saw the man's face on the screen.
"What happened?" James asked him with relief all over his face. "I've been worried sick! Did you kill Jessica and shut down the bombs with Sam and Raven?"
"The first one, yes," Jake said in a rush. He avoided saying anything about Sam and continued. "Raven and I are right now working on the bomb part. We figured those invisible things walking around the city are the bombs." He looked to the clock and yelled to Raven, "Hurry, Rae!"
"One last cut, Jake," she told him. "This should turn off the bombs." They nodded at each other and Raven whispered her mantra, focusing her last bit of strength on the wires as a dark disk came out from her hand and sliced through them. The main computer suddenly went black and so did a few other big computers around the room.
The two held their breaths as they waited for James to respond. Suddenly the man's voice from the communicator cut through as he yelled to them, "You did it, guys! The robots just suddenly died! You did it!" The rest was drowned out by the other Titans cheering.
Jake and Raven joined into the cheer. Raven flew back down and Jake swung her around the room with a laugh of joy. Raven couldn't help but laugh with him. They had saved the city once again from falling into the hands of a madman. It was something to rejoice over.
Caught up into the moment, Jake suddenly grabbed Raven's shoulders and pulled her into a passionate kiss. The girl didn't resist him and welcomed the new overwhelming feeling as she let her emotions go wild with a giggle of excitement. Both their bodies started to hover in the air and the objects around them spun slowly around the two in their bliss. Their bodies seemed to become one as they melted into each other.
Once they both pulled away with gasps, they fell to the ground on top of each other along with the things around them. Jake panted from the exhilarating feeling he had just had. Raven was gasping along with him. "Did you feel that?" he asked her with a laugh. The Goth girl blushed profusely and smiled up at him. "And why don't you have a boyfriend again?" he asked.
"Let's hope I have one now," Raven said with a grin. Jake gave a laugh and pulled the girl up off the floor. "What now?" she asked him as she mentally felt his sudden worried vibe.
"Robin and Abe are still out there," Jake told her. "They might need help. It should be easy to find them, now that the communicators are working again." Raven nodded as the seriousness of the situation sunk back into their heads. Jake picked up his communicator and headed for the door with Raven tagging behind him. "Let's hurry," he told her as they both started to jog down the hallway.
-Robin-
"Don't tell me you are wearing out already, Robin," Slade taunted the boy. "We have only been at this for a half an hour. You seem ready to collapse."
Robin gave a loud battle yell as he was able to dodge an attack from Slade and delivered a strong kick to the man's neck. Slade backed away from him to recoup. Robin landed in a crouch with his eyes narrowed into deadly slits. "Not quite," he seethed. He didn't let Slade recover as he came in for another attack.
The boy had turned on destruction mode. It was like he didn't care about anyone's safety as he attacked his only target, Slade. Fierce determination burned in his masked eyes as he delivered kick after kick along with many strong punches. It seemed like all his anger for this man was coming out with each attack. For any innocent bystander, Robin was a dangerous animal.
But on the inside, Robin was begging his body to stop. He didn't like the monster he had become and tried to fan the flames of anger down in his head. This was what Slade wanted him to do. He didn't want to become the man's perfect little apprentice. He kept telling himself to calm down before he seriously hurt someone, mostly himself.
His attacks were great and strong in the beginning. Most Slade couldn't even block for once. But after time went by, Robin's body began to spiral slowly down. He kept his lightning fast pace, but his attacks were stupid and Slade was easily dodging and blocking them now. But his body kept going. It was like he couldn't slow down.
The boy was only snapped back into normalcy when Slade caught him off guard and flung him into a cement wall. The boy's body couldn't keep up the pace and go on anymore. Robin gasped as he fought the blackness threatening to overtake him. He got to his hands and knees while letting his mind finally calm down and let his body recoup for a second. A sick feeling formed a pit in his stomach as he thought about his destructive state before. He never wanted to be pushed over the edge like that again. He was scaring himself.
"Get up, Robin," Slade commanded sternly to the boy as he glared down at him.
"I'm done, Slade," Robin whispered while shaking his head.
Slade effortlessly picked Robin up by his hair. The teen winced but didn't do anything else. "I will tell you when you're done, Robin," Slade whispered cruelly to the boy. "Now…fight!" He threw the teen across the room. Robin glared at the man as he slowly got to his feet again. They then both came at each other with battle yells. At the last second Robin smoothly slide under Slade and backed off with a sly smile coming to his lips.
"You don't control me, Slade," Robin said firmly. "I'll fight when I want to. And I'll keep resisting you till you finally see that I'm never going to be your apprentice. I've already won, really. You can keep trying, but I'll never fully be yours."
"Then I bet you're hoping this lifelong fight doesn't turn out to be like the one we had back before the Past Eraser," Slade said slyly. "You have never once beaten me by yourself, Robin. What happens when you grow out of your stupid little team and there is no one there to help you? You won't be strong enough to resist me for too long."
"People grow up, Slade," Robin said emotionlessly, "You should too."
"It seems my apprentice really has grown," Slade said with a satisfied nod. He walked up to Robin. The teen stood his ground and boldly stared into the man's eye. "But you still have many years ahead of you, boy." He suddenly whipped out his Bo Staff and rammed Robin's beaten body into the wall again, pinning him there. His head pounded profusely and spun as it hit the wall. Robin helplessly struggled against the hold while glaring daggers at the man.
"You still have a lot of anger inside of you. It might not have lasted long, but you were at your best when you fought with your anger controlling you. If you could ever control that anger and tame it, you could be unstoppable, Robin. You don't see the power you have. But I'm going to teach you to control your anger and wisely know when to use it during a fight."
"I've said this a thousand times and I'll say it till you finally get it into your head, Slade," Robin growled down at him. "I'll never be your apprentice."
"Oh, but you already are, my dear boy," Slade said. "Every time we meet or even talk to each other, I'm pushing you in my planned out direction. Yes, you are resisting me and I'm not watching over your every move, but you do listen and learn from me. You'll not admit it now, but I influence you and teach you things. These past weeks I've pushed your physical, mental, and emotional limits. I've done it many times with you. Every time you lick your wounds, move on, and reluctantly come back for more. It's a cycle, Robin, which you won't ever have control over and will never be able to stop."
Robin's head swam. Everything Slade was saying made sense and was true in so many ways. Fear gripped his heart as he realized this whole ordeal had only been a pre ordained test for him. For once Robin just wanted to win and take control. He wished so badly that he could be free of the man before him. But he wasn't going anywhere now. He would have to pick himself up after this and move on just like Slade said. But wasn't that what Slade wanted? Robin didn't get over this, would Slade actually give up on him?
Suddenly a beeping sounded on Slade's watch. He looked back up to Robin and said, "It seems that your friends have saved your pathetic city once again. I knew they would. Until next time, Robin." Slade stepped back and let Robin drop to the floor on his hands and knees. "And tell Jake that I'll be seeing him soon," the man added before throwing down his spoke bombs.
Robin didn't even try to prevent Slade from getting away again. He had been beaten down to his physical limits. He stayed on his hands and knees with his eyes closed, trying to desperately keep himself together. He had never felt so hopeless in his life. Did Slade really have his life planned out against his own will? Could he ever stop this torment on his life? Why should he ever pull himself together? The questions kept getting darker and more depressing till finally one simple saying replayed into his mind.
"Never, ever give up," Robin thought out loud. It was ironic that he thought of those words at a time like this. He thought they would come back to him in a fight. But then again, this really was a fight, an internal and emotional fight against himself. That's what Greg had meant when he said that to Robin back in the airplane in Lima. The boy smiled faintly as he realized this. "I'll never give up," he told himself firmly.
The boy picked himself up off the ground slowly. He stiffly walked over to Abe's unconscious body and lifted him onto his back like a fireman would. He grunted as the weight almost made him fall over. He was too worn out to carry anyone at this moment. But this didn't stop Robin from pushing on.
He had to stop when he saw Sam's dead body. He couldn't just leave it there. James would want to burry her or something. He made his way over to her with emotions running high. He had seen people get killed before, but Sam was someone who had become close. She had risked her life for his. He felt so undeserving yet very thankful. If he ever had a reason to keep going after this it would be for her. She would be greatly missed.
From complete exhaustion, Robin had to stop there. He carefully set Abe down and he sat down between them, panting from the stress on his body. He sniffed while whipping away a tear that rolled down his cheek. They had won on many levels, but he didn't feel the winning joy at the moment.
"Robin!" two voices shouted at him from the doorway suddenly. He looked up with a tiered smile coming to his face. Raven raced into the room and pulled the other teen to his feet. They embraced each other tightly. "I missed you so much," Raven whispered to him. He only hugged her tighter, holding onto her firm and strong emotions for a second. She noticed this and asked, "You okay?"
"I will be," Robin whispered back.
A/N: I'll have a little last chapter to sum some things up. Man, for some reason my last few paragraphs even made me want to cry! I've never done that to myself unless I killed someone off. And it was also my first time having a kissing scene in a fic. I hope that one turned out well. I've only experimented with romance once or twice, so I'm not the greatest in that field yet. But please give a review! Thanks!
