A few little items before we get going:
I originally had a long introduction to this, but I took that out because I wasn't really happy with it. It sounded like I was lecturing almost. So the pairing in this story is going to be Robin and Raven. You'll see why it develops that way if you stick to this story and read the first couple of chapters.
Other than all that, I've got nothing else to say. I hope you enjoy this.
This story begins the very second "Things Change" finishes.
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Fire screamed toward Robin, crackling through the air and generating an immense heat as it neared. Robin's entire vision was filled with an orange glow so intense and painful his eyes watered and his skin began to burn. He almost did not react in time, barely throwing himself to the side as the flames scorched past. Robin blinked several times and slowly opened his eyes, allowing his vision to clear. He could clearly see a smouldering black stain on the concrete wall behind him, with a thin wisp of smoke rising from its centre.
Robin whipped his cape back over his shoulder and pivoted to face the source of the attack. Those beady red eyes were staring back at him, blazing brighter than the flames that now engulfed the creature.
Streaks of green slammed into the creature from above, bursting against its shoulders and back. Starfire hovered near the high ceiling of the Recycle Centre, hurling more starbolts downwards as the creature thrust its right arm toward her. Flames danced from the creature's fingertips and its hand began to glow brighter until it exploded, sending a streak of fire upwards at Starfire. She swooped down as the flames passed by, striking the steel beams above her. A large section of the girders began to bubble from the intense heat, generating a sizzling sound as the creature continued to release its deadly fire. With a grinding noise one of the girders snapped free from the ceiling, striking Starfire hard in her lower back and sending her tumbling toward the concrete floor below. Her world spun as she fell end over end, crashing with tremendous force on her back.
The creature's arm lowered to point at Starfire, flames sparking from its palm. As the fire built up, a thin blast of dark energy sliced through the creature's arm, severing the limb just above the elbow. Stumbling back several steps, the fire vanished from the creature, leaving only white. It turned toward Raven, who shot both her arms outward, sending two long streaks of black forward. The deadly energy left gaping holes in the creature's chest and thigh, leaving it unable to remain standing. As it tried to stumble back to its feet, Raven raised her arms above her head, creating a blur of black around her hands. Whipping her hands forward again, the dark energy surged from her, slamming into the creature's torso and thrusting it backwards. A horrific crash echoed from one end of the building to the other as the creature was propelled through the far wall, tossing a shower of steel fragments into the air.
Raven quickly turned to look at Robin. "Check on Starfire. I'll make sure this thing doesn't get away again." With that she rose up from the floor and flew out of the building, disturbing the dust and debris that had gathered around the hole.
Robin dashed over to Starfire, who was lifting herself up onto her knees. There were distinct cracks in the concrete surrounding her lithe body. "Are you okay?" Robin asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"I am unharmed," Starfire replied. She brushed a long strand of hair away from her face and flicked off specks of cement from her shoulders.
"Good," Robin quickly said. "Let's take this creature down."
Starfire leapt to her feet and grabbed Robin's wrist tightly, rising into the air and flying through the hole high above the floor.
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As Raven emerged outside into the moonlight, she could see a deep slice in the ground beginning about fifteen metres from the building. She followed the slice to the edge of a forest, where the creature was lying still. The sheer force behind the impact of the creature had snapped several trees like twigs, which had collapsed on top of it. Slowly Raven saw a hand reach up from underneath the trees, touching one. The stone white immediately turned brown, becoming hard bark. The transformation seemed to revitalize the creature, which roared to its feet, easily tossing the trees aside as it lumbered forward. The holes in its chest and thigh quickly filled in and the thick bark crept forward from the creature's elbow, creating a new arm.
With an astonishing burst of speed, one of its arms rapidly grew five metres in length, extending to Raven in a flash. Instinctively Raven thrust a convex shield of dark energy out in front of her, an instant before the creature's arm, as wide as a tree trunk, rammed into it, hitting with such force that it shook Raven. So focused on the attack, Raven failed to notice the creature's second arm, which came up under the shield and slammed into her ribcage, knocking the wind out of her. Raven gasped for breath, clutching at her chest and throat, and collapsed to the ground below, crumpling in a heap.
"Raven!"
She could hear Robin's voice over her own laboured breathing, his concern obvious. Still holding Robin above the ground, Starfire hurled him towards the creature. Robin landed gracefully on the soft grass and immediately leapt to his right as one of the creature's massive arms swung wildly at him, finding himself on the other elongated trunk. He ran full speed atop the creature's arm towards its face, brandishing his staff from his belt and twirling it as he prepared to strike. Rising the staff high above his head, Robin jumped upwards from the arm, bringing it down fiercely atop the creature's skull.
Starfire screamed in directly behind him, green streaks emanating from her eyes, which cut through one of the creature's long arms, sending it crashing to the ground. The smoothly severed bark at the end of its severed arm crept its way forward, forming a new hand. Starfire plunged downwards as the creature swung viciously at her with its one massive arm, barely missing her.
Darting out in front of the creature's path, Robin whipped his left arm outwards, firing a freeze disk from his hand. The disk popped against the creature's long arm, releasing a swarm of thick blue that quickly covered its entire limb. As Robin steadied himself for another strike, the ground trembled beneath him, rattling his bones. A colossal green triceratops charged out from the woods, ramming its deadly horns into the creature's frozen arm. The limb exploded, tossing bits of ice and bark into the air. Chunks of dirt and grass were ripped from the ground as the dinosaur skidded to a stop directly in front of the creature.
The horns sunk back into the dinosaur's skull as the entire animal became shorter and a long tail formed, spikes now jutting out from the side of its armour plated back. The transformation had been instantaneous, leaving a powerful ankylosaurus, which let out a mighty bellow and swung its heavy clubbed tail upwards at the creature, striking it hard in the chest. The creature was thrown backwards, nearly uprooting a tree as it crashed against it.
Robin was already over at Raven, his hand gently wrapped around her upper arm. As he slowly helped her to her feet he said, "Easy, Raven. Just take a deep breath."
"I'm fine," Raven replied with a scratchy voice. She cleared her throat and took another deep breath in. "I just had the wind taken out of me."
"Where's Cyborg?" Beast Boy asked in a brusque manner as he came up beside them.
Beast Boy's face was emotionless and he spoke in a flat, monotonous tone of voice. He seemed to ask the question as if it was simply business, rather than as concern for his best friend; it was almost as if he did not care. Robin knew he did in fact care, but his mind was clearly still on Terra, or at least the girl that he believed to be her. Until the creature was defeated though, there was no time for Robin to ask Beast Boy if he had truly found her.
Robin turned away from Raven to face Beast Boy. "Cyborg said he had an idea for how to beat this thing. We just have to keep it busy until he gets back."
Starfire gently landed beside them, touching down without a sound. The four Titans stood still, watching as the creature slowly got back to its feet. "Let us hope Cyborg's plan works," she said in her high tone of voice. "This creature is most strong."
"Titans, go!"
Starfire launched a pulsating wave of starbolts, hitting their foe with tremendous accuracy. The creature threw up its arms to block the blasts, but was able to remain still.
Beast Boy leapt into the air, turning into a bald eagle as he went, and flew straight ahead, but the creature flung out one of its arms as he swooped in. The fingers snaked outwards like five long branches, wrapping themselves around Beast Boy and slowly crushing him. Robin plucked a birdarang from his belt, the wings snapping outwards as he threw it forward. The sharp end of one of the wings struck against the creature's midsection, driving itself several inches deep. A red light on the weapon flashed twice and then exploded, tearing the creature apart above its waist. Beast Boy broke himself free from the grip by changing into a tiger and landed delicately on the ground, dashing away without any hesitation.
As the vines and bark began to reconstitute itself, Raven hovered in the air and stretched her arms forward, her fingers extended outwards. Her eyes glowed a bright white as she chanted, "Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" and black orbs formed around her hands. The trees surrounding the creature bristled with dark energy and in one motion all came crashing down, hammering it into the ground.
For several long seconds there were no sounds. Robin stood still with his fists clenched tightly, waiting for movement. It started as a low rumble, slowly growing louder, as the trees began to shake. The hulking beast awkwardly climbed to its feet, struggling to brush the trees off itself, and remained still, staring at the ground in front of it. Entirely white once more, it took one sluggish step forward, barely able to summon the strength for such a task by now.
Hearing noises behind them, Robin turned around to be treated to the sight of Cyborg charging forward, holding a large, flat object under his arm. "How're you guys doing without me?" Cyborg asked when he came to a stop.
"Just fine actually," Robin replied, pointing at the creature. "The thing looks pretty tired."
"Is that the device for defeating this creature?" Starfire asked, pointing to the object Cyborg was carrying.
"Sure is," he replied. "Just watch as my baby does its thing."
With that Cyborg pulled the smooth object out from under his arm, holding it out in front of him. It was a perfect circle, with a diameter of nearly a metre. But for a bright blue circle in the middle, the device was a whitish-grey. Cyborg cocked his head to his left and said, "Starfire, get me above it."
Starfire placed her hands under Cyborg's arms and deftly lifted him off the ground, rushing toward the creature and abruptly coming to a stop directly above it. Cyborg shifted the device slightly and then dropped it from his hands, watching as it fell perfectly level. The device cracked apart on the creature's head and back, bursting with a whoosh of air. A white mist was released which gently sank downwards, slowly enveloping the creature's entire body. As the fog faded away, the others could see that a white ice now covered the creature. Tiny icicles hung from its chin and fingertips, and the glowing red eyes had vanished.
"Whoa," Robin said. "What was that?"
"A cryogenic bomb," Cyborg proudly said as Starfire set him back down.
"You froze him?" Raven asked.
"And how. I figured this thing used some form of chemical reactions to change into different substances. All chemical reactions stop when they're frozen."
"That is most clever," Starfire remarked.
"And that's why you asked how many freeze disks I had left."
Cyborg nodded. "I knew I'd have to whip up something a little more substantial when you said you only had one. Worked like a charm too."
"So what do we do with it?" Raven asked.
"Take it to the prison for now," Robin replied. "I'm sure they can build some sort of special room to keep it frozen."
Before Robin had even finished, Beast Boy turned around and silently walked away from the others, staring down at the ground.
"Yo, BB!" Cyborg yelled. "What's the deal with—?"
"Let him be," Robin said quietly.
"He said anything since he went looking for Terra?"
"He has not told us anything about that," Starfire replied.
"Maybe he didn't find her," Raven said.
"Or maybe that girl wasn't even Terra," Cyborg added, shrugging.
"We'll just have to wait for him to cool down," Robin said. "For now, let's just get back to the Tower."
