32 Productions Presents…

A HIVE Team Story

The HIVE Team In…

"Night of the Ravager"

Chapter Two

Carnival

Sonic whistled the circus theme to himself as he looked over the destruction of the carnival. The place was deserted. Maybe whoever trashed the place left already.

Sonic: (muttering) Like I'm ever that lucky.

Sonic rolled out of the way of the huge oncoming rock. Terra rose out of it and stood on top, arms crossed.

Terra: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the greatest show on Earth.

Sonic: That's the circus.

Terra: What?
Sonic: That line you just said. That's the circus. The greatest show on Earth is the circus. This is a carnival.

Terra: Carnivals apply to that too!

Sonic: They do not!

Terra: Oh whatever.

Terra raised her arms and rocks shot out of the ground. Sonic used the sound of the earth ripping free of itself to destroy them.

Sonic: We've done this before, Terra. Sound beats rock like paper, baby.

Terra: Maybe. But there's one thing that beats everything else.

Sonic: Magma?

Terra tapped her chin in thought.

Terra: Good, but not what I had in mind.

There was a rumbling under the ground and suddenly Sonic was hit with a high pressure blast of water. He flew back into the "strength tester". He landed with a thud, hitting the bell.

Sonic: (dazed) I win… I'll take the teddy bear…

Aqualad: Tidal wave.

Sonic stood up. Aqualad…former partner of the so-called King of the Sea, Aquaman. Anyone whose sole power was to talk to fish didn't rate too high in Sonic's book. Unfortunately, Aqualad could also control water. He wore the bones of fish as armor. Strange how much protection they afforded him, given that fish bones really aren't that hard. They must have ate a lot of calcium before they died.

Sonic: That was going to be my next guess.

Terra and Aqualad raised their arms and prepared to attack. Sonic took a fighting stance. This could be harder then he thought. He dodged the first barrage of rocks, hopping over them, ducking under them, and generally just avoiding them. He saved the sound of impact to disrupt the water being shot at him. He worked his way over to Aqualad and kicked him in his chin with a nice flipping kick. He was hit from behind with a rock. He staggered to his feet. Terra hovered over him.

Terra: What's the matter, Sonic? No usual, "Why'd you betray us, Terra" crap today?

Sonic: Nah. Why be a broken record?

Terra: Good point. Of course once I'm done with you…

Sonic suddenly sank down into the mud. He could feel the hardening Earth begin to crush him.

Terra: …you'll just be broken.

Aqualad: Hey, be careful. You remember the deal, don't you?

Terra: Go screw a dolphin. He's not going to die…just get REALLY REALLY close.

Sonic: Don't I get a say in this?

Terra: Not really.

Sonic: I insist.

Sonic opened his mouth and screamed. The blast knocked Terra off the rock she was on, but he now had no way of getting out of the ground. Terra slowly stood up, blood running through cracks on her stone face.

Terra: You son of a bitch...I'll kill you slowly for that.

Sonic: Hey, you're the one supplying the fuel.

Terra: You f!

Terra applied more pressure. Sonic cried out in pain.

Bridge

Mammoth ripped the top off the car, allowing those trapped inside to climb out.

Mammoth: What did all this?

Lady: It was a monster…a horrible green monster!

Mammoth: Green, huh?

Changeling: Congratulations, dude! You know your colors. Next, why don't you tell me what a GREEN light means?

Mammoth: Real funny, Beast Boy.

Changeling: DON'T CALL ME THAT! YOU JUST SHUT UP!

Changeling scowled at him from his position on top of the bridge. He was sitting down, one leg dangling from the edge.

Mammoth: Come down here and make me.

Changeling: Nah. I'll wait until you're up here.

Mammoth was grabbed from behind.

Panthra: And Panthra will make sure you get there.

Mammoth: Ergh! There's nothing freakier then a girl with vast amounts of body hair.
Panthra: It's fur, you idiot.

Panthra hurled Mammoth upward. Changeling changed into a gorilla-beast and wait for him to get high enough to smack back down to the ground. To his surprise, Mammoth grabbed his arm and they both toppled over the side.

Changeling: (grinning) Good one dude. Looks like we both go splat now.

Mammoth: I'm willin' to bet I'll live. Are you?

Changeling's grin faded. He wasn't. He shifted into a giant winged beast, hoping Mammoth's grip would come loose during the change. It didn't and to make matters worse, Panthra leapt up and latched on to his other limb. Panthra wasn't just some really strong luchador in this reality. Hoping to increase her overall strength and agility, Panthra was submitted to experimental testing with feline DNA. They got the strength and agility in spades. The problem was that she was as lethal as her namesake…not to mention covered in fur and had grown a tail. She was also pretty freaking heavy, at least that was Changeling's point of view. Unable to maintain lift with that much added weight in such…inconvenient places, he plummeted to the ground. Lucky for him he had slowed their descent enough for them to barely get hurt.

Mammoth: Two against one…ain't that a little unfair?

Panthra: I believe that was the point.

Changeling: Yeah, this isn't about having a fair fight. This is about you dying.

Panthra: You're not allowed to kill him.

Changeling: YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TELL HIM THAT!

Changeling sighed and transformed into a rhino-beast. Mammoth braced himself and caught him in mid-charge.

Mammoth: Gotta do better then that.

Mammoth's leg was suddenly in agony. Panthra had slammed her foot against it, breaking the bone...and while he was no Superman, he was pretty high on the resistance to damage scale. Unable to stop Changeling anymore, he found himself slammed against a car. Changeling shifted back and stepped away, cackling.

Changeling: Not so tough now, eh baldo? Funny thing is…I'm not through with you yet.

Changeling became a yeti-beast and reached down.

Mammoth: Oh sh…

Mall

Krystal: Oh have they no shame? Attacking my sacred ground! Oh the insanity of it all!

Krystal sighed and looked around. All the stores she shopped at…trashed. The clothing torn to shreds. Only one person would behave in such a bestial manner.

Krystal: Shade! C'mon out!

Silence. Krystal shifted tactics. She whistled.

Krystal: Here boy! Come on! Mama's gotta treat for you!

With a loud snarl, Shade leapt from the wall that he had been scaling. Using his shadows as hooks, he burrows small, but stable holes into the wall, allowing him to climb walls like an insect. Krystal covered herself and disappeared in a flash of light. Shade hissed as she reappeared on the fourth floor. It was a big mall.

Krystal: Too slow, Shadie boy!

Krystal's ears picked up a sharp noise in the air. She moved just as an arrow whizzed past her head.

Krystal: Holy biscuits with butter!

Speedy: And that was just one of my normal arrows.

Krystal: I'm in trouble aren't I?

Shade appeared behind her and clawed at her, scratching deep into her back.

Krystal: That's a yes. I don't suppose either of you are up to talking this out over tea? Coffee maybe?

Speedy: Sorry. Caffeine's not good for you, you know?

Shade pounced. Krystal blinded him and ducked out of the way. This sent him over the edge. Krystal gasped and jumped for him, grabbing his leg.

Krystal: Can't…let you go splat…HRRK!

Krystal tried to ignore the arrow now lodged in her shoulder and pulled her brother up. He stared at her in confusion. She had saved him…why did that make his head hurt?

Park

Blackfire dodged the incoming starbolts that rained down on her.

Blackfire: Pretty sneaky, sis.

Starfire: Curse you and your knowledge of early 90's board game commercials!

Blackfire: Whatever. Honestly I don't know what you guys were thinking. You know you can't beat me, sis. You've tried. I was weak before, but I'm stronger then you now. Just accept it and go home.

Starfire: Not without your head!

Blackfire and Starfire clashed, trying to overpower one another. Blackfire was winning when she was attacked from behind. She was thrown down. She hissed as she held her leg. She had been shot. How the hell could she have been so careless? Someone stepped out of the bushes. He had blonde hair…but what held her gaze most was his piercing green eyes. Wait…that was Jerich…!

Starfire: …are you done?

Blackfire/Jericho: Yes. Wish I hadn't shot her though. That really hurts.

Starfire: Live with it. Embrace it. Pain is the confirmation that you are still alive.

Jericho: Cheery.

Starfire: I blame Raven's choice in music.

Movie Theater

Gizmo grumbled to himself as he wandered the trashed theater.

Gizmo: (muttering) Lousy good for nothing asswipes…ruining a perfectly good…ooo, I didn't know they were making a sequel to that…perfectly good movie theater.

Cyborg: Ya know…talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.

Gizmo: And you'd know.

Gizmo activated his spider legs. He hated letting the bad guys tower over him. Very insecure, this one.

Cyborg: You're probably asking yourself…what's he up to? Giving away his location…fighting me man-to-man…

Gizmo: Actually I think you're just a brain-dead moron.

Cyborg: I'm not the one who walked head first into a trap.

Gizmo: A trap! Oh noes! Like I didn't know that already.

Cyborg frowned. Something was wrong…he was struck from behind and sent into a wall. The other Gizmo stuck out his tongue and faded from sight.

Gizmo: Now who walked into a trap, loser?

Cyborg got back up, his breath hissing in his voice changer.

Cyborg: Still you.

Gizmo blinked and suddenly his pack was fried. He swore loudly and threw it off him as it sizzled. Kilowatt stepped out of the shadows, electricity still crackling at his fingertips. Cyborg stepped over to him and cracked his knuckles. Gizmo gulped.

Gizmo: I'm so boned…

Book store

Jinx sighed as she nudged her way through the pile of books. She really liked that store. She was an avid collector of graphic novels, not to mention they made great lattés.

Raven: I do so love books, don't you? While I detest most things humanity has come up with, I must admit…literature and music are not amongst those things. These stores…lined with so many books…I'll admit, it was difficult to destroy it at all. I tried to spare the books, but…you know how things can sometimes go different then you planned.

Raven was sitting in the only remaining chair, a hot cup of coffee in her hands. She blew on it…which caused it to bubble more. She sniffed it and dumped it on the face of a body lying next to her. It melted it right off, revealing the gray bone underneath.

Raven: I never did like coffee. No amount of cream and sugar could ever change that for me.

Jinx: Am I the only one you talk to this much?

Raven thought about it for a moment.

Raven: In total, or just amongst you HIVE members?

Jinx: Just us.

Raven: Then yes. Sonic would be a close second, but let's not get into that today. I've grown tired of that old subject. Ah, how rude of me. I didn't offer you a chair.

Raven raised her hand. A broken chair lifted off the ground and flew at her. Jinx shot it with a jinx bolt, causing it to shatter, the pieces of lumber not even coming close to her.

Jinx: Get up.

Raven: Cocky, aren't we? You know don't you? You're not stupid, I must admit to that. Your leadership has kept your friends alive this long, you must be doing something right.

Jinx: This is a trap.

A horn sounded and a vortex opened behind her. Jinx yelped as her ponytail was grabbed. Raven sighed and stood up, kicking the chair away.

Raven: Herald, I wasn't done speaking with my rival here.

Herald: Not my problem.

Jinx slammed her elbow into the Herald's stomach. He let go of her hair and stumbled back. She sent a curse toward Raven but she flew over the pink bolt. Raven lifted several book cases and flung them at her. Jinx jumped back…and right into a portal the Herald had opened. She found herself back where she started. She leapt back again, but couldn't move in time. She was pinned.

Museum

Red X shook her head as she looked at the paintings. All of them had been defaced.

Red X: How childish…

Robin: Or modern art. It all looks the same to me.

Robin was leaning against the wall, tossing a statue's head up and down. He stopped and held it up.

Robin: "Alas poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio. A man of infinite jest."

Red X: You've read Hamlet. Whoopie.

Robin: Aren't we cranky? Maybe it has something to do with a certain boy in red spandex? Hmm?

Red X clenched her fists.

Red X: You…

Red X leapt forward, catching Robin completely off guard. Her fist slammed across his jaw and he stumbled back as she kicked him in the gut. She backhanded him, making him stagger. She tried to jab him in the nose but he caught it. He punched her in the gut. As she doubled over he patted her on the back, leaned down and whispered into her ear.

Robin: Let's try this again.

Red X: Go to hell!

She tossed him across the room and fired numerous projectiles at him. Robin staggered back, covering his face with his arms. She fired another projectile. This one went way off target. Robin looked up.

Robin: You've got to be kidding…

An old bi-plane fell on Robin. Red X let out her breath shakily.

Red X: Never bring him up around me.

Kid Flash: Ah, baby. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't like me.

Red X turned and gasped. Leaning against the wall, cocky as ever was Kid Flash.

Red X: No…it's not possible! I saw you…

Kid Flash: Pfft. You don't even know WHAT you saw. I went too fast, that's true. In doing so I got caught in the Speed Force. It wasn't easy, but I managed to force my way back into this world before I was sucked into it forever.

Red X: I beat you once…

Kid Flash: 'cause you caught me off guard. Not this time, Candy-lips.

Kid Flash blurred and suddenly Red X was in a large amount of pain as Kid Flash's fist connected with her stomach repeatedly.

Kid Flash: Never again.

END PART TWO