Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.
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"Ok ladies, how about we save the butt kicking for the Brotherhood of Evil?"
The two sorceresses turned at the same time and glared at the Boy Wonder.
"Listen, if the two of you can't put your differences aside I'll have both of you sit out the mission."
Raven exploded.
"You can't be serious Robin!"
"I am Raven, you're clearly agitated and quite frankly you're in no mental shape to go against the Brotherhood. And as for you Raptor, you're too damn disruptive."
"Oh chill out bird boy. We won't even be together during the mission."
"It doesn't matter Raptor. I don't want either of you distracted with anything. I want both of you to bury the hatchet right now. Beast Boy is Raven's boyfriend and you have your own Garfield. There won't be any showdown between the two of you. Have I made myself clear?"
A dead silence hung in the air.
"Yes Robin, I agree." The girl with the monotone answered.
"Of course you do Raven. He just handed Beast Boy to you on a silver platter."
"HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR!" Robin shouted even louder.
Raptor smiled slyly.
"Whatever you say Robin."
The Boy Wonder glared at the parallel sorceress. He was still unnerved by all their counterparts. Nightwing was beyond disturbing as was the local version of Cyborg. But Raptor gave him the willies. Here was a half demoness with Raven's powers but who lacked his dear friend's sense of ethics and morality. Robin would entrust Raven with his own life any day under any situation, but Raptor was an enigma to him. He had no idea on how much trust, if any, he should give her.
And yet he was going to trust Raven's gray twin to lead her team of criminals on a mission to save the city. Sure he had agreed to a truce with Slade when he needed the one eyed man's help to rescue Raven from Trigon's pit of despair. But just as he had not really trusted Slade back then he didn't trust Raptor either. Unfortunately now, as back then, he had no choice. There was no Justice League to call upon for help and the handful of superheroes around the world were next to impossible to contact on short notice. It was now or never and Robin knew they would have to make do with the help they had.
"Assemble your team Raptor. We're all deploying in 5 minutes." Robin grunted. "Terra, you know what you have to do. Raven, Beast Boy, let's get ready."
The three teams assembled in the common room and self segregated into their respective groups. There was no playful banter or trash talking across groups. The mood was somber as the grim reality of the situation sank in. Robin stepped away from his team and was joined by Terra and Raptor.
"Ok teams, we are all that stands between this city and its complete annihilation and destruction. Terra contacted the mayor earlier today and there is a mass evacuation in progress. While we don't know what the Brotherhood is up to at this point it's not likely that the evacuation will be complete before the black hole generator is in place and activated."
Robin paused and stared at the assembled teams. He nodded at Terra and she continued with the speech.
"I don't need to tell you that there's no room for error. We won't get a second chance if we fail and we will probably perish with the city if we do. Also, there was a report of a jail break, so expect to encounter the usual suspects in addition to whoever the Brotherhood brought with them from outside Jump City."
She nodded at Raptor, who stepped forward.
"Some of us aren't used to being heroes, but what exactly is a hero? Is a hero merely a self righteous do gooder? The answer is no. A hero is someone who rises to the occasion when least expected, and that's what the Hive will do today."
Robin stepped forward and gave the final words.
"Good luck Titans. Be safe and be successful."
Raven and Raptor each opened portals which their teams stepped into while Terra led her team to the hanger where their version of the T-Ship awaited.
It had begun.
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A portal appeared inside the missile silo complex, which was dark and foreboding. Cyborg turned on his built in flood light while the others turned on their miniature flash lights which were too weak to light up the cavernous interior of the complex. As the Hive began to explore the facility their footsteps echoed throughout the large room.
"This was a bad idea Raptor, why the hell did you volunteer us for this?" The changeling whispered to his ex-lover.
The sorceress glared at him.
"I'm sure Beast Boy isn't whining about this like you are. Why can't you be more like him?"
"Uh, cuz we don't wanna get killed?" Cyborg replied.
Raptor felt a surge of anger swell through her. She had briefly been a Teen Titan and knew what it meant to be a hero. Unfortunately her rag tag band of thieves had no such background or experience.
"If the city is destroyed there won't be anything for us to steal, right?" Nightwing added.
"We could move on somewhere else you know." Blackfire commented.
"But Jump City is our turf." Nightwing added. "If we move we'll end up butting heads with someone else. And I'll bet we'll be pardoned if we save the city, which will give us time to regroup and plan new heists."
"You guys are some role models." Raptor said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"You really are smitten with Beast Boy, aren't you Raptor?" Blackfire snapped. "You should just forget about him sweetheart, Raven's here now and she's staked her claim on him and it seems that he likes it that way."
"Come on babe, I'm back!" Garfield interrupted. "What more could you want?"
"A man." Raptor muttered under her breath.
Suddenly a loud click was heard, as if a large switch had made contact. The room lit up and the Hive saw that they were surrounded by villains. Some were locals like Cinderblock and Control Freak and others were unfamiliar, clearly imports. Raptor recognized one of them by his purple suit and his maniacal laugh.
"You're the Joker! What are you doing here?" Raptor hissed.
The Gotham villain erupted into his signature maniacal laughter. Once he regained his composure he replied.
"Let's just say that the Brain and his pet monkey made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"You idiot!" Raptor screamed. "Do you have any idea of what he's going to do?"
The Joker feigned indignation at Raptor's remark.
"You know Raptor, I was going to ask you nicely if you wanted to join our team. But it seems you young brats need to be taught some manners before you can join the Brotherhood of Evil, wouldn't you agree Harley?"
The Joker's shapely moll stepped out of the shadows with a rubber chicken in her hands. It was then that the Hive noticed that all of their opponents were also wielding rubber chickens.
"Sure thing Mistah J." Harley replied before she raised her rubber chicken in the air, preparing to throw it.
"Hey toots! The joke's on you!"
With no warning the Hive were pelted with the rubber chickens, which exploded upon contact, spewing a noxious gas into the air. Raptor saw her teammates fall one by one to the ground. She attempted to form a portal in which to escape. The dark circle began to form but it was too late as the sorceress began to feel light headed. She staggered towards the portal but felt her legs go rubbery on her as her vision became blurry. She never made it to portal and collapsed onto the floor.
The Joker turned to his moll.
"Well that was easy, wouldn't you say so Harley?"
"Right a rooney puddin!"
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Terra was at the helm of the T-Ship as it flew over the downtown area. From her vantage point she could see the gridlock that was chocking Jump City as its panic stricken citizenry were trying to escape the impending doom that awaited the city. The more impatient ones had given up and abandoned their vehicles on the city streets and were now fleeing on foot. The city's trademark bridge was crawling with vehicles and pedestrians. It was painfully obvious to the geomancer that only a small fraction of the populace would be able to escape from the city in time to avoid the black hole.
Terra landed the T-Ship on the roof top of the city's civic center building that housed the huge underground bunker. It had been built during the cold war as a refuge and command center for the local government in the case of a nuclear attack. It had been decommissioned and mothballed for over ten years now.
As the Titans climbed out of the T-Ship they were greeted by the local police chief.
"Thank goodness you're here." He said breathlessly. "There's something in the fallout shelter." He informed them as they made their way down the stairs from the roof top.
"What do you mean by 'something'?" Terra asked.
"I'm not sure." He replied. "I send a special ops team inside and I lost contact with them. They were twenty of my best men and women, dressed in protective armor and armed with plasma rifles. The last thing we heard was that they were under attack by an unseen opponent."
Terra frowned, this was not good news, but at least it meant they weren't wasting their time at the shelter. She retrieved her communicator from her belt and tried to contact Robin. There was no answer. She then tried hailing Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg and finally Starfire but had the same result: only static on the channel. She then tried connecting with Raptor and her team but had the same result.
Terra snapped her communicator shut while ordering the butterflies in her stomach to settle down. There had to be a simple explanation for not being able to contact them, one that wasn't tragic.
As they approached the entrance to the bunker she shook the thought away. They were the city's guardians and they had a job to do, that's what it all came down to. She had to remain sharp and focused otherwise they would meet with disaster and at this point that wasn't an option.
"See-more, what's going on in there? Can you see anything?"
The young man quickly flipped through his different vision modes as he tried to peek inside of the shelter. As he switched modes a frown also began to form on his face.
"I'm sorry Terra, there's too much lead lining on the walls and the floors. I just can't see through it."
Terra crossed her arms.
"Radiation shielding. I guess that means we're going in blind ,team. We need to be extra careful and to stay sharp."
Terra nodded at some police sentries who stood by the bunker's entrance. One of them was standing next to a control panel and she punched in a code. The huge bunker doors slowly swung open and Terra, followed by Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth and See-more entered the dark shelter.
"Godspeed Teen Titans." The other guard whispered as the doors closed behind them.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Gizmo bellyached as he activated his spider legs which elevated him above the others. He also enabled a flood light as the police were unable to turn on the lights into the shelter as the computer control system had been hacked into. The other Titans also turned on their own flashlights (electric torches for my non US readers).
See-more resumed scanning now that they were inside and was once again quickly flipping through his different view modes.
"See anything?" Jinx asked.
"I don't see anything on this level, nor on the level below. Beyond that I can't see. The internal walls and floors are also shielded, but not as much as the outside walls."
"I'm not detecting anything on my sensors either." Gizmo added. "There's just way too much lead in these walls."
Mammoth sniffed the air.
"I don't smell anything either."
"What were you expecting to smell? Food?" Gizmo snapped at him.
"Enough!" Terra growled at the bald midget. "This is no time to bicker. We all need to stay sharp."
As expected the quarreling stopped and the team continued to explore the top level. After finding it to be empty they made their way to the second level, which was also empty, as were the third and fourth levels.
Upon entering the fifth level Jinx whispered to Terra.
"I don't like this Terra; it's a long way out of here if something goes wrong."
"There is no turning back Jinx. If we fail, millions will die. We can't retreat."
"I knew you were going to say that." The pink haired enchantress whispered back.
As they explored the level See-more stayed in the rear guard, continuously scanning the surroundings. Other than his gift of super vision the young man had no powers that would come in handy during a fight. Terra had spent time training him in basic martial arts but he proved to be only an average student. He could fend for himself against your average street thug but super villains were another matter altogether.
See-more's job on the fifth level was complicated by the fact that unlike the previous four levels it was cluttered with all sorts of junk. There were boxes full of freeze dried food rations and ultra pasteurized bottled water, no doubt left behind in case the shelter ever needed to be used during an unexpected emergency. There were also storage cabinets full of supplies everywhere. As they made their way around a corner there were 4 large tires stacked against a wall. See-more stopped and examined them carefully to ensure that nobody was hiding in them. He flipped through his vision mode and confirmed that the stack was unoccupied. He turned around and saw that the team had made its way down the hall. As he began to sprint to catch up with them he felt what seemed to be a rubber hose wrap itself around him.
Panicking he fought back but whatever was wrapping itself around him was very strong and he was quickly trapped.
"Help!" was the only word he was able to get out before he was gagged and dragged away at lightning speed.
Terra was the first to hear his cry for help and ran in the direction where he called from, the others quickly followed her. It was in vain however, as there was no trace of See-more. He was gone.
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A dark portal opened inside the dark cave's entrance and the Titans, lead by Robin emerged from the black hole. All five were in fighting stance, ready for whatever might be there waiting for them. The entrance was, as expected, empty with no one waiting to challenge them.
"Report." Robin commanded his teammates.
"My sensors aren't picking up any life forms, but their range is short especially with all this rock around us."
"I don't smell anything usual."
"And I'm not sensing anything." Raven added.
"As expected." Robin concluded. "Let's move in. If this place is empty I want to find out sooner rather than later so we can join and help the others."
"We're gonna be unable to contact the others once we go in. Unlike our cave back home this one's walls are full of metal ore. Our communicators' radio waves won't be able to penetrate it." Cyborg reported.
"So we won't be able to call for help. Everyone stay sharp, we can't afford to make a single mistake." Robin ordered his team as he led them deep in the bowels of the cave. They descended quickly through the cavern encountering no resistance or any sign of the Brotherhood of Evil.
Beast Boy took Raven's hand and squeezed it. She was able to sense that he was agitated.
"What's the matter Gar? I can tell that you're ready to jump out of your skin. I can't sense anything around us. Is something wrong?"
The changeling looked his girlfriend in the eyes.
"I don't know Rae. It's my animal instincts, they're going crazy."
"Robin!" Raven shouted. "Gar's sensing something."
"What is it?"
"I don't know Rob, maybe it's just nerves but my animal side is sensing that there's danger ahead. I don't know any more than that, sorry."
"It's OK Beast Boy, at least now we know we didn't waste our time coming here. Let's keep moving forward but be extra careful." The Boy Wonder replied as Starfire caught up with him.
"I do not like this, my beloved. This feels like a trap."
"I know Star, it does, but we can't turn back. We have to stop the Brotherhood of Evil."
"I agree. And we will be victorious."
Robin smiled at his girlfriend. "Star, with you beside me, there's nothing I can't do."
The Tamaranian gave her beau an appreciative smile as they continued to penetrate into the cave. After 10 more minutes they reached the end, the place where in the other universe Terra had her final showdown with Slade and had unintentionally triggered the underground super volcano. Unlike last time this place had never been Slade's lair and it was dark in the large underground room.
"We need some light in here." Raven droned.
Starfire conjured two large starbolts while the others put their flashlights way and produced some freestanding electric floodlights which they turned on. As the bright lights flooded the cavern the 5 heroes gasped.
The cavern walls and floor were strewn with seismic charges, at least one hundred of them. More than enough to trigger the super volcano that lay dormant under Jump City.
"Cyborg! Can these charges be deactivated?" Robin shrieked.
The tin man was examining one cautiously. The charges were embedded into the rock and would take too long to remove.
"Yeah, they can be deactivated, but we have to hurry. They're set to go off in 10 minutes."
"How many are there?" Beast Boy inquired anxiously.
"I have counted them. There are 125 charges in the cave." Starfire informed the team.
"That's 25 per person, that's 24 seconds to deactivate each charge." Raven added.
Robin was already on all fours, deactivating his first bomb.
"Then we'd better hurry up. Titans go!"
Starfire and Raven flew up to the upper walls and began to deactivate the charges that were encased up there . Cyborg began to work on the lower walls while Robin and Beast Boy worked on the floor as fast as they could.
Time was not on their side.
