When it happened, it happened fast. At about three in the afternoon the day after Raven had interrupted Beast Boy's training, the alarm sounded. Seldom had all five of them assembled so quickly. Robin had already opened the huge picture window in the common area. "Police surveillance has him. He's on the beach across the bay. Remember the plan." Beast Boy changed into his massive flying quetzalcoatlus form and grabbed Cyborg by the shoulders. Star took Robins hand and they leapt out the open window. Beast Boy hadn't actually known that window could be opened. It wouldn't have surprised him that if it weren't designed to open Robin would have had someone break it.
The four of them took only seconds to cross the water between the tower and the beach. With the sharp eyes of a flying predator, Beast Boy could clearly see Mike standing on the beach, watching them approach with every indication of indifferent calm. He was wearing the same durable Kevlar outfit but this time he also had a large satchel of some kind hanging across his shoulders and on his hip. The few people enjoying the beach saw the Titans approaching and Mike standing and calmly watching. They began clearing out fast as Police set up a cordon.
Beast Boy dropped Cyborg as soon possible over dry land and instantly transformed, disappearing completely from sight. Starfire was skimming the water at top speed and released Robin without slowing; he rolled several times and came to his feet. It was Starfire who led the charge. With a grating scream, she flew dead straight at Mike, flinging deadly energy as she barreled in, ending by slamming into him shoulder first. The impact produced a shock wave that rattled nearby windows. He recoiled with a surprised grunt and his hand shot out, as shockingly fast as they remembered, and was a hair's breadth from closing on her ankle as she flew up and away but he was knocked off balance by a sonic blast from Cyborg, who had been waiting for exactly this. Starfire flew away with a mocking laugh and began to turn for another pass. This time she led with a massive blow from her right hand. She bellowed as she struck.
Mike spun with the impact as he had before but this time he didn't reach for Starfire. Instead, as he had in the first encounter, he leapt with tremendous power at Cyborg, his fist drawing back. The Titans were ready for precisely this. A blast from Starfire drove Mike into the ground in an epic, hundred yard long face plant. He started to get up but was struck again by Cyborg's cannon, which slammed him sideways and into the water. He disappeared under the surface. The team was fighting with grim silence and fierce determination, following Robins plan exactly and the young leader had never been prouder. Cyborg paced the beach carefully, his cannon trained on the point where Mike had disappeared. The water roiled for an instant and then exploded outward in a ten foot high wave. Mike had done something to create a shockwave, leaving him briefly standing on exposed seafloor. The wave rolled over Cyborg, surprising him and distracting him for a crucial second. Mike charged up the sand, having learned that leaving his feet was a bad idea. Robin judged that Mike was sufficiently distracted and thumbed a button on his communicator.
Robin cast several of his projectiles at Mike's feet, hoping the explosions would knock him down. They did but he rolled fast and was up and running again in an instant. Starfire screamed her rage and defiance, roaring full speed at him. She failed to count on his ever surprising speed. He spun, making her miss, and took a partial strike from Cyborg's cannon. It was very nearly enough… very nearly. He lurched up the scoured shore and struck Cyborg. To any real fighter, like Robin or Slade, it was at best the effort of a marginally competent amateur but it was just so terribly strong. Metal flew in wicked sharp shards and blue coruscations of energy danced up and down the metallic form as his chest piece simply exploded under the force of the blow, internal parts and wiring scattering. It looked as if fully a quarter of his body just flew into pieces and his left leg hung only by a few sparking cables which quickly petered out. Cyborg fell, the light of his artificial eye going out. This was not according to plan.
Beast Boy's communicator vibrated as Robin activated his, it having been put in silent mode. He instantly pushed a button that was preset to send his exact location to Raven where she waited in the tower. A portal quickly opened and she stepped through to his side. They were hidden from view behind a concrete seawall. "Cy's already down," he said.
She nodded tightly. "Ready?"
Back near the water, Mike had to shake his arm to free it from Cyborg's mechanics. He was already looking for Starfire. In keeping with the plan, she spoke as she hovered near him. Her voice was loud and grating. "For this, you will pay," she said, pointing at Cyborg's inert form. "For this, you will be defeated."
"Not by you, little girl," he said, his voice carrying his usual calm, wry tone. "Like we say back home," he said, his slight drawl thickening, "you ain't got enough ass." She replied only by throwing her green energy at him as fast as she could move her arms. Mike weathered it stoically, his eyes scanning the area. Other than Starfire, he could only see Robin. He ignored her, taking her attacks as he reached into the heavy pouch on his hips.
"What do you want, little man?" Starfire said scornfully. "Some stupid secret weapon?"
"Nah," he said, his eyes on her, "handful of ball bearings." He threw them side-arm at Robin. It was smart. Then spread like the pellets from a massive shotgun, each one with the force of a bullet. Robin leapt into a nearly impossible twisting dodge but it was not enough. Three of the projectiles struck him and passed through, blood spattering the white sand. Robin fell without a sound and did not move. Starfire screamed again, this time in fear and dove to Robin's side. Unfortunately, this was very easily predictable. He was on her almost the second she skidded to a stop next to the fallen leader. Starfire was, as everyone knows, stronger then she looked. Much stronger. She was just able to turn in time to face the brutally charging man and turned his own tactic back on him, spinning to avoid the force of his attack and grabbing his arm to hurl him through the air several hundred yards down the beach. He slammed down, creating a surprisingly large crater. Mike stood. His costume was shredded and he had picked up several scrapes and bruises but he did not look anything like close to stopping. He again reached for the pouch on his waist, his hand simply slapping on of the outer pockets.
Raven levitated into the air, low but high enough to have a vantage point. She saw what had been done to Cyborg and was angry. Then she saw what had happened to Robin, the way he lay so utterly still in a widening pool of blood, and she went somewhere else entirely. A middle aged, overweight cop was running across the sand towards him when no other normal humans were anywhere in sight. She was touched by the woman's act of selfless courage and prayed the kind, brave woman would not pay for it.
Right then, Raven had her own business to see to. Her soul form billowed out around her as it seldom had, wrapping and protecting her, its wings spreading to blot out the very sun. Her shadow from lengthened and her eyes split into four, turned red, and lengthened into slits. She raised a hand and a black field in the vague shape of a leg and talon stretched out to grab him. He screamed and for the first time they heard the deep sound of real fear and rage in his voice as he writhed in her grasp and was lifted off the ground. "This ends now," Raven's voice boomed out, echoing ominously. "Surrender or suffer."
Then, she heard a voice. Instantly she realized it was only she that heard it because it was coming straight into her mind. For an instant she smelled harsh incense and had a glimpse of a room with people standing in a circle; thirteen people exactly. The voice said "Raven! Scion of Trigon! Daughter of filth! I speak thrice and done! I bind thee! I bind thee! I bind thee!" Her power was suddenly constrained and her soul-self flickered and vanished. She fell to the ground and sank to her knees.
Mike rose from where he had fallen when the claw had disappeared. "Well now," he said conversationally, "Ain't that about a bitch?"
Beast Boy didn't hesitate for an instant. He spun, transformed into his huge gorilla form, scooped up Raven, and ran; covering her with his body. Mike barely spared them a glance, instead turning in place and scanning all around for Starfire.
Starfire was strong but Mike was stronger by far. She was tough, hard to hurt and hard to stop but he was tougher. What she could do that he couldn't was fly... and she could fly very, very fast. While she did not have his strength, she did have enough to pick up a car and enough of a sense of humor to enjoy the ironic reversal. He never had a chance to avoid her attack; he couldn't hear it coming. Scattering sonic booms in her wake, Starfire dove at her enemy. The paint of the heavy red pickup truck she carried scorched with the air friction. At the very last second she added her strength to the deadly missile's power, hurling it at Mike and arcing up and away.
The two ton mass of metal disintegrated into shards when it hit Mike. The impact made a crater fifty yards across; sand, rock and water exploding outward. The shock wave was like an earthquake. Starfire made a tight loop, preserving as much of her momentum as she could and slammed into Mike. For the first time, they heard him react in real pain and rage. He bellowed incoherently as Starfire abandoned tactics and began pounding him relentlessly where he lay.
Beast Boy put Raven down gently behind the seawall. He quickly checked and saw that she was breathing but was completely non-responsive. He was terrified almost beyond the capacity for thought. He wanted so much to drop everything and take her away to somewhere safe but he knew that Raven would never forgive him for leaving Star alone. He might not be able to forgive himself. He lay her as comfortably as he could and turned away.
Raven was, as far as she could tell, in a windowless room. It was bare and spartan except for a few statutes and totemic drawings on the walls. Surrounding her on the floor was an intricate magic circle in inlaid silver. It was pretty good work. Thirteen people stood in a circle. She looked down at herself and saw that she was in astral form and everything made sense. These people had figured out how to lay a binding on her. Her mind reeled in panic and terror; not for herself of course. Star had been nowhere in sight. Cyborg and Robin weren't getting up any time soon. That meant that Gar was alone, protecting her comatose body. Alone. She was choked with terror and rage and for once, she didn't even try to restrain them.
Raven's knowledge of ritual magic wasn't her strong point by any means. She had learned some things from Malichor and had studied further on her own but her knowledge didn't extend making a trap like this, much less dismantling it from within. Raven was going to tear this spell to shreds by main force of will and woe be unto them if they didn't get out of her way.
Starfire was out of her mind. She ceased any attempts at strategy or subtlety. She just pounded at her enemy in elemental rage. Her knuckles split and blood spattered from them both as she struck his steely body.
Mike was, for the first time since he gained his powers, feeling real pain. The impact of the truck had stunned and addled him. Now this relentless attack kept him from thinking or mounting some defense. Normally, even Starfire's strength wouldn't have been enough to significantly hurt him but now the punishment was adding up. He managed to flail feebly at the alien girls fast moving arms and gain himself a seconds reprieve. It was enough. His head cleared and he began moving with purpose again. It took him several tries and suffering more punishment but he finally managed to grab her wrist. Without hesitation, he gripped, twisted, and broke her arm. Starfire screamed in pain and fury and didn't slow at all. She attacked with her undamaged arm until, inevitably now that she had lost use of her right hand, Mike landed a blow that staggered her and a second that ended the fight.
Beast Boy flew to the lip of the impact crater just in time to see Mike land a sweeping blow that threw Starfire into the ground, where she lay and did not move. Transforming to human and regarding the older man, it was plain Mike had taken a beating. He was holding his left arm tight against his side and favoring his left foot. There was blood staining his right shirt sleeve and his face was red and swollen, bruises already forming around one eye. He was panting for breath and moving with far less grace and speed then before but he began walking towards Beast Boy.
"Tell me what you did to her," Beast Boy grated out.
Mike shrugged a little, regaining some of his confidence. "Hired some weirdos to put a mystic binding on her."
"So you think you're going to walk over there while she's helpless and..."
"I don't want to do it, kid," Mike interrupted. "Swear to god I don't. This whole goddamned deal has gone south on me." He stopped and worked his shoulders painfully. Beast Boy watched and waited. Let him talk as long as he wanted. "I got another proposition for you."
"Really?" Beast Boy said dryly.
"We all go home, kid. We just turn around and walk away. Trust me, you people will never see or hear from me again."
"If I say no?" Beast Boy asked. Mike stared hard and didn't reply. "Can't do it," he said, glancing over his shoulder at where Raven lay, "She wouldn't like it."
Mike actually nodded grudging respect. "It's as good a reason as any," he said, charging as he did.
Beast Boy transformed into a tiny bird and shot straight into the air. The instant Mike was under him, he changed into an enormous sauropod and slammed down on Mike with a hundred tons of mass. He came down with his left forefoot direct onto his enemy, all that mass and force behind it. Animals of that size can't jump and falling is deadly dangerous for them. He did a lot of damage to his left arm but the blow he struck was worth it. He again became the nearly invisible, swift moving hummingbird he had been favoring.
Mike had been pressed into the soft earth and instantly began dragging himself out. Beast Boy swept down behind him and, just as Raven had seen him do in the gym, he became a massive gorilla and flung Mike through the air. As Mike was getting up, there was a T-Rex standing behind him, and it's massive tail batted him across the beach. He rolled and tumbled for almost fifty yards before rolling to a stop. Beast Boy flew at him again.
Raven reached out with one hand and encountered the yielding resistance of the binding that held her. She set her feet and lowered her shoulder, twisting into the motion of pushing against her bonds. Almost against her own will, she embraced what she felt; her terror and rage twisted in dark tendrils around her and she screamed and pushed.
Beast Boy jumped and twisted in the air, actually using the swift contraction of his transformation to avoid the attack but his injured arm betrayed him. The wing that his arm had become was just too damaged to fly. He swooped erratically out of control and was simply swatted from the air. Slamming into the ground, he became himself and struggled to rise, his head spinning and with no balance. Mike twisted quickly to attack but Beast Boy was able to shift into a fast moving snake and writhe away. "I get the feeling," Mike said, "that you're playing for time." He stepped back for a second and looked around. The witch girl was still nowhere to be seen. The other three weren't getting up. What was the green kid doing?
Beast Boy changed to himself and dropped to a knee, gasping for breath. He held his left shoulder with his right hand and was covered in minor wounds from striking the ground. "Yeah," he said tightly, "I am."
Raven's astral hands sunk into the energy of the the spell. It felt like trying to tear apart thick and clinging webs, every movement except back into the circle was restrained… and it hurt. Multicolored flares and flashes of energy flew out from her point of attack but most of it fed back into her, burning like fire. The pain led to more rage and she embraced the power. She became the Raven. Her dark form dug its claws into the circle and spread its wings
Mike shrugged. "Can't figure what it is. Look, I'll give you another chance, kid. Let's just walk away. Call off the hounds and you never see me again." He jerked his head in Raven's direction. "She's gonna like it a hell of a lot more then what I'll do to you… and to her."
Beast Boy choose an ankylosaur this time, ten tons of massive bone plate and tail club. He was able to favor his injured arm and still pivot quickly. He caught Mike a solid blow across the chin that made him the older man curse and fly back about ten feet. He charged obliquely to bring the massive club of bone and muscle to bear. Mike stepped in and struck him. The inches thick bone armor held for one blow, then another. Beast Boy reached the position he wanted and struck Mike another looping blow. Mike yelled in pain and spun in the air.
The cumulative effect of all the damage he had taken began to tell on Mike. He had never taken anything like this kind of punishment since he had gotten his powers. Things that wouldn't normally hurt him now did. Was it possible he had some kind of battery that was running down? He really didn't understand his own abilities all that well. Maybe… or maybe he had just had the hell beaten out of him. Either way he needed to end this now and get to the girl. Even in his own mind and at this extreme, he didn't think of what he meant to do. He spun with the dinosaur's surprisingly swift movement, trying to get the timing. He found he was having trouble thinking straight. Beast boy landed another huge blow and for the first time, Mike got angry. "Goddamn it!" he bellowed. "All you have to do is let me walk away!" He blocked another swing of the tail, noticing as he did that Beast Boy was also weakening and slowing.
Beast Boy tried to reverse his spin and attack from the opposite side but Mike stepped in and kicked the injured left foreleg. It broke with an audible crack and Beast Boy staggered for just an instant but it was enough. Mike struck with a straight right and finally, Beast Boy had more then he could take. He involuntarily transformed to himself and slammed into the sand. Mike wasted no more time with deals or remorse, instead moving up fast, striking down at Gar in his human form, an attack the young hero could not hope to survive and had little hope of avoiding.
A black barrier sprang into existence and stopped the blow cold. Mike cursed and looked around. Gar laughed; a grating, pained sound; as the beach grew dark under the spreading wings of the Raven. "I was waiting on this," he said and spat on the ground to clear it of sand and blood. "No bunch of two-bit mystics could hold her for long." Mike turned, looking as if he were going to try leap away and escape.
He jumped but only made it a short way before he was caught in the air by one of Ravens dark talons. She hovered in the air, her dark spirit form emanating around her. Its usual black was shot through with line and flashes of red and her eyes were four red slits. She howled and slammed him into the ground. Both of the black claws swiped at him over and over. He screamed with each one and finally collapsed back, helpless and gasping for breath.
Raven hovered down to the ground and slowly began trying to gain control of herself. She fell to her knees and tried to catch her breath.