Author: Nazran
Shattered: Act I
Chapter 6
§Oo–.–oO§
2pm . . .
Danny tossed the bundle to the other young man in the tunnel. His companion looked down at the cloth in his hands doubtfully. Fenton did, after all, stand a few inches taller than the shorter black haired hero. The Halfa reached into his bag again and pulled forth a thick shirt with long sleeves of a neutral grey material. The pale teen peeled off his tattered t-shirt and replaced it with the thicker material, rolling his shoulders to set the clothing on him properly. Next he switched to a dry pair of shoes, tying the waxed laces up tightly. Across from him Robin dismantled his hero outfit, carefully placing each piece on a dry spot in the stonework.
When he turned to Danny and saw the raised eyes he merely said, "The belt stays, we'll need it anyways."
"Fine but you have to lose the mask, we can't exactly play civilian if you're wandering around with that thing slapped on." Danny looked on amused.
"If you tell anyone who I am I will personally beat you into a pulp. Never mind what my mentor will do to you." Robin peeled the material of the mask off of his face, revealing the full cast of his face in the green light to Danny.
Robin was a handsome eighteen year old, by any standards. His brow was strong, dark and lending him a mysterious air. A strong jaw angular accented the piercing eyes set over a slight nose of plain grace. His cheekbones were another prominent presence on his face, sweeping back to the dark hair that looked to in the process of growing out. It was fine and loose without the usual sculpting of product the boy put into it.
"Yeah yeah Batman's shadow always looms. Here, you can pack your kit into my bag, there's enough room." Danny took the proffered pack of armour, bandoliers, cape and the mask. Robin had kept his slim hip belt and the dark custom synthetic he wore beneath the armour, now beneath a slim t-shirt, jacket and cargo pants that were too large. His boots could be hidden beneath the extra material of the pants. The rest of the outfit Danny packed into the duffel he had stashed days earlier, it fit snugly into the black bag with the canvas printed blueprints and the alloys of different ecto weaponry.
"Let's get topside, this place doesn't smell particularly pleasant. We need to scout the tower, find out what the rest of the team is up to."
Danny nodded and zipped up the large bag. He returned it to hanging from an errant piece of rebar protruding from a damaged section of the curved ceiling. He had assurance the bag would remain dry in that place, and well hidden. The two teen were in the extensive storm drains that were built beneath Jump City. It was one of the few places they would remain hidden from Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven. Danny felt the pressure of being hunted more from the Titans than he ever had from the GIW.
Robin mounted the ladder and climb with the smooth efficiency of the acrobat he was born to be. Danny glanced around the tunnel one last time, ensuring nothing was out of place, kicking the green glowing rob into the wet sludge that clung to the depression in the center of the tunnel. The light was snuffed out and Danny climbed the rusted metal rungs of the ladder, accepting the hand that reached down to help him out. The circular metal disk that covered the hole was slid back into place and the two companions turned to the street.
Just as they were to join the flow of people in the midday sun Danny glanced sidelong at the unmasked Robin and asked, "So, what's your name anyways? I mean, I have to be able to address you in public and I can't call you Robin."
The leader of the Titans sighed, it was a defeated sound from one that knew there wasn't a lot of choice, and spoke, "My name is Richard Grayson, but you can call me Dick, I guess."
§Oo–.–oO§
11am . . .
Danny walked into the room with Robin. The other Titans were already present, crowded around a section of the countertop. A stack of six plates, white and glittering in the sterile light of the kitchen were next to a golden crusted pie. Cy had already cut it into portions with a large knife and was in the process of piling the pieces out on to the plates. Dark purple filling, perhaps blueberry, spilled out. The Halfa did not fail to the see the reddening of Star's cheeks when her green eyes glanced toward the pair and he knew that robin was the cause. Whatever they had been up to the previous night had clearly been some form of admission.
"Yo guys, come and have some of this, it looks delicious!" Cyborg plopped more of the pie on to the dishes.
"That's alright, thanks. I'm not very hungry." Danny spoke while watching the Titans begin to shovel the food into their mouths. Even Robin accepted a piece and suddenly all five of the regular Titans were ravenously devouring the pastry. It was gone in seconds.
"Oh Dearie, come now and have some pie. It'll be good for you." A sickeningly sweet voice reached Danny's ears.
The Halfa turned and beheld a squat old woman. She was wearing tattered black clothing, a dress that had certainly seen better days. Her skin was acid green, almost like a ghost's, but with a rotten patched quality to it where a ghost would be simply be cold and dead. Her nose was long, protruding from her face like some strange fleshy spear, and above it were a set of eyes. Three bloodshot eyes beneath thick black brows that glared with malicious light. Her hair was a frazzled grey and barely held in two thatched patches with twine wrapping nestled beneath an overlarge bonnet of black and dark blue-purple.
"Yeah no. I definitely don't think I want any of that pie. Who the hell—"
"Mother Mae-Eye!" The Titans shouted in a unison that Danny found decidedly creepy.
"Yes Dearies your Mother is here for you. And I have ever so many more pies for you to enjoy." An impossibly wide and horrible grin that revealed mouldering teeth, split the woman's face. Danny backed away toward the door, knowing that this was going to turn horribly wrong if he wasn't careful.
"Oh come now Dearie, behave!" her voice became a yell, echoing with power of some sort.
Danny bolted. He ran for the door, knocking aside the woman with an arm and sprinting down the hallway. He couldn't fight her, he had to know how to break the spell that the Mae-Eye had cast on the Titans and work from there. As Danny Fenton he couldn't do much and he still didn't want to reveal Phantom to the others. It had only been a few days after all.
"Oh bother, get him Dearies!"
The Halfa swore. Apparently she could command the Titans to do as she pleased, beyond rendering them into simpering idiots. Something whipped through the air next to the teen's head, a flash of red and then a concussive explosion sent him tumbling. Robin was seemingly on his tail and there was no telling what the other Titans would be doing. Fenton rolled, stumbling back to his feet in an attempt to keep moving. The elevator was out, he hung a right, making for the stairs. The thud of Robin's boots closed quickly and Danny grimaced. Damn, was the Boy Wonder fast, almost amazingly so for a human lacking powers. A bola wrapped around Danny's feet and he pitched forward, face first into the carpeted floor.
Danny rolled to the left, kicking to separate the lines of the bola. Robin's foot slammed into the floor where he had been. He sprang up right and blocked a jab, catching it and turning it wide with the edge of his arm. The second caught his nose, bouncing the ghost boy's head off the wall. His legs were swept from under him and he hit the floor again. Robin struck again, this time kicking, Danny caught the boy's shin and with a heave swung the leader off of his feet and into the wall. The plaster cracked and crumbled. Danny stood, blinking. He was durable and the jab had not broken his nose but it still smarted.
The Titan flipped to his feet and suddenly Danny was faced with a pair of flat disks, a glowing red light blinking on each. Before the Halfa could move they exploded, the shockwave and blast of fire throwing him backwards. Groaning as he sat up Danny shook his head and saw Robin leap across the jagged hole cut into the floor and race toward him again. The Titan had a staff of metal in his hands now and Danny barely managed to avoid the end slamming into the floor. He ended up with the haft crashing into his gut and forcing his against the wall. His hands wrapped around the pole before Robin could retract it. Danny jerked the staff toward him and kicked out with a leg, catching Robin in his armoured abdomen. The Boy Wonder tripped backward and fell off the edge of the newly made hole.
Danny snapped the metal over his knee and trotted to the edge. He dropped down into the hall as Robin was picking himself up, groaning and looking around. A gloved hand was rubbing the back of his head.
"What the hell Danny?"
"Oh you're back? Excellent, let's get the fuck out of here before someone else shows up. I don't want to fight any of the others."
"Danny, what's going on? Why is there a hole in my tower's floor?"
"I'll explain later." The boy with the shock of white in his hair grasped the other's forearm and hauled him to his feet. "We have to get out of here."
§Oo–.–oO§
They melded into the crowds of the city, Danny following beside Robin—beside Dick. The leader of the Teen Titans casually reached beneath his borrowed coat and from his belt withdrew a pair of sunglasses; slim metal frames with angular mirror coated black lenses. He slid them onto his face and Danny rolled his eyes.
"Come on, I know a place where we can see the Tower. Maybe we'll see who's out looking for us." Robin's voice was clipped and short.
"Alright. We have to figure out how to knock the others out of this spell they're under."
"I know. We'll figure something out." Grayson's eyes were locked forward, no doubt burning beneath the lenses.
The pair of unlikely companions weaved through the busy streets, making their way toward the waterfront. Jump had a collection of small public beaches near where the tunnel running to the Titans Tower tunnel emerged. The sand was white and no one was around on the weekday. The waves rolled onto the beach in a slow, sedated march with the receding tide and the roar of water. The pair of men sequestered themselves away from the sand, into the piled rock that supported where a small parking lot was laid. It was a tight fit for the two, in a small covered hollow.
Robin pulled out a metal plate, four inches wide by one tall by about six wide. One side was contoured for the eyes and Grayson set it to his face. He depressed a button on the top and stared intently through the device. Danny turned his attention to the distant tower, roughly a quarter mile out into the large bay. The Halfa focussed his eyes, allowing his powers to bleed in and magnify his vision. He wouldn't be able to say anything about what he saw but knowing would be useful. The power only allowed him to see with telescopic lens and nothing more useful in this instance.
Robin spoke up, "Thermal imaging is being interfered with. I can only assume it's whatever Mae-Eye is doing. Other scans are picking up some strange readings from the higher floors but the rest of the tower is dark."
"The others are looking for us then. We've seen Beast Boy flying around but . . ." Danny trailed off, "Can Raven track us based on emotions? She's an empath right, she can sense us?"
"That would depend on Mae-Eye I think. From what you said I certainly didn't use everything I had when coming after you. There's no reason to believe Raven would use everything she has, her empathy powers are not well published. She didn't use them when coming after us in the garage, I think when the team is under her control it weakens fine control over our abilities. "
"And my body temp? Cyborg would pick up mine if he performs a scan, you've probably noticed that I am cold to the touch. That's why I survived that Slade guy's powers."
"We should be okay." Robin looked at Danny, "That's part of the ice thing you pulled in the garage?" Danny nodded and Robin continued, "Cyborg doesn't have the capabilities to perform wide net scan without using League satellites, and those don't officially exist." Robin packed away his device. "If we break more of the others out of her spell she might have better control over the remaining."
"Right." Danny leaned back against the rough stone and let out a long frustrated breath. His hands covered his face for a moment before his eyes looked at Robin from beneath a web of pale fingers, "Is Dick Grayson your real name? Or a like pseudonym?"
"My real name."
" . . . Why tell me? Isn't there like a secret code you and Batman share, never to reveal your true identity?"
Robin snorted. "More or less. I don't think it matters at this point, we have bigger issues than my identity. If Batman finds out I'll deal with him." Robin rubbed at his own eyes, removing the sunglasses.
Danny blinked. Robin was being unusually trusting, even extraordinarily so. The Halfa really didn't know how to respond to that, it was bizarre. It was heartening. "Thank you, for trusting me."
"You broke me out of the spell and you're going to help break the others out, I owe you something for that at least. And you've been honest, as far as I can tell, with everything I've asked about. Honestly Danny, I don't really have any reason not to trust you. You seem like a decent person, maybe even hero material." Robin pushed himself to his feet, crouching in the low pocket of stone and watching as a green bird flew back to the tower, followed by the streak that was Star and the shadow of Raven, "Looks like some of the team is back. Cyborg should be easy to find in the city, we'll start with him."
§Oo–.–oO§
11:30am
"You're kidding right? The vents?" Danny looked at the grate doubtfully.
"Quickest way down, with Cyborg guarding the stairs and BB stalking us." Robin pulled the metal grate from the wall. He reached into his bandolier and pulled out a length of cord with the diameter of a cheap Bic pen. A red birdarang folded out in his other hand and the Boy Wonder tied the cord around it. He weighed the metal apparatus in his hand before shoving the bladed metal sharply into the wall.
"Might want to hurry up Robin." Danny turned to face the very large green tiger baring its teeth at him and slowly stalking toward them.
The caped hero glanced at Danny and said, "Just keep him busy for a few more seconds."
"Right." Danny stood ready, on the balls of his feet. Every muscle was tense.
He knew that Beast Boy probably wouldn't be able to do too much damage to him without changing into something with more heft. Of course knowing his luck even considering that would result in the changeling being a rhino or something else that could fit in the corridor. The tiger growled in a rumbling hum from behind long white teeth, the green flesh pulled back over the large fangs. The tiger roared and lunged, Danny slid down and sprang up catching the animal as it flew over him with a powerful double kick. It crashed into the ceiling, breath exploding from its slavering mouth from the powerful kick.
Danny rolled to his feet and dived for the vent, slipping into it before the changeling had recovered. He grabbed the cord and began to shimmy down the length, his toughened skin holding against the wear of the cord. Robin was already some distance below him, expertly gliding the down his rope. He looked up when he felt the rope jolt in his hands, seeing a large muscular green arm covered in coarse hair pulling at the cord.
"Robin, problem!" the snarling face of a gorilla appeared at the opening of the vent high above.
The Boy Wonder looked up and then back down at the black drop to the base of the tower. The roped was steadily being drawn back up toward the green Titan. "Let go! We have to drop." Robin released the cord and began his free fall.
"Again?" Danny swore to himself and then let go.
It was a rough fall, Danny bouncing around the straight drop for the several of the three dozen or so storeys of the Tower. He used his arms to protect his head and shut his eyes against the bouncing. He was jerked to a stop, a strong hand ripping his wrist away from his head. The full length of his body crashed into the side of the vent, the metal reverberating with the contrast. His eyes opened to see Robin clinging to a ledge formed from another shaft of the system. Danny nodded to the Titan and set his feet and free arm to hold himself upright. Robin released his arm and pulled himself up to sit in the ventilation shaft he had been hanging from.
Distantly above the pair the gorilla roared. Danny hauled himself up into the horizontal vent and sat, breathing steadily with his back to the wall and his feet braced. Robin was looking at a holographic screen floating above his left wrist, on it a schematic of the tower was being manipulated beneath the boy's fingers.
"This shaft should take us to the infirmary, from there we can access the stairwell and get to the garage." Robin closed the display.
The Halfa sighed and nodded, following Robin's crawl away from the straight drop chute. The square tunnel was dark, nearly pitch black except for faint white bleeding off from Robin's pen light. They made it some distance before Danny paused, listening closely and Robin stopped as well. The Boy Wonder shifted his cape and turned as well, shining the light back past Danny. There was a steady thrum echoing through the shaft and steadily it began to get louder. Robin reached into a pouch and produced two marbles just smaller than a clementine orange and rolled them down past Danny. The thrumming was louder now and quickly growing closer, whatever was approaching was nearly upon the pair of young men. The marbles slowed and burst. Dark red foam, like bubbling rust exploded from the orbs and clogged the shaft. It rose and flowed through the confines of the ventilation before hardening into a deep red cement like substance.
The humming stopped, the vibrations hovering just beyond the barrier. Danny looked closely at the porous, lumpy wall of rock like foam and shrugged. Robin turned and crawled away. Danny listened to something scrabbling at the opposite side of clog for a moment before he too continued down the shaft. Some minutes later a grate wriggled free from the wall and was lowered to the floor. Both teens dropped into the room, scanning it carefully. It was dark, faint light streaming in from a frosted glass door. The shadows revealed a heavy hospital bed and powered down medical equipment, clean stainless steel cabinets filled, presumably, with medical supplies. Robin crept to the door and gently edged it open, white light streamed into the room. Danny, crouching behind the Boy Wonder, saw a wider chamber beyond filled with more equipment for trauma or emergency work and more frosted doors. It was completely silent, almost eerily so.
"Come on. It's clear." Robin slipped through the door and moved to the exit.
He and Danny moved into a corridor, the lights glittering in their long tracked mounts. Nothing moved. The pair stalked toward the end of the hall, the side of the Tower facing out toward the ocean and the west. A door, plain and unadorned except for a simple word in black lettering, rested there: Stairs. They had fallen several storeys through the air ventilation system and would hopefully come into the stairwell well below where Cyborg had been patrolling. They'd had a close call with the directed energy sonic cannon that was the Titan's right arm earlier shortly after Robin had been knocked free of Mae-Eye's influence. The stairwell was a barren cement affair, a square tube that stretched the full height of the Tower with flights of stairs spiraling up in blocky twists. Cold white lights were affixed to each landing, shining down on the one beneath it. The center of the well was a straight drop down all the way into the sub-basement where the tunnel to the mainland connected to the garage.
They moved into the well and carefully looked over the steel railing up and down, looking for any sign of Cyborg. He hadn't pursued them when they had fled, Beast Boy instead had followed them when the elevators had been blocked. It was silent. The teens moved down the stairs, creeping along as quickly as they could while still maintaining silence. They descended many landings, Danny realizing how tall the tower really was as they moved. Eventually, and surprisingly without any issue, they managed to make it to the subbasement. It was several levels underground, rebuilt and reinforced with massive I-beams after the first issues with Slade.
Robin edged open one side of the wide double doors at the very bottom of the stairwell. The door flashed black and exploded out into the larger chamber. Bright light flooded into the small area the two young men had been crouched and the garage was revealed. Raven floated above them, eyes glowing black and her arms stretched out to either side as she tore them with her magic from the stairwell. Robin tumbled away over the crisp cement of the floor, bouncing and crashing for many feet. Danny was slammed into the T-Car, the armoured vehicle denting under the force of his body striking it. The glass of the windows flexed and cracked. Danny rolled beneath the SUV and came out the other side crouching.
Robin pushed himself up and yelled, "We're taking the motorcycles! I'll distract her."
Danny nodded to the leader, despite not knowing how to ride a motorcycle, as Robin threw birdarangs toward Raven. They exploded in the air, briefly flickering black. Raven's lips were pulled back in a snarl as Robin charged toward her. The Halfa looked around; he had never been in the garage. The Titans hadn't gone anywhere in the few days they had kept Danny around. Only one of which was actually spent in Jump, the rest were the result of being stranded on the unnamed planet and the subsequent rescue. Across from him, perhaps half a hundred or more feet were the motorcycles. Robin's custom red bike was leaning on its stand but several others, regular motorcycles were beyond it. Around him was equipment, Cyborg's most likely, for working on the T-Car and ship—some of which had been recovered—and the other vehicles.
An explosion rocked the chamber. Robin leapt backwards, flipping across the room as only an acrobat could, simultaneously a tank was sparked into a fiery conflagration. Danny rushed toward the bikes. His feet left the ground, a tool cabinet cracking into his shoulders. The metal cut into his clothing and against his skin, the weight threw him down and ground his body into the floor. But Danny grit his teeth and stumbled upright, throwing the ruined black metal tower aside. Raven streaked toward him, ignoring Robin as he recovered from the fires that had licked at his boots. A wave of force struck him again, tossing him through the air like a bag caught in a gale force wind. He hit the ground hard, the impact blasting air from his lungs and leaving him groaning. Raven's magic gipped him, black energy lifting him from the ground and squeezing him. Her eyes burned black she approached through the air with her hand raised in a clawed grip. Danny grimaced as the pressure increased, his bones straining against the crushing power.
§Oo–.–oO§
"Cyborg will be nearby, I'm picking up signal transmission for our encrypted network." Robin closed the display on his wrist.
They were in a park. Jump City had a few parks scattered here and there, most of them well-kept and open to the public for any number of uses. Fountains and modern art pieces of glass, metal and stone placed in stone courtyards or selectively placed in copses of trees. Danny and Robin had picked a secluded grove of tall straight trees with high branches, it was close to the nearest main avenue but away from a lot of traffic. The grass was green, growing thickly in a soft green mat that had been carefully tended by a landscaper. The teens had put themselves on the inside of the grouping, hidden from sight as they planned on how to break the half robotic hero from the spell.
Cyborg was almost entirely electronic according to Robin. His brain had been preserved and integrated with the systems that Silas had used to save his life. His limbs had been replaced with prosthetics that had been upgraded over the years. His torso was encased in cybernetic armour but some of his organs—namely his heart and digestive system to down to his stomach were preserved. Artificial systems overtook the rest, allowing the teen to eat and drink as he pleased to enjoy food, breath through bionic lungs and circulate a special fluid of nanites and plasma to keep his flesh living and the robotics functioning, even when powered down. This meant that Cyborg was susceptible to whatever mind control that Mae-Eye had used but was much harder to knock out of it.
"Well let's go find him then."
Robin sighed, "It's not that easy Danny, Cy will detect us with his systems before we can get the jump on him. The systems in his body were designed for combat, for soldiers that were injured and wanted to keep serving. We can't just attack him full on."
"You guys don't make it easy do you?" Danny sighed, and twirled a stick through his fingers absently. The Titans were extremely well funded and equipped. It was making the freeing of them entirely too difficult. Nothing had been easy since he had begun running with the teen heroes though.
Robin smirked, "We're professionals Danny—it's not supposed to be easy." He stood, "Cy will come to us. He's only one searching the city right now, Mae-Eye probably suspects we'll try to get back into the Tower. His proximity scanner will detect us here in a few moments."
The two stood, shifting with nervous energy as the smaller screen hidden beneath Robin's borrowed jacket flickering with a proximity display. Cyborg's signal was closing in on them rapidly. How they were going to take down the cybernetic man was a bit of a question still, he weighed several hundred pounds and was not entirely easy to knock over. They'd already established that a strong blow to head would break the old woman's spell, but only half of Cyborg's head would be vulnerable to such a strike. Danny wiggled his fingers, stretching his arms down next to his hips—he'd suffered a few strong blows this day, enough that he was sore and more than a little bruised and battered. The discomfort was fading slowly but it would still be some while before he fully healed from the damage. In the meantime he would have to deal with the dull ache of his muscles. He didn't imagine Robin was much better, bouncing on the balls of his feet a little ways away. The Boy Wonder has taken a bit of a beating as well, particularly in the garage fighting Raven.
The blue beam came fast and hot, burning through the tree trunks like rice paper. Embers and toppling trunks scattered around the two teens as they scrambled away from the hazard. The robotic hero appeared, right arm extended, the glowing core of his arm cannon a bright blue star, across the field from them. It folded back away to reveal a large fist of synthetic muscle and metal that dropped to Cyborg's side. The teen stormed forth on long metallic legs, ignoring the scattering civilians and the camera phones that recorded what was happening—though from a safe distance. It was not every day that a Titan attacked another Titan. Faint streams of smoke writhed into the air from the charred ends of trunks and thick embers snuffed in heavy green grass. Robin dived to the left, circling around out of the way of his friend while Danny crouched low and set himself.
Both of the uncontrolled teens knew that only Danny would have much real chance to stand up to the robotic Titan in real hand to hand combat without being severely damaged. Thus did Danny brace his taut frame against the grass, amongst the hewn trunks of charred trees, and waited for Cyborg to reach him. The Titan, in the haze of the witch Mae-Eye knew nothing of tactics, he knew only of the driving urge to capture the two who had eluded the love of Mother. He charged, reckless and, to one outside of the spell foolish as Danny took the larger man low in the thighs. The Halfa strained, pushing against the armoured legs and lifting. The man was heavy and grappling against Danny's clothes and beating across his back. Cyborg was lifted off of his feet as Danny threw him over his shoulder but a powerful pneumatic hand grabbed a handful of his hair long hair and ripped him back, down and off of his feet. Danny's shoulders slammed into the soft grass and he rolled away as Cyborg bolted upright and grabbed at him.
A black pellet, no larger than a marble, cracked against Cyborg's face and burst in a foamy mass of sticky material. Cyborg recoiled and stumbled back, allowing Danny the time to get away. Robin raced in striking with his telescopic bow staff at points along the joint in Cyborg's shoulder. Blue fluid, translucent and vaguely reminiscent of vehicle coolant began to leak in thin rivulets from the busted tubes along the teen's chest and the top of his shoulder. The limb went limp and hung lifeless against his side. Cyborg finally ripped away the foam, his red eye glowing hotly though the effect was ruined by the shapeless grey flecks still clinging to the metal and flesh of the Titan's visage. Danny rushed back in, slamming full body into the broad chest to drop Cyborg back to the grass. He pounced but the cannon arm unfolded and a piercing beam of hot blue energy struck Danny in the chest. He hung, suspended against the force for an unnatural second before it overwhelmed his momentum and he was flung away.
One of Robin's disks stuck to the cannon and sharp concussive blast shocked the arm down and into the grass, the hot muzzle of the weapon charring more grass. His other arm useless Cyborg had to put his main gun away in order to leverage himself upright but Robin swung back in with the titanium alloy staff, sweeping the arm away and pushing the black Titan back down. Danny chose that moment to stagger back into the fight, his exposed chest covered in ash from his burned shirt, the edges of the fabric still glowing faintly at the edges from the energy of the discharge. Yet another piece of his clothing was gone, if he wasn't careful he'd have to go shopping soon to replace all of the damaged items—maybe the Titan's budget would spare him some money. Robin was desperately flitting around, striking with quick precision to keep Cyborg down on the grass as the spellbound Titan struggled to rise with only three appendages. Danny leapt in, straddling his opponent and grabbing the sides of his head in long thin fingered hands. And he head-butted the cybernetic hero hard in the fleshy side of his face. Cyborg slumped down, dazed.
Danny and Robin backed away slowly as Cyborg slowly came around and pushed himself up on his right arm. "Ugh, man what the hell?"
"Cy, welcome back."
"Man, Robin," the Titan paused and looked at his arm and the leaking fluids then back at his leader, "Aw what the hell did you do to my arm!"
§Oo–.–oO§
12:15pm . . .
"Robin smoke!" Danny shouted, resisting the pressure squeezing his chest and pinning his arms to the side. Danny's eyes found Robin hesitating as his mind raced for a solution. "Just do it!"
A flat disk flew into the air like a Frisbee, slicing through the cool air of the garage and the lingering smoke from fires that burned below, between the dark Titan and Danny to burst into a cloud of grey smoke. It was much thicker and billowed rapidly from the disk as it fell, obscuring Raven and Danny from the leader's view. Where Raven had floated with her arms outstretched and her cloak fluttering faintly dense vapour filled the air.
"Sorry Raven." Danny spoke softly, knowing the girl floated some fifteen feet across from him.
Thin lids covered the icy blue eyes and then drew back, leaving acid green glowing in their place. It stung faintly in the Halfa's eyes before twin beaming of green energy burst from the green irises, lancing through the smoke and striking Raven just below the meeting place of her collarbones. The magic let go of his body and he tumbled to the concrete floor, landing in a roll among shattered metal and glass debris. Raven's body flew from the cloud, propelled by a sudden explosion of energy where the beams had struck, and arched across the cavernous room before she righted herself, eyes flooded with the glow of her dark magic. Danny stood, rubbing the burning sensation that needled at his eyes like soap as he began to jog toward the vehicles. Robin had already begun to make his way there, trusting that Danny could handle whatever he intended.
Objects from around the garage flew at the pair as they ran; wrenches, sockets, spare wheels and other parts from cars. Robin artfully flipped and rolled, leaping about like some graceful cat or other animal. Danny, for his part, knocked the projectiles away with forearms, taking the hits when he was unable to avoid them. He'd be sore but he was no acrobat, especially not in this human form. Raven streaked after them through the air and as Robin leapt onto a motorcycle, touching the keyless ignition, a stray wrench whipped into the bike with enough force to unseat the Boy Wonder and pierce the fuel tank mounted to the bike. The leader of the Titans tumbled free from the vehicle and dived away as more tools shattered concrete a breath away from his feet. Danny picked up a wheel, powder coated in a fine cream-gold, and whirled it through the air at Raven as she advanced in her haze of hypnotism. It was only a distraction, a hasty and poor excuse for one but it allowed Robin to regain his footing and that was enough.
They needed to get Raven distracted long enough to get out of the garage and far enough away to disappear or break the spell over her. Breaking the spell would be difficult, as it would be with all of the Titans. Getting away from the dark sorceress would be the best bet but how to accomplish that was still a bit of a question. Well the entire operation was a question. The wheel the Titan's guest threw at Raven was redirected toward him and Danny only just got out of the way before it rang like a bell off of the ground and clanged away. Of course, Raven was not allowing them many chances to come up with a strategy. The motorcycles, their planned avenue of escape, were enveloped in darkness and then exploded in fire and shrapnel. Fragments of metal and glass bounced off of Danny's tough skin and rebounded from the tough synthetic of Robin's cape.
"Robin, figure something out!" Danny leapt aside as a blast of energy slammed into the concrete where he had been. "Quickly! I'll distract her!" He sprinted toward the girl hovering high in the garage and some distance away.
The leader of the Titans looked at the bikes, the destroyed vehicles burning and filling the heights of the garage with black smoke. The vent systems struggling to pump in fresh oxygen and pump out the smoke. He turned and looked behind him, to the heavy steel door that covered the roadway of the tunnel beneath the bay to the city. Raven's magic was a volatile and extremely formidable form of extradimensional manipulation coupled with certain manipulations of the shadows. How exactly Danny proposed he stop Raven from pursuing them was something the Bat's protégé was a bit unclear on. Raven could traverse planes and meld with the shadow. Danny must have known at least some of the capabilities of Raven's magic, they'd spent enough time together and she seemed to trust him. The entire team seemed to trust Danny to some extent now. They couldn't block the tunnel, Raven would shift through the rubble or ahead of them. Knocking her out of the spell was too difficult with only the two of them fighting against her, despite the spell on her the magic was reacting to protect her independently of the control of Mae-Eye. Soon enough other members of the team still caught up in the spell would begin to arrive at the garage, the noise was definitely not inconsiderable and the two young men wouldn't be able to hold more than Raven off.
Danny ran toward Raven as fast as he could. His feet skipped in between the mess that was the garage and he had the distinct impression Cyborg would not be happy with the damage. The Halfa leaped upward, pushing off with muscles enhanced by power bled over from his ghost side. It wasn't an intelligent move by any means and he knew this but it held the attention of the sorceress and kept her from pinning Robin down. A hand with long talons slammed into him from the side, Raven's arm sweeping with the action of her magic and bowling him away. He had expected the strike and took it in stride, rolling once he hit the floor and leaping back up. Raven followed him, turning in the air with the black magic never leaving her eyes. Danny couldn't use his powers without letting Robin in on the supposed secret, and even now the GIW could be tracking him. It had been risky enough using the ecto-beams from his eyes. He was left with physical attacks and he couldn't even get close to the girl.
"Danny we have to immobilize her or keep her busy long enough to get away, don't worry about breaking the spell right now. Cy, Star or BB will show up soon and we'll really be in trouble then!" Robin cried across the space between himself and Danny.
Danny looked around, trying to figure out a way to implement some form of Robin's idea. "Where's the bay above this place?"
Robin frowned and said "The north west corner! But why?"
"Never mind that, just get ready!" Danny skipped aside as a spear of darkness pierced the floor. He leaned down, circling around Raven who was deaf to the conversation between the boys, and grabbed a wrench. It whipped through the air end over end but was disintegrated in a burst of shadow.
Robin moved toward the corner he had indicated while Danny continued to throw tools and other pieces of metal at the sorceress. She kept her focus on the Halfa and moved after him slowly as she hovered through the air after him. For the moment the girl only deflected or disintegrated the projectiles that shot through the air with augmented strength. But it only lasted a moment and Danny narrowly dove over a low, jagged razor of darkness that rolled out of the floor directly in front of him. He kept going knowing that this was it if he and Robin wanted to get out of the Tower.
He made it to the corner, scraping off the wall in a tumble as a Raven struck out at him. The Halfa look behind her to where Robin was in position and looking slightly concerned behind his eyelet mask for Danny. The newcomer shouted to the Boy Wonder, "Blow out the ceiling!"
Robin did not hesitate or ask any questions. A handful of explosive disks shot through the air and exploded amongst the steel framework and concrete of the ceiling just behind Raven. She turned, pushing debris away with her magic before a deluge of water struck her, pounding her down to the floor with hundreds of litres of salt liquid. A wave washed across the garage, snuffing fires and nearly knocking the Titan leader off of his feet. Danny for his part blew out a sharp breath that glowed faint blue as ectoplasmic ice formed in the exhale. His eyes flickered blue and a lance of ice shot out from his hands along the water. Raven had managed to struggle free of the torrent enough to keep her face clear, using her magic to push desperately against the titanic force. The ice from Danny entombed her to the neck and she snarled at him, trying to break the trap. It held but would on do so for a while longer, using the water instead of actual ectoplasm would weaken the nature of the ice that Danny had produced but it would do for now. They could escape.
Danny jumped up onto the surface of the frozen water. He'd made sure to freeze all the way up to the breach so no more water filled the room and beyond what he had produced a layer of liquid a few inches thick lay over the floor in the farther reaches of the room. "Time to go yeah?"
Robin nodded dumbly, stunned at the new development. They ran to the large door that lead to the tunnel and Robin ran an override that forced it open. Across the expansive chamber the double doors to the stairs ripped free of their hinges as Cyborg and Starfire ripped into the room with a fanatical fury. The two renegades slipped through the opening and the heavily reinforced portal closed behind them. Robin shorted the control panel, effectively sealing the opening behind them.
"Come on, we'll get into the sewers. There's a manhole about thirty meters or so down the way, they won't be aware enough to look there immediately." Robin spoke as the heavy steel of the door banged sharply behind them. The pair ran down the tunnel.
§Oo–.–oO§
Danny tore the tattered clothing from his torso and picked through the meagre collection of clothing he had left, "After this is done Robin, you owe me some clothes." He pulled on another of his few remaining shirts, covering the scratches and ash smudges from the battle with Cyborg. He'd apologized after regaining his senses.
Robin rolled his eyes, "I'm sure Star will take you once we get her free. She'll probably love that."
The now trio had gone back to the sewer section where Danny had his bag stored so they could discuss what had happened in peace. Cyborg, with his partially electronic brain, had actively broken through the nearby witnesses phone securities and wiped the recorded video before uploads to social media could be complete. It would save at least some of the spectacle that the whole debacle had become.
Cyborg now was tinkering with his arm, his right pinching tubes of synthetic muscle together and sealing them with some sort of arc from his fingers. "Are you guys really talking about shopping? You trashed my garage and the Tower has been taken over by some crazy witch with pies and all you care about is shopping!"
Danny shrugged, "Should be easier to knock the others out of it now. And Mae-Eye I doubt will be any challenge."
Robin nodded, "I've considered the problem. Taking Mae-Eye out will be our primary concern. The magic on the others should break with her out of commission and now we have enough of us to actually try for it."
"You're going after Mae-Eye aren't you?" Cyborg flexed the fingers on his fixed hand.
"If you two can handle keeping Star, BB and Rae busy that's the plan. Danny seems to have more powers than he's letting on." Robin looked at Danny, brow quirked.
"There's a limit to what I can do with that." Danny ran a hand through his black hair, fingers brushing the edge of the white shock that interrupted the darkness of it. "I need a source of moisture, that's why you had to blow the roof of the garage out. For the water."
They hadn't told Cyborg about the damage to the structure, only the vehicles and floor. "What do you mean blew the roof out?" He was understandably aghast.
"Never mind that right now. Let's go to the Tower, we need to get into the upper levels as quickly as possible. If the others start flying you two are going to have some issues keeping them busy."
"All right let's go then" Cyborg stood, "Might as well wing it. Danny and I can handle BB, Star and Rae long enough for you to get Mae-Eye."
The trio moved down the sewer tunnel, quietly discussing further plans. The biggest obstacle they faced was making it to the tower without Mae-Eye, or whatever guard she had set the other Titans on, noticing them. They decided through the tunnel was the best bet but they weren't looking forward to fighting in the garage again. The room at the bottom of the Tower was simply too open and expansive and only Cyborg had a ranged weapon. With any luck however no one would be in the garage and they could make it into the deeper part of the Tower—into the tighter quarters of the corridors and room. Perhaps even to the top if they were extremely lucky as that was no doubt where the witch was carrying out whatever plan she had at the beginning of this whole thing. It'd be a hectic and stressful few hours, Danny and Robin slightly more sluggish and worn than Cyborg. They moved on doggedly though, determination set on the boy's faces.
The manhole slid aside, grinding on the asphalt faintly in the long tube. Robin leapt up, looking around carefully with a birdarang in his hand. The tunnel was empty, stretching in a gentle concave line across the base of the bay to come up in the city. The pale lights were mounted to the walls and the center of the ceiling at regular intervals, casting a constant even glow. Danny and Cy followed Robin out of the sewers and toward the hard grey of the steel door. A jagged hole was cut into the metal, the edges curled from hardened molten metal. Cyborg sighed at the extensive damage to his favorite room in the team's tower and knew that he'd have to spend days, if not weeks repairing everything. He didn't ask about the column of ice that sprouted from the floor up to the ceiling. They moved into the stairwell, thinking the elevator too conspicuous if was even still working.
They moved as quietly as possible, Robin leading the way. The plan was for Robin to hang back if they encountered any of the Titans while Cy and Danny rushed forward. This would hopefully distract the opponent and focus their attention on one of the larger boys while Robin skated around the conflict or found another route past them to keep going. Mae-Eye was priority number one. Several flights of stairs later and no one had appeared. The silence was almost eerie.
They made it nearly to the top of the Tower before the first attack came. On a landing of the stairs a green rhinoceros burst through a doorway and slammed into Cyborg. He twisted as the horn screeched against the armor of his torso. The wall cracked at his back while Danny turned back and Robin glanced over his shoulder. Cy's strong metal arms wrapped around the animal's face and forced the creature down into the floor.
He stood and beat against the sides of the changeling, "Go ahead, I got this. BB's got nothing on me." He cried out with effort and threw the animal backward.
Danny and Robin began to run up the stairs. The oldest Titan chased after the deposed changeling, disappearing into the corridor with a yell. Neither Robin nor Danny shared any of their concerns over the fact that Danny would have to face both of the female Titans now. Unless Cy could handle Beast Boy with some expediency. They moved into the top floor of the Tower. The halls were dark, the lights having gone out at some point during the witch's occupation.
Danny moved in front of Robin as they cautiously stepped onto the floor, "Let me go first, this'll probably get pretty harry quickly." Robin made a consenting noise in his throat and followed behind the taller teen. At the end of the long hall that opened into the Op Center and kitchen of Titans Tower two glowing colours appeared; green and a deep black. The girls were charging down the corridor toward the pair of intruders with great speed. Danny let out a breath, shifting to the balls of his feet and leaning forward, bracing for the inevitable impact. "Robin, get to the witch, hide before they pick you out."
"Good luck." Robin patted the Halfa on a shoulder and vanished down a side hall, slipping into a room he knew had another exit.
Bolts of green energy raced through the air ahead of the pair of girls. Danny sidestepped and ducked around the searing orbs of alien energy but took the last on crossed forearms, sliding backward with the force of the blow. The Tamaranean struck first, hitting the Halfa in a full tackle with her powerful arms closing around Danny's torso and ripping him free of his stance. A wall of magic appeared behind him and his back cracked into the magic some twenty feet back from where had started. Pain exploded in his back and he supposed his ribs had probably cracked with the impact. It was manageable but he groaned nonetheless, his vision blurring for a moment as he slumped down. He started back to consciousness in time to catch a kick aimed at his head in strong hands and he ripped Starfire off of her feet. Before he could strike again Raven's magic grabbed hold and put him through a wall and into a closet.
The magic released and Danny reacted, gripping a mop and hurling it at the sorceress. It only took an instant for the makeshift weapon to explode in her magic but it was enough. Danny dove through the door and into a hallway, turning and running down the hall. It was a pretty hopeless fight, he knew that well enough. Both of the powerful girls working in tandem was too much to handle in human form and even as a ghost it would take some strategy to incapacitate both of them. Burning orbs of green flashed past his shoulders as he ran and they cut smouldering gashes into the floors, walls and even shattering the floor to ceiling window all the way at the end of the hall that ran the width of the 'T' section of the headquarters. A black tentacle of energy wrapped around his ankles and his face cracked into the floor yet again that day.
His hands dug into the floor, trying to resist the force of the pulling magic as Starfire approached with burning green eyes and fists lit with energy. The bolts flickered toward him as he flipped over, abandoning trying to stop the pull and caught the bolts with pale hands. The cryogenic energy charged in his palms from the ghostly half of the teen absorbed the heat and energy of the bolts and dispelled them. His hands tingled as though they had fallen asleep with the desperate maneuver but he had no time to consider the strange feeling as the tendril of Raven's magic rippled and cracked like a whip. His body bounced around the hall, crashing into the plaster of the walls and the lights of the ceiling. Glass and dust filled the corridor and all Danny could do was covered his head and resist the urge to use ghost powers. He wasn't even sure if his ghost powers would work with Raven's magic containing him, ectoplasm could be volatile and had exploded when he'd used it earlier. Only the teleportation had managed to work and that wasn't much use here.
The wall gave way, revealing piping for a washroom perhaps behind the plaster and Danny in a moment of inspiration grabbed the pipe and refused to let go. Raven tore him free of the wall with the pipe in tow and a stream of water flowed freely from ragged metal. It sprayed over the trio of combatants and Danny grabbed at the chance, using his power over cold to freeze the water into shattered jagged pieces that littered the hall. Using the moisture instead of producing his own ice would hopefully dampen the ecto signature of his cryogenic powers. He grabbed one when the tendril whiplashed him into the floor and with a quick movement it shot toward Raven but melted away with her magic. It was beginning to get desperate.
A thunderous roar and a shout. Heavy metal teen and a green tiger crashed into Starfire and Raven respectively. The girls resisted the strikes, not taking the necessary impacts on the head to break the spell but it disrupted the magic enough for Danny to stand and rejoin the fight. Cyborg crashed through another wall and BB followed the marauding Starfire to support his friend against her. Raven turned to Danny as he launched himself at her without concern. He didn't want to hit her but he would if it was necessary. A dome of black energy expanded from her chest and slammed into Danny like a steel wall that pressed him back. It ensconced him, pinning him to a barren but untouched section of the Tower's wall. Only his face was free and the enchanted witch approached with flickering magic in her eyes. Her pale lips pulled back in a feral snarl so out of place on the girl's normally peaceful face. Raven's right hand raised high behind her ear, magic glittering on the delicate fingers.
And then it flickered out. Her clouded eyes cleared, the magic fluttering away and her face relaxing. Danny's containment dropped and he stumbled as his feet hit the floor. Raven stared at him nonplussed as he smiled and said, "Whew, looks like Robin came through. Just in time too."
In a perplexed monotone Raven asked, "What happened here?" her hand gestured to the frozen water, shattered glass and crumbled walls.
Danny laughed lightly, a hand sweeping through his dust filled hair, "Long story. Come on, everyone will be going to the Op Center. Lots of explaining to do."
§Oo–.–oO§