A few minutes later, the other Titans arrived at the scene of the battle, only to find both Ember and Raven gone.
"Well, they were obviously here" Cyborg commented "one of them had to have made this crater."
"I am worried" Starfire said "our friend Raven could be in trouble."
"We need to get back to the Tower" Robin said, "I'm sure Control Freak's new gang is connected to this somehow, and we need to find out more about them."
Raven slowly began to regain consciousness, and she opened her eyes, bit by bit.
"Where am I?" she asked, "last thing I remember, that rocker girl knocked me out with a power blast."
Slowly, everything began to come into focus; she surveyed her surroundings, but was unable to determine where she was.
She attempted to get up, and found that she was tightly chained to a metal chair. Her hands were behind her back and wrapped with the thick chain, and more of it was tied around her chest, securing her to the chair. A length had also been used to tie her ankles.
"What's going on? Who did this?" Raven asked "I demand you show yourself and tell me why you kidnapped me!"
When no one answered, she began to struggle against the chains, trying to summon her dark energy to break them.
"Struggle all ya want" a southern accented voice replied from the shadows, "those chains have been specially designed to resist yer dark powers."
"Who are you?" Raven asked. Out of the shadows stepped a familiar figure, the giant bean she and her friends had fought earlier.
"Control Freak's teammate?" Raven asked, "I wouldn't have figured him to be smart enough to try something like this."
"He isn't" Hannibal explained "see, Control Freak works for me. He wanted a chance ta take down you and yer Titan pals, so I let it appear as though he was in charge."
"Okay" Raven said, still a little unsure of what was going on "so again, why did you grab me?"
"I've been researching powerful beings" Hannibal explained "when I came across a delightful article 'bout a fella named Trigon. Upon further reading, I learned that he's your pappy, and that you're the key ta bring him into our world. So when Control Freak decided he wanted ta take out the Titans, well, the opportunity was too good ta resist."
"First of all, whatever you are, Trigon may have created me, but he's not my father! Secondly, your little plan won't work because I've destroyed him, and the part of me that was him is also gone."
"You say that, but I have a feeling that somewhere in that body of yours is the tools ta bring yer pappy here into our world" Hannibal said "and I've sent my associates ta obtain a special device ta help me find out."
"You won't get away with this!" Raven said "if I don't escape, the Titans will find me and stop you!"
"They're welcome ta try, my dear" Hannibal said "but I'm not worried about them."
Meanwhile, back at Titans Tower, the remaining Titans were continuing their search for Raven.
"Nothing on her communicator" Cyborg said, his own at the ready.
"If only there were someway we could track her" Robin said "without her communicator."
"Can't we do one of those energy scan things?" Beast Boy asked, "ya know, scan her dark powers or something?"
"It could work" Cyborg said "what do we have to lose?"
"In the meantime, we'd better get some backup" Robin said "with one Titan short, we're going to need some help to rescue her. Beast Boy, contact all available Titans in the area and tell them to get here ASAP."
"You can count on me chief" Beast Boy replied, "I won't let you down."
"Do you think Raven will be all right?" Starfire asked Robin, after BB left.
"She'll be fine, she's a tough girl" Robin replied "it's her kidnappers I'd be worried about."
Back at the Brigade's secret hideout, Jack Spicer and Control Freak had arrived to take the guard shift on their prisoner. Knowing that her portly foe had an inflated ego, Raven decided to use that to her advantage.
"So Control Freak, this is what you've been reduced to, taking orders from a living bean?" she asked.
"He may be a bean, but he's a brilliant leader" CF replied.
"Oh he's brilliant all right" Raven added, "but you're not. I mean, he probably came up with this plan, not you. You want to prove yourself as being one of our greatest enemies, but the truth is, you are, and always will be, a joke."
"Oh really?" CF asked, "well I'm not the one chained to a chair, am I?"
"You'd better hope I stay chained up" Raven replied "cause when I get loose, guess who's going to be the first person I take my anger out on?"
"I'm getting really tired of your mouth" CF replied angrily.
"I got it" Jack volunteered; pulling a white cloth from his coat, he approached the helpless Raven and tied it around her mouth. She could only make muffled grunts and that upset her even more.
"Much better" CF replied, "now our D&D game can proceed uninterrupted."
Raven meanwhile began to thrash against her bonds, hoping to loosen them or the gag. Come on Titans, where are you? She thought.
The Titans were still at the Tower, with Robin setting their plan into motion.
"I've decided that we'll each split into groups of three to find Raven" he said "Starfire, Kid Flash, and myself will take the west side. Cyborg, you Beast Boy, and Jinx take the east."
"You got it Rob" Cyborg replied; after Robin's group departed, he turned to his two companions.
"So Jinx, this is your first time riding in the T-Car. You exicted?"
Jinx shrugged her shoulders "it's just a car."
"Just a car?!" Cyborg exclaimed "is the Mona Lisa just a painting? The T-Car is a brilliant piece of engineering. And when I find that cyborg guy that messed with her, I'll…"
"Easy Cy" Beast Boy said "let's just go before you do something you'll regret."
Back at Hannibal's base, the other BB members arrived. "We got it boss man, seriously" Motor Ed said the moment he stepped through the door.
"I hope it wasn't too difficult" Hannibal replied.
"Those monks beat Herring up pretty good" Slipstream replied "and that wind monk tossed me around."
"But other than that, we obtained it easily" Ottoman finished.
Ed handed Bean the object in question; it resembled a yo-yo, but with a black body.
"Excellent" Hannibal replied, "now ta put phase two of my plan into action."
Raven was still struggling against her bonds when she saw Hannibal Bean enter the room. What does he want? To gloat?
"Do it" Hannibal ordered CF.
"Um, sir, are you sure we shouldn't reconsider this?" he asked nervously "you know how powerful she is, and she did threaten to tear me a new one."
"I know what I'm doing, now do it" Hannibal ordered.
Covering his eyes, CF reluctantly obeyed and pointed his remote at Raven. Within seconds, the chains that bound her fell away. Raven didn't have time to question why she was freed, but rather took advantage to free her legs and yank the gag off.
"Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" she cried, levitating the chair she had been secured too and hurling it at Control Freak.
Then she faced Hannibal "that was a stupid mistake" she said "what's to keep me from leaving and contacting the Titans?"
"Nothing, I suppose" Hannibal replied, "but are ya sure you don't want ta deal with me first?"
"Good point" Raven replied and flew forward to battle the bean. She used her powers to hurl everything she could find in proximity at him. He dodged most of them ,but was pinned behind a desk.
"Now I'm calling the Titans" Raven said "and you're going to jail."
Suddenly, she noticed that he was reaching for something in his vine-like hand. "Oh no you don't" Raven said, grabbing the weapon with her powers.
She dropped it in her hand and stared at it "a yo-yo?" she asked incredulously "what's so dangerous about this?"
"It's not any ordinary yo-yo" Hannibal explained "it's called the Yin Yo-Yo."
"So, what makes it so special?" she demanded.
"Use it and say 'Yin yo-yo' and you'll have your answer" Hannibal replied.
Raven wasn't sure she should trust him, but if this item was in his hands, it could be potentially dangerous. She should check to make sure it wasn't a weapon or something.
"Yin yo-yo" Raven said, using the Wu. Suddenly, a weird sensation came over her, and she felt as though something was leaving her body. Seconds later, she bolted upright, her mind filled with only one thing;
Evil.
"Did I forget ta mention that the yo-yo makes ya the opposite of how you normally are?" Hannibal asked, pushing aside the desk "silly me. So, how are ya feeling Raven?"
"Like causing chaos and destruction" the now evil Raven replied.
"And ya know how ya could do that" Hannibal said "by raising your dad. Oh wait, I heard that ya destroyed him, oh well."
"Actually, there might be traces of him at the place where he was destroyed" Raven expalined "if I go there and concentrate, I can resurrect him."
"Sounds like a field trip" Hannibal said evilly "I'll pack us a lunch."
"Can I have a juice box?" CF asked groggily from the floor.
In the next chapter, no one gets a juice box, but the Titans face off against the full roster of the Bean Brigade. Will Jinx and Kid Flash be any help?