VII
How Far Down the Rabbit Hole
The T-Car came to a quiet halt in front of the target building. The place was a small personal business centered on hardware retail. The lights were out for the evening, and all was quiet. The team exited the car, all looking relatively surprised at their destination.
"Uh," Cyborg started, "the reports I got said there was some kinda break-in? I don't see any broken windows."
"Beast Boy, Starfire, check around back," Robin ordered. "Raven, go in and see if you can't unlock the front door."
Raven floated over towards the front of the building. A swirl of black plastered across the large display window, and Raven traversed to the other side. She quickly made her way to the front door.
"It's a double-sided lock," Raven said, the sound of her voice coming through the glass door's mail slot. "There's just the silent alarm, otherwise. Give me a second."
Raven's eyes began to glow, and black energy surrounded an electric box on the inside corner of the door. At the same time, a quick flash of black raced through the bolt lock, and the mechanism turned with ease. The door opened, shaking the bells dressed on the top. Cyborg's shoulder lamp came on and scanned across the store.
Robin pulled out his communicator and flicked it on. "Anything, Beast Boy?"
"Nah," Beast Boy said, "the door's locked. Nobody broke in from this side."
Robin's face remained grim. This doesn't make any sense.
"Perhaps we have been the victims of a fraudulent call," Starfire volunteered over Beast Boy's shoulder.
"I don't know," Robin answered. "Scope out the back for anything that looks suspicious. We'll keep looking around in here."
"Cash registers look intact," Raven reported to Robin as he put his communicator away.
"Everything looks in place, Rob," Cyborg corroborated. "No sign of a break-in anywhere."
Robin scowled. "Great. What a waste of time." He walked up to where Cyborg was standing. "Let's just check in the back to be sure, then we'll head home."
The three made their way into the back room. Cyborg walked in first, letting his lamp shine around the place. Robin found the switch on the other side of the wall and flicked it on. Everything seemed in place in the back as well. It looked like a makeshift office room for the owner. Robin gave a good look around, found nothing and began to walk back out.
"Whuh-oh," Cyborg started. "That ain't right."
Robin turned around. "What?"
"This wall," Cyborg said, his hand against the far wall. "It feels solid. Everything else is drywall, but this is metal."
"Could it be the back of the building?" Raven asked.
"Might be," Cyborg answered. "But the foundation isn't steel except for some rebar."
Robin immediately looked around the room again. On a hunch, he peered under the desk. Sliding the computer keyboard tray out of the way, Robin found what he was looking for. A small panel with a key lock at its center.
"Raven, can you pick this one, too?"
Raven walked to the table and kneeled to take a peek. Her eyes glowed as a black orb formed undeneath. There was a soft click from the lock, and a button panel flipped open at the wall near Cyborg. The hybrid Titan pressed it, and the entire back wall split open just enough for someone to walk through.
"Maybe not so much a break in as someone comin' in after hours," Cyborg smirked.
Robin pulled his communicator back out. "Beast Boy, Starfire, come around front. Raven will let you in." He clicked it off and nodded at Raven. The girl floated out of the office. "Let's check this out," Robin said to Cyborg.
-
-
Raven lead Starfire and Beast Boy to the back of the hardware store after locking the door behind them. They quickly went through the open wall and started down the stairs, Raven first followed by Beast Boy, then Starfire.
"Followin' the rabbit down the rabbit hole," Beast Boy sang quietly to himself.
Raven, understanding the joke, spun around quickly. "Don't do that," she warned, a finger quickly in Beast Boy's face. "I'm not kidding."
Beast Boy smiled nervously, waving his hands innocently in front of him. Raven turned back around as she shook her head, and the three followed the stairs to where they would lead. They joined up with Robin and Cyborg, and Raven took a look around. The stairs had lead into the sewer.
"Nice," Raven deadpanned.
"Cyborg," Robin said, "can you scan for foot prints?"
"Fresh ones from the stairs to here," Cyborg answered, looking at the scan readout on his arm. "Then they just stop."
"Probably lead into the water part," Beast Boy added.
Robin shook his head. "If they came down here recently and walked through the drainage, there'd be splashed cement from the wake. Everything's dry just above the water line."
Raven suppressed a reaction, keeping her face steady. "Unless they could levitate."
The team didn't say a thing for a moment. Robin turned his head. "Beast Boy, sniff them out."
Beast Boy saluted and morphed into a dog. He began sniffing the sidewalk of the sewer before turning towards the water. Then, his nose turned up to the air. He started trotting down the left-most path, and the team followed behind. They traveled a good two miles under the city until Beast Boy finally stopped, morphing back to humanoid form.
"It just stops right here."
Raven and the team looked around, then up. There was a sewer manhole directly above them. "I'll take a look," Raven volunteered.
"Be careful," Robin cautioned.
Raven floated up to the manhole, lifting it with her mind before peeking outside. The first strange thing she noted was that it didn't open into a street. It was very dark, walls on all sides and the night sky coming in from windows higher up. She lifted the manhole completely off.
"Clear," Raven sounded below her. She floated up and onto the surface and looked around. The structure looked to be the inside of a warehouse. It was bare, but by no means run-down. The team came up one by one behind her. "Where is this?"
Cyborg checked the map readout on his arm. "I know where we are. We're in that network of warehouses from last year's project."
"Then we're about two miles from the docks," Robin said.
Raven looked the building over again. Pristine condition, completely empty, never used. Jump City had funded for a storage project in anticipation of heavy international trade. The network of warehouses in the area was designed to store anything and everything from perishable items to modern and antique furniture. Trading didn't peak as the city had hoped, but the local government kept funding the project regardless. Roughly thirty percent of the built warehouses were actually in use. The rest were kept clean and at the ready in case trading picked up. In Raven's opinion, it was a total waste of tax dollars. Good thing I'm not paying taxes yet…
The warehouses were also connected with a series of catwalks, the links meant to make traveling easier. Beast Boy turned back into his dog form and ran up the stairs to the catwalk above. Again, the team followed. After traveling through a series of empty buildings, Raven placed a hand on Beast Boy's head. He morphed back, and she looked to him and the team.
"Wait here," she said. She floated across the catwalk to the next warehouse and peered down to the floor level. This particular warehouse boasted a huge slide-away false concrete floor. The sound of heavy concrete sliding across the ground rumbled loudly as it opened. The blue energy surrounding its edges crackled and danced as a man just under the catwalk held his arms out towards it, manipulating the large sliding trapdoor. Raven wasted no time flying over the catwalk edge, practically free-falling to the ground. She flipped around until her feet were under her, letting her cloak billow above and away from her body. She lightly touched down in front of Zerrich with practiced finesse. Her eyes glowed as she grimaced at him.
"You really should have stayed away," she warned. Raven reached one hand out behind her, and the entire slab of floor turned black and slammed shut again faster than it had opened. "You know, I almost dismissed you in all this."
"At the risk of sounding cliché," Zerrich said, "you're making the worst mistake."
"I told you I would take you to jail," Raven responded.
"Damn it, what are you doing?" Zerrich questioned. "We're really going for a fourth skirmish? I don't have time to waste my energy with you."
"Looks like you don't got a choice," came Cyborg's deep voice from over Raven's head. She watched as Zerrich peered up at the above walking tier, knowing her full team was there.
The man looked back to Raven. "Let me reiterate," he said, "the worst mistake…"
"Titans, go!" came Robin's cry. Raven unleashed a stream of black energy, and Zerrich made a fast leap out of its way. He twisted in the air and dodged a pair of starbolts, twisting back the other direction to avoid a sonic blast. He flew into the nearest wall, turning to plant his feet ahead of him. He made contact and launched away before another set of starbolts could strike him. He sent two of his own blasts of energy in separate directions. Robin dodged the one coming for him, while Beast Boy morphed into a small bird and avoiding the second burst. He fired two more blasts at Cyborg, forcing the Titan to leap out of the way.
Raven fired a second stream of soul self at the landing Zerrich, with Starfire and Cyborg firing almost in unison from their positions. Zerrich quickly put up a full wall of blue energy to deflect everything coming in his direction. Beast Boy converted into a rhino, making a full charge at the field. He slammed into it, causing the warehouse to rumble from the impact. The field dropped, Beast Boy charged through and Zerrich flew over him to the other side of the building. A volley of blue orbs forced Raven to relocate. Before she could counterattack against the grounded opponent, a series of explosions on Zerrich's right forced the man to tumble sideways. He regained his footing in time to put up a quick dome to block more starbolts, dropping it long enough to send three blasts of energy at the diving Starfire. The last of the three tagged her heel, causing the Tamaranian girl to veer away from Zerrich's position. Robin ran to Raven's side, pulling out three explosive discs.
"His defenses are solid," Robin yelled over the noise of combat.
"He's weakening. We're overwhelming him. He keeps trying for the trapdoor."
"We need to speed this along." Robin responded, still watching the attack. "We gotta keep him pinned in that corner. His fighting style's…"
A sweep attack of multiple blasts forced Robin and Raven to cut off their conversation as both Titans dove in opposite directions. Robin recovered; throwing his explosive discs while Raven flew up into the air. She turned and darted towards Robin, keeping with him as he ran.
"We need Starfire, Cyborg and myself to keep up ranged attacks," Raven called out. "When we break his defenses down, you and Beast Boy get in close. He's weak at hand-to-hand."
Robin simply nodded, skid to a halt and pulled out his grapple hook. The device fired and clamped onto the ceiling, allowing Robin to swing out of the way of another attack. Raven watched as he ordered Cyborg to keep firing while in mid-swing, launched off the far wall, then swung back towards Starfire and Beast Boy. Raven opened up with a new stream of energy, Cyborg's attack not far behind. Zerrich's protective dome went up, and Starfire's eyebeams sprayed against the far side. Another set of explosive charges from Robin's throw blasted against Zerrich's defenses, and smoke drifted across its blue surface.
The top of the dome burst open, and Zerrich jumped clear from his protection. The blue dome collapsed towards the center down before dissolving, and a twisting Zerrich let loose a volley of blue orbs at all three attackers. The team scrambled to avoid the attack. Raven spread a streak of black in front of her, deflecting two shots before they could hit her. She rolled up the energy into a concentrated ball of soul self and threw it at the hovering Zerrich. The man formed a small shield around his right arm, batting the blast away. A millisecond later, Starfire's eyebeams caught Zerrich across the back. He fell, rolled his feet forward on descent, and then slowed his fall before making contact with the ground. He took three steps towards the trapdoor and was able to sneak off a blast of magic against a dodging Robin before being forced to put up another shield. Cyborg's strike caused Zerrich to stumble back slightly.
The attack pattern repeated several times with Zerrich putting up defenses, making short moves towards the trapdoor, then being forced away from it. Cyborg blasted at Zerrich from his front, and another blue dome appeared around him. The far side of the field dissolved, and Zerrich dove through it. He fired at both Robin and Beast Boy, rolled into a crouch, and built up a new barrier. Robin vaulted off the ground with his staff, avoiding the hit. Beast Boy had been standing by, waiting to make his move. The blast struck him in the gut, knocking him backwards and out of the fight.
Raven figured out his attacks, figured out what Zerrich knew. He was aiming for the close-range combatants. The other three Titans opened up again, causing Zerrich's domed barrier to warp inward by the attacks. An explosion from a last explosive disc smashed the magic barrier apart, and Robin dove into its center with his staff extended.
Raven held back as Robin went on offense. She couldn't risk tagging him. Plus, using her magic in an attempt to restrain Zerrich would have been met with a counter-spell. Starfire and Cyborg seemed to understand the possible danger as well and held off. Raven looked over to Beast Boy. He was getting up on one knee, recovering from the hit. She floated to him, checked him out. He gave her a quick nod that said he was okay. She looked back to the duel at hand. It was now up to Robin to take Zerrich down.
-
-
Robin took a leaping overhead swing at Zerrich, landing just in front of him. A small barrier went up, flashing in bright blue upon impact with Robin's bo-staff. Crouching after he landed, Robin swept for Zerrich's feet with his right leg. Zerrich attempted to float out of the way but managed only to get his nearest foot clear. Robin caught the other boot and caused Zerrich to lose concentration and fall.
The man in blue vaulted off the ground with his hands before Robin could straighten out and finish his attack. Zerrich made an attempt for altitude inside the building, but his slow ascent only illustrated his weariness. The Boy Wonder grinned slightly as he ran after Zerrich, jumping for the wall and launching higher into the air with his staff extended. Before his opponent could get a field up, Robin caught him with a swing to the gut. Both fell to the ground, Robin rolling gracefully onto his feet. Zerrich grunted as he slammed down, rolling sluggishly to his right. As Zerrich tried to stand again, the Titan's leader made a full charge. Zerrich's attention was drawn, and a small field appeared in the space ahead of where Robin was swinging.
It was a feint. With practiced finesse, Robin's staff came up just short of the field, never touching. His body had slid into place so that he could stop on a dime then reverse his attack. His back leg picked up and swung around to Zerrich's opposite temple, knocking him down and sliding him across the ground. Zerrich stopped short of the back wall, and he was even slower attempting to get up this time. Still, he managed to stand.
This guy's stubborn!
"Give it up," Robin warned, his voice low and menacing.
"I can't afford to," Zerrich countered, his breath almost gone.
As Robin started another attack, Zerrich threw an underhanded pitch of blue energy. Robin took a leap to his right, and then saw a second blast hurtling just in front of where he would land. There was nothing to do sailing through mid air, and just as Robin's toes barely touched the floor the blast struck him in the chest. He grunted as he flew back, launching his staff relatively blind at Zerrich's position. The bo whirled through the air like a rotor blade, but Zerrich knocked it away with the blue energy encasing his right arm.
Robin landed on his back and performed a backwards roll while he grabbed at the side of his belt. His practice and experience with taking hits kept the wind from being knocked out of him. Straightening out, Robin threw a small round object ahead of him. Again, Zerrich put up a small field, and the device connected. A rapid explosion emitted a full cloud of smoke, and Zerrich began coughing. Robin ran into the smokescreen, listening for the noise and following it. When his senses zeroed in on Zerrich, he let fly with his right fist.
The punch connected with Zerrich's face, causing him to rear backwards. The clacking of boots gave Robin another focal point, and the Boy Wonder ran into a leap attack. His feet slammed into Zerrich's chest, kicking him clear of the smokescreen and into the far wall. Robin was quick to follow as he pierced through the smoke, pulled his right arm back to let loose with one final blow. The punch landed against Zerrich's stomach, and the man grunted one last time before slumping to the ground.
"It's over, Zerrich," Robin said, calling him by the name Raven had given. Zerrich stirred slightly, though he didn't get up.
It was then, before Robin could properly restrain their foe, that the trapdoor behind him suddenly began to open. Robin turned to look behind him, forgetting Zerrich for a moment. A monstrous, mechanical limb peered out on its own through the partial opening in the floor. The arm released a red beam of energy from its tip that destroyed the metal stairs leading to the catwalks, and the Titans scattered. The rest of the machine came out of the floor, and Robin recognized it as one of Slade's sentinel robots. Only this one seemed much larger, and when Cyborg's sonic cannon did little more than annoy the beast Robin knew it was better armored as well. The trapdoor slid closed again, and the Titans were already on the offensive.
"One of your friends here to bail you out?" Robin sneered back at Zerrich as he prepared to join in.
"Not…" Zerrich struggled to speak, "one of mine…"
Robin turned quickly back to Zerrich, only to find the man diving for him straight on. Robin couldn't avoid the attack, and both fighters collided and slammed into the ground with a loud boom. The two separated from the impact, and Robin grunted as he rolled on the floor a moment before stopping himself and getting on one knee. He shook his head hard, looked around for Zerrich…and found him to be nowhere nearby. He turned around to see if he was behind him, only to be greeted by the sight of a rather large hole in the building wall, directly behind where he'd just been. The boom hadn't been a trick of the senses from when the two of them had landed on the ground.
Now, Robin checked for Zerrich again, a different reason on his mind. The Titans were running their distraction pattern as they each took turns attempting to take the monster down. Robin shook his head again, got to his feet and made a dash for the back of the robot. Reaching for his belt, he pulled out a bird-a-rang and threw it for the back of the machine's neck. The weapon dug into the armor, causing the monster to rear back and turn towards whatever had attacked it. The limb with the cannon on it aimed for Robin's head.
A blast of black slammed into the robot's arm, kicking the beam clear of Robin's position. Robin still rolled to his left, tumbling back onto his feet. Just behind the robot, amidst all the Titans running or flying throughout the building, was Zerrich. He was standing directly over the trapdoor.
"Stop!" Robin shouted, but Zerrich had no intention of listening. He slowly drifted off his feet, falling lightly backwards against the trapdoor. Almost as softly as he fell, Zerrich passed directly through the heavy concrete slab in the floor. The blue energy in the shape of his person dissolved like some cloud in the sky.
Robin finally made his way closer to the team, the robot showing signs of wearing down. The leader spotted Raven staring at the floor from her hovering spot in the air. She looked to him for the go-ahead
"Don't let him get away!" Robin ordered to her. "The rest of us can take this guy!"
Robin watched as the girl nodded, then dove for the floor. She slipped quickly through the trapdoor in a flash of black energy.
-
-
Raven touched down at the bottom of a large cavern. The end behind her sloped up towards the trapdoor. Ahead of her, the cavern continued on. It was pitch black, except for the slight blue glow further down the tunnel. Raven was flying down the rocky corridor as quickly as she could, catching up to Zerrich's position.
"Give up!" Raven yelled, landing just behind him. His left arm was ahead of him, a dull blue glow surrounding his fist. She only later noticed his slow pace, his slightly hunched-over posture. Robin had done a number on him, but one thing caught her attention. He was leaning against the wall on his right arm. The one he'd broken five days earlier. She hadn't paid attention to it until she focused on his recent injuries. The entire fight, his arm had been just fine.
"You never seem to," he quipped. "You expect me to be different?"
"You aren't going to get away," she answered.
Zerrich stopped, straightened out and turned around. "I'm not trying to get away."
"I see. So, leaving the battle was mere coincidence."
"My choices were limited. I'm expected to drop my objectives to deal with you and your team? My quarrels were not with you to begin with, so I would rather you leave me be."
"You're too much a threat to the city to leave al-"
"You attacked me," Zerrich interrupted her. "No questions, nothing. And I'm the threat?"
Raven didn't move. She didn't fight him, even though she could easily overpower him at this point. "All right. Why do you just happen to be one step ahead of us?"
Zerrich shook his head, turning back around. "Coincidence, I suppose. I honestly don't care."
Raven walked up to Zerrich, purposefully grabbing him by his right arm and turning him back around. He did wince, but the pain seemed to be closer linked with the turning of his waist. The arm seemed to resist. "Tell me where we are. What is this place?"
"You know, I'm trying to find that out, too," Zerrich responded, wrenching his arm from Raven's grip. "You really want to understand? Stop fighting me."
Raven watched as he continued on his own down the cavern. "Then I'll ask you an easy one. Why are you here?"
Zerrich sighed, wincing as he straightened up his left side more. "I have reason to believe that the man responsible for taking one of the scrolls is down here."
Raven's eyes widened. She looked to the back of Zerrich's head. "Slade?"
"I don't know his name. And I wouldn't be sure of his appearance. I tracked a man in a beige coat. Large hood over his head. Had quite the limp on his left. He walked into that equipment shop a day ago. I never witnessed him leaving, so I investigated."
Raven finally started walking to keep up with Zerrich. "You staked out a hardware store? What, on some whim?"
"I staked out the man," Zerrich corrected. "He passed by me on one of your quieter streets a couple of days ago. He had an off sense about him that grabbed at my attention."
"Could you tell what he was planning?"
Zerrich looked back, puzzled. "I'm not exactly psychic," he said dryly, looking back to the cavern. "I guess you'd call it gut instinct."
Raven paused for a step. Even though the comment was off-handed, she had wondered for some time if he was at least somewhat psychic. Her question was even geared around that thought. Apparently he's not. Great, that's one question answered.
"Plus," Zerrich continued, "I'd gotten the feeling that he had looked back at me after passing. You tend to look over your shoulder in moments like those."
"What did you see?"
"No one. He had disappeared. For someone with a heavy limp, that also seemed odd."
"So, you followed him all this way."
"Just as you followed me, apparently," Zerrich added.
Raven shook her head. "You tripped a silent alarm. For someone who can blend in when out on the streets, you sure can mess up the little things." Raven kept walking with Zerrich, not sure where the tunnel would lead, or why she was following Zerrich against her better judgment. She supposed it was from the knowledge that she could have easily overpowered him at this point if she needed to. "And another thing," she began. "Why were you trying to move the trapdoor open earlier? Why didn't you just pass through to begin with?"
"Into some dark place underground I'd never been? I'm not so imprudent as to not wonder and be wary of what might come out of such places."
"You couldn't just l-"
"I understand you tend to ask more questions than you answer," Zerrich interrupted, his voice quieter, "but I think we're getting closer to something."
Raven tensed a moment, still open to the idea that it was a trap. Down the far end of the cavern, where the way became pitch black, a single red light blinked on. A moment later, loud clanking sounds echoed towards the two travelers in a footstep pattern.
"It's the one getting closer!" Raven shouted, stepping out in front and erecting a black wall of energy. It was just in time, as the red light emitted a laser blast at both of them. The beam deflected into the top of the cavern, destroying rock and spraying it everywhere. The machine came out of the darkness and into Zerrich's blue glow of energy. It was another of Slade's sentinel drones.
"I can't believe there were two of these things," Zerrich growled.
"I couldn't believe there was only one earlier," Raven retorted.
The robot drone swung its arms into Raven's field, causing it to fluctuate. Zerrich gathered energy around his right fist, ready to unleash it if the barrier fell. Raven pushed the barrier ahead of her, forcing the robot backwards. A gap formed in the corner of the energy barrier, leaving a portion of the machine open for attack. Zerrich unleashed the ball of blue energy, and it smashed into the robot's shoulder. It turned its shoulder back slightly from the impact, but nothing more.
Raven knew Zerrich was well off his game. She reached out to a large, loose rock behind the machine, pulling it towards the monster's back. The robot took the hit, nearly tumbling forward. Raven finished the move with a blast of black energy to the robot's lower legs. The drone put one of its arms against the cavern wall, bracing itself from falling. It was quick to bring its other limb out front, the red light from the handless tip again blasting away at Raven and Zerrich.
Raven ducked the beam entirely. Zerrich managed a barrier in front of him, but the beam disintegrated the field where it made contact. Luckily, the barrier held the blast off long enough for Zerrich to duck out of the way. Raven got back up, her eyes glowing white and her arms raised. The monster was just too large for her and Zerrich to handle alone. She reached into the cavern's ceiling, putting her soul self into whole sections of rock just above the robot. As it straightened out, Raven chanted her words of focus. On the last part of the chant, she swung her arms down. The ceiling above pulled loose in sections of black energy, smashing into the machine's back. It was buried relatively quickly.
The immediate effect was that of the cavern shaking, rock and debris cascading down loosely from above. "We have to go back," Raven warned. "This whole place might come down."
"Remind me to thank you for that later," Zerrich quipped. "Right now, I'm inclined to agree."
Both of them made for the entrance at the warehouse, Raven putting up fields to hold off the falling rock. Zerrich clearly was only able to keep at a decent run, wincing slightly as he traveled. Raven had gotten just far enough ahead of him that when a large section of the ceiling above threatened to come down in larger portions her field could not extend far enough back.
Zerrich put up a quick shelter over his head, but it was faltering. It only took a boulder twice the size of his head to smash the blue energy into nothing. It slammed into his left shoulder, nearly knocking him to the ground. The large rock falling a moment later onto Zerrich's back, however, accomplished just that. He fell quickly against the floor, unconscious. Raven used the little bit of light given off by the bright edge of her barrier and made her way back. Quickly, she got to Zerrich and rolled him onto his back. He was completely unresponsive; limp in her arms, but slowly breathing. Her shelter held fine, but it was probably a matter of time before she was simply buried along with Zerrich.
"I can't believe you're making me risk my life for you," she growled at the unconscious man, picking him up across one shoulder. She reached out with her mind, letting her powers lift his weight the rest of the way. With a much quicker pace Raven made her way out of the collapsing cavern and through to the warehouse ahead, where her team had just finished off the first drone. Discussion on leaving the warehouse became unnecessary as the team made their way out through the building's small side door.