"You may be difficult to break, but trust me, you will," the man with the cold voice said. "Perhaps…with a bit of…different persuasion, you will be more susceptible my methods of suggestion."

CLINK! CLINK! Clink! Clink! Clink. Clink.

Fading metallic footsteps told me the man was walking away.

My head was on fire. Intense lights still shown in my eyes, and shutting my eyes didn't stop the heat that was being generated. I couldn't move and I could barely breath.

"Ehhehhehhehhehhehheh."

A hissing laugh filled the air.

"You will contribute nicely to my research," a voice with a slight Asian tint to it said. "Yes, you will make my developments much more powerful."

"What……w-what are you talking about?" I croaked.

"Your genes hold answers that I want," the new voice hissed. "And now I shall have them. Ehhehhehhehheh."

The man's sinister laughing plagued my ears as metallic instruments were clinked into place on a nearby table. He brought one instrument in front of my eyes and a scalpel glinted in the light.

I felt the blade dig into my skin and I hissed though my teeth.

"A little muscle tissue."

A needle stuck itself in my arm.

"A blood sample."

A knife peeled a section of skin off my leg.

"And a skin sample."

I felt my blood ooze down my right leg and arm as I heard a chair roll across the floor.

Someone……………help me………

--

The T-car pulled off the road and the Titans poured out of the silver and blue vehicle.

Cyborg looked at his arm computer. "Ghost's communicator is supposed to be right…about…here." He looked down and there was a yellow communicator at his feet. A few feet off was an abandoned blue Harley Davidson.

"I don't think he's a defector," Cyborg stated.

"Why?" Beast Boy asked.

"From what I've seen, he loves his bike, and if he were defecting, he would definitely take the bike with him. He wouldn't abandon it on the side of the road."

"This still feels like we're walking into a trap," Raven said.

"I don't know. He doesn't seem like the type of person to try to lead us into a trap." Robin looked closer at the scene and noticed something. "There're footsteps here. And not just Ghost's. There're three other sets."

Robin studied the footsteps for a moment before standing up and facing the Titans. "Okay, what I think happened was Ghost pulled off to the side and stumbled around before the three other came down and dragged him off."

"And how'd you figure that out?" Beast Boy asked.

"I studied the footprints and that's what happened. The other three people were of the same height and weight, and each of them had an 'H' symbol in the heel of the print. That means H.I.V.E. robots."

"Blood," Cyborg spat.

"We can't be sure it's Blood yet. All we can tell is that it's the H.I.V.E. But why would the H.I.V.E. be after Ghost? He hasn't even fought them yet, at least not that we know of."

"Perhaps friend Ghost was simply the easiest target," Starfire offered.

"Maybe." Robin shook his head. "But I still don't like this."

Beast Boy spoke up. "One of our teammates just got taken, none of us like it. And come on, Brother Blood is definitely crazy enough to try to kidnap one of us." He suddenly started jumping up and down. "Ooh, maybe he kidnapped Ghost and is going to replace him with a creepy robot that's programmed to kill us all. Or maybe it was aliens who made it look like a H.I.V.E. attack."

"Aliens?!" Starfire asked accusingly and Beast Boy hid behind Cyborg in fear of the alien princesses bad side.

"No, Beast Boy, I doubt that's what he's trying to do. And again, we can't even be sure that Blood is still running the H.I.V.E. until we have solid proof."

"I might be able to get some information on the H.I.V.E.," Cyborg said.

"Where from?" Robin asked.

"I can't really tell you, but I can tell you the whatever info we get will be reliable. But I got to talk to this person anyway, so let me try to get a lead or something."

"I don't like getting information from a source I don't know."

"I know Robin, and I know you don't like being left out of the loop, but I need to do this on my own." Cyborg sighed. "And besides…I'm probably the only one she would consider giving info to."

Robin thought about it for a moment. "Fine, but I want Raven to shadow you. You may have to go in alone, but I don't want you to be without back up."

It was Cyborg's turn to think. "She can come, but she needs to stay far enough away that…my contact…doesn't notice her."

"Fine. Starfire, Beast Boy, you two stay here with me and see if we can find any more clues. Cyborg, Raven, get going. I don't want to get information and find out it's too late."

Cyborg and Raven climbed into the T-car and drove about a mile. "Rae, can you just not make any noise until I'm done? I'd rather not let her know that I'm not going to be alone."

Raven gave Cyborg a look that made him seem like an idiot.

"Er…right."

Cyborg pulled out the cell Jenny called him on earlier and found her number.

It rang twice before Jenny picked up. "What's the news?" she asked, not even bothering to ask whom it was.

"We have a problem. And we need to talk."

"So talk."

"We need to talk in person."

"How deep is this stuff?"

"'Androids from H.I.V.E.' deep."

"Meet me at the food court in twenty minutes. And whoever's shadowing you; tell them to just come with you. If the H.I.V.E. is involved, I don't care. I want to get back at Blood for keeping me under a royal mind fuck for so long."

"Twenty minutes then. Raven's going to be there too."

"I'm bringing Baran. We aren't bringing hostilities, so you need to be good too." CLICK

"Where are we going to be in twenty minutes?" Raven asked as Cyborg stored the cell phone in a leg compartment.

"The food court at the mall."

"Why did you expose me as your shadow?"

"It was a show of good faith. And I needed one. The person we're going to meet is Jinx."

Raven's normal stare turned to a glare. "Jinx?"

Cyborg gulped. He wasn't afraid of much, but an upset Raven was one of them. "…and Mammoth."

"Why are we going to have a meeting with two of our enemies?"

"Because they aren't our enemies anymore."

Raven's glare wasn't softened at all. "How do we know that?"

"Because Ghost is dating Jinx."

Cyborg waited for the blow to come. He slowly opened his human eye to see Raven breathing calmly and muttering her mantra. She stopped after a minute or two and looked at Cyborg again. "And why is one of our teammates dating a terrorist?"

"He likes her. And he knows what she used to do. She told him that pretty quickly actually, after he asked her about it."

"So we don't have any proof that she and Mammoth are retired, other than the word of a person we just met a few days ago?"

"Well, think about it. We haven't seen either of them pull a job in more than six months, and they waited until they were released from prison this time, instead of breaking out like they normally did. And I saw both of them working at normal jobs, so I got to believe them, at least right now, y'know?"

"I still don't like this situation."

"We don't anything better to run with, so we got to deal."

--

Jenny didn't bother knocking as she walked into Baran's apartment. "Hurry up Baran, we got people to see and Titans to talk to."

Baran growled. "Why'd you tell them I'd be there? I don't want to talk to no Titans."

"It's just two of them, and we can handle them if it comes to that."

Baran grunted.

"And if we help them, we have a chance to get back at Blood for messing with our brains."

"I like that idea."

"Good, now get your keys and let's get to the mall, we need to meet them in five minutes."

--

Raven teleported Cyborg and herself into a shadowy corner of the mall. They made their way to the food court and sat down at a corner table. Jenny and Baran joined them a few minutes later.

"You're late," Raven said dryly.

"Don't do make this harder than it has to be," Jenny said. "I don't want to work with you either. But if I get a shot at Blood, I'll do it."

"You really don't like being betrayed," Cyborg mused.

"Yeah," Baran started. "We don't like what you did, but Blood was just wrong. We were criminals before, but Blood messed with our minds to try and keep us that way. Like we were going to change."

"You claim you've gone legit now," Raven commented.

"That's beside the point," Jenny said.

"So what information do you have for us Jinx?" Raven asked, wanting to get down to business.

"First of all, it's Jenny, not Jinx. We haven't been Jinx or Mammoth since we got out of jail a few months ago. And what do we get out of giving you what we know?"

"We don't put you back in jail," said Raven plainly.

Jenny stifled a laugh. "You couldn't put us in jail even if you wanted to. We don't have any warrants out on us, so you can't arrest us."

Raven knew they hadn't done anything to merit arrest, so she could only glare.

"What do you want?" Cyborg asked, opening a compartment on his leg, pulling out a wad of bills.

Jenny eyed the bills for a second. "…I'm behind on rent, and tips have been slow…" she muttered under her breath. "Five hundred, and we want a shot at Blood."

"We can't do that," Cyborg said. "We know you can handle yourself, but we can't knowingly let civilians go up against a villain like Blood."

"So you can unknowingly let us go up against him?" Jenny asked with a smirk.

"Yes, wait no, I mean…we can't have people going up against Blood. He's too dangerous. I mean, he's been able to take over your mind before, what says he wouldn't do that again?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were concerned about us," Jenny commented.

"Titans are supposed to protect all the people of the city, including the people we don't like," Raven said.

Cyborg laid a few bills down on the table, pushing them towards Jenny and Baran. "I can't let you take on Blood, but there's your money, so what do you have for us?"

Jenny frowned and pulled out her old H.I.V.E. Five communicator. "Gizmo, come in."

The line was silent for a moment, and then crackled to life. "Snkkkt-Gizmo here. What do ya want Jinx? I'm busy."

"What do you know about Blood? What's he been doing in the past month or so? And it's not Jinx anymore, it's Jenny, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Blood? I'm staying away from that snot-sniffing crudmuncher for now. I haven't made all the things I need to take him on yet."

"I didn't ask what you were doing, I asked what he was doing. And don't lie to me Mikron, I'll come over and hex you into next week."

"Don't call me Mikron! It's Gizmo! Gizmo! And you know it!" On the other end of the line, Gizmo took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "Why the sudden interest in what he's been doing? Looking for a date?"

Baran snickered and Jenny growled, her eyes flashing pink. "I want to know because I have a shot at taking him down, and because he kidnapped someone. Someone I happen to want to get back."

"Oh, so you are after a date?"

"Stow it, Mikron."

"Fine. Ever since Blood escaped six months ago, he's been lying low. Apparently he's still gunning for the Titans, especially Cyborg. He's got that cludgehead Chang working for him too."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. He's planning to make a move in the next few days. But I'm not sure about that anymore. My bugs have found out that he's got some new person he's messing with that he picked up in the past couple hours."

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"I mean I'm not sure! The scum sucker has the new guy locked up in his lab, and my bugs can't get in there. A big tech force field or something shorts them out if I get near any of the entrances."

"Where's Blood now?"

"Mountains just outside of town. I got schematics too if you want 'em."

"Transfer them to my communicator. And Gizmo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for this."

"Don't mention it. And when you go after him, stop by the hideout. I got some psychic dampeners for you. Should keep Blood out of you head for a little while at least. Gizmo out-snkkkt."

Jenny stowed the communicator in her bag again and looked back at the Titans across from her. "So, do we have a deal? You let me and Baran come on the mission and we give you the location and schematics of Blood's base, and let you use any psychic dampeners that Gizmo's built so far."

"We can't let you come on the mission, I thought we made that clear earlier," Raven stated.

"If you don't let us in on the mission, we'll take our information and take on Blood ourselves, no matter what you say," Jenny countered.

Raven opened her mouth to continue the argument, but Cyborg cut her off. "Fine, we'll let you come along."

Jenny smiled. "I'll go get Gizmo's dampeners. We'll meet you at the base of your Tower in three hours."

--

"I can't see how this is a good idea," Robin said, his hand on his forehead. The Titans were waiting for Jenny and Baran to show up. "Why are we working with Jinx and Mammoth?"

"Because they have information that we need and extra people against Blood is always good," Cyborg answered.

"Nobody is happy about this arrangement," Raven said, "but we have to make the best of it. We need to get Ghost back and the easiest way is for us to work with them." She turned to Cyborg. "But if they show any signs of turning on us, I won't hesitate to take them down."

Cyborg was about to say something back when he caught sight of an old beat up Civic driving down the land bridge to the Tower.

Baran got out of the Civic and pulled a black case with him. "The psychic dampeners," Jenny explained as she saw the Titans eyeing the case. Baran set it on the hood and opened it to prove their point.

"You didn't think we'd try to blow you guys up, did you?" Jenny asked. "We may not like you guys, but we have gone straight now, and we definitely wouldn't take ourselves out just to get rid of you guys. We like living and we wouldn't be able to enjoy it if we got rid of you like that."

"You're so reassuring," Raven droned.

"It is wonderful that you are no longer participating in the villain activities," Starfire said in her normal perky voice. "I know that you have tried to kill us in previous times, but perhaps we could be…friends?"

Baran crossed his arms. "Not likely, girly."

"How do we know we can trust you not to turn on us?" Robin asked coldly, partially from the company he was currently in, and partially from Baran's nickname for Starfire.

"Because we don't like Blood more than you don't like Blood," Jenny answered.

"Look, I'm always one for endless bickering," Beast Boy cut in, "but we need to get going. We don't know what Ghost is doing, or how long he's going to last."

The others looked at him strangely for a second before Robin spoke up. "Um, no offense Beast Boy, but you tend to be a jokester…why the change of heart?"

"Hey, Keith's a cool guy, and nobody deserves to be experimented on. Besides, he takes the time to just hang out with me, he takes the time to try my tofu, which he said wasn't all that bad, and he helped me out the other night when…I was at the diner."

"We all want to save him and take down Blood, but we need a plan." Everyone, even Baran and Jenny, paid attention as Robin went into his 'leader mode'. "Blood will probably expect us to attack him, but I doubt he'll expect you two working with us." He pointed out an entrance on the plans Baran had pulled out. "We go in through here. It's the least protected and fairly close to the lab where Ghost is being held." Robin shot a glare at Jenny and Baran. "That is, if he's really where he is."

"Trust me, Gizmo's info is reliable. Especially since we didn't tell him that he's helping the Titans."

"He wouldn't help us if he knew it was us the info was going to?" Beast Boy asked.

"Duh. Just because we went legit doesn't mean everyone from the H.I.V.E. did. And being Gizmo is still a bad guy, and you tend stop him all the time, so what do you think?"

"How many psychic dampeners do we have?" Cyborg asked.

Jenny answered as Baran opened the case to show the Titans. "We only have six of the things. Gizmo didn't think we'd ever need anymore than that."

"So one of you are staying here," Beast Boy said, his voice more of a question than a statement.

"Wrong," Jenny said firmly. "The deal was: in exchange for the information and the dampeners, we get to take on Blood with you guys. That means one of you are sitting this out."

"No we're not," Cyborg said softly. The others looked at him strangely.

"Didn't you just here what I just said?" Jenny asked. "We aren't staying here, so it has to be one of you guys."

"No. I'll go in without a dampener. He hasn't ever been able to get to me. I've taken him down before, and I'll do it again. And if he does manage to get in my head, take me out."

"That is most unacceptable!" Starfire interjected and everyone jumped. She had been so quiet that they almost forgot she was there. "It is not permissible to think that way!"

Cyborg turned his attention to Starfire and spoke just as softly as he had been, but there was more force behind it. "Look Star, we need all the people we can get to take on Blood. We don't know what he's going to bring out against us, so we can't weaken ourselves anymore than we have to. And I'm the only one he hasn't taken over before, so my plan makes sense. But if he takes me over, take me out before I take you out."

"No! I will not attack my friends so unnecessarily," Starfire protested.

"I'll do it," Robin said. Starfire gaped at him.

"Good," Cyborg said. "I'd prefer you do it anyway. I know you'll make sure I don't get back up, but I won't have to make two weeks of repair after."

--

Pant.

Pant.

Pant.

Wheeze.

Cough.

Pant.

Groan.

Pant.

My body was on fire and my mind felt like it was liquefying.

I was blind.

I could still see, but I was still blind. The power nullifiers kept me from using my teleportation, but it also turned off my spatial sense. I never realized just how much I depended on it, knowing where everything around me was, and I truly felt blind without it.

It felt like I had been there only for a little while, but I kept blacking out, so I wasn't sure.

The man who looked like he was Cyborg's bastard relative was named Blood I had learned. Not that he had bothered to tell me, I had to figure it out from the other man, Chang, apparently.

Blood kept coming in. Whenever his eyes glowed red my head exploded in pain. I gave up trying to keep the agony inside and screamed. His voice haunted my mind, whispering how I would subject myself to his will and be his student. He left me alone with Chang a few times, and I failed to see how that was any better.

I knew that I should be trying to think of a way to escape, but coherent thought was getting harder and harder. Blood made sure of that.

But one thing remained in my mind.

No matter how much it felt like it, no matter how much I would rather it come, death was far away.

--

Gizmo sat at his workbench, goggles down and welding a piece on one of his new inventions. He sat back and switched his attention to the bugs he had in Blood's headquarters. He was upset that he couldn't get one into his lab, but he had one just about everywhere else, so he wasn't too upset.

"…subject continues to resist. The reason for his resistance continues to elude me. I will have the newest Titan as my student."

Anything else that could have been heard from the bug was drowned out by Gizmo's shouting. "Arrgh! Stupid pit-sniffing crud munching Jinx! The snot-sucking witch! She didn't tell me that I was helping a stupid Titan! I never would have helped those scummy do-gooders if I had known!" He threw an unfinished invention against a wall, smashing it to pieces.

Gizmo breathed deeply a few times before throwing another invention against the wall. "And she said she was dating him? What is she thinking? She learned her lesson after the walking refrigerator blew up the H.I.V.E. the first time. Man, she loves to mess with me all the time, doesn't she? What did I ever do to her? I mean, yeah, I blew up her underwear drawer a few times, but come on, I apologized."

The diminutive genius sat in his lab for a few minutes, fuming in silence.

"If she isn't going to work with us, at least she's working with the people who can fight on our level. I doubt they'll let anything happen to her. And she's got Mammoth to watch her back."

"Hmph. Still should have told me."

--

Robin stood at the hood of the T-car, pointing out the objectives as they came up.

"This is the way every thing is going down. Cyborg, Jinx…"

--

"…you two disable the outer security here."

Cyborg crept towards the security box as best as an oversized mountain of man and machine could creep. Jinx sent a hex bolt at the robot guard, overloading its circuits and shorting it out.

The robot collapsed into a crumpled heap, and the two snuck forwards. Jinx's eyes flashed, and the lock on the security box popped off. Cyborg turned two of his fingers into miniature blowtorches and deftly severed several of the wires and circuits; cutting off the security to the areas they needed to move through.

--

"Starfire, you, Beast Boy and Mammoth take out the guards in front of our entrance."

A green hummingbird flitted through the air above three H.I.V.E. guards. None of them took any notice, not until an emerald hippopotamus crushed one of them. Sparking circuitry crackled underneath Beast Boy's temporary girth, and a starbolt decimated the head of another drone.

Mammoth, showing deceptive sneakiness, emerged from the shadows and crushed the last guard with his powerful hands.

--

"Raven, you and I will enter first, and get the door unlocked from the inside."

The shadow's swirled into the form of a bird and Robin and Raven stepped from them. Making sure the coast was clear; Robin moved silently over to the door and extracted a small tool kit from his belt.

A screwdriver popped the covering of the keypad off and Robin used another instrument to short circuit the device.

Swi-ish!

The door slid open and the rest of the troupe was on the other side. "Okay, we need to move," Robin whispered. "Stay silent as long as we can. Once we're detected, we can start blowing things up, but not until then. We don't need any extra attention."

"We know Boy Blunder," Jinx said irately. "We went over this already. Let's just do this and get out of here."

"Good." Everyone nodded and started to move towards the main lab of the facility, Cyborg in the lead. Twists and turns served to confuse them, but Cyborg had memorized the floor plans, so the chance of getting lost was minimal.

The Titans snuck through the hallways, disabling guards as they went, trying to hide the destroyed husks.

All was going well until a trio of guards came up from behind the group.

WHEET! WHEET! WHEET!

Red lights flashed and the alarm blared and the Titans cursed. Jinx whipped around and threw a bass of hex bolts at the H.I.V.E. robots and two of them blew apart. Cyborg's sonic cannon tore apart the remaining and they started to run towards what they hoped was the lab.

Cyborg plowed forward with constant blasts from his arm cannon, knocking back robots and driving a path through them as more and more seeped in through side hallways and hidden doors. Raven pulled debris in around behind them to keep from being surrounded.

Starfire threw starbolts at the hallways the robots were entering from, trying to keep their resistance as low as possible.

Beast Boy charged forward as an elephant, tearing through robots as they got in range. Robin and Jinx threw off birdarangs and hex bolts as Mammoth crushed the few that got close enough.

"Mammoth, Starfire, Beast Boy, take that split off up ahead," Cyborg said, pointing down the hallway. "Second left, then your third right. Take out the power generator when you get there. We don't need Blood activating a self destruct just because he still has the power to do it."

"We shall destroy the offending power generator," Starfire said proudly.

Starfire, Beast Boy, and Mammoth split off from the group as the rest kept moving towards the lab.

"Hello, Titans." Brother's Blood cold voice rang out from the catwalk as a single light illuminated him, leaving most of the room in darkness. "And one of my former students as well. How interesting. I was under the impression that you hated each other."

"It's amazing what hating you can do for a person's motivation," Jinx spat. "I don't really like these guys, but you…I hate you."

Blood chuckled. "Hehehe, hating me will do nothing to stop the inevitable. You will lose and become my students once again. And this time Cyborg," he said, the venom in his voice growing, "I will make sure you stay under my control!"

"What have you done with Ghost?" Cyborg snarled, his contempt for the H.I.V.E. Headmaster showing through.

"Why should it matter?" Blood laughed. "You will be under my control momentarily, and any concern for your newest teammate will be gone. But I suppose it doesn't matter a great deal. I had intended to have him become one of my followers and infiltrate your little team, dismantle it from inside."

"That's not very original," Jinx called out, "Slade already did that with that blonde girl Terra."

The Titans barely resisted the urge to beat Jinx then and there for hitting upon that sore target. Raven still shot her a dirty glare. Brother Blood, however, didn't notice.

"You insolent little peon!" he roared. "How dare you compare me to him!"

"You're right," Jinx shrugged, "I shouldn't compare you two. You're nowhere near the level of Slade. He never resorted to mind control. Manipulation, but never mind control."

"You will regret saying that!" Blood bellowed.

"Oh come on, you can't beat us. Slade was able to beat the Titans, and he doesn't have any powers. You do, and you always lose to Cyborg. Always."

"I will destroy you!"

Blood leapt down and slashed at Jinx with glowing red fingers; his eyes ablaze with red energy. Jinx back flipped out of the way and threw a few hexes at her old headmaster. Blood leapt into the air as Cyborg fired a sonic blast that hit Raven's floating form.

Raven teleported out before she hit a wall and reappeared on the other side of the room where a sparking forked tip jabbed into her back.

"Aaagggh!" Raven screamed as she crumbled to the ground, back still smoking.

Lights around the room flickered to life and exposed Chang's henchmen, holding the same weapons they had the last time they had fought the Titans. With the addition of these forces, the Titans were outnumbered five to one, if Raven woke up fast.

Robin set upon attacking the henchmen, jumping and dodging the electrical blasts and bursts of quick harden foam being shot at him.

Robin's bo staff whipped out and disarmed one of the henchmen with the sparking rod. The staff broke one of the attackers weapons in half before it caught the man on the chin on the upswing. Robin vaulted into a second henchman, kicked off his chest and spin kicked another man in the temple.

Robin spun his staff above his head, forcing his attackers back a few feet. Jabbing one of them in the stomach, Robin kicked one of his legs back to catch another in the knee. Doubled over, another man tripped over him and Robin caught him with a back elbow, only to rebound into a third man with a punch to the nose.

The Boy Wonder threw an explosive disc against a far wall and the archway the henchmen were filing in through collapsed. The rubble prevented any more reinforcements from arriving, improving the Titans chances, even if only slightly.

--

Mammoth led the charge down the hall, barreling through robots and Chang's henchmen as Starfire kept up a barrage of eye lasers and starbolts. Beast Boy flew through in his pterodactyl form, avoid stray laser blasts and serving as a distraction to keep their attackers from going after Starfire or Mammoth.

Mammoth slammed into the wall as he took the right down the hall to the power room. The wall opened up into a circular room with white painted wall. Starfire threw a starbolt behind her and closed off the entrance to keep the odds in their favor. She knew this closed off their way out, but she would deal with that later.

Mammoth's fist crushed the head of one of the robotic guards, it crumpling at his feet as he heard a faint clapping above his head.

"Ha ha ha. I thought this job was going to be boring," a female voice commented from above him.

The voice belonged to a girl who looked to be about nineteen or twenty, and stood about five foot two. Her red hair stood out against her pale white skin, which her Goth-like outfit showed much of. Black leather pants covered her legs and a studded belt encircled her waist. A strapless leather bra covered her breasts and fingerless gloves were worn over her hands, the rest of her torso left bare. Black makeup highlighted her lips and eyes, setting off her eyes in a rather attractive effect.

"When Blood told me I was watching a power generator, I thought I was never going to see any action, but here are two of the Teen Titans for me to fight. What a day. And who's down below me? I can't see you. Come on, get out where I can see you so I can beat you easily."

Mammoth stepped out of the shadows of the catwalk he was under, his mouth and the girl's dropping when they saw each other. "S-sis?"

"Baran?" The gothic girl jumped down from the catwalk, landing in a crouch before running towards the man-mountain. Beast Boy and Starfire watched with dumbfounded looks as Baran caught the much shorter girl in a hug and spun her around a few times.

"I thought you were in jail," the girl said as Mammoth put her down.

"I got out a few months ago. I would have told you if you weren't so hard to get a hold of." The girl held a confused look on her face as she looked up at her apparent brother.

"But Blood told me you were in a high security prison. He said if I worked for him, he would give me a hand in busting you out. That's why I'm helping him out, that and the money he's paying me."

"Blood has a problem with telling the truth. He kept us all in the H.I.V.E., even the people who wanted out."

The goth's face turned sour in a second. "What?" she asked, her voice dangerous.

"Remember how me and Jenny and Gizmo wanted to work on our own? After the headmistress got booted, we thought that was a good time to get out, pull some jobs on our own. Blood gave us all a royal mind fuck and kept us around. That's why I'm here trying to bust him up. Get him back for what he did to me."

"That goddamn bastard! I'll turn his robot nuts to glass and smash them to a million pieces! Nobody messes with my little brother and gets away with it! Let's go Baran." She walked over to a terminal and put her hand on the face, turning it to crystal. Mammoth put his fist through it, a loud humming buzz denoting the power down of the generator.

Beast Boy and Starfire turned to look at each other. "Little brother?" he whispered disbelievingly.

"I was unaware of Mammoth's familial relations. This is the news to myself." Starfire shrugged as she took off in flight after the brother and sister, going down the passage Baran's sister had entered through.

--

Brother Blood fired a blast from his arm cannon at Cyborg, only for him to jump out of the way at the last moment, firing a blast of his own.

Jinx threw some hex bolts at the floor around Blood, cracking and unsettling the concrete. The bad luck sorceress jumped up to the catwalk, charged it with pink energy, and collapsed it onto her former instructor.

The pile of metal exploded in a burst of red energy, a seething Blood in the center. "How dare you! I taught you! You should be grateful for what I did. I helped you. You would have never made it without me. Look at you. Even now, you did the coward thing and aren't even trying to do anything to do anything illegal."

Jinx snorted. "Wouldn't make it without you? Let's look at my track record. After I left, my team pulled twice as many successful jobs as when we were with you. And as for me going straight, you're about to go to jail, and I'm going to be on the outside. Who's winning now?" She punctuated her last remark with a hex bolt hurled straight at Blood head.

Blood dived out of the way, his hands glowing an intense red. He cut through a sonic blast from Cyborg, and dodged another hex field from Jinx.

Jinx was about to attack Blood again when he appeared in front of them, his hand on her throat. As her breath left her, she was knocked back twenty feet, an explosive disc having detonated against Blood's back.

Jinx shook off the weariness that came with being thrown by an explosion, only to watch as Cyborg charged in and landed a heavy right hand on Blood's chin. A left uppercut quickly followed and a kick-stomp to Blood's knee broke off his right leg at the joint.

Black energy swirled around Jinx and she spun around to see Raven holding most of the henchmen down with her powers, some unconscious and pinned on top of other guards, some struggling to escape the half demon's powers.

Cyborg blocked as Blood threw an off balance strike at his head, grabbing his arm and throwing the red madman into a staff swing from Robin. Blood took the worst of the strike to the face, crumpling to the floor in a heap.

"What? You didn't leave any for me?"

Jinx's head swiveled up to the still standing catwalk. "Selinda?"

"The one and only. Good to see you again Jenny."

"What are you doing here? Not that I'm arguing, long as you aren't here to fight us."

"I was working for that idiot down there, but now that I heard what he did to my little brother, I think I just want to beat him to a pulp."

"You always did have a thing for protecting your brother. Never did quite get it, I mean he is able to get hit with a Mac truck and walk away."

"Doesn't matter. No one messes with my little brother and gets away with it."

Jinx shook her head and looked to Cyborg. "The lab is through those doors, right?" she asked, pointing at a set of steel doors at the other end of the room.

"As long as the plans were right." They proceeded slowly, wary of anything else that Blood may have left for them to deal with.

KAA-BOOOOM!!!!

The doors flew back, the Titans dodging as only they could.

A fifteen-foot robot stood in the smoking doorway, Professor Chang visible in a glass cockpit on top. "I knew that that fool would foul things up. He was always too arrogant."

The large robot fist flew towards the Titans, Starfire catching the punch and forcing it back and the mechanized suit off-balance.

Selinda leapt forward, placed both of her hands on the suit and concentrated. The other fighters watched in amazement as the suit disappeared, evaporating, leaving Chang to fall to the floor. He looked up at the Titans, fell to his knees, and whimpered.

Robin's staff flicked out in a flash, dropping the professor into unconsciousness.

Beast Boy, Mammoth and Starfire stayed back to make sure that Blood and Chang stayed down.

"He's over here," Robin called, motioning to the steel table their lost teammate lay unconscious on.

"He doesn't look good," Selinda commented.

"Ghost's been subject to both Blood and Chang's experiments. I'm surprised he doesn't look worse. Neither of them are known for their ethics," Raven said.

"Raven, see what you can do about his cuts and whatnot," Cyborg said.

A light blue energy covered Raven's hands. Cuts knitted themselves together under her power, leaving the skin without even a scar.

"Okay, the cops are going to be here in half an hour. Selinda, thanks for your help, but if your still here when the cops get here, something tells me you won't get along too well."

Selinda sighed. "The joys of being a mercenary. But you're right. Thanks for not turning me in." She walked over to Baran, gave him a hug and told him she'd be in touch.

"Why didn't you hand her over to the police?" Cyborg asked as Raven's power held up his teammate's unconscious form, and Starfire carried a bound and gagged Blood and Chang.

"She helped us take down those two," Robin explained, jerking his head at Starfire's captives. "And if we did try to turn her in, we would have had to fight her. And because of who she is, we'd probably be fighting Mammoth as well. We don't need any more injuries today, even if it means putting someone else behind bars."

The rest of the trip to the surface was made in silence, Beast Boy not even bothering to crack a bad joke. He knew the seriousness of the situation, and he knew now wasn't the time for jokes.

The first police cars were arriving on the scene when the Titans emerged from the tunnels of the latest H.I.V.E. base. An ambulance pulled up in front of the group, the back doors opening and the EMTs jumping out.

"Hey, you're the girl from the ambulance from when Ghost beat down those guys at the bank a few days ago," Beast Boy said as Raven placed me onto the gurney.

Susan turned around to face the green changeling. "Yeah, I am. And he's the same guy who had to be patched up then."

Raven glided in between them, effectively stopping the conversation. "I healed his wounds, but I don't know why he's still unconscious. Take him to Titans Tower, we have more advanced medical equipment there."

Susan didn't look pleased at the comment, but let it slide because she knew that Raven was right. "Fine, I'll go tell Joe."

"Joe?" Beast Boy asked.

"The driver," Susan answered without a backwards glance.

--

"I don't understand it," Cyborg stated as he looked over the charts. "Ghost's been asleep for more than three days. He should have woken up by now."

Raven opened one eye from the spot where she was meditating in the corner. "It doesn't have anything to do any physical injuries. I've healed everything that you've found wrong with him, including what he had wrong with him before Blood and Chang worked him over."

"So what's wrong with him then?"

"It's the reason I've been meditating in here for the past few days rather than the roof. I know you had been wondering about that. Ghost is in a type of psychic coma. When Blood tried to take control of Ghost's mind, Ghost tried to fight back. Apparently it worked for a while, but the struggle ended up causing large amounts of damage to Ghost's mind. I'm honestly surprised that Ghost held out as long as he did, but eventually…he just shut down."

"So why haven't you been able to fix him yet?"

"His mind is strange, somewhat chaotic, and that was before Blood tried to force his way in. I've never dealt with a mind quite like his, and with as much damage as has been done, I'm simply not strong enough to fix him."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"…………I don't know."