A/N Okay, I am officially pooped! I think my head exploded while trying to write this chapter. I mean, just look at its length! Wow, I even surprised myself. O.O Fourteen pages people! Fourteen!
It was supposed to be longer, considering what's supposed to happen, but my aching fingers pleaded 'Please no more! Spare us!', thus I decided to leave it for another chapter. Meaning there's much more to come. =D
'Thank you's go to: Trigonometry, -X-Deyoxis-X-, loveerrrr, Gingerstorm101 and xXTheAnimeAddictionXx who reviewed and added me to their faves and alerts. You. Guys. ROCK! ^o^
So being that this is my first attempt at writing fighting scenes for the Teen Titans I'll ask of you very nicely that before any of you begin reading this you put away your pitch-forks and weapons and give me a 30-second start so I can run away. 'O.O
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Tricks and Traps
A green Bull terrier made its way along the path of crates with his nose near the ground. After a few steps he raised his head to look around.
An instinct he always followed. Sniff, look around, listen, and repeat. In short? Be aware.
His left ear slightly rotated to the side as he concentrated on the distant sound on his right.
…tap… tap… tap… tap…
Taking a few steps further he was facing one wall of the warehouse. He was out of the maze of crates and left only to go left or right along the wall or back from where he came from.
…tap… tap... tap... tap…
Raising his head a bit he took a few sniffs. The smell was familiar, just like the dark blue robe slipping further away from him when he looked left. And in the same moment he noticed her, she turned around and noticed him as well.
She stared at him; amethyst eyes pinned on his form and a completely expressionless face.
He slightly cocked his head to the side while trying to figure out why she was staring. Raven never stared.
Did she not recognize him or something? Nah, it couldn't be that. You don't forget someone whose skin is green (and who is quite handsome). Besides, he annoyed her on a daily basis to the point of her wanting to practically murder him. Raven was never the one to forget… Maybe forgive him for his antics, but not forget. Therefore he saw no reason for her to stare at him like that.
With a slight nod she turned back and continued on her way, leaving him puzzled.
Sometimes that annoyed him. Never being able to read her like she did others, but not because of her powers. Raven was smart and good at figuring out people, and for that he respected her. For someone who had claimed somewhere in the past that emotions were useless, he was positive she knew more about them than she let on. She told them that her feeling any emotions was dangerous. However, Beastboy knew that she still felt them no matter how she tried to deny it. Hell, there was proof of that right there! She could feel, but she'd never let herself take the risk of hurting others. In short? She cared.
Beastboy could never actually comprehend how someone could be so… un-selfish. Yes, that was the word. Unselfish. Always putting everybody's health and wellbeing before her own. She did it for them.
Always for locking herself away, meditating for hours, always for them.
So Beastboy felt in debt to her, for he never knew a person who showed how much she cared without showing one single emotion. Her deeds spoke louder then her words or facial expressions ever could. Thus he took it upon himself to get her to be selfish. He didn't know how bugging her and dragging her out of her room and then getting his butt kicked would work but, in a strange way, it… kind of did.
He always snooped around her, trying to know as much as he could about the dark mystery that is Raven. And still, with all he managed to find out, he was still curious. Then again, he was curious mostly about everything.
Blip….…..
His ears perked up at the muffled sound that brought him back to reality.
He turned his head around picking up on the distant noise one more.
Blip….….. Blip….…..
Determining that the faint sounds origin came from the left, the green bull terrier sniffed the air and took a few steps in that direction.
He took cautious steps, his only lead being the sound, as he could smell nothing out of the ordinary.
Blip….….. Blip….…..
The noise was getting a bit louder, just enough for his animal ears to follow better. A few more steps before he changed into his normal form. Step by step, the sound was getting closer.
Blip… Blip… Blip…
His heart slightly picked up speed and he took long deeps breaths through his nose to calm down.
"Hey, BB, found something?"
He jumped letting out a small 'eek!' before he quickly spun around and glared daggers at the metal teen that stood behind him.
"Dude!"
Cyborg grinned "Awwww, did I scawe wittle ol' B-?"
"Shhhhhhh!" the changeling put his finger on his mouth and Cyborg's grin instantly melted down into a serious expression. He changed his arm into the sonic-cannon.
"What is it?"
Beastboy turned around once more and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on picking up the sound again "Listen…"
The teen stood still for a moment, trying to hear what his green friend did. His eyes looked left then right in confusion.
"I don't hear anything B."
… Blip… Blip… Blip…
'There!' Beastboy's eyes snapped open and he continued walking. Cyborg stared at the back of his head for a second before following close behind, holding his transformed arm and ready for action.
Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip…
The sound was getting louder as they ventured further along the wall. Closer…
Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip…
They were coming near the wall at the end of the warehouse. Almost there…
Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip… Blip…
….. it stopped.
He blinked, and then he blinked again.
"Ha?"
"What's wrong?" Cyborg took a step closer to him when the green boy suddenly stopped.
… nothing.
His dark green eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"Beastboy?"
He took a step towards the wall.
"B?" the older teen arched an eyebrow on the human-part of his face.
He leaned his ear on the wall.
….
A crash. A scream.
…BEEEEEEEP!
His eyes widened.
"Oh, shi-!"
BOOM!
They shouted out in surprise as the force shoved them away, thus making them crash against the stacks of crates behind them. Cyborg's body broke through one crate and made an avalanche of crates that crashed down on him, while Beastboy slammed against another crate with his head hitting the hard wood with a small crack, before he sank to his knees.
Wrong…
The silence of this place…
The way it seemed still… frozen…
It all felt wrong.
A small frown graced her face as she moved along the wall.
Her eyes widened when she heard a scream from her right, her head quickly snapping in that direction.
"Star-!" but before she could even make a step in her direction-
BOOM!
A wave of dust and smoke washed over her from her right and she automatically put her hands up to shield her eyes.
The dust hung in the air creating a curtain of fog.
"Oh, man…" groaned Cyborg as he pushed a wooden crate off of him and got on all fours.
Beastboy hissed through his teeth as black dots played in his already muddled field of vision. He put one hand on the hurtful spot on the back of his head.
"Ugh…" His vision was slowly getting back to normal.
"What was that?" Cyborg's eyes were screwed shut as he rubbed his still hurting head.
The dots finally disappeared and after a few blinks Beastboy looked up.
"Um, Cyborg?"
"What?" he hissed, finally looking at the wide-eyed changeling.
The cloud of dust slowly settled and revealed a huge blown off part of the wall with a large group of identical figures standing on the other side.
"We have company."
Her heart thumped loudly in her chest, her eyes wide in the direction of the explosion.
"Beastboy…" she whispered.
An angry cry from her left made her head snap to Starfire's direction, followed by a small explosion when a red-headed figure shot up into the air.
The girl's eyes flashed a vibrant fury green and with another angry shout she released a rain of bright starbolts onto the ground below her.
Starfire hovered high above the dust clouded maze, her eyes dimming to their regular shade and scanning for any visible movement.
"Starfire!" a familiar voice made her spin around. Her green eyes caught the sight of a familiar blue cloak and widened as she took notice of five figures in a predatory stance from above her friend.
"Raven!" she reached out her hand but quickly jerked it back with a gasp as a red laser from bellow missed her arm by an inch. Glancing in the way the laser came from she saw three more slade-bots who immediately started shooting at her.
Dodging to the side she turned back to her unsuspecting friend.
"Friend, above you!" she managed to shout before she was met with another series of lasers to dodge from below.
Without hesitation Raven's head snapped up just as two figures landed from above in front of her.
Her eyes widened as she saw the color combination on the masks of the figures.
'Slade…'
She froze. Her heart skipped a beat. And then, in less than a second, wide amethyst eyes narrowed into an angry white.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she shot out her arm and enclosed the two slade-bots in a white-lined black aura. With a swift jerk of her arm she violently slammed them against the wall behind her.
A laser nicked the edge of her hair and she jerked back to find two more slade-bots with laser-guns blocking the path to where her green teammate was.
Raven took a step back before she heard something. She looked up and saw three more robots (two of which had laser guns) hanging from above her. She took another step back before quickly looking back at the other two in front of her. Then she turned her head to the right where the other two bots she had slammed against the wall stood up in fighting positions.
'This…' her hands glowed in a dark aura '…is not good'.
His ears echoed with jumbled noises. Small explosions and crashes mixed with the sounds of laser shots and various warriors' cries and shouts from his teammates. Yet his feet stayed glued to the spot, his eyes never moving from the towering figure.
Something was set off in his chest. A flick of flame that rapidly grew bigger, hotter. Turning into a blaze of flaming inferno which he tried to soothe and calm down.
"Slade," his lips curved into a vicious scowl, voice laced with bitter hot venom, burning his mouth.
Another chuckle came from the man standing high and mighty on top of one of the many high crates with his hands placed behind his back. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"
The scowl on Robin's face only deepened as his grip on the bo-staff intensified. "Not long enough," he empathized slowly.
"Oh, come now, Robin. I would have expected a much warmer welcome from an old acquaintance," Slade slowly tilted his head to the side. The amusement never left his voice, which only added more fuel to Robin's fire.
"Why are you back?" he almost growled, but managed to restrain himself. Losing his concentration in battle, especially with this man, would end only in devastating results. And God knows it, Robin's had had it with Slade. Each time he showed up their lives would take a turn for the worse and, as he could recall the end of the world and the blond girl who betrayed them, so have many other lives.
Another chuckle…
'Calm down, just calm down…' he bit on the inside on his mouth, eyes slightly narrowing.
"Just looking for my favorite little bird."
No sooner had the words left the man's mouth, Robin's eyes widened at the crate Slade pushed with his foot and that was coming towards him. Leaping to the side he pulled out his grappling-hook and shot it upwards swinging himself onto the uneven turf his sworn enemy was standing on.
Robin wasted no time and leaped at the masked man, bringing down his bo-staff which Slade easily evaded by stepping to the side and putting up his arms to block Robin's incoming back-kick. As soon as he put his block down he was met with a series of attempts of hits with the bo-staff, all of which he easily dodged.
When Robin shot out his bo-staff in another attempt to hit his opponent, Slade only raised one hand to block. As soon as staff came in contact with his metal gauntlet, Slade grabbed the staff with his other hand. He faked the attempt of taking the staff out of the boy's hands by jerking it towards himself, to which Robin only tightened his grip on the weapon and prepared to counter him by striking him with the other end of the staff.
No sooner had he lifted the other end of his weapon than Robin realized his mistake. The staff was strongly pushed back, stabbing him in the stomach. The result was him loosening his grip on the weapon, which was promptly snatched from his hands, and getting the air knocked out of him
Without even a second to catch his breath he was met with a six-hit combo on his upper-body part with his stolen weapon. Grunting as the last hit shoved him roughly back against a crate, he slightly recovered from the impact, just in time to leap to the side and evade the tip of the weapon that smashed right through the crate where his head had been a moment ago.
Doing a flip on one arm he landed himself in a crunching position. He glared up at his enemy not to far from him twirling around his bo-staff before confidently placing it beside him like a warrior.
Slade lowered his chin an inch in a taunting manner, which was enough for Robin to grind his teeth and pull out another bo-staff from his utility-belt.
'He's going down!'
"Auuugh!" an angry cry escaped her lips as she used her own momentum to hurl a large starbolt from her hands onto the tower of crates below that were crawling with slade-bots. Then she shot up in air once more and steadying herself in flight.
She didn't even get a chance to inspect the damage of the mass of broken wood combined with robot-parts bellow, because a red beam brushed itself along her upper arm, making her yelp in pain.
Covering the small wound with her other hand she spun around, vibrant angry green eyes locked onto her next opponent. Launching herself in the direction of more slade-bots she tackled one head-on and then halted half-way, letting him crash into a nearby crate pile.
Starfire lowered herself onto the ground as she kindled two more starbolts in her hands and spun around ready to take the rest of the group. Two came head-on to her while one stayed in the back aiming his weapon at her. Leaping to the left she evaded an attack from the first one, making him fall to the ground when she shoved her elbow in his back.
Heading for the second one, who had both of his arms outstretched and ready to grab her, she threw one starbolt and hit him square in the chest, which made him stumble back a bit as a result. Without wasting a second she grabbed the still-stunned robot and forcibly brought him down onto the starbolt in her other hand, thus breaking through his mechanized chest.
Leaving the now limp mechanic body to fall to the ground she took a fighting stance and concentrated on harvesting the energy within for another attack. Her eyes never left the robot in front aiming at her. He shot at her and she jumped back a few times in a zigzag motion to avoid the lasers.
She begun forming two more starbolts in her hand but, before she could attempt and attack the robot, two mechanical arms wrapped around her, breaking her concentration and pinning her arms to her sides. Trying to wiggle out of the iron grip of the robot she previously forgot about, she stole a glance at the one in front.
A short gasp escaped her and she begun jerking in his hold trying to free herself. As soon as she managed to free one of her hands she grabbed him by his shoulder. With all the strength she could muster up in that moment she flipped him over and with a warrior cry hurled him at the slade-bot aiming at her.
The robot crashed into the other one and sent them both flying into a tower of boxes that fell on them upon the impact.
The young Tamaranian woman stood panting, still in a fighting position, her chest heaving up and down from the long battle. After waiting a few moments for the small cloud of dust to settle down, she concluded that the two masses of wires and electricity wouldn't get up anymore and thus lowered her hands.
Brushing back a crimson lock that fell in her eyes behind her ears she took a few minutes to compose herself.
Thuuuuump!
She yelped as something bit at her neck. Quickly spinning around she stared at the one-armed slade-bot she had previously launched at the pile of crates. His only arm was bailed into a fist and aimed at her.
One of her hands went to the nape of her neck while the other sparkled with green energy. Upon feeling her fingers brush against a thin metal needle that was pierced into her skin, the green starbolt began to flicker away.
Starfire blinked a few times, finding it difficult to concentrate on the blurring figure in front of her. A wave of panic was soothed as she was suddenly feeling very, very drowsy.
THUD!
The robot calmly settled down his one remaining arm as the young woman fell to the ground, out like a candle.
"Chaaaaaaaarge!"
The heaps of slade-bots were sent flying through the air as a green skinned rhinoceros with a half-mechanical man on top of him slammed into them.
The robots crashed all around them, either on the crates or the walls of the ware-house. The Afro-American teen smirked victoriously.
"Booyah!"
The rhinoceros arrogantly lifted its head and let out a small huff.
"Nice going B," Cyborg half-grinned to his friend. No sooner had the word left his mouth than a rain or red lasers came from behind them.
"B! Four of them! Six o'clock!" the metal man glanced back, eyes filled with surprise at the four slade-bots shooting at them.
With a triumphant lift of his front legs the green dinosaur begun running forward, the ground slightly shaking beneath his heavy stomps.
"What are you doing? I said six o'clock! Not twelve! Six!" the teen grabbed better hold for dear life and ducked as lasers rapidly missed him by inches. Ignoring the older teen's shouts of protest and direction lecturing, Beastboy kept running forward, picking up speed while trying not to get nicked by the red beams shot at him.
"-that means you're supposed to go the other- Beastboy!" Cyborg halted mid-sentence and shouted in panic as he spotted the wall ahead of them that was getting closer and closer.
"Other way! Other way! Other way!" he screwed-shut his human eye and barred his teeth preparing for impact when Beastboy made an unexpected U-turn, heading faster than earlier towards the firing robots.
Opening his eyes to see if he was still in one piece, Cyborg noted with a relief that they changed directions and were now approaching the slade-bots at rapid speed. Quickly holding out his transformed arm with an angry cry he blasted one of the four robots on the side. While Beatboy, still in his momentum, lowered his long sharp pointed horns and then, gathering the other three robots on his head, stopped and with a jerk of his neck sent them flying into the air with a deep dinosaur cry.
Fragments of metal fell from above like confetti as Cyborg pointed his canon to the still-flying slade-bots and blew them to pieces.
"Ha-ha! That'll teach them to-" the metal teen was once more cut off by the sound of lasers behind them. Jumping off the green rhinoceros he aimed his canon at more slade-bots behind them.
"Man, how many of these things are there?" he yelled in frustration as he kept trying to shoot down more robots.
In a swift turn Beastboy changed back into his original form.
"I don't know Cy. They just keep coming," the green boy took a fighting stance as his mechanical friend took down one more slade-bot with his canon.
"Come on, B! We got to get to the others," he spared him a glance to which Beastboy mutely nodded.
Changing into a grizzly, Beastboy barred his teeth and growled before following Cyborg who sprang into action.
Halting mid-way, Cyborg took it upon himself to shoot down the five robots running towards them, and left the remaining three in the back to the green grizzly.
Like in the many shooting video-games he played with Beastboy (and beat him at it), Cyborg confidently took down three robots one by one. Aiming at the other two he suddenly staggered back a few steps when four mechanical arms grabbed onto his shoulders from behind.
"Hey!" Regaining his balance he grabbed the robot on his left shoulder and threw him off. The robot safely landed in a crouch before charging back at him with the another one which he failed to shoot down.
A short brawl followed as the robot kept trying to jump on him and Cyborg refused to go down that easily. He kept throwing them off but they would either kept holding on or would land safely after being jerked off and then they would charge at the metal teen once more.
Feeling anger surging through his circuitry, he grabbed them one by one and hurled them off him like a wild animal.
"Auuugghhh! GET OFF!" springing out his sonic-canon he shot at them with more force than he usually used.
Still holding his transformed arm, he took a few quick breaths to calm himself and stared at the electricity sparkles of the three broken mechanic bodies.
'Wait, three?'
"CY! Look out!"
CLANK!
His human eye widened as a surge of energy wracked through his mechanic body and he cried out.
Energy suddenly failing. The light blue color on his mechanical parts dimming. He fell to his knees as the heavy weight of his upper-body part pulled him down to the ground with a loud 'thud!'. The slade-bot behind him lowered its hand and stared at the sparkling round mechanism he attached to the half-man's back.
The green grizzly violently tackled one robot who tried to shoot him while the other two staggered back. Burrowing his sharp claws onto the side of the wiggling robot he brought his furry head down and enclosed his sharp teeth around its neck before jerking it upwards. The robot stood still for a second with its arm outstretched before it fell limp to the side and Beastboy returned to his original form.
"Auuugghhh! GET OFF!"
Upon hearing his friend's cry Beastboy forgot about the two still functioning robots in front of him and spun around to check up on his mechanic friend.
As soon as his green eyes took in the robot sneaking up on him he gasped.
"CY! Look out!" he reached out too late. His friend arched his back with a cry as waves of electricity washed over him.
Thuuuuump!
"Ahhh!" Beastboy arched his back with his hands automatically going to his behind when something felt like it bit him there.
Spinning around he glared at the two robots behind him of which one had his arm bailed into a fist and aimed at him.
"Dude! What the…!"
His vision begun to dance around as colors mingled with each other.
"… hell…"
His eyelid slowly dropped even though he struggled to keep them open, before falling to his knees and letting his head hit the ground.
CLANK!
"Aggghhhhh!" the boy cried out and launched himself forward.
CLANK!
The metal staffs met with each other at a frightening speed again and again. As a hit met a block and vice versa, the boy grew frustrated with his opponent. Taking a step back he successfully pushed away Slade when their staffs connected in a battle of strength. Not wasting a moment he charged at the older man again and brought down his bo-staff which Slade evaded by jumping high into the air and landing on the tip of Robin's weapon, disabling it. Expecting Slade to use the opportunity to his advantage, Robin raised the free end of the staff and used it to flip over the masked man, dodging his attempt to strike him.
No sooner had his feet touched the hard-wooden turf than he leaped at Slade with another attempt to attack him. Much to his disappointment the man spun around just in time and blocked his attack starting another game of 'who's-stronger' with their staffs.
"Whatever you want Slade…" the boy managed to growl out through grinded teeth after a few seconds "… you're not getting it!"
"Ohhh? Is that so Robin?" the man slightly inclined his head to the side as the snarl on the boy's face grew.
"I'd rather die than follow anything you have up your sleeve," the boy spat out bitterly using more strength to push at his opponent.
An amused snicker left the two-toned masked man, who didn't even budge from his position despite the boy's efforts.
Leaning closer to the masked teen he couldn't help but victoriously smirk under his mask at the boy's wrong conclusions.
"Quite admirable Robin…"
But, he lost his interest in the boy as soon as he discovered another bird.
"… but it's not always about you."
Robin's eyes widened as Slade pulled back and side-stepped him, leaving him to stumble forwards a few steps towards the edge of their fighting turf. Stopping himself just in time, Robin whirled around and raised his staff above his head to block the incoming attack from his enemy.
As soon as the staffs made contact, Robin glanced at Slade only to see the man's foot connect with his jaws. Pain washed over him as he was sent flying backwards and plummeted onto the crates bellow, which broke with a loud crash upon impact.
He groaned slowly as he opened heavy eye-lids. Black dots rapidly grew in his line of vision when colors begun to mix together. The pain that washed all over him from his backside didn't help.
Using the last of his strength for a rather fruitless attempt of pushing himself up, Robin locked gazes with the towering figure staring down at him. The last thing he was aware of, before darkness overflowed him, was one single dark eye and a long chuckle with an endless echo.
And then… nothing.
A/N Okay, so if anyone has some criticism on my writing or thinks that the characters are acting OOC (I hope they don't O.O) please share it with me so I would know and not ruin the story in the near by future. I'd really appreciate it if you guys shared your opinions with me on your favorite scenes, lines, etc. and review because I think I DAMN DESERVED IT! Fourteen pages people! I repeat fourteen pages!
So reward me either with a review or a tap on the head (they make me feel happy). ^^
I blow you a kiss!