Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or anything having to do with DC comics. Or Marvel comics, for that matter. Though it would be sweet if I owned them. Especially Spiderman. He is my favorite superhero, after all. By the way, have you seen the new trailers for the next Spiderman movie? Friggin' sweet I tell you! They have the Sand Man and the symbiote and everything! Plus Harry Osbourne's coming back as the next Goblin! This is going to be awesome! But what is up with Gwen being in the film? In the comics she was…oops, sorry.
Chapter 3: Disturbance Downtown
"Eight…" Cyborg said as he stood over Beast Boy, his arms stretched out to spot his teammate. Beast Boy groaned and forced his arms upward, raising the bar up at full arm's length. A thin sheet of sweat had gathered on his forehead from his exertions.
"Nine…" Cyborg counted as Beast Boy brought the bar back to his chest. "Come on, man. One more."
Beast Boy grunted, took a breath, and breathed out sharply as he pushed the bar up once again.
"Ten."
Beast Boy brought the heavy bar down back onto its rack with a loud clang. He then lay there, panting and sweating.
"Good job, man," Cyborg said as he removed the weights. "You're definitely improving. I'd say it won't be long before we can add another ten."
"Sweet," Beast Boy said through breaths.
"Well, you're done for the day. Just do those cool-down exercises or you're going to be really sore tomorrow."
Beast Boy grunted and got up to finish his routine. "Man, whoever said 'no pain, no gain' sure wasn't kidding."
"Well, you're doing good so far. Just remember your next workout is two days from now."
"Don't remind me," Beast Boy mumbled. "Anything I should do until then?"
Cyborg put the last weight on the rack. "Just do your cool-downs, keep eating right, and don't neglect your protein. Normally I'd say eat a lot of meat, but seeing as you're a vegetarian, keep eating those grains and legumes and you should be fine. Might even want to take some of those protein supplements we have."
"Thanks, Cy."
"No problem. You know BB, I'm impressed. I think you're finally taking this weight-lifting thing seriously."
Beast Boy smiled cockily back at his teammate. "Hey, you can't be scrawny forever. It doesn't look good on a superhero."
"True, and in your case I'd say that goes double. But you never seemed to care before. Why the change all of a sudden? Trying to impress someone?" Cyborg said that last sentence very suggestively.
Beast Boy blushed and scowled at him. "I…no! I mean, yes! I mean, how would I pick up hot girls if I were a toothpick my entire life?"
"I was thinking you might have a certain someone in mind."
"Shut up!" Beast Boy yelled. "Besides, I'd watch your mouth if I were you. I still know who you met yesterday."
Now it was Cyborg's turn to scowl. "Hey man, I told you, it wasn't like that. I just ran into her on the street and we talked. That's all! Besides, she's a friend, okay?"
"Well your 'friend' just happens to be someone you dated at the H.I.V.E. academy."
"I was undercover!"
"You seemed genuinely jealous when she was with Kid Flash, though."
Cyborg raised his finger as if he was about to start a yelling match, but he held back. "Whatever, man. I'm in no mood to argue."
"Fine." An evil smile worked its way onto the changeling's face. "Besides, we shouldn't be fighting. Especially since bird boy's the one we should be teasing."
Cyborg laughed. "Yeah. Where is bird boy, anyway?"
Beast Boy shrugged. "Who knows? Either he's looking for leads on Slade or hanging out with his newfound girlfriend, I guess. Probably the only reason he's not in the training room right now."
"Yeah, something like that. By the way, are feeling alright? This morning you seemed a little, well, down. Something bothering you?"
Beast Boy looked puzzled for a moment. "I…oh yeah. Nah, I was just tired."
"Oh, okay then."
It had been a lie. BB was a little "down" after everything he had thought last night, but that morning he cheered up a little bit, deciding he was overreacting and being a little too emo last night.
"Well, later, Cy!" Beast Boy called as he made his way out the weight room. He sped off to go take a shower.
When he finally came to the kitchen, Raven had been sitting there drinking a cup of her usual herbal tea and reading a book. As usual, she was by herself.
"Hey Rae," he called.
"Raven," she corrected flatly.
"Sorry." He went over to the refrigerator to get some soymilk. After pouring himself a glass, he sat down on the counter not too far from her. Once he saw her closer up, Beast Boy saw that she had circles under her eyes. Not only that, her face seemed tired and worn, as if she hadn't had enough sleep last night.
"Raven, are you okay? You don't look too good," he told her.
She looked up at him from her novel and scoffed dismissively. "I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep last night." But he wasn't convinced. If he didn't know Raven, he would have believed her. But he did, and her voice indicated that something was definitely bothering her.
"Are you sure? You sound like something's bothering you," he said.
Raven scowled at him. "I told you, I'm fine! I just couldn't sleep. So just drop it!"
Beast Boy raised his hands defensively. "Okay, fine! Sorry I asked!" He quickly downed the rest of the glass and washed it out. "Sorry for caring," he said angrily as he swung open the door to leave the kitchen.
"Wait!" she called. The changeling halted in his tracks and looked over at her frustrated. Raven paused, almost forgetting what she wanted to say.
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that."
Beast Boy just shrugged his shoulders and his angry look faded. "No problem," he said, but he still wore the same look of concern. "Are you okay, Raven?" He looked straight into her eyes in such a way that made her uneasy inside.
Raven bit her lip and suddenly found herself torn. Part of her wanted to tell him so badly. Another part of her felt afraid to for a reason she couldn't place. But no, she didn't want to say anything. Not yet. The last thing he needed was to worry about another thing with everything else on his mind.
Raven managed a very faint smile and looked up at him. "I'm fine, Beast Boy. It's nothing. I just had a rough night. Please…" she paused. "Don't worry about it."
Beast Boy nodded, but didn't look the least bit convinced. Nevertheless, he decided to respect her wishes for the time being.
"Okay," he said softly and turned to leave. Right before he did though, he turned around and looked straight into eyes again. "I'm always here for you, Raven." With that, he turned and exited the kitchen, a soft swoosh of the doors signaling his departure.
Raven sat there, still staring blankly at the place he had just stood. When he had looked into her eyes, she had found herself unable to look away, even though she had wanted to. And that feeling, that damned feeling she felt yesterday was returning as his words replayed over and over in her head. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't like it. It was starting to make her feel things she wasn't used to, and that made her very uncomfortable. What was it? One thing was for certain though - she definitely would have to take a trip to Nevermore by the time the day was through and sort this thing out with her emotions once and for all.
She tried to concentrate on her book again, but found it incredibly difficult. As much as she tried though, even her book couldn't keep her mind off what had happened last night.
It was dark – as dark as it had been in her previous dream. Only this darkness was…ominous. Foreboding. Raven stood in the center of it, alone. She couldn't see anything, but she knew something was approaching her. She could sense its presence. Something dark and terribly evil was coming her way. She wanted to move, she wanted to run, but she couldn't. She could only stand there helplessly as the fear inside her grew more and more. Raven finally risked a glance up, and gasped when she saw a shape forming in the blackness. It was as dark as her surroundings, but she could make out nevertheless a shape forming in the darkness. It was something large and monstrous, and it was staring down at her. She saw no eyes, but she knew it was staring at her. She wanted to run, to fly away, but her body was paralyzed with fear. She was helpless. The last thing Raven saw was what looked like a large mouth opening, revealing rows of shiny, razor-sharp teeth.
This dream had been as vivid as her previous dream. Only this one had scared her. Scratch that, it terrified her. As one who had visions before, Raven was hesitant to shrug this off as just a nightmare. Unfortunately for her, even she couldn't tell sometimes what was a dream and what was a vision. Not knowing exactly what to do at the time, or whom she should tell, Raven in the meantime decided she would just have to be extra careful in the next few days to see if these dreams really were just dreams or not. She would probably have to tell Robin about what happened just to be safe.
As she remembered her dream, she could do nothing to stop the guilt she felt for lying to Beast Boy. Why had she? He was only worried about her, but that was the problem. She didn't want him to worry about her. Why the hell did he have to be concerned for her so much? It was bad enough when Robin had been worried about her through the whole ordeal with Trigon. The last thing she or Beast Boy needed was for him to be distracted by her because of worry. It was for the best. Right?
Sighing and putting her book down, she casually glanced at the clock. In less than an hour training would begin.
Crap.
"Alright guys, we'll go through the same thing as last time, but I want everyone to see if they can improve their time and stats over the last session. Just be careful."
"We gotcha, Robin," Beast Boy's voice echoed back over the transmitter. He and the boy wonder were sitting next to each other, manning the controls in the operating room.
"I understand you loud and clear," Starfire responded.
Cyborg and Raven stood idly by as Starfire, being the first one up, started warming up for her run-through.
Robin turned to the grass stain sitting next to him. "By the way, Beast Boy, your stats haven't improved much over the last few sessions. How about stepping it up? Beast Boy? Beast Boy, are you listening?"
The changeling snapped out of his daydream and looked over at Robin. "What?"
"I said your stats need improving. Try and put a little more effort into it today, okay?"
Normally Beast Boy would have complained or come up with some smart comeback, but instead he half-heartedly shrugged his shoulders. "Sure."
Robin looked at his teammate curiously. "You alright? Something the matter?"
Beast Boy quickly put on a cheerful smile. "Nothing, I'm fine!" Even though he wasn't. Seeing Raven that upset earlier had made him concerned for her, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.
Robin decided not to press the issue, though he wasn't convinced. "Starfire, you ready?" he spoke into the intercom. Robin's answer came in the form of loud, shrill beeping. The Titans' alarm. Beast Boy gave a groan as Robin leapt out of his seat.
"That's the alarm! Come on, let's go. We'll just have to postpone training."
"Oh goody," Beast Boy replied sourly.
The Titans swiftly gathered and prepared to leave as Robin listened to the report.
"What's going on this time?" Cyborg asked.
"Someone's causing a disruption up the city."
"Who?"
"They don't know! It's someone they've never seen before. It started out with someone breaking into someone's apartment downtown. It was on 8th Street in the Leap district."
"A break-in?" Raven asked. "Are they sure it's a villain and not some common crook?"
"I asked them that already. In their own words, they're 'pretty darn sure'. They decided to call us when one of them started hurling fireballs at them."
"One of them?!" Beast Boy asked in shock. "You mean there's more than one?"
"Yup."
"Well we must waste no time! We have to bring these criminals to justice so they may do no more harm!" Starfire exclaimed with green fire in her eyes.
"Couldn't agree more. Titans, GO!" Robin shouted.
Cyborg wasted no time in getting the T-Car started while Robin readied his R-Cycle. Starfire in turn wasted no time in volunteering to ride behind Robin on his motorcycle. Ever since riding with him the time in Tokyo, her riding behind him had become a regular thing. This of course left only three people to occupy the T-Car. This of course had prompted Cyborg to allow various junk of his to accumulate on the front seat, meaning that the only seats left were those in the back. Meaning of course, that Raven and Beast Boy were left to sit together in the back. Much to Raven's disappointment.
The garage doors opened, and the two vehicles sped off toward the city.
"Hopefully this battle's going to be sweet! I haven't kicked villain butt in ages!" Beast Boy said while grinning widely.
Raven merely rolled her eyes. "Yeah." But deep down, even she got bored sitting around the tower doing nothing now that most of the villains were frozen in Paris.
"Hey Raven, wanna hear a joke?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.
"No."
"Just one joke? I promise it'll be funny!"
"No, Beast Boy."
"Come on, Raven! Why not? You know I'm funny!"
"For the last time, I don't want to hear a stupid joke, and you're not funny!" she snapped.
"Fine! Be that way!" Beast Boy folded his arms. "Grouch."
"Grouch?" Raven asked angrily. "Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say that hearing bad jokes 24/7 can get on one's nerves after a couple years!"
"Alright guys, not now!" Cyborg shouted from the front seat. "Sheesh! Do you think you could for once be near each other without tearing each other's heads off?!"
"She started it!"
"He started it," they both said in unison. The two of them briefly exchanged a glance before turning away from each other. The rest of the drive, they merely scowled and glared out the window.
After a short drive, the five heroes arrived at the scene of the crime. It was in a particularly slummy part of the city. Many of the buildings were run-down, and some of them were abandoned entirely.
"Man, who'd want to live in this dump?" Beast Boy asked as he got out of the T-Car.
"Quiet," Robin said as he and Starfire dismounted the R-Cycle. "Over there!" he pointed.
"Woah!" Cyborg said as they neared it. In front of them were several police cars, but no police. Some of the police cars were burnt to a crisp, others overturned. It looked like an explosion had ripped through the place. Finally, Robin spotted a couple officers and sprinted up to them.
"Officer! What happened here?" Robin asked him.
"'Bout time you guys arrived! We've had our hands full with these guys."
"What happened?" Robin asked again.
"Someone called in reporting a break-in at this apartment. When we got here, we found some guys causing trouble. They looked like kids at first, but they were dressed funny. They were wearing these capes or something. We cornered a couple of them, but both of them were holding weapons. We told them to drop them, but they refused and one started shouting something. One of our officers thought he was being aggressive, and fired a warning shot into the air. Right after he did though, the kid exploded and threw a fireball at one of our squad cars! We all barely had enough time to get away before the car exploded! Lucky for us, no one was hurt, but after that, they disappeared. That's when we decided to call you."
"How many of them are there?" Robin asked.
"Aren't sure. We saw two, but there were reports of as many as four being around."
"Wow," said Robin as he surveyed the scene. "So, where are they now?"
"We aren't sure, but we don't think they left this area. We got most of the escape routes blocked off and nobody saw them leaving. We aren't sure though if they're in the building or if they're hiding out around here."
"Okay. Thanks officer, we'll take it from here," Robin said.
"Good luck," the officer said as he and his partner ran off, leaving the Titans alone in the street. The five of them proceeded cautiously down the street, being alert for anything strange.
"I don't see anyone. Raven, can you detect anything?" Robin asked.
"I can't really make out anything. There are still too many people around," she answered.
"You think they might still be in the apartment?" Cyborg suggested.
"Probably, but there are probably still other people in that building. We'd have to be extra careful if we want to check it out." Robin paused and looked around. "Let's split up and look around the area at first. Starfire, you come with me."
"Big surprise," Beast Boy muttered.
Robin shot him a dirty glare before continuing. "Raven, you and Cyborg go off and investigate down that way. Raven, you keep watch from the sky but still stay close to Cyborg. Beast Boy, go investigate around that apartment building."
"Man, why do I have to go by myself?" Beast Boy complained.
"Because that way you'll have someone around who appreciates your jokes," Raven said.
"Could you not be sarcastic for once in your life?" Beast Boy asked annoyed.
"Alright guys, not now! Let's go. If you see anything, let all of us know immediately. Try to avoid fighting though if you can until we arrive. Especially you, Beast Boy, since you'll be alone."
"Right," the changeling grumbled.
Beast Boy went off in the direction Robin instructed him too, while the others went off in their own directions. His path led him down a dark, cramped alley that winded around the side of the old apartment building and behind. Beast Boy turned into a dog and sniffed the air, trying to pick up any unusual scents. After not picking up anything at first, he decided to move on to see if he'd have any luck further back. He cautiously crept along the damp pavement and sniffed. On both sides of him the slummy buildings rose up and almost blocked out the sunlight. He hated that. Coming at last to the back of the building, he turned left and surveyed the back lot. It was a fairly typical lot. Litter all over the place, vents whirring, and dumpsters lined along the wall. What did catch his attention, though, was that one of the back doors to the building was wide open. From inside, Beast Boy could hear the grinding of furnaces and machinery, no doubt a boiler room of some kind.
He trotted up to the door and sniffed. Someone had definitely been through the area. Whoever they were, their scent seemed pretty human but contained things unfamiliar to him. His ears perked up though when he heard another sound. Underneath the loud whir of machinery, he heard the distinct sound of someone breathing. And whoever it was, they were breathing deeply as though they were nervous. Beast Boy followed the trail and it lead him further down the building's side, and he came across a large dumpster. That was also where the breathing was coming from. Beast Boy transformed into human form, backed against the wall, and pulled out his communicator.
"Robin, I think I've found one of them. I'm in the alley behind the building," he whispered.
"Got it. We'll be there in a sec," Robin said back.
Beast Boy put his communicator back and decided now would be a good time to get a good look at whoever was behind the dumpster. He decided that he would transform into something small, maybe a mouse or a bird, and see what it was. Fate, however, was not kind. As soon as Beast Boy stepped away from the wall, his foot landed on a squashed, rotting tomato that he hadn't noticed before. In one clumsy motion, he slipped and landed on his rear on the pavement with a loud "Oof!" Whoever was there now had undoubtedly heard him, because he heard a scrape of feet and movement.
'Crap. Just my luck,' he thought to himself. Well, now that surveillance was out of the question, he'd just have to pursue the person hiding. Beast Boy immediately got to his feet, ignoring the pain in his rear, and ran to catch his objective. He didn't make it five feet before he came face-to-face with his target.
He was dressed strangely, to say the least. The first impression Beast Boy got was someone that looked straight out of Dungeons and Dragons. The first thing he saw was that he wore a long cloak that reminded him a lot of the one Raven wore. This cloak however was gray and was imprinted with black designs and symbols. He appeared to be wearing some kind of armor on his torso, over which was a sleeveless shirt that matched the color of his cloak and had a black symbol on it. Hung around his back, to Beast Boy's surprise, were a bow and a quiver of arrows! Beast Boy couldn't see his entire face because his hood was up, but he could see wisps of brown hair poking out and a matching set of brown eyes. Overall, he looked pretty young, probably around Beast Boy's age.
For a moment, the two of them only stared dumbly at each other, both of them wearing the same expressions of shock. Finally, Beast Boy snapped out of his trance and scowled at his adversary. Upon seeing this, the medieval-looking boy turned tail and ran.
"Hey!" Beast Boy called. The changeling took off and pursued him down the alley.
"Stop!" he called again, but he of course didn't listen. He decided to alert his teammates before he could get away. "Robin, the guy's running! He's turning around the corner of the building now and heading for the street!"
"Stop!" Beast Boy called again. Deciding he wasn't fast enough as a human, Beast Boy morphed into a tiger and continued his pursuit. By this time, the teenager had almost reached the street, but right before he did, Robin and Cyborg appeared in the way. The metal man had his sonic cannon aimed at him while Robin held his bo staff in fighting position.
"Going somewhere?" Cyborg asked him as the boy came to a screeching halt. Looking desperate, the cloaked teen looked around frantically and almost leapt out of his skin when he saw Beast Boy in tiger form approaching him menacingly.
Instead of answering the bionic teen, the cloaked warrior turned around scowled at the two of them. He raised his hand, made some kind of gesture, and thrust his open palm at the two teens. As soon as he did, Beast Boy felt a rush of wind and watched in shock as Cyborg and Robin both were sent hurtling back. The two of them were launched clear across the street and sent right into the walls of the building on the other side. The cloaked teen then took the opportunity to take off down the street.
Cyborg and Robin both lay on the ground, dazed for a moment out of shock and pain. "Starfire, Raven, go after him!"
The two fliers already saw him and chased after him, with Beast Boy following on the ground. In a matter of seconds Beast Boy was within feet of the fleeing teen, and decided now was a good time to pounce. With one powerful thrust of his legs, Beast Boy leapt into the air and hurtled toward his target. He was surprised though when instead of hitting the fleeing teen he hit the hard concrete. Beast Boy was too off guard to land on his feet, and the large cat ended up landing on his face and doing a clumsy somersault on the street, which probably would have looked pretty amusing to anyone watching.
Beast Boy groaned in pain, reverted to his human form, and looked up to find out that the teen was now flying away. Great. This person could fly.
'Yup. Just my luck,' he thought to himself as he got up.
"You alright, Beast Boy?" Robin asked as he and Cyborg caught up.
The changeling put a hand to his face. "I think my nose just flattened about an inch, but I'm fine."
"Come on, we'd better follow them," Robin said. The three boys tried to follow them down the street. About five seconds into their pursuit though, a wall of earth suddenly erupted out of the ground in front of them. The three of them, already running at top speed, had no time to stop and ran face-first into the mound.
"Ugh! What the heck?" Cyborg asked in shock and anger as he put a hand to his bruised nose.
"I take that back, now my nose has flattened an inch," Beast Boy muttered.
"What was that?" Robin shouted as he looked at the wall of earth that just erupted in front of them. Wait a minute…
'Terra…?' Beast Boy wondered. His suspicion was soon debunked, though. The three of them looked off to the left, and their jaws dropped when they saw another cloaked warrior! This one was similar in appearance to the first one, but he was also noticeably different.
Unlike the first one, the cloak he wore was a dark green color with black designs lining it. His hair was black but his eyes were brown. He was also a lot taller than the first one, too! In fact, Beast Boy could already tell that he almost rivaled Cyborg in height and bulk. He also looked young, only probably slightly older than Beast Boy and maybe around Cyborg's age. He also wore armor like the first one, though it looked heavier, and Beast Boy gulped when he saw that this warrior had a rather menacing looking axe attached to his belt.
"Uh…" the changeling stammered. He didn't have time to say anything. The tall, green-cloaked warrior's eyes started glowing green, and with a wave of his hand a large mound of earth broke free of the ground and hurtled at the Titans. Robin leapt out of the way just in time but the other two unfortunately took the flying mound of earth head-on. The tall, green-cloaked teen took out his axe, spun it around over his head, and a greenish glow surrounded his body for a few seconds before dissipating.
Robin gritted his teeth and launched himself at the warrior with is fighting staff twirling. The Titan came down hard and swung his staff at him, which he blocked with his axe. Robin swung his staff around and struck again, and the two exchanged blows for a few moments before Robin saw an opening. With lightning reflexes, Robin brought his staff down on the warrior's head.
To his utter surprise, though, the warrior didn't show any signs of pain. He didn't even flinch! He merely stared down at Robin as if the teen had merely flicked him. Dumbfounded for a moment, Robin brought his staff back and struck again. The warrior blocked it again, and the two ended up exchanging more blows with their weapons. Robin found another opening, but this time he responded by bringing his foot up and landing a hard kick right on his adversary's chin. Most men, villains or normal people, would have been sent sailing back or at least knocked on their back by one of Robin's kicks. But to Robin's amazement, he stayed right where he was and once again showed no signs of pain. In fact, judging from the look on his face, he was more annoyed than in pain. Robin was once again dumbstruck, but he quickly brought his foot away from the warrior's chin and followed it up with a hard punch to his stomach followed by another punch to the face.
The warrior stared down at Robin and gave him a 'Didn't you learn the first time?' look, and brought his fist up to connect with Robin's face.
Meanwhile, Cyborg and Beast Boy just got up in a daze after being hit with a wall of dirt.
"Man, I don't think my face can take much more abuse," Beast Boy groaned.
"Dude, this guy can control the earth!" Cyborg said as he got to his feet.
"No kidding," Beast Boy muttered sarcastically. Deep down though, he was awestruck. The only other person he had met who had that power was Terra. The two of them looked up in time to see Robin, their fearless leader, flying through the air and landing on the pavement.
Meanwhile, Raven and Starfire were busy pursuing the gray-cloaked teen that was still fleeing from them. Starfire had been launching her green starbolts at the fleeing warrior, but he had been doing a good job of dodging them. Finally though, one of them hit home, and the cloaked teen was sent flying down onto the roof of a nearby building. He rolled hard and landed on his back, but swiftly got to his feet. As soon as he did, he thrust his gloved palm at the two female Titans, and they were both met with a strong gust of wind that sent them both flying back through the air.
Starfire gave a small cry of surprise, but quickly regained her balance, and Raven did the same. The mage looked down just in time to see him jump off the roof and down into the street below.
"Quick!" Raven yelled and they both followed him down. She and Starfire pursued him closely as he flew perilously close to the street. Luckily for them there were no cars or pedestrians on the street, this being a relatively secluded area of the neighborhood. Raven however, had no interest in continuing this chase. The mage concentrated on a nearby lamppost and uttered her mantra.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she cried, and the post was ripped out of the ground by a mass of her dark energy. The post shot forward and struck the unaware teen on his back, sending him down and rolling across the pavement. He lay on the ground in pain for a moment before attempting to get back up. Raven however, gave him no time, and wrapped the long bar of metal around his body.
"Good work, friend Raven!" Starfire exclaimed as the two landed. Raven merely gave her an acknowledging nod and approached the now-immobile teen. She took a moment to study his features. He indeed looked very odd, mostly due to his dress. His cloak was a lot like hers, but his other features, most noticeably his armor and bow, looked downright out of place.
"Who are you?" she asked bluntly, but he didn't respond. He merely gave her a mean glare before disappearing into thin air.
Actually, he didn't really disappear. In his place was a gray mist that floated in midair. Raven watched as the metal lamppost he was wrapped in fell to the ground with a loud clang. A second later, the gray mist materialized, and the gray-cloaked teen stood there once again.
"Slippery rascal," Raven muttered. She was caught off guard though when the coiled post came flying and hit her squarely on the torso. The mage grunted in pain and was thrown.
"Raven!" Starfire cried and went after her attacker, who now was surrounded in some kind of cyclone. Starfire came to the realization that this person was some kind of mage with control over wind. The gray cloaked teen picked up a nearby trashcan with his powers and flung it at Starfire, who blasted it away with one of her starbolts. She followed this up with another round of green fire while flying toward him. Her effort was made difficult however because of the strong wind that was pushing against her. Finally one of her starbolts hit him and he was sent flying back yet again. The strong wind instantly ceased, and Starfire flew forward to pursue her opponent.
"Robin!" Cyborg and Beast Boy yelled at once. The two rushed forward to meet their green-cloaked attacker. Cyborg primed his sonic cannon and aimed at the tall teen. The blue beam darted forth, which the cloaked warrior barely countered by moving a mound of rocks in the way. He countered by sending another mound of rocks hurtling toward the charging heroes. This time they were ready, and both leapt to the side to avoid being hit. It wasn't all, however, and the two Titans then found themselves dodging rock after rock being hurled at them.
Cyborg and Beast Boy leapt and dodged the flying rocks, but one soon caught Cyborg off guard and hit him in the chest. Not to be discouraged, Beast Boy spotted an opening and capitalized on it. He quickly transformed into a kangaroo, leapt, and aimed a powerful kick at his attacker. His feet met the warrior who brought his fists up to block the attack. A kick such as that would have knocked out a normal person, but Beast Boy's kick only sent him staggering back a few feet.
"Crap!" Beast Boy muttered out loud as he morphed back into a human and thought of what to do next.
Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and swung his fists at the cloaked fighter, but found his blows either dodged or parried. He managed to land a few, but these as Robin's previous blows did nothing. Beast Boy did notice however, that each time he landed a hit something seemed to be straining his opponent. He was quickly derailed though when his face was met with a powerful punch from his opponent. The force of it sent Beast Boy staggering back and he inadvertently reverted to human form after stumbling and falling on his back. The force of the punch had sent his world spinning, and it took him a while to realize that his opponent was leaning over him.
Meanwhile, Robin and Cyborg had both gotten up and were now rushing forward to Beast Boy's aid. "Beast Boy!" Robin shouted, fearing for the changeling's safety after seeing what this warrior was capable of, being apparently impervious to pain among other powers.
Suddenly fearing for his life Beast Boy's mind raced, and for a moment his animal-like instincts took over. His hand could feel a patch of loose dirt that had become exposed due to the green-cloaked warrior throwing mounds of earth around. Doing the first thing that came to his mind, he grabbed a fistful of the dirt and threw it in his attacker's face. The blinded warrior gave a cry and reflexively brought his hands up to his eyes. Beast Boy, more out of reflex than anything else, brought his legs up and kicked him hard in the gut. This time, however, the warrior doubled over in pain.
Seeing this, Robin decided to try one last time, and sent a kick at his enemy's face. This time, his actions were rewarded, and he was knocked back and onto the hard pavement. He tried to get back up, but was only met again by a hard punch from Cyborg. He was sent flying back yet again, and now lay in pain on the ground.
"Way to go, BB," Cyborg congratulated him as the three of them now prepared to attack again. They were momentarily distracted though when they heard a blast behind them. They looked up and saw the gray-cloaked teen fall out of the sky, land hard, and roll along the pavement, coming to a stop close to the tall green-cloaked teen. The three boys looked over their shoulders to see Starfire and Raven approaching behind them from the air. The two girls descended and landed next to the other three. At least for now, the fight appeared to be over.
The five Titans approached the two fallen mages, Robin leading the way, and stopped when they were standing over them. Robin bent down and grabbed the green-cloaked one and lifted him up so he was looking into his eyes.
"Alright, who are you two? What were you doing here?" Robin asked fiercely.
The mage stared defiantly back at Robin, not answering at first. His hood had fallen back, revealing his mass of messy black hair.
"If I were you, I'd answer him," Cyborg warned, cannon aimed at him just in case.
The mage took a cautious glance at Cyborg then back to Robin. He finally opened his mouth as if to speak, but whatever he had to say was cut off when a wall of fire erupted from the ground in front of them.
Ick, sorry if this chapter was a little long too. They won't all be this long, I promise! Thanks to all those who've been submitting reviews, keep them coming! A full inbox means a happy author. Sorry if there wasn't enough BBxRae in this chapter, I tried to put as much in as I could. But believe me, there will be plenty of them coming in this story. I did notice one thing in this chapter though - isn't it amazing how the two can go from practically flirting to wanting to strangle each other within a day? And be ready, because things are going to get a little weirder in the next chapter. Don't forget to review! Oh, and I hope you paid attention to the dream sequence.