Author's Note: YEAH! CHURCH CAMP ROX! hehe. i just came back from the best week of my life, WOOT. so. yeah. hope you guyz have had as much fun, i was extremely pleased to come back to an inbox full of review alerts…made my life perfect for a couple minutes. GRIN. anywayz, after watching the whole The End saga that finished last Saturday on Teen Titans, and after much debate, i decided to include the whole 'it was the end of the world but the Titans managed to save it once again' thing. so Raven is still very reserved in her feelings, but now she isn't as afraid to show some emotion and she isn't quite as depressed. she is, however, now extremely protective of her life and her friends, which were almost taken away from her forever, something she wouldn't like to repeat. and yes, in my fanfic Slade regained his body and is still alive as happened in the third part. so thanx for your support once again, and here is the twelfth chapter with your personal replies below…
DarkBeast: you don't know how glad i am to hear someone say that! i've been worried that i'm building up the relationship between them too slow, but i'm incredibly thrilled that you like the way i'm going…i'm aiming for tension, apprehension, and expectation!
moonarcher: YAY! you're back! yeah, you think the Titans would, but Cinderblock must've blocked they're vision…or…SMIRK. thanx for answering my question, it's steadied my confidence a tad!
TDG3RD: YAY! you're back too! don't feel bad about not reviewing, i was just worried i had lost some of my best advisers…GRIN. here's the next the chapter…
dragoon-bane: SNORT. you crack me up, man. and don't worry abut being obsessed, my sister hates watching Teen Titans with me now because every time Raven and Robin so much as give each other a funny look, i make rude noises with my mouth…GRIN.
rikagirls yepyep, and he'll see more of her soon…
Anony Miss: blushes awww, stop, you flatter me! i hope you stick around, though, i love morale boosters. GRIN.
The Mad shoe1: i'm keeping it, i'm uping it! … right, that made no sense. GRUMBLE
Ninjamuffin13: wanna know wat happens? keep reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Teen Titans show or comics.
The whole complex smelled musty, a dank feel to the air as a result of months, almost a year or two, with slow erosion and decaying of wood or concrete. Huge gears, at least the height of two men across and the height of five men high creaked on the ground or halfway disassembled from the ceiling. They were covered in cobwebs, rust illustrating cracks and dents where moisture slipped into the steel, their haunting shadows in the dim half-light, practically-dead emergency lights giving an eerie, ghost town feeling to the scene. Dislodged earth and rocks were scattered around the ground, and fissures decorated the cement walls and floors, a deep blackness yawning up from the pits of the earth, a hungry shadow. Splotches of green gave a bit of color to the grey and bleak picture, moss hanging off of cool, damp rocks, vines, weeds, and grass spurting from in between chinks and stretching from broken vents in the ceiling. Dust floated in the air, silence heavy and everything deserted.
Then, without warning, iron-clad footsteps filled the empty chambers, swelling horrendously to a climax before stopping swiftly, quieted by the examinations of their owner. A new figure flickered upon the old shadows, in the shape of a man, its build angular and muscular. The man himself blended in with the shadows, hidden from the meek light venturing into this abyss of darkness. His steps had been careful, testing as he made his way to where he stood now, before one of the clock work gears. His face was concealed behind a metal mask, half dirt orange and half black. He was dressed in a suit following this pattern, and his one visible eye surveyed the scene around him with an apathetic feeling of boredom, as if he'd rather be anywhere than here. But the man didn't leave, instead leaning lightly against the gear and acting as if he was settling in for a wait. He wouldn't have to wait long.
If anyone had been watching him, he would've been easily recognized. The veiled face, the two-colored suit, the iron-lined boots, the single, observing eye—all were plenty familiar to any citizens of Jump City, and especially familiar to a group of super-powered, crime-fighting teen heroes. If anyone had been watching him, he either would've heard a gasp of disbelief or the echo of running feet.
But as it happened, no one watched Slade unless he wanted them to.
The infamous criminal was, in fact, waiting for someone, a person that he knew would come. Someone that he had purposely let himself be discovered, someone he had purposely led in finding her personal goal. It was known Slade only concern himself with you if you had something he wanted, or if you had something he could use to his advantage—including yourself. This person had struck a deal with him; she had almost outsmarted him in the process, more than once almost gone too far, surprising him with her intelligence, focus, and edge. Slade had always recovered from her advances, though, and remained on top. It was risky, dealing with one so unpredictable as her, but her lack in creative goals made up for that, as well as her trend of having only one road she traveled: the one of revenge.
A scrape of metal on stone and the soft scattering of pebbles as someone made their way down into the crevice Slade was waiting in broke through Slade's thoughts, awakening all his body's senses and alarms to action, though he hardly twitched a muscle. He watched the ground in front of him for shifting shadows, his ears following the slight noises made while someone came up behind him. Gasps of breaths echoed against the crumbling walls, and Slade stayed motionless until the breathing was all but right behind him. Twisting sharply around, Slade's arm shot out and his hand caught the neck of the perpetrator. "You shouldn't try to sneak past me, Ragonu," Slade drawled as he stepped back into a beam of light, bringing his prisoner with him, a foot or so above the ground. But he frowned as he observed the kicking figure, one dressed in all black with a bike helmet of some sort on, a utility belt on its waist and a pack on its back. It wasn't Ragonu.
Without warning a hand clutched Slade's shoulder from behind, causing him to swerve around again just the hand disappeared and a woman's voice said innocently, "Sneaking? Now why would I need to do that?"
Sneering under his mask, Slade straightened himself as he came to a stop, the figure he was holding still squirming in his grip. In front of him stood the owner of the voice, smirking at the knowledge she had fooled Slade. Her pale, porcelain skin stood out shockingly against the harsh shadows surrounding her, though her curly, waist-length, raven-black hair and dark eyes hinted that once upon a time, she had been much darker than she appeared now. Like the figure Slade was clutching, the woman was dressed in black; a skin-tight, black jumpsuit to be exact, elegant curves and bends sure to attract men's attention if she walked out in public. A white lab coat flapped around her legs, that plus the huge high-heeled, knee length boots she wore making a mystery to Slade of how she had managed to surprise him once again. She might have been considered gorgeous if her rose-red lips weren't twisted permanently by smirks and sneers, nor her face distorted by an insane light.
Slade threw the distraction he had been holding to Ragonu's feet in disgust. "I see you brought your pet." The black figure scrambled up from its position and instantly backed into the shadows behind Ragonu, rubbing its neck. "I would think you above play toys."
Ragonu gave a cruel laugh, stepping forward. She was only about as tall as Slade's chest, but she held herself as if she looked down on everything and everybody in the world. "I always took to your sense of humor," she said lightly, tucking a lock of hair behind an ear. "But, unfortunately, we aren't here to trade jokes and gossip."
"No," Slade agreed, taking back his position against the gear he had had before Ragonu had shown up. "We're not. So enlighten me."
Ragonu glared at him, knowing that he knew exactly what they were here for. "Don't play games with me, bastard," she said lowly, stepping forward some more. "I have the boy out of your way. Now I want what I came for."
"What you want?" Slade tsked her, shaking his head and bringing out an envelope from behind his back. "Dear, is that a way to ask?" He held the envelope up, gazing at it and watching Ragonu's balled fists from the corner of his eye, wondering with slight fascination what she would do. This situations were most exciting…sometimes she would cleverly talk her way in and out of messes, other times she would brutally attack, striking like a snake. There were more 'other times' too, all completely random, but usually based on her wants and needs.
This time, she chose the fast way. Darting forward, Ragonu made a nimble grab for the envelope, but Slade was ready. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close just as she passed by him, the envelope disappearing as he wrapped his arms around her, snickering. "Ah ah, love." Slade saw her pet leap out of the shadows, and quickly spun her around tango-like so she came to a rest facing her stock-still pet, her body pressing into his, one hand of his hands on her stomach, the other one under her chin, ready to jerk her neck up and over, snapping it easily. "I have my own wants, too."
She gave an aggressive, animal-type growl in her throat, Slade letting her break away from him. She gave him another withering glare, taking a slip of paper out of her jumpsuit as she straightened herself. She held it wordlessly out to Slade, who took them from her and reviewed them with one eye, the other trained on Ragonu and her pet, who was edging back into the shadows.
"These are all of them?" he asked almost anxiously. "All the prison codes?"
Ragonu nodded curtly, holding her hand out for the envelope. It appeared in Slade's hands again, the piece of paper Ragonu had given him disappearing in turn. He started to hand it to her, then in a lightening-quick action, gripped Ragonu's wrist and pulled her close one more time. Her pet bounded out of the shadows, but a smoke pellet erupted in front of the two villains, cutting them from sight. Inside the smoke, Slade slipped the envelope into her hand as she struggled in his strong clutch, whispering dangerously in her ear, "They better be. I do hate revisiting. Especially when I'm displeased, because…" Starting at her hips, Slade traced one of his fingers up Ragonu's body until he reached her neck, where he gave a single, sharp cutting move across her neck. His meaning couldn't have been clearer. And with that, he was gone.
Ragonu didn't wait for the smoke to dissipate, ignoring the shivers running up and down her spine and ripping into the envelope. She froze for a minute, her features unreadable. Then, her face slowly split into a wide, wild grin as she reached into the envelope and lifted out a diminutive, blood-red disk, barely larger than her thumbnail. The smoke was a gray mist, painting Ragonu's form in a breath-taking silhouette. A deep, bubbling laughter started at the bottom of her chest, growing louder as it rose until it burst from Ragonu's mouth in maniacal, frightening explosive shrieks, the laugh of a true mad rogue.