-Chapter 2-
The always-unexpected alarm sounded throughout the tower, and after it was shut off, Robin's voice rang, "Trouble."
Cyborg was quickly out of the basement, where he'd been working on his car, and in the main room. Here was where the computers and monitors, as well as the TV and games, resided. He greeted everyone else before pressing a button on the remote control.
The TV turned to a different station that no other TV had. It looked very much similar to a police monitor, but more advanced. A large map of the city was displayed, and a little red dot blinked at the bottom of the screen, seeming to move away from a bank.
"It looks like it's...Mumbo," Cyborg identified.
"And he's getting away," the Boy Wonder observed, "But not for long. Titans, go!"
With these words, every member of the team departed out the door as fast as they could. Beast Boy was a bird, being as he had to fly over the water surrounding the tower. Starfire thought a happy thought and automatically flew up into the skies for surveillance. Cyborg and Robin had their ever-present vehicles, the R-cycle and the T-car.
Raven, on the other hand, wanted no part of this fight. She had other business to attend. A portal opened and she walked into it, reappearing in a side of the city that no one usually went to. The dark side of town, as many movies and stories have called it. It was completely worn-down and had fallen into disrepair. But somehow the buildings still stood and most of the machines still functioned. Rust was everywhere, choking the past beauty of the area. Vines grew wildly and untamed on the sides of buildings. No one bothered to take care of their plants. Bricks were cracking and some even crumbling. The place was very unstable to say the least.
She walked past several old buildings and a few houses with tin roofs. There was an ancient beer brewery next to a run-down alley. This was her destination. She was supposed to meet someone here.
Inhaling deeply, she entered it only to find nine men sitting around one table. Each was making his own jokes, telling his own stories, and enjoying the drunken laughter of the others. A waitress kept bringing them drinks, and those drinks were consumed quickly, leaving empty mugs and bottles stacked all over the table. A broken light bulb that happened to be hanging over them was probably the center of one joke at one point or another.
The empath reluctantly walked past the flickering lights that threatened to burn out at any moment and took a tenth seat at the guys' table. Though they were expecting her to order a beer or other alcoholic beverage, she disappointed them by ordering iced tea.
One of the men put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. His shirt smelled of beer and sweat. It was disgusting, but thankfully he didn't always smell as such. Actually, he wasn't even a man yet. He was a teenager and underage of drinking rights. But he obviously didn't care. He was nineteen, in his prime, and wanting to act more mature. So naturally he wouldn't want to obey the law, since it 'cramped his style'.
"Nice to see you, too, James," Raven lied.
Two of the drunkards began to squabble over something completely uncomprehendable. Right when it looked like the pair were going to brawl it out, a waitress came and settled the argument by offering free beer if they promised to keep it quiet. As to be expected, they agreed and hushed themselves.
"So, Raven, where ya been?" the teen dubbed 'James' asked.
"I told you where I was," she replied.
"Oh, right. Uh, that big tower, was it?" he pondered, apparently having had too much to drink.
"Yeah," she answered as she tried to pull loose from his grip.
"Why're you trying to get away?" he wondered aloud, "Don't you wanna hug?"
"Not really," she told him.
Ignoring her, he turned to his friends, releasing his hold on her. "So, Buster, tell that one joke again. Ya know, that one with the-"
His sentence was cut short by another man's hand. "That joke ain't fit for no lady!" he scolded.
Normally, she'd have been taken aback. But she knew it probably wasn't fit for a lady, and she most certainly didn't want to hear it if this were true. The last joke she heard should've been illegal, so any joke that couldn't be told in front of her was most likely illegal or contained something illegal.
Robin leapt effortlessly into the air, effectively dodging one of Mumbo's trick-card attacks.
"You're going to jail for a long time once we get through with you, dude!" Beast Boy shouted.
The villain merely laughed, insulting the words as though they were non-humorous jokes. "You think you can stop me? You've failed the last time, seeing as I've broken out of jail."
With his guard dropped temporarily, Starfire took the opportunity to fire a few starbolts at him. Though the evil one tried to avoid them, he couldn't move in time and soon felt the searing sensation of the green aura. He cried out as the force threw him backwards.
He rolled at the last tumble and landed on his feet. Smiling as though nothing happened, he took off his magician's hat and tapped the bottom. A dozen doves flew out, along with a missile-looking object.
"You know what this is?" he asked gruffly.
Cyborg lowered his sonic cannon and immediately noticed it, "That's a warhead!"
"A what?" the changeling asked curiously.
"It blows up," Robin answered, saying that which Raven would normally have said.
"We must stop the device!" Starfire declared.
Cyborg carefully and timidly walked over to the missile, still mindful of Mumbo smirking in the shadows. For some reason, he wasn't moving. But a closer look at him revealed the reason: he could remotely detonate the missile. A small shimmer of the day's fading light made one corner of the remote reflect a near blinding light in everyone's eyes.
His eyes widened, half from the light and half from the awareness of the destruction that could take place with the flick of a finger. "Get him!" he yelled, pointing to the villain.
Everyone else took the cue and ran after him while Cyborg got out some portable tool that could be carried inside him and started trying to disarm the explosive.
While the rest of her team was dealing with a warhead and a notorious bank robber, Raven was stuck with the drunken men who laughed at the stupidest things. But at some point during the get-together, tension grew between James and the man whom she assumed was Buster. They'd had a big argument about a car. Supposedly, one of them had borrowed the car and forgotten to give it back, but the other one said he gave it back a long time ago.
After having heard enough of this bickering, the teen stood up and led everyone out the side door that led to the alley. Unfortunately, her plan didn't go as hoped. Now that no one was around to see them, the two angry drunks broke out into another, more vehement argument.
"I said it was my car! You haven't given it back! I think I'd know!" James started.
The rest of the group leaned on one another to prevent themselves from tripping in their drunken stupor. Each watched with deep interest as the bickering continued.
"I ain't got your car, you came over and asked for it back!" Buster proclaimed.
James' face turned red with fury at the proclamation.
"Aw, is the little baby gonna pitch a fit?" he taunted.
"You never gave it back though!" he combated, returning to the original subject.
In an effort to stop the argument before the deranged men got into an actual fight, the empath rapidly tried to change the topic for good.
"Hey, why don't we just go back inside and have another drink?" she suggested, hoping another round would knock them out.
Buster glanced her way and grinned, "That's a lovely idea, little lady. We'll do that right after we settle this."
She sighed, desperately thinking of something that might work. An object of common interest definitely wouldn't work, they were too drunk for reason to have an effect, and apparently changing the subject wasn't much of a help.
But now thinking wasn't helping. The large man, having had enough of James' ridiculous words, spied a big rock near the side of the brewery. Using his brute strength, he picked it up and prepared to sling it at his friend. Unfortunately, the light was almost gone and the man was too drunk to aim very accurately.
She flicked her eyes his way just in time to see a huge, jagged stone. And then...darkness.