Well, I don't have much to say. It's taken me roughly a year to finally post what should have been a simple chapter and I have no defence. I know it wasn't right to procrastinate so much and I know I did most of my readers wrong. I shouldn't ask for forgivness or for you to even take the time to read my story, but I will because I'm human and greedy. Please forgive me for my neglagence. I don't own Teen Titans.
"BEAST BOY!" Raven struggled beneath her fallen team-mate; trying to get out from under his great weight at the same time she tried to check him for injuries.
The gun muzzle moved, setting its sights on Raven's unprotected forehead, and someone started to laugh. Another shot was fired, lighting up the street. The laughing stopped as its owner realized she had gotten away.
"Little girl. Where aaaare you??"
Raven flew up from a dark energy pool down the street and drew her power about her, trying to quell the rancorous emotions she was feeling.
"Ah, there you are," the voice said as the mist cleared. Raven looked down the street and saw a figure emerge from the dissipating grey. It was a man. He looked too tall for his skin; his shoulder-length hair hung limp and unwashed. He was wearing a red child's robe with rockets on it over blue and grey striped pajama bottoms that stopped at mid-shin. A food-stained tee-shirt peeked out from the top of his robe, and his feet were in slippers shaped like an alligator's head. But his eyes were what really freaked Raven out. Mismatched, constantly dilating and constricting, they couldn't rest on one thing, but wandered everywhere.
"Are you ready for our play date?" asked the man, giggling around his words. Raven got into a fighting stance and answered with her chant, bringing her power into her hands.
The man just giggled again and lazily brought his arm up to point the gun at Raven once again. "Let's play tag, what do you say?" not waiting for an answer he fired a shot.
Raven ducked behind an energy shield and raised her hand, enveloping a lamp post behind her attacker in power. She lowered her shield and ran at him, ripping the light out of the ground and swung, aiming at his torso.
Flying into the building beside him, the man laughed again and dropped out of the small crater his impact had made."Looks like Cuckoo's it! Better run!" he laughed. Gripping his gun with both hands, he took careless aim and fired in Raven's direction again.
She ducked behind a truck and started to run, hearing three more shots fired behind her. Stopping at a small car she turned and looked at the crazed man, waiting for his next move.
Cuckoo looked at the gun in his hand with disappointment. "You missed. . ." another smile tickled the corners of his mouth. He threw the gun up in the air and shouted.
"Cu-ckoo!"
Squatting he put a hand it the air and caught the gun, no longer a small pistol but a rifle. He raised a hand above his eyes, as if to shade them, "let's play safari instead! I'll be the hunter and you are the antelope!" There was a small pop and a burst of smoke above him dropped a straw hat onto his head.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted, her eyes glowing a white-rimmed black as she took hold of the car she was hiding behind and sent it Cuckoo's way. She heard another cackle as he jumped over it and fired a shot at her. But she had already disappeared into another pool of energy and reemerged on the other side of the street.
She sent a stream of dark energy to bind his torso and threw him into a building, crushing his body to the concrete base. A breathy laugh escaped him and he sagged to the ground.
"Cu-ckoo."
Raven watched as the rifle in his hand jumped up and turned into a machine gun, aiming its muzzle in her direction. She flew up to avoid getting hit but Cuckoo grabbed her ankle and threw her, sending her into the row of parked cars.
"Alright, we can change the game! How about," he put his finger to his chin and thought for a minute. Snapping his fingers the safari cap he had on burst into smoke and was replaced with a ski mask. "Cops and robbers!"
Raven struggled out of the twisted metal and sagged to her knees. Touching the ground with her fingers she sent her magic into the street and cut out two slabs of rock. She wrenched them from the ground and smashed them together, catching Cuckoo in the middle.
There was a beat of silence, then the rocks began to crack. They shattered, sending gravel everywhere and Cuckoo dropped again. His nose was bleeding continuously, but an airy chuckle was still coming from his throat. He struggled to his feet and called the gun to him.
"Alright, no Cops 'an Robbers, how about Pirates?" he asked, his eyes gleaming from beneath his matted hair.
"Cu-ckoo."
The gun changed again, this time settling in the shape of a cannon, its wick already burning.
Raven took a step back and raised her arms, gathering her energy again. Cuckoo just laughed, the ski mask bursting into smoke to leave and eye patch and pirate hat behind.
"Fire."
The cannon blast rocked the buildings lining the streets and shattered around Raven's ears, sending a pulse of pain through her head. Time seemed to slow down as the cannon ball sped towards her. She moved to position her body beside it, watching as it sailed past. She reached out her hand and caught it's momentum with her power. She twisted the trajectory and sent the cannon ball in a loop, right back to the source.
There was a great crash of sound, and a burst of smoke. She saw Cuckoo fly out from behind it, his body skidding down the street until it stopped, now an unconscious heap in the street.
Raven sighed, all the tension going out of her shoulders as she sagged to the ground. But she was soon up again, running back to Beast Boy to make sure he was okay. Dropping to her knees beside the great lion she ran her hands through the fur on its chest, checking for any blood.
"Beast Boy?! Beast Boy!" She didn't feel anything so she tried to turn him over.
Her radio crackled and she heard Robin come on the other end, "Raven, are you and BB okay? We heard explosions."
Raven gripped the transmitter with shaking hands, "Beast Boy's been shot. Send help."
"We're on our way."
She kneeled next to the changeling, trying to reign in her emotions when she felt a chill cross over her shoulders.
"Dear girl, didn't you know you're not supposed to turn your back in a fight?" She looked up at the barrel of a gun and saw the man pointing it wasn't Cuckoo, but someone else.
A loud bang, a flash of light, and nothing else.
Sending you all love.