CHAPTER 12: CAPTURE
Cyborg found himself in the Mayor's office again. It was in pitch-black darkness and Cyborg could hardly see anything when he entered it after being summoned by the police. But when he shone a torch from his arm, he could see that the mayor was seated at the table, waving him over.
Cyborg sighed, here it goes again.
"Do you care to explain this blackout, Cyborg?" the Mayor asked wearily.
"I'm sorry, man, but the Titans are in trouble!" Cyborg explained for the hundredth time, "I need to bring them back from the past!"
"With a Time-machine …" the mayor said doubtfully.
"With a Time-machine." Cyborg confirmed, also sounding tired.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot let you continue this, the citizens of Jump City are complaining about the shortage of power. This is about the third time it's happened this week."
Cyborg would tear out his hair in frustration, but since he had none, he settled for raising his voice, "Sir, four major superheroes of this city are in danger, are you saying that the citizens of Jump City do not want them back?"
The mayor was about to speak when the door burst open and a frantic policeman rushed in, "Mayor, the city's in danger. The Brain and Mallah broke out of jail and are just down the streets, terrorising drivers and taking away their cars!"
"For what?" Cyborg demanded.
"I don't know, but they are taking away all the cars' batteries to power up some kind of … machine."
Cyborg groaned, this cannot be good. "I'll be right back, mayor!" And then, he rushed out of the office to investigate.
He sincerely hoped he won't take long to be "right back".
The fight had moved to the deck of the ship. And it was getting more violent by the minute. Beast boy winced as he plucked out an arrow from his back. Luckily, it didn't pierce through even though it still hurt.
Then, from a gorilla, he morphed into the classic, a T-rex. He gave a loud roar. There, that should scare them.
But the pirates only looked taken aback, before gritting their teeth and accepting their new challenge. They began to stab Beast boy's feet with all sorts of sharp objects.
Then, there was a shout, "A ship be pullin' up next ter' us!"
Beast boy turned his head and sure enough, a huge ship was now anchoring beside their's. A long wooden ladder was thrown across to the deck and pirates from the other ship began to climb towards the deck.
He hoped they weren't more trouble.
"Th' Black Swords!" the skinny pirate beside him, kicked away a Death Skull and cried cheerfully.
"Are they going to kill us?" Beast boy turned human again and asked fearfully.
The skinny pirate chuckled, "They be our mateys!" Then, looking at Beast boy curiously, he asked, "Say, how do ye turn into all those animals?"
Beast boy shrugged, "It's just what I do."
The Black Swords were quickly informed of what was happening, and soon, the two pirate groups had teamed up to fight the Death Skulls. Suddenly, there was a familiar voice that stopped Beast boy right in his tracks.
"Beast boy!"
He froze, he knew her! Starfire! But where -
"Look out!" Another familiar voice! But it could not be -
THUD!
Jumping, Beast boy turned and saw a Death Skull fall, unconscious to his feet, his hands still raised, gripping an axe that was just about to sink into his head. As he fell, he revealed who was behind. And that he was holding up his silver staff, obviously the one who struck at the pirate and saved Beast boy's life.
It was Robin.
"Robin?" Beast boy stared, wide-eyed, then he shook his head and gave a very wide grin, "Robin!" he looked behind him and saw a certain Tamarian floating in the air, giggling.
"And Starfire!" Beast boy exclaimed. This was too good to be true. How did they get here? How did they find him? It was almost impossible!
Beast boy was about to open his mouth to ask when Robin cut him off quickly, "Good to see you Beast boy, but explanations can come later." he scanned the ground, "Looks like you're caught up in the middle of something."
Beast boy sighed, he had no idea.
"Where is … friend, Raven?" Starfire inquired, looking around worriedly, then dodging an arrow.
"Umm … it's a long story." Beast boy started, "She's on Death Skulls' ship."
"What?" Robin and Starfire cried, remembering their not-so-pleasant experience there.
Beast boy pointed towards the direction Raven went, "The ship is somewhere there. It's not very far away. Raven had to umm … pick up something."
Robin fixed Beast boy with a stern expression, "Beast boy, I need more elaboration."
"OK, OK. See, there was a traitor on our ship! And he had stolen something very important - a ring. The traitor belonged to the Death Skulls and Raven went there to retrieve the ring. Then, there was an ambush here. You have to get Raven for the full story, she figured everything out." Beast boy said in a rush.
Robin nodded and turned to Starfire, "Starfire, go and help Raven. Be careful. Don't blow her cover, if she has one. Stay low."
Starfire nodded, "And you, Robin?"
"I will stay here with Beast boy. We'll end this quickly."
Starfire nodded again, "Please, friends, also you must be safe."
Robin and Beast boy nodded and Starfire flew off quickly.
Beast boy crossed his fingers. He hoped Raven was alright. And he prayed Starfire would also be safe. There was no telling what could happen in enemy territory …
~Meanwhile~
The Brain, chuckled, it was almost done! He watched as car after car was being taken off the road by Mallah, before being chucked away, with the driver still screaming his or her head off inside.
Just a few more. He thought. It won't be long now.
Mallah nodded to the Brain. It was ready.
Then, the two spotted Cyborg running towards them, his right arm held out, his blaster at the ready.
"Stop whatever you are doing! It won't work!" Cyborg glared threateningly, his blaster already started to get charged up.
"Ah! Cyborg! How nice of you to drop by and witness my masterpiece!" The Brain said almost gleefully.
Cyborg looked around, there was nothing but a huge jam, terrified people running about on the pavements, crashed cars and the traffic lights. No machines, no robots, no nothing. The only people on the road right now, was only The Brain, Mallah and himself. Then, he realised, this could all very well be a trick.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Cyborg asked suspiciously.
"No, we're perfectly serious." The Brain said, "And now, behold, the Inter-Galactic Fourth-Dimensional Radiation Quantum Transporter Platinum VIXXLMXWLXVIIIIIIII!" he exclaimed, his robotic voice full of pride.
Mallah then held up something small and rectangular in his hand.
"Dude! That's a remote control!" Cyborg said in disbelief.
"No! That's the Inter-Galactic Fourth-Dimensional Radiation Quantum Transporter Platinum VIXXLMXWLXVIIIIIIII!" The Brain declared proudly.
Cyborg shook his head slowly, his expression skeptical and confused. Obviously, not getting it.
Finally, the Brain sighed, "Fine. It's a modified remote control we stole in Prison. We added a screen at the top and changed the numbers into letters."
"Ah …" Cyborg nodded.
The Brain suddenly gave out another loud cackle, "And we've punched in the words, 'Teen Titans' and turned the knob at the side to '120 000 000'!"
"Why? What are you going to do?" Cyborg started to panic.
"Well since you all obviously love traveling to the past so much, I'm intending to trap you all back in the Cretaceous period of the dinosaurs with my beloved Inter-Galactic Fourth-Dimensional Radiation Quantum Transporter Platinum VIXXLMXWLXVIIIIIIII!"
"You know, man, you should really shorten the name." said Cyborg thoughtfully.
"Enough fun and games! It's time to transport you all back 120 million years ago!" The Brain said angrily while Mallah pointed the remote control in Cyborg's direction, his fingers poised above a huge, red button.
"Not if I can help it!" Cyborg blasted The Brain away as fast as lightning, the onlookers barely even saw Cyborg shoot, only a flash off blue and The Brain falling back was observed.
"No!" Mallah dropped the remote and went after his master.
Cyborg hurried towards the remote and turned the knob thoughtfully. Maybe this could bring back Robin, Starfire, Beast boy and Raven! He started turning it anti-clockwise and the number of years started to reduce, 10 000 000, 5 000 000, 1 000 000, 10 000, 5 000 …
WHAM!
Cyborg was punched in the stomach and he stumbled back, dropping the remote, but someone else caught it - Mallah. He looked at the numbers and frowned, turning the knob clockwise.
Cyborg jumped on Mallah and the two started to wrestle for the remote control.
Finally, Cyborg, after sinking a fist into the gorilla's face, had possession of the remote. Laughing manically, he turned the knob. 5 000, 4 000, 3 000, 1 000, 900 …
Starfire flew up the side of the ship, staying well away from the edge of the deck. She wondered what Raven was doing now.
Then, astonishingly, something small and black flew out from the edge of the ship …
"No!"
Raven's heart raced and she stretched out her hands and surrounded the ring with her powers. It stopped, and hovered midair. But suddenly, George grabbed her from behind, losing her concentration. The ring continued to drop and she struggled helplessly as she watched the ring fall and disappear as it flew over the edge of the ship, probably lost forever in the deep, murky blackness of the sea.
"Let go!" she almost screamed at George.
Then, other pirates rushed up from behind and tied up Raven's wrists together.
"Azarath Metrion -"
A gag was quickly put over her mouth. Raven wanted to choke, the taste of the dirty handkerchief wasn't pleasant at all. Then, the pirates tied up her legs.
Raven glared at George as she was being led away. George looked back unflinchingly.
"You have only yourself to blame for your meddling." he said.
Four other pirates immediately rushed up to assist the other five pirates who were trying to hold Raven down from flying …
Probably to strangle George.
Raven found herself being led down a flight of stairs to a cold, dingy dungeon. It was musty and had a rotting-smell about. The pirates were now debating whether she should be put in a cell or otherwise, finally, they decided on leaving her strapped to a wooden pole, to keep her down. There were two guards at the stairs and now, they were in charge of keeping an eye on her.
"Better start prayin', yer cur, tonight's goin' t' be yer last night!" The pirates chuckled and then left her, slamming the door shut with a bang.
She felt like thrashing herself. How could she have let this happen? Why was she so careless? Raven felt like she's let everyone down … so many were counting on her, Katherine, Captain Hugh, the whole of Red Daggers … Beast boy.
Beast boy.
It brought sudden tears to her eyes when she realised she would never see his face again, or hear another bad joke, or even see another one of his crazy antics to get attention from girls. Raven blinked. This isn't normal. It's been so long since she's let her emotions almost surface. Where did all this come from anyway? Was she … getting soft?
No, she told herself. She's got to stay strong, the pirates simply must not see her vulnerable side. If she's going to die, she wanted to die as a noble person, a true Titan, and not some weakling bawling over some guy who's only managed to annoy and pester her for years.
Raven breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, she's got to clear her mind. She opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. Perhaps she could think of a way out.
Raven sighed, yeah, and perhaps, the ring could just probably spring up from the sea to her lap right now.
A/N: Dear kind, readers. I'm terribly sorry about the lack of BB/Rae moments. I'll make it up to you after the next chapter. Promise. I'm trying to finish this real quick so the other chapters, I'll focus more on their relationship. So bear with me for a while. Just one more chapter to go. And I think, that will be the last chapter in the 1500s! I really cannot complete the whole thing today. It will have to be Chapter 13.