Chapter 2: Final Exam
A screen was hissing and cracking with static before it cleared up and the logo "H" appeared on screen, along with an annoyingly calm and melodic song.
"The H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraordinary Young People is proud to introduce…" a cultural voice began while a platform was raised on screen with four people standing on it "… this year's top graduates"
As one they jumped forwards, with a short and bald kid in a green jumpsuit taking the lead.
"Gizmo, the boy genius, whose intellect can conquer any problem with an inventive solution" the same voice from before spoke again as Gizmo pressed a button on a control panel strapped to his chest. A pair of wings immediately unfolded from his backpack and he was off into the air.
Automated turrets suddenly sprang out from the walls and began firing on the small genius, who skillfully weaved around the blasts before several rockets soared out of his backpack. The rockets quickly vaporized his obstacles and he kept on flying past. Landing on a small platform, he found that four doors opened up in the walls and large white robots stepped out, looking ready to tear him to pieces.
But on some unspoken command, he flew away and a pink haired girl dressed in a witch's attire took his place.
"Jinx, the enchanting sorceress, whose powerful hexes mean bad luck to her enemies" the annoying introductory voice continued as Jinx fired off several of her pink hex bolts at several plates in the wall, causing them to break and come crashing down on the unsuspecting robots.
With a few graceful flips, she landed a good distance away, just as more automated turrets sprang up right behind her. Jinx did not even bother with those, as a hulking brute with wild hair and dressed in a black jumpsuit with golden material armoring his chest smashed into the first turret.
"Mammoth, the genetically enhanced giant, whose unstoppable strength speaks for itself" the voice continued as Mammoth tore the turret from the floor and threw it at the remaining turrets, crushing them with ease.
But a robot had somehow snuck up behind Mammoth and grabbed hold of him. It never got a chance to do more than that as a bang echoes through the training hall and its central eye was blown out from behind.
As it collapsed to the ground, Mammoth stepped aside as a blue cloaked girl stepped forward, wearing knee high combat boots and a black leotard with two ammunition belts forming an X across her upper body while a black leather belt was strapped around her hip. Two Mark XIX Desert Eagles were holstered in her belt while a hole had been made in her cloak on her back to allow a sword handle to stick out and be within easy reach. A high caliber bolt action sniper rifle was currently clutched in her hands and she just ejected the spent cartridge and loaded in a new one.
"And Raven, the weapons and explosive expert, whose marksmanship will drop you dead" the voice finally finished with the introductions while Raven took aim on another robot and shot a bullseye on that one as well.
"Well organized, highly trained and combat equipped, these new H.I.V.E. agents are the perfect fighting force" the voice continued as Jinx jumped at Mammoth, who gave her a boost with her hands. She began to gracefully cartwheel down the last stretch of the obstacle course as towers opened up on both sides of her, but in their attempts to blast her they only managed to destroy each other.
Jinx performed one last backflip and landed on her feet, right next to her teammates.
"And, for the right price, this ideal team can be yours" the voice at last concluded before the screen went dark. An elderly woman with a stern expression on her face stepped forward instead.
"Well, Mr. Slade?" she inquired politely, addressing the intimidating form of a man standing in the shadows, his left eye being the only part of him visible. That single eye held uncountable amounts of malice in it, it was like a deep pool darkness from which there was no escape.
"Impressive, truly…" Slade began, his voice smooth but spoken with such an underline of cruelty that it sent shills up your spine "… however robots and obstacle courses only prove so much"
From the sound of it, he was not overly impressed.
"My plans demand operatives who can function in the real world" he explained as he began walking away, the woman following behind him.
"If your students are going to serve me, they'll have to pass one final exam" he stated as he took a seat on his throne while to his right a spotlight illuminated the four operatives they were discussing. The elderly woman stepped into another spotlight right next to theirs as they waited for Slade's command.
"Destroy the Teen Titans, and then we'll talk" he never even looked in their direction as he spoke, but his commanding tone left no room to argue. The light immediately went out above the four students, while the light remained on above the woman just long enough for her to give a formal bow.
"So, what do you think of our new employer?" Jinx asked curiously as she lounged on Raven's bed while idly surveying her friend's room. Her preferences were clearly displayed all over the place as every surface of the walls was devoted to either gun racks or ammunition storages. Jinx shook her head as she tried counting the number of weapons Raven had, but gave up when she reached thirty.
Raven herself was currently gearing up. Jinx could not help but smile in humor at the scene. 'Most girls would take hours preparing their make-up and clothes, but Raven instead takes hours preparing her weapon arsenal' the thought amusedly. She could not stop herself from letting out a small giggle.
Raven momentarily stopped her work of assembling one of her Desert Eagles to look in curiosity at her friend.
"What's so funny?" she asked suspiciously. Jinx held up her hands in a non-threatening gesture.
"Nothing" she hastily assured her, though that teasing smile was still on her lips. Raven just shrugged her shoulders as she went back to work.
"And about what I think of Slade, he seems like a decent enough employer. Though as long as he pays I don't care that much of what kind of guy he is" she answered nonchalantly. Jinx dropped her head while letting out a groan.
"Girl, is money all you can think of?" she asked exasperated. Raven once again turned back to Jinx, this time sporting a teasing smile of her own.
"Nah, I think way more on what gun I'm going to get next" she answered. Jinx gave Raven a flat look as she finished assembling her Desert Eagle.
"Is there even a single weapon that you don't have?" she asked, immediately regretting that she had ever said anything. One thing that everyone at the H.I.V.E. Academy had learned long ago was to never start a conversation about guns with Raven. Seriously, the girl would never shut up once she got started!
Raven held her shin in a thoughtful gesture while looking at the roof.
"Well, I still haven't got my hands on a Dragunov sniper rifle, I have ammunition for a mini gun but has so far not found the weapon itself, my flamethrower blew up a month ago so I'll need to replace it, I don't have a Beretta just yet, I've found an AUG Assault rifle but haven't acquired it yet, I also haven't got a…" it was obvious Raven was not planning on stopping anytime soon, so Jinx took matters into her own hands and rushed forwards to place a hand over her mouth.
"I swear, you're worse than Gizmo with your obsession on weapons" Jinx stated sternly as she removed her hand from Raven's face, to expose the taunting smirk she wore underneath.
"Aw, don't be so mean now. Besides you started the conversation, knowing full well it would set me off" she said teasingly. Jinx just huffed.
"Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have left you at that bank, Rae" Jinx said, drawing out the last word. Raven's earlier teasing expression quickly morphed into one of irritation.
"I told you never to call me that ever again" she snapped at Jinx. Raven cursed the day that Jinx came up with that horrid nickname for her. Now it was Jinx's turn to smile teasingly.
"But why should I? It sounds so nice, plus it's so fun to tease you with it" she answered, a Cheshire-like grin on her face. Raven groaned as she holstered her Desert Eagle before retrieving a broadsword that had been leaning against the wall and sheathed it in the scabbard on her back.
"Well, I'm ready to get going" Raven said, causing Jinx to throw her hands up in the air.
"Finally!" she cried out in relief. Raven just shook her head as she picked up a weapons trunk. As the two of them exited Raven's room, Jinx asked a question that had been bugging Raven for months.
"So, what now?" Raven turned her gaze to her friend.
"What do you mean?" she inquired, but Jinx just gave her a flat look. No humor in this conversation.
"You know well what I'm talking about. After this exam is over and our work for Slade is done, what will you do?" she pressed on. Raven averted her eyes and stared ahead of them.
"I've been thinking of starting a mercenary career. Travel around a bit, meet new interesting people, experience the world" she answered truthfully. Jinx nodded her head. It was no secret that Raven had always had a desire to travel the world, apparently a desire born from her captive life in wherever she was from.
Raven had never talked that much about her past and she always turned guarded and hostile whenever someone tried to pry the info out of her. But from the little that Jinx had managed to gather up, it had not been a pleasant place.
"You could stay you know. Stay with us. We make a great team after all" Jinx nervously offered. She liked Raven, as a friend and comrade. She was one of the few she could talk with concerning her powers. Few knew about it, but Raven also possessed strange powers, she just chose not to use them. Instead she preferred the comfortable feeling of metal in her hands. Raven smiled somewhat that that.
"Thanks, but I prefer not to get tied down too much to a place" she answered. The two continued on in silence, mentally preparing themselves for the task at hand. Today was the day they finally graduated, and they had no room to botch this mission. Failure was not an option.
Titans Tower, home of the team of teenage superheroes known as the Teen Titans. The guardians of Jump City, the defenders of the innocent, the bane of villains, the…
"Aw man, come on! It's gotta be around her someplace!" the sloppy teenagers who had not washed their dishes or cleaned their tower in over a week. Honestly, the place looked like a five star hotel for garbage rats.
"I don't believe this! How could you lose the remote!?" the cybernetic teen known as Cyborg (original, right?) demanded angrily as he was holding a couch over his head while shaking it in hopes that the remote would fall out.
In front of him, a green dog that had earlier been rooting around for the remote morphed into the green-skinned (no, not the Warhammer version, thank you very much!) Beast Boy, dressed in his black and purple jumpsuit.
"What makes you so sure I lost it?" he asked indignantly as he turned towards his much bigger friend.
"Uhh, 'cause you're you" Cyborg stated while pointing an accusing finger at him. The two of them almost got right up in each other's faces.
"Hey, just because I lost that videogame…" Beast Boy began in an attempt to defend himself, but was interrupted by Cyborg.
"And the toothpaste, and my football, and the waffle iron…" Cyborg counted them down on his fingers, sounding more and more irritated with every word he uttered.
"Things disappear, how am I supposed to know where they go?" Beast Boy demanded.
"Well how am I supposed to watch TV without a remote!?" Cyborg countered with a raised voice. It was at that point that the third member who was present had had enough of their bickering. With a loud slam, she closed her book while standing up.
"Easy as hell, you get up and change the channel manually" she grumbled out, her Australian accent clearly heard. Both boys turned their heads toward their silver skinned teammate, wearing a black corset along with a red skirt. Knee high boots adorned her feet while fingerless gloves that reached her elbows covered her arms. Her black hair sprouted in every direction while two red bangs hung in front of her face.
Both Cyborg and Beast Boy first looked at her with deadpanned expression before they turned their heads towards each other again.
"Don't even joke like that, Argent" Cyborg said grumpily. Argent meanwhile let out an irritated sigh.
"Does it look like I'm joking to you?" she asked as she strode up to him.
"How should I know, 'cause it wasn't funny either way!" he shouted back. And just like that, three of them were locked in a free for all argument. It was at that moment that the last two members arrived; Starfire, dressed in her usual purple attire, and Robin, still wearing that ridiculous traffic light costume of his.
"… and that is the secret to travelling faster than light" Starfire concluded to some explanation she had begun before entering. But both of them stopped in surprise as they finally noticed the bickering trio in front of them.
"Whoa, take it easy Titans. Combat practice is this afternoon" Robin stated, though no one seemed to pay him any attention. A though suddenly struck Starfire as she turned to address Robin again.
"We must mend your dispute by the sharing of unhealthy junk food. I shall fetch them" she explained before walking towards the kitchen area. Robin meanwhile tried to break up his teammates before fatalities occurred.
Starfire appeared to be completely oblivious to the raised voices behind her as she opened the fridge in search of "the unhealthy junk food". Well, what she found was definitely unhealthy, if the blue sludge covering all the food was any indication.
In fact, some of the sludge that was resting on a cheese rose up and growled at Starfire. She did not take it very kindly as she screeched in fright and fired a starbolt straight into the sludge, scattering it all over the place.
The rest of the Titans all looked around with varying degrees of disgust at the blue sludge that suddenly covered everything, including themselves.
"Maybe we should just go out for pizza?" Robin inquired from his friends. No objections were raised.
Not that long later, they were once again bickering with each other. Though this time the topic revolved around what type of pizza to order.
"Come on, can't we just order something now?" Argent asked impatiently.
"As long as it's vegetarian" Beast Boy piped in. that did not apparently sit well with Cyborg.
"Come on man, how can you deny me the all-meat experience?" he demanded while brandishing the menu. Beast Boy looked outright disgusted.
"Dude! I've been most of those animals!" he cried out in horror while pointing at himself.
"I suggest a large pizza with pickles, bananas and mint frosting" Starfire offered while smiling sweetly. The other Titans were looking at her with expressions no human words would ever be able to describe.
"Was she dropped on her head as a kid?" Argent deadpanned.
"Uhhh… Starfire, not everything on the menu is a pizza topping" Robin whispered to her, looking quite embarrassed.
"Oh…" was all she could say while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
What none of them realized was that they were all currently in the scope of a sniper on top of a nearby building.
"Raven to Jinx, I've located our targets. Begin phase one" she said into her communication device in her ear. On the other end, Jinx nodded happily before launching a hex at an empty bus parked right next to her, causing it to start rolling down the road. As phase one began, Raven let out an irritated grumble.
"I still say I should have just sniped them from a distance instead of this stupid idea" she grumbled into her communicator. Jinx just laughed at her.
"But where's the fun in that, Rae?" she asked sweetly "Now stop complaining and get your ass down here now"
Raven shook her head in resignation. This whole plan was just a waste of time and energy in her eyes.
"Fine, I'm coming. But if this plan backfires, don't come crying to me" a thought suddenly struck her at the end of her sentence "And stop calling me Rae for God's sake!"
The Titans meanwhile got up from their seats in surprise as they heard a bus approaching. But Beast Boy gave a horrified gasp as he noticed a baby carriage was right in its path. And from the sounds of crying coming from it, he guessed it had passengers.
"Titans, go!" Robin shouted his usual battle cry. No further motivation was needed as the team sprang into action.
Starfire flew down and scooped up the baby carriage, getting it out of the way, while Cyborg jumped down right in the bus' path with Argent backing him up. Bracing his feet, he tackled the onrushing bus head-on, trying to slow it down. Argent assisted by forming two massive hands of crimson energy that grabbed hold of the bus. Together, they managed to stop the bus before anyone got hurt.
"Uhh… don't buses normally have drivers?" Cyborg asked in confusion as he surveyed the empty driver's seat.
"And don't baby carriages normally have babies?" Robin asked in equal amount of confusion as he picked something from within the carriage that was obviously not a baby.
"Are you pit sniffers normally this stupid?" Gizmo asked tauntingly from the communicator built into the green teddy bear Robin was holding before a blast of energy was unleashed from its eyes. It sent Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy soaring through the air.
Cyborg and Argent both looked on in shock, but before the thought of helping them even occurred to them, the bus they had previously stopped was lifted into the air. Both of them now stared in horror at the underside of the bus, right before it was brought down on their heads.
From behind the bus, Mammoth stepped forward while dusting his hands off, a satisfied smirk on his lips.
"That was too easy. What a bunch of cludgeheads" Gizmo mocked as he and Jinx stepped forward.
"Told you, Rae" Jinx said, even though Raven was nowhere to be seen.
"You guys wanna get pizza?" Gizmo asked while pointing to the pizza parlor nonchalantly.
"This isn't over!" Robin suddenly stated from where he had just gotten back on his feet along with Starfire. Beast Boy was still lying in the garbage can he had landed in.
While he said that, the bus was blasted aside from underneath, and Cyborg and Argent climbed out of the crater.
"We're just getting started!" Cyborg stated angrily.
"Who are these guys?" Beast Boy asked while removing a banana peel that had had somehow managed to land on his head "And what's a cludgehead?"
"We're the H.I.V.E." Gizmo stated.
"Your worst nightmare" Mammoth continued while smashing his hands together.
"And this is attack pattern alpha" Jinx finished and as one, the H.I.V.E. members spread out. Gizmo came flying right at Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy, firing a barrage of energy bolts at the walls behind them. Before they even knew what had happened, it came crashing down on them.
Jinx engaged Argent in a fight while Cyborg and Mammoth were locked in test of strength as both tried to push the other one back. Behind them, the other three Titans were just in the midst of crawling out of the wreckage they had been buried in.
"What do you call an idiot with a rocket on his back?" Mammoth suddenly asked Cyborg. He never got a chance to answer the question as Gizmo suddenly jumped onto his back.
"Duped" Gizmo answered as he attached a rocket to Cyborg's back before activating it, sending him careening into the sky.
"Cyborg!" Starfire cried out in shock and was about to go after him when a hail of bullets suddenly impacted around them. Not soon after, Raven came crashing down into Robin's back knee-first, knocking him to the ground. Raven quickly reached inside her cloak and pulled out a grenade.
"Catch!" she shouted to the Titans before throwing it into the air while rolling clear from the blast, the Titans were not as fortunate as they were thrown around like ragdolls by the blast.
"I told you we should've just done this fast and quiet. Now I have to waste more ammo than necessary on them" Raven complained as she stood back up.
"Yeah, yeah. Quit complaining here and get to work!" Jinx shouted back as she ducked underneath a kick from Argent. Raven just sighed as she retrieved her Desert Eagles from their holsters.
"And this is why I aim for a solo career" she mumbled to herself as she began firing on Robin and Beast Boy.
"Starfire, go help Cyborg! We'll handle her!" Robin shouted from behind the car he was using as cover. Starfire gave a hesitant node before bolting into the air, far too fast for Raven to get a good shot off at her in time.
Jinx meanwhile was still slugging it out with Argent. She swung a fist at Argent's face, which she ducked, but tried again with the same result. Argent tried a backhanded hit against Jinx, but it was easily blocked.
"You fight like a boy" Jinx said with a taunting smirk on her lips.
"And you're gonna croak like a frog" Gizmo said as he towered above the two girls on his mechanical spider legs before firing an energy blast from his cannon (where did he get that one from, anyway?) straight at Argent. She went flying down the road.
Robin and Beast Boy tried to rush them, but a bullet graced Robin's arm and he halted temporarily in shock. That was all the time Raven needed as she pistol-whipped him across the face, causing to stumble back in pain.
"Stay down, bird boy" Raven said in a bored tone.
Beast Boy meanwhile tried to charge on alone and morphed into an elephant. Though he found to his surprise himself being lifted into the air, still in elephant form mind you, by Mammoth while the other three stood calmly by and watched.
"Beast Boy, hang on!" Robin shouted as he sprinted towards his friend, but Mammoth simply punched Beast Boy straight at Robin. Though thankfully Beast Boy managed to morph back to his human form before he impacted against Robin, sending both of them tumbling down the road. They finally came to a stop next to Argent.
"Is it me, or are we getting our butts kicked?" Beast Boy asked cynically from where he was lying.
"It's just you" both Robin and Argent said at the same time, annoyance plain in their voices.
"Listen up team, I have a plan…" Robin began but got no further as an energy blast hit Argent and sent her flying further down the road, quickly followed by Beast Boy who suffered the same fate. That only left Robin to face the four H.I.V.E. agents on his own.
"Geeze, scrum buffer. Sure hope your fancy plan includes getting fried" Gizmo taunted as he leveled his shoulder mounted energy cannon at Robin. He just adopted a fighting stance against his four opponents.
"We'll just have to find out the hard way" he said while making the universal sign of "bring it on". Not about to disappoint him, Gizmo and Jinx blasted the ground he stood on with their attacks before Mammoth finished with an earth shattering blow from his fist.
The road exploded and collapsed under the punishment it took, and Robin was close to falling down into the gaping hole that had been made. But in the nick of time, he managed to jump clear and landed on the edge of the hole.
"That was close" he said to himself as he let out a relieved breath before turning towards his opponents again.
"That all you got?" he asked cockily while making ready to attack. But Raven suddenly stepped in front of her teammates with an indifferent look on her face.
"Bored now" she simply said before raising one of her guns and fired a single shot into Robin's chest. He was sent tumbling into the awaiting darkness without making a sound. Both Argent and Beast Boy rushed to the edge with terrified expressions on their faces, not believing what they had just seen.
"Robin?!" Beast Boy called out in panic, frantically looking for any signs of their leader. But all he saw was rushing water from the sewer system. Neither Argent or Beast Boy could believe it, it was just not possible. But it was, it had happened right in front of their eyes.
Robin was gone.
They had let them go. They had the chance to strike down another two of the Teen Titans, but had let them run back to their base.
"I still say it was a mistake letting them get away like that" Raven stated to her teammates as they casually strolled down the street after their prey. Jinx suddenly came up next to her and threw an arm around Raven's shoulders.
"Oh come on, relax will you! We've already won this fight, now we just need to mop them up and we're all done!" she exclaimed happily. Raven however was not so easily convinced.
"We've so far only taken out one of the Titans. Even though he was their leader, that still leaves four Titans who can still fight back. And now, because we let them get away, they'll have the home field advantage" Raven explained. Jinx just sighed at her friend.
"Honestly Raven, you can be such a killjoy when we're on missions" she moaned in irritation. Raven smiled teasingly at her for that.
"Well someone has to be to keep you guys alive" she said. Jinx was about to try another tactic to placate her stubborn friend when an idea struck. She smiled deviously at it, there was no way Raven would be able to say no to that.
"Tell you what Raven, if you just roll on this mission with the rest of us, I'll buy you that Dragunov thing you mentioned earlier today" she offered. She got an immediate reaction as Raven's head snapped to attention and she looked wide eyed at Jinx.
"The Dragunov semi-automatic sniper rifle that fires 7.62×54mmR ammunition as either conventional, tracer or armor piercing incendiary rounds?" she verified in case she had heard wrong, eyes like stars. Jinx really had to struggle not to laugh. It was easy to convince Raven to do what you wanted, you just needed to have the right bribe. And Raven would never say no to a new gun to play with.
"Jinx, you sly cat. You know I can't say no to that" Raven accused. She just continued to smile deviously at her.
"That's the whole point of a bribe" she said. Raven tried to resist the offer, but it was too good to pass up on.
"Alright, you win" she finally conceded. Jinx just cheered happily.
It had been a crushing defeat for the Teen Titans. There was no other word for it. The weight of defeat hung heavily from the shoulders of Argent and Beast Boy as they staggered inside the doors to the tower. But what stung the most for them was not that they had been defeated, it was that they had lost their leader. That was a wound they could not close.
"I can't believe he's gone. It can't have happened" Beast Boy said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else.
"I wish I could say differently, but it did happen. And nothing we do will change that" Argent said as she sat down in defeat. At that moment, the huge doors opened up again and Starfire and Cyborg stepped inside.
"Maybe y'all should call me flyboy. I was halfway to Gotham City before Starfire had that thing off my back" Cyborg joked as he walked up to the two other Titans.
"So what'd I miss?" he asked. It took him a moment realize that no one was smiling at his joke, and they both seemed hesitant to answer his question.
"Tell me how we kicked their butts. Come on, I gotta have it play by play" Cyborg demanded, yet still they were quiet. Though something seemed to have occurred to Starfire since she was looking around the place in confusion.
"Where is Robin?" she asked. A few moments of uncomfortable silence followed her question.
"Umm, Star. We're not sure" Beast Boy answered. Starfire looked thoroughly confused by that.
"Not sure? How can you not be sure?" she asked.
"Starfire. We searched everywhere, from top to bottom, and all we found was this" Argent said as she held out Robin's utility belt. Both Starfire and Cyborg had very poor reactions to that. But while Cyborg began muttering to himself that he should have been there, Starfire had a more aggressive reaction.
"I do not understand, how could you not find him? People do not just vanish, he has to be someplace so go there and look!" she nearly shouted straight in Argent's face. Beast Boy quickly intervened and got in-between the two girls while holding his hands up in a placating manner.
"Easy Star. Come on, this Robin we're talking about. I'm sure he's fine. He'll probably turn up any second" he reasoned with her. Just then there was a noise at the door.
"Awesome timing" Beast Boy said happily.
"Robin!" Starfire burst out in relief as she flew towards the door. Though she seriously was not expecting the door to blow up right in her face. When the smoke cleared, four hauntingly familiar persons walked in, the one in front dropping a spent RPG to the floor.
"Told you it would come in handy" Raven stated smugly to Jinx, who chose to ignore her.
"Oh no" Beast Boy said in horror.
"Oh yes" Jinx countered tauntingly while Mammoth cracked his knuckles. The Titans quickly took up battle positions.
"You guys got lucky last time! But you're in our house now!" Cyborg shouted angrily.
"Yeah, nice place. We'll take it" Gizmo stated as the four of them advanced menacingly towards the Titans.
"Split up!" Cyborg shouted as he and the remaining Titans retreated deeper into the tower.
"After them!" Jinx shouted and they were off after the Titans.
(This part of the story is basically where the Titans start to fight the H.I.V.E. members individually across the tower, and since we've all seen it in the cartoon episode, I'm not going to repeat those fights. Instead I'll just write about the one fight that is of my own making)
Raven leisurely strolled down the corridor, her eyes peeled for enemies.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are" she sing-songed as she kept walking. It was eerily quiet around her, and Raven began wondering if she had missed her Titan. Surely she should have reached some form of resistance by now.
"This is Raven. I'm nearly at the top floor but still no sign of a Titan. How's it on your ends?" she called through their communication link.
"Jinx here, I got the green one running for his life"
"Gizmo here, I'm about to pick the walking scrapheap apart"
"Mammoth here, about to pound the Goth chick into the ground"
Raven mentally counted down the number of confirmed Titans. 'That's Beast Boy, Cyborg and Argent. That only leaves Starfire' now all that Raven needed to do was find her. However that could prove to be a challenge, since Starfire was familiar with this territory and Raven was not.
She did not have to look far however as her instincts suddenly screamed at her to jump back. Not about to question something that had saved her life more than once, Raven did just that, narrowly avoiding getting a starbolt to the face.
Turning in the direction the starbolt came from, she found a furious looking Starfire facing her with glowing eyes and hands. Raven smiled cruelly at her.
"Well there you are. I was beginning to worry I would have to search the whole damn tower for you" she said as she crouched low but made no move yet to retrieve her Desert Eagles. Starfire did not look the least bit happy.
"I will stop your vile mission here" she stated with conviction. Raven's smile just grew wider.
"That's what Robin said as well. That is, until I put a bullet in his chest" she taunted. It got the desired effect out of Starfire as her whole body tensed up like a piano wire.
"You shot Robin?" she asked. Her voice was like a whisper, but it held uncountable amounts of anger and hatred in it. This would be easier than she had first thought.
"Yeah, I did it. What, you're gonna do something about?" she taunted even further. That was the last straw for Starfire as with a savage roar she flew towards Raven.
Undaunted by the attack Raven pulled out her guns and opened fire, spraying the corridor ahead of her with bullets. But Starfire was too was fast and was upon her in an instant. Raven was forced to leap back as Starfire smashed the floor she had previously occupied with enough force to shatter it.
"Are you trying to hit me or the floor?" Raven questioned rhetorically as she sprinted back the way she came, Starfire hot on her heel. Whenever she felt that Starfire was getting too close, she would spin around to fire a few bullets at her to slow her down before continuing. Finally they reached a corridor where the wall on one side was made completely out of glass, giving a wonderful view of Jump City bay.
Raven kept sprinting until she reached the end of that corridor, turning around to find Starfire standing at the other end with a furious expression on her face.
"Going to keep running away, coward?" Starfire snarled at her. Raven narrowed her eyes at her.
"Alright, have it your way" Raven said as she threw away her guns and grasped the handle of her sword "Bring it"
Starfire needed no further encouragement as she came at Raven like a bull seeing red. But as she drew nearer, Raven began to smile at her. What Starfire did not know was that Raven had planned this to happen. She had deliberately been walking around in the open to draw a Titan to her. Then she had intended to lure them here, to her trap.
"Come over to my party, said the spider to the fly" Raven said as she brought forth a bomb trigger from under her cloak and pressed it. Immediately after, the bombs she had planted on the wall and camouflaged so no one would see them exploded, just when Starfire was right next to them.
Starfire was sent flying out of the tower from the explosion while Raven nonchalantly let go of her sword handle and watched as her body plummeted into the bay. It was not long after that that Starfire was joined by the remaining Titans and all of them were sent washing away by a tidal wave created by Jinx.
"Well, I guess that raps it up" she mused to herself as she strolled away, heading towards the living room where the rest of her team undoubtedly were holed up.
They had been defeated. Again. And this time they had lost their home as well. Needless to say, the mood among the Titans was record low as they crawled onto the beach.
"So, who else never wants to go surfing again?" Beast Boy tried to joke, though he got the opposite reaction he was aiming for.
"Not now, man" Cyborg grumbled at him. You could somewhat understand his anger; he had lost his right arm to Gizmo.
"Hey I was just trying to…" Beast Boy began but Argent put a hand on his shoulder, a silent advice for him to say no more. Cyborg meanwhile began repairing his damaged body.
"Perhaps I would be of some assistance" Starfire said as she stepped closer to Cyborg.
"I got it" Cyborg snapped back at her without even turning to look at her. Starfire however pressed on.
"But you are so damaged and…" she got no further as Cyborg's already short fuse burned up.
"I got it!" he nearly shouted in her face.
"Hey, she only wanted to help!" Beast Boy suddenly snapped at Cyborg "What is your problem?"
"What do you think?!" Cyborg shouted back "We got kicked out of our house, a pint-sized kid took me for a joyride! And in case you haven't noticed, I just became left handed!"
"That's enough you two! Yelling at each other won't help us at all!" Argent suddenly burst out in anger.
"Look who's talking! You're shouting just as much as the rest of us!" Cyborg countered just as angrily, both of them getting in each other's faces.
"I wish that Robin was here" Starfire said sadly while holding herself.
"Well, he's not! Don't you guys get it? They won, we lost! It's over!" Cyborg ranted on in anger, not finding any other way to vent his emotions. The rest of the team just looked at their former home in depression, knowing it was no longer theirs. Hope, it seemed, had abandoned them.
"Then, the Teen Titans are finished?" Beast Boy asked with a heavy heart. No one had the heart to answer him, save for one.
"Not yet, not if I can help it" a confident voice said from behind them. Turning around in surprise, they found the last person they would ever have expected to see again.
"Robin!" Starfire cried out in joy as she flew to him and embraced him in a hug, causing to wince from her superhuman strength.
"But how can you be alive? I saw that gun slinging chick nail you in the chest" Beast Boy stated in shock. Robin smiled cockily at him as Starfire let go of him.
"Did you really think I wear this costume just for fashion? It's made of high density Kevlar, it stopped the bullet" he explained as he slammed his fist where the bullet had hit him, his face immediately scrunching up in pain from that action.
"Though it may have broken a rib or two" he said between clenched teeth. The team looked at him in concern.
"Shouldn't you be resting then first before we go after them?" Argent asked. Robin just shook his head while smiling confidently.
"I can rest more peacefully once we've kicked them out of our house" he answered.
Raven calmly walked through the halls of Titans Tower, or as it was called now; H.I.V.E. Tower. She shook her head at that. Honestly, who came up with such a lame name anyway? No matter, construction was already well underway to turn this giant T into a giant H.
Waste of time and money in her eyes. If they wanted to rebuild this place, it should be built with more function and defensibility in mind, not style.
Though it did not matter to Raven. Hopefully when Slade got word that they had dealt with the Titans, he would send her somewhere else.
But Raven could not shake the feeling that they were celebrating just a bit too early here. They had no real confirmation that the Titans were gone for good. They could possibly mount a counterattack any second now. The feeling would not go away for her, and Raven just knew that something was about to happen.
"Raven to Jinx, do you copy?" she called through their communicator. Jinx would probably lecture her again about being overly paranoid for this, but as long as her teammates were safe, she would live with it.
"Jinx here. What do you got?"
"Have any of you detected anything unusual yet?" Raven inquired.
"No. why do you ask?"
"I just got a feeling that something's about to happen. I think we need to be on our guard" she answered, immediately afterwards hearing Jinx groan in irritation on the other end.
"Not this again! You and I are gonna have a serious talk about that paranoia of yours, and don't think you can weasel your way out of it!"
"Whatever, just keep me posted if anything were to happen. Raven out" with that, she cancelled the link before Jinx had a chance to respond. She continued her silent patrol of the tower for about fifteen minutes before her comm-link crackled to life again.
"Raven! Where the hell are you?! We've got Titans up on the roof!" the frantic voice of Jinx shouted from the other end. Without a second thought, Raven was off in a sprint towards the stairs. She dashed up the stairs like a madwoman before tackling the door open to find the Titans facing off against her teammates.
The Titans' backs were turned to her, and they appeared to not have noticed her arrival just yet. Perfect.
"Sorry to interrupt your victory party" Robin said as he strapped his belt back on to his hip "But like I said…"
"It's just getting started" Cyborg finished as he reattached his arm. The H.I.V.E. members were looking a bit pensive about this, but the Titans sure as hell did not. But the first strike was actually dealt out by Raven as she tackled Robin from behind. Pushing him to the ground, she rolled over him before ending crouched low to the ground while pulling out a serrated and wicked-looking knife from her belt.
"You and I have unfinished business, homeboy" she hissed at him. Robin was quickly back on his feet, a determined look in his eyes. The rest of the Titans were about to rush in to aid their comrade, but he held up a hand to stop them.
"Don't worry about me, I'll deal with her alone. You guys take care of the rest" he ordered. They looked unsure at first, but eventually they nodded their heads and sprinted off to deal with the others, leaving Raven and Robin to face each other alone.
"So what's your name?" Robin asked as he brought out his extendable bo staff. Raven smiled cruelly at him in return.
"My apologies for not introducing myself earlier. You may call me Raven" she said before he lunged at him. He blocked the knife with his staff, but Raven stepped to his side and threw a punch at his side. He dodged it and countered with a jab from his staff, forcing Raven back.
Big mistake, as Raven now had room to retrieve one of her guns. Robin's eyes widened for a split second and he was forced to do a barrel roll to avoid the first two bullets coming his way. The third one grazed his shoulder but he ignored it and swung his staff at Raven.
She sidestepped the attack and tried to pistol whip him in the back of his head, but he rolled under it before firing a grapple gun at the support beams that so far made up the newer parts of the tower. As he was dragged up and among them, Raven gave a low grumble in her throat.
"Why do all the guys always run away from me?" she mumbled to herself as she holstered her gun and climbed after him. As she climbed higher up, her eyes continued to scan every shadow for signs of her opponent.
Suddenly he came swinging down on her from the beam right above her, knocking her back into another beam. Robin was instantly upon her, trying to knock her out. But she blocked his attack, crouched low and managed to land an uppercut blow to his stomach.
Temporarily stunning him, he pushed him back and brought out her gun. She smiled wickedly down on him, there was no room for him to dodge here. Without hesitation, she fired three shots in rapid succession into his stomach, causing him stumble back from each shot.
Robin collapsed to his knees, wheezing in pain, and Raven stepped forward and pressed the muzzle of her gun against his head.
"End of the line" she said as she was about to pull the trigger, but Robin suddenly shot up too fast for Raven to react. Before she even knew what had happened, her gun was knocked from her hand and a boot was firmly planted on her chest, sending her tumbling over the edge of the beam.
Though she managed to grab hold of another beam before she hit the ground. For a few seconds she just hung on for dear life before she hauled herself up on the beam, not too long after being joined by Robin. Raven snarled at him as she righted herself.
"How the hell can you still be alive?" she demanded of him. He just fixated her with a stone cold expression.
"Trade secret" was all he said. Raven snorted at him
"Very well. The time for talking was way passed already" she stated as her hand grasped the hilt of her sword and began to slowly draw it out from its scabbard. "The time for steel is high time to begin"
In one fluid motion, she drew out her broadsword the last bit and made a downward cut at Robin, who was forced to leap back. He tried to attack her again, but she made a high swing that forced him to dodge where he was unable to block the powerful kick that followed.
Robin was nearly knocked off the beam, but as he lay at the edge was forced to jump off it on his own accord, lest he be skewered by a powerful stab from Raven's sword. Robin used his grapple gun to try to gain some altitude over Raven, but she stabbed her sword into the support beams and used it as a leverage to jump after him.
As they faced each other again, Robin brought out his bo staff again and charged at Raven. She stepped back to avoid a swing but never gave him a chance to attack again as she swung her sword at him again. He tried blocking it, but the bo staff was not meant to block a sword and was cut in half.
As he stepped back, Robin looked dumbly at the two halves of his bo staff before dropping them as he was forced to duck under a two-handed stab from Raven. He quickly stepped forward under her guard and delivered a haymaker to the underside of her chin.
She stumbled back, and Robin was quick to capitalize on this as he kicked her straight in the stomach, knocking her off her feet. But she quickly flipped back on her feet and swung at his legs.
He barely jumped over it. But the moment her feet made contact with the beam again Raven slammed the pommel of her sword into her chest. He was pushed back against the support beam and clutched his chest painfully. Even with the Kevlar, those bullets had done a number on him.
"If you're hoping on walking away from this alive, you better have some form of ace up your sleeve" Raven stated as she made ready for another lunge. But she hesitated when she noticed that he was in fact smiling.
"As a matter of fact, I do have one" he answered smugly. At Raven's confused expression, he pointed down towards the ground. Curious as to what he was pointing at, though still careful to keep him in her line of sight, Raven peered over the edge.
And there, just below where they were stand, was Jinx. And she had a green monkey in her face. Raven's confusion however soon turned to horror as she watched Jinx blindly fire away her hexes at every support beam around her.
The support beams that Raven was currently standing on at least three stories high in the air.
"Summer's over, Raven. Have a nice fall" Robin called out to her as he used a grapple gun to swing away to safety. Raven stared dumbly after him for a few seconds until she felt the support beams begin to creak and crumble under her feet.
"Oh, you bastard…" she muttered as the support beams gave way underneath her and she plunged towards the ground.
Needless to say, the fight just went from bad to worse for the H.I.V.E. as one by one, they were neutralized by the Titans effective teamwork. Soon three of the four villains were lying in a pile together, Raven was still lying buried somewhere in the rubble.
"Crammit, I'm calling Slade" Gizmo muttered as he held his communicator. Suddenly Robin grabbed hold of him and hoisted him into the air to glare straight into his eyes.
"Who is Slade?" he inquired harshly, but Gizmo just smirked at him.
"Wouldn't you like to know, barf brain?" he taunted.
Deep underground, two individuals were watching the whole spectacle on their monitors. One of them with apparent apathy, and the other with a deadly mix of anger and embarrassment.
"I assure you, such failures are not tolerated within the H.I.V.E." the stern looking woman from earlier stated "Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities, they will be disciplined… strictly disciplined"
"Actually, your agents served my plans quite well" Slade calmly revealed "I never expected them to succeed, they were merely messengers. And the message has been received"
As he explained, he pressed a button, and the screens from earlier were filled with video loops of Robin repeating the same thing over and over.
"Who is Slade? Who is Slade? Who is Slade? Who is Slade? Who is Slade? Who is Slade? Who is Slade?"
But something seemed to occur to Slade as he held his shin thoughtfully.
"And besides, it's not over just yet" he said cryptically.
"Jinx, you're so buying me more than a simple Dragunov for this" Raven muttered as she pushed the last beam off of her and got back up on her feet. She quickly retrieved her sword and sheathed it before carefully crouching to the edge of the rubble.
Peering around it, she finds her teammates all rounded up and about to be handcuffed and taken into custody. She also noticed that the green one was standing very close to her, and with his back turned to her.
She does not give herself a second to reconsider, instead leaped forward and before anyone knew what hit them, Raven had Beast Boy's left arm in an arm lock behind his back and a gun pressed against his neck.
The other Titans immediately make ready to attack but Raven tightens her hold on Beast Boy, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Don't even think about it. Any wrong moves from anyone of you and I'll put a bullet in his brain" she stated calmly as she pressed her gun harder against his neck for emphasis. Robin signaled with his hands for the rest of the team to back off before holding his hands up in a nonthreatening gesture.
"Take it easy now here. You've got nowhere to go, so why don't you just drop the gun before anyone gets hurt, alright?" he tried to reason with her. She just snorted at him.
"Don't be ridiculous Robin. I still got one way out of this, and I'm currently holding it in my hands. Now, you'll release my teammates and let them peacefully walk out of this" she demanded. Both Raven and Robin locked eyes with each other, each waiting to see who would fold first. Finally, Robin relented.
"Let them go" he said through gritted teeth the other Titans were hesitant, but upon seeing the terror-stricken face of Beast Boy they too relented and freed the H.I.V.E. agents. Raven made a gesture with her head for them to get out of here, an order they were more than happy to comply with. Though Jinx cast one regretful look at Raven before she slipped away.
For several agonizing minutes after they had left, they were all still standing in the same places, the deafening silence between them only broken by Beast Boy rapid breathing as he was hyperventilating from the fear of getting a bullet in his brain any second.
"They're long gone now. Your last chance of escape is gone. Now just give up and come quietly with us" Robin ordered her forcefully. Raven gazed at him coldly, tilting her head sideways.
Suddenly, her stoic expression split into a grin, that son turned to full blown laughter. The Titans stared at her as if she had just gone insane.
"Sorry bird boy, not gonna happen. I spent the first 15 years of my life in a prison, and I'm not about to go back to that life" she said as she did something she had hoped she could have avoided; she used her powers.
Raven let go of Beast Boy and kicked him away from herself before using her telekinesis to withdraw all five of her remaining grenades and lobbed them into the air, pulling the pins on them all at the same time.
Robin stared at her in horror, while she just winked at him just as the grenades exploded, engulfing her in flames. What none of them saw however, was that she had formed a barrier around herself that absorbed the blast, though it was still strong enough to shatter it and sent her flying over the roof edge.
As she tumbled towards the ground, she drew out her sword and plunged it into the tower, using it slow her descent. The sword tore through the wall as she continued to plunge closer and closer towards the ground.
Finally she came to a stop and withdrew her sword from the wall and sprinted towards the shoreline. And there, skillfully camouflaged among the rocks, was a PWC. Raven did not care what Jinx thought, her paranoia always made sure she had an escape route in situations such as these. Without hesitation, she mounted it and speeded away towards Jump City harbor.
This mission… was a failure. But at least they all got out in one piece. Now it was only a question of whether they would survive the Headmistress' wrath or not. Raven shuddered at the mere thought.
Once again the two individuals had watched the events that just unfolded.
"Most impressive" Slade observed. The stern woman could only nod in agreement.
"Yes, Raven is our top student. Expert in nearly all forms of weapon training, superb bomb technician, skillful with a sword, decent in hand-to-hand combat training, unmatched marksmanship within the H.I.V.E., superhuman strength and reflexes, excellent tactical mind and though she likes to live a wild life knows how to keep a cool and collected head in the heat of battle" the woman explained.
Slade said nothing in return, he just watched the screen intently. He was silent for so long that the woman though she had been dismissed.
"Headmistress" he suddenly addressed her "I would like to make an arrangement"
Raven had just entered the sewer system with her PWC when her H.I.V.E. communicator went off. This surprised Raven, she had not expected anyone to call her before she at least had reached the rendezvous site that the H.I.V.E. students had in case they ever got separated during a mission.
"Raven here" she answered, expecting it to be Jinx. But the one on the other end was someone she would have never suspected to call her now of all times.
"You have failed your assignment, Raven" a stern, elderly woman's voice spoke and Raven was sure that her breath just got lodged in her throat.
"Headmistress, I can explain..." Raven began but was cut off by the Headmistress.
"Failures are not tolerated within the H.I.V.E. nor are excuses. As such, you're hereby expelled from the H.I.V.E Academy. All your funds will be seized by the academy, along with your properties"
Raven was left speechless. They could not do this to her, could they? Throw her out on the street without even a scrap. Where the hell could she go then?
"However…" the Headmistress continued, gaining Raven's attention "You will be given one chance at redemption. Kill the Teen Titans leader Robin, and you will be allowed back into the academy. Is this understood?"
Raven could only hang her head in defeat and grumble out a "Yes, Headmistress" before driving on towards the rendezvous site.
Finally arriving, she finds her friends already waiting for her there. The moment Jinx sees Raven arrive her face split into a happy grin.
"Rae! You actually got away from them! You really are as tough as nails!" she exclaimed while raising her hand, expecting a high five.
But when she noticed that Raven was barely even responding to her and looking gloomier than she had ever seen her, she just knows something must have gone wrong.
"Hey Raven, what's wrong?" she asks as she gently touched Raven's shoulder. Raven gave a deep sigh before finally answering her.
"I've been expelled from the H.I.V.E. Academy because of our failure" she answered. The trio gasped at her in shock, not believing what they had just heard.
"But... they can't do that to you" Jinx said in shock.
"Apparently they can do it. But at least they've given me a chance to get back in. I've got to kill that freaking bird brain Robin" Raven said with venom thick in her voice. Jinx looked even more shocked now, and Raven does not feel like dallying here any longer.
"It's getting late. You should head back to H.I.V.E. Academy. I need to prepare myself for a bird hunt" Raven stated as she revved up the engine and was about to drive away when Jinx stopped her
"Raven, wait!" she called out. Raven in turn stopped the engine and turned around. Jinx gave her an encouraging smile.
"Good hunting" she said. Raven just nodded her head before she speeded away, deeper into the sewer system.