Chapter 5: The Hunt is On
'It's finally time' a bullet was carefully pressed inside a magazine before it was slammed inside a Desert Eagle.
'No more waiting around' the bolt action system on a sniper rifle was tested in case it needed repairs.
'All the preparations have been made' several Molotov Cocktails were placed on a table for inspection.
'After two months…' a P90 was locked and loaded before being placed on a table.
'… I'll at last make my move' an AK-47 was slowly assembled together before several magazines to the weapon were dumped into a bag.
'No doubt they'll try to stop me' a bowie knife was sheathed inside a combat boot.
'But it'll be in vain' a broadsword was sharpened with utmost care, violet hair being temporarily reflected on its smooth surface.
'I've made plans for nearly every scenario' C4 explosives were stacked on top of each other like a pyramid construct.
'I cannot fail at this' twin Desert Eagles were holstered on a belt hanging around a slim person's hip.
'I've spent too much on this for it to fail' M67 grenades were dumped inside a bag.
'No, I will succeed' a cloak was fastened around a person's shoulder.
'There is no other alternative for me' the broadsword was sheathed on the person's back before a sniper rifle was slung over a shoulder.
'I hope you're not feeling too cozy up in your nest, little Robin, because the Raven is about to tear you down to the cold ground'
Early mornings were always a pain in the ass for most of the Teen Titans. Key word here was 'most', since Robin rarely slept for long. Exemplified here by him being up at five in the morning and seated in front of the computer in the living room.
His eyes were transfixed by several screens showing different parts of the city. Robin was constantly vigil, always on the lookout for crime, never resting in his duty.
But today it was more than his sense of duty that drove him to keep a constant watch on the city, it was a feeling of trepidation. There were no words to describe it properly, but Robin could just feel that something was going on.
Something was stirring in the criminal underworld, and Robin would not be caught off guard by it.
His glare grew deeper against the screens as they cycled through security footage from around the city.
"Whoever you are, you won't get away with whatever you're planning" he muttered, as if he expected this enemy of his to hear him from across the city.
But eventually he grew tired of just watching a screen and rose from his seat. With quick strides, he set his path towards the garage. He briefly toyed with the idea of gathering the team for this, but decided against it.
They would not appreciate being dragged out of bed and thrown out on patrol just because Robin had a feeling something would happen. No, he would only call on them if he needed them.
He could worry about the team later, right now he had a city to patrol.
A great advantage of being out this early, was that traffic was nonexistent at this hour. Most people were still asleep, leaving the roads wide open for Robin to zoom past.
Though today he found no joy in the wind rushing into his face or the feeling of excitement that always came with travelling at break-neck speed. Today, all his thoughts were occupied by that feeling that had plagued him the whole day.
He could not help but worry. What will happen? Who is trying to destroy the Titans today? What are their plans? It was like a splinter in his brain, driving him slowly insane.
Ahead of him, the sun was just barely starting to peek over the edge of the horizon. Soon the darkness of the night would be driven away for the day, but this early there were still plenty of areas left were darkness reigned.
'Plenty of places for an assailant to hide in' were the pessimistic thought of Robin as he speeded down the road, his eyes constantly on the lookout for danger.
But suddenly another feeling arose in Robin. This one set him even more on edge, because unlike the last one he knew this one. He had felt it enough times in his so far short lifetime to recognize it.
He was being watched.
Not too far ahead of him, on top of a building, a dark figure silently slipped into position. He brought forth a sniper rifle from his back and took aim down the road. Straight at the approaching Robin.
With calm patience, the sniper waited for the right moment to pull the trigger. Each second Robin came ever closer to the sniper's position, yet still he waited. Finally he pulled the trigger, the bullet launching itself from the barrel and soared right at Robin.
Robin was not sure how, but his instincts had screamed at him to make a sudden turn. He did just that, feeling a high caliber bullet pass right through the air where his head would have been had he not turned.
But he was moving too fast to correct his course in time, and his bike slammed right into a parked car. Robin was thrown right over it and landed painfully on his back on the sidewalk.
Though he still had enough sense to hastily crawl behind the relative safety of the car, not a second too soon as a second bullet impacted where he had been lying just a second earlier.
Ignoring the near numbing pain in his back, he leaned against the car and carefully peered around its side, nearly getting his face blown off in the process by a third bullet.
Robin took a moment to slow his breathing down and calm down as he tried a second time, this time no shot came his way and he actually managed to catch a glimpse of his would be assassin.
He was up on a nearby roof, a high caliber sniper rifle clutched in his hands. Robin could not see much of him, too many shadows were obscuring him, but he caught sight of one detail that sent anger coursing through his veins.
The assassin had only one eye.
"Slade" he hissed in anger under his breath. Slade narrowed his eye at Robin before he turned around and sprinted out of sight. Robin meanwhile was only seeing red as he fired his grapple gun and swung up on the rooftop.
He was quick to spot Slade running with all haste across the rooftops away from him. Robin was instantly on his heels. Anger clouded his vision. No other thoughts or worries concerned him anymore, all his focus was on Slade.
As the two kept running across the rooftops, Robin never even thought of calling for back-up. He was going to finish this alone, no matter the cost.
For how long the chase lasted, Robin neither knew nor cared; he would chase Slade for all of eternity if he had to. But eventually the chase led them to Jump City airport.
Slade quickly vanished inside a hangar and Robin was not far behind. But as he slipped inside, he found to his already massive anger that he had lost sight of Slade among the humongous piles of crates.
Cautiously, he slinked his way around the crates, looking for his enemy. But there was no sign of him.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a plane's engines starting up outside. And as he cast a surprised look towards the hangar doors, he saw a figure dart outside. Robin's eyes narrowed in frustration that his quarry was trying to get away.
"Oh no, you don't" he snarled as he sprinted after him. As he exited the hangar, he saw to his even greater anger that a plane was in the midst of taking off, and Slade had just climbed on board.
"You're not getting away from me that easily!" he shouted after the departing plane as he ran to intercept it on the runway. It was slowly getting away from him, but Robin pushed on relentlessly.
Finally, the plane starting gaining altitude from the runway. Running out of option, Robin fired his grapple gun at the landing gear. Robin managed to get on board just as the landing gears were withdrawn into the plane.
Not about to waste valuable time, Robin slipped out of the cramped space and soon entered the rear part of the passenger compartment.
Peering forward in case of an ambush, he found the way clear all the way to the cockpit. So he cautiously strode forward, eyes constantly scanning the seats he passed in case there was a trap hidden.
Apart from the noise of the engines outside, there were no other sounds on board, and it was a little unnerving to Robin. But he was not about to give up now, not when his quarry was so close.
Eventually he reached the door leading to the cockpit. And with slow and uncertain hands, he reached towards the door handle.
But before he could even grasp it, a sword pierced the door and would have skewered Robin had he not jumped back in time. Though the tip of the blade still managed to penetrate his shirt and leave and nasty cut on his chest.
The blade was quickly withdrawn from the door before it swung open from the other side, revealing a figure that Robin had been beginning to think he would have never seen again.
"You" he snarled out in contempt as he glared with narrowed eyes at Raven, who casually sauntered out of the cockpit while sheathing her broadsword. Robin idly noted that she was not wearing her cloak and hood this time, though she was still armed with her usual twin Desert Eagles.
"Yes, me. I told you before that we would meet again soon enough, or have you already forgotten it?" she asked tauntingly. It instantly clicked in Robin's mind; it had been Raven who had stalked them before. Growling threateningly at her, Robin assumed a fighting stance.
"Where's Slade?" he demanded hatefully, causing Raven to smile at him.
"Not here" she answered as she brought out an eye patch and held it over her right eye.
"Amazing what a simple eye patch, a couple of shadows and a creative mind can do" she commented mockingly. It took a moment for Robin to piece together the puzzle, but when he did he felt like slapping himself.
It had never been Slade he had seen on the roof, it had been Raven. He had just assumed it was Slade when he only saw one eye. Raven had thrown out a bait for him to catch, and he had swallowed it. Hook, line and sinker.
"Then what do you want?" Robin asked suspiciously. Raven's smile now grew more sinister at the question.
"I'll give you three guesses" she answered before she pulled out a bowie knife from her boot and lunged at Robin. He jumped back just in time and came at her with a fist.
She dodged underneath it and swung her knife at his gut. He caught her wrist and twisted it until she dropped the knife with a grunt of pain. She suddenly slammed her other hand into his guts.
He staggered back from the blow while Raven tried to punch him in the head. He deflected the fist and sent his own at her. She leaned her head sideways before grabbing hold of his outstretched arm and gave it a rough yank.
Robin was dragged forward and received a knee to the gut. Though he quickly grabbed hold of Raven's waist and lifted her up, slamming her head against the roof. Disoriented by the blow, she had no time to prepare before she was roughly slammed to the floor.
Robin towered over her, but she suddenly struck out with both her legs at his chest, smashing him to the floor as well. They were both up on their feet quick enough and were soon exchanging blows again.
He would swing, she would dodge. She would kick, he would block. An uppercut against Raven was deflected, a punch to Robin's face was caught before being twisted around. An elbow to his nose caused Robin to let go as blood squirted out of it.
Raven grabbed hold of the roof and used her arms to swing herself at Robin, kicking him right in the chest.
But Robin was upon her in an instant, tackling her to the ground before grabbing her head and slamming it into the ground. She in turn just spit out some blood from her mouth before smirking at him with bloodstained teeth.
"That all you got, bird boy?" she taunted before grabbing hold of his throat and head-butted him repeatedly. Raven then threw the dazed Robin right over herself before climbing back to her feet.
"I hope you can take more than that, because I'm just getting started" Raven stated as she advanced upon Robin again, who had brought out a birdarang from his utility belt.
06:30 am. Now why would Cyborg be up at this hour someone might ask as he staggered groggily through the tower's hallways?
The answer was in the form of his stomach rumbling loudly in protest over being empty.
"Man, I should have eaten that last slice of pizza instead of giving it to Starfire" he grumbled to himself as he finally entered the living room. He quickly made his way to the small kitchen and began rummaging through its contents on the hunt for something edible.
When he later emerged with a sandwich in hand, he noticed a mug of coffee was standing on the computer.
Curious, he approached it and gave its content a quick look over. Black coffee, half full, had already grown cold.
Robin.
Must have been up early and done what he usually does. Though Cyborg guessed that he had decided to go out on patrol on his own, if the coffee mug was any indication. Internally, Cyborg became worried. What if he ran into trouble out there? Would they be able to get to him in time?
But he quickly shook those thoughts away. It was Robin he was thinking about, the guy could handle himself just fine. Besides, if there was any trouble, Robin would call for them.
"There's absolutely nothing to worry about" Cyborg said to no one in particular as he strolled out of the living room while munching on his sandwich.
A kick to his arms that were held like a shield in front of him forced Robin a few steps back before more kicks and punches rained down on him from Raven.
He tried to kick out, but Raven caught it and twisted it around, sending Robin to the floor. He was quickly back on his feet just as Raven was about to deliver a blow to his back. He deflected the blow and delivered a haymaker to her chin.
Robin rushed her and delivered blow after blow. Raven either dodged or blocked the attacks but got no room to strike back.
Internally, Robin was a little worried about this fight. Battling on board an airplane was not his area of expertise. It was too cramped and narrow for him to use most of his weapons and moves effectively.
Nor was there much room to dodge and maneuver in here. It all came down to strength and endurance. Who could hit hardest while taking more of a beating than the other.
At first, Robin had thought that he held the upper hand in those areas, but he had been given a nasty surprise when he found that this petite girl he was fighting was just as strong as him, if not even stronger, and could take one hell of a beating.
The only advantage this battlefield was giving Robin was that Raven could not use her broadsword in here, and there was no chance in hell she could use her guns. One bullet hitting at the right place would be all it would take, and this whole plane would be torn apart by the decompression.
Finally Robin managed to slip past Raven's defenses to deliver a fist to her gut, causing her double over in pain. He was never given a chance to strike again before Raven had managed to draw a stiletto knife from her belt and stabbed it into his thigh.
He cried out from the sudden pain and was unprepared when Raven pulled out a second knife from her belt and slashed it across the R logo he wore on his chest, drawing blood. A boot to his chest pushed Robin away from Raven, who was backing away from him.
"Boss, we've reached the target area" a voice spoke through the plane's speakers. Not too long after, someone stepped out of the cockpit, dressed head to toe in pilot gear. Raven meanwhile was smiling sinisterly at this point.
"Good, then we can really get started" she said as she was handed a portable oxygen mask and put it on. Before Robin could even begin to fathom what she needed it for, Raven brought out a bomb trigger and pressed it.
Every single door on the plane was promptly blown off their hinges and the whole plane shook. Robin was forced to hurriedly grab hold of a nearby chair, lest he be dragged out of the plane. Though his cape was not helping things as he felt it being roughly pulled on.
"Wish you had left the cape at home now, don't you?" Raven shouted over the gale that raged inside the plane while the pilot took the chance to bail out with a parachute strapped to his back "And let me give you one last gift before I depart as well!"
Raven then brought out a second trigger and pressed that one as well. No explosion came this time, but Robin could feel a current of electricity pass through the whole plane.
"EMP bomb! Cost me a fortune to get my hands on it! It has now knocked out all electronic systems on board this plane! Including your communicator and locator beacon!" Raven clarified to his horror. No communicator, no calling for back-up.
Just as Raven had planned.
She pushed a crate over to the open doorway out of the plane, that was now coming down like a meteor. Raven had also strapped on a parachute herself, and Robin could do nothing but hang on to his seat for dear life.
"See you on the ground, bird boy! Assuming you survive the landing of course!" Raven shouted gleefully before she pushed the crate out of the plane and jumped out herself, leaving Robin behind.
He gritted his teeth in both anger and pain. This did not look very promising to him. Seeing nothing else to do, he dragged himself into a seat and fastened his seatbelt. Now all he could do was pray that he would survive the landing.
As Raven landed safely among the trees in the forest beneath her, she allowed herself a small smile as she could just barely hear the boom that signaled that the plane had made its landing.
Disengaging herself from the parachute, she strolled over to the crate lying not too far from her. Opening it, she found most of her weapons packed inside. The first object to be adorned was her traditional cloak and hood.
After that came a handful of grenades, a Bor rifle over her shoulders and an AK-47 in her hands. Normally, Raven rarely used the AK-47 due to its lack of accuracy compared to newer and far more superior weapons.
But this time, it was the perfect weapon. It was sturdy, powerful and reliable. Three things you needed when out in the wilderness.
With her weapon load-out complete, Raven began to lightly jog in the direction a black plume of smoke was rising from.
By now, the whole team had found the energy to drag themselves out of bed and was now gathered around the table in the kitchen, enjoying their breakfast. But Starfire had noticed that one factor was missing this morning.
"Where is Robin?" she asked. The team looked up at her for a moment before Cyborg shrugged his shoulders.
"Probably still out on patrol" he answered before he went back to his breakfast. Starfire looked at him in confused alarm.
"He went out on patrol on his own?" she questioned in worry.
"That's what I guessed anyway. Found a mug of coffee abandoned at the computer this morning. I suspect that he'd been up early and monitored things before he got bored and went out for a ride" Cyborg explained to her. Though Starfire still looked worried.
"But what if something has happened to him? Should he not have called back by now? Should we not go out and search for him?" Starfire asked in growing amount of panic.
"Girl, calm down. It's Robin we're talking about. He can look after himself just fine" Argent reassured her.
"Yeah. I mean, if anyone of us can work fine on their own, it's him" Beast Boy added. Starfire seemed to calm down from her friends' words.
"Don't worry Star. If there's trouble, he'll call us" Cyborg stated.
The first thing that slipped out of Robin's throat when he regained consciousness was a pained moan. It felt like he had been used as a punching bag by Cinderblock. He weakly groaned as he surveyed his surroundings.
The plan was smashed to pieces around him, and he could feel that it was leaning slightly towards the left. 'At least I'm still alive' he thought bitterly.
Carefully, he removed his seat belt and used his arms to try to stand up. Big mistake as searing pain shot through his right arm. And with a cry of pain he collapsed back into his seat. 'I take that back'
Clenching his teeth against the pain, he used the other hand to feel up his right arm. As his hand reached his shoulder, he had to bit together as pain shot through him again. His arm had been dislocated.
Internally, Robin let out a relieved breath. A dislocated bone was much easier to fix than a broken one. Well, no point wasting time, just get it over with. Robin braced himself before grabbing hold of the dislocated bone.
Taking a few deep breaths, he pushed hard. Robin felt like screaming for all he was worth as the bone was slowly put back into place, but he managed to restrain himself to a few painful whimpers. Finally the deed was done and Robin slumped together in his seat.
He then tried again to stand back up, taking care not to put too much pressure on his right arm. But he found not as much strength in his limbs as he had expected. He felt kind of lightheaded as well.
But as he finally managed get up on his feet once again, he finally noticed that the knife wound to his thigh was still bleeding. 'Well, that explains the dizziness' Robin thought.
He slowly got down on one knee as he felt the world spin a little in his vision. Internally, Robin was surprised he was still even conscious, given that his seat was soaked in his blood.
He was quick to tear a piece of his cape off and used it as a bandage. The work of tying it around the wound was tedious, given that he had limited use of his right arm.
When he was done, he slowly staggered out of the wreckage, his whole body screaming in protest of him moving. But he still pushed on until he stepped out into the warming rays of the sun.
As he walked forward on unsteady legs, he cast a quick glance at the trail of destruction the plane had created in the forest when it crashed. His legs felt weak under his weight, and he was forced to collapse to his knees for a while.
"Well, this does not look good" he muttered to himself as his whole body throbbed like one giant bruise. For how long he sat like that, Robin was not sure, but when he finally found the energy to start moving again the sun had reached its peak.
With more strength in his legs this time, he crawled back up and surveyed the surroundings, trying to determine which way to go. The thought of calling his team entered his mind, but that idea was squashed when he remembered that Raven had disabled his communicator.
"Could this possibly get any worse?" he asked himself irritable. He got his answer when a hail of bullets impacted around him. Not about to stand around in the open, he threw himself behind what used to be an engine.
Meanwhile, from her hiding place among the trees, Raven cursed. This was exactly why she preferred weapons like the P90 or the AUG Assault Rifle, far greater chance of you actually hitting your target with them.
Robin was also cursing the situation. He was in no condition to confront Raven, especially now that she could freely use her arsenal. As much as he hated to admit it, he had only one option at this stage. Without hesitation, he did the only thing he could do.
He ran.
Robin felt more than heard the barrage of bullets impacting around him as he ran as fast as he could. Finally he vanished into the foliage. Behind him, the gunfire had stopped, but Robin got the distinct feeling that someone was now chasing him.
Robin fervently pushed branches aside as he bolted through the forest, for the moment fleeing blindly from his enemy. He suddenly tripped on a log, twisting his ankle in the process, but he quickly scrambled back to his and kept running.
The pain in his ankle slowed him down somewhat, but he never stopped, he just adopted a more hobbling run. Behind him, Robin could just faintly make out light footsteps closing in on him.
Biting back his pain, Robin picked up pace. A branch scratched up a wound on his chin, but he ignored it. Onward he stumbled through the forest in a desperate attempt to get away.
Suddenly he heard a sound from up ahead; the sound of rushing water. Finding his body being filled with newfound strength, he suddenly sprinted forward with increased vigor. Though it seemed that his hunter had done the same thing, as her steps grew increasingly closer.
Finally, Robin exploded out of the forest to come across a waterfall. He stopped momentarily in shock, having not expected this. Now it seemed as if his escape route was cut off. Unless he felt like taking a dive of course.
The decision was made for him when he heard that Raven was mere feet behind him. So he steeled his nerves and bolted towards the edge. Raven exited the foliage just seconds later and upon spotting Robin, took aim and let one bullet fly.
It sailed through the air and impacted into the exposed flesh of Robin's left arm. He cried out in pain and stumbled from the shot, but still managed to throw himself over the edge and into the raging waterfall.
Raven quickly raced up to the edge and peered in after Robin. She saw no sign of him in the churning water beneath, but to be on the safe side she fired wildly with her AK-47 into the river in hopes of scoring a hit.
Though eventually her clip ran dry. Raven quickly reloaded her weapon but did not resume her shooting. Her eyes observed the river critically, looking for any sign of her quarry. Nothing ever came up.
"Slippery little bastard" Raven mumbled to herself. Finally she gave up and turned around to head back into the forest, she would need to find a safe way down the cliff.
Not too long after she had left, Robin emerged gasping for breath further down the river. He was close to getting pulled back under again, but he found the strength to stay above the surface.
Desperately, he tried to swim towards the beach, but the current dragged him unrelentingly further down the river. Both his arms were burning up from the strain, his right arm in particular felt like it could snap at any time.
Staying above the surface was growing harder with each passing moment as his head kept dipping under the surface time and again. Panic burned through Robin's mind as he feverishly clawed at the surface to stay above it.
At one point he accidently swallowed a huge chunk of water, nearly choking him as his struggle against the current grew more desperate.
But at last, with one last surge of strength, Robin managed to reach the beach. Well, more like he was washed up halfway and then he did the rest.
With the last of his strength, he crawled weakly up the shore before his strength finally gave up on him and he collapsed to the ground. Blood was still flowing from his wound, but he had no strength in his limbs to do anything about it.
Was this how he would end his days? Stranded in the middle of nowhere while being hunted by a gun crazy chick? Not the way he had exactly imagined how he would die.
Those thoughts seemed to work like a cold shower on Robin as his half-closed eyes snapped open again. 'No, I will not die here! I will survive!' he thought furiously as he struggled to at least sit up.
As quickly as he could, Robin tore another piece of his cape to bind up his second wound. Every muscle in his body was dead set on staying immobile, but still Robin pushed himself up and tried to walk away.
He only got a few steps before his legs gave way beneath him and he collapsed to the rocky ground again, whimpering slightly in pain. As he lay there, he could not help but snarl in anger at his own weakness.
He should be able to do better than this, dammit! He was not someone who needed help, he should be able to handle this well on his own. After all, he had been trained by the best.
But no matter how much he wanted to deny it, he could not do this on his own. With his team, he was nearly invincible. When together they could best any foe that lay before them, because that was what they were trained to do.
But here, he had no help. He was on his own, without supplies and equipment. Out here, he was alone. Out here, he was vulnerable. It was now that Robin finally grasped Raven's game. She had seen how powerful they were together, had been on the receiving end of that power.
She knew that when united, she had absolutely no chance of winning against the Teen Titans. So instead, she had sought to cut Robin off from his friends and then pick him off at her leisure. And her plan had gone off like clockwork.
Together, the Titans were strong. But one on one, Raven had the edge. Robin could not sugarcoat the truth here. If he went up against Raven now, he would die. She was in much better condition, had the better equipment for a death match and was supplied for this battlefield.
All Robin could do was run away. If his luck held, someone would eventually come looking for him out here. All he had to do was stay alive long enough for them to find him.
In theory, easy as hell. In real life, not so much.
He slowly rolled over on his back and stared up at the sky in defeat.
"Please, Titans. Hurry" he whispered as he lay there, trying to find the strength to keep running.
"How long has he been gone now?" Argent asked in concern to Cyborg, who was also starting to look a little panicked.
"Almost 7 hours" he answered nervously. The two sat in uncomfortable silence together in the living room, unsure on what this meant. Finally it seemed that Cyborg had had enough.
"Alright, that's it! I'm calling him right now" he stated as he strode over to the computer and activated the in-built communicator.
"Cyborg calling Robin, do you read me?" he called in. all he received was static. A knot formed itself in both Cyborg's and Argent's stomachs at that.
"Robin, do you read me? Please answer if you do!" he tried again. Still nothing but static.
"Come on, Rob! Please pick up!" he now pleaded desperately. Yet still no answer came from the other end.
"Cyborg, try using his locator beacon" Argent suggested hopefully. Cyborg did just that, but nothing came up. There was no locator beacon to pick up.
"Oh, this can't be good" Argent mumbled. Cyborg could only nod his head in agreement. He once again activated the communicator, though this time he was not calling for Robin.
"Starfire, Beast Boy, get your butts up here! We've got a situation!" he stated urgently. Not that long after, the aforementioned individuals came rushing in.
"So what's the emergency?" Beast Boy asked. Cyborg gave him a grim look.
"Robin's missing" he answered, earning a pair of gasps in response.
"Missing? How is that possible?" Starfire questioned. Cyborg gave a deep sigh before he explained.
"He's not answering any of our calls on his communicator, and his locator beacon has been turned off. We have no idea where he is" he explained dejectedly. It shocked both of the latecomers.
"Then, what are we supposed to do?" Beast Boy asked meekly. Though it was not Cyborg that answered him, but Starfire.
"We search for him!" she said fiercely, causing the others to turn their eyes towards her in surprise "Robin is our friend, and we will not abandon him! We will search the whole city if we have to!"
The team was chocked by her outburst, but they soon found their resolve hardening from her words.
"She's right, Robin would have done the same for anyone of us" Argent stated, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Beast Boy said excitedly as the team sprinted out of the living room.
Robin carefully pushed a branch out of the way as he staggered/hobbled through the forest. For how long he had done it since leaving the beach, Robin did not know. What he did know however was that his body was still sore as hell.
He suddenly stepped on an uneven patch of ground with his sprained foot. The sudden change of altitude for the foot caused Robin to accidently bend it, sending jolts of pain racing through his entire body.
"For fuck's sake!" he cursed as he collapsed to the ground. He then brought out his bo staff and used it as support as he climbed back to his feet.
"This day just keeps getting better and better" he muttered irritably to himself as he kept hobbling on, now using his staff as a crutch. Where exactly he was heading, he had no idea. All he knew was that he needed to get as far away from Raven as possible.
This sort of action was truly delivering a horrible blow to his pride, but there was nothing else to do. This was Raven's game, she held all the cards. And until he received back-up, he would most likely lose.
So he had no choice but to swallow his pride and accept defeat. For now at least. Once he had recovered, he would strike back; hard, and with interest.
But for now, those thoughts were only a hindrance to him, exemplified when he failed to notice a particularly large rot sticking out of the ground and that managed to ensnare his other foot this time. He went down with a surprised yelp.
"Dammit" he muttered to himself as he lay there face first on the ground.
If there was one thing Raven had learned when it came to tracking, it was that if your quarry managed to slip into water then your hunt just turned ten times more difficult. Those words seemed to ring true right about now.
It had taken her God knows how many hours before she had finally located the place where Robin had washed up. Though it seemed that the bird still had some strength in him since there was no corpse present for Raven to collect.
Right now, she was kneeling in front of a batch of stones, stones that were stained red with blood. She carefully ran a hand over the blood. Already dried, must have been spilled quite a while ago.
"Robin, dear boy, you're starting to become more trouble than you're worth" Raven mumbled to herself as her eyes scanned the area critically.
If she were to be honest with herself, Raven had expected this to be over about now. She had expected Robin to be too shaken up from the crash-landing to do anything but put up a token resistance.
She had most certainly not expected him to be able to make a run for it and actually manage to escape. What was more, he had somehow survived his suicidal dive and managed to slink away into the forest.
Raven had definitively, without a shadow of a doubt, underestimated Robin's survival instincts.
Now Raven had to waste countless hours on tracking down his sorry ass and finally put an end to this hunt.
But if there was at least one thing that was positive to Raven, it was that Robin would be in no condition to fight her once she caught up with him. Also…
"You're easy as hell to track now, bird boy" Raven said while smiling sinisterly as she eyed the trail that Robin had left behind in the form of blood and broken branches.
Not that Raven could really blame his lack of subtlety here. He was probably on his last legs as it was, he did not have the time and energy to cover his tracks up.
Well, no matter. It made Raven's job a hell of a lot easier. So with that, she hefted her AK-47 and strolled down the path Robin had gone.
"Once this is over, I'm going to Europe. Far away from this nuthouse I've stumbled into" Raven said out loud to no one in particular as she happily strolled after her prey.
"Man, where could he be?" Cyborg asked himself as he drove down the road in his car in search of Robin. The whole team was scattered all over the city, trying to find any trace of him.
Starfire had been the most active, and she was constantly trying to contact him even though they had not received an answer on the last thirty or so calls.
But as the minutes ticked away, and not even the faintest trace of Robin was found, the terror in all the Titans grew even worse. Where they already too late?
But they refused to accept the possibility just yet, not until they had turned the whole city upside down.
"Hey, Cyborg. You got anything yet?" Argent's voice broke him out of his brooding as his eyes snapped towards his communicator.
"No, nothing yet. I'm about to…" Cyborg began when his eyes caught sight of something just ahead "You know what, I'll call you back in a moment"
He did not give Argent a chance to answer as he turned off the communicator and stopped his car and got out. Tentatively, he approached what he had caught sight of; Robin's R-cycle.
It was horribly smashed at the front, obviously having rammed the car it was now laying wrecked next to, but there was no sign of its driver.
"Cyborg calling all Titans, I've located Robin's R-cycle" he called through his communicator. He was instantly flooded with frantic responses.
"What?! Where?!"
"Is Robin there as well?"
"Where the hell are you, I'm coming over right now!"
"Guys, calm down. I've only found his bike, there's no sign of the man himself" Cyborg explained while using his inbuilt scanners to thoroughly examine the area. His expression soon turned shocked when he discovered an unpleasant factor.
"Guys, I've found bullet holes in the area. Someone's been taking potshots at Robin" he said through gritted teeth. A collective gasp was heard over the communicator.
"But who? Who could have done such a terrible thing?" Starfire's panicked voice broke through. Cyborg did not answer immediately, his eyes were locked onto the bullet holes with a hateful glare.
"I think I know" he muttered quietly to himself so no one heard him. In all their battles together, there had only ever been one enemy they had faced that used these kinds of weapons. 'So you've finally shown yourself again, huh?' Cyborg thought.
"Listen, all of you! Robin's in big trouble, and if we don't find him soon he's gonna end up in a body bag!" he called frantically through the communicator.
"But where could he be?" Beast Boy asked worriedly. He was about to say something else, but Argent interrupted him.
"Guys, I'm at the airport, and there's a commotion here about a plane that took off without authorization this morning" she explained. Hope temporarily flared in the team. This could be the lead they were looking for.
"Do they know where it went?" Cyborg asked eagerly.
"No, they tried to track it and call in the air force, but they lost all contact with it several miles outside the city. They guess that it malfunctioned and crashed" Argent clarified hesitantly. The hope they had felt earlier came crashing down like a card house.
"It's the best lead we have so far. Argent, try to find out the location where they lost contact with the plane. The rest of us will regroup at the tower and prep the T-ship" Cyborg ordered, taking charge now that Robin was absent.
The rest of the team did not raise any objections to his order and raced to carry them out. Cyborg hesitated for a brief moment as he gazed at the wrecked R-cycle. 'You just hang in there, buddy. We're coming for you' he thought with determination before he climbed into his car.
Eric Idle once sang the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". But if anyone dared to sing that song to Robin right about now, he would probably break his vow of never taking a human life.
He had been stumbling through the forest all day long now, and as far as he knew he had made no real headway. The sun was already beginning its descent from the sky. In another six hours or so there would be dark outside.
The hope of reaching civilization in time had all but evaporated rom Robin's mind by now, what he needed to focus on was found some form of shelter in time. He needed to rest and tend to his wounds anyway.
But what kind of shelter could he find out here in the wilderness? He had no time or energy to build his own, not with Raven on his trail. He would have to settle with a cave or a large tree.
But as he kept hobbling forward, a hail of bullets suddenly tore into the trees surrounding him. Robin immediately dived for cover, feeling the bullets whizzing past overhead.
In no time he was up and running again, even though his sprained ankle was throbbing in pain from the motion. Another hail of bullets nearly cut him in half and he backed away.
In desperation, he threw an explosive disc at where he thought the bullets came from, hearing a satisfying boom not long after. But another barrage of bullets from a completely different direction caused him to run away in surprise.
As he came up to a tree, a barrage of bullets from up ahead impacted against the tree, forcing Robin to take cover in shock. 'Just where the hell is she?' he thought frantically. It felt like he was under attack from every direction.
He took off in a different direction, weaving among the trees to make himself a harder target to hit. But still bullets continued to zero in on his position, and Robin had no idea where exactly they were coming from.
In his haste he nearly ran straight over the edge of a ravine that seemed to appear out of nowhere as he crashed through the woodland. He was quick to alter his course and ran parallel with the ravine instead.
But as he was about to round a tree, a dark shape moved up from behind it and Robin felt something cold and metallic slam into his head. He fell backwards to the ground while blood spurted out of his nose.
"You sure know how to keep a chase interesting, bird boy" a feminine and very familiar voice taunted him. Robin could not at first discern the blurry image of the girl in front of him, his head spinning too much.
But eventually he could make out the blue cloak hanging around her form, the hood concealing most of her face and more importantly the AK-47 she clutched in her hands and was aiming at his chest.
He tried reaching for the bo staff he had dropped, but Raven stomped hard on his hand, eliciting a pained outburst from Robin, before kicking the bo staff well out of his reach.
"But the fun ends here for me, along with your life" Raven sneered. Though just as she was about to pull the trigger, Robin's leg shot up and kicked the weapon away from him. Raven ended up spraying the ground next to him with bullets.
Robin was instantly on his feet and with a few well-placed kicks and punches managed to disarm Raven, throwing the AK-47 over the edge of the ravine. He then threw a punch at her, which she ducked under to deliver a blow to his ribs. Biting back the pain, he brought an elbow into her back.
Raven fell to the ground, but twisted it into a roll so she ended up on her hands and feet. She lashed out with a kick that hit Robin in the back of his knee before spinning around and driving a fist from above into his shoulder.
Robin was driven to his knees from the blows while crying out in pain. He tried twisting around to deliver a punch of his own, but Raven easily caught it and smashed it back into his face.
He stumbled back in pain, giving Raven enough time to draw her broadsword. Robin attempted to attack, but Raven swung her sword at him. He leaped back in the nick of time but was forced to backpedal further as she thrust it at him.
Raven did not let up and continued to advance while using her sword's greater length to her advantage. Robin was forced to back away further as a flurry of sword strikes came at him.
He tried to duck underneath a wide swing and get in under her defense, but Raven just reversed her grip and slammed the pommel of her sword into his shoulder. He was thrown off balance by the blow and was nearly decapitated as a result had he not thrown himself flat to the ground.
Panting from exhaustion and pain, Robin barely rolled to the side before the sword buried itself where he used to lie. Before he could even think of exploiting it, Raven had withdrawn her sword and come at him again.
He was steadily forced further back as he desperately tried to stay out of reach of the sword, though it was easier said than done. As long as Raven carried that broadsword, Robin had little to no chance.
"You're both strong and skilled, bird boy, there's no denying that. But we both know that you can never beat me in your current state" Raven explained smugly to the panting Robin, who was leaning against a tree. He just glared at her.
Raven suddenly came at him again, but this time he had a plan. Just when he was about to get impaled, he threw himself sideways. The sword was buried in the tree and before Raven could withdraw it, Robin kicked her away from it.
"Will you just shut up and fight?" he snarled at her before he lunged at her. Raven jumped right over him before attacking with a flurry of blows. Robin was steadily forced back as he kept blocking and dodging.
He leaped sideways, he bent backwards, he deflected a kick, he dodged under a swing, he caught a fist and tried to hit back. It ended with Raven utilizing a judo move to throw him over herself and right into a tree.
Robin tried righting himself, but felt a boot slam into his back with near bone crushing force. He fell face first to the ground, moaning in pain, as Raven towered above him.
First she pulled her sword out from the tree trunk before sheathing it on her back again. Then she turned her full attention back to Robin who was lying beneath him.
"As you are right now, you're not even a challenge to me" she sneered at him as she pulled out a serrated knife from her belt. But Robin was not about to give up just yet as he suddenly struck out with both his legs, hitting Raven right in the stomach.
She stumbled back in both surprise and pain, but did not see where she backed. A huge surge of panic swelled up within Raven when she suddenly left nothing but air underneath her feet.
She had been pushed right over the edge of the ravine.
To her credit, she only let out a surprised yelp from the sudden lack of texture for her boots as she plummeted down towards the razor sharp rocks beneath.
While still falling, Raven managed to twist around and pull out her broadsword before plunging it into the rock face. She was left dangling from her sword rather comically. Raven even huffed in irritation.
"Well that could have gone better" she muttered to herself.
Robin meanwhile had begun to panic when he saw Raven fall from the edge. He had never meant to push her that hard and he began crawling towards the edge, fearful of what he would find.
Sure, she was the enemy here and she had tried to kill him, but Robin still had his form code of never taking a human life, whether to defend himself or an innocent. And if Raven died from this, her blood would be on his hands and that was something he would never forgive himself for.
Though he found to his great relief that Raven had survived and was now hanging on for dear life along the rock face.
For a moment, Robin considered whether he should try to help her up or simply taunt her back. He decided on neither when Raven spotted him looking down on her and pulled out one of her Desert Eagles and fired wildly at him.
Robin quickly crawled away from the edge as bullets tore into it. Deciding that sticking around would be a bad idea, Robin crawled back to his feet and limped away from the scene.
Below him, Raven let out an irritated grumble.
"You got lucky this time, bird boy. You won't be so lucky next time"
Starfire flew through the evening sky, her eyes scanning the vast forest beneath her. She was not alone in her search. Not too far from where she was flying, Argent was hovering around as well.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Beast Boy was using his various animal forms to search while Cyborg was using his extensive radar system.
They all knew that Robin was somewhere in the forest, the crashed plane they had searched just a few hours earlier was enough evidence for that. The track had led them to a waterfall, but there the track had grown cold.
Now they were forced to do a manual sweep of the entire forest in order to find him. And so far they had had no luck whatsoever.
Internally, they were all worried. It had been more than twelve hours since Robin went missing, and they still did not know whether he was dead or alive. They did not even know in what condition he was in, and it was tearing the team apart on the inside.
When you are on a team of friends, the worst pain you can experience is not one at your body. Nor is it at your spirit. The pain that hurt most of all is the pain of your friends, and the pain you feel when you are helpless to ease your friend's pain.
It was a sad truth in the world, and right now it was a truth that was bringing great amounts of pain to the Teen Titans.
"Robin, please be safe" Starfire whispered quietly to herself as a single tear fell from her eyes.
Back on the ground, Cyborg was trying to distract himself from the pang he felt in his chest by imagining all the different ways he could beat up Raven's butt before handing her over to the authorities.
So far, he had come up with a good number of ways that would surely leave the girl a broken mess.
But no matter how much he tried, he could not get fully rid of that pang of guilt in his chest that kept hammering away like a sledgehammer.
He should have called Robin the moment he saw he was out on patrol. He should have gone out after him. He should have gone out to with the team long before they did.
He should have done something.
Though he did his best to bury the guilt and focus on the task at hand. What was done was done, there was no point complaining about it. Robin was still missing, and he would find him.
But life was never that easy, as evidenced when Cyborg heard a low rumbling in the distance. Casting a curious glance at the sky, he patched into the weather feed and instantly cursed.
"Titans, we've got trouble inbound" he announced through his communicator.
"What?" Beast Boy asked, being too far away to ask Cyborg directly.
"I just checked the weather feed, and it says that a storm is about to hit this area" he explained. It was not long after until Starfire joined in on the conversation.
"Yes Cyborg, me and Argent can see the storm clouds gathering in the north"
This was bad, they already had enough trouble tracking Robin as it was. Adding a storm to the equation was not something particularly pleasant. Giving a heavy sigh, Cyborg spoke again.
"I hate to say this, but we need to abort the search for now" he said calmly. There was a few moments of silence after that, giving Cyborg time to steel himself for the verbal storm that was about to hit him.
"What?!"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"You can't be serious!"
Those three responses roared out of Cyborg's communicator at the same time, though thankfully Cyborg had been smart enough to hold it at a small distance from his ears.
"Look, I don't like it any more than you do, but we've gotta face facts here. That storm'll hit us in a matter of hours, and once it does it'll be impossible to conduct any form of search out here. The only thing we can do is regroup and wait it out" he explained.
None of the Titans liked to admit it, but they knew he was right. It would be impossible to keep searching once the storm hit them. They had no choice, if they wanted to help Robin then they would need to stop for now and continue later.
When no further objections were raised, Cyborg continued.
"We don't have to go back to the tower, we'll regroup at the crashed plane and wait it out there. Then at least we'll have some shelter over our heads"
A trio of affirmatives was all he received before the line went quiet. Cyborg gave a tired sigh as he cast one last look at the forest around him before trudging back towards their temporary camp.
Finding shelter had quickly turned into Raven's primary concern when the skies darkened, followed closely by thunder and lightning. The rain had not been far behind them either and was soon pounding relentlessly into the forest beneath it.
Raven had fortunately found a cave in the very same rock face she had been dangling from just under an hour ago. Now she was currently standing at the mouth of the cave, staring with impassive eyes out on the drenched world.
As another bolt of lightning stabbed down from the heavens, Raven could not help but remember the two brothers she had met in Jump City not that long ago. Those two buffoons who let themselves get manipulated by Slade into doing his dirt work.
'Just like you, little girl'
She shook her head furiously to clear that sudden thought from her mind. She had not been used, she had been hired to do a simple assignment which she had completed without problem.
But still, she could not fully purge her suspicion about Slade. Why had he hired her to begin with? Since he had technically fired them when they failed to dispose of the Teen Titans, it did not make much sense as to why he would suddenly come around and offer another job.
But those were thoughts she would have plenty of time to ponder on when she was done here. For now, all she needed to concern herself with was killing Robin. Nothing more, nothing less.
Well, the rain was most certainly not an appreciated addition to today's miseries for Robin as he trudged through the forest. He had still not found a shelter and he was now soaked to the bone. It was most certainly not a pleasant experience.
But what else was there for him to do? He needed to put as much distance between himself and Raven. He needed to recover if he hoped to beat her.
Though as he stumbled through the forest, he came upon something that must have been a godsend to Robin; a wooden cottage. No doubt used by hunters during the hunting seasons. But right now it appeared abandoned.
Robin quickly limped over to the door and tried to open it, finding it locked. 'Well, no time for subtlety' he thought grimly before he used all his remaining strength to kick the door open.
He quickly stumbled in and closed the door as much as it could after him. Casting his eyes around the small cottage he found it to be of simple design. One large room with a fireplace, a table, chairs and kitchen equipment. a second room also existed in the cottage, serving as a small bedroom.
It was more than what Robin could have asked for.
He quickly limped over to the fireplace. Finding that there was already a good stock of wood next to it, Robin threw several logs into it and started a fire to warm himself. Sure, the smoke and the light might expose him, but right now he was out of options.
With the fire going, Robin took the time to carefully inspect his wounds. The slash he had across his chest was not so bad, it could be ignored until later. His knife and gun wound on the other hand was a more serious issue.
Bleeding had by now stopped from them, but if he did not clean them soon there was a chance they would become infected.
His ankle looked pretty swollen from the abuse it had taken, but if he rested it for a bit it should be as good as new. His shoulder was still aching from where it was dislocated, but was still usable.
So in short, there were only two wounds that needed his attention.
He slowly peeled back the makeshift bandage on his left arm, biting back the stinging pain as he tore loose a few bits of dried blood that attached the bandage to the wound. For the moment, he would have to contend with simply changing bandages.
Finding nothing else to use, Robin gave a resigned sigh as he unclasped his cape and brought it in front of him. 'It's just a piece of cloth, nothing to cry over' the logical part of his brain tried to tell him, and although he knew that to be the case he still felt a little uncertain to do it.
Well, beggars can't be choosers, as the saying goes. With that thought, he tore up the last piece of his cape and used it as a bandage.
With that done, he slumped together in his chair, letting the fire warm his frozen body. But while his body was relaxing, his mind was not.
Raven was still out there. Probably taking shelter from the storm as well, but she was still on the loose and after his head. This was all part of her plan. She had deliberately lured Robin away from his friends, because she knew he was vulnerable on his own.
She had then made sure that he would have no means to call for aid once the trap was sprung. Now she was running around out there, armed to the teeth and both willing and able to use her arsenal.
And what did Robin have? A handful of birdarangs and a grapple gun. He did not even have his beloved bo staff. How could he turn this around?
Sure, in pure hand to hand combat he was superior, but Raven knew this as well and therefore tried to avoid it. Besides she was far superior to him in sword fighting anyway, why would she need to revert to fists?
Not only that, but as Raven had pointed out he was not in his most pristine condition. He could barely hold his own against her in unarmed combat as he was now!
Should have definitively stayed in bed today.
But as it stood right now, he would need some way to stand up to her sword. "How" did not matter to Robin right now, all that mattered was that he would not have to keep running and dodging whenever she started swinging that sword at him.
As his eyes lazily traveled across the room, he noticed something glimmering from inside the bedroom. Cautiously getting up, he slowly approached the bedroom and peered inside.
When his eyes finally landed upon the object he had seen, he really began to wonder if some higher power had decided to answer his call for aid. What lay within the bedroom was an old antiquated sword.
Covered in dust and completely dull as Robin discovered once he picked it up and ran a thumb down the blade, but it would hopefully do its job of stopping Raven's sword.
Robin swung it around a few times to test the weight of it. Unfortunately it felt a bit heavier than the type of weapons Robin preferred to use, but he would just have to improvise.
With the sword held firmly in his grip, Robin returned to his seat by the fire. He tried to stay awake, tried to stay vigil so no one could sneak up on him. But the warming heat from the fire and the rhythmic tapping on the windows from the rain was slowly lulling him to sleep.
Finally, the stress of the day proved too much and Robin fell asleep.
For how long he slept, Robin did not have the faintest clue. All he did know was that when he woke up again, there was pitch black outside and the storm had passed. The day had passed, but Robin was anything but relieved.
If anything, he preferred the light of day, where he could actually see something. The fire had by now died down to a few smoldering pieces of coal, offering a small amount of light inside the cottage.
That made Robin uncomfortable as well, since that meant that he could not see his opponent. But she could see him.
Once again, that lifesaving instinct of his screamed at him to get down, and he did just that. Right before a bullet flew through the window and passed where he used to stand. More bullets quickly followed, tearing the room apart from the high caliber shells.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped. It grew deathly quiet outside, to the point that Robin thought that she had left. An idiotic thought in hindsight.
Not long after, a bottle with a burning cloth attached to it came sailing through the broken window and smashed against the wooden floor. The highly flammable contents in the bottle immediately caught fire. More of the same bottles came flying in, and soon the entire cottage had turned into a burning wreckage.
Wasting no time, Robin gripped his sword tightly in his hands and leaped through the flames. He burst through the door and rolled around on the ground, extinguishing any flames that had caught onto his clothes.
As he stood back on his feet, he briefly turned his eyes towards the massive pyre that used to be shelter. But the sound of steel sliding out of a sheath from behind him caused him to spin around with his sword held high. Just in time to block a powerful swing from Raven.
The force behind the blow sent shockwaves up Robin's arm, but he stubbornly held on. The two became locked in a test of strength and Raven turned her attention for a moment to the sword Robin was holding.
"I see you decided to upgrade your arsenal, bird boy" she stated with a feral grin "But seriously, where did you find that rusted piece of steel? In a garage sale?"
Without warning, Raven sidestepped him, causing Robin to lose his counterbalance and stumbled forward. Before he knew it, a searing pain exploded in his side. Raven a slashed him there.
She was now behind him and thrust her sword at him. He sidestepped and knocked her sword aside. He tried hitting her with the flat side of his sword, but Raven expertly deflected it away before countering with another thrust.
Robin was forced to jump back, but was still nicked on his cheek. No time to recover had he either before Raven advanced again with a flurry of savage swings. The sheer ferocity forced Robin to back off while constantly deflecting blows.
But Raven was relentless, constantly pushing on. She never let up with her attacks, forcing Robin to remain on the defensive.
Robin finally managed to clear Raven's blade aside and thrust his own sword at her. she just smiled sinisterly as she easily sidestepped the attack, causing Robin to overextend himself and left himself wide open to receive a pommel to his stomach.
He stumbled back while doubling over, but managed to bring his word up for a parry just in time to stop a decapitation strike. Though the force behind it and the weakened state he was in threw Robin to the ground, wheezing from the earlier blow to the stomach.
"You do know that you can't beat me in sword fighting. I was the best student at swordsmanship back at the H.I.V.E. Academy, and you've never used a sword in a fight before" Raven stated smugly before she tried to impale Robin.
He managed to barely deflect the blow before kicking her away from him as he stumbled back to his feet.
With a determined gleam in his eyes, he charged at Raven again. She was right of course, she was the better swordsman here. Or rather swordswoman. But Robin was not about to throw the towel in because of that. He had beaten much larger guys in his time.
The fight continued in much the same manner from that point. No matter how hard Robin tried, Raven was always two steps ahead.
It finally ended when Robin tried to slam her legs from underneath her, but she just jumped right over it before she landed right on the blade. Her weight forced it to the ground and Robin had no choice but to let go of it if he wanted to keep his head.
Raven was instantly upon him again, thrusting her sword towards his head. He was forced to duck under it, but was caught unprepared by the fist that came at him from below and knocked him off his feet.
For a few moments, his vision refused to stay still despite his wishes. But eventually it stopped moving, allowing Robin to observe the sword tip pressed against his throat. Above him, Raven was grinning a feral grin at him.
"End of the line, bird boy" she stated as she made ready to plunge it into his throat.
But before Raven had the chance, a green starbolt impacted against her from behind. She was sent flying over Robin to land a few feet away. She groggily stumbled back to her feet while rubbing her head.
"Okay, what the hell hit me?" she asked indignantly. The answer she received was in the form of a sonic blast hitting her in the side, sending her once again sprawling to the ground.
She crawled back to her feet again, but was surprised to feel the ground shaking beneath her. Shaking from footsteps. She looked up in shock, just in time to get rammed by an elephant that sent her crashing straight into a tree.
Raven never even had time to fall to the ground this time before a crimson fist the size of herself grabbed hold of her and kept her pressed up against the tree. Quite painfully Raven might add.
Looking to where the fist originated from, Raven found the Teen Titans gathered around their fallen leader. And they looked extremely pissed.
"This ends now" Starfire stated as she powered up a pair of starbolts.
"Guys, how did you find us?" Robin asked weakly from where he still lay on the ground. Cyborg momentarily turned towards their leader.
"The smoke from the fire led us right to you. Now don't worry man, we'll take it from here" he assured him before turning his steely glare back towards Raven, who was struggling to get loose.
"Give it up Raven, we've got you outnumbered and trapped" Cyborg stated as he transformed his hand into a sonic cannon and aimed it at her.
Raven glared hatefully at the team, while on the inside she was panicking. 'Dammit, I can't fight the whole team on my own! I'd never stand a chance!" she thought frantically.
Well, as much as she detested the thought, it seemed like now was a good time to retreat. Live to fight another day, as the saying goes.
"Sorry, tin can. I ain't planning on ending up in prison anytime soon" Raven stated before she opened up a hand she had previously held close, allowing a smoke grenade to fall out. The moment it landed on the ground, it exploded and smoke spewed out and covered the whole area.
"See ya around, Titans" they heard Raven say somewhere in the smoke. But when it cleared enough for them to see, they found that the crimson fist Argent had created was still clutching the tree. But there was no sign of Raven anywhere.
"Dammit, where did she go? Spread out and find her!" Cyborg ordered. The team was just about to do just that when Robin stopped them.
"No, let her go" he said tiredly. The Titans looked back at him in chock.
"You sure that's a wise idea?" Argent asked. Robin just nodded his head.
"Yes. We'll catch her another day. For now, let's just go home" he stated. The other Titans hesitantly nodded their heads and together they helped carry Robin back towards their ship.
Deep underground, where no light could reach, several computer screens where arranged next to each other. But what they were replaying right now would come as quite a shock to most.
They were showing all that had happened today between Robin and Raven. From the ambush in the city, to the fight on board the airplane, to the chase through the woods and finally to the sword fight right outside the burning cottage.
how in the world they had managed to record all of that, no one would ever know.
And watching this all with rapt attention, was a menacing person with one single eye. He gave single humorless chuckle.
"Truly, Raven, you've exceeded my expectations today" he mused to himself as his eye was transfixed on a single frozen image of her standing battle ready with her sword held high.
"Perhaps you will be of some more use to me after all"