Chapter 16: Titan Rising
It was another beautiful day in Jump City. With cool winds, warming rays from the sun and so far not a single crime committed. Such a lull in criminal activity was something that needed to be cherished among the populace. At any rate, the Teen Titans sure as hell were taking advantage of this sudden free time, by playing a game of volleyball on the roof.
Well, to be precise here, four of them were playing volleyball. Argent was sitting and reading a book by herself. Unfortunately, Beast Boy was a little careless when he managed to hit the ball as a gorilla, as he sent it flying like a missile straight at Argent's back.
"Argent, heads up!" he called out in panic. The ball was mere inches from impacting against her when a crimson hand appeared in its way and caught it. With a mere backward glance, Argent sent the ball flying back with just as much force.
Fortunately, Beast Boy stood ready to catch it. Unfortunately, he was forced to use his own body to stop the ball. And so it impacted with quite a bit of force straight into his chest, even pushing him a few feet back. Now that must have hurt like hell.
"Thanks, uhhh… good save." Were his parting words before he got better introduced with the roof of the building.
"Are you sure you don't wanna play, Argent?" Robin asked curiously. He was obviously considering the benefits of having her on his team. Soon however the rest of the team tagged along in getting Argent into the game.
"Yes, please! You must volley the ball with us!"
"Come on! I'll play with one hand behind my back." heck, Cyborg even removed his arm for emphasis there, but their efforts were in vain.
"Sorry, but I prefer a book over a ball." Argent stated without ever even looking up from her book. The others just shrugged their shoulders and went back to their game. Beast Boy began serving the ball, once again morphed into a gorilla. And once again he was a bit too overeager and sent the ball flying farther than intended. And once again it was headed towards Argent.
"Heads up, again!" he warned her once again. And they expected her to once again catch the ball. But here she broke the trend by instead hover over to the side and letting the ball sail harmlessly past her and off the rooftop, to the gathered distress of the Titans.
"OH NO! AHHHHH!" that was the unified response that the ball's sudden departure elicited from four of the Titans, Argent was still too engrossed in her book to even notice.
"I'll get it." Beast Boy grumbled out as he slowly made his way towards the roof edge. Though he was more than a bit surprised when the ball suddenly came flying back up on the roof. The single question that went through his head was this; how the hell could it get back up on the roof? The answer came hovering up on a rock with the sun right behind her.
"So, which team am I on?" Terra asked cockily with her hands on her hips. A tense silence followed her entry, as each Titan (minus Argent, who was still too engrossed in her book to notice anything.) digested the fact that someone they had thought they would never see again was back.
Terra herself took her chance to jump off her rock onto the roof of Titans Tower. Then…
"TERRA!" that shout of joy came from both Beast Boy and Starfire, and both were quickly locked in an epic race of love towards Terra. They continuously tried to push each other out of their way in their quest to be the first one to reach Terra. In the end, Starfire emerged the victor.
"Oh, hello long lost friend! You remember me, yes?" she questioned with overflowing enthusiasm as she enveloped Terra in yet another one of her killing hugs that left Terra out of breath. Literally.
"Of course, Starfire. I still have bruises from the last time you hugged me." She managed with great effort to squeeze out of her constricted lungs. When Starfire finally did release her hold on her, Terra was just glad she was still alive. Next in line was Beast Boy, who rushed up to her with a love-struck look on his face.
"Terra. You're… I mean I… how's it… what's up?" and he was left stammering out incomplete phrases like an idiot, to which Terra only smiled and gave him a hug while pinching his cheek like he was a little toddler. Not that Beast Boy seemed to mind it that much.
"Well if it isn't my favorite little rock 'n roller." Was the happy greeting she received from Cyborg, along with a high five.
"Cyborg, Robin. What's shaking?" she greeted back just as enthusiastically.
"Good to see you again." Robin acknowledged while shaking her hand. Beast Boy was instantly between them with a look of disbelief.
"WHAT? Is he kidding? It's great to see you again! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" he loudly proclaimed, causing Terra to blush in embarrassment over the attention she was getting. Of course, there was still one Titan who had not even moved from her spot since Terra arrived.
"Argent, wake up! Terra's back! Isn't that awesome?" Beast Boy questioned enthusiastically. Of course, his overflowing enthusiasm crashed like water against rocks on Argent, who still did not even have the good graces to look up from her book.
"Great. Have a good time and don't forget to close the door when you leave." Was the monotone reply she gave, raising the question of whether she was even aware of what was happening around her.
"Actually." Terra began a little hesitantly. "I kinda wasn't planning on leaving this time." She admitted, right before announcing her intentions. "I'm ready to take you guys up on your offer. I wanna be a Teen Titan."
What she received however, was not the cheerful congratulations she had expected. Instead, she was met with uncertain looks and not-so-welcoming glances.
"Uhm…" was about the perfect word to summarize the current mood, courtesy of Beast Boy. On the inside, Terra felt a hollow feeling swelling up. She comes back to them, after several months of absence, ready to accept their invitation, and this was what she got? It made her hesitant to push on, but the comforting words of a friend of hers came to mind.
"Remember. They hurt you, and I swear to God I'll hurt them so badly that their great grandchildren will feel it."
However, she was still going to voice her displeasure on the matter.
"Got it, sorry. Didn't know the offer had an expiration day." She grumbled out as she turned around and was about to walk away. A reassuring hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. Though she did not fully turn around to face him, seeing as small tears had begun forming her eyes and she would never show such weakness to them.
"The offer didn't expire, we're just… concerned." Robin tried to awkwardly explain to her, leaving Beast Boy to try to come up with a better explanation.
"Yeah, it's 'cause well uhm… the last time when you kinda freaked out and ran away, you didn't exactly… you weren't completely…" key word; tried. And that left the explanation to Argent.
"You had zero control over your powers." Who of course was never a fan of beating around the bush and simply delivered her cold verdict straight in Terra's face, leaving Beast Boy absolutely mortified as he feared Terra would take offence and run away again. Surprisingly, that never happened, instead she actually smiled at her.
"Hellooo! That's why I left! Robin said I needed practice, so I've been practicing." She reveled proudly before she put on her goggles. "Check it out." Were her parting words before leaping back on her flying boulder and proceeded to give a most spectacular aerial show with four flying boulders.
"Glorious!" Starfire exclaimed just Terra passed overhead.
"Dude, she really has gotten better!" Beast Boy complimented eagerly.
"So she can do some fancy moves, big deal. It won't matter if she suddenly gives us an 8 or higher on the Richter scale." Argent commented coldly, clearly not that impressed or convinced by what she was seeing.
Terra suddenly formed a collision scenario where she was racing towards three other rocks, all centered above Titans Tower. But just as they were about to collide, she jumped off her rock and sent them all flying high into the air where they exploded like fireworks (Okay, how did that last part happen? 'Cause last time I checked, rocks weren't explosive by nature).
Well, at the very least, it provided with some nice fireworks.
"See? I've got everything under control." Terra stated confidently. How sad then that her statement became somewhat undermined when a rumble caused the tower to shake. Five looks were instantly sent her way, the accusation clearer than daylight.
"Wasn't me." Terra defended herself while raising her hands in a deflective manner.
Well, she spoke the truth when she said that it was not her doing. Question was, was it a good thing or a bad thing, considering the real perpetrator just made a grand entry in downtown Jump City by crashing right through a road. As the obviously mechanical construct reared itself high above the terrified people below, it was revealed to be in the shape of a giant cyclopean worm.
And, despite how strange it may sound, it looked really hungry.
A buss that had become stuck on the edge of the hole this worm had busted through was trying desperately to backpedal with all its might. Sadly, it got nowhere, and the worm had already zeroed in on its first target. With a mechanical roar, it dived towards its prey. But a pair of crimson fists suddenly appeared and snatched the buss away before the worm could reach it.
"You missed the buss." Robin commented as he and the Titans made ready for battle.
"Looks like you'll just have to take a cab." Cyborg added as he threw the aforementioned vehicle straight into the worm's face. He might as well have been throwing tomatoes at it for all the good it was doing. It reared back its massive head and lunged for the team, seeking to crush them to oblivion.
"Oh no you don't." Argent muttered as she gathered her powers to fend the machine off, but Terra suddenly stepped in and pushed her back.
"I've got it!" she shouted just before she caused the ground itself to rise up and smash the worm back. As it collapsed to the ground, Beast Boy rammed it from the side as a mammoth, but got blasted away by a red energy beam from the worm's eye. He was out like a candle and the worm was back up again, roaring in what could be interpreted as anger.
It targeted Beast Boy just as he began regaining his senses, but Terra came to his rescue by ripping up the ground they were standing on and utilizing it as a flying platform to get them to safety. Starfire took her chance to swoop in and deliver a strafing run on the worm with her starbolts before breaking off to avoid its eye beam.
Down on the ground, Cyborg was too blasting away with everything he had at the worm while Robin tried to come up with a strategy. Behind the two, Terra and Beast Boy descended to ground level, and Robin was quick to give an order to Terra.
"Good work, Terra. Now help me get in its…" he never got farther than that when several bullets smattered into Cyborg's armor, along with a fair share hitting his Kevlar covered back.
"Sniper! Get down!" Robin shouted as he dived for cover, along with Terra and Beast Boy. His back hurt like hell from those bullets, but at least none had gotten through. So he did what he had been trained to do and ignored the pain.
"Did anyone see where those shots came from?" he called to his team.
"No, never saw a thing. And I never even heard the shots being fired." Cyborg answered. Robin gritted his teeth in anger. But even if they had not seen who the shooter was, he already had a fairly good guess. There was only one criminal in town who used firearms.
"RUN FOR IT!" Beast Boy suddenly screamed in panic. Confusion had never even time to settle in before Robin realized just what had him terrified. After all, that roaring had gotten awfully closer and that massive shadow that suddenly covered him could not be good news. He managed to leap clear just before their earlier position was obliterated by the worm's massive form.
He was out in the open for about five seconds before more bullets impacted against him. And damn did they hurt, even with the Kevlar. He dived behind some cover wheezing as if his lungs had been mauled while clutching his battered chest. A rib must have broken from the bullets, if the pain was anything to go by.
He cautiously peered around the edge, only to dive back behind it as bullets started chewing away at the edges of his cover. He never even saw where the bullets came from. Heck, he never even heard them. Not surprising, given the noise that the worm was making. But for a brief moment, he could have sworn he heard footsteps approaching.
Peering over the edge again, he still found no signs of any hostiles. But he sure as hell felt it when something smashed right into his face and sent him flying back, landing painfully on his back. He was about to get back up, but something that felt like a boot suddenly smashed into his chest and kept him pinned to the ground.
"Honestly, bird boy, I expected a little more fight in you." the unmistakable voice of Raven said right in front of him, yet Robin was still not seeing anyone. The last piece finally fell in place in Robin's head as he narrowed his eyes at what looked like empty air.
"When did you get your hands on cloaking technology?" he asked just as Raven materialized right in front of him, still keeping him pinned to the ground with her boot and aiming an AAC Honey Badger at his head.
"The wonders of working with criminal masterminds; they have all the cool toys." She proudly revealed with a smug grin. Wasting no more time, she pulled the trigger, but Robin lashed out with his legs and unbalanced her. The bullets missed his head by a few inches. Before she could fire again, Robin was back on his feet with an uppercut aimed at her chin.
Raven jumped back to avoid it while drawing her kukri along the way. Going on the offensive, she slashed at his chest, then at his head, then at his stomach and then at his chest again. He was forced back by the attacks before he brought out his bo-staff and blocked another slash. But she pushed his staff aside and gave him a fist to his face, though he quickly retaliated with a blow to her side with his bo-staff.
"Destroy! Destroy! Destroy all of these pests!" Daemon-Raven suddenly hissed in Raven's mind as the two of them continued trading blows with each other.
"Will you just shut up? Unless you haven't noticed, I'm trying to fight here!" Raven retorted mentally. Ever since she managed to kick out her daemonic half and sealed it inside her sword, it was like she had gained a backseat driver.
Sure, it could never try to take control of her body ever again, given how it was no longer in her body, but that also meant that Raven could not just bury it up nice and good in her mind to shut it up. Seriously, it was like she had gained a constant travelling companion from the ordeal!
How it all affected her ability to control her powers, Raven did not know yet, and was not planning on finding out anytime soon. If she had her way, they stayed locked inside that sword until the end of times.
"If you'd only let me be in control…" Daemon-Raven began, only to be cut off by Raven.
"… I'd be dead and gone by now and you'd be locked up in the nearest nuthouse. Now shut up! I'm trying to focus!"
With that internal debate over, Raven aimed another thrust at Robin that was deflected before a spinning kick knocked her back. Robin tried to attack again, but Raven pulled out one of her Desert Eagles and fired off one bullet at point blank range. It hit Robin's chest dead-center, but the torn and battered Kevlar finally gave away and the bullet tore its way through his body and exited from his back.
Suddenly finding his strength gone, Robin fell backwards until he lay flattened out on the ground. Raven was meanwhile taking her chance to stand back up again with the intent of finishing him off. But the roar of the worm, accompanied by the sound of rapid digging alerted her that her back-up was leaving.
"Well, would you look at that? time's up, it would seem." She commented offhandedly as she holstered her gun. Robin was meanwhile fighting to get back up again and continue fighting.
"Get back here! I'm not through with you yet!" he shouted furiously at her, trying to sound intimidating. While he did succeed on that point, he failed to look the part; kneeling hunched over while desperately clutching a bleeding chest. Yeah, most likely not the most fearsome image you can imagine.
Raven's way of answering was with a wink and a two-fingered salute before pressing a button on her belt, activating the cloaking tech she was carrying. Not soon after, the rest of the team showed up, going from worried to absolutely terrified at the sight of their bleeding leader.
"Robin!" Starfire cried out in dismay as she dived down to his side, Cyborg not far behind with some bandages.
"What happened to the worm?" Robin asked while Cyborg began applying first aid, noticing how Terra and Argent were both glaring at each other. He would ask about that later.
"It turned tail and ran." Cyborg answered just as he finished patching up his leader. "Now it should hold until you get proper medical care, but I suggest avoiding any strenuous activities, like say crime fighting." he added rather bluntly to Robin, who for his part seemed more than happy to ignore the advice as he slowly got back on his feet.
"I'll take that into consideration. After we've stopped the worm, of course." He made it abundantly clear he was not quitting anytime soon. Together, the team made their way over to the giant hole in the ground that the worm had slinked into. It was when they were standing at the edge that Robin's communicator started beeping, indicating someone was trying to reach him.
However, as he flipped the screen up, Robin felt intense hatred bubbling up from inside him, for on the screen was none other than…
"Slade." That single name was spat out like the foulest tasting poison in existence from Robin's mouth.
"Robin, good to see you again. I do hope I haven't called at a bad time." Slade greeted in what almost sounded like true politeness, before he seemed to notice the wound on his chest. "And I see that Raven have been playing a little rough with you. The girl always likes to do things the wild way."
"The worm. What are you planning?" Robin questioned heatedly. Kind of stupid move, if you think about it. Does he actually expect the madman to reveal his plan just because he asked him to?
"Well now, Robin. If you're so very curious, why don't you come down here and find out?" Slade challenged before he cut the feed.
Tracking that massive worm was probably the easiest thing ever. After all, it was not like you could lose its trail when walking underground. At least, that was how it was supposed to be, but it seems it was possible, given how the team just walked into a dead end (Okay, they were walking along the tunnel that the worm had dug itself. How in the world could it just come to a stop like that?).
"End of the road, it seems." Argent remarked drily as Robin brought out his communicator and was apparently scanning for something.
"Not necessarily." Robin corrected as he approached a section of the wall, apparently detecting something there. "I'm picking up a signal from deep inside the rock."
Cyborg approached as well with his own scanning. "Way deep. Electronics, and a heartbeat." He added, that last part striking a cord in Robin as his eyes narrowed.
"Slade." Once again, there was that one word spoken with so much venom it could kill twenty elephants in a heartbeat.
"How about we dig down there and see what's up?" Terra offered as she raised her hands in preparation. Of course, fate just loved to make fun of you as a sudden earthquake started shaking the tunnel. It only lasted for a short while, but it was still enough for Argent to give Terra a sour glare, obviously blaming her.
"Are you gonna give me that look every time there's an earthquake?" Terra asked in annoyance.
"Pretty much." Argent answered truthfully, right before that infernal worm from before decided to pop out of the ground just a few feet from them. The Titans backed away from it, but were caught unprepared as a second worm popped up right behind them, followed by a third.
They were now boxed in by three of those mechanical monstrosities. And they could barely handle one of them to begin with.
"Titans, ready!" Robin called out as the team formed a tight circle in preparation to face their enemies. But the worms had apparently other priorities, as they completely ignored the Titans and began digging their way towards the surface.
"Helloooo! The good guys are over here!" Beast Boy called after the worms while waving his arms wildly in the air. Clearly, he did not like to be ignored, even if that ignorance may have possibly saved his life.
"Dude, we got snubbed." He said in disbelief as he turned back to his team.
"Because we're not their target." Starfire concluded.
"Three of those worms together could wreck anything in the city." Cyborg added in alarm.
"We have to stop them!" Terra quickly announced, already making ready to rush after the worms.
"Yeah, but we also have to stop Slade." Argent easily countered.
"Split up." Robin suddenly stated. "Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy, go after the worms. Terra and Argent, we're going after Slade."
After some deep digging, the trio led by Robin finally arrived at Slade's underground base. What they found was a control panel placed on top of a platform that was located in the center of a spacious cave, with support beams placed along the walls to keep the whole thing from collapsing.
But what really caught their interest was the hovering metal circle that was spinning round and round just below the ceiling. What purpose it was supposed to serve, the trio neither knew nor wanted to find out.
"What is Slade up to?" Argent asked suspiciously. Robin could not help but share that suspicion. Suddenly, the flying circle activated three powerful lasers that began cutting through the solid rock. It was clear then, they sought to attack something on the surface from both underground and from the air. But what was the target?
"Robin, it's the tower! They're attacking Titans Tower!" Cyborg's frantic warning from the surface made Robin's worst case scenario a reality. Dread instantly filled the trio as they gathered around the control panel. They noted absentmindedly that an RPG was leaning against it as well, but gave it no further thought.
"It's not just under attack. It's about to be underground." Robin sadly concluded as he watched the holographic image depicting the progress of the digging done from both above and below.
With newfound motivation, they launched everything they had at the drill, but made absolutely no headway. The damn thing just soaked up all the beatings and continued drilling as if nothing was wrong.
"Not even a scratch." He remarked angrily as he rushed back to the control panel, hoping to find a way to shut it down. "If we can't break the drill, hacking this computer is our only chance at shutting it down."
But he never got that far before the sound of something bouncing off metal could be heard coming closer. Barely a few seconds later, a grenade landed among them.
"GRENADE!" Robin shouted in alarm a bit too late as the grenade went off. Argent had enough time to bring up a shield to protect herself and Terra was the farthest one away from the explosion and only got knocked over with a slight ringing in her ear. Robin however went sailing like a cannonball and smashed painfully into the railing, bending it to the pint that it almost snapped.
A weak groan was all that came out of his mouth as he struggled to remain conscious. Argent dropped her shield and rushed over to help him.
"Easy, Robin, I've got you." she reassured him as she helped him back on his feet, an act that was almost impossible for him to do alone. Terra meanwhile had just gotten back on her feet when she felt a shadow come upon her. Looking up in surprise, she was met with a boot to the face that hit her hard enough to knock her right off the platform.
"What the…" Robin began as he caught sight of the attacker, right before another grenade was thrown at him and Argent. The explosion sent them both flying in separate direction. The attacker was quick to go after Robin, as he painfully tried to crawl back up on his feet.
He had just gotten up on his knees when his head was grabbed by two hands and was smashed straight into a knee, leaving him to unconsciously crumble to the floor. Argent meanwhile had turned to fully face the attacker, and finally got a good look at her.
"You again." she spat out in contempt as she glared at the deviously smiling Raven, who calmly sauntered over to the control panel.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Slade does not like kids running around playing on his property." Raven mockingly said as she picked up the loaded RPG and stepped away from the control panel. Argent meanwhile crouched low in preparation for an attack.
"It doesn't matter how many guns you pack or how big they are. I will beat you, and I will shut down that drill." She declared with conviction, prompting an even bigger grin from Raven. A fact that set Argent on edge.
"You want to shut down the drill?" Raven questioned as she raised the RPG and took aim on Argent, who in turn brought up a barrier to protect herself. The thing was, Raven never pulled the trigger, she just continued to smile at her.
"Tell me something, Argent. How do you plan to shut down the drill…?" Raven suddenly aimed her RPG at a different target. "… Without a controller?" Not even waiting for a reply, Raven fired off her RPG, straight at the control panel.
"NO!" was all that Argent got out as she helplessly watched their only way of shutting down the drill going up on flames. With her ammunition spent, Raven discarded her RPG and withdrew her twin Desert Eagles.
"Now it's just the two of us here. Wanna see how fast I can cut that number down to just one?" she questioned right before opening fire on Argent. The 50. Action Express bullets hammered remorselessly against her barrier, forcing her to strengthen it.
Raven took the chance to rush Argent while still firing away at her. Just as she reached the barrier, Raven flipped right over it and landed crouched right behind her. She lashed out with a powerful kick that knocked Argent over, who still had enough sense to roll clear of another kick from Raven.
But she was given no reprieve as Raven came at her again, wielding her now empty guns as clubs. Argent blocked an overhead strike, but got nailed in her side from a sideways blow, followed by a third blow from the other weapon to her cheek. She was knocked off her feet by a fourth strike to the chest.
Argent sent a crimson blast at Raven, forcing her back while Argent took the chance to get back on her feet. Raven suddenly rolled under the attack and came right at Argent again. She punched at Argent's face, but was deflected, she kicked at her legs but Argent jumped back, she punched again, she kicked again and suddenly performed a spinning kick that Argent ducked under, only to receive a fist to the side of her head.
She was sent flying to the side, but rolled along the floor until she was on her hands and knees. Pushing herself back up again, she had enough time to catch sight of Raven coming at her with an overhead strike with her drawn broadsword.
A barrier blocked that strike, but a low kick slipped under it and nailed her in the knee. She cried out in pain just as she lost focus and Raven easily sliced through her weak barrier to deliver a pommel strike to her chest.
But Argent managed to catch Raven by surprise with a crimson blast straight into her guts, sending her flying back and losing the grip on her sword. Argent quickly took advantage of this by sending more bolts of crimson energy at her. Raven began weaving back and forth to avoid them, steadily moving closer towards Argent.
Just as she reached her, Argent nailed her in the shoulder, sending her in a wild spin. But Raven came around with an elbow to Argent's face, breaking her nose and disorienting her for a few seconds. That was all the time that Raven needed as she grabbed hold of her and landed a devastating series of punches straight into her guts.
Raven then merely threw her adversary to the ground, who felt like her insides had been pulverized from the remorseless pounding. Still, Argent tried to push herself back up again, resulting in Raven's boot smashing into her back and pressing her back down.
"You know, that was kinda disappointing. I get way better fights out of bird boy." Raven commented nonchalantly as she pulled out her kukri. Absentmindedly, she noted how her sword seemed to pulsate with anger over being denied the chance to take a life.
Even though her daemon half hated her with the utmost of intensity, it could still put such grievances aside when in the midst of battle. Most likely because daddy dearest created her as a weapon of mass destruction. It was only natural that it would enjoy causing mayhem and destruction.
"Let me do it! Let me be the one to end her pathetic existence!" the downside of course was that every time Raven was close to killing someone, that infernal thing would start howling and roaring over how it wanted to do the deed. It could be highly aggravating at times.
"You'll get your chance later on. Right now I don't have time to pick you up." Raven tiredly placated the daemon. Honestly, sometimes it was so annoying that Raven considered locking it away for the rest of her life. While the daemon still seemed upset, it at least shut up and let Raven carry on.
She grabbed a fistful of Argent's hair while raising her kukri in preparation for a decapitation strike. A vicious smile spread across her face as she made ready to bring the kukri down on Argent's neck.
"Don't forget about me!" someone suddenly yelled behind Raven. that gave her enough warning to jump away from Argent, seconds before a boulder came sailing by where she had previously stood. More rocks came flying at her, and Raven rolled clear of them before rushing over to her discarded sword and snatching it up before jumping over another boulder.
Back to Argent, she rolled over on her back to get a good look at her savior. Despite seeing the flying rocks, she was still shocked to find that it was Terra who had saved her. They had been at each other's throats the whole day, imagine her surprise finding Terra willing to still fight next to her.
Terra said nothing, but she gave a friendly smile and extended a helping hand. Looking a tad bit dubious at first, Argent eventually gave her own smile and accepted the offered hand.
"Looked like you needed some back-up, so I decided to join in on the fun." Terra said when she had gotten Argent back on her feet, to which Argent waved her hand dismissively while massaging her sore back.
"Nah, I had it all under control. But thanks for the concern." She countered, causing Terra to roll her eyes at her before both turned deadly serious and faced Raven together, who for her part looked as untroubled as you could possibly get while lazily swinging her sword back and forth.
"So? Shall we get down to it, ladies?" she questioned pleasantly while pointing her sword at the pair. No verbal answer came, instead a massive crimson fist was sent hurling at her. Raven rolled clear of it, only to find a boulder coming down on her. But a swing of her sword later, the boulder fell in two pieces and Raven rushed right at Terra. Dozens of rocks flew right at her, but she dodged or cleaved apart everyone that got in her way.
Finally, she reached her target and sent a thrust at her guts. Terra did a limbo move before a bolt of crimson energy knocked Raven back. Argent was about to attack again, but Raven was faster as she reached inside her cloak and withdrew a handful of shurikens before throwing them with deadly accuracy at Argent.
Right before they would have impacted, Argent brought up a barrier to protect herself. Yet Raven was still not given any reprieve as the few precious seconds Argent was unavailable, Terra attacked with a massive boulder. Raven leaped right over it, only to find a hail of rocks following in its wake.
While managing to avoid most of them, Raven still got hit by several of them, leaving some really stinging marks. But by the time the barrage came to an end, Raven was still standing and rushed in for the kill. A spinning slash was avoided, but a sudden uppercut sent Terra flying a few feet into the air before slamming back to the ground.
Raven raised her sword and brought it down with all her might, yet it never made contact with flesh as a crimson barrier blocked the attack seconds before a beam of the same energy slammed into Raven from the side and sent her flying as well.
Preforming a flip while in the air, Raven landed safely on her feet just at the edge of the platform as Argent landed next to Terra. With a battle roar, she launched dozens of crimson bolts at Raven, who for her part leaped off the platform. But as she plummeted towards the bottom, she twisted around and fired her grapple gun at the platform.
Meanwhile, both Argent and Terra had rushed over to the edge, fearing the worst. What the found when they peered over the edge was Raven sailing back up at them with breakneck seed. Their brains had only enough time to register that fact before she knocked them both over.
Raven landed on her feet yet again behind the two disoriented heroines and spun around, aiming to cleave them both in half with one strike. Unfortunately for her, Terra still had enough sense to call upon her rocks to form a wall between Raven and the two Titans. As Raven's sword clanged uselessly against the rock, Argent flew over it and sent a crimson blast at her.
Twisting out of the attack's trajectory, Raven drew a throwing dagger and threw it straight at Argent. Naturally, it was blocked with a barrier, but it gave Raven all the time she needed to leap up on Terra's wall and use it as a springboard to launch herself ar Argent. She rammed straight into her shocked frame and dragged her back down to the ground.
As they impacted against the ground, Argent was unfortunate enough to land at the bottom and thereby soaking up most of the beating for Raven, who for her part rolled off her before somersaulting over another boulder sent at her.
She twirled around with her sword poised to strike out at a moment's notice as she faced down Terra and Argent yet again. Absentmindedly, she rubbed a few of her sore spots on her sword arm. Raven had to admit, those two was a tough combo to beat, and it was just getting harder and harder as more stones fell down from above, giving Terra more ammunition to use.
"Raven, pull back now." Slade's cold voice suddenly ordered her from the communicator in her ear. Unseen by her opponents, Raven raised a surprised eyebrow under her hood. So soon? Was she not supposed to keep them entertained for a little bit longer?
Casting a quick glance up at the drill, she came to the realization that she may have occupied them a bit longer than first intended. 'Well, would you look at that? Time does fly when you're having fun.' She thought in surprise as she turned her attention back to her opponents.
"Not that this hasn't been a blast or anything, guys, but I gotta run now. Let's do this again some other day." She called out cheerfully to her opponents. Argent, reacting a split second faster than Terra, rushed to stop Raven. But she was unable to do more than grind her teeth in anger as Raven gave her an amused wave of her hand before popping a smoke grenade.
And of course, when the smoke cleared, Raven had done her ninja thing and vanished.
"Dammit! She got away again!" Argent swore in anger, right before she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.
"Uhm… I think we have a bigger problem than that." Terra stated worriedly. At the inquisitive look she garnered from Argent, she pointed at the rapidly collapsing roof. They were too late, the tower was coming down right on top of their heads.
"We have to get out of here! There's nothing else we can do!" Argent called out frantically, but Terra was of a different mindset as her eyes began glowing yellow.
"Yes, there is! Trust me!" she stated with conviction, right before yellow beams shot out of her hands and into the collapsing roof, desperately trying to push it back up. Terra struggled under the immense weight she was put under, almost being forced down on her knees from the strain.
Yet suddenly, the heavy weight somewhat lessened for her. Sparing a quick glance over to her right, she found Argent had joined in, as beams of crimson energy was launching out of her hands as well into the roof. Neither said a word to the other as they together poured all their strength into pushing their home back to where it belonged.
As they struggled together, Robin began stirring awake from the beating he took, and watched with pride eyes as his teammates united to save their home. 'I knew I made the right choice in putting those two together on this mission.'
Meanwhile, on the surface, the three remaining Titans were in silent mourning over the apparent loss of their home. That was, until Beast Boy noticed a marvelous sight out in the bay where their home used to stand.
"No way." Were the only words he could muster to say in response to what he was seeing, gaining the attention of Cyborg who now also saw what had caught Beast Boy's gaze.
"Starfire, look." He said in wonder, but the last one in their group refused to do as asked, still keeping her head lowered in silent mourning.
"I cannot, our home is…" yet in contrary to her statement, Starfire did indeed look, and was just as stunned as her two teammates as she watched the island, their home, rising up from the sea again.
"… Saved!" Starfire finally concluded her sentence in joy.
"But how?" Cyborg asked, sounding just as joyous as Starfire.
"Terra." Beast Boy answered smugly, just as Cyborg's inbuilt communicator activated.
"And Argent. Working together." Robin added. The day was once again saved by our heroes.
Terra was ecstatic. She had been accepted onto the team, she had become a Teen Titan. She had gained their trust. Currently, they were heading out to a nighttime party to celebrate their victory and Terra joining the team. As they walked along the sidewalk, talking and laughing with each other, Terra could have sworn she saw something moving in a dark alley they just passed.
Stopping in curiosity, she peered into its dark depths in the hopes of catching sight of what may have been lying within. And there it was again, a swift movement that went from one shadow to the next.
"Hey, Terra! You coming or what?" Beast Boy called from up ahead, as the group had continued to move onward for a while until they noticed they had lost one of their own along the way.
"You guys go on, I'll catch up with you later!" she called back, receiving no reply but she could see they had resumed their pace. Cautiously, she began advancing into the alley, hands held at the ready in case of an attack.
Resisting the stupid urge to call out if anyone was there, she walked deeper into the alley, systematically going through every nick and cranny that might hide an assailant. Suddenly, she spun around and faced a deep patch of shadows with yellow glowing hands.
"I know you're in there! Step into the light!" she ordered harshly. A few tense seconds followed after the order, until something began stepping out of the shadows. And the mysterious fiend turned out to be…
… A freaking cat?
It gave off a cute little 'miao' as it harmlessly strutted part Terra. But while most would breathe out in relief, maybe even commenting on being too paranoid, Terra did neither. Why? Because that cat reeked of decoy that she could have smelled it a mile away.
And she was proven right when she felt the cool metal of a barrel being pressed against the back of her head. Walked right into this one, and it did not look very good for her now.
"Who would have guessed that a simple stray cat could prove so useful in distracting a target?" the unmistakable voice of Raven mockingly stated from behind Terra. "But I must admit, I'm a little disappointed, Terra. I thought you were better than falling for such a cheap trick so easily."
Yet despite having a gun against her head, Terra displayed a remarkable ability of remaining calm and indifferent towards the whole situation.
"Are you really so sure that you've got me and not the other way around?" Terra suddenly asked calmly. Being at first confused by the question, realization quickly dawned on Raven when she suddenly felt something sharp poking her in the back. Smiling despite the dilemma, Raven cast a quick glance over her shoulder to confirm her suspicion.
Terra had created a rock spike that stuck out of the ground. All it would take was one move, and that spike would impale her.
"Okay, I admit, you are good." Raven relented as she began lowering her gun. Terra relaxed her own stance in response to that. Big mistake, as faster than Terra could blink, Raven sidestepped the spike, twirled her around, knocked the legs from under her, grabbed her head, rammed it mere inches away from her own spike and finally pressed her gun back against Terra's skull. All of this happened in a matter of seconds.
"But not that good." Raven added humorlessly as she effortlessly kept Terra pinned in this position. Feebly struggling in this grip, Terra cast a sour glare over her shoulder before she finally relented. The rock spike crumbled together as Terra stopped struggling in Raven's grip.
Satisfied with the results, Raven released her hold on her and stood back up. Terra meanwhile was just about to push herself up on her own when Raven extended a helping hand. Glancing between it and Raven's smiling face, Terra eventually relented and let out a light chuckle while grasping the offered hand. She was quickly hauled back up on her feet, where the two girls began laughing together.
"What are you even doing here, Raven?" Terra asked when her laughter had finally calmed down.
"I just wanted to swing by and congratulate you on getting on board with the Teen Titans." She answered humorlessly before a mischievous glint entered her eyes. "Plus, I wanted to see close up what you found so attractive in Beast Boy."
As a reward for her light teasing, a small tint of red suddenly colored Terra's cheeks.
"I do not find him attractive." Terra tried to defend herself, to which an even bigger smirk split Raven's face.
"That so? Then I suppose you don't mind if I give it a go with him? I've always wanted a little boy toy to play with." She teased even further, to which Terra started sputtering as she tried to wrap her head around what Raven was implying. At the sight of Terra's tomato-like face, Raven burst out laughing again, to which Terra playfully slapped her arm while mumbling "shut up".
"It's getting late, you should hurry up if you want to catch up with your friends." Raven suddenly stated, to which Terra suddenly became aware of the time flown by. She gave a quiet curse as she began rushing out of the alley.
"Hey, Terra." Raven called after her just as she reached the end of the alley. She turned around and gave Raven a questioning glance.
"Just remember to keep the line between friend and foe clear in your mind." She advised, no traces of humor here this time. Terra gave a small nod in acknowledgement before sprinting out of sight. Raven watched her go for a few more seconds before she gave a tired sigh and moved towards the opposite end of the ally.
"For your sake, Terra, please keep the line clear." She mumbled quietly to herself as she vanished into the dark of the night.