Hello, I know its been a year! But forgive me, Ive had a bit of a rough time getting things done since I graduated in 2010. Its been hard getting back into the swing of things and Im sorta losing my touch, as well as not having access to a computer. I also had to move out of my parents, so please forgive me...
I kinda liked this chapter but not as much as my previous ones. & just so you guys know, Ive updated BOTH stories. Joy upon joys, rite? Heh heh, I know. Id like to thank you for the long wait and Im ranting, should probably shut up now.
On with the story!
Chapter 4: BBC
It had been a few days since the last transmission between Slade and the Titans. As if criminal activity wasn't bad enough for the four Titans, they began to get on each other's nerves. Beast Boy was the worst; their normally lively friend was reduced to an angsty, quiet boy who would shut the door in their faces as soon as he answered the door. Robin, on the other hand, would refuse to stop looking for any clues that would lead to Slade and Raven. He even went so far as to lock himself inside the evidence room and Titan mainframe, coming out only for bathroom and coffee breaks. Starfire and Cyborg tried to keep the morale up for the team as much as they could. All these events made Titan's Tower much quieter than what it usually was.
The auburn-haired princess sighed at the table while Cyborg sat on the couch, complete silence between the two of them. She looked out the tall windows that overlooked the city. It seemed as though the city they protected was utterly oblivious to the situation the heroes were in. Yet, it still looked peaceful from this distance; flocks of birds flying overhead, the blue sky lined with silvery clouds. A sapphire ocean lapping at the beaches while rolling hills extenuated the landscape. The city
"We must find Friend Raven soon," Starfire said, earning a nod from his teammate.
"But we may have to end up fighting her, I mean she is-"
"Please do not such things! I do not wish to think of that..."
"But we're going to have to..."
"..." Starfire looked out the window again.
Raven heaved as beads of sweat dripped down her face. The smooth metal staff she held in her hand began to feel course and rough. She glowered at the person in front of her, whom she refused to acknowledge as her mentor. They had been training for hours now and just finished hand-to-hand combat; so they decided to do practice with weapons, both projectile and hand-held. Raven shifted her foot as he allowed her to temporarily catch her breath and anticipated where he would attack next. She narrowed her eyes, and then he charged at her, swinging his staff.
The staff swung close to her head but Raven ducked out the way, jabbing him in the chest and pushing him back. As Slade took a step back, while his apprentice quickly twirled her staff, hoping to ram the staff into his shoulder. The villain blocked the strike, but Raven removed one hand from her staff and slammed her palm in the same spot. This forced him back even more, putting 3 feet between them. He grunted as Raven released her other hand, allowing the staff to slip between them, catching it and whacking it into his right side. The hit caused a rippling effect, temporarily stunning him; seeing an open opportunity, the empath spun around and slammed the staff into Slade's left side. Slade still stunned, Raven kicked him in the chest, and he went sailing back. Quickly recovering in mid-air, the villain dismounted, landing gracefully on the ground. The half-demon dashed towards him, making a sweep across his head but holding his staff vertically blocked it. Tilting his staff, Slade was able to avert Raven's staff away from him so he could attack. However, Raven had swung with her right hand, so she could pull the staff toward herself and since the staff was diagonal, the end kept hitting his chest-similar to that of a pump. Without thinking, Slade removed his right hand, allowing the empath to pull away and slap his hand that held the staff. It went twirling in the air before hitting the ground with a loud metallic clatter. The mentor turned his attention to the purple-haired demoness in front of him, staff pointed at his throat and beneath his mask he was smiling proudly.
"Good work Raven, we're finished for the day."
Raven narrowed her eyes before giving a curt nod, whipped around and began heading out the room. As she headed out, Raven heard Slade trot toward his staff and she took a few more steps toward the door. Slade leapt into the air, his staff raised high above his head, landing beside Raven. The empath whirled around and knocked the weapon out of his hand again, the staff twirling in the air. With quick thinking, Raven threw her staff like a spear that hit the other staff and both flew across the room.
"Ah, you learned never to put your guard down."
Raven grimaced before heading out the door and shutting it behind her. She speed-walked down the hallway, turned the corner, and ignored the glorious view of the outside. The empath cared nothing for the suits of armor that stood near the walls or the crimson curtains cascading to the floor, all she cared for was reaching her room to rest. She could see the door just up ahead, scurried inside and closed the door. Pulling off her arm/shin guards, gloves and boots, the empath plopped on the bed feeling exhausted. Of course she wouldn't admit it, but she really wanted to return home, back to her smiling friends and their rambunctiousness, to fighting crime, to her sanctuary. Raven closed her eyes, placing her wrist over her face and felt something dangling. Opening her eyes, she saw the little charm bracelet and gave a little smile, letting out a light sigh before turning to her side. She played with the trinket, forgetting the bruises that plagued her body from training then falling asleep.
+Dusk+
Waking up a few hours later, Raven realized that it was dusk but she didn't care. The empath sat up on her bed and stretched, when there was a knock at the door.
"Miss Raven, Master Slade wishes to see you again in ten minutes", Wintergreen informed.
She groaned as the footsteps faded, still feeling sleepy, and tried to shake off the sluggishness but to no avail.
'I just finished a training session hours ago! What does he want now? It can't be another training session.'
Sitting there angrily thinking these thoughts would do nothing, so she let out a sigh and then reluctantly got to her feet to head out the door.
"!"
The apathetic girl nearly forgot to put on the rest of her uniform, turning around and strapped on her arm and shin guards, slipped on her gloves and put on her boots. She'd hate to think what Slade would do if she didn't show up in uniform. That thought that had never crossed her mind until now. As Raven headed out, she caught a glimpse of her reflection; Raven hated how she looked. They signified that her affiliation was Slade's apprentice and she hated that. Tearing her eyes away from the mirror, she finally headed out the door and strode to Slade's study, which was in the opposite direction of the training room.
Like the training room, the study rested at the end of the hall but it looked quite different. It was a glossy wooden door with a golden knob, hinges, and edges. A large, black, fancy-looking S was in the middle of the door which looked like it had been crafted from black pearls. She turned the knob and entered. The circular room was twice as big as the training room, and more luxurious; shelves upon shelves of books lined the walls (looking not unlike a library), red carpeting covered the floors, a large fireplace stood against the wall, which Slade was standing next to. A large mahogany desk stood at the left, near a spiral staircase, which led to more books and a large monitor hung near the chimney.
"Good you're here," he said robotically, his back facing her.
"Let's get straight to the point, why'd you call me?"
Slade chuckled lightly, on even volume as the crackling fire. "I know your training isn't complete yet, but I want to test your current abilities."
"I thought you already were with all this training."
"As I was saying, I want to test your current abilities, so I'm sending you on a mission; of course I'll be guiding you through it."
"What kind of mission?"
"I need you to steal a packet of zinothium."
"!" Raven's eyes widened. Although that power source was incredible, it was also dangerous considering it is able to wipe out entire city blocks. And it was also very rare; the incident of Red-X brought back irksome memories as she was still feeling the sting on her face from that.
"But isn't-"
"This shouldn't be very hard for you, Raven, I'm quite confident in your abilities. No ifs, ands, or buts. You are to head out in approximately one hour, no questions."
A skeptical look crossed Raven's features as she tried to understand what was happening as well as other ideas that may happen on this mission. It occurred to her that her friends might end up discovering her and a possible fight between them. An even deeper hatred was targeted at Slade from the empath, for making her fight her friends.
"What's wrong? You haven't left yet."
Raven balled her fists, grit her teeth, narrowed her eyes at the antagonist before sharply about-facing and leaving. The slamming of the door echoed across the vast room and the long hallway. The demoness strode along the long hallway, feeling the anger building up inside of her. She tried to calm down, but it was failing. Raven took a deep breath and exhaled before looking out the window.
The beautiful blue sky was replaced with a blue violet, several scattered stars twinkling, and not a single cloud. Whatever birds flew overhead, were long gone and a hush blanketed the area. Picking her feet up again, the empath headed for her room but along the way, she was stopped by Wintergreen.
"Miss Raven, I'd like you to come with me. Master Slade wishes you to take some weapons for your trip."
"?"
Like before, the empath followed the elderly gentleman to the weapons arsenal. As always, Raven knew that a conversation would never happen between the two of them, so they continued walking in complete silence. The pair kept walking until they came to a large steel door that looked like a safe-door. Wintergreen fiddled with a few buttons on the side, then pulling out a keycard from his black jacket and placed it in the slot. A ping escaped the slot, followed by the door opening. Raven looked from behind Wintergreen, seeing that it was an elevator she suspected led underground.
"Come in dear girl", Wintergreen goaded and Raven stepped inside.
She felt the elevator shake a little before it slowly dropped down.
"Master Slade has taken extra precautions."
Before Raven had a chance to understand what Wintergreen meant, they had arrived at their stop. The doors whooshed open, revealing a long rectangular room with a door on the opposite side. It was a white linoleum room, glossy all around. Wintergreen stepped to the side, pressed his hand against one of the panels and another control panel popped out. He slipped his card in again, and some sort of red light swept across his blue eyes.
Standing up straight, he told Raven that they could go on ahead without any problems because he disabled the defense systems. The two went on through two other rooms until they came to the weapons arsenal. They came inside the room and Raven was shocked to see the amount of artillery; there were enough weapons to begin world domination. That's when the strangest thought occurred to Raven, if Beast Boy were here, he would make some stupid comments like, "Dude, talk about zombie apocalypse protection!" or "Can I borrow that?"
How Raven suddenly came with that thought, she didn't know or didn't want to find out. On a more serious thought, why didn't Slade try attempt taking over the world now, with so many weapons?
As Raven followed Wintergreen, she looked around the room; tanks, nuclear weapons, bombs, grenades, jets, guns, dooms-day devices, robots, etc. This was one of the many reasons why Slade was not to be taken lightly. Quickly coming back from shock, the empath realized that they were heading to the back of the room.
"Here we are. Master Slade only wishes that you take the weapons that you are familiar with."
They finally stopped at the back where many different types of weapons were mounted on the wall. He pulled off another metal staff, two daggers, and several smoke and flash bombs. After Wintergreen gave her the selected weapons, they headed back out of the armory, backtracked out of the three rooms and up from the elevator. Stepping out from the elevator, Slade's assistant informed her that she still had 40 minutes to spend. Not wasting any time, Raven headed back to her room, shut the door, and plunked on her bed. The empath shut her eyes, daring not to think of the events that were to come.
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