And here it is! The epicness that is Chapter 4!
Now for some responses…
To K-Flyer- well, you'll find out. That's all I can say without giving stuff away, sorry!
To FelynxTiger- bwahaha, I am so evil. Tremble in anticipation, readers! TREMBLE!
Lol
To Spiritedheart4ever- the plot wouldn't be nearly as interesting if they went around all polite and stuff. I've got nothing against guys in white suits personally, but I needed some people to be the bad guys at first.
To Mariabelle- Yes, Rob and Star will make an appearance soon. Don't worry.
To FallingDarkAngel- haha, thanks. And you'll find out eventually, just wait…
To Gingerstorm101- okay
To wolfenstein- thank you :)
To haleytylers- thanx, Im glad that you frickin love this :D
To Chico Magnifico- ah! Where did all these holes come from? I'll try and explain later in the story.
Thanks, yooz guyz!
And now…
Enjoy…
Raven sat in what had once been her room, looking around. The walls had been painted over, and she had taken all of her things with her when she and Beast Boy had moved out. Of course, all of that was probably all dust and ashes, blown halfway across California on the wind.
She felt a slight pang of sadness. Some of those spell books had been hundreds of thousands of years old. She had only just begun to scratch the surface in some of them.
Emily was more important, of course, but still…
All those books!
She shook her head and looked down.
She was wearing a remnant of her old crime-fighting outfit, because everyone had agreed that going around in a ripped, singed bathrobe was not a good idea. It was lucky that she hadn't grown much since she had stopped being an active member of the Titans, because Bumblebee was taller and slimmer than Raven; none of her clothes would fit.
Her clothing was basically what she had always worn, except all white. The gems on her hands, belt and on the cloak were now light blue, though, as was her chakra. A small choker wrapped around her neck, holding the cross and the pendant. Instead of the shoes she wore before, she had knee-high white boots, and a black trim went around the edge of the cloak.
There was a knock on her door. Raven's powers were only just returning, so she couldn't tell who it was.
"Who is it?' she called.
"The pizza guy," Beast Boy said.
Raven laughed softly. "Come in."
The door slid open and Beast Boy strode in.
Finding an outfit for him had been a bit harder, for he had continued to grow like a weed even after they had gotten married. It was probably his genetics. He wore large brown boots, shredded blue jeans, and a skin-tight black and purple shirt with a large white "B" on it. He also wore fingerless gloves.
He sat down beside Raven. "Feeling okay?" he asked.
"As okay as I can, I suppose," she responded. "I mean, our child is being hunted by the government, our house and all of our belongings are gone, we just turned some of our best friends into conspirators, and we will never be able to return to our normal life ever again."
Beast Boy laughed bitterly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, it all kinda sucks, doesn't it?"
Raven smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
Beast Boy wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close. "We'll make it through this. I don't know how, or when, but we will."
Raven smirked. "Yeah, that's very comforting."
"Hey, I try. And it's the only realistic reassurance I can offer."
Raven stood up. "I feel the need for tea."
"That's not surprising," Beast Boy chuckled softly.
They walked hand in hand down to the kitchen, where Bumblebee was sitting, reading the paper, as always, sipping on a gigantic mug of coffee.
Bumblebee did this pretty much every morning, as the two of them had found out in their few days staying there. Both Raven and Beast Boy's injuries had mostly healed already, due to one's above average blood and the other's jacked up immune system. All that was left was a giant bruise on Beast Boy's shoulder.
"Vic at the gym?" Raven asked, walking over and opening a cupboard.
"Actually no, he's down in the garage, working on his baby," Bumblebee said with a grin, taking another sip of her coffee.
"This early?" Beast Boy asked, flopping on to the couch.
"Yeah, he's obsessed. Still. After all these years."
"Well, that's who he is." Raven pulled a tea bag out and started up the kettle as she spoke. While Cyborg and Bumblebee thought tea rather repulsive, they always kept a box of the herbal variety handy in case Raven stopped by.
"Heh. Good old Cyborg," Beast Boy muttered. He thought he heard a deep buzzing noise on the horizon, but he dismissed it.
(…)
Apache Longbows and Blackhawks. A total of 30 combined.
They swooped low over the city, dodging between skyscrapers and making many heads turn. What was such a large number of military helicopters doing here, flying so low over Jump?
A squadron of twelve F-16s roared overhead behind the choppers, and the buildings actually quaked. They all flew in perfect formation, all towards the same goal.
One of the agents in white looked out of the smudged glass canopy of the lead Blackhawk at the 42 aircraft attack force he had amassed, and wondered if he had brought enough.
He was, after all, going up against Titans Tower, the stronghold of Jump City, one of the most technologically advanced and well defended buildings in human history. No to mention there were also at least four adult superhumans within it.
The F-16s' superior speed had taken them to the waterfront by this time, and they opened fire with a swarm of Hellfire missiles. They rose as one and dropped towards the tower…
(…)
There was a brief screaming sound as the kettle boiled before Raven removed it from the flame and poured it into her mug. Then she went over and sat with Beast Boy on the couch as he watched the Channel 10 news.
"Anything about us?" she asked, taking a sip.
"Nothing," Beast Boy replied, flicking through several other news stations too. "We aren't interesting enough, apparently."
"Or they're keeping the whole thing hushed up," Bumblebee said grimly, sitting down beside them.
"That's considerably more likely," Raven laughed.
"Hey… does anyone else hear that?" Beast Boy asked, rubbing his ear.
"Hear what?"
"I dunno… it sounds like a whole ton of…" Beast Boy froze.
"Helicopters."
Everyone was silent, and a slight buzzing drone could now be heard by all.
"Shit," muttered Raven.
Suddenly Cyborg was in the doorway, breathing heavily, like he had run up all the stairs.
"Hey guys," he panted. "We've got a problem."
Then the missiles hit.
Fire and thunder blasted the wall in, and everyone was lost in a storm of smoke and noise. Raven was engulfed in a blaze of orange light and crushing sound, and she felt the shockwave throw her off her feet and through the charged air, hitting the ground hard, pushing aside piles of dust and rubble. Raven got up from where she had landed, which was all the way across the room.
"GARFIELD!" she screamed as the ear-shattering roar of 12 fighter jets blasted overhead.
"Ow! Damn!" Beast Boy yelled, picking himself out of the wall. Cyborg had been thrown right through it, and Bumblebee lay a few feet beyond Raven.
"Is everyone okay?" Raven asked as Cyborg picked his way back into the room and helped Bumblebee to her feet.
"I hit my freaking bruise, but other than that, I'm fine," Beast Boy said, walking over to Raven.
"We're both okay," Bumblebee said, coughing on the dust that hung thickly in the air. Cyborg nodded.
"We really need to go," Beast Boy said.
"My sentiments exactly," Cyborg said grimly. He opened up his arm and typed on a small keyboard hidden there. What lights remaining intact within the room blinked red.
"What'd you do?" Raven asked. Everyone covered their ears as a large number of helicopters surrounded them.
"I set the tower on defense mode," Cyborg shouted above the noise. "That should keep them busy."
(…)
When the smoke from the missiles had cleared, there was almost no noticeable damage to the building's structure. The steel supports were bent inwards at a crazy angle, the windows were decimated, but other than that it was fine. But it was Titans Tower, after all. It would take more than 24 missiles to do much damage.
The Agent gave his men the command and they all descended in a giant circle around the top of the building. A heavy screen of acrid, black smoke was billowing into the sky, and small fires flickered here and there.
His finger tensed on the fire button. But wait… did he even need to? Had they perished in the explosion?
His question was answered when laser turrets folded out along the edge of the crumbling roof and opened fire.
(…)
The sound of screaming engines and flying plasma confirmed that the Tower's defense grid was indeed up and running. The racket grew even louder when the F-16s circled back around and began to fire their mounted guns at the turrets. Pillars of flame shot into the sky when one of them was hit.
"We'd… better go," muttered Cyborg, taking Bee's hand and leading them all towards the stairs.
"How long will that be able to hold them off?" Beast Boy asked, holding his shoulder with one hand and Raven's hand with the other.
"Erm… not very long," Cyborg shouted over the noise as a girder crashed through the ceiling and landed in their path. He blasted it out of the way with his cannon and kept going.
"What do you mean?" Raven asked.
"Well, when we stopped being a superhero team the government banned me from designing any new weapons," Cyborg explained. They were descending the stairs now. "In all the time that's passed their jets and helicopters might stand an even match. And they have enough numbers to effectively level a whole city, much less one building."
"What happened to that shield you were working on?"
"Oh, that?" laughed Bumblebee. "Remember that really nasty electrical storm a few years ago?"
"Yeah, it blasted away half our roof, why?" Beast Boy asked.
"Well… that wasn't entirely natural," Cyborg smiled sheepishly even as he slammed a door off its hinges with his shoulder and leapt through the opening. "Sorry."
"Dude…" muttered Beast Boy, rolling his eyes. Only Raven noticed.
"So where to now?" she asked.
"Secret tunnel." was the simple answer.
Both Raven and Beast Boy exchanged confused glances.
"You remember how paranoid Richard was?" Cyborg asked. He looked over his shoulder to see them nod. "He came to me worried that he or Kori or anyone would need a fortress, I dunno, in case some old villain with a grudge came along or something. So we secretly built a tunnel under the bay connecting their house and here. We thought Rich and Kori would be running to us, instead of the other way around."
He shrugged. "We were going to connect your house as well, but never got your consent."
"That was part of the security system offer, wasn't it?" Beast Boy asked. Cyborg nodded.
"But do we really have to go and drag Rich and Kori into this mess?" Raven sighed. "I don't want to shatter what they've built up like I've done for you."
Bumblebee turned and began flying backward down the stairwell to better talk to them.
"That's sweet of you, honey, but think!" she said. "It will be all over the media that the military attacked the Tower, and those two will certainly find out. How do you think they'll feel if we don't ask for their help? They'll think we don't trust them!"
Raven bit her lip.
"Unfortunately, she's right, Rae," said Beast Boy. Raven looked at him in surprise. "The whole team is in on this, they'll want to be. No matter how hard we try to stop them." There was almost a grimace on his face as he spoke.
"Don't even think of doing this by yourself!" said Cyborg. Plaster fell onto his face and he sneezed loudly.
Raven swallowed shakily. "Thank you," she whispered. "All of you."
Bumblebee waved a hand and turned back around. Raven envied her for being able to fly. Her powers still weren't all back yet, and her legs were killing her.
After a while the sound of gunfire stopped.
"Dang," muttered Cyborg. "They shot down the last of the turrets."
There was a hollow whooshing noise and a loud boom as another missile strike rocked the Tower, and they all fell to the ground.
"What floor are we on?" asked Beast Boy through the smoke seeping down the stairs from behind. Raven squinted at the door beside them.
"Looks like Level 3, we're almost there," she said.
Suddenly the power clicked off.
"Great," snapped Bumblebee as Cyborg stood up and activated his shoulder mounted light. It made the dust in the air sparkle and glow strangely, like mist, almost. Another muffled boom, this time less powerful, echoed through the structure above them.
"We'd better move, y'all," Cyborg said, dusting himself off. The casing on one of his shoulders had a hairline crack in it. "It won't be long before they start to fire on the rest of the Tower."
They continued on, though slower now, and eventually reached basement level, the garage. It was pitch black, and no one dared venture beyond the small beam of Cyborg's light.
"Hold on," he muttered, and pressed a button on his arm. There was a click, and two sharp headlights cut through the gloom. A powerful engine rumbled.
"Hop in, everyone!" Cyborg said and climbed into the driver's seat of the T-Car. Bumblebee had shotgun, and Raven and Beast Boy managed to find the doors and clamber into the back seat.
They all jumped as one of the lights from the ceiling fell and smashed against the ground. Several tools tumbled off the shelves, and the water pipes shuddered as more missiles hit.
"Alright, let's go, guys," Cyborg said, and pressed a button on the dashboard. A garage door creaked open at the far side of the room leading to a rocky tunnel lined with emergency lights. Cyborg floored the accelerator, the 16-cylinder engine roared, and they blasted across the garage and under the bay, towards Robin and Starfire's house and away from the flaming ruin that was Titans Tower.
Bah-Nah-NAAAAAAA!
So much drama.
I'm not going to set any # of reviews this time, it makes me feel obligated to update too soon! That doesn't mean you can't review, though!
However, I do provide a challenge/request. I need a name for the next chapter. In short, the next one contains them meeting Rob and Star and calling other Titans. The person who gives me the best name/idea for a name gets a… uh… special mention!
C' Ya.