Here is the second part to the last chapter. Again I'm sorry.
*Bows*
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Confining a Raven
Chapter VIII: Questionable Encounter
The team arrived at a wooden pier. It ran about a quarter of a mile long and just as wide. Thick metal railings scaled the edges of it along with dimly lit light posts. Grim water near the shore almost reached its banks threatening to spill over. There were no ships at the docks or anyone in sight as a matter of fact. This confused them. They followed the tracker to its exact coordinates yet no one appeared…
The team regrouped:
Cyborg with Bee
Speedy with Kid Flash
Starfire patrolled the air, which left Nightwing alone to lure out Raven from down below.
They took their positions and waited for his signal.
Nightwing slowly drove along the desolate pier on the Nightbird trying to draw as much attention as he could. The cold wind whipped his pallid face lightly stroking the stray strands of his silky hair. Occasionally, he would reevaluate the tracker to make sure he wasn't going crazy—yes this was in fact the right area. He navigated around the whole area and still couldn't find any traces of her. The site was empty. All to be recognized was the sound of the buoy rocking back and forth off in the distance. Finally, he came to a halt. Nightwing pulled out his communicator thwarted, "Maybe it was a minor glitch in the tracker but I can't find—" but without warning he was blasted off his motorcycle. Immediately, a black claw grappled him against a light post.
"Raven…" he exasperated.
The young petite sorceress approached him with a small satisfied smile. She was clad in the same fitted black jumpsuit she wore at their last encounter, except this time she had already discarded her mask. Her face was sheathed in darkness by her cloak, but still, a few strands of her violet tresses escaped swaying in the gentle breeze, "You don't sound too excited to see me this time" she almost sounded thrilled but her voice remained dry, "… how's that shoulder of yours?"
No response.
She accepted the silence and glowered. Her dark figure paced towards him enjoying every moment of his silence, "Tell your friends it's time to come out now I'm done playing hide and seek."
"They're your friends too" he seethed but her stance never faltered. Instead, she tightened her grip on him, "Don't you ever associate me with the likes of them!.. Friends never turn their back on friends"
"You're right… that's why we're here to save you"
"Maybe you should try saving yourself first" she snarled. The black claw now clutched him by the throat.
"Does Deathstroke… know… you're out here" he struggled.
"Deathstroke has no control over me" her grip tightened, "I've waited for this moment way too long for him to ruin it"
The two kept an intense gaze challenging the other.
"Let him go Raven!" Speedy pointed an arrow directly at her. He stood a few yards away holding a fixed stance.
She sighed truly annoyed now. Nonchalantly, she stated, "I'm going to warn you this only once… This is between me and the Titans. If you try to interfere I'll consider you an enemy"
"Then consider me your enemy because I am a Titan!" Speedy fired his usual arrow and dashed for her.
She raised her free hand to block it but instead Cyborg intervened. The arrow ricocheted off his metal exterior and sprang into the night sky. He stood frozen. Motionless defiant eyes locked with her hooded ones. He towered above her as if analyzing every detail about her. 'Same stance, same features, even the same scowl…god why did it have to be her?…' he sighed.
"What the hell Cyborg I had her!" Speedy broke his trance.
He turned around to see the whole team watching the scene in either confusion or understanding. Unfortunately, when he turned back, a roundhouse kick united with his chin. Disgruntle, he landed on his back. Pain shot through his spine. Still he held her gaze, "Rae… why?"
She moved towards him releasing her control on Nightwing, "You betray me…. then ask why I come after you"
"No...We didn't…you got it all wrong! Slade's been–!"
"Save you're pathetic excuses"
"Don't even try it, Rae, I'm warning you" Bee flew in between the two.
"Figures you'd invite newcomers in our matter" Raven turned to Nightwing who was knelt on the ground, "That's okay I brought along some assistance just in case you did"
"Newcomers?" Kid Flash pointed to himself in confusion; "Maybe… she really doesn't remember us" he looked disappointed.
"AZARATH. METRION. ZINTHOS‼" Her figure levitated high above them in an explosion of energy. A black vortex ripped the sky open and out swarmed hundreds of robots and men in black jumpsuits. The Titans stood in amazement as they were surrounded by the men, "Let me introduce you to my meta-human army"
"How surprising another unfair battle" Bee sighed arming her electric stingers.
"Don't you mean unfair on their behalf" Speedy smirked drawing ten arrows.
"Titans—Go!" Nightwing gripped his escrima sticks.
The group dispersed.
Bee was the first to attack. She shrunk down to her miniature form and swarmed the men. They tried to regroup but lost sight of her. Surging the back of their necks, she darted through them with her electric stingers. Six men dropped. She watched their bodies on the ground tremor as if they were short circuiting.
"Hmm now that's weird. I thought they said this would be a challenge" She smirked triumphantly.
Instead an array of flaming arrows zoomed two centimeters past her. The wind behind them nearly sliced and burned her wings, "HEY! Watch where you're aiming those things Speedy!"
"Then don't let your guard down" he smirked sailing pass her.
She turned, somewhat flabbergasted, to watch ten men fall in flames. Speedy dashed past her once again, now aiming at the next group that charged at them.
"Um… thanks" She furrowed her brows slightly embarrassed then followed suite.
"Try to keep up" he challenged with a sly smirk.
She cocked her head to the side accepting his challenge, "I could say the same to you…"she finally caught up to him expanding to her normal size, "By the way, I thought you said those arrows were just prototypes. Why are you using them so freely?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm just trying to have some fun"
In the meantime,
Kid Flash zipped down the pier in haste; these men were definitely not human. They weren't as fast as him but they were surely close to it. Then again he had a disadvantage having to sidestep patches of flames thanks to Speedy of course. He decided to join this little game Bee and Speedy initiated. Since the game started already he was behind by twenty five men. Cyborg, who tagged in, was ahead of him; Bee and Speedy were neck and neck.
"Okay that's it" Kid Flash came to a halt. The band of men finally surrounded him. It felt like a herd of Slade's due to their orange and black mask and black jumpsuits.
He smirked and licked his lips.
Kid Flash paced back and forth in a circle soon gaining impeccable speed. The air around him turned into a vigorous wind forming a funnel. Eventually that funnel transfigured turning into a small, red and yellow whirlwind. The men started to get sucked into the middle. As soon as he stopped, the whirlwind took off on its own searing off the pier along the ocean. They never came back.
Starfire and Cyborg fought side by side. Fields of starbolts blasted the robots off the railing. The meta-humans charged Cyborg. He armed his cannon waiting for them to get closer. They noticed and sprung back dodging his sonic beam. Starfire would then counterattack with another barrage of starbolts casting them off the ledge. Their battle continued like this until the two were backed against the railing.
"Dammit!" Cyborg dropped to one knee between breaths "No matter how many times I blast them more and more keep coming back! It's hard to keep up"
Starfire nodded in agreement still holding her stance, "If we continue to proceed like this we will run out of the power."
Cyborg struggled back to his feet still blasting some men away, "I think I have a plan… but it's going to take the both of us"
Starfire turned to him questionably.
"I'll fire my cannon and you counter from the other direction with your starbolts. We can call it the…. Sonic Bolt!"
"…" A long sweat drop slid down the side of her face.
"Okay how about… The Star Cannon… the Sonic Flame? Oh come on it's not that bad"
"I'd rather hear one of friend Beastboy's undesirable jokes" she turned to him then departed into the sky.
As soon as she left his side the men charged him. Cyborg whirled around typing in a few buttons on his arm and chest in haste. Finally, he came to a sudden stop. The men that chased him followed suit and halt. They watched waiting for his next move. His body, abruptly, began pulsating an electric blue. His arm rose slowly transfiguring into an enormous cannon.
"Ready Star!" Cyborg smirked at the retreating men.
"Mhm" she took her position charging her beams.
"NOW!"
Raven hadn't moved from her position since the beginning of the battle. Nightwing held his stance a few feet across from her. He had sent a reluctant Starfire off earlier to help the others with the army of men so it was just the two of them. They stood silently waiting for the other to attack.
"Is this really how you want things to be?"
"…" her glare remained impassive. She didn't even bother with a sarcastic remark.
"Why are you protecting him?"
"…"
"It's Deathstroke, isn't it? He's controlling you, right?"
"…"
"You still refuse to answer me" Nightwing somewhat laughed, "How sure are you that you can even trust him…don't you wonder about you're past?"
She raised an eyebrow at his questions. A flicker of uncertainty entered her eyes. He detected this and continued, "He has kept many secrets from you and I'm sure you're qualified enough to notice"
"—it's useless to try and sway me, Robin" she cut him off.
"I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I was just trying to have a conversation"
Her eyes flickered white returning a sharp gaze, "Don't patronize me… you don't know half of what I remember"
It was Nightwing's turn to be caught off guard. His stance only wavered for a moment, "If you knew the truth then I'm sure you wouldn't be standing there right now defending him!"
"You don't know what you're talking about" she retorted smugly.
"There is always three sides to a story… I guess in our case four sides"
"There's no point. After I finish you I'll finish your friends… and this time you won't leave with just a mere scratch" she glanced at his shoulder.
"…" Nightwing stood back taking his position.
"Ooo that was intense" The two looked up searching for the source of the voice only to find Kid Flash leaning on Raven's shoulder, "you know these past years really have done you well" he lifted her chin and gazed into her cold eyes.
Nightwing gaped at the scene and held his ground.
"Insolent Fool!" she teleported a few feet away flustered.
"What are you doing?" Nightwing questioned him.
"Ehh were almost done with those punks so I thought I'd help you out" He pointed at the others. Nightwing turned to see Cyborg and Starfire still fighting and Bee rounding up the men in a large pile with the help of Speedy. As soon as he turned back Kid was already gone. He was already pursuing Raven.
Wherever she teleported he followed.
She shot dark beams of energy at him.
He dodged them, easily.
Annoyance.
Raven teleported further away this time near the edge of the pier barely able to track him.
He was already there waiting for her.
The two continued this dance with one party growing extremely wary of it.
Finally, she came to a halt. In the blink of an eye he was already by her side… now twirling her hair, "You know Rae you've gotten a lot more fun to bother"
"I'll destroy you..."
This time Kid Flash stepped back. Her last statement made him unsure if he wanted to proceed with this little game. In his moment of hesitation, Raven took the opportunity to possess a few beams of the railing; yanking them out of its hinges. He tried to escape but tripped over dismantled parts of robots. He stumbled forward landing in a heap. Raven inched closer to him with a deadly smirk.
"Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos!" the metallic beams pitched forward encasing him in a small cage.
He panicked.
Concentrate... Concentrate… you have to Concentrate, he repeated as if in a trance.
'You'll never get out' Raven intruded his mind.
"Raven… this has gone too far!" Nightwing demanded.
"Oh really" she looked at him innocently. She weakly clenched her fist and the cage began to contract around Flash.
"I said that's enough!" He charged at her.
Nightwing soared high into the air throwing five explosive discs at her. She effortlessly blocked them with her dark barrier then forced him backwards into a light post. His boots made light contact then rebounded off the post into a spiral bolt; never taking a second to recover. He attacked her head on with his escrima sticks in one final blow.
"Flash! Nightwing watch out!"
Suddenly.
Three scorching arrows seared through the night sky. It made an explosive eruption midair. The whole area was set ablaze with smoke and fire. Speedy rushed over terrified to see the after effects. The others came sprinting over too, after hearing the explosion.
"Are you crazy?" Kid Flash bolted beside him, "You're lucky I managed to phase through that cage in—"
"What the hell just happened?" Cyborg pushed Kid aside and grabbed Speedy by his shirt front, "Are you trying to kill them?"
"Nightwing..." Starfire wept. Bee detained her before she could go after him.
"Calm down...that wasn't me. My arrows don't explode like that" Speedy jerked away, "Someone threw explosives at them; I stopped it"
"If it wasn't you then who else could it be" Cyborg surveyed the area. There was no one there except them and fire… masses of it. The pier slowly burned setting everything it touched into flames. It was a matter of time before the whole thing caught ablaze and came plunging down.
The smoke finally cleared.
Nightwing was laid on his back, weapons discarded to his side, unconscious. His wound had ripped open once again and soaked through his uniform. Resting right on top of him was Raven clasped in his arms. Violet locks cascaded over her pale face hiding its beauty .Her cloak was torn off and blazed in a heap. The team ran to their aid. Kid Flash removed her out of Nightwing's arms and Cyborg took his pulse, "He's fine, just knocked out. We need to get out of here quick before the fire—"
"Um… guys?" Everyone turned to Kid. He still held Raven. Her face distorted in pain and, gradually, her body began to shudder and twitch.
"..R-robin..." she croaked. Kid Flash stepped back slightly startled and gently laid her on the ground. Cyborg rushed over and tried to hold her down but the tremors became stronger.
"No! Cyborg, stay back! I've seen this happen earlier to some of the meta-humans" Bee pulled him away.
"… It hurts..."
"What are you talking about she needs our help!" he demanded
"There's nothing we can do… I have a theory and if I'm right then it's not good."
"Nightwing, wake up! We need you!" Speedy grabbed his body away from Starfire and shook him, "something freaky is happening and we don't know what to do"
"…ugh…wha—" he weakly opened his eyes.
"Helloooo this isn't the time to sleep" Speedy shook him some more until he was wide awake.
"I'm up!"
"The whole pier is about to collapse and Raven is having a… uh moment. What do we do?"
Raven cried in distress but then her voice only became a whisper, "…I'm sorry"
His head darted towards the source of the voice. Nightwing hoisted himself onto his weak limbs and limped over to her frail form, "Rae... It's okay… I'm here" he stroked her cheek. Tears slipped down her cold face and her eyes slightly opened. Soft violet eyes stared back at his masked ones full of sadness; "You're okay now..." he smiled. Nightwing picked up her petite form and turned to everyone.
"Will she be… well?" Starfire nervously approached them.
"I'm not sure but we need to head back"
"I alerted the T-jet earlier and it should be landing here any second" Cyborg motioned towards the enormous plane off in the distance surging towards them.
"Dude, what the hell your shoulder!" Speedy stepped forward in concern. Nightwing's arm was drenched in blood and droplets trickled onto the ground.
"I'm fine. Team we have to leave now—" In a flash, Raven's body was engulfed in a burning light and began to levitate. Nightwing strained to hold onto her but he fell backwards; weak losing his grip. The light flickered with a dark wave and sent out a force knocking everyone back. Her body made one final spasm and she landed on her back limp across the pier.
"Friend Raven?" Starfire called.
"…"
"The pier is starting to fall apart!" Speedy noted a piece of metal railing collapsing beneath them.
"Everyone load onto the jet I'll get Raven!" Nightwing demanded.
"Forget it we're not leaving without you" Cyborg refused. They came as a team and he sure as hell wasn't leaving without them.
"No he's right. There's no point in all of us going after her" Kid reasoned, "plus she called for him"
"A true leader learns to listen to his team in a time of need…" a callous voice pierced the noise surrounding them.
Everyone turned to the unsuspected visitor.
"Foolish child… you'll regret ever trying to deceive me" his tone buzzed the air.
"Deathstroke…" Nightwing exhaled.
"..."
"So all of this really was just another one of Slade's plans" Cyborg seethed.
No one answered.
They were too distracted by their new adversary. Deathstroke stood still evaluating each and every one of them on top of a busted lamppost. They were scared to take their eyes off his figure waiting for his next move. At last, his cold eyes fixated on the limp sorceress lying on the ground, "You've broken my gem. I've come to retrieve it".
Nightwing noted this and ran over shielding her, "You're not taking her this time" he drew his bo staff.
"On the contrary, Nightwing, who's going to stop me?" he smirked then jumped onto the pier. Upon landing he aimed three explosive disks at him. Nightwing clutched Raven's body preparing to dodge them. However, Deathstroke drew his gun. He fired three shots igniting the disks midair.
"Nightwing watch out!"
He watched the disks approach them in slow motion. His body wouldn't move... couldn't move. His energy was depleted. Great timing. He panicked. The explosion was happening way too fast. It was his dream all over again. Slade. The Fire. Raven… except this time… he finally reached her. He clutched her body closer determined to protect her this time.
An Explosive Upsurge
…
Gun Shot
…
A Bloodcurdling Shout
…
…
He felt light… like he was floating
Everything was distorted.
His body came crashing down…
Nightwing's eyes flashed open.
His ear was ringing.
Fire… Smoke
… But he was okay?
He lay on his back tossed to side. He still held the beautiful witch in his arms… except, there was blood splattered on her face. His face paled.
"Raven—"
"She's fine. Hurry; get her out of here and onto the jet! Starfire's waiting for you there." Bee's voice interrupted his racing thoughts. He was surrounded. Cyborg… Speedy… Bee… Flash— wait he was hurt? Kid Flash rested on his back gripping his leg in agony. Sweat beads streamed his pale face as he panted in excruciating pain. He was shot and his leg bled profusely. Cyborg forced him down trying to apply pressure to the wound. What happened?
He was too blind. Careless. He didn't even notice them sitting next to him… and worst of all one of his teammates got hurt, "But—"
"Don't worry we'll be right behind you. Speedy is holding off Slade, now go!" Bee stood up with Cyborg. They cautiously propped Flash up onto their shoulders and carried him away onto the jet where they could stop the bleeding. Nightwing followed suit. He picked up Raven and staggered onto the jet. He laid her on an open seat and turned to watch the fight. The T-Jet ascended into the air now hovering above the crumpling pier.
"We need to circle back around for him" Bee commanded from the back still patching up Kid Flash.
"Already on it" Cyborg struggled with the levers.
Speedy circled around Deathstroke shooting multiple arrows in his direction. Deathstroke blocked them with his sword. Instantly, Speedy went in for an aerial kick and knocked him back into a pit of flames. However, upon landing, several boards underneath him collapsed and he barely sidestepped in time to dodge them. Speedy came to a halt and scanned the premises. He knew for a fact fire alone wouldn't stop Slade. Immediately, a dagger shot from the flames and slashed his cheek. Deathstroke emerged from the flames unscathed. There was no way to win this battle. Then again his whole purpose was to just distract him so they could escape, but now he needed to escape… and fast.
'Anytime now guys…' Speedy sweat dropped.
As if on cue, beyond Deathstroke, he spotted the T-Jet. So… he took off. He sprinted praying to whatever god there was that the bridge didn't collapse with him or that Slade wouldn't catch him. He heard crackling flames and pounding footsteps behind him but they eventually faded. If he wasn't in a rush he would have actually tried to pursue Slade. Yea Right. Finally, he reached the end of the pier and without hesitation dived off. Midair he swerved around and shot one final arrow at its support beam. The pier crumbled slowly like shattering glass. He landed on the hard metal surface of the jet and was pulled inside by the arm.
"Glorious!" Starfire flew over tackling him along with Bee.
"Ladies… ladies… it's all in a day's work" he winked with his trademark smile.
"Great, you just ruined the moment" Bee sighed walking away.
"You all… work so well together" Nightwing stated from his position on the floor.
"Don't get all mushy now, dude, it's called working as a team" Speedy walked towards him, "It really has been that long since you guys were all together, huh"
Nightwing didn't answer. He sat back finally able to rest.
"Let me fix up that wound of yours, big guy" Bee came at him with a first aid kit.
"Yes, Bee works wonders in the art of healing" Starfire followed her proudly.
"Star, it's just a med kit… oh never mind" she sweat dropped.
"Where to now, Sparky" Speedy grinned resting a hand on Cyborg's shoulder.
"Don't even start with that again" Cyborg fumed. It was the worst day ever in the tower when Speedy stumbled upon Bee's nickname for him. How he found out no one knows but has he stopped since, nope. "We're going back home… where everything started"
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*Stretches and Yawns*
Don't forget to review please. Just another shout out to my loyal readers: Thank you!