Raven sighed, it had been a difficult night, oh it had started out normally enough, patrolling with the boys, hunting down muggers and purse snatchers lightening the load of the local police force between struggles with those that the police simply couldnt deal with either due to lack of man power or a lack of unconventional methods. Still it was unlike many of the villians the battled against to be so unwilling to do the Titans harm, she sat quietly in the tower infirmary blankly staring down at the sleeping form of her recently recovered teammate, Beastboy was laying still his ribs taped up, the bandage around his head had been recently changed and the filth of the drainage tunnels washed from his form, a task that cyborg was forced to handle, Robin had left standing orders that she wait until his return before healing the green changling, such efforts always left her drained and near useless to the team espessially when the damage was severe, though Raven thought it an unnessisary precaution, after all Raven had been allowed to heal Robins leg and arm before he left again, perhaps they thought two such healing sessions would deplete her reserves of energy. With a glance at the security camera mounted in the corner, she reached out and brushed her fingers though the thick green hair of her sleeping friend, enjoying the silky feel of it between her fingers, ignoring the roughness of the bandage as her hand traced down to the soft skin of his boyish face, tender feelings seemed to well within her, warm and not unexpected they had been there a while confusing and frustrating at times but steady and constant now, no longer as new and frightening as the first time she had met him, the contact with his skin sent a sympathetic ache into her temple and ribs, with a frustrated growl she gathered her will power and slowly trickled her power into him, seeking out his hurts and soothing them away with the warm breath of her compassion, until the pain had left him entirely, after all Robin need never know that she had mended his injuries before the O.K. was given, a small secret smile graced her usually impassive face as she watched the green boy beside her relax and settle into a deeper sleep, his injuries no longer present to bother him, glancing back at the camera once more she leaned over his bed and placed a small chaste kiss on his smooth brow, before sitting back and awaiting the orders of her fearless leader.
The Rain fell in sheets causing small rivers to cascade into and down the streets making thier way to the ocean, Starfire flew beside Robin as he walked down the deserted streets attempting to track the escaped criminal, "do we have an idea who he is?" asked a bewildered Starfire, the heat of the chase had worn off and she had returned to her usual cheer and with the recovery of her beloved Robin she was feeling quite well with the world, Robin stared up at her through his sopping hair and the pouring rain, I couldnt find anything to identify him at either of the scenes except a few finger prints and Cyborg is running them through the database but i have my doubts that he'll uncover much" the boy wonder sighed his breath steaming in the cold air as he gazed up at the grey sky "lets go home Star", he murmured, Starfire dropped down and scooped Robin up under his arms and took to the skys at speed cutting through the storm clouds like a knife heading for the large "T" that dominated the sky line of the bay.
Gizmo trudged through the city streets people avoided him like a plauge, but didnt raise too great a fuss as he was in no mood to cause trouble, depression hung like a black cloud above his head, failure was a glaring mark against him one Brother Blood wouldnt soon forget, even if it was a failure in one's personal agenda, he sighed shaking his head continueing his long trek home, he made it to one of the hundred secret entrances to the HIVE academy and started his way down the gaurds flanking the massive steel doors stared at him until he produced his ID code, as they opened the doors for him his mood darkened, now that pit sniffer would be onto him wouldnt let his gaurd down again probably make it alot harder to get the drop on him, and knowing Private Hive it would be harder to corner him by himself, his heavy treds stopped infront of his doorwhich he keyed open. Sitting on his bed the object of his ire, alone, armed to the teeth armored and with his rifle resting across his lap, the rifle he had modified, had increased the capacity and improved the efficiency, increased its power, the first inkling of nervousness crept up Gizmo's spine.
"What the heck are you doing in my room pit sniffer" screamed the high pitched voice of Gozmo, the pitch causing the speakers in his armor to crackle, Lunatic drew his revolver quick as thought and emptied it with the roar of a cannon, all six rounds sounding off as a single shot deafeningly loud in the small confines of Gizmo's room all six shots smashed into the helmet of the armored suit harmlessly, failing completely to even damage the sensor net covering the robot, "heh shoulda started with the rifle ya stinking moron, I'm gonna skin you like a potat-oh!" this exclimation was brought on by the fact that Lunatic had his rifle leveled at Gizmo's armor wrapped skull Gizmo keyed the control stud activating the turrets and in the split second they aligned on thier target a sharp *SNAP* *SNAP* louder than the pistol shot preceding it, and a bright blue beam of condensed particles obliterated his shoulder guns as surely as if they were a kids balloons, Lunatic got to his feet slinging his rifle back over his left pauldron and drawing his vibroblade, with a sharp *click* an impercptable hum began to eminate from the blade which seemed to shimer slightly, "I'm going to be very direct with you Gizmo, so i want you to pay attention, this ends right this second, I'm going to walk through that door, I'm going to keep whats *mine* and I am going to return to my room and go to sleep, and that will be the end of it, I won't touch you, you won't touch me, and if you get it into your head to try and ambush me or poison me or plant a bomb on me or anyother idiotic thing that might be going on in that big bald noggin of yours forget it now cause if you screw it up and i get away I'll kill you, no running, no jokes, no threats, do i make myself clear?" From within the heavily armored suit Gizmo swallowed, the calm certianty in Lunatics eyes, the impossibly powerful rifle on his back and that stupid knife of his, in his minds eye Gizmo could see the brutal usage that they had endured in the taller boy's hands, the carbon scoring had told of extensive use, and the wear on the blade had said it had sawed through a great deal and managed to survive to have this evidence witnessed, coupled with the simple familiarity with which Lunatic held the weapons forced Gizmo to nod a bit jerkily "j-just get out of my room butt scratcher, before i get nasty" with that Lunatic smiled cheery as sunshine and almost skipped from the room leaving Gizmo to frown and ponder his next move.
So it was that Lunatic returned to his room and true to his word he shucked his armor stowed his now deactivated blade under his pillow, and began unloading his empty pistol, as the ornate casing landed on his blanket he stared wide eyed, he had just used six of his twelve silver bullets to scare the Gizmo kid, a soft whine escaped Lunatics throat as he loaded the pistol with the much more numerous hollow points, "at least i have my guns back i guess" he said to the empty room still a mess of scorched wood, shattered furnature, and misshapen melted wall pannels, "guess i should see about getting my room fixed up" he sighed to the walls, "in the morning" he yawned at last and settled into bed to while away the next few hours in dreamless slumber.
Brother Blood sat within the dark confines of his office reviewing paper work absently, signing memos and sending out forms, the little things that are simply required to keep the school running, oh most certianly he could have a ream of secretaries and faculty members, doing this for him and doing it just as well, but sometimes a man simply has to do something with his hands while he thinks, and after seeing Lunatics performance against the Teen Titans while simply trying to evade them had piqued his intrest and given him much to think about, if he could give the rather annoyingly effective group so much trouble just trying to flee, unarmed and unprepared, what would he be capable of fully armed and intent on thier destruction, the thought caused a small smile to grace his features, "yes" he purred to himself "there is much to think about, much to do, my little Lunatic I think there are great things in your future" a laugh bubbled its way from his throat that echoed into the empty halls of his school.
Cyborg sat in his room staring down at the series of monitors and sensors running over the blood samples he had collected from the hood of the truck where Beastbiy and the strabge armored kid had been wrestling, most of the blood had been tainted but the police and forensics guys had managed to get him a few distressingly volumous samples, Robin had hoped to identify the guy with this and several finger prints, hair samples, and a few skin samples, but so far the database had come up dry, not all that unusual really most of the people they had to deal with flew under the radar and didnt have extensive warrents or medical histories to be accessed, but the contents of the samples were a bit more distressing, it showed that the kid was human, but that was a far as that went, the sheer amount of neurotransmitters, epinephrine, corticosteroids, and noradrenaline ment the kid should have been having a heart attack not tossing cars and wretling with dinosaurs, it was a worrisome discovery he'd need to take samples directly from the kid to figure out if he was some kind of junkie or if he had some kind of bizzar power that let him handle that kind of stress, but one thing was certian, they needed to find him and stop him before he decided to hurt someone, with a sigh he keyed off his extra system and put away the samples deciding that resting would be best, he wandered over to his bed and locked in for a good nights recharge and a few good dreams.
Another month had passed within the walls of HIVE academy, and Lunatic took full advantage of his outing with Billy and P.H. to further familiarize himself with Jump city, the people, the places, where to find a good book, unfortunatly the work he was used to was simply unavailable to him, it was as if no one had need of a mercinary, he had even tried the local constabulary but they attempted to confiscate his weapons when he explained that he had no I.D. and was currently homeless, and jobless, it was a short sprint to evade them and simple as changing his coat to avoid further trouble from him, of course he had to wear a broad brimmed hat to his his locator studs from view but that didnt bother him much, getting cash was going to be an issue, he didnt have anything to trade and stealing just felt so...wrong, unfortunatly the only jobs available with few questions seemed to be at fast food restraunts and that simply wasnt going to happen, so with a heavy heart Lunatic selected a rooftop overlooking a bank and waited calmly for night fall. It was almost five A.M. when Lunatic spotted the armored car pulling up to the bank four armed gaurds began to file out armed with shotguns and wearing ballistic vests, with a sigh he rolled to his feet and readied himself for his first actual heist, "I can't believe I'm about to do this" he muttered, shortly before the armored car was struck by a brilliant bolt of energy, and a mad cackle echoed up and down the street.
Lurking in the darkness simply wasnt his style, thought Doctor Light as he eyed the armored truck making its way down the road, he glanced down at the system monitor on his right arm smirking as the display illuminated his face, "all systems green its time to enlighten these ignorant peons to the brilliance of Doctor Light, Cackled the mad doc, as he raised his hands above his head charging the proton accelerator, before unleashing a devestating blast into the side of the truck knocking it from its wheels and scattering the gaurds from the rear of the wrecked truck, "weep at your ignorance before the brilliance of Doctor Li-GAH" it was in the midst of this rant that a chunck of brick sailed from the roof of the four story building across the street, smashing into the side of Dr Light's helmet knocking him to the ground.
Lunatic hopped down from the rooftop catching a streetlight mid fall and used it slow his decent as he swung from the creaking metal light source and landed with a crash onto the over turned truck, a heavy piece of masonry still in hand, "Uh i hate to rain on your parade but this is *my* heist, get your own armored car freak!" Dr Light shook his head staring bleerily for a moment at the young man standing on *his* armored car "FOOL!" he cried, "you dare try and dim the brilliance of DOCTOR LIGHT!" with that the good doctor unleashed a blast from both hands at the brick wielding fool on top of the armored car, said figure wasnt there to be shot he had dropped down behind the large overturned vehicle spotting three men still inside banged up and groaning in a heap the engine of the transport was starting to belch black smoke and there was the quiet patter of cracked fuel tanks leaking onto the pavement, Lunatic sighed i am not getting paid enough for the crap he muttered as he nipped around the corner long enough to line up a good throw with his brick, with a grunt he hurled the rectangular projectile at speeds that would leave a professional pitcher jealous, the satisfying *clang* of the brick impacting with the skinny armored chest of that Dr Light fella, with a bit of effort he pulled on the twisted steel of the door the great bulk of the armored land craft groaned and slid a few feet as the doors failed to yeild, "OH GIVE ME A BREAK!" snapped Lunatic as he delivered a kick to the door, little did he know the short slide down the street had kicked up a shower of sparks igniting the fuel with a dull roar, the rapidly spreading flames soon had the whole of the vehicle engulfed in the flames, Dr Light lay on his back gasping for breath the impact of the brick had forced the air from his lungs leaving him reeling and trying desperately not to be violently ill, he heard the horrid shriek of metal on stone followed by the complaints of the ruffian who had struck him, chest aching from the rib that was broken "to turn you back on my brilliance is to invite your doom" wheezed the verbose villian as he raised his right arm and leveled the glowing appendage at the struggling form beside the now flaming transport, with a cackle he unleashed the blast of energy, Lunatic who had been concentrating on the transport and its occupants only had enough time to turn and think "ah fuck" as he was blown off his feet, his armor absorbing most of the damage from the blast as the collision knocked him into the banks loading bay crumpling the door and setting off the alarm therein.
Doctor Light cursed rather colorfully as he limped into the alley making his way to the beat up hatch back that would serve his escape, "next time I'll finish you, allowing you to be burnt to nothing in the luminecent glory of my inventions" cackled Dr Light as he turned the key and gunned the engine the headlights revealed the dark shape of the sorceress raven and the glowing eyes of the green beast beside her, the beast's maw opened wide revealing rows of sharp ivory fangs as its massive fist came down on the hood of his S.U.V. shattering the headlights and plunging the alley once more into darkness, "Good boy" giggled the sorceress from within the deeper darkness of her cloak her slim fingers caressing the thick mane as Dr Light screamed in horror.
From the darkness of the banks loading bay Lunatic cursed rather colorfully as he untagled himself from the twisted remains of the door, it was distressingly slick, and the tangy scent of his own blood was heavy in his nostrils, "memo to self pay attention to your surroundings one hundred lines, when I get back to the HIVE" he groaned, and stood memory smashing back into his skull even as the scent of smoke reached his nostrils past all else, "shit shit shit" he hissed as he leapt from the loading bay running hell mell towards the truck drawing his vibroblade mid step, the coughing from inside barely audible over the roar of the flames, which now wreathed the entirty of the armored transport, whirling the blade point down he hammered the vibrating knife into the twisted metal door, flames licking his flesh and leaving scorched flesh behind as the blade slice neatly into it just far enough to pierce the armor with a smile he drew the knife sharply to the right jerking it three feet and forcing it down a further three feet as the sonic generator sparked and went silent, jerking his hands back he swore at the faulty weapon tossing it over his shoulder he hauled back and delivered a brutal hammer blow to the center of the door forcing the newly cut door partially into the smokey compartment, now able to curl his hands around the searing metal of the door he braced his foot against the metal forcing the reinforced metal to groan in protest as it slowly gave way and bent slowly outwards, "son of a bitch" gasped Lunatic as he ducked inside flames already curling within the compartment setting alight his would be prize, "you boys are damned lucky I'm a goodly sort" gripping the back of the first mans vest he bodily hurled him from the truck followed by his other two buddies, staggering free of the wreckage, he couldnt help but chuckle staggering over to the gaurds he settled them on the steps of the bank, they were already looking better with the fresh air filling thier lungs instead of smoke, Lunatic settled onto the steps slapping out his burning pant leg absently.
From the shadows of the alleyway Raven extended a thought to the armored car sheathing it in black energy snuffing the flames in a heartbeat, as Beastboy hunkered down beside her no longer sheathed in the skin of an animal watching as the armored boy sat the last of the gaurds on the steps of the bank, sitting down on the steps beside them and patting out his smoldering pant leg, "he's hurt" murmured Beastboy softly to the sorceress at his side, Raven simply nodded, watching as the armored boy lent back on the steps and groaned, seeming to fall asleep as the sirens echoed from further within the city, "he's not moving Rae" murmured the green changling as he rolled into the form of a wolf and loped over to the armored boy's fallen knife collecting it in his jaws he crept slowly over to the replete forms upon the stairs dropping the blade at his feet and sitting on his haunches before him watching, calmly Raven stepped up beside him reaching down to lightly toy with one of his ears causing the great green wolf to pant happily thumping his tail on the pavement, "Excuse me?" Raven murmured eyeing the recumbrant kid with the silver studs in his head, the burns on his arms had started steaming, the flesh slowly knitting, the burns slowly fading from his hands until the skin was smooth, scarred but whole.
The healing trance hadnt taken as long as anticipated, soon the unbearable itching gave way to the sounds of sirens and the panting of a large dog, Lunatic cracked his eyes open and beheld the purple cloaked sorceress and the large wolfe sitting at her feet, lightning fast he snatched up the blade at his feet and flipped up and back to the top of the steps "okay you two nice and easy, I'm armed this time and i really don't want to hurt you guys" Raven looked thuroughly unimpressed, the wolf however became a green kid with a head full of messy...green hair, and a single sharp fang peeking out from his lower lip, "easy there fella, we're not here for trouble we just caught sight of an old friend and thought we'd say hi" at this the green kid grinned hopefully, as the sorceress sighed "we were after Dr Light, you just sort of showed up, and to sum up the explinations, yes we saw everything" her monotone was starting to rattle around in his head, Raven frowned he was resisting her attempts to feel him out empathically a somewhat strange reaction, most people couldn't detect her presence in thier minds, "soooo what do we call you? I'm Beastboy and she's Rae..uh Raven" Beastboy corrected himself on the last bit somewhat hastily due to the icy glare of his companion, Lunatic sort of lost his thunder at this point relaxing his battle ready posture as the cops showed up to the scene, stowing his knife as he strolled down the steps, "so you two know a place where i could get a cup of coffee?"