Sorry for the delay, guys. Next will come soon!

Chapter 18 - ...Another Door Opens

August 12th 2009, 7:54 pm

"So who is this guy?" asked Cyborg, driving the T-Car.

"I have no idea" answered Robin, right next to him "The report only said an individual with supernatural powers was putting people in danger next to the bridge"

"A new guy?" asked Beast Boy from the back seat "That didn't happen in a while…"

"We're about to find out" said Cyborg, turning a corner right before the bridge and stepping on the breaks once he saw the huddle of cars right at the entrance.

The three heroes came out of the car quickly, catching sight of the arrival of their three teammates in the air, keeping their distance and waiting for orders, considering the target was in fact someone unfamiliar to them.

"Since you're new in town…" started Robin, as they approached the figure on the bridge's center, with the arms up "… We'll give you a chance to surrender with just a warning"

The figure turned to the sound of these words. All around it there were several citizens hanging from the bridge's supporting cables, covered by a red energy aura. The titans got some minutes to be surprise by the criminal's appearance, which was very different from the villains they were used to.

The man ahead of them didn't look like he was much older than them; he wore a purple suit, silver boots and a long black cloak. He was thin, but had a wide chest and strong arms, had long auburn hair and a young face with nice features and green eyes.

"Oh, the Teen Titans…" he said with a serious, devoid of emotion voice "I hope you don't have any pretension of interrupting my ritual… I spent a lot of time with the preparations"

"Well, when one of the preparations involves hanging innocent people in a bridge in our city, we do need to interfere. Titans, go!"

The man seemed to just sigh, like he had to deal with a small inconvenient, and raise a red energy barrier around him, absorbing several of the green lasers thrown by Starfire. The shield then retracted itself in a ball, which he threw at the Tamarean's direction, that couldn't dodge in time and fell a good distance away from the bridge.

Robin threw several of his discs, but the man simply wrapped them with his red energy and diverted their course, hitting Cyborg instead, who came running from the other side ready to attack with a punch, being paralyzed in a cube of ice, which slid on the floor in the boy wonder's direction, pinning him against the side of the bridge.

A green pterodactyl tried to stick its claws on the redhead's shoulders by one side, while a big rock floated towards his back. He jumped backwards, landing on the rock, and with a punch turned it to sand. With the other hand he grabbed the pterodactyl's paw before it could grab him and a strange phenomenon took place The dinosaur's skin turned red by a fraction of second and, right after, Beast Boy, in his human form, was thrown towards Terra, and the both of them rolled on bridge.

The man didn't show any victory reaction, only hit one hand on the other and turned back to the citizens on the cables of the bridge. They now seemed sleepy, and the cables were shining with red light.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos" sang a feminine voice, and the cables locking the civilians were covered by a black aura, breaking. People fell on platforms of the same energy that floated away, leaving them out of danger.

"My power supply…" muttered the man, looking nervous for the first time. He turned to Raven, who put herself between him and the fainted people "You…"

"You may want to consider another source of energy beside innocent people" she suggested in her bored voice "A cereal bar, maybe?"

The two sorcerers started a battle of energy rays. Raven made his cloak wrap itself around his arms and he ripped it off, throwing a red disc in her direction, who managed to dodge, the wind caused by the speed of the disc only making her hood fell.

The other titans had recovered and were surrounding the duo, high in the sky, since Raven thought it was safer to attract him far away from the ground and people.

"You have interesting powers…" said the mage, like he was considering something "Since you took my energy sources away, I'll take it from you instead"

Before Raven could absorb the meaning of these words, the man in front of her turned and disappeared, reappearing really close to her face. She opened her mouth to utter her mantra and push him away, but then his lips met hers. She blinked, surprised for an instant. Shortly thereafter, however, she felt extremely weak, and the world went black.

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Beast Boy raised his head with difficulty, feeling something soft under his back.

"Ouch… Beast Boy, get off me!" yelled Terra's voice, pushing him.

"Ow… All my body hurts… That guy… Transform me?!" he wondered, shocked, remembering that when the mage touched him, he felt suddenly weak and saw himself back to his human form without giving this order to his body.

"Come on, Beast Boy, there's only Raven left!" said Terra urgently.

"Help me!" he asked, getting up slowly, but worried to know her empath friend was facing such an adversary by herself. The blonde sighed exasperated and pulled him up to the rock floating by her side. Both of them got near at the same time Robin managed to unfreeze Cyborg and they ran by the rock's side, watching Raven and the sorcerer going up.

"Raven is taking him away from the bridge!" observed Robin "Terra, take us up!"

Two more rocks appeared, on which the leader and the robot man jumped, and the four titans approached the mix of black and red lights, just as Starfire, who had recovered from the fall.

"What's happening up there?" asked Cyborg, confused. The wizard seemed to have disappeared out of the sudden.

When they got near enough, they found Raven and the redhead… Kissing.

Beast Boy could count on one hand how many times he felt like that. He forgot about all pain on his body, the fact that he was working on a team, where he was or anything not related to two simple goals: take Raven away from the target, and then, destroy it. All started to go in slow motion, and his vision turned black and white, since colors were not important right now.

His legs left the stony surface, taking a big impulse that took him precisely to the man's throat. It was needed a gigantic effort from his rational part to not close his jaw around the soft and warm meat. It help that he did took him away from Raven. Then he realized he was on a free fall.

Suddenly, his nostrils filled with the smell of grass and he felt a thump and a big pressure against the body under his. Before he could recover, two red eyes met his and everything went black.

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Beast Boy woke up with a big commotion around him. Lights, sirens and voices from everywhere. He tried to move and discovered there wasn't a single piece of his body non painful.

"Ahhh…" he moaned, sitting with difficulty.

"Beast Boy!" exclaimed a voice by his side. Terra and Starfire appeared on his sight, both with anxious expressions.

"How are you feeling, friend?" asked Star, her hands together.

"I…" he suddenly remembered all that happened "Where's Raven? Is she okay?"

"Cyborg took her to the Tower" informed Terra.

"What happened? Is she in danger?"

"Apparently that guy sucked friend Raven's energy when he touched her lips with his" told Star in a worried voice "Friend Cyborg took her to the Tower first because her condition was worst than yours"

"Yeah, well, after you freaked out and jumped in that guy…" said Terra, looking at him like he was crazy "I pulled a piece of the lawn so you guys could fall somewhere softer, and Star picked Raven on air, she had passed out."

"But of you hadn't pushed him away from her, it could be too late" Robin appeared next to them, serious "He has the ability of take energy from people and use it in the form of that red energy. I believe that with this technique he made you transform into human"

"But she…"

"…Is recovering, not to worry" he tranquilized them "Cyborg already made all the support treatment he could and she's in her cure trance"

"Glorious!" Starfire clapped.

"Great!" sighed Beast Boy. Only after he got to the Tower and saw Raven safe and sound, with a pacific expression and floating above the bed in the infirmary, he had time to consider what that new feeling in his chest meant.

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