Beast Boy didn't hesitate for an instant. He spun, transformed into his huge gorilla form, scooped up Raven, and ran; covering her with his body. Mike barely spared them a glance, instead turning in place and scanning all around for Starfire.
Starfire was strong but Mike was stronger by far. She was tough, hard to hurt and hard to stop but he was tougher. What she could do that he couldn't was fly... and she could fly very, very fast. While she did not have his strength, she did have enough to pick up a car and enough of a sense of humor to enjoy the ironic reversal. He never had a chance to avoid her attack; he couldn't hear it coming. Scattering sonic booms in her wake, Starfire dove at her enemy. The paint of the heavy red pickup truck she carried scorched with the air friction. At the very last second she added her strength to the deadly missile's power, hurling it at Mike and arcing up and away.
The two ton mass of metal disintegrated into shards when it hit Mike. The impact made a crater fifty yards across; sand, rock and water exploding outward. The shock wave was like an earthquake. Starfire made a tight loop, preserving as much of her momentum as she could and slammed into Mike. For the first time, they heard him react in real pain and rage. He bellowed incoherently as Starfire abandoned tactics and began pounding him relentlessly where he lay.
Beast Boy put Raven down gently behind the seawall. He quickly checked and saw that she was breathing but was completely non-responsive. He was terrified almost beyond the capacity for thought. He wanted so much to drop everything and take her away to somewhere safe but he knew that Raven would never forgive him for leaving Star alone. He might not be able to forgive himself. He lay her as comfortably as he could and turned away.
Raven was, as far as she could tell, in a windowless room. It was bare and spartan except for a few statutes and totemic drawings on the walls. Surrounding her on the floor was an intricate magic circle in inlaid silver. It was pretty good work. Thirteen people stood in a circle. She looked down at herself and saw that she was in astral form and everything made sense. These people had figured out how to lay a binding on her. Her mind reeled in panic and terror; not for herself of course. Star had been nowhere in sight. Cyborg and Robin weren't getting up any time soon. That meant that Gar was alone, protecting her comatose body. Alone. She was choked with terror and rage and for once, she didn't even try to restrain them.
Raven's knowledge of ritual magic wasn't her strong point by any means. She had learned some things from Malichor and had studied further on her own but her knowledge didn't extend making a trap like this, much less dismantling it from within. Raven was going to tear this spell to shreds by main force of will and woe be unto them if they didn't get out of her way.
Starfire was out of her mind. She ceased any attempts at strategy or subtlety. She just pounded at her enemy in elemental rage. Her knuckles split and blood spattered from them both as she struck his steely body.
Mike was, for the first time since he gained his powers, feeling real pain. The impact of the truck had stunned and addled him. Now this relentless attack kept him from thinking or mounting some defense. Normally, even Starfire's strength wouldn't have been enough to significantly hurt him but now the punishment was adding up. He managed to flail feebly at the alien girls fast moving arms and gain himself a seconds reprieve. It was enough. His head cleared and he began moving with purpose again. It took him several tries and suffering more punishment but he finally managed to grab her wrist. Without hesitation, he gripped, twisted, and broke her arm. Starfire screamed in pain and fury and didn't slow at all. She attacked with her undamaged arm until, inevitably now that she had lost use of her right hand, Mike landed a blow that staggered her and a second that ended the fight.
Beast Boy flew to the lip of the impact crater just in time to see Mike land a sweeping blow that threw Starfire into the ground, where she lay and did not move. Transforming to human and regarding the older man, it was plain Mike had taken a beating. He was holding his left arm tight against his side and favoring his left foot. There was blood staining his right shirt sleeve and his face was red and swollen, bruises already forming around one eye. He was panting for breath and moving with far less grace and speed then before but he began walking towards Beast Boy.
"Tell me what you did to her," Beast Boy grated out.
Mike shrugged a little, regaining some of his confidence. "Hired some weirdos to put a mystic binding on her."
"So you think you're going to walk over there while she's helpless and..."
"I don't want to do it, kid," Mike interrupted. "Swear to god I don't. This whole goddamned deal has gone south on me." He stopped and worked his shoulders painfully. Beast Boy watched and waited. Let him talk as long as he wanted. "I got another proposition for you."
"Really?" Beast Boy said dryly.
"We all go home, kid. We just turn around and walk away. Trust me, you people will never see or hear from me again."
"If I say no?" Beast Boy asked. Mike stared hard and didn't reply. "Can't do it," he said, glancing over his shoulder at where Raven lay, "She wouldn't like it."
Mike actually nodded grudging respect. "It's as good a reason as any," he said, charging as he did.
Beast Boy transformed into a tiny bird and shot straight into the air. The instant Mike was under him, he changed into an enormous sauropod and slammed down on Mike with a hundred tons of mass. He came down with his left forefoot direct onto his enemy, all that mass and force behind it. Animals of that size can't jump and falling is deadly dangerous for them. He did a lot of damage to his left arm but the blow he struck was worth it. He again became the nearly invisible, swift moving hummingbird he had been favoring.
Mike had been pressed into he soft earth and instantly began dragging himself out. Beast Boy swept down behind him and, just as Raven had seen him do in the gym, he became a massive gorilla and flung Mike through the air. As Mike was getting up, there was a T-Rex standing behind him, and it's massive tail batted him across the beach. He rolled and tumbled for almost fifty yards before rolling to a stop. Beast Boy flew at him again.
Raven reached out with one hand and encountered the yielding resistance of the binding that held her. She set her feet and lowered her shoulder, twisting into the motion of pushing against her bonds. Almost against her own will, she embraced what she felt; her terror and rage twisted in dark tendrils around her and she screamed and pushed.
Beast Boy jumped and twisted in the air, actually using the swift contraction of his transformation to avoid the attack but his injured arm betrayed him. The wing that his arm had become was just too damaged to fly. He swooped erratically out of control and was simply swatted from the air. Slamming into the ground, he became himself and struggled to rise, his head spinning and with no balance. Mike twisted quickly to attack but Beast Boy was able to shift into a fast moving snake and writhe away. "I get the feeling," Mike said, "that you're playing for time." He stepped back for a second and looked around. The witch girl was still nowhere to be seen. The other three weren't getting up. What was the green kid doing?
Beast Boy changed to himself and dropped to a knee, gasping for breath. He held his left shoulder with his right hand and was covered in minor wounds from striking the ground. "Yeah," he said tightly, "I am."
Raven's astral hands sunk into the energy of the the spell. It felt like trying to tear apart thick and clinging webs, every movement except back into the circle was restrained… and it hurt. Multicolored flares and flashes of energy flew out from her point of attack but most of it fed back into her, burning like fire. The pain led to more rage and she embraced the power. She became the Raven. Her dark form dug it's claws into the circle and spread it's wings
Mike shrugged. "Can't figure what it is. Look, I'll give you another chance, kid. Let's just walk away. Call off the hounds and you never see me again." He jerked his head in Raven's direction. "She's gonna like it a hell of a lot more then what I'll do to you… and to her."
Beast Boy choose an anklyosaurus this time, ten tons of massive bone plate and tail club. He was able to favor his injured arm and still pivot quickly. He caught Mike a solid blow across the chin that made him the older man curse and fly back about ten feet. He charged obliquely to bring the massive club of bone and muscle to bear. Mike stepped in and struck him. The inches thick bone armor held for one blow, then another. Beast Boy reached the position he wanted and struck Mike another looping blow. Mike yelled in pain and spun in the air.
The cumulative effect of all the damage he had taken began to tell on Mike. He had never taken anything like this kind of punishment since he had gotten his powers. Things that wouldn't normally hurt him now did. Was it possible he had some kind of battery that was running down? He really didn't understand his own abilities all that well. Maybe… or maybe he had just had the hell beaten out of him. Either way he needed to end this now and get to the girl. Even in his own mind and at this extreme, he didn't think of what he meant to do. He spun with the dinosaur's surprisingly swift movement, trying to get the timing. He found he was having trouble thinking straight. Beast boy landed another huge blow and for the first time, Mike got angry. "Goddamn it!" he bellowed. "All you have to do is let me walk away!" He blocked another swing of the tail, noticing as he did that Beast Boy was also weakening and slowing.
Beast Boy tried to reverse his spin and attack from the opposite side but Mike stepped in and kicked the injured left foreleg. It broke with an audible crack and Beast Boy staggered for just an instant but it was enough. Mike struck with a straight right and finally, Beast Boy had more then he could take. He involuntarily transformed to himself and slammed into the sand. Mike wasted no more time with deals or remorse, instead moving up fast, striking down at Gar in his human form, an attack the young hero could not hope to survive and had little hope of avoiding.
A black barrier sprang into existence and stopped the blow cold. Mike cursed and looked around. Gar laughed; a grating, pained sound; as the beach grew dark under the spreading wings of the Raven. "I was waiting on this," he said and spat on the ground to clear it of sand and blood. "No bunch of two-bit mystics could hold her for long." Mike turned, looking as if he were going to try leap away and escape.
He jumped but only made it a short way before he was caught in the air by one of Ravens dark talons. She hovered in the air, her dark spirit form emanating around her. It's usual black was shot through with line and flashes of red and her eyes were four red slits. She howled and slammed him into the ground. Both of the black claws swiped at him over and over. He screamed with each one and finally collapsed back, helpless and gasping for breath.
Raven hovered down to the ground and slowly began trying to gain control of herself. It was only when Gar was suddenly right in front of her and took her in his arms that she was able to.
