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Post by arcalian on Dec 24, 2008 16:09:26 GMT -5
“Lookout, Dick!” Batman yelled, as a spear covered in some sort of black energy was hurled towards Nightwing.
He could only watch in horror as the spear met its target, entering Nightwing’s body through the right side of his lower back. Nightwing sank to the floor with a shriek of pain.
Thinking fast, Batman produced five small, round spheres from his belt and threw them forward.
Upon hitting the floor, the smoke pellets began filling the Batcave with a white haze.
He made his way over to where his former partner lay in a heap, writhing in pain, unable to move or speak. He easily broke off part of the spear with a quick snap, then, taking Nightwing in his arms, he headed deeper into the cave.
“Tim, you and the others hold them off for two more minutes then follow us!” he ordered.
“Sure thing! You hear that guys, we’ve got two more minutes of butt-kicking before our naps!” he shouted, making sure everyone heard.
“Yeah!” Superboy added. “So, let’s make them count!”
Robin’s eyes narrowed.
This is for my brother you just skewered!
“Titans, go!” he said, charging forward as the others followed close behind.
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Post by arcalian on Dec 24, 2008 16:13:14 GMT -5
After getting Nightwing to the operating table in the jet, where Alfred was already seeing to his wound, Batman began prepping for takeoff.
He looked through the windshield to see the Titans making their way towards the jet. As soon as they all boarded, the door latched behind them.
Batman took his place in the pilot seat.
“Tim, you’re co-pilot.” He said, motioning to the seat on his right.
Robin nodded and quickly took his seat.
“You guys might want to buckle in. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” He said, putting on the headset.
Everyone did as they were told, without a word. No one felt like arguing at the moment, not after what had just happened.
Robin began going over everything in his head, not forgetting to make all of the routine takeoff checks.
“We’re ready for takeoff, Batman.” He said, finishing the last of the checks.
“Good job, Tim.” Batman replied.
The jet took off with a burst of speed.
The sun was just peaking over the horizon as they left Gotham behind.
“Where do we go from here, Bruce?” Robin asked.
“The Watchtower.” He replied, punching in the coordinates. “I’m going to check on Dick.”
He set the autopilot, got up from his seat and turned toward the back of the jet.
“Let me know when we get close to those coordinates.”
He waited for Robin’s nod, then, left the room.
“Well, what the hell are we going to do now?” Robin said out loud.
“I don’t know.” Superboy replied with a sigh. “Maybe the Justice League can help.”
“I hope so, Connor.” Robin replied, clenching his fist. “But I wouldn’t count on it, the League never helped us with Trigon before.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “I still can’t believe this! I mean, how could this have happened to her? There were no warning signs whatsoever!”
“I’m not sure Robin, but we’re going to find out.” Beast Boy said, taking off his seatbelt and standing to his feet. “With all the bells and whistles on this thing I hope you didn’t forget to stock it with a fridge. I’m dying of thirst here.”
Robin smiled.
“Sure thing.” He pressed a button on the console, releasing a small fridge from the wall.
“And while your over there, toss me a soda, Gar.”
“You got it,Tim!”
Taking his seat, Beast boy tossed Robin a can of soda.
Popping the tab, he took a sip, then, motioned to the fridge.
“You guys can all help yourselves to anything you need.”
Starfire spoke up for the first time since they left the ground.
“How can we eat and drink at a time like this? Our friend has turned against us! Doesn’t that bother you in the least?”
“Of course it does Star, but, we’ve got to get Nightwing taken care of first, then we can worry about Raven.” He couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Y’know, it’s funny…”
“What’s funny?” Ravager asked.
“I never thought the current Titans would be teaming up with some of the ‘old vets’ to take on one of their own.”
“I know.” Wonder Girl replied. “It’s hard to believe but, more importantly, what are we going to do now? I mean, we have to find some way to snap her out of it!”
“Or we could just end it the easy way.” Ravager said casually, tapping her sword-hilt.
“Do not say such things!” Starfire yelled. “She is my friend and I will not tolerate that kind of talk!”
“And just what are you going to do about it?” Ravager retorted, getting up from her seat.
“Why don’t I just show you!”
Starfire stood up to face Ravager, hands glowing.
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Robin said, stepping between them. “Ravager, you know we don’t kill, and Starfire, I expect more control from you!”
“I am sorry Robin, you’re right; we must not fight each other. I apologize, Ravager.”
“Yea, yea, don’t get all gushy on me. And… I’m sorry too.”
As they both returned to their seats, Flash spoke up.
“Well, if we’re all done playing ‘Alpha-Female Smackdown’, I think it’s time we get the full story here. Robin, you know the most about this situation than the rest of us. Care to break things down?”
“Sure thing, Wally. It all started early this week...
Bruce was in Japan all week, closing a business deal for Wayne Enterprises. Normally, Lucius Fox handles most of that kind of stuff, but he was in bed with the flu, so Bruce had to take his place.
I’d noticed all week that things in the city had been a little off. Big-timers like Two-Face were making rookie mistakes and doing things out of character.
But things didn’t really kick up until Thursday. At school, while I was in History class, something the teacher said didn’t add up…”
“What do you mean?” Wonder Girl asked.
“Well, she was telling us about the first settlement of Iceland in 1901.”
“Yea, and?”
“Iceland’s first settlement was in the year 874.”
“Ok, so you’re teacher made a mistake, so what?” Beast Boy chimed in.
“No one in class caught the mistake, Gar. Then later, in French class, our teacher tried to teach us the phrase ‘Masdespacio por fa vor.’ which roughly translates to ‘Slow down, please.’ in English.”
“Again, I fail to see anything wrong, Tim; don’t language teachers always make you learn dumb phrases like that?” Wonder Girl asked.
“He was trying to teach us a Spanish phrase in French class.” Tim replied coolly.
“Ok, that is weird, I’ll give you that, but what does that have to do with all this?”
“Maybe if you and Gar would stop interrupting him every five seconds, he’d tell us.” Flash interjected.
Knowing that Flash was right, she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms with an annoyed look on her face.
“Go ahead, Tim. No more interruptions.”
“Thanks, Wally.
Anyways, all throughout the day I noticed the people around me were acting strange. Their thoughts and emotions were out of whack.
My first assumption was that maybe Poison Ivy had released one of her Toxins into Gotham again, but I retired that theory pretty quick because Alfred and I hadn’t been affected.
Later that afternoon as I was walking down the street from school, I noticed something else was wrong; no one was out on the streets, not even a single car on the road or a bus leaving the school grounds.
Then I noticed something else; the wind that had been blowing as I left school suddenly stopped. When that happened, it hit me to check my watch, when I did, the seconds weren’t ticking.
I felt a cold chill run down my spine, I turned around, and there she was.
I asked her what was wrong, but she only stared at me.
For the longest time, we just stood there, not a word spoken, just an uneasy silence.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, she made her move. Suddenly, it felt like my head was being ripped open, I couldn’t fight back, couldn’t move, all I manage was to whisper ‘why?’
As soon as the word left my mouth, all the pain stopped.
I noticed I was down on all fours, staring at the ground, my nose bleeding.
When I looked up, she was gone and I could feel the wind hitting my face again.
That’s when I called Alfred and told him to get Bruce on the phone and tell him to get his ass back to Gotham immediately… Not in so many words of course…
Anyway, I told Alfred not to bother picking me up, it was too dangerous for him to leave home, instead, I called Dick and told him what had happened and, within the hour, he was there to pick me up; in record time I might add.
Then, when we got home, things picked up a bit more...
As Dick and I tried to enter the cave through the hidden entrance, we realized we wouldn’t be able to get in that way, the bats were going crazy and, as hard as we tried, we couldn’t even see a way past them, so, we decided to switch to our civvies and head for the front door.
Alfred told us that he had noticed the bats beginning to at strangely a few hours earlier, so he closed off the main area of the cave as a precaution, which explained why they were so thick at the entrance.
Anyways, after a quick bite to eat at the insistence of Alfred, Dick and I decided to do a bit of digging.
It didn’t take long to find some recent news reports detailing a mysterious explosion at James Madison High School, just the day before. And, as most of you know, that’s the school Raven is attending, or at least she was attending...
It was during school ours and no one escaped the blast, but there was one report of a child spotting a small cloaked figure standing amid the rubble a few minutes after the blast, but since the child was only three, no one paid much attention.
Most of the news report said the same thing, so we finally decided to call it quits until Bruce came in.
That’s when the heat got turned up even more. As we turned to leave, we both saw her standing right in front of us, only a few feet away, waiting patiently like a lion about to pounce on its prey.
We both tensed up, ready to defend ourselves if needed, but, to our surprise, she spoke.
It was only one word, barely audible, but we both caught it…. ‘Help.’
One blink later and she was gone, as if she’d never even been there.
Bruce got in later that night and, after a brief rundown of the situation, he disappeared into the cave alone, telling us to wait where we were.
Two agonizing hours later, he called us down into the cave.
He was already in the Batsuit, cowl dangling behind his head. That’s when he told us that he had already put in a call to you guys, telling you to get to the manor as soon as possible.
Wally, you arrived an hour later, then, when you realized the others wouldn’t be getting there until early the next evening because they had to deal with that fire in Indochina, you decided to come back later, rather than wait on them.
Dick and I tried to get some sleep, but failed to get any at all, thinking every shadow was about to leap out at us.
After all of you arrived, we all gathered in the cave where Batman told us that he’d flown to New York at three in the morning to check the school for clues… You guys know the rest.”
“Keep going, Tim. All of this seems so surreal, I want to hear everything, just for my own satisfaction.” Flash said.
“Alright, Wally.” Robin chuckled. “If it helps.
Well, Batman told us that he’d found a letter, miraculously unharmed, hidden in the rubble, and read it to us. Let’s see if I can remember how it went…
My friends, if this letter finds you, then my worst fears have been realized. I’m now under the control of my father, Trigon, a mere puppet to his every whim. I don’t know why he’s been trying so hard to get to me, but I know that, if he succeeds I have to be stopped or the world could be in grave danger. I’ve recently discovered that by tapping into me, my father can use a power hidden deep within me to destroy all life on earth… I ask you now, as a friend, do not let this happen, whatever it takes. Ask Donna to help you, she knows what to do…
-Raven-
And that’s it.
Shortly after reading the letter, we tried Contacting Donna, but she’s off-planet right now, and we’re still waiting for our message to reach her.
As we were about to go our separate ways to wait for a reply, Raven attacked us in the cave, seriously injuring Nightwing, and sending us on the run.”
There was a moment of awkward silence between the group, then Starfire spoke.
“What are we to do now?”
“The only thing we can.” Robin responded. “We get to the watchtower and wait for our message to reach Donna.”
“How long are we supposed to wait on her, Tim?” Superboy asked.
“As long as it takes, Connor. It’s not like we have any other damn choice.”
“Well, how long till we reach those coordinates Batman was talking about?”
Robin turned in his seat, glanced at the console then turned back around.
“Nine minutes.”
“Good, I hate long waits.”
“So, when did Bats get this sweet piece of aviation?” Flash said, indicating the jet.
He hoped to try and lighten the mood by getting everyone’s mind off the current situation.
“It was just finished two months ago. Batman thought he might need something bigger than the plane on hand, just in case.” Robin responded. “Didn’t think he’d need to use it so soon.”
The room became silent again, only this time, no one tried to break it. Tim turned back toward the console and accessed the intercom.
“Batman.”
“Yes, Tim?”
“Thirty seconds from target area.”
“On my way.”
Robin pressed a button, shutting off the intercom.
In no time, Batman was taking his seat at the controls, pressing a series of buttons, contacting the Watchtower.
“Batman to Watchtower.”
“Watchtower here. What do you need, Bruce?”
Superman’s voice was a welcome relief to Robin’s ears. Somehow, someway, the man of steel always had a way of making you feel safe, even in the darkest moments.
“I’ve got ten for transport, one in need of immediate medical attention.”
“Bruce, what’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you once we’re onboard. Wait one minute then, get us out of here.”
“Alright, see you then.”
Batman cut the communication.
Superboy, with a confused look on his faced, addressed Batman.
“Uh, if we’re just going to be beamed up to the watchtower, why did we need to take the jet?”
Without looking away from the console, Batman responded.
“Scrambler signal. I have it set up so that no one can transport into Gotham without my knowing.”
“But we’re miles away from Gotham.”
“It’s a strong signal.”
Silence came over the group yet again as they waited patiently for their transport.
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Post by arcalian on Dec 24, 2008 16:15:37 GMT -5
As they stepped off of the transporter inside the watchtower, the medical team rushed to meet them, taking Nightwing from Batman’s arms and rushing him to the infirmary; Alfred followed at Batman’s insistence.
As the rest of them began making their way towards Superman, Robin looked up in awe.
Bruce didn’t do this place justice. It’s amazing!
He’d always wanted to come aboard the watchtower, but never got the chance before now. As they reached the halfway point between them and Superman, Robin heard Wonder Girl and Flash talking behind him.
“Wow, this place is amazing, Wally!”
“I know. It still amazes me every time I see it.”
“Do you ever get used to it in the least?”
“Never.”
Robin returned his attention in front of him where Superman was waiting across the room. Again, seeing Superman made Robin breathe a little easier; knowing that the man of steel was nearby always made him feel… at ease.
As they approached Superman, Batman wasted no time in getting to the point.
“We need to talk. Now!”
“I’ve already set up a meeting in the conference room, all of you follow me.”
He led them down a series of long hallways, most of which seemed to go on forever, until they came to the conference room.
Superman punched in the code on the button panel and the doors opened, revealing Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Martian Manhunter, all sitting at a round conference-table, waiting for the others to join them.
As the group entered the room, everyone at the table stood to their feet.
“Where’s Hal?” Flash asked, noting Kyle Rayner standing in Hal Jordan’s usual place.
“He left for Oa two days ago on urgent business.” Batman replied.
“How did you know that, Bruce?” Superman asked, puzzled. “You haven’t checked in since before he left.”
“I make it my business to know.”
“Fair enough.” Superman sighed. “Anyway, what’s so urgent that it brings you and half the Titans to the watchtower?”
“Raven has been possessed by Trigon, her father, and, unless we find a way to stop her, earth is as good as gone.”
“How can you be sure of this, Bruce?” J’onn finally spoke.
“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t sure, J’onn, you know that.”
“Yes, I’m afraid I do. Still, Raven has been under his power before, what makes this any different?”
“Because, this time a hidden power has been awakened within her, a power that rivals even that of Trigon. By possessing her in this state, he’s able to wreak havoc in this world without having to cross the dimensional barrier, making him untouchable, since Raven is the only one who can access that plane from here.”
“In other words” Robin interjected, "we’re screwed unless we can reach Donna and figure out how the hell to stop Raven!”
Batman put a hand on Robin’s shoulder.
“Calm down, Tim.”
“I’m…sorry, Batman. But, we need to help her.”
“We know that, Tim.” Superman added. “But we have to play this carefully; we are dealing with Trigon after all. Besides, we can’t do anything until the rest of us hear the whole story.”
“Superman’s right.” Wonder Woman agreed. “Why don’t we all take a seat and talk this out. Wally, could you get some mor~”
“Got them while you were blinking, Diana.” Flash cut in, pointing to the extra chairs around the conference table.
“Thanks.” she smiled.
“Don’t mentio~”
“Everyone take a seat, we don’t have time for pleasantries.” Batman interrupted, taking his place at the table.
Everyone else took their seat as well.
“Robin, tell them the story from the beginning.”
“Alright.”
He took a deep breath then, began from the beginning.
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Post by arcalian on Dec 24, 2008 16:16:40 GMT -5
As Robin finished the last of the story, a heaviness fell over the room. All was silent until Hawkman spoke up.
“This does not bode well. We have to do something, Superman.”
“I’m with you, Carter, but the fact is, half out roster is on extended leave after that run-in with Darkseid last month. We just don’t have the manpower to help right now. We have to be ready in case someone needs our help.”
“I don’t think you get it, Clark.” Batman interjected. “If we don’t stop Raven, there may not be anyone left for you to help.”
“Still, we can’t igno~”
Their conversation was cut short by sudden sounding of the Watchtowers alarm.
J’onn’s eyes began glowing yellow.
“J’onn, what the hell’s going on?” Green Lantern yelled over the increasingly loud alarm.
“A large concentration a black energy is headed strait for the watchtower.” he responded, eyes returning to normal. “There’s no time to stop it. Brace for impact!”
Everyone braced themselves for the inevitable.
As the impact hit the Watchtower, everyone in the room went flying; Ravager and Beast Boy were knocked unconscious.
After the blast everything grew quiet for a moment then, the Watchtower began shaking violently.
“What’s happening now?!” Robin asked.
“Something terrible.” J’onn responded grimly. “The Watchtower is falling out of orbit!”
To be continued....
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