D: Starfire looked down on the Paladin. "I do not recognize the Paladin, Wisdom. But yet, I feel he is familar. Do you know of whom he is?"

Wisdom stared down at Robin, not wanting to give Starfire her answer. After a moment she looked at Starfire. "That is Robin" she said simply.

"Robin? But it cannot be!"Starfire looked down again, and now she could see Robin through the horrible armor he wore. "Ro-Robin?"

Robin looked around at his minions. He looked back up at Starfire. "Robin is dead. He was weak. I am the Paladin now, champion of Scath! Embrace oblivion, for you shall be sent into it!"

He nodded to his minions. Several dark wraiths flew up into the air, rushing at the tower. The titans quickly dove away from the window as the wraiths came bursting through. They came with a horrible wail, that froze the blood of all who heard it.

Well, nearly all.

"Huh." Slade remarked. and then he leveled his arm cannon at them, and fired. The blast shook the tower and dissipated the wraiths where they stood. The titans looked up at him blinking in shock. "When you've experienced what I have, been where I have, very little shocks you."

The tower suddenly shook. They looked out the window to see that the fire demons were smashing themselves into the Tower's walls.

"We have to get down there, before they bring the whole place down!" Wisdom shouted! She didn't have to repeat herself. Each and everyone of them went charging into battle. Starfire carried Cy down, while BB flew Slade down.

BB stared down the demons as the approached. "He remembered his comment the first time he had been in this situation. "What army indeed" His eyes glowed black, and took the form of a massive triceratops, not wanting to waste his dragon form on these lesser demons. He charged into them head long.

Starfire flew immediately to engage Robin, to try and plead some sense into him. She found him waiting, at the shore. "Mistress called you a Troq, but you are no such thing."

Starfire hesitated, perhaps Robin was fighting Scath's power?

"You are so much less than a Troq, there isn't even a word to describe you. Begone from my gaze, wretched thing, you are not fit for me."

"Friend or no friend, Robin, I shall stop you!" With green fire bursting from her eyes, she raged against the Paladin, sending starbolts crashing into him.

Cy and Slade had ended up back to back blasting into the dreaded army, with the arm cannons Cy had equipped them with. "There's too many of them, we can't hold them much longer!"

"You may give up, but I've been possessed by these creatures once, they shall not have me again!" Slade growled as he dropped the now spent cannon and tore into them with his hands.

Cy was steadily being backed up until he was against the wall. He had no where else to go, and his cannon was out of juice. He dropped it to the ground and prepared for hand to hand combat. "What a time to be human. awww man!"

The demons all suddenly stopped. Chanting could be heard above them. They looked skyward, to see the Raven's formed in a circle in the sky, their eye's glowing with power. As one they finished their spell:
"Azarath... Metrion.... ZINTHOS!!!!!!!!!"

A massive wall of energy emitted from their circle and surged out across the island and the bay, the Demons were smote down where they stood against such a barrage of energy. The entire army had been wiped out. The Raven's landed on the island, exhausted from their exertion.

"It is done." Wisdom gasped.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Paladin held up an unconscious Starfire in one hand, then tossed her to the ground. "Your power might have an affect on lesser demons, but it is no match for one imbued with the power of Scath herself! You are nothing!"

He drew his sword from its scabbard. He strode up to Wisdom, looked down upon he exhausted frame. He grab her by the hair, and pulled her bodily upward. "Nothing". He sank his sword deep into her stomach.

"Arggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" she cried out. He let her body drop to the ground.

"Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!" screamed Cy. Things went hazy, then focused again. Out of habit, he raised his arm, aimed his cannon, and fired. The blast knocked Paladin away from Wisdom.

Baffled, Cy looked down at his body, to see that he was half-robot, once again.

K: (dagon dmolla, have a big ol battle and leave me to clean up the mess... i'm gonna need a bigger mop and bucket for this)

Paladin looked up at Cyborg and let out an inhuman growl. "You will pay dearly for that!"

"What, no witty come back? No lame pun of a one liner? What's the matter Robin? The Dark side doesn't let you have any sense of humour?" Cyborg retorted keeping his cannon aimed at the forner Titan.

Paladin was about to speak but a voice chimed into his head. ~Champion, return to me at once!~

Paladin nodded. "As you wish my mistress." He looked at Cyborg once more. "You are lucky, mortal. We will continue this another time." And with that, he phased into the ground, much as Raven had in the past, and was gone.

Kindness rushed over to Wisdom, the others soon followed. Wisdom looked pretty bad off but she was still alive.

"Do not worry about me, there are more dire things at hand..." She said looking to all of them.

"No, we are worried and we will worry if we please. We gotta get you to the infirmary now!" Cyborg said picking her up. "Slade, you wanna make yourself useful and grab Star... without hurting her?"

Slade didn't even grumble or complain, he merely did so. Now was not the time for squabbles.

"I can't believe that was really Robin..." Beast Boy said quietly as they all headed back inside.

Cyborg kept his eyes straight ahead as they walked. "That's because it wasn't. It was just another one of her perversions."

D: BB walked into the dark room. "Hello? is there someone in here?"

"You won't be able to get her to talk. She's a scaredy-cat." Gray Raven told BB. Gray went to wait outside in the hallway.

"Its ok, Rae, you can come out. Its just me Beast Boy."

He could just make out the shape of Raven, huddled in the corner.

"No.. No.. stay back. You're just on of her tricks. You don't... you don't... scare me..."

"Rae, its really me, I'm not one of her tricks. Its ok." BB knelt down beside Brown Raven, as she huddled into herself and as far into the corner as she could. "I remember someone once telling me that fear was pointless. That I had nothing to fear as long as I had the power to fight it. To never give in to it."

"But she's too strong. She's just too powerful now. There's no way we can fight her."

"There's always a way to fight. As long as you have friends, you have the power to fight. Now C'mon. We have to go see Yellow, and I'm sure she's gonna want you there too. No matter what happens, we'll face it together."

Brown Raven looked up into BB's eyes. "Together."

BB and Brown emerged from the room. Gray looked at them in disbelief. "I'm sorry I doubted..."

"Its really ok, Gray. Let's go, I'm beating Yellow is an impatient girl"

The three of them continued on up to the control room. Faintly, they could here someone yelling boo-yah.

K: Starfire hurried to the door that lead into the Tower. It was jammed shut. She was frustrated and scared and at this point didn't care if she did damage to the tower, so long as she found her friends, it was all that mattered.

So having decided, she tore the door off its hinges and tossed it aside as she made her way into the tower. She didn't make it very far when she ran into a cloaked figure. Having seen that her last encounter with a cloaked figure led to strife and mental scarring, Starfire, without thought lunged at it.

"YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!" She said as she collided with the cloaked girl. They both tumbled down two flights of stairs and landed at the bottom with Starfire pinning the other girl to the ground. "X'HAL! You are... Raven? But this cannot be."

The Raven who wore a light blue cloak held her head and moaned in pain. "I know it shouldn't be... but it is... I'm only here because... well I don't exactly know. I was just heading out to the roof to get some fresh air. I needed inspiration... figured if I'm going to be cooped up in here with the others I might as well be able to get my artisticness on. But since you're here... I'm not in Raven's head anymore... hmmm... I figured as much." The girl paused. "Could you get off of me now?"

"I am very sorry." Starfire said as she got up. She was now even more confused. "Pardon my asking... but who are you? You look like Raven and yet..."

"I am Raven... I am her creativity. There are many Raven's here right now... dunno what's going on with this though... come. We should find Yellow and ask her what's going on." Creative said.

"Yell-ow?" Starfire inquired.

"Yes, Yellow, rhymes with mellow, and lemon jello. Now come on. Let's go." Creative said as she limped down the hall.... the tumble down the stairs had hurt her left leg.

"Alright... I am sorry to have injured you." Star said.

"Oh I'm over it... I'm not one to get angry. Not like others I know..."

D: Cy (with Slade literally and Green Rae figuratively in tow) finally make it to the control room.

and its empty.

"Figures" Cy looked around and sighed. He walks in a drops Slade off to the side and leave Green as his guard. He walks around the room, making sure there aren't any hidden Ravens. He sits down heavily on the couch and looks around for the remote. Of course, its no where to be found.

"Looking for this?"

Cy whirls around and standing right behind him is Yellow Raven, holding the remote control. "I had to get batteries for it, since apparently people here don't think to change them every once in awhile."

Cy blinked. He was just about to open his mouth when Yellow continued.

"Don't bother. You're here because I brought you here. You were about to be overtaken by Anger's minions, and I needed to save them for someone else, someone who needed to face them more than you." She walked around and sat down next to Cy. Suddenly, a myriad of books appeared and floated around her. She began looking through three of them at the same time as she continued. "So I transported you here. As for what is going on, its quite simple. Demon-summoning-boy over there (she nods to Slade) unleashed our counterpart, Red Raven, upon this world, alllowing her to basically fill the shoes of our father, Trigon. She's gone completely evil, too. In the process, we were also freed from Raven's head. Once Red was free, she decided she didn't like the world she was in, so she changed it to what she wanted. Now she would have had domination over the entire world, but I was able to bind her to just this city. I was also able to sanctify the tower, preventing her from getting in, and also preventing some of my more wayward counterparts from getting out. I've been working on a way to put us all back together again, where we belong. However, the one book I need has been taken and not even I know where it is."

She paused. Cy's jaw was dropped and it was clear this was a little too fast for him. Raven summons a chalkboard. "Ooookay. Let's try this again. Slade + Raven + Ancient Markings = Raven's mind Kablooey = Freed Red Raven = end of the world. Then there's all of us (she flips the board over, and all of the different colored Raven heads appear on the board with little popping sounds) and I gotta smoosh us back together into one Raven and make the world no go boom."

Cy shakes his head and rubs his eyes. "ok, so, uhm, what can I do to help?"

"Well, we might as well wait, cause if I'm not mistaken, we're about to be joined shortly."

K: (lmfao! That's highly amusing! I love yellow)

Creative lead Starfire down a long hallway to the main room. The doors wooshed open to reveal the two ladies, creative favouring her left leg and starfire looking less than stable.

"Lookit! I found another one!" Creative said as she pointed to Starfire.

Star ran up to Cyborg immediately and gave him a humungous hug. She then felt no metal. "Friend... you are Stone once more?" She then caught a glimpse of Slade who lay crippled on the couch. "You!"

"Oh for God's sake is it really necessary for all of you to say that immediately when you see me? I don't suppose you're going to slam me into a wall next." He replied in frustration.

"The thought is quite tempting. What is he doing here? ... Never mind. I have dire news! Robin has been captured and Raven is evil and looks much like the Trigon... and why are there now three Ravens? I am very much confused." Star said collapsing to her knees.

D: "I already know." replied Yellow. "Wisdom, remember? I know Red better than anyone. and please, we have a giant couch. There's no need to collaspe on the floor."

Cy very gingerly helped Star to the couch. Yellow looked at the injured Creative, shook her head and walked over to Green. "I have a mission of the utmost importance. I feel the only one capable of such a monumental task is you, Courage."

"ooo, what is it, what is it? I can do it! I can do it!"

"Very well, I need you to find and retrieve Kindness (purple), Happiness (Pink), and Lazyiness (Orange) and bring them all back here. If you have to, pick Laziness up and drag her here. and Pink will follow if you promise her that Cy-man will say boo-yah and flex for her. Tell Kindness that Creative is in need of healing and she'll be hear before you can even finish the sentence. Did you get all that?"

Courage nods and races off to collect the wayward Raven's. Creative looks confused. Yellow smirks and without letting her speak tells her that Timidness and Fear are already on their way. Cyborg looks at her, puzzled.

"Perplexed Cyborg? I know alot more than you can possibly imagine about the nature of things and of people. However, this does not make me clairvoyant. I do not know if we will be able to control Red, and the odds are definitely stacked against us."

The whole time Starfire has been staring down at her hands.

"Do not worry yourself over what you have done Starfire. In each of us is great power that when pushed to its utmost limits, can break even the strongest of us. You are no exception. However, you stopped when you realized you had gone too far. Not many of us are capable of such restraint."

"But what of Robin...?"

K: Raven looked out at the city as Robin continued to struggle. She held his mask tightly in her hands. "There is a reason I brought you here..."

"To feed on my fear? To keep me as a pet? What?!" Robin spat.

"You are an amazing leader. People listen to you... you command respect... excellant qualities of which I am in need of... I need you to lead my demon army in areas out side of this wretched city." She said turning her focus on his mask... her back facing him all the while.

"I refuse." He said narrowing his eyes.

"You don't have a choice in the matter, child." The mask in her hands start to glow red and change its shape into a far more sinister looking mask. "You will lead my army... and you will love it." She walked towards him.

"You're mad if you think that I'll - ungh!" He was cut off mid sentance as she ran her hand, nails and all, down his cheek. He began to bleed where her nails left marks. She sat down beside him on the slab.

"You may even grow to love me..." She replied eerily soft, as she lowered the mask onto his face. "You are now property of Raven... you now bear my mark and wear the symbol that says you belong to me." She said smiling wickedly.

Robin began thrashing about as the mask adhered to his face. The pain seared through his body and soul until he passed out from the pain.

All the while Raven sang... "Hush little Robin don't say a word. Raven's going to buy you a mocking bird..."

D: BB was holding Fear's hand as the walked through the corridors. Timid was basically on the back of his feet peering out ahead of them from time to time. They approached the control room door slowly.

BB tentatively opened the door and looked through.

"You can come in. You're right on time." Yellow looked over at the clock on the wall. The hour was getting late, but there was still alot to be done. "I see you've found a new friend too. Good. I knew of any of us, you'd be able to get Fear out of her hidey-hole."

"BB! long time now see, little buddy!" Cy and Starfire jumped to their feet. Its almost as if Yellow has kept them quiet up until now.

"Friend, you are unharmed! It is most welcome to see you again!"

"Dudes!!!! You're ok!!!"

The three embraced. It seemed like ages since they had last seen each other. It had been less than a day.

"Wait, you said that I was the one to get Fear out? But why me?" BB looked over at Yellow, who had since turned around and was again flipping through several books at once. "and what was up with those birds?"

"You just answered your own question. I am impressed. But I know you'll still need me to explain it to you." She pulls the chalkboard out again, just in case. "I really wanted to bring you back here to the tower when I transported Cy-man here. But I knew that I getting Fear to come here willingly would be a task, and only someone who had connected to fear on a personal level would be able to do it. Of all the Titans, Beast Boy, you are best suited to handling fear, since you wear your emotions on your sleeve and can switch between them so quickly."

"So I had to leave you outside, to face the fear that would instill panic in any of us. Red's ravens. You had encountered them earlier with Cy-man when you entered into our domain before. You two were basically homin beacons to them. Once she had unleashed them, they went straight for you two. Cy-man would have handled them easily enough with his sonic cannon, but he wouldn't have learned to face his fears. You on the other hand, had to do battle with their hoard and dig into your impressive arsenal of animals to dwindle their numbers. Thus facing your fear of them as you overcame them one at a time."

"You were then able to convey that overcoming of fear to Brownie over there, and be genuine about it. So, she was willing to go with you. And as you'll all see shortly, I needed all of my wayward selves here to do what I need to do."

She paused. She looked over at BB, who was sitting on the floor, absolutely rapt by her explaination. Not even she could have known that BB would have been able to follow along so easily. She looked over at Star and Cy. Their eyes were glazed over. She sighed.

She wiped off the chalkboard from the last time and go out her chalk. "Ok, lets try this again..."

K: Beast Boy looked around the room as Yellow explained things again, more simplistically this time, for Cy and Starfire.

He glimpsed Slade sitting on the couch. "Yo-"

"Don't say it... please." Slade said waving his hand about half casually.

"Uhm... Dude... why is Slade on our couch... and not attacking us... and why aren't we attacking him... and ewww... what's wrong with his legs?" Beast Boy asked loudly.

Cy looked over at Beast Boy and sighed. "Long story... Look... B... I-"

"I am the one who let Raven's evil side out... it was me." Slade said exasperated at the pace of which it was taking Cyborg to get to the point.

Starfire walked over to him and slugged him in the face, snapping his head in the direction her fist traveled.

"You are a Zinzok Milderitch K'loridinian Zort'hor!"

Everyone's faces wore the look of shock... especially Cyborg who after taking time to learn Tameranian from Starfire... knew exactly what she called him. "X'hal Star... that was... well pretty accurate actually."

"Are you done?" Slade said cracking his neck back into place.

"No. How could you do that?! Why would you? Did you not learn from the first time that you do not mess with demons?" She asked him as she glared down at him, her eyes ablaze and glowing green.

"What can I say, I'm a stubborn old man. The original idea was just to summon her demonic nature to keep all of you divided as you fought the fires, the criminals, and your friend. I was hoping Robin would be forced to use his protocol on her... and that most of you would have been finished of... and the rest be broken in mind. I never anticipated that she would attack me and try to sunder my legs from my body... nor that she would mess with my head." Slade replied.

"She showed you your greatest fears..." Starfire said almost sympathetically. The sympathy then faded from her voice. "Good. Now you know how it is that I feel."

"Oh goody goody." Slade said sarcastically.

Yellow looked at Slade.

"What?" He asked calmly eyeing her.

"You know Slade... I can think of 557 ways to kill you from where I stand... 256 of which would evade your precognition... 112 of that do not require me expending my powers... and 15 involve the light fixture above your head. Do not test my patience." Yellow replied.

"I don't believe you."

"Do you want to try me?"

"Not at the moment." Slade replied.

"Then you are a coward... and you're right... I can't think of 557 ways... I can think of 558."

The room went deathly silent at that point as they waited for Brave to return with the others.

~~~

Raven waited patiently on her throne. "Soon they shall come... and I believe they will be bringing a friend." She smiled at the thought. "I can't wait to play."

D: The door to the control room opened, and in rushed Kindness, immediately over to Creativity to heal her leg. Happiness came rushing in after her, and immediately knelt down in front of Cy, the look of anticipation clearly written on her face.

"Uhm, hi?" Cy said nervously with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, are you gonna flex and boo-yah for me? huh huh huh? will ya will ya will ya?"

Cy looked around at Star, then BB, then finally glared at Wisdom.

"Well, I did promise her that you'd do that if she came down and joined us." Yellow cooly replied to Cy's glare. "You're not gonna make me a liar, now are you? Cause I think that might actually cause the fabric of space and time to sunder apart, if you prove me wrong."

Cy stood up slowly and flexed for Happiness. She giggled with excitement. Starfire started giggling too. Cy whipped around and stared at her.

"I am sorry friend" she said with a titter.

"Don't forget the boo-yah" Wisdom reminded him.

"boo-yah" Cy replied, in a very drab manner.

"Awwww, saw it with finesse! say it with gusto!" Wisdom smirked.

"Boo-yah!!!"

"Yay, Boo-yah! Boo-yah! Boo-yah!" Happiness was bouncing up and done as she yelled out her boo-yahs.

The door opened again, and in walked Courage, carrying a limp Laziness. Courage plopped Laziness down on the couch with a thud. She just lay there exactly as she had landed.

"I did it! I have fulfilled by duty! I have accomplished a monumental task!" Courage said while do "air-karate" to an invisible opponent. She immediately saw that Slade had been left unguarded. She growled as she pouned on him and dragged him to the floor.

"Oh for the love of....I thought I was done with you" Slade said with a grimace as he sat up against the couch.

Wisdom ignored their antics and was busy looking through her collection of books. She was muttering.

"Missing something, oh great and powerful Oz?" It was Cy's turn to smirk.

"Good, I'm glad you find this amusing. I needed to lift the tension in the room. I can't perform my spell if the mood is too dark. It would only just give greater strength to little miss "I'm-our-father's-daughter" out there. Now where is it???"

"What is it you seek, Yellow-robed Raven?" Starfire inquired.

"Its a book. I need it to complete my spell. The only spell that might have the power to entrap Anger and bring her back into the fold. But I can't find it anywhere."

"What was the name of the book?" Cy had an intrigued look on his face.

"It was called Tome of Ancient Incantations, if you must know." Wisdom edgily retorted.

K: Laziness looked up from her place on the couch. "Oh that... I was supposed to give that back to Happy, Wisdom... but I don't know where I left it... saw this comic in BB's room and completely forgot about that old dusty book."

Slade sat up and looked at Cyborg. "That's the book I used."

"Say what?!" Cy said angrily.

"Yes, I used that book. I managed to steal it from Raven's room about a week ago." He said confidently.

All the Raven's stopped and gasped. "You went in our room?!" They said in unison.

"Dude..." BB started "You are so dead..."

Slade looked at the other Titans. "At the moment, I really couldn't care. Now, you... the purple one... I am not faking these injuries... please come heal me."

Cyborg grew frustrated. "Where is the book now Slade?!"

Kindness rushed over but was stopped short by Cyborg's muscular arm.

"I won't let her heal you until we get answers." Cyborg continued.

"She has it." Slade replied.

The room was overtaken with an unsettling silence. Everyone looked at everyone else, hoping that someone would have some words of encouragement or some inspiring words of bravery or at the very least, bravado.

Then, like a knife cutting through a veil, someone broke the silence. Beast Boy chirped in "Well... we can officially kiss our a-"

"No! We shall not give in! Robin is out there somewhere and that thing... that thing of evil has him. I wish to get both Robin and Raven back! I will not accept defeat! None of us can accept it! We must save the city and our friends!" Starfire exclaimed.

"Hoo-wah!" Said Brave.

"Excellant speech! Very moving!" came the voice from Creative.

"Ra-Ra..." Slade sarcastically remarked. "Heal now?"

"So then Starfire, dear, what is your plan?" Wisdom said.

"Uhm..."

D: Before Star could get out another word, they heard a cawing come from the opposite corner of the room.

They all froze with fear. Even Wisdom. Slowly, they turned to see one solitary raven sitting on the stand that held one of Wisdom's books.

The raven slowly cocked its head to one side, and smiled. A horribly vicious evil smile. It blinked each of its four eyes one after the other, in a decidedly eerie and disconcerting manner.

Finally it spoke.

"Turn back. Turn back."

Everyone but Wisdom stepped away from the bird. Wisdom narrowed her eyes and spoke to the bird.

"You have no power here. You're tricks won't work on me. I don't know how you got in here, but you won't be leaving."

The bird looked over at Starfire. Finally, after what seemed to be ages of silence, it spoke.

"Someone left the roof door ajar. Very naughty. Very naughty. Mustn't do that, no no. Mustn't hurt others with fists. Mustn't be a Troq."

Starfire gasped and tears started to well up in her eyes. Wisdom quickly darted and stood between her and the bird. "Azarath... Metri..."

"Hush." Wisdom continued to move her lips, but nothing came out. "If I wanted a lullaby, I would've brought Terra, she could have "rocked" me to sleep. Oh wait, that's right. she's dead. oops. dopey me." The raven stared at Beast Boy. "Now, who killed her again, oh yea, she ended up killing herself. I guess I'm not the dopey one."

The bird walked down the edge of the stand, and hoped over onto the coffee table in the middle of the couches, in the middle of everyone. "And you couldn't do a thing to save her. Despite all your training and power, you were as useless as your ability. You let her die. tsk tsk. Very naughty. Almost as naughty as Troqie over there. You belong in a cage in a freak show, being poked and prodded by little children for a quarter."

BB could feel the rage building inside him. He wanted so badly to just tear the bird's head off. But he couldn't move. He was frozen to where he stood.

The raven narrowed its gaze on Cyborg. "Well Hello! aren't we looking rather normal today! It's really too bad that of all the times for you to be normal and useless, its now. Its also too bad you couldn't be a man when it came to helping out your friends. No, you ran and hid in the tower, while everyone else had to to deal with me." The bird's eyes glowed a deep red. They could feel the presence of Red Raven through its gaze. "But I wonder. I wonder what you're life would have been like, if only your daddy was a better man. A smarter man. But alas, he turned you into more of a freak show than the little cowering pup over there. I have seen what you would have become, and frankly, I'm dissappointed."

The bird hopped along and stopped in front of Slade. "And as for you, none of this would have been possible if it weren't for you. So to show our thanks, here's a little gift."

The bird hopped onto Slade's chest, stared deep into his one good eye...

and drove its beak into it, ripping it out of his head.

"Argghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!"

The bird flew and perched onto Wisdom's shoulder and whispered something into her ear. WIth that, the outside window shattered and the bird flew off, laughing.

K: (ouuuuuch! poor mr. wilson)

Starfire looked down. "This is my fault..." She balled her fists up. "I will find her and stop her!"

As she said this, Kindness ran over to Slade and began to heal him. Cyborg went over to Starfire and held her close.

"Shhh... No Star, it's not your fault. Raven was always cleaver... she would have found a way in somehow." He looked into her eyes. "Now you keep that head of yours focused... we have a big task to tackle and we don't want..."

"AUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

The others looked over to the couch where they saw both Kindness and Slade howling in pain from the healing process.

Cyborg shook his head. "Wisdom... why am I human again? Do you know?"

~~~

Raven returned to the old temple and landed in her throne. An eyeball in her hand as she morphed back to her more natural state. "Well now, either I scared the poor darlings away... or I gave them a nudge to follow me. Either way... that was most satisfying eating up the terror on their faces... and Wilson... oh Mr. Wilson had it the worst... I could just eat him up."

She held the eyeball in her hand gingerly. "Min-non-set, Istaben, Azbengual!" The eyeball floated in front of her own four eyes and she could see everything in the tower as it happened. "I see you Titans... everything you do... everything you feel... I can practically taste it. Do not sleep children... for then I will see your dreams as well." She laughed evilly.

An armoured knight stood in the corner awaiting her command.

D: Wisdom stared out through the broken window, looking out over the water, which was now blood red boiling and frothing. She shook her head.

"Its over now. There is no chance to stop her"

"You cannot say that! We must not stop! Star choked out through tears. "There has to be a way!"

"What did the raven whisper to you, before it left?" Cy walked up to Wisdom and stared into her eyes, even tho Wisdom tried to avert hers. "What did it say?"

"That it was over for us, that the book has been burned and destroyed. Its ashes spread at the foot of her throne."

"Uhm, that's not good right?" BB inquired, looking around nervously. "But can't we just run down to the library and take out a copy?"

"The library is the last place we want to go to now. That's her temple, remember? and besides, there were only two known copies of that book in existence, and the other one has been lost to time."

"Wisdom... Raven... Why am I normal again?" Cy repeated his question from before, only with more urgency. "How did I get this way?"

Wisdom looked down at the shards of glass that littered the floor. "At first I thought it was a consequence of transporting you so rushed, that Happiness took over for a moment and felt you would be better off as human." She looked over at Happiness, who was anything but. "But now I know that she or any of us had anything to do with it. She changed you back, because it fits her designs somehow. Either she needs you to be fully human, or...."

"Or what?"

"She needs you to not be part robot." Wisdom glanced around quickly and summoned several large tomes. Flipping through them quickly, she found what she was looking for.." Ah-ha, now this makes far more sense."

The looked upon her with puzzlement.

"What makes more sense?" Slade asked. He had been healed as much as possible, but not nearly enough for his liking. He hobbled over to the others, assisted by Kindness. There was a large gaping hole where his eye had been. "If you're starting to make sense of all this, then I'm gonna question your own sanity"

"I wasn't referring to our current plight" Wisdom glared. Even blind, Slade could feel her stare and he withered under it. "In this book, it descibes events that took place thousands of years ago. Part of it goes into detail about a battle with a demon, that could be killed, but not destroyed. They describe that its paladin, a horror that was never named, was destroyed by a half-night. But it never delved into what a half-night was."

The others stared at her blankly.

*sigh* "When this book was translated long ago, it was translated wrong. They weren't talking about a half-night, they were talking about a half-knight."

------------

Red Raven laughed. It was like watching a movie, where you know what's going to happen next.

"The fools, they've only just realized that? I think I've been giving them too much credit."

She summoned her champion.

"I do beleive you should pay them a visit, dear boy. I'm sure they miss you." Red Raven smiled and took a drink from her chalice. A steaming red liquid bubbled down the sides of her mouth. "Oh, and take a legion or two of my army out for the stoll".

Robin nodded and bowed before her. "yes, Mistress, Thy will be done." His eyes glowed red with malice as he marched forth. The ground trembled where he strode, and from the pit emerged cadre after cadre of fire demons and dark wraiths.

K: (you are ebil you know that? myuhaha you know i love it)

Cyborg looked around the room at the rag tag team of heroes... and one very useless villain. Suddenly he was struck by an idea.

"Slade, I'm probably gonna regret this down the road, but I need you to come with me!" Cyborg said urgently.

"Gee Cyborg, I would love to, but seeing as though I'M BLIND and still not too cabable of solitary travel, I'll have to pass." Slade said bitterly.

"Well see," He paused at the word 'see'. "thats why I need you to come with me. We all know you're a mean fighter... experience has shown that... but in this state you're useless to us... I'm going to take you to my room and fix you up. Get you a cybernetic eye and then let Kindness finish healing you when she feels up to it."

Slade would have raised an eyebrow at this notion but decided instead just to remark "You expect me to allow you to play around with my head just to restore my eye?"

"We could always throw you out to be Raven Chowder. That water out there looks mighty hot." Cy teased.

"Fine..." Slade said finally relenting.

"Ah the gratitude I get for being a nice guy." Cyborg said as he helped Slade over to his room.

Beast Boy watched as this happened. "We must be bad off if we gotta fix Slade up to have any chance." He rested his head in his hands.

Wisdom looked out the window once more. "Any help we can get is much needed."

Starfire,Creative, and Happy meanwhile went to tend to Kindness as she recouperated from such strain on her powers.

About an hour later Cyborg returned with a few weapons strapped to himself and Slade. Slade also had a strange apparatous attached to his helmet making him look rather odd.

"Dude... check out Robo-Cop!" Beast Boy chirped trying not to laugh at Slade.

"You're lucky we're on the same team this time, boy." Slade remarked waving about the electro cannon strapped to his arm.

Kindness feeling well enough returned to finish working on healing Slade's legs when Wisdom backed away from the window.

"Friend, what alerts you so?" Star said going to her side to take a look.

"Her paladin has come... and it brings friends..."

The others, save for Kindness and Slade, rush over to the window to look.

Sure enough a knight stood outside the tower, and was surrounded by minions much like the ones the Titans had faced when Slade directed them. The Paladin was dressed head to toe in demonic looking armour. The chestplate baring the all to familiar mark of Scath. The helm having a set of eyes on top that eminated a red glow from them, they matched the red glow of the real eyes that peered out from the slit in the visor. The armour itself was black with a red shine to it. Horns and spikes adorned the shoulder pieces, gloves, and helmet. A red and black half cape flowed behind him. He was mounted apon a nightmarish steed made entirely of black bones and a mane made of fire.

He dismounted and called up to the tower in a voice most inhuman. "My mistress, Scath, has sent me to deliver you a message: All who resist the Will of Scath will be wiped from this vile planet." He paused and looked directly at Star, Cyborg, and Beast Boy "And I will deliver on that promise."

He drew a wicked sword who's hilt was made to resemble blood red raven claws and who's blade was black as night.

Cyborg looked to the others. "We can take him..." He hesitated before continuing. "... right?"

K: Images of Slade flash through both Robin and Raven's mind. The images show Slade commanding Robin to do unspeakable things to his friends... and worst yet Robin obeying without thought or hesitation.

And one by one they fell. Fell at Robin's hands. And Robin does not cry. Robin does not shed a single tear. But instead he laughs. He laughs at the pain and destruction he has caused. He laughs... and Slade laughs as well.

Starfire is finally able to collect herself enough to see what is happening. Raven had made her see all her friends die... and yet here Robin is, alive, and this Raven, Raven is not dead either. The thing that claims to be Raven is hurting Robin the same way it hurt her. Star pulls herself behind a dumpster, out of it's field of vision, and pulls out a communicator.

She drops her voice as she speaks into it. "Starfire to anyone, please someone answer... please be alright... Something is horrifically wrong with Raven. She is no longer our friend that we once knew. She looks much of her father and is doing terrible things to Robin... she has already done terrible things to me. Please... if you can hear this... help us... please." She pleaded as quietly as possible.

Raven grasped Robin's upper arms and moved her head to rest on the tormented boy's shoulder. Her lips were only inches away from his ear. "It's just as I thought it would be Robin... the magnitude of your fear, that is. When I was released I was so hungry and the fool who released me, Slade, had a wonderfully black fear. It was decidedly dark and quite delicious. But it wasn't enough. I left him there to writhe in agony as I continued to search for a suitable meal... lucky for me that Starfire happened to fly my way, all full up on anguish and regret. The things that make fear so sweet to the palette. She made a wonderful dessert... but I still had yet to find my main course..."

Robin squirmed under her tight grip but remained locked inside his nightmare.

"But that's where you come in. Your fear is delectible. It satisfies my hunger. I think I may be growing full... for now that is. I will get hungry again and there is always an abundant supply of fear my boy. Maybe I'll keep you around."

D: Ok, i'm changing this up a tiny bit. I've decided a much better story can be had if Cyborg awakens in his own room. Not Raven's. So he has met Pink Raven in his room.

Cy walks out the door into the hallway. Its normal enough, aside from the glowing red. He turns and looks both ways. He shrugs and walks down towards BB's room.

He knocks on the door. No answer. He knocks again. Still no answer. He hestitates. He's about to continue walking when he faintly hears: "I guess you can come in, its open, i think..."

Cy walks in, not even expecting to find BB.

Its Raven, but this time, she's wearing an Orange robe.

"Uhm, hi?" He slowly says. Orange Raven is sprawled out on BB's bed, reading comic books, with her feet kicked up on a pile of dirty laundry and old pizza boxes.

"Hi..." is the slow response back. Orange Raven doesn't even turn to look at Cy. She just keeps on reading her comic book (which btw, is the December issue of Batman Strikes! Pick it up! Greating writing in that issue, I hear!).

"I was wondering if you could help me find Yellow Raven? There's something really wrong, and I need help figuring out what's what"

"Yea, about that. I'm realllll busy."

"You're reading a comic book."

"But its a really good comic book. You wanna read it when I'm done?"

"wait, how can you just be sitting there reading a comic when there's something really wrong with reality? I mean com'on, you're not supposed to be outside Rae's head!"

"oooo, you know, now that you mention it. There is something wrong. I'm realllly thirsty, but my soda is all the way over there on the nightstand by my head. Could you grab it for me?"

"....." Cyborg looks around the room. Hoping that maybe something in there could be a clue or of use to him. He looks in the closet, and he sees a small monkey toy. For some reason, he picks it up. He turns and looks at Orange Raven, splayed out on the bed, with her head to the side looking at the soda and her tonque hanging out.

"Soooo thirsty....."

He shakes his head, and walks out into the hallway again, taking the monkey toy with him.

Pink Raven is waiting for him in the hallway.

"Can you say Boo-yah? pleasssseeeeeee? pretty please? with sugar on top?"

"boo-yah?" Cyborg replies, questioningly.

"weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! hehehe" Pink Raven giddily goes bouncing down the hallway back into Cy's room, all the while chirping "Boo-yahs" left and right.

K: Robin balls his hands into fists and clenches them until his knuckles turn white. "I'm not your meal ticket!" He growls through gritted teeth. Speaking has become difficult for him.

"Did I say you could talk, boy?" Raven hissed.

"No... and I'm not a boy." He managed.

"You are fiesty boy wonder... but you will hold your tongue before I remove it from your bold mouth. Now where are the others?" She said as she held her mouth next to his ear.

He didn't answer.

"Now, boy, I am allowing you to speak and you had better do so." She jerked him back, digging her nails into his arms. "You'll find I'm usually patient, boy, but this is not one of those times. The others. Where. Are. They."

"I... don't know." Robin said as he tensed.

"You're lucky I am empathic and can tell you're being honest. Otherwise..." Raven finally noticed Starfire is no longer a huddled mass of quivering fear, but instead she was no where to be seen. "Where'd the little princess go?! You stay put, mortal." She spat as she used her powers to restrain the boy wonder.

Robin managed to move his arms just enough to take one of his tracking devices and stick it on hisself and activate it. In case the others were to look for them.

His throat was so dry and hoarse that he couldn't speak anymore. All he could do was mentally urge Starfire to be safe.

Starfire meanwhile had tried to contact the others again but felt a sudden chill as a shadow cast itself over her. She looked up to see Raven standing over her.

"What an odd time you picked to play phone tag... little princess." She mocked as she smiled evilly.

D: BB was walking along the shore. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't want to stay where he was. The cawing of the birds was steadily getting louder, so he picked up his pace.

He could see Titan tower in the distance. But it wasn't a "T" anymore. It was a giant mis-shapen "R". What was odd, is that no matter where BB was, the R was always facing him. That un-nerved him. But even still, if he was gonna find his friends, the logical place was to start at the tower.

BB changed into a falcon and took to the air. As he looked down at the city below him, he was horrified. Everything was exactly where it should be, but it was a tortured version of its former self. Buildings were distorted into wicked shapes. The roads zig-zagged in hap-hazard fashion. and everything was illuminated in a strange red glow.

As he was flying, he felt his communicator buzz. He landed on a rooftop and changed back. He picked up his comm and opened it in time to hear Starfire faintly say... "if you can hear this... help us... please...." before the transmission was abruptly cut short. BB turned on the comm's locater device, but he could only see his beacon and one in the tower. He tried radio-ing Starfire, but couldn't get an answer. He tried radio-ing whoever was in the tower, but with the same disappointing results.

Another strange thing he found was that the communicator could not locate any beacons outside of the city limits. As if something was blocking it, or...

... there was nothing beyond the city limits.

As he shuddered at this thought, he got a prickle of fear run down his spine.

The cawing was back. but this time, he could faintly hear something with it...

"Turn back, turn back...."

K: Slade was finally starting to come back to his senses... the effects of the feeding finally fading from him. He tried to get up but it was difficult. He was weak and in a great deal of pain.

"I should have learned my lesson about messing with demons the first time around... she's worse than her father." He thought, scolding himself for his foolish error.

As he looked around the room, he saw it was lit of its own accord, glowing an eerie red. It was as if despair, dread, and fear had all taken up residence in this room and emanated its precsence throughout.

Slade was not afraid... but he was very shaken by what had just occured. And the fact that he could barely feel his legs did not bode well with him either.

A noise from outside the room alerted him suddenly. It sounded faintly like Raven... but it was more childlike... and for the strangest reason, sounded like it was giddily chirping the word "boo-yah" over and over.

"This must be what Hell is like..." Slade whispered to no one at all.

D: (omg, i had to stop myself from laughing out loud when i read that. Its past midnight and hysterical laughter is frowned upon at this hour )

BB looks around suddenly and his breath was stolen from him. On every rooftop surrounding him, were dark ravens. Their beady eyes glowed a terrible red. They had stopped their cawing. They seemed... eerily content. As if they had just enjoyed a big meal.

BB slowly backed up, toward the ledge that lead out to the bay and the tower, his only avenue of escape. As he did so, the ravens moved onto the far side of his roof and continued to get closer until he stopped moving. Letting his fear overwhelm him, he suddenly changed into a pigeon and took off flying for the tower.

The ravens gave chase. Their cacophony of caws was horrible. They overtook BB and begin to peck at him, deliberately forcing him away from the tower and back toward the city. He wasn't being chased. He was being driven. To what he did not know, but he didn't want to find out. He changed into a pterodactyl, but this just gave the ravens more to peck at. He was thinking wildly, fear gripping his every thought as it raced through his mind.

Suddenly, a memory leaped forward. It was a time when he was with Raven, right after Terra was lost. He was afraid of what the future would bring, and Raven actually comforted him during that time. She said to him "Don't let you fear consume you. If you let it, it will take you mind, body and soul. Don't give in to it. You have the power to fight it. No matter what happens, you have the power to fight it."

BB suddenly could focus again, despite the incessant attacks of the ravens. He realized that he did have the power to fight. Not having the energy to turn into his dragon-self, or anything large for that matter, he changed into a hummingbird and took off. On a wild chase he took them, zigzagging left and right. If they wanted him to go back to the city, fine. But it was gonna be on his terms.

He zipped across back towards the city. Several of the ravens pulled ahead of the main pack. BB quickly whirled around and became a peregrin falcon and swooped back towards them, snatching two of ravens and crushing them in his claws. He quickly transformed into a fly and flew right into the mouth of a third. In an instant he had changed into an armadillo, exploding out. He let himself fall towards the ground with all the other raven's in pursuit. At the last moment before impacting, he changed into vampire bat, and sank his fangs into an overzealous raven. Then came a porcupine, followed by snapping turtle, then wolf. BB kept this up, with undying energy, changing into a myriad of animals, taking out one or two raven's at a time. In a surprisingly short amount of time, BB had decimated the once monstrous flock of ravens and reduced them to a small handfull. He changed back into himself and looked at the pitiful remnants.

"Maybe you should turn back." he said with a smirk.

K: Slade pulled himself off the floor using all his upper body strength and the nearby dresser to give him leverage. Finally on his feet, he placed his hands on the wall for support as he slowly made his way out of the room and down the hall.

"I've got to get out of this wretched Tower. I'm in no shape to face any of the Titans right..." Slade paused as he saw a completely human Cyborg walking towards him. "now."

Cyborg stopped as he saw Slade. "You!"

"Yes me. It seems everyone seems to be saying that to me today." Slade deadpanned. "You're looking rather flesh and bone, Cyborg."

"You have something to with what's happening right now! Don't you?" Cy said as he grabbed Slade by the collar.

Slade wobbled a bit. "It would seem that way, Cyborg."

Cyborg glared at him as he waited for a real answer.

Slade relented. "Yes, I had a great deal to do with this. I placed some special ruinic transcriptions on the walls of Raven's room as you all were attacking my drone replacement. They were meant to bring out Raven's truest nature. Her inner demon if you will. Seems it worked like a charm and the next thing I know I have this demon girl doing something very strange to my head. She also did this to me." He explains looking down at his slightly mangled legs. "I think its safe to say that I'm done with demons."

"You did what?!" Cyborg says slamming Slade into the wall. "You made this mess Slade... now you're going to help me fix it. Where did you get the ruinic markings?"

"From a book." Slade replied.

Cyborg slammed him against the wall again. "You're in no shape to fight back... so lets try this again. Where did you get the markings... from what book. Tell me where to find it!"

"I can show you... but I really don't plan on making a habit out of helping you kids save the world." Slade said as he resigned to the fact that once again he would have to help the Titans... because of that Raven girl.

"Don't think that we really like having to work with you either, Slade. But right now we don't have much of a choice." Cyborg replied. "But we need to find someone first, and I ain't letting you out of my sight."

The two traveled down the halls in silence like two old warriors leaving a battle field after a brutal war... a strange sight for anyone to see.

D: The two walked silently down the hallway. They came to Robin's room.

"Oh hey, Cyborg, do you wanna dress up like Robin again and go twittering about the tower?" Slade said dryly.

Cy looked at him, wondering how he found out about that. As he opened Robin's door, he "accidentally" slammed Slade into the door frame. He then unapologetically let him fall to the floor in a heap.

Cy looked around the room, half-expecting to see a Raven. The room was empty. As he turned around to look back into a hallway, he felt a whoosh.

"Cyborg, look out, its Slade!!!" Green Raven shouted as she pounced onto Slade and slammed him into a wall.

"Is there some sort of training you all go through that teaches you the art of slamming incapacitated villians into walls?" Slade wondered aloud, mostly to himself.

Cy looked at yet another incarnation of Rae. "Hello Green Raven. I see you've caught Slade.Good work"

"Thanks Cy, I wasn't about to let him get away this time. Too many times he's eluded us, but not this time!"

"Yes, I can see that you "got" me. Now unhand me!"

"Well, you heard that man, Rae" Cy said with a smirk.

Green Raven obediently lets Slade go, and he crumples to the floor, yet again. "So Cyborg, any news on any of the villians that escaped? We can catch them, I know we can! The two of us always worked so well together! There's not a villian I wouldn't face with you by my side."

"You know, there is something I need help with. Do you know where Yellow Raven is?"

"erm, not really. She said she was really busy and that she couldn't be disturbed. So I went up here to train, so I could be ready for villians like this..." She turned and growled at Slade.

"Woa, woah, easy Green, easy. I'll tell you what. Why don't you help me out here with Slade. I have to find Yellow Raven, but watching Slade alone is a task in it of itself. You wanna come with me and keep and eye on him together?"

"Gosh! That would be swell! Do you think Robin would mind if I borrow one of his belts?"

"Nah, I think he'd want you to have one, Com'on!"

Cy picks up Slade, and drags him out of the room. Slade watches Green Raven follow them, glaring at him. He sighs. Cy hears this, and bangs Slade's head into a wall.

"oops, still getting use to the flesh and bones me."

K: Starfire weakly opened her eyes. She instantly recognized the place that she was now in. The temple underneath the old library.

She held her head. The last thing she could remember was monsterous looking Raven saying strange things about a phone tag and calling her little princess.

And now she was here... in the temple. Surrounded by ruins and the crumpled monument where only a year ago Raven had become the portal to allow Trigon to return... and while she was thinking about it... Raven greatly resembed her father now.

She shivered involuntarily. "Oh friend, what has happened to you?"

She shook the memory of Raven for a moment when she remembered Robin. She resisted the urge to let out a small gasp as she frantically searched about the place for him.

Nothing. Not a trace. Only a solitary Raven with four red eyes. It cawed at her then flew off.

D: Cy made his way down the hallway towards Starfire's room. Slade was mumbling something about Green Rae poking him with a birdarang.

Cy got to Star's door and tried to open it. It was locked. He knocked.

"Who is it???" a very pleasant voice chirped back.

"Its, uh, Cyborg"

"Oh, come in, come in, please." The door opened, and there appeared Purple Raven. Would you like to sit down? Can I get you anything?" she inquired.

"Oh, uhm, no thanks. I just stopped by because I need to ask you something."

"Oh please, anything I can help you with. You know you can ask anything of me Cy. I see that you're all you now! You look great!"

she gasped. Green Rae had just dragged Slade in. "He was getting uppity" Green explained.

"Oh no! Whatever happened, Mr. Slade?!? Here let me heal your legs!"

"No! No that's ok, Purple Rae, Mr. Slade is just pretending to be crippled, he does that sometimes..."

"Why would anybody do that? Heal me!"

"He's also a chronic liar. Now, Rae, have you seen Yellow Rae lately? Its really important that I talk to her."

"Oh, of course Cy. I last saw Yellow Rae in the control room, looking up something on the monitor while going through several books. I imagine she's still there."

"No we're getting somewhere! Boo-yah!"

"Boo-yah? Did you say boo-yah???" Pink Raven peered through the doorway, with a sheepish grin on her face. "I love it when you say BOO-YAH!" she happily skipped down the hallway, boo-yah's reverberating off the walls. Slade groaned.

"Are you sure Mr Slade doesn't want to be healed?" asked Purple Rae.

Cy quickly covered Slades mouth. "Yea, he's good. C'mon Green."

WIth that, Cyborg headed towards the control room.

K: Robin had just come to when he felt the restraints holdng him to the floor. He was chained down and shackled, his bare back against a cold metal slab. He realized that he had been stripped of his shirt, cape and belt...

And mask, he suddenly came to find. He jerked around trying to free himself, but it was to no avail.

Raven entered the room fiddling with his mask. She was obviously frustrated that she couldnt get the mask on. Her extra set of eyes made it nearly impossible.

Resigning, she sat down in a makeshift throne made of rubble and bone shaped granite. At least... it appeared to be granite. She proped one leg up on an arm rest while the other rested casually in front of her. Leaning back, she watched Robin struggle.

"I do enjoy watching you squirm. Its fun seeing the fearless, well supposedly fearless, leader being all prone and helpless." She said holding her fingers to her lips. "Its delicious, kind of like a fine chocolate truffle... or a small child."

"Where's Starfire?!" Robin angrily yelled at the demon in the throne.

"The little princess flew away. Off to warn the others no doubt... just as I wanted her to. Oh Robin, we're going to have a tea party and everyone's invited." She said laughing evilly.

Robin closed his eyes as his body resisted his exurtions. Her laugh echoing in his head.

D: BB looked up at the giant R that the tower has transformed into. He looked around for the door, and finally saw a small gap in one of the walls.

As he approached, he could just make out someone peering at him through the gap. Then the door quickly slammed shut.

"uhm, hello?"

no answer. He knocked. Still no reponse. He was just about to change into a Triceratops and bash in the door (he was feeling alot more energy since wreaking havoc on the ravens), when he heard a faint voice.

"Who... who is it? We don't want any magazine subscriptions today."

"its, uh, Beast Boy?"

The door opens alittle crack and he sees two small eyes look out at him. "Beast Boy? I was wondering where you went. Are you mad at me?"

"Mad at you, why would I be...." he stops mid-sentence as the door opens up more. He sees Raven standing before him, in a gray cloak. "...Raven?"

"Yea, for that time I called you a pinhead? I really didn't mean that. and for the time I said your jokes weren't funny and the time that...."

"Rae Rae Rae, its ok. I forgave you for all that!"

"eep!, I'm sorry, I sorry I forgot you forgave me about the time that I..."

"Hey, I have an idea! You wanna play a game?"

"What kind of game? Cause I wouldn't want to lose or win, cause that might make you mad..."

"Ok, lets play a game where we're on the same team! That way, when we win, we both win! How 'bout that?"

"Oh, that sounds like fun! I've always like playing chess..."

"...., uhm, yea. Well, lets go find your chess board! Can I come in?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, please for..."

"Its ok" BB says as he walks into the tower. Gray Raven quickly shuts the door behind him and locks it. BB is surpised to see that the tower looks fairly normal on the inside, except for everything having a red glow.

"Why does the tower look like a giant R now, Gray? and why is everything red?"

Gray raven shrinks down to chibi size: "She did all that. But she isn't here anymore. Yellow banished her from the tower and made it safe for all of us. But yYllow is worried and that makes me worried too."

"Where is Yellow Raven now?" BB looks around quizically. Gray has suddenly disappeared from beside him.

Gray suddenly appears from the floor in front of him. "I'm sorry Beast Boy, but I was playing with your game and I broke the controller and now you're gonna be mad and I..."

BB slaps his his palm to his hand. He quickly composes himself, cause he knows this Raven is particularly fragile. "Hey, you know what, when this is all over, I'll get a new controller and we can play together... on the same team of course."

"Really? You really want to play with me???"

"Of course! we can play rock 'em sock 'em Cyborg! Now where was Yellow Raven again?"

"Oh yea, she told me to tell you that she's in the control room waiting for you. She also said that she was sorry she couldn't transport you back into the tower. She said you had something to do out there before you could come here. Did you do what you had to do?"

"yea, I think I did just that." BB smiles as they walk toward the control room.

Something catches his eye as he walks past a darkened room (which is surprising since the whole place is glowing red).

For a split second, he thought he saw someone clad in brown...

K: Starfire took off and followed the bird. She wasn't sure why she was able to fly, her mind was greatly shaken with confusion but she flew on. Perhaps it was her determination to save Robin from that wretched creature wearing Raven like a shell... if that was really the case.

The bird flew towards the Tower which was now a misshapen R.

"Oh this cannot be good. Please friends... please be alright." She said as she landed on the roof.

K: rae after sobbing is going to tell the others to start helping the city while she cleans up her room and tries to sanctify her room once more.

So they argree after a slight hesitation. But they are greatly worried of course.

So Rae starts to clean up her room... she starts by picking up the glass shards from her busted window... she cuts her hand on one of the shards... some blood falls on one of the markings... The markings all illuminate... Rae backs away but bumps into something... no... not something, but someone.

"I hope you like the remodeling job. Took me ages to get the transcriptions right." Slade says looking down at Raven.

Raven gets all angry but she's very frightened... something isnt right... something isn't right in her.

"What you have concealed, you shall become... you cannot hide from what you are Raven. You are a demon, a monster. And they will see it."

"Robin already has" She'll reply feeling dread knot in her stomach.

"No... he hasn't even seen the half of it." Slade replies as the markings flow off the wall and into her body. She doubles over with pain...

"You..."

And mean while the titans are in the city trying to find slade and put out the fires.

D: omg, I can actually hear slade saying that! So perfect for him.

The titans split into two teams to take on the carnage faster. Rob/Star and BB/Cy.

Rob/ Star go to take on the prisoners who are loose, and BB/ Cy to put out the fires and rescue people who are trapped and whatnot.

I can definitely see Cy somehow hook up a hydrant to himself, and act as a water pumper, shooting water through his arm cannon at the fires, and BB using his Pterodactyl mode to pull people off roofs. At one point the main bridge of the city is in danger of collasping, so they race over there, and they try to get people off, but there just isn't enough time. So BB goes dragon once more under the stress of it, and literally holds the bridge up with his enormous body while Cy gets the people to safety. Just as the last person gets off, BB passes out from the strain and falls into the water, with the bridge collasping on top of him...

Meanwhile, Rob/Star find Billy Numerous and johnny rancid wrecking havoc in downtown. Rob takes on Johnny and Star foes for Billy. Billy makes a comment about how its only just a little girl and Starfire just completely snaps, and just starts smashing through all of them, until she grabs the Billy that made the comment, and just starts pummeling him into the ground. She just keeps punching and punching him, while all the other billy's try to stop her, but to no avail. Finally, she completely knocks him out, and the other billy's merge back into this one.

By this point, Robin has already corralled Johnny, and they both see her rage. Johnny just stops and gives up, saying that if that's what's in store for him, he'd rather just go right back to jail.

Robin calls out to Starfire, who stops, looks back at him, and just flies off crying..

K: So robin hands Johnny and Billy back to the authorities hastily then pursues Starfire.

As Starfire flies down an alley she sees a cloaked figure. "Raven? Friend, is everything back to the way it should be?" She will ask in an attempt to hide what she has done.

"Someone's been very naughty..." comes a very distorted voice... it sounds like Raven... but something about it is very very wrong. The cloaked figure steps forward and as it advances Star sees the two clawed red feet... under the hood are four glowing red eyes... "very naughty indeed..."

Meanwhile Cyborg rushes to dig BB out from under the rubble with much urgency making sure the green boy does not drown.

D: Cy quickly jumps into the water, and uses his water pump to propel himself through the bay, to get to the rubble. He climbs on top of it , and starts digging.

suddenly, he hears the faintest of cries, but not from the rubble, almost like they're in his head...

"Turn back, turn back..."

Cy shakes his head and looks around, not seeing anything. He starts digging again...

"Turn back, turn back...."

Its getting louder now, it seems to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

He starts to feel light headed and his instruments are going wacky. Another of the after-effects of slade's virus? It just doesn't feel like Slade tho...

"TURN BACK TURN BACK"

everything goes dark...

K: As this is happening Starfire is backing away from the cloaked figure.

"You are not Raven. You are not Raven at all. Who are you?" She says, voice slightly trembling. She is greatly confused.

The hooded figure pulls down the hood to reveal that it is in fact Raven... however she definately looks more like her father now. Her skin now red, her hair white, her hands gnarled and clawed. She now has small horns upon her forehead and her uniform looks as it did on her birthday after she encountered slade...

"Oh but I am Raven. The real Raven. What's the matter? Don't like seeing the true face of your best friend? Come now Starfire, no more secrets. Tell me the things you've done just now. The dark things. I can tell you've sinned." She smiles wickedly, a mouth full of razor sharp teeth shine in the barely lit alley.

"You cannot be Raven... Cannot be Raven... this must be a joke." Starfire says to convince herself it was all a lie.

D: Beast Boy knows he's under water. He knows he's trapped under the collasped bridge. He notices that his body automatically changed into a fish when he hit the water. It confuses him, but its the least of his worries. He can breathe because of it.

Its pitch black and he doesn't know which way is up, which way is out. He's still feeling the effects of becoming such a large creature. Its as if his soul is aching. But why? He didn't feel like this when he became the dragon the first time. He only felt weakened. Could this be something else?

Its a feeling he can't ignore. Its as if something has grabbed his very soul and is squeezing it.

He knows he has to get out and fast, before the rubble settles. He changes into a small squid and feels his way around the small pocket he's trapped in, to see if he can find a way out. But it doesn't feel right. He finds walls, and they are smooth. Its not like he's in rubble, but a...cave.

He follows the wall until he feels an opening, he travels through it and finds its a tunnel. He travels down the tunnel until he can sense light. He reaches towards it, and finally emerges at the surface.

He's not in the bay of the city anymore. Actually from what he can tell, he's not even near the city. It looks like a strange alien landscape.

"Uhm, where am I?

In the distance, he hears a bird cawing...

K: I know where this is heading! myuhahaha

Robin finally reached the alley that Starfire had entered only moments ago... he finds that something is off in the atmosphere. The world feels as if it is off kilter. For a moment he feels he cannot breathe, as if all the oxygen had been sucked from the air. He loses his barings and vision for a moment only to open them once more as he hears Starfire scream a most horrific scream.

His head snaps in the direction of the noise and his vision captures a glimpse of a red creature leaning over Starfire looking as if she is causing her tremendous pain. But the creature isn't even touching Star.

Robin runs over to stop the beast but is stopped short himself as the creature's head snaps up and looks into his soul with all four eyes.

"Tell me Robin, do you wish to explore your worst fears next? I'm almost done with Starfire. I bet yours are absolutely delicious... what with all the paranoia the Batman instilled into that head of yours." Raven said licking her lips greedily.

Robin hesitated before reaching for his birdarang. "Raven.... what happened to you?"

"Release, Robin. Release is what happened to me."

D: Cyborg opens his eyes. It takes awhile for him to realize that he's in a pitch dark room. He fumbles around for a few seconds before his mind clears enough that he realizes something is very very wrong.

He's no longer half robot.

He fumbles around somemore and finds a doorknob. He opens the door to find himself in a room eerily lit red, but not from a single light but as if the room itself was glowing red. He looks down at his hands and to confirm that he is, in fact, back to normal again.

An intense feeling of happiness flows through him, but it is immediately and abruptly smothered by an overwhelming sense of dread. But not an internal sense of dread, but as if something had just come in the room and was emanating it.

It is then that he realizes where he is.

Raven's room.

K: Robin narrows his eyes. "The markings... this has to do with the markings doesn't it?" His hand grasping his birdarang tight as he says this.

"Ding Ding Ding... give the boy a prize. The markings allowed me to finally be free. Do you know what its like to always be surpressed. To never see the light of day because some scared little girl keeps you locked in a cage. Its terrible! Never deny who you are, sweetie, it'll get someone else killed." As Raven says this, Starfire collapses to the ground shivering in fear. "What a feast that was... It was obvious her fear was losing her loved ones... she thinks you're all dead."

Robin tosses the birdarang at Raven "Only person dead to us right now is you." The birdarang hurdles towards Raven's head. "I'm sorry it had to be this way."

"Don't be." She says. "For nothing is as it seems." She deflects the birdarang with her powers and sends it into a near by wall. She then disappears into the ground... only to reappear from the ground behind Robin. "Oh what a feast your fears will be." She grasps his head with her hands.

"STARFIRE!" He yells as his vision starts to change to something else entirely.

"She can't help you now..." A voice whispers in his ear.

D: "Hey you!"

Cyborg jumps back, startled. He can't see who is talking to him.

"What? You aren't going to say hi back? That's rather.. rude!"

"Uhm, Hi?" Cyborg is looking around wildly, trying to find the person to match the voice. Finally, he sees a vanity, and someone sitting at it. In the red glow of the room, its hard to make out how it is or what they are wearing. He tentatively takes a few steps towards them. "Who are you?"

"Cyborg! You don't recognize me??? You're in my room, do-do head!"

"Raven? but how...." his voice drops. His eyes finally adjust enough to see her clearly. She's wearing a pink robe.

"hehhe, not sure. But you're looking goooood!!!!"

He looks back down at his hands and body again. He realizes its not a trick. He really is back to normal. He looks back up, but Pink Raven is no longer at the vanity.

"Boo!" Pink Raven jumps out from behind him onto his back. "So what are we up to?"

"Uhm, I'm not sure, but something feels definitely wrong..."

"Oh, of course something's wrong, silly. I'm here talking to you, aren't I?"

"But..." Cy stammers, confusion washing over his mind. "What happened?"

"Oh, that's a boring story, I'd much rather talk about you! But if you must know, you're probably better off asking Yellow. She seems to know it all. But I'm much more fun!"

"Where's Yellow?"

"You'd have to ask Yellow that, stud. Like I said, she's the know it all around here. Oh, and if you see Orange, tell her I want my Tome of Ancient Incantations back. She said she was gonna read it and give it right back to me."

".... right." Cy glances around, searching for the door out. He peers it out at the other end of the room. "Oh, wait. Can you at least tell me why everything is red?"

"eep! nah-uh. nope. not in a million years. I don't want to talk about her..."

With that, Pink went back to her vanity and started brushing her hair and humming the theme to "My Little Pony"

K: So the one stable character is now under slade's directive. That's scary stuff... but he may be able to control the machine but he cant control the man... Cy may be able to warn the Titans to stay away from him.... or tell them to use the protocol on him to stop him.

Meanwhile Rob would be having trouble with Star because only hours ago "he" was being harsh and controling and very unpleasant. She does not want to listen to him... or believe him until he speaks of what happened with Rae.

On the other side of town Rae is having difficulty with Beast Boy because he wont hear it. He refuses to talk to anyone except to say he'd be better off just being a caged freakshow because at least then he knows he'll be gawked at but professionally as opposed to just being turned down by people like "Terra". Raven is having trouble getting through to him so she tries to contact Cy to be back up on this when..

D: i like the freakshow in a cage part with BB.

So Rae contacts Cy, and get almost an answering machine response. Cy's desperately trying to fight against Slade, but its taking every ounce of his being to do so. Slade has him tell her that he's too busy tracking the bad guy to help her talk to BB, and tells her to just drag him back to the Tower and put him in the prison they have (they have a prison, right?) until they can reason with him.

Rae almost instantly knows that something is very very wrong, since BB and Cy are so close and Cy would try to help no matter what else was going on. She tried to get in touch with Robin, but the communicators are now down. and she's still too weak to telepathically contact him.

and now there's trouble. Remember all the prisoners Slade freed? well, they have now found the two of them. There are three prisoners, who would they be?

K: oh Plasmus is a popular bloke... gross too. and of course need Cinderblock and hmmmmmm sure why not... a cliched but always good trio... is never complete with out Overload

D: Oh, I like it! Oldies but goodies! and each one is hard enough to take out when the Titans are at full strength. So how will a much weakened Raven and a disheartened BB take them on?

K: Now that is the question. I mean the titans could barely take them on in Aftershock part II.

I think that perhaps Robin and Star come in just in time. Not to say Rae and BB couldnt do it but you know... in that state... it would be hard.

D: Hmm, I was toying with the idea of BB going super feral on them. Raven makes a valiant stand against them, but she is just too weak. BB sees her getting thrown around, and he basically snaps

but on such a greater level than Beast Within. I'm talking he starts out charging in at the Triceratops dino, is able to pull raven out of the fray, but the three prove more than what a dino can handle. So he keeps going into different dino modes, and each proves to not be enough. Then he goes all feral, into his big bad beast form, and that seems to do the trick, until the three uglies start actually working together as a team, instead of three individual baddies.

So, in one last ditch attempt, BB thinks real hard, things real big...

really really big

and becomes...

a massive Dragon!

fire breathing and everything!

K: dudeness! of course! in a way each titan is going rogueish for this too... but in a good way. BB doing it to keep him and Rae alive. But ending up all scary like in the process... I see it raining too for some odd reason...

So meanwhile... Rob and Star head back to the tower... only to find Cyborg...

Poor Robin and Starfire

D: I've always wanted BB to become a dragon, so i figured it would work nicely in here. and later on, he can say that he got it from one of her books too. and of course, it has to be raining (with lightning! oh the dramatic effects will be impressive in this scene)

I'm also working in this whole "going to the mat" thing that each of the titans are doing for each other. Robin taking the blast, BB going all dragon are ways that they go to the extreme for each other. this will play a part later on, in rebuilding the trust in each other, and it will also show that each does need to be constrained since they do have the ability to just go way over the edge if pushed.

and yea poor poor Star and Robin. Robin just managed to convince her that it wasn't him that said all those things to her and now they walk blindly into a trap, in their own home

K: and hmmm with rob and star walking in on a trap in their own home... i see them getting there and suddenly as they find cy... he initiates a total lock down on the tower. Noone gets in... and no one gets out.

D: so, star and rob are now trapped inside with cy, who's under slade's influence, and directly connected to the T-towers power supply.

this can't be good.

so now Cy goes super-Cy on them, with massive armor and weapons attachments at the ready. And Robin and Star are in no shape to fight a tricked out Cy, since rob is still reeling from the blast, and Star is only just getting her confidence and happiness back.

oh, and did I mention that slade is nowhere to be found?

K: no but you have now.

Meanwhile having just defeated the triple threat BB finally shifts back to his normal self... that doesnt mean he's finished.

Rae mentions that something must be wrong... something seems off with Cy. Beast Boy says no one messes with his friends and is about to fly him and raven over to the tower when Rae just grabs him and does the teleport thing we all know and love.

They end up in the tower (because name a wall thats raven proof) and find Super Cy about to take out the others... So now we have a very ticked BB, a very weak Raven, two titans not capable of taking on Cy... Cy who is quite aware of whats going on but can't fight it, and a missing slade... dun dun dun

D: and by teleporting herself and BB into the tower, Rae has just given up the rest of her remaining power, so she's completely incapacitated.

Robin tentatively approaches Cy, since he has no idea why he's locked down the tower and why's he's bristling to the hilt with weapons. He gets about a foot when he's met with a massive sonic blast. If not for star's quick act in grabbing him and pulling him down, he'd be a goner.

From a "safe" spot, Robin calls out to Cy, demanding to know what's going on. Cy tries desparately to speak out but all he can manage is a very weak "Sllaaaaddddeeee".

Upon hearing this, Robin finally starts to realize what's been going on. But its not a big help in their current situation. Robin suggests that the only way to stop Cy from tearing them and the tower apart is to use his protocol... a focused electromagnetic burst. But it would completely shut down his robot self, and quite possibly kill him. BB thinks that maybe he can get close enough to him in fly mode, then go inside him amoeba-like and shut down his weapons systems that way. But Robin knows that Cy's targetting system would be focused on even the smallest targets, especially flies.

Robin is just about to implement his protocol, when Starfire stops him and just flies out toward Cy...

K: And just as he's about to blast her, she flies around it then quickly flies behind him and pulls the big power cord connecting him to the tower's system, he's now just regular slade-controlled cy... too bad that he turns around and grabs star by the head and flings her against the wall. talk about ouch.

He then spots Rae who is only a smidge away from passing out and advances... canon readying.

Cy can only manage "I'm sooooooorry"

D: BB sees Cy advancing on Rae, and goes into his feral mode, knowing that he's gonna need it. Cy sees him coming and uses his radio transmitter to activate the T-tower's defense system.

now they not only have to deal with Cy, but also the entire tower's defenses. Laser cannons come out of the walls and ceiling, and just start blasting. Robin takes out a couple with his birdarangs before being pinned down behind a piece of equipment. BB quickly changes into the hummingbird and starts zipping around avoiding the laser fire, all the while getting closer and closer to Cy.

and Star gets up, very woozy

K: Hmmm... and Cy would still have that protocol hooked up to his blaster as he advances on Rae...

BB finally reaches Cy and turns into a monkey as he lands on his back and pulls a few cords to stop the coming onslaught that would be cy.

The sonic cannon powers up, glows brightly, rae closes her eyes and waits for the pain... then nothing. Cy just topples over as BB jumps off his back.

Star goes over to help robin out from under the rubble and then deactivate the tower's defense system.

D: As it turns out, the cables BB was pulling wasn't to anything vital, just to his extra blasters and whatnot. Cy actually was able to shut himself off from within, cause he'd rather risk the ramifications of shutting down (i.e. possibly death) then hurt Rae.

So now, the only Titan that's actually near full strength is BB, but Star is recovering quickly.

as they all stagger over to Cy's life-less body, they wonder aloud how they are gonna be able to re-boot him, without losing vital memory and whatnot, and remove whatever Slade was using to control him. As they look at each, the light suddenly go out, and all too familiar voice is heard, seemingly from all around them.

K: "And one by one the mighty shall fall, tiny specs in the vast ocean waiting to be swallowed by the whale. I'm actually surprised to see you make it this far Titans..." Slade will say still cloaked in the shadows.

The Titans are unsure what to do... Raven is slowly starting to regain her power/strength, but not fast enough for her liking. The titans are all backed into a corner of the main room trying to figure out what to do... it looks like the end of the titans...

D: As the Titans are backing up, trying desperately to peer into the darkness to see Slade, Starfire finally has enough.

With eyes ablaze with fury, she just starts blasting away into the darkness, causing fires all around them. as the fires grow, their glow illuminates that which they seek to find.

Slade, standing over the body of Cyborg, holding something in his hand.

With the press of his thumb, Cyborg starts to power up again...

K: But at that same time, Rae's rage is flaring again, this time at slade for playing EVERYONE against each other... and for her kids... her eyes flare red

just as Silkie seeing his family in danger jumps up and bites slade's hand... the one with the controller. Slade howls in pain.

Robin sees this and takes out a birdarang and twirls it at slade wrapping it around his feet.

Rae then uses her powers (that with her rage have temporarily returned to her) slams Slade against the wall as Star shoots star bolt after star bolt at him...

meanwhile... BB distracts Cyborg by becoming a flying target for his blaster to focus on.

D: and something slade overlooked... since Cyborg was rebooted, his automatic virus protection (that he implemented after BB had some fun with him) has also been restarted and is in the process of hunting down and debugging what Slade did to him.

all BB has to do is keep him distracted for t-minus 1:00 as the other titans are working on slade. (and here comes the dialog-less montage showing rob rae and star fighting slade in one panel, then swtiching over to BB changing into various animals distracting Cy, then back to slade, etc. Each time they show BB/Cy, the show the timer, counting down that minute, like each panel taking out 5 seconds or so)
ding! with the minute up, the virus protection has finished and Cy has fully regained control of himself, just as BB has worked himself into a corner and was about to get the blaster.

Rae's on anger has fueled her strength, Robin's adrenaline has kicked in and he's back up to par, and Starfire is just plan old angry, and taking it out on slade.

and Slade, much to everyone's chagrin, is just kinda taking the beating, almost like he doesn't care that he's losing...

and then Starfire comes up real fast and hard, and with one final punch, lands squarely on Slade's chin and...

his head pops off!

Starfire gasps! "He has... he has lost his head!"

Cyborg walks over and picks up the head, and his anger over being violated like he was is clearly written on his face. "its just a robot, Star" he says with disdain.

The head comes alive again, and slades mirth is clearly heard through it "Did you really believe it was me? My dear children, have you not learned by now?Its all a game of deception (oh! and there's our title for this story: "Deception", applying to both Robin's protocols, and slade's trickery) so why would I ruin it now, by getting beaten so early? And yes, I've only just begun...Perhaps you should take a look out your window?" with that, the head fizzles and shorts out.

They walk over to the window and see the horror that awaits them:

The entire city is in flames (much like the tower is now, thanks to Star's blasts).

K: oh no no i like that... thats awesome... but just trying to save the city is almost a whole nother story... or not lol

The communicators are back online now... and rae wants to make sure of one thing before they go further... she checks on her kids...

Slade never touched them. It was all another trick. Knowing that they are safe Rae pardons herself to meditate and fully heal... as the others work to locate slade and get systems back on line

but upon entering her room... rae finds...

D: Yea, getting the city back under control is the next story (which we might as well start a new thread for, since this one is 10 pages long now )

The rest of the titans starting cleaning up the place. Cy gets the defense system back up and running, and runs the systems checks to find exactly what slade did to the tower.
BB and star put out the fires, while robin contacts all the other allies to make sure they are alright and to warn them about his protocols. Now that slade knows about them, he might go after everyone else. So at least this way they'll be ready, and can have an idea of what to expect (and they all are quite PO'd at robin for even having them, but they realize from the look on his face that now is not the time to discuss it with him)

Just as they are doing all this, they hear Rae's scream
They come rushing to her room, and find her on her knees, crumpled on the floor sobbing.

They look around, and see her room is in utter disarray. They realize the room has been re-arranged to resemble an alter of sorts. a very dark alter. and they also sees marking covering the entire room.

Her birthmarks.

One last parting shot from Slade, or a hint of what's to come?

K: duuuuuuuuude thats evil! even for me... you know i love it.

yes indeed that'd so have to be a new thread for the saving the city.

The birthmarks though... *shivers* yeah i'd be sobbing too if I were rae...

D: heheheh, yea, the instant you had raven go into her room and find something there, i knew it had to be her birthmarks, cause besides her kids (which she knew were ok by that point) this was the only that could just absolutely devastate her.

K: To finally push Rae all the way over... an annonymous photo of the kids being done in by Red X (though its not really the kids, just slade's dasterdly cleverness) She'd then pursue Robin who I think would be Nightwing now. Meanwhile finding Raven gone from isolation, Cy prepares for the worse... the thought that he may have to resort to using Rae's protocol against her...

the plot thickens

D: that is nice! I like Cyborg's dilemma in having to plan to stop Raven using the same protocols they kicked robin out for. Its beautifully ironic and also a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy thing... because the protocols were made in the first place, nevessitates their use later on.

and its great how Cyborg is the one left to do the "dirty" work.

K: Indeed that fight would be gold!

Yeah Cy doing the dirty work makes it sad too because he was always like a big brother to Rae.

Oh Oh! We have our excuse for "evil rae". When Robin finds himself facing a 4 eyed version of his former friend. The demonic girl accusing him of destroying the children with him having no clue what she means... and then things start to click

D: Now, Robin starts realizing that something is definitely wrong, but he has the slight problem of trying to rationalize that with a very angry evil rae.

so now, i think one way of reverting her to normal rae is that aas she approaches robin ready to take him out permanently, cyborg comes up from behind with whatever device robin had in his protocol. he aims at rae and fires...

but robin sees this happen, and instinctively goes to protect Rae, (yelling oh so dramatically Noooooo!!!!!) and steps in the path of the blast.

upon seeing robin get blasted and basically crumpled at her feet, fae almost instantly regains control of herself to try to save robin's life.

now, we just have to figure out what the actual protocol would be for taking out Rae. We never actually did that before

K: this is true

glad to see i wasnt alone in thinking it was some form of blaster... hmmm.... something that deals with paralyzing.... or something... OH! something that definately messes with the brain and neural impulses.... Rae can't attack if she isnt thinking.

D: That's perfect! A neural inhibitor! Probably something that delivers a very powerful burst of electromagnetic energy, specifically attuned to Raven's power. Basically cancel her powers out, with the unfortunate side effect of turning her into a vegetable.

So robin jumped in the way, but because he's different than raven, it didn't turn him into a vegetable, but it did do massive physical damage to him. and cyborg's the perfect blaster, since he would just have to tinker with his arm cannon to get it to fit the protocol.

its amazing how well this is coming out

K: indeed

But the flaw of the plan comes to Rae's wonderous healing ability... We haven't seen enough of it in the show to see if it is like it is in the comic.... for in the comic... she heals you by taking your ailment into her ownbody and then forcing it out... So she would have to take the damage Robin had into her own body....

D: ahh, but the beauty of the blaster is, that since the energy field it creates is attuned just to her, when it hits robin, it merely does a devastating amount of phyical damage (since the blaster had to be set at a very high level since raven is half demon and uber powerful when she's angry. since robin is only human, the damage inflicted on him is quite extensive). Basically, what's hurting robin is mostly the "delivery" energy, not the specially "tuned" energy meant to take out rae. The delivery energy was carrying the tuned energy to raven, and providing an entry point into her nervous system. But since it hit robin instead, the delivery energy did its job, but the tuned energy just kinda dissapated.

If that makes any sense

K: yeah its the afteraffects that she takes in... not the special affects. So good. No VeggieRae.

So Rae would still be in a world of hurt absorbing that attack. So still one titan out for a bit...

Meanwhile Star and BB are still lost in the lies...

D: So Rae's recouping, Robin's still weakened from the blast, and if Cy had any hair, he would have pulled it out by now. But they all realize that something's manipulating them, and it knows just how to do so. But they know they have to be at full force to combat whatever it is, so they decide to let Robin's protocols drop for the moment while they go to find BB and Star.

But, they still need to figure out what's what. and they make yet another mistake (they are Teens after all) They decide to split up, and even tho they are both still weak, Robin goes after Star, while Rae goes after BB, while Cy stays at the Tower to try and pinpoint who is behind it all. Cy has the best chance of tracing anything that might be following them, so he's kinda using Rob and Rae as bait, to see what bites.
Here comes the mistake: he's the bait. As the only Titan to not be directly effected by Slades manipulation, he's kidna the obvious target now.

K: And waiting at the Tower is.... hmmmm well X would be pointless because X has been proven to be fake by this point... so does slade sent in a different fake or does he show up himself?

D: I think by now he knows that the cat's almost out of the bag, so going in directly might be the best bet. He could try Brother Blood, but at this point, more deception might be pointless, especially since Cy's half robot, and the robot side of him would see through any deception fairly quickly.

So Slade goes after him directly... when Cy plugs in to the Tower to charge himself (since he's drained from everything going) he finds that Slade has downloaded a virus into him.

And now we have the third titan to be under Slade's control.

Here is the first story that Kaden and I came up with for Teen Titans. It starts out that Robin has devised "precautionary" protocols to take down each of the other titans (and allies for that matter) in the event that they go rogue and endanger society.

D: hmmm, we should start working on his secret files now! How best to take out the Teen Titans?

K: starfire need only be confused by robin and she is completely powerless... well thats one down.

D: Well, the problem is she might be confused, but still might be a little tough to actually wear down and take out completely.

and when she was confused, she lost her ability to fly, but did she lost her blasting powers?

K: for the most part... she had to use that bow and arrow to take out that snot monster that was trying to eat robin.

D: So, she would still be resourceful, but robin would have no problem dealing with that, since he has to be resourceful all the time. Probably work on some sort of gas bomb concoction that would he would have mixed up that affects her Tamaranian physique.

Cyborg would be relatively easy. Infect his power station with a virus, or hit him with a highly focused electromagnetic burst to short out his circuits.

Two down

K: Beast boy and raven are the tricky ones... i guess bb you'd have to either poison with a massive toxin, maybe a neuro toxin or you cure the disease that makes him go all animally in the first place... from there he's just a normal ol' human.

Rae is the REALLY tough one.

D: Yea, BB would be extremely difficult if he was alittle smarter and able to actually focus. If he goes into feral mode, he might be alittle more difficult, but yea, a neuro toxin or massive sedative at the very least can take him out.

and there's Raven...

yea, she's going to prove to be extremely difficult, moreso now that Trigon is gone, freeing her to cut loose without the constant fear of him taking over.

K: definately. but the thing would be... would they go rogue?

D: I think Robin's plan would be if they were ever taken over by another force or villian. Now for an actual storyline, I'm not sure how'd the would actually find out, but it would be something like they stumble into his room by accident, and hit his computer somehow and the files pop open.

I don't think for the story that they would actually go rogue. It more be like they find out about his plans, before any of them could be implemented.

K: still it would be fun if one of them did go rogue

D: Well, Cyborg did go "rogue" when BB infected him accidentally.

and if one did go rogue, it would actually explain how they find out about the files better. Cause Robin can be like, well, we have to stop him/her, so we can just do this...

and then the others will question why he so readily knows how to take the rogue one out. and then the truth will be revealed.

and this can also be extended to Titans East, and the other allies they have, including Rae's kids! (ooo, that might completely send Raven over the edge with Robin!)

K: didnt even think about that! man! that would really do it

D: Now I really want to see a story on all this, especially the part when Rae reads about her kids being in his protocols (Ah ha! My brother reminded me what Batman's files in JLA were called. The Batman Protocols. So these can be The Robin Protocols!)

The rage washing over her face at that point would be awe inspiring.

and I think a good ally to go rogue and start this all off would be Hotspot. Well not rogue, per se, just out of control. (You have to power down! tee hee) Cause then Robin can jump into action and just automatically do exactly what would be needed to stop him (most likely a special chemical that fuses with Hotspot, retarding his ability to burn) and that's when the others can stop and be like "wait, why would you have this chemical at the ready and know exactly that it would work?"

and that's when the you-know-what hits the fan for him.

K: dude! we so need to write this.

And with Rae kicking Robin off the team then Robin is technically a rogue... and you know Rae would so want to hurt him like its nobody's business so the others would have to keep her in check... daddy or not she still has a major darkside and she's still half devil.

D: this just keeps getting better and better! Raven would so be a handful to control for the other titans, they would need titans east to come in just to handle the day to day business while they handle Rae.

and here's a cool little plot twist: someone is actually behind Hotspot's being out of control, knowing that he could lure Robin into using his protocols. So he set it up, knowing that Robin would get kicked off the team and have to fly solo...

now who could be so dastardly?

K: i see slade totally having this planned. this is why he was MIA this season

He also knew that at least one of the other titans would fly off the handle and if little miss rae was anything like daddy, she'd be the one to soar

D: And he knows Robin oh so well, so he would be able to find out about the protocols and manipulate robin into using them.

so now with robin solo again, slade can start manipulating him back into the fold.

K: and Starfire will be so very torn between helping her best friend stay in check or helping Robin join the team again... I see Rae turning on Star. Call her a traitor or something.

Ah entropy at its best

D: oh, I like that! Raven and Star will then ago after each other, putting more and more stain on the team.

Now, maybe Robin isn't Slade's focus this time. Maybe he's just a means to an end. Cause with Robin gone rogue, Slade can set up Robin. He starts freeing all the prisoners (ala knightfall with Batman), but he does so in a way that makes it look like its Red X.

The rest of the team sees this, and Raven goes further and further into rage.

K: And this then puts strain on Cyborg who is now leading the team. With Star and Rae at odds, Robin gone vigilante/rogue, a bunch of free criminals he's starting to feel a ton of pressure.

And then there's Beast Boy...

D: Wouldn't now be a good time for Terra to return?

or seem to return, as it were.

Slade can make BB think Terra is back, and that will pull him from Cy, so that Cy is basically trying to hold the entire house of cards up alone.

Star is finally pushed to far by Raven, and she leaves to find Robin.

K: nice... yes we definately need to write for the show

D: I know! Together we could come up with enough stuff to last decades! and that's just new stuff we come up with!

Ok, so Star goes off to find Robin, and she finds him (or so she thinks) dressed as Red X. Its really one of Slades tricks, and "Robin" pushes an already fragile Starfire around and makes her doubt herself all the more. This basically breaks Starfire.

Slade uses "Terra" to break BB meanwhile, but finally having her utterly reject him with disgust.

Basically, Slade uses all of Robin's protocol's to just take apart all of the Titans. But he does so in a much more evil way. While Robin had just planned the protocols to stop a rogue titan, Slade has perverted the protocols to break each titan's mind and drive them completely over the edge, making them unstable and incapable of coherently fighting.

The irony of it all is that Robin is faring just fine on his own, as Slade is not focusing on him... yet.