I was going to split the battle into the strategy in this chapter and the actual fight in the next one, but eh, I decided to give you guys all of it.

I have a question for you guys after the chapter so I hope you stick around to answer it in a comment.

Nine

As Robin had predicted, the air team reached the tower first and Raven paused in the air, causing the other three to do the same behind her.

"Is something wrong, friend?" Starfire queried.

"Are we waiting for something?" Bumblebee asked.

"Not exactly. I need to scan the Tower and see what we're dealing with. Hold on." She sat in her lotus position, chanting her mantra and sending her soul self past the steel walls and into the Titan tower.

There was an eerie vacancy to the usual comfortable space and Raven quickly discerned the sleeping chambers and upper floors were empty. However, there was a flurry of activity from the training room. She moved through the walls with the simplicity of a ghost and arrived at the training room, where an alarming amount of villains were gathered.

Mad Mod. Mumbo. The Puppet King. Cinderblock. Plasmus. Overload. Killer Moth. Adonis. Atlas. Control Freak. And at the front of the room, assuming Robin's usual position for team events, was Slade. He regarded the gathered villains calmly but silently. The ten supervillains were fidgeting and murmuring among themselves, seeming unsure of why they were there. Finally, Slade held up a closed fist and the room hushed.

"I assume you know why you've been summoned here. If not, let me inform you. We are here… to end the Teen Titans once and for all." Slade paused but the villains only gaped wondrously at him. "We are in control of the tower and of the weaponry once taken from us by the Titans. We are now an unstoppable force."

"What makes you think we can defeat them now when we never have before?" Mumbo questioned and Slade smirked under the mask.

"This time, I am in charge. I can use all your talents the best way possible and together we can kill these brats. Any other questions? No? Perfect. It's time to begin and I think our first step should be punishing the spy in our midst."

The villains glanced at each other anxiously but Slade's mask was staring at Raven's soul self lurking in the shadows of the room.

That's impossible. How did he know I was here?

"Hello, Raven."

Her eyes widened and she was pulling her soul self back when Slade made a sign to Mumbo who aimed his wand at her and released a blindingly white current of energy. Raven had no time to move before the energy reached her and began electrocuting her. She screamed, the pain sending her reeling back to her body, which received the electric shock and lost its floating position, sending Raven careening to the ground at dangerous speeds.

Raven could not summon enough concentration to control her levitation and soon the rocks on the floor would be crushing her face. She shut her eyes but gasped when her body met with hard muscle instead of death. Her eyes flew open and met the comforting white of Robin's furrowed mask.

"What happened?" he asked, still clutching her tightly to his chest.

Raven blinked, trying to gather her thoughts and sort through the information she'd received along with the electrocution.

"Slade saw me. I don't know how but he knew I was there and then Mumbo cast a spell. He's never done it before and it hurt. How could he learn such powerful magic if he's a pathetic illusionist and nothing more?" her flustered face turned to Robin, who was frowning.

"Slade's done something."

"What else did you see inside?" Bumblebee asked and Raven realized the others had formed a circle around her and she… was still in Robin's arms.

"Uh, Robin, I think I can stand." She whispered and he flushed, placing her upright and taking a few steps back.

Speedy's eyes narrowed at this interaction but he returned to the issue at hand when Raven spoke again.

"We're facing ten supervillains, not including Slade and from what I just experienced, they cannot be underestimated. They're working together, sharing weaponry and tactics. They want to destroy us. And I honestly fear that they can."

"You cannot mean that!" Starfire cried.

"I wish it weren't true, but I've never seen Mumbo do something above a hat show and now he's electrocuting my soul self and my physical body with one spell. If he can do that, what have the others learned?"

"Who are the other villains?" Beast Boy inquired and Raven listed them on each of her fingers.

Cyborg muttered a string of violent curses under his breath and Robin's face was dark in the way only Slade could bring.

"How did Slade get them all here?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah, aren't they locked in different prisons both here and in Steel City? I haven't gotten any distress calls from Jinx and Kid Flash." Bumblebee declared.

"I doubt Slade would be sloppy and let anyone notice the inmates he freed." Cyborg said.

"He must have used the time machine to open portals for all the villains and gather them in one place without setting off any alarms. After all, that was in the past… or the future. Who knows how he manipulated time to get them here." Robin snarled at the idea.

"And Control Freak's remote can do almost anything. What's to say it can't enhance certain abilities and make a bumbling old dude like Mumbo release hardcore magic now?" Beast Boy mused and the other Titans gave him looks of surprise.

"What? I can't have smart ideas once in a while?" he pouted.

"I guess this would be the right time." Raven said and he brightened.

"What do we do now?" the changeling asked his leader.

"They clearly want us to make the first move. Slade attacked Raven to prove his strength. They think they're going to win." Robin's mouth was set in a tight line, but he was keeping his anger restrained.

The part of him fixated on Slade's death was begging to be released so he could strangle the bastard that dared hurt his girl, but then his rational, level-headed leader side told the former to calm down because caution had to be used to win this battle and defeat Slade. Vengeance would have to wait until later. Raven would agree.

"Are you insinuating that we can't do this?" Speedy asked but Robin scoffed.

"Slade thinks he's bested me, but if the end of the world didn't stop me, nothing will. Change of plans. We aren't splitting into two teams. We're splitting into four pairs, each of which will take on specific villains."

"Pairs? Like we did in training?" Aqualad pointed out and Robin nodded.

"It's the best strategy when we're facing so many villains at once. We're starting with Slade's ten pawns. He won't fight until he thinks he needs to, so he'll be the last one standing."

"What are the pairs? I assume you have this planned and we aren't choosing schoolyard style." Cyborg said with a raised eyebrow.

He knew his best friend well.

"Aqualad and Bumblebee. You two have the potent combination of water and electricity. I don't think I have to spell it out for you."

Bumblebee grinned, her fingers twitching as she pictured the full force of her energy charging the water to take down the unsuspecting bad guys.

"Who are we taking on?" Aqualad questioned.

"The Puppet King and Control Freak. Each depends on an item susceptible to technical difficulties as a result of electrified water. Take out the controller and the T.V. remote and they're done."

"Who am I working with?" Cyborg asked next.

"Beast Boy. You two work efficiently together and you've trained enough to come up with a variety of moves."

"You got that right, dude." Beast Boy boasted. "Which uglies are we beating down?"

"Killer Moth, Adonis, and Atlas. Killer Moth counts on his army of moths to do the work for him but he has a sonic emitter that keeps the moths obedient and trained."

Cyborg grinned and continued Robin's thought.

"But the emitter can be short circuited if a higher frequency is used. One I'm pretty sure my sonic cannon can take care of."

"Exactly. Plus, Adonis and Atlas shouldn't prove to be a problem for you two, right?"

Beast Boy and Cyborg shared a look at the mention of two villains who had proved to be personal nemeses for them. Beast Boy still had a scar on his left side from the incident with Adonis.

"No problem at all." Beast Boy's voice was darker than usual, coming out in a heated whisper.

"Starfire and Speedy, you're in charge of Mad Mod and Cinderblock."

"The Mad Mod is quite the nuisance for me." Starfire confessed and Raven almost laughed at the comment.

"He is to all of us, Star. But, you're familiar with his strategy. He depends on that scepter to bend reality and change things to his will, just like Control Freak needs his control and Mumbo his wand. Break the stick and he's finished."

"And Cinderblock? How do we stop a towering hunk of rock?" Speedy questioned, seeming a bit nervous at the prospect.

"Combine Starfire's superhuman strength with your motley of arrows. You can figure it out." Robin said upliftingly.

"I guess that leaves you and Rae-Rae." Beast Boy said but eeped when Raven sent a withering glare his way.

"We're in charge of Plasmus, Mumbo, and Overload. Think you can handle it, Rae-Rae?" Robin teased.

"Call me that again and I'll add you to my hit list. No mercy." She vowed and he laughed.

"All right, Titans. Take care of yourselves and each other. Work as a team and remember this is not a training session we can just walk out of unscathed. This is Slade and this is serious."

The Titans split into their assigned pairs, each entering a different way. Speedy approached Raven almost timidly with a tap on her shoulder.

"Listen, in case we don't make it out of this alive…"

"Speedy, we will all make it. Don't doubt that."

"But if we don't, I just need you to know I am eternally grateful that I met you. Loving you has been the best thing I've ever done and it's made me a better person and a better man. I don't need you to reciprocate my love to tell you this is the best thing that's happened to me. Thank you, Raven." He gently grasped her smaller hand and planted a tender kiss on it.

"Bye, pretty bird." He whispered, turning on his heel to approach Starfire, who had watched the exchange with compassion on her face.

She had greatly underestimated the extent of the archer's emotions for her best friend. She was determined to win this battle, though, because Speedy was in fact a good man and death would not be fitting for any of the Titans. She took Speedy's hands and took to the sky, as they were going to enter through the roof. Beast Boy and Cyborg were going through the back door and Bumblebee and Aqualad were using the lesser known side door on the ocean-facing side of the tower. Raven and Robin were going to teleport inside and arrive directly inside the training room. Raven could still sense the gathering of the villains' dark auras there.

"Do you love him?"

Raven turned to Robin, confusion etched in her exotic features.

"Speedy. Roy. Do you love him?"

She ducked her head.

"No, I don't."

"Does he know that?"

"He suspects so."

Robin felt a weight lift off his chest. He had been dreading the answer to his question because he had considered Speedy a great rival for Raven's heart, but she did not seem to want him as more than a friend.

I still have a chance. And Slade isn't taking that away from me.

"The others should be inside by now. Let's go." He ordered and she stepped closer, touching his arm.

Robin grabbed her spare hand with his gloved one.

"When we make it through this, we have to have a talk."

She didn't give a verbal response but an emotion flickered through her eyes, turning the violet shade into a temporarily lighter hue the color of fresh lisianthus petals. Seconds later, Raven's aura had engulfed them in a blanket of blackness and then they were in the training room starting at ten supervillains that hours earlier were in secure prison facilities where they belonged.

For a few moments no one moved. Raven and Robin stood side by side, analyzing the room and spotting their three targets standing conveniently on the far left side of the room in a straight line.

"Attack!" Slade's voice commanded from some hidden part of the room.

The villains rushed forward, all ten making for the two birds. Robin gave a lethal smile.

"Titans, go!" he ordered and the room erupted from three places as Starfire slammed through the roof, Beast Boy broke through the eastern wall of the room and a wave of water blasted through the floor.

The villains cried out in surprise and as Robin had planned, they broke into groups to approach the four pairs of Titans.

Aqualad was poised on the wave of water, watching Control Freak and the Puppet King approach at a run, with their weapons extended. Control Freak had made a weight come to life and the Puppet King was animating a training bench to attack. Aqualad stayed where he was, though, waiting for Bumblebee to come into position.

When the two villains and their creations were close enough, Aqualad released the bruising power of half a ton of ocean water to spill over the two. Bumblebee, who had been at her smallest size and flying near the ceiling, returned to her usual size and released the strongest surge of electricity into the water, frying the villains' technologies at once.

Aqualad had flipped away from the wave to avoid the shock himself but when the controller and T.V. remote fizzled and exploded, he pulled the water back to his hands to create a whirlpool that lifted the villains into the air where Bumblebee was waiting to perform two roundhouse kicks that effectively knocked them out. Control Freak landed on the now inanimate Puppet King with a crack of wood.

"Ooh." Bumblebee and Aqualad winced but shrugged and pulled the defeated pair to one side of the room.

At the far right Beast Boy and Cyborg were engaged in a strenuous fight with Adonis and Atlas respectively. The first thing they'd done was take out Killer Moth. Beast Boy, in pterodactyl form, swiped the mutant moths out of the air, allowing Cyborg to reach their master and short-circuit the remote with his cannon. The moths had scattered, some striking Killer Moth and most leaving through holes in the walls. Beast Boy had knocked him out with a powerful swing of his triceratops tail and that left the Titans facing off with their past nemeses.

"Last time we fought, I wasn't in top shape, but now? Nothing can take me down, freak." Adonis jeered and Beast Boy's emerald eyes dilated until his pupils and eyes were an onyx shade as he morphed into the beast he'd once feared would overtake him.

Adonis gulped, recognizing the feral creature that he'd once been but that Beast Boy had taken and controlled to his advantage. The beast gave a toothy smile and lunged forward.

While Beast Boy's teeth and claws were tearing apart the gangly man's strong suit, Cyborg and Atlas were throwing punches and kicks left and right.

"No one can defeat the great Atlas!"

"Funny, cause someone already did. Me. And I'll do it again." Cyborg grunted as he picked the larger robot up and slammed him against the nearby wall.

The wall came apart, crushing Atlas. Before he could push the rubble off, Cyborg's sonic cannon lit up and a blast hit Atlas square in the chest, effectively breaking his power core.

"Cyborg-2, Atlas-0." He dusted his hands off and watched as his partner deposited an unconscious Adonis, broken suit and broken teeth evident, on top of Atlas and Killer Moth, who they'd taken out with the help of his own chaotic moth formations.

"Duck!" Speedy shouted and Starfire narrowly avoided one of Cinderblock's brutal punches.

Though defeating Mad Mod had not been difficult (Speedy had engaged him in hand to hand combat, distracting him so that he loosened his grip on the scepter enough for Starfire to swoop in and break it over her knee) and he was currently unconscious, Cinderblock was a different story.

He'd thrown Speedy once and the archer had a slight limp in his left leg from the force of impact. Starfire had a bruise on both shoulders from where the villain had gripped her and she'd had to summon all her strength to kick him off her.

"What must we do?" she flew down to Speedy's side and he thought about what Robin had said.

He mentioned Speedy's menagerie of arrows, from electric to pyrotechnic to releasing cords. And then he got it.

"Use your starbolts to daze him. Don't stop until he's clutching his head and his vision is blurred. I'll aim an arrow behind him to that pillar and tie up his legs. When he's stumbling you come in and kick the center of his back. That should knock him completely off balance. When he's on the floor, I can launch my detonating arrow and finish him off."

Starfire tilted her head.

"What?" he asked, giving Cinderblock a sideways glance as he was once again moving to grab Starfire.

"You reminded me of Robin just then, friend Speedy. Apologies." She flew up at a speed she'd described as faster than light's motion and proceeded to bombard the rock man with starbolts.

Speedy's plan worked out perfectly and he couldn't stop himself from kicking the fallen villain once he was unconscious. This caused him to clutch his injured foot in agony.

"Stupid piece of rock." He grumbled and Starfire giggled.

Though Robin had paused to analyze their three targets, Raven's eyes had instantly gone to Mumbo, her eyes flashing white and her palms radiating dark energy. Before she could attack, Robin grabbed her hand and her eyes dimmed.

"What?" she growled and his brow raised.

"Be smart about this. Take out Plasmus first while I hold off the other two. I promise you Mumbo will pay for hurting you, but it will be at the right time."

Raven grudgingly nodded her assent and Robin moved forward to stop the attack heading their way so Raven could float in her lotus position and summon her astral form. It didn't take long for her to reach inside Plasmus and rip the monster from the man trapped inside. She placed the wheezing man in an black bubble and threw him to one side, rendering him completely insentient.

She turned back in time to see Robin hit Overload with a freeze disc. As he was about to break the ice to remove the chip that contained Overload, he was hit by a barrage of playing cards with sharp edges, one of which cut his arm. Blood spilled down Robin's arm and as the Boy Wonder hissed and touched the open wound, Overload shook the ice away and aimed his own attack at Robin, who managed a backflip a few inches from where the blast would have struck.

Raven's eyes went white and her palms crackled with unrestrained energy.

"I don't know where you learned this magic, Mumbo, but your shitty tricks still won't compare to my power." She levitated six feet in the air and shot towards the clown.

Mumbo gave a nasty chuckle and threw himself to one side to aim another white energy blast at the flying Titan. She merely maneuvered her body to one side so she spun her body to one side and was back on course to slam into Mumbo. He squeaked as she finally reached him and kicked him back so his body fell forward. He almost dropped the magic wand but at the last moment gripped it tightly and aimed an electric pulse of magic towards Raven.

"If that's the best you've got, you should be worrying right about…" Raven caught the power surge in her hands, using her dark magic to trap it there. "Now."

Mumbo had time to shield his face before his own magic and the addition of Raven's energy blast smashed into his midriff and threw him to the wall behind him, which he slid down with a squeal. She took his wand with her magic and raised it into the air.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she yelled and the stick imploded.

Raven purposely had some of the pieces smack into Mumbo's prone form.

"Dr. Light was right. You're insane! Insane!" Mumbo gasped before passing out.

Robin had Overload's chip in one hand as he approached Raven.

"Satisfied?"

"Partially. Mumbo's nothing on the grand scale of things." She shrugged.

The Titans had gathered the villains at the center of the room and with her eyes aglow, Raven chanted her mantra to perform the teleportation of the villains to the large criminal institution located in an undisclosed location in the American Midwest. This took a lot of energy and Raven stumbled back, but Starfire grabbed her friend and steadied her. Raven gave the alien a look of gratitude.

"You were great, Titans. But, we aren't done yet." Robin reminded them.

"Slade." Beast Boy snarled.

"Congratulations, Titans. You have defeated my little army."

Slade's voice came from many places at once and Robin saw it was coming through the tower's PA system.

"He's in the control room?" Aqualad asked.

Cyborg checked his sensors.

"No, he's not even in the tower." Cyborg said, frustrated.

"Wait, your sensors are working again?" Beast Boy inquired.

"Slade allowed us access. He let me enter the tower earlier, let us get inside for this battle, and he granted Cyborg access to the tower systems."

"Raven's right. This isn't coincidence. Slade's gone for now, but he isn't done with us yet." Robin said with rage behind his mask.

He had let Slade escape again and though he knew it couldn't be helped, because ten villains loose could be more dangerous than one, the idea that Slade had evaded him once more made his pulse beat faster with suppressed anger.

"Wait a minute. I'm picking up something." Cyborg was frowning at his wrist. "An electromagnetic pulse. I can't tell where it's coming from, but it's strong. It can affect more than just technology if it goes off. It'll work as a bomb too."

"How much time do we have?"

"I don't think it's a lot of time."

"Fuck." Robin said plainly and no one disagreed. "Split up. Search every inch of this tower until you find it. Cyborg, give me a worst case scenario."

"Well… judging from the pulse I'm reading, the danger zone can stretch to the edges of Jump City. It will definitely destroy the tower but it will cause all of Jump City's electric towers and servers to crash. We'll be looking at a technological blackout."

"Technically, we won't be looking at anything. We're dead if this tower explodes, remember?" Speedy quipped and received glares.

"Find that bomb, Titans." Robin said urgently and the eight superheroes ran, flew, and teleported in different directions.

OK I have an idea of where I'm going with this, but if you have an ideas for what Slade's up to or his master plan, please share them with me. It can be something you think would work best or simply something you wish to see. I will consider anything you guys write.

This isn't really a question as me asking you guys for suggestions, LOL. Thank you all in advance!