The HIVE Battle

I flew with the others to the HIVE, where we had figured out where it should be, at least. It was hard to find, considering they finally decided to keep the HIVE's exterior normal instead of the usual bee-hive pattern. We found out that it was a cave that opened when you pulled a small wheel that was right by the door. Beast Boy accidentally found that out, since he slipped on it.

We were all very anxious to get the fight over with. Almost as soon as we stepped in, however, swarms of students piled out of the rooms and stood before us, all in a battle stance. Brother Blood walked through the crowd, which opened up automatically for him.

"I was expecting you Titans sooner. Perhaps you're… slipping?" asked Brother Blood, malice loaded deep in his voice. "And where is Jinx? Still at the Tower, right? I believe she is in the kitchen, getting ready to clean the floor, listening to the radio, which is playing Linkin Park's Hit The Floor."

"How do you know that?" I said, stepping forward past Robin. "You don't realize, do you? I've had Jinx brainwashed for so long that I have a telepathic link to her. You see, I can know what she's thinking, search through her memories… Pretty much use her as a doll if I so wished," said Brother Blood, giving an evil smirk. The students around him didn't comprehend this at all, as if they weren't even listening to them.

"And these students here? Do they have a telepathic link with you? How long does it take to get a link like that?" demanded Robin. "So many questions, Robin. I would've thought at least you would have done your homework. Many of these students do have a telepathic connection with me, yes. And if I told you how long it took, there'd be no fun in it for me, now would it?" Robin and I gave identical growls while the others just glared.

"I believe that has been enough talking, Robin. Students, pattern omni-delta!" ordered Brother Blood, pointing at us. The students then went into an intricate pattern of movement, where the people who could fly flew, the people who shot various things shot in the front, and the brute force (people like Mammoth) pretty much took up the back, making sure no one got past them to the other rooms.

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled just as the flyers and shooters began attacking. The flyers swooped through the air gracefully, like birds. The shooters were constantly throwing attacks for us to evade. The brute force weren't doing much, just watching the fight. And of course, there were the flying shooters, who shot down at us while hovering in the air. There weren't as many students as you'd think—about ten flyers, twelve shooters, five brute forces standing in a line, and ten flying shooters.

Starfire attacked from the air, throwing star bolts unceasingly in a line, almost as if she was imitating a machine gun. Beast Boy rammed through the crowd (literally), trying his best to take out the non-flying students, though they evaded him. Raven was constantly throwing things from the sides of the hallway at them using her powers. Robin flung many of his gadgets—looked like almost all of them—at them. I just stood my ground firing my sonic cannon at them.

We were doing pretty well. We had been knocking lines of them out steadily and pushing them back. Until something hit Robin in the back, causing him to fall to the ground, immobilized. His eyes were darting back and forth wildly, like he was trying to figure out what happened.

"Robin!" screamed Starfire, watching him on the floor. "Starfire, we can't stop! Just keep g—" began Raven, but she fell to the ground as well, just across from Robin. Beast Boy seemed to momentarily freeze before continuing his attack on the HIVE students.

It kept going on like that. We couldn't figure out what was happening. We were all watching them out for the others from the corner of our eyes, but Starfire fell and neither Beast Boy nor I could figure out what was going on.

Then Beast Boy fell, and I was the last Titan left standing. I stopped, knowing that it was a fight I couldn't win. "Blood, what is going on? What's wrong with my friends? What's happening?" I screamed. "You'll find out the answers to this soon—very soon," Brother Blood said. Before I could reply, a buzz of electricity surged throughout me and I fell to the ground. The last thing I saw was Electron, reappearing in front of me from nowhere… Then darkness.

I woke up a while later, chained to a wall beside Robin and Beast Boy. I saw that everyone else was just waking up as well, but I still felt really groggy. "Ah, good. You are all awake. Just in time for me to call Jinx and tell her about my proposition," said Brother Blood evilly. "Proposition? What… proposition?" asked Robin with half a yawn. "Why, my dear Robin, the proposition of either her coming back or me killing you," he said with a small smirk.

"Don't make her do that!" I screamed immediately. Brother Blood laughed and said, "Do you think I'm going to make her do anything? It'll be her choice of whether or not she joins me. Besides… I'll kill you either way. If she pledges loyalty to me and only me, she'll have no need of you and I'll kill her in front of her to make sure she doesn't attempt to go back to the Titans."

"What happened to us, anyways?" asked Raven weakly. "Oh, that. Well, I had Gizmo invent a few little gadgets. Just five invisibility shields, some anesthetics, and a electrical surging device that would take care of Cyborg," Brother Blood explained with a shrug. "That's why we couldn't see him…" muttered Beast Boy weakly. "Very good! Did you figure that out by yourself?" asked Brother Blood sarcastically. "That's it… I'm going to try shape shifting…" whispered Beast Boy.

He attempted to change into something, but a surge of electricity ran through him. "ARGH!" he cried out in agony. "I should've warned you… No, this way was a little more fun. If your try using any of your powers, this thing uses the force your powers would've used and attacks you using electrical force. Anther thing Gizmo made for me. He makes many of my handy little gadgets…" explained Brother Blood in a tone that implied he enjoyed watching this.

He laughed and said, "Do you really think I haven't thought of every little detail, Titans? As soon as you decided to come here and attack us, you were doomed. Though, really, keep going. It's fun to watch you try." Robin looked at us and said in a tone I've never heard him use, "Our lives now rest in Jinx's hands. Let's hope she does the right thing." We all nodded, and I swear I heard stifled sobs coming from Starfire.