Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
I
Something Wicked
All warfare is based on deception.
The bright full moon hung in the dark sky, suspended over Jump City like a giant paper lantern. The night was a foggy one, and the streets were only dimly illuminated.
Never write off your defeats. Always learn from your mistakes. Failure is the mother of success.
Hidden among an installation of buildings lay the old, abandoned research facility. A battle had been fought here, long ago, between vanity personified and a courageous group of 5 young heroes. But the dust that the battle had kicked up had settled back over the facility and it had lain undisturbed.
Until now.
What the ancients call a skilful fighter is one who is able to see chances in situations where others see only loss.
A breath of wind rattled past the 'KEEP OUT' sign on the chain-link fence, through the half-open doors of the facility to swirl around the hem of a glossy black cape.
Therefore the skilful fighter subdues the enemy's troops without fighting…The black cape covered a figure hidden in the shadows of the beams and columns of the building. The figure bent down to the ground and extended one pale, tapered finger.
…he captures their cities without laying siege to them.
The finger gently touched the glowing green liquid on the cement floor, and a puff of neon vapor escaped into the atmosphere, dissipating as quickly as it had appeared.
"And the beast shall be unleashed. Again."
The sun rose from behind the horizon, bringing warmth and light and chasing away the vestiges of night. Every room in the Titans Tower was filled with daylight that announced a beautiful morning, every room that is, except one.
This room was dark- but then again, it was always dark. Shadows seemed to flit about the walls and ceilings, trying to escape the dancing light from the flames of candles that were set on the floor. Books- or rather, dusty tomes lay scattered around the room, some closed and others opened to random pages.
Above it all hovered a girl- a Titan. Her dark purple hair shimmered in the glow of the candles, and had her eyes been open, they would have revealed the windows to her soul- black tinted windows that seemed as though they could never be penetrated.
Now, more than ever, Raven's soul was guarded from all external disturbance. Deep in her meditative trance, she mentally scanned the areas within and surrounding the Titans Tower for any alien presences. It was something she did every morning, after her usual ritual of calming down the soul and keeping her emotions in check.
She let the familiar presences wash over her as she continued scanning. She could sense her other four teammates scattered around the Tower, and except for them the Tower was completely devoid of life form- except perhaps for Starfire's pet, Silkie. Raven's senses swept over the compound: the gym- all clear, the garage- all clear, the… wait. She'd sensed something in the kitchen. Something foreign. Raven's eyes jerked open.
She closed them again, felt for the kitchen and there it was. She could see it in her mind's eye: a large round mass of black that pulsated, red around the edges. And then as suddenly as it had appeared, it blinked out of her senses. The kitchen was in the clear.
Raven did another quick check across the whole Tower, searching for that presence, but it was nowhere to be found.
Her cloak dropped to the floor as she telekinetically snuffed out the candles and drew the curtains apart by an inch so that the morning sunlight filtered weakly into her room.
Then Raven walked out of her room and headed for the kitchen.
o o o
The moment the kitchen door slid open, Raven got the feeling that she should duck. So she did, and missed getting hit square in the face by a flying strip of streaky bacon.
"What the…"
The doors slid fully open to reveal the kitchen in a mess. Pieces of scrambled egg stuck to the walls and strips of bacon were flying through the air like flightless birds. The source of the chaos came from none other than the big blue and grey half-man, half-robot wrestling with a scrawny green monkey.
"Yo, B! I said get off!"
Raven watched as Cyborg grabbed Beast Boy (in monkey form) around the waist. The monkey struggled in Cyborg's grasp for about a second, then slipped away as a slithery snake. In the blink of an eye, the snake had turned back into a monkey and began terrorizing the region about Cyborg's head.
Then she cleared her throat loudly, and both Titans froze, then turned to look at her. Cyborg was holding on to Beast Boy's monkey tail, and Beast Boy had two tiny paws on Cyborg's head.
"What's going on?" Raven asked, the faintest of scowls on her face.
In a flash, Beast Boy resumed his human form and was standing next to Cyborg. He had a sheepish expression on his face.
"Yo, Raven!" Cyborg said.
"Hello, Cyborg," she returned.
"Hey Raven!" Beast Boy piped up, "We were… I was just…"
"Trying to trash my non-vegetarian breakfast," Cyborg muttered.
"Was not!" Beast Boy shot back, embarrassed.
"Was too!" Cyborg returned.
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
They ended up nose to nose, arms flailing, yelling at the top of their voices. Raven sighed, and looked around. Despite the mess, the kitchen looked perfectly normal. No sign of any intruder, and no more foreign presence.
Behind her, the door slid open and Raven turned to see Starfire enter. The Tamaranian beamed when she saw Raven.
"Raven!" she exclaimed, "you also wish to participate in the breaking of fast! Glorious!"
This comment caused Beast Boy and Cyborg to stop their fight and turn towards the girls.
"Raven's eating breakfast?" Beast Boy echoed. His eyes grew extra large.
Raven scowled. Sure, she seldom ate with the team, but they were acting as though she never ate at all!
"I came here," she told all of them, "because I sensed something… evil."
"Raven's not eating breakfast," Beast Boy's ears drooped.
"Did you say something about evil?" Robin came up behind Starfire, the towel around his shoulders indicated that he had been at the gym doing his regular morning workout.
"For the record, I sensed something in the kitchen this morning, but it's gone now," Raven said. She paused, then gazed levelly at Beast Boy, "And I will have breakfast."
"Tofu waffles?" he challenged.
"Bring it on."
A/N: Some of the villain's thoughts in the beginning have been taken from the oldest military treatise in the world: "The Art of War" by SunTzu.
Also, the research facility is the same one as that in which the Teen Titans fought against Adonis in the episode titled "The Beast Within". The green liquid is the toxin that brought out the beast in Beast Boy.
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Next update: June 23