Slade's Manipulation

Chapter 3: Chaos in the Park

If she will run and hide, I will wreak havoc. Rage had spent the night exploring and getting to know Jump City. The Titans already know, so why not have a little fun? She began by terrorizing citizens who happened to look at her funny, which was pretty much everyone. By the time Cyborg arrived, she had reached a park and it was saturated with dark energy.

"C'mon Raven, I don't want to hurt you!" Cyborg shouted across the park.

The voice that emerged from her mouth was not Raven's usual monotone. It sent shivers down Cyborg's robotic spine. "You truly believe that I am the Raven you know? You know nothing about us then." She wrapped dark energy around him and hurled him to the right into trees. She then proceeded to hurl various objects at him, but Cyborg didn't find it hard to keep up. How dare he call himself our friend when he is oblivious to her emotions! Rage ranted inwardly. Street lights began bursting. Signs bent into awkward angles. Various objects skyrocketed into the air.

What have I gotten myself into? Cyborg groaned internally.

~~~

"Oh, friends! You weren't injured were you?" A purple cloaked Raven came rushing at the trio, hugging each in turn. The shock on each one's face was evident though they did expect this. Beast boy's explanation had included the emotions Cyborg and him had encountered.

She pulled out of the final hug with Starfire, who had taken the chance to cherish the moment. "So, what do you need?" Purple Raven asked. Her eyes were bright and her mouth upturned in a playful smirk.

"Erm," Robin started. "We actually came to help you. Or, well, erm..." His hand instinctively went to the back of his neck.

"The main Raven" Beast boy finished boldly. The quicker they could find Raven, the quicker they could leave.

Purple Raven took no offense. "Oh, well she's hiding from Rage right now. You probably don't want to get caught up in that. She definitely doesn't want you to. She loves you guys too much to see you get hurt because of her."

The Titans were now dumbstruck. "Then why'd she send us that message specifically mentioning her mirror?" Robin inquired.

"Beats me. Maybe she wanted you to meet me! I've been dying to pop-up, but Raven hates it when I do..."

"Wait wait wait" Beast boy said, astonished. "Raven loves us?" He looked incredulously at Purple Raven. "Are you sure? Pretty sure she barely tolerates me at this point."

Purple Raven chuckled. "Well she would either use that term very very lightly or not at all, but yea" she responded.

Starfire narrowed her eyes. "Are you Raven's emotion Love?"

Purple Raven giggled. "Raven hates calling me that. She prefers Passion. But I answer to both."

~~~

The sun beat down on their necks, now directly above them high in the sky. The clouds seemed to skirt around the star, afraid of its seemingly hotter rays.

The air on the battlefield was thick with fury. Raven continued to be reckless, fueling her anger more when Cyborg was seemingly untouched. The park was overturned by now and she realized, luckily, that if she didn't flee, she would be captured soon. Exhaustion was starting to pull at her conscious, so with the remaining energy she had she stepped into a shadow.

For a minute, Cyborg thought that she had passed out there and then. But when the dust cleared and her body wasn't on the pavement, Cyborg swore. "I was close to getting to her too! Where could she have gone now?" He started to wander the streets, debating where to search first. He checked his scanners for her location, the smallest hope that she didn't ditch her communicator. But before he had the chance to scan a larger area, he got a distress signal.

"Great, just great. Can we not get a break?!" Cyborg reached the power plant to find Overload trying to, well, overload the system.

"Yo, Sparky!" Cyborg exclaimed, getting the villain's attention. Before Cyborg could fully charge his cannon (his mistake), Overload, well, overpowered him. "WOOOAAAHH!" Cyborg boomed. He landed in a heap by the fire extinguisher. Gotta make this quick, he thought frantically. Luckily Overload was directly under a sprinkler head so Cyborg took his chance.

"Yea, I've got him right here. Can you guys come and pick him up? Thanks." After alerting prison transport, Cyborg continued his search for Raven, hoping she didn't have too much of a head start.

~~~

As the group walked along the rocky terrain, Starfire and Passion were talking the whole time, giggling about various things. Robin and Beast boy trailed behind, the latter jumping at anything that moved and the leader sorting through his thoughts. Who could sneak up on Raven? He ran through a list of known villains in his head, but none of them had the power, or brains, to do this as far as Robin knew.

"Hmm, she should be around here somewhere..." Passion remarked. They soon stumbled, or really tripped, on a brown-cloaked Raven. Passion apologized and lowered her face to Brown Raven. "Have you seen Raven recently?"

This new Raven, at least to the Titans, looked, at the very least, disheveled. Her hair was greasy and unkempt. Dirt could be seen on her skin, but the color of her cloak disguised how soiled it was. It appeared that she was in the middle of lounging on the dusty ground. "Nope, why not ask Knowledge?" she answered.

Passion threw her palm to her forehead. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

~~~

The sun was beginning its decent and the moon was coming out to play. The clouds skipped through the sky while they still could before the stars dominated it. The streets of Jump City were safe for now as Cyborg had impeded any crimes as he saw them.

He located Raven after stopping a weapons exchange on the pier. She still had her communicator which indicated she was close. When he approached her hiding spot, an abandoned warehouse, she was out cold. Afraid to awaken the beast so to speak, Cyborg tiptoed as best he could over to her sleeping form.

Aw man, I don't want to have to fight her. But I need to get her back to the tower so she doesn't destroy anything else. I guess I have no choice... He stabbed her with a needle containing a heavy sedative. She gasped but did not awake. "I'm sorry Rae..."

He lifted her into his arms and rushed to the tower, praying the sedative would last long enough. Please, no more bad guys please no more bad guys...

~~~

Knowledge was minding her own business as per usual. The books in her library kept her company: all of Raven's memories. This part of Raven's mind could only be accessed by the sunshine colored girl and was her favorite place to be. She could think in peace, without the other emoticlones distracting her. She was desperately trying to figure out how Rage became so powerful so quickly and why Raven was so weak. Rage had been so good in the past few months... maybe a tantrum here or there but manageable.

A tingle then shot up her spine, the kind when you feel something is wrong. Knowledge proceeded to the most recent book: Raven's most present memories. She flipped through the pages until she found what the problem was. Actually there were several problems.