"Last night, there were a record number of murders and one massive robbery. The murders were all less than ten minutes apart per each killing, and this bank we're in was completely emptied, down to the last cent. There aren't any videos, if you were wondering. All the systems are down-we only just got the lights working, so there's no telling how long it'll be before we can get our security back up." "But this has happened before, hasn't it? This kind of robbery has happened before." The police chief of Black City frowned, but nodded. Robin scowled as well. "It has," the woman grumbled. "About six months ago, this bank was robbed down to the last cent. The customers were lucky because they all have electronic accounts. The bank only lost physical money. The same thing happened this time, even though all the electronic systems are fried. It'll take weeks to get everything back up." "So what happened with the murders?" Robin questioned. The police chief sighed and ran a hand through her graying brown hair. "We assume," she began to explain again, "that the thief was also the murderer. The speed of the murders and the way that the systems went down almost all at once says that this criminal has speed unlike any other. It's all very strange." Soft footsteps sounded behind the heroes and the police chief. They turned and found a young woman with black hair standing behind them. "This place is off limits to civilians!" the police chief snapped. "Who let you in here?" "One of your officers," the woman replied. "I told him that I have information about what happened. I know who stole the money and killed those twenty-seven people last night." The police chief raised a brow, her gaze dubious. She quickly drew her gun, aiming directly at the woman's head. "Unless you're some kind of investigative reporter, my officers never would have let you in here," the police chief snarled. "The numbers of deaths were not released to anybody outside the force-not even to the Titans here. Who are you really?" The woman grinned, flashing sharp fangs. She lifted her head, revealing her blood-colored eyes. Starfire froze, recognition suddenly flashing in her mind. She realized that she knew that voice-that face. "You!" Starfire shouted in rage. "You are the demon!" She threw a star bolt directly at the black-haired woman, only to see her dodge with surprising ease. "Your men are quite dead," the black-haired woman chuckled. "It was my pleasure to have their blood on my sword. My name is Kali. I am the one who killed those humans last night, and the one who robbed this bank blind. I did all of this to draw out your beloved heroes and especially her." She lifted a broadsword from behind her back and pointed it at Starfire. "Titans GO!" Robin shouted. He cast a freeze disk at the demon as Cyborg fired his sonic cannon. The resulting explosion headed straight for Kali, but she grinned in response. When the blast faded, she was nowhere to be found. Out of experience, the Titans readied themselves for Kali to reappear. "You're really quite a cute little kid," Kali said suddenly, rising up from the floor behind Starfire. "I can see exactly why your girlfriend is so obsessively protective of you." Her clawed hand closed around Starfire's throat, squeezing tight. "Let...go...of me!" Starfire choked out. She pulled at Kali's hand and threw a punch. Kali dodged again and grabbed Starfire's wrist. She smirked and fell through the floor, pulling Starfire with her. Raven leapt forwards, her magic opening a hole in the ground. The Titans followed underground, landing in one of many rivers created by the water structures. There were four different paths from the central place they had landed in. With a quick glance and a nod, the Titans split apart to hunt down their enemy and ally. Robin reached the end of his path and looked about. Abruptly, Kali appeared in front of him, standing upside down on the ceiling. "Jealous much, bird boy?" she laughed at him, hopping back on the ceiling a few feet. "I've seen your dreams. You want Starfire." Robin pulled his bo staff from his utility belt and leapt towards his enemy. "Where is she?" he demanded. Kali ducked, lying flat against the ceiling and laughing madly. "Admit it, why don't you?" she inquired. "Worried of a little rejection?" "Starfire's made her decision!" he shouted in reply. He threw a freeze disk at her, but the ceiling was the only thing that received a covering of ice. Kali had vanished into the ceiling once again. She rose up from the ground and rushed at Robin with her sword raised. Robin managed to block her strike with his staff, but soon realized that even Cyborg would have a problem facing off against the demon. "You must know that Starfire's going to die," Kali chuckled, her sword beginning to cut through the metal staff. "Either in her waking hours or in her sleep, Starfire is going to die at my hand!" Robin felt a sudden, sharp pain in his shoulder as Kali's sword slashed through his staff and his skin. She grinned even as he extended the other side of his staff and lifted it with his uninjured arm. "I don't care if Starfire loves Raven!" he snarled. "I'm not going to let you hurt her!" He swung heavily with the staff, but Kali swung her sword and struck his temple with the pommel. Robin flew into a wall and slid into the water, unconscious. She smirked and flipped her sword to rest it on her shoulder. "You're an unfortunate boy," she said as she began to walk away. "But I don't pity you. If you get in my way again, I won't pause in burying my sword in your skull. Remember that, boy." She walked through a wall to where she had hidden Starfire. When she arrived, Raven was standing there between Kali and Starfire. "Oho," Kali said as she raised a brow in question. "Now how did you manage to get here and find your dear Starfire?" She blinked at how Raven's eyes were glowing white and smirked a bit. "Oh, of course. You must be some kind of magic-user. But your eyes tell a little different story. I can feel that demon blood of yours pulsing in your veins." "What did you do to her?" Raven snarled. "If you hurt her at all, then I'll have your head." Kali laughed in response, her eyes closing. In her unconsciousness, Starfire whimpered in pain. Raven turned, her eyes widening in shock as a long, deep gash began to appear on Starfire's body. The wound started on her left shoulder and traveled down the girl's body in a diagonal line. "Stop it!" Raven shouted. "I told you to stop hurting her!" She summoned her sword and swung at Kali while her eyes were closed. Kali's red eyes opened and she blocked with her own blade. She frowned at the way Raven moved, what her style was. Kali pushed Raven back and her eyes widened at Raven's stance. "That style," the pureblood demon growled. "I know that style. It's a variant on Chaos Morningstar's sword technique! How do you know Chaos?" Raven paused at the name of her teacher. "She was my teacher," she explained. "How do you know her?" Kali snarled, her fangs flashing and her eyes gleaming in utter rage. "Chaos was my lover!" she barked. "How dare you ask me if I know her?" She rushed at Raven, swinging her sword with amazing speed and strength. Raven managed to block and threw a burst of dark energy at her enemy. With the same speed, Kali tore through the energy with her claws. "So Chaos taught you too," Raven murmured. "It's her first rule for battle. Never have-" "Never have only one weapon," Kali finished her sentence. "Chaos taught me everything she knows. I was with her for seventy-six years! You're nothing but a half-breed! Chaos would never have taught you anything!" "I killed her two and a half months ago," Raven murmured. Kali froze, her eyes wide in shock. "She said that I freed her from the destiny that bound her to protecting and teaching me." "She's dead?" Kali whispered. "You killed her? How could you?" "Lucifer resurrected her," Raven replied. "She said she owes me a favor now. So if you're involved with her, then I'm not sure I want to hurt you. But if you keep threatening Starfire, then I'll kill you even if you are Chaos' lover!" "To hell with killing her!" Kali yelled. "I'll leave that to her worthless wretch of a sister! My target has changed! Your blood will be the next to stain my sword! I'll be waiting for you on the mountain outside this city! If you don't come to fight me in ten days, then I swear I'll slaughter everything in the city down to the last child!" She leapt backwards through the wall and vanished. Raven waited for a time, and then turned to Starfire. The alien was bleeding heavily and she was obviously in danger. "Starfire!" Raven shouted in shock at the wound. "No!" She lifted Starfire into her arms and let her holy magic heal the red-haired girl. Though the wound had healed without scarring at all, the damage was done. She had lost quite a lot of blood. She needed time to heal. Raven blinked away her tears, rubbing the heel of her palms against her eyes. ---------- "Dude, wake up! Robin, wake up, man!" Robin's eyes slowly opened to see Cyborg and Beast Boy. The two smiled in victory at Robin's wakening, giving each other high-fives. "What happened?" the black-haired boy questioned, rubbing his head in pain. "All I can remember is Kali hitting me in the head. Where's Starfire?" "She's right here," Raven's voice said. The three boys looked up to see their remaining comrades moving through a shadow on the wall. Raven was carrying an unconscious Starfire on her back. Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy ran to the two girls, terrified at the prospect of Starfire being hurt again. "Before you ask, yes, she got hurt," Raven sighed, beginning to walk to where a ladder led to a manhole. "She just needs some rest right now. All her wounds are healed." "Rest?" Beast Boy asked incredulously. "Rest? Are you nuts? The freaky 'Freddy' demon's going to kill her if she sleeps!" "No she won't," Raven replied, moving the heavy iron manhole cover with her magic. "Kali's not after Starfire anymore. She said that her target is me." The boys paused for a moment even as Raven began to float up towards the light. "So Star's going to be safe from now on?" Cyborg asked as the team emerged on the empty street. "If Kali's not going after her anymore, that means she's safe, right? And you can handle someone like Kali, right?" Raven sighed heavily. "Starfire's safe from Kali," she explained. "It doesn't mean she's safe from Blackfire. And I'm not sure if I can fight Kali." "Why not?" Robin inquired curiously. Raven turned back to look at him with a faint, sad smile. "Because I've done a lot to hurt Chaos in the past," she murmured. "If I hurt Kali, I might hurt Chaos even more. Listen, I'm going to take Starfire back to the Tower. I should get her back to her bed soon." She nodded in farewell and rose up into the air, heading towards Titan's Tower. Robin watched them go with a smile of his own. He finally realized that he did care enough about Starfire to let her go. ---------- The deadly storms that had consumed Mount Everest had finally stopped.
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