Part 2
"Is that the place?" Peter, wearing the Recluse armor, asked through his communicator as Robin peeked through a pair of binoculars at their destination.
Although, all they saw was a pair of small buildings surrounded by a chain link fence. "Kinda underwhelming. I'd hate to see their education system."
"That's just a decoy." Robin explained as everybody gathered around him looking at Cyborgs wrist computer with a detailed blueprint of the H.I.V.E.'s headquarters. "It appears to al be underground." He continued as he scrolled the image down the bases dual tubes with a single hallway connecting the two in the center.
"One lone Hallway, huh? They're real committed to their branding, arent they?" He looked to Beastboy with a nudge. "Ten bucks says they have yellow beehive wallpaper."
"You're so on." Beastboy chuckled with a daring grin.
"Some of us will have to go disable the security systems, while the other half look for Brother Blood." Robin continued, highlighting the security room on the scan. "Once the security systems are disabled, we rendezvous here." He pointed to the center hallway of the underground complex. "After that we'll make our way further down and take the full strength of their forces. Any questions?"
"Uh, yeah." Beastboy replied raising his hands. "You sure that little baby man gave you everything? I mean this is Gizmo we're talking about here."
"Indeed." Starfire chimed, what if it is the trap?"
"He gave us so much already." Robin shrugged. "Worst case scenario if one team gets captured or pinned down, the other can provide support for them. Cyborg and Raven, you come with me. Starfire and Beastboy, you go with Peter to the control room. They have infrared cameras in place, so avoid being caught by them at all costs until you reach your destination."
"I think we've got this." Peter nodded with a pat on Robin's shoulder for encouragement. "So uh... Titans go?"
"No." Robin chuckled standing up from where he crouched.
"You gotta be more enthusiastic than that, dude." Cyborg chuckled.
"Right." Peter nodded, smiling widely. "This'll probably give away out position, but..." he lifted his knee onto a rock and pointed at the complex in an exaggerated manner, before shouting. "Titans go!"
The others either took flight or started running for the fence, but Peter briefly stopped Raven and pulled her in for one last kiss before the mission.
"What was that for?" She asked.
"For luck." Peter shrugged, slipping his mask back down. "And for fun... be careful in there, okay?"
"You too." She nodded with the slightest smile at him. "I love you."
"I love you too." He waved, casually webbing himself into the air.
He landed near the hut to the right, where Starfire and Beastboy waited for him.
"Hey guys." Peter said as he landed. "We ready?"
"Waiting on you, dude." Beastboy shrugged, following closely behind Peter.
"Let's hit it, then." Peter replied, engaging the cloaking device on his suit.
Starfire and Beastboy did the same and suddenly the three of them were invisible.
"Try not to bump into me as much this time, Star." Beastboy grinned as they entered the hut and started down the stairs.
"I am most sorry." She replied. "I am afraid I did not get enough time to practice with such a device."
"You'll get used to it." Peter waved it off, then entered a crouched position as they reached the door to the first level. He turned to Beastboy with a nod.
"Okay. You know what to do. Remember, try to stay near the ceiling and dont get caught or the others will too."
Beastboy nodded, before taking the form of an ant and squeezing his tiny boy underneath the door. Peter leaned back against the wall, waiting for a few moments in silence.
"So what are those Star bolts of yours?" Peter asked in a hushed, but curious tone. "Do you, like, generate that yourself, or is there like some sort of alien weapon you have?"
"Oh it is most simple, really." Star began. "You see-"
"The cameras are down, come on through." Beastboy whispered through their communicators.
Peter nodded silently to Starfire, though she couldn't see it and absently followed him through the door. As they entered the first room Peter looked around, noting the surroundings.
"Hah!" Peter laughed pointing at the yellow, hexagon patter across the walls. "Looks like you owe me ten bucks."
Beastboy looked in confusion, before replying. "Hey! You said wallpaper! This isnt wallpaper!"
"Tell you what." Peter chuckled. "I'll cut you a deal for five instead."
They made their way through room after room, disabling camera by camera, while trying to also avoid detection from any staff. However, strangely enough, every room was abandoned as they made their way down.
"This is pretty creepy." Beastboy whispered to Peter through his ear piece. "Where is everybody?"
"Let's see, we already got Gizmo and Mammoth." Peter hummed to himself as they walked down another flight of stairs. "Raven and I took care of Jinx a WHILE back. My best guess is they're all waiting somewhere to trap us."
"Oh I do hope the others are okay." Starfire chimed.
"Yeah." Peter nodded, his mind
wandering to Raven. "Me too."
Meanwhile Robin, Cyborg, and Raven waited in the stairwell before the first level on the other side. Raven leaned against the wall with her arms folded in annoyance.
"What's taking them so long?" She huffed.
"Relax. We don't want them to rush through this and make any careless mistakes." Robin replied, the patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sure he's gonna be okay."
"I meant ALL of them." She retorted in annoyance.
"Yeah." Cyborg replies with a grin. "But we know what you're REALLY worried about."
"Shut it!" She grumbled under her breath.
"Why ARE you so worried about him?" Robin asked with curiosity. "I've been training him for months, now. He can handle himself. Heck, I'm sure he could even take on Batman at this point."
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly used to this whole.... LOVE thing." Raven retorted with a huff. "When he first asked me out I only agreed to humor him... I didn't expect to care about him so much."
"Maybe it's because you two are so alike?" Cyborg replied with an obvious grin.
Robin flashed him a confused look. "What? No they're not."
"No its true!" The metal man replied. "Okay, maybe not personality wise, but yall are down on yourselves more than any two people we know."
"Gee... thanks." She replied with a roll of the eyes.
"I think." Robin began reassuringly. "What Cyborg is trying to say is that you two understand how the other feels. So you're better equipped to be there for each other. What do you think?"
Raven simply shrugged a that. "I guess you're right... all I know... is that he's the first person to ever make me feel like I wasn't creepy... beautiful even."
"Aww!" Cyborg teased before getting an elbow in the side from Raven.
"Shut it!" She hissed in annoyance then folded her arms with a huff. "I'm just worried about him, because... he's been on something of a downward spiral lately."
Robin raised a brow with concern. "What do you mean?"
"He won't talk about it much... or just tries to play it off as a joke." Raven explained with a shake of the head. "His anxiety is starting to affect his life in a pretty bad way. He even had a panic attack yesterday."
"Woah that's harsh, man." Cyborg shook his head in deep thought and concern for his friend. "I guess Slade really got to him."
"Honestly I don't think Slade had anything to do with it. I think it's just an older problem catching up with him." She shrugged.
"So... the Goblin thing?" Robin asked.
Raven hung her head at that. Peter hadn't told the others exactly what happened with the Goblin, but she knew this was the source of these issues Peter was having.
"Yeah." She replied. "Guys, we really need to help him somehow." She looked to Robin, almost pleading, though with her usual level of aloofness. "He's starting to say... pretty awful stuff about himself."
Robin folded his arms and looked away, deep in thought.
"Why?" Cyborg asked with confusion. "I don't understand Terra's not his fault. He's saved lots of people. Saved our butts on many occasions. Stepped in for Robin whe needed. Heck, he even kept a bridge from collapsing. Peter's amazing."
"He's... got a lot of baggage." Raven shrugged. "By the time he found us, he'd already lost so much."
"And now he blames himself." Cyborg replied in sudden realization. He didn't have anything to say after that and stood there in silence with the other two.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the complex, Peter, Beastboy, and Starfire had finally reached the control room and now stood just outside the massive metal blast doors.
"Uh..." Beastboy said, giving the door an intimidated look. "I don't think I'm gonna be able to squeeze through that."
"No worries." Peter shrugged, and walked up to the pannel on the left wall to the door. After connecting to the pannel, the other two watched in confusion as Peter pushed several buttons, before stopping. He leaned to the right. "Get ready, guys." He said before knocking loudly on the door in a musical tune. "Oh bad guys! I'm respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as your parent by coming in anyway!"
Suddenly he pressed one final button and the doors flew open revealing seven copies of a single man. They all had dark hair and goggles and a red spandex suit on. Peter recognized him from footage he saw of previous encounters the Titans had with him. His name was Billy Numerous and he had the power to multiply himself. Peter had read his file before and knew the way Cyborg had defeated him before was tricking him into multiplying himself to the point of exhausting his body. However, being in a cramped underground base, such a thing was not an option in this instance. Peter needed a new plan to deal with the villain.
"Woah!" Peter said in a sarcastic tone. "Okay, I know I'm not gonna remember anybody names, so I'm gonna have to give you all numbers."
Suddenly the clones all charged at them and the three Titans did the same. Beastboy took the form of a Tiger and slashed three clones, before three more took their place. Starfire had the same problem, punching and blasting clone after clone, only for them to be instantly replaced. Peter backed against the computer terminal, simultaneously hacking the computer, while also fending off clones of the villain, almost not looking at his opponents while he did.
"Hey Billy!" Peter quipped as he typed with one hand and blocked and counter attacked with the other. "Have you considered changing your name to something cooler? Like Hydra?" He shook his head at that. "NO! NO! NO! NOT HYDRA! Forget I said that!"
Suddenly he pushed one final button and heard the mechanical whirring of the facility slow to a halt, leaving them all in the dark. Peter immediately switched on his flashlight, projecting a red image of his mask across the clones of Billy.
"I'd love to stay and chat, guys, but youre just gonna take wa too long. No offense." Peter immediately leaped over their heads and landed in the doorway with his teammates joining his side.
The clones immediately charged at him with desperation, but before they could make it through the door, Peter grabbed the blast doors and forced them shut with brute force before sealing the crack with webs.
"You're just gonna leave him in there?" Beastboy asked with an amused smirk.
"Nah." Peter waved it off. "The webs will dissolve in two hours." Then he paused as they rounded the corner for the staircase. "Oh wait these are version six point eight, so that means they last three..." he hesitated, before giving a shrug. "Oh well. Come on, lets meet up with the others."