(Disclaimer: Once more, with spirit! I don't own the Teen Titans!)

-CHAPTER SEVEN: ALPHA ONE-

The boardwalk was a mess. Most of the raised parts had collapsed, and the beach was strewn with debris and the occasional destroyed car. Evelyn had pushed further into the city, and was now wreaking havoc amongst the various little shops that made up the waterfront shopping district. Robin, Cyborg, and Raven were trying desperately to hold her off, but while they were slowing her advance considerably Evelyn was still making steady progress in her program of destruction.

This is not to say that everything was going Evelyn's way, though. Having to fight through even just three of the Titans took a fair bit of effort on her part—for all her bravado in saying she could simply take over their minds like she had Beast Boy's, doing so in the heat of battle was next to impossible. Even an experienced manipulator like Brother Blood had needed to first subdue his victims so that he could concentrate. This being the case, Evelyn was currently pushing her powers near to their limit, and just as Raven had predicted this was beginning to degrade the spell holding her physical form together. While it didn't much matter to her use of telekinesis, Evelyn noticed that she was slowly becoming less coordinated, and that she was starting to slur her speech. She ignored these effects and focussed on the fight, but they didn't escape Robin's attention.

"You're already starting to fall apart, aren't you, Evelyn?" he said during a lull in the battle. "Give up now—we'll make sure you're comfortable until the end."

"Yeah, right," Evelyn said with a derisive snort. "I'll be nice and comfortable locked up tight in my room, right?"

"That's not…" Robin began, but Evelyn cut him off by launching a chunk of masonry at him. He leapt aside as it smashed on the pavement, but Evelyn used her powers to redirect the sharp pieces of brick and stone towards him in a second attack. Raven threw a quick shield up around Robin, but in the process she took her concentration off of Evelyn long enough for the evil girl to uproot a streetlight and wrap it around Raven's body. Robin threw a handful of birdarangs at Evelyn, distracting her just long enough to cover Cyborg as he ran to catch Raven as she plummeted to the ground. Tucking her under one arm like a football, Cyborg then retreated into one of the nearby abandoned shops, smashing in through the wall with one hand held out in front of him. Robin followed, throwing another explosive disc as he went.

"Well, that was embarrassing," Raven said as Cyborg set her down and began unbending the streetlight to free her.

"Hey, just be glad I didn't spike you into the ground and do my touchdown dance," he replied with a small smile. The brief moment of levity was quickly broken as a city bus was slammed through the wall near where they were hiding. Robin punched the wall in frustration.

"This isn't working," he said. "We aren't slowing her down enough. We need…"

"Starfire to Robin, get out, Robin," Starfire's voice said from the communicator on Robin's belt.

"Does she mean 'come in'?" Cyborg asked, and Raven shrugged. Robin ignored both of them and grabbed the communicator.

"Starfire, thank God, where are you?" he said.

"Please forgive my lateness," Starfire said. "I am currently nearing your position as quickly as I am able—from which direction would you prefer for me to reinforce you?"

"Circle around to the east and try to get her back out into the bay," Robin replied. "Hit her as hard as you can—use manoeuvre alpha one, just like in the special practices we've been having."

"But Robin, will Raven not…" Starfire began, but Robin cut her off.

"It needs to be done. We'll try to distract Evelyn to give you a clear shot. Robin out."

"What's manoeuvre alpha one? It sounds pretty major," Cyborg said.

"And what are these special practices you mentioned?" Raven asked.

"Don't worry about it. As for what alpha one is, well, you'll see," Robin said with a grim smile. "Now, let's get distracting! Titans, go!"

Robin leapt through the shop's window, throwing three explosive discs at once. Cyborg simply smashed back out through the wall, planted his feet, and fired his sonic cannon at full power. Raven teleported in her astral form, launching a barrage of glowing black energy bolts as she reappeared. None of this did any damage to Evelyn, who dodged all the attacks with ease, but then they weren't supposed to hit her—they had done their job, which was to keep her from noticing Starfire, who was flying in from the east at several times the speed of sound, aiming directly for Evelyn, fists first.

The sound when Starfire connected was like a shotgun going off, only much, much louder—the shockwave shattered what few windows had been left intact in the area, and the wind from her passing swirled dust and even small pieces of masonry up into a vortex in her wake. Keeping her momentum, Starfire had pushed Evelyn back out over the boardwalk in a matter of an instant, and it didn't look like she was going to be stopping any time soon.

"Whoa," Raven said simply.

"Booyah! Alpha one, baby!" Cyborg shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Man, Star's taking her out to sea! Pretty soon Aqualad's gonna have to be the one to deal with her!"

"Yeah, Starfire can get up around Mach four in Earth's atmosphere," Robin said, smiling proudly. "Between that momentum and her natural strength, manoeuvre alpha one would even have Superman worrying."

The Titans' jubilation was cut short, however, by a massive explosion of black energy out over the ocean. They had to dive for cover as the shockwave rolled over them—for an instant, it was if they were in the middle of a hurricane. The remains of the already devastated boardwalk were ripped from their moorings and tossed like they were matchstick models, sending large pieces of wood several blocks into the city. Close behind the shockwave came an orange blur that skipped off the water in the bay once before ploughing into the ground in the ruined shopping district, heaving up chunks of road and collapsing several buildings before finally coming to a halt in the remains of a building near where the Titans had taken cover.

"Oh, my God…Starfire…" Robin said, then began running towards the wreckage. "Starfire!"

He began frantically tossing aside chunks of concrete and masonry. Cyborg and Raven joined in, and it was not long before they had dug Starfire out. Her costume was almost in tatters, she was covered in cuts and scrapes, and her right arm hung at an odd angle—her shoulder had been dislocated. From the way she was breathing, Robin figured a fair number of her ribs had been broken as well.

"Starfire! Starfire, can you hear me?" Robin said. She was looking around, but her eyes didn't seem to be focussing very well.

"X'hal! Nottuk'lash dak'kar grun! Hrudnek!" Starfire raved in Tamaranian, delirious with pain and concussion. "Worg uk var duk'ka!"

Starfire struggled a little, trying to stand on her own, but even her alien strength failed, and she fell back to the ruined pavement, breathing shallowly.

"Raven, can you heal her?" Robin asked, his voice tight with desperation.

"Not now," Raven said. "I need time, and Evelyn could be…"

"Wha', back any ssecond?"

The Titans turned to see Evelyn floating towards them, her powers crackling around her again like they had in the tower, but times ten. However, despite this obvious boost in power, she looked significantly the worse for wear—blood trickled from her nose, and her face had become slack and expressionless. Her arms and legs dangled, useless, their only movement being an occasional spasm that seemed to run through her entire body. She appeared to be animated by her powers and little else. Only her eyes remained unchanged, glowing red orbs filled with nothing but malice and rage.

"Tha' acshully hurt, Titanss. Good on ya," Evelyn slurred, managing a small sadistic smile before her face fell slack again. "Bu' now yer down Ssstarf're, and I've br'ken m'limatashunss." She paused to look down at herself, and another spasm ran through her body.

"Heh. Looksss like I'm nearin' th'end of m'rope, though," Evelyn continued, again attempting a grin. "Better make th'mosst of it, huh?"

"Raven, get Starfire out of here!" Robin shouted, but he was too late.

Having lost much of her control over her body, Evelyn made no dramatic sweeping gestures, as Raven often did when using her powers. She didn't even recite a spell of some kind—she suddenly just opened her eyes up wide, and her powers went wild. The remaining Titans didn't even stand a chance, as anything they tried was countered and turned against them with the speed of thought. It was all they could do to stay alive, much less launch a counterattack. Still, they tried. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon, but a wall of black energy stopped the beam like he was just using a hair dryer, while black tendrils wrapped themselves around his mechanical limbs and tore them off. He fell backwards with a grunt of pain, his exposed machine parts sparking. Raven tried to grab onto any pieces of wreckage she could find to hurl them at Evelyn, but Evelyn's powers simply overrode her own. Raven gasped as black energy closed in around her, squeezing her as though it would crush the life out of her, but then settling for simply throwing her hard against one of the few nearby walls that were still standing, nearly knocking her unconscious. As Robin reached for the last few birdarangs he had on his belt, he felt a vice-like grip close over his wrist, and before he even realized what was happening he had been thrown to the ground, his arm locked behind his back. Evelyn appeared in his peripheral vision, floating lazily only a few feet from where he lay struggling.

"Ssso eassy," Evelyn said. "Barely even wort' th'effor'." She glanced over to where Starfire still lay—she had finally succumbed to unconsciousness—and attempted another grin.

"Now, I w'nder wha' I should do wit' 'er…" Evelyn mused aloud, and Robin's struggles became more frantic.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" he shouted. "I swear, if you so much as…"

"Quiet!" Evelyn yelled, slamming Robin even harder into the pavement. "Y'know wha'? I don' think I'm gonna kill 'er. Yer the type who jusss hard'nss wit' lossss. I wan' 'er t'lose you. Whaddya think tha'll do t'her?"

Robin screamed and struggled as hard as he could, but Evelyn only leaned closer.

"D'ya think she'll cry? D'ya think she'll break? D'ya think she'll jus' ssnap 'n' charge me wit'out thinkin'?" Evelyn whispered, and laughed. "Prob'ly th'last one, I figger. She'll be dyin' pretty sssoon aft'r you, then."

Robin felt the pressure begin to increase on the back of his head, driving his face into the pavement, but suddenly it released, and not just on his head—Evelyn's hold over his whole body had disappeared. He quickly rolled away and dragged himself to his feet, lights dancing in front of his eyes, before turning to see the source of his good fortune.

Evelyn had dropped to the ground where she had been floating, and was on her hands and knees coughing and retching. Robin saw that the ground in front of her was spattered with dark blood.

"You're dying, Evelyn. Give up," he said, trying to sound like he wasn't about to drop dead from exhaustion.

"Nnnoooooo…" Evelyn rasped, clutching her chest as a particularly large spasm wracked her body. "Ssso closssse…"

"It's over," Robin said, taking a step towards her. "Stop fighting."

"NO!" Evelyn screamed, launching a bolt of glowing darkness at Robin. He ducked, knowing it wouldn't be enough, but the painful blast he expected didn't come. Robin looked up, seeing a shield of black energy around his body, and Raven leaning against a large chunk of concrete nearby, one hand extended and shaking with effort. Evelyn slumped, almost falling in on herself, as Raven retracted the energy shield.

"You're getting weaker, Evelyn," Raven said. "You can't beat us now. Robin was right—it's over."

Evelyn was silent for a moment, staring at the pattern her blood had made on the ground, but then she began to laugh. It was a laugh of real, if somewhat morbid, humour, and her face regained the barest fraction of the life and expression it had once displayed, but there was an edge of desperation to it all that made it plain that this was the very last of her energy. Evelyn clumsily wiped the blood from her mouth and nose, doing little more than just smearing it across her face, and kept laughing.

"Tha'ss jussst it, isn't it?" she said. "You think thiss is over? Big vict'ry fer th'Titanss? Hah! Yer juss' cleanin' up a li'l messs she made." Evelyn turned to Raven.

"C'mon, Rae, you 'n' I, we know better," Evelyn continued. "I'm jus' a preview—it'ss not m'time yet. Thiss was a bonusss round. An' even if I die, ya won' really be rid o' me. When th'time comesss, when Daddy getss here, you're gonna be me, Rae, an' then nothin' will save you, 'cause you'll be th'one who people'll need savin' from."

Evelyn's laughter was suddenly interrupted by a fit of coughing, and when she looked up again, more blood was trickling from her mouth. She smiled.

"Now tha' I think abou' it, s'acshully better thiss way, wit' all yer li'l friends escapin' me wit' their livesss," Evelyn said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "'Cause, y'ssee, now you get t'be th'one t'kill 'em. Won' tha' be fun?"

Raven stared in horror as Evelyn began laughing again, blood still running from her nose and mouth, pausing every so often to cough and retch. Absurdly, Raven noticed that Evelyn's pale skin, now even paler than usual, contrasted sharply with her black tattoos and red blood smeared across her face. Suddenly, Evelyn hissed in pain and clutched at her chest. Tendons stood out on her neck and she gritted her teeth as she threw her head back, her eyes closed tightly. When she reopened them, they no longer glowed red—they had become an all-too-familiar deep violet, just in time for a last look of desperation to cross her face before she finally pitched forward—she was dead. Raven and Robin just stared at Evelyn's body for a moment.

"It…it looks like she had a heart attack," Robin said at last.

"That makes sense. The heart is constantly working, so it's often one of the first things to break down," Raven replied, her voice settling into a mechanical monotone.

"Raven…her eyes…just before she died, they…" Robin began, but Raven interrupted him.

"It was her last shot at me, just for spite," she said. "She just wanted to show me my own death."

Robin nodded absentmindedly, and turned to stare at Evelyn's body again. It was already disintegrating, as the spells that held it together began to break down faster and faster. Robin sighed and turned back to look at Raven.

"Let's go home."

OOO

"Friend Robin, please! I have returned to full health!" Starfire cried. She was sitting up in her infirmary bed—Robin had caught her removing her bandages, and was not happy. He just shook his head.

"No, truly! Upon my honour, I am fully healed and ready to renew my fight against the criminal element of this world!" Starfire continued, swinging her legs out of bed and standing up. She wobbled for a moment, but then found her balance and grinned.

"Do you see? Tamaranians are renowned throughout the galaxy as remarkably quick healers, and I…ow, ow, ow," Starfire said—she had punctuated the 'I' by jabbing her thumb into her chest, and had to sit down quickly to avoid having her legs collapse underneath her from the pain.

"What I see, Starfire, is that your ribs are obviously still fractured at the very least," Robin said. "I know that you heal quickly, and that we have Raven to help with the worst of it, but to be up and about only a day after getting a serious concussion and having most of your ribs broken is still a bit much. Take it easy. Things are quiet, so just get some rest." Starfire nodded dejectedly and settled back into bed. Robin reached for the remote control sitting on the table beside him.

"Here, I know it's boring just sitting in the infirmary, so why don't you watch some TV?" he said, pressing a series of buttons on the remote. A panel in the ceiling retracted and a small television set mounted on a mechanical arm dropped into view. Robin handed the remote to Starfire, who smiled weakly. He smiled back, patted her hand, and turned to leave the room. As the infirmary door closed behind him, Robin heard Starfire's muffled voice exclaiming: "Oooh! Spongebob!" He smiled.

OOO

"Hey, Cyborg, have you seen Beast Boy around?" Robin asked as he stepped into the living room, where Cyborg was busily playing video games.

"Yeah, he's in his room—said he needed some time alone," Cyborg said, not taking his eyes off of the screen. "I tried to get him out of there to try to get his mind off of things, but no luck. I even promised to let him beat me at Mega Ultra Blaster Team Battle X."

"Huh. I think I'll go check on him," Robin said, but paused. "I assume your repairs went alright."

"Oh, yeah, no problem. I've had worse," Cyborg said, still not looking up from his game. "Getting that first arm back on can be a bit of a pain, but after that it's a cinch."

"Good, good. Well, I won't keep you from your game," Robin said with a grin. He turned and left, heading for Beast Boy's bedroom.

"Aw, man. I swear, this stupid computer cheats," Cyborg said, as the phrase "U G0T PWNZORD!1" appeared on the screen in large flashing letters.

OOO

"Beast Boy? Are you in there?" Robin called as he knocked on Beast Boy's door for the third time. It finally opened, and the shorter green boy stared up at him, a melancholy expression on his face, but said nothing.

"Um…hey, Beast Boy, Cyborg said you were just staying in your room, so I just wanted to make sure you were okay…" Robin began, but stopped and sighed. "God, that sounds stupid—of course you're not okay." Robin ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"Right, I'll leave you alone now," he said. "You are going to be okay eventually, though, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," Beast Boy said with a small smile. "It's just old memories, you know? Nothing I haven't had to deal with before, but I wasn't ready to get them forced on me like that. Just give me a little while."

Robin nodded and returned the smile as Beast Boy closed his door. Robin turned and made his way back down the hall, lost in thought.

Well, one left to check on, he thought. This is going to be difficult.

OOO

"Raven?" Robin said hesitantly. He was standing on the roof of the tower, and Raven was hovering several feet away, meditating. She had stopped chanting—Robin knew that this would probably be the only sign she would give that she was listening to him.

"I hate to interrupt you, but I was just making sure everyone was okay," Robin said. "It's been about a day since, well, you know, so I figure we've all had time to cool off and take stock, so…"

"Robin," Raven said, "you're babbling." Robin blushed.

"Uh, yeah, well, interfering with your meditation always makes me nervous," he said. "I think I still have some bruises from the last time." Raven grinned, her eyes still closed.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," she said. "How are the others?"

"They're all fine. Starfire's just going to have to take it easy until her ribs heal up all the way, Cyborg fixed himself in a matter of hours, and Beast Boy…well, he's going to need some time, but he'll be alright," Robin said, noting the guilt in Raven's voice.

"That's good," Raven said, and Robin took note of the relief her voice now contained.

"Raven, you can't hold yourself responsible for all of this," he said. "You were understandably excited about the idea of getting out from under your father's shadow, and you made a mistake that anyone could have made. And besides, even if Evelyn came from your dark emotions, she was a totally separate person. You shouldn't blame yourself for what she did. It isn't your fault."

"But you all got hurt," Raven whispered.

"We're superheroes, Evelyn was a supervillain—stuff happens, Raven," Robin said with a shrug. "We're all going to get hurt sometimes. I mean, when I was still with Batman, I saw him get shot at least half a dozen times, and he's way more experienced than any of us. He never let it stop him, either."

"I suppose you're right," Raven said. She still hadn't moved from her meditative position.

"Of course. And everything worked out okay in the end, so don't worry about it," Robin said. "Well, I'll leave you to your meditation." He turned to leave, but Raven stopped him.

"Oh, about the way things ended—that reminds me, you never did tell me about those 'special practices' you've been having with Starfire," she said. Robin stopped dead.

"What, the practices with manoeuvre alpha one?" he said, keeping his back turned to Raven. "Oh, just something I've been, uh, working on with her to push her limits, expand her arsenal of techniques, that sort of thing."

"Mmhmm," Raven said. "And tell me, Robin, are Cyborg and Beast Boy going to be getting any special anti-Raven training too?" Robin's eyes widened in shock.

"Uh…um…I'm not sure I…uh…well…" he sputtered.

Oh, hell. She'll be able to tell I'm lying now anyway, Robin thought, and sighed.

"I'm sorry about going behind your back like that, Raven, but…" he began, but Raven cut him off.

"Don't apologize. It's a good idea," she said. "If things go bad when my father makes his move and I…well, just promise me you'll do whatever it takes to finish it."

"Raven, I…"

"Promise me!"

Robin turned to look at Raven. She had also finally turned to look at him, and he now noticed that her eyes were rimmed with red—she had been crying, or at least as close to crying as she could get without having her powers go haywire. Robin looked away, unable to hold her gaze.

"I promise," he said. Raven heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank you," she whispered. "You should probably go see Starfire. I'm sure she's getting bored."

Robin nodded and turned to go back inside the tower, leaving Raven alone with the sunset.

-FIN-

Author's Note: This is the last chapter of Split. It is now over. I had originally intended it to be a short little mostly humorous story of no more than six or seven chapters with a more serious ending fight scene that I would finish in a couple of weeks, start to finish. While the first bits held up okay, that last thing about me finishing in a couple of weeks has kind of really not happened. Yes, 'kind of really'—what can I say, I'm a linguistic trendsetter. Everyone will be saying it in a few weeks, just you wait. Anyway, while I risk sounding full of myself, I'll pre-empt the requests to continue that I've gotten in the past when ending a story by saying this: I can't see any way to extend this story at all. I mean, Evelyn, the central figure of this whole story, is dead. Yes, dead. And I don't mean in that special comic book way, where they come back after a few years—she's dead, period. Granted, 'dead' might not be the most appropriate word to use here, since she was arguably never alive at all, but in any case she won't be coming back. I will be attempting to finish my other unfinished story, Stalker (which will be renamed 'Watched') next, and then moving on to some other ideas I have for stories. Please don't ask me to continue Split. If you really like the idea and want to see more done with it, why don't you write a story along the same lines? That's what FanFiction is supposed to be about, right? You write what you want. I'm not getting paid for this, so it's not like I care about people 'stealing' my ideas—if anything, I'd like to see what kinds of variations people might make on the whole evil double theme.

For those of you who are wondering about the abrupt change from humour to seriousness in the last two chapters (this one included), yes, this was my plan from the very start. I wanted to do something to get a bit of a shock out of some people, but without using the f-word and thereby raising my rating (which I think is a cheap way to go for shock value anyway). I settled on having a large contrast between the early and later chapters. Let me know if it worked.

So now I just have to force myself to finish the last few chapters of Stalker/Watched before I get onto the new stuff I want to write (which will hopefully not fall by the wayside halfway through, like Stalker and Split did). To the Bag Cave!

To My Reviewers: First off, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, and especially those who stayed interested in Split even with that long, impromptu hiatus of mine. Thanks for putting up with my bullshit. On to the individual stuff (sorry for missing that in the last chapter, by the way)…

Gespenst: Unfortunately, Evelyn's funnier ideas just weren't happening in the last two chapters. I mean, she didn't even get to have that tea party with those poor hapless citizens!

Blackbird: Sorry, but like I said, Evelyn is dead. I like having reasonably self-contained stories, since going off on huge tangents that eventually have nothing to do with the Teen Titans in any way, shape, or form doesn't appeal to me ("And now, the Teen Titans! Attending high school! In space! In another dimension! Starring the cast of Baywatch!"). I prefer to leave no loose ends with my stories, and Evelyn would have been a huge loose end. It would be funny to see her interact with one of the Titan's sillier villains, though, like Mad Mod or something (not that he'd last too long, of course). Thanks for the support over changing that tube top, too. Man, was that ever a mistake. Sure, it shows cleavage, but it isn't very supervillain-ish. And there is always something slightly sinister about full-body tattoos. Oh, and the Akira reference in "Employee of the Month" was the way the Source's big mechanical-looking container opened up to reveal his little jar (dust flying, giant inexplicable tubes going everywhere, and so on).

palekel: Ah, the mystic enema. Much maligned and often simply ignored by many magic users, largely because of its unfortunate name, this simple procedure can purge dark emotions, bad karma, and any number of other troublesome things one might encounter. Of course, due to the twisted sense of humour that apparently permeates the magical world, these troublesome things, once purged, will usually be concentrated to the point of physical manifestation, thus presenting a single big troublesome thing capable of doing even more troublesome things. In case you hadn't noticed, I also need help in the worst way.

Ultimate R-Man: Sure, he only wrote the comics, but as the originator of all things Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama must still pay for all the suffering I have endured! I'm kidding, of course. Anyway, I realize that the striptease scene in Chapter Five was pushing the limit of my rating a little, but I would certainly hesitate to call it soft porn. It was definitely not written with the intention to arouse, which is the defining characteristic of any kind of porn, in my opinion (even if it fails miserably in this intention, porn is usually recognizable as such by clearly being made with that intention in mind). But I suppose that this is neither the time nor the place for a discussion of the nature of pornography (which is, incidentally, a fun word to yell at pedestrians from moving vehicles, or so my little sister tells me).

The Mad shoe1: Thanks!

Slade2.0: Poor Beast Boy indeed, especially after last chapter.

ravenrocs4eva: Things are never as nice where you live as the tourists seem to think they are, I've found ("Sure, it's nice to live in the Bahamas, but let me tell you, the sand gets everywhere."). But still, at least the Bahamas are in the warm.

CrAzY aUtHoR pErSoN: I think I got that rage of terror. Did you send it with Fed Ex? Same with the rabid bunnies. And thanks for adding me to your C2. I feel special! And not in the short bus way, either!

CloudsHalo: Thanks! Oh, and I'm a philosophy student—words that consist of adjectives like 'awesome' with 'ness' added on the end to create a noun are entirely familiar to me (even adding 'ness' onto other nouns, like 'chairness'—I'm not kidding).

TDG3RD: Thanks. That switch was one of the things that I was worried about with this story. I'm all about the mental scars.

BolenPUCR: Like I said in my Author's Note above, that contrast between the comedy and the serious evil was done on purpose for shock, as well as to accentuate the evil when it finally showed up. Glad to see that it worked out okay.