I do not own Teen Titans. I do not own Teen Titans. I do not own Teen Titans.

Chapter 2

Garfield's hands began to shake as he scrolled through his contact list. Who did he call first? Where did he start? How could he even begin to explain this? The page slowed to a stop, highlighting Victor S, and before he knew it he was lifting the phone up to his ear.

One ring...

Two rings...

Three, four, five...

"Hi, this is Victor Stone and I can't come to the phone right now. Please leave your name and number and I-"

Gar quickly jabbed at the end button.

So much for that.

It seemed right to try their old leader next, but availability-wise Gar's next best guess was Kori. He locked his phone and set it down in his lap again. He would really have to think about his wording this time. His eyes jumped up as the emergency-hall's doors slid open, allowing a tired-looking stranger to pass through. Garfield huffed for about the tenth time in the past hour. His patience was wearing thin. Very thin. Sitting around waiting was not his forte, it never had been. He always felt like he should be doing more.

When they had arrived at the hospital, he had immediately tried to follow the doctors back with Raven. Almost simultaneously, however, he was talked out of it by Pamela. She had assured Gar that there was nothing more he could do; that having him back there would simply be more of a distraction than anything else.

She was right.

It was still driving him crazy.

Interrupting his train of thought, the hospital intercom suddenly started blaring.

"ALL AVAILABLE STAFF, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE MAIN SECURITY OFFICE. ALL AVAILABLE STAFF, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE MAIN SECURITY OFFICE."

Strange. Even in his current state, Garfield was still technically on the clock, and he supposed he fell under the category of 'available'. Besides, it couldn't hurt to momentarily take is mind off of everything. With a sigh, the green man heaved himself out of the uncomfortably firm waiting room chair and made his way upstairs. What could this possibly be about, anyways? It was rare for them to call that many employees to the same place unless it was an emergency. Perhaps they were bringing in a prisoner?

As his mind wandered, something on his trip through the corridors caught Gar's eye. He stopped in his tracks and backed up a few steps to perform a double-take. His mouth gaped open at what was before him. One of the hospital's rooms was in complete disarray- there were flickering fluorescent light fixtures dangling from the ceiling by mere wires, the cot was overturned with it's sheets strewn across the room, and the multiple vases and pictures that had been used to decorate the room now littered the floor in shards. It was filled with only a couple of seemingly perplexed guards, standing around chatting on their walkie-talkies and scratching their heads.

...So, that was probably what the meeting was about. Garfield made his way to the security office with a quickened pace.

"Oh, Gar, boy am I glad to see you."

He had just entered the office, where twenty or so people in all different kinds of uniforms were seated upon chairs scattered lazily around the room.

"What the hell happened?" Gar asked, striding up to the lead security officer, who seemed to have been speaking to everyone upon his entrance. The crowd was now murmuring amongst themselves behind him.

"It's that lunatic Adonis, he escaped. No idea how- did you see his room? We're trying to recover footage now. I'm glad you're here, though. I know you've dealt with him pretty directly before- you know, before... yeah. Anyways. What was he like? We were getting him ready for a psyche evaluation before this."

Garfield simply blinked in bewilderment.

"He's not capable of this. Or, at least he wouldn't have been back in the day. This doesn't add up, dude. Are you sure there wasn't-" He was cut off by the guard's walkie emitting loud white noise, before a roughened voice began shouting over the comm.

"The escaped patient is attempting to breach surgical services through the east wing! Backup needed!"

Without another word, Gar found himself sprinting alongside the guard, who was already on the phone with the police department, requesting help. Gar pulled out his work phone and dialed the front desk's emergency number.

"Nancy, hey, it's Garfield. Make sure all patrol in the building knows what's going on in the east wing. Thanks." He quickly hung up and rounded the corner to find that the very waiting room he had been in not ten minutes ago was an utter disaster. Perched atop one of the chairs was Adonis himself, his position almost mimicking the natural form of an ape. Surrounding him were several unconscious (at least, Gar hoped they were just unconscious) security guards, the leader of whom had been trailing behind him seconds prior. The burly man unhesitantly sprinted past Gar in a clear attempt to tackle Adonis, but he had already caught the foe's attention and found himself being hurled violently across the room, slumping to the floor in a heap. Garfield took a sight step forward, intending to go check on the man, but the second he made movement Adonis' bruised face snapped back to him, making eye contact.

Something was very wrong.

Out-of-the-blue superhuman strength aside, Adonis' eyes were now entirely black, as opposed to their normal dark amber hue. His skin was also much paler than he recalled it being all those years ago- almost unnaturally so, in fact- and he had now gone from the body type of a lanky teenage boy to that of a high-class muscle builder. While Gar certainly wasn't a scrawny little boy anymore, he was nowhere close to competing with this. Adonis looked as though his muscles were ready to rip through his skin. It wasn't just buff- it was grotesque. This wasn't the same man that he had transformed with, fought with, and laughed at five years ago. This was someone else completely.

Gar took a step back, slowly raising his hands in defense while speaking.

"Look, Adonis, what are you doing? This isn't you, dude. I don't do this anymore, okay? Don't make me fight you. Just let them take you, don't get yourself in any more trouble..."

Adonis crouched lower and narrowed his eyes, clearly readying himself for an attack. Gar felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, his animal senses kicking in. His body was preparing for a fight. The beast he had suppressed for so long, that he had almost forgotten about, snarled in the back of his mind. This wasn't right. Adonis was just a human now, right? There was no reason his senses should be reacting this way.

The changeling continued to stare uneasily at the wild man before him. It felt like they were there, glaring, growling, breathing for an eternity before Adonis did something Gar wasn't expecting: He smiled. Again. Before he knew it, Adonis had leapt from the chair and pounced on him without ever touching the thirty feet of linoleum between them, which promptly cracked upon impact. Gar attempted to raise his fists in defense, but only had a few mere milliseconds to react before he was tackled onto the floor, trapped beneath a snarling Adonis. The crazed man still had a grin, now frothing, plastered onto his face, and he bared sharp fangs akin to the changeling's own pointed canines. Gar wriggled beneath him, but it was to no avail. How did Adonis get this heavy? Even with his muscle mass, this much force seemed unfeasible.

Adonis leaned down close to Gar's ear, and whispered one word in an impossibly deep, bone-chilling voice.

"Raaaaaaveeeeen..."

From the corner of his vision, Gar saw eyes flash from black to ruby-red in one fluid motion, before his attention was caught by the man's fist raising into the air, revealing long, protruding claw-like nails. Gar braced himself as the hand began to swing back down, but Adonis was suddenly torn off of him by a neon green orb whizzing past and grazing the side of his face.

The shape-shifter quickly leapt up, but it seemed that he was joined by another. Adonis had now taken on the form of his werebeast from years prior, although this one had darker maroon fur accompanied by the same fully black eyes. It appeared to be meaner, stronger, and all-around more daunting. Gar's neck hair stood on end once again, and he clenched his teeth and fists in an attempt to halt the low guttural sound emitting itself from the back of his throat. He saw the beast's ears prick up in surprise, before it once again narrowed it's eyes and took off around the corner.

Shell-shocked, Gar finally turned to see none other than his old teammates, flanked by at least twenty police officers who were now quickly retreating in the direction they had just seen the creature go. Kori, clad in a plaid pencil skirt and button-up blouse, let her glowing eyes and fists dissipate before running forward and enveloping him in a huge hug. Looking over her shoulder, Gar smiled back at Victor, who donned a black athletic jacket and jeans. His eyes then moved on to Richard, dressed in a simple gray polo shirt and slacks, as well as sporting his signature stern look and crossed arms. The police chief gave him a friendly nod, which he returned graciously.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Garfield finally sputtered once released from the infamous death grip. Despite his confusion at the situation that had just taken place, he couldn't hide his enthusiasm (and anxiety) over the fact that his old friends had gathered again for the first time in years. Well, almost all of them. His mind was momentarily ripped from that thought as Victor began to explain.

"Well, I noticed I had a missed all from you and was fixing to call back when I got another from Kori, saying that her station had just received breaking news of the attack of a former Titan. She made a few calls, gathered some information, and, well... here we are."

Richard took over at this point. "We jetted over as soon as we found out it was Raven, but we have no idea what the hell his happening here. Why don't you fill in the blanks?"

"Uh.. right," Gar responded quickly, still trying to recover from his initial shock. "Well, that was Adonis." Everyone's eyes widened at this. "Yeah, I know, right? There's something really wrong with him. He's not the same Adonis we used to know. Listen, I think he's the one who attacked her. When we were down there, he... he said her name. I don't know what's going on with Ra... Rachel. That's her name now. Last I heard she was in surgery. She's pretty banged up, but I think she's going to make it, guys. Gonna be getting lots of stitches though, and they're, um... they're doing a rape kit."

Victor's eyes were so wide it looked like they were about to bulge out of their sockets, Richard's aegean eyes narrowed more than ever before, and Kori's emerald orbs flashed dangerously. Victor finally broke the silence.

"Well... what do we do now?"

They all instinctively looked to Richard, who raised an eyebrow at the familiar role he was being placed in. Just like old times.

"I would say we need to help track down Adonis... but I think Raven needs us the most right now. Bea- Garfield, can you find out if she's still in surgery?"

Gar nodded and picked up his work cell from the floor, dusting it off with the edge of his shirt, which he just realized was spotted with blood... where did that come from? He shrugged it off, and one minute and a very short conversation earlier he hung up the phone and looked at his friends.

"She's out of surgery."

Gar saw Richard's mouth moving, but for some reason couldn't hear anything. What bothered him more than that, though, was suddenly feeling something tickle the top of his spine. He reached back behind his head, swaying slightly, and realized his shirt was soaking wet. Pulling his hand back, he observed with faltering vision that it was now stained red.

"G-guys," he stuttered out. "I don't feel so good..." And just like that, he felt himself unable to keep from falling, catching a momentary glimpse of the ceiling tile before everything went dark.

I know, it's kind of a cliffie. D: I've somehow managed to have this be even shorter than the first chapter, which, I know, I'm the worst. BUT, I will update tomorrow! Promise. I'm just so dang tired and my boyfriend has been waiting on me for, literally, seven hours. Please bear with me! Following/favoriting gives you instant updates, and reviewing gives me motivation! I call that a win/win. Please let me know what you think and check back in tomorrow! Peace out y'all. c: