Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

II

Secret Whispers

At the Operations Center of the Titans Tower, Cyborg and Beast Boy were waging a bloody battle over the GameStation XL- the very same one that Cyborg had attained right before he got sucked into 3000BC by the equalizer. Starfire had retreated to her room, as it was "the time of feeding for Silkie". Robin had caught sight of the Zorka berries she'd hidden behind her back, but he had said nothing- the tiny amount of berries would not be sufficient to mutate the creature.

Now Robin and Raven were at the coffee table. Robin glanced over at the Titan. She was staring down at the surface of the table, and seemed lost in her thoughts.

"Raven. You said you sensed something… earlier on. What was it?"

"I… don't know. I was scanning the Tower and something popped up suddenly. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Do you think it's dangerous?"

"I really don't know. But it's… different."

"Different is bad, right?"

Raven sighed. She turned away from Robin and found herself looking at Beast Boy instead. Something triggered a memory inside her…

"Why are you always locked in your dark room, reading your nasty old books? Why do you have to be so creepy?"

Outside, Cyborg laid a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "Forget it, B. Leave her alone."

Raven clutched the book to her chest and sighed.

"I'm not creepy. I'm just different."

"What did you say?" Robin asked.

She blushed. Lucky for her she was turned away from him when she said that.

"Nothing."

"So…"

"I guess different is bad."

The piercing siren of the alarm screamed through the air, jolting Robin out of his seat.

"Titans, GO!"

Beast Boy loved flying. The sheer weightlessness of being was enough to take anyone's troubles away. No wonder, he thought, no wonder Starfire's always so happy all the time. Dimly he wondered why Raven was not as cheerful as their Tamaranian teammate…

Looking down, Beast Boy spotted the T-Car and the R-Cycle riding beside it. A few metres below him was Starfire in flight. Beast Boy flapped his pterodactyl wings and felt the cool air against his skin. They were heading towards the old abandoned research facility.

Beast Boy remembered the last time they had been there, fighting Adonis. The research facility had turned him into something he did not like at all. Or rather, it had not transformed him, because he had realized that the thing had always been inside him. And that was what freaked Beast Boy out. But now he had to face his fears about that place.

Different time, different situation, different villain, he reassured himself.

Below him, the T-Car and the R-Cycle swerved to the right and came to a stop amidst a row of buildings.

They were there.

The huge metal doors were half-open. Robin entered first, followed by Starfire, Raven, Cyborg and lastly Beast Boy. He felt a shudder run through his spine as he stepped into the threshold of the research facility. Get a grip! He told himself sternly.

o o o

The research facility was empty and silent. All around them resounded a soft hissing, like gas escaping from a ruptured gas pipe. The air was thick with dust motes. Robin kept walking, and the rest followed behind. Just then, a loud grating sound pierced the air.

"Look out!" Cyborg yelled.

The others turned round to see a large steel bar flying straight towards them. Before the bar could hit them, however, it was engulfed in black and telekinetically thrown to the side by Raven. The rest of the team split up: Cyborg and Starfire moved swiftly to the left, while Robin somersaulted to the right and Beast Boy darted away as a panther.

Then something came leaping out of the shadows and into the light- something that was entirely white: someone wearing a white jumpsuit and a white mask. What could be seen were two red eyes, two tiny slits for a nose and a slit for a mouth.

Raven sent objects flying at the villain, but he dodged them easily. Starfire flew out and began shooting starbolts at the figure, but he grabbed a piece of scrap metal and deflected them.

He was stopped by a flying tackle from Robin, which sent the both of them tumbling to the ground. A few powerful punches were delivered, but then Robin was sent spinning away by a powerful and well-aimed kick.

Cyborg grabbed at the villain from behind, and both of them struggled in a deathlock for a few seconds, but then the villain flipped Cyborg over as easily as if he were a toy. Cyborg crashed to the ground.

Beast Boy padded out from the shadows, snarling and snapping his panther jaws before leaping onto the villain, but the figure sent him flying across the room. Beast Boy hit a pillar and landed sprawled on the ground in human form.

Then all 4 Titans were upon the villain but he seemed to fend them off with lightning speed. Robin took a round of kicks in the stomach and was thrown into a stack of old boxes. Starfire's starbolts never hit the villain at all, and she got thrown smack into Cyborg, sending the two of them tumbling across the space. Beast Boy jumped up just in time to see Raven get flung against a pillar, landing in a heap on the floor. Just as he was about to change forms, the villain turned to him, winked, and ran.

Beast Boy gave chase.

o o o

He could see the white figure in front of him… putting on an extra burst of speed, Beast Boy took a flying leap and tackled the villain. Both of them fell to the ground. He threw a few punches- left, right, left, right, then hauled the man to his feet and pushed him against the wall.

It was only then that Beast Boy realized that the villain had not put up a fight.

"Hey, what's the deal?" he growled.

The man just smiled, his red eyes narrowing. And then he spoke. His voice sounded strangely familiar, but Beast Boy couldn't place it.

"Hello, Beast Man."

Beast Boy gulped. Beast Man? The last time he had used that term was when…

"Or how about… Beast Dude?" the man sneered.

Beast Boy slammed the man against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?" he growled.

Suddenly, he was staring at an exact replica of himself.

"I am the beast inside of you," the man said, sounding exactly like him, and looking exactly like him. "And you're going to let me out."

"NO!" Beast Boy shouted.

Then the man morphed into Raven, and Beast Boy almost dropped his hands in disbelief.

"Knowing when to let it out is what makes you a man."

Words spoken in Raven's voice- words spoken by Raven herself. How did this man know what she'd said?

"Stop this! Who are you?"

Again, Beast Boy found himself face to face with the replica of him.

"That thing- that beast- it came from inside of me," he was listening to his own words, "And it's still there. I can feel it."

Then he was looking at the white face and the red eyes.

"Can you feel it, Beast Boy?" the man sneered.

Beast Boy stumbled backwards. Suddenly, he could not breathe. "Get away from me!"

He fell to his knees, and when he looked up, the man was nowhere to be seen.

A/N: The reference to Cyborg getting sent into the past is from the episode "Cyborg the Barbarian".

The scene (in italics) that Raven recalls in her memory is from the episode titled "Spellbound".

The words that the villain were taunting Beast Boy with are from the little exchange that Beast Boy and Raven shared in the end of the episode "The Beast Within".

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Next Update: June 29