Should be studying, should be studying, should be studying...screw it. I'm procrastinating instead. What can I say. Cliffhangers work both ways.


"What kind of idiot decides to attack Happy Harbour?" Beast Boy asked as he shifted into his human form to balance on the beam running through the roof.

"And in the morning of all times. Don't criminals need to sleep?" Blue Beetle added, yawning slightly as he hovered next to the shape shifter.

"You would be surprised." Superboy replied, as he joined the younger heroes. He looked around. "Where's Impulse?"

"Don't know, don't really care." Blue Beetle said. "Hey, has anyone noticed that the speedster is a bit of a scatter brain?"

"What? Like you?" Beast Boy shot back. He liked the speedster, even if the rest of the team was finding it difficult to work with him.

"Hey!" Blue replied. He paused, looking off into the distance. "What? No I'm not! …..Shut up!"

Beast Boy glanced at Superboy, sending the team leader a confused look.

"Just leave it." The Boy of Steel replied, looking down at the building below. "And don't worry about Impulse. He'll turn up. He always does."

The three fell silence, watching for any movement. Slowly, Superboy raised his hand to his ear, activating his comm.

"Alpha squad to Cave." He said. "We are in position. But it's very quiet down here. Are you sure the readings are correct?"

The comm buzzed slightly.

"Roger that Superboy. The readings are coming from your position." Mal said through the comm, watching the team from his computer in the Cave.

"You know, you still haven't told us exactly what sort of readings we are supposed to be looking for." Beast Boy said. The young hero pulled a face and wrapped his arms around his body.

He hated being on duty. Sure, back with the Titans, he had been on call 24/7, but so had the rest of the team. They were all in it together. But here it was erratic. Beast Boy couldn't wrap his head around the changes.

Sometimes he wondered why he had left the Titans. Sure it was great working with Megan and Rob…sorry, Nightwing. And the rest of the team were really nice too. Superboy and Robin were both like kickass older brothers and Impulse and the rest were kind of awesome too. Even Blue had a certain entertainment value to him. But Beast Boy missed hanging out with his old team, challenging Cyborg to video games and arguing about the superiority of tofu over meat, annoying Raven by trying to get her to join his video games nights and being energetic with Star. Hell, he even missed pranking Robin, back when his leader was a grumpy teen instead of an adult.

The green hero shook his head. He had promised himself that he would continue on with the team and he was going to keep that promise. And hey, if he did get too homesick for Jump City, it was only a Zeta Tube visit away.

Superboy was talking again. Beast Boy turned his head. He refused to be left out of the conversation.

"Two hours ago, the Caves sensors registered a large influx of chronoton particles at this exact spot." The team leader said.

"What?" Beast Boy asked, turning to stare at Superboy.

"Chronoton….particles?" Blue Beetle butted in. "What are those."

Superboy opened his mouth. He didn't understand the exact science but he would do his best to explain. The science of time travel was not an easy concept to understand.

"Dangerous." Beast Boy butted in. He looked over at Superboy. "Has someone called Rob….I mean Nightwing yet?"

Superboy blinked.

"What do you know?" he asked, turning to look at Beast Boy. The green hero looked down at the ground.

"Just bad things." He muttered.

Superboy continued to stare for a moment before looking back down.

"I'm going down for a closer look. Stay here." He said.

Leaping off the beam, the hero went into free fall, allowing gravity to drag him down to the ground. A light shot through the air, hitting the Boy of Steel in the chest. The blast threw the kryptonian into the wall, the crash echoing through the building.

"What was that?" Blue Beetle asked, looking around wildly. Beast Boy narrowed his eyes, looking toward the sight of the blast.

A figure was standing on a lower walkway. Slowly, it looked up at the two heroes, shadows giving way to a mask of orange and black. Beast Boy felt his blood go cold.

"No!" He muttered.

"What?" Blue Beetle asked as the figure raised its weapon.

Changing into a monkey, Beast Boy ducked out of the way as the laser shot past his head. A shout from behind him suggested that Blue had only narrowly avoided the laser himself.

"What that…." Blue called.

"Get Superboy!" Beast Boy shouted, briefly changing back into his human shape, his eyes fixed on the mercenary. Below him, Slade turned and started to run. "Oh no you don't."

Changing into a cheetah, Beast Boy jumped from the beam, landing on the walkway as he gave chase.

The villain didn't seem to care about the hero chasing him, grabbing the railing and throwing himself off the edge. Beast Boy followed him down, morphing into a hawk to slow his fall as he dived at the villains head.

Slade turned suddenly, fist lashing out and hitting him. Beast Boy found himself thrown down, changing back into his human form as he hit the ground. He gave a small groan as a shadow fell over him.

"Well, this is a surprise." Slade said, looking down at the fallen hero.

"Slade." Beast Boy spat, looking up at the man who had attempted to make his life as a Titan a living hell. "What do you want?"

Slade was silent, seemingly studying the hero at his feet.

"I could tell you. But I am sure you wouldn't like the answer." Beast Boy could almost hear the smirk hidden under the villains mask.

"If this is about Terra, Raven or Robin again, then you can go to hell!" Beast Boy shouted. The teenager morphed into a gorilla, lashing out at the villain. But Slade had seen this trick before, ducking out of the way of the giant fist.

"Beast Boy!" A voice shouted.

Beast Boy turned as Blue landed, one arm supporting Superboy, the other formed into a cannon and aimed at the villain. The weapon fired but Slade was faster, ducking out of the way.

Ducking past the gorilla, Superboy rushed at their new enemy, fists raised. Something dropped from the villain's hand, hitting the ground with a metallic sound. Smoke appeared, clouding both the villain and the Boy of Steel. Beast Boy felt a hand try to pull him up. He looked at Blue Beetle.

"Dude! Can you try not being so heavy next time?" Blue grunted as he tried to pull the gorilla to his feet. Beast Boy morphed back, looking around wildly at the rising smoke as a hand steadied him.

"Where are Superboy and Slade?" He asked as the smoke surrounded him. Somewhere in the thick wall, the two heroes heard a grunt and a loud thud, like someone hitting the ground.

"I don't know who Slade is, but I think Superboy got that guy." Blue grinned, looking down at Beast Boy. The green hero didn't smile back.

The smoke started to rise, revealing a black and red figure on the ground.

"No way!" Blue muttered as the two heroes stared down at an unconscious Superboy. A green stone was resting on the Boy of Steels chest. Blue rushed forward and kicked it away as Beast Boy looked around wildly.

"Where is he?" He asked.

Footsteps drew the two teenager's attention. They turned. A figure stepped through the smoke behind them. The two heroes stepped back towards Superboy as Slade appeared. Another figure stepped forward, joining him. This one was wearing a fully black mask, an orange circle where its forehead should be. Beast Boy knew exactly what this was.

"Sladebots." He muttered, making Blue glance at him.

Both heroes turned as more robots appeared. They were surrounded.

Raising his arm, Blue allowed it to morph into a gun. He looked back over at Beast Boy who had morphed into a woolly mammoth.

"Wow! I didn't know you could do that!" The armoured hero gasped.

Beast Boy ignored him, charging at the nearest figure. The figure fell, crushed under Beast Boys feet to reveal nothing but a pile of twisted metal. Beast Boy didn't bother to think, instead turning to the next figure and wrapping his trunk around it.

Picking up the robot, Beast Boy raised it over his head, aiming it at the next one.

The standing robot disappeared suddenly. Beast Boy blinked before throwing the robot at the wall, letting it smash against the solid wall. He looked over. It seemed that Blue was also having the same problem, the robots disappearing even as he aimed at them. A red blur passed beside him, making Blue stumble. The blur hit another robot before slowing down, Impulse skidding to a halt.

"Diiiidddd you miss me?" He grinned.

Beast Boy allowed himself to return to his normal form, glancing over at the last figure. Slade hadn't moved through the whole battle, arms crossed as he watched with interest.

Beast Boy growled, ready to fight. Suddenly Impulse rushed forward, arms raised.

Taken by surprise, Slade didn't have time to move as the speedster ran past, reaching out. Impulse slowed down, turning with a grin on his face. He held up an orange and black mask.

"Souvenir!" He called, proudly showing his prize.

Slade turned to face the rest of the group. Beast Boy groaned. He should have known. Instead of a face, a screen had been hidden under the mask.

"That is not fair!" Blue Beetle gasped as he walked to Beast Boy's side. The robot looked up at the two heroes, the figure on the screen covered by shadows.

"What's your game Slade?" Beast Boy shouted.

Beside him, Blue blinked.

"Wait, that's Slade? How do you know that?" Blue asked.

"We've met before, back with the Titans." Beast Boy stated.

On the screen, Slade laughed.

"Good memories." The villain stated.

"Oh yeah? Well remember this!" A voice said from behind the group. Beast Boy blinked as Superboy appeared, charging toward the robot. His fist connected with the screen, smashing through it and appearing out the back of the robots head. The Boy of Steels other fist grabbing hold of the neck and breaking it apart. Still enraged, the kryptonian threw the robot across the room.

There was a moment of silence before Impulse spoke up.

"Wow. Way to crash the mode SB." He said, grinning.

Superboy glared at him. Seeing the danger, Blue Beetle stepped in.

"Maybe we should regroup back at the cave." He suggested.

"What about the chronoton particles?" Impulse asked.

The rest of Alpha team looked at him.

"What? Even I know that's bad news." The speedster replied.

"There are no chronoton particles." Beast Boy replied.

The three heroes looked over at the shape shifter. The green hero had made his way over to the broken robot and was looking down at it.

"We need to get back to the cave and contact Nightwing right now!" He said, turning away.


Twenty minutes later, Alpha team arrived back at the cave, greeted by Wonder Girl.

"Hey!" She called, hovering in the air. "How did it go?"

Blue Beetle shrugged.

"Good….I think." He replied, his armour melting from his body as he turned to give the rest of his team mates a confused look. Superboy had been watching Beast Boy carefully through the whole trip back. Even now, the Boy of Steel was watching the shape shifter.

"I got a souvenir." Impulse suddenly said, holding up the mask. The speedster suddenly disappeared, heading to the display room and passing Miss Martian on the way. The green girl looked over before floating towards the group. Her smile faded when she saw the looks on both Beast Boy and Superboys faces.

"Garfield?" She asked.

Beast Boy jumped slightly.

"Nightwing! I need to warn him." He gasped.

He rushed forward. A hand caught his arm, pulling him back.

"Wait!" Superboy ordered. "How do you know that guy? And how did you know the chronotons were fake?"

Beast Boy bit his lip as more team members entered the room. Apart from the Bats and the Arrows, everyone was present. Slowly, the shape shifter looked up at the Boy of Steel, ignoring the crowd.

"Back when I was with the Titans, he was our number one villain. One day, he used a fake chronoton detonator to distract us and ended up kidnapping Rob…. I mean Nightwing."

Over Beast Boys head, Megan and Conner shared a look. They had known Nightwing for most of his life, yet they had never heard this before.

"So who is he? And what does he want?" Wonder Girl asked.

"He's a monster. And as to what he wants, I don't know. But I don't trust it. Slade is evil and he can get to anyone. He manipulated one of our friends, Terra to turn against us and he once managed to get hallucinogenic dust onto one of his old masks which Nightwing had been keeping in the tower. It almost killed him."

"On one of his masks?" Superboy asked.

Beast Boy nodded.

"Like the mask Impulse just brought into the Mountain?" The Boy of Steel questioned.

"Yeah….oh."

"Hey guys!" Impulse called, joining the rest of the team.

The lights suddenly flickered, catching the group's attention. The sound of doors automatically sealing were loud for a moment before everything fell silent. The room went black. The silence stretched on. Finally, Impulse spoke up.

"Ok. That was totally not my fault."


Ok, so Nightwing was suppose to appear in this chapter, but I decided to go more indepth with Beast Boys interaction with Slade and ended up not not having enough time if I want to study at all tonight. That is, if the plot bunnies will leave me alone for long enough. Finally got my hands on the final issue of the Night of Owls story arch and ideas are latching onto my brain. Don't be surprised if some of it ends up in later chapters.