-1Beast Boy: (Comes in singing the "Cops" theme and holding a picture of Robin)
Robin: Oh, shut up.
Raven: He does have a a point. Mr. Righteous Leader goes and messes with stuff he knows he shouldn't be messing with. Ooooh…
Me: Heh.
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"Hmm…Seven Gems, huh? Sounds like a video game," Robin mused to himself as he examined one of the black stones. Picking it up, he looked at it, pondering. "I wonder… No, I shouldn't be doing this," He decided. He turned to leave the room, but a nagging feeling in his mind turned him back around. "Surely, just one little test won't hurt…" He murmured. Picking the stone back up, he switched his "R" badge out for the Gem of Violence.
Instantly, he felt two changes. First, he felt…awake, almost. As if he had suddenly woken from a fog. Second, he felt aggressive, with a sudden burning passion to begin searching for Slade right now. Let's see… Robin made his way to the training room, making sure to soundproof the room. Then he turned the level to ten and began.
His moves had vastly increased, in both speed and power. With each Sladebot he destroyed, he felt even more aggressive, itching to destroy. Within minutes, he had completed all the way to level 15, something no Titan had done.
"Wow…Talk about power. We could use these to obliterate Slade! Man! Damn, these things make you wired, though," He mused aloud.
"And just what the HELL do you think you're doing?" A voice growled angrily. Robin spun, ready to fight, to see a pissed-off Raven glaring daggers at him.
"Did I not tell you to leave those ALONE?!" She yelled. Robin recoiled.
"Don't yell at me! We can use these, Raven! I mean, come on! I just whooped level 15 with them!"
"They only power you up through evil magic!" Raven shot back, seething. Is he a complete MORON?! Does he not realize what he's doing? She wondered.
"I told you, don't yell at me!" Robin replied hotly.
Raven took a breath to calm herself. "Fine. Just return that gem to the security room," She instructed. Robin stayed put. "Well? Coming?" She asked. He shook his head.
"I want to test this out some more," He told her. Her mouth hung open. Finally, she sighed.
"Don't make me take that gem," She warned. Robin's eyes widened. Then they narrowed.
"If you want to interrupt my training to bring down Slade, you're going to have to come get it," The Boy Wonder snarled. Raven smiled.
Oh, funny. Wonder how many sodas he had tonight? Either way, She thought, smiling at what she believed Robin kidding with her. She mock-flew at him, aiming for the jewel. The smile disappeared when she connected with the business end of a Birdarang.
"Did you just-?"She asked, shocked.
"Did you not hear me?" The leader of the Titans said. Raven's eyes widened.
He's serious! The gem…it's getting to him! Damn! Raven swore as she prepared to fight.
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Beast Boy woke up with a jolt, stirred by a sudden explosion of power in the Tower. Running out of his room, he saw Starfire gliding down the hall at him.
"Starfire, what's going on?" The changeling questioned worriedly. The princess shook her head.
"I believe we would both know if you could inform me," She told him. Despite his fear, he couldn't help but smile at her elongated version of another English phrase. Nodding to his friend, the pair headed for the stairs.
Before they could go down, however, they were met by Jinx and the various Raven sisters.
"Raven's in trouble," Sophia said simply. Beast Boy nodded, and all of them took the stairs down to the first floor.
Cyborg joined them there, Terra and Drake close behind. "Did you hear that?" Drake asked. Beast Boy nodded. "Okay, good. I'm not going nuts then. Where're the birds at?" The former thief wondered.
"I dunno, but I doubt their absence is coincidental. Cyborg, run a check on the Tower, see if you can find the source. Star, BB, check this floor. Drake and I will check the second floor," Terra directed. No one questioned; they simply nodded and went off in their various directions.
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"Robin, listen to me! That gem is poisoning you! You have to take it off!" Raven yelled as she threw bits of defeated Sladebots at him.
"No! Stop, Raven! You're betraying this entire team! If you'll let me continue, we can find a way to beat Slade and those damn demons! STOP!" Robin shouted back, finally fighting his way through the storm of machine parts. Raven flew against a wall as Robin connected with his staff.
He's…winning…The gem is resisting my powers… She realized as she gasped for air. Getting back up, she shielded herself from another barrage of attacks. Remembering their training from the other day, Raven tried the same trick of stealing from Robin's belt. She managed a staff, but that was all. Better than nothing, She thought as she blocked his next blow with the weapon.
Robin leapt back as he realized that she, too, now had a weapon. "Robin, listen to me. That gem is evil. You and I both know that. They…," She paused, getting sudden inspiration. "They could turn you into Slade." She finished.
The effect was instantaneous. Robin dropped the staff, absorbing her words. Finally, he ripped the gem from his person, dropping to all fours.
"I…Oh, God. I'm sorry. Those things… powerful…" Robin managed out before lapsing into unconsciousness. Raven shook her head, picking the stone up via her powers. Unlocking the doors, she headed for the exit, opening the sliding door to reveal her boyfriend, worried sick.
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"What the hell happened?" Beast Boy cried, seeing the destruction as he wrenched open the training room door. A ceiling panel hung by a single piece of rebar. Birdarangs were buried in several places on the walls. Raven's cloak also bore evidence of the flying weapons, several rips having been torn into it.
Raven shook her head, half angered, half worried for Robin. "He decided to mess with the Gem of Violence and paid the price. Once you start using the Gems…They have a way of getting to you. Luring you into the darkness. I mean, they turned Lucifer into Satan," She explained, gesturing to the object, covered in her aura and floating in the air. Cyborg's jaw dropped.
"So Robin was possessed?" He asked. Raven nodded. "He attacked you?" He pressed. Again, she nodded.
Beast Boy growled, a deep, primal, terrifying sound. Suddenly and abruptly, he turned on his heel and power-walked out of the room. Everyone's eyebrows rose, Raven finally rubbing her forehead and going after the changeling. "Get Robin back to his office," She told them dryly.
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Raven entered the common room to find her significant other transformed into the Beast, sitting calmly on the couch with the TV on, instantly reminding Raven of the whole Grandma Wolf thing from Little Red Riding Hood. "Garfield?" She said, catching his attention.
"Er, hey," He said after demorphing. Raven cocked an eye. "Transforming into that thing lets me control rage. Quite helpful, really," He told her.
"Uh…why did you leave like that?" She wondered.
"If I hadn't, Robin would be in several pieces right now," He informed her shortly, turning back to the TV. Raven's eyes widened.
"Oh. O…kay. He made a mistake, but…" Raven trailed off.
"He did EXACTLY what he knew he shouldn't have, and attacked you because of it!" Beast Boy suddenly shot up as he spat the reply out like a jalapeno pepper. Raven opened her mouth, but he talked over her. "Don't tell me you aren't pissed at him, Rachel!" He fumed.
Raven's jaw dropped at his use of her first name. He never called her "Rachel." "Rae-Rae," "Raven," "Ravie," and "Rae," yes, but never had he used her first formal name.
"I-I am, but you have to calm down," Raven stuttered, caught off guard.
A few moments passed. Beast Boy took several deep breaths. Finally, he nodded.
"Alright, I'm calm. I'm going back to bed. 'Night, Rae," He told her, kissing her on the cheek as he exited the room. She nodded, following him out and leaving him for her own room.
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"I guess I should check on him before I go back…" Beast Boy muttered. Changing course, he made his way to the med bay. Entering, he went to Robin's bedside, where he found a sleeping Starfire. He turned to walk away when he felt a strange…feeling. He couldn't place it, but it was there, and it seemed to be coming from the very room that the Gems were secured in.
"…Why?" Beast Boy muttered. Exiting the room, he fought with himself. I'd be doing the same thing Robin did, He argued. Yeah, but if something's wrong in there, it could hurt us, he thought. He sighed. "I won't pick the damn things up, that's all," He decided.
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"Handprint accepted. Welcome, Garfield," The computer greeted him. He walked in, looking around. Everything seemed normal. The Gems were in their resting places. All was calm. But the feeling…it was still there.
Then it happened. Beast Boy's sensitive ears picked up a sound. Footsteps, no less. And oddly enough, they sounded like metal on metal. That ruled out Raven and Starfire. Robin was out by default. "Why the hell is Cyborg coming here?" He wondered.
An explosion changed Beast Boy's mind about the identity of said stepper. Sparks flew as a figure obliterated the door, unwittingly presenting himself to Beast Boy, though not for long.
Slade looked to see his opposition and laughed. "You? With your friends, you are strong, but alone, in such a small space? If you leave now, I will spare your life," He offered. Beast Boy narrowed his eyes. Then, he felt it, stronger now. It seemed as though one of the gems was calling to him. The Gem of Hatred, to be precise. He furrowed his brows and ignored it.
"I think I'll stick around," He told the villain. Morphing into a bear, he rose up on his hind legs with a roar. Slade smirked, drawing his staff and landing a solid strike to his opposition's midsection. Beast Boy hit the wall hard, demorphing.
The call was becoming stronger, harder for Beast Boy to ignore, to act upon. A blast from one of Slade's remaining Gems finally set his mind. Leaping forward, he got his hands of the Gem of Hatred. Instantly, it began shining, a light so brilliant that Slade was temporarily blinded by it.
When the light faded, Beast Boy looked in shock at the stone in his hand. It had gone from black to a blazing, beautiful blue. He looked at Slade, whose eyes had gone wide. And without thought, without words, Beast Boy somehow knew what to do.
Holding the stone in his palm, he faced Slade and…released, for a lack of a better word, energy from his body through the object. A beam of the same color as its origin gave Slade a one way ticket into and through the wall, all in one motion. He didn't even bother to give chase; he knew that Slade had disappeared again, frightened by the sudden turn of events.
"What…gives?" Beast Boy wondered, turning the now blue stone over in his hand. As he looked, he realized that the text that once read "Hatred" had changed. Furrowing his brows, he looked at the other gems. Curious, he picked the Gem of Violence up. Instantly, it fired a black beam at his face, blocked only by a blue shield from the new stone.
"Oooooookay…" He said.
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"What is this, the fourth of July?" Raven wondered snappishly to herself as she rushed towards the source of the noise. Her eyes flashed as she saw Beast Boy in the security room, holding an object.
"Garfield Mark Logan, you had better not be holding what I think you are holding," She warned him, her tone dangerous. He turned, showing her the blue stone. She blinked, stepping forward to take it from him.
"Where'd you get this?" She asked.
"I…I had this feeling. Like something was wrong. And you know me. I'm usually right when I have that sort of feeling. So I came down here, where it seemed to be coming from. When I got in, the Hatred gem was like, calling me, I swear. I ignored it, but I heard footsteps. Turned out to be Slade," He told her.
"And?" Raven pressed.
"We fought. I was losing, and the Gem just kept drawing me in. Finally, Slade used his gem against me, and I…grabbed it. The Gem of Hatred. But," He said quickly, seeing rage flare in her eyes, "it…changed. There was this flashy light show, and when it faded it had become what you're holding right now," He finished. Then, as an afterthought, "It says something different too. I can't read it, but it doesn't say "Hatred" anymore."
Raven's eyebrows shot up. Turning over the stone, she scrutinized the text. Then, slowly, she looked from the stone, to Beast Boy, back to the stone, and finally fixated her eyes on Beast Boy.
"This says…Loyalty. You laid hands on the Gem of Hatred, and it transformed…into the Gem of Loyalty," She said slowly. She blinked, mouth open. "It makes no sense. None of the legends mentioned the Gems being able to change," She told him. Then she cocked her head.
Beast Boy was laughing. "What in Azar's name is so funny?" She wondered, becoming annoyed.
"Of course! And that's why Slade's being able to use them without repercussion! The Gems… Robin was right! We CAN use them, just not the way he's thinking!" He continued.
"Okay, what in the name of all that is holy are you talking about," Raven asked, now wholeheartedly confused and annoyed.
"Okay, think about this. Robin grabbed the Gem of Violence, right? And that made his skills increase, at the cost of his sense of righteousness. Alright, now think about what just happened. I grabbed the Gem of Hatred, and it transformed into an entirely different Gem, and gave me an increase in power WITHOUT screwing with me," He said with a grin. Seeing Raven's cocked eyebrow, he face palmed.
"Okay, I'll make it simple. Describe Robin," He told her.
"Uh, okay. Occasionally annoying, really stand-up, well, most of the time, short, obsessive-" Beast Boy sighed.
"Alright, fine. I'll spell it out for you. He may be a good guy, but he has a tendency to get violent easily in certain conditions. Alright, the Gem took that little-bitty part of that in him and magnified it, overtook him with it," He explained patiently. He slapped his forehead.
"Jesus, are you dense? When I grabbed the Gem of Hatred, it didn't FIND anything in there! I'm the happy-go-lucky guy! But my personality, my traits, they overwhelmed the Gem, Raven," He told her. She gasped.
"You mean…?" She whispered.
"I turned it, Raven. That's why Slade's hoarding these things. I'll bet you anything that if Starfire grabbed onto the Gem of Violence, it'd change. Robin'd probably die if he grabbed the Narcissism one," He added with a grin. Raven rolled her eyes.
