I want to thank all of my readers and reviewers so much! You guys really are amazing, and the response to the last chapter was particularly heart-warming. It's amazing how good praise is at shattering writer's block. So, ahead of schedule, I want to present the sixth apocalyptic chapter of Darkness Calls.
"Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you."
– Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Darkness Calls: Chapter 6
Robin was on Slade before Raven could blink. The Kid Flash would have been hard pressed to match the speed of Robin's strike. His fist connected brutally with Slade's stomach, the force of the blow lifting the masked villain into a standing position, before Robin grabbed Slade's shoulders and pinned him against the wall. Flakes of concrete chipped off the wall and fell to stew in the stagnant water.
"What do you know!" Robin roared.
"More than you can imagine," Slade said around an imperceptible gasp for breath. The Boy Wonder growled dangerously.
Raven watched the exchange with wide eyes. Robin had lost control. The young acrobat was regaining it now, but even without the aid of her powers Raven knew that Robin had left them – just for a moment, just barely – but the person who slammed Slade against the wall was capable of terrible, terrible things. He was dangerous.
"Put him down," she commanded. The empath's voice was crisp and sharp and rung in the silence like clashing blades. "Now," Raven added when her leader hesitated. Slade's feet found purchase on the floor, and the man sunk back to his seated position.
"I can lead you to Starfire… but there's a price. If I help you find your friend, you need to include me in your plan to undo this careless accident. It's really in your best interest," Slade said. Raven felt herself bristle.
Cyborg crossed his arms. "You'll lead us to Starfire. Just like that?" Slade said nothing.
"What if we don't like what we find?" Raven asked. She regarded Slade for a moment. "You're a gifted murderer. You'll lead us to Starfire – alive?"
The man actually laughed, and the sound was more unwelcome in that rundown building than any Raven ever heard. "Of course."
Beast Boy scowled and ran his fingers through his hair until the green locks resembled a hastily constructed rat's nest. The former changeling expelled a frustrated breath. "Why do you want to help us fix this? Why's that your price, Slade? We'd try to fix this anyway… without your help."
Slade spared Beast Boy a disdainful glance. "You're thinking too much. It doesn't suite you, Beast Boy." The youngest Titan glared at Slade until Raven was positive the intensity of the gaze would strip the villain's flesh from his bones. Robin nodded once, a small little jerk of his spiky-haired head to indicate that the same thought had crossed his mind.
"Let's go, Slade. Where's Starfire?" he said. Slade made no attempt to rise from the floor. The man stretched his injured leg out for inspection. Robin froze when he finally saw the injury.
"We can't go anywhere tonight. Don't worry. Starfire will probably still be around in the morning," Slade said. Robin turned to Raven, but the empath cut him off before he could speak.
"I'm not healing him. It's dangerous for me to use my powers. Starfire can look after herself for a few extra hours," she droned. Robin scowled at her. There was obviously a war going on inside the boy's head, and Raven could tell from the tightening around his mouth that he was having trouble. The demoness watched as shock and anger flashed over Robin's features, quickly concealed by a stony visage. There was no doubt in the empath's mind about the cause.
Seth was in Robin's head.
"Cyborg," Raven said. "Keep an eye on our guest. Make sure he's comfortable and undisturbed." The hidden order was to isolate Slade and keep him under careful surveillance. Cyborg moved to obey. "Beast Boy. Try and get back to sleep. Robin," Raven turned to her leader. He stared straight at her, unmoving. "I need your help with the service entrance at the south wall."
Robin followed behind Raven as they approached the south wall of the plant. The doorway was blocked by large chunks of concrete, some as large as Raven. Trying to excavate the entrance would cause it to cave-in. Nobody and nothing would be coming in or leaving through the service entrance any time soon.
"I'm fine, Raven," Robin said before she could speak. "Slade just gets under my skin, that's all. I know you want him around for what he knows. It won't happen again."
Raven didn't respond immediately. Robin would never admit that Seth was in his head, and he would never dream of discussing why Slade affected him so strongly with her. The empath sighed. She missed Starfire: the cheery Tamaranian was better at placating Robin than she would ever be. Starfire had a natural gift to heal with her actions and words. The sorceress' fingers began to tingle at the memory of tracing the alien girl's scars. It felt like a lifetime to Raven since she last dressed Starfire's wounds.
The empath shot a glance at Robin. The Boy Wonder was staring pensively at the rubble blocking the door. He looked so small. The boy who travelled into the depths of Hell to find her and the boy standing next to her couldn't be the same person. He looked lost. The sight left Raven feeling winded. Robin was a hero, all the Titans were. It was sometimes hard to remember that they were also mortal.
Raven shivered.
"Don't attack Slade anymore. We need him. For the moment, we need him," she said, drawing her cloak around her. "We'll find Starfire. She's probably scared, but she's strong."
Robin growled deep in his throat. The Boy Wonder rounded on Raven and snapped: "What makes you think we need Slade? You know we can't trust him!" Raven matched her leader's fiery anger with a calculated coolness. The empath's violet eyes shone brightly in the red light that snaked into the building, a painful reminder of the chaos that had engulfed the world.
"We need Slade because he knows these Entities! He knows how they work and understands why. Slade. Slade Wilson. Without his research, we wouldn't even know what we were up against!"
The anger drained from Robin like water escaping through clasped fingers. Shock settled in its place. Raven didn't give the acrobat enough time to fixate on the true identity of his nemesis.
"We can't trust him to tell us the truth, but we can trust his survival instincts. He'll want to undo all this just as badly as we do. This world Seth created can only end in death. I don't trust Slade, and I'm sure Slade doesn't trust us… but we can use each other. As long as Slade thinks he can benefit from working with us–"
Robin shook his head sharply, the anger creeping back into his voice. "That's a dangerous gamble, Raven. You don't know Slade like I do. If you give him the chance, he'll use you and then dispose of you."
"He can lead us to Starfire," Raven said, reluctantly pulling the one lever she knew would gain Robin's cooperation. "He wasn't lying about that. We might not like what we find, but we'll find her."
Raven watched as Robin drew into himself, locking his face into an immovable mask as he mulled over all the options available to him. The calculations were complete in a few seconds. Robin sighed. The sound escaped the Boy Wonder's lips and died prematurely in the darkness.
"Don't make the same mistakes I've made, Raven. Don't assume you understand Slade and what motivates him. It's a mistake with more consequences than you can imagine." Without another word, Robin turned from the service entrance and marched into the belly of the plant. Raven watched the boy go. Her leotard suddenly felt too small for her body. She pulled at the neck to alleviate the feeling only to discover that it was her skin, not her uniform, that was too tight. She turned back to the demolished door with a shudder.
Raven knew it was beyond her to understand Slade. She still felt daunted by the logic the man had displayed in his writings. Slade was too complicated to fully understand, but he was still human. Raven didn't need to understand all the assassin's facets – just a few. The sorceress shook her head to quiet her thoughts. Raven heard footsteps approaching and smiled softly. Beast Boy was behind her. She acknowledged him without turning away from the demolished doorway.
"Beast Boy."
"I don't like him being here," the former changeling said. His words held a rare finality that shocked Raven. Beast Boy very rarely sounded so forceful. So powerful. "Slade never does anything without a reason, Raven. Why would he offer to lead us to Starfire? What can he gain from that?"
Raven swallowed past a nervous lump in her throat. "Slade wants to return the world to how it was. He obviously needs all of us to help him do that."
"It can't be that simple: with Slade, it never is."
The sorceress suddenly felt very tired. A headache began throbbing in her temples. Slade couldn't already be planning something, not so soon after everything was turned inside out. Even Slade wasn't that smart. Listening to Beast Boy, Raven wasn't so sure anymore. The green elf sounded so confident, so sure. It was uncharacteristic of the former changeling, and Raven couldn't help but notice and be caught by the strangeness of the moment.
"What do you think he's up to?" Raven asked. The sneer she meant to add to the question refused to surface. Beast Boy shook his head sorrowfully.
"I don't know, but he's up to something. I'm sure of it. Slade manipulates people. It's what he does. The circumstances won't change that. He'll only see opportunity here…" the green boy trailed off and furrowed his brow in thought. Raven couldn't help but smile at her friend. His lower canine jutted up from between his lips and turned his skin a light green where it pressed into his flesh.
"We'll be careful then," she said. "But we can use him just as easily as he can use us. If he can lead us to Starfire, it's worth the risk."
"Do you think she's okay?"
Raven felt fear well up inside her, and she smothered the feeling, retreating to a place of inner calm where nothing of the outside world could follow. "I don't know," she said at length. "No matter what, we need to find her – for all our sakes."
ooooo
Red light churned in the sky, bathing everything in the crimson light of fresh blood. The air was heavy and unmoving, permeated by a perpetual chill that stung at Raven's nose and ears and gnawed at her fingers and toes. The wailing that had followed chaos into the world rang shrilly in the empty city.
Slade was leading the Teen Titans through the corpse of Jump City unerringly. The masked assassin hadn't spoken for hours, and no one was willing to break the silence. Beast Boy walked slightly ahead of Raven, his eyes sharp. The former changeling kept scenting the air. Whether by Slade's genius navigation or a blessed display of good luck, they hadn't run into any of the packs. Cyborg stayed behind Slade, his robotic eye trained on their guide, watching for the physical minutiae that would warn of treachery or foul play. Robin was on tether hooks: the Boy Wonder was only half a step behind Slade, breathing down the man's neck, his masked eyes turned to the horizon in search of Starfire.
Beast Boy stopped abruptly, and Raven ran into his back. She took a step backward to steady herself. The glare she'd meant to direct at the boy died when she took in the elf's posture. Neck stiff. Fists clenched. Back straight. Raven put a slender hand on her friend's shoulder.
"What is it, Beast Boy?"
Slade glanced back at the sound of Raven's voice. "Beast Boy's smelt an old friend. I'd forget about it if I were you," Slade continued, speaking to Beast Boy but turning away. "That creature beat you when you had your powers. Without them, you won't stand a chance."
Raven felt Beast Boy stiffen, and her grip on his shoulder intensified. The former changeling had smelt the shade that robbed him of his abilities. The boy jerked away from Raven violently. Beast Boy glared to the east, and Raven felt knots forming in her stomach. That shade was a powerful creature; Beast Boy couldn't possibly beat it, but the thoughts running through the green boy's head were written on his face. He'd do anything to get his powers back, even if it meant dying in pursuit of them.
"Please, Beast Boy," Raven whispered low enough for only his keen ears to hear. "Not now. We'll help… but later. Right now we need to find Starfire." The empath tried to catch her friend's eye, but Beast Boy deliberately avoided her gaze.
"I know what it's like to lose your powers," Raven continued. "After I became Trigon's portal… I didn't know what to do. I know how you feel. Please, be patient. We'll all help you." Acting on its own volition, Raven's hand dropped to the pocket at her hip. The empath withdrew Beast Boy's lucky penny and pressed the pristine metal into the boy's palm.
"Find a penny, pick it up," Raven whispered as she closed Beast Boy's fingers around the coin. "I promise, I'll do everything I can to help. All we need is patience and a little bit of luck."
Beast Boy opened his hand and frowned at the profile of Abraham Lincoln. "Roosevelt? I never thought you were superstitious, Rae." Raven blinked. He got the president's name wrong. That wasn't too surprising; Beast Boy's grasp of American history was mostly gleaned off the backs of cereal boxes. The truly troubling detail was that Beast Boy was acting like he'd never seen the penny before. The demoness frowned.
Beast Boy had to remember this penny.
This was a special penny.
It was their penny.
And he'd forgotten. Seth had pried that memory away from Beast Boy as the elf fought for sanity. Raven felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes, and she blinked them away.
"Hey, I'm sorry!" Beast Boy said, waving his hands frantically to placate her. "I didn't know it was a sensitive subject or anything."
Raven shook her head. "It isn't… and I'm not superstitious. That's the only lucky penny I've ever believed in." There was a pregnant pause as she collected herself. "That's a special penny, that's all."
"So why are you giving it to me?" Beast Boy asked, holding the coin out to her.
"Because when I ran out of hope and when I ran out of luck you gave me a little extra. I wanted to say thanks… and return the favor."
Beast Boy frowned down at his hand. Understanding sparked in the depths of his jade eyes, and the boy clenched his fist around the coin. "I forgot something important to you. I'm sorry, Rae." The elf's ears drooped.
Raven shook her head and took a calming breath. Seth would pay. He'd killed and ruined so many people with this sadistic trap – even Beast Boy. They didn't have many special bonds, they didn't have many touching moments, and Seth had stolen one of the most precious of all.
"It wasn't your fault," Raven whispered.
"Raven tries to comfort you with blatant lies, Beast Boy. You forgot. You forgot something important. And if you'd been smarter, if you'd been stronger, it wouldn't have happened. The truth, my boy, is that you failed." Slade's icy voice cut through the silence lingering between the two heroes. The man's words had an immediate impact on Beast Boy: he seized up, his eyes lost focus, fury flared in his heart.
Cyborg and Robin acted instantly. Both boys moved to strike Slade, but both were too slow. Their attacks struck empty air. The villain was cocooned in ebony magic and pinned to a crumbling wall long before Robin or Cyborg started to act.
"SHUT UP!" Raven roared. She felt the ground rattling under her feet as her powers flowed away from her body. Black light surrounded stone and crept down into the earth. Anger pulsed in Raven's veins. "What do you want, Slade? Is this your plan? We don't need any of your poison here!"
The wall cracked as Slade was pushed further into the rundown brick. Tiny lines stretched out from the center of the assassin's body like grasping fingers. The man's breath came in short and labored gasps. The entire street was swathed in frigid black energy. Raven could feel the residual chaos battering against her mental defenses, but she pushed the nagging sensation away, using the pure power of her anger to her advantage.
"Starfire," Slade gasped.
"We don't need you to find her," Raven snarled. Slade had caused so much pain. He deserved to die. He was dangerous and untrustworthy. No matter what he knew, he was too unpredictable to control.
Cyborg grabbed Raven's shoulders from behind and spun the empath around. The eldest Titan glared into his friend's eyes. "What are you doing, Raven?! We don't kill people. Let him go!" Raven ignored Cyborg and pushed harder against Slade. The wall began to groan under the strain.
Robin locked eyes with Raven. "This isn't you, Raven. Remember when you asked Cyborg and me about hearing voices? I've been hearing a voice in my head that says horrible things. Don't listen to him, Raven. Don't let Seth win. Let Slade go. You said it yourself… we need him."
Raven's eyes narrowed. The Boy Wonder matched her glare for glare. When he attacked Slade it was fine, but if she attacked the sociopathic killer it had to be because of some outside influence.
"He said he'd lead us to Starfire. We've been out here for hours, Robin. Where is she? This is a wild goose-chase, and in the meantime, the survivors you and Cyborg found have been left alone in the plant. You were right. Slade can't be predicated, he can't be controlled, he can't be understood – but he is human… and he can be killed!" Raven screamed, pushing harder against Slade, using every bit of power she could muster to squeeze the man to death.
"Be quiet!" Beast Boy barked. "I heard something. We've been in one place too long, and we've been making too much noise. Something's coming." Raven strained her ears and heard it. There were people running down the rubble-strewn streets. She released Slade with a snarl. The assassin stretched once he was released, popping his spine, sternum, and shoulders in turn, apparently unconcerned with his near-death experience.
The pack rounded a corner and looked upon the Titans and their guide. It was a much smaller group than most of them, but three members of the pack stood out. The hulking creature from the prison flexed its multiple arms when it saw the Titans. A black shade hovered off to the side, its face unreadable and its eyes full of sinister intent. And in the middle of it all, coated in blood and wearing the tattered remains of a purple uniform, was Starfire. Her hair was matted with blood and her emerald eyes burned with eerie radiation.
Robin chocked back a sob. "God, no. Starfire! Starfire!" His calls fell on deaf ears, and the Tamaranian princess' hands sprung to life with the deadly energy of her starbolts.
The group scattered as Starfire let her attack fly. Raven dove for the ground as a bolt of radiation flew toward her. The green energy whizzed over her head, passing close enough for Raven to feel the heat pouring off it. Robin shot a grappling hook into the nearest building and sailed out of range of the attacks. Cyborg planted his feet firmly in the rubble and caught a bolt as it sailed at him. The attack had more power than the cybernetic teenager expected, and the mechanical hero was lifted off his feet and sent hurdling down the street. Beast Boy cried out and ran.
When Raven looked up, Slade was already immersed in combat. The masked villain blocked a sloppy lunge from a raven-haired youth and spun the boy around. Slade's hands clasped over the boy's ears, and, with a quick jerk and a sound like a shot, the boy went limp. Slade picked up the boy and tossed his corpse at the many-armed monstrosity charging him. It still bore the four arms Raven had battled with during the prison break days before, but it also nursed two sickly arms that it had sprouted during its brief possession.
The six armed creature caught the corpse with a swift punch, and the boy's battered body flew at Robin. The Boy Wonder jumped over the incoming projectile and used the body as a springboard. Once in the air, Robin drew two birderangs from his utility belt. The metal weapons flew true and bit into the six armed creature's flesh.
Raven regained her senses and moved to help her teammates. The sorceress called upon her powers, heedless of the chaos in the air, and flung rubble at the pack. Many of the weaker combatants, civilians robbed of their senses and their souls by Seth, were struck once by flying shards of concrete and did not rise again. Raven tried not to think about whether or not she'd hit hard enough to kill them.
Beast Boy rushed headlong at the shade that had possessed him. The former changeling threw a punch at the creature which it easily evaded. The green boy followed up by spinning on his heel and throwing his leg out. It was a sloppy kick, and Raven recognized the movement. It was the same one Beast Boy always used to gain momentum before shifting into an Ankylosaurus and attacking with the dinosaur's clubbed tail. The transformation never came, and the shade caught Beast Boy's leg in a black tendril.
Raven concentrated and created a wall of magical energy between the shade and Beast Boy. The creature lunged forward, possibly to possess Beast Boy again, and crashed into the barrier. Beast Boy rounded on Raven, his expression livid.
"Why did you–"
The youngest member of the Teen Titans was interrupted when a blast of emerald radiation slammed into his torso. Beast Boy flew backward. Acting on instinct, Raven caught the boy with her powers and set him down.
Motion at the corner of Raven's eye drew her attention, and the empath turned to see Robin doing one hand spring after another, an endless chain of back-flips. Starfire was shooting starbolts at the Boy Wonder relentlessly, and the Tamaranian's aim was slowly improving. Cyborg was rushing up behind Robin. Seeing this, Raven nodded to herself.
A portal opened underneath Robin during his next handspring, and the masked acrobat sank into the ground. Raven opened a second portal and deposited her leader next to her. No sooner was Robin out of harm's way than a screeching jet of sonic energy slammed into Starfire. The alien girl flew backward like a ragdoll. Robin blinked.
"How'd Cyborg do that?"
"Starfire's powers are fueled by her emotions," Raven answered, picking up a chunk of rubble with her powers as she did. "Flight comes from happiness. Super strength comes from confidence. She can't feel any of those things in her condition. But starbolts comes from fury." Raven loosed the concrete, and the projectile smashed into a small crowd of civilians. There cries were short-lived and their blood plentiful.
"Raven, what are you doing?" Robin gasped, seeing the carnage the demoness was unleashing. They didn't kill, that was what separated them from people like Slade. Heroes never killed.
"These people are lost, Robin. They can't be saved, and as long as they live, they're a threat," Raven responded. She didn't see the shadow pass over her leader's face.
"Stay away from Starfire," he demanded before leaping back into battle.
Slade and Beast Boy were busily dodging blows from the six armed creature. The two made a sloppy team at best: Slade would set up a weakness on the creature's lower flank when Beast Boy was prepared to strike its upper one; Beast Boy would draw the monster into overextending itself when Slade was in no position to exploit the weakness. One of the creature's gimpy arms caught Slade's wounded leg. The man was hefted into the air and his body turned into an impromptu baseball bat.
The monster swung Slade at Beast Boy, and the former changeling ducked under the armored man. One of the creature's muscled arms swung up and caught Beast Boy in a powerful upper hook that lifted him off the ground. Both Beast Boy and Slade were sent flying. Slade crashed into Cyborg from behind, allowing a ravaged man of fifty to pounce on the cybernetic teen. Beast Boy flew at Robin. The Boy Wonder easily evaded the flying elf and rained blow after blow onto Starfire. He was holding back; Raven could see him pulling his punches; she could see him kicking with steel-toed boots but using his heels to strike instead. Raven shook her head.
There was no helping Starfire.
She wanted to scream, she wanted to weep. Raven felt like she should feel so much. She felt like she should act in a certain way, but she found herself unable to get in touch with the human part of her heart. It scared her, and part of her knew why it was happening. She'd been fighting Seth for too long, she'd been using her powers too much, and now the God of Chaos was inside her, influencing her thoughts so subtly that she couldn't identify which thoughts were hers and which weren't anymore.
Beast Boy picked himself off the street and rushed at the shade. The creature flew away, moving slowly, taunting Beast Boy by staying just out of reach. Raven called upon her powers and a claw of ebony magic formed around her hand. The taloned fist flew forth and sunk into the shade. Raven cried out at the pain of touching the thing. She sunk to the ground. The empath didn't feel the stone bang against her knees.
She felt like some invisible force had reached into her and taken hold of her very essence. Then top and bottom were pulled in opposite directions. Raven could feel the fabric of who and what she was tearing, ripping under the strain of Chaos' influence.
"That wasn't very smart, Raven," Seth's voice cooed in her ear. The sorceress ignored the barb and tried to center herself. Slowly her body came back to her. Blood was flowing from her knees, and her breath was coming in slow, shallow breaths, not at all as rapid as it should have been given the exertion of the battle ragging around her.
"How do we undo this?" she hissed. Raven felt Seth chuckle within her.
"There is no undoing this. It only gets worse."
"LIAR!" Raven yelled. She wrenched away from the shade, and her connection to Seth was broken. She could still feel the malignant Entity inside her, but at least he was silent. Beast Boy jumped on the shade once Raven had released it, and the creature melted into the boy's flesh. Beast Boy collapsed on the ground and started convulsing. Raven gasped.
In a world without order, all things exist in the places they're least likely to be found. Beast Boy was allowing himself to be possessed because he thought it would restore his powers.
Cyborg and Slade were hammering away at the six armed creature. When the monster swung all its arms simultaneously Cyborg ducked and caught the lower two. Slade leapt up on Cyborg's back and grabbed the upper two arms. The nimble assassin used the monster's own arms as a pivot and swung down behind it. Slade wrapped his legs around the creature's neck and allowed gravity to do the rest. Cyborg held the creature's arms tightly, and as Slade fell the monster's spine was forced to endure more and more pressure. With a sickening crack, the abomination's back broke.
A cry from Robin drew Raven's attention. The Boy Wonder was nursing a colorful bruise on the left side of his face. Starfire's eyes burned with emerald radiation, and twin beams of light shot from them. Robin was caught full in the chest and slid back along the street. The pack had diminished. Starfire was all that remained.
"Come on, Star," Cyborg pleaded, his sonic cannon unfolding from his arm. "Don't make us do this. We don't want to do this." Raven closed her eyes. All the use of her powers was finally taking its toll. She could feel Seth inside her now, stabbing and rending, tearing her apart from the inside, planting doubts and fears and dark thoughts in unexpected places in her psyche for her to find unexpectedly.
"The Starfire you knew no longer exists," Slade hissed, drawing an evil looking device from his belt. It resembled a hand-held drill. The metal glinted in the crimson light.
"That's what Trigon said about Raven," Cyborg countered. "There are remnants of Starfire in there somewhere, I know there are!"
"There's nothing there," Raven intoned. The casual monotone pierced into Cyborg. The metallic Titan turned desperate eyes to Raven.
"Rae… tell me that's not true."
Raven allowed a lone tear to slip down the contours of her pale face. The water crept along her cheek. Starfire deserved better than this. The Tamaranian was so strong. There was no way Seth could destroy all that goodness, but Raven knew it was true. Starfire was gone. One hundred percent of the perky alien had been shredded.
"I wish I could," Raven whispered. The sorceress wrapped her powers around her old friend, fighting against the onslaught of chaos that followed. Cyborg turned away as Slade approached his friend, the drill held ready. As Slade reached for Starfire, thick gray smoke erupted around her. Birderangs sailed through the air and crashed into Slade's obscured form. From the trajectory, Raven knew at least one of the projectiles had been aimed at Slade's injured leg.
Raven turned toward Robin. The masked acrobat was standing only inches from her, and his fist slammed into her face before she could react. Her grip on Starfire faltered, and Raven gasped as Robin slammed a steel-toed boot into her stomach. Robin's onslaught was stopped when a rocket exploded behind him, breaking his concentration. Cyborg was standing twenty meters away, another rocket aimed and ready.
"That's enough," the African-American hero sighed. "She got away, Robin." Raven glanced toward the smoke and saw Slade lying on the ground, both hands clasped over a monstrous gash in his leg. Starfire was nowhere to be seen. For a few tense seconds, the only sounds were the persistent wailing of chaos and Beast Boy's moans as he convulsed on the ground.
"I can't believe you were ready to give up on her," Robin spat. "After everything Starfire's done for all of us, you were willing to let Slade kill her!" The acrobat glared at Raven.
The empath shook her head. "You don't get it. She's gone. The Starfire we knew is dead forever. Her soul was shredded, Robin. There's nothing there but pure animal instinct and a torturous existence. Death would be merciful compared to it."
Robin snarled and slammed his fist into a nearby chunk of rubble. "I'm not giving up on her! Not like this! Trigon said you'd been destroyed, but he was wrong, Raven. He was wrong. I don't care how powerful these Entities are. Seth can't have destroyed Starfire completely."
"You cling to a fool's hope," Slade scoffed. Robin rounded on the assassin. He slowly got to his feet, blood still flowing freely from his leg despite the hasty dressing he'd made for the wound. The dressing was a rich purple, a tattered piece of cloth torn from Starfire's uniform.
"I helped you find Starfire. Now you need to hold up your end of the bargain." The man took a few steps away from where he'd fallen. "This world isn't going to fix itself."
Robin shook his head emphatically. "We help Starfire and Beast Boy first. Cyborg," Robin turned to his friend. "Can you carry Beast Boy on the way back?"
"Rob, man, he's possessed. If I touch him, the thing might jump over to me," Cyborg said with a worried frown.
"Don't worry about that," Raven sighed. Beast Boy was so stupid, so stubborn, but he was also strong. "Beast Boy won't let it leave until he's got his power back or until he's dead. That shade isn't going anywhere."
The group started heading back to the treatment plant. A tense and angry silence hung between the members of the Teen Titans and their unlikely guide, but the team of vigilantes was finally, after years of facing the impossible side by side, officially down to a team of four.
ooooo
Raven watched Beast Boy twitch on the floor. It was the only thing the distraught empath could think of doing. She watched the green boy as he battled with the creature responsible for stealing his powers. The convulsions that wracked Beast Boy's body in the first hours of his possession had long ago subsided. A slick sheen of perspiration coated the elf's skin. Other than the occasional twitch or half-articulated moan, Beast Boy didn't move.
Robin's words kept Raven from sleeping. The Boy Wonder's raw fury leapt out at her whenever her eyelids closed. The original plan had been for Robin, Cyborg, and Raven to take turns watching over Beast Boy. Raven had assumed sole responsibility of the vigil. Sitting in the dark, surrounded by stagnant water and dripping pipes, Raven fought the urge to scream.
Everything Robin said was right. It was unforgivable how easily she'd given up of Starfire – especially considering all they'd been through. Raven owed the Tamaranian so much. Instead she volunteered to hold her immobile while Slade executed her. Raven closed her eyes and groaned as Robin's livid face swam into focus. The empath pressed her palms over her eyelids until she saw stars, but still Robin's face glared at her accusingly.
Beast Boy jerked violently on the ground, and Raven's eyes snapped open. The green boy was curled on his side, clawing at his side with gloved fingers. Raven crawled over to Beast Boy and gently took his hands away.
Raven rubbed her thumbs over the back of Beast Boy's hands, feeling each capable finger through its glove. Slowly, Raven pulled one of the gloves off. Beast Boy's hand was green and covered in soft, peach-like fuzz just like the rest of his body. The sorceress blinked when she saw her friend's nails. Instead of fingernails, each of Beast Boy's fingers was tipped by a black claw. She touched one of the razor sharp nails and traced the lethal weapon.
Raven hissed as the nail bit into her flesh. She tried to pull away, but the nail had shifted and grown. Beast Boy's entire hand had transformed before her eyes, and a three inch claw was now embedded in her pale palm. Beast Boy growled. The sound was deep and rumbling, a warning issued from the heaviest predatory cat on the planet. Raven was afraid to move lest she rouse the tiger beside her.
"Beast Boy?" she whispered. "Are you okay?" The cat didn't respond. Raven tried to pull her hand free. She gasped when the claw pulled against her muscles.
"That is a surprise," Slade's velvety voice chuckled from the shadows. "I was counting on Beast Boy being stupid enough to let himself be possessed. I never would have imagined that he'd get his powers back."
"I wouldn't recommend moving too much, Raven," the assassin continued. "Our furry friend might not be himself."
Raven pushed down her anger and smothered her fear. With a quick jerk, the demoness wretched her palm free. Blood gushed from the open wound before Raven's healing energy started to patch up the torn muscles and flesh. Beast Boy roared in his sleep, but the massive cat stayed asleep.
Beast Boy had his powers back. Raven couldn't focus on anything else. She'd been positive that the changeling was never going to regain his abilities, but here was living proof that she was wrong. She couldn't help wondering what else she'd been wrong about. Maybe Seth wasn't as perfect at destroying people as she'd given him credit for. Raven felt sick. She'd killed people because she was convinced that there was no helping them. If the people roaming the streets could still be saved, Raven had robbed them of that chance.
"Did you see that creature leave Beast Boy?" Slade asked. The masked villain's words smashed into Raven's thoughts and brought her back to the present. She shook her head. "Then he either destroyed it or it's still in him," Slade said matter-of-factly. The man looked at Raven, and she could feel him waiting, measuring her up for the first time. It had always been Robin or Terra who commanded Slade's attention, and the empath was instantly grateful for that fact. The man was too much to handle.
Raven knew what she had to do, and she knew it was what Slade was waiting for. It was probably what Slade planned. Beast Boy's earlier prediction about Slade was undeniably true; Raven knew now that the sociopath was already planning something, but she couldn't tell what. She had to make sure Beast Boy was okay, and they couldn't risk waiting until the changeling woke up. If the shade was in control instead of Beast Boy, the tiger would be let loose on the unsuspecting survivors in the basement. The sorceress rose into the air slowly, feeling chaos pulse around her. Raven crossed her legs and closed her eyes.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," Raven droned. She repeated the mantra again and again, feeling peace flow into her with each steady breath only to be snatched away by the madness flocking to her. The calm started to gain ground, and Raven redoubled her efforts. White light began to shine from behind Raven's closed eyelids, and the demoness released her soul-self.
An obsidian raven shot out of Raven's body and flew toward Beast Boy. Before the magical embodiment had fully escaped Raven's body, the young heroine felt a steely grip close around her wrist. It was too late to stop: the raven had already begun to sink into Beast Boy's sleeping body. Raven was powerless to stop as she felt another presence pass through her. Slade was using her as a conduit. His embodied soul felt clammy and oily slick as it flowed through her body, and Raven fought the urge to gag as both Slade and she disappeared into Beast Boy's body.
AN: As always, please tell me what you think. I hope you enjoyed and continue to enjoy this little ol' art work of mine. Now the bad news: I'm afraid there might be a bit of a lag between this chapter and the next. I really do apologize for that. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope so. If I'm wrong, see you in a bit. If I'm right, I hope you're still here. :-)