Your reviews are too kind, really. As some of you may not know, I already have about 3/4 of this story complete and waiting on my computer. This is chapter 6, but I have 13 completed. I could submit them all at once, but then I would have little or no time to give proper creative consideration to the remaining chaps. ( I think I will have 20 in all, maybe as many as 22) I would ask that you try to remian patient with me, for I write as often as I have free time, which is more-so on weekends. To compensate, I will attempt to post the chapters I have completed as often as possible. Please read and review, it seriously helps my day when I read feedback. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Oh, yea, me no own Teen Titans.
Chap. 6: Rescue
'This guy may weigh only four-hundred and fifty, but dragging him is a PAIN.' BeastBoy thought to himself.
A large, green Polar Bear could be seen walking along the ridge of a six-hundred foot tall glacier, dragging a large piece of sheet metal behind it. The wind flew off of the sea and into the frozen cliffs, creating a freezing updraft that pierced even the thickest part of BeastBoy's shaggy lime colored fur. He could just make out the ocean below, even though his vision wasn't too keen, and the snow and ice didn't help much either.
'And Cyborg calls ME dead weight.' BeastBoy thought as he dragged his friend across the ice.
Cyborg lay across the large piece of metal that hand once been a section of the T-Ships right wing. His organic appendages, as well as the right side of his head, had been automatically covered by hidden, weather resistant shields that protected his susceptible organic flesh in hostile conditions. The downside was that Cyborg had automatically slipped into hibernation mode, and couldn't move on his own.
Hence BeastBoy's makeshift rickshaw service. 'This guy needs to lay off the waffles.' He thought.
BeastBoy's sensitive nose suddenly picked up the acrid smell of burning rubber and plastic, and the heady scent of jet fuel. 'Where is THAT coming from?'
BeastBoy's clawed feet followed his nose, along the ridge, until the smell became stronger and more constant. The wind and falling snow obscured his already weak vision, but a new sight in the world of white became apparent before him.
Imbedded in the side of the cliff face, about ten feet below the ledge, and several hundred feet above the deadly fall to the sea, was part of the T-Ship.
Ravens part.
"Raven!" BeastBoy called out, dropping the cable he was dragging and morphing back.
The brisk jog across the ice and the precarious edge heightened his senses somewhat, and he was able to gauge his surroundings. The sky was still the deep gray it had been an hour ago, and his sensitive nose could not detect any animals in the immediate vicinity.
But the position of the ship, coupled with the instability of the ice falling around it, gave BeastBoy a whole other reason to worry.
"I'm commin', Rae! Just hold on to…something!" BeastBoy yelled down the side of the precipice.
BeastBoy morphed a snowy owl, and flew down to the damaged craft, fighting the wind. He landed on a snow covered piece of shredded metal, his talons digging into the steel for balance.
His powerful eyes showed him everything. 'She's hurt…she's bleeding…' BeastBoy's mind raced.
'I have to get her out of there.' BB thought, as he morphed a gorilla and tried to pull open her cracked canopy frame. "Hang on, Rae! I'm right here!"
CRRRREEEEAK!
BeastBoy faced the cliff, and stared at the embedded part of the craft. 'Oooooh no…"
The twisted metal was starting to tug free of the cliff face!
BeastBoy redoubled his efforts, grunting as he pulled at the frame.
'Come on come on come on…open up, darn you…!'
CRASH! The glass gave way, and the wind ruffled the young Goths blue hair.
"Yes!" BB yelled, jumping up and down with glee.
CRUNCH!
Instinctively, BeastBoy jumped off of the craft, and flew eagle-style back to the cliff ledge. He watched the craft below him, Raven sitting in the now open cockpit.
'It's falling…it's FALLING!' BeastBoy thought frantically!
BeastBoy watched everything unfold below him, helpless to stop it.
The crumbling ice…
The sliding of the ship…
Realizing his pterodactyl morph could never carry that much weight…
Raven's beautiful face, sliding away…
The wind pushing the ship into the open, freezing air…
And from out of nowhere…
ARE YOU JUST GOING TO WATCH…?
'What?' BeastBoy thought, shocked.
SHE NEEDS YOU, GARFIELD…
'She needs my help…' BeastBoy thought.
SHE NEEDS YOU…AND YOU NEED HER…
'Yes.' BeastBoy said, already beginning his new morph.
CATCH HER GARFIELD…CATCH YOUR RAVEN…
BeastBoy acted.
Just as the ship had left its place in the side of the cliff, and flew out into the open air…
CHOMP!
The front of the craft was smashed in on itself, in the grip of powerful jaws. It stopped, in mid air, held tight by massive hooked teeth and the machine-like muscles of a massive neck, eight feet around.
Using his fifteen foot tail for balance, BeastBoy the Tyrannosaurus lifted Raven, and her ship, back over the edge of the cliff, and back onto the glacier. His poor hearing could barely make out the sound of all the falling ice as it cascaded down the side of the cliff, and into the killing surf below.
'Yuck! Tastes like motor oil!' BeastBoy thought as he gently set the ruined ship upon the ice.
Once it was down, BeastBoy shifted form into a snow leopard, and leapt upon the disfigured hunk of metal. He swiped through the restraints of Ravens command seat with hi razor-like claws, and picked her up out of the ship.
Being careful not to touch her in a way that would certainly get him maimed later, BeastBoy carried Raven away from the ragged ship, and laid her gently upon the wind-worn ice.
'Great. One problem dealt with.' BeastBoy thought, looking at his friends. 'Now what the heck do I do?'
Cyborg was quickly becoming covered by snow. His body was well protected against the elements, and would be until he reactivated himself.
Raven, on the other hand…
'I've got to get them out of the wind. But where do I go? Come on, BeastBoy, think!' He yelled in his head.
He cradled Ravens head in his hands, brushing the snow away from the large laceration across her forehead and temple. Her breath came out in shallow puffs of steam, and her skin seemed whiter than he remembered.
'I've gotta get away from this cliff. OK, OK, THINK BB. How do Eskimos keep warm out here?' He puzzled. And it came to him.
'Igloo's! That's right…great…an igloo…that's what I need!'
But his face fell at his own conclusion. 'Fantastic…like I know how to make an igloo.'
Ravens head tilted in the wind, and BeastBoy's already throbbing head was getting worse. He looked towards the sky. "I could use a hint, here!" he yelled over the wind.
And he got it. Off to his left, perhaps fifty miles away, and barely visible through the snow, BeastBoy could just make out a shape.
"Mountains? Are those…mountains?" BB asked no-one.
They were mountains; mountains of ice in the far distance. And they were quickly becoming hidden by the snow once more.
"That's good enough for me!" BeastBoy hollered, and bent down over Raven once more. "But how do I carry you without you freezing?"
Then it came to him. It would be tricky, and somewhat unorthodox, but it had to work.
He once more assumed the form of the Tyrant King of Lizards. His massive feet pounded the ice as he walked over to Cyborgs stiff form.
Bending his massive frame over, BB used his two arms to hook under Cyborgs snow-covered body, and stood up. Although small in comparison to his body, each arm could curl over five-hundred pounds, and so carrying the cybernetic organism was all the easier to do.
Raven was a more unstable and dangerous task. But it would have to do if Raven was to survive the trip across the arctic wasteland.
Opening his gigantic four-foot-long mouth, BeastBoy scooped up the limp body of Raven into his jaws. He could taste her blood, but he kept his animal instincts under control as he maneuvered her body around in his mouth with his muscular tongue.
He moved her arms and legs around, and her head, until he felt her take the fetal position in his mouth. Once he was sure her head and everything else were clear of his banana sized teeth, he carefully, VERY carefully, closed his mouth.
'She'll be out of the cold this way. She should be fine like this.' BeastBoy reasoned, keeping his jaws somewhat ajar so that Raven didn't suffocate. 'I hope.'
With that, BeastBoy faced away from the cliffs, in the direction the wind was blowing to, and began to run. The curved talons on his toes, larger than meat hooks, dug into the surface of the ice, giving him excellent traction as he propelled his sixteen thousand pound body across the blisteringly cold land.
'You'll be OK Raven. Understand me?' BB told her in his head. 'You survived the wave, the ambush, and the crash. No WAY a little cold is going to stop you.'
The only sounds he heard were the thunder of his own foot-falls, and the sound of his claws scraping against Cyborgs titanium skin, and his own thudding heartbeat. He kept hoping that Raven would wake up soon, but not so soon as to have her awaken in the jaws of a green behemoth with really big teeth; it might give her a heart-attack.
'I'm gonna find us a place to warm up…and you're gonna be just fine…be ragging on my jokes in no time.' He thought as he ran.
'Raven? Guess what? You're not nuts! I heard the voice too! It told me to do the same thing it told you…clear as a bell!' BeastBoy said, reassuring himself more than her. He had to stay concious and as alert as possible. If he didn't, his reptilian body would be defeated by the sub-zero temperatures. There's a reason why dinosaurs never made it to the ice age; they weren't built to withstand it. So he just kept talking to stave off the cold.
'It told me to help you…to catch you…and I did! Snap, right out of the air!' He thought, remembering the message.
'And when it talked to you, you saved me! And I was OK afterwards! So you know what that means, right?'
Nothing.
'It means you have to be alright too! I did what it told me…so you have to be alright…it said you would be alright…' BeastBoy thought frantically.
Nothing but the dead wind.
'…I say you have to be alright…'
If it's possible for a Tyrannosaurus Rex to cry, its huge tears were lost to the fierce wind, as were BeastBoy's massive footprints, as he ran for all he was worth towards the phantom mountains in the distance.
BeastBoy knew no ache. No fatigue. No limits. His blood began to feel like sludge in his veins, and his nose was soon crusted in prickling frost.
He kept running. One of the largest land predators to ever walk to Earth was on a mission, and a little ice wouldn't stop it now.
He had to run. Run not only for his life, but for the life of his friends.
If he stopped running, they would die.
So he never stopped.