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Chapter 7: Reckless Abandon

Hope breathed heavily on the ground for a second, as I stood watching her. "How did it-" I started.

"Fine. It was fine." She said quickly. "Do you know what you need to do?" she asked, studying my face intently.

I gulped. "Yes."

She knew exactly what that meant, and she nodded simply. She then put a chair under the trapdoor and stood on it before she reached up and opened the door. "You should leave quickly. You need to return to your world before Rage does any further damage. I got a glimpse of the pain that Raven was feeling - I don't think she can take it much longer."

I didn't get the impression that Raven had been unable to bear the pain physically, but then again, Raven was the master of hiding what was really going on inside her. "How do I get out of here?"

She lead me outside and pointed in a seemingly random direction. "If you go straight that way, you will eventually reach an arch that will lead you to the outside world. It will be made of black stone. When you go through it you will be transported back to the portal that lead you into Nevermore."

The mirror, I thought. I held out my hand to Hope. "Thank you, Arella."

She didn't return the handshake, she only put her hood back up. "Don't thank me yet."

Hurt, but not really surprised, I faced the direction that Hope had told me to travel. I briefly debated on whether to turn into a falcon or a cheetah, and decided on a falcon. It would require less energy, and I enjoyed travel by air anyway. I took a deep breath to prepare to morph.

"Beast Boy, Raven loves you. More than you could ever know."

I was already in the air when she finished that sentence.

` I flew full speed for a good 10 minutes before I saw the black stone arch. Without hesitation I descended from the sky and morphed back into my human self before hitting the ground. I stood before the arch for a moment, not really enjoying my last moments in Nevermore, and walked through.

Before I knew it I fell to the floor of Raven's room. It was as graceful a landing as I first remembered it. I took a breath of real air and got to my feet. I felt around on my utility belt, searching for my communicator. I needed to talk to the team and tell them what needed to be done. There was no way that I could bring Rage down on my own.

The communicator was not on my belt, which was something that has never happened to me before. Needlessly I felt panic wash over me as I frantically did a visual sweep of the room for it. Much to my relief it was on the other side of Raven's room. It must have been tossed to the ground on my reentrance into the real world. I walked over to it, looking around Raven's room as I did. A room can represent one's personality, and Raven's was no exception. Lighting in the room was scarce, and the tones of gray and muted purple that lined the walls reflected Raven's gloomy personality.

I picked up my communicator, realizing how much I missed the dull, monotone voice of Raven that I had come to cherish so deeply. Seeing her in Nevermore wasn't the reunion I had been hoping for, but there was still hope that I could give Raven the chance to overcome Rage, and things could go back to how they were. I realized how much I truly wanted things to go back to how they had been.

My finger hovered above the 'call' button on the communicator, but I hesitated to press it. Calling the team was the first step towards completing the plan that Raven had given to me; the first step towards beating Rage to a bloody pulp until it was weak enough for Raven to get out. It wasn't hurting Rage that bothered me, it was the worry that when Raven regained control, she would experience the pain that we had caused to Rage. It was her body, after all. I didn't find it feasible that the pain would go away just because Rage went away too.

There was no time to think about it now, though. I pressed the button. "Robin, Cy, Star - do you copy?" I said into the communicator. My voice shook a little bit, but I didn't care. I was intensely focused now on the fact that none of them had responded for ten seconds now.

I was about to call again when the static-infused voice of Robin came through. "Beast Boy! You have to get downtown, Rage is back and she is tougher than she was before. We haven't been very successful in holding her back."

"How bad is it?" I asked. I walked out of Raven's room and headed toward the tower's exit.

Cyborg's voice came through. "Very bad. This is the worst we've ever seen. Buildings have fallen, the roads are in pieces… Jump City General was burned to the ground."

Robin spoke again. "We need you out here, B.B. She's ripping the city apart, and she's on a killing spree."

In the background I could here what sounded like explosions, gunshots, and heavy stones falling. It sounded like a war zone. "Where is Starfire?"

"She's in the air, but she is fine. She's been transporting citizens to Jump City limits, trying to get them out of danger." Robin replied. "What is it you called us about?"

I had been so interested in all of these awful updates that I had to relay to them what Raven told me. "Guys, I talked to Raven in Nevermore. I'll explain later. She says the only way that she can regain control of her body is if we hurt Rage: bad. We need to giver her everything we've got."

"That's a great idea. It sounds like something I suggested FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!" Robin yelled.

"Cool it Robin!" Cyborg yelled back. "You're coming to help, right Beast Boy?"

"Yes, I think that I have to. Where are you guys at?"

"I'm at Lincoln and 5th." Cyborg replied.

"I'll be there shortly, we will all meet there." said Robin. "I'll get ahold of Star."

By now I was outside of Titans Tower, looking upon downtown Jump City. Smoke came from various spots along the horizon, one of the buildings that had forever occupied the skyline was now gone, as if it had never even been there. The sky was an ominous red as sunset approached. "I'll see you there in 5."

I morphed into a falcon again, something I had done too many times in the past two days. As I reached downtown I came to realize just how bad the city actually looked. Windows were broken, fire hydrants were spewing water, power lines were down… By now people had cleared the streets, but I was sure that a lot of them were still in some of these buildings that weren't completely demolished. It was obvious who was winning in this fight.

It wasn't like it was very surprising. When Raven unleashed all of her power, she was easily the most powerful of all titans. Luckily she kept them restrained, but Rage had no interest in doing that. Even us four against Rage would be tough odds to beat. I took a left on 5th, and saw the team standing in the middle of the street, talking to each other.

I landed by them and they all looked up at me. "I was giving them the details about Nevermore. Robin was confused about how you managed to talk to Raven." Cyborg said. "Rage disappeared again."

"I don't expect her to be gone for very long though. Anyway, that was risky to venture there, Beast Boy." Robin said."But I'm glad you did, tell me exactly what Raven said. She wants us to obliterate Rage?"

I recalled her exact words. "We have to hurt her until she reaches a breaking point." I took a deep breath. "If necessary, to the point of near death." I let that sink in. "When Cyborg hit Rage the first time, Raven was able to regain control for a short time and teleport her far away. When Rage took the control back I assume she came back here to bring more havoc to the city."

"My cannon wasn't even on low power… how come I can't hit her again with that? Why do we need to…" Cyborg shuttered. "Come close to killing her?"

"Raven is not strong anymore. She used a lot of energy trying to regain control the first time. She won't be able to do it again unless Rage is very, very, very weak." Robin said. It was just like always, Robin could figure these things out.

I nodded. "When Raven gets out, we'll know. But I wouldn't expect Rage to go down without a fight."

Starfire spoke up. "I'm sorry, but what if after she reaches her weakest state, Raven cannot regain control?"

I'll admit, it wasn't a question that I wanted to think about, let alone provide an honest answer to. The best that I could do in order to keep up with the plan was to convince myself that we wouldn't take the plan that far. We wouldn't harm her to near death, and we certainly wouldn't beat her to complete death. Still, however, we all have a duty to the city: we vow to protect it from all dangers, even if that danger comes from the team itself.

Nobody answered Starfire's question, but it wasn't one that really needed an answer. We all knew that if Raven couldn't get out, we would have to finish her. No matter how hard I could try to convince myself otherwise, if it became certain that Raven was beyond saving, then we would destroy her body. It was the only way to remove Rage from our world, and prevent it from doing further harm on the city.

I heard a couple of clicks, and then the familiar sound of Cyborg adjusting his weaponry. We all looked at him. He held up his arm as it transformed into the cannon he always used. "Full power." Not many people knew this, but Cyborg almost never used his arm cannon at maximum power. We weren't really in the business of incinerating bad guys anyway.

Starfire shuttered. "I too will not hold back."

I began to hear the sound of metal being crushed and objects being hurled into buildings a few blocks away. "She's back." Robin said.

None of us moved. This was it, it was go time. Just another routine bad guy for us to fight, just another time for us to team up and kick some butt.

But it wasn't.

We were going after one of our own, with the full intent of turning her into a bloody mess, and none of us were eager to put the plan into action. Even Robin, it seemed, who had suggested such a plan from the very beginning, was hesitant in heading for the sound of Rage's carnage. He stood in front of us, a leader giving final words to his team.

None of us would admit it, but we all looked up to Robin. His confidence, courage, selflessness, and leadership were inspiring. And at this very moment, as the sound of Rage came closer and closer, he stood tall and looked at each one of us. He looked at me last, and in his determined expression I saw something else - something that gave me the courage to take the first step forward.

Hope.

We saw a giant shadow cover the intersection a few blocks in front of us, followed by the enormously tall manifestation of Rage as she wandered through the streets, leaving wreckage in her path. Dark, black energy flowed from the bottom of her cloak in the shape of tentacles, which were flaring every which way. Their only obvious purpose was to grab anything within reach and throw it against a building. It was terrifying. Cyborg readied his cannon, and Starfire prepared her starbolts. Robin turned towards Rage and took out his staff. getting into a fighting stance. Even from a distance, I could see Rage's four red eyes with amazing clarity. She bared her sharp, pointed teeth, and started coming towards us.

Robin took one final look at me and said, "Let's go and save Raven." He turned and sprinted at Rage without any sense of fear. Robin and Rage came closer and closer to each other, each with the intention of making the first hit and setting the tone of the battle to come.

They nearly reached each other when Robin leapt into the air and coiled his staff around him like he was about to swing a baseball bat. With amazing acrobatics he dodged Rage's tentacles and seemed to fly through the air, reaching head-height of Rage, which was nearly twenty feet above the ground. With an expression and a grunt of utter fury, Robin swung his staff at Rage with all of his might. He struck her squarely in the head, and as Robin landed almost gracefully on the ground, Rage was thrown backwards.

Her tentacles writhed about madly, tearing bricks from buildings like they were legos. Rage got up from the ground quickly, and Robin wasted no time going after her again.

We had all been frozen in our places, but as Robin made his second move to strike Rage, we snapped into action and attacked.

It had begun.

Authors Note: I know, I know, you all are furious that it took me three whole days to post this chapter. I am terribly sorry :[ But, here it is! don't worry, this story will be finished very soon. I finally got to write some action sequences, which I am not entirely sure I am actually good at, but hey, practice makes perfect! As always, please enjoy and let me know what you think!

-ValenciaBelieves