Hey, y'all! Here's chapter nine! I'm so happy! The plot bunnies have returned! They no longer shun me! –laughs gleefully- Sorry. And I'm sorry it took so long for me to update.
Anywayz, thanx for the idea Feline Jaye! It helped! (If you wanna read a carrot story, PM me, and I'll send one to you.)
Reviews make me happy! And they also encourage me to write more! So, review! There's cookies in it for you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, although I would be a better owner than the idiots who got it canceled. I would also be a better owner than Slade.
Previously…
Analysha, realizing the predicament she was in, sheathed her dagger and backed away from Slade, falling to one knee and lowering her head. Almost immediately the sounds of Beast Boy's strugglings ceased, replaced with the soft sound of deep breathing. He was now unconscious. Slade made a disgusted noise.
"Get up," he said. Analysha raised her head. "This was merely a demonstration of my power. Should you choose to turn against me, he" Slade gestured at Beast Boy's unconscious form, "will not fare so well."
Analysha quickly left the room, still fuming. How dare he! she thought. Why would he… she realized why. To him, this was nothing more than a game. He was staying one step ahead of his opponent, making sure he was still in the lead. But now, she had to postpone her main objective in order to rescue her father. There was no way she was going to leave him in that madman's clutches any longer than was absolutely necessary. Slade could kill him at any time, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She closed her eyes, bringing up a mental map of Slade's lair. She had explored it after escaping, and before going into the room in which she had found Slade. Right now, she was searching for somewhere that would easily hold prisoners. Probably someplace close to the main room; Slade wouldn't keep a VIP –very important prisoner- somewhere that he couldn't keep his eye on them. There were several conspicuous areas near it. She would check there first.
Slade was smiling behind his mask. The girl's reaction had been most amusing to watch. It was evident that she had received training on controlling her emotions, although Slade could still easily tell how she felt. Her eyes betrayed her, to him, at least. However, he was very practiced in reading subtle hints of one's feelings, particularly in people who wanted to hide their emotions from him. Yet, once the changeling boy had been brought into the picture, her fragile hold on indifference had shattered. She had acted much like Starfire in the fury she had shown before she saw, or, rather, heard him, but once she had realized he was in danger, she had surrendered quite quickly. His hunch had been correct. Whatever reason she had had for refusing to kill Beast Boy, it applied to having him dead at all.
Analysha looked around the corner before continuing. It turned out to be a good thing she had. Sladebots, two of them, stood guarding the door. She couldn't let them see her, that would probably either alert Slade or bring more, or both. She took out another of her many weapons, a shuriken, and tossed it. It cleanly knocked off the first's head and stuck into the second's back. She smiled, then walked up behind the second one. She lightly tapped it, her smile broadening as it fell forward with little effort on her part. She then walked up to the door and kicked it open. Her smile vanished. The room was empty. An alarm started blaring.
The Titans (sans Robin and Beast Boy) had, by now, found Slade's lair. Raven used her power to envelop several rocks and get them out of the way. Starfire blasted the remaining rocks away with a starbolt. Cyborg dropped into the ground, followed closely by Starfire and Raven. An alarm started blaring.
"Friends, we are being welcomed with music!" said Starfire joyously.
"Uh, girl? That ain't music. That's an alarm."
"Oh… then we are not welcomed?"
"No," said Raven. "And we need to find Beast Boy before Slade finds us." They quickly wound their way through the labyrinth that was Slade's lair, searching for signs of their missing companion. Eventually, they came to a hallway.
"Friends?" asked Starfire nervously, "Do you smell smoke?"
"Yeah," said Cyborg after inhaling deeply. They rounded the corner, and caught sight of the source of the smell: two Sladebots, one decapitated and one with a shuriken sticking out of it's back. The door that they had apparently been guarding had been torn off the hinges; it was broken in half, splinters everywhere. "Oh, no…" he breathed.
"Friends?" asked Starfire, tears welling up in her eyes, "We are too late?"
"No," said Raven, her eyes closed. The other two Titans turned, quizzical looks on their faces. Raven's eyes opened. "He's still in the area. But he's unconscious."
This was getting infuriating. She had now looked in six different rooms, defeated at least twelve Sladebots, and still no Beast Boy. Ahead, there was another door. No Sladebots were guarding it, but she decided to check it out anyway. She carefully let herself in to the tiny room, looking around. She sighed. Another dead end. Or was it? She did a double take, her eyes scanning the walls. One of them looked different somehow… She walked up to it and leaned her weight against it. It crumbled, revealing the other side. Beast Boy was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, his head slumped forward so that his chin touched his chest. She stole a quick glance around the room. No Sladebots in sight. She darted out to him, her fingers skillfully untied the knots, and soon he was free of the bonds. His body fell forward, sprawling out across the ground at her feet.
She bent down and picked up his limp figure, noting that his chest was rising and falling, though barely. She had to get him out of here, out of Slade's grasp. She started walking, winding her way back through the tunnels, looking for the way out.
"Which way, Raven?" asked Cyborg. She opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Starfire.
"Friends, look!" she said excitedly, pointing a finger and waving her hand at whatever she was so happy about. Raven and Cyborg followed her gesture. There was Beast Boy, unconscious in the arms of…
"Analysha," Raven hissed.
"What are you doing here?" asked Cyborg, surprised. "We left you back at the Tower!"
"I escaped," the girl said simply.
"With a hostage, it looks like," said Raven, her voice monotone. On the outside, she was calm as always. In Nevermore, however, it was quite a different story. Wisdom and Knowledge were struggling to hold a livid Rage back, whilst Happy was trying to comfort a crying Timid.
Analysha blinked, surprised. "Hostage? What do you-"
"Give us back our friend!" shouted Starfire, her eyes and hands beginning to glow bright green.
Analysha suddenly seemed to realize what they thought. "You think I…?" she scoffed. "Are you kidding? I happen to be an assassin! Assassins don't take hostages. We kill people." Starfire gasped.
"You will not damage our friend! Give him back!"
"Over my dead body… Or maybe his." Analysha dodged a round of starbolts and seemingly disappeared into the darkness. Starfire lifted her hand, another starbolt glowing on the end, and prepared to throw it.
"Wait!" exclaimed Cyborg. Starfire turned to him, her eyes still glowing. "You don't know where she is," he explained quickly. "You might hit Beast Boy!" Starfire nodded, realizing Cyborg was correct. She landed on the ground, her eyes quickly filling with fear.
"Friends, what shall we do?" she asked. "This Analysha is a murderer! And now friend Beast Boy is in her clutches!"
Analysha smiled. The Titans had actually believed she would kill Beast Boy. She climbed up out of the hole, glad for the cover of night. Even if they did catch up with her, she could easily lose them in the darkness that had settled. She moved quickly, putting much distance between herself and Slade's lair in a matter of minutes. Soon, she came to her cave. What was it Serinoya called it? Her "sped little hideout." Analysha shook her head. The rookie hero could be so immature sometimes. She walked in, her eyes already adjusted to the darkness.
Beast Boy woke up. It was dark, so dark that he blinked to make sure that he had indeed opened his eyes. He slowly pushed himself off the ground and into a sitting position. He gingerly touched his forehead, remembering the fact that it had gotten cut when he had been attacked by the Sladebots… Slade!
His whole body tensed as he suddenly realized he was somewhere within Slade's lair. The madman could be anywhere. He stood, quickly checking his body over for further damage. Nothing was broken, but he was badly bruised and cut, and he could feel the dried blood on his arms, chest, face, and even hair. He was no longer tied up, but he remained Slade's captive. He looked around, still tense. He was in a… jail cell? Three of the walls, plus the ceiling and floor, were stone, the fourth wall was made of metal bars. He quickly walked up to the wall of bars and grasped two, pulling hard and trying to bend them out of his way. Needless to say, this pathetic attempt at escape proved worthless. He tried to become a gorilla, thinking that maybe the added strength would enable him to escape. But, try as he might, he couldn't change. He tried numerous animals, each time coming to the same conclusion: he simply couldn't change. His panic level was beginning to rise, clouding his mind.
Dude, calm down, he thought. You can get out of this. Just-
"You're awake. Good." The familiar voice jarred him from his mental pep talk. It also scared the crap out of him.
"Analysha?" he asked the shadows, grasping two bars and leaning as far forward as he could, trying to see past the darkness. His voice sounded hoarse, as though he hadn't spoken for hours. The green figure that was watching him from a short distance away smiled.
"And thinking clearly." She stepped closer, revealing to the changeling boy that it was indeed her. Instinctively, the boy backed away from the assassin. She laughed slightly and put her hands up, palms out, in a sign of innocence. "See, I don't have any weapons…" his eyes went to her belt, "…in my hands." She sighed, then removed her various belts, placing them in a pile within sight –but well out of reach- of his cell. "There. Are you satisfied now?" Beast Boy smiled.
"Yep." He paused. "But I'd be more satisfied if you let me go…" he added hopefully. Analysha said nothing, but crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I thought not." He was feeling less afraid of the assassin now that she was unarmed. "Sooo… why are you working with Slade?"
"I was hired by him to kill Robin."
"Oh." He was quiet for a moment, trying to think of another question. If he could get her talking, maybe he could find out some valuable information for Robin. "Is that why you stole one of his belts?"
"Yes."
"So why am I here?"
"Because Slade kidnapped you." He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw her fists clench and muscles tense slightly when she said that.
"But why?" She looked him right in the eye.
"Because you're important." This was not working the way he had hoped.
"Important? Important how?"
"Someone doesn't want you dead, and would go to great lengths to protect you."
"Oh." Well, that was an interesting piece of information. Somehow, he got the feeling she wasn't talking about Robin. "Where is Slade, anyway?"
"Back at his lair."
"Back at his lair? You mean, like, I'm not at Slade's hideout?"
She scoffed. "Of course not. Doesn't it look familiar?" she asked, waving her hand to gesture at the room she stood in. He looked around.
"Not really."
She sighed. "It's my 'sped little hideout,'" she said, knowing he'd identify the place due to Serinoya's name for it. His eyes scanned the room again, this time with recognition.
"Oh…" Now he realized the seriousness of the situation. He had changed hands. Now, instead of a madman after one of his friends, it was an assassin that had been hired by someone to kill Robin that was holding Beast Boy captive. Even if she was unarmed, Beast Boy was growing steadily uneasier. There were not many good outcomes for his current situation. After all, killing was in the girl's blood.
There was my next chapter. Hey SJB? Remember that part that you read already? I'm gonna get there either next chapter or the chapter after that.
All comments, questions, ideas and grammatical/spelling corrections are welcome and requested.
Also, if you think that this story falls under a genre other than General, tell me what you think it should be.
The offer about telling me who you like better (Analysha vs. Serinoya) and why and I'll put it up still stands.
Sorry again about how long it took!
IamtotallyKewlio
