A/N: Yes! I'm not dead! Yay! I finished. My apologies for the wait. I had to be at a work training semenar almost all last weekend AND there was mandatory overtime the Tuesday before. Mandatory overtime is teh ebil! Especially when we are agonizingly slow and there is no justification on keeping me there from 5am to 6pm whatsoever! Okay, enough whining. All you care about is the story - so here we go!

The Beast Within Us

Chapter 9: Over The Edge part 2

Robin quickly recovered from the mild shock and did not hesitate for a moment afterward. Quickly he began surveying the damage, searching for any clues as to what may have happened. Obviously, Fixit's lab had come under attack. The damaged wall he had felt earlier as well as the all but destroyed machinery of the lab itself was enough evidence of that. With a list of possible motives and culprits running through his mind, Robin searched for any and all signs of Cyborg or Fixit. His first fear was that they were injured or unconscious. His search revealed that both were missing, though he was slightly relieved he found no blood or disassemble pieces of Cyborg's hardware.

"Beast Boy, can you - ?"

His words slowly died as wave of icy water crashed over him. He turned quickly, eyes widening from the sudden temperature change and his breath feeling almost misty on his lips.

Beast Boy had hardly moved since glimpsing the trashed lab. His mouth was open only slightly, in heavy contrast to his gaping eyes. His emotions were coming off heavy though not flaring nearly as they had been before. Robin found only reason to be more concerned. He could feel the core of it all, sending these signals with each rapid pulsating beat of the changeling's heart, trembling horridly. A precursor. "Hey,"

"Cyborg!" Beast Boy's sudden shout would have startled Robin, had he not been anticipating it, and the changeling rushed forward. Morphing to a mouse, he quickly began scuttling through the debris, squeaking erratically the whole while. "Beast Boy! Calm down!" Robin spoke as he watched the tiny green streak zig zag back and forth. The green blur was soon able to throw off his sharp eyes. "Beast Boy?" Robin took cautious steps while scanning the lab; a little mouse could be quite speedy when the time called for it. A loud crash from the side of the room threw Robin into a fighting stance. A large green gorilla had erupted from beneath a pile of debris and began lifting the trashed equipment in a futile search.

"Beast Boy! They're not here!" The gorilla paid him no mind. Recklessly he began tossing useless sheets of metal and other such items about and Robin was scarcely able to duck under a discarded metal chair. He opened his mouth to speak but found that any calmly spoken words would be drowned out by the distressed roars emitting from the large mammal's throat. Yelling was seldom good in such a situation but Robin found himself without much of a choice. Well, perhaps if he just raised his voice enough for Beast Boy to hear him.

"Beast Boy." He said loudly, which obviously was not loud enough as he could barely hear himself let alone be heard by a ravaging animal. "Beast Boy!" he said louder, only to narrowly evade yet another large chunk of machinery cautiously tossed his way. So much for that idea. He groaned inwardly and took a deep breath. "BEAST BOY! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" A crash echoed through the room as Beast Boy dropped the large object in his arms. That has certainly gotten his attention, though it did not quite get the desired results. He turned, morphing back to his human self, but hardly at peace.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Beast Boy retorted bitterly.

"Calm down!" That sounded a tad harsher than he had intended and, for a moment, Robin feared he had spoken too harshly. Beast Boy did not respond immediately. He was silent for a few seconds, breathing slightly heavy and starring Robin down as if to challenge his command. Robin met his gaze and held his own, unyielding, but cautious all the same. "Destroying the crime scene is not going to help us find Cyborg or Fixit any faster." he began, slowly and gently controlling his breath. "Try to get a grip and see if you can pick up a scent." Robin continued his rhythmic breathing, hoping that Beast Boy would follow. Though he continued to look rather apprehensive, slowly his breath evened out and he morphed back to a bloodhound. Robin felt a whisper of relief and satisfaction spread through his chest as he watched the green dog begin searching through the carnage. During the events since breakfast that morning it had felt like ages since he was in control. It felt almost nostalgic, which was both a welcoming comfort and startling distress. Feeling like a leader should not feel this foreign. He chewed his lip over the thought. But still, even after everything, I still have the capability to lead. But I've been through so much worse. What is happening to me?

Robin shook his head and turned, leaving Beast Boy to his task, as he began his own. The console was not too badly damaged. It was salvageable; with a good amount of elbow grease of course. Fixit's high tech lair was bound to have some sort of surveillance or tracking system. It was not too far gone to assume that should something of that nature exist it would provide a clue as to what happened and who was behind it. He carefully removed the console face plate and grimaced slightly as he glimpsed inside. Sure could use Cyborg right now.

Robin's utility belt was a veritable Swiss army knife in itself so he was able to summon the necessary tools for such a task in a matter of seconds. He reached in to begin the tedious poking and prodding at the machinery. As engrossed with his job as he tried to be, he was not able to block out the sounds of sniffing and whimpering. Through his work he could pick out snippets of emotion biting at his skin. Most of which was a chill of despair that caused a shudder up his spine. It was not the most convenient thing when one's body shook involuntarily. It made it especially more difficult to snap annoyingly tiny computer chips back to their respected motherboards. Throughout these small cold spells a wave of hot determination would scorch him. Going through the same emotions himself, Robin could only feel nauseated but some what proud at Beast Boy's handling of the situation. It was weak, almost not there at all, but he could tell Beast Boy was not about to give in. That, on top of keeping a raging blood thirsty monster in check, could not be very easy to say the least.

His own beast had attempted to grasp at control, given his weakened state, but he was able to steel his defenses enough to keep it at bay. Despite the tension he had to uphold, he allowed a bit of pressure release from his headache. It made it easier to think. He closed his eyes, allowing his hands to work automatically, as he ran through a list of known villains a suspects in his head. Who would've kidnapped Cyborg? Could it have been the same person that poisoned us?

Out of habit, his first thoughts came to Slade. He had been uneasy since the villain had reappeared and proven to be more than an illusion. Nearly having his body destroyed during that experience with the chemical reagent had taught him a thing or two about obsession. However, old habits die hard and the villain did know the Titans well enough, thanks to Terra's betrayal. Robin did not know what he could have wanted with Raven but he had returned, seeking her out with eerie persistence. Perhaps whatever he was planning with her also involved Cyborg.

Robin frowned at the thought, only vaguely aware of Beast Boy's skittish movements behind him. Being forced into servitude with that man had not been a pleasant memory. While he did not think that he would be seeking his friends out as apprentices, the thought of what else he may be doing with them was not any more pleasant. How did he know Cyborg would be here? Was he watching us? Did he get Raven already?

The hum of the console coming back to life snapped him out of his musings. With the repairs completed and the power slowly seeping life into the lab, Robin could only wait until enough power was collected to get a better idea of what happened. What would Slade have done to Fixit? The lack of blood did not make Robin think that Slade had killed him. Had he been captured as well?

Robin leaned against the console and folded his arms. Fixit was a rather intriguing character on his own. Cyborg obviously trusted him enough to return several times before and he had never given any reason to question his trust. Still, there remained the little mishap of Fixit wanting to 'repair' their friend and keep him imprisoned. Robin recalled the first time he had been down in Fixit's lair, when he and the others thought Mumbo had captured Cyborg. The darkness had not changed a bit. Neither had the concern he was feeling for his missing friend and Titan. He had not needed his sense of empathy to know how apprehensive the others had felt as they fought through the thick darkness. Robin arched an eyebrow at the memory. "Hey, Beast Boy?"

The bloodhound looked up before transforming to his human counterpart. "Yeah?"

"Do you remember there being a lot of robot guards the first time we came down here?"

"Yeah. What about 'em?"

The sudden clunk and whines of several machines surrounded the two, startling them both into attention. The walls appeared to be literally coming to life around them. Several wires slithered from the shadows like serpant tongues and were paired with grotesque robotic claws. Overhead, machinery that appeared to be part of the ceiling awakened, crawling and dropping down like spiders on a fresh catch of flies. It was not long before the boys found themselves surrounded on all sides by broken down drones. "Fixit's security." Robin muttered. Beast Boy seemed rather unconcerned. "It's not like they can hurt us, dude. Look at how little and damaged they are."

"Beast Boy, don't!"

"See?" He said, nudging one with his foot. "Now can - aaaahh!"

A metal coil, almost like a tentacle, had sprung from the offended machine and squeezed his leg ferociously. Beast Boy flailed for a moment before tiger claws erupted from his fingers and slashed the offending machine. Feeling another squeeze on his arm he was posed to attack. Before he could he was jerked forward and realized Robin had grabbed his arm. The Titan leader dragged him swiftly out of the lab as the robot army began to close in. The entrance which had been pitch black before was now glowing red as an endless stream of the metal monsters began pouring from every direction. With their path to freedom blocked they had no option but to fight.

"Watch my back!" Robin commanded as he withdrew his bo staff. Beast Boy morphed into a tiger, eager to take his aggression out over his missing friend on the robots. Robin pitched forward and slammed his weapon into one of the drone's "eyes". He closed his own tightly as he felt a hail storm of glass sting his face. He felt another come up on his left and he spun around, the staff spinning almost gracefully with him. A brutal strike threw it at bay and he thrust his staff behind him as he felt another one closing in. The staff successfully pierced the would be assailants and Robin was thankful his cape had caught most of the sparks that rained down.

Beast Boy was faring decently on his own as well. He found that ripping into the drones was much better for his anger than his failed attempt at meditation. In the heat of the moment he had forgotten his troubles and embraced the wild nature of the tiger. His teeth easily punctured the worn down metal causing an unfortunate robot to twitch in the cat's mouth. He shook it around in his mouth for a while, enjoying the flailing of its robotic appendages, then tossed it into a group of smaller drones. As the advancing group toppled like dominos, he turned and slashed into another that had taken a lunge at him. Hot oil spilled over his paws as his claws ripped the machine apart. The feel of the warm liquid sparked a metallic taste in his mouth and a blood lust in his brain.

The feeling of fight, which had been a welcome relief to the anger and panic from before, had been replenished into a state of mind Beast Boy had never experienced before. It was filled with a sudden rage that was not really rage at all. The anger was still there but a new desire had taken its place. Beast Boy wanted to destroy everything. He wanted to feel everything be crushed slowly and agonizingly under his powerful form. His feral roar felt more like a hungry growl from his soul as he ruthlessly swatted blindly at the machines. The whole time his mouth salivated as each robots' grisly end only wetted his appetite.

Doesn't this feel good? Embrace this feeling. Keep it with you, forever. Allow it to become more than a part of you. Let it become you.

The excruciating howl startled Robin out of his close range grapple with a rather relentless machine. He slammed his foot into his rival's metallic chest and pushed himself into a soaring backflip. Now out of the army's immediate range, he ventured a glimpse at his teammate. The look of Beast Boy would have made him think he had been injured, but his senses told him otherwise. The green tiger's back was arched as he cried into the dark ceiling above, his feline expressions as contorted as they could be. Beast Boy screeched but was only able to produce incoherent growls in his current form. Despite that, Robin understood him clearly. "Beast Boy! Focus!" Robin reached an arm out and sprinted towards his friend. He was unsure of how much he could help Beast Boy fight his blood thirsty demon when in the heat of battle; the circumstances were not ideal and he was feeling the tug of his own. Still, any chance he could to grasp his friend from the Beast's jaws he had to take.

He had only made it so far in his mad dash before the breath in his lungs was brutally force out. Robin could barely comprehend the pain in his stomach and the feel of his feet being swept from beneath him before his backside collided with a rough metal surface. His head swam dizzyingly from the force and he reached for his utility belt on reflex. After shaking his head clear, he intended to withdraw one of his explosion disks but to his horror he found that he could not move his arms. Looking down, he gasped as his waist and arms had been bounded by a rather strong robotic appendage. A frantic series of loud bangs filled the air as the steel soles of Robin's boots struck the offending robot. In his flurry of berserk thrashing, he felt the coil loosen around him slightly. It allowed him just enough range to extract a birdarang from his belt before he felt it tighten again. He grasped a section of the enclosing coil with an open palm, then winced at the pressure on his wrists. In spite of that, he managed to keep a grip on the coil and slowly began to saw into it with the birdarang.

He gritted his teeth as sweat began to dot his forehead, not from tension, but from the heat of several robotic eyes glaring at him. He heard them closing in around him as if taking pleasure in his slow execution. The coil continued to wrapped around him and his mouth gaped open involuntarily as it squeezed the air from his chest. Feeling the birdarang begin to cut into the coil, he willed himself to fight through the forming cramps in his hand and work faster. He risked opening his eyes to the blaring shades of red from all around, but he found it surprisingly easy to make out Beast Boy's form. There was a flash of panic, not only at his impending doom and at having almost dropped the birdarang, but at the current state of his companion. He was faring no better at the moment. His seconds of vulnerability had cost him and the tiger was now pinned down by several bots.

"Beast Bo - uck!" The coil struck his neck suddenly and fiercely, squeezing his air tube without mercy. He choked out desperately for air and willed his bond hands to work faster. Though his birdarang had made a decent cut in the coil he knew he would not be able to slice through it in time. His mind worked fervently for any means of escape. Fear began to bubble inside him as his options were running out and his head grew fuzzy and disoriented. No . . .

Even awash in his own world of troubles, Beast Boy had noticed Robin's predicament and attempted to rush to his aide. Of course, being weighed down by at least a dozen blood thirsty robots made that impossible. He was able to fend off quite a few that were in range of his claws and teeth but those on his backside proved to be more difficult. The tiger form was obviously not working. An elephant should not have much of a problem however. Taking the image of the animal in his mind he prepared his body to morph and . . . what!

The feel of his body expanding and changing was replaced with that of a vicious convulsion rippling through him. The feeling stunned and nauseated him, causing him to collapse to the ground. Before he could contemplate what had happened he was bombarded with hot pain from all around. The robots that had been wrestling him down attacked in unison, biting and slashing into his flesh. He flailed his claws desperately as he tried to morph into any animal he could think of but only received a horrid contraction of his body for his efforts. The failed transformations wore him down and he was soon at his enemies' mercy as Robin was slowly being choked to death not too far away. Beast Boy closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable.

What inevitably did happen both astounded and relieved him. Before he could register the pounding of steeled toed boots rushing towards him, the pressure from his many assaulters was suddenly gone. He heard them crash against the walls and each other with a satisfying crunch of metal as well as the swish of a metal bo staff swinging through the air. Robin? He opened his eyes and the Teen Wonder was indeed at his side fending off the small army. His eyes quickly caught the dismembered parts of the bot that had almost been Robin's demise scattered across the ground. But how did he . . .?

Duh! Because he's Robin

His subconscious's response was not satisfactory, despite the many impossible tasks and escapes the spiky haired boy had preformed before. There was something . . . primal about the way he moved and fought. The obvious first conclusion was that Robin had reverted back to his own Beast form, but in between his rapid staff movements Beast Boy had gotten a good enough look at his hands to confirm that there were no claws. Though his teeth were gritted angrily there were no protruding fangs present either. He was his regular and one hundred percent human self. But still . . .

"Beast Boy! Get us out of here!" The green feline growled lowly in acknowledgement and, as a force of habit, prepared to transform. With the image of a rhino in his mind, Beast Boy recalled a second too late about his inability to morph. He cringed, bracing himself for the horrible spasm that was to come, when he felt his skin grow rough and a strong horn protrude from his nose. What the heck is going on? The sight of a rather large robot foolishly charging him head on override his confusion. Needless to say, the robot was quickly disposed of and Beast Boy motioned for Robin to get on his back. He did so and Beast Boy began a headlong charge.

Robin flattened his body against the green rhino's back and brought an arm up to protect his head. A good thing too, as through the constant sound of scrunching metal he felt the debris scrape by his form. After what had felt like forever, the sound stopped and was replaced by a steady sound of winding gears as the stampede of robots tried to keep up and catch them. Robin lifted his arm to see exactly where they were when he suddenly felt himself falling. The rough texture of the rhino's skin he had been sitting upon had all but disappeared from underneath him. Just as suddenly, he felt the claws of a pterodactyl wrap around his wrists and yank him upward. The entrance to the lair was visible now, almost blinding, and Robin was forced to close his eyes. Soon he felt his body being pulled upward and the warm sun once again embrace his skin, as well as the chatter of various voices down below.

Opening his eyes, Robin looked down to see several children and the occasional adult occupy what had previously been an abandoned street. All eyes were on him and Beast Boy as responses varying from 'oohs, 'aahs', and grim whispers ran through the crowd. The local elementary school had picked a rather inconvenient day for an early release and Robin groaned at his rotten luck. So much for keeping a low profile. . .

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To be continued . . .

So it appears as though Raven and Cyborg have been captured . . . or have they? What will be come of our boys now? Let's have a preview, shall we? Roll the clip!

Chapter Nine: Over the Edge part 3

Things keep looking more and more bleak for Robin and Beast Boy. With two friends in possible danger, and one unaccounted for, the last thing they need is a new villain on their backs. The primal rage within their bodies gleefully takes advantage of every misfortune thrown there way, and the two can only hold out for so long. Stay tuned for 'Over the Edge: part 3'. Possibly the gooest and most delicious segmant in the chapter nine saga!