Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. You know you're writing too much gender-bender when spellcheck is correcting Robin to Robyn.
"Don't touch that."
...
"Or that."
...
"Not anything."
"Fine..." Beast Boy groans, moving his hand away from the control panel. "But it was calling to me."
"The same way you're "called" to annoy me on a daily basis I'm sure." Raven growls, shooting him a glare.
"Enough." Knowledge snaps. "I'm trying to find the others."
"Using a giant t.v. screen?" Shadow questions.
"It's hooked up to security cameras all over Robin's mind." The Batman impostor huffs. "I can see everything from here."
"Not creepy at all." Sloth says sarcastically, leaning against the screen and rolling his eyes. "Totally not a stalker."
The three Titans and two emoticlones are sitting or standing in front of a massive computer in the center of a large cavern. Dark shapes, bats presumably, flutter above them, occasionally covering one of the overhanging lights. Most of the cave is darkened, though outlines of rock formations and other objects are just barely visible.
"A giant coin, a giant playing card, a giant penguin... You have an interesting taste in decoration." Shadow says offhandedly, looking around into the darkness.
Knowledge glances back at the deathly pale hero. "You have night-vision?"
"Yeah. Amazing what chemicals can do for your eyes, eh?" Shadow says cheerily.
Beast Boy gives him a questioning look, and his little brother responds with a meaningful glance.
"No one needs to know." It seems to say. "It's best if they think I can feel just like they can."
The green boy nods and returns to scanning the buttons.
"Interesting... Just how many chemicals were used? Which kinds?" Knowledge asks, turning to stare at the hero of Blacksoak.
"Dunno. I was busy being unconscious. Or maybe I was screaming in pain, I can't remember exactly." He gives a shrug. "Depends whether my nerve endings still worked or not, they stopped after a year or so."
"Really?" The Batman impostor hums. He gets up and walks around the boy, tapping his chin and peering intently. "I should get a scan... Adrenaline powered strength and speed, correct? I've also heard of your regenerative powers; you'd be surprised what the newspapers can figure out. What chemical combinations trigger these abilities? What unnecessary ones could be removed? Think of what we could learn from you..."
"Knowledge." Sloth says warningly. "You're going creepy scientist again."
"Wha-? Ah, yes. My pardon." Knowledge says, massaging the bridge of his nose. "A bad habit of mine." He stalks back to the chair and sits down again, tapping away at the massive keyboard.
"And I thought Robin was creepy enough when he was super focused." Beast Boy whispers to Raven, shivering.
"That was a bit... Disturbing." The empath agrees.
"You get used to it." Sloth sighs. "We keep him in check. Honestly, even Rage is less trouble."
"You do realize that I can hear you, yes?" Knowledge says sharply.
"Yep." The orange caped boy grins.
"Rude..." The Batman impostor huffs.
"No. Sloth." Sloth says in a snarky tone. "You're loosing your touch Knowledge."
"I'm sure..." Knowledge sighs. "If you're interested, I've found Brave." He points down one of the many exits leading from the cave. "He's that way."
"Good." Raven says, shoving Beast Boy along. "Let's go. Quickly. Now!"
"I'll come too." Sloth offers, trying to follow.
"No." Shadow says, stepping in to block the orange emoticlone. "You need to be lazy. So do your job."
"Fine..." Sloth sighs, shoulders slumping. "I guess someone needs to keep an eye on Knowledge anyways."
"Good man." The hero of Blacksoak says, clapping the clone on his shoulder before striding off after his brother and the half-demon.
###
"Hey Rae? I just thought of something." Beast Boy says, walking at the empath's side.
"Miracles do happen." She responds dryly.
"Ha ha." He frowns. "It's just that Rob's version of Sloth is orange, but yours is brown."
"So is yours." Raven says, nodding her head. "Emoticlones generally have a default color for whatever emotion they represent. It's all part of the emotional spectrum. But if the individual strongly associates a certain emotion with a certain color, then the emoticlone will also prefer that color."
"So Robin relates being lazy to the color orange?" The changeling asks, scratching his head. "Why's that?"
"Think reeeeal hard Big Brother." Shadow hums. "You mention it whenever we speak about Robin."
Beast Boy is silent for a minute as he tries to figure out just what the association is. Suddenly, it hits him.
The changeling snaps his fingers. "Starfire!" He cries.
"Gee, that was hard." Raven deadpans. "It's not like she's the only one who can convince him to stop working or anything."
"Hey! I'm not a mind-reader!" Beast Boy protests.
"Neither am I." Shadow points out. "But I still figured it out, and I don't even live with him."
"Shut up..." The green shapeshifter mutters, crossing his arms and pouting.
###
"Go away!" The dark figure moans, leaping up to another ledge.
"Dude, stop running!" Beast Boy complains, jumping up after him.
"This is ridiculous." Raven groans. She flutters higher and tries to block the figures next leap with a wall of black energy.
"How does this guy relate to Robin in anyway?" Shadow questions. He smashes a fist into the surrounding rock to create another handheld as he climbs his way up to the figure.
"Nightwing." Beast Boy grunts as the figure uses his head as a springboard to clear Raven's wall. The green boy shifts temporarily to a raven and lands of the nearest outcrop. "According to Star; it was who he became in the future when all the Titans broke apart. Though Robin just claims it's a costume idea he's been considering to show he's broken away from ol' batty."
"Whatever it is, he's quite a slippery fellow." The hero of Blacksoak says, pushing off the wall and swiping at the Nightwing. He misses by a centimeter and goes crashing to the ground. "Like an eel, but larger and more easily frightened."
"Brave my foot." Raven growls, eyes flashing as she binds the figure in bands of dark energy. "He's been doing nothing but running for the last five minutes."
"Away! Go away!" Nightwing cries, his hand twists around and drops a pellet on the floor, creating a cloud of smoke. A small explosion follows, and when the smoke clears Nightwing, or Brave if you prefer, is nowhere to be seen.
"Not again!" Beast Boy groans, looking around the room. "Where now?"
"Can't see 'im." Shadow grunts, picking himself up. "He must have gone to another cavern, eh?"
"Guess so." The changeling sighs. "Rae?"
"I sense him." The empath affirms. "Back the way we came."
"Damnit..." Beast Boy groans. "There has to be a better way to get him to chill."
"Rather than chasing him around? Probably." Raven snorts. "But I'm not exactly sure what, so we'll keep doing this 'till something else comes to mind."
"Polite conversation didn't work, so we go straight to tackling him." Shadow muses. "Truly, we are masters of diplomacy."
"Can it." The half-demon mutters. "We're trying here."
"I'm just saying we suck at this." The hero of Blacksoak shrugs.
"Yeah." Beast Boy sighs, sitting down on a rock. "I wish Cy was here. He always has an idea. Heck, Star would be even better. I bet Brave wouldn't run from her."
"We are literally the worst people to be doing this." Raven agrees reluctantly. "We should have helped Cy first."
"Not the best time to be turning back." Shadow muses. "We're committed now."
"I'm not saying we should go back." The empath scoffs. "I'm just saying we need to look at this like Cy would."
"Big Brother would know him better than me." The hero of Blacksoak nods at the green boy. "They are best friends after all."
"You bet we are!" Beast Boy affirms. "So what would Cy do...?"
The green boy's face suddenly goes blank before spreading into an amused grin.
"You guys are doing it all wrong!" He huffs, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms. He shakes his head in mock disappointment. "You can't catch any version of Rob unless they let you, or make a huge mistake."
The two pale Titans share a confused look.
"He might be a nut-case, but this is still Rob we're talking about!" Beast Boy scolds. The changeling swiftly changes position, adopting his normal persona. "But dude, he wasn't listening to us when we tried to talk!" He changes positions again. "You and Rae were yelling at him to stop being a coward; you coulda just tried explaining calmly, only Shadow even attempted it!" Another position change. "Well, uh, we didn't think-" Position change. "Of course ya didn't! You I'm not surprised with, but I would have expected Rae to be calm about all this." The changeling turns his head to stare pointedly at Raven.
"Well, Cy," The half-demon says sarcastically. "I've been trekking through a jungle with annoying elf clones for the last few hours. Pardon me if I'm not thinking clearly."
"Yeah. Too much BB can get to a guy." 'Cyborg' says sympathetically. "Hey!" Beast Boy protests.
"Uh, Big Brother?" Shadow pipes up in an amused voice. "Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity."
"Yeah, yeah." The green boy chuckles. "But I did a good impression of Cy, don't ya think?"
"Scarily so." Raven affirms. "Never do that again."
"Agreed." Shadow says.
"Okay, okay!" The shapeshifter laughs, holding up his hands in surrender. "At least I pointed out our problem."
"Couldn't you have done that normally instead of doing the entire imitation act?" The empath says, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"Now where's the fun in that?" Beast Boy chuckles.
"This is about saving our friends, not having fun." Raven growls.
"Yeah yeah. I know..." The shapeshifter mutters. "Geeze, would it kill ya to lighten up?"
"I'm half-demon, and I use dark magic. Lightening up really isn't my thing." The empath deadpans. She turns and strides towards the cavern entrance. "Let's just go talk to Brave already."
"Outplayed." Shadow whispers to his brother, following the cloaked girl.
"No need to rub it in." Beast Boy growls, falling in line behind the other two Titans.
###
"Brave?" Raven calls out. "Brave, are you here?"
"C'mon dude, we just wanna talk this time!" Beast Boy yells, cupping his hands around his mouth to push the sound further. "Pleaaaase?"
"Come out." Shadow says bluntly. "I can see you."
Brave hesitates a moment, observing the three Titans from his perch in yet another darkened alcove.
"We can either talk, or have another chase. Your choice." The hero of Blacksoak offers while stretching his legs and rolling his shoulders.
The Nightwing look-alike sighs in resignation before leaping down to the floor and facing the Titans, though he does maintain a fair distance.
"Wh-What do you want?" He stutters.
"To say sorry for being so aggressive before." Beast Boy says apologetically. "And to try and convince you to return to normal."
"But everything is so scary!" Brave whimpers. "It's crazy of me to push Robin towards fighting giant monsters and evil psychopaths!"
"But if Robin won't fight, who will lead us?" Raven points out. "We're all capable heroes, but we need Robin more than we'd like to admit."
"You do?" The Nightwing look-alike asks.
"Of course we do!" Beast Boy pipes in. "Who else is going to tell me my plans are terrible?"
"Who's going to keep us going when everything seems hopeless?" Raven presses.
"Who's going to eat Starfire's food so the rest of us don't have to?"
"Who's going to solve whatever clues the villains leave us?"
"Who's going to to fix Cyborg when he's not able to?"
"Robin will." Brave murmurs. "He's the only one who can..."
"That's right." Shadow says sternly. "And Robin isn't Robin without his bravery. He needs you."
"He does, doesn't he?" The Nightwing look-alike says, sounding more certain. "I'm the one who tells him to get moving, to get things done." He straightens up, standing proudly. "I'm Brave damnit, I don't run, I fight!"
"That sounds more like it." Beast Boy grins. "I think we did it guys."
"I'll say." Shadow agrees. "Fired up and ready to brawl."
"I just hope it doesn't go to his head." Raven mutters. "Azar knows how much of an ego boost that was."
"To late Rae, we're already in his head." The changeling points out.
"You know what I mean." The empath growls.
"Come on Titans, we need to help the rest of my clones!" Brave yells, dashing off.
"What have we unleashed?" Raven groans as they chase after the emoticlone.
Chapter 10 complete.