Family

Dawn was approaching. The once black, starless sky began to lighten, becoming bluer and bluer with each passing minute. The birds began to awake, allowing their beautiful songs to caress the morning air. However, a sudden scream ruined this tranquil scene, causing the birds to fly away in fear. The Titans all awoke with a sudden start and jumped into defensive positions. One Titan however, still remained in his sleeping bag, hands covering his eyes, and chest rising and falling much too quickly. The rest of the Titans quickly deduced that the scream had arisen from the youngest Titan, Beast Boy. They then released themselves from their tense positions and approached their teammate.

"Friend Beast Boy? Why did you do the screaming?" said a worried Starfire.

Beast Boy let his hands drop from his face, revealing bloodshot eyes. Pushing himself up to a sitting position, he replied "It was just a nightmare Star, I'm fine."

"What was it about?" asked Starfire.

"I don't want to talk about it." He quickly stood and began busying himself with folding his sleeping bag and putting it in his bag.

"Come on little Buddy, you can tell us anything." said Cyborg.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" screamed Beast Boy.

The rest of the Titans took a step back, shocked at his sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry guys." He said, ears drooping. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I just want to forget that nightmare ever happened. Ok?" The rest nodded in understanding and they all began to pack away their bedding, preparing for another day of searching.

It was sweltering hot out. For the first time since they had been searching, they were begging for rain. They were walking slowly, each person's pack seeming to get heavier and heavier with each step.

"Can we..take a break." panted Beast Boy.

"Fine, but only for a minute." answered the leader. He himself was dying for a break too, but didn't want to seem weak in front of the others. Everyone sighed in relief, quickly dropping there packs and sitting down.

After a few minutes, Robin said, "Well, we should probably get mo-"

"Shh!" whispered Beast Boy.

Not liking being interrupted, let alone told to shush Robin began to protest.

"Shush Dude I here something!" said Beast Boy, perking his ears up. Everyone became dead quiet. In their minds however, they were anything but. Everyone was thinking the same thing. Had they finally found it? Will we finally get to end our incessant searching and go home? And the loudest thought of them all, what exactly was it that they were after? A rustling was heard in the bush about thirty feet in front of them. Whatever it was must have realized it had been discovered, because it had sprinted off.

"Starfire! Raven! Take to the skies and follow it! Cyborg! You and I will follow on foot. Beast Boy! Do whatever you can to catch up to it. Don't let it get away and engage it if at all possible!" shouted out Robin. "Titans! Go!" The team quickly followed orders, and dispersed. Beast Boy changed into a cheetah, quickly outrunning Cyborg and Robin.

The smell of Lilac was getting stronger and stronger. He soon saw something in the distance. It seemed to stop and turn. Is that a- What the! Before he had time to finish his thought he was suddenly trapped. His body was encased like a cocoon in what looked like vines. Thorny vines at that! His skin stung. He could tell his suit was practically shredded and he could smell the faint scent of blood. He tried to move and regretted it immediately. The vines became tighter, drawing more blood, and causing him to cry out in pain. It felt like he was being squeezed by a python. He had to think. How could he get out of this? His first idea was to become something smaller. He changed into a cat, but the vines just adjusted to his size. He had only one idea left, and a painful one at that. He changed again, taking on the form of a t-rex. The thorns punctured his skin, making him roar out in pain but the vines soon began to stretch to their limit. With one final lift of his head they snapped and fell limp on the ground. He slowly changed back, checking out the damage to his body. Yep, he hurt. He was bleeding everywhere, but it didn't look like the cuts were deep enough to really harm him. His cheek felt warm and he raised his hand and touched it. Wincing, he drew his hand back. It was smeared with fresh blood. He must have had a gash on his face.

"Ahh!" He turned towards the yell and began running. He stopped when he heard a muffled noise. Cyborg and Robin were pinned, back to back, against a tree by vines. In a normal situation he would be laughing, but this was anything but. He quickly ran to them and attempted to cut their vines. After removing the vines around Cyborg and then Robin's mouth, he started to work on the rest of them before Robin yelled, "Beast Boy! Go! We can get ourselves out! But right now you need to go after it before it gets away!" Beast Boy stopped for a second, unsure if he should follow orders and go or help his friends. An earthquake shook the ground under his feet, causing him to fall backwards. "Go! Now!" shouted Robin. Beast Boy shakily stood, turned, and darted away.

Meanwhile Starfire and Raven were in the air. They had lost track of the creature for a little while, but after hearing the boy's screams they soon found their target again. They were drawing nearer to it, but not fast enough for Raven's liking for she grabbed Starfire's hand and teleported them directly in front of it.

They were shocked, absolutely shocked by what they saw. "Its a-Ahhh!" cried out Starfire as vines quickly shot out at her, enclosing her completely. Luckily for her, her abnormal strength allowed her to rip through the vines much easier than Beast Boy. She was not totally unharmed though, she was scratched up and her clothes had huge rips in them. She was mad, very mad. She took action, shooting starbolts at it with inhuman speed, but every bolt was someone swatted away just as easily by the creature's vines. Raven began using her powers to try and rip up a tree to toss at it like she had done a thousand times before with the villains in Jump City. However this time was different. As she began to uproot the tree it began to move on its own. Startling her she quickly released it from her powers just as she was grabbed from behind. But not by the creature, by a tree! Its branches encircled her, clawing at her skin. Using her powers she phased through it. She turned to attack it when she was grabbed again. Every tree around her turned towards her, reaching for her. The trees began to resemble the creature from Wicked Scary and fear rose up in her. Fear had a nasty effect on her powers. Her powers suddenly caused a huge outburst of energy, leveling every tree around her in a fifty foot radius. She fell to the ground exhausted, energy completely drained. She looked up and gasped at the scene before her.

While Raven was fighting her own battle, Starfire chased after the creature, eyes green with fury, and continued her barrage of starbolts. All of a sudden, the ground began to shake around her. At first it went unnoticed by her since she was flying, but then something shot out of the ground between her and the creature. This something was big. It appeared to be a venus flytrap, if a venus flytrap could be fifty feet tall and mutated. It lunged at her, but she narrowly missed its jaws. Forgetting the creature for a moment, she began attacking her new target. Her power seemed to do little damage to the murderous plant. All she could do was try to evade it as it continued to try and eat her. Soon after, the Tameran began to grow tired, her reaction time slowing. And that's all that the plant needed to snap her in its Jaws. It was wet and sticky in there. She lifted her arm and a string of slime came with it. She shuddered with disgust, shaking off the offending liquid. Remembering her predicament she tried prying its jaws open. It gave a little, but not nearly enough for her to fit through. After about a minute of trying to get out she changed tactics. If she couldn't get out the way she came, she was going to make a new exit. Getting in a ready position on the ground, she used all her power as she leaped into the air, placing her arms up. A terrible roar was heard as the top of the creatures mouth was ripped open and Starfire came bursting out. The monstrous plant fell to the ground, causing an earthquake. Starfire slowly landed on her knees, too tired to fly anymore. After a moment's rest she heard a noise behind her and tried to get in a defensive posture. However it was only Raven, looking as worse for ware as she was. Both girls breathing heavily, took a moment to rest before limping off in the direction the creature went. Hopefully, they weren't too late.

Beast Boy was running, faster than he had ever ran before. He couldn't lose track of it now! Not when they had gotten so close! In his cheetah form, he was leaping over fallen trees and rocks as if they were nothing but twigs and pebbles. The ground shook again, causing him to lose hit footing and skid into a tree. He was dizzy, his vision blurred. He attempted to stand up and fell back down again. After waiting another moment for his vision to clear, he tried again and was successful. His head was pounding. He probably had a minor concussion, but nothing Raven couldn't fix. His thoughts stopped abruptly, as the hairs on the back of his neck stood. Something was off… He looked around. The trees above him were swaying gently causing leaves to float down to the ground. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. And all he could hear was a few birds twittering happily to each other, completely oblivious to the struggle around them. Then it dawned on him. The air smelled different. It smelled like… Lilac! Sniffing around him, he found the direction where the smell was strongest and took off again, determination setting his eyes ablaze with an emerald flame.

The smell led him to the edge of a small clearing. As he neared, he could practically taste the moisture in the air. There had to be a pretty large body of water nearby. He slowly crawled his way up to the last line of trees and hid. Changing back into his natural form he took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he might see. He slowly peeked behind him. The first thing he noticed was a waterfall. The clearing ended in a sudden drop into the water below being fed by a massive waterfall. Glancing to the left, his eyes stopped on a form. His eyes widened, unable to believe what they were seeing.

A young girl, about his age, sat in a predatory stance, as if preparing to pounce. She had shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, and was stark naked. Beast Boy could feel a blush coming to his face. He knew he should look away, but his eyes betrayed him.

"I know you're there! Show yourself you coward!" She turned her head towards where he was hidden and he quickly snapped out of it and tore himself away from the scene. She may have sounded tough, but her eyes revealed just how terrified she was. This is what they were after? It isn't a monster! It's just a girl! A poor frightened girl! He quickly took a peek around. She was staring directly where he sat. Oh shit! She sees me!

I slowly walked out from my hiding place, hands above my head in attempt to show my desire not to get the crap beaten out of me. She was still in a crouching position and slowly backed up as I drew a bit closer. Looking up at her, I was suddenly aware that she was still completely naked. I quickly looked down, face lighting up with yet another blush.

"Loo-look I re-really don't want to hurt you!" I managed to stutter out in my embarrassment.

"Of course you don't! You just want to ship me, all wrapped up in a bow, back to S.T.A.R. Labs!" She suddenly stood and thrust her arms out. As she did this, her hair blew back and eyes changed green. Vines suddenly shot out from the ground below me, grabbing my ankles and swinging me upside down in the air. Again I found myself being constricted by vines, only this time my face was at least left uncovered. Opening my eyes I realized I was face to face with her. All of her! Thankfully all the blood draining to my head hid my blush.

"Nn-no! Really! I can prove it!"

"And how might that be?" she said, her voice showing her distrust.

"My hand! Look at my left hand."

She paused, seeming to contemplate her next move. "This isn't a trick is it?' She asked, eyes lighting up green again.

"No! I promise! If I'm lying you can, throw me into the waterfall over there if you want." He said, gesturing his head towards it.

The vines near his hand shifted. Letting her eyes fade back to grey, she slowly approached him. She reached out and turned his hand outward. On the back of his hand there was a barcode tattooed on his skin. 7379. Dropping his hand, she gasped and stumbled backwards. Glancing down at her own hand, she saw the numbers 9367. The scientists gave every experiment a number. She has been called experiment number 9367 for so long, she could barely remember her real name.

Just then, the other Titans burst through the trees, all in attack positions. "Put him down now!" Screamed Robin, staff raised to strike. Realizing she was outnumbered, she did as she was told, gently laying the green teen on the ground.

The rest of the Titans began advancing on her, pushing her nearer and nearer to the cliffs edge. Realizing how dire the situation was, Beast Boy leapt up in front of the girl, arms out stretched towards his friends. "No!" he cried out. "Don't hurt her! She isn't a monster! She is just another victim of the cruelty of S.T.A.R. Labs! … Just like I was…"

The rest of the team looked at each other, slowly putting down their weapons and defenses. Seeing their compliance, Beast Boy dropped his arms to his sides and turned to look at the girl.

"What is your name?" asked Starfure is a soft, sweet voice.

"….. Natasha" said the girl in a whisper.

"Don't worry, you're safe with us." said Beast boy. "We can take you far away from this place. You will never have to return to those people ever again! We will make sure of it."

She turned from him, gazing into each individual's eyes before looking back at the green teen's eyes. She saw it, in each of their eyes. Kindness. The word was nothing, but a fairytale to her. She had never witnessed it first hand. She only knew a life of cruelty and pain. But now, she felt safe with these people. She knew she had a future with them, a family.