AN: Alright, you all probably hate me right now. Nearly a month since I've uploaded :S. Sadly, this isn't the last chapter, but I have finished the last chapters, so I will be uploading them as well. I apologize for this, and hope you won't hate me forever. Enjoy!

11

Gears and machinery lined the walls that surrounded Terra when she walked into Slade's lair. She arrived with purpose; she knew what she was going to say. Of course she would brief him on her recent actions, but she also had something she needed him to know. Her strides were confident and she held Raven's head up in a nearly arrogant manner. She wanted her demeanour to be one that would throw her teacher off guard, or at least one that would intrigue him. Although she knew what she was doing, she couldn't help but feel a tad worried about the negative outcomes she'd thought about in her mind. The former Titan didn't want to deal with any sort of back lash her mentor would show. It was a very difficult thing to decide, but Terra realized that it would be best for her to give him a piece of her mind. He was nothing without her, not the other way around, and the switched blond wanted to make him believe it.

She strolled into the well-lit part of the factory-like space and stood just below the platform on which Slade sat in his high chair. The masked villain regarded his student in slight boredom, but saw that her composure was a little bolder than he'd always known it to be. He shifted and pressed his fingers together in front of his face, leaning forward and narrowing his gaze, wondering how far Terra would take her new-found attitude.

"Well?" he asked. Terra formed one of the dark Titan's famous eyebrow raised expressions.

"Well, what?" she replied with another question. Slade set his jaw at this, but refused to show any signs of irritation to his pupil.

"Have you completed your task?" the villain spoke slowly and clearly, in a passive-aggressive voice. Terra smirked and nodded, feeling his annoyance through Raven's powers. Slade stood and placed his hands behind his back, lifting his chin and peering down at his underling. The smirk on the pseudo hero was an irritant to the super villain, and he suddenly remembered an event where the actual dark Titan had shunned him with such confidence. Slade growled under his breath, but decided not to lash out on his student with the same upset that dominated his emotional state.

Terra was surprised at how angry he was becoming, and also a tad amused. His appearance didn't show a bit of rage, but Raven's empathy revealed so much more. Her only problem lied with getting Beast Boy to a safe temporary location. She didn't worry for her sake, but her love's state of mind wasn't exactly one that would help him in light of danger. Terra had to make sure to keep her teacher's anger at a level that was high, but not high enough for him to anything drastic.

"Your demeanour is…intriguing," Slade remarked, never taking his eyes off of his seemingly antagonistic apprentice.

"I felt that it was time to get a back bone," Terra smirked. Slade paused, but then resumed normal movement. He shifted in his seat and leaned back, tilting his head upward and peering down with slight disdain.

"And this new-found confidence has surfaced for what reason?" the masked villain asked.

"There is a certain…thing that I need for you to know, and I think it's about time I told you," Terra pushed Raven's shoulders back and slowly approached the platform on which her master sat, looking him directly in the eye. She kept her small smirk, wanting to look almost arrogant in her appearance. Slade straightened in his seat, his current level of anger now making the one he had before look like slight irritation. He still wanted to hold the air of control over his student, so he kept himself from lashing out and let Terra continue.

"I am not your little slave," she stopped directly at the bottom of Slade's throne, narrowing her gaze and dropping the smirk. "I'm not a pawn, or an underling." She raised one of the dark Titan's fingers and pointed at herself. "You need me. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten half as far as you wanted to get. You came to me. You wanted me. I don't need you, and I don't want you. I can live without you." Terra took a deep breath and kept her eyes trained on her mentor's face.

Slade gritted his teeth. He'd removed his fingers from in front of his face and placed them on their respective arm rests, clenching them to control his anger. Terra smiled at the empathic waves she'd received from his fury.

"You," she said with a finger pointed at her teacher. "You can't live without me. You can't live without a little apprentice to take under your wing. You can't do your own bidding – oh no!" Terra made grand sarcastic gestures while she ranted. " You're Slade! You're the master! You need someone else to do it for you." The switched blond chuckled and shook her enemy's head. She displayed a look of pure hatred before continuing.

"You're pathetic," she spat, to which Slade stood up. The super villain's blood was boiling at this point, and he now wanted to punish his student for her disrespect. Terra watched him step down from his high chair, feeling his obvious animosity overwhelm her senses. A normal person would be afraid of this, but Terra was determined to get her point across.

"Without you, I had everything. Without me, you had nothing. Without me, you were nothing. You are nothing. You'll always be nothing." While she spoke, Slade had already come close enough to attack her. He stood directly in front of her with his chest puffed out, looking down at her with his eyes narrowed to slits.

"Do you feel important? Do you feel 'on top of the world'?" she looked up at him. "You can't even defeat a group of teenagers. You're un-important." Terra was now smiling, her smugness seeping through Raven's puppet face. Slade clenched his fist and swiftly brought it up to grip his apprentice by her cloak, but was blocked by a wall of black magic. Terra snickered at this.

"I'll make you regret those words," Slade spat.

"I'll bet you'll try," Terra smiled. Slade was finished talking. He stepped away and tensed, ready to attack. Terra stood without a care, ready for him to make his move. Slade started to advance, uttering a war cry as he raised a fist. He was about to execute a punch when something green and bright slapped his hand away.

"I thought I'd like to let you redeem yourself," Terra said, stepping away to reveal four Titans behind her. "If you think you're so big and bad, Slade," she smiled wider, "kill them yourself." The switched blond looked at the four heroes who'd entered the room.

"Wasn't it just a little too obvious when you found part of Raven's cloak? Wasn't it a bit strange when you discovered Slade's earpiece at the scene of the crime?" Terra looked back at Slade. "I wanted them alive. I wanted them to find out." She started to pace the floor. "I just figured that you can do your own dirty work for once." Terra stopped in the middle of the floor, smirking at the many confused looks she'd received. She admired the situation she'd created and was grateful for the distraction she needed. Now with Slade fighting the Titans, she would be able to vacate the area in search of her beloved.

"Have fun," she said, using Raven's powers to phase away.

"Gar?"

Machines and gears worked all around Raven as she went about on her small rocky platform. She looked around in the darkness, feeling disadvantaged without her powers to guide her. The question as to why Beast Boy had left with Terra had not been answered by any of the dark Titan's friends. He wasn't exactly one to object to her queries, but he did have a mind of his own. From what the others had told her, Terra hadn't exactly given anyone, including Garfield, an exact answer.

It startled her more when her fellow Titans had informed her that he seemed to agree with Terra's thought. She wondered whether he truly wanted to leave the team, and if so, why he chose to keep it from her. Of course it would be her that he would've left with, but the decision was such short notice, it worried her to think that he wouldn't put up at least a small protest. She would expect the blond to exit with such a cold manner, but Beast Boy was never one to shun his friends.

Raven reflected and tried to guess if she'd done anything wrong. A scary thought dawned on her that involved the green teen also leaving her once they'd left the Titans. Since they'd started dating, both Titans had agreed to never act incredibly different to each other than they had before. Raven remembered that her behaviour had at times hurt her boyfriend, and wondered if maybe she'd done it again.

"Gar," the dark Titan called again, but this time her voice cracked. The heart of the former Titan started to beat faster as Raven's thoughts began to race. She remembered a discussion she'd had with Beast Boy about Terra. She knew what they'd both decided to do in light of such an incident, or rather, what she'd told him they'd do in light of such an incident, and even though it had been her idea, Raven felt a little pang of hurt when she imagined Beast Boy executing it.

"Gar, please," she called out, hearing the echo of her own voice. The sound of footsteps reached Raven's ears, and she whipped the blonde's head around in search of the source.

"Gar?" she tried, but gained no response. She advanced on her little earthy plane, but kept Terra's eyes trained on her surroundings. The footsteps were heard again, and Raven looked behind her. Nothing looked to be in the shadows, but soon one of Slade's robots launched itself at the dark Titan's platform. Raven yelped as she felt the rock tip over and leave her to land on her injured side on the floor. She let out a shriek of pain and forced herself up to see more robots approaching her, crouching to attack. Just as one was preparing to leap, a shocked gasp sounded from behind the dark Titan, making them freeze.

"You."