Slade nodded. "Why do you have your powers?"
"No one knows. Some think it was the disease, other's think it was the cure. But no one really knows."
Beast Boy watched as Slade's eyes narrowed. Every verbal test had something more to do with diseases, always going back to Sakutia. Why did Slade keep asking this? More than likely trying to get information on the virus from the only survivor of it. He wanted to find out what could happen if anyone else survived.
Raven walked down the street towards the book store. There was too much tension back at the tower. Jinx and Bumble Bee were competing for Cyborg's attention, Shaman and Robin worked constantly at the computer trying to find clues, or were versing Speedy and Mas y Menos at the Gamestation. Turned out that Shaman was pretty darn good. Aqualad kept arguing with Speedy about what to eat. Cyborg didn't care what either had as long as there was meat, but Aqualad refused to have any form of seafood which was Speedy's favorite.
Overall, everyone was arguing with everyone.
Raven walked into the store when her psychic readings started going off the chart. She closed her eyes tightly after feeling...pain? From whom? Beast Boy! She concentrated for a few moments before her eyes opened faster than saying her usual mantra at its fastest. She pulled out her communicator. "Robin, I know where Beast Boy is."
They all stood outside of the book store. As soon as Robin got the call, he and all the others rushed off and was there in 13 minutes. A manhole was open in the sewer where Raven had gone down. "Well yall, it looks like that's where we need to go." Cyborg stated bluntly. Shaman (who now had yellow skin) smiled. There was no doubt that Raven hadn't waited for them. He jumped in face first, turning into water so he could travel in the current down there. One by one they all went down into the sewer to track down Beast Boy and Slade.
As the last of them went down, the camera that had been watching them from the alley drove back to the slade bot that had been controlling it.
Raven shadow phased quickly through the tunnels underneath the city. She knew she should've waited for Robin and the others, but she needed to find and free Beast Boy, before she sent him to another dimension for making her worry so much. She focused every now and then to destroy the camera's that she came across. Gliding over the water for a little over a half hour she saw the door that led to Beast Boy, right below Titans Tower. Slade had rebuilt here? It wouldn't seem outrageous for him to return to a place that had been destroyed before.
As she reached for the handle, a huge surge of water splashed up in front of her. She fell back into the water, the black aura surrounding her hands to deal with her attacker. A black raven claw charged the blue skinned friend of Beast Boy, Shaman.
"Jeesh Rae! You almost gave me a heart attack...where are we?" Raven dropped one of her hands while the other made an aura on the door, opening it. She heard water splashing behind her, she sensed it was Mas y Menos, with the others close behind. Shaman turned into air and glided through the door slowly.
Robin and Starfire landed near Raven and Shaman where they had paused. Each titan (including Terra, Kid Flash, Shaman, and the Titans East) crept in slowly as they now could hear Slade and Beast Boy talking, clear as crystal.
"Slade, I don't" Beast Boy was interrupted by Slade punching him in the stomach.
"It's 'Master' to you Changeling." Beast Boy grunted in pain. It was actually a cool name aside from the fact that Slade gave it to him.
"Very well...master, I no longer have to learn philosophy or logic from you." Slade turned to him. Anyone within earshot could hear the venom in Beast Boy's words.
And why, pray tell, do you no longer have to learn what I have to teach?"
"Because you said I wouldn't if I came up with a good reason not too. And that reason would be that it is far more important to learn from experiencing what life has to offer, or what we could take than simply learning the theory from a master." Beast Boy's eyes narrowed and his voice got softer with each passing word. That was until Slade's foot collided with Beast Boy's head. He stopped concentrating on the stars when Slade's knee went into his stomach.
"Good try, apprentice. But what you failed to state was that learning the theory is only the first step. You need to learn all you can before applying it. You can't expect to tell me that you can speak any new language instantaneously. It requires learning the vowels, the constants, the subtle differences in tone. Learning the alphabet before learning the words, before learning how to say the sentences. You had flaws in your statement, so it is no good." He got off of the choking Beast Boy.
Beast Boy glared at Slade and rushed him. Slade turned and barely leaped out of the way as a King Cobra nipped at his legs. A lion's claw, a gorilla's fist, a tiger's fangs. Slade was working overtime to avoid these dangerous animals. But getting the skunk's spray off of his uniform would be large waste of time, easier to make better armor. His young protege no longer relied on the larger, more powerful animals. He made great use of smaller ones that did very little. The monkey flying around around his armor, the flying squirrel clawing at his legs, the fire-ant, he had grown very affective at using the smaller animals as well as the larger ones.
Finally after twirling around and bringing his bo-staff around and hitting the stallion on the head, knocking him to the ground as a human again. "Changeling, I offer all my knowledge, all my power and you try and get out of it. You are now more effective than all of the titans in fighting because you have become unpredictable. You can adapt to any situation and to any enemy because of me. But all you can think about is how much YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO IT! Your worthless friends distract you. Maybe I should do you a favor and get rid of that distraction?"
Beast Boy grimaced. "No, please dude, I'll do whatever you ask. Learn whatever you wish to teach."
Slade nodded. "Then you will kill the guests watching us in the doorway."
Beast Boy turned quickly to see his friends shocked faces at being discovered. He looked right and left to come up with a...strategy. An evil smirk crossed Beast Boys' face. "No." He quickly turned into a cheetah and charged the generator that powered the receiver to cases and the button that Slade kept on him.
"Changeling!" Slade called, his voice full of anger. He reached towards the button and pressed it at the same moment a gorilla's fist smashed the generator. His eye narrowed as he subtly typed a code in his arm. Another apprentice lost.
"New deal Slade, we kick your butt here and you go to jail, or you give up peacefully and you still go to jail." Beast Boy exclaimed full of confidence...until about 100 of the largest drones Slade had burst into the room. Slade ran to his controller and pulled a switch, activating the self-destruct of the base.
"Another day, Titans. We shall face each other another day."
"Titans Go!" Both Bee and Robin shouted as they all tried getting out of there.
"Well Dudes and dudettes! That is the story of how the coolest and best looking Titan, who is yours truly, handled dealing with Slade." Beast Boy's smug look amused almost all of them.
"Well Beast Boy, maybe some day you could be renamed Changeling." Robin chuckled. He looked around, everyone was celebrating. There was pizza, pizza, pizza, tofu waffles, and pizza. Cyborg had finished setting up the probe thingamajig from the time that Robin was Slade's apprentice, and only Raven was left to get the small capsules out of her. The sound of someone barfing interrupted his musings. "What's the matter Shaman, ate pizza?" Jinx asked the somewhat pale blue teen.
He fell down, slightly twitching. "I wish." was all he said. Everyone stared as Shaman seemed to have a seizure. Cyborg quickly picked him up and ran him to the infirmiry.
Beast Boy, Raven, and Robin sat outside. Beast Boy because one of his best friends was sick, Raven because she felt like she needed to talk to him again, and Robin to apologize again and offer him a spot with the titans. They sat waiting for about 2 hours when a very pale Cyborg came out. "You are not going to like this guys."
Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy looked at each other slightly. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's got sakutia."