Chapter 21. Freedom?

Beast Boy woke up to a splitting headache. It was dark and too warm. He tried to look around to make out his surroundings and saw Meliah laying down on the floor across the cage. He crawled his way to her. She was laying on her side, her back to him.

"M… Meliah… wake up. Are you ok?" he whispered and softly tried to shake her shoulders. She woke up with a start, looking around her until she saw him. She threw her arms around his neck and started to cry.

"Gar!, Gar, how are you feeling? Are you ok?" She said when she leg go of him.

"I have a headache and I'm nauseous, but other than that I think I'm ok. What happened to me M?… I cant remember much, only that it hurt to even move"

"That sick bastard, he… never mind, you're ok now, that's all that matters"

"Meliah? . What really happened? … I think I heard you call my name but… did you do something?" For some reason he felt embarrassed, not sure what he was trying to ask and even worse, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Meliah heard his hesitation, but she was too embarrassed herself to even remember. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and said " Gar… do you trust me?" she asked softly.

"Of course, but…"

"Then trust me when I tell you that what I did, it was to save your life, just … don't ask what… ok? And when your friends find us, tell Cyborg to run more test on you to make sure that … whatever was in your system, is out"

"M, I trust you no matter what. And they are our friends, not only mine…"

'Gar? Just promise me that you'll never ask or think about it… just…" she sounded desperate. Whatever it was, she was ashamed. He could tell.

"Ok, ok, I promise…" Not sure what to think, or what to say he fell silent for a minute. " Are you…hurt?" he asked in the lowest whisper he could manage. She took a deep breath and after a few minutes of silence, she said just as low "Nothing that time wont heal". But when he tried to put his hand on her shoulder, she moved away slowly. It took a lot for her not to jerk away from him. At first he felt hurt. He would never hurt her. Surely she knew that, but when he was about to voice his thoughts, they heard muffled voices approaching. Laughing boisterously along with other noises.

"Shut up you idiot, they'll hear you"

"Don't worry about it mate, that cage is reinforced in and out. They wont be able to understand what we're saying" Said a second man and with his knuckles, knocked a few times on the metal cage to prove his point. A muffled echo was heard inside. At the bottom of the wall in front of them, they could see some stray light that had managed to get thru small cracks. The ones that at some point, she made before while trying to escape but they neglected to fix. And so they could see the passing shadows of the men outside.

"if they're still alive that is" added the first man then laughed some more.

"They better be alive or the boss wont be happy. He wants them in good health at the time of the exchange"

"Right, right. What time are we leaving?"

"The ship leaves in two hours, we have that much to…"

"Why are you idiots still here. This cage should've been loaded and on its way to the docks thirty minutes ago. Get your sorry asses moving, GO! GO! GO!" It was Alec, barking orders as always Meliah thought to herself.

Then, his cell phone rang "Hey boss.. Yeah, yeah, everything is ready. We're loading the cage with the freaks right now… yeah, the doctor is already onboard… of course we got the right one… yeah the one with the scars and…" the rest of the conversation was interrupted by the loud noise of a crane and the cage started to sway slightly making them loose their balance.

Beast Boy, who was still dizzy, fell against the wall and slid back on the floor and instinctively reached behind his neck to massage a sore spot and that's when he realized with a gasp.

"M! the collar is gone… we need to get out and…"

"Gar wait!, we cant escape just yet" she said while grabbing his shirt to sit him back down.

"What do you mean not yet"

"If we interrupt them right now, they might escape and take her away. You heard him, she's already onboard so wherever that is, we have to go along until the time is right" She yelled over the noise that echoed in the cage. With a loud "clank" the cage had been loaded on the flat bed of a medium size truck, seconds later, the engine roared to life and started to move. They leaned against one of the walls as the cage shook with every turn and obstacle on the road. It wasn't hot anymore as some of the air ventilated thru a wired opening on the top of the cage, making it brighter as well.

For a while, neither of them spoke. Each going thru recent memories or possible plans. But a question had been bugging him though and found that his curiosity was greater than the anxiety of the upcoming events.

"Hey M, can I ask you something?" he asked calmly with his head leaned against the wall and without looking at her. Meliah, on the other hand, had been lost in thought. Going back and forth between rescue and revenge ideas. His sudden words just snapped her out of her reverie. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.

"How did you know… that it wasn't your mom back at the morgue?" He asked cautiously. A small sigh of relief escaped her, not sure for how long she had been holding it.

"Um… her scars. I made them the first time I was back" she saw his surprise and continued. "it was an accident. I was so… I don't know… skittish? … that I freaked the moment she tried to embraced me. I knew she wouldn't hurt me and that's what kept me from fully turning into an animal, but I couldn't stop the claws… it took me a while to be able to let her close enough or for me to hug her back"

"So, when you saw them… were they missing or something?"

"Not only one of them was missing but, they were on the wrong side." she laughed without real humor, trying to hide the tremors of terror she was feeling at the memory of the few minutes walking down that long hallway to identify the body of her mother. Garfield saw the sad look in her eyes "Don't worry M, in a few minutes we'll escape this prison. You'll take your mom and I'll take care of those bastards" He smiled trying to show his optimism. Mostly for her but also in part for himself, to convince himself that what he was about to do was nothing more than another mission. He just didn't want to think about the fact that, this entire ordeal was beyond his training and he didn't know what to expect.

"No Gar. We are taking care of those bastards. I have many bones to pick with them" and she smiled. Suddenly her eyes were crystallized blue again and her smile not only turned confident and brave, but evil. He's only seen that smile on one other person… Rage, and he couldn't help but smile too.

They came to an abrupt holt. They heard men shouting, running about. Others barking orders left and right and the unmistakable sound of a cargo crane lifting the cage one more time. Finally down on the ground, they heard chains being hooked around the cage.

"Here" she said handing him the broken collar. "In case they decide to check up on us before we get a chance to get out" He did as she asked. The broken collards fell on their necks. There was a lot of commotion outside but finally the ship started to move. A small latch was opened on the far side from the outside. They tensed and backed away a few steps but a wrinkled face greeted them.

"Mr. Jacobs!" gasped Meliah and run to the window. It was half the size of the man's face. Beast Boy followed her and heard them talk in hushed voices.

"Oh child. I would like to say I'm happy to see you again, but under this circumstances, I would've rather never again. I was so relieved when that nice young man helped you escape from the factory, but the moment I saw your mother I had to do something to let you know."

"You mean you did the mask for that poor woman?" there was horror in her eyes.

"Yes. She had died already before I had the idea. They asked me to dispose of the body, just to give this old man something to do, but they didn't know about my plan until it was too late"

"You mean they found out? How?"

"I told him of course. A bit of revenge… it felt good to see his face going white in horror" The old man smiled but winced. that's when they noticed the fresh scar. It started from the corner of his chin and ran down along his jaw line and ended half way down his neck.

"Dude, they could have kill you" said Beast Boy with wide eyes speaking for the first time to the man.

"I'm not afraid to die son. I would've expired a long time ago but she needed protecting. What little I could do for her to keep her alive" he said nodding towards Meliah.

"I'm just glad they didn't kill you Mr. Jacobs"

"Oh he wanted to but I offered him my last deal. I told him the collars were made specially for your kind and since he was running out of artillery to capture you, he accepted right away" He said with a knowing smile. But close by there were shouts and men running around. A helicopter was approaching. "Quick child. Your mother will be on that helicopter, they're dropping her off. Get her and get out. Your powers should be back to normal now… I cant do anything about the darts but I did made the door weaker…. I have to go child. Good luck!" and with, the old men closed the little gate in a hurry.

"M, who was that?"

"Mr. Jacobs, the only person that ever showed me any kindness in this hell" they felt the rumble on the floor from the helicopter's landing.

"What are we going to do about the darts. We cant pass out in the middle of escaping"

"Ok, here is what you do, as soon as you feel you've been shot, morph into something else, enough times until you don't feel sleepy anymore. That'll make your metabolism burn the sedatives faster. The power canceling solution wont work properly if the metabolism isn't slow enough. So just keep moving"

He nodded once, jaw set and narrowed eyes. "You ready M?"

"As ready as I'll ever be" she smiled. He took her hand and squeezed it once. "How about we go big" he said with a toothy grin. "Then big it is" she said while her eyes crystallized one more time, stepped away from him and both started to grow enough that the cage was broken in pieces and two mighty T-Rexes roared furiously.

It had been so unexpected that the men had not had a chance to get prepared. The green one headed towards the back side of the ship, taking long strides, smashing cages and crates on his way to the choppers already in motion and with its big mouth, grabbed one the helicopters mid air by its landing gear and smashed it against the other one that was also taking off. The pilots managed to jump off right before the explosion.

Meliah on the other side had gone the opposite direction towards the chopper that had just landed. Men were running around in terror at the loose animals. Others were brave enough to aim and shot tranquilizers but the brown dinosaur swung its tale with such force that sent many of them flying overboard or thrown across the deck into boxes and crates resulting in severe injuries.

Then the darts started to fly but bounced off the thick scaly skin of the reptiles. Beast Boy showed the serrated rows of teeth in a grin but noticed more men were coming after the others were down. He managed to throw an empty cage towards the door that led to the quarters down below where more men were coming out of. But as he prepared to charge at a jeep with a machine gun on top ready to fire, other hunter managed to shoot more darts that he couldn't avoid. Soon he started to feel the effects but quickly remembered what Meliah had told him and with a spark of energy, he shifted into a raptor and jumped high enough to reach the vehicle and shifted again mid air into a mammoth and smashed it in pieces while the men run away. Then turned into a cheetah and pounced at the remaining men and that's when a shower of star bolts destroyed a second jeep that he hadn't seen.

Meliah had managed to get rid off the men shooting at her at close range and out f the corner of her eye, saw two figures getting out of the helicopter, one dragging someone. She quickly turned into a cheetah and pounced and clawed her way to them. One of them was her mother and she was being pushed by no other than her father. The brown cat turned into a dinosaur again and roared with all her might.

Beast boy had seen her intention and also headed over to her now that most of the man had been either thrown overboard or disarmed while running away.

It was her father, or rather, the man that had conceived her. She turned back human and glared at him "You!" she said with such disgust that distorted her face with that one word.

"Hello sweetheart, you look nice" he said while holding his ex wife by the neck with his arm and a gun to her temple with the other.

"Let her go you prick. What the hell do you want" Said Beast Boy the moment he arrived by Meliah's side.

"Garfield, long time no see dear boy. I must say, I'm glad you're alive. Make my plans go easier."

"What plans!" Beast Boy said taking his fighting stance ready to attack.

"No, no, no… I wouldn't do that if I were you." the man said and shoved the gun to her temple. Beast Boy stopped short. Meliah gasped. "You know kid, when Alec told me that my precious daughter had escaped and found refuge with a green freak like her I couldn't believe him. I was so sure you had died all those years ago with your folks in that boating accident that I never gave you a second thought"

"Shut up, you know nothing about how my parents died"

"Oh but I do. You see, I had follow little Meliah to their boat. And I couldn't let go of such a goldmine that I had to do something about it…"

Beast Boy lost all color for a moment "What. Did. You. Do?" He said, his knuckles white from rage while Meliah just glared.

"Aw come on kid, do you really want me to say it?" The man said mockingly with a sick grin of satisfaction on his face. Meliah gasped at the realization.

"No…" she whispered. Her mother, who was fighting to get free at the moment, loosen his arm enough to speak. "You bastard!" she yelled and bit into his arm. He didn't let go but in one move, he fired the gun. Mother and daughter screamed but after everyone opened their eyes, the hand that held the gun, along with the loose bullet were encased in dark energy and right before his eyes, Meliah's father saw with shock how a cloaked figure rose from a dark spot on the ground and when the figure lifted her face, saw two white glowing eyes that seemed to peer into his very soul.

"Not in my watch" Raven said in an angry monotone. A chill ran down his spine and let go of the woman who was just as surprised and more, still in shock of having escaped from a bullet that was suspended mere centimeters from her head. Meliah then jumped to her side, helping her off the floor while Beast Boy, who had been rooted in his spot, was now breathing faster and furiously turned into a gorilla and jumped towards the man and with a swing of his massive arm, sent the man flying across the deck. The man was now bleeding from his temple but managed to get up and took a gun and turned to aim when a loud roar and a mouth full of sharp teeth was in front of his face.

A loud explosion was heard on the other side. There was smoke coming from the entrance to the lower level that Beast Boy had blocked earlier and more men shooting at anything that run or fly. There was another explosion and Alec emerged from the control tower. A machine gun on his left hand and a dart rifle on the right and walked thru the debris, looking around the scene before him. A flying girl shooting green lasers from her eyes, the three men in masks, bo staffs in hand, fending off bullets and darts while kicking the feet of his men and trapping them in rubbery exes. Then he saw Meliah trying to carry her mother, one of her arms around Meliah's neck. Alec growled and bit into his cigarette and took aim with the machine gun at the two women. But out of no where he was knocked out by a sonic blast.

"Booyah!… not this time bastard" Cyborg yelled from a few feet away and run to help the others leaving an unconscious hunter behind him.

Meliah was almost running with her mother across the deck. Two men came from behind the rubble, whips in hand and lashed at women. Meliah was quicker and grabbed the leather material with her free hand and pulled. The man on the other end of it stumbled and bumped into the other one. "You don't want to do that" she warned and with a flick of her hand she lashed the whip at one of the man and caught him by the neck. The man fell unconscious at her feet next to his partner who had been stabbed from behind by Mr. Jacobs.

"How did that feel?" The old man mocked. "Sorry I had to do that in front of you ladies, but it had to be done… come this way" without a word they followed the old man towards a secluded space. Meliah's mother was hurt however she had been limping badly but had endured the pain while running with Meliah's help, but now the wound was bleeding. She had several bruises on her face and a cut on her lower lip but finally, Meliah was able to hold her mother again.

"My dear girl, my sweet Meliah, I'm so glad your alive"

"Oh mom, look at you, they hurt you but I promise you they'll pay with their lives" Meliah said between sobs.

"No dear, that's not the answer. don't become heartless like they did"

"You expect me to have mercy on those bastards after all they have put us thru? After what he put us thru?"

"I just don't want you to make the same mistakes" The mother said with pleading eyes.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was enraged, to say the least. To realized that his parent's death was caused by this man. This man that, that not only did he abused his own daughter, but also sabotaged the boat were his parents perished. The pain of realizing that the storm wasn't to blame, or a faulty engine. That otherwise, they would have been able to overcome the current and maybe never gotten on the course of the waterfall.

All the penned up frustration and fears and anger were surfacing at a brutal pace and he was letting it all go while he, kicked, threw, punched the man that by now was barely alive. At some point, he was in his human form over the man, punching his face left and right without restriction.

Raven was now worried. Never had she seen or sensed his anger and rage in such a crude manner, so out of control that within seconds, the Beast made its appearance. It roared furiously and grabbed the man by the legs and swung him over his head and smash it on the ground with a sick thud.

"BEAST BOY STOP!" Yelled Raven over the havoc but the Beast wasn't listening. "Beast Boy we don't kill people… you… don't kill people, no matter how bad they are… don't start now… don't let rage consume you."

The Beast roared to the skies and was about to bring its massive arms and fists onto the man's head when his hands stopped inches away from the man. His hands were encaged in dark energy and the Beast roared in frustration and sharply turned to Raven. But she wasn't afraid. Because in that furious expression, his eyes were sad and pleading.

"Beast Boy, this is not who you are… don't become the monster they want you to be…" The Beast was growling, trying to comprehend why the one he wanted for his mate, didn't let him kill the reason his master was in such pain. Raven approached him slowly. He was crouched on the floor iin front of her now. His claws were still bound but he didn't fight it.

"Beast, you're not a monster… don't let Beast Boy commit a crime he'll regret the rest of his life… please" she pleaded and came closer still. And slowly, very softly she run her fingers on his furry face. The Beast whimpered and closed his eyes. She made the dark energy disappear and his claws were free.

Meliah's instincts were wide awake. She was watching Raven and the Beast, and how the fearless sorceress was trying to calm the Beast down. She thought that maybe she was asking the Beast the same thing her mother was asking of her. To not cross the line where there was no return. But her eyes averted to a sudden movement to the far left.

Alec rose from the debris and threw a grenade in Raven's direction. "RAVEN LOOK OUT!" . Suddenly, the Beast opened his eyes and swung his arm over Raven and protected her with his body while throwing the man away from the explosion as well, while Meliah turned into a cheetah and charged towards the mercenary, a few feet from him and she turned into a rhino, colliding head on and knocking him out for good. The last thing Raven heard was his roar and Meliah's far cry to look out before everything was silent.