A/N: This chapter is bigger than I anticipated. Originally I wanted to conclude the battle at Murakami High School, then reveal the man in the expensive suit's identity, but I was hit by sudden inspiration and the conclusion of the battle kind of took a life of it's own. We've still got a few chapters to go until we get to the anniversary party, hopefully Beastboy and Raven can make it there intact.
I'd like to thank Shadico, TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne, JasonVUK, 5dRaWkCab, kaitlynchosenisme, and koryandrs for the reviews.
-I will say in this story I like to think of the Beast as a primal part of Garfield that has kind of gone rogue, it is not easily controlled and potentially dangerous so Gar keeps it suppressed. Sometimes that isn't the best answer though.
-Red X might make another appearance if I feel it'll make sense.
-I know I should spell Beastboy as Beast Boy, but that the one thing I get a little lazy on. When I wrote Primal Madness, I would constantly make that typo, to the point that in future stories I just decided to keep it as one word. The other mistakes are probably from not taking an english and/or writing class in awhile.
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Stacy Rehnquist continued to watch the TV in horror. The camera from a news helicopter was showing the battle from a safe distance away, and it wasn't looking good for the Titans. Stacy cringed as she saw Garfield holding his limp right arm, these golems were brutalizing him. Still he fought on and the gamer girl found herself both impressed and horrified at the same time for her childhood friend. She continued to watch as the Titans regrouped and then…
…And then she watched as Garfield kissed Raven…
Stacy wasn't aware her jaw had dropped, a myriad of emotions flowed through her all at once, anger, jealousy and finally, sadness. The way he was kissing her, holding her as if she was the most precious thing to him on the planet, it was obvious to the petite brown-haired girl now. She had lost the battle for Garfield's heart. Regret replaced the sadness, if only she had tried to contact him sooner, if only she wasn't so self-absorbed with her own life! If only…
…If only she had told him she had loved him sooner…why didn't she do that years ago?
The gamer girl shook her head sadly, it was far too late now, her right fist slammed down onto the armrest of her chair as bitter tears began to roll down her face.
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This time Raven managed to erect a barrier large enough to protect all of her friends, all but Beastboy, who was standing before her, screaming in agony. A moment later a shockwave with the force of a bus at top speed assaulted her shield, the cloaked Titan dug in her feet, strengthening the barrier. She was also being buffeted by Beastboy's emotional aura, which was shining so bright in her mind's eye that it was blinding her.
Cyborg was busy checking his forearm readout, the data he it was feeding him caused a frown to cross his lips. "I'm picking up some strange energy readings from BB."
"What kind of readings?" Raven asked, Cyborg tapped the screen on his forearm.
"I'm not sure, my sensors can't identify it, all I know is that it's growing at an alarming rate." The bionic Titan reported, shifting Robin's unconscious form so that he was next to Starfire, also still unconscious. Raven frowned as she tried to split some of her focus into digesting what he had just said.
"It might be magical in nature." Raven suggested.
"Man, since when does Beastboy do anything magical?" Cyborg questioned, Raven blinked, he had a point.
"Never." She answered simply, the sorceress couldn't help but worry about what her crush was attempting to do. Surely he didn't intend to sacrifice himself, not after what they just shared.
The screaming stopped and both Titans looked over to him. The changeling had hunched over, his broken right arm twisting and spasming as the bones and muscle were forcefully mended. Beastboy clenched his teeth down so tight he thought they were going to break apart. Using all his willpower, he tried to suppress the pain he was feeling back down to a more manageable degree, but it was like trying to keep a boat steady during a hurricane. Spaghetti-thin bolts of electricity began dancing around his body and started to reach out across the battlefield like fingers, raking across Raven's shield and reaching for the golems. The stony creatures themselves were forced to give up their advance and had to dig in their feet as well to be kept from being swept away.
The bolts of electricity around the changeling thickened, looking like snakes as they traveled across the ground, Raven's barrier, the sky, everywhere the electricity touched was followed by chunks of rock and dust spraying up into the air. Beastboy could feel his body begin to rip apart and he fought to keep it intact, fought it with every fiber in his being. He could tell though, that this was a battle he couldn't win.
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A deep frown was etched into the facial features of the man in the expensive suit. This had not factored into his plans and he had made extra care to include all factors in his plan. He didn't know what the changeling was doing, but he didn't like it, not one bit.
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Raven and Cyborg watched nervously from within her barrier as chunks of rock and rubble began to float lazily into the air around them. The cloaked sorceress reinforced the dark energy shield, wanting to make sure it held against the storm that was brewing outside of it.
"Gar!" Raven called out, "Whatever you're doing, you need to stop! It's tearing you apart!" she pleaded, Beastboy heard her, but he was unable to reply, to do so would mean he'd have to open his mouth and if he did that, all she would hear were his screams of pain.
He felt his skin expanding, his bones growing, his muscles twitching, his whole body was on fire. It was nothing like his transformation into a dragon a few years back. He had forced himself to morph back then, this time it was his body that was forcing him to morph and he didn't know if his sanity could take it.
Cyborg risked a quick scan on his green friend and didn't like the results one bit. "The amount of stress his body is under, most people would be dead right now."
"Gar's not most people, whatever this is, he'll survive it." Raven's lips tightened into a grim line. "He has to."
The electricity around the changeling had grown even larger, now as thick as a tree trunk as the tendrils lashed against her barrier. The debris that was lazily floating in the air moments before was starting to spiral around the battlefield at a brisk pace, gaining speed with every second. The golems, their feet dug in to prevent being swept away were starting to dig trenches into the ground as the strong winds forcibly budged them. Beastboy was oblivious to all of these things however, his entire focus on keeping himself from breaking.
"Well done Garfield, just one more push and it'll all be over." The Beast's voice said to him.
The resulting power that swept through the emerald Titan's veins was enough to tear his lips from each other, but instead of a scream of pain, there was a roar of anger, a roar that was unlike anything human or animal. The violent winds soon became a powerful tornado, centered around the changeling himself.
"Hang on!" Raven shouted, doing her best to hold her barrier, it was starting to get difficult between the high speed winds and the debris ranging from fist-sized rocks to vehicle-sized slabs of concrete that kept crashing onto it. Something bright flashed in the sky and the dark girl looked up just in time to see a pillar of lightning come crashing down from it. She didn't even have time to utter a curse as the lightning struck and engulfed Beastboy. Then there was no time for anything else as a second shockwave, stronger than the first, buffeted the shield.
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The screen on Stacy's TV suddenly went to static, the last image that the camera caught was a giant lightning bolt crashing down onto Garfield. Stacy gasped in shock, could anyone survive a direct hit from a lightning bolt?
Was Garfield dead?
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The man in the expensive suit was forced to look away from the binoculars as the lightning bolt crashed down at the ruins of Murakami High School. The flash too bright for his eyes, he growled and tapped his headset.
"What the hell was that?" He demanded into the mic.
"We don't know sir." The voice of the head scientist answered, The man growled and turned his headset off again. Damn this changeling, was he going to ruin everything?
(Scene Break)********************
Raven didn't dare take her shield down, although the storm raging outside her barrier had calmed somewhat. The pieces of debris as big as a car zipping around outside was an obvious sign that it still wasn't safe. She spotted two of the three remaining golems in front of her, both staggering slowly to their feet, probably getting knocked down when the huge lightning bolt struck.
The dark girl's attention refocused on the cloud of dust that stood between her and the two golems. She could sense the savage instinct to fight from that area, which could only mean that the Beast had emerged again. However, she had never felt it as thick as she did now, it felt like she was being smothered by the lycanthrope's desire to destroy, an invisible force attempting to crush her and everything else around it.
She watched as the dust cloud surrounding the Beast dissipated, revealing a much larger than normal werewolf than before. Its claws seemed longer, its muscles larger, and there were strange black markings all over its back. A deep growl rumbled low in its throat, aside from the intense winds picking up the mane of fur from the back of its head and tossing it every which way, the lycanthrope stood as still as a statue. Eventually the wind died down and the debris that was being tossed all around in the air came crashing back down piece by piece. Some of them large enough that when they impacted solid ground Raven felt her teeth rattle.
Silence finally settled onto the ruins of Murakami High, for a brief moment all was still. The quiet was short-lived, quickly broken by the low rumbling growl of the Beast, which was still unmoving. Then all at once the lycanthrope tensed, reared back and then brought its face forward, opening its jaws wide as it emitted a terrifying roar. Raven saw an almost invisible force leave the green creature's mouth, gliding through the air until it made contact with the cracked golem, shattering the rocky monstrosity into countless pieces.
Its brethren counterattacked, firing its left hand at the Beast. Faster than an eyeblink, the lycanthrope dodged the fist and moved forward until it was standing right in front of the stony creature. It didn't even have time to react as the Beast grabbed the golem's face with its massive right hand, its sensitive ears picked up the third golem coming at it fast from behind. Gripping the golem's face tightly with its right hand, the Beast twisted around and tossed the rocky monstrosity into its twin, knocking both out of the air. They landed on solid ground in a pile and the green lycanthrope further embedded them into the dirt by jumping and landing on top of them. The Beast then leapt straight up into the air, making a horizontal slashing motion towards the downed golems with his right claw. Once again, a near-invisible force sprang forth from the green monster's slash and slammed into the stony creatures, dust and debris shot out from the point of the invisible force's impact. The Beast landed sixty feet away in a crouch, a growl rumbling in its throat as it waited for the dust to clear.
"Man I don't know if I'll ever get used to BB doing that, it always feels weird." Cyborg said to Raven.
"This isn't Beastboy, not this time." The dark girl clarified, her eyes wide in disbelief. What had Garfield done? What she sensed from the lycanthrope was nothing like the previous times. Raven desperately searched the Beast's aura, trying to find any shred of Garfield in it, and failing. Was he gone? The dark girl felt her eyes grow wet, but she refused to let the tears fall, he had to still be in there somewhere, he wouldn't be dumb enough to just sacrifice himself.
The dust cloud shifted and a dark-brown blur shot from it towards the Beast. The golem, parallel to the ground in mid-air and legless from detonating them for an extra boost, attempted to punch the green creature in the face with its left hand. With amazing reflexes the Beast ducked under the attack and then with a snarl, drove its right claw into and through the golem's midsection. The rocky monstrosity almost seemed to fold up like an accordion from the brutal assault, the lycanthrope's right hand jutting out from its back. Taking its free hand, the Beast gripped the hole it had made in the golem's stomach and pulled, tearing the stony creature in half at the waist. The green monster roared in triumph, holding the two halves of the golem like a trophy while Cyborg and Raven looked on in horror at the brutality.
The remaining golem sprang forth from the now dissipated dust cloud, heading straight for the emerald lycanthrope. Seeing this, the Beast waited for the rocky monstrosity to get within melee range then sandwiched the golem between the two halves of its brethren. Still the stone creature kept pushing forward and the Beast snarled, opening its jaw wide to reveal its sharp fangs before sinking them into the left side of the golem's neck, right where it met the left shoulder. Using no hands, the giant lycanthrope actually lifted the golem off its feet and began to shake it like a rabid dog, occasionally slamming it into the ground before lifting it back up to violently shake once more.
"Raven." Cyborg spoke suddenly, "If B's not in control, we have to think about taking him down, the Beast on the loose in the city is very bad."
"I know." Raven replied, unable to keep a tremor out of her voice.
"Do you think there's any way you could get through to him?" The bionic Titan asked softly, he examined his dark friend closely, her violet eyes, usually cold, were warm with emotion.
"I don't know." She answered, "I can try."
"Okay." Cyborg said, his lips tightening into a grim line. He didn't like seeing Raven like this, seeing her kiss Beastboy was a shocker, but it was a welcome one. It was about time the girl had some happiness in her life and to have it taken away so suddenly must be jarring. The bionic Titan made a mental note to ram his fist down the throat of whoever created these damned golems, forcing his green friend into such a desperate measure.
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His lips peeled back into a snarl as he continued to look through the binoculars. The man in the expensive suit did not like how the battle was progressing. His creation had the Titans against the ropes, but somehow the changeling turned into some monster that had single-handedly turned the tide. He took a deep breath to calm himself, it was only a setback, but it was a very annoying one.
"Initiate the 'Clean Slate' program." He spoke into his headset.
"Sir? Are you sure?" The voice on the other end asked nervously.
"More than sure." His expression grew cold, "Do it."
(Scene Break)********************
The Beast slammed the golem one more time into the ground before tossing the stone creature into the air behind it. The golem landed about ninety feet away, cracks and pieces of rock were missing all over its body, but it still rose quickly to its feet, the glowing lifeless eyes turning to focus on the lycanthrope. It didn't move to attack right away like it had been doing the entire battle, instead its eyes flashed and the pieces of its fallen brethren suddenly lifted up and began speeding toward it.
"Cyborg, can you figure out what the heck that golem is doing?" Raven asked, keeping her barrier up to prevent any stray pieces of golem from hitting them or the injured Robin and Starfire. Cyborg was watching the readouts of his sensors on the tiny screen in his forearm, a scowl on his face.
"Nothing good." The bionic Titan stated.
The Beast also sensed that something was amiss, instinct told it to not engage the golem as more and more pieces of its fallen clones began piling up on it. The lycanthrope watched as the rocks began to warp and bend, reshaping the golem until it was once again in its giant form. The transformation wasn't completely flawless however. Its right leg up to its knee was missing as well as its left arm up to its shoulder. The giant stone goliath fell to its left knee and braced itself with its right arm to keep from falling on its face. Yellow lines of energy coursed throughout its body and as the Titans and the Beast watched, they began to pulse more and more rapidly.
"Energy readings from rockface there are rapidly increasing." Cyborg reported, Raven gasped as she realized what it intended to do.
"It's going to self-destruct!" The cloaked girl exclaimed.
Cyborg visibly winced, "If that thing explodes it'll take out a few city blocks, the casualties will be massive."
Raven stared helplessly at the two combatants before her, even if she was at full strength she wouldn't be able to contain an explosion that powerful. Hell, she wasn't even sure if she could teleport herself and her friends to a safe distance, so much energy had gone into keeping Starfire stable. Was this how it was going to end?
She noticed that the Beast was looking at her, its nostrils flaring as it caught her scent, it seemed to be studying her. Suddenly, the green monster bared its fangs and took off, straight for the giant golem. Even in its heightened form, the Beast was still just barely above the massive golem's waist. The jade lycanthrope wrapped its arms around the stone monstrosity's torso and leapt forward, high into the air, easily clearing the scorched battlefield of Murakami High to land on the side of a skyscraper. Bending its knees, the Beast leapt again, leaping higher and onto the side of another skyscraper on the opposite side. Using this method of wall jumping, it rapidly gained altitude.
"I don't believe it, I think the Beast is actually trying to get that golem as far away from the city before it detonates!" Raven said.
"Well it better move fast, according to my estimation its only got fifteen seconds left." Cyborg stated, glancing down at his forearm readout occasionally.
The Beast was panting heavily as it leapt yet again, it was almost to the top of the two skyscrapers now. The golem was completely unresponsive, the yellow lines of energy pulsing very rapidly. The green monster knew that was not a good sign and that the violet-haired girl would be killed if it didn't get this thing away from her.
"Ten seconds." Cyborg announced, Raven's eyes were glued on the two figures hastily heading to the top of the large buildings.
"Come on Garfield." She whispered to herself.
The emerald lycanthrope finally reached the top of one of the skyscrapers, realizing that this was not far enough to keep her safe, it gathered its legs under it and performed the highest jump it could muster.
"Five seconds!" Cyborg said, "Brace for impact!"
Raven grit her teeth, focusing on her barrier, she closed her eyes and made a silent prayer for Garfield.
The jump the Beast had made was impressive, but it sensed it still was not far enough, it needed to get the rock creature higher. Getting an idea, the lycanthrope tossed the giant golem straight upward into the air with all its strength, watching as it became a small figure in the sky. The Beast actually grinned toothily and was just beginning to descend when the golem exploded and its vision became filled with fire.
Raven heard the boom of the explosion, her eyes still closed, she braced for the worst. When nothing happened after several long moments she opened her eyes to discover that the city block was still intact. Looking up, the cloaked Titan saw the huge ball of fire in the sky. Immediately she stretched out her senses, to try and find the Beast, and found nothing.
A heavy hand fell gently upon her shoulder and she heard Cyborg's familiar voice. "Raven I'm sorry…B was a hero until the very end…" He spoke softly, Raven continued to stubbornly search the skies, looking for any sign of the green shapeshifter. "We need to get Robin and Starfire back to the tower."
"In a minute." Raven replied, steel in her voice.
"Raven…"
"I said in a minute Cyborg!" She turned to glare at him, although her voice was controlled, the wetness in her eyes was not. Angrily she shrugged her bionic friend's hand off her shoulder and took flight, heading for the pair of skyscapers the Beast had ascended seconds ago.
She refused to believe Garfield was dead. After everything they'd been through, all the close calls they survived, to be done in by some blasted walking rock pile was unimaginable. He wasn't getting off the hook that easy, not after that kiss he gave her.
The dark girl reached the rooftops of one of the buildings and immediately began looking around, frustratingly she found nothing out of the ordinary, looking back up in the sky, the giant fireball had finally disappeared, leaving behind a black smoke cloud. Again she stretched her senses out, probing for the changeling, but once again, she found nothing.
Despair began to descend on her like a heavy shroud, was she destined to suffer like this? Would happiness always be out of her reach? Before becoming the gem she was always afraid of getting too close to her team, as it would make things worse on that fateful day. Back then she was the one sacrificing herself, she remembered looks of her friends, the pain in their eyes at the thought of losing her, she had shut off her feelings at that point, resolutely doing what she felt had to be done. Now the dark girl was the one who had witnessed someone important to her sacrifice themselves to save her and the feeling it left in her gut was terrible.
Angrily she shook off the feeling of despair, she would not give up, not until she had some concrete evidence that Garfield was really gone. Raven flew to the opposite skyscraper and was finally rewarded for her efforts, in the center of the rooftop was a hole, one big enough to be made by a large lycanthrope. Relief quickly turned to hesitation, what if the Beast was in control still? What if Garfield hadn't survived after all? Hovering a safe distance from the hole, Raven slowly peered in….
Something large jumped out of the hole, Raven felt powerful hands grab her shoulders as the large form plucked her out of mid-air and slammed her painfully onto her spine on the rooftop. The cloaked Titan let out a grunt and found herself looking right into the glowing white pupil-less eyes of the Beast. The creature was smoking, several burns littered its body, but it was still very much alive, and it was growling at her.
Raven tensed, she was weakened and if it came down to a fight she'd lose and lose badly. Still, the Beast hadn't shred her to pieces yet and she took that as a good sign. The lycanthrope's nostrils flared as it began sniffing her, its snout merely centimeters from her face. The dark girl kept her composure, not wishing to provoke the monster any further. Instead she stared coolly into the eyes of the Beast with her trademark stare.
"Give him back." Raven spoke in her monotone, the Beast froze and its eyes narrowed, but she wouldn't allow herself to be intimidated. "Garfield, give him back."
Hot breath assaulted the sorceress' face as the Beast roared, Raven's first instinct was to blast the lycanthrope away with her powers, but she quickly fight that urge down. In the long run, attacking the Beast wouldn't do her or Garfield any good. The hands keeping her pinned were suddenly gone as the green monster turned away from her, preparing to leap off the rooftop. Alarm shot through Raven's body, if she let the Beast get away, she might never find it again.
Would never see Garfield again.
A tendril of dark energy wrapped around the lycanthrope's waist and it looked down at the object binding it. The Beast then snapped its head at Raven's direction, lips peeling back to reveal very sharp teeth and began to growl very loudly. The dark girl glared stubbornly at it.
"I won't let you go! Not until I see him again!" She declared, determination evident in her face. The Beast surprised her by ceasing its growling and studying her with a solemn expression.
"Garfield and I have come to an arrangement." It rumbled, surprising Raven. "It can not be broken, not even by you."
The dark girl scowled, "What did you do to him?" She demanded, tightening the tendril's grip on the Beast's waist, the lycanthrope snorted in amusement.
"What I had to in order to save you, I have honored my half of the arrangement, now it is time for Garfield to honor his." The monster rumbled.
"What kind of arrangement?" Raven questioned.
"It is none of your concern."
The cloaked Titan snarled, "Like hell it isn't!" She tightened the grip of the tendril around the Beast's waist, the lycanthrope snorted once more.
"You are too weak to stop me." It stated.
"I have to try."
"Your determination is admirable, but in the end I will get what I want."
"And what is it that you want exactly?"
The Beast tore his gaze from her then, staring out into the city longingly, "Freedom."
"But you and Garfield share the same body." Raven stated, the lycanthrope nodded in acknowledgement.
"Precisely, I agreed to help him and now we seek to come to an arrangement that I will be adequately satisfied with."
Raven's mind worked furiously, the Beast wasn't evil, it was a sentient being that desired something completely reasonable, freedom to be itself. However in this case, the Beast's freedom meant Garfield would become a prisoner in his own body. Pointing that out to the lycanthrope right now wouldn't be the wisest decision, she had to chose her next words carefully.
"What you seek is indeed freedom, but what you really need is balance." She told the emerald creature.
"Balance?" It asked, turning to looked at her again.
Hope soared in Raven's heart, she might be able to do this. "Yes balance, and I can help you achieve that balance, if you'll let me."
The Beast's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "No." It responded. "You will seek to bring Garfield back, to put me back in my prison! I will not be caged anymore!" It roared, showing its teeth once more as it snarled at her. Raven mentally cursed, that was not the line of thinking she wanted the lycanthrope to take.
"I won't! I promise!" The dark sorceress exclaimed, seeking damage control, but it was too late.
"Lies!" The creature roared, with a swipe of its claws, it sliced the tendril holding it apart and leapt from the rooftop and out of Raven's sight. The cloaked Titan quickly ran to the roof's edge, but as she looked down, she saw no sign of the Beast. She inwardly berated herself for failing to stop the lycanthrope. Now Garfield was lost to her and she had no clue how she was going to find him again or even if she could find him.
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A/N: Well, the holidays are fast approaching, which means future chapters will kind of be sparse for awhile. November is full of bday parties and junk that I need to attend, not to mention thanksgiving and such. Rest assured, I will still be working on it though.