Donna Troy, Beast Boy, and Jinx were in for the fight of their lives against Scarecrow, whose monstrous, four-eyed form kept on splitting into smaller offshoots, attacking the trio and keeping each of them outnumbered. Furthermore, Scarecrow still loved to play on the fears of his opponents, and now he had no need for his fear toxin or deep analysis. Now, he had finally become one with the nightmares.
Jinx did much more evading her shadowy attackers than fighting them, and when she did have to hit them with her magic, they took on the forms of her old friends that she had left behind – rather demented forms, but still convincing.
"We were your friends, Jinx! Why did you leave us for that boy?"
"You were never my friends!" she responded. "I tried to keep us together, but you were rude and incompetent. That 'boy' is the only who treated me like I was more than bad luck!"
"Really? So, what happens when your bad luck rubs off on to him?"
Jinx continued her fight, but whenever she landed a hit on one of Scarecrow's shadows, an image would flash in her mind of Kid Flash being hit by one of her spells and dying. After this occurred for about 20 times, the shadows ten morphed to take on the forms of her new friends, and instead of vanishing into, each shadow will fall on the ground dead.
Donna was busy battling against Scarecrow himself, who retained his immense form as she fought against the onslaught of fireballs and monsters that he threw at her. Eventually, she got her lasso tied around his neck. He surprised her by spinning his head around to face her, but she didn't move from where her feet had been firmly planet.
"Very impressive!" he complimented. "I've saturated this mindscape to be dozens of times more potent than my toxin, and while I can sense that you are afraid, you punch and cut your way straight up to my neck! You truly are frightening!"
"That is the resolve of an Amazon!" bragged Donna. "I will not succumb to my fears so easily this time, and I will not give up until you are defeated! Now tell me, how are you to be defeated."
With the lasso around his neck, Scarecrow had no choice but to answer truthfully. Not that he minded.
"Well, I'm completely bound to Raven in body, soul, and mind. The only way you could 'get your friend back' or however you put it would be to separate my body soul, and mind from each other. In other words, you'll have to kill me!"
Scarecrow could feel a bit of confidence waver from Donna, and laughed about it.
"Oh, you have to be kidding! I'm looking at a warrior who's afraid of killing! You'd might as well…"
Donna took out her knife and tried to stab Scarecrow in the head. He managed to throw her off just in time and prepared to prolong their fight.
"Let's get something clear," Donna proclaimed. "I have no fear of killing. Superman and Batman may be unwilling to take a life, but certainly not my parents, especially my mother. She brought me up to be of strong body and strong mind to be a protector of good by being a destroyer of evil."
"And it feels good, doesn't it? Taking the life of someone you hate? You're just like me; a monster!"
Scarecrow went to strike Donna with his massive claws, but she easily blocked them with her blade.
"No. Monsters like you are nothing more than engines of hate. People like me destroy what we hate to protect what we love. That's what makes us warriors!"
Donna kicked away Scarecrow's hand and the two continued their onslaught against each other.
Beast Boy fought against his own onslaught of shadows, and each of them took on a black-and-red form of Raven. Beast Boy managed to get close enough to one of them to try to talk her out of her situation.
"Raven, snap out of it! I know you're strong enough to fight him! You defeated your father, so of course you can on a skinny cuckoo-head!"
"What for?"
"What for? So, you can beat the bad guy, save the day, go home with your friends!"
"I have no friends. You are not my friend. You are just afraid of me."
"What? No, I…"
"You are lying. You have seen what I can do, what I am, when I loosen the shackles off me. You think of me as a monster, and all your kindness is just to appease me."
"Raven, that's absurd! Yeah, I'm scared of what you can be when you're bad, but I care about you, and I want to see the good in you! You just gotta get rid of whatever Scarecrow's done…"
"Scarecrow is me, and I am him. He has turned me into what I was always meant to be: pure evil."
"Is that so? Well, then I just happen to have the ultimate secret weapon for that!"
Beast Boy reached deep into his pocket and pulled out … a continental breakfast of tofu waffles drenches in maple syrup and French toast sticks, with a glass of orange juice on the side.
"Evil beware!" he exclaimed while dressing himself up in the food to look like a fully-armed knight. "We have waffles!"
The Raven clones did nothing but stare at him, and the one closest finally spoke in a rather irritated tone: "Really, Garfield? Now, of all times, you're gonna start cracking jokes? Jokes that are somehow lamer than ever before?"
"Aha!" shouted Beast Boy. "I knew it! I knew you were still there, Raven!"
"Wait, what?"
"You called me by my real name. Scarecrow doesn't know that but you do. You also called out my idiocy, and then made a sarcastic quip! That's the Raven I know! However strong a grip Scarecrow has on you, you managed to escape it to express yourself just now!"
"Yeah, well, it's not lasting for very long," Raven confessed, closing her eyes. "That free expression was a temporary fluke. Right now, that free part of my self is being overtaken by…"
Raven was then startled by Beast Boy blowing a loud birthday party horn in her face, with two party hats on his head. "Happy Metrion Zinthos Day!" he shouted. "I figure that what your mind world needed was a holiday, so whaddya say we have one where we make cheap piñatas stuffed with vegan lasagna to resemble all the people you dislike? I'd be honored if you started with me!"
Raven's free expression started to come back. "Beast Boy, of all times, why are you still trying to make me laugh?"
"Well, I said I was never gonna stop until I did it, didn't I? Since there's a good chance of me dying, I'd might as well fulfill it now while I'm still breathing!"
Raven felt an urge to smack him for being so stupid, and then realized that she thought this based on her own free will. "I appreciate the effort, Beast Boy, but it will take more than that to truly release me from his grasp."
"Yeah, you're right. But since I know that being silly has a weak affect, I'm confident that being serious will be much stronger!"
Beast Boy took out his phone and began playing "Let The Fear Take Control", their favorite song by Bird or Devil. Raven grabbed her head and fell to her knees, begging him to stop.
"No, Raven, you need to listen. Listen and remember. Remember back when you said that nobody – not your mother, the monks, not even your friends – understood you, but Bird or Devil did. They could resonate with you, and you could feel your struggles through their music. This is what gave you the strength back then, and if I can't give you strength, then at least let this do the trick!"
"No, you don't understand! Scarecrow is leaving me but … it really hurts!"
"And who did Scarecrow fight before you? Batman, your childhood idol! You wanted to be a hero like him! You made your costume to look like him but as a hot witch! You called yourself 'Raven' because you thought it would make a good sidekick name. If he inspires you that much, then act like him! The same strength and courage and determination that you loved about him is inside you too! You just need to find it, let it out, and kick that creep's butt out of your head!"
His speech seemed to work, and Raven shouted upwards and could feel Scarecrow's influence leaving her. But right when she would have been free, she was struck by a badly-aimed spell from Jinx, and then overtaken by a surge of black magic, and Beast Boy was thrown backwards to collide with Donna and Jinx. They both looked up to see a newly reformed Scarecrow, still four-eyed but not smiling as much.
"That was unexpected. I never thought you could conquer your fear of losing a friend with humor. She almost got away from me. I'll just have to keep her attached while I give you three a nightmare so strong that you won't be waking up screaming!"
"The only way we can stop him is to kill him," explained Donna.
"I don't think I can do that," confessed Jinx.
"Don't worry. I'll take my dagger and punch through his chest until I reach his heart. You two keep him distracted."
Jinx and Beast Boy did as they were told, and assaulted Scarecrow. Beast Boy managed to take the form of a dragon and latched onto his neck, while Jinx repeatedly pelted his hands with her magic to keep Scarecrow's hands free. Meanwhile, Donna flew up to his chest and began tearing away and the bark-like skin, digging for what she hoped would be a heart underneath.
Scarecrow was in immense pain, and he knew what the trio was up to. Afraid of defeat, he decided to play one last mind game with a bit of despair.
"Fight all you like, green one, but you'll never see your girlfriend again!" he mentally whispered to him.
"She's not my girlfriend! But you will still let her go!" Beast Boy responded. He then got much more aggressive, digging his claws into Scarecrow's head and his teeth into his neck. Finally, Beast Boy to bite clean through the neck, spurting blood everywhere and leaving the head dangling off a thick piece of flesh. Donna and Jinx jumped back to watch the Scarecrow fall, and then morphed into the corpse of Scarecrow and the floating emoticlones of Raven.
"Raven! You're free! We beat him! We…" Then he noticed the blood sitting in between his gums, covering his teeth and dragging down his chin. He looked down to see the nearly-headless corpse of Scarecrow, permanently fettered from plaguing anyone ever again.
"Beast Boy?" asked the Gray and Happy Ravens. "Are you … you?"
Beast Boy started to shake, not knowing what to say. Donna and Jinx both came up to comfort him, and he wound up slouching back while crying softly.
"Open the exit. I'll grab … the corpse." Donna ordered Jinx. As she went to pick up Scarecrow's body, Jinx used a miniature horn provided by Herald to open a portal out of Raven's mind, and she carried a weeping Beast Boy through it with Donna following.
As the landscaped changed back to its regular form, the emoticlones hovered in a circle, wondering what to make of what had just happened.
"Do you see now?" asked a menacing voice. "That my way is the most proper?"
The emoticlones looked up to see a new visitor – the Spectre, having entered Raven's mind to get what he wanted in her emotionally weakened state.
"Your friend forsook everything that he had been told about the modern heroic moral code. He took a life, and in doing so, saved you and he entire universe from being enslaved by a madman."
"It was the only way," agreed Yellow Raven, "but only in this case. Just because killing worked in this scenario doesn't mean it is always the best solution, let alone the right choice."
"So, you don't think the Scarecrow's death was a crime?"
"Not at all. Like you said, it saved lives, and was the only way."
"Well, I see what the logical side is thinking, but tell me, what are you feeling?"
"That Beast Boy enjoys killing, and will become just another psycho," answered Gray Raven.
"Like I wanna go fight some baddies and go all hardcore on their butts, no restraints!" said Brave.
"Well, I guess I'm happy that he's dead, but not so much about that massive blood spill," said Happy.
"I'm just angry that nobody bothered to kill that maniac before!" said Rage.
"Yes, it is a pity that it took this long to recognize the true form of justice," agreed Spectre. "If your precious idol Batman would have realized it, then perhaps your friend Starfire would have had a wedding instead of a funeral."
The emoticlones looked up at the Spectre, who smiled back in delight.
"Oh, you didn't know?"