Tropic Thunder

by A-LionGleek

A simple search and report in Africa becomes far more dramatic than expected when the Titans receive word of Professor Chang having managed to create an even more deadly genetically modified version of an already lethal virus. But things get worse still when Beast Boy finds himself both struggling to control his more beastly side and facing his past...in more ways than one.

18. One Good Turn Deserves Another

Hey everyone! Man it's been a while hasn't it? Well nonetheless, here's to hoping that this chapter is worth the gobsmackingly long wait. In this chapter, all that now remains to occur over the course of this pulse pounding turn of events is for Wildebeest to be released from his earlier trap, Beast Boy to cure himself, the battles to come to an end, and for everyone to escape the Wildebeest Society main lab building before the house gets quite literally brought down on them while they're still inside it. Can it be done? Find out now dudes! Here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!

A/N: But first, let me remind you all that I only own my OCs and maybe a couple of twists and ideas regarding certain characters and plot points. Everything else? Yeah, not mine. And with that out of the way, onward with the fic dudes!

Chapter 17:

One Good Turn Deserves Another

A considerably large amount of time earlier, Beast Boy found himself still furiously battling against his uncle. He had only just barely managed to avoid getting chomped on by the jaws of his uncle's liopleurodon form while he himself had still been in pteranodon form. And even despite this, he'd still ended up forced to come to a landing when the tip of his uncle's snout had managed to brush up against his tail over the course of landing and knock him off balance.

Upon landing, Beast Boy had immediately turned into a parasaurolophus. And now he was charging towards where his uncle was currently positioned, bellowing and trumpeting out a bugling cry in the process. Galtry, however, was still in sound enough mind to turn things back around, and he hurriedly morphed from his now situationally useless liopleurodon form to the form of a pachycephalosaurus; at which point he then hooted in challenge at his approaching hadrosaur nephew before then barreling straight towards him.

Beast Boy noticed just how much faster his uncle was moving, and he was quick to realize that he would have no chance of getting himself positioned in time to attack in time before his uncle rammed right into him. So he turned into a utahraptor while still in the midst of his own charge, using his momentum from his earlier charging as a parasaurolophus to propel himself into successfully jumping clean over his still charging uncle. But his uncle once again proved quick to turn things back around; for no sooner had Beast Boy landed and turned around to snarl challengingly at Galtry when he saw his uncle already lunging straight towards him while now in the form of a smilodon. And within seconds, the red saber-toothed cat collided with his saurian green nephew and sent the both of them tumbling across the corridor floor, the both of them snapping their teeth and digging their claws as they both tried to viciously wound each other at the very least.

But Beast Boy eventually found an opening to escape his uncle's grasp, and he immediately took it, lunging away to safety. Galtry snarled, swiftly getting back to full height and roaring at his nephew, only to hiss in surprise and horror at the sight of his nephew, now in the form of a stegosaurus, swinging his intimidating spiked tail straight at him! Desperate to avoid getting skewered or sent flying, he turned into an ankylosaurus in time to deflect his nephew's tail with his own brand-new bludgeon-style tail. With Beast Boy now temporarily off balance from the deflection, Galtry swung his tail a second time, managing to strike the stegosaurus in the side and knock it over. Galtry immediately tried to capitalize on this moment of advantage, charging straight towards his nephew. But his nephew hurriedly turned into a triceratops and charged at Galtry, managing to bang his horned head against Galtry's head and swerve him into crashing back-first against a nearby wall. No sooner had Galtry landed and shook his head to clear his thoughts when he saw his nephew charging at him again for another round.

But Galtry was not one to give up that easily, and he turned into a megatherium in time to lock the claws on his new front paws with two of his nephew's horns, lift him up, and slam him down on the floor. He bellowed in triumph, raising his claws up for a second blow…

…only to then be sent rocketing backward when his seemingly downed nephew abruptly transformed into an apatosaurus, the rapidly extending neck that came with the transformation causing his nephew's head to slam into his chest with enough force to knock him away. Now back on his feet, Beast Boy bellowed in challenge at his uncle, who grunted in rage, transformed into a woolly mammoth, and charged towards the sauropod with an enraged trumpet bursting from his trunk.

Realizing that his apatosaurus form would now potentially be too unwieldly in the current environment, he assumed his t-rex form, roared at the incoming blood red mammoth, and then started rushing to meet his uncle in combat. But his uncle was all too eager to himself take on a new form, shifting from woolly mammoth form to spinosaurus form while still in the midst of charging at his green t-rex nephew.

The two massive carnivorous dinosaurs collided together and started viciously fighting, deafening roars bursting from their jaws as they snapped their vicious teeth at each other and whipped their tails wildly through the air, with Galtry also having the added advantage of longer arms that had sharp claws on its hands. This brutal clash took them through quite a large portion of the building, causing considerable destruction in the process. But through it all, they continued to fight, even as Beast Boy found himself noticing with alarm how the burning sensation in his mind was even now starting to continue to rapidly increase in strength, complete with his vision slowly starting to seemingly turn red. At this point, it was all too clear that even the talisman around his neck, however much it may have helped before, no longer had any chance of keeping the virus at bay.

"I have to end this," Beast Boy thought to himself. "And soon!"

Eventually, the two battling shapeshifters sent themselves tumbling to the point of bursting through a wall and straight into what turned out to be the central lab chamber. And at this point, by sheer luck, Beast Boy managed to take advantage of the fact that he and his uncle were still tumbling so that he was able to propel his uncle airborne and straight into one of the three gigantic supercomputer screens. The blood red spinosaurus howled in agony as it was engulfed in a violently sparkling web of electricity unleashed from the heavily cracked computer screen.

In the time it took for the electrocution to end and the spinosaurus to crumple to the floor, Beast Boy had already managed to revert back to human form, get back on his feet, and turn around to direct a glance towards his uncle. The spinosaurus let out a hiss before then shrinking back down into human form. For a few seconds, Beast Boy stared blankly at the sight of his now apparently unconscious uncle, who he now noticed had apparently been wearing a red and black jumpsuit similar to his own purple and black outfit underneath the fancy suit that had gotten destroyed over the course of his uncle's very first transformation. He snorted. "Getting ahold of my powers wasn't enough for you, huh? You just had to try to steal my fashion style to."

Rolling his eyes, the green shapeshifter turned away from his uncle and started walking towards the gaping hole in the wall where he and his uncle had crashed through, panting and gasping while trying desperately to ignore the still all too obvious signs of the virus's rapidly progressing even at that very moment. But then he heard what sounded like a very unnerving chuckle coming from behind him, and he paused. In the few seconds it took for Beast Boy to fully realize what he was hearing, the chuckle became a laugh that gradually increased in speed, volume, and intensity. Heart sinking, he turned his head in time to see his now very much maniacally laughing uncle getting slowly back onto his feet.

Heart in his mouth, Beast Boy turned around to fully face Galtry just as his uncle turned around to fully face him. Galtry chuckled, his red eyes narrowed in bloodlust and his mouth forming an unnerving toothy grin. "You think you've won?!" Galtry roared, sounding damn near delirious from maniacal glee. "Think again Craig! Because the real funny thing?! I'M JUST GETTING WARMED UP!"

In a flash, Galtry initiated a transformation for the sake of resuming his battle with his nephew, laughing maniacally once more as he did so. Beast Boy, despite his rapidly sinking heart and increasing nerves, stood firm in a battle-ready posture, putting on as brave of a face as he could muster as he readied himself for what would apparently be yet another stage of this insanely long duel. In the process, he took note of the first few signs of transformation his uncle appeared to be taking. Judging by the current state his uncle was in over the course of this transformation, it appeared as if he were turning back into a spinosaurus, so Beast Boy reflexively turned back into a t-rex, already preparing himself for a roar…

…but then, much to the green changeling's shock, and later horror, his uncle's transformation unfolded very differently from what he'd expected. What had appeared to be the beginnings of a leathery sail on his uncle's back split in two and started extending into the shape of what appeared to be gigantic bat-like wings, the tail that had extended out of his uncle's backside proved considerably more flexible and grew an arrowhead-shaped spike upon the tip, a pair of long sharp horns sprouted onto his uncle's head, his uncle's neck grew much longer and more flexible than that of the spinosaurus form, his laughter remained distinctively laughter without devolving into the standard spinosaurus vocalizations…

…and eventually, when his uncle's transformation was complete, Beast Boy could only stand uselessly in his t-rex form, gaping in visible horror at the sight of his uncle now standing triumphantly in front of him on all fours, an arrogant look of pride on his face, in the form of a gigantic, blood red, DRAGON.

"Surprised nephew?!" Galtry yelled, arrogant grin still on his scaly face. "I'd have expected this to be one of the very first things you'd have ever wanted to turn into. But then again, you've always been the gutless one between the two of us."

This insult was enough to knock Beast Boy out of his period of stunned silence and paralysis, at which point he snarled angrily at his uncle. The dragon only chuckled. "Like it or not, this is power!" He licked his chops. "Oh yes, even now I can still feel it! Burning inside me! Almost literally so!" He chuckled again, his red eyes agleam with maniacal glee, bloodlust, and triumph. "And while we're at it, why don't I show you how it feels?" Without warning, Galtry's jaws snapped open and released a gigantic burst of flames that rather explosively struck the floor directly next to Beast Boy, sending the green dinosaur stumbling aside as the flames proceeded to rapidly expand across almost the entire half of the room positioned behind the green shapeshifter, the impact of the initial blast against the ground proving unexpectedly strong enough to seemingly cause the ground to shake similarly to an earthquake.

Feeling the heat coming from behind him, Beast Boy briefly looked behind him, his heart sinking even further than it already had at the sight of the massive sea of flames behind him. How was he supposed to properly fight his uncle now?!

"Give up Craig!" Galtry roared. "You can't win!"

Beast Boy snapped his head back to face his uncle, snarling defiantly with narrowed eyes despite the still increasingly strong presence of the virus and reddening of his vision. "Things may not be looking good for me right now, but it will be a chilly day in HELL before I give up that easily," he thought to himself.

Galtry, seemingly able to read his nephew's mind and get a direct look at the defiant thoughts within, raised his eyebrow in amusement. "Still willing to try to defy the inevitable I see," he purred, a cruel look of glee on his face. He nodded his head. "Very well then nephew. Let us continue!"

Beast Boy roared. "Challenge accepted," he thought to himself. His uncle roared as well, an unnerving orange glow already building up in his gaping jaws as he prepared to fire off another burst of his breath attack.

A shadowy vortex abruptly materialized behind Galtry, and the dragon turned its head in confusion just in time to directly witness a massive group of various unnaturally green and even more unnaturally vicious acting animals charging out of the vortex and straight towards him. "How the…?" Galtry managed to ask, eyebrows raised in confusion, before the various infected animals were upon him.

Within moments, Galtry the dragon was reduced to hissing and snarling in irritation as the comparatively giant herbivores rammed into him with all their might, the primates and mammalian carnivores lunged upon him, and the various other animals likewise added their own irksome attacks to the onslaught against him. As this happened, Beast Boy briefly stood gaping in shock at this unexpected distraction that had almost literally been thrown Galtry's way. At the same time, he also managed to unconsciously channel his telepathy and take a glance at the state of the newly arrived infected animals' minds. The sight of just the sort of state the animals had been reduced to was enough to make his heart sink even further. Every single one of them had completely lost themselves to the virus and had no hope of being cured. The majority of them had their minds so thoroughly dominated by rage that it was literally the only thing on their minds at all. Even at this very moment all they wanted to do was mindlessly rage to the point of destroying every plant they saw and viciously attacking and killing every other animal they met. And even the pitiful few animals that didn't have rage as literally the only thing on their minds had only a very tiny flash of independent thought impossibly deep within their minds. And every single one of those tiny flashes of independent thought were exactly the same; despairing, helpless, and practically begging to die.

The shapeshifter's eyes then widened in horrified realization as he then realized another important detail. "That's what's gonna happen to me if I don't get that cure while Galtry's distracted!"

"Too true," said the voice of the Beast, which Beast Boy now noticed, to even further horror, was very noticeably sounding strained and tensed as if desperately trying to fight back against something. It snarled. "Too true."

In that instant, Beast Boy knew exactly what he needed to do. "Let's get moving then," he mentally stated to the Beast. "If at all possible, try your best to help guide me back to that vault with the cure."

"As…you…wish…," the Beast growled.

Fighting with all his willpower not to panic, Beast Boy proceeded, with prompting from the Beast, to transform into a kangaroo before he then leaped through the large hole in the wall where he and Galtry had bust through and hurriedly started hopping along wherever the Beast prompted, leaving Galtry to deal with the unexpected situational reinforcements that his nephew had a very strong feeling had been summoned to the area by Raven. For what felt like hours, Beast Boy bounded along where the Beast told him to go, the burning sensation in his mind continuing to grow stronger and the redness of his vision likewise turning brighter and stronger to the point that it was starting to become increasingly difficult to see. And as the redness of his vision continued to strengthen, he also found himself hearing a likewise increasingly loud thumping noise going off in his ears; a sound that he couldn't help but nervously suspect was of his own heartbeat. And not only could he hear that, but he could also hear what sounded like a mass intertangled chorus of all the animals in his mind that weren't the Beast screaming in agony as they felt the virus finally overtake their minds completely. Clearly, the Beast was now the only one still properly holding out against the virus's efforts at conquest against its host's mind.

Eventually, he reached a point where the Beast told him to assume a different form. Beast Boy complied, and the form turned out to be that of a giant anteater. From there, the Beast prompted him to whip his tongue into the air. Beast Boy complied, the long tongue of his giant anteater form ending up wrapping around what felt like a long wooden pole dangling down from the corridor ceiling before he then proceeded, on further prompting from the Beast, to use this positioning to allow himself to swing over what he guessed must have been some sort of situational obstacle. And no sooner had Beast Boy landed when the Beast prompted him to assume his rhino form and charge, managing in the process to smash aside what was apparently one last situational obstacle. And all of two minutes later, the Beast loudly roared for his host to stop. Beast Boy skidded to a halt, reverting back to human form in the process.

"Are we there?" He asked out loud.

"Yes. Let me have temporary control over your body so I can get you in and open the safe."

Beast Boy did as he was instructed; and the Beast proceeded, as promised, to get the vault door reopened and the safe unlocked within seconds. Once control was given back to him, the green changeling, straining with everything he had to see through the even now increasingly bright shade of red overtaking his vision and focus on his goal despite the likewise increasingly loud thumping and wailing in his ears, reached into the safe and clenched his fist tightly around what was no doubt one of the two syringes inside containing the all-important cure. He drew the syringe out of the safe and lifted it into position against his neck, at this point allowing nothing more than pure animal instinct to dictate his movements and actions.

"HURRRY!" The Beast roared.

Beast Boy winced, the tip of the all-important syringe up against his neck and at the ready to allow the equally all-important cure to enter his bloodstream. "No need to tell me twice," he thought in response to the Beast. He pressed his finger against the bottom of the plunger. "Please work, please work, please work," he thought desperately to himself, the thumping of his heart beat reaching an impossibly loud and quick volume and tempo, the agonized screaming of the animal forms inside him reaching an almost literal ear-splitting volume of its own, and his vision turning such a bright crimson that he could now only see just the slightest outlines of the area around him as he pushed the plunger into motion until it was literally impossible for it to go any further. No sooner had he realized that he'd completely emptied out the syringe when he let go of it, allowing it to fall to the floor with a light 'clink' as he slammed the hand he'd been holding it with upon the top of the pedestal the safe was positioned upon alongside the hand already positioned there.

For what felt like an eternity, he remained hunched over, his hands clenched as tightly as possible against the top rim of the antidote storage safe's pedestal, panting, gasping, and snarling from a mixture of exhaustion, rage, and fear as the burning presence, reddening vision, and impossibly loud and swift thumping noises seemed to at first not change at all, or perhaps even become worse…

…but then, just as Beast Boy was feeling certain that the cure was either a dud or had been injected into his blood stream too late, he finally noticed a change. It was very slight, almost impossible to notice. But notice it he did. The thumping of his heartbeat was slowly starting to slow down and decrease in volume. He waited another minute, still panting and gasping viciously as the noise continued to gradually decrease in tempo and volume. Eventually, his vision started showing signs of the cure working as well, the nightmarish all-consuming redness gradually lessening at the same rate as the thumping noises and allowing his vision to be properly restored to full color. And within minutes after the reddening had lessened to the point that he could at least properly see despite their still being a recognizably red hue, the agonizing burning sensation in his mind started finally decreasing as well. And of course, even as all these showed signs of finally decreasing and going away, so did the screaming and feelings of rage within the minds of all the animal forms. Some of them he even heard going so far as to either gasp, sigh, or even sob in relief. And eventually, after what felt like an eternity, all the signs of Primetia being present in him completely vanished. He was cured.

The changeling gasped in relief, his eyes bright and on the verge of joyous tears from how lucky he'd just now been. "It's gone," he thought to himself. "It's finally gone. I'm back…back to…to normal." He then thought to himself, a wry grin forming on his face. "Or at least…as normal as I ever was before Primetia."

"And not a moment too soon," said the Beast, now sounding noticeably more relieved and back to his usual self. The other animals all wordlessly indicated their own relief and approval. Beast Boy chuckled wearily in good spirits.

"You've got that right," he stated. Then he looked at the second antidote sample, a determined look on his face. "I'm taking this with me," he thought to himself as he then reached for it.

"What for?" The Beast asked. "Your uncle? Hardly deserves it if you ask me."

"There's a difference between not liking your uncle and not caring if he ends up turning into a mindless monster," Beast Boy mentally responded in rebuttal, his eyes narrowed as he closely examined the second syringe full of the Primetia antidote. "And darn it, regardless of all he did to me in the past, I'm still a hero. And hero's save people, even if they're not necessarily ones they want to save…"

The sound of creaking metal coming from above him caused Beast Boy to look up. His eyes widened and his face turned a noticeably lighter shade of green at the subsequent sight of the vault's ceiling being torn completely away from its mooring in time to reveal a smugly smirking Galtry, still in his dragon form, staring down at him through the hole he'd just torn in the building's roof.

The dragon chuckled. "Surprised nephew? Surely you didn't think you'd gotten rid of me that easily!"

At a deceptively fast speed for such a large form, Galtry swung his right 'arm' down into the room to the point of sending his nephew flying against the wall directly outside the vault door with a vicious 'backhander'. Beast Boy hissed in pain as he was both hit by his uncle's strike and slammed against the wall, the syringe flying out of his hand in the process. Galtry grabbed the syringe, clasping it between two of his dragon form's claws in a surprisingly delicate grip.

"You were very close," Galtry purred, a cruel look in his eyes that, combined with his recent words, made it clear that he believed that Beast Boy had been about to use the syringe to cure himself. "But ultimately, you were just too slow."

Beast Boy, realizing too late what his uncle was about to do in his misguided belief, hurriedly extended his hands towards the dragon, eyes widened in horror. "WAIT!"

With a single downward flick of his scaly wrist, Galtry threw the syringe down to the vault floor, shattering it.

"NO!" Beast Boy howled, his hands uselessly extended in the direction of the shattered syringe.

His uncle laughed, completely unaware of how he'd just now unwittingly doomed himself, as he reverted back to human form and jumped down into the vault, landing perfectly on both feet. "Hope you enjoy your last few moments of humanity Craig," he purred. "After all, it won't be too much longer before you devolve into a mindless monster that will prove even easier for me to kill."

Galtry abruptly winced, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as if feeling a sudden flash of pain. "And having said that," he managed to snarl as he started to reach his left hand towards the open safe behind him. "I do believe I'd best hurry up to avoid becoming as much myself."

"You really shouldn't have smashed that syringe I was holding," Beast Boy managed to growl from his position against the wall.

"And why's that? Surely you know by now I'm not really the type to fight fair."

"You don't understand. That syringe you just smashed wasn't for me. It was for you!"

"Don't make me laugh. I'm not in the mood for jokes…"

Galtry jolted to a halt, his red eyes widened in horror as he realized that the safe behind him that he'd just spent the last minute or so blindly feeling his way through was in fact empty. "No," he managed to say, his voice noticeably quiet as the unsettling idea that his nephew was telling the truth slowly started to settle upon him. "Impossible…there's no way…"

His foot brushed against something lying on the floor, and he looked down. His face turned a much paler shade of red upon noticing that his foot was in fact brushing up against an intact empty syringe. "No," he hissed, terror clear in his voice as he realized the true horror of how he'd just unwittingly doomed himself instead of his nephew. "No…no…no…no…"

Then he tensed up. "You," he growled, his voice at an ominously low tone. He slowly turned his head to face Beast Boy, his eyes blazing with fury, and teeth gritted in a bloodthirsty snarl. "YOU ROTTEN LITTLE VERMIN!"

"Galtry, please, just listen…"

"YOU'VE RUINED ME!" The red shapeshifter jabbed one of his clawed fingers at the empty safe. "IF YOU'D JUST LEFT THAT BLASTED SYRINGE IN THERE, I COULD HAVE TAKEN IT AND LET THIS BE A PROPER BATTLE! BUT NO! INSTEAD, NOW I'M THE ONE WHO'S ABOUT TO BE REDUCED TO A MINDLESS MONSTER WITH ZERO CHANCE TO FULLY ENJOY THE POWERS I'VE NOW FINALLY GOTTEN FROM YOU! AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Galtry…"

Without warning, Galtry turned into a unicorn…and an unexpectedly violent looking unicorn at that! Galtry reared up, whinnying savagely in fury. And at the exact same moment this happened, the horn glowed with white light. This same light abruptly engulfed Beast Boy, at which point he was equally abruptly yanked upwards off the floor and sent slamming into the ceiling before then being just as painfully slammed down on the floor. The green shapeshifter winced, gasping in pain from the impact, only to then shriek in surprise and pain when his uncle blasted him with a burst of lightning from his horn, sending him flying straight through several walls behind him.

Galtry remained standing where he was, snorting and panting with rage as small sparks of electricity crackled along his horn. Then he tensed up, eyes widened in surprise as he fully realized the fact that he'd just used telekinesis while in this current form. "I can still save myself," he thought to himself. He turned his head towards the shattered syringe and spilled out antidote sample, still remaining in unicorn form as he did so. "I just have to be quick and careful about it." As he had this thought, he focused on the syringe and antidote the way he had on his nephew during the telekinetic attack, his horn glowing with white light once more…

Beast Boy managed to get up laboriously, panting and gasping from the pain of both the lightning strike and the impact against the multiple walls he'd just gotten sent busting through. Hissing in pain, he managed to turn into a crow and fly back over to where he'd been before getting blasted. He landed and reverted to human form in time to see his uncle, still in unicorn form, using the form's telekinetic powers to hold the broken syringe back together with the antidote sample inside while also working to inject himself. Upon sight of this, the green shapeshifter made sure to crouch into hiding behind the wreckage of the first wall he'd been blasted through and stay as quiet and still as possible. The last thing he wanted was to interrupt his uncle in a task as delicate as this one.

As Beast Boy watched, his uncle managed to get a full half of the antidote sample injected into his neck. "Come on, come on," he thought to himself. "You can do it, you can do it, you can do it…"

All of a sudden, the blood red unicorn reared up, eyes closed and front hooves shaking viciously in the air as it let out a seemingly agonized whinnying. The white glow around its horn vanished, causing the syringe to once again come apart, spilling the antidote sample half that remained to once again spill onto the floor.

Beast Boy gaped in horror. "No," he thought to himself.

Still whinnying in agony, Galtry the unicorn fell to the floor, slamming hard on his right side as he started to writhe and convulse on the floor. And as he did so, he seemed to start undergoing another transformation. His sleek, yet powerful, equine body began to expand and become more muscular, his horn shrank down into his forehead before vanishing altogether, his teeth sharpened into fangs, his hoofed feet expanded and softened into large paws, with sharp claws extending out of them seconds afterward, his tail shrunk to the point of being almost impossible to notice similarly to that of a bear…

…until finally, Galtry finally stopped writhing and proceeded to pant and gasp as his latest transformation also finished, leaving him in the form of a blood red version of the Beast.

Once he'd finally regained his breath and energy, Galtry slowly started getting up to his feet. As he did so, he noticed that the horrendous agony that he'd been feeling in his head was gone, and so was the infernal agonized screaming he'd heard that sounded as if multiple beings inside his head had been feeling the same pain as him. Then he also realized that he himself seemed to have his own mind perfectly intact. "I suppose that half of the antidote I managed to get in me must have been enough to save me," he thought to himself. He let a small smirk come on his face. "Perhaps maybe I'm not as doomed as I thought." He nodded his head. "Yes, this will still work perfectly for me," he thought to himself as he concentrated on trying to revert back to his human form or shapeshifting into a different animal. "I'll just go ahead and…"

His eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't transforming. He closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, trying desperately to force himself to take on a form, any form, other than the one he was currently in. But no matter how hard he tried, his body remained in the form of the Beast, unchanging in every way. "No," he whispered to himself. "No…no…NO!"

He jolted up on his hind legs, slapping his hands atop his head and intertwining his claws with the fur their as he let a half horrified and half outraged look come on his face. "I'M STUCK! I CAN'T CHANGE BACK!" He abruptly snapped his head in his nephew's direction just in time to see said nephew just happening to be peeking his head out from his hiding place. In an instant, his eyes narrowed, and his teeth gritted into a feral snarl. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Beast Boy gaped incredulously at his uncle. "Is anything ever your fault to you?" He thought to himself in complete bafflement.

The red Beast roared in rage, its claws and fangs bared as it prepared itself to barrel towards Beast Boy. Beast Boy growled irritably. Clearly he still had more fighting yet left to undergo against his uncle this day. And right now, he had only one form capable of putting up a proper fight against his uncle in his current shape; for all the other forms were currently still too tired and weak from their narrow experiences with the virus to be of much help. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself.

"Indeed," said the Beast in agreement.

With a snarl, Beast Boy hurriedly assumed the form of the Beast, at which point he roared savagely at his uncle, his teeth and claws already fully prepared for the battle to come. Galtry roared back, his red eyes blazing with fury. And then, with another savage roar in unison, the two Beasts lunged at each other.

. . . . .

Dr. Morales lashed her electro whip at Starfire once again, her eyes blazing with rage and her teeth gritted in a silent snarl. At this point, she and her alien opponent had been dueling for a considerable amount of time; far longer in fact than Morales had so confidently expected would be the case. And much to her rage, Starfire once again dodged the strike.

"Dios mio," Morales hissed, her right fist clenched so tightly around the electro whip's handle that it was a miracle she hadn't dropped it. "Why won't you die?!"

Starfire narrowed her eyes, fists clenched and encased in her distinctive green star bolt energy. "Is the answer not the obvious? I am simply stronger than you thought." She threw one of her star bolts, Morales ducking her head just in time for the blast to go flying harmlessly over her. The Latina straightened back up, lashing her electro whip towards Starfire in the process, only for the attempted attack to be sent off course by the Tamaranean's second star bolt.

"This battle has gone on long enough."

Morales looked back at Starfire once more. The Tamaranean now once again had both her hands encased in star bolt energy, and her eyes were glowing a solid green. "You've fought well," Starfire stated, the light in her eyes and around her hands intensifying. "But now I am feeling tired of continuing this fight, especially when I have the very good feeling that my friends could very well be in serious need of my assistance while I continue to allow you to delay me. She lifted both her hands skyward, the energy encasing her hands merging together and taking on the form of vivid green flames, her teeth gritting into a feral snarl. "You said earlier that you have removed your gloves for the sake of this fight. Well right now, so shall I!" She took to the air, coming to a stop at a point where her burning hands were almost directly touching the ceiling. "Let us end this battle now!"

"For once we are in agreement," Morales hissed. In a flash, and with an incoherent howl of rage, she set her electro whip to maximum voltage while simultaneously sending the lash flying up towards Starfire. But Starfire was equally quick on the draw, snapping her hands and arms down towards the Latina chief Wildebeest Society scientist and unleashing a massive jet of green flame-like star bolt energy at the exact same moment that the Latina initiated her latest lightning-based whiplash attack.

As fast as the burst of electricity was, the star bolt jet was faster, and the jet of green flames crashed into the flexible lightning bolt before it had finished extending to full length, impeding it and preventing it from achieving its full whiplash effect. And within seconds after the two energy bursts collided, it took only a few seconds of resistance from the electro whip before the star bolt jet completely overwhelmed it and rocketed down towards Constance.

The Latina had just enough time to widen her eyes in horror before she was engulfed by the jet of extraterrestrial energy, getting sent flying backwards in the process. By the time Starfire's attack had finally finished and dissipated, Morales had already bounced upon the corridor floor seven times and come skidding painfully to a stop at least four yards ahead of the Tamaranean. In that moment, as the now heavily burned and seemingly unconscious scientist lay on her back in an intersection point between four separate corridors, Starfire narrowed her now no longer glowing eyes in a vicious glare. Despite the distance currently between her and her downed opponent, she could see a slight rising and falling of the Latina's chest that indicated Morales was still alive. But in that moment, the Tamaranean didn't care nearly as much about that detail as she probably would have under different circumstances. Right now, she was far too relieved that her battle against the scientist was finally over and that she could now go off to find and hopefully aid her friends and anyone else in the area that she could potentially assist.

The sound of her communicator going off caused her to briefly jolt in surprise. Then she looked towards the area where she usually kept her communicator, confused as to why the sound appeared to be coming from there. After all, she was pretty sure she hadn't had the chance to reclaim her communicator back in the area she and her friends had originally been imprisoned before she'd been sent away to do battle with Morales. Nonetheless, she reached into her skirt pocket and drew out her communicator, accepting the apparent call and putting the machine up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Starfire," Raven's voice stated from the other end of the line. "Thank Azar. I wasn't sure it would work."

"Wasn't sure what would work?" Starfire asked, eyebrow raised in confusion.

"I used my powers to transport your communicator back to you not too long ago," Raven explained. "But never mind that. Can you find your way to the central lab chamber?"

"Um…," Starfire said, thinking desperately to herself. "Maybe?"

"Well I really hope that's a yes. Because right now, you need to get there fast. Robin's in there, and he's in big trouble."

Starfire's eyes widened in horror…and then narrowed determinedly. That information was all she needed to hear. "Say no more," she hissed. "I'm on the way." She ended the call, turned around to face the area behind her, and blasted a hole in the ceiling with a burst of her star bolts before flying through, knowing that she'd likely have an easier time finding the central lab chamber if she searched for it outside the building than if she tried doing so from the inside. And within seconds, all thoughts of her earlier battle had been pushed completely to the back of her mind as she hurried to find the central lab chamber and come to Robin's rescue.

At the same time that Starfire was flying around outside above the roof of the main lab building, Constance Morales was slowly starting to regain consciousness. Groaning in a mixture of pain and fatigue, she managed to get back to her feet, shaking her head side to side with her eyes closed. She eventually opened her eyes, only to then narrow them into a glare and grit her teeth in a silent snarl at the sight of the large hole that Starfire had just blasted into the ceiling ahead and used as an exit.

"That filthy little freak," she thought to herself as she reflexively clenched her fists. "She got lucky. Next time I see her, so help me, I will…"

Her eyes widened as she belatedly realized a very unnerving detail. "My hands," she thought to herself. "They're…they're empty…"

Then she looked ahead, and her face blanched at the sight of a small stripe of ash lying upon the center of the floor. The sight of a single pair of wires lying upon these ashes only confirmed what she'd started to suspect. Her electro whip had been destroyed.

"No, no, no, no," Constance whispered, for once genuinely fearful as she realized how, with her electro whip destroyed and how careless she'd been with her knives, she would now be at a severe disadvantage the next time she found herself in a combat situation. Gritting her teeth in rage and fear, she stuck her right hand in her lab coat pocket, desperately clenching it into a fist around her five remaining knives. "I'll just have to make do with these and hope for the best…"

"Hello Constance."

Her eyes widened, and she hurriedly looked behind her…

…just in time to get what appeared to be a burst of red powder flung into her eyes!

"AGH!" Constance howled, slamming her hands over her eyes as the powder that had just gotten thrown there caused them to burn. She stumbled backward several steps, hissing and snarling from the pain in her eyes.

"Burns doesn't it?"

Morales managed to finally shake off the pain and open her eyes, at which point she narrowed them into a glare and gritted her teeth in a furious snarl upon catching sight of none other than her least favorite colleague, Dr. Amanda Rookwood. The blonde smiled, and then nodded her head. "I suppose it would only make sense." She lifted her right hand, revealing a small clay jar that she'd been carrying. "After all, the shaman did say that this powder was specifically designed to be thrown into your enemies' eyes."

The Latina clenched her fists. "So I was right," she hissed, just as much to herself as to Rookwood. "You have betrayed us."

The blonde glared right back at Morales, her green eyes venomous with hate. "And about time to." She pointed her finger at the Latina. "All those threats against me and my family may have been enough to keep me under the boss's thumb for the last few years, but now? Enough is enough. Starting today, I will have no more part in this organization and its cruelty. And I will leave to return to my family whether you like it or not."

"Oh that's rich."

Constance drew out all five of her remaining knives. "Considering I'm the one with the weapons. And with how much I already didn't like you before now, the fact that you've now confirmed yourself to be a traitor to this organization is even more reason for me to finally kill you, not to mention arrange a nice gruesome death for your bland little family afterward."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Constance's eyes widened, and she looked behind her just in time to see none other than Ambush materialize into view. The tigress mutant nodded her head, her yellow eyes narrowed hatefully as she extended her clawed fingernails to full length and gritted her fanged teeth into a silent snarl.

"What she said."

Constance looked to her right. There was Jungle Cat coming to a stop directly outside the entrance to that particular side corridor. He rammed his right fist against his left palm, his red eyes agleam with determination and his jet-black mane seeming to lightly billow in the light breeze coming down from the hole Starfire had blasted in the ceiling. "You've already made more than enough people's lives miserable over the last few years doctor," he snarled. "Its high time someone turned the tables and made your life miserable instead."

Morales narrowed her eyes, surreptitiously switching her focus between Rookwood and the two mutants. But even though she looked angry and confident, she was privately starting to feel nervous. "I have enough knives for all three of them," she thought to herself. "And they're all close enough to me that it will be very difficult to miss if I throw. But at the same time, there's no guarantee I'll be able to throw all five of my knives before at least one of them takes me down. And in the event that I do miss, I'll have no way to get my knives back, not to mention limited time and knives to make a second attempt."

The sound of bellowing and running feet coming from all four of the corridors around her and her three opponents suddenly filled the air. In that moment, Constance looked towards the one corridor that didn't already have its entrance blocked off from her, Amanda and the two feline mutants doing the same. Running down that corridor was none other than a small squadron of wildebeest hybrids. This squadron had only just come to a stop when the sound of more running feet coming to a stop caused the scientists and mutants to look at two of the other corridors in time to see two more such squadrons come to a stop directly behind Amanda and Ambush. The hybrids all snorted and grumbled, fists clenched, teeth bared, and likewise tensed up and ready for battle.

After a few brief seconds of taking this all in, Constance found herself slowly allowing a smug smirk to come on her face. "Well now," she purred. "Isn't this a lovely turn of events?" She directed her smug grin towards each of her three apparent would-be attackers, widening it as she heard the sound of what appeared to be another squadron of hybrids approaching in the distance from somewhere behind Jungle Cat. "I'll give you credit where it's due. You nearly had me there. But at this point, I'm afraid the cards are once again in my favor." She slipped her knives back into her lab coat pocket and gestured towards the unexpected reinforcements that had arrived to aid her. "Not sure how these hybrids managed to figure out what was going on and arrive here in time so swiftly. But I'm certainly not going to question my good luck." She snapped her fingers, tossing her hair arrogantly over her shoulder. "Game over. I win."

Much to her confusion, Amanda and the two mutants only smirked right back.

"How do you know we didn't want these hybrids to show up?" Amanda asked, her green eyes agleam with a rather cheeky light.

Constance chuckled. "Forgive me if I don't believe you." She gestured once again to her unexpected reinforcements. "After all, with three of these corridors around us now blocked off and the last one almost certainly set to become as much within the next couple seconds or so, you're pretty much surrounded. And all I have to do now is give the order and these hybrids will be more than willing and capable of keeping you busy long enough for me to get away, if not outright kill you three altogether." She nodded her head, and then directed her arrogant gaze back at her blonde rival and former colleague. "Face the facts Amanda. You and your little kitty cat companions over here have lost. Wouldn't you say that's pretty clear?"

"Crystal."

The Latina had just enough time to widen her eyes in surprise at this unexpected voice from her right before a sudden rumbling in the ground knocked her briefly off balance…and then fall on her backside in fright when she managed to spin around to face the direction of the unexpected voice in time to witness a long line of black crystalline stalagmites to suddenly erupt from the floor of that particular corridor, impaling half the hybrid squadron present.

As Constance subsequently sat on her bottom, gaping and gasping in horror at the surprised hybrids, half of which were rearing away in surprise and the other half of which were wide eyed and gurgling as the tips of the black crystalline spikes jutted out from the backs of their necks and heads and blood drooled out of their mouths, her eyes eventually widened as she realized an important detail about the crystalline spikes. "These spikes," she thought to herself. "Aren't these the same kind of crystal that…?"

The crystalline spikes abruptly retreated back into the floor, causing the now very much dead hybrids to crumple to the floor…with a second earthshaking rumbling abruptly coming into play at the same time, complete with a second line of such spikes erupting from out of the other side of the corridor's floor and impaling the remaining half of that corridor's hybrid squadron. And even as the remaining half of the squadron gurgled and snorted in clear agony as they died, Morales managed to get a good look past them and see a very uncomfortably familiar dreadlocked humanoid rhino…with its eyes now almost the same shade of black as the crystals and its neck glaringly devoid of the collar she'd had placed on there before.

"Impossible," she thought to herself. "There…there's no way…"

The sound of bellowing and running feet behind her got louder, and she turned her head in time to see what would have been the fourth unexpected squadron of wildebeest hybrid reinforcements barreling down the hall. Despite this fact, Jungle Cat only smirked, and then stepped aside to his right without even looking behind him; at which point none other than Swamp Gator dropped down from the ceiling, his no longer glowing white eyes now an emerald green and his own neck likewise devoid of the mind control collar.

Morales blanched, eyes widened in horror. "No…," she whispered under breath.

The crocodile mutant chuckled and directed a cheeky grin towards Jungle Cat. "So these things fear you because of how lions eat wildebeests huh?" He turned around to face the incoming angry wildebeest hybrids. "Well guess what?" He turned his head to his left, acid starting to bubble up in his jaws. "So do crocs!"

At that, he snapped his head forward to face the charging hybrid squadron once more, his jaws now gaping open as a massive jet of acid spewed out of his mouth towards them. The hybrids at the very front of the squadron had just enough time to bellow in surprise and widen their eyes before they and their comrades were mercilessly engulfed by Swamp Gator's corrosive breath attack.

In that instant, as Swamp Gator continued spewing out his acid breath, Morales slowly got back to her feet, white faced and speechless at the sight of just how badly the odds were once again falling back out of her favor. "No," she thought to herself. "No this can't be happening. This can't…"

The sound of more surprised bellowing, plus what appeared to be rapidly expanding tendrils, coming from her left snapped her attention to that direction; just in time to see the members of that particular corridor's squadron rapidly falling victim to multiple long tree roots. And even as the luckless hybrids were still in the midst of grunting and wheezing from the immensely tight squeezing they were receiving from the roots coiling around them, the one responsible for summoning said roots popped into view from behind them, riding on what appeared to be a rapidly extending elastic tree.

"You may be able to take the bear out of the forest!" Grizzly Girl growled, her eyes reverted back to their natural icy blue now that she was no longer under the influence of the mind control collar she'd been wearing before, and her snowy platinum blonde hair flying like a flag from the rapid speed at which she was moving. "But you can never take the forest out of the bear," she then roared before abruptly jumping off her makeshift transport, grabbing the two hybrids at the very front of the squadron she was attacking by the horns while in the midst of a mid-air back flip, and slamming their heads together with a sickening crack. By the time the two now much more swiftly killed hybrids went limp, Grizzly Girl had already landed smoothly on her feet right next to Ambush, glare on her face directed straight towards Morales.

The Latina fearfully stepped backwards away from the glaring Grizzly Girl and smugly smirking Ambush, managing to also take notice of the equally angrily glaring Swamp Gator and Rhinestone and smugly smirking Jungle Cat positioned to her left and right. "I have to get out of here," she thought to herself. "I need to escape…"

"Ready yourself."

Constance nearly lost her balance all over again in the speed at which she turned around to look behind her after hearing this fourth uncomfortably familiar voice. And at the sight of what was now behind Amanda and the final squadron of wildebeest hybrids, it took all her willpower not to scream. There was nothing but complete black darkness in the corridor space behind them. But then things got even worse when a pair of solid violet purple eye-shaped silhouettes materialized into view near the very top of the darkness alongside a blinding white outline of a fang filled lupine mouth.

Constance had just enough time to gasp in despair upon realizing that all four of the Project Menagerie subjects she'd had on her side beforehand had now quite thoroughly been broken free of her control before the darkness started to seemingly shrink and take on a new form. "For now," Night Howler snarled as her shadowy body morphed into a giraffe-sized shadowy tornado with two shadowy arms with sharp claws on its fingers near the center and a distinctively wolf-like face at the very top. "Your darkest hour begins," she then howled as she started rapidly advancing straight towards the wildebeest hybrid squadron. The squadron in question, too stunned by what had befallen their comrades to even realize that there was anything behind them, could only shriek and bellow in surprise and fear when they were suddenly caught in the grip of a strong vacuum-like force, yanked into the air, and sucked straight into the interior of the shadowy tornado that Night Howler had transformed into.

Constance stepped backwards in horror as the last of her seeming salvation was so brutally taken out, the transformed Night Howler slowly continuing to advance her way as the bellowing and grunting of the luckless hybrids she'd enveloped became louder and more explicitly pained. Then, after one final especially agonized round of bellowing, a large fountain of blood suddenly burst out of the shadowy tornado, splattering all over Constance and the floor she was standing on. By the time Constance had reflexively wiped away the blood that had gotten on her face and in her eyes, Night Howler had reverted from her shadowy tornado form back to her natural form and landed in a perfect three-point landing right in front of the Latina. And in that instant, with the lupine mutant glaring hatefully at her, Constance silently gulped, still pale faced and wide eyed. "No," she thought to herself, realizing immediately just how bad things now looked for her. "Please no."

"Impressive no?"

Morales looked in the direction Rookwood's voice had come from in time to see the blonde scientist nod her head. "I arrived here in time to help Projects Jungle Cat and Ambush remove those fiendish collars from the four remaining Project Menagerie subjects and nurse them back to health once they'd already been knocked out over the course of the fight you left them to engage in. And while we were on the way to find you, we managed to run into those four hybrid squadrons you've just witnessed getting slaughtered in time for the newly freed former 'pets' of yours to trick them into leading us to you."

"And the fools fell for it to," Ambush purred, her fingers intertwined together and a gleeful fanged grin on her furry face. "The fact that our friends were no longer collared and literally white-eyed never once registered to them. And as you can see, there stupidity has cost them dearly; and you as well for that matter."

"Indeed. And look what I have here."

Constance reflexively looked in Jungle Cat's direction in time to see him draw out a large flash drive. "See this? This now contains all the appropriate data the appropriate authorities will need to get all the Wildebeest Society members still alive after today's raid convicted for a good long while. And you can thank your colleague over here for helping us get that taken care of once we'd successfully gotten those collars off our friends and nursed them back to help with her aid as well."

Even as she heard all this, Constance was still barely paying attention to what was being said, for she was too busy also surreptitiously looking desperately for a way out. For at this point, hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, no one around to help her, and completely surrounded, her odds were looking incredibly bleak indeed. As if to emphasize how much she was now at the mercy of the six mutants and her former colleague turned 100% rival, she found herself shrieking in surprise when Ambush abruptly grabbed the back of her necklace from behind and snapped it free of its position around her neck.

"I'll be taking this if you don't mind."

At the sound of the hateful tone in which Ambush growled out those words, Constance gulped, and turned her head just in time to see the blonde tigress mutant glaring hatefully at her, her fanged teeth gritted in a feral snarl and her yellow eyes narrowed and almost glowing in her rage. The four mutants who'd earlier been brainwashed briefly directed surreptitious looks of confusion towards their two felid friends, only for Jungle Cat to silently gesture to stay focused and mouth 'we'll explain later'.

Rookwood nodded her head. "Well Constance, I hope you have fun getting reacquainted with your precious remaining Project Menagerie pets now that they're all finally once again reunited as one."

Morales snapped her head to look forward towards Rookwood, horrified look plastered on her face as she realized the full implications of what the blonde had just said. The immensely gleeful looking toothy grins that suddenly came onto the faces of the six mutants only further unnerved her.

"I'd be perfectly willing to stick around just to see you finally get what you deserve after all those insults and threats against me and my family. But right now, I get the feeling that there are other tasks that I could do that would be far more useful ways to spend my time. Starting with a certain especially important project of the boss's that's currently still trapped in the area where we were initially keeping the shapeshifter's four friends."

Rookwood looked to Night Howler. "You're absolutely certain you can do this?"

Night Howler nodded her head, a determined look in her purple eyes, and summoned a vortex of black shadowy energy with a snap of her clawed fingers. "Just step right through and you'll be at the easternmost ancillary lab chamber before you can blink."

"If you say so."

Amanda looked to Constance, smirking gleefully at the sight of the visibly quivering, pale faced, and wide-eyed Latina chief Wildebeest Society scientist. "Well Constance, I daresay this is the end of the road for us. I'll freely admit, I will not at all be sorry if this is the last time I ever see you. And while Patrick and Saul may not have been nearly as openly antagonistic and arrogant towards me as you, I certainly won't be heartbroken if I never see them again during or after this raid."

She walked towards the portal Night Howler had summoned, waving her hand and directing a clear 'good luck' look towards the six mutants. "Have fun everyone," she said as she vanished into the vortex, which then closed and vanished seconds later.

In that instant, with the six mutants still temporarily distracted via glancing in the direction of the vanished vortex that had allowed for Rookwood's departure, and Night Howler in particular having her back completely turned towards Morales, the Latina decided it was time to try to make a move. "If I just act quickly enough," she thought desperately to herself, "I just might be able to get far enough way to at least get a decent head start on them for the sake of an escape."

Throwing all caution to the wind, she hurriedly bolted down the corridor that Night Howler was directly positioned in front of, knocking the wolf mutant aside with an elbow to her ribs in the process. Eager to escape, she hurriedly bolted down the corridor, panting and gasping in equal parts fear and hope. "I can do this," she thought to herself. "I can do this…"

A sudden presence coiling around her right foot right as she was lifting it up to continue running sent her off balance, falling flat on her face. By the time she'd gotten her head up from the floor, she was able to look back just in time to see the last of the wooden tendril responsible for tripping her up finish retracting back into the floor.

"Going somewhere?"

Constance turned her head, gasping in despair at the sight of an apoplectic looking Grizzly Girl slowly stomping towards her, right fist clenched as she clearly appeared on the verge of summoning more tree roots. "I certainly hope not," she growled, her fanged teeth gritted in a snarl and her blue eyes icy with pure loathing.

"Agreed," said Rhinestone as he advanced directly next to his ursine girlfriend, ramming his fist together multiple times as his horns gleamed in the light of the ceiling lamps and his black eyes seemingly bore straight through to Constance's soul. "She will not be going anywhere."

"Yes," Swamp Gator hissed as he himself started to advance towards Constance from a couple feet behind and to the left of the advancing couple, a toothy grin on his scaly face and emerald eyes agleam with what looked like a predatory glee and acidic drool lightly trickling from his mighty jaws as he deliberately made sure to drag his tail along the ground in a way that would allow it to make a noise similar to that of a slithering snake. "She's spent so many years now making our lives, and those of God knows how many other poor saps, completely and utterly miserable. I daresay it's high time someone returned the favor and made her life miserable instead."

"Took the words right out of my mouth my love," Night Howler cooed as she likewise advanced from directly next to her crocodilian boyfriend, her purple eyes similarly agleam with predatory glee, fanged teeth bared in a toothy grin, and her hands raised and showing off her extended claws as they became encased with black shadowy lightning tendrils. "And given the circumstances, the lucky beings to do so might as well be us."

Gulping, Constance hurriedly got back on her feet and began to back away from the advancing mutants. "Stay back," she hissed, her right hand extended as if to try to hold the mutants back.

Jungle Cat chuckled and started advancing towards her as well, Ambush right by his side. "Look at you," he said. "Talk about pathetic."

"Typical bully," Ambush purred, yellow eyes agleam and an aura of white light slowly starting to form around her body as she handed the confiscated necklace to her leonine boyfriend, who then slipped it into the right pocket of his jeans. "Acts all tough and proud when in a position of strength. But the instant her victims start to fight back, she becomes a spineless sniveling wreck."

Panting and gasping in fear, she instinctively reached into her pocket for her knives, only for her eyes to widen in horror when she discovered that the pocket was unexpectedly empty. "Wha…?!"

Night Howler abruptly pointed to Swamp Gator, who lifted his right hand in time to reveal all five of the knives clenched in his fist. "My girlfriend snaked them off you while you were elbowing her out of your way not too long ago," he explained. "And now." He unclenched his fist; at which point Morales audibly gasped in horror at the sight of the knives being revealed to have now been melted down to just their hilts by the crocodile mutant's acidic touch. Chuckling, Swamp Gator contemptuously flipped his hand upside down, sending the bladeless knives clattering down to the floor. "Your deck is completely empty." In that instant, what little spark of defiance and willingness to fight Constance had completely evaporated to nothing.

"Stay away from me," she shrieked, panic in her voice, before she then turned around and started to bolt down the hall once more…only to then abruptly bang into a massive wall of black crystal that suddenly erupted into existence right in front of her. She fell right on her backside, gaping in horror at the very real obstacle that now blocked off her only means of escape. She turned her head, heart rapidly plummeting at the sight of the six mutants continuing to slowly advance towards her, with Rhinestone in particular still holding his hands together in a 'thunderclap' position. There was no way to deny it. She was trapped.

"End of the line doc," said Rhinestone, smug smile still on his face. Immediately after he said this, he withdrew his hands from their 'thunderclap' position, causing them and his arms to crystallize and morph into serrated blade-like structures.

"Please," Morales whimpered, her voice almost cracking from fear as she clumsily worked herself back up to her feet, keeping her right arm and hand extended towards the six mutants. "Please have mercy, I beg you."

"Oh that's rich coming from you," Grizzly Girl growled, her left hand rising upwards as she caused a small series of tree root tendrils to rise from the floor directly in front of her and start waving wildly around like tentacles. "You certainly never showed us any mercy. Heck, now that I think about it, you never showed anyone mercy, period. Not even your own colleagues." She narrowed her eyes. "Why should we show you any mercy?"

"Please," Morales begged. "Please don't do this. I'll do anything!"

"You've done enough," Night Howler snarled, her voice cold and without mercy.

"Yeah," Swamp Gator hissed, his tail lifting off the ground and starting to swing side to side in a threatening fashion. "You've now had plenty of time to do as you please without consequence. And we have all had to suffer for it. But now, enough is enough." He rammed his right fist against his left palm, toothy grin still on his face. "Time to face justice."

As one, the four mutants who'd been brainwashed looked to Ambush and Jungle Cat, a silent message seeming to pass between them all. The two feline mutants smiled and nodded their heads with triumphant toothy grins on their faces. "Let's do this," Jungle Cat snarled.

"Indeed," Ambush purred in agreement.

And at that, the six mutants resumed their slow advance towards the trapped chief Wildebeest Society scientist who'd subjected them to so much torment and cruelty and was now finally trapped and at their mercy.

Constance blanched. "No…"

Ambush purred, her yellow eyes narrowed gleefully and a Cheshire Cat style grin on her face before she then went completely invisible. Jungle Cat also purred, his red eyes similarly narrowed with predatory joy before he then suddenly started letting an ominous purr-like rumbling emanate from his closed jaws, his head eventually starting to seemingly vibrate. This only caused the Latina scientist to become even more unnerved then she already was, for she'd seen a sign like this enough times before while Jungle Cat had been under the Wildebeest Society's custody to recognize it as what happened when he was charging up his roar for use at maximum power.

"Please don't…"

Night Howler started giggling, purple eyes agleam and a disturbingly happy looking wolf-like grin on her face as she caused her fingers to become completely engulfed in violently crackling black shadowy lightning tendrils. Swamp Gator was likewise unnervingly gleeful as he opened his jaws as wide as he could, an acrid green mist starting to lightly spew from them as a violent bubbling occurred deep in his throat and an unnervingly familiar green liquid started to slowly rise into view from his gullet.

"Please, I'm begging you!"

Rhinestone chuckled, swinging both of his crystalline bladed arms side to side in threatening fashion. Grizzly Girl lifted both hands skyward, causing both the tree roots she'd already summoned to start slowly extending towards the Latina while writhing like snakes, with countless other roots bursting out of the floor and behaving likewise.

"Don't do this to me! Don't!"

The six mutants only continued to advance, and she could now practically swear that there seemed to a small white aura forming around the invisible Ambush, conveniently outlining the tigress mutant's invisible body. Yet despite such a detail seemingly defeating the purpose of Ambush's invisibility, Constance nonetheless felt unnerved by it when said outline started also becoming disturbingly brighter and brighter with each passing second.

"You don't have to do this! I'll do anything!"

Rhinestone pointed his bladed arms back towards Morales, causing them to morph from blade form to what looked almost like crystalline gatling gun barrels with small crystalline spikes sticking out of the areas where bullets would have been positioned. Grizzly girl slammed her hands together in a prayer-like position and narrowed her eyes as she concentrated hard, the multiple tree root tendrils she'd summoned ceasing their writhing and thrashing and gathering together so that they all had their sharp tips pointing directly towards the Latina's stomach.

"Please! Please don't kill me!"

Night Howler snarled in anticipation, the shadowy lightning around her fingers starting to spread across her arms. Swamp Gator tensed his shoulders and reared his head up higher, a loud groaning roar emanating from his throat as his acid breath attack built up to the point of almost spilling out of his jaws completely, complete with the acrid mist spewing out starting to become noticeably thicker and almost like smoke.

"NO! NO PLEASE!" Constance howled, at this point visibly in tears as she pressed her back up against the crystalline wall behind her as much as she could in a futile attempt to put more distance between her and the still advancing mutants. "DON'T DO THIS TO ME! NO!"

Ambush raised her arms so that she had her hands directly facing the Latina, the white outline now almost bright enough to be physically painful to look at. Jungle Cat growled, his head now vibrating so violently that it was almost as if his head were about to explode.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Constance screamed, now too afraid to even look directly at the six mutants.

An entire minute passed without anything happening, and Morales lowered her hands from her eyes and looked back towards the mutants, a half confused and half hopeful look on her face…only for the sight of the glares on the mutants' faces to cause her to feel unnerved once more.

"You don't want to die?" Night Howler asked, shadowy lightning still violently crackling across her fingers and arms. "You don't want to die? You. Don't Want. To. Die?!

The mutants all resumed their rapid charging of their respective attacks.

"WE NEVER WANTED TO BE HERE!" Night Howler howled, her purple eyes now so darkened with rage that they were almost the exact same shade of black as her fur, hair, and powers. "YOU AND YOUR FILTHY ORGANIZATION LITERALLY SNATCHED US OFF THE STREETS OF NEW YORK, LITERALLY KICKING AND SCREAMING, AND DRAGGED US OFF TO BOTH YOUR FILTHY FORMER BASE THERE AND THEN THIS GODFORSAKEN HELL HOLE! YOU EXPERIMENTED ON US! ABUSED US! TURNED US INTO FREAKS! FORCED US INTO CRYOGENIC HIBERNATION! AND ON TOP OF THAT, YOU FORCED FOUR OF US TO TURN ON AND ATTEMPT TO KILL OUR TWO FRIENDS WHO MANAGED TO ESCAPE AND COME BACK FOR US, PERFECTLY WILLING TO LET US DIE FOR YOU IN THE EVENT THAT YOUR COLLEAGUE DR. ROOKWOOD HADN'T HAD THE HEART TO HELP US GET FREE!"

In that instant, right as Night Howler finished her speech and all the mutants reached the point of being seconds away from launching their respective attacks, Ambush reverted back to full visibility, the white aura outlining her body transferring entirely to her hands as it started to become even more painfully bright than it already was. "To make a long story short," she purred, clearly in agreement with her lupine friend. "Sometimes you just can't always get what you want." Her eyes narrowed. "And right now, the six of us are quite frankly sick of being on the wrong side of history!"

In that instant, Constance knew her fate was sealed. Weeping and panicking once more, she helplessly raised her hands in front of her face. "NO! NO PLEASE!"

The six mutants launched their respective attacks, the resulting beam of noise waves, burst of impossibly bright white light, geyser of acidic spit, maelstrom of shadowy lightning, volley of crystalline spikes, and barrage of pointy root tendrils completely engulfing the area where Morales was standing. And in that instant, the air was completely flooded with the sound of the Latina's impossibly loud scream of despair and agony.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in the central lab chamber, Robin and Lagrange were finding themselves on increasingly perilous footing. It had all started when they'd ended up mutually distracted in their dual by the sight of Beast Boy and Galtry bursting in over the course of their dual. But then, over the course of their time gawking, Galtry had turned into a dragon. And the very first burst of fire breath Galtry had subsequently spewed from his dragon form's jaws had struck the floor directly underneath the catwalk where the two swordfighters had been battling. The resulting explosion of heat, combined with the almost literally earthshaking impact that had resulted from the fire striking the floor, had caused the catwalk to start shaking and become increasingly unstable in its positioning. And then things had only continued to get worse over the course of a series of brutal attacks that Galtry had then ended up unleashing upon a group of Sakutia and Primetia infected animals that had unexpectedly been summoned into the room by a vortex of shadows. And finally, immediately after he'd finally finished brutally slaughtering the unexpected animal attackers, he had taken to the air, bursting his way through the domed glass ceiling of the room in the process before flying off to elsewhere. And now, with the catwalk at immensely high risk of becoming detached from its current position thanks to all the shockwaves and heavy impacts dealt against the room's floor and walls, the roaring heat of the massive dragon breath induced ocean of fire that was even now continuing to expand and rage on the floor below them, and all the falling shards of glass and broken timbers they'd had to deal with as a result of Galtry's chosen means of exiting the area, the Boy Wonder and his Wildebeest Society opponent were both mutually in a horrible mood.

Robin snarled, his masked eyes narrowed and teeth gritted as he held his trusty sword in a combat ready position, the glass fragments that had fallen towards him from the shattered roof and hadn't subsequently landed in the fire all lying harmlessly in a circle around him thanks to him having used his polymerized titanium cape to shield himself from them. Lagrange, meanwhile, looked much worse for wear. Since he hadn't had a means to appropriately shield himself from all the falling glass and timbers, he'd managed, despite his valiant efforts at deflecting as many of the falling hazards away from him as possible with his blade, to get a respectable number of cuts and scratches on his arms, shoulders, and face, among other areas of his body. He snarled, one of his eyes reflexively closed from a trickle of blood sliding across it from a cut on his forehead, his other eye narrowed angrily, and his teeth gritted in a snarl very similar to Robin's own as he clenched his fists tightly around the pommel of his sword.

"This has gone on long enough," Lagrange hissed, briefly grimacing from the pain of the various cuts he'd received.

"You can say that again," Robin snarled, his fists briefly clenching just the slightest bit tighter around the pommel of his own sword.

Lagrange growled, and then lifted his sword as if ready to slam it down or throw it. "Let's end this now!"

"Agreed."

Robin drew his sword back, ready to swing it in a powerful slash…

…only for an ominous creaking noise coming from above to cause the two combatants to pause right as they were both about to start rushing towards each other to resume their duel.

They looked up in confusion, at which point their eyes widened at the sight of one of the halves of the earlier split in half ceiling pipe completely detaching from its positioned and falling, with one end of it coming dangerously close to the center of the catwalk they were on as the structure spun around in circles over the course of its fall. But then things went from bad to worse when the pipe end in question not only successfully struck the center of the catwalk but caused it to split in half!

Quick to react, Robin managed to grab onto the railing that he'd been standing closest to before the catwalk got split with his left hand, thus managing to avoid falling off as well as successfully maintain his hold on his sword with his right hand. Lagrange was similarly lucky enough to grab onto the nearest railing of the half he himself ended up on but was less lucky in that his own sword ended up plummeting down into the raging flames below. For several minutes, the Boy Wonder and chief chemist of the Wildebeest Society dangled from the edges of their respective catwalk halves. They both knew all too well that it would be incredibly dangerous to remain like this. But at the same time, neither could they really do anything to get out of their current positioning.

Lagrange had one hand each holding onto a railing of an opposite side of each other; and this, combined with his now having difficulty getting a secure foothold against the wall he was now facing, meant that the resulting strain on both of his arms left him with no guarantee that he'd have the strength to successfully get a secure grip on one railing with both of his hands if he let go of one of the ones he was currently holding. Robin, on the other hand, despite having gotten a secure foothold, was unable to try climbing his catwalk half to safety by hand and foot or draw out his grappling gun due to how he had one hand gripping the railing and the other still holding his sword, which, unlike his earlier dropped bo staff, was something he quite frankly could not afford to lose. But he needed both hands in order to get his sword to revert back to birdarang mode, and he obviously couldn't let go of the railing to have both hands available without all too likely falling to his death. And finally, due to just how closely he was currently positioned to the wall he himself was now facing, the length of his sword made it too unwieldy for him to reliably maneuver into position so that he could stab it into the wall for the sake of providing an additional hand/foothold that he could use to climb up into a safer position.

As the situation became increasingly more dangerous, Lagrange was the first to break. He turned his head towards Robin. "Your sword," he hissed, panic and strain clear in his voice. "Throw it here!"

Robin looked at his sword, and then at Lagrange, his eyes narrowed in equal parts suspicion and confusion. "Why?"

"Just do it! If we're lucky, maybe it will get sufficiently stuck in the wall at the right position to allow me a secure place to position one of my feet!"

Robin took a quick look at the space between him and the scientist, his eyes narrowing further as he took note of just how wide of a gap there was. To really put it simply, he highly doubted that the odds of what Lagrange was currently suggesting would come even remotely close to succeeding in the way he was now indicating to be hoping were all that high. And even without that to consider, there were still plenty of other issues the young caped crusader currently had with this apparent plan of Lagrange's. He looked back at Lagrange, a wary glare on his face. "How do I know you won't just throw it right back at me or similarly try to double cross and kill me once you've gotten to safety?"

"And risk delaying my escape to the point I die myself instead? Are you crazy?!"

The scientist then directed a meaningful glare down towards the fire raging beneath him and the Boy Wonder. "And besides, even if I were planning to double cross you afterward, the simple fact remains that, if we don't do something, we'll both die here anyway! So for God's sake…"

The sound of creaking and groaning from above Lagrange interrupted the scientist, who promptly blanched, his eyes widening as he realized just what those noises meant. Robin similarly was quick to recognize the noises for what they were and had a similar look of stunned horror on his face as he and Lagrange both looked up towards the end of the catwalk half Lagrange was holding onto that was still attached to its respective wall. Sure enough, they saw that it was now becoming increasingly close to finally detaching altogether…only for exactly that to happen all of three seconds later.

The long metal platform plummeted straight towards the fire, the screaming Lagrange still gripping the rails he was holding as he fell with it. Robin reflexively extended the hand holding his sword towards the falling Lagrange, helpless to do anything as the falling catwalk half and screaming scientist plunged straight into the flames. For a few seconds, Robin gaped uncomprehendingly at the sea of flames. Then he grimaced, gritting his teeth and snarling in rage and annoyance. "Darn it," he thought viciously to himself. "I shouldn't have delayed myself…"

The sound of creaking and groaning filled the air once more, this time from Robin's position. The Boy Wonder had just enough time to widen his eyes before his own catwalk segment detached and started falling towards the fire! In that instant, Robin found himself screaming in equal parts fright and rage as he plummeted closer and closer to the flames…only to suddenly be grabbed by the wrist and yanked away from the falling catwalk segment. It wasn't until long after the catwalk segment he'd been holding onto vanished into the flames and he himself had found himself lifted halfway up towards the shattered ceiling dome that he finally noticed the distinctively orange skinned and purple gloved hands holding him by the wrist of the hand containing his sword and realized who had saved him. "Thanks Star."

"You are the welcome."

The Boy Wonder and his Tamaranean girlfriend exited the still in flames central lab chamber and came to a landing on a rooftop section several yards away. Robin sheathed his sword and turned to face Starfire. "You ok?"

Starfire nodded. "What about you?"

"A lot better than I was. Especially now that you've saved me. How did you even know where to find me?"

"Raven told me." She drew out her communicator. "She managed to return my communicator to me with her powers, and then called me to tell you about your plight."

Robin briefly raised his eyebrow, reaching into where he kept his communicator as he did so. And sure enough, his own communicator had likewise unexpectedly been returned to him. "Well that's good to hear," he then said, a smile coming on his face.

The sound of a loud boom attracted the couple's attention, and they looked to the left in time to see two laser beams, one of them the distinctive blue of Cyborg's sonic cannon blasts and the other a hideous boiling red, burst from the rooftop of one of the rearmost areas of the building, seemingly cut a circle, and then fade out just in time for the circular segment to collapse. And then a massive explosion of fire unexpectedly erupted from the hole in the roof seconds later. Robin looked meaningfully at Starfire. "We'd better go see if Cyborg needs our help."

"Agreed."

Starfire grabbed onto Robin's hands and took to the air once more as she flew towards the sight of the cave-in with her boyfriend dangling from her hands, a determined look on both their faces.

. . . . .

Cyborg and Azimi fired their respective cannon weapons at each other again and again, both of them gritting their teeth and glaring in annoyance as they both tried their absolute hardest to take each other down. Azimi prepared yet another round for firing, a feral snarl trickling through his gritted teeth as his dark eyes blazed with rage. "What's it going to take to bring you down you filthy heap of scrap metal?"

Cyborg maintained his own vicious glare towards the angry technician while also pointing his sonic cannon back at him and charging up yet another blast from it. "A lot more than you've currently given me, that's for sure."

Azimi couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, a twinge of amusement briefly surfacing within his glaring eyes. "I suppose that's something we can agree on." He then abruptly pressed the 'fire button' on his camera cannon, his gaze returning back to full glare mode. "NOW DIE!"

Cyborg was able to fire his sonic cannon in time to have the resulting blast collide once again with the one from Azimi's camera cannon in the center of the room, at which point the two beams started pushing against each other in a duel for dominance. "Booyah!" Cyborg yelled as this happened; and for several minutes, this duel went on, with neither beam giving any ground as an orb of energy built up in the center of the two dueling beams.

"Come on, come on," Cyborg growled, putting all his might into trying to force his beam to move forward against the middle eastern man's camera cannon blast.

"Damn it," Azimi snarled, a look of beastly rage coming on his face as he desperately tried to fuel more power into his cannon's blast. "Die already!"

"Not. Gonna. Happen!"

Mere seconds after Cyborg yelled this, the orb of energy in the center of the dueling beams finally built up enough energy to explode, sending both combatants flying backwards while spinning in the air, the camera cannon similarly spinning in the air as it ended up dislodged from Azimi's hands. As this happened, the two lasers likewise span in a half circle, cutting a full circle together in the roof of the technician station their respective wielders had been battling in. Cyborg ended up bursting clean through the door behind him and out of the room while Azimi slammed against the solid wall behind him before crumpling to the floor on his face. The camera cannon landed harmlessly on the floor in the center of the technician station, its beam now shut off.

Azimi managed to get back up on his feet, snarling and growling in rage from what had just happened, and then stormed over to retrieve his camera cannon. "Damn him," he snarled, clearly even angrier than before at his seemingly newly escaped opponent. "God damn him! I swear, as soon as I get the chance, somehow or other, I will melt that filthy heap of living scrap metal down…"

The sound of an ominous creaking noise from above him caused him to pause, and he looked up…only to then blanche and widen his eyes in horror when the entirety of the now circular shaped section of roofing material that had been cut into the ceiling abruptly began to fall straight towards him. He had just enough time to scream in fright before the collapsing ceiling material landed upon him, crushing him to death and smashing the camera cannon…which in turn caused it to explode.

Cyborg meanwhile, had just started getting back on his own feet when the camera cannon exploded from within the technician station, and this was enough to convince him to run straight back towards the room when he saw the smoke from the explosion come out of the gaping open doorway in which the door he'd crashed into had originally been positioned. He looked inside, wincing at the sight of the wreckage of the ceiling material that had fallen over the course of the rooftop collapse. "Oh boy," he thought to himself.

"Cyborg!"

"Friend! Are you down there?"

Cyborg immediately looked up towards the hole in the ceiling. "I'm down here! And I haven't been smashed if that's what you're wondering!"

"That's a relief."

Robin and Starfire descended into the technician station, observing the destruction that had occurred. "Let me guess," said Robin. "You ended up dueling with someone as well?"

"Yup." Cyborg nodded his head. "The bearded guy. He had a laser cannon to."

Robin silently whistled, and then looked at all the rubble he and Starfire were now standing on. "Let me guess, he's now buried under all this?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Well I guess there's nothing we can do about that," Robin admitted before looking to Starfire. "Let's go find the others."

"Agreed."

"No need to tell me twice y'all."

The trio started running off through the corridors, eager to find their friends and get out of the building.

. . . . .

Wildebeest thrashed and jerked against the green energy rings pinning him to the operating table within the ancillary lab chamber, grunting and snorting in rage and discomfort as he did so. "Grr," he growled. "What's it take to get out of this?!"

At the sound of shadowy energy materializing, he turned his head in time to see a vortex of shadows appear in front of the dome containing the frozen Chang and his four equally frozen minions. Raven stepped out of this vortex. "Sorry I took so long," she said as she hurried over to him. "Was a little preoccupied with the leader, and then I had to provide a little assistance to some of my other friends immediately after I finally finished that duel."

"Well better late than never," Wildebeest stated in relief, a small smile forming on his face.

The sorceress rolled her eyes and then carefully examined the rings of green energy pinning Wildebeest down by the neck, wrists, and ankles. Her eyes narrowed. "The leader was definitely not pulling any punches when he designed this."

"What do you mean?"

Raven gestured towards the energy rings. "These things? They're magic based. Specifically, emotional magic based. They're designed to contain stressed out or angry targets. And the more a victim struggles, the stronger they get."

"Makes sense."

Wildebeest nodded his head, closed his eyes, and started taking deep breathes to calm himself down. But when he finally stopped and opened his eyes, he and Raven were both understandably confused when the energy rings proved to still be active. "Ok? Why am I still not free?"

"Not sure," Raven admitted. "You certain you're entirely calmed down?"

"Yes." Wildebeest then thought to himself. "Or at least…I think I am."

"Why don't you let me look in your emotions?" Raven suggested. "Let me see if there's some sort of unknown or forgotten repressed stress or rage inside you that that's allowing your restraints to remain active despite the fact that your otherwise completely calm?"

Wildebeest thought to himself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. But be careful in there."

Raven nodded and placed her hands on the sides of Wildebeest's head, closing her eyes as she started to concentrate. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

With her hands and eyes now glowing with shadowy energy, the sorceress took a deep long look into Wildebeest's mind and emotions, eventually managing to find an especially unnerving boiling mass of rage, fear, and sadness buried immensely deep within his psyche. With just how deep in his psyche she found this mass of emotional negativity, she decided to help him even further by outright taking care of it herself. And so, using her empathic powers, she manipulated the sea of calmness and happiness surrounding it until it completely smothered the long gestating and suppressed mass into nonexistence. In the process, she managed to get a good enough additional look at the mass to realize that it had been present and building up inside him for at least five years. This information was enough to make her briefly wince. "All this bottled up inside him for five years?" Raven thought to herself as she slowly started to retract her mental presence from Wildebeest's psyche. "It's a miracle he didn't snap and turn violent, if not some similar negative reaction."

Raven fully removed herself from Wildebeest's mind and emotions, allowing herself to exit her psychic contact state immediately afterward. "There," she said as her vision returned to her eyes. "That should be enough to…"

She abruptly stopped speaking, purple eyes widening and already light gray face turning even more pale than usual, when she saw the very unexpected sight she now saw lying upon the operating table. As she'd hoped would be the case once she'd taken care of his repressed negative emotions allowing the restraints to be present, the five rings of green energy that had been pinning Wildebeest down by the ankles, wrists, and neck were gone, leaving the young mutant free to get off the table. But what currently surprised her was how, for some reason or other, he'd now shrunk out of his familiar large and muscular form into a much smaller and scrawnier form that seemed much more befitting of his 10 years of age. Even his horns had shrunken down to a much more 'young looking' size. Quite frankly, it was a miracle that the translator collar still fit comfortably around his neck.

Wildebeest raised his eyebrow at the sight of the stunned look on Raven's face. "Ok…what's that look supposed to mean?"

Raven took a deep breath, exhaled, and then shook her head side to side, still numb from stunned surprise. "Do you think you can get off the table before I answer that? I don't want to risk you triggering that stress-induced binding spell into reactivating from sheer shock."

"If you say so."

Wildebeest slid himself off the operating table, only to then seem quite surprised at just how much further he seemed to fall than he'd expected. He looked at Raven, clearly about to ask her what had happened, only for his eyes to widen in surprise at another detail he'd not been expecting to see. "What the? How did you…how did everything get so big?"

"I didn't grow big. Nothing did."

Raven pointed towards a nearby reflective surface, and Wildebeest reflexively turned his head in the direction she was pointing, at which point he gaped in stunned shock at the sight of his reflection showing how he now looked. "You shrunk," Raven stated as if to confirm what he was now thinking.

Wildebeest ran up to the reflective glass surface, gaping in shock as he eventually placed his hands up against the surface once he came to a stop. "My powered-up form…I'm finally out of my powered-up form." He then looked to Raven once more, stunned look still present on his furry face. "How…?"

"I found something inside your psyche," Raven explained. "A huge mass of rage, fear, and sadness built up so deep within your mind that you didn't even know it was there. And from how big and strong it was even in spite of your unwittingly suppressing it, I'd say it first started to form about five years ago." She then directed an especially meaningful look at the young mutant. "And judging by your current appearance, it most likely had something to do with why you'd never been able to shift out of your powered-up form to your natural form until literally right now."

Wildebeest gulped, and then looked down at himself. "What could have been enough to have me feel something like that?" He asked out loud just as much to himself as to Raven. "Let alone without even knowing…?"

Another shadowy vortex suddenly materialized into the room. Raven and Wildebeest looked towards it just in time to see none other than Dr. Rookwood step out.

The blonde briefly jolted to a halt, clearly stunned. "Ok," she said. "Clearly there's a lot that's happened in this room since the last time I was here…"

Raven lifted her hands, shadowy energy encasing them as she prepared to attack, only for Wildebeest to suddenly grab her right wrist. "Don't attack her," he yelled. "She helped Beast Boy and I get in here today to save you and the others." He then briefly directed a confused look towards Rookwood. "Though admittedly, I am confused how you managed to arrive here by shadow vortex."

"Long story."

The blonde looked to Raven and nodded her head. "But he's telling the truth. I helped your shapeshifter friend, Project Baby Wildebeest, and their local allies get into this building today."

Raven narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why?"

"She's been wanting to defect for a long while," Wildebeest explained. "She's only been putting up with these guys for as long as she has because they kept threatening to kill or experiment on her family if she left or betrayed them."

"He is right."

Dr. Rookwood nodded her head. "And it is only now, with the benefactor's nephew having brought me the appropriate opportunity I needed, that I'm finally doing what I should have done a long time ago." She clenched her fists, a half determined and half angry look on her face. "I've had enough now of the Wildebeest Society's cruelty and heartlessness. I won't be abandoning any more children to their mercy. Not anymore."

Raven narrowed her eyes, carefully going over the emotional readings she was getting. So far, there was no evidence that Wildebeest or the scientist were lying. But even so, after what she'd just recently gone through against said scientist's boss, she was not about to be too quick to fully trust her just yet. "Let's assume, for argument's sake, that I indeed can trust you. Answer me this…"

"What's happening to Project Baby Wildebeest?"

Raven narrowed her eyes and glared at the scientist, her teeth gritting irritably. "Don't change the subject…"

The sound of Wildebeest seemingly whimpering caught Raven's attention, and she looked to her right in time to see Wildebeest visibly quivering, his eyes widened, and body tensed up as he rapidly gasped and whimpered in clear distress. But at the same time, there was also a faraway look in the young mutant's eyes, almost as if he were perhaps suddenly remembering an especially traumatizing past event. "Abandoned," he eventually managed to squeak, his eyes slowly starting to become on the verge of tears. "Abandoned…abandoned…abandoned…"

He abruptly fell on his backside, quivering and whimpering as his eyes became increasingly moist and his hands slowly rose towards his head. "I…I remember…my…my mothers…all three of them…why did…why did they…why did they leave?"

Raven and Dr. Rookwood hurried over to the collapsed Wildebeest, united in their concern as the young mutant abruptly placed his hands over his eyes and started sobbing. Dr. Rookwood reached him first, getting on her knees in front of him and placing her hands on his shoulders while Raven came to a stop behind him and placed her hands on his horns, ready to use her empathic powers to help soothe and cheer him up if necessary. "Hey, it's ok," Dr. Rookwood stated, a motherly tone to her voice as she tried to calm him down. "I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you…"

"You always said that." Wildebeest abruptly yelled, sobbing still. "But you lied!"

"What are you talking about?" Dr. Rookwood asked, genuinely confused.

"Before I escaped," Wildebeest whimpered, sniffling. "Before I met my current mother. You always came to visit me. You were always the nicest. You were my second mother, doing the stuff for me that my first mother wouldn't."

"What are you talking about?" Raven asked.

"He's talking about me and my colleague who first created him," Rookwood explained. "You met her yesterday alongside me and our two additional colleagues." She shook her head side to side. "And though she was the one who created him, the way she treated him was absolutely vile, even for this society's standards. She abused him, only did the bare minimum at best in caring for him…"

"My first mother hated me," Wildebeest whimpered, now starting to sob once more. "Only gave me enough positive treatment and care to…to keep me alive…and always beat me…hurt me…yelled at me…when I did something wrong…"

In that instant, Raven hung her head, a small tear forming in her right eye. She was now starting to get an idea of just how the mass of negative emotions suppressed deep in Wildebeest's psyche she'd just helped dispel had managed to take form in the first place. And it was not at all pleasant to consider.

"My second mother," Wildebeest managed to say. "She would always come every night before bed for a while…give me all the love and attention that my first mother…wouldn't give me…she was so nice…kind…promised she'd always be there for me…but she wasn't…she…she eventually…stopped coming…left me…to the mercy of…my first mother…where were you…why did you leave…why didn't you…help me…?"

"I'm right here now," said Rookwood, sniffling briefly as small tears started to form in her own eyes as she realized just how badly Wildebeest had apparently been affected by what he was now talking about. "I'm right here."

"My third mother," Wildebeest then whimpered, clearly fighting to avoid breaking down even more then he already was. "I met her a month or so after my second mother stopped coming. She was just as nice and caring as my second mother but was always there from the moment of her introduction. I even ended up powering up for the first time and getting us both out in time to prevent her from being taken away from me." He briefly paused, holding his breath as if trying to keep himself together. "But she still ended up leaving me anyway, just like the previous two."

"That's not true," said Raven.

"Yes it is," Wildebeest whimpered. "When the Brotherhood came after me, she wasn't there. She was too busy…wrestling…she didn't even know I was gone until days…weeks…months after the fact."

He gritted his teeth. "I took my powered-up form the first time to protect myself and avoid losing yet another mother. But even it wasn't enough to save me…from the world or from losing another mother."

Raven removed her hands from Wildebeest's horns, placing them on his shoulders just as Dr. Rookwood had already done with her own, a saddened look on her own hooded face as she processed what the mutant was saying. Only in that moment did it finally truly hit her just how young he actually was. Admittedly, he'd always acted very childish during all the times she'd actually seen and interacted with him prior to this moment, but his bulky, tough, and animalistic exterior, plus what Pantha and Red Star had eventually told her about his origins during the mass gathering at Titans Tower after the Brotherhood of Evil's defeat, had always led her to largely dismiss this as just a series of quirky behaviors. And even after she'd finally gotten to actually hear him be capable of speech and gotten official confirmation of his true age a mere two days ago, she'd still not thought too much about it due to both his continued tough and strong exterior and the fact that there had been what had seemed arguably more important matters at the time on her and her teammates' minds.

But only now, as she felt her beastly teammate's finally revealed impossibly strong sadness, fear, and rage flow through her empathic mental feed, did she fully realize just how vulnerable he truly was underneath the confident and strong outer image he'd had while in powered-up mode. At the end of the day, just like Melvin, Timmy, and Teether, he was, despite his power, still a little kid. And at that moment, with his outer image as a tough, confident, and strong beastly superhero literally and metaphorically stripped away, and his hidden inner pain and trauma brought back to the forefront of his mind, all that currently remained of him was the scared little boy he'd spent several years trying to hide from the world he worked to protect despite also being terrified of it. She hung her head, closing her eyes as small tears of regret and guilt started to build up in her eyes over her having taken so long to become aware of all this, especially after finding out not too long ago the full truth behind his origins. "Wildebeest," she thought to herself. "I'm so sorry."

The young mutant lowered his hands, revealing his now extremely teary eyes. "The world…why does it have to be so dangerous…scary…cruel? Mothers…they're supposed to protect you…shield you with their wings…keep you safe until you're ready to take it on yourself. But my first mother actively worked alongside the world in being a danger to me…my second one gained my trust over time with multiple visits and then stopped coming to me right when I needed her most and left me to the continued mercy of my first mother…my third one stayed with me almost all the time, but still wasn't there when I needed her most."

He sniffled, his eyes now half closed from all the crying he was doing. "Why?" He asked, tears now pouring from his eyes once more like waterfalls. "Why didn't they love me? Why didn't they help me? Why weren't they there when I needed them most? Why did they leave? Why did they leave? Why…did…they…leave?" In that instant, he completely lost it once more, his eyes snapping fully shut as he once again started sobbing and weeping.

But then, right as Raven was seconds away from trying to use her empathic powers to replace Wildebeest's current sorrow with a happier emotion, Dr. Rookwood suddenly removed her hands from the young mutant's shoulders in favor of giving him a tight hug instead. Wildebeest jolted, briefly stopping his crying as he gaped in complete shock at the apparent 'nice scientist' hugging him. Raven also gaped in surprise, too caught off guard to react in any other way.

"It's ok," said the blonde scientist as she kept her arms wrapped around the stunned and teary-eyed Wildebeest, tightening her embrace as she herself continued to come close to tears. "I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you. Not this time."

"You promised me this before…"

"I know. And I'm sorry I didn't keep my word then. I truly am. But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is that I'm here now when you once again need me most. And this time, I will not abandon you. I promise you that. You hear me? I'm so sorry."

All of Wildebeest's remaining reticence evaporated, and he gave Dr. Rookwood a hug of his own, bursting loudly into tears once more. As he did so, Rookwood continued to whisper words of encouragement and comfort in her efforts to cheer him up, all while finally allowing her own eyes to burst into tears as well. Raven could only stand, gaping in stunned silence as she watched the crying mutant and scientist hug each other and unite in their respective repressed sadness and guilt. But at the same time, even while still detecting massive amounts of sadness from the both of them, she could also now notice the slightest hints of happiness, comfort, and relief starting to form within Wildebeest's emotional feed alongside all the overwhelming negativity as, at long last, his long suppressed old wounds and traumas were finally addressed and allowed the chance to start healing.

Raven smiled, a small tear of equal parts sadness and joy slowly sliding down her cheek. She even went so far as to lower her hood when she eventually wiped this tear away. "I'm sorry you had to wait so long for this to happen," she thought to herself. "But at least now you can finally move on from your past pain." And indeed Wildebeest now could be free from the trauma that had kept him stuck in powered-up mode for so long before this moment.

The sound of a strange buzzing coming from somewhere else in the room attracted the attention of all three of the occupants, and they looked in the direction the noise was coming from in time for a small segment of the wall next to the frozen Chang to move aside to reveal a now brilliantly glowing set of sapphire blue armor similar to the set that Wildebeest himself was already wearing. This armor, however, came with a full breastplate. And emblazoned on the center of the breast plate's chest covering, crazily enough, was what appeared to be an image of an angry bull and an almost demonic looking raven circling each other in the style of a yin-yang circle. In that moment, she remembered what Juris had mentioned prior to their duel about Wildebeest 'finally being ready'. "This armor," she thought to herself. "It must have been designed for Wildebeest to exclusively wear once he'd gained full control over his power."

"What's that?"

Raven turned her head away from the glowing blue armor in time to see a now no longer crying Wildebeest pointing his finger at the armor while directing a confused look towards her. Dr. Rookwood likewise looked confused and uncertain as to what was going on. Raven sighed, and then nodded her head. It would only be right at this point to explain. "Well to start," she began. "Let's just say that there's a lot of stuff I've learned today regarding your origins." She then looked to Dr. Rookwood. "And those of your boss, that will seriously surprise you."

. . . . .

Juris awoke from unconsciousness in his personal bedchamber, groaning in pain and discomfort as he felt the lingering pain that had been inflicted upon him both over the course of his duel against Raven as well as through his getting caught in the explosion of his destroyed pocket dimension and subsequently coming to a painful impact against his bedchamber's wall upon getting expelled from said dimension over the course of its destruction. "Azar curse that filthy demon," he snarled to himself as he slowly got back to his feet, reflexively reaching towards where he'd always kept his amulet around his neck…only to then freeze and widen his eyes in horror upon finding the area around his neck completely empty, and thus getting a harsh reminder of what had happened to the all-important amulet.

"No," he thought to himself. "No, no, no, no…"

He looked in a nearby mirror, his heart sinking at further visual confirmation of his now bare neck to remind him of how his amulet had been destroyed. With his amulet gone, he was now in serious trouble. With his amulet gone, the symbiotic energy exchange circle he'd formed between it and the combined life force of both himself and his host body was broken. Therefore, assuming he even was still capable of casting any more magic without the amulet, he would only be able to do so by channeling exclusively his own life force, which would all too likely kill him if he cast enough spells in such a fashion without sufficient rest in between. And even worse, unless he managed to successfully form a new backup spiritual tether to an appropriate alternate object now that his amulet was destroyed, there was now nothing left to prevent his spirit from going straight to the afterlife in the event his current host body or any others he possessed were either destroyed or similarly rendered uninhabitable for him. In fact, the only reason he hadn't already been expelled from his current host body immediately after the amulet's destruction was the fact that he'd had the foresight to always cast appropriate spells to specifically safeguard against such forceful expulsions from occurring unless both the amulet and whatever host body he so happened to be possessing were destroyed.

But then he clenched his fists, his eyes narrowing and teeth gritting in rage. "No," he snarled to himself under his breath. "I'm not going to give up. So what if things have now become much higher risk for me? That doesn't mean I have to roll over on my back and let the afterlife take me without a fight. Whether I make it out of this situation alive or not, I'm not going down without continuing to put in my absolute best effort." He checked both of his weapons, sighing in relief when he noticed that while his broadsword had ended up broken as a result of his rough landing from his ejection from the imploded pocket dimension, his revolver was still in ideal condition for continued usage in battle. "Good," he thought to himself. "With my magic now at best something to use as a last resort and nonexistent at worst, and my mighty sword now broken, this weapon will nonetheless be a useful tool to fight with." He let a half angry and half maniacally gleeful grin come on his face. "And if I'm lucky, then just maybe I'll be able to at least successfully kill that foul Hell spawn beforehand in the event I finally end up claimed by the afterlife today after all this time I've spent evading it."

Then the sound of wildebeest-like grunting split the air directly outside his bedchamber, and his grin widened further. "Perfect," he thought to himself as he started to extend a telepathic call to the hybrids, feeling a rush of relief in the process that this ability at least he appeared to still have full access to despite no longer having his amulet. "There's still a few hybrids left to provide backup."

. . . . .

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg moved as swiftly, yet carefully, as they could through the myriad corridors as they tried as hard as they could to locate Raven, Beast Boy, and Wildebeest. Unfortunately, despite having managed to avoid getting into any further battles, they still quickly found their current objective easier said than done.

"Good grief, how many of these hybrids are there y'all?" Cyborg asked as he found himself once again irritably working to shove aside an inconveniently positioned wildebeest hybrid corpse with his foot. "And how the heck did these things end up dying so darned bloody?"

"Be the relieved that they're dead and don't have to be carried out of this building," Starfire groaned, directing a weary glance towards what appeared to be a trio of unconscious Wildebeest Society underlings while already seemingly struggling to keep herself from dropping the five unconscious Chang goons she was already holding in her arms.

The sound of an ominous creaking coming from above them caused the three Titans to widen their eyes in alarm. They had just enough time to briefly look upwards before they then hurriedly jumped forward in time to just barely avoid getting smashed underneath a large rectangular ceiling lamp that ended up falling from its positioning and onto the floor. The three Titans were still in the midst of getting back up on their feet after this when they heard various other noises that only served to give them an unpleasant reminder of how, through some means or other, the entire building was becoming increasingly both engulfed in flames and at risk of collapsing entirely.

"This is insane," Robin growled.

"Tell me about it," Cyborg grumbled in agreement.

"How are we to find our friends and get ourselves and anyone in need of rescue out of this building in time to avoid getting the squashed flat?" Starfire asked, worry clear in her voice.

"Need help?"

The sprawled-out trio looked ahead in time to see Raven come to a stop alongside a now blue armor-clad Wildebeest and a woman they recognized as one of the Wildebeest Society leader's four most trusted underlings. And clutched within Wildebeest's arms was none other than the dome containing the still frozen Chang.

Robin raised his eyebrow upon sight of the blonde Wildebeest Society inner circle member, and he pointed his finger towards her. "You're suddenly on our side now?"

"And what's with that new armor?" Cyborg asked, understandably confused about the unfamiliar armor that Wildebeest was now wearing.

"Long story," said Wildebeest.

"And considering the current circumstances," said Raven. "I'm sure you won't mind waiting a little while to hear it all."

"She's right," said the blonde Wildebeest Society scientist. "The sooner we get ourselves, your shapeshifter friend, and all our other allies out of this building safe and healthy, the better." She then noticed the unconscious mooks lying around. "And I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get a few more of my former colleagues and that frozen scientist's underlings out of here as well."

Robin raised his eyebrow again. "Other allies?"

"What other allies?" Starfire asked.

"Do we really have to help evacuate these unconscious jerks?"

"I must agree. They never did anything for us. Why should we help them?"

Dr. Rookwood and the five Titans turned their heads in time to see Jungle Cat, Ambush, and their four formerly brainwashed fellow mutants show up within a nearby side corridor, each of them carrying an armload of unconscious mooks. At the sight of this, the eyes of the four present founding Titans immediately widened in shock and mild fright.

"Yo!" Cyborg yelled. "What the heck are you?!"

"The subjects of one of the Society's side projects," said Dr. Rookwood.

"And before you ask," said Wildebeest while directing a meaningful look at Robin. "They're on our side." He then directed an equal parts wary and intrigued look towards the four mutants he'd not yet met before standing behind Jungle Cat and Ambush. "Or at least, the two cat-like ones are…"

"These four are with us," said Jungle Cat. Then he winced. "Or at least…now they are."

Robin raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean 'now they are'?"

"Long story," grunted Rhinestone, clearly annoyed.

"What he said," growled Grizzly Girl.

Ambush then directed an excited grin towards the four present founding Titans. "It's nice to finally see you guys in person though. Your friend the guardian of joy and nature has told us a lot about you."

The four older Titans gaped incredulously at the tigress mutant, completely baffled at what they'd just heard.

"Guardian of joy and nature?" Robin asked.

"Forgive me," said Starfire. "But I have the zero memory of meeting such a figure."

"I think they're referring to Beast Boy," said Raven.

"That is correct."

Jungle Cat nodded his head. "Like my companion has just said, your friend the shapeshifter has talked a lot about you four." He let a brief sheepish smile come on his furry face. "Though admittedly, how much of what he said was the true version of events and how much of it was exaggerated for comedic or dramatic effect is a topic that I'm sure will make for a very interesting discussion in the near future." He then directed a meaningful side glance towards Robin, a cheeky look further developing onto his face despite the current situation. "Champion warrior leader."

Robin gaped blankly at the lion mutant, completely befuddled. "Oh…kay?"

"Um guys?" Swamp Gator abruptly stated with a seemingly horrified look now on his face. "Should we be bowing or something right now? I mean." He pointed his tail at Starfire. "That is the one you said the green shapeshifter referred to as a 'princess of sky and fire' right?"

Starfire directed a half surprised and half flattered look towards the crocodile mutant. "I am a princess yes," she responded. "But I can give you the assurance that it is not at all the necessary for you to bow or similarly act the subservient in my presence."

Cyborg let a brief chuckle escape from his mouth. "Is it bad that I'm now suddenly curious as to what sort of title I received in these stories BB's apparently told these guys about us?" He said to the still befuddled Robin.

"The chieftain of meat and metal."

The entire group all looked at Wildebeest, who raised his eyebrow. "What?" He said defensively. "He asked."

"This is an important conversation right now?" Raven asked, clearly not amused.

"The sorceress of blood and shadows is correct," said Night Howler, failing to notice the half befuddled and half intrigued look that came on Raven's face upon hearing her own apparent nickname she'd received in the stories Beast Boy had apparently told these mutants about her and the other Titans. "If we are to get ourselves." She directed a downwards glare towards the armload of unconscious mooks she was carrying. "And these undeserving jerks out to safety before this entire building comes down on us, we must move with all speed."

"Indeed."

The assembled Titans, mutants, and scientist turned their heads in time to see none other than Tawaba, his two children, N'jobu, and the six councilmen come to a stop; the shaman being supported in his movements and position by Tawaba, Nyota being similarly supported by her brother, and the six councilmen each carrying multiple unconscious mooks in their arms alongside their weapons. The tribe chieftain king nodded his head. "Do not be alarmed," he stated to the four formerly captive Titans. "I am Tawaba. King and chieftain of the jungle tribe. We are associates of Garfield Logan; the one you know as Beast Boy. And yes, I am well aware that there will be a lot of explaining to be done in the near future."

Robin thought to himself, carefully considering all the information he'd just received. Then he nodded his head. "Makes sense." He looked at the various unconscious mooks present in the area. "We're definitely going to need to be extra swift and careful in order to get all these unconscious underlings out of here to safety alongside us, not to mention God knows how many more we haven't already gathered up…"

"My people and I have already been working on that," said Tawaba. He nodded his head. "All the guards and hybrids had more or less already been defeated by the time we all noticed signs of the building being at risk of collapse. From what we've been told by the rest of our forces, they've all managed to get out of the building and carry a respectable number of unconscious human foes out with them. We were just now doing a quick run through the building to see if there were any more we could help evacuate."

This got Robin's attention. "Was there anyone else you had to leave behind?"

"So far, the only guards left to be evacuated are the ones lying on the floor right in front of you, the ones in our arms and those of the six mutants in front of us, and maybe a couple others not too far around us in this area. And of course there's the four that are frozen alongside who I'm guessing is that scientist called Chang."

All the other people and mutants gathered in the corridors looked at each other, silently considering all the information they now had in regard to their current situation. Then the sound of otherworldly roaring filled the air, and the eyes of the four present founding Titans widened in clear horrified recognition. And in that instant, Robin swiftly made his decision. He looked to the six teenage mutants. "Were there any other unconscious goons in the areas you've gone through you had to leave behind?"

"No," said Jungle Cat, his five companions likewise shaking their heads in the negative.

Robin looked to Raven, Wildebeest, and Dr. Rookwood. "Did you leave anybody behind in the areas you've just gone through?"

"No," said Raven.

"What she said," Wildebeest chimed in.

"Then here's what we'll do."

The Boy Wonder rammed his right fist against his left palm, eyes narrowed determinedly. "Raven, can you teleport all these guards, plus Chang and those other frozen goons of his, to the front yard of this building?" He looked to Tawaba. "I presume that's likely where the rest of your forces and the guards they evacuated are positioned?"

"Correct," said Tawaba.

"I think I can manage that," said Raven.

"Excellent."

Robin nodded his head. "Let's get them out of the way." He then thought to himself some more. "And while we're at it." He looked to rest of the group gathered around alongside him. "If anyone wants to make a swift exit alongside them, speak now."

Ambush raised her eyebrow. "Dare I ask why some of us would presumably be staying in this hell hole?"

"That roaring we all just heard?" Cyborg stated. "That's the roar Beast Boy makes when in the form of…um…a particularly unpleasant creature."

"And he's not the only one," said Raven. She nodded her head when the rest of the group looked to her. "Not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"I must agree with Robin," said Starfire. "What do you mean?"

"Galtry," Raven responded. At the sight of her three fellow founders' eyes widening and faces blanching, she nodded her head. "I managed to get a good look at his mind. He's gotten ahold of the mutagen and given himself Beast Boy's powers."

"Who's Galtry?" Jungle Cat asked.

The four Titan founders were about to respond when Tawaba unexpectedly beat them to the punch. "An absolute demon of a man that Garfield has the rotten luck to have to call uncle." He nodded his head when the four teenage heroes gaped in surprise at him. "His father told me all about that ungrateful brute he was so unlucky as to call brother while he was still alive. And from what I've since learned about him from Garfield himself over the course of our reunion yesterday, it is clear that he is most certainly not someone Garfield will remotely enjoy seeing again, especially if he's now apparently developed the same powers as Garfield. Though why he would be here, I admittedly am uncertain about."

"He's the benefactor that arranged for the Wildebeest Society to let Chang use their labs as a temporary headquarters and place to produce the Primetia," Dr. Rookwood explained. She then directed a brief glare at the still clearly in pain and slightly limping Nyota. "And I was actually about to mention the fact that he was your shapeshifter friend's uncle before you…interrupted."

Nyota winced, gritting her teeth in a mixture of pain and embarrassment from being reminded once more of her earlier mistake.

Cyborg whistled. "Boy it looks like we've got quite a collection of long stories to exchange once we get out of this."

"And they can all wait till later." Robin raised his now tightly clenched right fist towards his face, determined glare back on his face. "Because right now, Beast Boy could very well need our help, especially if Galtry's now apparently gotten ahold of the mutagen and given himself Beast Boy's powers." He then looked to Raven. "For that matter, have you gotten a good read on Beast Boy lately?"

While he didn't voice as much out loud, the implication was clear in the Boy Wonder's words that he wanted to know if Beast Boy had successfully cured himself of the Primetia he himself had been infected with. As a result, all the other gathered Titans, mutants, and tribes folk looked to Raven, all of them silently praying that the sorceress would have good news for them to hear in response to Robin's question. Even the four mutants who hadn't yet met Beast Boy personally had the same hopeful look on their faces that Jungle Cat and Ambush had. And thankfully, much to the entire group's mutual relief, Raven nodded her head up and down in the affirmative before responding, "I have. And he's cured."

The rest of the group all sighed in visible relief.

"Thank X'hal."

"You said it Star."

"What they said y'all."

"May the gods be praised."

"Thank goodness for that."

"Indeed."

Attention was returned to Robin, who nodded his head. "Well that being the case, he'll nonetheless likely need assistance against Galtry. However, considering the current state of this building, among other hazards, I will not at all be unhappy if any of you wish to take advantage of the opportunity to escape now alongside the soon to be evacuated mooks. So I'll say it again, anyone who wants to make a swift exit alongside those mooks, speak now."

"We'll come with you," said Tawaba, his two children, the shaman, and the six councilmen nodding their heads in agreement with their leader. "Garfield was like family to us when he was still a child living amongst us alongside his parents, and he is still like family to us now. We have already had to leave him to the mercy of his monster of an uncle once. We will not do so a second time."

"Count us in," said Jungle Cat.

"Indeed," said Ambush. She nodded her head. "The amount of time we've known him may be meagre compared to the rest of you, but he and Wildebeest were the very first true friends we've ever had since the day we first got captured by the Wildebeest Society all those years ago. And it is thanks to him, in a roundabout way, that we've finally reunited with the friends we still had left before we met him and Wildebeest. And considering that, plus how willing he was to help us reunite with them even when he'd only known Jungle Cat and I for a couple hours at most, we'll be damned to not continue to return the favor now."

"The rest of us have never even met him," said Swamp Gator. "But I trust my friends who have met him."

"As do I," said Night Howler. "And regardless of our lack of familiarity with your team, the fact that your shapeshifter friend was willing to help us when he'd only known two of us for at least a couple of hours and even now still hasn't yet met the rest of us is more than enough proof that he, and hopefully you four and the rest of this team of 'Titans', are truly heroes deserving of our gratitude. And if our assistance is required to repay our debt to him, then so be it."

"Damn right," said Rhinestone, ramming both his fists together.

"What they said," Grizzly Girl growled, a determined snarl coming on her face.

"If you say so."

Immediately after Robin said this, he looked to Dr. Rookwood, the rest of the group following his gaze. The scientist nodded her head. "I'll evacuate now," she then said. She directed a firm look at Robin. "I've provided as much help at this point as I can, and I'd be useless in the event of what I think the rest of you will end up getting involved with in the near future. And besides." She looked towards Jungle Cat, who tossed her the flash drive that had been in his pants pocket. "It's best that someone be alive out there with the data and evidence that will be needed to convict all the surviving members of this society in the event that your current planned escapade heads south."

Robin nodded his head. "I trust you will not cause any trouble?"

"You have my word."

Raven and Wildebeest nodded their heads in agreement. "She's telling the truth," said Raven.

"Aye," said Tawaba. "She can be trusted.

"What they said," all six of the mutants apart from Wildebeest stated in unison.

"Excellent."

Robin rammed both his fists together. "TITANS GO!"

. . . . .

Beast Boy and Galtry continued their vicious duel, roaring and snarling in rage as their tussle sent them tumbling through the various corridors of the even now still burning and crumbling building. Sparks flew from the force in which their claws clashed, the sound of their fists ramming together echoed through the air, and their jaws snapped with the force of a steel trap. At that very moment, both Beasts were riddled with gashes and other wounds. Beast Boy in particular had multiple scratches across his chest while Galtry had a crescent moon shaped cut directly between his eyes. It wasn't until they ended up tumbling right back into the now almost entirely engulfed with flames central lab chamber that the two finally split apart from fighting each other; at which point they started walking in a circle while facing each other, the impossibly large sea of dragon fire raging around them and eventually completely closing off further access to the earlier busted wall from which they'd now twice entered this room before then starting to spread out slowly into the rest of the building.

"You've been putting up a good fight Craig," Galtry snarled, a surprisingly genuine look of respect in his right eye despite the visible discomfort that came from the pain of his wounds. "You've definitely more than fulfilled the second half of your earlier vow against me." He then let his earlier angry snarl return to his crimson furred face. "But this has gone on long enough, and I grow tired of you delaying the inevitable."

Without warning, he lunged straight at his nephew. "NOW DIE!"

With a responding growl, Beast Boy thrusted his right arm forward to slam his hand against his lunging uncle's neck and slam him back down on the lab floor upon his back. The impact proved strong enough for cracks to appear in the floor and form a small crater-shaped indentation upon the area in which the two Beasts were positioned. But then, much to both Beasts' surprise, this indentation ended up completely caving in and sending them tumbling down into one of the basement corridors!

After a brief period of pain induced grumbling, Beast Boy managed to slowly work to get back to his feet. Unfortunately, Galtry had already recovered first. And with a swing of a large wooden support beam that he'd managed to rip out of position, the red Beast sent his nephew flying backward. It wasn't until his back painfully slammed against another support beam and he subsequently crash-landed face down on the floor that he finally came to a stop.

The sound of Galtry subsequently charging towards him, growling and snarling in rage and bloodlust was enough to get Beast Boy to immediately snap to full attention, and he hurriedly got back to his feet. He looked in his uncle's direction in time for his eyes to widen at the sight of the crimson-furred Beast rapidly barreling down the corridor towards him. Desperate to find a way to escape, it was only by sheer luck that he managed to notice both the support beam he'd just crashed into and how a sizable portion of the basement ceiling between him and his rapidly approaching uncle seemed to be in very unstable condition. Thinking quickly, he wrapped his arms tightly around the support beam; and with visible strain, he yanked it out of position. Galtry was seconds away from pouncing upon Beast Boy when the subsequent cave-in left him temporarily buried under a decently large heap of rubble.

Eager to escape, Beast Boy jumped onto the rubble heap that had collapsed onto his uncle, using it as a makeshift stool for when he then jumped up further and grabbed onto the rim of the newly formed gaping hole in the ceiling. He climbed out of the hole and into what turned out to be yet another corridor. Eager to put as much distance between himself and his uncle as possible, the green Beast began to run as fast as it could through the corridors, dodging fires, rubble, and other situational obstacles every other minute as it tried desperately to find its way out of the building.

But then he was suddenly blindsided by none other than a lunging Galtry. And from there, the two Beasts tumbled along on the ground before eventually pounding through a wall and into what turned out to be the ancillary lab chamber. For what felt like an eternity they wrestled, punching, kicking, biting, and scratching mercilessly at each other. But eventually, they finally split apart once again after one especially lucky blow from Galtry sent Beast Boy flying straight into a nearby jumbo supercomputer screen.

Beast Boy, unwilling to give up, started working to get back on his feet once more, snarling and growling the whole time from the effort. Galtry noticed this, and his red eyes narrowed irritably.

"Why do you still continue to rise?" Galtry growled. "Surely you know how it would be much easier for you to just stop fighting and let me kill you?"

Beast Boy only growled, directing a wordless glare at his uncle while letting all his fanged teeth show in a feral snarl. "Like I told you before," he mentally snarled towards his uncle. "I'm not a helpless little kid anymore. I can fight now. And by God I am not going down without a fight."

Galtry's eyes narrowed at the defiant look in his nephew's eyes. "I suppose you weren't kidding when you called yourself a hero before our duel began," he mentally hissed towards his nephew. "If there's one thing you're doing right now that most other true heroes always do, it's never giving up." But then he caused all ten of his 'finger claws' to extend into Wolverine-style blades. "But if you're not going to stop this madness willingly, then by God I'll make you stay down."

Beast Boy snarled, narrowed his eyes, and caused his own 'finger claws' to similarly extend, clearly ready to continue fighting his uncle in increasingly vicious fashion. "Bring it on, Galtry."

And so, with a vicious roar in unison, the two Beasts began to viciously clash their extended 'finger claws' together in a style reminiscent of a sword fight, both of them clearly trying their absolute hardest to bring each other down.

. . . . .

The crystallized Rhinestone lifted up a fallen ceiling beam, grunting and panting from the effort, before then throwing it aside, successfully unblocking the path that he, his friends, and their newly acquainted allies were now using in their search for Beast Boy and Galtry. "This is insane," he snorted.

"Tell me about it," said Grizzly Girl as she used her own powers to lift up several more ceiling beams alongside various slabs of concrete and plaster before tossing them aside as well. "Good grief this stuff is heavy."

"It was your idea to come with us," said Robin as he and the rest of the group followed close behind the bear and rhino mutants.

"Yeah, we know that traffic light," Rhinestone grumbled as he directed a glare at the boy wonder. "We were there to suggest it remember?"

"Just ignore him," Swamp Gator hissed as he slipped past Rhinestone to start using his acid touch to melt down a heap of ceiling rubble directly ahead of them all. "We're already acting on borrowed time, and the more time spent arguing means the less time we have to get out of here before we all end up flattened into pancakes, roasted alive, or both."

"How do you put up with him ordering you around so much?" Night Howler asked as she used her own powers to eject some more obstacles from the area through a shadowy vortex, her eyebrow raised as she directed a glare at Robin from one eye and a curious look at Cyborg from the other.

"You get used to it after a while," Cyborg responded, a cheeky grin on his face.

Robin glared at Cyborg, a clear 'really' look on his face.

"Just saying it like it is buddy," said Cyborg.

The sound of Beastly roaring filled the air once more, this time much closer, and all the group members paused to listen. Raven, however, chose to use her psychic contact abilities to directly seek out the two Beasts. But once she found Beast Boy and managed to get a good look in his mind as well as at how things were currently unfolding between him and Galtry, her eyes widened, and her already pale gray face turned even more pale under her hood. "We have to do something," she said. "And quick."

"That does not sound good," said Tawaba.

"Probably because it isn't," said Mumbyo.

"What he said," Nyota hissed.

"Well what do you expect us to do right now?" Cyborg said. "We don't even know…"

"He's in that lab chamber where we were imprisoned earlier," said Raven.

"Well how are we supposed to stop this battle from all the way over here?" Robin asked. "Call an airstrike?"

"Actually."

The group looked to Wildebeest, who appeared to be in deep thought. "I might have an idea."

. . . . .

The two Beasts stood within the very center of the ancillary lab chamber, their claws locked together as they both pushed against each other in a desperate attempt at dealing a final blow, snarling and growling in rage and exhaustion. Beast Boy in particular looked especially worse for wear compared to Galtry, as he'd quite visibly suffered more injuries over the course of the latest round in his duel against his uncle. But even with the multiple bleeding wounds Galtry had inflicted upon him, he still fought with all his might to stay standing and fighting.

"Die," Galtry growled, his red eyes narrowed as he pressed his massive 'finger claws' forcefully against those of his nephew. "Damn you, die!"

Beast Boy only snarled, his own eyes similarly narrowing. "Neh…ver," he snarled, noticeably speaking aloud in English while in his Beast form for the very first time.

Galtry snarled right back, his eyes now almost literally burning with hate. "We'll see about that, Craig." He started increasing the amount of pressure he was placing on his nephew's claws, letting a wicked grin come on his face at the sight of his nephew's knees buckling and the sound of his nephew's half surprised and half pained grunting. "Once again, I suggest you stop fighting, and let me kill you!"

An unexpected thud from the ceiling startled Galtry into halting his efforts at pushing his nephew off balance, and he looked up towards the ceiling in confusion just in time for what looked like a giant rhino-like horn to burst through and plunge down towards him and Beast Boy! With widened eyes and a startled snarl, Galtry jumped backwards, unwittingly pushing his nephew backwards and out of the way as well, just in time for the both of them to avoid getting stabbed when the gigantic horn plunged its tip into the floor of the room.

Beast Boy went sprawling against the desk in which the same supercomputer he'd earlier crashed against was positioned, but Galtry managed to slide to a stop firmly on his feet right nearby the four domes set for the Primetia tests. From there, he managed to take a good look at the horn, his eyes starting to widen as he eventually realized just where it may have come from, before he then suddenly felt what appeared to be some sort of energy whip coiling around his neck. Hissing and gurgling in surprise and pain, he snapped his clawed hands around what turned out to be a tendril of black shadowy energy, only to then howl in further shock when said tendril abruptly rocketed upwards and yanked him out through the ceiling…at which point he came face to face with an all too familiar half demoness.

"Surprised to see me again?" Raven growled, her eyes now split into four red slits and teeth extended into fangs. She clenched her fist, causing the tendril she'd wrapped around Galtry's neck to briefly tighten. "Well sorry to interrupt your family reunion, but you've tormented my friend long enough. And you'd better thank Azar that this building already comes with plenty of painful ways to take you out, because you have no idea how tempted I am to kill you right here and now!"

Galtry, panting and wheezing from the tight embrace of the tendril around his neck, managed to nonetheless let out a low snarl of anger. "You expect that to scare me?" He tightened his grip on the tendril around his neck, uncaring as to how it started crackling like lightning as he did so. "You think that a mere stern talking to and an intimidation technique will be enough to convince me to stop going after what is rightfully mine?!"

He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Well if yes, then you are a fool! I have spent God knows how many years constantly getting the short end of the stick! First it was always because of my brother, and now it's always because of my nephew! Well forget it witch! As long as I live, I will never stop trying to get what's been wrongfully denied from me all these years! Never, you hear me?! NEVER! And if I have to kill you and all those other namby pamby prepubescent heroes that work alongside you and my nephew to get it, then so be it! Because now that I have the power to actually put up a fight against so called 'heroes' like you and my nephew, I can assure you that nothing short of my own death will stop me from prying that blasted fortune from my nephew's cold, dead…"

The sound of buzzing voltage abruptly filled the air from behind Galtry. The red Beast's eyes widened, and Raven dismissed her energy tendril and sent him falling…just in time for him to get caught in the massive stream of lightning that turned out to have been fired at him from none other than one of the gigantic tuning fork-like taser devices stationed atop the walls surrounding the building. With a savage roar, followed by a truly spectacular burst of smoke and sparks, the red Beast went flying through the air and clean over the entirety of the Wildebeest Society's main lab facility, sailing off multiple miles away before eventually coming to a crash landing very far off into the jungle.

Raven gazed carefully in the direction that Galtry had been blasted off to, briefly wondering if she should go check to see if Galtry was truly out for the count. But then she heard a familiar voice groaning in clear pain and exhaustion coming from beneath her, and her decision was made. "Galtry can wait," she whispered to herself as she dove down through the large hole beneath her that she'd busted through the ceiling with the hilariously dead erumpent's horn.

Upon entry to the lab chamber, she looked left and right to search for Beast Boy. Then she looked towards the supercomputer, and her purple eyes widened at what she saw. Beast Boy, now reverted back to his human form and clearly looking immensely beat up and wounded, was still leaning up against the desk in which the computer was located, his hands clenched tightly around the desk's edge, teeth gritted, and eyes closed as if he were fighting desperately to stay standing despite his wounds and pain. She swooped down towards the shapeshifter, landing right in front of him as he tensed up from another flash of pain. "Beast Boy," she stated. "Are you alright?"

She mentally facepalmed upon asking this question. "Of course he's not alright," she thought to herself. "Not with wounds like this."

The shapeshifter managed to open his eyes, a brief look of surprised relief coming on his face, his gritted teeth even managing to briefly form a happy smile. "Rae…"

His feet suddenly slipped out from under him, and he slid to the floor with a thud.

"Gah," Beast Boy snarled, wincing in pain from his less than comfortable landing. "Ah!"

Raven got down her knees, slipping her arms under Beast Boy's back and shoulders as she worked to try to help him up. "It's ok," she whispered, gritting her teeth from the effort it was taking for her to lift up her shapeshifter friend. "I'm here. I've got you. Everything will be alright."

"Gal…try…," Beast Boy managed to hiss.

"He's gone," Raven responded. "I've taken care of him. He won't hurt you again; not today at least."

Part of her felt bad for having to leave open the possibility of Galtry facing them again in the future. But as past experience and various stories had taught her and the others all too clearly, it would be foolish, if not outright dangerous, to automatically assume that their enemies were done and out of their lives for good without getting direct confirmation of as much first. And Galtry fit this bill just as much as any of the other villains and criminals they'd fought.

Unfortunately, she was completely unaware at that particular moment of how one enemy she'd done battle with and seemingly gotten away from especially recently would soon come right back into the picture and make things even more difficult for her. For in her efforts at getting Beast Boy up on his feet so she could help get him out of the area, she completely failed to notice a shadowy vortex materialize into existence several feet behind her, let alone the all too unpleasant sight of Juris and at least twelve wildebeest hybrids stepping into view from out of said vortex…until she suddenly heard the distinctive click of a gun getting cocked and ready to fire.

"This is the end Gem!"

With their eyes widened, both Raven and Beast Boy looked in the direction Juris's voice had come from in time to see him standing nearby pointing his revolver straight towards Raven's back…right before he then fired it.

Time seemed to stand completely still as the bullet leaped from out of the gun and started soaring closer and closer towards Raven, with the positioning that the sorceress subsequently managed to take as she reflexively began to try to summon a forcefield allowing her to be in perfect position for the bullet to strike her in the heart. And in that instant, as Beast Boy watched from his position on the floor of the room, he felt a half angry and half desperate urge to leap in between Raven and the bullet. "I can't let it hit her," he thought to himself, his eyes almost turning yellow like a cat's and his teeth gritted into an angry snarl as he worked desperately to try to build up the energy to shapeshift back into the Beast, or even one of his other animal forms. Anything to protect Raven. "I can't…let it…hit her…"

But he could barely move. And no matter how hard he struggled to muster up the necessary energy to shapeshift, the Beast was too exhausted from its earlier extended duel against Galtry to come back out into corporeal form, and all his other animal forms still hadn't yet fully recovered from their recent experiences against the Primetia virus to be of remotely any use. And for a brief instance, as the bullet continued to get closer and closer, with Raven hurriedly raising her hands to try to summon a force field to shield herself, Beast Boy briefly found his heart plummeting as he realized, thanks to his animalistic enhanced sense of sight, that the bullet would successfully strike Raven. Beast Boy's turned an immensely lighter shade of green, a look of horror coming on his face as he realized just how doomed Raven now appeared to be; all while he himself was helpless to do anything to save her, and the rest of their friends were nowhere in sight. "No…"

But then a blue and gray blur suddenly seemed to jump into view between Raven and the bullet…and time resumed its proper speed as the blur in question crumpled to the floor and revealed itself to be none other than Wildebeest. For what seemed like an eternity, Raven, Beast Boy, Juris, and the 12 adult hybrids all gaped uncomprehendingly in stunned silence at the now very prone Wildebeest that now lay between the Wildebeest Society leader and the half demon sorceress that had just now narrowly avoided falling victim to a lethal gunshot. It wasn't until the air was split with the sound of Wildebeest screaming in agony that the silence finally came to an end and the rest of the room's occupants all managed to fully regain their focus.

"Gah," Wildebeest growled as he lay on his left side, his hands snapping into place over the center of his right side. "Ah!" He screamed as he clearly felt some sort of pain. For a brief couple seconds, all the room's other occupants gaped uncomprehendingly at the clearly in pain Wildebeest without fully understanding why he was in pain. Even Wildebeest himself briefly couldn't quite fully grasp why he felt so much pain in his side. But then they all managed to take a good look at the area where Wildebeest had positioned his hands, and the three Titans found their eyes widening and faces blanching at the horrifying sight of blood trickling out from underneath the mutant's furry gray hands. For only then did they finally realize that, despite how tough and thick the mysterious blue armor that Wildebeest now wearing actually was, it was very glaringly designed so that there wasn't any already built in armor covering up the sides of his body. And as a direct result of this, plus the fact that Wildebeest's safely armor plated arms had been extended to full length past his head when he'd jumped into the room through the hole that Beast Boy and Galtry had smashed into one of the walls to enter this same room over the course of their earlier battle, the very same bullet that had moments ago been at alarmingly high risk of striking Raven in the heart had now struck the young mutant right in the center of his abdomen.

Then Wildebeest grimaced, tears starting to slowly develop in his eyes. "My…my abdomen…" he whimpered. "It…hurts…it hurts…it hurts…!" He reared his head backwards and howled in agony, shrinking out of his powered-up mode in the process as the pain of his injury caused his mind to slip out of the perfect balance of rage and serenity that he'd earlier achieved to reassume it following his earlier emotional curing, allowing his helmet and some of the other pieces of his armor to slip off.

It was right around that same time that Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg arrived, with the tribal folk and Project Menagerie mutants following close behind. Understandably, their eyes all widened at the sight of Wildebeest screaming and convulsing in pain from what was clearly a gunshot wound. The fact that they were seeing him out of powered-up mode for the very first time in their lives completely escaped their notice as their concern got fully taken up by his grievously wounded state.

"Wildebeest!" Robin yelled, a clearly horrified tone to his voice as he hurried over to the wounded young mutant.

"Friend!" Starfire shrieked, a tone of alarm and motherly concern in her own voice as she hurried over to Wildebeest alongside her boyfriend. "Don't worry, we're here! We'll help you!"

"Yo! Wildebeest!" Cyborg hollered as he too barreled in to aid Wildebeest. "Hang in there! We're coming!"

"Yeah, thanks," Raven droned.

This caught the attention of the three newly arrived Titans, and they briefly alternated their gaze from Wildebeest to Raven and Beast Boy in clear indecision before Starfire and Robin then hurried over towards their chromatically challenged friends while Cyborg rushed over to Wildebeest. He got on his knees near the young mutant. "You ok little buddy?"

Wildebeest hissed in pain, his eyes narrowing in annoyance as he directed them towards Cyborg. "Do I look like I'm ok?"

"Right, dumb question." Cyborg took a deep breath and raised his hands. "Fair warning. This is gonna hurt."

Wildebeest raised his eyebrow. "Considering I've just been shot, I hardly think a warning like that's really come at a very good time…"

Cyborg suddenly pressed his hands against Wildebeest's own, allowing further pressure to be applied to the wound.

"GAH!" Wildebeest shrieked, his eyes briefly widening even as yet more reflex tears sprang into them from the pain. "OK! OK! YEAH! THIS DEFINITELY HURTS!"

"I know, and I'm sorry," said Cyborg. He nodded his head up and down. "Trust me buddy, as soon as we get the chance, proper first aid will be the first thing we'll be getting for you."

Starfire and Robin, meanwhile, had reached Raven and Beast Boy's position, and were now successfully helping the sorceress get the shapeshifter up on his feet. "It's ok Beast Boy," said Robin. "We've got you."

"Yes friend," said Starfire. "Everything will be the alright."

Meanwhile, the tribal folk and Project Menagerie mutants had all taken battle stances while looking straight towards the still stunned looking Juris, who was alternating his gaze between his gun and the wounded Wildebeest as if having difficulty comprehending the fact that he'd just ended up shooting Wildebeest instead of his intended target. "No," he thought to himself. "This…this can't be!"

But his eyes told him otherwise. The end result of Project Baby Wildebeest, intended to serve as his ultimate host body and a weapon to destroy Trigon's influence, was indeed the one lying on the floor and screaming in agony from the bullet intended for the daughter of Trigon. And to add insult to injury, it had ended up as much by deliberately throwing itself between the bullet and the half demoness; and after having apparently finally gotten the full control over its powers needed to be worthy of the specially designed armor he'd created for it to boot!

Then he noticed the glaring mutants and tribesmen standing nearby, as well as the equally unhappy looking Titans, and his face paled as he realized just how bad things currently looked for him. For the presence of several figures in particular that he now saw, plus what he subsequently learned via a quick round of telepathic peeks into their minds, was all he needed to receive confirmation of how his current prospects were on even more shaky ground then he'd thought. For as he'd now learned from his latest round of telepathy, the 12 hybrids currently standing alongside him were all that remained of his mighty wildebeest hybrid army. Even the ultrabeests, the impossibly pain resilient hybrids he'd secretly created to serve as an elite honor guard without even telling his inner circle members about as much, had been killed off alongside their lesser brethren; and by the very tribal figures that he now currently saw in front of him to boot! And while he could see that the four Project Menagerie subjects who hadn't yet successfully escaped were present, the fact that they had their necks devoid of the mind control collars, their eyes back to their natural color, and had the exact same hateful glares on their faces that were on the faces of the two who had successfully escaped and avoided later getting recaptured and killed made it all too clear that he couldn't expect any help from them either.

His human underlings and allies were likewise out of the question. All of his lowest ranking underlings were outside the building entirely and under the custody of the raiding tribe. Professor Chang and the entirety of his own underlings were likewise outside under the tribe's custody. Galtry, while not captured, was nonetheless in no position to aid him, and all too likely would not have helped him even if he had been in any position to do so. And as far as the four members of his inner circle were concerned, three of them were dead and the one that remained alive had openly betrayed him and was now outside keeping her former lesser colleagues in custody alongside the raiding tribespeople.

In that instant, his mind was made up. "I have to get out of here," he thought to himself. "I have to get out of here!" Then he remembered that his single remaining squadron of wildebeest hybrids was still present in the area, and he turned his head to face them, a firm look on his face as he pointed his finger at the assembled enemies. "Attack them!"

This snapped the hybrids out of their stunned silence. But then, much to the Wildebeest Society leader's shock, they all turned their heads to glare at him. It took all his willpower not to shriek in fright at the sight of the vicious snarls and narrow eyed glares of hatred that were now on the faces of the 12 hybrids. Then one of them crouched as if preparing to lunge upon him, and he started reflexively moving back away from it. "What are you doing?!" He yelled, his angry voice masking the nervousness he was privately feeling. "Attack the enemy!"

"You. Harm. Leader."

Juris gaped in stunned shock at the crouching hybrid, clearly caught off guard by the fact that it had actually spoken. The Titans, tribesmen, and mutants likewise gaped in surprise at the hybrid that had just spoken. But Juris eventually regained his voice. "What are you talking about? I'm the leader."

"No," said the crouching hybrid. "Not. Leader. Not. Any. More."

One of the other hybrids nodded its head and pointed at the wounded Wildebeest. "He wear chosen one armor. He leader."

Juris stared in confusion at the hybrids, completely uncertain as to what they meant. But then his eyes widened as he finally remembered an important detail about how he'd 'programmed them' over the course of their creation. Specifically, while making sure to 'program them' to be unquestionably obedient to him and his four highest ranking underlings, he'd also implanted a 'genetic switch' in them that would allow them to instantly switch their allegiance to Project Baby Wildebeest once he'd gotten full control over his powers and was ready to wear the armor he was intended to wear upon reaching such a point. His reasoning behind this was to allow them an easy transition to still being capable of obeying him once he'd undergone his planned work in taking possession of Project Baby Wildebeest's body as his new host body. But now, through a completely different turn of events outside of his control, their allegiance had changed to Baby Wildebeest while he himself had not only still not yet taken possession of its body but was now also almost entirely denied the time or ability to do so. And as a result of all this, plus the fact that the hybrids had also been genetically 'programmed' to be protective of whomever they considered their leader to the point of being willing to die for said leader if absolutely necessary, he was now in even more dire circumstances than he'd already been.

"You. Harm. Leader," the crouching hybrid growled.

"You. Be. Enemy," snarled one of the other hybrids.

"You. Die," hissed a third.

As one, the 12 hybrids started moving as if they wished to surround Juris. Juris, knowing all too well just how badly this would end for him if he didn't get away, hurriedly attempted to escape. "No, no please! You can't do this! You've got it all wrong!" But despite his efforts, he was unable to get away in time, and he soon found himself trapped as the 12 hybrids formed a complete ring around him, leaving him stuck in the very center of this formation. Acting purely on instinct at this point, he swiftly got his revolver back into appropriate position and tried to fire, only to gape in horror when he ended up learning the hard way that the bullet he'd just unintentionally shot Wildebeest with had in fact been the last remaining bullet within the gun, and he now had no more ammo on him to reload it with. "No," he snarled, terrified at just how horribly wrong things were now going for him. "This isn't right!"

The hybrid who'd formerly been crouching turned its head to look behind it, straight towards the stunned and pained Wildebeest. Then it looked at Cyborg, then at the four other founding Titans, then at the six other mutants, then the gathered tribesmen, and then back at Wildebeest. "Trust. Them?"

The majority of the group raised their eyebrows in confusion. But Wildebeest nodded his head as in clear understanding. "Yes," he responded, but not without wincing in pain. "All of them. They can be trusted."

"Then trust. Them. We. Shall."

The hybrid pointed its finger at the gaping hole in the nearby wall. "To get. You. Out. To. Safety. Leader." It turned its head to face the trapped Juris once more, a hateful snarl coming on its face. "While. We. Take. Care. Of. Enemy."

"We. Were. Intended. To. Be. Army," said a second hybrid as it briefly looked towards the Titans.

"But now," said a third. "It. Appears. You. Must. Be. Army. Instead."

The apparent lead hybrid nodded its head in agreement with its two 'underlings'. "Go," it snorted. "While. Still. Can."

Wildebeest grimaced, trying his best to fight off his latest flash of pain so that he could respond while Cyborg hurriedly worked to apply a pressure bandage that Robin had handed to him from his utility belt to Wildebeest's wound. But Raven stepped forward. "We will," she stated. She nodded her head, a look of respect and gratitude on her hooded face. "Thanks."

"You. Be. Welcome."

The sound of a low volume explosion, plus the sound of something heavy crashing against the ground and the smell of thick smoke, attracted the attention of all the room's occupants. This was all the formerly crouching hybrid needed. "Go," it grunted. "Now."

"Will do," said Wildebeest. He looked to Cyborg and the rest of the group. "You heard him. Let's get out of here."

"No need to tell us twice," said Robin.

"Indeed," said Jungle Cat.

"Aye," Tawaba agreed. "Let us escape."

The Titans, mutants, and tribesmen all hurried out of the room, with Tawaba and Mumbyo still helping to support N'jobu and Nyota, Cyborg carrying Wildebeest out immediately after he'd finished applying the pressure bandage, and Raven helping to support Beast Boy. As they all departed, Juris remained helplessly standing in the center of the ring of glaring hybrids surrounding him. And even after he and the hybrids had been rendered the room's sole remaining occupants, the disgraced Azarathian monk continued to look nervously at both the hybrids surrounding him as well as the glaringly obvious erumpent horn that even now remained jabbed into the floor. The fact that the smell of smoke was starting to get considerably stronger and he was starting to catch a glimpse of glowing orange light coming from further down the hall in the direction opposite from the one the Titans and their allies had taken only further increased his nerves.

The Titans, mutants, and tribesmen continued making their way through the corridors, trying as hard as they could to find their way out of the building as swiftly as possible while still going just slowly enough to avoid causing unnecessary pain and stress to the wounded or similarly out of commission members of the group. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, it soon became clear that they'd gotten lost.

"You sure it's this way?" Robin asked. "Because I'm pretty sure we should have taken a right back there, not a left."

"My mapping system says otherwise Robin," Cyborg grunted. Then he lifted his eyebrow. "Though I'll admit, the reception is starting to get a little spotty…"

Raven narrowed her eyebrows irritably. "That would have been nice to know a lot earlier."

"No kidding," Beast Boy hissed, half in annoyance and half in pain.

The sound of creaking and groaning caused the group to pause. Additional creaking and groaning proved enough to cause the six teenage mutants to look up; at which point their eyes widened in horror. "GET BACK!" Night Howler screamed as she and her friends grabbed the founding Titans by the shoulders and yanked them backwards in time to avoid getting squashed under a falling ceiling beam…that just so happened to also have the tips on fire.

The group gulped in surprise as they looked at the obstacle that had just fallen down in front of them. "Lucky we had these guys to yank us back," said Beast Boy as he managed to weakly point his finger at the six Project Menagerie subjects.

"Aye," Tawaba agreed. He nodded his head towards the six teenage mutants with an appreciative look on his face. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," said Night Howler.

"Don't mention it," said Swamp Gator.

The sound of a muffled explosion, plus the smell of thick smoke and feeling of intense heat, coming from in front of them caused the entire group to look forward once more; at which point their eyes widened and faces paled in horror at the sight of none other than a gigantic wall of flames to come sliding slowly into view at the end of the corridor they were in, the fire proceeding to travel both in the direction it had already been going as well as into the corridor they were currently in.

"This is bad," said Rhinestone.

"Understatement," Grizzly Girl whimpered, a visibly terrified look on her face as she cringed in fear of the fire. "And I don't know if you know this, but wood and fire don't exactly go well together."

"Indeed," said Ambush. She looked to the rest of the group. "Can anyone figure out another way out of here?"

"Working on it," said Cyborg as he hurriedly worked to try to recalibrate his mapping system.

"Make it quick!"

The sound of Nyota's frightened shouting caused the group to look behind them; at which point they found themselves further horrified at the sight of the exact same type of fire blazing ahead of them similarly starting to slowly advance upon them from behind! Robin winced. "Oh Hell," he thought to himself.

"This is bad," said Jungle Cat.

"Oh, you think?" Ambush responded sarcastically.

"We're doomed," said Swamp Gator.

"Understatement," hissed Night Howler.

"Heaven help me," Rhinestone grunted.

"I don't want to die," whimpered Grizzly Girl.

"Now how will we get out of here?" Mumbyo asked.

"Some of you can fly right?" Nyota asked. "And one of you can use shadows to levitate stuff…"

"Not enough room," Starfire responded.

"She's right," said Raven. "It would be too cumbersome to try to maneuver all of us through the air, and the flames and falling debris will no doubt make it almost impossible for us all to fully make our way through this building either way."

"Let's just blast some holes in the ceiling then," said Cyborg. "That way we'll have a clear exit out of the building that we can use right here and now to fly through."

"Might take too long to make a hole big enough for all of us to fit through," said Robin. Creaking and groaning filled the air once more, causing Robin and the others to wince. "And with the current situation, I get the feeling that trying to blast the ceiling might not necessarily be the wisest course of action."

"What about this route?" Starfire asked, pointing at a doorway right next to her.

Wildebeest, wincing from the effort of moving as he now was while still in pain from his gunshot wound, managed to hand over the keycard that Dr. Rookwood had given him earlier that day to Starfire, who promptly used it to open the door…only for her green eyes to widen and her face to turn a much lighter shade of orange in clear fright at what she now saw as a short burst of icy mist briefly came wafting out of the now open doorway. Quick as a whip she pressed a nearby button that caused the door to slam shut and lock once more. "Never mind," she said. "Apparently this is the entrance to a chamber of supplies in which samples of the Primetia virus are kept."

"Well what should we do?!" Wildebeest snapped, a mixture of pain and fear causing him to angrily shout.

"Oh, I got an idea!"

They all looked to Beast Boy, who nodded his head before looking at Raven. "Why don't you just summon a portal or transport us with your shadow travel?"

Raven looked around at the assembled group. "Considering I'd have to go through last, not sure a portal would be the best option in the current circumstances. And I'm not sure if I've used shadow travel on this many people alongside me before."

"I must admit," said Night Howler. "While I appear to have similar powers, I'm not sure if I've ever transported this many people either." She then nervously looked at the flames approaching her and the others from both behind her and in front of her. "And I don't know if I'll be at full strength to even transport my usual maximum in all the light from this fire…"

Swamp Gator placed a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder, nodding his head as she turned her head to look at him afterwards. "Maybe you can transport us all on your own," he stated. "Maybe you can't." He then pointed at Raven. "But she has powers very similar to yours. So if neither of you can do it all on your own, then maybe you can both do it together."

The sorceress and wolf mutant looked at each other, carefully considering what Swamp Gator had said. Then they both nodded, a mutually determined look coming into their purple eyes. "Worth a shot," said Raven.

"Agreed," said Night Howler.

And so, as the rest of the group watched with bated breath, Raven and Night Howler nodded their heads and grabbed onto each other's right hands as they started concentrating as needed to activate their powers as needed for the planned transport. And at the exact same time that Night Howler closed her eyes and willed her shadowy powers into activating, Raven closed her own eyes and whispered just barely loud enough for the others to hear her, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Shadowy lightning tendrils burst into existence all over their clasped right hands, spreading up their right arms and all over their bodies before eventually expanding into two shadowy energy waves spinning around them with the head of a spectral raven on the front end of one such wave while the other formed the head of a spectral wolf. And within moments, those same energy waves had themselves conjoined together into a giant spinning orb of shadows that expanded to the point of completely absorbing the two umbrakinetics and the rest of the group with them and obscuring them all from view.

Meanwhile, back in the ancillary lab chamber, the 12 hybrids remained standing in a circle around Juris even as the very same flames that had spread from the central lab chamber to the corridors and various other rooms of the building began to likewise take up more and more space in the ancillary lab chamber. "You can't do this," the Wildebeest Society leader hissed, trying his best to express a sufficient level of rage despite his current fear. "This isn't right!"

"You. Harm. Leader," said the apparent head of the squadron. "You. Enemy."

"This isn't how it was supposed to be!" Juris howled, clawing his fingers into his hair in consternation. And indeed it wasn't how he'd intended the whole business to unfold. For now, instead of him triumphantly standing before them and giving a rousing speech about the glorious battle he'd intended to lead them into immediately after successfully taking possession of the fully prepared and in control Baby Wildebeest, he was now instead still stuck in his current host body, robbed of his backup anchor to the mortal realm that had also served as his means of easy transfer between host bodies, and falling victim to what was essentially a mutiny.

"There has to be a way out," he thought to himself. "There has to be…"

His eyes widened. "Of course," he thought to himself. "Why didn't I think of this before?" He closed his eyes, concentrating as much as he could as he prepared to attempt to transfer himself from his current host body to the body of the hybrid immediately in front of him. "As long as I stay focused," he thought to himself. "I'll be able to transfer myself from this body to that hybrid without getting yanked away to the afterlife…"

A sudden force clenched around him, almost as if he were attached to a set of invisible chains. He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What the?" He thought to himself. He attempted to eject himself from his host body a 2nd time, only for the exact same effect. A 3rd attempt likewise had similar results. "What's happening?" He thought to himself, half furious and half frightened. "Why can I not eject?"

"Going somewhere?"

Juris's eyes widened. "That voice…it can't be…"

"Surprised?"

He caught a glimpse of flashing light out the corner of his eye, and he turned his head to the left just in time to see what appeared to be an ethereal image of his current host body materialize into existence directly next to him. Once the image had fully taken shape, Juris was able to take note of several key details. To start, it had the same ominously dark black eyes that he himself had only recently allowed to be transformed into the astonishingly bright blue eyes he'd had in his original body. Its hair was longer and brighter. It's body was more slender, slightly shorter, and visibly younger looking. And all these details, combined with how much comparatively higher pitched the voice it had just spoken with had sounded, were enough to make Juris strongly suspect that, somehow or other, the spirit of the man he was now possessing had managed to manifest itself before him despite having been kept trapped inside its body and forcibly cut off from its mind for the last two decades.

The spirit raised its eyebrow as if thinking to itself. "In all fairness, I suppose it's not entirely unreasonable for you to be surprised. After all, even I'm still somewhat surprised that I was able to restore my initial bond with my mind that I'd lost after you absorbed it into your own just enough to finally resurface and talk with you again. After all, even though I still remained stuck inside my body despite you having effectively killed me, I'd still been dormant for God knows how long since you initially took possession of me and was no more than an animal acting on impulse in the time in between my first finally achieving a rudimentary state of wakefulness and subsequently finally reconnecting with my mind from within the depths of your own."

The spirit nodded its head. "But needless to say, once I did finally reconnect myself with my mind, the very first thing I did was to strengthen the magic you'd already cast for the sake of both that bond with your now destroyed amulet as well as for the sake of protection from instant ejection upon said amulet's destruction to the point that you'd be incapable of leaving this body as long as I myself was still in there as well."

Juris gaped at the spirit, fighting with all his willpower not to gasp out loud. "That's impossible," he snarled.

"So should have been my managing to successfully manifest again after all this time. But look at me now."

"No," Juris hissed. "This isn't right! This isn't fair!"

"And tricking me under false pretenses into letting you use me as a vessel is fair?"

As this happened, the 12 hybrids looked confusedly at each other without taking their gaze off of Juris. For unlike Juris, they could not see the spirit of the man he was possessing. And as a result, the man appeared in their eyes to be talking to himself.

"Who. He. Talk. To?" Asked one of the hybrids.

"Not know. I do," responded one of the other hybrids. "Not know."

Juris was completely oblivious to what the 12 hybrids surrounding him were saying as he remained focused on his unexpected chat with the spirit of the man he was currently possessing. Though at this point, it was entirely possible he wouldn't have really cared about that matter even if he had been aware of it. And at the same time that all this was going on, the flames continued to spread further and further throughout the room, starting to come dangerously close to the erumpent horn that even now still remained jabbed into the floor; which was itself starting to also show signs of triggering an additional dangerous situation.

"Don't pin it all on me you ungrateful little sod," Juris growled. "You never once complained about working under me during my time in possession of the body of the man who serve as your predecessor. And you certainly didn't turn down my selecting you as my successor!"

"Yeah well, you still didn't tell me the full truth. And you've never really told anyone else working for you the full truth either. And you want to know something? I legitimately thought I was doing the right thing when I was just one of your underlings. But now? Now I realize all too well just how mad you are, and how wrong the stuff the Wildebeest Society has done truly is. And now that I have the power to put a stop to it all, enough is enough!"

"Well boohoo to you," Juris hissed. "What you gonna do about it…?"

The sound of hissing vapors caused him to pause in his speech, his eyes widening as he immediately recognized the source of the noise. And sure enough, when he looked in the direction of the erumpent horn, he saw acrid lime green bubbles and mist rising rapidly from the area in which the horn's tip was positioned. For even though it was no longer attached to the now very much dead erumpent that had been guarding the facility, a sizable amount of the beast's explosive venom had still been contained within the horn at the time in which the two kasai-rex had detached it. And now, with there no longer being a living erumpent attached to the horn to control how much of the venom was released, the entire massive supply had been slowly draining into what just so happened to be a segment of the building's foundation. And now, not only was the horn coming increasingly close to causing the foundation to explode once it had finished emptying itself of its venom, but the flames burning within the room were now also coming unnervingly closer and closer to the horn. And as Juris now very quickly realized, if the flames successfully touched the horn while so much as a single tiny drop of the venom remained within, the strength of the resulting explosion would be doubled, possibly even tripled.

The spirit noticed what Juris was looking at, and a wide grin appeared on its spectral face as it came to the same realization as the man possessing its old body. "I suppose that answers that," it purred. "I'm not gonna do anything. Rather, I'll just sit here and let the fire and the improvised bomb its about to set off do all the work for me. And I suppose it's only fitting that the bomb in question was already set to destroy the foundation of this building. After all, now not only will you die, but effectively so will the entire Wildebeest Society; figuratively and literally."

In that instant, Juris looked fearfully at the spirit, too terrified now to care about his image. "Please," he hissed, his voice barely loud enough to even hear himself speaking. "Let me go. Please."

The spirit narrowed its eyes, its grin turning into a hateful snarl. "Never."

"Please," Juris hissed, his teeth gritted and his eyes on the verge of tears, the hissing of the vapors being emitted by the erumpent horn as it continued to come increasingly close to going off. "You have to let me go. If that erumpent horn goes off and kills me, you'll die to! For real this time!"

The spirit only laughed. "That's your bargaining chip? Hah, don't make me laugh. You know damn well that I'll just end up being released to the afterlife anyway if you were to leave my body in the way you currently wish." His earlier grin returned. "And the way I see it, considering how you've already kept me waiting for as much for at least two decades, I'd say it's more than worth the wait to delay my trip to the afterlife for even a few seconds or so longer if that's what it takes to ensure that you'll finally end up going there as well alongside me."

Juris gasped, all sense of pride completely drained from him as he kept one eye on the spirit and the other on both the erumpent horn as well as the sea of dragon breath spawned flames that had now expanded to the point that it was literally inches away from touching the horn directly. "You can't do this!" The disgraced former monk of Azarath sobbed. "This isn't fair!"

"Come now," purred the spirit, its already wide grin now even more so and its black eyes agleam with triumphant glee. "Remember what you used to always say back when you were possessing the man that served as this organization's overall leader before you had me step up to the plate? That we should always face your problems without running away? Well guess what, it's high time you start practicing what you preach, boss."

"NO!" Juris screamed, his blue eyes widened and face pale from sheer terror.

As this happened, the sea of flames inched closer and closer to the all-important erumpent horn, which was even now continuing to rapidly let off a vicious stream of acrid lime green bubbles and mist in what seemed almost like a vicious race to see whether or not it would finish emptying and triggering the scheduled explosion before the flames could touch it and prematurely trigger the same explosion to even stronger effect.

"NNNOOO!" Juris roared despairingly as the flames finally extended the last few centimeters that remained before it finally managed to brush lightly against the side of the erumpent horn.

And just like that, the horn went off, the Wildebeest Society leader and the 12 hybrids surrounding him instantly getting reduced to ash in the resulting giant shockwave of fire and smoke before those very same remains subsequently became scattered to the wind as the explosion spread to the sizable amount of erumpent venom that had already been successfully injected from the horn into the building's foundation and caused the building to start collapsing.

And at the same time that the simultaneous explosion and collapse began, the gigantic spinning orb of shadows that had engulfed the Titans, tribal folk, and Project Menagerie mutants as a result of Raven and Night Howler's joint effort at getting them all transported out of the building to safety finally faded out of existence…revealing the now completely empty space that had once been occupied by the now successfully evacuated group. And mere seconds later, the shockwave of destruction came rocketing through the area, leaving the entire area to become buried under the rubble and ash and simultaneously destroying all the Primetia samples. And within minutes after that, the entire building was reduced to nothing more than a smoking heap of ash and rubble, the ocean of flames that had previously been working to engulf the building after being brought into existence by Galtry's short lived dragon form being smothered out of existence in the process and thus prevented from spreading out to the jungle outside.

And just like that, another chapter finally done! I'll admit, I don't really have much of an excuse for taking so long outside of simple garden variety procrastination (though my job and several other projects of mine certainly didn't help). But yeah, I nonetheless hope that this chapter as it is will make up for the long wait and that you leave plenty of feedback (especially hoping to once again see Eris be amongst those who leave feedback). Remember everyone, exactly one review (minimum) is required for this chapter before I allow the next post to be published upon completion. And while I do hope now for the epilogue of this story to be posted before the end of this year, it will probably be best that we not hold our breath, just in case. Again, hope you all enjoyed!

Coming up Next: Some final loose ends are tied up, Beast Boy gives the full detailed story behind his past, and the story comes to an end.