Disclaimer: I do not own the existing characters that we know and love of Young Justice, although I do take ownership over the new characters i.e. some of the teammates
A/N: Hope you are enjoying the story, I'd love to know what you're thinking!
Chapter 03
Beast Boy and Carrie Boxham stared at the television where the news was still reeling the report looking for their whereabouts.
"That's not us… That isn't us," Carrie mumbled, squinting at the screen as if it was playing some kind of trick on her. "What do we do now?" She looked over at Beast Boy, trying to feel brave in the seemingly dire situation. "What do we do?" The girl waited for him to respond, but when he didn't, she shook her head. "You don't know what to do, do you? Seriously! You're supposed to have some kind of a plan, you're meant to be a part of the famous Justice League! I can't believe that I am out here with no friends of family and the only person I have to help me is some green skinned fancy boy. Maybe I could just end it all… Oh wait, I can't!"
Beast Boy didn't really know what to say, but smile awkwardly and allow her to vent and let it all out. He thought that it must have been a difficult time for her.
When Carrie finished, she scoffed and stifled some laughter. Looking about the room, she started to wonder what their next move would be. As her mind raced with ideas, she tried to determine which one was the best one.
One – we could make our way to an airport and use the last of my emergency money stash to flee the country, but then they'd forever be on the run and neither of us had passports. Two – they could steal or hijack a car, but then I'd only be adding to the list of crimes that had been committed. Three – I could leave the alien boy and kitty cat to keep them out of it all, but Garfield would probably follow me through field and mountain. Four – I could give myself up to the hunters… which leads to five, I give myself up to the police.
Maybe… Carrie thought her way through the internal monologue, trying to navigate her way back and forth through the turns of her messy thoughts.
"I'm just going outside to grab a bit of fresh air." Carrie didn't wait for a response and stepped out of the cabin.
It was cold and dark outside, apart from the light inside the cabin illuminating the woods and grass in front of the house. The grass was still and there wasn't a breeze in the air. The one thing that was missing was the odd occasional wolf howl or hooting owl to break the eerie silence.
"Can I ask you something?"
The voice startled Carrie and she jerked around to see Beast Boy standing in the doorway. She rolled her eyes and sat down on the top of the three steps, hugging her knees to her chest. Having been on the run from the hunters, she had never stayed in one place long enough to make friends so it was strange to even have some natural human-alien conversations.
"I don't know whether to take your silence as a yes or a no," Beast Boy sighed, slowly and cautiously lowering himself to sit on the top step near Carrie, but not too near. "Well I guess I should apologise about the whole failure of a rescue."
Carrie wrinkled her nose, turning her head to look at Beast Boy. There was a moment where she felt bad about all of the nasty things she had said to him not moments before. "Garfield…" Carried whispered shyly, looking away into the forest.
"Have you always known what you are?"
The girl wondered what her answer was. When she thought about it, her mind was cast back to a moment she knew what she could do. She was eleven years old and climbing trees with her childhood friend, Jesse. Jesse was her neighbour and he had always been like her best friend, until that day. The pair were being silly, climbing trees and larking about when a weak branch snapped under Carrie's foot. She plummeted ten foot through the air and landed with a snap. The snap being her arm breaking – it was almost like her elbow had been slightly inverted. In a panic, Carrie flexed out her arm which inadvertently fixed the break. Jesse freaked out and kept as much distance as neighbours could.
Realising the distance that Carrie's abilities could create, she didn't even realise the tear that was following along the curve of her face. It dropped onto her jeans. She sniffed sharply, wiping her eyes.
"For nearly six years I guess," Carrie murmured. She glanced over at Beast Boy, ready to look away immediately, but couldn't move her gaze when she saw him staring straight back at her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She gawked at the green skinned boy.
"Oh- er, no reason. I was trying to think about our next course of action." Beast Boy tried to act confidently and like he knew exactly what to do. "I think we should stay here until Kitty gets better. Then we should find some place safe to go."
"Are you saying that we have no backup at all? No one who can help you?" Carrie leant towards her saviour, eager to hear the answer.
"Well I was sent on this mission with a number of other supers. We were dispatched along with Nightwing, Starfire and Raven in Miss Martian's bioship, but Miss Martian was posing as you when she was taken. I was hoping that we would have come across Nightwing or Starfire by now…"
"I take it you and Raven have history?"
Beast Boy made an awkward squeaking sound as he fumbled to pick the right words. "Oh well- I guess you could say that." Knowing that Carrie was already seeing straight through him, he exhaled long and deep. "Me and Raven might have dated in the past. How did you-"
"Lucky guess… You didn't want to run into her now, so I assumed that there must have been a reason behind it and that seemed logical."
The pair's faces were no more than a few inches apart. Carrie was sure her head was tilting slightly to one side and she couldn't help but let her gaze drift between the green boy's eyes and lips. When she realised what might happen, she looked away obviously.
"I need to go for a walk. Don't worry, I'm not going too far. And don't use your fly trick to track me."
Beast Boy wanted to argue, but she was so stubborn that he knew it would be pointless. He watched her walk around the corner of the lodge. His ears pricked when he heard movement inside the cabin.
"Beast Boy?" Kitty called out panicked. "Beast Boy!"
Once again, Beast Boy was caught between whether to follow the target or to check in on Kitty.
"Kitty, it's fine. It's okay, I'm here." Beast Boy stood in the doorway. "Just rest and I'll let you know what we're going to do in the morning."
"Where's Carrie?" Kitty asked, slowly sitting up with a pained grimace plastered on her face. "She's not very grateful about the fact that we saved her."
"I know, I know." Beast Boy pursed his lips, breathing in the sweet pine wood smell. "Kitty. I need you to do me a huge favour. Can you do that for me?"
Kitty leapt towards him, nearly tripping into him. "Of course. Anything for my best friend, BB!" she squealed enthusiastically.
"Okay, but don't panic. Me and Carrie are being framed for armed robbery or something, so the Justice League will be trying to initiate some kind of protocol to save us any harm. I need you to use your power, get to the Justice Hall and tell them our situation. If you leave now, you won't be so easily detected and won't stand out like a sore thumb."
Kitty's face shifted expressions multiple times. "You want me to go away- to leave you?"
"I need you to, Kitty. Please." Beast Boy allowed the younger girl to squeeze him in the tightest of embraces before she morphed into a cat and leapt down the stairs to start her journey. The little feline glanced over at him with folded ears before springing into action and disappearing into the forest.
"Why'd you send her away?"
Beast Boy nearly fell down the stairs at the shock of Raven's voice. He looked up and gave her an embarrassed smile.
"Oh hey Raven, how are you doing?"
"Enough!" she snapped, before raising her hand. "You couldn't even keep the target within a cabin lodge, so I thought I'd help out." Raven clicked her fingers.
Out of the forest, entrapped in a dark and cloudy bubble, was Carrie. She was throwing her fists at the bubble in a fight to escape.
"I'm not letting her out Beast Boy." Raven folded her arms and started to take control. "We need to find the bio-ship. Miss Martian's beacon was activated and she's miles away now. Once we find the bio-ship, we can get you to the Justice Hall undetected. The bio-ship is the only way to get you through now that you two decided to play cops and robbers."
Beast Boy wanted to respond, but he knew it was bound to spark an argument between them.
Raven started to float away, taking the trapped Carrie with her. "You should stop fighting. I'm stronger than you and won't tire. Come on Beast Boy."
Carrie stuffed her hand into her pocket and pulled out the army knife. "Let me out." Her voice was echoed and dulled from within the bubble. "Let me out or I'll cut myself!"
Raven tutted, annoyed at the girl's ignorance.
Beast Boy, on the other hand, revelled in the situation. "You don't want to hand her over to the Justice League with an injury, do you Raven?" he said exaggeratedly.
The black bubble disappeared, causing Carrie to drop to the floor. She grunted before climbing back up to her feet. Carrie walked silently alongside Raven, listening carefully to any possible noise that would indicate trouble. For a while it was silent, until Raven stuck her arm out in front of Carrie who protested at first before falling silent to listen.
"Watch out!" Beast Boy shouted harshly, his voice cracking, unsure of what he was seeing.
An arrow shot out from the depths of the forest and whistled through the air straight for Carrie. Beast Boy didn't have time to react, but Carrie did. From where she was standing, the arrow was sure to hit Raven so she shoved the floating superhero hard, before being struck in the shoulder just below her collar bone. Carrie fell to the floor with a grunt and screamed through her teeth in pain, trying not to panic at the arrow that was now sticking into her.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted, throwing a black shade from her hands which took form of a black bird. With a swipe of her hands, the bird soared through the air in the direction of the arrow. "Get her out of here!"
"What about you?" Beast Boy asked hurriedly, scuttling towards Carrie's body as random arrows occasionally shot through the air.
"Just go!" Raven shouted harshly, keeping her attention on finding the person who was watching them.
Beast Boy scooped up Carrie in his arms, trying not to disturb the arrow. Oh man, Black Canary is going to kill me! He thought as he tried to steadily run through the forest. Blood was oozing out of the puncture and staining Carrie's jumper.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an old tree trunk where the roots forged an accidental shelter. It seemed like a safe place to wait for Raven. He felt a pang of pain whenever Carrie cried out. Lowering her down to the ground, he wished that it could have been daylight so that he had more light to investigate the damage done. Instinctively, he shifted his form into a snowy owl in the hope that its vision would help. The vision was not how Beast Boy thought it would be, but it allowed him to see the damage done to Carrie, whose hands were also trying to trace the damage in the darkness. Her fingers glistened with blood.
"Garfield… I need you to pull the arrow out," she whimpered helplessly, the odd tear streaming down her face.
Beast Boy reverted back to his original form and nodded before remembering the darkness. "Yeah?" he replied hesitantly.
"I can't do it whilst the arrow is still in me. I need you to take it out."
"Take it out! Are you crazy?" he snapped, gritting his teeth and wincing at the thought of pulling the arrow out. "If you're sure…"
"Please pull it out quickly and- Ahhhh!" Carrie screamed as Beast Boy had already yanked the arrow out and tossed it aside in disgust as the blood dripped onto his hands. "You did it. You did it!" Carrie smiled moments later, throwing her arms around him in a gentle embrace.
"Surprise!"
A bright white light shone in Carrie's eyes and she backed away, further into the roots. As Beast Boy turned to look, he brought his hand up to see if he could see who was behind the bright light.
"Oh no…" he mumbled.
"Oh yes- isn't this delightful!" cackled the voice, clearly revelling in the fact that they had caught Beast Boy and the girl. "The girl and her green skinned boy. Uppercut, take the girl."
"Right Metallica," grunted a tall, stocky henchman who lurched forwards and grabbed Carrie's wrist to fling her over his shoulder.
Beast Boy protested, going to throw a punch or two, but Uppercut swung his space fist through the air connecting with Beast Boy's face.
Carrie screamed and kicked against Uppercut, but he only tightened his grip on her. "Beast Boy!" she shouted as the green boy slumped down against the tree.
He was out cold and had no memory of the next half an hour as he lay unconscious in the dirt.
Until his team leader found him. Nightwing and Starfire had found each other in the forest in the aftermath of the attack. They were tracking Raven, Beast Boy and Kitty with the homing beacons that had been sewn into their suits.
"Beast Boy!" Nightwing called out when he saw the boy's body in the early morning sun. "Starfire, over here." He signalled the other adult super over to the hollowed out tree trunk. "Beast Boy- Beast Boy, can you hear me?" Nightwing opened up a compartment in his belt and took a small syringe out, mumbling that it was time to test the new device out. He jammed it into the side of Beast Boy's arm and the green boy bolted upright.
"Carrie!" Beast Boy yelled, trying to leap up but being restrained by Nightwing as Starfire checked him over for injuries. "Let me go, I'm fine!" he grunted strongly.
"Calm down Beast Boy, tell us what is happened." Starfire stopped Nightwing from doing the talking, knowing that he would only frustrate the younger boy. "Take your time."
Beast Boy buried his head in his hands, feeling desperation coursing through his veins. "Black Canary is going to kill me, isn't she?"
Starfire placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, squeezing it in a reassuring manner. "She'll understand B-B. It could have happened to any of us. What we need to do now is find Raven and Kitty and reconvene back at base to plan our next move. Miss Martian managed to escape from Metallica- he's been after the target-"
"Carrie, her name is Carrie."
Starfire and Nightwing exchanged a look that said 'well, well…'
"Yes… Carrie." Starfire nodded. "He wants her, but we're not quite sure why. Whatever it is she can do, you can bet it's incredibly special and valuable."
"She's valuable alright," Beast Boy sighed, feeling the urgency of the situation and the desire to just scream out in agitation. "We have to get her back."
"We will, Beast Boy. We will." Nightwing smirked behind his black mask with narrow eyes. "Don't you worry, I might have a plan."
Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = There you have it! Another chapter down and dusted – what do you think of the story so far? Don't forget to review!