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: So Artemis/Tigress snuck back to save the day, but she clearly doesn't want to be found.
Chapter 10
Beast Boy was set down on the ground outside of the headquarters. The smoking arrow had created a smokescreen for his saviour to get in, grab him and get him out without Metallica's knowledge. When he eventually woke up, Superboy was leaning over him with a young girl clinging onto his back.
"Beast Boy- what happened? Where are the others?" Superboy asked, jerking his head to the main building.
The green superhero got to his feet quickly, eager to see if Tigress was nearby. "Where did she go?"
"Where did who go, Beast Boy?"
"Tigress- she was here… I saw her." Beast Boy spun around frantically, looking high and low to see if she was still in area. "Millie- is that you?"
Millie climbed down from Superboy's back, hiding behind his leg like a toddler does to its mother. "You're green…"
"Yeah, that's me. My name's Beast Boy."
"Do you know where my sister, Carrie, is?" she asked, wrapping her arm around Superboy's jeans. "She said she would come back for me, but she never did."
Beast Boy looked back at the headquarters and raced inside. Through the first double doors, he was restrained by Aqualad and Kid Flash. They told him that they didn't know what the compound of the smoke arrow was – that they needed to wait for their base to be properly decontaminated. Beast Boy tried to tell them that he could just morph into another animal that could withstand any possible poisons in the air, but Aqualad was adamant that they should wait.
"Aqualad – Nightwing and Stem Cell are trapped in the infirmary. What about them?" Beast Boy looked up at Aquadlad, pleading the super to make an exception.
"Beast Boy, you know the rules. Miss Martian enhanced the security measures around the infirmary for this exact reason. Don't worry. If Nightwing is with Stem Cell, then he'll know what to do." Aqualad paused, chuckling to himself. "Remind me to thank Starfire for encouraging us to learn some basic medical training. Sounds like Nightwing's going to need it."
-o-
Nightwing was already using the knowledge from the medical training to hook Stem Cell up to the monitors and record her breathing and vitals. He had tried listening for a heartbeat, but it felt like it was beating once every five seconds. You didn't need medical training to tell you that was a bad thing.
"Okay Stem Cell, let's see what the medi-packs have that might help…" Nightwing murmured, opening up the cabinets to see what bottles and solutions would be inside. "Nothing in here fills me with confident." He stepped back, knocking into the armchair.
The monitor wasn't showing signs of her systems going into cardiac arrest, but it wasn't enough to put his mind at ease.
"So you are a human stem cell. You've got the ability to regenerate limbs and blood." Nightwing frowned at the super's body. "What's stopping you now?" He narrowed his eyes, remembering the events of the large few weeks.
The reports about her, the comments from the scout that had been tailing Metallica. None of it was helping the scenario. Stem Cell's heart was gradually slowing down. Without Beast Boy being there, Nightwing had no way of determining just what had happened out in the city to Stem Cell. In the corridor, he call hear Beast Boy arguing with Aqualad and Miss Martian.
"I don't care if the place isn't secure, or purified or whatever scientifically accurate word- I need to help Stem Cell."
"Beast Boy- this isn't the way to help her. You know that." Miss Martian followed Beast Boy to the infirmary door. "Do not open that door."
"You still aren't listening. Tigress was the one who used the smoke arrow. That's all she would have used, smoke. She was the one who got me out of there. Probably along with Raven and Starfire. Even is Metallica escaped, he won't get away with it." Beast Boy didn't wait for their approval before entering the infirmary room. "Nightwing, I know I am not a science boy, but she needs something to remove the contaminant in her lungs. If you ask me, she's looking for a particular blood group that's pret-ty rare."
Miss Martian was quick to intervene. "Beast Boy, that's crazy. There's no knowing what your blood might do to her. We don't even know if it's blood that she needs."
"But if it was her blood that cleansed the city, her blood can cleanse the gas in her body."
"It can't possibly work like that."
"Then drown her. That'll fill her lungs with water and clear the toxic gas out, right?" Beast Boy's palms were already sweaty as he clawed at feeble suggestions to help wake Stem Cell up. "There's got to be a way, Miss Martian."
"I don't know, Beast Boy. For all we know, that gas is infecting her brain beyond repair. It could leave her a vegetable and there's no knowing how your blood will be reacted to. We have to think logically."
"Just do it. Hook me up."
The door swung open and Raven glided effortlessly into the room. "This may or may not be my place to say, but I think Metallica's toxic gas will be messing with her mind. Based on the effects Metallica claimed it would have, I'm confident that someone needs to go rooting about in that ditzy head of hers. And I think Beast Boy is point zero five seconds from volunteering."
Nightwing placed a hand on Raven's shoulders. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I've got my part to play in bringing Metallica's plans down. This is it. So let's at least try."
Nightwing watched the younger super prepare Beast Boy to enter Stem Cell's mind and once the incantation was repeated, he watched in disbelief. A shadowy, blue soul emerged from Beast Boy's body and merged into Stem Cell's body. He watched Raven's expression closely, knowing that she would find this scenario tricky to navigate.
"It's up to you now, Beast Boy," Nightwing murmured to the now unconscious Beast Boy slumped in the armchair.
-o-
Beast Boy awoke with a start. He was in a bedroom that looked modern and minimalistic. A desk and bookcase of various fantasy books were opposite the bed. On the desk, he saw a photo of a younger Carrie and Millie with an older couple behind them. Her adoptive parents, or biological parents if Millie was a blood relative.
Beast Boy walked out the door and found himself in a school classroom. "What the?" His eyes followed the many pieces of children's artwork on the walls in big displays.
Nothing about this made sense. None of the rooms seemed to match up properly. One room, he'd be in an operation theatre, but hen in the next he was in the cabin that he and Kitty had hidden with Carrie in. The TV was showing the same news report about the pair being accused of robbery.
"Carrie!" Beast Boy called out, running through a room that looked like a torture chamber. "Oh no..." He was beginning to realise that these were Carrie's memories. Fragments of them. "Carrie- where are you?" he shouted again. "It's Beast Boy!"
"Beast Boy?"
"Yes. Where are you?"
"No! You're not real- go away!" Carrie's panicked voice snapped back at him. "Leave me alone."
"It's really me, Carrie." Beast Boy opened the door that led into what looked like a blurry corridor through the small window in the door, but it actually led into the infirmary.
His eyes deceived him. Lying on the bed, was another copy of himself.
"No! I said go away!" A teary eyed Carrie lurched for Beast Boy.
Rather than retaliate, Beast Boy chose to deflect her feeble swings. "Stop it Carrie. I'm real. I'm here."
His hand clamped around itself around Carrie's clenched fist, applying the smallest amount of pressure to indicate that he wasn't messing around.
"Oh god, you're really, truly here?" Carrie stammered, looking back and forth between Beast Boy's eyes. "Beast Boy!" She threw her arms around the older boy. "Sorry!"
"It's fine- I was wondering when you might come around to my irresistible charm." Beast Boy grunted as Carrie delivered a swift punch to his upper arm. "Okay, I might have deserved that."
Carrie backed away. "How are you here?"
"You can thank Raven for my presence here. I came to get you back. The others are worried about you- you're not recovering."
"That's not possible, I always recover."
"You inhaled a concentrated amount of Metallica's toxic gas. It's done something else to you."
Carrie squeezed Beast Boy's arm. "Gotham- are the people okay?"
He nodded. "You saved the city, but at an even greater cost of your own life. Metallica said that you would be too selfish to sacrifice yourself. Why?"
"Because of my history with Metallica, but I've turned away from that life. This was my redeeming act. And now I'm dead for it."
"You're not dead. You might be getting that way unless you do something about it. That's why I'm here. To take you back."
"And how do you propose we do that?"
No answer... no words.
Until a loud metallic clanging echoed from behind them. Beast Boy turned around with a protective arm out in front of Carrie. Then they saw it - a rusted metal spider that was the size of a rhino. With every leg that hit the ground, the metal clanged against the floor.
"Oh boy..."
Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = How in the world are Carrie and Beast Boy going to get out of this one?