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: Who would have thought that they would end up in Carrie's mind?!

Chapter 11

Beast Boy held his arm up and dipped his head slightly, feeling the animalistic instincts brewing inside him. The job at hand was to protect Carrie at all costs. She and her abilities could not be lost just yet. He also understood that Carrie was more than just her power to regenerate cells. In the time that Beast Boy had gotten to know her, he could see the love, compassion and selflessness that she exuded with every day.

"Beast Boy, you're not safe here." Carrie gripped the sleeve of his suit, wondering what threat the metallic monster spider might pose. "Please leave."

"No chance, can't leave you now- not when I'm seeing all the juicy gossip and innermost thoughts."

"Beast Boy!" Carrie punched his arm before running out towards the metal spider.

The green super's heart lurched for a moment, until Carrie dropped to the floor and used her momentum to slide under the spider, narrowly missing being impaled on one leg.

The spider focused on Beast Boy and continued on its way.

"Run Beast Boy!" Carrie screamed, unable to put some distance between her and the spider. "Do as I did!"

Instead of taking the sound advice, Beast Boy channelled an eagle. "What?" he mumbled when he realised that his ability to shift animal forms was not fully functioning.

The cold floor was polished and in the split moment that he had to slide, he slid and collided into the wall beside Carrie. She smiled momentarily, before grabbing his arm and pulling him up.

"Come on- run!"

"But where- none of this makes sense. I went from being in your bedroom, to a classroom to the justice headquarters. How can we outrun the spider?" Beast Boy bounded, using over-exaggerated hand gestures. "Carrie?!"

Carrie couldn't help but laugh. "Trust me. This is all in my mind. If I want something to appear, then I can make it so… Stop!" She paused at a corner, turning to hear the metal spider clanking towards them. "There!" Her hand latched onto a door, opening it and pulling Beast Boy through it.

Beast Boy slammed his body against the door. "Get rid of the door then!" he shouted, jumping as the arachnid rammed the door. "I was really hoping that I would go out against something cooler than a spider."

"Don't let Spiderman hear you say that?" Carrie mumbled, closing her eyes and trying to imagine another safe place.

"Who?"

"Not now!" Carrie snapped, finding it hard to concentrate.

"Like I said- can't you just magic away the spider?" Beast Boy asked, turning to push against the door.

"If it were that easy, you wouldn't be here right now either," Carrie retorted bluntly. "Get out of my head, Metallica!"

The words vanished the words and the pair fell through a dark void. In a flash and flurry, Beast Boy imagined taking on the form of an eagle. His hand dug into Carrie's arm.

"Beast Boy!" she screamed out in pain.

It reminded the super that his abilities were useless. They abruptly hit a solid floor.

Beast Boy looked up, remembering he was incapable of shifting when he was inside Carrie's mind. He started crawling over to Carrie curled up on the floor. He shook her gently, but her sobs made everything more distressing.

"Carrie, it's Beast Boy. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

Her silence allowed him to continue and speak hide thoughts.

"You know, if you ask me- Metallica thinks he has the upper hand against you. He's left something else in you that's stopping your powers. There's something about you Carrie, that makes me feel as though Metallica is so wrong about you."

Carrie stirred, covering her head. "Stop lying, he's right..."

Beast Boy rolled his eyes, flopping back down on the floor. "No." He wrapped his arms around Carrie, embracing her tightly. "I'm not going anywhere. Everyone is counting on me to pull you out of this. If I have to stay here in your mind for five hours, five days or five years, then I will-"

"Beast Boy..." Carrie paused, stiffening. "Go away."

A force pushed him back, but the young super fought back.

"Stop pushing new away, Carrie!" he screeched, battling against her innermost thoughts to send him away. "You need me..."

Slow clapping echoed around them. "Oh Alien boy, you don't get it. She doesn't care about anyone except herself." Metallica emerged from the darkness in a pristine white suit. "Face it, she will never put anyone above herself."

Beast Boy dropped to the floor, squirming to get to his feet. "You're wrong... Carrie, stop manifesting these things. They won't work. The Garfield in the hospital, the metal spider, Metallica. None of them are real except me. You know it's me."

Beast Boy watched Carrie shaking her head, disturbing her loose curls.

Metallica cackled loudly. "Dear me, it's not working greenie. Carrie can't get rid of me because I'm here for real- just like you are... And plop, the penny drops- I've got a telepath inside the headquarters. You thought I wanted to take over the building, but really I wanted to deploy her. She's very clever navigating her way through the air system."

Carrie's fingers started rhythmically rapping against her leg. She ignored Metallica's rants as she focused on the patterns.

"Come on Carrie!" Metallica yelled in her face. "Fight me- or shall I fight your new friend? I mean, he and I are not invincible like you are in here." He put a hand through her hand, unaffected by her flinching. "Come now- don't play games with me." Metallica lashed his hand around her hair, throwing the healer across the floor.

That was the sound of the last straw breaking in Beast Boy's mind.

"Metallica- let's finish this now! You can't use your metal here and I can't unleash the beast either. I'd make that an even match, wouldn't you?"

Metallica tossed his white blazer to one side, accepting the challenge. "Oh I would like that. I would like that very much. To smash your brains into oblivion."

Carrie stepped in between the two men. "No fighting. There will be no fighting here…" She walked slowly towards Metallica. "You've done something to me, and I want to know what."

"Oh no, you've got to earn your rewards. I'm not going to tell you so willingly." Metallica swung his fist through the air, jabbing the girl's nose. "That's a tardy defence," he added as Carrie slammed back against the black floor. Metallica grabbed her jumper, lifting her up. "You had so much potential…"

Crack. Another punch to her face.

Beast Boy couldn't watch and charged into Metallica, tackling him to the ground.

Carrie rolled around drearily on the floor. "Stop…" She felt the room beginning to spin, forcing her to withdraw her attention from the brawling men. Tap tap… Tap, tap-tap… "Come on, Nightwing… Pay attention…"

Beast Boy backed off Metallica and called out to Carrie who had now concealed herself inside of a glass container. "Carrie, what are you doing?"

Carrie whimpered. "I want it to stop. I want you to go away. Go away and leave me alone."

Metallica swiftly kicked Beast Boy in the side, causing the young super to double over and receive another blow. "You're making this far too easy."

Beast Boy turned towards the glass box. "Carrie, look at me. Look at me," he said insistently. "I will not leave unless you're coming with me. Help me to help you." His hand flattened against the glass as Metallica grabbed him by the hair and hauled him away. "Carrie!"

The glass box exploded with her scream, another one appeared, encasing itself around Beast Boy. Metallica was forced to release the green skinned human and arch his back as glass shards showered down onto his back, doting his shirt with red stains.

Metallica screamed. "You really think these mind games can defeat me?"

Carrie ignored the enemy's taunting a ran towards him, throwing herself at him. As they grappled on another. "You've got a choice. Either your girl withdraws you from my mind, or you get lost in it forever. Yeah, I have learnt a trick or two from Miss Martian. You might have taught me how to evade her telepathy, but I know how to manipulate my mind."

"If you kill me, you'll never know how I've stopped you. You'll die, Carrie- are you prepared to take that risk?"

"Yes." Carrie was definitive in her answer. "Because I'm not going to be afraid of you, or your threats anymore. I won't be afraid of losing my powers anymore. Some of the greatest superheroes of all time had no special abilities. Nightwing, Batman, Robin…"

"But a Stem Cell is pretty useless without her regeneration."

"Names can change; people can't." Carrie struggled against Metallica until his grip slid up to her neck. "Do it…"

"What?"

"Do. It," Carrie murmured, playing Metallica. "Choke me. See what happens, because to me, it looks like you're losing your strength in my domain."

His gaze dropped as he noticed a wave of flashes coursing over his body. "What are you doing?"

"Tell him, Beast Boy." Carrie smiled, releasing Beast Boy from the safety box and putting herself on a slightly raised platform, out of Metallica's reach. "Garfield- this was your opportunity to reveal my plan."

Beast Boy looked up at Carrie with a dumbfound expression. "Your plan? Your plan…"

"You didn't realise, did you?" Carrie laughed softly as Metallica began to fade from existence. "Your telepath has been found. Nightwing must have picked up on my morse code rhythms. Yeah, you're not the only one with tricks up their sleeve, Metallica. It's over- so tell me what you've done to me!"

Metallica laughed as he faded, saying, "It's all you, Carrie Boxham- all you!"

Then he was gone. Silence spilled out.

"You okay, Carrie?" Beast Boy asked, reaching out and touching her shoulder.

"You stayed even after I told you to leave…" Carrie replied after a brief pause. "Normally everyone runs or leaves, but you didn't." She stepped down slowly from the platform, becoming inches away with Beast Boy and staring into his bright eyes. "Why?

Beast Boy wanted to back away from her because of his nerves. "Like I said, there's just something about you…"

"Says the green skinned boy, right?" Carrie smiled softly, looking up at him. "So- how are you going to get out of here?"

"Well I can't leave until I know that you on the outside is okay and healing."

"How do you imagine we do that?" Carrie frowned. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Beast Boy genuinely had no idea what he was being accused of. "I'm not doing anything. You're the one who's edging closer like you're going to kiss me."

Carrie barely flinched. "So what if I am?" She reached back behind Beast Boy's neck, drawing him closer to her.

It seemed like the perfect moment, his hand on her cheek, hers on the back of his neck. She could feel the short prickly hairs growing there. Just as their lips were about to touch, Beast Boy backed away.

"What is it?" Carrie asked, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Don't tell me I just totally misread this whole situation…"

"It's the back of your neck, there's something there," Beast Boy murmured, walking around her and brushing her hair to one side. "I can remove it, but-"

"You need to go back first. I don't want you getting trapped here because I pull it out and leave first. Okay Nightwing, let's put that Morse code knowledge to good use." Tap, tap-

Beast Boy reached around and wrapped his hand over Carrie's cold fingers. "How will you extract it?"

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Then you can show me where it is and what to do."

His hands traced the back of her neck where a small, silver disc appeared to be implanted. "It's a little disc, right here." Beast Boy guided her hands back to the spot. "Hopefully pulling that out will sever the issue."

"How do you reckon it got there?" Carried asked, turning slightly. "Never mind- It is time to send you back home. To your natural habitat Beast Boy. See you shortly, promise?"

"Promise."

-o-

Beast Boy awoke with a sudden start, immediately restrained by Nightwing. The green boy was hot and sweaty from the recent events. He nodded at Nightwing, clapping a hand to the older hero's back. "It's up to her now…"

"She'll be fine. Stop panicking Beast Boy," Nightwing replied with a smirk that said he knew more than the youngster was letting on. "What happened in there?"

Beeps and high-pitched whirling cut the conversation short.

Starfire looked at the machined monitoring Carrie. "She's crashing!"

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Now I must admit that halfway through this chapter, I hit a bit of a wall- can you tell when? Don't forget to review!