Standard disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, or any of the characters portrayed on the show. I do own this subplot(but feel free to play off of it), and I do own any original characters I choose to insert and any other place I choose to take everyone :)



Chapter 1: Beastboy's Revelation

Beastboy was staring at the ceiling, doing something he didn't do often.

He was thinking.

It had been a week since Terra had swept into their lives, only to disappear without a trace. The weather had been unseasonably good, and the spring days felt like lazy summer ones. Normally Beastboy would be out frolicking in one of his many forms, but his mind had been jumbled since Terra left. He had experienced a clarity he had rarely known while she had been here, one he had not felt since he had been in Raven's mind and had decided not to bail out on her and leave her to the mercy of her rage.

He was laying down on the couch, and for once the other titans weren't around causing havok in the kitchen or watching TV or dueling on the gamestation. He could hear the waves crashing outside Titan Tower, and there was a surreal peace in the air. The sun was shining brightly, and Beastboy couldn't decide if the cheery conditions made him feel peaceful or offended him.

He couldn't believe that Terra had left. The things she needed most had been here, freely offered. Friendship, family, a home...but Terra's fear of discovery and her shame at her weakness had driven her away. His perceived betrayal of her had destroyed any chance that she would see them as friends. Why did she go?

Beastboy stared out the huge windows that overlooked the bay. What was Slade doing there in the mine? he wondered to himself. They had successfully fought off his goons, but it had all seemed too easy to him. When Slade did something, it was never a clear win before. Skin of teeth, barely victories that required all of the Titans working together. And usually Slade was still the one laughing at the end.

He must have been after Terra. The thought shocked him, but it was the only answer that fit. The only place he smelled Slade was in the corridor where he had found her after she inadvertently dropped the ceiling on him. When he had found her, her powers were spiraling out of control and only his instinct to reach out to her had stopped her from burying them all alive.

What could he have said to upset her so much? Beastboy drew a blank.

He didn't really understand Slade. Slade was an enigma that he wished would just go away. Every time things are starting to go well, he shows up and messes everything up. Beastboy thought bitterly. The Hive, Cinderblock, Plasmus, his robot ninjas…even Robin. Robin…

Beastboy frowned thoughtfully. Robin got all weird on us, even before the fake chronoton detonator. The whole Red-X thing started after Slade pushed his buttons. Beastboy chewed his lower lip. Slade knew exactly what to say to make Robin lose it.

Maybe he didn't need to know what Slade said to Terra. All he had to tell her was exactly what she didn't need to hear. What does he want with her, though? Beastboy dismissed out of hand that he was afraid of her joining them. Slade made it clear that he felt the Titans other than Robin were not even worth his time.

Slade didn't get his insights about Robin from thin air. He took his time, and probably watched us from the beginning. He may even have been watching Robin when he was working with Batman. Beastboy shifted his position on the couch. If he did this, he must have been watching Terra for some time, too.

Something that had been itching the back of his mind clicked into place. He was there in the desert. I'm sure of it now. The little changeling had been out of his element when they had gone to the desert, but he remembered smelling faintly metallic odors that day when he had been in wolf form. He had dismissed it as the other smells had been overpowering, and Terra had been there, the most potent distraction.

Ok. Bad guy stalks Terra then messes with her mind. Now what? Beastboy didn't like what popped into his head.

He goes in for the kill now that she's vulnerable. Beastboy thought about that. Not a literal kill. He has her right where he wants her…but what does he want?

An apprentice, Beastboy thought in horror. He wants a servant worthy of him. A super-soldier. As he thought about it, she began to fit the profile more and more.

Robin was inaccessable to Slade. Slade knew that he would simply refuse to comply now. That meant he needed new talent. HIVE was a waste of time for him. Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth were impressive, but they were like trained soldiers and often did more damage than good. Jinx was a possibility for Slade's new tool. Her power was nightmarish, but probably because of the nature of her talent she was also crazy. Gizmo was cunning and his mechanically genius was unmatched, but he was physically weak and no threat without his toys. Mammoth was a Brute. Slade didn't like the stupid ones.

Enter Terra- an amazing power, no lack of intelligence and a gentle nature. And her uncontrolled power eating her sanity away. This wouldn't be like Robin's slavery to Slade, Beastboy sensed. Robin had the fire of violence in his heart and an indomitable will. If he had powers like Starfire, Beastboy thought that Robin could easily clear this town of every single criminal. Slade had sized up Robin's potential well, Beastboy thought. He had totally screwed up about messing with his mind, however.

Robin had confided in Cyborg and him that Slade had tried every trick in the book to get him think of Slade as something other than a mortal enemy. Mocking his current abilities, making comments about how well he was coming along in becoming like him, suggesting that he was the evil one for trying to break free, even insinuating that he would see Slade as father figure in the future. Robin had an adamantine will, however. Only the threat of killing his friends made more than a small dent in his determination to be free.

Terra will be lost, Beastboy thought in shock. If Slade gets his claws deep enough within her, we may end up fighting her as Slade's new apprentice. Her need for help and failing willpower will make her putty in Slade's hands.

I've got to do something! Beastboy thought to himself. He had been calm, but now a sense of enormous urgency filled him, and he was almost jittery with nervous energy. I can't leave, the other Titans need me. one part of him said. The smarter, or dumber side butted in though They don't need you right now. Slade is focused on Terra, so only the ordinary criminals will be causing trouble. Remember how Slade had ceased almost all of his operations for weeks while he toyed with Robin? Beastboy's blood froze at the concept of Slade "visiting" Terra in the desert while she was all alone.

I have to find her! Beastboy sat up, and rubbed his eyes. He really needed to take a nap, but this couldn't wait. Wait a minute, he thought to himself. I'm not going to find her in a day, or even a few days. This could take weeks- she might even make a special effort to hide from me. He groaned to himself. Why did this have to be so difficult?! Darn it! He thought to himself. Now I'm starting to sound like Raven when she's mad.

"THAT'S IT! I'M THROUGH THINKING ABOUT THIS!" He shouted at the top of his lungs in pure frustration.

"Beastboy was thinking? Does someone want to check his temperature?" Raven said in her cool, emotionless voice, but with a hint of playful sarcasm. Beastboy spun around to find the other Titans putting away groceries. I guess they went out shopping for food. Terra had eaten them out of house and home. That brought a bit of a grin to his face. He'd never seen anyone eat as much she could, not even Cyborg.

"I will get the implement with which we gage the excess in heat which Beastboy's body is producing!" Starfire chimed in merrily. The others looked at her strangely. Even though she was catching on to the words, customs and ideas of earth astoundingly fast, it still startled them sometimes when she was dead on without one of them having to explain more than once. It was almost as jarring as when she got it wrong. Overall, Starfire was an exceptionally nice girl, but you almost had to brace yourself whenever she opened her mouth.

Robin was looking at Beastboy, trying to size him up. No hint of his happy-go-lucky attitude. I wonder what he was thinking about...

Cyborg walked up to him. "Mr. Tofu here must have been daydreaming about his girlfriend..." Cy started teasing when the most amazing thing happened.

Beastboy turned all red.

Angry red.

He turned into an eight-hundred pound Saber-tooth tiger and roared. The whole room shook, and Cyborg fell back over the couch and cowered there. Even Raven looked a bit taken aback by the teen's uncharacteristic rage. Strangely, Beastboy felt better and shifted back into his human form. "Hey Robin! Did you get me tofu burgers?" He asked the masked teen in his normal cheerful voice.

Robin looked at him sidelong. That was weird. I hope he's got it under control now, he thought to himself. "Sure. I picked you up a package." I should probably skip the part about how Cy didn't want to get them. We don't need him shifting into a whale or a brachiosaurus and flattening the whole tower. He shuddered. Replacing the light bulbs and computer screens from Raven's outbursts was bad enough.

"Yes, and we picked up some of the tangy yellow beverage called mustard and a strange red beverage that Robin said you liked." Starfire said as she returned with the thermometer. "I think he acquired something called "pick-hules" for you as well." she bustled over to him and slapped the thermometer against his forehead.

"Ouch! Not so hard, Star!" Beastboy winced and rubbed his forehead. "You must mean ketchup and pickles. Thanks boy wonder!" He said, giving Robin a wink.

Cy meanwhile was pulling himself up from the floor behind the couch, muttering something about shapeshifters in love. Beastboy turned and gave him a deadly glare. "Will you shut up!" He screamed at Cyborg. Star dropped the thermometer, which read normal for Beastboy, and cringed.

Beastboy regretted doing that while Star was next to him, but he really hadn't thought it would happen like that. No one ever took his threats seriously. Maybe that's because he really didn't mean them, he reflected. He meant it this time. Cy's comment had hit him at a really bad time. "I'm sorry Star," He said to her gently "I didn't mean to scare you."

Star looked at him uncertainly, but it looked to her that he really was sorry. On the other hand, she could still sense the ugly anger he felt toward Cyborg. Why would he feel that way about one of his best friends? she wondered.

Cyborg started to open his mouth again, but Robin cut in. " Hey Cy, I think we should have take-out tonight. Do you mind getting it?"

Cy looked puzzled, but then the thought of taking "his baby" out on the road for a spin brought stars to his eyes. They had walked to the store earlier, since it was so nice out. Take-out was a viable excuse to use his car- couldn't let the Pizza get cold! Cy frowned. He was far from stupid, and Robin was manipulating him.

"I'd like a pizza with spinach and feta, if you don't mind." Came Raven's surprising comment. "I'd also like some garlic bread." Her words were nonchalant, but her gaze at Cyborg was not. It was intense, and seemed to convey that he should do it. "We'll call it in if you'll go get it now."

Cyborg felt like he was getting picked on, but it dawned on him that this was not a normal argument he was having with Beastboy. Beastboy was never this intense. Something was wrong. "Al'right! Pizza it is! Get me a...."

Robin interrupted hurriedly, as he was sure Cy was going to order a double meat-lovers pizza. Darn it! He thought to himself. Cy is so used to teasing Beastboy that he's doing it without thinking! "I'll just do the usual order, plus Raven's," Robin cut in "That's what you thinking of, right?"

"Yeah, I was gonna order..." Cy started, and then realized what he would have said if Robin hadn't interrupted "...cinnamon sticks with that." He finished somewhat lamely. "I'll be back in about half an hour." Cy waved as he walked out down the hallway to the elevator.

Beastboy seemed to relax a bit as Cy left, but his normal aura of fun and mischief was still gone, replaced by a feeling of cold anger around him.

"I'm making my own dinner" Beastboy announced "I'm not in the mood for pizza." The teen picked up the thermometer and handed it back to Starfire. "Thanks for worrying about me, Star." He smiled at her. He was still upset, but Starfire made him smile the same way he made her smile when he turned into an ultra-cute kitten and gave her "the face." He made his way to the kitchen to make his tofu burgers. He was also going to have to figure out what to bring with him when he left to track Terra down.

Raven looked at the upset Starfire by the couch, and made a decision. "Star, do you want to help me with that painting we started yesterday?"

Star's eyes grew bright again. "That melancholy scene from inside your mirror is a most interesting..." She begin as the two of them left the room toward Raven's bedroom.

Beastboy was getting back into his normal mode, with a goofy chef's hat and apron on, grilling 4 soyburgers on the range. He was tearing up some red-leaf lettuce that he had washed into burger sized sections when he noticed that Robin was still there, sipping some iced tea.

"Dude, why are you staring at me?!" Beastboy demanded

"Because you just scared Cyborg more than that creepy robot Fixit ever did, and you almost managed to make Starfire cry. If that isn't bad enough, you even managed to terrify Raven without even looking at her. The real question should be: How can I not stare at you?" Robin said evenly. Beastboy looked regretful, but not ashamed. Robin settled on his first instinct. "This is about Terra, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." Beastboy said in a depressed voice, looking down for a moment.

But then he looked up, and looked right at Robin. Robin saw an icy cold fire in Beastboy's eyes. He was shocked. What he saw was anger and determination- he was sure that his eyes had looked like this when he had torn Slade's symbol off his chest. That was the look of a person who know that they were going to be hurt, but also knew that they were going not going to give up, no matter what the cost.

"We haven't gotten any threats from Slade in the last week, have we?" Beastboy asked offhandedly "I wonder what he could be up to?" He said with mild sarcasm as he went back to preparing his huge dinner.

As Beastboy started slicing a tomato for his burgers, Robin responded "No, he's been pretty quiet since we beat him in the mine." He thought about it for a moment. "In fact, except for a few minor problems, we haven't had anything to do since then."

Beastboy weighed whether or not he was going to tell Robin that he was going to take off after Terra, and all of the weight slid to telling him. If Robin understood what he was doing, he could keep an eye out for Slade and maybe even help him in his search some way. He was going to have to lead Robin on this one, or he was sure Robin would dismiss his reasoning out of hand. "Funny how Slade didn't seem so interested in you this time. He doesn't seem like the type to give up." Beastboy finished his tomato slices and started to put ketchup and mustard on the buns. "I was also surprised that he was really there in that mine, rather than sending a robot like he did before."

Robin looked at him shrewdly "How do you know it was really him?" Robin wanted to know. "It could have been a robot- we weren't able to tell before."

"Because I smelled him when I slashed him with my claws in his clock tower." Beastboy said calmly. "I was getting tired of being beaten by his remote control toys. You made him mad when you infected yourself with the nanobots. I know what he really smells like now, rather than the fake scent he puts in his robots."

Beastboy took the burgers off the grill. He smiled to himself. A masterpiece. He walked over to the table with his huge plate and a glass of soymilk. "Funny that he was up to something not one day after we met Terra." He shrugged, and then paused "You didn't even get to fight with him this time, did you? There's never been a fight with him that I can think of where he didn't send his best fighter after you."

Robin just stared at him in shock.