Chap. 12

East

At 4 am, most people are capable of believing anything. In those hours between dawn and dark, the world seems full of possibilities. Therefore, the few who saw the green hawk fly above them managed to shrug it off. However, if they had seen it land and change into a green-skinned human... well they might have given it a second glance.

"Find anything?" Beast Boy asked, as he resumed his human form. A blur ran up the side of the roof, and as he hit the ground, Neuron shook his head. "All I've seen is a bunch of empty buildings and nothing that would lead us to Slade." The young speedster answered. "I don't get it. Why would he give these hints?" wondered Beast Boy aloud. "He probably wants to throw us off track, by making it seem like we have a chance." answered Neuron. "Yeah, but we don't even know how to look for him. I mean, I had a better chance of getting Raven in a clown suit then figuring this out." "Not true. We just need to think like him." Neuron placed a hand on his chin and began to think. "Now Slade likes to set up these big elaborate plans that take a lot of subterfuge. Therefore he would put this in the last place we'd look, never giving us a clear idea of where to look." Suddenly, a huge explosion hit the air. The two heroes turned to see that a large building had caught fire. "Then again, maybe he would." Said Beast Boy, as he resumed his hawk shape and flew off. Neuron quickly sped down the building and followed.

The building was more then in flames however. It was engulfed in them. The firefighters had already gathered and were attempting o put out the blaze, but it was steadily growing out of hand. The chief was attempting to keep order, but there were people trapped in the flames, and they were running out of time. "Johnson! Get those flames extinguished over by the left windows. There's some people trapped over there!" Johnson attempted to redirect the fire hoses, but nothing was working fast enough. "Sir, we're not cutting through fast enough. Suddenly, there was a scream from behind the flames. The chief whipped out a pair of binoculars and tried to peer into the flames. But what he saw made his blood turn cold. Two people were trapped on a section of the building that was starting to collapse. If they didn't make it through soon, the walls would fall and they'd be crushed like flies. The chief started to bark orders, but he was too late. The wall cracked off and the two people began their descent into the flames.

But suddenly, they stopped. Literally. The chief watched in amazement as they began to float just above the flames. As he watched what seemed to be a giant green bird swooped down underneath, just in time to catch them on his back. The bird rose above the flames, and carried them out. It then landed near the firetruck, let them off its back, and then changed into a green kid. "Hey isn't that one of the Titans?" asked Johnson. "Well it's certainly not part of this unit." replied the chief. He walked over to Beast Boy and said, "Thanks for your help. I just hope you don't get tired quickly, cause we're gonna be here a while." Beast Boy answered, "Dude, the ladies can tell you I never get tired. Besides, I'm not alone." The chief raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to speak, but just then, there was a just of wind and another kid appeared next to Beast Boy. "So, what's the situation?" Neuron asked. The chief stared for a minute, then shrugged and said, "This blaze started about twenty minutes ago. If we don't get it out, it could level the next two blocks." "How?" asked Beast Boy. "This is the Diamond Chemical building. If the stuff in there gets too hot, it'll go sky-high." "We'll do everything we can." said Neuron, and the two heroes turned back to the fire. But the chief couldn't help noticing a look that passed between the two of them before they left.

"You think this is some sort of distraction, don't you?" asked Beast Boy. "Diamond Chemicals?" It is too good. And if memory serves, there's an underground bomb shelter here." He turned over to Beast Boy and asked, "If I help get people out, you think you can tunnel down into it?" "Dude, you insult my skill." "All right then, let's get to work." Neuron sped off as Beast Boy changed into a mole and began to dig under the building. The young shape shifter swiftly dug throw about half a mile of dirt and debris before he finally hit a concrete wall. From there, he transformed into a ram and burst through the wall. "Uhh... forgot how hard concrete is." he mumbled as he shook off the impact. Resuming human form, he looked around the shelter, seeing if there was any sign of a break in. But all he saw was an empty concrete room. "Man, looks like Neuron was wrong after all." he said as he looked around. He turned back to the hole in the wall and prepared to leave, but then he felt something covering his feet. Looking down, Beast Boy gasped in horror. A strange reddish goo was pouring out of the walls and swiftly covering him. He tried to assume hawk form and fly out, but whatever the goo was, it held him tight. Frantically, Beast Boy assumed several forms, but each one was bogged down as the goo grew higher and higher. Finally, Beast Boy grew exhausted, just the goo reached his neck. "Oh man, I can believe I'm gonna go out like this." he moaned as the liquid began to seep into his mouth.

Suddenly, the goo began to part, as though it was the Red Sea. Beast boy could see it split apart in front of him, and within seconds, it was completely confined to the sides of the wall. Beast Boy looked up and saw that Neuron was standing in the hole he'd dug, frantically spinning his arms to create a whirlwind effect. "Hurry!" he yelled. "I can't do this forever." Beast Boy quickly ran behind his friend. "Quick, there's a cylinder on my belt." Said Neuron. Beast Boy looked down and saw that there was indeed a blue and red cylinder there. "Throw it in there." Beast Boy swiftly did as he was told. The cylinder flew through the air and shattered on the floor, releasing a green liquid. Instantly, Neuron stopped his arms, and the goo flowed back into place, only to suddenly solidify. "Whew, that was close." Said Beast Boy. "What was that?" "Some sort of liquid superglue. Only problem was, they could never figure out how to make it dry." replied Neuron. "So why am I still here?" asked Beast Boy. "Well, I figured we might run into this sort of thing, so I looked up the composition of it, and worked out a solidifier." "Oh." "See? Science is important." "Yeah, so any luck with Slade?" "No, looks like this was a dead end in that regard. But on the plus side, everybody got out of the fire ok." "Great. So what now?" "Well if you have any idea where to head next, I'm open for suggestions."