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The Slightly Bizarre Challenge: Part 6

They wandered through the dark for almost an hour. At least, it seemed like wandering to Raven, though Beast Boy seemed to know where he was going. It also seemed like an hour.

"How long have we been down here?" she asked the figure somewhere in front of her.

Beast Boy checked his watch. "About fifteen minutes," he said. "Watch your head. It dips low here."

Raven obediently ducked. "How long do you think this tunnel is?"

Beast Boy shrugged, then remembered that she couldn't see him. "I don't know. I just hope it does end. Left turn just ahead."

He gently led her around the corner, then sighed in relief.

"At least we know there's an end," Raven said.

Not too far ahead, there was an opening in the ceiling, similar to the secret door that led them to the passage. Light was shinning softly through the cracks.

"Let's go," said Beast Boy. He pulled her under the opening. "Think there's some kind of lock or handle somewhere?"

Raven smiled to herself. "What's the matter? Tired of slamming through walls?"

Beast Boy gave her a look.

"And you can let go of my hand."

Beast Boy looked sharply at her, then at their linked fingers. "Whoops." He dropped her hand as if it had burned him. "Sorry." He clenched his teeth and hoped the darkness concealed his blush.

Raven floated up to the light. She examined it closely, then tried to ghost her hand through. It slid through easily. "I can ghost us both through," she told him. "But we should stay on our guard. Slade's probably got some of his minions outside."

"Right." Beast Boy looked at the passage. "Um, how do we both do that ghosting thing, anyway?"

Raven grabbed his arm. "Like this."

She flew at the ceiling, dragging Beast Boy with her. Just before they hit concrete, she changed both of them into a mass of energy.

Beast Boy had seen Raven take others with her when she went through walls and things, although they were usually bad guys. He had often wondered what it felt like.

Now he knew why she only took bad guys with her.

It wasn't a very pleasant experience. Sort of like jumping into a swimming pool filled with slightly dulled nails.

Fortunately, it only lasted a second. Once they had passed through, Raven dropped him and restored them both the solid form. He landed in a crouch, braced to attack the first thing that moved.

"What the...?" Beast Boy looked around. They were on a sidewalk, directly below a streetlight.

Raven landed beside him. "This makes no sense," she said. "We haven't heard a thing out of Slade since the bunny incident. He wouldn't have gone through all this trouble just to let us go."

"Looks like you've got him pegged." Beast Boy pointed behind her, where dozens of Slade's robots were heading straight for them.

Raven sighed. "Crud."

The Slade-bots began shooting at them. Beast Boy grabbed her arm. "C'mon. Let's go."

Raven snatched her arm back. "What? We can take them."

"Sure we can," he said, grabbing her again. "But not now." He broke her into a run, dragging her along with him.

R/R