Chapter 7

Nightmare's Help

Robin wakes up lying on a soft muddy surface deep in Jump City's sewer system, his head pounding with every waking second. Slowly getting to his feet, he looks around and sees Raven lying a few yards down the tunnel. Running as fast as he could, stumbling slightly, Robin reaches Raven and falls to his knees, trying to wake her up.

"Raven, wake up! Come on, we got to find the others!" Robin yells as he shakes Raven's limp form. Slowly but surely, Raven starts to come around. Opening her eyes slowly, Raven stares at Robin, her face expressionless as usual.

"You can stop with the yelling and shaking. I'm awake."

Robin stands up and offers Raven a hand. With both the Titans on their feet, they begin to look for Starfire and Cyborg. Neither were hard to find, as Starfire had awaken and was using the green glow of her starbolts to light her way through the dark sewer tunnels, and Cyborg was doing the same with his shoulder light. They all met in an intersected part of the sewer system, all relieved to see each other. But that left one more problem.

"Has anyone seen BB?" Cyborg asked.

Everyone shakes their head, now realizing that the green changeling was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll try his communicator. Hopefully his is still working." Robin says.

Robin flips out his T-com and tries to reach Beastboy.

Gear Factory

"And Robin picked up this new trick," Beastboy explains to Brother Blood, as his communicator goes off.

"Well? Go ahead, answer it." Blood says. "Tell them that you'll be at the Tower, waiting for them."

Beastboy answers his T-com, with an evil smile barely being contained on his face.

"Yo, what's up?"

"Beastboy! Where are you?" Robin asks.

"Dude, when you guys got blasted, I was still fighting Terra and those other weirdoes. I'm still downtown, I'll meet you guys back at the Tower, ok?"

Robin looks at Beastboy's face on his T-com, a look of obvious relief on his face.

"Ok. We'll be there in a few minutes." Robin replies as he shuts his T-com down.

"Well, let's go. Beastboy will meet us there." Robin says, starting to walk towards a nearby sewer ladder. The other Titans look at each other and shrug, following Robin up the ladder.

Within a few minutes, the Titans arrive back at the tower.

"Hmm...Guess BB isn't back yet." Cyborg says.

"But I am most hungry. Is there any food left?" Starfire asks.

"Of course Star. Just, stay away from the mustard, alright?" Robin answers.

Starfire sighs, as she so longed for some delicious mustard. She heads for the small refrigerator and opens the door, seeing most of the food in there covered in a disgusting blue slime.

"Eeewww..." Starfire says as she quickly shuts the door. As Starfire stands up, she feels something in the bottom of her boot. Taking off her left boot, she shakes it and a cased mini disc falls out.

"Friends, I believe I have found something. It appears to be what you call, a "mini disc."

"Let me see that Star." Cyborg says, as he walks up and takes the disc. "Well, lets see what's on it."

Walking up to the big screen TV, Cyborg slips the disc into the mini disc player. Stepping back with the other titans, Cyborg and the others watch as the images on the disc start to play.

On the screen appears the form of Nightmare, dressed in full battle armor, standing in front of the camera that is recording his form. After a few more seconds, Cyborg pauses it.

"He's just standing there. What is this, his way of taunting us?"

"Wait, rewind it and play it again." Raven says.

"Why? He ain't saying anything."

"Just do it Cyborg." Raven told him.

"Alright, whatever."

Cyborg pushes the rewind button and then play. Raven sits in her meditation position, making it seem like she wasn't even paying attention.

"Rae, what's up? You know something we don't?" Robin asks.

"I believe that he is talking to us, just not in the conventional way. I will try to translate for you."

Closing her eyes, Raven concentrates as hard as she can.

"Yes, he is communicating through telepathy." Raven said. "Rewind it again. I'll tell you what he is saying, or rather, thinking."

Cyborg quickly rewinds it, and Raven begins to translate.

"Hello Titans. I realize that this might be hard to believe, but please trust me on this. I am not a bad guy, really. Brother Blood's mind control power is far more powerful then you think, if it can take over someone like me. By now, Blood has taken over Beastboy's mind. Do not trust him. Blood's mind control starts to wear off in about 23 hours, as when he is asleep, he does not exert his powers. Keep Beastboy locked up until then. As for me, if you are wondering why I simply not just leave, it is because of this bracelet."

Nightmare holds up his left arm, revealing a thin, black bracelet attached to his wrist.

"Blood is not a stupid man. He knows his power wears off in those times. If I leave this room, the bomb in this bracelet will detonate, leaving me in a few hundred pieces, which I do not find appealing. Please, I beg of you, help me. I do not wish to harm anyone. Raven, please help me. You will have to enter my mind the next time we are in battle, and beat the evil within my mind. You are the only one that can. And before I leave you to ponder my words, beware. Slade is back, and he is planning something big. Be on your guard. I would explain more, but time is running out for me to have control. Until we meet again, Titans."

With that, the disc stops, ending Nightmare's message.

"Wow. That was...interesting." Robin said.

Before anything else could be said, Beastboy walked into the living room.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

The Titans stare at Beastboy, wondering if what Nightmare said was true. Robin turns to the Titans.

"What do we do? Should we trust him?" Robin whispers.

"Hey, what's with all the whispering guys?" Beastboy asks.

"I can slightly sense something evil coming from Beastboy, so I'd say Nightmare was right. I can posses him to make sure. Now, act normal." Raven whispers back.

"Sorry BB, it's a surprise." Cyborg said smiling.

"Oh...uh, ooook. What are we going to do about Terra and that Nightmare guy? They have to be stopped."

"I'm already working on a plan Beastboy. Don't worry about it." Robin tells him as he walks towards his room. Though Robin said this, his mind was on something else.

"Slade is back? But how?"

Raven starts to levitate to do her meditation, when in fact what she was doing was getting ready to enter Beastboy's mind. Cyborg, thinking that Raven might need something to distract Beastboy, offered to beat Beastboy in a game of Retro Racers. So, the two Titans begin to play as usual, one of them always taunting the other, allowing Raven to enter Beastboy's mind without any trouble at all.