Disclaimer: Teen Titans? Nope. not mine.
Recently, someone accused me of stealing Nightmare from them. and dude, I read your story. the Nightmare I have and the one you have are completly different. their powers are different, their attitudes are different, even their races are different! Mine's human, yours is not. the only thing they seem to have in common is the fact that they share the name Nightmare. Sorry if you thought that I stole him from you, but you should probably read the way I described him, then compare him to your version. BTW, your story kicks ass too.
Chapter 12
Where art thou, Beastboy?
After a long night's rest, the Titans awaken to a new day. Cyborg begins to check on Robin and Starfire, and Raven begins to meditate.
"Robin and Starfire are doing better. My scanners say they'll be awake within the next four hours or so." Cyborg tells Raven.
"Try the next few seconds, Cy." Robin says as he opens his eyes.
"Robin! Good to see that you're ok man." Cyborg says.
"What's been happening? How long was I out of it?" Robin asks.
"About a day and a half. You and Starfire were both hit pretty hard. And...our home...the Tower's gone Robin."
"Gone...? Yeah...I remember now...how did we get out?"
"You remember that Nightmare dude, right? Well, he's been helping us. Before you say anything, eat this and I'll tell you all about it." Cyborg says as he places a bowl of cold cereal in front of Robin. "Sorry, but we don't have any hot food around here."
Robin shovels the cereal hungrily into his mouth, while Cyborg tells him the story.
"Wow. So...where is he now? Nightmare, I mean?" Robin asks, as soon as Cyborg finished the story.
"Uh, I don't know. Come to think of it, I don't know where BB is either. Rae, have you seen BB or Nightmare?"
"No." Came Raven's monotone reply.
I can't even contact him. I haven't been able to repair most of my systems because I don't have any tools out here." Cyborg says, his voice showing his frustration. "Where the hell are they?"
Beastboy makes his way towards Slade and Brother Blood's hideout, changing into a small rat to go unnoticed. Crawling through the streets of Jump City, Beastboy drops himself into the sewer, unaware that he was being followed. Changing into a spider, Beastboy crawls along the sewer walls, stopping every time he heard a noise. Entering a long series of twists and turns, Beastboy finally arrives at the entrance to the hideout of Slade. Walking up to a huge steel door, Beastboy spies the keypad that would open the door.
"Uh...let's see now...the password is...shoot! I don't remember!" Beastboy growls in frustration.
"The password is K2K4D57." Came a voice from behind Beastboy.
Turning quickly, Beastboy sees Nightmare standing behind him, dressed in camouflage pants and a black shirt, still wearing his mask.
"What, no body armor?" Beastboy asks, his voice showing surprise and suspicion.
"I've no need for it any longer. Brother Blood tainted that armor. The mask however, still suits my needs when I sleep. Are you going to put that password in, or shall I?" Nightmare asks.
"I got it, I got it."
Beastboy turns and enters the password into the keypad and steps back as the door slowly opens.
"Why are you here? I don't need your help." Beastboy said to Nightmare.
"I realize that. My helping you is a way of apologizing for what I did to you earlier." Nightmare replied, referring to their first meeting. And besides, Raven did tell you what needs to be done if you expect Terra back to normal, did she not? You will need some help at some point."
Beastboy looks at Nightmare, shrugs and enters through the door. "Whatever dude. Just stay out of my way."
Nightmare hesitates for a second before following Beastboy through the door, worried that the green changeling may be a danger to himself, obsessed with getting Terra back. Quickly catching up, Nightmare walks alongside Beastboy down the long corridor, neither saying a word.
"You really care about her, don't you?" Nightmare asks.
"Terra? Of course I do. I want her to come back as a Titan. She doesn't belong with Slade. The first time it happened...It was heartbreaking. She nearly destroyed us."
"I know what happened. I read the paper. I felt sorry for her. And you too, if you can believe that." Nightmare tells Beastboy.
"Sure you did Nightmare. After what Raven told us about your past..." Beastboy started to say.
"Don't. Don't talk about my past. It's not the right time. And my name is not Nightmare. It's Carcer. Nightmare is a name given to me by my slaver. From now on, call me Carcer."
"Carcer huh? I like that better then Nightmare." Beastboy said with a smile.
Before Nightmare could reply, the corridor started shaking, ceiling tiles started to fall on the two companions, nearly burying them both. Beastboy grabs Carcer and pushes him out of the way of the falling tiles, both of them landing with a hard thud on the ground. The dust settles around the tiles and reveals Jinx standing at the top of the pile staring down at them.
"Well what do we have here? It looks like a couple of problems that need dealing with." Jinx said with a sneer. "And you Nightmare, I see that the Titans have corrupted you. That makes you a threat to Brother Blood and Slade. You both will have to be removed."
Carcer and Beastboy took fighting stances, ready to battle Jinx. Beastboy changes himself into a gorilla and charges Jinx. Carcer leaps after Beastboy, but the wall to the left side seemingly explodes, engulfing Carcer in a pile of debris and dust. Mammoth steps out from the hole in the wall and walks over to the pile covering Carcer. Lifting Carcer up by his now tattered shirt, Mammoth delivers a solid punch to the head, making sure he was unconscious.
Smiling to himself, Mammoth slings Carcer's limp form over his shoulder and walks back through the hole.
Beastboy charges wildly at Jinx, throwing massive gorilla punches that hit nothing but air, or in some cases, wall.
"You don't really think you can hit me with that huge gorilla body, do you? Don't make me laugh." Jinx taunted.
Beastboy changed back to his human form and stared Jinx directly in the eyes.
"I'm not after you. I'm here to get Terra. Move out of my way and I won't hurt you." Beastboy says.
Jinx stands at the top of the rubble again and smiles. Beastboy senses something wrong and quickly turns on his heel to see Gizmo behind him.
"Here you go you snot-eating loser!" Gizmo shouts, launching a swarm of mini-bombs at Beastboy.
Beastboy barely changes into a turtle before all the bombs hit, knocking him out of the turtle form and into a wall, unconscious.
"These losers are so easy to trick. Let's go get some pizza. Mammoth will take care of the green twerp." Gizmo as he walks off, leaving Beastboy slumped up against the wall. Jinx shrugs and follows Gizmo.
Beastboy slowly starts to wake up, disoriented; he tries to get to his feet, but falls back on his butt. Rubbing his aching head, Beastboy opens his eyes and realizes he is in a cage; a collar was around his neck, similar to the one that Soto had put on him a while back. Beastboy makes one more attempt at getting to his feet, and once more falls on his butt.
"Stop trying to get up. You'll hurt yourself, my dear Titan." Came an oddly familiar voice.
Beastboy shakes his head, trying to get rid of the cobwebs that blocked his mind.
"Who is that...?"
"Yes, I realize you must be feeling a little bit light-headed. I'm sure if you think about it, you'll realize who I am." The voice said. Do hurry up and get a hold of yourself, I have something that I want to show you."
Beastboy sits up and reopens his eyes, the figure in front of him slowly coming into focus.
"SLADE!" Beastboy shouts.
"Ah good. You know who I am. Then you also know who this is." Slade says, as he walks over to a control panel and pushes a button. Beastboy watches as a table rises from the floor in front of the cage with someone strapped to it. Beastboy walks up to the end of the cage and looks closer to the person on the table.
"TERRA!"
"That's right my green friend. I thought you'd recognize her. How unfortunate for her, she failed in her last mission. But you, my friend, are just in time for her punishment." Slade said, a sadistic tone to his voice.
Slade walks over to another part of the control panel and turns a knob. Terra's body jumps with the electrical current, her screams echoing throughout the building.
"Stop! Stop it Slade!" Beastboy yelled, trying to transform. The collar around his neck shocked him every time he tried to change, forcing him to his knees.
"What was that? You want me to turn the power up?" Slade said, turning the knob up.
Terra screamed louder, the pain intensifying.
"Please Slade, please stop..." Beastboy begged, tears forming in his eyes.
Slade turned his eye to Beastboy, then back to Terra. Walking away from the control panel, Slade slowly walks up to Terra and puts his masked face right in front of hers.
"Do you hear that, my dear? He wants me to stop. But, that is quite up to you. Have you learned your lesson yet?" Slade asks.
"Y...y...yes...Please Master...turn it off...ugh..." Terra stammered.
Slade steps back and takes his time walking back to the control panel. Once there, he turns the knob all the way off. Terra stops screaming and lies on the table, sobbing silently.
"Remember the pain, Apprentice. Fail me again, and it will be much, much worse." Slade says as he walks out of the room.
Beastboy walks to the side of the cage and looks at Terra.
"Terra? Terra, are you ok?" Beastboy calls out. "Terra please answer me!"
The locks on the straps that held Terra to the table released. Terra slowly sits up, swinging her legs over the side of the table, tears still streaming down her face. She stares at Beastboy, then gets off the table and starts to walk out of the room.
"Terra wait! Don't you remember me? It's Beastboy!"
Terra turns and stares at Beastboy. "You're lucky Master won't let me destroy you yet. You and your stupid friends have put me through a lot of pain. And, just out of curiosity, who was the Titan that died in the tower when I destroyed it? I want to know so when I meet them in hell I can pay them back." Terra said, her face contorted with anger.
"Died? No body died Terra." Replied Beastboy. "Everyone's fine."
"Impossible. Gizmo said there were only four heartbeats within the pile of rubble!" Shouted Terra, her anger rising rapidly.
"Terra! No one is dead! I swear!" Beastboy said, backing slowly away from the edge of the cage.
"TERRA! Report to the planning room immediately!" Came Slade's voice over a nearby loud speaker.
Terra turns away from Beastboy, her rage building with each passing second.
"This isn't over Beastboy. I know you're lying to me, and when I get back, I'll make you talk." Terra called over her shoulder, as she walked out of the room.
Beastboy sat down in his cage, bringing his knees to his chest and putting his head between them. Alone with nobody to talk to, and his friends didn't even know where he was. Beastboy started to sob silently. As he did, one more question passed through his mind.
"Where's Carcer?"