RR76: Yeay. I end this now. But despair not, yon people! For there be more where this doth cometh from...eth.

Responses:

The Wild Ambition: Yeah, but Carson has to eat somehow.

im in a kill people mood: Calm thyself, there is another chapter soon. And the Chewing Koala belongs to Queen of Azerath.

Queenie: First non emaily review in a while. Your credit is givin above. Yeay.

Fourthelement: Heh, randomness. Yeay. Angel's cool. Actually, the charecter Angel is the inspiration for Carson's personality. Ask Ember what he's like when he loses his soul.

The Wild Ambition: Now THAT ranks high on the scales of evility.

SaintH: No, the White Scarves served no real purpose. Just to demonstrate how powerful Carson is. And there are a couple people who can beat him, as I shalt be showing later in another story. Juuuuuuuuust wait. Thanks for all the reviews.

Thank you to everyone who read. 'Specially fourthelement. She was the first. Now read onwards, yon bakersfield!

Don't own, don't sue, don't flame

"There," said Cyborg, dropping the bullet into a small pan. "I managed to remove the bullet. You got lucky Star; any more damage and..." he let it hang. "You should sit out for a couple days, let it heal on it's own. Maybe you could ask Raven if she could help cover the scar or something."

Starfire touched the bandage and winced as pain shot through her side. "I agree; I doubt I could be much help in this state."

The Titans stood in the infirmiry, patching up their wounds. None of them got off easy; Raven, Beast Boy and Robin had all been thrashed quite thoroughly and Cyborg had been thrown from the roof of Titans' Tower. Carson had come the closest to annihalating the Teen Titans than anybody else, and they'd won on a fluke.

Robin looked at the rest of the team. "Hey guys... mind giving us a moment?" he asked sheepishly. A grin spread across their collective faces as the others went through the door.

Robin turned back to the alien girl, smiling warmly. "How do you feel?" he asked.

Starfire sat up, her legs dangling off the edge of the examining table. "It is most... painful," she said.

Robin sat next to her. "Hey, look on the bright side. At least you still have... what's left of your health."

"That is something I would expect Beast Boy to say," said Starfire, looking at Robin. The Boy Wonder chuckled and looked down. A look of concern crossed Starfire's face. "What is wrong?" she asked.

"It's just..." Robin sighed. "I got careless Star. I should never have trusted Carson right away like that. I don't know, I guess after seeing what he did to that thug in the warehouse... the kind of power he wielded..."

Starfire put a hand on her friend's shouldar. "You made a mistake Robin. You are not perfect, however hard you may strive to be."

"Don't rub it in," he said playfully.

Starfire looked confused. "Rub... what? Those odd markings in the cereal boxes that Beast Boy is so fond of?" (A/N: If they're being too hard on BB, let me know)

Robin hid a smile. "It's an expression Star." He tried to get serious again, to wipe the smile off his face. He couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. Robin got off the table and helped Starfire to her feet, and without saying another word, he walked her back to her room.

Raven stared out at the table in the living room, where Beast Boy sat eating a box of tofu forlornly. She wasn't good at this... but it had to be done. She glided over behind him without making a sound. He didn't notice. For a moment she toyed with the idea of scaring him with some manner of loud noise as he had done so many times before. But she dismissed it as childish, and this was something serious.

"Hey," the shapeshifter said, startling Raven.

"How did you know I was--"

"My ears aren't this big for nothing. C'mon, sit down." He pulled out a chair and Raven sat down. She searched her mind for the right words.

"Listen, Beast Boy... um... I never did thank you. For saving my life up there. And, I wanted to, um... do that. So... thank you."

A sad smile crossed the face of the normally cheerful teen. "It's that hard to say thank you?" he asked.

"Would you just accept the damn thank you so I can go?" asked Raven exasperated. Beast Boy paused, seemingly hurt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like--"

"You're welcome."

"Huh?" she asked.

"I said you're welcome."

"Oh." Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Until Beast Boy broke the silence. "I couldn't just let that happen to a friend."

Raven felt a slight warmth in her cheeks and pulled up her hood to hide it. Beast Boy looked up at her and held out the tasteless brick of soy. "Tofu?"

"And so, apprentice, what have we learned?"

Slade and his apprentice stood in a freight elevator in a massive underground facility. The only light came from a single lightbulb on the ceiling, which swayed slightly back and forth as the elevator spead down the shaft.

"He was... untrustworthy," Terra responded.

"Exactly. Carson made no attempt to gain the trust of his hosts. Thus, no surprise to them when he came out and tried to kill them-- another mistake, I might add. So many better ways to kill them than the one he went with."

The elevator came into the light and Slade stepped to the exposed end of the cabin. "And in the end, Carson was unneccesary. And like all unneccesary things, he had to be gotten rid of. As will the Teen Titans. Not by him, and certainly not by this grand machine." Terra stepped next to her master and gasped. The chamber was impressive, sure, but that wasn't what caught her attention.

Six huge mechanical worms in pairs of three sat curled around the circular chamber, each painted a dull green color. In the center of the chamber was a computor.

"This, apprentice," said Slade, "will be the means by which you will gain the Titans' trust. It isn't ready yet, of course. All in due time."

The elevator reached the end of the shaft. "And so, Terra," he said. "Here endeth the lesson." A mechanical beeping reacher the ears of the two. "Come Terra. It seems we have some... unfinished business."

Master and apprentice stood at the end of the tunnel, awaiting the arrival of their aquaintence. And he didn not disappoint.

"You're punctual, Carson, I'll give you that," said Slade.

"Whatever," the teenage assassin said dismissively. "You'd better be grateful Slade, I went to hell and back to get these codes."

"Is that right?" said Slade in a bored tone. His manner seemed to confuse Carson greatly. "The disk, if you please."

Carson reached into his pocket and produced a disk. "Here you are. Take 'em. Now if you wouldn't mind, I'll be taking my leave of you." He tossed the disk to the crime lord.

Beneathe the mask, Slade smirked. He took the disk between his fore and middle fingers and broke it in two. A look of bewilderment crossed Carson's face. "That wasn't very smart, now was it? You just broke the key to your victor--" he stopped as he put two and two together. His look of bewilderment turned to a mixture of fear and rage. "You set me up," he whispered.

A rock encasement surrounded Carson, trapping him completely. He struggled and cursed at Slade trying to get free, when he saw Slade raising a pistol to the assassin's face.

"You're fired," he said.

BANG!

RR76: Thanks again for reviewing. Look for the sequel in coming weeks. Review please.