Chapter Nine: The Second Apprentice

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans (duh).

Hi! Nothing to report, kudos for reviewing! I have to say sorry to teentitantruefriend for acting like a paranoid prat. Forgive and forget? I'll try not to make you wait anymore, so here it is!

Lauren's eyes fluttered open, and she glanced down. Everything about her was the same; no one had cut anything off or mutated anything. That was a relief.

Elemental rule #26: If you look okay, you are okay.

She stared at her surroundings. She was in a square room that was white. No, really, EVERYTHING was white. She was the only burst of color. The room was bright, but she couldn't see any lights. It was a cube; a giant, white, cube.

Lauren stood up, and walked around the room. It wasn't the roomiest in the world, but it wasn't tiny ether.

"Hello, Lauren."

Lauren spun around, and met face to face with Slade.

"How… did you get here?" Lauren's voice trembled. She was quivering with fright.

Slade crossed to the other side of the room, and pulled a lever. The sides of the room went up, to reviled a dark, cold, large warehouse. Lauren quivered again. She felt as unwelcome here as she did in the cube.

"So, Slade said, as a machine brought down two chairs, one in which he sat, "tell me about yourself."

"Um," Lauren said quietly, sitting in one of the chairs. That was a bad idea. Metal arms came out of the armrests and strapped her arms there. Another strap came out of the back, and held her body there. Same with the legs of the chair and Laurens legs. Lauren was trapped.

Slade looked at her, "No matter," haw walked over behind the chair, "I'll be able to know all that soon enough."

He strapped lavender metal stubs to her arms and legs.

The effect was immediate. The room in front of her went black, then unnaturally bright, then normal. But she could see every move. She could see dust moving; hear it fall to the ground. Then, it stopped. She was normal.

Then, she passed out.

Wow, Lauren thought, as she felt the cold chair against her cheek, I passed out twice in one day. Impressive.

She opened her eyes. She was stiff; she must have been gone for a while. She was still in her chair, but her outfit was the same as Terra's, but white and lavender. She assumed it had to do with the metal lavender stubs. They had probably morphed her cloths into their present state.

"Apprentice," Slade's voice came out of nowhere, "Come."

(A/N: I know, so pathetic. I have a lot to learn in the coolness department. That's why Icicle is so pathetic. Please give me tips!)

Lauren rose, surprisingly. She didn't mean to rise from the chair. She meant to not do anything, pretend she was still knocked out. But she couldn't help it. She couldn't control her body.

"Apprentice," the voice came again, "go, and kill the Teen Titans."

"But," at least she could control what she said, "they're my friends. I will not hurt them."

"Do as you are commanded!" Slade said, as Lauren's body made it's way to the door. Lauren didn't want to, she didn't want to fight her friends. But, she had no choice.

(A/N: Gee, aren't you shaking with fear? Did I mention, along with cool bad guy making, I suck on scary things too? It's a wonder why you are reading this fic, truly. I can't do any suspense)

Lauren walked to the door, and saw Icicle there. Lauren was surprised, but then she put two and two together. Slade was her master, and they would destroy the titans together.

"Oh, great," Lauren mumbled under her breath. The last thing she needed was Icicle.

It seemed like Icicle felt the same way, "Just because you're working for my master doesn't mean we have to be best friends. I still don't like you."

Lauren nodded, "I think we feel the same about each other. I don't want to do this. I have no choice."

Icicle shook her head, "why, master. Why make me work with this dramatic good girl?" and with that said, they both left.

(A/N: pathetic, pathetic, pathetic…)

The Teen Titans Tower:

"Man," Beast Boy said, "We promised Terra. And we let her down."

"Yeah, we let Terra down," Raven said, "but I think Lauren is the one we should be worried about. Who knows what Icicle, or her master, will do?"

"We should have warned her sooner," Robin said, smacking his fits on the coffee table.

"It's all right, Robin," Starfire said soothingly, "it is not your fault."

"We should have been on alert," Cyborg brought up, "but there is nothing we can do now."

"We have to do something," Raven said, surprising then all with her interest in saving Lauren, "we're her friends. We wouldn't let Terra be taken away if she was in Laurens place. Why should we treat Lauren any different?"

Beast Boy stared at her, "I didn't know you cared about Lauren. I thought you wouldn't like her, because, you know…"

There was silence while Raven stared at him in an unpleasant way, "Yes, Beast Boy, I do know. I know perfectly. That is why I want to save her. Never mind," she said, as Beast Boy put on a confused expression, "you wouldn't understand."

The computer thingy in the corner of the room lit up and started beeping. Robin ran to it, and forgetting their original conversation, everyone else ran to it too.

"Icicle," Robin said in disgust as her profile popped on the screen. "She's heading downtown. Now she's taking a right. Now she's heading… here."

Just as he said those words, Icicle came down from the ceiling, making a giant hole in the roof.

They sprung into action, fighting off Icicle, and Icicle fighting off them. While they were doing that, Lauren flew quietly in. It took a long time, because the whole time she was flying, she was struggling with herself.

She glided down the control panel that controlled the security systems. She was going through the list, looking for one that would destroy the Teen Titans. That was the plan that they hatched outside. Icicle would jump in and keep them busy while Lauren would find a security pattern that would destroy them.

Flood. No, Beast Boy could swallow them.

Friends turning agent them. No, they would join together and fight. Stupid Teen Titans.

Great, Lauren thought, as she herd Slade's voice ringing in her head, he can even control my thoughts, and my mouth. She had been trying to yell at the Titans to tell them what they were doing, but her mouth wouldn't open.

Walls closing in. No, they could just push; Cyborg is too strong for that kind of stuff.

Pancakes. What?

Knockout gas. Yes!

Typing in the code for the knockout gas, she looked at Icicle and nodded.

"Well, my fond enemies," She said, jumping out of the little group and landing on the counter which Lauren was hiding behind, "I got to jet."

She pulled out her disk thingy, but instead of hopping on it, she snapped her fingers. Lauren flew out from behind the counter, knocking the button with her foot. She grabbed Icicle by the shoulders and flew through the hole they made. Icicle threw her disk over they hole, and then stuck it there with her star disks. They flew off to the other side of town, back to the warehouse they had came from.

"What did Lauren do on the control panel?" Robin said, heading over there.

"Man," Cyborg said as he joined Robin, "she set the knocking gas, and put in the code. We can't stop it."

"She's also put in the lock," Robin said, scrolling through the things she did, "We can't get out of this room. She even put the armor around the tower."

"How did she learn all that?" Beast Boy said, slightly amazed.

"Snooping around, I guess," Cyborg said, braking away from the computer, "just like Terra did. It's no use," he said looking at Robin, "there is nothing we can do."

Beast Boy shook his head, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted her."

"No you didn't," Robin slightly scolded, "none of us did."

"How could she do this to us?" Starfire said, her lip slightly quivering, "How could she betray us? After what happened with Terra? How?"

The tower became silent. It did, until the hissing of the knockout gas was heard.

"We can think about that later," Robin said, "this whole room will be filled with knockout gas in less then ten minutes. And we can't hold our breath. The gas takes days to evaporate."

Raven wandered over to the door, stared at it a bit, and then blew it up.

They all stared at her, and then at the door. Then back at her.

"Well," Raven said, leaving the room, "are you coming or getting knocked out?"

They all ran to the door, then to the elevator. They went to the very bottom floor, and all got into the t- sub. After checking everything, they set off.

They got a fair distance away from the tower, and then landed on the same shore as when Lauren did when she first saw the titans. When she stared her journey.

Ha! I'm DONE!

Now, reviews, thanks so much!

Mayura: Thanks. I don't think of myself as a good writer, but thanks for the compliment! I didn't update soon, but I PROMISE, I WILL HAVE THE NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON!

Reggie Tuesday: I didn't think I had a family bond! I don't want to have any Laurenxsomeone relationships or people will get mad. I'm trying to make it neutral!

As for your second comment, sure! Give Icicle some coolness, I am failing miserably. Give her coolness! Give her a good reputation! The fate of the character wrests in your keyboard. (I'm not joking.)

Teentitantruefriend: Thanks! I was a prat (that's a paranoid brat, my own little word!) about the whole Lauren thing. Boo, mean Lauren! She sounds rotten.

I PROMISE I WILL HAVE THE NEXT CHAPTER UP SOON! PROMISE!