Whew. Chapter Fourteen. Finally! I'm afraid the penguins were holding me against their will, thus the slow progress of this chapter.

Anyway, never thought I'd make it this far! Thanks to all my reviewers for keeping me going! Not much to say, except I hope you enjoy this chapter! And no worries, I have all the chapters up to chapter eighteen planned out at this point!

Review when you're through. :)

"Slade! How'd you know we were coming!" Robin roared, trembling from the effort of holding himself back. If he let go of his emotions and attacked, it'd be suicide for all of them.

Phantom writhed in agony on the floor, the light literally burning her skin and sight. She was basically useless at this point. The green bear got down on all fours and sniffed her cautiously, a worried look on his large face.

"I'm fine… Beast Boy." Phantom muttered, trembling as she stood up, fumbling for her sunglasses and slipping them over her eyes.

"Well, Titans and former apprentice. It appears that you are stuck in my trap. But however will you escape?" Slade asked mockingly, his position on a high platform a distance from where the Titans and Phantom were surrounded.

"Starfire." Robin whispered to his teammate.

"What is it?" Starfire responded in a small voice.

"Can you hit him with one of your starbolts? Even if we're destroyed after he is, we would have saved the city and possibly the world from his evil." He responded.

The other Titans sent him looks of dumbfounded ness.

"Robin," Cyborg began, "We're ready for it."

Robin grinned, looking at the faces of his teammates. Each was set in a face of grim confirmation.

"I shall try Robin – " Starfire said, cut off by a chortling Phantom.

"You guys are crazy. You really think that Slade would allow that to happen?" Phantom turned to where Slade stood, "Isn't that right, Slade?"

Even though you couldn't see his mouth, you could almost see his mouth curl into a horrid grin. "Too true Phantom. You know me almost too well. So I have a proposal for all of you: Surrender."

"WHAT! You must be kidding, Slade." Robin yelled, outraged at his arrogance.

TSEEW!

A blast of red light, that of a laser, shot the ground at Robin's feet, causing all the Titans to form a tighter circle, as the robots closed in.

"Robin, I'm ashamed. You should know that I don't kid."

TSEEW! TSEEW!

This time, the lasers came closer, and the robots even nearer.

Suddenly all the Titans felt helpless, a feeling which didn't happen often. And they didn't like it.

"Will you promise not to hurt them?"

"What?" Beast Boy morphed to his former green self, and stared at Phantom.

"If you promise not to hurt them I'll come back to serve as your apprentice; forever and I'll never complain about it ever again!" Phantom called again.

"Phantom you don't have to – "

" – I know what I have to do, Beast Boy." She cut him off, giving him an unreadable look.

"But - "

" – Very well. I… accept your terms Phantom. Please, come this way." Slade said smugly, indicating with a sweep of his arms the path that opened as soldiers stepped back. An open line led to a staircase, which was revealed as another large light flicked on.

"Phantom what're you doing!" Robin yelled, taking a step toward the retreating Phantom before a laser stopped him, a square shot in the chest, which sent him reeling backward until Cyborg caught him.

"Robin, are you all right?" They lowered him to the ground, and Starfire looked over their unconscious leader.

Phantom stopped from her spot on the first step and looked back at them, having heard the laser being shot, and gasped, turning to run to them, when she jerked forward suddenly, as the step moved forward, as part of a moving staircase.

"Slade!" Phantom yelled from her spot that took her steadily toward him. "You promised not to hurt them!"

"True, and I didn't. Robin is just unconscious. Lucky for him." He responded coldly.

The staircase-turned-escalator stopped at the high platform where Slade was, and Phantom hopped off, only to be jerked forward by another moving platform to Slade's side.

Slade curled an arm around Phantom, resting his hand on her shoulder.

She tried not to shudder with disgust.

The Titans looked up at Slade and Phantom, both standing strong, Phantom's face emotionless.

Raven glared at her. It figured. She wasn't strong enough. She was just weak, like all the other pathetic fools that worked under Slade's grasp. Phantom was just another villain now. She didn't resist, didn't fight under Slade's grip. She was pathetic, groveling and weak. Scores would be settled.

"And now, we see what happens when one is too trusting." Slade whispered to Phantom.

She looked up at him suddenly, eyes wide with fear.

The floor on which the Titans stood – and, in Robin's case, lay – glew brightly suddenly.

It crackled with light and electricity as the Titans were disabled with an electric panel. They all screamed before the energy overloaded them and they fell to the ground without another thought.

-...-

"Slade!" I broke free of his grasp, and whirled behind him, gesturing with my arm.

"What did you do to them? You promised! You promised you wouldn't hurt them!" I hissed. Every part of my body was trembling in anger. He would pay.

So I knew.

Slade was in front of me, stealthily and suddenly. He put a hand to my cheek, and said menacingly, "Those who defy me suffer."

From his cheek came an electric shock like that of what the Titans suffered. I was unconscious before I could reply, and fell forward into Slade's open arms.

-...-

"Beast Boy."

"I'm here."

"Raven."

"Here."

"Starfire."

"I am shaken, though quite present."

"Cyborg?"

"I'm here, man."

"Then we're all accounted for."

"Accounted for where? My sensors aren't picking up anything… Man! How did Slade outthink us this time! It's impossible! We were completely spontaneous! He couldn't have got us! Argh!" Cyborg punched the side of the small five x five room he was contained in. There were no windows, no doors. It was impossible to get out. He stared glumly at the dirty, brown walls. It was impossible to tell what they were made of. If his punches couldn't break through here, then there was always…

"Hey!"

"What is it, Cyborg?" Robin asked from his unknown position.

"Someone disabled my sonic cannon! How could they!" It hit him suddenly, "Oh man… That electric blast must have screwed up my circuits… I can't use anything!"

"Relax Cyborg, we're all in the same position. Someone took my utility belt," Robin tried to calm his friend down, "and my punches have no effect on this stupid cell." Robin paced a few more times before sitting down on a barrel placed for some unknown reason.

"I can't call my powers," Raven piqued up again, from where she sat in her brightly lit, whitewashed room. "Something's jamming my brainwaves. I can't think clearly, let alone meditate to use my powers."

"I am in the same position, friends." Starfire floated up and down in her own cell, which was dimly lit like Cyborg's and Robin's. "And I can not break free. My starbolts are simply bouncing off the walls and… well… exploding elsewhere." Starfire rubbed her behind gently.

"Nrgh! Argh!" The dust rocked down from Beast Boy's cell. Again, and again he tackled the walls, determined to break them down and escape.

"Beast Boy! Beast Boy, cut it out!" Robin slammed his fist on the wall on his current right-hand side, where he thought Beast Boy was.

"Can't – ARGH – do – NGRHH – that – Ahh!" Beast Boy stumbled to the floor, and transformed into a green wolf, snarling and angry. It was the biggest animal he could morph into in the small room he was contained in. The biggest animal that was ferocious, that is. He had already tried morphing into a mole and things of that, only to find the floor was made of the same stuff as the walls, so it was useless. There were no open cracks; nothing. He was trapped.

The howl of a wolf ricocheted off the walls of his cell as again and again he rammed the rock-hard walls.

The other Titans were silent, listening to their friend's vain attempts.

Raven was silent, her hood up to shield her eyes from the blinding, open and bare light bulb swinging above her head. 'Beast Boy doesn't understand. It's hopeless. Phantom went back to Slade. Slade is going to take over the city. And now we're all trapped. It's… hopeless…'

Robin listened to the repeated poundings of his friend, and put his face in his hands, 'I've lost to him. I've lost to Slade. And there's nothing I can do about it. We've lost.'

Starfire floated in a small circle in her cell, the same thought echoing over and over in her head, 'What will become of us now?'

Cyborg punched a few keys in his arm, and then slammed it against the nearest wall in anger. 'It's no use. I can't access any of my systems. Who knows how long it's going to be offline… Maybe forever…'

"Arhhh!" Beast Boy flew back from the wall that had apparently not suffered any damage, and breathed heavily, back in his normal form. He lay spread-eagled on the ground, his whole body aching. His right shoulder, his predominant tackling unit, throbbed again and again, each time refreshed with new pain

"I… can't… give up… now…" His chest heaved with the effort to breathe, which incidentally wasn't in his body's favor.

"Beast Boy, you need to stop. You're going to kill yourself." Came Cyborg's call from somewhere nearby.

"I… can't…" The Titan responded.

"And why not! It's hopeless. It's all hopeless. We can't escape. We've lost." Robin spoke.

"And what will become of us now? Who knows what terrible things Slade will do to us and the world…" Starfire murmured, just loud enough for the others to hear.

"We can't use anything that were in. We're stuck." Cyborg said glumly.

"And Phantom certainly seems to have given up hope. So why can't you?" Raven hissed at Beast Boy.

Beast Boy leapt to his feet, and raged, "What are you talking about? Didn't you see her?"

"Yes, I did. And I saw no effort to resist what-so-ever." Raven replied coldly.

"She did that so she wouldn't get us killed!"

"Yeah, that worked well."

"Ngrh… What is your problem? Do you have a problem with trusting her or something? Why the heck would she want to back to Slade! She hated it there! She was HAPPY to get away from him! It was probably the hardest thing in the whole world for her to go back; and to save our lives!"

The others were silent, and all that could be heard was the slow breathing of Beast Boy getting his nerves back. They were trapped, and divided with their own thoughts…

-...-

"Ungh…" I slowly cracked my eyes open to blackness.

"Where… am I?" I tried to lift my limbs from the position they were in only to find they were strapped, and held taut.

"What the – Why can't I move!" I tried to move my head only to find that my neck was strapped down as well, and lifting my head up lead to a shortness of breath. I think I was in a chair of some sort, you know, like the kinds they have in dentists' offices.

"Because, dear Phantom, I can't have you running off on me." Slade stepped to the side of 'my' chair as a bright light flicked on.

I hissed, realizing I had yet again lost my sunglasses, leaving my eyes open to the lucid beam of light coming down.

"What is it with you and large, bright, blinding lights?" I asked sarcastically, despite the pending fact that my life was on the line. Which it probably was, as I considered later.

"Clever Phantom. But your sharp tongue won't get you out on this, I hope realize." Slade towered over me, a monster inspecting his prey.

Incidentally, he also blocked the light blinding me, so I slowly cracked my eyelids open again.

"So, seriously, 'Oh dear Master,' why am I here?" I hissed, my ears against the back of my head.

"Simple, really. If you recall you escaped my grasp numerous times, and you have become quite rebellious." Slade stepped away for a moment, causing me to shut my eyes from the dancing black dots that exploded in front of them. He took, slow, leisurely steps around my holding device.

"Yeah, so?" I asked dryly.

"So I need to get a hold of you somehow. 'But how'? I had wondered. 'Simple.' I had responded to myself. Since your memories were causing you to rethink most of my commands, I simply must get rid of them."

"What!" I instinctively tried to twitch my tail, only to find that it was stuck underneath me.

"You're kidding me. You can't do that. No one can. No one can get rid of memories. You're insane. You've finally cracked." I glared at Slade, who had stopped at my side again, staring at me coldly with his one eye.

"Maybe I am. But I have found a way."

Footsteps approached from the abyss of darkness surrounding Slade and I on this island of light. I craned my neck, sacrificing my breathing time trying to see what was coming.

A mechanized robot of Slade, a clone in every way came into the ring of light from the lights above Slade and I. He held his arms out in front of him, holding a platter full of… stuff. I'm not sure what it held because as soon as it came into view, Slade pushed me down on my back.

He held his hand overtop my throat slightly, the pressure a little tense. I glared at the only thing I could see; Slade's horrid face outlined in light above me. I'll never forget that sight, nor what was to come.

"What're you doing? Gachk!" I coughed, as Slade's hand pushed down a little harder, causing me to concentrate more for breath.

I became desperate, thrashing this way and that, only to find it useless. I was strapped down, with no means of escape. I tried accessing my powers, only to receive a light electric shock instead. I was trapped like a rat, which was unusual for me. I didn't like it.

"Let me… ah… GO!" I yelled, and gasped for breath as it came harder and harder to me.

"Sorry, Phantom. I have plans for you yet, whether you like it or not. Don't worry, no pesky memories of anything of your past life will be remembered after I'm through." Slade's voice stayed even and calm, as I noticed his other hand now held a deadly looking needle, its insides filled with a nauseous-looking green substance. He held it high over his head, and I screamed before he injected it inside me. I couldn't help it, I was so scared.

'Oh God, no. Please, no! I can't let this happen! I can't forget Mom! Or Dad! Or Lily!' I closed my eyes, trembling with fear.

'Or the Titans…' Each face passed before me, as I knew I was doing something that I would never forget. …No, I would. My scream grew louder as – ever so slowly, the needle came toward my temple.

'Beast Boy…' My eyes shot open as the needle entered my head and I knew no more.