Thanks everyone for reviewing!!! Sorry about not putting up the second chapter sooner. I was traveling, and didn't have computer access (arg!). Once again, reviews are welcome. I hope the formatting is fixed, plz tell me if it's still hard to read.
Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven trudged back through the rain. It had gotten lighter, and the pounding drops were replaced with an eerie, misty drizzle. Things seemed even creepier when they arrived at the park gates.
"What happened?" Cyborg stood scratching his head. Raven floated up to one of the gates' pillars and ran a hand over the cold, wet stone. "It looks like nothing happened. It's as though nothing strange were ever here," she said. The four teens gaped at what had moments ago been a deadly forest and broken, ruinous gates. Now it was returned to its original state as though by magic! Starfire frowned, and flew off along the park path.
"Hey, wait up!" Robin called after her. A second later, he and his two friends had caught up with the alien girl.
"Look, look! The mud isn't- isn't- bubbling anymore! It is all normal again! You did not see before, but it was dangerous over here," Starfire spread her hands and swept her arms vaguely over the landscape as though to illustrate what she'd said.
"How could everything just disappear like that? I'm sure it wasn't an illusion..." Robin mused. Cyborg cut in impatiently. "Well, whatever it was, we've got something to go by: the CD player. We can try to track it to whoever got this baby. They'll either be the bad guy or have inside info on the bad guy. But we can't do that here, we need to go to the tower. So let's find BB and get outta here!"
"For once, I agree with you." Raven muttered. "Check the communicator. It'll be faster than yelling like idiots," she added as Cy and Robin started shouting for Beast Boy. Rolling his eyes, Robin flipped out his own communicator and set it to locate. After a second, he gave it a weird look, shook it, and tried again.
"What is wrong? Is it a technical error?" Starfire leaned over Robin's shoulder, letting her flaming hair brush his face. Blushing as red as his friend's hair, Robin held the communicator out for everyone to see. "Look at this!" he tapped the screen in irritation. "It shows Beast Boy being right over there, by the left hand gate pillar. He's nowhere in sight! Let's go check anyways."
The four teens headed over and looked the area over. Beast Boy- or his communicator- was nowhere to be found. Bending down to look at the ground, Raven checked her own communicator. According to it, she was standing right on top of him! She took a step back, a litte disturbed. Also curious, she knelt again and scraped some of the rain-soft dirt to the side, digging a small hole. On an impulse, Raven sent a shaft of black magic drilling down a several feet, stuck her arm into the newly-opened space and felt around.
Almost instantly, she pulled back out again, disgusted with herself for doing something so illogical. What had she expected to find, anyways? There wasn't any magic solution down there. All she'd felt was what could be expected: thick, criss-crossing tree roots, just like any others.
ooooooooooooooo
"WHAT?" Beast Boy shouted and tried again to twist away from his captor, but to no avail. "You're nuts! I'd never betray my friends. Ever!"
"Ah, don't you believe me? Let's put this to the test," the silky, sinister voice said from behind him. "What has happened in the past? Your parents, that's right. You abandoned them as they were drowning. You could have saved them, but no. You are useless."
Beast Boy's eyes widened in shock and pain. "How...how did...you..."
"Oh, I have my sources. I know quite a lot about you and the rest of the Teen Titans. And I know you are as useless to them as you were to your dying parents. You are nothing to them. Dead weight. An extra attachment. Useless."
"Shut up! It's not like I had a choice, I was five when my parents died, I didn't know what to do! And I am NOT useless! Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up..." The green boy bit his lip, trying to control his whirling thoughts. Suddenly, he exploded into tiger form- but halfway through the transformation gave a half-human half-animal cry and shrank back to his normal body. With his arm held twisted behind him, changing to a larger form would wrench his shoulder out of its socket. A low chuckle echoed through the cavern.
"Not so smart... You can't even escape from this simple move. I'm disappointed, I have to say. I suppose I'll have to let you go, since you are apparently incapable of doing anything on your own." The dark figure untwisted Beast Boy's arm slowly, then gave a powerful jerk that threw the boy down on his back. Winded and gasping, Beast Boy rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees, getting a look at his captor for the first time.
"Slade!"
"It took you long enough. You should have been able to guess the first moment you heard my voice. Even for one such as you that was surprisingly slow."
"Cut it out. I'm a Teen Titan, I'm not useless, and I sure as hell am not stupid!" Beast Boy's growling words rose to a crescendo, and he changed into a t-rex and charged Slade, insanely furious and full of boiling anger.
"Tsk tsk. Can't have any animals running loose in here," Slade said calmly, not even moving out of the way. At the last second, he sprang upwards to land on the dinosaur's shoulder. Digging his fingers into the scaly flesh, Slade kicked upwards under Beast Boy's jaw, shoving his foot into his temple. Beast Boy froze, shaking, and shrank back into human form. Slade instantly grabbed the boy's neck, pressing his thumb into the spot where his foot had been. Beast Boy tried to move, but could barely feel his limbs. Black spots swam in front of his eyes and there was a buzzing, swarming sound in his ears.
"This is a pressure point. Useful things, aren't they? Don't try to do anything foolish again. I may have to kill you next time." Slade released Beast Boy, and the skinny boy fell to the ground limply, trying to focus. The buzzing was receding, but still uncomfortably there, and it was still hard to see. He reached up with a trembling hand to feel the spot Slade had been pressing. It was painfully swollen already, and it felt like the swelling was moving down across his neck, check and jaw.
"Okay. Whatever," Beast Boy conceded hoarsely. "What do you want, anyways?"
"Finally you behave. I want information. Information on how to create a cage that no Titan will ever be able to escape."
"And why should I tell you this?"
"Because you are useless to them. Because they do not care about you. Because you can be useful to me. And because you will die if you don't.
Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven trudged back through the rain. It had gotten lighter, and the pounding drops were replaced with an eerie, misty drizzle. Things seemed even creepier when they arrived at the park gates.
"What happened?" Cyborg stood scratching his head. Raven floated up to one of the gates' pillars and ran a hand over the cold, wet stone. "It looks like nothing happened. It's as though nothing strange were ever here," she said. The four teens gaped at what had moments ago been a deadly forest and broken, ruinous gates. Now it was returned to its original state as though by magic! Starfire frowned, and flew off along the park path.
"Hey, wait up!" Robin called after her. A second later, he and his two friends had caught up with the alien girl.
"Look, look! The mud isn't- isn't- bubbling anymore! It is all normal again! You did not see before, but it was dangerous over here," Starfire spread her hands and swept her arms vaguely over the landscape as though to illustrate what she'd said.
"How could everything just disappear like that? I'm sure it wasn't an illusion..." Robin mused. Cyborg cut in impatiently. "Well, whatever it was, we've got something to go by: the CD player. We can try to track it to whoever got this baby. They'll either be the bad guy or have inside info on the bad guy. But we can't do that here, we need to go to the tower. So let's find BB and get outta here!"
"For once, I agree with you." Raven muttered. "Check the communicator. It'll be faster than yelling like idiots," she added as Cy and Robin started shouting for Beast Boy. Rolling his eyes, Robin flipped out his own communicator and set it to locate. After a second, he gave it a weird look, shook it, and tried again.
"What is wrong? Is it a technical error?" Starfire leaned over Robin's shoulder, letting her flaming hair brush his face. Blushing as red as his friend's hair, Robin held the communicator out for everyone to see. "Look at this!" he tapped the screen in irritation. "It shows Beast Boy being right over there, by the left hand gate pillar. He's nowhere in sight! Let's go check anyways."
The four teens headed over and looked the area over. Beast Boy- or his communicator- was nowhere to be found. Bending down to look at the ground, Raven checked her own communicator. According to it, she was standing right on top of him! She took a step back, a litte disturbed. Also curious, she knelt again and scraped some of the rain-soft dirt to the side, digging a small hole. On an impulse, Raven sent a shaft of black magic drilling down a several feet, stuck her arm into the newly-opened space and felt around.
Almost instantly, she pulled back out again, disgusted with herself for doing something so illogical. What had she expected to find, anyways? There wasn't any magic solution down there. All she'd felt was what could be expected: thick, criss-crossing tree roots, just like any others.
ooooooooooooooo
"WHAT?" Beast Boy shouted and tried again to twist away from his captor, but to no avail. "You're nuts! I'd never betray my friends. Ever!"
"Ah, don't you believe me? Let's put this to the test," the silky, sinister voice said from behind him. "What has happened in the past? Your parents, that's right. You abandoned them as they were drowning. You could have saved them, but no. You are useless."
Beast Boy's eyes widened in shock and pain. "How...how did...you..."
"Oh, I have my sources. I know quite a lot about you and the rest of the Teen Titans. And I know you are as useless to them as you were to your dying parents. You are nothing to them. Dead weight. An extra attachment. Useless."
"Shut up! It's not like I had a choice, I was five when my parents died, I didn't know what to do! And I am NOT useless! Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up..." The green boy bit his lip, trying to control his whirling thoughts. Suddenly, he exploded into tiger form- but halfway through the transformation gave a half-human half-animal cry and shrank back to his normal body. With his arm held twisted behind him, changing to a larger form would wrench his shoulder out of its socket. A low chuckle echoed through the cavern.
"Not so smart... You can't even escape from this simple move. I'm disappointed, I have to say. I suppose I'll have to let you go, since you are apparently incapable of doing anything on your own." The dark figure untwisted Beast Boy's arm slowly, then gave a powerful jerk that threw the boy down on his back. Winded and gasping, Beast Boy rolled over and pushed himself to his hands and knees, getting a look at his captor for the first time.
"Slade!"
"It took you long enough. You should have been able to guess the first moment you heard my voice. Even for one such as you that was surprisingly slow."
"Cut it out. I'm a Teen Titan, I'm not useless, and I sure as hell am not stupid!" Beast Boy's growling words rose to a crescendo, and he changed into a t-rex and charged Slade, insanely furious and full of boiling anger.
"Tsk tsk. Can't have any animals running loose in here," Slade said calmly, not even moving out of the way. At the last second, he sprang upwards to land on the dinosaur's shoulder. Digging his fingers into the scaly flesh, Slade kicked upwards under Beast Boy's jaw, shoving his foot into his temple. Beast Boy froze, shaking, and shrank back into human form. Slade instantly grabbed the boy's neck, pressing his thumb into the spot where his foot had been. Beast Boy tried to move, but could barely feel his limbs. Black spots swam in front of his eyes and there was a buzzing, swarming sound in his ears.
"This is a pressure point. Useful things, aren't they? Don't try to do anything foolish again. I may have to kill you next time." Slade released Beast Boy, and the skinny boy fell to the ground limply, trying to focus. The buzzing was receding, but still uncomfortably there, and it was still hard to see. He reached up with a trembling hand to feel the spot Slade had been pressing. It was painfully swollen already, and it felt like the swelling was moving down across his neck, check and jaw.
"Okay. Whatever," Beast Boy conceded hoarsely. "What do you want, anyways?"
"Finally you behave. I want information. Information on how to create a cage that no Titan will ever be able to escape."
"And why should I tell you this?"
"Because you are useless to them. Because they do not care about you. Because you can be useful to me. And because you will die if you don't.