Pieces of the Puzzle

Alexnandru Van Gordon

Alex: Hazzah! It's my fortieth chapter, ladies and gentlemen, and book three will be coming to an end. Don't worry though. I'm setting up the ending to give you some relief if you don't want to read on. I get bashed a lot because of leaving people on cliffhangers.

Victor: Not to mention you leave us with relief when you get rid of Slade—and then he pops back up again!

Alex: Sorry, but Slade is the villain of this series. I can't think of anyone better.

Victor: He isn't the only villain on the show, you know.

Alex: I know…-.- But the last time I had other villains, Red-X bashed me in the side of the head, Mad Mob tried to cut me in half with a chainsaw, HW put a gun to my head, and someone dragged me of into the dark shadows of my basement (Shivers.).

Victor: Ummm, I think that last one was Slade.

Alex: I know…but it was still creepy.

Victor: Oh, for goodness sake! Get on with the story!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, and Victor is a nit-wit—

(Smack!)

Alex: Owe…

Victor: I'm sitting right next to you, stupid!

Alex: If I'm so stupid, why am I writing while you just sit here vegetating?

Victor: (Glaring.) Why you little…

Alex: EEK! O.O! Onward—

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Brave beast

He had lost count of how many times he had been knocked out and returned groggily back to consciousness. It wasn't the funest of things but he was starting to wonder if it would continue. The last thing he remembered was Slade taking him…somewhere…

"You are awake!" Starfire chirped loudly in h is left ear as he sat up. She knelt beside him and captured him in a hug—suffocating him until she remembered her own strength. Sitting back, she was bubblier then he had ever seen her before. "This is so wondrous!" She continued in her joy. "Now all we need is for Beast Boy to return to us and then we shall take down Slade!"

Beast Boy?...Where was Beast Boy—and where was Slade? Why were they be an underground waterway and why was—

"HW!" He exclaimed, just now recognizing the charred body. Her head was turned far to the right, her long black hair covering her face. One gray eye escaped through the strands of hair and stared blankly at him in silent peace.

She was dead…and so was her cousin, Jason.

"How did she…"

"Either homicide or suicide." Cyborg sighed, scratching the back of his metallic head. "All we know is that she shot her cousin between the eyes. Slade could have killed her and that would explain the broken neck, but then why is she fried? HW's the only one with electrical powers…"

"And Beast Boy and Slade?"

Raven stepped forward, Robin noticing Batman standing with Kori and Red-X by the bodies. "They're coming down the waterway." She explained. "They should be here any moment and that's why we have to be prepared. We can't leave Beast Boy to deal with him on his own."

"And if Beast Boy stops him before he gets here?"

All eyes turned on him—even Batman's.

"I mean, it's not like he's weak. He's just…a little disorganized. You guys should really give him more credit."

They should have. What—did they honestly believe Beast Boy made it on the team with sheer luck?

-BB-

He was sore all over, bones aching and muscles burning to no end. It was like hell, but something kept him going…adrenaline most likely. Now he knew how Robin felt when he was tiring in battle, relying on the numbing buzz that kept you going no matter how hard your body protested against it. He didn't want to stand but his body was automatic and gave him the strength to duck aside Slade's next swing. Being a tiger proved too risky on the boat (seeing that he was almost thrown overboard how many times?) and so he was in his humanoid state until he saw an opening and would transform into different animals to attack.

Swinging a second time, Beast Boy morphed into a large anaconda as the bo-staff came into contact with him, wrapping around it and crushing the hard metal with his strength. It was then dropped by Slade would took a new fighting stance, preparing to fight with his hands and feet.

"Well, it looks like you're not the weakest link after all." Slade mocked, boy and man circling each other slowly. "You don't fight half that bad."

"I have good reasons." Beast Boy spat, his voice strained with fury. "You killed Terra. You pestered Robin and then you went after Terra—if it wasn't for you, she wouldn't be locked in stone!"

Slade laughed…what a frightening sound… "Locked in stone? What a funny way to put that someone is dead…"

Beast Boy didn't need to say anything more. He lunged at Slade as a ram and bowed his head to knock him off the back of the boat. The man grabbed the front of his horns and braced his feet as they began a war of strength, each almost slipping on the pool of blood at their feet. Some of it was there before Beast Boy came and the rest was from Beast Boy, having been cut across his chest arms and legs when Slade swung too hard. Beast Boy honestly didn't know how Robin could fight this guy. Saying that Robin was alike his enemy was almost as big as calling him Hercules.

Beast Boy finally failed in his attack when Slade sidestepped and used BB's weight against him. The changeling went soaring toward the back of the boat as his transformed back to his normal self in mid-air and was caught in the stomach by the railing. He was almost flipped over into the water if he hadn't gained his balance again.

Slade hit him hard in the back of his head and he almost lost consciousness. Dizzy, his eyes suddenly grew wide when Slade grabbed his right ankle and flipped him over the railing toward the water. But he didn't fall in. Instead, Slade held him right above the motor, his head only inches away.

He could hear voices—down the waterway, he could hear the other Titans calling him. It wouldn't be long…but…he really didn't have much time.

Slade, noticing his friends as well, lowered him further. "This is it, brave beast, the end. Your battle was entertaining and now I bid you farewell."

"NO!" He heard Raven shout before Slade released his ankle. He fell face first toward the spinning blades, closing his eyes tight as he prepared for the painful impact…

-R-

"NO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as the boat came into view. The waterway was wide and Slade was a couple hundred feet away from the shore, parallel, before Beast Boy came into view at the back of the boat. Panic-stricken, Raven acted upon instinct.

Extending her arms, black magic enfolded her arms and caught Beast Boy around the ankle Slade let go of. She waited until the boat was a few seconds ahead of the boy before releasing him and dropping him into the water.

"Oh lord." Cyborg gasped, taking deep breathes when he saw what Raven did. "Thank God you're on the team, woman."

Secretly, behind the apathetic face, she smiled.

Robin, to her left, stood and brushed his thighs off before taking something from his belt.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she recognized the item—a grappling hook on a jumpcord (Alex: YEAH! I found out his weapon is actually called a jumpcord! Hazzah! Hazzah!). This he aimed toward the boat. "You're not going back to him…are you?"

Then she noticed the Batman had his jumpcord out also.

"Nope." Boy Wonder answered with a mischievous grin. "We're reeling him in."

"Should have known…" Grinning briefly to herself, she activated her powers to circle around the motor, slowly stopping it as she strained. The two sets of jumpcords shot out at the boat and connected with the side railing, reeling Slade in as the two men backed away and rolled up the cords. It was working…

-R-

Apparently, Slade didn't mind being reeled in because he just stood their ad watched as they towed him in. nearing the shore, he finally jumped out and started toward the group of heroes as if nothing they could do would matter anymore.

"Trying to win, I see." The villain said as arrogant as ever. "What a pity. I was having so much fun…"

Hands behind his back until now, he pulled out one of his smoke bombs and tossed it toward the shore. Immediately it erupted into a cloud of a gray haze and blinded many of the members as they squinted and tried to find the criminal. Robin ended up finding him in the end, and it was when a fist met his jaw and knocked him back onto the sand.

"You're a great deal of trouble to keep a hold on." Slade hissed as he leaned over Robin and covered his mouth with a hand. He pressed Robin's head down into the sand as he tried to call for help. Still slightly weak from the chloroform. "What a day this has been because of your persisting defiance and your pathetic friends."

They weren't so pathetic.

Robin frowned behind his mask and pulled his right leg up into his chest. Thrusting it forward, he caught Slade in the chest and knocked him back…which came as a surprise to Robin. He was weak and five times as light as Slade. How could he have done that?

Then he noticed the blood. There was a deep gouge that cut from just below Slade's left shoulder down to his right hip. It was bleeding immensely and there was no doubt that the villain was becoming light headed. He even did so much as fell to his right knee in an attempt to stay awake, probably receiving the wound from Beast Boy…

Slade was…losing…

Robin stood and brushed the sand off himself as he walked up to the villain and stared down at him in disbelief. His mouth was slightly opened in shock and his eyes were a little wider…It was odd switching positions with this…man.

"What now, Robin?" Slade said calmly, his voice still the same expect for the strain Robin could hear. "Kill me…"

"No…" Robin said softly, frowning sadly. "I even have to admit that killing you last time was a mistake. No one deserves to die…not even you…"

This came as a surprise to Slade as he narrowed his one in confusion. "This is new…" he said. "Or is it…What of me now if I can't even stand and fight a young boy."

Robin shook his head with a sigh. "Prison, Slade. But not Arkham—Jump City will do you good, and we have a lot of psychiatrists here thanks to all the whackos we look up. You're not as crazy…bit I think some therapy will do you good."

Slade began to laugh, the smoke dying around them. "After all I've done to you, prison is your only answer. Be a man, Robin—or have you lost the guts to kill."

"You've trapped me numerous times, you hurt my friends, you destroyed Terra, you meddled with time, you almost destroyed Gotham…and the one time I do a crime, I feel so sick I can barely live with myself. Killing you was the worst mistake I ever made, and I will never stop regretting it…"

"Then…perhaps you are not such a boy after all."

-break-

It was…hard. It was hard to stay trapped in bed for three days and it was even harder to see HW's family come to collect the bodies. Kori, surprisingly not crying her eyes out, and that was the thing that surprised them most.

"But…Grayson is dead." Robin stated once they had all settled in to Wayne Manor, waiting for the next opened set of seats on a plane to Jump City. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"No." She shook her head, and led them to the batcave where the three bodies were stored in a cold room Batman had…because?...

"Look." She said, opening the top of his coffin and pointing to his body. "He is not rotting."

True…unlike the other two, Grayson had gone under any changes at all.

"I'll be damned." Beast Boy said, tempted to poke at the body but keeping at bay. "What does this mean?"

Kori smiled. "Technology is wonderful in the future thanks to Mr. Wayne. Both Nightwing and I were injected with a special chemical that preserves our bodies if we were to ever die. I can wake him when we return to our time."

All eyes turned to Bruce who, now in his civilian clothes, shrugged. "I haven't found anything of the sort yet, but I believe it's possible."

And that settled the guilt for Grayson. Kori returned to her time with the body just a day later, but not before Starfire had a good long chat with her in Tamarainian (sp?). It was like trying to under Russian, they yelled so loud. They were asked to talk with one another outside so none of the others would go deaf…

After she left, a day later HW's parents arrived along with her two younger brothers—the twins, Kyle and Vincent. Short blond hair. Deep blue eyes, Starfire went al giggly over the two cute boys. They were thirteen and looked to be identical, both at a good height, slim and honor students. But there was a noticeable difference between the two. Kyle, the older of the two, had a mischievous look to him and he kept dragging his brother into trouble. He spoke while the sweet natured Vincent stood behind his brother in silence.

"Sorry about your sister." Beast Boy said to them as the Titans gathered around the boys in the main entrance. Bruce was in the living room with Flash, the Green Lantern, and the parents, trying to explain everything to them after the whole ordeal with Slade.

Kyle frowned. "She was insane anyway. We would have locked her up in an asylum anyway if she hadn't decided to put her powers to use."

"And do you dudes have powers?"

Kyle elbowed his shy brother gently. "We found out recently—but yeah. Vinny here has HW's powers, but weaker, and we can both…"

There was a long pause, Raven crossing her arms. "You can both what?"

Then they were gone. Both boys fell throw the stairs and left nothing—not even a hole. This stunned them slightly—and shocked them when they heard a woman shout out in surprise in the living room. Standing in the doorway, the Titans peered inside.

"You two boys are horrible." Their mother sighed with a shake of her head. Pointing to the main entrance, she frowned at her children. "Kyle, quit dragging your brother into trouble with you. You're almost thirteen for goodness sake."

The boys obeyed, Kyle snickering as they left the room, and the Titans eavesdropped a little longer as they noticed Flash and the Green Lantern grinning at Bruce.

"What?" The businessman asked in her serious voice, trying to scare them out of staring, but the grins remained.

Flash laughed. "Looks like you have another bunch of kids to train, seeing that you do such a good job at it."

"Oh no." The mother quickly interrupted. "Maybe Vincent, but never Kyle. Kyle would have all hell break loose."

In the end, HW, Jacob, Kyle and his parents left the next day to bury the kids in Canada and move on with their life. Despite his annoyance at becoming the next 'Academy' Headmaster, he talked to Vincent and the boy stayed. Not only him, but Red-X…who was somewhere…was also staying to help train the boy. Then they would ship Vincent off to Steel City with the Titans East and test him to see if he was worthy of being a hero.

As for Slade…

He was kept in Arkham until he was traded over to the Jump City Asylum where the Titans could keep a track on him. The mask was removed…but by himself and in the darkness of his private cell. He was locked in with the highest security and, staying in the dark all the time with his lights constantly off, not many doctors dropped by to 'help' him. No one, despite having his mask off, ever saw his face besides Robin—and vise versa. Upon request by the Asylum, Robin came to visit the not so mad madman every Friday, being the only person Slade would talk to. No masks were worn when they spoke to each other in Slade's cell, and no cameras were permitted to ever record their meetings.

Everything was hush-hush.

"They can't keep me here forever, Robin."

"I know." He sighed.

"I will escape."

"I know." He repeated. "And I'll be waiting for you when you do."

And he did.

-A-

Well, that's the end of Pieces of the Puzzle. I know it was short, but I was lost for ideas. I do have a plan for a book four—but you guys have to give me time. I had so many blackmails for so many different people, it wasn't even funny. You guys are so dangerous…shiver…

Well…I guess this is goodbye for now (unless you read one of my other stories), but all's well that ends well—and I put Slade in prison! Hazzah! Unfortunately, you can't keep an immortal locked up forever…Even if it takes a hundred years, you just know Slade is going to escape. Not unless someone finds a way to keep him dead…Hmmm…I'm dry out of ideas on the killing part…

But what did you think of Beast Boy being the one to end Slade? He's my second favorite character and I know he needed revenge for Terra. Poor guy…always getting picked on. I don't think people give him enough credit.

Now that that's done I can relax again. I have to update on Impromptu, but I'll get that done eventually—oh! And DLSKY! I kept my half of the bargain! Now you have to submit your next chapter today or I'll never make another deal with you again! I updated, now you have to show the readers your wonderful story. It's another Robin and Slade one people, so you have to read it—I mean it! I sort of had the same idea for the next book, but it's not the main purpose in my next story. It's a small side note…if you understand anything of what I am saying. It's called Cat and Mouse, or…something like that…and it is a grade A story! It is a must read! So read it! She's an awesome writer!

Wahoo! I'm alive this Sunday morning! I'll talk to you jazzy people later!

Until next time,

Alexnandru Van Gordon

(Bows to the loyal readers.)