Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.

Coyote – Chapter 18

Dawn was long gone when Karen pulled up to the main house. Old Bill leaped out of the cab as she opened the door. He made a beeline for the figure slumped in the porch swing. The mutt snarled at him as the man jumped up, suddenly awake.

"Beast Boy?" she called out to him.

He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he growled back at the canine in front of him, giving the dog time to catch his scent. Old Bill plopped down in front of him and half-whined, half-barked a question at Karen.

"S'okay, Bill, we know him. Not too many little green men running around in the desert, these days. You must be Raven's...friend."

Gar wiped the sleep from his eyes. "Where's Raven? Where's Charlie?"

"You get right to the point, don't you? They went camping while I went to see my folks last night. They went down to the cave you guys found—"

"Can you give me directions?" The frustration leaked through his words. "It's urgent."

"Urgent? You're not just here to—"

"I think she's in danger."

"Danger? And nobody else to keep an eye on Charlie? Well, honey, driving you there would be faster than telling you, the road is so windy." She pointed to the truck and stripped off her jacket. "Get in."

(break)(break)

Karen stared at her passenger. She had just described Charlie's army days to him, but he had just provided a very strange alternate ending to them.

"Darlin'," she replied with an incredulous look in her eyes, "you've got to be kidding me! I love my husband, but if there's one thing I know about him, is that he's an eccentric academic who gets lost in his own study without me there to hold his hand. He can't organize his way out of a phone booth, let alone run an underground mercenary operation."

"But he was in Psy-ops in the army, you said. Couldn't he just be foolin'—"

"Sweetie, let me tell you something." She took a long drag from her cigarette and tapped the ashes out the window. "We got married before he went into the army. You wanna know why they stuck him in Psychological Operations? Because he couldn't make it in the infantry. I'm a better shot than he is. He can't hit the broad side of a canyon wall with an RPG! Him, a sniper? Don't make me laugh."

She shifted gears and squinted at the dusty road ahead. She noticed his eyes following her cigarette as she enjoyed another pull on it. "Sorry, sweetie. I only smoke when I'm nervous. You smoke?"

"Only when I'm on fire."

She chuckled. "So, tell me more about this Black Rose fella. Charlie's helped some in the investigation, but he won't tell me the more dangerous details. Could we be up against something serious when we get there?"

"She...Raven told me he was an empath. Like Charlie. But that he seems to enjoy fear—like he eats it—"

She shook her head with vigor. "Well, then I know that's not my Charlie."

"How?"

"He's not real fond of bein' around someone who's scared. Leaves a bad taste in his mouth, so to speak. He really likes...well...um..." She gave him a conspiratorial wink. "If you ever get laid by an empath, you'll know what I mean."

"I—I wouldn't know. But I can...guess." Now that's a mental image I just didn't need.

"Goo -ood," she chuckled. "That's good to know. But I don't know what else to tell you to convince you that Charlie's not your man. The man's a teddy bear, but, bless his heart, he doesn't know the business end of a thirty-ought-six from a hole in his head. He wouldn't know what to do with proper ordinance if it jumped up and bit him in the ass. Just please, when we get there, do me a favor and don't fly off the handle. Let me talk to him. She'll be there, and she'll be okay, I'm sure. Charlie may be a bit flighty sometimes, but he's very protective of his cousin."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

They drove in silence for a while, the desert boiling in dust behind the truck. Gar fidgeted in his seat, fingering the release on his seat belt. He inspected the dragon tattoo that wound itself around her left arm. It seemed to twist and move with her as her hand turned the steering wheel. Then he glanced out the window, watching the shadows of sky bound birds flit along the ground. This is taking too long.

"So, why does it take so freaking long to get to this place?" he barked.

She pointed to the distant canyon rim opposite them. "Because it's on that side of the canyon. If we had a bridge right here, we'd be there in ten minutes. As it is, we have to take the scenic route."

He narrowed his eyes. "Would you like to take the really scenic route?"

"Whaddya have in mind?"

"You know what I can do?"

"I assume they don't call you Beast Boy for nothin'."

"Stop the car. I'll get us there."

(break)(break)

Robin settled into the chair in his forensics lab. In his hand was the faxed report from Dr. Sommers at S.T.A.R. labs. The analysis on Compound 27 was complete. Maybe I can get a head start on it before Cyborg sees it...

Tim's eyes widened as he read the report again. And again.

This chemical signature looks familiar. Where have I seen it before? Somewhere in the computer files, looking at old dossiers...

The image of a disk filled his mind.

Jericho?

Rotating his chair to the terminal again, he pulled up the Jericho files. He requested the cellular scan analysis that he had retrieved from tape storage. He compared the screen to the purloined readout.

Oh, great.

He punched a button on the intercom. "Cyborg?"

"Yeah, Robin. I'm down in the garage. Whaddya need?"

"Um, do you know of any possible connections between Dr. Thunder Horse and the Terminator?"

"The who and the what?"

"Just come up to my lab, would you? You're not going to believe this."

(break)(break)

Beast Boy dropped to one knee away from the truck. Think big, big and flying. The old pterodactyl standby is too small for this. He reached into his mind, calling up the thought that would best carry the vehicle across the yawning desert floor below. I'm coming, Raven. But instead of a knight in shining armor this time, you're getting...

His head dipped low to the ground. His spine shivered as his internal temperature regulation shifted from hot to cold-blooded. His eyes stung as they molded themselves into a more reptilian shape. His mass expanded and his bones melted and reknit, and his skin cells rewrote their DNA sequences to form scales. All of this happened with the speed of a blip on a radar. And where an anxious young man had been kneeling, there was now an emerald green dragon, complete with leathered wings and grasping taloned feet.

"Roll up your window, Karen. It's about to get dusty around here."

The wings swept his new bulk off the ground. He flapped them lightly in the column of sand and dust rolling around him, and he grasped the lower rim of the vehicle's frame. The great lizard-Gar soared into the sky, making a straight line for the distant rock walls and hoping that he was wrong for once.

(break)(break)

They found the Jeep at the campsite above the cave and next to a bewildered archaeologist staring into empty hands.

Karen turned to Beast Boy. 'Why don't you let me—"

But his seat was empty. A green hawk swooped over the truck and aimed itself for the stupefied scientist.

"Where is she?" the hawk shrieked from the air above him. "Is she here?"

"She's gone. I left her in the cave. Just for a little while."

A jade mountain lion pinned him to the door of the Jeep. "Gone? You son of a bitch," he growled. "What did you do? I know who you are. Give her back." His teeth flashed in the hot sun as he pulled back feline lips. "Is she's dead, so help me—"

"She's not dead. She's missing. Back off and we'll—"

"Liar!" Sharp claws slashed at the air in front of him. "You're the one that's been chasing her all along!"

"Beast Boy, I don't know — back off!" The empath's right hand slipped between the muscular forelegs and pushed against the massive furry chest. A surge of energy rushed through that hand, and paralysis bloomed inside Beast Boy's mind for the barest flash of a moment.

In that heartbeat, Charlie slithered out of his grasp and backed away from the vehicle, never taking his eyes off the raging beast that stalked him. Beast Boy shook his head to clear the temporary motionlessness.

"I thought you weren't powerful—"

"Never tell people everything you can do, Mr. Logan." Charlie warned. He braced his hands in a warding gesture in front of him.

"You won't do that again," Gar snarled back. He reformed into a grizzly bear and lumbered towards Charlie.

"I don't intend to let you that close. Now just let me—"

"The only thing I want from you is her location!"

He began ripping into the campsite, tearing the tents out of the ground and rolling the debris at Charlie to throw him off balance. Red tinged the edges of Garfield's vision as he felt the animal part of his brain take complete control. The frantic search for Raven had become a frenzied hunt for a lost mate.

Charlie continued to back away, turning as he did to avoid the high ledge close by. The fury in the green one was boiling by now, and Charlie warded the distant beast away as if he were fending off a vicious assault.

Charlie's breath came in ragged spurts "I'm afraid, too, Mr. Logan. My cousin is gone. Let's find her. Together."

Bear melted into wolf and closed the distance between them with the speed of a shooting star. A leap and a snarl and the wolf rolled Charlie onto his front, pinning his arms underneath him. Four paws pressed down on his back, and iron jaws snapped inches above his bare neck. The wolf did not speak. Hackles high, he was all fur and bone and muscle and teeth.

Charlie grunted. "If you hurt me," he panted, "we'll never find her." Each labored breath pumped its way out from under Beast Boy's weight. A deep rolling growl was his only reply.

The older man twisted his shoulders, rocking back and forth, throwing the beast off balance.

"Enough!" Karen screamed in the background. "Both of you, stop this crazy shit right now!"

But her words were lost in the snapping and snarling. Charlie managed to roll over and hook his arms around his attacker, throwing him down. But the grounded wolf took to the sky as an eagle, swooping back and forth at the standing Charlie.

The empath's hands beat at the grasping talons. "I know you won't hurt me," he gasped. "Or you would have already." Seeing that anger had completely unbalanced his opponent, he swiftly turned the bird in midair by the leg and tossed it to the ground.

A cloud of dust enveloped the two men as a rattlesnake coiled to strike.

(break)(break)

Cyborg's jaw nearly collided with the floor.

"You're telling me that the joy juice he's been pumpin' into our girl is the same serum that made Slade Wilson the Terminator?"

"I'm saying it's a derivative of the same formula. But close enough to make me wonder."

Cyborg's legs gave out as he tried to sit down. The loud clang caused by his collision with the floor reverberated throughout the room and forced Robin to cover his ears. He didn't bother to get up.

Superboy leaned into the room from the hallway. "So, what did that serum do to Slade, anyway?"

Robin cocked an eyebrow at him. "And how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough."

"Stimulated his adrenal glands. Gave him superhuman strength and speed –"

"That explains a lot," Superboy chuckled softly.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn. Oh, damn!"

"Um, Cyborg, can you say something useful?"

"We're screwed. How's that for useful?" He pushed his thumb against the bridge of his nose. "We are so screwed. Damn."

Superboy snorted. "Tim, it must be pretty bad. He never talks like that."

Cyborg grabbed the sides of his head and shook it. "Raven the Terminator? Somebody wake me up. Real life can't be this bad."

"And what's wrong with that?" Superboy replied. "She'd kick some serious—"

"There's more to it than that," Robin said.

"Yeah, but that sicko Brother Blood would think twice before messing with her again, I tell you what."

"It does explain why she's been more aggressive lately," Robin said. "The original serum stimulates adrenaline, right? She must have had it pouring through her when she pushed you down, Con. My question is, how did Charlie get the formula in the first place? Even though that serum made Wilson the Terminator, it doesn't mean Wilson is in possession of the actual formula, does it? I doubt Slade would just sell it and give up his edge over his competition."

(break)(break)

"Stop this!" Karen shouted at the rolling dustball.

There was no answer except the snarling of the two combatants.

"Men," she swore under her breath. She reached into the truck and snatched the AR-15 from its rack. Threading her wrist through the strap, she pulled back the charging handle and released it before she turned off the safety.

I hate doing this, she thought as she braced the stock against her shoulder and raised the barrel to the sky. Not safe. But I don't need to get between them, either.

Boom!

Muzzle flash escaped the end of the barrel as its report shocked the two men to attention. The smoking brass cartridge clattered on the ground, and the thunder of the rifle echoed down the canyon.

The two men stared at the petite honey-blonde woman that was glaring at them. They froze: Gar grasping Charlie's jacket in razor-sharp raptor teeth and Charlie poised to punch his vulnerable throat.

"While you two assholes are beating the ever-lovin' shit out of each other, our girl is missing. Now, quit your bickering, get your butts in the trucks, and let's go get a search party together. No one's seen her for at least two hours. She could be anywhere by now."

Beast Boy released Charlie and resumed his human form. Charlie backed off, a sheepish grin creeping across his face.

"Now!" she bellowed. "Or I'll kick both your asses to Santa Fe and back." She reset the safety on the rifle as she pointed the barrel at the ground.

Charlie whispered to Gar, "And she can do it, too."

She stormed up to Charlie and held the rifle out to him. He stepped back from the firearm as if it were a snake coiled to strike him.

She turned to Garfield. "Ok, farmboy, are you satisfied? He won't even touch a Bushmaster. How the hell could you think this man was a mercenary? I told you he was the wrong fella." She stabbed Charlie with an angry glance. "Why'd you leave her out here alone? What if she got sick again?"

(break)(break)

"Okay, now that I've pulled myself together," Cyborg replied, "let's think about this. Could they have gotten it from the same source? And does Charlie know what he really has? And why would he want to—"

He paused, allowing his internal computers to access his audio files of really important conversations. He replayed Raven's debriefing after the hyperbaric chamber incident.

He told me he wanted to make me like him. And that I had heard his name before. He did not tell me his name. But I did not recognize the voice, either. And I could not read his signature while I was drugged.

Vic replied, "The BRU leader is a merc, a lot like the Terminator, if not as powerful."

"We haven't fought him, Vic. Not directly. We don't know how strong he is."

"Good point, Robin." He thought a moment more. "Damn. This gets worse, doesn't it? Beast Boy may have been right. Charlie. Damn."

"But Charlie was with us when they were attacked way back at Twilight Canyon!"

"Yeah, Superboy, but they could've been working for him at the time. He might not have been seen with those guys, but they could have been with him. Damn. And I handed her over to him!" He balled his hand into a steel fist. "She trusted me, and I sent her right into the lion's den. And she was helpless. Damn."

"You haven't called to check on her?"

"I promised Charlie radio silence unless there was an emergency. He promised to keep her away from the phone unless it was an emergency. Let me beep her." He shook his head as he punched at buttons on the console. "The kid really needed a break. She just never gets one, does she?"

Cyborg stared at the console for a moment.

"Well?" Superboy asked.

"She's not picking up. Hold on. Gonna go check somethin'."

He jogged out of the room and headed for the elevators. He returned, some minutes later, with a heavy, slow footstep. He was holding a softly beeping communicator. Worry and anger was etched across his one brown eye. "I found this stashed under one of the pillows in the infirmary."

Robin returned his look. "What do we do now?"

"We get her back. We can start at his house – maybe he thinks we haven't figured it out yet."

"Well, Beast Boy is out there wandering around in the desert looking for her. Do you think you can tell him where Charlie's place is now? He might beat us there."

"And beat the hell out of me, too." Cyborg punched in the call code for Beast Boy. "C'mon, greenie, pick up," he whispered into his arm.

"No answer there either?"

"None, Connor. Must've turned it off."

"He's probably still pissed at you, Vic."

"Yeah, I know. Damn." He picked up the phone and dialed the number stored in his internal address book. The phone rang twenty times before he gave up. "No answer at Charlie's." He tried another number. "No answer on his cell, either. Damn."

"You need to think of a new word, Vic. You're gonna wear that one out."

"Load up the T-jet, fellas. We're going back to Twilight Canyon. Let's go get our girl."

"But I thought it was down for maintenance."

"Damn."

(break)(break)

Gar swiveled his head back and forth between them, confusion written across his forehead.

"She's been fine, sweetheart—"

"Did you give her that drug again? Charlie!"

"Well, yes...but back at the ranch...before you made me promise—"

"Charlie!" Gar and Karen barked in unison.

Charlie frowned back at them. "The formula is better now, Karen. It—"

"Whoa!" Gar held his hands up. "Hold it right there, Charlie Horse. What are you talking about? What have you been injecting my girlfriend with, exactly? Tell me now, or so help me—"

"She's fine," Charlie replied through clenched teeth.

"Tell that to your grandfather," Karen hissed. "Thunder Horse could tell you all about it. If he were still alive."

"You can't seem to forgive me, can you, Karen? I was only trying to help him. All I've ever tried to do is help."

A growl was brewing in Gar Logan's chest as he listened.

She gripped the stock of the rifle more tightly. The scaly reptile on her left arm twitched as her muscles hardened. "You helped him all right. Right into the grave. That sweet old man. Tell him where the drug came from, Charlie Thunder Horse."

Her husband's eyes focused their misery on the ground. Beast Boy's hand became a hard fist behind his back. It was all he could do to contain his fury at the man long enough to hear him out. The dragon lingering in his system was roaring.

"Please, understand, all I have ever wanted to do was help people like me. Like my grandfather. He was amazing. He could heal so many. But he could never... he couldn't heal himself. I loved him, admired him so much, I couldn't stand to see him hurt. You've felt it, Mr. Logan, that helplessness that you feel when a healer is screaming from a pain that won't go away until they die."

Gar nodded, in spite of himself. The tendons in his neck creaked with the movement.

Charlie's words trembled their way out of his mouth. "When I was in the Army, I assisted in a study of drugs that would help soldiers resist truth serums. During the trials, I found that one drug had...other effects. One variation of it could temporarily shut down pain receptors in the brain, which in empaths also shuts down their empathy. For a while."

Green muscles jerked with nervous restraint. Truth serum. Army. Why does this sound familiar?

The older man raised his face to them with tears dancing in his eyes. "I developed the variant drug on my own when I left the Army. I went through twenty iterations before I found the one I was willing to use on people."

"Damn that Compound 20," Karen muttered.

He looked stricken. "I used it to help my grandfather. So many people he'd healed. So much pain. But, the dear man wouldn't stop, would he, Karen? He was falling apart—"

"And you took the shortcut! The easy way!"

"Easy? No, the way I saw it, it was the only way. The only way."

Karen continued, "But it didn't work. It wasn't the way."

"It was too strong. The temporary effect became permanent. It was like...like it shut him off from the rest of the world. He withdrew from us more and more, until one day he went into a coma. And then...his heart...it just stopped. Like Coyote had struck me again--"

"Coyote, my ass," Karen retorted. "It was just you, Charlie. Not some mythical creature out to get everybody. Just you."

Her face softened as she watched the man's tears flow, unchecked, down his cheeks.

"Sweet old man," Karen reached over to touch his arm with her free hand. "We tried to bury him in the traditional ways, in the open air on scaffolding in the canyon, like he would've wanted. And, damn it, if someone didn't up and steal his body, too."

Charlie covered his eyes with his hands. "We thought the Army might have done it. That maybe they knew what I had done and wanted to do...tests. But we never found anything about it. As far as we know, they never found out about Compound 20. He was just...gone. But I wanted to keep helping people. So, seven iterations later, we have—"

"Compound 27," Gar growled. "I wonder what the other effects are. When you first gave it to her, weeks ago, you asked me to trust you. And I did." He thrust his finger into Charlie's agonized face. " I never should have trusted you. She trusted me. Damn." He pounded his fist against his forehead. "And since then, it seems like her pain is getting worse, especially after...after..."

"An adrenaline rush?"

"Yes, how did you—oh, no. No, no, no, no."

The pieces began to click into place.

The Army.

Truth serum resistance.

Adrenaline.

Coma.

Slade Wilson. The Terminator.

Same drug.

Dead Grandfather.

Missing Body.

Click.

Beast Boy's heart skipped a beat. A few more beats. His lips curled back from his fanged teeth. "I don't think your grandfather's dead, Charlie. And I think he's here. In the canyon. With Raven."

Karen and Charlie's faces were thunderstruck.

"Let's go get help, like Karen said. We're going to need it."

(break)(break)

A/N: Most readers should be familiar with Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke the Terminator. He's a mercenary that has been around since the 80s Titans issue #2. He is probably my favorite Titan Enemy! But for this chapter to make sense, you need to know his back story. Here it is in a nutshell, based on information from "The Judas Contract" trade paperback:

While Slade Wilson was a soldier in the Army, he volunteered for some medical experiments that involved resistance to truth serums. The serum was an experimental hormone meant to stimulate the adrenal glands. It gave him superhuman strength and reflexes. It also gave him the ability to use 90 of his brain capacity (as opposed to the proverbial 10 most of us are supposed to use).

Raven with heavy adrenaline surges?

Now you know why Cyborg is so concerned.