First of all, thank you to those who reviewed. This chapter will (hopefully) shed some more light on Beast Boy's reasons for betraying the Titans.
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any related material in this fanfic. All characters belong to DC Comics.
Jump City-3:28 pm-12th November-Hospital
"As you can see the victim has suffered mild bruising in addition to the painfully obvious damage to her face," a doctor explained to the four superheroes that were investigating an attack on a woman. The woman in question had red hair, and her indigo clothes were stacked neatly on a chair next to Cyborg.
"Whilst we are unable to specify what exactly attacked the lady, we were able to determine that the cuts to her face were delivered by very sharp claws, most likely some animals," the medical professional continued. "An animal of such a nature seems unlikely to be outside the city zoo and there doesn't seem to be any escaped tigers roaming the city." The doctor chuckled lightly in an attempt to lighten the mood, but quickly resumed his professional posture when his attempt fell flat on its feet.
"The alleyway in which her body was found," the doctor picked up a slip of paper from the desk next to him, "appeared to have signs of battle, several onlookers who happened upon the aftermath said that there was a pot plant knocked over, a splintered piece of wood and a brick out of place from a neighbouring building. The police investigators tell me that this indicates towards some sort of humanoid, possibly a metahuman, who fought our patient, and not some animal. Then again it could have been anyone who did the surrounding damage." The superheroes all appeared to be frowning and the masked one dressed in the black and blue costume was uneasy in a very subtle way. The doctor told them that he had said all he could and left the room leaving the city guardians to their thoughts.
Nightwing stood up from his chair and walked over to the observation window. He appeared to be concentrating on something; he bit his lip shortly before turning around. He asked Raven to gain as much info, using her empathy, as possible. Raven let out a deep breath before she assumed a meditative posture in her seat. After a few minutes her she settled back into a more comfortable position and told her leader what she had found out.
"She's just your average person, so far as I could tell. Her unconscious state kept me from gaining access to some areas of her mind, mostly her history and family. Overall though, I was unable to pick up much," the dark sorceress answered unhappily, she frowned at the window before returning to her thoughts. Nightwing frowned at the response but knew there was nothing he could do about it. Just as he was considering leaving the door opened and a young man walked in. He had brown hair and was wearing a blue jacket with blue jeans; he addressed the Titans with a smirk and looked over at Nightwing with a smug grin.
"So the Titans are having trouble trying to figure out who or what's behind this travesty of a crime, are they?" The whole sentence was coated in sarcasm as the intruder delivered it mockingly to the superheroes. Nightwing growled in response and demanded the man's identity, whilst Raven merely narrowed her eyes in his direction.
"Oh so you don't recognise me, do you? I'm hurt, but I guess I'll let you off the hook, it has been over five years since we last meet and that was under strained circumstances." The man's smirk never left his face as he delivered the bombshell that was his identity, "I believe that you would know me best as Red-X."
Starfire and Cyborg gasped and began to ready their weapons, the alien's hands and eyes lighting up with green energy as the half-robot transformed his right arm into a cannon that hummed with a blue glow like several other parts of his body. His mechanical red eye glowed as Nightwing walked up to the man who had identified himself as Red-X, the thief who had stolen one of the masked crusader's super-suits, a specially designed one with lots of gadgets.
"Why should we believe you to be Red-X, hmm? Got something to prove you're who you say you are? Something no one else could possibly have?" Nightwing dared the still smirking intruder. The man merely reached into a pocket and withdrew a skull mask with a red X on the forehead, the group's eyes all widened in response whilst Raven merely challenged the villain for his reason to just waltz into the company of people who would love to throw him in jail and reveal his identity.
"Well, the answer to that is simple," the unmasked Red-X answered boldly, the smirk remaining plastered on his face like he had just received plastic surgery. "I'm here to help you with this case of yours, I have information you would never find out otherwise. It pertains to the cause of those nasty scars on that lovely woman's face." Raven arched an eyebrow in response as Cyborg and Starfire sat back down with wary and untrusting looks on their faces.
"Why would we trust you of all people?" Raven asked simply.
"Because, for one, I have nothing to gain other than vengeance for my friend there," he pointed at the unconscious lady. "She's a good friend of mine out of the mask, a security guard at the warehouse I was about to rob earlier today. Ironic, isn't it? As I sat perched in the rafters waiting for her to pass by on patrol, a little green mouse crawled up to her foot. Yes, green." He restated as the Titans all had shocked looks on their faces.
"That 'mouse' then transformed into a green man and attacked the girl. The girl freaked and tried to run but was further attacked by the changeling. I could tell you all the details but that's unnecessary, I followed the two as the green attacker hid the girl in the alley. She awoke as he tried to leave and screamed, forcing him to shut her up, this caused the pot to be knocked over." The Titans all had shocked looks on their faces, and Cyborg sputtered a response.
"That's preposterous, Beast Boy hasn't shown up in Jump City for five years, he also wouldn't attack someone for the sake of it!" Red X sighed and answered.
"Well unless you know another green changeling, it was him. As for the attack, upon my return to the warehouse, it was empty, presumably because whoever you little green 'friend' was working for cleaned it out." Raven was glaring dangerously at Red-X whilst the other three were shocked.
"This isn't like you X, you don't tell the Titans facts about a problem because your 'friend' was hurt, what's your ulterior motive?" Raven hissed. The thief raised an eyebrow at her but answered anyway.
"Now that you mention it … My motive is; and remember what I said earlier is true, you have my word on it; that you will forgive the fact that I stole my belt back from bird-boy here," Red-X was out the door within a split second of the statement, leaving Nightwing to grind his teeth at the closing door.
Raven was uneasy, there was no real reason for Red-X to have told them that story if it was a lie, and he didn't appear to be lying, or at least he believed what he was saying was the truth. That or he was very well trained in keeping people out of his mind.
Cyborg was incredibly disbelieving, there was no proof that his old friend was in the city, let alone working for a villain. When the cybernetic teen mentioned this, Nightwing and Starfire grew very uneasy, leaving the two others to glare at them for hiding information.
"Um, actually I have seen Beast Boy, at least I'm pretty sure I did," Nightwing told the others of the events earlier today at the plaza. The others were nonplussed at hearing that their leader hadn't told them about such an important event, especially Raven.
"Still the fact that Beast Boy's been seen doesn't exactly count as concrete evidence that he attacked the girl, Red X might have just been trying to stir up trouble," the dark woman said.
"Whilst it doesn't prove he was the attacker it does make him a key suspect, what Red-X told us, the claw marks on the victims face, his criminal background," Raven frowned at this, "and the fact that he is in the city for little-to-no reason, all point at him. Whilst I'm not about to tell the police to arrest him or attack on sight, I do want us to be wary if we run into him or any evidence of his being somewhere close." The others nodded glumly as Nightwing finished. The group then filed out, with Raven casting a backward glance at the figure on the hospital bed, she frowned but left all the same.
A green sparrow sits on the windowsill of the room that Shimmer is in. It is looking through the glass pane at the immobile figure but soon grows bored and flies over to the roof of a nearby building. Upon landing, the small bird transforms into a well-built young man with green skin.
"So that's your game now is it, Slade?" Garfield Logan mutters as he turns into a hawk and flies off to his apartment.
Raven was uneasy. She was trying to meditate on the roof, hovering, muttering the same mantra over and over.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos,"
Thoughts of Beast Boy kept filtering through her mind and it scared her how many there were. She was hurt, along with the rest of the Titans, when he betrayed them five years ago, but she was also the one to understand his reasons the best. Or at least what the changeling had said his reasons were…
"Why are you doing this? We're your friends, Beast Boy! We want to help you!" Raven shouted angrily at the emerald changeling who was in the warehouse with her, standing about twenty metres away. The half-demon sorceress was livid at the green menace for betraying the team's trust, but even more so at his betrayal of her trust.
"Friends? Friends! You call yourselves my friends when all you do is insult me, beat me up, laugh at me, make cruel comments behind my back and, worst of all, expect me to believe I deserve this treatment! I'm sick of it! You treat me as though I can't do anything, will never achieve anything and am a total waste of space! I've done nothing except try to make you happy and you just throw it back in my face with sarcastic comments and threats! Why should I stay on a team where everyone, even someone I would deem a very close friend, treats me as though I'm a second-class member? Huh, answer me that!" Beast Boy angrily shouts back at the now bewildered dark girl, pouring all his emotion into one rant, his eyes became moist with tears as he yells but he blinks them away.
At the end of it all, the green teenager just stands there and glares at the ground, huffing and puffing. Eventually, he raises his head, his eyes wet with unshed tears and mouths one word; 'Why?'
A minute passes and nothing breaks the morbid silence as Beast Boy stands there raw with emotion, and Raven stands opposite him, shocked beyond words at the strength and conviction of the boy's emotions. She is reeling from the emotions she received from the distraught changeling via her empathy. She opens her mouth from time to time, trying to say something to break the silence and comfort the stricken traitor but when she goes to do so, she loses her determination and closes her mouth once again. The silence drags on for some time, before Raven mutters two simple words, yet those two words are words Beast Boy has longed to hear from the dark girl for some time; "I'm sorry".
Raven shudders from the memory, remembering the power those emotions had when Beast Boy let it all out. She had had an extreme amount of trouble repressing her emotions, for if they had continued to soar out of control she would have caused a huge amount of damage to the surroundings through her rogue powers. She is Raven, and she is doomed not to feel anything, not even calls from her heart.
On the other side of town, the green man who Raven had just been thinking about walks into his apartment. Even before he flicks on the light, he knows that there is someone in here there shouldn't be, he even knows who it is. Flicking on the light, it actually reveals the last person he suspected of being hidden in the darkness, waiting for him.
We-ell, what do you think? Like, no-like? Well, if you read this then please review, it would be much appreciated. Anyway, I can't believe I just wrote that, and I don't quite think I was 'with it' during the time of writing. Still, it clears up more details about Beast Boy and Raven, and as for the mysterious figure, well; you'll just have to wait to find out.