WeaselChick: This is the longest chapter for this story I've ever written. I put a lot of detail into this... And I'm awfully proud of myself... Anyway, I know it took a little while for me to update, but I actually got through mostly everything I wanted too this time. I only left out the other fights because I felt that they weren't too important. Now, I'm finished ranting, so ahead and read.

The snapping, sickening sound of his leg breaking had been followed immedietely by pain that flowed through his leg. He barely even noticed when Beast Boy flung over the edge, his brain already switching subjects: From fighting to lifesaving. Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes against the pain, he thought hard, Think, Thorn, think! You're an extremely powerful and intelligent demon! There has to be something you can do...

While he thought, Thorn's descent continued, taking him nearly halfway down the gigantic rock wall before he opened eyes again. Here, hereached out for a platform jutting out from the rock, grabbed the edge, and heaved himself up. He leaned against the wall after sticking the sword in the ground beside him and began looking through the pockets of his cloak. After a few minutes, he found what he was looking for and pressed the black diamond into his forehead. This should work, he told himself, sliding down the wall until he was in a sitting posistion and stretching his broken leg out straight. I doubt I'll be healed completely - lost to much blood for that - but at least the break will heal. He pulled his pants loose from the boots and laid his hands upon the broken bone, concentrating on healing it swiftly. In about thirty seconds, the break was healed and he placed his hands on the wall and pushed himself up. In a fluid movement, he removed the diamond, which had turned from darkest black to dull gray, and placed it back within the cloak with one hand, and yanked the sword out of the ground with the other. He waited until he was able to stand without to much wobbling, then turned to the wall and began to climb, using the sword to help him up by sticking it into the rock as a hold.

Rorek, for a reason unknown to him, stopped suddenly. The room at the end of the passage was dimly lit by a single fixture overhead, helped by a square-shaped window that lava poured over. The hard, dirt floor that made up the steps had been replaced by equally hard steel tiles. Rorek spent one glance on all of this before moving on to the rest of the room. He spotted a crowbar on the ground before he felt compelled to look back at the lava. Turning his head back to it, he stared at it for a few seconds, then gasped.

The lava was completely clear. He could even see a small figure being thrown over the edge of the rock platform by a green raptor that was obviously Beast Boy. If it was a window, then Thorn must've painted it to look like the lava around it. But then that would've made the rest of the lava waterfall fake too. Confused, Rorek slowly put one hand forward and lightly touched the window. He was even more shocked.

It wasn't even a window. It was nothing, pure and simple. His hand went through it, and he was sure that if anyone below had looked up they would've seen it. He was also sure that if he had applied more pressure or used both hands he would have plunged into the pool of lava below. For once in his life, all thought of sleep vanished from his mind. Rorek, still staring wildly at the fake lava before him, took a step back. He stopped, took a deep breath, and finally registered sounds as if someone was fighting coming from somewhere further along the open area in front of him. Curious, he looked and spotted Slade halfway in the shadows, apparently helping Terra fight, for the image on the screen next to him showed her. Maybe if I'm quiet he won't see me, he thought, even though he knew that since he had been standing there for at least two minutes Slade had to have noticed him by now. In fact, the longer he looked, the more he knew that Slade had already noticed his presence. "Heh... hey... Slade..." Rorek said, waving sheepishly when Slade's eye flicked to him.

"Rorek," Slade started, before Rorek screamed.

"Don't kill me!" He dived toward the crowbar he'd spotted earlier and snatched it up before getting to his feet in front of Slade.

"Rorek." Slade continued as if nothing had happened. "I have been... ordered... to kill anyone that finds me," he finished, much distaste on the word 'ordered'. He stepped forward, helped Terra control shooting another rock below, and punched Rorek in his jaw.

Rorek hit the ground hard, tightened his grip on the crowbar, and swung it wildly with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes when he heard it connect with something to see Slade lying at his feet. "Dude! I am so tired of these lame wins!" Rorek yelled at no one in particular. "If I must fight, at least let-" He stopped short, watching as Slade lifted himself up, and screamed again. "Ahh! He lives!" He waited until Slade glared at him, then swung the crowbar at his head three times, each one right after the other. Breathing hard, he slunk away from Slade and towards the door on all fours, the crowbar clutched in his right hand so tightly his knuckles were white. Then he paused, turned to make sure Slade was actually knocked unconscious, and was once again punched in the jaw. He shook his head to clear it, his grip on the crowbar loosening from the force of the punch, and focused on Slade. "Do you ever die!" he asked, amazed that anyone could take that many hits to the head without dying.

"No," Slade answered automatically. He stepped forward and aimed a punch at Rorek's head.

Outside the house, a red covertible with a "Pizza" sign on top of it pulled up and a teenage girl got out the door, the nametag on her shirt reading 'Alex'. "Last one tonight," she muttered, walking towards the door, which she noticed was lying on the floor inside of the building. "Damn! This guy can't even take care of his doors," she commented, walking over the door and out another one on the side. Meeting nothing, she frowned. "Where the hell does this guy want his pizza?" She sighed, walked further down the hell, and then stopped.

Somewhere in the building, she could hear sounds that sounding almost exactly like screams of pain. Shrugging, she knocked on the nearest door and pulled it open. "Sir, your piz-" She stopped midword, her mouth hanging open.

In front of her, a man she clearly recognized as Slade was holding a teenage boy by his fist shoved into his back. A crowbar was loosely clutched in the boys' hand, and blood was dripping from where Slade was holding him and from his mouth. She heard the word "Rorek" before the pizza fell from her hand and she screamed.

Slade looked towards her and threw the boy, Rorek, carelessly to the wall, where he slumped over and the crowbar flew to her feet. "Pizza?" he said calmly. "I don't believe I ordered pizza."

Alex, not waiting to see what he would say or do next, reached down, picked up the crowbar, and hit Slade one time in the head before dropping it and running quickly out of the building. "That's it!" she exclaimed, running down the empty halls. "I quit!"

Upon entering the room that Red X had been knocked into, Raven was sprayed with a light mist of water coming out of a broken pipe. Staring through the spray, she spotted Red X himself lying in a heap on another broken pipe. He groaned, sat up, and looked right at Raven. "Raven" was all he got out before she finished her magic words and a stream of black magic shoved him back further. Stepping further into the room and over to where he was sitting, Raven noticed blood dripping off of one of the many broken pipe edges. She heard a voice,

"Damn, you hit hard."

that sounded as if someone was trying to talk through a chainsaw. Sort of rough at times, but at others it was normal. She turned and once again spotted Red X, standing. Half of his mask was gone, ripped off of his face and lying on the floor behind him, and blood was running down his face from a cut on his forehead. One purple eye stared at her, with an expression that was not quite a glare. He reached up with one hand, wiped some blood out of his eye, and ripped the rest of the mask off. "Guess that's pretty much useless," he said before moving swiftly out of the way of Raven's powers.

"I thought you worked for yourself," Raven said, firing a stream of black magic in his direction. "What happened to that?"

Red X smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know," he taunted, jumping neatly out of the way, but stumbling when he landed. He recovered quickly, stepped out of the way of another magic attack, and leaned on the wall to catch his breath. The fall into the room had hurt him a lot more than he had first thought. He gasped and latched a hand onto his chest as a sudden pain erupted.

Raven noticed this and withdrew her magic for the moment, at least until he started to attack again. Red X's harsh eyes stared at her as he leaned against the wall and pressed both hands to his chest. "What?" he asked roughly. "Why aren't you attacking me?"

"You're hurt," Raven responded. "To hurt to fight, anyway."

Red X snorted. "Show's how much you know," he commented. He put his hands on the wall, pushed off, and dashed at her, changing the X on the back of his glove into the crossblade as he did. She powered up her magic and stepped out of the way of his attack, ready for the expected counterattack. Just as she had expected, he turned, his cape billowing behind him, and jumped forward. Halfway there, however, he collasped onto the ground, and clutch at his chest again. "Stay away from me," he growled as Raven stepped forward to him. "I'm fine." He attempted vainly to push himself back up again, but fell back to the ground, the crossblades going back down to the size of the X as he did.

"You're not fine," Raven told him, leaning down to grasp his arm. "Like I said before, you've badly injured yourself."

"I didn't do it," Red X snapped, allowing her to help him to his feet. "You did. In case you didn't remember." He turned his face upward, the constant spray of water cleaning the blood off his face slowly. "...I think I hit the pipes with my ribs," he muttered. "Breathing problems. That's why I can't fight you in my condition."

Raven stepped beside him and studied his face. "I would help you, if I knew that you wouldn't hurt me afterward."

"Thanks for the concern," Red X said, turning to look at her. "But I can take care of myself." He grinned, then grabbed hold of his chest again. He took a deep breath, then eyed Raven again. "Well? Aren't you going to help the Titans?"

Raven nodded. "I should. But first, I'm going to make sure that you aren't going to come after me and attempt to kill me again."

"I don't think I'm going anywhere or doing anything for a while," Red X said, shrugging and taking a seat on a broken pipe. "But it's a good idea. You never know when I could get my breath back." He smiled confidentely, then sighed. "Thorn's going to kill me for this..."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, sitting here and talking nicely with a Titan instead of killing her on spot."

Raven hesitated, then sat down beside him. "Thorn isn't a normal human. He's a demon."

Red X jumped slightly. "Serious?"

Raven nodded. "Yes."

"I have to work for a demon," Red X muttered, as if trying to convince himself. "How wonderful."

"Why do you have to work for him? Can't you stop whenever you want?"

Red X shook his head. "Nah. I don't really remember why, but I just can't."

Raven paused and looked away from him, mulling over what he had just said. After a little while, she returned to him. "Red X, do you mind if I look into your thoughts?"

He jumped again. "Huh? Why?"

"To see if I find out why you have to work for Thorn," she explained.

Red X looked back at her, and slowly nodded.

WeaselChick: Like I said, it was long. I think I got a bit to into the part with Raven and Red X. He he... Oh well.

Reviews: Revenant666, Athena-Tonks42, and The Pryo Princess.

Preview for next chap: back to Beast Boy and Dayna where Thorn arrives back at the top, continuing with Raven and Red X, and Robin finishes his fight to help with Raven. Why her? Because I've had this planned out FOREVER.

Now review!