Chapter 7
Raven floated high in the air, looking over the battle going on below. Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo had escaped from jail once again and had been stealing jewelry when the Titans' alarm went off.
Now, Raven floated over the fight, watching her friends the villains one-on-one. This had been happening more frequently lately.
Ever since Beast Boy… ever since the incident, her friends hadn't been making her train as much, or do as much work during battles. They seemed to think that they were protecting her, by letting her take it easy until she was completely over… it.
Well, Raven thought, they'd be waiting for a long time. Raven didn't feel like she would ever get over it.
She watched dully as her friends fought the HIVE students. Robin was trying to get around Gizmo, to crash his backpack, while dodging Gizmo's small rockets. Starfire was currently throwing starbolts at Jinx, who dodged them as if doing a strange dance. Cyborg and Mammoth were fighting with strength, hands locked together and trying to push the other down.
Raven looked away from the fight, finding no interest in it. Not that she found many things interesting lately, but she felt like she needed to find something to keep her mind distracted from her own thoughts, and the battle wasn't doing that.
After gazing down the empty street, Raven's eyes finally landed on an out-of-use apartment building with a pale face peering out. Raven wondered why anyone would want to watch the fight, let alone from a creaky old building. Most people scattered at the sight of any of the Titans' usual foes, only returning with cameras and news crews after the police had taken custody of the villains.
Dodging a stray blast of pink energy, Raven flew closer to the building. She looked back at the person in the window. Closer now, she could tell that he was quite pale. Even though he couldn't be more than nineteen, his hair was a dark shade of gray, although that could just be a trick from the light (or rather, lack of light, since none of the lights were turned on in the building).
She could also see that his hair had been greased back, making him look a bit like he belonged in an Elvis look-alike contest.
As she looked at the boy in the window, he looked over at her and caught her eye. He smiled and looked over his shoulder. He appeared to be calling to someone else in the room, but Raven couldn't hear any of it, despite the building's paper-thin walls. The boy was gesturing to his companion, beckoning them to the window, but his friend refused to come.
Feeling uncomfortably as if she were on display, Raven floated away from the window and resumed watching the fight.
-
"Come on Beast Boy," Johnny called over his shoulder, running into an abandoned apartment building. "We can watch better from up there."
"We can't!" Beast Boy exclaimed, running after his new friend, but stopping when he reached the doors leading into the building. "It's dark in there. They might see us through a window."
"So, we'll be careful. Besides, we'll just go to the roof. They won't see us up there, with the street lights an' all."
Grumbling, Beast Boy followed Johnny into the building. They quickly ran through the building, passing through any doors blocking their way. Finally they reached the top floor, ten stories up. They searched the floor, looking for the last staircase, leading up to the roof, but couldn't find any.
"Can you fly?" asked Beast Boy, looking over at his friend, who was double-checking the doors. They all led to rooms, but never the roof stairs.
"Not very high," replied Johnny. He floated about three feet in the air, the top of his head just passing through the ceiling. Beast Boy tried as well, but found he couldn't go any higher than Johnny could. Transforming into a translucent green bird, he was able to fly up and through the roof.
Johnny looked up in wonder. Beast Boy had told him all about his and the other Titans' powers, but it was one thing being told, and another completely to see.
After a few minutes, Beast Boy's green human face fazed through the ceiling.
"I've checked the entire roof. There aren't any stairs. The fire escape doesn't even go this high." He informed the greaser.
"Damn. Are they allowed to do that?"
Letting the rest of his body pass through the ceiling and standing up on the floor, Beast Boy shrugged.
"I don't know, but what are we going to do now?" asked Beast Boy, folding his legs under his body and resting his chin in his palm.
"We'll just watch from one of the windows down here. They won't recognize me, and you can just stay out of the way," Johnny suggested, passing through an apartment door before Beast Boy could protest.
Reluctantly, Beast Boy followed him in. Johnny was already sitting in front of a low window. As Johnny watched the fight excitedly, Beast Boy looked around the apartment.
There wasn't much to it. They were in the main room of the apartment. It was empty now, but there was a kitchen area in one corner and there were marks on the cheap wood flooring where a couch and coffee table used to sit. There was a bed in another corner, which folded into the wall. There were two other doors. Checking them, Beast Boy learned that one door closed off a dingy bathroom from the rest of the apartment, and the other belonged to a small closet.
"No wonder no one lives here any more," Beast Boy mused. "This place is the pits."
"Pits?" asked Johnny, getting the drift of what Beast Boy was saying, but unused to that particular slang word. "Yeah, I guess so." He was silent for a minute before adding, "My Pop used to live in an apartment like this."
"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Beast Boy apologized, flushing.
"Nah, s'okay. I hated his place," replied Johnny replied, grinning. Beast Boy smiled lightly and continued to walk around the room.
"Hey, check it out!" Johnny called out suddenly. "The girl you like, Raven, she's looking this way! Wow… she's really something."
"Yeah," agreed Beast Boy sadly. He resisted the urge to go over to the window. He wanted to see Raven, but he didn't want to risk her seeing him.
"She's coming closer!" Johnny exclaimed. He quickly waved his hand at Beast Boy, gesturing for him to come see. Beast Boy shook his head. Raven had seen him a couple times already, and every time it seemed to make her sadder. He couldn't stand making her upset. Johnny was waving his arm frantically, looking between Beast Boy and Raven. "Don't you want to see her?"
"Dude, you know I can't let her see me," he replied grimly. "I'll just take your word for it."
"Gah, you missed her!" groaned Johnny, ignoring Beast Boy's last remark. "She flew away."
Beast Boy nodded and moved closer to the window, but stayed out of sight.
"Let's just stay focused on the task, all right?" asked Beast Boy. "We've gotta figure out a way to make some one good."
"I think I have an idea," replied Johnny, looking over at Beast Boy. "You just choose one of those chumps down there, and possess them."
Beast Boy looked at him in shock. For a minute he felt angry, remembering how Johnny had taken control of Raven, but he quickly pushed the negative feelings away and focused on what he was saying.
"I don't know how to possess people," Beast Boy admitted. "I've never really tried, but I have passed through people before, and nothing happened."
"There's a trick to it," confided Johnny. "You can't just walk into them. You have to concentrate on staying in them. Imagine seeing through their eyes."
"Stay in, through eyes… got it," nodded Beast Boy, walking over to the wall. Plan in mind, he was eager to try it out.
"Wait! It doesn't last long. You have get in, do your thing, and get out. You can hurt the person if you stay in too long. Might even kill 'em," Johnny advised. Beast Boy cringed at the thought and nodded.
-
Raven watched Robin struggle to reach Gizmo's backpack. The battle had been going on for a while now, but no one seemed to be getting anywhere. Lifting herself up from the building ledge she was sitting on, she flew down to help Robin.
The Boy Wonder dodged one of Gizmo's metal limbs, which were jabbing at him too quickly and sporadically for Robin to get a good hold on them.
Raven lifted her arms, and focused on the chrome spider legs.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted. Her eyes began to glow, as dark power wrapped itself around the legs. Just as she was lifting the small boy up, Raven stopped. Gizmo was shaking. Not in fear, though… more like how Raven remembered feeling herself shake when Terra had possessed her at the séance.
Forgetting the task at hand, Raven stopped and watched.
-
Beast Boy ran across the street, busy with fighting super heroes and villains. Finally he reached Gizmo. Beast Boy didn't know anything about taking over someone's body, but he figured that going into the small boy's body would be easier than someone big, like Mammoth.
Gizmo was currently fighting Robin, and Beast Boy could see Raven flying over to help. Beast Boy stopped in his tracks at the sight of Raven, but quickly pried his eyes away and kept them glued on Gizmo.
Taking a deep breath, Beast Boy stepped forward. First, he placed a hand into the boy's chest. He grimaced as his hand went through Gizmo's torso. Closing his eyes, he tried to imagine seeing from Gizmo's eyes. He pictured Robin, dodging the metal arms attached to the unseen backpack. Raven floated behind him, eyes glowing.
Gasping, Beast Boy felt a strange force, pulling him towards Gizmo. Doing his best not to resist this unknown force, Beast Boy let himself sink into the mechanical genius.
The first thing he noticed was that he could feel. He could feel wind on his face, and smell the car fumes of the city. He knew, on some level, that he couldn't sense these things as well as he had been able to in his own body. It was like everything was being muffled, even his sense of touch. Still, for someone who hadn't felt anything at all for a while, it was almost overwhelming.
He blinked, looking at the scene around him. Raven was looking at him as if she'd seen a ghost, and Beast Boy had to remind himself not to worry, and that he looked like Gizmo to her. Looking around, he saw that everyone was looking at him strangely, battle momentarily forgotten.
"What… are you clutch heads looking at?" Beast Boy added, remembering who he was pretending to be.
"What happened? You just started shaking, and you're all pale," asked Jinx, placing a hand of her hip and regarding him closely.
"Uh… nothing," replied Beast Boy nervously. Then he remembered what he was there to do. "I just don't want to fight, that's all. I think we should stop being pit-sniffin' bad guys and start being good."
He looked at them all triumphantly, expecting to feel himself become more alive- a sign that the second task had been completed. He didn't feel himself change though, and everyone just looked at him in bewilderment.
After a few minutes of silence, Jinx and Mammoth began to laugh loudly. Robin continued to look at him like he had grown an extra head, while Cyborg covered a snicker behind one of his large hands. Starfire looked confused to why they found it amusing that Gizmo wanted to join the side of good. Finally Beast Boy's eyes rested on Raven. She was looking at him suspiciously.
"Oh, Gizmo, you're a riot. Now come on, let's finish kicking their butts." Said Jinx, fighting giggles and beginning the fight again by sending a wave of pink energy at Starfire.
"No! I'm serious!" exclaimed Beast Boy. But it was too late; the fight had begun again and no one was paying attention to him. He looked over at Raven. Robin had left to help Starfire, but Raven continued to stare at him accusingly.
Before he could react, she had pinned him against a nearby wall. She brought her face close to his in an intimidating gesture.
"Who are you?" she growled.
"I-I'm Gizmo," he replied nervously.
"No you're not," she snarled. "You're a ghost. But who are you? Terra again?"
"No, I never possessed you," Beast Boy replied. "And it wasn't Terra the first time either."
"How would you know unless you're the ghost that possessed me and told us what Beast Boy had to say?" Raven snarled. Beast Boy felt nervous, looking at her eyes, so full of hate. Was that really being directed at him?
"I watched," replied Beast Boy. His tongue felt dry. "And you should know that none of it was true. Beast Boy would never say things like that."
Raven's eyes narrowed. Anger bubbled inside of her. How dare this lying ghost talk about Beast Boy like he knew him?
"Why should I believe you? I've been lied to by ghosts before," Raven hissed.
"You just have to trust me. Beast Boy-"
But Raven never heard the rest. She was too busy flying away.
Lol, in the last chapter I wrote Greece, instead of Grease. I just wanted to point out that I noticed that and I just didn't feel like changing it. The funny thing is, only one person said anything about it. Lol, I dunno, maybe no one else noticed, or felt like saying anything about it. Whatever, not important.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one!
Tammy Tamborine
