I'm feeling particularly generous today, so you guys get another chapter. Read on my friends...Read on.

The digital clock buried under a pile of comic books on his nightstand was blinking 8:45 in big red numbers. Beast Boy felt his fist crumple the ransom note into a ball in his fist as he perched himself on the ledge of his now broken window. His green locks blew in the evening breeze as he looked off towards the piers. "So I'm walking right into a trap. So whoever has Terra probably won't even let her go when I get there. I owe her one."

The shape-shifter's eyes were narrowed threateningly as he literally leapt off of the windowsill and plummeted towards the ground morphing into a peregrine falcon, the fastest of all birds. The green bird pulled out of the dive just as he was about to hit the ground and glided over the water at breakneck speed. Beast Boy's mind was racing, his heart pounding within his chest. He had to get there as soon as possible before something happened…

B&P

"BB's been missing a lot of missions lately, eh?" Cyborg commented as the Titans reentered the Tower after facing off with that shape-shifting creature again. "Maybe if we had a green African Elephant we could distract it or something…"

"If he wants to stay on this team he's going to have to shape up," Robin commented as he leaned himself back against the counter. "I don't want to replace him but we need five strong to beat this thing." The Boy Wonder was busy trying to get tar off of his cape, attention more on this then the conversation.

"Friend Beast Boy is feeling the heartbreak, yes?" Starfire was busily trying to mix up everything in the kitchen to make the Tamaranian dish of happiness like she promised Beast Boy the other day. "We must help him."

Raven snorted slightly unable to contain her irritation even though she was trying to meditate near the window. "If he wanted our help he wouldn't be locked up in his room for twenty three hours of the day." The empath shook her head slowly cracking one eye open. "He wants to be alone."

"But he's a part of this team," Robin countered straightening up slightly. "He completely ignored my calls earlier. If he wants to go solo maybe he should." The Titans leader shrugged his shoulders slightly, a heavy sigh escaping him.

"But Beast Boy cannot do the solo hero thing." Starfire had looked up from her cooking to stare blankly at Robin. "He told me so when I went into the future. If he does break away from the team that will bring about the Rekmas and the future I fear. And Beast Boy will be bald, which is bad, yes?"

"I'm not letting him quit this team!" Cyborg growled a vein in his forehead throbbing slightly. "Little midget's the only source of fun we have in this Tower. See how tense it is in here without him?"

There was a moment of silence before Raven spoke up. "I kind of enjoy being able to hear myself think," she deadpanned with a slight smirk upon her face. "But if we let Beast Boy loose on the world who knows what'll happen."

"The only way to fix a problem is to confront it," the Boy Wonder finally replied pushing himself off from the counter and hovering in the doorway leading to the hall where the Titans' rooms were located. "I'm going to talk to him." Robin turned to go and walked a few paces before pausing, waiting for assistance but none came. Turning with a frown on his face the masked boy tilted his head to one side. "Aren't you coming?"

"What, Robin, afraid he's going to smash you into the wall again?" Cyborg snickered lightly before receiving a death glare from the Boy Wonder. The bionic teen coughed slightly before following after Robin. "Little man's coming out of that room…"

"Friends, wait! I shall be of assistance!" Starfire abandoned the bowl containing the contents of the refrigerator and hovering after the boys but stopped as Robin and Cyborg turned the corner. The alien girl cast a glance toward Raven who was floating near the window eyes closed. "Raven?" She spoke cautiously not wanting to disturb her friend.

"Yes?"

"You will come with us, yes?"

"I really need to keep my emotions in order, Starfire…"

"Talking to Beast Boy will help. I am certain of it."

"You don't understand. I-" Raven trailed off eyes snapping open as she stared at the Tamaranian girl's wide eyes. "Nevermind." The empath stood and made to follow but Starfire had grasped her hand and was leading her down the hallways.

"Friends! Raven will assist us in getting Beast Boy out of the room of soli-" She paused nearly colliding with Cyborg who was lingering outside the door to Beast Boy's room with a grim expression on his face. "-tude. Cyborg, what is wrong?"

"Beast Boy's gone," the titanium Titan answered in a dull tone while Starfire glided past him into the room where Robin stood overlooking some scattered glass on the ground.

"Couldn't you just track him with the communicator frequency like you did before?" Raven muttered with a raised eyebrow, but only got a shake of Cyborg's head in reply. "Why not?"

"BB turned off his communicator. No way to track him that way. Can you sense him, Rae?" The half robot held a tone of hope in his voice as he spoke; losing your best friend was a blow below the belt but knowing that the last time you spoke to him you were going to kill him or talking about pepperoni to a vegetarian made it worse.

Raven paused placing her middle and pointer fingers to her temples. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes attempting to trace Beast Boy in any way she could. There was a strong string of emotions and then "Got him. Down at the pier…Pier 41."

"Boo-yah! Go Raven!" Cyborg raised his metal hand for a high-five but Raven merely levitated past him into the room. "Okay, so why don't we just go down there and- Rob?"

"This glass was broken from the outside. Someone- or something- from the outside broke into Beast Boy's room." The Boy Wonder's tone was grim and his expression solemn as he shook his head.

"Why would someone want to infiltrate the Tower through the room of Beast Boy?" Starfire had landed next to Robin and was looking at the pattern of the glass with a bemused expression. "You do not think someone wanted friend Beast Boy gone?"

"Star, we have a lot of enemies. I'm sure more then one of 'em wants the little green bean dead." Cyborg scratched the back of his head in irritation. "I still say we have to go get him! He's our teammate!"

"How can you be sure it was a living thing that broke through the window? Maybe it was an inanimate object." Raven was looking at the hole in the window. "No one besides someone Beast Boy's size could get through that hole anyway."

"So you're saying a rock or something flew through Beast Boy's window?" Robin sighed slightly running a hand through his hair with the other resting at his side. "And then Beast Boy left through the window?"

"Yeah."

"That makes sense- except for one thing. Why didn't he get us to help him with whatever's going on?" Cyborg was setting his bionic eye to scan for anything out of place. He paused as he came upon a scattered amount of stuff near the changeling's bed. "Hey ya'll. Look at these." The bionic teen had picked up the drawing Terra had done of the pair of them. He raised an eyebrow slightly. "You don't think…"

Robin had bent down to examine some of the other items. First he examined a snapshot of a young Terra with two others he didn't know. "I don't know if she's alive but somehow Beast Boy got a hold of some of her stuff. This must have been her family…"

"Friend Terra lived here?' Starfire held up the map of Markovia and let out a slight sigh. "We really did not know much about her."

Raven was lingering near the doorway but had conjured some black energy to one of the books on the ground. "Since when does Beast Boy read?"

"He was reading one of these against the gate of Murakami School after we faced the shape-shifter yesterday." Robin picked up the companion series and flipped through a few pages realization dawning upon his face. "This was her diary."

"This is her diary," Raven commented a slight crack in her voice. She snapped the book shut and exited the room without another word.

"Rae, what's up?" Cyborg hissed after her though she didn't respond. The half robot turned to the other two and shrugged slightly. "So you think he went to see Terra or something?"

"Probably. That's what the evidence suggests, but I don't know why the window was broken…" The Boy Wonder let out a dull sigh before following Raven out of the door with Starfire at his heels.

"Why did Beast Boy not invite us to see friend Terra?" She mumbled a hint of sadness in her voice. "Did he not think us worthy of her friendship?"

"No. I think he wants some alone time with her, though," Robin replied.

The voices faded and left Cyborg alone in Beast Boy's room. Something was telling him that this did have something to do with Terra but something else was telling him there was more to it then Beast Boy going to visit her. The bionic teen let out a sigh before staring blankly out the window towards the piers. Pier 41…He let out a dull groan before he began talking into his forearm. "Guys, I have a bad feeling about this whole Pier 41 thing. Remember the last time we were there?"

"You think Slade has something to do with it?" Came Robin's reply, a hint of rage in his voice.

"I don't know, man, I just think BB's in trouble."

"We must help our friend!" Starfire's voice was full of sudden worry.

"Since when is Beast Boy not in trouble?"

"All right, Titans. Looks like we're heading down to Pier 41…"

B&P

Breaking into a deep dive, the green peregrine falcon pulled out just in time, reverting to human form and landing lightly in a crouch just in front of Pier 41. Beast Boy slowly brought himself to a standing position, eyes wandering for any sign of whoever had sent that note- or more importantly for Terra. The shape-shifter withdrew his communicator and stared at the blank interface. There was a chance the Titans hadn't even checked for him yet- though he doubted it- but he needed the time.

Flipping the device on once more the changeling stared at the black digital numbers of the stopwatch feature on his communicator. "Nine o'clock on the dot," Beast Boy murmured disabling the communicator and snapping it shut. "Dude, I thought it was 'nine o'clock sharp'. If you're late why were you all worried about me being late?" He paused letting his voice fade off into nothingness before taking a cautious step forward only to be stopped by a familiar voice.

"Stop right there, Beast Boy."

He did stop, his own footsteps dying out as another set echoed against the ground. "Slade. You said you didn't have anything to do with-"

"As you have read, child, I had nothing to do with Terra's revival, but there was nothing to say I wasn't going to take her back afterward. She was my favorite Apprentice…" The masked man came into view form the shadows hands clasped behind his back and Beast Boy guess that behind his bicolored mask there was a smirk. "But no one betrays me."

"Terra did," the green changeling said dully. "And don't talk about her like that! You made her think you cared about her! You made her think…" Beast Boy trailed off his voice cracking slightly. "You made her think…"

Deep ragged breathing from Slade dragged the shape-shifter from his sentence, eyes snapping up to stare blankly at him as he spoke. "Terra, I am your father." The masked villain let out a dull laugh as he started to circle Beast Boy, but the green teenager merely began circling, too, so they were across from each other. "It was just so easy to mold her to my will. She had a father fetish ever since she was three years old. She wanted to please me. If it wasn't for you, Beast Boy, I would have succeeded…"

"Shut up," the changeling hissed through his teeth. "If you're Darth Vader then I'm Luke. Where is she?"

"Who? Princess Leia?" The villain gave a dull chuckle as he pulled a long metal rod from his person. "She's safe. For now."

"Oh darn. I left my light saber at home." Eyes narrowing Beast Boy felt his hands ball into fists at his side, his form rapidly shifting. A green wolf took the place of the teenager and it lunged for Slade, who merely sidestepped him and twirled the staff above his head.

"Such anger, Beast Boy. Don't you want to talk about it?" Slade's smirk behind his mask grew as the shape-shifter scrambled to his feet, morphing into a saber-toothed tiger and pounced forward, but Slade merely ducked avoiding the green fury of fur completely. "Come now, child. This is no way to bargain. I could just have my men dispose of a certain geomancer…"

Resuming human form the changeling tilted his head to one side. "Geo-what?" Beast Boy scratched his head slightly, shaking slightly from anger.

"Geomancer- someone who controls the earth or in other words, Terra." The villain let out a slight sigh. "Funny how love plays an important part in teenager's lives. I should have used complications of the heart to destroy you Titans years ago."

There was silence and then "What do I have to do." He said it like a statement, not a question because his voice simply lost all emotion. Beast Boy recoiled, eyes boring into Slade's mask as he awaited an answer.

"Come with me, Beast Boy and I'll explain on the way. You're entitled at least to a final goodbye before your demise…" Slade sauntered off his back turned completely to the Titan. Anyone in their right mind would have taken the opportunity to take out their enemy from behind but then Beast Boy was not in his right mind at the moment. Robin's words were ringing in his ears as he hung his head and followed Slade like a puppy that had just been scolded. That was a dirty trick. Reminds me of something Slade might pull.

Seemingly out of nowhere the shape-shifter spoke. "I am nothing like you."

"Oh contraire, Beast Boy. We share one common bond and that is Terra." Whatever Slade had meant to imply by that statement didn't make it to Beast Boy's mind. The thing that did make it to his mind was this:

"One common bond means nothing. If I started walking around in a black and orange mask, then I'd start to worry…"

B&P

"Did you just get static from Beast Boy's communicator or am I imagining things?" Robin called over the roar of the T-Car's engine. The Titans were positioned in their normal seats, but the empty seat in the back let a long silence take over the car that had just now been broken by Robin.

"Yeah, Rae was right. He's at Pier 41 right now." Cyborg had one hand on the steering wheel and the other at his side while staring blankly at the newly installed automated no touch command panel on the dashboard. It obviously wasn't working because the bionic teen was still maneuvering the car as usual.

"We are almost there?" Starfire whispered, bringing her gaze from the window to stare pointedly at the Titans leader. "I fear Beast Boy is in danger."

"Don't worry, Starfire. I can still sense him. Beast Boy's fine physically, but his emotions are kind of all over the place…" Raven bit her lower lip having a vague idea of why his emotions were out of control.

Cyborg stared at the empath through the rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow. "Girl, you sensing something or you got something stuck up your nose?" The bionic teen shifted his gaze back to the road as Raven let a slight growl escape her throat.

"Not something. Two someones," she answered shortly, slumping in her seat.

"Who?" Robin turned to face her, eyes boring into hers from behind his mask. He could sense her insecurity about the entire situation because they had that bond ever since they had been inside each other's minds. "Come on, Raven. If we want to help Beast Boy we could really use this information."

"Please, Raven tell us what you sense." The empath had turned to stare at Starfire to avoid the Boy Wonder's piercing gaze but the Tamaranian's big green emotion filled eyes weren't much better. She sighed heavily before refocusing her attention back on Robin, biting her lower lip.

"I sense Terra." Her expression darkened before she spoke again. "And Slade."

If you could see Robin's eyes they probably would have bugged out and then narrowed within the span of two seconds and then held a deep obsessive gleam. Hidden behind his mask, though, the Boy Wonder's emotions were safe from all. Except Raven.

"Calm down, Robin. I hate him, too, but that doesn't mean we're going to go in there and start shooting bird-a-rangs…" As Raven spoke the Boy Wonder's hand slipped from his utility belt to drum against the armrest casually.

"I wasn't going to," the Titans leader mumbled, catching Cyborg's gaze and shaking his head slowly.

"Man, we all know you were 'bout to go in there and blast his head off." The T-Car made a sharp turn and the Boy Wonder slammed into the dashboard face first. "So cool your jets or I'll turn this car right around and go back to the Tower."

"But then friends Beast Boy and Terra will be in trouble…" Starfire murmured hands clasped to her chest.

"He was joking, Starfire," Robin assured her waving a hand.

"A bad joke but a joke none the less." From the rearview mirror Cyborg glared momentarily at Raven before veering slightly and watching in amusement as the empath rammed into the car door.

"Boo yah. Ya'll wanna keep talking about me? My baby got my back…"

"All right, Cy let's get back to mission mode." The cybernetic teen nodded slightly reclining back and putting all of his attention on the road. "It's gonna be a long night."

"Ya'll, any night out with BB is a long night," Cyborg replied dully finally turning into the piers. "A night with Slade is never ending."

"But we will persevere because we are friends." Starfire was staring determinedly ahead of them counting the pier numbers as they passed them. "Friends do not let friends face off against masked villains alone."

"We'll get Beast Boy back," Robin added with a nod of his head. "We'll take Slade out."

Raven sighed slightly fighting with her emotions to decide that Terra had more then paid for what she had done by sacrificing herself for the city, but that didn't mean she had to like Terra. It just meant she wouldn't let her die at the hands of a supervillain. "Once a Titan always a Titan."

"Oh yeah. Titans in the house." The T-Car pulled to a screeching halt outside Pier 41 and a deadly silence enveloped the surrounding area. "C'mon ya'll. Let's kick some butt." With that unofficial battle cry four out of five Titans filed out only to stand immobile next to the car.

"Titans! Go!" At Robin's command they moved forward towards the building not knowing what they would find inside.

B&P

Inside the warehouse talk was going on, but not your normal hero/villain banter. The talk going on was negotiation. "Call the Titans. Tell them to come help you and Terra. She will live, Beast Boy, you will live. As long as the rest are dead it doesn't matter to me." The tone of Slade's voice was acidic and annoyed. They had been at this for fifteen minutes already and still the shape-shifter refused to betray his friends.

"No deal, Slade. You give me Terra back and I don't beat your face in how's that?" The changeling's voice shifted into a growl near the end of that sentence, but as he stood up from his chair at a small wooden table to stare at Terra strapped to a metal table nearby he fell back into his seat. "Sorry. Hormones…"

"Yes, teenagers seem to have that particular problem." The villain let out a heavy sigh before his eye lit up. "Fine, Beast Boy. This is my final offer. Take it or leave it, understand?"

"Got it."

"All right. Hear me out on this one, child." Beast Boy nodded and watched as Slade stood and made his way to the table where the unconscious Terra lay. The villain reached out stroking her blonde locks only causing the changeling to let out a fierce growl of anger.

"I'm listening. Stop touching her…"

"Forgive me, Beast Boy, but I don't think you're in the position to be giving orders." Slade gave a dull chuckle before going on. "I'll let Terra go if you were to do me a… favor." His voice became slightly deeper as he said the word.

"…What kind of favor?" Beast Boy's eyes were still locked upon Terra, though since Slade had stopped his stroking his focus was back on the conversation.

"Nothing really."

"Stop screwing around, Slade. Give me the offer!" The shape-shifter stood and faced the villain, eyes narrowed.

"Patience is a virtue, child." The villain paused, letting the silence torment the changeling for a moment before going on. "I only need you to get me a chip."

"Dude, I don't think getting you snacks is going to-"

"A computer chip, Beast Boy."

"Oh, you want me to steal for you?' The changeling gave a slight laugh before catching the seriousness of Slade's gaze and to Beast Boy's horror he withdrew a handgun from his belt and pointed it at the unconscious Terra's head. "I'll do it," he muttered resolutely. "Just put the gun down. I don't want your trigger-happy fingers getting any ideas…"

"That's another thing, Beast Boy."

"What?"

"Respect is something I value from my Apprentices." Slade paused letting that word sink in as well.

"…Apprentice?"

"You want Terra to live, don't you?"

"Yes…"

"Yes what?" Slade's one eye seemed to bulge on this line, not moving the handgun from its position.

"Yes, sir." Defeated, Beast Boy hung his head and let out a deep sigh, the only satisfaction he got was the fact that the gun was hidden back in Slade's belt. "So, what do I do now?"

"Change your clothes and then-"

Slade was interrupted by the ever famous line of "Titans! Go!" The villain handed the shape-shifter an earpiece which Beast Boy promptly put in hearing Slade's voice in his head louder and clearer now.

"Change of plans, Beast Boy. Take care of our visitors, will you? I'll take care of Terra. You do the rest." Slade disappeared into the shadows and to Beast Boy's despair so did the table carrying Terra.

"Beast Boy?" Robin advanced forward a bemused expression upon his face. "Are you okay?"

"Apprentice! They don't know of your allegiance. Act natural."

"BB?" Cyborg stepped forward next, but still the shape-shifter remained silent, eyes glued to the ground.

"Friend, you are unharmed?"

"Great, he lost the ability to speak."

"Deceive them, Apprentice, or your friend pays the price…"

Rogue here. Okay, I know the Beast Boy Apprentice thing is slightly over-played, but belive me this is...different in a few ways. -cough- Anyway, I like to keep you on your toes. Remember that. The good stuff is yet to come...