Chapter 7
Sunrise will be in nearly two hours. From the sky journeys the raven followed by the hawk that is Beast Boy. Both follow the route of the highway on their return from the chemical plant.
As they continued their flight back into the city their attention is drawn to the traffic below. Among the scattered vehicles traveling on the highway to exit the city, two are recognized by the hawk as Cyborg's T-car and Robin's R-cycle. Beast Boy knows the titans are on their way to investigate the explosion.
"It probably won't be long now," he realized to himself. "They're likely to find me recorded by the security footage." Then, as if praying to the heavens, he added, "Just please don't let them stop me from finishing this."
He and the raven continued their path.
The titans were less than five miles away from the plant. Their recent discovery was still fresh in their minds. Cyborg broke in on any thoughts the team might be having about it when he spoke.
"Okay I am just stumped. First we get a raging beast report and when we show up to the scene of the incident, we find green strands and blood that match as Beast Boy's DNA. Second it's found in the exact same area where Beast Boy and Raven died last year." He grunts trying to find sense in his own points. "Does anyone have any ideas about this?"
Starfire was seated next to him. She considered for a moment before adding her thoughts. "Perhaps if Beast Boy were alive he would probably go about his irrational theory of clones. Do you suppose such a possibility just might make sense this time?"
Robin's voice came through the T-car communicator. "There's one way to find out. Omen, can you teleport back to the island and check out the graves? Report as soon as you can."
"I'll be right back," she replied from the back seat. Omen vanished and was gone for about one minute. She then reappeared in the back of the T-car. "It looked undisturbed to me."
Robin added, "Then the clone theory might not be unthinkable. I mean a creature matching Beast Boy's DNA, and it being in the last place that it may have any memories of. We're just going to have to find out."
"Can a clone remember everything the original did?" asked Cyborg.
"It would probably depend on the technology of the person conducting the duplication. Some theories say the mind or memories can't be duplicated. In other theories a clone would remember everything up to the point of… blacking out."
"So this beast appearing at the ghetto and causing the damage it did…?" wondered Omen.
"Just might be a Beast Boy clone in his enraged form remembering how his original form and Raven died," the driver of the T-car realized.
Omen reexamined the visions and feelings she felt earlier, but still kept them to herself. She was still uncertain of what they could mean while this new theory was being considered.
"If this creature shows itself again, we'll have to capture it and find out what we can," added the titans' leader. Something in the sky caught his attention. "That's weird."
"What's that?" he heard Cyborg ask.
"Look up."
The titans inside the T-car looked out their windows. Due to the moonlight that had broken through the clouds they all saw two birds flying towards the city. The one behind seemed to be carrying a coat in its talons.
"You don't see that everyday," noted the tech expert.
Slade too had heard of the chemical plant explosion and it piqued his curiosity. He carried with him a cup of coffee into the monitoring room and sat down in his seat. The plant security cameras were coming back online. He decided to watch for the titans, certain they would show.
Knowing there was only one way into the room and no one would see him, he removed his mask in order to enjoy his coffee. His face was concealed by the shadows of the dim room.
Unmoved by the sound of knocking at the door that came minutes later, Slade granted access to the visitor. "Enter."
The door opened and in stepped the cybernetic Blood. "I've come to tell you that everyone has just checked in… except for Killer Moth," he reported while standing by the entrance.
"Where was he last known to be?" asked the unmasked villain from the shadows.
"He had experimental plans, so he intended to steal some chemicals and mutagens from the chemical plant."
"A short time ago, an explosion occurred at the plant." Slade thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "If he was there when it happened…" and he trailed of to further his thoughts.
"Is it of any concern?" inquired Brother Blood.
Slade set his hand down. "It will be looked into."
Brother Blood turned around and left the room. After the door closed, Slade resumed drinking his coffee. He then returned his attention to the monitors.
Authorities were scouting the perimeter when the titans arrived at the chemical plant. The titans approached the entrance on foot and were greeted by the officer in charge.
"What do you have so far?" inquired Robin.
"When we arrived, one of the security guards was spotted waking up from a smoking pavilion. He came out to the gate and let us in. Gus, the guard, told us he was knocked out and didn't see who his attacker was. He let us inside the plant and we started investigating the place."
"What did the security cameras reveal?"
"His assailant was Killer Moth," replied the lieutenant. "We found that all other guards were unconscious as well when we went inside."
"Did Killer Moth take anything then cause the explosion to cover his tracks?"
"We don't know. To a point the security cameras captured him walking through the halls of the facility. After that… nothing. We suspect he disabled all cameras after breaking into the monitoring room. So if he escaped since then, we don't know what he took."
Another officer's voice sounded over the radios. "Sir?"
The officer in charge pulled his out and responded. "Go ahead."
"We've got something you should see. Before the cameras were shut off the exterior ones caught something."
"I'll be right there," the officer in charge responded. "I'll be bringing the titans in with me."
"Yes sir," complied the junior officer.
Robin turned to the titans. "I'll review the film with the lieutenant. I want you guys to check out the damage from the explosion."
"The space is contaminated," the lieutenant informed them. "You should wear chemical protection suits."
"The same goes for you Starfire," ordered the boy wonder. "I don't want you taking any chances, regardless of your Tamaranean physiology."
"Yes Robin," the alien princess complied.
The lieutenant led the titans inside the plant. A security guard escorted them through the hallways until they reached the monitoring room where Robin and the lieutenant were let in. Cyborg, Starfire, and Omen continued on following the guard to the elevator that would take them down to the storage room.
He opened a sealed closet. "We have the chemical protections suits in here." He stepped in and brought one out for himself. "Once you're all dressed we'll take the elevator to the storage area."
The titans each took out a suit and dressed up. Once they inspected each others' suits for proper containment the guard accessed the elevator and led them down.
Robin and the lieutenant met the officer inside the monitoring room. With him was another plant security guard. The guard sat before a monitor with a video picture on pause. The footage displayed the front of the plant grounds showing nothing out of the ordinary.
"Okay, what do you have?" asked the lieutenant.
The officer gestured to the guard with a slight nod. "Well, sir," the guard began as he turned back to the monitor to push PLAY so that the footage would resume, "this is just a few seconds before anything strange was caught. And now…" Something fell to the ground from the top of the animation. "It looks something like a coat," the guard supposed. "This is the really strange part," he added just a second before some form of bird of prey landed nearby. It quickly began to change, growing larger. Just as it seemed to take a new shape, the footage went dead. "That's when Killer Moth must have cut off the cameras," the guard concluded.
The lieutenant turned to Robin. "Mean anything to you-?" he asked until he sounded like he cut himself off. Robin's expression was that of disbelief. "What is it?"
"Let me speak to my team first." Robin pulled out his communicator. "Titans, come in."
"What's up, Robin?" Cyborg inquired.
"Did you find anything?"
"The fires are out but damage to the storage room is beyond extensive. It would also seem we have a casualty down here – what's left of him."
Robin heard the soft voice of Omen. "Tell him about the image," she advised Cyborg from a short distance away.
"Just a sec," Robin stated. "Do you have an I.D. on the casualty?"
"Killer Moth," the hybrid answered. "Anything of interest on the security footage?"
"Rather inexplicable than interesting. You know that clone theory we spoke of?"
"Yes," replied Cyborg whose curiosity was evident in his image.
"I'm beginning to have doubts. But I won't draw conclusions until we get back to the tower. There's something I'll want to see. Now what about this image?"
"Well, when we got to the entrance of the storage room we saw something that was apparently burned into the sealed door."
"What did it look like?" Robin urged.
"An imperfect silhouette of a raven."
Robin opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by the titans' alert. "We got a break-in downtown," he deciphered to his team. "Titans, go!" He turned to the lieutenant.
"You really gonna look into that?" asked the lieutenant. "What about what happened here?"
"We'll be in touch, I promise," the titan leader assured him.
"Then go," he permitted.
When one considers how close the hawk and raven were flying together, it was unnecessary for the raven to be Beast Boy's eyes this time. They were now soaring over the city in search of the next target. It was not long before they both spotted him.
His face was glued to the display window. Control Freak drooled over the fifty two inch plasma TV that to him was just begging to be stolen. He had it powered on to a rerun of the late-late show. Beside that was the latest – and most well received by consumers – in home entertainment: a multi-disk DVD recorder and an excellent surround sound system among other items.
For there to be as little damage as possible the glass for the window would have to be broken from the inside. Control Freak looked around the store as best as he could and finally spotted several large toy robots. Using his remote he activated them. They slowly approached the window with the intent of climbing up onto the display case to pound the glass until it shattered.
The raven landed first on top of a building across the street. After dropping the coat the hawk did too and became Beast Boy again. Due to the extensive damage to his uniform, Beast Boy picked up the trench coat and put it on. They both watched as Control Freak made use of his remote and watched as two robots inside the store marched toward the glass. Beast Boy remembered part of Control Freak's involvement in the attack on him and Raven.
An instant after Beast Boy restored himself to human form after fending off an attack from his and Raven's assailants, Control Freak quickly aimed his remote at some power cables. The cables snapped and, from behind the two titans, snaked their way around both. This was not the first time he had brought to life inanimate objects. They squeezed exceptionally tight and sent a massive surge of electricity through Beast Boy and Raven. Both cried out from the excruciating agony.
Raven struggled hoarsely to recite her mantra. "Azerath… Metrion… Zinthos."
The cables were shrouded with her dark energy and were pulled away. Beast Boy and Raven fell over onto the ground. With minimal strength still there she was able to disintegrate the cables.
"Oh, my sweet," Control Freak cooed at the television. "Where have you been all my life?"
Beast Boy shook his head in disgust and stuck an index finger in his mouth in a gagging gesture. He looked over at the raven. "I'm going to end this before he thinks about making kissy noises." Beast Boy directed his attention to the couch potato down below. "Hey, Control Freak!" he called.
The entranced villain spun around and looked about. He could see no one. But the voice continued.
"Tell me, what's you favorite scary movie?"
"Who's there?" Control Freak demanded. He even looked up at the rooftops but could see no one.
Beast Boy knew he was hidden in the shadows of the rooftop structures. "Might it be Dracula… or Wicked Scary 2? No, I know! It's…" He leapt from the roof with the same precision as in the plant and stood up straight. "The Beast Still Walks!"
Control Freak acted out part of his villainous namesake – he freaked. He backed up against the shop window as this face-painted lunatic began crossing the street. "You – you… you're dead!"
"Killer Moth believed the same thing… before he went up in flames," Beast Boy said as he stepped up on the sidewalk.
Control Freak looked left and right for something to activate with his remote. He realized he could do no better than a vehicle. A large dump truck was parked not more than thirty feet way. He raised his remote and prepared to press a set of buttons, but he had no chance for retaliation as Beast Boy had him pinned against the shop in an instant.
"Please!" Control Freak begged. "Please don't kill me!"
"You signed your death warrant the moment you took our lives," Beast Boy hissed in Control Freak's face. He added with more force, "Especially hers!"
"I'm sorry!"
Beast Boy did not completely let up on his hold over Control Freak, but he lightened his grip a bit. "Fine."
"Huh?"
"I've decided I'll show you mercy."
A look of relief replaced Control Freak's terrified expression. "Really? Oh, thank you, thank you-"
"I'm going to kill you quicker than you killed Raven and me."
"Nooo!"
Yanking him away from the window, Beast Boy spun him around and grabbed his long red hair from the back, then pressed his face up against the window. This action caused the villain to drop his remote.
"Do you remember those times you zapped yourself into television?" Beast Boy asked him looking at Control Freak's reflection in the glass. "I know a way that will make you a real smash!"
"Please, don't!" the whiner cried as he was jerked back.
With one hand Beast Boy threw him forward sending him face first through the window. The glass broke and cracked in several places. Control Freak's head went immediately into the plasma screen with Beast Boy's hand still holding onto him. Electrocution filled them both and both did feel the jolt of the current. But when it was over, Beast Boy, who briefly lay motionless from the event, was the only one who stood back up. He saw the fried face of the deceased.
The raven flew down to the street near Beast Boy. For a moment the changeling appeared to be in thought. "I think I'd like to go back to the tower for a while," he wearily said to it without morphing into his own form of a raven.
The raven did not appear to argue. Instead it took off into the air. The tower was just a couple of miles away. Beast Boy decided to walk. As he rounded a corner someone appeared out of nowhere.
The R-cycle and T-car were speeding along the highway back to the city to respond to the break-in.
"So what's the trouble?" queried Cyborg.
"An alarm went off at the 'Home Entertainment' shop," stated Robin. "It has to be Control Freak."
"I guess he didn't get enough TV time in prison," the metal man stated dryly.
The titans hurried on for a few more minutes until Robin spoke up with some frustration. "Ugh! By the time we get there, he'll likely have gotten away. Omen can you teleport ahead to the store and intercept him."
"You bet," she complied and was gone in a blink.
Omen appeared before the store. She could have sworn she saw a figure step around the corner. But her attention was immediately drawn to the scene before her. Indeed there was a break-in of some sort. She was astonished not so much by the damage to the glass, but rather the result of the damage. Her attention to that didn't last as she suddenly found herself looking at the body on the ground and the damage to his face.
Omen pulled out her communicator. "Robin, I've surveyed the scene."
"Did you intercept Control Freak?"
"Not me." She took a breath. "Someone else did… before I got here."
"So fill us in," Robin insisted.
"Control Freak is dead. Someone shoved him into a plasma television. Judging from the burns on his face, I'd say cause of death was electrocution." There was a momentary pause before the telepath continued. "I think his attacker was the same person who hit the plant."
"What makes you say that?" asked the team lead.
"You know that image burned into the door at the plant? From the way the glass has broken and cracked, somehow another raven symbol appears in the window."
For another moment there was silence until Robin spoke up. "Okay, listen up titans. I want us all regroup back at the tower. There was something in the security footage at the chemical plant I think we should all see. I don't want to say anything about what I saw until we've all watched it.
"As for Control Freak… let's just make an anonymous call to the police that he was found dead at the scene. Omen we'll see you back at the tower."
"Right," she finished and teleported away.
The instant the store's alarm sounded off, the primary screen in Slade's monitoring room televised the remainder of the incident. He witnessed the demise of Control Freak at the hands of someone whose back was to the traffic camera Slade had tapped into to monitor the city. Brother Blood entered the room. His curiosity about the attacker was aroused when he saw as the figure got back onto his feet, seemingly unharmed.
"It would seem we have just lost another ally," stated Slade with his back to his counterpart.
Brother Blood detect the slight displeasure in Slade's tone. "Are the titans responsible?" he asked with intrigue.
Slade's voice was back to even. "Maybe… maybe not-" he replied.
Both observed the standing figure turn to seeming speak to a black bird that had just landed near him. Curious, Slade zoomed in quickly. The figure resembled someone familiar.
"Is that-?" Blood wondered out loud.
"It could be. If it is him, I must know how he is still alive."
Blood looked closer at something else in the footage. "Look at that," he pointed regardless that Slade would not him doing so. "Do you see that pattern in the broken window?"
Slade looked as well. "Indeed I do. So he's back to eliminate his attackers and leaving a symbol. I must know more."
"Shall I have my students look into it?"
"That won't be necessary. I think all we'll need to know will be found at the titans' headquarters. Care to join me?"
"Absolutely."
The titans had returned to the tower. Magenta was finally awake and feeling much better. Kid Flash was relieved she was well as were the rest of the titans. They were all gathered in the Rec. room.
"So what did you guys find out tonight?" wondered Kid Flash.
Robin produced a disk. "I have here a copy of the security footage taken at the chemical plant. I want all of you to see what I did before I say more. Let's go."
They walked to the security room. The moment they opened the door, all were stunned to find the criminal database open with the images of the H.I.V.E. students and Killer Moth, Johnny Rancid, and Control Freak. They were more startled by the message on the wall pointed out by Starfire: "THEY'RE MINE."
"What is going on?" cried a flustered Cyborg.
"I think your answer may come with what you see here," replied Robin holding up the disk.
As Robin went to place it in the consol, a sudden movement in one of the smaller monitors caught Magenta's attention. "You guys – look!" she cried.
Everyone turned to see Beast Boy down at Raven's grave. He appeared to be convulsing until he toppled over and apparently passed out.
A/N: Read and Review and thank you.
