"You can help me remember who I really am."

Alexa did a double take upon hearing the young warrior's words.

"Help you remember? Remember what?"

The elevator chimed as the doors began to open. "Not now, doctor, we'll talk later."

Rose grabbed Alexa's arm and dragged her out of the lift, taking her straight to a room at the end of the hallway. Pontone recognized where they were, it was the place she had secretly named the throne room, because of the huge throne like granite chair Slade kept in there. Slade was sitting in the chair, which was raised on a dais. He was looking rather regal, with his decrepit butler at his side, who at the moment was pouring him a glass of sherry. Rose shoved Alexa towards her father and Alexa lost her balance from the push and tumbled face forward onto the hard floor.

Slade leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands, resting his elbows on his knees.

"So, doctor, have you finally come to your senses?"

Alexa slowly stood up. Regret was filling her soul. How she ever came to make a deal with the madman seated before her seemed to escape her, but somehow she did. Back in school Garfield had told her, Tina and Janie all about the Titans' one eyed nemesis. In what universe was striking a deal with this monster a good idea? Sure, she now had a small fortune on deposit in several Swiss banks, but what good would that money do her now? It might as well be Monopoly money. How could she spend or enjoy it as Slade's prisoner or Lex Luthor's fugitive.

"I'm ready to make a deal with you, Slade."

Slade allowed a subtle chuckle to escape from his hidden lips.

"A deal? My dear doctor, you are in no position to bargain with me. I have all the cards, you can't make any demands, my lovely prisoner."

"No … I'm not making demands … I just want to propose a deal that would be mutually beneficial to both of us."

"Why should I even entertain your offer?"

"Because if you don't, you'll never have the password."

"Defiant to the end … I usually admire that … but not today. Now, doctor, I would like the password without further delay."

"No."

Slade sat up straight in his chair, his body language shouting out his displeasure.

"Perhaps you do not understand the precariousness of your situation. Allow me to remind you. You are my prisoner and I have the power of life and death over you."

"If you kill me, you'll lose the password forever; all your efforts to procure the weapon designs will have been for naught."

"Who said anything about killing you? But remember, I can make you suffer doctor. The waterboarding was nothing, I can do much worse than that."

Stone faced, Alexa stood her ground. "I'm sure that you can, but there's something you don't know."

"Really?" He replied in a mocking tone. "Enlighten me."

"I have an implant in my brain, when I experience great fear or pain it suppresses them."

Slade stood up and walked up to her. He towered over her and Alexa suppressed a primal urge to shiver. Slade leaned forward until they were face to face.

"You're bluffing."

She instinctively stepped away from him. "I'm not. Luther has all his key employees fitted with one, to protect his trade secrets. It protects me from telepathic invasion too. Not even Mento of the Doom Patrol was able to breach it. Haven't you wondered why I didn't crack during the waterboarding?"

Slade stood upright. "Fine, I shall have it surgically removed."

Alexa quickly shook her head. "You can't, not without the proper instruments. If you try, it will destroy my brain and the password will be lost."

"And you agreed to allow this device to be implanted in your brain? While you are a woman of striking beauty, we both now that your most treasured asset isn't your waist or your bust, doctor. Your true pride and joy is right between your two ears."

"Luthor pays his key employees very handsomely."

"Yet you still chose to betray him."

"You can't become a billionaire on a five million dollar salary."

"I see, doctor, you were reaching for the stars."

"Why not? You only live once."

"I'm afraid you are mistaken about that. I say this from firsthand experience … tell you what, my dear, I will humor you and hear you out. So what is this deal that you propose?"

"Release me to the Titans and I will give you the password."

Alexa froze, as she waited for Slade's response. The one eyed villain walked away from her and paced around the room. After what felt like an agonizing eternity, he stopped walking and locked eyes with her.

"I'm sorry, doctor, I am afraid that is unacceptable."

"Why? You'll have your password."

"And you will tell the Titans about my plans."

"Do you really think they haven't figured them out already?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, I cannot risk letting you reveal them. Plus, I need you to remain my hostage until the changeling returns to my service."

"So it was all a lie about setting me free?"

Slade shook his head. "I promised you your freedom and safety. And I will deliver as promised, but you will have to be patient and wait … so now, if you would be so kind, give me the password."

"No."

Slade did not betray his displeasure this time with his body language. He folded his arms behind his back and nodded stoically. "As you wish doctor … Rose … take her to the torture chamber … I want to see how effective this brain implant really is."

-(-)-

Gizmo stood up with a snarky grin on his face.

"It's true, when you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Never let a barf brain do the job."

"So … you're done?" Beast Boy asked.

"What do you think, spinach face? Of course I'm done."

"And … this will trace Slade's next call?"

"Of course it will … this isn't one of Cyborg's lame-o jobs. This is state of the art."

"And what if Slade uses a mobile phone?"

"It'll find everywhere it's been via triangulation."

"You can do that? How?"

"It's easy, if you know how to hack into the phone company's logs."

"Whoa! You didn't say anything about that. That's illegal! We could get into trouble."

Gizmo crossed his arms and cast a glance at Cyborg. "I thought Nightwing was the anal retentive one. I see that a lot of Raven has rubbed off on him."

"BB's got a point. We should get a court order before doing …"

"Do you want to find Slade or not?"

"Well, yeah, but …"

"You're just as bad as the boy blunder." Gizmo snickered. "No wonder the bad guys are always a step ahead of you losers."

"If we act like bad guys, then we are bad guys." Cyborg retorted.

"Whatever … anyway, you owe me some ribs."

"Sorry dude, they're all gone." Cyborg grinned happily.

"You promised me some, you sludge head!"

"Only if you were done by lunchtime. But if you're still hungry there's plenty of falafel left over."

Gizmo packed his toolbag in a huff. "Falafel? Do I look like I'm a vegetarian or something?"

"It wouldn't hurt you." The changeling ribbed him. "When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked?"

"My blood pressure? Are you saying I'm fat?"

"I'd listen to BB if I was you … he's a doctor."

"He's a not a real doctor."

"Excuse me?" Gar glared at the midget.

"You're a freaking veterinarian. You're not a real doctor."

Gizmo suddenly felt an icy chill in the air behind him. He turned around and found himself facing a four eyed Raven.

"What did you say?" Her guttural voice echoed in the room.

Gizmo shrieked like a girl. When did the creepy Titan return? He slowly turned around, and confirmed that it was indeed Raven. He shrieked as second time when he saw the hydra like snakes begin to grow out of her head.

"OK, fine, he's a real doctor, the best kind there is! Just put them away!"

Raven's snakes receded back into her head.

"I think it's time for you to leave." she growled.

Gizmo slung his tool bag over his shoulder. "Works for me. I don't even remember why I offered to help you pit sniffing Titans." He grumbled. The midget then glared at the changeling. "And just so you know, my blood pressure is just fine, except when I have to look at your ugly wife."

"Raven's right, it's time for you to vamoose. I'll show you out. This way, punk."

Cyborg dragged Gizmo out of the communications room. The green Titan crossed his arms and frowned. "If his blood pressure is fine, I'll eat Cy's ribs for dinner."

Raven nudged him in the ribs. "Relax, doctor, he's gone."

"I don't what it is about that jerk, but he just has a way of getting under my skin. How dare he insult you?"

Raven shrugged her indifference. "Jinx once told me that no one likes him. The Hive only put up with him because he was useful."

"I just want to wring his neck, and I shouldn't feel that way. Every time I encounter the twerp MY blood pressure goes up!"

Garfield suddenly felt his wife's warm lips caress the nape of his neck.

"The kids are both asleep." She purred into his ear.

His frown vanished in a wink of an eye and was replaced by a huge grin.

"I thought I was supposed to wait a week, Dr. Roth."

Using her levitating powers, she glided into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "My name is Dr. Logan, I healed that injury, remember?"

"I do."

Raven's expression suddenly changed … she looked … professional?

"It's been brought to my attention that you've fallen behind and can't pay your medical bill."

He arched an eyebrow. "Huh? What medical bill?"

She frowned at him.

"It's called role-playing, dummy … I wanted to try something fun and different … don't ruin it."

He made an "Ohhh!" face before regaining his composure and clearing his throat. "Umm … yeah … what can I say? I'm broke … I don't have two nickels to rub together. Is there any other way I could pay you, doctor?"

Raven shrugged her shoulders, and then smiled demurely at him. "I'm open to suggestions."

"I could mow your lawn?"

"I don't have one." She replied in her monotone.

"Paint your garage?"

"Nope."

"I … could be your … pool boy?" He smiled.

"I don't have a pool." She smiled seductively. "But I think I can work with that. You will have to clean my nonexistent pool in the buff … as in completely naked. Will that be a problem?"

He pursed his lip as he shook his head.

"Nope, not at all, I could do that."

"We could make this an ongoing arrangement, I've been patching you up for years and you've never paid me, not a single time. I don't care for deadbeats who don't pay their bills."

"Understandable, I do believe in paying off my debts ... in full." He smiled at her.

Raven pulled him into deep kiss. "I'm also going to have to charge you interest on all the money you owe me … this could take you some time to pay off … pool boy."

He kissed her back. "I insist on working for you until I've paid you back, down to the last penny."

Her black hemisphere rose from the floor, filling the room with its dark energy hum, and engulfed them. It sank back into the floor, taking them with it.

-(-)-

Raven moaned happily as she curled up next to her husband, who was snoring softly. She ran her fingers over his now languid muscles, which just minutes before had been rock hard, like other, more … "fun" parts of his body were as well.

So I tuckered you out, didn't I, my green energizer bunny? It's ok, my emerald prince … sleep, you've earned it.

Raven closed her eyes and pecked him on the cheek. The kids were asleep and she was feeling happy and relaxed. It also helped that she had just experienced what perhaps was the best roll in the hay of their marriage. The memory of their first time, which was basically a disaster, was distant and all but forgotten. She smiled smugly as she now felt like an expert, a sensuous and erotic woman who could make her man shake from the intensity of the coital encounter. Of course, she too was a quivering mess when they were done, and she liked it that way. Earlier, as she lay panting, lying next to her mate, Alexa's face appeared in her mind. Raven smiled smugly.

You can suck it, bitch … he's mine … he screams my name while he makes love to me. He'll never be yours again. Hell, he never was yours to begin with.

Raven snuggled up to her green stud, who unconsciously wrapped an arm around her and drew her close. She was beginning to doze off when her communicator, which was resting on her nightstand, began to trill. Groaning unhappily she rolled over, grabbed it and flipped it open.

"What?" she curtly answered the inopportune call.

Cyborg's face appeared on the display. "You and BB need to come to the common room, there's a phone call for him."

Raven scrunched her face. "Whoever it is, tell them that we'll call back later."

Cyborg raised his human eyebrow. "Are you guys in bed? It's only three in the afternoon … uh … I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"Since when do I need your permission to spend some quality time with my husband?"

"Sorry … look … it's Slade and he wants to talk to BB."

Raven bolted into a sitting position. "Did you say Slade?"

Cyborg looked away from his communicator and blushed. "Uh … you do know that you're naked, right?"

Raven also blushed, then frowned at the communicator

"Oh … grow up, Cyborg, you've seen me naked in the infirmary … Gar! Wake up! Slade's on the phone!"

-(-)-

Slade stared at the woman who was still strapped to the torture table. Rose stood next to him with a frown on her face.

"She wasn't lying, she didn't scream a single time, even though you nearly fried her. Are you sure there was no permanent damage?"

Slade nodded his agreement. "She'll be fine. She is proving to be quite a nuisance … take her back to her room, but have the robots wash her first, she lost control of her bowels."

Rose scrunched her nose. "Yeah, I already noticed."

Two Slade-bots picked up Pontone's limp form and wrapping her arms around their shoulders they lifted her into an upright position. Ravager gestured with her head and they followed her out of the torture chamber, into the hallway. At the far end of the corridor was a large dormitory style bathroom, with several shower stalls. The robots undressed the still groggy blond and dragged her into a stall, turning on the cold water. Alexa shrieked when the ice cold stream hit her skin, but remained in the stall. A third robot approached and began to quickly scrub her clean, and completed the task within a few minutes. They then dried her and dressed her in a dark blue fleece outfit. When they were done they dragged her to Rose, who gave her a quick look over.

"Can you stand on your own?"

Alexa nodded weakly. Rose turned to the robots.

"Leave us. I will return her to the cell."

The Slade-bots complied without question and left the communal bath, filing out silently.

Alexa's legs felt as if they were made of rubber. While the security chip Luthor implanted in her brain did block the worst aspects of the electric shock torture from inflicting and pain upon delivery, it didn't help at all with the aftermath. The electrical induced spasms had done a number on her muscles, which felt like they were on fire.

Rose bit her lower lip before speaking. "This room isn't bugged, so we can speak freely here."

"What … do you … want … from me?" Alexa gasped.

"I already told you … I want to recover my memories."

"I don't understand … I'm not an MD … how am I supposed to help you? And even if I was, I'm in no condition to help … I can barely stand … did I soil myself?"

"You did, father really turned up the juice on you. Your bowels emptied themselves."

"What do you want me to do, Ravager?"

Rose frowned before replying. "Dad's been drugging me. I found out that I have false memories of my mother. I believed that she hated me and handed me over to dad, but now I know it's not true."

"You want me to give you an antidote, right?"

"Correct."

Alexa was breathing laboriously. "Do you know what he's been giving you?"

"I have no idea." She showed Alexa an inhaler. "But this is it."

She handed it to Alexa, who scrunched her face as she examined it.

"It's unlabelled … I'll need a lab to analyze it. But how? If Slade sees me in one of his labs, he'll know I'm up to something … he'll bust both of us."

"I know." Rose replied. "So I'm getting us out of here."

Alexa stared incredulously at Rose. "I don't believe you."

"Believe it."

"How am I supposed to escape like this? I can barely walk, I feel like I'm dying."

"Leave it to me. The aches will go away, I'll give you something to help … we're leaving tomorrow; dad will be away for most of the day. We're getting out of here, even if I have to carry you."

"Where will we go?"

"Leave that to me."

-(-)-

"What do you want Slade?"

"What do I want? I'm checking in on you, my apprentice."

"I'm not your apprentice. I never will be!" Gar responded with a dismissive sweep of his arm.

Slade's masked face, amplified on the giant view screen, loomed over the room. The assembled Titans responded with a collective glare.

"Oh but you are. And I want you to resume training, beginning the day after tomorrow, with me in the Bad Lands."

Raven flew up to the screen, pointing a finger at Slade.

"He's in no shape to train."

"He looks fine to me … if he's recovered enough to have a romantic romp with you, then he can train again. And don't worry, dear Raven, I won't harm the family jewels again, I promise."

Raven's four red eyes made an appearance. "How dare you!"

"If you think I was spying on you, I wasn't. It's more than obvious that you both just came from the bedroom, you both look flushed. Also …"

"Enough Slade! You said that Nightwing would train him." Raven thundered.

"My, my, you certainly have become protective of my apprentice. I have to say, I miss the days when you mistreated him constantly. It was a steady source of entertainment, to say the least. It almost seems like you're compensating for something."

Nightwing stepped forward. "Raven is right, we made a deal with you."

"And I am changing the deal."

Cyborg sat at the mission console, quietly typing on his console, trying not to draw attention to himself. The LCD display showed a stream of hexadecimal data, while the trace algorithm continued to work its magic.

"Why should we agree to this?"

"Why, my former apprentice? Because Dr. Pontone remains my prisoner."

"For all we know, she's your accomplice, and you're just tricking us!" The changeling shouted.

"She was my accomplice, she helped me kidnap you … but since then … how can I say this? We've had a falling out."

"We don't believe you! You are and have always been a liar." Starfire rebuked him.

"I am deceptive and underhanded, but I am not a liar, princess."

"You told the world that the Gordanians were here because of us!" Bumble shouted.

"It was an educated guess, I didn't know about the plague."

"You offered a bounty on us." Nightwing reminded him.

"I never said I was you friend … but since you don't believe me, perhaps this will convince you?"

Footage of Alexa's two torture sessions began to play. The Titans, along with the trainees, watched silently as Slade waterboarded Alexa. Then the electrical shock torture was played back. After a couple of minutes, Slade's masked face reappeared on the screen.

"Logan, unless you obey me Dr. Pontone's agony will only increase, and there will be permanent damage. You don't want anything else to happen to your old girlfriend, do you?"

"She was never his girlfriend!" Raven interjected.

Slade chuckled. "Oh dear, did I hit a raw nerve, my sweet Raven? I know you don't care for Dr. Pontone, but your husband must have some lingering feelings for her, she is such a lovely and desirable woman, the kind of lady men dream about, am I right, Logan?"

Raven frowned.

"Rave, don't listen to him." Her husband tried to soothe her. She placed a hand on his forearm.

"It's OK Gar, I know what he's like … a manipulator." She turned her focus back to the giant screen.

"We'll catch you again, Slade, and this time you won't escape."

"I always escape, child. And … Cyborg?"

The tin man looked up from his console. He looked unhappy, which meant but one thing.

"What do you want, Slade?"

"I just want to tell you that your efforts to trace this call are an utter waste of time. Gizmo thinks he can trace me, but I have better tech than he does. Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Victor Stone, I can assure you that not even your former colleagues at STAR Labs could trace this call … goodbye, Titans."

The screen went blank and a dead silence hung in the room. The Titans, senior and junior, cast furtive glances at each other. Finally, Nightwing spoke.

"Cyborg, tell me you got something."

The tin man shook his head. "Sorry man, he covered his tracks. I ain't got jack."

Grayson kicked a chair, smashing it to pieces.

-(-)-

For those of you unfamiliar with William Randolph Wintergreen, he actually appeared once in the old show. It was in the very first episode, the one where Robin and Cyborg get into a fight over whose fault it was that Cinderblock got away. He appears towards the end of the episode, serving tea to Slade. In the episode he neither speaks nor is identified as Wintergreen. His character later appears in the Teen Titans Go comics (the issue where Rose appears) and is identified as Wintergreen.

Here is the issue if you want to read it:

Comicsttgonline dot blogspot dot com/2011/01/ttg-49-legacy do l

Or just google "Teen Titans Go! Issue 49"

And now the mailbag!

Adventuresstime – Now that's the spirit!

Just a Reviewer – I doesn't strike me as wrong at all. Gizmo is a character we love to hate.

Flarezap – I still haven't decided on Rose's final fate.

Jess – You want fluff? You got it!

Chayse-man – All hell will break loose next chapter.

gabylokita41 – Rose is in a bad.

Bluedog197 – Raven has always been the wise one.

Soulsurfer2112 – Don't worry, there will be tons of things to cover in the epilogue, where I promise to reveal Mark's background.

Me – Now I'm blushing! :-D

acosta perez jose Ramiro – Thanks again. Do you still live in Cancun, you lucky duck!

Guest - I have a couple on hiatus.

BartWLewis – A good point. But remember the episode with Malchior? Raven had some serious body image issues back then. But where a demoness would excel above mortal women would be in the sack. But Raven is half human too.

krostovikraven1 – They can't hurt Gizmo. Noblesse oblige and all that stuff. Too bad, because he has it coming.

JasonVUK – I hated trouble in Tokyo because of that. It would have been a perfect time to develop some BBRaeness, but nooooo! It was all about RobStar!

Hairul The Nightrage Beast – We read the same comics!

DeeThom – Thanks!

The Cretin – BB probably eats fake ribs made of tofu! Yuck!

JOHNXgambit – It was sad. They didn't actually show Joey getting his throat slit. It was still the 80's after all. Just like they never showed Terra in bed with Slade, they just showed the aftermath.

Guest – Thanks!

SuperNolon – Are they Titans fans too?

Anoymous136 – She isn't happy about dad.

Notabotipromise – I wonder what Slade would do?

GreenMongoose – Slade's gonna be pissed!

mlbv-grimm – I'm happy that you liked it!

titanfan45 – I wonder what Metropolis style ribs are like?