The tranquil sound of the bay's waters lapping against the empty slips in the marina was interrupted by the mechanical whine of a motorcycle's engine as a two wheeler came screaming into the marina's empty parking lot. It zoomed past the management office, which still displayed its faded "Sorry, we're closed" sign in its dirty window. There was what appeared to be a freestanding garage at the end of the parking lot and the motorcycle's rider, who was dressed in black leather and wore a matching black helmet, pressed on a button on the bike's minimalist dashboard. One of the garage doors on the building rolled up and without decelerating the motorbike entered the structure.
It didn't crash into the rear of the structure because there was a ramp that led underground. It was circular, like a corkscrew. It was lit with fluorescent lights, which made their unnatural hum as the motorcycle descended deep into the ground, until it was hundreds of feet below the surface.
Slade parked his motorcycle in the real garage and dismounted from his ride. He tweaked the holoring he was wearing and his biker garb vanished, revealing his signature semi-armored look. His fists were balled in anger. The changeling would pay for his insolence, or at least Dr. Pontone would pay for it.
He was so consumed in his rage that he almost didn't notice that something was wrong. For starters, he noticed that none of his droids were in the garage. There should be a mechanic on duty, a robot dedicated to maintaining the small fleet of cars and motorcycles he kept hidden down there.
He quickly jogged out of the underground garage into a corridor, where he found the derelict mechanic. It was standing in the middle of the hall, slumped forward, deactivated. Slade tapped on his wrist communicator.
"Rose … report!"
There was no answer. He tapped on his communicator a second time.
"Wintergreen … answer me."
Again there was no reply. Slade ran to his control room, passing several deactivated robots along the way. When he finally arrived he found Wintergreen, tied up and gagged, sitting on a chair. He quickly unbound his confidante.
"What happened? Why were you tied up? Who attacked us? And where is Rose?"
William Randolph Wintergreen coughed once Slade removed his gag, which had been tied onto him very tightly and made it difficult to breathe.
"Speak up! What happened here?" Slade suddenly recalled Raven calling her husband, interrupting the training session. "Was this the Titans doing?"
The old man shook his head as he wheezed. Finally, after taking a few deep breaths, he responded.
"Not the Titans."
"Then who?"
Wintergreen locked eyes with his friend.
"I'm sorry, Wilson, but this will be hard to hear."
"Just get to the point!"
"Very well … your daughter has betrayed you. She took Dr. Pontone with her."
Slade tensed up, every muscle in his body became rigid with anger. In a demonstration of self discipline he quickly regained control.
"Did she say where he went?"
Wintergreen sighed. "No, she didn't, but isn't it obvious?"
Slade helped the old man to his feet.
"You are right … Wintergreen, get the Xenothium."
"Are you sure, Wilson? We have so little."
"Yes, I am aware of that. It has become next to impossible to steal, thanks to that idiot Red-X, I sould have killed him years before. The changeling's first task would have been to increase our inventory. But without the password I cannot access the plans for Luthor's weapons … but I can still use the Xenothium."
Wintergreen nodded. "I understand … I'll get it from the vault and bring it to you."
The old man hurried out of the room while Slade focused on a large console. He began to type furiously and a screen showed his army of robots slowly awakening and coming to life. Once they were all back online, he typed in a command:
Attack pattern alpha.
Hundreds of Slade-bots, armed to the teeth with laser pistols and rifles flowed out of the management office's single door and jumped into various speed boats and the Adeline. Once loaded, each boat sped away, making a bee line for their ultimate destination: Titans Tower.
Wintergreen returned with what looked like a small gym bag in his hand.
"I'm ready, Wilson."
"Time for the Titans to pay for everything they've done to us."
The two men entered a small elevator and rode it up towards the surface. When the doors opened they revealed a large, dark room. Slade walked into the room and stopped in front of another console, where he pulled a lever.
Outside in the parking lot a stray dog was wandering around, sniffing the ground as canines are wont to do. The flea infested pooch was startled by the sound of an explosion and scurried away, howling in fear as it ran away. The explosion blew the roof off of the management office, sending it tumbling in the air before it thunderously crashed into the parking lot. The four exterior walls in what was left of the building collapsed outwardly and as they did what appeared to be a large cannon rose from the ground.
"Professor Chang makes nice particle beam cannons. It's a shame they need so much Xenothium to operate." Wintergreen remarked as the nearly identical replica of the cannon Chang had once kept in an old observatory came to life. He opened the gym bag and removed a single canister from it, handing it to Slade. "It's a shame we'll only get a single shot."
Slade took the canister and loaded it into the cannons' revolving chamber.
"Once shot is all we'll need."
Slade peered through a pair of binoculars and saw that his robots had arrived at their destination and were storming Titans Island. He sat down in the gunners chair and pulling on more levers he swiveled the cannon towards the Tower and after taking careful aim he pressed the fire button.
The cannon vomited its deadly beam, which shot across the bay in an instant. It went straight for the large titanium alloy doors in the lobby, slicing through them, and the walls behind them like a hot knife cutting through butter. The cannon exhausted the contents of the Xenothium canister, sputtered and shut down. Meanwhile, back on the island, hordes of Slade-bots rushed into the Tower, firing their weapons.
Slade stared stoically at the Tower across the bay, while the sound of distant sirens that were slowly approaching the marina grew louder. The two men jogged to the slips, where a single speedboat remained.
"Time for us to leave." The taller man droned in his baritone.
-( - )-
The Tower shook violently as the particle beam sliced through it, destroying support beams and walls. As soon as the shaking ended, alarms began to blare loudly.
Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. A mechanical voice repeated over the Tower's PA system.
Beast Boy and Cyborg ran to the common room.
"Well, that sure didn't take Slade long." The changeling huffed as he ran.
"What I want to know is how he got around my security system this time." The tin man bellowed. "This time there was no Terra to pass him our secrets."
By the time they got to the common room the Graysons and the Wallaces were already there. Raven was absent, as she was still returning Alexa to her cell. The giant screen was on and it showed several views around the Tower's interior, all of them swarming with dangerous looking Slade-bots.
"What happened?" Garfield shouted.
"Particle beam cannon, it blew out our security doors." Nightwing replied.
"Over one thousand Slade bots are in the Tower." Wally added.
"The Teens are already on their way to engage them and we need to help them." Jinx concluded.
"Where is Raven?" Starfire asked.
"She was taking Alex back to her cell."
"We'll have to do without her for now." Nightwing retorted. "Starfire, you need to get the kids out of here."
"But I am a warrior!" She protested.
"You are, but you're pregnant. Someone has to take the children to safety, and the safe room won't cut it, there're too many Slade-bots. I want you to take the kids and get them out of here. Now!"
Starfire agreed reluctantly and took off flying. Nightwing turned to the remaining members of the team.
"Titans, Go!"
-( - )-
"You creepy bitch of a witch, put me down!"
Raven, with a smirk on her face, turned to face Alexa, who was squirming inside a giant obsidian black hand that floated in the air, waving her arms and kicking her legs.
"Sorry, no can do." The sorceress replied in her signature, gravelly monotone.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"You'd better believe it. But the best part will be when I get to toss your sorry blond ass into a cell."
A sneer appeared on Alexa's face. "Gar told me about Terra. You're just jealous, because we both know that Gar likes me more than he likes you … hey, watch the grip! It's getting too tight!"
Raven feigned an innocent face. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"Stop being such a bitch! I feel like my ribs are gonna crack."
The grip tightened even more.
"OK, I'm sorry! I didn't mean any of those things I said."
"That's better." Raven replied as she slightly loosened the grip. Alexa tried, in vain, to extricate herself from the giant floating hand.
"It's about time!"
Raven swerved around and flew up towards Alexa until they were eye to eye.
"I don't care if you're Mark's biological mother and I don't care if you had Gar before I did. He's mine. He was never yours and he'll always be mine. You aren't his wife; get that through your thick skull. And if you ever try to steal him from me …"
Raven's eyes shifted into their Trigonic form. "… I will kill you. And I can do it without anyone knowing it was me." She continued in a deep, otherworldly and guttural voice. "Have I made myself clear?"
Alexa shivered. She wasn't sure if Raven was bluffing or not, but she remembered how Gar once told them about when Raven's four red eyes would appear, and how that wasn't a good thing.
"OK, fine, just don't get your cape into a knot."
Raven resumed walking and moments later the Tower shook violently.
"What was that!?" Alexa shrieked.
"I don't know … maybe your coming here wasn't such a great idea after all."
Raven was about to turn a corner when the PA warned about intruders. Nightwing's voice followed: "Raven, if you can hear me, the Tower's been overrun by Slade-bots."
"This isn't good … I'm taking you to an escape pod."
"An escape pod?"
Cyborg installed several of them throughout the Tower. Their purpose is for evacuating civilians like you in case of an attack on the Tower. They have a small rocket and should quickly get you away from the Tower to safety."
A platoon of robots came charging around the corner, their weapons ready. Raven released Alexa.
"Take cover, I'll deal with the robots!"
Alexa ran into a nearby broom closet and leaving the door open a crack she watched in awe as Raven systematically sliced, diced and crushed the robots with her dark energy. In less than a minute the remains of over twenty droids were strewn across the floor.
"You can come out now, it's safe."
Alexa cautiously emerged from the closet, wide eyed, staring at the smoldering remains of the platoon.
"Remind me to stay on your good side."
"That goes without saying. Now follow me, there's an escape pod not far from here."
Raven turned and walked away while Alexa delicately stepped between the destroyed robots, afraid she might touch one of them by accident. As she passed the last one, which was just a twitching arm with a laser rifle still in its hand, Alexa looked up at Raven, who was still walking away. The blond grinned malevolently as she stopped and looked down at the severed arm. Silently, she kneeled and removed the weapon from the robot's hand and stood up. Raven was still walking away. Alexa raised the rifle, aimed … and fired.
Raven felt a searing burning sensation in her back, which began to convulse uncontrollably. She felt as if something was boring through her body and less than a second later she saw a laser beam emerge from her chest. Her jaw trembled from the intense agony she was feeling and she screamed in pain before collapsing. Her last thought, before blacking out, was a message to her mate.
GARFIELD! HELP ME!
With a dull thud she collapsed into a heap on the floor. Alexa raised the barrel of the laser rifle to her lips and blew at the imaginary smoke coming out of it before grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"You were saying, bitch? Oh that's right, you can't hear me … because you're dead!"
Alexa laughed hysterically before running away, leaving Raven's supine form abandoned behind her.
-( - )-
As the senior Titans rushed to meet the invaders, Garfield stopped dead in his tracks, clutching his temples. Nightwing noticed and shouted at him.
"Come on, Gar, we have no time to waste!"
The changeling shook his head.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Raven … she's hurt, she's hurt really bad. I have to find her."
Nightwing paused, weighing what to say. "OK … go find her. We'll be fine."
The changeling nodded and took off down a different corridor.
-( - )-
The changeling was fighting back the panic as he ran; he morphed into a cheetah and picked up the pace, a green blur racing down the hallway. Her telepathic blood curdling telepathic scream still echoed in his mind, along with her terrified call for help. Raven wasn't a strong telepath; she could only do it under great duress. And now, she was silent.
Oh God, please let her be OK, I promise I'll go to church again and I'll bring her with me. Please don't let her die … please.
The panic stricken green cheetah continued to run at full speed. As he careened around a corner he collided with something and fell down, instantly reverted to his human form. As he opened his eyes he saw Alexa slowly getting up.
"Alexa? What happened to Raven? I know she's hurt, I have to find her."
The blond grinned malevolently. "Don't bother … it's too late."
He eyed her skeptically. "What do you mean it's too late?"
"What do you think I mean, dummy? She's dead."
"DEAD!? You mean the Slade-bots … no! That's impossible!"
Alexa picked up the laser rifle, showing it off to him.
"Not the Slade-bots, Gar … I did it! I shot her in the back. I killed her!"
Beast Boy's jaw began to tremble. "You're lying! There's no way you could have done it. She's too sharp for that."
"Believe me … I did. And your little witchy-poo was escorting me to an escape pod when some robots intercepted us. She was impressive, Gar, she ripped them to shreds. But it never crossed her mind that I would shoot her."
Gar balled his fists and his whole body began to tremble in anger. "She was trying to help you, she was protecting you! And that's how you repaid her?"
Alexa gave him a sweet smile. "It wasn't about her, Gar … it was about you!"
"About me!? Are you saying that you killed her to get back at me?"
Alexa pointed the rifle at him. "Aren't you the smart one?"
"But why?" He asked as tears streamed down his face. "What did I ever do to you?"
"What did you do to me? Do you remember the canine vaccine?"
"Yes, but I don't understand. What does that have to do with anything?"
"You cost me a fortune, you idiot! I was also working on the vaccine. Luthor gave me stock options … I would have become a billionaire … had it not been for you!" She shouted through clenched teeth.
The changeling said nothing, but stared at her with a feral look in his eyes.
"Yes, Gar, now you feel my pain. Just as you did to me, now I've shattered your dreams."
"What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to kill me too?"
"Kill you? I don't think so. If I did, you'd stop suffering. No, what I want is for you to get up every morning and remember that I took her away from you. That's my revenge."
"You're going to pay for what you've done."
"Killing me will change nothing." She smirked. "Raven will still be dead."
Alexa gasped as his right hand morphed into a feline paw. He flexed it and huge, razor sharp claws popped out.
"Who said anything about killing you? But when I'm done with you, you'll wish you were dead."
Alexa raised the rifle and fired. He ducked to his left and the blast grazed his shoulder. As he howled in pain he leaped forward and batted the rifle out of her hands, smashing it. Alexa picked up the rifle's butt and fled into a nearby stairwell, jamming the door's handle with the piece of debris as she closed it behind her. Garfield tried to open the door, but the handle wouldn't budge. He pulled at the door, but its construction was sturdy and it wouldn't yield. He could hear her running up the stairs and he snapped. There were two escape pods on the roof, which meant she was going to get away. He threw his head back and howled in despair.
And that was when the transformation began. It had been many years since it last happened and there was no stopping it now. Unlike his normal transformations, this one was slow and he lost control of his body as it happened. His body grew and he felt a visceral change happen in his mind. He recognized what was occurring, and like the times before there was nothing he could do to stop it. When it was competed he was … The Beast.
The green Leviathan grabbed the handle and ripped the door from its hinges, tossing it aside as if it was made of cardboard. The sounds of her footsteps were faint, which meant she was approaching the Tower's rooftop. The Beast ran up the stairs as if he was riding on a rocket. He reached the rooftop just as Alexa climbed into one of the pods. In a single leap he landed next to it and ripped the door off before she could close it, rendering the pod unlaunchable. He then reached inside and grabbed her. Shaking her like a rag doll he pulled her out and threw her aside, and she rolled along the hard concrete surface, coming to a stop near the ledge. She quickly stood up and raised her hands in a submissive gesture.
"Gar, stop! If you don't, you'll regret it. You're a hero, not a killer!"
The green giant did not seem to hear her. It growled in a threatening tone and she saw that whatever he had turned into that it had murder in its eyes. As it approached her she slowly backed away from the nightmarish creature.
"Gar, I'm sorry … please don't kill me … I'll make it up to you, I swear!"
The Beast continued to encroach on her. It got so close that she could smell its breath. She continued to step back.
"Gar … please … I know you're in there … don't do this."
Alexa took one more step, and her heel caught on the ledge. She fell backward into the void and screamed in terror as she plummeted to the rocks hundreds of feet below.
Return control to me! I have to save her!
No, master, I won't. She does not deserve to be saved.
How can you say that?
Unlike you, I am not a hero. I am The Beast. And she has taken our Raven from us, she deserves to die.
Summoning all his will, Garfield took control of the Beast and looked over the ledge, preparing to leap after Alexa. As he looked down she hit the rocks with a sickening thud, her blood and her most precious possession, her brains, splattering on the rocks.
It is done. Forgive me my master, I know this goes against everything you believe in, but it had to be done. I will now return control to you.
The Beast morphed back into Garfield's human form. The changeling fell to his knees and began to weep. The Beast was right, his wife, his Raven was gone for good and his life suddenly felt meaningless. He heard the sounds of the battle ensuing below in the Tower and knew that his friends probably needed his help, but he didn't care. All he could feel was the hole that had been torn into his very soul and he continued to weep uncontrollably. That is until he heard a voice in his mind. Her voice.
Gar, please help me. Her voiced sounded so weak. I'm hurt … I'm dying. Where are you?
The changeling leaped to his feet and ran back into the building, opening his communicator, her keyed up her frequency and shouted into it. "I'm coming, Rave, I'm coming! Hang in there!"
-( - )-
I scared you didn't I? I was tempted to leave it as a cliffhanger where BB didn't know she was clinging to life, but that would have been too cruel.
JOHNXgambit – You do remember correctly, except that was a clone of Terra that Black Adam killed.
jim78559 – I'm glad you like it.
Guest – Ne le digas a mi esposa!
Me – Thanks!
Shadow Chaser – In the end, he did.
BartWLewis – I have a big surprise concerning Mark, but you'll have to wait a few more chapters to find out.
Splinter1 – Wow! You are forgiving! I forgave TV Terra, but not Comic Book Terra, since she never showed a sliver of regret before dying.
Charlie Rose – We are now heading into many chapters of epilogues (there is a LOT of stuff to unwind). I promise lots of fluff.
Just a Reviewer – Rose was a very reluctant Titan in the comics. In the last issue, before the New 52, Superboy breaks her heart.
krostovikraven1 – We will cover Rose's final destiny in the epilogues.
JasonVUK – Alexa valued men based only on the size of their manhood.
gabylokita41 – He wasn't suspecting it, as the opening scene showed.
Hairul The Nightrage Beast - At this point with Slade, he just wants to strike back.
Blueodg197 – Your words were prophetic!
SuperNolon – Slade enjoyed it thoroughly before doing what he does best: disappearing!
Anoymous136 – I loved the little chat BB and Raven had in issue #100 (Also found in the trade paperback "The Prime of Life."
Guest – Raven knows Slade too well. It's understandable that she doesn't trust Rose.
mlbv-grimm – Now you know.
DeeThom – In the comics Slade knows everyone's secret ids
The Cretin – There are so many loose ends left to tie up. Besides dealing with Rose, we have a wedding!
Dragonkyng – That would have been a kinder fate for her.
acosta perez jose Ramiro – BB doesn't trust the Beast and keeps him under wraps.
Iskandar06 – Sorry!
Death Stroke The Kid – You bet!
titanfan45 – As is now obvious, Alexa was a bit unbalanced, or to use the more scientific term: koo koo.
Kidstandout – OK, a little spoiler: Alexa wasn't Mark's biological mother.