Chapter 9

"I have just about had it with this damn chameleon!"

The rest of the Teen Titans were bounding all over Jump City, having spent the last several hours trying to chase down the mysterious white shapeshifting monster, the same one that had been eluding them since the team returned after their battle against the Brotherhood of Evil.

Starfire flew over next to Robin as he perched over the edge of a tall building they were currently stationed on. "Perhaps it is best if we call it for today."

"No." Robin was ever the stubborn one. "We're this close, I know it!"

"But you are tired." She pointed out politely. "You need to rest."

Cyborg joined their conversation. "Maybe if we'd let Beast Boy come along, our job might have been easier." Robin turned to his older teammate with a scowl. "I'm just sayin', because he does have that canine nose."

With a sigh, Robin relented his frustration and stepped away from the ledge to further this discussion.

Raven stood apart from the trio, for she couldn't care less; all she wanted was to go home and sleep, as well as check on Beast Boy.

Shutting them out, she pressed her temples with her fingers to focus her mind back to the tower; she had been doing this frequently during the early hours of their mission just to make sure that he's okay.

What she found back there was anything but tranquil.

What made it way into their tower in their absence was a ballerina of panic, despair... and carnal intent.

"Beast Boy's in trouble!" She blurted just as the words wrote themselves in her head.

"What!?"

The sorceress whipped to Cyborg with an alarming flare in her eyes.

"Check his heart rate!" She snapped commandingly.

"Oh, shit! Right!"

The hulking machine of a man scrambled to obey her while mentally slapping himself for not doing a better job at keeping tabs on him; everyone else was too busy being hellbent on trying to take down that elusive creature.

"Oh, God!"

The whole team gathered to see Beast Boy's heart rate on his monitor rising like a jagged mountain slope.

"Beast Boy!" Starfire gasped.

"Our road runner's gonna have to wait." Cyborg remarked, hoping with a side glance that their leader will agree.

Thankfully, Robin gave him the nod, and without another word, they were off.

Raven, on the other hand, was far ahead of the others already, having worn all her patience to wait around for their decision. She jetted high above the public monuments like they were miniature models.

"Hang on!"

She could feel it... his beast... his vigor... his lifeforce — time was evaporating in every blink.

"Don't do it, Beast Boy!"

(SCENE BREAK)

Slade could see the fire brewing inside this animal of a young man; he didn't know whether to be thrilled or frightened, so he settled with caution.

With his blade still in his fingers, Beast Boy rose up from the table, his devilish grin spreading while his lean frame bulked up, tearing yet another set of clothes like they were restraints.

Within a minute, Slade was eclipsed in the beast's shadow — he couldn't deny the chills surging through his body, being this close to his transformation.

Reacting quickly, Slade proceeded to slash the beast with his other free sword — what he didn't count on was the blade getting snared in its teeth. The cold metal shattered between its jaws, shards scattering all over the table and floor like glass.

Dumbfounded, the masked villain followed up by kicking both his feet against its enormous chest to launch himself away, still with his remaining sword in hand, and landing back in the empty area where the ruined watermelon laid.

The beast felt no need to rush as it maliciously licked its teeth at him — it wanted to savor this.

"That's one way to use your mouth in battle, I suppose." Slade couldn't help but quip. "Looks like this'll be fun, after all."

Echoing its roar throughout the building one last time, the beast threw itself towards its opponent to engage in their final round.

For a human, he was rather fast as he narrowly dodged more of his attacks when he could help it.

"Yes!" He hissed to this animal in delight. "This is what I've been looking for! Don't fight what you've always been!"

While his armor took plenty of nicks from those feral claws, the criminal mastermind came back with some clean cuts across the beast's sides — as much as those attacks drew blood, it served to add more fuel to its rage as well.

With a lightning-fast backfist, Slade was flung across the hall, his back slamming against a concrete wall and leaving a web if a crack — it wind almost left him completely.

Catching his balance, the beast prowled up to him with a grin that sheened in the backlight from the windows. For a moment, it paused to look at its fresh wounds and spoon a bit of it on its finger to inspect it.

Following its silent introspection, was a baritone chuckle... like it was amused by this.

It was at this moment that Slade came to a sinking realization — for once, he was the one being toyed with.

"What's so funny?" He asked the animal, wondering if Beast Boy could somehow hear him in there.

Of course, the creature didn't provide any answer; all it did was lick the blood clean off before continuing to close their distance.

Slade wasn't going to just lay where he was and wait for this monster to pick him out of that spot. Struggling back to his feet, he gripped his sword with both hands ever tighter as he pointed the blade at his enemy.

"Perhaps... another dose of fear... will do the job." He could barely form a sentence.

Slade waited until the beast charged at him so he could dodge at the right moment; he vaulted over this green hulk as he crashed into the wall to hit him with a series of rapid strokes all over the rest of his body.

The beast cried out to his flesh being torn open and scrambled to thrust his opponent away, only to realize that its movements were getting slower, its muscles requiring more effort to use.

"Running out of steam, already?" His opponent remarked while twirling his sharp weapon at a safer distance.

Ultimately, the beast collapsed onto one knee, one hand barely supporting his weight while the other clawed at its throbbing chest — it breathed laboriously now.

"I'll admit, you put a better fight than Robin could ever give me." Casually, he walked back over to his downed enemy, towering over his hunched form. "Quite the late bloomer, aren't you?"

The beast looked up again to lock eyes with contempt as his longtime nemesis prepared to deliver the killing blow for the second time.

"No dicking around, this time."

In that split second, however, the beast lifted the corner of its mouth into a sly smirk, took out its claws from its chest... and slashed upwards between his legs.

For the first time in his life, Slade, a usually monotone individual, let out an ear-piercing shriek as he staggered back to try and hold in the blood spewing out from his groinal region.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" He wailed, searing in unimaginable pain.

"WORST IS... YET TO COME!!"

Slade froze, utterly awestruck at those booming words.

Did that thing just... speak??

Everything turned black for the single-eyed criminal as the monster unravelled on him with fathomless speed.

(SCENE BREAK)

She could feel it all like heat waves radiating from a microwave... the carnage — dare she almost desired to share it.

What did you do?

Arriving shortly, Raven phased right through the window of the tower's top floor to stand amidst a ravaged battleground in their own living room.

But that didn't compare to the truly grim sight.

Right over by the door to the hallway stood the beast, scarred and sheeted in more red than green, standing over what appeared to be a bronze humanoid robot.

Taking a better glance around his back, the empath threw a gasp that hooked the animal's attention over to her.

There, sprawled in a bloody heap, was not a mangled robot at all — it was a person, clad in armor, his mask broken off to reveal an aged man with an eyepatch.

"Slade??" She couldn't believe it. "H—How...?"

That question would have to be answered later; deducing what had just occured, she now had to tend to her morphed friend once more.

"Beast Boy?" She stuttered, and then corrected herself. "Garfield."

As soon the beast recognized the sorceress, his anger dissolves, carried away like dust in the wind.

Staying on her toes, Raven inched over, keeping both her hands in front as to be ready for anything.

That was when the beast attempted for form yet another word with its inhuman mouth. At first, it sounded like another growl, but as it repeated that R sound, it made sense.

"R—Raven..." It finally said — he finally said.

This restored her confidence to fly over to her friend. Holding his enormous frame tenderly, the horrific reminder struck her.

"Garfield, you have to change back! Now!" She took his goblin-featured face. "Please! If you don't, you'll die!"

Her communicator buzzed shortly, and she answered before Robin could even ask.

"I'm here with Beast Boy! Our tower's been attacked!"

"We're almost there—!"

Raven hung up immediately, cutting off his sentence so she could get right back to what she was doing.

"L—Love... you." Beast Boy suddenly confessed.

Thrown back at first, Raven replied with a faint smile. "I know."

Unfortunately, this little moment they shared was cut off when the beast hitched and gargled without warning as if a knife had been run through him.

"No!" She realized.

The beast timbered onto its chest at her feet. She hurried to roll him over with her powers to see the abject fear in those eyes that reflected her own.

"Stay with me!" She cried out. "Please, Garfield!"

A green hand paw reached up to her face at a dragging pace, and slowly morphed back into a human hand by the time it reached her wet cheek — in a matter of seconds, Beast Boy had returned to her.

"I'm s—sorry..." He croaked.

"Come on, don't say that!" Raven softened her voice, keeping his hand there so it wouldn't fall back down. "Just... just stay conscious, alright. The others will be here soon."

Again, Beast Boy gagged, the agony complicating his breathing — any second now, his heart could fail.

Raven wasn't going to let that occur.

Arranging him properly, the sorceress rubbed her palms together to summon white flames that brewed from her fair skin.

"Please, Azarath, let this work." She prayed, and then plunged those hands deep inside his torso to begin healing his organ.

His heart felt like an overstretched waterballoon that could pop right now.

Shaking that grim thought off, her eyes fell back on her friend's face, now unconscious; she wasn't expecting her magic to fix the problem, but rather to add another plaster to hold him together until she could find a better solution.

Raven was so absorbed in saving Garfield that she barely acknowledged her other teammates when they finally arrived.

"Don't die, please." She begged. "There's more..."

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Author's Note: That's it for another while until I find time to update the next chapter, and I'm sorry for taking forever.

Please leave a review, thank you!