Wow, I had quite a week last week posting a bunch of things. Although I will admit this is my favorite thing to update here. :) Sorry it's a couple days late. I discovered a new game called Warframe. It's super fun, and its sidetracking me when I'm not working. But I'm here now! Thanks for passing the 500 review benchmark! And here is the next chapter! Enjoy!

Also. One reviewer asked for a longer chapter. I hope this satiates.


Mailbox Time!

Mr. Ursine: Hope you're ready. This chapter is a doozy.

neslykoki: Thank you. I'm glad it's like river water, because that also means it went smoothly. We'll see if Raven accepts what happened or not later.

SteinMon1920518: They were wearing identical rings. It was my hidden agenda that sometime somewhere somebody would make that connection. It was great. Thanks again for the comments!

Golem XIV: ... (Points finger up), Eh, no. I'd rather not go M rated here. We boot Lust to the side for the moment.

: Are they caught though?

shugokage: Thank you!

WarpCrazy: Hahaha! Oh yes, an invisible jet would have certainly come in handy here! Nice comment!

Eris: Find out your answers next time in Justice League Vs. The Beast!

Pixel-Pie02: Again, I love reading your reviews friend. I'm pretty sure at the end of this I'm going to put them all on a word doc for me to read in a row. Use it as my lifter upper for a bad day because they always make me laugh and feel great. Thanks again, and I can't wait to hear from you again!


Since Last Time: 3 more favorites, 2 more follows (Total: 257 Favorites, 293 followers)


Updated: April 10th, 2019 11:15 P.M.


Wonderful Disclaimer: Does it look like I own Teen Titans to you?! Cause I don't!


Chapter Thirty-Five: Run


"Heh. Hoo. Heh. Hoo."

Garfield was breathing in and out heavily as he ran quickly down another brick alleyway. Rachel followed along behind him. Her breathing sounded a lot more even than his was.

"Sounds like somebody hasn't been working out the last few weeks." Rachel commented blandly.

The two of them ran out from the alleyway into a side street. The town of Smallville was bigger than they had thought (don't ask me, DC never made a town layout or anything that I've found). Or it at least seemed bigger to him. If he could only risk morphing into a form more suited for running. He wasn't sure though if besides Rachel's use of a series of portals that they could risk using their powers or not. Which pretty much sucked.

They continued running past closed shops and abandoned cars under the glaring light of the sun. He could smell there was still people, probably the shopkeepers in some of the buildings. Maybe they wanted to catch some of the action. Maybe they were protecting their property. He couldn't tell. He was breathing too heavily to think about it.

"It, gasp doesn't help gasp that I gasp haven't had time to gasp train lately." Garfield managed to weakly reply between breaths.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't those chores have kept you in shape?" She sarcastically asked.

"None of them gasp involved this much gasp running!" He complained.

"You should have joined me on my mid day jogs then Gar." She replied.

There was multiple reasons why he had opted not to join her for those. One of which being that she'd throw off the pioneer outfit for a pair of very short shorts that hugged her butt a little too firmly for him not to notice. "Maybe gasp that's because ugh I had to do more gasp chores than you Choke back at Marie's!" Garfield half lied between his breathing and dying sounds.

Rachel rolled her eyes again. Her eyes must have been getting as much as a workout as her friend. She bought the lie though. "Wuss." She said sarcastically.

The two of them ran for a little while longer down the street. Then they turned a corner down a different side street. They ran past an alleyway. Then finally Garfield stopped underneath a store overhang and held his side.

"Darn it! Hee I haven't had a stitch in my side Hoo since I was with Hee with the Hoo Doom Patrol!" Garfield said in frustration between breaths. He almost looked like he was going to die in that moment.

Rachel stopped next to him. She looked slightly agitated at the sudden stop. "Not to pressure you or anything, but we're kind of trying to not get spotted by Superman or anyone else." She said through gritted teeth.

Garfield leaned against the wall for another moment. He was doing his best to bring his breathing under control. He could still smell people in the area. If anything, that would help like at the superstore, right?

"Okay phoo, it's going away a little bit. Ahhhh I think I can run again." Garfield said more calmly.

They both turned to continue running up the street. A figure, however, had stepped out from the alleyway in front of them. Garfield realized it was one of the people he had smelled earlier.

"Hold it right there." He said as he pointed a pistol at them.

'****!' Or maybe, he realized smelling people around meant they'd have more trouble to deal with.


Somewhere else

Superboy ran on a road with downtrodden homes on either side. Uncut grass and bushes were rampant. The trees were all overgrown and untrimmed. What should have been gardens were full of weeds. Plus there was a lot of junk like old TV's, fridges, broken mossy toys, and other things littering the yards of the homes.

It was kind of sad actually that the people that lived in this part of town were actually comfortable with the way their neighborhood was before they evacuated.

"Any idea where they're at yet John?" Black Canary asked over the comm.

"Not yet. We're still adjusting the camera systems to the size of the town. There's also multiple people in the town refusing to leave their property. I'm having to make sure each one isn't the fugitives wearing holo-rings." The Martian Manhunter replied over the WatchTower Comms.

'That's kind of good... and kind of bad.' Superboy thought to himself as he reached the end of the street.

Sure enough there was one lone old man waving a confederate flag from his doorway. A loaded shotgun was at his feet. "You heroes won't tread on me! I was born in this house! And I ain't leaving till I die in this house!" The old man shouted angrily.

Superboy ignored the old man. He ran past the ranting man's property towards a lone corner store on the intersection. Superboy ran up to the door.

Kckck! Thunk!

He quickly slammed the door open despite it's rusty hinges and looked around. It was nothing much really. It looked like a lot of antiques and stuff were on display, but nothing too ornate. A fine layer of dust on a lot of things showed just how much interest the shop actually got. One quick search showed that the shopkeeper had abandoned the place.

Superboy got down on one knee in the middle of the store and put a finger to his ear piece. "Jaime, have you got anything yet?" He asked over his private channel.

"*Kssh*... *Kssh- Nothing yet Connor. My blue beetle is still trying to scan the town for their location." Blue Beetle replied over the comm.

Kkkkkkk!

Superboy looked around quickly at the creaking sound, but there was no one in sight. "Does that blue scarab of yours at least know what direction they went in?" He asked.

"No! We're not going to destroy the town to make it easier to find them!" Blue Beetle yelled over the comm.

"Um, Jaime?" Superboy asked confusedly.

"Look, I can tell you this man. There's only a few people the way you're going, and none of them are them. You might want to choose another direction to go." Blue Beetle answered after a moment.

Superboy frowned, and looked around again. "Alright, just make sure you're ready on your end if I find them. I need to make sure they get Mento's message before they escape." Superboy said.

"Or get caught." Blue Beetle mentioned.

"Not if things go well on your end. Just make sure no one's in the area to witness it." Superboy replied.

"No problemo chief." Blue Beetle said, before he cut out.

Superboy got back up and looked around one last time. 'I could have sworn I heard something in here...'

Superboy turned around and ran outside. His retreating figure could be seen running down the next street heading east...

"Hmmm, so those two heroes are getting help now, huh?" A voice spoke in the darkness.

The hidden figure laughed. "Now this is going to make my plans more… interesting. I was hoping to divide the heroes against the two of them, but if I could divide the heroes against each other as well..."

A dark red portal formed in a corner near the door. And the figure that was hidden in the shadows walked into it. Still laughing at the idea of how his brilliant plan could go even better than he had thought.


The two were paused in confusion. At least this person didn't look like a hero. "And who are you?" Rachel asked dryly.

Two more figures dressed in sweats and hoodies stepped out of the alleyway. Both of them were holding knives in their hands. The leader with the pistol had a smile on his face as his grunts got on either side of him.

"My name's not important. I'm more interested in what me and my boys just found here."

The two had a sinking feeling that he was referring to them. Garfield and Rachel took another step back.

"It seems like we have a couple of teenagers who have lost their way." The leader said as he pointed his pistol at first Garfield, and then Rachel.

"Heh, heh, and one of them sure looks cute boss." One of the guys said.

Garfield immediately got in front of Rachel and put his hands up. "Okay dudes. We're not looking for any trouble here-" Garfield was saying.

"Aw shut it. The boss doesn't want to talk with ya partner. He'd rather talk with the fine lady there behind ya." The other of the two grunts said as he waved his knife threateningly.

The two of them backed up another step. They really did not want to start a fight here. Then they looked back. There was five more of the cronies who had come out from the different buildings. They were all armed with knives too. Garfield recognized their scents from having run by the different shops.

'Maybe they weren't shopkeepers. Maybe they were looting and then we came along.' He realized. Too late to avoid trouble now.

The two faced the original three again. The boss had a crooked smile on his crooked face. "Now as you can see, we got ya'll surrounded." The boss of them all said.

Garfield took a deep breath, and then looked the boss in the eye. "Look. We're just trying to evacuate the town like everyone else. We have no valuables on us. We don't even have a car. And besides there are supers here dude-" He was saying.

The boss waved his pistol in dismissal as his smile grew bigger. "We already heard they're here hunting two highly targeted fugitives. They won't bother with looters like us. They never bother with us when a fight's about to go down. And while it's true you two don't look like you have many goods on ya. It looks like your girlfriend there has the goods to give me and my buddies here a very good time." He said in a very suggestive manner.

Garfield looked back at his friend. She looked calm, but he could see the disgust and anger boiling in her eyes.

'Master. I know you don't like killing people...' The Beast said in his mind. He sounded angry.

'Tempting. But I'd rather not.' Garfield thought as his own face hardened. He pushed his anger mostly down as he faced the boss again. "No deal." Garfield said as he waved his hand in front of him.

The guy raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to do that? Me and my boys do know how to treat a fine lady to a good evening. And we've got you quite outnumbered." He asked.

"I'd rather make out with a dying frog than be touched by one of you idiots." Rachel spoke dryly.

"And I'd rather deck you all in the face then let you touch my friend." Garfield said as got in a defensive stance next to her.

The boss guy finally lost his smile. "If them ain't fighting words, then I don't know what is." He said darkly. He looked to the man on his right. "Fred, teach this boy a lesson." He ordered.

The man named Fred grinned wickedly, and then pulled a second longer knife from his belt. "It'll be my pleasure boss." He said.

He ran towards Garfield.

Pow!

Suddenly, a large dark ethereal fist came out of the air in front of Fred and slammed him in the chest and face at the same time. He fell backwards onto the ground with his knives dropping beside him. His hands covered his face. "Auch! Mi node! Mi node!" He yelled in pain.

"Arghhh!" Another grunt from behind let out a battle cry as he ran forward.

Pow! Whack!

Faster than what should have been possible, Garfield moved and knocked the guy's knife out of his hand. Followed by a roundhouse kick that sent him into the side of one of the buildings.

The other five figures stepped back at that. The boss guy looked as if he had seen a ghost. "Where in hell's tarnations did that come from?!" He asked in shock as he waved his pistol frantically around.

"Interesting choice of words."

All eight figures on the street looked back to Garfield and Rachel. The two of them were now both in defensive stances. The two of them looked at each other, and then nodded.

"No point in hiding them anymore." Garfield said.

In one swift motion, they finally removed their rings.

Garfield was the first who changed. The white in his skin, starting from the hair of his head down started to turn green. At the same time, his ears became more pointed, his eyes more slanted. A single fang appeared from his mouth, and his clothing changed from his normal civies to a very familiar uniform.

Rachel wasn't as noticable at first. Her skin appeared to be paling. Then her hair and eyes started to turn an amethyst purple color with light touches of blue shading. A gemstone started to appear on her forehead. Finally, when her skin was a gray color, her civies changed to the more normal hooded cape uniform she wore over her leotard. She pulled her hood over her head just as her chakra on her forehead fully formed, putting half of her face in shadow.

The five standing figures started to shake at the sight that was revealed.

Beast Boy and Raven, now undisguised, stood in the middle of the ring of people. "What in the hell?!" One of the grunts yelled.

Raven's eyes glowed with black power. "Oh. I think it's time for you to learn what hell really looks like you miserable cretins." Raven said dryly, as her hands became covered in her black ethereal powers.

Beast Boy morphed into a large green bear. "Gruuuhh!" It roared down at the boss.

"Ahhhhh!"

...

...

"Over here! I thought I heard something!"

At first, no one was in sight.

"Holy moly!"

The figures of Bumblebee and Miss Martian appeared over a rooftop. Bumblebee looked very surprised.

The seven cronies from before were lying unconscious on the ground. They were laid out on the ground in various positions. It depended on whether they had ran forward to fight, or turned around to flee. Their knives laid bent and useless alongside them. The pieces to a pistol littered the ground in the middle of them.

Miss Martian and Bumblebee descended until they floated a couple inches in the air in the middle of the fight. They looked around the scene. Both of them looked confused at the sight.

"What happened to these fellows?" Bumblebee asked.

"I'm not sure." Miss Martian said unsurely.

Thump.

The two heroines looked up at the noise. "Did you hear that?" Miss Martian asked.

"It came from that alleyway." Bumblebee said as she pointed with her stinger.

The two of them cautiously approached the alleyway...

mumbling "I'm not going to hell... I don't want to go to hell... I don't ever want to see hell again..."

"Augh!"

The two were met with a scream of fear.

The tough leader from before was in the fetal position on the ground. He had been rocking back and forth until the two heroes appeared. He immediately put his hands up in the air. "Please don't hurt me! I'm innocent, I swear!" He cried out.

Bumblebee and Miss Martian relaxed slightly. "What do you know. It's just a stupid redneck." Bumblebee murmured to herself.

"Relax, we're not here to hurt you." Miss Martian said calmly.

The guy put his arms back around his legs, and started to rock back and forth again. "I didn't know they weren't normal. I swear I didn't know they weren't normal. I just thought she'd be a pretty girl for me and my friends to play around with." The guy started to mumble again.

"Wait, what is he talking about?" Miss Martian asked.

Bumblebee had a look of disgust on her face. She didn't say anything to Miss Martian to explain.

The guy shook his head. "She said she'd show us what hell looked like, and boy she wasn't kidding around... I've never seen something so scary in my life." The guy continued to mumble.

The two heroes looked at each other. "Show him what hell looked like?" Bumblebee asked confusedly.

Miss Martian looked back down at the guy who was now mumbling inaudibly. "Who showed you hell?" She asked.

The man stopped mumbling, and he looked back up in fear. "I didn't get no name. All I know was that they were normal at first..." He put his hands to the sides of his head. "...and then they turned into freaking monsters..." He said, before he resumed his normal shaking position with his hands still on the sides of his head. "Pale and green freaking monsters..." He started to mumble inaudibly again from there. It was likely when he recovered... if he recovered, he would never try jumping innocent looking teenagers again.

The two heroines looked to each other again. "Are those two-" Miss Martian started to ask.

Bumblebee had already flipped open her communicator. "This is Bumblebee and Miss Martian. We have a confirmation of the two fugitives in our general area." She said.

"WatchTower cameras just confirmed it. Cameras show the pair of them fleeing near the east quadrant of town. Make sure they don't escape." Batman spoke calmly on her comm.

"I'm over the western section. I'm on my way." Clark said.

Bumblebee nodded, before she closed her comm. "Come on girl, we have no time to lose!" Bumblebee said, before she took to the air again.

Miss Martian followed right behind her, leaving the now mentally scarred for life leader and his group of redneck troublemakers behind.


Inside the WatchTower

"Again, I'm sorry that we got interrupted. But you must understand what it's like to have a couple villains you've been searching for for a long time show up on your radar all of a sudden, right?" The Flash asked Mento.

Mento gave him a curt nod. "Yes. You have no idea how many times we've had to track down leads on our enemies in the Brotherhood of Evil." He said politely.

"Okay then. Thank you for being nice during the tour. It was a pleasure getting you all back up to speed. I hope things go well for you in Midway City…" The Flash glanced to the wrapped up team member in Robotman's arms. "And are you sure he's okay? He hasn't been responsive in the last few minutes." He said.

"Negative Man is fine. He's just in a deep meditation is all." Elastagirl said.

The Flash looked curious, but then shrugged. "Well I guess I'll be off then. Good luck!" The Flash said, before he raced away back towards the Watchtower's surveillance room to help out Martian Manhunter.

A black shadowy figure appeared out of one of the walls, and flew towards the body being held by Robotman. It entered, and then Negative Man groaned to himself. "Were you able to do anything?" Mento asked calmly as they approached the WatchTower Zeta Tubes.

"I managed to discreetly knock out some of the essential parts of their video surveillance systems. It won't be much, but it'll help them somewhat." Negative Man said with a shrug.

"Then let's go. We've learned all that we can from here. I don't want us to be connected to this mess any longer." Mento said calmly.

The Doom Patrol entered the Zeta Tubes.


The scene showed the edge of town. A single road led to the last intersection in town. There wasn't a cloud to be seen in the sky up above. There was few buildings on the sides, but no one was in sight...

Heh Heh Heh Heh

Almost immediately, a panting green dog with its tongue hanging out appeared from a side road. Raven was gliding along in the air above the dog Superman style. They were heading down the road towards the edge of town. The dog was finally happy to not be in his out of shape human form. Though it was starting to realize that might have also transferred over to his dog form.

"If our cover wasn't blown before, then it sure is now." Raven said blandly.

The green dog morphed into a sweating Beast Boy mid run. "No way Rae. I never would have guessed a freaking black fist would be the thing to blow our cover!" He yelled almost sarcastically up at her, before morphing into a running dog again.

Raven glared down below at the dog. "Using your inhuman strength didn't help either. And it was either that, or watch you get shanked by a knife." Raven said blandly, before looking up again.

'Then again, we could've just used his karate skills to disarm the guy.' Knowledge said.

'But then there would have been the redneck with the pistol. We would have needed to form a shield to avoid being hit by his bullets.' Wisdom added after that.

'Who cares, we could have beaten all of their butts with hands tied behind our backs!' Brave boasted.

Raven shook her head to clear it. 'Now is not the time!' She thought with mild frustration.

They were nearing the last of the buildings, when the green dog suddenly smelled something and turned to run into the open doorway of the building next to them. Raven didn't question and immediately glided in after him.

The street was empty for a second...

Thump!

The imposing form of Superman landed in the middle of the street at the edge of the buildings. He straightened up after he landed, and his piercing blue eyes scanned his surroundings.

"I'm at the street. Any sign of them Bruce?" Superman said into his comm.

An agitated noise sounded on the other end. "Damn this technology! I'm sorry Clark. Our surveillance is having difficulties up here.." Batman spoke back on the comm.

Superman nodded his head, and started to calmly walk down the street. "No worries. With nobody else around, they won't be able to hide from me this time." Superman said in a harder tone of voice. He used his X-Ray vision to scan the building next to him.

Beast Boy and Raven were shown in the second story of the building they were hiding in. A square window was above them. It was the only thing lighting up the dark room they were hiding in.

"Dude, how did he know where we were heading so quickly? I thought we saw him flying towards the other end of town after going straight up." Beast Boy asked quietly.

Raven put a finger to her lips in a shush gesture. "Do you want him to find us?" She asked in a whisper.

Beast Boy glared lightly at her. "I'm not worried about his ears as much as his X-Ray vision. Besides, no dude has better ears to hear than me." Beast Boy said a little proudly at the end.

Raven rolled her eyes, and peaked out the window. "The Watchtower has to be surveying the town for us. They probably saw us fighting those goons a little while ago." Raven finally answered.

Beast Boy moaned lightly to himself. "Are you kidding me? Why does the Justice League have to have all the advantages?" Beast Boy asked in a quiet complaining tone.

"Because it's only two of us against a lot of them. Now quiet, I'm trying to think of a way out of this." Raven said monotonously.

Superman was shown only two buildings down. He was looking up and down and examining each building on his left and right as he slowly floated past them. Raven tried to focus on a thought, but then saw Bumblebee appear over a rooftop. She got back down again.

"Superman is two buildings down. And Bumblebee just appeared to help him search for us." Raven said gravely.

Beast Boy's eyes widened at that, and he quickly poked his head up. "Are you kidding me?" He asked. He almost eeped though, and quickly put his head down again.

Bumblebee appeared in the window. She looked into the room inside for signs of anything out of place. Then she quickly moved on.

Beast Boy popped his head up again to look outside. "Rae, can't you just, you know, make a portal from here to get us out of here?" He asked desperately.

Raven's head appeared next to his. She had a troubled look on her face. "I could... but I saw nothing out in the countryside to teleport us out of sight under. If the Watchtower is watching this area up above, then I need something to form the other end of the portal under, otherwise I'll tire myself out trying to get us away."

Beast Boy saw the logic in that. Even if Raven were to portal to the edge of his vision, it probably wouldn't be enough to outpace Superman if they were spotted. Beast Boy quickly examined the countryside he could see with the vantage point of the building for anything.

It was just flat land. Nothing much bigger than a small leafless tree could be seen in the midst of the tall grass of the plains from his point of view. There also wasn't a single cloud in the sky. "****." He muttered again to himself.

Superman had just finished his examination of the building next to him. "You're going to need to do something Rae, because we're running out of options here." Beast Boy said.

"I can't think of anything. Portal jumping it is." Raven said as she prepared to form a portal as far out as she could see.

Superman was starting to look towards their building.

(On the other side of the street) "Now." A quiet voice spoke into his earpiece.

Boom...

Immediately, a loud explosion lightly shook the ground. Superman's head darted to the source of the explosion. A plume of black smoke had already appeared in the air a couple miles away on the south side of town.

"Clark, what happened?!" Batman yelled on the comms.

"It looks like the two went a different way while your surveillance had problems." Superman said gruffly.

"That's impossible! Those -" Batman yelled in anger and frustration.

Superman changed the signal on his comm. "Dinah, where was that explosion at?" He asked.

"It was no where near me Clark. Blue Beetle was scouting out the country south of town last time I checked. He isn't responding to any of my calls now." Black Canary replied over comm in a worried voice.

Batman's signal cut back in. "Jonz, do we have the area on footage?!" Batman frustratingly asked.

"Yes Batman. I managed to recalibrate mere seconds before the explosion... It doesn't look very good. Blue Beetle looks to have been next to the explosion before it went off." The Martian Manhunter replied solemnly over comm.

Superman groaned to himself, and then motioned to Bumblebee. "Come on, Blue Beetle got ambushed." He said, before he took to the air.

Bumblebee took off behind him.

The street now looked deserted...

After a moment, Beast Boy and Raven peaked their heads out from the doorway of their building. "Did we just have like, a divine intervention or something?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven looked for a second, and then her eyes narrowed. "I think I'd rather call it idiotic intervention." She said as she pointed.

Beast Boy followed her finger, and then his mouth gaped open. "Dude!" He yelled.

The building opposite them was a large red barn like structure that looked to have been turned into a restaurant of some sorts. And standing in the doorway was a smirking Superboy.

"Alright man. You probably have ten minutes, tops. I'm hidden under a lot of debris here, and my blue scarib is knocking me out to make it look more realistic." Blue Beetle said over Superboy's earpiece. "... alright, I know you're happy you finally got to blow up something. Can you please knock me out already so I don't have to listen to you?" Blue Beetle complained.

Superboy gestured over. He didn't look weirded out by his friend talking to himself. "Come on. We don't have much time." Superboy said, before he walked into the restaurant.

Beast Boy and Raven looked at each other. "Should we trust him Rae?" He asked.

"He probably set up that explosion for us..." She said dryly.

The two ran out across the street into the restaurant anyways. It was better than standing alone and waiting to be caught. A few seconds after they entered, a silhouetted figure on the roof of the barn restaurant sunk through the tiling inside.


Beast Boy and Raven walked calmly and alertly into the back room of the restaurant. They had just walked through the main abandoned dining room. Stuffed trophies of different animals hung on, or stood beside the walls. Beast Boy shivered a little bit at such an abominable sight.

Superboy was standing behind the main table in the back of the room with his arms crossed. A stuffed bear stood in its proud menacing glory behind him. Superboy appeared calm. "I'm glad to see you two are still on the run." Superboy said as they approached the table.

"Is there anyone spying on us here?" Raven asked.

Superboy shook his head. "Nope. It's just us in here. Blue Beetle's explosion diverted all the other heroes to his location." He said calmly.

None of the heroes saw it, but the outline of a face appeared between the trophies of two large deer. The green eyes on the face narrowed at what they saw. 'I knew I saw them run into here.' Miss Martian thought to herself. She was about to materialize, when her eyes also recognized Superboy. The shock was enough to make her pause for the moment.

Beast Boy and Raven finally relaxed. "Okay Supes, what do you have to tell us?" Beast Boy asked.

A hint of a smile came onto Superboy's face. "I have some good news. We managed to save the Doom Patrol and stopped the Brotherhood of Evil in the process." Superboy said.

A look of relief came over Beast Boy. "Dude, that's awesome!" He exclaimed excitedly...

Then he looked downcast. "I just wish I could see them all again." He said sadly as his head hung down. Raven put a hand on his shoulder.

Superboy's smile didn't disappear, but it grew a little bigger instead. "That was the next thing I was told to tell you about." Superboy said.

Beast Boy looked up at that. "Wait, what?" He asked.

"Mento told me to tell you to meet up with him at Star City in about three weeks time. They apparently have a secret Doom Patrol base there they haven't let anyone know about where you'll meet up with them." Superboy said.

Beast Boy looked surprised at first... "Wait..." Then his face lit up. "Dude! That's freaking awesome!" He said happily.

Raven's hand came off his shoulder. She was fighting the smile that wanted to come onto her face now.

Beast Boy was happy for a few seconds, then a sour look came onto his face. "Wait, I didn't know Mento had a base in Star City?! Why didn't he tell me about it?!" He asked incredulously.

"Maybe because he didn't want you blabbing about it?" Raven sarcastically suggested.

"Not funny Rae." Beast Boy said.

"Well he also said it was a secret." Raven said with a shrug. "It seemed obvious to me."

Beast Boy raised his hands incredulously in the air. "Dude! I was literally raised by him and he didn't trust me with that kind of info!" He yelled incredulously.

"I wouldn't have really trusted you before with that kind of info either Gar." Raven said dryly with a calm look on her face.

Beast Boy glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. An almost pouting look came onto his face. "So not cool Rae." He muttered indignantly.

A hint of a smirk came onto her face. "I know Gar. I know."

Superboy chuckled a little at the sight. "If it makes you feel better. I don't think Rita knew about it either before Steve told me." Superboy added.

The two looked back to him. "Is there anything else you have to tell us?" Raven asked dryly, yet a little twinge of hope was in her voice.

The figure from before had slowly floated from inside the wall out behind a large grizzly bear. The silhouette took on the form of Miss Martian. She looked to be intently listening in from her hiding spot while the two heroes were focused on Superboy.

Superboy nodded. "Yes. Artemis, Kid Flash, his twin, and his twin's girlfriend are working on finding support for you guys among the heroes. We're all going to be in Star City with the Doom Patrol hopefully by the time you get there." He said.

Beast Boy and Raven looked surprised by that. "Wait, what do you mean by help dude?" Beast Boy asked.

Superboy looked him in the eye. "Not all of us are being deceived anymore with what's been happening lately. And we're sick and tired of the Justice League not realizing the greater threat that's out there. We want to help you two, and find out who's really pulling the strings behind all of this mess besides Zatanna." Superboy said.

Miss Martian looked surprised behind her cover. She seemed to be fighting with herself. 'I... I don't want to see Superboy throw him into a prison cell... but he's betraying the Justice League... but he said the Justice League is being fooled by Zatanna?...' Miss Martian was thinking to herself. Even with the jumble of memories in her mind from before, she seemed conflicted.

"Wait, isn't it just Zatanna pulling all the strings here dude?" Beast Boy asked.

"I found Blue Beetle! He's under here!" Black Canary yelled over Superboy's comm link.

Superboy's smile disappeared, and a troubled look came onto his face. "We're almost out of time. You two have to go now." Superboy said to them.

The two looked even more troubled. They had so many more questions, but they guessed they'd have to wait. "Are you sure you'll be alright dude?" Beast Boy asked.

"Would you want another cover up like last time?" Raven offered.

"Tempting, but no. Don't worry about me. The Justice League doesn't suspect anything from me... I'll see you again in three weeks at Star City. I promise we'll have more answers for you by the time you get there." He said to them, before he quickly turned and ran for a side door. "Use the back way! There should be cover for you to portal to in that direction!" He yelled before he disappeared.

Beast Boy and Raven didn't waste a moment. Instead they immediately turned ran around the table. "I hope things work out." Beast Boy said to himself.

"Don't jinx it." Raven said blandly back.

"When has saying that ever jinxed things before?" Beast Boy asked.

"Maybe every time." Raven sarcastically replied.

"You seem to be in a very sarcastic mood today." Beast Boy pointed out.

"Funny how you bring that facet out in me sometimes." Raven said back.

Within seconds, they were running down the back hallway to the back door of the place.

Miss Martian jumped into alertness from her thoughts just in time to see Beast Boy and Raven disappear into the hallway. It took her a couple seconds of shaking her head for her to focus on the now. "Wait! Stop!" She finally yelled as she finally jumped from her cover.

She ran into the hallway. The back door was swung wide open, with the glaring light of the sun blocking the view outside. "You two aren't going-" She was yelling as she ran out the door into the light.

She stopped speaking.

Beast Boy and Raven were no where in sight.

She quickly looked out into the distance, trying to spot where they had gone. Her eyes narrowed, and it took her a little while of looking before she squinted at something in the distance.

It was a lone oak tree. Filled with dark green leaves on its branches. It casted a tremendous shadow underneath it.

As she watched she saw a black portal form underneath it. And then the two individuals who had appeared under the tree just a moment ago disappeared into the dark black portal out of sight. Within seconds the portal closed. Where they had come out, was beyond Miss Martian's sight.

She hung her head in defeat, with many different thoughts going through her mind. One thing stuck out to her though. Beast Boy and Raven had managed to escape again. And it had been her fault.

"Damn it Megan." She said to herself.


The scene shown below was rather unusual...

"Batman, there is simply no sign of where the fugitives went."

The scene shown was the town square, which now looked like Justice League Central Command. Different heroes were shown coming or going to and from different parts of Smallville and the countryside all around. Heroes from Cyborg, Aquaman, Shazam, Doctor Fate, Nightwing and Starfire, Argent and Hot Spot, Bumblebee, Aqualad and Aquaman, Green Arrow and Speedy, and many more were moving all around. It was a hive of activity as these heroes met up and got info from all the other heroes as to what they had found. Which wasn't much.

Batman had been reviewing the WatchTower's film of the explosion area in the center of all the activity when Red Tornado had spoken behind him. Batman stopped moving his finger across the screen, and turned to face Red Tornado. "Has the whole city been checked yet?" He calmly asked.

"The buildings, the roads, the river, the sewers, and everything else have all been checked. There is simply no sign of where the two disappeared off to." Red Tornado said calmly.

Batman's hands visibly gripped the tablet he was holding in mild frustration. "Are you sure about that?" He asked in his still calm deep voice.

Red Tornado nodded. "I'm sorry, but according to my calculations it is now 100% likely that the two are no where near this town anymore." He said.

Batman stared calmly at Red Tornado for a few seconds. Besides a visible tightening in his jaw line, there was no other sign of his frustration and disappointment. "Let's search for another hour. And if nothing comes up then we'll head back to the WatchTower." Batman said gruffly.

Red Tornado turned around. "Okay. One more hour." He said, before he took to the air in a red tornado to continue what he knew to be a futile search effort.

Kck! Krr!

Batman's grip on the tablet tightened even more. Cracks started to appear on the screen where he was gripping it.

'So close... we were so freaking close!...' Batman thought to himself... an explosion of anger and frustration over the Watchtower's surveillance systems, of a few old men waving Confederate flags taking time to check for holo-rings, and the sheer incapability of the combined might of three major hero organizations to capture two lowly heroes was imminent.

Suddenly, his body relaxed. Batman quickly shook his head. 'This isn't me. Why am I getting so angry over this? I've had more frustrating cases before...' Batman thought.

Batman dropped the tablet onto the grass beside him. He felt a headache forming in his head. 'Something's wrong... but I can't tell what it is.' He thought to himself as he walked away. His tablet was left on the ground...

A black gloved hand picked the tablet up and brushed it off. Zatanna examined the footage that was being shown on it. It had rewinded to show an old abandoned barn building at the edge of town. Zatanna winced in slight pain. After getting harder, it had gotten easier the last few months for her to use magic again. She didn't know if it was because she wasn't casting as much as before. Or if the sheer amount that she had cast was finally starting to expand her mental and magic reserves, but it was easier now than before to force the magic headaches back.

KaBoom!

On the screen, the old barn was suddenly engulfed in a large explosion.

Tap!

A loud tap sound came from the device as Zatanna tapped the screen and paused the footage. It showed the aftermath of the explosion. She looked closely at it.

"Something isn't right about this." She said to herself.

'Something is definitely wrong with that picture.' The voice of Doctor Fate said in her mind with an eerie calmness.

Zatanna rewinded the explosion to a second before it happened.

KaBo-

The explosion was shown again on the screen.

Tap!

Zatanna paused it mid-explosion. She studied it closely. "Sucof eht egami." She chanted under her breath.

The view on the screen was covered over by a strange mist for a moment... and then it showed the explosion in depth. The multiple layers of the outward explosion were brought into such focus that the naked eye could see shockwave emanating from it. From the hot inner core, to the quickly expanding outer core. Zatanna looked closely on the outside rim of the explosion…

'Aha. Now that definitely looks out of place to me.' The voice in her mind said triumphantly. Like every other time, Zatanna didn't seem to realize that the voice of Doctor Fate seemed a little off.

In the top right corner of the screen where a line of cracks were, there looked to be the shadow of a figure. The figure couldn't be seen though because of the cracks in the screen.

"Dniwer." Zatanna chanted.

Again, a fine mist covered the screen. After a moment, it dissipated, and the footage on it was slowly rewinding under Zatanna's control instead of the technology's. It showed the explosion slowly shrink, and shrink, and shrink some more as it remained focused on the source of the explosion...

Finally, the explosion was gone. It was now a few seconds before it had went off on the screen. Shown in bright focus with Zatanna's magic, was the figure of Blue Beetle .

Tap!

Zatanna started the video again. Blue Beetle in the few seconds before the explosion was shown exiting the building, looking around himself quickly. Then his fist turned into a sonic cannon before he ducked back into the building.

Tap!

Zatanna paused it again. 'Why did Blue Beetle ... unless...' Zatanna was thinking...

Tap! Tap! Tappity! Tap! Tap!

Her fingers flew across the screen. The time on it rewinded more and more. Where the image fragmented because of the Watchtower's surveillance problems, she used her magic to put the image back together. What she got was him going in and out of the building a couple times. Her eyes narrowed as she watched.

Finally, it showed Blue Beetle waiting outside the building. He had his wrist up to his face, and he looked to be speaking into it.

Tap!

Zatanna paused the footage. "Mooz Ni." She said.

Somehow, even though the footage from the Watchtower wasn't capable of it, Zatanna's magic forced the footage to zoom in closer on Blue Beetle. It showed the screen that Blue Beetle was speaking into…

'I do believe we now know part of why the two were able to flee from here now.' The voice in Zatanna's head spoke smoothly.

Zatanna's face hardened when she saw the name of the contact on Blue Beetle's screen. "They had help." She said darkly to herself.

Superboy's name was shown clearly on Blue Beetle's wrist screen.


Author's Notes:

And again, the two managed to just barely sneak out of the JL's grasp! With of course, a little help from sources all around. It must be frustrating trying to capture two heroes when the author is conspiring against the JL. Hope you all liked it! Let me know what you thought!

Till Next Time

Allen