Here's to no homework. Almost 100k views, an on-time update, and a bunch of awesome readers. ;) Enjoy your weekend my favorite audience!


Mailbox Time!

Golem XIV: Nope my friend, I had planned on having him reintroduced later in the story from the first time I wrote him in. As to why, well, that's below. Spoilers!

HornedGoddess: Oops, um, sorry about that. Hopefully, these more frequent updates help out in some way.

WarpCrazy: That would have made for an interesting AU ending. However, I wanted to show that the Joker's Venom was so potent that even the Beast was able to sense the danger of going into it. Maybe it might have not killed him. But it certainly would have made him gone insane.

Mr. Ursine: You know, that's a really funny way of looking at it. I can already imagine Slade giving everyone the finger in the background. I don't know how you'll react to this chapter as well though.

neslykoki: I'm glad you liked the appearance of all the other heroes. As to your question... spoilers! (Yes, I'm evil)

Eris: What they find out is down below. Thanks again!

Jamesco1292002: Hey, I like to say a good story draws people in. And nothing quite draws in people like a good evil cliffhanger at the end of a chapter. Thanks for the comment, and I hope you continue to enjoy!

TheAlienHeart: Oh, that reaction is probably normal. And spoilers so I won't go into it. As to what you said about what Zatanna possibly did, that's also a spoiler I can't ruin yet. Hope you enjoy the update man!

Azarath Cat: Dang, now that's an awesome compliment! Thank you so much for catching back up! I'll look forward to your feedback next chapter!

J-Rob95: Yeah, I figured when I planned it out that I shouldn't drag something like that through the mud for too long. I can't say if it'll be for more than three chapters or not though. Sometimes, I just like to watch the world burn.

frog31791dam: If they had much of a break, this wouldn't be much of a story.

Guest: Excuse me for my bluntness, but what the fetch are you on?! I'm not anywhere close to abandoning this story. I've never said I was going to abandon this story. If I ever were to, it'd be because I had given up fanfiction, in which case I'd give my account to an author who I know would be able to finish it. So don't every comment something like that again. This, story, will, end.


Since Last Time: 1 more favorite, 4 more follows (Total, 275 favorites, 321 followers)


Updated: June 21, 2019 5:45 P.M. MST


Wonderful Disclaimer: I think Hell would freeze over if I owned the Teen Titans.


Chapter Forty-Three: The Beast Betrayed


The tension in the air that suddenly appeared was so thick you could cut it with a knife. An old, dull, and rusted knife. The type of weapon that the enemies of the villain in the hologram would have loved to use on him.

"Hello, Deathstroke," Steve said plainly.

"Ah, Mento. I didn't see you there in the background." Slade commented as he straightened his posture. "I see you and your team have done well since you were freed from the Brotherhood of Evil." Slade looked around to examine the base. "And my my, these two got more support from the heroes than I predicted," Slade said with an air of dry impressment in his voice.

"It was more than what I foresaw too, father," Rose said.

"Now that's impressive my daughter. Are your foresight abilities starting to weaken." Slade said almost passively.

"No. They are not." Rose replied in an emotionless voice.

Beast Boy was still staring in shock at the holographic figure of Slade standing on the control console. Actually, shocked would have been an understatement for what he was feeling at seeing the villain. Who, ironically, had kept him and Raven from being captured with his timely intervention months ago. Most of the other heroes didn't recognize who the villain on the screen was. And the few who did looked troubled.

Boom!

A console on the other side of the room was encased in black before it exploded. The heroes in the room looked to it in surprise.

"I told you to keep a check your powers," Rose said with a slight smirk on her face as she backed away behind the two heroes.

Raven quickly recovered from the outburst and reined her powers back in as far as they could go whilst simultaneously casting almost her whole face in shadow with her hood. Helping to disguise the embarrassment she forced back down where it came from.

"I see you've already had the chance to get acquainted with my daughter then Titans," Slade said as a fact instead of a question.

Beast Boy shook his head quickly. "Wait, she's your daughter!?" He asked in shock.

"Yes. I have two sons too." Slade said as he glanced towards Jericho. Jericho didn't say anything (not that he would if he could) and settled with lightly glaring at his father.

"That, is just, disturbing." Raven forced herself to say blandly.

Slade looked back to Raven. "And what's so disturbing about that, if you don't mind me asking?" Slade asked pointedly.

"The fact that any woman would want to have a couple of kids with you is what I find disturbing," Raven said.

Slade glared with his one eye at her. "We can discuss that situation at another time." He cut it off pointedly. "For now, I have some information to deliver to you two."

Beast Boy glared back at Slade. "What kind of info?" He asked.

"Info that can save your life," Slade responded emotionlessly.

Beast Boy dropped the glare, but he still had a frown on his face. "Alright dude, spill the beans for us then." He said.

Slade dropped his glare, though he looked unemotional under his mask. "To start Titans, I've gathered more info regarding the manipulation of the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and the other various minor heroes around the world."

Raven let her hood raise back up to normal. She looked calm and clear again. Though she still had black sparks coming off her. She was chanting to herself in her mind again. "We already know that Zatanna is the one behind all the manipulation Slade. So tell us something we don't know." She said dryly.

"Yes, Zatanna is the one behind all that magical manipulation, but what about the person whose manipulating her? The one that killed those two heroes out on the plains." Slade said pointedly.

He was met with nothing but silence and blank stares from everyone.

"I see you didn't know that fact," Slade said smugly.

"Wait, okay. Explain that one." Beast Boy said.

Slade narrowed his eye. "It's true, Zatanna is the one manipulating the other heroes around the world to find and capture you two. As to why my sources still aren't sure. But there is more than that. She is being manipulated like a puppet by someone else. And that someone else is going out of their way to make sure the League doesn't lose motivation in finding and capturing you two." Slade continued.

"Who?" Raven asked.

"I'm not sure specifically about who it is. I do know that this 'villain' manipulating Zatanna is a member of a group known as, The Light." Slade said.

Beast Boy looked confused. "The Light?" He asked.

"The Light is a council of very bad villains like Lex Luthor and Black Manta. Unlike other villains, they work together on taking over the world." Superboy answered.

"Well said," Slade said.

Superboy shrugged. "We've had to deal with them in the past a time or two," Superboy said.

"Yes. And you understand that if a member of the Light is involved, then the end goal of the scheme will inevitably be world domination. And that is part of the main reason whoever it is, is after these two Titans. And also my main reason why I wanted to help them escape this." Slade said.

Artemis looked thoughtful. "If they're a member of the Light, that shortens the list of who it could be… but it also makes our situation worse than we thought." She said almost to herself.

"Now how is that your main reason?" Rita asked skeptically.

Slade gave her a flat look with his one eye. "It's simple. Nobody else is going to rule over and order Slade Wilson around, Rita Farr." He said in a more serious baritone voice.

Miss Martian, who had looked so blank and confused before, finally had a look of understanding cross her face. It was almost as if the dark veil that had been over her eyes was finally being torn off. And then, she was able to see the full light of the truth that had been hidden before. And boy, was it coming too little too late for her.

'Oh no, what have I done!?' She thought.

The tracker appeared out of her hand again, and she pressed down on the button to deactivate it. When that didn't work, she tried to mentally examine it to find the off switch. It didn't have one. It had no way to turn it off or redirect the signal.

'Damn it Megan, think!' She thought desperately.

"Trigon ordered you around," Raven said blandly.

"Your daddy-" Raven glared at him from under her hood. "I'm sorry, your 'sperm donor' held my body and soul in his custody. And I preferred not walking around as a human skeleton for the rest of my existence."

"I guess that's as fair a point as any." Blue Beetle said in the background.

Slade nodded at him. "Now, I do have a few theories as to who the member of the Light is, and why they'd want you two specifically to gain world domination-" Slade was starting to say.

However, he cut off mid-sentence; much to their surprise. He turned and faced a side monitor that only he could see. "It appears, that you've been betrayed," Slade said grimly.

The heroes in the room looked confused.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Red klaxons on the walls started to go off at that moment. Cliff reacted almost immediately and ran to a screen on another console. "We have perimeter alarms going off all around the factory! The defense systems are initiating, but whatever it is is taking them all out!" He yelled.

"Get footage Cliff, stat! I want to know what kind of threat it is we're facing!" Steve yelled at him.

"Got it!" Cliff yelled.

The hologram of Slade was replaced for a moment by footage of the field outside.

Several different sized laser turrets were shown poking up out of a section of the lawn and unleashing volleys of blue colored lasers at a single figure descending from the air.

Ksssss!

Superman's heat vision easily decimated most of the turrets in a single swoop.

Zip! Zip! Zip! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Flash appeared running from turret to turret. He ran right through them, causing them to explode.

Twang! Boom!

A green tipped arrow flew through the air and punctured through the largest turret. The arrow exploded, blowing up the turret into many different pieces.

Finally, a bat-a-rang started to fill the footage.

Boom! Kshshsh!

The footage coming in through the camera went to static. The hologram of Slade reappeared. For once, he looked troubled. "Did you foresee this happening my daughter?" He asked.

"Kind of. It was a possibility. So I have a Plan B prepared and everything. Not sure about the rest of these losers though." She said almost as if she was bored.

The other heroes were looking frantically around themselves. "What the heck? Betrayal?" Blue Beetle said in disbelief.

"Who betrayed us?!" Lightning asked.

"It wasn't me. I didn't want a fight that badly." Jinx said in her defense.

"And how would we know that?!" Artemis asked threateningly.

"Get that footage back Cliff!" Mento ordered.

"I'm trying! They're taking out my cameras faster than I can pull them up!" Cliff yelled back.

"Urgh! Release the reprogrammed Immortus Bots then! We need to buy some time!" He ordered.

Beast Boy and Raven looked fearful in the midst of the growing chaos around them. 'No… not again…' They both thought at the same time.

"Rose, destroy the USB when I'm done. I want to make sure it isn't tracked to my location." Slade ordered his daughter.

"Yes father," Rose replied in a bored tone.

Slade gave her a nod and then looked back to Beast Boy and Raven. The two of them had been looking at the chaos going on around them, but upon Slade looking to them again they looked up to him. It was almost as if they were hoping he could somehow deliver them from this mess. At this point, they were feeling desperate enough for that to happen.

"The Justice League knows you're here because of a tracker given to the hero that betrayed you, and they're hellbent on making sure you two don't escape this time." He glanced at Miss Martian as he said the first statement, and then his narrowed eye looked back to the two heroes. "I'm afraid that I'll have to have my daughter explain some of the rest of what I was going to say to you two. After that, the rest will have to wait until I meet with you in person at a later time." He said before he started to turn away from the hologram machine.

"Whoa whoa whoa. These random video calls from you are freaky enough already! Why would we want to meet you in person!?" Beast Boy angrily asked. It was almost as if he was accusing him of betraying them instead of a hero.

Slade stopped at his tone of anger, and then looked Beast Boy dead in the eye. "Do you and your 'friend' want to get across Nabu's barrier and escape from the Justice League for good?" He pointedly asked.

Beast Boy opened his mouth to respond, but the words caught in his throat. "Think. The next full moon is a few weeks from now. That's when Wonder Woman will wake, tell everyone the truth, and you two will have the possibility of going free if no other entanglements come up in the process. But with how desperate this member of the Light is to catch you, you won't evade the Justice League for that long unless you disappear off the North American continent for good. Now, do you want my help in doing that, or not?" Slade asked.

"Yes," Raven answered for them. She didn't know how it'd be possible. But if there was a chance… she was willing to take it no matter how bad the source.

"Good. Rose has the rest of the details. Good luck, Titans." Slade said. His hologram disappeared.

Ksch!

A katana immediately sliced the USB out of the port.

Ksch! Ksch! Ksch!

The pieces of the USB landed in an unrecognizable mess on the ground. Rose sheathed her katana.

"I foresee that we don't have much time left," Rose said to Steve.

"I was afraid you were going to say something like that," Steve said.

Boom!

A loud explosion shook the building.

"We have a breach! JL's and other heroes are coming down into the hallways!" Cliff yelled as he finally got the footage up.

The footage showed a random hallway. Superman was floating calmly down the center of it.

Kssss!

He used his heat vision to clear away turrets that fired from the walls all around him. Along with the familiar figures of General Immortus's reprogrammed battle bots. Batman, Green Arrow, and Zatanna were right behind him; using Superman as a shield from the turrets as they advanced.

The footage then divided and showed other heroes in different parts of the factory above and below. From Kaldur, Starfire, and Nightwing taking down a batch of reprogrammed Immortus bots; to Argent, Hot Spot, and Bumblebee taking on a series of laser turrets. The Justice League and most of the Teen Titans and Young Justice were on the scene. Too numerous for them to count.

They had gone all out for this one.

Superboy looked over to Miss Martian. He looked like he was going to say something when he finally noticed the tracker she was still holding in her hand. A look of realization came onto his face. "What did you do?" He asked in shock.

Miss Martian looked guilty, and she clenched the tracker in her hand. "I didn't know the whole story!" Miss Martian tried to defend herself.

Superboy's face didn't harden, but the look of disappointment on it hurt Miss Martian more than any anger could have. "I trusted you Me'gann… I trusted you." He said bitterly.

He turned away and ran towards a different door. He had to wipe away a tear from his eye before he looked to the others. "Split up! We can't let the Justice League know who all is against them! If you're spotted, don't fight! Pretend you're taking out the turrets, or something! Just get away while you're at it!" Superboy yelled his order, before running out.

"You got it, boss!" Blue Beetle yelled. "You heard the man! Let's scram amigos!" He yelled to everyone else before he took to the air and flew up into a vent. The chaos of fear finally started to get organized.

Herald blew into his trumpet to try and make a portal. However, a portal didn't form. "Darn it, I forgot about the wards on the walls here." He said before he clipped the trumpet to his side. "Come on! We're bailing this joint!" He yelled to his friends before running out a door into a hallway. Jericho, Pantha, Kole, and a few other heroes followed him.

"Right away old chap." The Teen Titans version of Kid Flash said before he picked up Jinx. "Hang on babe."

"What do you meeeeaaaaa-" Jinx's scream was lost to the air as Kid Flash zipped away.

"Ready to hang on?" The other Kid Flash said as he picked Artemis up.

"Please, we've done this about a thousand times before Wally. You don't have to be gentle with me." She said as she locked an arrow in her bow.

Kid Flash nodded, and then he ran out a different way with Artemis.

Miss Martian had tears coming down her face. She looked down at the tracker that was still beeping in her hand.

Kch!

Her mental powers angrily crumpled it into a little metal ball. She then chucked it against the wall, before she ran down the same way that Superboy had disappeared down into. "Connor! Wait! Please let me explain!" She yelled desperately.

The crippled kid was still standing with a bored look on his face, and he let out a yawn. "I guess I need to skedaddle to. The WatchTower prison cells aren't the best place to sleep really." He said as he dropped his crutch to the side.

"Shazam!" He yelled.

Boom!

The crippled kid disappeared in a flash of lightning and was replaced by the hulking caped figure of Shazam. He quickly flew off out into another hallway and quickly disappeared out of sight.

Rose looked around, besides the Doom Patrol she, Raven, and Beast Boy were the last people in the room. "Now's our chance. If we want to escape, we'll need to run now," Rose said to Mento.

He nodded his head to her as Rita walked up next to him. "Okay, I'll leave Beast Boy and Raven in your care daughter of Deathstroke," Mento said gruffly.

Rose nodded and ran for a different doorway. Raven quickly followed silently behind her. She looked to be doing everything in her power to keep her powers from exploding everything around her in fear and dread.

Beast Boy, however, didn't follow. He had been caught off guard by the crippled kid's transformation obviously. But now he was standing defiantly as he faced Mento. "No, I want to go with you guys." He said.

Rita's face fell. "As much as we'd love to, we can't Garfield," Rita said sadly.

"You'll be less likely to be captured if you stayed with Rose. Her abilities of foresight are your greatest chance of getting out of here." Mento said.

Beast Boy looked shocked at what he was told. "No! I don't want to leave you two again after I was freaking reunited with you dudes! Heck, I don't want anyone else here who wanted to help us to suffer for this! If I'm going to have to fight, I'd rather fight alongside you than Slade's daughter!" Beast Boy said angrily.

"We don't have time to argue Beast Boy!" Mento said in a louder tone. Rita started to push him towards Rose and Raven.

"No! Please, I don't want to lose my family again-" He was starting to yell.

'Garfield! Is staying with us and losing this girl really worth the risk!?' Mento mentally thought in Beast Boy's mind.

Beast Boy's look of anger turned to a look of surprise. Mento stared him down with a hard look in his eyes. 'I've been able to sense your thoughts long before you walked into the room, Garfield. And I can't say I fully approve of you beating yourself up over them. So I'll ask this once, is sticking with us older slow older heroes and taking on the Justice League head on to save a couple of your friends really worth it if you lose this girl before telling her how you feel about her!?' Mento mentally asked.

Beast Boy was silent, and he stopped struggling against his mom. He looked like he was struggling to respond. Mento approached, got down on one knee, and gripped his stepson's shoulders. The klaxons were still blaring loudly on the walls around them.

'Garfield, listen. I can tell what you're feeling right now. I can sense from your thoughts the animosity between you two, and how much it pains you. I know the real reason why you want to stay with us isn't just because you think of us as family… it's because you feel you can't face your problems… that you can't face her.'

Beast Boy numbly nodded his head. 'However, I know what her thoughts have been since she's walked in here too. Why she's been trying to stay distanced from everyone. It isn't just because she's afraid of losing control or being embarrassed. It's because she's afraid of lashing out against you and hurting you or someone else again. She's too afraid of herself and what she's like… but if you tell her how you really feel about her, then the problems between you two will be resolved.' Steve thought.

Beast Boy was at a loss for words.

"Gar, we need to go now," Raven said blandly next to the door.

"We don't have much time." Rose reaffirmed.

Beast Boy quickly looked over to her, and then to Mento. He gave his mom one last hug and took a step away. Mento stood back up. "Are you really sure about that dad?" Beast Boy asked Mento with hope in his eyes.

"Do you trust me, Garfield?" Mento asked, staring Beast Boy in the eyes.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The klaxons on the walls started to blare brighter than before. "Hurry up already and choose squirt! We're moments away from being neck deep with Justice Leaguers in this room!" Cliff yelled.

Larry's soul-self left his bandaged body, which crumpled to the floor. "I guess I'll buy us some time for our escape then." He said before his soul self went through the door to slow down the Justice Leaguers that were approaching.

Beast Boy nodded his head. "Okay. Good luck dudes." He muttered. He turned and ran towards Raven and Rose. He didn't look back as the three of them ran off into the hallway together.

Mento smiled. 'You'll be okay Garfield.' He thought. He turned to Cliff. "Pick up Larry's body. We're getting out of here." He ordered.

"But, but we just managed to get this place all cleaned up and everything! Are you seriously going to abandon it-" He started to say.

"Now!" Mento ordered.

Cliff blinked in surprise. Then he quickly ran over to Larry's body and picked it up. "Alright. How will we be escaping this time then sir?!" Cliff asked.

"Is the jet all fired up and ready?" Mento asked as he ran to another computer terminal.

"It can be as soon as I sit my butt down in the pilot's seat!" Cliff yelled as he ran towards the doorway.

"Good. We're going to leave no trace of ourselves here." Mento said as he put in a special passcode on the screen and started to type on it. Cliff disappeared down into the hallway.

Rita walked up beside Steve and glanced at what he was doing on the computer terminal.

"Steve, you don't mean-" She started to ask.

A holographic timer appeared over the computer terminal. It was set at 30 minutes. Rita stopped talking as soon as she saw it. Steve narrowed his eyes at it.

"That should buy everyone enough time to get out. And if the Justice League is going to trash up the place, then they're not going to get the privilege of using anything here against those two." He said grouchily.

He smashed his fist down on the button.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The klaxons on the walls changed from red to blue. And the klaxons lit up all around the underground base and factory. "Self destruct sequence, initiated. T-Minus, Thirty, minutes. Base going into full lockdown mode." The polite A.I. of the base said throughout the rest of the factory.

The timer started to count down on the terminal.

Steve quickly got up and grabbed Rita by the hand. "Now, let's get out of here!" He ordered.

Rita didn't object, and within seconds she and Steve had run out of the room.

Boom!

A heavy steel plated security door came down from the ceiling and slammed in front of the doorway they had run out of, blocking it off.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The other doorways into the room were also blocked by thick steel plated doors.

Thoom!

The vents into the room were closed off. The muted sounds that came outside suggested the rest of the base was gradually going into lockdown, going outwards from the center.

Soon, the rest of the base would be blocked in as well. Along with anybody who chose to stay inside.


Pshshshsh!

A light metal turret fired bright blue lasers down a hallway.

Pshsh- Ksch! Boom!

A bat-a-rang sliced right through the lone turret as it was firing, and blew it up. The bat-a-rang flew back through the air into the outstretched hand of Batman. He relaxed his stance at the last turret in the hallway being destroyed. He was lit up by the red klaxons in the hallways.

"How much farther are we from the targets Zatanna?" Batman asked behind him.

Zatanna pulled a device from her pocket and opened it up. A frown came onto her face. "It's not showing the tracker on here anymore." She said.

The group of heroes stopped advancing forward and looked to Zatanna. "Is that bad?" Green Arrow asked beside her.

"It means we don't know if she's following the two fugitives or not anymore doofus," Zatanna said bitingly as she rubbed at her tired eyes.

Batman pulled his comm out. "That just means we'll have to give the order to have every hero-" He was saying.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The klaxons around the group beeped loudly and turned from red to blue. The beeping and the color change grabbed their attention. "Self destruct sequence, initiated. T-Minus, Thirty, minutes. Base going into full lockdown mode." The A.I. of the base said in the hallway.

"Okay. Now that doesn't sound good." Green Arrow said.

Batman ground his teeth in frustration. "Of all the low rotten things for Mento to pull-" He started to growl.

"Batman. We just heard the base is set to self destruct. What are your orders?" Kaldur interrupted over his comm.

Batman brought the comm to his face. "Keep searching. They have to be around the base somewhere." Batman ordered.

"But the base is going into lockdown. If we stay, we could get shut in when the base self-" Kaldur started to say.

"I ordered you to keep searching for those traitors! Now do as you're told!" Batman yelled over the comm interrupting Kaldur. Kaldur looked surprised at Batman's tone.

Kzzzz!

The comm suddenly went to static. The device Zatanna was holding also went to static. "Crap! The base just activated a jamming field!" She said as she slapped the device in frustration. The device continued to show static.

"Great. Now we don't know where the two fugitives are, the base is going into lockdown and self-destructing, and we can't communicate with the others. I thought this was going to be an easy assignment." Green Arrow said sarcastically.

Batman waved his hand in dismissal. "It doesn't matter. We'll just keep going forward-" He started to say.

Superman got in front of him, stopping him. "No, you and the others are going to find the other heroes and evacuate them." He said.

Batman glared at Superman. "And why am I going to do that?" He asked.

"Because we can't communicate in here, and this base is going into self lockdown. I'm sure I could beat through any lockdown this base has set up and could survive any explosion that tears this place apart, but how'd you feel if Nightwing was trapped in here and went up in that blast because you didn't tell him to get out?" Superman asked bluntly at the end.

Batman glared at Superman for a moment more… and then he shook his head. "What am I thinking…" He said to himself. Then he looked back to Superman. "Find those two, and capture them before they escape," Batman ordered.

"Yes, sir," Superman said.

Whoosh!

Superman took off down the hallway.

"Alright, new plan," Batman said looking to the other two heroes. "Make sure the two fugitives and any other traitors don't escape if you find them, but find the others and order them to get out and set up a perimeter around the outside of the property!" Batman ordered.

"With pleasure." Green Arrow said before he took off running back the way they had gone. Batman went down a different intersection.

Zatanna stayed standing in her spot for a moment. She looked conflicted for a moment… 'You know, it won't do us any good if we're caught up in the explosion.' The voice of Nabu said in her mind.

'Urgh, fine. I don't have to be the one that finds them. As long as they're captured by Superman.' She thought before she ran off down the last part of the intersection.


Author's Notes:

Well, I hope you all enjoyed the update! Stay tuned in next week for our heroes daring escapade from the Justice League! Will they make it out in time!? Will Rose prove to be as trustworthy as she looks!? And will Beast Boy and Raven find it in themselves to bury the hatchet and just get together already!

Find out, next time, on Allen Blaster's latest edition of Justice League Vs. The Beast! (And now that that's out of the way, the author will now take a much needed nap)

Till Next Time

Allen