Garfield awoke in his strange new bed in this uncomfortable apartment and knew he had to tell Terra he'd changed his mind today. He felt like he'd been suffering a head-cold the past 2 days with his powers removed. His senses had been dulled to a normal human level he wasn't used to and felt like the world had become muted to him. He didn't expect to feel so empty without his powers but he did. More importantly, he missed his team; they were his friends and his family and he couldn't stand being without them for so long. Sure, sometimes he felt less important to the team but he knew they could work past those issues, they were too important to him. Garfield got ready for the day and headed into the living room. Terra was in the kitchen pouring herself a bowl of cereal.
"Morning." Terra greeted him without turning around.
"Yeah good morning… uh Terra… I need to talk to you." Terra grabbed her bowl and set it on the small kitchen table.
"Okay. Orange juice?" Terra was pulling the carton out of the fridge as she asked.
"Uh sure." She poured two glasses and brought them to the table where she sat and began to eat her breakfast. Garfield sat opposite her.
"So Terra… I've uh… been thinking…"
"Oh no, you thinking? Better be careful you don't pull a muscle!" Terra cracked a smile at him but he ignored the joke he'd heard hundreds of times.
"I've been thinking, I don't think this life is for me. I don't think I want to be normal." Garfield paused and took a drink of his orange juice, waiting for a response from Terra but she continued to eat cereal like normal. "I want to have my powers back. But I…I still want to be friends with you Terra, or more than friends… I just don't want to lose you again, ok?" She set her spoon down in the bowl.
"Gar, why would you want to go back to that life? Think of all the responsibility that comes with having superpowers."
"I like that responsibility. It gives me purpose, you know? I like helping people too."
"You like feeling special. You like feeling different. But really, is that so important? It's dangerous. You're constantly risking your life for people you don't even know! Who cares about other people, it's so… relieving to only have to care about yourself."
"I've… I've never really liked having to care about myself I guess? I like to focus on other people."
"You can focus on me. We can spend our lives together, Gar. We wouldn't have to worry about saving people or whatever. Just you and me and that's it. We'll get our own place, support ourselves, and really be together. Haven't you ever thought of just settling down?" Garfield was caught off guard. He had no idea Terra had been thinking that far.
"I…uh… I mean I guess… but Terra… I-I'm only 18, you know? I have so much more to do before I settle down. I uh…" Gar was beginning to lose his train of thought; it was becoming harder for him to focus.
"Oh Gar… I was really hoping this would work out easily for us." He gave a strange look, not sure what she was on about. "I wish you could just play along and be happy, but I guess that's not how this is going to go, is it? Are you feeling alright?" Garfield was beginning to feel light-headed and his vision was blurring. Multiple images of Terra were appearing in front of him.
"I…uhh…" Garfield tried to stand up but couldn't get his legs to cooperate.
"I'm sorry to have to do this to you." He heard Terra say as he fell out of his chair and onto the floor. She was standing over him, those big blue eyes staring into his, when everything went black.
Raven was sitting at the kitchen table when Robin entered, a determined look on his face.
"We're going to get him back today." He announced. "Now that we know it's reversible, we have to talk some sense into him before something goes wrong or it's too late to reverse it. Once everyone is up and ready, we'll head out." Robin grabbed his morning coffee and sat at the table with a newspaper.
"Good morning to you too." Raven replied, Robin was always in work mode, of course she could understand why in this situation. The whole sequence of events had been very strange but she knew that something more sinister was happening than Beastboy simply choosing to give up his powers. Terra was involved and Terra always meant bad news. Raven had tried several times to give her a chance and had always been proven wrong. It was hard for her to trust people to begin with and after everything Terra had done, there was no trust there. Terra was bad news and she knew it. Yet Beastboy somehow always fell for her tricks. Raven hated how easily he could be fooled by a pretty girl… Cyborg and Starfire made their way into the kitchen a little while later.
"Eat your breakfast and be ready to go. We're heading back to that apartment and we're going to talk some sense into Beastboy." Robin announced to the others. It wasn't long before the team was piled in the T-car and headed to downtown Jump City. This mission was meant to be civil but the Titans were always prepared for something to go wrong. They parked the car and headed up the elevator to the apartment Beastboy was staying in with Terra. Robin had the lead and knocked loudly on the apartment door. The Titans waited awkwardly for a few moments but no one answered. Robin knocked loudly again. "Beastboy, it's Robin, open up!" Still there was no answer. Robin tried the door but it was locked. He began rummaging in his tool belt for a lock pick but Starfire merely pushed on the door and it fell right off its hinges.
"Ooops." She said in a not-so-innocent voice. The Titans filed in to apartment and found no one was there. "Perhaps they have gone for a morning stroll?"
"I'm not so sure, look." Robin pointed to one of the kitchen chairs that was knocked over on its side. On the table were two glasses of orange juice, barely touched, and a half-eaten bowl of cereal. Cyborg walked over to the table and pushed a button on his arm which changed one of his fingers into a strange contraption which he stuck into the glass of orange juice. He looked at the small screen on his arm as it displayed information.
"GHB. The drink's been spiked." Cyborg announced. Starfire gasped.
"What does this mean?" Starfire asked.
"It means Beastboy's in trouble." Robin replied. "Cyborg, can you track where Beastboy's T-Communicator is? If we're lucky he's still got it on him." Cyborg pushed another button on his arm and the screen changed to a small map where a red dot appeared blinking.
"I don't know for sure if it's him but the communicator is registering inside a building just on the edge of town."
"Let's go." Robin led the team out of the apartment and down to the T-car. Cyborg punched the coordinates into the car's GPS and sped off to the city's edge. They entered the factory district and pulled up to an older factory building that looked unoperational.
"There never seems to be a shortage of abandoned buildings for the baddies to use." Raven quietly said under her breath. The team walked through the front door and paused as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Inside the building Raven began to feel a strong pull inside of herself. She realized she was sensing Beastboy's presence in the building. "He's here." She announced.
"I can't pinpoint exactly where in the factory he is." Cyborg said while looking at the map on his arm.
"Let's split up then, but be careful team. Have your communicators ready to call for backup." Robin headed through the first set of doors onto the main factory floor. Cyborg headed down the hallway to the left while Starfire headed up the stairs. Raven figured that left her with the basement so she made her way down the concrete steps.
Garfield awoke with a horrible feeling in his gut. He'd knew instantly that he'd been tricked by Terra. He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with a dim yellowish light. He was in a small concrete room and had been laying on a medical gurney. The room was full of what appeared to be old medical equipment, actually. Several steel tables, trays, and chairs were pushed against one wall. There were metal canisters and lots of plastic tubing as well. Garfield sat up, unsteady at first. He felt groggy from whatever Terra had put in his drink. He took a moment to look around the room and saw there was only one wooden door and a small dark window on the same wall. As he was looking at the exists thinking about how he could get out, the window illuminated and Terra appeared on the other side, a small microphone was in front of her.
"You're awake." She said, a blank look on her face.
"What's going on, where am I?" Garfield asked.
"You're our bait." Terra said simply.
"Bait? What are you planning? And who's 'our'?" Garfield's head was feeling heavy as he tried to process everything that was going on. He saw Terra roll her eyes.
"Still dumb as ever." Garfield was shocked, Terra was always the one who believed in him and never called him stupid like many of his teammates had before. "I can't believe you haven't figure it out yet. We were never trying to cure you, Gar, we were just taking away your powers. We made you useless and now he's going to inject himself with you powers to make himself stronger." Garfield must have had a shocked look on his face because Terra sighed loudly. "Slade, you idiot. You seriously had no idea? Who else would I be working with? Mr. Wilson is Slade. We've been preparing this plan for years, waiting for you're most vulnerable moment to bring you in. And now that we have you, it's going to be no problem to get to the other Titans. And we're going to start with that ugly demon girl, not sure how well the extraction process will go with her, but if it kills her, oh well." Garfield's face felt hot with rage. He ran at the window and slammed his fists against it but it didn't give. "Double layered and bullet proof, good luck getting through that. Well, your ex-team will be here soon, I'll get you when it's over."
The light behind the window went out and he could no longer see through the window. He pounded on the window a few more times for good measure but his fists were beginning to hurt and he realized how perfect the whole situation was. Here he was in a simple room with no powers and no way to get out. If he still had his powers it would be a piece of cake to break out but as a human he felt weak and fragile. He had fell for Terra's trap and now he was going to lure in the rest of his team too, he truly felt like a complete idiot.
Of course Raven was stuck exploring the basement but something inside her told her she was going the right way. She stopped in her tracks and focused for a moment, trying to sense where Beastboy might be in the building. She could feel a sort of glow inside her mind pulling her down the basement stairs and to the right. Raven followed the feeling through the dark, looking for any sign of the Changeling. She hadn't walked far when down the hallway when a slightly ajar door caught her eye and decided to check inside.
Raven entered the dark, small room. She had sensed Beastboy's presence up until this point but it was suddenly gone once she crossed the threshold. Confused, she took a step back, ready to leave when the door slammed closed behind her. She whipped around to see who had closed it when the room suddenly filled with bright white light. Raven closed her eyes, not accustomed to the brightness, and slowly reopened them to assess her surroundings. The room was slightly larger than she had thought but still fairly empty. The walls were white and the floor was a cold tile and in the center, was an operating bed. Raven knew then she had walked into a trap. She began to look around for another exit, hands at the ready in case she needed to strike. The room was solid all the way around, no windows just the one door she had come through. She turned and tried the knob but it was locked, as she expected.
"Raven, I'm so glad you could make it." The voice was calm and smooth and echoed off the walls. Raven didn't have to see a face to know who it was: Slade. The Titans hadn't seen him in years, in fact they were beginning to believe he was dead. He had a habit of popping up at the worst times though and they should have known.
"What is this?" Raven asked, trying to keep her voice calm and emotionless. "What did you do to Beastboy?"
"Only what he asked for." Slade replied in his steely voice. Raven was beginning to summon dark energy around her hands, ready to attack as soon as she could identify where the voice was coming from. It happened suddenly though, she was caught off guard as she was tackled to the ground, her arms twisted painfully behind her and a gag placed in her mouth keeping her from uttering her chant. It was all so fast but suddenly she was strapped to the bed, her arms and legs tied tightly down and the gag still in her mouth. Standing over her was Slade and to his side Terra. Raven felt furious, hate for that girl flowing through her body, energy powering up around her until suddenly it stopped and she began to feel a calm feeling in her body. She turned her head slightly to see a needle in Slade's hand.
"Just a sedative to keep you under control." Slade replied, she couldn't see his expression through the mask but knew he was grinning. Raven felt her body relaxing and a sense of panic deep inside. She was useless at this point and couldn't harness any energy. She was afraid. "Good girl, just relax." Slade stroked a gloved hand along Raven's face, she would have bitten him if she could move her face which was now beginning to feel numb. "This shall truly be an interesting experience; you see you are our first patient who was born with powers to undergo this procedure. I knew it would be easy to perform on the Changeling and Terra, but you… my I'm not sure what will happen. I've been studying the anatomy of your powers and they are so complex, so closely linked to every aspect of your being. I'm not sure they can be removed, but oh we will try." He let out a small chuckle.
"Mmm…" Raven attempted to speak but the gag muffled her words and she was feeling extremely weak. Slade removed the gag from her mouth, certain she no longer had the strength to speak.
"I'm sure you want to know why I'm doing this. It's quite simple really, I'm collecting your powers for myself. I want to become strong so I can destroy you Titans once and for all and to do it I'm going to use your own powers against you." Raven's eyes grew wide with realization. How did she not see it before? And the others, how was she going to let them know? "Now just relax dear, I won't lie, this is going to hurt a lot and frankly I don't know how long this will take." Slade stuck his hand out and Terra handed him a large needle which he injected into Raven's arm. The pain was sudden and immense, like fire running through her veins. Her body contorted and she screamed, tears running down her face. It was agony but soon the world around her went black.
A/N: Oh man I've been so excited to get this chapter finished and uploaded! I hope you guys liked it! There will probably be one or two more chapters to this story and I promise I will finish this one. I know I could do so much more but because this story began over a year ago I kind of just want to complete it and begin working on something else. Also I want to add in that I'm a complete sucker for realism and I always want there to be logical explanations to things that occur but every now and then I have to tell myself it's fiction and sometimes there can be leaps in logic. I hope you guys understand that and the story feels believable enough, especially in the Titans universe.