Hope you're ready for more Teen Titan-ic awesomeness people, cuz here's a new chapter! In this exciting new addition to 'Shadows of Love', the long awaited clash of Beast vs. Beast finally unfolds. Sound exciting? I certainly hope so! And here's to also hoping that you read, review, and enjoy! ^_^
A/N: Just to remind you all, I do not own Teen Titans, or anything else DC based or similarly owned by a higher legal power that may or may not be mentioned in this chapter (or story, period). And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! Let the Battle of the Beasts BEGIN!
Chapter 15:
Beast to the Rescue
The green Beast charged forward, now on the final stretch of trail that remained before he burst through the foliage that he knew would give way to reveal the location of where his rival had taken Raven. At this point, the Beast was so tensed up in anticipation of the coming battle that it took all its willpower to prevent itself from accidentally crushing the communicator it still held in its right hand.
"Now or never," the Beast thought to itself, it's host mentally thinking the same thing in unison from his position in the mental backseat. This was it; the battle was imminent; their rival was going to rue this night.
At the exact same moment, the brown Beast had fully exited the cave where its own host had chosen to slink away to have his 'fun' with the hated sorceress and was now standing tall just outside the entrance, snarling and growling in rage as it waited for its even more hated rival to arrive. Its eyes narrowed, and it turned its head left and right. "Where are you?" it mentally growled. It looked to its left once more, now emitting a low snarl of rage. "I know you're out there," it thought to itself. "Show yourself you coward!"
At the sound of surprisingly loud rustling and growling coming from right in front of it, the brown Beast looked directly ahead of it once again just in time to see none other than its distinctive green nemesis burst through the foliage two or three yards ahead of it with a loud growl of rage bursting from its open mouth. The green Beast came to a perfect landing on both of its feet, crouching masterfully to allow it to absorb the impact. Then it straightened up, reared its head back, and then snapped itself into a leaning forward position allowing it to stare its rival in the face before unleashing an ear splitting roar of fury and challenge. The brown Beast roared back simultaneously rearing up to dispel even the slightest possibility of looking weak.
At the same time this was happening, Raven managed to weakly come to a stop several feet away from the entrance to the cave, having managed to get herself off the remains of the makeshift stone bed (only pausing to weakly scoop up the discarded larger syringe into her arms and carry it over with her), and her eyes widened involuntarily as she caught sight of the two Beasts now present and sizing each other up.
The green Beast took three steps forward, and then stopped. The brown Beast reared up again, letting out another, but this time deeper sounding, roar of challenge. As Raven continued to watch from her current position behind the brown Beast, the Beasts stared each other down, snarling and slavering in rage and anticipation for when the battle finally begun. The green Beast leaned forward again, unleashing a raspy snarl at the brown Beast, who simultaneously leaned forward towards its nemesis and unleashed a throaty howl from its own jaws.
Seconds later, as Raven found herself forced to lower down to her knees and one hand from the effort it had taken to get to her current position, the two Beasts finally decided that their standoff had lasted long enough, and they both charged towards each other in unison, the green Beast letting out another savage roar of challenge. Then the two Beasts collided, literally head-on, and with a fit of snarling and a single clash of claws, the epic battle began.
. . . . .
"How much further do we have to go?"
"Shouldn't be that much further," Cyborg responded, his eyes firmly glued to the screen on his arm that was even now actively at work in tracking Raven's active communicator. "In fact, judging by the current readings, she appears to have finally come to a stop."
At the current moment, the three founding Titans who'd originally stayed behind at the tower were flying through the air. Or to be more precise, Starfire was flying through the air while carrying Robin in one hand and Cyborg in the other. In spite of having left at exactly the moment they'd caught the distress signal, it had taken nearly ¾ of an hour to reach their current position above the forest. But fortunately, with Cyborg having now mentioned that Raven had stopped moving around, they would hopefully not take too much longer to reach their friend's position.
"I most certainly hope we arrive at Raven's location soon," said Starfire. "I dare not even think about what sort of trouble she might be undergoing right now, especially considering how long it's currently taking us to get to her." She then blinked, and just barely managed to fight her sudden overwhelming urge to yawn. "Forgive me friends," said the Tamaranean. "But I fear that my earlier exhaustion is beginning to return. I may very well soon have to land and be of little use in the coming circumstances."
"Just see if you can go just a little further," Robin suggested patiently. "If it reaches the point that you're virtually seconds away from outright dropping out of the sky, then you can definitely go ahead and land regardless of how far we are from Raven. But for now, just try to stay afloat."
"For Raven's sake," said Starfire, "I shall try my best." With a grunt of exertion, she zoomed ahead some more, still maintaining a tight grip on Robin and Cyborg's hands.
The sky was abruptly split with the sound of a savagely animalistic roaring. At the sound of this, Robin's masked eyes widened. He knew that sound all too well. "The Beast; he's still active." His eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth in a silent snarl. "If that thing is the one responsible for the distress signal, then so help me, I will . . ."
Another roar split the air, this one sounding noticeably different from the first one. The eyes of all three of the airborne Titans widened in shock. Granted, it wasn't so much the fact that it sounded different from the first roar that had now stunned them. Rather, it was the fact that it had now occurred while the first roar was still in effect. "There's two of them," said Starfire.
"Adonis," Robin growled. He clenched his right fist, which was conveniently not the one that was currently grasping onto Starfire's own right hand. "That sick son of a gun; his Beast must have managed to avoid being completely annihilated by that cure three years ago just like Beast Boy's."
"Then good thing we brought that little backup measure along," said Cyborg. He looked over at Robin. "You do have it right?"
"Yes I do," said Robin, patting on a compartment in his utility belt.
Starfire raised her eyebrow. "Is there something I am missing?"
"Not anymore."
Robin drew out what looked like some sort of syringe. Contained inside was a hideous looking dark brownish green liquid. Cyborg, meanwhile, briefly deactivated his communicator tracker and caused what looked like a small gun-like object to extend out of his arm. "This little formula," Robin began, "is a minor counter measure Cyborg and I designed for situations like these . . ."
Starfire's grip tightened to an agonizingly tight level, her eyes now glowing dangerously solid green. "How dare you do this!?" shouted the Tamaranean. "You Cyborg of all people should have known better than this! Especially after how vocally you and Raven stood against acts like this three years ago during the Beast Buster plans incident!"
"Star," said Cyborg. "This isn't what you think . . ."
"And you!" Starfire roared, but this time at Robin. "How dare you make yet another heinous plan such as this?! I thought you'd changed after all this time . . ."
"Star," said Robin. "Please. This time's different."
"HOW!?" Starfire screamed.
"Because unlike the Beast Busters," Cyborg explained, "this contingency was designed with Beast Boy's willing and fully aware consent."
For a brief moment, Starfire raised her eyebrow and stayed silent, completely confused. Then the full import of what Cyborg had just said hit her. "He was aware and in consent to this?"
"Yes," said Robin. He nodded his head.
"But why would he agree to such a plan?" the Tamaranean asked, her eyes no longer glowing, but still looking somewhat angry. "Especially after the incident with the Beast Buster plans?"
"I shall gladly explain," said Robin. He cleared his throat, and in a seemingly quite unusually casual manner considering he was dangling from quite a few feet up in the air. "You see here's what really makes this little countermeasure different from the Beast Busters. The Beast Busters were designed in a way that would both force the Beast into hibernation and also overwhelm Beast Boy himself to the point of taking him out as well." He lifted up the syringe he was holding once more. "This, on the other hand," the Boy Wonder continued, "is designed exclusively for dealing with the Beast."
"Exactly," said Cyborg. Starfire turned her head to face him. "This little concoction? An inhibitol mixture, designed specifically to force the Beast into giving control back to its host and to go into a state of hibernation so potent as to leave the host unable to change into it, or even communicate with it, until the effects wear off."
"And once exposed to the mixture and the Beast has been thus subdued," Robin continued, "the host is left conscious and unharmed."
Starfire thought to herself, and then a small smile came on her face. Her boyfriend truly had learned his lesson from the Beast Buster plans incident. "So in other words," said the Tamaranean, "it's designed strictly in the event of the Beast becoming the rogue, not necessarily under the assumption that friend Beast Boy himself goes rogue as well."
"Exactly," said Cyborg. He pointed over in the direction that the roaring had come from. "And as we just heard not too long ago, it will also prove very useful indeed now that we're aware that the Beast in Adonis is now on the lose."
Starfire thought to herself again, and a small smirk came on her face as she realized just how very useful this contingency plan would turn out to be indeed against a target other than Beast Boy. "I see," said the Tamaranean.
"That's good," said Robin. He smirked, and slipped the syringe back into its compartment within his utility belt. "Think you can make it?"
"With pleasure," said Starfire. With a deep breath, and a yell of self-encouragement, the Tamaranean zoomed through the air once more with her two friends still hanging on for dear life.
. . . . .
For what seemed like an eternity to both the combatants and the current sole onlooker, the two hulking Beasts furiously battled. The green Beast roared, and swung his right hand at its enemy, claws at the ready. The brown Beast blocked with a swing of the claws on its own right hand, sparks flying from the contact between the claws. The Beasts growled and withdrew their claws. The brown Beast lunged its head forward, snapping its jaws around the green Beast's right shoulder. The green Beast roared, a mixture of pain and anger in its voice, and pounded its brown furred rival in the side of the head with its left fist. Mere seconds after the brown Beast's teeth withdrew from their grip on the green Beast's shoulder, the green Beast grabbed its enemy by the shoulders and dealt it a powerful blow to the stomach with its right knee. The green Beast followed up with a powerful flying ninja kick to the face that sent the brown Beast stumbling backwards.
The brown Beast managed to eventually regain its footing when it was inches away from collapsing into the entrance of the cave behind it, shook its head side to side, and roared at its rival. The green Beast had already closed the distance with a charging rush, and it grabbed its rival by the ears, lifted it up, and slammed it down on the ground opposite the cave. The brown Beast snarled, swung its rival's legs out from under it with a swing of its own leg, and grabbed the green Beast by the ankles before it could land, swung it around, and sent it flying to a crashing pounding halt against a nearby tree, uprooting it.
The green Beast got back on its feet, shook its head side to side, and snarled before lunging back towards the brown Beast. Its rival had been seconds away from reaching the cave entrance and had gotten its claws positioned to deal a killing blow on the horrified onlooking Raven when the green Beast pounded into it from the side and sent them both tumbling over each other to the side. The two Beasts pounded into a nearby boulder, splitting apart from each other upon impact. They got back up on their feet, turned to face each other, and roared angrily in challenge. The brown Beast, in its rage, chose to attack first, and it barreled straight towards the green Beast, who grabbed onto its rival's right fist just as it was on the verge of slamming into its own face and manipulated it into sending the brown Beast off balance. The green Beast wasted no time upon getting the brown Beast off balance, and sent it flying backwards straight into a tree with a strong uppercut punch to the face. Much like when the green Beast had undergone a similar experience, the tree that the brown Beast crashed into ended up uprooting from the force of the impact and slamming down upon the ground.
The brown Beast got itself up into a seated position, shook his head, and then snapped its head to face the direction of its rival at the sound of an angry snarling. At the sight of the green Beast barreling towards it, claws at the ready, jaws agape, and roaring furiously, the brown Beast tensed up, snarled, and did a backflip attack that smacked the green Beast in the lower jaw and sent it stumbling backwards. The successful attack also allowed the brown Beast to get back to its feet, and while its rival was still off balance, the brown Beast grabbed onto the downed tree it had crashed into, picked it up, and swung it at the green Beast. The brown Beast's makeshift weapon slammed into the green Beast from its right, and the green Beast was sent flying off to the side. It landed hard on the ground and bounced three times in the direction it had initially been sent flying before skidding to a painful halt right in front of the downed tree that it had been sent crashing into itself not too long ago.
The brown Beast charged towards its apparently downed green rival, its makeshift weapon still in its hands, roaring in rage and triumph. Upon reaching a sufficient distance, it lifted the tree it was holding upwards and then swung it downwards towards the green Beast, only to then be knocked off balance and find the tree hanging completely vertically skyward upon being struck upwards by a swing of the other downed tree, now in the hands of the green Beast. The brown Beast managed to regain its footing, reposition its tree so that it was less precariously positioned, and roar in rage before it was then forced to defend itself as both it and the green Beast proceeded to furiously swing each other's trees at each other in a style very reminiscent of a sword fight.
For a respectable amount of time, the Beasts continued swinging their tree weapons at each other, snarling and growling in rage, challenge, and bloodlust. Then the brown Beast, in its rage, made a big mistake. It drew its tree extremely far back, and then put too much of its own weight into the motion when it started to swing it back at the green Beast. This proved to be such a big mistake when the green Beast swung its own tree in a far swifter fashion, and its weapon collided lightly against the brown Beast's weapon just hard enough to send the tree flying out of its rival's hands and even out of the clearing to boot. The brown Beast had just enough time to gape in shock at the sight of its weapon rapidly hurtling skyward, and then turn its head back towards the green Beast before the green Beast's tree pounded into it and sent it rocketing backward.
No sooner had the brown Beast finally landed when the green Beast charged towards it, roaring in challenge and with its tree weapon at the ready to be swung at him. Unfortunately, the brown Beast managed to jump back onto its feet, grab the top of the tree right as its rival was about to smack him with it, and then proceed to lift up the tree and slam it back down hard enough to both shatter it into smithereens and send its green rival bouncing away. The green Beast managed to do a half sit up in time to see the brown Beast hurtling through the air towards him with its claws and teeth at the ready. Thinking quickly, the green Beast did a backflip, its feet catching its brown rival on the chest and propelling it forwards and over it, sending the brown monster crashing head-first into another tree.
Both Beasts got up onto their feet, snarled at each other, and then rushed over towards each other. They collided literally head on, shook their heads side to side, roared at each other, and then proceeded to engage in a rapid, yet nonetheless brutal, fist fight, punching each other in the face, chest, stomach, and just about everywhere else their fists could successfully connect with each other for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, with an especially angry sounding roar, the green Beast managed to strike the brown Beast in the stomach with an especially powerful punch, deliver another knee strike to the same area, and then bite its rival hard on its left shoulder before then proceeding to cause them both to tumble over each other yet again. And then, right as the two battling Beast were on the verge of colliding into a large boulder together, the green Beast managed to snap itself into being upright on its two feet, lift up the brown Beast, and slam it down hard onto the boulder with just enough strength to shatter the boulder.
The brown Beast winced, gritting its teeth from the pain of the impact. Before it could recover, the green Beast leaped into the air, both of its feet coming to an equally painful landing upon the brown Beast's stomach. The brow Beast gasped and snarled in pain and shock at the impact. The green Beast growled, and proceeded to jump up and down multiple times upon the brown Beast's stomach. And for what seemed like hours, the green Beast jumped up and down upon its rival, the brown Beast's arms being jolted into bouncing up and down on the ground in perfect synch with the green Beast's jumps and landings. Then, with one final emphatic jump and landing, the brown Beast seemingly passed out and went limp.
For a brief few seconds, the green Beast remained standing atop the brown Beast. Then it snarled, turned to face the direction of the cave, and saw that Raven was now standing just outside the entrance, a small smile on her face, and her hand moving in a way that clearly hinted that she was beckoning for him to come. The Beast stepped off of its prone rival and started slowly walking towards the cave, and thus towards Raven. As the green Beast departed from its rival's prone body and made its way towards the teenage sorceress, the brown Beast shrank in on itself, reverting back to the now very beaten up familiar scraggly and gangly form of Donald Anderson aka. Adonis.
As Raven stood just outside the entrance to the cave, she let a small smile continue to remain on her face as the green Beast slowly made its way towards her in response to her beckoning. The creature came to a stop a good couple inches in front of her, heaving and sighing in a mixture of exhaustion and calm relief. Raven took a deep breath, sighed in content, and looked the Beast in the eyes, simultaneously placing the syringe down at her feet as slowly and carefully as she could as a sign of good faith. "Thank you," she then said. The Beast rumbled, its tone suggesting that this was more of a calm and happy noise meant as a means of saying 'you're welcome' than a threatening growl. Raven shook her head side to side, small smile still on her face. "It's alright now," said Raven, her right hand slowly starting to extend out towards the Beast's face. "You've done what you needed to do. Everything will be fine."
. . . . .
Meanwhile, standing right by the area where the Beast had made its grand entrance into that very clearing were Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. All three of them couldn't help but let small smiles of relief and triumph come on their faces at the sight of what they'd arrived in time to watch unfold. Starfire had continued to fly the two boys all the way up until they reached a point where Cyborg had calculated that they were about a quarter of the remaining distance away from where the communicator's location, and thus would be less likely to either alert Adonis to their presence or accidentally distract Beast Boy with the sight of them at a critical moment in his battle. After landing, they'd rushed down what had turned out to be a very obvious trail and come to a stop right outside the clearing where the battle had been occurring, at which point Robin had found Raven's still active communicator lying right nearby the area that the Beast had busted through to enter said clearing. In fact, the Beast had deliberately dropped the communicator in that very area directly before he'd made his entrance into the clearing and formally challenged his rival to the climactic battle that had unfolded.
From that point, Robin had paused just long enough to swipe up the communicator before he, Starfire, and Cyborg then proceeded to enter the clearing. They had entered just in time to catch sight of the green Beast doing its final series of jumping up and down upon the brown Beast. Robin had wisely signaled for his companions to stay back, for he had a feeling that things would likely be perfectly under control. And sure enough, as the current events they were now watching appeared to indicate, things indeed did appear to be quite under control. Adonis had been defeated and had reverted back to human form without having needed to be injected with the contingency formula. Beast Boy's own Beast form, meanwhile, seemed to be perfectly calm and was now in the midst of being reassured and soothed back into reverting control back to its host by Raven. Robin's smile widened. "Yep," he thought to himself. "I daresay things are actually working out quite well right now." Starfire and Cyborg, likewise, had similar thoughts.
"It's all over," Raven continued. "I'm safe now. I'll be fine. You can go back home."
The Beast rumbled, its tone indicating 'you're absolutely sure?'
"Yes," said Raven, her hand still calmly extending out towards the Beast. She carefully and gently managed to place her hand on the Beast's face. The Beast rumbled, almost purring, at the contact. "It's alright," said Raven. "There's nothing to worry about anymore. The danger I was in is over. You've done what you came to do, and I'm safe now because of it." She leaned her head towards the Beast, small smile still on her face and her violet eyes almost literally glowing with genuine happiness and gratitude. "Trust me," she stated. "Your work is done. You can go home now. You can rest. And believe me, I know you really could use some rest right now." The Beast let out its rumbling purring noise again, its eyes closing, and making a slight movement against Raven's hand as if trying to nod in agreement.
"That's right," said Raven. "Take deep breaths, find your center, calm yourself down. You've done your job, and you've succeeded. It's time for you to go back to sleep, and let your host come back." As this happened, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg looked at each other happily in unison. At this rate, things didn't look as if they could possibly go wrong.
Unfortunately, while in the midst of being carried away in the atmosphere that had now come to unfold around them at the sight of all the positive events that had been going on at that moment, the Titans completely forgot to keep an eye on Adonis. And at that moment, the scrawny miscreant had managed to get back up on his hands and knees, and was silently snarling in rage at the sight of what was now going on between Beast Boy and Raven. "No fair, no fair, no FAIR," he angrily growled to himself. He then raised his eyebrow upon catching sight of none other than his discarded belt, which now appeared to be conveniently lying around right there in front of him. His eyes narrowed as he promptly thought up a plan. This plan became further developed when he caught sight of a particularly sharp and jagged looking piece of the boulder that he'd been smashed upon while in Beast mode. With a snarl of rage, he grabbed onto the makeshift projectile and threw it straight towards the green Beast's exposed back.
Fortunately, the sound of the miscreant's angry snarling attracted the attention of the three Titans standing by the entrance to the clearing, and they reacted accordingly. "Look out!" Cyborg yelled in Raven and Beast Boy's direction. The sudden shouting jolted Raven out of her concentration, and alerted the Beast, who tensely reared up in alarm, snarling viciously for good measure.
At the same time all this was going on, Robin hurriedly threw one of his birdarangs in the direction of the path of Adonis's projectile. The birdarangs crashed into the jagged piece of stone in midair and both projectiles fell harmlessly to the ground. The sound of the clash, however, also served the purpose of attracting the Beasts attention, and it snapped its head around to look behind it, only to promptly roar in rage at the sight of Adonis hurriedly working to snap his belt back across his waist and press the button that would trigger his armor.
All of 3 seconds passed Adonis successfully pressing the button while simultaneously clipping his belt into place before the Beast suddenly appeared right in front of him, grabbed onto the belt by the area where the all-important button was located, and yanked the belt back off of him. The Beast tightly gripped onto the belt it now held tight within its right hand, the smashed up central component sparking and buzzing as it was very damagingly halted in the process of releasing the armor contained within it right as the compartments had only just started to open up. The Beast growled, and then rapidly threw the belt away towards the area behind it without even turning its head. The belt landed hard on the ground several yards behind the Beast and exploded, sending all the assorted pieces and components of the now irreparably damaged armor scattering around and landing in assorted locations surrounding the crash site.
Adonis gulped. For just the briefest of moments, he completely lost his senses as a result of realizing the sheer awesomeness factor in what the Beast had just now managed to do. Then his senses managed to snap back to him, and with a second, but this time fearful, gulp, he looked up, and promptly winced in both fear and self-irritation upon of the snarling face of the Beast staring straight down at him. "I'm in trouble," he thought to himself. The Beast roared, drew its left arm back, and then thrusted it forward without warning, its dangerously sharp claws jabbing straight into the now permanently unarmored miscreant's stomach, the tips bursting straight out of the boy's back for good measure.
Raven's eyes widened in shock and horror. The other three Titans were likewise stunned by what the Beast had just done. Adonis's own eyes also widened in shock for the briefest of moments. Then the full import of the blow came to him, and his face tensed up in pain, and he gulped rapidly as if fighting not to vomit. The Beast growled in a mixture of rage and triumph, and yanked its left hand claws free from the stomach of its rival's host. Adonis promptly collapsed to the ground on his back with a thud, coughing and retching from the pain as blood started to rapidly ooze out of the dangerously severe wound in his stomach. The Beast roared at the downed and wounded miscreant in fury and victory.
After a tense few seconds, Robin finally managed to regain his voice. "What have you done?" he asked out loud.
The Beast snarled, narrowed its eyes, and turned its head to face the Boy Wonder, its eyes narrowed in an expression of calm resignation. "What I should have done three years ago when I first met that filthy rat."
"Friend," said Starfire. "Do you not realize what you have done? He could die!"
"And good riddance to him to," the Beast growled.
"Are you insane?" Cyborg yelled. "We don't kill!"
"My host may be bound by that senseless rule," the Beast snarled. "But I am not. The only reason I've ever allowed myself to abide by it is my host's wishes. But this time, that vermin has gone far enough. Even if my host had had the chance to try to stop me, I would have done it anyway, and I'm not sorry for it at all."
The Beast growled again, then took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded its head up and down. "I am sorry, however," said the Beast, "for the damage I caused to your lair." It looked back up, its eyes open once more. "And I also apologize for allowing myself to be blinded alongside my host into believing the erroneous circumstantially supported lies he thought up in his heat of the moment despair the previous evening that caused me to be angry enough to cause that damage in the first place." It turned its head to face Raven. "And I apologize to you," the Beast said, "for the doubts my host and I had about you and the hurtful words I carved on the ceiling of your lair." It bowed its head. "Consider it all taken back and no longer applicable." Raven gulped, and almost numbly nodding her head, both genuinely accepting and grateful for the apology, yet still stunned by the blatant act of murderous intent that the Beast had just committed.
The Beast growled, and turned its head to face Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg once more. "At this time, I shall return control back to my host. Farewell." The Beast reared up its head, and with a groaning low pitched roar, the hulking green monster shrank down upon itself, reverting back to the familiar form of Beast Boy's human shape.
For a brief moment, Beast Boy stumbled to the side, off balance from having just reverted back from his Beast form. He regained sure footing, shook his head side to side to regain his bearings, and then looked at the still stunned looking Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. He raised his eyebrow in confusion, and looked at Raven, who still looked stunned herself. Then he looked to his right, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Dude," said the green shapeshifter. "Did I do that?"
His four fellow founders turned their heads to look at him. "Well technically," said Robin, "the Beast was the one who dealt the blow. But in a roundabout sense, yes."
Beast Boy looked over at Adonis, now starting to get a full assimilation of the memories of his time as the Beast with his own human form's memories now underway. "I see." He thought to himself, his face then taking on a clear glare. "Admittedly, I cannot say that I'm completely heartbroken by that knowledge."
"Beast Boy," said Robin tensely.
"I know, I know," said Beast Boy. "But even so, it wouldn't be entirely that depressing if he doesn't live through this."
"That doesn't matter," said Robin. "We don't kill." He looked over at Raven. "Raven, I know you're really gonna not like this, but he needs healing, and quick."
Raven raised her eyebrow, and looked over at Adonis. The coughing and bleeding boy turned his head in her direction, his eyes clearly begging for her to do what the Boy Wonder said. Her purple eyes narrowed in revulsion and hatred, her fists clenched, and she turned her head to face Robin, a stone cold expression of defiance on her face. "No."
Robin's eyes widened in shock. Starfire and Cyborg were likewise surprised. Even Beast Boy looked somewhat caught off guard at first; but then a smug smile came on his face. "Glad to see she agrees," he thought to himself.
"No?" Robin asked. "What do you mean no?"
"I said 'no'," said Raven. She folded her arms across her chest. "And I mean no."
Robin sputtered for a moment, trying to think of a proper response. "But . . . we . . ."
"Forget it," said Raven. "I don't care what the rules say. I am not healing him."
"Meaning you can't?" Cyborg asked. "Or you won't?"
"Both." Raven nodded to herself. "I couldn't heal him right now even if I wanted to." She gestured over towards the large syringe still lying next to her feet. "And you can thank that very scumbag in need of healing for that."
The other four Titans looked at the syringe. Robin's eyes widened in recognition of the transparent substance within it. "Is that what I think it is?"
"If you're thinking that it's that paralysis drug we managed to read about in the Brotherhood of Dante's database," said Raven, "then yes, it is." She looked down at the syringe, a hateful glare on her face. "He injected a dosage half the size of this one into me over the course of our little confrontation in the forest. It was how he was able to get ahold of me tonight in the first place." She looked over at her four friends. "And not only did he have this syringe, and the one he used to subdue me, but he also had a crystalline case containing an even bigger dosage that was supposed to take me out in the form of a makeshift bomb." She closed her eyes and nodded her head up and down. "But forget that for now. The point is, the second stage wore off 10 minutes or so ago, and I still haven't yet fully regained my powers yet." She opened her eyes and faced the Boy Wonder once more. "Needless to say, I couldn't heal him even if I wanted to," said the sorceress. "And after what he had planned for me tonight, I'd sooner die again then dare help him stay alive at a time like this."
For a brief moment, Robin seemed to be on the verge of reluctantly stating another complaint against this, but then Cyborg placed his hand on the Boy Wonder's shoulder. "Forget it Rob," said Cyborg. "She's already made up her mind. And besides, you've gotta admit, she does have a point." The bionic boy looked over at Adonis, his eyes narrowed. "If we want him to survive this, we're just gonna have to heal him ourselves."
Robin thought to himself, and then nodded his head. "You're right," the Boy Wonder admitted. "Raven deserves better than to fuel this scumbag's delusions in such a way." He glared resignedly in Adonis's direction, slamming his right fist into his left palm. "Here goes nothing." Starfire nodded in agreement, her eyes narrowed angrily at the thought of what Adonis had apparently very narrowly managed to fail to subject Raven to.
Adonis managed to realize just what was going on, and a small hint of his usual smug grin came back on his face as he realized that Starfire was quite easy on the eyes herself. "Well then," he managed to croak. "If I can't have the hot witch, at least I can have some time with the sexy alien instead . . ." Starfire utterly BLASTED Adonis right in the face with her eye beams at full power, and the boy howled in agony as he felt his face start to get mercilessly roasted by the energy.
"Starfire!"
Robin placed his hand on Starfire's shoulder, jolting her out of her focus, her eyebeams almost instantly shutting down in response. After a few seconds, her eyes widened as she realized what she'd just now been doing in her blind rage. She hung her head. "Forgive me Robin," said the Tamaranean. "I lost my temper. I am sorry."
"It's ok," said the Boy Wonder, placing his other hand on Starfire's other shoulder from behind to reassure her. "Really it is."
"Oh yeah," said Adonis. "I love girls with spunk. Come on babe. Gimme some more."
Starfire tensed up again, but Robin made a slight tightening of his grip on her shoulders to signal for her to stand down. "Excuse me," said the Boy Wonder. Without warning, Robin jumped over to Adonis and kicked him hard in the ribs, right in the area nearby his stab wound. Adonis shrieked in pain, involuntarily rearing up from the pain before then wincing again as the motion aggravated the wound in his stomach. Then the Boy Wonder punched Adonis in the face, and the miscreant landed back on his back once more.
The Boy Wonder looked over at Cyborg. "You know Cyborg," he pointed at the groaning and crying Adonis. "Go ahead and take care of him yourself. At this rate, I have a feeling that I'll soon be very tempted to kill him to."
"With pleasure." Cyborg turned to face Adonis, a glare on his face. If this had been unfolding in a cartoon, he would have likely then been shown drawing a surgical glove out of nowhere and ominously snapping it into place over his right hand.
Adonis, miraculously undeterred by this ominous new development, smirked smugly again. "Oh come on," he purred. "Don't make your bruiser do all the work. You know how hot girls like your girlfriend and the witch don't find any attraction at all in boys who hide behind they're hired muscle and don't to any heavy lifting of their . . ."
Raven's right foot suddenly slammed down on the center of Adonis's neck seemingly from out of nowhere, eliciting a shocked and pained gurgle from the stunned miscreant. Raven lifted her foot off of Adonis's neck, and then looked straight at her three stunned friends standing in front of where she and Beast Boy were positioned. "Right in the larynx," she stated coldly. She folder her arms across her chest. "Now we'll at least have some peace and quiet while you guys undeservingly attempt to save his miserable life." Beast Boy chuckled, and gave Raven a thumbs up from behind.
Robin and Starfire thought to themselves, and then nodded in agreement. "In that case," said Robin. "Thank you."
"Yes," Starfire agreed. "Thank you the very much."
"What they said," said Cyborg. He stormed over to Adonis, who was only now finally directing an obvious look of fear towards the advancing bionic boy. Cyborg came to a stop to the downed miscreant's right, staring ominously down towards him. Adonis mentally winced, and tensed himself up, clearly having a feeling that whatever Cyborg was about to do would be far from pleasant for him. "So you think you can violate or likewise have your disgusting way with my little sistas, let alone think of doing such actions, and get away with it?" He shook his head side to side, then glared down at Adonis again. "Rookie mistake buddy. Rookie mistake." He took a deep breath, exhaled, and lifted up his hands ominously. "An especially good thing about that little improvement Raven just gave you?" Cyborg asked. "Not only can you not speak. You also can't scream."
Adonis had just enough time to briefly raise his eyebrow in confusion before Cyborg then very abruptly pressed both hands on the area where his wound was, hard, painfully hard, and in fact considerably harder than necessary. Adonis tensed up at the pain, closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, and then snapped his mouth open and let out a wheezing incoherent hiss and squeak of agony, the only sound he could manage with his damaged larynx. Cyborg, seemingly either not noticing or just not caring about the pained noise Adonis was now making, continued to apply pressure to the miscreant's wound, making sure to use his great strength to make the experience as painful as possible while still avoiding pressing hard enough to run the risk of potentially killing him.
The other four Titans eventually realized just how much excessive pressure Cyborg appeared to be applying, and Robin winced. "Is that really necessary?"
"No," Cyborg admitted. "But boy am I enjoying this." Then he noticed just how much blood was getting on his hands and spreading out from the point of pressure application. "Still, it's gonna take a Hell of a lot more than applying pressure to save him at this rate. And unless Star or BB can somehow fly as fast as Kid Flash can run, then there ain't no way we'll get any proper medical equipment here in time to save him. And that's assuming we even still want to save him, because for some reason even I'm now starting to see the appeal in letting him die."
"Hold that thought for now," said Robin. "I'm thinking." Then his eyes happened to direct a stray glance at the syringe that was still lying nearby the entrance to the cave, and his eyes narrowed, a small idea starting to form in his brain. "Just a moment," said the Boy Wonder. He hurried over to the cave, snatched up the syringe, and bolted back over to where his fellow founders were gathered around Adonis. "Out of the way Cy," said Robin.
Cyborg looked up, saw the large syringe in Robin's hands, and briefly raised his eyebrow. Then he thought to himself, and realized that the Boy Wonder probably knew what he was doing. He nodded his head, and lifted his hands off of Adonis. "He's all yours."
Adonis had just enough time to gasp from the sudden cessation of the pressure on his wound before Robin then very jarringly plunged the tip of the syringe into an area located dangerously close to where his heart was located. Adonis snapped his eyes into position so that he could directly gaze at the syringe, his eyes widening in horror as he realized what Robin was about to do. He directed his eyes up towards the Boy Wonder, panic now clearly showing in his eyes. Robin's masked eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth into a silent snarl. "I hope that hurt," the Boy Wonder growled. He then very deliberately slowly pressed down on the syringe, slowly forcing the concoction, drop by drop, into Adonis. "Lights out loser."
Upon receiving the last drop, Adonis had just enough time to look up at Robin again and let out a small wheezing hiss before his eyes rolled up in his head and closed, and his head collapsed onto the ground, completely out cold. Seconds later, at the sound of what seemed to be something rapidly freezing, the Titans looked over at the area where Adonis's wound was located, and saw that it was now starting very quickly to no longer release any more blood. The ice formation noise eventually stopped, and Adonis became apparently quite frozen and immobile. Without a word, Robin withdrew the syringe and wiped off the blood that remained outside of Adonis with his cape, revealing the wound in all its relatively clean and bloodless glory. He got up onto his feet. "I remember reading about the effects of that drug," he stated. "Upon first receiving it, the target is first rendered unconscious. And during this stage, the target also undergoes a state of suspended animation."
Robin turned his head to face his four companions, particularly Raven. "Raven," said the Boy Wonder. "You said that he injected you with this drug at a dosage that was half as big as the one I just gave him?" Raven nodded her head. "How long did the effects of each stage last?" He pointed at Adonis. "One other thing I remember is that there is a second stage in which the victim is awake and capable of speech, but paralyzed and stripped of any special abilities it may or may not have. I also know that both stages last exactly the same amount of time each, with the time limit depending on the dosage given."
"A quarter of an hour each," said Raven. She nodded her head. "That's how long both stages lasted for the dosage I got."
"So presumably," said Robin, "since this dosage I just gave Adonis is twice the amount he gave you, the two stages should last for half an hour each."
"Normally that would be the case."
Robin lifted his eyebrows in confusion.
"If he'd inhaled the dosage," Raven explained, "or had it injected into any other area that wouldn't have been fatal to strike, then yes this dosage's stages would last half an hour each. However," she pointed at the area where Robin had injected Adonis. "Since you allowed the dosage to go straight to his heart, the effect will be doubled."
"In other words," said Beast Boy. "The two stages will last for an hour each."
"Plenty of time to get him back to the tower," Cyborg continued.
"Where we will be able to both heal him and subject him to a very terrible punishment before we deliver him to the authorities," said Starfire.
For a brief moment, Starfire's four fellow Titans gaped at her in shock at what she'd just said. Then Robin found a wolf-like grin coming onto his face. "Star," said the Boy Wonder, "not sure where this new side of you came from, but I'm liking it." He directed his smug look down at the almost literally frozen Adonis. "And that being said," he continued, "time we show this scumbag the more painful side of life at Titans Tower."
"Agreed," said Cyborg. "But how are we going to . . .?"
The sound of a transformation from Beast Boy silenced Cyborg, and the four Titans who couldn't shape shift turned their heads in time to see that Beast Boy had now taken on the form of a giraffe-sized pterosaur with an appropriately long neck, legs, wings, and beak. It even had a small crest on its head that appeared to be shaped like a mixture between a rooster's waddle and a helmet. As the other four Titans found themselves briefly stunned by the sight of the unfamiliar creature Beast Boy had just now turned into, the gigantic pterosaur nodded its head, looked over at Raven, and then moved its head in a motion that indicated that it was gesturing towards its back. Then the creature looked at Cyborg, pressed the tips of its left wing's claws on his shoulder, and then lifted up its right foot and showed Cyborg its talons. Then it pointed at Adonis with one wing, at Cyborg with another, and then positioned its wings as if it were carrying something in them.
"I think what he's trying to say," said Raven, "is that I ride on his back, he'll carry you in his talons by the shoulders, and you will carry Adonis in your arms while he flies us home."
Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire thought to themselves. "That, does actually make sense," Cyborg admitted.
"Which presumably leaves me to have Starfire fly me home," Robin guessed.
"That does sound correct," said Starfire.
"Then that settles it," said Raven. She looked over at Beast Boy. "You ready to go?" The giant green pterosaur squawked in a manner that clearly indicated yes, and then leaned over onto its belly, clearly as a means of silently asking Raven to climb aboard.
"Well that certainly answers that," said Robin. He slammed his left fist into his right palm. "Alright Titans, let's go home." He directed one final glare at Adonis. "We've got a prisoner to take care of."
And just like that, another chapter done! BOY I'm hoping you all enjoyed this one, and that you leave a healthy batch of feedback in response! Remember, I require a minimum of 1 review in order to post the next chapter once its completed. And feel free to be as detailed or as simple as you wish! ^_^ Once again, hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of reviews.
P.S: Just so you all know, the pterosaur that Beast Boy turned into at the end of this chapter is a Quetzalcoatlus. Feel free to look it up.
Coming up Next: The very next morning, with Adonis currently still in the Titans' custody, our heroes have an important meeting to decide his fate.
