Bargains and Balance
So, I'm glad everyone is reviewing and giving me their input. This is nice. Keep it up!
I don't own the Teen Titans.
"Code 699 worked well, don't you think?"
"Y . . . y . . . yes, sir. Very well, sir."
Slade looked down at the trembling man before him. "Now, we have the gem. How long until we have until we have enough energy to power the Machine?"
The man pulled a small rectangular device out of his pocket and read the meter. "We have five more days, sir. But maybe more depending on how much gas we have left."
Slade looked at the man calmly. "How long was the estimated time?"
"Three and a h . . . half week, sir."
"And you didn't think in your overgrown head that maybe enough gas for that time period might be sufficient?"
The man gulped.
"Remember where you stand and why. Remember what happens if everything goes wrong. Family I understand, is very much valued."
The man looked down at his feet. "Y . . . yes sir."
"Good. After this week, the Teen Titans can say goodbye to their dear friend and their lives will be at my control."
"I. Hate. The sewers," Beast Boy complained as the Titans met up after their seventeenth daily search.
"You want to find her, don't you? Then suck it up," Cyborg said as he slapped Beast Boy on the back.
After seventeen days without a trace from their familiar demoness friend (Beast Boy searched during the nights as well) the Titans were more determined than ever, and also more exhausted.
Robin hadn't left his study for anything besides the occasional bathroom break, snack, and the regular searches. Starfire hadn't slept very well since she discovered Slade's sign in the dirt that day and had been haunted by horrible nightmares that kept her away from her bed.
Cyborg had been researching every little change that happened in Jump City for any kind of clue that would lead him to something significantly out of the ordinary, and therefore possibly to Raven, and he hadn't slept well for a long time as well.
Beast Boy hadn't cracked nearly as many jokes as he used to. The changeling was silent most of the time in reminiscence, thought, or just plain fear. Over the course of the month, Beast Boy had grown so that he was now about as tall as Starfire now. Which made him just as tall as the Boy Wonder had grown as well. He had also grown mentally, and his entire mind was constantly on Raven and what he had said to her and what he hadn't.
The Titans went into the Tower and into the common room, besides Robin, and Cyborg booted up the Titan's map on the TV.
"Well, why we were gone, someone ordered a large overnight shipping of H2O, Liquid Nitrogen, and liquid mercury. If I remember correctly, that's the composition of the sample I took from the thing that took Raven," Cyborg said aloud.
Starfire had dozed off on the couch, so Beast Boy was the only one who heard.
"What's the delivery address?"
Cyborg told him and Beast Boy stood up from the couch. "I'll go check it out."
"C'mon, man. You just got here. You need to rest. After all, Slade isn't like that to openly order it to a specific address. It's probably a trap. We should lay low and see if anything comes up. We're all worried sick about Raven, man, but to help her, we need to help ourselves as well."
Beast Boy hesitated then nodded. "Okay, dude. I'll chill for a while. But I still want to check the place out. If Raven's there, I want to be there. If whoever lives there knows where she is, they're gonna tell us. And if anyone gets in my way, they're not going to get into anyone's way ever again."
And then Beast Boy marched out of the room.
Cyborg stood there looking at the door that had just slid shut behind Beast Boy, then shook his head in amazement. "That little dude's got it bad."
Beast Boy hadn't really planned on sitting back and waiting on any new odd news around Jump City. How could he when one of his best friends was gone?
That set his mind on another track. He'd been thinking quite a bit in the last few days about why this whole situation bothered him so much. At first he had denied it all, thinking he was worried because of the last few conversations he and Raven had shared before her abrupt absence.
Then he considered the possibility of something more than a friendly conversation. More than friendship. Then he had scolded himself for even considering the possibility of liking Raven as more than a friend.
If she found out, he'd be turned into something mighty unpleasant.
But the thought never left him. It was always in the back of his mind, and he had eventually decided to just let it stay there until he saw Raven again.
If I see Raven again, Beast Boy thought. No, I will see her again! he argued with himself.
After all, if he didn't see her again, he didn't know what he'd end up doing. He didn't know much outside of the Titans. All he knew outside of the Titans was that family was important, and then he had lost his. He didn't want to lose this one as well.
That's why he decided to investigate the house at the address that Cyborg had located. Unless the man who ordered those materials for an experiment, he had some serious questions to answer when Beast Boy was done with him.
Beast Boy dressed in al black, and even decided to put on a black ski mask and shades to keep anyone from recognizing him. He didn't want to get the Titans bad publicity if he got this whole hunch wrong.
But he'd do what it took to get her back. To get Raven back. To get his friend back.
She was extremely bored and the only way Raven kept herself from turning in to a blob on a bed and to keep herself busy and pass the time, was to practice the martial arts the ninja-like Boy Wonder had taught her.
She recalled how his training had helped immensely when she and Starfire had switched bodies and been stuck with each other's powers. That had been excruciating, yet surprisingly handy.
The thought that kept her committed to the daily exercise was that if she ever escaped, she'd be useless when it came to powers. So hand-to-hand combat would be nice to have. Therefore, she had set her mind on sharpening her skills.
What Raven had found out was that she tired very easily in the room and bathroom. Whether she was walking around, meditating, practicing her hand-to-hand combat, or trying to summon her powers, it always seemed to drain her faster than it usually did.
Using her powers was the worst, so she eventually avoided it when necessary, except for the occasional session where she'd try to see if she had any control over them.
Raven wasn't stupid. So she knew that something in the air was taking her powers away. She also knew that it was impossible to turn something into nothing, which meant her powers were being transferred to somewhere or to someone, and that thought didn't settle well with her whatsoever.
Raven sat on the floor to keep herself from falling fainting from light headedness.
If only something significant would happen. Every day when the second meal, and last meal, of the day was brought in, Slade came with it to check on her "for her benefit." She had tried attacking him to get out, but he was much more skilled than she in the area of close combat.
So she had, in a pool of anger, given up on that idea and approach.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zenthos."
She had faith that the Titans were looking for her and would find her. Raven trusted them all with her life.
Especially a certain green changeling. She had been going back and forth to Nevermore and spent a lot of time thinking about why she was so seemingly obsessed with him. She had even considered the possibility of actually liking him like that.
But of course had denied it. She had rationalized that she kept thinking about him because he and her had gotten some pretty good talks and bonding moments before she had been taken.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zenthos."
Regardless of how many Raven's seemed obsessed with Beast Boy, the one emotion that she wanted to find, but could never find had somehow contacted all of her other emotions and refused to show herself to Raven. It was infuriating. Mostly because Raven wanted an explanation.
After all, she could never like Beast Boy, the green changeling like that. Could she?
Beast Boy stood in front of the very large house that was expecting a delivery the next morning with an aura of determination.
"This has to be it. Everyone makes mistakes, why not Slade?"
Beast Boy, clothed in complete black, blended in with the night almost like his favorite super hero, the caped crusader, Knight of Gotham. A month ago, he'd have thought this was cool. Now, he just wanted answers.
Beast Boy used one of Robin's gadgets that he had "borrowed" and disabled the security alarm from outside on of the windows. He carefully cut a decent sized hole in the glass after removing the screen, and stepped inside the dark house.
"Now, if I owned a house like this, where would I be?" Beast Boy muttered aloud.
He went upstairs, and using his animal instincts, found himself looking at two sets of large, double wooden doors. They were identical, and Beast Boy didn't know which one to go into.
Just as he was about to do his whole "Eeeny, meeny, miny, mo" trick, he heard a voice on the other side of the the set of doors on the right and looking back down the hall to make sure no one was there, carefully put his ear to the door.
The voice sounded like it was on the phone, and since the door was really thick, Beast Boy could only make out fragments.
"Yes. I . . . Machine is almost ready . . . . I understand . . . . project almost completed . . . . more time . . . . the gem is . . . . assure you . . . . she's safe . . . . as well as . .. . gateway . . . yes, sir . . . bye."
The voice grew silent and Beast Boy could only stand where he was in shock. This was almost too easy. Maybe it was a trap like Cyborg had said. But he had to know . . .
His mind quickly fit the word fragments that the man had said together.
Gem? She? Gateway? Machine? It was enough for him.
Beast Boy had had enough, and with a deep breath, he slammed the door open angrily and marched into the room.
Hehehehe I'll leave you peeps in suspense. REVIEW! You shall, and you will.
Until next time,
-Belgaria