Bargains and Balance
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I don't own Teen Titans.
"It's quite amazing, really. The green one has delayed our competition. This is most convenient."
Slade was watching the Titans in his multi screen wall in his secondary hideout.
"Sir, I've already planted the devices. Everything is ready."
"Good. We need to get to the girl. And to do that -"
"We need to get to the boy," Slade's little sidekick jerked his head towards one of the lower screens where Beast Boy and Raven had just started their intense kiss.
"You are getting better at this," Slade commented.
"I've found a strong sense of revenge."
"Fine. You can have the boy. But remember, we still haven't gotten all we can from the girl just yet. I need what she can give me."
They both watched as Raven and Beast Boy pulled apart to catch their breath, their foreheads against each other's.
"It's a shame, really. They're almost meant for each other."
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for that to happen?" Beast Boy asked to Raven, his voice still rough, but deeper than it had been a couple minutes ago.
"I'm guessing a while now," Raven said with a small smile.
Beast Boy was still breathing quite heavily. "Yeah," he said breathlessly.
"Now, promise me you'll be more careful," Raven poked him in the chest. "Or else."
"Okay, okay, Rae. I'll be more careful . . . as careful as you are anyway," Beast Boy cleared his throat.
Raven pulled him down for another small kiss.
"What was that for?" he asked her as he tilted his head.
"Time's sake," Raven said just as Robin and Starfire bursted through the door.
"Friend Beast Boy!" Starfire picked the changeling up with one hand and crushed him in a bear hug.
"Star . . . can't . . . breathe!" Beast Boy wheezed. Starfire pulled away and held him at arm's length. "Friend Beast Boy, you're eyes are much different. Perhaps you have a case of what you call 'Pink Eye'."
"Nah. Just your average demon parasite."
I will get out you know. Ugh, I made lip contact with my daughter, Trigon sounded absolutely disgusted.
Beast Boy wisely chose to ignore him.
Meanwhile, less than three feet away, Robin had helped a shaky Raven to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"I've been in better situations. I brought Garfield here out of his coma and I think my power recharge period has been set back a couple of weeks. Other than that, I'm good."
Robin looked her up and down, looked at Beast Boy, then back at Raven. "So," he began slowly, "Trigon was in Beast Boy and still is in Beast Boy, Slade wants your head, and they aren't working together."
"As far as I know, yes," Raven let out an impatient sigh. "Are we done yet?"
"Hold on. I have a feeling we all need to just lay low for a while with everyone trying to hunt us down. And here I was thinking the Brotherhood of Evil was bad," Robin patted Raven awkwardly on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Where's Cy?" Beast Boy asked as he looked around for his best friend.
"Oh, we had a small jail break. The police had caught the prisoner, who had coincidentally been in between Doctor Light and Johnny Rancid. He's helping them install a new security system."
"Friends, may I suggest that you two take the time to rest. We have been through much and we are not quite done yet," Starfire said kindly to the two.
"Can we go back to our rooms?" Raven asked Robin.
The Boy Wonder hesitated before nodding. "Just don't do anything unnecessary."
"Me?" Beast Boy grinned with his fang pointing out. "Nah."
Oh, please, Trigon said irritably.
Robin was in his office when the message had come. Robin knew how his arch-enemy worked and how Slade loved keeping Robin on his toes.
Robin answered the call and Slade's masked face showed on the screen.
"I see you are alive and well. Tell me, are the two chromatic characters in your group just as?"
"Slade," Robin growled. "What do you want?"
"Now, now. Temper, temper. Just wanting to see how an old . . . accomplice is doing that is all."
"What did you do?"
"Me? I did nothing. However, someone I have grown quite close to may have."
Robin glared at Slade through his mask. "What's that supposed to mean? The man Beast Boy beat up?"
"Yes, and no. I hear you're friend is possessed."
"He's not possessed. Just, a little mind split that's all," Robin said defensively.
"Getting a little childish, I see."
"How did you know about the situation anyway?" Robin asked angrily.
Slade remained his usual cool self. "I came to give you a helpful little warning. The demon inside of your friend will kill him from the inside out if you don't remove him soon. A parasite is always a parasite, and this one drains it's host's life force, quite literally I may add."
"You . . . you're bluffing. Trigon is a demon lord. He doesn't need other's to survive. He's just stuck in Beast Boy's brain for a little while."
"Robin, I haven't ever lied to you before, so why start now?"
"You have the motives to," Robin growled.
"Well, that is true, yes. But I know you don't know how to take this particular parasite out, even with the powerful little demoness at the green one's side. I however do know. So, you can give me the green one, and I'll return him alive completely cured, or you can let him wither away and die, with the 'demon lord' arising again."
Robin just stared cooly into the screen. "There's a catch."
"I'll admit there always is one. But I do promise to give the green one back. But for this to work, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone about this deal, or I won't help the green one at all." Slade calmly crossed his arms.
Robin's logic went all out as he tried to calculate every possible outcome of this. But as before, Slade had him in a corner and he had no idea why he was in this corner anyway.
"I won't make the deal."
"You will, in due time. I expect you to apologize when we speak next time. Goodbye, Robin." And with that, Slade disappeared from the screen.
Robin sighed and put his head in his hands. "He's bluffing. He has to be bluffing."
"It seems we always end up here, doesn't it?"
Raven lowered herself from her meditative state and turned around to face him.
"I like it."
Beast Boy looked out across the water in front of him, to his right, and to his left. "It does have a nice view."
He walked up to Raven and due to his new height, had to look down at her a little.
Raven looked back up into his multicolored eyes, expecting some sort of cheesy Beast Boy pick up line, but she was surprised when he asked a serious question.
"Is it normal for me to be talking with your dad on a day to day basis?"
Raven froze for a second in surprise before answering. "He's in your head, right? I guess you don't have a choice."
"So will he ever like, get to control me or anything, because I really don't want that to happen." Beast Boy faced the ocean and Raven did as well and leaned into his shoulder.
"He shouldn't be able to. He's at a really weak point right now. He can see, hear, and feel what you do. Feel physical stuff, not all the emotions that run wild in your brain. Unless they're strong enough."
Beast Boy looked at her in amazement. "You get all of this from books?"
Raven's cheeks turned a light shade of red. "Not all of it."
For the next couple of minutes, they stood in a comfortable silence and watched the sun set from the Tower's roof.
Then Beast Boy broke the silence, but Raven didn't expect him to last that long anyway without saying something.
"So, does this mean you're my girlfriend, or what?" he asked quickly as if she was going to throw him off the roof.
Raven gave a small smile. "Well, I guess so. But I'd like it if we didn't make it known to everyone until you get my dad out of your head, and Slade is leaving us alone again. Robin is too stressed already, Cyborg doesn't have the time to tease us and he'll want to, and Starfire needs to concentrate on what she's supposed to do rather than what her friends are doing."
"No problem. Dude, this is so cool."
Raven's small smile grew a little. She made him face her completely. "If you let it, it gets better."
Beast Boy grinned as he leaned in and put his mouth on hers.
As they were engrossed in their moment, they failed to see or sense the black shadow that sprinted across the roof and into the Tower behind them.
The next morning, the Titans were almost back to normal. They had gotten the sleep they had needed to recover from everything, and for the moment were bad guy free.
There was an almost peaceful silence as the Titans did what they did during their down time.
However, Robin was actually quite tense, for a reason he couldn't tell anyone else about.
"DUDE! You cheated again!" Beast Boy was complaining about his pointless video game again, and Cyborg was doing a small victory dance.
"I don't cheat, BB."
Raven gave a small smile from behind her book that she was reading.
Yes, the moment was just about perfect. But as the Titan's luck ran, the good moment went away as the Titan's TV made the sound of an incoming conference call.
Robin dashed to the curved couch and grabbed the remote from Beast Boy and answered the call.
"Change of plans, Robin. I've broken our deal and accelerated it further. I need what I requested, and I've realized I need what I requested much sooner than I had guessed. That is why I have injected each and every one of you with an un-curable poison. Well, I can cure it, anyway."
Everyone slowly looked at their leader, but he only had eyes for Slade at the moment. "Why should I agree with you, Slade?" Robin growled.
"Because I can control this virus." Slade showed Robin a small remote the size of a man's thumb and pushed one of the two buttons on the remote. Starfire's eyes rolled back in her head as she went unconscious, her chest rising and falling in small, rapid breaths.
"Think about it." Then Slade signed off.
Robin ignored Slade's ending proposition, and he lifted Starfire's head to check her pulse from where he had fallen to his knees at her side.
"Cyborg, take Star to the infirmary," Robin ordered. Cyborg nodded. "Raven, I want you and Beast Boy to lay low for a while just in case, but I want you two to lay low in the safe room for now. We don't know when Trigon or Slade will attack, and I just want you guys to stay safe."
Beast Boy raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"What if we need to go to the bathroom?"
Raven elbowed him in the gut and he hunched over momentarily with a low grunt.
Robin just rolled his eyes, not that anyone could see him behind his mask, and said, "You aren't confined there, I just highly recommend you stay in there as long as possible."
Robin turned towards the door. "I'm going to my study if anyone needs me."
When the only people left were Raven and Beast Boy, Raven gave Beast Boy a look that told him he was completely stupid.
"Heh heh. Just trying to kill the tension a little," Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck with his signature grin.
That was beyond corny. That was so cheesy I could almost taste it, Trigon said unamused.
Beast Boy once again decided to ignore him.
You can't ignore me forever. I will get out.
"So, what do you think Robin isn't telling us?" Beast Boy asked Raven as they headed towards the safe room.
Raven was feeling a little lazy and was floating an inch off of the ground next to him. "I don't know, but I do know that whatever it is, isn't good at all."
Beast Boy elbowed her playfully. "Remind you of someone?"
Raven huffed.
That night was almost peaceful. But there was something that wasn't right. Hence the word "almost."
In the safe room, Cyborg had moved two cots for Beast Boy and Raven to sleep on. It was a good call of their team leader to make them sleep in the safe room.
The safe room was, as the name implies, one of the safest rooms in the Titans Tower. It was incredibly protected, and, after some recent upgrading, could be used as a prison, because it made every power completely useless inside of it.
But in Beast Boy's case it only slowed a certain process down.
Slade was correct in saying that every parasite took something away from its host.
If one was to look closely, they'd see Beast Boy's green-ness fade into a lighter shade.
Raven was inside Beast Boy's mind again, but this time Beast Boy wasn't there. She was in a smaller cave that was slightly lit, and she could easily make out all of the walls and the ceiling and the way out.
At the back of the cave sat her father in all of his red, four eyed, antler headed glory, chained to the wall of the cave.
"I am honored by your visit, daughter."
"Why am I here? You called me here!" Raven answered her own question.
"You are in your little boyfriend's mind. When you freed him from me, well not necessarily freed him completely, you permanently created a small link between your minds. Now, I can see part of your mind as well. Even if it is a little bit . . . fuzzy."
Raven dared to step forwards. "Why do you want me?" she growled. "I fulfilled my purpose. What more could you ask from me?!"
"To help me. To save him."
She didn't need any elaboration to know who he was talking about.
"I think you're chained up nicely. Plus, it'd be another three weeks before I'd be able to get you out anyway. To do what I did now would put me in a coma." Raven was planting her feet in the ground.
Trigon gave her a smile full of pointy teeth. "Ah, but here's where you may want to listen. You'll help me, because if you don't, the green one that you know will cease to exist and my presence will slowly burn his soul from the inside out, giving me a new body, and therefore I won't need you for what I had originally planned and you will be expendable."
Raven rolled her eyes and took another step closer so that she was less than a centimeter away from the limit that his chains stretched. "You make it sound as if there's another point to this."
"There is someone else who requires your power for their own personal benefit, which their goal is to get to me so that I can conquer the world for them under their command. Now, you help me out, and I will be able to stop him, and you can banish me to the next seven dimensions over if you wish."
Raven just looked at him with an expressionless face.
There was so many places in his little bargain that he had made that was open to loopholes. Plus, she knew her father. He never kept his word.
"I am just as powerful as you are, father," she said the last word mockingly. "I can find a way to help him without you."
Trigon grinned. "You'll need my help. And frankly, I do want out. I feel every physical contact he does, and honestly, locking lips with my half human daughter is really quite disturbing."
Raven recoiled in disgust.
"Don't worry, it's all him. You two are almost adorable. But, think about my little deal, daughter. Until next time."
"Sir, the signal went haywire for the viruses connected to the changeling and the demoness. They must be out of range for the satellite."
Slade sat in his special chair and folded his fingers together. "They're in the safe room. I forgot that Cyborg had upgraded the room quite a bit after the Brotherhood of Evil fight. It is no concern of ours. I am going to use the virus for another purpose."
He arose from his seat and stood next to his little sidekick who was at a computer.
"Have you ever kidnapped anyone before?"
Review! Sorry it wasn't much. I'm a *little* tired. :P
-Belgaria