Author's Note- Here's the second part of one of my favorite chapters. Enjoy!
Chapter 3- Deal With the Devil (Part Two)
Beast Boy opened his eyes, his head felt like a train wreck. What happened? Oh, yeah! He remembered! He'd lost his freaking mind and jumped in front of a speeding truck!
He cracked his neck and looked around, he was still in the Medlab.
"Dude, how am I still alive? Or does Heaven just get a lot of sports injuries?" He joked aloud. Even when nobody was around he was still the comedian.
Beast Boy looked down at himself, surprised to see that he was, well fine! There weren't a ton of like he'd expected, there actually wasn't a scratch on him. His head hurt, but other than that he felt physically fine. That was awesome!
Beast Boy climbed out of bed, immediately wincing in pain. The lack of bruises did not apparently, equal no pain. His entire body was burning with a dull pain. He was more sore than he'd thought possible.
He grabbed a change of clothes and hurriedly put them on before leaving the room. His gloved hands tapped against the corridor walls as he crossed the entrance to the Common Room. Beast Boy didn't go in, he didn't bother because he knew no one was in there. He could hear their voices and breathing even from where he was: they were on the roof.
His feet dragged him up his usual pathway to get to the roof, his body still aching. Raven's okay though, that's what matters. He said to himself, surprising his inner ego.
Why do I care about Raven so much? Would I have done the same thing for Starfire? No, but that's because she's stronger than me, but Robin? Yeah, of course I'd help Robin. Right?
He was too caught up in his thoughts to realize that he'd already gotten to the door leading to the roof. Suddenly a voice snapped him back to reality.
"What are you doing here?" Cyborg's voice was confused and commanding. He obviously didn't approve.
"What are you guys doing here?" Beast Boy asked back, not in a snappy tone, but in a challenging one.
"Friend Beast Boy!" Starfire's shout cut both boys off. Suddenly a blur of purple and orange grabbed him, pulling him into a patented Starfire Hug.
"Argh, hello to you too Star." Beast Boy managed between breaths. She released her grip and let him go as Robin and Raven walked over. All fiver Titans were now standing together.
"You're already feeling better BB? You sure you don't need anymore rest?" Robin asked. Raven was silent in the back. Beast Boy smirked,
"Nah, I'm just a little sore. Who knew those commercials for the crash test dummies were so off. My head didn't even fly away. Hehe." Beast Boy joked, but from the faces in front of him, nobody took it lightly.
"You're still not funny Beast Boy." Raven said curtly and turned away from him, walking away. What was her problem? He had gotten hurt saving her life, the least she could do was pretend she cared!
"Ignore her friend Beast Boy, she's been . . . Lobster-like as of late." Starfire said, noticing his eyes veering toward Raven's descent.
"Lobste-" Beast Boy started, but Robin interjected.
"She's been crabby. Seriously though Beast Boy, you got hit by a car, are you sure you can be here. It's fine if you want some more rest."
"I'm fine. Why is everyone up here though?" He asked, meaning to get around to that when he first entered the rooftop doorway.
"Did you forget man! The JL is shooting off their Cannon tonight. Meteor is going to be, Booyah'd to the max!" Cyborg exclaimed with great enthusiasm. Beast Boy did forget, the Justice League had a giant cannon that they were going to shoot off at 11:50, but he didn't know it was already so close to time.
He walked forward, passing Robin and Starfire and Cyborg who had begun a conversation about something and heading toward the edge, toward Raven.
She was sitting in her normal meditative position and floating above the air, but she wasn't meditating. Beast Boy stood next to her, not knowing what he was about to say. She beat him to it.
"You're an idiot." She said simply, but when her turned to see her face it wasn't one of anger, more like worry.
"Always, but why this time in particular?" He asked, his voice dripping with suave charm.
"Because you jumped in front of a car to save me. You should-"
"Don't." Beast Boy cut her off strongly. She wasn't about to tell him what he was going to do, or who he was going to save. If he wanted to save her life a thousand times then she'd just have to deal with that, well, deal or stop getting in dangerous situations.
"Beast B-" Raven started up again, but he cut her off once more, Beast Boy: 2, Raven: 0.
"No. I don't want to hear you tell me that I shouldn't have saved your life Raven. It was worth it, and anything less is an insult to both of us." He glared over at her.
They stood in silence, well, Beast Boy stood and Raven floated. He didn't know where his outburst came from, but it sedated Raven. She didn't snap back at him, and she didn't even seem that mad for him cutting her off. Slowly and hesitantly Beast Boy's arm moved up, landing his hand on Raven's shoulder. She winced in pain however, and he snatched it away.
"Sorry." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck in sheepish dismay.
"No problem Beast Boy." She said deliberately. "I- YOU!" Raven said. Beast Boy jumped, what had he done, but then he smelled him.
Beast Boy turned around to see Lucifer walking toward the five, briefcase in hand.
"What are you doing back, I thought we told you to get lost." Robin said, his fighting pose struck already. The other five Titans moved into position immediately, facing the clam and collected man.
"Now, now Titans, I'm merely here to help you once again. In about a minute the Justice League will shoot off their precious cannon, and in about a minute, it'll fail, and you'll be wishing you'd taken me up on my offer. Now here's what I'll do, because I like your spunk kid." He nodded at Robin, smirking slightly. "I'll let you guys watch the cannon not work, then I'll give you one more chance for my offer, how's that?"
"How about you stay away." Robin growled between clenched teeth. Lucifer didn't budge.
"Look, it's starting!" Cyborg called out, turning everyone, including Lucifer's attention to the sky. Above Jump City a light emanated from a space station. The light grew as it charged up a large barrel.
"They're going to shoot the meteor!" Beast Boy called out, his knack for stating the obvious getting the better of him.
The beam of light stopped at the end of the barrel, creating a small ball of apparent energy particles. The ball grew larger and larger, charging up to it's maximum power.
Slowly, the cannon turned in air and pointed toward the huger glowing rock that hovered above the planet. The glowing huge rock that had plagued the city for day.
Suddenly it fired, launching a thick beam of light into the mass of rock that stayed motionless in air. A puff of smoke erupted, and cheers fell throughout Jump City. Beast Boy looked over at Lucifer,
"See, the Justice League have it all taken care of, so you can just leave." He said, smiling brightly.
"Next time we see you around here, we'll have to take you down." Robin added, a smirk evident on his face also. The two boys chided Lucifer cockily.
"Now, now Titans, As the smoke and mirrors clear, look what your precious cannon has done!" He said, his eyes moving upward in the sky. Sure enough, as the smoke began to fade and clear, the Meteor was still there.
Chunks of it were off, but electricity connected them as if some force was mending the rock from the inside. It hovered mercilessly above all, still a powerfully intimidating force. Suddenly out of nowhere a rock hit the roof, causing a large indent.
"What's that?" Beast Boy asked, looking to the sky. He could make out hundreds more rocks, falling toward the city.
"It's pieces of the Meteor, they're falling. Robin, watch out!" Raven said, dodging a falling piece of rock. Cyborg's cannon went off as Raven ran over toward Beast Boy.
"You okay?" He asked, glancing at her and looking back up, waiting for more rocks to fall. Raven nodded, grabbing his arm.
"This way." She called, running toward the doorway to the stair and entering it. Beast Boy jumped the last part as another rock split open the door frame and the two plummeted down the staircase, landing in a crumpled heap at the bottom.
"You okay?" He asked immediately, pulling himself up. Raven was already on her feet before he got the words out however. They heard a lot of bumps coming from above them, the roof was getting torn apart.
"Why'd you bring me in here?" Beast Boy asked Raven, nervously looking upward. She didn't respond right away, she just peered at the ceiling as if she could see through it.
"Because the rocks might've hurt us. We're the two that are still hurt. " She said simply. Beast Boy shrugged, it made sense. After the pounding on the roof subsided he ran back up the stairs, looking out.
Lucifer was standing perfectly still in the same exact spot, his briefcase still hanging loosely at his side. All around him there were chunks of fallen rock, but he was unfazed. Cyborg was standing above Robin who had Starfire bent around him on his other side.
"What happened?" Beast Boy asked as he approached them, Raven in tow.
"I have a sprained ankle, possibly broken, but we don't know." Robin said, wincing at his foot. Nobody said anything as the footsteps of Lucifer approached them. Starfire helped Robin to his feet and all five looked at the neatly dressed man.
"Titans, if you're ready to listen now, come with me." He said, waving his hand in the air and creating a hole.
Not just any hole, it was a swirling vortex in the middle of the air, right in front of them. Lucifer bowed to the five and stepped through it, disappearing from their sight, Raven was the first to follow.
x x x x x
Raven landed in a dirty old arena. The place looked like the inside of a rather large cave, large enough to be the coliseum in Rome. There were rows of seat all around them, as if the arena had been used for games and galleries, and the ceiling and walls were lit by torches.
They surrounded a pillar to the end of the floor, which was made of sand and dirt. On the pillar sat a beautiful crystal ball, swirling in it's contents.
"I'm glad you came with me finally Titans, we don't have a lot of time. " Lucifer said. Raven glanced around the coliseum once more, it looked primitive.
"What are we getting into?" Robin asked, his teeth clenched. Rave couldn't tell if it was from the pain in his legs or for his disdain of the situation.
"Well, let me explain. The Meteor above your planet isn't natural, it's magical."
"We knew that." Beast Boy chimed in, his disdain for the situation apparent. Raven was glad that he was standing up against Lucifer, she wasn't sure if the old Beast Boy would've.
"Well, that's good, then we're one step closer to you understanding what's going on. I'm from Frogstar B, a planet that houses a group known as The Insidious. They are the foulest of the foulest and the rudest of the rude. They are evil incarnate, and will do nothing short of world destruction to get what they want."
"Well, what do they want and what does this have to do with us?" Cyborg asked.
"They want a challenge, and it has everything to do with you!" Lucifer said quickly, his voice raising. For the first time it seemed as if he had lost his cool. "Listen Titans, I don't think you're making the connection. The Insidious move from planet to planet, placing Meteor above them."
"What does that accomplish?" Starfire questioned. Lucifer smirked.
"Well, everything my dear. Once this is done, someone is sent to find a hero to stop this. If the Hero can pass a series of trials, then the Insidious will move along to another planet."
"So all we have to do is pass a couple of tests. That's easy!" Beast Boy said, his eyes facing the ground. What's going on in his head? Raven wondered, watching his green orbs never look up.
"Well, yes, but it won't be that easy. See, the catch is only one of you can participate. All of you can watch, but only one of you can be in the trials."
"Okay." Robin said, immediately taking charge. "So what's next?"
Lucifer stepped aside and made the orb more visible to the crowd. He motioned toward it, continuing in his rhetoric.
"This is the orb of Frogstar B, inside it holds the life essence of all people from the planet. All you have to do it take it off the stand, and then you are immediately bound to take place in the Trials. Be careful however, because this isn't something to be taken lightly. Once you remove this orb there's no turning back. "
"Okay." Robin said, moving toward the orb, but Lucifer stopped him.
"And remember, once the Trials start, only the chosen one can set foot on this stage. Anyone else who does will be killed, the shrine demands blood from someone if two are on this arena. So don't take this lightly Titans." Lucifer said.
Raven watched as Robin nodded and stepped forward again, only to limp down in pain.
"Friend Robin, you are injured! You cannot!" Starfire said quickly, bending over Robin and holding him in her arms.
"I have to Star, the fate of the world."
"But Robin, are we not all heroes, surely Cyborg can-"
"Yeah Robin, or Star, you know she's strong enough to face anything." Cyborg added. He glanced over at Raven, who was standing silently, "Raven too. Raven's seen more than most of us have."
"But, this is serious, I can't let you guys take this risk. I'm a leader."
"Yes Robin, but does a leader not also need to know when to delegate?" Starfire said as they stood up.
"Star-"
"Well, what about if Raven or Cyborg gave it a try? Or maybe . . . "Starfire continued talking but Raven stopped paying attention. As the three argued she glanced over at Beast Boy, or at the spot Beast Boy should've been. He wasn't there.
He didn't. No, he couldn't do something that stupid, Beast Boy wasn't the smartest guy but he didn't do what I think he just did, did he? Raven's head moved slowly toward the pillar that held the orb, first the boots, moving up the black and purple outfit. Gloved hands and green skin.
She gasped and caused all the other Titans to look up too.
Beast Boy had grabbed the orb.
Author's Note- Wow. That was a long chapter. 14 pages, 10 sized font! I'll probably break it up into two chapters though, that way it keep people wanting, however it puts the real stuff off another chapter. How about you guys tell me, do you want really long chapters or shorter ones with less time in-between. Just give some feedback!