Slade stepped out of the portal and took in his surroundings. He was in an underground cavern of some sort. It must have been inhabited, because there were torches in the walls. Slade grabbed one and adjusted the still sleeping baby in his arms; having shifted the boy into a manageable position he set off exploring the cavern. He heard a snap behind him and whirled around and came face-to-face with himself. Slade gasped and almost dropped the child in shock. His eyes wandered to the strange mark on the other's forehead. The other tilted his head forward and stretched out his hand.

"We have been waiting for you. Give me the child." Slade backed away from the imposter.

"No, I will only give this child to my master." The doppelganger sighed and waved his hand. The torch in Slade's hand flared fiercely, scorching his mask. He stumbled back in shock and fell to the ground. "What are you?"

"I'm you… with a few upgrades. Now give me the child. Your master is in allegiance with mine. Give me the child, mortal." Slade narrowed his eyes. He didn't particularly appreciate being called 'mortal', especially with the disgust in these demons' tones. He glared at the clone and grudgingly handed it the child. His clone took the child and turned indicating him to follow. Slade stood and brushed himself off; he followed his other self through the winding tunnels. They eventually arrived at another cavern; this one contained many more torches and also had the same marking on the wall as his other had on his forehead. Slade watched as his clone stepped into a ring in the center of the room. The edges glowed with power as he knelt before the symbol. "Master, I have the child, as well as your sons' servant." Slade stared at the wall in anticipation, but nothing happened. He turned to the figure in the center of the room and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a rumbling sound; he looked back at the wall and stared as the symbol glowed and the flame-like design began to wave with life. Slade felt a wave of heat from the wall and realized that it was actually on fire.

"Very good, Hiketesh; I will send my sons to retrieve the child." With that said the flames on the wall died down and faded. Slade waited and watched as 'Hiketesh' stood in preparation of the sons of this demon. A minute later the wall tore open, but it was not a tear in the wall itself, but a tear in space and time. Slade watched as two familiar twins stepped through the rift: Abel and his own master, Carthatagon. Slade's eyes widened; his other self was serving the father of his worst enemies. The only real difference with this Abel was that he no longer had a jewel in his forehead, instead it was his brother. Abel glanced at him and grimaced. Slade glared back behind his mask. Carthatagon noticed Slade glaring and forced him down with his powers.

"Show respect to the future ruler of Zynthos, mortal!" he shouted, his eyes flaring red. Abel put his hand on his raised arm and addressed him in a whisper.

"Leave him. He is not worth our time. We only came for the child."

"Very well, brother, I will entertain your decision. But if he disrespects me again, I will destroy him, agreed?" he whispered back. Abel shrugged.

"Agreed." He walked to Hiketesh and took the child from him. Slade stood and brushed himself off. Carthatagon watched with clenched fists. Slade glared at him behind his mask. Carthatagon sensed this and threw him into the wall with his telepathy.

"You mortals are so insolent!" he walked up to where he held Slade up by the throat.

"My Lord!" Hiketesh said, "Forgive me; your father wants him alive. He also wishes for him to accompany us." Carthatagon turned back to Slade and drew him closer.

"I will have you head, mortal. When this is done and I am king, I will steal your life." He released him, but no before slamming him into the wall again. Slade dropped from the air and fell to his knees, sputtering.

"Enough! We must hurry; our alternate versions will not take long to find us." Carthatagon waved his hand.

"They are all insolent fools." Abel narrowed his eyes.

"Technically, I am one of them."

"You are an insolent fool, Rycan." 'Rycan' glared. Hiketesh cleared his throat and spoke with fear in his voice.

"My Lords, your father grows impatient." The battling twins turned to him and sighed. Carthatagon reopened the rift and stepped through. Hiketesh followed, then Rycan. Noticing Slade wasn't following; this reality's version of Abel stopped and turned to him.

"If you value your life, mortal, you will follow." Rycan turned and stepped through the rift. Slade stood and ran through. When he arrived on the other side, he was stunned by what he saw: the large circular room was adorned by the skulls of many different creatures, many of them human looking. In the very back of the room stood Hiketesh, Rycan, the younger Carthatagon, and the older version. When the younger Carthatagon noticed him, he turned to his father.

"The incompetent has arrived." Slade clenched his fists, but refrained from doing anything. The older Carthatagon spoke.

"This 'incompetent' is the only reason we have this child. He deserves a minute trace of respect." Slade was shocked that the demon had defended him, but wasn't surprised that he had taken the chance to insult him. Both of the demons began to argue.

"You can't tell me what to do! You aren't even the heir to the throne!"

"Only because my insolent brother was born before me!"

"You are never going to inherit the throne!"

"I will! Once I have destroyed that fool, I will claim the throne!"

"You imbecile! If your brother dies, you will die with him!" the older Carthatagon's eyes widened.

"You lie!"

"I would never lie to myself. You honestly didn't know?" he smiled and laughed. The older version looked to the large demon on the enormous throne.

"My father-" he started, but was interrupted by Rycan.

"Your father lied." Carthatagon looked to Trigon again. The demon ruler nodded.

"It is true. My alternate self told you such a lie, because he felt neither of you was worthy of the throne. You are incompetent and impulsive, and your brother left and is most likely a pariah of the demon world. I would have done the same were circumstances alike here." He answered in his booming voice. Carthatagon looked to his alternate self and brother, who merely shrugged in nonchalant acceptance.

"I will destroy that bastard… With this child I will destroy my father and claim the throne and I will enslave my brother..." his voice trailed off with a psychotic smile. His alternate self smirked and Slade looked on in fear of what the outcomes may be.

TT

"So what exactly is the plan? We don't even know where they're hiding," Beast Boy questioned while picking at the back of the couch; his alternate self slapped his hand away, gave him a stern look and began picking at the same spot. Abel shook his head and responded.

"I'm pretty sure I can track him through our telepathic connection, even if he is from the future."

"Can't you, like, go through your alternate's mind?" the non-dating-Raven Robin asked. Abel shook his head.

"I may not even exist in this reality…"

"Even if he did exist, going through his own mid would destroy them from the inside, out. It's completely out of the question," both Ravens said in unison.

"Freaky," the Beast boys said. They looked at each other and grinned. Abel shook his head again and took his meditative pose. The versions unfamiliar with his position watched as he started to lean to the left until he was completely upside down.

"Why does he do that?" non-dating- Robin Raven asked dating-Robin Raven, who merely shrugged.

"If you figure out, you should let him know." After what felt like hours he opened his eyes to see all the Titans had gone off somewhere. He was about to call out when he heard a contented sigh from his left; he looked over to see Starfire floating upside down, sleeping. Abel smirked as he drifted in front of her; he refrained from doing anything in case this wasn't his Starfire. Although he doubted the alternate Starfire would meditate next to him. He didn't bother waking her and righted himself and walked to the kitchen to make himself some tea. As he passed the fridge, he noticed a note pinned to the wall with a magnet shaped like a 'T'; he removed the note and read:

'Abel,

Got a call; the alternates thought it would be a good idea if we came along.

Raven.

By the way, there aren't any more tea bags. We're going to the grocery store for more.'

Abel chuckled as he finished reading the note; he walked to the fridge and searched for something edible or potable. Removing a soda, he leaned against the counter.

'Apocalypse is at hand and they're buying groceries,' he thought with a smile. He heard a moan and looked at Starfire as she stretched and turned on her side, still floating, her body rising and falling slightly synchronously with her chest. He looked away and stared at the wall, pondering their "plan" to get his son back. 'Some father I am… I just got the kid and he's already being used to bring about the apocalypse… so much for keeping him out of the "bad" crowd…' his own thoughts were interrupted by someone else's; it took him a while to figure out whose:

'Poor Abel…' the "voice" was feminine and familiar, but Abel couldn't place it.

'Who's there?' he projected, but to no avail. The speaker pressed on and the next statement made him realize who it was.

'Such a burden for one so young… but he will not be alone, I will help him raise our son, our Noah… for he is my smorfka…' Abel stared at Starfire's sleeping body. Her subconscious thoughts were being projected into his mind while she slept. What impressed him more was the fact that her subconscious thoughts were about him and Noah!

"Holy crap!" he whispered, "What the hell is a 'smorfka'?" he shook his head and ran to Raven's room; when he arrived there, he continued running, expecting it to open it automatically, and crashed into the reinforced titanium with a considerably loud and painful clang when it didn't. He stumbled back as he shook his head; he blinked in an attempt to stop the multi-colored dots that were swing dancing in front of his eyes. When they had slowed to a medium paced waltz, he phased through the door and into her room. As his inherent night-vision kicked in he looked around the room and took it in: it was pretty much the same as his versions with few differences, such as the fact that she seemed to be missing one of her books. The missing book was one about an ancient warrior named Rorek and his journey to vanquish the evil dragon, Malchior, who he eventually trapped in a book and threw it into the Void. Abel continued his search for the book that told him about the transfer of demonic powers: The book of Azar. He searched her shelves for the book, but to no avail. It took him until he was actually holding a piece, to realize he had gone through her dresser. He looked at the under garment and blinked, confused by the fact that his sister had black lingerie. When he finally realized what he was holding, he dropped in shock and stepped back.

'Wow, Beast Boy told me her room was scary, but I don't think he meant that.' Levitating the garment with his powers he threw placed back into the drawer and closed it. He turned to continue his search and looked at the bookshelf behind him and the first thing he saw was the book of Azar. He grabbed it and walked out of the room; when he was in the hallway he closed his eyes and tried to force the image out of his mind. When he was satisfied, he walked back to the kitchen and glanced at the clock: half past five. He shrugged and began thumbing through the book. His initial direction was the passage about power transferring. When he found the page he fully opened the book and began reading. In seconds he had gathered everything he needed and proceeded to read the entire book; when he had finished, he blinked and looked at the clock, it had barely moved to the next minute marker.

"Holy…"he started.

"Holy what?" Raven asked as the Titans walked in. The Beast Boys and the Cyborgs were talking about the robbery they had stopped. Abel jumped and turned around in one motion. "We're home, by the way."

"I noticed…" he said as he looked at the Raven that didn't have her fingers laced in Robin's and shuddered a little. Everyone noticed this; Starfire was the first to speak.

"Perhaps I should turn up the thermostat… friend?" Abel was confused by the way she finished her sentence but shook his head. Raven released herself from Robin and levitated the bag she held to Beast Boy.

"Put those away." Beast Boy pushed the bag away and frowned.

"But you've-" he was interrupted by Raven rounding on him with her eyes glowing viciously. "Yes ma'am!" he said saluting and standing stiff as a board. He grabbed the bag and ran into the kitchen like there was no tomorrow. The other Beast Boy made a whiplash noise and grinned. His grin disappeared when he noticed Raven glaring at him; he immediately ran off to help his counterpart. Raven turned back to Abel and questioned him again.

"So, holy what?"

"Eh? Oh! I was reading a passage about subconscious telepathic projection and when I looked at the clock again, it had barely moved past the minute!"

"So?" Robin asked.

"I think I may have read the entire book at least twice in that half minute!" everyone's jaw dropped when he said this, "I'm a fast reader, but I didn't think I could read that fast…"

"So, what did you learn from my book?" non-dating-Robin Raven asked with a flushed look. Abel tried to forget about what he had found in her room and replied.

"uh… subconscious telepathic projection occurs when one is in a deep peaceful sleep; their thoughts are projected into the object of their attraction."

"Whose thoughts?" Raven asked.

"Starfire's" he replied, indicating the still sleeping form.

"What was she thinking about?" the other Raven asked.

"Me… she was thinking about me…" Abel let his voice trail with a smile; he looked up suddenly and looked at the conscious Starfire. "What's a smorfka?" She blushed deeply before she answered.

"A smorfka is a male or female with which a person is deeply in love and wishes to marry…" Abel turned back to watch his Starfire sleeping peacefully. Beast Boy spoke up.

"For being demonology, a lot of the special stuff is based on love."

"Love is so uncommon with demons that any semblance of it results in great power," Raven responded. Abel looked back to them and sighed.

"I couldn't get through to Carthatagon… I think I need more power," he said, looking at the Ravens and Robin. They nodded and walked to the center of the room.

"Wait, you have powers?" Robin asked his other self as he walked followed the Ravens.

"Yeah…"

"Where did you get them?"

"I… I got them from… from Raven…" he responded while his face turned red. A pile of plates in the kitchen exploded and showered the kitchen in broken ceramic. The Raven he was referring to blushed as well, while the other's jaw dropped. Abel tapped his foot impatiently and spoke up.

"Work now, talk later! We've got to get my kid!" he said waving his hands in a hurrying motion. The demon-powered teens made their way to the center of the living room and took their meditative positions and began chanting in eerie unison. The others watched the scene as chills ran down their spines. Visible energy flowed from the like smoke as they rose higher and higher, almost touching the ceiling. The chanting woke the sleeping Starfire, and she looked around trying to find the source of the eerie chanting; when she looked up she gasped to see her demonic friends floating up to the twenty foot ceiling, but restrained from saying anything. The remaining Titans and their copies watched as Abel began to chant louder and rotate; when he was almost shouting and rotating at a speed that would tear a human apart, lightning-like strands of energy flared around him and struck the others, breaking their concentration and sending them falling to the floor, unconscious, but were caught by the other Titans.

Abel continued to rotate, but his chanting was replaced by pained and frustrated growls and shouts. Starfire flew up to him to try and calm him, but before she got close enough, he suddenly stopped spinning and fell to the floor. Starfire moved to catch him, but stopped when he suddenly stopped halfway through his fall. His eyes were closed and his head lolled to the side, Starfire made her way to him, and managed to get close enough to touch him. When she laid her hand on his chest, his eyes snapped open and were not just glowing, but they seemed to be aflame with energy. Starfire drew back as he curled into a ball and suddenly threw his legs and arms out, sending a burst of energy all around him with a shout. The burst was intangible so it didn't affect Starfire, but she was blown to the side as Abel suddenly shot forward and phased through the window without another word.

"ABEL!" Starfire screamed, but he didn't hear as he disappeared over the horizon in seconds. Starfire slammed her fist into the window, shattering it into miniscule pieces which fell to the rocky island below. She turned as the others regained consciousness. Robin had caught one of the Ravens and knelt down and set her on her feet with a deep blush. One of the Cyborgs had caught the other two and set them down. When they were on their feet they embraced glad to see each other okay as the other two glanced at each other shyly. Starfire bit her lip nervously as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Where's my brother? What happened to the window?" Raven asked when she released Robin. Starfire solemnly waved behind her.

"He flew through the window… phased through it… I broke the window… don't know where he went…" Raven walked to her and put her arms around her.

"It'll be okay, Starfire… he'll be okay," she whispered as she stared out of the shattered window. 'If you get yourself killed I swear I'll drag you back to the mortal plane and kill you again, you hear me?" she projected to her brother.

'Deal' was the only response she got before she was blocked out of his mind.

TT

'This is gonna rock!' Terra thought as she approached the enormous tower on a floating boulder. After she had run away from the Titans, she returned to the cave she had been staying at before she met them. She felt guilty for leaving like she did. She knew Beast Boy hadn't told them. She knew it was Robin's detective skills. She also knew he was right. But still she ran away. Not this time. She can control her powers… sort of. She had been practicing in the barren wasteland that fringed Jump City; if they accepted her, she would be an incredible addition to the team. If they accepted her she could be with Beast Boy.

With that thought in her head, she accelerated the molecules of the rock, urging it forward. When she arrived at the door she rang the buzzer, but got no response. Getting impatient, she checked the roof, but found that empty as well. She returned to the door and rang again. Still no response, so she bored into the ground and into the garage of the tower. Activating the elevator, she prepared herself to give them hell for ignoring her. Arriving at the living room door she walked in mocking anger and shouting.

"Hey! What's the… big… idea?" her faux rant died down as she realized no one was there. It was two in the afternoon! They weren't fighting anyone, she had checked from the air. Shrugging, she decided to raid the fridge and pantry. 'I can always give 'em hell later…' she thought as she plopped very unladylike on the couch with a soda and three bags of chips and turned on the television.