Chapter 3: Plasmas

It's Plasmas. I don't know how he keeps escaping from lockup, but he manages somehow. We all know his deal. Some kid on the inside, but massive goo on the outside. When he goes to sleep, he turns all non-gooey and normal. It's getting him to fall and stay asleep that's the problem.

This time, the team seems to be slacking. Plasmas has been little trouble in the past, but now he seems like a whole new purple loogie thing. Starfire is unconscious. Something on her is bleeding. I can't tell for sure from my angle. Robin reaches for one of those boomerang things. On the side, I've only thrown a boomerang once, and the damn thing didn't come back to me at all. I wish I knew his secret.

"Dude, has this guy beefed up since last time?"

I look over at my half-robotic teammate. Then I cringe at the use of beef. He flashes a winning grin at me before taking a Plasmas-arm to the stomach. I run over to him, but can tell that he's fine before I reach him. He gets to his feet and arms his sonic canon.

"Dude! How come that thing never seems to work? You blast the bad guys over and over again, and they don't seem fazed."

He turns to face me. One of his eyebrows rises. He quickly opens the casing to run a diagnostic on his weapon. Soon enough, he has the answer.

"That's because I've always had it on half power! I knew I'd figure it out!"

His celebration is short-lived. Plasmas seems to target Cyborg for a few more hits than I believe the big metal man deserves. As I watch, Cyborg is tossed into a building. When he gets up again, I notice that his human eye is closed. Then I come to the conclusion that his human half must be unconscious as well. He's running on pure robotics.

"Azareth Metrion Zinthos!"

I look to see a car encased in Raven's dark energy hurled at Plasmas. Quicker than I would give him credit for, the goo-man opens in the middle, allowing the car to pass right through. Then he spits at Raven. I see he fall from the sky, her body covered by purple waste. I want to run to her. Want to know she's alright. I mean, the dude does eat toxic waste. I don't k now why it hasn't happened yet, but I'm almost sure that one of us will be poisoned by him one of these days. And judging by the fact that Raven is on the ground not moving, I would have to say that our luck has ran out.

I know that she can heal herself, so I don't bother her right away. But I know that she and Starfire are out for the count. That leaves myself, half-a-Cyborg and the Boy Wonder to take care of His Purple Majesty. That is, if Robin can stop pining for his girlfriend and get down to business. I start to transform, but Plasmas is quicker. He grabs him in his sticky hands, and then launches me away from him. My head cracks against a wall, then the blackness starts to take me.

I recover after a minute, maybe two. Not nearly enough that Plasmas has been defeated, but enough for him to have forgotten about me. As I watch, he seems to have forgotten about all of us. If fact, he isn't even watching us. His attention is focused on someone else. A certain someone who is fighting him. I watch as Plasmas shoots out a tentacle of whatever he is made out of. And then my mouth falls open. His tentacle stops in midair! It appears to be encased in…white energy! The figure in front of Plasmas doesn't even seem to be controlling it. As I continue to gape, the mysterious fellow simply melts into the air, only to reappear by me. He stops to stoop down and feel my pulse. When he's convinced that I'm not dead, he stands back up and faces Plasmas. His eyes go white, and he begins to chant. The words that come out of his mouth sound alien and slightly familiar to my ears. I hear a gasp and look over to see Raven. She shakily gets to her feet, only to fall over again. The figure in front of me takes no notice. His gaze, and attention, is focused on Plasmas. After several more moments of chanting, he sweeps his hand across his vision. I look to see the…well…the plasmas of Plasmas almost flow off his person in the direction that the hand moved. In a matter of seconds, there is only a lone man asleep in the street. I start to sit up, but something in me snaps, probably from hitting that building, and the darkness envelops me again.

When I wake up, I find myself in my bedroom. I don't know how I got here. I swing my legs over the bedside and drop to the floor. After landing, I realized that what was broken on me has been healed. Assuming Raven had had a hand in it, I shrug it off. I rush to the living room hoping to find answers. Instead, I find Cyborg playing Game station and Raven reading a book, hovering a few inches over the couch.

"Hey, B. I was just about to wake ya up."

I look at my robotic buddy. I'm thankful to see him up and at 'em. Of course, the "em" he is at appears to be my copy of To Cease and Persist. The game itself isn't as good as I had hoped, but it holds a special place in my heart, as Raven got it for me for my eighteenth birthday. Honestly, sometimes that girl can read me like a book.

"Hey, Cy. Good to see you up. Plasmas hit you pretty hard."

Cyborg chuckles a little, and then sheepishly puts one arm behind his head.

"That he did, Green Bean. I just woke up about an hour ago. Whoever brought us back even knew how to attach me to my power supply."

The form of our fearless leader appears in the doorway to the kitchen. He surveys the room. Then, after concluding that his girlfriend is not in the room, leaves. Behind me, Raven lowers her book.

"Would it really be that much of a tragedy if they spent even a little time apart?"

I offer a glance her way. She looks much the same as ever. Accept she has let her hair grow out in the past year or so. It now hangs a few inches below her shoulders. I must say, I like the new look. I like a lot of things about Raven. Hell, I think I just like Raven. I continue to look at her until she notices. I look away, but not before she makes a comment.

"Beast Boy, you're staring."