Beast Boy slowly opened his eyes and groaned as he sat up. He looked around at the carnage that lay on top of the skyscraper. The sign was completely destroyed aside from the 'YNE' at the end of Wayne and the light in the Y was out. Beast Boy locked eyes with the other three Titans who sat in front of him, concern gracing their features.

"You okay, BB?" Cyborg questioned.

"Where's Raven?" Beast Boy asked, ignoring Cyborg's question. "And where'd she learn that glowy hurty trick?"

"She's gone, and I don't think that glow was caused by her," Robin responded. "She started crying when you fell and was begging for it to stop. I came to when she was leaving, and there were still tears on her face."

"Maybe it's Slade who picked up a new trick." Cyborg said.


Back at Slade's hideout, the large screen played Raven's fight with the Titans. Slade watched as Cyborg's sonic blast knocked Raven toward the edge of the building and he ran toward her before Raven threw back a blast of her own, knocking down the metal man and Robin. Slade hit rewind and the scene played again.

"Thrilling." Slade commented, sounding quite pleased.

The screen then divided into nine different screens, all of them playing different parts of Raven's battle. Slade took a seat in a chair at the screen's controls.

"My apprentice is progressing even faster than I had hoped," the villain said into a recorder built into his suit. "All she needed was a little motivation."

Raven appeared suddenly and sent a blast at the screen, destroying the images.

"I'm done being your puppet." the empath growled, throwing a punch at Slade.

Slade caught Raven's fist easily and flung Raven toward a set of overhead gears. Raven flinched as her head hit one of the gears but she glared at Slade. Slade crossed the room, ending a few feet away from the empath.

"Raven," Slade started. "That was vicious, dishonorable, and ruthless. Excellent work. You're becoming more like me every second."

Slade began to walk away, but suddenly turned around and threw several punches at Raven. The empath countered his attacks blow for blow until Slade caught her in a headlock and lifted her off her feet. Raven struggled against the villain's grip on her throat, but to no avail. The empath instead used her powers to send a small gear hurtling towards Slade's forehead, knocking the man to the floor. As Slade struggled to get up, Raven used the opportunity to bring oxygen back into her body.


Meanwhile in the Titans Tower operation center, Cyborg was hunched over the computer, typing on its keys very quickly. Suddenly, he straightened up to address the other Titans.

"Think I found something."

Cyborg walked over to Beast Boy who was hooked up to a large machine that was feeding information to the computer screen. Robin and Starfire gave Cyborg their full attention as they stood next to the couch.

"The enhanced sensors are picking up radio interference on the nanoscopic scale." Cyborg explained, typing some more.

An image of Beast Boy's bloodstream filled the screen, Slade's nanomites floating alongside the changeling's blood cells. Starfire let out a gasp.

"Whoa." Robin said.

Beast Boy turned around to look at the screen, then his face froze with shock.

"Those things are inside me?" he questioned. "EWWW!"

"Yeah, those are inside you," Cyborg answered. "Billions of 'em, but they're only inside you."

"Why only me?" Beast Boy asked.

The room was silent as someone tried to come up with an answer to this question. Robin's head jerked upward as the answer came to him.

"Raven loves you."

Beast Boy looked at his leader with a confused expression. Cyborg and Starfire looked at the Boy Wonder with a similar look.

"No, think about it," Robin urged. "Raven was crying when these things started hurting you and she was still crying as she left, probably because she literally just had to shoot you. With this technology at his command, Slade can destroy you whenever he wants…unless Raven does whatever he says."

"This does make sense," Starfire agreed. "Raven has strong feelings for all of us, but she has the strongest feelings for you, Beast Boy."

"Beast Boy," Cyborg said, placing a metallic hand on the changeling's shoulder. "She's trying to save you."


Back in Slade's lair, Raven took the time to strike first, sending a roundhouse kick to the villain's head. Slade stopped the empath by grabbing her leg and swinging her around into another pile of machinery. Raven let out a grunt as she tried to hold her grip on a large steel crankshaft and pulled herself up to a platform. She looked around quickly, trying to find a way to turn the tide in her favor. Raven located a bank of levers near the edge of the platform and flipped one of them, causing a stationary gear to move and bring Slade closer to her.

As the villain begins to get closer and closer, Raven broke off a lever to use as a makeshift club and her eyes began to glow a ghastly white as her temper began to flare. Slade pulled out a fighting staff much like Robin's and extended it to full length. As steam rose in the room, the two of them glared each other down and Raven charged at Slade with the club, pressing her full weight into each attack. Slade matched her attacks blow for blow and started to overpower her. Slade swung his staff against Raven's head, knocking her into a pipe. He pulled his staff back in order to deal the final blow but Raven dodged at the last second, causing Slade to hit a pipe and lodge his staff inside it.

Raven allowed her powers to surround the club and, with a scream, swung it against Slade's head. The swing had so much force that it knocked Slade down to the ground in front of his monitors, a video of Beast Boy's bloodstream on screen. Raven jumped down to land in front of Slade, a glare settled on her face. (A/N: Superhero landing!)

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that." Slade warned, the left side of his mask cracked from Raven's attack.

Raven ripped the silver Slade insignia from her chest, throwing it down in front of the madman.

"I only wish I'd done it sooner." Raven snarled.

Slade let out a low growl that escalated into a loud roar as he charged at Raven. As he gets within range of her, Raven instantly went on the defensive and used her powers as a shield against his attacks. The empath found an opening and swung a foot up to kick Slade, which he once again caught and used to swing Raven across the room. Raven struggled to stand up as Slade approached her.

"I have much to teach you," Slade quipped. "But the first thing you need to learn is gratitude."

Raven glared up at him as she wiped the sweat and light trickles of blood that accumulated during the fight. Slade glanced at his monitor, its screen still showing footage of his nanomites flowing through Beast Boy's veins. As the criminal was distracted, Raven charged at Slade, but he grabbed her arm and slammed her into a wall. He flipped her around so she'd face him and, with a hand wrapped tightly around her throat, lifted Raven up into the air. Raven started gasping for breath and clawing at the felon's hand.

"I made you my apprentice," Slade growled, his face inches away from Raven's. "All my knowledge, all my power, all for you… but the only thing you care about is that worthless little changeling!"

Slade pulled Raven's hair with his free hand to punctuate his last word, jerking Raven's head backward, her ragged gasps for air filling up the room. Slade removed his hand from her lavender locks and pulls out his detonator.

"If Beast Boy is so distracting, maybe I should just get rid of him."

Raven desperately wanted to throw a punch at Slade…but with the stakes of his ultimatum, she had no choice but to submit to him.

"Don't," Raven gasped out. "I'll…I'll do whatever you say…"

Slade released his grip on Raven's throat and let her fall to the floor. Raven hunched over, letting out ragged coughs and wheezes as she tried to allow air to flow through her semi-bruised windpipe. Slade looked at her in silence with an indescribable expression due to his mask hiding his face.

"Good girl," he finally said, gripping Raven's chin and tilting her head up to look at him. "And, from now on, I'd like you to call me Master."

As Slade started to walk away from Raven, he was hit once by a green blast and then once again by a blue blast. He was knocked back toward the monitors and looked where the two blasts came from. On the other side of the room stood the other four Titans. As Starfire lowered her right arm and Cyborg converted his sonic cannon back into his metallic hand, Beast Boy took a step forward with his eyes filled with determination. (A/N: It fills you with determination.)

"Leave. Her. Alone."


A/N: Hey guys! I know, cliffhanger. But I thought it would be a good artistic choice to do that because at this point, the show would have cut to commercial right here. I know it's been a bit since I've updated but, like I said, there was the situation with my eyes. Then that healed up last week, so I started writing this. But then IT CAME BACK! I still have problems with my eyes right now, but it is far less severe this time around, so I am allowed to be on the computer long term. But I'm still in a lot of pain…it is slowly subsiding. Those prescription-strength painkillers doe. I have been writing a little bit every day, so this story is very close to being done.

I want to give a quick shout out to DarkDremora4. This person has been so awesome because he/she has been the only one reviewing so far, and they have been very active when it comes to this story. You are awesome!

Okay, my boyfriend's bugging me to get off the computer and get some rest so my eyes can heal up again. Keep an eye out for the next chapter!