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.
"Leave. Her. Alone."
Slade stood up and looked toward his demonic apprentice.
"Raven!" he shouted. "Attack!"
Raven glanced at the monitors which still showed Beast Boy's bloodstream, the nanomites still infecting his system. She ran up to the four Titans and looked at Beast Boy.
"Get out of here!" Raven pleaded. "Go! You don't know what he's done to-"
"Raven," Cyborg interrupted. "He knows."
"And I don't care," Beast Boy said. "You're a part of our team, Rae."
Beast Boy took a step closer to Raven, standing directly in front of her. Raven's eyes were glossed over with tears, one rolling down her cheek. The emerald teen cupped her face and used his thumb to wipe the tear away. He took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes.
"I love you, Raven," Beast Boy continued. "I'm not leaving here without you."
Raven looked up at the changeling and softly smiled. Beast Boy smiled back. Robin slightly coughed in the background, signaling the presence of the others. Beast Boy slightly flailed his arms and stopped touching Raven.
"I mean, we're not leaving here without you." Beast Boy corrected, a blush settling on his cheeks.
"How very touching," Slade's voice floated from the other end of the room, his hand on the detonator's button. "But Raven doesn't need any friends."
Slade pressed the button on the detonator and, right on cue, Beast Boy began glowing a bright red and fell forward into Raven's arms. Raven fought back a scream as Beast Boy's body began to slowly die in her arms.
"This is the price for your disobedience, Raven," Slade said, standing not too far behind the empath. "Now do as I command. Attack!"
Beast Boy struggled to lift his head to look up at Raven, tears streaming down his glowing red face. Raven let out a breath, gently laid Beast Boy down on the floor, and turned around to look and Slade.
"No," Raven replied. She quickly looked at Beast Boy and surged her powers around her hand, her eyes glowing white. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
With her mantra said aloud, Raven's body began to glow a bright red as well and she fell to the ground in pain.
"Raven!" both Slade and the other Titans yelled.
Raven looked up at the villain.
"New deal, Slade. If I lose Beast Boy, you lose your apprentice," Raven bargained. "And we all know how you hate to lose."
Slade stared down at the empath with his thumb resting on the detonator as he considered Raven's ultimatum. After some consideration, Slade crushed the detonator in his hand and threw it across the room. The nanomites stopped their assault on Raven and Beast Boy's bodies. As Raven was preoccupied with trying to stand up, Slade raised his foot to stomp on her head. Before he can complete the task, Raven whips up and grabs the villain's leg, causing Slade's eyes to widen.
"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted, acknowledging that they now had the advantage.
The Titans all charged at Slade. Beast Boy transformed into a tiger and swiped his claws and Slade's armor, leaving deep claw marks in the metal. Starfire and Cyborg sent another barrage of blasts toward the villain, knocking him backwards. As Slade tumbled, Raven bound a spell around his feet and tossed him with Robin sending a flying kick to the villain's mask. The right half of Slade's mask fell away and slid across the floor. The villain covered up the exposed part of his face and turned to run away. Slade made a stop to mess with a large machine at the edge of the lair. He turned toward the Titans, the exposed part of his face hidden in shadow.
"Another day, Raven," Slade said, turning a dial on the machine and making it glow red. "Another day."
At the opposite end of the room, Beast Boy transformed back into his human form and the Titans stood dumbfounded as the monitors went black and a red light began to fade in and out. Robin ran toward the exit as the lair started to shake and crumble apart. Gears fell off their placements on the walls and created an obstacle course for the Titans as they tried to make their escape. Robin ran faster as a large gear rolled toward him. Starfire flew past and picked him up and Raven did the same to Beast Boy as Cyborg tore the core out of Slade's detonator and made a mad dash for the door. All the Titans made in out of the lair in one piece and Robin opened the door leading to the outside world.
"Let's go home." he said with a smile.
The next morning, all of the Titans were in the operations center as Cyborg used Slade's detonator core to get the nanomites out of Beast Boy, already having treated Raven.
"Am I done yet?" Beast Boy questioned, a mask muffling his voice.
Raven, dressed in her usual cloak and leotard, and the other three Titans watched Beast Boy's bloodstream on the monitor. There wasn't a nanomite in sight.
"That's it, y'all," Cyborg announced. "Raven and Beast Boy are officially nanomite-free."
Beast Boy jumped out of the chair with a loud laugh and began to dance, the machines he was hooked up to falling off him.
"Go, Beast Boy! You're probe-less! No probes now! Go, Beast Boy! Go, Beast Boy! Get fun-kay!" the changeling sang as he danced. "Uh! Yeah! Uh, uh, that's right."
Beast Boy threw himself down on the couch, looking pretty proud of himself. Raven rolled her eyes, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
"Friends, let's celebrate the defeat of Slade!" Starfire said enthusiastically, clapping her hands together.
"Yeah!" Cyborg said. "Celebratory breakfast coming up!"
Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin went to the kitchen, leaving Beast Boy and Raven alone at the couch. Beast Boy's body language had changed and now his face looked serious. Raven sat down next to him and looked at him.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
Beast Boy let out a sigh and then looked the empath in the eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Raven asked. "For what?"
"When things got bad…for a moment, I really believed that you were like Slade," Beast Boy admitted. "I doubted you. And I'm sorry."
"I doubted myself, Beast Boy," the empath replied. "Focused, serious, determined…as much as I hate to admit it, Slade and I have a lot alike. But there's one big difference…"
Beast Boy looked at Raven and waited for her to finish. Catching the changeling off guard, Raven leaned forward and planted a kiss on Beast Boy's lips. After a few seconds, she pulled away and saw that Beast Boy's face had flushed a reddish-brown, his green skin changing the color of the blood rushing to his face.
"He doesn't know what love is." Raven finished, a light pink dusting her cheeks.
Beast Boy's face lit up with a smile and he pulled Raven in for another kiss. The other Titans watched them from the kitchen for a second with smiles on their faces before getting back to cooking. In that moment, all the Titans knew that out of everything that threatened to break them apart, love could always hold them together.
A/N: And that's it! I'm glad you guys stuck with me this long, especially with the long hiatus I went on due to college. I may start writing an accompany piece or two to this story, dealing with Slade's "relationship" with Raven, and then about Beast Boy and Raven's budding romance. It all depends on what time I have and what you guys want. Thanks for reading!
