Aki- Did you know I actually wrote this chapter back in January, but it did not get edited until now. Sorry... Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 20: How to Win Part 2

Kaden blocked a soulself, black energy attack from his mother by conjuring a shield that he crouched behind. He expanded it as his mother's consistent onslaught of soulself was fired at him. He repositioned himself, crouching catlike, to give himself the most power. Slowly, he stood as he expanded his thin wall of black energy and then with a sudden motion of his arms, pushed it forward. It failed to do its intended trick, to push Raven off balance and temporarily stop her. However, it did momentarily stop her onslaught as she had to slice a hole in his wall with her own energy.

Kaden surmised that this fight would contain he and his mother shooting their powers at each other. They had nothing else to throw at each other using their telekinesis-like abilities. He powered-up, his black energy dwelling on the edge of his fingertips as he waited for Raven's next attack. However, he had forgotten to factor in that their shared powers could be used to grab the other. And that was exactly what happened. Raven seemed to have smartened up to the fact that she was getting nowhere with her current strategy.

Kaden was surprised, to say the least, when he was yanked into the air by his mother's powers around his ankle like by a lasso. He hung upside-down and uselessly in the air, blood rushing to his head. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he berated himself. He should have been able to see a move like this coming, should have been prepared…should have done it first…?

His mother was coming at him, her cool face more expressionless than he had ever seen it before. He couldn't escape, he couldn't get a handle on his powers; his heart was beating so fast from the shock. He needed to calm down. But his mother was coming closer and he was a helpless victim to anything she had in store for him, which, in her current state, could mean his death.

"Mom," he muttered before gulping slowly. His hands hung down, the tail of his white coat hanging behind his head like a canvas. He tried to slow his breathing. "Come on. You're stronger than this." She stood, eyes blank, her soulself forming the shape of an ominous bird behind her.

Kaden needed to get his powers back now.

"Mom, it's me. Kaden, you're son," the desperate boy said, locking eyes with her.

Then something happened he didn't expect. The raven-shape of energy dissipated and Kaden fell to the floor, his bond gone, in the same instance. The fraction of the second before he fell Kaden could have sworn he saw a flash of familiarity in her face. But when he looked up from the floor her eyes were blank yet again and she was preparing for her next attack.

Kaden was ready, putting up a quick shield as an onslaught of black energy came at him. Maybe others would have dismissed it, but Kaden knew what he saw.

"Mom, I know you're in there."

He glanced among his counterparts in the connecting cages, all locked in fierce battle. They were all going about it wrong.

…

Alex groaned as he was slammed into the cage wall. That was the result of him trying to fight his father in hand-to-hand combat. He twisted to try and get his arms out of his father's vice-like grip. His maneuver failed. His dad was just too strong, and with the cage at his back he had nowhere to properly move. He had only one option, one he had dismissed earlier. Righteous anger…righteous anger…Madam Rouge doing this to him…to his family. The mind-controlled Robin released one of Alex's arms as he pulled back a fist for a punch to the face. However, he never got a chance to swing his fist forward.

"Sorry, Dad," Alex whispered, his eyes turning a dark blue, his fists lighting up with power. The man was pushed back in a blast of starbolt energy. He tumbled head over feet on the floor. "I didn't want…I've never wanted to have to use these powers to…to hurt anyone," Alex paused and gulped, walking closer to his father's body in a heap on the ground. "You're not yourself. I have to stop you from doing something you're going to regret." He raised his hand, a starbolt lingering in his fingertips. Just strong enough to knock his father for a good while.

He hesitated. In that brief pause was enough time for Robin to regain himself. He knocked Alex's feet out from under using a kick while still lying on the ground. Then he hopped back onto his feet.

His foot collided painfully with the side of Alex's downed body. Alex grunted in pain as he curled up to protect himself. But that was the wrong reaction and he knew it. He was immobilizing himself in fear and pain. He wasn't fighting back, he wasn't defending himself, he wasn't even getting out of the way.

Alex grabbed Robin's foot with both hands as it came in for another kick and twisted it with all his strength. It caused the man to lose balance and fall. Alex took the chance to begin to scramble ungracefully away from his attacker. He scrambled all the way into the cage wall. Robin was already getting up and advancing. Alex gripped the cage behind him with his fingers, pushing his feet hard against the concrete ground, and pulled himself into a standing position.

His eyes glowed blue as his father approached. "Don't make me do it again." But even as he said it, he knew he had no choice.

…

Halle's breath was coming in hard gasps. That was what happened when you were sprinting around a cage, trying to avoid being fried by your mother's alien powers. But even as she tired and as she ran, Halle was coming up with a plan. The cage wasn't that high, so the mind-controlled Starfire could only fly so far and maneuver so much as she floated in their air. Mostly, she stayed in the center of the cage, firing down on Halle who was scurrying about like she was an insect about to be squashed. As Halle ran under her mother to avoid another string of starbolts she took special attention to how many inches the woman's feet hovered above her head. Half a foot, maybe even less…could Halle jump that high?…if she concentrated her super strength on her legs…she had to try…she couldn't keep running like this…

Halle skidded into a corner of the cage and turned back to the center sharply. She rested on her toes, like a runner at the start of a race. It was almost like everything seemed to slow down. Halle watched her mother turn in mid-air to face her, red hair whipping around, her eyes glowing green. Halle saw the starbolts form in Starfire's palms, one arm being drawn back to throw. Halle ran, and at the exact right moment, a few steps before she was under her mother, she jumped, pushing off her legs like a basketball player trying to make a slam dunk. She extended her right arm above her and then the left. Her hands made contact and tightened around Starfire's right ankle.

If a regular human had made such a move they probably would have been left dangling from Starfire's leg as she remained unfazed until she pulverized them. Luckily, Halle wasn't a regular. With her alien strength she was an equal to her mother and knocked her off course. She went down, banging first into the cage wall and then crumpling to the floor. Halle, taken along for the ride, also got affected by the wall and floor.

Bother were winded, a little bruised, but overall no worse for the wear. Halle regained her footing first for at least she had expected what was coming. Starfire was on her feet not long after. Halle had succeeded in getting her mother out of the air, making the playing field a bit more even. Now she just had to keep the ground woman grounded.

Halle rushed at her, pushing her into the cage wall. The way to keep her grounded was to keep her in tight hand-to-hand combat. Halle drew back a fist. "Sorry, Mom. It's for your own good."

…

Beast Boy snapped at Cyborg, vicious in his crocodile form. His jaws missed the man of metal by centimeters. Cyborg was strong, but he was not as lithe as his Titan counterpart and was having difficulty maneuvering in the limited space of the cage. However, a crocodile is not an animal known for its ability to turn quickly, and once Cyborg got behind the reptilian creature Beast Boy was forced to morph, giving Cyborg a moment to regather himself.

Beast Boy was briefly in his human form, only to turn around, before changing into a lion with a heavy green mane. He roared loudly, teeth bared, before jumping at Cyborg, claws out. He knocked the half-robotic man off of his feet and onto his back. Cyborg wrestled with the creature. The large feline's paws were wearing down on his chest and Cyborg was using all the strength in his arms to keep the ferocious beast's head - or, more importantly, teeth - away from his head.

Cyborg curled up his legs under the lion, moving his feet against his underbelly. He kicked the beast off him over his head. The lion banged into the cage wall with a lot of rattling. Cyborg rolled away and got to his feet. Beast Boy was on the floor, transformed back into his human form, but dazed, on his hands and knees.

Cyborg transformed his arm into his cannon on reflex. If it was any other dangerous threat, Cyborg would have at least shot a stunning blast at him while he was off guard. It wouldn't do any real harm, but that's not to say it wouldn't hurt. If it was anyone else…but it was Gar.

Beast Boy swayed a little uneasily as he got back onto his two feet, but he was quickly rehabilitating from recent hit. Soon his stance was steady and his body tense in a position ready to attack and defend. Cyborg kept his sonic canon trained on the green man, but he didn't shoot. This reminded too much of when Robin was in a forced apprenticeship to Slade.

"I don't want to hurt you, Grass Stain," Cyborg said. There was almost nothing harder than fighting one's own friends. He, Victor Stone, Cyborg, knew that too well.

Beast Boy, on the opposite side of the cage, transformed into a leopard, and crouched in a familiar feline position meaning he was preparing to pounce. Cyborg clenched his teeth and released a heavy breathe. His cannon transformed back into the hand. Looks like I got to do this the hard way.

…

Kaden dodged a soulself attack from his mother, a long persistent beam. He quickly conjured a protective dome around himself. He tried to catch his breath; even more he was trying figure out what just happened. His mother had had him trapped. She could have killed him, like Madam Rogue had ordered. But something happened. She changed, for a moment, at least.

Kaden was straining to hold up the dome. It took a lot of energy. Maybe it was all a fluke, but he had to try to get through to his mother. He could feel his mother's attacks pause on his dome. She was tiring too. That was Kaden's chance.

He let his defenses drop, the dome melting away from the top. Raven was standing a few feet away, leaning heavy on the cage wall. Even in her mind controlled state she was not impenetrable to the weariness that the overuse of her powers gave her. Kaden took a step toward her. She looked like his mom again with her eyes closed, like she was meditating. Her eyes snapped open at the sense of his approach, perceiving him as a threat.

Kaden paused. She hadn't made to attack him again. That was a good sign. He hoped. He put his hands in front of him and took another slow step forward like approaching a cornered and frightened animal. "Mom."

She eyes glowed black and a second later the wind was knocked out him as he was pushed forcibly across the cage and into the adjacent wall. He groaned as he collapsed on the floor. He felt himself being kicked over so he lay flat on his back. Kaden saw his mother standing over him, her lips in a thin, straight line. She raised a fist full of black energy over his face and braced her son in place with a foot on his chest.

"Mom," he croaked out. "You don't have to do this." She stood over him still, menacing, but she had yet to make her attack, so Kaden kept talking. Everything his mother had ever taught him about their shared powers was that they were controlled by disciplining one's emotions. Madam Rouge may have taken over Raven's mind, but if she was using her powers, she still had control over her heart.

"Not only do you not have to do this. You don't want to do this. You don't want to hurt me. I know that."

The woman's arm was shaking, as if strained by trying to hold a heavy weight for too long. The body was fighting against itself.

"I know that," Kaden repeated. "Because you love me."

In the next moment Raven's black energy was released from her hand. Kaden flinched preemptively, but it dissipated in the air before hitting his face. The empathic boy noticed the weight of his mother's foot was gone from his chest. He pushed himself up on his elbows. Raven was on her knees in the middle of the cage, hands clutching either side of her head, face downcast. She must have stumbled back.

"Mom?" Kaden questioned, on his feet and approaching the downed woman. "Mom?" he repeated, even closer.

One of her hands flung out and he was pushed back against the cage wall again, but he remained standing. The move from his mother wasn't painful, it was just enough force to push him backwards. He wouldn't even call it defensive, because it dropped as soon as he collided with the cage and it did nothing to stop him from approaching again. No, the move was more…cautionary, for him more than his mother.

"Guys," Kaden shouted, still staring at his mother, "Talk to them. They're still in there."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Alex yelled back, not even looking Kaden's way.

"Our parents. The drugs aren't stronger than them. Talk to them. Make them remember who they are."

Review, please, it will make me more inspired (although I am not going to have time to write it until after the school year. I am so busy.)