Aki- Been a while, huh? Sorry, it took a while. It's a long one if it is any conciliation. This story will probably be easier to write from now on. Gah, have I told you how much I hate writing fight scenes? Anyway, a great thanks to Tenshi, my counterpart, who wonderful proofed, edited, and fixed this chapter up to it was readable and makes a great deal more sense than it did (all whilst adding snarky comments). Not 100% with this, because I had been imagining these scenes from the beginning, but it's good enough.

Last time on EOL:

"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."

Chapter 21: Too Many Cheaters

Alex's breathing was heavy; his hand clutched his side, where his father had gotten in a good kick after he had dodged his son's second starbolt. He stumbled back a few paces, curling in on himself as a way to shield his wounded side. His kept his gaze up though, watching his father's every move, matching his steps as they circled each other in the confined space. He wanted to delay the next attack long enough for him to feel steady again.

He ran Kaden's words over and over again in his mind, along with defense strategies and mantras his mother taught him to get him in the mindset to use his Tamaranian abilities. 'Talk to him?' Alex almost scoffed at the thought. Talking to his father had been hard enough before he was brainwashed. Now he was supposed to do what—talk the man out of his drug induced stupor? All while not being pummeled by him? Could this be any harder?

'Robin' quit circling and charged, fast. Alex leaped awkwardly out of the way, tripping and trying to catch himself on his elbow. A cold, prickling ache shot up his funny bone. He tried to ignore it in favor of rolling out of the way of his father's return kick, but a second one found its home on his exposed chest. Knocked onto his back, he stared up at the top of the cage for a brief moment before forcing himself back to his feet. 
…

Halle's shoulder banged painfully into the metal grate of a cage when she heard Kaden's yells. She gritted her teeth, comprehension of the meaning of her friend's words taking a bit longer than it should. There was a little jolt in her gut, a feeling of optimism and hope though she was tired and sweaty and bruising. Forcing her mother out of the air and into hand-to-hand combat was a wise move, but the fight that ensued was not easy. Starfire was just as strong as Halle, probably more, and was well-trained. Halle just had a few weeks of martial arts basics under her belt. This was an improvement from running around dodging starbolts, but not a great one.

Halle pushed herself off the cage wall and back into a defensive position, facing her mom who was angling herself for a punch. The teenager blocked it with a forearm and ducked under the following punch from the other hand. She spun away from Starfire and got out of her immediate range.

'I'm supposed to talk. Supposed to talk…about...?'

"Hey," said Halle, and it came out squeakier than she had intended. The 'good news' Kaden had spouted made her nervous. What if she couldn't do it? Worse, what if she did and it didn't help?

She pulled from her thoughts when she saw her mother, although still grounded, forming a starbolt in her hands. Halle jumped forward quickly and performed a sloppy and ill-aimed roundhouse kick. She clipped her mother's shoulder, enough to unbalance the woman and make her lose her forming green starbolt. Halle would try talking to her mom, but it would have to be in the midst of combat. She couldn't leave the older woman an opening to start flying or forming starbolts, tilting the battle field too much out of Halle's favor.

…

Cyborg heard Kaden at the same time he was watching a predatory leopard ready itself to pounce. Granted, a leopard was a deal lighter than a full-grown lion, but was quicker, and he bet the claws were just as sharp. The animal leaped in a graceful arc. Cyborg, having backed himself unwisely into the corner, had no way to escape being right on target. He braced himself for impact.

He was inevitably pushed into the cage behind him when the green leopard pounced onto him, but managed to maintain his balance. Gripping the leopard's front legs, Cyborg pushed the creature away. Thrown to the floor, Beast Boy in leopard form found his feet again quickly. Now, a very angry large cat, haunches raised, was ready to pounce again. Cyborg may have been made mostly of metal, but that did not make him indestructible.

Victor barely knew Kaden, but if he was like either of his parents, he would to trust the boy's hunch. He couldn't see how it would make the situation any worse.

…

"Mom," Kaden said, putting as much heartfelt love and desperation into the word as he could. It needed to be more than just a title. It had to be a name. He threw up a quick soulself shield that dissipated the moment his mother's soulself came in contact. Blocking her attacks was becoming harder for Kaden. He was wearing out. Plus, his mother seemed to return from her brief relapse into reality with a renewed vigor and aggression.

"Listen to me," he said, although he knew the direct command was next to useless. Needing a moment's rest from defending himself against her attacks, he lashed out, throwing a long band of energy low, hoping to trip his mother. She evaded it better than he had hoped, and merely stumbled.

"Look, you've always told me-," Kaden began, dodging a counter attack, "-that our powers are controlled by us controlling our emotions. But that's not completely true is it?"

Raven formed a series of tentacle-like strands of soulself. Kaden jumped back as they whipped at him.

"Because our powers are fueled by our emotions, right?. Without them we wouldn't be silent, deadly, heartless, ultimately powerful assassins. No, emotions would make us weak." Kaden formed two mini-black energy shields on each forearm and used them to deflect the tentacles. With speaking taking up half his concentration, his defense was a bit shoddy.

"Yeah, our emotions can be dangerous," he continued, breathlessly, "combined with abilities like ours, but…anyone too angry or passionate or... or even enthusiastic can be dangerous. God. What I'mtryingto say is that our emotions don't just fuel us, they give us a reason." His defense failed with his poor focus. A tentacle wrapped around his wrist and wrapped tightly around his forearm, yanking him forward. His energy armguards disappeared as he fell unceremoniously onto the harsh cement floor beneath him.

Wind knocked out of him briefly, he managed a few quick shallow breaths and said through gritted teeth: "Because we care about people…humanity, because we love them."

To Kaden's surprise his mother's offending soulself disappeared from around his arm. He looked up at her. All the black energy was gone, but her eyes…they were still unfamiliar. But now they seemed desperate, irate - like a caged animal unable to perform the task commanded it. Kaden staggered to his feet and stared at her.

"We want to protect them," the boy persisted, a fierce sense of victory coursing through his veins. Raven rushed at him, growling, swinging at him. It was a desperate move, hardly decisive, and Kaden deflected it with both wrists and slide to the side. "We want to do good."

Raven swung again, but it was misaimed and he stepped away from her to avoid contact. It was becoming more like a strange dance than a fight, she moving towards him, kicking, striking, but not seldom making contact. "In the end, it's not your mind that is going to save you - no matter how well disciplined. I saw that before when you had the chance to kill me. It's your heart."

Then the moment came. Raven was distracted, footing uncertain, and…Kaden struck. He dropped into a crouch, balancing himself against the cool floor with his fingertips. Hooking one foot around her ankle, he swept her feet out. She was down in an instant. And now Kaden was the only one standing, looking down at her.

"And love, which is so much more than just emotion. So no matter how drugged—hypnotized—brainwashed, whatever, they have you, you're not going to kill me or hurt me." He put his arms down from a 'don't you dare move' position and let them hang at his side. Then after a moment, he offered a hand to her, a friendly gesture. "We both know that the heart is stronger than the head."

No hand came up to accept his, but Raven's face showed confusion. Her eyes weren't completely clear, but were more recognizably hers. She was still for a moment and then blinked. Her eyes sharpened as if her vision were now improving.

"Kaden?" she rasped and Kaden just about sunk to his knees in relief.

…

It made sense, Halle decided. She remembered a speck of knowledge from a psychology class she had taken for social studies credit. Movies often exaggerated hypnotism. You couldn't hypnotize someone to do something they were morally against, and obviously her mother would be against murdering her own daughter. Yes, whatever these villains had done was stronger than any 'Listen to my voice…you are growing sleepy' nonsense…but still. If Halle could make her mother remember for just an instant who she was and where she stood, maybe this whole trick would unravel.

"Hey, Mom," her voice squeaked again. She cleared her throat and began again. "Kaden says you guys are still in there somewhere," Halle dodged a wild swing from her mother by squatting quickly. "Of course, you have to be in there." Taking the opportunity, she tried to swipe Starfire's legs out from under her with a low kick, but her mother jumped over it in such a graceful way it was evident she was letting her ability to fly help.

"But I just didn't think we could be the ones to draw you out." Starfire kicked and Halle could not avoid getting hit altogether. She was pegged in the shoulder and rolled backwards. She grunted, "I'm rambling, I know."

Halle rolled to the side and sprang to her feet, not wanting to stay down another second and make herself vulnerable to another attack. Strands of her loose red hair stuck to the sweat on her face.

"I just don't know what to say."

Starfire tried to knee Halle in the gut, but Halle jumped backwards, banging into and rattling the cage wall. There was no more room behind her and her mother - eyes still blank and dazed, hair in a tangled disarray - was advancing. Halle barely managed to twirl away, along the wall when Starfire's punch - strong enough to dent the bars - landed where Halle's head had been moments ago. Halle couldn't spare a moment to reflect on her near escape, but took the moment her mother was distracted with her mishit to get behind the her and twist her loose arm behind her back.

"It's like…for so many years we didn't," Halle hissed through clenched teeth, exerting her alien strength to keep her mother in the submissive hold, "Like, y'know, click, and then we found something - a little patch of common ground that we didn't fight over."

Maybe it was because Starfire was a full grown woman, perhaps it was because her alien blood was untainted, or even because her brainwashing had cut all her restraint, but she was still stronger than her daughter. She threw off the hold wildly, twisting her body and arm so that both mother and daughter lurched away from each other.

"I liked that," Halle continued determinedly, voice harsh and shaky. She stood limply, shoulders hunched, arms hanging. A position that held no solid footing, no defense, no threat. Her stance was defeated but her eyes were sharp and impassioned. The drugged Starfire watched, catching her breath through gritted teeth.

"For the first time in so long neither of us were letting anything get in the way of getting along," Halle continued her speech in a stronger voice. "I don't want that to end."

Starfire looked confused, like she was not sure why the 'thing' she had been ordered—no— programmed to destroy was not making a move. Maybe it was a trick?

"Not here, not now," that "prey" persisted, "even though there's a good chance we both could die. That's my hope. And that's why I'm going to save you. Why we are going to win."

Halle sucked in a breath when she saw her mother's eyes tinge a glowing green. Not good, was the one coherent thought that flew through Halle's mind. If she was against starbolts and flight again…she wouldn't survive long. Yet, somehow, she wasn't panicking. Adrenaline was pounding too hard already, maybe. And then another idea flitted across her brain, something crazy and desperate that wouldn't solve anything...yet…she didn't bother thinking it through.

Halle darted across the room and locked her arms around her mother, hands clasped together behind the woman's back. The woman's hands were pinned to her side, and she was weighted down from any attempt at flight.

"I love you, Mom. I'm sorry for not saying that for so long. So, I want you so come back. I love you, Mom, I love you."

…

"This is so stupid," Alex muttered as he heard his three compatriots blabber away in one-sided conversations. It seemed idiotic to split their attention from the fight. He had to admit, though, that nothing else was working, and he was desperate - desperate not to get pummeled to death.

"So, Dad. Why don't you cut out this shit?" It wasn't exactly an appeal, but it was something he would really say to his father. Or what he would think about saying while giving the silent treatment. A nasty kick in the gut was his response. Alex groaned, falling back while clutching his stomach.

"I'm your son," he grunted out. "Your son," he repeated, quietly, to himself as he straightened up. His voice returned to what it had been before— disinterested, skeptical, and tired. "Remember that, will you?"

Alex might as well have been speaking gibberish. His father's response was to deliver a strong upper cut to his chin. The boy was nearly knocked to the floor. Alex was pissed off. Logically, he knew his father wasn't himself, but he making an effort to connect here! A weak, not entirely heartfelt one, but it wasn't like they had a bunch of great memories to reminisce on. Even Halle and Mom were getting along better than his father and him. Their relationship wasn't hell any longer, but they'd barely broken the surface of something tolerable.

It really wasn't fair, Alex decided, as he launched himself at his father. It was a chaotic move, and when Alex dislodged the man's sure and steady foothold, it was more by luck than any skill or aim.

Both landed roughly on the cement floor and had their breath knocked out of them. Alex had the barest of advantages: first, he was on top and second, his move had been so brash, unexpected, and stupid that the brainwashed Robin didn't immediately know how to react.

"No," Alex wheezed, trying to inhale. "Not now. You can't…not now." Being a better trained athlete, Alex's father caught his breath first. Robin gripped his son's shoulders and he rolled the two over in attempt to put himself in control of the fight. Somewhere behind Alex's sudden wish that he'd joined the wrestling team at school, his battle training kicked in and he kept the momentum going, stopping his father from straddling him on the ground. The roll continued until Alex was the one above. He tried to wrench himself out of his father's grip, and the man took advantage the boy's momentary imbalanced position to roughly push Alex off of him.

Flung to the side, he was sure he felt something in his side, a rib, crack on impact with the floor. Adrenaline alone saved him from feeling the full extent of the pain. He should have known getting a hit in was not worth giving up pinning his enemy. Another failure. How many times did Dad try to get that through to him when he was sparring with either him or Halle?

"I was never the kind of son you wanted," Alex said, pushing himself up to lean heavily on the cage wall, one arm protectively around his side. "I know that." His eyes were dark and his tone bitter. A failure.

Robin moved towards him again, but Alex did not wait to be forced to evade him. The boy attacked wildly, despite his injury, swinging his arms, hands twisted into tight fists. His father brushed off the blows with no real exertion.

"I hated you for it," Alex said, his voice growing louder, surer, and fiercer, as a fist brushed his father's shoulder. "But recently," he stumbled after a wildly missed punch, but was able to save it by twisting around sharply, and kicking out at Robin's left knee. "There were days I thought I had an inkling," the words became a yell on the last word, "of your respect."

"Because - you were - finally - getting - to know me," his sentence was punctuated by grunts combined with punches, each more precise than the last. Robin was now forced to actively block them.

"But that's not good enough!" the boy roared. Robin was backed into a corner of the cage with a punch to the chest, one deep in the stomach, and a kick to the same knee that had already suffered a recent hit.

"Not yet. Don't you dare leave me. Don't you dare, Dad!" And the man was down, forced on his knees in a small space.

Alex's hand shot out, and he held his father to the wall. Raising the other arm, he formed a fist. A starbolt fizzled uncertainly. Alex's vision grew blurry and his eyes burned. He blinked and his sight cleared a little, though warm tears rolled down his cheeks. His voice was choked but still strong. "Not now. I'll never forgive you."

"For what?"

…

Cyborg held his arms out, palms up, hoping to placate Beast Boy's ready-to-attack feline form in the corner.

"Hey, man," said Cyborg, employing Kaden's discovery and hoping to get many words in as he could before he had to fight again. "Look, I know we haven't seen each other in a long time. And everyone else has their own kids to fight with—" Beast Boy pounced, claws extended, towards his perceived enemy. Cyborg ducked and ran. He wasn't nearly as agile as some of his teammates, both past and present, being taller, more muscular, and made mostly out of metal, but he was able to move enough so that the green leopard jumped over him, instead of on him.

"I don't know how to compare to a relationship like that," Cyborg continued as soon as he was out of immediate harm's way. "But that's not gonna stop me from trying… Grass-stain." Cyborg chuckled to himself at the use of the old nickname, one of the ones he'd been reminded of when Kaden started using Victor's old ones. The two faced each other. Giving up on the 'big cat' thing, the man shifted into a rhino. Cyborg's human eye widened. The beast charged and Cyborg dove ungracefully out of the way of the wicked horn. The animal crashed into the cage wall, denting it. The large, lumbering creature really did not have enough room to reach its most dangerous speed, but could still stomp, gore, and run enough to be a palpable threat.

"Nice one, Grass-stain," grunted Cyborg as he pushed himself to his feet. The green rhino backed up and turned to face his enemy. Cyborg took advantage of the moment. "God, that was so long ago. The Titans. Being teenagers. Back when we were best friends."

The rhino backed up still more so he could have the largest amount of space to speed up. It would be useless to try to hide. Cyborg continued talking.

"I miss you, buddy. Don't you remember? Me? Anything? Your wife? Your kid? Being a hero?" he asked urgently.

The rhino lowered his head and charged. Cyborg scrambled out of the way. He was almost caught under the beast's feet, though he was out of the way of a direct hit.

Cyborg gritted his teeth. This wasn't working. Closing his eyes briefly, he decided to change tactics slightly. It was a cruel card to play, but perhaps a painful memory could pull him from his mind-control. "Remember Terra…and how she was kinda your first love. And how she betrayed you, us, to Slade?"

Beast Boy gave no noticeable response, except to also decide that something wasn't working…being a rhino. He transformed temporarily into human form, got a running start, leapt in the hair and turned into a bird of prey, circling and swooping in the space above Cyborg's head.

"Come on!" Cyborg yelled. "You have to remember that jerk! And his Sladebots..." The metal man recalled his green friend's favorite way to demolish Sladebots. It involved going into the air as a light animal and coming down as a heavy one. Although Beast Boy never tried that on an actual living being, Cyborg was sure it would have the same effect if applied to him.

Cyborg didn't know what to do. He couldn't reach the bird and dared not shoot Beast Boy when he was in a delicate animal form. There was nowhere to hide from the bird, which stayed over top of him as he ran around the enclosed cage, trying not to get crushed. He forced himself to transform one arm into the cannon, set it on the lowest it could go, and intentionally shot misaimed blasts into the air, meant to distract and delay the bird.

"What about Control Freak? We got to go inside the TV, you loved that! Or Mother-Mae-Eye, who made you wear a bunny suit! That was hilarious!" Cyborg shouted. "Or New-Fu from space who were stealing all the cows? Or how about when we almost didn't have the Fourth of July because Mad…Mod…"

God. How did he not think of it before? He'd seen Beast Boy lose control of his mind before - several times while Mad Mod was being, well, mad. It was simple to sort him out once the team had learned the trick.

"Why can't you play cards in the jungle?" Cyborg shouted, hands cupped around his mouth to make sure Beast Boy heard him. "Because there's too many cheetahs!"

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