Altered States

Raven awoke in some kind of a huge underground laboratory, carved out of the rock. Opening her eyes, she saw a maze of wide glass pipes hanging from the ceiling, and liquids of various bright colors flowing through them, some bubbling.

Vertical pipes came down on both sides of her, feeding the fluids into computerized machinery with gauges and blinking lights. The wall in front of her was covered floor to ceiling with computers and display screens.

She realized that she was strapped into something like a dentist's chair, unable to move her arms or legs and only partially turn her head. Metal cylinders pressed against her temples. The chair was inside a large sphere, but the sphere wasn't made of anything solid, instead it flickered as if it was made of light. Patterns swirled around on it. Some kind of a force field? She was in a cage? There was no one else anywhere to be seen.

"Hello, Raven. So nice to see you again."

She knew that gentle but still menacing voice.

"Slade!" she hissed. "Let me go! Now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, child. You see, we're going to perform a little experiment".

She noticed there was an IV tube in her arm, and some kind of a drug was flowing in. She also noticed there were many types of sensors attached to her, and multiple high speed cameras all trained on her from outside the bubble. Some of the display screens were showing things like her heart rate and brainwave activity.

"What have you done with Beast Boy?" she demanded. "He'd better be all right!"

Slade walked around in front of her, where she could see him.

"Your concern for your young friend is touching, truly. But I believe you have more pressing matters to think about".

Raven summoned her energy and an aura of darkness appeared around her hands. But it seemed to quickly dissipate, being drawn into the bubble, which pulsated with colors. She tried to center her consciousness.

"Azarath…Metrion….Zinthos…"

The bonds holding her should have broken, but that didn't happen. Instead the hum of the machinery grew louder, and more lights blinked. The fluid in the tubes bubbled and flowed faster.

"The field draws its energy from you, my dear. The more you resist, the more energy it absorbs." Slade's voice was icily calm.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"You never cease to amaze me, Raven. I've been told you have the so-called psychiatric condition of multiple personalities. I'd like to meet one of them."

"I don't know where you get your information," she sneered. "But I do not have multiple personality disorder! I symbolically color coded certain emotions for insight. My own insight! You can't 'meet' them."

"How quaint," he said, no doubt smiling behind his mask. "But I'm not really interested in your color scheme. I'm interested in the power that comes from your demon aspect."

He walked over and checked the readings on a piece of equipment, and then began to pace back and forth like a professor lecturing a class of students.

"You see, I believe I know how to harness it for my own purposes. I just need to study you during the transformation, to see how you tap into the energy source. I built all this just for you, Raven," he said, gesturing to the huge room full of equipment.

She glared at him in disbelief.

"Oh yes," he continued. "I picked up a little knowledge in my time with your dear father. And now I want to see your demon side, the so-called 'Rage'."

"Are you crazy?" she snarled. "That will bring Trigon and destroy this world."

"I think not," he said confidently. "There is a little more to that than perhaps you realize."

"I'm not going to let you!"

"My dear child, you don't have any choice".

Slade activated some controls, and patterns of lines appeared on the inside of sphere. They were swirling, changing, drawing her attention, while rhythmic sounds filled her ears. He was trying to induce some kind of an altered state of consciousness. A form of involuntary hypnosis. Well, she wouldn't let him!

But she had been injected with the drug, and was feeling the effect. She couldn't focus. For some reason, she couldn't close her eyes and she couldn't ignore the patterns on the screen. The metal electrodes against her temples began to hum.

Slade spoke into a microphone and the voice seemed to be coming from inside her own head.

"Hatred shall consume you! Rage without end! A hunger that never dies. Release your wrath. Give in to your hate."

She tried to hold on, but Slade knew what he was doing.

"You can't control me," she murmured. "I know who I am. Azarath. Metrion…"

"Wrath! Hatred! Hatred is consuming you. Revenge! Burn with it! Feel the fire within you!"

"I know who I am," she whispered. "I know who I am!"

But her words were slurring. Her hold on reality began to smear, and then dripped away like a child's watercolor painting in the rain.

Raven's eyes began to glow yellow, then red. A phantom set of eyes opened in her forehead. The fluid was boiling now, as it raced through the tubes, and every light was brightly lit on Slade's computer console.

Just then there was an enormous crash. The huge steel door to the room came out of its moorings in the rock wall and fell inward. Slade turned to see a triceratops burst into the room.

Two of his robotic henchmen ran out from computer stations and tried to stop it, but the triceratops gored one and knocked the other down with the side of its armored head. Then it began rampaging around the laboratory, smashing equipment. Red alert alarms began flashing.

Slade realized the danger, and he ran over to a console to shut down certain key pieces of equipment. Then he grabbed a gun off the table to shoot the triceratops.

But it wasn't a triceratops any longer. Now Beast Boy was a stegosaurus, whipping his spiked tail to destroy things. He knocked Slade across the room before he could get a shot off. Sparks flew from damaged equipment and fires were starting. Something exploded in the corner.

The force field bubble containing Raven flickered and disappeared. Raven went into shock and lost consciousness.

The dinosaur morphed into a beast which broke the bonds holding her and gently extricated Raven from her confinement. The room was filling with smoke. Pipes burst and superheated fluid was starting to spill out. He picked her up and they ran from the room.

They were in the network of caves again, with no idea which way to go. There were several passageways, lit with portable lanterns hanging from the walls at intervals.

The sound of running footsteps meant guards were coming. The beast chose a passage at random and ran down it, holding the unconscious Raven carefully, so she wouldn't hit the jagged walls.

After a while, they reached the perimeter of Slade's lair. No more lights, and another branching of the cave into multiple passageways. The beast grabbed the last lantern off the wall and continued with Raven down one of the twisting passages.

After a while the passage got quite narrow and Beast Boy reverted to human form. With much difficulty, he squeezed her though until they got to a part where it opened up into a large cavern. They could rest here.

He held up the lantern to look around. The chamber was huge, like a church. Thousands of cone shaped stalactites hung from the ceiling, many dripping with water. Stalagmites rose from the floor as well, and in places where the ceiling was low, they met. There was a long pool of shallow water in the center of the cavern.

He carried Raven over to a flat spot on the edge of the pool and laid her down gently.

She groaned softly, as if she was coming around.

"Raven, are you all right? Raven? Raven?"

"Raven is not here." The voice was slurred, but didn't sound like Raven. It was much deeper.

"Come on Raven. Wake up." He cupped his hand to scoop up some of the cold, clear water and he splashed a little of it on her face.

"Raven can't wake up, Beast Boy."

This can't be good, he thought.

"Come on, Raven. You're just having a bad dream, that's all."

Her eyes flickered to open, and he saw the glowing red color. With growing horror, he knew what it meant.

"Raven has gone away, Beast Boy," she said.

"No, you're still Raven! Wake up, Raven!" he said desperately.

All four eyes were open now, with the red glow pouring out. She sat up and glared at him.

"Beast…Boy!" she said his name with a harsh sneer. "I know you!"

She reached out her hand and closed it around his throat.

Next chapter: 3. Primal Rage vs. Animal Instinct