Brotherhood

Chapter 10: Knives in the Daylight

"Miss me?"

A sound came ripping out of Raven's throat that was somewhere between a scream and a snarl, not even bothering to call up any of her energy as she slammed her fist into the side of Malchior's face. The blow was strong enough to send the demon reeling back a few steps, but he stayed on his feet.

"Wait, what?" Beast Boy shouted, pointing at the slender young man in front of him with a look of shock on his face. "That's Malchior? I thought he was bigger, and… well, dragon-y!"

"Don't worry about what he looks like, damn it," Raven hissed, "just kick the crap out of him, before he does the same to us!"

Beast Boy was surprised to see Raven acting so emotional, but then he remembered what Malchior had done to her. He'd broken her trust, and her heart. He'd done to her what Terra had done to Beast Boy, except even worse: Malchior hadn't opened himself up to Raven at all, content to just let her pour her heart out into his hands before he threw it in the floor and stomped it into oblivion.

And that was something Beast Boy absolutely could not forgive. No one deserved to go through that kind of pain, and especially not Raven.

What're you waiting for, partner?

The voice of his Inner Beast broke into his thoughts again, and the changeling welcomed it. If he was going to fight against someone bearing the Mark of Scath, he was going to need every ounce of power he could get. Letting his instincts go completely, Beast Boy charged forward with a roar.

"Acting awfully rash, aren't we?" Malchior taunted smoothly, side-stepping another punch from Raven and slinging a fireball her way that almost punched a hole through the empath's midsection. Raven spun to the side at the last moment and snapped her leg around in a sharp kick, her heel catching Malchior on his left temple and causing a steady trickle of dark blood to flow from the wound.

"Shut up," the empath seethed, her anger only increasing as her opponent chuckled in amusement and the gash she'd opened up swiftly closed again. Malchior wiped the blood away with the back of his hand and sighed heavily.

"What are you doing fighting me like this, princess?" he asked, no trace of caring in his term of endearment whatsoever. "Stop wasting my time and use your powers, or I might actually get serious."

Raven realized she was being baited, cursing herself mentally for even falling for the ploy to begin with. Love's power would need her to be calm and focused in order to tap into its full potential, and she was letting Malchior get her angry and distracted.

Pathetic.

She took a deep breath and focused herself, letting the white energy she'd used before flow through her spirit—

Only for the flow to get brutally cut off by a wave of blistering, burning pain that started in her abdomen and quickly radiated throughout the rest of her body. Raven's eyes flew open as she was thrown backwards, smelling the sickening odor of charred flesh and realizing that Malchior had waited for her to drop her guard before slamming a fireball right into her chest.

She'd exchanged being fooled by one ploy for being fooled by another. How much more worthless could she get?

Raven was jarred out of her thoughts as she hit the concrete and skidded backwards, cringing as she felt her skin scraping away. Rising shakily to her feet, the empath saw that Malchior was fighting someone else in her stead… or rather, something else.

It looked like a rabid yeti, tall and gaunt and feral. Raven had seen the form before, and it never ceased to send shivers up and down her spine: Beast Boy had let his instincts into his mind, and his Inner Beast had taken control. It howled and slashed at its prey, striking out with its claws in a terrifying berserker's rage. And yet, for all of his fury, it seemed as though Beast Boy was in tight control of his attacks. Malchior dodged nimbly, but the sheer ferocity of Beast Boy's offensive forced the demon to take blows and give ground.

Are you really going to force Beast Boy to fight all your battles for you?

Love's earlier words came rushing back into Raven's mind as she saw the demon and the beast fighting to kill, and they stung deeply. She'd sworn that no one else was going to shoulder her burden, and it had taken her less than an hour to go back on her word.

"I'm not weak; I'm not weak; I'm not weak…" the empath repeated in a strained mantra, trying to regain her emotional balance. "I don't need anyone to rescue me like this!"

Don't mistake trust for weakness, Raven, Love's voice replied in her head. Beast Boy is protecting you because he knows you would do the same for him, not because he thinks you're weak. Now get up, and prove him right.

Raven heard the truth in her emotion's words, and this time, she didn't choose to ignore it. Taking a deep breath and centering herself, she let the soothing white aura envelope her battered body. The tissue damage caused by Malchior's fireball mended quickly, leaving nothing behind of the burn but a faint white scar on her stomach. Shifting her focus from defense to offense, Raven thought back to when Love had ensnared her within Nevermore and tried to replicate the attack. It had been a basic maneuver for her when Rage had been in charge, but imbuing the white energy with aggression was a much trickier matter indeed.

Beast Boy felt the rush of adrenaline pushing him to an incredible high, but he kept from handing total control over to his instincts. It was like being halfway into an out-of-body experience: he could feel every muscle in his body moving, and could control them with unreal precision, but it still felt as though he was fighting inside someone else's body.

It was the perfect harmony between animal and human; instinct and rationality. It was what he had been born to feel.

"I must admit, you're a greater challenge than I was expecting," Malchior said in between attacks as he swerved around Beast Boy's claws. "I had no idea Raven had such a tenacious guard dog. But I'm not here for the reason you think I am, Beast Boy." Malchior flashed out of sight, to dodge a lunging strike, reappearing in front of Beast Boy as he regained his footing.

"I want to help you against Trigon."

The words only served to make the changeling even angrier and he roared, lashing out with one of his massive claws.

"Why should I believe anything you say?" Beast Boy bellowed, pressing his attack fiercer than ever. "All you've ever done is lie!"

Malchior frowned, annoyed that this simpleton was both putting up quite the fight and taking up far too much time. If he wanted to carry out his orders without being here all day, he had to step up his efforts.

"Fine," the demon said with a resigned sigh. "If you won't listen to me in that form, perhaps your head will be clearer in another."

Malchior jumped backwards out of his opponent's reach, taking a second to plant his feet on the concrete and focus his energies. Just as Beast Boy reared back for another strike, Malchior rushed forward in a burst of speed and slammed his hand through the changeling's chest.

Beast Boy stopped dead in his tracks and retched, coughing up a lungful of blood. He could feel Malchior's hand resting next to his guts, and it made him sick on top of being in immense pain.

"Now, let's see if we can't turn you into something a little more docile for the time being," Malchior mused, channeling power into his hand, "at least until I've had a chance to speak my mind."

"When are you going to get it through your thick skull that no one wants to hear anything you have to say, you worthless cretin?"

Malchior barely had time to turn his head around before a white spike of light slammed into his chest, throwing him backwards. Without Malchior's hand to staunch the wound, Beast Boy shuddered once and collapsed as the pain drained all strength from his legs. Raven rushed over to him, bracing him just as he was about to crash to the ground. His focus broken, Beast Boy quickly shifted and shrunk back into his normal form.

"Nice catch…" he whispered weakly, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Sorry I didn't step in… sooner…" the changeling's words were cut off abruptly as he coughed again, spewing more blood onto the asphalt.

"Stop talking," Raven said, trying to keep her voice calm and hands steady as she prepared to heal the gaping hole in Beast Boy's chest. "And don't apologize, either. If anyone's to blame, it's me. I shouldn't have tried to fight him on my own…" Raven's words were interrupted by a sharp groan from Beast Boy, as he spasmed and more blood flowed from the wound. "Damn it," she cursed bitterly, feeling nothing but anger at her own stupidity. "I'm such an idiot!"

As she held her hands over the damaged flesh and desperately focused as much of her energy as she could into it, Raven felt something warm on her cheeks.

She was crying. For the first time since her childhood, she was shedding tears. Beast Boy was going to die, and it was going to be her fault.

I've already lost Terra, and I'll be damned if I lose someone else I care about just because I wasn't strong enough to protect you.

The words of Beast Boy's promise to her in Nevermore rang in Raven's ears, and she felt guilt rising up from the pit of her soul to swallow her whole. But the guilt was mingled with something else, something that ran deeper. As the energy transfer deepened connection between them more and more, Raven felt the memories she and Beast Boy had shared flitting through her mind.

The time he'd entered into Nevermore with Cyborg and helped her come to terms with her Rage. When he'd shouldered all of the blame for attacking her in his Beast form in order to keep her safe from the real Beast that had been stalking her. When she'd had her heart broken by Malchior, how he had been the first person to offer her support. How when she refused to have any faith in herself as the time of Trigon's ascension had drawn nearer and nearer, he'd never lost faith in her; not once.

It was high time she returned the favor. She'd formed a superficial soul link with Robin before; to drag Beast Boy back from the brink of death, though, she'd have to go much deeper than that. She would have to open herself to him without holding anything back. Raven closed her eyes and exhaled in one long, slow, breath, letting her mind go completely blank.

All of her fears, doubts and hesitation vanished, leaving nothing behind but her unguarded emotions. Sending them along the link and establishing her presence in Beast Boy's soul, Raven let go of her energy and simply let it flow down the path. It felt much more draining than when she'd created her bond with Robin, but she held off her exhaustion until the wound beneath her hands had been completely closed. It felt odd, like she'd left a shard of herself resting within Beast Boy's soul, but Raven was too tired from the process to give it much more thought than that.

"That was noble of you, sweet Raven," Malchior said from a few paces away, his voice sounding almost sincere. "To risk sacrificing the cohesion of your own soul to preserve the soul of another. You must really care for him."

"Yes," Raven answered firmly, "I do. And if you want to kill him, you're going to have to go through me first."

Malchior smiled, condescension tinged with sadness in his eyes.

"I don't think I'll ever understand you, princess," the demon said. "We could have had something, you and I… but you seemed determined to break the mold your father cast you in."

Raven scoffed openly, her mouth twisting into a bitter smile.

"In case you forgot," she said, "you were the one who broke away from me. Not the other way around."

Malchior got a reflective look in his eyes, slipping one hand into his pocket.

"You're right," he admitted, walking towards Raven in steady, calculated steps. "That was horribly selfish of me. Here, allow me to make amends."

Raven's emotions were screaming at her to run, but her limbs felt like lead and her energy had been utterly tapped out.

"You know, I wasn't lying to that runt earlier, when I said I wanted to help you against your father," Malchior explained, drawing a golden ring out of his pocket and into the light as he spoke. "We both know Trigon doesn't trust anyone beyond how much they can be of use to him. As soon as I reach that limit, he's probably going to kill me."

"You deserve worse than that," Raven spat back spitefully, and Malchior smirked.

"Yes," he said, "I suppose I do. Regardless, I feel like hedging my bets. You've seen a ring like this before, have you not?"

"That's a Ring of Azar," Raven breathed, impressed in spite of herself. "How did you get one of those?"

"Does that really matter?" Malchior countered, lowering himself to one knee and taking Raven's hand in his own. It felt icy cold and slightly clammy, a far cry from the times Beast Boy had reached out a hand in comfort.

"As long as you're protected, princess," he said softly, "Trigon will be vulnerable."

The ring felt strangely hot slipping over Raven's finger, red runes blazing into visibility on the golden band a few moments later.

"Which is, sadly," the demon continued, "why you have to die."

Raven only had a few seconds to be confused by the words before her entire body convulsed in pain, forcing her into the fetal position on the ground. The ring shimmered and disappeared, leaving the red runes behind. They stayed on Raven's skin for a moment, pulsing twice, before melting into each other to create a solid red band. The dark energy seeped under Raven's skin, but she knew it hadn't vanished in the slightest; going by the feeling of the magic, it was probably coursing through her veins right now.

"Did you just… poison me?" she forced out between gasps of air, and Malchior nodded. A wide smile was on his face, and the cocksure look in his light blue eyes made Raven want to rip out his spine.

"Indeed I did," the demon answered. "It's quite a potent variety of the Velenas flower's natural toxin. Untreated, it'll kill you in about three days." Malchior reached out and cut a few locks of Raven's hair from her head, slipping them into the pocket where the ring had been resting.

"To remember you by, darling," the demon said by way of parting, melting into the air a few heartbeats later. Raven tried to move, but the exhaustion compounded with the slow-burning pain in her limbs from the poison left her all but paralyzed.

"Beast Boy," she whispered with the last of her strength, "wake up!"

Trigon walked down the hallway with no small degree of swagger, figuring he would make Slade wait for him. Regardless of whether his former minion had gotten wind of Malchior's attack or not, it didn't matter; even in his weakened state, he was more than capable of ending the life of one insignificant human. The only reason Slade or the rest of his motley crew were still breathing was because they were necessary pawns in the Demon Lord's scheme: as soon as he'd climbed back atop his throne, he'd punish Slade for his impudence during the apocalyptic invasion of Earth two years previous.

Slade stood with his back to the door as Trigon entered the inner-chamber, surveying his massive array of monitors. Each one flickered individually, but the criminal mastermind seemed to have no problem following them all.

"You seem unusually cheerful this morning, Trigon," Slade said at last, his voice as even as ever. "Did you really think you could be subversive enough to escape my notice, or do you simply enjoy irritating me?"

"I'm not about to waste my breath on irrelevant questions, Slade," the Demon Lord replied. "Where are the others?"

"Picking up your slack," Slade answered coldly, turning around to face his former master. "The plan still proceeds on schedule, but any more stunts like the one this morning and we risk giving the Titans valuable time to get back on their feet."

Trigon raised an eyebrow, a mocking smirk twisting his lips.

"Are you truly worried about those ants?"

"You mean the same 'ants' that managed to seal you, a supposedly omnipotent demon, into the cage of flesh you're wearing?" Slade shot back, his eye emotionless. "Yes, I am."

"Even though your initial plan succeeded, and we managed to kill their leader and drive them from Jump City entirely?" Trigon pressed. "The soul I recruited to act as my right hand two years ago was much stronger than the one I see before me now."

"Weakness is relative," Slade said coolly, the implications of his words not lost on Trigon. "And by now, the effects of our first strike have been all-but undone: the Titans have regrouped in Gotham City, and Robin has been revived by Ra's Al Ghul's Lazarus Pits."

"A human managed to harness the powers of a Lazarus Pit?" Trigon asked, shock creeping into his voice for the first time in several centuries. "Impressive indeed. But how do you know all of this?"

"I have a source," Slade answered enigmatically, forcing Trigon to bite back the urge to snap his ally's neck like a twig. "All you need to be concerned about is that, while you wage your own private war on your daughter, we're losing much more ground than you're bothering to gain for us."

"Don't presume to second-guess me, human," Trigon growled. He drew himself up to his full height, trying to intimidate Slade, who seemed decidedly unfazed. "Even if my designs target Azarath first and foremost, my wretched daughter is still dead when the dust settles, and the Titans are deprived of one of their number."

"No doubt," Slade said, a lilting edge of malice to his voice. "Assuming, of course, that the dust settles according to your plan. Your pet dragon explicitly told Raven the source of the poison he'd infected her with. That might draw her to Azarath in the end, but she almost certainly won't go alone. Support from her teammates, coupled with knowing the cure to her ailment, practically guarantees her survival."

"But it also ensures that the team as a whole will be weakened when it splits up," Trigon countered. "That is when the rest of our so-called alliance should move in and eliminate the weakest group of the Titans."

Slade shrugged, about to reply when a communicator at his waist beeped loudly. He checked it once and turned it off, walking towards the door as he did so.

"What's done is done, at the very least," he allowed. "Carry on with your offensive, Trigon. But know this: if I think at any point that it unduly threatens our mission as a whole, I'll cut our losses and consider you an enemy of our organization."

"Do as you wish, little one," Trigon said. "Who was that just now?"

Slade gave a faint chuckle at the question as he stepped into the elevator at the opposite end of the hall, the door closing shut behind him.

The air hanging around Jump City felt stagnant and silent in the wake of the Titans' departure, and Slade wouldn't have had it any other way. The T-shaped tower standing tall in the distance that had once belonged to his greatest enemies would soon be under his direct control; all Brother Blood had to do was finish re-routing the security systems in through the new network mainframe he'd installed, and Titans' Tower would complete its transformation from impenetrable stronghold to unstoppable offensive weapon.

Despite his contempt for the crazy old zealot, Slade had to admit that Blood's plan to utilize Cyborg's body as the core of the re-purposed Tower was quite inspired indeed. Only time would tell if it would be as effective as Blood had so enthusiastically proclaimed, but Slade was confident in its success.

"You're late."

Slade stopped at the sound of the voice, a smirk in his reply that was hidden behind his mask.

"I didn't set a time for us to meet," he said. "And if I recall correctly, you were never the punctual sort to begin with."

"Probably because I was out doing all of your dirty work for you," the voice snapped back, its owner still cloaked in the shadows. "I found out what you wanted, Slade. Now give me my thirty pieces of silver and screw off."

Slade laughed openly at that, popping open a large pouch on his belt and withdrawing a smaller leather sack from within it. Tossing it towards his source, Slade's eye narrowed in amusement as she stepped out into the light at last.

"You really will do anything to control your powers after all,

"Terra."

…

…

A/N: Oh ho, the plot thickens! Hopefully that was enough story for one chapter, even if it turned out a bit shorter than my usual. Thanks as always for reading, and please review if you have a moment; it really does do wonders for my productivity. Only got two for the last chapter (Big ups to Wolvmbm and Renting), and that makes me feel like no one's reading- which does not do wonders for my productivity.

See you next chapter!