SO, Chapter 18 is finally up! This was one of my harder chapters to write. Grr.
Enjoy! PROGRESS AND THINGS ARE REVEALED IN THIS CHAPTER
Chapter 18
"Reason Behind His Majestry"
"Hacked"
"Beast Boy!"
He opened his eyes at once, the fox-senses allowing him to wake without being groggy. It was one of the advantages of falling asleep as an animal. You then got the opportunity to wake up as an animal. Shaking sleep from his eyes he got up and stretched, the feeling on his now sore muscles (the bruises uncomfortable characteristics finally kicking in) was very oddly refreshing to him. After finishing with that, he changed back into a human, looking up at his caller. His eyes suddenly widened and he sat, stunned.
"Dude . . . " He breathed, shocked. "What . . . what are you wearing? How did you-?"
"Beast Boy," The voice replied, angry at being forced to do what he had to. Deliver a message. "I'm . . . I don't know . . . what happened. This thing just-."
Beast Boy's brain clicked and he jumped to his feet, backing away from the male figure towards where Raven lay closer to the back of the room. Apparently she'd moved in her sleep, for his shape had remained still. "Why are you here?" He asked, scared and suspicious as he continued to gawk at the figure.
He looked away, his hands balled up into fists. "I have to . . . deliver a message."
Beast Boy's eyes narrowed. "You're here for Raven, aren't you?" The figure said nothing, simply shaking its head. "Well then what, Robin? This isn't you! I know you! You're our leader, not some worthless villain!"
"Beast Boy-."
"Didn't you learn that with Red X? I mean, come on, what kind of stunt are you pulling here? Did anyone else-!?" Then the other half clicked and his slowly growing anger that had appeared on his face dropped completely. "Oh . . . Starfire."
Robin said nothing, but swallowed. "Y-Yeah . . . Starfire. I mean, you'd do if for Raven, right?"
Beast Boy blushed madly at this. "W-What? You and Starfire are totally different from me and Raven! There's nothing-!" Robin, his unconvinced and patient expression insinuating he didn't believe a word of what he said, silenced Beast Boy. The green changeling look back and forth between Robin and Raven before his fists clenched and his eyes squeezed shut.
"You don't even believe yourself." Robin accused, trying to make light of the situation. His expression then turned serious. "Beast Boy, the message I have to deliver to you is a warning, so please, Beast Boy, please just listen." Robin's pleading calmed Beast Boy slightly, making the boy less wary. But he did not cease his protective stance in front of Raven, which Robin noticed. But he would have done the same for Starfire. "They said . . . if you don't decide what side you're on soon . . ." His eyes glanced towards Raven and he swallowed, the boy wonder who was normally so collected finally showing how afraid he was for his friend. Beast Boy got the message and instantly his teeth were bared. He crouched to the floor, growling at Robin who stepped back in surprise. "Beast Boy-!"
"Get . . . Out!" His friend growled, warning him. Robin hesitated. "Now!"
Robin took a few more steps backwards before simply shaking his head and turning around, exiting through the door. Soon after though, another far more feminine figure entered. One that Beast Boy growled at even louder. He lowered his growl though, seeing Raven begin to stir at his sounds.
"What have you done!?" He hissed, that furious and overprotective feeling washing through him.
She grinned smugly at him. "Nothing your friends didn't want. To see their precious love, to try desperately to keep the team together, whether they were good or not. Your friends have very interesting subconscious thoughts. It's quite fascinating to really see the mind of a hero."
"Shut up!" He snapped, taking a step towards her. "Just shut up, Ella!"
"I'm not-!" She began shrieking. That was a bad idea.
Raven began to stir again. And that overprotective feeling then filled Beast Boy, mixing along with his blood-lust. Not a very good combination. He lunged. Ella's eyes widened and she was about to throw him aside when he skidded to a halt in front of her, standing as he leaned towards her, his eyes narrowed. And for some reason, Ella had no urge to hit him or attack him in any way. Instead, eyes still huge as the terrifying green boy leaned towards her, taller then she was, she began hearing voices and flickering images filled her vision. She tried to blink them away and the whole time Beast Boy remained quiet.
"-Dad-!"
"-Where'd you go-?"
She looked up at him. "-Who are you-?"
She clenched her eyes at the memory that did not belong to her. "-I hate you so much-!"
"-Would you like that?"
She snapped out of it when Beast Boy spoke.
"Leave. Now." He warned. And to Ella's surprise, she did. She took off running, the door slamming behind her and leaving people to stare as she ran through the corridors, the images now racing through her head before they stopped, not giving her any information at all.
Somehow in her room now, she fell to her knees, her hands flat on the ground as she continued to choke out the little pictures that gave a second of audio before turning into something else she didn't understand. Staring at her reflection upon the floor, she passed out, shuddering ever so slightly as she slowly drifted into an peace-less sleep.
The threat gone, Beast Boy relaxed. That feeling soon turned cold as he realized what had happened. His friends were no longer on the same side. They had no persevered, as he had and how he'd expected them to. Looking at the still sleeping girl he'd fallen next to, the cold truth hit him. They were the only ones left. Then there was that other decision. Should he tell her?
No shit. He had to. She deserved to know.
Beast Boy sat against the wall, looking at Raven who was sleeping on a towel as a pillow that he'd placed under her as soon as Ella had gone. It had all been done on a bit of a numb daze. Then he heard the rustling of fabric as Raven woke up. But even that couldn't comfort him.
She opened her eyes rather quickly, rather then drowsy like normal people. She also made no attempt to go back to sleep. Instead she turned to look at him, confusion and surprise in her eyes.
"You're up," he commented, not looking at her. Beast Boy was still in shock. This was all so wrong.
Raven was hesitant to his reaction. "Yes . . .?" It sounded like a question. He then felt her hand on his shoulder and forced himself to turn his head to look at her. "Are you . . . alright?"
Beast Boy looked at her for a couple seconds before stuttering out, "Y-You know, I-I don't think I am."
He fell into her arms sobbing.
Robin was back in the main room, still traumatized at what had just happened.
"Rob, man, you gotta know that it was a shock to him, too. You can't just expect him to be all fine and dandy with this." Cyborg said, in an attempt to comfort him. Starfire was next to him at the moment, her hand on his shoulder.
Robin was hurt and confused. "But . . . he almost attacked me. Beast Boy . . . that's not him."
It was Starfire's turn to talk. "Please, you must understand that friend Beast Boy has changed. He must be very frightened at this time."
"Star's right. And besides, you said he was trying to protect Raven from you, right? In Beast Boy's current state of mind, he was afraid you'd hurt you. He wasn't mad at you. Just mad at the decision."
"But why would he think that I would hurt Raven?" Robin demanded, looking at them both. "She's like a sister to me, I could never hurt her!"
Cyborg shrugged. "Beast Boy's on edge right now Robin. He probably feels really confused. Like he's the only thing left to protect Raven." The robotic man sighed, rubbing his head as he sat down. "Man, I can't believe he's that serious about her . . . I mean, I just never saw that coming that hard or that fast."
"Friend Beast Boy's emotions tend to be very . . . sudden, friend. Please do not feel unnerved or unsure about them."
Both boys look at her. A few hours ago, Starfire had been a complete wreck. And now she was so calm . . . it just didn't make sense. She noticed the looks they were giving her. "Please, I have done something wrong?"
"No, it's just . . . how do you do it Star?" Robin asked.
"Do what, Robin?"
"Be so . . . positive. How can you be so sure everything is going to be okay?"
Starfire seemed thoughtful for a moment before smiling. "I have confidence in our friends. All of our friends."
Raven was disturbed. "Beast Boy, what happened?"
"Robin . . . Starfire . . . Cyborg th-they-," but he hadn't got out much more, for he was sobbing to hard for Raven to understand. Her worst fears jumped into her head, taunting her with the possibility of them actually happening.
"Are they alright?" She demanded after a second or two.
He looked up at her, his tear-stained face scaring her a little. "They're fine. We just aren't a team anymore."
She didn't understand. "What?"
"Raven, it's over. They can't help us anymore. They're bad guys."
Her jaw dropped. There was . . . no way. No, this was not . . . It was just some horrible dream! Yeah, that was it.
It took her two seconds to compose herself as reality hit. Her hands balled up into fists and she swallowed hard.
"Fine."
Beast Boy saw through her facade. "No, not fine. You're just as mad and hurt as I am, huh?" Raven looked away. He stopped crying, sighing as he leaned against the wall. "Yeah, I figured as much."
"She's done it . . ." Raven breathed, staring at nothing like Beast Boy had moments ago. Beast Boy looked at her, worried and confused. "She's broken the Titans . . . she didn't even have to fight us more then once . . ."
From down the hallway, hiding in the roof's plains, the teenagers all flinched as they hear a large shriek of anguish coming from the captured and only remaining Titans. It went on for a moment longer then it should have before cutting off abruptly, as if the source had someone's hand covered over its mouth.
Mason sighed, relieved that the screaming had stopped but still worried that it had started in the first place.
"They're in pain." Whitefire commented sadly, flinching randomly before shaking off the feeling.
With a sad expression, Mason placed his hand on her shoulder before realizing something. He looked around, looking for an absent party. "Where's Lucy?"
They all looked around, realizing their blond and mysterious friend was not there. Deep in his stomach, Hex knew something within his friend who he (pretended to) dislike was doing something she should not be. Deep down he knew she was watching and waiting, like she always did.
Unfortunately, that feeling was so far down he couldn't feel it. It was just that numb spot inside of him right now.
Watching from the shadows, she did not move so much as a muscle.
The black haired child waited with as much patience as anyone could have, simply to happy to be in the presence of the man to care that he was taking forever and a day to decide what he wanted from her, his lovely servant. After pausing a moment, he smiled, hidden in shadow still, before turning to the girl sitting at his feet.
"You've done well, apprentice. I'm very proud of you."
"I live to please, Master." Ella replied, beaming at the compliment.
He ruffled her hair. "And what a good job you do at it." At the affectionate action, his smile faltered. Ella's copied his as well, evaporating. He stood then, his hands folded behind his back as he paced the room, Ella standing as well but remaining immobile as she watched him move.
"Is something bothering you, Master?" She asked eventually and respectfully.
He turned to look at her, suddenly enraged at Ella. She forced herself not to move, watching him approach the surprised Ella rapidly. Faster then she could've avoided, he backhanded her and she hit the floor, unconscious. From the shadows her teeth gritted and she gripped the wall, still forcing herself not to attack. Her grip on the wall was so harsh that it was leaving indents inside of it, her alien strength coming alive within her. But the logic within her forced that anger down, knowing it was the downfall of so many smart and strong people. She left the room silently and unnoticed as he knelt next to her, watching the sleeping child. He then stood, leaving her there.
He about to leave, at least. That is, until he smelled the indents of something along the wall (Me: Yes, smelled! Hint!). The self-proclaimed and dominating Master turned away from the door and towards the indented walls, his pupils nearly dilating at the intoxicating scent.
A low cackle filled the room, along with a few eerily spoke words spoken just before Ella, or Number One, began to stir.
"I found you . . .!"
The door slammed open and Beast Boy was in front of Raven at once, growling. But then he realized something, which made him panic on the inside.
He could not change. He should have never been allowed to change in the first place. That was how he was supposed to have escaped! Raven could have healed him and they could have been out of there and-!
"Stand down, half-breed," The voice growled at him. The name stung but Raven, pressed against the wall as Beast Boy allowed her no room to move, for her own safety, could not help but stare at the figure. Once again that feeling of longing and pity washed through her. The figure took notice of Raven's expression. "What are you looking at me like that for?" She snapped. Raven said nothing. "Get up! Both of you!"
"What?" Raven said, snapping out of it. But she complied after a second or two. Beast Boy still stayed in front of her, watching Ella with patience of something waiting for it's opportunity to pounce.
"I said get up!" Ella repeated, hissing at them.
Raven looked at Beast Boy expectantly. After a reluctant snort at Ella he stood, his body angled towards Raven nonetheless. Raven had an eerily familiar feeling about this before she had a bit of a flashback.
Suddenly Beast Boy's elfin like ear perked up and he growled. Instantly and without explanation he was at Raven's side in wolf form. His back was arched and Raven placed her hand on his back to try and calm him down. He morphed back into human form, still crouching with an aggressive look on his face.
Soon three shadowy figures stepped through the door and Raven recognized all of them. "Beast Boy, you can't take them all." She whispered in his ear.
He tensed once more. "Watch me." He was about to morph again when Raven gripped his arm tightly, he watched her with intense eyes.
"Ooh, what did we miss?" Blackfire cackled.
Both Titans turned their attention away from each other back to the three. Beast Boy was still growling and the only thing that kept him from turning into the Beast was Raven's firm grip on his arm and the intense fear of hurting her.
"We've been sent here to take you to your friends." Tetra informed them. "So if you plan on arriving awake you'd be smart to listen to your little girlfriend."
Raven glared at her with eyes that seemed so filled with hate had the phrase 'if looks could kill' been a literal phrase, the three surely would be lying dead on the floor. "What have you done with them?"
"We didn't do anything." Slade spoke now, "Ella did."
"Or at least her body did." Tetra added, "Now are you going to come quietly or is this going to get difficult for you two?" Raven let go of Beast Boy and automatically he began to growl once more, about to turn into another animal.
"Knock it off!" Raven hissed. "They've got you outnumbered and overpowered." She stood up and after giving them a warning look, almost completely in tune with his inner animal now, he stood up as well.
Raven walked behind Beast Boy as he stepped in front of her before she could reach the three, "If you so much as look at her funny you'll regret it." He threatened.
Raven's eyebrow rose at him as Tetra led them down the hallway, Blackfire and Slade walked behind them. "Was that really necessary?" She whispered.
"Yes." He responded, his eyes were darting predatorily from Tetra, to Blackfire, to Slade and back repeatedly as if he intended to keep his promise.
She placed her hand on his shoulder so she could regain his attention. "Look, they can't hurt us Beast Boy."
"Maybe not you but they can hurt me, I'm not Ella's parent. But the more important thing is that you're wrong, they can hurt you. They just can't kill you." Beast Boy continued his role as clueless as to Ella's father really was.
Raven's hand quickly fell to her side, deep in thought as they continued walking before Tetra stood aside and told them to keep walking. Beast Boy glared severely at her as he stood between her and Raven For some reason his animal instincts seemed very . . . aggressive.
As soon as they were in the room Beast Boy's eyes darted from side to side, registering the three people in the room, all of them looking a bit groggy but still awake. Ella stepped forward and Beast Boy crouched down, baring his teeth at her. He turned into a wolf, feeling better if he was ready for attack.
"Is that any way to treat me?" Ella's body frowned, pretending to be hurt.
"You aren't Ella." Raven responded, standing next to him with her hand on his head.
Trigon laughed, "True, true, but technically I am the manifestation of her."
"Technically you're my father, but that doesn't mean I have any emotional attachments to you," Raven responded coldly.
Ella's two blue eyes turned into four red ones. "Ouch, now that almost hurt."
Raven shook the imagery off, those four eyes bad memories upon her mind. Instead, in replacement of that cold, pure evil expression with four red eyes, she got an irritated one that had the same face with two, purple eyes that were replicas of her own that were in front of her right now. Those eyes were also focused on her now as well, one brow raised like Raven did so many times herself.
"Are you alright?" She asked harshly and uncaring. Raven nodded, eyes trained on Ella with that same look of remorse in her eyes. "Very well, follow me."
Once again they felt hand-cuffs materialize on their wrists. Beast Boy's eyes widened but before he could react to them Ella smirked, a hand on her hip. He growled. She feigned an innocent and surprised expression. "What? You didn't think I would let you run free, did you?" Neither responded.
Something else did.
"Hee hee hee."
All of their eyes widened. Ella whirled around, glaring daggers at the intruder. They all three froze.
"Who in the-?" Ella began, confused and thinking out loud.
An alarm went off, just like the one in the Tower, the two remaining Titan's noted. Ella's jaw dropped, turning to glare at them. "Did you do this!?" They shook their heads, just as confused as her. She seemed to believe them and became afraid. Raven had the urge to comfort her, but knew that would not be a good idea in their current situation. But her reaction reminded Raven more of what old Ella would do. Panic. Be afraid.
Raven's eyes scrunched in concentration. What if-?
Whitefire watched Mason, grinning ear to ear. All this careful planning, skill, trickery, came down to this one moment.
Just to fuck with the bad guys.
Although Hex, the King of Screwing Around, was ruining the moment for her. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed seriously as he thought of the one person who was still missing from the group. Then the door opened. He jumped from his slouching position.
"There you are!" Whitefire hissed quietly, shutting the door behind her companion carefully. "We were worrying about you."
"Yeah," Mason agreed, sparing a glance over his shoulder from the computer. "Where'd you go?"
"Scouting," Lucy replied simply, placing a hand next to the monitor as she leaned towards the computer next to Mason, overlooking his work. She smirked, ignoring Hex's suspicious glare she felt on her. "How close are you to being done?"
"Just about . . ." He hit three more buttons, which made melodic beeping noises. "Now."
"Yes!" Whitefire whispered, jumping up into the air. She then shared excited grins with her friends, "Alright, who wants to do the honors?"
It was quiet before Hex's hand shot up. "I'd like to have a few words with our lovely enemies and currently crackers teammate."
Whitefire grinned and handed the microphone to him before Mason motioned for him to stand away from the computer while he clicked a few more buttons. As far as Whitefire and Mason heard (for Whitefire was next to Mason as Lucy had wondered to the middle of the room, sitting the wrong way on a chair) they hadn't done anything. She made no motion as Hex passed her to insinuate fear, but inside, her heart was racing.
For he hadn't remained silent upon passing her. Oh no, what he'd said made her skin crawl and if she could get any paler, she would have.
"I know what you did."
"Come on, get out!" She snapped, pushing them out of the room and looking around the hallways. The alarm was still running and Beast Boy could hear Ella's heart beat beginning to pick up. He could hear it even over the nearly deafening alarm. Raven noticed his discomfort and gave him a sympathetic look. That was when the voices started shouting over the intercom that belonged to the alarm.
Apparently, everything had been hacked. Fun.
Beast Boy grinned at the roof at the voice, although Raven had no idea why.
"Hell-OOOO everybody!" The voice shouted, tauntingly into the speakers. "This is your favorite futuristic heroes speaking at the moment live to you, or lovely villains. The enemies of our current situation and of course our brainwashed teammate, Ella."
"What the hell is going on!?" Ella shrieked, placing her palm on the wall. To Raven and Beast Boy's surprise, it glowed around the print before a computer in the wall popped out. Ella began clicking buttons, trying to figure out what was going on before they saw a camera pop out from behind the computer, making them all jump and Ella shout in surprise.
"That's right, you're system has been hacked!" The male voice continued, and the camera wiggled in Ella's face before it sucked back into the wall, along with the rest of the equipment that she'd pulled out. She slammed her fists against the wall in frustration.
"What's going on!?" She shouted into the air.
"Aw, little Ella is getting frustrated?" A new voice piped in. Ella's expression changed to surprise as she stood up straight and turned, looking up. The voice began again, sounding excited at something. "Hey, look what we can do!" The lights were still blinking red and then, much to the girl's annoyance, began flashing all sorts of colors. Like some sort of club. "Isn't that cool, Ella? I think we should put on some music, what do you think guys?"
"There's no music on the system." They just barely heard in the background.
"Well then what are we supposed to do?" A new female voice asked, also quiet.
"I'll download something. Hold on. What about . . . ?" There was a pause, more muttering before his voice trailed back in. ". . . alright, go." The male voice suggested.
A second female voice shot in. "Alright, we're going to sing, since you, lovely Ella, who has taken it upon herself to steal from my planet, I'll repay you. And don't worry, Whitefire and I sing much better then average. And you'll like the song." There was a muttering before some type of music began, cutting off into the middle as they skipped ahead.
"Here we go!" A new female voice laughed, absolutely roaring.
They were having fun.
"Hold your breath and you will see, in the end you'll have to breathe! But we keep running faster! Fast, we forget reality! If you fall you're gonna bleed! There is no happy ever after!"
They weren't awful. That didn't mean they were exactly good either. Acceptable was the word and they were laughing through out the song, some male voices shouting the lyrics in the background as well.
"It doesn't matter if I, have faith to move a mountain! Drink the ocean dry! Baby, I could never save myself! It doesn't matter if I, can reach into the deepest corners of my mind! Baby, I could never save, myself!"
They finally had to stop, for they were laughing to hard and the music cut. The colors were still flashing oddly. Much to Raven and Beast Boy's amusement, Ella, although they did love her, was having an absolute fit, trying anything to get the system back online and away from whoever the hell was controlling. Then Beast Boy and Raven both looked at each other.
"Whitefire?" Raven said first, brow rising. "You don't think-?"
"No way, right?"
"But what if-?"
"If Robin and Starfire-?"
They looked at Ella and then grinned. Oh yeah.
Ella had 'cousins'. Courtesy of Robin and Starfire and guests of the future. Yes! So they weren't the only ones now! They both began trying to hold in laughter, partially at Ella, partially at the new revelation, and partially at the catastrophe their successors were causing.
Finally, that background male voice, not the fist, began talking.
"This is Ace everybody, talking to you over Bad Guy Station on radio number . . ."
"13.A.D!" The girl called Whitefire cut in before they all bust out laughing again. (Me: For those of you who don't get it, 13 looks like a B, so, add 'A.D' . . . now you got it!)
"Alright Ella, since we can see you," The second female voice said, tauntingly as a camera from the wall zoomed in on her face. "Tell your Master, although I'm sure he already knows what we're doing, to meet us in the Auditorium Room. That's where he can get what he wants, and we get what we want, got it? Good. Ten minutes Ella. And if you're not there, will all of the Titans, by the way. Including Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. All of them need to be there or he gets zip. Got it?" Ella growled, her hands balled up at her sides and her nails digging into her palm, but she nodded reluctantly, glaring hatefully at the camera. "Good. You can have your system back . . . for now!"
Then the transmission cut, the lights turned off and the security turned back on. But as Ella checked, it was still on pause. Everything seemed to be holding its breath in the place until the good guys had their demands met. With a hiss she turned her eyes to the Titans, taking a deep breath to calm herself before saying very slowly.
"Come . . . with . . . me."
And they did.
I stole the lyrics. Again. I think that ending part was my favorite thing to write ever in this whole story. I love when people do stuff like that. Ah, hostile takeovers. They never get old and never will.
The song was called 'Save Myself' by 'Zoegirls' and it was included simply because it was funny for them to sing this really random pop song and download music onto a security system they now have under control. The next chapter should be REALLY long, so enjoy that!