"Red Star? Private Hive? It is late. What are you doing here?" Robin asked as he and the Titans approached them, apparently all half-asleep.
"We bring Red X. And dire tidings."
"Dire tidings? Of what kind?"
"I confronted Chang, but before I could get anything important, he went like that" Private Hive said and dropped the drooling man.
"Raven, can you try to read his mind? You may find something."
"I'll try" she said and placed her hand on Chang's head, but then Private Hive unnadvertantly touched her and they saw something.
"You should have known the boy would seek revenge. It is only logical, considering his past."
"Forgive me for my failure, sir. It shall not happen again."
"It happens as we speak. The boy and the young witch who brought once the end of days are watching us right now."
"Then we should teach them what happens to undesired visitors." he said and through the hood, they saw a pair of red shining eyes...
And they were both knocked back greatly from the mesmerized Chang. Raven got up with the help of Beast Boy, dizzy.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Private Hive touched him when I started and we saw something. There were two of them... talking about him... then they sensed us... they knew what I did... me and... Trigon. And we were kicked out."
"Uh... guys? He's not waking up" Beast Boy said, poking Private Hive.
"I think he is mindlocked. They could not do that with me since I am protected, but he was vulnerable."
"So, what do we do?"
"He needs to go through the maze of his mind and face his demons."
"Kinda like how you did when that red you decided to go free in there..."
"We can't do the same as you two did for there is no outward gate to his mind like my mirror. He has to face that all by himself."
And they looked at the unconscious man, wondering what kind of devils were hidden in there.
"Why can't you be more like your brother? Why must you cause so much trouble?"
"He's not even my real brother! He cam from space, I know that!"
"Well, sometimes it feels like he's the only son we've ever wanted!"
That hurt him more than any spanking or beating ever had. It was that moment that became inprinted in his mind forever.
Back then he decided that if he could never be the best and surpass his brother... he would be the worst.
His father tried to apologize, but it was too late. The damage was done. That night was when he left the house never to return.
"Why?" the grown-up Private Hive asked "Why do you show me this?"
A darker version of him smiled. And hugged him from behind.
"Because you fool yourself. You can't be a hero. Your brother? The one that took your parents away from you? He is a hero. You can never be better than he was. So, why try?"
"Because I do not need to be a bad guy anymore. I have the cash to sustain myself without resorting to it."
The darker him laughed.
"Cash? It was never about the cash! It was about giving them all the middle finger! About making them suffer with the thought that they made you that monster! That if only they had treated you better... you wouldn't be that way. But they never really cared, did they? And why should they, either way? They already had him. The perfect son. You? You were nothing more than a burden they were forced to carry."
"STOP IT! SHUT UP!"
"You can't not hear me. I am you. The true you that you hide with those lies of having changed. We are still as evil as we ever were, kid. Don't fool yourself."
"No. I can be more than this."
"Can you?" he asked and then everything changed. They were in a graveyard and he saw his grown self from back then look at a grave.
"My grave."
"Your parents prefered to bury you than to believe you were alive. They did that to spare themselves from the shame of having a devil as a son."
"It had nothing but my name written..."
"Yes. Only because they had nothing nice to say about you. 'Beloved Son'? Oh, no, they hated you. You constantly spat at their memories by doing what you did."
"..."
"You were and always will be nothing! There is no path for you except evil! You saw what happened the one time you tried to be more. You suffered more than ever!"
"..."
"It seems like he is suffering."
"It's his demon. It is too strong. Do you have any idea how powerful your dark side will be if you feed him for years and years? This is the first time since he was a kid that he tries to be more."
"You know a lot."
"I have been watching for longer than he knows."
"What if he is defeated?"
"He will die or his darker self will become the dominant self. He will be evil again and this time, forever."
"We can't do anything."
"I can try to go in... but it is risky."
"How risky?"
"Cyborg and Beast Boy know. If he loses the battle... I'll be trapped in there."
"You can't go!"
She looked at him. It looked like he was suffering.
"He must win" she said and tried to ease the pain, but when she touched him, she saw things and felt the pain... she saw flashes of his memories.
"Raven!"
"I... see..." she said "it's so..."
And then she took her astral form and went in him before anyone could stop her.
"The Hive academy." he said and instantly, they were there "The first place were you felt you were more than a disgrace. Where you achieved something. And then heroes came along and destroyed it."
"STOP MESSING WITH MY HEAD!"
"Messing? I'm only showing you the truth you chose to forget. Heroes took everything away from you and you think you can join them?"
"I can be better. Why must you stand in my path?"
"Because that is not your path. You will always be nothing! Stop fooling yourself to think you can be more!"
"He can" a voice said and Raven appeared.
"What do you know, girl? You are more already! It is so easy for those at higher ground to question why we are so low!"
"Higher ground? I started from lower than you ever did" she said and the background of the destruction of the Hive academy was replaced by something far worse... the Privates saw a third version of him petrified in the middle of a martial arts practice.
"Ever since I was born, I was meant to cause this" she said and zoomed out to the destroyed Earth "I dared to want more. And I got more."
Then she slapped the normal Private Hive to his shock.
"So cut it out with the self-pity. The only one nagging you behind now is yourself."
"I never knew..."
But then the darker him pushed Raven away.
"She lies to you! Your family pushed you away! You have no friends! Face it... all you have is me! All I ever had was me!"
But then the normal punched the dark one.
"I am tired of you!"
He punched the darker self again.
"I don't need a family, I can sustain myself now!"
He kicked him.
"I have friends that saved me without asking for anything in return!"
The dark self fell on the floor and the background changed to Kerveria Palace.
"I am not you! Not anymore!"
And he gave a last punch on the dark self, that seemed to swallow him whole to a place where all that surrounded him was red. He saw a kid there... a crying child.
"No... stay away... you hate me."
And then he got it. That child was him too. He smiled calmly to the kid.
"Why don't you go see my brother? He is the one everybody likes! I am nothing but a burden!"
He got closer and the kid hid his face, afraid he'd be hitten.
But nothing ever happened because he was pulled away by something...
"So?"
"I did what I could. It is up to him now."
And then he woke up, peaceful.
"Are you okay?"
"Better than ever... but still..." he said.
"So, who's that brother of yours?"
"Oh. You probably know him as Purge."
"WHAAT? The legendary Purge is your brother?"
"You make much more sense now."
"This Purge fellow... he is important?" Shade asked.
"He is just one of the greatest heroes ever. He doesn't act much here for he deals with galactical menaces."
"Even in Tamaran we have heard of him."
"Try being a mere human with that guy as your brother. I tell you, I should be way more messed up."
"Whoa."
"Last time I saw him was a little bit after the whole Army Brats confusion. He used his status to get me out of prison and then scolded me big time."
"How long are you going to act like this, brother?"
"What else did you expect?" Private Hive said "I don't have anywhere else to go. My family buried me and my friends rejected me. This thing... it is all I have left."
Purge kicked his brother's face.
"Is that it? What happened to the boy I always fought? The one that promised that one day he'd surpass me and be praised?"
"He grew up. He finally saw he was chasing the impossible. And he gave up doing so."
Purge kicked him again, now with strength enough to make him fall.
"Give me twenty, soldier! I can't believe all the bullcrap I am hearing!"
"I won't."
"What?"
"I am not going to listen to you."
"You are already a bunch of crap! Obeying your masters is the least you could do." he said and placed his feet on his brother's chest.
Then Private Hive suddenly got up and punched Purge.
"Don't you dare tell me what to do! I'll kick your ass!"
Purge merely turned back to his brother and laughed.
"There's my fighting bro! I knew you still had all that boltzy energy in you! Now use it!" he said and threw a bag to him before leaving.
Private Hive opened the bag. It was filled with cash, enough for him to start a new path in his life.
"So that is how it started. Hive Corps."
"I don't get it. If Purge is so powerful, why didn't he resist Trigon?"
"You saw that?"
"'The gem was made of evil's fire. The gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal'. Mortal. I am not mortal, so I wasn't affected. Neither was my prison, though, so all I could do was watch."
"He wasn't here at Earth, actually. He was in Invallia, stopping a war."
"Oh. You decided what you'll do?"
"To stop the Brotherhood, I shall become a hero. After that... we'll see..."
"What do you know about their plans?"
"They have gathered villains again. And they're dividing the Titans again, but I think their reason is different."
"They are borsht'lag!" Starfire said.
"They're... a what now?"
"Borsht'lag. It is when you use a big show to illude people while you do your real plot behind their backs."
"Girl, you could have explained it from the beginning."
"Exactly. Chang was one of the bosses, it seems. Not only his plot was big, he was mindwiped when we caught him, which means he knew a lot. But who could the other bosses be?"
"General Immortus, most likely. And Madame Rouge too. She's a slippery one."
"Don't you worry, we won't lose."
"Why?"
"Because this time, I'm on your side" Private Hive said and smiled "and they won't see what hit 'em."
But then he felt a dark omen. Something that took the cheerfulness away.
In his reflection at the window, he watched...
His dark one smiled devilishly and he knew he'd have to face him again before it was done.