A loud clunk echoed in the huge dark room, followed by the sound of a massive metal door opening. It was a vault door and it creaked and moaned as it slowly opened, emitting a hissing sound as its air tight seal was broken.

Two men entered the vault, which was the size of a football field. It was dark and bone chillingly cold inside and their breath condensed as they exhaled. A hand reached for a large lever and pulled on it. Bank after bank of overhead lights powered up, lighting up the cavernous room and its contents: over one hundred cryonic chamber tubes, which were all completely frosted over and opaque.

Slade approached one of the tubes, which was tall and wide enough to accommodate a well sized human being. He rubbed his hand over the tube, scraping away the frost on it and revealing a tag: "Sample 124". He reached higher and rubbed away even more frost, this time revealing the face of a young woman … a woman with violet hair.

"This one was the backup candidate, correct, Wilson?" Wintergreen asked.

"Yes, had the first clone not decanted successfully or had the memory download failed, this clone would have been our spy."

Slade punched a few buttons and the chamber made a loud hissing sound as it began to defrost. As they watched the clone began to shrivel up and desiccate, until it looked like a mummy.

"I know it was still an empty shell, Wilson. Nevertheless, watching it die was … unnerving."

"I understand, Wintergreen," Slade replied as he punched more codes. Several dozen more tubes powered down, their occupants suffering the same final fate as the clone they watched perish. "To the untrained eye she looks like an innocent teenager, but I assure you they are nothing more than surplus tools. We have no further need for these clones. There is no reason to preserve them."

Wintergreen walked to the far end of room, where a single tube remained frozen. He wiped the area where the face was clear, and it also revealed a violet haired girl, who remained in perfect cryogenic freeze. Her face looked serene as she slept in her frosty bed, dangling in the delicate balance between life and death.

"What about her, Wilson? Is there any reason to keep her alive?"

Slade crossed his arms behind his back as he quietly approached. He stopped in front of the tube and wiped the frozen condensation away from the tag. This one read: "Raven"

"Yes, there is a good reason to keep her. The Titans already know that the girl they thought to be Raven is a clone. They are no doubt wondering where Raven is and will stop at nothing to recover her. She is valuable, Wintergreen, a bargaining chip."

"Do you have a bargain in mind?"

"You know that I do."

"Will they accept it?"

"They have no choice, if they refuse, she will die."

-( scene break )-

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg were already seated on the crescent shaped couch when the sliding doors opened, revealing Beast Boy and Rachel's figures. The clone was wearing a blank poker face worthy of the original while her boyfriend looked mildly uneasy. Robin immediately noticed and focused on the changeling, using the detective techniques he had learned from his old mentor, the Batman. It didn't require much skill to decipher the changeling's mood: he was feeling guilty. Robin looked more closely and frowned when he confirmed his suspicions.

They did it, they actually did it. So it was true, the clone lacked Raven's inhibitions. Beast Boy, however, looked as guilty as Control Freak at a video rental store.

"Sorry we're late, we overslept." Rachel droned in a monotone that was eerily reminiscent of Raven.

"You're fine, they haven't arrived yet."

As Robin was speaking two teleportation cylinders began to sparkle in the air. As they coalesced two green figures began to materialize. One was the Martian Manhunter, his companion was a green teenager with red hair, who smiled nervously once the teleportation process completed.

J'onn wasted no time an introduced his companion.

"I would like to introduce M'Gann M'orzz. She is a fellow Martian and I brought her to help us explore Miss Rachel's mind for clues regarding Miss Raven."

M'Gann waved shyly at the Titans. "If you prefer, you can call me Meagan."

"M'Gann has just arrived on Earth. She is a powerful telepath, more powerful than I am. We are hoping that she will be more effective than I could be working with Miss Rachel.

Beast Boy walked up to the young Martian and shook her hand. "Cool, you're a teen! We green teens need to stick together!"

"Actually, M'Gann is almost fifty of your Earth years old."

The girl blushed. "Uncle J'onn is right, however, I am an adolescent by Martian standards … wow … so you guys are the Teen Titans. You guys are famous even on Mars."

"Technically, I'm not a Titan, though I am a clone of one." Rachel interjected.

Robin glanced at her. "Rachel, we've been over this already, you are one of us. You are a Teen Titan."

As Robin spoke, the giant TV came to life, as it was receiving an incoming call. A collective gasp was heard when they saw what looked like Raven's face, frozen inside a cryonics tube.

"Hello, Titans. I have something that belongs to you." Slade's smooth monotone greeted them.

"Slade! If you've done anything to Raven …"

The one eyed villain stepped into the camera. As always, his figure looked menacing and imposing. His body language suggested that he was feeling amused, no doubt he was enjoying tormenting Robin and his team.

"Relax, Robin, Raven is as safe as if she was in her mother's arms, though she is a bit cold right now. I reassure you, she is unharmed, and she will remain that way if you cooperate with me …"

Slade leaned into the camera.

"Oh, I see you have adopted my little creation as if she was one of your teammates, what do you call her? Raven Junior, perhaps?"

"My name is Rachel." The clone growled in Raven's monotone. Slade chuckled as he replied.

"Well, well, you have your own name now, how individualistic of you. I suppose that with time you'll be able to establish yourself as someone distinct from Raven. Be your own woman and all that."

"What do you want Slade?" Robin shouted as he gestured threateningly at the screen.

"What do I want? I want you to stay out if my way, Robin. If you do not interfere with me and my plans during the next three months, I will return Raven to you unharmed."

Robin crossed his arms.

"You're asking for a lot, Slade. And how do I know I can trust you to return her to us as promised?"

Slade chuckled.

"You don't know, but you'll have to trust me anyway."

"And why is that?"

Slade gestured at a console in front of Raven's tube. Several lights on it flashed menacingly, as if warning Robin that Slade meant business.

"Do you see this orange colored button, Robin? The one that's flashing? If I press this button, Raven's tube will go enter a rapid thaw cycle. What that means is that she'll warm from nearly absolute zero to room temperature in less than a minute."

"No!" Cyborg moaned. "If you do that, she'll die!"

"That is correct Cyborg. She'll suffer massive cellular degeneration and would be dead within twenty seconds. Here, let me show you the end results. In case you're wondering, this one was a clone."

The camera panned to one of the tubes containing the remains of one of the clones. The Titans remained silent as they stared at the remains of a nameless clone, which in spite of its corrupted state, still bore some resemblance to Raven. Only Rachel reacted, whispering to herself: "he killed all the clones".

"As you can see, Robin, I hold all the cards."

"Damn you, Slade!" Robin hissed between clenched teeth.

"If you harm my friend, I will not desist until I exact my revenge against you, Slade. And we Tamaranians, we do not forget!"

"Then all you have to do princess, is to obey me. If you do I will return Raven to you, unharmed … so Robin … do we have a deal?"

"What exactly are we supposed to turn a blind eye to, Slade?"

"I am going to steal some things, some very valuable things that I will be able to resell for a tidy profit. If you are worried that I am going to conquer your fair city, I am uninterested in that at this. With my profits I will be able to purchase my own kingdom, one where we won't have to butt heads with each other anymore."

Slade walked back to Raven's tube, and placed his finger on the orange button.

"This is your last chance to accept my offer, Robin. You have 10 seconds to make up your mind."

Robin exhaled a sigh of defeat.

"You win, Slade."

"Very good, Robin, you can be reasoned with. We will be in touch. But Robin, a warning: unlike the time with the nanoprobes there will be no second chances. Disobey me, even a single time, and Raven will die. Have I made myself clear?"

Robin dropped his head.

"Please don't hurt her; we'll stay out of your way."

"Excellent, that is what I want to hear. Good bye, Robin. We will speak again, and soon."

As soon as the screen went blank Robin turned to his team.

"OK, that bought us some time! We have to figure out where Slade is keeping her. Rachel! M'Gann! You need to get to work right away."

"We're ready to start right now. M'Gann, come with me to Raven's room."

"Do you have a plan, Rachel?"

"Yes, I do. We're going to a place Raven calls 'Nevermore'. I think we can find the answer there, but I'll need your help."

The pair quickly departed.

"So what do we do now?" Cyborg asked.

"We investigate, our way. I'm sure Slade covered his tracks on the call, but go ahead and see what you can do with it."

"I'm on it."

"Starfire, Beast Boy, J'onn, we need to patrol the city. That cryonics lab needs a lot of power; let's see if we can find any clues out there on where Slade is getting all that energy."

"I am ready." The Martian announced.

"Good." Robin replied. "Titans, Go!"

-( scene break )-

Rachel placed her palm on the reader next to Raven's door, and it accepted her biometric as a match for the Azarathian. She and M'Gann entered the room and the door slid shut behind them. Rachel walked around the room, as if looking for some that was missing.

"Rachel, I can tell you're not comfortable in here."

"It's that obvious, huh? Just two nights ago I thought I was Raven and this was my room. Now that I know better, I can't sleep in it anymore, in fact, last night I slept with Beast Boy."

M'Gann blushed upon hearing Rachel's confession.

"Uh, Rachel, I'm not really well versed in … uh … speaking in North American colloquialisms … I mean … I did prepare back on Mars by watching TV shows … uh … anyway … I just don't want there to be any misunderstandings and …"

Rachel locked eyes with the Martian.

"I had intercourse with him. We also slumbered afterwards."

Now M'Gann really was blushing. "Oh … uh … I see."

"Forgive me for the Too Much Information moment, but if you're coming into Nevermore with me, you would have found this out anyway. Better that you learn this now from me than from one of my emoticlones. Also, as a favor to me, please don't tell the others."

"Sure, your secret's safe with me … wow … you guys … had sex." She gulped. "Sorry … it's just that on Mars we wait until we've picked our mate … I'm not judging you or anything."

"Actually, it's not that uncommon for humans to wait, and in a way I have chosen my mate. But I digress. Please sit down and I will explain."

M'Gann pulled up a chair and took a seat.

"Nevermore is a mental construct, where my mind and the elements that compose it are represented in anthropomorphic symbols. My emotions and other components of my mind appear as copies of me, the only difference being the color of their clothes. I refer to them as emoticlones, or at least that's what Raven calls them. You can interact with them, though the feedback you get back from them will be restricted by who they are. So if you talk with my Lust emoticlone, she probably won't stop yammering about how I experienced intercourse last night. But if you ask her about the anger I feel towards Slade, she'll probably just shrug her shoulders and switch the conversation back to orgasms."

"Ok, that's good to know." M'Gann squeaked. "I'll … uh … avoid having conversations with her."

"That shouldn't be a problem. The emoticlone we're interested in covers my memories and how I interpret them. Raven calls her Knowledge. She wears a yellow cape and for some odd reason wears eyeglasses. Once we find her that's where you can help. There's a good chance that I subconsciously absorbed information while I was growing in vitro that might help us find Slade's lair. Since my mind was in a chaotic state at that time I cannot locate this information, but being that you are a talented telepath and mind reader I'm hoping that you will be successful where I have failed."

The Martian nodded.

"I understand now why you shared your intimacy with me. I will be careful to not invade your memories or privacy where it can be avoided."

"Thank you, M'Gann, though most of those memories will be Raven's and not mine."

The green girl nodded her understanding. "It must be difficult, Rachel, dealing with all those memories that are not yours."

"Actually, it's not that hard. Raven has to suppress her emotions to control her powers. The truth is, her life has been pretty boring, at least on a personal level. Most of her memories involve studying or fighting villains. I actually feel sorry for her … and … I feel a little guilty about stealing Beast Boy from her."

"I didn't know they were a couple."

"They aren't and they never were. Not that she didn't want him … she just couldn't. One of the reasons I slept with Gar last night was because she desired him for a long time. I inherited that pent up desire from her."

"So you had a roll in the hay with Beast Boy because it was Raven's unfulfilled fantasy?"

"Actually that is incorrect, I slept with him because I, myself, love and desire him. Oh, and good job using Earth slang. Starfire's been here for years and you're already way ahead of her."

"She's a Tamaranian, right? I've never met one before. Are they all like that? You know, slow to learn alien languages?"

"No, not at all. Raven met her sister, Blackfire. She's completely different. Very hip and knows the lingo. She could pass for a North American."

"Learn something new every day, I guess. So … how do we get to this Nevermore place?"

"I have a meditation mirror I use, or should I say: Raven has a meditation mirror."

"I've never heard of anything like that, how does it work?"

Rachel walked over to the desk, from where she retrieved the mirror.

"It's very simple; all you have to do is look into the mirror." Rachel said as she handed the magical looking glass to M'Gann, who immediately stared into it.

"One word of warning, the ride into Nevermore can be a bit bumpy."

That was when the black claw emerged from the mirror and grabbed the Martian around her torso. She looked mortified and before she could scream it dragged her in, both her and claw vanishing into the mirror's rippling surface.

"I never get tired of seeing that happen." Rachel smiled as she picked up the mirror, beginning her own journey into Nevermore.

-( scene break )-

I hope I didn't bore you with the "girl talk" between Rachel and M'Gann.

Also, after Jan 1st I go back to work, so the updates won't be daily anymore.

And now, it's mail bag time:

Anoymous136

I knew she got out way to easily.

Yup. Slade allowed the clone to escape, thinking she was Raven. Ain't he a stinker

Rosalind du Coudray

Whaaaaat? Oh nuggets...please tell me this is all going to get sorted out! Raven has to be with BB...wahhh! It's like he doesn't even care about the real Raven anymore! Author needs to fix this, pretty pweeease!

Oh and good job, by the way! Love the story itself!

I wouldn't say that BB doesn't care about the real Raven, he's just been ... distracted. Don't worry, who do you think is going to rescue Raven?

Curse you Perry the Platypus

Hey, I can't sleep so here is a review: Awesome but I expect nothing but the best from you. You deliver every time. I love how ya keep us going with the story. Raven has found herself in such a pickle, dill or gerkin. Sooooo, maybe you could put in a small thing about how she is feeling. Maybe she sees the Clone and flips out. Curses now I'm thinking about bread and butter pickles in grilled cheese! Curse you insomnia!

As you can see, Raven isn't gone yet. So, if they can rescue her from Slade, things are going to get interesting, especially for BB. And for Raven, let us not forget that she said herself that there could be no romantic relationship between them.

titanfan45

Poor Rachael, that would be a terrible thing to not be the real version of the person you know yourself to be. Gar's luck with girls is still holding true, he's won Rachael over but what does he do now? What about the real Raven? Beast Boy is in really deep this time.

As Alfred Pennyworth might say, this could be a sticky wicket!

Red X

Thanks for your answer! But I hope for an happy ending for everybody. Except Slade, of course. He has to die painfully, specially if the original Raven is dead. Maybe they find Slade also cloned BB or something, but that is with you. Im also happy because everybody accept Rachel, its not her fault. PLease continue.

That would be funny if BB was cloned too.

Teslar

Well that will complicate things when raven returns or IF she returns.

Well, Raven did dump BB just before she was kidnapped. It would be payback to return only to find him in bliss with her clone

newnewhearts

I think I going be sick he better not I sear if he do I going scream bloodymarie omg this like Buffy the vampire slayer. When she find out spike made a clone of her but instead he have sex with but in end it was gone and spike and Buffy got together. So love the story just please don't have that thing use raven real name because not the REAL RAVEN are have that thing be in relationship with garfiled that just weird and wrong just have her dead in a battle scene when they find slade or something than have the real raven and beastboy together the end happy ending.

It's a difficult situation. The real Raven already made herself clear in that there can't be a romantic relationship between her and BB. But seeing him with Rachel, will that make her reconsider? (assuming she does get rescued)

New york Mike

Your killing me bro!This is intense,I noticed that i sound like a real idiot when i my words keep getting cut off.

Blame it on the Smart phone.

GreennaveyblueRaven

No beastboy stay from this fraud wait for the real one in the mean time are we going to learn more about Raven

I think Rachel is past being a fraud. She's very open about not being Raven. But ... could it be that BB might be happier with a "Rage free" clone or would he rather have "the real thing"? There is a lot of negativity in the past between BB and Raven.

Hairul The Nightrage Beast

Yes..Finally The Raven Clone Saga, too bad I have weird feeling when original Raven gets out, she'll probably can use 70% of her current powers due to the mass cloning. Though yeah next chappie I don't mind Gar consummating with the clone albeit I do have another weird feeling that later on in the chapters, the clone will prolly help the original get to her 100% abilities at the cost of the Clone's body read a scene from one of a chinese comic called The Celestial Zone that a twin sacrificed her body for her twin so that the latter can continue fighting on.

All are interesting ideas!

gabylokita41

Another great chapter \./ but now im wondering what's ganna happen once they find rae if they do

If they rescue her it's going to be messy, very messy. I can imagine the scene in the infirmary, when Raven wakes up, and the first thing she sees are BB and Rachel holding hands.

FelynxTiger

Bbb-but if Gar is with Rach, then then how will-...?, but, but RAVEN! ;n; poor Rae-Rae v.v

You, know, I actually feel sorry for her too.

FlutterDaisy

Ergh...BB loves the clone...somehow I find that disturbing. I feel bad for Raven, what happens if she comes back and sees the two of them together? Gah, what a heartbreak...

Great chapter, I just found this story and I already love it. I hope you continue your writing. Awesome story! 3

Well, like Robin said, Rachel is a real person in her own right. If BB is happier with her, what can we do about that?

chittychittybangbang16

Honestly, I don't know how you do it. You have the most impressive story lines, like consistently impressive. Ah-mazing.

Thanks! I try to write about things that are unlikely to happen. We all know that in the show they would NEVER allow Slade to clone Raven.