"Auuuugh!" M'Gann shrieked as she was sucked down the dark spiral into what appeared to be a bottomless, dark void. She attempted to use her powers to fly, but they refused to respond to her will, much to her frustration . She continued her toilet bowl like descent into the inner regions of Rachel's mind, bracing herself and hoping for an end to her wild ride into the void. Finally, after what felt a short eternity she landed on her butt in the middle of a meadow.

"Owww! She calls that a 'bumpy ride'? More like a crash landing."

She rose to her feet and wiped some stray grass off of her derrière, trying to look dignified in the process. As she did this, she took in her surroundings.

"Huh, a landscape, I wonder what it represents?" She mumbled to herself as she looked around, searching for the gray Titan, who was nowhere to be found.

"Rachel! Where are you?" She shouted."You didn't send me in here by myself, did you?"

M'Gann almost jumped out of her green screen when she heard a voice behind her: "I'm right here, silly!"

The Martian turned and immediately frowned. It was an emoticlone, and not the yellow one. This one wore a red cape and boots. What color did Rachel say that Lust wore? Oh that's right, she didn't. Hopefully this emoticlone would keep her mouth shut.

The red emoticlone grinned as she approached M'Gann, who braced herself for what might be a sensually detailed play by play description of Rachel and BB doing the nasty. Instead, the emoticlone grabbed her hands and began to dance around the Martian, spinning the alien while giggling joyfully.

"You sure seem like you're happy." M'Gann remarked, immediately regretting making the comment.

The emoticlone released M'Gann and performed a pirouette while laughing.

"Of course I'm happy! BB loves me!"

"Yes, I heard about that … say … uh … who are you?"

"I already told you, I'm Rachel, you silly goose!"

"Are you sure BB doesn't really love Raven?"

Happy spread her arms like airplane wings and began to run circles around the Martian.

"Nuh uh, cuz he loves me! Why do you think I'm so happy?"

"Just because he had sex with you doesn't mean he loves you"

"Who's talking about sex? BB loves me! I'm so happy!"

M'Gann slowly stepped away from the emoticlone, who was now making airplane engine sounds while she ran around the meadow. It was obvious to the Martian that the emoticlone had already forgotten about her. As she stepped back she bumped into another person.

"I see you met some of the natives." Rachel spoke in her monotone. "In case you were wondering, we call her 'Happy'. She only lives in the present and is always deliriously joyful."

"I see … I was worried that she might be … you know who."

"You mean 'Lust'. Lust wears a hot pink cape, and when she's really horny that's all she wears, and sometimes not even that."

M'Gann blushed. "You seem to have a healthy libido."

"I inherited it from Raven … we're both half demon."

"Half demon? Wow, that explains a lot. You Teen Titans, you're … interesting people."

"I'm more than just interesting. "A sultry voice announced from behind M'Gann. "I'm irresistible."

M'Gann grimaced but did not turn around. "It that her?"

"It is."

"Is she … naked?"

"No, she is fully clothed. At least for now ... that can change, though Gar usually needs to be present."

M'gann slowly turned around and found herself face to face with a smiling Lust.

"You don't know what you're missing, my little Martian virgin."

"Yeah, my loss … I guess."

Lust sighed happily. "He was magnificent; he's going to be the perfect mate. And we won't share him with Raven … not that she'd know what to do with him, the poor girl, what with her hang ups."

"I'm … glad to hear that … you find him … satisfying." M'Gann replied, wide eyed.

"Satisfying? He's scrumptious, words can't begin to describe the pleasure …"

Rachel interrupted.

"That will be all; M'Gann is not interested in hearing about our bedroom experiences."

Lust grinned. "She looks interested to me."

"That is irrelevant. But perhaps you can help me, I'm looking for Knowledge."

Lust frowned.

"What do you want with that old bore? She's just gonna tell you that those delicious orgasms we enjoyed with BB were nothing more than chemical reactions in our brain."

"Perhaps she will. Nevertheless, I wish to see her."

Lust gave Rachel a disappointed look.

"She's in the library, where else would she be?" Lust replied before vanishing into thin air.

"Do I have something like that in me?"

"You probably do, now follow me, M'Gann, it's this way."

The Martian joined Rachel and they walked, side by side, out of the meadow.

"Rachel … uh ... do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

"Why not? By the time we're done here, you'll probably know everything about me anyway."

"OK, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to … so … is Beast Boy really that good?"

Rachel stopped in her tracks and locked eyes with the Martian. M'Gann gulped, afraid that perhaps she had crossed the line and asked something too personal.

"He's a god." Rachel replied in her deadpan.

"And what about Raven?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but for now we must hurry, as time is not on our side."

The two women walked through an arch and when they emerged they were in a place that looked like Jump City and were standing in front of a gleaming building with a sign that identified it as "Jump City Public Library.

"She's in there. Are you ready, M'Gann?"

"I am."

The two women entered the building.

-( scene break )-

A loud crack echoed between the tall buildings, a sound that the locals were familiar with as they heard it frequently. Robin's grappling gun hook soared to the top of a tall office, where it latched onto an exposed pipe. The grappling gun's handle, still in Robin's hand, began to rewind its line, pulling the Teen Wonder to the top of the building, which was the rendezvous point where he was supposed to meet the others.

He was the last one to arrive. Starfire hovered in the air, her long red hair billowing in the early evening breeze. Beast Boy was standing on the ledge, looking down upon the city below, his intense green eyes staring into the void. J'onn J'onzz was the first to notice Robin's arrival, and nodded at him, acknowledging him.

"Did you have any luck?" Robin asked.

"Bupkis, Slade covered his tracks well." The changeling replied. "None of us found any energy traces. I also just talked with Cy. He also came up empty handed."

"What about Rachel and M'Gann?"

"I have been in telepathic contact with M'Gann. They are about to commence the memory search."

Robin frowned. "Slade must have his own power source, over the years he's become better at hiding, never leaving a trace behind. They ladies are our last hope. There's nothing left for us to do but wait for them to complete their task."

Robin sighed. "Let's go home."

-(scene break )-

The two women entered the library, which appeared to be deserted. Though it was brightly lit It was as silent as a tomb, and their footsteps resonated in the cavernous lobby area. Rachel appeared to know where she was going, as her gait was both brisk and deliberate. M'Gann quietly followed her, wondering what surprises awaited them.. After a moment they reached their destination: the reference desk. There they found Knowledge, standing behind the counter.

"Greetings and welcome to the library, M'Gann M'orzz. I hope that your visit is a fruitful one. I am ready to begin."

The emoticlone gestured to the Martian to join her behind the counter. The green alien looked inquisitively towards Rachel.

"So, I'm just supposed to read her mind? Why did we have to come into here to do this? I can read minds from the outside."

"The reason is simple and straight forward." Rachel replied. "Had you accessed my mind from the outside you would have to deal with all my emotions, which as you can tell are in a state of agitation and disarray. They could have proven to be an insurmountable distraction. By coming here, you have direct access to my memories and intellect."

"That makes sense."

"Yes, it does. Now, you will find that most of my memories, which are inherited from Raven, are highly structured and organized. They are also many, and you will have to bypass them, which could take time. You will also encounter more recent memories, which are my own. They are less structured and also will need to be ignored."

"I'll try to avoid those."

"Don't worry M'Gann, while many are intimate, I trust you with your discretion. But what we are really interested in are memories that are highly unstructured. The will almost appear to be haphazard, the way dreams are structured. I have been able to locate them while meditating, but to me they are little more than random images and sounds, without context or meaning. I have tried to focus on them, but they are slippery and elusive for me. Being a third party, I am hoping that you will be more successful. Once we locate them it will be up to you to interpret them."

"I understand, Rachel. I will do my best, I know Raven's life depends on our success ... her rescue … it's important to you … isn't it?"

"It is, very important … are you ready to begin?"

"I am."

M'Gann sat down in front of Knowledge, who had been waiting patiently for her. The Martian placed her fingertips on the emoticlone's temples and her alien eyes glowed a green color, while both Rachel and the emoticlone's eyes rolled back as they simultaneously entered into a trance like state.

The memories began to appear in M'Gann's mind, in a hazy, foggy, flashback type of setting.

The first memory she encountered was the time after the Titans first beat the Gordanians. Beast Boy cracked a joke about living on the beach and Raven told him he was funny. The memory also contained the huge crush that Raven felt for the changeling. It was a cute and sweet memory, but the Martian knew that she could not linger and pushed on, leaving behind the scene on the not yet Titans Island and pressing deeper into Rachel's memories, which began to flash by, like a movie being fast forwarded at maximum speed. Within minutes she was at the present, seeing Rachel's memories. She attempted to ignore the newest memories, some of which were erotic. She was successful and through a stroke of luck she found the hidden memories that were needed, which were hidden in what appeared to be a cave.

As Rachel said, they were chaotic and disorganized, but once again she was lucky as she found a memory that recalled Rachel floating. She brought her search to a screeching halt and focused on the memory. The image was blurry and confusing, and M'Gann had to focus to bring some clarity to the memory.

It was a difficult task, but after a few minutes she was able to extract some information from it: Rachel's physical development was that of a child, about six years of age. She was growing inside some sort of artificial womb, and she had an umbilical cord. The Martian continued to focus and to her delight she was able to discern a voice, one that sounded like Slade. There was also a second voice that spoke, a male voice. This was the first valuable piece of information: Slade had an associate!

Unfortunately the early conversations were unintelligible. M'Gann spent what felt like hours sifting through similar memories, searching for clues. The next one was the name of Slade's associate; he was called 'Wintergreen'. She continued to explore. Most of the images were blurs, probably visual memories from inside the artificial womb, visuals that had no real context and were beyond interpretation.

Eventually, M'Gann's patience paid off. The memory was from the day that Rachel was decanted from her artificial womb. The previous week had been spent downloading Raven's memories into her, literally copying the synaptic networks in Raven's brain into Rachel's own cortex. It was a hectic time, one of great confusion for Rachel, but there was a major plus: Rachel's subconscious was now more fully developed and the memories associated with it were cleared than ever. And that was when they had their big break.

Rachel, though unconscious, remembered a conversation that Slade and Wintergreen had, just before preparing Rachel to wake up and think she was Raven. Wintergreen mentioned that it might be risky transferring Rachel from the cloning facility to the fake lair where she would be tortured and make her escape from. He asked if they couldn't just do the torturing at the facility on the Santa Angelina Island facility. Slade responded that they needed to keep that location a secret. Santa Angelina was 30 miles off the coast from Jump City. It was a nature preserve, a breeding ground for California Sea Lions and was strictly off limits for visitors. Slade of course paid no heed to such warnings and had built and underground lair on the island, and probably used submarines to move between the island and the mainland.

The memory transfer had taken place on the island, and that meant Raven was still there.

M'Gann and Rachel both woke with a start, back in Raven's room. While M'Gann rubbed her temples, recovering from the effort, Rachel popped her communicator open. Robin's anxious face appeared on the tiny screen.

"We found it." Rachel announced in her monotone.

-( scene break )-

The plot thickens. The Titans need to storm Santa Angelina without Slade noticing their arrival. How will they do that?

Also, now that my break is over, updates will no longer be on a daily basis. And before I forget: Happy New Year!

And now its mailbag time!

titanfan45

I hope Slade ends up getting delt with harshly this time around. Anyone who could so easily destroy a living being deserves no less. Megan is sure in for a mind blowing experience in Nevermore.

An interesting point. Wintergreen called the blank clones "empty shells", but were they truly empty? Rachel seemed rather upset upon seeing the dead clone on camera.

Thisguy720

Wow Slade is just overwhelmingly evil. I do like the entire plot around a clone infiltrating the titans. I do feel bad for real Raven though, not just because she is captured but that she doesn't get beast boy. Or does she? I cant wait to really find out

When drawing inspiration for Slade, I rely on his comic book version, Deathstroke the Terminator. Deathstroke is truly evil, so cold and callous that he makes TV Slade look like a good guy.

discb

Crap, 0k? That is a metric ton of power.

I'm guessing he has his own reactor, no doubt Xenothium powered.

Dragonkyng

Nice twist. I think Slade will make Beast Boy choose between saving Rachel or Raven.

An interesting thought. I'm wondering just what Rachel is really thinking. What happens if Raven comes back? Will BB stick with Rachel (the safe bet) or will he take his chances with Raven, who had already told him that a relationship between them isn't possible? This has to make Rachel nervous.

Hairul The Nightrage Beast

man if I were Robin, I'd go find Slade and give him a Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken (Big Dipper Hundred Cracks Fist) and watch Slade explode from Robin hitting on his pressure points and saying "You're Already Dead!"

Slade/Deathstroke has always been a better fighter than Dick, though in the comics Dick closes the gap when he becomes Nightwing and even more later on, when he takes Bruce's place as Batman.

There is a great scene in Batman" Under the Red Hood (the book, not the movie), when Batman and Red Hood learn that Black Mask has hired Slade to kill the Red Hood. Even though they are not in the same room, and are unaware that the other is also eavesdropping on Black Mask, they react the same way: The both shout "Damn it". You don't mess with Slade.

Cyllan Anassan

I just hope you won't kill Raven nor Rachel. It'll be more interesting to have Beastboy choosing fairly and not by default. If he prefers this girl because she lacks of Raven's limitations, then is only right that he can choose.

And what does Salde need time for makes me really curious. I always though it was about destroying the Titans... maybe World Domination is still number one in the list.

Good story, by the way. I enjoy the dilema you just created.

Until next time.

It would be a difficult choice to make. And really tough on whoever loses.

Curse you Perry the Platypus

They are in a pickle now! Poor Raven, if Slade stole her memories, would they be with Rachel and not Raven, leaving Rae without memory? Anywhosen, pickles rockand this review is over!

Here's a spoiler: Raven has her memories and powers intact, they're just hard to use when she's in suspended animation.

gabylokita41

Well at least we know rae is still alive tho it'll probably be hard to get her back. Itd be sad if that was the first thing she saw when she'd wake up. Nice chapter i liked it :)

Thanks! Now, how to rescue her from Slade's fortress island while Slade has his finger on the button?

Rosalind du Coudray

I am constantly impressed with this story! Can't wait to see where you take it!

Thanks!

New york Mike

I really do feel bad for Raven,seems like she can never be is so close to Bb yet so far chapter like always.

I am a hard core BBRae shipper, but Raven does have her issues, some of which do seem insurmountable. In my other stories I've had love conquer all. Will that be case this time?

Titan18Gamble

Congratulations. You have successfully written a story that doesn't contain any of the grammar errors so commonly found on this site. When you combine that with the excellent story line and dialogue you get a masterpiece of Fanfic. I would like to know how you do this.

Thanks, I try, yet I am a sloppy proofer and I allow some doozies to slip past me every one in a while.