"Excuse me?" Beast Boy gasped.
The boy's knees wobbled and he stumbled backward as if he had been hit by a truck. His animal paw was already switched to a skinny green hand. In that moment he looked like the old Beast Boy, just a kid who didn't know what he was doing half the time.
Slade moaned, and Raven took no time in limping quickly over while her friend was incapacitated.
Trying to be as gentle as possible, she poked and prodded around the gushing wound, examining just what kind of damage Beast Boy had done.
The arm would have to be cut off, at least if she was lucky enough to miraculously perform an amputation without killing him in the process. The bones were severed, the stringy muscles were thinning.
"Slade?" she whispered, swallowing bile. "Can you hear me?"
"You love him?!" came the yell behind her, but she was trying not to pay attention.
The masked man's eye blinked open, struggling to focus on her face. He seemed like he would make it if she could just help him somehow. And she was positive that Beast Boy had not obtained a medical degree since last she saw him.
In fact, he would probably make things even worse if she asked for any kind of assistance- if he agreed at all.
"Shit shit shit…" she chanted, scanning Slade's body everywhere, looking for some phenomenal answer.
"Raven!" Beast Boy screamed.
"I'm a little busy right now…" she muttered.
The boy balled his hands into fists. His mind was running fast, contemplating how to separate her from Slade so he could demand answers. It didn't matter that the dastardly villain was bleeding out, this conversation would be far more important.
He took a menacing step forward, eyes going to slits.
At the rustling sound of the carpet, she snapped her head back to give Beast Boy the most intimidating glare she could muster. He was not to interfere.
Even without her powers, or any kind of physical strength, he froze and decided not to press her.
The makeshift bandage she had made was soaked and no help. She tore another piece off the hem of her hospital gown and tried to force the dangling tendons back into the body. Knotting the cloth, again it did nothing but prolong his suffering.
"Slade?' she choked out, her lungs in her throat. "I need your help! I can't do this by myself!"
Tears streamed down her face. She couldn't lose him now, just when she had made herself this vulnerable.
The warring emotions that toiled inside her were set aside for one purpose, and that was to keep his heart beating.
His breath was shallow, but he was able to make out what she said. He shifted his head to point in the direction of the doorway- his fading eye stared at the darkened hallway.
It connected with her, and she figured he was pointing her in the direction of what might be supplies or some sort of miracle.
The shadows from the tunnels loomed, and stepping into them seemed like falling into panicked nightmares. It reminded her of the times spent in a totally black abyss of insanity when she was first captured and dragged under the ground.
She nodded and began to sprint away from the scene.
"Beast Boy," she suddenly called, pausing at the entryway. "If I come back to see him dead, I will never forgive you, and I will hunt you down for the rest of your life. Got it?"
"Wait," he pleaded.
She halted, standing on the balls of her feet, ready to pounce.
"I'll keep him alive, but when all this is over…" he bit his lip. "Please talk to me."
That was all she needed.
Running with swollen ankles and bulging stomach, she twisted several knobs and barged into a variety of different rooms.
One held a multitude of books and weapons, but no first-aid kit.
Another was decorated with newspaper clippings of everything from UFOs to conspiracy theories on toothpaste.
She would give him hell for that later.
Finally, she opened the correct door. It was a large, cool space with several desks. On the black tables were test tubes with multi-colored liquids. She took no time in observing the horrors of the room.
For instance, she was certainly not peering in the general direction of the dissection trays.
Nor was she about to gulp and stutter at the miniature refrigerator that was obliviously labeled "Blood", or the beakers adjacent that held a variety of organs- most likely human.
She wondered if his first lair was just as vile, and shuddered at the respective creepiness.
She searched, peering inside glasses and rummaging around the cluttered place. As she was knocking over anything and everything in sight, something caught her eye.
It was glowing black, and was obviously the prize of the room.
Stationed in the far back, but it was the only object on the shelf.
It was an ordinary rock, sharp on the edges, like it sprouted from a volcano. Red symbols she recognized crisscrossed all over it, marking it.
Moving closer to it, she gasped.
She immediately recognized it.
It was straight from her father's fiery lair, one of his many powerful pieces of magic. She pressed her palm against it. The demon had used this many times to steal life from his cult members and those who would step unknowingly into his path.
It was something used to bring him to the world when…
She buried the thought.
It pulsated, it had taken something.
The realization of what it was, what it meant, and what it did hit her like a bullet to the brain.
She picked up the thing and ran out of the room.
This is how he had stolen her powers. This was how he was able to peer into her dreams.
It all made sense.
Slade would know how to use it because he had spent a great deal of his afterlife doing Trigon's bidding.
That experience was never going to fade away, she would always be haunted by it- like a shadow.
Turning the corner into the bloody room, she thrust the rock in Slade's face.
"How do you work it?"
His eye had been closed, he was conserving strength, but at her presence, it snapped open with more ferocity than when she had left.
He picked his good hand off the floor, groaning as he did, and requested the stone. Immediately she gave it to him while Beast Boy watched warily. Slade's eye remained fixed on hers as she mumbled something under his breath.
With a surge of glistening darkness, a howling raven shrieked life back into her. The tattoos on her skin were fading. Raven kicked herself for not recognizing the defining marks before. The dead bodies of Trigon's minions were always infested with her father's favorite brandings.
Slade had managed to alter them.
The flow of energy obliterated the devilish thing, and the dusty, red particles melted into her flesh. She screamed, like lava was burning her body. She fell to the floor, curling up into a ball, wondering if Slade had somehow poisoned her, tricked her.
Yet, within a few seconds, she felt whole again.
Her cheeks flushed with life, and she pushed herself off the ground. Wooden splinters pricked her palms, but she felt reborn. Taking a deep breath, she flexed and contracted her energy, then centered it on the pain in her hands.
The cuts were instantly healed.
Yet, her happiness made her unstable and Beast Boy ducked for cover as she destroyed a lamp from across the room.
She had no time to waste. Slade's strangely darkened blood was still spilling out at a sickening pace. His pale eye was becoming distant and milkier by the second.
She pressed her fingers into his ugly wound, and Slade growled loudly in pain. She heard him swear bitterly, but she focused in and let the dark power within her surge.
As it flowed out of her and contracted around Slade, she let her emotions go, reveling in her desperation. Although this made her unstable, it made her far more powerful. The room began to shake, the rock walls crumpled lightly, pebbles crinkling downward, falling on the group.
"Now what's the point if you're just going to kill us all…?" grumbled Slade, still able to utter weak sarcasm.
"Shut up," she snapped gently.
Obviously, the man was already regenerating, but she still dug deep to fully heal him.
Oozing blackness covered his arm, undulating with sickly energy. It was draining work, and she was out of practice, but she could feel his shoulder reattaching itself. The marrow was filling in, skin was rewiring, and the loose muscles tightened.
After she got the hardware out of the way, she was going to try and revamp the many nerves that had been damaged during the trauma. Slade was not going to like it, but she didn't care as long as he lived.
She didn't know if she could fully stitch him back together, but she would try. If she stopped now, she didn't know how long it would be before she could give him another session.
The area still wobbled, sometimes more or less depending on her feelings. Sweat sprouted from her brow, her weak arms shook, but she continued to press on.
Beast Boy had finally regained his balance and his mind, and was sitting quietly next to the pair, watching.
He had opened his mouth a few times, trying to push out the words he desperately wanted to expend, but could not find the courage.
Finally, when Raven sat back, too tired to continue, he bundled up his remaining guts.
"Is this a good time?" he mumbled sarcastically.
Raven wiped her forehead, rubbed her stomach once, and then closed her eyes- not answering. It was probably the best time, but also one of the worst.
After a couple seconds to get her unsteady emotions in check, she nodded.
Her eyes remained closed, but she heard Beast Boy's sharp inhale.
"First of all," he began. "How did you get your powers back?"
Lifting an eyelid, she observed him.
He was curious, but also… offended?
"I'm sorry that disappoints you," she replied haughtily, then sighed.
He waited.
"It seems Slade had found an ancient relic of Trigon's while working for him," she explained, leaning back on the bloodstained carpet nonchalantly. "It was supposed to be used to drain Trigon's followers… so that he could increase in strength before coming to Earth. But, Slade managed to make it have a backwards effect, and instead of absorbing human life, it took away Trigon's."
The green boy lifted a brow, and he didn't have to ask the question.
Raven heaved another sigh.
"Since I got my powers from Trigon, that meant that Slade was able to take them away. Because the rock can do that sort of thing."
Beast Boy still wasn't getting it.
Now she was getting angry.
"Look, I'm part demon. Trigon is full demon. My mother was human. Thus-"
"No, that's not what I'm confused about."
"Then what?" she scoffed, rolling her eyes.
He pondered for a moment, looking up like he was trying to see his mind work out the problem.
"I don't get why Slade didn't just take your powers for himself," he shrugged. "Or, just destroy the rock-thing, so that you could never get them back."
Raven looked down. That was a good question. She wasn't sure if it could work like that, but obviously the masked man had no trouble making the stone bend for him, so it didn't seem impossible.
The thought was distracting and puzzling, and she had had enough muddling through the man's intentions. Her own were far more worrisome.
After his long, painful day, Slade was asleep, or just unconscious. It would be a while before he would get back up. Raven couldn't remember a time when they had beaten Slade to this point.
Maybe because they usually weren't trying to kill him.
She glared at the ground.
Uncomfortable silence passed between the two Titans.
"Raven…?" the jade teen groaned, his eyes fully on her stomach.
The girl took a stabling breath, she could feel herself losing control.
"I know…" she exhaled.
"What are you gonna do?"
"I'm not sure," she whispered truthfully.
He rubbed his head, not sure how to approach such an adult topic.
"I mean…" he started, not looking at her now. "You don't have to have the…it."
His fingers fidgeted and he picked up a piece of debris, playing with it in his hands.
It was all very surreal. A villain they had sworn to hate lying on the ground while the two teenage Titans talked about things that went far beyond their years.
Life and death.
"No," she said with passionate resolve. "I can't."
"Why?" he wondered honestly, still not getting why she couldn't just get it out and have things go back to normal.
"I just can't," she snapped.
The room shook and she had to breathe more calmly, close her eyes, pretend none of this was happening.
"Ok, ok…" he relinquished, holding his hands up in defeat. "I get that…sorta. What I don't get is why you…you and…Slade and…"
He was avoiding the touchy word, and she thanked him for it silently. She still didn't know her own feelings, and unpredictability right now would certainly cause an earthquake.
She didn't know how to explain, either, so she shrugged apathetically.
"But he…" Beast Boy gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing.
The boy looked both ways, sure that some authority figure was listening.
He lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Raped…"
"I know!" she yelled suddenly, her hands flying up, and a chunk of rock fell from the ceiling.
Beast Boy flinched, but his eyes began to lower into a glare.
"Sorry," she muttered, teeth clenched. "It's just…it's complicated, ok?"
"C'mon, Raven!" he snarled quietly, not wanting to wake up the masked man or provoke the ceiling. "You can't just sit there and give me bullshit answers like that and expect it to be ok. It's not. It may never be ok, again. This is… this is really big. Don't you get that? I mean if Robin-"
"You can't tell him," she pleaded suddenly, her watery eyes on him, begging.
The boy made a sound between a grumble of intense frustration and a petulant whine.
"Well, you might be in luck, Rae, because he may never find us," he snapped. "And if he does somehow figure out the maze, and find us before the psycho wakes up, how are you going to hide that?!
He waved a hand at her dramatically.
The dim lights of the room flickered with her growing anxiety. Anyone but Robin.
Her body quaked uncharacteristically, her face wide with fear. She could see it all unfold.
Robin's quick anger. Her immediate exile from the team, from her home. Slade's death. Not to mention the danger she was putting on the unborn child. Where would she go? How would she survive when the world hated her?
She had come to Earth expecting hatred and fear. She thought she had gotten over that test, but it wasn't her past catching up with her. It was the choices she was making right now.
They would hunt her and her baby forever.
All because of her. There was no excuse now.
"Hey, hey, Raven," Beast Boy's squeaky consoling voice poked through. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
Although he did indeed want to frighten her back into sanity, it was not the right time. The energy exploding from her was unsettling to be around, especially now that the cave felt like it could collapse at any moment.
Reality came back to her, and she realized the room was even darker than before. A candle must have exploded. Cracks were splintering the walls.
"I wasn't scared," she replied aggressively.
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, but he didn't say anything- even though he wanted to finally land a shot on her.
He simply nodded, and bit his cheek until he got over the laughter building in his gut.
Nevertheless, she saw right through his feeble attempt and glared.
"It's not funny," she growled, leaning forward. "There is nothing about this situation that can be read as funny. God, you're so…"
But his infectious grin was beginning to take a hold on his face, and she looked away before he could catch her smirking.
"I hate you," she said in her most monotone voice.
"That's the spirit, Rae," he said coolly, smile intact.
She bit her tongue, trying not to scream out in frustration. She was pregnant, emaciated, and on the verge of excommunication from Earth, and he was making the jokes…
"You still didn't answer my question," he finally said stubbornly.
"Sorry, what was that?" she asked innocently. "I don't speak moron."
He scoffed, but managed another winning smile. His eyes and face remained hardened, she wasn't going to get off this easy.
"Do you really want to know?" she asked, all trace of joking gone.
"Duh, why do you think I've been sitting here for the last-?"
The scowl on her face cut him off. He smirked sheepishly and blushed.
"Er, I mean, yes."
She gave him a firm look, but eased up when he began to sweat.
"I don't know," she repeated, sounding like a broken record. "I'm probably insane- like one of those kidnapped girls who comply with their captor just to survive."
She paused, and assessed the validity of that statement.
"Yet somehow it feels…different," she continued. "But I'm not an idiot, Beast Boy. I know what he's done. What he will do."
Raven went quiet for a moment, lost in the bleak memories. The bruises on her body still attested to her pain. At least the exterior troubles could mend, unlike the many other scars that decimated her insides.
"What did he do to you?" he wondered aloud, looking at the same brittle bones and indigo blotches that fragmented her pale skin. "I mean, besides the obvious…"
Her eyes bore into his. The suffering was clear in the cerulean orbs.
"Terrible things," she whispered, a tear springing into her eye.
She wiped it away and sniffed.
It was obvious he wanted to know specifics. Of course he would, he was so young after all. Usually she would have told him to back off, that was her nature, but she might as well just settle it while she could.
"The best word would be torture," she clarified and said no more.
He nodded, but there was no clarity to the situation at all. In fact, it was even more baffling.
"Then why, Raven?" he continued "Why do you love him?"
He could not prance around it. His foot slammed on the pressured button, the abscess on her mind.
"It's not love," she answered, her mind churning. "Not in the way you think of. It's more like…a connection. We're made for one another, Beast Boy. There's just no other way of explaining."
He still refused to understand.
"Is it guilt? Do you want to keep him around because you feel sorry for him or something? Because if that's the case… that's really screwed up, Rae."
"No," she said with a bit of force, crossing her arms. "I mean, I do feel pity for him, obviously something bad must have happened to make him who he is. But, that's not the point…"
"Then what is?"
She exhaled sharply through her nostrils, wanting to rip his head off.
"It's because I understand her better than any of you ever will."
Slade had woken up.