Chapter 2: End Credits

"Raven, wait!"

Robin's voice floated towards her as she started towards the forest to follow Beastboy.

"What?!" she hissed back at him, concern and worry turning to anger and colouring her usually monotone voice.

"He's dangerous," said Robin, running up to her with a limp. "You remember what he was like last time. He could kill you!"

Several trees became encased in black energy and were slowly crushed behind her as Raven's eyes flared red. "You know as well as I do that I was never in any danger. Well, he is now and I intend to help him!" With that she turned and soared into the forest.

"Be careful!" Robin shouted after her, trying to maintain some semblance of control of the situation. He sighed in annoyance and turned to his two remaining titans. Both Starfire and Cyborg were looking at him in a way he didn't particularly like. "Fine, let's go," he conceded and started running after Raven, the other two following close behind.

o - o - o - o - o

Beastboy was not hard to find.

The sound of cracking branches, pained roars and impacts of flesh on flesh led her like a map towards the battle, as Raven dodged through the trees as fast as she could.

As she got nearer to the din, however, she slowed. Beastboy was not in his right mind at the moment. She had no idea what state of mind he was in, but it would not be wise to surprise him. His physical appearance seemed to fall between his usual state of being and The Beast. It would make sense that his mind was somewhere similar. Raven frowned, unsure of what that meant for him as she floated carefully towards the racket, looking for any sign of the two combatants.

She didn't have to try hard.

Beastboy crashed through a heavy bush ahead of her, a white tentacle clenched around his neck and slammed solidly into a tree with a horrific cracking sound. Raven flinched, unsure if the sound came from him or the tree.

She watched, mouth open, as an inhuman snarl ripped from his throat, claws scrabbling at the bleached flesh around his neck. Raven's eyes immediately grew white and onyx light surrounded her raised hands as she prepared to help her teammate. But before she could do anything, Beastboy morphed into a beetle, fell through the tentacle's grasp to the ground, then transformed into a lion and bounded straight back into the fight, the white limb following close behind.

Raven flew after him, stopping when she saw the two fighting in the centre of a new clearing, cracked trees on the ground and grass and earth torn up.

Beastboy was dancing around the white creature, flowing from form to form, dodging the many punches of the monster from its many arms. Only his eyes stayed the same as his body morphed seamlessly from shape to shape. He eventually wound up underneath the monster in the form of a turtle and quickly transformed into a kangaroo. Laying on his back, he shot both powerful legs forwards like pistons and hammered the monster in the stomach sending it soaring into another tree. He then changed back into himself, and Raven gasped.

He was in bad shape.

All his clothes but his dark green boxers were gone giving the impression of nudity and his bulging body was covered in cuts, newly forming bruises and worse. He was on all fours as before but had one arm wrapped around his lower torso. Raven could see blood dripping around his arm as he held himself tightly. His face wasn't much better. Blood flowed from a bad laceration on his cheek and his nose was pointing off to the side, definitely broken.

But the worst part was his expression. The gleeful bloodlust was still in his eyes and his bloody mouth was twisted into a snarling grin revealing his jagged fangs, some of which appeared to be missing. He was taking a feral thrill in his survival of the fittest duel. All his attention was fixed on the monster, he had yet to notice Raven.

It terrified her to see him this way. She was used to the cheerful, kind, easy going idiot that wouldn't hurt a fly. Not the inhuman death machine in front of her. She remembered her last experience with The Beast and how damaged Beastboy had been after the whole event.

Raven realised something as Beastboy charged the monster again.

She was scared for him.

"BEASTBOY!"

Raven's frightened call stopped the changeling in his tracks. His head snapped around and his animal eyes focused squarely on her. Staring into her amethyst eyes, he saw concern and anguish and for some reason, it calmed him. Beastboy's head cocked to the side like a confused cat's as he stared deep into Raven's eyes, ignoring the blood trickling down his face.

WHAM!

Beastboy flew straight up into the air from the force of the astonishingly powerful uppercut the monster had just delivered to the bottom of his chin. He disappeared through the canopy of branches above him.

Raven stood stock still, mouth wide open and eyes wider still. Shocked at what she had just been responsible for, she sank to her knees. Tears started to blur her vision. What had she done? She didn't notice the the monster's attention turn to her. Defenceless, shocked; she would make for an easy kill. The monster stepped towards her and Raven opened her mouth.

Beastboy blinked as consciousness returned to him.

Cool air was rushing past his face as he flew silently upwards; stunned by the incredible hit he had just taken. His cheekbone felt broken, his jaw dislocated and his neck fractured. As he reached the pinnacle of his height, he heard it.

A scream.

Beastboy's eyes snapped downwards, his body already transforming. As his arms grew shorter into wings and his legs retracted, one thought dominated both sides of his mind.

'Protect.'

The green peregrine falcon soared downwards, its sharp eyes picked out a splash of white far below and it adjusted its flight path accordingly. It quickly reached it's top speed, shooting towards the ground, eyes fixed on its target, one thought in it's head.

Raven watched, horrified, as the creature came nearer. She had not meant to scream. She was Raven. She did not scream. But the shock of seeing the animalistic Beastboy so punished had unhinged her slightly.

Eyes still watering, she clenched her fists and stood up, determined to annihilate the monster that may have just killed her teammate. She adopted a fighting stance, dark energy forming around her fists and glowing white eyes focused on the monstrosity a mere 15 feet from her. Body tensed. Ready to fight.

Then the world exploded.

Raven caught a glimpse of green, before she was forced to close her eyes against the explosion of air in front of her. The wind, coupled with the vibrating ground, caused her to fall over backwards.

After a moment, she opened her eyes to a scene of devastation before her.

A crater, ten feet across and at least five deep, dominated the scene. It was surrounded by levelled trees, all of which were covered in white flesh. At the centre of the stood a green African bush elephant, it's feet covered with the white matter. She watched in shock as it slowly collapsed onto its side with a crash, raising a cloud of dust into the air, before shrinking down in size.

The noise prompted raven to action. Getting to her feet, she sprinted down into the crater, seeing Beastboy in his half-Beast form, his larger than usual body making him easy to spot.

"Beastboy!" she exclaimed breathlessly, falling to her knees beside his prone form, any revulsion she may have initially felt towards his new physical appearance disappearing in her concern. His back two legs were twisted in unnatural angles, severely broken and his chest was covered in lacerations. She knew quite a few ribs had to be broken or cracked as well.

But he was breathing.

Raven sighed in relief and went to place her hands on his torso to heal him. But then she noticed a deep cut on his stomach, the one he had been clutching earlier. It had stopped bleeding and closed up, scar tissue standing proud against his skin.

She dismissed it and summoned her powers, hands glowing inches above his still body as she closed her eyes and extended her senses outward and psychically examined him.

Thankfully, it appeared that he had suffered no serious internal injury. His recently enlarged bones had apparently grown denser and had been able to absorb most of the impact, protecting his vital organs. Raven opened her eyes and looked down at the changeling. His bestial face was pressed to the ground, hiding from her. Looking down his body, she gagged at the sight of his legs.

Both femurs were obviously completely snapped, one snow white piece protruding obscenely from the middle of his thigh.

Raven gritted her teeth in preparation for the healing and closed her eyes, letting power flow from her into the unconscious boy before her. She felt out the broken leg bones and poured energy into the snapped ends, readying them for reattachment to each other. Luckily they both appeared to be clean breaks and thirty seconds later, she had done all she could.

Opening her eyes and taking a calming breath, Raven looked towards Beastboy's head. He was still completely out. She just hoped he would stay that way for the next part.

Mustering her powers once again, Raven encased all four pieces of bone in onyx energy and took a deep breath. Moving her arms and hands in one fluid motion she forced the bones to realign with each other. The manoeuvre was performed neater and faster than the world's best surgeon could have done. But that didn't stop it from hurting.

Beastboy's head suddenly twisted around and he snapped at her hands, eyes still wild and feral and high pitched, aggressive whines of pain in his throat. Surprised, Raven fell backwards and crawled away from the feral titan on instinct, eyes never leaving his.

With a grunt, Beastboy lifted his body off the ground, supporting himself mainly on his hands. He turned to her with a growl.

Raven didn't know what to do. He was clearly in pain but was also still partly The Beast. And the way he was looking at her made feel a faint prickling of fear in her chest. She stayed still, trying to fight down the growing panic within her. She knew she could never fight Beastboy, but if she had to she could restrain him. But inside, she still had faith he would not attack, remembering how even when he was the full beast, he had fought to protect her.

That faith took a dive when Beastboy morphed into a thick, 3 meter long, dark green snake with diagonal markings along his back. He slowly made his way towards her, his long body swishing silently through the dirt of the crater, getting closer by the second.

Raven sat still, hypnotised by the movement of the snake. She knew she should run, but couldn't bring herself to move. She watched as he raised himself up to her eye level, the rest of his body curled beneath him.

For a moment, all was still in the recently made glade. Raven felt her heart rate speed up. Sweat dampened the palms of her hands. Irises widened. Breathing hitched.

Then things happened very quickly.

Beastboy struck, moving forward unbelievably fast. Raven had time to take in a breath before her eyes followed the jade serpent as it passed by her right cheek, fangs bared. Raven's head snapped around to find it hanging on by its mouth to the arm of the white monster.

She watched, fascinated, as the snake circled up the monster's arm and down around its body, biting all the time as the monster tried to get a hold of it. After a few moments, it finally managed to get a grip on the snake and tore it from its body before throwing it across to the other side of the crater. As it hit the ground, the snake morphed back into Beastboy who rolled on the ground and came up in his hunting crouch.

Or at least he tried to.

Beastboy's legs gave out under him and he collapsed to the ground again, helpless as the monster took a step towards Raven.

Raven, however, was far from defenceless. Cursing herself for doubting Beastboy, she stood up straight and tall, eyes turning white with power and she assumed her combat stance.

'This time, I protect you.' She thought, glancing over her shoulder at Beastboy's broken form.

She turned back to face the monster, onyx energy surrounding her hands as she prepared to fight. But for the second time in so many minutes, she didn't have to.

The monster tried to take another step towards her but sunk down to one knee instead. Lifting it's hand up in front of its head, it's metallic eyes narrowed in confusion.

It appeared to be melting.

The Inland Taipan snake possesses the most lethal venom of any serpent on the planet. Beastboy had managed to inject over a gram of its neurotoxin into the body of the monster and it appeared that it did not mix well with the chemical makeup of its artificial flesh.

Raven watched in awe as the monster literally melted before her eyes, its eyes screaming soundlessly. After a few seconds it was nothing but a white puddle, slowly soaking into the dirt.

Satisfied it was no longer a threat, Raven turned to give her attention to Beastboy.

He was gone.

It was at that moment that Robin, Cyborg and Starfire ran into the clearing, slowing to a stop when they saw Raven standing alone.

"What the hell happened Raven?" Cyborg exclaimed eyes widening at the devastation around them.

Raven blinked tears she didn't know she had shed out of her eyes. Taking a deep breath and adopting her trademark blank expression she turned to her fellow titans.

"Beastboy defeated it, that's what's left," she said, pointing to the pile of white glop on the ground. She continued as Cyborg ran over to the substance and started to scan it. "He's injured, but managed to run off. He's healing much faster than usual. And he's still how you all saw him earlier. I don't know what's wrong with him." She said, her eyes drifting to the ground. "But I'll find him now."

Closing her eyes, Raven extended a psychic probe over the surrounding forest. Not finding anything but squirrels and birds, she extended her field of vision. Cyborg, meanwhile had finished analysing a sample of the monster. The results flashed up on his arm monitor.

"Robin, have a look at this," he said as Robin hurried over. "The chemical makeup is uniquely complex; this is ridiculously advanced stuff. There does appear to be one foreign component, though, snake venom and a potent one."

Robin blinked, impressed. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Raven as her eyes snapped open.

"This way," she declared before flying off, the other three hot on her trail.

I've actually got quite a lot of this planned out. Just a matter of writing it now!

If you've any questions, concerns or ideas, feel free to drop a comment.

Thanks,

CJB