Chapter 28: Control

"…Understood, ETA?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Keep me updated."

Batman's eyes bored in the supercomputer's screen.

He didn't move a muscle; just stared. Scenarios, outcomes, actions and reactions were spinning through his own personal supercomputer at an astonishing rate. He weighed calculated and computed.

He moved, pressing a button and speaking.

"Alfred, I need your opinion. Batcave now."

He heard the entrance slide open.

"Already here, Master Wayne. How may I be of service?" The butler asked formally as he approached.

"There is a developing situation with Beastboy, I'd be interested in your thoughts. Listen."

Again, the Dark Knight reached out and manipulated the computer, bringing up an audio feed.

'-ell's going on?'

'I-I was just healing you. You fell out of the portal and-'

The two listened silently as the entire conversation between Beastboy and Raven played out.

Eventually, the sound of Beastboy cursing himself for not asking Raven to teleport him back to the Manor was the only sound playing.

Alfred spoke immediately. "Miss C-"

"You've researched his past with the titans," Batman cut across him, "and you've conducted interviews with him. I want to know your thoughts on what just happened."

Alfred's eyebrows rose in hesitation, matching his charge's glare with a faintly suspicious look.

"The girl stated herself her reasoning for…visiting. Quite understandably, she wanted to ensure her teammate was-"

"You know that doesn't match her profile."

Alfred stood slightly stiffer at the interruption. He fixed his suddenly steely eyes on the superhero.

"What exactly do you require of me, Sir?"

Batman swiveled his chair around, "I want a theory on why the girl went against my and undoubtedly Robin's orders and spent some time planning an elaborate and effective kidnapping, all in order to ask a question she already knew the answer to?"

"Sometimes more reassurance of a friend's health is required." Came the immediate rebuttal.

"A friend's health?"

The question lingered between the two like a foul odor, neither being the first to back down from their silent war.

Then Alfred turned and pulled up another computer chair, sitting smartly down, folding his legs and facing the man.

"You obviously have a theory. Why don't we start with that?" He asked with a slight bite of sarcasm."

Batman nodded once and they turned towards the computer.

"I think that the two are romantically interested in one another."

Alfred cleared his throat. "My research yielded no signs of a formal relationship."

"No, I believe each is unaware of the other's attraction."

"I despise stating the obvious Master Wayne, but you have never previously shown interest in playing matchmaker. Are we getting sentimental in our old age?" Alfred asked innocently, his tone completely serious.

Batman ignored the barb, "I'm not meriting that with a response."

"You just did. However, your fears are unfounded as the two are not seeing one another."

The Dark Knight grunted. "That's irrelevant."

"And what, pray tell, is the relevancy of your assumption?"

Batman shot the man a look. "If my theory is correct, it sheds new light on the problem that brought Beastboy here in the first place."

Alfred was actually surprised at the statement. Not that it showed.

"Well, I simply cannot wait to hear the supporting evidence."

"I have, to date, been addressing Beastboy's issue as a physical and mental problem. My initial theory was that the base instincts he inherited from the foreign DNA overpowered his self-control in moments of weakness or inattention. Such as the surprise attack from Batgirl or the psychological distress of the geomancer's memory loss. I concluded that absolute discipline was the answer. That if he achieved that, he could allow his instincts to influence him, but not consume him; as being the case during his complete transformations into the Beast.

"You? Assume discipline is the answer? Perish the thought." Alfred injected, voice dry as chalk. He took Batman's glare in stride. He knew that Bruce hated not having him on his side, but Alfred was determined to convey his displeasure at the developing situation.

"However taking the latest evidence into account," Batman continued, sternly looking his oldest friend in the eye, "changes things somewhat."

Alfred chose to remain silent, countenance unchanging.

"Embracing the theory that he has a romantic interest in the half-demon reveals that all of his transformations came about as a direct result of interactions with persons of romantic interest."

"Not the incident here in the bat cave, Sir." Alfred felt obliged to point out.

Batman shook his head once. "Reviewing the brainwave scanner history shows that moments before his transformation began he was dreaming. Lucid dreaming in fact. Taking into account his last interactions before that as a human were with the geomancer, it is reasonable to assume the dream he was experiencing featured her as well."

"As you say, Sir. So supposing for a moment your theory holds true, what conclusions can be drawn?" Alfred may have been displeased with his charge, but that didn't mean he refused to see the logic in his thinking.

"We can conclude that no amount of discipline is going to yield results. Even if had levels of self-control similar to mine, there would be no possible way of him restraining certain…impulses.

"Ah." It clicked in Alfred's mind. "Mankind has enough trouble mastering instinct. How much more difficult would it be for one more in touch with primal intrigue."

"Exactly. This changes everything. We're not dealing with mental capability anymore. We're dealing with the very foundation of his nature. I should have realized this from the start, but his humanity will never be able to dominate his inner animal."

Alfred heaved an uncharacteristic sigh. "By God, I pity the poor boy. A man's loins take all thought and reason from his mind."

Batman met his gaze, a small but similar look in his eye.

"It appears Beastboy's takes somewhat more from him."

The two men feel silent.

Shortly after, a small alert appeared on a corner of the supercomputer screen.

Alfred let his eyes fall shut, bowing his head as if a weight had settled on his shoulders.

"It was necessary."

Alfred took his time responding. He detected a subtle hint of emotion in the voice.

"I am aware."

"It was for her own good. You know nothing would ever come of it."

The butler raised his head, regarding the message on the screen.

'Door 21, locked'

Cassandra's room.

"One can never be certain Master Wayne."

"I can be."

Alfred visibly reacted, eyes widening and lips tightening.

"I know you think love is a mystery to me, Alfred." Bruce Wayne turned and regarded his surrogate father, one mask in place and the other slipping slightly. "But the science and chemistry behind it is remarkably simple. Listen to this."

He turned back to the keyboard, manipulating the sound file he already had up.

'…paint…batmobile…green'

Pause.

Batman looked at Alfred.

Alfred looked at Batman.

Play.

'Spray boots…Ugh!…with cat piss…ha…hahaha - ouch, damn!'

Pause.

"Doesn't have much imagination does he?" Batman said tightly.

Alfred's eyebrows were bouncing up and down as he contained his amusement, despite the situation.

"More than you may think, Master Wayne. As far as I am aware, Felines use urine to attract mates. You may wish to listen to the entire recording at some point, lest you find yourself attempting to fight crime while simultaneously fighting off amorous tomcats."

The old Englishman again contained his mirth at the visible tightening of the Dark Knight's shoulders.

Fast forwarding the green teen's malicious ramblings, he played the audio again.

'…Beastboy! Beastboy! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-here, I'm going to heal you, You're going to be fine!'

Pause.

"Erratic voice patterns, higher voice pitch, panic. All indicative of attraction."

"Circumstantial Master Wayne. It appears Master Beastboy had suffered an injury at the time. Her reaction is understandable given the circumstances."

"And this?" Batman asked bringing up a bird's eye image of Raven kneeling on the ground, Beastboy's head on her lap and her hands tender on his face.

"Satellite image Oracle captured. She also captured video. low definition, but enough to discern the elevated pulse and dilated pupils. All evidence to the chemical defect known as sentiment."

And there was the mask back firmly in place.

Alfred sighed again. He seemed to do doing that a lot as of late.

"I can see why you didn't start the audio at that point when Miss Cassandra was in the room."

"So I have your agreement?"

"Of course you have my agreement," Alfred said, somewhat sharply. "It's clear as day that Raven is enamored of the boy. And the file on Beastboy himself is evidence enough of his fascination with her."

"It was necessary," Batman repeated.

"I could have handled the situation far better and made this situation far easier for her to accept. You have not secured the best outcome."

"I had to react quickly." Batman turned in his chair to address the agitated Englishman face on.

"I apologize for dragging you into it without prior warning. But we both know Cassie has been nurturing a growing attraction for him. It's only natural she would, he's the first boy her age she's come into contact with."

The tension drained out of Alfred along with his frustration at the situation. "Unfortunately for her he just so happened to be a man attracted to another on such a deep level he doesn't even know it exists."

"It's an unfortunate situation. But what's done is done."

Alfred stood. "Where do we go now in terms of Master Beastboy's development?"

Batman stood as well, a touch of something in his eye that Alfred was quick to pick up on.

"Do I need to spell it out for you?"

Once again, Alfred sighed. This is what he got for laughing at the Batman.

A very awkward conversation.

Raven slid into bed.

There was no need to work herself to exhaustion tonight. The teleportation, kidnapping and emotional upheaval of the day had completely burned her out.

Besides, she was feeling better than she had in a long while. Some shadow had lifted from her soul and weight from her shoulders. The idea of entering Nevermore and more closely examining the change in her psyche had crossed her mind, but she had decided to put it off until the following day when hopefully she would be fully rested.

She pulled the covers up over her body, the sliding of the fabric on her skin triggering the memory of damp, green hair giving her a similar sensation earlier that day.

She shuddered.

Raven still couldn't believe she had reacted so violently when she had first seen him again. Granted, she had unintentionally knocked him unconscious and had been sleep deprived and emotionally vulnerable, but still. She couldn't remember ever acting like that in her life.

Being buried in the warm blankets of her bed made it difficult to care, though.

She felt her eyes get heavy as her mind meandered through the entire interaction with Beastboy, a warm glow slowly engulfing her.

She cracked an eye as a thought struck her.

Three minutes later she pushed her laptop off of bed, uncaring of the resulting thump.

A rare smile formed on her lips as she finally drifted off to slumber.

The laptop screen dimmed as it went to sleep as well, the words on the screen fading.

'Idiot - An obsolete term formerly used for an individual with profound mental retardation (IQ 20).'

So.

Here I am.

And I come bearing chapters.

I'll be releasing one every few days until I run out.

I can only apoligize for the mad delay.

I have reasons, the majority of which I won't go into here but starting a businnes really sucks and real life has a habit of getting in the way of writing.

Especially if the writing was once a fun adventure but turned into a mine field of plot holes sub plots and emotional progressions. I aimed too high with this. Got too fancy and caught up in the details and started to get discouraged because I couldn't make the plot work.

But I reckon I've got it all under control now and am back to where I wanted to be: having fun.

Thank you to all of you who clicked the email notification after over a year of silence. That's some faith you got there.

See you again in a few days,

CJB