"I know you don't want to talk to me." Beast Boy said. "But I want to talk to you. I know that you don't trust me, and maybe you even hate me for some reason. But there are some things I just want to ask you. And if you want to ask me something, then that's fine too."
"You don't look like you have anything worth saying." Ravager said. She sat across from Beast Boy, again shackled to the table. She glared at him beneath her mask. She was still standoffish, but did not appear as nonchalant or cocky this morning. Her fists were clenched, and her arms muscles occasionally bulged beneath her sleeves. When she wasn't talking, her jaw was clenched. Beast Boy knew that the others were watching through the glass on the wall, but he was alone in the room with this girl. It was what he asked for. It had taken some time to convince Nightwing, but he finally said yes.
"So, you're Slade's daughter." Beast Boy said.
"Nothing gets past you, huh?" Ravager said with heavy sarcasm.
"How old are you?" Beast Boy said.
Ravager snorted. "Why, you want to date me?" Beast Boy gave the impression of someone who had just stepped in something unpleasant. Ravager grinned.
"Guess my age." She said.
Beast Boy looked her over for a moment. With the mask on, it was hard to tell. But judging by what he could see, and her voice…
"Fifteen?" he said. Again, she grinned.
"Guess again."
"…Sixteen?"
Now she tsk'd and tilted her head. "Thanks, but I'm younger than I look."
"Younger than fifteen?" He raised an eyebrow.
She shrugged. "I'm a growing girl." For a split second, her expression was almost playful. But then it returned to a mild scowl. For his part, Beast Boy wasn't sure if she was just messing with him. He decided to just change the subject.
"Okay, then what's your name?"
She narrowed her eyes. "You know my name. Ravager."
"I meant your real name. You must have one."
Ravager looked off to the side for a moment. "My 'real' name? What do you care? What's your game?"
"Its no game. It's just a simple question. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I just… wanted to know what your name was."
Ravager continued looking off to the side for another moment. Then, she looked back at him. "What's your real name, 'Beast Boy'?"
Beast Boy hesitated. "Tell me yours, and I tell you mine." She said. Then, she tilted her head a little, as if considering something. "Did that sound dirty?" she said, leaning in. Beast Boy frowned, but initially said nothing. She looked at him expectantly.
He looked at her for a moment. Then, he glanced at the glass. Then back to her again. "Garfield." He said. "My name is Garfield."
Ravager parted her lips a little, the corners curling slightly upward. "Garfield? That's your name?" He nodded.
"Let me guess, your favorite food is lasagna?" she said. Beast Boy was so caught off guard by this comment that he just sat there with his mouth open for a moment. She seemed to find this amusing.
"Rose." She said.
"What?" Beast Boy said.
"Rose… that's… what my brother calls me. Okay?"
"Yeah. Rose. That's a pretty name. You said that's what your brother calls you. But not your father?"
Ravager, Rose, looked down at the table. "I knew you were going to ask about him. Slade calls us both Ravager."
"Doesn't that get confusing?"
"We've made it work. The way Slade says Ravager makes it clear who he's talking to. But we didn't want to call each other by the same name. So, we named each other, in secret. I named him Grant, and he calls me Rose. No one else calls us that. Especially not Slade."
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "You call your father Slade?"
Ravager shrugged. "So? What do you call your father?"
Beast Boy looked down at the table, and sighed through his nose. "I called him Dad."
For a minute there was a silence between them. Ravager tried to fold her arms, but couldn't because of the manacles. Her expression was starting to sour again. "More softness." She said quietly.
"What?" Beast Boy said.
"You heard me. 'Dad'. The last time I called Slade 'Dad' he broke my jaw."
Beast Boy grimaced. "That's… that's awful. No father should do that to his own children."
"It was part of training. Besides, it's not a big deal. I heal fast."
Beast Boy shook his head slowly. "That doesn't make it right. He treats you like property, not a person. He's using you for his own benefit."
"You're full of shit, Garfield." She said. She spoke his name mockingly.
Beast Boy took a deep breath. He lowered his head for a moment. "Are we done here?" she asked. He raised his eyes to her.
"You know, you remind me of someone I used to know, a long time ago. Did Slade ever tell you about Terra?"
Ravager narrowed her eyes. "Terra… Terra." She spoke as if she was trying out the name.
"She was an apprentice of Slade's, years ago. About your age… I think. She had amazing but destructive powers. Slade… got a hold of her. Told her all kinds of stuff to confuse her, turned her into a worse person. All for his own gain."
Ravager's eyes widened again. "Terra. That's the one with the power to control dirt, right? Yeah, he told me about her. She was unstable. Slade tried to help her control her powers, but she turned on him and killed him. And then somehow he came back…"
Beast Boy slammed his fist on the table. "He's a liar! Terra was a good girl, until Slade fucked with her head. She was… She could have done so much." His voice cracked as he spoke.
"Yeah? So where is she now?" she asked. Beast Boy couldn't tell if she knew the answer to that or not. But he gave her his answer.
"She's dead." He said bluntly. "She died fighting Slade. She sacrificed herself for us. She was… she was a hero." Beast Boy made a great effort to keep the emotion out of his voice as he spoke.
"That's what you say." She said. "From where I'm sitting, it sounds like Slade took her in, like his own daughter, and she betrayed him."
"Daughter." Beast Boy said derisively. "Slade never cared about her, only her power. He just wanted an obedient soldier to hurt and kill for him. You're just the newest one."
"Wrong again. Maybe you're just mad that I have a family, and you don't."
Beast Boy got up out of his seat. He stood straight. She looked up at him, grinning now. He put his hands on the table and leaned in. He locked eyes with her. "If he cares about you, then where is he? In fact, where is your brother? We haven't heard from either of them since we brought you here. They've been real quiet."
Ravager looked back at him, no longer grinning. "They'll come."
"You sure about that?" Beast Boy said. He turned and walked toward the door. Before walking out, he said, "You don't have to be like him." He then shut the door behind him.
As soon as Beast Boy walked out of the interrogation room, he was greeted with Bumblebee's scowling face. She stood with her arms folded. She had been watching along with the others. "I thought this was supposed to be an interrogation, not a therapy session." She said. Beast Boy's face was uneasy, but he held his gaze with her as he responded.
"Maybe she could use some of that."
"She is a psycho, I'll give you that." Bumblebee said. "But she needs prison, not a hug."
"Is that what she needs, or is that just what you want?" Beast Boy said.
"What the hell did you say?" Bumblebee said, and took a step towards him. Nightwing stepped between them.
"That's enough!" Nightwing said. "You need to calm down." He looked directly at Bumblebee.
"I was just going to have words with him." Her face and voice were devoid of humor.
"First, drop the attitude." Nightwing said.
"Drop the—" Bumblebee gritted her teeth.
"Please!" Starfire said, holding up her hands. "We are all friends here."
Bumblebee looked over at Starfire, and then back at Nightwing. She took a deep breath, but her fists remained clenched. "Yeah, sure." She said quietly. She then walked past the others out of the room.
"Damn." Beast Boy said.
"I know she's been through a lot, but I think its time for her to go." Nightwing said.
"Now wait a minute, Nightwing…" Cyborg said.
"Cyborg I'm sorry, but we don't need this right now." Nightwing said. "We're so close to getting to the bottom of all this. I think it would be better if she stayed somewhere else."
"So she can get captured or killed? It's too dangerous right now, we need to stick together."
Nightwing put his hands on his hips. "Well, we're going to need to figure something out soon. Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to Ravager again. But this time, keep Bumblebee away." He turned to Starfire. "Since you did such a good job with the captain, maybe you and I could talk to her together. What do you think?"
Starfire blinked. She opened her mouth, but it took a moment for her to say something. "You and I? Together? I… do not think that would be a good idea."
Nightwing raised his eyebrows. "Why not?"
"I… feel that it would be better for us to speak to her separately. Our ways of speaking to people are quite different."
"Maybe you're right…" Nightwing let that hang. After that, they all left the room and went about their business for the day. After they had looked over Ravager's cell, she was retrieved and brought back there for the day.
Monstrous limbs collided with each other. A bulging eye, a claw like hand, an elongated spine. These were the features of the combatants. Slade watched as his two creations fought each other. They were deformed and disfigured in various ways. But they were also strong, and fast. He had dressed them in outfits similar to his own, of course. Slade's creations were always in his own image. He watched as a tall warrior fought a smaller one. The tall one was brutally strong. But the smaller one was quicker and more vicious, using its teeth. After a few minutes, there was blood and gore in the caged off fighting area. If the fight were to continue, one of them would surely die. Slade raised his arm to his face. There was a device on his arm, created by Professor Chang. It was like a wristband, but it was actually sophisticated technology. All by Slade's design, of course. Slade adjusted a dial on the device. The combatants paused. Their heads jerked, but they looked like they still wanted to fight.
"That's enough, stop now." Slade said clearly and firmly. The warriors stopped, and stood straight. "Now go back to your quarters." Slade commanded. The warriors did as they were told, leaving through an exit that led back to a living area for them. The fighting area was now empty. Slade then turned to see Grant standing there, a neutral expression on his face. He had been watching the fight along with Slade. Slade took a step forward.
"Tell me what you are thinking right now." Slade said.
Grant looked at Slade, and then at the cage where the fighters were. "I think it was pretty cool. I mean… I think they're really impressive. I think at some point I'd like to try fighting one of them." He showed his teeth, although it wasn't quite a smile. Something more ugly.
"Is that so?" Slade said. "Maybe you'll get your wish."
"How many of them are there, exactly?"
"I ask the questions." Slade said. "There are enough. That's all you need to know. The only problem now is training them. You will help with that. However…" Without warning, Slade backhanded Grant in his face. Grant fell to the floor, and looked up from the ground.
"I will also have to finish training you." Slade finished. "You've come a long way, but you're still rough around the edges. You need to work harder. You need to dedicate yourself to being the best."
"Better than you?" Grant said as he pushed himself off the floor and got to his knee.
"The day you can defeat me is the day you'll be better than me. You are a long way off from that." Slade held out a hand to Grant. Grant grunted, then took it and got to his feet. As soon as he did, Slade, still holding Grant's hand, flipped him over onto the floor again. Grant grunted again as he hit the floor.
"Never expect sympathy from your opponent." Slade said. "None will be given. Now, before we continue any further, are there any comments or questions? Speak up."
Grant looked up at Slade, more embarrassed than hurt. "Just one: thank you for giving me another chance, Slade."
Slade tilted his head. "Hmph. Don't thank me yet." Slade pulled out a small metal object. He pressed a button, and it expanded into a longer metal stick. "I still have more lessons to teach you."
Ravager sat alone in her cell, on the bed attached to the wall. She looked up at the small window at the top of the wall. Naturally, the window had bars on it. It was too small for her to fit through anyway. It was now sunset, and the orange rays were shining in through the narrow opening. Some of the light touched her face. She looked at the sky, and some of the skyline in the distance. As she sat there alone, in the small, dim room, she wondered if this would be the rest of her life. Would she ever be free again?
She thought of Slade, and Grant. Surely, they would do something. They wouldn't leave her here. But… where were they? She remembered what Beast Boy said. She didn't believe him. But… where were they? Shouldn't they have come by now? If they had tried something, then she would have heard something. The Titans had all been staying around the tower mostly. Even when one of them apparently left, they returned not long after, seemingly fine. Concern was edging into her thoughts. Worry crept into her heart.
They wouldn't abandon her. But where were they? Ravager sighed. She laid down on the bed. She didn't pull the blanket over her, even though she felt a chill. After some time, the sun set, and the room began to turn dark. A florescent light automatically turned on, and the monotonous hum could be heard. She would have preferred the dark and quiet. She lay there for some time, not sleeping, not doing anything. She tried not to even think. And yet…
Slade never cared about her, only her power. He just wanted an obedient soldier to hurt and kill for him. You're just the newest one.
Ravager made an effort to forget those words.
Those words…
End Notes: This is a Teen rated story. But I decided to go by PG-13 rules and allow a single F bomb in the story. Unless I already used one earlier and forgot.
About Terra… I had thought about using Terra in the story. Bringing her back. If I had included a second romance in this story, it would have been Beast Boy and Terra. Of course if that had happened, then the whole Raven sleeping with Beast Boy thing probably wouldn't have happened.
I decided not to include Terra because I decided to respect the intentions of the original show, as far as her character goes. A lot of people say that the final episode ended on a cliffhanger. But I don't agree. I feel that it was pretty final. Whether or not Terra actually had amnesia is debatable. But either way, her choice seemed pretty clear. She didn't want to be a superhero, or a Teen Titan, and didn't want to be with Beast Boy. She just wanted to be left alone, and live a normal life. The episode was about moving on from the past, and accepting that things change, and they can't go back to the way they were before. Hence the title.
At any rate, if I had decided to bring Terra back, then that probably would have had to be a whole story unto itself, set before Return of the Titans. I liked Terra, and her relationship with Beast Boy, and I would have liked to have included that in this story. But it would have felt too much like a fix-it fic, and I don't do those. Terra, alive or dead, amnesiac or not, is gone.