Beast Boy gently laid Raven down onto the bed in the hospital wing. The monitors flickered to life. Beast Boy waited beside the bed. For a few minutes, nothing happened.
Beast Boy's ears drooped, and he lowered his eyes. He glanced up and his heart leapt as Raven slowly levitated off of the bed. Beast Boy knew, from when The Beast had been first released, that when Raven levitated, it meant that she was trying to heal herself.
This at least meant that she wasn't in a coma.
Beast Boy shivered. He had forgotten that his costume was in the state that it was. He wanted to go change, but he didn't really want to leave Raven alone by herself. He studied her vitals.
They seemed strong and stable, and there was always the security system if someone tried to break in. Feeling slightly more at ease, Beast Boy left the room. He began to walk down the hallway, his bare feet making no sound.
"Beast Boy!" he turned just in time to see Terra running towards him. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Beast Boy winced, and flinched as his cracked ribs shifted under her grip.
Realizing that she was hurting him, Terra quickly pulled away. Grateful tears were streaming down her face. "Thank goodness you're all right!" She exclaimed. "I thought you were dead!"
"I'm okay," Beast Boy replied, but he winced slightly. Breathing hurt. "What happened after we fell into the chasm?"
"Slade just hit me aside and said 'Until next time dear child'," Terra repeated her lie. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "How could you leave me to face him alone Beast Boy?"
"I had to make a choice Terra," Beast Boy frowned. "It was either let you face Slade, or let Raven die." Terra lowered her eyes so that Beast Boy wouldn't see the hatred in them. "No matter what my feelings for you are, I couldn't just sit by and watch Raven die. She's my friend, and that's what friends do. They help each other."
"You could have been killed!" Terra exclaimed. Tears began to run down her face again. This was not an act. Though she was stalling for time.
She had already deactivated the security systems in the tower, now all she had to do was keep the Titans occupied while Slade's minions took care of the witch.
"I know," Beast Boy replied softly. "But I was willing to take the chance that I could save her. Even if it meant giving up my life for hers." Terra gaped at him. He regarded her quietly for a moment.
"What would you have done?" Terra smirked inwardly, reflecting that she would have let Raven die so that she could have Beast Boy all to herself. Of course she didn't say this out loud.
"You don't know how scared I was!" she said at length. "It was horrible!""I'm sorry," Beast Boy apologized softly. He lowered his eyes to the ground.
Given the choice again however, he still would have chosen Raven. Her situation had been more life-threatening.
"I felt so helpless!" Terra exclaimed. "First the rocks and then the earthquake. There was nothing I could do." Beast Boy took the trembling blonde into his arms and held her close to him.
He reasoned that it must have been horrible for her to have had to watch those rocks fall on him and Raven, not to mention the earthquake, and not be able to do anything about it. As he held her, a thought came to him.
"Terra," he pulled away and frowned. "Can't you control the earth?" Terra's face paled, and her blue eyes widened. She was caught in her lie. She struggled to find an excuse that he would believe.
"I was in shock," she said at length. It wasn't the best excuse, but it was all she could think of. Beast Boy's dark-green eyes narrowed.
"Come to think of it," he said aloud. "I don't think that Slade is strong enough to make an earthquake like the one we fell into."
"Well he obviously found a way," Terra was backtracking as fast as she could. She just hoped that he would believe her. Her confidence in him had taken a downward slide when he had chosen to save Raven.
She considered, in dismay, that Beast Boy might not be as infatuated with her as she had thought.
Beast Boy frowned. Terra's power was over the earth. Yet she hadn't stopped the rocks from falling, or the earthquake. He knew Slade was strong, but not strong enough to create as chasm as deep as the one he and Raven had fallen into. Slowly the pieces fell into place, and he realized the awful truth.
"It was you all along," he concluded. "You were the one who made the rocks fall and the earthquake." Beast Boy frowned. He did not like where this train of thought was leading.
"You set Raven up." He realized aloud. "You knew that Slade was going to be there. You knew Raven would take the hit for us. You were counting on the rocks and the fall to kill her, but you didn't expect me to try and save her.
You thought that I'd stay with you." His heart ached with the realization. Then something occurred to him. Terra had known that Slade would be in that place at that time.
That could only mean one thing. He turned on heel and ran towards the hospital wing.
"You're too late Beast Boy," Terra shouted after him. Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah, and covered the distance to the hospital wing as fast as he could. His head was racing. Terra had known Slade would be there.
That was no coincidence, she must have told him, and that meant that she was once again Slade's apprentice. This meant that she had most likely disabled the security systems so that Slade's minions could infiltrate the tower and destroy the team, starting with Raven.
Beast Boy's heart pounded in his ears as he sped toward the hospital wing. He desperately hoped that he wasn't too late. He morphed back into his human form in front of the door.
Just as he reached for the control panel to open the door, the door opened. Beast Boy found himself staring up at a Slade-bot. In its arms was Raven, still unconscious. A growl escaped his lips.
"Put her down," when the Slade-bot didn't respond, Beast Boy morphed into a Grizzly bear. He stood up on his hind legs, now towering over the Slade-bot. For what seemed like an eternity, neither Beast Boy nor the Slade minion moved.
Finally the Slade-bot made a move to the right. Beast Boy swung his paw down with as much force as he could muster, and sent the head of the robot flying. Sparks flew from where the head of the Slade-bot had been.
Beast Boy quickly morphed back into his human form and snatched Raven from the arms of the Slade-bot before the rest of the robot crumpled to the ground.
Beast Boy knew that he had to warn the others. However, if Terra had given the codes to Slade then the security systems would be useless. They only worked if an intruder broke in.
This sparked an idea. Beast Boy morphed into an octopus. Holding Raven in two of his tentacles, he used another to pick up the head of the Slade-bot and hurled it with all his might at the window. The window shattered and the security systems activated.
"Titans retreat to the roof now!" Robin's voice exclaimed over the intercom. Beast Boy switched from octopus to gorilla, and ascended the staircase towards the roof. He opened the door, and his eyes widened in horror.
An army of Slade-bots stood there ready for attack. Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg had already begun fighting some of them, but they were seriously outnumbered. A few of the Slade-bots charged at Beast Boy who sent them flying with a swing of his giant arm.
"Man, this is the second time these things have gotten past my security system!" Cyborg exclaimed angrily, blasting five of the robots with his sonic canon. "How do they keep infiltrating my system?" Beast Boy morphed back into his human form.
"The same way they did the first time," he replied bitterly. "Terra deactivated the security system." The three Titans turned and stared at Beast Boy. Cyborg's one blue human eye blinked."Terra?" Robin asked. His voice was full of disbelief.
"Someone mention me?" Terra floated up on a large boulder, arms crossed over her chest, and blonde hair covering part of her face. She jumped off lightly, and landed on the roof a few paces away from Beast Boy. As she did this, the Slade-bots sprang into action again.
Although he was surrounded by chaos, Beast Boy didn't really notice it. He stood there and stared at Terra, and felt angry tears burning in his eyes. He clenched his fists trying to fight the tears back.
"How could you?" he asked at length. His heart ached at her deception. She had once again lured him into her web of lies. "How could you betray us again?""You don't understand Beast Boy," Terra pleaded. "I never intended to hurt you.""If you hurt my friends, you hurt me," he replied. "My friends are my family, how could you think that destroying them wouldn't hurt me?"
"Because I would've been there to support you," Terra replied, and then she frowned. "You weren't supposed to figure out that it was me who was behind everything.""I'm not as stupid as some people think," Beast Boy growled, angry tears blurred his vision.
"Beast Boy," Terra took a step towards him. Beast Boy bristled, and a warning growl escaped his lips. His actions shocked the blonde. "I would never do anything to hurt you." Beast Boy snorted angrily. "I just want to be with you, and I know that you want to be with me."
"How can you think that after what you've done that I'd want to be with you?" the tears began to run down Beast Boy's face. "I'm not going to let that go Terra.""This is all the fault of the witch," Terra scowled. Beast Boy growled again, louder this time. "None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for her."
"Raven was the only one who saw you for who you really were," Beast Boy advanced on Terra, his fists clenched. Terra began to back away from him. "A traitor. You knew that you had to get rid of her before she made the rest of us see it."
"She was taking you away from me!" Terra blurted out. "You were supposed to choose me over her. If you had, none of this would have had to happen. We could have continued on like normal. Why did you choose her Beast Boy?"
"Because I care about her," Beast Boy shouted. His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails were biting into his palms. Angry tears streamed down his face."I can make everything right," Terra pleaded. "Everything can go back to the way it was."
"How can you say that?" Beast Boy spat out savagely.
"If Raven goes, everything can go back to normal," Terra's icy blue eyes were pleading. Beast Boy didn't move an inch. Instead, he glared at Terra, and growled again.
"You are going to have to go through me to get to her," he hissed.