Slade's Manipulation

Chapter 2: The Cry For Help

Systems back online. Battery 34%.

"Cyborg? Cyborg!" Cyborg could hear his friends' desperate cries. "Is his battery dead again?" "That doesn't explain the mess..." "Dude you need to wake up!"

"Give him some space, it looks like he's coming to."

As Cyborg sat up, they bombarded him with questions. It all melded together and he couldn't separate any of the voices. "Guys, let me handle this" he heard Robin take over. Cyborg finally opened his eyes. The sight he saw wasn't pretty. The infirmary was, for the most part, destroyed. Curtains were torn, walls singed, and shattered glass sprinkled on the floor. Raven was also missing from her cot. To top it all off, his friends were smelly and covered in remnants from Plasmus. As he processed it all his memory came flooding back. According to his internal watch, an hour or two had passed since the alarm for Plasmus had blared.

"What do you remember?" Robin inquired.

"Well, I was continuing more tests to figure out what the drug was. I needed some blood samples from Raven. Just as I inserted the needle, she woke up. But it wasn't... her. Remember our first fight with Dr. Light? She looked like that again." Cyborg paused, recalling the dead red eyes locked on his. "She looked from me to the needle and started to attack me. I guess I'm the one who did most of the damage here... That's all I remember."

"I guess we just found out what the drug does," Beast boy remarked.

~~~

"This newfound freedom is... invigorating." Rage remarked to herself. She was currently wandering the streets of Jump City. The concrete jungle was fascinating, a whole different experience up close. With Her gone, I can do whatever I please.

"Mommy, Mommy! Can we pleeease go to the park later?" a high-pitched voice squealed.

How infuriating. Children are a nuisance. I should take care of her. But Rage was interrupted.

"What could you possibly do? And how do you expect to go unnoticed?" inquired Knowledge.

Rage growled. Knowledge has a point...

"You think you're such a bigshot just because you took over. Newsflash! You need to play it cool in the real world." Rude said nastily.

I'd like to see you try this! Rage barked back.

"Let me have control and I will!" Brave retorted.

"Can we please stop fighting?" Timid whispered.

Leave me alone. I can handle this.

~~~

Raven woke with a start, remembering the events of the morning. Or is it afternoon? How long have I been here? She gathered herself once again as quickly as she could. Her body continued to ache and her head throbbed. Guess that's not going away anytime soon... she thought grumpily. She knew she had to reach out to the team. Preferably Robin as he could formulate the best plan of attack on whatever this was.

"Azarath Metrion ... Zinthos" she muttered, putting emphasis on the last word. Her soul-self embodied a raven and took off to find her friends. She quickly found them still in the infirmary. She tried to keep the fact that it was destroyed out of her mind. Raven kept in mind that she only had five minutes to return to her body. She spoke with them all through their minds in a monotonous tone. "I don't know what caused this, but I am trapped inside myself. My emotion Rage has taken control of my body. I can try to stop her from inside, but I don't know what she will accomplish in the meantime. Whatever did this was powerful on its own without my mirror, so- UGH." Rage pulled Raven back into her body.

"Your petty friends cannot stop me."

~~~

"Oh! Our poor friend Raven! I hope she is alright!" Starfire gulped. The 'transmission' had been cut off before anyone had truly taken in her words. And they couldn't play it back since Cyborg had been moved to his room to recharge.

"She can handle herself," Robin consoled Starfire.

"I don't know about you guys, but all I caught was something about her mirror..." Beast boy added.

"What mirror was she referring to Beast boy?" the boy wonder requested.

"So, remember when Cy, Raven, and I were gone for hours in her room? Well, really I might've messed with her mirror which is really a portal into her head. We wandered around a bit until she came and tried to kick us out but Rage, which is like this huge dude that looks like Trigon, attacked. We stayed and helped her kick his (or her?) butt and were back for dinner! So no harm, no foul?" Beast boy laughed sheepishly.

"So our friend Raven needs help defeating her father again?" Starfire asked, clearly confused.

"I don't think so Star. I think she needs help defeating herself."

~~~

"Why do you have to be so troublesome?!" Rage fumed.

"Oh, it's definitely not because I want my body back" Raven retorted.

Even with Raven being as weak as she was, and without her emoticlones, their second fight was longer. Rage's attacks were sluggish compared to before. "Controlling my body proving tiresome?" At this Rage staggered slightly from exhaustion.

She turned her face toward Raven with an evil grin on her face. "It is worth it. As long as I can keep you subdued I will remain in control."

Raven scowled at her emoticlone. I need to regain my strength. Without warning, Raven used her energy to send several boulders at Rage. As she was distracted, Raven then used her remaining strength and disappeared using her spirit-self.

"Dammit. She will not be able to hide for long..."

~~~

"How'd you do it before Beast boy?"

The sun was setting in the distance. Beast boy had spent the afternoon explaining what had exactly happened during Cyborg and his trip to Raven's mind.

"Well, I was just holding it like this and then BAM!" He demonstrated and before the trio had been able to develop a plan, the mirror took hold of each of them. Their screams echoed throughout the trans-dimensional tunnel. Beast boy landed on his butt, Starfire floated down, and Robin somersaulted into a crouch.

"That could've gone a little smoother..." Robin muttered to himself. They were on a rock floating in the middle of nowhere.

"Argh! I hope one of Raven's emotions will find and help us again!" Beast boy whined.

Just as Robin was about to ask Beast boy more questions, like how to get off the rock, a path was made for the trio before their eyes. "Let us follow the path before us?" Starfire implored.

Robin just gave a curt nod and took Starfire's hand.

~~~

"All right! That was a nice recharge!" The sun was rising, night having passed without notice. Cyborg rose from his 'bed' in search of the infirmary. But when he reached it, all he found was Raven's magic mirror among the rubble. "I don't even want to know..." he muttered. He started repairing the damage of the fight from the previous morning. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him. He didn't approach the mirror, but he checked the other Titan's locations. The tiny dots confirmed his suspicions. "Alright, I'll just stay behind" he grunted, thinking he got the short stick for the day. His communicator started to beep as the alarm in the tower blared once again. Cyborg pulled up the information from the alarm and moaned.

Why am I the one who has to fight her?