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Broken Spirit

Chapter 9: Return Policy

It was late in the day, the sun already starting to set as the prisoner transport rolled to a stop downtown with a soft squeal of the brakes. Police had already cordoned off the area. Barriers and detours had been lined along every access street at least a quarter mile in advance.
The reinforced back doors of the transport opened. The clinging sound of chain restraints accompanied footsteps which creaked along the undercarriage as the occupant’s weight redistributed, approaching the exit. Two officers stood at the rear of the vehicle, grabbing hold of his waist and under arms as he dropped from the elevated back of the vehicle onto the pavement on his feet.

“Wha-ah!” Control Freak stumbled briefly, teetering as he dropped far harder than he intended to, hardly any support from his escorts. Met with little to no sympathy the guards lightly shoved him forward.
“Hey!” he barked, drawing back his arm as if entertaining the notion he’d fancy a swing at them. But the officers were none too inclined to take him seriously, not even a flinch between them. One dryly staring him down while the other slung his weapon previously from around his shoulder into his hands. “Hmph!” Freak turned his nose up at the pair, mentally declaring their luck he was in no mood as he casually walked forward.

The museum was still closed as evidenced by the crime scene tape stretched across the main entrance. Cracks across a few scattered segments of walls and the occasional blown out window evidenced it was very much untouched from its previous incident. A few plastic tarps were loosely draped across larger openings and some scaffolding set up along the outside for intended reconstruction at a later time but presently no staff or clean-up crews were on site. In fact no one was. After all stock still had to be taken of the damage to both the building and the exhibits inside. And under the circumstances it was probably best to keep it that way.

The guard gave a light tug on the prisoner’s collar, stopping Control Freak in his tracks. He pulled a set of keys from his belt, unlocking and removing the cuffs from Control Freaks arms and legs, unable to help but give a small chuckle as he undid the ankle restraints. His most previous encounter demonstrated just how light on his feet he really was.

The Titans stood a few feet away, watching and waiting patiently. Starfire remained at the ready as Cyborg accessed the nearby traffic cameras from the surrounding area on his forearm, verifying there were no surprises in store for them. Robin coordinated with the authorities via his communicator, verifying their prisoner had arrived.
A few feet behind them was Raven, who was in the midst of an entirely other in-depth conversation as well.

“… And to Star, I leave that teddy bear she likes so much with the glow in the dark tummy that doubled as my first night light. And give Silkie all my squeaky toys. But, uh… make sure ya clean’em first. They MAY be covered with drool that could be anybody’s and totally not mine.” BeastBoy recounted with precise detail, standing beside her, anxiously rubbing his palms together. “To my best bud, Cy, I leave all my video games. But NOT my comics! He gets motor oil all over the pages. I prefer they be cremated and scattered over my grave.”

“BeastBoy,” Raven ran her fingers through her hair under her hood with a roll of her eyes, “For the last time, you don’t need a will. Enough.”

It wasn’t as though she was taking notes anyway.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Just a last resort. ‘Just in case’ kinda’ thing.”

“You’re going to be fine,” she reassured him calmly with a nod.

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “But ya can’t blame me. In case ya ain’t up on current events, I already kinda’ lost reception once already.”

Raven mused a tilt of her eyebrow. “Hardly all that different. Your brain is pretty much static all the time.”

BeastBoy snapped his head towards her, mouth open as if feigning a gasp. “Yeah? Well just for that, I’m leaving you out of my will.” He crossed his arms defiantly, looking away, turning his head up at her.

“Ah, no. Please. Forgive me. It was the grief talking.” She dryly responded in dull sarcasm.

BeastBoy refused to face her, keeping his chin angled to the sky and his eyes shut. “It’s too late for that,” he shook his head, “You can kiss my socks goodbye.”

She stared briefly. “Socks? Wow. And here I was thinking nothing of value would come out of this relationship,” Raven leaned her head off to the side, looking up at the sky.

BeastBoy peeked one eye open at her as he gradually lowered his head with a few lazy shakes. “If ya gotta’ know, they’re special. They… remind me of you,” he shyly looked away.

“You associate me as socks,” she rolled her head back in his direction with a minor shake of skepticism at him, “You sweet talker you.”

“No. I mean… they’re blue. They’re super soft. And they… really keep me warm and make me feel all tingly inside.” He twiddled his fingers, staring at the ground before slowly venturing a glance up at her.

Raven stared at him. Her expression momentarily locked in neutral, her eyes dead-set. But just as quickly her mouth curled into a small smile. Not the most flattering remark she’d ever received, but true to BeastBoy’s own unique charm, it was no less sweet.

“Either that or maybe I’m allergic to wool,” he nervously smirked.

Raven’s smile faltered, but only long enough for her to shake her head, longing for the chance to shove him to the ground.

The officers brought Control Freak before Robin as he signed off on his communicator. “Orders are we turn him over to you?” the officer verified.

Robin shot a serious stare at Control Freak, narrowing his eyes at the villain.

Control Freak merely gave a sour look of discontent, mildly razzing the teen hero.

Robin turned to Cyborg, who gave a small nod signaling no signs of suspicious activity. He looked back. “Yeah, he’s for us,” The boy wonder nodded, an absence of any real delight in their new arrival.

“Sure you don’t want’em gift wrapped?” the officer inquired, dangling the restraints in plain view.

“Get a life,” Control Freak remarked.

“Get super powers,” the other guard rebutted.

Control Freak rolled his eyes back to the Titans, muttering under his breath with an irritated, pouting expression.

Robin nodded at the two, signaling they were satisfied. “We’ll return him to your custody as soon as we’re finished here.” He took Control Freak by the shoulder and began leading him farther onto the museum grounds, Starfire and Cyborg following on opposite sides.

“Why so glum, Robin?” Control Freak sneered. “I thought you’d be happier to see your only chance of salvation. Your one and only true savior to help snatch your friend from the jaws of oblivion. Your greatest and deadliest foe, now your only true hope. Your-”

Robin spun Control Freak to view, locking eyes with him. “You are what we have. You caused this mess and now you’re going to fix it,” he warned in a calm but ominous tone. “And if you can’t do that, than you can just as easily slip back into your cuffs, restraints, and straight jackets, and whatever other ego boosts you need behind bars.”

Control Freak blinked, all the fun sapped from Robin’s response, narrowing his eyes at the lack of appreciation. Plus… was a little mild sense of intimidation too much to ask?
“Fine,” he pulled back, braking Robin’s grip from his coat with a grin. “Send me back. Lotta’ good it’ll do ‘some people’ not currently residing in the physical plane of existence.” Clearly, he felt the need to remind him of why he was here and clarify his own self-value.

Starfire’s eyes lit up, with a matching green charge building in her right arm. Cyborg audibly cracked his mechanical knuckles with a curl of his lip.
But Robin remained calm and focused. That didn’t mean he wasn’t running his fingers along his bo staff concealed beneath his cape, hoping their detainee would be foolish enough to make an escape attempt so that smirk could be forcibly removed from his face.

Control Freak turned, casually starting back towards his prior escort. “Sheesh,” he snorted over his shoulder, “It’s like ya need a mask with one eye just to be taken seriously around he…”
He turned his head, facing forward only to be met with the coldest, iciest of stares. Two glaring eyes of quiet unrelenting anger shrouded under a veil of darkness.

Raven had come out of nowhere, standing before him, blocking his path. No words spoken, no idle threats. Her eyes were the only thing doing the talking. And Control Freak’s eyes? They were all ears.

He found himself frozen, seeing his reflection in her pupils. A single bead of sweat running down the side of his face, squinting as he could swear he saw a blackness forming around his reflection in her eyes. Swallowing him up like falling into a pit. He could’ve sworn he saw a second pair of eyes forming above her. He could’ve sworn they flickered. Could’ve sworn they burned red. Just like in the interrogation room.

Control Freak slowly took a step back. Then another.

Raven narrowed her eyes.

“Gah!” he yelped, running back behind Robin, cowering briefly before peeking out from behind his shoulder.

“You can leave if you want. You’re free to refuse our deal. And can go back to your confinement,” Robin explained calmly. “It’s your choice. But the choice to leave,” he paused, glancing back at him, “… is that way.” He pointed forward.

Freak traced the path of Robin’s finger to the dark girl whose shadow stopped short of them.

“You can just go back to your nice safe cell,” Cyborg added with a casual smirk.

“Safe. And the quiet,” Starfire commented. “Alone.”

“And in the dark,” Robin finished.

Control Freak swallowed tensely. He knew what they were doing. Empty threats. Intimidation. Oldest trick in the book. He wasn’t going to be swayed. Not by something this blatantly obvious. Besides, they needed him. There was no plan B. It was all on him. They wouldn’t risk their friend’s life on petty revenge, even if they did have it in them. Which he seriously doubted.
So why were his knees knocking? Why were his teeth chattering? Why was there a lump in his throat and a pit in his stomach? Because every time he assured himself how empty their threats were, he shot one quick gaze at Raven. And her eyes? Well… they told a different story. Just one look and he could feel like the ground beneath him would fall away and sink him deep, drowning into darkness.

A flash of that black mass from the interrogation room and its serrated limbs and burning eyes overlaid itself onto Raven. Then just as quickly flashed back to normal.
“Yeh!” he shrieked. Maybe it was the tension of the moment. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. Or maybe reality itself was cautioning him at someone else’s duress.

“W-Well, come on!” he darted in front of Robin, pushing him back with his feet dragging across the ground towards the museum, “I-If we’re gonna’ do this, let’s do it already.” He shakily spoke with forced enthusiasm in between quick glimpses over his shoulder to verify he was putting sufficient distance between himself and… ‘other’ things.

Starfire and Cyborg watched the two pass, pausing only to share a fleeting look of approval before turning to follow.

Raven shut her eyes, hanging her head as she let out a deep breath. The only thing more difficult than controlling anger was letting out just enough before capping it off.

“Dude, it is WAY more fun watching you get mad at someone else,” BeastBoy remarked from behind her, arms crossed.

She shifted her eyes without moving her head. “Speak for yourself. Getting mad at you is far more satisfying,” Raven replied dryly as she started towards the others, trailing behind.

BeastBoy crooked his head at her, watching as she left. Something about that statement sounded off. But he couldn’t tell if it was in a cute, flirty, ‘I miss you’ kinda’ way or an irritated, tired, ‘you’ll be sorry later’ kinda’ way. There was always a fine line with Raven.
“Uh… now, when you say ‘satisfying’…” he asked as he jogged after her.

The other Titans took up position on the far side of the museum grounds. A large open space just off the section of the building where the incident had transpired. The interior was still in shambles and while initially it was the intent to re-create the accident’s conditions exactly, the precise location was not worth the risk. On top of adding to the damage the museum had already sustained the museum was still ripe with exhibits and other displays that Control Freak could easily manipulate and transform to his advantage either to retaliate against them or cover an escape. Which was far too tactically dangerous, deal or not.
Cyborg synced up his scanners with the same software he’d used at the tower to identify BeastBoy’s signal. He needed to be certain there was no interference from the surrounding area. That there was nothing in the area to dilute or otherwise interfere with the remote that could hinder its function. He also needed to verify there weren’t any lingering traces from the first blast that could meddle with their efforts.

Starfire and Robin kept Control Freak under close observation, leaving Cyborg free to assess the situation. While their prisoner impatiently stirred, only occasionally glancing over his shoulder at Raven who kept watch a short distance away.

“It won’t be long now,” she quietly spoke. “You’ll be back to normal before you know it. Or as close as normal dictates for you.”

BeastBoy hardly cracked a quarter of a grin to the left of his mouth as he rolled his eyes up at her before falling back down straight ahead with his head held in his hands, sitting on the ground with his legs folded beside her.

“Then we can pretend this whole thing never happened,” she finished.

“Oh no,” he shook his head with a smug smile and wag of his finger, “Mmm-mm. Nope. Not gonna’ happen. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

“Again?”

“Pretending, I mean.” He kept his sights forward.

Raven paused, her eyes darting upwards, perusing her thoughts. “Every time I think you can’t possibly confuse me anymore you always manage to surpass expectations,” she lightly shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

BeastBoy rested his hands in his lap, looking up at her. “Okay, remember like a week after the bet was over? Our first secret date?”

Raven tilted her head back, struck with some degree of clarity. “It was not a secret date.”

“It was a date and we did it in secret, what do you call it?” he leaned forward with a flex of his brow up at her.

“Off hand, you getting overly attached to me not being able to physically correct you.” Raven crossed her arms.

BeastBoy’s eyes remained locked on her, quietly offering a chance to rebut. But he knew she couldn’t. There was just no other description fitting as evidenced by his smile showing no signs of dissipating.

“Fine. Whatever.” Raven shrugged.

Satisfied, he relaxed his posture. “Well, before that… ‘secret date’,” he intentionally paused, making it stick a little bit longer in her mind. To which Raven sighed internally. “I must’ve studied for like days on how I was gonna’ win you over. Ya know, make a good impression? I tried all different kinds of herbal tea, tried to read books WAY outta’ my league, found the darkest clothes I could find. Seriously, I mean dark. Like light would not catch on these things. I swear, they didn’t cast shadows, they WERE shadows.”

“And what exactly was your objective in all this?” She interjected sharply, noting how easy it was for BeastBoy to get off topic.

“Duh,” he replied with a tilt of his head as if it were obvious. “You.”

“You were trying to impress me?” She blinked.

“Well, maybe not impress,” he scratched behind his ear. “But maybe kinda’ come off as a little more… relatable. Ya know? Like show you I could get into stuff. Be more like you.”

Now there was a potentially dangerous notion.

“I had it all planned out. A few scraps of poetry in my pocket, a list of fancy teas I was gonna’ go on about, and dressed like… well… someone I thought you’d kinda’ notice. Or not, depending how much light there was.”

“As I recall however, that was not the case,” Raven recounted the events to memory.

Indeed, their aforementioned evening was spent at the same arcade they’d previously visited in the midst of Cyborg’s wager. BeastBoy even won a matching aluminum ring at ski ball exactly like the one he got Raven last time for himself. Only his was graced by a sticker of a generic green bird. The matching set between the two I suppose it’d be easy to make a ‘birds of a feather’ remark.
But let’s leave the tedious jokes to BeastBoy, shall we?

This was followed by a stop off at a coffee shop and a walk through the park on the way home. Hardly as disingenuous as BeastBoy’s attempt at masking his persona made it sound, but it was still very much in sync with something he would come up with on his own. And certainly not something he’d avoid credit for doing of his own accord. All in all, it was a nice night about town. And no act or pretending to be someone or something other than himself would’ve afforded them any better an outcome.

“So… what changed?” she asked, curious as to why such a positive experience might not have been the outcome.

His eyes looked to the sky. “Right before I was about to leave my room, I caught one last look at myself in the mirror. And I just thought, ‘Dude. Who are you and what do ya think Raven is gonna’ say to you’?” he shook his head as if unsure what he’d been thinking before looking back at her. “You’d either slam the door in my face, thinkin’ I was makin’ fun of you. Or you’d probably think I’d hit my head.”

“You ‘would’ve had to hit your head pretty hard,” she mused in neutral tone.

“You would know.”

Raven rolled her eyes off to side.

“Anyway, one look at… ‘that’, and I ripped that junk off and deep sixed the whole thing.”

“No faith in yourself?” she looked straight ahead, but only briefly curving her pupils down at him.

“Other way around. I got plenty of faith in ME. Just not me pretending to be someone else. Even if it did go over well, even if I totally hit it off like that, I’d have to keep doing it. Keep being somebody else,” he reasoned. “Ya know how when ya start a lie you have to keep lying just to keep it goin’ till you’re so deep into it ya start to forget what’s real? Same thing. If I spent my all my time trying to be with you as somebody else, you’d never be with me. Like… ‘ME’ me.”

There was a silence. The kind that usually followed a moment of clarity or great personal truth.

Raven gave a soft smile. Letting a sigh escape that was a poor attempt at masking a chuckle, to which BeastBoy quickly picked up on.
“What? Think my odds were better the other way around?” he remarked, he leaned away with a shallow sense of hurt.

“No,” softly covered her mouth, extinguishing the poorly timed laugh. Or at least trying to as a few delayed giggles slipped out. “That bit about you and… poetry.”

He leaned back towards her, raising an eyebrow in questionable fashion. “What’s so funny about that?”

Raven leaned down beside him, wrapping her arms around her knees. “BeastBoy, I didn’t mean to sound cruel. But, let’s face it. You have difficulty comprehending the written word as it is without a soliloquy or sense of rhyme.”

“Can so,” he puffed out his chin.

“Prove it, Shakespeare.”

BeastBoy curled his lip, wiping his nose. He cleared his throat. Then again a second time, plainly stalling to think. All the while Raven merely stared with a look of subtle contentment as if having mentally slipped him up.
“R-Roses are red,” he shakily began. “Violets are… pink. I got you on my mind so much, that… it’s really hard to think.” He grinned.

Raven leaned back, somewhat amazed, which she masked with a dull facade. It was simple, it was… ‘semi’-charming, and it even rhymed. “Hmph,” she nodded, looking away. She paused for a moment before looking back towards him.
“Roses are red. Violets are BLUE,” she emphasized, correcting his previous verse. Raven shut her eyes letting her head lean off a bit. She opened her eyes halfway. “You’re dumb, I win. Sad but true.”

BeastBoy frowned, lightly puffing out his cheeks as if Raven had dropped the proverbial microphone at his feet.

She smiled.

“Raven,” came a call.

BeastBoy looked up, as did Raven looking ahead finding Robin signaling her over. She made her way towards the others, BeastBoy trailing behind her.

Cyborg tapped a few buttons on his forearm with a final beep, closing his scanner. “Okay, doesn’t seem to be any interference or residual feedback. So as long as we replicate the precise conditions of whatever made BB disappear, we should be able to bring him back, no problem.” He nodded.

Robin scratched his chin, finding it simple enough.

Starfire clasped her hands together in overwhelming optimism and a warm smile.

Control Freak tugged on his collar, swallowing hard. He wiped a quick bead of sweat from his forehead finding himself to be rather warm.
For all his big talk about being BeastBoy’s only means of safe return he did still have one small problem.

“Alright, Freak,” Robin addressed cautiously, arms folded in serious demeanor as if willing to endure thorough briefing and explanation on his part, “Take us through it.”

“And don’t skimp on the details. How do we bring’im back?” Cyborg added. “What’s the remote’s function?”

Control Freak was sweating more profusely. “Wh-eh…uh…ah… t-that is… uh.” He stammered.

“The function, Freak,” Robin repeated.

“What button?” Cyborg pressed harder. “Is a combination? A multi-function?”

Control Freak’s eyes darted from side to side. Quickly he shook off his uncertainty. “Y-You couldn’t even begin to understand. The complexity of my design, my precise utility allocation. J-Just let me see the remote a-and I’ll bring him back, okay?” He outstretched his hand, dully looking away.

Cyborg and Robin exchanged glances, hardly convinced.

“Well? Come on!” he Impatiently inquired.

“Not happenin’,” Cyborg crossed his arms.

“Just tell us what function and how to use it,” Robin supported. There was no way they were putting that device back in Freak’s hands without due explanation.

Control Freak flinched at their lack of cooperation. “Y-You couldn’t possibly understand h…”

“Man, I took that thing apart forwards, backwards, and sideways”, Cyborg took a step towards him, staring down at him with a hint of impatience. “I know every button’s place, position, and connecting circuit. I may not know ‘how’ it works, but I know its layout like the back of my hand. And so could you.” He warned, lightly grinding the back of his fist against Control Freak’s cheek. “Now tell me how to bring back my friend.”

Control Freak cracked an eye between the cybernetic teen’s knuckles. “Y-You said you wanted my help! A-And I’m here. Here to HELP!”

Cyborg pulled his fist away, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up to eye level letting his feet dangle in the air. “Then why do I get the feelin’ you’re takin’ us for a ride?”

A folded piece of paper dropped out of Control Freak’s coat.

Robin took notice, snatching it up in mid air. He began to unfold the paper, no doubt Control Freak’s notes pertaining to the remote he’d been instructed to provide. But upon looking inside, he merely stared in silence.

Control Freak held up both hands, making no effort to resist. “L-Look if you’ll just let me WAAGH!”

Robin grabbed the back of Control Freak’s jacket yanking him out of Cyborg’s grip and pinning him to the ground. Robin held up the piece of paper an inch from his nose. “Explain. NOW.”

The paper was a crudely drawn diagram of the remote. Jagged arrows with scribbles underneath, most of which was illegible. Only a few words highlighted above certain parts and areas like ‘Awsum’ and ‘Reely Cool’. It also didn’t help matters that the whole thing looked to have been transcribed in crayon.

“Uh… heh-heh,” Control Freak nervously laughed. “Y-Yeah. Um, about that.”

Robin narrowed his eyes. He pulled him up by the collar, staring him down. “You have no idea how you did it, do you?”

“N-No. NO! I mean… not ‘no idea’. ‘An’ idea, sure. Two or three even... maybe. B-But not NO idea, that makes it sound so…”

THUNK!

Robin pushed down hard, knocking the back of his head hard against the ground before instantly pulling him back towards him.

Control Freak timidly twiddled his fingers, innocently looking off to the side. “Okay, yeah I got nothin’.” The cat was finally out of the bag and Control Freak’s dumb luck was brought to bear.

Cyborg grabbed Control Freak’s leg, hoisting him up into the air, upside down. “You mean to tell me this WHOLE time, all that big talk about bein’ the only hope he had, and you ain’t got a clue!”

“Clue, YES!” he franticly tried to wave him off. “Of course I have a clue! I have so many clues! WAH!”

BLAM!

Cyborg dropped him to the ground, to which Control Freak’s face broke his fall.

“We’re not in the mood for more of your grandstanding, Freak.” Robin warned him.

“On my planet, those who tell the lies of dishonor to bolster their own name are slimed and de-speckled of their zorgactz,” Starfire fumed in anger.

“I don’t even know what that means, and I’m all for it.” Cyborg shrugged in agreement.

“Okay, whoa, WHOA!” Control Freak held up his hands. “Look, I honestly got no clue ‘how’ exactly I did… what I did. But it can’t be that hard to figure out. Probably,” he murmured that last bit. “I didn’t exactly have the time to really take stock of the whole situation when it happened. I-I just figured I could piece it together as I went once I got the remote back. Ya gotta’ believe me!” He held his hands in shaking, pleading fashion.

Robin stared hard.

To which Control Freak cringed slightly. But there was nothing he could think to do or say to expand upon his point.

Robin grabbed hold of his jacket, hoisting him up onto his feet, nose to nose with him. “If you try anything, if you hesitate to be anything less than forthcoming with us…”

“I get it, I get it.” He held up his hands, a weight lifted now that the truth was out.

“No, you don’t.” Robin grabbed his shoulder spinning him around.

“GYEH!” he yelped.

Once more, Control Freak was face to face with Raven who’d been slowly been taking this all in. Furrowed brow, a hard frown, and eyes aglow. Raven parted her lips just enough to view her gritted teeth. Hands at her side making a clawing motion.

“Wheh!” Freak was spun back towards Robin.

“Now… you get it.”

A short while later, having given Control Freak enough time to mentally process everything that’d transpired, once more they were ready to proceed.
Starfire and Robin stood on opposite sides of Control Freak, with Cyborg directly behind him. Raven stood front and center, none more eager to have this issue resolved.

“O-Okay. Uh… where is he?” Control Freak asked, clearly referencing the only Titan not visibly accounted for.

Raven only motioned her eyes beside her, before sharply drawing them back on the villain before her. About as close as she was willing to dignify him at all with a response.
BeastBoy indeed stood beside her, having not left her side the entire time.

“A-Alright,” he shakily answered. “Have him stand over there.” Control Freak meekly instructed, pointing to an open space in the courtyard a few feet away.

She silently turned her head giving a small nod. BeastBoy dipped his head, turning and walking towards the spot with Raven following, pausing only briefly to shoot one last warning glare at Control Freak over her shoulder. To which he jolted back a step. Satisfied, she turned back to follow close behind BeastBoy.

The green boy came to a stop at the designated spot as Raven stood beside him.

Despite her imposing, tough outer expression he could feel how nervous she was. Heck, he could feel how nervous HE was. BeastBoy was about to let the same guy who blasted him once before, that took away his body, blast him again. What if he disappeared completely? What if no one could see him after this? Not even Raven? What if it was the big ‘disappear’? The kind with your name on a rock with flowers around it.

“Mm-hmmph” he cleared his throat.

Raven’s eyes slid to the side at him. “Don’t be nervous,” she whispered.

“Nah. Just… um…” he paused. “Just promise me if something… ya know, happens. Just promise… you’ll put a really nice knock-knock joke on the headstone.” He tried to force a smile.

That was his nerves talking. She wanted to tell him to shut up. But just found her staring hard back at Control Freak, watching him like a hawk.

Control Freak was not unaffected by this, letting out a mild shiver as if feeling pins and needles across his back. But he was quick to shrug it off.
“Okay,” he outstretched his hand towards Cyborg, “Let’s get this over with.”

Cyborg looked down at the villain’s open palm, his fingers curling twice as if signaling to be handed something. And he plainly knew what that was.
Cyborg’s chest compartment opened, removing Control Freak’s remote, closing the compartment behind it. Slowly, Cyborg lowered the remote into Freak’s hand.

Control Freak’s fingers coiled tightly around the outer housing, taking a step forward. But he suddenly jerked to a stop, his arm still locked behind him. He looked over his shoulder, down at his hand finding Cyborg’s hand still tightly gripping the remote. He looked up at the teen hero expecting an explanation.

“Remember the deal. It’s only valid once BeastBoy is returned safely.” Robin called.

“Don’t try nothin’ funny,” Cyborg warned.

The air around them suddenly felt heavy causing Control Freak’s knees to buckle.

FWOOM!

The ground beneath him jolted and shook. Freak looked down to see the surrounding patches of grass had sunken and split a few inches in a circular pattern around him replicating a bull’s-eye. And he was right in the center.
He looked back up just in time to see the pale white glow diminish from Raven’s eyes.

“And do not forget it,” Starfire added.

Cyborg released his grip of the remote allowing him full access to the device. He watched as Control Freak shakily took two steps toward BeastBoy’s direction.

“Whoa,” BeastBoy said in a mild state of awe at the bulls-eye, somewhat touched at the gesture. “Look at the size of that crater. You must really miss me,” he smirked.

“You were… are… starting to grow on me.” She kept her voice down, keeping her eyes forward. “And by that I mean in the same way mildew grows in the shower.”

BeastBoy blinked. “So, you think about me in the same way as a place where you’re alone, naked, and wet?” he shrugged. “Yeah, I can get down with that.”

Her eyes flinched to the side, trying hard to project her annoyance amidst the slight redness in her cheeks. “You do realize that any second now you’ll be flesh and blood and non-exempt from physical notions like pain, right?”

BeastBoy smiled, opening his mouth and lifting his pointed finger at her, only to be cut off by a flicker across his midsection. BeastBoy let out a brief whimper dropping to one knee.
His energies were starting to dissipate once more. And even quicker than before.

Raven dropped down beside him, staying at eye level, hands around him but unable to catch or support him.

He cracked one eye open, doing his best to put on an un-concerning look of stable calm. “I’ll hold ya to that if you will.” He forced a smile.

Control Freak inspected his remote, looking at it from every angle. Cyborg’s mention of it being disassembled definitely gave him pause. Checking every button, every screw, any noticeable gap in the casing. Making absolutely certain nothing was out of place.

“Hey, it’s in one piece,” Cyborg impatiently assured. “Not the easiest thing to wrap your head around, but I put it back together just like I found it. I’m thorough like that.”

Control Freak was far from convinced, gently knocking with two fingers on the back of the remote and firmly clutching it with both hands as he vigorously shook the remote. No doubt checking to see if he could hear any loose parts inside.
“Hope you didn’t mess with any of my settings,” he grumpily spoke. “You have any idea how long it took to get all my channel presets just the way I like’em?”

Cyborg sighed in aggravation. Control Freak’s tv habits and optimal binge watching preferences were of little concern.

He held the remote in front of him, trying to re-create the angle of his fingers on the remote after his fall that triggered this scenario. Or at least as best he could from memory. There were other more pressing things at the time that took precedent over where his hand fell.
“So if I hit like that… woulda’ been there… probably pushed here…” he muttered to himself. He moved from button to button, and any combination that could’ve possibly rendered the result it had. Now that he knew he in fact hadn’t destroyed the green Titan, it was a bit easier to put button combinations together.

“Well?” Robin called.

“Don’t rush me,” he whined. “I’m gettin’ it.”

“You had better,” Starfire replied.

“Ew Ad Metter,” he quietly mocked to himself.

PHWING!

“Gah!” he yelped pulling his head between his shoulders.

A beam of green energy blazed just over the top of his head.

“I heard that,” Starfire responded calmly, her eyes diminishing their charge from the recent blast.

“Okay, okay! Sheesh,” he waved her off before turning to Cyborg. “I just hope you charged it before you got here. No way am I responsible if it gives out cause RoboJock didn’t think to change the battery.”

“Hey! I put it back together and got it working just fine,” Cyborg retorted, taking offense at the villain criticizing his workmanship and attempt to shift blame. “You just get it to do what it did or I’ll give YOU a jump start. The low tech way.” Cyborg’s arm converted to his sonic cannon, drawing a bead on the space above Control Freak’s head, about to repeat Starfire’s example.

Control Freak narrowed his eyes exhaling with a sharp hiss between his teeth just before turning away to focus on the task at hand.

Cyborg’s arm returned to standard function turning to give a brief look of prolonged satisfaction at Starfire. Who returned the look with a gratifying smile of her own.

Control Freak cautiously looked from the corner of his eye, making note of the other Titans positions.
He had been formulating a plan. But it was not without risk. He didn’t know if the Titans had rigged any surprises inside of his remote. He couldn’t be certain what level of functionality the remote was in. And most importantly, he hadn’t been able to deduce the battery’s energy level. Was there just enough to restore their friend? More? Less?

But it was now or never. Deal or not, no way was he going back to jail.

“Alright,” he gave a sigh. “We ready to do this?”

“We’ve been ready,” Robin replied.

“Tch!” Control Freak leaned his head off to the side. “Gratitude much?”
He lifted the remote, taking aim at the empty space where his target was supposedly standing. “You may feel a slight tingling sensation. Mild nausea is also completely normal. Other side effects may include headache, fatigue, chills, fever, constipation, involuntary…”

“Just get on with it,” Cyborg called.

“Hey! I’m tryin’ to be thorough here,” Control Freak curtly responded. “You ever pass through dimensional barriers and in between existence? No! So put a sock in it and leave it to the professionals.” He straightened his collar in a poor attempt to look dignified. “Besides, what’s the worst I can do? Un-kill’im?”

Cyborg took a step towards him, but Robin was quick to intervene, calming him from advancing further.

Freak turned his attention back to his reappearing act, curling a small smile to himself.
He pressed a small red button at the top left of the remote.

VREEEEEE

The buttons and panels of the remote lit up and the transmitter at the front of the remote began to glow red. It appeared that the remote had power. Control Freak pressed a few more buttons, making certain the proper settings were in place.
He took a deep breath. He positioned his thumb diagonally across two buttons.

The Titans stood at the ready. Starfire tightly held her hands together in hope as Cyborg crossed his fingers.
Raven took a few small steps to the side of BeastBoy so as not to be in the direct line of fire, but not getting any farther than she had to. Never once taking her eyes off him.

Control Freak pressed the buttons on the remote, discharging a bright blue beam of energy.

BeastBoy watched, wide-eyed as the blast was coming right for him. He briefly turned on his heel as if his reflexes and instincts were kicking into gear under the pretense to run. But he knew better, instead bracing himself to the side with his arms up in front of him, shutting his eyes tight. Maybe it was going to restore him, but there was no guarantee it wasn’t going to hurt.

The blast coalesced into the air around him, expanding into a large portal of light and energy, crackling and flickering all around him.

. . .

After a moment, BeastBoy cautiously popped one eye open scanning all around him. The portal was still intact, its energies crackling and swirling all around him. He didn’t feel anything. And as he patted down his chest and his hips, he was fairly certain he was still in one piece. Now there was just one last detail.
He bent over, running his hand across the ground. Letting his fingers part as they curled downward to rake across the grass.

SSHWOO

His fingers phased right through the grass.

He was still transparent.

And still not adjoined to the physical world.

BeastBoy’s head shot up straight, as if struck by an alarming thought. “R-Rae!” he called frantically, “Can you still…”

“Yes, BeastBoy,” she held up her hands in front of her, doing her best to calm him. “I can still see you. You’re still here.”

BeastBoy let out a brief sigh of relief. But was quick to hang his head as soon as he looked back down, able to see through his hand.

“Yet, we still cannot,” Starfire sadly proclaimed.

BeastBoy’s eyes fell, his posture slumping.

Raven’s hopeful expression momentarily faltered. But no sooner had her resolve hardened, casting a hard look back at the pregenerator of this misfortune. “Why isn’t this working!” she yelled.

Cyborg stepped towards the villain. “Answer the lady,” he ordered in his calmest, threatening tone.

Control Freak pressed a few more buttons on the remote. “Yeah, yeah. Keep your capacitor on. It’s a work in progress.”
Freak aimed the remote at the portal, pressing another button. A second beam shot forward, striking the portal, augmenting its color. The portal flashed red. Then Blue. Then green. Then repeated the cycle.

“Is it working or not?” Robin spoke resentfully from beside him.

“It will, alright,” he threw his hands up in the air, mildly frustrated. “Your lack of faith is disturbing.”

“You haven’t seen ‘disturbed’,” Raven said venomously. “Not yet.”

Starfire could feel her sense of worry, immediately to her side with a hand on her shoulder. Raven shut her eyes, taking a deep breath, calming herself as best as she was able.

Control Freak adjusted a dial on the remote, pressing another switch.

The portal began to fluctuate.

“What did you just do?” Robin drew his staff under Control Freak’s throat.

“Expanded the in-seek parameters,” he narrowed his eyes at the boy wonder. “Making adjustments. Fine-tuning. Can ya follow any of that?”

Robin pressed the staff closer against his skin.

“Ugh!” he huffed in annoyance, “Look, this isn’t a quick fix. He’s been out of his body for a while okay. It’s gonna’ take time.” He pointed forward. “See?”

Robin looked back to the portal as directed. And there, inside the portals energies he could vaguely make out a silhouette.

A shadow.

A shadow with pointy ears.

“He’s been apart for so long it has to recall and gather all the energies that made up his physical form that were previously split apart, and… ‘un-split’ him.” Control Freak reasoned.

Robin was briefly stunned, as were the others. And rightfully so. It was the first solid trace of BeastBoy since his unmitigated disappearance from the physical world. Readings from Cyborg’s scanners were one thing, but seeing it, really seeing it with their own eyes was another.
Robin withdrew his staff from Control Freak’s person, but kept it gripped tightly in hand.

“As long as he stays within the portal till all his energies are back together it’s fine,” Control Freak finished with a small sense of relief, rubbing his throat.

“Beastie?” Cyborg called. “BeastBoy? Can ya hear me?”

BeastBoy slumped to the side. “Never couldn’t hear ya, Cy. I lost my body, not my hearing.”

But BeastBoy’s word’s still couldn’t reach the physical world. The others still were unable to hear him.

Cyborg and Robin shared fleeting glances.

“BeastBoy,” Robin called, “If you can hear us, give us a sign.”

BeastBoy looked at Raven. “What kinda’ sign ya think he’d prefer? I’ve always been partial to the ones that say ‘wet cement’.”

Raven shook her head. “Just…” she paused, quick to block a tear from slipping out of her eye, a little choked up at the prospect of the others able to see him, no matter how limited a capacity. “Just something that let’s them know it’s you.”

BeastBoy thought for a second, scratching his chin.

Robin kept watch, as did Cyborg and Starfire. They watched as the silhouette of their friend raised his arm, making a fist and then extending his thumb and pinky finger, giving a mild twist of the wrist.
A familiar gesture meaning to hang loose. To chill. And BeastBoy was all about chill.

“Alright, B!” Cyborg threw his fist in the air. “Way to pull it together, bro!”

“Oh joy of joys!” Starfire threw her arms around Raven with a laugh, lightly shaking her in elation. “He is the okay!”
Raven merely leaned against her, ignoring the slight nausea of being shaken much more forcefully than Starfire was probably aware. It didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered. At that moment she could just feel a long overdue relief setting in.

Robin watched his friends and companions overjoyed at the imminent return of their formerly departed friend, the feeling of relief contagiously spreading over him as well.

Control Freak shifted his eyes to the side, curling a small smile of his own. Partially at his own ability to think on the fly, to troubleshoot a dilemma others could not, and basically do the impossible. Even if it was only to circumvent his incarceration and equalize the hero population.
But also due to the fact that all eyes were momentarily off him.

This was his chance.

Quickly and quietly he curled his fingers along the side of the remote, softly double tapping a slim panel opposite of the battery casing. The panel sunk into the remote, ejecting a small red button in its place.
His eyes shifted from side to side once more, double-checking that no one was looking. He was only going to get one shot.

He raised his arm above his head with the remote in hand, sinking his head down, covering his face with his other arm. He pressed the button.

BAHWUUUSH!

A powerful shockwave burst from the remote, scattering large particles of blue energy, rippling in all directions.

Robin turned just in time for the maelstrom of energy to hit him full force, knocking him to the ground and sending him tumbling several feet.
Cyborg too was hit by the sudden rushing force, dropping him to one knee as he skidded backwards. His circuitry flickered and sparked, briefly disorienting him as his systems rebooted.

Starfire and Raven both were sent skyward, spiraling through the air. Starfire was quick to steady herself, gradually swiveling and slowing her ascent to a complete stop in air, keeping Raven still tight in her arms, shielding her. She shook her head, clearing the last of the blast’s disorientation from her senses.
“Raven,” she looked down at her companion, “Are you alright?”

Raven straightened her hood with a small cough. “I’m fine, Starfire.” She gently pushed herself away from her friend’s grip, floating in the air on her own. No sooner had she pulled away did Starfire hobble briefly, holding her head. No doubt the blast taking more of a physical toll than she’d presumed. Raven took hold of her shoulder for a moment, letting her regain her bearings, insuring she could sustain flight on her own.
Raven’s head shot up straight, struck by thought, quickly looking back down at the ground.

Robin and Cyborg were down. Each somewhat sluggishly moving and not seemingly in any imminent danger, but equally incapacitated for the moment. That was when she caught motion a short distance away.

Control Freak was off and running, fleeing the scene.

Raven gritted her teeth, lowering her head, dipping the shadow from her hood as she trained on him square in her sights. “How dare you!” she seethed. Her head briefly sank between her shoulders before shooting forward, plunging fast towards the ground.

Control Freak panted heavily between every stride, making for the nearby shops and storefronts just across the street. He knew he didn’t have much time. He needed to hide, to regroup, and to formulate a plan to further his escape.
He peered over his shoulder, shaken by this unnerving sense of danger bearing down on him. That was when he ventured a look upward at the figurative dark cloud thundering down towards him.
He turned, skidding to a stop and swinging his arm forward, aiming his remote. Or at least trying to aim as best he was able due to the fierce shaking of his hand, struggling to steady his grip. He raised his thumb, pressing firmly on one of the remote’s buttons.

CLICK!

Raven was still coming, accelerating towards him, unwavering in the face of his remote plainly aimed at her.

CLICK! CLICK!

Control Freak pressed and pressed, again and again. Shaking the remote, smacking the side of the housing hard with his hand. But to no avail. It was as he feared. His emergency countermeasure that allowed his escape had completely sapped whatever power was left in the battery.
He looked up from his remote in an awkward silence. “Um…” he gave a forced smile as he lifted both hands above his head. “I surrend-EK!”

A black energy talon pinned him to the ground.

Taking a moment to shake off the sudden shock and disorientation of the impact he looked up at Raven, who’d come down on top of him like the bird of her namesake, snatching him like prey, his head locked by the razor sharp talons dug into the ground around his shoulders and waist. All he could do was writhe and wriggle in her tight grip.

“I can send you back to jail,” she hissed with a glint of red in her eye. “But it doesn’t have to be all at once.”

Control Freak blinked with an audible gulp. One look and he could tell she was in no mood for any kind of excuse. And that the only reason he was still in one piece and conscious was because he still had value as far as their friend was concerned.

Which reminded him.

“Yeah?” he wriggled his head up. “Well it’s better than where HE’s goin’,” he gestured behind her with a tilt of his neck.

Raven turned, looking back with eyes wide.

BeastBoy remained within the portal. Or at least what was left of it as it began to collapse in on itself. Slowly it began to shrink and distort, smaller and smaller. And the energies that had previously begun to restore his physical form were beginning to dissipate along with it.
With the remote out of power, there was nothing to bind the portal in place.

Raven watched as BeastBoy bent and twisted himself to stay inside it’s ever shifting energies, trying to stay within it as long as possible.
“BeastBoy!” she shouted, leaping to the air and flying back towards him at high speed. And in doing so dematerialized the talon keeping Control Freak anchored in place, her concentration broken.

Slowly Control Freak sat up, rubbing his shoulders where he’d previously been pinned. He looked over, quickly and quietly crawling over to recover his remote, which he’d dropped just short of where he had recently been subdued. With one last vacant click of a switch to verify the remote was indeed drained of power, he cautiously looked back to verify the other Titans were still down and otherwise occupied as he crawled a few more inches before venturing a return to his feet and resume running.

Raven touched down in front of BeastBoy. “Are you alright?” she asked somewhat frantically.

“Oh, yeah. Me? Great. Perfect. Never better,” he rolled his eyes with a grin, clearly feigning an upbeat demeanor. “Game night next week and you know how I love me some Twister.” He continued to position himself to the ever-changing shape of the portal, still growing smaller around him. “On a side note, THE BAD GUY IS GETTING AWAY!”

Raven looked up from side to side as the portal continued to deteriorate before her eyes. She threw out her hands in front of her. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” she chanted. Ripples of black energy bellowed from her palms, ensnaring the corners of the portal on all sides. Raven tugged her hands back as the energies stretched and pried at the portal, trying to forcibly hold it open.

“Rae, what’re ya doin’?” he asked her, taking a step towards her. “Just let it go and grab Contro…”

“No!” she shouted. “Don’t move! Stay in the portal.”

Briefly shaken, BeastBoy slowly backtracked, stepping back into closer proximity of the portal, which still seemed unstable. But with Raven’s powers now seemingly tethering it in place and holding it open, it was gradually returning to its former size.
He kept his hand somewhat outstretched towards Raven, as if signaling for her not to push herself too hard.

Raven maintained a hardened expression on her face. She was doing her best to hide it, but using her powers to forcibly keep open a portal not of magic based origin was quite a strain. It had only been a minute and already her hands were quivering as a bead of sweat ran down the side of her face.
Neither options nor time were on their side. BeastBoy had already started to flicker once already. It was anyone’s guess before how long it would take before he’d completely start to degenerate like before. And the portal was tied to the remote, which was now out of power. Even if they could recover the remote, there wasn’t time to wait for Cyborg to either recharge or replace the power supply. Then there was still the matter of Control Freak and coercing him into opening the portal again. Another risk. One that she was far less inclined to take in light of recent events. This was the only way.

Several feet from the ground, still lingering in the air, Starfire was shaking off the last of the shockwave’s disorienting effects. With a rub of her head she gazed down at the ground. Among the first things she identified was Raven and her struggle with Control Freak’s portal. Quickly she descended downward.

Raven’s head turned ever so slightly at the notice of movement.

Cyborg’s systems fully reset as his cybernetic components regained their constant blue glow, his eye flashing a full systems check. He steadied himself to his feet.

Robin drove his staff into the ground, pulling himself up. He grunted to himself with a rub of his eyes, mentally berating himself for being so careless.

“Raven,” Starfire called.

Her eyes curved upward as Starfire came in low, touching down behind her.

“What has happened?” she queried. “Is BeastBoy unharmed?”

“And where is that glorified sack of cake batter in a trench coat?” Cyborg huffed, clearly making reference to their absentee captive who’d circumvented their arrangement.

“Gone,” Raven summarized. “And so will BeastBoy if we can’t keep this portal open until he completely re-solidifies.”

Robin quickly surveyed the surrounding area. The rear of the museum would’ve taken too long to cut around and east or west of the grounds would’ve intermingled into any number of police cordoned areas. There was only one direction he could’ve gone.
Dead ahead was the densely packed shopping district, an ideal place to hide and lay low. Not to mention re-supply. More specifically in Freak’s case, acquire a suitable power supply for his remote.
“He won’t get far,” Robin grinded his fist into his palm.

“Raven, will you be the alright unattended?” Starfire asked, concern clear in her voice.

“Fine. Just don’t leave me like this for too long,” she replied with only a brief glance away from the portal, holding her concentration.

“Do not worry, Raven. We shall hasten our apprehension of the Control Freak and bring him back promptly,” Starfire assured.

“What shape he’s in when we do is up for debate though,” Cyborg balled up his fists.

“Titans, Go!” Robin cried, signaling forward their pursuit.

BeastBoy watched as Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg raced off to pick up Control Freak’s trail. He looked back at Raven. Standing firm and strong, holding open the portal with all her will, all her strength. Like she was kicking down the door to the universe itself. Just for him.
He couldn’t help but feel in awe. Like it was too much for any one person to give. Like he didn’t deserve it. Didn’t deserve her.

“Raven, are you… sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“Positive,” she responded never taking her eyes off the portal.

BeastBoy looked at her, carefully. The steadiness of her hands, her shoulders softly rising and falling, her arms trying to hold outstretched firmly. He knew that even with magic there was no such thing as cruise control and that it took effort regardless. He knew this had to be tiring to some degree, but he had no clue as to how much. And would she tell him even if it were?

Raven shifted her eyes away long enough to catch a glance. “Quit it,” she said in between a dull sigh.

“WHAT?” he snapped out of analysis mode as if she’d caught him taking aim with a water balloon in hand. “I didn’t say anything! I didn’t even think it! And if I did, you had all your clothes on when ya did!”

Raven stared at him for a moment.

BeastBoy took a second to gather himself, tripping over his tongue, clearing his throat before nonchalantly crossing his arms.

She shifted focus back to the portal. “You’re thinking that this is too much,” she rolled her head off to the side. “That I’m pushing myself too hard. And my time and energies would be better spent joining the others in pursuing Control Freak.”

He blinked. “I said that?”

“Your eyes did. And probably more eloquently than your mouth could,” she smirked.

“Pfft!” he huffed through his lips. “Well, just for the sake of argument, it is, you are, and it would,” he counted off on his fingers to her mental accusations.

Raven narrowed her eyes somewhat. “One, this is nothing. Two, I’m well within my limits and abilities to hold this portal open long enough for the others to return. And three, if I had managed to find Control Freak before the others, he wouldn’t be in ‘useable’ shape by the time I brought him back here.”

BeastBoy rolled his eyes half-heartedly. He hated it when Raven hid behind logic. “Y-Yeah, but…”

“No buts. I’m fine.” She responded.

There was a brief silence.

“Would ya tell if ya weren’t?”

Her eyes broke away from the portal once more, finding a troubled, saddened expression on his face. Raven’s face softened. She opened her mouth to speak.
But before she could utter the first syllable, her arms jerked her forward, her cast energies encountering mild resistance around the edge of the portal. Raven bit the corner of her lip realigning her focus and stabilizing the portal once more.

BeastBoy’s head shrank back a bit, knowing he’d momentarily broken her concentration, almost able to feel the imminent ‘shut up’ coming.

“BeastBoy,” Raven spoke firmly.

He shut his eyes tight.

“It will be okay.”

He peeked an eye open. Raven’s held her train of thought on the portal. But he could tell there was more she wanted to say.

She took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Really. And the others will be back soon.”

He eased out of his briefly bracing stance.

“After all, Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire are more than a match for Control Freak. Even ‘with’ his remote. Which in this case, is inoperative. How much trouble could he be?”

BeastBoy looked down at his hand. He couldn’t tell if his opacity had improved any, but he could still see through it.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, rotating his hand, looking through his palm. “How much trouble?”

To Be Continued…

Description
Broken Spirit

Chapter 9: Return Policy

It was late in the day, the sun already starting to set as the prisoner transport rolled to a stop downtown with a soft squeal of the brakes. Police had already cordoned off the area. Barriers and detours had been lined along every access street at least a quarter mile in advance.
The reinforced back doors of the transport opened. The clinging sound of chain restraints accompanied footsteps which creaked along the undercarriage as the occupant’s weight redistributed, approaching the exit. Two officers stood at the rear of the vehicle, grabbing hold of his waist and under arms as he dropped from the elevated back of the vehicle onto the pavement on his feet.

“Wha-ah!” Control Freak stumbled briefly, teetering as he dropped far harder than he intended to, hardly any support from his escorts. Met with little to no sympathy the guards lightly shoved him forward.
“Hey!” he barked, drawing back his arm as if entertaining the notion he’d fancy a swing at them. But the officers were none too inclined to take him seriously, not even a flinch between them. One dryly staring him down while the other slung his weapon previously from around his shoulder into his hands. “Hmph!” Freak turned his nose up at the pair, mentally declaring their luck he was in no mood as he casually walked forward.

The museum was still closed as evidenced by the crime scene tape stretched across the main entrance. Cracks across a few scattered segments of walls and the occasional blown out window evidenced it was very much untouched from its previous incident. A few plastic tarps were loosely draped across larger openings and some scaffolding set up along the outside for intended reconstruction at a later time but presently no staff or clean-up crews were on site. In fact no one was. After all stock still had to be taken of the damage to both the building and the exhibits inside. And under the circumstances it was probably best to keep it that way.

The guard gave a light tug on the prisoner’s collar, stopping Control Freak in his tracks. He pulled a set of keys from his belt, unlocking and removing the cuffs from Control Freaks arms and legs, unable to help but give a small chuckle as he undid the ankle restraints. His most previous encounter demonstrated just how light on his feet he really was.

The Titans stood a few feet away, watching and waiting patiently. Starfire remained at the ready as Cyborg accessed the nearby traffic cameras from the surrounding area on his forearm, verifying there were no surprises in store for them. Robin coordinated with the authorities via his communicator, verifying their prisoner had arrived.
A few feet behind them was Raven, who was in the midst of an entirely other in-depth conversation as well.

“… And to Star, I leave that teddy bear she likes so much with the glow in the dark tummy that doubled as my first night light. And give Silkie all my squeaky toys. But, uh… make sure ya clean’em first. They MAY be covered with drool that could be anybody’s and totally not mine.” BeastBoy recounted with precise detail, standing beside her, anxiously rubbing his palms together. “To my best bud, Cy, I leave all my video games. But NOT my comics! He gets motor oil all over the pages. I prefer they be cremated and scattered over my grave.”

“BeastBoy,” Raven ran her fingers through her hair under her hood with a roll of her eyes, “For the last time, you don’t need a will. Enough.”

It wasn’t as though she was taking notes anyway.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Just a last resort. ‘Just in case’ kinda’ thing.”

“You’re going to be fine,” she reassured him calmly with a nod.

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “But ya can’t blame me. In case ya ain’t up on current events, I already kinda’ lost reception once already.”

Raven mused a tilt of her eyebrow. “Hardly all that different. Your brain is pretty much static all the time.”

BeastBoy snapped his head towards her, mouth open as if feigning a gasp. “Yeah? Well just for that, I’m leaving you out of my will.” He crossed his arms defiantly, looking away, turning his head up at her.

“Ah, no. Please. Forgive me. It was the grief talking.” She dryly responded in dull sarcasm.

BeastBoy refused to face her, keeping his chin angled to the sky and his eyes shut. “It’s too late for that,” he shook his head, “You can kiss my socks goodbye.”

She stared briefly. “Socks? Wow. And here I was thinking nothing of value would come out of this relationship,” Raven leaned her head off to the side, looking up at the sky.

BeastBoy peeked one eye open at her as he gradually lowered his head with a few lazy shakes. “If ya gotta’ know, they’re special. They… remind me of you,” he shyly looked away.

“You associate me as socks,” she rolled her head back in his direction with a minor shake of skepticism at him, “You sweet talker you.”

“No. I mean… they’re blue. They’re super soft. And they… really keep me warm and make me feel all tingly inside.” He twiddled his fingers, staring at the ground before slowly venturing a glance up at her.

Raven stared at him. Her expression momentarily locked in neutral, her eyes dead-set. But just as quickly her mouth curled into a small smile. Not the most flattering remark she’d ever received, but true to BeastBoy’s own unique charm, it was no less sweet.

“Either that or maybe I’m allergic to wool,” he nervously smirked.

Raven’s smile faltered, but only long enough for her to shake her head, longing for the chance to shove him to the ground.

The officers brought Control Freak before Robin as he signed off on his communicator. “Orders are we turn him over to you?” the officer verified.

Robin shot a serious stare at Control Freak, narrowing his eyes at the villain.

Control Freak merely gave a sour look of discontent, mildly razzing the teen hero.

Robin turned to Cyborg, who gave a small nod signaling no signs of suspicious activity. He looked back. “Yeah, he’s for us,” The boy wonder nodded, an absence of any real delight in their new arrival.

“Sure you don’t want’em gift wrapped?” the officer inquired, dangling the restraints in plain view.

“Get a life,” Control Freak remarked.

“Get super powers,” the other guard rebutted.

Control Freak rolled his eyes back to the Titans, muttering under his breath with an irritated, pouting expression.

Robin nodded at the two, signaling they were satisfied. “We’ll return him to your custody as soon as we’re finished here.” He took Control Freak by the shoulder and began leading him farther onto the museum grounds, Starfire and Cyborg following on opposite sides.

“Why so glum, Robin?” Control Freak sneered. “I thought you’d be happier to see your only chance of salvation. Your one and only true savior to help snatch your friend from the jaws of oblivion. Your greatest and deadliest foe, now your only true hope. Your-”

Robin spun Control Freak to view, locking eyes with him. “You are what we have. You caused this mess and now you’re going to fix it,” he warned in a calm but ominous tone. “And if you can’t do that, than you can just as easily slip back into your cuffs, restraints, and straight jackets, and whatever other ego boosts you need behind bars.”

Control Freak blinked, all the fun sapped from Robin’s response, narrowing his eyes at the lack of appreciation. Plus… was a little mild sense of intimidation too much to ask?
“Fine,” he pulled back, braking Robin’s grip from his coat with a grin. “Send me back. Lotta’ good it’ll do ‘some people’ not currently residing in the physical plane of existence.” Clearly, he felt the need to remind him of why he was here and clarify his own self-value.

Starfire’s eyes lit up, with a matching green charge building in her right arm. Cyborg audibly cracked his mechanical knuckles with a curl of his lip.
But Robin remained calm and focused. That didn’t mean he wasn’t running his fingers along his bo staff concealed beneath his cape, hoping their detainee would be foolish enough to make an escape attempt so that smirk could be forcibly removed from his face.

Control Freak turned, casually starting back towards his prior escort. “Sheesh,” he snorted over his shoulder, “It’s like ya need a mask with one eye just to be taken seriously around he…”
He turned his head, facing forward only to be met with the coldest, iciest of stares. Two glaring eyes of quiet unrelenting anger shrouded under a veil of darkness.

Raven had come out of nowhere, standing before him, blocking his path. No words spoken, no idle threats. Her eyes were the only thing doing the talking. And Control Freak’s eyes? They were all ears.

He found himself frozen, seeing his reflection in her pupils. A single bead of sweat running down the side of his face, squinting as he could swear he saw a blackness forming around his reflection in her eyes. Swallowing him up like falling into a pit. He could’ve sworn he saw a second pair of eyes forming above her. He could’ve sworn they flickered. Could’ve sworn they burned red. Just like in the interrogation room.

Control Freak slowly took a step back. Then another.

Raven narrowed her eyes.

“Gah!” he yelped, running back behind Robin, cowering briefly before peeking out from behind his shoulder.

“You can leave if you want. You’re free to refuse our deal. And can go back to your confinement,” Robin explained calmly. “It’s your choice. But the choice to leave,” he paused, glancing back at him, “… is that way.” He pointed forward.

Freak traced the path of Robin’s finger to the dark girl whose shadow stopped short of them.

“You can just go back to your nice safe cell,” Cyborg added with a casual smirk.

“Safe. And the quiet,” Starfire commented. “Alone.”

“And in the dark,” Robin finished.

Control Freak swallowed tensely. He knew what they were doing. Empty threats. Intimidation. Oldest trick in the book. He wasn’t going to be swayed. Not by something this blatantly obvious. Besides, they needed him. There was no plan B. It was all on him. They wouldn’t risk their friend’s life on petty revenge, even if they did have it in them. Which he seriously doubted.
So why were his knees knocking? Why were his teeth chattering? Why was there a lump in his throat and a pit in his stomach? Because every time he assured himself how empty their threats were, he shot one quick gaze at Raven. And her eyes? Well… they told a different story. Just one look and he could feel like the ground beneath him would fall away and sink him deep, drowning into darkness.

A flash of that black mass from the interrogation room and its serrated limbs and burning eyes overlaid itself onto Raven. Then just as quickly flashed back to normal.
“Yeh!” he shrieked. Maybe it was the tension of the moment. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. Or maybe reality itself was cautioning him at someone else’s duress.

“W-Well, come on!” he darted in front of Robin, pushing him back with his feet dragging across the ground towards the museum, “I-If we’re gonna’ do this, let’s do it already.” He shakily spoke with forced enthusiasm in between quick glimpses over his shoulder to verify he was putting sufficient distance between himself and… ‘other’ things.

Starfire and Cyborg watched the two pass, pausing only to share a fleeting look of approval before turning to follow.

Raven shut her eyes, hanging her head as she let out a deep breath. The only thing more difficult than controlling anger was letting out just enough before capping it off.

“Dude, it is WAY more fun watching you get mad at someone else,” BeastBoy remarked from behind her, arms crossed.

She shifted her eyes without moving her head. “Speak for yourself. Getting mad at you is far more satisfying,” Raven replied dryly as she started towards the others, trailing behind.

BeastBoy crooked his head at her, watching as she left. Something about that statement sounded off. But he couldn’t tell if it was in a cute, flirty, ‘I miss you’ kinda’ way or an irritated, tired, ‘you’ll be sorry later’ kinda’ way. There was always a fine line with Raven.
“Uh… now, when you say ‘satisfying’…” he asked as he jogged after her.

The other Titans took up position on the far side of the museum grounds. A large open space just off the section of the building where the incident had transpired. The interior was still in shambles and while initially it was the intent to re-create the accident’s conditions exactly, the precise location was not worth the risk. On top of adding to the damage the museum had already sustained the museum was still ripe with exhibits and other displays that Control Freak could easily manipulate and transform to his advantage either to retaliate against them or cover an escape. Which was far too tactically dangerous, deal or not.
Cyborg synced up his scanners with the same software he’d used at the tower to identify BeastBoy’s signal. He needed to be certain there was no interference from the surrounding area. That there was nothing in the area to dilute or otherwise interfere with the remote that could hinder its function. He also needed to verify there weren’t any lingering traces from the first blast that could meddle with their efforts.

Starfire and Robin kept Control Freak under close observation, leaving Cyborg free to assess the situation. While their prisoner impatiently stirred, only occasionally glancing over his shoulder at Raven who kept watch a short distance away.

“It won’t be long now,” she quietly spoke. “You’ll be back to normal before you know it. Or as close as normal dictates for you.”

BeastBoy hardly cracked a quarter of a grin to the left of his mouth as he rolled his eyes up at her before falling back down straight ahead with his head held in his hands, sitting on the ground with his legs folded beside her.

“Then we can pretend this whole thing never happened,” she finished.

“Oh no,” he shook his head with a smug smile and wag of his finger, “Mmm-mm. Nope. Not gonna’ happen. I’ll never make that mistake again.”

“Again?”

“Pretending, I mean.” He kept his sights forward.

Raven paused, her eyes darting upwards, perusing her thoughts. “Every time I think you can’t possibly confuse me anymore you always manage to surpass expectations,” she lightly shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

BeastBoy rested his hands in his lap, looking up at her. “Okay, remember like a week after the bet was over? Our first secret date?”

Raven tilted her head back, struck with some degree of clarity. “It was not a secret date.”

“It was a date and we did it in secret, what do you call it?” he leaned forward with a flex of his brow up at her.

“Off hand, you getting overly attached to me not being able to physically correct you.” Raven crossed her arms.

BeastBoy’s eyes remained locked on her, quietly offering a chance to rebut. But he knew she couldn’t. There was just no other description fitting as evidenced by his smile showing no signs of dissipating.

“Fine. Whatever.” Raven shrugged.

Satisfied, he relaxed his posture. “Well, before that… ‘secret date’,” he intentionally paused, making it stick a little bit longer in her mind. To which Raven sighed internally. “I must’ve studied for like days on how I was gonna’ win you over. Ya know, make a good impression? I tried all different kinds of herbal tea, tried to read books WAY outta’ my league, found the darkest clothes I could find. Seriously, I mean dark. Like light would not catch on these things. I swear, they didn’t cast shadows, they WERE shadows.”

“And what exactly was your objective in all this?” She interjected sharply, noting how easy it was for BeastBoy to get off topic.

“Duh,” he replied with a tilt of his head as if it were obvious. “You.”

“You were trying to impress me?” She blinked.

“Well, maybe not impress,” he scratched behind his ear. “But maybe kinda’ come off as a little more… relatable. Ya know? Like show you I could get into stuff. Be more like you.”

Now there was a potentially dangerous notion.

“I had it all planned out. A few scraps of poetry in my pocket, a list of fancy teas I was gonna’ go on about, and dressed like… well… someone I thought you’d kinda’ notice. Or not, depending how much light there was.”

“As I recall however, that was not the case,” Raven recounted the events to memory.

Indeed, their aforementioned evening was spent at the same arcade they’d previously visited in the midst of Cyborg’s wager. BeastBoy even won a matching aluminum ring at ski ball exactly like the one he got Raven last time for himself. Only his was graced by a sticker of a generic green bird. The matching set between the two I suppose it’d be easy to make a ‘birds of a feather’ remark.
But let’s leave the tedious jokes to BeastBoy, shall we?

This was followed by a stop off at a coffee shop and a walk through the park on the way home. Hardly as disingenuous as BeastBoy’s attempt at masking his persona made it sound, but it was still very much in sync with something he would come up with on his own. And certainly not something he’d avoid credit for doing of his own accord. All in all, it was a nice night about town. And no act or pretending to be someone or something other than himself would’ve afforded them any better an outcome.

“So… what changed?” she asked, curious as to why such a positive experience might not have been the outcome.

His eyes looked to the sky. “Right before I was about to leave my room, I caught one last look at myself in the mirror. And I just thought, ‘Dude. Who are you and what do ya think Raven is gonna’ say to you’?” he shook his head as if unsure what he’d been thinking before looking back at her. “You’d either slam the door in my face, thinkin’ I was makin’ fun of you. Or you’d probably think I’d hit my head.”

“You ‘would’ve had to hit your head pretty hard,” she mused in neutral tone.

“You would know.”

Raven rolled her eyes off to side.

“Anyway, one look at… ‘that’, and I ripped that junk off and deep sixed the whole thing.”

“No faith in yourself?” she looked straight ahead, but only briefly curving her pupils down at him.

“Other way around. I got plenty of faith in ME. Just not me pretending to be someone else. Even if it did go over well, even if I totally hit it off like that, I’d have to keep doing it. Keep being somebody else,” he reasoned. “Ya know how when ya start a lie you have to keep lying just to keep it goin’ till you’re so deep into it ya start to forget what’s real? Same thing. If I spent my all my time trying to be with you as somebody else, you’d never be with me. Like… ‘ME’ me.”

There was a silence. The kind that usually followed a moment of clarity or great personal truth.

Raven gave a soft smile. Letting a sigh escape that was a poor attempt at masking a chuckle, to which BeastBoy quickly picked up on.
“What? Think my odds were better the other way around?” he remarked, he leaned away with a shallow sense of hurt.

“No,” softly covered her mouth, extinguishing the poorly timed laugh. Or at least trying to as a few delayed giggles slipped out. “That bit about you and… poetry.”

He leaned back towards her, raising an eyebrow in questionable fashion. “What’s so funny about that?”

Raven leaned down beside him, wrapping her arms around her knees. “BeastBoy, I didn’t mean to sound cruel. But, let’s face it. You have difficulty comprehending the written word as it is without a soliloquy or sense of rhyme.”

“Can so,” he puffed out his chin.

“Prove it, Shakespeare.”

BeastBoy curled his lip, wiping his nose. He cleared his throat. Then again a second time, plainly stalling to think. All the while Raven merely stared with a look of subtle contentment as if having mentally slipped him up.
“R-Roses are red,” he shakily began. “Violets are… pink. I got you on my mind so much, that… it’s really hard to think.” He grinned.

Raven leaned back, somewhat amazed, which she masked with a dull facade. It was simple, it was… ‘semi’-charming, and it even rhymed. “Hmph,” she nodded, looking away. She paused for a moment before looking back towards him.
“Roses are red. Violets are BLUE,” she emphasized, correcting his previous verse. Raven shut her eyes letting her head lean off a bit. She opened her eyes halfway. “You’re dumb, I win. Sad but true.”

BeastBoy frowned, lightly puffing out his cheeks as if Raven had dropped the proverbial microphone at his feet.

She smiled.

“Raven,” came a call.

BeastBoy looked up, as did Raven looking ahead finding Robin signaling her over. She made her way towards the others, BeastBoy trailing behind her.

Cyborg tapped a few buttons on his forearm with a final beep, closing his scanner. “Okay, doesn’t seem to be any interference or residual feedback. So as long as we replicate the precise conditions of whatever made BB disappear, we should be able to bring him back, no problem.” He nodded.

Robin scratched his chin, finding it simple enough.

Starfire clasped her hands together in overwhelming optimism and a warm smile.

Control Freak tugged on his collar, swallowing hard. He wiped a quick bead of sweat from his forehead finding himself to be rather warm.
For all his big talk about being BeastBoy’s only means of safe return he did still have one small problem.

“Alright, Freak,” Robin addressed cautiously, arms folded in serious demeanor as if willing to endure thorough briefing and explanation on his part, “Take us through it.”

“And don’t skimp on the details. How do we bring’im back?” Cyborg added. “What’s the remote’s function?”

Control Freak was sweating more profusely. “Wh-eh…uh…ah… t-that is… uh.” He stammered.

“The function, Freak,” Robin repeated.

“What button?” Cyborg pressed harder. “Is a combination? A multi-function?”

Control Freak’s eyes darted from side to side. Quickly he shook off his uncertainty. “Y-You couldn’t even begin to understand. The complexity of my design, my precise utility allocation. J-Just let me see the remote a-and I’ll bring him back, okay?” He outstretched his hand, dully looking away.

Cyborg and Robin exchanged glances, hardly convinced.

“Well? Come on!” he Impatiently inquired.

“Not happenin’,” Cyborg crossed his arms.

“Just tell us what function and how to use it,” Robin supported. There was no way they were putting that device back in Freak’s hands without due explanation.

Control Freak flinched at their lack of cooperation. “Y-You couldn’t possibly understand h…”

“Man, I took that thing apart forwards, backwards, and sideways”, Cyborg took a step towards him, staring down at him with a hint of impatience. “I know every button’s place, position, and connecting circuit. I may not know ‘how’ it works, but I know its layout like the back of my hand. And so could you.” He warned, lightly grinding the back of his fist against Control Freak’s cheek. “Now tell me how to bring back my friend.”

Control Freak cracked an eye between the cybernetic teen’s knuckles. “Y-You said you wanted my help! A-And I’m here. Here to HELP!”

Cyborg pulled his fist away, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up to eye level letting his feet dangle in the air. “Then why do I get the feelin’ you’re takin’ us for a ride?”

A folded piece of paper dropped out of Control Freak’s coat.

Robin took notice, snatching it up in mid air. He began to unfold the paper, no doubt Control Freak’s notes pertaining to the remote he’d been instructed to provide. But upon looking inside, he merely stared in silence.

Control Freak held up both hands, making no effort to resist. “L-Look if you’ll just let me WAAGH!”

Robin grabbed the back of Control Freak’s jacket yanking him out of Cyborg’s grip and pinning him to the ground. Robin held up the piece of paper an inch from his nose. “Explain. NOW.”

The paper was a crudely drawn diagram of the remote. Jagged arrows with scribbles underneath, most of which was illegible. Only a few words highlighted above certain parts and areas like ‘Awsum’ and ‘Reely Cool’. It also didn’t help matters that the whole thing looked to have been transcribed in crayon.

“Uh… heh-heh,” Control Freak nervously laughed. “Y-Yeah. Um, about that.”

Robin narrowed his eyes. He pulled him up by the collar, staring him down. “You have no idea how you did it, do you?”

“N-No. NO! I mean… not ‘no idea’. ‘An’ idea, sure. Two or three even... maybe. B-But not NO idea, that makes it sound so…”

THUNK!

Robin pushed down hard, knocking the back of his head hard against the ground before instantly pulling him back towards him.

Control Freak timidly twiddled his fingers, innocently looking off to the side. “Okay, yeah I got nothin’.” The cat was finally out of the bag and Control Freak’s dumb luck was brought to bear.

Cyborg grabbed Control Freak’s leg, hoisting him up into the air, upside down. “You mean to tell me this WHOLE time, all that big talk about bein’ the only hope he had, and you ain’t got a clue!”

“Clue, YES!” he franticly tried to wave him off. “Of course I have a clue! I have so many clues! WAH!”

BLAM!

Cyborg dropped him to the ground, to which Control Freak’s face broke his fall.

“We’re not in the mood for more of your grandstanding, Freak.” Robin warned him.

“On my planet, those who tell the lies of dishonor to bolster their own name are slimed and de-speckled of their zorgactz,” Starfire fumed in anger.

“I don’t even know what that means, and I’m all for it.” Cyborg shrugged in agreement.

“Okay, whoa, WHOA!” Control Freak held up his hands. “Look, I honestly got no clue ‘how’ exactly I did… what I did. But it can’t be that hard to figure out. Probably,” he murmured that last bit. “I didn’t exactly have the time to really take stock of the whole situation when it happened. I-I just figured I could piece it together as I went once I got the remote back. Ya gotta’ believe me!” He held his hands in shaking, pleading fashion.

Robin stared hard.

To which Control Freak cringed slightly. But there was nothing he could think to do or say to expand upon his point.

Robin grabbed hold of his jacket, hoisting him up onto his feet, nose to nose with him. “If you try anything, if you hesitate to be anything less than forthcoming with us…”

“I get it, I get it.” He held up his hands, a weight lifted now that the truth was out.

“No, you don’t.” Robin grabbed his shoulder spinning him around.

“GYEH!” he yelped.

Once more, Control Freak was face to face with Raven who’d been slowly been taking this all in. Furrowed brow, a hard frown, and eyes aglow. Raven parted her lips just enough to view her gritted teeth. Hands at her side making a clawing motion.

“Wheh!” Freak was spun back towards Robin.

“Now… you get it.”

A short while later, having given Control Freak enough time to mentally process everything that’d transpired, once more they were ready to proceed.
Starfire and Robin stood on opposite sides of Control Freak, with Cyborg directly behind him. Raven stood front and center, none more eager to have this issue resolved.

“O-Okay. Uh… where is he?” Control Freak asked, clearly referencing the only Titan not visibly accounted for.

Raven only motioned her eyes beside her, before sharply drawing them back on the villain before her. About as close as she was willing to dignify him at all with a response.
BeastBoy indeed stood beside her, having not left her side the entire time.

“A-Alright,” he shakily answered. “Have him stand over there.” Control Freak meekly instructed, pointing to an open space in the courtyard a few feet away.

She silently turned her head giving a small nod. BeastBoy dipped his head, turning and walking towards the spot with Raven following, pausing only briefly to shoot one last warning glare at Control Freak over her shoulder. To which he jolted back a step. Satisfied, she turned back to follow close behind BeastBoy.

The green boy came to a stop at the designated spot as Raven stood beside him.

Despite her imposing, tough outer expression he could feel how nervous she was. Heck, he could feel how nervous HE was. BeastBoy was about to let the same guy who blasted him once before, that took away his body, blast him again. What if he disappeared completely? What if no one could see him after this? Not even Raven? What if it was the big ‘disappear’? The kind with your name on a rock with flowers around it.

“Mm-hmmph” he cleared his throat.

Raven’s eyes slid to the side at him. “Don’t be nervous,” she whispered.

“Nah. Just… um…” he paused. “Just promise me if something… ya know, happens. Just promise… you’ll put a really nice knock-knock joke on the headstone.” He tried to force a smile.

That was his nerves talking. She wanted to tell him to shut up. But just found her staring hard back at Control Freak, watching him like a hawk.

Control Freak was not unaffected by this, letting out a mild shiver as if feeling pins and needles across his back. But he was quick to shrug it off.
“Okay,” he outstretched his hand towards Cyborg, “Let’s get this over with.”

Cyborg looked down at the villain’s open palm, his fingers curling twice as if signaling to be handed something. And he plainly knew what that was.
Cyborg’s chest compartment opened, removing Control Freak’s remote, closing the compartment behind it. Slowly, Cyborg lowered the remote into Freak’s hand.

Control Freak’s fingers coiled tightly around the outer housing, taking a step forward. But he suddenly jerked to a stop, his arm still locked behind him. He looked over his shoulder, down at his hand finding Cyborg’s hand still tightly gripping the remote. He looked up at the teen hero expecting an explanation.

“Remember the deal. It’s only valid once BeastBoy is returned safely.” Robin called.

“Don’t try nothin’ funny,” Cyborg warned.

The air around them suddenly felt heavy causing Control Freak’s knees to buckle.

FWOOM!

The ground beneath him jolted and shook. Freak looked down to see the surrounding patches of grass had sunken and split a few inches in a circular pattern around him replicating a bull’s-eye. And he was right in the center.
He looked back up just in time to see the pale white glow diminish from Raven’s eyes.

“And do not forget it,” Starfire added.

Cyborg released his grip of the remote allowing him full access to the device. He watched as Control Freak shakily took two steps toward BeastBoy’s direction.

“Whoa,” BeastBoy said in a mild state of awe at the bulls-eye, somewhat touched at the gesture. “Look at the size of that crater. You must really miss me,” he smirked.

“You were… are… starting to grow on me.” She kept her voice down, keeping her eyes forward. “And by that I mean in the same way mildew grows in the shower.”

BeastBoy blinked. “So, you think about me in the same way as a place where you’re alone, naked, and wet?” he shrugged. “Yeah, I can get down with that.”

Her eyes flinched to the side, trying hard to project her annoyance amidst the slight redness in her cheeks. “You do realize that any second now you’ll be flesh and blood and non-exempt from physical notions like pain, right?”

BeastBoy smiled, opening his mouth and lifting his pointed finger at her, only to be cut off by a flicker across his midsection. BeastBoy let out a brief whimper dropping to one knee.
His energies were starting to dissipate once more. And even quicker than before.

Raven dropped down beside him, staying at eye level, hands around him but unable to catch or support him.

He cracked one eye open, doing his best to put on an un-concerning look of stable calm. “I’ll hold ya to that if you will.” He forced a smile.

Control Freak inspected his remote, looking at it from every angle. Cyborg’s mention of it being disassembled definitely gave him pause. Checking every button, every screw, any noticeable gap in the casing. Making absolutely certain nothing was out of place.

“Hey, it’s in one piece,” Cyborg impatiently assured. “Not the easiest thing to wrap your head around, but I put it back together just like I found it. I’m thorough like that.”

Control Freak was far from convinced, gently knocking with two fingers on the back of the remote and firmly clutching it with both hands as he vigorously shook the remote. No doubt checking to see if he could hear any loose parts inside.
“Hope you didn’t mess with any of my settings,” he grumpily spoke. “You have any idea how long it took to get all my channel presets just the way I like’em?”

Cyborg sighed in aggravation. Control Freak’s tv habits and optimal binge watching preferences were of little concern.

He held the remote in front of him, trying to re-create the angle of his fingers on the remote after his fall that triggered this scenario. Or at least as best he could from memory. There were other more pressing things at the time that took precedent over where his hand fell.
“So if I hit like that… woulda’ been there… probably pushed here…” he muttered to himself. He moved from button to button, and any combination that could’ve possibly rendered the result it had. Now that he knew he in fact hadn’t destroyed the green Titan, it was a bit easier to put button combinations together.

“Well?” Robin called.

“Don’t rush me,” he whined. “I’m gettin’ it.”

“You had better,” Starfire replied.

“Ew Ad Metter,” he quietly mocked to himself.

PHWING!

“Gah!” he yelped pulling his head between his shoulders.

A beam of green energy blazed just over the top of his head.

“I heard that,” Starfire responded calmly, her eyes diminishing their charge from the recent blast.

“Okay, okay! Sheesh,” he waved her off before turning to Cyborg. “I just hope you charged it before you got here. No way am I responsible if it gives out cause RoboJock didn’t think to change the battery.”

“Hey! I put it back together and got it working just fine,” Cyborg retorted, taking offense at the villain criticizing his workmanship and attempt to shift blame. “You just get it to do what it did or I’ll give YOU a jump start. The low tech way.” Cyborg’s arm converted to his sonic cannon, drawing a bead on the space above Control Freak’s head, about to repeat Starfire’s example.

Control Freak narrowed his eyes exhaling with a sharp hiss between his teeth just before turning away to focus on the task at hand.

Cyborg’s arm returned to standard function turning to give a brief look of prolonged satisfaction at Starfire. Who returned the look with a gratifying smile of her own.

Control Freak cautiously looked from the corner of his eye, making note of the other Titans positions.
He had been formulating a plan. But it was not without risk. He didn’t know if the Titans had rigged any surprises inside of his remote. He couldn’t be certain what level of functionality the remote was in. And most importantly, he hadn’t been able to deduce the battery’s energy level. Was there just enough to restore their friend? More? Less?

But it was now or never. Deal or not, no way was he going back to jail.

“Alright,” he gave a sigh. “We ready to do this?”

“We’ve been ready,” Robin replied.

“Tch!” Control Freak leaned his head off to the side. “Gratitude much?”
He lifted the remote, taking aim at the empty space where his target was supposedly standing. “You may feel a slight tingling sensation. Mild nausea is also completely normal. Other side effects may include headache, fatigue, chills, fever, constipation, involuntary…”

“Just get on with it,” Cyborg called.

“Hey! I’m tryin’ to be thorough here,” Control Freak curtly responded. “You ever pass through dimensional barriers and in between existence? No! So put a sock in it and leave it to the professionals.” He straightened his collar in a poor attempt to look dignified. “Besides, what’s the worst I can do? Un-kill’im?”

Cyborg took a step towards him, but Robin was quick to intervene, calming him from advancing further.

Freak turned his attention back to his reappearing act, curling a small smile to himself.
He pressed a small red button at the top left of the remote.

VREEEEEE

The buttons and panels of the remote lit up and the transmitter at the front of the remote began to glow red. It appeared that the remote had power. Control Freak pressed a few more buttons, making certain the proper settings were in place.
He took a deep breath. He positioned his thumb diagonally across two buttons.

The Titans stood at the ready. Starfire tightly held her hands together in hope as Cyborg crossed his fingers.
Raven took a few small steps to the side of BeastBoy so as not to be in the direct line of fire, but not getting any farther than she had to. Never once taking her eyes off him.

Control Freak pressed the buttons on the remote, discharging a bright blue beam of energy.

BeastBoy watched, wide-eyed as the blast was coming right for him. He briefly turned on his heel as if his reflexes and instincts were kicking into gear under the pretense to run. But he knew better, instead bracing himself to the side with his arms up in front of him, shutting his eyes tight. Maybe it was going to restore him, but there was no guarantee it wasn’t going to hurt.

The blast coalesced into the air around him, expanding into a large portal of light and energy, crackling and flickering all around him.

. . .

After a moment, BeastBoy cautiously popped one eye open scanning all around him. The portal was still intact, its energies crackling and swirling all around him. He didn’t feel anything. And as he patted down his chest and his hips, he was fairly certain he was still in one piece. Now there was just one last detail.
He bent over, running his hand across the ground. Letting his fingers part as they curled downward to rake across the grass.

SSHWOO

His fingers phased right through the grass.

He was still transparent.

And still not adjoined to the physical world.

BeastBoy’s head shot up straight, as if struck by an alarming thought. “R-Rae!” he called frantically, “Can you still…”

“Yes, BeastBoy,” she held up her hands in front of her, doing her best to calm him. “I can still see you. You’re still here.”

BeastBoy let out a brief sigh of relief. But was quick to hang his head as soon as he looked back down, able to see through his hand.

“Yet, we still cannot,” Starfire sadly proclaimed.

BeastBoy’s eyes fell, his posture slumping.

Raven’s hopeful expression momentarily faltered. But no sooner had her resolve hardened, casting a hard look back at the pregenerator of this misfortune. “Why isn’t this working!” she yelled.

Cyborg stepped towards the villain. “Answer the lady,” he ordered in his calmest, threatening tone.

Control Freak pressed a few more buttons on the remote. “Yeah, yeah. Keep your capacitor on. It’s a work in progress.”
Freak aimed the remote at the portal, pressing another button. A second beam shot forward, striking the portal, augmenting its color. The portal flashed red. Then Blue. Then green. Then repeated the cycle.

“Is it working or not?” Robin spoke resentfully from beside him.

“It will, alright,” he threw his hands up in the air, mildly frustrated. “Your lack of faith is disturbing.”

“You haven’t seen ‘disturbed’,” Raven said venomously. “Not yet.”

Starfire could feel her sense of worry, immediately to her side with a hand on her shoulder. Raven shut her eyes, taking a deep breath, calming herself as best as she was able.

Control Freak adjusted a dial on the remote, pressing another switch.

The portal began to fluctuate.

“What did you just do?” Robin drew his staff under Control Freak’s throat.

“Expanded the in-seek parameters,” he narrowed his eyes at the boy wonder. “Making adjustments. Fine-tuning. Can ya follow any of that?”

Robin pressed the staff closer against his skin.

“Ugh!” he huffed in annoyance, “Look, this isn’t a quick fix. He’s been out of his body for a while okay. It’s gonna’ take time.” He pointed forward. “See?”

Robin looked back to the portal as directed. And there, inside the portals energies he could vaguely make out a silhouette.

A shadow.

A shadow with pointy ears.

“He’s been apart for so long it has to recall and gather all the energies that made up his physical form that were previously split apart, and… ‘un-split’ him.” Control Freak reasoned.

Robin was briefly stunned, as were the others. And rightfully so. It was the first solid trace of BeastBoy since his unmitigated disappearance from the physical world. Readings from Cyborg’s scanners were one thing, but seeing it, really seeing it with their own eyes was another.
Robin withdrew his staff from Control Freak’s person, but kept it gripped tightly in hand.

“As long as he stays within the portal till all his energies are back together it’s fine,” Control Freak finished with a small sense of relief, rubbing his throat.

“Beastie?” Cyborg called. “BeastBoy? Can ya hear me?”

BeastBoy slumped to the side. “Never couldn’t hear ya, Cy. I lost my body, not my hearing.”

But BeastBoy’s word’s still couldn’t reach the physical world. The others still were unable to hear him.

Cyborg and Robin shared fleeting glances.

“BeastBoy,” Robin called, “If you can hear us, give us a sign.”

BeastBoy looked at Raven. “What kinda’ sign ya think he’d prefer? I’ve always been partial to the ones that say ‘wet cement’.”

Raven shook her head. “Just…” she paused, quick to block a tear from slipping out of her eye, a little choked up at the prospect of the others able to see him, no matter how limited a capacity. “Just something that let’s them know it’s you.”

BeastBoy thought for a second, scratching his chin.

Robin kept watch, as did Cyborg and Starfire. They watched as the silhouette of their friend raised his arm, making a fist and then extending his thumb and pinky finger, giving a mild twist of the wrist.
A familiar gesture meaning to hang loose. To chill. And BeastBoy was all about chill.

“Alright, B!” Cyborg threw his fist in the air. “Way to pull it together, bro!”

“Oh joy of joys!” Starfire threw her arms around Raven with a laugh, lightly shaking her in elation. “He is the okay!”
Raven merely leaned against her, ignoring the slight nausea of being shaken much more forcefully than Starfire was probably aware. It didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered. At that moment she could just feel a long overdue relief setting in.

Robin watched his friends and companions overjoyed at the imminent return of their formerly departed friend, the feeling of relief contagiously spreading over him as well.

Control Freak shifted his eyes to the side, curling a small smile of his own. Partially at his own ability to think on the fly, to troubleshoot a dilemma others could not, and basically do the impossible. Even if it was only to circumvent his incarceration and equalize the hero population.
But also due to the fact that all eyes were momentarily off him.

This was his chance.

Quickly and quietly he curled his fingers along the side of the remote, softly double tapping a slim panel opposite of the battery casing. The panel sunk into the remote, ejecting a small red button in its place.
His eyes shifted from side to side once more, double-checking that no one was looking. He was only going to get one shot.

He raised his arm above his head with the remote in hand, sinking his head down, covering his face with his other arm. He pressed the button.

BAHWUUUSH!

A powerful shockwave burst from the remote, scattering large particles of blue energy, rippling in all directions.

Robin turned just in time for the maelstrom of energy to hit him full force, knocking him to the ground and sending him tumbling several feet.
Cyborg too was hit by the sudden rushing force, dropping him to one knee as he skidded backwards. His circuitry flickered and sparked, briefly disorienting him as his systems rebooted.

Starfire and Raven both were sent skyward, spiraling through the air. Starfire was quick to steady herself, gradually swiveling and slowing her ascent to a complete stop in air, keeping Raven still tight in her arms, shielding her. She shook her head, clearing the last of the blast’s disorientation from her senses.
“Raven,” she looked down at her companion, “Are you alright?”

Raven straightened her hood with a small cough. “I’m fine, Starfire.” She gently pushed herself away from her friend’s grip, floating in the air on her own. No sooner had she pulled away did Starfire hobble briefly, holding her head. No doubt the blast taking more of a physical toll than she’d presumed. Raven took hold of her shoulder for a moment, letting her regain her bearings, insuring she could sustain flight on her own.
Raven’s head shot up straight, struck by thought, quickly looking back down at the ground.

Robin and Cyborg were down. Each somewhat sluggishly moving and not seemingly in any imminent danger, but equally incapacitated for the moment. That was when she caught motion a short distance away.

Control Freak was off and running, fleeing the scene.

Raven gritted her teeth, lowering her head, dipping the shadow from her hood as she trained on him square in her sights. “How dare you!” she seethed. Her head briefly sank between her shoulders before shooting forward, plunging fast towards the ground.

Control Freak panted heavily between every stride, making for the nearby shops and storefronts just across the street. He knew he didn’t have much time. He needed to hide, to regroup, and to formulate a plan to further his escape.
He peered over his shoulder, shaken by this unnerving sense of danger bearing down on him. That was when he ventured a look upward at the figurative dark cloud thundering down towards him.
He turned, skidding to a stop and swinging his arm forward, aiming his remote. Or at least trying to aim as best he was able due to the fierce shaking of his hand, struggling to steady his grip. He raised his thumb, pressing firmly on one of the remote’s buttons.

CLICK!

Raven was still coming, accelerating towards him, unwavering in the face of his remote plainly aimed at her.

CLICK! CLICK!

Control Freak pressed and pressed, again and again. Shaking the remote, smacking the side of the housing hard with his hand. But to no avail. It was as he feared. His emergency countermeasure that allowed his escape had completely sapped whatever power was left in the battery.
He looked up from his remote in an awkward silence. “Um…” he gave a forced smile as he lifted both hands above his head. “I surrend-EK!”

A black energy talon pinned him to the ground.

Taking a moment to shake off the sudden shock and disorientation of the impact he looked up at Raven, who’d come down on top of him like the bird of her namesake, snatching him like prey, his head locked by the razor sharp talons dug into the ground around his shoulders and waist. All he could do was writhe and wriggle in her tight grip.

“I can send you back to jail,” she hissed with a glint of red in her eye. “But it doesn’t have to be all at once.”

Control Freak blinked with an audible gulp. One look and he could tell she was in no mood for any kind of excuse. And that the only reason he was still in one piece and conscious was because he still had value as far as their friend was concerned.

Which reminded him.

“Yeah?” he wriggled his head up. “Well it’s better than where HE’s goin’,” he gestured behind her with a tilt of his neck.

Raven turned, looking back with eyes wide.

BeastBoy remained within the portal. Or at least what was left of it as it began to collapse in on itself. Slowly it began to shrink and distort, smaller and smaller. And the energies that had previously begun to restore his physical form were beginning to dissipate along with it.
With the remote out of power, there was nothing to bind the portal in place.

Raven watched as BeastBoy bent and twisted himself to stay inside it’s ever shifting energies, trying to stay within it as long as possible.
“BeastBoy!” she shouted, leaping to the air and flying back towards him at high speed. And in doing so dematerialized the talon keeping Control Freak anchored in place, her concentration broken.

Slowly Control Freak sat up, rubbing his shoulders where he’d previously been pinned. He looked over, quickly and quietly crawling over to recover his remote, which he’d dropped just short of where he had recently been subdued. With one last vacant click of a switch to verify the remote was indeed drained of power, he cautiously looked back to verify the other Titans were still down and otherwise occupied as he crawled a few more inches before venturing a return to his feet and resume running.

Raven touched down in front of BeastBoy. “Are you alright?” she asked somewhat frantically.

“Oh, yeah. Me? Great. Perfect. Never better,” he rolled his eyes with a grin, clearly feigning an upbeat demeanor. “Game night next week and you know how I love me some Twister.” He continued to position himself to the ever-changing shape of the portal, still growing smaller around him. “On a side note, THE BAD GUY IS GETTING AWAY!”

Raven looked up from side to side as the portal continued to deteriorate before her eyes. She threw out her hands in front of her. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” she chanted. Ripples of black energy bellowed from her palms, ensnaring the corners of the portal on all sides. Raven tugged her hands back as the energies stretched and pried at the portal, trying to forcibly hold it open.

“Rae, what’re ya doin’?” he asked her, taking a step towards her. “Just let it go and grab Contro…”

“No!” she shouted. “Don’t move! Stay in the portal.”

Briefly shaken, BeastBoy slowly backtracked, stepping back into closer proximity of the portal, which still seemed unstable. But with Raven’s powers now seemingly tethering it in place and holding it open, it was gradually returning to its former size.
He kept his hand somewhat outstretched towards Raven, as if signaling for her not to push herself too hard.

Raven maintained a hardened expression on her face. She was doing her best to hide it, but using her powers to forcibly keep open a portal not of magic based origin was quite a strain. It had only been a minute and already her hands were quivering as a bead of sweat ran down the side of her face.
Neither options nor time were on their side. BeastBoy had already started to flicker once already. It was anyone’s guess before how long it would take before he’d completely start to degenerate like before. And the portal was tied to the remote, which was now out of power. Even if they could recover the remote, there wasn’t time to wait for Cyborg to either recharge or replace the power supply. Then there was still the matter of Control Freak and coercing him into opening the portal again. Another risk. One that she was far less inclined to take in light of recent events. This was the only way.

Several feet from the ground, still lingering in the air, Starfire was shaking off the last of the shockwave’s disorienting effects. With a rub of her head she gazed down at the ground. Among the first things she identified was Raven and her struggle with Control Freak’s portal. Quickly she descended downward.

Raven’s head turned ever so slightly at the notice of movement.

Cyborg’s systems fully reset as his cybernetic components regained their constant blue glow, his eye flashing a full systems check. He steadied himself to his feet.

Robin drove his staff into the ground, pulling himself up. He grunted to himself with a rub of his eyes, mentally berating himself for being so careless.

“Raven,” Starfire called.

Her eyes curved upward as Starfire came in low, touching down behind her.

“What has happened?” she queried. “Is BeastBoy unharmed?”

“And where is that glorified sack of cake batter in a trench coat?” Cyborg huffed, clearly making reference to their absentee captive who’d circumvented their arrangement.

“Gone,” Raven summarized. “And so will BeastBoy if we can’t keep this portal open until he completely re-solidifies.”

Robin quickly surveyed the surrounding area. The rear of the museum would’ve taken too long to cut around and east or west of the grounds would’ve intermingled into any number of police cordoned areas. There was only one direction he could’ve gone.
Dead ahead was the densely packed shopping district, an ideal place to hide and lay low. Not to mention re-supply. More specifically in Freak’s case, acquire a suitable power supply for his remote.
“He won’t get far,” Robin grinded his fist into his palm.

“Raven, will you be the alright unattended?” Starfire asked, concern clear in her voice.

“Fine. Just don’t leave me like this for too long,” she replied with only a brief glance away from the portal, holding her concentration.

“Do not worry, Raven. We shall hasten our apprehension of the Control Freak and bring him back promptly,” Starfire assured.

“What shape he’s in when we do is up for debate though,” Cyborg balled up his fists.

“Titans, Go!” Robin cried, signaling forward their pursuit.

BeastBoy watched as Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg raced off to pick up Control Freak’s trail. He looked back at Raven. Standing firm and strong, holding open the portal with all her will, all her strength. Like she was kicking down the door to the universe itself. Just for him.
He couldn’t help but feel in awe. Like it was too much for any one person to give. Like he didn’t deserve it. Didn’t deserve her.

“Raven, are you… sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“Positive,” she responded never taking her eyes off the portal.

BeastBoy looked at her, carefully. The steadiness of her hands, her shoulders softly rising and falling, her arms trying to hold outstretched firmly. He knew that even with magic there was no such thing as cruise control and that it took effort regardless. He knew this had to be tiring to some degree, but he had no clue as to how much. And would she tell him even if it were?

Raven shifted her eyes away long enough to catch a glance. “Quit it,” she said in between a dull sigh.

“WHAT?” he snapped out of analysis mode as if she’d caught him taking aim with a water balloon in hand. “I didn’t say anything! I didn’t even think it! And if I did, you had all your clothes on when ya did!”

Raven stared at him for a moment.

BeastBoy took a second to gather himself, tripping over his tongue, clearing his throat before nonchalantly crossing his arms.

She shifted focus back to the portal. “You’re thinking that this is too much,” she rolled her head off to the side. “That I’m pushing myself too hard. And my time and energies would be better spent joining the others in pursuing Control Freak.”

He blinked. “I said that?”

“Your eyes did. And probably more eloquently than your mouth could,” she smirked.

“Pfft!” he huffed through his lips. “Well, just for the sake of argument, it is, you are, and it would,” he counted off on his fingers to her mental accusations.

Raven narrowed her eyes somewhat. “One, this is nothing. Two, I’m well within my limits and abilities to hold this portal open long enough for the others to return. And three, if I had managed to find Control Freak before the others, he wouldn’t be in ‘useable’ shape by the time I brought him back here.”

BeastBoy rolled his eyes half-heartedly. He hated it when Raven hid behind logic. “Y-Yeah, but…”

“No buts. I’m fine.” She responded.

There was a brief silence.

“Would ya tell if ya weren’t?”

Her eyes broke away from the portal once more, finding a troubled, saddened expression on his face. Raven’s face softened. She opened her mouth to speak.
But before she could utter the first syllable, her arms jerked her forward, her cast energies encountering mild resistance around the edge of the portal. Raven bit the corner of her lip realigning her focus and stabilizing the portal once more.

BeastBoy’s head shrank back a bit, knowing he’d momentarily broken her concentration, almost able to feel the imminent ‘shut up’ coming.

“BeastBoy,” Raven spoke firmly.

He shut his eyes tight.

“It will be okay.”

He peeked an eye open. Raven’s held her train of thought on the portal. But he could tell there was more she wanted to say.

She took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Really. And the others will be back soon.”

He eased out of his briefly bracing stance.

“After all, Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire are more than a match for Control Freak. Even ‘with’ his remote. Which in this case, is inoperative. How much trouble could he be?”

BeastBoy looked down at his hand. He couldn’t tell if his opacity had improved any, but he could still see through it.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, rotating his hand, looking through his palm. “How much trouble?”

To Be Continued…