All or Nothing

“All or Nothing”
Summary: It’s been a week since the practical joke that led Beast Boy to reveal his feelings for Raven. To all appearances, life at the Tower has remained unaltered, but with that spark of romance, both BB and Raven are now feeling a little lighter on their feet. When Slade’s robotic henchmen crash a street dance, the Teen Titans are catapulted into action. Sequel to “It’s only Funny Until Someone Gets Hurt”.
A/N: Contains minor spoilers for the episode “Titan Rising” and is rated PG for smooches! The song “All or Nothing” is performed by O-Town.

The Teen Titans could hear the music pounding from at least a mile away as they approached in the T-Car. There were at least three street dances every summer: one right when school got out, one on the Fourth of July, and one later, before school started again. This dance, the Last Blast of Summer dance, was Beast Boy’s favorite. Usually because he met more girls at this one, but tonight was going to be different: Beast Boy had a date.

“These dances are ridiculous,” muttered Raven as the Teen Titans locked the T-Car and walked toward the blocked off section of street in which the party was being held. Starfire was more excited than she had been for a long time. Robin clutched her hand and pulled her toward the dance floor, wasting no time showing her that this was one of his favorite times of the year, too.

“You know, Raven, this could be considered our second date,” Beast Boy remarked, raising his eyebrows at his blue cloaked teammate.

“I went to that pointless movie with you but I don’t think a crowded street dance qualifies as a date,” Raven replied. The pulse-pounding music died down and a new song started seconds later. Beast Boy looked at Raven and extended a hand to her. The love song that was playing now was just what the doctor ordered.

“You know I'd fight for you
But how can I fight someone who isn't even there?
I've had the rest of you now I want the best of you
I don't care if that's not fair
Cause I want it all
or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall
When you reach the bottom it's now or never
Is it all or are we just friends?”

Raven saw the look in Beast Boy’s eyes and gingerly took his hand, letting him lead her to the floor. He gently pulled her closer and, to Raven’s surprise, took the lead. Robin obviously had taught him a thing or two since the last dance. She smirked as the thought of Robin and Beast Boy slow dancing through the living room materialized in her mind.

“Cause you and I
Could lose it all if you've got no more room
No room inside for me in your life
Cause I want it all or nothing at all
There's no where left to fall it's now or never
Is it all or nothing at all
There's no where left to fall
When you reach the bottom
It's now or never
Is it all or are we just friends
Is this how it ends with a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all...”

Raven had never liked to dance, but tonight, something had changed. Raven took the initiative and laid her head on Beast Boy’s shoulder. Beast Boy, surprised by this boldly emotional move, blushed like mad but smiled all the same. He tightened his grip more snuggly around her and murmured in her ear, “I’m glad you came tonight, Raven.”

“Me, too,” she replied. Raven had never taken much stock in Starfire’s theory that one had to feel flight to attain it, but half way through the song, Beast Boy realized that his feet were no longer touching the ground: the two were literally dancing on air, inches above the asphalt. Beast Boy’s pointed ears twitched happily. “Raven!” he whispered, “We’re floating!” Raven simply smiled and continued to dance.

Minutes later, a tremor rocked the streets and the music stopped. Up from the ground surged a legion of gray clad robotic soldiers. The Teen Titans didn’t even flinch as they launched into action.

“Cyborg! Beast Boy! Titans Blitz!” Robin shouted, running parallel to Cyborg’s path. Starfire flew overhead with Beast Boy in her arms. Strategically, she dropped him over Robin’s head and the Robin caught the now armadillo Beast Boy. Robin shot a lateral across to Cyborg, who launched Beast Boy as hard as he could into the oncoming rabble. Mid-air, Beast Boy transformed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex and landed square on his large feet. He leaned his easily 10 foot long head down closer the encroaching army and took a deep breath before roaring at the top of his lungs. Thrashing his head around and swinging his tail, Beast Boy took out groups of the goons at a time. Starfire covered him from the air, taking out the distracted foot soldiers as they tried to concentrate on the raging T-Rex before them. As Starfire threw her barrage of star bolts, Raven swooped and soared, dodging the flak coming from the artillery. She paused mid-flight for a second, curled up in the air as if gathering her energy and shouted, “Azarath, Metreon, Zinthos!” The black explosion of energy that issued from Raven’s body crackled in the hot summer air as she used any heavy object in sight to throw at the source of the weapons fire.

Another ground-shaking tremor split the earth open and another wave of foot soldiers came forth. The force of the second earthquake threw all but Raven to the ground. Raven flew over the next block, violently tore up a chunk of the street and took it with her back over to defend her friends. But just as she threw the section of asphalt, she felt a small prick in her back, as though she had been bitten by some small insect. But this was no insect. The contraption was like a shut off valve. Slowly, Raven lost the use of her powers, and then, lost consciousness.

Raven had never felt more vulnerable than she did right now. She struggled against shackles that bound her to an x-shaped standing cross. Her powers had been rendered useless by the small round object in the middle of her back. The neural inhibitor had been a new invention of Slade’s, and Raven, with her amazing mental capabilities, had been a prime target.

It had only been a small mistake that led to her capture. She was flying overhead with the large piece of street high above her, gripped tightly by her telekinetic powers, moving faster than she probably should have been going. Beast Boy was screaming as three of the henchmen held him down long enough for a fourth to attach an inhibitor. Not even his tyrannosaurus form could have done him any good now.

“Nobody endangers my friends!” Raven had growled, “Especially not him!” Raven had thrown the chunk of pavement, only to have another henchman on a glider swoop in and use a small launcher to shoot another inhibitor, hitting her square in the back. Raven had screamed as her concentration gave way and she started to fall. She couldn’t believe she had been caught. Raven lost consciousness as she plummeted to the ground.

“Raven!” Robin screamed, running to try to catch her. “Cyborg, help me out here!”

“You got it Robin!” Cyborg shouted, picking Robin up and throwing him in the direction of his target. Robin caught Raven before she hit the ground, but that didn’t keep the gray suited, overly muscular henchmen from stealing her away from him and throwing both he and Cyborg against the brick wall of the nearest building. Cyborg shook off the dizziness produced by the impact and saw that Beast Boy was miraculously still trying to fight off the goons, even though they were easily three times his size.

“Beast Boy!” Cyborg screamed, getting up and using his arm cannon to vanquish the last of the remaining goons before the rest fled with their prize limp in their arms: Raven.

“NO!” Robin screamed after them. It was no use. They were gone too fast. Robin turned around and ran with Cyborg to where Beast Boy lay on the ground.
“Beast Boy!” Cyborg shouted, dropping to his knees and lifting the smallest Titan into his arms. “Wake up, man!” Slowly, Beast Boy forced his eyes open.
“Raven...” he whimpered, “Where’s Raven?” Cyborg guarded his little friend as he and Robin told him that Raven, and probably Starfire too, had been captured by Slade. As the weary Titans caught their breath, Beast Boy reminded them about the inhibitor on his back. Robin removed the mechanism from Beast Boy’s uniform and the changeling sighed in relief.

“Are you strong enough to help us look for the girls?” Robin asked.

“Yes,” Beast Boy replied, setting his jaw and giving Robin a look of determination. The three teenage heroes didn’t need to look far to find Starfire. She was lying over a light pole, unconscious. Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla, climbed the pole, and brought her back down.

When Beast Boy reached the ground, Starfire was starting to come around.

“What has happened?” Starfire asked weakly. She looked around for a moment and then asked, “Where is Raven?” Profoundly saddened, Beast Boy told her what happened. Starfire sat up immediately and drifted into the air.

“Why do we remain in this place? Should we not be seeking our friend to facilitate her rescue?” Starfire asked.

“Boo yeah!” Cyborg shouted.

“Yes!” cried Beast Boy.

“Oh, yeah!” Robin added, grinning in determination as the remaining Titans began to follow the trail that would eventually lead them to their missing friend, and to the real danger: Slade.

Deep underground, in Slade’s newest lair, Slade himself approached his young captive.

“Let me go! What do you want with me?” Raven cried.

“You are such a delicate flower, aren’t you, Raven? It takes a careful balance of feelings and daily meditation for you to keep your powers restrained, doesn’t it?” Slade probed, his voice a deadly calm that gave Raven goose bumps up and down her arms. Still, she exuded an air of determination, growling at her captor, “I’m not the type that people usually refer to as a flower.”

There was a force field surrounding the cross in the center of the lab. The faint bluish color of the energy mildly distorted the surroundings, but not enough to disorient her by much. Without warning, Slade punched his fist against the force field, causing a loud distortion. Raven screamed and fought to control her heart rate. If the fear she was starting to feel consumed her, there would be no stopping the darkness that lurked just below the surface, waiting for an excuse to escape.

“Go ahead, Titan. Get angry. Become deathly afraid. My latest invention feeds off the emotional extremes that you are so famous for controlling. It takes the energy you unleash and converts it into an energy source for a laser cannon that will locate and destroy the Teen Titans once and for all.” Slade announced. Raven took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

“Azarath, metreon, zinthos,” she whispered. As she attempted her meditation, Slade pushed a button on a remote console and caused a robotic arm to drop down from the ceiling above Raven. It looked like a stun gun, but Raven had no idea that it could cause as much pain as it did when it first touched her. The end of the gun made contact with her abdomen and she screamed in pain as the whole muscle group contracted at once. Clearly, this contraption was there to make sure she couldn’t concentrate long enough to control her powers. Biting back tears, Raven tried once again to concentrate. The stunner chose another area of her body and shocked her. She screamed again, this time losing the battle to keep from crying.

“Yes, that’s it. Helpless, hopeless, fearful, sorrowful; allow yourself to feel it all. This stun gun is another of my inventions. It’s called the Shockwave. I trust from your reaction that it’s doing its job well,” Slade continued, walking around the force field and nodding in approval. Raven couldn’t find the words to say. There was nothing she could do. Or was there? Taking another deep breath, Raven wondered if it was only negative energy that the machine fed on. Perhaps if she thought of something happy, she could drive the machine into overload.

With this, she envisioned being at the top of Titans Tower, sitting on the roof and watching the sunset as she meditated. She imagined the distant twitter of birds, the light breeze ruffling her hair and her costume, and the peace and quiet. Then she pictured her friends. They were playing volleyball behind her, just as they had when Terra had returned. It was so peaceful...but there was something missing from her equation. She remembered in a heartbeat: Him. She pictured Beast Boy running to catch the ball and tumbling down beneath her, just barely catching the ball before he skidded off the roof. Raven allowed herself a half smile. In her vision, she floated down out of her meditation and sat down at the edge of the roof. The Beast Boy in the dream smiled and sat down beside her. He looked at her with that shy, not quite sure of himself smile, making Raven’s heart beat just a little faster, but in a good way. He took hold of her hand and she smiled back—Just a little. She felt needed and cared about.

The scene changed seconds later and Raven was seeing the practice arena in the Tower.  Beast Boy was dancing to some familiar pop tune, attempting to emulate the sensation of holding a partner in his arms.  Just as he tripped over an errant shoelace, Robin walked into the room.  Robin laughed and helped Beast Boy up off the ground.  

“Practicing for the dance?” Robin chuckled.  

“I’m hopeless.  I can out-dance ‘em all when I’m going solo, but I want be able to dance with Raven,” Beast Boy lamented.  

“Well, your first mistake is that you’re not leading,” Robin said, pulling Beast Boy to him and placing his hands where they should be.  With this, Robin took the lead and pulled Beast Boy in the direction he needed to go.  Beast Boy gasped in understanding.  

“Let me try!” Beast Boy said, pulling free from the embrace. A minute later, Beast Boy was successfully leading Robin across the floor.  Neither of the boys realized that Raven had been in the observation room watching them, laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.  

But as lovely as the dream was feeling, she suddenly got the sensation that something was being drained from her. She shook her head to dispel the dream and noted that the room consuming cannon had powered up and was charging off her emotions: even the happy ones. Defeated, she again attempted to meditate. Once again, the shockwave gun chose a tender area of her body and stung, making Raven scream in pain. She didn’t dare get angry or scared: it would destroy her friends. Lost for words and emotions, Raven cried once again.

High above, the Teen Titans were scouring the streets, searching for their missing teammate. Robin checked his communicator and discovered that it had finally located the tracking device that each Titan carried in his or her communicator. As Raven’s was in her belt, Slade never knew that it was broadcasting the location of his lair loud and clear.

Following the signal, the Teen Titans burst into an underground laboratory. The room was riddled with machinery, and there was a containment field at the center. There were restraints at the center, and in the middle of the floor inside the containment field was the one thing Robin didn’t plan for, Beast Boy’s worst fear: Raven’s belt. No one was in this dimly lit duplicate lair except them--the Teen Titans were facing another dead end.

“How are we ever going to find Raven now?!” wailed Starfire. She floated down out of the air and buried her face in her hands.

“We can’t just give up! C’mon, y’all, Raven’s out there somewhere! She would never give up on any of us, so we owe it to her to find her!” Cyborg yelled. Starfire looked up and the others nodded in agreement. They were about to proceed when a low rumbling nearly shook them off their feet. The ear-splitting roar that pierced the air shortly after made all of their hearts skip a beat.

“No!” Beast Boy shouted.

“Plasmus!” Robin cried.

The battle that ensued pushed the Teen Titans to their limits. Cyborg would later comment that it was like having one hand tied behind their backs to be without Raven. When Plasmus threw Beast Boy across the room, he swiftly morphed out of his T-Rex form, hitting the wall as his normal, green humanoid form. Yards ahead of him, Cyborg was running toward the gigantic super-villain, a crouching Starfire perched in his massive hand. As though he were playing football, Cyborg yelled, “Twenty-four! Thirty-two! Titans, hut!”

Using all the strength in his arm, Cyborg propelled his remaining female teammate toward Robin who waited high above on a ledge. Starfire reached out and grabbed Robin’s hands, pulling him with her and sling-shooting him around to execute the final blow that would knock Plasmus all the way back to la-la land. As this was happening, Beast Boy thought he heard something above the roar of the action around him. He took a few running steps in the direction of the sound, not quite believing it was true.

“Raven?” he called. A scream of agony met the young Titan’s ears. Whatever Slade was doing, he was torturing her, and Beast Boy wasn’t about to let it go on much longer. The other Titans were catching their breath when Beast Boy reached them again.

“I think I found Raven! This way!” Beast Boy cried, turning into a cheetah and running along the roughly hewn passageway that led further down into the earth. About three meters down, there was another tremor and the Teen Titans reeled in an attempt to keep their balance on the unstable ground. Just then, Robin’s communicator went off. It was Slade.

“Hello Robin. I underestimated your friend. She is made of sterner stuff than any young woman I have ever seen,” Slade commented. Robin could feel Beast Boy’s teeth grind as well as his own. Cyborg’s finger joints cracked as he squeezed his fists and Starfire’s eyes nearly threw sparks.

“Let her go, Slade!” Robin demanded. Slade’s eyes narrowed behind his mask.

“You want her? Come and get her. But I warn you, the laser cannon that she is powering right now is trained on each of you. If she feels anything too much you will all be destroyed,” Slade explained to the horror of the four teens listening. When Robin’s communicator clicked off, Starfire gasped, Beast Boy cried out, and Cyborg lifted his arm cannon in defense from a large, burrowing tank with a huge laser cannon in the turret.

It only took seconds for the machine’s built in tentacles to seize each of the teens and hold them each against the walls of the tunnel. Starfire focused all her energy into her star bolts and milliseconds later, a blinding flash of light issued from her eyes and hit directly against the side of the tank. From his position, Cyborg was using his finger as a cutting torch and was trying to cut through the tentacle that held him where he was. Off in the distance, Raven screamed again, “No! Stop it!”

Beast Boy couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “The machine must be connected to her! If we fight the machine, we’re hurting Raven!” In a daring move, Beast Boy morphed into a small songbird and easily slipped out of the restraint of the tentacles. Growing into a hawk, Beast Boy took off down the shaft, toward the source of the screaming.

Down in Slade’s real lair, Raven was losing her resolve. Her control was weakening, and she could feel the crackling blackness of the energy waiting to escape like a creature waiting to escape captivity. The Shockwave stung again and for a split second, she lost her grip on her powers. In that second, there was a flash of intense blue light and a high pitched scream.

“Starfire! No!” Raven screamed out, renewing her struggle to get free.

“The more you struggle the more powerful it becomes. Your friends know that you are linked to it and they will not retaliate. They do not wish to harm you in the process of saving their own lives. How noble,” Slade said, the deadly calm in his voice making Raven panic. Before Slade could cackle in satisfaction, he was rammed by a gigantic rhinoceros. The super villain found himself thrown across the room as the green rhino melted into the lithe shape of Beast Boy. Beast Boy tried to hack the controls of the containment field generator, but Slade’s hand grenades made short work of the panel. Beast Boy scaled the platform and reached through the field. Screaming in pain, he pulled his arm back and shouted through to his teammate.

“Raven! Are you okay?” he cried.

“Do I look okay? Get out of here before I get us all killed!” Raven shouted.

“I’m not leaving without you!” Beast Boy shouted back, forcing his leg through the field and nearly managing to get through before he had to pull back. The pain was so intense it was making him dizzy.

“Go! Get out of here! Leave me, Beast Boy, I’m not worth it!” Raven screamed, tears flooding her face. Another surge of energy pulsed through the contraption and both Raven and Beast Boy listened in horror as Robin screamed out, “Beast Boy! Where are you? Raven! Raven stop! You’re killing us!” Beast Boy narrowed his eyes in determination as he took a deep breath before motioning for the force field again.

“No! I’m not worth your lives!” Raven screamed.

“You are—to me!” Beast Boy screamed back, finally forcing his way through the bluish energy and into the containment field with her. He went to unhook the interface but Raven stopped him.

“If you pull that the whole thing goes into self-destruct! We’ll all die for sure!” Raven shouted.

“There has to be a way!” Beast Boy cried. They discovered that the shackles that held Raven to the standing cross could be released without consequence, but the wireless interface that linked her mind to the machine could not be so easily removed.

“Quick! Is there any way to overload this thing?” Beast Boy asked.

“I thought I could overload it with positive emotion, but it didn’t work,” Raven replied. She told him what she tried and how it only made the machine stronger. Off in the corner, Slade was coming around. If the kids were to be successful and save their remaining teammate—Cyborg—they had to act quickly.

“There may have been one thing that you didn’t try,” Beast Boy said after a second or two’s worth of thought.

“What could I have possibly missed?” Raven replied.

“Raven, do you trust me?” Beast Boy asked quickly.

“Most of the time,” Raven replied.

“Do you trust me now?” Beast Boy asked, a bit exasperated. They could now hear Cyborg shouting out for help.

“Yes!”

“Kiss me!”

“Drop dead!”

“The only thing stronger than negativity, anger, fear, and hatred is love! Raven, if you ever had any feelings for me, trust me on this one! Kiss me!” Beast Boy shouted, taking hold of Raven’s shoulders. Raven looked out over his shoulder to the tunnel leading to the laser cannon poised on their remaining friend. She looked the other way to her captor coming toward them. Instinct took over in a heartbeat and she pressed her lips briefly over his.

“Is that all ya got?” Beast Boy teased gently, taking Raven’s face in his hands. “C’mon, Raven, show me whatcha got.” Raven collapsed to her knees and pulled Beast Boy into her arms as their lips met again. This time, she simultaneously dropped her guard. The overwhelming, pulse-pounding, nerve-splitting sensations that accompanied a first kiss roared through the system as the two teens continued to kiss. The machine couldn’t seem to vent the extra energy fast enough and began to overheat. Bolts and tubes began to pop out of their proper places and Beast Boy pulled back out of the kiss.

“It’s working!” he cried. Beast Boy pushed Raven to the floor of the platform and covered her with her cloak before throwing himself over her to protect her from the falling debris. Most of the ceiling of the subterranean lair collapsed in the explosion that reduced the machine to scrap metal. When Beast Boy morphed out of his giant turtle form, he discovered that the dust was still settling in the now dark lair.

“Raven?” he called, gently shaking her shoulder. She stirred and sat up, pressing a hand to her temple.

“The interface is gone. It must have come off during the explosion,” Raven said softly. Incidentally, her inhibitor was gone too. When the machine overloaded, it had crumbled and come off. Beast Boy settled back down beside her on the now deactivated containment platform. He pulled her into his arms and cradled her for a moment, feeling the need for a good one-liner.

“Was that good for you?” he quipped.

“Shocking,” Raven returned, making both Titans smile in weary relief as they shared a victorious embrace. The two lifted themselves up off the ground and made for the tunnel to see if any of the other three teens had survived the onslaught.

Raven couldn’t help a sigh of relief as she levitated into the air. It felt good to fly again. Beast Boy followed on the ground, poking about in the tunnel in the guise of a bloodhound. The ruined laser cannon was in pieces on the ground, covered mostly by rocks falling from the ceiling of the tunnel. The mechanical tendrils were still crackling with electricity in places were the wires were exposed, but other than that, the rolling cannon was now useless. Raven gasped from her vantage point above the rubble when she spotted a silver arm guard partially buried near the west wall of the tunnel. She hovered above the spot and used her newly restored powers to move the rock and debris out of the way, revealing a battered and singed Starfire. Raven landed beside Starfire, once again summoning her powers to mend the broken bones in Starfire’s body. When this was done, Raven tugged her lifeless friend up into her arms, hugging her close as she softly cried.

“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t let that miserable maniac catch me none of this would have ever happened!” Raven murmured. “Starfire, I’m so sorry!”

Just as if she had heard her name, Starfire’s blue eyes blinked open and she shifted in Raven’s embrace. “Raven! You are unharmed! How happy I am to see that you are all right!” Starfire cried, throwing her arms around Raven’s neck.

“You mean you’re not mad at me for all of this?” Raven asked in wonder as she lightly returned the hug.

“Of course not, friend Raven! How could this be your fault?” Starfire replied.

“For sure! Slade did this, not you, Raven,” said another familiar voice. Robin was walking toward them, supporting himself on Beast Boy as they made their way over the rubble.

“Where is Cyborg?” Starfire asked as she turned and flew over to join her remaining teammates.

“Offline. The electrical impulse caused by the overload fried some of his systems,” Robin replied. Raven buried her face in her hands and turned away from them.

“He’s not dead, Raven. He’s essentially just asleep. We’ll be able to repair him and he’ll be good as new. You just wait, he’ll want the play-by-play of how you and Beast Boy kicked Slade’s butt the minute he wakes up,” Robin soothed, placing a hand on Raven’s shoulder. Raven looked up, her blue eyes shining with tears.

“How did you do it?” asked Robin, grinning in curiosity. “What did you guys do to overload the machine?” Beast Boy came forward and walked around to face Raven. Looking into her eyes, Beast Boy only briefly looked at his teammates and said, “Just try to keep up.”

“Ready for this?” Beast Boy murmured to Raven, a mischievous glint in his green eyes.

“Just watch your fangs this time,” Raven teased. “Those things hurt.”

With this, Beast Boy pulled Raven into his arms again and kissed her, just as they had on the platform. Starfire’s jaw dropped, Robin grinned and blushed, and the battle weary Titans carried their damaged friend back to Titans Tower.

“Raven?” Beast Boy murmured, walking out onto the roof of the Tower. Raven was hovering midair, deep in meditation. Raven turned her whole body around and watched him approach. Quietly, Beast Boy sat down on the roof and looked up at her. Raven silently drifted down to the roof and sat facing him.

“So, how are you doing?” Beast Boy asked gently. Raven looked at the smooth roof tiles.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t sound fine,” Beast Boy replied, knowing that he shouldn’t probe too far.

“I’ve been thinking about that song. You know, the one at the dance,” Raven said. Beast Boy nodded.

“What do you think? Wanna give it a try?” Beast Boy asked, his eyes wide with sincerity.

“I tend not to give myself in pieces. I give it all or nothing at all,” Raven replied. “Break my heart and you’ll wish to Azar you hadn’t.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I promise, Raven,” Beast Boy replied. Raven smiled and the two sat watching the sun go down on the city, pulling a dark blanket of stars along with it.


Fin