Author's Note

Hello all! It's been forever, right? But I've just been having so many favorites and requests to pick up this story again that I thought I'd give it another shot. Since it's been so long, my image for this story isn't quite the same as it was when I last wrote Chapter 10, so there might be some inconsistencies between then and now. And I don't want to go back and tweak everything. So if it's something minor please take it in stride.

I'd like to do more of a character study on Brooke since she's the main character in the novel I wrote and this Teen Titans fic was where I originally dreamed her up. It's called "Silver Bells of the Mountains" and it's on Amazon if you're interested. There's so many fun things that I haven't done yet with this story. So I hope I have the time and energy to write a little more of it.

Enjoy!

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The Titans' initial quest to find their missing friend had become a grueling task of trying to translate their objective into terms that the alien races could understand. Sure, they were all familiar with the Justice League, but not so familiar with its Earth-based divisions like the Teen Titans.

"Okay," Robin started out peaceably to a diminutive race of long haired aliens. "We're affiliated with the Justice League and we're looking for our fifth member. He's green and…"

Throughout his speech, the aliens looked up with wide eyes but when he said "green" they all jumped and squeaked in recognition. Gaggles of the little creatures grabbed their hands and led them away in a furry progression through the lush blue forest of the strange world.

"Well, that was easy," Cyborg said, bent over at an extreme angle. "Even if I'm going to get a cramp in my back for a week."

The little aliens led them to a temple. There they presented the Titans with a 6 foot wooden statue, which to the aliens' scale must have taken years to carve. It was of a well-built hero, smiling awkwardly as fuzzy alien carvings on his shoulders and feet looked to him adoringly.

"Umm, I'm not saying that it's not a good likeness to Green Lantern," Robin said apologetically. "But that's not the person we're looking for."

The little aliens squeaked in disappointment. But, since they had made the journey there, they quickly got over it and looked for berries to place at their wooden hero's feet. Starfire giggled as several of the little aliens scuttled by with fruit laden leaves that were heavier than themselves.

One of the little aliens huffed by, about to drop from the weight of the bulbous orange fruit on its back. Before it could take one more labored step, Raven levitated its heavy load the last few feet to the statue.

It leaped up in squeaking delight and hugged her ankle. Even when she started walking, it wouldn't release her from its loving embrace.

"Easily impressed, huh?" she sighed. "Do you think this is how Green Lantern earned his statue?"

The others shrugged.

The next planet brought them to a less pleasant swampy area with bogs that frequently belched an odorous gas. It didn't seem to be toxic, but regardless the Titans put on their helmets to spare their noses.

"Ah yes, the hero of green," said the tall, tree-like high priestess. "I have never seen such amazing and various methods used to defeat such terrible foes. He was certainly utilized his skills most creatively."

The Titans held their collective breath. To them, she could only be referring to Beast Boy's wide array of animal forms and the various attributes that he could use to his advantage in combat.

"He left behind this artifact," the priestess continued.

Their looks turned to confusion. Artifact?

From her billowing sleeves, her three fingered hand emerged with a single arrow, which had expanded to produce a boxing glove.

"Green Arrow," Robin grumbled.

"Damn it!" Cyborg seethed, grasping at his bald head like he wanted to wring the non-existent hairs on his head. "Normally, this would be stellar going through the achievements of the greats but it's just like…"

"The longest road trip through America's most mundane roadside attractions," Raven supplied. "And we're all out of soda."

By the third endeavor, Robin was starting to lose his patience.

"No! We're not looking for the Martian Manhunter!" he told a bulky group of toad-like aliens with their own story of salvation. "He looks like this!" With increasing frustration, Robin thrust over the severed robot head of the fake Beast Boy, who looked bored by the whole affair.

"Notice the green skin," said Cyborg, poking at the fake layer of skin.

"And the clueless expression," Raven said.

"And the pointy teeth," said Starfire, pulling over the robot fake's lips to reveal them. Anger boiling, it tried to bite her fingers off. "This is our Beast Boy."

The toad aliens stared for a moment. They then turned into a semicircle to discuss the new information in their low alto tones.

"You are searching for your fallen comrade's decapitated head?"

At this, Robin couldn't hold it in any longer. He let loose a seething growl of frustration and stomped back to the T-Ship. His mood didn't improve even as they moved onto a desert-like planet and day turned into night. The others could hear his wordless groans and his violent stabs to the buttons on his console as he constantly adjusted the air conditioning and music to slake his frustration.

"Relax, man," Cyborg said over the com-link. "The radar says that he's definitely somewhere in this system. All we can do is walk through the process of elimination and hope that he'll be on this planet."

"With the luck we've been having," Raven droned as she gazed upon the starry night. "I'll bet we'll see the Green Goblin next."

"Who?" the other three Titans chimed in.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "It's a dimension-hopping thing."

"Do not fret, Robin," Starfire assured, looking over to the bubble-shaped cockpit of the Titan leader. "Soon we will locate our lost friend and we will take part in a celebratory slice of garlic and pineapple pizza at home."

"Right," Robin sighed, guilt creeping up on him again. "It's just that if anything were to happen to him I-"

"I'd never be able to see him gulp down obscene amounts of soy milk so I could make him laugh so hard that it squirted out of his nose," said the fake Beast Boy's robot head in a mocking tone. "It just makes me so, so sad for you. Can you see me? It's so heartbreaking I'm crying tears of oil."

"Shut up, you lousy fake!" Robin fired back. "No one asked you!"

Now that the fake Beast Boy had spoken up for the first time in days, the rest of the Titans saw it as fair game to take out their frustrations on him.

Starfire crossed her arms. "Though you speak with his voice, you are not our Beast Boy. You put the spiral on his voice and say unkind things that he would never say."

"And sarcasm is my thing, not yours," contributed Raven darkly.

"Why are keeping that hunk of metal anyway?" Cyborg said. "He'd be better use for parts. Wouldn't have to listen to all the sass."

"You know, I'm sensing a lot of hatred here," said the fake Beast Boy's head. "Maybe it would be better if we all parted ways?"

"Yeah, maybe it- wait a second!" Cyborg lunged to the controls, which had started to go haywire. "What's going on?!"

The buttons on the ship's computer went wild in the most bizarre, complicated version of Simon Says. It rejected every input and voice command that Cyborg tried. The screen's monitor changed, buzzing out in a haze of static only to be replaced by a pixelated, 8 bit version of Beast Boy's head. Set in red lights, the image looked devilish. It cackled at them.

The Titans only had a moment to glimpse the fake Beast Boy's head in his separate cockpit. During their inattention, he had managed to secretly regrow and adapt the connection cables needed to infiltrate the T-Ship's system. The tentacle-like cables had been stabbed into every port.

The ship was his.

"See ya!" he said, winking as he gave the ship his first order.

They heard a tearing sound behind their heads before the cockpits opened and the seats jettisoned their passengers high into the night sky. The parachutes did not deploy, leaving no doubt as to what the tearing sounds had been. Robin and Cyborg fell back to the earth.

Hesitating only a moment as the corrupted T-Ship sped off, Raven and Starfire dove to save the boys from meeting a terrible fate. But, as soon as they had been caught, the gravity of their situation sank in. They were trapped on a desolate planet with only the provisions that had currently been on their persons. There would be no catching the T-Ship now.

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Tonight was the night: the night of their escape. During previous meetings in the prison cell, it seemed that Brooke seemed apt to treat such unknown territory as a prison break like a particularly important homework assignment at the academy. She had brought a detailed checklist of how to accomplish the feat, which she frequently adjusted as per Hawkgirl and Beast Boy's suggestions.

Judging by how many corrections Brooke made, the final instructions would surely be legible only to her.

"Let's just hope she's on the honor roll at school," Hawkgirl said with some doubt. This whole affair of trusting their escape to an untrained teenager was noticeably making her uncomfortable and she had made it known several times. But Brooke refused to return to her duties and forget about them, especially when they attempted to hide bruises and limps from the grueling battles in the arena. She was determined to get them out.

And then, finally, after he'd clawed his way up the stone walls to the ceiling, Beast Boy heard the first telltale signs of trouble for the guards.

He back-flipped onto his cot in delight.

"Haha! Yes!" he said, pumping his fists. "Sweet freedom at last!"

Restless and listening against the wall, Hawkgirl threw a stern look his way. "Don't get too cocky, green bean. We're not out of this yet."

"She'll be here in like five minutes tops."

"I don't like this," Hawkgirl continued, unable to keep the worry out of her voice. "I don't like involving a civilian like this. If anything happened to that girl..."

"Brooke can handle it," Beast Boy said, unfazed. "She's like a ninja, getting past the guards and all those bars without anyone noticing." He scratched his head. "And I still don't know how she does that. But you just wait, while the guards are distracted Brooke's going to be her sneaky little self and get us out of here before anyone knows we're gone."

No sooner than he'd said that, the floor above was rocked with an explosion. There was the screaming sound of a guard's whistle and a thunder of footsteps sound as the rest of the guards were called to the alarm. The commotion woke up the rest of the inmates, who complained as passionately as any teenage girl. Apparently even monsters needed their beauty sleep too. But Beast Boy and Hawkgirl paid them no mind, standing to full attention at the ensuing sounds from the floor above.

The lead guard ordered his troop to track down the escaped servant. He sent them down each corridor and authorized them to use deadly force.

His assurance of before quite gone, Beast Boy instinctively tried to transform into something small to breach the bars. His shock collar stopped him before he'd even formed whiskers on his mouse. "Oh man, they saw her! They're going to get her and it's my fault!"

"Don't panic," Hawkgirl said, though she herself was pacing the cell like a caged animal wanting to take out those guards. They listened to every sound from above, for the inevitable scream that meant that that Brooke been taken down.

"Maybe the girl can evade them long enough to-"

Both of them were thrown to the ground, completely taken off guard, as another explosion rocked through the prison level. It blasted a hole into the outer wall. The level was consumed in a mighty dust cloud. If anyone in the palace wasn't awake by that point then they surely were now.

Beast Boy coughed through the dust. "What in the-?"

He blinked through the sand-laced air to make out Brooke leaping like a deer through the gaping crater of a door she had created. The adrenaline of getting caught pumped through her veins, making her giddy and excited. Once she was in, she didn't stop, looking left and right for the controls.

"Hey!" Beast Boy called after her. "What happened to being subtle?"

"Errr...I got caught," she said sheepishly.

"What about the keys?"

"They got umm...stuck in the lock."

"And where did you get a bomb?"

"Umm..."

Hawkgirl sighed, all too familiar with the recklessness that came with being a teenager. Sometimes she that it was a wonder that the League didn't implement a cloning program on the junior members to replace them whenever they did something stupid and got themselves killed.

"Why did I get stuck babysitting a couple of children?" she grumbled to herself like she was nursing a migraine. Hawkgirl cleared her throat and spoke up, "Brooke, I don't think you're going to be getting an A on that little assignment anymore. Just pick up your feet and release us before you fail it all together."

"Kay," Brooke said, scooting off to get away from Hawkgirl's disapproving gaze.

Green lights flashed to life above every cell and they clanked open. The control collars were deactivated and they fell to the ground, useless.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Beast Boy said, jumping in the air and transforming into a parrot, a monkey and a goat all before he hit the ground again. "Prison break!"

All smiles, he grabbed Brooke's arm and lead the way down the corridor.

"Wait a minute!" Hawkgirl cried but the two teens were soon lost amongst the rest of the prisoners. Some of the prisoners followed Beast Boy and Brooke's lead, vacating the premises, while others took out their anger of being imprisoned out on the guards. And on Hawkgirl herself.

They gnashed their terrible teeth and brandished their dagger-like claws. Some of them were so large that they became whole mountains that leeringly blocked her path. Hawkgirl didn't have built in weapons like them. She didn't have her mace but that didn't stop her.

Beast Boy and Brooke were the first ones to get out of the prison level and they left it with the ecstatic glee of teens getting out of school for the summer. The guards stationed outside smirked, more than ready to wipe those joyous looks from the teens' faces, but then came the rest of the prisoners. The guards blanched and the teens were free to safely pass by.

"Okay, I've got everything packed," Brooke said, trying to make up for her previous blunder. "I just had to hide it so the guards wouldn't see it. I think it's..."

She slowed as they passed through a certain hall and deliberated a while. She seemed caught in her own head, retracing her steps. Beast Boy looked after her, trying to guess what she was thinking. So many of the halls looked exactly the same: long ornate carpeting, paintings, vases and rare plants. It was a wonder she didn't get lost.

"Ah," Brooke said, reaching a beautiful flowered vase that could have fit three of her inside it. "It's this one."

She bashed her foot through it, breaking it into a hundred little pieces.

Beast Boy was no art lover, but a person couldn't be human if they weren't panged a little at the destruction of something of such beauty. But Brooke, having grown up with such opulence, seemed to be an exception to that rule. If anything, she looked a little happier for getting to break it.

There among the fragments laid two backpacks, packed and ready to go.

"Okay, let's go," she said, springing up such with infectious energy that it made Beast Boy wonder. Brooke had commented that she got sick easily and yet now she seemed noticeably healthier than on the day they'd first met. Her eyes were bright like they hadn't been before.

Was it just his imagination?

"What's the matter?" Brooke asked.

"Uh, nothing," he said, shaking it off and getting back to their task at hand. "I'm sure Hawkgirl's doing all right. I've got to go find my communicator. Do you think you could free the other servants? Maybe we can get them all to overthrow the place. It'll buy us some time anyway."

Swinging the bag onto her back, Brooke was already off.

"Don't get caught," Beast Boy called after her half-heartedly because he was sure at this point that she wouldn't. Getting the communicator was easier than he had expected, as the once bottom floor commotion had escalated into a palace wide riot that encompassed every floor. The guards had more important things to worry about than a single communicator.

Beast Boy powered on the circular, yellow device and worked on adjusting the frequencies as he ran to meet at their rendezvous point.

The hallway quaked with yet another explosion, which made him overshoot the corner and plow into a wall.

He saw Brooke already waiting for him there, giggling as if the excitement was too much for her to bear. Her gloved hands danced across the wall with a purple paintbrush.

"Another explosion? What is with you and breaking stuff?" he said with some exasperation, nursing his bruised shoulder. "Let's get going!"

"But – but look!" she said, holding him back so that he could see the wall. Brooke had used purple paint to craft a giant and lovely calligraphy of her name. "See, I tagged it! I wrote something on the wall! The wall, haha!" she exclaimed like she was a criminal. "Ooo, being bad is fun!"

"Man, we need to get you out more." Beast Boy stole a quick glance to their exit and decided that he could spare a couple minutes. With a roguish smirk, he stated, "This is how you tag a wall."

He dipped a brush in the green paint and used the whole of the wall as his canvas, painting so swiftly and passionately that flecks of green sprayed in every direction. Beast Boy was so motivated by Brooke's apt attention that his eyes never left the wall. A charging enemy was whipped aside by the tail of his partially transformed raptor form, another punched into oblivion with a gorilla fist. Green paint stained their clothes as he swiped the brush again and again. And then he was finished. He stood aside.

"Ta-da!" Beast Boy waved his hands over his creation. "A battle as epic as this must be preserved forever in paint."

Brooke couldn't stop smiling as she looked it over. It was a cartoonish depiction of the chaos unfolding around them with Beast Boy in the thick of it, standing in a heroic pose with considerably more muscles. There were several more drawings of him in his most ferocious animal forms taking down scores of enemies without ever losing his cocky smile.

"Haha, is that what happened tonight?" Brooke asked, not so sure.

"If it hasn't happened yet then I can just as easily make it happen," he said slyly, the eyebrows on his head jumping. "Wouldn't want the alien history books to leave anything out. Oh, and here's you."

He picked up the purple paintbrush of her choosing and colored her in beside him. Beast Boy took considerably more care on her portrait, looking back to see that he was getting the angles right.

And, for good measure, he drew her foot breaking in a priceless vase.

Brooke laughed again. "I love it."

"And I love it that you love it." He looked ahead to see another row of guards thundering down the hallway, out for blood. "And I bet that guards will love it too when I rub it in their slimy little faces."

Beast Boy went elephant and charged his way down the hall, plowing the guards aside like so many weightless leaves. Any guard that was foolish enough not to stand aside was thrown aside by his trunk. Brooke followed behind in his wake. She kept an eye out for Hawkgirl, but in all honesty there was little chance of finding her. Waves of her classmates destroyed the things they had been for so long forced to maintain and polish. Prisoners of the arena were their ally against the common enemy that were the guards.

They breached the front gates and a platoon was waiting for them. But these were no weak muscled palace guards. The guards that manned the front gates were of a different class entirely. Charged with keeping the perimeter secure, their weapons were electrically charged scepters. Their demeanor never faltered, even up against impossible odds.

"Okay, let's go," said Beast Boy, taking on a fighting stance with scores of the biggest, baddest villains to fight in the battle arena. "On my mark, 3-"

Without further provocation, the prisoners charged.

"Well, I guess we're not best buddies yet," Beast Boy admitted. He looked back to see that Brooke was a quite a way behind still. He caught up with her.

"Hey, didn't mean to get ahead of you so much."

"It's not important," Brooke shrugged off. "But this part of the plan is what I was worried about. The fences around the perimeter are electrified and they go eight feet under the sand. And the guards…"

"Are getting taken down as we speak," Beast Boy said with confidence. "With any luck they'll take down that fence for us and find some transportation too."

Brooke's worried look over his shoulder said otherwise.

Looking back, Beast Boy jumped back in shock as the biggest, most monstrous of the prisoners was wrangled around his thick neck by several elite guards wielding energy whips. Other prisoners were consumed by the electricity in the scepters. Prisoners fell one after another and thudded dully on the sand. Collars clicked in place back over their necks.

Not one of them breached the perimeter. And, with so many of the prisoners swiftly put back in custody, several guards began to form a circle around Beast Boy and Brooke. Their weapons crackled with deadly blue electricity.

They started to close in, jeering in their alien tongue.

Beast Boy took a back to back fighting stance with his untrained comrade when an exposed back could mean their downfall. His eyes darted left and right, mind flipping through the encyclopedia of animals that could take down eight guards at every point of the compass. And an animal that could do it in one move without sustaining irreparable damage to himself or accidentally harming Brooke in the process.

There wasn't one.

"Beast Boy…" Brooke said worriedly as the guard near her cracked his whip, sending sparks of fire flying across the sand.

"Don't worry," he called back, trying to keep the worry from his voice.

Trapped like a rabbit with a pack of ravenous wolves closing in, Brooke tensed, wanting to move but having nowhere to go. There was no other option, none that wouldn't involve immense pain. And not just for herself. Beast Boy would likely have to bear a harsher punishment than her.

There was no other option and so Brooke let go all that she had been holding back for so long. She removed a single one of her gloves.

Immediately her hand began to glow as if it was housing a miniature sun. One that could easily wipe out the guards' measly scepters.

But Beast Boy saw none of it, too focused on the bloodthirsty guards before him. "Plan B! Retreat!"

He transformed into a pterodactyl. He grabbed hold of Brooke's shoulders and stirred up a mighty gust of wind as he took off from the ground. Her hand went out like it was doused with water. Whips sizzled, frying the air currents inches from where they hovered. One landed on Beast Boy's open wings and he shrieked in a reptilian voice but he flew on. He had to.

Beast Boy flapped out of reach of the guards. He panted as he fought not to fall the second he breached the fence. Painstakingly, he landed, bringing Brooke to the ground gently as he collapsed beside her.

The guards smirked. They discarded their weapons so that they could access the controls that would unlock the massive gates.

"Beast Boy!" Brooke cried, hurriedly sitting him back up. Right outside the palace's front doors, now was the worst possible time to take a nap.