Hey everyone! Hope you all haven't lost faith in me (and are looking forward to this year's 4th of July in some way or other despite current unpleasantness going on), because here's a new chapter! And fair warning in advance, this chapter is a bit long and has a decent amount going on, so please keep that in mind and try not to rush. In this new chapter, after an unexpected extra stroke of luck that allows the raiding party to gain some incredibly useful additional information for them to know about during their planned attack on the Wildebeest Society's main lab facility in Upper Lamumba, plus an equally useful chat between Beast Boy and the Beast during the night before said lucky turn of events, the time has come to set the plan in motion! But just how will things go on this epic escapade? Get ready to read, hopefully enjoy, and find out dudes and dudettes!

A/N: But first, let me remind you that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. And while I may at the very least potentially own the idea of the beast being an 'in-universe' explanation for the emela-ntouka cryptid, neither do I own the idea of the erumpent. And furthermore, several phrases and terminology words used by some of the animals in this chapter (amongst Beast Boy's forms or otherwise) are either directly borrowed from or at the very least inspired by similar language conventions used in The Land Before Time and Erin Hunter's Bravelands book series. And with all that said, onward with the fic everybody!

Chapter 15:

Animal Power

The blonde Wildebeest Society chief scientist carefully made her way through the jungles outside the lab, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she did so. "There'd better be something out here to make my current travels worth the trouble," she grumbled under her breath. She had to admit, considering it was now about an hour or so past midnight, she was not at all amused by how her boss had insisted that she spend at least three hours after midnight continuing her search if she hadn't already found anything by midnight, just to be safe, prior to returning to the main lab.

The two wildebeest hybrids accompanying her paused, grunting in apparent concern. She waved at them as if to reassure them. "I'm alright," she said. "We can keep going." Seemingly mollified for the time being, the two hybrids resumed their movements through the jungle, their scientist handler following along stoically behind them. "Just grin and bear it," she thought to herself. "As long as I either find signs of the tribe at a possible campsite for their raids, or at least can confirm that we're safe and don't need to expect another raid from them yet in the near future, everything will be fine. And not only that, but the boss and everyone else in the Society will continue to have no reason to go after my family…"

The relative silence was split with what appeared to be the sound of a lion's roar. The wo wildebeest hybrids briefly paused, grunting nervously in apparent fear. Their natural wildebeest instincts were enough to give them a very real fear of lions, as these were amongst the natural predators of wildebeests. She tried her best to reassure them, despite even she herself being well aware of just how close in proximity to their location the roar had appeared to be.

But then, all of a sudden, a lion lunged out from the shadows directly in front of her and the two hybrids. Or, more accurately, a humanoid lion-like mutant wearing a pair of long tattered blue jeans. The creature roared, its red eyes seeming to glow solid and pupilless in the darkness and its teeth like daggers. The wildebeest hybrids reared back, bellowing in terror at this great monster that now crouched before them and roared for their blood and flesh. Even the blonde human scientist with them couldn't help but step back, eyes wide and face pale from fear.

"This creature," she thought to herself. "This is one of the two still missing Project Menagerie subjects…" Briefly forgetting the severity of the situation, she started trying to dig into her cloak pocket for her communicator. "I have to tell the others," she thought to herself. "I have to…"

The sound of another roar, this one sounding even louder and more forceful than before, drew the scientist's attention back to the current situation, just in time for her eyes to widen in shock and horror as one of the two wildebeest hybrids was sent rocketing backward by a gigantic burst of noise waves spewing from the lion mutant's mighty jaws, trickles of blood spouting out of its ears, nose, and eyes as it screamed in pain from the merciless attack. Its cries of pain only ceased when it pounded against a nearby tree, an ominous crack filling the air. Then the hybrid crumpled to the ground, dead as a doornail.

The scientist gaped in shock and horror at how one of her guards for this assignment had just now been so brutally killed. Then she heard panicked grunting from her left and vicious growling from in front of her. She looked ahead, and promptly gulped at the hateful look that she now saw Project Jungle Cat sending her way. The mutant snarled, his fangs gleaming like the weapons they were, and he lifted his right hand, claws extending to full length as his tail swished side to side in a threatening fashion. Trying desperately not to visibly gulp, she directed a side glance towards her remaining guard, her heart sinking at the sight of the panicked look on its face as it quivered and whimpered at the sight of what it was conditioned to fear without question.

But then its eyes widened, an alerted grunt escaping its throat as it abruptly tensed up. Then, without warning, its head and neck suddenly seemed to turn a complete 90-degree angle with a sickening crack…seemingly without anything touching it. The scientist stepped backwards, shrieking reflexively in shock as she dug for a small pistol she kept in one of the pockets of her cloak, hoping despite her combined fear of both Project Jungle Cat and whatever unseen threat had just now killed her 2nd guard that it would prove of use to her in getting out of the situation alive. But no sooner had she drawn out the gun when an invisible force suddenly struck her wrist and caused her to drop the pistol before she'd even had a chance to load it. Still trying her best not to panic, she managed to draw out her communicator, only for another invisible force to yank it out of her hands and throw it towards Project Jungle Cat, who grabbed it in his right paw, somehow managing not to stab it with his claws or crush it in his grip.

At this point, the scientist found herself desperately stepping backwards, her face clearly showing her distress as she thought desperately to try to figure out something to do. She was so focused on her desperate attempts at figuring out a way to fight or escape that she didn't even feel the brief wind displacement of something large jumping right over her, or the soft barely audible noise of a large creature managing to land behind her with an unexpected silent grace. Then she suddenly felt herself get grabbed from behind by an invisible force!

"Wha…?" The scientist managed to scream, her green eyes widened in shock as she felt the invisible force that had grabbed her coiling around her torso and pinning her arms to her sides, before another invisible force suddenly came into existence against her mouth, holding it shut. "MMMPPPHHH!"

No sooner was the scientist thus subdued when she then noticed the area where the invisible force was present seeming to flicker as if a hologram were coming into view. And within seconds, it was revealed just what the invisible force actually was when the flickering stopped and the scientist was able to finally get a clear look at the strong, yet feminine, golden yellow furred and black striped arm that was pinning her own arms to her sides and the similarly yellow furred thick paw that was tightly clamped over her mouth.

"Nice try lady."

The scientist managed to direct a glance behind her, green eyes widened in horrified recognition at the sight of the furry, fanged, and yellow eyed face of none other than Project Ambush, the second still missing subject of Project Menagerie. "HHHMMMPPPHHH!" She howled.

The humanoid tigress sneered, tossed her own golden blonde hair over her shoulder, and hissed at her captive. "But if you think you could sneak up on Jungle Cat and I, not to mention our allies camping alongside us, and especially with those two loud guards we just killed with you, then you're really too arrogant for your own good, even by Wildebeest Society standards."

The captured scientist's eyes widened again. "They heard us?!" She thought to herself. "But how?! I was being so careful…"

"You really didn't think we'd notice?" Project Ambush hissed, a disgusted tone to her voice. She shook her head. "Sure, you may have been moving pretty stealthily, but my sense of hearing and smell is a lot better than that of you humans. And even if that weren't the case, those two ninnyhammer guards of yours left a lot to be desired when it comes to stealth. Seriously, those two walking sacks of ground beef made enough noise to alert a deaf old granny!"

The scientist's heart sank. "I should have known that would be a problem," she thought bitterly to herself. "I should have tried harder to get them to be quiet. And now they're dead, and I'm at the mercy of two escaped former projects and their apparent allies…" Her eyes widened. "Wait, allies?! Who have they allied with?!" Then her face blanched, seemingly almost literally white over Project Ambush's paw blocking her mouth, as she thought of an especially unpleasant possibility. "That raiding tribe," she thought to herself. "Or worse yet, Baby Wildebeest and the missing shapeshifter. Have they…?"

"What should we do with her Jungle Cat? Should I kill her?"

The scientist tensed up, whimpering helplessly behind Ambush's paw against her mouth, her eyes on the verge of tears in a mixture of terror and despair. "No," she thought to herself. "I can't die, not like this. And not while my kids still haven't even finished elementary school…"

Jungle Cat stepped into view, directing a cold look the scientist's way. The captive scientist shivered in fear from within Ambush's grasp as Jungle Cat looked her over, seemingly considering carefully over his decision on how to respond to his companion's question. Then a wide toothy grin appeared on the lion mutant's face. "I have a better idea," he purred, his tone making it seem as if this 'better idea' would not necessarily make the captured scientist feel that much better.

. . . . .

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow, intrigued by the news he'd just heard. "We have a hostage now you say?"

It was now morning in the area where he, his mutant allies, and the tribe had set up camp. The previous evening's travels had gone well, the talisman around his neck so far appeared to be successfully serving its currently intended purpose, and he had also managed to gather some good information from the Beast the previous night as well; while asleep! And from what Jungle Cat and Ambush were now telling him, it seemed clear that they now had the opportunity to gather further information that could prove even more helpful.

Ambush nodded her head. "Indeed," she confirmed. "Captured her last night. She was wandering near the camp last night alongside two of those walking meat sacks the Wildebeest Society have solidified their name with. We killed both guards, and I was willing to kill her as well. But after Jungle Cat informed me of how useful she could be to us alive, not to mention after I calmed down sufficiently enough later to remember just who she was, I'm very glad now that I didn't."

"MMHH-MMPPHH-MMHH!"

Beast Boy briefly raised his eyebrow at the sound of this muffled grunting coming from a few feet or so behind him. He turned his head to look in that direction, his eyes narrowing when he caught sight of what appeared to be a large boulder positioned as if plugged into a large hole in the ground near a particularly large tree. He then looked back at Ambush and Jungle Cat, eyebrow raised inquisitively. The two feline mutants chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the backs of their heads. "Yeah," Jungle Cat said. "That would be the hostage."

Beast Boy took another look at the boulder plugging up the area that was now apparently serving as a makeshift cell for the new hostage, thinking carefully to himself as he considered this new information. Then he looked back at the two mutants.

"So," he managed to say. "Just who is she exactly? Because I get the feeling she's both somebody important and someone you two apparently have some degree of familiarity with."

"You could say that."

Beast Boy looked to Wildebeest, who nodded his head. Jungle Cat and Ambush had already explained to him and the tribe about this matter earlier that morning before Beast Boy himself had woken up and joined them. "Her name is Amanda Rookwood. She's one of the Wildebeest Society's four top scientists after the leader."

"That is correct," said Tawaba. He nodded his head. "And according to what your feline friends have told us, she is apparently what the people of America would call a real 'family woman'. Reportedly, she has a husband and two children that are still living in America while she's here in our land."

Ambush and Jungle Cat nodded again. "We managed to learn all this over the course of our time as Wildebeest Society captives thanks to using a little system George had set up to allow us to eavesdrop," Ambush explained. "This scientist we've now kidnapped? She may love her work, but she loves her family a lot more. And her two kids mean the world to her."

"Indeed," Jungle Cat agreed. "In fact, she reportedly wanted to back out of working for the Wildebeest Society after her second child was born due to how she supposedly kept imagining her own children in the place of some of the test subjects. But she's still putting up with the Wildebeest Society to this day because her boss and colleagues have threatened to go after her family and either capture or kill them in the event she tries to walk out on or betray them."

"He's not wrong," Wildebeest chimed in. "In fact, before Pantha came into the picture, there were actually a couple times she took a turn at taking care of me and at least tried to make things somewhat better for me."

Beast Boy thought to himself. "Interesting," he said out loud. He looked back at Ambush and Jungle Cat. "So basically, not everyone amongst the Wildebeest Society staff is a happy camper, or completely heartless?"

"That's one way to put it," said Ambush.

"Ay," Tawaba agreed. "And what's more, with this one in particular now in our custody, we now have a means to both figure out the code we need to shut off the thunder bolt barrier, but also gain knowledge about any extra defenses we might have to deal with from within the walls and main laboratory."

Beast Boy and the rest of the gathered makeshift 'army' all nodded their heads in agreement. "That is true," Beast Boy admitted. "Granted, we'll just need to figure out how to get her to give that information. I mean, even if she doesn't quite like working for them, she might yet have still had it heavily ingrained into her mind that betraying them would be a bad move on her part. So we'll need to give her some especially good incentive to want to tell us the information we still need."

At this point, Jungle Cat and Ambush looked each other in the eyes, and then back at Beast Boy. "Well we do have an idea of a bluff we could use to get her to talk," said Jungle Cat.

"Indeed," Ambush agreed. "But fair warning, you'll be just as glad as we are that this is only intended to be a bluff threat."

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

. . . . .

"MMMMPPPPHHHH!" Amanda Rookwood screamed as she struggled to get free. As much as she'd despaired at the idea of getting killed by Ambush the previous night, her current situation was only better by the slimmest of margins. She was currently imprisoned in a surprisingly spacious burrow-like cavern under the roots of a large tree, where she'd just had to spend the entire remainder of the night as well as the entirety of the time that had passed for the current morning. Her hands and arms were tied tightly behind her back by three thick vines binding her wrists, elbows, and upper arms together. Her feet and legs were likewise bound together with another three thick vines around her ankles, knees, and thighs. And for the most humiliating detail, a large thick leaf with immensely foul-tasting sticky sap slathered across one side was plastered over her mouth, gagging her, and reducing her voice to animalistic muffled grunts and squeaks.

"LLD MHH GGMMHH!" She shrieked, her eyes closed shut in rage over her humiliating sticky leaf gag as she continued to thrash and writhe against the vines binding her. "LLD MHH GGMMHH!"

She could hear her captors talking with their allies. But thanks to both a massive boulder plugging up the single entrance and exit to the burrow, the thickness of the cavern's dusty earthen walls and ceiling, and the distance between her and the ones holding her prisoner, she couldn't quite make out exactly what they were saying. But whatever they were talking about, they were currently quite clearly paying no mind to their bucking and grunting captive. "Grr," she growled, her green eyes now narrowed angrily over her sticky leaf gag and fists clenched behind her back. It was already bad enough that she'd now been kidnapped, but she was now also being forced to wait and be ignored in what, as far as she knew, was possibly an attempt to psyche her out and fall victim to her own fear and imagination over the possibilities of what her captors had in mind for her. And as if that weren't enough, she was also both angry and in despair over how her boss and colleagues would likely react if they found out about what had now happened to her. She'd been trusted with a very important task the previous night, and she'd agreed to take part in it, even if only to ensure the continued safety of herself and her family. But instead of succeeding, she'd been caught off guard, gotten two of the Wildebeest Society's best hybrid soldiers killed, and was now stuck in a burrow, bound, gagged, and reduced to a helpless prisoner of the very enemies she'd been sent out to investigate. Needless to say, she was not happy. And so she eventually resumed her struggling, writhing against her bonds while shrieking like a muzzled lioness through the thick leaf blocking her mouth.

Eventually, while taking a brief break from her struggles, panting and gasping through her nose, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the spot where she lay. "Hmpf…mhphmf?" Amanda grunted, eyebrow raised as she heard somebody approach, half nervous and half intrigued as she wondered just who was now coming.

The footsteps came to a stop directly in front of the other side of the boulder. "This had better work," said a high-pitched, yet strangely vicious sounding, male voice. "Because if she doesn't tell us what we want, then things are going to have to get seriously ugly."

"Mmpphhff?" The scientist squeaked, green eyes widened and face pale over her sticky leaf muzzle. "What's going on?" She thought to herself nervously, understandably frightened by the various unpleasant possibilities that now popped in her mind at the knowledge of them now apparently having something quite vile planned to get threatened against her. "What are they about to do to me?" All of a sudden, the boulder was grabbed and wrenched from its position. She barely even had a chance to fully register this fact before she then felt a pair of strong furry hands grip her bound ankles and very abruptly yank her out of her makeshift cell.

"HHHMMMPPPHH!" She shrieked as she was very swiftly and roughly dragged out of the burrow and into the outside clearing. Her eyes briefly closed in a reflexive wince at the sudden exposure to the bright sunlight. She opened her eyes just in time to see Ambush grab onto one end of the sticky leaf gagging her before then very abruptly ripping it away from her mouth. She reflexively gasped the instant her mouth was free before she then started coughing and sputtering from the lingering vile taste of the infernal tree sap that had allowed the leaf to serve as such an affective gag. "Eugh," she grunted. "You have no idea how disgusting that tasted," she then said, briefly forgetting the fact that she was technically a hostage to the people she was now for some reason trying to make small talk with.

"Too bad," said the voice she'd heard speaking before. She turned her head in time to see none other than the very shapeshifter her boss's old associate was now imprisoning and threatening the friends of back at the lab. And she promptly gulped at the sight of the very unnervingly angry look on his green face. At that moment, Beast Boy's green eyes were narrowed in a way that, combined with the frown on his face accentuated by the single sharp fang sticking out of his mouth as well as the sunlight seeming to cause his chartreuse blonde hair to literally sparkle like an emerald, made him look very menacing and dangerous indeed even though he was currently still in only his human form.

The shapeshifter nodded his head at the sight of the unnerved look on the scientist's face. "You're scared," he growled, his high-pitched voice still sounding unnaturally scary in his current apparent mood. "Good." He slowly took off his right-hand glove, allowing the scientist a good look at his now bare right hand just in time to see the sunlight cause the tips of his claw-like fingernails to shine unnervingly. The scientist blanched. Already she was not liking the implications her apparent interrogator was now giving off.

And as it soon turned out, the one currently interrogating her wasn't the only one currently in the mood to intimidate her. For at the sound of snarling and growling, she turned her head in time to blanche again at the sight of Jungle Cat and Ambush, on all fours, snarling at her with their claws extended, teeth bared, and eyes blazing with what looked like a mixture of rage and hunger.

"As you can see, things have the potential to get very unpleasant if you don't cooperate."

Amanda looked to Beast Boy, who still had that unnerving look on his face. He pointed his finger at her. "Right now, your boss, and the associates that he's allowing to use his main lab as a sanctuary, have something, possibly two somethings, that I want. And right now, there is some extra information that you likely know that, in my hands, have the potential to make life very difficult for the Wildebeest Society, and those two associates, all in one go. Simply put, I want you to tell me those things."

Amanda gulped, her face now pale. She'd already started to suspect as much, but now she'd received confirmation. Her captors were indeed now likely planning a raid against the main lab, and they wanted her to provide some very important information; information that would likely allow them to make it past the gate and into the main building. And now, in a moment that she couldn't help but mentally chide herself over, she was undergoing a moment of internal conflict. On the one hand, she felt she should be celebrating. After all, she had wanted to back out of her work with the Wildebeest Society for a long while now. But at the same time, years of ingrained loyalty to the organization and fear of how they'd threatened to kill her husband Finn and their children Lucy and Henry, if not capture them for the sake of either leverage or future test subjects for experiments, if she didn't maintain said loyalty, was enough to make her understandably afraid of even considering trying to commit any treasonous acts, genuine or perceived.

The sound of snarling broke through her indecisive thoughts, and she looked at the unnervingly angry looking shapeshifter while still directing a small glance at the two snarling mutants out of the corner of her eye. "I'm sure that what you have in mind is something that could perhaps make me feel very happy," she admitted nervously. "But you have to understand, my boss and colleagues, if they find out…"

"They won't," the shapeshifter grunted, seemingly spitting out the words. "And in the unlikely event that they do, it will hardly matter. Because once my friends and I have finished our business here, it's entirely likely that the Wildebeest Society could end up finally taken down and brought to justice. And from there, I highly doubt they'll be in any hurry to harm you or your family."

Rookwood's eyes widened. "How did you know about that…?"

She mentally facepalmed at the sight of the shapeshifter pointing his finger at Ambush and Jungle Cat. "Of course," she thought to herself. "Those two and the other Project Menagerie subjects must have found out somehow. It would only make sense these two would tell him sometime after capturing me."

"I'll say it again," said the shapeshifter. "Once my friends and I have finished our business here, the Wildebeest Society could very well be taken out of the picture altogether. And once that's the case, they'll hardly be in any position to harm anyone, let alone your family. And with that in mind, I must emphasize that I don't necessarily have to know in advance what I'm currently willing to ask you to tell me. But even so, that same knowledge could nonetheless make my current plans a heck of a lot easier."

The scientist gulped, closed her eyes, and lifted her head as if fighting to avoid crying while also trying desperately to decide what to do or say. Jungle Cat and Ambush directed a meaningful look at Beast Boy. It was clear at this point they were ready for him to pull out the bluff card; specifically, the planned bluff treat of them being willing to eat her unless she willingly told them what they wanted her to tell them. Wildebeest and the gathered tribespeople also directed a somewhat nervous glance at Beast Boy, clearly well aware of how unpleasant a resort Jungle Cat and Ambush's planned bluff threat would be, especially for what appeared to be arguably the least deserving of such a fate.

The shapeshifter, however, despite having accepted the offer to have that bluff threat available for use, was in no mood to willingly allow that threat to even be implied. Not if there were any other way to get the captured scientist to talk. And in that instant, he chose to act on a newly thought up idea that he hoped more than anything would negate any need for the bluff threat.

He placed his still glove covered left hand upon the scientist's shoulder, nodding his head as his earlier intimidating face gave way to a clear look of empathy. Both the scientist and all of the changeling's currently present allies gaped uncomprehendingly at him as this unexpected new development unfolded.

"What the?" Jungle Cat and Ambush thought to themselves.

"Huh?" Wildebeest thought to himself.

"What in the name of the spirits is he doing?" Tawaba thought to himself.

"Ok?" Rookwood thought to herself.

Beast Boy took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked meaningfully into the scientist's face. "I understand what it's like," he stated, his tone indicating no sign of dishonesty. "To have to constantly have something hovering over you that you're scared of facing that you're all too happy to take the easy route under the hopes that it will eventually just go away on its own if you keep your head down and ignore it long enough. But I can tell you right now that, in situations like this, more often than not, the only way to truly be free of that thing's shadow and be happy again is to make the hard choice, take a risk, and face it head on."

He pointed at Jungle Cat and Ambush. "My two buddies over there were willing to have us all pretend to threaten to feed you to them in the event that you don't willingly tell us what we want to know," he explained.

The scientist's face paled, and all of Beast Boy's assembled allies gaped at him as if thinking, "Why the Devil are you telling her that?!" But Beast Boy nodded his head and kept his gaze upon the scientist. "But naïve as I may sound saying this, I really don't want to have to resort to that. And something tells me that I won't need to either."

He pointed his finger at her. "I know that you could lose your family in the event that you tell us this information. But the way I see it, depending on just how things unfold, you could end up losing a lot more than that if you don't tell us. I mean, sure I just said that we don't necessarily have to know the information we're currently planning to ask you about for our plans to succeed. But just think, what if that information ends up making all the difference between whether or not we succeed today? If that turns out to be the case, and my allies and I lose, then you'd lose a chance to be free! A chance to finally stop associating with the Wildebeest Society and their vile experiments like you've been wanting to do for the last few years! A chance to finally reunite with your family and make a new life for yourself and them without having to worry about your Wildebeest Society history literally watching over your shoulder and at the ready to harm you or them!" He then gestured towards his assembled allies. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how many wrongs you could make right, how many sins you could gain forgiveness for, how many unpleasant actions you could redeem yourself for; especially in regards to the countless innocent people, children included, that you had to experiment on alongside the various criminals who willingly signed up for it all!"

The scientist hung her head, but not before Beast Boy got a good enough look at her face to see that she was seriously considering what he was saying. "She's wavering," he heard the Beast say helpfully.

Beast Boy couldn't help but mentally smile upon hearing this. And from there, he chose to play his final card. "It's still entirely likely you'll have to go to prison for your involvement," he stated. No point being dishonest about that matter. "However, and I say this with the knowledge that what I'm about to tell you may not even truly be how the law actually works, you telling me the stuff I'm about to ask you about, plus anything else you tell me and my friends later about the Wildebeest Society and its actions could very well qualify to my teammates and I, plus the appropriate authorities, as a testimony that could serve as grounds for at least being given a lighter sentence. And if that's the case, then we might very well even be able to arrange for you to go to a prison in America separate from wherever any surviving high-ranking Wildebeest Society members that could carry out threats against you would go. And considering how, from what your organization's former experiments in this area have told me, the Wildebeest Society doesn't have the reach necessary to carry out plots between two separate continents outside of a few companies only designed to serve as fronts, then you and your family would be perfectly safe even if any high-ranking Wildebeest Society members survive in a prison here in Africa after what goes down today." He directed another look at the scientist, his eyebrow raised. "So. What do you say?"

For a few extra seconds, Amanda Rookwood remained silent, the single shapeshifter, three mutants, and multiple local tribespeople watching her intently as if ready to act in some way regardless of what her final decision was. Then she nodded her head. "It definitely sounds risky," she admitted. "What I'm about to do. But if your later success possibly resulting from me doing this is what it takes for me to finally leave, then so be it." She looked towards the young shapeshifter, a determined look on her face despite her still remaining tightly bound by the vines. "Tell me what you want to know," she said. "And I'll answer to the best of my ability."

The tribespeople and mutants nodded their heads in approval, and Beast Boy smiled a toothy grin. "Excellent," he said. He leaned forward, a narrow-eyed look on his face to show how focused he now was on the new task ahead of him. "To start, that deflector shield I've been told is in place around the walls and gate surrounding the main lab? I want to know how to shut it down."

. . . . .

Constance Morales glared at the footage being broadcast from the security cameras, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. As shaky as her standing currently was with her boss, she couldn't help but feel immensely suspicious over the fact that her colleague turned rival Amanda Rookwood still hadn't yet returned from the task she'd been sent out to accomplish the previous night. "Something's wrong," she thought to herself.

Even her two male fellow chief scientists seemed unnerved about Rookwood's noticeable absence. "I have to admit," said Patrick Lagrange, his fingers nervously rubbing the mousy brown hair on the back of his head. "It's not like Amanda to be late like this."

"You can say that again," the third scientist, Saul Azimi, agreed, nodding his head with a suspicious glare of his own on his bearded and weathered face. "As much as I don't want to agree with her in the current circumstances, Dr. Morales may very well be correct to be suspicious of her whereabouts this time around.

Constance directed a withering glare towards Saul out of the corner of her eyes. "I'm right here you know," she thought to herself.

"Now, now," Patrick stated, clearly still insistent on playing the optimist role in this particular situation. "Let's not jump to conclusions. She could simply be lost. Or maybe she overslept."

"It is not like her to get lost," Saul pointed out grouchily. "And even with the amount of time the boss insisted she stay awake last night, she's never had trouble with waking up at an appropriate time needed for punctuality. And neither of those options would explain why she hasn't contacted us, the boss, or anyone else here a single time since her departure last night. And considering how even her two guards appear to be on radio silence, odds are high that she's either been killed or captured." His eyes narrowed further upon mentioning that last possibility. "And if she's been captured, I do not at all like the possibility that she could very well be passing along immensely sensitive information about us and the organization to the enemy even now as we speak."

Constance rolled her eyes. "Well if that's the case, then once we've confirmed as much to be true, we'll just eliminate her pathetic milquetoast family like the boss has already threatened and quite frankly should have done a long time ago." She shook her head side to side. "Kids," she spat, a clear contempt in her voice. "Never saw the appeal in them. Or in getting married for that matter. I certainly don't need no man or squealing little brats in my life to feel fulfilled." She let a wolf-like grin of pride come on her face. "Just give me a chemistry set at the very least and I'll be perfectly happy. As long as I have an experiment to engage in, I don't need no family in my life."

Patrick surreptitiously rolled his eyes, but wisely kept his new thoughts on what Constance had just said to himself, and also managed with similar effort to successfully fight off the urge to reach for the sword he had in a sheath on his belt, draw it out, and stab his colleague with it. Saul, likewise, kept his thoughts to himself, but not without silently glaring and raising his eyebrow at his colleague, while also surreptitiously sticking his hand in one of his cloak's pockets and gently clutching a pair of 'brass knuckles' made of titanium as well as what appeared at first glance to be an ordinary camera.

Constance directed a brief look at the footage from the camera in the room where the four captive Titans were currently still imprisoned. "And you know what? In the event that our missing colleague is in fact a captive and in the midst of telling our enemies sensitive information, I don't really see any problem in at the very least going ahead and having these four captives of our own subjected to the gas treatment early."

"First off," said Patrick, his finger raised as if to emphasize a point. "We don't even know for sure that Amanda's truly been captured, let alone if she's in the midst of committing treason of any sort." He then glared at Saul. "And even in the event that she is giving away important secrets, suppose she's being forced to do so against her will via pain or similar torture? Last I recall, the boss specifically made it clear that this particular threat against her is only supposed to be carried if she commits treason willingly."

Saul, to his credit, looked chastened upon hearing this reminder. "Forgot about that," he admitted. He shook his head to get his mind back on the topic Constance had recently brought up. "Regardless though," he then said. "Our boss, his old acquaintance, and that Cold War leftover made our orders perfectly clear. The prisoners are not to be gassed until 12:00 noon, and that's only a guaranteed part of the schedule if the shapeshifter doesn't arrive by that time himself."

Constance groaned. "You guys take the fun out of everything," she grumbled.

"Yeah well, we have our orders," said Patrick, clearly not in the mood to deal with her any more than necessary. "And don't even try to use the fact that the desired guest hasn't arrived yet as evidence to change our minds. It's only 8:00 am. He still has a full four hours before he has to worry about his friends getting exposed to the Primetia, and the last thing any of us needs is for some impatient adrenaline junkie to mess things up."

"He's right," Saul agreed. "And besides, considering your current standing with the boss, I have a pretty good feeling that committing insubordination like you're currently wishing won't help your job security; or your life expectancy for that matter."

Constance grumbled incoherently to herself in irritation over this reminder.

"And while we're at it," Patrick broke in. "Don't you think you should be focusing a little more on those 'pets' of yours as you so lovingly put it? I'm sure they'll be a much more conducive way for you to spend your time right now."

The Latina scientist rolled her eyes. "Seems like that's the only thing I'm ever good for these days," she thought bitterly to herself. But even so, she couldn't help but also feel a slight joy mixed in with her begrudging acceptance of Dr. Lagrange's suggestion. "After all," she thought to herself. "In the event that shapeshifter nephew of our boss's old visiting associate tries to pull any fast ones on us, I'll finally get the chance to let them show off how useful they'll be for us now that I've gotten them fully under our control." She then let another malicious grin of pride come on her face. "And if this works out," she thought to herself darkly while directing a meaningful look at the framed picture next to the computer at Dr. Rookwood's conspicuously unoccupied desk. "I know just the thing to suggest for their first assignment outside the lab."

. . . . .

"So the code's nyumbu?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes," Dr. Rookwood responded. She nodded her head. At this point, she was now currently free from the vines that had bound her earlier. "The Swahili word for wildebeest. That same code will also be necessary to unlock and open the main gate unless you have me around so that I can use my handprint or retinal structure. And unless you're willing to risk giving yourselves away by having me contact my boss to see if he can arrange for the guard beast to be moved out of the way, you'll likely have to be especially careful trying to enter."

"No need to worry about that," said Jungle Cat. He nodded his head. "We've already got an idea how to take care of that. Appreciate the offer to help though."

"If you say so." Rookwood nodded her head, and then looked back at Beast Boy. "I take it, that wasn't the only question you wanted to ask me?"

"Correct." Beast Boy nodded his head. "That scientist that the Wildebeest Society is currently providing sanctuary for at the main lab here in Lamumba. He told me during that phone call we had last night that he had a cure available for Primetia. Is that true?"

"Yes. It's true. I saw it with my own eyes. And it works. But only if applied via injection. All attempts at applying the cure through inhaling it in gas form or drinking it in liquid form have failed. And so far there's two samples left. You'll find them in a specially designed safe within a vault two sectors to the immediate left of the central lab chamber. The same code you need for the gate and deflector shields are what you'll need to open the vault and unlock the safe. And that in mind, both the cure and Primetia itself need to be kept at a very specific temperature in order to be viable for use. Once you open the safe and allow the cure samples to be exposed to potentially hotter temperatures, you'll have an hour at most before they go bad."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beast Boy stated, mentally taking note of how he could so far still only hope that the cure would even be capable of working on him in the event he successfully got to its location. As much as the combined effort of the talisman and his animal forms seemed to be so far keeping the virus's influence at bay, he knew that they couldn't hold it back forever. "Do you have a map of the main lab building's interior we could use?"

"On my communicator."

Nyota handed the communicator Ambush had confiscated the previous night back to its original owner, who subsequently got the device unlocked. Once Beast Boy and Wildebeest had subsequently found the map and gotten it downloaded onto their communicators, the two Titans slipped their communicators back in their pants pockets while Rookwood let Ambush have the previously confiscated Wildebeest Society communicator back. The changeling looked back at the scientist.

"Ok, the map has everything pretty clearly labeled," he then said. "My allies and I should probably look it over a couple times just to be sure that we don't have to be constantly looking at it in order to find our way through the lab, but otherwise it should be easy. And that being the case." He pointed at Tawaba. "My friends over here have already told me about the defenses they had to deal with outside the lab. Anything you can tell us about any defenses will have to worry about once we've made it past those outer defenses?"

Rookwood nodded her head. "Yes. For starters, the entire building will be crawling with guards. Specifically, you'll have to contend with all the lower ranking human members of the Wildebeest Society, the grunts working for that Cold War scientist, and the sizable number that remains of the Wildebeest Society's herd of wildebeest hybrid soldiers. Your experiences with Project Baby Wildebeest should be enough for you to know what to expect from the hybrids, the Society's human underlings are all armed with crossbows, and Professor Chang's grunts are armed with laser rifles."

"I see."

Beast Boy nodded his head. "Are there any security gadgets we should be aware of?" He then asked. "Turret guns? Trap chambers? Anything like that?"

The scientist shook her head. "Not many. There's a trio of laser turrets installed into the ceiling of the main entrance room. And all the guards and soldiers I mentioned not too long ago are specifically trained or similarly under orders to not get involved unless any intruders that manage to enter the lab through that area manage to either destroy or similarly bypass those turrets. But once you get past those turrets, all those guards I mentioned are largely the only thing you have to worry about. The boss says that having too many big and potentially destructive security gadgets in the area could cause unnecessarily high risk of irreparable or similarly costly damage or destruction to valuable experiments, technology, and other assets in the event of a fracas."

"Well that's good news," said Tawaba.

"I said largely," Rookwood then stated. "There are still a couple other factors besides all those soldiers that you'll need to watch out for."

"We're listening," said Jungle Cat.

"To start, there's my three colleagues amongst the inner circle. You may have been able to easily capture me, but not only was I caught off guard, but my colleagues are also considerably better equipped and trained for combat than I am. Likely because the boss wanted me to be kept weak to reduce my chances of betraying him and walking out on the Society."

"What should we expect from your colleagues?" Mumbyo asked.

"The chief technician likes to get his fists dirty," Rookwood began. "And he has a pair of specially made titanium knuckles that he wears just for combat. And he also has a specially designed camera that can transform into a portable laser cannon."

Beast Boy silently whistled. "That could be a problem."

"You think?!" Nyota hissed.

"The chief chemist is a trained fencer. And he's very fast with his rapier. So you'll want to either keep your distance or be a very skilled swordfighter yourself if you encounter him."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Beast Boy.

"And my fellow top geneticist," Rookwood continued. "Who also currently happens to be both the chief project overseer as well as the one directly responsible for Project Baby Wildebeest's successful creation and birth, is armed with a set of foudre knives that she's scarily skilled at using in both close combat and as throwing projectiles. And if she happens to be in an especially sadistic mood, she's also more than willing to draw out a specially designed voltage whip she designed herself immediately after she was first hired."

Wildebeest shuddered. "I definitely remember that thing," he whimpered.

"You also might want to keep an eye out for the boss." Amanda nodded her head. "Granted, he doesn't often get the chance to visibly demonstrate as much; but if the claims he's made of his prowess are true, he could be a pretty tough opponent for anyone who ends up battling him."

"She's not kidding," Ambush broke in, Jungle Cat and Wildebeest likewise nodding their heads in agreement.

"Indeed," said Jungle Cat. "From what we remember of our time in the Wildebeest Society's custody, their current leader, some ginger haired scoundrel in a white cloak who calls himself Arronax, is immensely skilled at wielding a broadsword. He's also armed with a revolver that he's reportedly got very good aim with. And furthermore."

The lion mutant briefly paused and looked around as if wanting to make extra certain that no unwelcome people were around to overhear what he was about to say. Ambush and Wildebeest similarly looked as if checking for intruders or eavesdroppers. Dr. Rookwood, however, soon decided to go ahead and finish the description for them. "There's a medallion he wears around his neck. One that's reportedly been passed down to him from his immediate predecessor, not to mention been worn by every person to take the mantle of Wildebeest Society leader. And while I myself haven't seen any proof, there are reportedly rumors that this medallion used to belong to some sort of wizard and that all who've worn it since it was found by the Society's founding father have posthumously been granted the ability to wield that same wizard's power as long as they have the medallion around their necks."

Beast Boy, the three mutants, and the assembled tribal warriors all looked each other in the eyes, uncertain as to just what to think about this new information. "Ok then," Beast Boy eventually managed to say. "We should probably at least keep this possibility in mind, just to be safe."

His myriad allies nodded in agreement. It certainly sounded fair enough.

"There's one last thing I can think of right now that you should probably be aware of."

All eyes once again returned to Dr. Rookwood, who took a deep breath in preparation for what she was about to say. "I don't know the full details. For some reason, Arronax and my three fellow inner circles members have kept me out of the loop for this particular topic. But from what little I've managed to figure out, one of the especially important projects from the sister location was transferred to the main lab about a week or so ago. And yesterday afternoon, my colleague that currently serves as Chief Project Overseer reportedly managed to make the finishing touches on it."

"In other words," Beast Boy stated. "There might be a completely brand-new weapon or similar unpleasant security measure to look out for today."

"That is correct." Amanda nodded her head. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask me about?"

All eyes promptly turned to Beast Boy, who thought carefully to himself. "I think that just about covers everything," he eventually responded. He nodded his head. "I mean, we've certainly got just about all the necessary security information and whatnot that we'll need. And considering how well suited for combat everyone else but Chang is turning out to be, I highly doubt that we'll need to be any less careful if we encounter whoever it is that Chang himself is currently working for."

Wildebeest, Ambush, and Jungle Cat nodded in agreement. "Sounds about right," they stated in unison.

"Indeed." Tawaba nodded his head before then turning to face the scientist. "For your own safety, as well as a means of insurance for our own sake, we currently plan to leave you here in this clearing." He pointed at the burrow that had served as the captive's makeshift cell. "Right back inside that burrow to be more specific."

Amanda thought to herself, carefully considering what she'd just been told. Then she nodded. "I suppose that's fair enough," she admitted, a stoic look of acceptance on her face. "After all, I might just get myself hurt or in the way if I were to accompany you. Not to mention I could end up at risk of trying to provide aid for the enemy out of sheer lingering fear of what they'll do to me if I don't."

"Our thoughts exactly." N'jobu nodded his head. "We'll also be keeping your communications device in our possession until we've finished and come back to release you."

"Also reasonable."

The scientist thought to herself, at one point directing her glance at the now discarded binding vines and sticky leaf lying around on the ground near her former makeshift cell. "You know what?" She then said. "If you're going to leave me sealed up in that burrow over there while you're gone, you might as well tie me back up with those vines again and place that leaf back over my mouth. That way it will be especially difficult for me to get out and risk screwing things up."

"An odd request," N'jobu admitted, a somewhat perplexed look on his face. "But if you really feel that will help, I suppose we might as well."

Tawaba nodded in agreement, though not without looking somewhat perplexed himself. "Nonetheless," the chieftain king then said. "Just in case you later feel willing to try to join in and confident that you won't end up betraying us, we will make sure to have a means for you to free yourself, your confiscated weapon, and a jar of specially designed shamanistic combat powder carefully hidden inside that burrow prior to placing you back in there. You'll have to look extra carefully in order to find even one of those things, let alone all three. But in the event that you do manage to find them and get free, then we all very much hope that you will either stay in this clearing anyway or provide aide exclusively to our side in the event you come to the main lab and take part in the coming trial."

"I understand." The scientist nodded her head once again. "May I ask just what that combat powder does?"

"That's something I'll allow you the chance to find out yourself for now," said N'jobu. "But I will tell you this; it's designed to be thrown into your enemies' eyes. And by all that is sacred do not consume it. Do so and you will at best become violently ill and at worst die of a severe form of poisoning."

The prisoner gulped, her face pale and eyes widened. "Got it. Thanks." She then tensed up, as if the matter of poisoning had just reminded her of something. "I almost forgot," she then said before looking at Beast Boy. "Your teammates currently being held prisoner? They're currently being contained in one of the ancillary laboratory chambers two sectors to the right of the central lab chamber."

"So basically the reverse direction of the antidote's location," said Beast Boy.

"Exactly." Amanda nodded her head in the affirmative. "Furthermore, you'll need a keycard in order to enter any room with a door located inside the building once you've made it through the entrance chamber. And that said, I truly do wish you all the best of luck."

Beast Boy and his assembled allies couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. Even the Beast seemed happy. "She is telling the truth," the changeling heard it say within his mind.

"In which case, thank you ma'am," Beast Boy said, smile still on his face.

"You're welcome. Happy to have helped."

"A fact we very much appreciate." Tawaba nodded his own head before then directing the entire group's attention to him. "Alright everyone," he stated. "Now that this interrogation is over and we have just about all the information we'll need, we'd best get to work on what was originally scheduled before the two human cats captured this scientist last night." He looked to Beast Boy. "What time does your communication device say it is?"

"8:30." The shapeshifter flashed the chieftain king a thumbs-up. "We still have a full three and a half hours before my deadline with Chang."

"In that case, we should have just enough time for a quick breakfast."

The rest of the group was all too eager to agree to this latest statement from Tawaba. "Definitely not a bad idea," Beast Boy said, licking his lips hungrily. "As long as we don't take too long, I should have plenty of time after I finish eating to real quick go into the jungle and finish setting up our plan for getting past the security beast. And once that's done, I'll give you the previously agreed upon signal to let you know, and you can place Dr. Rookwood back into her safety chamber and meet back up with me at the agreed upon rendezvous point."

He then paused as if he'd just had a particularly important thought. He looked back at the captured Wildebeest Society chief scientist. "Professor Chang told me that his benefactor that you've got living alongside you all at the lab right now has something big planned for me. Any chance you can tell me what it is?"

The scientist thought to herself, grimaced, and then shook her head. "I'd like to," she admitted. "But I only just got allowed into the loop on that particular detail yesterday. And yesterday morning, long before your friends even arrived, Arronax and that benefactor you mentioned had us all be injected with a string of nanotech devices designed to release a lethal dose of cyanide into our bloodstreams at the press of a button in the event that any of us tried to blow the whistle on that particular detail…"

"Say no more."

Beast Boy nodded his head. "I'm sure I'll end up finding out myself anyway over the course of the raid." He looked back to Tawaba. "That's all my questions for now."

His assorted allies nodded, and from there they all got to work on preparing and eating a quick breakfast for them all to eat. And as planned, Beast Boy got up to head off into the jungle the instant he'd finished eating. And as he made his way over towards his current planned destination, he couldn't help but feel especially confident in his chances at success. After all, the talk he'd ended up having with the Beast in a dream the previous evening thanks to a shamanistic potion N'jobu had given him had proven very informative.

. . . . .

(The previous evening)

"I see that your shaman friend's concoction is working."

Beast Boy opened his eyes in surprise upon suddenly hearing the voice of the Beast. He'd just sat up from where he was lying on the ground to sleep and turned his head in the direction the Beast's voice had come from when he noticed a very peculiar detail about the environment around him.

At that moment, with the exception of himself and the Beast, the clearing being used as a campsite for the raiding party was completely empty. And furthermore, not only did the entire environment have a slightly greenish tinge to it, but the entirety of the space outside the clearing's tree circled boundaries was nothing but solid green light and empty space. "Where are we?"

"You are in an area very deep within your mind," the Beast explained. It nodded its head, a sage-like look of wisdom in its eyes. "And it is here that we'd best have that talk you were originally planning on having with me before bed prior to your shaman friend informing you of the means to be guaranteed a talk with me while asleep."

Beast Boy thought to himself, and then nodded. "Ok then, sure." He paused again, and then started looking around as if checking for intruders.

"Your other forms will not bother us," the Beast explained. The same mystical power that made this current meeting possible has also set up a barrier around this area that will prevent any hostile mental forces from trying to attack or invade. And even if that weren't the case, all the lesser animals that share living space with me aren't currently in the mood for further violence and rage anyhow. I was able to get them all to calm down; at least for the remainder of this evening."

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow in wonder. "How did you manage that?"

"It took a lot of effort on my part, and I had to seriously exercise my willpower over them all. But about a couple hours or so after that talk I had with you, the shaman, and that king, I was able to get them all to settle down long enough to let me fully explain to them the truth behind their current rage. And needless to say, they were all too eager to go on truce and subsequently start working as hard as they could to keep themselves calm and at peace despite the influence of the virus still eating away at them. And believe me, I'm not kidding when I say that they're giving it all they've got to give us all time to be successfully cured."

"Well that's good to hear."

"Indeed. And I should also mention that there is an intriguing detail they managed to tell me that you might find interesting."

"What's that?"

"The virus apparently might not be the only foreign thing now inside your blood stream as a result of that gas."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "That doesn't sound good."

"No it does not, but from what the other animals have told me, this other presence does not appear to have caused any harm to you personally. But they've been able to feel its presence. It's reportedly something cold and metallic, and they've all felt it poking around in their essences. And that in mind, I myself did end up feeling it briefly poking around in my own essence a couple times sometime after they told me about it."

"That's…an interesting bit of information."

The changeling thought to himself. So there was apparently something metallic in his bloodstream poking around in the animal DNA inside him that allowed him to shapeshift? This definitely sounded unnerving. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel that there was something about this information that sounded very tangentially familiar. Then his eyes narrowed as he properly considered a certain detail that the Beast had mentioned. "About when did all the other animals first notice this?"

"They first started feeling it swimming through your bloodstream and poking around in their DNA not too long after they started feeling the Rage. But it wasn't until I was able to get them to calm down earlier this afternoon that they were able to properly focus on it enough to fully realize its significance."

"I see." Beast Boy nodded his head. "Well, I suppose it's better late than never."

The Beast snorted, but nonetheless nodded its head in agreement. "Nevertheless, it appears to have stopped as of the previous hour. Or at the very least, we can no longer feel it actively working on whatever it was doing before."

Beast Boy considered this new information. "I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news."

"For now, I believe it best we act as if it's good news, but nonetheless be on guard for any unpleasant possibilities."

"Like I'm not already?"

"Very funny. But never mind that. I believe you had other things you wished to talk to me about?"

"You could say that."

Beast Boy pointed his finger at the Beast. "To start, there's something that you said back in our earlier conversation alongside Tawaba and N'jobu that I feel like I'm gonna need some further clarification on; especially since, depending on just what the end results are, they could very well include something that I might need for tomorrow's plan."

"Let me guess, you wish to know what I meant when I said that your connection to the Red brought about by your powers allowed those very powers to be advanced to a far higher degree than they would have been without that connection?"

"You read my mind."

"Not hard to do considering I live there." Beast Boy briefly glared in annoyance at the Beast, which in turn very briefly let a wry grin come on its furry face. "But that in mind, I shall explain." The Beast nodded its head. "For starters, all the animals apart from myself that you've either turned into or shown the potential of turning into, did you really all of them had their DNA already present within that serum your parents gave you?"

"Um," Beast Boy thought to himself. "Well, kind of. I mean, that was the natural assumption."

"And in all fairness, a pretty decent number of your forms indeed were included directly within that serum," the Beast admitted. "But the dinosaurs? The various other extinct animals? The sasquatch? Where do you think your parents would have gotten the DNA for all those? And that's an especially good question for the sasquatch considering even you yourself didn't believe those existed before you met that one individual in the wild during your time in the Doom Patrol."

Beast Boy thought to himself once again, his face slowly turning a lighter shade of green and his eyes widening as he fully realized the truth in what the Beast had said. He had honestly never thought about any of this. "You're saying my connection to the Red helped me develop the ability to turn into animals that didn't already have their DNA as ingredients for that serum my parents gave me?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying," the Beast responded. "You remember how your metal friend mentioned that your blood and DNA was dangerously unstable on the night you first gained the ability to assume my form? Your DNA has always been unstable even before then by virtue of both the animal DNA implanted within you by the serum as well as the extra influence from your later connection to the Red. The latter, however, contributed heavily to you developing even more animals to be capable of turning into by allowing the animal DNA already inside you to briefly combine together every now and then in ways that would cause mutations that allowed DNA from completely different and previously unrepresented animals to take shape alongside the DNA already inside you. And just like the animals that already had DNA available to you in the serum, these new animals would start out as just barely conscious specks of mind that would later develop into full consciousnesses that would later 'awaken' if you will as full minds with their own personalities similar to as if they were the actual animals themselves."

Beast Boy silently gulped. "That's a lot to take in," he whispered to himself, though nonetheless feeling certain the Beast would hear him say it anyway. "Is that how you ended up taking shape inside me?"

"Yes and no. The tiniest spark of what would become my presence in your DNA did show signs of development over the course of the successful birth of a great many other animals. However, considering just how low of a likelihood there was for the specific mutation that would have been required for me to fully come into existence within you to actually happen on its own in even the circumstances your DNA was in at the time, I probably would have never properly existed in you as even a full consciousness, let alone a form you could transform into, if it hadn't been for those chemicals you got doused in at that animal testing site where you and your friends first encountered that foul degenerate who also ended up somehow gaining the ability to take on the form of the Red's avatar."

Beast Boy involuntarily shuddered at the reminder of Adonis. The arrogant and overly muscle obsessed other boy had always proven somewhat of a personal nemesis for him ever since their first few encounters. And their recent clash on Valentine's Day that year had hardly given him any more reason to like him. The fact that said clash had ended with the Beast very nearly killing Adonis certainly didn't help matters either. "So those chemicals did basically allow you to take shape inside me," he then said, hoping to move the discussion away from Adonis.

"Yes. As I mentioned not too long ago, the exposure to the chemicals caused your already unstable genetics to become even more so. And in the moment in which that considerably less controlled form of instability got triggered, literally all the different strands of animal DNA within you combined together for the briefest of instances. Not very long, but long enough to allow me to fully come into existence within you. And from there, you probably remember very well how much influence I ended up having over you during my earlier days of existence than I do now."

"Oh I definitely remember that time," Beast Boy grumbled.

"And while the antidote your metal friend gave you got your DNA back to the more controlled level of instability it had been at before in time to prevent you from getting literally torn apart from the inside, I was naturally there to stay. And I'll freely admit, if it hadn't been for the bonds you had with your friends, especially the mate, being present for me to ground myself on, I would have probably taken even longer to reach my current dynamic with you than I ended up taking."

"Well there's a comforting thought."

"I resent that." The Beast shook his head. "That being said though, sufficient DNA for even more brand-new animal forms have continued to develop within your blood stream even after my coming into existence amongst them. And as you noticed yourself the night before this current night, your recent infection with Primetia triggered your genetics sufficiently enough for a mass influx of new forms that you'll probably want to consider trying out sometime after you've been cured."

Beast Boy couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. "I knew those unfamiliar animal form minds I detected came from somewhere." He clasped his hands together, clearly excited. "Care to tell me what they are?"

"There's too many to list right now," the Beast responded. "And besides, I'd really rather not spoil any surprises." It nodded its head. "I will tell you this though, you were not wrong to suspect earlier at the brontopod herd's nesting ground that the sasquatch is no longer the only imaginary animal you can turn into," the Beast then continued, very deliberately air quoting 'imaginary'.

Beast Boy silently whistled, and then thought to himself, his excitement increasing as he considered the myriad fantastical animals he'd encountered this very adventure, a couple others he and the other Titans had encountered during a couple notable adventures the previous summer, the gigantic army's worth of 'imaginary' sea animals that had fought alongside them to help Aquaman a good couple weeks or so ago, and the various possible mythical creatures he could yet discover the existence of via turning into them that he could think of. "That definitely sounds like a fun bit of power to experiment with."

"And you could yet test to see if there are any other animals from outside this planet you could turn into. And considering how you once turned into an alien animal you encountered that first time you visited the home planet of your pack alpha's mate, I'm surprised you didn't try to further experiment on your extraterrestrial morphing capabilities over the course of your most recent space trip."

"Had more important things to worry about that time," Beast Boy responded. "And considering what Starfire told me about the unpleasant affects Earth's atmosphere and similar environmental conditions could have on some of the alien animals she knows about, I haven't exactly been in any hurry to take any undue risks to my health by doing further experimentation in that regard."

"I suppose that's fair enough," the Beast grumbled begrudgingly.

"I'm still hoping to do some testing on those new forms this virus has allowed me to develop though," Beast Boy then said for the sake of a peace offering.

"You think those forms sound exciting? Wait till you get an idea of what other abilities your connection to the Red could allow us to grant you if you were to allow us the chance."

Beast Boy raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Come now," said the Beast. "Do you really think that shapeshifting into animals is the only ability you've been granted by all the animal DNA you've got stewing around in your veins?"

"Well I have noticed how quickly I tend to heal from most minor injuries," Beast Boy admitted. "And I'm certainly going to forget how impressively rarely, if ever, I've gotten sick since I first got my powers. And that's without considering the enhanced senses I have even when not in one of my animal forms."

"Indeed." The Beast nodded. "The healing factor you've inherited in equal parts from myself and your Portuguese Man-O-War form, among possibly a few other forms. And then there's your enhanced resilience to infection and disease thanks to having so much different forms of animal DNA inside you providing immensely combined disease resistance and an enhanced immune system. And the enhanced sight, smell, hearing, and similar senses are a no brainer. But even with those in mind, you're still only aware of a comparatively tiny fraction of the additional powers your connection to the Red could allow you to utilize if you gave it the chance to do so."

"Like what?"

"Well for starters, remember how you are capable of mentally communicating with your friend from Atlantis while in the form of an ocean dwelling animal? Or how you were once able to 'speak' to a pack of Utahraptors living in your crystal companion's hidden subterranean home while in that particular form? You could have the power to properly communicate with all animals in existence to the same degree that your Atlantean companion is capable of doing with all ocean dwelling animals. And while in your natural human form no less!"

Beast Boy's eyes widened in surprise. "I could?"

"Yes," the Beast responded. "Yes you could. And not only that, but if you were to channel your connection to the Red just right while in specific animal forms, you could have access to a variety of special powers that each of your animal forms could only be capable of using with an unnaturally enhanced connection to the Red."

"Like what?"

"You could give off an ultrasonic roar or howl while in your lion, tiger, or wolf forms," the Beast explained. "Or you could run almost exactly as fast as your speedster friend, if not faster, while in your cheetah or ostrich forms. Your giraffe and sauropod forms could gain the ability to stretch their necks to unnatural lengths as if made of rubber. Your pachyderm forms could attain similar power with their trunks. Your armored skinned forms could withstand far more different and deadly types of attack then they're already capable of. Your insect forms could gain the ability to clone themselves the way your amoeba form is capable of doing." The Beast let a wolf-like grin come on its face as it mentioned that last ability. "Just think of how much more useful your bee or wasp forms could be if you could turn into an entire swarm of them instead of just a single individual."

At the sight of its host's stunned look, the Beast chose to reveal another important detail. "In fact, you've miraculously managed a couple times to unwittingly allow yourself a very brief heightened unnatural connection to the Red when in your porcupine form. I've noticed how you've occasionally been capable of having that particular form be capable of shooting its quills like arrows or darts while in its shape. Considering how you ought to be very aware already of how this is quite simply impossible for any normal porcupine or hedgehog to achieve in reality, you really ought to have wondered how you were able to manage such an impossibility while in porcupine mode every once and a while."

Beast Boy thought to himself, still quite stunned as he properly considered everything the Beast had just revealed. "How powerful am I?" Beast Boy thought dumbfoundedly to himself, half in awe and half in fear.

"And not only that," the Beast continued. "But just think of how your instincts and senses could be even further improved. You've already demonstrated the ability to sense fear and the paranormal the way some animals are capable of doing so, and you've already shown yourself to be finely in tuned with your animal instincts. But with the right level of channeling of the Red, your instincts could allow you to be a borderline mind reader; you could be capable of knowing what a person you're talking to is about to say mere minutes, if not seconds, before the other person speaks, among other tricks."

Beast Boy gulped. "That sounds nice."

"And finally, there are a few extra abilities I myself have that were inherited from the DNA of some of the more fantastical animals. Considering I'm supposed to be the ultimate animal, it would only make sense I have a few extra abilities that you could use while in my shape that would put me on at least the same level as some of the strongest of those creatures."

"Like what?" Beast Boy asked, now genuinely curious.

The Beast nodded, turned so that its back was facing the changeling, and then abruptly clasped its front paws together. The resulting shockwave of noise that emanated from this clap caused a tree multiple feet in front of the Beast to burst into smithereens. Beast Boy was still gaping in surprise at the wreckage of the tree when the Beast then turned its head towards another tree and let a gigantic stream of green flames burst out of its open jaws and engulf this second tree. The Beast didn't even allow a full three seconds to pass the moment it had set this 2nd tree on fire before it then pointed its left-hand claws at a 3rd tree without even looking and blasted it to ash with three tendrils of green lightning. And all of two seconds later, the Beast lifted its head to face the 'sky' and unleashed an ultrasonic roar, the resulting 'beam' of noise waves rapidly spouting upwards like a geyser with such force that the 'ground' seemed to shake from underneath the Beast's feet. The 2nd tree was still burning with green flames and the noise of the Beast's roar was still ringing in the air when the Beast turned around to face its once again stunned host once more. "Need I go on?"

Beast Boy shook his head side to side, half in response to the Beast's question and half in numbed shock. "But…if I'm capable of doing all this extra stuff, how come I haven't been able to do any of it already? Or at the very least, why am I only capable so far of getting a small taste of it in certain forms?"

"Because you've been willingly holding yourself back from being capable of unleashing your full potential," the Beast explained.

"How?" Beast Boy asked, now more confused than ever.

"Like I said, you haven't been fully giving your connection to the Red the chance to allow you to access the full extent of your powers. How that is the case? It is simple. You've been holding back over the course of your efforts at keeping yourself in control."

The shapeshifter's eyes widened, and his face went pale. "You're saying I have to let you guys take over control of me for this?!"

"No," the Beast grumbled, sounding remarkably calm despite what its host had just said. "But what I am saying is that you're trying too hard to maintain full control of your body as well as the powers that you're used to having at the cost of unwittingly denying yourself the ability to access the full extent of your abilities. You're so afraid of losing control of yourself and potentially breaking your defense against complete takeover by myself or one of the lesser animals you can turn into that you won't even allow those defenses to bend."

Beast Boy thought carefully to himself. He had to admit, what the Beast had just now said actually did make a fair amount of sense. "So you're suggesting…?"

The Beast nodded its head. "I'm not suggesting you allow myself, or any of your other forms to initiate a full takeover of your mind. However, for the sake of being capable of utilizing all the other abilities the Red could allow you to have, you need to at least be willing to strike a compromise between yourself and us in regard to how much access we have to your mind's inner workings."

"That could definitely take a while in the current circumstances," Beast Boy admitted, thinking of the uncertain state of control all his forms apart from the Beast were currently in for themselves, let alone of his own body.

"Precisely why you can at the very least start out by trying to strike up an appropriate balance of control between yourself and me. After all, as has been established, I'm currently the least likely to abruptly attempt to initiate a blind rage fueled complete takeover of your mind. And if you are successful, then you'll at the very least have the telepathy you'll no doubt need for what you currently have in mind for the sake of getting rid of that guard beast tomorrow."

"Sounds reasonable enough." Beast Boy nodded his head. He then looked at the Beast, an inquisitive look on his face. "Any hints you could give me on how to possibly achieve something like that? I mean, considering how used I am to outright stonewalling you and the others, I'm gonna need to know a good way to visualize allowing just enough influence from you guys past the walls without allowing a full takeover."

"Just think of me as similar to that One for All power from those backwards comic books you like to read," the Beast suggested. It let a wry grin appear on its face at the sight of the half surprised and half confused look on its host's face. "I live in your mind, I am more than capable of absorbing a little knowledge from what you learn while reading."

"Ok then," Beast Boy stated. He thought to himself. "So basically, I need to stop thinking of you as a dangerous last resort…"

"And more like a natural part of your body," the Beast finished. "Just like how Deku eventually gets taught how to view One for All after receiving one bone breaking arm injury too many."

"Ok then, that's a start," Beast Boy admitted. "I hope it doesn't take too long for me to get that down just right."

"Fortunately," the Beast stated. "We currently have until you wake up tomorrow morning for us to practice. And if we're lucky, that should be just enough time to get at least a decent balance to allow your telepathy figured out in time for you to use said telepathy on those dinosaurs you plan to hire tomorrow to go up against that erumpent."

. . . . .

(Present time)

Beast Boy stood directly by the edge of what Jungle Cat and Ambush had claimed was the location of the kasai-rex pair's nest, a half confident and half nervous look on his face. He had managed, after several tries, to successfully get just the right balance of control between himself and the Beast. As of now, the current agreement was that Beast Boy himself would have full control of his body while the Beast was allowed to maintain the current access it had to his mind while also now having access to all of its host's senses and be also allowed the privilege to talk to the shapeshifter from inside his mind whenever it pleased. And just to sweeten the deal, the Beast was now also allowed to temporarily take over control in 'special circumstances' such as moments of hypnotism or similar states that would leave the changeling otherwise unable to react without the Beast's help. But most importantly, he now was also indeed capable of finally using full proper animal telepathy, just as he'd hoped he'd be capable of someday doing. And while he was feeling somewhat unnerved over how the Beast had later responded to his question as to why the Red's avatar had allowed a version of itself to be present in him to be capable of transforming into, he knew that this matter was something to be worried about more openly at a later date. After all, as much as both he and the Beast were wary over the as of yet unknown reason that the avatar itself had allowed a version of itself to come into existence in Beast Boy himself, let alone inside Adonis, that matter clearly didn't seem to be as important in the immediate future.

He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then stared ahead into the relative darkness within the entrance to the clearing. "Hello," he stated with his telepathy to get the attention of any potential occupants.

In a flash, a low tyrannosaur-like snarling filled the air within the clearing. "Who's there?" Said a low guttural mental voice.

"Who dares intrude upon our nest?" Snarled another voice, but this one sounding raspier and more 'feminine'.

"Forgive me for my intrusion," Beast Boy stated. "But I have come to ask you for assistance."

There was a brief pause. "Assistance?" Said the guttural voice that Beast Boy now assumed to belong to the male of the duo. "You wish to form a temporary pack?"

"Sort of."

There was another brief pause. "What exactly are you?" The raspy voiced female asked. "You do not quite sound like one of us."

"Come to the light, and you'll see."

There was yet another brief pause, but then the sound of heavy footsteps and snapping foliage split the air, complete with immensely noticeable vibrations erupting from the ground. After about a minute, two scaly tyrannosaur-like heads peeked out from the clearing. The shapeshifter was also able to get a peek at the tips of the claws on the beasts' hands as well as a small portion of their necks that allowed him to take note of both how one of the two was shorter than the other and how that same shorter member of the pair had black lightning bolt shaped stripes instead of the yellow ones present on the one the changeling had seen two days prior. The two kasai-rex snorted, red eyes narrowing at the sight of the shapeshifter standing before them.

"I am confused," said the shorter dinosaur, speaking in the voice that Beast Boy now knew for sure belonged to the male of the pair. "I cannot tell if you are prey, an enemy, or something to be ignored."

Its mate likewise appeared uncertain what to think. "What are you?"

"For now, consider me an ally."

Beast Boy nodded his head. "I hear that you have a nest. Are you expecting offspring?"

"We are," said the male, a slightly confused tone to its mental voice. It narrowed its eyes. "Why do you ask such a question green one?"

Beast Boy looked to the female, showing no reaction to having been referred to as 'green one'. "You must feel very hungry than. Don't you?"

"Yes," the female hissed, reflexively licking her chops. "My mate and I have to almost constantly be out hunting for food. And since most of the longnecks we usually prefer to hunt have departed to their nesting grounds many miles away from where we've set up our nest, or since been eaten by others of our kind located much closer to said nesting grounds, we've often had to make do on longnoses, fur covered and horned longnecks, and other comparatively smaller large leaf eaters. And even one of those alternate forms of food is nowhere near as filling as a proper longneck would be. For that matter, I'd even be willing to eat a firehorn so as to have even a single day's worth of time in which I'm not feeling constantly hungry."

"A firehorn?" Beast Boy asked, now having a strong suspicion that this phrase was the term the kasai-rex used to refer to erumpents. "You hunt those?"

"Indeed we do green one," said the male kasai-rex. "Not often, mind you. But whenever we're feeling in the mood, or one of them happens to be in the area, our kind is more than willing to make a meal out of one."

"Yes," said the female. "They are not nearly the same in taste as the longnecks we usually go after, but they are still delicious in their own way. And it certainly helps that the same ability we have that allows us to eat the longnecks without getting poisoned also allows us to have no fear of the fluid within a firehorn's horn that would cause any lesser carnivore to explode into blood and guts."

Beast Boy silently whistled, filing the information he'd just learned away for future reference. "That sounds amazing," he stated. "What would you say if I were to inform you that I could allow you the opportunity to hunt and eat a firehorn this very day?"

The two dinosaurs glared at him, a clear suspicion in their eyes. "You'd better not be lying green one," said the female. "Because I will gladly eat you instead if you are."

"Oh I'm definitely telling the truth. I've heard from a good source that there is one living in a valley surrounded by cliffs not too far away from this very clearing."

The male snarled. "You mean the same valley that is inhabited by a pack of peculiar beasts similar to you that carry sticks that cause us to feel the pain of fire without even touching us?"

"And also by a herd of brutes that resembled fanged, armored, and two-legged versions of the furry horned ones that can be found in the grasslands outside this very jungle?" The female added in.

"Exactly." Beast Boy nodded his head. "In fact, if you were to agree to come to hunt and eat this firehorn that dwells in the same valley as them, you'd be able to help me get rid of those two groups of unwelcome creatures."

The two dinosaurs looked each other in the eyes, and then back at Beast Boy. "Such an idea does hold appeal," the male snarled. "After all, a mere nuisance those groups may be, but never is it pleasant to have a thorn in one's flesh."

"Agreed," the female snarled, a particularly dangerous gleam in her red eyes. "And I've especially come to hate the two-legged fanged furry horned ones that live in that valley in recent days. She leaned forward, allowing the light to touch her face even further sufficiently enough for Beast Boy to see an unpleasant looking bruising around her right eye. "Especially after one of them was so impudent as to strike me in my eye while I was eating a longneck luckless enough to have fallen immensely far behind its herd while traveling to its kind's nesting grounds, and even after I'd given the little speck a chance to take its herd and leave me be."

"Then I'm sure you'll be all the happier to help me get rid of them by dealing with the firehorn they have living alongside them." Beast Boy smiled, very pleased with himself as well as happy with how well the plan now seemed to be taking shape and working. "But there are some things you must do in order for both this planned hunt on your end and my efforts at getting rid of the unwelcome beings that live alongside it to work."

"Really now?"

"And what might those be, green one?"

"To start," the changeling began, happy even more that the two kasai-rex were willing to listen and potentially agree to his unique terms for them. "I plan to lead you in the near future to an ideal location not too far away from where the firehorn should be positioned. Specifically, I plan to lead you to one end of the entrance to the valley where it lives alongside the pack of firestick wielders and herd of fanged furry horned ones. And once we've arrived, I will need for you to wait until you hear the sound of a longnose roaring three times within that entrance."

"Why not just eat the longnose after we hear it?" The female kasai-rex asked. "Or better yet just immediately come charging into the valley after reaching it?"

"Because doing it the way I'm suggesting will allow higher chances of the firehorn actually being present for you to hunt and eat," the changeling explained patiently. "For you see, firehorns have an immense hatred for longnoses. And as a result, the sound of one roaring ought to be enough to enrage this one into charging towards the entrance from the direction opposite you. And therefore, when you yourselves come charging as well after hearing the longnose roaring three times, the firehorn will have already come charging as well right within your reach!"

The two kasai-rex thought to themselves. "This plan, while somewhat unconventional by our kind's standards, nonetheless holds appeal. Very well, I suppose that we can utilize this new plan of hunting for at least this one time."

"That will be perfect. And it at all possible, there's one other thing I'd like for you to try to do while fighting against the firehorn."

"And what might that be?"

"The area that the firestick wielders and furry horned ones use as their lair," the changeling explained. "It is surrounded by a ring of cliffs made of unnatural sand colored stone, plus one segment made out of equally unnatural flat stone colored after ordinary rock. I can easily bypass these walls. But the others in my pack aren't so lucky. And I will need their help in order for my plans to succeed."

"So how do you wish for us to help in this matter?"

"Simple. I want you to somehow get the firehorn to stab one of those walls surrounding the unwelcome ones' lair."

The two kasai-rex seemed to think to themselves once more. "That is another odd request from you," said the male.

"But if this is what it takes for the unwelcome ones to leave that valley," the female stated, "then we shall do it, just for this once."

"And this once should be all you'll need to do this deed." Beast Boy nodded his head. "Is there any time in particular you'd be willing to have me lead you into position?"

"If you are so certain that this firehorn is in fact present and available for us," said the female, a hungry look of pleasure now on her scaly face as she licked her chops. "Why not now?"

. . . . .

Wildebeest, Jungle Cat, Ambush, and the tribe waited patiently, yet also with slight trepidation, as they waited for the signal from Beast Boy. Not too long ago, they'd felt powerful vibrations erupt from the ground beneath their feet and heard ominous grumbling snarls coming from somewhere outside the clearing as their shapeshifter friend no doubt had led the two kasai-rex past the clearing to where he hoped for them to be positioned for when the time came to sic them on the erumpent. But now, they all kept waiting, half hopeful that things had gone well and half fearful over the possibility that something had gone wrong. Even Dr. Amanda Rookwood couldn't help but feel the same way the changeling's allies were currently feeling. "I hope this goes well," she thought to herself. "If this doesn't work, we could all be doomed, and so could my family…"

The sound of Wildebeest's communicator going off got the entire group's attention, and Wildebeest drew it out to see what had happened while everyone else in the area watched. A smile came on Wildebeest's face, and he gave a thumbs-up. "He did it," said the young mutant. "The two kasai-rex are in place."

"Excellent," said Tawaba. "I presume that means we can now get into position?"

"Correct," said Wildebeest.

"Perfect."

Tawaba nodded his head. "Then let us be off."

The tribe and the three mutants began to depart, with N'jobu pausing only long enough to pick up what appeared to be a small herbal stew he'd brewed during the waiting time before he then departed with his tribe while carefully carrying the stew. Mumbyo and Nyota also briefly hung back. "You do remember the way to where we're currently going, correct?" Mumbyo patiently asked his sister.

The young woman nodded her head. "I do," she said to reassure her brother. She then pointed her finger at Dr. Rookwood, who nodded her own head. "I promise I'll come right on over and meet back up with you all once I've got our unexpected guest from last night taken care of as planned."

"If you say so." Mumbyo nodded his head. "We'll be waiting for you." He stuck around further just long enough for his sister to nod in acknowledgment before he then turned and ran off to catch up with the rest of the group.

Once she was alone with Dr. Rookwood, Nyota turned to face the scientist, a firm look on her face. "You ready?"

Amanda nodded, a determined look on her face. "Whatever it takes," she said as she turned around and entered the burrow where she'd been imprisoned earlier. Nyota nodded her own head in acceptance of this and made sure to pick up the six discarded vines, single discarded leaf, and a small tribal jar filled with a fresh supply of the sticky sap before entering the burrow as well.

About ¼ of an hour later, Amanda was once again tightly bound with the six vines as she'd been before. She reflexively winced as she felt Nyota tighten the last knot in the vine binding her thighs. "Good grief, these are even tighter now than they were before."

"The last person who tied you up had claws and didn't want to risk accidentally loosening your bonds while applying them," Nyota explained. "But since I don't have this limitation, I can make these as tight as absolutely necessary without having to worry about accidentally leaving them damaged or similarly loosened. She gave the bonds three tugs each just to make extra certain that they were exactly as tight as she wanted them to be. "There. With how tight I've got you tied up right now, you'll have no choice but to find the spear head we've carefully hidden in here if you're to have any chance of escaping before the end of the raid." She looked to the once again tied up scientist. "You really sure this is necessary?"

"You currently plan on having me stay here in this burrow," Amanda stated. "That being the case, I figure you might as well go the extra mile. After all, it will be a Hell of a lot more difficult for me to move that boulder out of the way and leave this burrow if I'm all tied up and gagged like I was before. And the less likely I am to successfully leave this burrow, the less likely I'll be to risk ruining things via lingering conflicting loyalties by coming to the lab myself while you're in the midst of raiding it."

"If you say so," Nyota said. She shook her head side to side. "Still don't like having to do this. Especially not after how much you've helped us and how nice you've proven yourself to be compared to your fellow Wildebeest Society members."

"Better safe than sorry." Amanda nodded her head. "Trust me, this is probably for the best. And hey, in the event I do in fact keep myself in here all trussed up and gagged for the entirety of the raid, then you'll get to come right back and free me without any hard feelings between us."

"I certainly hope that will be the case," said Nyota. She moved over to the leaf, picked it up alongside the sap jar, and then moved over to Amanda before getting onto her hands and knees in front of the scientist. She lifted up the leaf and sap jar to ensure Amanda would get a good look and know exactly what was about to happen. "You ready?"

Amanda nodded, and Nyota proceeded to start applying a thick fresh coating of sap to the leaf. The scientist took a deep breath, and exhaled, preparing herself for when the leaf would go back over her mouth. But then her eyes widened and her face paled. She'd just now remembered something important that she now had a feeling she should have mentioned to the shapeshifter. "Wait," she managed to yell just as Nyota finished applying the new coat of sap to the leaf and stretched it taut. "There's something I forgot to tell your friend about the…"

Nyota slapped the leaf over Amanda's mouth. "BBNNHHFFCCTTRR!" Her green eyes widened as she was once again gagged with the thick sticky leaf, her lips getting glued shut tight by the sap. "HHHMMMPPPHHH!" She howled as Nyota pressed on the newly reapplied gag and smoothed it over her mouth.

"I'll be right back to free you," Nyota promised as she finished securing Amanda's gag before then running out of the burrow and starting to lower the boulder back into place. "But if you decide to join us, just look extra carefully to find the spear tip, pistol, and jar of combat powder we hid inside your cell."

"IIBBPPHH HHHSSS HHHNNNCCCLLL!" The scientist screamed, her eyes still widened over her sticky leaf muzzle as she desperately tried to get Nyota to have a good idea of what she needed the shapeshifter to know about Professor Chang's benefactor. "IIBBPPHH HHHSSS HHHNNNCCCLLL!"

"Farewell," said Nyota as the boulder was lowered the last few inches that remained. "For now."

"MMMMMMPPPPPPHHHHHH!" Dr. Rookwood screamed as the boulder was fully lowered into place and rendered firmly plugged into the burrow's entrance once more. No sooner had she finished plugging the entrance to the burrow back up once more when Nyota swiped her spear up into her hands and ran off to join back up with her brother and the rest of the raiding crew, all while the now once again bound and gagged Amanda Rookwood started thrashing and writhing against her bonds, howling and shrieking through her tight floral gag like a drowning lunatic as she found herself now somewhat regretting her willing decision to be rendered a hostage like this once more."

. . . . .

Nicholas Galtry was whistling calmly to himself as he watched the lab security camera footage via a specially installed app on his laptop. Part of him was feeling wary. After all, he'd have had to be a fool to genuinely believe that nothing could possibly go wrong. And the fact that he still didn't see any sign of his nephew arriving certainly didn't help. But at the same time, he also had another feeling, almost like a gut instinct, that he nonetheless had good reason to feel confident and happy about what would happen today.

He turned his head towards his cot, a smile coming on his face as he saw the gene extractor, primed and ready, lying upon the covers. The previous night, the nanobots had, just as he'd hoped, successfully finished their job; and he now had all the data he needed for the animorph mutagen as a result. He'd even already gone ahead and entered in the data for the full sequence into the gene extractor so that it would already be prepared as needed for when he used it on his nephew. All that was needed now, of course, was for said nephew to actually show up.

He took another look at the footage on the various security cameras, even checking the footage from the camera in the erumpent's mind control collar just to be extra safe. So far, things seemed to be going smoothly throughout the lab. The erumpent was peacefully pacing and grazing around in the area directly outside the walls surrounding the lab. The area outside the main building but within the walls were empty of intruders. Professor Chang and his goons were hard at work in carefully loading the latest batch of completed Primetia samples into the designated vault for them. A sizable number of the Wildebeest Society's famed wildebeest hybrid soldiers were shambling through the building's corridors on 'patrol duty' while the rest of the herd grazed in contentment on batches of grass and hay within their 'stables' located within the building's sizable basement. The Wildebeest Society underlings, with the exception of four that were currently doing guard duty in the security camera lounge, were in the midst of target practice with their crossbows. Even the highest-ranking members of the Society could now be seen on the camera footage up to their own specifically chosen tasks. He could see Dr. Azimi lifting some weights in the lab's makeshift gymnasium, his combat titanium knuckles in place upon his fists. He could see Dr. Lagrange sitting on his bed while carefully polishing his rapier. He could see Dr. Morales in the chamber where the four brainwashed 'Project Menagerie subjects' dwelled, and apparently in the midst of trying to 'train' them for the purpose she had in mind for them. He could even see Arronax seemingly lounging in the same chamber as the imprisoned Titans, the latter four seemingly quite angry as they sat within their cell.

In that moment, he found himself briefly feeling slightly more on guard than before as he once again took note of the glaring absence of Dr. Rookwood. He had to admit, as much as he didn't really wish to concern himself all that much with the Wildebeest Society members' personal matters, he couldn't help but wonder if this one particular high-ranking scientist amongst them that was now so obviously absent could perhaps end up leading to trouble unfolding for all their plans for that day. He looked through all the camera footage once more. And like before, he still could not see the blonde high-ranking Wildebeest Society scientist anywhere. She was nowhere to be found inside the main lab building. She was nowhere to be found outside the walls alongside the erumpent. And with the exception of what appeared to be some sort of local hornbill that seemed for some strange reason to be perched upon the interior gate code machine and pecking at the keypad, the exterior area surrounded by the border walls was still completely empty as well…

Galtry suddenly tensed up. "What the?"

He took another look at the footage with the hornbill, his eyes narrowed. His eyes did not deceive him. There was indeed what appeared to be a local hornbill, complete with the exact coloring that would be expected and not at all out of the ordinary for this species, perched upon the code machine on the interior side of the walls. Yet for some odd reason or other, the hornbill in question appeared to be very deliberately pecking its beak against the buttons on the machine's keypad. As if that weren't suspicious enough, immediately after the hornbill pecked the 'enter' key, the walls and gate very briefly glowed blue as the deflector shields materialized into view, only to then vanish once from sight once more within seconds. In that instant, Galtry knew that the deflector shields had now been shut down. And then, seemingly just to add a quirky little bow to this already unusual package, the hornbill departed from its perch and flew right over the walls and into the jungle immediately after the deflector shields had finished shutting down.

Galtry kept his eyes focused entirely on this specific footage, his eyes narrowed into a suspicious glare. Something about what he'd now seen didn't add up. In fact, he'd have hardly believed that it had even actually happened if he hadn't just seen exactly that with his own eyes. Part of him wasn't even sure if it actually was what he currently suspected. After all, the hornbill had been colored exactly the way a bird of that particular species was expected to be colored. It certainly hadn't been green, that was for sure. Yet at the same time, the fact that it had somehow managed to enter in the exact correct code for shutting down the deflector shields and all too conveniently departed back to the jungle immediately after doing so was not something he felt should be ignored. Simply put, despite how the hornbill had looked completely ordinary as far as its coloring was concerned, Galtry just couldn't help but feel that, somehow or other, his nephew had been responsible for the strange turn of events he'd just witnessed. And if that were in fact true, then he had to admit that it was certainly entirely possible now that the missing Dr. Rookwood had perhaps been captured by his nephew and any others who might have accompanied him and managed to torture the code out of her somehow.

He observed the behavior of everyone else in the lab alongside him, taking note of how they didn't seem to be acting as if anything appeared to be out of the ordinary. His eyes narrowed. Then again, now that he really thought about it, he was the only one present in the main lab building at the moment who even seemed to be looking at the security camera footage, let alone paying attention to it. In fact, he could now actually see the four Wildebeest Society underlings who were supposed to be watching the footage in the midst of what appeared to be a game of Go Fish and not even looking at the screens broadcasting the security footage. At the sight of this, Galtry couldn't help but gape uncomprehendingly at the scene. "And I thought that one goon of Professor Chang's I had to shoot dead for his clumsiness was incompetent," he grumbled under his breath. He shook his head. "You'd think they'd have learned by now to stop letting themselves get so overconfident after the successful escape of at least five of their test subjects." For a brief moment, he found himself strongly considering either setting off the alarms or at the very least spreading news of both his current suspicions involving the hornbill and the deflector shields' apparent shutdown to the rest of the people present in the building working with him.

Then he thought to himself some more, now carefully considering if perhaps it would be better for him to keep this current information to himself for the time being. He continued thinking carefully over the matter, gradually finding more and more appeal in this approach. For one, he still didn't even know for sure if the hornbill had even had any involvement with his nephew, let alone was his nephew. And while it was entirely possible that his nephew had perhaps either learned how to communicate with ordinary animals and get them to do his bidding, or perhaps had help from the local tribe that had been performing raids against the Wildebeest Society for a good long while at this point, suspecting as much was very different from actually knowing for sure that either possibility was in fact true. And in the event that it indeed did turn out to just be an unusual moment of circumstance, then he hardly believed that Chang, the Wildebeest Society, or any of their underlings would appreciate getting interrupted in their work over an apparent false alarm.

And now that he thought about it further, what if his suspicions were correct and his nephew indeed was in the area and responsible for the odd turn of events involving the hornbill? For all Galtry himself knew, there was no guarantee that his nephew wouldn't end up panicking and choosing to retreat in the event that there was any sign coming from the lab that would potentially indicate that he'd been found out. And if his nephew indeed did choose to retreat in such an event, then it was entirely likely that Galtry himself would forever lose the chance to get ahold of the animorph mutagen while he still had the chance to successfully use the Primetia cure in the event that the virus was transferred into his bloodstream alongside the mutagen.

And in that instant, he leaned slightly backwards in his chair, placing his hands behind his head in a relaxing position and sighing in contentment. He'd made up his mind. Right now, with so much on the line and his plans seemingly so close to fruition despite now not quite fully unfolding exactly as Chang, Arronax, and himself had originally planned and expected for them to unfold, he now felt it would be much better to just allow the possibility of his nephew being in the area and at work on setting up a surprise entrance of his own strictly to himself. "Let him announce his presence on his own terms," he thought to himself. "That way, there will be less chances of my associates unwittingly scaring him off in their own enthusiasm at being there to greet him and escort him into place. And not only that, but a surprise like this currently seems like something the Wildebeest Society quite honestly deserves after what I've just seen of their current watchmen."

Galtry nodded his head, exited out of the app, and shut down his laptop before he then got up from his desk chair and departed from his room, making sure to take the gene extractor with him as he did so. "And that in mind," he thought to himself. "Now's probably a good time to get myself into position before total chaos potentially ensues."

. . . . .

"I take it the camouflage paint worked?"

Beast Boy nodded, a smile on his face, which now currently had what appeared to be dark black zebra-like stripes painted on it while mixed with specks of powder of various different colors. This same paint and shamanistic powder had been applied a ¼ of an hour ago. And as had now been demonstrated by the changeling himself in his African pied hornbill form, the shamanistic camouflage charm was working like a charm. "It sure did," he whispered while giving N'jobu a thumbs up. "And boy am I glad that I was able to take care of shutting down the deflector shields without having to change from hornbill form to a monkey form."

"I can definitely see what you mean," Mumbyo agreed, nodding his head in the process. As much as N'jobu's camouflage charm had worked wonders, even that charm would hardly explain an ordinary colored hornbill suddenly transforming into a likewise ordinarily colored monkey.

"I am also especially glad that the dream contact potion he brought along likewise proved useful," said Tawaba, well aware of how N'jobu had helped ensure Beast Boy would be able to have his planned talk with the Beast the previous night without having to wait until doing so before going to sleep.

The changeling chuckled. "Me to." He nodded his head towards the shaman once more. "And for that, thanks."

"No problem friend," the shaman responded, nodding his head up and down. "I am very happy that I was able to provide more additional assistance with my shamanistic item collection than I initially thought I'd be able to provide."

"You said it dude. Though I certainly still hope the effects of that shamanistic herbal stew you gave me immediately before you applied the face paint activates in time to make up for how it tasted."

"I daresay I hope the same friend," N'jobu agreed, briefly shuddering at the thought of what the changeling had just brought up. As it had so happened, one other item that N'jobu had brought alongside the paint and powder needed for the camouflage charm, the dream potion, and the powder that had now been left for Dr. Rookwood was a single strange root. On its own in natural form, consumption of it would only result in the mere consumption of a quite disgusting root. But if that same root were cooked into a stew that had the appropriate additional herbs and spices mixed into it, then it would hopefully allow Beast Boy's animal forms to have their natural weapons be magically rendered unbreakable for an entire day.

"Regardless," said Tawaba, a firm look of determination on his face. "Now that this lightning shield is no longer a reason for concern, I must ask if we are all prepared for the coming trial."

The entirety of the gathered tribe warriors nodded their heads, determined looks on their faces as they picked up their weapons and readied themselves to go rushing into battle. Jungle Cat and Ambush snarled, their red and yellow eyes with a predatory intensity as they crouched as if preparing to pounce, bared their teeth, extended their claws, and also made sure to get themselves in a sufficient state of focus to be able to use their already existing metahuman powers that their mutations had helped awaken. Wildebeest snorted, clasped his hands together, and then stretched both his arms forward in a 'bring it' gesture.

Beast Boy smiled, his green eyes agleam and all his teeth, including fangs, on full display. "Perfect," he purred. He nodded his head. "In that case, I'll head right over to the valley's entrance to get the kasai-rex and erumpent to start fighting each other. While they're fighting, I'll make sure to keep watch so that I can give you the agreed upon signal immediately after they've gotten our planned entrance route set up."

"We'll be waiting," Tawaba stated, the rest of the assembled 'army' likewise nodding their heads in agreement.

"Awesome." And at that, Beast Boy shifted into a colobus monkey, climbed up a tree, and swung through the trees across all 20 feet between the raiding party and the entrance path to the valley. He shifted into a gaboon viper immediately after reaching the entrance path and slithered down the path. No sooner had he reached the exact center of this path when he shifted into his African elephant form. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself as he lifted his trunk for the sake of what he was about to do.

The erumpent was in the midst of peacefully grazing when it heard a loud trumpeting bellow coming from nearby. The beast tensed up, an alerted snort coming out of its mouth and its ears standing on end. It looked around briefly, wondering where that trumpeting noise had come from. Then it seemed to relax after not hearing the noise a second time and not seeing or smelling the animal responsible for said noise. It lowered its head to resume its grazing…only to then tense up again when a second trumpeting bellow filled the air.

The erumpent lifted its head and looked directly in the direction that the two trumpeting bellows had come from, an ominous rumbling bubbling up from its mouth as it glared towards what it now strongly believed to be one of its biggest rivals lying in wait to issue a territory challenge. It pawed its feet and swished its tail in preparation for a battle. "Snakenoses," it thought to itself angrily, its natural thoughts meshing perfectly with the orders it was receiving from the mysterious ring of metal around its neck. "They think they own everything." It pawed its left front foot once more. "Well if this one dares challenge me again, then by the Great Spirit I will give it a challenge…"

A third trumpeting bellow filled the air, at which point the erumpent completely lost its temper. "THAT'S IT!" With an apoplectic bellow of rage, it stomped its front feet, swung its head left and right, pawed its left front foot one more time, and then snorted in fury, complete with its reddish-brown eyes burning with fury. With another outraged bellow, it lunged forward and started to charge headlong towards the small 'gorge' that led to the jungle outside the valley. The sound of heavy footsteps approaching from the opposite direction only further emboldened it into continuing its charge. Before long, it reached the valley entrance…only to then find itself bellowing in horror and trying desperately to skid to a stop at the unexpected sight of a pair of kasai-rex barreling straight towards it.

"HHHRRRUUUMMM!"

"VVVOOOAAARRR!"

In a flash, the male rex lunged forward, snapped its jaws around the erumpent's collar encased neck, the combined weight of both animals, plus the force and speed of the impact, caused the erumpent and kasai-rex to both tumble over and roll right back into the valley. The dinosaur was the first to get back on its feet, and it turned its head just in time to let out a hungry snarling hiss at the temporarily downed erumpent as it struggled to get back on its own feet. The now equal parts enraged, and equal parts terrified herbivore had literally just gotten back on its feet and bellowed at the male kasai-rex when it was suddenly knocked aside off its feet once more by virtue of the female ramming her head against the erumpent's right side.

The erumpent went sprawling, but practically forced itself to start thrashing to get back on its feet as the female kasai-rex was still in the midst of standing nearby and roaring tauntingly at her would-be prey. It turned to face its would-be hunter, bellowing in rage, only to then snort in surprise and pain when the male rex abruptly charged in from the side and bit the erumpent on the shoulder while simultaneously latching its clawed hands on both sides of where its jaws were now positioned. The erumpent was still distracted by this development long enough for the female to latch her own jaws and hands around the center of the beast's horn, hoping to try to pull it down and take the erumpent down with it.

But the erumpent was not about to give up that easily. With another bellow, it lifted both of its front feet off the ground and slammed them down on the two dinosaurs' toes. Snarling reflexively from the pain of this injury, the two kasai-rex let go of the erumpent. In a flash, it swung its horn, causing the female rex to go staggering aside thanks to a glancing thud to her neck. The male noticed this, and reflexively roared in rage at the erumpent before it too was sent staggering away by a smack to the neck, but this time from the erumpent's tail. And unlike its mate, it was luckless enough to end up completely losing its footing, sprawling across the ground on its belly as a result.

The erumpent turned to completely face the temporarily downed carnivore, snorting and pawing its left front foot in rage as it prepared to charge. Unfortunately, it was so focused now on the temporarily downed dinosaur it now intended to permanently down that it completely forgot about said dinosaur's mate. And sure enough, right as the erumpent was about to start charging, it was suddenly sent flying aside with a shocked bellow after getting abruptly engulfed by a gigantic jet of the female kasai-rex's literally blood red fiery breath. The force of the impact was so great that the erumpent was sent flying straight into one of the walls surrounding the main lab building. And by sheer happenstance, the way the erumpent's head had been positioned, the impact of the flames causing it turn around midair so its head was directly facing the wall it slammed against, and the no longer active status of the deflector shields allowed the beast's horn to impale the very center of the area it had been slammed against.

The erumpent managed to get back onto its feet, at which point it started furiously jerking itself backwards in a desperate to extract its horn from the concrete wall that it was now impaling, too frightened and desperate to get free before the two kasai-rex potentially took advantage of its current trapped state to realize the fact that its horn was even stuck at all, let alone the fact that it was not being engulfed in the painful electricity that had always prevented situations like this before.

As this happened, the two kasai-rex stood back, watching from a safe distance with a look of hungry triumph in their eyes as they waited for what they knew would happen within the next few minutes. Beast Boy also watched from a distance, perched on the edge of a nearby cliff on the valley's walls in his vulture form as he too waited for the inevitable. And sure enough, at the sight of acrid lime green bubbles fizzing around the edges of the hole in the concrete encircling the base of the erumpent's horn and similarly acrid lime green mist rising rapidly into the air from where the bubbles were located, Beast Boy would have gladly let a giddy grin come on his face if he'd been capable of doing as much in his current form. As he watched, the bubbling started to become faster, and larger amounts of bubbles and mist began to appear from the area in which the horn was stabbed, all while the erumpent continued furiously struggling to pull itself free. Before long, an unnerving hissing sound filled the air as the liquid responsible for the bubbles started to seep down onto the grassy ground near the erumpent's front feet and the mist seemed to thicken to the point of forming a gigantic plume of green smoke. The two kasai-rex took three steps back, licking their chops and grumbling in triumphant anticipation of what would soon be their ideal moment to charge in and finish off the erumpent. After all, now that they'd achieved what their mysterious informant had wanted them to do for him, they were reasonable sure that they could now go ahead and finish the beast off so they could drag it back to their nest and eat it together.

Sure enough, seconds later, after one last vaporous hissing noise, the stabbed wall segment violently exploded into countless fragments, a thunderous boom similar to a geyser going off filling the air alongside the bellowing of the erumpent as it too was sent flying backwards from the force of the explosion. The collar around its neck, already partially damaged from when the male kasai-rex had bitten its neck at the start of the battle, was now completely detached from the erumpent's neck and sent flying into the sky before landing right next to the still perched Beast Boy. No sooner had the erumpent landed painfully on its side and all the concrete fragments likewise come to a landing when the two kasai-rex roared and started rushing like lightning straight to the downed herbivore. The erumpent had just enough time to open its eyes and very briefly notice that the feedback from the collar was no longer present in its mind before it noticed the two kasai-rex were now literally seconds away from reaching it, jaws open and already prepared to deal the final blow. Its final panicked bellow of despair was almost instantly drowned out by the sound of the two kasai-rex roaring triumphantly in unison before they proceeded to viciously bite the erumpent, the male biting the horn and the female biting the neck, and jerk the erumpent's head forward sufficiently enough to snap its neck, at which point the sound of an ominous crack filled the air.

And at the exact same moment in which the erumpent was killed, Beast Boy had already flown into position on the branches of a tree on the other side of the valley's walls, shifted into an African gray parrot, and loudly squawked in the direction of his assembled allies, "WE ARE CLEAR FOR ENTRY! I REPEAT, WE ARE CLEAR FOR ENTRY!"

. . . . .

The four Wildebeest Society grunts currently on duty for watching the security camera footage were seemingly right on the verge of finally ending their game of Go Fish when the alarms suddenly started going off. Caught completely off guard, the four now white faced and wide-eyed underlings all reared up in their chairs, cards getting sent flying as they all reflexively raised their hands, one of them even falling backwards as the force of his movement caused his chair to tip over backwards. Their shock and horror only intensified when they finally looked at the security footage, only to notice a gaping hole that had now been unexpectedly blown into the walls surrounding the lab building, the glaringly 'offline' status of the camera that had been built into the erumpent's collar, and the erumpent itself in the midst of being violently killed by a pair of t-rex-like creatures with spinosaur-like sails on their backs. They looked each other in the eyes, mutually horrified looks on all their faces as they realized just how bad things were about to get. And what was worse, as they now all too bitterly realized, it had all managed to unfold right under their own noses.

Immediately, three of them hurried to gather up their crossbows and bolts while the fourth hurried over to the intercom and set it to broadcast mode while positioning his head in front of the microphone. "There's been a breach in security!" He yelled. "I repeat, there's been a breach in security! This is not a drill!"

The sound of warlike screaming and a massive amount of running feet drew all four of the men's attention back to the cameras; at which point their faces paled yet again at the sight of what appeared to be a small army's worth of invaders. And amongst this army were a sizable number of dark skinned warriors dressed in the distinctive attire of the raiding local tribe, three humanoid animal mutants instantly recognizable as three of the Wildebeest Society's escaped projects, and a green skinned boy that they had all the reason to believe was the shapeshifter that was supposed to be visiting that day.

The sight of this army starting to stampede through the gaping hole in the wall and towards the main lab building's front door galvanized the guard on the intercom to hurriedly make another announcement. "Invaders approaching! I repeat, invaders approaching! Arm yourselves and prepare for battle! This is not a drill!"

Meanwhile, on the outside of the main lab building, the invading raiding party swarmed straight towards the front doors, with Beast Boy turning into a triceratops while still running at the very front of the group. In that instant, with the shamanistic camouflage charm still in place, the triceratops form now had amber scales, gray horns, and red stripes on its back, tail, and crest instead of the usual green and black color scheme that came with the form. He could have easily allowed Wildebeest to use Dr. Rookwood's willingly gifted keycard to unlock the doors and open them without too much trouble, but the shapeshifter had felt in the mood to allow this particular set of doors to be an opportunity to make an impressionable entrance. And so, with a half triumphant and half enraged bellow, the dinosaur rammed its horned head against the lab building's front doors, bursting them off their hinges and sending them rocketing backwards before coming to a stop in the very center of the entrance chamber, at which point they fell flat on the floor with a clang.

With a metallic beep, three large turret guns dropped down from the ceiling, barrels glowing with dark red energy as they pointed straight towards Beast Boy and the rest of the raiders. Tawaba, Mumbyo, and Nyota were quick to react, and they rushed past Beast Boy and into the chamber before hurling their spears in unison. Each of the three spears slammed, point-first into the still charging up turret guns. The guns, now completely impaled by the spears, became engulfed in crackling electricity before they then exploded into ash and smoke without even getting the chance to fire.

"Waste of a good spear," said Nyota as she glared at the ash that remained of her spear lying amongst the similar ash that remained of the turret guns, plus the spears her father and brother had used.

"But its sacrifice will not be in vain," said Mumbyo as he drew his specially forged tribal sword from its sheath.

"Indeed it won't," Nyota growled in agreement as she drew her own tribal sword from its sheath.

"We are in agreement," said Tawaba, his own particularly impressive looking tribal sword, which he'd inherited from his own father the previous chieftain king and he now planned to gift to whoever got picked to be his successor as the tribe's leader, already being drawn from its sheath just as the comparatively lesser swords wielded by his son and daughter were drawn from their own sheaths. And at the same time the chieftain king drew out his mighty sword, he also drew out a similarly inherited tribal shield that had been strapped to his back and got it into position. The rest of the present tribe warriors likewise prepared their spears and other weapons in time to be prepared for when the doors on the opposite side of the entrance chamber opened up and a large squadron of golden armored wildebeest hybrid soldiers burst into the room, bellowing in challenge with their fangs bared and red eyes agleam with bloodlust.

The very first of the hybrids let out a bellow and swung a haymaker at Tawaba, only for its fist to slam painfully against the very center of the chieftain king's shield. The hybrid reflexively drew its hand back, screaming in pain as its knuckle throbbed from the impact, only to then tense up with a strangled gurgling as Tawaba's sword abruptly sprung out like a snake and stabbed it right in its unarmored chest and straight through its heart. Tawaba withdrew his sword from the hybrid's chest, and the fatally wounded hybrid crumpled to the floor, dead before it even fully hit the ground. A second hybrid charged towards Tawaba, bellowing in challenge as it drew back its right fist, only to crumple to a stop with a surprised squeal as a swing of Mumbyo's own sword sliced through its neck and decapitated it. A third hybrid at the front of the group fared no better, as it was interrupted, mid-charge, just like its beheaded herd mate when Nyota first brought it down on one knee by slicing her sword across its right femoral artery, then sliced off both its horns, and then jabbed the pointy ends of both horns into its chin and straight to its throat. The hybrid tensed up, gurgling weakly as it choked on its own blood before it then closed its eyes with a last dying wheeze.

Beast Boy, now back in human form, couldn't help but whistle in half awe and half fear at the sight of Nyota's opponent's particularly gruesome death. "Remind me to never piss you off."

"I daresay what I just did is reminder enough," she hissed as she let go of the horns she'd just killed her enemy with and reclaimed her sword.

In that instant, while the rest of the hybrid squadron stood still in uncertainty over how to act, the rest of the tribal warriors present surged forward, already preparing and casting their spears. Within seconds, a vast number of the hybrids joined the three previously slain hybrids with piercing screams as the spears hit them in their hearts and various other vulnerable areas left exposed by their largely decorative golden armor. But even as the majority of their comrades went down and died in agony, ten of the hybrids proved much braver. Grumbling in rage and hate, the ten considerably braver of the remaining hybrids in the room tensed themselves up, clenching their fists and baring their fanged teeth in silent snarls of rage.

But even they found their courage rapidly evaporating when none other than Jungle Cat jumped over the hybrids' would-be opponents, landed right between the hybrids and invaders, and roared at them, his red eyes blazing with rage, teeth bared, and claws fully extended. The sight of this was the last straw for the ten hybrids, and they all turned around and dashed headlong back out the way they'd entered, bellowing and screaming in panic as they desperately fled from this humanoid version of the beast they were instinctively conditioned to fear. Jungle Cat, seemingly eager to get them out of the area himself, helped them on their way out with a blast of his ultrasonic roar, which sent the now further panicked hybrids rocketing out of the room and very far down the corridor immediately outside the entrance chamber. No sooner were the ten still living hybrids completely out of sight and hearing range when Jungle Cat cupped his paw-like hands around his mouth and yelled, "AND STAY AWAY YOU WALKING SACKS OF GROUND BEEF!"

No sooner had Jungle Cat yelled this when the very same four Wildebeest Society underlings that had been earlier responsible for watching the security camera footage dashed into view from a side corridor and entered the entrance chamber, crossbows already armed and ready to fire. "Halt!" Yelled one of the new arrivals. "In the name of the…"

Wildebeest suddenly lunged into view, landing on the floor in a way that allowed for both his clenched fists to slam hard against the floor, the shockwave produced by the impact of his fists, strengthened further by the impact of his hoof-like feet against the floor prior to the moment his fists struck, was enough to knock the four guards off their feet and cause them to harmlessly drop their crossbows, the bolts harmlessly bouncing out of aimed position and across the floor. The four guards were hurriedly in the midst of trying to get back on their feet when Wildebeest grabbed onto one of the detached doors, lifted it off the floor, and swung it right at them as if it were a baseball bat. The door banged into the four guards and sent them all flying off in the same direction that the ten scared off adult wildebeest hybrids had been sent flying, screaming like little girls in unison from both the pain of the door's impact against them and the fact that they were rocketing through the air far away from the intruders they'd been planning to try to take out.

"Nice one dude!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Pleasure's all mine buddy," Wildebeest replied, clearly happy.

"Let us advance!" Tawaba yelled. With a triumphant cheer of agreement in unison, the entire raiding party started charging forward into the corridors outside the entrance chamber. No sooner had the entire raiding party exited the entrance chamber and the doors closed, however, when they all suddenly found themselves surrounded by a mass group of none other than Professor Chang's goons, who now all had their laser rifles primed and aimed straight at the raiding party.

"Don't. Move. A muscle," growled a deep voiced goon standing in front of Beast Boy and Tawaba that appeared to be the leader of this specific group. "Or we'll all fire at once."

The assembled raiders all glanced into each other's eyes, clearly uncertain as to just what to do. Beast Boy eventually took a quick glance out the corner of his eyes towards the goons, a look on his face indicating he was considering trying to make a quick transformation so he could take them out, gambling on the hope he'd succeed in time to prevent any of them from firing.

The apparent leader of the group pointed his gun closer towards the shapeshifter. "Don't even think about it," he said. "So much as turn into even a mouse and we'll all fire. You should all just give up now and hand yourselves in while you still can before things get messy. There's not much else you can do considering…"

The goon paused, and then briefly lowered his gun "What the…?" The raiders, and even the rest of the goons, were all confused as the lead goon then pointed at a seemingly empty space in between Jungle Cat and Wildebeest. "I could have sworn…"

The goon suddenly stumbled backwards as if something had punched him in the face, his gun lifting up from his reflexive arm raising and his finger pressing the trigger.

"GET DOWN!" Jungle Cat yelled, and he and the rest of the raiders all hurriedly got down on the floor in time to avoid getting hit by the mass salvo of lasers that went flying from all directions when the single errant blast from the leader's gun resulted in all the gathered goons' guns going off as a result of their fingers already being positioned on the triggers at the moment they all got accidentally blasted by each other's weapons.

When the web of blasts finally stopped, the lead goon, apparently still conscious, managed to turn his head in time to start gaping uncomprehendingly at the unharmed rebels and all his unconscious fellow goons. "What the?"

His laser rifle abruptly leaped out of his hand as if something had snatched it out before then bopping him hard on the back of his head. He tensed up, a confused grunt popping out of his masked mouth, and then, with a final groan of pain, he fell flat on his face on the floor, completely out cold. The levitating gun suddenly leaped upwards and then fell on the floor; at which point none other than Ambush rematerialized from her state of invisibility, revealing herself to have activated her powers and been responsible for both triggering the mass volley of errant blaster fire as well as the newly discarded gun seemingly moving through the air on its own. She placed her hands on her hips, a wide smile on her face as her yellow eyes seemed to glow with pride. "How did I do?" The black leotard clad blonde tigress mutant asked, a flirtatious look on her face as she gazed straight at Jungle Cat.

The lion mutant smiled, a toothy grin coming on his furry face, and gave his girlfriend a thumbs up. "Not bad Ambush," he stated. "Excellent work."

Ambush gave a mock pout. "Is that really the best you can do?" She asked in mock annoyance.

Jungle Cat narrowed his eyes and gestured at all the other raiders. "It is when in front of all these other people."

Ambush looked at the rest of the raiding party, seemingly having been reminded of the fact that they were even there. A large blush came on her furry face as she let out an embarrassed chuckle leave her jaws over having very nearly gotten herself and Jungle Cat behaving a little too intimately in front of such a large crowd. "Ok," she admitted sheepishly. "I suppose when you put it that way…"

"You can flirt later," said Wildebeest. "Right now, we need to get moving."

"Agreed," said Tawaba. He looked to Beast Boy. "Tell us friend, how shall we proceed?" Mumbyo, Nyota, N'jobu, and all the other tribespeople present, plus the three mutants, looked to the shapeshifter, who nodded his head. He then pointed at Wildebeest.

"Wildebeest," he stated. "You think you can find your way around this place?"

The young mutant nodded. "I think I got a good enough look at the map, and it's still on my communicator just in case." A smile came on his face as he thought of just what he was now likely to be assigned to do. "And before you ask, yes I still have Dr. Rookwood's keycard on me."

"Good, then I'll be trusting you to reach that ancillary lab chamber she mentioned and get Rob, Star, Cyborg, and Raven out of there."

"You can count on me buddy," Wildebeest responded, flashing a thumbs up to the changeling.

"I'm counting on it dude." Beast Boy looked to Ambush, Jungle Cat, and all the assembled tribe warriors. "The rest of you guys? Feel free to spread out through the entire building. Group up or go solo as you wish, and feel free to confiscate some keycards from defeated enemies if you feel like you might need to go into any rooms, and also some communicators if possible so we'll have a means of communicating if we need it. And make sure to fight off and defeat as many of the enemies in here as you can. Feel free to deal with the hybrid soldiers however you wish; but try your best if at all possible to only knock out any human opponents. And if you see those four friends of mine that are currently held prisoner here out in the open with you, try your best not to harm them."

"Understood," said Mumbyo.

"What he said," said Nyota.

"Excellent." The shapeshifter clasped his hands together, fingers intertwining. "And as for me, I'll be heading off to find that vault with the antidote. Right now, I'm getting the feeling that I'll need it within the near future and that this is my best chance at getting ahold of it."

"Say no more," said Tawaba. He nodded his head. "Good luck friend."

"Right back at you." Beast Boy snapped his fingers. "Let's move everyone." And at that, the changeling turned into a vulture and flew off down one of the corridors, the rest of the raiding party likewise splitting into various smaller groups and charging off in whatever direction they felt the best way to go, all of them already ready and eager to battle and defeat any enemies still present in the area; but not without a respectable number of them pausing and snatching keycards and communicators off of the unconscious goons who'd been surrounding them earlier, just in case.

. . . . .

"MMMMMMPPPPPPHHHHHH!" Amanda Rookwood cried, her green eyes shut tight and blonde hair flying as she struggled to get free. At that particular moment, she was still exactly as Nyota had left her. She was still sealed away inside the burrow under the largest tree in the raiding party's campsite, the vines binding her still remained as inescapably tight as Nyota had rendered them, and the thick leaf slathered with that horrid tasting sticky tree sap even now remained firmly clamped over her mouth. And all despite having spent possibly an entire hour, plus maybe a few extra minutes longer, struggling and whining like a woman possessed.

In any other circumstances, she would have felt a sense of despair at her seemingly quite inescapable state of captivity. But right now, she felt far too irritated and angry too feel any sort of sadness or despair. "Amanda, you idiot," she thought irritably to herself as she continued bucking and kicking against her bonds and grunting and squeaking like a mental ward patient through her sticky leaf muzzle. "How could you have forgotten that one safe fact you could have mentioned about the benefactor?!"

And indeed she did feel immensely annoyed and angry at herself for having forgotten to mention that one potentially quite vital bit of information. For all she know, it was a fact that the shapeshifter, if not the entire raiding party, could have potentially found immensely important and useful to know about before initiating their planned raid that day. And now, as a direct result of her late remembrance of this fact, plus her own impulsive and overly cautious insistence, the raid had likely already started with complete unawareness of this one last bit of information while she herself had allowed herself to be willingly left stuck in her former makeshift prison cell, tied up, her mouth sealed shut, unable to move or speak. And so, instead of relaxing in her bondage with full confidence that very little could potentially go wrong over the course of the raid she'd helped allow otherwise higher chances of success, she was instead thrashing and writhing against the thick vines binding her while simultaneously roaring and squealing like a muzzled ox through the large sticky sap coated leaf blocking her mouth.

"HHHRRRFFFRRRMMMHHH!" Amanda howled, flopping like a fish in her desperate attempts to free herself from her bonds. "GGGNNNGGGHHH!" She growled, her voice still hopelessly muffled by the gag. Still refusing to give up, she continued to struggle and whine. "HHHHMMMMPPPPHHHH! GGGGMMMMPPPPHHHH! WWWWMMMMPPPPHHHH! BBBBMMMMPPPPHHHH! MMMMMMPPPPPPHHHHHH!" She roared, eyes once again clenched shut and blonde hair whipping about like a whirlwind as she continued her furious efforts to free herself from her bonds and overpower her gag. "I can't give up," she thought desperately to herself. "I've got to help them…warn them…" But despite all her vicious struggling and incoherent muffled shrieking, she continued to have no luck. The vines binding her held fast, keeping her prisoner in the sealed burrow. The sticky leaf gagging her likewise remained in place, keeping her mouth shut and her voice nice and muffled beyond hope of easy translation. Simply put, Nyota had done her work far too well; exactly as Amanda herself, as she now bitterly remembered once more, had insisted be done out an overly strong sense of caution.

Eventually, she found herself forced to take a break from her struggles as a result of sheer fatigue. She very reluctantly lay still, her head now leaning against one of the walls of her makeshift cell, her body still tensed up against the vines, snorting through her gag in a mixture of exhaustion and irritation. "Fckng Hhll," she groaned, eyes narrowed venomously over her floral muzzle. She directed her narrow-eyed glare towards the ceiling of her underground prison. At her current rate, she seemed to have absolutely no choice but to just remain where she was as she'd originally planned and hope for the best. Yet at the same time, she just felt as if she'd have no chance of relaxing and having full confidence of the raid's success unless she somehow escaped and managed to either pass along fair warning of that last detail she'd forgotten to mention or somehow actively join in and take part in the fight herself. She turned her head to gaze blankly to her right, stewing away in her funk. "I guess the joke's on me now," she thought bitterly to herself. "Good grief, there's no way I'll get free at this rate. Not without some sort of sharp tool…"

She then happened to notice what appeared to be the detached tip of a spear carefully jammed into position between two particularly closely positioned roots sticking out of the cavern ceiling just inches away from the wall at the end of the cavern. She raised her eyebrow, briefly feeling confused as to why someone would have left such an obvious escape aid tool here for her. But then her eyes widened as she remembered a specific detail she'd completely forgotten about in her earlier irritation and desperation to escape. "That's right," she thought to herself, half in annoyance over having only now remembered and half in joyous relief at just what the newly remembered information meant for her. "They specifically hid that spear point, plus my pistol and a jar of shamanistic 'combat powder' within this burrow for me to use just in case I decided it was worth the risk to try to escape and join them in the raid!" She nodded her head, green eyes agleam with joy. "Now I can definitely get free in time to hopefully help them somehow." For another brief moment, her eyes narrowed as she attempted to see if she could figure out where her pistol and the combat powder jar had been hidden. Then she shook her head side to side. "First thing's first," she thought to herself. "Get that spear point and free yourself. Then you can worry about finding your weapons."

Now focused entirely on acquiring the spear tip and using it to get free, she laboriously got herself out of her earlier relaxed position and then rolled herself into position so that she was lying flat on her stomach. No sooner had she done so when she then started determinedly crawling her way across the cavern floor towards the location of the spear tip, moving her bound body in a style very similar to that of an inchworm in the process. "Hhhgggmmmppphhh, mmmppphhh," she grunted as she dragged herself forward another couple inches. "Hhhgggmmmppphhh, mmmppphhh!"

"You can do this," she thought to herself, eyes still narrowed determinedly over her sticky leaf gag as she slowly inched her bound body closer and closer to the spear tip's position. "You can do this." She was getting close now, so very close. "Hhhlllmmmnnnppphhh ttthhhrrr," she snorted out loud in encouragement. "Hhhlllmmmnnnppphhh ttthhhrrr."

She made it all the way to the tail end of the cavern, at which point she rolled over onto her back, slid herself up so that her back was against the wall, and lifted up her bound legs to start kicking at the two roots holding the spear tip, trying to dislodge the all-important escape tool from their grasp. For what felt like an eternity she kept kicking at the roots, grunting and squeaking through her gag in a mixture of irritation and self-encouragement. "Hhhmmm-bbbmmmppphhh," she snorted as she gave the roots yet another kick. At this point, she could tell that the spear tip was now seeming to become increasingly on the verge of being dislodged. "Hhhmmm-bbbmmmppphhh!" The spear tip was practically inches away from falling! "Just one more," she thought to herself as she prepared herself for one last powerful kick. And sure enough, much to her joy, this final kick was enough to dislodge the spear tip from its positioning amongst the tree roots and cause it to fall on the cavern floor directly in front of her.

After a very laborious effort, she managed to get herself and the spear tip positioned so that she had the sharp weapon fragment positioned directly behind her back with its tip resting against the vine binding her wrists. And with this status achieved, the scientist started carefully moving her arms up and down, allowing the spear tip to gradually saw away at the first of her soon to be sliced up bonds. "Slow and steady," she thought to herself, making sure not to give into the temptation to try to hurry the process up. After all, the last thing she wanted was to accidentally knock the spear tip out of position, or worse get herself cut or stabbed. And as she continued to carefully work to free herself, the vine binding her hands gradually becoming looser and looser as the spear tip allowed an increasingly large fray to appear in it, she thought comfortingly about her family back at home; the one that, if everything went well today, she'd soon finally have the freedom to potentially reunite with again without ever having to worry about the Wildebeest Society harming her or them. "Don't worry Finn," she thought to herself. "And don't worry Lucy and Henry. I'll be home soon. I promise."

. . . . .

Tawaba was a force to be reckoned with as he indiscriminately cut down every hostile wildebeest hybrid soldier that came at him with his sword while also using his shield, fists, feet, and occasionally the pommel or flat side of his sword to knock out or similarly put out of commission the equally large number of human assailants that came his way. Nyota and Mumbyo were similarly fighting like a whirlwind together against the multiple wildebeest hybrids, Wildebeest Society grunts, and Chang goons attempting to go after them and their father.

At this point, everyone else in the tribe was off fighting enemies elsewhere in the building while the chieftain king and his children fought bravely together in what appeared to be some sort of arena-like chamber located within the lab's basement. They'd initially been fighting within one of the corridors on the ground floor when they'd happened to notice a small squadron of hybrids abruptly come rushing out of a door to what turned out to be a wooden lift designed to serve as an elevator to the basement. Realizing that this now looked an ideal time to potentially prevent the enemy from receiving what appeared to be specially set aside reinforcements, the trio had jumped aboard the lift right as it was about to go down again for another load. And now, here they were, with all but one of the arena corridors leading to the herd's living quarters sealed off and seemingly the entirety of the hybrid soldiers that hadn't already come up to the upper level to fight gradually coming out to try to fight their way past what had become a quite formidable roadblock in their attempts at leaving the arena to fight for their masters. And to make matters happier, the number of hybrids rushing out to attack, after a considerably lengthy and difficult battle, finally appeared to be winding down. And sure enough, after the last five to come rushing into the arena finally went down, the entirety of the herd that hadn't already gone to the upper level before the arrival of Tawaba, Mumbyo, and Nyota appeared to have been taken out.

Nyota placed her sword on the arena floor and placed her hands on her knees while bending over and panting in exhaustion. "That was insane," she growled tiredly.

"I hear you," Mumbyo agreed, leaning against his own sword as he placed the tip on the floor and used it as an anchor to lean upon to rest. "Though I must admit, I don't entirely feel happy that we ended up having to kill all of them. They were only following their instincts, and since I highly doubt we'll be eating any of them or similarly making use of them now that they're dead, it feels like a bit of waste of life to have killed so many of them, even in self-defense."

"Sometimes we must do unpleasant things in impossible situations," Tawaba stated. He nodded his head, a sage-like look of wisdom on his face. "Maybe if we're lucky, we'll be able to get a sizable number of these bodies out in the open jungle where they can be eaten by local carnivores. But for now, we'd all best rest for a few minutes before we rejoin our comrades on the upper level." Both of his children nodded in agreement. This plan certainly sounded reasonable enough.

"Oh you think you're finished down here huh?"

In a flash, Tawaba and his children tensed up, already back on guard, with Nyota even managing to snatch her sword very swiftly off the floor and back into her hands. That unexpected deep reverberating voice from within the single unlocked arena tunnel did not sound at all pleasant. And neither did the loud and heavy footsteps that they soon heard coming from that same tunnel alongside an unnerving chuckling. And before long, it soon became clear that there was more than one heavy being on the way to the arena.

Then the beings responsible for this noise stepped out of the tunnel and into the light of the arena's ceiling lamp, and the chieftain family trio felt their hearts sink. Thirteen more wildebeest hybrid soldiers now stood before them. And unlike all the others that had been encountered before, these ones were covered in snowy white fur and were dressed in blood red copper looking armor. They were also quite frighteningly even taller, more muscular, and all around tougher looking then all the golden armored wildebeest hybrids that they'd seen up to this point. And even worse, their horns were longer and sharper, two of their fangs jutted out of their jaws like demonic tusks, and they had unusually long and sharp claw-like fingernails. Just one of them would likely prove an immensely tough nut to crack, and there were thirteen of them. But then the one at the very front of the group suddenly started chuckling, an immensely unnerving noise that gradually evolved into laughter until the hybrid eventually got to the point of letting a nightmare making maniacal cackling burst from its mouth, its yellow eyes agleam with a deranged joy.

At this point, Tawaba, Mumbyo, and Nyota were fighting with all their willpower not to lose their composure or similarly allow any sign of their fear to show. They now had a bad feeling that things were about to get immensely unpleasant for them in the near future. Then the apparent leader of this group of hybrids stopped laughing and directed a smug look of malevolent glee towards the chieftain king, prince, and princess. "Welcome to our home, tribe royalty," it said, speaking in the exact same deep reverberating voice they'd heard from the tunnel not too long ago. "You have done well against our brethren. But now…"

He chuckled again, deliberately making sure the three 'tribe royalty' members, already seemingly stunned by the fact that it could talk, got a good look at every single one of its teeth; all of which, unlike with Wildebeest and the golden armored hybrids, consisted entirely of fangs. "It is time. To die."

. . . . .

With a mighty roar, Jungle Cat sent a massive group of wildebeest hybrids who'd tried to surround him flying. The hybrids all crashed against the walls of the corridor, crumpling to the floor out cold immediately afterward. A trio of Chang goons immediately tried to rush up to him, one of them from behind, another from his left, and a third from his right. But the lion mutant was already prepared to take them on. The one to his right was smacked away by a swing of his right arm against the goon's stomach. The goon to his left went down next when the lion mutant jumped off the floor and whipped his tail against the luckless goon's throat, twirling a complete 360 in midair in the process. And no sooner had Jungle Cat landed when he dealt a donkey style back kick to the goon behind him, his two paw-like feet bopping the man right in the face and sending him rocketing backward. All of two seconds later, five Wildebeest Society grunts slid into view and fired their crossbows at him in unison. Naturally, these five opponents fared no better, as another burst of the mutant's ultrasonic roar shattered the bolts into splinters in midair and sent all five of the crossbow wielders flying backward. "Man this feels good," he thought to himself. "After all the time I've spent under their thumb, afraid of them, and forced to give them a wide berth despite the fact that they were still holding friends of mine hostage, it sure is a dream come true to finally beat the ever loving tar out of them! And unlike last time, we now actually have a fair chance at winning!"

Ambush, who happened to be in the exact same corridor, was likewise having the time of her life mercilessly beating up the foes foolish enough to try to attack her. Wildebeest hybrids, Wildebeest Society grunts, and Chang mooks alike all got sent dropping like flies as she fiercely fought them off, her yellow eyes agleam, a euphoric grin on her face, and her blonde hair flying. And unlike her boyfriend, who seemed to have already settled himself into a very specific set of moves for his fighting style, pragmatically made use of just about every technique and form of attack she could think of. "Take this," she yelled as she pounded one of the Wildebeest Society grunts in the face with a thundering right hook, managing to reflexively catch the man's crossbow when the impact of her punch to his face caused him to let go of it. "And this," she snarled as she subsequently pounded another Wildebeest Society grunt in the face with his previously punched colleague's crossbow, shattering the makeshift bludgeon in the process. "How about one of these," she then yelled as she dealt a gymnastics style high kick with her right foot to the chin of a third Wildebeest Society grunt who'd been attempting to charge at her from behind.

"You tell em bush baby," Jungle Cat yelled, clearly proud of his girlfriend's combat skills as he first punched a Chang goon in the face and then jumped backwards in time for two hybrids trying to charge at him from opposing sides to end up colliding against each other instead.

Ambush couldn't help but briefly giggle at the on the fly pet name her boyfriend had just now referred to her by. "Right back at you kit cat," she purred in response before she then reached behind her, snatched away the laser rifle that had been in the hands of the Chang goon who'd been about to try to shoot her, and then jabbed the barrel end down hard on the would-be shooter's foot without even turning to look at him. The luckless foe had literally just started hissing from the blow to his foot when Ambush then banged him in the privates with the stock end of the gun. The goon then managed to bend over and wheeze in pain from the blow to his manhood for all of three seconds before Ambush then finally turned around to face him, at which point she swung the gun like a golf club and bopped him in the face. The man screamed like a girl as he went flying backward.

Now feeling even more happy with herself, Ambush spun the gun around in her hands as it if were a martial arts staff before she then turned around in time to open fire at an incoming swarm of additional Chang goons. "Ha! Doesn't feel nearly as fun when you're the ones getting blasted now does it?!" She roared as she mowed down this latest round of foes.

"I'll bet it doesn't," Jungle Cat agreed as he then proceeded to slice an incoming wildebeest hybrid in the thigh with his right-hand's claws, grab it by the horns, and then use this grip to lift the already wounded hybrid and slam it down on its back before he then thrusted his head down and plunged his fangs into the stricken hybrid's throat.

At the exact same time that her boyfriend was busy briefly giving into his more animalistic side, Ambush found herself having to discard the laser rifle and engage in a series of swift gymnastics style backflips in order to avoid getting turned into a pincushion by a volley of crossbow bolts that a newly arrived squadron of Wildebeest Society underlings fired at her. The instant she was in a close enough distance to the 'leader' of this squadron, she grabbed onto his shoulders with both hands, swung herself onto his back, bent both her legs around his neck, and then did a back flip, causing the man to be catapulted into the air before then just as swiftly getting slammed down hard on his back against the cold steel floor. And just to make it even more difficult for his colleagues to attack her once they'd gotten over the shock of their leader's defeat, she turned invisible immediately after the leader's landing. And just as she planned, while the rest of the Wildebeest Society underlings looked uncomprehendingly in all directions trying to find their now suddenly vanished target, she proceeded to let loose with her invisible fists and feet, punching and kicking them all unconscious.

She then noticed that Jungle Cat was now completely surrounded by wildebeest hybrid soldiers, at which point she rushed straight at them while still invisible. Her boyfriend's would-be attackers were caught completely off guard as she first leaped upon one of them from behind, knocking it onto its face before then grabbing its horns and twisting its neck a full 180 degrees. And from there, they were all easy pickings as she proceeded to let loose with her clawed fingernails, her boyfriend watching with a smug smirk on his face as his would-be attackers all started suddenly finding their throats getting slit by an apparent invisible blade before then collapsing to the floor, dead before they even finished landing. The last one left alive seemed to briefly consider trying to run away, only for an invisible force to grab its horns, lift it up, and slam it down on the floor before it then shrieked in agony as it felt an invisible force similar to a bear trap clenching its invisible blades around its neck in a vice-like grip before then abruptly ripping its throat clean out.

Jungle Cat nodded his head at the sight of this gruesome death before then turning his head to his left in time to see a pale faced ginger haired Wildebeest Society underling with her hood down. For what felt like an eternity, Jungle Cat stared blankly at the now clearly terrified female Wildebeest Society underling. Then Ambush abruptly materialized directly in front of her; at which point the Wildebeest Society underling had just enough time to drop her crossbow and open her mouth as if to scream before she was then pounded in the chin with another gymnastics style high kick. The luckless grunt was sent flying upward with enough force to slam face first against the corridor's ceiling before she then landed on her back out cold against the floor.

No sooner was this last enemy grunt put out of commission when Ambush turned around on her heel to face Jungle Cat, tossing her shoulder-length blonde hair over her shoulder while also placing her hands on her hips. "How was that?" She purred.

"Nice and fierce," Jungle Cat purred back, giving his girlfriend a thumbs-up. "Just the way I like you," he then stated while suggestively licking his chops.

Ambush chuckled, narrowing her eyes seductively while also letting a sensuous toothy grin come on her furry face. "Now we're talking."

The two feline mutants chuckled, shook their heads side to side to clear their heads, and then turned to face the direction they'd been heading before starting their recently ended battle. "Let's keep going," said Jungle Cat. "See if there's anything else we can do."

"Sounds like a plan kit cat," Ambush agreed as she and Jungle Cat started running down the hall.

Several minutes later, in a completely different sector, the couple skidded to a stop at the sight of what they happened to see in a room that just happened to have its door conveniently already open. They looked inside, eyes widening as they recognized it as the computer room that served as the main office for Arronax's four-member inner circle. And naturally, amongst the computers present was one of the seven supercomputers containing all the recorded data and similar information regarding the Wildebeest Society and their various experiments. The couple looked each other in the eyes, both of them silently realizing the importance of what they'd just stumbled upon.

"That data could be valuable evidence to give to the authorities after this raid's over," Ambush stated.

"Agreed," Jungle Cat stated in response.

"Well look what we have here."

The two feline mutants tensed up, eyes widened in surprise. But then their eyes narrowed, and their fangs gritted into silent snarls. They both knew that voice. They turned around, red and yellow eyes still narrowed into hateful glares, and vicious snarling coming out of their jaws. Sure enough, standing right next to them in the central intersection of the sector they were currently in, hands on her hips, a smug smile on her tanned face, and her dark eyes agleam with malevolent glee was Dr. Constance Morales, their all-time least favorite Wildebeest Society chief scientist. And that was saying a lot.

The Latina chuckled, her already wide grin growing bigger in her smug satisfaction. "If it isn't the missing Project Menagerie exhibits," she purred, her voice radiating with the same condescending tone she'd always used whenever she'd talked to them and their friends during the time the two feline mutants had lived under the Wildebeest Society's custody. Then she chuckled again, intertwining her fingers together in the process. "Or at least, the ones that are still alive."

A wave of rage instantly came upon Jungle Cat and Ambush, and they growled loudly at the Latina. This seemed to amuse her even more, as she chuckled again before saying, "Ooh, struck a nerve I see."

Jungle Cat pointed his finger at the arrogant scientist, red eyes blazing with rage and his teeth still gritted in a bloodthirsty snarl. "You. Will. PAY!" He roared, at this point barely keeping himself from flying off the handle. "So help me, the Wildebeest Society will face justice for everything they've done to us, our friends, and every other innocent person or animal they've roped into their depravity; and especially for George!"

Dr. Morales scoffed, rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. "Oh please," she purred, her voice still as irritatingly patronizing as the two mutants remembered it to be. "It's his own fault he ended up the way he did. I mean seriously, for a guy who supposedly had super intelligence amongst his powers, he sure made some gobsmackingly stupid decisions. If he was truly as smart as his power allegedly indicated he was, he should have known better than to keep trying to resist even after he'd been recaptured and was flat out told that the wise option would be to surrender and let himself back under our custody, not to mention give up the location of you two, lest he suffer the consequences. But in the end, he made the wrong decision. And as a result, he died a miserable death by gunshot like the vermin that he was." She then gestured towards her neck, where the two mutants could now see what appeared to be a small orb capable of being split in two and placed back together. "And I even made sure to swipe the ashes from the sister location's incinerator and wear them around my neck after his death just to make an example out of him for you in the event you ever came back. And just think of how your other mangy little friends would react if they knew just what's actually in this necklace of mine.

Ambush snarled and stepped forward to point her own finger at the Latina. "GO TO HELL YOU BANSHEE BITCH!"

"Palos y piedras children," the scientist purred, arrogant grin still on her face. "Palos y piedras." She tossed her black hair over her shoulder. "And you know what? Considering recent developments, I'd say it's a very good thing you came, not to mention that I found you."

"Oh don't you worry," Jungle Cat growled as he crouched in preparation to lunge at the hated scientist, red eyes blazing, claws extended, and fangs gritted. "Ambush and I will still have plenty of time to find some way to get ahold of all your secrets from the computer once I've finished killing you."

"You're gonna have to get in line," Ambush hissed, her yellow eyes sparking, claws extended, and teeth bared just like her boyfriend. "This hag is mine!"

Constance only laughed. "Hate to break it to you," she then said, not sounding remotely sorry. "But you won't be doing anything to me. Why? Simple. You'll be too busy dealing with my new pets."

"Pets?" Jungle Cat asked, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

"What pets?" Ambush asked, similarly confused.

At the sound of a hollow reptilian snarling coming from behind them, the two feline mutants tensed up, clearly alarmed. But then they happened to turn around to look behind them, and their eyes widened in half shock and half horror at what they ended up seeing. Standing right there behind them, its eyes glowing with a solid white light, and the base of its neck encased in a peculiar looking collar, was a bipedal humanoid crocodile. The creature snarled at them, the multiple rows of sharp teeth within its mighty jaws gleaming in the light of the ceiling lamps. Also shining in the light were the chartreuse scales it was covered in from head to toe, the razor-sharp claws on its hands and feet, and the spikes lining the edges of its long powerful tail. Even the trio of golden yellow blonde three-pointed fin-like extensions on the top of its head seemed to glow like the sun. And all this, plus the all too familiar pair of Shego style olive green and jet-black swimming trunks that served as the only form of clothing it was wearing, only further hinted at just who this was.

In that instant, Ambush, at this point half quivering in fear and half struggling not to burst into tears, gingerly extended her left hand towards the snarling humanoid crocodile standing before her and Jungle Cat. "Owen?" She whimpered, a single part of her still desperately hoping like mad that, despite the evidence, this wasn't in fact Owen Scoresby, otherwise known as Swamp Gator, her and Jungle Cat's close friend that they and George had been forced to leave behind alongside three others and had until now believed to have still been cryogenically frozen and in hibernation at the Wildebeest Society's upper Lamumban sister location.

Ambush's left hand was inches away from the snarling humanoid crocodile's snout when it abruptly opened its mouth and tried to snap its teeth at her. Ambush hurriedly yanked her hand away with a shriek as the might jaws just narrowly managed to clamp shut on thin air where her hand had been. The beast snarled, its solid glowing white eyes narrowing, and turned its head to face the two feline mutants once more, a drop of lime green liquid slipping from its mouth as if it were drooling. And when that drop of liquid hit the floor right next to its right foot, an acrid smoke rose from the impact zone as the metal started to seemingly dissolve. And it was at this point that Jungle Cat and Ambush received full confirmation of this indeed being Swamp Gator, for the metahuman ability he had that had been awoken by his mutation just so happened to be acid manipulation. Specifically, he had acidic spit that could also double as an acid breath attack as well as the ability to harmlessly coat his hands in acid that he could then use to melt down anything he touched.

In that instant, Jungle Cat winced, a nervous grimace on his face while Ambush's face fell, her eyes now even more clearly on the verge of tears than before. "Owen," she whimpered. "No…"

"And he's not the only new pet I have."

Jungle Cat and Ambush turned to look at Constance after hearing this, just in time to see a large vortex of shadowy energy abruptly materialize right between them and the scientist. And mere seconds later, a single black furred wolf-like paw stepped out, followed by the rest of the being the paw in question was attached to. Jungle Cat gaped in horror, and Ambush placed her hands over her mouth as small tears started to slowly trickle from her eyes. Much like with the humanoid crocodile, they instantly recognized the humanoid wolf that had now stepped out of the shadowy vortex. Covered head to toe in jet-black fur, possessing shoulder-length black hair on her head to go with this fur, and clad in a skintight purple tank top and pair of sky-blue daisy dukes, there was no doubt in the two feline mutants' minds that this umbrakinetic wolf mutant was in fact their friend, and Owen's girlfriend, Claire Houlihan, also known as Night Howler. The lupine mutant snarled, her fangs seemingly the same shade of white as her unnaturally solid white glowing eyes, and she lifted her right hand, allowing the two feline mutants to have a good look at both the sharp thorn-like claws she had for fingernails as well as the shadowy tendrils that started crackling around her hand like electricity.

The sound of almost literally earthshaking footsteps to their left caused Ambush and Jungle Cat to look that way just in time to see a very buff and broad shouldered humanoid rhino dressed in dark red elastic cargo pants stomping his way towards them, his fists clenched, his glowing white eyes narrowed ominously, his well-muscled dark gray skin well complimented by the corridor lamps' light, the two large sharp horns on his snout likewise agleam, and the mop of dark brown hair styled in dreadlocks swinging through the air as he swung his head side to side like the very beast he resembled in an act of challenge. This newly arrived mutant, whom Jungle Cat and Ambush had already started to suspect was their friend Winston Ryerson, otherwise known as Rhinestone, then confirmed these very suspicions when, with a gravelly snort, he pounded his fists together before then causing his arms and hands to take on a solid-black crystalline form, his hands taking the shape of sharp crystalline blade-like structures immediately afterward. He then swung his brand-new makeshift weapons side to side, also causing both of his horns to similarly turn to black crystal for good measure.

The sound of bear-like growling coming from their right caused the two felines to likewise look that way in time to see a humanoid grizzly-bear clad in a yellow tracksuit that would have looked right at home on Uma Thurman in her role from Kill Bill. And appropriately enough, despite her hands and feet being covered with the dark brown fur usually seen on grizzly bears, the rest of her fur, if her head was any indication, was a color that could only be described as ash blonde. And she also had a waist length mop of snowy white platinum blonde hair on her head that she'd had prior to her mutation. This mutant, which Jungle Cat and Ambush were now quite certain was their friend, and Winston's girlfriend, Ursula Goolsby, aka. Grizzly Girl, snarled at the two feline mutants, her white fangs like daggers showing, and she then extended her hands in their direction; at which point both of her hands turned to wood, with her claw-like fingernails likewise transforming into wood before then extending ominously towards her two 'friends' like roots.

No sooner had Rhinestone and Grizzly Girl come to a stop when both of them, plus Swamp Gator and Night Howler, all growled ominously at Ambush and Jungle Cat, who gulped, gaping nervously at their four clearly brainwashed friends while Constance chuckled maliciously.

"Hope you enjoy your reunion," she purred. "I'd stick around to watch, but right now I do believe there are likely other areas of this lab where I could be a lot more useful at the moment. In any case, I'm sure I'll be very happy to hear the play-by-play once my pets are finished with you. Will you end up being killed by them? Will you surrender and end up joining them? Or will you by some impossible miracle snap them out of my control and back onto the wrong side of history? And don't even try to remove those collars I placed on them. I specifically made sure that they could only be removed by either Arronax's magic, or by the fingerprints of his four inner circle members. So all that in mind, have fun everyone."

Chuckling now, she slipped past Night Howler and dashed off further into the corridor behind her, clearly eager to reach whatever destination she now had in mind. As this happened, the four brainwashed mutants slowly started advancing towards Jungle Cat and Ambush, both of whom were now far too nervous about the fact to even care about the fact that Constance Morales had now gotten away from them.

"Guys," Jungle Cat stated, trying desperately to keep his voice level and avoid showing any sign of the fear he was now feeling as he noticed both Swamp Gator lifting his hands and coating them in acid as well as Rhinestone causing his entire body to turn to black crystal, complete with five rows of jagged sharp crystalline spikes sprouting out of his back. "You really don't want to do this!"

"Friends, please," Ambush whimpered, half terrified and half blind from tears as she witnessed both an aura of shadowy mist form around Night Howler and the root-like extensions that Grizzly Girl's claws had become start to extend longer, become thicker, and sprout extra extensions on them that caused them to start looking more like elastic tree branches. "Snap out of it!"

But the mind control Dr. Morales had the four other mutants under was much too strong. And with a vicious roar and deep throaty bellow in unison, Grizzly Girl and Rhinestone chose to strike first, with Grizzly girl sending the branch-like extensions her fingernails had turned into rapidly flying towards the two feline mutants while Rhinestone turned his crystalline arm blades into spiked crystalline maces that he then lifted up and swung towards the two feline mutants as if he were about to bang a pair of cymbals.

Jungle Cat and Ambush quickly ducked just in time for Rhinestone's crystalline maces to smash against the tips of Grizzly Girl's tree branch fingernail extensions. Grizzly girl reared her head up, roaring in pain and discomfort as her fingernails started to retract back to their original length, and Rhinestone took a step back, grunting in seeming concern for her. Jungle Cat and Ambush immediately took advantage of the two more muscular mutants' period of distraction to escape, pausing only long enough for Jungle Cat to knock Swamp Gator backwards with a punch to his stomach and Ambush to turn invisible and use a swift leg sweep to trip up Night Howler before they both then bolted past the still reeling Grizzly Girl and hurry as fast as they could down the bear mutant's corridor. They'd just made it halfway down this corridor when they heard the enraged cacophony of noise their brainwashed friends let out, followed by the heavy pounding of all four of said brainwashed mutants' running footsteps as they ran after the two feline mutants in pursuit.

. . . . .

Professor Chang was in a mild state of panic as he paced around the lab chamber where the four captive founding Titans were imprisoned, his four most trusted underlings directing blank looks at their seemingly on the verge of snapping boss while the four captives directed their own considerably more amused gazes at him. "This isn't how it was supposed to go," he babbled to himself. "Mr. Galtry's nephew was supposed to arrive in another hour and a half from now. And he was supposed to be alone and be calmly escorted through the lab to where he needed to be taken, not come bursting through the gates with an entire army out of the blue!"

Cyborg couldn't help but laugh loudly from within the makeshift cell he and the other prisoners were in. "Ha," he yelled. "Man, did you really think BB wouldn't try to make things difficult for you? You really should have known better than to underestimate any of us considering how much underestimating Robin's willingness to take risks bit you in the butt three years ago, not to mention how much BB himself managed to put up a pretty strong resistance against the Brotherhood last year!"

"He may not often show it," Raven stated, a small smirk on her face. "But when he really decides to get serious, he can certainly hold his own quite well."

Chang rapidly turned around to face the cell, pointing his finger accusingly at the four prisoners. "Shut your mouths," he snarled, clearly on edge. "This is no laughing matter!"

"Boss, calm down," said one of the four mooks in the room with him. "I'm sure the Mr. Arronax will have a good idea on what we should do once he returns to this room."

"He said for us to expect him to be back within five minutes after his departure!" Chang howled. "And that was almost an entire hour ago!" He rapidly drew out his communicator, narrowing his eyes and snarling incoherently with rage, at the sight of their still not being any reply to the increasingly panicked texts and voicemail messages he'd sent to both Arronax and Galtry. "God in Heaven, where are they?! And why won't they answer me, damn it!?"

"Boss," said the same mook who'd spoken not too long ago, patient tone still present in his voice.

"SHUT UP!" Chang roared. "JUST SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!"

What felt like an eternity of silence filled the air. Then Chang took a deep breath, exhaled, and directed an apologetic look at his four most trusted underlings. "Forgive me for that," he said, genuinely sounding regretful. "I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I guess I'm just a little too on edge right now."

"No offense taken," said one of the other goons, his three associates likewise nodding their heads.

"That's good," said Chang. He nodded his head. "I just need a brief little bit of time to calm down. I'm sure I'll have something figured out once I've got my head back together." The four underlings nodded in agreement.

The four captive Titans, however, couldn't help but let small smirks appear on their faces as they surreptitiously looked each other in the eyes. Already they had an idea on just how to make good use of their own current time. After all, judging from both what they'd heard so far about the events unfolding outside the room and the way Chang and his four most trusted underlings were now behaving, they now had the perfect opportunity to spring an epic trap on them and successfully escape to help Beast Boy immediately afterward. And even better, with what Chang had just said, they now also had an equally good opportunity to trick him into walking right into their planned trap.

"Why waste time?" Robin asked, a deliberately sarcastic sounding tone to his voice that masked how he was actually feeling. "Maybe you should just go ahead and have me and my friends here placed inside those domes and have the Primetia sample at the ready for release into that machine that will spew it into them? As long as you don't get too trigger happy while waiting, this should allow you to have the perfect leverage available for if Beast Boy or any other hopeful rescuers come bursting in." As he said this, the other four captive Titans likewise did everything in their power to convincingly act as if mentally asking their leader if he was insane and begging him not to give their captors any ideas.

Another brief silence hung in the air as Chang seemed to seriously consider what Robin had seemingly suggested made a snide suggestion for him to do. Then he let a wide grin come on his face. "You know what?" He then said, his finger raised as if to emphasize a point, grin still on his face. "That's actually a perfect idea!" He turned to his four underlings. "Boys," he stated. "Ready yourselves. It's time to transfer the prisoners to the Primetia domes."

"Yes sir," all four of the underlings present stated in unison as they lifted up their laser rifles and got them to firing mode. They walked up to the translucent green energy barrier keeping the four Titans from leaving the cell, laser rifles at the ready, but noticeably with more focus on being pointed towards Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire than on Raven. Even Professor Chang, who got into position at the machine right next to the cell designed to activate and deactivate the energy field, seemed to see no problem with how his goons seemed to be considering Raven to be less of a threat at the moment compared to her three teammates. And while this was somewhat understandable from a certain point of view as a result of the ring of runes on the walls outside the lab building designed to inhibit Raven's powers, all five of the enemies within the room were about to learn the hard way how a certain recent event really should have gotten them to be more on guard towards Raven, not to mention be quite worried and confused as to why she hadn't already acted in some way despite the fact.

And sure enough, right the four goons were still standing by the barrier and keeping their guns pointed at her teammates and their boss was patiently entering in the code that would deactivate the barrier, Raven was carefully whispering to herself, "Azarath, Metrion…" The barrier disactivated, at which point she snapped her head up to face the enemy, her eyes glowing with black energy while she also lifted her arms and pointed her similarly shadowy energy encased hands towards them. "ZINTHOS!" The subsequent shockwave of shadowy energy blasted Chang and his four most trusted underlings off their feet and caused them to land on their backs several feet away from the Titans. They didn't even have time to fully recover before shadowy energy encased them and lifted them up in the air. Raven, still keeping her powers active, calmly stepped out of the gaping open cell, her three smirking teammates stepping out of the cell as well close behind her.

Chang gaped incredulously at the sight of this, completely failing to understand how this was possible. "How?!" He shrieked, eyes widened under his red goggles in shock and horror. "That ring of runes…"

"Needed to be positioned in a complete uninterrupted ring around my vicinity in order for their magic to work," Raven explained. "But as you are well aware, a gaping hole was recently blown into one of the walls outside that the ring of runes was painted on. And so, with the ring now incomplete, presto, my powers are back." With an almost contemptuous wave of her hand, the Azarathian half demoness threw the scientist and his four underlings across the room and right into a pile on a small platform underneath what appeared to be a completely vertical showerhead-like device on the ceiling of the specific alcove-like area they'd now landed in. Chang and the goons had just lifted their heads to look towards the Titans when a wall of thick reinforced glass suddenly slammed into place between them and the outside of the 'alcove', trapping them, courtesy of a nearby switch Raven had just used her powers to yank into an upwards position.

Starfire then flew into position so that she was hovering right by a large blue button with a sticker that had the words 'frost machine' positioned nearby. She giggled as she hovered her finger over the button. "And considering how incredibly anxious you were not too long ago," she then said. "I believe you could use a little time to chill." She pressed the button.

Chang's eyes widened, and he extended his hand uselessly towards the glass wall trapping him and his four goons. "WAIT!"

A gigantic cloud of icy mist burst out of the showerhead-like device above Chang and his four goons, filling up the entire alcove behind the glass wall and obscuring the four scientists from view. When the mist finally dissipated, Chang and his four most trusted underlings were revealed to be frozen solid, and in almost the exact same position they'd been in when they'd been similarly flash frozen during the big battle at the Brotherhood of Evil's headquarters the previous year.

Cyborg chuckled as he gazed at the once again frozen Chang. "History just loves to repeat itself. Doesn't it?"

"You can say that again," Robin agreed, a smug smirk on his face. He then looked at Starfire and Raven. "Let's go find Beast Boy."

"Agreed," said Starfire. Raven likewise nodded her head in agreement.

At the sound of an electronic beep, followed by the door opening, the four Titans turned their heads just in time to see none other than Wildebeest come running into the room, only to skid to a stop at the sight of them clearly freed from imprisonment. After a few seconds of resting and panting to get his breath back, he lifted his head to face the four founders he'd come to rescue, a small smile on his face. "Well," he said. "Nice to see you've gotten yourselves out without too much help."

"Well technically, you did help us get out of our cell," Robin stated. "Albeit, in a rather indirect way."

"Well I suppose I'll take your word for it for now." Wildebeest nodded his head. "After all, we'll probably have plenty of time to give each other the full story once all the current craziness going on is over. And man do Beast Boy and I have a lot to tell you, not to mention a lot of new friends to introduce you to." He then happened to look in the direction of the frozen Chang, and his smile widened. "And I see you got Professor Chang out of the way. Nice job."

"Glad to hear that little buddy," said Cyborg. Robin and Starfire similarly smiled happily. Raven, however, seemed rather nervous now.

"Wildebeest," she then said. "Have you encountered the benefactor?"

The young mutant raised his eyebrow. "Considering the only enemies I've met so far in this lab were all wildebeest mutants like myself, Wildebeest Society grunts, and those ghostbuster suit guys working for Chang, I highly doubt it. Why do you ask?"

In that instant, Raven looked at her three teammates, all of whom were now similarly pale faced and wide-eyed as they realized the same thing that Raven herself now had on her mind. Then they all looked back at Wildebeest. "Wildebeest," said Raven. "We need to get out of this room and find Beast Boy as soon as possible. There's something the four of us know about the man who hired Chang to make Primetia that we all think Beast Boy will really want to know about before he meets the man himself…"

The sound of a sudden shocked scream coming in unison from her three fellow founding Titans behind her caused Raven to turn her head in time to see Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire be abruptly grabbed by shadowy tendrils and yanked into a separate shadowy vortex each that had suddenly materialized into existence behind them.

"What the…?"

This was all Wildebeest managed to say before what looked like a ball of fire struck him in the side and sent him flying to his left before crash landing on his back against what appeared to be some sort of operating table. All of two seconds passed before rings of glowing green energy materialized around his neck, wrists, and ankles; pinning him to the table. His eyes widened. "HEY!" He yelled as he reflexively started jerking against the five energy rings strapping him to the operating table. "WHAT GIVES?!"

Raven had just turned her head away from Wildebeest and towards where the fireball had come from in time to get blasted back towards the now empty makeshift cell by a burst of lightning. She groaned in pain, her hand against her stomach, after landing right in front of the empty cell, her eyes closed, and teeth gritted from both the impact of her landing and the minor electrocution she'd received from the blast.

"We have some unfinished business to settle Gem."

Raven's eyes widened upon hearing this. The distinctive deep voice was enough to clue her in on how Arronax was now in the room, and likely somehow responsible for what had just happened to her, Wildebeest, and the other three previously captured founding Titans. But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel that there was something familiar about the very specific way he'd emphasized the word 'gem' while referring to her. She looked up. Sure enough, she saw Arronax standing right nearby in his distinctive white robe with its grayish purple wildebeest head shaped brooch and his scarlet red hair agleam in the light of the ceiling lamp. But she now also saw something about him that now looked wildly different. Specifically, his eyes, which she could have sworn had been black up to this point, were now an astonishingly bright blue.

And even worse, within minutes of looking, she found herself realizing how, with his eyes now suddenly blue, combined with his already present red hair, fair skin, and mysterious necklace around his neck that she now couldn't help but mentally kick herself over having not recognized before, Arronax looked very disturbingly similar to someone she'd known while growing up in Azarath, had last seen while still a baby, and had reportedly attempted to kill her while she was still a baby before ending up killed by Trigon on the very same night she herself would have otherwise been killed. "Juris?"

The Wildebeest Society's leader snarled, his blue eyes narrowed hatefully at Raven. Then he snapped his fingers, causing him and Raven both to be suddenly engulfed by a shadowy vortex of energy that materialized on the floor under their feet before then closing and fading out of existence immediately afterward.

. . . . .

In the room that served as a gymnasium, a shadowy vortex opened up inches away from the ceiling, and Cyborg plummeted out, screaming in surprise before landing hard on his face against the floor. "Ouch," he grunted, wincing from the impact against the floor. He groaned, got on his hands and knees, and rubbed the back of his head, still grimacing from his rough landing. "Good grief," he groaned. "I'm so going to feel that later."

"Well, well, well," said a familiar gravelly voice coming from Cyborg's right. "It appears I was right to stay in this room as the boss ordered."

Cyborg turned his head, his human eye narrowing at the sight of none other than the bearded, salt and pepper haired, and surprisingly muscular middle eastern man amongst the four scientists in the Wildebeest Society leader's inner circle. The half robot got onto his feet, already flexing his arms and clenching his fists as he prepared himself for a fight. "You may think so now," he grumbled. "But we'll see how you're feeling about that when I'm through with you."

"The boss did believe that I would be an ideal choice amongst the four amongst his inner circle to go up against you in the event that you escaped," Dr. Saul Azimi stated, a smug smirk on his face. In a flash, he took on a combat stance, his titanium knuckles seemingly teleporting into the appropriate battle-ready position out of thin air as if by magic, and his smug smirk turning into a wide grin. "And right now, I am very much willing to test this theory."

Cyborg raised his eyebrow, and then converted his right arm into its sonic cannon form, which he immediately started charging up. "This is starting to look like an awfully one-sided combat; don't you think?"

Azimi chuckled, drew out what looked like a camera, and pressed a button, causing it to transform very suddenly into what looked like a pitch-black portable version of Samus Aran's arm cannon. He pointed it at Cyborg, a bright red glow already starting to form within as the machine seemingly charged up in preparation to fire. "Not necessarily," the middle eastern man stated, grin still on his face.

Cyborg involuntarily gulped. "Oh dear," he managed to say before Saul's cannon almost immediately went off, blasting Cyborg straight into a stack of barbells positioned behind him. He'd literally just lifted himself back into a seated position from the wreckage of the barbell stack, rubbing the back of his head when he heard running feet coming towards him. He looked ahead just in time to see Saul charging straight towards him with both fists at the ready.

"Let's see if you can handle this," the middle eastern scientist yelled as he jumped in the air in preparation to slam his left fist down on Cyborg's stomach. The half robot Titan hurriedly rolled out of the way just in time. And like that, the battle was on.

. . . . .

A second shadowy vortex opened up directly above a series of catwalks positioned high above the floor of the central lab chamber, and Robin came falling out. But unlike Cyborg, he managed to acrobatically get himself positioned in a way that allowed him to land safely on his feet. He looked around, quickly taking note of every detail about the environment that he could. After all, you could never be too careful in enemy territory. "Be ready for anything," Robin thought to himself, remembering the words Batman had told him back in Gotham City so many years ago. "When in their territory, the enemy could strike at any time from any place. Keep your guard up, and your eyes and ears open…"

"I was just starting to wonder why my boss was so keen on me positioning myself in this area."

At the sound of this relatively high-pitched voice, Robin turned his head just in time to see none other than the mousy brown haired Caucasian man amongst the four chief Wildebeest Society scientists standing about a yard ahead of him, a smile on his face, and an intimidating looking black rapier drawn out for battle.

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Well don't get too comfortable," he stated as he drew out his bo staff and extended it to full length without missing a beat. "You familiar with Batman? Well you're looking at a guy who got personally trained by him. And I can assure you, I'm not gonna go down easily."

"You got captured pretty easily yesterday."

"That doesn't count. For starters, I got caught off guard. Secondly, I was outnumbered and outgunned to a degree that any attempt at fighting my way out would have only gotten me killed. And finally, last I recall, you weren't even there amongst the group who captured and welcomed me here."

"Fair point," admitted Dr. Lagrange, a look of clear respect on his face. He leaned back into a different combat position, rapier still at the ready to attack. "But nevertheless, I trained in a hard school Boy Wonder," he then stated, swinging his rapier around threateningly as if to try to intimidate Robin. "So are you really certain you wish to test your luck against me?"

"Well if the fact that I got trained by Batman didn't tip you off, I trained in a pretty hard school to." Robin spun his bo staff around in stereotypical martial arts fashion. "In fact, depending on just what you consider a 'hard school' in regard to your rapier training, I may very well have grown up in a much harder school than you." He took on an attack stance of his own, beckoning Lagrange to come to him. "Let's get this over with."

"Well may the best man win then," Lagrange yelled, a gleeful look of pride on his face. Quick as a whip, he pointed his sword directly ahead and towards Robin. "Ha!" Lagrange roared as he started rushing straight towards the Boy Wonder.

"Ya!" Robin howled as he rushed towards Lagrange with his bo staff similarly at the ready.

The two warriors came to a stop directly on the center of the catwalk they were currently positioned on, at which point they both started viciously clashing their weapons together.

. . . . .

A third shadowy vortex materialized near the roof of what appeared to be some sort of meeting room, and Starfire slipped out. Fortunately, unlike her two male companions who'd gotten similar treatment, she could not only fly, but also arrived at her destination with enough space between the vortex and the room's floor to get her flight activated in time to avoid landing on the floor at all. Once she'd gotten herself settled in the air, she glided around while carefully looking every way she could. She had a feeling that she would likely have to start fighting enemy forces in the near future.

"Well now," said a familiar raspy voice from somewhere down below. "It seems I get the honor of fighting the alien." Starfire looked down towards the direction of the voice in time to see the Latina scientist from the Wildebeest Society leader's inner circle. Said scientist let an arrogant smirk come on her face as she placed her hands on her hips. "Rather ironic don't you think? Me, a descendant of illegal Mexican American immigrants, doing battle with a legitimate alien." She drew out a trio of intimidating looking foudre knives. "And man am I looking forward to getting the chance to cut you up for research if the boss gives me the chance after this is over."

Starfire narrowed her eyes, which then started to glow green. "You're awfully abundant in confidence of your chances at beating me," she growled, her hands becoming encased in star bolts even as her eyes already glowed green in preparation for firing her eye beams. "I'll need far more evidence than your saying of the so to believe that I won't have a victory that is the guaranteed against you."

"Well you won't be feeling so confident in your own chances of victory against me once you've gotten a taste of how it feels to get hit by one of these babies," Dr. Constance Morales purred while stroking her left hand across the three knives in her right hand. "Not to mention by this." Immediately after she said that last bit, she abruptly reached into her belt and drew out what looked like the handle of a lightsaber. At the same time she did so, she very swiftly managed to press a button that caused, with a earsplittingly loud noise similar to a boom of thunder, what appeared to be a bolt of lightning to burst out of the metallic 'handle' before then decreasing down to a comparatively smaller 'string' of crackling electricity.

At the sight of the brief look of shock on the Tamaranean's face, the Latina chuckled maniacally, her grinning face now looking even more nightmarish with the crackling electricity of her voltage whip illuminating her face. "Prepare to become my next experiment Third Kind Reject!" Morales yelled, eyes agleam and maniacally joyous grin still on her face as she twirled her voltage whip around like a lasso before then very abruptly lashing it up towards Starfire. The Tamaranean just barely managed to dodge, letting out a terrified shriek in the process. She was now very much starting to regret having taunted her current opponent into revealing just how tough she was actually capable of being.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in all the time that had unfolded leading up to these multiple climactic battles, Beast Boy had been gradually making his way through the lab towards where Dr. Rookwood had told him he would find the vault containing the all-important cure. And as he flew through the corridors in vulture mode during the first few minutes of his travels, he couldn't help but feel a sense of both excitement and trepidation. For he had not been kidding earlier when he'd said that he had a feeling he'd need the cure in the near future. For as it so happened, he'd slowly started feeling a very uncomfortable slight burning presence in his mind over the course of the various times he'd transformed so far that day. And at this very moment, it was only continuing to gradually grow stronger, and he had a very bad feeling as to what it was. The Beast only made him feel even more nervous by confirming his suspicions to in fact be true.

"It is the virus," the Beast growled, a warning tone to its voice. "It is starting to take over. You must make haste."

"He's right," responded the voice of the very same vulture species whose form the shapeshifter had currently taken. "I can feel it to. We all can. It's already successfully overwhelmed several of the weaker minded amongst us." It seemed to warble in discomfort very briefly. "And what's worse," it managed to croak. "I think I might be starting to feel it coming over me."

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "What?!" He thought to himself. "But you're one of the stronger minded ones! Aren't you?"

"I am," said the vulture mind. "But there are others considerably stronger minded than me. And furthermore, with the amount of time you've been in my form both here in this building and outside watching that battle, my mind's defenses against the virus have been whittled away far more swiftly than they would have if you hadn't taken my form at all today."

Beast Boy rapidly thought to himself over what the vulture form's mind had told him. "So the more time I spend in one form in this current condition, the swifter the virus can work its magic on that specific form?"

"Exactly," said the Beast. "Which puts us in a bit of a dilemma, to put it lightly."

"Well in that case, here's the plan," Beast Boy said, making extra sure to be speaking directly to the Beast. "Until I get the cure, I'll be leaving it up to you to decide what animals I turn into as needed from this point onward." He looked ahead, still flying through the corridor in his vulture form, but now also seeing four Wildebeest Society grunts standing at the end and pointing their crossbows at him. "Starting now!"

"This one," the Beast yelled, causing one of the animal minds in the changeling's mental scape to develop a bright green outline.

Beast Boy channeled that form, turning into a lion in midair before diving down towards one of the grunts with a roar. The lion's front paws pounded against the chest of the grunt right as he was about to press the trigger to fire, the impact causing the crossbow to point harmlessly in the wrong direction when it ended going off. The luckless mook grunted in pain as he was pinned to the floor on his back by Beast Boy the lion. The three other mooks stepped back, holding their fire so as to avoid potentially shooting their comrade. With a growl, Beast Boy slammed his lion form's right front paw hard against the pinned grunt's jaw, knocking him out instantly.

"Now this form!"

Beast Boy followed the Beast's latest instruction, turning into a zebra. In that instant, the changeling already knew exactly how to make good use of this good form. Jumping around so that he was facing the grunt to his right, he then sent the one who'd been to his left flying backwards with a powerful back kick with both hindlegs.

"This one!"

Beast Boy turned into a hippo, snapped his jaws around the crossbow of the mook in front of him and lifted his head with enough for to slam the grunt against the ceiling, causing him to lose consciousness when he subsequently landed back on the floor.

"This one! But make sure you turn your head a little to the left first!"

Beast Boy did as instructed, allowing himself to be ideally positioned when his subsequent transformation into a giraffe resulted in the subsequent extension of his neck causing the one remaining grunt to get pounded in the chest by the giraffe form's horned head and sent rocketing backward into a wall. The grunt crumpled to the ground unconscious immediately afterward.

"Now back to human form!"

Beast Boy shifted back to human form. "Thanks," he mentally stated to the Beast.

"Happy to help. Now move down the hallway where that grunt you attacked in hippo form is positioned. And assume your cheetah form, you should be able to make a decent amount of progress in reaching the vault for at least five minutes in that form before you have to worry."

Beast Boy turned into a cheetah and started rushing in the direction the Beast had told him to run, with the Beast providing directions on where to go from there. "Left, right, left…no wait, another right! Now left! Another left…THIS FORM NOW!"

Beast Boy turned into a bison just in time to bowl over a small squadron of Chang goons that had been about to open fire at him. He had literally just finished making it past this brief obstacle when he saw a wildebeest mutant charging at him with its right fist drawn back to punch at him. On the Beast's order, he turned into a prairie dog, and then safely ran right between the hybrid's legs while it was subsequently off balance from unexpectedly striking thin air with its punch and meeting no resistance. The one that had now unsuccessfully tried to punch the shapeshifter fell flat on its face, but there were two more charging over a couple feet behind that one, so Beast Boy followed the Beast's next command, turning into a bobcat in the process; at which point he jumped onto the head of one of the hybrids, and then obeyed the Beast's next command to turn into a red-tailed hawk and fly away just in time to cause the other hybrid to end up punching its own herd mate in the face when it attempted to strike the changeling. All of two seconds later, the Beast pointed out another form to channel the shape of when the changeling was directly above the head of the mutant who'd just accidentally punched out its companion. Beast Boy obeyed, at which point he landed upon the hybrid in his electric eel form and zapped the living daylights out of it. Beast Boy turned into a frog and hopped off right as the now unconscious hybrid fell towards the floor before then turning into a raven in midair and flying a few feet before then turning back to human form.

At this point, the burning sensation in his mind still felt fairly mild. Nevertheless, it did feel a tiny bit stronger now than it had before, so the changeling was not about to relax just yet. And with the Beast guiding him and giving him instructions on what forms to take as needed, Beast Boy continued to make his way through the corridors in his efforts at reaching the vault, the virus slowly expanding its presence in his mind the entire way. After what felt like forever, the changeling finally caught sight of a bank vault-style door that seemed very much likely to be the entrance to the all-important vault. And the corridor in which it was positioned was just a yard or two away! Unfortunately, he could now also see six Wildebeest Society grunts, ten wildebeest hybrids, and 27 Chang goons standing between him and the vault.

He narrowed his eyes and silently snarled at the enemy forces ahead even as the seven Wildebeest Society grunts started to load their crossbows, not once stopping his headlong dash in human form towards them. "Dude," he mentally growled to the Beast. "Now these guys are really pissing me off. Let's let 'em have it!"

"Gladly. Take this form!"

Beast Boy shifted into a white-tailed deer, bounded into position amongst the small squadron of Wildebeest Society grunts, and proceeded to use the subsequent hooves and antlers he gained from the transformation to swiftly knock all six of them unconscious. At another command from the Beast, he shifted back into his lion form. Instantly guessing what the Beast had in mind for this form, the shapeshifter roared loudly at the ten hybrids, which all bellowed in panic, turned around, and fled down a nearby side corridor. One of the Chang goons rushed forward, partially for the sake of attempting to attack Beast Boy and partially for the sake of trying to get the hybrids back in line. But Beast Boy, acting once again under prompting from the Beast, assumed his t-rex form, the magic of the camouflage charm allowing it to be covered in dark gray scales, but also with a tan underbelly and a large patch of red scales on the very top of its head, and with the black stripes on its back and tail the only parts that remained of the changeling's usual color scheme in this form.

The Chang goon had just barely managed to skid to a stop, still fighting to avoid losing his balance altogether from fright when the dinosaur lightly snapped its jaws around him just tight enough not to drop him, swung its head around side to side with the goon's kicking legs and feet still sticking out of its mouth, and then sent the goon flying off in the same direction as the fleeing hybrids. The goon who'd been very briefly been in the dinosaur's jaws crashed into the corridor ceiling, lost consciousness, and fell out cold to the floor with a thud. Seven of the other Chang goons started rushing towards the changeling, angrily yelling incoherently without thinking as they blindly rushed to try to attack, only to promptly pay for their blind recklessness by getting sent flying back the way they'd come and straight into a wall by a swing of the mighty dinosaur's tail. And no sooner had the seven luckless goons hit by the tail fallen to the floor on their faces afterward, naturally out cold, when Beast Boy finished the single spin he'd done over the course of his tail swing, his right leg and foot, which he'd lifted off the floor during his single brief spin brought about by the tail whip attack, now stomping hard a single time on the floor, before then instantly letting out a thunderous roar straight in the direction of the 19 Chang goons still present. This roar, plus the sight of both the murderous look of rage in the dinosaur's eyes as well as the multiple viciously sharp banana shaped fangs in its mighty jaws, caused all 19 of the remaining goons to scream in terror, turn away from the changeling, and flee for their lives.

With all the fleeing goons disappeared from sight and hearing range when the mighty dinosaur Beast Boy had turned into remained positioned as it had been when it had scared them off, panting slightly as it engaged in a brief period of rest. As this happened, what appeared to be vivid lime green zebra stripe-like markings suddenly materialized on the dinosaur's face and glowed so bright as to be almost like a neon sign before then vanishing just as abruptly as they'd appeared. And at the exact same moment the markings disappeared, a light coating of charcoal gray mist formed around the dinosaur before then fading away to reveal that it now suddenly reverted from its apparent natural coloring to the familiar uniform olive green with black stripes color scheme that the form had always come with prior to the casting of the camouflage charm.

It did not take long for Beast Boy to notice this, and he shifted back to human form seconds later, drawing out his communicator and checking the time afterward. "10:45," he noted as he looked at the time. He nodded his head. "Makes sense. N'jobu did say it would last for an hour, and since it was 9:30 when N'jobu first started applying the paint and other appropriate material, 9:40 when he'd finally finished applying it all on and casting the charm, and 9:45 when the mixture finished drying off and the charm finally took effect, that means it's been a full hour."

"Well at least it proved useful while it lasted," said the Beast.

"You can say that again," the changeling agreed. He nodded his head, taking note of how the burning presence in his mind brought about by the virus still slowly working to enact its final phase was still a relatively minor feeling, but nonetheless had strengthened to the point that it was nonetheless much harder to miss now even when he wasn't actively focusing on it. And the fact that he could now easily notice it without even directly focusing on it was enough reason to convince him that it was wise to continue to avoid relaxing for the time being. He walked resolutely over to the doorway to the vault, a determined glare on his face. "And now that we're here, let's get that cure."

He entered in the code. "N. Y. U. M. B. U," he stated just to be certain he got it right as he proceeded, as instructed by Dr. Rookwood, to type in the exact same code he'd used to deactivate the deflector shields. And sure enough, with an electronic beep, followed by a blinking green light from the code machine after he pressed the 'enter' key, the massive circular door unlocked and slowly swung open to reveal the polished stainless-steel interior of the vault. And in the very center, resting upon the top of what looked like a small snow-white marble pedestal, was a small safe. A happy grin on his face, the changeling entered the vault, the same hand that he'd used to unlock the vault already at the ready and pointing towards the safe as he made his way over to it.

He had to admit, part of him was honestly feeling rather surprised at just how well the plan appeared to be going so far. But even so, he certainly wasn't going to question his good luck. After all, as surprising as that one small part of him was currently finding it to be, the fact still remained that, as far as he was currently aware, everything seemed to be going perfectly for the plan. And within the next few minutes, he was gong to open that safe, inject himself with the antidote, and be safely cured of the Primetia virus. And nothing was going to stop him. Not even…

"Hello Craig."

Dun, dun, DUN! How will things unfold from here?! That in mind, I nonetheless hope you enjoyed what I have to offer with this chapter (especially after the long wait) and have plenty to say in any reviews you may leave for it (remember, an exact MINIMUM of one review is required for this specific chapter to allow the next chapter to be posted once it's complete). Because boy did I have a lot of fun with this, and I really hope to have similar fun with the very next chapter (which will also, just so you're warned, potentially take a relatively long period of time to finish)! See you later dudes!

Quick note to Eris: I hope you have plenty to comment on regarding various different elements and sections of this chapter. I also hope that you are pleased with seeing a few answers to some of the remaining unanswered questions from your reviews of the previous 3 chapters as well as incorporation of several of your ideas/suggestions from said reviews. ^_^

Coming up Next: With all the big ticket pieces on the board and ready to play, just HOW will things unfold from here?! Find out next time, as the vicious endgame unfolds!