When they finally arrived at the Principals office. The door was locked. Cyborg flipped open a lock pick from his finger's utility compartment and was about to start picking the lock when the door rushed open with a loud smash. It was kicked in by Beastboy. He took the form of a horse and used his back legs to punch through the door with ease.
Cyborg stood frozen for a second in shock, "well ok then..." he said coyly.
Beastboy changed to himself and barged into the room past Cyborg followed by the others right behind him.
"It's over Mod! Give up now and set everyone free!" Beastboy demanded furiously.
Robin looked at him confused, that's... my line... He thought to himself.
"I would my little ducky but first you'll have to get past my best mate here," Mad Mod made it known that he was not alone in the room. The school principal stood next to him hypnotized. He moved in front of Mod, getting in between him and the Titans.
Beastboy turned into a tiger and roared long and loud at the principal. He crouched down and was about to pounce but before he could, Cyborg jumped on Beastboy tackling him to the ground.
"Beastboy stop!" Yelled Starfire, "he is not our enemy!"
"Yeah, man!" Cyborg add as he was literally wrestling a tiger, "what's gotten into you?! We're here to save the people not hurt them!"
The principal lunged at the two Titans wrestling on the floor but before he got to them he was engulfed in dark energy and hoisted into the air.
"I've got the principal," Raven announced, "Go after Mad Mod-"
Before she could finish Mad Mod had already deployed his escape plan. The principal was just a decoy. The chair he was sitting in had been rebuilt into a rocket propelled chair that Mod could control in flight. It launched straight through the ceiling and into the air out of the school.
"So long my duckies! Try not to hurt that lot too much now!" He laughed as he took off.
This was his plan all along. He didn't want to teach the next generation that the Teen Titans were evil, he wanted to show them they were. First hand.
"Starfire!" Robin yelled as he motioned to her to pick him up and chase after Mod. The two of them took off as Mod flew through the air. He was too fast for Starfire to catch up to though. Especially with her carrying Robin. So in a last minute act of desperation she threw Robin with all her alien strength towards the flying chair.
Robin wasted no time. As soon as he was in range he fired his grappling hook and locked on to the rockets of the chair. He instantly felt the force of the rockets pulling him through the air. While he was in tow, he threw a small explosive at the rockets and the explosion destroyed one of the engines. The chair instantly lost power and began to slowly descend.
Back at the school Beastboy was starting to calm down after Cyborg had pinned him down. Beastboy changed back to himself and Cyborg helped him up but when they turned around the students had already caught up to them and were right outside the door to the principal's office.
"Uh-oh," said Cyborg starting to get nervous. He was beginning to realize he might have to hurt these people just to protect himself.
Raven pushed the principal through the doorway and put him with the others while creating a barricade of dark energy over the door to hold them off. All the students that could fit in the doorway started pounding on the black shield which walled them off. Each student was getting involuntarily pushed off by another. It was like they were taking turns pounding on the darkness that was holding them back. They continued and never stopped like an endless hoard of an undead army. Beads of sweat started to form on Raven's brow. She was starting to struggle to keep the shield up. It wouldn't be much longer before she couldn't hold it anymore.
A familiar face then surfaced on the other side of the shield. It was unmistakable even through the dark energy. Beastboy's heart sank. It was Terra. She was still hypnotized. Beastboy approached the black shield unsure what he was going to say.
"Terra," Beasboy said softly. When she didn't respond he raised his voice, "Terra! You have to wake up! We're your friends! You know we'd never hurt anyone!"
Terra stood there starring back at him with lifeless eyes and started to pound on the barrier.
"Beastboy!" Raven yelled struggling to concentrate, "Get away from her! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"
But her voice fell on deaf ears as he was committed to getting her to snap out of it.
"Terra," he started softly again. He remembered what Terra said to her. How things change, "Terra... It's never too late to change." Beastboy sounded like he was starting to lose hope.
Terra's face lit up with emotion though her eyes remained lifeless. That voice. I know that voice. She found herself back at the carnival. All around her she could see the mirrors again. But they no longer held a reflection of her dark self but a reflection of the person who stood in front of her. A reflection of Beastboy.
Beastboy noticed her change in emotion and it reanimated him. He put both hands on the opposite side of Ravens shield as if he were about to catch Terra.
"TERRA!" Beastboy yelled, "You have to wake up! You're in control. You! No one else!"
Terra could see the reflection of Beastboy's lips moving with a very faint voice following them. You're in control. You. No one else. The words floated through the air with an echo around her.
Tears rolled down Terra's face as she was no longer pounding on the black shield. She blinked a few times and the lifeless eyes started to gain strength.
"Beastboy?" she said softly.
"No way." Cyborg said under his breath.
"Raven! Let her in! She's not safe around the others!" Beastboy pleaded.
"WE'RE not safe around the others!" Raven argued still fighting to maintain the barrier that had 20 different hands pounding on it.
"RAVEN! NOW! LET HER IN!" Beastboy demanded.
Terra was exhausted from fighting the hypnosis. She hadn't had a good night sleep since the last time she spoke to Beastboy. She was beginning to show serious signs of fatigue.
"Beastboy," she said softly again. This time she said it like she knew him. But her knees grew weak and her eyes slowly shut as she fainted. She started to collapse backwards into the hoard of students. If she fell to the floor she would definitely get trampled by the others that were still hypnotized and that's exactly where she was headed.
She hit the floor with a loud thud and the students began stepping all over her. To them, she was just part of the floor.
Raven saw this and knew she would have no choice but to let her barrier down if they were to save Terra. As much as she despised her she didn't want her dead. Besides, Raven didn't know for sure if this was actually Terra. For all she knew this was just some innocent person who looked like her. She released her barrier with a slight yell, like lifting a huge weight off her back. But Terra continued to get crushed by more of her fellow students as they started moving into the principal's office.
Beastboy's anger consumed him. He transformed into a bull and charged through the crowd with his head down knocking everyone off Terra sending them flying across the hall outside the door.
Raven and Cyborg stood there in shock for moment. Beastboy had gone way too far. But they both knew that if he hadn't, that girl lying on the floor would mostly likely not make it.
Cyborg rushed to the door and grabbed Terra's nearest ankle and pulled her into the room and started assessing any damage she took.
Terra looked like a tenderized steak. Her skin was already black and blue in places, and her right arm was bent unnaturally.
"This is not good. We need to get her to a hospital now!" He yelled to the others.
Flying through the sky robin climbed the the rope of his grappling hook as the chair was slowly descending. He finally got to the chair and grabbed Mad Mod by the collar of his shirt.
"Set everyone free!" He demanded.
"Right... about that..." Mod sounded nervous.
"NOW!" It was clear Robins Patience was starting to wear thin if not already gone.
"I can't!" Mod said truthfully, "my chair controls everything and there is no off switch!"
"Everything has an off switch," Robin replied angrily. He pulled out an explosive from his belt, grabbed Mod and jumped off the chair with Mod secured tightly to himself. After he jumped he left behind the explosive that started beeping. The beeping continued to increase in speed before the explosive finally detonated a few hundred feet above the city. The chair was completely destroyed.
He and Mad Mod were in a free fall but Robin wouldn't let him go. Just before they were about to hit the ground Starfire came flying in and caught them before their certain death as a flattened stain in the street. She set them down and Robin put restraints on Mad Mod.
He opened his communicator and reached out to the others.
"Cyborg, Report! Is everyone alright?!" He asked desperately.
At the school beastboy was standing in the doorway kicking his front hoove backwards as if getting ready to charge again. Behind him, Raven and Cyborg were treating Terra as best they could for her injuries.
Then, just before Beastboy was about to charge the students again, the students were no longer coming at them. They lost all aggression, stopped in their tracks, and started asking, "where am I?" as they looked around frantically.
Beastboy Transformed back to himself and looked down at the students he had charged through. They were teens like himself. Close to his age, if not the same age as him. But they were on the ground in pain. Some worse than others. All because of him.
Raven looked over to Beastboy. She could feel an ominous energy coming off of him.
"Beastboy," Raven said trying to get Beastboy's attention so that she could get everyone close enough to teleport.
Beastboy didn't hear her. His eyes were fixed on the damage he'd done. Beastboy's face turned into a mixture of fear and sadness. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking uncontrollably.
"Beastboy!" Raven called louder.
He started breathing heavily and his breaths grew shorter and faster with each passing second. The guilt caused a panic attack in Beastboy. Not knowing what else to do, he transformed into a sparrow and flew out the hole in the ceiling that Mad Mod had used to escape.
"BEASTBOY!" Raven yelled reaching out to him turning from Terra who still lay unconscious. Raven was desperately trying to stop him from leaving. But it was too late. He was gone.
Over the communicator the two Titans in the school heard Robins voice.
"Cyborg report! Is everyone alright?!"
Cyborg looked around at the the students on the ground, then back at Terra who lay in front of him, then at Raven. She had tears in her eyes and still hadn't looked away from where Beastboy had flown off.
Cyborg lowered his head, lift his arm just high enough to respond and replied to Robin...
"No, we're not ok here."