I would like to thank all of my readers and those who are always commenting. I don't think I'd find a reason to write without the reviews you guys send me! To those I haven't gotten a chance to reply to, yes, I am going to go through all 65 or some other episodes, even those that don't include BB or Rae (I plan to give myself a freebie and sneak in as much fluff as possible 8D!!) I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated last. My computer is on the fritz, and I might not to be able to update as much as usual. Spell-checked only, too late for me to read over. Please point out mistakes!

Enjoy!

---

Static filled the screen of a television before a picture appeared.

"The Hive Academy for Extraordinary Young People is proud to introduce, this year' top graduates," a woman narrated. A platform was lifted to show three teenagers. On the far left was a girl with pink hair and pale skin. She wore a tattered piece of cloth over her shoulders and a black dress underneath it. The sleeves were designed to be too large for her hands, which were both dangling by her sides. She had a pink collar around her neck and purple and black tights, along with purple knee-high boots. The boy in the middle looked to be only three feet tall. He had beady black eyes and on his bald head he wore a large pair of goggles. He had on a green jumpsuit and a metal book bag attached to his back. On the far right, opposite to the boy in the center, was a huge red-haired young man. He had on a sleeveless black jumpsuit with a gold-plated chest and gold boots. Orange hair sprouted from his skull and chin, reaching all the way to his shoulders, which were as broad as a building. His tree-trunk arms were folded behind his back.

The three teenagers leaped from the platform, and the dwarf landed in a hallway with his hands proudly placed on his hips. "Gizmo," the voice introduced him as. "The boy genius, whose intellect can conquer any problem with an inventive solution." He pressed a button on his chest and from his backpack sprouted two identical mechanic wings. He produced a controller and jumped into the air, soaring through the hallway as his wings picked up speed. From the walls came three robots shooting bullets at him. He smirked and dodged them easily, shooting missals from the top of his mechanic appendages and taking them out in less than a second.

Then appeared the pink-haired girl with the two black bands in her hair. "Jinx, the enchanting sorceress whose powerful hexes mean bad luck for her enemies." She spun and from her hands came waves of pink energy. Two mean looking robots came forth from secret holes in the walls, and as the pink waves hit the bricks above them, they fell and crushed their robotic heads into their torsos.

She back flipped away from the wreckage and let the big, orange-haired boy take over. "And Mammoth, the genetically enhanced giant whose unstoppable strength speaks for itself." He smiled a toothy grin and smashed his hands down on a canon that was protruding from the ground. He shook for a second before he ripped it out from the floor, spun a few times, and then flung it into a wall.

A robot came from behind him and caught him in a headlock, but the dwarfed boy, Gizmo, flew onto the robots back and set a hissing machine down onto it. The robot sparked before falling down to the ground, dead, and releasing the giant-boy, Mammoth.

"Well-organized, highly trained, and combat equipped," the woman went on, "these new H.I.V.E. agents are the perfect fighting force" Jinx kicked off from Mammoth's hands and cart wheeled down the rest of the hall, dodging a barrage of bullets from the machine guns that came out from the wall. She landed gracefully on her feet and the other two slid into place next to her triumphantly, the ruined equipment smoking behind them. "And for the right price, this ideal team can be yours."

The image flickered before disappearing completely.

"Well, Mr. Slade?" asked an old woman with her white hair tied tightly into a bun. She held an official looking clip board in her arms and was dressed in a green uniform.

"Impressive, Truly," A mans voice echoed off the walls of the room, which was full of steaming pipes and was too dark to really see the mans face. "But robots and obstacle courses only prove so much. My plans demand operatives who can function in the real world." He said the words as if they were a new concept the three teenagers couldn't grasp correctly. "If your students are going to serve me, they'll need to pass one final exam," he drawled, walking over to a different room and sitting down in a chair. At his side in a spotlight were the three H.I.V.E. students and the crisp looking woman, who was beaming proudly.

"Destroy the Teen Titans, and then we'll talk."

The spotlights went out.

---

"Aw, man! C'mon!" Cyborg wailed from the living room of the Titans Tower at the same time the mysterious Mr. Slade made his negotiations with the H.I.V.E. kids. Raven tasted the worry on him, and it was starting to make her tongue throb.

The kitchen was a complete mess. There were dirty dishes and chunks of food everywhere. Dishes with mold, dishes with bits of last night's dinner, dishes with bits of dinner from a few weeks ago. You name it, and they were stacked on top of each other in long pillars of garbage. The sink was cluttered with them as well, and a pale liquid dripped from the counter and onto the floor, creating a puddle. An empty cereal box lay on the floor, unattended.

"It's gotta be around here, someplace! Ugh, I don't believe this!"

Beast Boy had is nose to the floor, his furry green paws inching closer and closer to where he thought the missing object was hidden. A pizza box with left over crumbs was discarded in the corner, along with a few crumpled paper cups, a crushed soda can, and a couple donuts with bite marks in them.

"How could you lose the remote?" Cyborg questioned as he lifted the sofa and whipped his head around, looking for the prized possession. Beast Boy shook his head and transformed back from blood-hound form and back to being a scrawny teenage boy. He was kneeling by the CD shelves, which were trashed with old books and more soda cans.

"What makes you so sure I lost it?" Beast Boy yelled back, throwing random books behind him as loose pages scattered to the floor. Raven knew dully that those had been her books at one point, but she really didn't want to be involved right now. She could just sense the fight about to break out.

Beast Boy pillaged through the collection as he searched, and from behind him, Cyborg started to shake the couch in hopes of the remote just simply falling out.

"Uh, 'cause you're you," he explained sticking a finger in the changeling's direction as he dropped the couch and frowned. Great, Raven thought, here we go.

Enter Beast Boy, stage right. Your motivation is that you're an angry best friend fighting over something stupid.

And---cue!

Beast Boy jabbed his thumb at his chest, playing out the theater in Raven's mind perfectly. "Hey, just because I lost that video game---!"

People were just way too predictable, Raven thought.

"And the tooth paste, and my football, and the waffle iron…!" Cyborg interrupted, counting off his fingers all the things his short friend had lost. But…he didn't lose that much stuff, did he? And he definitely didn't lose that remote.

Raven was sitting at a table farther down, trying to read but unable to with the argument going on.

Okay, so maybe he did lose things a lot, but it was too late for him to admit that he might have misplaced the remote.

Not lost.

Misplaced.

"Things disappear!" Beast Boy countered. That was believable. In a giant T shaped tower with five teenagers, would it really be that surprising if things just went missing? "How'm I supposed to know where they go?"

Raven lowered her book and glowered at the green boy, but he failed to notice her glare. He was sweating a bit from searching so seriously, his costume sticking to his skin ever-so tightly, making his wiry muscles bulge out a bit, defining his chest and---

Ugh, stop! Stop with the disgusting thoughts about one of her stupid, immature teammates now!

"Well how'm I supposed to watch T.V. without a remote?!" Cyborg yelled, throwing his hands up, oblivious to his female team members internal struggle.

Raven frowned and slammed her book shut with a frustrated sigh, her eyes squinted. She stood and said with a note of pent-up anger, "Simple. You just get up and change the channel."

The two fighting titans stopped their yelling match so that they could stare at each other in disbelief before Cyborg said, deadpanned, "Don't even joke like that." Beside him, Beast Boy furrowed his eyebrows and nodded enthusiastically, hands on hips. When he frowned, his tooth stuck out even more than when he smiled, Raven noticed absent mindedly. But right now she was in the middle of proving her idiot teammate wrong.

"I wasn't joking."

"Good, 'cause it wasn't funny! Now either help us look for the remote, or go back to your nasty old book and---!"

Raven shook her head and resisted the urge to blast Cyborg out of the window and into the lake below. Violence wouldn't solve anything, Raven. Stick with diplomacy throughout all.

"This is a pointless argument over a useless device. You are wasting your energy and disrupting my concentration."

"I'm telling you that I didn't lose it!" Beast Boy yelled over her. The door swished open and Raven sensed Starfire and Robin walk in, chatting amiably about something irrelevant. When they noticed the spat going on, Robin went tense. "You were the one who watched T.V. last, so if you wanna blame someone, look in the mirror, buddy!"

"Whoa, Titans! Take it easy! Combat practice is this afternoon!" He said sternly. That was why he was the leader, Raven knew. He had that air of authority that helped him take control of a situation.

"We must mend your dispute by the sharing of unhealthy junk foods," Starfire recited happily. "I shall fetch them."

"I don't need food! What I need is the remote!" Cyborg shouted.

"Help me out here, Robin!" Beast Boy squeaked at the same time. "Have I ever lost anything?"

Raven struggled to keep quiet and not add that he was the only one to ever lose anything here. She honestly didn't want to be dragged into this.

Starfire skipped over to the refrigerator happily, either ignoring the yelling or just oblivious to it. Raven was too caught up in the emotions tossed up in the room over something as stupid as a remote to notice Starfire's disgust at the blue-fuzzed food. She thought she heard something growl over Robin's whistle---an attempt to take the attention off of the remote so that the fight would end---and the she heard Starfire scream.

There was an explosion of light and then everything was sticky, dripping, and blue.

The four titans covered head to toe in the gunk looked up at the ceiling in astonishment their mouths open in disgust. Cyborg was frozen in his spot, lurched forward about to pounce on his scrawny, green friend if he snapped. Robin was in the middle of the two, one hand pushing Cyborg back and the other holding Beat Boy out of reach. Beast Boy was stuck next to Raven, because when Starfire and squealed he had jumped involuntarily and had scraped against Raven's side. He shivered when his leg touched hers, but he hoped that she hadn't noticed. Raven titled her head up and a giant drop of blue landed dead on the center of her forehead, blotting out her Chakra and sliding down her nose.

Beast Boy broke out of his paralysis and snickered, earning a well-deserved glare from Raven.

"Maybe we should just go out for pizza…" Robin suggested, and the titans all silently agreed that it would be better than forcing down whatever "food" was left in the fridge.

---

The five teenagers were seated outside their favorite pizza parlor, and the traditional arguing over what type of pizza they would buy had been going on for nearly ten minutes. The sky was bright and cloudless, but to be honest, Raven would have traded anything for some rain. She was glad that they had at least snagged a table with an umbrella, using the old "I think I saved this place from a meteor a few weeks ago" excuse on the manager. Raven was sitting between Beast Boy and Robin, who were both ignoring her and arguing in lowered voices over what kind of toppings should be ordered. Cyborg sat across from her, and in her usual position---which was always somewhere near Robin---sat Starfire, at Robin's right. Everyone else sat with their legs crossed or spread apart lazily, except for Beast Boy, who had insisted on sitting on his heels with his chin resting on his knees.

Why did he have to sit in such an annoying looking manner? Raven concluded that it was just an animalistic custom that he hadn't even realized, sitting in such an awkward position without a second thought. It had to be tough to have a body full of jumbled up animal DNA. For Azar's sake, he was nearly fifteen and he still had yet to grace five feet! All those excess animal chromosomes must be wreaking havoc on a boy going through puberty.

Without any warning, her brain produced an image of Beast Boy, only a foot taller and with more bulky muscles, his face a bit more narrow. The image winked at her minds eye and she desperately fought down the urge to turn red. She shook her head slightly so that no one would notice the slight movement and sighed quietly, clearing her mind of any…disturbing…images of any of her male teammates.

Especially her green teammates.

Raven lowered her eyes from the blinding sunlight and tuned back into the squabble between the titans, her eyes unwillingly flickering to Beast Boy's face every few seconds to make sure he didn't suddenly fall backwards in his seat, his expression slightly crumpled with frustration as he argued. She convinced herself that she was only looking at him so much because he had toothpaste stuck on his chin.

"Black olive with mushrooms!" Robin suggested.

"No one likes onions," Beast Boy replied to Cyborg.

"Anchovies," Starfire said calmly. Raven rolled her eyes, still not-staring at Beast Boy, although her head was turned in his direction.

"Can we please just order something?" She droned, and her stomach grumbled expectantly. She really didn't care what was on the goddess forsaken pizza, just if it was edible!

"As long as it's vegetarian," Beast Boy ordered, immediately triggering a complaint from the local meat-eater Cyborg.

"Oh, come on, man! How can you deny me the all-meat experience?" Beast Boy's face twisted in disgust when he replied, menu in hand.

"Dude, I've been most of those animals!" He cried, thrusting a thumb to his chest.

"I suggest a large pizza with pickles, banana's, and mint frosting," Starfire piped up from her spot at the table, smiling innocently. The four titans stopped to look at her strangely, something that she did not notice. Raven shook her head and saw Beast Boy's eyebrows twitch from the corner of her eye.

She wasn't watching him. He just happened to be in her peripheral line of vision.

Robin, who had devoted most of his time with the alien girl to explaining the strange Earth ways to her, muttered from behind his menu, "Uh, Starfire…not everything on the menu's a pizza topping."

Her smile split and she seemed a trifle embarrassed. Raven tasted it on her tongue like copper and wished even harder for the too-salty, too-greasy taste of pizza to get rid of it. "Oh."

"Double pepperoni," Cyborg decided then, obviously trying to get a rise out of the determined little green vegan.

"I am not eating meat!" Beast Boy declared, waving his menu in his hand.

"There's no meat in pepperoni," Cyborg snorted offhandedly, and Raven scoffed at him.

"Are your memory banks on the fritz, dude? Pepperoni is meat! And I'm not eating any meat!" Beast Boy shouted, scaring off the waiter that had walked by to take their order. The blond haired man had a smile frozen on his face, his notepad in hand as he fled from the table. Poor soul must have been new; all the other waiters had gotten used to their bickering.

"Let's just get half pepperoni, half vegan, okay?" Robin sighed, thankfully interrupting the argument. Beast Boy agreed, as did Cyborg, but both buys muttered something under their breaths. Beast Boy said something about a slaughter-house pizza and Cyborg said that it was no wonder why Beast Boy was green, all he ate was vegetables.

From in front of the parlor, a bus flew down the inconveniently placed hill from over sixty miles per hour, horn honking. The titans stood from their seats, chairs scraping the floors as they hurried up and watched in a confused way.

Beast Boy glanced down and gasped. There, perfectly in place in front of the run-away bus' line of trajectory, was a baby stroller, a sobbing toddler whining from inside.

Did these kinds of things happen on purpose, or did people just randomly leave babies in the middle of a busy intersection?? He thought blankly.

"Titans, go!" Robin uttered, and the titans jumped into action.

Starfire swooped down and carried the carriage away from the bus, while Raven and Cyborg dropped down in front of the speeding, ten-tons of metal and wheels heading directly for them. For one fleeting second, Beast Boy felt his heart stop when he realized that Raven could get hit. Which was utterly ridiculous. She was a superhero and she could take care of herself. And what about Cyborg, who was just about to take on the bus, head first? But he couldn't deny that he had been scared for her, in just the space of that one second before going back to not caring at all.

Cyborg bellowed and caught the bus with both hands. He slowed it down considerably, but he was still being pushed back, his boots skidding on the concrete. Raven came to his rescue shortly after, throwing up an arm and using her freaky demon-chick powers to stop the car and put it in park.

Cyborg grunted with relief before looking into the windshield. "Um, don't buses usually have drivers?" he asked, puzzled, with a hand on his head.

"And don't baby carriages usually have babies?" Robin questioned, holding something in the stroller. Beast Boy stood on his toes to look over his leaders' shoulder to see that it was a stuffed bear, the fake smile teasing the titans who had gone out of their way for nothing.

A voice came from it, squeaky to the point where only Beast Boys own cracking pitch could rival it. "Are you pit-sniffers normally this stupid?"

Then the yellow eyes of the smiling bear shuttered and two blinding yellow lasers shot from them, sending Beast Boy, Robin, and Starfire high into the air. From a few meters away, the bus Raven and Cyborg had just stopped shook before it was lifted off of the ground. Raven stared at it with her mouth agape, and Cyborg's own mouth dropped when he saw that it was an orange-haired boy that was carrying it.

With a toothy smile he brought it down on them, concrete flying everywhere as it smashed into the ground.

Beast Boy groaned when he fell directly into a trash can, while Starfire and Robin had managed to avoid impact with any trash completely. Just his luck to be the only one that smelled like rotten fruit and spoiled milk. He spit out an apple core onto the floor, and felt what seemed like a banana peel on his head.

"---wanna go get pizza?" He heard the same squeaky voice ask. He looked up and saw three strange looking people standing in the center of the street confidently. One boy was tall and had an orange beard, the other boy only three feet tall and bald. There was one girl, who had freaky pink hair and a black and purple striped outfit. Her skin was almost as pale as Raven's, he observed.

"This isn't over," Robin declared, brushing himself off. The bus was rocketed into the air by Cyborg's sonic cannon, and he growled angrily. Raven fazed next to him through a bird-shaped haze of her powers.

"We're just gettin' started!"

"Who are these guys?" Beast Boy asked from his spot stuck in the trash can, taking the banana peel off of his head. "And what's a cludgehead?" He asked, remembering the name midget-boy had used to describe them.

"We are the H.I.V.E.," midget-boy introduced.

"Your worst nightmare," thundered the bearded-boy, cracking his knuckles.

"And this is attack pattern alpha," pink-hair finished, and the group broke apart.

Midget-boy jumped into the air and from his back transformed a jet pack. He soared upwards, shooting bullets one after the other at the three standing titans (well, one was still in the trash until he dodged to safety.) Beast By threw the rubble of the collapsed building off of himself in time to see Cyborg and Mammoth grappling with each other. Then midget-boy, Gizmo, landed on his back and stuck a mechanic box on it. He smirked and muttered something to him, pressing a button on his controller and watching gleefully as the box rocketed Cyborg into the sky, smoke trailing behind him.

"Cyborg!" Starfire gasped, and kicked off the ground to catch him.

Raven side-stepped as the pink-haired girl, Jinx, tried to land a spinning kick in her face. She twisted around and ducked more of the unlucky sorceresses' blows, throwing in one of her own punches that had been easily deflected. She had never liked hand to hand combat, anyway.

"You fight like a boy," Jinx remarked. Not surprising, since they were the only ones she had to train with.

"And you're gunna croak like a frog!" Gizmo laughed, suspended in the air by a set of mechanical spider legs. A laser burst from his chest, aimed directly at her. She grunted and flew backwards a few feet in the air. She got ready to skid across the floor, for the connection of the passing ground and her body to scrape her flesh, but it never came. Instead, she was thrown into Beast Boy, landing on top of him so that she was lying with her stomach on his back. Oh, why was she always on top of him? She apologized curtly and helped him to his feet, to which he thanked her just as curtly for.

"Him?" Beast Boy asked, pointing at Gizmo. Raven nodded and he scowled. Ooh, he was going to get that little brat for that! He hadn't the faintest idea why, but he knew that if anyone hurt Raven, would even think about harming her, he would make sure that revenge was exacted. Without a word, he charged towards him. He cried out a scream of pure thrill before transforming into a raging elephant, raising his trunk and tooting loudly.

He never expected Mammoth to pick him up with one hand.

Yeah…never saw that one coming.

"Mammoth's gunna make you extinct," Mammoth grunted in third person, and Beast Boy knew that he must have had only a third grade education at the most. Mammoth tossed him into the air, spinning as he swung his arm and punched him back to his teammates.

"Beast Boy! Hang on!" Robin screamed, but it was too late. The green elephant went speeding towards him, but Beast Boy still had the mind to morph back into human form before they collided. They fell with an oomph! and Beast Boy skidded a few feet before stopping, upside down with his legs hanging over his head.

"Is it just me, or are we getting out butts kicked?" he asked, looking at Raven directly. Did her eyes always look so big when her hood was up? He had to admit, even upside down, she looked pretty.

Wait…

Pretty??

"It's just you," both Raven and Robin said in unison in the same irritated voice.

"Listen up team, I have a plan!" Robin started, but was interrupted when Gizmo shot another one of his bullets at them. Robin fled away from the blast. Raven and Beast Boy…not so lucky. He was blasted up and started to scream before he found a good position and twirled in the air so that he would land on his feet. Ha. And people said that he had no sense of balance. Well, Robin wasn't the only one that could show off.

Raven was just about to hit the ground and he scrambled to catch her in his arms. He couldn't let her get hurt when he could catch her. She landed with a surprised grunt, reflexively throwing her arms around his neck to keep from falling.

She wasn't that heavy, Beast Boy thought, but she was taller than him, and holding her bridal style wasn't such a good idea. Her body was angled so that one hand was underneath the back of her knees, which were knocked together, and one was digging into the small of her back.

Her bare hand made contact with the uncovered skin of his neck and she gasped in shock, her muscles locking up frigidly. She almost screamed, it was such a jolt. When her skin came in contact with his, it was as if someone had stuck a live wire into her arm. The shock was so great that she started to tremble in his arms, as if her veins were flowing with electricity instead blood.

Without even triggering her mental abilities, she was filled with the very essence of Beast Boy. Every emotion he was feeling, every thought he was having, and everything was ten times stronger than if she had reached out to him normally with her mind. She felt not only like she had reached out with her mind---she felt as if she had cannonballed into him. Her psychic bond with him seemed to get stronger, as if she had been thrust into Beast Boy's mind.

It didn't seem to have the same affect on Beast Boy, however, and he seemed fine. She moved her hand slightly so that she was no longer touching his skin, and the electric feeling went away instantly, along with her horrible case of shivers.

He wobbled a bit underneath her weight and she gasped, wrapping her arms around his neck so that her face buried into his chest. She heard the soft murmur of his heart beat pick up when her face touched his chest and for a minute his scent was all she could smell; sweat, the faint aroma of the pizza parlor, and his own natural, musky scent. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply before she remembered where she was.

She muttered something into his chest, without wanting to look up at him. She would be too…Well, she had never felt emotions that well before, but would the correct word be embarrassed? It seemed silly to be feeling such a frivolous emotion.

Especially towards her green teammate.

"What?" he asked, in a sort of daze.

"I said, you can put me down," she repeated louder.

"Oh, um…sure," he said quietly after a few seconds of realization, placing her safely on her feet. "You okay there, Rae?"

Raven glared at him but said in an almost pleasant manner, "Fine, and you?"

Beast Boy brushed himself off. "Peachy keen." He eyed her and smirked, and she tasted the rotten taste of sneakiness when he continued on with his next sentence. "You know, you didn't have to kiss me before. A simple 'thank you' would have sufficed."

Raven felt her mouth drop. "Kiss…?" she started, and then her mind registered what he was talking about. In that instant when she had instinctively put her face against his chest, and her lips had touched him, he had thought she had….kissed him?

She had never been so happy to have her hood up, shading her face so that the boy standing in front of her wouldn't be able to see her face flushed with color. "Don't be an idiot, Beast Boy. It was an accident, so you shouldn't flatter yourself so easily."

A street sign shrieked as it was twisted into a pretzel across the street, and his joking smile transformed into a full-blown smirk.

Right before he could say something sarcastic, both teens felt the ground shake and looked up to see Gizmo fire rapidly and the street before Robin. Jinx waved her arms and added a bad luck hex, followed by Mammoth, who jumped down onto the already-cracking tar and brought both fists down on it, splitting the ground open. Robin screamed as the hole swallowed him up and as he plummeted downwards into the black nothingness that was the undergrounds of the city.

Raven and Beast Boy ran to the giant crated and peered down into it. Beast Boy's wide eyes searched through the water that had carried their leader away, but saw no hint of the red-and green clothed boy wonder. He had disappeared completely.

That didn't stop him from calling out his name. The only reply was his own hallow echo.

"…obin…bin…bin…bin…"

"We'll deal with you butt-pickers later," Gizmo sneered. Mammoth nodded in agreement and in a flash he had bent his knees and leaped into the air, using his super strength to launch himself upwards, leaving a crack in the ground. Gizmo's backpack transformed into a rocket and he flew away himself. Last to leave was Jinx, who laughed at the two heroes and said, "You and your girlfriend better look pretty hard for bird-boy if you wanna find him now," before acrobating her way out.

Beast Boy knelt on the ground and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting Robin's name once more before looking helplessly at Raven. He made no motion to guard his appearance now that no one was around to see him. He knew that she could sense his distress, so why bother hiding it? Could you hide anything in the presence of her?

She sighed. "Let's go, Beast Boy." Then she jumped down into the sewer, only to halt an inch above the water as she floated. She looked up at him with her hands on her hips. "Well, are you coming or not?"

Beast Boy nodded and dove in after her, transforming into a humming bird and fluttering about around her head. "Go check how deep the water is," she commanded, and without a doubt in his mind about her judgment, the green humming bird morphed into a small fish. It dropped into the water, creating a splash and getting the edge of her cape wet, Raven noted with distaste.

A few minutes later, she saw the blurry figure of the fish swim to the surface. Then, as the water shivered, Beast Boy's head popped up and he sucked in a great amount of air. He kicked his feet and flailed his arms wildly before Raven picked him up out of the water telekinetically. "Almost a mile down," he coughed. His hair was matted down to his forehead and water traveled down from his green hair and into his emerald eyes. He was frowning, which meant that his tooth was sticking out even more than ordinary. His uniform was completely soaked, clinging to him like a second skin. It was like he wasn't even wearing---

"Ugh, it's freezing in there!" Beast Boy exclaimed loudly, stopping her train of thought; unluckily or luckily, she wasn't so sure. He wrapped his arms around himself and shuddered violently. Then he shook his head, as a dog would after a bath, and water flew from his hair and showered Raven with it. She grimaced and dropped her telekinetic hold on him, and with a surprised cry, he hit the water, only to fly out as a very annoyed bird.

Raven came close to smiling but refused to show any emotion to anyone.

Especially her green teammate.

The two followed the current of the stream, searching for any hint of Robin but eventually coming up empty. They had stopped only once when Beast Boy had said he'd seen something, and Raven had started to find hope when she spotted Robin's utility belt.

But that was all they found, no Robin attached.

"He'll come up eventually," Raven sighed, but Beast Boy was determined to find him. They searched in every possible place that Robin could be, but couldn't find even a whisper of his presence. Raven couldn't sense him either, which was giving her the gnawing, empty feeling of worry that she could just barely suppress.

When Beast Boy had finally given up, they returned to the surface world. Raven landed softly on the ground while Beast Boy clumsily landed after her. She could taste his worry, also. He took a few steps forward before howling in pain in an animal-like way. He knelt on the ground, on hand firmly clamped on his right thigh. "Ow…" he groaned, tossing his head back as he bit back another cry.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked in a neutral voice, although she was frightened about what might be ailing her green companion.

"My thigh…huuuuurts…" he hissed through his teeth. Raven rolled her eyes. Thanks for the obvious, she thought. "It must have been from that fight before. I got scraped by one of Gizmo's bullets but I figured it was just a flesh wound, you know? That it would just go away. Oww…" he whined as a fresh wave of pain hit him.

Raven glanced at the watchtower. "That was nearly an hour ago. With the combination of you swimming in sewer water and leaving it unattended for so long, it's probably been infected."

He moaned again. "Augh, it feels like I'm bleeding fire!"

Raven resisted the urge to kneel down next to him ad rub his back soothingly. "Can you make it to the tower?" she asked critically, turning her head to glare at their T-shaped home as if it was the houses' fault for giving Beast Boy the infection.

Beast Boy shrugged and slowly removed his hand from his wound. He staggered up into a standing position and grinned tightly. "Yup," he lied through his smile, tottering a bit. He hated looking weak in front of anyone, and Raven was no exception, mind reader or not. He guessed that if he hid his pain well enough, she would never know. Bury any feelings of discomfort and she wouldn't have to waste her time worrying about him. "I guess I was just bein' a drama queen," he laughed mechanically. It was just a habit for him to immediately rush into comedy to keep from letting anyone in on how hurt he was. So it was just a scratch.

Well it was a scratch that hurt like fucking hell.

But he kept his smile on, even as he took a step forward and every single muscle in his leg screamed in protest, then another agonizing step, and another. Finally he titled a bit and Raven was right by his side, already her arms out to catch him. Together they hobbled the rest of the way home, Raven with her arms around Beast Boy's middle while Beast Boy slung an arm over her thin shoulders. Raven made sure that she didn't make any contact with his skin as they slowly made their way to the tower. When they reached the doors of the tower, which swished open at their arrival---they never locked the doors, because what crook would be dumb enough to break into a team of superheroes home? --- Raven hurried him to a chair.

"That didn't just happen," Beast Boy said as he sat. "Tell me that didn't just happen." Absently, he began rubbing his thigh.

"It did happen," Raven said gravely as she removed her hood. "We cannot change the truth, no matter how much we dislike it."

She looked down to see Beast Boy rubbing his thigh and activated her healing powers. This would be the last of her energy, but she would recover quickly later on. She went on her knees next to him and her hands both began to glow blue. Beast Boy stopped rubbing his thigh when she placed her hands firmly on his leg. He straightened his spine at how close her hands were but allowed Raven to continue.

The irritating pulse of his scrape went away, the glow of her hands soothing it instantly. When she was finished she removed her hands and let them hang limply by her sides.

"Who knew we had a doctor in the house?" He asked brightly, eyes sparkling. He looked at her with something only considered as…content. "Thanks," he said, smiling sincerely. His fang was still sticking out, she observed. It wasn't that annoying smirk of his, or that stupid grin of his that he had when he told one of his lame jokes. It was an honest smile, and Raven could swear that her heart missed two beats when he looked at her. She hoped, although knowing it was useless, that his superior sense of hearing couldn't pick up the irregularity of her heart beat.

"No problem."

The two stood in the same position like that, staring into each other eyes---not in a romantic way whatsoever, Raven continuously told herself---and Raven almost thought she saw Beast Boy lean forward towards her.

Then the tumblers of the door were activated and they opened to reveal Cyborg and Starfire, ending the almost-moment the two had shared.

"Maybe ya'll should call me Fly-borg," Cyborg announced. "I was halfway to Gotham City before Star zapped that thing off my back." Starfire nodded and Cyborg went on. "So what I miss?"

Raven felt her face melt into something resembling sadness as she looked down at the floor, and Beast Boy followed suit.

"Tell me how we kicked their butts," Cyborg begged. "C'mon, I gotta have the play-by-play."

Starfire looked around and frowned. "Where is Robin?" she asked in a confused voice.

"Um…Star? We're not sure," Beast Boy said quietly, eyes still on the ground.

"Not sure?" Starfire asked, growing slightly worried. "Why are you not---?"

"We searched everywhere," Raven explained. "And all we found," she said, producing the boy wonders' utility belt from her cloak, "was this."

Starfire gasped and Cyborg groaned, throwing his hands on his head. "Ugh!" he cried angrily. "I shoulda' been there! I let that kid sneak up on me and---what was I? ---it was a trap and I---I shoulda' known…" he trailed off, staring at his hands.

"I do not understand," Starfire said shrilly, stepping in front of Raven and yelling at her as she slowly lost control. "How could you not find him? People do not just vanish! There has to be someplace so go there and look!"

Beast Boy slipped in front of Raven and held up two hands in a sign of peace. "Easy, Star, c'mon. This is Robin we're talking about," he half-smiled. "I'm sure he's fine," he lied. "He'll probably turn up any second."

The doors were activated again, and Beast Boy was happily surprised that he had been right. "Awesome timing!" he congratulated himself and Robin.

"Robin!" Starfire cried, flying towards the door. When she was only a few feet from it they were blown in by a bomb, throwing her against the wall. Black smoke coated everything for a second before it cleared way for the titans to see who it was that had blown up their front doors.

"Oh, no," Beast Boy muttered, his eyes widening. Maybe they should have started locking their doors.

The H.I.V.E. students filed in, Jinx leading the pack with an insane smile dancing on her lips. From behind her, Mammoth cracked his knuckles loudly.

"Oh, yes," she replied huskily.

"You guys got lucky last time, but you're in our house now!" Cyborg yelled, filling in Robin's spot as leader. The titans scowled and took a battle position, fists clenched.

"Yeah, nice place," Gizmo agreed, high up on his spider-like mechanic legs. "We'll take it!"

There was a loud bang and an explosion as he shot another five bullets at the team, who split up to take on the three students. The force of the explosion threw Raven to the ground, while Starfire flew up and began to fire star bolts at the villains.

"Wah!" Beast Boy was tossed to the floor and he glared before jumping back up and dodging another attack. Cyborg tried holding them back with his sonic canon and shouted to his team, "Split up!"

Raven fled for the stairs. She looked down once she got past the first flight and Starfire came after her, flying up past her. She ripped the two fire extinguishers from the wall with her mind and they were encased in a black aura before they were chucked at Mammoth, who was slowly advancing on her. He punched them out of the way and sprinted after her.

Raven swallowed a scream and she and Starfire threw open the doors to the training room. Raven held them shut with her mind while Starfire sealed it with her star bolts. They stepped back to admire their work when a loud bang came from behind them. From her spot on the floor, Raven squinted through the rubble and her mouth fell open.

"Hello, Ladies," Mammoth bellowed, his head sticking out from the hole he made in the wall.

Raven and Starfire both held each other and screamed loudly.

---

Beast Boy snarled and leaped through the air, transforming in mid-air into a cheetah. When his paws hit the ground, her bounded forward in a desperate attempt to distance himself from the pink-haired menace, otherwise known as Jinx. She cocked her head and a wave of pink magic bounced off of the walls of the corridor he was racing through. He refused to look back, but he heard the clang of metal as the walls began to fall apart.

"Here, kitty-kitty," Jinx mocked in a crazy voice that made Beast Boy's fur stand on end. Had she honestly lost her mind? Her head rocked back and forth as she sent out more bad-luck spells around her, tearing the hall to shreds.

"Afraid of a little bad luck?"

Very afraid! He wanted to call back over his shoulder, but instead he replied by letting out a low growl. He could have sworn he heard someone scream from upstairs, but right now even if someone had, they would have to fend for themselves. It almost sounded like Raven, and he felt a slight constriction in his chest at the thought that she might be in trouble, although a second later he disregarded it and decided that as a superhero she could handle the problem. Besides, he was a bit…preoccupied at the moment, what with the psychotic pink-haired sorceress trying to kill him and all.

He willed his legs to move faster, his claws clinking lightly on the polished floor of the never-ending hallway. His nails seemed louder when Jinx stopped throwing bad luck at him along with her jeers.

Clink.

Clink.

Clink.

He almost burst out crying when he saw a turn in the corridor. Switching back into a human shape, Beast Boy threw himself around the corner and looked over his shoulder, satisfied that her pink-lipped, bone-chilling smile wasn't leering behind him. He began to pant, catching his breath. "Lost her," he breathed in relief to himself.

From above he heard the sound of screws loosening and before he could even look up, a giant metal tile fell from the ceiling and smashed into his face. He threw his arms out in surprise, and felt the force of the hit shake his entire body as he moaned in pain. His nose felt like it had been smashed into his skull, but apparently it hadn't been broken because blood wasn't spurting everywhere. He fell forward onto the floor and moaned again.

"This just isn't your lucky day," Jinx observed as she stepped from behind the turn.

"I wonder why," Beast Boy agreed from on his knees, with a gloved hand covering his face. He rubbed the back of his head with his other hand, and decided that if Jinx was going to play tough, he should too. It was time to play hardball with Little Miss Bad Luck. He transformed into tyrannosaurus, one of his favorite animals to turn into when he brought out the "heavy artillery," and roared ferociously in her face. Much to his dismay, Jinx back flipped out of the way in the kind of acrobatics that reminded Beast Boy of Robin. She landed at the end of the hall on her feet, grinning a wide smile and hissing, her eyes now glowing pink energy. Beast Boy growled again and his beady eyes darted down in time to see the remnants of Jinx's hex disappear around his feet in a circle.

Uh-oh.

The floor crackled and dropped from beneath him as it transformed into a more brittle substance. A substance that apparently couldn't support the weight of a tyrannosaurus rex.

Go figure.

He let out a surprised sound from the back of his throat and fell far into the floor below with a loud crash. He didn't have enough strength to retain a proper animal form and shrunk back into his original, puny, five foot zero form. He squinted his eyes to se through the dust up at the hole in the floor in time to see Jinx peer down at him triumphantly. From a different floor heard Cyborg scream before he heard a splash come from outside. He flew up through the hole as an eagle and was about to dive-bomb Jinx when she tossed another ray of bad luck his way. He turned back into a gawky fourteen year old once more and was then ejected through the roof of the Titans Tower. He yelled and hit the water surrounding his home with a splash, the impact against the surface almost the equivalent of hitting concrete.

When he came back up for air, he spat out a fountain of water that he had swallowed. Floating around him he knew was Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven, who was probably secretly seething. Her hair was a darker shade of purple and it was matted to the side of her head. Beast Boy would have laughed if the situation didn't suck so much. "Have a nice afterlife, ya snot eatin' losers!" Gizmo shouted from the top floor of the tower. Jinx splayed her hands and released the biggest gust of bad magic yet. Once it hit the water, a tidal wave came from nowhere, blocking even the sun from view.

Beast Boy felt his ears droop as he gawked up at it. It came crashing down in an instant, forcing Beast Boy under. He couldn't think right enough to transform into a fish of some kind, and besides, what would happen to his other teammates if he left them to drown?

He tried to scream for help but his mouth was filled with the salty water and sand. All that came out of his mouth was a distressed gurgle as he clawed at the water, his hands holding nothing as he kicked and flailed in a desperate attempt to keep from drowning. Pure instinct flooded into him then, giving him the determination to live. It burned to his very core as he swam back to the surface. When his head came back up he sucked in air as if it was going to be the last breath he ever took, then proceeded to hack up sea water and sand and even one piece of seaweed. The current of the wave pushed them farther from the tower until it was no longer in sight.

He couldn't see his teammates but sensed that they were nearby. He gave up his fight and allowed himself to float lazily until he reached some form of land. The titans ended up on the shore of a beach, and Beast Boy ran the rest of the way through the water once it was shallow enough for him to stand in. He turned around to see if his friends were following him, and sure enough he saw the faint outline of Cyborg and Starfire in the distance.

But where's Raven?

He threw his arms up into the air and called for them, waving his limbs to catch the attention of his team members. In a few seconds, the two were sprinting through the lesser waves on the beach. Starfire seemed fine, but Cyborg was missing his right arm---Gizmo's fault, Beast Boy guessed. But how that happened was the last thing on his mind.

"Cy, where's Raven?" He asked seriously. Cyborg looked guiltily at Starfire, who looked at the ground. Beast Boy smelled their shame and his stomached dropped the same way the floor had during his fight with Jinx. "Where's Raven?" He screeched, almost losing control of himself.

"Friend Beast Boy…"Starfire started.

"BB, we couldn't find her. She must've drifted too far," Cyborg told him. He tried placing a hand on his shoulder but Beast Boy shrugged him off violently. He suddenly realized how Starfire must have felt when he and Raven had informed her that Robin had disappeared. The feeling of…loss….was so strong that it was like he was drowning again. He couldn't even comprehend how horrible it would be not to have Raven standing in the kitchen and boiling her nasty tea, laying on the couch and reading one of her boring books, meditating on the roof, criticizing his IQ, training in the gym, slamming the door to her room in his face---

"Don't touch me! How could you---" he stopped when he spotted something a twelve or so yards away. It looked vaguely like a body.

A blue-cloaked body, lying face down in the sand, violet hair surrounding her head like a halo.

Beast Boy called her name and ran towards her. Well, perhaps "ran" is too slow of a word. It was more like Beast Boy had stayed been flying towards her, his feet barely touching the ground. He was glad that while he wasn't tall, being small meant that he was fast.

When he reached her he fell, bony knees digging into the sand. "Rae!" He cried, flipping her over as she turned limply. Her face was completely serene, her eyes closed peacefully. Beast Boy hadn't ever noticed how long her eyelashes were until he saw them now, casting shadows onto he pale cheeks. He shook her by the shoulders a few times, and when he received now reaction, her placed the cloaked girl on her back. He could hear barely hear her heart beat, and there was also another problem; she wasn't breathing.

"Cy, she's not---" Beast Boy was about to report to his friends from their spot yards away, but he was surprised to see that they were already standing right behind him.

"You have to give her CPR," Cyborg told him gravely, and Beast Boy tensed. He wanted to ask why it had to be him, why he had to do the second best thing to making out with Raven, who was sure to rip off his arms and beat him with his own appendages, but he knew he was the only option. Cyborg was missing and arm, and would probably crush her, and Starfire didn't even know what CPR was. Beast Boy nodded and took a deep breath, praying to God that saving her life would take Raven's mind off of what he was about to do. Maybe he could make it out with only a slight concussion, perhaps some internal bleeding at best.

He carefully pumped her chest with both hands for a minute, careful not to graze by one of her breasts, and then decided it was now or never. Beast Boy inhaled deeply and leaned forward, placing his lips onto hers.

---

Raven didn't actually need CPR. Because of her demon DNA, if she was ever seriously hurt, her body would automatically shut down and heal itself. Of course, her teammates didn't know this, so that was what landed her in this situation. She wasn't so much "revived" by Beast Boy's mouth-to-mouth. She was jolted back into consciousness because she felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

The shock she had felt before when her hand met Beast Boy's neck was nothing compared to having his lips on hers. It was both excruciatingly painful and extremely enjoyable at the same time. Like before, the dam she had built around her mind began to overflow with nothing but---Beast Boy. She felt as if she actually was one with him, connecting to him in an even deeper way that physical touch could not seem to begin express.

She could notice all of the minute details at that moment: the rapid breathing of Beast Boy, the red tint of his green cheeks, the way his fang felt as she ran her tongue over it.

Raven was so overpowered by the feeling of electricity between the two that she hadn't noticed her hands knot themselves into the back of his hair, pressing the changeling into her, hadn't noticed her teammates when her eyes fluttered open, hadn't felt her body shake in ecstasy as she kissed him. Kissing Beast Boy was…

Kissing Beast Boy was…

Kissing….Beast Boy…

Kissing…

Beast Boy?!?

Raven remembered herself instantaneously, and released her grip on Beast Boy as soon as she realized what was going on around her. She pushed him away from her body with all of her might and their lips separated with a ridiculous popping noise. Beast Boy landed on his backside, and he kicked his legs into the sand until he was a few feet from her. His eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline, his eyes wide. One hand was hovering above his lips while he leaned his weight on the other. His face hinted that he was ready to spontaneously combust at any second.

Raven leaned over her knees and coughed violently. She turned her head to the side and threw up for what seemed like hours to her. The burning of what must have been gallons of sea water stung her throat and esophagus, as well as the amount of sand that scratched her tongue on the way out. She could dully sense Beast Boy's humiliation and Cyborg's disgust, but continued to upchuck most of her internal organs. When she was finally done she felt five pounds lighter.

"Friend Raven!" Starfire cried, kneeling beside her and pounding on her back when she continued to cough.

"I'm…fine…"she wheezed, struggling away from Starfire. Having found that Raven no longer needed the rest of her "drowning" punched out of her, Starfire turned to her green teammate.

"Friend Beast Boy, are you doing the act of 'fine' as well?" she asked. Beast Boy nodded his head, still somewhat frozen in shock. Much to both Raven and Beast Boy's embarrassment, Cyborg seemed to have known what was going on.

"What the heck was that?" The one-armed robotic teen asked, pointing a finger at Raven accusingly. His face would have been priceless if Raven wasn't so…again, the only word that would fit would be embarrassed. Why, of all emotions, did Beast Boy have to make her feel embarrassed? Why did he make her feel anything at all?

Playing her poker face, Raven asked in a normal tone, her throat still burning as if she had taken a sip from a volcano, "What was what?"

"That! That!" he answered, waving his arm wildly. "I tell BB to give you CPR, and you two end up rolling around on the beach, makin' ou--" Before he could finish his sentence, a black aura surrounded his mouth and stopped him from speaking. Raven narrowed her eyes and set her face to look so icy that most men would literally wet themselves at the sheer ferociousness of it.

(Yes, Beast Boy was using CPR on me. And that is all he did. Isn't. That. Right.)

Raven sent him the message telepathically, as to not alert Starfire of what was going on. The less that had figured out what had happened the better. When she said this, it didn't sound like a question asking if he agreed or not. Her voice dripped with venom and hostility, giving him the impression that if he breathed one syllable of this incident with anyone ever she would slowly kill him.

The cybernetic titan's eye bulged, his mechanic one flashing wildly, but he nodded once to show that he understood. Raven showed no sign that she was pleased with his agreement, but she dispelled the aura around his lips a few seconds later.

Cyborg wouldn't just be missing his arm when she was through with him.

"We should leave," he said slowly, as to make sure she hadn't done anything to his voice modulator. Raven helped herself up and the titans began to walk from the shore. Beast Boy avoided eye contact with her at all times, and Raven wasn't surprised. She was, after all, a monster. Would it be so strange to be freaked out that you had just forcibly made out with a monster? Although he did kiss me back… Raven thought, but immediately after thinking it almost went back and drowned herself. It was just a reaction, she concluded. He was a teenage boy and he had not only human, by animal hormones.

Yes, that made sense, didn't it?

They reached the edge of the beach and Cyborg pulled himself over a slab of land.

"So, who else never wants to go surfing again?" Beast Boy joked half-heartedly. Raven sighed at his "attempt" at humor. At least he was trying to forget what had just happened on the shore and at the tower…and at the pizza shop, for that matter. What a crappy day this turned out to be.

Cyborg glared at him. "Not now, man."

Beast Boy frowned back at him. "Hey, I was just tryin' to---" Raven placed a hand on his shoulder and he slumped forward, calming down a bit. He looked up at her violet eyes and found that they weren't the usual black holes that no emotion passed through, but actually had some sympathy for him. She actually understood that he was trying to keep everyone from having to come face to face with the truth. That they had no leader and that they had been kicked out of their home. He was trying to be nice.

Cyborg knelt to the ground and his index finger whizzed as it changed into a small welding device. He opened up the compartment of his left knee and set out to fix his system that had mysteriously crashed.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance?" Starfire asked innocently.

"I got it," Cyborg said to her frostily.

"But you are so damaged, and---" She reached out and Cyborg twisted around, thrusting a finger at his knee.

"I said I got it!" he yelled angrily. Starfire's wide eyes went moist and she squeaked.

"Hey, she was only trying to help!" Beast Boy said, defending the red-head. "What is your problem?" He demanded with his hands on his hips. Raven inwardly groaned at the commotion of a fight. The anger in the air was making her temples throb and her tongue puff up.

"Whatd'ya think?" he yelled back at him, as if he would get his point across by giving Raven a migraine. "We go kicked outta our house, a pint-sized poindexter took me for a joy ride, and in case you haven't noticed, I just became left-handed!" He waved his stump of a right arm at Beast Boy.

Raven felt her eyebrow twitch and a bit of her anger leaked out. "Enough!" She had her hand on Beast Boy's shoulder, who was tense and ready to pounce at Cyborg, his fists clenched. "We need to control our emotions." or I'll go insane, she wanted to add.

"Or what?" Cyborg asked loudly, his anger exploding out. He had seemed fine on the shore, but the reality of the whole thing must have finally sunk in. "Our bad vibes'll keep you from meditating?" Raven scowled at him, her own anger throwing itself against her mental barrier, trying to crawl free. "I wish Robin were here," Starfire said quietly, rubbing her arms. She really wished not to fight, Raven sensed.

"Well he's not! Don't you guys get it? Theywon, welost!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "It's over!" Raven clawed at the palm of her hands with her nails. What was this to him? A game that they had played?

"Then the Teen Titans are finished?" Beast Boy asked sadly the question on everyone's mind.

"Not yet they're not," a familiar voice said from behind. All four titans whirled around and each one felt their jaws drop. There, on a mound of sand, stood none other then their red-and-green clad leader, Robin. He smiled.

"Not if I can help it."

---

The titans had explained their dilemma to their leader, who was eager to hear what he had missed. As promised, Cyborg (who was now in a much better mood ever since Robin had reappeared,) didn't speak once of the incident on the shore. Beast Boy had no reason to either, and Starfire found that it was just a service from one teammate to another. No harm, no foul.

Robin had then come up with a plan in about zero point three seconds, which made the titans feel ashamed that they had been fighting instead of planning. And they called themselves' heroes.

Robin's plan was actually very well thought out. Cyborg put the plan in motion by using his lost am to spy on the H.I.V.E. students, who were taking over the tower. They had even gone to the lengths of transforming the "T" into an "H" and decorating the outside like a hive! Cyborg told his teammates that it was okay for him to continue; Mammoth was raiding the fridge, Gizmo was going through their CD collection, and Jinx was talking about fashion. He said she was trying on Raven's cloak, and said empath groaned. They had looked through her room? At least they hadn't gotten to the Mirror. Now that would have been horrible.

As Cyborg began to hack into the tower's security system, Raven felt her eyes land on Beast Boy. He wasn't looking at her, but was instead watching the Tower excitedly. He was actually bouncing with unused energy. It was all very…cute. It was as if she was watching a five year old. Raven noticed that Cyborg had "kidnapped" Gizmo and the dwarf was now sailing through the room.

Raven herself couldn't wait to get back into the tower. As soon as she heated herself up a cup or two or seven of tea, she was going to haul herself to the library (or her room, which had more books than that tower's library actually held) to research what was going on between her and Beast Boy. That electric feeling…it was beginning to be a problem. It had enveloped her before, derailing her train of thought to the point of her almost forgetting who she was. When she had kissed him---oh, why did that have to sound so completely fine with her?!---she had gone through temporary insanity. She had just snapped, that was all.

She didn't have any feelings for him.

None at all, whatsoever.

She was just…mentally unstable.

Wait, did that actually make her feel better or worse?

Just as she was questioning herself, Beast Boy's eyes flickered up to meet hers. She didn't need to be able to read minds to know what was going through his head. He could have written "Was Raven Staring at Me?" in permanent marker on his forehead to make it less obvious. They stayed like that until the alarm from Titans Towered sounded, slicing through the awkward silence and bathing the area in an eerie red glow from within the main room. Raven threw up her hood and started her part of the plan.

She closed her eyes and pictured the inside of the tower, specifically Jinx. At her will, when she opened her eyes she could see the bewildered sorceress, looking around and throwing off Raven's cloak. Raven broke off a piece of her telekinetic powers and reached through the ceiling of the tower, forming a hand with the black energy. Starfire followed her action by blasting Mammoth out of the room.

Raven grabbed Jinx and yanked her out of the room to the roof, where she knelt on her hands and knees and groaned. Gizmo was still being taken for a wild ride, courtesy of Cyborg as revenge, and screamed as he twisted and turned. Suddenly he was jerked into a different direction and he went straight towards Jinx. She gasped and her eyes widened as Gizmo plowed straight into her, knocking her down, stopping his ride. Starfire had managed to blow Mammoth all the way to the top floor, and he fell backwards next to his other two team members.

"Sorry to interrupt your victory celebration," Robin smirked, catching his utility belt and buckling it around his waist. "But like I said, this isn't over." He frowned, crossing his arms.

"It's just gettin' started," Cyborg finished, twisting in his right arm, which had flown to him once it had released Gizmo. Raven followed after them, feet spread apart and fists held at either side of her body. Starfire flew down beside her and floated a few feet off of the ground. Beast Boy landed on all fours and prepared an animal-like fighting pose.

The H.I.V.E. students brushed themselves off and smirked back that the titans. "Attack pattern alpha!" Jinx commanded, and the other two followed her lead. "Ha!" she cried, thrusting a wave of bad luck towards the titans, who jumped easily out of the way. Beast Boy looked up and squeaked when he saw Mammoth pound his fist down on the spot he had been in less than half a second ago. Beast Boy would have been mulch if he hadn't jumped back and morphed into a crow.

Jinx vaulted off of Cyborg's left shoulder and twisted in mid-air, crossing her arms and sending out her pink rays at him. The tanks around him were hit and came crashing down around him as he danced out of the way. Starfire came to his rescue and shot star bolts at the pink-haired girl, who cart-wheeled out of the way nimbly. She ducked through an opening in the walls the H.I.V.E. had built around the tower and Starfire pursed her.

Cyborg turned to watch if she would come back out when Gizmo attacked him from behind. "Hey robo-wimp. Feel like gettin' hacked?" he asked, producing an electric device as he piggy-backed Cyborg.

"Nope. How 'bout you?" He answered politely. "Robin! Now!"

On cue, Robin tossed one of his many devices, which clung to the boy genius' backpack. It crackled before electrifying his entire system, shocking him so that he cried out in pain. He fell off of Cyborg and started running in circles, his short arms unable to reach the part of his pack the device was on. "Ah! You're gunna crash my whole system!" He whined, stretching his arms. "Get it offa' me! Get it off me!" Just as he screamed the last plea, his backpack transformed into a rocket without his knowledge, sending him flying into the night, leaving only a puff of smoke and the echo of his screams behind him.

Starfire was still chasing Jinx when she leaped underneath the beam Beast Boy was resting on. Starfire stopped and cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling, "Beast Boy! Go!"

Beast Boy gave her the 'okay' sign and jumped down onto Jinx. He flipped in the air, showing off in case Raven or anybody was still watching him, and morphed into a screeching monkey. He chattered happily as he clamped onto Jinx's face, and she screamed in surprise. After all, it wasn't every day that a green monkey attacked your face. Helplessly, she began shooting random waves of bad luck at the unfinished part of the tower before she finally managed to rip Beast boy off of her head. She chucked him away from her with all of her strength and he turned back into a grinning teenage boy again before he hit the floor.

"Your luck just ran out!" he told her once he touched down. Ha! Robin wasn't the only one who could think up cool comments on the spot!

Before the entire building could cave in, he ran from the scene and flew away as a bird. Jinx made a confused sound before it finally hit her. It came to her slowly but she understood what was going on once the first of the pipes exploded. Plain and simple bad luck. Support beam began to come falling down, the entire section collapsing around her.

Talk about backfiring.

In the meantime, Mammoth charged at Raven and swung his fist. Almost too quickly, Raven floated up and out of his reach before he could catch her. She came down again, but Cyborg rammed his shoulder into Mammoth before he could recover. He flew backwards and groaned. As the giant, orange-haired teen started to pick himself up, Beast Boy decided to have some fun. He morphed into a dinosaur and lowered his head next to Mammoth's face. The he roared deafeningly, and Mammoth tossed his hands up and let loose a shrill scream. If dinosaurs could smile, Beast Boy would be smirking directly at him. Mammoth fled from him in the opposite direction and straight towards Starfire.

Starfire spread her arms apart in the air as she let out as much Tamaranian energy she had built up. Her hands and eyes shone bright green as she screamed with effort. Then she used all of her effort to throw the star bolt at Mammoth, who spun in the air before Robin kicked him squarely in the chest. He fell on top of his other two teammates, who were pinned to the ground under his weight. "Crud, I'm callin' Slade," Gizmo grunted, pulling out a small communicator. Robin grabbed him by his collar and brought his face close to Gizmo's.

"Who is Slade?" he asked menacingly.

"Wouldn't you like to know, barf-brain?" Gizmo teased. Robin tried questioning him further but the pipsqueak wouldn't speak another word, but instead chose to smirk at him with known superiority, even as the police came by and shoved them into the squad car.

"Who do you think was telling them what to do?" Robin asked the other titans.

"I don't know, man, but we better clean up this mess," Beast Boy said, looking around at the H shaped home.

What kind of freaks lived in a giant H?

---

"NO!" Beast Boy screamed at the top of his lungs. "This is the worst thing that could ever happen!" He confirmed, over-dramatizing everything, as usual. He had his hands on his head as he stared at the CD shelf in wonder. The titans were looking through the tower to see what the H.I.V.E had done while they had been out. Robin was behind the couch and Cyborg was searching for something worriedly.

"My tunes! They've been…" he shuddered, "alphabetized." He bit his lip and began the difficult task or re-disorganizing his CD's. What kind of monster alphabetized things? "How am I ever going to find anything?" He asked himself in disbelief, flinging CD's behind him. Raven came from upstairs at the same time with two identical cloaks in her hands, both blue.

"They went into my room," she announced seriously. "No one should ever go into my room." She said it in a tone that made Beast Boy certain that he would never think of going in her room ever if he wanted to stay alive.

Starfire gasped as she whipped her head out of the refrigerator. "Someone has disposed of all of our blue furry food."

Cyborg laid down on his stomach, picking up the edge of the couch. "You gotta be kidding me!" He cried. "The whole place gets cleaned and I still can't find the---"

Robin whistled and pointed down at the coffee table---which Beast Boy didn't know why they had because none of them drank coffee---at the mystical object that had been lost so long ago. Cyborg laughed and let go of the couch. Robin picked it up and started to aimlessly flick through channels as Cyborg took his seat next to him. Starfire went to stand beside the couch and Beast Boy crouched in front of them.

"I guess…we really aughta be trainin' for battles, trackin' down clues, and tryin' to figure out who Slade is, huh?" Cyborg sighed. Robin smiled.

"We will," Robin said surely. "But right now I'm just glad to be a part of the team."

The team started to watch television and argued over what station to stay on while Raven left to go to her room. Television was just a waste of time that killed brain cells and made you think like Beast Boy, or some at least some brain dead monkey. Beast Boy…

Raven picked up the pace of her walking cycle until she was safely behind the closed door of her room. The dark lighting, the strange statues, the rows of books; it was all so welcoming to her. But right now she didn't have time to admire her room---right now she had to find out what was wrong with her. If the electric feeling was because of her powers, then something horrible might happen if she didn't get it under control. She decided to start with a book of her home dimension, Azar.

She pulled a very old, very thick book from her shelf, blowing off the dust from the spine. In bold Azarathian it read "The Book of Azar: Volumes 1-10". Raven searched through the book well into the night, flipping through pages that meant nothing to her.

When she found what she was looking for she suppressed the urge to scream.

This isn't possible….

---

Ooh, cliff-hanger~ You have no idea what I have in store for these two little lovers! I apologize for some repeated words, this was completed sometime around midnight. I might fix it later on, but not tonight. If you want to know what's going to happen next, then review, because you won't find out until then!