The man re-appeared in the Titans' Ops room. "GREETINGS TITANS!" he bellowed. "It is I, you're Archnemesis, CONTROL FREAK!" He looked around and saw four of the titans, but none of them even gave him a second look. "HELLO!" he shouted. "CONTROL FREAK IS HERE!" The titans ignored him. What gives? he asked himself. They don't even know I'm here! Don't I at least warrant an Intruder Alert?

He decided to see if he could get one of the Titan's attention. He snuck up behind Robin and Starfire, still making out. "GREETINGS, TITANS-" Robin cut him off by sticking up his free hand and waving him off. "Did-did you just give me the 'Move Along' sign?" Control Freak asked indignantly. Robin gave him a thumbs up, then waved him off again.

Pissed, Control Freak went to Cyborg. "GREETINGS, CYBORG! IT IS I-" "Nagh nowgh," the bionic titan said over a mouthful of ribs. "Mush eagh!" Really pissed now, Control Freak stomped over to Raven. "GREETINGS-AACK!" He looked down and saw a tendril of dark energy pinch his trachea closed, enough to prevent him from talking, but open enough so he could still breathe.

"Be quiet," a monotone voice said, "you'll wake him." Control Freak was confused. Then he saw her gesture at the cat that was sleeping happily on her lap. Raven released the villain wannabe, and resumed stroking the cat's head. He leaned in a little closer to get a better look at it. "I didn't know you guys got a cat!" he said. Raven rolled her eyes, then returned her attention to the purring ball of fur on her lap. Then, Control Freak noticed what color the cat was. "Hey," he said. "is that cat green?" Raven nodded and gave him the Duh! look.

"So, that's Beast Boy?" Again, Raven rolled her eyes. "So you're not completely stupid," she muttered. Excitement bubbled up within the fan boy. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!" he yelled. Raven's eyes narrowed. "Knew what?" she hissed. "I knew you two would end up like Robin and Star over there!" To help demonstrate his point, he pointed at the two titans that were currently slobbering over each other so much, they were starting to slip on the table.

Raven looked at the fat nerd. "Beast Boy and I aren't that close!" she shot back. "Just wait 'til my chat room buddies hear about this!" Control Freak exclaimed. Raven flicked her wrist, and a black talon appeared and pinned the fan boy to the wall. "You're not telling anyone!" she hissed, tightening her grip. "Oh yeah, watch this!" he said. He drew a deep breath, then shouted, "GUESS WHAT! BEAST BOY'S SLEEPING WITH RAVEN!"

That did the trick. Cyborg dropped his ribs on the floor and his mouth gaped open, causing its former contents of chewed up meat to join the ribs. Robin and Star broke away form each other and stared, mouths opened wide in awe. Raven could feel the other's eyes on her back. With her powers, she raised her hood and flushed a bright red. She looked down and saw that BB was still sound asleep, purring like mad. At least he didn't hear that! she thought.

She looked back at her captive. Her eyes began to glow red, and she said, "Now, I've had it!" She swung her hand back, then she thrust it forward. The talon matched her every move, and sent the screaming fan boy flying through the window.

**

Cyborg blinked, then thought, Well, I knew she'd throw someone out the window. Robin and Star continued to stare at her. Raven couldn't take it any more. "What?" she demanded. Robin was the first to come out of shock. "Are y-you two really…" "NO, WE ARE NOT!" Raven yelled. "Then, friend Raven," Star asked, "Why did the Freak of Control say that you were?"

Raven sighed. "Come over here and find out," she said. The three titans went to the front of Ops and found Raven sitting on the couch with BB in her lap. "AAWW!" Star cooed. "That's so CUTE!" Star was bouncing up and down at the sight. "Ya know, Raven," Cy said, "the little grass stain seems to like you." "No kidding," Robin added. "I can hear him purring from here."

Raven blushed a little. "Well," she said, "he's a lot less annoying as a cat." BB lifted his head as she scratched his chin. "Well, its good to see you two getting along," Robin said. "Yeah, I don't think the Tower can take much more of your fights!" Cy added. Raven was about to say something, when Control Freak re-appeared in front of them.

* *

"HA-HA!" he laughed. "GREETINGS, TITANS! It is I, you're number one arch foe, CONTROL FREAK!!!" The Titans groaned. "What do you want now?" Robin asked him. "Why Robin," the übernerd said. "I thought it was obvious!" He hit his remote, and a slide show appeared on the main display.

"About four months or so ago, I, CONTROL FREAK, infiltrated your Tower so that I could defeat you. I had created five very specific weapons to defeat each and every one of you, based on each of your weaknesses." He began to pace the room, with the slides showing how he built the weapons. "But, when I arrived, you weren't there. Instead, Titans East showed up."

The slide advanced, showing Control Freak rooting around the Tower, one showed him eating a drumstick. "IT WAS YOU!" Cyborg shouted. "YOU'RE THE WISE-GUY WHO ATE MY TURKEY! I WAS SAVING THAT FOR TURKEY DAY!!!" "Yipes!" Control Freak said, as Cyborg's metal fist connected with his left eye. He hit a button, and the titan was forced back on the couch. "I'M NOT FINISHED YET!" CF shouted.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Titans East showed up instead of you. I could not defeat them because my weapons didn't work on them. So, I, CONTROL FREAK, carefully designed separate challenges for each of them to test their unique abilities." He advanced to the slide, showing Más y Menos flashing back and forth across Jump City before speeding up the large bomb CF had put in the middle of the street.

"They completed the challenges, and proved themselves to be real Titans." The slide showed a straitjacketed and muzzled Control Freak, with a Titans East flag stuck between his arms. "But you five," PURRRPURRR "WAKE UP!!!!!!" BB woke up instantly and morphed back to human. He landed on Raven's lap and yelled "I'M UP! I'M UP!" Everyone, save Raven, cracked up hysterically. BB saw Raven's glare and got off of her as quickly as he could, not wanting to be sent flying through the window again.

CF had managed to calm himself down. "As I was saying, Titans," he continued, "you five have not yet faced the challenges like Titans East, therefore, how can you call yourselves Titans?" "Oh, it's on now, Tubby!" Cy yelled, his hand already forming into his sonic cannon. "Them's fighting words!"

He aimed and fired, but nothing happened. "What the?" he asked. He brought up his arm to look down the barrel. Then, CF hit his remote again, and the cannon fired straight into Cy's face. "HA-HA-HA!" "What do you want, Control Freak?" Robin demanded. "Simple, Titans," CF said. "I have come up with five dangerous challenges, one for each of you." He advanced the slide. "I have placed a bomb deep within the city's water system. It is set to detonate in 24 hours. It cannot be disarmed, Titans, so don't even try! However, if you meet me at the Arena, I will give you the challenges. After passing them, you need to hit a button at the end. It will then glow a certain color, red for Robin, orange for Starfire, green for Beast Boy, blue for Cyborg, and purple for Rae-Rae."

Raven fumed. She sent the fan boy a jolt of dark energy. "OW!" "My name is Raven," she said, "NOT RAE-RAE!" CF continued as if nothing had happened. "If you manage to light up all of the buttons, then the bomb will disarm itself, and then it will disintegrate." The slide showed chibi figures of the Titans hitting all of the buttons. Then, it showed the bomb's clock stopping and then falling apart. The chibi Titans cheered.

"But, if in the next twenty-four hours, you fail to hit all of the buttons, well," he said, pointing to the slide. The chibi Titans were back, but this time, chibi BB tripped and fell, not hitting the button. The super-deformed bomb reached zero, and a mushroom cloud enveloped the city. A chibi Control Freak popped out and beamed, giving two thumbs up. "FAREWELL, TITANS!" he said, turning off the slide show. "I'LL BE WAITING AT THE ARENA, IF YOU 'TITANS' AREN'T CHICKEN!"

"Dude!" BB said. "Why can't you be like normal fan boys and write fan-fics, or something!" Control Freak laughed maniacally, and then, with the press of the button, he vanished. The titans looked at Robin. "So now what?" Raven asked, deadpan. "We have no choice," said Robin. "We have to complete those challenges, it's the only way to save the city." "Then we'd better get going," Cyborg said. "We've only got one day, and I'll bet we're gonna need every minute of it."

Teen Titans Animated belongs to Glen Murakami, Sam Register, DC Comics, and Cartoon Network
Teen Titans created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez