Hey, everybody! I guess it's time to move on to the next chapter, don't you think? Then let's begin.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans. I own Nia, and anything related to her that could fall into my possession.

Chapter 10: BeastBoy's Mission.

Raven awoke before BeastBoy did, noticing the tight embrace they were locked in. Although she wished that she could stay in the position longer, she knew that if BeastBoy woke up soon, to find her wearing cat ears and a tail, clutching him as tightly as he was clutching her, she would surely have to answer many awkward questions, and she would like to avoid a scenario like that.

So, as gently and quietly as she could, she released BeastBoy, and slowly slid from his grasp as well. She got up from his bed, gave him one last glance, and quietly headed out of his room.

As she did, BeastBoy's eyes fluttered open. He was still groggy, and his vision was blurry, but he was almost sure he saw what seemed like the shape of a cat tail vanishing out his door. He thought his mind must be playing tricks on him or something. Slowly and wearily, he got up from the bed. His body was barely obeying what his mind told him to do. He was not only physically exhausted, but mentally spent as well. The fact that he could not find Nia no matter how hard he searched was taxing heavily on him.

Dragging his body slightly, he started to head to the common room, not entirely sure if he was up to talking to the rest of the Titans.

Once he got in there, he found all of them huddled around the computer screen, muttering to each other.

"Hey..." BeastBoy said dully. Upon hearing his voice, the rest of the Titans turned to him.

"Hey, B. You don't look too good." Cyborg observed.

"Indeed. Are you not feeling well?" Starfire enquired.

"I just spent the entire day yesterday searching for Nia, and nothing else, and couldn't find her. What do you think?" BeastBoy said curtly, more than he intended to be.

"BeastBoy..." Raven started to say, but at that moment, the computer screen began flashing, emitting a low beep every time it flashed. Robin returned to typing at the computer, and BeastBoy watched the screen listlessly. It looked like a map of some sort, with a flashing red dot on one area.

"Well, here's something that'll make you feel better." Robin said, not turning to face him.

"Oh, yeah?" BeastBoy said skeptically. "What?"

"We found her."

It took several seconds for those three words to sink in to BeastBoy's muddled mind, but when they finally did, the Titans were rewarded with the treat of watching BeastBoy's face slowly turn from one of hopelessness and despair, to joy, relief, shock, and hope, all bundled into one expression.

"Seriously?" BeastBoy said in disbelief. "How?"

"We took some DNA we found of her in your room, and ran a full scale city wide scan against her DNA. With Cyborg's tech helping it, there was no way we weren't going to find her, if she was anywhere in the city." Robin said.

"As if there was any doubt." Cyborg said proudly.

"Are you not joyous, friend BeastBoy? Now we can rescue friend Nia!" Starfire exclaimed happily.

By this point, however, BeastBoy was already marching out the door, leaving the Titans behind. Raven followed quickly, but the other Titans were a little slower to react.

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As BeastBoy was about to run right out of the door, Raven caught up to him.

"BeastBoy, wait." she said.

"I can't, Raven." he replied. "Nia's out there, and I've got to find her. She told me she loves me. I can't just leave her." he said seriously.

At this point, Raven looked down, and her expression couldn't be seen. "You're really determined to find her, aren't you?" she said.

"Well...I do...care about her, after all."

"I see..." Raven said. Suddenly, she found herself grabbing BeastBoy's arm, pulling him to her, and placing her lips against his, sealing the kiss she had secretly longed to have for so long. After a few seconds, she broke them apart.

"Raven...you..." BeastBoy started.

"You're a little blinded by your determination, BeastBoy." Raven said, turning away. "You don't know what these people might have waiting, so at least wait for the rest of the Titans to arrive. Let us help you, okay?" she said, seemingly not acknowledging what she had just done.

"Okay..."

"And..." Raven continued, but the next words she spoke were almost a whisper. "I won't give up on you...I won't lose..."

At that point, the other Titans had finally arrived.

"Let's go, BeastBoy." Robin said.

"Right!"

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As it turned out, the location of Nia's DNA signature was somewhere inside a building that had been abandoned for some time. Or at least, that was the official statement. Apparently, it had been in use despite that decree. When all the Titans arrived there, the area around it was empty, and it seemed like it would be an easy walk inside.

"Come on. Let's go." BeastBoy said, not wanting to waste time. As such, he started walking ahead, and Raven followed him, as did Starfire. However, Cyborg and Robin stayed behind. "What's wrong?" BeastBoy asked. "We can't waste time!"

"Something's not right..." Robin said.

"Yeah. Where's the security?" Cyborg asked.

"Don't worry about it." BeastBoy said. "We've just taken them by surprise, that's all."

"Somehow, I don't think that's the case." Robin said.

To drive that point home, several puffs of smoke appeared around Cyborg and Robin, and several forms descended from the roof of the building. As the smoke cleared, Robin and Cyborg were surrounded.

"Ninjas!? Of all things, ninjas?" BeastBoy exclaimed, wondering about what kind of predicament Robin and Cyborg were in.

"Don't worry about us!" Robin said, pulling out his staff even as he delivered a spinning kick to one of the ninjas.

"Yeah! Just go find Nia!" Cyborg said, launching a missile from his shoe at another ninja.

BeastBoy, Starfire, and Raven all looked at each other, looked back at the battle scene, and hurried inside the building before they could be targeted next.

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Once inside, the three remaining Titans were greeted by a large room filled with random debris and junk. Empty boxes, overturned tables, and other similar articles littered the area. Wasting no time, BeastBoy ran forward, seeing another door at the other end, which nearly left Starfire and Raven in the dust behind him. Still, they followed him some distance behind him.

As they ran, from out of nowhere, a huge buster sword came from above and embedded itself into the ground in front of Starfire and Raven, causing them to stop dead in their tracks. From above, the same sword weilder from before came down, ripped his sword from the ground, and swung it in a wide arc from side to side, forcing Raven and Starfire to leap backwards. As they did, one of the overturned tables came flying at them, and Starfire downed it with a starbolt. The martial artist had thrown it at them. Even as this fact dawned on them, not unsuspectedly, a bolt of lightning fired at them, and Raven had to shield them both from the attack from the robotic walking suit.

"Rae! Star!" BeastBoy called out.

"This is nothing!" Raven said. "We'll be fine!"

"Yes! You must concentrate on rescuing friend Nia!" Starfire said, floating into the air.

BeastBoy felt bad, but he knew he had to do what they said. He was especially concerned for Raven, who had caused old and new feelings to surface within him.

"Be safe, you two. Especially you, Raven." he said, before running through the door, which led to a downward staircase.

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Finally, BeastBoy arrived at the end of the staircase. He emerged in a dank room that had a very dungeon like feel to it, but was also littered with machinery, some of it covered by sheets. Inside, however, was something he did not want to see.

The man who had spoke to him before, trying to get Nia by coercion was standing over her, while she was unclothed, holding what looked like a whip in his hands. BeastBoy wasn't sure if Nia was injured or not, but he knew he wasn't going to be forgiving this man any time soon.

"What the hell are you doing!?" he shouted, surprising even himself with his cursing.

The man turned, his eyes still covered by shades, and gazed at BeastBoy.

"Hmph. How disappointing. All my fun is cut short now. Oh, well. I'll just dispose of you know, then." the man said, dropping the whip, and going over to two cages, inside of which where two vicious and hungry dogs. Nia screamed in terror as the man unfastened the latches on the cages, and the cage doors went flying open, as the dogs charged at Nia.

BeastBoy wasted no time at all. He quickly ran in front of Nia, transformed into the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, and issued a roar so loud and forceful that the dogs were actually blown back slighty by the sound of it. The roar continued for several seconds, and when BeastBoy finished, both dogs whimpered and yelped as they actually retreated back into their cages, grabbed the open doors with their jaws, and shut themselves back inside, cowering.

BeastBoy, paying no attention to the man, grabbed a white sheet he saw laying on the ground, picked it up, and draped it around Nia.

"Here. Cover yourself up." he said gently, and Nia clutched the sheet tightly. As BeastBoy stood up straighter, he suddenly found a fist in his gut, causing him to double over. The man had got to him with blinding speed, and then elbowed him in the back, knocking him away.

"Looks like I can't finish you myself." the man said to Nia. "So I'll just send out my original plan to take care of you." he said, picking her up from behind. Apparently, Nia wasn't able to struggle agains the man, as he tossed her through another sliding metal door, which quickly slammed shut after she was inside.

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Nia landed inside the room, which was kept dark for several minutes, until finally, some light began coming on, and she could see inside the room.

It was the same design as the last room, with a very dungeon like feel to it, but this room wasn't cluttered with machines. In fact, it was hardly cluttered at all. It was completely empty, save for one thing.

Or one person, to be exact. On the other end of the room, was a woman, staring at Nia. Her eyes were a dark green color. Her body was lithe and firm, like a someone who had trained for a long time. Her hair was a gray color, but not the white gray color of aged hair, but an actual beautiful gray, almost silverish color, the kind that some cat breeds are born with, and that hair stretched to her shoulders. She wore a tight clinging suit, that looked somewhat like a uniform, perhaps for battle. But that wasn't the most striking feature...

A tail. And dog ears. No...wolf ears, the same color as her hair.

"Another one?" Nia said. "Who are you?"

The woman spoke in a clear, firm tone. "I am known as Luna. I have been designated the task of eliminating you. And I always carry out my tasks."

And before Nia could protest, Luna had begun charging at her...

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"Now, to deal with this stubborn thorn in my side..." the man said, turning to BeastBoy, who was getting up off the ground.

"Why...Why are you doing this?" BeastBoy demanded.

"Simple. That creature is more of a bane to my existence than you know."

"What are you talking about?"

"If my father had not concentrated so hard on creating her...bringing her back...he'd still be alive..." the man said, clenching his fists.

"Your father? What do you mean?"

"...But he always insisted. He wanted to 'bring the family back together.' And look where it got him. If only he weren't so obsessed!"

"Family...back together?" BeastBoy said, starting to get a bad sense of where this was leading. "You mean..."

"That's right!" the man yelled, taking off his sunglasses. BeastBoy stared at the man's eyes. They were a deep shade of blue. The same shade as Nia. "That...thing is supposed to be my sister!" the man yelled, crushing his sunglasses in his fist.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

WHAT!? Stay tuned, peoples! Because, next chapter, Nia's past is finally revealed, going back to the deceased man from the first chapter. And what of this new adversary, Luna? And let's not forget about how Raven has...less than subtlely revealed her feelings for BB! What will happen? You'll have to keep reading to find out!

By the way, I thank those of you for kind words of support and advice. It really helps when you have readers that care. That's why I try to make each chapter the best I can.

Anyway, don't forget to leave me some good reviews! See you next chapter!