A/N: It's been awhile, but the holidays are over, and I can actually sit down for an extended period of time to write again. Thank you all for being patient and thanks TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne, JasonVUK, lunar silver, and kaitlynchosenisme for reviewing the previous mini-chapter! Let's hope Garfield and The Beast don't destroy each other before Raven finds them!

(Scene Break)********************

The skin drew tight around the stray dog's torso, partially showing its ribs, it scoured Jump City Central Park under the light provided by a full moon, trying to find some scraps that the humans sometimes drop. Its nose kept close to the ground, attempting to pick up the scent of food. Eventually it succeeded and it followed its nose to an empty park bench where someone careless had tossed a half-eaten chicken sandwich into a nearby bush. The stray dog's mouth began to salivate as it poked its head into the bush, ready to close its jaws around the tasty morsel. However, its ears picked up the sound of the wind above it being stirred and its primal instinct was that it wasn't anything natural.

Under normal circumstances it would have fled, but the dog had gone days without food, if it didn't get nourishment soon, it would no longer be strong enough to hunt. It turned back around and caught sight of a cloak descending from the air. The dog bared its teeth at the girl wearing the cloak, it would not allow her to take its food.

Raven sighed as the stray dog continued to growl at her, another dead end, three days had passed since the battle at Murakami High School and she still hadn't found Beastboy. Once she had recovered and had reduced Robin and Starfire's injuries enough that they were no longer at risk of dying she had set out with fervor in an attempt to find him. However, no matter what trail she followed or which lead she got, it had all ended up as dead ends.

With another sigh, the cloaked Titan turned and walked away from the stray dog, letting it have its much-needed meal. She had gone about twenty paces when an unexpected voice spoke to her.

"So you're here too." Raven heard someone familiar say, lost in thought, it took her a moment to look up and recognize the brown-haired girl, in a white shirt and jeans, looking her straight in the eye was Stacy Rehnquist, Beastboy's childhood friend. An awkward silence settled between the two.

"What are you doing out here?" Raven asked in her monotone, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at Stacy, but the gamer girl didn't budge.

"Same thing you are apparently." Stacy jabbed a finger in the dark girl's direction. "You're looking for him."

"Obviously." Raven stated sarcastically, "But that doesn't explain why you're here. I helped you with your leg, that doesn't mean you should be walking on it so soon."

It was Stacy's turn to glare. "You and him might be a thing now Raven, but he is still my best friend and I don't give two damn cents what you or anyone else thinks of me, I'm looking for him."

Raven found herself surprised by the petite girl's fire. She could tell by the look in Stacy's eyes that she was not going to give up the search and the dark Titan found she admired that. It was no wonder that she and Gar were best friends.

The violet-haired girl's face betrayed none of her thoughts as she rolled her eyes. "Okay fine, no need to get testy." She began to levitate into the air, "Good luck with your search."

"Wait!" Stacy held out her hand, looking suddenly unsure of herself.

"What is it now?" Raven let some irritation leak into her voice, she had newfound respect for the girl, it didn't mean that she liked her.

"I think I know where to look." The petite girl revealed.

"Really?" The sorceress raised a skeptical violet eyebrow, "And you're not looking there now because…?"

"It's in the woods to the southwest." Stacy's eyes were downcast and Raven noted she looked embarrassed. "You know the one with the wild animals." She risked a glance up at the cloaked superheroine. "The wild and DANGEROUS animals."

Raven understood, she vaguely remembered hearing news reports of people recently being attacked by wolves and even a grizzly bear a few times in those woods. For an ordinary person, it was too dangerous to look alone, but for a Titan…

"Alright, I'll check it out." The sorceress said, she rose another foot when again Stacy interrupted her.

"Take me with you." The gamer girl pleaded.

Raven scowled down at her, "Sorry, I'm not in the habit of deliberately putting civilians in harm's way."

"Come on, you've faced people that build giant killer robots, move the earth, and shoot fire out of their mouth. It shouldn't be hard to protect little ol' me from some stupid stray wolf while we're there searching for Garfield. Right?" Stacy folded her arms across her chest and glared up at Raven.

The grey-skinned sorceress let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine, but you stay close to me and do exactly what I say, got it?"

The petite brown-haired girl nodded, "I got it, don't worry." Raven lowered herself back down until she was a foot off the ground and conjured one of her black discs underneath her feet.

"Hop on." The dark girl ordered, Stacy complied, a wide smile on her face as they took back off into the air.

"Sweet!" The young Rehnquist girl exclaimed, "You could totally start your own taxi service with this!"

Raven's expression immediately soured, "This is not…a taxi." She said through gritted teeth, seeing her expression, Stacy quickly waved her hands in a placating gesture.

"Alright fine, it's not a taxi." The gamer girl relented, the pair continued to fly towards their destination for a few silent moments before Stacy opened her mouth again, her lips curled upward in a playful smile. "Raven's black disc taxi service, come on you have to admit that would make you some big bucks!"

"Please stop talking…"

(Scene Break)********************

The hospital room was eerily silent as Cyborg looked over the patient, a young woman he was familiar with. Terra Markov's form lay still as his sensors scanned her body. Behind him a middle-aged doctor and a young nurse with short-blonde hair waited for him to finish. The former Titan had suffered quite a bit of damage both internally and externally, currently she was in a coma and he was seeing if they would have to amputate her left leg.

The bionic stared at the screen on his left forearm as it neared the completion of its scan, soon he would know the answer. Of course if it came down to amputation, he was fully ready to offer the use of his tech to get her a cybernetic leg. By all accounts Terra was a normal girl now and it was unfair that she suddenly had her normal life ripped away from her without warning.

The scan completed and Cyborg looked at the results, the limb was savable, but he would have to do some hands-on surgery, something he was not looking forward to.

"Get her prepped for surgery I can save her leg." The bionic Titan told the two other occupants in the room.

"I hate to disagree with you Cyborg, but the damage to the left leg is…" The doctor started.

"I said I can save her leg." The metallic superhero reiterated, putting a little more steel into his voice.

The doctor shook his head, "I'm sorry but I can't allow you to…"

"It's alright doctor." A new voice said, a voice Cyborg had heard before, but couldn't put his finger on. "I trust our bionic friend here will do his best to ensure the surgery will be a success."

By this time Cyborg had turned around to face the room's exit, where the newcomer was currently standing, his human eye widened, standing in front of him was none other than Brion Markov. The man who had almost single-handedly taken the Titans out in one quick swoop, and Terra's older brother. Cyborg quickly noticed that Brion was wearing quite the expensive suit, his brown hair neatly combed and his green eyes flashing with intensity. He fixed his gaze on Cyborg and smirked.

"Isn't that right Cyborg?" Brion asked in a deceptively pleasant tone.

A strong feeling of dread gripped the bionic Titan's heart, there was something wrong here, but he couldn't figure it out. There was nothing left to do now, but go through with the surgery.

(Scene Break)********************

As soon as they reached their destination, Raven stopped her disc and stretched her senses out, feeling for anything out of the ordinary. She could sense the local wildlife and what seemed to be a pair of hikers, but nothing unusual.

"Um, why are you just standing there? Shouldn't we head down?" Stacy suggested.

"Quiet." Raven replied sharply.

"Don't tell me to be quiet! We're wasting time here when we can be down there searching!" Stacy exclaimed.

"I am searching." Raven said. "Using senses that you don't have."

"Well you could have said so." Stacy huffed.

Raven was about to respond when she felt it, there was something strange about 300 meters to her right. Immediately she took off in that direction, causing Stacy to almost lose her balance.

"Hey! How about a little warning next time!"

"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?"

"You did, but that doesn't mean I have to listen!"

Raven rolled her eyes, lowering the disc towards where she felt the strange presence, she found herself staring into the mouth of a cave, dug into the side of a hill. When they were at a safe enough altitude, she dismissed the disc, landing gracefully on her feet. Stacy, unprepared for the disc's sudden disappearance, fell hard onto her backside.

"Oww, you did that on purpose!"

"Gar's told me you're tough, I'm sure you'll live." Raven responded nonchalantly, making her way into the cave.

It was dark and Raven was having a hard time trying to see, mentally she cursed herself for not bringing a flashlight, her powers could do many things, but they could not generate light. She did not want to walk blindly in the dark, especially if this was Garfield and the Beast was still in control. She would be at a severe disadvantage. A beam of light suddenly shined in from behind her and Raven turned her head to see Stacy behind her, a flashlight in her hand.

"I set out tonight completely prepared." Stacy said, raising an eyebrow, "Don't tell me the great superhero forgot to bring a mere flashlight."

Raven's eyes narrowed at the petite girl, "Well since you're so prepared, you can take point."

"What? Why me?"

"I'm not the one with the flashlight." Raven's lips twisted into an evil smirk, "Besides I'll be right behind you, if anything happens I can throw up a barrier. Not too scary for you right?"

Stacy growled in frustration as she stepped past Raven to take the lead, "You know the sad thing is: I know you're baiting me."

The girls continued down the dark natural tunnel, which was just wide enough for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder. Stacy kept the light shining ahead while Raven kept her eyes and other senses open for anything hostile. So far things were quiet, they went another twenty paces when the tunnel took a slight turn to the left. As they rounded the corner they heard the sound of someone groaning in pain. Excitement and hope raced through them as they hurried towards the source of the groaning. Their excitement quickly turned to disappointment when they saw the injured person, a man, with normal-colored skin. There was a nasty gash on his forehead from where a loose rock from the cavern's ceiling dropped on his head.

"Well we can't just leave him here." Raven said with a sigh, using her powers to levitate the injured man as she turned to head back the way they'd come. Stacy cast one last look down the tunnel, hoping beyond hope that she would see any sign of Garfield, but her hope was not rewarded. Her shoulders sagged as she turned and followed the dark Titan.

(Scene Break)********************

By the time Raven entered Jump City General Hospital, the sun was beginning to creep above the horizon and she was bone tired. The days of endless searching were starting to take their toll on her. After she had taken the injured man to the closest hospital, the dark girl dropped Stacy off at her house, the petite girl didn't look any happier than she did, all their efforts at finding Beastboy had been in vain. Right now she wanted nothing more than to head to her room in Titan's Tower and just pass out, but Cyborg had contacted her and asked her to meet him here. Raven noticed that her bionic friend's face looked rather grim on the communicator's tiny screen, something must have happened to one of the injured civilians. She only hoped that he wasn't expecting her to perform miracles, she could reduce the injuries of maybe a handful of the most seriously injured at the moment, any more and she would be bedridden for days, something she couldn't afford if she was going to find Garfield.

Raven opened the door to the room Cyborg said he'd be in, the first thing she saw was him sitting in a chair next to a gurney, a serious look on his face. The second thing was the gurney's occupant, Terra. She tensed for a moment and then relaxed, it seemed that old habits died hard.

"There you are." Cyborg said, getting up from his chair.

"Took me a little longer than expected, was following a lead pretty far out when I got your message." Raven told her bionic friend, she glanced over at the unconscious Terra. "She going to be okay?"

"She almost lost her leg, but I was able to perform surgery and fix it." Cyborg informed her, "But that's not the reason I called you, I need you to smuggle Terra out of here."

Raven raised a violet eyebrow. "Mind telling me why you want to do that?"

Cyborg frowned, he wasn't sure how Raven would react if he told her that Brion had returned. The girl held grudges, especially against those who seriously hurt Beastboy, and Brion was at the top of that list. "I'll tell you later I promise, just know that it's important. We need to get Terra out of here as soon as…"

The bionic Titan stopped mid-sentence as the door opened once more.

"I heard the good news Cyborg! What a fine job you've done!" A deep jubilant voice sounded, both Titans turned to face the newcomer, Cyborg winced, knowing what was to come was not going to be good.

Raven took one look at the newly arrived person, her eyes wide as saucers. She could never forget Brion Markov's face, how malicious it was as he brutalized Beastboy. Now there was a confident smirk on his face and he was dressed in an expensive business suit, those eyes though, those evil malicious eyes, were still the same. Raven was speechless as Brion fixed his gaze on her.

"And a surprise guest! It's good to see you Raven." He bowed respectfully to her. "Tell me." The male geomancer looked up, still in a bowing posture, the smirk he wore before had widened into a sinister smile. "How's Beastboy doing?"

And then it clicked for Raven, those golems that attacked Murakami High School, they were sent by him. He was the one who had killed and injured all those innocent teachers and students. He was the one responsible for Beastboy's desperate move which now had him missing in action.

"Bastard!" Raven shouted, a huge claw of dark energy grabbing Brion's torso and slamming him through the wall. The geomancer ended up crashing into the building across the street from the hospital, forming a human-sized indent in the wall near the top of it. Raven was about to fly out the opening she had made when something grabbed her right ankle.

"Wait!" Cyborg pleaded, she twisted in mid-air to fix her icy glare on him. He released her ankle, but matched her glare.

"Wait? This is the man who captured and tortured us! Who nearly killed Beastboy!" She shouted, eyes glowing red.

Cyborg didn't budge. "Escaping with Terra is our priority, Brion must want her back and I don't think that's a good thing. We need to get her out of here."

"He won't need her if he's dead!" Raven growled in an otherworldly voice.

"Brion won't be that easy to kill, you know that, and this isn't exactly the best battlefield to engage him in." Cyborg explained.

The dark girl blinked, her rage subsiding as her bionic friend's words sunk in. He was right, they were in a hospital and fighting Brion near here would be very unsafe for all the sick and injured patients inside, not to mention the innocent bystanders outside in the streets and the adjacent buildings. Besides she wasn't in the best shape for an extended battle anyway.

"Fine." She stated icily, encasing herself, Cyborg and the unconscious Terra in her dark energy. "You win." The energy molded itself into the shape of a raven and flew through the wall, phasing through it and reaching the open air outside.

Brion watched the giant raven go from his embedded spot in the wall, a smile crept up on his lips as he pushed himself off of the indent and leapt towards the retreating bird.

The chase was on.

(Scene Break)*********************

A/N: Sorry folks, can't have the reunion between Raven and Beastboy happen just yet. Got some suspense and drama to build up first!