[1]
Arsenal surveyed the dark grounds surrounding an unassuming hunting cabin in the thick of redwoods beneath the guise of a moonless sky. He was perched about 30 feet above the forest floor, where a small green field mouse scurried out from beneath a rotting door that poorly guarded the cabin against invasion.
Arsenal's eyes followed the field mouse as it quickly morphed into a small nighthawk and flew upwards to his bough.
"What's the word, Beastie?" Arsenal asked when the bird grew into Beast Boy. "Break-in?"
"Big-time," Beast Boy said as he pulled out his com, "Cy, you copy?"
"Go ahead," Cyborg's voice crackled through their earpieces.
"The latch to the corridor's smashed, but I spotted a possible operational sensor at the lab's entrance. Could be a microfluidic scanner, didn't want to trigger any alarms. Are you in the mainframe, yet?"
"Just about, hang tight."
"Remind me why we didn't bring the girl with the portals?" Arsenal mumbled as he gave his aiming arm a break.
"If Bumblebee's right about the DNA sensors," Beast Boy said, "a portal would do just as much damage as a mouse creeping through the walls."
"You were just scared of the bugs."
"I've been bugs, dude, not afraid of them."
"What's the grossest bug you've ever been?"
"Define gross."
"I shouldn't have to, gross is gross."
"Boys," Bumblebee's voice tolled in their ears, "trying to focus here. Starfire, you still there?"
"Erm, yers," Starfire's voice sounded as if she had something in her mouth.
"Can you read the terminal code from the Tower's panel?"
"Sorry, which code, the screen is full of them."
"The script that starts with 'authorize'" Cyborg instructed.
"Ah, X'hal," Starfire cursed under her breath.
"What is it?" Bumblebee asked.
"It is nothing," Kori said, "Cyborg, do we keep the old consoles up here?"
"There should be one in a bin by the door...what happened to my keyboard?"
"It is your keyboard?" Kori asked in a poor attempt at deflection. "It is very nice. Where did you find one so fancy? I very much like the touchpad on the sides."
"Starfire," Cyborg said impatiently, "what's going on?"
"Really, it is nothing. I may have gotten a little blood on it...but I will replace it, I promise!"
"Whose blood?! Why is there blood?" Bumblebee asked.
Starfire chuckled nervously, "Calm down, it is just mine. My wrist may have caught a window."
"What?" Arsenal smirked at Beast Boy. "How does one's wrist just 'catch a window'?"
"Raven?" Bumblebee asked, "did she lose control again?"
"Uhm, well, sort of, but also, not really. I pushed a little harder than I should have. But it is fine, Raven is fine, let us refocus."
"Oh yeah, that's why we didn't bring the girl with the portals," Arsenal whispered to Beast Boy.
The Changeling rolled his eyes away from his teammate and dropped to the branch below.
"It is running," Starfire said, "I can see the surveillance layouts, but the majority of systems are cut."
"You see all these scanners? Can you tell if they're operational?" Cyborg asked.
"Uh, yes, and how would one tell that, exactly?"
"They'll be color-coded," Bumblebee said, "either red or green for go, grayed out if they're disconnected."
"I see all sorts of colored tracks established at almost every corner," Starfire told them, "will I be able to turn them all off remotely?"
"That's the idea," Cyborg said.
"Can we hurry this up a bit?" Arsenal complained. "It's getting kind of nippy up here for the lookout."
"I told you to wear a layer under your vest," Bumblebee murmured.
"I'm just saying, considering the kryptonian staff is already missing, why are we dilly-dallying around the crime scene?"
"Chill out, Arsenal," Cyborg said, "once we get these scanners down we'll be in and out."
"They called us to check it out, so what if we trigger their scanners?"
"STAR Labs is known to use chemical defenses against nonpersonnel in these kinds of underground, remote locations to make up for lack of security," Bumblebee explained. "We don't know if the intruders fatally tampered with them on their way out. Better safe than sorry. Besides, isn't this the kind of action you were hoping for?"
"Playing lookout on an empty stomach surrounded by freezing fog in the middle of the Redwoods? Nah, this isn't what I meant."
"No one told you to nap through dinner."
"Okay, Titans, focus," Cyborg called, "Starfire, do you see a terminal to enter a command line?"
"Uhm...what?"
"This is why you should have stayed," Bumblebee whispered, believing that she wasn't audible, "but no, leave the code hacking to the alien. Being from space should be enough, right?"
"She wanted to stay back with Raven," Cyborg grumbled.
"And I told you we should have done this work before we suited up."
"How was I supposed to know there would be so many scanners?"
"Because I told you there would be?"
"Mom, Dad?" Beast Boy chimed in, "Can we keep the bickering in the bedroom, please?"
"Oh, that's rich coming from you, Garfield," Bumblebee scoffed.
"Friends, please," Starfire interjected. "The more time you spend arguing, the longer this will take. We need to tighten up."
"She's right," Cyborg said. "Listen, it looks like we're going to have to take down the scanners on the ground. Beast Boy and Bumblebee, go manually dismantle them, Arsenal and I will follow. Star, you keep an eye out for triggered detergents and alarms."
"Yeah, copy that," Beast Boy echoed with the rest of the team before leaping from his perch. He shifted back into a field mouse just before landing lightly on the forest floor.
[2]
Hovering with crossed legs in the middle of the Titan's training dome, Raven accomplished a renewed equanimity within her mind. She could feel power pulsate in her fingertips before receding at her will, and she practiced this a few times before opening her eyes onto her jagged reflection in the broken window.
With a sharp exhale, her feet found the mat, walked over towards the large casement, and held her arms outward. As a band of black energy slowly encircled Raven's hands, her glowing eyes scanned the fragmented glass across the ground. In unison, the shards lifted from the floor and gathered open frame, their fusion leaving behind a series of dark scratches.
Kori reemerged in the Titanium as Raven's eyes returned to clear, lilac irises.
"It could almost be brand new," Kori tried to ignore the number of scratches across the window. "They are on their way back."
"Vic is going to kill me," Raven grumbled as she eyed the mirrored wall behind them that was also abraded with dark lines.
"It is just a window," Kori assured her, resting her hands on Raven's shoulders, "a poorly placed one if you ask me."
Raven felt the tickle of Kori's gauze fabric against her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" She turned and held Kori's bandaged wrist. When she discerned the bloodstains, it took about every fiber of her being to not grow angrier with herself.
"Yes, I am fine. It was only a small piece that got stuck, but it looks much worse than it is, really. You are aware of how much more I bleed."
Raven went to untie the bandage, but Kori stopped her.
"It is so small, it will heal in no time. Save your energy for the next round."
"Next round?" Raven chuckled, "I just threw you against the wall, and you want to go again?"
"Very much so, I do," Kori smiled and stretched out her arms once more, "we told Vic you would get this combo down. And you are so close."
With a sigh, Raven nodded and readjusted her hand wraps before mimicking Kori's stretches.
"Remember, no powers," Kori said as she slipped the curved mitts onto her hands. "Just your body."
"Yeah, we'll see," Raven scoffed and pulled on her padded fingerless training gloves. The girls exchanged quick smirks before Raven charged at Kori as the alien yelled out a series of maneuvers.
Three series of combinations later, Raven fell to the mat with exhaustion after a botched jumping double roundhouse.
"Much better! Higher next time, yes?" Kori encouraged as Raven remained on her back, panting heavily. "What? Are you tired or something?"
Raven exhaled sharply through a visible cramp in her abdomen to give Kori the finger.
With amusement, Kori instructed her to rest against the wall with her arms above her head. Raven was about to call the session before Victor's voice cut through the Tower's PA system.
"We're back. Debrief in thirty."
"Oh, thank Azar," Raven winced as she crossed the gym, clutching her side.
"You did great, Raven!"
"Thanks," she wheezed after picking up her hoodie.
She stepped into her joggers and pulled them over her boyshorts, threw her hoodie over her damp shoulder, and looked back at the newly mended window.
"Any chance he won't notice?"
Koriand'r shrugged, "Not at first, maybe."
Raven groaned as the elevator doors closed.
It was the third time she lost control during combat training this week, and it has taken great lengths of mediation to keep her from spiraling. Even if the team played it down, as Kori seemed determined to do, they didn't exactly fight her on sitting out on tonight's mission.
Raven glowered and outstretched her hand, "Give me your arm."
This time Kori obliged and let Raven carefully peel the bandage from the moist wound. It was a small cut, but that didn't ease the strain between Raven's brows. She quickly repaired the torn flesh along Kori's wrist, and the alien hardly winced. Raven knew Kori masked the pain for her benefit.
She seemed determined to help Raven feel less concerned that her emotive powers flared too often as of late. From downplaying being thrown into a window to needlessly staying behind from tonight's mission to give Raven the company she needed but wouldn't ask for. In this recognition, Raven pulled Kori into a brief and silent hug.
When the elevator brought them to Raven's floor, the doors opened onto a fully suited Beast Boy holding a piece of pizza in one hand and a Gatorade in the other.
Within the tense moment they regarded each other, Raven mused how much she preferred the newest rendition of his suit. The change from red to white fabric suited him, maybe because it reminded her less of Christmas. She wouldn't say this to him now–well, especially now– as his cold indifference gestured for her to get out of the elevator.
Raven's eyes timidly fell onto the ground, but she took the Gatorade from his hand on the way out of the cab.
Garfield kept a stubborn frown as she made her way down the hall with the stolen drink, but the small dimples at the small of her back softened his glare.
Kori cleared her throat as the doors began to close, and Gar rolled his eyes before stepping inside.
He ate his cold, leftover pizza silently, ignoring Kori's complacent look.
"You should see the shorts she is wearing beneath those...fighting me in her underthings." Kori's smirk grew wider when his chewing abruptly paused. "You will eventually have to speak to her, Gar."
Garfield gave her a sharp look before he shoved a rude proportion of food into his mouth. As the cab reached her floor, Kori eyed him knowingly on her way out of the elevator, leaving him alone with his stubborn thoughts and pizza crust.