Arc 2 – "Homecoming" – Chapter 11: The Danger's of Proximity

A/N: Hey guys! :D Long time!

I've settled into my place. Love the digs, love the landlord's doggo, and I'm slowly trying to feel myself again. Everything has been... nice? Sort of? It's been a little take and give on feeling good about anything. I'm gonna call it "Corona Blues" (trademark: SteinMon1920518 if it hasn't been trademarked yet). Even when I'm feeling good, everything in 2020 just feels like shit. Here's hope for 2021!

In other news, I had to take on a larger workload because some of my co-workers stopped showing up to work (for reasons I can't disclose), and I had to cover for their work and my work. So... been struggling with that on top of everything else.

Still, I got my place, I'm getting back into a rhythm. Hopefully, this winter will give me more time to work on my stuff (assuming of course, that I'm not hibernating)

Review Responses:

- Annonmymous: Alway glad to read that :)

- "Bob the Bobber": Indeed indeed. I'm pretty sure its a commonly stated phrase. Maybe? Maybe not? Either way.

Oh, that's what you meant! Sorry, was thinking you meant something else. Raven does mention when she meets him again that he seems to have grown taller (a couple inches instead of his measly inch). It's also mentioned (in last chapter I believe) that he notes that he's actually put on muscles (lithe muscles, but muscle none-the-less) and the uniform is fitted for him being scrawny (since all superhero costumes are surprisingly skin-tight). So he actually grew over the course of the four months, not instantaneously. Hope that clears things up.

- TomoMoon1: Don't worry. The suffering has only began to start. It'll get worse as the Sequences go on.

- Mr. Ursine: Unfortunately for the bear, the chef must gather the ingredients by hand, let them pickle, stew, marinate, dry, grind, and a plethora of other tasks before he mixes and bakes his chapter-cake.

- "Eris": Thank you. All good questions. All merit answers. All fall under the SPOILERS! clause. Whether or not his powers expand, I'll leave that up for you to find out if/when it happens ;)

Interesting fact: Amoeba's aren't actually bacteria, though they are found in every major lineage of eukaryotic organism. Some Amoeba actually live by consuming bacteria, and white blood cells are considered a type of Amoeboid. So no, Beast Boy isn't going to gain the ability to turn into an E. coli bacterium. From what I understand about how his powers work, that's not in his purview. However, turning into or controlling Amoeba's are theoretically within the capability of all those who have major access to the Template (basically the Green, the Red, the Grey, the Clear, etc. is known collectively as the Template)

*End of Responses

Disclaimer: Cha-ching! Cashing that disclaimer right hear.

Read and Review if you have Questions, Comments, or Concerns (affectionately QCC)

Without further ado. *Que the dimming of the lights*

Magicks that Bind: Arc 2 – "Homecoming"

Chapter 11: The Dangers of Proximity

Tower Med-Bay Four…

"Ah-hahahahaha!"

Raven facepalmed, trying to hide the red sprouting on her cheeks. She'd made a joke. A really stupid, tasteless, word-play-based, impulsive joke. And now she was paying for it. Azar, she was paying for it.

"Duuude! That was hilarious!" Beast Boy was rolling on the hard, smooth flooring, chortling his little guts out.

"It wasn't that funny." It really wasn't.

'Damnit Happy!' Rude shrieked, grabbing the lapels of the pink emoticlones cloak, and shaking her like a ragdoll. Her face had turned a bright reddish-pink, though whether from Rage or embarrassment, no one knew. 'I built up my reputation for years on proper sarcastic rebuttal. And in one fell swoop, you ruined EVERYTHING!'

'It wuh-uh-uh-uhz fun-n-n-ny,' she declared between shakes, smiling stupidly.

'Let me kill 'er! Pleeease let me kill 'er!' Rude begged, tears half-forming in her eyes. 'I'll never be able to properly mock Garfield ever again! My! Existence! Is! Ruined!'

Envy just snorted. 'Drama Queen.'

Rage just frowned at the scene, like she was missing the part why Rude was the one strangling Happy. Wasn't that supposed to be her job?

Raven meanwhile, tried to stave off the embarrassment that was radiating from her in droves as Beast Boy kept laughing. He was heaving heavy breaths as he tried to calm down.

Then he looked at her and started all over again.

"You can shut up any time now," she stated, her embarrassment turning to quiet fury.

"Awww! But it's adorable!" he stated.

"I'm not adorable!" she snapped.

"Ah, they grow up so fast," he said, wiping away an imaginary tear.

He yelped when he was encompassed by soul-shadow and shoved not unkindly onto one of the examination beds. He gulped when he looked over to see four glowing eyes glaring back at him. "Don't think for one moment that just because I told a stupid joke, I won't make your life a living Hell."

His nervousness quickly faded into a grin as the shadows faded. "Wouldn't dream of it, Rae."

"Rae-ven," she corrected angrily, but the fire wasn't in her tone. Tick marks appeared on her forehead when his grin turned smug.

"Alright you two, quit flirting in my Med-Bay." Cyborg walked in, looking deadpan as he approached a sink to wash off his hands.

"We're not flirting!" they both snapped in unison. They looked at each other for a moment before finding the floor or ceiling incredibly fascinating.

"Seriously. I get that this room is a walk down memory lane for you two, and I respect that. But I'd like to at least be able to scientifically explain some of the stuff going on with B," Cyborg clarified. "So do you two mind?"

"Memory lane?" Beast Boy asked, cocking his head with one pointy ear raised in confusion.

"This is where I– we– you–" Raven mentally cursed the nervous stutter that tried to formulate itself into words. But it couldn't be helped. This place was – to her ire – special to them both.

This was where she'd merged with him. Where she'd healed him. Where she'd unintentionally bared a part of herself to him. And after Cyborg's overhaul of the place, this was the place where she'd found out months later that at least a few of his physical evolutions had manifested in herself.

And now it was the place where she'd find out if she'd passed something similar onto him.

And soon, it would be the place where he found out just how deep her attempts to heal him had been. This particular Med -Bay held a lot of memories and a lot of baggage. Was it bad that she was nervous? Probably not.

"This was the room we had you hospitalized in while you were… well, sick," Cyborg answered, earning a silent 'thank you' from the sorceress.

"Oh," Beast Boy replied tensely, nervously glancing around at all the machines that now occupied the space. "Well, I like what you've done with the place. Looks better as a lab than a hospital room." Between the one large machine that looked like some kind of horizontal cryotube, and the wiring connected into it that lead to a computer, it was an impressive setup. "Although the noise is annoying."

"Tell me about it," Raven replied. The high-pitched whine in the air was consistent at least. And the flashing lights. And the anti-septic smell. Ugh! Her sinuses were burning now.

"Sub-sonic harmonizers for cleaner echo mapping," Cyborg explained. "It has a little bit of everything." Before a wicked gleam entered his eye glowing red eye. "Now strip."

Steam shot from Beast Boy's ears, and Raven was doing her best not to blow something up on principle.

'Yeeeeeesss!' Passion whispered intensely, her eyes focusing hard as her nose flared.

'Nooooooooo!' Timid whined, hiding in her hood.

'Dear Azar,' Temperance facepalmed.

"Dude, d-don't say th-that!" Beast Boy stuttered, his cheeks lined with pink as he poked his fingers together, listless eyes staring nowhere.

"Wearing metal interferes with my instruments. That jacket zipper and your shorts button are metal," Cyborg explained, grinning at Beast Boy's reaction. The kid was as precious as he was a pain in the ass. "And I need a relatively clean scan."

"But that'll leave me in my boxers, dude!" Beast Boy explained, before gesturing to Raven. "And there's a lady present."

"Not like you haven't walked around in your boxers before," Cyborg pointed out.

"It was an accident! I was exhausted! And I didn't even know I had walked into the kitchen until I was fully awake!" he protested.

"You mean blackmail gold?"

Raven was doing her best to remain passive, but that little spark of black lightning dancing around her head was a dead giveaway otherwise.

Beast Boy grumbled incoherently to himself, nodding his head side-to-side in contemplation before he glared at Cyborg. "Do I at least get dinner out of this torture?" he asked straight up. "I don't take more than my shirt off for just anything."

"Three-course veggie stir-fry, extra tofu," Cyborg offered, before he got to the icing on the cake. "And as a bonus, my diabolical animal-slaughterin' hands won't even touch the package."

"Give me one of those hospital thingies," Beast Boy resigned, Hell-bent on making sure the majority of his dignity remained intact.

Cyborg decided to quit teasing him; for now at least. Especially with Raven present. Between the two of them, he wasn't sure who was more self-conscious. Granted, B didn't seem to mind being shirtless; but evidently, rephrasing the terminology could get such a juicy reaction out of him. Plus, teasing Raven usually ended with one of his robotic limbs twisted or crushed. Or one of his babies meeting Soul-Crushing end. "Fine." He tossed a hospital gown to the pouting changeling before moving over to boot up his Sonic Resonance Scanner.

Beast Boy was already unzipping his jacket when he stopped, remembering that there was company present. "Uh, Rae, c-could you not… you know… look," he said, suddenly feeling heat burning up his back.

""Just go to a swimming pool"," Raven quoted, raising an eyebrow.

"I have to take my shorts off too!" he squeaked, his face going pink.

'Say no more.' Raven turned around before he had even finished. It wasn't hard to ignore the fact that he was changing, and she was grateful the emotional reprieve. It gave her a few moments to tone down her emotions again. Thankfully, they were… cooperating? Finally.

"Huh," she heard him say thoughtfully a moment later. "Light, surprisingly airy. Too bad it rips easy and there's no coverage in the back."

"Should we give you a few more minutes to get ready, dear?" Cyborg mocked with a single eyeroll, entering command prompts via the keyboard. A soft hiss signaled the tube opening. "Now, I just need you to get in there."

Raven turned back around just in time to catch the pensive look on Beast Boy's face as he eyed the machine warily. She watched the length of his back suddenly crawl, as though multitude of sea serpents were half-surfacing under his skin.

"Do I have to?" he asked nervously.

"Sorta?" Cyborg contemplated as he scratched his chin with a raised brow. "It'll give me a full scan of your body that I can analyze. I'll be using what I have recorded as a baseline to see how much, if anything, has changed.

"Might need some tissue and blood samples too," he added as an afterthought, "just to cover all our bases."

Raven felt a jolt of fear roll through him before it was hastily squashed down. Not gone; but greatly muted. She wasn't sure if he could truly hide anything from her anymore; a part of him always filtering into the space they shared now whether he knew it or not.

"'Kay," he whispered, already trudging over to the machine.

Raven followed on impulse, almost as though she were tethered to him as he climbed the cold stairs to the awaiting chamber. He hesitated when he looked down into the bare tube. "Not exactly five-star," he commented, trying to diffuse the situation he was in.

Raven snorted lightly at that. "If it makes you feel better, Cyborg used me as the guinea pig to test it." It clearly didn't make him feel better. She contemplated her options before asking, "Do you want me to try it out first?"

"N-No," he object quickly, still looking down at it. "Just looking at it… It just feels so much like a cage. Or like a glass coffin." His back crawled again.

'That's what this is about,' she realized, stepping up with him so it would be harder to hear them talking. She recognized that stutter now, and she'd be damned if it came back to haunt him. "Is it… like the basement?" She didn't want to clarify too much, but she didn't need empathy to know she had hit the nail right on the head.

His breath was already picking up raggedly as he stared down into it like he was prepared to demolish it just so he wouldn't have to deal with it.

"Hey. Hey," she whispered soothingly, glad she at least got an ear-flick in her direction to show he was listening. Despite herself, she couldn't help but be surprised that such a gentle tone even existed in her body. "You're not going back," she whispered, not even sure if the words were the right ones. She was an empathic sorceress for crying out loud, not a therapist. "If you need someone to talk to, I'll be right here the whole time. I'm not going anywhere." She felt his nervousness as her own as he turned to look back at her, eyes wide; but he was calmer.

"Promise?"

Raven felt her chest hurt, once more seeing some of that little boy in the man, like when she merged with him; somehow so trusting, but only because he was so vulnerable.

She held up her forearm to his. More specifically, those forearms. A slight shiver ran between the two of them as the more sensitive marks underneath tingled from contact. "Promise," she stated.

Something sparked.

Nothing so trivial as some stupid infatuating jolt. More like the sensation of something crawling through her brain, but not through her brain. It was familiar, and yet it triggered a sense of foreign intent. But it was not unwelcome.

"Okay," he whispered, breathing deeply, before sputtering an exhale to psych himself up. He stared down at the tube once more before breathing deeply again. "Okay."

He gently slid into the pod, moving slowly, as though half-tensed to jump out at a moment's notice. Even when he finally laid down on the bottom of the cold, metal trough, he was wound too tight.

"Alright," Cyborg said, tying in his command prompts absently. "For the best scans possible, I need ya to hold still. It'll be between five and ten minutes. Once I start, we won't be able to communicate due to sound interference."

"Good to know," he muttered, just loud enough that Raven could hear.

"Ready?" Cyborg asked.

"No."

"Good. If it helps, just think of it like an MRI scan," Cyborg reassured. "A very complex… claustrophobic MRI scan." With that, he began typing his prompts again, and slowly, the tube covering began to close with a compressing hiss.

Raven floated to the lotus position, breathing deeply. She honestly didn't know what to expect. Her experience in the machine wouldn't be the same as his, that much was certain.

"Dude. This is… super uncomfortable," she heard Beast Boy say with a deep breath of his own through the comms. "FYI, I'm pranking you sooo bad after this."

"Anything beyond that?" Cyborg asked, not the least bit phased.

"Not really. Not yet," he answered cryptically.

"Okay, beginning Startup Sequence," Cyborg informed, typing away.

Raven could already feel Garfield's unease, and a part of her understood him. He was temporarily completely cut off from the outside world with no external stimuli. It was just him. By himself….

On the contrary, she didn't really understand. That sounded like Nirvana to her.

Still, she respected that difference between them.

Still, his nerves were gradually growing more erratic in there. Enough so, that it was beginning to poke irritably at the back of Raven's mind.

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to experience a less-than all-encompassing silence; but not before taking a small sip and inhale of the coffee in her mug. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos." She enveloped herself in the shadow of her cloak, letting her Soul-Self emerge tangibly with familiarly. Like having a second layer of skin, but without the nerves.

One large dark claw peeled off her form, ironically shadowless as it moved toward the large machine. It rested against the cold glass of the tube, receiving a sense of the vibrations from the echoing soundwaves bouncing around inside. Steeling herself, the Raven's claw melded intangibly through the glass, dark matter unaffected by sound.

Her empathy gave her a general outline of his body, emotion living and breathing as it was throughout him, and before long, she could feel the brush of his hand. He seized at the feeling – probably from surprise – so she didn't press. It wasn't like she was stepping out of her comfort zone for this or anything! She just didn't want him to feel alone in there.

Her closed eyes twitched when she felt his finger touch her Soul back. Huh? Were shadows supposed to feel warm? It was kinda tingly. Interesting.

Cyborg watched as the exchange through the inner camera built into the machine. He may not have sound right now, but he had visuals. His normal eye raised slightly as he made a mental note for it, which literally consisted of a slide note being added by his digi-brain, right next to his internal holo-screen calendar and Globally synchronized clock.

'Her shadow… is holding his finger? Not sure if this counts as a side-effect or not,' he pondered. He'd probably ask Raven later. They were… close? If that was the right word. Closer than they had been before. Complete with finishing and building off each other's sentences. It was… 'Ugh,' he shivered, 'creepy.' And that was coming from a guy who'd been sucked into Raven's mind. Somehow, this was creepier than being sucked into someone else's soul dimension.

Still, it was weird watching them from the outside.

He turned back to the screen, pleased to see that the scans weren't picking up on Raven's powers before focusing on the scans themselves. The 3D imaging was looking good and– His eyes were already widening from some of the more obvious differences that were slowly growing more and more clear on the screen.

'Ho-ly, shite!' he thought, blinking to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Then he double-checked the imaging software. Then the graphics. 'Ohhhh–' he let his thoughts trail off. He began cross-referencing the data he'd collected, plus some research he'd done to put two-and-two together. So far, it was equaling five-and-a-half!

He looked back at them to see Raven – shadow still half-intangible through the machine – looking back at him with a questioning look. He just groaned to himself, smacking his hairless head on his desk.

Cy continued to process until the computer beeped at him, letting him know that the imaging was complete. With a deadpan expression, and no shortage of "talks" he'd have to run by Beast Boy after this, he hit the command prompt for the SRS tube, the machine hissing open. He would have chuckled a little at how quickly Raven reabsorbed her Soul-Self. Maybe even at the slightly dazed and flustered look on B's face as he sat up.

Unfortunately, he had more pressing matters to deal with, including – but not limited to – discerning just how much B's body had changed, cross-referencing changes to Raven's body, sifting through all the data that B had – thankfully – provided via his recordings, and now this. Whatever this was.

"Better?" Raven asked, knocking Beast Boy out of his daze.

"Y-Yeah," he said, scratching the back of his neck while looking to the side. "Way better." He blinked blankly before his face went red. "I mean, yeah! It's nice to be out!" Que awkward chuckle.

"That's what I asked," Raven stated, raising an eyebrow. But she sighed and let it go. Garfield was just being Garfield; still an enigma she wasn't sure how to begin understanding.

He shifted awkwardly, pulling his way out of the machine before darting his way back to his clothes.

Raven just rolled her eyes before looking at Cyborg. "Well?" He looked a little distant, as if thinking something over.

"Dude, I just spent ten minutes in an enclosed and cut-off space," Beast Boy stated, his clothes already back on. "There better be a good reason for that."

"What? Don't like enclosed spaces?" the half-machine asked.

Beast Boy's mouth clopped shut, turning way slightly as his ears drooped. "They're… not preferred."

Cyborg opened his mouth to ask what was up, but was cut off quickly by Raven. "You got his scans?" The look in her eyes said to drop it. It wasn't too forceful, but rather a plea. This needed to be left alone.

"Yeah," he replied, bringing up the same hologram he'd used for her; this time, a hologram of Beast Boy.

"Huh? Are my ears really that big?" Beast Boy asked, cocking his head slightly.

"Bigger," Raven stated. 'And cuter!' Happy added unnecessarily.

He groaned, quickly covering them.

Cyborg chuckled, both hands raising almost dramatically before pulling apart. The 3D image pulled apart, separating into skin outline, muscular structure, and skeletal structure; including organs. A living puzzle. "So how do you want to start? Inside-out? Or outside-in?"

"Might as well go from the ground up," Beast Boy stated with a hint of disgust.

"And that is?"

"Inside-out."

"Ah, that makes things easier," Cyborg commented, not about to reveal that he had gone the exact same route with Raven. He made a motion with his hand, commanding Beast Boy's holographic skeleton to pull away a couple bones, splitting them in two to reveal the inside. "So here–"

"Honeycombs in the sponge bone, increased compact bone density," Beast Boy shot off before Cyborg could get a word in. The changeling put a hand to his chin in thought. "Interesting. What about the marrow and the HSC's?"

Cyborg got over his initial shock, quickly clearing his throat. "Devolved, believe it or not. For a number of reasons too. Blood cell production has actually gone down due to massive increased efficiency in cell work."

"Oxygen absorption and distribution efficiency, accelerated healing, plus overall cell life means that blood cells don't need to be replaced as often," Beast Boy returned.

"Precisely," Cyborg confirmed, before moving along. The holo-bones re-placed themselves before the skull dropped down. "I also confirmed that your lower jaw developed an acoustic window, similar to–"

"Dolphin's," B clarified. "There's also hollows in the upper and lower jaws for–"

"Tooth regrowth," Cyborg affirmed, gesturing to the jaw bones in question. Particularly where two empty hollows were. "Lose a tooth, the new teeth are ejected while you begin to redevelop teeth in the hollows. Just look…." He pointed to the smallest bone slivers in the otherwise empty hollows. "…You're new teeth are already growing in. Might take about a week?"

"Still, I don't recommend losing too many teeth too fast." He swiped the skeletal structure away, bringing up the muscular outline. "Wanna take a guess?" B was on roll. Who knew he was biologically inclined? Granted self-biology, but biology none-the-less.

Beast Boy looked intensely at the cutaway of his muscles. "The fibers are woven. Muscles are generally like strings, but these are overlapped."

Cyborg's smile increased. "Yep. Increased strength, elasticity, endurance, and more efficient blood distribution and flow, and healing."

Raven nodded in understanding. It was one of the few parts she actually understood; her own body having undergone the same effect.

"So much for all that working out," Beast Boy complained.

Cyborg snorted slightly, moving away the muscles in favor of the organs. "And now for the cherry on top! Check it!"

Raven was almost taken aback. Nevermind the alterations to her body! Beast Boy's looked like someone had Mad Scientist'ed his. And yet he still took it in stride.

The changeling observed it all. From his sensory organs, to his brain, down to his intestines. "Well… my lungs kinda stand out." Three strange growths were present on each lung. "Air sacs from birds. Used to lighten the body, but also to draw oxygen from lower air pressures. Also means I can hold by breath about twice as long."

Cyborg nodded. "Heartrate is up, along with body temperature and circulatory efficiency. You're sensory organs were already up there, but they appear to have increased in sensitivity. The most noticeable changes are in your eyes. The lens can contract along with the pupil, giving it more accurate light filtration for night-vision, but also better vision. Plus you have a nictitating membrane (third eyelid) like most birds, reptiles, and sharks. It's still round though, and I'm pretty sure you have near three times the ocular nerves that normal people have; if anything, the setup is better than any animal alive. On top of that, with your ear drums and the acoustic window in your jaw plus the sinus organs around your nose–"

"I can attempt a sort of echolocation," Beast Boy stated. "Although, those look more like electroreceptors."

"Could be," Cyborg stated, looking the imaging over. "Also looks like your nervous system is more developed. Thicker nerve stems, and more nerve branches. Add all that together, and your brain is lit up like a Christmas tree."

Beast Boy wiped a hand over his head, pulling his face down as he groaned at the image. "Greeeat. More stuff I need to take into account."

"Well, time and observation will only tell with most of it," Cyborg reassured. "Any more than what we can observe here is just speculation. Plus, there's a theory I've been handling that I want to check."

"Hence the skin and blood samples?"

"Hence the skin and blood samples," Cyborg confirmed, silently cross-referencing his data with Raven's. "So far, so good. Just need to finish taking a look at all those videos you sent me for reference that I can use. But so far, there doesn't appear to be any side-effects."

"Side-effects? What side-effects?"

Raven's eyes widened, matching the look Cyborg now had on his face. And tin-man knew right then and there, he'd done goofed. "I meant like from the Sakutia Virus and stuff," he said with his hands raised slightly, a trail of sweat visible on the back of his head.

It didn't take a genius to see that he was lying, but Raven knew it was over the moment Beast Boy's nose and ear twitched. She wanted to face-palm. Or hide under a rock. Maybe there was a distant desert someplace where she could camp out. The pyramids were great this time of year.

"Those weren't the side-effects you were talking about," the changeling stated, secure and assured in that fact. His senses wouldn't lie to him. He wasn't angry, but his guard was up now, dreading some hidden truth that was being kept from him.

Then Cyborg shared a glance with Raven, which immediately caused her to wince. Because now, Beast Boy's questioning gaze was on her. "Rae?"

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, not caring if either of them saw. At this rate, it wouldn't matter what they thought. This was coming sooner or later. But now she didn't have the advantage of being the one to lead into it.

"Rae?" She opened her eyes to see him waiting, probably about as nervous as she was in that moment.

"You know in order to heal you, I had to enter your mind, right?" she asked.

He nodded, while Cyborg raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been privy to that part.

"Well, that wasn't… all I had to do," she stated, unknowingly leaving room for suspense.

'Just rip it off. Like a band-aid,' she thought. For once, she would have preferred to hear the incessant nagging of her emotions. Some hint or tidbit of advice. Hells, even Passion would be a welcome voice. Anything but mental silence.

"Ooo-kay?"

"I had to… merge our souls… and our bodies."

Crickets. Damned crickets were louder than they had right to be.

Beast Boy blinked for a second before leaning back against a gurney, breathing out deeply. "Uh- uh- I-"

"Raven, you can't just leave it half-ambiguous like that," Cyborg chided. "Kid's gonna think you popped his cherry."

Beast Boy covered his face at that. "Duuude! Not cool!"

Raven's face instantly went scarlet, and Cyborg groaned when a piece of his machine crumbled and went Boom!, blowing out smoke almost instantly. "Th-That's not what I meant!" she managed out, looking anywhere but Garfield. She had to force some modicum of self-control before she even thought of continuing. "I… literally had to merge our bodies and our souls."

Beast Boy peaked out from behind his hands at that. "That doesn't sound any better, Rae. What does that even mean?"

She groaned audibly, wanting to find something she could smack her head against loudly. She was feeling the old tides of a headache coming on. A most unwelcomely one might add. "It's called a Symbiotic Healing Trance. I coupled it with using my Soul to enter our overall form. I made us a single entity on the cellular level."

Beast Boy just raised an eyebrow. "Like something close to… an angler fish?"

Raven was tempted to blow some more stuff up when Cyborg chuckled at them. "Close enough.

"There were some… unintended side-effects on my end," she clarified, "and we were making sure that there were none on your end. There was the potential for side-effects anyway, but the ones I got were still unexpected."

His eyes narrowed, and his hands dropped. "What side-effects?" And just like that, his voice dropped two octaves. Before Raven could turn, he was already in front of her, coming into existence before her like a ghost. "Rae. What. Side. Effects." Each enunciation was a growl that made the air hold its breath.

She had to breathe again before she gestured to the hologram. "Some of the things that happened to you. Muscles, bones, senses– Hey!"

Her body shivered at how cold his hand was on the side of her neck… or how invasive it felt when that hand became little more than putty against her bare skin before she could feel it writhing against her pulse. His eyes were staring intensely, and shock was the only reason she didn't offer more resistance.

Cyborg's eyes bugged, and his mouth dropped to the floor. 'Nana Stone, I apologize in advance, but what the actual fu–"

Beast Boy's appendage retracted the next moment, shifting back into a hand. There was a distinct sense of relief in his eyes, along with a smoldered ember that Raven knew all too well.

"What was that about?" Raven demanded, running her hand over her neck, right where his… hand? … had been. It had been cold, but it might as well have burned.

"There's no green," he muttered.

"What?" She hadn't expected that. However, she had to resist a flinch when he glared at her. Not to be cowed, she let a little Bravery and Rage build, meeting his gaze head on.

"You used a spell that smashed the two people together," he stated, "while said person was fighting off a killer virus." His glare intensified. "And you didn't think for one moment that it could pass to you." His eyes slit of their own volition. "What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"That's what you're angry about?" She wasn't sure if she should feel offended or flattered. Not that she had actually thought about that particular consequence. "In case you hadn't noticed at the time – being unconscious and all – you were dying!" she snapped back. "I used a spell that had the highest probability of success within a quickly dwindling time limit. Pardon if it wasn't up to hospital regulation and specification."

"Sakutia is a forty-eight-hour virus! That's two days to live, Rae! All while turning green!" he growled back. "You could have been just as dead as I would have been." His tone weakened slightly as he looked her in the eye. "And I wouldn't have known about it."

She just sighed, almost as spent as he looked. "Sharing attributes between practitioners wasn't something that came up in Azarath. Because these side-effects are new, Cyborg and I had to keep track if anything from me passed on to you."

"Like?" he asked, somehow looking older. More mature. But also more ragged. Death – and potential death – was evidently one topic that drained him. He just looked… so tired.

"Don't know," she shrugged. "It's not like we catalogued my demon-traits. You could have inherited something unintentionally."

He seemed to have calmed down a lot, but there was still a hard edge to his gaze and posture. Guarded. He wasn't happy about what she did, or more specifically, the risk it involved. "You said there were side-effects. Plural."

'Shit!' she thought, wanting hide further under her cloak. Of course he finally picked up on grammar at the most inconvenient time! "Um… where do I start?

"Um… we're connected now," she stated a little easier.

"What?!" Cyborg yelped.

"Dude," Beast Boy hissed. "You're my bestest bro, and I love you. Now respectfully: shut up. The adults are talking." He paused for a moment as he processed his words. "Crap, I sound like an old man."

Cyborg was suddenly in the corner, running his finger in a circle on the floor. "Well fine then. Y'all do whatever," he mumbled. If he thought he was fooling either the changeling or the sorceress, he wasn't. His ear was perking ever so slightly to let them know that he was listening with the intensity of a rabbit.

"Like I said," Raven said, pulling the conversation back, "we're connected now." She tapped her chakra. "Mentally. Emotionally. I can't hide anything from you if you wish to know it… and you can't hide anything from me. We're "Linked" for lack of a better term. Like an anglerfish."

Beast Boy seemed to ponder that for a moment, his confusion and contemplation doing little to hide themselves. Raven could already feel him reflexively putting up his own mental fortifications; steel traps that held Azar knew what in their jaws.

"Yeah, not a pleasant thought, but it's private enough," she agreed. "But it doesn't do any good. I'm as vulnerable to you, as you are to me. At the very least, there is a space in our minds dedicated solely to the Link. A realm. Similar to my headspace."

"What about your connection with Ro– I mean Dick?" Beast Boy asked, chuckling slightly at the smirk on Raven's lips.

"Silent," she answered. "Whatever he and I forged was far overpowered by what you and I… you know."

Garfield "Hmm"ed a little, looking at her with a mixture of fear and reluctance. She couldn't really blame him. This wasn't exactly fun for her either. But here they were. At least he wasn't… well, freaking out. She'd just revealed that not only was there baggage, but he got to help carry it now.

"So… you can't get me out of your head," Beast Boy teased, trying to lighten how heavy the conversation was.

"Crow call the Raven black?" she quipped back, earning a small chuckle in return.

Right up until Cyborg made gagging noises in the corner.

"Well if that's it, it's not so bad," Beast Boy stated, stretching his arms over his head before frowning. "What about the other side-effects? You said the ones you got were unexpected. What about the expected ones?"

'Of course,' she drew out. 'You're smart at some of the most inconvenient of times, and focus on the exact things I don't want you to.'' "It's nothing," she stated, cradling her elbow as she looked away. "If it hasn't happened by now, then there's nothing to worry about."

And like an animal sensing weakness, he homed in on her. "If there's nothing to worry about, then why is it an issue?"

"It's not," she deflected, unsuccessfully at that. She could tell Cyborg wasn't bothering with the pretense of listening now; he was watching them both worriedly.

Because he knew where this conversation was leading. "B, you've already been given a lot to process over. We can pick this up later."

"So, you know what it is?" Beast Boy accessed the half-robot carefully, not looking hurt in the slightest, but looking more irritated all the same. "And how is it your business then?"

"Because I'm the third-party entrusted to ensure that said side-effects aren't dangerous, and are dealt with as soon as they are noticed," Cyborg explained with his own hint of irritation. "That also includes a level of doctor-patient confidentiality that does not extend to anyone outside this room. If one of you doesn't want to share, even with the other, then I'm obliged to keep my mouth shut."

"O-kay?" he said, unconvinced in the slightest. "Then–"

"Lust! Gar!" Raven shot out, wanting over and done with. She wanted that part secret. But between the potential effects of the Symbiotic Healing Trance itself, the guilt of keeping him in the dark, and some compulsory need to tell him; she was at a loss.

Honesty sucked. If she let this secret build now, it would put a wall between their developing friendship; something she didn't want, and something she couldn't have. Unfortunately, it was things like this that made maintaining things like friendship difficult. Friends had secrets, but in this case it just felt… wrong not to tell him. Maybe vile was another word she was looking for. It hurt on some level not to tell him.

She sighed – almost painfully – at the look of bewildered confusion on his face; both at her statement, and at her tone. Maybe saying his name had something to do with it too. "A Symbiotic Healing Trance binds two beings on a level that no physical intimacy can compare to. Closer than anything achievable by human standards. For some, it creates a physical void that nothing can fill, and it eventually leads to both parties giving into carnal desires toward each other."

He looked torn in two, like he was fighting with himself to remain rational. Or his body was trying to keep itself together. And yet, he also looked like he was failing miserably. "But?" he asked, looking like he wanted to say more, but couldn't find the right words to say it.

"You didn't return at all," she stated, hoping he would see the significance of it. She couldn't help but hold her arms close. "Which sucked – don't get me wrong – but it proved that at the very least, you weren't affected by that aspect of the spell. If you had, you would have been back here within a week.

"The side-effect, is unbridled lust," she reiterated, much weaker this time. There. It was done. No going back now.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, leaning into it as he fought off headache while trying to get his thoughts in order with this new information. "How…?" He paused, still lost somewhere between thought and speaking. "How do you know that the side-effect didn't take effect? That it wasn't just delayed?"

"Because, then it wouldn't have been Nightwing and Starfire we had to worry about defiling the couch," she replied, holding herself a little tighter as she tried not to meet his eyes. The implications alone were unnerving, but it still made her feel mildly disgusted. Less the thought of anything… "intimate"… with Beast Boy… than the thought that neither of them would have thought to do otherwise in such a mind-stupored state. "We would have been little more than rabbits in heat."

'Aaand… I'm talking about this way too easily,' she realized once she saw his head drop. His hands were grasping emptily at whatever was around him for stability, but finding none, opted to let them hang limply at his side. She didn't have to look at his emotions, nor did she want to, but she had to block him out completely when all she saw was a volatile cocktail of… something. She couldn't pin down any one emotion, and it was basically a multi-colored all-hallucinogenic haze of burning light… if she could "see" it.

She sighed dejectedly. Because with Beast Boy, there was always another reason to sigh at this rate.

"Gar, I… I'm–"

REEEH! REEEH! REEEH! REEEH!

Red flashed for half a moment before the alarm rang loudly, cutting Raven off both two minutes too late and half a minute too soon.

'Son of a bitch!' Rage shrieked. 'Now? Of all times?!'

"Titans!" Nightwing had somehow – like normal – made it all the way to the door of the Med-Bay in a matter of seconds. "Robbery. Jump City Community Bank, and we got hostages. Let's go!"

"Coming!" Cyborg was already jogging full-sprint toward the door to escape, while Raven turned hesitantly toward Garfield.

"Beast Boy–" Nightwing called, preparing some speech or other before he was cut off.

"I'm officially back on the team, but not reinstated. So hang back as reserve," Beast Boy stated for him, his previously stunned state now gone. "Until I'm cleared back up with the police, I'll wait here. I know the drill dude. Kick some ass for me though."

Nightwing's mouth closed before he nodded in acceptance. "Keep an eye on the news. Don't break protocol unless called or it gets desperate. We'll be back ASAP." Then he took off. Hostage situations tended to put their leader in a tuneless frame of mind, and no one could really blame him. Lives were potentially on the line.

"You'd better go Raven."

Raven shook her head to reorientate herself, looking back at him worriedly. "Gar–?"

"I… I need time. To think," he cut her off, and Raven could practically feel him trying to wall her out of his head. Unsuccessfully of course, but the action made her chest tighten for some reason. "I'm not sure what to do or think right now."

"I– Okay." She had no choice but to grant his wish. She couldn't force him to open up, but it felt like something had shifted, and as usual, she had no idea what exactly. But it– it hurt.

She turned to leave, already feeling a portal to the garage forming before she was held fast by the wrist.

"Just…," Beast Boy started, hesitating slightly as he let go of her arm, unsure of what to say, "… be careful."

She turned back to see him scratching the back of his neck glumly, but he met her eyes to give her an attempted smile. Even if it was sad. Being bound together, being merged, being connected, being Linked; it all weighed between them, and it was clear that it might have broken whatever they had shared. Or become; ambiguous though it was. And Raven didn't know if she could fix it, or if it even needed fixed.

She smiled back, albeit, just as sad as his was. "I'll try." And just like that, swirling darkness swallowed her whole, promising her retreat from the discomfort of the situation.

Beast Boy starred at the spot for a number of seconds, his smile slowly twitching until a snarl took life. In a moment, he smashed his fist down onto the gurney, crumpling the reinforced aluminum frame as though it were a ball of paper.

"Shit!" he hissed. And already, his head ached. There was too much. Too much! Which part did he question? Was anything they'd shared over the past couple days real?

He felt angry, and he didn't know why. He had no right to be angry… or at least, had no servable purpose for it. But it was there. And it was throbbing with an itchy pulse across his neck and forehead.

He crumbled to the floor, pulling his knees up to his chest as he struggled between anger and sorrow. "Damnit," he muttered, running his claws over his scalp.

And just like that, his mind paced familiarly with his "instincts".

Jump City, a few minutes later…

Raven took the opportunity to breathe while she had the chance. Cyborg was pedal to the metal, ignoring a number of traffic laws for all the right reasons. The T-Car's tires would squeal viciously whenever he took a corner too sharp, but the engine continued to purr like a kitten; which was helping with said attempt to calm at the moment.

"Friends, is it just me, or do I feel "the tension"?" Starfire asked from the back.

"It's just you," Raven and Cyborg answered not unkindly, not even bothering to look at each other at that.

"Is something the matter?" Starfire persisted, even as she leaned into one of Cyborg's sharp turns, her head ending up on Nightwing's shoulder as she pondered. A win-win for them both. "It appears customary that to answer in tandem is thee equivocal of something being wrong for humans. Is it something I may assist with?"

"Did something happen with Beast Boy's scans?" Nightwing asked, admittedly curious himself. By the sounds of it, Cyborg had almost expected something physically different about Beast Boy. And whatever "it" was, Raven was in on "it". Both of them had looked tense when he called them. And then there was Beast Boy: he'd looked conflictedly stunned. Whatever had happened, it wasn't good, and it was making Dick's detective senses tingle.

"No," Cyborg answered, keeping his eyes glued fervently to the road, "It wasn't the scans." He didn't elaborate, and to his credit, Wing didn't ask.

The silence – normally a pleasant thing for Raven – gripped at her chest, squeezing ever so slightly. She wanted to hear a joke. It didn't matter if it was stupid or lacked any semblance of hilarity, she just wanted to hear one so it didn't feel like the world was suffocating right now. Things were simpler when they could share a cup of coffee. But somehow, him not knowing what to do about this hurt the most. She'd almost preferred he started yelling at her. Instead, he'd just… didn't know what to do.

The drive was over before they knew it, the T-Car slowing down significantly until it stopped just outside a crowd of people, walled off behind yellow tape, roadblocks, and flashing police cars. There was also the occasional van by the looks of it. Unable to press further, and with no parking on the sides of the street, they were forced to leave the Car in the middle of the road.

"Alright everybody, move aside!" A few officers were trying to make a path through the crowd for the approaching heroes.

'Crap. Crowds,' Nightwing thought as he headed their small procession. More people meant they had to de-escalate the situation. Fast. All it would take is one stray attack, and things would go south really quickly.

"Titans." They were approached by a tall, heavier, exhausted looking man. His hair was salted with age, and his skin a shade or two lighter than Cyborgs. He was dressed in fitting business attire, overlapped with a cobalt gray trench coat that fell to his shins.

"Commissioner Stevens," Nightwing greeted, turning a note or two more serious. "To what do we owe the pleasure? I thought this was a cut-and-dry robbery."

"It is," the Commissioner stated, walking in step with him. "The problem is that we have too big of a crowd for Old Town and City Council told me to get my ass down here and fix the situation. We're having trouble getting everybody back, but since when do citizen's listen to the police? Here!" He pointed toward one of the vans. He quickly opened up the back door, glancing inside, revealing a small computer layout manned by three officers. "Give me good news."

"We still have cameras," one stated, not looking away from his work. They couldn't afford to miss anything. "No hostages harmed, but they're getting antsy."

"Demands?" Nightwing asked.

"The usual," Stevens stated, "all the cash they can carry, and a free ride to paradise."

"Any ties to Red X?"

"Doesn't look like it, from our angle or yours. They were caught by a silent alarm. Basic masks. Neither M.O. checks out."

"How free are we to act?" he double-checked. Among other things in the past couple months, they had to minimize destruction of property. Outdoor or massive fights were considered amendable by the City. But this was a bank robbery made by normal people; there were more constraints on how much damage they could do.

"Minimized," the Commissioner stated with sympathy. "No taking down the building."

Nightwing sighed internally. 'Great. The difficulty of bad-guy goes down, difficulty of city management goes up.'

"Number of them, and number of civilians?"

"Six hostiles," the computer guy answered. "Maybe one or two more hidden. Estimated about thirty civilians, including bank staff. They're all huddled together, guns trained on them. I can show you a ma–" His screen suddenly blinked before Cyborg projected an image of the bank layout on the van door with his left eye.

"I downloaded your stuff. Sorry, but we gotta get movin' stat," the half-robot apologized, turning back toward the display. "We got civs bundled up right here," he directed to a singular area.

"Easy enough to defend," Raven offered as input. "I can erect a barrier once we're in to keep the civilian's safe, while you guys knock some heads together."

"Oh yes," Starfire agreed. "There is much butt to be kicked, and many heads to do the knocking until their doorbells are ringing."

"You good to portal us all in?" Nightwing asked Raven.

"Just tell me when," she answered. "Worse case scenario, I can portal everyone out, but… I'm not sure how they'll handle the shock."

Nightwing turned back to the Commissioner. "Can you extend the perimeter another two or three blocks? We'll also need EMT's ready."

Stevens just chuckled tiredly. "I can try. Won't be easy since people are stupidly reassured that nothing will happen to them with you heroes nearby."

Wing sighed. He understood that struggle all too well. Reassurance of any kind, especially from Heroes, tended to make people less prone to use the organ between their ears. "I'll take what I can get."

"Oh. Before you four go galivanting off into gunfire, the news brought an old friend." Stevens gestured with his thumb toward a very familiar bob-cut blonde standing in front of a mobile news camera and its carrier.

"Oh, you have got to shitting me."

The other three Titans followed his line of sight, most quickly devolving into twitching eyebrows and grinding teeth.

"Hell nah," Cyborg stated adamantly, his gears grinding underneath his armor.

"I believe the term Earthlings use is "I do the seconding" of this "Nah of Hell"," Starfire stated with a frown.

Raven just breathed, too caught up in other matters to care. "Worry about our jobs before worrying about hers."

"Easier said then done," Stevens sympathized. "Since that video four months ago, Mandy Valanski has been on witch-hunt against heroes. Doesn't help that she's been targeting police too."

"No," Nightwing rejected gently. "That loathing has always been there. The video just made things convenient for her." He shook his head at the newswoman, who had yet to notice or acknowledge their presence, thank X'hal. "I'd rather be fighting Slade. At least I could punch him."

Raven's sigh reoriented everyone back to the present moment. "Guys. Bank. Hostages. Bad guys. Any of this computing?"

"R-Right," he stuttered slightly as he refocused, quickly reaching to the scabbards on his back for his Eskrimas, one in each hand. "Ready when you are."

Raven nodded, closing her eyes as she sought calm, attempting to harness just a fraction of her powers for the portal. Normally, it would come to her as naturally as breathing; but now she had to draw it out, bait it in.

Black sparks fizzed from her fingertips before an eerie black void began growing in size.

'"Um, are we okay?"' A memory interjected into her train of thought.

'"Who did I hurt, Rae?"' A mixture of memories. '"I'm begging you, please, tell me."'

'"Don't you touch her!"'

'"I missed you too."'

'"I don't think I'm the same person, Rae. I'm… different now."'

Raven tried to hone her mind, but the images and feelings flooded through her. Things that should have stayed back at the Tower were present and persisting. 'Nonono! Stop thinking about that,' she snapped to herself. It didn't help as her portal began jerking and wobbling.

'A sad smile. A smug smile.'

'"Awww! But it's adorable!"'

'"…It just feels so much like a cage. Or like a glass coffin."'

'"Side-effects? What side-effects?"'

'"I… I need time. To think."'

Her portal sparked and fizzled out like a shorting fuse, collapsing in an instant. 'Damnit! Focus, Raven!' She sighed in frustration. If she could spare the time to glare at her emotions, she would.

"Um… is that supposed to happen?" the Commissioner asked, eyeing where the portal had been.

"No," she answered simply, taking another exasperated breath. 'Find something. Dig deep. Draw it out,' she thought. She shook her head, ignoring the questioning and worried glances her team was giving her. Oddly enough, she found focus on her arm. Specifically, in the bite-shaped scarring. It was a strange sort of clarity that couldn't be put into words. but seemed to draw out power like a talisman. 'For real this time.'

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," she commanded. A proper spiral of inky black greeted her. No fuss this time. "Better."

"Alright, let's go," Nightwing stated, already jumping into darkness.

"GERONI–!" Cyborg was cut off as he disappeared in the portal.

Starfire simply floated in. Properly.

The Commissioner sweat-dropped a little as he looked at Raven. "Be honest, is the paperwork going to be a small stack, or a big stack?"

"It'll be… a stack," Raven answered before disappearing as well, the portal collapsing behind her.

Commissioner Steven's just sighed. "That's what I was afraid of." He half-reached for his jacket's inner pocket before realizing that it was empty. He'd stopped smoking a while ago. 'Helluva time to quit,' he groaned, before pulling a radio from his belt and putting it to his mouth. "Alright, we're looking at a possible firefight. I want those perimeters pushed back another block. Two, if you can get it. And get some EMT's on standby."

A few minutes ago, inside the bank…

Morgan was B. O. R. E. D. BORED!

'UGH!' she groaned to herself. Around her, people were cowering and whimpering. Some were even sobbing silently to themselves. And she felt for them. She really did. But God, she'd kill for an etch-a-sketch right now! The idea of impending death wasn't so impending when she was worried about how she was going to pay her employee's, hiring a new employee – that she also had to somehow pay at this rate – and, oh yeah, homework! Always with the homework!

Maybe she was putting too much thought into it. Or maybe she was a little messed up in the head. Or maybe she had an iota of confidence born of the fact that she knew magic. Or maybe it was (D) All of Thee Above. Who knew?

But just sitting there – doing absolutely nothing – was driving her up a wall. It was looking more and more like boredom was going to kill her faster than a bullet.

'Ugh,' she sighed, knocking her head back against a teller counter.

"I fail to see how you are bored by this." She frowned at Nol's voice in her head.

"Oh right. Telepathy. Forgot about that. Is there an expiration date on it? Because I don't want this thing on when I need some me-time." She realized too late that she had projected that. Her face went as red as her hair. Nevermind about the etch-a-sketch, she wanted to die. Brutally. Roman style.

"I shall refrain from listening in on your more… private thoughts." He was smirking. He may have been a book, but she could feel it. He was sooo smirking right now. "Simply not projecting your thoughts is sufficient enough. Or closing your mind to me. Both would work. Opening your mind to me won't necessarily mean that it's open to others."

'Thank god.' She didn't know if she could handle that… with that. So many bad things.

She opened her eyes to see that her captors were pacing back and forth, guns held easily in a free-to-fire position. A few of them looked especially twitchy. Great.

A few of the people around her half-jumped when she raised her hand, trying to flag down one of them. "Excuse me? Hey, excuse me?!"

"I swear to god, if you're asking to use the bathroom, I'll put a bullet through your head!" said the apparent head-honcho, the guy who had announced their captivity.

But she didn't lower her hand. "Harsh, but no. I was wondering if you guys minded if I worked on my homework," she asked, not even bothering to flinch at his tone. "Since we're all stuck here, I still need to get my shit done."

She wasn't sure she'd ever had so many people give her deadpan stares before; both captors and captees. It was awkward. And super uncomfortable.

"Uh, why?" one of the gunmen asked.

"Do you think my professors are gonna take the "I was caught in the middle of a bank robbery" spiel when my homework is late?" she asked, looking put-out. "This is Jump City. There's a bank robbery at least twice a week. That's the new norm. School's my backup plan in-case I don't die today."

She had to steel herself the moment she felt sweat trickling down her neck. 'Oh, crap.' She clenched her hands to her knees to keep them from shaking. She wouldn't claim the confidence in her abilities that heroes, or even villains, had, because she just ran a coffee shop. This wasn't some basic white bitch that barely had two brain cells to rub together. And she wasn't angry because some ass-hat grimoire (*cough, cough*) muzzled her dog. These were armed criminals in control of a hostage situation. She was a hostage.

Granted, she had super cool abilities and a spell-toting book on her side, but her odds still felt incredibly dire.

She swallowed nervously when she noticed some rather large boots step in front of her, the tell-tale creak of someone squatting down causing her to sweat even harder. 'Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!'

"You know, I can't tell if you're brave, or stupid."

'Stupid! Definitely stupid!' Magic or not, she had drawn attention to herself when, really, she shouldn't have. Screw boredom! This was so much worse! She wanted boredom back!

"And what makes you think you'll make it out of here alive?" The way he asked sent a jolt of quivering up Morgan's spine, and she felt a reflexive need to cower. This wasn't some ambiguous wizard in a book. This was a flesh and blood person. A person that reveled in the power they could hold over her. Just like–

As if to reassure her, she felt warmth from her bag radiate through her leg and crawl up her spine. The shivering slowly subsided, and for a moment, she forgot that she was afraid of being afraid. She dared to look up into a ski-masked face, not sure if what she would find was something resembling sentient, or some monstrous visage of her imagination. But she felt… awake, for lack of a better term. "Well, what makes you think I won't?"

It was silent for a moment. Like the pin had been pulled from a grenade and now they were just waiting for the lever to spring.

"You're funny kid," he commented. A gun was once more pointed in her face, and she felt her fingers reflexively tracing on the floor with practiced urgency. "Funny kids mean funny business. And I don't like funny business."

Morgan could distinctly make out the details of the gun. Vividly. Hard to focus on the attacker when the weapon muzzle was a flash and a bang away from ending her life. Yeah, the weapon was a lot more interesting. "Wasn't trying to be funny," she tried deescalating, her tone softening in very, very rational fear. "I just don't want to dawdle and worry about being shot."

She could just barely see the grin underneath his mask from her gun-focused vantage. "Alright kid, you can do your homework." The barrel of his weapon tapped against her forehead, causing her to flinch. "But if anything goes south, or you try to pull something, you'll be the first one to bite the dust. Any questions?" She shook her head silently as the gun was pulled away. "Good."

Those around her let out bated breaths as the gunman returned to his pacing, some even openly scooting away from her. Not that she could blame them; she'd done something that could have ended very poorly. Still, that didn't stop her from pulling her bag around and pulling out a textbook and resource material. 'Thank God it's History.' She wasn't sure she could attempt advanced mathematical equations or proper essay outlines in the middle of a heist. History however, she could work with that.

"All of that, just so you could read a book," Nol sighed. "That's like the scholars of my day asking to write a record while the Saxon's are in the middle of pillaging."

"They'd get their record?" Morgan asked hopefully.

"No. They'd get an axe to face," he answered back. "And probably die."

"Still better than an arrow to the knee," Morgan muttered mentally.

"Hmm? Huh?" She couldn't quite place the tone, but the dumbly pronounced monosyllabic response made Morgan have to bite back a laugh. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he was flustered.

"What's this? Is Sir Rorek of Nol at a loss for words?"

"Magic."

"I know magic, so don't change the subject."

"No. Someone is casting magic," he clarified.

"Huh?" she asked aloud. And then it went dark.

Literally. A wall of darkness stretched out in front of her, followed by the most beautiful sound she'd heard in the past… well, she wasn't keeping track.

"Titans! Go!" sounded, followed by a soft pff! of smoke.

"–NIMO!" And out came a barreling Cyborg.

She barely noticed that she was digging through her purse for a pen, her eyes too starstruck by not one, not two – but four Titans. 'I was shot in the head after all,' she swooned to herself. If it were possible, little stars would be dancing in her eyes.

"Are you all okay?" She looked up to see a pair of purple eyes glancing absently from underneath an indigo hood, looking over her and her fellow hostages.

A small trail of smoke almost left Morgan's mouth. 'It's Raven. Thee. Actual. Raven,' she squealed to herself.

'Stop fan-girling!' she snapped at herself, receiving a much needed mental slap. 'You're a hostage.'

She could only give a half-conscious thumbs-up in answer. This was cool. So. Cool. It was strange too. She could feel a part of herself almost being sampled, like her essence was being taste-tested. Oh, that was weird.

"She's touching your emotions. Empathy," Rorek commented. "Interesting. She's checking everyone's status without intruding. But… what is she?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is she Mystic? Psychic? Is it magical or mental?" the book sounded contemplative.

"Titans! Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em!" a gunman called urgently. Clearly the idea of jail was unappealing.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of opening gunfire. Raven shot around, lifting her hands toward the shadow wall and pressing against the air as though there was solid resistance she was holding back. "Everyone stay calm," the sorceress ordered firmly. "And don't move. I need a little space to protect as possible."

"Not moving!" Morgan yelped, hiding directly behind the sorceress. She groaned when the space the other hostages were giving her was suddenly intruded upon at the Titan's order.

Right off the bat, Nightwing was charging forward from the shadow of the portal, firing a smoke pellet from an Eskrima with a pff! as it exploded. "Titans! Go!"

Starfire was already soring as high as the Community Bank's ceiling allowed, which was disadvantageous with it being no more than fifteen feet high; unable to capitalize on aerial acrobatics and height. And while the building had inner supports, they weren't large enough or solid enough to take cover behind, further diminishing her ability to hide and take cover mid-air.

Cyborg dived into some office space, favoring his fists today with so little room to openly use his sonic cannons. He'd end up doing more structural damage than not if he just started blasting. He quickly began adjusting the vibration intensity and frequency to make his sonic cannon at least half-viable here. "Yo, not cool," he hissed under his breath.

"Titans! Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em!"

Bullets started flying. While small calibers were fine for the occasion, the shotguns and two assault rifles would punch through anything they hid behind. Seriously, the cover in there was shit.

"Someone want to switch out so I can disarm them?" Raven called out, just the moment before a string of bullets hit wide on her shield. She sighed. "Nevermind."

"Yo Wing! What's the insurance like on this place?!" Cyborg yelled as he played dodge-bullet.

"Not… good," he groaned out, likewise playing dodge-bullet while trying to find a way to take them all out ASAP. "Small building. If we destroy it, there won't be much to salvage." He groaned as gun-fire continued. At least they spent bullets and had to pause to reload. "Remind me to get some sleeping pellets when we get home."

"Dude, you're thinkin' about sleep now?! It's called, Mel-a-to-nin!" Cyborg snapped, diving and rolling.

"No! Sleep gas! For them!"

"Oh! Why are we yelling?!"

"I don't know!"

Shk-shk! BANG!

'Right. Guns are loud.'

Nightwing and Cyborg dived different directions as Starfire landed in the middle of where they had been, alien physiology tanking their shots like a… well, alien. It wasn't like they were energy-based weapons.

"You may cease your shooting now please," she stated, crossing her arms in front of her face to protect her slightly less bulletproof eyes as she marched toward them, bullets and pellets smacking harmlessly against her skin. Her Tamaranean clothing was also holding up against their Earthling weapons, thank X'hal.

"A-P!" one of the gunmen called. Another one pulled a clip from his belt, while dropping his former clip from his gun, still half-full. He loaded with practiced ease before pointing the barrel straight at the Tamaranean.

BANG!

Starfire blinked in surprise at the sudden pain that clipped her arm. She looked down to see a piece of metal smooshed near flat against her bracers. The remains of the bullet. It pinged as it fell to the ground. She adjusted the brace just enough to reveal a purple-black bruise rising quickly against her copper tones. A few, almost miniscule, drops of blood squeezed through her pores, shining a vibrant red.

"O-Ow?" she voiced in confusion, but still genuine pain.

BANG!

Another bullet smacked into her bare abdomen, causing her to wince sharply.

They were bullets. Mere metal. They shouldn't be damaging. And yet, they were striking with enough force to cause wounds that were better wrought from sparring with her own people.

Another shot rang, and Starfire's warrior instincts kicked in, her hand shooting out to intercept a bullet aimed at her face. Again, it smacked painfully, and she flinched, but she did not move. She was much more fortitudinous than that.

"Friends! Their munitions are most painful!" she called out. She felt like little more than an inadequate barrier for her friends at the moment, and it was frustrating her that she had to reserve her true power for the sake of a building. Architecture could be replaced; people… citizens… warriors, could not. She found herself, not for the first time, cursing base Earthling priorities. How was it that such a small building found itself under such protections? Perhaps because it was a place of currency? She would ponder this more later, when she wasn't being harmed by Earth fare.

"Armor-Piercing rounds," Cyborg called out, cursing under his breath. "How the Hell did they get military hardware?!"

"Shit!" Nightwing managed, his voice just under the gunfire. He growled as he contemplated their next move. Despite the temporary blinding from his initial smoke pellets, they had kept firing blindly, which ruled out any form of inhibiting their sight. It was only more likely to get someone killed. Freezing them could still leave them open to shoot. Getting in close for a taser shock would be preferable, if he could get in close.

But A-P rounds were no joke, even if only one of their number seemed to be firing them. They could kill him and potentially Raven, tear through Cyborg, and leave bruises on Star. The villains, bad guys, and crooks weren't just getting smarter. They were getting better equipped and forging new alliances too.

The near transparent sheet of black ethereal energy that signified Raven's shields slid into view, blocking off their attacks to Starfire. Looking back, he could see a bead of sweat on Raven's head as she divided her attentions among two barriers. It wouldn't last though. The force behind such small, yet deadly projectiles was already starting to crack through as though it were a sheet of glass being pelted by pebbles. High-powered pebbles that could shred through Kevlar and bruise a Tamaranean.

Cyborg had just finished flipping a desk over his shoulder, throwing it at their attackers. It broke their fire for a moment, just before one of their number called out. "Flash!"

One of the gunmen moved out of cover, clearly pulling a pin before tossing a small object over Raven's barrier and toward the other Titans.

"Grenade!" Nightwing called out in warning.

Raven growled, straining as a shadowy arm formed along with her shields, claws extending before slamming its palm down over the object to reduce the blast intensity, cracking the ground where it pierced through the floor. The civilians behind her were cowering and whimpering, and having all their fear smacking against her focus wasn't helping any. Except for one. One of their number was holding her own thoughts together.

In less than a second, Raven's eyes widened when the claw was eviscerated by searing light. The dark shadows of her shields were pierced as well, and her sensitive eyes beheld a luminosity for a split second that caused her pupils to contract violently from over-exposure.

"Agh!" she cried, her hands moving to cover her eyes. Oh Azar, it hurt! The concussive sound was thankfully mitigated, but the artificial flash had all but obliterated her optic nerves, even through layers of darkness. She gripped tightly at her head, feeling as though she'd taken brick to the whole front of her forehead, and every nerve behind her eyes screamed. Even her second set of eyes were squinting despite being closed, unable to see past a massive blur. She didn't have the focus to erect another barrier, not that her shadows would do much good if they had another flashbang.

Vaguely, she could feel someone's arms catching her before she fell back. Right. The civilians! They weren't protected anymore!

"Friend!" Starfire cried. She could just vaguely hear calls from Nightwing and Cyborg as well. Raven couldn't see, but she could hear just fine, even beyond the dulling immersion of pain. It both stripped her of her concentration, and yet, provided a stunning clarity. Her head ached in a way it never had before, and yet it stirred something angrily in the back of her mind.

"Fire!"

Raven reacted more than thought as the hairs on the back of her neck tensed. Her hands moved from her face and smacked together before shooting out. She pulled up a barrier just in time. She didn't care how thick or how powerful. Just something to put up between them and those she protected.

She felt the barrier break, shattered like a sheet of glass, her concentration not strong enough to maintain it. She felt something smack into her shoulder, almost throwing her back completely. She felt something pierce her skin – digging, drilling – until it collided with her shoulder bone. She didn't necessarily feel the pain, already focused solely on the throbbing behind her eyes, but she felt the unnatural sensation of her arm being shoved out of alignment; being knocked away and flopping almost uselessly at her side.

She didn't need to take inventory of her body to know her shoulder had been dislocated, and that an Armor-Piercing bullet had broken through her barrier, torn through her suit, and had dislocated her shoulder on impact. If she wasn't mistaken, the bullet was still lodged in their.

'Thank Azar,' she thought, glad she had at least the sense to use a barrier. Otherwise, she might not have an arm right now.

If she didn't sense it before, she sensed it then. Warm, wet breath touching the back of her neck, even though nothing was there save for whoever was kind enough to catch her.

"We go?"

Authors Note: Don't forget to Read & Review! :)

So Med-Bay Four is basically the designated BBRae Tower hospital room at this rate. It can't never be now. It's canon.

Beast Boy gets some of his alterations dissected. There are others, and they should (emphasis on "should") be brought up later, including (thanks to reader "Bob the Bobber") why Beast Boy didn't age when Mad Mod stole decade off of him (since I don't think I covered it). So thank you Bobber!

Raven finally told Garfield about their Link! YAY!

Cyborg accidently spilled the beans about their side-effects. Yay?

While I did add some humor in this chapter, but for the most part, I think it came across as serious enough. Sakutia is no joke, and the potential side-effects from the Symbiotic Healing Trance alone (as already covered and implied in Sequence 1) were already devastating. The strain is real, and we'll see how it turns out.

One thing I added was something that had been bugging me for a while: Constraints on Heroes. We've all seen the super hero scenes where the hero and villain duke it out, and destroy half a city. And the hero get rewarded afterward, and the city is rebuilt over night like nothing happened. I figured, there would be some real-life weight to how heroes handle this stuff, so constraints seemed appropriate. The bigger or more dangerous the situation, the more leeway a hero is given to exercise. It holds to reality, while also giving our heroes a unique challenge that... I don't think people think about very often.

My girl Morgan be fan-girling over the Titan's!

One problem I ran into for this was Tamaranean physiology. In the comics, Starfire is virtually nie-on-invincible as long as she's absorbed enough UV radiation and isn't going up against a radiation-absorbing maniac, or a BBG. In the show, she can be taken down by energy weapons or strong enough physical attacks. Suffice to say, there's a lot of... confusion and holes in logic over this, but I digress (since it's all fiction). Like Kryptonians, they grow more sturdy with their respective culminations. Bulletproof is great. But given how Starfire could go down from varies levels of attacks in the series, I decided invulnerability wasn't going to cut it. So yes, Starfire is basically bullet proof, but Armor Piercing rounds leave bruises. Still, sturdy, but not painless.

The flash grenade was also an interesting bit. As most of you know, Raven's powers are immersed in two things, her Soul-Self, and dark/shadows. According to most sources, Raven's power could be neutralized by bright enough lights; but she's been using her powers in sunlight this whole time. So I did some research. Flashbangs... basically for a couple hot-seconds (literally), they flash over nine-times brighter than the sun. Nine. Times. Ever starred directly into the sun? The more enclosed a room, the worse it is (because it's worse if light particles can't be diffused, reflected, or absorbed fast enough). I am fairly certain, and read me out, that a light that bright, could tear some shadow/dark powers asunder.

I tried to base as many of my reasonings in logic and reality as I could. If something doesn't make sense, feel free to let me know.

In Other News:

If you haven't noticed before, I'm using the cover art I've been talking about. I couldn't contact the artist (mostly because I don't sign up for anything online), so I decided to go ahead and source them. If they want me to take it down, I will, but in the mean time, I can promote them a little, since I love the picture. Bit of a SPOILER! but also a "How did we get here?" sort of thing, with a little "Because I love this picture!"

The artist is JO-Bac on DEVIANT ART from what I could find. I tip my hat and my recently trimmed goatee to him/her. I'll be sourcing it in the Prologue too, just to be safe.

Tamaranean Translations (Original Translation):

None this time :(

*End of Translations

Once again, this is a Rough Draft, so if there is anything that needs, or is connecting in a weird way for you guys, let me know and I'll try to clean up the text. I do accept grammar and spelling errors too. (*A copy and paste, but hey, some things are worth repeating for you fine folk*)

As always (and I'll just keep posting this because its true), keep posting your constructive criticisms, as they will help me know what to look for in my future writings, and for the days I decide to do a hard edit. A writer should never stop growing, and I have no intention of stopping now.

Please Read and Review, and Private Message if you're shy or prefer your inquiries to be... well, private. Please indulge my curiosity, and let me know what parts you liked, what parts need work, and overall what you guys think about it :D I love questions as much as I love constructive criticism! If I don't have an answer to one or the other, it's something for me to contemplate and ask myself.

Upcoming:

Magicks That Bind - Arc 2: "Homecoming" – Chapter 12: "Unknown Chapter Title" (Don't have a title yet, but hopefully I'll come up with one as I continue writing)