Book I: Chapter XI

Beads of sweat clung to her bronzed skin. A loose strand of glossy maroon hair stuck to her brow. Starfire grabbed a chunk of broken plaster and tossed it over her shoulder.

Much of the material remained hot to the touch, far too warm for a human's hand. The room itself, gray, singed and lined with soot, gave off the impression of a boiler room, where the occasional piece of metal still blazed with the slightest hue of crimson orange. The intensity of the room brought uncomfortable heat, like a thick sweater clinging to the skin on a hot summer's day. Ground floor was most unpleasant.

Although nearing noon, she had not yet stopped for breakfast. The impending fear of loss and the relentless pursuit of gain seemed so much more important than the unmistakable grumbling in her stomach. Her fingers gripped a piece of cable. She raised the splayed material to her eyes in order to inspect the damage. Broken beyond repair, but Cyborg would likely find it future use.

Upon the elevator cart's impact, it had originally seemed as if an entire floor of their tower, ground zero, would require complete renovations. Now, it was as if all prior calculations had been miscalculated and each assumption baseless. It is true that hushed cries of fire once bellowed down Titan corridors, staining tiles, rugs, wires, wood, and metal in a sickening chalky black. Yet, hours later, after the fires were vanquished and further inspection had been made, both Starfire and Robin had decided that the only real damage seemed to be the elevator cart itself. The cart had broken into two distinct pieces on impact with the earth. The cage had flattened and split apart, now resembling a cracked accordion.

The remainder of the floor, though in disarray, might only require minimal repairs and a nice scrubbing to reach its original state of shine. The impact of the cart had jarred the floor and splayed the tiling. Plaster and glass still littered the ground, but the ground seemed only minimally dented. Although a spring-cleaning nightmare, there was reprieve knowing it was not irreversible, permanent damage.

The sun reached its midway point, before beginning its slow descend.

"Still no sign of friend Beast Boy," the redheaded girl whined. "Surely he will turn up soon." No sign of the boy was both a relief and a torment. The conflict seemed caked with irony. Finding Beast Boy would allow them to provide him medical attention as soon as possible, yet not finding him meant he was still out there…and not in the deathly rubble.

A wisp of black bubbled out from the top of the ceiling and slid down to the floor. "Friend Raven!" Squealed Starfire. "You're back! How did it go? Where is our Beast Boy?"

Raven shook her head. "I'm sorry, Star."

"Are you positive? Was there not some place you forgot to look?"

"No," Her raspy voice seemed unusually cold. Raven's eyes wandered to the picked-apart wreckage, exploring bits of shrapnel that seemed to litter the room like scraps of newspaper. "I don't suppose asking me was dramatic irony…and you actually found him?"

Starfire shook her head. "We have not…"

Starfire, Robin, and Raven stood in a triangle, curling their fingers around the bottoms of the largest piece of the elevator shaft. The three of them lifted the shaft off the ground and carefully moved it several feet away from its original resting place, before promptly shifting the wrecked metal onto its side. From beneath, not a Beast Boy to be found.

The sound of a loud, steady clank faintly echoed through the tower floor. It grew louder, until a door burst open and Cyborg came dashing out of the staircase. He was out of breath, having ran up and down dozens of flights of stairs over the period of several hours.

His voice peaked out between heavy breaths. "Okay," he wheezed. "I've done…quick analysis…of the tower…I think I can answer…your questions, Robin…But first," Cyborg glanced at his fellow Titans and bit his bottom lip when he counted only three of them. "Beast Boy?"

"Haven't," Replied a dreary Raven.

"Damn. Was kinda hoping..." He looked at their somber faces and coughed. "Uh, anyway. Something else came up. As I said, this was no accident. Whatever happened, it was clearly intentional. They must'a gotten detailed schematics of the elevator, or something. They attacked every single emergency precaution. The cables at the top of the cart and the cables at the bottom were simultaneously cut, allowing the cart to freefall. Now, ordinarily that wouldn't do much. Along two sides of the elevator shaft are…essentially...ridges in the walls. When the cart falls fast enough, the force of the fall will build up, until the force propels claws within the elevator cart to catch on these groves. Although it'll be a bumpy ride, they'll naturally slow the cart down. You see, that didn't happen. Whoever set this up must have taped the flaps shut or something, stopping the safety mechanism from happening.

"But seriously man…" Cyborg looked squarely at their leader, "They beat my tech and my software dedicated to ensuring this kind of shit can't happen. They destroyed every safety mechanism. There's not much else to do, you know? I built the elevator so a genuine accident—like one cable snapping—wouldn't cause disaster. But no, this must have been a direct attack on the Titans. Short of stopping the perpetrator from entering our tower in the first place, there's no safety precaution to stop this sorta thing."

Robin's eyes narrowed as he carefully licked his lips. "As far as we can tell, Beast Boy wasn't in the wreckage. He's nowhere to be found. However, for the sake of information…let's assume he was inside the elevator when it happened. What are the odds he would survive impact?"

"I don't know Robin. From the looks of the wreckage…well, you can see for yourself. The cart took a hell o'va beating. However, there's hope. It's a tight fit between the walls of the cart and the walls of the shaft itself. As this heavy object is freefalling, air pressure would build up and slow it down dramatically. On the very bottom floor, I had what you could call a giant spring of sorts—or cushioning device—installed. Its basic function is to act as a shock absorber to make the fall more livable." Cyborg scratched the back of his neck as he looked at the piece of smashed metal resting between his friends, "I guess science didn't really pan out, huh?" He gave off a weak chuckle. "I mean, from the look of the cart, I'd say he had no chance of...I mean...The fuckin' thing was totaled, man…"

Robin looked away, "He wasn't found in the cart, Cyborg. He wasn't found in the rubble, either, and we can't find him anywhere else. What are the odds he escaped as it was falling?"

"I don't know man, I can't say I've ever been in the situation. Theoretically, there's no way in hell someone can escape it. I didn't calculate out exact numbers, but the quick napkin math scares the shit out of me. Being generous, I'd give it 5 seconds on impact, neglecting wind resistance. Wind resistance could have given him a few extra seconds." The metallic man looked to the ground. "But, ignoring the huge time constraint… It would be no different than being in an airplane as it's taking off. You would feel that initial pull until you reach terminal velocity, at which point you would almost feel normal. As a bird or something, it would have some affect on his ability to fly, but he could probably take off with some varying success—I can't imagine it being impossible. Actually, I'm sure Beast Boy is used to taking off mid-flight from moving vehicles…" Cyborg casually looked at Raven, who had decided to flip her hood up. "If the safety hatch at the top of the cart popped open from the air pressure, he just needs to get out. After he's out, he would be able to reach safety. So, he merely had to realize he's falling, turn into a bird and then fly upward. Not too impossible…"

Robin's eyes lit up and he began to nod. "Then that's what happened. I refuse to believe a Titan could be killed so easily. He might be a bit childish, but he's clever and instinctual. At the moment the elevator started falling, he would have gone into survival mode and gotten out of there."

Raven sighed. "That's all fine and good, but it doesn't explain why he isn't with us now. If he was nearly killed, he should have reported by now. The only reason he's missing is because he's unable."

"Unable? Actually…That's it!" Robin ran his fingers through his un-gelled hair. "Raven, you might be onto something. We assume he was in the crash…but what if he wasn't? What if the elevator attack was a decoy? What if Beast Boy was taken hostage by our intruder? This was a distraction and they've succeeded in keeping us lost for a few hours."

"Hold up Rob," Cyborg raised his hand into the air, "We can't go writing out a hostage narrative. Beast Boy would have gone kicking and screaming and I'm sure one of us would have heard it. We have to keep looking…There's still a chance our friend is hurt badly, somewhere, and we just haven't found him."

Starfire's eyes glowed with worry, "But where else is he? We have looked everywhere and our friend is nowhere to be seen. It is like he vanished and I do not believe our friend has that power. He is as lost as we are and he needs our help. If he was captured, waiting too long, in this way, could also cost him his life."

"Starfire's right. No matter what we do, we have a time limit. We need a new plan of attack and soon." Robin brought his hands to his face and began to stroke his chin. "We will split up into two groups. Cyborg and I—being less useful at moving debris—will instead focus on what we know of the intruders and see if we have any leads. We will decide who might have done it and send a recon mission as soon as possible. We will find him, if he is a hostage.

"Starfire and Raven will stay here and clean up this mess entirely. Tear everything apart before you throw it away. Look through the rubble piece by piece a second time over." He gulped, but continued regardless. "Look for cloth, bones, blood, or teeth. For all we know, he might be wrapped around a chunk of metal, or worse…Titan's G…"

A loud gust of wind slammed against the staircase door, forcing it open. From within, a shaded figure stepped through. The figure looked to his right, and then to his left, before spotting the four Titans. The figure ran to them with a toothy grin on his face. "Guys! There you are…geez. I've looked everywhere. It's so smokey. What happened?"

"Friend Beast Boy!" Shouted Starfire. She rushed over to him and tackled him with a bear hug. "You were unharmed! We thought you were hurt." She began to squeeze him tight.

"Easy Star, I'm fine. Really," Beast Boy choked, feeling his breath being taken from him. After a few moments, Starfire backed away. "But I have a killer headache. No more screaming, 'kay?"

The five stared at each other in momentary silence, until Robin broke the silence.

"Why didn't you report sooner? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

"I'm sorry Robin. I didn't mean to fall asleep or anything!"

Raven coughed. "…Fall asleep?" She asked. There was unmistakable irritation lingering in her voice.

"What do you mean you fell asleep? Explain," commanded Robin.

Beast Boy looked uncomfortable. The frown on his face gave off an aura of guilt, as if he had done something wrong. "Well, you see, I uh…" He paused, scratching the back of his neck with his right hand. He gave a nervous chuckle. "I woke up really, really early. Like, at five in the morning or something. It was way too early to get up, but I was hungry, you know? So, I got out of bed and made myself a sandwich. It was really good tofu! I started playing video games and got a little carried away. I was so close to beating Monkey Crashers Three when my eyes got really tired. I couldn't concentrate."

Robin interrupted. "Don't you sleep?"

Beast Boy shrugged. "Well...I had planned on going back to sleep right away…but…After I ate, I was wide awake. I couldn't go back to bed! So, I decided to play video games for a few hours. When the sun was close to coming up, I started to feel awful." He started pacing back and forth. "Whenever I'm ultra tired, I go to the roof and fly for a bit. No matter how tired I am, the adrenaline of falling through the air and changing into a falcon right before smashing into the ground totally amps me up. By the time I finish, I'm wide awake.

"So, there I was, in the elevator…" Beast Boy began again, with his hands sprawled out in front of him, his knees slightly bent.

"Why didn't you take the stairs, man? It's only one floor," Cyborg asked.

"Dude, do you know how many stairs there are? No way, I had a problem just getting to the elevator!" Beast Boy cleared his throat. "So…As I was saying! I was in the elevator. I was tired. I pressed the button and it started moving. As soon as the elevator got to the roof, I heard a loud click-like noise and then an explosion. The elevator fell and it scared me to death! Oh man, I didn't know what to do. It felt like I was being slammed into the ground and I knew I had to get out. I was way too tired and my mind was sluggish. I wasn't thinking too clearly, but I thought maybe if I became something really small I'd be safe. I transformed into a black fly and…"

Beast Boy weakly chuckled. "And…I…I'm not sure what happened after that." He chuckled again. "Like, I have no idea. It's all blank. I think I might have rammed my fly-head into a few walls, or something. I woke up in fly-form on the ledge of the roof." The green boy shrugged, slightly uncomfortable at the now shocked look of his teammates.

Raven took a step forward. "What do you mean, you just woke up? Did you get a concussion?"

"…Well, no, at least, I don't think so. I mean, my head hurts, but not like a normal concussion, and…" he tilted his head down to show his scalp to his friends. "Is it bleeding? You know…As a fly…you kinda…run into a lot of things. I just kinda assumed the pain was normal."

Raven continued. "And you just fell asleep?"

He weakly nodded. "I guess I was really tired."

Robin looked irate. He glared at the boy and raised his voice as he talked. "Do you have any idea how worried we were? We've spent the last few hours thinking you might have been killed! This is totally unacceptable, Beast Boy. The next time something like this happens—no matter what the circumstances—you must let us know you're okay. This was really serious and you could have been hurt. At the very least, tell us with your communicator you're okay."

"I'm sorry! I totally didn't tend for this to happen. I wasn't thinking enough to use my my communicator—I don't even know where it went. Possibly fell down with the elevator? Seriously, I didn't want any of this to happen. I didn't want to hurt the elevator. I wasn't an elephant this time around! The falling part was completely unexpected."

"What did I tell you about staying up late?" A sharp voice filled the air. Raven glared daggers at her friend. "This is exactly what I was talking about. It's unacceptable to put the team at risk. If you're tired, you need to sleep. No exceptions. No sleeping outside your room. No irresponsible behavior. No playing video games at night…" Raven's voice trailed off as she slid her head deeper into her hooded robe.

"Believe me, Raven. I won't ever do this again. How do you think I feel? I was almost killed!"

"I think he needs to know. Beast Boy, you weren't the cause of that accident," muttered Cyborg. "Something happened. I don't know how and I don't know why, but that explosion you heard was not because of your weight or because of anything you did. When you brought the elevator to the highest possible position—the roof—the cable mechanism must have triggered a switch. Explosives must have snapped the whole thing, causing the elevator to fall. This was no accident man, someone wanted to kill you."

Silence fell on the team and Cyborg took this moment to diverge the rest of his findings. "The fact that it was set to explode at the highest possible position means a few things. If you study our behavioral patterns, you'll know pretty much the only person who rides the elevator that high is Raven. Robin and I always use the stairs. While you and Starfire rarely go there at all. And even when you do, Beast Boy, you often fly out your own window. Raven uses the elevator as an excuse to read her book in silence for the few minutes she's trapped alone."

Cyborg waited to see if anyone would add their input, but his friends were all interested in what he was suggesting. He continued. "So, first off, we can suspect our attackers were either misinformed about who uses the elevator, or this was an attack on Raven. I doubt the latter, as anyone who knows Raven would know she could merely phase through the roof and float in the open chamber. This attack would be completely useless against such a power. The attack was probably directed at myself or Robin, the two Titans who lack flight and would be most affected by this attack. In other words, their information on our behavior and our abilities wasn't complete enough to plan this out fully …suggesting perhaps a less tactical villain might have been the culprit.

"Second," added Cyborg, "it was made to kill. They wouldn't have it triggered to wait for the cart to be occupied and reach its maximum height when it went off if they didn't want casualties. If they just wanted to scare us, they'd merely set a timer and run. Beast Boy, you mentioned a 'click' noise. A click noise is no timer. It's a trigger.

"Third, and perhaps most interesting, is their method of disarming my security measures. I still don't know how they got into my tower, but I know how they sabotaged my precious elevator. They used explosives of some kind to not attack the steel cables directly, but to instead hit the cable mechanism that holds all six of the cables together. The problem with trying to cut them is finding some way to cut all six cables at one time. Uneven cutting would cause the fall to be off-centered, and the cart would risk sliding horizontally, and perhaps getting clogging. This is a logistical issue. By knocking out the top cable box, all of them would be knocked loose at the same time, causing the cart to potentially fall straight downward. There were two sets of explosives that went off at the same time, where the second set knocked out the bottom cables. They somehow taped down…I'm not sure if tape is the right word. 'Attached,' some sort of plastic casing…perhaps…over the emergency safeties, which catch on the jagged ridges and eventually slow the elevator down. This was some pretty genius work, especially since they did it all without us noticing."

Cyborg stretched his arms behind his back. "In other words, I don't believe a group of villains that skilled would have made such a huge behavioral blunder. Studying our habits would know that Raven could escape such a situation with ease and she would ordinarily be the only threat." He frowned. "Especially not a group smart enough to hack through my security systems. Hell no, they should at least be intelligent enough to survey their victims and find a way to attack the most vulnerable. Trapping an unsuspecting Beast Boy who can transform into a housefly and remain unscathed is stupid.

"No, I suspect two different groups at work here. Someone commissioned the elevator attack and told them how to do it. A different group got it done. In other words, the elevator was likely a decoy of sorts. That remind you of anyone? Someone who goes to elaborate lengths to fuck with us, with no intention of harming us?"

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Slade. That's all the lead I need. I think I might know the other group responsible for pulling this off, but I'll need to think about it. Team, it's time to clean this mess up. Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven, I want you to clean up as best you can. Cyborg and I will do some investigating and figure out our counterattack. Whoever they are, they need to know the Titans will not stand for such behavior. This will not go unpunished. Oh…and Beast Boy…I want to talk with you later tonight. That is final.

"Titan's…Go!" Robin's voice filled the room. It echoed down the halls, until the noise came to an abrupt halt.

Robin's piercing eyes narrowed as he inspected his green teammate. "Beast Boy, this behavior is unacceptable. I feel as if you won't learn from this if I only give you a warning. I think you don't understand how serious this could have been. I…feel like I need to do more as a leader, so that you don't make such mistakes again. I don't want to be harsh on you, Beast Boy. But…I'm left with no choice. This was unacceptable. When we put your safety as the number one priority, we do so under the belief that you did everything in your means possible to follow protocol. When you are missing in action, we expect you are in a position of severe, life-or-death risk. Under these assumptions…We could have jeopardized our tower, our safety, and our future as Titans by prioritizing your health rather than other important matters. Think about it for a second, Beast Boy! Just think about what could have happened if our opposition remained in the building, while we wasted hours of our time sifting through bullshit to make sure you were okay. They could have done further damage to the tower, or they could have attacked us when we were most vulnerable. What if the tower was rigged to explode, while we were all busy sifting through debris? We would have all been killed. The team was so worried—some of us, emotionally defeated, because of you…and you are the direct cause. This…is…unacceptable. I cannot let you continue as you are, Beast Boy."

"But Robin…," Beast Boy interrupted.

Robin roughly cleared his throat. "Enough! You will let me finish. I will not tolerate such irresponsible and childish behavior. Maybe it is time you grew up a little. Do you understand me? Maybe a severe punishment will ensure you never do something so irresponsible again. Your punishment is as follows: First, you are on hiatus from all future missions until I deem otherwise. Second, for the entire duration of your punishment, you have dish and laundry duty. Third, you will clean the tower and perform general tower maintenance routines instead of participating on missions. And finally, you are expected to practice and train additional hours beyond your normal routine, in order to make up for any missed mission experience during your hiatus. There are no exceptions to these rules. Deviance from them will not be excused. You may leave us, if you do not wish to oblige. I cannot let you risk our team again. Do you understand me?"

Beast Boy stood under the doorway in silence. His eyes were wide, before they began to blink at a slow, yet steady rate. His mouth curled into a slight frown, which twisted further. The boy's fingers tightened into a ball, before he clenched them into a shaking fist. A reddish pink hue began to build beneath his green skin. After the passage of a few short seconds, a deeply held breath escaped his lips. He released his grip on the bitter air; his fingers fell limp. Beast Boy's mouth opened as he inhaled to speak. "Bu—," He began, but his voice fell quiet. He stalled in silence, as the spoken syllable felt rough against his sore throat.

Beast Boy nodded once, before leaving the room.

The siren sounded and four Titans mobilized. They stood in the lounge, as Cyborg read aloud the nature of the alarm. It appeared two of the six HIVE FIVE members were spotted near the city bank. Windows had been broken and several citizens had reported verbal threats issued by the teenaged villains. The report suggested that a large quantity of the bank's vault may be at risk of being looted. The Titans were urged to hurry down to the bank and provide protection for the citizens as the primary goal, with a secondary goal of ensuring no valuables were taken. The police had been issued as a means of temporarily slowing the HIVE FIVE down, until the Titans could take over.

Robin nodded and then shouted, "Titan's, Go!"

But before the Titans could begin their departure, Raven broken the silence. "Robin," She muttered and the three Titans turned to her direction.

The look on Robin's face was of confusion. "Uh…Yes, Raven? Is something the matter?" He asked, with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm not feeling well." She muttered, "I may be a bit unstable given these circumstances. Fight without me."

Robin nodded, "I suppose you're right… I agree with your judgment. If you're not feeling up to it, definitely get some rest. You blacked out earlier and you may still be a bit dizzy. Just take it easy for the next few days, okay?"

Starfire and Cyborg nodded in unison.

"Yeah, man," added Cyborg. "Those idiots ain't got nothin' on us. It's way more important you get your rest. We could take all six of them at once and still be fine."

Starfire's voice chimed in, "Most definitely! Your health is much valued to us and we appreciate your concern for it! Please, rest well! Know that we will surely be safe!"

"…Thanks," Raven responded, begrudgingly.

After a momentary pause, Robin looked back at the red alert screen and nodded once more. "If this is settled, we must hurry before the HIVE FIVE can get a chance to run away…Titan's, GO!"

When Beast Boy left his room and entered the lounge, he did not expect to see her on the couch reading a book. She sat there in silence, eyes focused on the bound pages resting in her hands. He had no intention of talking to anyone; he had hoped for at least a few hours of alone time given the circumstances. And yet, he couldn't help but glance at the lone girl. Why would she be at home reading and not protecting the city?

He turned his back on her and strutted into the kitchen. He clicked the faucet on and began to lather up a sponge. The dirty dishes appeared to be an assorted collection of many days' work. They were piled high into the air, sometimes eleven plates or bowls at a time. Ordinarily, it would be two more days before Starfire would take her turn to clean them.

Dishes wouldn't be so bad if they used their dish washer, but when feeding for five lazy teens three times a day—occasionally even more, given that Titans East, friends, business associates, and other acquaintances came to visit so frequently—there were typically too many dishes for it to fit in one load, let alone three or four. The Titans rarely bothered to clean their dishes or run a load every few days; they instead were in the habit of letting a week or more of dishes stack up at a time. Trying to deal with a dish washer just wasn't great for time management. It was almost always faster to just wash, scrub, lather, scrub again, and then rinse each dish one at a time.

Beast Boy hated dish duty, and rarely ever did it in a timely manner. When it was his turn, he was almost always days too late, and sometimes he did a rather poor job. Not because he couldn't take the time or effort to make them sparkle, but because he always had so many more important things to do. There was always a game he daydreamed about, and the constant do-nothing-but-scrub mentality made it incredibly hard for him to focus. His excitement normally got the best of him and he would cut a few corners to finish as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, this time, he wanted nothing more than to spite Robin and show that he could be mature if he wanted. Even if it meant doing the dishes, he would play this stupid game. It was asinine that Robin would treat him like such a little kid, especially without giving him a chance to explain himself.

He scrubbed his sixth dish. He sighed loudly as he glared at the extremely huge pile of shit to clean that still rest on the counter. It was this mundane activity that felt so boring to Beast Boy. He hated just standing there, letting the slightly too hot water singe his hands as he scrubbed rotting, meat-splattered messes off dirty surfaces. He wondered if he could finish within the hour and be free for weeks to come. Maybe he would only have to wash them four times in the next few months. Five, max?

"Want help?" Raven asked.

"No, I'm fine," Responded Beast Boy.

Beast Boy blinked. He set down the glass he had just lathered, turned away from the sink, left the hot water running, and let his soapy hands drip on the floor. His mouth agape. "H-huh? D-did you j-just…"

"Okay then," She muttered back, her eyes returned to her book.

"But Raven, Robin would be so angry if he found out…and, it wouldn't be a punishment if you helped me. I mean…part of my punishment is supposed to be doing all this stuff alone, I think? Right? Uh, well… I mean, it's stupid and he's so wrong! What if you guys got hurt and I'm not there to help? He's hurting the team even more! Like, I mean, I can practice and wash dishes, or whatever he wants me to do, on my own time, you know! It shouldn't get in the way of our team…I should be there with you guys…and…"

"Okay then," Repeated Raven.

"But…Why did you…?" Beast Boy asked. " I mean…You never…"

"Right. I never," Raven nodded, keeping her eyes focused on her reading.

"But…then…why…"

Raven shut her book. "Don't you have dishes to wash? I'm trying to read," She growled.

Beast Boy blinked again, before hesitating. He turned back to the dishes and continued to wash them. He scrubbed that dish for five minutes too long.

It was much too late when he finished. He dried his hands on the towel he had used to dry the dishes, and considered throwing it in the laundry. Rather…Getting it ready for when he did the laundry in a few minutes. Beast Boy sighed, before looking over at the motionless girl. Raven was still reading. She had not moved—not even to change positions—for the full duration of his misery.

Beast Boy looked back at the sink and saw the wet sponge sitting near the faucet. He chuckled to himself. "Hey Raven!" The boy hollered. "Catch!" He tossed the dirty sponge in her direction. The sponge turned black, before it dropped to the ground. Raven didn't look up from her book.

"Raven…" Beast Boy repeated. "Why didn't you go with them? Why are you reading when they're likely risking their lives and stuff…"

"Don't you have laundry to do?" Raven asked, as she turned a page.

Beast Boy winced, before he chuckled. "Heh-heh, yeah, kinda…." He jumped over the edge of the coach perpendicular to where Raven sat and casually slammed onto the cushion. He lay down, stretching his legs. "But I'm exhausted and my feet hurt. So…why aren't out fighting crime?"

"Sick," she responded.

Beast Boy looked at her skeptically. "You don't look sick…"

"Am," she stated.

"Really? But you never get sick...and you're acting like you always do."

"I'm reading, you know," Raven muttered.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't be reading! What if they're in some mondo-huge fight right now? They could be hurt, Raven…You should'a went with them."

"Possibly."

He sighed, "What was the mission, anyway? What did I miss? Nobody told me anything…"

"Hive," Raven turned another page, "bank robbery."

"…But there's six of them, that might be difficult for Robin, Star…"

"Only two," She corrected.

"Come on, Raven! Stop reading for a second! Talk to me…please?"

She closed her book and looked at him. "And?" She asked.

"Aren't you even a little bit worried? Okay, I totally understand. They're fine and if they weren't, they would definitely let us know if they were in any danger…but…what if it really had been something serious? Why did you stay behind? You're the responsible one!"

"Because I'm guilty," she shrugged, before opening her book and beginning to read.

"Oh no you don't!" He demanded, "You can't just say that and go back to reading! What do you mean, guilty? Raven! C'mon!"

"Fine," she growled. "If you must know, Robin—and I—are mad at you for staying up too late, not sleeping enough, falling asleep at unacceptable places, and for endangering the team with irrational behavior. Does that remind you of anyone?"

"Who?" Asked Beast Boy.

She sighed, "Can I read yet?"

"Raven…"

"You played video games last night, did you not?"

"Well…"

"Well?"

"Well…Kinda…"

"…And?"

"I'm sorry? I won't ever do it again, especially if you're sleeping. I totally didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Good. Now let me read."

Beast Boy nodded, relieved that she didn't get angry. He turned to leave the room. However, he stopped mid-step, and spun around. "Hey! Wait a minute… Dammit Raven! Tell me…what are you guilty of? Why didn't you go with them? What is going on? Quit playing games!"

"Not so fun, is it?"

"Games can be fun…if it's the right game…"

"Throwing a sponge at me is the right game?"

"You were supposed to get up and dodge it…you've been on the couch for hours! If you're sick, you should lay down…"

"You were right. I'm not sick."

"Well, still, staying in one spot for so long isn't good. You should move around and…wait, dammit. Raven, stop! Just tell me…What do you mean, you're 'guilty'? Guilty of what?"

"I've slept like three hours in three days, I fell asleep in the lounge against my will, and I jeopardized the team's safety while you were gone. I probably risked my own life in the most irresponsible way."

Beast Boy shook his head. "No Raven…Don't worry about stuff like that! I doubt it was anything important. You always make good judgments and Robin isn't mad at you. So, you shouldn't be here right now…"

Her eyes narrowed. "But he SHOULD be mad at me. And you shouldn't be here, either. Now let me read."

"Well...I…" The clock on the far wall chimed, twelve at night. "I…should do the laundry before Robin returns…otherwise, I'll only make him even more furious…" He frowned and walked out the door and into the hallway. Before the door could close, he added, "…But thanks, Rae…I mean it."

Author's Note: If you have the time, please drop me a review. Thanks!