Robin kept a close eye on Wisdom as the Aspect brought up a console. The man looked like BB, if painted with a different colour pallet and twenty years older, but-he just couldn't help but think of the red beast, Bloodlust. The way it had lunged without hesitation, the way it had splattered the cultist across the ground, blood up to its eyes. The way Instinct had torn it apart just as graphically. This BB looked much more human, but if one Aspect was so deranged and dangerous, who was to say another wasn't?

He certainly didn't trust Serenity. Every time he was around the Aspect it was like his thoughts were being pressed upon. His very being imposed on by the Aspect. The whole thing gave him a headache. Still, Robin hadn't been a superhero for years for nothing. He knew how to adapt to an unexpected situation.

"There haven't been any alerts sent to Titan tower" he said, watching Wisdom from the corner of his eye.

The older Aspect nodded, sharing his own console screen. Robin was surprised to see that the Aspect was looking at twitter.

"Considering the time of night there shouldn't be to many people about. Of course, the Aspects, especially the few more dangerous ones, are likely to seek people out. But we should consider this, they look like me-that is to say-like Beast Boy."

"Apart from Bloodlust and Instinct," cut in Robin.

Wisdom paused, then nodded. "Yes, apart from them. But they originate from my more animal side. Us more human Aspects so far have not looked too different from our normal form, apart from the coloring of course."

"Why does that matter?"

"We are well known figures and defenders of the city. If a disturbance was to be caused by an Aspect it wouldn't be to unusual to think that people would assume we are fighting a villain of some sort. And are not, in fact, the miscreant to be apprehended."

"So they may hesitate in phoning the police, thinking we-you-have got it handled" muttered Robin, starting to understand. He minimized the police tracking reports and too opened up a different social media site. Though he navigated it far less deftly than the Aspect did. Few realized but Beast Boy was the one to handle all the Teen Titans official social media accounts and PR.

"Yes. People are pretty strange, if they think there is some kind of fight half the time they will stay to watch. And if they do that you can guarantee someone going to post about it."

"That's logical. We can set an alert up on all the normal sites. But that might not give us a location."

"If there is a video or pictures, we should be able to match it to maps of the city with a bit of work. Or maybe we will be lucky, and someone will have location tracking on. Mostly I'm hoping that the act of being split will confuse most Aspects enough that we have time to rest before they start causing to much damage."

"Is that likely to happen? You, Serenity and Knowledge seemed to get it together pretty quick."

"Well…" Wisdom paused in their typing, scratching thoughtfully at the scruff around his jaw. "Both I and Knowledge are thinking Aspects, we are not emotionally driven and so are fairly calm. Bloodlust and Instinct work on an animal basis, they do not think too deeply, they simply are. So, I wouldn't expect them to spend time wondering about the situation. And Serenity's-well, Serenity. Nothing much moves that guy. Some of the other Aspects however, might be thrown off by the sheer emotional upheaval being split has caused them."

"But surely if they are an accumulation of one emotion, they will simply act on it rather than thinking about it?"

Wisdom sighed, shrugging. "That is also a possibility, but it won't hurt to think positively. While there are certainly a number of dangerous Aspects there are just as many benevolent ones. The fact that they have not gathered here or tried to contact us gives me hope that the more emotional Aspects may not be coping so well with the split as to act immediately."

They trailed off into a thoughtful silence. Wisdom cleared his throat and went back to typing. "Either way, there is little we can do other than wait for contact or monitor for disturbances. If we hear nothing, we will just have to wait until Star and Raven are recovered enough to start reminiscence."

"It shouldn't be too long on that front, y'all" interrupted Cyborg, entering the room once more. Robin gave him a searching look when he saw that Starfire wasn't with him. "Stars gonna be fine dude. You know how tough she is. I've given her some pain meds but it's just heavy bruising. The whole ritual thing really did her head in though and since her powers also rely on her emotions, I sent her for a nap to get herself together. She should be up and around in an hour or two."

Cyborg looked at the main console, scanning everything with his bionic eye. There was a series of beeps orientating from his arm. With deftness he brought up a holo-screen from his mechanical arm. It quickly morphed into a small 3D representation of the Titans tower.

"Looks like we're gonna have company soon. Instincts climbing the building. I'll grab the windows."

Robin watched as Instinct made his appearance through the floor to ceiling windows of the tower. The beast had shifted to include a small army of suckers on the underside of its hands and feet with which it clung to the wall. Getting to the window it sniffed it and tossed its head, looking reluctant to enter through the relatively small space. There was a ding as the elevator doors opened and Serenity glided in. He made a series of shushing clicking sounds, encouraging the beast to come inside.

Though clearly agitated Instinct was eventually coaxed into coming inside by Serenity pilfering one of Cyborgs prize hams. Robin couldn't help feeling rather queasy as the great animal slowly distended its spine, shoulders popping out of place, vertebra elongating, hips misaligning so it could squeeze itself through the gap in the window. He was suddenly immensely grateful that BB always made sure his normal shifting happened quickly in a blink of an eye. He didn't want to think about his friend slowly melting his own skeleton and turning himself inside out to become some sort of bug or bird or something.

Instinct reformed himself, shaking out his mane as he did so and enjoying his ham in one indulgent chomp. It circled a cleared patch of carpet for some time before settling down in an inelegant mound, curling its long tail under its chin, the tip flicking slowly and back and forth. It fell into a light doze.

Robin had a thought that he should have made them leave the Aspect in the garage. Having a predator more than five times his size in the room wasn't doing any wonders for his blood pressure. Every small huff of breath or twitch of an ear had a shot of adrenaline shooting through his system. It was hell on his nerves.

In contrasts the Beast Boys were unconcerned. With their surveillance plan set in motion there was nothing for them to do but wait in tense, awkward silence.

—

Raven trailed back into the common room, feeling a lot more centred and rested. Her powers hovered under her skin, weakened but willing and ready to be controlled. Knowledge obediently trotted beside her, going over to Wisdom to start chatting.

Raven sought out Robins eyes, wearily glancing over Instinct. "What's the situation?" she asked, looking up to the scrolling console.

"We've set up an alert on all social media sites and have the normal police tracker on. I've alerted a few of the more discreet officers to expect something but haven't given them much detail. We're hoping to contain this before there's too much of a back lash."

"Is our image really what's important right now?"

"We can't have people losing trust in the Titans because of something like this. We will release a statement if needed. Did you find out anything that might help with fusing BB back together?"

Raven sighed, "not a lot unfortunately. There are various different ways to go about soul fusion but, well, these kinds of rituals are not generally created with benevolent reasons in mind."

"I don't imagine so" whispered Robin.

"My best bet is to try and reverse engineer what was done. Unfortunately, since this situation isn't what the ritual was originally intended for that might be tricky. But it's the only thing I can think of right now."

"Considering this is BB's soul we're talking about I was kind of hoping for more than a 'might' Raven."

Raven scowled, "soul magic isn't exact Robin. Especially with a mess such as this. I won't risk hurting Beast Boy but leaving him like this is as good as sentencing him to death anyway."

"Er, right…sorry."

Raven relaxed, she could see by her leaders face that he meant no harm. Truthfully no one could be more worried about what a soul fusing ritual entailed more than her. The guilt of having been saved by Beast Boy not once but twice in the last few days weighed on her heavily. The thought of hurting him again through her own incompetence was crippling.

"Yo! Dudes, I think we got something!" shouted Cyborg, breaking her train of thought. "Someone's tweeting about a fight downtown. BB's name comes up."

"I think I have something as well" said Wisdom seriously. "A bit more problematic than a fight. There's been a small outcry by some women about being accosted on the way to work. The Titans name is referenced one. I'll try and see if I can get more for a location."

"I have been informed of another situation. A mall has reported vandalism and theft. The local mall vigil says something about a rouge green person. That would be our friend BB, yes?' said Star from her own console.

"They all came in at once?" asked Robin, disbelieving.

"It's nearing six now. Early risers will be out. I suspect any confusion or danger the Aspects felt may have waned with the light," said Serenity. "We should split up to deal with them. Between two of us tackling one human Aspect should not be too difficult.

"Robin and I should head to the disturbance downtown. It appears to be the most destructive so far. Cyborg and Wisdom should be able to track the other instance once they figure out a location. Then Star and Raven can deal with the mall. From what we intercepted that appears fairly straight forward. If it's an Aspect specifically targeting things rather than people, it's likely something like Greed or Gluttony. Not terribly dangerous."

Raven felt herself stand to attention as she was mentioned but caught herself before she nodded in agreement. The tone of Serenity's voice was firm and brook no argument, to the point it had her almost complying without thought.

"I'm not having any of you leave the tower" snapped Robin, bristling defensively and staring down the taller Aspect. "None of you can be trusted."

"You can't be serious" muttered Serenity. "We are literally Beast Boy. We are the things that make him up. What of us isn't trustworthy? Or do you not trust Beast Boy at all?"

"I trust BB just fine. But I don't trust this situation. I'm not having potentially unstable variables harm my team any further. All of you will stay here."

The two locked eyes, stubborn will against stubborn will. Serenity bared his teeth, snarling between thin lips before straightening. "Very well. If that's your decision. We will stay here and help coordinate. But if you need backup we will come."

"We'll be able to handle it" growled Robin. "We've fought BB before. It'll be no different from training."

"You haven't fought him like this" warned Serenity, but fell silent at Robins quelling look. The rest of the Titans looked to their leader, tense with the confrontation.

"It won't take two of use to handle Beast Boy. I'll go downtown, Cyborg can tackle the other disturbance once know where it is."

"I think I might have a general location" interpreted Wisdom, who hadn't stopped working all this while. "More confused posts and stuff are coming in. Someone mentioned a street name."

"Good, Wisdom will coordinate. Raven, act as reminiscence from the air. Star do you think you can handle the mall with your shoulder?"

"I am tougher than I may look. Fighting is no problem."

"Good, right. Titans-"

"I'm going to the ritual site" interrupted Raven sharply before their leader could mutter his auspicious catchphrase. Robin closed his mouth with a snap.

"What?"

"I'm going to the ritual site. As important as it is to gather the Aspects together, if I don't have any clue as to how the ritual worked I will have no hope of fusing them back together. We've waited long enough already. We can't afford for anything to happen to what clues are left."

"Do you really think that's much of a concern? It's not like that place was on a most visited tourist attraction list?" asked Cyborg.

"The cultists knew where it was. For all we know they could go back to cover it up. Or recover what they could."

"I'm pretty sure they all fled for their lives when their buddies met their final end." Everyone avoided looking at Instinct, the lumbering beast breathing deeply in the corner.

"We can't chance it. I need to go."

"Are you sure it will be safe?" worried Serenity. "You forget that you were the original target of this ritual Raven. If any of the cultists do return you could be in danger. Someone should go with you."

"We don't have the people or the time right now. I'll be fine," Raven assured but it didn't stop the worried furrow in Serenity's brow. Nor the hesitant biting of Starfire's lip and Robins reluctant scowl. "Look, we were caught off guard last time. We thought we knew what they were doing and were caught off guard but that won't happen again. I can handle any stray cultist there might be. But BB's life depends on me figuring out the ritual."

"…fine" muttered Robin. "Cyborg you'll have the handle the disturbance on your own."

"No problem."

"Raven get to the ritual site, do what you need to do but I want you on coms at all times. If anything happens you are to abandon the place, understood?" Seeing her open her mouth to argue Robin was sure to strengthen his voice. "Understood, Raven?"

"…got it" she reluctantly agreed.

"Are you sure one of us can not accompany her? It would be safer" implored Serenity, the slightest bit of pleading entering his placid hypnotic voice.

"…if anything happens you can go, but otherwise I want you here."

"Err, not to interrupt but the disturbance downtown appears to be getting worse. I think someone phoned in the police" stuttered Knowledge.

"Right. Titans you know what you need to do. Move out."