Raven could feel a headache coming on as the lift opened onto the common room. Aspects filled the room, lounging over the sofas and taking up most of the chairs in the kitchen. They were arguing with each other loudly.
Raven once again resolved herself to return Beast Boy to how he should be as fast as possible. One of the animal shifter was more than enough. This was just getting ridiculous.
Seeing Cyborg standing guard over the fridge Raven quickly made her way over. The other Titan a point of steely calm in the storm.
"Yo! Good to see you back." His bionic eye gazed to the three Aspects following her and his expression fell somewhat more flat. "And you brought some more BBs, great."
"It's getting a bit cramped in here" she stated, taking another glance around the room.
"Tell me about it. Don't get me wrong, I love BB man, he's my best friend, but we don't need more than one of him that's for sure."
Raven felt her lips quirking upward. She couldn't agree more. "Robin and Star?"
"Back as well, Robin got a bit banged up though. Stars helping him ice the bruises" Cyborg gave the customary eyebrow wiggle. Raven rolled her eyes. Robins and Stars awkward dance around each other had long ceased to be amusing and was now downright exasperating to watch. "Now that you're back too we can have another meeting as soon as their done."
"Right" Raven felt herself relax somewhat, taking refuge in Cyborgs large shadow. A charming gold tinted Aspect offered her a cup of tea which Raven took with some surprise. "So who have we got?" she asked, gesturing with her cup to the Aspects.
"The tea dispenser is Charity. The spidery guy following behind is Greed. Don't put your cup down if you don't want to lose it, guys a helpless kleptomaniac. Star brought them in." Raven watched with some fascination as the adult Beast Boy gently, but firmly, forced the four arms away from the couch cushion and returned it to the dark blue, short furred Aspect who was using it to sit upon a large out of place gray box. It had a fish on it.
"What the?" she muttered.
"Ah" said Cyborg, following her line of sight. He grimaced slightly. "That was my errand. Modesty's the one on the box. They're Beast Boys sense of embarrassment, so pretty timid." Raven raised a surprised eyebrow, Cyborg snorted. "Yeah apparently BB does feel some shame for his jokes. Just not enough to stop, I guess."
"And the box?"
'Oh, err. So that's Lust. And be glad he's in there, Modesty wrestled him into it to cool him down by the time I arrived, but from what I saw it was no bad thing."
"Is he okay in there?" asked Raven, taking another sip.
Cyborg gave a careless shrug, "No one's made a move to let him out, so I guess so. Anyway, the last few Robin brought in are over there." Cyborg waved to a group of unfairly muscles Aspects lounging around the twitching form of the sleeping Instinct. "Courage, Confidence and Arrogance. Angers with them too but since he flys into a rage every time he wakes up they tied him up and put him in a gag."
"That stopped him? Couldn't he just shift out of it."
"They don't seem to like shifting. Ya know, more than the weird appendages and colouring a whatnot. I'm thinking they can shift, otherwise Lust would never fit in the box, but they seem to avoid doing so."
Before Raven could speculate on that any further the lift opened once again, and Robina and Starfire stepped through. Both of their faces relaxed once they saw her, and Raven flashed them a quick smile.
Robin approached the trio of Serenity, Wisdom and Knowledge who had been deep in conversation over the maps of Jump city. A continuous scroll of police chatter and social media posts streaming past them. Quickly finishing off her tea Raven and Cyborg made their way over too. Cyborg throwing one last piercing glare at the surrounding Aspects before reluctantly leaving his vigil over the fridge.
The two groups arranged themselves around the screen. Some of the more powerful Aspects drew a bit closer. Obviously listening in.
"I'm glad to see everyone's back safe" started Serenity, eyes warming when they fell on Raven. "We've come to a bit of a discovery, though it could be mere coincidence."
"What kind of discovery" asked Robin.
"It appears the scattering of the Aspects throughout the city is not as random as we thought. Considering what you all encountered when you went to fetch your Aspects and what the Aspects themselves have said it seems that similar or directly opposite Aspects are congregated."
"This should make it much easier to find them all. Not to mention it means that stronger more reasonable Aspects will have hopefully subdued any trouble caused by other more dangerous Aspects without us having to do anything" added in Wisdom. "The most we should have to do is just go and collect them."
Around her Raven could see her fellow Titans nodding in agreement. Their own experiences having shown them just how efficient the Beast Boys were at subduing each other.
"What about the Aspects now?" asked Robin. Looking towards the tied-up Anger and the sulking Greed. "I agree we need to bring them back but we're already running out of room. We need to have a plan to subdue them once they are here."
"Hmm" Serenity glanced around, his piercing eyes landing on the more troublesome Aspects. As they did so they fell upon Ravens group of Aspects. He stiffened; teeth bared back in a snarl. Raven felt herself tense in surprise; it was the most negative reaction she had seen from the charismatic Aspect so far. The repulsion looked alien on his face.
"Who" he announced slowly, "brought them?"
"I did" said Raven, just as deliberate. His bright eyes turned to her, scanning up and down and she was startled to see concern behind the urgency of the action.
"Are you hurt? Did they do anything?"
"What?" Raven took a small step back in surprise. "I'm fine."
Serenity pursed his lips, slowly taking her in once more. He relaxed marginally. "Then, that's fine. Stay away from them in the future."
"What, why?" she asked, looking back to the small huddle of Aspects. She would readily admit they weren't the most attractive Aspects, especially compared to the likes of Serenity and Courage, but all of them were young and small. They hardly looked like much of a threat. "They don't seem very dangerous."
"Who are they?" asked Robin, taking Serenity's warning much more seriously.
"Doubt and Contempt" snapped Raven. "Considering those are self-destructive traits I would hardly think them dangerous."
"And the third?" said Serenity. "Did they tell you who they are?"
Raven opened her mouth and then paused. Had they? Had she even asked? The dark Aspect darted out a tongue, licking their short claws before catching her eye. They smiled, quickly pulling their hands behind their back and rocking on their heels. Smiling innocently. Doubt pressed themselves further back into the wall. Faintly trembling.
"Well, who are they?" she snapped, gathering herself.
"Cruelty." Serenity stated deeply, voice sombre. "They are the feeling of cruelty. Just as Bloodlust might be the animalistic part of us that seeks to kill, Cruelty is the human part of us that reveals in causing pain to others." The words fell heavy and sombre, "they can be far more creative in their execution."
Raven swallow slightly, taking in the Aspect with a new eye. Serenity's tone left no room to doubt the truth of his words. It was just hard to think that Beast Boy could have a part of him that would enjoy the suffering of others. Raven might have taken her time warming to the green shapeshifter and find his more exuberant sense of humour trying at times, but she had never doubted his sincerity as a hero. His willingness to help others and do what was best. She had seen him chase down villains as a tiger and leave not a single scratch on them afterwards.
Yet here was living proof that no matter how small, how deeply buried, that twisted sadistic part of her teammate existed. Raven narrowed her eyes in thought, taking a closer look around the room and the various Aspects. Greed, small and subdued in Charities shadow. Anger, muscled but dwarfed compared to Courage. Arrogance, a teenager compared to the adult Confidence. Her own collection of unwanted emotions, children, malformed and malnourished.
In the end Beast Boy was human, ugly parts and all, but it was clear where the strength of his soul lay.
"Should we be looking to isolate them?" said Robin, frowning in Cruelty's direction. "Just how exactly can you maintain control over all these dangerous aspects?"
"I would prefer to have them where I can see them actually" said Serenity, slowly moving his gaze away. "Isolating the Aspects might only increase the danger they bring. Being next to other Aspects, especially more powerful ones of the opposite spectrum, will help subdue them. On their own they would be free to run wild."
"This is true" spoke up Starfire. "When I was sent to capture the Aspect of Greed, I noticed the drawing back of his person in the presence of Charity. Greed became weakened in their midst."
"Sounds like it's best if we just leave you guys to it then" grumbled Cyborg. Not looking too happy with the decision himself.
"It's the best we can do," said Wisdom. "Now that some of the stronger physical Aspects have arrived, I don't think we need to worry about any other Aspects getting out of control."
"Though it is getting a bit full in here" pointed out Knowledge once again. "Perhaps moving some of the more physically minded Aspects to the training room would be a good idea? That way if a fight does break out there's going to be less property damage. We can always remove the weapons and stuff."
Robin nodded along, looking pleased with suggestion, "the training room also has a number of simulations we can start to slow them down if need be."
"The cameras are set to run at all times anyway for safety reasons, but I can activate the bio-monitoring equipment and door locks. That should alert us if anyone gets too rowdy or tries to leave," said Cyborg.
"Sounds good," said Robin. "Do you think the aspects will agree?"
Serenity shrugged, "I don't see why not. I will be keeping Instinct here with me, however. I am the best to subdue him if something does anger him. None of the other Aspects will have the strength."
Raven took in the Aspect, certainly they were well muscled in an Olympic sprinter kind of way. All broad shoulders tapering down to a slim waist but compared to the behemoth that was Instinct the Aspect might as well have been a child. But remembering seeing the great animal dip its heads for some ear scratches she decided to keep quiet. If Serenity said he could subdue Instinct she would have to believe him. Raven certainly didn't fancy her chances.
"Not to put too fine a point on it man, but how many more of you BB's are there? And do we really need to find them?" asked Cyborg. "Ain't there enough of you here now to put my boy back together yet?"
"I need all the aspects Cy" said Raven sternly. "Not only could leaving out an Aspect cause the reverse ritual to fail but it could damage Beast Boys soul and psyche forever more."
"You can reverse the ritual then?" asked Serenity.
"I believe so, yes. There wasn't all that much information at the research centre but judging by the glyphs left over and the scriptures they used to protect themselves I've narrowed down the basics of the ritual they used. With a bit more research I should be able to reverse engineer it to some degree, changing the parameters, as it were, from 'seek and separate' to 'seek and merge'."
"And this merging can't happen over a distance?" questioned Robin.
"No. Not unless you have a massive amount of magic with which to power the ritual. The cultists used part of the gathered magic they got from sacrificing people for weeks to power this thing. It's why the Aspects have been so scattered when the magic backfired."
She gave everyone a hard flat stare. "Since I assume we're not going to start sacrificing anyone, let alone half of Jump, and I'm going to be powering the ritual on my own I need all the Aspects close by. The nearer to 'whole' Beast Boy is already the less energy the ritual will take. Having already lost Bloodlust it's imperative we retain all the other Aspects."
"Well, we can help with that at least" gruffed out Wisdom. "Now that there are more of use around it's easier to tell what we're still missing. Like pointing out the gaps, you know. We also know that we Aspects can sense each other over short distances too."
Remembering the sight of Cruelty swinging his head back and forth, as if smelling out Doubt and Contempt Raven could only nod in agreement.
"We think it might be best if you scour the city along with some of the Aspects" said Serenity, looking towards Robin for objection. "We're not picking up on many disturbances and waiting for the Aspects to make a nuisance of themselves might take a long time. Better we start searching for them now."
Everyone looked to Robin, expecting his normal objections to trusting and working with the unknown Aspects.
"I agree" he said, much to their surprise. Wincing, Robin rubbed self-consciously at his back, heavy with bruising. "Some of the Aspects are much stronger than I originally thought. The other BB's seem to have the easiest time subduing them. If they can also help us find the rest of the Aspects that are hiding in the city, then we should take them with us." He frowned at the slightly smiling Serenity, "we will move in teams though. No Aspect is to go off on their own."
"Of course," acquiesced Serenity mildly. "We need to keep a couple of Aspects here to subdue the others. Courage, Charity," both of the nearby Aspects perked up, having been listening in. "You go with them. Help find the other Aspects."
"Will do" saluted Courage with an almost feral grin. Charity only smiled and came to stand closer. "Any Aspect in particular to go after first."
"Hatred" said Wisdom, consulting with Knowledge quickly. "It's one of the few Aspects with motive. So, we're expecting him to try and leave the city. We have several egress points under surveillance but there's only so much we can do. Considering he's likely trying to get out of the country we better grab him before he manages it."
"Ahh, yeah" Courage winced, obviously knowing exactly where Hatred would the heading. "I'll go after him then. You with me?" he asked, nudging Robin with a conspiratorial grin.
Robin didn't respond to the light-hearted jab but did nod his ascent. "Cyborg you come too. We might need your tech expertise. Star, are you…"
"I will be fine" reassured Star, giving Robin a gentle smile. "I have recovered from earlier. If you are free to fight with squished blue skin, I will be fine."
"Not to worry" said Charity, melodious voice washing over them. Raven was surprised, could the normal Beast Boy sound like that? Could he sing? She had never thought to ask. "Considering the Aspects still out there, Hatred is by far the most dangerous. We shall seek out some of our more benign but impulsive Aspects. There should be no danger."
"Good luck catching those heathens" said Wisdom, not unkindly. Charity smiled wider, shrugging.
"We'll try our best. They're good kids really. But I can't say the ability to fly won't help."
"We're all agreed then. We'll move the Aspects into the training room and then head out. Wisdom, Knowledge, keep us updated on any developments," said Robin. The two Aspects mumbled out a 'you got it' while turning back to the screens. "Raven, you do what you need to be prepare for that ritual and Serenity…"
"I will keep everyone here subdued and behaved. Though should you need me, you only need to call."
"Great. Well, Titans, go!"
They set about their activities. Courage gathering up Arrogance and Anger, taking them along with Confidence to the training room where Robin and Cyborg were busy preparing the safety measures. Starfire got to chatting with Charity, the two having hit it off on the way back from the mall. Discussing the Aspects, they would be seeking out. Raven drifted away, thoughts already on the ritual she would need to conduct. Glyphs and chants running through her mind.
Watching her depart and distracted by the search Serenity failed to notice as Cruelty slowly sidled his way over to the forgotten Greed.