The Case of the Missing Changeling

Cyborg and Robin paused in front of Raven's door.

"Y'all sure we should?" the half-robot asked while he scratched the back of his head. It was a clear sign of nervousness; as advanced and sophisticated the sensors on the surface of his titanium alloy armor were, they were never designed to create a sensation of itching.

"How bad can it be?" the leader of the Titans shrugged. "Go ahead, knock."

"Uh… why don't you do it?" Cyborg mumbled with obvious apprehension. "I could, um, damage the door."

Robin's eyebrow went up. "Don't tell me you're afraid!"

"Afraid?" Cyborg's mouth twisted in a sickly smile. "Of Rae? Why should I be?"

"Exactly!" Robin chuckled. "Now knock!"

Cyborg frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, then, Oh Fearless Leader, if it's such a small, insignificant thing, why don't you knock?"

"Geez, you're such a coward!" Robin snorted, then lifted his hand, ready to knock on the door. "As if Raven would be…" he swallowed a sudden lump in his throat, "… upset."

His hand retreated and his finger ran under his collar, relieving the feeling of smothering heat. "Um, maybe we shouldn't be interrupting her meditation."

He heard his teammate's derisive snort and looked up to see a smirk twisting the human part of Cyborg's face. Robin scowled, grit his teeth, lifted a clenched fist and knocked. After all, Raven was their friend. You could say she was their sister. An older sister, to be sure, and one with a very short and very acerbic temper, a razor-sharp tongue and the power to banish them both to an unnamable corner of Hell. But of course, she would never –

The door hissed open. Cyborg quickly stepped behind Robin and tried to make himself as small as possible.

"What is it?" Raven inquired in her usual dispassionate tone, but for some reason both boys shivered as if exposed to a sudden blast of Arctic wind. She was wrapped from head to toe in her cloak and the hood was pulled up over her head. Her eyes glowed a dangerous crimson from within its dark depths. There was a hint of a rosy blush on the visible part of her features, but whether it was a reflection of the hellfire burning in her eyes or just an angry flush, they couldn't be certain.

Robin swallowed and found his voice. "We're… um… looking for… uh… Beast Boy."

The glow in Raven's eyes intensified. Two angry red slits appeared above her brows.

"The last time I looked, the name stenciled on this door spelled 'Raven'."

"Uh… we, um, know that, but we were, uh, looking for him and his, um, communicator tracker is indicating he's, uh, here…"

The fire in Raven's four eyes blazed. "Are you implying that I'm keeping Beast Boy in my room?" Part of Robin's mind wondered how was it that Raven managed to inject so much menace into a monotonous, neutral tone of voice.

"No, not at all, little sis!" Cyborg replied hurriedly, seeing that Robin was too busy swallowing to be able to speak. "It's just that the tracker, uh, points to… your room," he choked off the last words and tried to cringe behind Robin.

The slits above Raven's eyes faded away and the sanguine fire in them burned low to an ash-covered garnet. "His communicator may be malfunctioning. Or your tracker."

"That could be it," the Boy Wonder agreed with relieved haste, then frowned. "He may be morphed into an animal. We don't really know what happens with his uniform and the other stuff he's carrying when he changes."

"Yes, that must be it!" the half-robot agreed, nodding his head vigorously like a bobblehead. "Maybe it gets transported to a pocket dimension, and then the precise location would be affected by quantum uncertainty –"

"I suppose that is all, then," Raven interrupted him coldly. "I need to go back to what I was doing, if you two don't mind." The emphasis on the 'if' was followed by a short but noticeable red flare in her eyes.

"No, no, not at all, we're, uh, sorry for interrupting you!"

Raven glided back and the door began closing. Suddenly Robin's hand shot forward and stopped it. "Hang on, Rae. Could it be possible…?"

Raven's eyes narrowed. "No," she dismissed him instantly.

"Are you sure? I mean, he could be morphed into a fly, or a mouse…"

The red blaze returned to Raven's eyes. Robin could see the muscles in her jaw bunch up as she controlled herself. That was the wrong thing to imply, he scolded himself uselessly.

"I can think of three reasons why that is extremely improbable," the sorceress replied with a heavy dose of irritated vexation. "First, Garfield may be childish, annoying, insufferable and just plain dumb at times, but he's not a pervert or a creep. Second, I'm an empath. He couldn't hide his presence from me. And third, it doesn't make sense. If he wanted to… see anything, he'd be stalking my bathroom's shower stall, not my room."

Robin mulled over those words for a few moments, then nodded. "You're right. We'll look for him elsewhere."

"He said he was going to the arcade," Raven suggested, much calmer now. "He may be in bird form still, and that may be affecting the tracker."

"Well, it wasn't really anything important. Sorry to disturb you, Rae!" The two boys nodded their goodbyes and walked away with somewhat hurried steps. Raven watched them leave, retreated back into her room and closed and locked the door.

A green mouse ran from under her cloak and transformed into a naked, grinning Garfield.

"Childish, annoying, insufferable and just plain dumb? I'm hurt, my love."

Raven unclasped and removed her cloak. She wore nothing under it. "You are," she commented dryly. "Next time remember to turn that damn thing off."

"My bad!" he laughed as he picked up the communicator and turned its tracker function off. "Now, where were we?"

"In bed," Raven said with a playful smile. "I suggest we get back to it."

"Hmmmm," Garfield purred as he took her into his arms. "You mentioned something about a shower…"

"Garfield!" she grumbled warningly. "Don't get any ideas!"

"Too late!" he smirked and kissed her deeply, pushing her gently towards the bathroom door.