CHAPTER 3

It was a busy night in the SnakeEyes Casino. They had only been open a week, but so far, business was booming. The only trouble had been the broken sign on the roof. Lots of people were turning out to enjoy the food and games. The rooms were full of warm, often garishly dressed bodies. Even in all the noise and crush, some intuition had most of the room looking up when the door opened.

Raven stood in the doorway. She had dressed up for the occasion, and it would have been hard to tell that she was still a teenager in the dress she was wearing. It was deep green and very slinky. Around her shoulders was a matching green fur stole. Beast Boy had been forced to get creative with this shapechange. He was longer and much fluffier than any living mink to create the illusion of a fur. He nestled in close to her neck so no one would see him move. Black jewels hung from Raven's ears and around one wrist.

She strolled into the room, hoping she didn't look as uneasy as she felt. She was used to showing leg, but was feeling naked without her cloak. She was willing to put up with a lot for another chance to see the luck dimension, but she still thought angrily back to the planning stages of this little adventure. As crazed as Robin had been to begin the hunt for Slade, he had still laid down a plan. They had found a few of Slade's usual robots and made short work of them.

"We'll split into teams," Robin had decided. "And if Slade is expecting us, we'll make it harder and go in disguise." Starfire had been thrilled with the notion.

"Oh yes!" she said, clasping her hands. "Each team can have its own objective to reach!"

"Not a bad idea," Cyborg had said. "But it's going to take more than a suit and tie to keep anyone from recognizing me! If the casino is using BAX-TECH's technology, I can probably find it by getting into their main system. I'll take the uniform and armor off one of those Slade-bots and sneak in that way."

"But..." Starfire hesitated. "You are so much larger than the Slade-bots!" Cyborg grinned at her and pretended to flex one of his bionic arms.

"Don't I know it!" he said. "But it may get me far enough in to find out something..

"Sounds good," Robin had said. "I'll go after Slade. I'll definitely need a disguise. Knowing Slade he'll be somewhere he can see all the action. "

"Oh, let me go too!" Starfire grabbed his arm. "I adore costuming opportunities and you shouldn't go alone!"

"I'll see if I can find the portal before Slade does," Raven had told them, anxious to get started. Beast Boy had jumped to attention.

"I'll go with you," he said, and she remembered giving him her best evil eye.

"I don't NEED help," she had told him. "Go with Cyborg."

"Hey, no offense to BB here," Cyborg had ruffled Beast Boy's hair. "But he doesn't exactly match the physique of a Slade-bot either." Beast Boy had looked undecided on whether to be offended anyway, but had shaken it off to look back at Raven.

"And what if you have to meditate again?" he said, elbowing Cyborg's mechanical ribs. "If you're going to be in a trance, you'll need someone to watch your back!" Robin stepped in again.

"He's right. And Slade WILL be watching. You'll need a disguise too."

So now, there they were. Starfire had done Raven's hair up in a complicated alien chignon and she had squeezed into the dress and let Beast Boy hang on to her shoulders. She had picked the green dress out of several colors mainly just to match her partner's pelt, but Beast Boy had seemed almost flattered. There was another reason for it too. Deep in her mind, her courageous self had worn green. She might need that courage later.

'What's the first thing we need to do?" Beast Boy whispered in her ear. She picked her way through the crowd.

"We find the most active spot," she muttered back, trying not to move her lips much. "The one giving off the most energy. The ley lines should cross there." A few men turned to stare at her and she hurried away, grumbling about idiots.

"Well, you do look nice," Beast Boy told her and her teeth ground together.

"Save it for Terra," she snapped, but was immediately sorry when he drooped. "You wanted to watch my back. Just do it." She nodded over to where a short man in a big hat had his hand firmly attached to his escort's butt. "If any of these jerks try THAT, bite the crap out of them."

"Gotcha," he said, a teensy grin returning to his face. "Your 'back' is safe with me."

Meanwhile, Starfire had dressed up too. She was in a long white dress with full length gloves and some pearls. Her hair was piled up in an impressive coif. Robin had wet his hair back and was dressed as a gambler in black. He had replaced his mask with a pair of dark sunglasses. As they walked up to the door, he took her arm and she leaned on him happily. She was enjoying this so far.

"Remember," he said softly, nodding to the doorman as they went in. "No flying or anything like that. We have to act as normal as everyone else here. No powers or heroics until it's necessary."

"Agreed!" she scanned the crowd, watching the other women for clues on how to behave. Escorts and arm candy were the majority, it seemed. She glomped Robin tightly. "Is this right?"

"Less super strength!" he wheezed, and she loosened her grip. "That's better. We'll scope the place out and see if we can find where Slade has hidden himself." She nodded and they sauntered out onto the floor.