Chapter 3: Truth

Robin paced in front of the couch as the Titans, minus Raven, sat listening to their local teenage detective.

"OK… Now that we know Beast Boy wasn't fooling around and something really is wrong with Raven… It's time for us to figure it out," said Robin.

"Yes. We must not let any more harm come to friend Raven," said Starfire.

"I think that we can safely say that this isn't happening of Raven's own will."

"Duh," said Beast Boy.

Robin continued ignoring him. "Which means I'm narrowing down the source of her change to one thing," he grabbed a remote control and pressed a button where the familiar face of a villain flashed on the TV screen. "The Puppet King."

"What?" said Beast Boy.

Robin pressed another button on his remote and the TV screen showed a map of the cave where the explosion had taken place. It showed wireframe figures of all the Titans and the H.I.V.E. during the battle that they had fought there.

"Now watch," said the Boy Wonder.

Beast Boy watched as he saw Gizmo's put the grenade in his mouth as he rubbed his jaw absent mindedly.

With his finger, he indicated the wireframe figure of Raven. "Here, she's battling Jinx. Then, right…" he paused for the simulation to catch up. "Here, she gets thrown back by Jinx into Gizmo. Then Gizmo drops the Puppet King and it goes up," he indicated the small wireframe Puppet King flying through the air. "And into Starfire's eye beams. Then…"

"Boom," said Cyborg half-heartedly. The screen flashed blue as the explosion radiated out from the Puppet King.

"See my point?"

"No," replied Starfire sweetly.

Robin rewound the tape and paused it just as the Puppet King radiated the blue blast. He then indicated the wireframe Raven. "She's right next to the blast. She's the first to be hit."

Beast Boy stood up and looked at the screen. "So…"

Robin finished for him. "That blast affected Raven. Possibly by putting another person's mind and soul inside her body."

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Raven sat alone in her room, thinking. Every night this week she had woken up in a different place than she had fallen asleep, and she was generally a pretty sound sleeper. But, more disturbing, every night she had woken up with her room wrecked; her books thrown all over the place, her ornaments knocked to the ground, her diaries torn and ruined. Of course, she wouldn't mention any of this to the rest of the team. They'd overreact, especially Beast Boy.

But the last two nights had become even more disturbing. The first night she woke up in Beast Boy's arms in the pouring rain on the roof, the second in the kitchen with Beast Boy restraining her. Both times he had said that she, Raven, had tried to commit suicide.

She knew that wasn't possible. It couldn't have been possible. But the more her thoughts dwelled on the subject, the more she worried. Beast Boy's and Cyborg's words rang in her head.

"Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?"

"I don't know."

"And that's the problem…"

Was there someone inside of her? Controlling her body in the deep dark of the night? Concern flashed through her for a brief moment, before she regained her cool.

But, she couldn't drop it. She needed proof that she was still in control, proof that there was no one but her own emotions lurking deep down in her soul.

She walked to her dresser and looked deep into her mirror and gasped with apprehension. Time to find the proof, she thought to herself.

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Beast Boy got intelligent. "But wouldn't it be the Puppet King himself? Presumably he wants to be able to be free again so wouldn't he use Raven?"

Robin looked at him. "That's what I thought at first, but then I realized that it isn't that simple."

"What?" said Cyborg.

"Last time when Puppet King's powers didn't work properly Raven and Starfire ended up switching bodies. When Puppet King was 'forced' to use his powers, they might not have worked to their full extent, not giving him control of Raven, but instead making Raven switch bodies with someone yet again."

"That doesn't make sense. She's perfectly fine during the day," pointed out Cyborg.

"Another puzzle. But I think that the switch was only one way, putting someone else in Raven's body. During the day, Raven's conscious mind is able to shrug off any influence the other person may have. But at night, when she's sleeping, she can't exercise that control and the other soul takes over."

"Then the answer to this conundrum is simple," said Starfire. "The other soul must be someone who was in the radius of the explosion."

"That makes it between Gizmo, Jinx and Mammoth," said Cyborg.

"Once again. Not that simple," said Robin. He pressed his trusty remote again and it showed the outside of the cave. "The blast went through the cave walls, covering about a third of the city before it dissipated. It could be anyone in that third."

"Great," said Cyborg.

"It gets worse," continued Robin. "That third includes Jump City Jail and this Tower. Anyone of our past foes or anyone in that third of the city could be behind this."

"Dude," said Cyborg. "That's like a million people."

"I know," said Robin.

"Then what is it we do?" asked Starfire.

"Well, I can narrow it down a bit," said Robin.

"How?" asked Beast Boy.

"If someone is possessing Raven's body, then they would have a perfect opportunity to take every single one of us out. However, our culprit only goes after Raven. We have someone who holds a serious grudge against Raven."

"Raven's taken down dozens of criminals; any one of them could want her dead," said Beast Boy.

"I know, but at least it's a start."

Beast Boy sighed.

"So Boy Wonder, what do we do?" asked Cyborg.

"I'm going to go to the local jail, and have a walk around. Cyborg, Starfire; go into the city and try and find anyone who holds something against Raven. Both of you use Cyborg's virtual reality rings. The people of Jump City will respond better to two normal people than an alien and a robot."

Starfire and Cyborg nodded.

"C'mon Star, I've got some rings up in my room," said Cyborg and the two left.

"What about me?" asked Beast Boy.

"You have to stay and keep an eye on Raven. And not just if she's possessed again - this is a traumatic experience for her, make her comfortable."

Beast Boy nodded before Robin clapped him on the back.

"We'll find this guy, B. No harm will come to Raven."

"I know. Just be quick, OK?"

Robin nodded then ran towards the garage and his motorcycle, the he quickly stopped and turned back to Beast Boy.

"B?"

"Yeah?"

"One more thing. The blast covered this tower."

"So?"

"There's a villain with a serious grudge against Raven in the top room."

"Malchior…"

Robin nodded. "Just go and check if there's anything weird with his book or with the Puppet King himself. He's still a suspect as well."

"Got it. Good luck."

"You too," said Robin before rushing out towards the garage.

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Beast Boy walked into the museum room and walked over to the glass case with Malchior's book. He knew very little about Raven's encounter with him, except what she had shared with the team. But everyone knew that Raven had cause the dragon an incredible amount of pain, and they all knew that he'd want revenge.

He opened the case, then the cover of the book and flicked through the pages. He looked down at the picture of Rorek and Malchior battling each other around the mountain. But, there was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the eerie feeling of jealously that rose in his stomach whenever he was around the book, so he placed the book back in its case.

Frustrated, Beast Boy walked over to the glass case that held the lifeless form of the Puppet King. He carefully opened the case and pulled out his wooden body.

"What did you do to her?"

The Puppet King looked back at him, still and silent. Beast Boy was sure he saw a smile sneak onto his wooden lips.

"What did you do?" Beast Boy yelled angrily, hurling the puppet through the room. It clattered against the wall and fell to the floor as lifeless as ever.

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Cyborg and Starfire, disguised with Cyborg's rings, walked around the streets of Jump City. Thanks to the virtual reality in the rings, Cyborg looked like a muscular African-American with jeans and a black t-shirt and Starfire was a pretty Asian girl wearing a white button-up shirt and a skirt.

Cyborg tapped Starfire on the back. "We'll check the police station first. From now on, I'm Vic and you're Kori, OK?"

Starfire nodded, indicating she understood, and the two walked into the station.

"Hi there. What can I do you for?" said a policeman at the main desk.

Cyborg took a worried glance at Starfire. "Err… Yeah. A friend of mine was brought in here earlier for questioning. I was wondering where he is."

"What's his name?"

Cyborg panicked slightly and stuttered. Starfire took over. "Our friend uses many names. What names do you have in your computer?"

"More aliases, huh? We get that a lot. One second."

They waited a minute or two as the policeman tapped away at his keyboard.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the cop. "Looks like our server's down. It's been a tough week."

"Lots of criminals, huh?" asked Cyborg.

"Yeah."

"The Teen Titans can assist you with the criminals if you wish," said Starfire.

"You know kid," said the cop leaning in a bit. "Just between you and me, I wouldn't trust the Teen Titans as far I could throw them."

"Why?" asked Cyborg.

"Well, OK. I'd trust that Robin fellow, and the other three maybe, but that dark girl… What's her name?"

"Raven?"

"Yeah. Raven. I don't like the look of her. I don't like the look of her at all."

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Robin walked through the heavy doors of Jump City Jail. He was quickly greeted by the head guard, Mr. Edward West. The older man extended his hand in welcome.

"Robin. Long time no see."

Robin took his hand and shook it. "Not much point coming down here anymore. Your guards seem to have everything under control."

Edward smiled as they began to walk through the corridors. "I'll take that as a compliment. But what seems to be the trouble?"

"We have a situation. We have reason to believe that someone inside this prison might be trying to kill Raven."

"I can assure you that not one of them has gotten out."

"I'm aware of that. But nonetheless I need to see anyone with a grudge against Raven."

"Hmm… This is tough. Raven doesn't exactly have a fan club here. Even some of the guards say that she should be locked up in here with these lowlifes."

"Raven is not dangerous. She's just different."

"I know. But others don't. Your culprit might not be bound to a known criminal Robin. But if you'll draw up a list of names, I'll happily arrange meetings with them."

"Here's a list I made earlier and if possible could you arrange a meeting with some of the guards who don't appreciate Raven very much."

"You got it."

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Raven came out of the mirror, scared and alone. She seeped down to her knees on the floor and let her eyes widen as she breathed heavily. There was something inside her. A dark shadow lurking in the corridors of her mind, and she could do nothing to stop it.

"Raven?" came Beast Boy's voice from outside the door.

"What?" said Raven, keeping her monotone in check.

"You're breathing pretty hard. You OK?"

"I'm fine."

"Open the door Rae."

"No."

"Don't make me knock it down."

Raven sighed and walked over to open the door. Beast Boy stood outside, reeking of concern. "I said I'm fine," she told him.

"No, you're not. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just…" She bowed her head.

"Just what, Rae?"

Raven felt the water in her eyes and quickly put up her hood.

"Something scared you didn't it? What happened? Are you OK?"

"There's someone in my head…"

"Rae?"

"And I don't know who it is…" she almost whispered, a tear fell down her cheek.

Beast Boy took her in his arms and embraced her tightly. "It's OK, Rae. It's OK."

She leant forward into him and stared into space, fear flashing through her violet eyes.

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Chapter 3 done, thanks for all of you who reviewed...