"Nnngghhh…"

His nose twitched, a vaguely familiar metallic scent invading his senses.

"…what happened here…"

A long, sighing breath, ending in a painfully pathetic whine that would break most people's hearts…

"…get him…"

Pale, yellow light doing the Mexican wave on a backdrop of green-and-red-tinged black…

Then floating…

Floating…

The swish of fabric waving through the air and brushing on hard floor…

The breathy hiss of one of the Tower doors sliding closed…

And Beastboy's eyes opened to an empty room. The Medical Bay. He squinted into the bright lights of the stark white room and slowly sat himself up on his elbows, unconsciously preparing to wince at the pressure on his burnt skin, but surprised when the expected sting never came.

What happened?

Turning his head right, he looked out the wall-to-wall window. The sun was still relatively high in the sky, but it was clearly well past noon. The last thing he remembered was the Titan alert nearly choking him with scrambled tofu eggs…or maybe it was tofu waffles…dude, he was hungry…

Shuffling out from under the crisp white sheets, he made his way to the door and wandered off in search of food, brow furrowing as he tried to piece together the rest of the day, wincing as each step jarred his aching bones.

The fleeting memory of his skin sizzling from the dancing electricity from military grade exosuits drifted into his consciousness as he strolled into the elevator and pushed the 'up' button. The doors swished closed in front of him, and he suddenly felt his stomach lurch in a not-so-pleasant way as the metal cabin made its upward ascent.

Suddenly, he regretted leaving the somewhat comfortable bed in the Medical Bay.

By the time he made it to the main room, he'd managed to remember everything up to that point, and with that memory came newly awakened pain and he could only come to one conclusion.

"Today sucks!" Beastboy complained as he flopped onto the rounded couch in the main room. His only answer was a slight hum in the air from the fridge and Raven's deep even breathing from where she floated in what he could only guess was a non-chanty form of meditation.

He lay back on the couch, practically hearing his sore muscles worshipping him for the new position as he settled into the soft cushions.

Rolling over onto his stomach, he propped himself up on his elbows and watched Raven. She was almost completely still, the only apparent movement from under her closed eyelids and the slight quirk of her lips every so often. Her face seemed naturally relaxed, and perhaps slightly content, far removed from the physically induced neutral that could usually be seen when she meditated. That could only mean one thing.

"Hey, Rae?"

Her left eyebrow twitched in annoyance; the only acknowledgement he was likely to get at this point.

He hopped off the couch and sidled up to her. "What'cha doin'?"

There was a slight growl to her next exhale. A warning to most, but somewhere between her throat and the changeling's brain it translated into an open invitation.

Beastboy's face broke into a wide grin.

"You're talking to Kenkaku, aren't you?"

Raven opened her eyes and glared at him as she opened her mouth to reply.

"Hey, d'you have Cy on the line?" He didn't wait for her answer as he sprung forward, grabbing her shoulders and leaning close to her ear, bouncing excitedly on his toes, practically climbing out of his skin and onto her back. "Dude, tell Cyborg that I totally kicked his high score's butt in Mega Monkeys 3!"

By the end of that, he was practically screaming in her ear, and Raven's anger was visibly pulsating on her forehead.

Her head turned slowly in his direction, eyes narrowing more with each degree of the turn into a fiercer and fiercer glare until finally she was glowering directly into his wide green eyes.

His ecstatic grin slipped into a nervous simper as he sweatdropped.

"No, I do not have Cyborg on the line. I don't have a line. I am not a telephone, Beastboy," she ground out through gritted teeth, each word cutting out with an extra dose of venom. Beastboy shrank back as she leaned forward, eyes close to smouldering. "Nor am I a party-line on which you can chat about your pointless­ videogame scores."

"Heh heh," he giggled nervously, "So I, uh, g-guess this would be a bad time to ask about y-your long distance rates?"

A shot of black telekinetic energy exploded from her aura and blasted Beastboy across the room.

"Waaahh! Oof!"

He landed on the floor two inches away from the couch.

The elevator doors swished open and the Boy Wonder wandered through, a bag of ice in his gloved hands and an alien floating at his shoulder.

Beastboy sat up, rubbing his head as he crawled onto the sofa. "Ow…"

"Oh, there you are," Robin said, strolling toward the couch. He tossed the ice-pack at him. "Here, use this."

Beastboy fumbled for it, then promptly stuck it on his aching head, glowering over at Raven.

Raven just stared back, an unapologetic smirk on her face, before closing her eyes and returning to her telepathic conversation.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

Black shadow accumulated in front of Raven in the shape of a darkly-glowing hand with a raised middle finger.

"Friend!" Beastboy barely had time to suck his tongue back into his mouth before Starfire was squeezing the breath out of him. "I am most elated to see you in an awakened state!"

Beastboy wheezed in her arms.

Starfire giggled as she let go and her hands clasped in front of her chest, her usual joyous grin on her face.

"Yeah, good to have you back," Robin said, smirking as he crossed his arms over his chest and moved to lean back on the curved island between the kitchen and the living room. "Now, mind telling me why there's a big hole in the Bridge?"

"Uh…" Beastboy blinked. "Oh!" He started waving his arms wildly as he spoke. "There was this dude, and he was all like, 'Grr! Superman's a big greasy alien and I'm gonna kill him!' So I was like, 'Dude!' and…"

Robin listened intently from his spot leaning against the island that separated the kitchen from the living room, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he mentally weeded out the excess Beastboy-isms to get to the bare bones of the report.

Starfire wandered off into the kitchen after a while, rummaging around in the cupboards, tossing random items into a large mixing bowl.

Raven floated in front of the window, ignoring the whole lot of them.

"And that's when…" Beastboy trailed off in his narration, eyes finding the weave on the couch particularly interesting.

Robin's brow furrowed. "What? When what?" he asked, when Beastboy didn't seem intent on continuing.

Starfire floated back into the room, stirring brownish goop that could be loosely interpreted as cake batter.

"I…" He swallowed, turning to look at his friend with wide eyes. "I saw Terra…"

Starfire dropped the bowl and gasped.

Raven opened an eye and lifted an eyebrow.

Robin's face twitched like he wasn't sure what expression to put on. Finally, he settled for pushing off the counter and sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch, a look of professional curiosity sliding across his face. The look of concern for Beastboy's mental health was waiting stealthily in the wings for when the changeling wasn't staring directly at him, though.

"Someone brought the statue to the bridge?"

"No, she wasn't just some statue. She was real," he uttered. "She talked to me…"

Robin leaned forward. "Well, what did she say?"

Beastboy sat up and turned away from him, staring out the window with brows furrowed as he struggled to remember, but all he could focus on was her standing there, backlit by the sun and actually alive.

And in his mind's eye, he could see her lips moving in slow motion, forming words that he should be able to make out, but the only sound he could remember was the insistent whining of a car alarm and shrill ringing in his ears.

"I…I don't remember."

Robin looked over at Raven, who just shrugged in response.

Turning back to Beastboy, he asked, "Are you sure it was Terra you saw?"

Beastboy scowled. "I know Terra when I see her!" he exploded, flinging a couch cushion across the room. "That was Terra!"

Robin gritted his teeth, pulling himself up to his full height.

"Beastboy. Calm. Down," he ordered.

Beastboy glared at him a few moments more for good measure, before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on the couch, petulantly.

Robin nodded briefly to himself before turning away; calling up the city surveillance feed on the view screen. Walking over to one of the computer terminals, he quickly typed in a short command, bringing up footage from a familiar cave.

Right in the middle of the screen stood Terra's statue, a digital display on the bottom right corner of the image ticking down seconds in synch with the Tower's own clocks.

Beastboy's jaw dropped. "B-but…"

"I'm pulling you off patrol for tonight." Robin glanced across the room momentarily before adding. "Raven will take over your sectors. We're already short-handed; whatever happened out there, it's obviously affected your brain in some way…"

"What little brain there was to begin with," Raven supplied helpfully.

Robin ignored her. "With Cyborg and Kenkaku behind enemy lines at Hive, and all those weapons still at large, we can't afford any mistakes."

"Hey! That means…"

"Va-ca-tion. Do you know what that means? It means get somebody else to do it or wait 'til later. I don't work for you now; I have better things to do." She sprawled out on the couch as she polished her collection of custom-made shurikens, a cell phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder. "I know I work for you, but you don't own me. You're better off trying to jump into the sun."

A pause.

Her eyes narrowed, body tensing. "Touch him and die. He is my property, not yours."

Another pause.

"Fine. I'll do it," she huffed, putting down the shuriken. "After I complete my mission." She stood and paced in front of the couch, running a hand through her long blonde hair. "Yes, I have better things to do than your work," she groused, glancing over as the front door swung open. "Look, do yourself a favour and have that pit of yours regenerate your brain cells before I have to come in there and take them all away…along with your head!"

Slamming her cell phone shut, she tossed it across the room and turned fully to the figure in the open doorway.

"It's about time you got home. We've got work to do."

"You fool! Guns don't work in this town! We need metas or ninjas or something!" He paced over to the window, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too. That anyone bothered to hire you. You're a real dumb ass bastard, you know that?"

His head snapped up as he heard a shuffling noise from outside. Putting a hand over the receiver, he started to call out to the guards, but, with a quick glance at the clock, decided against it. Eight-thirty; they were probably just changing shifts.

"Look, I want that accountant alive, you hear me?" he yelled into the phone. "If he dies before trial, I swear to God-" He stopped abruptly when he realised the stuttering from the other end had stopped.

"Your phone won't work without this," a voice said casually from behind him.

He jumped, spinning around to find the phone cord twirling in mid-air. The phone, along with his jaw, dropped to the ground as he backed away.

"Relax," the voice said. The air at the edge of his desk seemed to thicken and shift and he could make out the faint transparent shape of a body.

The 'hand' holding the phone cord lifted to what he could only assume was a face and raised something in the invisible air, revealing a pair of large, almond-shaped, unnaturally golden eyes. The left eye winked as the air shifted and thickened again, now taking on some colour. He could now see the solid skin of a thin girl. The object she'd moved before, a pair of dark glasses, sat on top of her head of long, blonde hair.

Like ninety percent of the weirdo population of Jump City, she was dressed mostly in spandex; a dark gold, full body suit that cut away at the stomach, leaving a half-circle of pale gold skin bare at each of her sides. A white utility belt was wrapped loosely around her thin hips, hanging over bronze leather mini skirt.

The girl leaned back on the desk and smirked at him semi-seductively, swinging her crossed legs back and forth against the edge of the desk.

He eyed the distinct lack of curves, made easily visible by her tight gold bodysuit and made a face. "This town," he muttered to the heavens, shaking his head. "Look, kid, get out of my office before I call the cops."

The girl's smile instantly dropped into a scowl. "Fine," she sneered as she hopped off the desk and sashayed up to him. "We'll do it the nasty way, then."

"Please," he said, brushing her off. "I don't go for little girls. Come back when you're older." He glanced her over in disdain. "And more devel-ackkk…"

She grabbed him by the throat and spun him around so he could see as she pressed the pointed edge of a shuriken against the soft flesh of his neck in the reflection in the window.

"I'm older than you would believe, but that's beside the point. Let's try this again, shall we?" she said. "See, you have a job to do, I have a job to do, and I'm sure neither of us wants to do it, 'cause, heck, everybody hates their job." She tightened her grip, pressing harder against his Adam's apple. "Tell me where the witness is, perhaps I'll let you live, you know? I'm sure the wife and kids would appreciate that option more than my boss's orders, right?" The man gulped as a bead of blood seeped out from under his skin and trickled along the edge of the blade. "You're just lucky that I'm pissed at him, else I wouldn't give you a choice. So, are you gonna talk, or am I gonna have to waste my time snooping?"

His eyes bugged out, white flashing at the corner of his vision, as she squeezed tighter. He helplessly gasped for breath. He felt as if somebody had pulled the plug on his energy reserves and it was slowly draining out through his feet. He couldn't move.

She sighed. "Too late." With that, she pushed the shuriken all the way in and sliced sideways, leaving a gushing gorge in the man's neck. She released her grip, letting him drop lifelessly to the floor as she wandered over to his desk and flipped open the top folder.

"Lawyers," she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes as she stole a post-it from his top drawer and jotted down an address. Stuffing the small square of paper in her belt, she tossed the pen at his dead body and sauntered out the door.

She tapped the tiny communicator in her ear as she daintily stepped over a particularly large pool of red blood, fed by two streams from either side of the room.

"Hey, Mystic," she said as she turned the silver doorknob at the end of the room. She frowned as a dark red smeared over the smooth chrome.

"Did you get it?" asked a voice at the other end of the communicator.

"Of course I got it," she replied absently. Hopping over another body, she licked her fingers. "Your lack of faith astounds me, Mystic." She stepped into elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor. Facing the back of the cubicle, she studied herself in the mirror set in the top half of the wall. A few droplets of blood stained the right sleeve of her suit, but luckily, the rest of her was untouched. Shrugging, she tore off the ruined fabric and stuffed it into a compartment in her belt, pulling out a new one and attaching it in its place. "I'll be done with this in an hour, tops."

"Bring me something nice?"

"Ha, no," she grunted and tapped the communicator again, cutting off the connection.

A rich, chocolate brown colour seemed to bleed over her skin, flawlessly covering up its natural golden hue. The blonde in her hair was mostly taken over by jet black, leaving only small streaks of its original colour. With a little bit of concentration, she managed to change the colour of her clothes as well to a simple yellow.

Her transformation complete, she pulled her black shades back on as the elevator doors slid open, flipping her now-black hair over her shoulder as she sauntered past the crowd of business people waiting for the elevator. She smirked smugly to herself as she passed mostly unnoticed through the bustling lobby of the building, smiling and nodding gracefully as a security guard politely opened the front door for her as she walked out.

No one suspected a thing.

Beastboy giggled to himself as he backed out of the closing clothes store, arms full of shopping bags and head full of mischievous plans for Cyborg and Kenkaku.

"Hee hee hee, this is gonna be so swee-oof!" He grunted as he rammed into somebody and face-planted embarrassingly in the middle of the sidewalk, the contents of his bags scattering across the pavement. "Aw, dude…"

"Beastboy?"

His head shot up at the familiar voice. "Sooth?"

The blonde psychic held out her right hand to help him up, balancing a pizza box precariously on her left hand.

Grabbing the proffered hand, Beastboy pulled himself up; grinning warmly at her even as his eyes darted around to make sure no one else had seen his show of grace. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found the darkening street empty of people.

"I would think you'd be patrolling now," Soothsayer commented, bending to help Beastboy collect his shopping. "Not out buying…" She paused, frowning as she reached for a crumpled lump on the ground. "A frilly pink prom dress?" Another small object fell from the bundle and fell silently to the ground. She raised an eyebrow as she picked it up. "And a lacy bra?" She eyed him suspiciously. "What are you planning?"

Beastboy scratched the back of his head with a simper and a blush. "N-nothing…"

"So you moonlight as a green drag queen?"

Beastboy sweatdropped. "No!" He glanced around suspiciously before pulling her close and whispering his plans conspiratorially in her ear.

She smirked, amused, as he pulled away, cackling wildly.

"I don't believe I want to be a full Titan now."

He slinked up to her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "I think we can arrange something," he said in a sly tone, bouncing his eyebrows up and down, a lecherous grin on his face.

Soothsayer rolled her eyes at his antics, removing his arm from her shoulder, and shoving the clothes into his hands.

Shaking her head, she turned and continued walking down the road. "Goodbye, Beastboy."

"Dude, wait up!" Beastboy called, gathering up his bags and scrambling after her. "Where are you going?"

"Home. This pizza is getting cold."

"Ooh, what kind is it?"

She glanced down at the box, like she could see the familiar surface of the ham and sausage pizza she preferred through the cardboard, and grimaced. "You don't want to know."

"Huh?" Beastboy looked confused, then shrugged it off. "Want me to walk with you?" he asked, flexing his non-existent muscles. "Every girl wants Beastboy as their bodygua-"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I can't be seen with a Titan. Secret identity, remember?" she replied.

Beastboy studied her and decided that she didn't, in fact, look very Soothsayer-ish at the moment. Who she was being now, though, he didn't know.

"Dude, I can totally fix that!" With that, he morphed into a parrot and flew up to perch on her shoulder, his bags dropping to the ground, forgotten. "I'm a master of disguise."

Soothsayer looked and him and blinked. "And a seventeen year old girl walking down Main Street with a green parrot on her shoulder is so inconspicuous," she murmured, absently picking up his bags and continuing her journey.

"Yeah, dude, nobody will suspect a thing!"

Soothsayer rolled her eyes at him as she stopped at a traffic light. "You still can't come with me. My identity's secret from you as well-"

"Hey, Sarah!"

She gasped in surprise at the sudden voice behind her, spinning around so fast she almost threw Beastboy off her shoulder. The green bird squawked, flapping his wings to regain balance before settling down again.

Soothsayer gritted her teeth in irritation as she recognised the boy standing before her. It was the new kid and he'd been stalking her all day, at least, that's how it felt. He was in every single one of her classes, somehow managing to always find a seat near her, and had seemingly been everywhere she went afterward, his creepy blue-white eyes following her every move.

What was worse was that he seemed to throw off her concentration, making it impossible for her to get into the Field of Destinies, and frankly, it was making her antsy.

"Hello, Dmitri," she replied, not too warmly.

A shiver wracked through her so hard she was sure Beastboy could feel it as the boy leaned forward to study the parrot on her shoulder.

"Cool bird," he decided, reaching out to Beastboy. "Does he bite?"

She glanced at Beastboy, considering.

Dmitri didn't wait for her answer and stroked his feathers anyway. "Hey, is this one of those talking ones, Sarah?"

A vein in Soothsayer's forehead throbbed as he repeated her name. She was hoping Beastboy had missed it the first time, but there was no way he did this time around.

She glanced up, almost sighing in relief when the traffic light turned red, making the crossing sign flash green.

"I've gotta get home," she said. "Bye."

"I'll see you tomorrow in Bio, yes?" he called. Soothsayer merely waved her hand over her head as she hurried across the road.

Beastboy turned his head, catching a glimpse of Dmitri's back as he turned and walked in the other direction, humming loudly in the quiet night.

"Dude, where's the fire?" he questioned as he turned back to his friend.

Soothsayer was silent for a moment, before answering. "He creeps me out. It feels like he is everywhere I turn," she muttered.

"Oh."

As they passed the shopping district and crossed over to the business areas the shadows grew thicker, swallowing them up in the encompassing darkness of the night. A full moon shone above them, but every few steps hid it behind the looming brick buildings. The only thing more oppressing than the darkness was the strange silence that seemed to hang over their heads.

"So, uh…" Beastboy shapeshifted into a monkey and climbed onto Soothsayer's head, peering at her upside down. "Your real name's Sarah, huh?"

Soothsayer bristled, then shook her head, dislodging the monkey. "Okay, get off."

"Aw, come on," he whined, jumping off her head and landing on the ground in neutral form. Soothsayer handed him his bags and continued walking. "Would it help if I told you my real name, too?" Soothsayer shook her head, but said nothing.

Beastboy gaped at her back, before running in front of her. "Don't make me do The Face. You know you can't resist The Face."

Soothsayer paused, furrowing her brows at him curiously. "What face?"

"Huh?" Beastboy answered, dumbly. "Oh, yeah."

And he promptly shifted into a kitten with a delicate little body, and insanely huge green eyes that glinted with innocent hope. The kitten mewed pitifully up at her.

Soothsayer half-smiled and shook her head. "That is truly sad, Bea…" she trailed off, staring at something ahead of them. "What's that?" She pointed at a small object sticking out from an upcoming alleyway.

Beastboy trotted past her on tiny kitten legs, as he peered into the darkness. His tiny nose wrinkled as he got closer and a strong metallic scent permeated his senses.

'Where have I smelt that before?' he wondered as he reformed at the mouth of the alley, crouched over the object in question.

"That is not what I think it is, is it?" Soothsayer asked, coming up behind him.

Beastboy shook his head.

What she'd spotted from down the street was a limp human hand lying palm-up on the sidewalk, and now that they were closer, they could see what it was attached to:

A dead body.