(A/N) McDowellandkid, no, not really a good thing for her, but if I went easy on the characters it would be a pretty dull story. ;-) BrokenNevermore, right now Raven doesn't even have a fuse. Overactive Mind, he dared because he can…it's a leadership thing. lol61188, I can't really answer your question here…but if you read below it should be answered. Robin+Raven4ever, including this chapter, three or four more plus an addendum, by the way, I wouldn't have expected anyone with your nick to read this, but I saw your bio page…still. ;-) And, as just a little thing, I'll explain where I got Raven's smells from. I went online and looked up basic bathroom products (shampoo, soap, deodorant) that had purple wrappers. Only the shampoo wasn't unscented, it's an Herbal Essence brand. Yeah, pretty sad. Kinda proves that I'm just a tad bit weird. I like being a tad bit weird though. The looks on other people's faces are hilarious.
Disclaimer – I don't own the Teen Titans, some guy with lots more money than me does. Lucky punk.
Tamed – A Strong Fear – Where you get to find out what happens next.
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Raven was distractedly stacking up her freshly packed clothes. Beast Boy had gone to bring in the sink, the last of Cyborg's conveniences that he had sent with them. Both of them had been glad to find the toilet was self-cleaning. What had her so distracted was the small quantity of information they had been given. They were being picked up in less than an hour because of trouble back in Jump City. Robin hadn't given Beast Boy any details, except that none of the Titan's themselves would be able to come and that it involved Adonis. He had called in a favor to the billionaire who funded their tower and equipment, Bruce Wayne, to get them the ride home.
Raven had talked to Beast Boy about what they should do.
"What about Happy? Are you gonna try and fuse with her before they get here?"
"I don't think that would work out very well. If I was able to merge with her, I'd be too giddy to be any help, and if I wasn't able to, I'd probably be so mad that I'd end up blowing up half the tower. I'll just have to wait till after we help with whatever we've been called in for."
"That sucks."
"Catch twenty-two." Raven sighed as she stacked her last bag. She looked around at the place that had been her brief home and actually felt a little sad about leaving. It was a beautiful place, she and Beast Boy had fallen in love here, and she had almost finished becoming whole here too. The sight of a couple of crates, a few boxes, and some bags all in the same spot just drove home how real this uprooting was.
She looked at the homes that Beast Boy still adamantly called huts and smiled. She walked around each of them, allowing the sights to remind her of what had happened while they'd lived in them. She got to the far side of Beast Boy's and saw that he still had one of the windows open. She rolled her eyes and finished rounding the structure to shut it from the inside.
She smiled when she saw that the floor was clean. The last time she had seen the whole floor clear of his mess was when they had gotten there. She got to the window and reached to close it. Her hand hung in the air for a second while she tried to figure out why there wasn't any glass in the frame. A dawning thought provided her answer. "So that's how he fixed my window after he broke it." Hearing grunts coming through the door carried her attention to outside where Beast Boy had just walked into camp with the repackaged sink in his gorilla form's arms.
Slinking back into his normal shape Beast Boy wiped the sweat from his forehead. "That's it, we're ready to go."
As if on cue, a faint sound of the approaching helicopters drifted to them. It took another minute or two before they saw the black crafts through the clearing. They landed and a stocky man hopped out of one of them. "You're Raven and Beast Boy?" He called over the engine's whine. They nodded and he continued. "We we're told that you'd be able to hook up the RDs once we're airborne!"
"The what?" Beast Boy shouted back.
"Rapid Deployment shelters! The buildings you've got!"
"Oh, those! Yeah, we'll hook 'em up!" Beast Boy knew it would be Raven doing the hook up, but he also knew that she didn't like to shout.
After everything had been loaded and attached they took off back towards the tower. It would be several hours before they'd arrive, several hours for Raven to feel like she hadn't accomplished anything. With the way she was currently, it was like nothing really had happened. She'd have to meditate to keep her fused emotions calm enough that she didn't accidentally blow up anything and she had to keep tight watch over her anger. She didn't know what she could do to keep her promise about letting her anger out in some way, but knew she needed to figure something out soon. She was sure that if she didn't keep the promise to Anger, that the fuse would break and then it would be MUCH more difficult to get it to happen again, if ever.
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The decent onto the top of the giant T tower filled Raven with apprehension. She didn't like being kept out of the loop for any reason, and her anxieties about the current instability with her powers only added to everything. At least I can relieve some of that tonight when Beast Boy has to explain about us, she thought, which brought a small smile to her lips. What brought an even bigger smile was the orange-ish face of Starfire smiling through the window. They were still a good fifty feet off the ground; she must have been too excited to wait.
Starfire quickly disappeared underneath the crafts to lift the buildings off to the other end of the roof. After the choppers had landed and they'd unloaded everything she immediately grabbed Raven and Beast Boy each in tight hugs. Not as tight as she normally gave, so she must have recently learned a little bit about just how hard she hugged. Maybe Robin had finally asked her out and their first make-out session had taught her a few things about how fragile people could be…then again, it could have just been something like hugging Hotspot.
The copters soon were off and left still only Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire on the roof to carry in the bags inside. "Where're the others?" Raven may not have always shown it, but she liked the attention that her teammates gave her. Seeing that only Starfire had come to meet them felt…saddening.
"They are on the patrol. We have been trying to locate Adonis before he causes more harm. They will be back soon." Starfire's bubbly demeanor had deflated at the mention of Adonis, and it didn't seem able to return.
Beast Boy caught her change in body language as he walked behind the other two towards the stairs. "What happened, Star? What's he up to?"
Starfire turned and looked at him, real fear showing in her face. "He has changed back into the beast. We fought him and he appears to have gained in power. I…" Trembling a little, she continued. "I was attacked by these new abilities and have not been able to face him since."
"Dude! I'm gonna beat the living snot out of that muscle head!" Nobody had the right to scare the joy out of Starfire! Especially not the idiot who thinks he's allowed to use my other form, Beast Boy thought savagely.
His attitude made Starfire's smile return, though it still looked shaky. "Thank you, friend Beast Boy. I will still need to regain my courage for battle though."
They finished taking the bags to their proper rooms and went to sit in the common area. Beast Boy wandered over to the kitchen and set a kettle on the stove. Then rummaging through the fridge he let out a disgruntled whine. "Cy's figured out how to cram more meat in here than ever! Doesn't anybody else eat vegetables?"
"I do, but I think it's safe to say that you won't find my stash in there either." Raven had walked over to take the kettle off since it was whistling. "Thanks for the hot water."
"Not a problem, but you gotta leave me some. I want to make cocoa."
"I'll do it. You can see what canned stuff they've got in the cupboards."
"Oh yeah! I totally forgot about canned food." He smiled warmly at her before he opened the first set of doors. He pulled out a can of cut green beans and a can of creamed corn and set to opening them and putting them in bowls before popping them in the microwave. "You want some, Rae?"
She smiled at him as she handed him his hot chocolate. "Sure."
Starfire had watched them interacting with each other during the whole scene. Her smile and thoughts couldn't be contained, not after the way they had looked to smile at each other. "Friends! What has transpired between the both of you that you look at one another in such a way? I would say what I believe it to be, but I do not wish to bring discomfort if I am wrong."
Raven, who had her cup of tea up to her lips, looked in Beast Boy's eyes and smiled lightly as she drank.
Understanding what the look meant, Beast Boy turned to Starfire. "Well…I'd like to tell you, but I want to wait till Cy and Robin get here so I can tell them at the same time." He pulled his hand down from behind his head. "And you can't tell them about any of it before I do, OK?"
Starfire's eyes sparkled their brightest as she answered. "Your reply has made me feel that I am correct in my thinking, but I will keep this knowledge the secret as you have asked, friend Beast Boy."
"Uh…thanks, Star."
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A half hour later, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin were all sitting around the table. Robin had called them all together as soon as he and Cyborg had gotten in. "Alright, I know you two aren't happy about being called back early, but you may have noticed a couple of things when you got here."
"Yes. Where are Hotspot and Wildebeest, and what did Adonis do to Starfire?" Raven eyed Starfire with as much compassion as she dared. If she allowed herself to feel too much her anger would boil over out of rage to find Adonis and punish him for hurting her friend.
"Hotspot left after he got into an argument with Wildebeest…"
"Again." Cyborg interjected.
"And said he was going to start on the Titans North group without him. Wildebeest left a few days later to go after him. They both decided to stay out there because it had been so slow here. They've got their own problems now, which is why we called you guys back in instead of them." Robin looked sadly at Starfire.
"Adonis has started breaking into any place that deals with large amounts of chemicals in the city. We don't know what he wants them for, but we caught him at a computer chip plant trying to make off with a huge vat of hydrochloric acid. He changed into that beast," Robin's gaze darkened considerably at these words, "and started his attack. We did what we could, but with only three of us, it was tough. He must have figured out something about the transformation, because his power suit armor changed with him. Star went and swooped in behind him while Cy and I had him distracted and tackled him hard into a wall. He was able to break free and he threw her to the ground. He must have done something to her, because she ran away from him screaming. And since she was gone, he was able to escape from Cy and me, but at least he didn't get the acid."
Raven looked at Starfire who was hanging her head in obvious pain from regret and shame. Raven focused the anger that bubbled up in her onto her empty cup and turned it instantly into powder. Looking down at the cup she said, "Sorry."
Robin smiled half-heartedly at her. "It's OK, it's what I feel like doing to him too."
Raven decided to not tell him that she had managed to control the rest of the power surge by turning one of the huts into a marble. Instead, she decided that she should cheer Starfire up. "So, that's why we're back, to help catch Adonis?"
"Yeah, Rob and I have been doin' checks at the places with lots of chemicals, makin' sure we're tapped into their alarms so we know when biceps-for-brains makes his next move. We figure the added firepower'll take him down." Cyborg chimed in.
Raven turned to Beast Boy and gave him a little look and then looked pointedly at Starfire. He just sat there looking confused, which caused her to roll her eyes. "Hey, since that's it, Beast Boy wanted to tell you guys something."
Beast Boy finally caught up to what Raven had meant with the whole eye thing, but it was a little late because everyone was already looking at him from what she had just said. "Uh…I…uh…" His courage wavering with the too familiar audience in front of him, but when he saw Starfire still looking down at her own lap, he grew more determined. "Yeah, I wanted to tell you guys some cool news, kind of a pick-me-up after all that Adonis stuff. Starfire probably already guessed this earlier today," Starfire looked up at her name and her eyes widened with excitement. "But well, uhm, while Raven and I were out training we kinda started, uh…dating."
Starfire's smile blazed with the brightness of a thousand suns. "Glorious!" She shouted. She was soon flying around the table to give Raven and Beast Boy hugs. She kept saying how happy she was for them and giggling.
Robin only looked mildly surprised, but it was more like the look of someone who had figured out all the possibilities and saw that the long shot had happened. This irked Raven slightly, but she decided it was fine since she would get him back by talking to him about Starfire sometime or other.
Cyborg was the one who looked truly shocked. He just sat there with his mouth half open turning stunned eyes back and forth between Beast Boy and Raven. He found his tongue after Starfire had finished hugging Beast Boy. "No way."
"Way!" A confidently smiling Beast Boy replied.
"There's no way. It's gotta be some kind of joke." His mind locked onto this idea, it made more sense. A large relieved smile lit up his face. "Man, you really had me! That's the best prank you've ever pulled, and you got Raven in on it too!" He let out a barrel laugh, but it died as he saw the cold glare Raven gave him. "Uh…what's up, Rae?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Only Beast Boy gets to call me that."
Cyborg swallowed. "OK, Raven, why you givin' me that look?" It would be so much easier to back away if I wasn't sitting down, Cyborg thought.
"Because," her voice in that deadly calm, "he isn't joking. He's telling the truth."
Cyborg may have been intimidated, but he wasn't convinced. "Sorry, not buyin' it." He gave a look that backed up his words.
"Dude! It's totally true!"
"Oh yeah? Then prove it!" It's a LOT easier to yell at Beast Boy.
Beast Boy sighed exasperatedly. "How am I supposed to do that? It's not like we made a video or something."
Cyborg smiled his most deviant smile. "It's easy," he taunted, "just give your girl a kiss!" This'll teach him to try and keep a prank going after I've got it figured out.
A sheepish smile came to Beast Boy's face as he looked at Raven out of the corner of his eye. She was looking shyly to him, but when she saw Cyborg grinning like he'd won the argument she looked mischievously at Beast Boy. His smile widened and he leaned over to her.
Cyborg was just about to declare himself the winner when Beast Boy had started leaning towards Raven. He had only gotten out, "See? I…" before his voice left him. He quickly reached up to his electrical eye and went through every viewing option he had. His human eye wasn't seeing things, and his cybernetic eye wasn't malfunctioning. Raven and Beast Boy were sharing a very real and…uhm…DEEP…kiss. "Dang."
Beast Boy only stared at Raven as they broke. "I told them."
Raven smirked. "And I'll bet Cyborg believes you now."
It was at this point that Robin decided it was best to make his presence known. "Hey guys, it's getting late. Why don't we all get to bed?"
"Late? It's, like, four in the afternoon!"
"We're going to bed now because Adonis only seems to work very late at night, around three or four in the morning."
"Ugh…I have to get up even earlier now? I just barely got used to getting up before eleven!"
"Actually, Beast Boy, we were getting up around eight."
"See?"
Robin smiled. "Then you should be able to adjust to this change soon too."
Everyone got up and started heading to their rooms. Robin stopped Raven and Beast Boy before they could follow their fellow Titans to an early slumber. "I wanted to tell you guys that I feel a lot better having both of you here to help with this." His face saddened like it had earlier. "We need to catch him so we can find out what he did to Star. I can't stand to see her like this."
Raven eyed Robin sympathetically. "I know what you mean. She hasn't mentioned going to the mall even once since we got back."
"She won't leave the tower. She's afraid he'll show up wherever she is and attack her."
"But…she came to smile at us when we were landing…how'd…"
"She was probably terrified the whole time. She counted down the hours till your guys' return when I told her I was calling you back in." He said, cutting Beast Boy off. "She's missed you."
Beast Boy looked at Robin sadly. "We'll find him and catch him, Robin. I beat him last time, I'll do it again for you and Star."
Robin looked at his green friend in soft admiration and large gratitude. "Thanks, Beast Boy. But don't try and be the hero all by yourself, he's a lot tougher this time." His face had hardened a little with his advice, but softened again. "Thanks…and…congratulations to you two…I guess. I don't really know what you're supposed to say to two friends who start going out."
Raven smiled calmly at him. "I don't know either, but I wouldn't mind having the same dilemma."
Robin blushed a little behind his mask. "Uh, goodnight, guys…and…never mind."
"What?" Beast Boy asked, curious.
"I just…well…I think you…"
"Just say it." Raven toned out.
"Be…uhm, safe with…whatever you guys do."
As realization hit Raven and Beast Boy they both found that it was uncomfortable to look anybody else in the eye. Red seemed to have broken out like an epidemic among the three.
"Uh, dude…I'm waiting until I'm…married." Beast Boy felt sure that Robin was going to say some teasing remark or at least have some incredulous smile on his face after his lame way of saying they should use protection. Something that would mean "aw, how cute. He's saving himself."
"Cool. Well, night."
After Robin had left, Raven looked over at Beast Boy. "THAT was uncomfortable."
"Yeah, but at least he didn't make fun of me for waiting."
Raven smiled at him as she took his hand. "Don't worry, there's still Cyborg."
Beast Boy smiled back at her and walked her to her room. "Night, Rae."
"Goodnight, Beast Boy." She kissed him briefly and went to sleep in her own bed for the first time in a good while.
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The siren blared throughout the tower and five bleary-eyed teens grouped into the common room. Their leader's words acted like a stiff jolt of caffeine to their sleepy minds. "It's Adonis. Titans, GO!"
Adonis had attacked another factory that was using massive amounts of chemicals. It was among a storeroom's fifty gallon drums that the Titans spotted him. He was loading up a pallet, tying all the barrels together so he could carry them off.
"Drop the drums, dumbbell!" Robin had no idea why he enjoyed saying some corny little line to let the bad guy know they were there, but it had always just felt right to him.
"Don't you dudes know when you're beat? Adonis will always triumph!" He turned to grab a barrel to throw at them but found himself already being hit by something. It knocked him hard into the wall he was facing.
"You're not getting away this time."
Adonis quickly got to his feet and grinned when he saw who had attacked him. "So the animal is back…Adonis can handle you now." His shape seemed to stretch and twist in a painful way, but he soon had finished. The dark yellow beast stood smiling at him.
Beast Boy laughed coldly and was instantly in the same form. The two beasts eyed each other. The green one suddenly was in a low crouch about to spring forward, the yellow one had braced himself for the impact, instead, the yellow one found himself looking closely at the label of a fifty gallon drum before it hit him square in the face. He staggered back, dazed from the blow, but was quickly looking for the source so he could shred it to pieces.
His eyes fell on Raven as she lifted another barrel into the air with her powers, but again he was hit by something other than what he was expecting. This time a blue beam struck him in the middle of his chest, pinning him up against the wall. When the beam ended he collapsed to the floor. He was on his hands and knees when he roared loudly.
He sprang up and through the plaster ceiling, and out into the main factory floor area. It was room to fight in he was after, he was too mad to run now. Robin was the first to spot him; he had followed through the hole. Robin let out a loud yell as he brought his bo staff down on the yellow beast as hard as he could. The beast was fast enough to dodge, but Robin had counted on this and had already sprung forward into a slightly pole-vaulted jump kick.
It connected and the beast was sent flying from the roof of the storeroom onto the factory floor. Robin ran after him and looked over the edge, but the creature had already moved. The other Titans were looking up at him since they had just gotten out of the room seconds before. "He's still here! Spread out!"
Robin leapt down and ran towards one of the four corners of the giant room. Beast Boy turned into a falcon and glided towards another, rapidly turning his head every direction he could on his course. Cyborg ran to another, looking under, around, and over, the conveyer belts he passed. Raven glided towards the last, at the same end of the factory as Beast Boy was heading towards.
Raven passed a scrap pile and failed to notice that it had moved slightly as she did so. She looked up at the green bird ahead of her and off to her left when she was struck from behind. It knocked the wind out of her and she felt a pair of hands lift her by her shoulders.
"Hey, animal! Looks like Adonis is even better at using this changing trick than you are!" Before Adonis could react there was a very angry polar bear smashing a paw down on his head. He had barely seen Beast Boy change from falcon to humming bird to polar bear. His head now greatly pained, he was in no shape to defend himself against Beast Boy's next swipe of a massive paw which caught him hard in the small of his back, knocking off a piece of armor as he flew through the air from the blow. After landing, the only thing he could do was groan in pain.
Beast Boy changed into his normal form and helped Raven up from the floor. "Rae, are you alright?"
She was clutching her head where it had hit the concrete ground when she was tackled. She didn't think there were any lasting injuries, but her head was throbbing painfully. "I'm…I'm fine, just talk very quietly. I…" She looked and saw Adonis lifted off the floor by Cyborg so Robin could handcuff him, but she didn't really see Adonis like he normally looked. He looked massive. The size of her father and…and he was batting away Robin and Cyborg like they were playthings. He was starting to come towards her. Fear gripped her chest and she started to back away. His pace quickened and she tried to scream, but it caught in her throat. He was practically to her, his hands reaching for her. She knew that if they touched her she would die. He was going to kill her and no one could stop him. She blasted him with her powers, but it only seemed to make things worse. He seemed even larger now. She used every bit of power she could muster to throw him back away from her, and suddenly he was gone.
She was on the ground and Beast Boy and Robin were standing over her, yelling her name. "Raven! Stop! Raven, you've got to snap out of it! He's gone!"
Raven felt hysterical. "Where?" She shouted, wildly looking around her. "He'll kill me if he gets me! Keep him back!" She looked from Robin to Beast Boy. "Don't let him get me!" She grabbed tightly onto him and just kept repeating herself. "He'll kill me if he gets me, don't let him get me."
Beast Boy's mind was knocked for so big a loop; it felt like it would take a week before he understood what had just happened. He had helped Raven up after beating up Adonis and she had gone nuts. Screaming and trying to run away from him when Robin was about to cuff him, she had blasted him with her powers. She had tried to run farther away from him and then blasted him again; only this time she had hit him so hard that he'd gone through the high windows on the far wall.
She was still clutching onto him as he rocked her when Cyborg came up. "He's not outside. He got away." He looked down at the whimpering form of Raven in Beast Boy's arms and sighed. "Whatever he did to Star, he's done to Raven. She might be able to tell us more than Star could though.
"And we have this." Robin said holding up the piece of Adonis' armor that had been knocked off. "Beast Boy? You better carry her to the T-car. That's what I had to do with Starfire. She should be better in a few hours."
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(A/N) I know, I know! All of you people that have wanted action and I wait until chapter twenty-three to fulfill your wishes. Well, tough. I originally wasn't even going to have anything like this, but I like the way it affects the story. Well…I guess that you could say that the whole tree thing was action and Raven following around the Cullen was to some extent as well, but this is the first real battle. It was fun. Anyway, please review, it's for the children…that I don't have.