Chapter 2

Raven woke screaming. The last vestiges of the dream were soon gone, but she could not stop herself as she curled in on herself, sobbing. She did not stop when her door flew from its place in the wall, landing in a crumpled heap on the far side of the room, admitting Beastboy entrance.
Beastboy ran to Raven's side and scooped her up, sitting with her on the bed, he started rocking her back and forth, whispering into her ear, trying to calm her. Soon the others had joined them, standing awkwardly at the other end of the room, as Raven slowly returned to normal.
Beastboy held Raven until her sobbing slowed, her breathing leveled out. He realized that she had fallen asleep. He looked up at the three other's standing, tears shining in his eyes. He got up carefully, laying Raven gently into the bed, he pulled the covers over her and he and the others walked out of the room.
Cyborg examined the shattered doorframe, "You did a number on this thing, BB. It's gonna take me a while to put it back together."
"Sorry. It was locked, and…"
Robin interrupted him, "We should get some rest, everybody. You can fix the door tomorrow."

Raven sat on one end of the couch, her knees drawn up to her chest. She didn't have her usual morning cup of tea, just didn't feel like making it. Since she had woken up in the infirmary she had been plagued by a growing sense emptiness, as though everything she was had been taken away from her.
She looked up when the green hand holding a teacup was thrust in front of her. She took it and smiled up at Beastboy, even while she wished that he wasn't so close to her. He moved away from her and sat on a nearby couch. "Morning, Rae."
"Hey, Beastboy." She took a sip of her strong herbal tea, and allowed her self a small smile. "Thank you."
"No problem, tea's easy to make."
"For last night too, thank you for being there."
"Of course, what are friends for?"
"Did you have to do that to my door, though?"
"I couldn't get it open, did you lock it?"
"Nope."
"Oh."
They sat I silence while Raven sipped her tea. She finally broke it, "What's been happening with the Hive?"
"Blood ran when he found out that Jynx had turned on him. Most of the students were rounded up when we got you out."
Further conversation was cut short by Cyborg's voice coming over the communicators. "Guys, you've got to see this, turn on the news."
Beastboy grabbed the remote and hit the on switch. Immediately a newscaster appeared on the screen, detailing a breaking story. "The eerie silence among Jump City's criminal elements was broken today when a group of well armed robbers attempted to rob the First National Bank. The police were preparing to call the Titan's for aid," at this a video came on the screen showing the robbers firing strange weapons at the police officers, "When who should show up to foil this attempt, none other than, Cinderblock." The video showed Cinderblock running up from somewhere off screen and attacking the would be robbers. It was a matter of only a few seconds before cinderblock stomped away, his arms empty of any loot, leaving behind unconscious criminals. "It seems that with one Titan temporarily off duty, even the criminal element has take to protecting our city."
Beastboy flipped the television off before leaning back and looking at an equally confused Raven. "I never expected that to happen."
"No, this is odd."
Robin walked into the room, doing a last check on his utility belt. "Hey, guys, I've got some stuff to do today, so I'll be gone most of the day."
"Did you here about Cinderblock? It was just on the news."
"Overload did the same thing yesterday, an a bunch of sladebots. I'm gonna check it out."
"Good luck, then."
"Thanks, see you guys later." Robin stepped into the elevator, and soon they could here the sound of his motorcycle speeding away.
Raven stood suddenly, "I'm not feeling all that well, I'm going to lie down."
"Alright, if you need anything let me know."
"Thanks, I will."

Robin slipped through the shadows of the abandoned warehouse. He had tracked Cinderblocks movements back here, one of Slade's previous hideouts. He moved silently through the ceiling joists, over the main part of the building and could see Slade standing before a bank of monitors, watching a dozen newscasts, while several radios spewed police reports.
Rather than simply attacking Slade as he normally would have, he leaped from the shadows, and used a grappling hook to slow his descent, landing behind Slade, who turned an impassive eye on him. "Good morning, boy wonder."
"Morning, Slade. What's going on?"
"Many things, but what you are really here for, my dear boy, is you want to know why."
"Yes."
"It's simple, really. I have countless times tried to hurt and kill you. I have attempted to destroy your home, and steal your city. Mammoth, though, he crossed a line. What he did…" Slade paused, "There was no excuse, no justification for such an action, it was unforgivable. Until Raven is capable of fighting again, you may rest easy, I shall protect your city."

Beastboy held the controller for one of his many gaming system in unresponsive fingers. Game over flashed on the screen again, for the hundredth time that day, but he didn't care. He knew that Raven was in pain, she couldn't hid it in her normally flat gaze, couldn't hide her hurt. What frustrated Beastboy more than anything was the knowledge that he could not help her.

Robin walked into the living room, and stopped at the fridge long enough to get a can of soda. He sat on the couch near Beastboy and looked up at the screen flashing game over. "Where's Raven?"

"She said she wasn't feeling well. She's been in her room all day."

"Have you been checking on her?"

"Yeah, a few times. I asked her if she wanted some lunch, but she said she wasn't hungry."

"Maybe one of us could take some up to her."

"Starfire tried, she took it, but I don't know if she ate it."

Robin took a sip of his soda. "I went to the court house today."

"Yeah?"

"The lawyers say that they've finished with Jynx. Her trial's going to start soon."

"Any idea what's going to happen?"

"I know she won't last long if they put her in prison, she's made a lot of enemies in there by giving all this up."

"Is there any way to get her out of a prison stay?"

"I don't know. I've been pulling a few strings, trying to work out some kind of deal."

Beastboy glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I've got to go spot Cyborg, he's been keeping an eye on Raven for the last couple of hours. He stood and, followed by Robin, made their way to the command center of the tower.

Beastboy walked into the small room dominated by banks of monitors. A camera was placed in every room of the tower, most only active during an emergency. Right now the only active camera showed Raven asleep on her bed. "She been doing anything?" Robin asked.

Cyborg jumped, knocked out of whatever he had been thinking. "Nope, she just went to bed and hasn't moved yet."

Cyborg moved out of his chair, allowing Beastboy to take his place. For several minutes they all stared at Raven's unmoving form. Robin was the first to speak, "If she keeps doing this, I'm going ask that she talk to a therapist."

"Think its necessary?" Beastboy looked nervous, more at the prospect of asking Raven to see the therapist, than anything else.

"We can't just let her fade away."

"I know, but she won't like it."

"It's weird, y'all."

"What?" Robin looked over at Cyborg leaning against the door frame, his arms folded over his broad metal chest.

"How much we've changed since it happened."

Robin returned to watching Raven asleep on her bed. "Yeah, I guess. We seem to have matured or something."

Beastboy spoke up, "I think we realized that we weren't invincible, that we're only human."

"Huh?"

"We've been winning for so long, it became a game for us. It's not a game, though, this isn't for our amusement. It made me realize that this is a very dangerous business we're in, and we can't afford to get cocky."