DC – Chapter 6, eh? Blimey. Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed. I would have got this chapter up sooner, but I've been spending a little more time with my housemates down in the pub, listening to songs that make you wish you had a Harley. Moving on….

Disclaimer – I don't own Teen Titans, and nor do I own Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and The Destroyers. However, I do own the album rights to 'Block Rocking Beats', the first album released by DJ Slade and MC Disco Terra. Sweet deal, no?

Chapter 6 – Bad to the Bone

"We have a problem." She said. She and her colleague were once again sat in the small apartment of the world's greatest Hitman. The sofa was dirty and scattered with crumbs and packets as well as greases, oils, and various mechanical aids to the Hitman's trade. She was trying to sit on as little of it as possible, but it wasn't easy.

Cupid, also known as Eros, also known as Amor, looked at her quizzically from under a dirty blonde fringe. When he wasn't tying it back for a job, he favoured wearing it loose.

"Yeah? I did the job you asked me to do. If there's a problem, it's at your end." He said bluntly.

"And you did your job expertly." Miss…Jones said smoothly, taking care of the potential problem before it arose. "However, it has not gone as we had hoped, and now we want you to take care of it for a separate fee."

"Hmm. What's the problem?" Cupid asked, his honour satisfied. He leant back in his armchair and took a swig directly from the carton of milk he held in one large hand.

"You hit the target, and she fell in love with one of her team-mates. She's not really used her powers since the event, except to lift some books, and walk through a couple of walls which isn't a real threat. As far as we can tell, she's well on the way to using up the last of her reserves. Without access to her true emotions, she's effectively been cut off from the source of her powers." Mr …Smith explained. It wasn't entirely true, but it was simple enough for Cupid to understand. She didn't have a very high estimate of his mental capacity. Cupid's upper lip curled.

"Doesn't sound like there's a problem so far."

"This is the problem. Her team-mates have somehow figured out what's happened, and one of them is coming with her here, to Bryter Bay. Somehow they've tracked you down, and they're looking for a cure at the least."

"Tell me about the one with her."

"Beast Boy, a changeling. Green skin. By all accounts, he's in love with her anyway, so I don't understand why he's doing this….Anyway, we want you to deal with them." Mr …Smith explained, pushing yet another suitcase of money over to the world's oldest sniper. Cupid nodded thoughtfully.

"Hmm. Fine. Now get out." He nodded towards the door, picking up his television remote again and thumbing it on. He'd do this his own way, in his own time. He made a mental note to clean his guns.

The hot, silent air of the nearly-empty highway was broken by the throaty roar of an engine, purring as the Harley ate up the miles.

"Danna Danna Da-Na!"

The powerful bike coasted forward confidently, swerving a little as Beast Boy compensated for the fact that he was rather young and rather small to properly control it. Still, there was an image to maintain.

"Danna Danna Da-Na!"

Raven rolled her eyes fondly, resting her head against Garfield's back. He insisted that this was one instance in which you had to get things as right as you could. He had the bike, the leathers, the shades, and the beautiful girl, and in those circumstances, how could you not have the music? Unfortunately, the Harley didn't come with a music system, so he was making do the best he could.

"Now on the day I was born, the nurses all gathered around!"

The sunlight glinted off his sunglasses, and his smile was triumphant. The trials and tribulations of this trip forgotten, he was living the dream.

"To gaze in wide wonder at the joy they had found!"

So what if he was on a mission without the support of his team-mates? So what if it was a mission based on hope and guesswork to stop Raven falsely loving him? So what if he was going out of his way to effectively crush his own dreams because it was better for her? Right now, everything seemed alright with the world. Right now, he was in the right mood to take on a God and win.

"The Head Nurse spoke up, said 'Leave this one alone!' She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone!"

Raven wasn't sure what the attraction was, but she could tell that he was enjoying himself, and she made a note to find out more about it later. They shot past a signpost showing Bryter Bay. They were getting closer.

However, in the confines of Nevermore's library, it sometimes felt as if they weren't getting any closer to a solution at all. Raven sat in a deep chair by an old oak table, covered in scribbled notes and towers of books and bookmarks. She sighed softly to herself, and crossed and uncrossed her legs. She had been picking up the slack from her more contrary emotions, but so far, it wasn't looking too good. As far as she could tell, she'd never heard of anyone getting free from one of Cupid's spells. It was looking more and more as if they'd have to be relying on outside help on this one. The fact that the outside help was Beast Boy just made her all the more desperate. She closed yet another book with a dry snap of parchment, and reached for the next in the increasingly shorter stack of books that represented un-followed and untracked leads. Someone gently pressed the book back down onto the pile, and Raven looked up at Love, backed up by Affection, Friendship, and Hope.

"What is it?" She asked, tugging the book out from under the hand of her emotion. Since her imprisonment in Nevermore, she was beginning to resent giving her emotions independent voice.

"We'd like to take this opportunity to get you off your high horse and tell you what we've been talking about." Affection said firmly.

"After all, you're the blueprint. When we beat this thing, you'll be the one who leaves and recreates Nevermore. You'll be the outside Raven again." Hope supplied, firm in her belief that they could and would beat this thing. Raven wished she shared her optimism. She knew that she did, on some level, but that wasn't the point.

"So?" She asked icily. There was a rustling of cloth, and Timid stuck her head round from behind the others. Raven hadn't spotted her there.

"W-W-W-W-W-W…" Timid closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "W-W-W-W-"

"We…" Friendship prompted helpfully.

"R-Right. W-W-We t-think you should…know what you think about…" Timid glanced up at Raven's expression, went 'meep', and scuttled back into hiding. Love sighed and rolled her eyes theatrically.

"Raven, we think we should tell you what you think about Beast Boy, and since you won't admit it to yourself, yourself is going to admit it to you."

Surrounded by a ring of her own feelings, Raven thought that sounded strangely ominous.

The Harley pulled into the outskirts of Bryter Bay, and for the first time in a while, Garfield felt rather conspicuous. Apparently, Bryter bay was a perfect vision of suburbia. It nestled into the side of a gently inclined hill leading down to the bay, which glimmered in the light of the afternoon sun. Rows of neat little houses were fronted by neat little gardens, and even the few clouds in the sky seemed to be picturesque. Beast Boy felt very much out of place in his too-big leather jacket, on his too-big motorcycle. He didn't think he'd feel much better in his hero gear. Raven shifted uncomfortably in the seat behind him. Apparently, she could sympathise with that feeling. Garfield looked around desperately, and spotted what could be a more commercial area of town.

"There's probably a mall or something over that way. We should get disguises or something, we kinda stand out…" he laughed. Raven nodded, and tightened her grip on Garfield's midriff as the bike accelerated down the hill. The exhaust curled and hung in the air like a bad omen given shape as Raven's cape whipped in the slipstream like the wings of a demon.

Raven had to admit, it was a good idea. They both stood out far too much for any sort of subtle investigation, not to mention the recognition and embarrassment factors. Loathe as she was to admit it, the Titans were famous, and that made them celebrities of a sort. A disguise was going to help. The real question, what was she going to wear? Normally, she'd go straight for the darker shops, but she really wanted to wear something that Garfield would think was nice. Besides, reason alone told her that if she didn't want to be spotted, she'd be better off picking something not from her regular range. She frowned slightly. It was odd…she wanted to pick up something Garfield would like, but she'd just realised she had no idea what her love liked. She'd just have to play it by ear, something simple…

Garfield frowned. The problem with having green skin was, whatever you were wearing, people noticed it second. He figured the trick wasn't to wear something distracting, it was to conceal…He needed something people would ignore, pass over…Something where if they noticed anything out of the ordinary, they'd shrug it off… He grinned, and headed off with new purpose. He was meeting Raven in half an hour by the fountain in they mall they had found.

Raven loitered by the central fountain. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to sit down on the side, so she hung around awkwardly instead, inspecting herself in the glass front of a nearby shop. In the end, she had settle for slightly flared blue jeans, a pair of trainers, a white tee-shirt, and a bandanna to hide her rather obvious hair. Her skin was still pale, but there was nothing that could be done about that and she hoped she looked different enough to pass as someone other than herself.

"Raven? Is that you?"

So much for that idea. Raven turned around to confront the stranger who recognised her. They were almost entirely swathed in black. Black jeans festooned in metal links and chains, black boots, and a large black hoodie were the most prominent features. The figure's hands were thrust into the pocket of the hoodie, and the hood was up. It was slightly too big, and the figure's face was clothed in shadows, obscuring detail. The figure grinned, and an upturned fang shone in the corner of the figure's mouth.

"Garfield?" She asked tentatively, and was rewarded with a familiar and much-beloved laugh.

"Got it in one!" he said triumphantly. "Pretty cool disguises, huh?"

"Yeah, I'd have been taken in completely if I hadn't watched you both buy them." Said Cupid. At the interruption, they both turned around to stare at the stranger. The adult was tall and broad shouldered. Stubble grew on his chin, and his skin was tanned. He wore a tee-shirt stretched over pectoral muscles, and an open shirt over that.

"You've been looking for me. It's time we…talked." Cupid said in a low, gravely voice.

DC – Hey, a shootout at the mall! Wait, we've reached the end of the chapter…I guess you'll find out what happens next time. Thanks for reading this far. Please review if you like where this is heading, or if you don't…Either way. Oh, in other news, I've done a sadder little peace about Beast Boy called 'Brighter Side'. People seem to like it, so I'd like to see what you guys think. Peace Out!

DC