Aki- First I want to give thank you's to all who read the first chapter and a double thanks to those who reviewed. Other important notes- I have the basic plot of were this story is going, but if you have suggestions, ideas, or stuff you would like to see happen I welcome your opinions, just put them in the reviews. Also if you ever think I should up the rating just say so! You can also ask questions in the reviews, I would be glad to answer! Enjoy!


Chapter 2 – The Dark Mark

Raven took the parchment from Beat Boy's outstretched arm. Her eyes widened as she swiftly read it. It was a ransom note. Several emotions flashed threw her at once. Relief, her friends were alive, anger, sadness, hope, and several unidentifiable things.

"There was also this," said Beast Boy cutting into her thoughts, holding out something else. It was a black and white photograph of Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg tied up, seemingly unconscious. As she watched the picture, things seemed to move, but she guessed it was just her imagination. Most of the photo was blurry and out of focus. So she could not get any hints to were her missing friends where.

"Where did you find it?" Raven asked Beast Boy coldly.

"I was upstairs, looking out the broken window and an owl flew in and dropped it on my head," Raven had lowered her hood and her eyebrows were raised, "I am being serious!" cried Beast Boy at that look.

"Right, let's go up to the rec room and see if we can find any clues to who the captors might be."

"Okay." Raven teleported the two of them to the rec room, without much hope of finding anything. The note pounding at her mind, it had read,

'Raven,

We have your friends; they are alive and well, for now. If you ever want them returned you must meet one of my counterparts at Arrow's Peak at 9:30 your time, this Friday. He will transport you to where you friends are being held and where I will place my demands. If you want the "Titans" survival, you will not tell inform any authorities. COME ALONE!' It was only signed with three letters 'T.M.R.'

Raven and Beast Boy proceeded to search the Titan's living room for evidence. Raven used her powers to move big masses of debris, while Beast Boy was on his hands and knees. The sky outside was steadily getting darker, and with broken lights, it was not making the search an easier. Raven was about to call it quits when something caught her attention. A piece of torn clothe was snagged on the corner of the counter. Raven pulled it off the counter corner. It was just plain black fabric that had been torn off of someone's clothes. It was not any of the Teen Titans', she knew that, but it was not enough to go on. When she began to move toward Beast Boy to ask him if he found anything, a glint of light caught her attention. It was a bird-a-rang lying on the floor, the moonlight was reflecting off it. Raven smiled grimly to herself, at least the put up a fight.

"Find anything?" Raven asked flying over to Beast Boy.

"Yes," he replied grimly and simple.

"What?"

"That," he said shortly pointing to the wall, or more like what was on the wall. Raven held back a gasp. They had been looking for such minuscule details they had failed to stand back and looked at the whole room. Scorched onto the wall was an outline of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.

"I think you found a clue," whispered Raven. They searched the tower until they found a Polaroid camera they could 'borrow.' Then they broke into Cyborg's room and scanned the photograph onto the computer and started a search for matching images.

"Estimated time of completion: five minutes," read the computer. Beast Boy was sitting crumpled on the floor, the late night and lose of his friends taking its toll on him. Raven turned in her levitated position in front of Cyborg's computer.

"I would have been taken too," said Beast Boy in a whisper.

"What was that?" asked Raven in a soothing voice.

Beast Boy looked up at her, "If I had not gone to my room, I would have been taken too. They want you."

"I know."

"But why?"

"That is not important right now. What is important is that we have to save our friends. 'Why' is not important, but where and who," said Raven in an attempted encouraging voice.

"Right," replied Beast Boy, still wasted and upset.

"I'm the only one allowed to be depressed and grumpy around here," scolded Raven, "They don't need two of use trust me," she continued in an uncharacteristic joking manner. Beast Boy chuckled at this and his spirit seemed lighter. "Anyway we need to keep our spirits up to have any…" she was cut off by the beeping of the computer.

"Scan complete- matches five." Raven turned back to the computer. The first three 'matches' were through-a-ways that did not really match, the fourth was an ad. She clicked on the last match. The image that popped up would have scared Raven if she had not seen it before. It was the exact picture that was scorched on the wall. In the picture, the symbol was wispy, smoke-like, and green against black. According the caption it was taken in the night sky above a campsite. The short report that accompanied the picture said that this symbol had been sighted several times throughout Britain. Raven scanned the list of dates. There was no pattern. Most the dates were fairly recent; except the first one where the picture had come from. But at least they had a lead, Great Britain, it was not much of a lead, but it was something.

"ZZZzzzzZZZzzzz," Raven turned toward the noise to see that Beast Boy had fallen asleep where he sat. Raven restrained an amused smile. First he was depressed, now he is sleeping. Raven used her powers to move him out Cyborg's room and into his own. She set him down on his bed where he curled into a more comfortable position. She left his room and fixed his door. He needed sleep. She needed sleep, but she could not sleep now. It was her fault that Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg were missing. If she had reacted to the crash…thanks to her they were in danger. Maybe she would not have been able to save them, but somehow she attracted the attention of a madman, this 'T.M.R.'

Raven went back to Cyborg's computer and looked again at the little information she had found. The dates were definitely random and so were the places, seemingly. There had to be something more, their just had to…

Raven gave a long yawn. She had been searching for another hour and rereading the information hoping that she had skipped something or that something would finally click. Nothing. She was sure that if it were Cyborg or Robin looking that they would have found more, but she, well, she was no computer genius. She was lucky not to break it by just turning it on. Raven yawn again. She really did need some sleep. She glided to her room and collapsed on her bed. She would find more tomorrow…

linelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelinelineline

Beast Boy shivered in his bed. Early morning light was filtering threw an opening the curtains covering the windows. He kept his eyes closed as he reached blindly around for a blanket. He found one and pulled over himself and curled into a ball for warmth on the cool autumn morning. Memories started too filtered into his head of the night before. His stomach rumbled. Why was he so hungry? Did he not eat diner last night? Oh yeah, glurslop… and pepperoni pizza…

Things in Beast Boy's mind started to work faster, things started to connect. 'Went to bed early…Raven banging on door…the titans missing…the living room in ruins…, but how did get into his bed,' then Beast Boy came up with one of this rather amusing solutions. The whole kidnapping part was a nightmare brought on by lack on food. Beast Boy slide off his bead and left his room, proving his theory because his door was in his wall. He walked quietly threw the hallway to the rec room. He was rubbing his eyes with a fist as the door slide open. Okay, maybe it was not a nightmare!

Now fully awake he trotted to Raven's room and knocked tentively on the door. He heard a muffled answer. He knocked again.

"What?" came a cleared, more irritated answer from someone whose sleep was just interrupted.

"It's Beast Boy."

"I didn't ask who."

"I just thought that we should get an early start," now things began coming together in Rave's disheveled mind.

"Right," she replied in a serious tone and started getting ready for the day ahead. She grabbed a clock and clasped it on and ran her fingers threw her scruffy hair making it lie straight. She opened the door to see an impatient Beast Boy leaning on the wall opposite her room.

"What should we do first?" asked Beast Boy unsure of himself.

Raven thought for a second, "We should get breakfast, neither of us had diner and had a late night. We need to be able to function properly."

"Good idea." Beast Boy could never resist the temptation of food, as long as it was vegetarian. They both started to walk to the rec room were the kitchen was.

"And while you make it. I will catch you up," she said slightly jesting.

"Hey," he said, catching on.

Beast Boy made non-dairy waffles. As he was mixing the batter, Raven was sitting on a stool at the counter explaining what she found.

"England…gees, more crazy British people," was Beast Boy's response as he reminisced about Mad Mod.

"Yes, but it is unlikely that they have gone back their. Not enough time too. Good thing too, we would never be able to get there and find them before Friday, that's tomorrow."

"Did you try to track their locators?"

"Yes," Raven answered shortly. How stupid did he think she was?

"Well…"

"I could not find them. Neither the kidnappers destroyed them or are too far away for our trackers to find."

"Tomorrow…" whispered Beast Boy.

"Yes," Raven agreed, "Tomorrow. What we need is a plan."

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed then added under his breath, "One hell of a plan."