Not only do I not own Teen Titans, I don't even own anything but basic television, so I can't even watch it on TV! Oh, and I don't own Colgate. But seriously, who wants to own a toothbrush company?

'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.'

-William Shakespeare, Macbeth

"Well Cy, do you think it's fixable?"

Turning away from the R-Cycle- which resembled a crushed soda can more than an actually motorcycle- Cyborg's robotic eye gleamed irritably. "Y'know what I think, Rob? I think this poor bike's idiot of a rider went and got it's front wheel cut off by a freakin' sword and crashed it into a light-pole doin' eighty!"

Robin winced. "Sorry I asked."

"Yeah, you'd better be sorry," Cyborg grumbled. "How long ago did I just give this thing a tune-up, man?"

"We should be grateful Friend-Robin was not the one to strike the pole 'doing eighting' instead," Starfire pointed out gently. A white nurse's hat on her head, she floated insistently around Robin treating the many bumps, scratches, and bruises he had received in his botched chase with X. Sadly, the Tamaranian's medical expertise was…lacking.

The struggling Boy Wonder looked nearly half-mummified already.

Hanging from the overhead rafter's of Cyborg's workshop like some sort of monkey, Beast Boy's green, upside-down head dropped between the Titans. "If ya ask me-"

"Which we weren't," Cyborg added absently, attention back to the motorcycle.

Never easily discouraged, the little changeling went on. "That bike got the raw end of the deal. Now if Robin had crashed like that, he would've been fine-as long as he landed on his head!"

Beast Boy yelped when Robin threw a bundle of bandages at his face-straight into his mouth. There was a heavy thump when the green prankster landed painfully to the floor. "What? He was wearing a helmet!"

"Now come on, BB," Cyborg admonished, ruffling his buddy's hair with a heavy steel hand. "It's never funny when you make a joke about one of our friends gettin' hurt…"

"That is true, Friend Beast Boy," Starfire agreed. "Robin could have been very seriously inju-"

"….now Robin getting his butt-handed to him by X? I don't think that's EVER gonna get old!" Cyborg laughed. "I've already archived the police footage on the Favorite's List of my hard-drive."

Beast Boy yipped wildly with laugher (he actually turned himself into a Hyena). Even Starfire snorted with suppressed giggles.

Tearing off the rest of Starfire's poorly wrapped bandages, Robin was quick to change the subject. "What kind of sword was X using anyway? There's no way an ordinary blade could have cut through the R-Cycle that easily."

Cyborg and Star caught onto their leader's attempts to get the team back on a serious track…even though a certain green Hyena still tittered uncontrollably.

"I took a look at what was left of the R-Cycle's front well," Cyborg said. "The cut was way too smooth- even on the microscopic level. That sword must've been a serious piece of work to be able to do all that when someone like Red-X doesn't have superhuman strength. If I had to guess, I'd say that katana was some kind of high-frequency, ultrasonic blade."

Robin whistled low, Starfire nodded grimly. Morphing into his normal shape, Beast Boy's expression however, was lost. "Uh…a high-frequaintcy ultrawhatchya macallit?"

Rolling his human eye, Cyborg leaned down and spoke slowly. "Y'know an electric toothbrush? Imagine that, only the sharp edge of a sword that's movin' so fast you can't even see it move. That way, the sword can saw through a buncha stuff it couldn't have before….got it now?"

The shapeshifter nodded, dazed and drooling. "I think so…"

The door of Cyborg's workshop sliding open, the final Titan stalked into the room, hood drawn up. "Hey, Cyborg? Have you seen anyone lately? It's been quiet in the living room for over an hour and I think I'm actually starting to get-"

Pausing, Raven regarded the fully occupied room silently. Sparing a glance at the ruined R-Cycle, she gave Robin a passing look. "What happened to your bike? You let Beast Boy finally ride it or something?"

"Oh ha-ha Raven," BB grunted derisively. "Joke's on you sister! I didn't have anything to do with it!"

"It's true Raven," Robin admitted. "I was out riding a few hours ago when I heard Red-X robbed someone nearby."

"And instead of calling for backup, our oh-so-valiant leader went after X himself and got his butt handed to him a the end of a shiny Japanese sword." Cyborg finished.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Red-X has a sword?"

"Yeah!" Beast Boy said with an exited, crazed look on his face. "X has got himself some crazy new super-sonic sword/toothbrush thingie that cut off Robin's wheels!"

Behind Beast Boy, Cyborg slapped himself on the head.

"Oh of course," Raven replied dryly. "X must have stolen Colgate's secret weapon against tooth decay and the gum disease gingivitis. Why didn't I see it before?"

"Gingerwhattis?"

"Forget it," the dark girl sighed.

"Actually Raven," Robin said, ignoring the changeling. "I was just going to call you. Apparently, X stole from the private collection of a man named Eldred Arkham."

"I'm assuming that name's supposed to mean something?"

"He's a secluded old man that lives in an old mansion on the outskirts of town," Robin explained. "He's a private collector in rare, one-of-a-kind ancient artifacts. Some people even say a lot of them may even be…well…occult."

"And when you heard the word 'occult' you thought of me," said Raven drearily. "Gee, you sure know how to charm a girl."

"Robin means you no offense Friend Raven," Starfire apologized gently. "He is merely saying that you are 'very creepy' and may be our only expert in the scary, creepy things this old man keeps."

Behind Starfire, Robin slapped himself on the head.

Drawing her cloak around herself, Raven turned to leave. "It's not that I'm not inspired to help you guys, but your world's way too superstitious. You think a bunch of rocks arranged in a circle in the middle of nowhere is mystical. Those 'occult artifacts' are probably just a bunch of musty old statues and daggers that look 'creepy' to you people. Thanks, but no thanks."

"She's got a point," Beast Boy admitted. "That mirror she has in her dresser is probably like, a million times creepier than anything that guy Arkham's got."

"I still don't know," Robin mused. Raven was already heading out the door, and the boy wonder had already given up recruiting her help. "X doesn't seem like someone to steal a book."

Almost out the door, Raven stopped.

The Titan's didn't notice their teammate's pause. BB gawked. "A book? You went through all the trouble to chase X over a book?"

"Perhaps it was a very valuable book," Starfire suggested.

Robin shook his head. "I'm not so sure. It was written in the police report, but most everything's drawn up a blank, so I don't see how it could be a hot enough item for X to bother with. The Police are still trying to ask Arkham about it."

"What book was it?" Cyborg asked.

"Dunno. It's a weird title. Vericks Wyrtum or something."

Clearing the room in a instant, Raven appeared in front of Robin with a flourish of her cloak, eyes burning with white fire. "What did you say?"

The Titans leapt back in alarm, Raven hovered inches off the floor, cape writhing. "What book did you say it was!" she demanded sharply.

"Vericks Wyrtum," Robin repeated. He looked at the dark girl warily. "Is everything alright Raven?"

Whatever had gotten in Raven seemed to fade immediately, she floated gently back the floor as her powers settled back under the cold mask of control she always wore. "Fine. Everything's fine."

"You sure Rae?" Cyborg asked.

She ignored him. "Maybe I should look into this, just in case. X wouldn't have just stolen it over nothing. I've got nothing better to do right now anyways."

Raven was trying to disregard her reaction, but Robin wasn't entirely ready to let it go quite yet. If Raven lost her nerve over a book, what was really going on? "Do you know what that book is, Raven?"

"I'm not sure," she said.

"What about the title?" he pressed. "We looked. It doesn't seem to be any real language people have used."

"It's not," Raven confirmed. "That's why I'm worried."

Sorry Chapter 2 took so long folks. Things have been just a tad hectic, and I even completely lost all internet access for two days, so my release schedule was screwed. This may be old news to a lot of you, I did my best to Message each and every person who reviewed Chapter 1 or put it on their favorites or alerts list that this Chapter would be a tad late. No one accuse me of not caring about my fans. Anywhoo, this chapter was just for transition purposes, and things are really gonna start up for Chapter 3.

Until Next time,

-Cy