Author's Note: Thanks to all who have supported my fanfiction thus far, including sinomin, Mio Amore, and oh our hearts.

Chapter Four : Stankball

Robin made us split up to save time. We each had to visit one of the Supernova creators and ask questions and warn them about Slade. I was sent to a simple suburban house not too far from the downtown area, home of Gordon Thomas. When I rang the doorbell, a boy about the age of seven or six answered the door. He recognized me and stared at me with eyes the size of dinner plates.

After a few moments of silenced awe, I cleared my throat.

"Um, is Mr. Thomas home?" I asked.

The boy threw his head back into the house and shouted, "DAD! RAVEN WANTS TO SEE YOU!"

Another voice, deep and loud, called back, "Raven? Who's Raven?"

"FROM THE TEEN TITANS!"

The boy ran back into the house and a tall, lanky man in his mid-thirties looked at me with kind, sleep-deprived eyes.

"Ah! Raven!" he said, holding out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you!"

I shook it. "Likewise. Is this a bad time, Mr. Thomas?"

"Not at all. And please call me Gordon," he said politely.

He invited me in and led me into what I presumed to be his office. It was a messy room with walls surrounded by shelves and shelves of books, some of which were piled high on the ground. He gave me the chair that was at his desk and pulled up another from the far right corner of the room.

"Sorry for the mess," he apologized. "I would've tidied up if I knew you were coming."

"I'm just sorry that we didn't tell you I'd be visiting," I said. "But the matter we have to discuss is too important to waste any time."

Gordon frowned. "Well, please sit down then. Can I get you anything? Maybe some coffee?"

"That won't be necessary, sir," I said, sitting down. "My team is waiting for me, so I would like to get straight to the point."

He sat down across from me.

"I'm sorry to say," I began, "that we suspect Slade may be after a weapon you happen to be familiar with."

His eyes widened. He opened and closed his mouth several times before speaking. "You can't mean the Supernova."

"I'm afraid so," I said. "Gordon, is there anything you can tell me about the Supernova?"

He shook his head. "I'm restricted from releasing such information without permission from my authorities."

I nodded. "I thought you'd say that. Do you have any information about Slade that you could share?"

He shook his head again. "I've heard very little about him and regret knowing anything about him." He sighed. "I can tell you that it would be an extremely dangerous situation if he ever got his hands on our weapon."

My heart sank some and I looked down. "I apologize for getting you mixed up in all this, but we want to make sure that your family is safe." I reached for the extra communicator hooked onto my belt and gave it to him. "If anything happens, we're just a call away."

He took it with hesitation and nodded. "I understand. I wish you all the best of luck."

I left shortly after, relieved to be leaving.

Yeah, I know. It was a really brief visit that could've been missed if you'd blinked. I just wanted to get the job done. I hate seeing a man like Gordon Thomas being let down so hard. To escape from something you were glad to be rid of only to have it come back to you out of the blue? We knew all too well how that felt.

I met up with the rest of the Titans at our regular pizza place. It seemed like everyone had the same story; no information about the Supernova and no information about Slade. But right now I couldn't think of either. Something that had been bouncing around my mind the whole night before was back to haunt me.

However, it did not stop me from noticing the gray glove drawing closer to my plate.

"What are you doing?" I said stonily, eyeing Beast Boy's guilty face.

"You haven't touched your slice yet!" he said, taking his hand away as if I were going to bite it off. "Don't waste good pizza!"

"Fine." I grabbed my piece and took a big bite. "Don't touch my food ever again."

Beast Boy slumped back into his seat, dreaming of days when we would treat ourselves to seconds.

"You okay, Raven?" Robin asked. "You've been quieter than usual."

I swallowed the last of my slice. "I'm just a little tired. I couldn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Well, when we get back we can all get some rest," he said.

"Even you?" I asked without thinking.

He looked at me with a raised brow. "What?"

"Nothing! Forget I said anything." I looked at the rest of my friends, who were shocked that I had dared to question Robin's habits and put us in potential argument danger.

Robin was about to say something when Beast Boy let out a yelp that could be mistaken for the screech of a monkey.

"Uh! Um . . ." he looked around the table and let a puddle of water drip from his glass. "Who wants to see a magic trick?" he asked frantically.

Eager to change the subject, Cyborg volunteered to watch. He moved in closer.

"Okay, just look closely into the water," Beast Boy began, trying to sound overly-dramatic, "and I shall turn your reflection into an optical illusion!"

Cyborg's head craned closer to the water. Beast Boy slapped his hand into the puddle and splashed his victim's face. Beast Boy laughed and even Starfire began to giggle. Not at all amused, Cyborg gave a great tug on the magician's ear and pulled him to the ground.

"OW! Aw, come on, dude!" Beast Boy whined, rubbing his ear. "Grow a sense of humor!"

"I do have a sense of humor," Cyborg said with a smile. "It's short, green, and makes me laugh every time it gets what it deserves."

When we got back to the Tower, I borrowed Silkie from Starfire who was ecstatic that Silkie and I were "spending quality time together." Baited by the biscuits I was offering as treats, he followed me into my room without hesitation. With Silkie glued to my leg, I closed the door behind me and looked up at my bookshelf.

"On with the experiment, then," I proclaimed, pulling off a piece of the biscuit and dangling it in front of his face.

With the treat in hand I led him to the bookshelf where I put all my spell books. I placed the biscuit on top of the book he had tried to devour earlier. Silkie jumped and hopped and nearly succeeded in getting it, but the shelf was too high and the alcove too far back. He must have kept going for at least ten minutes before I stopped him.

Feeding him the biscuit as a reward for his attempts, I muttered to myself more than him, "You're much too small to get any of my spell books . . . So how did you get that one?"

I gave him the rest of the biscuit and went back to the bookshelf. I studied the top row for quite some time. Finally, I figured out what was amiss.

One of my books was out of place.

I picked it out and looked at the cover. It was in Azarathian, but there was a small translation underneath. Dark Spells for the Advanced Sorcerer. My heart leapt with shock and I started to thumb through the pages. It was full of dark magical methods for a great variety of things, including how to eradicate one's enemy. It was a book given to me by the monks of Azarath, though they advised me that such practices were only to be used in dire situations. Even so, I dared not pick it up.

So now the question was, who was been digging through my spell books?

Jinx was in my room for one night, but she promised me she didn't touch anything. In fact, she had said that she was scared to touch anything in the first place. She could have been lying, though. But to what avail? There was no way she could have learned that kind of magic without the proper preparations and training, and I knew for a fact that she had had neither.

I had already proven to myself that Silkie couldn't have accidently gotten to my books. I would have to call Jinx later and find out, because for now I was at a dead end.

Silkie started to dive beneath my bed in search of who knows what. I hooked him back out with my arm and fed him a plum I was planning to eat later on. Now, however, I was too anxious to stomach anything.

"STANKBALL!"

I winced, and locked my door immediately. And I was certainly too anxious to play with Beast Boy and Cyborg. A loud thump emitted from down the hall, signaling that someone had just been pelted by the flaming object of unpleasant smells. My money was on Cyborg.

I tried to distract myself by playing with Silkie as he gurgled happily on my bed, but after a while someone knocked at my door.

Robin stood before me with a solid face. Maybe his eyes were soft beneath his mask, because his voice was as well.

"Hey, Raven," he said. "Is everything okay?"

I wavered. "Umm . . . Yes? Why do you ask?"

"You just seemed tense earlier, and I wanted to know if you wanted to talk about anything I may have –"

"DUDE! DUCK!"

The Stankball nailed Robin in the back of his head, and he was thrust forward from the impact.

Okay, pause for a second. You know those really cheesy, awkward, almost-never-happens-in-real-life moments that you see in romance movies and romance manga? Say two of the characters are racing each other down a hill and one just happens to fall on top of the other after tripping over a conveniently placed pebble. The girl is beneath the boy, caged in by his arms and legs, and they lock eyes for what seems like three hours. Then they kiss and everyone leaves the theater, throwing popcorn as they go. Don't you hate when that happens? You do? Well, if it really really really really really really annoys you, like pulling-your-hair-out-annoying, then just skim past this. I'm really annoyed by it too, simply because it actually happened.

That's right, Robin was knocked over and took me down with him. That's right, his face was inches above mine. That's right, it was one of the most awkward and uncomfortable moments of my entire life. Lucky for me, though it only lasted two seconds.

We were quick to realize what had happened, and the strongest will in my mind started shouting, "THINK OF SOMETHING WITTY AND GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE! LIKE, NOW!"

"Robin, you smell really bad," I commented, noticing the pile of stinky socks atop his head.

He got up immediately and brushed the items off his head. Cyborg appeared in the doorway.

"Great job, BB!" he shouted to the approaching shape-shifter. "If you hadn't ducked, Robin wouldn't have gotten hit and our ball wouldn't be in pieces!"

"Are you suggesting that because I saved my own butt," Beast Boy said, "that this is all my fault?"

" . . . Yes."

"It's okay, guys," Robin said. "I'm just gonna go take a shower now." He looked back at me. "You sure that you're –"

"Positive," I interrupted, standing up. "Thanks for the consideration."

He frowned, but left. I gave the rest of the putrid smelling objects to Beast Boy and walked back into my room.

"Hey, Raven, you wanna -"

"No, goodbye."

I shut the door and climbed onto my bed. I took in a deep breath, and let out a huge sigh followed by goose bumps.

There, you psychotic fangirls. You got your moment. Hope you didn't have a seizure or anything. Don't read the rest of the chapter in hopes that there will be more. That's it. In fact, the end is coming up so you may as well leave now.

Silkie started to gnaw on my shoe I guess as a sign of affection. I patted his head, though I was still frowning.

"Let's switch jobs one day. Good with you?"

Silkie belched.