-Passing Judgment: Playing by the Rules-

-Just Missed It-

"Raven!" Malchior searched around the maze of the back-streets right along side Trenton, both of them looking for the sorceress who had apparently covered more ground than either of them thought. Coming to a skidding stop at the middle of a three way intersection, Malchior growled and called to Raven again, "Raven!"

"Man! Shut-up!" Trenton jabbed his elbow into Malchior side, nearly winding the dragon, but pissing him off at the same time, claws poised to rip the human's head off. Malchior paused and subdued his anger when he heard the snarling of the dogs coming up from behind, Trent backed up and sneered at the rottweilers that were low to the ground and pulling on their masters' chains.

Their eyes void of warmth, hungry for blood nearly foaming at the mouth, their masters, the witches grinning and giggling in amusement tightened their grips on the chains to make sure the dogs didn't forget who controlled them. Snapping them out of their carnivorous taste for blood, they looked back at their witches and snorted. Still snarling at their targets, Malchior took a step forward, and Trent eyed him wearily when the dragon bared his fangs, "Find Raven, and head for the outskirts of the city, I'll be right behind you."

Trent raised a skeptical brow and glanced momentarily at Malchior's wounded shoulder, "You sure about that? You're not fully healed."

"Theses witches are amateurs," Malchior snorted in annoyance, his fangs not the only things growing, but the rest of his teeth till they were rows of razor sharp canines, "just meager chew toys."

Trent shuttered and backed away, "Yeah … sure … just don't eat me."

Malchior chuckled sinisterly, "Don't be ridiculous … I don't eat junk food."

"Okay," Trent was officially creeped out, why? Because Malchior was looking like something he saw in a nightmare of his when he was kid, not pretty, "you have fun with that."

Without any further notice Trenton took off and the witches snickered, the one with bright blond hair and emerald green eyes whispered to her companion with dark brown hair and light blue eyes, "The beast is wounded, I'll deal with him, you take care of the other one."

"Sure thing," giggled the blue eyed witch, "he's kind-a cute anyway."

Loosening her grip on her dog's chain she let him pull her towards Malchior but further off to the left in order to avoid him when his tail grew out and lashed out at her. She tugged her pet back and waited till her partner released her dog and sent it after the tail. Leaping high in the air, the dog came down and clamped his powerful jaw around Malchior's tail, allowing for the witch to escape a close call when Malchior whipped his tail around violently and slammed the mutt into the corner of a building. Growling in pure annoyance when the dog released and dropped to the ground whining, Malchior looked back at the second witch and snarled, "You're not going anywhere!"

Crouching down, Malchior jumped into the air, and in mid-flip, her partner, the green-eyed blonde smirked, "And you're not leaving a lady by herself, Fifi! Stop him!"

The dog – er – bitch that was knocked into a wall shook her head and got to her feet, snarling at Malchior, she ran and jumped after the dragon. Tackling him back to the ground, but mistakenly on top of the blue-eyed witch, sending the three beings tumbling to the ground tangled in one another. The silver chain on the second dog snapped loose and the dog roared in freedom, snarling it took off in Trenton's direction. Seeing her dog get away, the blue-eyed witch cried out in panic, "Fido! NO! Come back boy!"

Besides the runaway dog, Fifi snarled and tried to get back on her feet, but Malchior with one clawed hand held her down and with a simple flick of his wrist snapped the beast's neck. Snorting and snickering at once, Malchior slowly turned to the fearful young witch who coward away from the dragon that looked ready to eat her and savor ever moment of her screams. Seeing her tremble, Malchior chuckled, "It's been a long … long time since I've seen such a pretty maiden in distress. I wonder if you can scream …"

Slowly inching closer, he stopped when he sensed the other witch casting a curse.

"Krazerbrek enlin thinal nementrous!"

Malchior roared in more shock than pain when white hot cuffs were found on his wrists and ankles, yanking him back and away from the frightened witch and suspending him in mid-air. He snarled and growled when the bounds started to tighten and cut into his flesh, glaring at the bindings he snapped at the blonde witch who struggled to keep up the spell. Wincing when the white bounds tightened, he snorted and took a deep relaxing breath.

"The Cuffs of Damnation … good one … my turn. RELEASE!!" In a burst of power the white cuffs were blown off and Malchior dropped to the ground in a crouch, with the two witches in sight he leapt at them both and slammed them against the far wall. Gripping one of them around the neck with his powerful tail and holding the other in his claws, he smirked at their fear-filled eyes and relished in their chocked cries of mercy, "That, ladies, is a counter curse and I didn't even have to waste any of my life-energy to use it. I'm almost insulted I had you two to deal with. Good-night."

Without so much as batting an eyelash he killed them on the spot and dropped them to the ground in a dishonorable heap, with snort he massaged his healing wrists and looked in the direction Trenton went running. His sensitive hearing catching the sounds of the loose dog catching up to the thief, Malchior took off to aid him.

However, while Trenton gave the mutt the rundown, pumping his legs to get further away from the speeding dog, he just had no chance when the dog caught up and jumped on his back, "Shit!"

Going down head first, Trent quickly turned over before the dog had a chance to crush his skull within its jaws. Remembering how powerful rottweilers could be, he grabbed the sides of its face and as hard as he could slammed a fist on the side of the creatures head. Successfully getting him off, Trent scrambled to his feet and backed away from the beast that got back on its own feet and shook off the headache Trent gave him. The dog locked his eyes on his target and Trenton, breathless and tired braced for another confrontation when he saw the dog growl and crouch down for another attack.

Determined not to let this animal get the better of him, Trent prepared for its pounce, but when he barked and jumped for him, from above someone grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked up. Timed perfectly for the dog to smash face first into a brick wall knocking itself out, Trent gasped and groaned when the back of his head hit something hard.

"Ow …" he whined under his breath and opened one eye to look up and stare into the annoyed violet eyes of non other than Raven herself. Never being so happy to see her, she seemed irritated and for good reason, the xinthonum adhesive was still on her mouth. Trent carefully got back to his feet and dusted himself off, "… damn girl, you can cover some ground."

She shot him a mean look then turned away from him, Trent sighed, knowing what she wanted he lifted up his shirt to reveal the Red X belt, feeling around the pouches he stopped when he felt what he was looking for. Pulling out a spray can, he shook it calling Raven's attention, and in seeing the can she raised a suspicious brow when he walked up close to her. She backed up with great uncertainty until the rail of the fire escape they were on prevented her from moving any further. Glaring up at him, he sprayed the can on the red tape then put it away.

Reaching up a finger to the corner of the tape, Raven closed her eyes, anticipating pain, she relaxed when she felt the tape gently pealed off and thrown to the side. Feeling her mouth to be sure that it was free of the tape she glanced up at Trent and scowled, "Nice look for me huh? Asshole."

Trent cringed and rubbed the back of his neck in what appeared to be a bit of embarrassment, "… Um … I guess it wouldn't matter if I said I was sorry?"

Raven's eyes grew darker and she reached up a clawed hand to rest on his chest applying pressure to push him away she growled, "Just leave me alone."

Being the stubborn fool that he was Trenton pushed her hand away and cupped her face, forcing her to look at him; she tried to pull away from him when he grew closer. Raven gasped in sudden shock when she realized what he was going to do, leaning away and trying to prevent him from getting any closer, she closed her eyes when she felt herself loosing. Fear and confusion gripping her heart she shuttered when she felt him hover just centimeters above her, heat raising up from god knows where, she braced and waited for the inevitable.

Inevitable … why was it inevitable?

It shouldn't be, she could fight him off … it wasn't physically hard for her to …

But mentally … emotionally … she knew she couldn't and she berated herself for being so weak to allow this to ever happen.

If it'll ever happen …

He just stopped … and she was afraid to open her eyes, but shuttered when he instead kissed her cheek softly and whispered into her ear. All the while his hot breath sent dangerous chills down her spine, "This wasn't supposed to happen this way … but I could careless …"

He kissed her again, then pulled her into a tight hug, giving Raven the impression that if he had let go he'd be letting go of a once in a life time chance at happiness. It made her frown … but hesitantly returned the hug anyway, resting her head on his chest to listen to his slow and steady heart beat. She closed her eyes and bit down on her lower lip, the look of regret etched in her heart-shaped face as she held him closer and melted in his warmth.

Until the moment was shattered by an amused chuckle, Malchior, "Aw … now that's adorable."

Raven practically jumped away from Trenton, but forgot that the rail was behind her and could have fallen off if Trent hadn't have grabbed her arm and pulled her close. Falling into his arms once again, with Malchior's mocking laugher still ringing in her ear and this time being smarter scooted out of Trent's reach, clearing her throat and playing it off. She glared up at Malchior who crouched down on the railing above and winked when Raven growled, "Malchior …"

The dragons shrugged innocently, "What? I can't be a witness?"

Hands on her hips, Raven sneered, "Why don't you come down here so I can slit your throat?"

"No thank you, I like where I am," Malchior smirked and glanced at Trenton and shrugged again then looked up to the sky and sighed, "night's coming … and we're not out of the city yet … that could be bad considering we're being flanked by the enemy and the Titans."

Raven huffed, "Let's be smart, we can't make it to the edge of the city by the time the sun's down … I think it's best if we rest for the night."

"I second the notion," Trenton grinned and pulled out a cell phone that hadn't yet been destroyed by all the action, and looked up at Malchior, "but let's do so in a timely fashion … where did you have in mind?"

Malchior tilted his head in confusion, still not understanding just where on the food chain this thief lied, he wondered what this … cell phone … could do to help with their predicament. So he played along and shrugged, "I was thinking that we can take a quick stop for India."

"India?" Raven jerked her head back and scrutinized Malchior, "Why are we going all the way over there?"

"Because that's where the Cat's Eye was found," Trenton's grin grew wider when he finally realized what the dragon had in mind, "alright, but first we have to head for the hanger. I'll tell Jeeves where we're going, and he'll take care of us."

Malchior chuckled, "Sounds like a plan to me."

--

BAM!

"AH!"

"I'm not through with you yet!" Robin flipped out a bird-a-rang and when he threw it at the fleeing thug he aimed it for his feet and tripped him. Snatching the bird-a-rang up when it flew back to him, Robin casually slipped it back in his holster and briskly walked up to the scrambling thug that tried to run. However, when the criminal finally got to his feet, Robin was already behind him and with a swift kick to his back winded the thug and dropped him to the ground.

With a dark glare hard enough to give his mentor a run for his money, even with his odd colored uniform. His very appearance struck fear into the man's heart, especially when the kid about half his size bent down and was strong enough to lift the grown man back onto his feet and slam him up against the wall. The thug trembled, "Alright! Alright! Th-there was a drop off … at the harbor … some warehouse was being used to strike up a deal!"

"What kind of deal." Robin demanded with a deep growl.

The thug gulped, for a second going pitch-blank in the head, he shook his head and answered, "Bah … uh … an-an-antiques."

Robin narrowed his mask and tightened his hold on the man, "Expand."

"Treasure Hunters, word is they found something good at a place that was supposed to be nonexistent and they were looking for a pay off," the thug cringed when Robin pulled him away from the wall and shoved him back against it, meaning he wanted more, and so he gave him more, "they found a buyer! I don't know who he is … but word is he's some hot-shot punk with a Halloween costume."

Robin's scowl darkened and with a jerk he threw the man to the ground and stood above him with an air of authority, "That's all I needed to know."

And like that, he was gone.

Leaving the thug to glance around in confusion and suspicion, not taking the chance to stay and look for the Titan he took off running for cover. Robin, stood atop a roof and looked off in the direction the harbor should be and remembered he sent Starfire in that general direction he reached for his communicator and called her, "Star, this is Robin, find anything?"

On the other side, Starfire hovered over the many warehouses in the vicinity, and touched down when her communicator rang. She answered and heard Robin's question, looking around she sighed wearily, "I see nothing of great interest."

"Well keep looking Star, you should find something."

Starfire frowned and gave the communicator an odd look, never liking how Robin always sounded and acted like he knew something no one else did. She huffed and flipped her red-hair back when the wind blew it in her face. Jerking her head back, her peripheral vision caught something weird … turning her scrutinizing emerald green eyes on a warehouse with its locks off and cracked open. Starfire looked around to the many other houses to find them all locked with heavy chains, secured.

So turning back to the odd warehouse she walked up to it and carefully, hesitantly she pushed it open and narrowed her eyes, trying to see in the darkness. She gave up trying with her naked-eye and lifted up a hand, lighting up her palm with a starbolt, she carefully walked in and looked about. No wonder it's unlocked … it's empty … she thought with a defeated sigh, but out of curiosity she walked in anyway to give the place a closer examination.

Walking around until she stopped at the center where the main steel beam that held the structure up sat, she finally figured that there was nothing of great interest and went to make her exit. But stopped when the apparent "empty" warehouse showed her it wasn't empty at all! Next to the steel beam, hiding in the shadow of her light, Starfire gasped when she saw the unbelievable. Immediately grabbing her communicator she phoned in Robin, "Robin! Come quickly! I think I've found something!"

"What did you find Star?"

Starfire crouched on the ground and put the communicator on her lap as she reached for the cracked and broken Red X mask, staring at it in astonishment, she looked around the warehouse in confusion then answered Robin, "I found the Red X's mask … it's damaged."

"Good work Star, now just stay there and I'll round up the guys, copy?"

"Understood."

Click.

Robin disconnected and left Starfire to walk out of the darkened warehouse back into the dimly lit harbor. With Red X's mask in her hands she traced the hard edges and the jagged spider-cracks at the center where whatever hit him cracked the hard mask. Turning it over she noticed the devices built into the mask that'll help him see at night, the distorter, and other things that Starfire knew would aid the thief on his "missions". Remembering that Robin had once been the one behind this mask, she looked away from it and frowned.

Starfire still couldn't understand how Robin could have done what he did … why he had become a villain in order to catch a mad-man? It didn't make sense to her and it hurt to know that in one moment in time Robin didn't trust her, or his entire team enough to tell them of his plan. With a sigh she shook her head and looked up to the sky in search of her friends … but found that she'd be alone for a quite awhile.

Alone …

Starfire couldn't lie, she had issues with being alone; she couldn't stand not being with others, not having her friends to comfort her. Which was why she was so fascinated with Raven and Robin … they could be alone, they could stand it, they wanted it, they – at times – welcomed it. And it made her wonder as she lifted up the mask to stare at the white cracked surface, smoothing a well manicured hand over it, and turning it over to see the inside.

She wondered … if loneliness was the reason why the birds wore masks … well, Raven didn't wear a mask physically, but she didn't have to … the sorceress could mask emotion after emotion and still be able to mask her thoughts. But masks … why would someone wear a mask? To hide their true identity, Starfire figured, but why else? To hide their loneliness? Or to hold on to it? To hold a sense of power? Or to hide behind another face so they didn't have to show who they really were?

So many questions.

Not enough answers.

Hesitantly, Starfire gulped and looked around to make sure she was still alone, biting down on her lower lip she looked into the Red X mask and tilted her head. A mask makes one feel cool? But why wear a mask if confidence already exists in one's personality? Or … is it the mask that gives one the confidence needed to face the world? Why wear a mask? Why … that was only question she had and before she could linger any further on it, her name was called by her green friend, Beast Boy, "Star! What'cha got there?"

From the skies he dropped after morphing from his bird form to human, landing beside her he looked at her hand and stared with his mouth agape. Down the road, they both heard a car and saw the T-car with Cyborg as driver and Robin in the passenger. Stopping the vehicle and turning it off. Both the friends jumped out of the car and walked up to Starfire, the Tameranian Princess held up her find and handed it to Robin, "I don't suppose you know what happened?"

"A fight, obviously," he observed and looked into the warehouse then glanced up at Starfire, "this were you found it?"

She nodded, "I'm going to make a guess … but I suspect that Raven probably met the Red X here and fought."

Beast Boy whistled when the mask was passed to him to observed, "If Raven fought him then she must have been pissed!"

"No kidding," Cyborg scoffed, "if you look inside you'll find that he's screen and everything else was all messed up … but it wasn't Raven … theirs a black smudge on the face. Something hot got to him."

Starfire chimed, "Another magic wielder?"

Cyborg shrugged, "Most probable."

Within the warehouse, Robin flashed his flashlight around and frowned, Another magic user? After the same thing X wanted … but it wasn't a double-cross, he paid the Treasure Hunters and before he could split someone stopped him … someone he knew to have left his guard down long enough for the character to hit him hard enough to crack the mask. But this guy can't be on the same side as the ones that broke into the hotel … trying hard to understand the story with little to go on, Robin gritted his teeth then jerked his head back when a crazy thought hit him, Wait … the guy in Raven's room!

"… the names Azul … a certain pet of mine's failed to do his job a while back, but that doesn't mean I still don't need him. Apparently I do for the coming challenges that await me." Robin shook his head in disbelief, What was that dragon's name again … Mal-Malchior! He got shot with the silver bullet, he's the pet within the book, and that Azul character knows X! There was a fight … but then a truce …

Robin … at times … will admit, he scared himself at how well he was solving mysteries, it was scary, but he only knew half the story. He still hasn't figured out who was after Raven and where she is now that he's on her tail, but he had an idea, "Titans, head back to the T-ship … I'll meet you there, I just gotta check something."

Cyborg eyed Robin skeptically, "Rob?"

Robin gave him a reassuring look, "Just go Cy, I'll be fine."

The hybrid rolled his eyes and dismissed his leaders reassurance, but made his way back to his car, Beast Boy right behind him with Starfire hovering in the air staring down at Robin with worry, "Robin … what are you planning?"

"If this is what I think it is … Star," Robin sighed and looked up at her, "then there's going to be heavy movement at the airport. I just gotta be sure I'm right."

"Robin," Starfire smiled sweetly, "you know you are most of the time right … why do you often doubt yourself?"

"Because I've been wrong on more times then I was right, go Star."

Trusting Robin, Starfire flew to Cyborg and by the time she turned to give Robin a second glance, he was gone.

--

"HEY! GET ME OUT OF HERE! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME I'M NO ANIMAL! HRAH!" with a hard kick to the cage he was in, Lance winced when his foot pulsed in pain. Protesting his own defiance, Lance growled and gripped a hold of the bars when the dragon he trusted, Cashes, sat and grinned at him in utter amusement.

"Having fun child?"

"Keep laughing," Lance hissed, "watch, my Uncle Trent will come in here at any moment and he's going to Kick. Your. Ass."

"I don't doubt it … except …" lengthening his claws, Cashes grinned at Lance and frightened the child when he stuck his arm in the cage and came close to cutting Lance a new hole to breath through, "do you think your uncle could find a way around these?"

Lance backed away from the claw, but when Cashes arm pulled back out, he rushed up to the cage and grabbed the bars glaring defiantly at the dragon he sneered, "If he doesn't, Malchior will, he's a dragon to and he'll break your stupid butter knives and claw your eyes out."

Cashes rolled his eyes and with his pointer and thumb fingers began to massage the bridge of his nose to keep a raising headache at bay, "You're too optimistic for a child locked in a cage … and incase Malchior hadn't told you, he's a Spell-Drake, I'm a War-Drake, the worse he'll probably do is turn me into a toad."

"Frog." Lance corrected, Cashes raised a his brow as if questioning the correction, Lance continued, "a Toad is a Frog … therefore he'd be turning you into a Frog … not a toad."

"Well if I said he could turn me into toad then I already said he's turning me into frog considering you think that a toad is a frog."

"Yeah, but you said it as if a toad was different than a frog and that's a common mistake, because toads don't exist."

"No, you said that toads were frogs therefore toads do exist."

"Yes, toads are frogs, but toads don't exist."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Cashes snarled and got closer to the cage, Lance backed up when Cashes green eyes bled red as he growled, "Don't try my patience child, because whether or not it's a Toad or a Frog the only reason why I haven't eaten you yet is because that ring around your neck … and even then, I don't understand why my master wishes to spare your meaningless life."

"Well then I guess my life isn't meaningless, considering the fact that I'm needed to find Dragon Trove," Lance smirked triumphantly, "so … toads don't exist and when Malchior gets here, he'll turn you into a Frog. Hope you're accustomed to bug-juice."

Cashes snapped and within a flash of a second he was on the cage reaching to claw Lance's eyes out. Lance scrambled for cover, he gasped when the dragon's claws came too close to his head, watching for where he'll strike next, Lance's life was spared when the van he was in the back off stopped and the doors opened wide. The human men who opened it jerked their heads back in confusion when they saw Cashes snarling face and arm through the bars reaching for the frightened child.

Cashes settled down and pulled his arm out of the cage, being as calm he could muster he jumped out of the van and glared warningly at Lance. Acting as if nothing had happened he began to help the men take down the cage, coming close to Lance he whispered in a low growl, "I'm going to enjoy eating your heart out."

Lance gulped; no matter how strong of a front he put up, just knowing he was dealing with something inhuman was frightening. From within his cage, Lance looked around and frowned when he realized they were at an airstrip and they were taking him to a jet. Getting a bad feeling, he jerked forward when they stopped moving and one of the men came up and unlocked the cage and gestured for him to jump out. Lance contemplated running … but figured it was useless with Cashes around so he obediently came out and yelped when a heavy silver tracking cuff was placed around his ankle.

The man smirked up at him, "You try to go beyond 40 yards of Jylin, and your leg goes bye-bye."

Lance gulped, "House arrest in the worst possibly way …"

"You got that right, now, on the plane," shoved to the steep stairs onto the jet, and with a happenstance glance off to the side, Lance double –checked to see if he saw right. Within the wild growing bushes near the airstrip he could have swore he saw masked eyes watching him, Uncle Trent …? No … he even saw a flash of yellow not a few seconds ago, eyes narrowed he tried not to call attention to himself and ducked into the jet. Told he had to sit a way from the windows, he frowned and tried to decipher whether or not what he saw was really something that he actually saw and he wasn't just seeing things.

When captured, some times, Lance figured, the mind plays tricks on the captive.

Little did he know, his young eyes were not deceiving him. However, he couldn't linger on the thought any longer for Jylin had finally come around from the cockpit to take his seat in front of the group of men and at least three women in the plane. His golden eyes and clean cut look still the same as he had remembered when he was younger. Lance gulped when those amber eyes looked in his direction and grinned with a nodded head of greetings, Lance never returned the gesture. Just closed his eyes and bowed his head, praying that before anything bad happened Trenton really would come around to save the day.

Strapped into the seat, Lance tried to look out a window when he felt the jet plane moving, but alas, he was forbidden and he accepted the fact that for now.

He was on his own.

And it was made definite when the plane left the ground.

Behind the bushes that Lance had glanced at Robin stood up and narrowed his mask on the plane, gritting his teeth he took off to find out where exactly that plane was headed. Running through another hanger with another jet ready to take off, Robin accidentally ran into its pilot and was knocked to the ground, "Gods … oh, damn, sorry!"

"Where's the fire kid?" the pilot with the nametag "Jeeves" raised a brow, pushing off his jet that he was knocked against. He blinked when he noticed it was a Teen Titans, nervously glancing from side to side when Robin looked up and dusted off his uniform.

Robin glanced from the airstrip back to the pilot and gave his question a shot, "Hey … um … do you know where that other planes headed?"

Jeeves looked out to the plane that took off and then looked back down at the Titan and shrugged, "It's a charter, might be headed somewhere in the middle of the wild, this one's the same."

He said jerking his thumb to his own plane, Robin nodded in understanding and out of curiosity asked, "And where's this one headed?"

"India … why?"

"Just wanted to know, thanks for the info," Robin waved him off and went running to the Airport Tower for more information, leaving Jeeves to shake his head and continue up the stairs into his jet where his employer, Criss Daniels and his two partners sat in wait.

Silver eyes scrutinized the pilot, "Where were you?"

Jeeves flicked his wrist in dismissal, "Here, just some crazy Titan runnin' around asking for directions held me back."

Criss's eyes bugged out, Malchior in his seat sank into his chair and looked out the window, while Raven, who had surprisingly fallen asleep didn't hear a thing! Calming down, Criss bit down on his lower lip then gestured for the pilot to get them off the ground. Sitting back down on his seat, he glanced at Raven to make sure she was still sleeping, and then looked across the plane to Malchior who shrugged. Criss sighed and closed his eyes wishing he was Raven, deep asleep and not wanting to worry about what might happen. But damn … why in the hell is he here anyway?

--

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the Teen Titans.

A/N: This is a funny chapter, for me to write anyway because everyone that's after somebody is all in the same general location, but neither of them know it, you can't get more ironic than that.

But we'll see what happens later.

So …

L8r daez