Wow. It's been a while. Sorry about the wait. For any who do not know, school sucks. Those who doubt this fact, you are wrong. Well, I won't take too much time. Hopefully, the next update will be sooner. Anyway, to my readers - enjoy. And to my reviewers - thank you so much.
Smile for the Camera
The Titans were all gathered in the Evidence Room. It was the only place Stewart, the man in charge of the camera crew, could be convinced needed to stay undocumented. There would probably be repercussions for the gathering. There was something about Stewart that made it obvious that people who made him angry regretted it.
Stewart was Robin's shadow, and, according to Raven, the only crewmember who knew the truth behind the documentary currently in progress. The old man's danger wasn't in his form. He was a diminutive man who looked like he would fit nicely into the nearest garbage shute. That could have just been because of the abnormal shape his spine had adopted as he aged. Still, there was something about the way he held himself – the rigid angle of his neck, the confident clicking as his dress-shoes hit the floor, the predatory glint in his eyes – that hinted at a nerve of steel and a ruthless streak that had taken over the man's more human side long ago. The skin that sagged from Stewart's face and from under his chin was not crafted by laughter or smiles. He looked like he'd been born wearing a scowl and a glare and had only recently gotten rid of them.
"What were you two thinking!" Robin exploded as he paced between Control Freak's remote and one of Slade's masks. He didn't bother keeping his voice down. He didn't need to; the room was lined with sonic-dampers. "The plan was to not act up. We can't afford stunts like that," Robin continued.
Beast Boy crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back into a tank of ricin that had almost been dumped into the city's water supply three years ago by a failed Wayne Enterprises chemist. Beast Boy still had bottled water somewhere in his closet because of that fiasco. The powder had stirred up paranoia all over the city.
"The 'plan' was to live our lives," Beast Boy retaliated. "We can't let Sawchak or these cameras scare us. That's what he wants." Robin glared at Beast Boy. The changeling shifted to hide the involuntary shiver that his leader could draw out of him on command. A documentary would take time to finish, and Beast Boy saw no point in playing pretend the entire time. It wasn't worth it, and he wasn't a good enough actor.
Robin abandoned his pacing and stalked toward Beast Boy.
Starfire blocked Robin's path, saving the elf from his irate leader's wrath. "Please, Robin, the actions of friend Beast Boy were unwise, but he makes "the point". Our actions must appear natural." Robin heaved a deep sigh, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.
Raven slid out of the niche she'd been nestled in. Beast Boy jumped at her sudden appearance. In truth, he'd forgotten that Raven was even in the room. Instead of the verbal attack he'd expected from her, Raven just wandered to Cyborg's side.
"You were both idiots," Raven said evenly, the faintest phantom of annoyance laced in her tone. "You still are and, unfortunately, we can't fix that. There is no point in being upset," Raven directed that part at Robin. "The more guarded we are, the more suspicious the city gets. If we act for the entire time Sawchak's crew is here, we will invite speculation."
Beast Boy had expected Robin to argue. He didn't. Raven was making perfect sense. The only objection came from Cyborg, and that was just a playful shove in response to her cracks on Beast Boy's and his intelligence. Raven smirked for a moment before regaining control of her physiognomy.
Beast Boy took a timid step toward the door. When nobody moved to stop him, he assumed the meeting was over. The others fell into file. As the door hissed open, a gruff voice layered in sand and coated in congealed tar floated to Beast Boy's ears.
Stewart was standing in front of the redhead who had been following Cyborg earlier. He was speaking in an unfortunate rasp that belayed his history as a long-time smoker, just in case the nicotine patch just barely visible at the base of his neck wasn't enough of an indication.
"… Ah, they're back. Whatever took place in the Evidence Room is anybody's guess. Maybe they'll enlighten us." Stewart was at Beast Boy's side before the changeling even knew the old man had moved. One bony arm was around his shoulder in a false show of congeniality. Beast Boy had to quell the shiver the old man's touch awakened. Beast Boy had thought that only Robin and megalomaniacs who suffered from insomnia could make him so nervous just by existing. Apparently he was wrong.
"So, Beast Boy, what were you and the Titans doing in there for the past fifty minutes?" The hand on Beast Boy's shoulder jostled him in a friendly ruffle, disguising the quick gouging movement of the senior's clubbed fingers.
Beast Boy disentangled himself from Stewart's grip with a rouge smile. "Oh, just looking at a few leads. You didn't miss anything," Beast Boy assured Stewart, intent on appearing friendly. "We just needed to keep up with a few things. Cyborg might be able to tell you more. I… I, uh, never really pay attention."
Beast Boy felt eyes on his back. Raven was looking at him. As soon as he thought about what he'd said, Beast Boy could have kicked himself: he'd just said on camera that he, a superhero, didn't pay attention to his job. Stewart's eyes sparkled dangerously as Beast Boy finished speaking. He didn't push the subject, however.
"All right, we'll check in with Cyborg in a bit. Would now be a good time to pull you for an interview?" Stewart continued his questioning, barely missing a millisecond.
"No," Beast Boy answered quickly. "I'll talk to Drew later. Now, I need to go set up the training course." Stewart's eyes lost their glint at the mention of Drew's name.
As Beast Boy turned away he caught Raven's eyes. She gave him a half-nod. Beast Boy started walking away from Stewart as quickly as he dared without seeming too rushed. It was technically Raven's turn to set up the course, but he hadn't had a better excuse. Stewart had already latched onto Robin and begun hounding him with questions. Robin's paranoia about doing or saying too much seemed much more reasonable now that Beast Boy had met Stewart. The man was a plague of nervousness and didn't appear picky about his victims.
"He's going to kill me," Drew griped as he fell into step behind Beast Boy.
"Why's that?" Beast Boy asked once they were out of earshot.
Drew laughed to himself quietly, "I'm not really supposed to talk to any of you." Drew's voice slipped into a very convincing imitation of Stewart's. "Being observed changes actions and events enough without the bonus of you running off your mouths. You don't have anything to say; you're opinions regarding the Titans are unimportant. So, do us all a favor, and hold your tongues."
Beast Boy turned to see Drew stooped over and brandishing his finger at the air as if to skewer it. The ever-present camera with its watchful red eye winked at Beast Boy from under one of Drew's armpits.
"That's pretty good," Beast Boy complemented as he struggled to turn his laugh into a cough. He was only partially successful, and instead a muffled snort came out through his nose. "You should hear me do Robin sometime…" Beast Boy stopped himself before he went too far. The camera was recording footage that could be used in a real documentary. He needed to be careful. They all did.
Drew straightened and fished the camera out of his armpit as he started to catch up with Beast Boy. "I'd like that sometime. I'm sure it's a real hit with the team."
Beast Boy couldn't help himself from laughing this time. He couldn't even bother to hide it. "Not really. I mean, sure, I get a chuckle every now and then, but the others don't usually respond. Well, not unless everything back-fires."
They reached the elevator in silence. Drew looked like he wanted to talk but kept glancing at the camera. He was probably worried about when Stewart started editing all the footage together and saw he had been disobeyed. Drew didn't want to get too badly hurt.
The walk to the obstacle course was drowned in the same silence. The only sound was the crunch of half-frozen ice underfoot and the whistling of the wind as it sailed across the bay.
Beast Boy punched the computer terminal to life after entering a quick seven-digit code. Drew walked across the inactive course, his camera scanning the area and the lens moving forward or backward as he artfully documented the area.
Beast Boy rubbed his hands together and let a rattling breath slip between his chattering teeth. He jumped when he noticed Drew had moved up beside him.
"Why are you setting up the course?" Drew asked as he trained the lens on Beast Boy.
"I'm not that early," Beast Boy said. "We usually run the obstacle course every couple of days, around five usually. It's a lot of fun and we need to stay on top of our form."
Drew shook his head and the camera moved with him. "I mean," he clarified, "why are you setting it up when it's Raven's turn?"
Beast Boy could only stand rooted to the spot as Drew turned his camera to a laminated calendar attached to the main computer hub. In bright red letters, under the day's date, was Raven's name. Beast Boy took Drew's brief distraction to do some quick thinking. Nothing he could think of could really explain why he was setting up without blatantly lying or telling the complete truth. Regardless, Beast Boy decided to take a non-existent middle ground.
"Well," Beast Boy started as the camera came back to his face. Luckily the cold had kept the nervous sweat from becoming too obvious. "I owe Raven a favor. Not a favor, really, but…"
"But what?"
"Well, Raven did the dishes for me after Starfire made us a Tamaranian feast for dinner. I had a bad reaction to something in the food and Raven cleaned up for me." That wasn't technically a lie. Beast Boy had a very bad reaction to the food. He'd spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Of course, Raven hadn't done the dishes for him.
Drew's brow scrunched in thought as he searched for another question. "So, when you guys help each other out it's never to just help? There's always a trade-off?"
Beast Boy blanched. He was digging them all into a hole and he was doing it in less than a day.
"No! No," Beast Boy he said more calmly. "If we help each other, say in a fight or something, it's just to help each other out. We care a lot about each other. I mean, we're like each other's family. We're all we really have now. But we're also roommates, and sometimes we get on each other's nerves." Beast Boy thought that he'd sounded rather diplomatic, even if he'd also sounded like something from a cheesy teen magazine.
Drew's eyebrows shot up into his hair. Fortunately, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven chose that moment to appear with their entourages. Drew didn't get to follow-up.
Their usual training commenced as best as it could. Throughout it all, five cameras watched the Titans. The glaring red eyes followed Beast Boy's every move out on the course, recorded his every word from the sidelines, and succeeded in making him very nervous. When Robin called an end to practice early, Beast Boy decided that he preferred talking to Drew. At least Drew acted human.
ooooo
Beast Boy swiped a hand across his brow to remove the sweat. The basement was very hot. With a wrench in one hand and pipes crisscrossing overhead, Beast Boy continued his work on the hot-water heater. Drew sat off to the side, sweating in silence. Steam leaked into the room as Beast Boy loosened the pipes.
"So, why exactly…"
"Shh!" Beast Boy hissed before Drew could continue his question. "Sound travels through the pipes," Beast Boy whispered. Drew eyed Beast Boy skeptically but didn't say anything.
Beast Boy finished his tinkering and set the wrench down.
The basement was cluttered with boxes. Some of them were important; the rest held useless junk that nobody had bothered to unpack when they moved in and nobody had the heart to throw out. Lights dangled from the ceiling, flickering and flaring as power coursed through the exhausted bulbs.
"Is it safe to talk now?" Drew asked with a smile.
Beast Boy jumped before looking over at Drew. He'd almost forgotten that he had company down here.
"Sure," Beast Boy answered after a pause. "The pipes don't actually carry sound. I just needed to concentrate."
Drew nodded. "So, why exactly were you sabotaging the hot-water heater?"
Beast Boy rubbed the back of his neck. The more he thought about it, the more impulsive it seemed. There wasn't much he could do about it now.
"Well," Beast Boy drew out the word, "you saw us practicing, but Robin ended practice early. That means that he's in the gym right now. And when he finishes working out he usually takes a shower."
"So, this is one of those pranks you told me about? The ones nobody thinks are funny?" Drew lowered the camera to look directly at Beast Boy.
"I wouldn't say nobody…" Beast Boy trailed off. This had definitely been impulsive. "Anyway," Beast Boy fired up, a mischievous grin stretched across his face, "the way this is set up, the next person to use the shower will get about five minutes of hot water."
Beast Boy picked up a stack of buckets he'd carried down earlier and started placing them under the loosened pipes.
"Then, the reserve water will run out and new water will get pumped up. When that happens, the buckets catch the hot water. When there isn't any hot water in the pipes, the shower will start using cold water."
Drew frowned behind his camera. Beast Boy was too busy remembering the last time he'd used this prank to notice. Cyborg and he had set it up on April Fool's Day the first year that the team had been together. Robin hadn't forgiven Beast Boy for a long time after that.
Beast Boy placed the last bucket, surveyed his handiwork, and started sprinting up the stairs. Once he reached the basement door, Beast Boy morphed into a fly and slipped under the door. He opened the door moments later and ushered Drew out.
"You do this a lot?" Drew asked.
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "Pranks? Yeah," Beast Boy answered as he walked down the hallway.
Beast Boy passed the bathroom door and allowed himself a wicked smile when he heard running water on the other side. Then he kept walking, nodding to the cheery blond woman who'd waved at him earlier.
"You mentioned that your pranks backfire," Drew smirked as he followed Beast Boy to his room. Beast Boy reached his door and waited for the hydraulics to open it.
Beast Boy stepped through the threshold and into his room. It passed as a place of inhabitance only because of the bunk bed that surfaced from the filth near the window. The room was covered in dirty clothes, moldy food, and a few clumps of green cat hair. If there was a floor, nobody alive could see it.
"Some of them back-fire," Beast Boy answered as he waded over to his bed. Usually the smell in Beast Boy's room was unbearable. Today it was just cold; he'd thrown his window open to vent the near-toxic fumes. "But not this one," Beast Boy finished as he sat on the top bunk, waiting.
Drew just watched Beast Boy and waited with him. It didn't take long for realization to dawn on the changeling's features. His eyes exploded in brilliant emerald fireworks, dancing with shock and horror, as he looked at Drew.
Drew was his shadow; he had followed Beast Boy everywhere. Stewart was Robin's shadow. Stewart would have been the person outside if Robin had been using the shower. The person sitting outside had been the cheery blond, and the cheery blond had been somebody else's shadow. She'd been Raven's shadow.
Beast Boy sprung off his bed and lunged for the door. Drew barely had time to get out of his way. Beast Boy didn't wait for the door to open. As Beast Boy got to the door he turned into a cockroach and scurried under the door before all six feet had even been properly formed.
The door opened moments later as Drew stepped into the hallway. The only evidence of Beast Boy's passing were the faint hoof marks he'd left in his haste. Drew sprinted down the hall, keeping his camera steady. This was pure gold.
A startled yell shook the entire tower. The hot water had run out. Almost immediately after Raven screamed, there was a crashing noise as she jumped out of the frigid trap Beast Boy had set.
Drew rounded the corner and saw Beast Boy screech to a halt and morph into his human form. The boy looked terrified.
Beast Boy felt terrified. Raven was already mad at him. Ever since their argument, Raven had been waiting for an excuse to make Beast Boy miserable. The prank had been meant for Robin, but there was no way that Raven would give him enough time to explain that.
The bathroom door opened just as Beast Boy decided to turn around. Raven stepped out, her eyes blazing with deadly white light, and a towel hastily wrapped around her body. Raven's hair hung in a wet mass around her head, plastered to her skin and drawing attention to the blue tint invading her pale lips.
"Beast Boy," Raven growled dangerously as she spotted the changeling. Black light swarmed around Raven and shot toward Beast Boy. He turned himself into a turtle and retreated into his shell as the magic impacted. His entire reptilian body was attacked and thrown into convulsions. He felt like he was being squeezed, a water balloon some kid was determined to pop. He recognized it as the same sensation that had overcome him when Raven and Mumbo had forced him to morph.
Beast Boy fought through the pain and turned back into his relatively human form. The pressure abated and he was thrown against the wall.
"What," Raven said through clenched teeth, "Were. You. Thinking!" With each word, Beast Boy felt himself being pushed harder against the wall.
Beast Boy opened his mouth to speak but was forced to close it again when he was slammed further into the wall. Raven didn't want him to say anything. She just needed to vent. Raven's powers continued to swarm around her as she held Beast Boy in place.
The fire in Raven's eyes wasn't as strong as Beast Boy was used to. Come to think of it, Raven hadn't lost control like this in months. Power continued to fluctuate around Raven as stray bolts jumped out and caught Drew and the cheery blonde's cameras. In a shower of sparks, both cameras were destroyed.
Author's Note: Remember, tell me what you think. If you enjoy the story, please tell me. My ego can always use the help. If you're particularly bold, you can even tell me what you like specifically. But more than praise, I'm interested in critique. What was good and why, what was bad and why. Stuff like that. So, please, review.
