Well, Balkoth is back. And I updated earlier than last time. Ha, take that course load! Anyway, thank you to all readers: it's great that you enjoy Smile for the Camera enough to come back for another helping. To reviewers new and old: thank you. Seriously, it means a lot to hear back from other readers and writers. Without further delay, enjoy.


Smile for the Camera

Beast Boy stretched his hands out in front of him until his shoulders gave a satisfactory pop. The doors to the Evidence Room slid shut behind him as he continued to shake out his limbs. Beast Boy frowned at Raven.

"Did you have to be so convincing?" Beast Boy whined as he scrubbed vigorously at his leg in an attempt to revive the limb. Raven hadn't only given him a beating: her power was still as hyperborean as ever.

"Who was acting?" Raven shot back. "I should kill you for pulling that stunt." Raven crossed her arms protectively across her chest, as if remembering the frigid water Beast Boy's prank had dumped on her. Or the trouble he had caused by discovering fanfiction. Or any other time that he proven just how immature and burdensome he could be.

"You weren't supposed to take a shower!" Beast Boy replied. "It was supposed to be Robin," the changeling jabbed in Robin's direction. Robin crossed his arms across his chest in an action that mimicked Raven. Beast Boy realized what he had just said and gave Robin a sheepish grin. It didn't work.

"So," Cyborg cut in before the impending conflict could escalate, "how many times do y'all think we can disappear in here before it causes problems?" The other four Titans turned as one to stare at their mechanical friend.

He shrugged in response. "I was just curios. Didn't know it would be a stupid question."

"It isn't that," Raven sighed. The empath started shaking her head and silently berating herself. After a moment Raven's eyes opened again. "None of us thought that far ahead. We can't hole up in here every few hours. I don't think Stewart will allow us to."

Robin vented a mirthless laugh and started his usual pacing routine. "He won't. Stewart's furious about the cameras, Raven. You shouldn't have done that. I don't know what he'll do, but I'm positive we won't like it." Robin's pacing eventually made Beast Boy dizzy and he looked away. They were effectively prisoners in their own home. They were being shadowed by people who weren't allowed to talk to them and constantly watched for even the slightest indication that they were human.

Beast Boy slumped against the ricin tank and allowed gravity to pull him to the ground. The changeling pulled his legs toward his chest and let his crossed arms rest on his knees.

"If we can no longer meet here, how are we to communicate without being monitored?" Starfire broke the momentary silence.

"Morse code?" Beast Boy suggested miserably as his head slumped onto his forearms.

"With how well it went last time? You're kidding, B," Cyborg shot down the idea with a wave of his hand. Beast Boy had never learned how to say more than "Where is the remote?" and Starfire, if caught off guard, still thought the tapping was a Tamaranian invasion drum. That hadn't ended well.

"What about notes?" Cyborg suggested. That idea was similarly dismantled. Notes were too easy to intercept. Intercept. The further the conversation progressed, the more it sounded like the Titans were fighting a war. Secret code was also thrown out – it was too obvious. Inside jokes and references came up, but a single fanatic could bring it all tumbling down around them.

Beast Boy tried to stay focused, he really did, but the elf found himself drifting away from the conversation. Their shadows weren't supposed to talk to them. Drew was pretty talkative. There was a chance that the other shadows were too.

"Guys," Beast Boy started, "have you gotten…" the rest of one of Beast Boy's rare strokes of genius was broken off by a series of painful mechanical shrieks. The door to the Evidence Room was being forced open. Metal scratched against metal as the threshold to the room parted in a phenomenon that Cyborg had always insisted was impossible.

A gnarled hand with clubbed fingers came around the edge of the door first. That was followed by a back and shoulder. An entire body. When Stewart finished forcing open the secure doors, ignoring the thunderous alarms his entry had set off, he glared dangerously at Raven and Beast Boy.

"You completely destroyed two cameras worth of footage!" the old man seethed. Far from letting his physical exhaustion affect his tirade, Stewart managed to use the imposing heaving of his shoulders, the sweat trickling down his weathered skin, and the extra rasping of his tar-encrusted lungs to his advantage. Indeed, not a single person from his crew had tried to stop Stewart and not a single one of the Titans had the nerve to make him leave. Stewart looked like the most likely candidate in the world to suffer a stroke and a heart attack at the same time. He even looked like he was trying to set a speed record.

"Two cameras!" Stewart exploded again. "That's hours of documentation on forty percent of you! She destroyed my cameras on purpose," Stewart jabbed his finger in Raven's direction but missed by a few feet. His eyes were crossed and his balance was teetering from one point to another on a whim.

"Sir, you do not look well," Starfire started toward Stewart who just snarled at her to stay back.

"Please," Starfire tried again. "You are not being reasonable; you require rest."

Stewart heaved a loud series of coughs and Starfire jumped back. It quite literally sounded like the man had eaten nails for breakfast and was having a hard time keeping them down.

"She sabotaged my crew. She broke the contract," Stewart wheezed the accusation around another bout of coughs.

Robin jumped in. The last thing they needed was for this to end in such a spectacular explosion.

"Raven didn't destroy the cameras on purpose," Robin insisted. Beast Boy could see the cogs in Robin's brain clicking together as he approached the only plausible conclusion to that statement. The good news was that maybe Raven would have a new person to be angry at.

Beast Boy shook his head violently while stealing a glance at the four cameramen. None of them were holding their cameras. Apparently, they didn't want to show the document's narrator as a complete maniac.

Beast Boy glanced at Raven. Her face was a perfect mask. She could have been having the best time of her life or plotting how to kill them all and make it look like an accident. There was nothing there, no way of telling. Beast Boy saw her nod, slowly.

"She can't always control her powers," Robin finished with an obvious flinch that nonetheless went unnoticed. "She's getting a lot better, but there has been a lot going on recently. Beast Boy's prank just pushed her over the edge."

Stewart took a deep breath and straightened up. The madness was leaving his eyes and being replaced by the signature predatory glint that made Beast Boy feel like wherever he was it wasn't far enough away. Stewart took a deep breath before speaking.

"I contacted Jefferson. He's sending new cameras. We'll start filming again first thing tomorrow. He'd like to talk to you, though; he's in the living room." Stewart turned on his heel and limped out of the room, probably to lie down for a while.

"Wait a minute," Cyborg said as Stewart left the room, the alarms still shrilling in the background. "Sawchak's in the tower?"

The alarms had died down but Beast Boy still couldn't get the ringing out of his ears; Beast Boy's senses were more acute than a normal human's. That meant that prolonged alarms gave him a headache.

The doors to the living room slid open as the Titans approached. Sawchak's enlarged face was clearly visible on the computer monitor. The Sawchak frowning down at them, as if they were mere insects to his cruel design, was a far cry from the energetic, charismatic, man who had "helped" them with fanfiction. Beast Boy felt like a small rodent trapped between a wall and a starved cat.

The bright colors that Sawchak had worn on their first two meetings were gone. The man was swathed in clothing so dark, bland, and hopeless that Beast Boy could feel his shoulders sag in defeat. Sawchak had thrown his energy in reverse, taking away hope now instead of inspiring it. It was almost magical. Cold brown eyes passed over Beast Boy and made him shiver. They reminded him of iced coffee and subsequent caffeine crash without the initial pick-up.

"Raven," Sawchak smirked when the demoness entered the room, "I hear that you've been very uncooperative with my camera crew. That just isn't acceptable." Beast Boy could see Raven's stance shift. She was glaring at Sawchak as if intent of breaking his body and mind and then grinding both into a fine powder. But Raven was nervous, even if she tried to hide it. They were all flies in Sawchak's hand, completely powerless, with wings that refused to beat.

"I've already explained what happened to Stewart," Robin frowned at Sawchak's pixilated head.

"True," Sawchak conceded. A thin hand appeared on the screen and started stroking an imaginary goatee. "But you weren't very honest with Stewart. I'm trying to help you guys, but you need to allow my crew to do their jobs. If you don't…" Sawchak leered down at them. He wasn't interested in helping them; he was interested in goading them – goading them into doing something stupid.

Beast Boy was fascinated by Sawchak's hand as it slid up and down the invisible hair sprouting from his chin. It was a small hand, a child's hand. The fingers were too long to be a child's fingers, but there was something off. The hand seemed almost feminine. Beast Boy knew he'd seen hands like Sawchak's before. It might have been Raven or Starfire but Beast Boy felt certain that it was something else.

"Hey, man, there's no reason to be threatening Rae. It was an accident," Cyborg protested.

"And now you're being dishonest with me?" Sawchak asked with a raised brow and a fifty-watt smile. "When are you five going to figure out that I beat you? Do what I say, or dig your own grave. It's simple, no?"

"I believe you shall find us to be most stubborn about admitting defeat to those inferior to us," Starfire shot at Sawchak. The Tamaranian's eyes were flaring with anger and resentment. The air tensed as emotions on both sides of the conversation began to boil just under the surface.

"You Titans have been given too much power for too long. It's going to your heads. It's time for you to answer for everything you've ever done wrong, ever said, and ever thought," Sawchak laughed. The sound was unwelcome and came across the speakers as harsh and emotionless. Beast Boy wasn't positive that the effect was due solely to the speakers.

"What we do is help and protect the innocent!" Robin objected.

"Maybe," Sawchak shrugged. "I don't really care how you define yourself. It's time for everyone else to define you. And they'll do it using what I show them."

"So there's obviously no slant?" Raven sneered skeptically. "Whatever your reasons, you will regret this." The threat came out without any true power. Sawchak heard the lack of conviction and grinned cheekily.

"Maybe I will regret this," Sawchak shrugged again. "But I promised you, Raven, you won't get another apology out of me, and I never break my promises." With a sly wink, the screen flickered off. The color drained from the monitor as black took over.

Beast Boy kept his eyes focused on where Sawchak's hand had been. He had only seen it for a moment, but he couldn't get the limb out of his head. Beast Boy felt like he had just seen an acquaintance out of context. He just couldn't place that hand, but Beast Boy knew that he'd seen it before. Beast Boy racked his brain, searching for a memory that would fit the elusive appendage. His memory wasn't the best in the world, and he wasn't making very much progress.

"That man is a clorbag varblernelk!" Starfire seethed at the blank screen. Beast Boy started at the term. He hadn't heard Starfire use it for years. It had been just a few months after the team had formed, nearly six years ago. One of his pranks had gone after the wrong person, and Starfire had been coated with motor oil.

You probably don't remember me. It was… what – five and a half? Six years ago?

Sawchak's voice jarred Beast Boy from his memories. They'd met Sawchak during the same time period – in the very beginning.

You saved my life, and I know my sister will always owe you.

The things that Sawchak had said earlier that seemed strange or cryptic made a little more sense now. Something had happened six years ago – something bad, something Sawchak still held a grudge over. Sawchak's sister would always owe them. Beast Boy frowned at where Sawchak's leering face had been. What did Sawchak's sister owe them? They had still been getting a handle on working together as a team of vigilantes. Was it possible that they had made a mistake?

"And what is a clorbag Vanderbilt?" a raspy voice queried from behind them. Beast Boy turned toward Stewart with weary resignation. A camera was clutched between his clubbed fingers with the telltale red light winking at them.

"I thought filming was stopped until new cameras got here," Cyborg commented with a raised eyebrow. His mouth twitched slightly at Stewart's mispronunciation.

"Oh, no. Three Titans are still better than none. Everybody with a camera is going to be active. Hopefully, we'll get a little of all of you," Stewart smiled wickedly from behind his lens. It was amazing how sinister his smile made such mundane words sound.

"So, what's a clorbag Vanderbilt, Starfire? Not something pleasant, I take it, but I don't have a Tamaranian-English dictionary on hand." Starfire and Cyborg shared glances. They were the only two present who spoke Tamaranian. Beast Boy thought he had a basic idea of what it meant, however.

Beast Boy saw the other cameras enter the room. All of them were active and turned to their charges, save for Drew and the cheery woman. Her smile was the only thing of the woman Beast Boy had ever really seen; now he got a better look. She was the closest thing to a pixie Beast Boy had ever seen: her limbs were slender and small. Piercing henna eyes locked with his briefly, and Beast Boy was forced to look away. They were friendly eyes, inviting even, but they were so intense. Those were the type of eyes he imagined Robin hid behind his mask – fiery, serious, and friendly (to the right people).

"There is no translation in your language," Starfire answered Stewart's question.

"What about another language? I speak a few," Stewart insisted.

"Feche acima, você homem vile," Starfire said slowly (as if the language was new to her) with a sweet smile. Beast Boy had never heard the language before, and he knew for a fact that Starfire was fluent in every language she spoke, with the exception of contemporary slang. The pixie woman's eyes widened. She was the only one with a reaction. The pixie woman opened her mouth, possibly to translate, and Beast Boy panicked.

"Raven, follow me for a sec," Beast Boy said, hoping to keep the pleading in his voice at a level only Raven's well-trained ears could hear. If Raven and he left, their shadows would probably follow them. They had to. Raven arched an eyebrow at Beast Boy before heading for the stairs. Beast Boy followed her at a trot and was relieved to see Drew and pixie girl do the same.

As the doors slid shut, Beast Boy heard Stewart say, "I don't recognize that one."

Raven wheeled on Beast Boy once the doors closed. She was still mad at him for the shower prank, and the fanfiction fiasco, and probably half a dozen other things, but she was willing to cooperate with him and get the two people behind them out of the living room.

"Unless you're going to apologize, you're wasting my time," Raven deadpanned with the faintest hint of a smile telling Beast Boy this was an act. Her eyes told him he wasn't off the hook just yet. The real groveling would come later. Beast Boy laughed nervously.

"About that," he chuckled around his nerves, "can we take a walk around the tower? The usual apology doesn't look like it's gonna work this time," he explained with a subtle glance back at Drew and the pixie woman. Raven rolled her eyes before walking over to the elevator.

They walked together in silence. There wasn't much to say. The walls were watching their progress intently, trying to predict what would happen next, like any devote mystery reader. Beast Boy led by a few inches down the elevator and down another hallway, all the while trying to talk to Raven using his eyes. It was hard to tell if she was getting the message.

Beast Boy stopped in front of a large metal door. The barrier was a solid two and a half inches of osmium and could only be opened by a retinal scan, a palm print, and voice-print recognition. Raven looked quizzically at Beast Boy; they hadn't needed this room for almost two years.

Beast Boy shook his hand out of his glove and slapped it onto the palm reader, hoping Raven would figure out what to do. A port opened in the wall and Beast Boy leaned toward it. A small red light moved up and down over his eye while the palm reader flared blue-white.

"Beast Boy: Primary Access, R3F6," he said clearly when the scans had finished. With a quick jerk, Beast Boy put his glove back on. He'd never really grown comfortable showing people his claws, how much of an animal he really was.

With a groan of protest, the doors started to slide open. The room was a large cylinder. Bright cerulean symbols were lined up against the walls, each perfectly centered in a pure white circle. The place pulsed with magical energy. Beast Boy never found out which symbols did what. When Starfire and he had picked out the symbols, they'd just chosen the ones that made them feel safest.

"Why are we here?" Surprisingly, it wasn't Raven who asked the question. It was the pixie girl. Beast Boy shrugged noncommittally and wandered into the center of the room.

"I sometimes come here to think. Isn't it awesome?" he said vaguely, trying to get pixie girl's and Drew's interest. They needed to be inside for this to work. They bit. Raven walked in behind Beast Boy and both shadows followed.

"You didn't actually answer my question, Beast Boy," pixie girl pressed as the doors began to screech shut.

"No," Beast Boy said thoughtfully. "I guess I didn't. It's a good place to sit and think, though. You guys should try it." Beast Boy felt his legs go numb as Raven's powers seeped up through the floor. The frigid aura fully surrounded Raven and him and then sunk back into the ground, taking both Titans with it. With a final, almighty metal howl, the doors ground into place.


Author's Note: Thank you for joining us for another instalation. Please, set aside a moment to offer your opinions on this specific chapter or the story as a whole.