Thanks for the reviews. Even though I see people on the "traffic" graph, reviews make me smile harder, like... Rock candy. Mm.. Rock candy is good.. The crystallized kind is the best. But once, I bought this bag of 'rocks'. They looked like real rocks! Until you bit through them... Mm... Chocolate...

I'm hungry…

Edit: Damn, those are good. I have a piece of chocolate, too! It is, however, four weeks old, half eaten, and I found it this morning in a drawer. I really need to stop doing that.

–

Raven stood at the top of the tower, looking out at Jump City Bay. She hadn't been surprised at Robin's choice seven hours earlier. As the oldest, most knowledgeable, smartest and most perceptive Titan, she had seen at least a month ago the discomfort the Boy Wonder expressed towards his girlfriend. She looked at the sun, hanging lazily over the horizon. It reflected in her eyes, and the dark violet orbs looked like amethysts as they were brightened by the light. The wind blew, and her cape rippled against her legs. Behind her, she heard the roof-access door open, and wasn't surprised when she saw Starfire looking glum.

"Hello, friend Raven!" the Tamaranian chirped dully, and her boots tapped softly as she landed beside her dark friend.

"Hi, Star," the purple-haired girl said, looking away from the watery expanse. "Are the others on their way? I figured you'd be helping Robin with his things."

"He's only bringing a backpack of belongings," the redhead replied, "They'll be here soon."

"You sound very happy," Raven said flatly.

Starfire looked at Raven, her face shocked. Then she started laughing. Pale lips curved into a smile at the laughter.

"Friend Raven? Making the jokes? The world is certainly becoming strange!" She commented sweetly, still smiling. Raven didn't say anything, but looked out over the bay.

Titans East's sleek, black-and-red jet was sitting on the landing strip. Below, in the hangar, Cyborg's T-Jet sat, being cleaned and doted on. They had come back this noon. Due to the location, there was a need for a plane that could land in the water, instead of on a landing strip. Cyborg's baby, however, didn't fit that criteria, so Speedy and Aqualad were going to see the two off.

All the Titans were here, right now, including friends from H.I.V.E.. Robin and BeastBoy were going into uncharted territory, filled with wild animals and tribespeople. Because Ahriman was a tricky fellow, and they actually were searching over one of the bigger islands in the Galapagos, they'd be gone for at least a month. Fortunately, they'd be in contact better than they originally thought.

Gizmo had launched a not completely legal satellite in order to get the networking available, but that was okay – it had cut the mission time down a lot, and with Speedy's information sources, there was a possibility of an even shorter time

Especially since Raven had looked through his thoughts last night, and the other place Ahriman was suspected to be was in Kruegersdorp, South Africa. And an Ecuadorian village. And in a Persian country. And in Kyoto. And in about 1700 other places.

The young archer was to Ahriman as Robin was to Slade, to put it understandably. Bumblebee had complained countless times that he'd waste resources only to find dead ends. It wasn't really as personal as Slade and Robin. Speedy only felt he needed to bring Ahriman down to get his leg up in the Justice League – Robin, being Batman's protégé – already had that by no choice of his own.

However, since he'd had so much trouble with the natives in the Islas Galapagos, he was hellbent that Ahriman was there. His resource net was less accurate than his emotions. Raven hadn't said anything, because there was a 'chance' Ahriman was there, but to her, it seemed too unlikely. A glint in her eye twinkled as she thought of the peacefulness that not having BeastBoy around would yield.

Young superheroes started filtering onto the roof from downstairs. Soon, the entire roof was full of laughing teens, holding soda cans and small going away tokens. Raven noted Robin had a duffel bag and a backpack. She was certain he'd pre-packed the camping gear just so he could tell Star he didn't need her help. The black-haired boy set his stuff next to the jet, and BeastBoy followed suit with his four duffel bags and backpack.

Gizmo was showing Robin something on a little device that looked like the T-Comm. Raven listened in. Starfire floated towards him, and Raven walked over to BeastBoy and Aqualad. She didn't want to impose.

"...And if you guys need to contact anyone, you can doing this, and th-"

"It's pretty small," Robin commented admiringly, examining the small device carefully, "Is there a clip on it, or something?"

"Yeah, yeah," Gizmo said, showing him the smooth back of it, "It's built to be on you. I made it outdoors-proof, and your T-Comm can home in on it for a one mile radius if you lose it, dork."

Robin nodded appreciatively. Gizmo, if he sold his ideas, would probably be the next Bill Gates, with all of his special add-ons and whosits and whatsits. This was a fantastic piece of technology. This mission would take no time, the Boy Wonder was certain, and then he'd call Bruce and get some kind of vacation set up for his team.

After many goodbyes and hugs and handshakes were traded, Aqualad and Speedy got into the ET-Jet. BeastBoy bumped knuckles with Cyborg, and Starfire zoomed up to Robin, pressing her lips to his. He glanced out of the corner of his eye, a look of discomfort written across his face. Raven held back a wide smirk when she saw it, and BeastBoy barely caught the end of it. The green teen hurriedly looked away.

'He looks uncomfortable doing that,' BeastBoy thought, and in his mind, a dark, almost-black green version of him cackled. The dark piece of his mind was reveling in the fact that Starfire would be unhappy, and laughing at her. His guilt picked up moments later, and out of awkwardness, he looked away and bounded onto the plane.

"Yo! Aqualad! How long's this gonna take?" he said loudly, and Raven heard the Atlantian tell the changeling to shut up, sit down, and be quiet – it was a long fly from anywhere in New York to South America, plus they had to stop in Miami to refuel. He better have brought a handheld game. Suddenly, she thought she might like this break a little more. No beeping, no shouting…

Disengaging himself from the alien, almost forcefully, the tights-clad young man hurried over to Raven, and handed her the keys to the Tower. She would be in charge while he was gone. She patted him on the shoulder, and he grinned evilly. Her eyes widened, and she barely was able to say, "No," before it happened.

She was holding the keys in one hand, and her arm was at his shoulder, leaving her soft, fleshy middle totally unguarded. He pushed forward, and wrapped his arms around her torso, squeezing, hard.

"Thank you RAVEN~," he shouted as he squeezed, very forcefully, and then released her, bounding off to the jet. If looks could kill, that boy would be ten years dead. He better be damn glad he was gone for at least a week.

Raven stalked off, fuming, and Starfire almost laughed, bitterly. He had hugged Friend Raven fiercely, why not… Why not her, though? What was special about Raven? And why had he picked BeastBoy to go away with him instead of her!? She felt something green and dark and evil-feeling poking at the back of her mind.

BeastBoy's face appeared at the door of the jet, and waved fiercely as it closed. She felt an emotion she could only describe as mud when she saw his face. She waved, though, smiling, and when she could not see his face anymore, she felt devastatingly older.

–

Slade sighed, rubbing his temple. Three screens on his display were dark, and two showed the interior of East Titans' jet. The others were being ignored, and would be neglected. His main focus was gone from the tower. The transponders would have to be modified, from such a distance... He'd have to go through a lot of trouble to keep tabs on Robin and the little green one. He should have tried to modify Speedy's intel to where he could have kept an eye more easily on the boys! Luckily, Slade knew exactly where Ahriman was, and although he would go through this trouble to keep them on a goose chase…. This event was mildly annoying.

Slade smiled. His plot would be more devious than that, and for a truly deviously wonderful thing, you had to know everything about what you wanted, and how you were going to get it. And for it to be fun, you just had to damage them along the way.

–

Dinner time! :D

Edit: Hope it has improved.