"C'mon Raven, get in! The water's not that cold," the green changeling called from where he splashed out in the moonlit bay.

The sorceress remained firmly seated on the beach, having no desire to feel the goosebumps rise up on her flesh at the touch of the icy water.

"I'll stay here and watch, to make sure you don't drown," she answered back, her voice carrying a hint of sarcasm across the waves.

"Drown? I can turn into a whale, Rae!" Beast Boy puffed, before morphing into a dolphin and flipping his tail playfully in the air.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Show off," she muttered, shifting her legs more comfortably beneath her.

The amethyst-eyed girl absently traced magic symbols in the sand with her finger, symbols that she had read and memorized over the years. Her mind drifted, wandering to her teammates in turn.

Starfire seemed better. The past week had been a healing process for her, but she had finally shook off the sorrow that had loomed overhead. She was well on her way to discovering just how charming Speedy and Aqualad could be, particularly when they heard of her recent single status. Already a box of exquisite chocolates, handmade in Atlantis, had been delivered to their front door, as well as a fragrant bouquet of lilies and irises, signed with a drawing of a heart pierced by an arrow.
Everyone on the team had thought the gifts were a bit over the top— except Star, who was absolutely smitten with the lovey presents the competing boys rained down on her.

Now, Robin had been—

Beast Boy waved his arm up and down, trying to catch the empath's attention.

"Hey, watch this!" he yelled before shape shifting into a green orca. BB swam downward beneath the waves, and for a moment, nothing was to be heard except the calm, gentle lapping against the shore. Then there was a sudden disturbance, and the boy-killer-whale shot out of the bay, twisting his huge form lithely in the air before landing belly-down with a loud ker-smack! A huge explosion of water sprayed out from beneath his massive body, and cool droplets showered down on Raven's face and soaked her cloak.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her arm, scowling more out of habit than real annoyance.

"That was incredible, Beast Boy," she deadpanned. "Keep up the practice and you could join OceanWorld as their featured trick-pony."

"You're just jealous," the changeling shot back, now paddling around as a sea otter.

Raven's mind returned to her previous thoughts.

The Teen Titan leader, always a strange and slightly obsessive individual, was nonetheless a dependable creature of habit— daily coffee, sleepless late nights, early morning training, and unbendable moral principles. Lately however he had been acting odder than normal, a little more prying into Raven's mind, a little more invading into her personal space.

She had an uneasy feeling that the Boy Wonder was perhaps seeing her as more than just a teammate and friend— she recalled how he had touched her leg a week ago, and a shiver ran down the sorceress's spine. As much as she loved Robin, the thought of loving him in that way… well, that was territory her mind had never even considered exploring, and seemed far too foreign to begin exploring now.

Robin had recently taken up the routine of showing up on the roof a couple of nights each week, after the dark titan's evening meditation was complete. There they would sit and talk, sometimes about mundane topics such as villains and the city, sometimes about more personal subjects such as their pasts, and their visions for the future. Raven didn't mind this shared time with him, but it was the possibility that the masked hero might be perceiving these moments together as something more than what they were— that was what worried her.

Raven looked up from the repeating patterns she had drawn in the sand, intending to call out another teasing remark to her green friend. He was gone though, no longer splashing through the dark waves. Startled, the empath look up at the moon's position and wondered how much time had passed while she had been lost in thought.

A sudden rippling in the air behind her made her whip around, her eyes widening when she saw none other than Red-X staggering toward her. Raven leapt up, alarmed.

"Jesus, Jason! Is getting beat up your primary objective these days?" She rushed forward and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, letting him lean some of his weight onto her.

"Just for you babe," he winced as the empath helped him sit down on the beach.

Raven examined his wounds, speaking as she gently prodded his body.

"What happened to you?"

There seemed to be no serious damage, just superficial cuts, so she began healing them with speed.

X grimaced. "I think that pink witch slipped a tracking nanochip into my bloodstream the day you found me," he explained, inhaling deeply. "They've been following me all week— H.I.V.E.
No matter how fast I run or how far I teleport, they always catch up. I haven't slept a full night in days."

This indeed seemed true. The thief had removed his mask and Raven could see the dark circles that ringed his stormy eyes, giving him a decidedly exhausted appearance.

He looked at her tiredly, his jet black hair drooping in front of his face. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer. Sooner or later, they're going to get the better of me and pack me off in an urn."

Raven bit her lip, concern etched on her unconventionally lovely face.

"Couldn't you go to someone like Dr. Chang?" she suggested, gripping his shoulder in her small but firm hand. "He could extract the nanochip for you."

Jason shook his head. "Chang would want something valuable stolen in return. At this moment, I don't have the liberty to be running jobs, with this damn tracking device in me and the H.I.V.E. hot on my trail."

The sorceress sat back on her heels, thinking for a moment.

Is it worth it? Would Cy agree or expose us? she thought to herself.

Finally, against her better judgment, she made up her mind.

"Come with me," she said, pulling Jason up by the arm and leading him toward the garage.

x

She pushed the garage door and it swung open silently, its hinges always well-greased.

Raven stood in the entranceway, and as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the workshop she could see that Cyborg was lying on his back, the upper half of his body concealed beneath the T-Car. An oil-smeared rag and an array of wrenches lay beside him, and he was humming to himself as he busily worked at the chassis of the vehicle.

"Cyborg," Raven spoke, her voice filling the cluttered but tidy space.

The half-robot paused his tinkering and rolled out from underneath the car, sitting up to look at her.

"What's up, Rae?" he asked, wiping his fingers on the soiled rag.

The sorceress cast her eyes around the room, unsure about what she had to say.

"I need your help," she confessed, trying to think ahead in her mind how exactly to phrase the next sentences.

Cyborg tossed the cloth aside, giving his signature laid-back smile.

"Sure," he said. "What do you need?"

"A friend of mine… has a tracking device implanted beneath his skin. He needs it out," she told him hesitatingly.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow, giving her an incredulous look.

"A friend of yours?" he asked, heavy emphasis on the unlikely word.

Raven stepped to the side of the doorway, revealing the figure standing behind her. The half-robot's eyes widened as they traveled from the bottom of the red-and-black suit, up to the sheepish grin on the dark framed face, and then back down to the hand that clutched the tell-tale skull mask.

His wrench clattered loudly to the concrete floor and Cyborg swore, his words ringing through the room.

"Oh hell no."

x

Cyborg's face was a mask of disbelief and confusion.

"I want to talk to you outside, Raven," he said, his voice tightly controlled yet filled with warning.

He grabbed Red-X by the arm and yanked him further inside the garage. Cyborg then placed a firm hand on Raven's shoulder and lead her out into the cool night air, pulling the heavy steel door shut behind them with a loud bang.

He rounded on her, his calm façade slipping.

"Have you gone out of your damn mind, girl! What the hell are you doing, bringing that son of a bitch to our tower, asking me to help him?"

Cyborg outstretched his arms towards the sky in a gesture of frustration that seemed to ask, Why me? Suddenly, he stopped his furious pacing, frozen to the spot. His eyes widened with understanding as he stared at Raven's pale face, things beginning to fall into place.

"You don't mean to tell me… your room... it was him this whole time?"

Raven swallowed, silent, afraid of what would come out of her mouth.

Cyborg passed his hand over his eyes in disbelief, shaking his head.

"God, Raven, what were you thinking?" he groaned, wishing there was something nearby he could punch hard.

"Cyborg, he's not what you think!" Raven pleaded, her voice straining.

"He's not what I think? I know he's a good-for-nothing criminal, I don't gotta think much more past that!" Cyborg cried exasperatedly.

"He's not like that in person! He's been nothing but kind toward me. He even saved my life." Raven took a shaking breath. "I care for him… and I trust him. Please have enough faith to trust me." Her eyes begged him to understand.

Cyborg uttered a tortured moan as he held his head, torn between what the right thing to do was.

"Rae…" he muttered, looking at her like she was messing with his circuits. Was she right? Was the criminal really okay, enough that he should help him?

The half-robot let out a great sigh.

"Alright," he agreed finally, his voice drained. "I'll help him out. But only because I trust you."

An uncharacteristic smile of relief split across Raven's face. She leapt toward her surrogate older brother, wrapping her arms around his thick metal neck.

"Thank you, Cyborg," she murmured gratefully.

Cyborg pulled back, looking her straight in the eye.

"If he messes up in the smallest way, if I ever find out he's done something to you, I will hunt him down, maim his body in the most painful and gruesome way imaginable, revive him, and then do it all over again," he warned, his tone deadly serious.

Raven's eyes widened slightly and she nodded. Together they walked back into the garage.

x

Jason looked down at his bandaged arm. It felt somewhat sore. The robot titan had been none too gentle removing the chip, but the thief nonethless was grateful that the H.I.V.E. would no longer be constantly pursuing him.

"I guess I owe you my thanks," Jason said, looking over from the metal stool that he sat on. He bit his tongue to keep himself from adding "Tin-Man".

Cyborg looked up from his workbench, placing gadgets back into their spots.

"Raven, would you mind getting me a glass of water?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he continued fitting drills and screws into their proper slots and drawers.

The empath was not one to do other's bidding, but feeling indebted to her friend for his assistance, willingly complied and left to bring him something to drink.

As soon as she brushed out of the room, Cyborg turned on the thief, nailing him down with a hard stare. It was then that he repeated the same threat he had told Raven earlier, only with a version that was much more graphically explicit, detailing exactly what horrors X would endure if he ever put a toe out of line. By the time Raven returned, a cup of water in hand, Jason had paled considerably, and Cyborg looked much more satisfied with himself.

"He seems alright," the half-robot said to Raven as she handed him his drink. She raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Have you guys been talking?" she asked.

Cyborg laughed, his eyes glinting dangerously. "You could say that," he replied.

Jason smiled weakly. "Just laying down some ground rules," he added, unconsciously touching his sore arm.

X

X

Sorry for the wait, this chapter has been floating around half-completed for a while. Feeling sick though, so that makes me blegh. But I hope to have another chapter done before the new week begins. Thanks guys. :)