The Roles we Play
Envy, Greed, Sloth
Special thanks to all my beautiful readers.
***I do not own any part of the Teen Titans, otherwise there would have been way more BBxRae. ***
"Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it." – William Shenstone
***TRwP***
"Are you sure this is the right place?"
'Rachel' let out a sigh, for the fifth time this evening, "Yes Amy I am sure. This is the only location within fifty miles of the city that holds artifacts older than the American Revolution."
"Okay but are we sure it's going to be here?" The man identified as 'Tommy' inquired, earning another sigh from the disguised empathy.
"Well unless you have a lead on a private collector that recently came into possession of pre-Renaissance dagger then yes I am."
"But what about…"
"Would you two shut the hell up?!" 'Mark' hissed out, silencing the two that had been paired up with him and Rachel for their mission. Personally he would have much rather it just been the two of them but their hosts had insisted that the next portion of their tests be team exercises.
Moments later a security guard came into view, sweeping the empty courtyard with a flashlight before shrugging and walking off to continue his rounds.
"That was close." Tommy breathed out in relief, earning glares from the two experienced members.
"Maybe if you two would keep quiet it wouldn't have been. This is an infiltration mission so that means stealth." Rachel remarked, earning nods from the other two members.
"We have a five minute window to get across the open area and into the second floor window before the patrol reaches us again. That means you either keep up or stay behind. If you are with us then there is no talking once we step onto that lawn." Mark commented with a fierce glare, earning gulps from the two civilians. They had seen what the young man could do when angered and had no intention of being his next targets.
"We are with you, but uh… how are we getting up to the second story without a ladder?" Amy questioned.
"How in the world did you even make it through your fight?" Mark grumbled out, before producing a mountain climbing rope from his small backpack.
"Mark goes up first and secures the room, afterwards anyone who can't make it up on their own will climb up that." The goth informed, earning nods from the other two.
"I think I can probably scale it alone, but I might push the time a bit." Tommy replied.
"I…."
"You are using the rope." The changeling finished the sentence for the poor girl, earning a shy muttering of an apology.
"There is nothing to apologize for, just keep up and stay silent." Rachel finished just as the patrol entered the clearing once more.
***TRwP***
A few moments passed before the guard left, earning a nod from the formerly green teen, who immediately shot across the field at near impossible speeds, earning shocked looks from the two normal recruits as Rachel ran after him.
Just as he reached the wall the blond haired boy leapt onto the ground floor window ledge, before pushing himself off to a nearby pillar and continued his acrobatic display until he reached the second floor a moment later, soundlessly entering the top window.
'What the hell is that guy made of!?' Tommy mentally swore as he finally reached the wall a few seconds later and began his slow climb up, following Rachel who had nearly reached the second floor with her own climbing skills as well.
A few seconds passed until a rope silently dropped down and the last of the four person squad used it to start her slow ascent.
As Rachel entered the room she glanced around before spotting her roommate effortlessly holding one end of the rope, which was wrapped securely around his arm.
A silent nod told her that the room was clear and she made her way to the only visible door, before glancing through the small key hole, revealing an empty hallway beyond.
Ensuring it was clear the girl then pulled out the floor plan she had downloaded of the museum before making a note of the best route down to the basement storage area where the book was certain to be kept before put onto display.
Two minutes later the other two members of their team came crawling through the window, both slightly out of breath as the girl glanced over toward her teammate with a slight blush.
Amy had seemed nice enough during their introductions but it had quickly become obvious that the girl was interested in the changeling as more than just teammates.
Raven scowled, and held in some rather nasty comments that she felt her emoticlones direct toward the girl.
Luckily the remaining boy did not seem physically interested in either of the two girls on the team.
***TRwP***
Rachel traced their intended path silently on the blueprint, before making eye contact with both of her 'normal' teammates, ensuring that they understood the intended plan. Both nodded before they looked to the remaining member, and found him already through the door and moving silently towards their destination.
'God he's so hot, the way he walks is just… Hopefully Rachel and Mark are just friends or maybe brother and sister, he's waaaaay too good looking for her.' The redhead mused as she followed the gothic girl in front of her.
Upon reaching the next 'T' junction the group stopped as the combat expert of the four glanced down each hallway and continued on their set course.
***TRwP***
The mission had gone so well, the four members had reached their destination, and identified the artifact easily enough.
Tommy had finally proven his usefulness when he was able to easily bypass the electronic security system monitoring the room, allowing Amy to use her lock picking skills to get around any physical security placed on their target.
It was nearly a perfect mission…. until the overly clumsy, again how he had ever managed to win his fight was beyond Beast Boy, Tommy tripped and knocked down a large suit of armor, alerting the entire facility to their presence.
Beast Boy swore silently as he crouched around a corner and ambushed the first guard who turned the corner.
After the man had been disabled the blond glanced back at their 'navigator' to see her changing the intended escape route in her head.
With a few practiced hand signs the plan was explained to the teenager who nodded and began leading the other three upwards towards the roof, and thus encountered far fewer guards.
Not that it mattered with the blond's combat skills.
Even when a group of three had stumbled upon them at the same time he had instantly reacted, disabling them without taking so much as a glancing blow.
***TRwP***
Finally the four made it to the roof, where Mark had already tied the rope around his arm, and moved to the side of the building, gesturing for the remaining three to shimmy down to the grounds below.
"There are even more guards down there!" The second boy exclaimed, ignoring the command of being silent.
"Get going moron." Rachel commanded, as the boy reluctantly began his slow departure down.
About half way he heard a loud crash from the roof, before noticing the guards on that floor running towards the top of the building.
So it was a distraction, clever. Hopefully they would be on the ground before the guards could reach the scene, or disrupt whatever Mark had planned for his escape.
***TRwP***
The three made it down just as the other end of the rope was loosened and thrown as well.
"Go" Rachel whispered, before sprinting towards the nearby gate which served as the vehicle entrance.
Luckily the guard house was empty due to the ruckus from the roof so that opening it was easy enough.
"What about Mark!?" Amy exclaimed, worried for their fellow teammate, and her newfound crush.
"Don't worry about him, he will be fine."
"But…"
"Get moving!"
The girl reluctantly obeyed as the three made their way across the street and into the car hidden beneath a mound of trash, much to Tommy's dismay since it had been his vehicle chosen for the getaway.
"Should we wait or…"
"I said go!"
"Alright, Alright." The boy exclaimed before shifting gears and taking off towards their sanctuary.
***TRwP***
"We need to go back for him!"
"He will be fine, plus the area will be locked down by now. If we try and go back with a car we will be caught for sure."
"Who cares!? Listen I don't know what your relationship with him is Rachel but I am not leaving Mark to fend for himself!"
"Uh you do realize that you already did leave right?"
"Shut it Tommy!"
"Listen Amy, I don't care if you have a crush on him or whatever temporary infatuation with him might be. The fact of the matter is that he does not need our help to get away from a couple of security guards and Jump City's police. All we would be doing is causing him more problems so just stay here and wait like I am."
"Oh? Then what is your relationship with him huh? You two lovers or something? Cause I see the way your stare at him just as much as I do, the only difference is I seem to be showing a hell of a lot more concern about his well being than you are. Maybe I will be the one he should be sleeping with tonight."
"Enough! If you are so damn determined to get yourself caught then go right ahead and try and find him. But odds are you will fail. He has already escaped the premises by now and there is no way some pickpocket is going to find him on the dark streets of Jump City, unless he wants to be found."
"Listen I am not saying we go looking for him but how can you be so sure that he has gotten out of there?"
"Because Tommy he has gotten out of far worse than that. I have learned to trust him completely over the years and the few times I didn't I ended up embarrassing myself. Give him two hours tops and he will be back."
***TRwP***
Sure enough an hour later the blond haired Casanova strolled through the front doors of the hotel, a smug smile on his face.
"Mark you made it!" The overly joyful Amy exclaimed before throwing herself into a hug around the teen.
"Of course, was there any doubt in your mind?"
The girl quickly shook her head, blushing as she continued holding onto her crush.
"Of course not!"
Rachel just rolled her eyes before she approached the two with their remaining teammate.
"So did we pass?"
"Was there any doubt in your mind?" Rachel countered, using the boy's own confidence against him.
Mark just smirked.
***TRwP***
"So I gotta ask man, how the hell did you get outa there?"
The disguised changeling just shrugged as he took another bite of their celebratory pizza as the four man team relaxed in one of the common rooms.
"Let's just say that they will need to hire some more guards tomorrow, the ones I went through will probably be on medical leave for a few weeks."
"No fatalities though?"
"Of course not Rachel. You were the one who gave that instruction remember? Killing just draws unnecessary attention like you said."
"That I did, I just wanted to ensure that you didn't get caught up in the moment and decide to release some of those pent up frustrations that you keep mentioning."
"Well if he still has anything 'pent up' I can certainly help him relieve those frustrations." The redhead cooed as she slid a bit closer to the blond, her hand finding its way to his upper leg, just as an irritated frown found its way to Rachel's face.
"I can assure you that I can handle any 'relief' that he might need." The goth asserted, as the two girls locked glares from across the table.
"Lucky bastard…" Tommy muttered out, earning a silent sigh from the teen trapped in the middle.
***TRwP***
A soft knocking at the two Titan's shared door earned a hesitant answer by Raven before opening it slightly, and glaring at the redhead standing in front of it.
"What do you want?"
"I was here to see if Mark wanted to spend some time together."
"It's almost curfew and he is in the shower, so no."
"Oh? Well maybe he wouldn't mind if I joined him."
"I would mind, now take a hike. Go find someone else to throw yourself at. Mark is spoken for."
"So you and he are…"
"In a relationship yes, why do you think we share a room?"
"So when was the last time you…."
"None of your damn business now go find someone else to pester."
Rachel proceeded to slam the door in Amy's face, before pacing in the room for a few moments, her eyes glancing over towards the bathroom door every few steps.
'Maybe he wouldn't mind if I went in and brushed my teeth, I mean the shower has a door and all so it's not like I will see anything…'
"Too bad, imagine him soaking wet, water running down his chest towards…." Affection purred in the empath's mind before being cut off.
"I don't need any more images thank you very much." The girl mumbled before taking a deep breath and slowly opening the door to their shared bathroom.
As she assumed the shower door was in fact closed, showing only his silhouette behind it while steam poured out from the top.
"Aw poo, why can't he just shower with the door open, which actually gives me a good idea. Maybe next time you should try it and see if he will get another eyeful when he comes in…" Brave was the culprit this time, and Raven was forced to put another lock between her and the emoticlones fantasies.
The half demon managed to take two more steps towards the shower, reaching out towards the door handle before her confidence crumbled and she turned towards the sink and began to brush her teeth quickly and efficiently, hoping to avoid any more awkwardness than what she had already created.
Unfortunately for her it was when she had just finished and turned to leave that the shower stopped, and the door to the enclosed area opened, allowing for a green hand to reach out blindly looking for the towel that was stored nearby.
Raven didn't know how it happened, whether it was an unconscious effort by her part, an act of control by the emoticlones, or maybe just a silent wish taking shape. Whatever it was caused the object the boy had been reaching for to be thrown across the room.
"Hey uh Raven, do you think you can hand me a towel?"
He knew she was there? But how… of course, enhanced senses. Raven dug deep into her willpower to avoid smacking herself in the head for thinking she could sneak up on him.
"Yeah let me just…"
As she walked over a thought popped into her mind, or was planted there by who knows which of the colored clones.
'Maybe a little white lie wouldn't hurt? The towel did fall on the floor after all, it might be better to just say that it's soaked or dirty….'
"Sorry Beast Boy but it fell onto the floor, I doubt a soaking wet towel will help you much."
"Ah well, guess I'll just grab one from the other room then."
"I can…"
Before she finished all mental processed stopped as the door completely opened and a fully nude green skinned man walked towards the cabinet with the extra showering supplied.
She continued staring, soaking every glorious inch of him in, and for once the emoticlones were silent as well, presumably just as dumbstruck as she was.
'If Robin was above average then….'
"That boy is going to tear us apart." Rage drooled as she struggled to recover and force her container to make some kind of action.
"Enjoying the show Rae?"
The change in her name brought the girl back to reality, and forced her to focus on his face, trying not to glance down over his body every second.
"I… uh…. um… wha?"
"You know you didn't need to lie or throw the towel around, if you wanted to see, all you had to do was ask. You gave me a show I figured it's only fair if you were allowed the same."
"But you…. And I…. and how…. You knew?"
"Well yeah Rae I mean come on, it just happened to fall into the one puddle on the floor? Like I said if you wanted to see…" The boy took a step forward, a towel in his hand but being held limply at his side. "All you had to do was ask…" He spoke out in a deep husky voice.
The girl gulped, he was so close to her now. Easily within arm's length, she could reach out and touch whatever she wanted, the look in his eye at this moment told her that he wouldn't pull away, all she had to do was say what she wanted, to take that final step and complete what he had subtly began.
"Hey Rachel and Mark, you guys in there? There is a meeting being called in ten minutes so hurry up and get ready." Tommy shouted before heading off to the meeting himself.
Raven swore quietly, as her green counterpart sighed and went to continue getting ready.
"Another opportunity come and gone, nice job Raven." The girl muttered before following her teammate to get ready.
***TRwP***
"félicitations pour votre succès jusqu'à présent. Je ne peux qu'espérer que vous allez continuer à avoir une telle chance et d'habileté dans l'avenir."*
Upon seeing the blank expressions of those in the room the newest man smiled before his next statement was interrupted by a heavily accented reply.
"Il est impoli de parler dans une langue que personne ne comprend d'autre."**
Raven stared wide eyed at her teammate, who merely glared back at the original announcer.
"Ah there is another who speaks French here, how interesting. What I said was a brief congratulations and wishing all of you the best of luck now that you are past the stage of initiates and have proven yourselves worthy of standing with our other members in preparation for the new coming."
"So does that mean we are going to be included in the plans now? No more running errands or fighting for our lives?" One of the other members called out, in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Ah yes yes I suppose we should let you know what is going on. The 'errands' that you are so upset about were part of the ritual that we will be partaking in, three nights from now."
"What kind of ritual?" Another girl inquired.
"The type of ritual that will change the world, we intend to summon an all-powerful demon into this world, and once he claims it as his own we shall sit at his side, as his followers, the true followers of Shaitan."
"Is anything else needed for the ritual then?" Mark asked.
"Only a few more minor ingredients, but nothing that is difficult to find when given time, do not concern yourselves about this further. We are having the higher ups take care of the last few pieces of the puzzle, so now all that you need to do is sit back and wait to enjoy the fruits of your labor and dedication."
The gathered members nodded before being dismissed to continue with whatever they had been doing before.
"Hey Mark what are you up to the rest of the night?" Amy inquired, batting her eyelashes at the boy.
"Uh it's getting a bit late and with all the running around I did today I'll probably just hit the sack early, why?"
"Oh just curious… if you ever want to talk or something my door is always open."
"I appreciate that thanks."
"Anytime."
Raven glared at the redhead before following her roommate back to their personal sanctuary.
***TRwP***
"So, what do you think we should do next…. Luke?"
Beast Boy froze for a moment after the accusation, and turned around with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Figured it out eh?"
"Not until tonight, I can honestly say that you have quite the unique accent."
"Yeah it comes from the upbringing."
The room fell into silence before Raven interrupted it with a whisper.
"Why?"
"Why did I keep it from you?"
"That and why didn't you tell me at the time? Why didn't you come back to us?"
"Do you know what it's like Raven, to have the potential of being completely free, to be able to wander the earth and survive off of nothing but nature and soar amongst the clouds, to swim in the deepest oceans and run across the widest plains? It is indescribable. I haven't felt that in a very long time. Before I joined the Titans I was with The Doom Patrol and always in a military environment. Rules about everything, regulations, and training…. it all just became too much. Then I found you guys, and it was relaxed and peaceful, I was so much freer but I still had friends. Eventually though it started to change back to what my previous team was like and well I had to escape for a little while. To feel the wind on my face and lose the responsibilities and the negativity that held me back."
"You know how much it hurt us when you weren't there, we barely slept."
"I didn't until after we spoke, then I started to make my way back. At the time I didn't know how to deal with you Rae, you were so angry and aggressive towards me, so uncaring."
"You know that isn't true."
"Can you really stand there and say that to me? That you truly believe that the relationship amongst the Titans was perfectly fine the way it was before the bank?"
Raven couldn't.
"Are things better now?" The girl once again whispered in curiosity, suddenly unsure if she wanted an answer or not.
"Yes and no. Yes because it is so much more relaxed than before, the stress that permeated through the tower has been toned down so much that I can finally sleep again. But no because…. now different people are unhappy."
Raven brought her attention up from the floor and looked at the boy wide eyed.
"What do you mean? Who is unhappy?"
"Come on Rae, with all that empathy you have and you can't tell when you are unhappy with your life?"
"It's okay, I think I earned a little bit of unhappiness."
The boy growled, before grabbing the girl by her shoulders, startling her slightly.
"Don't say that, you deserve to be happy Rae, you more than anyone else have been dealt an unfair hand. That was one of the reasons I never tried to interrupt your arrangement with Robin, I thought it was making you happier. I thought that if I disappeared for a month or two that you would be even happier without me around."
"Maybe I thought the same, but I was wrong Beast Boy… I've realized that I can't be happy unless we are all together, that I can't be truly happy without you."
The two stared into each other's eyes, before Bravery finally kicked in full force and Raven was able to close the distance, pushing her lips up against the changeling's own.
A second later she broke the kiss and took a step back, searching his face for any signs of a reaction.
She got one when he moved to her lips in the blink of an eye, returning the kiss with more passion then the empath had ever felt before.
Her arms found their way around his neck as she gently stepped back and pulled him down with her onto the bed, their lips never leaving each other's.
Finally she was forced to take a breath allowing the boy to plant soft kisses up and down her neck, earning a quiet moan of approval.
"Rae…. We shouldn't…"
"Don't stop… please… I need this… I need you."
He didn't stop for the remainder of the night.
***TRwP***
Robin let out a sigh of aggravation as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to force away his growing headache and gain some sort of insight as to what to do next.
"This is the ninth kidnapping in the last two days…. Robin what are we going to do about this?"
"I don't know any more Cyborg. No signs of a struggle, no blood, no forensics. It's like they just vanished."
"Uh guys, I think we have a problem."
"Great, what now?" The boy wonder asked as he turned towards the pinkette.
"There is residual magic all over this place, dark magic."
"Have we heard anything from Raven or Beast Boy?" Starfire whispered out from nearby.
"Not since his last inquiry no, but if they are escalating their plans then it will be harder to get a message out in secret."
"I don't like it Rob, we need to get in contact with them, and they might be in trouble."
"I agree, alright text Raven the meeting code word and set it up for tonight at meeting point Charlie."
The Cybernetic teen nodded in agreement before hitting a few buttons on his wrist comlink.
***TRwP***
"Good morning"
"Mmmmhmm"
"Here I thought that you were the one with the expansive vocabulary Rae."
The girl just gave a fake pout towards the man currently sharing her bed.
"That was…. incredible Beast Boy."
The changeling gave a cocky smile, all the while tracing invisible patterns on his partner's nude back.
"So you weren't disappointed then?"
The laugh that filled the air was music to the boy's ears.
"Not at all. I didn't think that sex could be so…. amazing."
***TRwP***
'Not to mention that he blew bird boy out of the water, who the hell know that he could use his mouth like that?' Brave replied, still in a post sex state of relaxation.
'Not to mention his claws, remember when he…' Rage muttered out.
'I must admit that I am quite impressed with Beast Boy's performance. His stamina was exceptionally high, his refractory period was staggeringly low compared to Robin, and what we have researched. His physical size was well….'
'He makes the phrase 'hung like a horse' seem inadequate.' Rude interrupted, after releasing a satisfied belch.
Timid and Affection just basked in the sunlight nearby in silence, enjoying the raw emotions that should have followed such activities from the start.
***TRwP***
"So…. what does this mean for us then?"
"I… I don't know Beast Boy." The empath replied, as she slowly got up and pulled on a bathrobe, ignoring the pleasantly sore areas covering her body.
"I think until we figure out what is going on though we should keep this between us. There's no reason to involve the others in our personal lives."
"Agreed, plus you know I can keep a secret."
Raven halted for a moment, before glancing back with a sad expression in her eyes.
"Beast Boy…. You know that you can talk to me about anything right? You don't have to keep secrets from us. I know I am not the best person to be lecturing you on this but."
"Yeah I know Rae and I am trying to open up more but it's hard. Some of the things that I keep to myself aren't exactly dinner conversation even between the Titans. There are things I have done, things I have seen that…"
"I know, just… we are here for you. All of us, just like you are here for us as well."
"Rae I…"
The two were interrupted by a soft buzzing from nearby, walking over with a slight limp Raven reached out and checked her cell phone. The number that came up was from one of Cyborg's preset emergency numbers, detailing a meeting for later that evening.
"Looks like they need to talk to us."
"We need to inform them as well, now that we have a timetable all we need to do is figure out the location of the ritual"
"Agreed"
***TRwP***
"Raven are you alright? You appear to be walking with the limp."
"Yeah Star I'm fine, just a bit sore from the sleeping conditions last night."
"He didn't make you sleep on the couch did he?"
"No Jinx Beast Boy let me take the bed every night."
"Oh, is the bed not of the pillowy softness?"
"No it's not that Star, I guess it's just different than what I am used to."
Jinx stared at her friend for a moment, as if trying to figure out a mystery, before a grin slowly formed on her face, getting wider with each second.
"Oh yeah I am sure it's bigger than what you thought huh Raven? Maybe a bit rougher than your used to?"
The sorceress went paler than normal before glaring at her luck centric counterpart.
"Oh was the bed too big for you Raven? Perhaps we can get you some of the stuffed animals to sleep with?"
"Yeah Raven, do you need another animal to sleep in your bed with you? Which one is your favorite Raven? I can imagine quite a few would be rather…. interesting."
Raven was blushing madly now, but still kept up her glare towards the pinkette who merely giggled in response.
***TRwP***
"So how has Raven been BB?"
"Better, I think we sorted a few things out and she doesn't seem as confused now but I still think she could use some girl talk when we get back, just in case." The glare he sent towards his leader was anything but subtle.
"Agreed, so your cover is still intact then?" Robin replied, quickly changing the subject.
"Seems to be, I was worried a bit at first but we passed the initiations quite easily."
"Good, alright let's see how the girls are doing and get this underway."
***TRwP***
"Alright Titans this meeting is going to be short and sweet, we can't risk Beast Boy and Raven being gone to long as to create suspicion. We have reports now of up to twelve missing teenagers from Jump City, all who reportedly just vanished. No struggle, no blood, no forensics, and no witnesses. Jinx has detected magic at two of the locations so far."
"Maybe that's what their final 'ingredients are?" Beast Boy responded.
"Ingredients?" Cyborg chimed in, a curious look on his face.
"They are preparing a ritual to bring a demon to our world, they claim to still need some final preparations in order to complete the task though. I would imagine that human sacrifices would be part of it."
The four Titans who were not part of the mission went wide eyed.
"How much time do we have?"
"According to the higher ups, two nights from now it begins." Raven answered her leader
"Do we know anything about the ritual? I mean the magic I detected was certainly high levels of dark sorcery."
"No idea Jinx, but we did manage to figure out what a few components of the ritual will be. We were told to steal an ancient spell book from a nearby museum. Added to that was a dagger used in the dark ages, reportedly for sacrifices, and what was reportedly a large canister of… something."
"So these guys are legit then, they really are trying to summon some kind of demonic creature?" Cyborg mumbled out, hoping that he was wrong in his assumptions.
"Looks that way, and if my research is correct then this thing might be just as bad as Trigon was."
"How do we stop the cult of the sacrifices?"
"Easy Star, we wait until that night and once they have everything assembled and all the higher ups are in one spot we take them down… hard."
The other Titans nodded in agreement with their leader.
***A/N***
Translations below:
*Congratulations on your success so far. I can only hope that you will continue to have such luck and skill in the future.
**It is rude to speak in a language that no one else understands.
So things heating up, not only in the action plot but also between our favorite couple. As a note this story will remain 'T' which means no graphic violence, no scenes of torture, and nothing sexually explicit. If there are requests for such content I will upload it elsewhere and point everyone in the direction to view it though.
Interesting fact all of the man 'bad guys' have been named specifically for their roles, so if you are interested look them up.
Until next time I hope everyone enjoyed reading what I wrote!