Beast Boy was in his room doing some painting with a easel and pallet, creating a piece of art. Raven floated outside of the room glimpsing in when she saw the painting, stopped, and entered his room to look at it.
"What... is that?" Her question made him jump, almost ruining his gift. After taking a breath, he turned to his teammate.
"Oh, Raven. I guess I forgot to close the door. This is a birthday gift for Cyborg. It's a cool reversal kind of thing. Check it." The picture was a bulky robotic person cackling while riding a dog with metallic feet and a partially robotic face while riding through space with a fire trail. It was a little crude, but the colors were kept in line and the respective blue and green placements told whom was who.
"You think he'll like it?" She asked, curious.
"As his best friend in the whole world, I always know exactly what he wants. Watch this." He ran off to find Cyborg. He eventually did so in the kitchen, seeing Cyborg looking in the fridge.
"Oh, hey Beast Boy. You know, I kind of feel like having-"
"Pie?" The green teen answered for him. Cyborg gasped and smiled.
"How'd you know?"
"It's my job to know. And cause I love pie too!" Then the two broke into a short song together.
"I love pie!"
"Yeah, I love Pie!"
"Apple, rhubarb, peach or pear, any kind, we don't care!"
"Oh we l-l-l-l-l-love pie!" Both laughed from the activity together.
"Yeah dude, warm pie." Beast Boy said.
"I need me a slice." Cyborg stated as he walked out of the kitchen.
"Yep, he's going to love my gift." The short teen said determined to Raven who didn't say a comment or even a word. Walking back to his room, he gasped in horror when he saw Silkie climbing on the painting. "Silkie! No! Get off of that!" Beast Boy cried out as he tried removing the larvae, but doing so ripped the painting as his feet were clawed to it.
"NOOOOO!" The titan screamed as he dropped to his knees and hands, letting Silkie fall to the ground as he scurried away in a hurry. To make it even worse, his communicator beeped. Picking it up while sobbing, he answered it, not letting his face be seen or his crying heard.
"Titans, we have a mission. Come to be briefed." Robin instructed before the signal turned off. Beast Boy tried to compose himself before going off.
In the living room, the titans were looking at the control console looking at various people missing over the past week.
"Alright titans, this involves a case of missing people. Over the past seven days, over 20 people have been reported missing within a 1.5 mile radius in between Jump City's Castro Theater and Fisherman's Wharf. We are to investigate those who are related to those missing and see where we can pinpoint who is committing the crime. Any questions?"
"Yeah, uh, how much is this going to interfere with my birthday today? I mean, I won't stop searching for a whole week if I have to but I'm just wondering is all." Cyborg said.
"We'll try to see if we can fit in an hour tonight to celebrate, but if we're not back here soon enough, then we'll just have to wait until the case is closed." Robin answered. Starfire petted Cyborg's shoulder.
"Do not worry, Cyborg. While searching for the people, I will be planning the day of birth festivities myself." She proclaimed.
"Uh, no offense Starfire, but maybe you should let someone else plan the party? Like me or Raven or Beast Boy?" The titan leader suggested, not wanting to have a party ruined by her possible misunderstandings.
"Oh please allow me. I promise I will learn all the proper Earth customs." The alien girl swore as she raised her hand. The titan leader considered this.
"Ehh, the party can be lame, so long as the gifts aren't." Cyborg shrugged.
"Well, all right. But just in case, Beast Boy, I want you to go with Starfire for both the mission and birthday party preparations." The Boy Wonder ordered.
"Uh, sure dude." The green teen accepted, if for the reason that he could think of a plan a little while longer.
"Oh joy! Come Beast Boy, we shall begin our double mission together!" The princess cheered as she flew to the elevator, waiting for Beast Boy to get in with her. Once the elevator doors closed, the shapeshifter let a breath out and swiped sweat off his forehead.
"Oh man."
"Is something the wrong, Beast Boy?"
"Silkie destroyed my gift for Cyborg, and I don't have time to create it again since it took me days."
"Oh, that is not good at all. What were you making?" She asked. He took a drawing out of his pants and showed her. It was a childish drawing used with crayon.
"This was what I was going to give him. It was a painting half as tall as he is, and I put so much time and effort into it." He then started crying again.
"Well why not just give this to him?" BB then went hysterical.
"Didn't you hear what he said?! He said the gifts couldn't be lame! And look at this; it's crayon Star! Nothing is cool when done in crayon!" He threw the picture down on the ground and proceeded to bang his head against the elevator wall.
"Umm, how about... you make another picture that is the size of this?" Starfire suggested cautiously. This did seem to cheer the green teen right up. He wiped his sleeve across his nose while snorting and said,
"Yeah, I guess I could do that. Perhaps this will work after all. Thanks Starfire."
"You are welcome." She replied, happy she helped. The elevator dinged and they walked out to fly off the roof.
The first place they looked for was a chemical laboratory where they were talking to chemists who were related to some of the missing people. Starfire was talking to the scientists while Beast Boy was observing all the colorful chemicals, bubbling, simmering, or both. Then he suddenly sneezed, causing a beaker with a completely round base to tip over and spill its content into another container.
"Umm..." He said before the entire table blew up. Everybody looked to see the disaster as Beast Boy, burnt black to a crisp, turned to them to smile and gave a thumbs up while a tooth fell out of his mouth and he fainted.
Later at a court house, Starfire was talking to both regular people and lawyers about the case while Beast Boy was both taking notes on one paper and the outlines for his smaller gift on another. Once both sides were done, he looked at the Lady Justice statue and thought of something.
"Hey, watch this, dude." He said as he turned into a pigeon and flew up to one of the scales and turned back to normal, tilting the scales. "Hey look at me! Am I guilty, or am I innocent? I don't know, and I don't think this lady here knows which side is which." Starfire giggled from his joking around. But that changed when he tried jumping to the other scale, causing the hand of the statue to break off, resulting in the titan yelling from surprise as the scales landed on the ground with Beast Boy landing in one of the scales, along with the other scale bouncing and crashed onto his head while trapping him between the two scales. Starfire gasped as she went to him and picked up the scale, seeing a banged up teammate.
"Beast Boy! Are you okay?!"
"Ugh, I'm fine, dude. I just think Justice blinded me is all. Too many stars." And then he clonked out.
At the local hospital to see if any there were any new bodies of the people, Beast Boy stayed outside as Starfire recommended so that he wasn't hurt again. Finishing up his art work, he marveled at the book sized drawing and kissed it. Although the doors opened in which a patient on a stretcher rolled out and bashed into the green teen, making him fall onto his front and cry.
"Why does this keep happening to me?!" One doctor came out to bring the patient in, and a nurse brought the titan into the hospital.
Taking a break so that Beast Boy didn't get hurt this time around, the two went to a store to get some party decorations.
"So Beast Boy, what kind of decorations are used for the birth parties?" She asked him curiously.
"Well Star, what we need are balloons. Like these here." He pointed to a bag of balloons that were yellow and blue.
"I see. And do we put the animals in them to create balloon animals?"
"No. One, they wouldn't fit. Two, the balloons wouldn't float. Three, they'd suffocate." The male titan explained as he picked the balloons.
"I also heard of this thing of pin the tail on the donkey. But do not the donkeys already have tails?"
"They do. Check it." He said as he showed her the game. "You see this, this is a picture of a donkey. This tail is supposed to be attached to his rear end as displayed. You do it blindfolded though, so you'll have to guess where his butt is."
"Ah. And what of the ducks and the gooses?"
"Duck duck goose? We don't need anything for that... especially not actual birds. We just sit in a circle, one of us pats each other's heads saying duck until we say goose, and run in a circle until we fill their previous spot, or get caught."
"Oh. I have so much to learn." The alien princess sighed in sorrow. Beast Boy placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Star. You are dealing with a party master. With my help, we can give him the best party, the best gifts, and the best pie ever!"
"Pie? Wait, I realized something." Starfire gasped as she brought out looked at her notes. "Of all the people we talked to so far, the only constant was the fact the missing people said they were going to a pie place, but never came back."
"Cool, dude! Where they go?" He asked, getting excited.
"A place called Mother's Pie on Hyde St., just South of Lombard Street."
"Cool Star! Up top!" He cheered as they high fived. Beast Boy then spoke into his communicator. "Dudes, meet Starfire and I at Hyde Street just South of Lombard. We found our location.
"Roger that. Good work." Robin complimented. Starfire flew off straight away while Beast Boy was about to leave when he saw silver glitter, and got an idea.
All five of the titans soon found themselves at the designated street, quickly finding a quaint, pink looking pie shop.
"Uh, you sure this is the place?" Robin asked the two skeptically.
"We know so, dude. I don't know if you noticed it, but all the people they talked to said they all went to here at around the times they disappeared." Beast Boy answered confidently.
"If you say so. Maybe once this is done, we can get ourselves some victory pie." Cyborg shrugged with a smile. Once they entered the store with a ring of a bell, they saw that it all looked normal and not threatening. However, when the owner came out of the back, the titans gasped.
"Mother Mae Eye!
"So my dearies, you found my little shop." She said in a maternal, sweet manner. "And here I thought operating a pie shop would be innocuous enough."
"Cut the act, Mae Eye." Robin ordered. "We know that you're using customers to feed on those that eat your pies."
"So you're not going to leave mother alone. Fine then." Mother Mae Eye growled as she grew larger to the size of a giant, the shop turning into a candy land like last time and the danger rising. "I was able to manipulate reality with just you five alone. I've gathered more than four fold, so now I'm invulnerable! Now, for your acts of heroism, here's your just desserts!" She shouted as she waved her wooden spoon to trap the titans. However, Raven uttered,
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Using her magic, she created a mirror that rebounded the blast, hitting the witch.
"Augh! No, not again!" She screamed as she shrank and transformed into a pie within seconds, reverting the shop from the sweet environment to the pie shop to a run down place that looked like it was long abandoned as all the magic retreated back into the pie. Once all that was over, many men and women came out of what was the kitchen, wondering what happened.
"Whoa, where are we?" A woman asked.
"You were trapped by a witch." Raven answered. "Go home, or to the hospital if you're not feeling well, and probably cut the pastries from all your diets for a while." While everybody went off in their directions, Cyborg cheered,
"Booyah! We managed to save the day and it's still early evening at best! Let's go home!" With Raven opening a portal, they went back to the titan's tower.
"Alright titans, let's get the birthday party set." Robin recommended as the four were about to split but Beast Boy jumped onto Cyborg's back.
"Hey Cy, there's something I need to give you. Something happened and I didn't have to time to wrap it."
"Sure bro. Lay it on me." The metallic teen shrugged. Digging into his pockets, Beast Boy showed him the drawing.
"It was going to be a painting half as big as you but Silkie destroyed it. This was the best I could do within hours.
"That was what you were going to give me, and this is the replacement?" He asked, surprise on his face. Then he joyfully laughed. "I love it! It looks so well drawn and thoughtful. Thanks BB."
"Haha, I knew you'd like it. Starfire helped inspire me to make a smaller version while on the mission." He returned the laugh.
"I'll have to thank her then. Thanks again."
"No prob."