For those readers who've been loyally reading this for ages, you probably already know: I have a DISCORD. You can find tidbits, maps, images, and more related to FwB, P:TaL, and Z:PoW as well as all my Omake there. In addition there's a few other useful links you might enjoy. If you want to learn more about my writing, go check it out at discord . gg / EDHf6ZG . You might find fun stuff there. :) Like links to my SubStar... where you can find more stuff!
That's enough out of me. Enjoy!

Oh, and in case it hasn't been clear: This fic DOES and WILL CONTINUE to have a lot of Human-ish (Raven) and Beastial (Beast Boy) smut in it. If that's not your cup of tea, you should probably skip it entirely. Other stories that will eventually show up here might not have the same theme though. This is a commissioned story, so when the person requesting it stops wanting it, it'll (maybe) stop. Or just slow down, because I'm quite enjoying writing it.

Part 8

Raven had a lot to think about over the next two weeks. Thankfully, her teammates had long ago learned to leave their most isolationist member to her introspection. Most of the time. She still attended most meals, even if they were a bit awkward and strained lately.

Between the revelations Starfire had dropped on the Cambion about her past, or how very similar the two were in so many ways. She attended training sessions, both in pairs and groups. She went on missions. Even participated in one (just one, thank the heavens!) photo opportunity for Jump City, which had been using the Titans as a vehicle to promote keeping the city streets, parks, wild lands, and beaches clean.

At least the environment was worth the sense of embarrassment and shame to Raven. Robin merely tolerated it, like she did, but as always Cyborg, Starfire, and especially Beast Boy ate up the public attention. Even Starfire's gaffe of calling on Earth and its citizens as a backwater world that had not yet learned to live in harmony with its home planet had been laughed off, because as the mayor had said, 'every world and society has growing pains'.

Raven knew what that felt like. Growing Pains...

Beast Boy was 'growing' to be a bigger 'pain' in her ass.

He wasn't even doing anything particularly strange. For Beast Boy, anyway.

Laughing, talking, playing pranks, being smelly, playing video games, making a mess, getting in the way, being obnoxious, annoying her, asking all kinds of questions she didn't have answers for, being present, not asking questions he should have asked, chewing his food loudly, being green- no, that sounded racist, and she wasn't that, no matter what Raven was.

In other words, he was just...

Being Beast Boy.

And it was annoying.

But as time passed, as Raven thought about what Starfire had told her about the alien girl's past, how their histories were so parallel (for all their differences in detail), Raven found her attention drawn more and more to Garfield Logan's...

Antics? No, that wasn't the right word.

Really, the only thing that seemed appropriate was self. His whole being was obnoxiously attention-grabbing, from the unruly pine-green hair to the lighter-green fur that covered most of his body, to his... unrepentant boy-ishness. She knew he was a man in every way that should have mattered. He had a job (it even paid, sort of), a home, a family (of sorts), a support network when he needed it, was a productive, well-liked member of society.

But he was a man-child in the worst sort of way, too. And it grated how much she cared. Not that Raven wanted to change him. No, that was the most bothersome part at all.

All of the things Raven thought she should change, or want to change, all of those things that were so terribly not-good (the phrase 'double-plus-ungood' from a book Raven had read ages ago kept popping into her mind as she considered her teammate) were simply things that she noticed.

Noticed, but didn't judge, didn't look on unkindly, didn't disparage, didn't even really think ill of.
But why wasn't she thinking all of those terrible things were... well, terrible?

It was Beast Boy. Garfield. The annoying one, who everyone- everyone, even their enemies- knew got on Raven's nerves constantly. Enough so even the stupid ones had tried to use it against them before.

Raven wasn't getting annoyed at the green shapeshifter because of any of the usual things. She was annoyed more because she wasn't being bothered by everything else. They were all, down to the last tiny bit of crumb left on his shoulder from a messily-eaten sandwich that he'd eaten for lunch, just... things. Details about Garfield Logan. Not annoying details, just parts of him, what made him up.

Yes, she knew that being annoyed that she wasn't annoyed was ridiculous.

But it didn't change how Raven felt.

Stupid emotions, had become a near-constant refrain in her mind.

She'd even all-but said that she loved him! That was about as stupid as it got, and Raven did not consider herself an idiot!

Yes, she did. Of course she did, the fool was just too lovable not to like as a friend, a companion, and lately, something more. These days, Raven Roth was quite comfortable admitting to certain people (very few, but some) that she loved all her teammates and friends. Only that... that...

She sighed, her meditation incomplete. Violet-colored eyes opened to a familiar sight: Raven's bedroom. A quick glance at her clock showed the time to be 10:32 AM. She had been meditating as part of her personal training for an hour and a half. Or at least, trying to meditate. For the first time since she was a young girl, the sorceress had failed at entering a meditative state at all, much less the deep meditation necessary to actually control her powers at their greatest level.

It was unthinkable. Her soul-self still manifested with a tiny gesture and exercise of will, her control and power just there. She had full access to everything she had before, nothing was lost, but everything felt... off.

A few things, actually, not least of which was the dampness between her legs.

"Alright, so I'm getting used to that, unfortunately," the half-demon muttered darkly to herself as he used her own muscles rather than magic to rise to her feet and started stripping down. Some of it was the workout Robin had put them through that morning. It was grueling as ever, but a recent run-in with Slade had gotten the Boy Wonder worked up a bit, so he was trying to prepare for more. It made sense, Slade was a terrible thorn in their whole team's side and more than a minor obsession for Robin. Usually, she preferred to shower and then return to her room to meditate, but she was... kind of avoiding everyone. Even Starfire. So she'd just come up to her room to do it instead, and then elected to meditate first. It wasn't like anyone would smell her before then.

Well, Beast Boy would, but he had made it clear ages ago he liked the smell of sweat on her, the weirdo.

But it wasn't growing. At least, not like it should be. Her power, the magical energy accessed and usable by exercising her will on the very essence of half of her being- no, over half, since part of her was human and had a soul, but the demonic side was a soul- she could harness great abilities. Meditation helped the human side, the part she wanted to be in control, to do just that: control the other half. Every time she meditated in a deep level had a purpose. Sometimes it was to regain control of tumultuous emotions. Sometimes it was just to have some piece and quiet away from the blaring emotions of others, the lesser din of her own disparate pieces much easier to filter and manage than a whole city's.
Sometimes, once a week or so, Raven entered deep meditation to make her power grow. By increasing the bond between human and demon, stretching her proverbial magical muscles, the bond grew stronger. Her magic grew stronger. Yes, her demonic side and human will both got stronger too, but it thankfully happened more or less evenly. Rachel Roth, her mother, had not learned any magic until after she had been raped, impregnated, and then brought to Azaroth by Raven's mentor.

But the ability had been there before, and it was an ability Raven had inherited. That was, she had been taught and believed fully, the only reason her demonic side had never really had a chance to gain control. If it did, the consequences could have been disastrous. So Azar, her mother, and the council that advised the old sage had constrained Raven's magic until she had learned to control it, gradually weakening the bonds as her own abilities as a sorceress grew.

The demon was unbound now, except by her own will. That was, as Azar had explained shortly before she had come back to Earth and the 'real' universe, as it should be. Simply locking it away would not help anyone, as a sobbing young Cambion had begged her mother and mentor once.

Yet, she felt it was more secure than ever, because her will could not be broken. Except for one teensy, itty-bitty little obstacle.

That green pest. He wasn't doing anything on purpose, which was the worst part. He was just her greatest weakness, and the only one on the Titans- the only one on the planet- who could make Raven do something simply by asking. Because she wanted him happy, damn it.

The last thing that was strange about her power was that it was out of balance. Her human side, the sorceress in her, carefully trained and managed, was stronger than ever. It still held the demon at bay, and as easily as it had for a year or two. More easily, in fact, than it had when she'd first come to Earth from Azarath. But the demonic side was, for the first time since she was a scared little girl, stronger. She, herself, was not stronger. Her power and ability to access it had not grown stronger in the last few weeks. But the demon half had. As best she could tell, her soul was no longer roughly fifty-fifty in strength. It was closer to forty-nine to fifty-one, and the less human side was growing. Not rapidly, but noticeably. Day by day, as if freshly-cut grass was returning to its previous length.

It was just... strange. She'd always assumed, and vague memories hinted at being taught, that if the demon side ever grew stronger, it would slip its bonds and break free. Gain control of her, and do what demons did best: wreak havoc.
But if it was stronger, why was her control over it better than ever? And if her control was better than ever while it was stronger, why wasn't she stronger? She should, by all rights, be able to access just a fraction more magical energy. True, each week's growth was infinitesmal in size, but it was something she had been able to track herself for as long as she had known the demon side was there. The last two, or three, maybe four weeks, there had been no greater power. Only a stronger demon, and the control, somehow, to master it. All without the commensurate gain in actual combat strength or magical ability.

It left a question blazing in Raven's mind, but it was formless. There was just something off, and she could not put her finger on what.

Not even enough to start asking questions aside from 'why' in the most general sense.

So all she could really answer, out of the myriad of questions running through her head every moment Raven was not distracted by Beast Boy's... Boy... ish-ness, was one thing: Something was going on, and she didn't like it.

Which, she could only assume, meant that Trigon was behind it.
He was, after all, the source of all the misery in her life in one form or another. They didn't call him The Ruiner (among other titles) for nothing.

That didn't mean she could do anything about it. She didn't even want to tell Robin, her team's leader, about the change in her growth. As long as the demon was under control, did it really matter if it outgrew her human side in strength? They all knew (as well as they could, which in Robin's case was better than most) what it meant if she ever lost herself to the monster inside her. They just didn't know about the whole...

Sixteenth Birthday...

Thing.

It wasn't exactly the sort of thing a person, especially a person like Raven, could bring up in casual conversation.

But at least there was some relief on the horizon. Sort of. A distraction, if nothing else.

Raven had a date tonight.

Beast Boy, through the absolute diametric opposite of a coincidence, did not. He had watch-duty at the Tower, while Cyborg ran patrol in Jump City itself. And Cyborg, for all his annoying over-protective-older-brother tendencies, knew better than to interfere in any of the other Titan's love lives. He'd learned that lesson shortly after starting his relationship with Bee.

Good times, Raven smirked as she moved into her personal shower, reminiscing about one of the very few times she and Beast Boy had moved in true lock-step, as if they were actually good at working together one on one.

The poor cybernetically-enhanced human had no idea what was coming that night, but that was a thought for another time. Just then, Raven needed to devote her time and attention to another topic. First and foremost was getting cleaned up. Then, against her better judgement, Raven had allowed Starfire to convince her to get a new haircut and professional makeup done by 'her man'.

Raven had now known the alien warrior-princess' stylist was a man, but it wasn't like it mattered to her. If he did a good job with Kori'andr's complexion and hair, he would probably do alright with Raven's. Hopefully.

And unfortunately, Raven had to care about this date, because...

Well, it was kind of a big deal.

"Working dates suck," she murmured into the spray, then focused on the task at hand. She didn't have the mental energy to complain.

Raven shuddered as she looked at herself in the mirror, but not for the reasons that struck many teens her age. She had no issues with her body, though she wasn't fond of showing it off for personal reasons. That was part of the problem, in fact: She was showing far more than she wanted to, or was normally comfortable with.

A form-fitting leotard was one thing, at least it was armored and covered the important bits. Her current outfit, selected with Robin's and Starfire's help, could best be described as 'slinky'. And she did look good in it, the young woman had to admit. Almost too good.

Her target, the target of this whole operation, was a predator... the kind of predator who went after young women dressed like they wanted to be adult women. Like her.
Sometimes, there were risks involved in her job, but Raven would not change it. It was not like the man, her 'date', would be able to do anything to her. Raven was perfectly capable of burning off any toxins, drugs, or chemicals the man might ply her with, including alcohol. The appropriate spells had already been cast before she had gotten dressed, and would last until the morning at the earliest. He was just a normal man, though fairly intelligent. That was why the JCPD had asked for their help in capturing him, and why they were taking command of the operation. She just had to endure... what, an hour or two of having the man ply her with drink that would not make her drunk, and otherwise 'wine and dine' his 'pretty friend' at some high-society party. A party that already included many of the police department's finer officers, with Robin acting as a coordinator and on overwatch, just in case.
Starfire would be there too, on the arm of the police commissioner's son, because that was the price for his department's continued (partial) funding of the Titan's whole operation. Besides, everyone knew it was a publicity stunt, and who Star was really with. Robin was even okay with it, since he knew very well the son was gay and Starfire being on his arm was partially meant to deflect attention from that.

Frankly, Raven would have rather dated the gay man seriously than fake this particular outing, but Starfire's appearance was too difficult to conceal even with expert makeup. Worse, her mastery (or lack of) west-coast syntax would make her easier to spot, too. So she was stuck with the job. At least she was suited for it.

"Oh my dear," Alexei Stukov drawled, his fake Russian accent almost convincing, if Raven had not known he was a fourth-generation immigrant, and that his family was more Welsh these days than Russian. "You are a treasure. When I spoke with you earlier I knew you were beautiful, but... my, what a few days' difference can make!"

"Thank you, sir," Raven replied quietly, forcing herself to ignore the way her skin crawled as the tall, well-built blonde man's hand fell on her bare shoulder. A complex glamour had changd her skin color to something more difficult to detect, but the dress, makeup, and her impeccably-styled (and currently more pink than violet, but still purple-ish) hair itched on the left side where it had been cut down to represent her false persona's more-punk aesthetic.

Frankly, Raven found it quite appealing, and was already debating keeping it. It would go along with Argent's hair, anyway, which was who it was styled after, though the color was more like Jinx's. But it would take more work to maintain than she was willing to do long-term, she thought. Maybe it would be something to try.

Any thought that could race through her head, Raven tried to latch on to as Alexei took her by the elbow and gently guided her- with a too-firm but not painful grip, she noted- by the elbow into and around the party.

She was introduced to one of Jump City's socialites after another, even Starfire, who gushed too-sincerely over Raven's appearance before being ushered by her own date away with a muttered, "I don't like that guy."

Raven understood the sentiment. How so many people could be taken in by Stukov's honeyed words and silver tongue, she would never know. More likely than not, according to Robin's hastily-prepared dossier on the man, they were simply blinded by his money. Because Alexei Stukov was filthy rich, with a heavy emphasis on the filthy.

While he gave millions to local charities of various stripes, his grandfather had become a millionaire a century ago by arms smuggling during World War Two. His father had made than hundreds of millions by engaging in the drug trade.

Somehow, she thought the third generation was worse. They were all smugglers of a sort, but each had divested themselves of their father's particular business- and somehow left no power vacuum in their wake- but taken the money from it and gotten into something worse.

Alexei's specialty was smuggling people.

And not in a good way, getting refugees out of war-torn areas or anything that might be construed as 'good', even if technically illegal.

He was a slave trader, and a rapist of children.

Raven was actually somewhat happy to take him down, but that didn't mean she wanted to be the bait. That was alright though, she could put up with it for a few hours, if it meant he fell. The JCPD and FBI had been working on this particular operation for years, and had infiltrated Stukov's organization up to one of his own closest allies, someone who had ties to some of the worst meta-humans in the world... but who wasn't a slaver, in the end.

Who would have thought Lex Luthor, of all people, would be willing to help bring down Stukov?
Raven, of course, thought Robin and Superman were right, it was likely a ploy to distract them from something else. That didn't mean he didn't need to go down anyway. Even if doing so removed a potential threat to Luthor's own semi-legal (or worse) enterprises.

Dinner was at least mostly pleasant, as Raven and Stukov were seated next to the largest donor of the event, and his daughter, a pleasant enough young woman if a bit dim, was a better conversationalist than Stukov, and insisted on stealing the superhero's attention whenever she could.

The address was thankfully brief, and Raven mostly ignored it because by that point, Stukov's hand was creeping up her thigh slowly.

And she wanted to rip it off.

It was taking all her concentration and focus to keep from unleashing her power and doing just that, then shoving it down his throat.

But she needed the information first. And for that, she needed to be alone with him. Either in his limo, or in his penthouse home.

Really, either one would do, since she only needed a few seconds to rip the information from his head. The rest could come later.

Except for that one teensy-weensy, little-bitty problem. She hated the way his touch felt...

But her demonic side didn't.

It wanted more. More!

Not from him, not really, but she had been so wound-up lately, so used to attention, to being touched in places that once had been very much no-go-zones, thanks to her recent activities with Beast Boy that... that... she was aroused.

And the demon wanted more of it. More touches, more pleasures. From anyone. Even Alexei Stukov.

Finally, after five or so hours of torture, the party began to wind down, and Stukov, a little drunk himself no doubt, had allowed his hand to move from her elbow, to her shoulder, and then down to her waist. Now, it slipped a little lower, grazing the upper curve of Raven's ass as he pulled her against him while they meandered their way, still chatting with hoarse voices, toward the door where the valets would be waiting with their car.

Raven very much hoped his next ride would be to the county jail, where someone would let it leak that he was a child predator. And she really wanted someone to leak that once he got to prison.

Because with the evidence she and Robin suspected was available as soon as they knew where to look for it, the man would be going away for a long, long time, and no amount of bribery would save him.

Not with Lex Luthor offering counter-bribes, anyway.

She slipped into the limousine clumsily, and didn't even really have to fake not being drunk. A light rain was falling, but thankfully the valets had been waiting with umbrellas. As much work as it had taken to get her hair just so for the evening's operation, Raven felt like it would have been a waste to have it fall apart now, when things were so close to completion.

Stukov moved in more gracefully afterward of course, and did not do the gentlemanly thing of helping her with her seatbelt, or anything like that. Instead, the moment the door was closed with a last wave to the few photographers that had stuck around for the end of the charity gala, he pressed the driver's intercom button, "Home, Chauncy. No rush. I'm sealing the audio and glass."

"Yes, sir," a polite, middle-European- Belgian?- accented man's voice came through. A moment later, the black-smoked glass rose between the wide passenger area at the back of the limo, and and a faint pop-hiss sounded as the audio line between the two cut out.

Then Stukov turned toward Raven, one hand already high on her thigh and gave her a smirk. "Now, dear, one more glass of wine...? I know you aren't drunk, after all. But I must admit, it's not every day one gets to attend a gala event like that with one of the Teen Titans."

Raven's eyes widened. One thought went through her head as he reached for said glass of wine- Oh, no, that was a taser. A very expensive-looking, customized one. Something like the one Robin used, in fact. Oh, shit.