A/N:I'm not one for a lot of authors notes, so just enjoy the story. Feel free to message me with questions or suggestions.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, though I wish I did.

»§«

Chapter 1: Strange Dreams

A demonic voice echoed as Slade slowly drifted in and out of sleep. He was currently at one of his many hidden bases inside Jump City. He maintained multiples in case the Titans or one of his enemies found where he was, he was a bit paranoid after all.

"Slade…!"

Slade opened his eye slowly, and looked around. He wasn't in his room anymore.

"SLADE…!"

"What do you want from me?" The cold but calm demand came from Slade. He noticed the area he was in was completely black; he couldn't see anything at all. His bed wasn't there, nor was anything from his home. Panic started to slowly set in. He stifled his feelings and began to consider what was happening.

He clenched his fists, or what he thought were his fists, when he looked down he saw nothing, just complete darkness.

Slade began to panic at what he saw, or didn't see. 'Where are my hands?' Noticing that he was panicking, he quickly regained control.

"SLADE!" echoed the demonic voice, this time in a mild yell.

He sat up. Slade was back in his room, he had sweat pouring down his face. His hair was completely matted to his forehead. Breathing heavily, he swung his legs to the side and put his head in his hands. He rubbed his eye and then he brushed his hair off his face.

Slade lifted his head and glanced at his immediate environment. He had spent the better part of four years building this current hideout, sparing no expense. Floors were made of a fine dark wood, in contrast to the immaculate white walls devoid of any decorative object. It was furnished with a rich mahogany bedframe, dresser and desk. On top of his desk was his computer, with three monitors all running security. None of the alarms had been raised, so he was sure no one was in his place.

He stood up and put on his mask, which was half orange and half black, which had become a part of him. He wore it almost every minute of consciousness. Moving to the PC and sitting down in his leather swivel chair, he turned off the monitors, content that there was no danger for the moment. He then looked back onto the blank screen. The moonlight was coming through the window and he could lightly see his reflection on the monitor. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were shaking.

'It couldn't have been a premonition, I've never had powers like that… but why am I shaking?'

He looked back up at the monitor expecting to see his faint image on the screen but instead saw just his mask, but this time there were two glowing red eyes on one side of his face.

»§«

She opened her eyes.

"Slade…" she heard a demonic voice call out.

She heard a quick burst of rushing air and saw Slade's mask with two vibrant red eyes on it glaring at her inches from her face. She closed her eyes and screamed.

"AHHHH!"

Her vision flashed white; Slade's face was no longer there. She opened her eyes and saw that she was in a plane of black. It was so black, it could be considered nothingness. After a minute her vision noticed something that stuck out. She could see a tree, drenched in red at the bottom of it, looking as though it was covered in leaves during fall. She began to move towards it. After what seemed like ten minutes, the tree began to focus more in her view. The tree was grey, and decrepit, black leaves were slowly falling from the tree. Raven looked around, there was nothing else, and the area was just black. She walked around to the other side of the tree and what she saw nearly brought tears to her eyes. Beast Boy was lying on the ground, eyes closed, his body lacerated. The red that she had considered leaves was in fact copious amounts of blood. He looked up at her slowly, eyes bloodied, and he reached a shaking hand out.

"Rae…"

She sat bolt upright, cold sweat all over her.

'What… why... how?' She fumbled with her sentence in her head.

Raven tried to remember everything that just happened, but all she could remember was Beast Boy. She looked over her room, her eyes adjusted to the dark. The sun was starting to rise outside but nothing was creeping through the indigo shades she had on her window.

'I need to meditate. I have to keep control of my powers. I can't let these feelings overpower me.'

She then got out of bed, got dressed, and grabbed a book to read after she finished meditating and headed out of the room.

»§«

Beast Boy was your average run of the mill, lanky green teenager – minus the fact he could change into any animal he could think of. He was one of the shortest Titans, being just a hair shorter than Raven, but he was growing and would no doubt be taller in his late teens. He had emerald green eyes and hair which always stood on end.

He woke up at noon to the sound of his alarm going off, and sat up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned widely. He slipped out from the sheets on his bunk bed, eyes still closed.

"I better get going… I'm sure everyone else is awake and Robin said we had training today."

He reached over to turn off the alarm and it was at this point that Beast Boy remembered that he slept on a bunk bed and had slept in the top bunk last night.

"ARRRGHH!"

Beast Boy landed on his face, with his legs comically strewn above him.

"Well that's one way to wake up." He stated groggily, with a sigh.

Struggling, he got to his feet and slammed his fist on the alarm clock. It made a slow whining noise, and steam rose from it. He'd need another alarm clock… again. He picked it up, unplugged it and threw it into one of the many piles that were scattered around his room. Far from being a mess in his eyes, everything was organized by piles. This same theory is used by teenage boys who are particularly lazy.

He walked out of his room, not wanting to change or shower. The Teen Titans tended to wear their uniforms to bed, in case they had to leave at night to stop a bad guy, and also because they were comfy. Beast Boy considered a shower, but thought he might as well wait until after the training that Robin definitely had in store for them later in the day.

He walked down the hall to the common room. He could hear Cyborg and Robin playing together on the GameStation while he strode up the hallway. The automatic doors whooshed open as he walked into the room. Robin and Cyborg were indeed on the GameStation, Starfire was sitting next to Robin cheering him on, but Raven was nowhere to be seen.

'Wonder where Raven is.' He pondered.

He strode into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He pushed all the bacon and ham that Cyborg had most likely left in front on purpose to the side, and grabbed his Tofu eggs.

"Hey BB, about time you got up." Cyborg said, scaring the changeling a bit. Even with his sensitive hearing he must have been too focused on the growling of his stomach to hear the metallic man creep up behind him.

Cyborg was Beast Boy's best friend and his greatest competitor. He was half robot and half man, due to an accident that had happened during High School. His tech glowed a light blue which stood out against the white and black plating that covered his body, and ended with his mechanical red eye.

"Ready to get your butt kicked in Mega Monkeys 5?"

"Dude, you went out and got it!?" he practically yelled, covering Cyborg in spit.

"Umm yeah, why wouldn't I?" he said, wiping the torrent of spit from his face.

"It's brand new, I knew that you'd want to get your butt kicked on it a.s.a.p."

"In your dreams chrome-dome, let me finish making food and we'll have a go."

Cyborg shrugged, figuring that Beast Boy would forget breakfast and want to play right away, but gave him his space to make some food.

Beast Boy had returned to the task at hand. He looked deep in thought, though none of the other Titans had noticed. Starfire and Robin had sat down at the table and were in conversation. Cyborg was now sitting on the couch, lazily flipping through channels, though never settling on anything. Beast Boy began to cook, cracking the eggs and making sure that the heat wasn't too high on the "Cook-o-matic 5000" that Cyborg had personally built.

'I wonder what Raven is up to… she's usually sitting there reading. I had a really good joke to try today.'

'Maybe she's on the roof meditating like normal. I'll go find her and tell her my joke after I beat Cy.' He pondered.

»§«

The sky was clouded, the sun actively trying to peak through. The smell of fresh rain was still in the air. On the roof of the Titan's tower, Raven was sitting in her normal lotus position, eyes closed, quietly chanting her mantra.

Raven was a stunning looking girl, though she never had thought this much of herself. She had shoulder length lilac colored hair, and amethyst eyes. She had pale skin, and her chakra gem which was embedded in the middle of her forehead was blood red.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She quietly repeated to herself.

The wind was calm, but it still created a nice cool breeze. Raven's hood quivered in the wind, strands of her dark purple hair blew from under her hood. She was wearing her typical uniform, a blackish-purple leotard and her iconic dark blue cloak. A thick leather-bound book sat on the ground near where she was. Her eyes slowly opened as she came out of her mediation.

'Well. That should be enough to deal with Beast Boy and Cyborg for now.'

It usually took a lot of restraint not to get angry or show any emotions to her fellow teammates, especially Beast Boy since he always tried to make her laugh with pathetic jokes. The only time he was actually funny was when one of his pranks backfired on him.

Raven slowly took her legs out of the lotus position as she landed on the ground softly. She put her hands up and lowered her hood, taking in the surroundings. It was a rare occurrence to see Raven without her hood up, though in private she almost always had it down. She stretched her arms back and closed her eyes, taking in the smells, finding that she was very calm.

'The others should definitely be up by now. I might as well go down and get some lunch,' she considered.

Raven slowly used her powers to lift her book as she walked away. It zoomed after her, and then slid into place under her arm. She began to walk down the stairs and phased through the floor at the bottom step.

Raven hadn't noticed the single tear stain that had moved down her face when she woke from her meditation.

»§«

Beast Boy, who had finished making breakfast (even though it was lunchtime for everyone else) had wolfed it down in one bite (A/N: no pun intended). He vaulted over the couch, landing right next to Cyborg.

"Ready to face "Master Beast Boy", Cy?"

"HAHA, yeah grass-stain, I'm ready" Cyborg retorted.

Cyborg and Beast Boy began frantically pressing buttons and moving around as though it would help their characters on the screen. Mega Monkeys 5 could easily be described as a monkey brawl game. Both Beast Boy and Cyborg had their sides of the screen, and they earned points by beating up monkeys and stealing their bananas.

Beast Boy and Cyborg were so wrapped up in their game and Robin and Starfire in their conversation that no one seemed to notice the half-demoness in the kitchen, who had just recently portaled in.

Robin - also known as the Boy Wonder - was Batman's protégé. He was of medium height, well-built due to meticulous training and always wore his signature black mask that covered his eyes matching his gelled up jet black hair. No one knew who he really was, and he liked it that way. Starfire, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of Robin; she had a bubbly personality that infected every aspect of her social life. She wore a purple top and matching purple skirt, which stood out against her bright green eyes. She was alien royalty, being the daughter of the King and Queen of Tamaran, though she much preferred her life on Earth, helping the Teen Titans protect humans.

"Good Afternoon, friend Raven!" Starfire called.

"Hey Star." Raven responded in her monotone voice.

She slowly was using her powers to make some herbal tea. Raven loved her tea. It helped her keep calm and deal with the day to day happenings inside the tower.

Beast Boy looked up from his game, as a big "YOU LOSE" played across his side of the screen.

"Hey Rae! I have go to tell you the best joke I came up-" he started.

Beast Boy didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. The alarm in the Tower had gone off signaling that there was some sort of emergency occurring.

Raven sent one of her signature glares over at Beast Boy.

'Saved by the bell, literally.' She exclaimed in her head, being careful not to be too happy about it.

Beast Boy groaned looking at the glare he got from Raven for calling her "Rae", and Robin quickly made his way to the giant screen.

"What's wrong, Mayor?" Robin stated very business-like.

Everyone was now staring at the semi-plump man who had won the mayoral race a couple years ago. He looked frightened, but relieved to see the Titans.

"There's a small group of those H.I.V.E. members robbing a bank downtown. I've sent you the location. Please stop them!"

His image disappeared from the screen, displaying a map with a giant red dot on it. It was the Jump City Depository; they all knew where it was. It was frequently robbed, and it was also right on the same street as the Titan's favorite pizza place.

Robin pulled up a feed of the security camera outside the bank.

"It's Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx. They've already broken in; we have to get there quickly, if we want to stop them."

"Let's get there in style then." A smile broke out across Cyborg's face.

Robin had no idea how he'd been talked into it, but he was now a passenger in the T-car. Cyborg was driving, of course, as he claimed he wouldn't let anyone else ever drive his "baby". Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy were all crammed in the back, Raven stuck in the middle.

Cyborg threw it into gear and the car rocketed forward. Within 5 minutes, they were heading down the street that held the bank.

When Cyborg drifted the car to a stop in front of the bank, Cyborg, Robin and Starfire hopped out. Trying desperately to get out quickly, Raven decided to portal herself. After coming up out of the ground near the rest of the Titans, she felt something attached to her right leg. Looking down, she saw her cowering green teammate.

"Beast Boy, why are you on my leg?" She said a little panic and anger in her voice. He let go of her leg.

"I guess I was touching you when you teleported, that's how it works right? I'm sorry!"

Raven looked over Beast Boy, he was still cowering, apparently ready to be hit, or feel some impact from something thrown at him. She felt bad, but appreciated the fact that he apologized, even though it was her fault for not looking. Beast Boy had lowered his arms a bit, not receiving the expected hit. She looked into his eyes and felt a warm wave pass over her. She couldn't be mad with him.

"I-I should have looked, sorry."

"What?!" cried Beast Boy.

A finger was on his lips now. He went red.

"Shhhhh. You'll need to be careful next time, and don't let the others hear me apologizing, or they'll think I went soft."

Raven moved her finger away glad her hood was up to cover her own blush, gave a weak grin and turned to the other Titans.

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg hadn't heard and were looking at the front of the building.

"Well. We saw them enter, so we know this is the right place. But where are they? Usually when Mammoth is involved, the doors are off the hinges and there's some smoke coming from the building." Robin said rhetorically.

Suddenly, the doors blew open and a cloud of smoke with three shadows hidden in it, drifted out onto the pavement. The Titans got ready for a fight.

Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx appeared as the smoke dissipated.

Mammoth was standing in the middle of the three, further forward, glaring menacingly. Mammoth was a huge man, standing close to seven feet. He had reddish hair and a goatee, which stood out against his black and gold jumpsuit he wore all the time. Standing next to him on his left was Gizmo, a very small, extremely intelligent teen who had a bone to pick with Cyborg. He wore a green one piece suit with build in shoes, and his iconic backpack, which held all of his technology. Jinx was the farthest back, a neutral look on her face. She had bubblegum pink hair, and pink eyes. She wore an outfit similar in color to Raven's, but wore black and purple leggings and boots.

The three villains looked out over the street and saw the Titans standing there waiting.

"About time you crud-sniffers showed up." Gizmo chuckled.

"Quiet pint-sized, you're about to be heading back to jail, don't seem so happy."

Cyborg popped his cannon out of his arm and leveled it with Gizmo, granted he had to point it down, but you get the idea.

"Throw down the money and come quietly. It'll be better for all of us if you do."

"Not going to happen, Robin. You guys are a bit late and we have what we came for," replied Jinx.

Suddenly, all three of the villains split. Mammoth went straight at the Titans, who all leaped or flew out of the way. Jinx and Gizmo were already running in separate directions when Robin called out orders.

"Raven, Beast Boy, you two go after Gizmo. Cyborg, you go after Jinx. Starfire and I will take of Mammoth. TITANS GO!"

That was all that had to be said; the respective members nodded, and began to split up.

Raven reached out her hand and grabbed Beast Boy's. She was busy thinking about the fight and didn't notice the look of horror on his extremely red face. Raven was so focused on the fact that they had to stop Gizmo. She had grabbed hold of Beast Boy and begun to think of the roof of the building Gizmo was flying towards.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She said.

They were swallowed up by her black vortex of energy and appeared on the rooftop right in front of Gizmo.

"Didn't think it would be that easy, did you pipsqueak?" said Raven. Beast Boy smirked.

»§«

Cyborg had bounded off after Jinx the second he was told to by Robin. In all honesty, he was elated that Robin had said go after Jinx, and alone at that.

He saw her turn the corner up ahead and he chased after her. Right as he was about to catch up to her, he noticed a pink glow emanate from the edge. He stopped running, put his cannon away, and walked around it, to find the pink haired sorceress standing there with her hip cocked and one hand on it.

"I've been wondering if you were getting out of shape Stone, figured you'd have caught me before I got here."

"Never." He responded simply, flexing his mechanical muscles.

No one else had known, but recently Jinx and Cyborg had reconciled with what happened when he went undercover at the H.I.V.E. Academy. Both Cyborg and Jinx knew at the academy that they had crushes on each other, especially after they went to the dance together. They had been romantically involved, but weren't in the habit doing "normal couple things", such as going on dates. It was hard for a villain to go to a movie without someone screaming at her. They saw each other rarely and when they did, they were usually on opposite sides of the battlefield. Cyborg had half a mind (no pun intended) to change that.

Jinx walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Sorry it's been awhile." She muttered.

"I am too. I wish we could be more open, and just go out and do things like a normal couple…" his voice trailed off.

"A couple? Does that mean that you consider me your girlfriend, tin-head?"

"W-Well... I-I figured since we…"

"Oh stop talking and kiss me."

Jinx put her arms around Cyborg's neck and pulled him close.

»§«

"Watch out Starfire!" Robin called out in panic.

Mammoth had picked up a car and swung it wildly at Starfire. She quickly ducked it thanks to Robin's warning. She turned on the spot and encased energy within her fist and slammed into Mammoth's stomach. The giant skidded back about 10 feet, and looked up at Starfire, his pupils gone, now just white. Starfire gave him the same cold glare back, except her eyes glowed green with power.

Mammoth stood up and began to gain speed as he moved towards Starfire. Now at a full run, his focus locked on Starfire, he didn't notice Robin who had pulled out his Bo staff and was now halfway in the air with his arms over him. He came down hard on Mammoth's head and knocked the giant into the ground, the pavement gave way making a Mammoth sized dent in it.

Starfire glided down to the ground, apparently relaxed now that Mammoth was knocked out. She landed near Robin and smiled at him. He rubbed the back of his neck and returned the smile. Everything had been said without the need of words. Robin tied up Mammoth and both he and Starfire considered going to help the others, but figured they'd return soon with their respective villain in hand.

»§«

"Didn't think it would be that easy, did you pipsqueak?" said Raven, Beast Boy smirked.

"You super-dunces won't be able to stop me with my new gadgets!"

"Try us." Both Raven and Beast Boy said in unison.

Gizmo rose into the air higher, and from his backpack, popped out his ultimate weapon - the self-named Gizmo-tron. The Gizmo-tron was a small box that landed in front of the two Titans, and then slowly, began to unfold. It kept unfolding and unfolding, into a towering menace. Eight feet tall, the Gizmo-tron stood straight and cannons and missiles began to pop out from all over its body.

Beast Boy looked scared a bit. He had his arms up in an almost cowering stance. Raven maintained her cold glare.

"Is that it?" Raven questioned – putting a hand on her hip, clearly unimpressed.

"Well. Yeah!" replied the smaller Teen.

"It's not much."

Raven's eyes glowed white with a black outline. An aura of black energy appearing around her, she raised her hand and said in a cold tone.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

The Gizmo-tron was quickly enveloped in black energy. The sound was something Beast Boy didn't recognize. It sounded like a car rubbing against a wall, like crunching metal. The Gizmo-tron began to shake and then it happened. It quickly imploded on itself, forming a giant metal ball. Raven drew her hand to the side. The ball flew off the roof and 10 seconds later a "thud" was heard as it impacted the ground.

Beast Boy was amazed; he had never seen Raven really control her powers with such ferocity. She was usually afraid to let them go this far. Raven, eyes still glowing, then lifted her arm again, and Gizmo's backpack was enveloped in energy as well. She pulled Gizmo closer to herself with a wave of her hand. The backpack buckles popped off when he was closer to Beast Boy and Gizmo fell right on his butt in front of him. Beast Boy then noticed Gizmo's hands had been bound in dark energy and the backpack gone from sight. It was over; he hadn't needed to do anything.

Raven had made sure today, that of all days, she protected Beast Boy. She didn't know why. He could easily take care of himself, but she didn't want to let anything happen to him.

'That's weird… I know he can take care of himself… why am I worrying so much over this dream? I can barely remember most of it anyway.' she wondered.

"Let's get back to the others, Beast Boy."

Raven took his hand, and Beast Boy grabbed onto Gizmo.

'Third time today. How can she take my hand so easily? She's not even gripping it, it's just a gentle touch… This was just a thing she needed to do to teleport us.' He concluded.

In a second after he finished his thought, he felt the dark energy envelop the trio and then saw Robin and Starfire staring at them.

»§«

"Cy.."

"Yeah?"

"Can… I.."

"What's wrong?"

Jinx was now rubbing her arm, in a cute pose. Cyborg hated when she did this. He usually always gave in.

"I've been thinking about what I do..."

"Oh?" he replied simply, not sure where she was going completely.

"Yeah… I kinda... want to stop." She looked at the ground after finishing her sentence, obviously embarrassed, scared and a bit sad. "Don't make this harder on me, I'm used to being sarcastic."

"Let's go." He replied simply. He didn't like what he was about to do. He missed Jinx when she was feisty and carefree, even with the abundance of sarcasm. Cyborg would do anything to make her happy again.

Jinx looked up, scared of what was happening, but he didn't get cuffs out, or force her. He merely held out his hand. She took it and began to fall into step next to him.

"I have to ask, but what part of this robbery did you take part in?"

"Barely anything… They had me open the lock because of my powers, hexes and all… but we were under orders to go and get it and they would have known I defected…" her voice trailed off.

"I need you to help me..." she finished.

"I'm always willing to help. I'm sure if we talk it over with Robin, you can give him some information on these handlers who gave you orders. I'm sure we can get you free from whatever mess it is you're in." Cyborg said with a smile.

Jinx looked happier than he had seen her recently. However, he wasn't. He was starting to fall in love with her, and was afraid that Robin would directly cause a problem with their relationship because of the fact she was still a villain. However, Robin seemed to be very happy with people who defect and want to change. So he figured that would count for something, and if Jinx knew enough, then Robin would forget about what she did and focus more on how she could help.

They continued walking, hand in hand. Back to where the other Titans were.

"Here we go…" Cyborg said taking a deep breath.

»§«

Robin, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy were all standing around the T-car. Having captured both Mammoth and Gizmo, the fight was basically over, and they expected Cyborg to be back any second. And sure enough, they were right, but the sight that greeted them was different from what they expected.

"Friend Robin, why is friend Cyborg holding Jinx's hand?" Starfire questioned.

Robin turned to see what was unfolding. He had his back turned while questioning Gizmo - Mammoth was still knocked out. What he saw made his eyes bulge.

"CYBORG WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He yelled.

Cyborg lowered his head, but continued walking until he was within speaking distance.

"I have to talk to you, Robin."

"Well, hell yeah you do. Why is she not bound?"

"Can we talk away from the others?"

"Fine, but only for a minute - Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, watch these three."

The three Titans nodded and watched Cyborg and Robin walk out of hearing distance, further than that due to Beast Boy's enhanced hearing from his animal DNA.

"Robin, remember when you sent me undercover into the H.I.V.E Academy?"

"Of course, what does that have to do with anything though?"

"Well, when I was in there, I had a relationship with Jinx. She hated me when she found out who I really was, but recently we've been able to fix our problems and we… kind of started dating."

"What the hell are you talking about, she's the enemy! She just robbed a bank! She's just using this relationship keep herself out of jail." Robin replied somewhat impatiently.

"Well, she may be, but she offered up information on the heist, as well as anything else you want to know. She doesn't want to commit crimes anymore." Cyborg said, crossing his arms.

"…"

Robin stood with his arms crossed, staring blankly at Cyborg.

"We'll talk more about this back at the Tower. Let's go." Robin sighed.

The two returned to the rest of the Titans and the bound H.I.V.E members. Jinx looked up at Cyborg, and he smiled weakly.

'Everything will be alright.' He thought, trying to silently convey this to her.

Robin then spoke up.

"Cyborg, take Jinx to the holding cells in the Tower. I'll wait here and give these two over to the authorities. Beast Boy, Raven, could you teleport back? I'd like Cyborg to only have to worry about one person in the car."

Raven nodded, but this time, she felt something. Beast Boy had reached out and grabbed her hand. She looked back, a slight bit of scarlet evident on her pale skin. Beast Boy showed her his big, stupid grin he plastered on his face. With that, the two sunk down into the vortex of dark energy she had created.

Cyborg helped Jinx into the passenger seat of his T-car. He then walked around and got in the driver seat. The car hummed to life and began its trip back home to the Tower.

"Friend Robin, I wish to stay with you." Starfire exclaimed.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Star."

Starfire smiled and walked over to Robin. She slowly reached for his hand, and grasped it. He was shocked at her forwardness, but returned her squeeze and smiled.

»§«

"Dude, I will NEVER get used to that."

"I'm sure you will. It didn't take me very long."

"Yeah, but you're… you!" he sounded exasperated.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Raven placed a hand on her hip and glared at Beast Boy.

"Ummm…" Beast Boy knew he was in trouble now.

"Nothing? Why did you portal us here by the way?" quickly trying to divert her attention from his remark.

Raven hadn't noticed where her mind had chosen to portal them; all she thought of when she was teleporting, was home. They had ended up on the roof. The sun was going down; it had sunk enough to go below the cloud line and left the bumpy clouds with a purplish-orange glow.

"I don't know." She responded, finally.

Beast Boy walked over to the edge of the tower and sat down.

'I need to go to my room and meditate. Squishing that robot took a lot out of me, and I have a lot on my mind."

"Rae?"

She wanted to glare at him for calling her "Rae", but thought better of it.

"What Beast Boy?"

"Want to sit and watch with me?"

"Not really." She replied coldly.

"Oh... alright then..."

Raven could have sworn she heard Beast Boy mumble something a long the lines of "alone..." She now felt a bit of guilt. She shook it off, knowing she was going to stay, but not wanting her emotions to affect her powers.

Beast Boy closed his eyes and felt the last waves of the sun shine on him as it slowly sank down under the golden horizon. He figured she had left.

"I can't do anything right…" he mumbled.

"That's not true."

The voice scared him. He popped his eyes open and turned to the sound of the voice. Raven was now sitting close right next to him.

'Why did I sit down next to him? What am I still doing here? This is Beast Boy, THE Beast Boy. He always causes me problems and I always get angry with him. Why do I have to feel guilty?' She mulled this thought for a moment.

'But he did come save me when I needed help with my father, and he does care about me. I can't believe I'm still sitting here.'

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy had regained the ability to speak and was now staring at Raven. She met his eyes, and was quickly lost in his gaze.

'Oh those eyes…'

She regained her composure after being stunned by his eyes and responded "I've never seen you mess up in a fight, you wouldn't still be on the team if that weren't true. People say you're not the smartest, but I beg to differ. I've seen you think quickly and brilliantly on the battlefield and overcome innumerable odds."

"Where is Raven and what have you done with her?"

She tried her best to stifle a small laugh, but it came out. She had giggled. A few floors down a window had blown out, courtesy of Raven's laugh.

'Oh no… why did I do that?' Raven chanted her mantra in her head to restore her composure.

"Ok, now I really know it isn't you. Raven never laughs at my jokes."

"Sometimes I just can't. You know my emotions run my powers. Showing anything other than neutral can cause problems." She replied, hanging her head down.

"I'm sorry Rae…"

"Don't worry about it. The sun is about to go down and I'm getting a bit cold, I'm going inside. And don't call me Rae." She gave him a cold glare.

'There's the Raven I remember. Maybe now I should tell her my joke.'

"Hey Raven, I still have that joke from earlier."

"No, Beast Boy."

With that, she stood up. Beast Boy followed suit, a smile on his face and they slowly walked inside.

»§«

Cyborg was driving the T-car like a crazy man, hurdling it forward with every ounce of power he could draw from the engine.

"What's Robin going to do with me?" Jinx asked calmly.

"I don't know, but when I mentioned you had information he calmed down very quickly and seemed to take into considering that you could help us."

"I'll be happy to tell him anything he wants, as long as you can protect me."

"I'm sure we can do better than that. If you're really honest about getting out of the villain-game and want to help us, I'm sure he'd ask you to join the team - or at the very least become an honorary Titan."

Cyborg looked over at Jinx. Her eyes were glassy, as though she was about to cry. He reached out and took her hand.

"It'll be ok. Just relax, and be happy."

She nodded quickly and wiped her eyes with her free arm.

"I'm going to have to follow his orders and put you in a holding cell. Robin won't be gone long and I'm sure we can have this cleared up before the end of the day. It's only six right now."

She again, nodded and a smile came to her face.

"I don't mind, I know I've caused you guys trouble over the past year. I have a lot to answer for."

"And I'm sure you'll do your best to help fix this. And Robin and the team will do the best to help you."

The car slowed down and Jinx looked out the windshield to see the Tower, and the garage coming up. She had been in the tower before when H.I.V.E had taken over, and it wasn't a friendly memory, but she was hoping that she could at least make up for the problems she's caused.

»§«

Raven was in her room, thinking. She usually did this and meditated at the same time, but today was different; she couldn't stop thinking about Beast Boy, lacerated in her dream.

'Why am I worrying about this so much? Arghhhh!"

'Maybe you care.' came a voice.

'Of course I do.' She stated to herself quite easily. Raven had taken the voice quite literally. Of course she cared about her teammates and she wouldn't want anything to happen to them. The voice in her mind giggled softly hearing exactly what she was thinking, and kept quiet. The voice knew Raven would arrive at the desired understanding on her own.

Raven, now frustrated got up and walked around her room. No one had ever seen her pace, and she wanted to keep it that way. Her friends would be pressured into asking if she was alright, and Raven didn't want to deal with their questions. She looked up, and in all her frustration had not noticed the 10 or so items floating in her room surrounded by a black aura.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

The items floated back down, softly landing in their original positions.

»§«

Slade had been thinking all day.

'I can still hear that voice in my head. I've had training to block out mental intrusions. I have work to do I can't be bothered with this mess now.' He thought extremely frustrated.

Slade was indeed right. He had training that prevented mind control and things getting inside his head to cause problems, but somehow this lingered. He was in his living room now. The TV was off, and he was just sitting on the couch. His living room, unlike his bedroom, was fully covered with many expensive looking paintings and sculptures. He leaned forward, and stood up.

"Master Wilson."

The voice was something Slade was used to hearing. It was the voice of his friend and sort of butler, Wintergreen.

"Something has been troubling you all day, sir. May I ask what it is that has you stressed?"

"Nothing Wintergreen, I just had a bad night is all."

"May I suggest getting an early night tonight, sir? I know you still want to devise a plan to take down the Titans, but it can easily wait until morning when you are feeling better."

"No, Wintergreen. I have a few things I must finish before I turn in."

Slade turned and walked to his library. He sat down at the desk and flipped a switch. The desk popped up and flipped open, unfolding itself like Gizmo's Gizmo-tron. He now sat in front of a PC with about ten monitors. Before the PC could turn on, he glanced at the screens, afraid he would still be portrayed with two red eyes. No such thing.

'I guess it really was just a bad night.'

All feelings of stress melted away. He had thrown the idea that someone was able to get into his mind out the window. The PC monitors clicked on, the brightness making him close his eye for a second. He connected in through his proxy and made sure he wasn't being traced. He then spent a bit of time trying to find the IP for The Brain's main computer. The Brain was the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil. Slade had dealt with them before, but in a more competitive manner. This time he wanted to talk to the B.O.E. to see if they could assist with his plan to take down the Titans. After about an hour, he connected in with Brain's computer. Slade prepared himself for what was about to come.

"Brain." He stated icily.

Staring back at him through the webcam video that was present on his screen was The Brain, an evil genius, literally in a jar. His body was made of metals that Slade could only guess at, red eyes glared at him, though nothing like the ones from his dream. A neon green glow emanated from The Brain as he spoke back to Slade.

"Slade… How did you get into my mainframe?"

Brain knew exactly how, he was just surprised he had found his IP and was able to connect in so easily. Brain had in fact developed his own protection from the outside world for his PC, so he thought it was unlikely anyone would be able to break his encryption.

"Easily… I have business to discuss with you." Slade replied dryly.

"Yes, it would appear so."

»§«

A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to Review, and thanks for reading. Just so you know the way I write and post all comes down to Chapters. I write a chapter, then edit it, then move on. I currently have Chapters 1-3 all written and edited and will post Chapter 2, when I finish Chapter 4. So as I write a new chapter, I post an older one, just that way I can keep pumping content for you guys. Feel free to send me messages; I'll respond to every single one that I can.

Next time in "The Demon Within": What's up with Raven being all touchy-feely? What business does Slade have with The Brain? What information will Jinx have for the Titans, and what will become of her? All that and more, next time.