Here's a riddle. What did the five fingers say to the face? Beast Boy, unfortunately, was about to find out the answer.

SLAP!

The entire cast of Titans cringed at the sight. Terra summed it up best when she said, "That's going to leave a mark."

"Why did you do it?" Raven growled characteristically. The Titans were on their way to the top of Wayne Enterprises to finish the deactivation of a certain missile which, when launched in about ninety minutes, would plunge the world into evolutionary chaos and more than likely give the world an excuse to destroy itself. Time wasn't the most pressing issue, so the Titans were more than willing to slow down to ensure that their teammates were truly ready for battle. During one of these polls, Raven realized that she was no longer empowered by the mutagen that started this whole fiasco. A fresh pinprick in her arm told the whole story, and she blamed Beast Boy for it.

The Titan's face stung from Raven's slap. His bright green eyes and pointy little ears drooped like a dog who'd just been spanked by a rolled-up newspaper. He even made a whimpering noise to add to the illusion.

"Well?" she snapped. "Who gave you the right to make that decision for me?"

"Nobody," he answered with equal harshness. "I just happen to know a little more about this than you, apparently! The more you use your powers, the harder it is to get rid of them!"

"Why would I want to get rid of them," she hissed, putting her face right in his. "I've had to suffer the indignity of being the only Titan with no way to fight. I've had to stay at home and watch you fight for too long! I do not want to be a spectator to events that I can change."

Beast Boy looked her in the eyes as sternly as he could manage; nowhere near as threatening as Raven, but pretty good for him.

"You think I wanted to grow up looking like this?" he said, pinching his own emerald face. "I've wanted to get rid of this for my entire life. When they finally figured out how, it was too late. I'd spent too much time using my powers to survive. I didn't want you to suffer that same fate! Not after seeing what you had become, and knowing how much pride you take in looking human."

Raven gritted her teeth. Her anger urged her mouth to make a fierce retort. The gathering of Titans waited in silence, not knowing how best to handle the situation without causing more of a problem.

Beast Boy backed down first, and bowed his head. "Whatever. I don't care if you're mad, or if you think I'm wrong. I know I did the right thing." He rubbed his still-aching cheek, which had dimmed to a light pink. "We don't have the time to talk about this." He looked at Robin. "Right, dude?"

"Yeah," the leader agreed. It almost seemed like Beast Boy was pleading to him for the order to continue. It meant less chances for Raven to slap him. "Titans, move!" Robin continued running upwards, with Gear and Cyborg right behind him. Starfire looked sadly as the fighting couple stared into each other's eyes for a few moment's longer, as if trying to will an apology from the other. Or perhaps they were reluctant to separate, knowing that Raven couldn't follow without her powers to protect her.

Finally, Beast Boy dashed up the stairs, not looking back.

"Will you... not be joining us?" Starfire asked when Raven didn't follow. It was a dumb question, but Starfire did not like the idea of leaving her dear friend alone.

Raven plopped against the wall, then slowly slid into a sitting position, her head dropped between her legs. "No. I'd just be in the way."

Starfire floated over and knelt beside her, putting a gentle arm around her shoulder. Raven didn't fight out of her hug, as she normally would. She was in no mood for theatrics.

"Will you be alright by yourself?"

Raven nodded. "Just go."

The alien reluctantly floated out of hugging range, looked down on Raven's sad form, then with a heavy heart, turned to zip after the others.

"Starfire."

She halted and turned around. "Yes?"

The violet mystic didn't look up, but her voice was clear. "Keep an eye on 'him' for me." It was clear who 'he' was. Starfire was glad to know that even though she was mad, she was still concerned about him.

"I shall." Starfire whirled around and flew off, twinkles of starlight left in her wake.

Raven was alone, again. She waited at the tower for the others to return, alone. She spent time in her room reading her books, alone. She grew up in Azarath without anyone who understood her, alone. She always ended up alone.

But, after they finished their little argument and made-up, Beast Boy would be with her tonight, when the fight was over. For that, she was truly grateful.

-

Five sentinels stood at the rooftop, strategically placed for the most optimum defense of the missile control tower behind them. Six teenage heroes stood ready to face them in combat. The open rooftop between them was covered in debris from Robin's initial, grandiose entrance. The stage was set for the final battle.

Ironically, the stage also seemed set for a sporting event, if your point of view was skewed just enough.

"We'll distract the metal-heads," Robin said, drawing and extending his bo staff. "Gear! You and Cyborg work on that missile."

"Just try and stop me," Gear affirmed as his jet boots lifted him skyward.

"I think that's what we're trying to avoid." Cyborg followed on foot, leaving the four other Titans to stand against the five sentinels, appropriately numbered 187.16 to 187.20.

"Terra!" Robin called. Instantly, the blonde Titan grabbed every chunk of concrete and crashed them into the center of the machine line. Two of the sentinels leapt one way towards Robin and Starfire, two others leapt the opposite direction towards Beast Boy, and the last jumped over the attack to run straight at Terra.

"Come on," Terra challenged, a vicious snarl in her petite lips. The machine winded up, its fist leaving a red trail before flying forward towards Terra's face. The Titan caught the punch with a boulder, which shattered from the force of the impact. More punches came, and Terra blocked each with a rock as she jumped, skipped, hopped, and twirled around the machine like a ballerina. Finally, she swept the robot off its feet with a flying rock, then grabbed a massive slab of concrete from a neighboring wall before slamming it down like a giant fly-swatter, flattening the machine underneath.

Robin and Starfire twirled around in a dance of their own. The machines sought to separate them, but every time one dove at a Titan, the other Titan helped by swinging her around, lifting him skyward, or otherwise moving the other out of harm's way. When the robots were thoroughly confused, Robin and Starfire let go so that the alien would have the freedom to summon her full power. Starfire's arms and legs snapped into place, and her body started to hum with an ever-increasing power. Green light formed at her palms, which she brought together to create a crackling dynamo of destructive force.

The machines held up their hands, eager to absorb the energy she was about to give. Robin smiled smugly. That was the moment he was waiting for.

"HA!" He drew a sonic explosion disk with lightning quickness and threw it between the two machines. It exploded between them and stunned them with the shock waves it generated. Since their energy converters were primed for the absorption of Star's unique brand of energy, the sonic attack had its full effect on them. They stumbled to the side, mostly unhurt but still suffering damage, and they immediately adjusted their converters to absorb sonic energy, since they believed a follow-up attack would come from Robin.

Big mistake.

Starfire's palms shot forward, and a wave of green ensnared the machines before disintegrating them into iron flecks. When Starfire's attack ended, nothing was left. As an added 'bonus', the W in Wayne Enterprises was incinerated, along with two blocks of rooftop billboards behind it.

Robin glanced at the alien. She giggled like the cutest little girl you ever saw. "Perhaps I was too rough." The boy at her side shook his head in amusement; for him, that was as good as laughing out loud. Starfire basked in that head-shake.

The two remaining sentinels threw all their metal might at Beast Boy the silverback gorilla, who took their punches as well as they took his. Finally, after a series of sumo-style rams, the gorilla grabbed one of the machines and ripped it in half with a horrendous roar, like one of the animals he was impersonating. The other machine struck from behind, using its fingers to pierce his back as if his fingers were clawing through paper. Beast Boy roared at the pain, and reached behind his back to grab the final robot and slam it down with such force that the appendage he held it by (its arm) ripped off. He then used that same arm to beat the machine into submission, until finally it stopped moving.

Beast Boy reverted to human form - fully healed, thanks to a trick that all shapeshifters learned eventually - and crouched over the sputtering machine's face. The light in its eye died out; the last thing it saw was its destroyer.

"Dude, that was easier than I thought." The other Titans joined Beast Boy at the scene of the crime.

"It was," Robin agreed.

"They didn't have a chance!" Terra said cockily. "The Teen Titans are better than any hunk of metal."

"Hey!" Cyborg yelled from the top of the missile. Swarms of destroyed aerial drones littered the launch pad.

Terra grinned and stuck her tongue out. "Sorry, Cy."

"What's the status of the disarmament?" Robin called up.

Gear hastily worked on the control panel inside the launch pad's tower, while Cyborg pulled out wires from the missile itself. Gear used the intercom to reply. "Not good. This things not just your run-of-the-mill missile. It's got an AI, and a security system to match."

"A what?" Robin said, amazed.

"You mean that thing is alive?" Terra asked, equally incredulous.

Beast Boy pshed dismissively. "No way. If it was alive, it would have woken up by now."

Suddenly, Cyborg had to hold on as the missile started to shake on its own accord. "Who-o-oah!" Part of the missile's armor - the part underneath Cyborg - flung itself open, catapulting Cyborg through the air and almost off the side of the skyscraper. Luckily, Starfire was quick enough to catch him, and strong enough to carry him to safety. The metal hero breathed a sigh of relief, wiped away some sweat brought on by that near-death experience, and thanked Star for her help. She smiled in reply.

Gear groaned. "You just had to say something."

"It's not my fault!" Beast Boy countered. "You probably did it!"

"It doesn't matter!" Robin cut in, his eyes on the still-shaking missile. "Trouble is coming our way."

The missile's shaking commenced, until finally the steel behemoth unleashed its secret. The missile's armor gave way to hidden compartments with plugs for equally large female sockets (that is, holes where the plug thrusts into). The launch pad started to change shape as well, unfolding and re-folding itself into distinctly limb-shaped, stand-alone mecha drones, four in total. One pair attached to the lower end of the missile, while the other pair attached to the upper half. Still more metal formed thick armored-plating along the thin body of the rocket.

The control center started to change, with Gear still inside it. "What the?"

"Gear!" Cyborg yelled. He tried to run closer to help him. But by the time he was half way, it was too late. The entire, box-shaped room at the top of the tower had sealed itself in heavy armor plating, and was rocketing its way towards the missile for attachment. The entire launch pad had merged itself to the missile. The new entity stood up, its 'back' and the massive fuel tank attached to it facing the Titans. The entity stood at ten meters tall - one "First Down" in height, and half that in width and thickness. The mechanical monstrosity was fully armed, and dangerous.

It whirled around, causing a wash of wind to follow thanks to its sheer mass. The Titans shielded their eyes as their final foe presented itself in all its glory.

"The missile is a robot too?" Beast Boy gawked. "Dude, that is so sweet!"

"It's not 'sweet' for us," Terra noted. "That guy's foot could really put a crimp in your style."

Cyborg's sensors told him the most important question of the moment. "I can't tell if Gear's still alive, but I can tell that the missile's still armed. This Goliath can't take off, but if it kills us before the countdown finishes, it can unfold itself and complete the launch sequence."

"In about an hour, the conditions in orbit will be right for Fixit's weapon to do the most damage," Robin grimaced. He used the term 'damage', even though Fixit's chemical bomb would supposedly kill a minimum of people with its planned trajectory. "We have to disable this thing, quickly and carefully!"

"Carefully?" Beast Boy said. "What're you talking about?"

"Not only is Gear trapped in there," Robin said. "But so is the mutagen. If we destroy the robot without being careful, we could be caught at point-blank by this chemical. And we can't be sure that Gear's serum will hold up to that kind of contamination."

Beast Boy grimaced at the thought. "Good point." Robin always had good points.

The Goliath hunched over with surprising quickness and stomped across the rooftop. The Titans jumped and rolled out of the way, then regrouped behind him as the behemoth slowed down and calmly turned to face its foes again. The machine was quite heavy and not very agile, but it was armored well enough to take conventional attacks without flinching. And the attacks that did make it flinch would destroy the Titans if the mutagen reacted and exploded. It was a Catch-22.

"What's the plan?" Cyborg asked, his sonic cannon at the ready. He refused to fire though, knowing what kind of damage it could do.

"We have to contain it somehow, so that it can't unfold or complete the launch sequence," Robin said. "But we can't shake it up too much. It'll explode in our face."

"Like a can of the Coca Cola," Starfire said.

The Goliath pointed its fists at the Titans, and the knuckles opened to reveal gatling guns. Robin shouted, "Titans, Go!", and the team dispersed to avoid the spray of bullets from each fist. The Titans were quick to dodge the attacks, but they didn't counterattack as was usually the case in there crime-fighting style. None of them knew the best way to approach the situation without risking injury to their fellow teammates; their friends and surrogate family.

Finally, Beast Boy got an idea. "A giant squid! That should do the trick! Cy, gimme a boost!" He ran to Cyborg's side and morphed into a light armadillo before folding himself into a ball. Cyborg's football expertise came to the fore, and he got into position to throw the bundled animal as high as he could, so that it was over the robot's head. As Beast Boy fell earthward, he morphed again into the largest squid he could manage, which turned out to be the size of the mecha itself. Like the legendary giant squids told in tales by sailors, Beast Boy swarmed the monster with his tentacles and hung on tightly, trying to drag it down with his weight.

"Aw, yeah!" Cyborg cheered. "Do it B!"

"Wrassle 'im!" Terra whooped. The other Titans cleared the area so that the giant wouldn't crush them as it stomped in a circle and pawed at Beast Boy's squidly form. The robot tried to get a firm grasp, but Beast Boy managed to move so that it couldn't hang on for long without losing its grip. Unfortunately, Beast Boy's weight didn't seem to make the robot teeter or totter. It was only a matter of time before it removed him from its head.

"Hang on B!" Cyborg shouted. He got a running start and charged towards the robot's base. His shoulder slammed into the metallic monstrosity and nudged it a step back. He put his hands against the machine's underbelly and pushed with all his might, trying to knock the thing off its feet and hopefully leave it helpless like a turtle trapped on its shell. Starfire joined in and used her considerable strength to help. Finally, with one big shove, the Goliath tumbled over and crashed on its side, as well as through the roof and the floors below. The sheer weight of the giant kept pulling it down. It looked like it would crash all the way to street level, with Beast Boy on top of it.

"Don't let it hit!" Robin shouted. Starfire dashed down, and Terra followed. The redhead used her considerable flight speed to catch up to her green octopus friend and pull the machine's arm as hard as she could to slow its decent. Terra gathered concrete from the roof and created two giant slabs to clasp the machine's sides, then put all her effort into slowing him down. Finally, they managed to slow the machine to a crawl around floor seventy.

"I wish to put this down, now!" Starfire said through clenched teeth. "He is too heavy!"

The Goliath flexed its arms, shattering Terra's slabs and eliminating her grip, so that Star was the only thing holding the machine up now. The alien almost lost hold entirely, but she put every last bit of strength into hanging on and keeping the fall as slow as possible.

The machine decided it had enough. The O2 tank hissed with the movement of gas and the chemical reactions inside, and dozens of ports in the robot's armor opened up to reveal rocket thrusters that turned on, full blast, and succeeded in negating gravity's effect on the giant. Starfire looked down with shock as the machine hovered in place, its body roaring like a hurricane from the sheer number of rockets burning beneath its mass.

"It can... fly?" The machine slammed her with a fist, knocking her out of commission on the nearest floor. Her body slinked in an office chair, her hair and clothes in disarray like a tired business woman at the end of a long day at work.

Terra and Beast Boy (the squid) looked at each other, and quickly made a break for it - Terra on her rock, and the other Titan as a pterodactyl. Both shot upwards through the long, gaping wound in the skyscraper's center, trying to escape from the Goliath pushing its way skyward behind them. Its thrusters were going all out just to carry it upwards at a slow crawl. To say that it could 'fly' would be giving it too much credit. It sounded like it was on the verge of overheating just from this exertion alone.

"Where's Starfire!" Robin shouted as the two Titans broke the surface of the roof.

"She's out cold," Terra said, hastily gathering every piece of rock she could and building herself two rocky fists as big as the Goliath's. "That thing's punch must pack a major wallop."

Cyborg's grim expression suited the situation perfectly. "We've gotta disarm this thing. The question is... how?"

The Goliath floated from the hole and landed on the remains of the roof, its eyes pulsing with an inhuman light. It was ready to continue, and the Titans had no choice but to meet its challenge.

-

Lightning strikes were all the could be heard in the lab where Fixit's lair resided. The cybernetic mutant and his nemesis of the moment waged war, weaving through the multicolored bolts with grace, speed, and the cunning of hunters. Each tried to outmaneuver the other before charging with their improvised weaponry, but neither could catch the other off-guard. A whole new round of battle was beginning, with the sign of it being Static's weakness as a human coming the forefront.

I can't keep this up, Static thought as he parried another blow from Fixit's sword. I'm getting tired. All this flying is sapping my energy. He doesn't look like he's worried. I don't know if he's losing strength or not!

Fixit whirled around and, with a fierce blow, slashed Static's sword so that the teen lost his coordination for a moment, leaving him vulnerable to a second attack. Fixit's off-hand shot up, palm extended towards his foe, and unleashed a pulse of electric plasma so hot and forceful that it seemed like a miniature missile. It blasted Static with enough force to send him crashing into the wall, and with enough electricity to incinerate most humans instantly. Luckily, Static wasn't "most humans". The plasma blast and its target landed, with mountains of debris and plumes of smoke signaling the toll taken by the attack.

Static's sword spun through the air and stabbed into the wall, with a short wobble afterwards that died away during the silence that followed. This was what you might call the "eye of the storm"; the moment of calm between a storm's birth, and the storm's climactic finish.

Fixit tossed his makeshift weapon aside and hovered in place while his sensors examined the site of Static's fall. As he suspected, the target was still alive, but he hadn't escape unscathed. Although the electricity hadn't hurt him, the impact of the plasma-gas and the floor were much more painful to this human's fragile body. If he could fight at all, it wouldn't be at any degree that Fixit couldn't handle.

"I am sorry," Fixit said, with that cold honesty he was known for. "You were the one who attacked me. So I defended myself. Please do not take it, personally."

Static pulled himself from the wreckage, his jacket in tatters and his body covered in cuts and bruises from the falling debris. He favored his arm as he stood and faced Fixit once again. "You don't have to apologize! Just stop and think about what you're doing!"

"I have thought longer than you have," Fixit assured him. "And with a much greater grasp of logic. It is pointless to argue with me using your flawed sense of right and wrong."

Static's body glowed as he resumed his flotation. "Maybe I don't know as much about logic as you, but I do know that killing people for any reason is wrong. It's not up to you to decide the planet's fate."

"I have as much right to aid our evolution as you have in stopping me. It is a matter of the heart and of beliefs."

"...Fine," Static grimaced. "Have it your way. If I have to cold-cock you and let Gear give you some of his serum before you'll stop, then I'll just have to do things the hard way."

"You cannot defeat me with your flawed, organic systems. My cybernetic enhancements allow me to control my natural gifts to a much greater degree than you can."

Static put a hand at his side, and a flicker of blue light appeared there, followed by the crackle of lightning at his fingertips. "There's one thing your mechanisms can't strengthen; heart! And I have a whole lot of heart, believe me!"

Fixit sensed the flow of electricity in his environment shifting subtly. The electrons in the room - nay, the building... nay, the streets outside too- were being attracted here unnaturally. This boy was calling the electric energy around him towards himself.

o/ Static Shock! (Static Shock!) o/
o/ Go! Go-Go! Go-Go-Go-Go! o/

"Whatever you are doing, it will not succeed," Fixit said. His opponent's voltage was increasing rapidly. His body was actually absorbing the electricity around them!

-

On the rooftop, the Goliath sputtered in place as its entire body seemed to crackle and pop. The Titans looked in amazement at the machine started moaning and groaning, as if in pain. In fact, it's entire body was losing mobility and starting to fall apart at the seams!

"What's happening?" Robin gasped. Cyborg yelped nearby, and the Titans were amazed to see the blue glow of his body start draining away into a dull gray. Terra and Beast Boy tried to support him (one at each arm), but the Titan fell to one knee and lost the ability to stand on his own.

"Something's draining my power supply!" he said in amazement. He wasn't losing consciousness, but he looked like he was running on bare minimum.

Robin watched as the Goliath suffered a similar fate. Its on-board systems lost so much power that they could not sustain the transformation that made the machine mobile. The machine started to unfold rapidly into its launch pad form, but it couldn't even finish that cleanly. The Titans leapt out of the way as the missile wobbled in place without a proper launch tower to hold it. Like a tree in a lumberjack's forest, it started to tilt...

"Catch it!" Robin shouted.

"I'm on it!" Quickly, Beast Boy changed into a giant gorilla and put his shoulder against the base, while Terra again put her earth manipulation to good use by making hand-shaped boulders to grab with.

The head of the machine fell off, and Gear jumped to freedom as the head's armor fell off, revealing the mobile control room inside. The teen into Robin's arms, and they landed unceremoniously on the ground together. Gear's hardware was just as drained as Cyborg's, so his body armor was basically dead weight on his body, and Robin's.

Gear groaned. "You guys in California have it easy," he said sarcastically. Robin groaned back.

-

"You probably have trouble absorbing energy, with your cybernetics so fixated on resisting electricity," Static smirked. "All those problems with overloading and all. If you were built like those sentinels from before, you could be doing this too."

Fixit floated back to this throne, which started to glow red from his commands. "My support mechanisms can give me control of all the energy I need." His forehead LED flashed rapidly as he sent command after command to his throne room, asking for more power to supplement his own.

The system failed. Error! Error! Energy reserves dropping... Error! Error!

Static's aura shimmered to life. The teen's cocky grin grew with it. "You were saying?"

Fixit couldn't believe it! "This is not possible. You do not have the capacity for such an advanced technique. Your body should not be able to handle this much power! Your mind is too underdeveloped to control this many electric flows at once!"

"Believe me; it ain't easy." The boy's sweating face made that quite obvious. His eye sparked with a menacing crackle of electric charge. "Now, you going tobe goodwhen Uncle Gear gives you your shot?"

"I will not submit," Fixit said, plainly. He gathered every last ounce of power in his body into one, massive plasma ball - an electric charge so intense that the very air heated into something almost physical - and formed it into a red globe in his hands. "I shall not give up."

Static nodded once. "I'm sorry to hear that." His fingers snapped to full extension, and a huge blast of blue lightning flew from his fingertips. Fixit threw his own attack in the direct line of fire (since they actually attracted each other), and the two attacks crashed together into one huge ball of lightning. However, Static's overran Fixit's with such ease that it looked like his blue orb devoured the red one. Fixit stared in awe as the attack krakoom'ed against him, his throne, and basically that entire half of the room. A tower of lightning shot straight down to the ground, straight up to the sky (through the rooftop where the Titans were still recovering from their surprise), and left and right into the walls, forming a huge, cross-shaped pattern of blue.

Static's mind focused on one important goal; keeping that one mechanism from exploding, just like he tried to do in practice. He prayed that now, more than ever, he could get it right.

The attack ended, and Static looked at his handiwork. Fixit lay on what was left of his throne, his cape all but disintegrated, and his bulbous, green mutated body lying amidst a pile of scrap metal. He was alive, but not in one piece. His head - his mind and soul - was still pulsing quietly.

"Phew... and that's a wrap." Static's charge snapped out of existence, leaving the room in complete darkness.

-

The Epilogue. With Fixit pacified, he was returned to his normal self, much to his relief when he realized what he'd almost done. The Justice League and the Teen Titans worked together to ensure that the city and its neighboring ecosystems were given the full treatment by Gear's serum. In no time at all, the region was cured of mutation. Some people weren't accounted for, leading others to believe that they had either died in the chaos that followed, or had fled the city in secret, and carrying their mutations with them. Those mutants were bound to show up somewhere, someday. But the Teen Titans - or whatever heroes stood against them - would be ready.

After what seemed an eternity of 'clean-up duty' under the Justice League's supervision, the Titans went home to their tower and plopped into bed for well-earned rests. When they arrived, Captain Atom and Professor Palmer, the Atomic Man, were already gone. The three Hive kids staying under the Titans' supervision were in their rooms, slumbering away in peace. What led to them behaving so nicely and not interfering with the Tower's normal operation, none of the Titans would ever know. They didn't want to know; they were just glad that it happened.

The next day, things picked up where they left off. For instance, Raven and Beast Boy continued their fight... more or less. Raven yelled a bit more, Beast Boy yelled back, and in the end... well, just watch.

-

Raven and Beast Boy fought in the hall outside her room, more often then not. That place was almost a neutral ground between them. In so many past episodes of their lives together, that spot in front of Raven's door was a place of friendship and anger between them, if only by coincidence. After a while, it became sacred.

"Look, I already said I'm sorry!" Beast Boy whined. "What do you want me to do? I did it because I don't want you getting hurt!"

"You just didn't like the thought of me being giant and disgusting!" Raven growled. "Men. Always thinking with the wrong head and blaming it on something else!"

"I'm blaming it on your health! I don't care what you look like, as long as you don't die because of it!" Beast Boy held his hands up in defeat. "Dude, I can't believe I'm getting in trouble for this." He turned to walk away - to put as much space between them as possible. He'd given up.

"Wait," Raven snapped.

Beast Boy froze, and groaned to himself. More yelling. Great. She always had to have the last word. He kept his back turned to her; he would look madder that way. The truth was that it hurt to hear her say these things, when all he was trying to do was protect her.

Why do I always get in more trouble when I try to behave?

Raven didn't yell at him. Instead, she whispered a soft question. "Would you... really not care if I looked like some monster?" Beast Boy turned around, and he saw Raven's violet eyes glistening like the surface of a lake.

"Of course," he said, as if it were obvious. He pinched his cheek. "I have to wake up to this every morning. I might get scared sometimes when I see something I'm not used to, but I've gotten used to looking underneath people's skin for what really makes them beautiful." He smiled fondly. "A girl with heart is what really turns me on."

Raven lost her breath for a moment, then quickly turned and pulled her hood up. "Don't say that," she said calmly.

Beast Boy wasn't fooled. "Why?" He snuck up from behind and hugged her waist, making her shiver in his grip. "Afraid I'll see you blush?"

Raven didn't have a witty comeback befitting her gothic nature. She stood there, paralyzed in his arms. She could actually feel her face - her body - growing hotter by the second from the close contact.

"I know that your powers are a big deal to you," Beast Boy said. "But... I want you to know that we're all here for you. I'm here. And we'll love you no matter what."

"But I'm useless," she whispered. Sadness weighed heavily on her usually confident voice. "I'm nothing without my powers."

"Maybe not to the city," he agreed. "But to us, you're still Raven. To me... you're still you." He hugged tighter and rested his head against her. He could feel Raven's heart, thumping inside her and vibrating through his body like an earthquake. It beat faster and faster by the second.

"I can be really sweet when I try," Beast Boy teased. Raven only nodded, and rested her arms over his. His warmth always filled her up. Her worries seemed to melt away, if only for a moment. But it was a moment Raven savored more than anything else.

-

Cyborg stepped over Robin and Starfire, who were sleeping in this morning thanks to the exhaustion from the day before. They were passed out on the den floor together with couch cushions for pillows and blankets swiped from the den closet. Starfire clutched his tiny body in her arms as if he were her favorite plush doll, and the slumbering boy didn't seem to notice. (He surely wouldn't have allowed her to hold him like that if he were awake. He had to look tougher than that.) Starfire's long legs went well past his and poked out of their shared blanket. They were sleeping very well, judging by the calm looks on their faces.

"Kids," Cyborg said, laughing to himself. He had a cold root beer with his name on it. He walked over the fridge to grab it. An intercom beside the appliance beeped, and he pushed the Call button to answer it. "What's up?" He snapped the cap off the root beer with one thumb and guzzled down a few gulps.

"Hurry up if you want a piece of the action, Vic," Jinx said, her tantalizing voice sounding even more grown up over the intercom.

"Don't start dealing without me," he said. It was just like when he was disguised as Vic Stone. They would always try to start their weekly Elements game without him. "You guys want something?"

"Root beer!" Gizmo and Mammoth shouted over the line. Cy already had the rest of the six-pack in his hands before they answered. He nudged the fridge close with his elbow.

"I'd like a tall,dark one too," Jinx said.

"I'm sure you do," he smirked. The intercom snapped off and he made his way into the back hall. He was looking forward to some quality relaxation.

-

The three remaining Titans were on the rooftop, staring at the morning sky as the sun illuminated a city that until recently was gripped by an incredible crisis. Virgil and Richie - or rather, Static and Gear with their masks off - watched the ocean with Terra and basked in the glory of a new day.

"This really is a great place," Richie admitted, "once you get past all the supervillains and life-ending cataclysms."

"My thoughts exactly," Terra said. Virgil sat between them. She leaned forward to look into his cute brown eyes. "What do you think?"

"It's not so bad," he agreed. Virgil glanced at Terra's smiling face. "I can see why you live here."

"There's more to it than that," she said with less cheerfulness. "The team's sponsors made it so that I wouldn't get in trouble for my dad's murder. I owe it to them to stay here. And I love my friends. They've done so much for me, when I didn't deserve it."

Richie saw where this was going. "You're not coming back with us."

She shook her head. "Dakota... has too many bad memories. And even if I wanted to... it would make things difficult. Maybe someday, when all the talk about metahumans dies down, I could go, but..."

"Don't worry," Virgil said. "I wouldn't ask you to leave anyway."

Richie balked. "Wha? I thought that was the whole reason we came down here!"

"I wanted to know if my Tara was still here. And I found that out." Terra looked down at herself, thinking whether she was the 'Tara' he was looking for.

"Virgil," she started. "I wish you could stay here. But... you're a big time superhero. You have responsibilities. You don't need a team to help you."

Richie grimaced. "I beg to differ." Terra smiled apologetically, and Virgil just laughed. Richie eventually did too; he knew that Virgil was his friend. They were partners 'til the end.

"I can come visit every now and then," Virgil said. "But, you know what they say about long-distance relationships."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I just wish it didn't have to be this way. I like having someone like you around. Someone who doesn't think of me as a 'traitor' in the back of his mind. Someone who understands what it's like to be... infected by that stuff that makes the world seem like such a horrible place."

"The Big Bang can only bring out what's already there," Richie said. "The fact that you're not like the baddies in Dakota or Cadmus - that you can change -shows that you're not as angry at the world as some are. You're just like Virgil and I. Confused, but determined to figure out what's right and wrong. Even if you make mistakes along the way"

Terra smiled. "... Thanks, guys."

Richie smirked. "Yeah, thanks Virgil for that pep talk that I'm giving."

Again, Terra laughed. Virgil was rather silent. It seemed he was still in 'hero mode'. He was still deep in thought about something. Terra had the sneaking suspicion that it was her. Looking into his eyes confirmed that. He didn't like this any more than she did. Neither of them wanted to leave the other again. They'd found a part of themselves they'd lost since growing up - a part we all lose when we have to say good-bye to your best friend when you move far away, or when they move away.

It's hard to explain, to those lucky enough to never experience it. Suffice to say, it's a feeling that you don't want to feel again. Virgil and Terra definitely didn't want that feeling. But it seemed like it was unavoidable. Even though they could see each other every now and then, it wouldn't be the same as what they wanted - companionship and contact.

"We've got to get home soon," Virgil said. He sounded like a total wimp, he thought. "My father'll kick my butt for being as late as we'll be."

"Mine too," Richie lamented. He strapped his helmet on and became Gear once more. "I'll go on ahead. Give you two some alone time."

"Bye Richie," Terra said with a fond wave. "Starfire said that it was nice to meet you, and she said 'don't be a stranger.'"

Richie almost fell out of the sky. "Are you serious?" Terra nodded, and the boy cheered. "YES!" He zipped into the stratosphere and shot into the horizon towards Dakota, as the crow flew.

Virgil shook his head. "He'll be talking about her a-ll week now." He stood up and stretched his back. Terra snatched his mask from his hand and teasingly played with it, even going so far as to put it on her own face. She was trying to cheer Virgil up, but it didn't work very well. She got him to laugh, but it was a forced laugh.

Her pretty eyes grew sadder behind his mask. "If you only knew how much I wished for someone like you to come along. I prayed, and prayed, for a friend that I could confide my fears in. I can't really talk to the others. I always feel like they look at me the same way they look at Jinx and her friends. Like someone suspicious, and dangerous."

"They don't," Virgil assured her. "I'm sure they don't."

"I wish I could be that sure." She removed the mask and moved into Virgil's shadow. She reached up and wrapped the mask over his eyes, around his ears, and slid it into place. Her hands were behind his head, and as such she stood on her tippy-toes to reach that far. When the mask was in place, Virgil was Static again, the hero whose connection to the world's greatest heroes seemed to grow stronger each day. Someday, Terra knew, he would be a legend.

"Don't say good-bye," she warned. "Say, 'until next time.'"

Static smiled cunningly. "Then, until next time." He pulled Terra into a tight hug, which the girl gladly returned. She wanted more than just a hug though, and she gladly showed it. She tippy-toed a few inches and found his lips, which she touched gently with her own before her feelings coaxed her into a deeper kiss. Their mouths parted enough to cross the bridge from an innocent touch to an adult's display of passion. A display that lasted for a small eternity. By the time Terra retreated, her face was flush from the warmth in her body. Static's arousal was just as apparent.

"Tara Markov never did that, either," the boy said.

"That's a change you're just going to have to deal with, Hawkins."

"I'll do my best," he answered, not entirely joking. He took a step back and drew his replacement disk, charged it for flight, and hopped aboard before zooming skyward. He looking over his shoulder and waved, and Terra did the same. Both had a warm smile on their face, from knowing that someday soon, they would see each other again.

Static eventually caught up with Gear, who'd finally taken to a slower flight. "So," he said, "did you 'say good-bye?'" He obviously was hinting at another act.

"Nope," Static said with a sly grin.

"Maybe next time," Gear replied. "You and I can double-date!"

"I wouldn't count on it, Rich'." The heroes blasted off to the horizon in a metaphorical race to reach the sun first. Another day had come, and surely, many more days like this would bless them and the Titans in the future.