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Chapter One. Hidden Talents.

"Trouble," Robin said grimly over the alert sirens that were ringing through the tower.

"Where?" Raven, who had been making herbal tea in the kitchen, asked monotonously. Starfire hovered behind her, gazing at the the giant computer screen that now displayed a map of the city.

"Just outside of town, by the old quarry. It's Cinderblock," replied Robin, already heading out the door and to the garage.

"Aww man," came a loud groan from the couch, "How many times are we gonna have to beat that guy?" Cyborg complained, furiously pounding at his controller as he raced Beast Boy on their new game station. Beast Boy took advantage of his opponents momentary distraction by swiftly reaching over and disconnecting his controller.

"As many times as he threatens the city," Robin paused long enough to snap at Cyborg. Sighing, Cyborg switched off the game station, eliciting an angry yelp from the small green Titan perched on the arm of the couch.

"C'mon B, we’ll just have to have a rematch." Grumbling, Beast Boy leaped off the edge of the couch and followed his friends to the bottom of the tower. Just before he reached the stairs, a sickening wave of dizziness swept over him. The room started spinning and it felt like he wasn’t touching the ground anymore. Reaching out for something to steady him, he stumbled headfirst into the very hard metal that was his best friend’s back.

"Are you okay man?" the metallic giant asked. Beast Boy leaned against the wall for a moment, until the dizziness passed.

"Dude, I'm fine," he grinned up at Cyborg, "You're just moving too slow. No wonder I beat you in every racing game ever invented! Hurry up!" With a laugh the changeling ran around his friend and sprinted down the stairs to the T-Car.

"Yeah, only because you cheat, ya little-" Beast Boy didn't hear the end of Cyborg's rant. When he reached the garage he checked to see if anybody was there, hoping that nobody would see that he was panicking. Robin had already left, and he'd passed the girls on his way down. Just as well, Raven could always tell when there was something wrong with him. He couldn't hide anything from that girl.

The dizziness may have passed, but not the feeling of dread that had come with it. He didn't want his friends to think that he was weak, that he couldn't fight. As he opened the door to the T-Car, he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Starfire standing behind him, smiling widely.

"Will you not fly with us today, friend Beast Boy?" she asked him, indicating herself and Raven, We could partake in the racing of one another, and perhaps you...' She stopped as Beast Boy shook his head.

"Not today Star. I'm kind of tired, late night last night. Hehe, I should really start getting more sleep," he gave her a toothy grin, "Besides, I didn’t get to bug Cy much this morning, have to make up for lost time."

He got in the car and slammed the door abruptly, not wanting her to see his panic. He'd been experiencing periods of dizziness for about a week now, although never as bad as what had just occurred, and was terrified as to what it might mean.

Smothered.

Raven could sense Starfire's confusion at Beast Boy’s refusal to fly. She was a little confused herself. Beast Boy loved to fly, and had never before turned down an offer to race against the beautiful Tamaranian, even though he always lost. She would never admit it, but Raven enjoyed watching the two carefree Titans wheeling chaotically though the sky, and knew that Beast Boy lived for those moments in the air. Raven would never admit to enjoying anything. Or fearing anything. She had a hard enough time admitting to herself that she had found friends in the Titans.

In Starfire, she had found 'one with which to share the girl talk', should the desire ever strike her. Thus far, much to Star's chagrin, it hadn't. Raven had no need to confide in anybody. She had nothing to confide. At least, not anything that anybody would want her to share with them. No one would want to help her shoulder her burdens, and she would never thrust them upon anybody. But it was comforting to know that if she ever wanted to share her 'feelings' with anybody, Star was there for her.

In Cyborg, she had found an intelligent and stimulating conversationalist - at least when he wasn't wasting his time and rotting his mind with the stupid video games that he and Beast Boy seemed to enjoy so much. For the life of her, she couldn't understand how the two (and occasionally Robin) extracted so much pleasure from such ridiculous endeavours. Oh well, she could allow Cyborg the occasional lapse in sanity without judging him too harshly for it. He was a cool and level headed thinker, both in and out of battle, and was both a vital and welcome member of the team.

In Robin, she had found a leader, pure and simple. Somebody who would help her under any circumstances. Somebody who she could trust, no matter what.

In Beast Boy, she had found an annoyance. He pestered her constantly with attempts to draw her out of her 'shell' as most people would say. At times, he was more than a nuiscance to her, he was a danger. Raven could not afford to feel. Feeling led to the loss of control. She had to be steady.

This gave people the impression that she was 'dark', which she thought was absurd. She saw herself more as grey. Her world, her emotions, her very essence, was washed in grey, absent of any colour. That was the way it had to be. She could not allow any colour to come through the veil. She could not feel sorrow, or loss, or fear, or anger. Nor could she feel joy, or embarrassment, or mirth, or...no, she could not even let herself think of that.

But sometimes, it was nice to imagine being able to feel. Being able to...

No.

Raven continued to ponder Beast Boy's odd behaviour as she and Starfire flew above the T-Car and R-Cycle through the streets of Jump City. She could feel his emotions rising up towards her, a mixture of fear, anxiety, sadness, and something that she couldn't quite place. Raven always knew how the rest of the Titans were feeling, but Beast Boy was the only one who continually perplexed her.

Robin's inner calm matched his demeanour, unless either Starfire or Slade became involved, which Raven could understand, but still deemed as pointless.

Cyborg was generally a fairly easygoing guy, except for his occasional moody periods, and even then, you didn’t need to be an empath to tell he was in a bad mood.

Starfire was the easiest person to read. She was a bundle of pure, raw emotion and never held anything back. What she portrayed to the world was exactly who she was.

But Beast Boy...

Beast Boy was a mystery. Much of the time he was as happy inside as he appeared to the rest of them, but there were times that Raven sensed a deep and terrible sadness within him as he laughed and joked. But never before had she sensed this kind of fear coming from him. This fear was the kind of fear that had no direction, it was a fear of the unknown.

The adventurous green Titan had never emitted anything like this before. Usually, no matter what he was feeling inside, there was one thing that Raven could always count on, and that was his perpetual, irrepressable spark of – hope, she guessed.

Although Beast Boy was unpredictable, this was unwavering, this Raven could rely on when all else failed. This was more constant than any single thing in her life. When she felt like she would break, like she would suffocate under the veil of grey, all she had to do was reach out for the fire that she'd always known would be there, inside him. Now though...it was gone. Try as she might, Raven did not feel any warmth coming from her friend-only cold fear. This drastic change in his usual self was almost overwhelming to her.

"Beast Boy, what is wrong with you?" she muttered softly to herself.

Far below her, a single window turned black and shattered.

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"Where is he?" Cyborg asked as he stepped out on the T-Car. Robin pulled up in the R-Cycle and gazed around the quarry.

"Well he was here a few minutes ago, he can’t be far," he said, trying in vain to catch a glimpse of the enormous walking rock, "He shouldn’t be that hard to find."

Beast Boy squinted and scanned the horizon with eyes sharper than any normal humans'. His delicately pointed ears pricked, tuned to pick up the slightest noise and he sniffed the air for a trace of Cinderblock’s chalky scent.

As he strained to catch any hint of the villain, a familiar scent drifted towards him. He breathed in deeply, sighing with satisfaction. This was his favourite smell in the world. It was ancient parchments saturated with deep knowledge. It was burning, crackling, electric power. It was a clear bubbling river. It was sweet and mysterious, like the African flowers that his father had studied so long ago. It was the scent that heralded the arrival of Raven.

He turned his senses back to finding Cinderblock with some difficulty, but continued to daydream about the pale titan who was levitating above him. She was so strange, so foreign to him. She hardly ever laughed, rarely smiled. But God, when she did! What a smile, what a laugh, a laugh to rival his own joyous one. It was enough to make him spend every spare moment trying to coax that laugh out of her. Sometimes he almost wished he could go back in Raven’s mind to hang out with her Happy side for a while. Happy Raven was so much fun. And Brave Raven was so wicked awesome!

Beast Boy was jerked out of his thoughts by a slight movement in the corner of his vision. His ears automatically twitched in the direction of the movement, and he could hear a rumbling in the distance. He touched his hand lightly to the ground. From the vibrations, Cinderblock was about three miles to the west.

"Well this was a waste of time," Cyborg grumbled from inside the T-Car.

"He's that way," Beast Boy stated with a wry grin and a wink at Raven, pointing towards the now setting sun.

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Raven glanced up, surprised at the speed with which Beast Boy had located Cinderblock.

How does he do that? She wondered, almost frustrated. Raven had just begun to sense Cinderblocks presence somewhere to the west when the green shapeshifter had confidently proclaimed the exact direction that they had to go. Beast Boy always noticed things before anybody else did, even her.

Maybe she'd ask him about that someday.

And then he'd winked at her. Her throat, much to her dismay, had closed off slightly at this, and her pulse had sped a little. She took a moment to center herself after this unexpected burst of emotion. Forcefully, she replaced the veil, washed her mind in grey again. Why had he winked at her? Why had it caused a burst of colour to escape within her?

Maybe she'd find out...someday.

In the meantime, she was relieved to find that Beast Boy was, for the most part, in a better mood than he had been on the ride to the quarry. The coldness was almost gone, and the spark, though small, practically just and ember, had returned. There were only traces of the fear that had threatened to consume the young changeling and Raven with him only moments before. She was amazed by how quickly he’d pushed his emotions aside once it was time to get to work.

Why? You know how much emotion he hides from all of us every single day. Why are you so surprised that he is able to hide his emotions from himself?

Maybe she’d ask him about it someday.

Fallen.

They came upon Cinderblock as he was trashing the remains of several abandoned railway cars, presumably looking for something.

"So Cinderblock-uh...er," Robin stuttered, searching for an appropriate opening remark to commence their battle, "Umm…,Titans, go!" Beast Boy let out a short burst of laughter at this before turning into a peregrine falcon and shooting off into the sky. The team had been together for so long that they knew exactly what the small green bird was planning.

"Keep his eyes off the sky!" shouted Cyborg, running madly towards the monster, shooting blasts from his sonic cannon as he went. Starfire and Raven obeyed, settling to the ground as they assaulted Cinderblock together with a thick jet of green and black energy.

Beast Boy flew upwards as fast as he could, all the while silently laughing to himself. Who would have thought that Boy Wonder would ever run out of things to say? If birds could smile, this one would have been. As he began his descent, he continued chuckling to himself, but for a different reason. Dude, that lump of clay won’t know what hit him! With this thought in mind, he shut his eyes and focussed on becoming a sperm whale, and giggled to himself, a little immaturely, about the name of the creature. He felt himself growing bigger and opened his eyes. As he spiralled towards the ground, he let out a whoop of exhilaration. Then he let out a startled cry.

"Whales can’t talk!!!" he screamed. He twisted his head around to see that he definitely wasn’t a whale. Unless-had whales suddenly started wearing black and purple spandex? Nope, and they definitely didn't have pointy ears and green hair. Ok, bird, bird, any bird! Owl! Nope, uh, sparrow! Nope! Ladybug? Oh no. This is gonna hurt.

Robin heard a startled yelp coming from far above him as he battled furiously with Cinderblock. He spared a quick glance upwards and saw that Beast Boy was plummeting towards the earth in his human form.

“Starfire! Get Beast Boy!” he shouted, hoping that Star would understand his seemingly nonsensical order. Confused, the young alien looked up and with a gasp of alarm, took to the air. Robin turned back to Cinderblock and lunged at him, knowing that Star had everything under control.

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"Beast Boy, you are unharmed?" Starfire had caught his left wrist as he plummeted towards the ground, and was now dangling him by the same arm at eye level.

"Other than my arm being out of it's socket, I'm great," he exagerated. Starfire let out a small 'eep' and hastily readjusted him so that she was holding him as though he was a baby.

Well this is totally and utterly and insanely embarrassing. Beast Boy knew that he still had a teeny, tiny window of opportunity to come out of this not looking like a complete idiot.

"Star! Listen, I need you to throw me!"

"I don't understand-"

"You know, that twirly, throwy thingy that you and Robin always do! Throw me at Cinderblock!" Beast Boy was desparate. His window was disappearing. He had to do something, even if it meant doing the thing that he swore he'd never do as a Titan.

"But, Beast Boy, you were just now unable to change forms-"

"JUST DO IT!!" he roared, startling the powerful alien. She had never seen Beast Boy so aggravated, except for after his fight with Adonis.

"I'm sorry, Star. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. Just-just please do this- for me? Trust me, I'm fine," he pleaded, instantly regretting shouting at her. Starfire looked at him suspiciously. Unable to find any trace of the rage that she had witnessed when he became the Beast, she did as he asked her and sent him flying towards Cinderblock.

David and Goliath.

The Titans weren't losing.

They certainly weren't winning either.

With Starfire and Beast Boy gone from the fray, Raven knew that the remaining members of the team wouldn't be able to do anything but hold Cinderblock back. She didn't know what had happened, but she had heard a startled yell from above her and felt a surge of disbelief and some fear from the same direction. Then Robin had shouted for Starfire to get Beast Boy. After that, the fear was gone, but the disbelief continued. Raven also sensed extreme embarassement coming from him, and felt herself beginning to blush.

Get ahold of yourself! She yelled internally. Why do his stupid emotions affect me so much?! She cursed herself silently for not being able to control herself better than this. Distracted, she was sent flying by a vicious punch into Cyborg. The two landed in a heap far away from Cinderblock and Robin. Their masked teammate landed next to them a few moments later.

"Ok then. Is it just me, or has he been working out?" Cyborg asked, disentangling himself from Raven's cloak. Robin stood up, grimacing as his sore muscles protested. He shook his head violently like a dog after a bath, sending dust flying everywhere.

"More like he's been taking some pretty heavy doses of steroids," their leader grumbled, helping the two fallen Titans to their feet. They began running back towards the battle when they were stopped dead in their tracks by an incredible sight. A green, purple, and black object was hurtling towards Cinderblock with astounding speed. The object collided with Cinderblocks head, and promptly leapt away as the monster fell. As four Titans watched in amazment, three from the ground and one from the sky, the small figure took on the giant rock of an opponent, leaping and twisting gracefully in and out of harm's way. The 'David' of the picture would dart through 'Goliath's' legs, swing over the giants back, strike over a dozen blows, and be gone before 'Goliath' could even think about retaliating.

"Is that-" Robin began.

"No way," Cyborg spluttered.

"It is," Raven said, her normal monotone tainted by the disbelief that showed through in her words.

Robin gazed on in wonder. He had never, ever, in his entire life, seen unarmed fighting of this calibre. It was like watching a dancer, the movements were so fluid and-well, beautiful. The small fighter was an artist, and a master at his art.

From high above the battle, Starfire could hardly contain her glee. She had never felt worse in her life than the instant she'd let go of Beast Boy's hand. She shouldn't have let him convince her to do that, she should have flown him to safety, she'd know that there was something wrong with him, why had she-and then she had seen that she had done exactly the right thing, that her friend could take care of himself.

Cyborg just stared, dumbfounded, at the spectacle before him. That couldn't be – No way was that – Naahhh. Nope. Had to be somebody else. But who else was green? Who else wore purple and black spandex?

As Raven watched, Cinderblock slowly fell to his knees, unable to withstand so many hits. And not just small hits, either. Every blow that Beast Boy struck was hard enough to send a regular person to the ground. She was amazed that the small Titan's arms and legs weren't numb from basically pounding on a brick wall. Beast Boy nimbly darted away from Cinderblock's mighty fist and pounced back at him, moving like all of the large cats that he so often became. With a mighty crash that brought her and the others to their senses, Cinderblock was down.

And when the dust settled, a small green figure clad in purple and black could be seen scuffing one shoe in the dirt, eyes downcast in embarrassement.

Description
Chapter One. Hidden Talents.

"Trouble," Robin said grimly over the alert sirens that were ringing through the tower.

"Where?" Raven, who had been making herbal tea in the kitchen, asked monotonously. Starfire hovered behind her, gazing at the the giant computer screen that now displayed a map of the city.

"Just outside of town, by the old quarry. It's Cinderblock," replied Robin, already heading out the door and to the garage.

"Aww man," came a loud groan from the couch, "How many times are we gonna have to beat that guy?" Cyborg complained, furiously pounding at his controller as he raced Beast Boy on their new game station. Beast Boy took advantage of his opponents momentary distraction by swiftly reaching over and disconnecting his controller.

"As many times as he threatens the city," Robin paused long enough to snap at Cyborg. Sighing, Cyborg switched off the game station, eliciting an angry yelp from the small green Titan perched on the arm of the couch.

"C'mon B, we’ll just have to have a rematch." Grumbling, Beast Boy leaped off the edge of the couch and followed his friends to the bottom of the tower. Just before he reached the stairs, a sickening wave of dizziness swept over him. The room started spinning and it felt like he wasn’t touching the ground anymore. Reaching out for something to steady him, he stumbled headfirst into the very hard metal that was his best friend’s back.

"Are you okay man?" the metallic giant asked. Beast Boy leaned against the wall for a moment, until the dizziness passed.

"Dude, I'm fine," he grinned up at Cyborg, "You're just moving too slow. No wonder I beat you in every racing game ever invented! Hurry up!" With a laugh the changeling ran around his friend and sprinted down the stairs to the T-Car.

"Yeah, only because you cheat, ya little-" Beast Boy didn't hear the end of Cyborg's rant. When he reached the garage he checked to see if anybody was there, hoping that nobody would see that he was panicking. Robin had already left, and he'd passed the girls on his way down. Just as well, Raven could always tell when there was something wrong with him. He couldn't hide anything from that girl.

The dizziness may have passed, but not the feeling of dread that had come with it. He didn't want his friends to think that he was weak, that he couldn't fight. As he opened the door to the T-Car, he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Starfire standing behind him, smiling widely.

"Will you not fly with us today, friend Beast Boy?" she asked him, indicating herself and Raven, We could partake in the racing of one another, and perhaps you...' She stopped as Beast Boy shook his head.

"Not today Star. I'm kind of tired, late night last night. Hehe, I should really start getting more sleep," he gave her a toothy grin, "Besides, I didn’t get to bug Cy much this morning, have to make up for lost time."

He got in the car and slammed the door abruptly, not wanting her to see his panic. He'd been experiencing periods of dizziness for about a week now, although never as bad as what had just occurred, and was terrified as to what it might mean.

Smothered.

Raven could sense Starfire's confusion at Beast Boy’s refusal to fly. She was a little confused herself. Beast Boy loved to fly, and had never before turned down an offer to race against the beautiful Tamaranian, even though he always lost. She would never admit it, but Raven enjoyed watching the two carefree Titans wheeling chaotically though the sky, and knew that Beast Boy lived for those moments in the air. Raven would never admit to enjoying anything. Or fearing anything. She had a hard enough time admitting to herself that she had found friends in the Titans.

In Starfire, she had found 'one with which to share the girl talk', should the desire ever strike her. Thus far, much to Star's chagrin, it hadn't. Raven had no need to confide in anybody. She had nothing to confide. At least, not anything that anybody would want her to share with them. No one would want to help her shoulder her burdens, and she would never thrust them upon anybody. But it was comforting to know that if she ever wanted to share her 'feelings' with anybody, Star was there for her.

In Cyborg, she had found an intelligent and stimulating conversationalist - at least when he wasn't wasting his time and rotting his mind with the stupid video games that he and Beast Boy seemed to enjoy so much. For the life of her, she couldn't understand how the two (and occasionally Robin) extracted so much pleasure from such ridiculous endeavours. Oh well, she could allow Cyborg the occasional lapse in sanity without judging him too harshly for it. He was a cool and level headed thinker, both in and out of battle, and was both a vital and welcome member of the team.

In Robin, she had found a leader, pure and simple. Somebody who would help her under any circumstances. Somebody who she could trust, no matter what.

In Beast Boy, she had found an annoyance. He pestered her constantly with attempts to draw her out of her 'shell' as most people would say. At times, he was more than a nuiscance to her, he was a danger. Raven could not afford to feel. Feeling led to the loss of control. She had to be steady.

This gave people the impression that she was 'dark', which she thought was absurd. She saw herself more as grey. Her world, her emotions, her very essence, was washed in grey, absent of any colour. That was the way it had to be. She could not allow any colour to come through the veil. She could not feel sorrow, or loss, or fear, or anger. Nor could she feel joy, or embarrassment, or mirth, or...no, she could not even let herself think of that.

But sometimes, it was nice to imagine being able to feel. Being able to...

No.

Raven continued to ponder Beast Boy's odd behaviour as she and Starfire flew above the T-Car and R-Cycle through the streets of Jump City. She could feel his emotions rising up towards her, a mixture of fear, anxiety, sadness, and something that she couldn't quite place. Raven always knew how the rest of the Titans were feeling, but Beast Boy was the only one who continually perplexed her.

Robin's inner calm matched his demeanour, unless either Starfire or Slade became involved, which Raven could understand, but still deemed as pointless.

Cyborg was generally a fairly easygoing guy, except for his occasional moody periods, and even then, you didn’t need to be an empath to tell he was in a bad mood.

Starfire was the easiest person to read. She was a bundle of pure, raw emotion and never held anything back. What she portrayed to the world was exactly who she was.

But Beast Boy...

Beast Boy was a mystery. Much of the time he was as happy inside as he appeared to the rest of them, but there were times that Raven sensed a deep and terrible sadness within him as he laughed and joked. But never before had she sensed this kind of fear coming from him. This fear was the kind of fear that had no direction, it was a fear of the unknown.

The adventurous green Titan had never emitted anything like this before. Usually, no matter what he was feeling inside, there was one thing that Raven could always count on, and that was his perpetual, irrepressable spark of – hope, she guessed.

Although Beast Boy was unpredictable, this was unwavering, this Raven could rely on when all else failed. This was more constant than any single thing in her life. When she felt like she would break, like she would suffocate under the veil of grey, all she had to do was reach out for the fire that she'd always known would be there, inside him. Now though...it was gone. Try as she might, Raven did not feel any warmth coming from her friend-only cold fear. This drastic change in his usual self was almost overwhelming to her.

"Beast Boy, what is wrong with you?" she muttered softly to herself.

Far below her, a single window turned black and shattered.

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"Where is he?" Cyborg asked as he stepped out on the T-Car. Robin pulled up in the R-Cycle and gazed around the quarry.

"Well he was here a few minutes ago, he can’t be far," he said, trying in vain to catch a glimpse of the enormous walking rock, "He shouldn’t be that hard to find."

Beast Boy squinted and scanned the horizon with eyes sharper than any normal humans'. His delicately pointed ears pricked, tuned to pick up the slightest noise and he sniffed the air for a trace of Cinderblock’s chalky scent.

As he strained to catch any hint of the villain, a familiar scent drifted towards him. He breathed in deeply, sighing with satisfaction. This was his favourite smell in the world. It was ancient parchments saturated with deep knowledge. It was burning, crackling, electric power. It was a clear bubbling river. It was sweet and mysterious, like the African flowers that his father had studied so long ago. It was the scent that heralded the arrival of Raven.

He turned his senses back to finding Cinderblock with some difficulty, but continued to daydream about the pale titan who was levitating above him. She was so strange, so foreign to him. She hardly ever laughed, rarely smiled. But God, when she did! What a smile, what a laugh, a laugh to rival his own joyous one. It was enough to make him spend every spare moment trying to coax that laugh out of her. Sometimes he almost wished he could go back in Raven’s mind to hang out with her Happy side for a while. Happy Raven was so much fun. And Brave Raven was so wicked awesome!

Beast Boy was jerked out of his thoughts by a slight movement in the corner of his vision. His ears automatically twitched in the direction of the movement, and he could hear a rumbling in the distance. He touched his hand lightly to the ground. From the vibrations, Cinderblock was about three miles to the west.

"Well this was a waste of time," Cyborg grumbled from inside the T-Car.

"He's that way," Beast Boy stated with a wry grin and a wink at Raven, pointing towards the now setting sun.

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Raven glanced up, surprised at the speed with which Beast Boy had located Cinderblock.

How does he do that? She wondered, almost frustrated. Raven had just begun to sense Cinderblocks presence somewhere to the west when the green shapeshifter had confidently proclaimed the exact direction that they had to go. Beast Boy always noticed things before anybody else did, even her.

Maybe she'd ask him about that someday.

And then he'd winked at her. Her throat, much to her dismay, had closed off slightly at this, and her pulse had sped a little. She took a moment to center herself after this unexpected burst of emotion. Forcefully, she replaced the veil, washed her mind in grey again. Why had he winked at her? Why had it caused a burst of colour to escape within her?

Maybe she'd find out...someday.

In the meantime, she was relieved to find that Beast Boy was, for the most part, in a better mood than he had been on the ride to the quarry. The coldness was almost gone, and the spark, though small, practically just and ember, had returned. There were only traces of the fear that had threatened to consume the young changeling and Raven with him only moments before. She was amazed by how quickly he’d pushed his emotions aside once it was time to get to work.

Why? You know how much emotion he hides from all of us every single day. Why are you so surprised that he is able to hide his emotions from himself?

Maybe she’d ask him about it someday.

Fallen.

They came upon Cinderblock as he was trashing the remains of several abandoned railway cars, presumably looking for something.

"So Cinderblock-uh...er," Robin stuttered, searching for an appropriate opening remark to commence their battle, "Umm…,Titans, go!" Beast Boy let out a short burst of laughter at this before turning into a peregrine falcon and shooting off into the sky. The team had been together for so long that they knew exactly what the small green bird was planning.

"Keep his eyes off the sky!" shouted Cyborg, running madly towards the monster, shooting blasts from his sonic cannon as he went. Starfire and Raven obeyed, settling to the ground as they assaulted Cinderblock together with a thick jet of green and black energy.

Beast Boy flew upwards as fast as he could, all the while silently laughing to himself. Who would have thought that Boy Wonder would ever run out of things to say? If birds could smile, this one would have been. As he began his descent, he continued chuckling to himself, but for a different reason. Dude, that lump of clay won’t know what hit him! With this thought in mind, he shut his eyes and focussed on becoming a sperm whale, and giggled to himself, a little immaturely, about the name of the creature. He felt himself growing bigger and opened his eyes. As he spiralled towards the ground, he let out a whoop of exhilaration. Then he let out a startled cry.

"Whales can’t talk!!!" he screamed. He twisted his head around to see that he definitely wasn’t a whale. Unless-had whales suddenly started wearing black and purple spandex? Nope, and they definitely didn't have pointy ears and green hair. Ok, bird, bird, any bird! Owl! Nope, uh, sparrow! Nope! Ladybug? Oh no. This is gonna hurt.

Robin heard a startled yelp coming from far above him as he battled furiously with Cinderblock. He spared a quick glance upwards and saw that Beast Boy was plummeting towards the earth in his human form.

“Starfire! Get Beast Boy!” he shouted, hoping that Star would understand his seemingly nonsensical order. Confused, the young alien looked up and with a gasp of alarm, took to the air. Robin turned back to Cinderblock and lunged at him, knowing that Star had everything under control.

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"Beast Boy, you are unharmed?" Starfire had caught his left wrist as he plummeted towards the ground, and was now dangling him by the same arm at eye level.

"Other than my arm being out of it's socket, I'm great," he exagerated. Starfire let out a small 'eep' and hastily readjusted him so that she was holding him as though he was a baby.

Well this is totally and utterly and insanely embarrassing. Beast Boy knew that he still had a teeny, tiny window of opportunity to come out of this not looking like a complete idiot.

"Star! Listen, I need you to throw me!"

"I don't understand-"

"You know, that twirly, throwy thingy that you and Robin always do! Throw me at Cinderblock!" Beast Boy was desparate. His window was disappearing. He had to do something, even if it meant doing the thing that he swore he'd never do as a Titan.

"But, Beast Boy, you were just now unable to change forms-"

"JUST DO IT!!" he roared, startling the powerful alien. She had never seen Beast Boy so aggravated, except for after his fight with Adonis.

"I'm sorry, Star. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. Just-just please do this- for me? Trust me, I'm fine," he pleaded, instantly regretting shouting at her. Starfire looked at him suspiciously. Unable to find any trace of the rage that she had witnessed when he became the Beast, she did as he asked her and sent him flying towards Cinderblock.

David and Goliath.

The Titans weren't losing.

They certainly weren't winning either.

With Starfire and Beast Boy gone from the fray, Raven knew that the remaining members of the team wouldn't be able to do anything but hold Cinderblock back. She didn't know what had happened, but she had heard a startled yell from above her and felt a surge of disbelief and some fear from the same direction. Then Robin had shouted for Starfire to get Beast Boy. After that, the fear was gone, but the disbelief continued. Raven also sensed extreme embarassement coming from him, and felt herself beginning to blush.

Get ahold of yourself! She yelled internally. Why do his stupid emotions affect me so much?! She cursed herself silently for not being able to control herself better than this. Distracted, she was sent flying by a vicious punch into Cyborg. The two landed in a heap far away from Cinderblock and Robin. Their masked teammate landed next to them a few moments later.

"Ok then. Is it just me, or has he been working out?" Cyborg asked, disentangling himself from Raven's cloak. Robin stood up, grimacing as his sore muscles protested. He shook his head violently like a dog after a bath, sending dust flying everywhere.

"More like he's been taking some pretty heavy doses of steroids," their leader grumbled, helping the two fallen Titans to their feet. They began running back towards the battle when they were stopped dead in their tracks by an incredible sight. A green, purple, and black object was hurtling towards Cinderblock with astounding speed. The object collided with Cinderblocks head, and promptly leapt away as the monster fell. As four Titans watched in amazment, three from the ground and one from the sky, the small figure took on the giant rock of an opponent, leaping and twisting gracefully in and out of harm's way. The 'David' of the picture would dart through 'Goliath's' legs, swing over the giants back, strike over a dozen blows, and be gone before 'Goliath' could even think about retaliating.

"Is that-" Robin began.

"No way," Cyborg spluttered.

"It is," Raven said, her normal monotone tainted by the disbelief that showed through in her words.

Robin gazed on in wonder. He had never, ever, in his entire life, seen unarmed fighting of this calibre. It was like watching a dancer, the movements were so fluid and-well, beautiful. The small fighter was an artist, and a master at his art.

From high above the battle, Starfire could hardly contain her glee. She had never felt worse in her life than the instant she'd let go of Beast Boy's hand. She shouldn't have let him convince her to do that, she should have flown him to safety, she'd know that there was something wrong with him, why had she-and then she had seen that she had done exactly the right thing, that her friend could take care of himself.

Cyborg just stared, dumbfounded, at the spectacle before him. That couldn't be – No way was that – Naahhh. Nope. Had to be somebody else. But who else was green? Who else wore purple and black spandex?

As Raven watched, Cinderblock slowly fell to his knees, unable to withstand so many hits. And not just small hits, either. Every blow that Beast Boy struck was hard enough to send a regular person to the ground. She was amazed that the small Titan's arms and legs weren't numb from basically pounding on a brick wall. Beast Boy nimbly darted away from Cinderblock's mighty fist and pounced back at him, moving like all of the large cats that he so often became. With a mighty crash that brought her and the others to their senses, Cinderblock was down.

And when the dust settled, a small green figure clad in purple and black could be seen scuffing one shoe in the dirt, eyes downcast in embarrassement.