A Double Life
-By Eris Dea Disaccordo

Start Story

"This message will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck."

A sardonic smile appeared on pale lips as fingers covered in black fingerless gloves pulled the 'eyeglasses' away. "Ah," came the wistful sigh, "to be back on duty once more." The gloved hand threw the eyewear into the nearby bushes just in time, as it blew apart with a slight noise. The small shrapnel from the explosion disappeared behind the plants and the figure walked away, a long blue cloak covering the person's form.

"Where've you been?" asked a tall boy as the cloaked figure approached. His companions, a redheaded girl and two boys- one with green hair and skin and another with a mask and black hair, looked up from their meal. "And aren't you feeling hot? Take your hood off at least."

The figure paused with eyes downcast, thinking of excuses to give to the four lounging on the picnic blanket. Finally, a hand- still covered in those fingerless gloves- reached up to push the hood off, revealing short violet hair and a face that could be called pretty had it not been for the stoic expression that seemed to be permanently plastered to it. "I was meditating," she replied, resorting to the overused, but reasonable excuse. Her companions nodded at her words, not bothering to challenge what she said. That's what made trust between team mates useful in her line of work.

She sat down beside the tall boy and accepted the tea the black-haired boy offered. "Raven," he addressed her, "got any plans tonight? We were thinking of going out. Starfire suggested going dancing. Are you coming with us?"

Opportunity doesn't just come once in a lifetime, and the people we call successful are just those who were smart enough to grab it every chance they got, she thought, recalling a passage she had read a long time ago. It was a phrase she took to heart, a phrase that had put her where she was now. She shook her head. "I would have to have meditated at least a day before attending a place full of people," she said. "My empathy won't be able to take the emotions a…hormonal crowd would emit."

The masked boy nodded. "All right," he told her. "Stay home and rest then. We'll order pizza before we go out so that we can have dinner together."

"Veggie supreme?" the green boy piped up hopefully.

"No way!" answered the tall boy.

"We'll order our usual," the masked boy interrupted. "That way, we'll have lots of options. Sound okay?"

"It sounds wonderful, Robin!" the redhead exclaimed happily. Robin smiled at her and the redhead practically melted at the sight of it. Raven allowed a small smile to appear on her face, breaking the normally emotionless expression that dominated her face. She was glad that she wouldn't have to sneak out of the Tower that night, like she had had to do a few years ago before she filed for leave to concentrate on her career as part of a crime-fighting team called the Teen Titans.

"Come on, Cyborg!" said the green boy to the tall boy. "Let's squeeze in one more round before we go!"

"You're on, BB," Cyborg replied cockily. "You'll be eating my dust when I'm through with you."

"You got it all mixed up, Cyborg," claimed the green boy. "It's my dust you'll be eating when I'm through with you."

"Bring it!" Cyborg dared as he followed his already running friend.

"I shall assist friends Beast Boy and Cyborg in their activities," the redhead announced as she began to hover in the air.

"Hold on, Starfire," Robin said, getting up as well.

"To what, friend Robin?" she asked, a small frown appearing on her face. Robin gave her an amused smile.

"I mean, wait for me," he explained. A blush stained Starfire's cheeks as she landed on the ground. Robin turned to the violet-haired girl still seated on the blanket. "You coming, Raven?" he asked.

Raven shook her head. "I'll pack up and go home. Try to meditate some more," she told him. Robin nodded and walked away with Starfire. Raven waited until they were out of sight, then stood up and packed their things like she always did. Once everything was in the basket, she grabbed it and a disappeared from sight.

"This is not funny, Kira!"

"No, Logan," she agreed as her eyes adjusted to the dark. "It's not." Quickly, she hit him with three consecutive jabs before grabbing his collar and swinging her leg back, bringing him to his knees at once. Not giving him a chance to react, she pushed her palm forward, breaking his nose and effectively forcing him onto the ground with minimal resistance. Straddling him, she leaned forward and placed all her body weight onto her arms, which went around his neck and snapped it. Logan died instantly. She got off him and checked her surroundings. No alarm had gone off, meaning she had plenty of time to get rid of any evidence which could lead to her.

After donning a pair of latex gloves and scrubbing the body down completely, she doused the corpse with gasoline and lit a candle, placing it on the bedside table before heading to the kitchenette to turn on the stove. All that taken care of, she took a few seconds to check if she'd left anything behind, and when she was sure nothing else would lead to her, she left through the front door, hopped onto the red motorcycle she'd nabbed from outside a restaurant six weeks ago, and sped away.

It was about ten minutes later that the house blew up, the fire consuming everything completely. And 'Kira'? She parked the red bike in an alley and hid it under a large and extremely dirty sheet of cloth inside a dumpster before disappearing from sight, never to be seen again. In the morning, a garbage truck came by and lifted the contents of the dumpster into its crusher, completely destroying the vehicle and erasing the last link that could point the authorities into 'Kira's' direction.

The mission had been a complete success.

"Guys! Check this out!"

Beast Boy's exclamation had the other four Titans rushing to the large screen. "…fire consumed everything. Police have identified the deceased as Logan Nelson, leader of a drug syndicate rumoured to have ties with Al Qaeda. Here is a comment from Commissioner Gordon."

A grey-haired man appeared on the screen, his face set in a serious expression. "Preliminary report shows that the fire occurred because a gas stove was left open. Nelson probably forgot it was open and lighted a candle to compensate the lack of electricity."

"Could Logan Nelson have been murdered, Commissioner?" asked the reporter.

"At this point, anything is possible."

"Dude," Beast Boy murmured. "That guy had really bad karma."

"Tell me about it." Cyborg replied.

Raven stalked back to the kitchen as Starfire said, "What is all kay-da?" Picking up her cup of tea, she stared down at it thoughtfully, ignoring Robin when he stepped into the kitchen.

"So what did you do last night?"

Raven looked up at her leader, seeing him looking curiously at her. She wondered briefly if he knew about her, if he knew that she was under the employment of the government, if he knew what role- aside from being a crime fighter- she played. He probably did, he probably didn't. "I read a book and fell asleep," she said. He nodded, accepting her answer.

"I knocked last night, but you didn't answer," he told her. She didn't panic. She'd already given her answer and she couldn't take it back. "That's probably when you fell asleep."

"Probably," she echoed with finality in her tone.

Robin nodded once more. "We have practice later on," he reminded her. Raven nodded back.

"I'll be there," she replied before disappearing, effectively ending their conversation. He retreated from the kitchen, eyes moving over the rest of his team members. He knew Raven was uncertain of what he knew, but he was sure that she suspected that he knew what she was up to.

What she didn't know was that when she didn't answer last night, he'd overridden the security code to her room and found it devoid of life. Her excuse- that she had fallen asleep- could still work, since she didn't say where she had fallen asleep, but he was sure that the fire had been her handiwork. That meant the government had required her services once more, services that had previously been unneeded for the past three years.

His eyes narrowed, causing the infamous domino mask to follow his expression. He had to find out why they got Raven to do this, and why now? She was still his team mate, despite the secret, and he would always look upon her like the sister he never had. He would always protect his Titans.

He would always protect his Raven.

End Story

Author's Note

You're probably wondering… 'What the-?' Yeah, so am I. Finished watching MI:1 and MI:2, thus the spy theme. This is also kind of like a teaser to the story 'Princess', which I have been working on for about two years now, I think. The spy thing has nothing to do with Princess though. This is just to whet your appetites for the next story. (Insert smug laughter)

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-Eris