For what felt like the hundredth time, Alec Mien reread the glowing computer screen. The evidence was staring him in the face, though part of him still refused to believe it. If it were true, and he was sure now that it was, it meant that he couldn't trust anyone any more. This was too big for him to handle on his own. He was already in grave danger, and his family… please, please let them be safe.
There was only one place he could go for help. He needed the Titans, and he needed to see them in person. He couldn't rely on electronic communications, they'd probably already tapped his phone lines and his computer. At least he knew that Robin was incorruptible. Thank God there was still one person in this city he could believe in.
Carefully, he made backup copies of the data and sent them to various sites before shutting the computer down. Then he left the office.
The parking lot was empty, everyone else having headed home hours ago. Nervously, he kept looking around, but as far as he could see he was all alone. He was probably just being paranoid. There was no way they could be on to him that fast. Could they?
He hesitated when he reached his car. He was probably being too cautious, but what if they'd set up a car bomb? Maybe it was best to take the subway. But he needed to be at Titans Tower as soon as possible. No, he would just have to risk it.
He started the car with no problems, and breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was just a matter of –
"Alec Mien?"
There was someone in the car with him. "Holy shit! How did you -"
"It's my job."
A sudden silence, a spray of blood, and Jump City's Deputy Police Chief was no more.
The early morning sunlight glanced off the waves in the bay, turning each rolling swell into diamond dust.
Robin sat on the edge of the tower roof, watching the city in the distance. This was his city, the one he was sworn to protect, the one thing that gave his life purpose and meaning. Except when it didn't.
He spent every day of his life fighting, and for what? It never made any difference. At this very moment down there, someone was being stabbed, someone being shot, someone losing a loved one. The harder the Titans fought, the more powerful the enemies they made. At the end of the day, what had they really accomplished?
He had wanted people to feel safe in this city, to look up at Titans Tower with a feeling of pride and comfort, knowing that justice was being served. But people weren't safe, and they never would be, no matter how hard he tried.
What were the Titans for, then, if they couldn't keep people safe? All these battles, the worried days and sleepless nights… were they just entertainment, like Slade said? Was it all just a meaningless farce?
He wasn't supposed to have thoughts like this. He was the leader of the Titans, the one people looked up to. He was supposed to be confident and self-assured, to set an example and keep everyone's spirits up. Heroes didn't have self-doubt. They believed in themselves all the time. Did Batman ever feel like this? No, that cold… man… was incapable of feeling anything. That was how he survived, by killing his emotions. Was that how Robin would end up?
He heard the door sliding open, the sound of soft footsteps against the roof. He knew those steps, and his heart lightened as they came closer.
"Robin?" Starfire's voice was filled with concern. "I knew you would be here."
There was a moment of silence, no noise but the breeze sighing in from the bay, carrying the scent of salt. Starfire sat beside him, the wind playing with strands of her hair.
"Are you having the sad thoughts?" she asked, turning her big green eyes towards him.
Robin remained still, staring into the distance.
"No," he said. "Heroes don't have sad thoughts."
"Everyone has them sometimes. Shall I make some Pudding of Sadness to ease your mind?"
"No thanks. I don't think it'll help. Besides, I'm not sad."
"It is difficult to read your feelings, because your face is always hidden by that mask. But your body looks sad to me."
Robin shook his head.
"I'm not sad," he repeated. "There're so many people out there who're being hurt. I still have my health, my job. People look up to me. I'm famous. It'd be really selfish of me to indulge in self-pity."
Starfire moved closer to him. "You are the least selfish person I know," she said emphatically.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Robin, you spend every second of every day worrying about the people of this city, the other Titans... and me. You wish to make the world a better place."
Robin heaved a sigh. "How do you know I do all that for other people? Maybe I just do it for myself. Maybe I like the attention. Maybe it makes me feel special. Maybe I'm just selfish."
"Robin… why are you speaking this way? Have you been having the dreams of Slade again?"
"What difference does it make? Maybe Slade knows me better than you do."
"Robin…" Starfire touched his arm, but he pulled away. "You should rest. Depriving yourself of sleep will not help you to function efficiently. Today will be a busy day."
Beep-beep-beep.
Robin pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. Cyborg's face appeared on the screen.
"Morning, Robin. Hate to spoil your weekend, but we've got a situation."
"What is it, Cy?"
"A message. I think you'd better come down to the control room and see it."
"On my way." Robin replaced his communicator in his belt and rose to his feet. "Well, you heard what Cy said. We have a situation."
Starfire nodded. "You go ahead. I will be there shortly."
Robin turned and raced across the rooftop. When he reached the door, he hesitated for a moment and looked at Starfire where she sat on the roof's edge, looking as dejected as Robin had felt.
"You okay, Star?" he called.
"Yes," she replied, without moving.
Robin nodded and slipped through the door.
Starfire sat and watched the light playing on the waves down in the bay. She wasn't sad. Heroes weren't allowed to have sad thoughts.
When Robin entered the control room, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven were already there.
"You took your time," Beast Boy said, yawning and stretching. "Where's Star?"
"She'll be down in a minute." Robin strode over to the main controls where Cyborg waited before the main screen. "What have you got for me?"
"Ooh, were you and Starfire having a moment?" Beast Boy asked, giggling. "I hope we didn't interrupt anything between you and your hot alien girlfriend." Beast Boy started making kissing noises.
"Grow up," Raven growled.
"What's the matter, Bride of Frankenstein? Obviously you didn't get your beauty sleep."
"Why don't you turn into a monkey? You might develop near-human intelligence."
Robin ignored their bickering and looked pointedly at Cyborg, who began tapping on the keypad.
"I've been in here since five," Cyborg said. "I thought I'd get up early and make sure all our systems are in working order, you know, what with the review coming up and everything."
Robin nodded.
"I've been deleting, reformatting, reconfiguring and patching up all our programs. I managed to free up about a thousand gigs on the hard drive by erasing Beast Boy's collection of… ahem… inappropriate Nicki Minaj pictures."
"You did what?" Beast Boy shrieked.
"Don't worry, I didn't touch any of your other stuff."
Raven gave Beast Boy a look of contempt. "Just when I thought my opinion of you could sink no lower."
"Don't judge me!" Beast Boy snapped. "It's not what you're thinking! I was only looking at them because she had green hair!"
"Yes, I'm sure her hair was all you were looking at." Raven shook her head.
Cyborg went on, "I cleared out our email accounts, too. The public one is mostly full of spam and stuff, which I deleted. Except for a few which I saved for Beast Boy, because they promised to enlarge a certain part of the anatomy, and I thought he could use that." Cyborg snickered at Beast Boy.
"Hey! I don't need your stinking emails. They don't call me Beast Boy for nothing." Beast Boy waggled his eyebrows suggestively, before transforming into a giant anaconda.
"Looks like you're overcompensating for something," Raven observed dryly. "Other than your brainpower, I mean."
The anaconda hissed and bared its fangs at her. A moment later, the door slid open and Starfire walked in.
"Good the morning, friends," she said. "I hope I did not miss anything of importance."
"You didn't," Robin said shortly. "Beast Boy's just been fooling around." He turned back to Cyborg. "Is there a point to all this? Or did you call me here just to talk about stupid emails?"
"The point is this," Cyborg said. "About half an hour ago I got this message on one of our secure channels." He tapped a few keys, and the following words appeared onscreen:
TITANS, THE CITY HAS NEED OF YOU
ALEC MIEN DIED FOR THE TRUTH
BEWARE TRUST NO ONE
HE IS WATCHING
θ/
Robin read the message a couple of times, searching for clues, committing it to memory.
"Alec Mien," he said. "He's the Deputy Police Chief."
"He was. I found this online." Cyborg opened another window, a news article. The headline read: Deputy Police Chief Killed, Mugger Suspected.
"When did this happen?" Robin asked, as he scanned the article.
"A few hours ago. They don't know exactly when. There hasn't been time for a full exam of the body."
Three paragraphs into the article, Robin found what he was looking for. The body had been found dumped in an alley. Its throat had been slashed, probably by a knife.
"Who sent the message?" Robin asked.
"No idea," Cyborg replied. "I tried to trace it, but all I could find out was that the message came from inside Jump City. Their IP address was linked to a government server, but I bet they hacked into it to hide their identity."
"You said this was sent to a secure channel."
"Yup."
"Who knows the number?"
"Uh, let's see. The police department. The mayor's office. Some superhero teams. A few others. The full list of contacts should be around here somewhere."
"Then we'll start there. Whoever sent this message is on that list."
"Unless they stole the address or hacked into our system. And even if they are on the list, there're going to be a lot of suspects."
"But it's better than nothing. You work on finding out where that message came from. Raven, Beast Boy and I are going to pay a visit to the police department. Starfire will hold the tower and respond to any emergencies."
"Is this the best course of action, Robin?" Raven asked. "You know the police are sensitive about us interfering with their jurisdiction. There doesn't seem to have been any meta-human activity in Alec Mien's murder. Maybe it was just a mugging. This could be just a prank email. There are plenty of losers out there trying to waste our time with hoaxes and false threats. Maybe we should report this to the police, let them handle it."
"No." Robin glanced back at the message on the screen. Titans, the city has need of you. Trust no one. "I have a feeling about this. I need to check it out."
Author's Note:
This story may contain strong violence, strong coarse language, drug references, sex scenes, homosexuality, nudity, adult references, and lots of other mature themes. Please don't read if any of these make you uncomfortable.