"Damn, those freaks leave a mess don't they?" A construction worker remarked loudly as he surveyed what had only hours before been a battlefield. Craters, fire damage, and annihilated fire hydrants spraying water into the air decorated what had once been a pristine street. The worker's musings earned him a few exasperated groans and a smack on the back of the head.

"Shut up Jeff. Those "freaks", as you put them, are why we get paid so much. Plus, if it weren't for them, there wouldn't be a city to clean up by this point." Another worker, Sal, called from across a particularly large, smouldering crater as she waved a cement truck into position. Nods and affirmative grunts circled around the construction site as the work began, moving rubble and setting up heavy equipment.

"I know that, but why do the bad guys always manage to run around long enough to blow something up? I'm not ungrateful, I just think they could be a little quicker on the draw, ya know?" Jeff hollered back as he began to chip away at larger chunks of debris with a jackhammer. As chips of cement began to fly up in the air, more workers began to arrive on scene to repair the water mains and assess the fire damage.

"Would you look at that? The whole wall's as good as gone...no, there's no sense in trying to even consider saving that building...what's that about the roof? Ahh shit" the foreman spoke into a walkie-talkie, looking at a row of buildings that ranged from being scorched to being almost completely demolished. The talkie garbled for a moment before a voice came through.

"Oi capt'n, are the porta-johns set up yet? That chilli I scarfed for lunch is kind of coming back with a vengeance."

The foreman pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath before answering. He knew it was Jeff; only Jeff had the nerve to call him "capt'n" and then proceed to throw any semblance of professionalism out the window. Breathing out and holding the talkie up to his mouth, the foreman's voice remained calm, despite sounding slightly strained.

"No Jeff, the porta-johns aren't set up yet. There's a restaurant farther down the street that was evacuated. I have no idea how, but aside from some broken windows it looks like it didn't get hit once. Go do your business there and then get back to work. We need more cement mixed up to fix the sidewalks." The foreman replied. As he clipped the talkie to his fluorescent vest, he spotted Jeff jogging to the aforementioned restaurant with very clear intention.

Going back to assessing the damage and issuing orders, Jeff was soon forgotten. As the day wore on, Jump City's construction crews began to show their practice at repairing the constantly assaulted streets, swiftly repairing what they could, getting a good start on larger jobs, and already sectioning off buildings and chunks of street that were beyond help. As the workday came to an end, Sal realized that neither she, nor anyone else, had seen Jeff since he had gone to do his business. Cursing under her breath, she began to make her way to the restaurant where Jeff had been directed.

"Dammit Jeff if you've been hiding in here this whole time I...Jeff? Hello?"

Sal stepped gingerly into the restaurant. The buzz and flickering of damaged fluorescent lights gave the restaurant a claustrophobic feel, causing Sal to grip her talkie nervously. There was a faint, unpleasant odour coming from somewhere by the washrooms, but it wasn't one Sal recognized. It was more of a sickly sweet stench, clinging to everything as it wafted about the restaurant. Flies buzzed around a particular spot in the kitchen, forming an undulating droning cloud. Outside the restaurant, down the street where the few remaining workers were making sure everything was set for the next morning's work, an ear splitting scream echoed down the street while frantic garbled sobbing completely took over the frequency of every workers talkie.

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Cyborg sighed as he leaned back into the overly large couch in the Titans common room, lazily flipping through the channels on TV. Beast Boy let out a similar sigh, munching on a tomato and lettuce sandwich as he flopped down next to Cyborg.

"You know, most people have bacon with their tomato and lettuce." Cyborg joked, eyeing the distinctly meatless snack Beast Boy had prepared for himself.

"The pigs will thank me dude. Hey, go back that show looked good!" Beast Boy jabbed his finger swiftly at the TV as Cyborg continued to flip through the channels. At around this point Raven entered the common room with a book in hand.

"Not a chance grass stain. I have the remote, and therefore I have the power." Cyborg smugly held the remote just out of arms reach as Beast Boy made a grab for it. Raven, who had just sat down and opened her book, let out an annoyed sigh as she promptly clapped the book shut and stood up again. Stalking over to the fighting pair, she promptly snatched the remote out of Cyborg's taunting grasp.

"I'm finishing this before it really starts." Raven's deadpan voice immediately stopped both Beast Boy's and Cyborg's emerging protests. She then calmly switched the TV to the local news channel. "You're watching this. I'm not putting up with another fight over the remote today." The empath warned as she sat back in her previous spot, book open and the remote on her lap. The newscasters' voice proceeded to drone on about the day's events, quickly boring Cyborg and Beast Boy. As Cyborg got up, announcing his intention to fine tune his car (a task which seemed to never be finished), he was stopped by mention of the Titans in the news.

"The Teen Titans once again defeated the villain troupe known as the HIVE Five in a pitched street battle this morning. While the damage was extensive, it is believed that the damage would have been much worse had the Titans not intervened with the HIVE Five's wanton destruction of property. However, authorities were called to the scene again this evening as construction workers had found two bodies in a damaged restaurant. Gary Oplum, the foreman of the current worksite, had this to say." Beast Boy was now glued to the television, and Raven had set down her book to listen. Cyborg returned to his seat on the couch and began to pay very close attention.

"We were packing up for the night...and one of my staff had gone back to check on another worker, who had needed to use a restroom...and we heard this scream...and she was trying to say something over our walkie-talkies...and then her voice just cut off. We ran to check on her. That's when we...found them." The construction worker was fighting back tears at this point, evidently horrified at what he and the other workers had found. At this point Robin and Starfire had entered the common room. Robin immediately took note of the concerned body language of his teammates, and began to pay attention to the TV. The newscaster came back on screen to continue the story.

"While police have not released the victims' identities to the public, they have stated that the murders are very distinctive, and that they are doing everything in their power to apprehend the murderer. If you have any information that may help with this case, call our tip line at 1-800..." The TV abruptly shut off as Robin took the remote from Raven and hit the power button. Immediately, Robin began to quickly walk to the elevator door, the other Titans following suit.

"Titans, we've got some more work to do."

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AN: Well, there it is folks. The start of my first fic in years. I had others posted, but they were abandoned and deleted long ago after I deemed them to be crap-tastic. Anyways, any and all reviews are appreciated. A special thanks goes out to JMJones for reading this over and providing helpful insight before I posted it, as well as for the encouragement.