This is my first Teen Titans fanfic as well as my first multi-chapter fanfic :) There will be some romance in here but it isn't a MAIN genre of the story. Here, the titans are a bit older than they are in the TV series so some are going to seem more mature than there (especially Beast Boy and Cyborg)

There are some OC's but no OC pairings develop.

Anyways, enjoy!

Thursday, October 24, 2025 12:00 pm

"I just don't understand it." Richard muttered, as he surveyed a newspaper clipping in front of him from last week for the umpteenth time that day. The dark, shadowy figure of the man in the picture was jumping over a couple of boxes and was making a quick getaway from the officers, which had included Richard, pursuing him. And despite the gunshots that had been fired at him that day, he had gotten away.

Richard huffed in annoyance at the memory, his hands clenching the picture so tightly that it almost ripped. At the moment, that very idea seemed appealing. How else was he supposed to vent his frustration at this criminal, named Slade, whose face he hadn't even seen yet, slipping out his hands for the third time this month?

"Richard." A rough voice snapped the young policeman out of his thoughts and he looked up at the Sheriff, Bruce Wayne. Placing the picture back on his desk, Richard stood and nodded. "Good afternoon Sir." he said as stoically as possible, trying to hide the disgruntlement in his voice. Bruce nodded back to him, handed him a newspaper which happened to be a recent edition and pointed to a particular article dated October 30. Richard eyed the headline that said:

John Parks, journalist of Jump City Gazette BRUTALLY MURDERED- Today's edition is dedicated to mourning his unfortunate demise.

"Terrible." he sighed and then looked back up. "This happened last night?"

Bruce nodded. "He was found in an alley at Downtown Jump City on Levee Boulevard. 10:00 pm. I'm putting you in charge of this case. Are you okay with it?"

"I'm fine with it. Were there any witnesses at the scene?"

"There were a few, but none of them actually saw what happened. They said that they rushed to the scene when they heard some yelling and gunshots. But by the time they got there, the attackers were gone and the victim was already dead. That's when they called the police." He handed Richard a black binder labeled: Parks Murder Case. "This has all the information we've gotten so far. I think you can take it from here now."

"All right, sir. I'm going to head to the crime scene right now."

"Good." And with that, Bruce left the room. Once he left, Richard combed his jet black hair, straightened his uniform, and headed out to his car with the file.

"Let's hope this case is at least less complicated than what I've been looking at today." He muttered as he put his keys in the ignition.

"No, I don't think so." Kori shook her head at the design that her artist had presented her with. "The dress's magenta color is perfect and it also is not too revealing, but it has a little too many frills. On Homecoming Night, a woman must feel beautiful but comfortable at the same time when she dances with her escort." She tapped her chin and surveyed the drawing critically looking for spots to make the necessary improvements.

"Miss Anders, if I may make a suggestion . . ." The artist said. "What if instead of these frills at the V-shaped neckline, we replace them with a simple and elegant sash?" To show Kori what she meant, she erased the frills from the dress's neckline and replaced them with a maroon strip with black, elegant swirl designs that outlined the neckline."

Kori nodded in approval. "Perfect!" She smiled as she clapped her hands together. "Another one at the hem will do as well instead of those frills. And do not let the skirt billow out so much. Let it simply fall straight down to a knee-length level."

"Sure Miss Anders." The artist made the corrections and showed the drawing to Kori, who tossed her long, fiery red hair back over her shoulder and viewed the design.

Strapless and dark magenta, the dress's hem stopped down so that the skirt was approximately knee-length. The neckline and hem were both pronounced by the recently added maroon sash with the black, elegant designs. The entire dress was adorned with white dots which were supposed to be diamond-like sequences. A bow of a brighter magenta was wrapped around the waistline and tied into a bow which was loose but tight enough to be recognizable as a bow. This would, of course, be already sewed into the dress.

Kori smiled. "The design is perfect. We can begin making the dress now." The artist nodded respectfully and left the room with the drawing board. Once she left, the young fashion designer sighed contentedly and leaned back into her chair. She was certainly thankful for the soft, pink feathered boa she was wearing around her neck. It served as good comfort therapy for her aching shoulders. She had had lots of paperwork to sign for the designs she was patenting today and her arms had not responded well to this task.

"Miss Anders? Your newspaper . . ." A voice sounded from the door. Kori turned to her secretary Sarah, who handed her the day's edition of the Jump City Gazette.

"Thank you Sarah. And also, these are the documents I have signed for the new designs. They are ready to be faxed." Kori handed her the completed paperwork.

"Yes Miss Anders." And with that, Sarah left.

Kori loved reading the newspaper daily and being informed of the happenings of the town. It made her feel somewhat knowledgeable. She opened the paper to the front page and began reading . . . until a particular headline grabbed her attention:

John Parks, journalist of Jump City Gazette BRUTALLY MURDERED- Today's edition is dedicated to mourning his unfortunate demise.

Her hand flew to her mouth as she continued to read:

On October 23, a well-known journalist of Jump City Gazette was found dead by witnesses in an alley at Downtown Jump City. They say he had been beaten severely and shot. The sound of gunshots was also supposed to have been what attracted attention from the people who discovered the body.

"He was a mess, a total mess. I just don't understand who could have possibly done this." A witness said.

Apparently, his supposed attackers were nowhere to be seen upon the discovery, though the Jump City Police Department (JCPD) suspect gang activity to be involved in this heinous crime due to the apparent severity of the attack.

There was more written in the article, but Kori's heart was racing too quickly for her to continue reading. Her hands shook as she dropped her newspaper and fumbled in her purse for her cell phone. "I must call Rachel . . . I must call her."

Garfield removed the stethoscope earpieces from his ears and positioned the chestpiece back in the front pocket of his white coat. "No worries Tabby," he grinned at his patient. "You're in perfect shape." In response, Tabby mewed adorably and purred as he petted his back. Then, Garfield turned to its owner.

"Mrs. Jones, your cat is perfectly fine health wise. I don't see any signs of a cold or any kind of illness. But I would recommend that he gets more sleep."

"Thanks, Dr. Logan. Thank you so much for your help."

"You're welcome. It's what I'm here for. Call me if there're any other concerns." He said kindly as he handed her Tabby's medical file.

"Sure. Have a great day."

"You too."

And with that, Mrs. Jones picked up her cat and headed out of the examination room. Garfield smiled and followed her out into the hallway, but turned in the opposite direction to the Doctors' Lounge.

The lounge was a large, square-shaped room with a circular couch in the center that surrounded a small coffee table. A coffee maker and a vending machine stood in a corner of the room while the grayish walls were decorated with several plaques, awards granted to previous and current doctors in the clinic. Fake plants in the room gave it a touch of nature, which was definitely something Garfield found very appealing due to his fondness of animals, which had been the main reason why he had chosen to be a veterinarian.

"Dr. Logan," a voice sounded behind him. Garfield turned around and faced his Senior Resident.

"Hi Dr. Reed. How's it going?"

Dr. Reed smiled and said, "Pretty well. I just wanted to talk to you."

Garfield scratched his neck and fiddled with the collar of his coat. "Um, if this is about the money I borrowed from you the other day, I was gonna pay you back tomorrow . . . just in case you were wondering."

Dr. Reed laughed. "Thank you, but this isn't about that. This is about your raise."

The young veterinarian's eyes widened. "A . . . a raise?"

The Senior Resident nodded. "I've been watching you these days Garfield and I have to say that I'm very impressed. You personality always seems to click with every single patient you have, and you certainly have a way with animals. After seeing what a good job you have done with your patients, I think you definitely deserve this."

Garfield's surprised expression never left his face. "Wow, thanks." He said. He controlled his urge to hug the Dr. Reed and shook his hand instead. "Thank you so much Dr. Reed, I really really appreciate it."

"You're most certainly welcome. Now I have a patient to attend to, so I'll be off now. Have a good day."

"You too, Dr. Reed."

Once Dr. Reed left the room, Garfield breathed in and out deeply as he flopped down onto the couch. He had been about to drink some coffee when he came in, but now he didn't need to anymore. His racing mind was enough to provide him with the equivalence of a caffeine rush.

Yes! I can finally get some more money home now! He was silently cheering. Garfield's shoulders suddenly as though a barbell of one thousand pounds had been lifted from his shoulders. At this rate, he would later on have enough money to repay his current debts.

His happy revelations were interrupted when his phone abruptly rang. To his delight, it was Victor. He chuckled softly, relishing the fact that the first person to hear this wonderful news from him would be his best friend.

"Yo Vic, what's up?"

"Nothin' much man, but listen-"

"Dude! I got some awesome news!" Garfield was too caught up in his excitement to notice the urgency in Victor's voice. "I got a raise!"

For a moment, his voice changed slightly. "Really? That's great man!"

"Yeah, I know. So . . . you sounded like you wanted to tell me something. What's up?"

"Well . . . you might not like it much."

Garfield frowned. "What happened?"

"Well . . . you know your friend John Parks, right?"

"Oh yeah. About that, how'd your interview with him go? You told him I said hi, right?"

Victor paused, before answering. "The interview never happened." He seemed taken aback at what Garfield had just said.

"What? Why?"

"Wait, you don't know what happened? Didn't you read the news?"

Garfield gripped the edge of the sofa. "No, I just got done dealing with a patient. What happened?"

"I just got a call. Parks is dead. He's been murdered. The Jump City Gazette itself has the story."

Garfield almost dropped his cell phone and his body stiffened. For almost five seconds, he couldn't say anything. "No . . . way. Dude . . ." he eventually murmured.

"This is hopeless!" Rachel huffed. She crumpled up her sheet of paper in her hands and hurled it into the trashcan, which had several other papers that had met with a similar fate. Once her brief spark of frustration cooled down, she scowled at the mess of crumpled papers around her before sighing. She was sitting back in her swivel chair, running a pale hand through her glossy black hair. "Great," she muttered. "Now I have to clean this up."

The crumpled papers had been Rachel's fourteen attempts to write a perfect chapter to the book she was writing. At this point, she had only finished three chapters and still had about twenty more to write. Normally, she was a faster writer than this, but recent problems with her job with the Jump City Gazette had increased her workload and taken a toll on her to the point that it had sparked a bit of Writer's Block. This, of course, was in no way making things any better for Rachel since being a newspaper editor . . . well . . . former editor now, also involved writing.

Just as she stood up and began to clean up the mess, the phone at her desk rang. "Hello?"

"Rachel? Oh thank goodness you picked up this phone because I called your cell phone so many times and you never answered and I got worried. You are all right?!" the caller stopped to take several deep breaths.

Rachel sighed as she tried to calm down her friend's hysteria, almost amused at the fact that this was not the first time she had gone into one of these frantic are-you-okay rants. "Kori, calm down. I'm fine."

"But why did you not answer the phone?"

"The battery died this morning so I'm charging it while it's powered off."

"Oh, I see." The tension in Kori's voice still hadn't faltered. "But you usually charge it in the night before you go to sleep so that you can use it at work. You are not at work now?"

Rachel bit her lip. "Um Kori, about work . . . I actually-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as she was cut off by a sudden outburst.

"Rachel! Have you not heard what has happened? Why have you not said anything about it?"

She raised an eyebrow at Kori's random change of topic. "What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about John Parks, Rachel! He is dead!"

Rachel gasped and could feelher face draining of color as she abruptly plopped back into her chair, completely motionless. After what seemed like an eternity, her surroundings stopped spinning and she finally spoke. "W-what happened?"

"He was found shot and severely beaten in Downtown Jump City. The Jump City Gazette has published the entire story. Because you work for the newspaper, I thought you would know. . ." Kori trailed off, the panic in her voice still imminent. "Oh Rachel, I do not know why but I had a feeling something bad was going to happen last night and I wanted to talk to you about it but I ignored it! What are we to do?! How could this have happened?!"

"Kori! Just calm down. Like you, I . . . have no idea how this happened. But no matter how much this is affecting us, we cannot afford to panic. Otherwise, the police could suspect us for something we didn't do." Rachel swallowed hard at the mere prospect before taking a deep breath.

"But Rachel, what can we do? The police will find out that we were acquainted with him quite well. Will they not suspect us then?"

"I don't know. All I can say is that we have to stay calm. If they have questions, we're obviously going to tell them the truth. The fact that we're innocent still remains. We'll be okay."

"I am hoping for the same thing." Kori replied sadly.