Titans Tower, night.


With a moan of annoyance Raven rolled towards the device currently earning her displeasure, it was her communicator. Reaching out an arm she searched for the device through her sense of touch, opening her eyes at this point was just too much effort for the mostly still asleep Titan.

Fingers closing around the communicator, Raven flipped it open, wincing as the bright screen sprung to life, opening her eyes a fraction it took Raven a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, the first thing she saw however was the time. With a groan Raven was tempted to throw the yellow device aside and return to her sleep, if it not for the fact her caller was Jericho.

If there was one Titan with the good sense not to call her in the early hours of the morning it was him, had it been Beast boy the communicator would be tossed out the window, with the green Titan soon joining it without a second thought. Accepting the call, Raven was greeted to a dead line, for a moment she waited thinking it was just a bad connection but quickly realised no one was going to say anything, Jericho's communicator according to her own was not in use.

"Stupid technology." Raven yawned closing the device and returning it to her bedside table.


Helicopter, fleeing Jump City.


The leader of the attack, Talia al Ghul, watched the unconscious Joey Wilson be properly restrained. While his hands and legs were secured, it was his eyes that required the most attention, should he manage to make eye contact with any person on board he could turn the tide in seconds. If Joey Wilson ever became like his father he would be a terror to face in combat.

"My lady." A faceless ninja bowed before her, in his hand a small tablet device. "Your father requests an update." Talia nodded, taking the tablet from the man and walked towards the cockpit, once there Talia slipped into the co-pilots empty seat. She then accepted the message.

Ra's al Ghul appeared on the screen sitting in a throne; he hadn't taken a dip in the Lazrus pit in some time and was starting to show the signs with his worn grey hair, and weakened facial muscles. Nether the less the master assassin's eyes shone with power and a youthful drive. He was still every bit the lord and master he had always been.

"Father," She lowered her head in respect.

"I have been informed you are leaving Jump City." Her father said, it was not an accusation or a bait at her actions, her father was above such childish things and wanted only her reason and the truth.

"We have the boy." Talia smiled returning her head upright to look at the screen, her father raised an eyebrow.

"I was under the impression your attack was not for another three days, did something happen?"

"A stroke of good fortune father, he was alone and there were no witnesses. I ordered his capture and am now on my way to personally deliver him to you." Ra's al Ghul did not show any emotional change from the news, at least none that any simpleton would notice but Talia knew her father well. He was pleased with this development.

"Very well, I will see that what you need is available once you arrive." He stopped talking and for a moment Talia thought he was finished but he then added. "You have done well."

The screen then went blank. Talia felt a swell of pride infect her before squashing it down; the mission was not yet complete and while at the moment things were going well, there was an awful lot of miles between her and Gotham City were anything could happen. Slipping the tablet in an overhead compartment, Talia put on a headset and settled herself in for the long trip.


Raven awoke to the sensation that something was wrong, sitting up in bed she tried to figure out what could cause her to feel this way, she didn't need to do any public speaking, there was no fancy dance party she had been roped into at the mayors request, it was most defiantly not her birthday, leaving her with few options as to why she felt a sense of dread.

Reaching out with her mind Raven scanned the current emotional state of her friends, in case any of their own anxiety was feed-backing into hers. Cyborg and Beast boy were unsurprising rays of sunshine with the occasional blemish of anger or frustration which indicated to Raven the two where likely playing video games with each other, Starfire was still asleep but even then the alien was filled with positive emotions.

Robin, while agitated in some way, was feeling nothing that should be effecting her in such a way. Then there was Jericho. Or rather the lack of Jericho, he wasn't available to read, his mind wasn't in or near the tower.

A flash of memory and Raven turned to her bedside table where her communication's device sat. She could recall Joey had called her last night, or perhaps tried too. Maybe he had left a message that she had simply been to tired to read or even notice. Flipping it open, Raven found nothing.

This was a great reason for her mind to think something was wrong. Rising out of bed, Raven quickly dressed in her standard leotard and cape, then pulling on her boots as she flew from her room she quickly made her way towards Beast Boy and Cyborg, who were at this moment in time playing early morning video games. Managing to slip her boot on just before the main room doors slid open, both males threw her a quick look before returning their eyes to the screen.

"Morning Raven." Cyborg called out in such a warm way Raven wouldn't be surprised if butter melted around him.

"Morning Rae."

"Have either of you seen Jericho?" Raven asked ignoring Beast Boy's refusal to say her name properly, both shook their heads. Before Cyborg suddenly sat up a little.

"Wait, I think there was a note somewhere around their," he briefly removed his right hand from the controller pointing vaguely at the kitchen.

"Thanks." Raven mumbled as the two returned to their world of shooting alien slime monsters. Looking at the fridge, that was covered in month old notes from pizza order receipts to reminds about laundry day, Raven quickly searched for anything new or written in Joey's unique handwriting. When nothing new was apparent she moved her search to the kitchen and quickly discovered the note sitting on the kitchen counter. "It says he went out for a walk."

"That's good. Bit of fresh air, nice bit of exercise. Good to see he's taking care of himself." Cyborg nodded enthusiastically as his fingers raced over the controller in his hand.

"This can't be right; he wrote this in the morning."

"Uh yeah Raven, it's the morning now." Beast Boy chastised shaking his head in mockery.

"At two in the morning?" Raven almost yelled, trying to contain the fear that was creeping through her, Jericho was not in the tower, he hadn't been here since two and last night he had tried to contact her. This was bad. Pausing the game, Cyborg got off the couch and made his way over to her.

"What's this all about?" He asked, noticing the way Raven was on edge. Taking a few calming breaths Raven began to explain the facts. As she did Cyborg and Beast Boy quickly realised her concern. "Are you sure he's not in his room?"

"Yes I told you I can't sense him." Raven hissed. Nodding Cyborg turned to his wrist. The game on the tv was replaced by a blueprint design of the tower. Five bright coloured lights shone inside the towers wall. A few seconds later, the map expanded out showing a satellite image of Jump City. "His communicator is not in the city." The map expanded out further showing the entire state, then once again this time displaying all of America, before finally showing the entire globe. "It's not anywhere. Let me see if I can..." He began tapping a few keys on his wrist.

"What does that mean Cy?" Beast Boy asked glancing at the map then at his friends. "Was he taken by aliens or something?"

"I don't think so." Cyborg said, "I've found his communicators homing beacon, it's damaged but it's still on earth."

"Where is it?" Raven whispered, dreading the answer. The onscreen map zoomed in returning to Jump city, Raven's fear were calmed for a moment as the satellite image zoomed in on Jump City's beach only a twenty minute walk from the tower.

"Raven, you and I am going to go check it out. Beast Boy wake the others and inform them what's happening." The green Titan saluted before turning into a panther and racing up the stairs to Starfire's and Robin's rooms.

Running to the garage the two Titan's climbed inside the T-car, once there seat belts were in place the car raced off towards the beach, Cyborg constantly checking the ping that echoed from the tracking chip onto his on board wrist scanner. In less than three minutes they pulled up to the deserted beach and quickly followed the ever increasing ping.

"Over there." Raven pointed, hovering over to the remains of a broken communications device.

"Aw hell," Cyborg muttered scooping up the fragments of the device. "This is not looking good." Raven looked out over the empty beach, trying to sense any trace of Joey, but it quickly proved to be in vain, any residue was too weak to track. Flipping his own communicator open, Cyborg called the leader of the Titans. "Robin, we have a problem."


Raven kept silent during the briefing unless she was directly asked something. Facts where important in this type of situation, everyone needed to be on the exact same page with the exact same information, too often people were hurt simply due to not knowing something that a companion decided to keep to themselves.

The problem with this was Raven was hearing the same story she had unraveled with Cyborg over half an hour ago be repeated to Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy who appeared to have skimmed over a few key parts. Hearing in detail how long Jericho had been missing was painful enough but when Robin and Cyborg began calculating how far away he could have been taken by now, Raven almost lost it.

The only ray of sunshine was the broken communicator, in a move that perhaps prevented the Titans tower being damaged by her fluxing emotional state; Cyborg revealed that the communicators carried a record function when calls were made.

"For security purposes." He had explained as he slipped the broken communicators tiny memory core into the main computer of the tower and began working his magic. In seconds he found the footage, that had been taken when Joey had tried to call her last night. "It's not very long." Cyborg announced as the Titans gathered around him even though the screen was over eight feet long.

"How long?" Robin asked, his eyes narrowing.

"About a minute tops." Cyborg hit a key starting the footage. "Here we go."

They watched as Jericho flipped open the lid starting the video, from what little they could see Joey was being chased by ninja's glad in black, one of his attackers began twirling a bola over their head.

Raven could only stare as the weapon was released and struck Joey, he swayed but as he was about to fall, he managed to roll, the camera was then thrown wild, giving them only a shot at the sand and the night sky's darkness until a few seconds later the video died.

"That's it." Cyborg announced, tapping at the keyboard he began bringing up screen shots taken from the video, trying to give a good enough look at the ninja's that had taken him. "Any ideas?"

Raven watched as the room went quiet, for a moment she feared they had hit a dead end, but Robin slowly spoke up.

"I do." Beast Boy let out a sigh of relief and fresh hope shinned in Starfire's eyes as the team focused on their leader. "They, I- uh. If they are who I think they are, then I met them once or twice before. Back in Gotham."

"This is great. It gives us something to work with." Cyborg praised, "All we need is a location or a base and we can begin our search there. Where do we start?"

"Anywhere on earth." Robin grimly replied.

"Dude, anywhere on earth?" beast Boy exclaimed.

"The league of assassins is one of the greatest organisations on the planet, they are centuries old and have bases and refugee's everywhere." Robin explained, giving Beast Boy a hard stare, "if they did take Joey, then they could be anywhere on earth, Russia, China, Antarctica." He sighed in annoyance. "Anywhere."

Cyborg threw his hands up in the air and spun around to face the computer, the rest of the team grew disheartened.

"But you know them." Raven said, trying to keep her cool. "You must know a place where we can start."

"Raven it's not that simple." Robin began, "these guys are some of the best in the world, we can't just wander from A to B and keep fighting them."

"So what?" Cyborg yelled, turning around to face Robin, "we fought Trigon, biggest, baddest dude in the universe. I didn't hear you tell us to give up then."

"That's not what I'm sayin-"

"If you know where to start then tell us, we will go rescue Joey on our own." Raven's eyes narrowed. Robin was never a coward but right now the word was dancing on her tongue. Robin threw her a glare. But the team was in agreement when both Starfire and Beast Boy stood silently alongside their friends, determination burning within them.

"Once we start doing this, we are going to be in trouble. We may be targeted, we will be hunted and we will not be safe even once we get Joey, these people bare grudges." Robin warned, hoping that he was conveying the seriousness of the situation.

"Big. Freaking. Whoop. Now less stalling and more talking." Cyborg demanded.

"Gotham City is our best bet, they used to have a base on the outskirts. From there we might be able to find something."

"Then that is where we are going." Cyborg clapped his hands together. "Alright T-ship's going to take off in thirty minutes, pack your bags cause we are not coming home without Jericho." It wasn't much of a rally cry, but the message was on point.

Both Starfire and Beast Boy ran out of the room towards their respective bedrooms, while Cyborg Raven and Robin lingered for a few minutes. Avoiding eye contact with either Titan, Cyborg quickly began programming the security systems in an effort to keep the tower safe while they were away. After a few seconds of silence Raven flew off to her bedroom, needing only to pack a few changes of clothes.

"You do not know who we are going up against." Cyborg sighed and turned around to face his leader, who was already leaving. Giving a quick huff, Cyborg returned to his work.


28 minutes later.


Raven sat in her seat, waiting for Cyborg to input the final code into the main computer that would lock the tower and its systems down until their return. Knowing there wasn't much she could do to contribute to the process she patiently waited, preparing her mind for a long meditation session once they were in the air.

"Guys, I'm going to need some quiet time so I am shutting of my radio chatter." She informed the team via her headset.

"Aww." Beast Boy moaned in annoyance, Raven wasn't sure if he was faking or not.

"It's cool Raven." Cyborg said, flicking a switch that began brought the ship's powerful engines to life. "T-ship launch in five seconds. Four. Three.

Raven checked her strap, finding it locked in place before closing her eyes. "Two. One." The engines exploded into life making Raven wince as the ship shot into the sky with a powerful roar of flames. "We have lift off!" Cyborg announced to the well aware team as the ship was moved into a straight flight path. "Raven go ahead and disconnect now, it's going to be a long drive."

Nodding to no one in particular, Raven shut of the radio chatter and removed her headset, closing her side of the ship off from the chatter of the others. Taking in a calm breath Raven felt her mind sinking into a relaxed state, one freed from the cloudy thoughts emotions brought.

"Azarath metrion zinthos" she whispered, separating herself from the world. "Azarath metrion zinthos"


Detroit. Evening


Slade Wilson sat atop of a tall building watching a man through the scope of a sniper rifle, pretty standard night.

Walking down the crowded street without a care in the world, Slade watched him, granting him a few more seconds of life. Tonight's target was a special job, he wasn't the leader of a human trafficking ring, he didn't sell secrets to a foreign nation and he wasn't responsible for the wave of venom hitting the criminal underworld.

The man Slade was eyeing was a priest.

Not the kind that touched kids or took a ten percent cut of god's earnings. This man was a priest of another being entirely, while he wore a crucifix around his neck, the being the priest worshipped was not the man who had been stung up on a cross to die for humanities sins, instead it was a four eyed demon spawned in one of the universe's darker moments.

Having no desire to ever again allow Trigon passage to earth, Slade had been keeping an eye on the church of Trigon's activates, thus far they hadn't made any moves against Raven and the other titans, but that didn't mean their hands weren't red with blood.

Squeezing the trigger the bullet flew through the air, a second later the man's skull was popped like a ripe melon, a scream, followed by panicked cries and plenty of chaos as people began reacting to the murder that just took place in front of them.

Slade however had no time to admire his handy work, in seconds he was racing across the rooftops. Once he was four blocks away the assassin threw the rifle into a dumpster down an ally, it would never be traced back to him, it was a dime a dozen model with no fingerprints and its last known owner was a fellow in Australia twenty years dead. Following the gun, Slade landed like a cat, straightening himself up, the assassin closed the lid on the dumpster before readjusting his jacket.

Slipping out of the ally was a man nobody would look twice at, instead of white hair there was black, instead of an eyepatch there was a pair of matching blue ones, although if someone did take a minute or two to study them they might notice something off about one of those eyes, but no one paid any attention to the man, instead bystanders were running towards the commotion, a few blocks away, encouraging random strangers to come take a look at something that they themselves hadn't yet seen.

"Slade?" A voice in his ear asked.

"It's done." Deathstroke replied, slipping his hands in his jacket pockets as a siren reached his ears. "I'll-"

"I'm afraid I have some rather troubling news." Wintergreen said, cutting him off, the tone of the man's voice caused Slade to worry far more than the words he had used. Wintergreen was perhaps Slade Wilson's only true friend in the world. To say he actually cared about the assassins interests would be an understatement, Wintergreen was a part of the family. Not that Slade actually had a proper family arrangement "Joey has been kidnapped."

Wintergreen winced when he said those words aloud. He waited a few seconds, expecting something, anything. Instead there was silence.

"Several hours ago, the T-ship left Jump city. I began looking into all radio transmission to and from the tower and found Joey's communicator is offline. After that-"

"Who?" Slade growled, he was walking faster now with a purpose, making his way through the streets towards a getaway car, courtesy of Red Fury.

"The league of assassins." Slade didn't say anything, worrying Wintergreen more. "I am already booking you a flight to Gotham City, if I am right the Titans are either going to see Wayne or-"

"Or the rat nest the league built there to spy on Wayne." Slade growled. He reached the car, pulled open the rear door and slipped in the backseat before the drive had even managed to get out. Clearing his throat the C.I.A agent, turned to face his passenger and almost whimpered at the glare Slade threw him. "Airport." He demanded.

"Red Fury requested that w-"

"Airport. Now." Slade barked. The agent jumped in fright, turned around and started the cars engine. As the vehicle raced towards its destination, Slade began losing himself in his thoughts, fear was clouding his mind as memories of the past, and possible future outcomes taunted him. Joey had been taken, where had the Titans been? Why had the League taken action against him and his kin? Were they hired by a outside party or was Ra's baiting a trap?

Deathstroke quickly decided these questions were irreverent, the answers would be revealed in time. For now he had a target and a mission and no matter who in the end was responsible Slade would save his son, he would not fail this time.


AN: Thank you for reading, if you enjoyed this chapter please leave a review telling me what you liked, how I can improve or if there were any mistakes I can fix to make it better.

A big warm shout out to everyone who reviewed, I want to thank you as reviews always make me feel better and lets me know my work is enjoyed.