The next few days passed quietly, no villains were acting up, not after the rumor of a rogue hero. Robin was at his wits ends trying to find this Jason, while the other Titans spent the time relaxing. Raven visited her favorite poetry café, sometimes glimpsing a head of blue hair and bright green eyes. Starfire would prance around the mall, catching a glance of green energy. Even Beastboy would catch a scent of something not quite normal. But none of them ever could find the enigma. It wasn't until a week after his first appearance that they actually saw the energy user. They were all at the park, enjoying some well deserved down time when they spied a tall, lean teenager looking over the lake from one of the bridges. His hair was dark blue, and he wore sunglasses with dark green lenses. He had a lean body, all whipcord like muscle.
"Hey Rob, check it out." Cyborg pointed behind his shoulder at the newcomer. Robin's eyes widened under his mask.
"That's him, what's he doing here?"
"Don't know, what do you want to do?" Robin turned back to the others, Starfire was feeding Silkie, Beastboy was playing with some kids and Raven was reading under a tree.
"We'll leave him alone, if he makes a move so do we. As long as he doesn't start anything we can't do anything to him." Jason didn't move for hours, just stood there like a stature watching the water. After an hour the other Titans noticed him, but no one made a move since Robin told them to back down. Finally though Raven couldn't deal with it, his presence was like an itch she couldn't scratch, she needed to deal with it. She summoned her soul self and disappeared only to reappear next to Jason.
"Huh I was wondering when one of yas would spot me. Then again the Boy Wonder knew I was here for hours. So what can I do for ya?"
"Who are you?"
"Told you, name's Jason, Jason Black."
"Where are you from?"
"No idea, woke up in New York, been around the world, came to Jump on a cargo ship after spending a year in Japan."
"What do you mean woke up?" Jason shrugged a small smirk on his face.
"Woke up one day, no idea who I was or where I came from. Just had the clothes on my back and my powers. Picked the name Jason Black out of a phone book, just found the two names I liked the best. Had no skills so I snuck aboard a cargo ship in New York Harbor. Got found, worked as a sailor. Been all over the world, but after Japan I needed to come back stateside, can't explain it." Raven started to examine the teen, his clothes were old, well worn, but they still worked. He had a hat folded in his back pocket, an old school immigrant hat, and a backpack next to him.
"So you came in on a ship?"
"Yes ma'am. Was looking for somewhere to live when the nutcase in the light suit popped out. Since then been looking for a decent place to sleep." Raven nodded, unsure of what to say. Jason had just basically revealed all his secrets, as casually as if he had been talking about the weather.
"I can talk to Robin, see if you can come to the Tower."
"No, he wants to watch me, he doesn't trust me. Thanks for listening to a sailor ramble. See ya." He slung his bag over his shoulder and started walking away, his hair hidden underneath his black hat. Raven walked back to the Titans and wasn't surprised when Robin detached himself from the groups to talk to her.
"His name is Jason Black. He has amnesia and has had it for at least a year or more. He just returned from Japan and is currently trying to find somewhere to live, probably a job to."
"As a hero?"
"I think just normal work. His emotions are strange, hard to read but strong, very strong."
"Well did you offer him a place at the Tower?"
"I did and he turned it down. Said he didn't want to be watched." Robin had the good graces to rub his head.
"I just don't want to let a new super villain appear if we can stop it in the early stages." Raven shrugged, the two didn't say anything more. The Titans eventually called it a day when the sun started to set, driving back to the Tower.
Meanwhile Jason was making his way back down to the docks. He was always more comfortable when he knew he was around water, maybe spending the first year and a half he could remember on a cargo hold did that. Once he got to the warehouses he stopped, looking around slightly before hitting one of the posts. A key pad appeared. Smirking, Jason punched in the code he spent an hour figuring out, the pad disappeared and the doors of the warehouse slipped open. He figured it was an old super villain lair, forgotten by the cops or never found. Either way it was empty and perfect for him. When he walked in though, he knew something was wrong. The lights were on and the defense system was a smoking heap. "I was wondering who had found this place. I was almost worried it was Slade." Sure enough there stood Robin. One of his alarms had gone off, saying a Slade base was almost back to full power. Thus the Boy Wonder broke off from the rest of the Titans and drove here.
"Nah just me, needed a place to sleep and this was better than most."
"Raven offered you to stay at the Tower."
"God are you this pushy with every kid who comes to Jump?"
"Just the ones with powers."
"Lucky me." They both shared a smirk before Robin hopped down from the command console and landed in front of Jason.
"We can do two things, one you can come back to the Tower, become an honorary Titan and I can let you go about your way, or two we can fight, then go back to the Tower where I lock you up until the League picks you up."
"Or you can leave. Really what the hell man, why are you doing this?"
"I've seen too many kids with powers become super villains because no one taught them better."
"Dude I've been here for a month and a half, I'm no villain." Robin stopped and stared at the other.
"Then come to the Tower."
"Just cause I aint a villain doesn't mean I'm a damn good guy." And, despite the severity of the situation, Robin started to laugh.
"You know, I've heard that before, from a guy in a similar situation, he now is an honorary Titan and is dating a former villainess." Jason cracked up a little.
"Really?"
"Yea, listen I can understand you just want to be peaceful and live a normal life, but you have powerful abilities, abilities that can help a lot of people. But those same abilities could fool you, make you think you're better than everyone else, and because you have them, they could fool you into thinking you can do whatever you want. Come back to the Tower; learn to use those powers to help people." Jason's face hardened, he turned around slowly before setting his bag down. He let out a loud sigh and turned back to Robin.
"I'll make you a bet, we fight, weapons only, no fancy gear or powers. I win, you leave me alone, just give me one of them yellow communicators and that's it. You win, and I come back to that damn tower as your new stand in hero, sound good?" Robin was shocked to say the least; the deal was too good to be true. He looked at Jason, trying to see if the teen was lying, but the energy user looked completely serious, he even stuck his hand out for them to shake on it.
"Ok deal." Jason nodded and removed his hat and shades. His bright green eyes glowed slightly, to a normal person they would have been unnerving but Robin was so used to strange, they didn't faze him.
"What's your weapon of choice?"
"What's yours?" Jason smiled as he bowed slightly. He moved over to a wall and opened a crate; from inside he pulled out a katana, and a naginita. He laid both weapons on the ground with respect, each well looked after. He picked up the naginita, spinning the long weapons as if it was a part of his body.
"I choose this."
"You've studied Kenjustsu?"
"And some Ninjustsu, as well as Karate."
"Raven mentioned you came from Japan." Jason nodded a smile on his face. "Well it seems I should honor you by taking this seriously."
"Well if you want to keep your honor." Both shared a smirk, Robin drew his collapsible bo staff from his belt, then put the belt on a crate.
"Fair is fair." The two shook hands, bowed then took their fighting stances. They circled each other slowly, neither willing to make the first move. Then in a flash the two clashed, Jason's blade scraping against Robin's staff. Robin's staff was lighter, and he had much more experience wielding it. He hit Jason more times than Jason could strike back. That's not to say Jason was a slouch. Against a normal opponent, even an exceptional one, Jason would do well, but Robin was above exceptional. He had no powers, just skill and gadgets. When you're facing super-powered opponents with nothing but skill, its got to be top notch otherwise you're dead. Still Robin didn't have an easy time. He caught the edge of the naginita several times, the razor edge slicing through the body armor. After five minutes Robin decided to end it. He swung his staff around and brought it down over his head. Jason blocked with his weapon, only Robin kept going, dropping down and kicking the energy user's legs out from under him. As Jason fell, Robin jumped up and landed over Jason, his bo staff pointed at the other's head.
"Give up?" Jason looked at the staff then at Robin, a smile on his face.
"Don't got much choice huh?"
"Nah." Jason nodded, Robin backed off and helped the other up. "Well looks like I got to pack." His eyes glowed brighter and soon a well organized suitcase appeared. Spots for each of his weapons were made, as well as storage for his few clothes. Once those were packed up he grabbed his backpack and tossed it inside before turning to Robin (he had grabbed his utility belt). "I'm ready."
"Follow me."
"Or I could just fly us there, shouldn't be hard to lift up that bike of yours." Robin thought about it for a minute then nodded.
"Ok come outside then we'll fly to the Tower." The two walked outside and once Jason was near the bike, he made a large platform that lifted the pair, plus the bike, into the air. The Platform then became an old school three mast sailing ship. "Well this is subtle." Jason smirked from the helm, an energy hat on his head.
"I like it." The green ship lit up the sky as it "sailed" to Titan's Tower. It landed in the water, allowing Robin to roll his bike down. The two entered through a side door that led to the garage, parking Robin's bike before heading up to the common room.