The next morning Dick woke up to his alarm clock at six actually feeling refreshed. As he showered he went over the things still bothering him.
First he thought of the masked man. He still had no real clues as to how he escaped and there had been no more incidents that looked like him since yesterday morning. After a few minutes mulling that over he came back to his question about heroes. Part of it was he had been having a hard time figuring out what kind of hero he truly wanted to be. He knew he needed to get out of Batman's shadow but he didn't feel he could bring out Nightwing until he had his own answer to his question. He just wished it didn't bug him so much.
Dick made it down to the common room and noted it was 631. Raven was busy with her morning routine so he went about his. As he sat down at the computer with his breakfast he decided to look more personally into the vigilante case.
Mostly he saw things he already knew. The guy used blades seemed to tend towards minimal force except with those two known cases and almost never left a trace. There were no skin samples, no blood samples, no strands of hair, no finger prints, and only an untraceable footprint and a gouge in a concrete wall. He did find something interesting though. The guy had never once done anything, that was found at least, on a Wednesday. He wasn't sure how he had missed that, but it was definitely interesting.
"Hey, Raven do you have any idea why someone would avoid a daily routine specifically on a Wednesday?" Dick questioned in a break of routine.
She looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "There is no custom or religious belief that I know of that would keep someone form a daily routine, so I would guess it is something personal," She reasoned.
"Figures, nothing that can actually help us unless we know more about him," he replied sounding frustrated.
"This about the vigilante from yesterday?" she came over and looked over his shoulder noting he had a calender with all the Wednesdays highlighted up on the computer she went on, "So he never strikes on Wednesday, we know whatever it is he is doing is more important to him than fighting thugs."
"We don't know what it is though. Until we know that we won't know if we can exploit it. Thanks for the input though," he leaned back and thought about any possibility as to what the guy was doing on his days off. He then looked up to the clock. "Shit! Today is Wednesday"
"Sharp detective work there, Richard." He saw her hiding a smile behind her teacup.
"Well, I suppose there is no reason to look for him this morning is there? I guess I'll just have to settle for whatever Vic and I can scrounge up tonight."
"That's the spirit," Raven said blandly.
"Joyous morning friends!" Kori came bursting in through the doors and of course went for Dick. Yet again blushing even though only Raven was in the room and she wouldn't stare anyway. Dick returned her hug.
Later when they were all finished with their morning routines and Gar and Vic were playing the Gamestation and the others were mostly just sitting and watching Dick spoke again, "Well Raven and I found out that we probably won't have to worry about the vigilante striking today."
Without looking away from his game Garfield spoke, "How do you figure that?"
"Well in the time he has been in Jump he has never once done anything traceable on a Wednesday," Richard explained.
At this Gar's character was killed brutally by Vic's and they both turned to him. "Well I guess its good we don't have to worry about him, but will you be alright without someone to chase for a whole day?" Victor said in mock sincerity.
"I should be fine I'll just drill you guys until I get tired and call it a day," he replied with a grin. "Come on every one, training time."
He had arrived in town about half an hour ago. He enjoyed certain parts of Riverside over Jump city. For one it was less crowded. In some parts of the county it was actually rural area. Though he was in the titular city so it was still a bit crowded. The other thing he liked was it was relatively safe as it wasn't a large city by any standards. He followed his usual routine of going to the same flower shop he always did.
"Long time no see, you!" the lady behind the counter exclaimed. "I feel like its been a week since you were here."
He smiled at that and then said, "I try to stick to the same boring routine. Anything you'd recommend this week?"
"These lily's are definitely a good choice." she said sounding like she said it a million times.
"So, who's the special lady you buy flowers for all the time?" she questioned with a cheeky look about her.
"Oh I try not to let the same woman hold me down for too long," he joked then as he walked out with his purchase he waved and said, "Thanks Jess!"
He then made his way on the short walk towards the apartment complex a few blocks away.
He made it to his destination and knocked on the door to the apartment.
"Jason!" was the reply as the door was answered.
"Man I can never catch you by surprise can I?" Jason replied.
"Well maybe if you visited on a day besides a Wednesday then I would be surprised," she said while feeling around on the shelf for the vase. "Damn maid you hired must have moved my stuff again, I swear that woman just likes pissing me off."
"Here let me help, Sammy." Jason got up and grabbed it for her.
She gave out a frustrated sigh. "I'm blind, not an invalid," she said reproachfully.
"I know that, you make sure I never forget, but that doesn't change the fact that your my little sister and I am not going to watch you stumble if I can help," Jason replied in a calm tone.
"Well you already do more than enough for me. I don't even know how hard you work for all that you have given me, but I do know you always seem tired whenever I hear from you," she said with a few tears in her eyes. "Its not fair for you to have to do so much for me."
"Hey," he said grabbing Sammy's hand. "If it weren't for you I might have been the one blinded instead. Besides you'd do it for me. Even if I wasn't blind."
"That doesn't make this situation any better its still unfair for you."
"Oh yes cause I'm the one who got the short straw. I came out with minor emotional trauma. You came out with that and you lost your eyesight. I think I can deal with helping you out with your money problems."
"You know you make it impossible to feel sorry for you," Sammy claimed with a huff. "Alright, besides we shouldn't be arguing this is our time to hang out."
"Exactly, so anything special happen this week?"
At this she blushed and looked down, a habit she had not lost despite being blind. "Nothing in particular," she said with a perfectly even tone.
"This "nothing in particular" wouldn't happen to involve a guy would it?"
"What makes you say that?" she said voice still even.
"You're a terrible liar, Samantha. Why don't you trust me with these things?"
"Probably cause of Brad." she stated blandly.
"That's not even fair, he was cheating on you," said Jason in a defensive tone.
"So you broke his arm, don't you think that's a little extreme?"
"Hey, he tried to stab me!"
"Yeah, but Jenny told me you had his arm locked up for at least five seconds before you did it." Samantha was starting to yell now.
He looked away guiltily and didn't speak for a minute. "That was we were teens and I was already pissed off at myself. I just took it out on him cause I saw him messing around behind your back. That's really the reason I always keep my temper in check now. That was the last time I really lost my cool. I mean honestly how often can you recall when I lost my temper?" He had promised himself he would never lift his hand in anger since that had happened. So far he had been able to keep that one.
"I just worry about you. Whenever you call me you always sound ready to kill. That scares me," she replied quietly.
"Look I promise I won't kill him until he breaks your heart," Jason joked around and made a mental note to call her when he wasn't ready to kill sometime. "Is there any chance of me meeting him today?"
"Not until the afternoon, he works nights at some club downtown. So he won't be up for a while. At around five I can give you his address if you want to go."
"Okay I guess that works, for now though what should we do?"
Gar was definitely wiped out. They hadn't had such rigorous training in quite some time. Dick probably did it cause they didn't do much yesterday, but somehow this didn't make it any better. He remembered that he was supposed to see Raven in a little while. He guessed that he probably shouldn't show up smelling like he did, and he was hungry so he made a couple detours.
When he showed up to Raven's room she let him in silently as she always did. "So what do you want to talk about today?" she said as he sat down on the reclining chair.
"Really, I can't think of anything that is still bugging me overly much anymore," Gar said in all seriousness.
"Well is there anything about the mental exercises I gave you that you would like clarified?" Raven questioned.
"Umm... I think I got it all down so, no. I think... I think I'm happy. I mean really happy. I haven't felt like this since I was with the Doom Patrol," he was starting to ramble near the end.
"Its definitely a good thing that you are happy now. I guess for now we should break away from the schedule and you can just ask me anytime you feel you need my help. Don't forget about the exercises and if you try to bottle anything up on us then I will be forced to track you down and drag you out of your shell," she was worried that much was certain, but she knew that he was actually happy. In truth she had felt it for quite a while coming from him. She stood up and stretched then said, "Well I suppose that's it for today then."
"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out like this maybe some other time." Garfield said with a blush creeping up his neck. "I think I'd miss talking with you like this. I feel like I can tell you anything."
"You know, you can tell anyone of the others anything," Raven said in comforting voice missing his blush.
"That's not the only reason I would like to hang out with you more." he couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.
That was when Raven realized what it was she was feeling from Garfield. "Oh, I... I really need to meditate right now. Could we talk later instead?" she blurted out.
"Oh, sure that's fine." he said with a smile and went for the door.
She could feel the hurt though and it made her want to cry. As he got farther away she could feel the hurt turn to anger. "Oh Azar, now he probably hates me," she said to no one with a hitch in her voice. She then did meditate since her emotions were starting to swirl around and she very well might lose control at this rate.
"Why do you have to be so stupid," Garfield berated himself as he locked himself in his room and slid down to the floor. "Of course she wouldn't be interested in dating the crazy guy."
He got up and did what was his new custom whenever he was brooding. He started reading one of the multitude of texts on animals Raven had gotten him. He figured if he was going to brood he may as well do something constructive with his time. It also helped him calm down and look at things from a more clinical perspective. Once he calmed down sometime later he decided to go see if anything interesting was on TV.
Kori'ander was definitely happier now that Richard had shared more of himself with her and the others. She could tell that something else besides the vigilante was bothering him though and it worried her that she didn't know what it was. He of course hid it very well and rarely if ever gave any clues as to what it was. Likely the only other person who had noticed was Raven but she had her mind occupied on Garfield's problems so Kori didn't think she would know anything other than what Richard was feeling.
She decided to look for Raven anyway to have a talk at least. She found Raven meditating on the rooftop as was her first instinct.
"I am sorry for the interruption if you must continue, but I was hoping we could talk," Kori'ander intruded softly. This was something no one took lightly as it was nearly the only time Raven had snapped at anyone in recent memory.
"No its alright Kori, I was just finishing up." Raven stood and stretched. "Anything in particular you wanted to talk about," Raven said trying to bury her sorrow.
It did not work Kori noticed a catch in Raven's voice. "What troubles you friend Raven?"
"Nothing's wrong," Raven lied perfectly this time.
Kori would not be deterred though. She got a stubborn look in her eye and said, "Raven I am not a fool please do not treat me as such. I am guessing since you are trying so hard to hide it it has something to do with friend Garfield?"
"W-what makes you think that?" she was starting to blush now. She turned around and made a mental note to meditate more, she couldn't pass a lie past a drunk blind man anymore.
"Raven it is obvious how you feel about him."
"You don't know what your talking about. We are just friends."
"You want to be more though," Kori felt like it was past time that some pushed these two out of their sitting positions and forced them to stop ignoring how they felt. If that push had to be more of a kick she was willing to give it.
"Look will you just drop it!" she nearly yelled.
"Raven, I don't see why you are being so stubborn about this. I'm sure Garfield would return your affections if you would give them."
"Its kind of a moot point now," Raven nearly choked as she said this.
"What do you mean?"
"He... he was trying to ask me out and I freaked out told him I needed to meditate, which ended up being true, he probably hates me now," she said in a quavering voice and then sat down.
Kori went over and sat down next to Raven and gave her a light hug. Raven gave a small sniffle. "You are being silly," Kori said loudly.
This was not what Raven expected and she looked at Kori'ander with wide eyes. "W-what?" she managed to stutter out.
"Trust me when I say this Garfield would not hate you unless you tried to kill him, and even then I doubt it would come easily to him."
"Well I know that he was hurt when he left and got really angry soon after," she said forlornly.
"Raven, I believe you are misunderstanding why he was angry," Kori said patiently.
She shot Kori a venomous look. "Don't patronize me. I hurt him he got angry what is there to understand?"
"I am certain that if you just talk to friend Garfield he will understand," Kori stated still using her patient tone.
"Alright if it will get you to stop bugging me about it I'll talk to him." Raven stood up and made her way to the door. Slowly.
Kori'ander sat there for a few moments hoping that she had gone about it the right way. After all if something bad happened between those two they could all end up losing one or more friends. She then got up and followed suit.
Gar had been watching TV for a while when something started nagging at him. He kept watching TV for a while, but it did not go away. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he knew it had something to do with Raven. He couldn't blame the way she reacted, although he felt hurt she had to lie to him, but if she wasn't interested there was nothing he could do about it.
He had the feeling he was getting close to it. Like it was just beyond reach and almost visible to him. He just hoped she didn't start avoiding him or get angry at him for making things awkward. It hit him like an explosion.
He was up like a gunshot searching for Raven. He did not want her to think he was angry at her. That could end up worse than anything else if he didn't fix it.
Raven turned a corner and got bowled over for her efforts. "What in the world is wrong with you!" she yelled, and felt a mixture of panic and anxiety from her assailant.
"Sorry Raven." She froze at the voice and saw the legs from under her hood. She had not expected to have to talk to him so soon after escaping Kori. "I wanted to let you know I'm not mad at you."
Her eyes shot up to his face at these words. "W-what?" she felt she was stuttering entirely too much today.
He knelt down with a sad smile on his face. "I realized just now you probably thought I was mad at you," he said in an equally sad tone. "I was mad at myself. I should have known you didn't like me like that."
"That's not true!" she blurted out and then started blushing.
"W-what?" It was Gar's turn to stutter.
"I just panicked when you started asking me out. Although I did end up needing to meditate anyway so it wasn't entirely a lie," she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes so she looked at the floor. "Are you sure you not mad at me?"
"Why should I be? We all panic sometimes. Besides you are relatively new to expressing your emotions." he reasoned with his goofy grin in place.
"I do want to try for a relationship Garfield, I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet," she said.
This barely put a dent in his mood and did not touch his smile. "That's okay I'm willing to wait. If you need space right now that's fine, but just tell me when your ready."
Her eyes started tearing up and she hugged him. "I thought I had lost a friend."
"Never lose me," he stated reassuringly.
"Kori said something along those lines, except it involved me killing you."
"Well Kori is a smart girl," Gar said between chuckles.
Cyborg had been brooding. He was the least likely, besides Kori, of the Titans to be caught brooding. Yet he had been brooding nonetheless. There were multiple subjects, most recently it had been of a more romantic nature. He knew his friends would not exclude him from anything but he could not help feeling somewhat left out. Dick and Kori had been a couple for quite a while now and he had just overheard Gar and Raven talking and they were about half a step away from being a couple. It wasn't simply that they all were together either. It had just as much to do with his body. He wasn't exactly attractive to the eye. Considering this, it wouldn't exactly be easy to find someone willing to look past that.
He decided to go to the park as he would do often when he was feeling down. It was still early afternoon so he might catch the kids and be able to play a few games with them.
As luck would have it he did get to see the kids. He also met their new teacher.
After the last game he was approached by a woman. "Hi my name is Sarah the kids have told me so much about you Mr. Cyborg."
By this time he had already told the kids, they must not have had a chance to tell her with all the playing. "Just call me Victor. I don't believe I have heard about you."
"I only started working at the school four days ago, but they have already filled me in on all your exploits," Sarah said with a smile.
"I hope they told you only the good things," he said half joking.
"Oh they told me all about the time you got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by Starfire," she said jovially.
"Ah man, there goes my infallible facade," he said laughing. "Well it was nice to meet you Sarah, but I gotta be back at the tower soon or Robin will be breathing down my neck about the patrol tonight."
He then exchanged goodbyes with the children and left.
Jason and Samantha arrived at Daniel's apartment about a quarter after five. "You seem nervous," Jason stated with an impish smile.
"Its not every day your crazy older brother meets your boyfriend of a whole week," she retorted.
"I can honestly say that has never happened to me," Jason stated.
"I knew you were gay," Sammy quipped.
"What? You afraid Imma steal him from you?"
"I can never win with you, can I?"
"That's cause I'm much cuter than you," he replied with a laugh.
At that Sam just rolled her eyes and rang the door bell. The door was answered by a man similar in age to Jason and about the same height, but of a slim build. Jason started talking nearly immediately, "Hi, I'm Jason. I believe you know my sister." At this he indicated Sammy and when the guy nodded he continued, "I'm here to kill you."
At this Daniel's eyes widened to epic proportions. Then Samantha knocked Jason on the head and said, "You promised no murdering would occur tonight."
"No I promised I wouldn't murder him until he broke your heart," Jason said with a smile as he followed her in.
"Okay, I guess that works for me, seeing as I don't plan on doing that," Daniel said casually.
"Well that's good to hear," Jason said. "Murdering isn't exactly easy. I mean killing is the easy part, but then you gotta cover your tracks and that's no easy feet with forensic technology the way it is these days."
"I definitely believe you two are related, you both have the same twisted sense of humor. At least I try to convince myself its humor," Daniel said in a dry voice.
Some time later Daniel stood up and said, "Well I'd love to spend more time with you guys but I gotta get ready for work. Sam told me you visit every Wednesday. Your welcome here anytime." He lead them to the door in Samantha's case by hand. The two shared a kiss and then Jason and Samantha left.
"He called you Sam," Jason said plainly.
"He did indeed."
"You don't let anyone call you that. You must really like him."
At this Sammy blushed. "Does this mean he has your approval?"
"He seems to get you. I'm happy for you." Jason then put an arm over Samantha's shoulder and they contacted a cab service and waited next to the street.
"So when will I get to meet someone special for you?" Samantha said as they arrived at her complex
"Oh you know me, no woman will ever tie me down, unless its for kinky sex," he replied jokingly.
"Eww I so did not need to think about that. Well you be careful out there Casanova." She then waved to him and walked towards her apartment.
Ever since she had saved him that day he had thrown himself into making sure she had what she needed. Even with his crime-fighting more recently he had made sure she lived comfortably. This was also why she lived in Riverside rather than closer to Jump. He would not risk her safety for his convenience.
He turned and walked off. Time to rest up for another day of work.
Dick was up at 533. At first not fully awake and aware he was not sure why he had woken. But he was fast in coming to normal function after sleeping, and thinking it over a few moments he realized it was probably because he was going on the hunt and was anxious to catch this vigilante. He needed to get this guy off the streets. He got about getting ready for the day almost immediately.
When he arrived in the common room it was exactly 600. He even got there before Raven, albeit only by a few minutes. She showed no sign of being surprised at his presence. Not that Richard expected her to let anything show, or even be surprised at that.
After she had eaten and had her tea she came over to where Dick was intently studying the computer screen. "Find anything that looks like a possible hit on our mysterious vigilante?" she often skipped pleasantries anyway.
"No. I didn't expect to find anything yet. He has only left traces this early once before. He's very good at covering his tracks so I can't tell if its because he starts later usually or if he is just that good."
"What kind of time are we looking at for him to close up shop?"
"Same deal. Seems like he just goes however long he feels like and whenever he feels like," Richard was definitely sounding frustrated. "The others will be up soon. So lets come up with some kinda search plan."
While the others were eating there meals, Dick explained his plans for the day, "Okay no training, but no leisure time today. Raven and Kori are going to take to the air to search for this guy. The rest of us will go on foot and we'll use Gar's nose to try and sniff him out. I want to get this guy today. This guy may not be trying to go on a random killing spree, or destroy the city, but he is still a killer and we have absolutely no idea what he is capable of, so be careful."
Apparently even Gar did not feel it was appropriate to joke here.
The Teen Titans were out hunting mere minutes later. The day was long and hard and they fought off random crimes as they came across them. They met up back home midday to go over any possibilities and eat. They were back out shortly thereafter. No one gave any sign of chafing at the day's orders and no one complained, well Beastboy joked about Robin being a slave-driver, but no one took him seriously about it. Robin was proud his team was definitely more mature than when they started. The same went for him.
Early in the evening they had their first find. Starfire and Raven found a sight that had the guy's MO splashed on it like red paint. They relaid the coordinates to the guys then went on searching for him. When the guys got there Beastboy picked up his scent immediately and followed it. Unfortunately it looked like they'd never track him like this because he pulled the same vanishing act he had before.
Later nearing on 2200 Starfire reported in on a chance encounter with Adonis and Cinderblock.
"Shit, what is your status?" Robin had to yell to be heard on the other end.
"We are presently fine, but I do not believe we can handle both of them on our own." Starfire had to duck more than one thrown object saying this.
"We'll be there as soon as possible," he replied as he started tracking their location.
Robin took to the rooftops as Beastboy picked up Cyborg and they flew off.
As Robin was traversing the rooftops he heard gunshots from an alleyway. Without a second thought he whipped out his communicator and called Cy. "I hear gunshots. You guys should be enough help for those two. I got this."
"Okay dude, but be careful. See ya in a bit."
Robin did not respond he looked over the top of the building he heard the shots come from. He saw one man surrounded by armed men. So he did what came as natural as breathing for him. He threw down smoke grenades and landed an instant after they blew and by the time the smoke was clear all the men were unconscious. He looked around and saw about twice as many out as he had taken down.
"Thanks for that one I suppose I owe you, even if it wasn't necessary."
Robin spun on the man realization dawning on him. "If you feel it will repay your debt you could always give up and come to jail."
"That is too much payment for any debt," he replied smiling.
"Well of course. So are you gonna run this time?"
"I actually felt like a chat."
"You know that's what usually happens with you types." Robin was watching him for even the slightest twitch.
"Ah, but I'm not crazy. Who knows maybe you could learn something."
"I doubt it." In reality Robin was waiting for an opening. While this guy may look relaxed to the untrained eye he always had his arms covering weak points.
"You know, I have been studying super-heroes for quite some time. Of course I found similarities to what I do, but I found differences as well. You know what the biggest one is?"
"You're a murderer," Robin said no emotion evident in his voice.
He got a soft chuckle for his trouble. "You really think no one in your line of work kills or has killed? That is naivete to an extreme. No, the biggest difference is simply how we are displayed. Batman used to be more like me. He was at most a myth. Now he is a super-hero and along with that comes the responsibility of being in the spotlight. I mean what is a super-hero really? What makes him more than a hero? It is not method. Its definitely not the cape." This hit a nerve and distracted Robin as he had been thinking similar things recently. "What do you think really defines a super-hero?"
Robin did not answer mostly cause he did not have one.
He lost his grin then."Well I'll tell you the main difference right now between you and me is not what a hero is. I know my limits and rules and I know when I can push them. I even got a pretty good idea of when I can break them. Do you know yours? Or are you living under some other person's rules and limits?"
"I think that's just an excuse to be lazy and murder. I don't think you aren't willing to break any rule."
"I think your too much like Batman. You go full tilt until your body gives out. You have got to learn to accept that you can't save the world on your own. Even Superman understands that. You have four team mates anyone of which would give their life for you."
"Why do you do this? The real reason."
"Some one has to keep the world from falling apart while the dreamers change it."
"See, now your contradicting yourself."
"First of all, I never said I was saving the world. Second, who says I'm alone? Do you think I'm really the only person who does what I do?" He paused to see if Robin would respond.
"No organizations, pretty much like the super-heroes other than that. Just a bunch of people who see the world falling apart around them and decide you guys need some help. Only met a few myself. There probably aren't as many of us as there are super-heroes. We all know the risks. For our methods we are branded criminals by your type and hunted down like any other criminal. Many have died defending what they believe in. Some got caught."
"Why are you even telling me this?"
"Maybe I'm just goin' soft. I don't really know."
"So, you never gave me a name. Since your in the sharing mood why not enlighten me?"
"You know what? Why not? You can call me Jason. For the the man who would find the Golden Fleece."
Robin could tell this guy was jerking him around, but to what end? It was at this point that something black shot from Jason and pinned Robin to the wall.
A/N Oh man a cliffhanger? How could I? Well if anyone wants to guess this time I'd be willing to share, but I don't think you will get it personally. Next one will be up within the next 2 or 3 days. Please Review!
