Detectives Harper and Roth approached Bart Allen, hoping for better news than was expected. It was clear that there was no way the bad news could be avoided. They had another body on their hands.

Raven was the first to speak, though neither detective had anything to say. 72 hours straight of fruitless work could do that to a person, it seemed. To Bart, the most obvious sign that the detectives were generally frazzled were the dark circles under their eyes and their wrinkled shirts. Not to mention the fact that Roy was closing his eyes behind what he thought were darkly tinted sunglasses.

"Who's the victim?" she asked, sighing in exasperation and sadness.

"Her name is Joanna Custer. She's twenty seven." Bart knew the case by now, and knew that the previous victim was connected to the latest one.

"Let me guess: fourteen bullet holes, blunt force head trauma, and post mortem strangling," Roy said, as if this was mundane. Which, in reality, sickened him.

"Yes, however, fluids were present," Bart replied. The detectives, who had been inspecting the body and its position, transferred their gaze from the dead woman to Allen.

"She was assaulted?" Roy asked in disbelief, suddenly realizing he could, in fact, be more disgusted with this case than ever before.

Raven took a more careful inspection of the body. Miniskirt. Thigh-high lace ups. Cleavage. Lots of it. Oh.

"Look at the way she's dressed Roy," Raven answered wistfully, "She was a prostitute." The look on Roy's face suggested the idea clicked with him. However, once more, he frowned.

"She still could have been assaulted," Roy replied, not sure that this woman's…profession mattered.

At this point, Bart decided it would be a good time to enlighten the detectives. Hopefully before they became too enthralled with all of the other details.

"I could only do a cursory examination, but I'm nearly positive this was not sexual assault. I'll let you know for sure after I get her back to the morgue, but I'm going to have to side with raven on this one."

"Which is not to say she wasn't assaulted. It just means she consented," Raven replied, upset with the entire situation, not taking any pride in her observance. She turned away, heading back to the squad car. As she was sitting down, Roy made her to pause.

"Who says you're driving?" he asked.

"Holy Crap! What is it with you people? Why can't I drive?" Raven said, a vein throbbing in her forehead. Taking notice, Roy backed down. Taking his seat, Roy made sure to buckle in. Taking notice of his obvious desire to tightly harness himself in, Raven promised to give him the ride of his life. She put the car in gear and drove back to the station.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Roy unbuckled his seatbelt with shaky hands. He opened the car door, stepping out onto the sidewalk. Roy was speechless. Well, he actually wasn't.

"I don't think I've ever gotten from the docks to the precinct in 20 minutes," he said laughing. "I don't think anyone has. Ever. Congratulations."

"I'll accept my award later," she said, closing the door behind her and walking around to meet Roy as they strode toward the precinct doors.

As soon as they crossed the threshold of the building, Dick grabbed Roy, pulling him right back out the sidewalk. Not particularly in the mood for argument, Roy merely posed a simple question/

"Where're we going?"

"We're going to talk to Wilson," Dick replied, face like stone."We have to see what this guy is up to."

Raven, who has paused at the door when someone she was walking next and actively conversing with was suddenly back outside, but chuckled to herself and continued inside. Realizing all the desks were empty, she went investigating. The first place she checked was the affectionately titled "Edison Hall." This is where the interrogation rooms were located. And where light bulbs were so painfully neglected once they started to malfunction and flicker.

This is where she found Victor in the interrogation room questioning Rose Wilson's friend, "Jinx." Judging by his facial expression, Raven assumed he was yielding no results. There had to be some way to get evidence of something—hell, anything at this point. Even a parking ticket would suffice. Becoming as frustrated as Vic looked in what she imagined was much less time, Raven made her way back to her desk to start some research.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Roy decided to cover the side entrance while Dick knocked on the door.

"Slade Wilson, this is the Bludhaven Police Department. We'd like to speak with you," Richard yelled as he waited for an answer. They tried the same thing a few more times, when they heard shuffling—possibly the most irritating noise a cop could ever hear. Waiting for confirmation, Dick cursed under his breath when Roy called out from the side.

"He's going out the window!" Roy yelled, drawing his gun and giving chase. The man ran into a neighboring alley, knocking over garbage cans and other trash to slow down the detectives in pursuit. By this point, Dick had caught up to Roy and was easily gaining on the dark, running

STOP, THIS IS THE POLICE!" Dick yelled between heaving breaths. Luckily, the man tripped on a coat rack he knocked over a little too early. As he got up, he was tackled by two of Bludhaven's finest. Turning the man over, as he had been laying face down, Dick saw the figure in question was none other than Slade Wilson. Looking up at Roy as he put the handcuffs on him, he grinned.

"Well isn't this a compromising position?" Roy said, grinning just as widely as Dick.

"Slade Wilson, you're under arrest for evading the police and impeding and investigation. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law," Roy said, reciting list of Miranda rights. With that, they picked the Wilson up, and hauled him into the backseat of their blue sedan.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"So, Slade, how do you feel about recreational drugs?" Roy asked, turning the chair opposite Wilson around sitting down. His sleeves rolled up, he folded his arms on the table. Slade merely raised an eyebrow, generally unimpressed and uninterested.

"I don't see what this has to do with anything. I have nothing to do with drugs," he said wit obvious exaggeration. "I want my lawyer," Wilson said. He crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, very clearly not concerned with his situation. Roy leaned forward, arms on the table and fingers interlaced.

"Well that's good, because you'll need one," Roy replied walked out of the dimly lit room.

Victor, who had been "chatting" with Jinx up until that point, stood up and closed the door behind him, leaving Jinx to stew over her predicament. Immediately searching for Raven, he found her pouring over something on her computer and some files, he approached her with some vigor.

"Guess who that was," Victor said, obviously brimming with some sort of new information.

"Judging by the way she was dressed, I'd have to say a hooker. Mozeltov" Raven replied, not turning from her computer screen.

"Thanks," Vic replied in monotone. "And guess who she was friends with," he added, this time grabbing her attention. Turning away from the screen and spinning around in her chair to see Vic leaning against his desk with a look of triumph on his face.

"Alana Gould," she replied, in an interested tone.

"And Joanna Custer. But now guess whose she's working for," Vic said as a smile crossed his face.

"You're sure she wasn't lying?" Raven asked in utter disbelief.

"It's really Slade Wilson," he answered, enthusiastic for the first time in this entire case. Both of them were pleased with this new found insight.

Entering the main room of the precinct, Dick eye's searched the space for Raven, eager to take advantage of some well-earned break time. Finally resting upon her short black hair, he approached her. Raven, somewhat unable to read his expression, turned around completely to face him and narrowed her eyes.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"So what do you want to know about me? You did drag me down here. Don't get shy now," Raven commented, noticing Dick's sudden silence. Possibly the most outgoing and flirtatious man she knew wanted to get to know her better, and now he was playing coy.

Dick invited Raven down to Duffy's to get to know her. If he was going to be putting his life in her hands, he figured he wanted to know who his life was going to.

"I just feel like I may have come on a little forceful just now," he replied sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I guess I'll start with me. But you have to promise you'll take me seriously. It's going to sound a little odd."

"Scout's honor," Raven answered, holding up her hand. This oughta be interesting. Taking a deep breath, Dick began.

"Alright. When I was young—I mean really young—my parents and I were part of a circus act. The Flying Graysons. Trapeze. My mom used to call me Robin because of the way I would fly around the tent." Up until this point, Dick's face showed nostalgia and joy. Like looking at a photoalbum from childhood. Dick then paused for a moment, his content demeanor changing to sadness.

"One night, before our act in Gotham, I saw this hood trying to shakedown Mr. Hailey, the owner of the circus. Hailey sent him away, but he didn't really seem like he was backing down. So, when we began our performance, I could tell something was off. That's when I really the goon that tried was hasseling Mr. Hialey had sabotaged the strings we were actively swinging from. My parents fell to their deaths in front of the crowd." At this point, Dick was staring down at his drink, very obviously pained by the memory. He didn't even look at Raven because he knew the look she would have. Pity. He hated pity. But, he looked up and anyway and was surprised by what he saw. He didn't see pity, at least not a lot of it. He saw understanding. Oh. His interest momentarily outweighing his grief, Dick continued his story.

"Bruce Wayne—" seeing the look on her face as she spit out her drink, Dick beat her to the punch, "Yes, that Bruce Wayne—took me in. I found out the murderer's name was Tony Zucco. He escaped. So I became a cop to catch him."

"Did you?" she asked, quite engrossed in his story.

"I caught wind of him a few years back, but never actually caught him," he replied somewhat angrily. Realizing she had hit a sore spot, Raven tried her best to change the subject.

"So what was life like as the ward of the infamous Bruce Wayne?" Raven asked somewhat incredulously. Dick smiled, obviously coming across much happier memories.

"For the most part, it was great," he said matter-of-factly. "Bruce is a really great guy and he could afford to give me the best of the best. He really indulged my interests, helped me cultivate all the things I needed to do what I wanted to do. There is no way I could be what I am today without him." Leaning across the table, Dick continued in a hushed voice.

"Don't tell anyone, but he really isn't the airhead he plays in his daily life. He's actually the most intelligent person I have ever encountered and he is definitely the most generous."

Raven chuckled a bit. "I don't think anyone would believe me even if I tried to convince them anyway." Dick joined her in a quick laugh, and then the duo returned to silence. Raven took that as her invitation to spill.

"Life was great when I was young, as far as I could tell. My mom was really good to me, and I loved her with all of my heart. My dad worked all the time, so I never got to know him that well, which I guess I didn't really care about at that point in time." Raven stopped to take a swig of her drink, a reasonably long one at that. Not eager to continue, she sighed sadly and went on.

"I distinctly remember it," she said nodding her head. Dick didn't know what she was talking about, but he knew he was about to find out.

"When I was four, my parents had gotten into a fight. It was about money, I think, but that's not really important," she said, obviously going on tangents to avoid the truth. Dick could tell that this was something she buried, something she rarely, if ever, unearthed.

"Anyway, my father started yelling. I went to the corner of the next room, trying to block out the sound. He had a booming voice, and when he was angry, he sounded like the Devil himself." Raven started fidgeting, spinning the glass around in circles, going off on tangents in her mind.

"My mother threatened to take me and leave. I don't really understand why he got so upset; he never cared about either of us." Her digressions confirmed Dick's suspicions. There was something he was about to be privy to that few others were.

"Anyway, he started to poor himself glasses of scotch or brandy or whiskey or something. Whatever he had in his liquor cabinet. My mother made what I always assumed was a move to leave the room, and he grabbed her arm. By that point I was watching through the crack in the door. Then, he began wailing on her, knocked her out cold. I ran into the room crying, and I jumped on top of her hoping my presence would make him stop." She paused again, this time eyes narrowed and unfocused. "It didn't." She stopped again, shaking her head.

"He just kicked me off of her like a piece of garbage. I hit the wall pretty hard. My mom tried to get up to help me. When she realized she wouldn't reach me, she started crying and told me to run. I tried to get up—God, I tried so hard—but I felt so weak." Dick couldn't help but feel guilty as Raven started tearing up. She was holding them back, but it was obvious she was reliving this day, and he knew it was because of a question he asked.

"He was infuriated. He placed his foot over her throat and pressed." She closed her eyes. She realized she was supposed to be sharing, but she wasn't about to cry in front of someone she had known from less than two months.

"He waited until she stopped squirming. Once I saw he lying there, motionless, I mustered all the strength in me, and ran out of the room. Unfortunately I heard him coming, so I hid in the next room. He saw me. But he didn't see my mother.

"She had played possum. She knew he would underestimate her. On her way out of the room, she grabbed a letter opener. She stabbed him in the shoulder. My mom told me to run, so I did. The second I turned around, I saw him plunging the letter opener into her throat. Terrified as I was, I didn't want him to find me, so I ran into my room. There was a little secret door my mom and I found when we cleaned out my closet that day. I opened the window and pushed out the screen to make it look like I jumped out the first story window. I ran into the little door in the closet and closed it." Raven continued to fidget, unable to look Dick in the eye for fear of him seeing her unstable. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.

"I heard him coming, and I thought I was dead. I thought he was going to find me. When I heard him open the door, I almost screamed. But he didn't open the closet." She left out the part where she wept for almost four hours straight, struggling to be as quiet as she could. She didn't need to be that vulnerable.

"I didn't sleep the entire night. In what I then assumed to be the morning, I heard him open the back door. He was dragging my mother out. I thought it was my chance, so I ran towards the front door." She shook her head, obviously criticizing herself for what she believed to be a mistake.

"I was so stupid—so loud. He saw me. I jumped into the neighbor's bushes, but he found me. He told me that as long as I never told anyone, he wouldn't hurt me." Dick caught the critical look again.

"He lied. He broke my arm trying to get me back in the house." Raven rubbed her arm, feeling a ghost of the ache of that day.

"The neighbors saw my mom's body in the back yard and called the police. They picked him up and took me to the hospital. I never told them what happened. I was in shock and I was afraid he could still hurt me. But he was sloppy, and they didn't need my testimony to prove that he did it. I bounced around from foster home to foster home until I went to college on a full scholarship. Eventually, I ended up here." Raven was finished, and it was clear when she finished her beer.

Dick was unsure how to react. Sure, his childhood was rough. But, compared to hers, it seemed like heaven. They sat in silence for a while. Now, there wasn't much to talk about. There wasn't much they wanted to talk about.

"Why don't we walk back to the station? It's close," she offered, tired of being in the bar. If she felt like spilling anymore, she was going to be tipping over.

"Sounds good to me," Dick said as he moved to cover the bar tab. Raven smacked his hand.

"Let's at least split," she said, throwing her half of the check on the table. Shaking his head and chuckling, Dick put on his coat and followed Raven out of the bar, out onto the cold, windy streets of Bludhaven.

"So we're obviously both damaged goods," Raven said, chuckling and looking down at the sidewalk as she put her hands in her pockets. "I don't know about you, but it shows for me." Her chuckling died away, but the jaded smile that had formed remained.

"I take it your relationships don't last?" Dick said, obviously commiserating.

"Considering I spend more time with Ben and Jerry than I do with anyone else, I'd say that's a fair assessment," she replied, matter-of-factly.

"I know what you mean," Dick began, "My last girlfriend was great. She was kind and understanding and beautiful, but she was too damn perfect." Dick put his hands in his pocket and continued, "She could never understand the things I went through, how I handle it. She was compassionate, but she pitied. She never understood." He started shaking his head, "Not that I ever want her to understand."

"It was Kori, wasn't it," Raven said, turning to face Dick. It was more of statement than a question.

Dick looked at her in disbelief. "How did you know?"

"I am a detective. Plus, when I met her, she looked at me with protective eyes. Protective of you, that is," she replied with a light laugh.

Raven, realizing they still had three blocks to go, pulled her jacket tighter around her body, as the chill was beginning to get to her. Noticing her movements, Dick shifted to block her from the wind as best he could.

"So, what about you?" Richard asked, genuinely curious considering she seemed like she had a few stories to tell.

"My last real relationship ended when a witness to a murder identified him as her husband. And the murderer" she finished with a bitter laugh. Dick winced at the sound of someone who was very clearly fed up with just about everything.

"Why do keep doing this job?" Dick asked, very suddenly. He stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk. Quickly enough, Raven realized he stopped and she turned to face him, slightly caught off guard by his question.

"What do you mean?" she asked, honestly baffled by the question.

"I mean that you are probably one of the most jaded people I've ever met. You're sarcastic, and you're pretty pessimistic," he said, counting off the invisible check list in his head. "How do you keep going with this job?"

"Excuse me?" Raven asked rather loudly, amazed that he thought he could be so brazen. "I'm sorry I'm not exactly Little Miss Sunshine, but I do get the job done. I'm not—" She was clearly on a tear when Dick threw his hands up in surrender and interjected.

"Okay that came out really wrong. I meant how do you manage to stay afloat?" Raven quickly went from enraged to sedate, her expression becoming much softer.

"I can still remember how I felt when the detective treated me like I was evidence," she began bitterly. "I wasn't the dead person and because I was so scared and wouldn't speak, they acted like I was useless," she continued, shaking her head as if she was shaking off the anger. Dick could only be enveloped the level of energy she was giving off. "I decided that I could help people, not just kids, realize that when someone is killed, the living people need to take precedence because they are the people that are still here, the people that have to deal with the aftershock."

Raven, now completely, was trying to read Dick's expression. He was quiet, but contemplative. She couldn't quite get the look in his eyes, though. It was very foreign to her, and something she recognized as an emotion she hadn't seen directed toward her in a while. But she was having immense difficulty identifying it, so, she subconsciously took two steps forward, bringing herself closer to his eyes in an effort to get a clearer read. His look intensified. Her eyes widened. Oh. Attraction. But not the flirtatious attraction. She saw that every day. She worked with Roy Harper, for God's sakes. This was different.

Different wasn't good—at least not right now, it wasn't. She blinked rapidly, hoping what she saw would change. And still, the look remained.

Dick was utterly clueless as to what was happening. All he knew was Raven moved closer, and then started blinking a lot. He arched an eyebrow. Raven, realizing how odd she must've looked, peered at her watch.

"I think it's time we go back," Raven said, hurrying towards the precinct with Dick in tow.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

As Raven and Dick walked in, the approaching Roy paused, noticing something was off. Narrowing his eyes and trying to read his friends' expressions, he saw nothing discernible, so he ignored it, moving toward them once again. What the hell did you do, Grayson?

"I got Slade alone in interrogation," Roy said, nearly bounding up to the entering duo.

"And?" Raven asked, genuinely intrigued, as she threw her coat over her desk chair. Roy's expression soured. Dick knew the answer.

"He's not going to budge. He's got a lawyer, I assume," Dick stated, waiting for Roy's answer. He saw the confirmation.

"So where do we go from here?" Raven asked, leaning against her desk, arms crossed.

"You're not going anywhere," a familiar voice answered. The trio turned their heads to the source of the voice, in the same direction as Willis' office. Roy and Dick already knew it was before they saw him. They just wanted visual confirmation.

"Somehow, I don't think I take orders from you, Garth," Roy stated, highlighting how contentious their relationship could be.

"No you don't. But you do take orders from your captain. And he takes order from the commissioner," he replied, trying to keep Richard calm, as he could the spark on the fuse.

"I don't really know you, but I can tell from this little scene that you need to stand over there," Raven said as she pointed to the farthest desk in the area. She was taking into account Roy's obviously dark silence and Dick's clenched fists, and she didn't feel like dealing with all the anger. "I can't deal with this much testosterone in one area."

Vic, who had just caught wind of the situation and walked into the group area chuckled at Raven's statement. He also saw Garth his hands up and take a few steps forward.

"Look, I'm really not trying to step on your toes here. These orders didn't come from me, they came from the commissioner. I know this sucks, and I don't like doing it, but we're taking over the drug investigation." He paused. "Let's be honest, you have no jurisdiction."

Dick inhaled sharply, but deeply, trying to control his frustration. He leaned against his desk.

"The drug ring is very obviously intertwined with the homicide, which takes precedence over the anything narcotics would cover. This at least calls for inter-departmental cooperation," he said, offering an unsurprisingly reasonable solution. Vic chuckled. The Great Compromiser, as always.

"We'll give you disclosure, but we've already got a plan in place. We're just waiting for some of the players to be in place," Garth replied, at a loss that he couldn't meet Dick's compromise. "We're at an impasse."

"You're sending someone undercover," Raven stated, leaving no hint of a question in her voice, stepping out from behind the men that had been standing in front of her while she sat at her computer. Garth admitted to himself that he forgot she was even there. Hell, he didn't even know her name. He waited, considering whether he should even fill her in. Finally, he answered.

"Yes, we're sending someone undercover. We're waiting while our captain goes through candidates," he answered surprisingly honestly, or at least that's what Raven thought.

"Why don't you send someone from homicide?" she asked, clearly setting her sights on a larger goal.

Garth was becoming increasingly irritated. Some chick he didn't even know had suddenly cozied up with his old precinct buddies and now she held more respect than him. Bullshit.

"Look, I already talked to Willis, who talked to your captain, by the way, and he agrees. We should infiltrate Wilson's drug ring," Raven said, speaking to Garth.

"That's what Narcotics was planning to do," Garth's tone obviously becoming more and more vexed by the second.

"Well, Homicide has more information on him, making us better suited to handle the case," she replied, with a little more venom than she expected.

Garth couldn't really argue. The case had come across his desk that morning. He barely even remembered what Wilson's first name was. Hell, he barely even remembered that Wilson was his last name.

Vic finally decided to enter the conversation, now actually intrigued.

"You obviously have someone in mind, Rae." It was more of a statement than a question. Raven turned her attention to the one person that had never annoyed her in her tenure at Bludhaven homicide.

"Me," Raven answered curtly. Dick was not happy. He'd been a part of undercover stings before. While he would trust his partners with his life, he wasn't sure he would trust it, in part, to a department that he didn't know and that didn't know him.

"Can't we send a fresh patrolman or something? There would be less of a chance of identification," Dick said, doing his best to convince her from undertaking unnecessary risk. He was failing miserably.

Raven merely arched her eyebrow and crossed her arms as she turned to face Dick.

"Come on, Dick. You know that fresh patrolmen are either jumpy or too eager to prove themselves. We need someone with experience. And I'm new to this town. I wasn't a beat cop, so no one on the street is going to make me." Even Dick couldn't find a solid argument to battle that logic.

"She's got a point, Dick," Garth said, unable to deny that Raven had a point.

Vic and Roy were as concerned as Dick, but they weren't quite as vocal throughout this conversation. However, Vic needed to know this was bulletproof.

"You're positive Slade never saw you? Not leaving the precinct? Not coming in?" he asked, desperate to know she wasn't risking herself.

"He didn't have the opportunity," she replied firmly, looking him dead in the eye. Vic nodded, accepting her resolve.

Dick was not happy, but Vic took more notice of Roy, who hadn't said a word in quite some time, which was unusual, though usually not uninvited. However, Vic knew his silence was him making sure he didn't say anything stupid. Which meant he was as concerned as everyone else.

Looking at the two men, who were both in tense stances, Vic offered his only suggestion.

"I guess we should start planning, then, shouldn't we?" Turning to Garth, Vic looked him in the eye, and narrowed his gaze.

"We're running this operation. I remember your department. Your team plays a little too fast and loose for my taste." He saw that Garth about to protest, but, like any good older brother (figure), he looked at the bully before him, crossed his arms and stood up his straightest and tallest. Which was pretty damn tall. Garth backed down. Raven could only look on with vague appreciation, but mostly irritation. This is going to be fun.