I was on my way to shower when I ran into Raven. Not literally, but we did that thing where one of us tries to go one way, but the other tries to go the same way by accident.

"Oh, jeez, sorry." I said, joking. I saw her smile briefly.

"It's fine." She said, patting my shoulder, "You're uh... A little sweaty."

"Haha, well workouts will do that to you." I replied laughing, "I really need to hit the shower."

"Damn, yeah you do." She said, jokingly, covering her nose and fanning her hand in front of her face. I heard Meg's voice in my head, telling me to ask Raven out. It may have actually been Meg talking in my head with her telepathy, but I had no clue if it actually was or not.

"Hey, I don't smell that bad, do I?" I said with a smile.

"Sure pal..." Raven replied, patting my shoulder again. She started to walk around me down the hall. I was missing my chance. Helena flashed in my mind. Would she be ok with this, if she were alive? If I were in her position and she were in mine, would I be ok with it.

Raven was about 10 feet away now. The door was only 5 away from her. If I was gonna do this, I had to act fast.

"Hey Raven, wait up." I called to her as I ran up. I leaned against the wall with one arm, trying to look somewhat cool. I probably just ended up looking like a major tool, but I was too nervous to care. "Do you um... Do you wanna go out sometime?"

"Like, on a date?" She cocked an eyebrow. Her tone made it sound like she were surprised or disgusted. I gulped loudly.

"Uh... Yeah. I mean, unless you don't want to. I mean, we could still hang out without it being a date if you wanted but it's whatever." I stammered out awkwardly. God, why was I so nervous?

"Sure, I guess." She said. I couldn't tell what she meant by that besides the fact that she would go out with me sometime. "When?"

"Soon. I don't know. Maybe this Friday?" I said. To make matters worse, my voice cracked at the end. I was probably blushing a lot. I felt like I was sweating buckets. Why the hell was I so nervous?

"Yeah, that works. Now get in the shower you crazy kid." She said, pushing me softly. I smiled, then went into the bathroom.

Once I was in the bathroom, I felt like I was gonna throw up, but it never came. I hopped in the shower, then felt a little better.

I changed into my costume, then went to the common area to see what was up for tonight. According to the Watchtower's Crime Tracker Computer, it was supposed to be a pretty slow night. I didn't exactly trust the computer, but so far it hadn't been that wrong, so I didn't make my opinion known.

We decided to split up into teams to go on patrol. I was with Cyborg in the T-Car. We rolled around the city, looking for crime to stop, joking around, and listening to 90's "gangsta" rap music, which, according to Vic, was "the best rap there was." I wasn't sure if I agreed with him, but a lot of the songs were pretty great.

"Hey Vic, can I ask you something?" I said, turning down the music. Now was the perfect time to ask him about football.

"As long as it doesn't have something to do with how I go to the bathroom, sure." He told me, joking.

"In football," I started to ask him, "Is there a point limit? Like, if a team reaches a certain score does the game end?"

"Nah. Technically, a team could score as many points as the clock lets them. The only way the game can end is if the time runs out in the fourth quarter. Also, the teams can't be tied, otherwise the game goes into overtime."

"Alright, alright... And where does the running back stand?"

"The running back usually stands behind the fullback, who stands behind the quarterback. The fullback is kind of like the running back. He mostly guards the running back as he crosses the line of scrimmage, but he also runs the ball sometimes."

"I see... And how does the friendly team know the play? How do they know if they are gonna run it or throw it?"

"It's discussed in the huddle, before the play. Why do you have so many questions about football?"

"I uh... I joined the football team."

Cyborg looked shocked and impressed. He smiled and laughed.

"Dang, Dan! I didn't even know you liked football!" He said, fist-bumping me.

"I don't. I didn't. I just hate Home Ec." I said, laughing. Vic laughed hard too.

"So what position are you? Does Willis still coach? I bet he has you on... Wide Receiver."

"I um..." I started to say. This was the part I was nervous about. "I am varsity running back."

Vic's whole energy changed after I said that. He pulled one hand off the steering wheel, clenched it a few times, then started at it for a few seconds. I could tell what he was thinking, even without him speaking.

"Oh, that was... That was my old position." He said sadly. There was a distant look in his one human eye, as though he were thinking deeply about something. Dammit... Why did I have to bring this up?

"Yo Cyborg, Dayhound!" Beast Boy's voice came up over the communicator, breaking the awkward silence. "You guys there?"

"Yeah fam, what's up?" Vic said back, picking up the mic.

"See the smoke? The whole damn city of Oakland is on fire! Get over here now!"

"Got it! ETA: 2 minutes."

We quickly turned around and raced down the street, towards the huge column of smoke.

Once we had reached it, I got out of the car. Donna, Zatanna, and Raven were over by the edge of the blaze, helping firefighters try to control the fiery wall. I could see shadows flying fast over the burning part of the city, which could only be the flying Titans, dropping gigantic buckets of water and dirt on the fire, as well as rescuing people who needed help. I assumed Robin and Speedy were in the less flaming parts, trying to save people. I put on my respirator.

"Supergirl!" I called out, hoping she'd hear me. Soon after, a skinny, black shape flew over to me. She looked majestic as her hair and cape blew in the heat wave.

"Hey Dayhound!" She yelled to me, "Need a lift?"

"Yes! Take me to anywhere you hear people who need help!"

She stopped for a moment, listening. The fire was insanely loud, but Supergirl could hear for miles. She grabbed my hand, then flew me into the air at amazing speeds. She dropped me in a part of the east end of Oakland that was a little less fiery.

I helped about 10 or so people before anything strange happened. I would take them to the roof, then fire a flare into the sky. Beast Boy, Starfire, or Supergirl would come and pick them up.

I heard a woman screaming like she was being murdered. I smashed through the window of a building that she was in, but I was too late. The lady was laying in a pool of her own blood. I decided to investigate.

She had two wounds. Her neck was sliced open and she had a stab wound through her heart. It was much too large to be a knife. I hadn't seen wounds like this since Kam was Nightwolf. They were wounds from a Japanese Katana sword.

Before I could investigate more, I heard the popping of a pistol shooting. I dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding a bullet. I spun around and popped out my baton. I swung it at the dark figure behind me aiming a pistol, but he caught my wrist.

Smoke filled the room, so I couldn't see him clearly. I could, however, see his eyes. Well, one eye. One pale piercing blue eye. It was my father.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my only living son!" He yelled, laughing.

I swung him around, trying to free my baton, but he reversed it and swung me into the wall. I pried off my respirator and gasped for air, but just got a mouthful of smoke. He pointed his pistol at me, but I managed to pry it from his hand and toss it into the flames. Unfortunately for me, he had a gator style machete in his other hand. It wasn't the sword that killed the woman, but it was very possible that he had killed her.

We fought for a while, but the building we were in started to creak and crumble.

"As much as I enjoy this family bonding," Deathstroke said, smashing a window, "I suggest we continue this outside."

He jumped out the window onto the rooftop next to us. I followed, but rolled when I hit the roof, smashing into a pile of trash. This gave my father time to attack. He slashed his machete down, trying to cut my neck. I threw up my arm to block it, but was still dazed from my crash, so I misjudged the attack. The blade came down just below my elbow, just above the steel plate in my costume. It buried itself in my arm, stopping when it slammed into the bone.

I cried out in pain. The building behind my father exploded, knocking my father off his feet and disarming him. The blade was still embedded in my arm. I tried to pull it out, but I was too weak due to pain and lack of oxygen. I fell to the ground, hot tears stinging the burns on my face.

"Why did you do this?" I yelled to Deathstroke, who was just standing up. The orange of his mask was mostly burned off, making his mask just black. "Why did you start this fire? Why did you kill that woman?"

He pulled off his mask, looking me in the eye.

"You think I did this?" He asked, acting as though I had said something offensive. "I didn't do this, Danny-boy! Ask Batman about the League of Shadows. They're the ones to blame!"

"Why the hell are you here then?" I yelled to him.

"You'll know next time I see you." He yelled back, coming over to me. "If you survive, that is."

The last thing I saw was Deathstroke's heavy boot coming down on my face, knocking me out.