Raven tapped on the laptop computer's keyboard. A small message box popped up and flashed its message: Password invalid, access denied. The sorceress leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed. She drummed her fingers on her arms. Terra looked at the screen and frowned. "Looks like Cyborg already changed our passwords."
"It was to be expected." Raven replied before she resumed typing.
"What are you doing?" The blond geomorph asked.
Raven opened a web browser and logged into her Gmail account. The username and password were unchanged.
"Huh? She forgot to change her email password?" Terra remarked.
"Apparently so." Raven replied absentmindedly as she quickly perused the messages. "There's nothing of interest here … Terra, do you have any private accounts outside of the Titans mainframe?"
Terra's eyes widened. "Actually, I do. I have a cloud account where I keep all my private stuff."
Raven pushed the laptop towards her. "Go ahead, give it a try."
Terra typed in the URL for the Amazon cloud account she had. The login screen appeared.
"Here goes nothing." She mumbled as she typed in her login credentials. To her immense surprise they were accepted.
"I'm in!"
Raven leaned over her shoulder to look at the contents of the storage account. Terra pushed her away.
"Hey, I got stuff her I want to keep private."
"What kind of stuff?"
Terra frowned. "None of your business."
Raven shook her head. "If it's intimate photos of you and Gar you're worried about, there won't be any in there. Neither of us was married to him in this reality."
"But we did date him."
Raven's face fell. "You mean to say …"
Terra glared at her. "Yes, when we dated I recorded videos of us having sex."
"Why in Azar's name would you do that?"
"So I could watch later."
Raven frowned. "I don't believe you. Back home Gar said that he was never intimate with you."
"And you believe him?"
"Of course I do. And if he wouldn't do it in my reality, he wouldn't do it in yours."
Terra chuckled. "So you're saying that you guys waited until you were married?"
"Yes, we did."
Terra stifled a laugh. "Now I know why it was so easy to steal him from you."
"Just because I was chaste doesn't mean that my counterparts were. We already know that our local counterparts both had relations with him … Terra … whatever is in her cloud account has no bearing on you, she's a different person. But I need access to your account."
Terra rolled her eyes and shoved the laptop at Raven. "Fine, be a perv."
Raven gave her a cross look. "Do you really think that if I encounter a video of your twin doing it with the local version of Gar that I will somehow find it titillating?"
"Whatever … let's just get this over with … what are we looking for anyway?"
"I don't know, anything that might help us out of this mess … Terra, you do realized that they are probably feeding their teammates a series of lies about us. We weren't supposed to survive. Think about it … if they found out that our local twins are murderers what would happen? They are no doubt doing everything possible to assassinate our characters. And if they find out that we're working with Slade, it will only cement those lies. We're already in a precarious position, we need a smoking gun."
Terra snorted. "Even if we do find something in the cloud account, they'll just say that we faked it."
Raven looked her in the eyes. "Is the cloud account your primary store?"
She shook her head. "No, it's a backup. I keep my stuff in the mainframe in the Tower."
"Which means that your twin does the same thing. If we can find something incriminating, then Nightwing will also find the original in the cloud. We might be able to prove that we are the real victims."
"Fine, I'll let you look, I know you can process faster that I can."
Raven nodded and opened a folder titled 'videos'. She sorted them by date, with the newest ones first. The first one she opened was a recording of Terra having a roll in the hay with a man she didn't recognize.
"For someone who wants to steal your husband, she wasn't above banging other guys."
"Next video." Terra growled.
"No, we have to watch it. He might be an accessory in their crime. Who is he?"
"I have no idea … Raven … this is humiliating."
"Grow up, we aren't watching you. Now pay attention … are you the type who likes to talk after doing the deed?"
"Why do you care?"
Raven paused the video. "If he is an accomplice there's a good chance they might discuss the crime once their done with their coital encounter."
"This is making me sick in my stomach."
"Trust me … I feel the same way. Now be quiet, there might be a subtle clue and I don't want to miss it."
The two women silently watched the local Terra engage in bedroom gymnastics with the stranger, until they climaxed and collapsed into each other's arms. The stranger had a huge grin on his face.
"You kept your word, babe. That was the best I ever had. Do you have anyone else you'd like me to kill? Cuz I sure would like some more of that."
Raven noticed Terra blush out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing as she continued to watch the video.
The Terra in the video grinned. "Not for now. Nice job with Jillian, you made it look like an accident."
"I'm a pro, babe. It's what I do. But right now I'm thinking of you and me."
She gave him a passionate kiss. "You're pretty good yourself, look at me, I'm still shaking …"
Terra stopped the playback. "I don't care if she isn't me, I can't watch anymore of that."
Raven minimized the window. "I understand. If you prefer I can continue on my own."
- (- )-
The next morning …
Slade entered the small mess hall in his lair. Raven was sitting at one of the tables, drinking some tea while she made notes on the laptop.
"You were up all night?" He asked.
"I was."
"And?"
"I found several smoking guns. Mostly diary entries, but there is a video …"
"A video? I would like to see it."
"I'm afraid not."
Slade chuckled. "Let me guess. Terra was having sex with the assassin she hired."
"You know about the assassin?"
"Of course I do … I referred him to Terra myself. He's told me that your blond friend is quite the minx."
"Whatever … the thing is that we need to get this into Nightwing's hands."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"You'll see."
-( - )-
The mood in the Tower was tense. It was quiet, as they ate the homemade spaghetti dinner Cyborg put together, so quiet that they could hear each other chew their food. Raven washed down her last mouthful with a swig of tea before clearing her spot. While she rinsed her dish the doorbell sounded. The secret doorbell to be precise. Cyborg, who was busy serving himself a fourth helping of dinner, looked up with a surprised look on his face.
"That's the palm reader doorbell … it only rings if you can't remember your password."
"But who could it be? We are all present?" Starfire asked.
"No way … it can't be them." Nightwing growled as he turned on the giant TV screen. Everyone gasped when he switched it to the camera that covered the main entrance and the transdimensional twins appeared on the screen.
"Greetings." The Raven on the screen announced in her monotone.
"The Tower is impregnable, you can't get in!" Nightwing boomed.
"We are aware of that. Our Tower has the same defenses.
"Why are you here? What do you want!?"
"We've come to surrender."
"Surrender? Why would you do that?"
"Because I believe that we can prove our innocence."
"And what about Slade? Where is he?"
"We escaped from him. At this time we don't know of his whereabouts."
Nightwing crossed his arms and frowned. "How do we know this isn't a trap?"
The Terra on the screen frowned. "Because we're surrendering. We know that there is a set of double doors here. Leave two power cancellation collars between the two doors. After you open the outside doors we'll put them on. Cyborg can remotely verify that they're working. Then you can open the inside doors and take us into custody."
"You seem to have this all figured out." Nightwing icily remarked.
"Like Raven said, we have proof of our innocence. We'll give it to you, but we want to do it in private."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"We would like you to examine the evidence first, by yourself, before sharing it with the rest of the team."
"That's a strange request."
"You'll understand once you examine the evidence."
"What if I don't agree?"
"Then we'll hand over the evidence to Channel 5 News. Trust me Nightwing; you don't want this to become public knowledge." Raven replied.
The local version of Raven stepped forward. "No deal! This is obviously a trick to get into the Tower."
"We'll be wearing power cancellation collars and be locked up in your containment cells. What could we possibly do?" The other Raven quickly replied.
Nightwing stroked his chin. "If I'm not convinced by your so called proof I will hand you over to the police. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly."
Nightwing pondered the situation, looking lost in thought.
"OK, you have a deal."
"Nightwing! You can't serious! These are two vicious murderers!" Local Raven exclaimed.
"All the more reason to accept their deal. They'll be locked up in our detention cells. We won't have to risk life and limb trying to capture them."
The sorceress crossed her arms, closed her eyes and frowned.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Dick."
"I understand, but I'm still going to take them up on their offer."
They went downstairs and stopped before the giant doors. Cyborg upgraded them to a set of double doors a few years before. He opened the inner doors and placed the two collars on the ground before closing the doors. He opened the exterior doors, upon which the visitors picked up the collars and snapped them on. The exterior doors closed, trapping them in what was essentially an airlock. Cyborg scanned them for any weapons or tools, and found them to be clean. After verifying that the collars were working he opened the inner doors.
Nightwing stepped forward and cuffed them while the local Raven and Terra watched with a jaundiced eye. Raven them handed a USB flash drive and whispered something in his ear, and he nodded.
"OK, let's lock them up." Local Raven commanded. The assembled team led them to the basement.
"Cyborg, Raven, Terra, stay and watch the prisoners." Nightwing instructed them before leaving the detention level with Starfire.
Cyborg sat down at a desk where there was a workstation, and he typed on the console.
"What are you doing?" Local Terra asked.
"I'm checking out the results of the extended scan I did on them while they were trapped between the doors."
"Did you find anything of interest?" Local Raven asked.
Cyborg didn't answer, but instead rose from the desk and approached the cell when the visitors were trapped. His bionic eye scanned Terra.
"So, what do you see?" She asked.
"Nothing … there's absolutely no difference between you and our Terra."
"Are you certain of that?" Local Raven asked. "I find it hard to believe that there is no discernible difference between me and that murderer."
The Raven in the cell did not react to the accusation.
"I'm sorry little lady, I wish I could tell you something different.
Cyborg sat back down while his two companions began to pace around the detention level, looking more imprisoned than the two women in the cell. The detained Raven adopted the Lotus position and chanting her mantra, unable to levitate because of her collar. While she meditated her companion plopped down on one of the bunks and fell asleep.
About an hour later …
The local Raven was now also meditating while her companion was sitting with Cyborg, who repeatedly glanced at the twin in the cell who continued to nap.
"Are you sure she said she was married to me?" He whispered at Terra.
"Positive. She said so herself."
Cyborg shook his head. "I don't get it. If they're just like you guys, how could they be evil?"
Terra shrugged. "Raven's theory is that when they lost you and Dick that something snapped in them."
The conversation was interrupted by their communicators, which chirped in unison.
"Raven, Terra, please come to my office ASAP."
Local Raven was already out of her trance and flipped open her communicator. "What is it, Dick?"
"Please come to my office, I'd rather explain everything in person."
Raven sighed and flipped her communicator shut. "Why is he being so secretive?"
"You don't think he actually bought whatever lies they told him?" Local Terra asked.
Cyborg chuckled. "You ladies are being way too paranoid. Just go, I'm sure everything is fine."
-( - )-
The door to Nightwing's office slid open as Terra and Raven approached. They walked into the dark office. Starfire was leaning against a wall while Grayson stood by his desk. The door slid shut behind them.
"Why did you call us here?" Local Raven asked.
"It's the evidence they gave me."
"Which no doubt they fabricated."
"We can discuss that last … Terra … there is a video of you having sex with Bob Durante."
"Who's that supposed to be?"
"He's a hitman, a very good one that the police have been unable to capture. His turf isn't Jump City. Anyway, in the video you and Durante discuss Jill Jackson's murder and that you hired him to kill Jill."
Raven exploded. "Oh for Azar's sake, that was faked. The Terra in that video has to be the one locked up in the detention center!"
Nightwing shuffled his feet. "That's what I was thinking, but the other Raven challenged me to look on our mainframe, she said I would find the same files there … and I did."
"She could have planted them there." Local Raven retorted.
Nightwing began to pace around. Terra noticed that Starfire looked very tense and was watching them.
"That was my first thought, until I checked the main backups. They're on tape, so it took a while. I don't know what to say, but some of those files appear on backups from over a year ago."
"What are you saying?" Terra asked.
"We change passwords every three months. Had they already been here a year ago they wouldn't have had access to the updated passwords and they couldn't have planted some of the later files."
"I see." Raven replied in a flat voice.
Grayson reached for a pair of power cancellation collars. "I'd like you to put these on."
Raven grabbed Terra and the vanished into a portal. Nightwing sighed and checked his console. Apparently Raven had a secret escape path in the Tower through which she could teleport out of tower. He sat down at his desk and his wife sat down on his lap.
"I can't believe it … it was them all along."
Starfire was weeping silently.
"Kori … I thought I knew them."
"So did I." She replied as she chocked back a sob.
Grayson heaved a huge sigh before pressing an intercom button on his desk.
"Cyborg, release our prisoners, remove their collars and come with them to my office."
"Did you say release them?"
"I did."
"Dick, what's going on?"
Nightwing didn't reply immediately. He looked into Starfire's face before answering.
"I have bad news."
-( - )-
Sorry for the delay with this update. My muse was nowhere to be found.