Thanks to all reviewers, past, present, and future. Happy new year. (I'm only a day late.)

CHAPTER TEN
"Titans' Tower."

"Hi- um, Cyborg, right?"

"Right."

"This is Darcy. Darcy Whittaker. I'm-"

"Against metas," Victor supplied helpfully. It was too early for this, and coffee would take at least another minute. "Electronic memory. It's just about eidetic, and I have almost instantaneous cross-referencing. The Titans won't be any help in a mayoral campaign."

"Well, actually, it's nothing personal. I was following public opinion, and-"

"Ms. Whittaker. I'm sure that this is early for you." It was early for him. The other Titans were still asleep or at least still in their rooms. Their fight against Jinx and Gizmo was the main news, and he had been quoted about just what the weapons had done. Whittacker's exposé about some political scandal or other was relegated to a small headline below the fold.

"Well, it is, but that's not really a problem. I'm used to all hours, which helps. That's a part of my job." Darcy was babbling. She could admit to it, not that that admission improved anything.

"I hope that you typically do better in an interview situation."

"I know that what I said before is wrong," she said. She couldn't lose him and the words were true.

He didn't trust candid remarks from reporters or politicians. "What do you want and why should I help you?"

"I want to get elected, which is a side concern. I'm trying this honesty business. Politicians aren't used to it."

"Cute," Cyborg said flatly. "Let's get to the why, shall we?"

"I'm not used to meta business, but- okay, I'll start at the beginning." He didn't sound very pleased, but he hadn't hung up the phone. She still had a chance.

"That would be a good place," he said. He had coffee. From a technical standpoint, caffeine had no effect on the electronics that made up parts of his brain. He didn't care, and excluded thoughts of the placebo effect from his mind. "First, is this urgent?"

"No, I don't believe so. I'm not at my office, and won't be expected back for several minutes."

"Someone at your office is a threat?" he asked.

"Perhaps... I'm not sure. I'm calling from my home. I intentionally spilled my coffee. I was wearing a light skirt, so of course I had to go and change. I have a press conference later today, and I didn't want Raul to hear me."

This sounded promising, at least- and it was Raven's turn to deal with breakfast. He just needed to find out if she knew anything useful. "Start at the beginning, then- first give me the main ideas, and then we'll work through details.

Raven entered the kitchen just as he was finishing the phone conversation. She didn't look mad at him but it was hard to tell, with Raven. His usual sensors weren't strong enough to pick up something from her.

She ignored the coffee, as usual, and had the kettle on the stove with a careless flick of her hand. She didn't need the hand gestures, but had mentioned that they helped her to visualize what she wanted to happen. She opened the refrigerator with a similar casual movement, and everything she needed floated over to the counter.

"Thank you for your time, Ms. Whittaker," he said when she had run through the details a second time. It probably hadn't been necessary, but he thought that she needed the chance to calm down. He felt a smile at her very businesslike call-me-Darcy. If she could keep up her sudden reformation, he just might vote for her. The other politician wasn't any better, and she could have gone to the papers with the information she had just spelled out for him.

Raven looked away from the start of French toast. Logan avoided meat, but eggs weren't a problem. "Whittaker like the upstart politician?" Raven asked.

"Whittaker as in the politician," Victor confirmed as he set the phone down. "She called with a possible lead, not that she realizes it. Dinner last night was a bit tense, and everyone went off to sleep afterward. I didn't get the chance to ask how you were."

"I'm fine," Raven said, looking back at the mixture of eggs and milk. "Starfire and I have already agreed that we are not at all irritated with each other. Yesterday, I did not like how Tim and Logan were so fast to fight each other over me. Now, I feel that interaction with either will be awkward."

"Nobody meant to cause all this," Victor said.

"I know, and I am not at all irritated with you. Starfire is, a little." Raven waited for the griddle to reach the right temperature. "You told Tim to go talk to her, and- why did all of this turn into such a mess?"

"I don't know how it snowballed so fast, but there was a lot of tension we all were ignoring. Tim doesn't get it. Logan worked with him on the field, but the instant Tim was back at the Tower…"

"They were back to fighting," Raven said. The griddle was already hot enough; it was a much better griddle than the poor abused appliance she had finally had to abandon. "The costumes only make it worse. Most he-men only have power tools to amuse their egos."

"Raven, you are talking to a guy."

"Starfire's not awake and you're the only other person in this building that isn't attracted to me," Raven said, directing her glare at breakfast. She didn't need a spatula, and didn't have to get anything on her hands. "If you decide to change that... I don't know. I didn't want this to happen, Vic, and I can't imagine how I encouraged them." She dropped two coated pieces of bread on the griddle.

"You could take it as a compliment. They can't help what they're feeling and even if it was a bit obvious at one point, they're protective of you. You're an empath, so you have a good advantage. You know what they feel. If they just were interested in a one night stand, you'd know." And Victor would pound them into the ground, but that was beside the point.

She didn't smile. "They're not, but I only say that because I know them. I don't know enough about all these emotions. Azar and the rest of the people around me when I grew up made me look exuberant."

"At least you're learning something," Victor said. "Raven, are you really surprised by the two of them? They like you. It's not the end of the world."

"No, that was supposed to be before my eighteenth birthday."

"Supposed to be. It didn't happen, did it?"

"I wasn't on the planet for good reason," Raven said. "With a father like mine, I never expected dates or anything like that. I'm twenty-two, and I'm not in any rush to start dating." She checked the French toast and used the few seconds to take a few slow breaths. "I don't know why I'm talking about any of this."

"I'm here, Star isn't, and you're not irritated with me," Victor said.

She smiled. "I'm not. Well, maybe I am irritated, but it seems an odd reason. It just makes things strange, and I'm an empath. I know just how much this is affecting the team, and it just gets tangled fast. I can get more detail, when I focus on emotions, but even passive senses are getting more complicated."

"You're opening up, a little- maybe you get a better look at emotions now," Victor said. "What bothers you that they like you, really? I know they both went farther than necessary, when they were defending you- but it was for you. What's really the problem with this?"

"I don't know if I can feel that way, about them- it's not melodrama."

"I know, Raven. With anyone else, it would be overboard for the end of the world to be an offhand mention. I thought I had problems with my father-"

"Victor," she interrupted, before he could make the comparison. "It's not a competition. It's just the way life is, for me. I can't fix those differences, but I think you could."

"My father's the reason that I'm a walking science experiment."

"What happened?" she asked.

"There was an explosion, in the lab. It killed my mom, and should have killed me."

"Should have nothing. You're alive," Raven said. "I wouldn't want that to change." She looked to breakfast, and followed the emotions with her mind. "I'll make you breakfast later, fresh, if you'd like to make a phone call now."

She felt the old grudge start to break, and heard the doors that led to the garage open and shut. She understood those emotions, and there was no one to smile at but the spatula. She hadn't realized that people could reconcile with parents so easily, but it seemed that Mr. Stone really did have nothing on Trigon.

The kitchen was never quiet for too long, especially when the coffee was ready. Raven had twenty-five minutes to herself before the kitchen door opened.

"Where is friend Victor, Raven? He usually is awake by now."

"He's making a phone call. Weren't you irritated with him, Starfire?" Raven asked.

"I was."

"That's it?"

"Yes," Starfire said. "It is supposed to be more complicated, on your planet?"

"Don't blame me," Raven said, finishing the last of breakfast. "I've only lived here for four years. The guys are the locals."

"Are you still annoyed with them, Raven?"

"A little," Raven admitted. "I shouldn't be irritated that someone likes me, I suppose, but I don't want this to change the team. I know it already has, though. I can't be as comfortable with either of them- I just worry that I led them into thinking that way, and I never intended to."

"It may be odd for a few days, but the team can make it past this. We worked together last night, and will have to do so again today. Tim is best at putting the pieces of information together, but will need to ask all of us for the details," Starfire said.

"Logan's in the main hallway, and Tim is leaving the gym." Raven was beginning to recognize the tangles of emotions. "How do we fix this?"

"Patience," Starfire said. "They may be irritating, at times, but we know that this is not always the case."

"Is Vic around?" Tim asked as he found the coffee. "I want to ask him about the source for those weapons."

"He's making a phone call," Raven said. "I don't know how long he'll take."

"There's no rush," Tim said.

"I did register emotions, when the weapon detonated. Emotions can be hard to decipher, but I can remember the feel of them. It's hard to describe the exact sensations, but I am sure about one thing. Jinx and Gizmo were surprised and afraid when the weapon detonated. It wasn't intentional." Accidents felt different than calculated actions.

"They certainly looked surprised," Starfire agreed.

"Victor mentioned that Darcy Whittaker provided a lead," Raven said.

"Good morning, friend Logan."

"Good morning, Star." He wasn't nearly as enthusiastic, but at least he was polite. "I don't know why I'm so tired. Tim and I weren't the ones doing the work."

"It's morning and you haven't saturated your coffee with sugar," Raven said.

"Yet. Victor already left?"

"Phone call," Raven said. "Did you hear him?"

"Nobody else on the team has internal hydraulics." Logan's sense of smell was close to average, but he had more receptors to recognize scents. He could smell fear, to a limited extent, and not much else. He needed some clue to figure out if Raven was still annoyed, and body language and tone of voice weren't going to help. He'd have to guess. "Do we know anything else about what happened last night?"

"I was waiting for Victor," Tim said. "He has a few new details."

"You and Vic talked about this stuff after filling out paperwork with the cops. Could you give us the Cliff's Notes version?" Logan asked.

"I could." Tim said nothing else.

"Testosterone, take two," Raven muttered to Starfire. She didn't bother to lower her voice. Logan had very good hearing, and she would be surprised if Tim couldn't read lips.

Tim had an explanation ready but Starfire only giggled.

"That is not completely fair, friend Raven. I am sure that they have passed take two by now."

Tim had missed explaining a hormone and a term from movie production. He didn't like it.

"Tim, she does have a point. I think we're at five," Logan said with a smirk. "If we're just at four... well, close enough."

"I thought that we were past this," Tim replied. "We worked together last night."

"Changeling and Robin can work together without a hint of testosterone poisoning," Logan said. "It's the bit of schizo that all hero types have. Changeling and Robin can work together without a problem. Tim and Logan- not so much. I'm sure that you've seen this before. Whoever Batman is on his days off- and no, I'm not asking- I bet that he's different from He Who Has No Personality."

"Knock it off, Logan."

"See? You and Bats are having some kind of fight or other, don't give me the tell-me-now glare. You're Bats Junior, and your version just doesn't work. You're Robin, you're not in Gotham, you had a fight with Bats. You claim that we're past being honest about just how well we get along but you tell me to stop if I say a thing about Batman."

"You don't know about him, okay?"

"No, I don't. Hell, I don't know you, and I've lived in the same building for a few weeks. I don't know how it worked in Gotham, but this is a team. This isn't a main-name-and-sidekick deal. We have five people who get about equal billing."

"About?" Tim asked.

"About," Logan said. "In yesterday's fight, Raven had more press time. It's only right, with how much effort she put in. She had the part that made nice pictures and for that fight, it worked out that she did a lot of work. It won't be perfect, and the papers are going to love you, Starfire, and Raven. You're a known name in the hero business, thanks to Batman, and the girls are gorgeous."

Starfire laughed. "Logan, you have made your point. Can the two of you cease fighting for now, however? I am most interested in what information Timothy has found." She had been irritated with Tim and Victor, but they had not done anything to justify holding a grudge.

"Jinx and Gizmo had no idea the weapons would explode, according to an e-mail Victor printed off last night. She named the supplier as a Mr. Lee, and provided audio samples. She never saw him to give a physical description, and couldn't name an accent," Tim said.

"Let me get this straight. Jinx and Gizmo didn't know what the weapons would do, inadvertently came close to blowing away half a block, and would have died in the explosion that decimated the team. They would have been scapegoats," Logan said. "Hey, Tim? No searching looks. I have some gray matter, if it hasn't turned green, and it doesn't take a detective to figure Lee's probable scheme out. The interesting part is what Lee gets out of it: why would he benefit?"

"Cui bono."

"Exactly. Who would get ahead of Jinx and the other two blew sky-high with Titans?" Logan asked. "I don't have enough information about Lee, and I haven't seen something like this before. Think you can take a crack at it, exalted detective?"

"We don't have enough information for a detailed hypothesis, but someone benefits from this. They wanted a distraction at the least," Tim said.

"Dead heroes and conveniently obliterated scapegoats at the most," Logan said.

"I don't think anyone has a vendetta against us. A few criminals from Gotham don't like me at all, and just might make a side trip for a swing at a junior bat- but it wasn't any of the regulars. Joker wouldn't give anyone else the job, Riddler would have left a clue. They're all distinct. This is subtle."

"It didn't seem to be targeted at any specific Titan. You and I were away from the main blast. I don't think Vic or Star have any enemies on the planet, and the people that don't like Raven usually quote the Bible or make signs or something... No offense, Rae."

"None taken."

"It wasn't a certain plan," Tim said. "There was too much room for the plan to not work- the explosion happened only after Jinx touched the settings. We have security footage, thanks to Raven. Someone was interfering to distract us, I believe, if not to cause injury. What would they distract us from?"

"It could be a case of causing general havoc. Some villains like that- but if that's the case, why involve Jinx and company at all?" Logan asked.

"To distance themselves from whatever happened. Someone's interested in this city, and I want to know why."

"So do the rest of us," Logan said. "Let's see some detective work."

"You are leaving, friend Raven?"

"I'm going to see if Victor's done with a phone call. Whittaker called this morning with a possible lead, and he has the details."

It would save some time, and it would get her away from the conflict. Tim and Logan were not close to getting along, even when they seemed to be having a civil conversation. The undertones were giving her a headache, and it was a relief to stand outside the garage. Victor was calm, and wouldn't be irritated if she knocked.

"I just got off the phone a few minutes ago," Victor said after opening the door. "I'm not mad at him anymore. I haven't been for a while, I suppose, but it was just habit to not talk to my father."

"Maybe you could drop hints for Tim and Logan. They're having some sort of competition in the kitchen, and it's all looking too polite. The emotions behind the posturing are going to give me a migraine."

"I can at least patch things up," Victor said. "I took a few minutes before calling to clear my head, and set up a few background searches. There are only a few people that could possibly involved with a situation Darcy told me about- and Logan would be familiar with a couple. I need Tim to put together just what the likely suspect is up to. Working together might help something."

"I know it's none of my business, but I'm curious. You and your dad…"

"I still don't completely agree with him, but we're talking now. We talked, and we didn't hang up."

"You have control over your temper- if you lost that, it must have been a lot of stress," Raven said. "It's part of you, to me. Starfire's emotions are always completely honest, Logan still is grieving enough that it changes all other emotions, Tim's always storing information, and you're calm."

"Thanks." He hadn't heard that before, and she didn't lie.

Raven shrugged. "I am an empath. I think you would understand it best, that I have an additional sense about people." He had electronic senses. She still didn't know enough about electricity to even read the manuals for some systems, but did know that most people dealt only with five senses and intuition.

"Okay, I transferred video files to the main television. I have a few ideas, but I want input from both of them."

"Do you think that they can work together?"

"For a case, for a few minutes- maybe," Victor said. "Let's give it a try, shall we?"

"I can show you the footage in the common room," Victor said as he entered the kitchen. It would be better to delay questions- Logan and Tim would put it together, given the right clues. He was almost sure that Logan would have the answer after watching the short video clip, and Tim only needed a few clues. Tim tracked villains on the loose with some sort of database or other, and Victor had traced e-mails.

"A week ago, Mr. Lee was in Samara. Three days ago, Lee was in Anchorage. Two days ago, Lee was in Los Angeles. Tim, the laptop on the common room side table is ready to log into the network you use. The encryption for that data is alien- literally. You can log the locations in for me, right? Gizmo and I independently ran tracers, and we came up with the same answers."

"That's from what Jinx gave you?" Tim asked. "I can run those, no problem."

"Good. Logan, you've been in the business. Tim's checking on the problem with the weapons. I want you to take a look at someone likely causing trouble for Whittaker. The tapes aren't hoaxes as far as I can tell. She has nothing to benefit, and she sounded pretty shaken describing what she had seen," Victor said.

Raven and Starfire exchanged glances. Raven shrugged. Starfire followed Victor into the other room- something was happening, and she wanted to see.

Victor played the footage as Tim tapped a series of passwords into the screen. His laptop was more secure than most companies' computer networks. Logan watched the video.

"Dull, as far as offices go," Logan said.

"Keep your eyes on the intern," Victor said. "I'll play it through once at normal speed, then once in very, very slow motion. The intern's the nervous looking male."

The intern was in the walk-in closet when he dialed a number into his cell phone. An intentional bit of clumsiness spilled over a box of files, and the door swung shut.

Tim glanced up from the control screens. "I'll watch the slow motion," he said, even as he set the filters for just who he was looking for.

Logan blinked. The intern wasn't in the closet. A man in his forties was.

"Slow motion," Victor said, slowing down the animation to two frames per second. "This is a new camera- hidden in the walls, very nice picture quality."

The intern didn't disappear. He transformed, quickly even when the video was slow.

Logan had seen that before. He only knew of one person who transformed that quickly. The Brotherhood of Evil had fought a crime-fighting team based in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.

Tim knew of one criminal that had moved from Samara, Russia to Anchorage, Alaska to Los Angeles, California in the given timeframe.

Tim and Logan spoke at the same time.

"Madame Rouge."