Four days later and the Teen Titans, minus Raven, were sitting in the T car driving to answer a call once more. Though the new hero had yet to receive a name, thus unofficially dubbed 'cool new guy' by Beast Boy, he had called the Teen Titans no less than three times to report something. By their guess he lived in the city, and possibly a bad part of it, because he seemed to find things before or shortly after the police found out. Not having to travel from the T Tower to the city, he was usually on the scene before they arrived and managed to hold his own until they came. The injuries dealt out by him lessened from what they were before, or at least they weren't as serious as shattering someone's tibia. Perhaps this was due to sheer numbers, once the Teen Titans arrived he no longer had to contain and subdue them all as quickly as possible. Regardless, the Teen Titans were becoming more accustomed to him, and much more friendly. They had even discussed inviting him to their home, a sort of "you're more than just a random honorary Titan we met on the street" gesture. Raven was the only one yet to meet him and make her judgment, but the others were warming up to him quickly as they fought together against crime. His style was familiar, yet they reasoned that it was because it seemed to be like Robin's fighting style, regardless none of them questioned him.
The scene this time was Mumbo robbing a bank, nothing too extraordinary, by the time they arrived the now familiar flash of blue and silver darted behind the windows, fighting the magician. A sleight of hand trick managed to knock the new hero off balance when he glanced at the Teen Titans with the same searching glance he had every time they encountered each other. A starbolt stopped Mumbo from taking advantage of the momentary loss in focus, and for that the man gave the Tamaranaen a generous smile. The blush that flashed across her face was not the reaction he expected, but he thought little of it and within ten minutes Mumbo was handed over to the police. With another job well done, he was about to depart as always when he was stopped.
"Please, friend! Will you not come back to the Tower with us? You are most welcome to come!" his mismatched eyes looked into the alien green eyes in momentary shock, but mentally he quickly recovered and forced himself not to start smirking. He had hoped for this, but had not expected it so quickly. Glancing at the others they gave their approval, smiling and gazing at him hopefully.
Which explains why a short time later he was walking into a place he never thought he would be invited to enter: Titans Tower. While he had assured them he could not stay long, not wanting to be rude and impose on them, he kept a look out for what he was always hoping to see. And soon after arriving and being seated at the table while Starfire decided to make something that sounded like " Gor'shig'iffu " a quiet girl entered the room.
He felt her before he looked up and saw her, it was strange being familiar with someone's mind like that, he wasn't even aware of it because of how slight it was until it was brought into sharp focus. She looked better than the last time he had seen her in person, but he could see faint scars on her legs where her healing had not yet completely removed the damage. Perhaps the damage was so great that her powers could not heal them completely without leaving scaring. Considering what had happened she was lucky to be alive, a couple faint scars seemed like a decent trade for her life. The half demon also looked thinner, recovering but still tired and thin. Their eyes met and she gave him a quizzical look, curious and wondering about why he was so familiar. She had seen him on the news, the others had talked about him, but there was something else to him she could not place.
"Hey Raven…" he did not hear the rest of what Robin said because Starfire was addressing him, making him look away from Raven as Robin approached her. The naïve alien held a strange dish of food in her hands –at least he thought it was suppose to be food- that she was offering to him, her face slightly flushed.
"Have you thought of your hero name?" Starfire asked him as he hesitantly poked an orange blob on his plate with a spoon. But he felt eyes on him, Raven was studying him with interest.
"No, still haven't thought of anything fitting…" he carried on his conversation with Starfire, fighting the urge to turn and look at Raven full on, meet her gaze.
"How are you feeling?" Robin asked softly, concerned for her even now that she was almost fully healed. Raven rolled her eyes at Robin, a grin flickering across her face.
"Same as always: I'm fine. You can stop worrying, Robin," she assured him, glancing at the man in blue and gray before looking back at Robin when his hand brushed against her arm.
"I always worry, you know me," Robin said in a joking manner, and she knew it was true from what she sensed from him. Raven went quiet to look at the unnamed hero, taking him in and trying to understand him.
The main body piece was dark blue, as were the boots, but the sides were trimmed in silver along with his arms and gloves. He wore sleek armor for protection, the armor smaller than plates but larger than scale armor. Similar to the armor Starfire and Blackfire wore, the armor covering his arms and shoulders where the silver matched the metal. Raven assumed the rest of his armor was within the suit and not visible. He had a belt, most likely packed with gadgets and other handy items he might need. He was tall, taller than Robin and even Cyborg, not as bulky as Cyborg but thicker than Robin. Even with the armor and suit his sculpted body was visible, lean but solid. His hair was white, or at the most a very pale gray. But his eyes, she wanted to see his eyes, they were so different, one light and the other dark. Their short gaze from across the room was not enough for her to determine their color, learn their uniqueness. He held himself alert and upright, confident and assertive in his body language. Surprising considering he was trying to eat something Starfire had 'cooked,' Raven suspected that confidence might diminish after swallowing, maybe even before. But Robin decided to save him, leading Raven over to him in order to introduce them properly. He seemed relieved.
"This is Raven, Raven this is… well, whatever he names himself," Robin said and Raven sensed a strange amusement from him, but he nodded and offered his hand, which she accepted in a handshake. Her hand was so small in his, but his grip was delicate. They nodded once in acknowledgement.
"The others have told me all about you, good to finally meet you," Raven said in a somewhat polite and formal voice, knowing Robin wanted her opinion on him before the next big step of making him more than an honorary Titan. He smiled at her, softly.
"Pleasure to meet you, Raven," why was his voice so familiar to her? "And I'm surprised they talked about me, I'm pretty boring," he said jokingly, although Starfire did not understand the joking part and was about to start on how he is in fact not boring, but Robin stopped her. Now for the next step…
"So is someone going to give me the grand tour of this place?" he asked to everyone, but his eyes were on Raven. She seemed to understand, nodding and much to the surprise of everyone said:
"I'll show you around, follow me," she turned and started walking away before he even agreed, but he did with an: "as you wish." The others were in a state of shock that Raven seemed to warm up to a stranger so fast and did not immediately run off to join them as they left the room. They made it down the hall, Raven giving business like descriptions of the parts of the Tower he had already seen as well as the parts they were passing, but once they were well away from the others she stopped and looked at him seriously.
"Do I know you?" she asked before she fully registered his eyes, and for a moment she was silent as she stared into one purple and one light blue eye. He smiled, very slightly, gazing back into her violet eyes.
"No, you don't," he said after a moment, causing her to blink and sense for him, his mind was so familiar, as was his voice, it was starting to bother her. While she expected the typical human mind without barriers or awareness of empathic probing, she felt a response: his mind touched hers as she approached. Raven felt his emotions, but was for the most part blocked unless she wanted to force her way in, but she could pick up enough to consider her next few questions.
"Do you know me?" she asked, hoping to catch him off guard and instead getting a somehow sad look and a head shake. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to understand why he was so familiar, again brushing his mind to better understand. It was strange, their minds gently brushing, trying to understand the other without delving deeper into the other, instead staying with a surface scan. Whether it was out of respect or fear Raven was not sure, but another question popped into her head as she remembered a deep voice in her mind.
"Do you sing?" he blinked, confused by that question and growing anxious for some reason that only interested her more.
"Why would you ask that?" he questioned back, perhaps trying to get her on the defensive, but before she could retort she felt another coming and turned away, returning to her professional tour. It turned out to be Starfire, who accompanied them, ended up leading the tour, and stayed by him for the rest of the day before he was taken back home. Before he was even off the island he was already planning a way to get back on, to talk to Raven again. He was relieved that Raven also seemed eager to see him again to probe deeper. Lucky for both of them, Raven's cabin fever caused her to leave at an absurd time while the others slept and he, unable to sleep as well, went walking around the streets.