Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Teen Titans or the DC Universe.

Chapter 12

"So, where's the obnoxiously famous couple?" Kid Flash asked, surveying the Tower. He darted to the fridge, grapped a bag of grapes, and popped a few in his mouth, chewing furiously as he waited for an answer to his question.

"Robin and Starfire, you mean?" Cyborg asked, grinning.

"Well, duh. Who else could I be talking about?" Kid Flash chuckled. Then, in a stage whisper, he added, "Unless our suspicions have been confirmed and I haven't found out about it yet." He shot a pointed glance Raven's way, and the empath glared back at him.

"Why does everyone here think they know something I don't?" she demanded,

"Because we do," Kid Flash shrugged. He was bored of grapes. He shot back to the fridge, put the grapes back, then checked the pantry. Ooh, potato chips!

"Or you think you do," she shot back.

Kid Flash shrugged, stuck his tongue out at her, then re-asked the question, "Where are they, anyway?"

"In Gotham."

"Batman meeting the girlfriend at last?"

"Something like that."

Kid Flash tilted his head to one side; he knew there was something else, something that they weren't telling him, but he really wasn't in a prying mood. He was in a more playful mood, so he'd tease them and maybe pry later when he really felt like it. He had all the time in the world, after all.

Jinx was already stretched out on the couch, fast asleep, but she moaned slightly, reminding them of her presence. "Right," Kid Flash said suddenly. "Being quiet." He zipped out into the hallway to talk to them, but they were much slower than he was. It took them forever to follow him out to the hallway.

"You should probably go to bed, too," Cyborg pointed out.

"Not tired," Kid Flash shrugged. "Besides, I'm hungry. Stakeouts are boring."

"You could have come up there and talked to her, you know. She would have welcomed the distraction," Raven said, and Kid Flash was surprised. She sounded legitimately concerned. Last he heard, Raven and Terra weren't on the best of terms, and plus . . . . He shot a secret smile Cyborg's way. Well, they all knew what else.

"Naw, she was sleeping," Kid Flash said. "After she figured out Jinx wasn't trying to kill her, I mean."

"Yeah, that might not have been the best idea," Cyborg nodded.

"Didn't think about it," Kid Flash shrugged. He was bored of potato chips. He zipped back into the kitchen and grabbed an apple. "I always take Jinx around."

"And the newspapers haven't caught on yet?"

"Cy, when a reporter actually catches a picture of me, I'll eat my mask," Kid Flash grinned. "Besides, I haven't actually asked her out yet."

"You really should."

"Thanks, Mister Single," Kid Flash said, pulling a face. "You're sure it won't be awkward?"

"Awkward?"

"I mean, with you and her being Hive Academy sweethearts and all."

Cyborg looked like he swallowed his tongue, "How did-"

"I've been spending a lot of time with Jinx," Kid Flash shrugged. He was done talking about Jinx, though. "I think I'll turn in, too. Got a sleeping bag somewhere?"

"In the linen closet," Raven said. She still looked upset at them for not telling her their secret, but what would be the fun in just outright telling her?

"Thanks," Kid Flash said. Seconds later, he was back in front of them, holding the sleeping bag and a pillow. It was Robin's pillow, but he wasn't about to let them know that. He'd taken the pillowcase off and everything. It was just kind of fun to think he could get away with "borrowing" the Boy Wonder's stuff when he wasn't there, and besides, it was just generally fun to push Robin's buttons anyway. He took himself way too seriously.

"We don't have any extra pillows in the linen closet," Raven said. "They're all on the couch."

"Yeah. And?" He chuckled at her expression.

"And it's not nice to take people's stuff. Whose is it?"

"Well, if you go to bed tonight and you don't have one, you'll know, won't you?" he smiled, then ducked out of the way before she could get too angry.

Now that he looked back on it, that probably wasn't the brightest idea he'd ever had. He'd been having way too much fun, and of course Raven, the empath, would pick up on his happy teasing. Could he help it if he was impulsive? Wasn't that sort of the definition of who he was? Didn't he run around doing stuff, flying by the seat of his pants? Give me a break! he thought. What was the fun in being able to annoy people if Raven was going to rain on his parade?

He quickly piled up a bunch of pillows to make himself a little fort, then laid out the sleeping bag next to the couch.

It was the first time he saw Jinx without her hair up in pigtails, he realized, and he rather liked her hair down like that. It was soft and gentle, not at all like the overly-hairsprayed, stick-straight-up ridiculous hairstyle she usually had. He always wondered if her hair was pointy enough to impale people.

But her hair was not pointy. It was soft. That was weird.

He stared at her for a little while, his head cocked to one side, as he studied her curiously. She really had changed since he met her, and she was getting to be more caring, less harsh. She was, in a way, rather soft. Like her hair.

On an impulse, he reached up to touch her cheek, but then she moved in her sleep, and he pulled his hand back just as quickly. What a stupid impulse; he could have woken her up!

He shook his head, annoyed with himself and his impulses, then curled up in his pillow fort and drifted off to sleep. It didn't take him long to go to sleep, but then, he never took much time to do anything, did he?

...

There was a green tabby outside her door when she went to school the next day.

That green tabby followed her all the way to school, then paced patiently, loyally, back and forth outside the doors to the school.

Grateful for the chance to stretch his legs after a night of sitting and talking, then sleeping, then sitting and talking, then sleeping, he paced a little faster. He didn't think Terra was really in any danger, but it didn't hurt to be careful. in fact, it made him look that much better as a prospective boyfriend because he cared about her safety, right?

It was nice to have Kid Flash over. After all the intensity of Robin's announcement and then finding out about Slade knowing and all that stuff, it was always nice to have somebody to break up the monotony of cleaning up after themselves. Usually, Beast Boy was the one to break up the monotony, but he really wasn't in the mood at the moment. His mood was, more appropriately, something close to murderous, but not quite there yet. It was a kind of mood that would have made him want to punch Robin had the Boy Wonder been around, but since he wasn't, and since he wasn't around for a really, really good reason, his mood was somewhere between pity and murderous-punching. Which was a really weird mood.

So, it was a breath of fresh air to have Kid Flash over. Because Kid Flash was almost as much of a prankster as he was, but Kid Flash was better as it. He wasn't ashamed of saying that, either, because he knew Kid Flash was better. After all, it was hard not to be a really good prankster when he could run around and switch stuff up and poke people and that sort of thing without their even realizing it.

Beast Boy knew it was Robin's pillow when he got up in the morning to make himself some breakfast before heading off to school, but he didn't say anything. It was just going to be funny after all this was over, after everything had been patched up and Robin was in a way better mood, to watch his face as he tried to find his pillow. It was probably an expensive pillow, something Bruce freaking Wayne bought him.

It wasn't fair, because Robin had everything. He even had a cool cover identity! He had Terra fawning over him, he had Starfire as a real, official girlfriend and everything, and he had Raven who was a best-friend-who-wanted-to-be-something-more-but-couldn't-because-he-was-taken. He had the cool toys, like the R-cycle, and he could drive. (Cyborg might even lend him the T-car if the R-cycle wasn't working, and how wrong was that? He'd been begging to drive the T-car since the day he first remembered seeing the T-car!) He had the fan club, and he was the leader, and he got to say the catch phrase, and his name was the one in the papers, and Beast Boy could go on for ages. And now, Beast Boy found out that even Robin's secret identity was a rich little kid who, once again, had everything. It wasn't even close to being fair.

"Oh, look! Kitty!"

A little girl had stopped outside the gate to the private school, staring and pointing at the little green tabby. She clapped excitedly, jumping up and down, then motioned for the little kitty to come and say hi to her.

Beast Boy hesitated. He was supposed to stay here and stand guard. But Terra was in class, and the little girl was so cute, and he really needed some attention after the way Terra had been basically ignoring his desperate pleas for her to notice him and not Robin . . . .

Well, Robin would probably have shouted at him, but Robin was in Gotham, so it didn't matter, did it? He decided to throw caution to the wind - like he usually did - and go say hi to the little girl.

"Want to play, kitty?" the little girl asked, kneeling down in front of him and holding a little rubber ball. She'd been bouncing it up and down the streets before, and Beast Boy was touched that she would let a little cat she'd never seen before play with her favorite toy.

Tentatively, Beast Boy reached out and grabbed the little ball, batting it back and forth between his paws. His tail waved through the air playfully, and the girl laughed in delight.

Beast Boy got done playing with the ball and went to leap into her lap for some much-needed cuddling, but he went right through her.

When his feet hit the ground, he turned, hissing, knowing something was wrong, but he couldn't quite figure out what yet. His head was still processing the fact that the little girl wasn't there.

He morphed back into a human, "Hey, what's the big-"

There was a hiss, and gas filled his vision. Before he could put the "g" on "big," he passed out.

...

Starfire had never seen anything quite like the vehicle Robin called the "Batmobile."

Beast Boy had been correct in saying that Batman had the "coolest" stuff, and he had also been correct in saying that the Batmobile was - how did he put it? - only the baddest thing to ever run on wheels in the history of bad things!

She flew overhead, staring down at the Batmobile as two motorcycles paraded beside it. It looked so natural, this formation, as if they had always known it. But, then again, they had been working together for so long, she could only assume that they had practiced such formations.

It hurt her to admit it, but she felt somewhat jealous about the one called Babs. She knew, of course, that Robin would not let go of her for anything, that he was trying so hard to be a good boyfriend to her, but there was an irrational part of her mind that screamed bad things at Babs. Raven called it a green monster.

And why should she not be jealous? After all, Robin and Batgirl had been together for much longer than she had been together with him, and, if what Beast Boy told her was true - and so far, he was right about everything - Robin and Batgirl had been what earthlings called "an item." Apparently, there was scuttling butts about how the two sidekicks were destined to be together, and everyone was shocked that Batgirl didn't go with Robin or something when he left Gotham.

Well, she was glad Babs did not come with Robin. After all, if she had, would he have ever fallen in love with Starfire?

The Batmobile made a sharp turn around a corner, and she followed it, almost flying right into a strangely sharp, rectangular object. She recognized the shape - it was a playing card. But it was dangerous, as Mumbo's cards were, only more so. When it embedded itself in the telephone cable just beside her head, she saw that it was a particular kind of card: a joker card.

The man standing below them, facing the heros as Robin and Batgirl dismounted their motorcycles and Batman jumped out of his Batmobile, had a face that would probably have terrified her had it been one of the first faces she fought when she arrived at Jump City. (She realized that, having grown up in Gotham fighting alongside Batman, Robin had faced this man at a much younger age. It must have been terrifying at the time, but then, now she could see where he got his astounding courage from.)

It was probably the eerie smile that terrified her, the way he showed it off with extra makeup. Or maybe it was the cruel, maniacal laugh that came out of that smile when he saw Robin and realized who Starfire was.

"Meeting the family, are we?" The Joker cackled, looking up at her as he threw something her way. That something broke apart in mid-air, spraying gas everywhere. Instinctively, she held her breath and dove to the ground, landing in between Batgirl and Robin. (Maybe she landed there on purpose; maybe she did not. It did not matter.)

"Some things haven't changed," Robin muttered to Batman as he took out his bo staff and extended it.

"Most things haven't changed," Batgirl said, taking a similar stance. "Gotham's just like that."

Then, as if they had rehearsed it (which, admittedly, they probably had, back in the day), the three of them - Batgirl, Batman, and Robin - split up, each taking a different attack angle. Starfire, who did not know this maneuver, contented herself with firing small starbolts at the dangerous cards to protect her friends.

Batgirl reached The Joker first, with a flying kick, but he sidestepped it, letting her run directly into what looked like a jack-in-the-box that had suddenly appeared. Batgirl gasped in surprise as the lid closed on top of her, and Starfire rushed to help her, but, again, she was stopped.

Batman was busy fighting The Joker, and Robin had already rushed to Batgirl's aid. (He had been preparing to attack from below and swing his legs around to bring The Joker's legs out from under him, but he diverted to save Batgirl.) At this, Starfire could feel the green monster of which Raven spoke rising up in her chest, and she fought bravely to keep it down, but she could not. After all, she was jealous because Robin worked so well with his old Gotham team, as if he never left. What use was there for her here? And he had rushed to save Batgirl, too, even seeing the looks that stupid little redhead kept giving him.

She bit her lip. She was letting herself get out of hand. Robin had been so concerned about being a good boyfriend, but he wasn't the problem. He tried to valiantly to ignore temptation, and he was so good at it. She had the problem. She could not stop thinking about those temptations, could not trust him enough to let him have friends that were girls and nothing more. If she could not trust him, how could she hope to be a good girlfriend?

She rushed forward as Robin was prying at the top of the box, looking concerned at the yelps coming from inside the box. "Allow me, Robin," Starfire said, then took the lid off the box like it was nothing - which, to her, was true. After all, the lid might weigh too much for a human, but for a Tamaranean, it was too easy.

She turned away so that she could not see Batgirl taking the hand he offered her to help her out. (He had to do that, after all, because she could not reach the top on her own.) Instead, she tried to fly over to help Batman with The Joker. Even though Batman did not seem to like her, she was determined to prove to him that she was good enough for Robin, and the best way to do that seemed like helping him.

Suddenly, there was a female face in front of her own - painted like some kind of puppet or doll or something like that. Starfire remembered Robin saying something about a girl who followed The Joker around like a puppy, but she could not remember her name.

Starfire leaped backwards, away from the woman, then started to blast her with starbolts. The woman leaped nimbly away, doing a cartwheel or two before she finally came to a stop in front of Starfire, her tongue sticking out.

"Harley Quinn," Robin muttered in her ear, suddenly beside her again. She could not explain why, because he had been close to her a thousand times before, but the warmth of his breath excited her unnecessarily. Maybe it was the green monster slowly dying inside of her because he was paying attention to her again. That must have been it.

Ah, so that was the woman's name. "Many thanks, Robin," she started to say to him, but he was no longer at her side. She ended up talking to no one at all.

She could see why Beast Boy was so impressed to meet Robin. She could see now that Robin was not fighting at his best when he fought with the others. Of course, she knew that; she had seen him let himself loose before, when they were fighting Slade, and it was one of the most terrifiying sights she had ever seen. But this was not terrifying. It was strangely beautiful, the way he and his teammates fell into a groove that was so fast she had a hard time keeping up with them. But she was determined not to be a hindrance to this mission.

She decided to take out the Harley Quinn woman because, frankly, that woman was annoying for dodging her starbolts. Besides, Batman seemed to have something against this Joker person, and she knew from personal experience dealing with Robin that she did not want to step in the middle of that.

So, she picked up a piece of the road and threw it at Harley Quinn. The woman's eyes widened, and she sidestepped to avoid it, but Starfire was already there. (As she had explained to Robin, she knew the secret for travelling faster than light, and, while it drained her energy, it could be accomplished. Travelling this fast was not quite light-speed and, therefore, not as draining.) She reached out with her right hand to punch Harley, but the woman had amazing reflexes. Harley grabbed her wrist and flipped her over her back, but as Starfire fell, she blasted Harley with her eyebeams. Starfire landed flat on her back, but so did Harley, and Harley was unconscious.

Robin looked up, grinning, and he was probably about to congratulate her when his eyes suddenly narrowed behind his mask, looking, not at her, but at something behind her. His mouth worked furiously, as if he wasn't able to decide what kind of shape it should make, before he settled on a surprised, "o" shape.

She turned to see what he was looking at, but she did not see anything. He did, however, and he ran right past her into a side alley. She was about to run after him, to find out what had upset him like that, but she heard a shriek from behind her, and she decided there were more pressing matters.

Batgirl was on her knees, holding her sides as she struggling to keep from laughing. Tears were coming from her eyes as she finally let go and started laughing harder than Starfire had ever heard anyone laugh before. It was the kind of laugh the Joker had, and Starfire did not like it. Batman, seeing that Robin was not there to protect Batgirl while she was in this state, fell back to scoop her up and keep her from something that exploded seconds after her moved her aside.

Seeing Starfire, Batman nodded at her, and, for the first time, she felt that she understood what was expected of her. She watched his back, blasting anything she could see, as Batman loaded Batgirl into the Batmobile. There was another marvelous explosion that threw Starfire backwards, but Batman and Batgirl were already safe inside the Batmobile. When the smoke cleared and Starfire found the strength in her legs to stand, The Joker was gone.

The hood of the Batmobile slowly rolled down and, although Starfire could not see Batman's expression behind the mask, he did not sound happy as he demanded, "Where is Robin?"

"He saw something in the alley and ran after it," she reported. "I was going to follow him, but I saw that I was needed here." She looked down at the ground; she was never going to get Batman's approval if he saw her like this. She knew, even though it had been a good idea to help them, that he did not approve of her choice.

"He knows better than to take off like that without backup," Batman grumbled, jumping out of the Batmobile with an extended staff. He nodded in Batgirl's direction, adding, "Take care of her, would you?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to drag his sorry . . . ."

Whatever Batman wanted to say died off as an explosion shook the alley. Starfire had seen them fighting, but she could tell he cared about Robin because of the way he sprinted towards the alley, terrified of what might have happened to Robin. (She wanted to tell him, of course, that he need not worry, that Robin could take care of himself, but she could not find the words.)

Before Batman reached the alley, though, Robin stumbled out, holding a bleeding arm, but besides that, he looked fine to her. She rushed to his side, beating Batman because, honestly, she was much faster than him. She did not give him a hug, because she thought that might injure his shoulder, but she kissed his cheek gently - to the dismay of Batman behind her. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Batman demanded, but in a much more menacing tone than she used.

"Slade," Robin breathed, his eyes narrowed into mere slits. "He's here. He's in Gotham."