We stepped from the portal into the Ops room. It was quiet and empty, except for Robin who was working on a computer in a corner. He heard us and turned around.

"You brought her? Good."

I frowned. "You two were planning this?"

"Not so much planning as agreeing that it was worth a try" he said, getting up and walking towards us. He stopped in front of me. "I'm glad that Rae managed to convince you."

"I didn't have to convince her. She had already convinced herself. She thought she had burned the bridges, though" Raven explained.

"It would take a lot more than that to burn them" he told me. "We're kind of used to snarky remarks from people we care about, for quite some time" he said, glancing at Raven, a crooked smile on his face. She eyed him coldly, but refused to take the bait, remaining silent.

"I'm glad to hear that" I said.

He glanced back at me, his smile growing wider. "It's good to see you again" he said, extending his hand. "Welcome."

I studied him, slightly surprised at the way he was behaving. It was a new facet of him I was seeing. I grasped his hand and said "It's good to be back."

I turned to Raven. "Did you tell him?"

She nodded. "Good" I said. I turned back to him. "If you need to know any details, right now is the best time to ask. I can't promise I won't clam up in the morning."

He shook his head. "I don't think so. I agree with your feeling that Slade wants something from you – something that goes beyond pleasurable gymnastics. And beyond the briefcase, also."

"Maybe he wants her power?" Raven suggested.

"No. Match's power is a weapon, a tool. As with all tools, the important part is the person using it, not the tool itself."

I yawned, suddenly tired. "Whatever it is, he needs my cooperation, and at the moment I can't see that happening. But I'm asleep on my feet. How about we continue this fascinating discuss –"

The Crime Alert shrieked, the red light bathing the darkened room in an eerie light.

They reacted instantly, lunging towards the door, without thinking. I called after them.

"Hey, you mind if I join?"

They both stopped and turned around, Robin's face creasing into a grin. "Be our guest!"

"Can you take a passenger? I asked Robin as we ran to the garage. He glanced at me quizzically.

"Need to clear a couple of things first with you" I said as we reached his bike. He handed me a spare helmet, indicating the comm settings.

"Is it a private channel?"

"Yes. The other private channels and the group one will be displayed on the HUD. Blink to select, blink twice to activate" he explained. I put on the helmet and sat behind him on the bike. We roared out.

His voice crackled through the headphones as we drove. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I have a problem. My power, my training, my style is not really compatible with yours. I don't want to do something I'll regret later."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play the innocent, you know very well what I mean. I don't want to leave a pile of dismembered corpses behind me and then have to justify myself to you."

"Are you sure you have your priorities straight in this scenario?"

"Yes, I do. Do you actually think about your moves when you fight or do you use your muscle memory?"

"In that case maybe you should hang back and provide support."

"I guess that would be a good idea for the moment."

Neither one of us was happy with the solution but I couldn't think of a better one right now.

We arrived at the scene shortly, a military depot that was overrun with men in uniforms resembling WWII Nazis. "Those are Immortus' men!" I said, recognizing them.

"They seem to be plundering the depot. What could they be looking for?" Robin said as he screeched to a halt and jumped off the bike. I followed him.

He glanced at me. "As we agreed, hang back and guard our backs. We'll take care of these guys." He turned to the others and shouted.

"Titans! Go!"

They deployed in their standard pattern and charged into the fray. I conjured a disk and flitted after them, keeping my eyes peeled for any threats that may appear from the flanks or rear.

I should have brought popcorn. It was quite entertaining to watch them handle Immortus' legions. As I relaxed a little, not being able to locate any of the big guns of the Brotherhood, I started helping out, carefully at first, then with more confidence. I covered Beast Boy with a protective disk when he overextended himself and ran into heavy gunfire. Then I caged several of his attackers with three disks, not allowing them to disperse, as he charged them through the only opening I left, the green triceratops bowling them all down.

Looking for more opportunities to help, I placed a disk in angled position over a bunch of uniformed goons that were hiding from Starfire's bolts behind some construction equipment. She immediately understood my intention and she shot her bolts into my disk, which bounced them down onto the hidden soldiers, knocking them all out. She flashed me a grin, while I gave her a thumbs-up. Robin noticed I was trying to help and waved to get my attention, then pointed. I created a levitating disk beside him. He hopped onto it and I guided the disk to where he pointed. He launched himself off the disk on top of a group of soldiers, surprising and scattering them.

I noticed a formation of robotic soldiers and jumped at the chance of doing something more than just support. I waded in, blades flashing and dismembering several of them, just as a twenty-foot container encased in black mist smashed down on top of the rest, missing me by less than a foot. Raven landed beside me.

"Are you all right?" she asked, looking around for threats.

I realized the mistake was mine. "I'm fine. Sorry for barging in unannounced!"

"Be more careful in the future!" she said and flew off. I followed her with my gaze for a second, then turned my attention back to the battle.

It was almost over, the Titans mopping up the few remaining stragglers. I flitted around, making sure no one was trying to slip away. By the time I finished scouting the perimeter of the area, it was all over. We headed back to the Tower.

"Hey momma, thanks for the assist!" Beast Boy beamed at me back in the Ops room. "That was some cool teamwork!"

I grinned down at him. "We'd make a good bowling team!"

Raven floated closer. "Don't encourage him. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

But it was too late. After flashing Raven a quick frown, Beast Boy turned to me and overwhelmed me with a blizzard of "knock-knock" jokes, none of which was even remotely funny. I looked pleadingly at Raven, but she pointedly ignored me. Finally, it was Cyborg that noticed my predicament and came to my rescue, giving me a wink and dragging Beast Boy off to play a game.

I strode over to Raven, more than a little annoyed.

"You could have done something" I said, trying to scowl at her.

She closed the book she was reading, keeping the finger between the pages where she left off, and looked at me. "The best way to learn is through experience", she told me with a saintly expression on her face. I felt my scowl beginning to melt, in spite of my fiercest efforts to keep it in place.

"So, are there any tips you can give me about the others, or will I have to learn the rest the hard way, too?"

She looked at me, amusement in her eyes. "I guess that you already know that you should avoid Starfire's hugs, unless you like the sound of cracking ribs."

My scowl had already turned into the beginnings of a grin. "And I suppose I should avoid mentioning that car to Cyborg" I said.

She nodded, her amusement making her eyes glow under the hood.

"What about Robin?" I said, by now grinning widely.

The amusement in her eyes faded. "Can you guess?"

I thought for a while, the grin dropping off my face. "Slade", I said. She sighed, stealing a quick glance towards Robin, to make sure he couldn't hear us.

"He is obsessed with Slade, but he can usually keep it under control. A couple of times, however…" she shrugged. "I shouldn't talk about it." She opened her book again.

"And what about you?"

She looked up from the book, her eyes expressionless.

"I think you know already" she said quietly and returned to her reading.

I sat for a while in the Ops room, just letting my mind wander and not focusing on anything in particular. For me it was a good way to let my subconscious work on all accumulated information.

As a result, one forgotten thing floated up to the conscious part of my mind. I got up and went to the lab to see Darren. I owed him an apology.

As much as I had to apologize, I also didn't want to spark any hopes in him. I mulled several approaches in my mind, then discarded them all. I'll just play it by ear.

Walking into the lab, I saw him and Cyborg both busy at their stations. I paused at the door, frowning. I was about to turn around and leave, not wanting to disturb them, when Cyborg lifted his eyes and saw me standing there.

"Hey, Match, whassup?"

"Hey, Cy, you guys hard at work?"

"Yep. Need anything?"

"I was about to ask you two the same thing."

He stretched, a curious gesture for someone that had no muscles to cramp. "Nope, we're fine!"

"Good to know. Let me know if you need coffee or pizza!"

"Will do!"

"OK, see you later then."

I turned and started walking towards the Ops room, surreptitiously pulling the communicator from my pocket and calling Robin.

"Yes?"

I kept my voice as quiet as I could. "Robin, why is there a Cyborg in the Ops room and another one in the lab?"

He was silent for a second. "I'm sending Star to help you, the rest of us will check this one."

"I think we will need to use fire" I told him.

"Understood" he said and cut off the communication.

How the hell did she get in? I wondered.

My mind worked furiously. The main problem was that Darren was in the same room and he was unable to protect himself if it turned out that the lab Cyborg was Rouge in disguise. I wasn't too sure if Starfire and me were able to protect him, either, once the fun started. I finally settled on a plan, aware that it had enough holes to use as a sieve, but it was the best I could come up at such short notice.

Starfire came up behind me as I was thinking, startling me when she touched my shoulder. I jumped some four feet in the air, whirling around, blades appearing in my hands, before I realized it was her. She flitted a couple of feet back and whispered in a concerned tone.

"My apologies for the consternation, friend Match!"

"That's all right, Star. I am… jumpy"

"Yes, you have stated the obvious."

I rolled my eyes and quickly whispered my plan to her. She had to get Darren out of there while I kept Rouge/Cyborg busy. As soon as she had him locked up safely in his room, she was to hurry back and help me with Rouge.

I strode back to the lab, Starfire flitting behind me. I closed with Rouge/Cyborg and extended an elliptical blade from each hand. Starfire grabbed Darren under his armpits and flew with him out of the lab, leaving Darren's surprised squeal in their wake.

"What the hell is that all about?" Rouge/Cyborg asked, surprise in the human eye. I looked down at her – or was it him? I was almost certain that it was Rouge, but there was a small possibility that it was not.

"I understand how you can change shapes and voices, but I still don't see how you can mask your accent so well."

"Whatcha talking about?" he said as he got up from the chair. The angry look in the human eye was quite convincing.

"I'm saying that you're not Cyborg! I'm saying that you're Madame Rouge and that you somehow infiltrated the Tower, probably hidden underneath the car as we drove in! I'm saying that the entire assault on the military depot that we responded to earlier was staged for that specific reason!"

Rouge/Cyborg shook his head, an excellent impression of amazement, anger and hurt feelings mixed in his eye. Either she was a damn good actor, or...

I couldn't help but hesitate for a moment. As soon as it showed in my eyes, Cyborg's fist extended and struck me in the left cheekbone, staggering me back as white flashes burst in my head.

Do I have a fucking target tattooed there? I asked myself inanely, trying to clear my head.

I felt her coils around my body and throat. She started squeezing. I fought, trying to create a disk or blade, but I was blinded both by the hit I received as by the lack of oxygen in the brain. My vision darkened and I knew no more.

I woke up, Starfire shaking me vigorously. I tried to shout for her to stop before she could snap my neck, but no sound could come through my throat. She saw I was conscious and she lowered me down on a chair.

"Friend Match, you have to recover the senses! The Brotherhood of Evil is performing the attack on the Tower!"

I got up dizzily, tried to speak, realized that my windpipe was crushed and air could barely wheeze through it. So that is why I couldn't shout. "Who is attacking?" I whispered, my mind still blurry.

"The Brotherhood!"

"Wait!" I tried to say, but it only caused a lance of pain to stab through my throat. I managed a hoarse whisper. "How's Darren? Where's Rouge?"

Starfire's eyes flared green with impatience. "Darren is locked in the premises that he occupies. I returned and uncovered you in the clutches of Madame Rouge's arms. I proceeded with the assault on her, but she has given me the slip and exited through the ducts of the ventilation. She then probably made the contact with the other members of the Brotherhood and they initiated the attack"

Not seeing any further point in continuing the conversation, I ran out towards the Ops room. Starfire caught up with me, grabbed me and carried me with her faster than I could ever go, on a disk or not.

We barged into the Ops room, now turned into a battlefield. In a split second I took the scene in. Mallah was wrestling with a green gorilla, the two apparently evenly matched. Robin was surrounded by Immortus' uniformed goons, but was managing to keep them at bay through liberal use of staff and grenades. Cyborg was sending blue bolts through Rouge, but the holes he made in her were closing as soon as they appeared. She coiled one of her arms around him and threw him against the wall. He struck the wall and slumped, leaving a large crack in it. Raven was alternating between protecting the others from gunfire with a black shield and throwing pieces of furniture at the attackers.

"Star! Take on Rouge!" I tried to shout, but only a wheeze escaped my throat. I looked at her, pointing with my finger at Rouge and she nodded and was off. I ran to the center of the room, my blades cutting down several assailants. I was high on adrenaline and bloodlust. I did not care if I was cutting flesh or metal.

I noticed a swarm of Immortus' minions pouring in from the main entrance to the room. I sent two horizontal disks spinning their way, cutting most of them in half. I could hear several screams, but I just didn't care. I left the rest of them to Robin and Raven and turned to face Madame Rouge.

She was holding Starfire trussed up in her left arm, ignoring the starbeam that cut a swath through her body, the wounds closing and sealing up almost instantly. I threw a disk and severed the arm that was holding Starfire and she ripped the tentacles holding her with a mighty wrench. I glanced at Cyborg. He was getting up from the floor. It would take more than a crash into the wall to stop him. He turned to the wall and smashed his fist into it, ripping out sparking electrical conduits, just as Rouge's right arm was hissing, tentacle-like, towards him. As she tried to coil it around him again, he slammed the arcing cables onto her exposed skin.

Rouge screamed, her entire body shaking like Jell-O. Starbolts slammed into her. She managed to pull her arm from Cyborg's grasp as I sent two disks slicing through her torso. This time the slits took time to close. I realized she was either hurt by the electrical discharge or was getting tired. I extended a blade in each hand and advanced towards her.

The refrigerator, encased in a black mist, slammed into her, tossing her aside and continuing on its way to smash through the large panoramic window and down onto the rocky shore. Rouge saw her chance and jumped through the window after it. Starfire followed her, showering her with starbolts.

I heard a roar behind me. Beast Boy was in the shape of a large, green… something… and he had Mallah in his hands, holding him over his head. He threw the gorilla through an undamaged section of the window. I created a disk, hopped onto it and streaked out though the smashed window to follow Mallah and Rouge.

Madame Rouge could not fly, but she could use her power to mold her body and influence the direction and speed of her fall. She closed with Mallah as he fell, avoiding Starfire's bolts and the two disks I threw at her, wrapped herself around him and they both splashed into the sea below. I followed on my levitating disk, careful of not descending too close to the surface. I flitted over for a few minutes before realizing they would not appear again, at least not soon.

I flew back and through the smashed window of the Ops room. As my bloodlust abated, I remembered what I did. I dismissed the levitation disk and walked to the main entrance to the room and the hallway beyond, where I knew I had cut down several attackers.

"Rae, our dinner was in there! Now we have no dinner and no fridge!"

"It was full of mold anyway, Cyborg!"

I ignored their banter as I stood over a slowly congealing pool of blood at the entrance. I felt tired.

"Hey momma, did you like my sasquatch? I sure showed that monkey-brain – whoa!" He recoiled as he saw what I was looking at.

I turned and went to my room.

I sat on my bed, my mind blank. I watched the seconds slowly count on the wall clock. My throat and cheek burned like hell. I barely noticed it.

Someone knocked at my door. For a moment I thought of ignoring it, but that would simply postpone the inevitable. I got up and opened the door.

They were all there, looking at me. I turned and walked to the bed, sat down on it, stared at the wall.

They filed in, Robin sitting down in an armchair, Cyborg standing beside him, Beast Boy turning into a dog and coming closer to sit on his haunches in front of me. At least he wasn't panting.

Starfire sat on the bed beside me. Raven approached from the other side. She lifted her hand towards my throat.

"Don't touch it" I whispered, locking my gaze to hers. It was her turn to back down. She sat beside me, opposite Starfire.

I looked at Robin. "How many?" I whispered.

"Eight."

I nodded and stared back at the wall.

"Rouge overrode the security from the lab computer, right?" I continued whispering, not being able to speak normally.

"Right" Cyborg – the real issue – said. "She was able to log into my account with my retinal imprint."

"And the briefcase?"

"I teleported it to another plane as soon as the attack started" Raven said. "Once it was over, I brought it back."

"Good" I said, staring at the wall, not seeing it.

Robin gave it a try. "Match, look –"

"Just leave me alone for a while, please" I whispered hoarsely, still not looking at either of them.

"I don't think we will" he said.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, still staring ahead, not looking at anyone.

Beast Boy turned back into himself, sitting cross-legged in front of me.

"I know your feeling, momma. Don't let it get to you."

I frowned down at him. "Do you?"

"I do. Like, every time I turn into a predator, I get the urge to, like, you know, I want to rip someone's face off. And sometimes I do. And don't get me started on the herbivores. A pissed-off rhino is a really bad dude."

I had to chuckle, even though it hurt like hell. "It's not that, BB" I whispered.

Raven took my hand and spoke, her voice soft and emotionless. "You are concerned about what we will think of you because of what you did. But that is not what is distressing you. You are uncertain which emotion hurts you more, your remorse because you killed eight people, your regret because you are convinced you let us down or the fear that we will reject you because of what you did."

She frowned slightly. "And there is more. It is ripping you apart, because you are ashamed. Ashamed of the fact that whichever emotion you feel hurts you more, you think that it should be one of the other two instead. And that shame feeds the other emotions in you, in a vicious circle."

"Can't hide from an empath" I whispered.

"It's not a question of hiding. It is a question of accepting who you are. We already did. Why don't you?"

I kept staring at the wall. As accurate as her words were, I just wasn't able to get reason to influence emotion. Never knew anyone that could.

Raven spoke again. "Let me heal you. At least you'll be able to talk then."

I finally looked at her. "Will I be able to scream?"

"Not right away" she said, deadpan.

I smiled. "Go ahead."

She put her hand on my throat. I looked away. The burning and the pain diminished and were gone.

I cleared my throat. "Much better" I said in my normal voice.

As if the ability to speak was something that I needed to be able to face them, I could finally look each one of them in the eyes, searching them for traces of anger or disgust, but I found none.

I looked back at the wall. "Maybe what hurts me the most is that I realize I will never be able to be a part of the team" I said, my voice returning completely to normal levels.

"You never could" Robin said.

I looked up at him, slightly surprised at his bluntness.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Match, and it has nothing to do with what just happened. But you are not a team person. As you said, your power, your training and your style are not compatible with ours. Now that can be solved through training. A lot of training. But it is your independent streak that would have you always stand out. You could never mold in. You would have to change the way you are, become someone else, and that is something that we could not ask for, or even wish for. We like you just as you are."

His voice softened. "You may not ever become a part of the team, but I do believe I speak for all of us when I say that you will always be our friend."

"That is more than enough for me" I told him, smiling.

"We'll leave you alone now" Robin said, getting up. "But if you need our company, you know where we are."

They left the room one by one. Beast Boy was the last one. He paused at the door, turned to me.

"Match, you know, if you need someone to cuddle up to…"

I looked at him with eyes wide, not believing what I heard. He realized what he had just blurted and his face darkened. I supposed that passed for a fierce blush when you're green.

"No, no, not like that!" he stammered. "Darren was asking about you, like, concerned. I told him I would talk to you and see if you wanted, like, to talk to him. Or whatever."

I burst out laughing. "You had me worried there for a second, BB!"

He laughed with me. "Oh man, did I put my foot in my mouth!"

We laughed for a few seconds more, then his expression turned sly. "But just in case, I can turn into a most adorable kitten, you know…" he said, as he illustrated it. I threw a pillow at him.

"Dream on, jailbait! Now go fetch Darren and tell him to get his ass over here double time!"

I am definitely NOT happy with how this chapter came out, but I tried rewriting it several times, and this is the best I could come up with. So please feel free to rip it apart. In any case, thanks for hanging on to the story so far!