Okay, guys, I am so so so so so SO SORRY that it took me this long to update! I planned on updating on the 20th, but I hadn't finished this chapter, and then I was basically grounded from the computer, and I've had a lot that I've needed to do lately and I'm just SO SORRY! Please forgive me, and enjoy the next chapter.

---Jaime (sorry!)

Disclaimer: It's not that I don't own the Titans, it's just... Oh, wait, it's that.

Ch. 29: Attack

It was a bright Saturday morning in Jump City. The citizens of the city were all outside, enjoying their days off from work and school, while hanging out at the beach or going to the movies. Yes, everyone was happy, or at the very least, content. Does this sound familiar? Good, then that means you've been paying attention.

In Titans Tower, things were also running smoothly. It was ten A.M. at the moment, and Andrew and Covyll were absent from the Tower, as they preferred to spend the day with their families. Cyborg had gone with Andrew to visit Bumble Bee and the others at the Titans East tower, and Starfire and Nightwing had gone to see about recruiting a new teen. So, that left the remaining teenagers and adult to their own devices.

James Matthews was sitting Indian style on his bed reading, while resting his back against the headboard and listening to his favorite CD. This was something that he normally did in his spare time, which he had a lot of, these days. It wasn't like that in New York; he was always looking out for his sister, and the two of them were always trying to stay alive. His eyes became unfocused as he continued to think back on his life in New York. He could remember as far back as the day his sister was born. And, oddly enough, that very day was one of the happiest of his life...

FLASHBACK:

A one year old James was standing in the corner of the room awkwardly, not exactly sure what was happening or what he should do. The bright lights of the hospital room shone overhead, giving off a low buzzing sound as the electricity flowed through them. But he couldn't hear that buzz; all he could hear was the sound of his mother's screams and curses. There were two nurses and one doctor running around the room, making sure that they were ready for when his new sibling would arrive. His father, a reddish-brown haired man in his mid-twenties, was standing to the side of the hospital bed, wincing every time his wife screamed in pain.

After fifteen minutes of confusion, James finally heard his mother sigh in relief, as well as the sound of a baby crying. He watched curiously as the nurses brought his sibling over to be weighed, then as they wrapped it in a pink blanket and brought it over to his mother.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Matthews," one nurse, a portly woman with gray hair said, smiling happily. "It's a girl."

Mrs. Matthews took her child into her arms and looked at her expressionlessly, neither smiling nor frowning. The doctor and the nurses all wore expressions of confusion, but left the room without another word, closing the door behind them. After a few moments of silence, James tentatively wobbled over to his mother's side and looked at his baby sister; he thought she was cute. She smiled up at him with her cat-like yellow eyes, and he couldn't resist the urge to smile back.

"Uhg, all that work for this?" his father said, glaring in disgust at the little girl. "I was hoping for another boy--maybe one who was stronger, and braver that the little dipshit over there." At this point, he looked at James, who stared at the ground sorrowfully.

"Hm." Mrs. Matthews stared long and hard at the little girl, before she thrusted her into James's arms unceremoniously, causing poor James to fall on his butt; he protected his sister, though, without even thinking about it. "I don't like her. Honey, why do we have such awful kids? I mean, I'm gorgeous," she said, brushing a stray lock of dark brown hair from her hazel eyes, "and you're extremely handsome, yet fire-top and pussy-cat over there don't look anything like us."

"Psh." Mr. Matthews glared at his children, then said, "I don't know why we even bothered to have kids in the first place, baby. But who cares? Let's just get out of here before it gets late."

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James was still holding on to his sister as the family entered their small, filthy apartment in New York City. Almost immediately his parents went straight to the living room to watch television and drink their alchohol. James stood by the door unsurely, not really knowing what you're supposed to do with a baby. So, carefully, he wobbled to his bedroom -a closet-sized room with a small dresser and some sheets piled on the floor for a mattress- and gently placed his sister on the "bed", then left for the living room.

"U-um...mommy? Daddy?" he started. His parents looked at him, almost reluctant to have to listen to the one year old's words. "What's her name?"

"Her name could be 'Bitchrag' for all I care," his mother said, turning back to the TV. James looked down at the floor sadly.

"H-how do you take care of a b-baby?"

"Hn. That'll be your job," Mr. Matthews said. "Change her diaper, feed her, bathe her, and play with her. Think you can handle it?"

"I-"

"Good. Now go away." James sighed in defeat and slowly made his way back to his room, where his baby sister was waiting for him.

'How do I care for her when I'm also a baby?' He thought.

Contrary to what his parents may think, James was probably the smartest one year old in all of New York. So, putting his brain to good use, he went out to the kitchen where all the baby stuff was and grabbed some diapers and his bottle. He staggered down the short, dark hallway into the only bathroom in the house and washed out his transparent blue bottle, then changed the diaper he was wearing. After that, he went back to the kitchen and filled his bottle with milk, then warmed it for thirty seconds in their microwave.

Once that was said and done, James walked back to his bedroom and closed the door. He looked at his sister and saw that she was smiling up at him from under the blankets. He smiled back, then uncovered her and put a diaper on her. He walked the two steps to his dresser and opened it, looking for something for her to wear. He finally decided on a white shirt, and went over to put it on her. Once she was dressed, he crawled under the covers and held her to him protectively, while the lights went out and the blinds to his window opened seemingly of their own accord, letting the pale moonlight shine through onto the siblings.

"Don't tell mommy and daddy," he said in his light, child-like voice, "but I can have air do anything I want it to." To illustrate this point, his bottle flew over to the two of them. "See?" He smiled and held the nipple to his sister's lips, then watched as she drank it sip by sip.

Once the bottle was empty, James used his power to make it fly over to his dresser and set itself down, and then he pulled the covers up all the way to their chins. As his sister closed her eyes and clutched onto his brown shirt with her tiny fists, he spoke softly.

"Selina," he said, closing his eyes, as well. "Your name is Selina."

End FLASHBACK.

James let out a small, inaudible sigh as the memory ended, and continued reading his book.

'Yes, our parents were very uncaring when it came to us. But they got what they deserved,' he smirked, an evil glint in his eyes, 'and I am so glad that I was the one to give it to them.'

James continued reading for the better part of an hour, the most action being when he changed the song on his stereo, or when he turned the page in his book. But, unfortunately for him, just as he got to the middle of the book, the red flashing lights and loud siren of the Titans alarm went off throughout the tower. A little faster than normal, he hopped out of his bed and set his book down on the nightstand, then left his room and headed for the others. After walking down the winding hallways for nearly two minutes, he made it to the main room; Sebastian was pecking away at the computer, the screen displayed on the giant television. Changeling was on the couch, and Selina and Kimi were standing behind it, looking up at the giant television seriously.

"An unknown threat is attacking uptown Jump by the mall. No one else is here, so it's our job to go find out who this guy is and what he wants." Sebastian turned to the others and pointed towards the exit. "Titans, GO!" The others looked at him strangely, and he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Eh he he... I've always wanted to say that. Ahem. Right, let's go!"

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Changeling was driving the T-car down random streets to where the attack was taking place, dodging pedestrians and vehicles on his way as he tried to get there as fast as he could. James, Selina, and Kimi were sitting in the back, and Sebastian up front with Changeling. After Changeling had run through his tenth red light, Sebastian began to give his fellow Titans their orders.

"Alright, we know absolutely nothing about this guy, so we need to be careful. Selina, once we get there I want you to go invisible and check out the area- maybe we can learn something about this guy before we attack. Changeling, I want you to follow her as something small and inconspicuous- I don't care what. Kimi and James, I want the two of you to be on either side of them, far enough to not be seen but close enough to protect them. I'll be behind Changeling and Selina; we need to finish this quickly, and with as little casualties as possible."

It only took a few minutes for the five of them to make it to Jump City mall. When they had received the distress call, Sebastian had ordered that the mall be evacuated; there were no other cars in the lot. Once they were parked out front, they jumped out of the car simultaneously and ran for the mall's entrance. As soon as they entered the door, Selina turned invisible, Changeling disappeared, and the remaining three split up to guard their team mates. James and Sebastian were hiding in the shadows behind a stone pillar, looking to make sure that they weren't being watched. When they were positively well-hidden, James sent an inconspicuous breeze throughout the mall to locate his team mates, as well as their enemy.

'Selina is by the escalators, Kimi is a few feet from her by the bathrooms, Changeling is flying seven feet above Selina, Sebastian is two feet behind me, and our attacker is...'

"...Not here."

"What?" Sebastian whispered.

"There isn't anyone here but the five of us," James explained, not bothering to whisper. He walked out of their hiding place and over to the escalators, Sebastian right behind him.

Before they even made it halfway, however, a shadowed figure dropped down from the ceiling and landed in front of Selina, who was still invisible. James immediately tensed.

'What the hell? I sent the wind to every corner of this mall and the roof, and the parking lot. There is no way this guy was here thirty seconds ago; no one can hide from me.'

After a second, the figure dropped down to the ground. Using his arms to support his weight, he sent a powerful, two-legged kick towards seemingly nothing. But his feet made contact with something solid, which yelled out in pain as it was thrown back. Selina became visible again halfway through the air, giving everyone the chance to see her body slam into the brick wall and slump the the floor pitifully. Kimi cried out to her friend but received no response; James gritted his teeth in anger.

Changeling transformed back to his human form and ran to Selina's side. She opened her eyes and winced at the pain in her abdomen when the adult tried to help her up. With her arm around Changeling's shoulder, she finally stood and faced the attacker. The five Titans were all staring in confusion at the villain, who sat crouched on the floor. He was completely black, almost as if he was covered with ink. Only that couldn't be true, because this guy didn't have a face.

James motionlessly aimed an attack at the criminal using his Wind Blades, but his target didn't budge as the assault went right through him and hit the far wall on the other side. James and Selina were nothing less than suprised, whereas the others needed to think for a minute before they realized it had been James to fire. Sebastian and Kimi immediately got into offensive positions after that. Kimi's hands were aflame, while Sebastian held resplendent red starbolts at the ready. So, imagine their shock when their target slowly began to disappear, as though his body was made of dry sand and was being blown by a nonexistent breeze.

The criminal's body leisurely disintegrated and flowed like water, painting an inky streak in the air above them. The black, grainy pieces moved gracefully in swirling patterns, rising higher and higher until they reached the railing of the third floor, where they slowly converged against the wall. The five Titans noticed that the villain's appearance now seemed elongated, and it was in more of a gray color. They each realized asynchronously that it was simply a shadow, and followed the adumbration to the point where it met it's owner. They had finally found their villain.

Judging by his looks, James deduced that he was a teenager -eighteen years old, perhaps?- and was physically agile. The boy had luxurious silver hair that was pulled back into a ponytail atop his head, reaching down to his mid-back when drawn up; his eyes were such a light shade of pink that it was hard to tell if there was any color in them at all. His pants, shirt, and shoes were black, along with his hoodless cloak, whose collar reached an inch below his chin. His skin was deathly pale, as though he had never before been in sunlight. The teen was smirking down at his opponents confidently, an air of both arrogance and mischieviousness surrounding him.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Sebastian asked- well, more like demanded. The teen smirked and held out his left hand to where everyone could see it, then one after the other he moved his fingers into nine different positions.

"...Eh?"

The teen sighed and shook his head with his eyes closed, though he was still smirking. Without warning, he leapt into the air and dove headfirst towards the ground. His shadow followed a split second later, broken once more into millions of minuscule pieces, and swirled around him, catching him just before he hit the ground. The fragments merged together and became the nameless villain's shadow once more as he landed noiselessly on the ground. He stared Sebastian directly in the eyes and his smirk vanished; he looked angry.

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Andrew and Cyborg were on their way to a pizza restaurant in Steel City at eleven fourty-five when Andrew's communicator went off. 'Do do do da DOO do do da do!' Said teen pulled out his communicator and opened it to see Selina's face; she looked scared. Cyborg looked at the screen over Andrew's shoulder as the boy spoke.

"Hey, wh-"

"Andrew! Cyborg! Y-you guys have t-to get over here, n-now! It's- we can't- we need help!"

"Woah, Selina, calm down," Andrew said, looking concerned. "What happened? Where are you?"

"We received a d-distress call almost a-an hour ago," Selina said, looking around and speaking quietly. "We're at the mall, b-but this guy is tough! W-we can't-! Ah! N-no, please! DON'T-!" The transmission was cut off and the screen went blank.

Andrew and Cyborg looked at each other, then began running back to the Titans East tower. As they ran, Cyborg called the Titans East.

"We've got an emergency!" he said as soon as he could see Speedy's face. "We just received a distress call from Selina- they're at the mall, and they're under attack. She said their opponent is too strong for them, and that they need help. We'll be at the Steel City beach, meet us there!"

"Got it!" Speedy said before ending the call to go tell the others.

"Do you think we'll make it?" Andrew asked as they rounded a corner and dodged civilians on their way to the beach.

"We have to," Cyborg answered. "We're the only one's close enough; Nightwing and Star are in Asia and Covyll and Aqualad are somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean."

Without another word, the two continued running to the beach. After a grand total of seven minutes, they reached their destination and saw that the others were already waiting for them with the yellow T-car. They quickly hopped into the back with Mas and Menos and buckled their seat belts as Bumble Bee stepped on the gas and sped down the road towards Jump. After both father and son had caught their breaths, they began explaining the situation.

"Selina called us about ten minutes ago," Andrew started. "She was scared, and it looked like she was hiding from something- or someone."

"She told us that they got a call and went to the Jump City mall to catch the criminal, and from what we understood, the guy was too tough for them to handle. Halfway through explaining, she looked away from the screen and it sounded like someone was threatening or attacking her, I don't know which," Cyborg said.

"I think the guy they were aiming to catch found her," Andrew said.

"Alright," Bumble Bee said, "when we get there, everyone needs to be on their guard- we don't know what we're going to be up against. We also don't know what condition your team mates are in, Andrew, so be prepared for the worst."

Andrew nodded, and braced himself for whatever they might find upon entering the mall.

Again, I am SO SORRY that it took me this long to get this chapter out. Was it worth the wait? I had some trouble trying to write this chapter (mostly in the descrptions), so I hope you guys understand everything that I tried to convey. Please forgive me! TT I never intended for it to take this long...

On a lighter note, guess what? I got and orange and white Tabby cat with icy blue eyes. And... I named him Covyll! This reminds me of ELLIEdangerous, who got a cat and named it Yuho, hehehe (happy smiles).

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to flame me for taking so long to update.

---Later! (and again, I'm sorry!)